Chapter XXXV The Aftermath
“We are all Borrovians now.”
—Augustine Birrell.
It is a curious fact that of only two men of distinction in English letters in these later years can it be said that they lived to a good old age and yet failed of recognition for work that is imperishable. Many poets have died young—Shelley and Keats for example—to whom this public recognition was refused in their lifetime. But given the happiness of reaching middle age, this recognition has never failed. It came, for example, to Wordsworth and Coleridge long after their best work was done. It came with more promptness to all the great Victorian novelists. This recognition did not come in their lifetime to two Suffolk friends, Edward FitzGerald with Omar Khayyám and George Borrow with Lavengro. In the case of FitzGerald there was probably no consciousness that he had produced a great poem. In any case his sunny Irish temperament could easily have surmounted disappointment if he had expected anything from the world in the way of literary fame. Borrow was quite differently made. He was as intense an egoist as Rousseau, whose work he had probably never read, and would not have appreciated if he had read. He longed for the recognition of the multitude through his books, and thoroughly enjoyed it when it was given to him for a moment—for his Bible in Spain. Such appreciation as he received in his lifetime was given to him for that book and for no other. There were here and there enthusiasts for his Lavengro and Romany Rye. Dr. Jessopp has told us that he was one. But it was not until long after his death that the word “Borrovian” 268 came into the language. Not a single great author among his contemporaries praised him for his Lavengro, the book for which we most esteem him to-day. His name is not mentioned by Carlyle or Tennyson or Ruskin in all their voluminous works. Among the novelists also he is of no account. Dickens and Thackeray and George Eliot knew him not. Charlotte Brontë does indeed write of him with enthusiasm, 269a but she is alone among the great Victorian authors in this particular. Borrow’s Lavengro received no commendation from contemporary writers of the first rank. He died in his seventy-eighth year an obscure recluse whose works were all but forgotten. Since that year, 1881, his fame has been continually growing. His greatest work, Lavengro, has been reprinted with introductions by many able critics; 269b notable essayists have proclaimed his worth. Of these Mr. Watts-Dunton and Mr. Augustine Birrell have been the most assiduous. The efforts of the former have already been noted. Mr. Birrell has expressed his devotion in more than one essay. 269c Referring to a casual reference by Robert Louis Stevenson to The Bible in Spain, 270a in which R. L. S. speaks well of that book, Mr. Birrell, not without irony, says:
It is interesting to know this, interesting, that is, to the great Clan Stevenson, who owe suit and service to their liege lord; but so far as Borrow is concerned, it does not matter, to speak frankly, two straws. The author of Lavengro, The Romany Rye, The Bible in Spain, and Wild Wales is one of those kings of literature who never need to number their tribe. His personality will always secure him an attendant company, who, when he pipes, must dance.
This is to sum up the situation to perfection. You cannot force people to become readers of Borrow by argument, by criticism, or by the force of authority. You reach the stage of admiration and even love by effects which rise remote from all questions of style or taste. To say, as does a recent critic, that “there is something in Borrow after all; not so much as most people suppose, but still a great deal,” 270b is to miss the compelling power of his best books as they strike those with whom they are among the finest things in literature. In attempting to interest new readers in the man—and this book is not for the sect called Borrovians, to whom I recommend the earlier biographies, but for a wider public which knows not Borrow—I hope I shall succeed in sending many to those incomparable works, which have given me so many pleasant hours.
Indexa
Academy, F. H. Groome’s review of Word Book, 151
Aikin, Lucy, on Mrs. John Taylor, 39; on William Taylor, 40
Ainsworth, Harrison, Lavengro criticised by, 185
Ancient Poetry and Romances of Spain, by Bowring, 82
Andalusia described, 124
André, Major, trial of, included in Borrow’s volumes, 67
Annals of the Harford Family, reference to Borrow in, 158
Apologia pro Vita Sua, by J. H. Newman, 224
Arnold, Matthew, and George Borrow contrasted, 65
Athenæum, The, Hasfeld’s letter on Russian literature and Borrow in, 98, 99; friendly review of The Zincali in, 147; severely criticises Lavengro, 184, 225—and Romany Rye, 225; reminiscences of Borrow contributed to, 203, 204
