Afterwards General Morshead and friend of the Duke of York. Captain Morshead, himself a Cornishman, is credited with doing everything in his power to dissuade Thomas Borrow from enlisting, but without result. Lavengro, page 2. References to Borrow’s works throughout this volume are to the Standard Edition, published by John Murray. Ann, the third of eight children born to Samuel Perfrement and Mary his wife, 23rd January 1772. Locally, the name is pronounced “Parfrement.” This is quite in accordance with the Norfolk dialect, which changes “e” into “a.” Thus “Ernest” becomes “Arnest”; “Earlham,” “Arlham”; “Erpingham,” “Arpingham,” and so on. In Norfolk there are grave peculiarities of pronunciation, which have caused many a stranger to wish that he had never enquired his way, so puzzling are the replies hurled at him in an incomprehensible vernacular. Married the Rev. Wm. Holland, rector of Walmer and afterwards rector of Brasted, Kent. Lavengro, page 5. Lavengro, page 5. George in honour of the King, it is said, and Henry after his father’s eldest brother. Lavengro, page 6. Lavengro, page 6. Lavengro, page 6. Lavengro, page 7. Lavengro, page 7. Lavengro, page 16. The widow of Sir John Fenn, editor of the Paston Letters. Lavengro, page 15. Lavengro, pages 398–9. “Many years have not passed over my head, yet during those which I can call to remembrance, how many things have I seen flourish, pass away, and become forgotten, except by myself, who, in spite of all my endeavours, never can forget anything.”—Lavengro, page 166. Lavengro, page 16. Lavengro, pages 19–20. Lavengro, page 22. The gypsies “have a double nomenclature, each tribe or family having a public and private name, one by which they are known to the Gentiles, and another to themselves alone . . . There are only two names of trades which have been adopted by English gypsies as proper names, Cooper and Smith: these names are expressed in the English gypsy dialect by Vardo-mescro and Petulengro (Romano Lavo-Lil, page 185). Thus the Smiths are known among themselves as the Petulengros. Petul, a horse shoe, and engro a “masculine affix used in the formation of figurative names.” Thus Boshomengro (a fiddler) comes from Bosh a fiddle, Cooromengro (a soldier, a pugilist) from Coor = to fight. The Rev. Wentworth Webster heard narrated at a provincial Bible Society’s meeting that when Borrow first called at Earl Street “he said that he had been stolen by gypsies in his boyhood, had passed several years with them, but had been recognised at a fair in Norfolk and brought home to his family by his uncle.” There is, however, nothing to confirm this story. Lavengro, page 164. The prisoners occupied much of their time in straw-plait making; but the quality of their work was so much superior to that of the English that it was forbidden, and consequently destroyed when found. Lavengro, page 45. David Haggart, born 24th June 1801, was an instinctive criminal, who, at Leith Races, in 1813, enlisted, whilst drunk, as a drummer in the West Norfolks. Eventually he obtained his discharge and continued on his career of crime and prison-breaking, among other things murdering a policeman and a gaoler, until, on 18th July 1821, he was hanged at Edinburgh. Lavengro, page 138. John Crome (1768–1821), landscape painter. Apprenticed 1783 as sign-painter; introduced into Norwich the art of graining; founded the Norwich School of Painting; first exhibited at the Royal Academy 1806. Borrow was always a magnificent horseman. “Vaya! how you ride! It is dangerous to be in your way!” said the Archbishop of Toledo to him years later. In The Bible in Spain he wrote that he had “been accustomed from . . . childhood to ride without a saddle.” The Rev. Wentworth Webster states that in Madrid “he used to ride with a Russian skin for a saddle and without stirrups.” Letter from “A School-fellow of Lavengro” in The Britannia, 26th April 1851. “It is probable, that had I been launched about this time into some agreeable career, that of arms, for example, for which, being the son of a soldier, I had, as was natural, a sort of penchant, I might have thought nothing more of the acquisition of tongues of any kind; but, having nothing to do, I followed the only course suited to my genius which appeared open to me.”—Lavengro, page 89. The Rev. Thomas D’Eterville, M.A., “Poor Old Detterville,” as the Grammar School boys called him, of Caen University, who arrived at Norwich in 1793. He acquired a small fortune by teaching languages. There were rumours that he was engaged in the contraband trade, an occupation more likely to bring fortune than teaching languages. Letter from “A School-fellow of Lavengro” in The Britannia, 26th April 1851. It was here, in 1827, that he saw the world’s greatest trotter, Marshland Shales, and in common with other lovers of horses lifted his hat to salute “the wondrous horse, the fast trotter, the best in mother England.” In Lavengro Borrow antedated this event by some nine years. Manuscript autobiographical notes supplied by Borrow to Mr John Longe, 1862. Lavengro, page 134. This account is taken from a letter by “A Schoolfellow of Lavengro” in The Britannia, 26th April 1851. In a letter to Borrow, dated 15th October 1862, John Longe, J.P., of Spixworth Park, Norwich, in acknowledging some biographical particulars that Borrow had sent him for inclusion in Burton’s Antiquities of the Royal School of Norwich, wrote:—
“You have omitted an important and characteristic anecdote of your early days (fifteen years of age). When at school you, with Theodosius and Francis W. Purland, absented yourself from home and school and took up your abode in a certain ‘Robber’s Cave’ at Acle, where you resided three days, and once more returned to your homes.”
According to the original manuscript of Lavengro, it appears that Roger Kerrison, a Norwich friend of Borrow’s, strongly advised the law as “an excellent profession . . . for those who never intend to follow it.”—Life of George Borrow, by Dr Knapp, i., 66. The Rev. Wm. Drake of Mundesley, in a letter which appeared in The Eastern Daily Press, 22nd September 1892:—
“ . . . I was at the Norwich Grammar School nine years, from 1820 to 1829, and during that time (probably in 1824 and 1825) George Borrow was lodging in the Upper Close . . . The house was a low old-fashioned building with a garden in front of it, and the fact of Borrow’s residence there is fixed in my memory because I had spent the first five or six years of my own life in the same house, from 1811 to 1816 or 1817. My father occupied it in virtue of his being a minor canon in Norwich Cathedral. I remember Borrow very distinctly, because he was fond of chatting with the boys, who used to gather round the railings of his garden, and occasionally he would ask one or two of them to have tea with him. I have a faint recollection that he gave us some of our first notions of chess, but I am not sure of this. I . . . remember him a tall, spare, dark-complexioned man, usually dressed in black. In person he was not unlike another Norwich man, who obtained in those days a very different notoriety from that which now belongs to Borrow’s name. I mean John Thurtell, who murdered Mr Weare.”
