SIR JOHN BOWRING
'Poor George.... I wish he were making money. He works hard and remains
poor'--thus wrote John Borrow to his mother in 1830 from Mexico, and it
disposes in a measure of any suggestion of mystery with regard to five
of those years that he wished to veil. They were not spent, it is clear,
in rambling in the East, as he tried to persuade Colonel Napier many
years later. They were spent for the most part in diligent attempt at
the capture of words, in reading the poetry and the prose of many lands,
and in making translations of unequal merit from these diverse tongues.
This is indisputably brought home to me by the manuscripts in my
possession, supplemented by those that fell to Dr. Knapp. These
manuscripts represent years of work. Borrow has been counted a
considerable linguist, and he had assuredly a reading and speaking
acquaintance with a great many languages. But this knowledge was
acquired, as all knowledge is, with infinite trouble and patience. I
have before me hundreds of small sheets of paper upon which are written
English words and their equivalents in some twenty or thirty languages.
These serve to show that Borrow learnt a language as a small boy in an
old-fashioned system of education learns his Latin or French--by writing
down simple words--'father,' 'mother,' 'horse,' 'dog,' and so on with
the same word in Latin or French in front of them. Of course Borrow had
a superb memory and abundant enthusiasm, and so he was enabled to add
one language to another and to make his translations from such books as
he could obtain, with varied success. I believe that nearly all the
books that he handled came from the Norwich library, and when Mrs.
Borrow wrote to her elder son to say that George was working hard, as we
may fairly assume, from the reply quoted, that she did, she was
recalling this laborious work at translation that must have gone on for
years. We have seen the first fruit in the translation from the
German--or possibly from the French--of Klinger's _Faustus_; we have
seen it in _Romantic Ballads_ from the Danish, the Irish, and the
Swedish. Now there really seemed a chance of a more prosperous
utilisation of his gift, for Borrow had found a zealous friend who was
prepared to go forward with him in this work of giving to the English
public translations from the literatures of the northern nations. This
friend was Dr. John Bowring, who made a very substantial reputation in
his day.
Bowring has told his own story in a volume of _Autobiographical
Recollections_,[85] a singularly dull book for a man whose career was at
once so varied and so full of interest. He was born at Exeter in 1792 of
an old Devonshire family, and entered a merchant's office in his native
city on leaving school. He early acquired a taste for the study of
languages, and learnt French from a refugee priest precisely in the way
in which Borrow had done. He also acquired Italian, Spanish, German and
Dutch, continuing with a great variety of other languages. Indeed, only
the very year after Borrow had published _Faustus_, he published his
_Ancient Poetry and Romances of Spain_, and the year after Borrow's
_Romantic Ballads_ came Bowring's _Servian Popular Poetry_. With such
interest in common it was natural that the two men should be brought
together, but Bowring had the qualities which enabled him to make a
career for himself and Borrow had not. In 1811, as a clerk in a London
mercantile house, he was sent to Spain, and after this his travels were
varied. He was in Russia in 1820, and in 1822 was arrested at Calais and
thrown into prison, being suspected by the Bourbon Government of
abetting the French Liberals. Canning as Foreign Minister took up his
cause, and he was speedily released. He assisted Jeremy Bentham in
founding _The Westminster Review_ in 1824. Meanwhile he was seeking
official employment, and in conjunction with Mr. Villiers, afterwards
Earl of Clarendon, and that ambassador to Spain who befriended Borrow
when he was in the Peninsula, became a commissioner to investigate the
commercial relations between England and France. After the Reform Bill
of 1832 Bowring was frequently a candidate for Parliament, and was
finally elected for Bolton in 1841. In the meantime he assisted Cobden
in the formation of the Anti-Corn Law League in 1838. Having suffered
great monetary losses in the interval, he applied for the appointment of
Consul at Canton, of which place he afterwards became Governor, being
knighted in 1854. At one period of his career at Hong Kong his conduct
was made the subject of a vote of censure in Parliament, Lord
Palmerston, however, warmly defending him. Finally returning to England
in 1862, he continued his literary work with unfailing zest. He died at
Exeter, in a house very near that in which he was born, in 1872. His
extraordinary energies cannot be too much praised, and there is no
doubt but that in addition to being the possessor of great learning he
was a man of high character. His literary efforts were surprisingly
varied. There are at least thirty-six volumes with his name on the
title-page, most of them unreadable to-day; even such works, for
example, as his _Visit to the Philippine Isles_ and _Siam and the
Siamese_, which involved travel into then little-known lands. Perhaps
the only book by him that to-day commands attention is his translation
of Chamisso's _Peter Schlemihl_. The most readable of many books by him
into which I have dipped is his _Servian Popular Poetry_ of 1827, in
which we find interesting stories in verse that remind us of similar
stories from the Danish in Borrow's _Romantic Ballads_ published only
the year before. The extraordinary thing, indeed, is the many points of
likeness between Borrow and Bowring. Both were remarkable linguists;
both had spent some time in Spain and Russia; both had found themselves
in foreign prisons. They were alike associated in some measure with
Norwich--Bowring through friendship with Taylor--and I might go on to
many other points of likeness or of contrast. It is natural, therefore,
that the penniless Borrow should have welcomed acquaintance with the
more prosperous scholar. Thus it is that, some thirty years later,
Borrow described the introduction by Taylor:
The writer had just entered into his eighteenth year, when he
met at the table of a certain Anglo-Germanist an individual,
apparently somewhat under thirty, of middle stature, a thin and
weaselly figure, a sallow complexion, a certain obliquity of
vision, and a large pair of spectacles. This person, who had
lately come from abroad, and had published a volume of
translations, had attracted some slight notice in the literary
world, and was looked upon as a kind of lion in a small
provincial capital. After dinner he argued a great deal, spoke
vehemently against the Church, and uttered the most desperate
Radicalism that was perhaps ever heard, saying, he hoped that
in a short time there would not be a king or queen in Europe,
and inveighing bitterly against the English aristocracy, and
against the Duke of Wellington in particular, whom he said, if
he himself was ever president of an English republic--an event
which he seemed to think by no means improbable--he would hang
for certain infamous acts of profligacy and bloodshed which he
had perpetrated in Spain. Being informed that the writer was
something of a philologist, to which character the individual
in question laid great pretensions, he came and sat down by
him, and talked about languages and literature. The writer, who
was only a boy, was a little frightened at first.[86]
The quarrels of authors are frequently amusing but rarely edifying, and
this hatred of Bowring that possessed the soul of poor Borrow in his
later years is of the same texture as the rest. We shall never know the
facts, but the position is comprehensible enough. Let us turn to the
extant correspondence[87] which, as far as we know, opened when Borrow
paid what was probably his third visit to London in 1829:
To Dr. John Bowring
17 GREAT RUSSELL STREET, BLOOMSBURY. [_Dec. 6, 1829._]
MY DEAR SIR,--Lest I should intrude upon you when you are busy,
I write to inquire when you will be unoccupied. I wish to shew
you my translation of _The Death of Balder_, Ewald's most
celebrated production,[88] which, if you approve of, you will
perhaps render me some assistance in bringing forth, for I
don't know many publishers. I think this will be a proper time
to introduce it to the British public, as your account of
Danish literature will doubtless cause a sensation. My friend
Mr. R. Taylor has my _Kæmpe Viser_, which he has read and
approves of; but he is so very deeply occupied, that I am
apprehensive he neglects them: but I am unwilling to take them
out of his hands, lest I offend him. Your letting me know when
I may call will greatly oblige,--Dear Sir, your most obedient
servant,
GEORGE BORROW.
To Dr. John Bowring
17 GREAT RUSSELL STREET, BLOOMSBURY. [_Dec. 28, 1829._][89]
MY DEAR SIR,--I trouble you with these lines for the purpose of
submitting a little project of mine for your approbation. When
I had last the pleasure of being at yours, you mentioned, that
we might at some future period unite our strength in composing
a kind of Danish Anthology. You know, as well as I, that by far
the most remarkable portion of Danish poetry is comprised in
those ancient popular productions termed _Kæmpe Viser_, which I
have translated. Suppose we bring forward at once the first
volume of the Danish Anthology, which should contain the heroic
and supernatural songs of the _K. V._, which are certainly the
most interesting; they are quite ready for the press with the
necessary notes, and with an introduction which I am not
ashamed of. The second volume might consist of the Historic
songs and the ballads and Romances, this and the third volume,
which should consist of the modern Danish poetry, and should
commence with the celebrated 'Ode to the Birds' by Morten
Borup, might appear in company at the beginning of next season.
To Ölenslager should be allotted the principal part of the
fourth volume; and it is my opinion that amongst his minor
pieces should be given a good translation of his Aladdin, by
which alone he has rendered his claim to the title of a great
poet indubitable. A proper Danish Anthology cannot be contained
in less than 4 volumes, the literature being so copious. The
first volume, as I said before, might appear instanter, with no
further trouble to yourself than writing, if you should think
fit, a page or two of introductory matter.--Yours most truly,
my dear Sir,
GEORGE BORROW.
To Dr. John Bowring
17 GREAT RUSSELL STREET, _Decr. 31, 1829._
MY DEAR SIR,--I received your note, and as it appears that you
will not be disengaged till next Friday evening (this day week)
I will call then. You think that no more than two volumes can
be ventured on. Well! be it so! The first volume can contain 70
choice _Kæmpe Viser_; viz. all the heroic, all the supernatural
ballads (which two classes are by far the most interesting),
and a few of the historic and romantic songs. The sooner the
work is advertised the better, _for I am terribly afraid of
being forestalled in the Kæmpe Viser by some of those Scotch
blackguards_ who affect to translate from all languages, of
which they are fully as ignorant as Lockhart is of Spanish. I
am quite ready with the first volume, which might appear by the
middle of February (the best time in the whole season), and if
we unite our strength in the second, I think we can produce
something worthy of fame, for we shall have plenty of matter to
employ talent upon.--Most truly yours,
GEORGE BORROW.
To Dr. John Bowring
17 GREAT RUSSELL STREET, BLOOMSBURY, _Jany. 14, 1830._
MY DEAR SIR,--I approve of the prospectus in every respect; it
is business-like, and there is nothing flashy in it. I do not
wish to suggest one alteration. I am not idle: I translated
yesterday from your volume 3 longish _Kæmpe Visers_, among
which is the 'Death of King Hacon at Kirkwall in Orkney,' after
his unsuccessful invasion of Scotland. To-day I translated 'The
Duke's Daughter of Skage,' a noble ballad of 400 lines. When I
call again I will, with your permission, retake Tullin and
attack _The Surveyor_. Allow me, my dear Sir, to direct your
attention to Ölenschlæger's _St. Hems Aftenspil_, which is the
last in his Digte of 1803. It contains his best lyrics, one or
two of which I have translated. It might, I think, be contained
within 70 pages, and I could translate it in 3 weeks. Were we
to give the whole of it we should gratify Ölenschlæger's wish
expressed to you, that one of his larger pieces should appear.
But it is for you to decide entirely on what _is_ or what is
_not_ to be done. When you see the _foreign_ editor I should
feel much obliged if you would speak to him about my reviewing
Tegner, and enquire whether a _good_ article on Welsh poetry
would be received. I have the advantage of not being a
Welshman. I would speak the truth, and would give translations
of some of the best Welsh poetry; and I really believe that my
translations would not be the worst that have been made from
the Welsh tongue.--Most truly yours,
G. BORROW.
To Dr. John Bowring
17 GREAT RUSSELL STREET, BLOOMSBURY, _Jany. 7, 1830._
MY DEAR SIR,--I send the prospectus[90] for your inspection and
for the correction of your master hand. I have endeavoured to
assume a Danish style, I know not whether I have been
successful.
Alter, I pray you, whatever false logic has crept into it, find
a remedy for its incoherencies, and render it fit for its
intended purpose. I have had for the two last days a rising
headache which has almost prevented me doing anything. I sat
down this morning and translated a hundred lines of the
_May-day_; it is a fine piece.--Yours most truly, my dear Sir,
GEORGE BORROW.
To Dr. John Bowring
7 MUSEUM STREET, _Jany. 1830._
MY DEAR SIR,--I write this to inform you that I am at No. 7
Museum St., Bloomsbury. I have been obliged to decamp from
Russell St. for the cogent reason of an execution having been
sent into the house, and I thought myself happy in escaping
with my things. I have got half of the Manuscript from Mr.