Augsburg, Confession of, 169
Austin, John, 39
— Sarah, 37
Autobiographical Recollections of Sir John Bowring, 81, 82
Autobiography of Harriet Martineau, quoted, 40
B
Baldrey, S. H., reminiscences of the Borrows published by, 257–59
Barbauld, Mrs., 40
Baretti, Joseph, witnesses at trial of, 68
Bathurst, Bishop, 38, 66
Belcher, pugilist, 77
Bell, Catherine, 37
Benjamin Robert Haydon; Correspondence and Table Talk, by F. W. Haydon, 22
Bible in Spain, The, 33, 158, 170, 191; quoted, 137, 154; episode of the blind girl, 120; brings fame to Borrow, 147, 157, 158; the title of, 153; criticisms of Mr. Murray’s reader on copy of—number of copies sold—referred to in House of Commons, 157; reviews of, 157, 161, 184; how written, 185; Gladstone’s admiration of, 203
Birrell, Augustine, 153; introduction to Lavengro by, 269
Black Forest, Borrow in the, 169
Blackwood’s Magazine, condemns Lavengro, 184
Borrow, Ann, mother of Borrow, 8, 9, 12, 81, 142; life in Norwich of, 14–16, 44; correspondence of, 16, 115, 120–23, 143; death—inscription on tomb of, 203
Borrow, Elizabeth, 192
— George Henry, biographical drafts, 7–13; wandering childhood of, 25–35; schooldays at Norwich, 45–49; struggles and failure in London, 57–59; Celtic ancestry of, 235; characteristics of, 15, 95, 188, 202, 204, 227, 252, 268; agent for Bible Society, 94, 117; work for the Society in—Portugal, 113, 114—Russia, 97–109—Spain, 110–29; imprisonments of, 79, 117, 127, 144; correspondence of, with—Bowring, 84–89—Brackenbury, 128, 129—Ford, 161–167—Haydon, 22—Jerningham, 127—Henrietta MacOubrey, 259–64—his wife, 117–19, 123–26, 145, 172–82, 205, 206, 210–18, 221; Darwin asks information from, 205; fails to become a magistrate, 139, 203; feeling of, as regards people and language of Ireland, 32, 33, 195; friends of later years, 250–54; life of, in London, 244–49—in Oulton Broad and Yarmouth, 199–206; attainments of, as a linguist, 33, 41, 42, 81; literary tastes of, 13, 26, 79, 155–57, 223, 224; literary methods of, 188; attitude towards literary men, 224, 225, 252; marriage of, 128, 143, 144, 146, 147; personal appearance, 147, 192, 200, 201; physical vigour of, 246, 258; political sympathies, 111; pugilistic tastes, 74–77; translations by, 51, 78–80; travels in—Austria-Hungary, 172–79—Greece and Italy, 179—82—Ireland, 220, 221—Portugal, 113, 114—Russia, 97–109—Scotland, 207–21—Spain, 110–29—Wales, 235, 236, 240–43; unfounded reports as to neglect of, when dying, 255, 256; unrecognised genius and growing fame of, 202, 268; Yarmouth rescue episode, 192
Borrow, Henry, 192
— John, grandfather of George Henry, 8–10
—John Thomas, 9, 32; Captain Borrow’s love of, 10, 17; described in Lavengro, 17; pictures by, 19; career and death of, 17–24
— Mary, 142–44, 184; correspondence with: Ann Borrow, 236—G. H. Borrow, 93, 117–19, 123–26, 158, 159, 168–82, 193, 240–42, 244–46—Hake, 252, 253; epitaph written for, by Borrow, 140; family history, 138–41; house-keeping genius of, 256; marriage of, 93, 146; death of, 247, 248
— Captain Thomas, 17, 18, 25, 32, 55, 192; descent of, 8, 9; military career of, 8–10; referred to in Lavengro, 10–13; prejudiced against the Irish, 33, 34; pensioned off, 44; his fight with Big Ben Brain, 74, 76
— William, 192
Bowring, Sir John, collaboration with Borrow, 80; correspondence with Borrow, 84–89, 113, 114; described by Borrow, 83, 84; Borrow’s relations with, 81–89
Boyd, Robert, 161
Brace, Charles L., 174
Brackenbury, Mr., letter from, to Borrow, 128, 129
Brain, Big Ben, 10–12, 76
Brandram, Rev. Mr., 94; correspondence of, with Borrow, 104, 105; letter from, to Mrs. Borrow, 115
British and Foreign Bible Society, aided by the Gurneys, 38; Borrow’s connection with, 78, 90–93; growth and procedure of, 91–93; sanctioned in Russia by the Czar, 92; number of bibles issued in Spain for three years up to 1913, 113; work of, in Spain, 111–29; breezy controversy between Borrow and the, 117
Brontë, Charlotte, writes of Borrow with enthusiasm, 269
Brontës, The, by Clement Shorter, quoted, 269
Brooke, Rajah, 45
Brown, Rev. Arthur, 28
Browne, Sir Thomas, 36
Browning, Robert, 68
Buchini, Antonio, Borrow’s attendant in Spain, 116
Bunsens, the invitation given to Borrow by, 158
Bunyan, what Borrow owed to, 224
Burcham, Thomas, 51
Burke, Edmund, 68
Bury Post, The, account in, of life-saving by Borrow at Yarmouth, 192
Buxton, Sir T. F., 37
— Lady, 37, 38, 58
C
Cagliostro, trial of, included in Borrow’s volumes, 67
Campbell, Thomas, 51, 66
Canton, William, 92
Carlyle, Thomas, 90, 97; Miscellanies, 42; point of similitude between Borrow and, 243; on Edward FitzGerald, 228; prejudiced against Scott, 41
Celebrated Trials, Borrow’s first piece of hack-work, 58; payment made to Borrow for, 68; distinguishing feature of, 68; dramatic episodes in, 68, 69
Chamisso’s Peter Schlemihl, 83
Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem, picture by Haydon, 21
Clarendon, Earl of, 191; befriends Borrow in Spain, 82, 114; career of, and services to Borrow, 137–39
Clarke, Lieutenant Henry, 140, 142
Cobbe, Frances Power, 224; her opinion of Borrow, 90; her story of Borrow and James Martineau, 49; unkindly glimpses of Borrow given by—her character and works, 247, 248
Collins, Mortimer, his appreciation of Wild Wales, 239
Collinson, Robert, 247
Cooke, Robert, 233
Cornhill Magazine, The, reviews Wild Wales unfavourably, 236
“Corporation Feast, The,” plate of, borrowed for Life and Death of Faustus, 61
Cowell, Professor E. C., friendship of, with FitzGerald, 230
Cowper, poet, Borrow’s devotion to, 8, 26
Crabbe, Mrs., 258
— George, FitzGerald’s letter to, 233
Cribb, pugilist, 77
Croft, Sir Herbert, 69
Crome, John, 19, 20, 37, 44
Cunningham, Mrs., 37
— Allan, writes introduction in verse to Romantic Ballads; correspondence with Borrow, 64
Cunningham, Rev. Francis, befriends Borrow with the Bible Society, 37, 38, 92, 93; his praise of Borrow, 110, 142
— Rev. John W., 92, 141
D
Dairyman’s Daughter, The, extraordinary vogue of, 58; Borrow’s failure to appreciate, 92
Dalrymple, Arthur, on schooldays of Borrow, 46; on Borrow and his wife, 146
— John, joins Borrow in a schoolboy escapade, 46
Danube, description of the, 169
Darlow, T. H., Letters to the Bible Society, 102, 103, 105–7
Darwin, Charles, letter from, asking for information, regarding the dogs of Spain, from Borrow, 205
Death of Balder, The, translation by Borrow, 84
Deceived Merman, The, versions by Borrow and Matthew Arnold compared, 65
Defoe, Daniel, Borrow’s master in literature, 27, 79, 224
Denniss, Rev. E. P., acrid correspondence between Borrow and, 202
D’Eterville, Thomas, Borrow’s teacher, 46
Diaz, Maria, Borrow’s tribute to, 130
Domenico’s picture of the burial of Count of Orgaz, 119
Donne, W. B., letters to Borrow, 225, 233, 234; awards high praise to Romany Rye and Lavengro, 225
Drake, William, description of Borrow by, 50
Dumpling Green, birthplace of Borrow, 7, 8, 26
E
East Dereham, described in Lavengro, 7, 26
Eastern Daily Press, The, Miss Harvey’s letter on Borrow in, 200–2
Eastlake, Lady, her description of Borrow, 168
Edinburgh, childhood of Borrow in, 30–32
Edinburgh Review, reviews Borrow’s works, 148
Elwin, Rev. Whitwell, his estimate of Lavengro, 186, 187; his interview with, and impressions of, Borrow, 187, 188; letters to Borrow from, 189; reviews Romany Rye in Quarterly Review, 225
Enghien, Duc d’, trial of, included in Borrow’s volumes, 67
Essays Critical and Historical, by J. H. Newman, quoted, 224
Excursions along the Shores of the Mediterranean, attractive glimpse of Borrow in, 130–34
F
Fauntleroy, Henry, trial of, included in Borrow’s volumes, 68, 69
Faustus, translated by Borrow, 60–63, 67, 82; burned by libraries of Norwich, 63; criticisms on, 63
Fenn, Lady, commemorated by Cowper, and in Lavengro—books for children by, 26
— Sir John, author of Paston Letters, 26
Fielding, what Borrow owed to, 224
FitzGerald, Edward, parallel between Borrow and—works of, 227, 228; character and gifts of, 227; marriage of, 228; letters to Borrow, 228–33; criticises Borrow’s expressions, 233
Ford, Richard, 78, 147, 191; family history and fortune of, 160, 161; anti-democratic outlook of, 161; his tribute to Borrow—reviews The Bible in Spain, 161; correspondence with the Borrows, 78, 161–68; odd sentence referring to Borrow, in a letter of, 164; advice given to Borrow by, 183; his ideas about Lavengro, 184; on The Zincali, 148, 149; his work, 78, 64, 166, 167
— Sir Richard, creator of mounted police force of London, 160
Fox, Caroline, 94
Frazer’s Magazine, Lavengro condemned by, 184
French Prisoners of Norman Cross, The, by Rev. Arthur Brown, 28
Fry, Elizabeth, connection of, with Bible Society, 92; the courtship of, 37, 38
G
Garrick, David, 68
“George Borrow Reminiscences,” by S. H. Baldrey, quoted, 257–59
Gibson, Robin, 31
Gifford, William, 59
Gill, Rev. W., letter to Borrow from, 197, 198
Glen, William, 97
Gypsies, language of, Borrow’s description of Hungarian, 175
Gladstone, W. E., his admiration of The Bible in Spain, 203
Glen, William, Borrow’s friendship with, 97
Graydon, Lieutenant, a rival of Borrow in Spain, 116
Groome, Archdeacon, his memories of Borrow’s schooldays, 50
— F. H., gypsy scholar, reviews Romano Lavo-Lil, 151, 152
Grundtvig, Mr., Borrow’s translations for, 88
Gully, John, career of, 77
Gurdons, the, subscribe to Borrow’s Romantic Ballads, 66
Gurney, Miss Anna, letter from, to Mrs. Borrow, 155; Borrow cross-examined in Arabic by, 204
— Daniel, 38
— John, 37
— Joseph John, connection of, with great bank, 37, 38; and with Bible Society, 92; his praise of Borrow, 110
Gurneys, the, at Norwich, 37–39; subscribe to Borrow’s Romantic Ballads, 66
Gypsies of Spain, The. See Zincali, The.