Wild Wales, page 3. Wild Wales, page 157. Forty years later Borrow wrote of these days:—“‘How much more happy, innocent, and holy I was in the days of my boyhood when I translated Iolo’s ode than I am at the present time!’ Then covering my face with my hands I wept like a child.”—Wild Wales, page 448. There is no doubt that Borrow became possessed of a copy of KiÆmpe Viser, first collected by Anders Vedel, which may or may not have been given to him, with a handshake from the old farmer and a kiss from his wife, in recognition of the attention he had shown the pair in his official capacity. He refers to the volume repeatedly in Lavengro, and narrates how it was presented by some shipwrecked Danish mariners to the old couple in acknowledgment of their humanity and hospitality. It is, however, most likely that he was in error when he stated that “in less than a month” he was able “to read the book.”—Lavengro, pages 140–4. Wild Wales, page 2. Wild Wales, page 374. Wild Wales, page 9. There is an interesting letter written to Borrow by the old lawyer’s son on the appearance of Lavengro, in which he says: “With tearful eyes, yet smiling lips, I have read and re-read your faithful portrait of my dear old father. I cannot mistake him—the creaking shoes, the florid face, the polished pate—all serve as marks of recognition to his youngest son!” Wild Wales, page 374. During the five years that he was articled to Simpson & Rackham, Borrow, according to Dr Knapp, studied Welsh, Danish, German, Hebrew, Arabic, Gaelic, and Armenian. He already had a knowledge of Latin, Greek, Irish, French, Italian, and Spanish. Lavengro, page 235. Benjamin Robert Haydon (1786–1846), the historical painter. Lavengro, page 166. William Taylor (1765–1836) was an admirer of German literature and a defender of the French Revolution. He is credited with having first inspired his friend Southey with a liking for poetry. He travelled much abroad, met Goethe, attended the National Assembly debates in 1790, translated from the German and contributed to a number of English periodicals. Harriet Martineau’s Autobiography, 1877. Harriet Martineau’s Autobiography, 1877. Letter from “A School-fellow of Lavengro” in The Britannia, 26th April 1851. Memoir of Wm. Taylor, by J. W. Robberds. Memoir of Wm. Taylor, by J. W. Robberds. Letter from “A School-fellow of Lavengro” in The Britannia, 26th April 1851. The Rev. Whitwell Elwin, in a letter, 17th February 1887. Harriet Martineau’s Autobiography, 1877. Lavengro, page 355. John Bowring, F.R.S. (1792–1872), began life in trade, went to the Peninsula for Milford & Co., army contractors, in 1811, set up for himself as a merchant, travelled and acquired a number of languages. He was ambitious, energetic and shrewd. He became editor of The Westminster Review in 1824, and LL.D., GrÖnigen, in 1829. He was sent by the Government upon a commercial mission to Belgium, 1833; to Egypt; Syria and Turkey, 1837–8; M.P. for Clyde burghs, 1835–7, and for Bolton, 1841; was instrumental in obtaining the issue of the florin as a first step toward a decimal system of currency; Consul of Canton, 1847; plenipotentiary to China; governor, commander-in-chief, and vice-admiral of Hong Kong, 1854; knighted 1854; established diplomatic and commercial relations with Siam, 1855. He published a number of volumes of translations from various languages. He died full of years and honours in 1872. The Romany Rye, page 368, et seq. Lavengro, pages 177–8. Lavengro, pages 179–80. Captain Borrow was in his sixty-sixth year at his death; b. December 1758, d. 28th February 1824. He was buried in St Giles churchyard, Norwich, on 4th March 1824. The Romany Rye, page 302. In his will Captain Borrow bequeathed to George his watch and “the small Portrait,” and to John “the large Portrait” of himself; his mother to hold and enjoy them during her lifetime. Should Mrs Borrow die or marry again, elaborate provision was made for the proper distribution of the property between the two sons. In particular Borrow believed in Ab Gwilym “the greatest poetical genius that has appeared in Europe since the revival of literature” (Wild Wales, page 6). “The great poet of Nature, the contemporary of Chaucer, but worth half-a-dozen of the accomplished word-master, the ingenious versifier of Norman and Italian Tales.” (Wild Wales, page xxviii.). Lines to Six-Foot-Three. Romantic Ballads. Norwich 1826. Sir Richard Phillips (1767–1840) before becoming a publisher was a schoolmaster, hosier, stationer, bookseller, and vendor of patent medicines at Leicester, where he also founded a newspaper. In 1795 he came to London, was sheriff in 1807, and received his knighthood a year later. It has been urged against Borrow’s accuracy that Sir Richard Phillips had retired to Brighton in 1823, vide The Dictionary of National Biography. In the January number (1824) of The Monthly Magazine appeared the following paragraph: “The Editor [Sir Richard Phillips], having retired from his commercial engagements and removed from his late house of business in New Bridge Street, communications should be addressed to the appointed Publishers [Messrs Whittakers]; but personal interviews of Correspondents and interested persons may be obtained at his private residence in Tavistock Square.” This proves conclusively that Sir Richard was to be seen in London in the early part of 1824. Celebrated Trials and Remarkable Cases of Criminal Jurisprudence from the Earliest Records to the Year 1825, 6 vols., with plates. London, 1825. Proximate Causes of the Material Phenomena of the Universe. By Sir Richard Phillips. London, 1821. Dr Knapp identified the editor as “William Gifford, editor of The Quarterly Review from 1809 to September 1824.” (Life of George Borrow, i. 93.) The late Sir Leslie Stephen, however, cast very serious doubt upon this identification, himself concluding that the editor of The Universal Review was John Carey (1756–1826), whose name was actually associated with an edition of Quintilian published in 1822. Carey was a known contributor to two of Sir Richard Phillips’ magazines. The Monthly Magazine, July 1824. It appeared in six volumes. The work when completed contained accounts of over 400 trials. It appeared on 19th March following. Lavengro, page 210. The picture was duly painted in the Heroic manner, the artist lending to the ex-mayor, for some reason or other, his own unheroically short legs. Haydon received his fee of a hundred guineas, and the picture now hangs in St Andrew’s Hall, Norwich. Letter from Roger Kerrison to John Borrow, 28th May 1824. Memoirs, C. G. Leland 1893. Borrow himself gave the sum as “eighteen-pence a page.” The books themselves apparently did not become the property of the reviewer.—The Romany Rye, page 324. Borrow says that he demanded lives of people who had never lived, and cancelled others that Borrow had prepared with great care, because be considered them as “drugs.”—Lavengro, pages 245–6. “‘Sir,’ said he, ‘you know nothing of German; I have shown your translation of the first chapter of my Philosophy to several Germans: it is utterly unintelligible to them.’ ‘Did they see the Philosophy?’ I replied. ‘They did, sir, but they did not profess to understand English.’ ‘No more do I,’ I replied, ‘if the Philosophy be English.’”—Lavengro, page 254. A German edition of the work appeared in Stuttgart in 1826. This sentence is quoted in The Gypsies of Spain as a heading to the section “On Robber Language,” page 335. Lavengro, pages 216–7. Lavengro, page 271. Faustus: His Life, Death and Descent into Hell. Translated from the German. London: W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 1825, pages xxii., 251. Coloured Plate. A letter from Borrow to the publishers, which Dr Knapp quotes, and dates 15th September 1825, but without giving his reasons, was written from Norwich, and runs:
Dear Sir,—
As your bill will become payable in a few days, I am willing to take thirty copies of Faustus instead of the money. The book has been burnt in both the libraries here, and, as it has been talked about, I may, perhaps, be able to dispose of some in the course of a year or so.—Yours, G. Borrow.
Lavengro, page 310. The Romany Rye, Appendix, page 303. Probably it was only a portion of the whole amount of £50 that Borrow drew after the completion of the work. One thing is assured, that Sir Richard Phillips was too astute a man to pay the whole amount before the completion of the work. Dr Knapp’s Life of George Borrow, i., page 141. Dr Knapp gives the date as the 22nd; but Mr John Sampson makes the date the 24th, which seems more likely to be correct. The AthenÆum, 25th March 1899. Lavengro, page 362. Lavengro, page 362. Lavengro, page 374. Lavengro, pages 431–2. Lavengro, page 451. Mr Watts-Dunton in a review of Dr Knapp’s Life of Borrow says that she “was really an East-Anglian road-girl of the finest type, known to the Boswells, and remembered not many years ago.”—AthenÆum, 25th March 1899. Mr Petulengro is made to say the “Flying Tinker.” Dr Knapp sees in the account of Murtagh’s story of his travels Barrow’s own adventures during 1826–7, but there is no evidence in support of this theory. Another contention of Dr Knapp’s is more likely correct, viz., that the story of Finn MacCoul was that told him by Cronan the Cornish guide during the excursion to Land’s End. It will be remembered that in The Romany Rye Borrow takes his horse to the Swan Inn at Stafford, meets his postilion friend and is introduced by him to the landlord, with the result that he arranges to act as “general superintendent of the yard,” and keep the hay and corn account. In return he and his horse are to be fed and lodged. Here Borrow encounters Francis Ardry, on his way to see the dog and lion fight at Warwick, and the man in black. The Gypsies of Spain, page 360. Introduction to The Romany Rye in The Little Library, Methuen & Co., Ltd. The Romany Rye, page 162. The Romany Rye, page 162. The Romany Rye, page 50. “Let but the will of a human being be turned to any particular object, and it is ten to one that sooner or later he achieves it.”—Lavengro, page 16. They appeared as Romantic Ballads, translated from the Danish, and Miscellaneous Pieces, by George Borrow. Norwich. S. Wilkin, 1826. Included in the volume were translations from the KiÆmpe Viser and from OehlenschlÆger. Correspondence and Table-Talk of B. R. Haydon. London, 1876. The position of the letter in the Haydon Journal is between November 1825 and January 1826; but it is more likely that it was written some months later. Unfortunately, Borrow’s portrait cannot be traced in any of Haydon’s pictures. Lavengro, page 9. There was a tradition that Borrow became a foreign correspondent for the Morning Herald, and it was in this capacity that he travelled on the Continent in 1826–7; but Dr Knapp clearly showed that such a theory was untenable. The Gypsies of Spain, page 11. The Bible in Spain, page 219. Letter to his mother, August 1833. The Bible in Spain, page 172. The Gypsies of Spain, page 31. The Bible in Spain, page 703. The Bible in Spain, page 67. The Gypsies of Spain, page 19. Excursions Along the Shores of the Mediterranean, by Lt.-Col. E. H. D. E. Napier. London, 1842. The Gypsies of Spain, pages 10–11. Patteran, or Patrin; a gypsy method of indicating by means of grass, leaves, or a mark in the dust to those behind the direction taken by the main body. The Gypsies of Spain, page 31. If he went abroad, he certainly did so without obtaining a passport from the Foreign Office. The only passports issued to him between the years 1825–1840 were:
27th July 1833, to St Petersburg;
2nd November 1836 and 20th December 1838, to Spain,
as far as the F. O. Registers show. Dr Knapp takes Borrow’s statement, made 29th March 1839, “I have been three times imprisoned and once on the point of being shot,” as indicating that he was imprisoned at Pamplona in 1826. The imprisonments were September 1837, Finisterre; May 1838, Madrid; and another unknown. The occasion on which he was nearly shot, which may be assumed to be connected with one of the imprisonments (otherwise he was more than “once nearly shot”), was at Finisterre, when he, with his guide, was seized as a Carlist spy “by the fishermen of the place, who determined at first on shooting us.” (Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 15th September 1837.) The incident is given in Lavengro under date of 1818, when Marshland Shales was fifteen years old. It was not, however, until 1827 that he appeared at the Norwich Horse Fair and was put up for auction. “Such a horse as this we shall never see again; a pity that he is so old,” was the opinion of those who lifted their hats as a token of respect. This and subsequent letters from Borrow to Sir John Bowring not specially acknowledged have been courteously placed at the writer’s disposal by Mr Wilfred J. Bowring, Sir John Bowring’s grandson. In The Monthly Review, March 1830, there appeared among the literary announcements a paragraph to the same effect. From the original draft of his letter of 20th May to Dr Bowring, omitted from the letter itself. Mr Thomas Seccombe in Bookman, February 1902. It is only fair to add that Mr Seccombe wrote without having seen the correspondence quoted from above. His words have been given as representing the opinion held by most people regarding the Borrow-Bowring dispute. It has been said that Bowring sought to suck Borrow’s brains; it would appear, however, that Borrow strove rather to make every possible use that he could of Bowring. Preface to The Sleeping Bard, 1860. Ibid. The Bible in Spain, page 201. Dr Knapp gives the date as during the early days of September, but without mentioning his authority. The Romany Rye, page 362. Lavengro, page 403. Lavengro, page 446. Vicar of Pakefield, in Norfolk, 1814–1830; Lowestoft, 1830–63. He married a sister of J. J. Gurney of Earlham Hall. Dr Knapp was in error when he credited J. J. Gurney with the introduction. In a letter to the Rev. J. Jowett, 10th Feb. 1833, Borrow wrote, “I must obtain a letter from him [Rev. F. Cunningham] to Joseph Gurney.” T. Pell Platt, formerly the Hon. Librarian of the Society; W. Greenfield, its lately deceased Editorial Superintendent. S. V. Lipovzoff (1773–1841) had studied Chinese and Manchu at the National College of Pekin, and had lived in China for 20 years; belonged to the Russian Foreign Office (Asiatic section); head of Board of Censors for books in Eastern languages printed in Russia: Corresponding member of Academy of Sciences for department of Oriental Literature and Antiquities. “A gentleman in the service of the Russian Department of Foreign Affairs, who has spent the greater part of an industrious life in Peking and the East.”—J. P. H[asfeldt] in the AthenÆum, 5th March 1836. Asmus, Simondsen & Co., Sarepta House. Borrow’s report upon Puerot’s translation, 23rd September 5th October, 1835. The Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, vol. i., July 1888 to October 1899. In the MS. autobiographical note he wrote later for Mr John Longe, Borrow stated that he walked from London to Norwich in November 1825. He may have performed the journey twice. Letter from Borrow to the Rev. Francis Cunningham, to whom he wrote on his return home, circa January, acquainting him with what had transpired in London, assuring him that “I am returned with a firm determination to exert all my energies to attain the desired end [the learning of Manchu]; and I hope, Sir, that I shall have the benefit of your prayers for my speedy success, for the language is one of those which abound with difficulties against which human skill and labour, without the special favour of God, are as blunt hatchets against the oak; and though I shall almost weary Him with my own prayers, I wish not to place much confidence in them, being at present very far from a state of grace and regeneration, having a hard and stony heart, replete with worldy passions, vain wishes, and all kinds of ungodliness; so that it would be no wonder if God to prayers addressed from my lips were to turn away His head in wrath.” Borrow always writes Mandchow, but, for the sake of uniformity his spelling is corrected throughout. Letter to Rev. Francis Cunningham, circa January 1833. Dr Knapp ascribes the translation to Dr Pazos Kanki, who undertook it at the instance of the Bishop of Puebla, but gives no authority. Dr Kanki was a native of La Paz, Peru, and translated St Luke into his native dialect AimarÁ. He had no more connection with Mexico than “stout Cortez” with “a peak in Darien.” Life of George Borrow, by Dr Knapp, i., page 157. Letter to Rev. J. Jowett, 18th March 1833. Letter to Rev. J. Jowett, 18th March 1833. Letter to Rev J. Jowett, 18th March 1833. Caroline Fox wrote in her Memories of Old Friends (1882): “Andrew Brandram gave us at breakfast many personal recollections of curious people. J. J. Gurney recommended George Borrow to their Committee [!]; so he stalked up to London, and they gave him a hymn to translate into the Manchu language, and the same to one of their own people to translate also. When compared they proved to be very different. When put before their reader, he had the candour to say that Borrow’s was much the better of the two. On this they sent him to St Petersburg, got it printed [!] and then gave him business in Portugal, which he took the liberty greatly to extend, and to do such good as occurred to his mind in a highly executive manner [22nd August 1844].” Mr Lipovzoff’s unfortunate name was a great stumbling-block. Borrow spelt it many ways, varying from Lipoffsky to Lipofsoff. It has been thought advisable to adopt Mr Lipovzoff’s own spelling of his name, in order to preserve some uniformity. Minutes of the Editorial Sub-Committee, 29th July 1833. Harriet Martineau’s Autobiography. Letter to his mother, 30th July 1833. Letter to Rev. J. Jowett, 4th August 1833. Letter to Rev. J. Jowett, 4th August 1833. Borrow is always puzzling when concerned with dates. He writes to his mother telling her that he left on the 7th, and later gives the date, in a letter to Mr Jowett, as 24th July, O.S. (5th August). The 7th seems to be the correct date. Letter to his mother. “If I had my choice of all the cities of the world to live in, I would choose Saint Petersburg.”—Wild Wales, page 665. Letter to Rev. J. Jowett, undated: received 26th September 1833. In a letter dated 3rd/15th August, the Prince wrote to Mr Venning at Norwich, “On returning thence, your son came to introduce to me the Englishman who has come over here about the translation of the Manchu Bible, and who brought with him your letter.”—Memorials of John Venning, 1862. Best known for his Grammar, written in German. Nephew of J. C Adelung, the philologist. Letter to Rev. J. Jowett, undated, but received 26th September 1833. Letter to Rev. J. Jowett, 20th January/1st February 1834. Letter to Rev. J. Jowett, 20th January/1st February 1834. Letter to Rev. J. Jowett, 20th January/1st February 1834. Letter to Rev. J. Jowett, 20th January/1st February 1834. Letter to Rev. J. Jowett, 20th January/1st February 1834. Probably this means the New Testament only, as there was no intention of printing the Old Testament at that date.
In a letter to his mother, dated 1st/13th Feb., Borrow writes: “The Bible Society depended upon Dr Schmidt and the Russian translator Lipovzoff to manage this business [the obtaining of the official sanction], but neither the one nor the other would give himself the least trouble about the matter, or give me the slightest advice how to proceed.” Letter to Rev. J. Jowett, 4th/16th February 1834. Letter to the Rev. J. Jowett, 20th Jan/1st Feb. 1834. Letter to the Rev. J. Jowett, 20th Jan/1st Feb. 1834. Letter to the Rev. F. Cunningham, 17th/29th Nov. 1834. 1st/13th May 1834. This spelling is adopted throughout for uniformity. Borrow writes Chiachta. Letter to the Rev. J. Jowett, 4th/16th February 1834. Letter to the Rev. J. Jowett, 4th/16th February 1834. Letter to the Rev. J. Jowett, 4th/16th February 1834. Letter to the Rev. J. Jowett, 15th/23rd April 1834. In a letter dated 1st/13th May 1834. A suburb of Norwich. Mrs Borrow eventually received from Allday Kerrison £50, 11s. 1d., the amount realised from the sale of John’s effects. This was partly on account of the Bible Society for storage purposes. In the minutes of the Sub-Committee, 18th August 1834, there is a record of an advice having been received from Borrow that he had drawn “for 400 Roubles for one year’s rent in advance for a suitable place of deposit for the Society’s paper, etc., part of which had been received.” Letter to John P. Hasfeldt from Madrid, 29th April 1837. In the minutes of the Sub-Committee, 18th August (N.S.) 1834, there is a note of Borrow having drawn 210 roubles “to pay for certain articles required to complete the Society’s fount of Manchu type.” “My letters to my private friends have always been written during gleams of sunshine, and traced in the characters of hope.” “You may easily judge of the state of book-binding here by the fact that for every volume, great or small, printed in Russia, there is a duty of 30 copecks, or threepence, to be paid to the Russian Government, if the said volume be exported unbound.” John Hasfeldt. Letter to Mr J. Tarn, Treasurer of the Bible Society, 15th/27th December 1834. Letter to the Rev. Joseph Jowett, 3rd/15th May 1835. Letter from Borrow to the Rev. J. Jowett, 20th Feb/4th March 1834. In his Report on Puerot’s translation, received on 23rd Sep. 1835, Borrow writes: “To translate literally, or even closely, according to the common acceptation of the term, into the Manchu language is of all impossibilities the greatest; partly from the grammatical structure of the language, and partly from the abundance of its idioms.” The lack of “some of those conjunctions generally considered as indispensable” was one of the chief difficulties. Letter, 31st Dec. 1834. Letter, 31st Dec. 1834. Letter, 20th Feb/4th Mar. 1835. Letter, 20th Feb/4th Mar. 1835. Letter to the Rev. J. Jowett, 3rd/15th May 1835. Ibid. Letter to the Rev. J. Jowett, 3rd/15th May 1835. Letter to Mr J. Tarn. None of these translations ever appeared, owing to the refusal of the Russian Government to grant permission. John Hasfeldt wrote to Borrow, June 1837, apropos of the project: “You know the Russian priesthood cannot suffer foreigners to mix themselves up in the affairs of the Orthodox Church. The same would have happened to the New Testament itself. You may certainly print in the Manchu-Tartar or what the d-l you choose, only not in Russian, for that the long-bearded he-goats do not like.” Letter to Rev. F. Cunningham, 27th/29th Nov. 1834. The principal interest in Targum lies in the number of languages and dialects from which the poems are translated; for it must be confessed that Borrow’s verse translations have no very great claim to attention on account of their literary merit. The “Thirty Languages” were, in reality, thirty-five, viz.:—
| Ancient British. | Gaelic. | Portuguese. |
| “ Danish. | German. | ProvenÇal |
| “ Irish. | Greek. | Romany. |
| “ Norse. | Hebrew. | Russian. |
| Anglo-Saxon. | Irish. | Spanish. |
| Arabic. | Italian. | Suabian. |
| Cambrian British. | Latin. | Swedish. |
| Chinese. | Malo-Russian. | Tartar. |
| Danish. | Manchu. | Tibetan. |
| Dutch. | Modern Greek. | Turkish. |
| Finnish. | Persian. | Welsh. |
| French. | Polish. | |
A copy was presented by John Hasfeldt to Pushkin, who expressed in a note to Borrow his gratification at receiving the book, and his regret at not having met the translator. These two volumes were printed in one and published at a later date by Messrs Jarrold & Son, London & Norwich. 5th March 1836. From a letter to Borrow from Dr Gordon Hake. Borrow’s Report to the Committee of the Bible Society, received 23rd September 1835. Borrow’s Report to the Committee of the Bible Society, received 23rd September 1835. Ibid. Kak my tut kamasa. Borrow’s Report to the Committee of the Bible Society, received 23rd September 1835. He gives an account of the episode in The Gypsies of Spain, page 6. The Thirty-First Annual Report. AthenÆum, 5th March 1836. Borrow’s Report to the Committee of the Bible Society, received 23rd September 1835. 18th/30th June 1834. 27th October 1835. His salary was paid continuously, and included the period of rest between the Russian and Peninsula expeditions. Letter to Rev. J. Jowett, 26th October 1835. In a letter dated 27th October 1835. Minutes of the General Committee of the Bible Society, 2nd Nov. 1835. In his first letter from Spain, addressed to Rev. J. Jowett (30th Nov. 1835), Borrow tells of this incident in practically the same words as it appears in The Bible in Spain, pages 1–3. The Bible in Spain, pages 73–4. Letter to the Rev. J. Jowett, 30th Nov. 1835. Dr Knapp states that upon this expedition he was accompanied by Captain John Rowland Heyland of the 35th Regiment of Foot, whose acquaintance he had made on the voyage out.—Life of George Borrow, i., page 234. Letter to Rev. J. Jowett, 30th Nov. 1835. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 15th Dec. 1835. Letter to Dr Bowring, 26th December 1835. The Bible in Spain, page 67. Dated 8th and 10th January 1836, giving an account of his journey to Evora. The Bible in Spain, page 78. The Bible in Spain, pages 77–8. The Bible in Spain, page 87. The Bible in Spain, page 88. The Bible in Spain, page 99. Lavengro, page 191. The Bible in Spain, pages 97–8. Not 5th Jan., as given in The Bible in Spain. The Bible in Spain, page 103. The Bible in Spain, Preface, page vi. The Gypsies of Spain, page 179. “Throughout my life the Gypsy race has always had a peculiar interest for me. Indeed I can remember no period when the mere mention of the name Gypsy did not awaken within me feelings hard to be described. I cannot account for this—I merely state it as a fact.”—The Gypsies of Spain, page 1. The Gypsies of Spain, pages 184–5. The Gypsies of Spain, page 186. The Bible in Spain, page 109. Dr Knapp states that the wedding described in The Gypsies of Spain took place during these three days.—Life of George Borrow, by Dr Knapp, i., page 242. The Bible in Spain, page 162. “I am not partial to Madrid, its climate, or anything it can offer, if I except its unequalled gallery of pictures.”—Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 22nd March 1836. 24th February 1836. Letter to his mother, 24th February 1836. Letter to his mother, 24th February 1836 Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. The Bible in Spain, page 173. Born 1790, commissariat contractor in 1808 during the French invasion, he was of great assistance to his country. In 1823 he fled from the despotism of Ferdinand VII.; he returned twelve years later as Minister of Finance under Toreno. He resigned in 1837, was again in power in 1841, and died in 1853. George William Villiers, afterwards 4th Earl of Clarendon, born 12th Jan. 1800; created G.C.B., 19th Oct. 1837; succeeded his uncle as Earl of Clarendon, 1838; K.G., 1849. He twice refused a Marquisate, also the Governor-generalship of India. He refused the Order of the Black Eagle (Prussia) and the Legion of Honour. Lord Privy Seal, 1839–41; Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, 1840–1, 1864–5; Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, 1847–52. Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 1853–8, 1865–6, 1868–9. Died 27th June 1870. The Bible in Spain, page 165. Extracts accompanying letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 22nd March 1836. Ibid. Ibid. Letter of 22nd March 1837. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 22nd May 1836. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 22nd May 1836. Letter dated 6th April 1836. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 20th April 1836. Ibid. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 20th April 1836. Ibid. Borrow’s destitution was entirely accidental, and immediately that his letter was received at Earl Street the sum of twenty-five pounds was forwarded to him. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 20th April 1836. Letter of 9th May 1836. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 30th June 1836. Ibid. Ibid. The Duke’s secretary who had shown so profound a respect for the decrees of the Council of Trent. Late of the Royal Navy, who for sheer love of the work distributed the Scriptures in Spain, and who later was to come into grave conflict with Borrow. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 30th June 1836. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 7th July 1836. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Dr Usoz was a Spaniard of noble birth, a pupil of Mezzofanti, and one of the editors of El EspaÑol. He occupied the chair of Hebrew at Valladolid. He was deeply interested in the work of the Bible Society, and was fully convinced that in nothing but the reading of the Bible could the liberty in Spain be found. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 25th December 1837. La Granja was a royal palace some miles out of Madrid, to which the Queen Regent had withdrawn. On the night of 12th August, two sergeants had forced their way into the Queen Regent’s presence, and successfully demanded that she should restore the Constitution of 1812. This incident was called the Revolution of La Granja. The Bible in Spain, pages 197–206. 30th July 1836. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 10th August 1836. 17th October 1836. The Bible in Spain, pages 209–11. Ibid., page 211. The Rev. Wentworth Webster in The Journal of Gypsy Lore Society, vol. i., July 1888–Oct. 1889. Letter from Rev. A. Brandram, 6th Jan. 1837. Isidor Just Severin, Baron Taylor (1789–1879), was a naturalised Frenchman and a great traveller. In 1821 he, with Charles Nodier, wrote the play Bertram, which was produced with great success at Paris in 1821. Later he was made Commissaire du ThÉÂtre FranÇais, and authorised the production of Hernani and Le Mariage de Figaro. Later he became Inspecteur-GÉnÉral des Beaux Arts (1838). When seen by Borrow in Seville he was collecting Spanish pictures for Louis-Philippe. The Bible in Spain, page 221. The Bible in Spain, page 237. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 26th Dec. 1836. In letter to the Rev. A. Brandram (26th Dec. 1836), Borrow gives the quantity of brandy as two bottles. This letter was written within a few hours of the act and is more likely to be accurate. The Bible in Spain, page 254. Borrow’s letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 14th Jan. 1837. He was authorised to purchase 600 reams at 60 reals per ream, whereas he paid only 45 reals a ream for a paper “better,” he wrote, “than I could have purchased at 70.” Author of La Historia de las CÓrtes de EspaÑa durante el Siglo XIX. (1885) and other works of a political character. He was also proprietor and editor of El EspaÑol. Isturitz had intended raising BorrÉgo to the position of minister of finance when his government suddenly terminated. General report prepared by Borrow in the Autumn of 1838 for the General Committee of the Bible Society detailing his labours in Spain. This was subsequently withdrawn, probably on account of its somewhat aggressive tone. In the course of this work the document will be referred to as General Report, Withdrawn. To Rev. A. Brandram, 14th Jan. 1837. To Rev. A. Brandram, 14th Jan. 1837. 27th January 1837. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 27th Feb. 1837. Letter from Rev. A. Brandram to Borrow, 22nd March 1837. Letter from Borrow to Rev. A. Brandram, 25th Dec. 1837. Letter from Borrow to Rev. A. Brandram, 27th February 1837. Rev. Wentworth Webster in The Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, vol. i., July 1888–October 1889. General Report withdrawn. General Report, withdrawn. Borrow to Richard Ford. Letters of Richard Ford 1797–1858. Ed. R. E. Prothero. Murray, 1905. Letter from Borrow to Rev. A. Brandram, 7th June 1837. Ibid. Ibid. Letter from Borrow to the Rev. A. Brandram, 27th February 1837. As the method adopted was practically the same in every town he visited, no further reference need be made to the fact, and in the brief survey of the journeys that Borrow himself has described so graphically, only incidents that tend to throw light upon his character or disposition, and such as he has not recorded himself, will be dealt with. Via Pitiegua, Pedroso, Medina del Campo, DueÑas Palencia.
