CHARACTERISTICS
THERE is but one authentic portrait of Borrow, it is the painting in the
possession of Mr. John Murray, by whose kind permission it has been
reproduced for this work. An engraving from it was used as the
frontispiece to the first edition of “Lavengro,” and it has always been
known as “the ‘Lavengro’ portrait.” If there is anything in the theory
that a man reaches a certain climacteric when Nature, having done all she
can for him, designs that he shall sit for his portrait, Borrow seems to
have sat at the identical moment. It would be impossible to wish for a
better view of Don Jorge than this.
The white hair, the swart complexion, the brilliant eyes, the almost
affectedly unconventional dress, give an impression of the man which
irresistibly recalls the romance of his youthful exploits and the weird
poetry of the most poetical part of his career. It was this striking
appearance of his, and his commanding height, combined with his
unorthodox outlook, which gave him his unquestionable influence with the
gypsies. It helped to make him, during the one blazing season of his
social celebrity, the lion of the London drawing-rooms. If he failed to
maintain his popularity, it was in spite of his appearance, which had
wonderful distinction.
No Borrovian regrets that Borrow failed, that he did not remain the pet
of society, and that he was only for a brief space encouraged to Byronic
affectations and ambitions. In following his wayward sprites into all
the _bêtises_ he committed, in alienating himself from the fashionable
world and getting himself infinitely disliked by people who were ready to
idolise him if he would have subscribed to all their conventions, Borrow
wrought better than he knew. He would not have been Borrow, in fact, if,
after the publication of “The Bible in Spain,” he had submitted to the
influences of the great world and become a manufacturer of popular books.
He would have written a great deal more and a great deal worse; he would
have lost his piquancy to acquire gentility; he would have become suave,
smooth, complacent, and pious, instead of being rugged, rebellious,
boorish—and Borrow.
Such speculations are needless. It was impossible for Borrow to be other
than Borrow was. The rudeness of his manner was no pose: this was an
elemental spirit that could not avoid being itself, whatever veneer it
eroded, whatever polish it dulled. The angularity, the abruptness, the
most fascinating and most irritating qualities of his work—these also
were no affectation. They arose naturally out of the qualities of the
man himself. There is no writer who has put more of his ego into his
work than Borrow. One looks at his portrait, contemplates his ancestry
and his training, and admits that if this man were to become a writer
there was no other kind of writer he could have become than the author of
“Lavengro.” It is possible to lay too much stress on Borrow’s
boorishness, and this is the very last place in which it should be done.
His strain of melancholia often verged upon madness: any measured
judgment of his life must take account of that fact, and it will explain
much that is otherwise difficult to understand. I have been informed
that he suffered in his youth from the “touching” mania, and that even if
on his travels described in “Lavengro” he did meet a gentleman who was
thus afflicted, the extraordinary vigour and vividness of the scenes in
which the malady is depicted are due to his own painful acquaintance with
it. Again, I have been told that the incident in “The Romany Rye,” where
the old man studies the Chinese language through the medium of the
legends inscribed on teapots, is drawn from his own experience, and that
he turned to pursuits of this kind in order to stave off the horrors of
melancholy which afflicted him in his moods of self-concentration. A man
of this extraordinary sensibility, passing his youth at the eye-piece of
a kaleidoscope, so to speak, afflated with poetry in boyhood, in narrow
circumstances, buffeted by ill-fortune for many years, chasing many a
Will-o’-the-wisp, could not help being “a queer chap,” as Ford said. He
was soured by circumstance in his early days. In middle life, when the
sunshine of success burst upon him for a time, he became more genial.
The picture of him one gets in his Cornish and Welsh tours is very
pleasant. But he became cold again in later years, and was a bitter man
after the death of his wife had broken the strongest link between him and
his fellows.
His personal and his literary characteristics were, of course, deeply
intermingled. The impatience of pusillanimity which appears in many a
passage of his life was reflected in his works. He had an overpowering
admiration of courage and strength, either mental or physical. There is
a sentence or two in “The Bible in Spain,” describing the last day of
Quesada, which gives light upon Borrow’s idols:
“No action of any conqueror or hero on record is to be compared with
this closing scene in the life of Quesada, for who, by his single
desperate courage and impetuosity, ever stopped a revolution in full
course? Quesada did; he stopped the revolution at Madrid for one
entire day, and brought back the uproarious and hostile mob of a huge
city to perfect order and quiet. His burst into the Puerta del Sol
was the most tremendous and successful piece of daring ever
witnessed. I admired so much the spirit of the brute bull that I
frequently during his wild onset shouted ‘Vive Quesada!’”
And the same note of admiration is struck with reference to many a
pugilist and criminal in whose career it is difficult to find anything to
approve.
Herein is to be found the secret of much of the power of what I have
called Borrow’s naturalism. The characters he depicts are all intensely
alive, and act without reference to any theory of action. When he was
compiling the “Celebrated Trials” he had an education in naturalism which
merely developed his own tendencies. When he introduced into “Lavengro”
David Haggart, the friend of his youth at Edinburgh, it was as a real
person, and not as a biographical lay-figure upon which to hang moral
speculations. Not one writer in a hundred would have treated the Haggart
incident as Borrow did, for, courageous as he was, David was an ingrained
rascal, whose villainies would probably have continued for another
half-century if the hangman had not got hold of him. Borrow did not
speculate on criminology, as the fashion is, and discuss the extent to
which environment was responsible for the career of his blackguards. He
just accepted them in their environment, and, with glowing admiration for
their bravery—Haggart was brave enough to run mortal risks for the crimes
of his associates—transferred them to his pages in their habit as they
lived. Professor Chandler, an American critic, has accomplished a
luminous comparison when he says that Borrow’s realism is of a different
quality from Thackeray’s—the former sympathetic and the latter satiric.
A hundred instances of the truth of this observation will occur to those
who review the regiments of rascals which march through the pages of the
two authors.
It was the same influence which made Borrow’s gypsies so real that, in
spite of all the errors into which imperfect knowledge of the subject led
him, his pictures of the Romany race remain unapproached for truth of
line and naturalness of colour. Ainsworth drew gypsies; they were stage
figures; they are forgotten. Borrow’s gypsies are immortal. Other
authors of his own time visualised rascality in many forms; Dickens
especially created a marvellous gallery of rogues. But Dickens set up
his villains either in order to punish them in the interests of altruism
or to reform them in the interests of propaganda. Borrow regarded them
from a widely different point of view. They were studies in real life,
and not material for the administration of poetic justice. It is
interesting to contrast his view of a very popular book with that of a
contemporary writer. Charles Reade was an unequivocal admirer of “Uncle
Tom’s Cabin,” which he said was “great by theme and great by skill.” We
have seen what Borrow said about a lot of “Uncle Toms and Uncle
Tom-fools.” It is idle, perhaps, but not without charm, to guess what he
would have made of a character like Legree if he had been able to
persuade Isopel Berners to take him with her to America and had met with
a slave-driver in that continent. Parallel with this worship of strength
and courage may be placed his taste in literature. He had little sense
of the verbal niceties of style; his affection was reserved for the
robust and vigorous writing of authors like Defoe, and for the hefty,
rousing force of the narratives which he discovered among the biographies
and autobiographies of criminals in many an aged pamphlet and forgotten
broadsheet. It would, however, be easy to exaggerate this side of
Borrow’s character. He was not merely a non-moral literary berserker.
There was a softer, a more imaginative side to his nature—not
irreconcilable with the other, because it arose out of the same quality
of sympathy and the same acuteness of vision. This was manifested most
strongly, perhaps, in his later and more settled years, and perhaps more
plainly in his relations with children than in any others.
Apart from those episodes of his life which form the staple of his books,
the most pleasant picture of the man is to be found in his days of
comparative leisure in East Anglia, when he divided his time between
study, literary work, visits to friends, the entertainment of friends,
and rambles about rural Norfolk and Suffolk. It was a red-letter day
when a gypsy tribe arrived in the neighbourhood of Oulton. His Romany
friends would be invited to camp in his grounds, to receive him and his
people by their camp-fires, to rokker (talk) Romany with him, and to
listen to his gypsy songs. When there were no gypsies, he would make
explorations into the character and the dialect of the Norfolk or Suffolk
natives, picking up any chance companion of the road. He generally
succeeded in eliciting a life history and in pursuing, as far as the
duration of the companionship would allow, a psychological study. Some
of his philological adventures on the country roads have been amusingly
related by Miss Harvey:
“When they used some word peculiar to Norfolk (or Suffolk)
countrymen, he would say, ‘Why, that’s a Danish word.’ By and by the
man would use another peculiar expression: ‘Why, that’s Saxon!’ A
little later, another: ‘Why, that’s French! . . . What a wonderful
man you are to speak so many languages!’ One man got very angry, but
Mr. Borrow was quite unconscious that he had given any offence.”
His taste revolted against the use of foreign words or phrases in common
conversation, though he resorted to the practice very largely in his
books and correspondence. He would chaff his wife or Miss Clarke if
either of them introduced a French word into talk around the table,
crying, “What’s that? Trying to come over me with strange languages!”
