  Bengui, Romany word for “devil.” Borrow loved the wind. There is no reason for discrediting Mr. Petulengro’s affection for it, but it should be pointed out that gypsies in general, like all tent-dwellers, regard it as their principal enemy among the elemental forces. Thurtell, of course, figures in De Quincey’s essay “On Murder as One of the Fine Arts,” in which he guided the studies of his readers “from Cain to Mr. Thurtell.” De Quincey whimsically declared that Thurtell’s was an inferior performance; its style was “as harsh as Albert DÜrer and as coarse as Fuseli.” The case created as great a sensation as any murder trial of the nineteenth century. The circumstances were peculiarly gruesome, for it was affirmed that Thurtell and his accomplices, after throwing the body into a pond, went away and sat down to a supper of roast pork; but afterwards, fearing that the body might be discovered where they had placed it, took it up and dropped it in another pond. Thurtell’s arrest was a great surprise; his neighbours accounted him a gentleman. This led to the celebrated definition, given at the trial by one of the witnesses, who was asked, “What do you mean by a gentleman?” and answered, “Well, a person who drives a gig.” The letter may be consulted in Dr. Knapp. Opinions have differed acutely about Quesada. Richard Ford’s letters show that he held the general of the Army of the Faith in considerable respect. Borrow himself devoted one of the most fascinating chapters of “The Bible in Spain” to a sketch of Quesada. Through the kind exertions of Sir John Bowring’s sons, Mr. Lewin Bowring, of Torquay, and Mr. F. H. Bowring, of Hampstead. It will be useful to print this letter in full:— “Oulton, Lowestoft, Suffolk.
June 14, 1842. “My dear Sir,—Pray excuse my troubling you with a line. I wish you would send me as many of the papers and manuscripts, which I left at yours some twelve years ago, as you can find. Amongst others, there is an essay on Welsh Poetry, a translation of the Death of Balder, etc. If I am spared to the beginning of next year I intend to bring out a volume called ‘Songs of Denmark,’ consisting of some selections from the K. Viser, and specimens from Evald, Gruntvig, OehlenschlÄger, etc. I suppose that I must give a few notices of those people. Have you any history of Danish literature from which I could glean a few hints? I think you have a book in two volumes containing specimens of Danish poetry. It would be useful to me, as I want to translate Ingemann’s ‘Dannebrog,’ and one or two other pieces. I shall preface all with an essay on the Danish language. It is possible that a book of this description may take, as Denmark is quite an untrodden field. “Could you lend me for a short time a Polish and French or Polish and German dictionary? I am going carefully through Mukiewitz, about whom I intend to write an article. “‘The Bible in Spain’ is in the Press, and, with God’s permission, will appear about November, in three volumes. I shall tell Murray to send a copy to my oldest, I may say my only, friend. Pray let me know how you are getting on. I every now and then see your name in the Examiner, the only paper I read. Should you send the papers and the books, it must be by the Yarmouth coach, which starts from Tottenham. Address—George Borrow, Crown Inn, Lowestoft, Suffolk. With kindest remembrances to Mrs. B., Miss B., and family, “I remain, dear Sir, “Ever yours, “George Borrow. “Doctor Bowring.”
Borrow contemplated carrying out a plan of his own for the teaching of the Gospel. On December 27th, 1835, he wrote from Evora in the Alemtejo to Dr. Bowring as follows:— “For the last six weeks I have been wandering amongst the wilds of the Alemtejo, and have introduced myself to its rustics, banditti, etc., and become very popular amongst them; but as it is much more easy to introduce oneself to the cottage than the hall (though I am not utterly unknown in the latter) I want you to give or procure me letters to the most liberal and influential minds of Portugal. I likewise want a letter from the Foreign Office to Lord de Walden. In a word, I want to make what interest I can towards obtaining the admission of the Gospel of Jesus into the public schools of Portugal which are about to be established. I beg leave to state that this is my plan and no other person’s, as I was merely sent over to Portugal to observe the disposition of the people, therefore I do not wish to be named as an Agent of the B. S., but as a person who has plans for the mental improvement of the Portuguese; should I receive these letters within the space of six weeks it will be time enough, for before setting up my machine in Portugal I wish to lay the foundation of something similar in Spain.”