“I suffered dreadfully during this journey,” Borrow wrote, “as did likewise my man and horses, for the heat was the fiercest which I have ever known, and resembled the breath of the simoon or the air from an oven’s mouth.”—Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 5th July 1837. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 5th July 1837. The Bible in Spain, pages 352–4. The Bible in Spain, page 364. This is the story particularly referred to by Richard Ford in report upon the MS. of The Bible in Spain. In the Report to the General Committee of the Bible Society on Past and Future Operations in Spain, November 1838. The Bible in Spain, page 409. In The Bible in Spain Borrow says he was arrested on suspicion of being the Pretender himself; but in a letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 15th September 1837, he says that he and his guide were seized as Carlist spies, and makes no mention of Don Carlos. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 15th September 1837. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 29th September 1837. By way of Ferrol, Novales, Santa MarÍa, Coisa d’Ouro, Viviero, Foz, RivadÉo, Castro PÓl, NavÁia, Luarca, the Caneiro, Las Bellotas, Soto LuiÑo, Muros, AvilÉs and Gijon. To the Rev. A. Brandram, 29th Sept. 1837. The story also appears in The Bible in Spain, pages 479–480. Borrow’s original idea in printing only the New Testament was that in Spain and Portugal he deemed it better not to publish the whole Bible, at least not “until the inhabitants become christianised,” because the Old Testament “is so infinitely entertaining to the carnal man,” and he feared that in consequence the New Testament would be little read. Later he saw his mistake, and was constantly asking for Bibles, for which there was a big demand. To Rev. A. Brandram, 29th September 1837. George Dawson Flinter, an Irishman in the service of Queen Isabella II., who fought for his adopted Queen with courage and distinction, and eventually committed suicide as a protest against the monstrously unjust conspiracy to bring about his ruin, September 1838. By way of OntanÉda, OÑa, BÚrgos, Vallodolid, Guadarrama. General Report, withdrawn. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 1st November 1837. The Bible in Spain, page 507. He was created G.C.B. 19th Oct. 1837. Letter from Borrow to the Rev. A. Brandram, 20th Nov. 1837. To the Rev. A. Brandram, 20th Nov. 1837. History of the British and Foreign Bible Society, W. Canton. Letter from Borrow to Rev. A. Brandram, 30th March 1838. Mr Brandram wrote to Graydon (12th April 1838): “Mr Rule being at Madrid and having conferred with Mr Borrow and Sir George Villiers, it appears to have struck them all three that a visit on your part to Cadiz and Seville could not at present be advantageous to our cause.” Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 20th November 1837. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 28th November 1837. The comment on the badness of the London edition had reference to the translation, which Borrow had condemned with great vigour; he subsequently admitted that he had been too sweeping in his disapproval. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 28th November 1837. Sir George Villiers to Viscount Palmerston, 5th May 1838. Ibid. The Gypsies of Spain, page 241. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 25th Dec. 1837. These Bibles fetched, the large edition (Borrow wrote “I would give my right hand for a thousand of them”) 17s. each, and the smaller 7s. each, whereas the New Testaments fetched about half-a crown. Letter dated 16th Jan. 1838. In The Bible in Spain he says “the greater part,” in The Gypsies of Spain he says “the whole.” The Gypsies of Spain, page 275. The Gypsies of Spain, page 280. Ibid. Ibid., page 282. On 25th December 1837. It is strange that Borrow should insist that he had Sir George Villiers’ approval; for Sir George himself has clearly stated that he strongly opposed the opening of the Despacho. 15th January 1838. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 30th March 1838. In The Gypsies of Spain Borrow gives the number as 500 (page 281); but the Resolution, confirmed 20th March 1837, authorised the printing of 250 copies only. In all probability the figures given by Borrow are correct, as in a letter to Mr Brandram, dated 18th July 1839, he gives his unsold stock of books at Madrid as:—
| Of Testaments | 962 |
| Of Gospels in the Gypsy Tongue | 286 |
| Of ditto in Basque | 394 |
Original Report, withdrawn. The Gypsies of Spain, pages 280–1. Letter from Borrow to Rev. A. Brandram, 17th March 1838. The History of the British and Foreign Bible Society, by W. Canton. Mr Canton writes in The History of the British and Foreign Bible Society: “His [Graydon’s] opportunity was indeed unprecedented; and had he but more accurately appreciated the unstable political conditions of the country, the susceptibilities, suspicious and precarious tenure of ministers and placemen, the temper of the priesthood, their sensitive attachment to certain tenets of their faith, and their enormous influence over the civil power, there is reason to believe that he might have brought his mission to a happier and more permanent issue.” [11th] May 1838. Letter from George Borrow to Rev. A. Brandram [11th] May 1838. 23rd April 1838. The Marin episode is amazing. The object of distributing the Scriptures was to enlighten men’s minds and bring about conversion, and a priest was a distinct capture, more valuable by far than a peasant, and likely to influence others; yet when they had got him no one appears to have known exactly what to do, and all were anxious to get rid of him again. The Bible in Spain, page 536. Ibid. Original Report, withdrawn. Original Report, withdrawn. Sometimes this personage is referred to in official papers as the “Political Chief,” a too literal translation of GefÉ Politico. In all cases it has been altered to Civil Governor to preserve uniformity. Many of the official translations of Foreign Office papers can only be described as grotesque. This is the official translation among the Foreign Office papers at the Record Office. The Bible in Spain, page 539. There is an error in the dating of this letter. It should be 1st May. In a letter to Count Ofalia, Sir George Villiers states that “George Borrow, fearing violence, prudently abstained from going to his ordinary place of abode.” Borrow pays a magnificent and well-deserved tribute to this queen among landladies. (The Bible in Spain, pages 256–7.) She was always his friend and frequently his counsellor, thinking nothing of the risk she ran in standing by him during periods of danger. She refused all inducements to betray him to his enemies, and, thoroughly deserved the eulogy that Borrow pronounced upon her. It was subsequently stated that the arrest was ordered because Borrow had refused to recognise the Civil Governor’s authority and made use “of offensive expressions” towards his person. The Civil Governor had no authority over British subjects, and Borrow was right in his refusal to acknowledge his jurisdiction. The Bible in Spain, page 547. Dispatch from Sir George Villiers to Viscount Palmerston, 5th May. Ibid. Despatch from Sir George Villiers to Viscount Palmerston, 12th May 1838. Ibid. Despatch from Sir George Villiers to Viscount Palmerston. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 17th May 1838. Despatch from Sir George Villiers to Viscount Palmerston, 5th May 1838. In a letter to the Rev. A. Brandram, 17th May 1838. The Official Translation among the Foreign Office Papers at the Record Office. Mr William Mark’s (the British Consul at Malaga) Official account of the occurrence, 16th May 1838. Mr William Mark’s (the British Consul at Malaga) Official account of the occurrence, 16th May 1838. Ibid. Despatch to Viscount Palmerston, 12th May 1838. Ibid. Despatch to Viscount Palmerston, 12th May 1838. Ibid. Sir George Villiers’ Despatch to Viscount Palmerston, 12th May 1838. The Official Translation among the Foreign Office Papers at the Record Office. The Bible in Spain, page 578. The Gypsies of Spain, page 241. The Bible in Spain, page 579. History of the British and Foreign Bible Society. By W. Canton. On [11th] May 1838. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 17th May 1838. Letter from Borrow to Rev. A. Brandram, 25th May 1838. The Official Translation among the Foreign Office Papers at the Record Office. Sir George Villiers to Count Ofalia, 25th May 1838. Letter to Mr A. Brandram, 25th May 1838. At the time of writing Borrow had not seen any of these tracts himself; but Sir George Villiers, who had, expressed the opinion that “one or two of them were outrages not only to common sense but to decency.”—Borrow to the Rev. A. Brandram, 25th June 1838. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 14th June 1838. Letter from Borrow to Rev. A. Brandram, 14th June 1838. Ibid. The quotations from Lieut. Graydon’s tracts were not sent by Borrow to Mr Brandram until some weeks later. They ran:—A True History of the Dolorous Virgin to whom the Rebellious and Fanatical Don Carlos Has Committed His Cause and the Ignorance which It Displays.
Extracts.