The picture of his life at this time, apart from the petty distractions
of his disputes with neighbours and the controversies with his publisher,
is that of a quiet and pleasant domesticity, occasionally disturbed by
fits of “the Horrors.” When, nervously depressed into the depths of
gloom, he was unable to sleep, he would get up in the night and set off
on long walks, often stretching them over the twenty-five miles of road
to Norwich. He would return the next night invigorated by the exercise,
and freed from his enemy. While in good health his existence at the
Cottage was that of a quiet, studious man, spending his evenings with his
wife and her daughter, reading voraciously, entertaining his
acquaintances, and behaving in a tamely rational manner till his passion
was roused or his prejudices were assailed. His personal habits were
quite temperate. He ate little breakfast, a hearty dinner, and
subsequently took only a glass of cold water before going to bed.
He did not drink nearly so much ale as his panegyrics of malt liquor
might lead the unwary to suppose. Miss Harvey spoke to him of a lady who
had a fondness for a certain gentleman. “Well,” said Borrow, “did he
make her an offer?” “No,” answered Miss Harvey. “Ah!” he exclaimed, “if
she had given him some good ale he would.”
He appears never to have concerned himself about the character of the
food he ate so long as he had substantial fare. He amazed the landlady
of a Cromer hotel by replying to her inquiry what he would have for
dinner, “Give me a piece of flesh!” The landlady mentioned the strange
request to a lady staying in the hotel, and described the person who made
it. “Oh!” she laughed, “that’s Mr. Borrow. What he wants is a good rump
steak.” And a rump steak, being served, quite satisfied him, for it was
his favourite dish. He was exceedingly susceptible to music—we have seen
his comparison of Mrs. Berkeley’s piano to David’s harp—but he does not
appear to have possessed a highly cultured ear, for Miss Harvey tells us
that “one piece he seemed never to tire of hearing. It was a polka, ‘The
Redowa,’ I think, and when I had finished he used to say, ‘Play that
again, H—.’”
Richard Ford summarises Borrow’s character in three sentences: “Borrow is
a queer chap. . . . I believe Borrow to be honest, albeit a gitano. His
biography will be passing strange if he tells the _whole_ truth.” {347}
There is one strange error in this. Borrow was not a gypsy, of course,
though the vagrant spirit was lively in him. But he was honest, even
when most mistaken. The most deplorable thing in his career was his
unfounded and grotesque libels upon Bowring, about which it can only be
suggested that he was beside himself with rage and disappointment when he
wrote them, having failed to obtain the mission from the Government which
was the _ignis fatuus_ of his life. There can be as little question that
Borrow believed himself to have been ill-treated by Bowring as there is
that Bowring was innocent of his charges. The subtle hint in Ford’s
phrase, “if he tells the _whole_ truth,” will be appreciated. Borrow did
not reveal everything in his books. It is unreasonable to expect any man
to do so; but in Borrow’s case, ellipsis was often used where statement
would have been preferable and more straight-forward. Yet the criticism
must fall when we cease to regard his works as purely personal documents
and consider them as works of art. In this respect, addition would not
improve them. Elimination might be tolerated in the interests of some of
the victims of his wrath; but the destruction of the Appendix, for
example, would deprive us of some of the most powerful vituperative
writing in English literature. The debt that literature owes to Borrow
is great, for he sustained into the nineteenth century the traditions of
the great narrative writers, and his successor is still to seek.
* * * * *
THE END
INDEX
A
“Aager and Eliza,” 331, 334
Abraham, John, of Liskeard, 152
_Academy_, _The_, 251
Addington, Lord, Ford’s letters to, 113, 125, 346 (_note_)
Ainsworth, Harrison, 342
Ale, Borrow’s fondness for, 20, 235, 244, 259, 309, 345
Altarnun, Cornwall, 194
Anglo-Saxonism, Borrow’s, 17, 18, 313
Anstis, Bernard, 149, 152
Arabic, Borrow’s knowledge of, 83
“Army of Faith,” 72
Arnold, Matthew, 287 _et seq._, 305, 336 (_note_)
Arthurian Legend, The, 161, 162, 189, 195 _et seq._, 204 _et seq._
_Athenæum_, _The_, 8, 117, 130, 133, 252, 253 (_note_)
Avery (or Every), John, 175
B
Bailly, Juan Antonio, 99 (_note_), 110, 111
Belfast, Borrow at, 237
Belgians, Borrow on, 82, 83
Benson, A. C, 255, 256
Berkeley, Rev., Vicar of St. Cleer, 152 _et seq._
Berners, Isopel, 7, 10, 55 _et seq._, 291, 304, 308, 342
Bevan, Mrs., 139
“Bible in Spain, The,” 11, 12, 22, 75 (_note_), 114 _et seq._, 207, 271,
293 _et seq._, 338
Bible Society, The, 85 _et seq._, 98, 99, 104, 114, 115, 296
Birrell, A., 22, 65
_Blackwood_, 133
Blyth, Esther (“Queen of the Nokkums”), 237, 244, 284 _et seq._
Boconnoc Pillar, The, 179 (_note_)
Bolventor, Cornwall, 193
Borde, Andrew, 267
Borlase, William, 180
Borrow, George, his birth, 25; at Huddersfield school, 27; at Edinburgh
High School, 28; at Norwich Grammar School, 29, 30; at Clonmel School,
29; articled to solicitors, 35; and Sir John Bowring, 40, 73, 132; starts
for London, 45; his literary-life in London, 46–54; his wanderings in
England, 54–69; in Paris in 1826, 70; his imprisonments, 72, 93; applies
for work at British Museum, 80; seeks post under Belgian Government, 82;
employed by Bible Society, 86; at St. Petersburg, 88; returns to London,
90; visits Portugal and Spain, 91–103; his marriage, 104; separates from
Bible Society, 104; at Oulton, 105–124, 125, 132, 137, 252, 258–262;
takes prolonged tour abroad, 124; in the East, 131; his view of
“Lavengro,” 135; and Dr. Hake, 138; at Yarmouth, 145, 224; his prowess as
a swimmer, 146; visits Cornwall, 147–199; returns to London, 199; tours
in Wales, 208–215, 227; visits Isle of Man, 216; tours in the Highlands,
230; visits Ireland, 230, 237; takes up residence in London, 232; tramps
in Lowlands and Border Country, 237; death of his wife, 238; and Mr.
