George Borrow and His Circle Part 13

MY DEAR SIR,--I send the prospectus[90] for your inspection and for the correction of your master hand. I have endeavoured to a.s.sume a Danish style, I know not whether I have been successful.

Alter, I pray you, whatever false logic has crept into it, find a remedy for its incoherencies, and render it fit for its intended purpose. I have had for the two last days a rising headache which has almost prevented me doing anything. I sat down this morning and translated a hundred lines of the _May-day_; it is a fine piece.--Yours most truly, my dear Sir,

GEORGE BORROW.

To Dr. John Bowring

7 MUSEUM STREET, _Jany. 1830._

MY DEAR SIR,--I write this to inform you that I am at No. 7 Museum St., Bloomsbury. I have been obliged to decamp from Russell St. for the cogent reason of an execution having been sent into the house, and I thought myself happy in escaping with my things. I have got half of the Ma.n.u.script from Mr.

Richard Taylor, but many of the pages must be rewritten owing to their being torn, etc. He is printing the prospectus, but a proof has not yet been struck off. Send me some as soon as you get them.[91] I will send one with a letter to _H. G._--Yours eternally,

G. BORROW.

To Dr. John Bowring

7 MUSEUM STREET, _Jany. 25, 1830._

MY DEAR SIR,--I find that you called at mine, I am sorry that I was not at home. I have been to Richard Taylor, and you will have the prospectuses this afternoon. I have translated Ferroe's 'Worthiness of Virtue' for you, and the two other pieces I shall translate this evening, and you shall have them all when I come on Wednesday evening. If I can at all a.s.sist you in anything, pray let me know, and I shall be proud to do it.--Yours most truly,

G. BORROW.

To Dr. John Bowring

7 MUSEUM STREET, _Feby. 20, 1830._

MY DEAR SIR,--To my great pleasure I perceive that the books have all arrived safe. But I find that, instead of an Icelandic Grammar, you have lent me an _Essay on the origin of the Icelandic Language_, which I here return. Thorlakson's Grave-ode is superlatively fine, and I translated it this morning, as I breakfasted. I have just finished a translation of Baggesen's beautiful poem, and I send it for your inspection.--Most sincerely yours,

GEORGE BORROW.

_P.S._--When I come we will make the modifications of this piece, if you think any are requisite, for I have various readings in my mind for every stanza. I wish you a very pleasant journey to Cambridge, and hope you will procure some names amongst the literati.

To Dr. John Bowring

7 MUSEUM STREET, _March 9, 1830._

MY DEAR SIR,--I have thought over the Museum matter which we were talking about last night, and it appears to me that it would be the very thing for me, provided that it could be accomplished. I should feel obliged if you would deliberate upon the best mode of proceeding, so that when I see you again I may have the benefit of your advice.--Yours most sincerely,

GEORGE BORROW.

To this letter Bowring replied the same day, and his reply is preserved by Dr. Knapp. He promised to help in the Museum project 'by every sort of counsel and creation.' 'I should rejoice to see you _nicked_ in the British Museum,' he concludes.

To Dr. John Bowring

7 MUSEUM STREET, _Friday Evening, May 21, 1830._

MY DEAR SIR,--I shall be happy to accept your invitation to meet Mr. Grundtvig to-morrow morning. As at present no doubt seems to be entertained of Prince Leopold's accepting the sovereignty of Greece, would you have any objection to write to him concerning me? I should be very happy to go to Greece in his service. I do not wish to go in a civil or domestic capacity, and I have, moreover, no doubt that all such situations have been long since filled up; I wish to go in a military one, for which I am qualified by birth and early habits. You might inform the Prince that I have been for years on the Commander-in-Chief's List for a commission, but that I have not had sufficient interest to procure an appointment. One of my reasons for wis.h.i.+ng to reside in Greece is, that the mines of Eastern Literature would be acceptable to me. I should soon become an adept in Turkish, and would weave and transmit to you such an anthology as would gladden your very heart. As for _The Songs of Scandinavia_, all the ballads would be ready before departure, and as I should take books, I would in a few months send you translations of the modern lyric poetry. I hope this letter will not displease you. I do not write it from _flightiness_, but from thoughtfulness. I am uneasy to find myself at four and twenty drifting on the sea of the world, and likely to continue so.--Yours most sincerely,

G. BORROW.

This letter is printed in part by Dr. Knapp, and almost in its entirety by Mr. Herbert Jenkins. Dr. Knapp has much sound worldly reflection upon its pathetic reference to 'drifting on the sea of the world.' If only, he suggests, Borrow had not received that unwise eulogy from Allan Cunningham about his 'exquisite Danish ballads,' if only he had listened to Richard Ford's advice--which came too late in any case--'Avoid poetry and translations of poets'--how much better it would have been. But Borrow had not the makings in him of a 'successful' man, and we who enjoy his writings to-day must be contented with the reflection that he had just the kind of life-experience which gave us what he had to give.

Here Borrow holds his place among the poets--an unhappy race. In any case the British Museum appointment was not for him, nor the military career. Had one or other fallen to his lot, we might have had much literary work of a kind, but certainly not _Lavengro_. To return to the correspondence:

To Dr. John Bowring

7 MUSEUM ST., _June 1, 1830._

MY DEAR SIR,--I send you _Hafbur and Signe_ to deposit in the Scandinavian Treasury, and I should feel obliged by your doing the following things.

1. Hunting up and lending me your Anglo-Saxon Dictionary as soon as possible, for Grundtvig wishes me to a.s.sist him in the translation of some Anglo-Saxon Proverbs.

2. When you write to Finn Magnussen to thank him for his attention, pray request him to send the _Feeroiska Quida_, or popular songs of Ferroe, and also _Broder Run's Historie, or the History of Friar Rush_, the book which Thiele mentions in his _Folkesagn_.--Yours most sincerely,

G. BORROW.

To Dr. John Bowring

7 MUSEUM STREET, _June 7, 1830._

MY DEAR SIR,--I have looked over Mr. Grundtvig's ma.n.u.scripts.

It is a very long affair, and the language is Norman-Saxon. 40 would not be an extravagant price for a transcript, and so they told him at the museum. However, as I am doing nothing particular at present, and as I might learn something from transcribing it, I would do it for 20. He will call on you to-morrow morning, and then if you please you may recommend me.

The character closely resembles the ancient Irish, so I think you can answer for my competency.--Yours most truly,

G. BORROW.

_P.S._--Do not lose the original copies of the Danish translations which you sent to the _Foreign Quarterly_, for I have no duplicates. I think _The Roses_ of Ingemann was sent; it is not printed; so if it be not returned, we shall have to re-translate it.

To Dr. John Bowring

7 MUSEUM ST., _Sept. 14, 1830._

MY DEAR SIR,--I return you the Bohemian books. I am going to Norwich for some short time as I am very unwell, and hope that cold bathing in October and November may prove of service to me. My complaints are, I believe, the offspring of ennui and unsettled prospects. I have thoughts of attempting to get into the French service, as I should like prodigiously to serve under Clausel in the next Bedouin campaign. I shall leave London next Sunday and will call some evening to take my leave; I cannot come in the morning, as early rising kills me.--Most sincerely yours,

G. BORROW.

To Dr. John Bowring

WILLOW LANE, NORWICH, _Sept. 11, 1831._