Page 17. You will readily see in all those grandiose epithets showered upon Mary, the work of the enemy of God, which tending essentially towards idolatry has managed, under the cloak of Christianity, to introduce idolatry, and endeavours to divert to a creature, and even to the image of that creature, the adoration which is due to God alone. Without doubt it is with this very object that on all sides we see erected statues of Mary, adorned with a crown, and bearing in her arms a child of tender years, as though to accustom the populace intimately to the idea of Mary’s superiority over Jesus.
Page 30. This, then, is our conclusion. In recognising and sanctioning this cult, the Church of Rome constitutes itself an idolatrous Church, and every member of it who is incapable of detecting the truth behind the monstrous accumulation of impieties with which they veil it, is proclaimed by the Church as condemned to perdition. The guiding light of this Church, which they are not ashamed to smother or to procure the smothering of, by which nevertheless they hold their authority, to be plain, the word of God, should at least teach them, if they set any value on the Spirit of Christ, that their Papal Bulls would be better directed to the cleansing of the Roman Church from all its iniquities than to the promulgation of such unjust prohibitions. Yet in struggling against better things, this Church is protecting and hallowing in all directions an innumerable collection of superstitions and false cults, and it is clear that by this means it is abased and labelled as one of the principal agents of Anti-Christ. The History of the British and Foreign Bible Society, by W. Canton. This letter reached Borrow when his “foot was in the stirrup,” as he phrased it, ready to set out for the Sagra of Toledo. He felt that it could only have originated with “the enemy of mankind for the purpose of perplexing my already harrassed and agitated mind”; but he continues, “merely exclaiming ‘Satan, I defy thee,’ I hurried to the Sagra. . . . But it is hard to wrestle with the great enemy.” General Report, withdrawn. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 14th July 1838. Mr Brandram informed Borrow that the General Committee wished him to visit England if he could do so without injury to the cause (29th June). Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 14th July 1838. The Bible in Spain, page 602. Ibid., page 606. Ibid., page 606. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 27th July 1838. This would have been impossible. If his age were seventy-four, he would of necessity have been four years old in 1838. By Mr A. G. Jayne in “Footprints of George Borrow,” in The Bible in the World, July 1908. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 17th July 1838. This letter, in which there was a hint of desperation, disturbed the officials at Earl Street a great deal. Mr Brandram wrote (28th July) that he was convinced that the Committee would “still feel that if you are to continue to act with them they must see you, and I will only add that it is utterly foreign to their wishes that you should expose yourself in the daring manner you are now doing. I lose not a post in conveying this impression to you.” The Translation of this communication runs:—“Madrid, 7th July 1838—I have the honour to inform your Excellency that according to official advices received in the first Secretary of State’s Office, it appears that in Malaga, Murcia, Valladolid, and Santiago, copies of the New Testament of Padre Scio, without notes, have been exposed for sale, which have been deposited with the political chiefs of the said provinces, or in the hands of such persons as the chiefs have entrusted with them in Deposit; it being necessary further to observe that the parties giving them up have uniformly stated that they belonged to Mr Borrow, and that they were commissioned by him to sell and dispose of them.
“Under these circumstances, Her Majesty’s Government have deemed it expedient that I should address your Excellency, in order that the above may be intimated to the beforementioned Mr Borrow, so that he may take care that the copies in question, as well as those which have been seized in this City, and which are packed up in cases or parcels marked and sealed, may be sent out of the Kingdom of Spain, agreeably to the Royal order with which your Excellency is already acquainted, and through the medium of the respective authorities who will be able to vouch for their Exportation. To this Mr Borrow will submit in the required form, and with the understanding that he formally binds himself thereto, they will remain in the meantime in the respective depots.” General Report, withdrawn. Borrow’s letter to the Rev. A. Brandram, 1st Sept. 1838. To Lord William Hervey, ChargÉ d’Affaires at Madrid (23rd Aug. 1838). To Rev. G. Browne, one of the Secretaries of the Bible Society, 29th Aug. 1838. To Rev. A. Brandram, 19th September 1838.
The Bible in Spain, page 621. Letter to Dr Usoz, 22nd Feb. 1839. Ibid. Ibid. The Report has here been largely drawn upon and has been referred to as “Original Report, withdrawn.” History of the British and Foreign Bible Society. On the publication of The Bible in Spain the Prophetess became famous. Thirty-six years later Dr Knapp found her still soliciting alms, and she acknowledged that she owed her celebrity to the InglÉs rubio, the blonde Englishman. The Bible in Spain, page 627. To Rev. A. Brandram, 25th Jan. 1839. On 6th Feb. 1839. Letter to Mr W. Hitchin of the Bible Society, 9th March 1839. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 26th March 1839. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 10th April 1839. Letter to the Rev. A. Brandram, 2nd May 1839. Excursions Along the Shores of the Mediterranean, by Lt.-Col. E. Napier, 46th Regt. Colburn, 1842, 2 vols. Ibid. Excursions Along the Shores of the Mediterranean, by Lt.-Col. E. Napier, 46th Regt. Colburn, 1842, 2 vols. A reference to Charles Robert Maturin’s Melmoth the Wanderer, 4 vols., 1820. This book was republished in 3 vols. in 1892, an almost unparalleled instance of the reissue of a practically forgotten book in a form closely resembling that of the original. Melmoth the Wanderer was referred to in the most enthusiastic terms by Balzac, Thackeray and Baudelaire among others. The Bible in Spain, page 663. Maria Diaz had written on 24th May: “Calzado has been here to see if I would sell him the lamps that belong to the shop [the Despacho]. He is willing to give four dollars for them, and he says they cost five, so if you want me to sell them to him, you must let me know. It seems he is going to set up a beer-shop.” It is not on record whether or no the lamps from the Bible Society’s Despacho eventually illuminated a beer-shop. Letter from Borrow to the Rev. A. Brandram, 28th June 1839. 28th June. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 18th July 1839. Letter from Borrow to Rev. A. Brandram, 29th Sept. 1839. Ibid. Mr John M. Brackenbury, in writing to Mr Brandram, made it quite clear that he had no doubt that the “inhibition was assuredly accelerated, if not absolutely occasioned, by the indiscretion of some of those who entered Spain for the avowed object of circulating the Scriptures, and of others who, not being Agents of the British and Foreign Bible Society, were nevertheless considered to be connected with it, as they distributed your editions of the Old and New Testaments. Our objects were defeated and your interests injured, therefore, when the Spanish Government required the departure from this country of those who, by other acts and deeds wholly distinct from the distribution of Bibles and Testaments, had been infracting the Laws, Civil and Ecclesiastical.” Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 29th Sept. 1839. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 29th Sept. 1839. Ibid. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 25th Nov. 1839. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 25th Nov. 1839. From the Public Record Office. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 25th Nov. 1839. Rev. Wentworth Webster in The Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society. The phrasing of the official translation has everywhere been followed. The Official Translation among the Foreign Office Papers at the Record Office. 28th Dec. 1839. Henrietta played “remarkably well on the guitar—not the trumpery German thing so-called—but the real Spanish guitar.”—Wild Wales, page 6. Wild Wales, page 6. Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 18th March 1840. Ibid. The Romany Rye, page 312. Ibid., page 313. Wild Wales, page 289. Lavengro, page 261. The Romany Rye, page 22. The Journals of Caroline Fox. The Letters of Richard Ford 1797–1858.—Edited, R. E. Prothero, M.V.O., 1905. Ibid. The Gypsies of Spain, page xiv. E[lizabeth] H[arvey] in The Eastern Daily Press, 1st Oct. 1892. The Gypsies of Spain, page 238. E[lizabeth] H[arvey] in The Eastern Daily Press, 1st Oct. 1892. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. E[lizabeth] H[arvey] in The Eastern Daily Press, 1st Oct. 1892. Ibid. The Bible in Spain, page 41. E[lizabeth] H[arvey] in The Eastern Daily Press, 1st Oct. 1892. In The Eastern Daily Press, 1st Oct. 1892. She also tells how “at the Exhibition in 1851, whither we went with his step-daughter, he spoke to the different foreigners in their own languages, until his daughter saw some of them whispering together and looking as if they thought he was ‘uncanny,’ and she became alarmed, and drew him away.” Ibid. The Gypsies of Spain, page vii. A Publisher and His Friends. Samuel Smiles. Richard Ford, 1796–1858. Critic and author. Spent several years in touring about Spain on horseback. Published in 1845, Hand-Book for Travellers in Spain. Contributed to the Edinburgh, Quarterly, and Westminster Reviews from 1837. The Letters of Richard Ford, 1797–1858. Ed. R. E. Prothero, M.V.O., 1905. Dr. Knapp points out that the title is inaccurate, there being no such word as “Zincali.” It should be “ZincalÉ.” The Letters of Richard Ford, 1797–1858. Ed. R. E. Prothero, M.V.O., 1905. The Gypsies of Spain, page 1. As the current edition of The Zincali has been retitled The Gypsies of Spain, reference is made to it throughout this work under that title and to the latest edition. The Gypsies of Spain, page 32. The Gypsies of Spain, page 81. Ibid., page 186. Ibid., page 283. The Gypsies of Spain, page 274. Introduction to Lavengro. The Little Library, Methuen, 2 vols., 1, xxiii.-xxiv. C. G. Leland expressed himself to the same effect. Academy, 13th July 1874. Wild Wales, page 186. The Bible in Spain, page 64. Lavengro, page 81. Ford to John Murray. The Letters of Richard Ford, 1797–1858. Ed. R. E. Prothero, M.V.O., 1905. Ford to John Murray. The Letters of Richard Ford, 1797–1858. Ed. R. E. Prothero, M.V.O., 1905. Dr Knapp’s Life of George Borrow. The Letters of Richard Ford, 1797–1858. Edited, R. E. Prothero, M.V.O., 1905. Times, 12th April 1843, Hansard’s summary reads: “It might have been said, to Mr Borrow with respect to Spain, that it would be impossible to distribute the Bible in that country in consequence of the danger of offending the prejudices which prevail there; yet he, a private individual, by showing some zeal in what he believed to be right, succeeded in triumphing over many obstacles.” This is obviously the letter that Borrow paraphrases at the end of Chapter XLII. of The Bible in Spain. In the Appendix to The Romany Rye Borrow wrote, “Having the proper pride of a gentleman and a scholar, he did not, in the year ’43, choose to permit himself to be exhibited and made a zany of in London.” Page 355. Letters to John Murray, 27th Jan. and 13th March, 1843. Letters to John Murray, 27th Jan. and 13th March, 1843. Borrow wrote later on that he was “a sincere member of the old-fashioned Church of England, in which he believes there is more religion, and consequently less cant, than in any other Church in the world” (The Romany Rye, page 346). On another occasion he gave the following reason for his adherence to it: “Because I believe it is the best religion to get to heaven by” (Wild Wales, page 520). No trace can be found among the Bible Society Records of any such translation. This portrait has sometimes been ascribed to Thomas Phillips, R.A., in error. Memories of Old Friends (1835–1871). London 1882. Memories of Eighty Years, page 164. E[lizabeth] H[arvey] in The Eastern Daily Press, 1st Oct. 1892. E[lizabeth] H[arvey] in The Eastern Daily Express, 1st Oct. 1892. Journals and Correspondence of Lady Eastlake, ed. by C. E. Smith, 1895. The Romany Rye, page 344. Dr Knapp’s Life of George Borrow, ii. 44. Hungary in 1851. By Charles L. Brace. Mrs Borrow to John Murray, 4th June 1844. Memoirs, C. G. Leland, 1893. Both these MSS. were acquired by the Trustees of the British Museum in 1892 by purchase. The Gypsy Vocabulary runs to fifty-four Folios and the Bohemian Grammar to seventeen Folios. 24th April 1841. Dr Knapp’s Life of George Borrow, ii. page 5. As late even as 13th March 1851, Dr Hake wrote to Mrs Borrow: “He [Borrow] had better carry on his biography in three more volumes.” Mr A. Egmont Hake in AthenÆum, 13th Aug. 1881. There is something inexplicable about these dates. On 6th November Borrow agrees to alter a passage that in the 14th of the previous July he refers to as already amended. Vestiges of Borrow: Some Personal Reminiscences, The Globe, 21st July 1896. Mr A. Egmont Hake in AthenÆum, 13th Aug. 1881. The Gypsies of Spain, page 287. “His sympathies were confined to the gypsies. Where he came they followed. Where he settled, there they pitched their greasy and horribly smelling camps. It pleased him to be called their King. He was their Bard also, and wrote songs for them in that language of theirs which he professed to consider not only the first, but the finest of the human modes of speech. He liked to stretch himself large and loose-limbed before the wood fires of their encampment and watch their graceful movements among the tents” (Vestiges of Borrow: Some Personal Reminiscences, Globe, 21st July 1896). This was said in the presence of Mr F. G. Bowring, son of Dr Bowring. Mr F. J. Bowring writes: “I was myself present at Borrow’s last call, when he came to take tea as usual, and not a word of the kind [as given in the Appendix], was delivered.” There is no record of any correspondence with Borrow among the Museum Archives. Dr F. G. Kenyon, C.B., to whom I am indebted for this information, suggests that the communications may have been verbal. Memoirs of Eighty Years. By Dr Gordon Hake, 1892. Annals of the Harford Family. Privately printed, 1909. Mr Theodore Watts-Dunton, in the AthenÆum, 25th March 1899, has been successful in giving a convincing picture of Borrow: “As to his countenance,” he writes, “‘noble’ is the only word that can be used to describe it. The silvery whiteness of the thick crop of hair seemed to add in a remarkable way to the beauty of the hairless face, but also it gave a strangeness to it, and this strangeness was intensified by a certain incongruity between the features (perfect Roman-Greek in type), and the Scandinavian complexion, luminous and sometimes rosy as an English girl’s. An increased intensity was lent by the fair skin to the dark lustre of the eyes. What struck the observer, therefore, was not the beauty but the strangeness of the man’s appearance.” Memoirs of Eighty Years. By Dr Gordon Hake, 1892. E[lizabeth] H[arvey] in The Eastern Daily Press, 1st Oct. 1892. The story is narrated by Dr Augustus Jessopp in the AthenÆum, 8th July 1893. Wild Wales, page 487. Wild Wales, page 36 et seq. Memoirs of Eighty Years. By Dr Gordon Hake, 1892. Memoirs of Eighty Years. By Dr Gordon Hake, 1892. Memoirs of Eighty Years. By Dr Gordon Hake, 1892. George Borrow in East Anglia. W. A. Dutt. Memoirs of Eighty Years. By Dr Gordon Hake, 1892. William Bodham Donne and His Friends. By Catherine B. Johnson. William Whewell (1794–1866), Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, 1848–66; Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, 1843–56; secured in 1847 the election of the Prince Consort as Chancellor; enlarged the buildings of Trinity College and founded professorship and scholarships for international law. Published and edited many works on natural and mathematical science, philosophy, theology and sermons. Mr John Murray in Good Words. To John Murray; the letter is in Mrs Borrow’s hand but drafted by Borrow himself, 29th Jan. 1855. 16th April 1845. See post. The Romany Rye, page 338. Life of Frances Power Cable, by herself. Borrow goes on to an anti-climax when he states that he “believes him [Scott] to have been by far the greatest [poet], with perhaps the exception of Mickiewicz, who only wrote for unfortunate Poland, that Europe has given birth to during the last hundred years.” The Romany Rye, pages 344–5. Romano Lavo-Lil, page 274. The Romany Rye, page 134. Letter from Borrow to Dr Usoz, 22nd Feb. 1839. Macmillan’s Magazine, vol. 45. “Notes upon George Borrow” prefaced to an edition of Lavengro. Ward, Lock & Co. Mr W. Elvin in the AthenÆum, 6th Aug. 1881. John Wilson Croker (1780–1857): Politician and Essayist; friend of Canning and Peel. At one time Temporary Chief Secretary for Ireland and later Secretary of the Admiralty. Supposed to have been the original of Rigby in Disraeli’s Coningsby. Mr Theodore Watts-Dunton, “Notes upon George Borrow” prefaced to an edition of Lavengro. Ward, Lock & Co. The Rt. Hon. Augustine Birrell in Obiter Dicta, and Series, 1887. Francis Hindes Groome in Bookman, May 1899. “Swimming is a noble exercise, but it certainly does not tend to mortify either the flesh or the spirit.”—The Bible in Spain, page 688. Mr John Murray in Good Words. In The Eastern Daily Press, 1st October 1892. Borrow’s reference is to the county motto, “One and All.” The Life of George Borrow, by Dr Knapp, ii., 79–80. George Borrow, by R. A. J. Walling. George Borrow, by R. A. J. Walling. George Borrow, by R. A. J. Walling. The Life of George Borrow, by Dr Knapp. This is rather awkwardly phrased, as Mrs Borrow was alive at that date. The first reference to the famous Appendix is contained in a letter to John Murray (11th Nov. 1853) in which Borrow writes: “In answer to your inquiries about the fourth volume of Lavengro, I beg leave to say that I am occasionally occupied upon it. I shall probably add some notes.” The Life of George Borrow, by Dr Knapp. The Life of George Borrow, by Dr Knapp. Wild Wales, page 6. There appears to have been a slight cast in his (Borrow’s) left eye. The Queen of the Nokkums remarked that, like Will Faa, he had “a skellying look with the left eye” (Romano Lavo-Lil, page 267). Mr F. H. Bowring, who frequently met him, states that he “had a slight cast in the eye.” E[lizabeth] H[arvey] in The Eastern Daily Press, 1st Oct. 1892. Ellen Jones actually wrote—