Watts-Dunton, 246, 253; and Edward FitzGerald, 254; his last days in
Norwich, 258; his death, 262
Borrow, Captain Thomas, 2, 22 _et seq._, 121, 147, 176, 192; marriage of,
25; death of, 45
—, John, 2, 25, 50; death of, 90
—, Mrs. Geo., 104, 106 _et seq._ 116, 120, 133, 145, 177, 208, 215;
illness and death of, 238 _et seq._ (_see also_ CLARKE, MRS.)
—, Mrs. Thomas, 2, 24, 25, 66, 67, 145; death of, 229
Borrows, The Cornish, 147 _et seq._, 190 _et seq._
Bosvil (Bosvile), Gypsy tribe, 55
—, Ryley, 244, 275, 287
Bowring, Sir John, 40, 41, 70, 73 _et seq._, 91, 129, 132, 133, 136, 234,
313, 332, 346
—, L. B. and F. H., 73 (_note_)
—, Edgar, 84
Brandram, J., Secretary of Bible Society, 94, 99, 104, 300
British Museum (_see_ MUSEUM)
Brontë, Emily, 249
Brook, Sir James, 31
Brown Willy, Cornwall, 194
Bryan, B. (“Ben Brain”), 24, 33, 121
Buddhist Doctrines, Borrow on, 90
Burney, of Mousehole, 177 _et seq._
_Bury Post_, _The_, 146
Byron, 6, 15, 16, 293
C
Camelford, Cornwall, 195
Campbell, Thomas, 44
“Canting Nonsense,” 34, 318
Caradon Hills, The, Cornwall, 146, 151 _et seq._, 202
Carew, Bampfylde Moore, 247
Carlism, Borrow on, 301
Carlyle, Thomas, 305, 313
Carn Brea, Cornwall, 180
“Celebrated Trials,” 49, 50, 52, 341
Celtic strain in Borrow, 17, 19, 20, 150, 202, 210, 320
Chandler, F. W., 341
Children’s Bill, The, 268 (_note_)
Christian, John William (“Shan Dhu”), 217, 218
Clarendon, Lord, 123, 124
Clarke, Miss Henrietta, 97, 137; in Wales, 208 _et seq._, marriage of,
236 (_see also_ MACOUBREY, MRS.)
Clarke, Mrs. (Mrs. George Borrow), 85, 96, 97 _et seq._; marriage with
Borrow, 104 (_see also_ BORROW, MRS. GEORGE)
Clausel, and Bedouin campaign, 79, 83
Clonmel, Borrow at school in, 29
Cobbe, Frances Power, 232, 238, 239, 240
Coldstream Guards, Thomas Borrow enlists in, 23, 24
Coloma, Santa, the Carlist, 93
Cooper, Mrs. (gypsy celebrity), 286
Cordova, General, 103
Cork, Borrow at, 29
_Cornhill Magazine_, _The_, 235
Cornish language, 174, 186 _et seq._, 203
Cornwall, Borrow, family in, 17, 18, 21; Borrow’s visit to, 146 _et
seq._; Borrow leaves, 199; suggested book on, 199 _et seq._; gypsies in,
278
Crofton, H. T., 267 (_note_)
Cronan, the guide, 185
“Croppies, lie down!” 213
Cruikshank, and Elis Wyn, 229
Cunningham, Allan, 69, 332
—, Rev. F., 85, 90
D
“Death Raven, The” 333
Defoe, Borrow’s exemplar, 13, 14, 26, 134, 297, 303, 343
Delabole, Cornwall, 199
Denew, of Yarmouth, 231
“Denmark, Songs of,” 75
Denniss, Vicar of Oulton, 120 (_note_)
Dereham, East, 14, 24; Borrow born at, 25
D’Éterville, Abbé, 31, 33, 35
Dickens, Charles, Borrow and, 240, 285, 305, 342
Dilke, Sir Charles, reviews “Lavengro,” 133
Doniert, King of Cornwall, 178, 193
Donne, W. B., 134, 139, 255, 256
Dowden, Professor, 37, 38
Dozmary Pool, 161 _et seq._
Druids, Borrow and the, 179
Dublin, Borrow in, 230
Dutt, W. A., of Lowestoft, 260
E
East Anglia, Borrow and, 18, 222, 250, 343
_Eastern Daily Press_, _The_, 146 (_note_)
Edey, Mrs., of Liskeard, 168, 169
Edinburgh, Borrow in, 27
_Edinburgh Review_, _The_, 117
Edwards, Francis, 330
“Egipt speche,” Borde’s, 267
Elwin, Rev. Whitwell, 52, 141, 142, 226, 304
Every (or Avery), John, 175
Every, Miss, 175, 176 (_note_)
_Examiner_, _The_, 75 (_note_), 117
F
Faa, Will (Gypsy “King”), 283
“Faustus,” Klinger’s, Borrow translates, 44, 52, 69
Finn, Legends of, 185, 218 _et seq._
FitzGerald, Edward, 107, 254 _et seq._; his letter to Borrow, 257
Ford, Richard, 68, 72 (_note_), 112 _et seq._, 116, 117, 118, 123, 125,
126, 129, 340, 346
Ford, Mrs., 113 (_note_), 126 (_note_)
_Foreign Quarterly_, _The_, 78, 82
_Fraser’s Magazine_, 133, 234
G
Gaelic language (_see_ SHELTA)
Gayangos, Librarian of the “Nacional,” 99
“Gentility Nonsense,” 20, 151, 152, 314 _et seq._
German, Borrow’s knowledge of, 49; literature, 313
Ghost story, Lope de Vega’s, 214
Gifford, William, 48
“Gil Blas,” 118, 294
Gladstone, W. E., and “The Bible in Spain,” 128
_Globe_, _The_, 245
Grampound, Borrow at, 179
Graydon, Lieutenant, 93, 94, 115
Groome, Hindes, 251
Grundtvig, Danish poet, 78
“Guinevere,” Borrow’s suggestion, 157
Gumb, Daniel, 159
Gurney, Joseph, 35, 85
—, Anna, 225
Guter Vawr, 214
Gwinett, Ambrose, 248
Gypsies, Borrow and, 1–4, 17, 295, 303, 314, 342, 343; Spanish, 92, 99,
110; in London, 127, 233; songs and stories of, 151; in Cornwall, 181; in
Wales, 211; and C. G. Leland, 241 _et seq._; and Watts-Dunton, 248 _et
seq._; their language, 251, 264–292, 342, 343
“Gypsies of Spain, The” (_see_ “ZINCALI”)
Gypsy Lore Society, 265 (_note_), 267 (_note_)
H
Haggart, David, 28, 341
Hake, Dr. Gordon, 8, 109 (_note_), 134, 137, 138 _et seq._, 145, 156,
169, 246, 249 (_note_), 253
—, Mr. Egmont, 8
—, Mr. Thomas, 143
Hambly, Edmund, 19, 22
“Handbook for Spain,” Ford’s, 126 (_note_), 128, 129
Harford Bridge, 33
Harvey, Miss Elizabeth, 108, 109, 116, 137, 146 (_note_), 344 _et seq._
Hasfeldt, 88, 89, 117, 119, 124
Hawker of Morwenstow, 191, 205; on Methodists, 221
Haydon, Benjamin, 50, 51, 70
Hayim Ben Attar, 103
Hayle, Borrow at, 182
Hazlitt, William, 310
“Herne, Mrs.” 35, 270
Highland Society of London, The, 80
Homer, and Gronwy Owen, 240, 241, 272
Horncastle Fair, 66, 69, 70
“Horrors, The,” 51, 90, 155, 238, 239, 344
Huddersfield, Borrow at school in, 27, 28
Huguenots, Mrs. Thomas Borrow’s descent from, 19, 24
Hume, Martin, 301
Hurlers, The, 160
I
Imprisonments, Borrow’s, 72, 93
“Ingeborg, Queen,” 10, 57
Ireland, Borrow’s love for, 19; first visit to, 29; suggested service in,
83, 153; tour in, 230
J
Jago, James, of Liskeard, 149, 194
Jenner, Henry, 187
Jessopp, Dr., 33; on Borrow and children, 142
“Jew of Fez, The,” 103
John, S. R., 187 (_note_)
Johnson, the Pugilist, 24
“Jones, John,” of Llangollen, 212
“Joseph Sell,” 53, 54
K
Kerrison, Roger, 35, 45, 51
Killey (Manx poet), 221
Kingsley, Charles, 305
King’s Lynn, 225
Kirk Yetholm, 237, 244, 248 (_note_), 251, 283 _et seq._
“Kjaempe Viser,” The, 69, 76
Klinger (_see_ “FAUSTUS”)
Knapp, Professor W. I., LL.D., 32, 45, 51, 72, 97, 127 (_note_), 129,
154, 185, 211, 213, 240 (_note_), 262 (_note_)
L
Languages, Borrow’s capacity for, 1, 30, 31
Latham, Dr., 252, 253
“Lavengro,” 4, 12, 22, 24, 26, 29, 46, 47, 53, 54 _et seq._, 73, 76, 121
_et seq._, 125, 130, 151, 199, 244, 266, 293 _et seq._, 302 _et seq._,
339; publication of, 131; reviews of, 133, 226; Borrow’s view of, 135;
fascination exercised by, 303
“— Portrait,” The, 337
Leland, C. G., 232, 241 _et seq._, 265, 284, 309
Le Sage, Borrow compared with, 12, 118, 294
Lipotsof, translator, 87
Liskeard, Cornwall, 21, 23; Borrow at, 147 _et seq._
Lockhart, J. G., 52, 76, 128, 129, 142
Lockyer, Sir Norman, 160
Logan Rock, The, 184
London, Borrow family in, 231
Longstone, The, 161
Lopez, Antonio, 92, 281 _et seq._
Lostwithiel, Borrow at, 178
M
Macaulay, Lord, 305
Mackay, William, of Oulton, 244 _et seq._, 249 (_note_), 260
MacOubrey, Dr., 236, 237, 258, 262
—, Mrs., 236, 237, 258, 262 (_see also_ CLARKE, MISS H.)
MacRitchie, D., 280 (_note_)
Malory’s Arthurian Legend, 162
Man, Isle of, Borrow’s visit to, 216 _et seq._
Manchu, The Scriptures in, 86 _et seq._
Manx language, Borrow and the, 217
Martineau family, The, 25, 90, 157
—, Harriett, 38, 86
—, James, 31, 32
Mendizabal, Prime Minister of Spain, 300
Menheniot Pair, 23, 24, 147, 203
Meredith, George, 234
“Merman, The Deceived,” 335
Metaphysics, Phillips’s, 49
Methodists, in Cornwall, 153; in Isle of Man, 220; and gypsies, 275
Militia, West Norfolk, 24, 27, 28; Captain Thomas Borrow’s commission in,
25
Miracle Plays, Cornish, 206
_Monthly Magazine_, _The_, 44, 46 _et seq._, 335
Moore (Manx poet), 217
_Morning Chronicle_, _The_, 301
Morshead, Captain W., 23
Moscow, Borrow’s visit to, 89
Mousehold Heath, Norwich, 1
Mumber Lane (“Mumper’s Dingle”), 55, 309
Murray, John, 51, 64, 75 (_note_), 110 _et seq._, 116, 121, 123, 129,
130, 133, 134, 200, 201, 215, 231, 233, 337; and “Romany Rye,” 224 _et
seq._
“Murtagh,” Wild Irish boy, 29, 70, 184, 265
Museum, British, and Borrow, 80, 130
Mutiny, The Indian, 228
N
Napier, Colonel Elers, 95, 96, 102
Naturalism, Borrow’s, 341
_New Monthly_, _The_, 44
“Nokkums, Queen of the” (_see_ BLYTH, ESTHER)
Nonconformity, Borrow on, 321
Norman Cross, 2, 26, 27
Norwich, 1, 4; West Norfolks’ return to, 29; Borrow’s home-coming, 66,
67, 72, 79; Borrow’s old age in, 258
— Grammar School, 29, 30
O
Oehlenschläger, 78, 330 _et seq._
Omar Khayyam, 255
_Once a Week_, 218, 234
Oulton, 69, 97; Borrow settles at, 105, 106, 116, 132; Borrow returns to,
252, 258; picture of Borrow’s last years at, 260; Richard Ford at, 125
Owen, Gronwy, 197, 228
_Oxford Review_, 47
P
Padstow, Cornwall, 199
Palmerston, Lord, 124
Parnell’s “Hermit,” 221
Patriotism, Borrow’s, 222
Pengelly, Cornwall, 199
Penquite, Cornwall, 147, 151 _et seq._; Borrow leaves, 199
Pentire Point, Cornwall, 199
Pentreath, Dolly, 183, 186
Penzance, Borrow at, 182 _et seq._
Perfrement, Ann (_see_ BORROW, MRS. THOMAS)
“Perpinia,” Story of, 289 _et seq._
Peto, Sir Morton, 121, 137
“Petulengro, Jasper” (Ambrose Smith), 1, 4, 5, 6, 35, 53, 65, 263, 308
Peyrecourt, 71
Phillips, Sir Richard, publisher, 44, 45, 46 _et seq._, 69, 335
Pixies, The Cornish, 166 _et seq._
Playfair, Dr., 239
Plymouth, 148
_Plymouth Mail_, 147
Poetry, Borrow’s, 234
Pollards, The, of Woolston, 168 _et seq._
Portugal, Borrow’s first visit to, 91 _et seq._
Procter, Mrs., 252
Protestantism, Borrow’s, 19, 211, 295, 307, 313; Berkeley’s, of St.
Cleer, 153
Pugilism, Borrow’s admiration of, 1, 5, 8, 9, 12, 22, 24, 33, 34, 156,
203, 245, 259
_Punch_ (quoted), 156
Pushkin, on Borrow’s “Targum,” 90
Q
_Quarterly Review_, 52, 117, 128, 129, 130, 142, 226, 231
Quesada, Spanish leader, 72; assassination of, 301, 340
Quevedo, and Elis Wyn, 324
Quiller-Couch, Thomas, 166 (quoted), 174 (_note_)
Quincey, De, 34 (quoted)
R
“Rasselas” and “Joseph Sell,” 53
Reade, Charles, 342
Redruth, Borrow at, 180
Religion, Gypsies and, 272 _et seq._
Restormel Castle, 178
Richmond, Borrow gives dinner at, 233
Ritchie, Ewing, 140
“Romano Lavo-Lil,” 243, 248 (_note_), 275, 284 _et seq._; its
publication, 251
“Romantic Ballads,” The, 69, 74, 329 _et seq._
Romany language, 264 _et seq._
“Romany Rye,” The, 9, 11, 34, 60 _et seq._, 70, 125, 193, 199, 215, 302,
339; attack on Bowring in, 73, 75; Dr. Jessopp on, 142; its publication,
201, 224 _et seq._, 244
Rough Tor, Cornwall, 194
S
St. Cleer, Cornwall, 21, 147 _et seq._
St. Michael’s Mount, 183
Salisbury Plain, 54
Sampson, John, 264
_Saturday Review_, 227
“Scandinavia, Songs of, 74
“Scholar Gypsy, The,” 287
Scotland, Borrow’s tramp through, 230; tour of 1866, 237
Scott, Sir W., 218 (_note_), 237, 240, 285, 316 _et seq._
Scott-Macfie, R.A., 277
Sebastopol, Pall of, 222
Seccombe, Thomas (quoted), 13
“Sell, Joseph,” 53, 54
Seville, Borrow settles in, 95, 97
“Shales, Marshland,” 72, 250
Shaw, Thomas (Lord Advocate), 268 (_note_)
Shelta, the Tinkers’ Language, 242, 265 _et seq._
“Sidi Habismilk,” 103, 116, 123, 125
Simpson and Rackham, of Norwich, 4, 35
Simpson, William, 35, 36, 43
Skeppers, The, of Oulton, 85
“Slingsby, Jack” (“Lavengro”), 55, 309
Smith, Ambrose, 4, 68, 69 (see _also_ “PETULENGRO”)
—, the elder, 3, 4, 26
“Snob Papers,” The, 139
Southey, Taylor’s letter to, 39
Spain, Borrow’s visits to, 92 _et seq._; his view of, 297 _et seq._
_Spectator_, _The_, 235
Sterne, Borrow compared with, 12, 13
Stevenson, R. L., 13
Stirling-Maxwell, Sir W., reviews “Lavengro,” 133
Stonehenge, 54, 158
Stowe, Mrs. Beecher, 157
Strickland, Agnes, 139
“Swayne Vonved,” 173, 180, 243, 299, 334 _et seq._
T
Tangier, Borrow’s visit to, 98 _et seq._
“Targum,” Borrow’s, 90, 246
Taylor, Baron, 71
—, John, publisher, 69
—, Miss Jane, of Penquite, 169 _et seq._
—, Robert, of Penquite, 147 _et seq._
—, William, of Norwich, 37, 38, 39, 41, 43, 45, 46, 73, 86, 121, 314
Tennyson, Lord, 305; the Arthurian Legend, 162, 197
Thackeray, W. M., 139, 305, 341
Thomas, Edward, 320 (_note_)
Thurtell, John, 28, 33, 34, 125, 224
Tinkers’ language (_see_ SHELTA)
Tintagel, Cornwall, 195 _et seq._
Tol-pedn-Penwith, 184
Tombland Fair, 72
Tredinnick, Borrows of, 21
Tregeagle, The legend of, 161 _et seq._
Trethevy Stone, The, 158, 159
“Tristram Shandy” and “Lavengro,” 12
Truro, Borrow at, 180
Turner, Dawson, of Yarmouth, 122
U
“Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” 157, 342
_Universal Review_, 47, 52
Usóz, Don Luis, 96, 99, 24
V
Valpy, Edward, 30, 32; flogs Borrow, 33
“Veiled Period, The,” 68 _et seq._
Vidocq, 71
Villiers, Sir G., Minister at Madrid, 93
“Vipers, King of the,” 3
“Visions of Sleeping Bard,” Publication of, 231
W
Wales, Borrow’s love of, 19, 320; first visit to, 208 _et seq._; second
visit to, 227; gypsies in, 275, 279
Wallace, A. R., 198
Wandsworth, Gypsies at, 286
War Office, Borrow and the, 83
Watts-Dunton, Theodore, 54, 134 _et seq._, 138, 143, 232, 246 _et seq._,
252, 253, 270, 287 _et seq._
Weare, William, Murder of, 34, 125
Welsh language, Borrow learns, 36; criticism of Borrow’s knowledge of,
211 _et seq._, 322
Wherry Hotel, The, 259
Wilby, agent of the Bible Society, 91
“Wild Wales,” 11, 208 _et seq._, 232, 236, 319 _et seq._; publication of,
234; reviews of, 235
Williams, Peter and Winifred, 11, 55, 308
Willow Lane, Norwich, 29, 68
Wilson, Sir Archdale, 31
Woodbridge, FitzGerald at, 257
Woolston, Cornwall, 150 _et seq._
Wrestling, 203, 204
Wyn, Elis, 10, 79, 197, 208, 229 231, 323 _et seq._
Y
Yarmouth, Borrow lives at, 145, 146, 224
Z
“Zincali, The,” 11, 34, 35, 100, 103, 110 _et seq._, 124, 176, 251, 266,
271 _et seq._
* * * * *
* * * * *
PRINTED BY CASSELL AND COMPANY, LTD., LA BELLE SAUVAGE, LONDON, E.C.
FOOTNOTES.
{3} _Bengui_, Romany word for “devil.”
{6} 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.
{34} 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.”
{45} The letter may be consulted in Dr. Knapp.
{72} 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.
{73} Through the kind exertions of Sir John Bowring’s sons, Mr. Lewin
Bowring, of Torquay, and Mr. F. H. Bowring, of Hampstead.
{75} 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.”
{91} 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.”
{99a} Juan Antonio Bailly. _See_ chap, vi., p. 110.
{99b} 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.
{99c} Librarian of the “National.”
{103} “The Bible in Spain,” chap. lv.
{104} Dr. Knapp, vol. i., p. 341.
{109} _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.
{112} 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
Phœnicians. 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.
{118} 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.”
{126a} I am indebted to the courtesy of Mrs. Ford for permission to
reproduce this letter.
{126b} Referring to the review of the _Handbook for Spain_.
{132} Lady Bowring’s “Memoir,” prefixed to “Matins and Vespers.”
{140} In his “East Anglian Reminiscences.”
{142} _Daily Chronicle_, April 30th, 1900.
{143} Quoted by Mr. Watts-Dunton in his introduction to “The Romany
Rye”—“In Defence of Borrow” (Minerva Library).
{146} 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?”
{154} 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.
{166} Related by Mr. Thomas Quiller-Couch to W. C. Hazlitt.
{168} Mr. William Pollard, of Woolston, Mr. Robert Pollard, and Mrs.
Edey, of Liskeard, and Mrs. Toll, of Pensilva (1908).
{174a} 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.”
{174b} 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.”
{176} 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.
{179} 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.
{185} See Dr. Knapp’s transcript.
{187} I am much indebted for the marshalling of these points of
comparison to Mr. S. R. John, the editor of _Celtia_.
{205} R. S. Hawker: “The Quest of the Sangraal.”
{218} 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.
{241} This letter was written in Spanish, and is translated by Dr.
Knapp.
{245} _The Globe_, July 21st, 1896.
{248} 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”).
{249} 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.”
{253} _The Athenæum_, March 17th, 1888.
{255} Letter to W. H. Thompson.
{259} 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.”
{260} “George Borrow in East Anglia” (1896).
{262} This was written in 1880. A facsimile of a portion of the first
draft is given by Dr. Knapp.
{265} _Journal_ of the Gypsy Lore Society, July, 1907, p. 81.
{267} _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.
{268} 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.”
{279} “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.
{280} 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).
{284} “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.”
{320} Mr. Edward Thomas: “Beautiful Wales.”
{334} Words undecipherable.
{336} 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.
{347} Letter to Addington, February 27th, 1843.