RICHARD FORD
The most distinguished of Borrow's friends in the years that succeeded
his return from Spain was Richard Ford, whose interests were so largely
wrapped-up in the story of that country. Ford was possessed of a very
interesting personality, which was not revealed to the public until Mr.
Rowland E. Prothero issued his excellent biography[164] in 1905,
although Ford died in 1858. This delay is the more astonishing as Ford's
_Handbook for Travellers in Spain_ was one of the most famous books of
its day. Ford's father, Sir Richard Ford, was a friend of William Pitt,
and twice sat in Parliament, being at one time Under-Secretary of State
for the Home Department. He ended his official career as a police
magistrate at Bow Street, but deserves to be better known to fame as the
creator of the mounted police force of London. Ford was born with a
silver spoon in his mouth, inheriting a fortune from his father, and
from his mother an extraordinary taste for art. Although called to the
bar he never practised, but spent his time in travelling on the
Continent, building up a valuable collection of books and paintings. He
was three times married, and all these unions seem to have been happy,
in spite of an almost unpleasant celerity in the second alliance, which
took place nine months after the death of his first wife. A very large
portion of his life he devoted to Spain, which he knew so intimately
that in 1845 he produced that remarkable _Handbook_ in two closely
printed volumes, a most repellent-looking book in appearance to those
who are used to contemporary typography, usually so attractive. Ford, in
fact, was so full of his subject that instead of a handbook he wrote a
work which ought to have appeared in half a dozen volumes. In later
editions the book was condensed into one of Mr. Murray's usual
guide-books, but the curious may still enjoy the work in its earliest
form, so rich in discussions of the Spanish people, their art and
architecture, their history and their habits. The greater part of the
letters in Mr. Prothero's collection are addressed to Addington, who was
our ambassador to Madrid for some years, until he was superseded by
George Villiers, Lord Clarendon, with whom Borrow came so much in
contact. Those letters reveal a remarkably cultivated mind and an
interesting outlook on life, an outlook that was always intensely
anti-democratic. It is impossible to sympathise with him in his brutal
reference to the execution by the Spaniards of Robert Boyd, a young
Irishman who was captured with Torrijos by the Spanish Government in
1831. Richard Ford apparently left Spain very shortly before George
Borrow entered that country. Ford passed through Madrid on his way to
England in September 1833. He then settled near Exeter, purchasing an
Elizabethan cottage called Heavitree House, with twelve acres of land,
and devoted himself to turning it into a beautiful mansion. Presumably
he first met Borrow in Mr. John Murray's famous drawing-room soon after
the publication of _The Gypsies of Spain_. He tells Addington, indeed,
in a letter of 14th January 1841:
I have made acquaintance with an extraordinary fellow, George
Borrow, who went out to Spain to convert the gypsies. He is
about to publish his failure, and a curious book it will be. It
was submitted to my perusal by the hesitating Murray.
Ford's article upon Borrow's book appeared in _The British and Foreign
Review_, and Ford was delighted that the book had created a sensation,
and that he had given sound advice as to publishing the manuscript. When
_The Bible in Spain_ was ready, Ford was one of the first to read it.
Then he wrote to John Murray:
I read Borrow with great delight all the way down per rail. You
may depend upon it that the book will sell, which after all is
the rub.
And in that letter Ford describes the book as putting him in mind of Gil
Blas with 'a touch of Bunyan.' Lockhart himself reviewed the book in
_The Quarterly_, so Ford had to go to the rival organ--_The Edinburgh
Review_--receiving £44 for the article, which sum, he tells us, he
invested in Château Margaux.
Ford's first letter to Borrow in my collection is written in Spanish:
To George Borrow, Esq., Oulton Hall, Lowestoft.
HEAVITREE HOUSE, EXETER, _Jan. 19, 1842._
QUERIDO COMPADRE,--Mucho m'ha alegrado el buen termino de sus
trabajos literarios que V.M. me participó. Vaya con los picaros
de Zincali, buenas pesetas han cobrado--siempre he tenido á los
Sres. M. como muy hombres de bien, suele ser que los que tratan
mucho con personages de categoria, tomen un algo del grande y
liberal. Convega V.M. que soy critico de tipo, y que digo,
'Bahi de los gabicotes.' Conosco bastante loque agradecera al
muy noble y illustrado publico--conque sigue V.M. adelante y no
dejes nada en el tintero, pero por vida del Demonio, huyese
V.M. de los historiadores españoles, embusteros y majaderos.
Siento mucho que V.M. haya salido de Londres, salgo de esto
Sabato, y pienso hacer una visita de como unas tres semanas, en
la casa maternal, como es mi costumbre por el mes de los
aguinaldos. Con mucho gusto hubiera praticado con V.M. y
charleado sobre las cosas de España y otra chismografia
gitanesca y zandungera, por ahora no entiendo nada de eso. No
dejaré de llevar conmigo los papeles y documentos que V.M. se
sirvio de remitirme á Cheltenham. Haré de ellos un paquete, y
lo confiaré á los Señores Murray, para quando V.M. guste
reclamarlo. Haré el mio posible de averiguar y aprofundicar
aquellos misterios y gente estrambotica. El Señor Murray hijo,
me escrive muy contento de la _Biblia en España_. Descaria yo
escribir un articulo sobre asunto tan relleno de interes.
Talvez el articulo mio de los Gitanos parecera en el numero
proximo, y en tal caso ha de ser mas util á V.M. que no hubiera
sido ahora. La vida y memoria de las revistas, es muy corta.
Salen como miraposas y mueren en un dia. Los muertos y los idos
no tienen amigos. Los vivos á la mesa, y los muertos á la
huesa. Al istante que está imprimido un nuevo numero, el pasado
y esta olvidado y entra entre las cosas del Rey Wamba. Que le
parece á V.M., ultimamente en un baile donde sacaron un Rey de
Hubas (twelfth night) tiré El Krallis de los Zincali. Incluyo á
V. Majestad tabula, de veras es preciso que yo tengo en mis
venas algunas gotitas de legitimo errante. El Señor Gagargos
viene á ser nombrado Consul español á Tunis, donde no le
faltaron medios de adelantarse en el idioma y literatura
arabica. Queda de S.M. afemo. su amigo, Q.B.S.M.,
RICHARD FORD.[165]
Here is a second letter of the following month:
_February 26th_, HEAVITREE HOUSE, EXETER.
BATUSCHCA BORROW,--I am glad that the paper pleased you, and I
think it calculated to promote the sale, which a too copious
extracting article does not always do, as people think that
they have had the cream. Napier sent me £44 for the thirty-two
pages; this, with Kemble's £50, 8s. for the _Zincali_, nearly
reaches £100: I lay it out in claret, being not amiss to do in
the world, and richer by many hundreds a year than last year,
but with a son at Eton and daughters coming out, and an
overgrown set of servants, money is never to be despised, and I
find that expenditure by some infernal principle has a greater
tendency to increase than income, and that when the latter
increases it never does so in the ratio of the former--enough
of that. How to write an article without being
condensed--epigrammatical and _epitomical cream-skimming that
is_--I know not, one has so much to say and so little space to
say it in.
I rejoice to hear of your meditated biography; really I am your
wet nurse, and you ought to dedicate it to me; take time, but
not too much; avoid all attempts to write fine; just dash down
the first genuine uppouring idea and thoughts in the plainest
language and that which comes first, and then fine it and
compress it. Let us have a glossary; for people cry out for a
Dragoman, and half your local gusto evaporates.
I am amazed at the want of profits--'tis sad to think what
meagre profits spring from pen and ink; but Cervantes died a
beggar and is immortal. It is the devil who comes into the
market with ready money: _No_ solvendum in futuro: I well know
that it is cash down which makes the mare to go; dollars will
add spurs even to the Prince of Mustard's paces.
It is a bore not receiving even the crumbs which drop from such
tables as those spread by Mr. Eyre: Murray, however, is a deep
cove, _y muy pratico en cosas de libreteria_: and he knew that
the _first out_ about Afghan would sell prodigiously. I doubt
now if Lady Sale would now be such a general Sale. Murray
builds solid castles in Eyre. Los de España rezalo bene de ser
siempre muy Cosas de España: Cachaza! Cachaza! firme, firme!
Arhse! no dejei nada en el tintero; basta que sea nuevo y muy
piquunte cor sal y ajo: a los Ingleses le gustan mucho las
Longanizas de Abarbenel y los buenos Choriyos de Montanches:
El handbook sa her concluido jeriayer: abora principia el
trabajo: Tengo benho un monton de papel acombroso. El menester
reducirlo a la mitad y eso so hara castratandolo de lo bueno
duro y particolar a romperse el alma:
I had nothing to do whatever with the _manner_ in which the
handbook puff was affixed to your book. I wrote the said paper,
but concluded that Murray would put it, as usual, in the
fly-leaf of the book, as he does in his others, and the _Q.
Rev._
Sabe mucho el hijo--ha imaginado altacar mi obresilla al flejo
de vuestra immortalidad y lo que le toca de corazon,
facilitarsele la venta.
Yo no tengo nada en eso y quedé tanalustado amo V^{m} a la
primera vista de aquella hoja volante. Conque Mantengare V^{m}
bueno y alegre y mande V^{m} siempre, a S : S : S : y buen Critico,
L : I : M : B.,
R. F.
During these years--1843 and onwards--Borrow was regularly corresponding
with Ford. I quote a sentence from one of these letters:
Borrow writes me word that his Life is nearly ready, and it
will run the Bible hull down. If he tells truth it will be a
queer thing. I shall review it for _The Edinburgh_.
To George Borrow, Esq., Oulton Hall, Lowestoft.
123 PARK MANSIONS, _Thursday, April 13, 1843._
BATUSCHCA B.,--Knowing that you seldom see a newspaper I send
you one in which Peel speaks very handsomely of your labour.
Such a public testimonial is a good puff, and I hope will
attract purchasers.--Sincerely yours,
R. F.
This speech of Peel's in the House of Commons, in which in reply to a
very trivial question by Dr. Bowring, then M.P. for Bolton, upon the
subject of the correspondence of the British Government with Turkey, the
great statesman urged:
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.[166]
Borrow was elated with the compliment, and asked Mr. Murray two months
later if he could not advertise the eulogium with one of his books.
In June 1844, while the _Handbook for Travellers in Spain_ was going to
press, Ford went on a visit to Borrow at Oulton, and describes the pair
as 'two rum coves in a queer country'; and further gives one of the best
descriptions of the place:
His house hangs over a lonely lake covered with wild fowl, and
is girt with dark firs through which the wind sighs sadly.
When the _Handbook for Travellers in Spain_ was published in 1845 it was
agreed that Borrow should write the review for _The Quarterly_. Instead
of writing a review Borrow, possessed by that tactlessness which so
frequently overcame him, wrote an article on 'Spain and the Spaniards,'
very largely of abuse, an absolutely useless production from the point
of view of Ford the author, and of Lockhart, his editor friend. Borrow
never forgave Lockhart for returning this manuscript, but that it had no
effect on Ford's friendship is shown by the following letter, dated 1846
(p. 258), written long after the unfortunate episode, and another in Dr.
Knapp's _Life_, dated 1851:
To Mrs. Borrow, Oulton Hall, Lowestoft.
_Oct. 6, 1844_, CHELTENHAM.
MY DEAR MADAM,--I trouble you with a line to say that I have
received a letter from Don Jorge, from Constantinople. He
evidently is now anxious to be quietly back again on the banks
of your peaceful lake; he speaks favourably of his health,
which has been braced up by change of air, scenery, and
occupations, so I hope he will get through next winter without
any bronchitis, and go on with his own biography.
He asks me when _Handbook_ will be done? Please to tell him
that it is done and printing, but that it runs double the
length which was contemplated: however, it will be a _queer_
book, and tell him that we reserve it until his return to
_review_ it. I am now on the point of quitting this pretty
place and making for my home at Hevitre, where we trust to
arrive next Thursday.
Present my best compliments to your mother, and believe me,
your faithful and obedient servant,
RCH. FORD.
When you write to Don Jorge thank him for his letter.
To George Borrow, Esq., Oulton Hall, Lowestoft.
123 PARLIAMENT STREET,
GROSVENOR SQUARE, _Feb. 17, 1845._
DEAR BORROW,--_El hombre propose pero Dios es que dispose._ I
had hope to have run down and seen you and yours in your quiet
Patmos; but the Sangrados will it otherwise. I have never been
quite free from a tickling pain since the bronchitis of last
year, and it has recently assumed the form of extreme
relaxation and irritation in the uvula, which is that pendulous
appendage which hangs over the orifice of the throat. Mine has
become so seriously elongated that, after submitting for four
days last week to its being burnt with caustic every morning in
the hopes that it might thus crimp and contract itself, I have
been obliged to have it amputated. This has left a great
soreness, which militates against talking and deglutition, and
would render our charming chats after the Madeira over la
cheminea del _cueldo_ inadvisable. I therefore defer the visit:
my Sangrado recommends me, when the summer advances, to fly
away into change of air, change of scene; in short, must seek
an _hejira_ as you made. How strange the coincidence! but those
who have wandered much about require periodical migration, as
the encaged quail twice a year beats its breast against the
wires.
I am not quite determined where to go, whether to Scotland and
the sweet heath-aired hills, or to the wild rocks and clear
trout streams of the Tyrol; it is a question between the gun
and the rod. If I go north assuredly si Dios quiere I will take
your friendly and peaceful abode in my way.
As to my immediate plans I can say nothing before Thursday,
when the Sangrado is to report on some diagnosis which he
expects.
Meanwhile _Handbook_ is all but out, and Lockhart and Murray
are eager to have you in the _Q. R._ I enclose you a note from
the editor. How feel you inclined? I would send you down 30
sheets, and you might run your eye through them. _There are
plums in the pudding._
RICHARD FORD.
A proof in slip form of the rejected review, with Borrow's corrections
written upon it, is in my possession. Our author pictures Gibraltar as a
human entity thus addressing Spain:
Accursed land! I hate thee, and far from being a defence, will
invariably prove a thorn in thy side.
And so on through many sentences of excited rhetoric. Borrow forgot
while he wrote that he had a book to review--a book, moreover, issued by
the publishing house which issued the periodical in which his review was
to appear. And this book was a book in ten thousand--a veritable mine of
information and out of the way learning. Surely this slight reference
amid many dissertations of his own upon Spain was to damn his friend's
book with faint praise:
A Handbook is a Handbook after all, a very useful thing, but
still--the fact is that we live in an age of humbug, in which
everything, to obtain note and reputation, must depend less
upon its own intrinsic merit than on the name it bears. The
present book is about one of the best books ever written upon
Spain; but we are afraid that it will never be estimated at its
proper value; for after all a Handbook is a Handbook.
Yet successful as was Ford's _Handbook_, it is doubtful but that Borrow
was right in saying that it had better have been called _Wanderings in
Spain_ or _Wonders of the Peninsula_. How much more gracious was the
statement of another great authority on Spain--Sir William
Stirling-Maxwell--who said that 'so great a literary achievement had
never before been performed under so humble a title.' The article,
however, furnishes a trace of autobiography in the statement by Borrow
that he had long been in the habit of reading _Don Quixote_ once every
nine years. Yet he tells us that he prefers Le Sage's _Gil Blas_ to _Don
Quixote_, 'the characters introduced being certainly more true to
nature.' But altogether we do not wonder that Lockhart declined to
publish the article. Here is the last letter in my possession; after
this there is one in the Knapp collection dated 1851, acknowledging a
copy of _Lavengro_, in which Ford adds: 'Mind when you come to see the
Exhibition you look in here, for I long to have a chat,' and so the
friendship appears to have collapsed as so many friendships do. Ford
died at Heavitree in 1858:
To George Borrow, Esq., Oulton Hall, Lowestoft
HEAVITREE, _Jany. 28, 1846._
QUERIDO DON JORGE,--How are you getting on in health and
spirits? and how has this absence of winter suited you? Are you
inclined for a run up to town next week? I propose to do so,
and Murray, who has got Washington Irving, etc., to dine with
him on Wednesday the 4th, writes to me to know if I thought you
could be induced to join us. Let me whisper in your ear, yea:
it will do you good and give change of air, scene and thought:
we will go and beat up the renowned Billy Harper, and see how
many more ribs are stoved in.
I have been doing a paper for the _Q. R._ on Spanish
Architecture; how gets on the _Lavengro_? I see the 'gypsies'
are coming out in the _Colonial_, which will have a vast sale.
John Murray seems to be flourishing in spite of corn and
railomania.
Remember me kindly and respectfully to your Ladies, and beg
them to tell you what good it will do you to have a frisk up to
town, and a little quiet chat with your pal and amigo,
RICHARD FORD.
FOOTNOTES:
[164] _The Letters of Richard Ford, 1797-1858_, edited by Rowland E.
Prothero, M. V. O. John Murray, 1905.
[165] DEAR FRIEND,--I was glad to hear from you of the successful
termination of your literary work. Fancy those rogues of Zincali! They
have managed to make good money--I always thought Messrs. M. very decent
people, it usually happens that those who have much to do with good
class of people become themselves somewhat large-minded and liberal. You
must admit that I am a model critic, and that I cry, 'Luck to the Books'
Full well do I know how you thank the most noble and illustrious public!
Go ahead, therefore, and leave nothing forgotten in the ink-pot; but by
all that is holy, shun the Spanish historians, who are liars and fools!
I regret very much that you should have left London; I leave here on
Saturday with the intention of paying a visit of about three weeks to
the maternal home, as is my custom in the month of the Christmas boxes.
Very much would I have liked to see you and discuss with you about
things of Spain and other gypsy lore and fancy topics, but of which at
present nothing do I understand. I shall not fail to take with me the
papers and documents which you kindly sent me to Cheltenham. I will make
them into a parcel and leave them with Messrs. Murray, so that you can
send for them whenever you like. I shall do my best to penetrate those
mysteries and that strange people. Mr. Murray, junior, writes in a
pleased tone respecting _The Bible in Spain_. I should like to write an
article on a subject so full of interest. Possibly my article on the
gypsies will appear in the next number, and in such case it will prove
more useful to you than if it appeared now. The life and memory of
reviews are very short. They appear like butterflies, and die in a day.
The dead and the departed have no friends. The living to the feast, the
dead to the grave. No sooner does a new number appear than the last one
is already forgotten and joins the things of the past. What do you
think? At a party recently in which a drawing was held, I drew the
_Krallis de los Zincali_. I beg to enclose the table (or index) for your
Majesty's guidance; really, I must have in my veins a few drops of the
genuine wanderer. Mr. Gagargos has been just appointed Spanish Consul in
Tunis, where he will not lack means for progressing in the Arabic
language and literature.--Yours, etc.,
R. F.
[166] _The Times_, April 12, 1843.