Richard Taylor, but many of the pages must be rewritten owing
to their being torn, etc. He is printing the prospectus, but a
proof has not yet been struck off. Send me some as soon as you
get them.[91] I will send one with a letter to _H. G._--Yours
eternally,
G. BORROW.
To Dr. John Bowring
7 MUSEUM STREET, _Jany. 25, 1830._
MY DEAR SIR,--I find that you called at mine, I am sorry that I
was not at home. I have been to Richard Taylor, and you will
have the prospectuses this afternoon. I have translated
Ferroe's 'Worthiness of Virtue' for you, and the two other
pieces I shall translate this evening, and you shall have them
all when I come on Wednesday evening. If I can at all assist
you in anything, pray let me know, and I shall be proud to do
it.--Yours most truly,
G. BORROW.
To Dr. John Bowring
7 MUSEUM STREET, _Feby. 20, 1830._
MY DEAR SIR,--To my great pleasure I perceive that the books
have all arrived safe. But I find that, instead of an
Icelandic Grammar, you have lent me an _Essay on the origin of
the Icelandic Language_, which I here return. Thorlakson's
Grave-ode is superlatively fine, and I translated it this
morning, as I breakfasted. I have just finished a translation
of Baggesen's beautiful poem, and I send it for your
inspection.--Most sincerely yours,
GEORGE BORROW.
_P.S._--When I come we will make the modifications of this
piece, if you think any are requisite, for I have various
readings in my mind for every stanza. I wish you a very
pleasant journey to Cambridge, and hope you will procure some
names amongst the literati.
To Dr. John Bowring
7 MUSEUM STREET, _March 9, 1830._
MY DEAR SIR,--I have thought over the Museum matter which we
were talking about last night, and it appears to me that it
would be the very thing for me, provided that it could be
accomplished. I should feel obliged if you would deliberate
upon the best mode of proceeding, so that when I see you again
I may have the benefit of your advice.--Yours most sincerely,
GEORGE BORROW.
To this letter Bowring replied the same day, and his reply is preserved
by Dr. Knapp. He promised to help in the Museum project 'by every sort
of counsel and creation.' 'I should rejoice to see you _nicked_ in the
British Museum,' he concludes.
To Dr. John Bowring
7 MUSEUM STREET, _Friday Evening, May 21, 1830._
MY DEAR SIR,--I shall be happy to accept your invitation to
meet Mr. Grundtvig to-morrow morning. As at present no doubt
seems to be entertained of Prince Leopold's accepting the
sovereignty of Greece, would you have any objection to write to
him concerning me? I should be very happy to go to Greece in
his service. I do not wish to go in a civil or domestic
capacity, and I have, moreover, no doubt that all such
situations have been long since filled up; I wish to go in a
military one, for which I am qualified by birth and early
habits. You might inform the Prince that I have been for years
on the Commander-in-Chief's List for a commission, but that I
have not had sufficient interest to procure an appointment. One
of my reasons for wishing to reside in Greece is, that the
mines of Eastern Literature would be acceptable to me. I should
soon become an adept in Turkish, and would weave and transmit
to you such an anthology as would gladden your very heart. As
for _The Songs of Scandinavia_, all the ballads would be ready
before departure, and as I should take books, I would in a few
months send you translations of the modern lyric poetry. I hope
this letter will not displease you. I do not write it from
_flightiness_, but from thoughtfulness. I am uneasy to find
myself at four and twenty drifting on the sea of the world, and
likely to continue so.--Yours most sincerely,
G. BORROW.
This letter is printed in part by Dr. Knapp, and almost in its entirety
by Mr. Herbert Jenkins. Dr. Knapp has much sound worldly reflection upon
its pathetic reference to 'drifting on the sea of the world.' If only,
he suggests, Borrow had not received that unwise eulogy from Allan
Cunningham about his 'exquisite Danish ballads,' if only he had listened
to Richard Ford's advice--which came too late in any case--'Avoid poetry
and translations of poets'--how much better it would have been. But
Borrow had not the makings in him of a 'successful' man, and we who
enjoy his writings to-day must be contented with the reflection that he
had just the kind of life-experience which gave us what he had to give.
Here Borrow holds his place among the poets--an unhappy race. In any
case the British Museum appointment was not for him, nor the military
career. Had one or other fallen to his lot, we might have had much
literary work of a kind, but certainly not _Lavengro_. To return to the
correspondence:
To Dr. John Bowring
7 MUSEUM ST., _June 1, 1830._
MY DEAR SIR,--I send you _Hafbur and Signe_ to deposit in the
Scandinavian Treasury, and I should feel obliged by your doing
the following things.
1. Hunting up and lending me your Anglo-Saxon Dictionary as
soon as possible, for Grundtvig wishes me to assist him in the
translation of some Anglo-Saxon Proverbs.
2. When you write to Finn Magnussen to thank him for his
attention, pray request him to send the _Feeroiska Quida_, or
popular songs of Ferroe, and also _Broder Run's Historie, or
the History of Friar Rush_, the book which Thiele mentions in
his _Folkesagn_.--Yours most sincerely,
G. BORROW.
To Dr. John Bowring
7 MUSEUM STREET, _June 7, 1830._
MY DEAR SIR,--I have looked over Mr. Grundtvig's manuscripts.
It is a very long affair, and the language is Norman-Saxon. £40
would not be an extravagant price for a transcript, and so they
told him at the museum. However, as I am doing nothing
particular at present, and as I might learn something from
transcribing it, I would do it for £20. He will call on you
to-morrow morning, and then if you please you may recommend me.
The character closely resembles the ancient Irish, so I think
you can answer for my competency.--Yours most truly,
G. BORROW.
_P.S._--Do not lose the original copies of the Danish
translations which you sent to the _Foreign Quarterly_, for I
have no duplicates. I think _The Roses_ of Ingemann was sent;
it is not printed; so if it be not returned, we shall have to
re-translate it.
To Dr. John Bowring
7 MUSEUM ST., _Sept. 14, 1830._
MY DEAR SIR,--I return you the Bohemian books. I am going to
Norwich for some short time as I am very unwell, and hope that
cold bathing in October and November may prove of service to
me. My complaints are, I believe, the offspring of ennui and
unsettled prospects. I have thoughts of attempting to get into
the French service, as I should like prodigiously to serve
under Clausel in the next Bedouin campaign. I shall leave
London next Sunday and will call some evening to take my leave;
I cannot come in the morning, as early rising kills me.--Most
sincerely yours,
G. BORROW.
To Dr. John Bowring
WILLOW LANE, NORWICH, _Sept. 11, 1831._
MY DEAR SIR,--I return you my most sincere thanks for your kind
letter of the 2nd inst., and though you have not been
successful in your application to the Belgian authorities in my
behalf, I know full well that you did your utmost, and am only
sorry that at my instigation you attempted an impossibility.
The Belgians seem either not to know or not to care for the
opinion of the great Cyrus, who gives this advice to his
captains: 'Take no heed from what countries ye fill up your
ranks, but seek recruits as ye do horses, not those
particularly who are of your own country, but those of merit.'
The Belgians will only have such recruits as are born in
Belgium, and when we consider the _heroic_ manner in which the
native Belgian army defended the person of their new sovereign
in the last conflict with the Dutch, can we blame them for
their determination? It is rather singular, however, that,
resolved as they are to be served only by themselves, they
should have sent for 50,000 Frenchmen to clear their country of
a handful of Hollanders, who have generally been considered the
most unwarlike people in Europe, but who, if they had had fair
play given them, would long ere this time have replanted the
Orange flag on the towers of Brussels, and made the Belgians
what they deserve to be--hewers of wood and drawers of water.
And now, my dear Sir, allow me to reply to a very important
part of your letter. You ask me whether I wish to purchase a
commission in the British Service, because in that case you
would speak to the Secretary at War about me. I must inform
you, therefore, that my name has been for several years upon
the list _for the purchase_ of a commission, and I have never
yet had sufficient interest to procure an appointment. If I can
do nothing better I shall be very glad to purchase; but I will
pause two or three months before I call upon you to fulfil your
kind promise. It is believed that the militias will be embodied
in order to be sent to that unhappy country Ireland, and,
provided I can obtain a commission in one of them and they are
kept in service, it would be better than spending £500 upon one
in the line. I am acquainted with the colonels of the two
Norfolk regiments, and I dare say that neither of them would
have any objection to receive me. If they are not embodied I
will most certainly apply to you, and you may say when you
recommend me that, being well grounded in Arabic, and having
some talent for languages, I might be an acquisition to a corps
in one of our Eastern colonies. I flatter myself that I could
do a great deal in the East provided I could once get there,
either in a civil or military capacity. There is much talk at
present about translating European books into the two great
languages, the Arabic and Persian. Now I believe that with my
enthusiasm for those tongues I could, if resident in the East,
become in a year or two better acquainted with them than any
European has been yet, and more capable of executing such a
task. Bear this in mind, and if, before you hear from me again,
you should have any opportunity to recommend me as a proper
person to fill any civil situation in those countries, or to
attend any expedition thither, I pray you to lay hold of it,
and no conduct of mine shall ever give you reason to repent of
it.--I remain, my dear Sir, your most obliged and obedient
servant,
GEORGE BORROW.
_P.S._--Present my best remembrances to Mrs. Bowring and to
Edgar, and tell them that they will both be starved. There is
now a report in the street that twelve corn-stacks are blazing
within twenty miles of this place. I have lately been wandering
about Norfolk, and I am sorry to say that the minds of the
peasantry are in a horrible state of excitement. I have
repeatedly heard men and women in the harvest-field swear that
not a grain of the corn they were cutting should be eaten, and
that they would as lieve be hanged as live. I am afraid all
this will end in a famine and a rustic war.
Borrow's next letter to Bowring that has been preserved is dated 1835
and was written from Portugal. With that I will deal when we come to
Borrow's travels in the Peninsula. Here it sufficeth to note that during
the years of Borrow's most urgent need he seems to have found a kind
friend if not a very zealous helper in the 'Old Radical' whom he came to
hate so cordially.
FOOTNOTES:
[85] _Autobiographical Reflections of Sir John Bowring. With a Brief
Memoir by Lewin B. Bowring_. Henry S. King and Co., London, 1877.
[86] _The Romany Rye_ Appendix, ch. xi.
[87] Kindly placed at my disposal by Mr. Wilfred J. Bowring, Sir John
Bowring's grandson. The rights which I hold through the executors of
George Borrow's stepdaughter, Mrs. MacOubrey, over the Borrow
correspondence enable me to publish in their completeness letters which
three previous biographers, all of whom have handled the correspondence,
have published mainly in fragments.
[88] The manuscript of _The Death of Balder_ came into the hands of Mr.
William Jarrold of Norwich through Mr. Webber of Ipswich, who purchased
a large mass of Borrow manuscripts that were sold at Borrow's death,
most of which were re-purchased by Dr. Knapp. His firm, Jarrold and
Sons, issued _The Death of Balder, from the Danish of Johannes Ewald_,
in 1889.
[89] This and the previous letter are undated, but bear the careful
endorsement of Dr. John Bowring, as he then was, with the date of
receipt, presumably the day _after_ the letters were written.
[90]
'PROSPECTUS
It is proposed to publish, in Two Volumes Octavo Price to Subscribers
£1, 1s., to Non Subscribers £1, 4s.
THE SONGS OF SCANDINAVIA
Translated by
Dr. BOWRING and Mr. BORROW.
Dedicated to the King of Denmark, by permission of His Majesty.
* * * * *
The First Volume will contain about One Hundred Specimens of the Ancient
Popular Ballads of North-Western Europe, arranged under the heads of
Heroic, Supernatural, Historical, and Domestic Poems.
The Second Volume will represent the Modern School of Danish Poetry,
from the time of Tullin, giving the most remarkable lyrical productions
of Ewald, Ölenschlæger, Baggesen, Ingemann, and many others.'
This four-page leaflet contains two blank pages for lists of
subscribers, who apparently did not come, and the project seems to have
been abandoned.
[91] The prospectus, already quoted, bears the imprint: Printed by
Richard Taylor, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street.