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Books: The Life of George Borrow

H >> Herbert Jenkins >> The Life of George Borrow



This etext was produced by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk,
from the 1912 John Murray edition.





THE LIFE OF GEORGE BORROW

by Herbert Jenkins




PREFACE



During the whole of Borrow's manhood there was probably only one
period when he was unquestionably happy in his work and content with
his surroundings. He may almost be said to have concentrated into
the seven years (1833-1840) that he was employed by the British and
Foreign Bible Society in Russia, Portugal and Spain, a lifetime's
energy and resource. From an unknown hack-writer, who hawked about
unsaleable translations of Welsh and Danish bards, a travelling
tinker and a vagabond Ulysses, he became a person of considerable
importance. His name was acclaimed with praise and enthusiasm at
Bible meetings from one end of the country to the other. He
developed an astonishing aptitude for affairs, a tireless energy, and
a diplomatic resourcefulness that aroused silent wonder in those who
had hitherto regarded him as a failure. His illegal imprisonment in
Madrid nearly brought about a diplomatic rupture between Great
Britain and Spain, and later his missionary work in the Peninsula was
referred to by Sir Robert Peel in the House of Commons as an instance
of what could be achieved by courage and determination in the face of
great difficulties.

Those seven rich and productive years realised to the full the
strange talents and unsuspected abilities of George Borrow's unique
character. He himself referred to the period spent in Spain as the
"five happiest years" of his life. When, however, his life came to
be written by Dr Knapp, than whom no biographer has approved himself
more loyal or enthusiastic, it was found that the records of that
period were not accessible. The letters that he had addressed to the
Bible Society had been mislaid. These came to light shortly after
the publication of Dr Knapp's work, and type-written copies were
placed at my disposal by the General Committee long before they were
given to the public in volume form.

A systematic search at the Public Record Office has revealed a wealth
of unpublished documents, including a lengthy letter from Borrow
relating to his imprisonment at Seville in 1839. From other sources
much valuable information and many interesting anecdotes have been
obtained, and through the courtesy of their possessor a number of
unpublished Borrow letters are either printed in their entirety or
are quoted from in this volume.

My thanks are due in particular to the Committee of British and
Foreign Bible Society for placing at my disposal the copies of the
Borrow Letters, and also for permission to reproduce the interesting
silhouette of the Rev. Andrew Brandram, and to the Rev. T. H. Darlow,
M.A. (Literary Superintendent), whose uniform kindness and desire to
assist me I find it impossible adequately to acknowledge. My thanks
are also due to the Rt. Hon. Sir Edward Grey, M.P., for permission to
examine the despatches from the British Embassy at Madrid at the
Record Office, and the Registers of Passports at the Foreign Office,
and to Mr F. H. Bowring (son of Sir John Bowring), Mr Wilfrid J.
Bowring (who has placed at my disposal a number of letters from
Borrow to his grandfather), Mr R. W. Brant, Mr Ernest H. Caddie, Mr
William Canton, Mr S. D. Charles, an ardent Borrovian from whom I
have received much kindness and many valuable suggestions, Mr A. I.
Dasent, the editors of The Athenaeum and The Bookman, Mr Thomas Hake,
Mr D. B. Hill of Mattishall, Norfolk, Mr James Hooper, Mr W. F. T.
Jarrold (for permission to reproduce the hitherto unpublished
portrait of Borrow painted by his brother), Dr F. G. Kenyon, C.B., Mr
F. A. Mumby, Mr George Porter of Denbigh (for interesting particulars
about Borrow's first visit to Wales), Mr Theodore Rossi, Mr Theodore
Watts-Dunton, Mr Thomas Vade-Walpole, who have all responded to my
appeal for help with great willingness.

To one friend, who elects to be nameless, I am deeply grateful for
many valuable suggestions and much help; but above all for the keen
interest he has taken in a work which he first encouraged me to
write. To her who gave so plentifully of her leisure in transcribing
documents at the Record Office and in research work at the British
Museum and elsewhere, I am indebted beyond all possibility of
acknowledgment. To no one more than to Mr John Murray are my
acknowledgments due for his unfailing kindness, patience and
assistance. It is no exaggeration to state that but for his aid and
encouragement this book could not have been written.

HERBERT JENKINS.
January, 1912.



