{354} 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.
{355a} Letters to John Murray, 27th Jan. and 13th March, 1843.
{355b} Letters to John Murray, 27th Jan. and 13th March, 1843.
{355c} 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).
{356} No trace can be found among the Bible Society Records of any such
translation.
{357} This portrait has sometimes been ascribed to Thomas Phillips,
R.A., in error.
{360a} _Memories of Old Friends_ (1835–1871). London 1882.
{360b} _Memories of Eighty Years_, page 164.
{360c} E[lizabeth] H[arvey] in _The Eastern Daily Press_, 1st Oct. 1892.
{360d} E[lizabeth] H[arvey] in _The Eastern Daily Express_, 1st Oct.
1892.
{361} _Journals and Correspondence of Lady Eastlake_, ed. by C. E.
Smith, 1895.
{362a} _The Romany Rye_, page 344.
{362b} Dr Knapp’s _Life of George Borrow_, ii. 44.
{362c} _Hungary in_ 1851. By Charles L. Brace.
{363} Mrs Borrow to John Murray, 4th June 1844.
{364} _Memoirs_, C. G. Leland, 1893.
{365a} 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.
{365b} 24th April 1841.
{365c} Dr Knapp’s _Life of George Borrow_, ii. page 5.
{367} 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.”
{372} Mr A. Egmont Hake in _Athenæum_, 13th Aug. 1881.
{374} 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.
{375} _Vestiges of Borrow_: _Some Personal Reminiscences_, _The Globe_,
21st July 1896.
{376a} Mr A. Egmont Hake in _Athenæum_, 13th Aug. 1881.
{376b} _The Gypsies of Spain_, page 287.
{376c} “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).
{376d} This was said in the presence of Mr F. G. Bowring, son of Dr
Bowring.
{378a} 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.”
{378b} 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.
{379} _Memoirs of Eighty Years_. By Dr Gordon Hake, 1892.
{380a} _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.”
{380b} _Memoirs of Eighty Years_. By Dr Gordon Hake, 1892.
{381a} E[lizabeth] H[arvey] in _The Eastern Daily Press_, 1st Oct. 1892.
{381b} The story is narrated by Dr Augustus Jessopp in the _Athenæum_,
8th July 1893.
{381c} _Wild Wales_, page 487.
{381d} _Wild Wales_, page 36 et seq.
{382} _Memoirs of Eighty Years_. By Dr Gordon Hake, 1892.
{383a} _Memoirs of Eighty Years_. By Dr Gordon Hake, 1892.
{383b} _Memoirs of Eighty Years_. By Dr Gordon Hake, 1892.
{384a} _George Borrow in East Anglia_. W. A. Dutt.
{384b} _Memoirs of Eighty Years_. By Dr Gordon Hake, 1892.
{385a} _William Bodham Donne and His Friends_. By Catherine B. Johnson.
{385b} 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.
{386} Mr John Murray in _Good Words_.
{390} To John Murray; the letter is in Mrs Borrow’s hand but drafted by
Borrow himself, 29th Jan. 1855.
{391a} 16th April 1845.
{391b} See post.
{393a} _The Romany Rye_, page 338.
{393b} _Life of Frances Power Cable_, by herself.
{393c} 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.”
{393d} _The Romany Rye_, pages 344–5.
{393e} _Romano Lavo-Lil_, page 274.
{393f} _The Romany Rye_, page 134.
{394a} Letter from Borrow to Dr Usoz, 22nd Feb. 1839.
{394b} _Macmillan’s Magazine_, vol. 45.
{396} “Notes upon George Borrow” prefaced to an edition of _Lavengro_.
Ward, Lock & Co.
{398} Mr W. Elvin in the _Athenæum_, 6th Aug. 1881.
{399a} 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_.
{399b} Mr Theodore Watts-Dunton, “Notes upon George Borrow” prefaced to
an edition of _Lavengro_. Ward, Lock & Co.
{400a} The Rt. Hon. Augustine Birrell in _Obiter Dicta_, and Series,
1887.
{400b} Francis Hindes Groome in _Bookman_, May 1899.
{404a} “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.
{404b} Mr John Murray in _Good Words_.
{404c} In _The Eastern Daily Press_, 1st October 1892.
{405} Borrow’s reference is to the county motto, “One and All.”
{407a} _The Life of George Borrow_, by Dr Knapp, ii., 79–80.
{407b} _George Borrow_, by R. A. J. Walling.
{407c} _George Borrow_, by R. A. J. Walling.
{408} _George Borrow_, by R. A. J. Walling.
{409} _The Life of George Borrow_, by Dr Knapp.
{411} This is rather awkwardly phrased, as Mrs Borrow was alive at that
date.
{412a} 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.”
{412b} _The Life of George Borrow_, by Dr Knapp.
{413} _The Life of George Borrow_, by Dr Knapp.
{415a} _Wild Wales_, page 6.
{415b} 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.”
{416} E[lizabeth] H[arvey] in _The Eastern Daily Press_, 1st Oct. 1892.
{417a} Ellen Jones actually wrote—
Ellen Jones
yn pithyn pell
i gronow owen
{417b} _Wild Wales_, pages 227–8.
{418a} 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.
{418b} _Wild Wales_, page 5.
{418c} 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.”
{419a} 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.
{419b} _Wild Wales_, page 274.
{419c} _Wild Wales_, page 130.
{419d} _Wild Wales_, page 130.
{420a} _Wild Wales_, page 150.
{420b} 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.)
{422} Painted by H. W. Phillips in 1843.
{423a} _Vestiges of Borrow_: _Some Personal Reminiscences_. _The
Globe_, 21st July 1896.
{423b} 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.
{423c} To judge from Borrow’s opinion of O’Connell previously quoted,
“notoriety” would have been a more appropriate word in his case.
{424} Given to the Rev. A. W. Upcher and related by him in _The
Athenæum_, 22nd July 1893.
{425a} _Lavengro_, page 361.
{425b} _The Romany Rye_, page 309.
{425c} _Wild Wales_, page 285.
{425d} _The Eastern Daily Press_, 1st Oct. 1892.
{427} Garcin de Tassy. Note sur les Rubâ’ïyât de ’Omar Khaïyam, which
appeared in the _Journal Asiatique_.
{428a} _Letters and Literary Remains of Edward FitzGerald_, 1889.
{428b} _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.)
{429} Rev. Whitwell Elwin, editor of _The Quarterly Review_. See
_post_, p. 431.
{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.
{432a} _Some XVIII. Century Men of Letters_. Ed. Warwick Elwin, 1902.
{432b} _Some XVIII. Century Men of Letters_. Ed. Warwick Elwin, 1902.
{433} _Some XVIII. Century Men of Letters_. Ed. Warwick Elwin, 1902.
{435} Entitled _Roving Life in England_. March 1857.
{436} 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.”
{437a} _Letters and Literary Remains of Edward FitzGerald_, 1889.
{437b} Mr A. Egmont Hake in _Athenæum_, 13th Aug. 1881.
{438} 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.
{439} “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.
{440a} 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.
{440b} _Wild Wales_, page 548.
{442} These particulars have been kindly supplied by Mr D. B. Hill of
Mattishall, Norfolk.
{445a} Mr. A. Egmont Hake in _The Athenæum_, 13th Aug. 1881.
{445b} _The Life of Frances Power Cobbe_, by Herself, 1894.
{446} _The Life of Frances Power Cobbe_, by Herself, 1894.
{447a} “In Defence of Borrow,” prefixed to _The Romany Rye_. Ward,
Locke & Co.
{447b} _Vestiges of Borrow_; _Some Personal Reminiscences_. _The
Globe_, 21st July 1896.
{448} _The Athenæum_, 13th August 1881.
{449a} Mr A. Egmont Hake in _Macmillan’s Magazine_, November 1881.
{449b} Mr A. Egmont Hake in _The Athenæum_, 13th August 1881.
{449c} _Memoirs of Eighty Years_, by Dr Gordon Hake, 1892.
{450} _The Athenæum_, 10th September 1881.
{451a} _The Athenæum_, 10th September 1881.
{451b} _The Athenæum_, 13th August 1881.
{453} “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.
{456} _Life of Frances Power Cobbe_, by Herself, 1894.
{459a} _The Geologist_, 1797–1875.
{459b} _The Life of Frances Power Cobbe_, by Herself, 1894.
{460a} _Charles Godfrey Leland_, by E. R. Pennell, 1908
{460b} _Memoirs_, by C. G. Leland, 1893.
{461a} 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.
{461b} _Memoirs_ of C. G. Leland, 1893.
{461c} _Memoirs_ of C. G. Leland, 1893.
{462a} 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.
{462b} _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.
{462c} “There were not two educated men in England who possessed the
slightest knowledge of Romany.”—F. H. Groome in _Academy_,—13th June
1874.
{463a} F. H. Groome in _Academy_, 13th June 1874.
{463b} _Ibid._
{464} _The Athenæum_, 17th March 1888.
{466a} _The Bookman_, February 1893.
{466b} _The Athenæum_, 10th Sept. 1881.
{467} _William Bodham Donne and His Friends_. Edited by Catherine B.
Johnson, 1905.
{469a} Mr T. Watts-Dunton, in _The Athenæum_, 3rd Sept. 1881.
{469b} Mr A. Egmont Hake, in _The Athenæum_, 13th Aug. 1881.
{470a} _The Life of George Borrow_, by Dr Knapp.
{470b} _East Anglia_, by J. Ewing Ritchie, 1883.
{470c} _George Borrow in East Anglia_.
{473} W. E. Henley.
{474a} _The Athenæum_, 25th March 1899.
{474b} 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.
{474c} _Memoirs of Eighty Years_, 1892.
{475a} Mr A. Egmont Hake in _The Athenæum_, 13th August 1881.
{475b} In _The Bible in Spain_. “Next to the love of God, the love of
country is the best preventative of crime.” (Page 53.)
{475c} _The Bible in Spain_, page 97.
{476} Mr Thomas Seccombe in _The Bookman_, Feb. 1892.
{477} _Wild Wales_, page 628.