H
Hackman, Parson, trial of, in Borrow’s volumes, 69
Haggart, David, 18; story of, 30, 31; trial and execution of, 32
Hake, Egmont, article of, in Dictionary of National Biography, on Borrow, 252
— Dr. T. G., on Lavengro, 185, 250, 251; his intimacy with Borrow, 250–54; relations of, with the Rossetti family, 250; asperities of, when speaking of Borrow, 251, 252
Hamilton, Duke of, 76
Handbook for Travellers in Spain, by Richard Ford, 78; Borrow’s blundering review of, 165, 166; Maxwell’s praise of, 167
Hares, the, 66
Harvey, Miss Elizabeth, her impressions of Borrow, 200–2; letters to Mrs. MacOubrey from, 264, 265
Harveys, the, 66
Hasfeld, John P., 191; Borrow’s correspondence with, 97–101
Hawkes, Robert, 20–22, 66
Hawthorne, Nathaniel, suggestion of, as to gypsy descent of Borrow, 9, 14
Haydon, Benjamin, 66; career of, 21–23; correspondence of, with Borrow, 22, 79
Haydon, F. W., Benjamin Robert Haydon, 22
Hayim Ben Attar, Moorish servant of Borrow, 144
Heenan, pugilist, 75
Herne, Sanspirella, second wife of Ambrose Smith, 29
Hester, George P., writes to Borrow on possible connection between Sclaves and Saxons, 226
Highland Society, the, Borrow’s proposal to, 80
Hill, Mary, 31
Historic Survey of German Poetry, by William Taylor, 42
History of the British and Foreign Bible Society, by William Canton, 92
Howell, State Trials of, 67
Howitt, Mary, her appreciation of Wild Wales, 236, 237
Hungary in 1851, glimpse of Borrow in, 174
Hunt, Joseph, trial and execution of, 71, 72
Hyde, Dr. Douglas, Irish scholar, 34
I
Ireland, Borrow’s early years in, 31–35; his feelings as regards people and language of, 195
Iris, The, editing of, 41
J
Jackson, John, pugilist, 74
Jane Eyre, cruelly reviewed by Lady Eastlake, 168
Jay, Elizabeth, on happy married life of the Borrows, 146
Jerningham, Sir George, letter from, to Borrow, 127; Borrow’s complaints to, 137
Jessopp, Dr., on Borrow as a pupil at the Grammar School, 45; his admiration of Borrow, 203, 204
Joan of Arc, trial of, included in Borrow’s volumes, 67
Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 68; on Ireland and Irish Literature, 33; his kindness for pugilists, 75
— Tom, his fight with Brain, 76
Joseph Sell, 61
Jowett, Rev. Joseph, Secretary of the Bible Society, 38; correspondence of, with Borrow, 97, 102, 103
K
Kæmpe Viser, translation by Borrow, 84, 85
Keate, Dr., 106
Kerrison, Allday, 53; invites John Borrow to join him in Mexico, 23
— Roger, 53, 60; Borrow’s correspondence with, 53, 90
— Thomas, 52
Kett, Robert, 36
King, Thomas, owner of the Borrow house in Willow Lane—descent of, from Archbishop Parker, 16
—, — junior, marries sister of J. S. Mill, 16
— Tom, conqueror of Heenan, 75
Klinger, F. M. von, works of, 62
Knapp, Dr., Life of Borrow, 3 and passim; purchases half the Borrow papers, 155
L
La Giralda, 124
Lambert, Daniel, gaoler of Phillips, 56
Lamplighter, racehorse, Borrow’s desire to see, 205
Lang, Andrew, his onslaught on Borrow, 251
Laurie, Sir Robert, 16
Lavengro, appreciations of, 148, 149, 185, 250, 251; autobiographical nature of, 7, 9, 11, 12, 34, 38, 50–52, 57, 58, 185, 188, 244; copies of, sold, 190; criticisms and reviews of, 184, 185, 186, 225; Donne on some reviewers of, 233, 234; greatness of, unrecognised in Borrow’s lifetime, 202; preparation of manuscript of, 183, 184; Thurtell referred to in, 69
Leicester Herald started by Phillips, 56
Leland, Charles Godfrey, correspondence of, with Borrow, 149–51; his books—tribute to Borrow, 151
Lenz, 169
Letters from George Borrow to the Bible Society, 97, 98, 102; valuable information in, 110; interesting facts revealed in, 155, 156; quoted, 106
Letters of Richard Ford, 161; Borrow’s mistake in reviewing, 165
Life and Adventures of Joseph Sell, Borrow’s story of the writing of, 61
Life of Borrow, by Dr. Knapp, 3, and passim; glimpse of Ann Perfrement’s girlhood in, 14; gruesome picture of circumstances of Borrow’s death—strongly denounced by Henrietta MacOubrey, 255
Life of B. R. Haydon, by Tom Taylor, 21, 22
Life of David Haggart, by himself, 31
Life of Frances Power Cobbe as told by Herself, glimpses of Borrow in, 246, 247
Life of Sir James Mackintosh, quoted, 40
Lights on Borrow, by Rev. A. Jessopp, D.D., quoted, 45
Lipóftsof, worker for Bible Society, 102, 105, 173
Literary Gazette, The, reviews of Borrow’s works in, 63, 147
Lloyd, Miss M. C., 247
Lopez, Eduardo, 130
— Juan, Borrow’s tribute to, 130
Luke, gypsy translation of, 119
Luther, Martin, 169
Lycidas, Tennyson’s enthusiasm for, 185
M
Macaulay, Zachary, connection of, with Bible Society, 91
Mace, Jem, 75
MacOubrey, Dr., 218, 256; status and accomplishments of, 259; pamphlets issued by, 259; illness and death of, 266
MacOubrey, Henrietta, 3, 91, 123, 140, and passim; on Borrow, 51; Borrow’s tribute to, in Wild Wales—her devotion to Borrow, 255; unfounded stories of her neglect of Borrow, 255–57; correspondence of, 259–67; death of—inscription on tomb of, 266; charitable bequests of, 267
Man, Isle of, Borrow’s expedition to, 195–98; his investigations into the Manx language, 196, 197
Marie Antoinette, trial of, included in Borrow’s volumes, 67
Martelli, C. F., his memories of Borrow, 54
Martineau, David, 39
— Dr. James, impressions of, as schoolfellow of Borrow, 46–48
— Gaston, 39
— Harriet, 39; on Borrow’s connection with the Bible Society, 90
Maxwell, Sir W. S., praises Ford’s book, 167; criticises Lavengro, 184
Meadows, Margaret, 39
— Sarah, 39
Memoir of the Life and Writings of William Taylor of Norwich, A, by J. W. Robbards, 40
Memoirs of Fifty Years, by T. G. Hake, 250, 251
Memoirs of John Venning, 95
Memoirs of the Public and Private Life of Sir Richard Phillips, 55, 56
Memoirs of Vidocq, translated by Borrow, 80
Mendizábal, Borrow’s interview with, 114, 138
Mezzofanti, 136
Miles, H. D., his defence of prize-fighting, 74
Mill, John Stuart, Thomas King marries sister of, 16
Moira, Lord, 56
Mol, Benedict, 130, 155
Montague, Basil, his reference to Mrs. John Taylor, 40
Monthly Magazine, The, 41, 43, 57; Borrow’s work on, 58
Morrin, killed by David Haggart, 31
Morris, Lewis, Welsh bard, 238
— Sir Lewis, letter to Borrow, 238, 239
Moscow, monster bell at, 169
Mousehold Heath, historical and artistic associations of, 29, 36
Mousha, introduces Borrow to Taylor, 52; figures in Lavengro, 52
Munich described, 169
Murray, John, publishes The Zincali, 147; correspondence of Borrow with, 202
— Hon. R. D., 129
Murtagh, Irish friend of Borrow—figures in Lavengro, 34
Museum, The, 56
N
Nantes, Edict of, Borrow’s ancestors driven from France by Revocation of, 14, 39
Napier, Admiral Sir C., 130
— Col. E., 81; interesting account of Borrow by, 130–34
Nelson, Lord, a pupil of Norwich Grammar School, 45
Newgate Calendar, edited by Borrow, 67, 68
Newgate Lives and Trials, Borrow’s work on, 59
Newman, Cardinal, influenced towards Roman Catholicism by Scott, 224
New Monthly Magazine, The, 74
Ney, Marshal, trial of, included in Borrow’s volumes, 67
Nicholas, Thomas, 192
Norfolk, Duke of, 56
Nore, mutiny at the, 16
Norfolk Chronicle, missionary speech of Borrow referred to in, 110
Norman Cross, French prisoners at, 10, 30; Borrow’s memories of, 27–30
Norvicensian, William Drake’s notice in, 50
Norwich, 36, 54, 86; Borrow’s description of, 51, 52; satirised by Borrow, 61
O
O’Connell, Daniel, Borrow’s desire to see, 205
Oliver, Tom, pugilist, 76
Once a Week, Borrow contributes to, 248
Opie, Mrs., 37
Oracle, The, quoted, 76
Orford, Col. Lord, 23
Orgaz, Count of, Domenico’s picture of, 119
Overend and Gurney, banking firm, 37, 38
Owen, Goronwy, Borrow’s favourite Welsh bard, 242, 243
P
Pahlin, 136
Painter, Edward, pugilist, 76
Palgrave, R. H. I., letters to Mrs. MacOubrey from, 265
Palmer, Professor E. H., gypsy scholar, 151
Park, Mr. Justice, 72
Parker, Archbishop, descent of Thomas King from, 16
Paterson, John, work of, for Bible Society in Russia, 92
Pennell, Mrs. Elizabeth Robins, her biography of Leland, quoted, 159
Perfrement, Mary, grandmother of Borrow, 8, 14
— Samuel, grandfather of Borrow, 8, 14
Peter Schlemihl, translated by Bowring, 83
Petrie, George, correspondence of Borrow with, 218, 219
Phillips, Lady, 57
— Sir Richard, 23, 43, 59; early days of, 55–56; imprisonment of, 56; relations of, with Borrow, 57–59
Picts, the, Borrow on, 218, 219
Pilgrim, John, Borrow’s visits to, 258
Pischel, Professor Richard, criticises Borrow’s etymologies, 223
Pott, Dr. A. F., gypsy scholar, 151
Prayer Book and Homily Society, Borrow’s correspondence with, 107, 108
Prize-fighting, Borrow’s taste for, 13, 52, 74–77
Probert, witness against Thurtell, 71
Prothero, Rowland E., 161
Purland, Francis, companion of Borrow in schoolboy escapade, 46
— Theodosius, 46
Pushkin, Alexander, Russian poet, translated by Borrow, 109
Q
Quarterly Review, The, review of Lavengro in, 186; of Romany Rye in, 225
R
Rackham, Tom, 50
Rackhams, the, 66
Raising of Lazarus, picture by Haydon, 21
Ratisbon, Borrow at, 169; Dean of, 170
Reay, Martha, murdered by Hackman, 69
Reeve, Henry, 39
Res Judicatæ, by Augustine Birrell, 269
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 68
Richmond, Legh, connection of, with Bible Society, 92
Rights of Man, Phillips charged with selling, 56
Ritson, Mrs., 119, 125
Robbards, J. W., writes memoir of William Taylor, 40
Romano Lavo-Lil, reviews of, 151, 152
Romantic Ballads, translation from the Danish by Borrow, 64–67, 82
Romany Rye, The, 199; appreciations of, 148, 149, 152, 226, 230; autobiographical nature of, 185, 188; Borrow embittered by failure of, 225; characters in, 223; defects of Appendix, 223, 224; identification of localities of, 223; philological criticism of, 223; preparation of manuscript of, 222; quoted, 116; reviews of, 225, 226
Ross, Janet, Three Generations of Englishwomen, 39
Rowe, Quartermaster, 16
Rubáiyát, Fitzgerald’s paraphrase, 227; quoted in original and translated, 229; Tennyson’s eulogy of, 231
S
St. Petersburg, Borrow in, 97–109
San Tomé, 119
Sampson, John, eminent gypsy expert—extraordinary suggestion of, regarding Borrow, 223; criticises Borrow’s etymologies, 223
Sayers, Dr., 40
Scott, Sir Walter, 42; Borrow’s prejudice against, 18, 223; influence of, on J. H. Newman, 224; Taylor’s influence on, 40; writings of, admired by Borrow, 223
Servian Popular Poetry, by Bowring, 82
Seville described, 124
Sharp, Granville, connection with Bible Society of, 91
Shorter, C. K., The Brontës, 269
Sidney, Algernon, trial of, included in Borrow’s volumes, 68
Sierraina de Ronda, 124
Sigerson, Dr., Irish scholar, 34
Simeon, Charles, connection with Bible Society of, 92
Simpson, William, Borrow articled to, 50, 51; described by Borrow, 50, 51
Skepper, Anne, 93, 140, 142
— Breame, 93
— Edmund, 93, 142
Sleeping Bard, The, translation by Borrow, 80; refused by publishers, 208
Smiles, Samuel, on publication of The Zincali, 147
Smith, Ambrose, the Jasper Petulengro of Lavengro, 28–30
— Fäden, 29
— Thomas, 30
Songs from Scandinavia, translation by Borrow, 80
Songs of Scotland, by Allan Cunningham, Borrow’s appreciation of, 64
Southey, Robert, affection of, for William Taylor, 40; on death of Taylor, 42
Spectator, The, point of view of criticism of Borrow of, 270; reviews Wild Wales, 236
Spencer quoted, 118
State Trials, 67, 68
Stephen, Sir J. Fitzjames, 141
— Sir Leslie, 59
Stevenson, R. L., perfunctory references to Borrow in writings of, 270
Strasbourg, 169
Struensee, Count, trial of, included in Borrow’s volumes, 67
Sussex, Duke of, 40
Swan, Rev. William, 102
T
Targum, translation by Borrow, 195; high praise of, 99, 108, 109
Taylor, Anne, describes Borrow’s appearance, 192
— Baron, Borrow’s meeting with, 136
— Dr. John, 39
— John, 39
— Mrs. John, 37; Basil Montague on, 40
— Richard, 39
— Robert, 192
— Tom, author of Life of B. R. Haydon, 21, 22
Taylor, William, 37, 44; dialogue in Lavengro between Borrow and, 11; gives Borrow lessons in German, 51; gives Borrow introductions to Phillips and Campbell, 52; his love of paradox, 47; influence of, on Borrow, 40; Harriet Martineau on, 40; his friends and literary work, 40–42; correspondence with Southey, 41; his testimony to Borrow’s knowledge of German, 60
Taylors, the, at Norwich, 37, 39–43
Tennyson on enthusiasm for Lycidas, 185; his eulogy of FitzGerald’s translation of the Rubáiyát, 231
Thackeray, W. M., Borrow’s attitude towards, 224, 252; on Edward FitzGerald, 228
Thompson, W. H., 231
Three Generations of English women, by Janet Ross, 39
Thurtell, Alderman, 71, 73
— John, 52, 66; trial of—glimpses of, in Borrow’s books, 69–73; great authors who have commented on crime of, 69, 70
Timbs, John, 66
Toledo described, 118, 119
Treve, Captain, 16
Turner, Dawson, 157, 185
Twelve Essays on the Phenomena of Nature, Phillips anxious to produce in a German dress, 57
Twelve Essays on the Proximate Causes, Borrow unable to translate into German—published in German, 58
U
Universal Review, The, 58, 59; Borrow’s work on, 58
Upcher, A. W., contributes reminiscences of Borrow to the Athenæum, 204
Usóz y Rio, Don Luis de, letters from, to Borrow, 134–36
Utting, Mr., 172
V
Valpy, Rev. E., Borrow’s schoolmaster—story of Borrow being flogged by, 46–49
Venning, John, work of, in Russia—befriends Borrow, 95
Victoria, Queen, visits gypsy encampment, 29
Vidocq, memoirs of, translated by Borrow, 80
Vienna described, 170
W
Wahrheit und Dichtung, opening lines of, compared with those of Lavengro, 7
Walpole, Horace, on Mr. Fenn, 26
Watts-Dunton, Theodore, criticism of Borrow’s work, 251; on intimacy between Borrow and Hake, 250, 251; introduction to Lavengro by, 269
Weare pamphlets, 71
— William, murder of, 71
Westminster Review, 82
Whewell, Dr., 188
Wilberforce, William, connection of, with Bible Society, 91
Wilcock, Rev. J., his impressions of Borrow, 220
Wild Wales, 9, 143, 246, 255; appreciations of, 233, 236, 238, 239; comparative failure of, 239; comparison of, with Borrow’s three other great works, 242; high spirits of 243; Lope de Vega’s ghost story referred to in, 237; reviews of, 236; time taken to write, 236
Wilhelm Meister, quoted, 91
William Bodham Donne and his Friends, Borrow described in, 233, 234
Williams, J. Evan, letter from Borrow to, on similarity of some Sclavonian and Welsh words, 237, 238
Woodhouses, the, 66
Wordsworth, Borrow’s estimate of, 224
Wormius, Olaus, 51
Wright, Dr. Aldis, 231
Z
Zincali, The, work by Borrow, 29; criticisms of, 147, 148; number of copies of, sold, 158; editions of, issued, 147
The Temple Press
Letchworth
ENGLAND
Footnotes
11a Lavengro, ch. xiv.
11b Ibid., ch. xxiii.
15 Lavengro, ch. xxxvii.
20 Lavengro, ch. xxv.
21 Life of B. R. Haydon, by Tom Taylor, 1853, vol. ii. p. 21.
22 Benjamin Robert Haydon: Correspondence and Table Talk, with a Memoir by his son, Frederic Wordsworth Haydon, vol. i. pp. 360–1.
33a The Bible in Spain, ch. xx.
33b Dr. Johnson was the first as Borrow was the second to earn this distinction. Johnson, as reported by Boswell, says:
“I have long wished that the Irish literature were cultivated. Ireland is known by tradition to have been once the seat of piety and learning, and surely it would be very acceptable to all those who are curious on the origin of nations or the affinities of languages to be further informed of the evolution of a people so ancient and once so illustrious. I hope that you will continue to cultivate this kind of learning which has too long been neglected, and which, if it be suffered to remain in oblivion for another century, may perhaps never be retrieved.”
34 Lavengro.
39 Three Generations of Englishwomen, by Janet Ross, vol. i. p. 3.
42 Reprinted in Carlyle’s Miscellanies.
47 This is a contemptuous reference in Martineau’s own words to “George Borrow, the writer and actor of romance.”
49 Life of Frances Power Cobbe as told by Herself, ch. xvii.
50 Norvicensian, 1888, p. 177.
51 The Britannia newspaper, 26th June, 1851.
54 Mr. C. F. Martelli of Staple Inn, London, who has so generously placed this information at my disposal. Mr. Martelli writes:
“Old memories brought him to our office for professional advice, and there I saw something of him, and a very striking personality he was, and a rather difficult client to do business with. One peculiarity I remember was that he believed himself to be plagued by autograph hunters, and was reluctant to trust our firm with his signature in any shape or form, and that we in consequence had some trouble in inducing him to sign his will. I have seen him sitting over my fire in my room at that office for hours, half asleep, and crooning out Romany songs while waiting for my chief.”
58 In Lavengro.
62 Life and Death of Faustus, p. 59.
67a Celebrated Trials and Remarkable Cases of Criminal Jurisprudence from the Earliest Records to the Year 1825. In six volumes. London: Printed for Geo. Knight & Lacey, Paternoster Row, 1825. Price £3 12 s. in boards.
67b The New and Complete Newgate Calendar or Malefactors Recording Register. By William Jackson. Six vols. 1802.
67c Cobbett and Howell’s State Trials. In thirty-three volumes and index, 1809 to 1828. The last volume, apart from the index, was actually published the year after Borrow’s Celebrated Trials, that is, in 1826; but the last trial recorded was that of Thistlewood in 1820. The editors were William Cobbett, Thomas Bayly Howell, and his son, Thomas Jones Howell.
70 Another witness attained fame by her answer to the inquiry, “Was supper postponed?” with the reply, “No, it was pork.”
79 Only thus can we explain Borrow’s later declaration that he had four times been in prison.
80a Memoirs of Vidocq, Principal Agent of the French Police until 1827, and now proprietor of the paper manufactory at St. Mandé. Written by himself. Translated from the French. In Four Volumes. London: Whittaker, Treacher and Arnot, Ave Maria Lane, 1829.
80b This with other documents I have presented to the Borrow Museum, Norwich.
80c In 1830 Borrow had another disappointment. He translated The Sleeping Bard from the Welsh. This also failed to find a publisher. It was issued in 1860, under which date we discuss it.
91a Keep not standing, fixed and rooted,
Briskly venture, briskly roam:
Head and hand, where’er thou foot it,
And stout heart, are still at home.
In each land the sun does visit:
We are gay whate’er betide.
To give room for wandering is it,
That the world was made so wide.
(Carlyle’s translation.)
91b Through the will of his stepdaughter, Henrietta MacOubrey.
92 Canton’s History of the Bible Society, vol. i. 195.
102 Letters of George Borrow to the British and Foreign Bible Society, published by Direction of the Committee. Edited by T. H. Darlow. Hodder and Stoughton, 1911. The Russian Correspondence occupies pages 1–97.
103a Darlow: Letters to the Bible Society, p. 32.
103b Ibid., p. 47.
103c Ibid., pp. 60, 61.
104 Mr. Glen.
105 Darlow: Letters to the Bible Society, p. 96.
106 Darlow: Letters to the Bible Society, p. 65.
107 Darlow: Letters to the Bible Society, p. 81.
110 Norfolk Chronicle, 17th October, 1835.
113 When in Madrid in May, 1913, I called upon Mr. William Summers, the courteous Secretary of the Madrid Branch of the British and Foreign Bible Society in the Flor Alta. Mr. Summers informs me that the issues of the British and Foreign Bible Society, Bibles and Testaments, in Spain for the years 1910–12 are as follows:
| Year. | Bibles. | Testaments. | Portions. | Total. |
| 1910 | 5,309 | 8,971 | 70,594 | 84,874 |
| 1911 | 5,665 | 11,481 | 79,525 | 96,671 |
| 1912 | 9,083 | 11,842 | 85,024 | 105,949 |
The Calle del Principe is now rapidly being pulled down and new buildings taking the place of those Borrow knew.
145a The following suggestion has, however, been made to me by a friend of Henrietta MacOubrey, née Clarke:
“I think Borrow intended ‘Carreta’ for ‘dearest.’ It is impossible to think that he would call his wife a ‘cart.’ Perhaps he intended ‘Carreta’ for ‘Querida.’ Probably their pronunciation was not Castillian, and they spelled the word as they pronounced it. In speaking of her to ‘Hen.’ Borrow always called her ‘Mamma.’ Mrs. MacOubrey took a great fancy to me because she said I was like ‘Mamma.’ She meant in character, not in person.”
148 Knapp’s Life, vol. i. p. 378.
151 The Academy, 13th June, 1874.
155 This was Miss Catherine Gurney, who was born in 1776, in Magdalen Street, Norwich, and died at Lowestoft in 1850, aged seventy-five. She twice presided over the Earlham home. The brother referred to was Joseph John Gurney.
159 4750 copies were sold in the three volume form in 1843, and a sixth and cheaper edition the same year sold 9000 copies.
164 The Times, 12th April, 1843.
197 The whole of this diary will be issued in my edition of The Collected Works. It has appeared, with my permission, in the Manx Folk Lore Magazine, Mannin, November, 1914.
199 They lived first at 169 King Street, then at two addresses unknown, then successively at 37, 38 and 39 Camperdown Terrace; their last address was 28 Trafalgar Place.
229 I am indebted to Mr. Edward Heron-Allen for the information that this is the original of the last verse but one in FitzGerald’s first version of the Rubáiyát:
r 74.
Ah Moon of my Delight, who knowest no wane,
The Moon of Heaven is rising once again,
How oft, hereafter rising, shall she look
Through this same Garden after me—in vain.
255 Henrietta’s guitar is now in my possession and is a very handsome instrument.
256 Henrietta MacOubrey put every difficulty in the way of Dr. Knapp, and I hold many letters from her strongly denouncing his Life.
268 A word that is very misleading, as no writer was ever so little the founder of a school.
269a Although this fact was not known until 1908 when I published The Brontës: Life and Letters. See vol. ii. p. 24, where Charlotte Brontë writes: “In George Borrow’s works I found a wild fascination, a vivid graphic power of description, a fresh originality, an athletic simplicity, which give them a stamp of their own.”
269b Theodore Watts-Dunton, Augustine Birrell and Francis Hindes Groome. Lionel Johnson’s essay on Borrow is the more valuable in its enthusiasm in that it was written by a Roman Catholic. Writing in the Outlook (1st April, 1899) he said:
“What the four books mean and are to their lovers is upon this sort. Written by a man of intense personality, irresistible in his hold upon your attention, they take you far afield from weary cares and business into the enamouring airs of the open world, and into days when the countryside was uncontaminated by the vulgar conventions which form the worst side of ’civilised’ life in cities. They give you the sense of emancipation, of manumission into the liberty of the winding road and fragrant forest, into the freshness of an ancient country-life, into a milieu where men are not copies of each other. And you fall in with strange scenes of adventure, great or small, of which a strange man is the centre as he is the scribe; and from a description of a lonely glen you are plunged into a dissertation upon difficult old tongues, and from dejection into laughter, and from gypsydom into journalism, and everything is equally delightful, and nothing that the strange man shows you can come amiss. And you will hardly make up your mind whether he is most Don Quixote, or Rousseau, or Luther, or Defoe; but you will always love these books by a brave man who travelled in far lands, travelled far in his own land, travelled the way of life for close upon eighty years, and died in perfect solitude. And this will be the least you can say, though he would not have you say it—Requiescat in pace Viator.”
269c In Res Judicatæ, 1892 (a paper reprinted from The Reflector, 8th January, 1888), in his introduction to Lavengro (Macmillan, 1900), in an essay entitled “The Office of Literature,” in the second series of Obiter Dicta, and in an address at Norwich, on 5th July, 1913, reprinted in full in the Eastern Daily Press of 7th July, 1913.
270a There are but three references to Borrow in Stevenson’s writings, all of them perfunctory. These are in Memories and Portraits (“A Gossip on a Novel of Dumas’”), in Familiar Studies of Men and Books (“Some Aspects of Robert Burns”), and in The Ideal House.
270b The Spectator, 12th July, 1913.