Juan Antonio Bailly. See chap, vi., p. 110. Don Luis de UsÓz y Rio was one of Borrow’s staunchest friends in Spain, and looked after his affairs in Madrid while he was on his provincial journeys. UsÓz was largely responsible for the great collection in twenty volumes of the works of Spanish Reformers of the Sixteenth Century. Librarian of the “National.” “The Bible in Spain,” chap. lv. Dr. Knapp, vol. i., p. 341. Eastern Daily Press, October 1st, 1892. Miss Harvey and her sister Susan were two of the closest friends of the Borrows. Their father had been articled to the law at the same time as Borrow, and had similar tastes in sport, and their association was long and genial. The intercourse between these two families led to an important acquaintanceship for Borrow, that of Gordon Hake. See p. 137. Richard Ford was almost as interesting a person as Borrow himself, though a much more amenable. The discoverer of Velazquez was, at the time of their acquaintance, living in Heavitree mainly because his brother James had a prebendal stall in Exeter Cathedral. There he had built himself a house, in which he had expressed his own taste in architecture and decoration. His long series of articles in the Quarterly Review began with an architectural subject, the “cob-walls” of Devonshire—a mixture of “mud” and straw, said to be the warmest, and among the most durable of all walls. Many examples of this form of building remain in the neighbourhood of Exeter. Ford traced a connection between the mud walls of Devon and the concrete used by the Moors and Phoenicians. Ford visited Borrow, at Oulton, in 1844. He was thrice married, the last time in 1851, to Mary, only daughter of Sir A. Molesworth, the head of the distinguished Cornish family of that name. Mrs. Ford still survives, and the author has the privilege of acknowledging her kindly interest and valuable assistance in his inquiries into the relations between Borrow and her husband. This was no case of like to like. Borrow had no great admiration for Le Sage, and supported the absurd theory that “Gil Blas” was “a piratical compilation from the works of old Spanish novelists.” I am indebted to the courtesy of Mrs. Ford for permission to reproduce this letter. Referring to the review of the Handbook for Spain. Lady Bowring’s “Memoir,” prefixed to “Matins and Vespers.” In his “East Anglian Reminiscences.” Daily Chronicle, April 30th, 1900. Quoted by Mr. Watts-Dunton in his introduction to “The Romany Rye”—“In Defence of Borrow” (Minerva Library). Miss Harvey related (in the Eastern Daily Press) a story of Borrow’s prowess as a swimmer and diver. He was bathing with a friend, and after he had plunged under water, nothing was seen of him for so long a time that his companion began to be alarmed. Presently, Borrow’s voice was heard from afar off, crying: “There! If that had been written in one of my books, they would have said it was a lie, wouldn’t they?” Borrow’s admiration of Irish women was comprehensive. He notes that on one of his visits to the vicarage, Berkeley’s aunt was present: “Fine old Irish lady; received me in most kind and hospitable manner.” Later, when Berkeley spent an evening at Penquite, they discussed and compared Irish and Cornish women with many illustrations of points of resemblance in vivacity and difference in character. Related by Mr. Thomas Quiller-Couch to W. C. Hazlitt. Mr. William Pollard, of Woolston, Mr. Robert Pollard, and Mrs. Edey, of Liskeard, and Mrs. Toll, of Pensilva (1908). This is the characteristic Cornish version of the rhyme, as cited by Mr. Couch in “Folklore in a Cornish Village.” The natural rhyme (and the common version) substitutes “birth” for “death.” He records a visit at Tremar to Henry Goodman, ninety years old, who in his boyhood had heard the Cornish language spoken. If this was true, the old tongue must have lingered in these hills after the death of Dolly Pentreath, who in the Far West was said to be the last person who spoke it. And, with regard to the dialect then current, he remarks that he “hardly understood” old Goodman. “Miss Taylor and his daughter, Ann Honeychurch, interpreted.” Miss Every’s companion on this visit was a Miss Hambly—name of ill omen! Mr. William Pollard gave me an amusing addition to Borrow’s observations. “At the beginning of last century,” said he, “things were very different from what they are now. We had no police or anything of the kind, except parish constables. Miss Hambly was a descendant of Edmund Hambly, the parish constable of Menheniot, whom George Borrow’s father fought at Menheniot Fair. He detested the name, and was as near being rude to Miss Hambly as he could be. He neglected her all the evening, while Miss Every was in great feather with him. This is her book.” It was an old edition of “The Gypsies of Spain,” in Murray’s Home and Colonial Library, with the signature “M. Every” in a fine-pointed handwriting and faded ink; the book had been kept with care; here and there it was interleaved with neat little cuttings of sentimental verses, slit from casual newspapers. It should have lain beside a Victorian jar of rose-leaves. This was the locally celebrated Pillar at Boconnoc, on “Druid’s Hill.” It is an unquestionably ancient round-headed cross, raised to its present position by modern piety. See Dr. Knapp’s transcript. I am much indebted for the marshalling of these points of comparison to Mr. S. R. John, the editor of Celtia. R. S. Hawker: “The Quest of the Sangraal.” See Sir Walter Scott: Introduction to “Peveril of the Peak.” Resentment against the alleged injustice of this execution lingered long in some Celtic districts, even those which were most Royalist in tendency. This was the case, at any rate, wherever there were descendants of Christian. So far from the island as Penzance and so far from the date of the event as the ’eighties reference was made to it in tones of indignation at the gathering of a learned society. There was a lineal descendant of Brown William, residing in the town. This letter was written in Spanish, and is translated by Dr. Knapp. The Globe, July 21st, 1896. This was one of Borrow’s favourite hostelries. Another was the Bald-faced Hind, on the hill above Fairlop the “trysting-place” of the gypsies: “There they musters from all parts of England, and there they whoops, dances, and plays; keeping some order nevertheless because the Rye of all the Romans is in the house, seated behind the door” (“Romano Lavo-Lil,” “Kirk Yetholm”). It would have been about the same period that, Borrow being at Dr. Gordon Hake’s house at Coombe End, an encampment of gypsies was formed near by on Wimbledon Common. According to Mr. Mackay, Borrow got Hake to give the gypsies permission to take water from his well. “They came and helped themselves to the water, and to everything else to which they became attracted. Hake represented the circumstances to Borrow. Borrow eloquently resented the aspersions cast on his friends, and left Coombe End in high dudgeon—to return, however, at a subsequent date.” The AthenÆum, March 17th, 1888. Letter to W. H. Thompson. They certainly do not confirm the impression of one who informed me that a friend of Borrow in his last days in East Anglia told him that the old man was frequently “well-oiled” (!), and that when in a condition of perfect lubrication he was “a terrible fellow indeed.” “George Borrow in East Anglia” (1896). This was written in 1880. A facsimile of a portion of the first draft is given by Dr. Knapp. Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, July, 1907, p. 81. See Mr. H. T. Crofton’s article in the Gypsy Lore Society’s Journal, October, 1907, p. 157. Borrow, by the way, knew his Andrew Borde, but had apparently failed to identify the “Egipt speche” as Romany. There was a curious reference in the debate on the Second Reading of the Children’s Bill (House of Commons, March 24th, 1908) to Borrow and his gypsies. Mr. Thomas Shaw, the Lord Advocate, was describing the measures proposed by the Bill for dealing with tramp or wandering children, and “reminded the House that the most beautiful parts of the United Kingdom were often infested by such children, going about under the charge, not of any regular type of gypsy, but of mere wandering vagabonds. These children went from parish to parish, and no local authority got hold of them. What the Bill did was to say that, if they had no settled home, or if they were with a guardian who was unfit to take care of them, they should be subject to seizure. Not begging alone, but the mere fact of living in a wandering state and not receiving the education which they would otherwise receive, would bring them within the range of the provisions of the Bill. They could be taken before the magistrates and committed to an industrial school. George Borrow never did a worse service to his country than by writing ‘Lavengro,’ in which he praised this tramping and wandering life till even the most well-disposed citizens came to think that there might be something beautiful in it. The life of children brought up in this way was a life of squalor, and sometimes of very little else but immorality, and it was high time the State saw that they were rescued from it” (The Times, March 25th). One does not propose to criticise the provisions of the Children’s Bill, but it is strange that a Minister should quote “Lavengro” in this way. Borrow was always insisting upon the very facts that Mr. Shaw cites about the squalor and misery of the mumpers, “pikers,” “Abrahamites,” and the other vagrom denizens of the roads, and his praise was reserved (in so far as it was praise at all) for the life of the “regular type of gypsy.” “The Zincali,” part 11, chap. vi. No rule lacks exceptions. We have noted the gypsy belief in the New Testament as a talisman, and their faith in the occult powers of the loadstone will fall for consideration presently. It is to be observed that “The Zincali” is still referred to as an authority on Spanish gypsydom. Pott used it in his great work. Mr. MacRitchie adopts its accounts of the Spanish gypsy nobles (Gypsy Lore Society’s Journal, New Series, No. 2, pp. 98–99). “Nokkum?” said I; “the root of nokkum must be nok, which signifieth a nose . . . and I have no doubt that your people call themselves Nokkum because they are in the habit of nosing the gorgios.”—Romano Lavo-Lil, “Kirk Yetholm.” Mr. Edward Thomas: “Beautiful Wales.” Words undecipherable. This is perhaps the most striking illustration of Borrow’s lack of the genius of verse. Compare Matthew Arnold’s poem, “The Forsaken Merman,” based on the same legend. Letter to Addington, February 27th, 1843.
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