CHAPTER I: 1678-MAY 1816



On 28th July 1783 was held the annual fair at Menheniot, and for
miles round the country folk flocked into the little Cornish village
to join in the festivities. Among the throng was a strong contingent
of young men from Liskeard, a town three miles distant, between whom
and the youth of Menheniot an ancient feud existed. In days when the
bruisers of England were national heroes, and a fight was a fitting
incident of a day's revelry, the very presence of their rivals was a
sufficient challenge to the chivalry of Menheniot, and a contest
became inevitable. Some unrecorded incident was accepted by both
parties as a sufficient cause for battle, and the two factions were
soon fighting furiously midst collapsing stalls and tumbled
merchandise. Women shrieked and fainted, men shouted and struck out
grimly, whilst the stall-holders, in a frenzy of grief and despair,
wrung their hands helplessly as they saw their goods being trampled
to ruin beneath the feet of the contestants.

Slowly the men of Liskeard were borne back by their more numerous
opponents. They wavered, and just as defeat seemed inevitable, there
arrived upon the scene a young man who, on seeing his townsmen in
danger of being beaten, placed himself at their head and charged down
upon the enemy, forcing them back by the impetuosity of his attack.

The new arrival was a man of fine physique, above the medium height
and a magnificent fighter, who, later in life, was to achieve
something of which a Mendoza or a Belcher might have been proud. He
fought strongly and silently, inspiring his fellow townsmen by his
example. The new leader had entirely turned the tide of battle, but
just as the defeat of the men of Menheniot seemed certain, a
diversion was created by the arrival of the local constables. Now
that their own villagers were on the verge of disaster, there was no
longer any reason why they should remain in the background. They
made a determined effort to arrest the leader of the Liskeard
contingent, and were promptly knocked down by him.

At that moment Mr Edmund Hambley, a much-respected maltster and the
headborough of Liskeard, was attracted to the spot. Seeing in the
person of the outrageous leader of the battle one of his own
apprentices, he stepped forward and threatened him with arrest.
Goaded to desperation by the scornful attitude of the young man, the
master-maltster laid hands upon him, and instantly shared the fate of
the constables. With great courage and determination the headborough
rose to his feet and again attempted to enforce his authority, but
with no better result. When he picked himself up for a second time,
it was to pass from the scene of his humiliation and, incidentally,
out of the life of the young man who had defied his authority.

The young apprentice was Thomas Borrow (born December 1758), eighth
and posthumous child of John Borrow and of Mary his wife, of
Trethinnick (the House on the Hill), in the neighbouring parish of St
Cleer, two and a half miles north of Liskeard. At the age of
fifteen, Thomas had begun to work upon his father's farm. At
nineteen he was apprenticed to Edmund Hambley, maltster, of Liskeard,
who five years later, in his official capacity as Constable of the
Hundred of Liskeard, was to be publicly defied and twice knocked down
by his insubordinate apprentice.

A trifling affair in itself, this village fracas was to have a
lasting effect upon the career of Thomas Borrow. He was given to
understand by his kinsmen that he need not look to them for sympathy
or assistance in his wrongdoing. The Borrows of Trethinnick could
trace back further than the parish registers record (1678). They
were godly and law-abiding people, who had stood for the king and
lost blood and harvests in his cause. If a son of the house disgrace
himself, the responsibility must be his, not theirs. In the opinion
of his family, Thomas Borrow had, by his vigorous conduct towards the
headborough, who was also his master, placed himself outside the
radius of their sympathy. At this period Trethinnick, a farm of some
fifty acres in extent, was in the hands of Henry, Thomas' eldest
brother, who since his mother's death, ten years before, had assumed
the responsibility of launching his youngest brother upon the world.

Fearful of the result of his assault on the headborough, Thomas
Borrow left St Cleer with great suddenness, and for five months
disappeared entirely. On 29th December he presented himself as a
recruit before Captain Morshead, {3a} in command of a detachment of
the Coldstream Guards, at that time stationed in the duchy.

Thomas Borrow was no stranger to military training. For five years
he had been in the Yeomanry Militia, which involved a short annual
training. In the regimental records he is credited with five years
"former service." He remained for eight years with the Coldstream
Guards, most of the time being passed in London barracks. He had no
money with which to purchase a commission, and his rise was slow and
deliberate. At the end of nine months he was promoted to the rank of
corporal, and five years later he became a sergeant. In 1792 he was
transferred as Sergeant-Major to the First, or West Norfolk Regiment
of Militia, whose headquarters were at East Dereham in Norfolk.

It was just previous to this transfer that Sergeant Borrow had his
famous encounter in Hyde Park with Big Ben Bryan, the champion of
England; he "whose skin was brown and dusky as that of a toad." It
was a combat in which "even Wellington or Napoleon would have been
heartily glad to cry for quarter ere the lapse of five minutes, and
even the Blacksmith Tartar would, perhaps, have shrunk from the
opponent with whom, after having had a dispute with him," Sergeant
Borrow "engaged in single combat for one hour, at the end of which
time the champions shook hands and retired, each having experienced
quite enough of the other's prowess." {4a}

At East Dereham Thomas Borrow met Ann {4b} Perfrement, {4c} a
strikingly handsome girl of twenty, whose dark eyes first flashed
upon him from over the footlights. It was, and still is, the custom
for small touring companies to engage their supernumeraries in the
towns in which they were playing. The pretty daughter of Farmer
Perfrement, whose farm lay about one and a half miles out of East
Dereham, was one of those who took occasion to earn a few shillings
for pin-money. The Perfrements were of Huguenot stock. On the
revocation of the Edict of Nantes, their ancestors had fled from
their native town of Caen and taken refuge in East Anglia, there to
enjoy the liberty of conscience denied them in their beloved
Normandy. Thomas Borrow made the acquaintance of the young
probationer, and promptly settled any aspirations that she may have
had towards the stage by marrying her. The wedding took place on
11th February 1793 at East Dereham church, best known as the resting-
place of the poet Cowper, Ann being twenty-one and Thomas thirty-four
years of age.

For the next seven years Thomas and Ann Borrow moved about with the
West Norfolk Militia, which now marched off into Essex, a few months
later doubling back again into Norfolk. Then it dived into Kent and
for a time hovered about the Cinque Ports, Thomas Borrow in the
meantime being promoted to the rank of quarter-master (27th May
1795). It was not until he had completed fourteen years of service
that he received a commission. On 27th February 1798 he became
Adjutant in the same regiment, a promotion that carried with it a
captain's rank.

Whilst at Sandgate Mrs Borrow became acquainted with John Murray, the
son of the founder of the publishing house from which, forty-four
years later, were to be published the books of her second son, then
unborn. The widow of John Murray the First had married in 1795
Lieutenant Henry Paget of the West Norfolk Militia. Years later
(27th March 1843) George Borrow wrote to John Murray, Junr., third of
the line:


"I am at present in Norwich with my mother, who has been ill, but is
now, thank God, recovering fast. She begs leave to send her kind
remembrances to Mr Murray. She knew him at Sandgate in Kent FORTY-
SIX years ago, when he came to see his mother, Mrs P[aget]. She was
also acquainted with his sister, Miss Jane Murray, {5a} who used to
ride on horseback with her on the Downs. She says Captain [sic]
Paget once cooked a dinner for Mrs P. and herself; and sat down to
table with his cook's apron on. Is not this funny? Does it not
'beat the Union,' as the Yankees say?"


The first child of the marriage was born in 1800, it is not known
exactly when or where. This was John, "the brother some three years
older than myself," whose beauty in infancy was so great "that
people, especially those of the poorer classes, would follow the
nurse who carried him about in order to look at and bless his lovely
face," {6a} with its rosy cheeks and smiling, blue-eyed innocence.
On one occasion even, an attempt was made to snatch him from the arms
of his nurse as she was about to enter a coach. The parents became a
prey to anxiety; for the child seems to have possessed many endearing
qualities as well as good looks. He was quick and clever, and when
the time came for instruction, "he mastered his letters in a few
hours, and in a day or two could decipher the names of people on the
doors of houses and over the shop windows." {6b} His cleverness
increased as he grew up, and later he seems to have become, in the
mind of Captain Borrow at least, a standard by which to measure the
shortcomings of his younger son George, whom he never was able to
understand.

For the next three years, 1800-3, the regiment continued to hover
about the home counties. The Peace of Amiens released many of the
untried warriors, who had enlisted "until the peace," their adjutant
having to find new recruits to fill up the gaps. War broke out again
the following year (18th May 1803), and the Great Terror assumed a
phase so critical as to subdue almost entirely all thought of party
strife. On 5th July Ann Borrow gave birth to a second son, in the
house of her father. At the time Captain Borrow was hunting for
recruits in other parts of Norfolk, in order to send them to
Colchester, where the regiment was stationed. In due course the
child was christened George Henry {7a} at the church of East Dereham,
and, within a few weeks of his birth, he received his first
experience of the vicissitudes of a soldier's life, by accompanying
his father, mother, and brother to Colchester to rejoin the regiment.
The whole infancy of George Borrow was spent in the same trailing
restlessness. Napoleon was alive and at large, and the West Norfolks
seemed doomed eternally to march and countermarch in the threatened
area, Sussex, Kent, Essex.

No efforts appear to have been made to steal the younger brother,
although "people were in the habit of standing still to look at me,
ay, more than at my brother." {7b} Unlike John in about everything
that one child could be unlike another, George was a gloomy,
introspective creature who considerably puzzled his parents. He
compares himself to "a deep, dark lagoon, shaded by black pines,
cypresses and yews," {7c} beside which he once paused to contemplate
"a beautiful stream . . . sparkling in the sunshine, and . . .
tumbling merrily into cascades," {7d} which he likened to his
brother.

Slow of comprehension, almost dull-witted, shy of society, sometimes
bursting into tears when spoken to, George became "a lover of nooks
and retired corners," {7e} where he would sit for hours at a time a
prey to "a peculiar heaviness . . . and at times . . . a strange
sensation of fear, which occasionally amounted to horror," {7f} for
which there was no apparent cause. In time he grew to be as much
disliked as his brother was admired. On one occasion an old Jew
pedlar, attracted by the latent intelligence in the smouldering eyes
of the silent child, who ignored his questions and continued tracing
in the dust with his fingers curious lines, pronounced him "a
prophet's child." This carried to the mother's heart a quiet
comfort; and reawakened in her hope for the future of her second son.

The early childhood of George Borrow was spent in stirring times.
Without, there was the menace of Napoleon's invasion; within, every
effort was being made to meet and repel it. Dumouriez was preparing
his great scheme of defence; Captain Thomas Borrow was doing his
utmost to collect and drill men to help in carrying it into effect.
Sometimes the family were in lodgings; but more frequently in
barracks, for reasons of economy. Once, at least, they lived under
canvas.

The strange and puzzling child continued to impress his parents in a
manner well-calculated to alarm them. One day, with a cry of
delight, he seized a viper that, "like a line of golden light," was
moving across the lane in which he was playing. Whilst making no
effort to harm the child, who held and regarded it with awe and
admiration, the reptile showed its displeasure towards John, his
brother, by hissing and raising its head as if to strike. This
happened when George was between two and three years of age. At
about the same period he ate largely of some poisonous berries, which
resulted in "strong convulsions," lasting for several hours. He
seems to have been a source of constant anxiety to his parents, who
were utterly unable to understand the strange and gloomy child who
had been vouchsafed to them by the inscrutable decree of providence.

In the middle of the year 1809 the regiment returned from Essex to
Norfolk, marching first to Norwich and thence to other towns in the
county. Captain Borrow and his family took up their quarters once
more at Dereham. George was now six years old, acutely observant of
the things that interested him, but reluctant to proceed with studies
which, in his eyes, seemed to have nothing to recommend them. Books
possessed no attraction for him, although he knew his alphabet and
could even read imperfectly. The acquirement of book-learning he
found a dull and dolorous business, to which he was driven only by
the threats or entreaties of his parents, who showed some concern
lest he should become an "arrant dunce."

The intelligence that the old Jew pedlar had discovered still lay
dormant, as if unwilling to manifest itself. The boy loved best "to
look upon the heavens, and to bask in the rays of the sun, or to sit
beneath hedgerows and listen to the chirping of the birds, indulging
the while in musing and meditation." {9a} Meanwhile John was earning
golden opinions for the astonishing progress he continued to make at
school, unconsciously throwing into bolder relief the apparent
dullness of his younger brother. George, however, was as active
mentally as the elder. The one was studying men, the other books.
George was absorbing impressions of the things around him: of the
quaint old Norfolk town, its "clean but narrow streets branching out
from thy modest market-place, with thine old-fashioned houses, with
here and there a roof of venerable thatch"; of that exquisite old
gentlewoman Lady Fenn, {9b} as she passed to and from her mansion
upon some errand of bounty or of mercy, "leaning on her gold-headed
cane, whilst the sleek old footman walked at a respectful distance
behind." {9c) On Sundays, from the black leather-covered seat in the
church-pew, he would contemplate with large-eyed wonder the rector
and James Philo his clerk, "as they read their respective portions of
the venerable liturgy," sometimes being lulled to sleep by the
monotonous drone of their voices.

On fine Sundays there was the evening walk "with my mother and
brother--a quiet, sober walk, during which I would not break into a
run, even to chase a butterfly, or yet more a honey-bee, being fully
convinced of the dread importance of the day which God had hallowed.
And how glad I was when I had got over the Sabbath day without having
done anything to profane it. And how soundly I slept on the Sabbath
night after the toil of being very good throughout the day." {10a}

During these early years there was being photographed upon the brain
of George Borrow a series of impressions which, to the end of his
life, remained as vivid as at the moment they were absorbed. What
appeared to those around him as dull-witted stupidity was, in
reality, mental surfeit. His mind was occupied with other things
than books, things that it eagerly took cognisance of, strove to
understand and was never to forget. {10b} Hitherto he had taken "no
pleasure in books . . . and bade fair to be as arrant a dunce as ever
brought the blush of shame into the cheeks of anxious and
affectionate parents." {10c} His mind was not ready for them. When
the time came there was no question of dullness: he proved an eager
and earnest student.

One day an intimate friend of Mrs Borrow's, who was also godmother to
John, brought with her a present of a book for each of the two boys,
a history of England for the elder and for the younger Robinson
Crusoe. Instantly George became absorbed.

"The true chord had now been touched . . . Weeks succeeded weeks,
months followed months, and the wondrous volume was my only study and
principal source of amusement. For hours together I would sit poring
over a page till I had become acquainted with the import of every
line. My progress, slow enough at first, became by degrees more
rapid, till at last, under a 'shoulder of mutton sail,' I found
myself cantering before a steady breeze over an ocean of enchantment,
so well pleased with my voyage that I cared not how long it might be
ere it reached its termination. And it was in this manner that I
first took to the paths of knowledge." {11a}

In the spring of 1810 the regiment was ordered to Norman Cross, in
Huntingdonshire, situated at the junction of the Peterborough and
Great North Roads. At this spot the Government had caused to be
erected in 1796 an extensive prison, covering forty acres of ground,
in which to confine some of the prisoners made during the Napoleonic
wars. There were sixteen large buildings roofed with red tiles.
Each group of four was surrounded by a palisade, whilst another
palisade "lofty and of prodigious strength" surrounded the whole. At
the time when the West Norfolk Militia arrived there were some six
thousand prisoners, who, with their guards, constituted a
considerable-sized township. From time to time fresh batches of
captives arrived amid a storm of cheers and cries of "Vive
L'Empereur!" These were the only incidents in the day's monotony,
save when some prisoner strove to evade the hospitality of King
George, and was shot for his ingratitude.

Captain Borrow rejoined his regiment at Norman C Cross, leaving his
family to follow a few days later. At the time the country round
Peterborough was under water owing to the recent heavy rains, and at
one portion of the journey the whole party had to embark in a species
of punt, which was towed by horses "up to the knees in water, and, on
coming to blind pools and 'greedy depths,' were not unfrequently
swimming." {11b} But they were all old campaigners and accepted such
adventures as incidents of a soldier's life.

At Norman Cross George made the acquaintance of an old snake-catcher
and herbalist, a circumstance which, insignificant in itself, was to
exercise a considerable influence over his whole life. Frequently
this curious pair were to be seen tramping the countryside together;
a tall, quaint figure with fur cap and gaiters carrying a leathern
bag of wriggling venom, and an eager child with eyes that now burned
with interest and intelligence--and the talk of the two was the lore
of the viper. When the snake-catcher passed out of the life of his
young disciple, he left behind him as a present a tame and fangless
viper, which George often carried with him on his walks. It was this
well-meaning and inoffensive viper that turned aside the wrath of
Gypsy Smith, {12a} and awakened in his heart a superstitious awe and
veneration for the child, the Sap-engro, who might be a goblin, but
who certainly would make a most admirable "clergyman and God
Almighty," who read from a book that contained the kind of prayers
particularly to his taste--perhaps the greatest encomium ever
bestowed upon the immortal Robinson Crusoe. Thus it came about that
George Borrow was proclaimed brother to the gypsy's son Ambrose,
{12b} who as Jasper Petulengro figures so largely in Lavengro and The
Romany Rye, and is credited with that exquisitely phrased pagan
glorification of mere existence: