George Borrow and His Circle Part 27

I hoped to have been able to call upon you at Yarmouth, but a heavy cold first, and now occupation, have interfered with my intentions. I daresay you have seen the mention made of your _Lavengro_ in the article on Haydon in the current number of _The Quarterly Review_, and I thought you might like to know that every syllable, both comment and extract, was inserted by the writer (a man little given to praise) of his own _accord_.

Murray sent him your book, and that was all. No addition or modification was made by myself, and it is therefore the unbia.s.sed judgment of a _very critical_ reviewer. Whenever you appear again before the public I shall endeavour to do ample justice to your past and present merits, and there is one point in which you could aid those who understand you and your books in bringing over general readers to your side. I was myself acquainted with many of the persons you have sketched in your _Lavengro_, and I can testify to the extraordinary vividness and accuracy of the portraits. What I have seen, again, of yourself tells me that romantic adventures are your natural element, and I should _a priori_ expect that much of your history would be stranger than fiction. But you must remember that the bulk of readers have no personal acquaintance with you, or the characters you describe. The consequence is that they fancy there is an immensity of romance mixed up with the facts, and they are irritated by the inability to distinguish between them. I am confident, from all I have heard, that this was the source of the comparatively cold reception of _Lavengro_. I should have partaken the feeling myself if I had not had the means of testing the fidelity of many portions of the book, from which I inferred the equal fidelity of the rest.

I think you have the remedy in your own hands, viz., by giving the utmost possible matter-of-fact air to your sequel. I do not mean that you are to tame down the truth, but some ways of narrating a story make it seem more credible than others, and if you were so far to defer to the ignorance of the public they would enter into the full spirit of your rich and racy narrative. You naturally look at your life from your own point of view, and this in itself is the best; but when you publish a book you invite the reader to partic.i.p.ate in the events of your career, and it is necessary then to look a little at things from _his_ point of view. As he has not your knowledge you must stoop to him. I throw this out for your consideration. My sole wish is that the public should have a right estimate of you, and surely you ought to do what is in your power to help them to it. I know you will excuse the liberty I take in offering this crude suggestion. Take it for what it is worth, but anyhow....

[Ill.u.s.tration: FACSIMILE OF THE FIRST PAGE OF _LAVENGRO_.

_From the Ma.n.u.script in the possession of the Author of 'George Borrow and his Circle.'_]

To this letter, as we learn from Elwin's _Life_, 'instead of roaring like a lion,' as Elwin had expected, he returned quite a 'lamb-like note.'

Read by the light in which we all judge the book to-day, this estimate by Elwin was about as fatuous as most contemporary criticisms of a masterpiece. Which is only to say that it is rarely given to contemporary critics to judge accurately of the great work that comes to them amid a ma.s.s that is not great. That Elwin, although not a good editor of Pope, was a sound critic of the literature of a period anterior to his own is demonstrated by the admirable essays from his pen that have been reprinted with an excellent memoir of him by his son.[175] In this memoir we have a capital glimpse of our hero:

Among the notables whom he had met was Borrow, whose _Lavengro_ and _Romany Rye_ he afterwards reviewed in 1857 under the t.i.tle of 'Roving Life in England,' Their interview was characteristic of both. Borrow was just then very sore with his snarling critics, and on some one mentioning that Elwin was a _quartering_ reviewer, he said, 'Sir, I wish you a better employment.' Then hastily changing the subject he called out, 'What party are _you_ in the Church--Tractarian, Moderate, or Evangelical? I am happy to say I am the old _High_.' 'I am happy to say I am _not_,' was Elwin's emphatic reply. Borrow boasted of his proficiency in the Norfolk dialect, which he endeavoured to speak as broadly as possible. 'I told him,' said Elwin, 'that he had not cultivated it with his usual success.'

As the conversation proceeded it became less disputatious, and the two ended by becoming so cordial that they promised to visit each other. Borrow fulfilled his promise in the following October, when he went to Booton,[176] and was 'full of anecdote and reminiscence,' and delighted the rectory children by singing them songs in the gypsy tongue. Elwin during this visit urged him to try his hand at an article for the _Review_.

'Never,' he said; 'I have made a resolution never to have anything to do with such a blackguard trade.'

While writing of Whitwell Elwin and his a.s.sociation with Borrow, which was sometimes rather strained as we shall see when _The Romany Rye_ comes to be published, it is interesting to turn to Elwin's final impression of Borrow, as conveyed in a letter which the recipient[177]

has kindly placed at my disposal. It was written from Booton Rectory, and is dated 27th October 1893:

I used occasionally to meet Borrow at the house of Mr. Murray, his publisher, and he once stayed with me here for two or three days about 1855. He always seemed to me quite at ease 'among refined people,' and I should not have ascribed his dogmatic tone, when he adopted it, to his resentment at finding himself out of keeping with his society. A spirit of self-a.s.sertion was engrained in him, and it was supported by a combative temperament. As he was proud of his bodily prowess, and rather given to parade it, so he took the same view of an argument as of a battle with fists, and thought that manliness required him to be determined and unflinching. But this, in my experience of him, was not his ordinary manner, which was calm and companionable, without rudeness of any kind, unless some difference occurred to provoke his pugnacity. I have witnessed instances of his care to avoid wounding feelings needlessly. He never kept back his opinions which, on some points, were shallow and even absurd; and when his antagonist was as persistently positive as himself, he was apt to be over vehement in contradiction. I have heard Mr. Murray say that once in a dispute with Dr. Whewell at a dinner the language on both sides grew so fiery that Mrs. Whewell fainted.

He told me that his composition cost him a vast amount of labour, that his first draughts were diffuse and crude, and that he wrote his productions several times before he had condensed and polished them to his mind. There is nothing choicer in the English language than some of his narratives, descriptions, and sketches of character, but in his best books he did not always prune sufficiently, and in his last work, _Wild Wales_, he seemed to me to have lost the faculty altogether. Mr. Murray long refused to publish it unless it was curtailed, and Borrow, with his usual self-will and self-confidence, refused to retrench the trivialities. Either he got his own way in the end, or he revised his ma.n.u.script to little purpose.

Probably most of what there was to tell of Borrow has been related by himself. It is a disadvantage in _Lavengro_ and _Romany Rye_ that we cannot with certainty separate fact from fiction, for he avowed in talk that, like Goethe, he had a.s.sumed the right in the interests of his autobiographical narrative to embellish it in places; but the main outline, and larger part of the details, are the genuine record of what he had seen and done, and I can testify that some of his minor personages who were known to me in my boyhood are described with perfect accuracy.

Two letters by Mr. Elwin to Borrow, from my Borrow Papers, both dated 1853--two years after _Lavengro_ was written,--may well have place here:

To George Borrow, Esq.

BOOTON, NORWICH, _Oct. 26, 1853._

MY DEAR MR. BORROW,--I shall be rejoiced to see you here, and I hope you will fasten a little luggage to the bow of your saddle, and spend as much time under my roof as you can spare.

I am always at home. Mrs. Elwin is sure to be in the house or garden, and I, at the worst, not further off than the extreme boundary of my parish. Pray come, and that quickly. Your shortest road from Norwich is through Horsford, and from thence to the park wall of Haverland Hall, which you skirt. This will bring you out by a small wayside public house, well known in these parts, called 'The Rat-catchers.' At this point you turn sharp to the left, and keep the straight road till you come to a church with a new red brick house adjoining, which is your journey's end.

The conclusion of your note to me is so true in sentiment, and so admirable in expression, that I hope you will introduce it into your next work. I wish it had been said in the article on Haydon. Cannot you strew such criticisms through the sequel to _Lavengro_? They would give additional charm and value to the work. Believe me, very truly yours,

W. ELWIN.

You are of course aware that if _I_ had spoken of _Lavengro_ in the _Q.R._ I should have said much more, but as I hoped for my turn hereafter, I preferred to let the pa.s.sage go forth unadulterated.

To George Borrow, Esq.

BOOTON RECTORY, NORWICH, _Nov. 5, 1853._

MY DEAR MR. BORROW,---You bore your mishap with a philosophic patience, and started with an energy which gives the best earnest that you would arrive safe and sound at Norwich. I was happy to find yesterday morning, by the arrival of your kind present, a sure notification that you were well home. Many thanks for the tea, which we drink with great zest and diligence. My legs are not as long as yours, nor my breath either. You soon made me feel that I must either turn back or be left behind, so I chose the former. Mrs. Elwin and my children desire their kind regards. They one and all enjoyed your visit. Believe me, very truly yours,

W. ELWIN.

I have said that I possess large portions of _Lavengro_ in ma.n.u.script.

Borrow's always helpful wife, however, copied out the whole ma.n.u.script for the publishers, and this 'clean copy' came to Dr. Knapp, who found even here a few pages of very valuable writing deleted, and these he has very rightly restored in Mr. Murray's edition of _Lavengro_. Why Borrow took so much pains to explain that his wife had copied _Lavengro_, as the following doc.u.ment implies, I cannot think. I find in his handwriting this sc.r.a.p of paper signed by Mary Borrow, and witnessed by her daughter:

_Janry. 30, 1869._

This is to certify that I transcribed _The Bible in Spain_, _Lavengro_, and some other works of my husband George Borrow, from the original ma.n.u.scripts. A considerable portion of the transcript of _Lavengro_ was lost at the printing-office where the work was printed.

MARY BORROW.

Witness: Henrietta M., daughter of Mary Borrow.