Ellen Jones
yn pithyn pell
i gronow owen
Wild Wales, pages 227–8. This was the mason of whom Borrow enquired the way, and who “stood for a moment or two, as if transfixed, a trowel motionless in one of his hands, and a brick in the other,” who on recovering himself replied in “tolerable Spanish.”—Wild Wales, page 225. Wild Wales, page 5. These particulars have been courteously supplied by Mr George Porter of Denbigh, who interviewed Mrs Thomas on 27th Dec. 1910. Borrow’s accuracy in Wild Wales was photograph. The Norwich jeweller Rossi mentioned in Wild Wales (page 159 et seq.) was a friend of Borrow’s with whom he frequently spent an evening: conversing in Italian, “being anxious to perfect himself in that language.” I quote from a letter from his son Mr Theodore Rossi. “There was an entire absence of pretence about him and we liked him very much—he always seemed desirous of learning.” This story is told by Mr F. J. Bowring, son of Sir John Bowring. He heard it from Mrs Roberts, the landlady of the inn. Wild Wales, page 274. Wild Wales, page 130. Wild Wales, page 130. Wild Wales, page 150. These carvels were written by such young people as thought themselves “endowed with the poetic gift, to compose carols some time before Christmas, and to recite them in the parish churches. Those pieces which were approved of by the clergy were subsequently chanted by their authors through their immediate neighbourhoods.” (Introduction to Bayr Jairgey, Borrow’s projected book on the Isle of Man.) Painted by H. W. Phillips in 1843. Vestiges of Borrow: Some Personal Reminiscences. The Globe, 21st July 1896. The Anglo-Saxon scholar (1795–1857), who though paralysed during the whole of her life visited Rome, Athens and other places. She was the first woman elected a member of the British Association. To judge from Borrow’s opinion of O’Connell previously quoted, “notoriety” would have been a more appropriate word in his case. Given to the Rev. A. W. Upcher and related by him in The AthenÆum, 22nd July 1893. Lavengro, page 361. The Romany Rye, page 309. Wild Wales, page 285. The Eastern Daily Press, 1st Oct. 1892. Garcin de Tassy. Note sur les RubÂ’ÏyÂt de ’Omar KhaÏyam, which appeared in the Journal Asiatique. Letters and Literary Remains of Edward FitzGerald, 1889. Songs of Europe, or Metrical Translations from All the European Languages, With Brief Prefatory Remarks on Each Language and its Literature. 2 vols. (Advertised as “Ready for the Press” at the end of The Romany Rye. See page 438.) Rev. Whitwell Elwin, editor of The Quarterly Review. See post, p. 431. Elwin could not very well have known Borrow all his, Borrow’s life, as Dr Knapp states, for he was fifteen years younger, being born 26th Feb. 1816. Some XVIII. Century Men of Letters. Ed. Warwick Elwin, 1902. Some XVIII. Century Men of Letters. Ed. Warwick Elwin, 1902. Some XVIII. Century Men of Letters. Ed. Warwick Elwin, 1902. Entitled Roving Life in England. March 1857. Elwin had already testified, also in The Quarterly Review, to the accuracy of Borrow’s portrait of B. R. Haydon in Lavengro, as confirmed by documentary evidence, and this after first reading the account as “a comic exaggeration.” Letters and Literary Remains of Edward FitzGerald, 1889. Mr A. Egmont Hake in AthenÆum, 13th Aug. 1881. Works by the Author of The Bible in Spain, ready for the Press.
In Two Volumes, Celtic Bards, Chiefs, and Kings.—In Two Volumes, Wild Wales, Its People, Language, and Scenery.—In Two Volumes, Songs of Europe; or, Metrical Translations From all the European Languages. With brief Prefatory Remarks on each Language and its Literature.—In Two Volumes, Koempe Viser; Songs about Giants and Heroes. With Romantic and Historical Ballads, Translated from the Ancient Danish. With an Introduction and Copious Notes.—In One Volume, The Turkish Jester; or, The Pleasantries of Cogia Nasr Eddin Efendi. Translated from the Turkish. With an Introduction.—In Two Volumes, Penquite and Pentyre; or, The Head of the Forest and the Headland. A Book on Cornwall.—In One Volume, Russian Popular Tales, With an Introduction and Notes. Contents:—The Story of Emelian the Fool; The Story of the Frog and the Hero; The Story of the Golden Mountain; The Story of the Seven Sevenlings; The Story of the Eryslan; The Story of the Old Man and his Son, the Crane; The Story of the Daughter of the Stroey; The Story of Klim; The Story of Prince Vikor; The Story of Prince Peter; The Story of Yvashka with the Bear’s Ear.—In One Volume, The Sleeping Bard; or, Visions of the World, Death, & Hell. By Master Elis Wyn. Translated from the Cambrian British.—In Two Volumes (Unfinished), Northern-Skalds, Kings, and Earls.—The Death of Balder; A Heroic Play. Translated from the Danish of Evald.—In One Volume, Bayr Jairgey and Glion Doo: The Red Path and the Black Valley. Wanderings in Quest of Manx Literature. “She was a lady of striking figure and very graceful manners, perhaps more serious than vivacious.”—Mr A. Egmont Hake in The AthenÆum, 13th August 1881. She bequeathed to her son by will “all and every thing” of which she died possessed, charging him with the delivery of any gift to any other person she might desire. Wild Wales, page 548. These particulars have been kindly supplied by Mr D. B. Hill of Mattishall, Norfolk. Mr. A. Egmont Hake in The AthenÆum, 13th Aug. 1881. The Life of Frances Power Cobbe, by Herself, 1894. The Life of Frances Power Cobbe, by Herself, 1894. “In Defence of Borrow,” prefixed to The Romany Rye. Ward, Locke & Co. Vestiges of Borrow; Some Personal Reminiscences. The Globe, 21st July 1896. The AthenÆum, 13th August 1881. Mr A. Egmont Hake in Macmillan’s Magazine, November 1881. Mr A. Egmont Hake in The AthenÆum, 13th August 1881. Memoirs of Eighty Years, by Dr Gordon Hake, 1892. The AthenÆum, 10th September 1881. The AthenÆum, 10th September 1881. The AthenÆum, 13th August 1881. “Sherry drinkers, . . . I often heard him say in a tone of positive loathing, he despised. He had a habit of speaking in a measured syllabic manner, if he wished to express dislike or contempt, which was certainly very effective. He would say: ‘If you want to have the Sherry tang, get Madeira (that’s a gentleman’s wine), and throw into it two or three pairs of old boots, and you’ll get the taste of the pig skins they carry the Sherry about in.”—Rev. J. R. P. Berkeley’s Recollections. The Life of George Borrow, by Dr Knapp. Life of Frances Power Cobbe, by Herself, 1894. The Geologist, 1797–1875. The Life of Frances Power Cobbe, by Herself, 1894. Charles Godfrey Leland, by E. R. Pennell, 1908 Memoirs, by C. G. Leland, 1893. In her biography of Leland, Mrs Pennell states that an American woman, a Mrs Lewis (“Estelle”) introduced Leland to Borrow at the British Museum and that they talked Gypsy. “I hear he expressed himself as greatly pleased with me,” was Leland’s comment. The correspondence clearly shows that Leland called on Borrow. Memoirs of C. G. Leland, 1893. Memoirs of C. G. Leland, 1893. Leland’s annoyance with Borrow did not prevent him paying to his memory the following tribute:—
“What I admire in Borrow to such a degree that before it his faults or failings seem very trifling, is his absolutely vigorous, marvellously varied originality, based on direct familiarity with Nature, but guided and cultured by the study of natural, simple writers, such as Defoe and Smollett. I think that the ‘interest’ in, or rather sympathy for gypsies, in his case as in mine, came not from their being curious or dramatic beings, but because they are so much a part of free life, of out-of-doors Nature; so associated with sheltered nooks among rocks and trees, the hedgerow and birds, river-sides, and wild roads. Borrow’s heart was large and true as regarded English rural life; there was a place in it for everything which was of the open air and freshly beautiful.”—Memoirs of C. G. Leland, 1893. Romano Lavo-Lil. Word-Book of the Romany, or English Gypsy Language. With Specimens of Gypsy Poetry, and an Account of Certain Gypsyries or Places Inhabited by Them, and of Various Things Relating to Gypsy Life in England. “There were not two educated men in England who possessed the slightest knowledge of Romany.”—F. H. Groome in Academy,—13th June 1874. F. H. Groome in Academy, 13th June 1874. Ibid. The AthenÆum, 17th March 1888. The Bookman, February 1893. The AthenÆum, 10th Sept. 1881. William Bodham Donne and His Friends. Edited by Catherine B. Johnson, 1905. Mr T. Watts-Dunton, in The AthenÆum, 3rd Sept. 1881. Mr A. Egmont Hake, in The AthenÆum, 13th Aug. 1881. The Life of George Borrow, by Dr Knapp. East Anglia, by J. Ewing Ritchie, 1883. George Borrow in East Anglia. W. E. Henley. The AthenÆum, 25th March 1899. Many attacks have been made upon Borrow’s memory: one well-known man of letters and divine has gone to lengths that can only be described as unpardonable. It is undesirable to do more than deplore the lapse that no doubt the writer himself has already deeply regretted. Memoirs of Eighty Years, 1892. Mr A. Egmont Hake in The AthenÆum, 13th August 1881. In The Bible in Spain. “Next to the love of God, the love of country is the best preventative of crime.” (Page 53.) The Bible in Spain, page 97. Mr Thomas Seccombe in The Bookman, Feb. 1892. Wild Wales, page 628.