It only remains here to state the melancholy fact once again that _Lavengro_, great work of literature as it is now universally acknowledged to be, was not 'the book of the year.' The three thousand copies of the first issue took more than twenty years to sell, and it was not until 1872 that Mr. Murray resolved to issue a cheaper edition.

The time was not ripe for the cult of the open road; the zest for 'the wind on the heath' that our age shares so keenly.

FOOTNOTES:

[169] Knapp's _Life_, vol. ii p. 9.

[170] _Ibid._ p. 11.

[171] Knapp's _Life_, vol. ii. p. 19.

[172] Ford was right, however, if authors wrote only for posterity, although 1851 was not a very important year among the great Victorian writers. It produced Carlyle's _John Sterling_, Ruskin's _Stones of Venice_, and Kingsley's _Yeast_.

[173] Mr. Murray published _Lavengro_ in an edition of 3000 copies in 1851, a second edition (incorrectly called the third) was not asked for until 1872.

[174] Jenkins's _Life_, p. 387.

[175] _Some XVIII. Century Men of Letters: Biographical Essays_, by the Rev. Whitwell Elwin, sometime Editor of _The Quarterly Review_, With a Memoir by his son Warwick Elwin, 2 vols. John Murray, 1902.

[176] Whitwell Elwin was Rector of Booton, Norfolk--a family living--from 1849 to his death, aged 83, on 1st January 1900. He succeeded Lockhart as editor of _The Quarterly Review_ in 1853, and resigned in 1860. He was born in 1816, and educated at Caius College, Cambridge. Thackeray called him 'a grandson of the late Rev. Dr.

Primrose,' thereby recognising in Elwin many of the kindly qualities of Goldsmith's admirable creation.

[177] Mr. James Hooper, of Norwich, whose kindness in placing this and many other doc.u.ments at my disposal I have already acknowledged. This letter was first published in _The Sphere_, December 19, 1903.

CHAPTER XXVI

A VISIT TO CORNISH KINSMEN

If Borrow had been a normal man of letters he would have been quite satisfied to settle down at Oulton, in a comfortable home, with a devoted wife. The question of money was no longer to worry him. He had moreover a money-making gift, which made him independent in a measure of his wife's fortune. From _The Bible in Spain_ he must have drawn a very considerable amount, considerable, that is, for a man whose habits were always somewhat penurious. _The Bible in Spain_ would have been followed up, were Borrow a quite other kind of man, by a succession of books almost equally remunerative. Even for one so p.r.o.ne to hate both books and bookmen there was always the wind on the heath, the gypsy encampment, the now famous 'broad,' not then the haunt of innumerable trippers. But Borrow ever loved wandering more than writing. Almost immediately after his marriage--in 1840--he hinted to the Bible Society of a journey to China; a year later, in June 1841, he suggested to Lord Clarendon that Lord Palmerston might give him a consuls.h.i.+p: he consulted Hasfeld as to a possible livelihood in Berlin, and Ford as to travel in Africa. He seems to have endured residence at Oulton with difficulty during the succeeding three years, and in 1844 we find him engaged upon the continental travel that we have already recorded. In 1847 he had hopes of the consuls.h.i.+p at Canton, but Bowring wanted it for himself, and a misunderstanding over this led to an inevitable break of old friends.h.i.+p. Borrow's pa.s.sionate love of travel was never more to be gratified at the expense of others. He tried hard, indeed, to secure a journey to the East from the British Museum Trustees, and then gave up the struggle. Further wanderings, which were many, were to be confined to Europe and indeed to England, Scotland, Ireland, and the Isle of Man.

His first journey, however, was not at his own initiative. Mrs. Borrow's health was unequal to the severe winters at Oulton, and so the Borrows made their home at Yarmouth from 1853 to 1860. During these years he gave his vagabond propensities full play. No year pa.s.sed without its record of wandering. His first expedition was the outcome of a burst of notoriety that seems to have done for Borrow what the success of his _Bible in Spain_ could not do--revealed his ident.i.ty to his Cornish relations. The _Bury Post_ of 17th September 1853 recorded that Borrow had at the risk of his life saved at least one member of a boat's crew wrecked on the coast at Yarmouth:

The moment was an awful one, when George Borrow, the well-known author of _Lavengro_ and _The Bible in Spain_, dashed into the surf and saved one life, and through his instrumentality the others were saved. We ourselves have known this brave and gifted man for years, and, daring as was his deed, we have known him more than once to risk his life for others. We are happy to add that he has sustained no material injury.

I was quite sorry to find this extract from the _Bury Post_ among my Borrow Papers in Mrs. Borrow's handwriting. It a little suggests that she sent the copy to the journal in question, or at least inspired the paragraph, perhaps in a letter to her friend, Dr. Gordon Hake, who with his family then resided at Bury St. Edmunds. Borrow was a perfect swimmer, and there is no reason to suppose but that he did act heroically.[178] In my Borrow Papers I find in his handwriting his own account of the adventure: