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Books: The Life of George Borrow

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




It is not strange that Borrow should be regarded with suspicion by
the Spaniards on account of his association with the Gitanos.
Sometimes there would be as many as seventeen gypsies gathered
together at his lodgings in the Calle de Santiago.


"The people in the street in which I lived," he writes, {218c}
"seeing such numbers of these strange females continually passing in
and out, were struck with astonishment, and demanded the reason. The
answers which they obtained by no means satisfied them. 'Zeal for
the conversion of souls--the souls too of Gitanas,--disparate! the
fellow is a scoundrel. Besides he is an Englishman, and is not
baptised; what cares he for souls? They visit him for other
purposes. He makes base ounces, which they carry away and circulate.
Madrid is already stocked with false money.' Others were of the
opinion that we met for the purposes of sorcery and abomination. The
Spaniard has no conception that other springs of action exist than
interest or villany."


Borrow was in reality endeavouring to convey to his "little
congregation," as he called them, some idea of abstract morality. He
was bold enough "to speak against their inveterate practices,
thieving and lying, telling fortunes," etc., and at first experienced
much opposition. About the result, he seems to have cherished no
illusions; still, he wrote a hymn in their dialect which he taught
his guests to sing.

For some time past it had been obvious to Borrow that he was becoming
more than ever unpopular with certain interested factions in Madrid,
who looked upon his missionary labours with angry disapproval. The
opening of his Despacho had caused a great sensation. "The Priests
and Bigots are teeming with malice and fury," he had written to Mr
Brandram, {219a} "which hitherto they have thought proper to exhibit
only in words, as they know that all I do here is favoured by Mr
Villiers {219b} (sic) . . . There is no attempt, however atrocious,
which may not be expected from such people, and were it right and
seemly for ME, the most insignificant of worms, to make such a
comparison, I would say that, like Paul at Ephesus, I am fighting
with wild beasts." He was attacked in print and endeavours were made
to incite the people against him as a sorcerer and companion of
gypsies and witches. When he decided upon the campaign of the
posters it would appear, at first glance, that in the claims of the
merchant Borrow had entirely forgotten the obligations of the
diplomatist. On the other hand, he may have foreseen that the
priestly party would soon force the Government to action, and was
desirous of selling all the books he could before this happened. His
own words seem to indicate that this was the case.


"People who know me not," he wrote to Mr Brandram, "nor are
acquainted with my situation, may be disposed to call me rash; but I
am far from being so, as I never adopt a venturous course when any
other is open to me; but I am not a person to be terrified by any
danger when I see that braving it is the only way to achieve an
object." {220a}


Whatever may have been Borrow's motives, the crisis arrived on 12th
January, when he received a peremptory order from the Civil Governor
of Madrid (who had previously sent for and received two copies, to
submit for examination to the Ecclesiastical Authorities) to sell no
more of the New Testament in Spanish without notes. At that period
the average sale was about twenty copies a day. "The priests have at
length 'swooped upon me,'" Borrow wrote to Mr Brandram, three days
later. The order did not, however, take him unawares.

Borrow saw that little assistance was to be expected from Sir George
Villiers, who, for obvious reasons, was not popular with the Ofalia
ministry, and, accepting the British Minister's advice, he promptly
complied with the edict. He recognised that for the time being his
enemies were paramount. He accuses the priests of employing the
ruffian who, one night in a dark street, warned him to discontinue
selling his "Jewish books," or he would "have a knife 'NAILED IN HIS
HEART'" to which he replied by telling the fellow to go home, say his
prayers and inform his employers that he, Borrow, pitied them. It
was a few days after this episode that Borrow received the formal
notice of prohibition.

Consoling himself with the fact that he was not ordered to close his
Despacho, and refusing the advice that was tendered to him to erase
from its windows the yellow-lettered sign, he determined to continue
his campaign with the Bibles that were on their way to him, and the
Gitano and Basque versions of St Luke as soon as they were ready.
The prohibition referred only to the Spanish New Testament without
notes, and in this Borrow took comfort. He had every reason to feel
gratified; for, since opening the Despacho, he had sold nearly three
hundred copies of the New Testament.

At Earl Street it was undoubtedly felt that Borrow had to some extent
precipitated the present crisis. On 8th February Mr Brandram wrote
that, whilst there was no wish on the part of the Committee to
censure him, they were not altogether surprised at what had occurred;
for, when they first heard about them, "some DID think that your tri-
coloured placards and placard-bearer were somewhat calculated to
provoke what has occurred." In reply Borrow confessed that the view
of the "some" gave him "a pang, more especially as I knew from
undoubted sources that nothing which I had done, said, or written,
was the original cause of the arbitrary step which had been adopted
in respect to me." {221a}

The printing of the Gitano and Basque editions of St Luke (500 copies
{221b} of each) was completed in March, and they were published
respectively in March and April. The Gitano version attracted much
attention. Some months later Borrow wrote:-


"No work printed in Spain ever caused so great and so general a
sensation, not so much amongst the Gypsies, that peculiar people for
whom it was intended, as amongst the Spaniards themselves, who,
though they look upon the Roma with some degree of contempt as a low
and thievish race of outcasts, nevertheless take a strange interest
in all that concerns them, it having been from time immemorial their
practice, more especially of the dissolute young nobility, to
cultivate the acquaintance of the Gitanos, as they are popularly
called, probably attracted by the wild wit of the latter and the
lascivious dances of the females. The apparation, therefore, of the
Gospel of St Luke at Madrid in the peculiar jargon of these people,
was hailed as a strange novelty and almost as a wonder, and I believe
was particularly instrumental in bruiting the name of the Bible
Society far and wide through Spain, and in creating a feeling far
from inimical towards it and its proceedings." {222a}


The little volume appears to have sold freely among the gypsies.
"Many of the men," Borrow says, {222b} "understood it, and prized it
highly, induced of course more by the language than the doctrine; the
women were particularly anxious to obtain copies, though unable to
read; but each wished to have one in her pocket, especially when
engaged in thieving expeditions, for they all looked upon it in the
light of a charm."

All endeavours to get the prohibition against the sale of the New
Testament removed proved unavailing. Borrow's great strength lay in
the support he received from the British Minister, and, in all
probability, this prevented his expulsion from Spain, which alone
would have satisfied his enemies. At the request of Sir George
Villiers, he drew up an account of the Bible Society and an
exposition of its views, telling Count Ofalia, among other things,
that "the mightiest of earthly monarchs, the late Alexander of
Russia, was so convinced of the single-mindedness and integrity of
the British and Foreign Bible Society, that he promoted their efforts
within his own dominions to the utmost of his ability." He pointed
to the condition of Spain, which was "overspread with the thickest
gloom of heathenish ignorance, beneath which the fiends and demons of
the abyss seem to be holding their ghastly revels." He described it
as "a country in which all sense of right and wrong is forgotten . .
. where the name of Jesus is scarcely ever mentioned but in
blasphemy, and His precepts [are] almost utterly unknown . . .
[where] the few who are enlightened are too much occupied in the
pursuit of lucre, ambition, or ungodly revenge to entertain a desire
or thought of bettering the moral state of their countrymen." This
report, in which Borrow confesses that he "made no attempts to
flatter and cajole," must have caused the British Minister some
diplomatic embarrassment when he read it; but it seems to have been
presented, although, as is scarcely surprising, it appears to have
been ineffectual in causing to be removed the ban against which it
was written as a protest.

The Prime Minister was in a peculiarly unpleasant position. On the
one hand there was the British Minister using all his influence to
get the prohibition rescinded; on the other hand were six bishops,
including the primate, then resident in Madrid, and the greater part
of the clergy. Count Ofalia applied for a copy of the Gipsy St Luke,
and, seeing in this an opening for a personal appeal, Borrow
determined to present the volume, specially and handsomely bound, in
person, probably the last thing that Count Ofalia expected or
desired. The interview produced nothing beyond the conviction in
Borrow's mind that Spain was ruled by a man who possessed the soul of
a mouse. Borrow had been received "with great affability," thanked
for his present, urged to be patient and peaceable, assured of the
enmity of the clergy, and promised that an endeavour should be made
to devise some plan that would be satisfactory to him. The two then
"parted in kindness," and as he walked away from the palace, Borrow
wondered "by what strange chance this poor man had become Prime
Minister of a country like Spain."

In reporting progress to the Bible Society on 17th March Borrow,
after assuring Mr Brandram that he had "brought every engine into
play which it was in my power to command," asked for instructions.
"Shall I wait a little time longer in Madrid," he enquired; "or shall
I proceed at once on a journey to Andalusia and other places? I am
in strength, health and spirits, thanks be to the Lord! and am at all
times ready to devote myself, body and mind, to His cause." {224a}
The decision of the Committee was that he should remain at Madrid.

During the time that Borrow had been preparing his Depot in Madrid,
Lieutenant Graydon had been feverishly active in the South. On 19th
April Borrow wrote to Mr Brandram:-


"Sir George Villiers has vowed to protect me and has stated so
publicly . . . He has gone so far as to state to Ofalia and [Don
Ramon de] Gamboa [the Civil Governor], that provided I be allowed to
pursue my plans without interruption, he will be my bail (fiador) and
answerable for everything I do, as he does me the honor to say that
he knows me, and can confide in MY discretion."


In the same letter he begs the Society to be cautious and offer no
encouragement to any disposed "'to run the muck' (sic) (it is Sir
George's expression) against the religious and political INSTITUTIONS
of Spain"; but "the delicacy of the situation does not appear to have
been thoroughly understood at the time even by the Committee at
home." {224b} They saw the astonishing success of Graydon in
distributing the Scripture, and became infused with his enthusiasm,
oblivious to the fact that the greater the enthusiasm the greater the
possibilities of indiscretion. On the other hand Graydon himself saw
only the glory of the Gospel. If he were indiscreet, it was because
he was blinded by the success that attended his efforts, and he
failed to see the clouds that were gathering. {225a} Borrow saw the
danger of Graydon's reckless evangelism, and although he himself had
few good words for the pope and priestcraft, he recognised that a
discreet veiling of his opinions was best calculated to further the
ends he had in view.

About this period Borrow became greatly incensed at the action of the
Rev. W. H. Rule of Gibraltar in consigning to his care an ex-priest,
Don Pascual Mann, who, it was alleged, had been persuaded to secede
from Rome "by certain promises and hopes held out" to him. He had
accordingly left his benefice and gone to Gibraltar to receive
instruction at the hands of Mr Rule. On his return to Valencia his
salary was naturally sequestrated, and he was reduced to want. When
he arrived at Madrid it was with a letter (12th April) from Mr Rule
to Borrow, in which it was stated that Mann was sent that he might
"endeavour to circulate the Holy Scriptures, Religious Tracts and
books, and if possible prepare the minds of some with a view to the
future establishment of a Mission in Madrid."

Borrow had commiserated with the unfortunate Mann, even to the extent
of sending him 500 reals out of his own pocket; but on hearing that
he was on his way to Madrid to engage in missionary work, he
immediately wrote a letter of protest to Mr Brandram. He was angry
at Mr Rule's conduct in saddling him with Mann, and that without any
preliminary correspondence. He had entertained Mr Rule when in
Madrid, had conversed with him about the unfortunate ex-priest; but
there had never been any mention of his being sent to Madrid. Mr
Rule, on the other hand, thought it had been arranged that Mann
should be sent to Borrow. The whole affair appears to have arisen
out of a misunderstanding. There was considerable danger to Borrow
in Mann's presence in the capital; but it was not the thought of the
danger that incensed him so much as what he conceived to be Mr Rule's
unwarrantable conduct, and his own deeply-rooted objection to working
with anyone else. Mr Brandram repudiated the suggestion that
assistance had been promised Mann from London (although he authorised
Borrow to give him ten pounds in his, Brandram's, name), and gave as
an excuse for what Borrow described as the desertion of the ex-priest
by those who were responsible for his conversion, that "the man had
returned of his own accord to Rome," Graydon vouching for the
accuracy of the statement.

On the other hand, Mann stated that he was persuaded to secede by
promises made by Graydon and Rule, and induced to sign a document
purporting to be a separation from the Roman Church. He further
stated that he was abandoned because he refused to preach publicly
against the Chapter of Valencia, which in all probability would have
resulted in his imprisonment. Whatever the truth, there appears to
have been some embarrassment among those responsible for bringing in
the lost sheep as to what should be done with him. "I hope that
Mann's history will be a warning to many of our friends," Borrow
wrote to Mr Rule and quoted the passage in his letter to Mr Brandram,
{226a} "and tend to a certain extent to sober down the desire for
doing what is called at home SMART THINGS, many of which terminate in
a manner very different from the original expectations of the parties
concerned." Mr Brandram thought that Borrow was a little hard upon
Graydon, and that he had not received "with the due grano salis the
statements of the unfortunate M." He intimated, nevertheless, that
the Committee had no opening for Mann's services.

That Borrow was justified in his anger is shown by the fact that, as
he had foreseen, he reaped all the odium of Mann's conversion. The
Bishop of Cordoba in Council branded him as "a dangerous, pestilent
person, who under the pretence of selling the Scriptures went about
making converts, and moreover employed subordinates for the purpose
of deluding weak and silly people into separation from the Mother
Church." {227a}

Although Borrow was angry about the Mann episode, he did not allow
his personal feelings to prevent him from ministering to the needs of
the poor ex-priest "as far as prudence will allow," when he fell ill.
He even went the length of writing to Mr Rule, being wishful "not to
offend him." None the less he felt that he had not been well
treated. To Mr Brandram he wrote reminding him "that all the
difficulty and danger connected with what has been accomplished in
Spain have fallen to my share, I having been labouring on the flinty
rock and sierra, and not in smiling meadows refreshed by sea
breezes." {227b}

On 14th July 1838 Borrow made the last reference to the ex-priest in
a letter to Mr Brandram: "The unfortunate M. is dying of a galloping
consumption, brought on by distress of mind. All the medicine in the
world would not accomplish his cure." {227c}

The watchful eye of the law was still on Borrow, and fearful lest his
stock of Bibles, of which 500 had arrived from Barcelona, and the
Gypsy and Basque editions of St Luke should he seized, he hired a
room where he stored the bulk of the books. He now advertised the
two editions of St Luke, with the result that on 16th April a party
of Alguazils entered the shop and took possession of twenty-five
copies of the Romany Gospel of St Luke.

On the publication of the Gypsy St Luke, a fresh campaign had been
opened against Borrow, and accusations of sorcery were made and fears
expressed as to the results of the publication of the book.
Application was made by the priestly party to the Civil Governor,
with the result that all the copies at the Despacho of the Basque and
Gitano versions of St Luke had been seized. Borrow states that the
Alguazils "divided the copies of the gypsy volume among themselves,
selling subsequently the greater number at a large price, the book
being in the greatest demand." {228a} Thus the very officials
responsible for the seizure and suppression of the Bible Society's
books in Spain became "unintentionally agents of an heretical
society." {228b}

Disappointed at the smallness of the spoil, the authorities strove by
artifice to discover if Borrow still had copies of the books in his
possession. To this end they sent to the Despacho spies, who offered
high prices for copies of the Gitano St Luke, in which their interest
seemed specially to centre, to the exclusion of the Basque version.
To these enquiries the same answer was returned, that at present no
further books would be sold at the Despacho.

As evidence of the high opinion formed of the Romany version of St
Luke, the following story told by Borrow is amusing:-


"Shortly before my departure a royal edict was published, authorising
all public libraries to provide themselves with copies of the said
works [the Basque and Gypsy St Lukes] on account of their
philological merit; whereupon on application being made to the Office
[of the Civil Governor, where the books were supposed to be stored],
it was discovered that the copies of the Gospel in Basque were safe
and forthcoming, whilst every one of the sequestered copies of the
Gitano Gospel had been plundered by hands unknown [to the
authorities]. The consequence was that I was myself applied to by
the agents of the public libraries of Valencia and other places, who
paid me the price of the copies which they received, assuring me at
the same time that they were authorised to purchase them at whatever
price which might be demanded." {229a}


Borrow's enemies acknowledged that the Gitano St Luke was a
philological curiosity; but that it was impossible to allow it to
pass into circulation without notes. How great a philological
curiosity it actually was, is shown by the fact that the
ecclesiastical authorities were unable to find anywhere a person, in
whom they had confidence, capable of pronouncing upon it,
consequently they could only condemn it on two counts of omission;
firstly the notes, secondly the imprint of the printer from the
title-page.

The Basque version was by no means so popular; for one thing, "It can
scarcely be said to have been published," Borrow wrote, "it having
been prohibited, and copies of it seized on the second day of its
appearance." {229b} Several orders were received from San Sebastian
and other towns where Basque predominates, which could not be
supplied on account of the prohibition.

The official remonstrance from Sir George Villiers to Count Ofalia in
respect of the seizure of the Gypsy and Basque Gospels is of great
interest as showing, not only the British Minister's attitude towards
Borrow, but how, and with what wrath, Borrow "desisted from his
meritorious task." The communication runs:-

MADRID, 24th April 1838.
SIR,

It is my duty to request the attention of Your Excellency to an act
of injustice committed against a British subject by the Civil
Authorities of Madrid.

It appears that on the 16th inst., two officers of Police were sent
by the Civil Governor to a Shop, No. 25 Calle del Principe occupied
by Mr Borrow, where they seized and carried away 25 Copies of the
Gospel of St Luke in the Gitano language, being the entire number
exposed there for sale.

Mr Borrow is an agent of the British Bible Society, who has for some
time past been in Spain, and in the year 1836 obtained permission
from the Government of Her Catholic Majesty to print, at the expense
of the Society, Padre Scio's translation of the New Testament. He
subsequently sold the work at a moderate price and had no reason to
believe that in so doing he infringed any law of Spain or exposed
himself to the animadversion of the Authorities, otherwise, from my
knowledge of Mr Borrow s character, I feel justified in assuring Your
Excellency that he would at once, although with regret, have desisted
from his meritorious task of propagating the Gospel. Some months
ago, however, the late Civil Governor of Madrid, after having sent
for and examined a copy of the work, thought proper to direct that
its further sale should be suspended, which order was instantly
complied with.

Mr Borrow is a man of great learning and research and master of many
languages, and having translated the Gospel of St Luke into the
Gitano, he presented a copy of it to Don Ramon Gamboa, the late Civil
Governor, and announced his intention to advertise it for sale, to
which no objection was made.

Since that time neither Mr Borrow nor the persons employed by him
received any communication from the present Civil Governor forbidding
the sale of this work until it was seized in the manner I have above
described to Your Excellency.

I feel convinced that the mere statement of these facts without any
commentary on my part will be sufficient to induce your Excellency to
take steps for the indemnification of Mr Borrow, who is not only a
very respectable British subject but the Agent of one of the most
truly benevolent and philanthropic Societies in the world.

I have, etc., etc., etc.
GEORGE VILLIERS.

His Excellency Count Ofalia.



CHAPTER XV: MAY 1-13, 1838



On the morning of 30th April, whilst at breakfast, Borrow, according
to his own account, received a visit from a man who announced that he
was "A Police Agent." He came from the Civil Governor, who was
perfectly aware that he, Borrow, was continuing in secret to dispose
of the "evil books" that he had been forbidden to sell. The man
began poking round among the books and papers that were lying about,
with the result that Borrow led his visitor by the arm down the three
flights of stairs into the street, "looking him steadfastly in the
face the whole time," and subsequently sending down by his landlady
the official's sombrero, which, in the unexpectedness of his
departure, he had left behind him.

The official report of Pedro Martin de Eugenio, the police agent in
question, runs as follows


MADRID, 30th April 1838.
OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE POLICE AGENT OF THE LANGUAGE HELD BY MR
BORROW.

Public Security,--In virtue of an order from His Excellency the Civil
Governor, {231a} I went to seize the Copies Entitled the Gospel of St
Luke, in the Shop Princes Street No. 25, belonging to Mr George
Borrow, but not finding him there; I went to his lodgings, which are
in St James Street, No. 16, on the third floor and presenting the
said order to Him He read it, and with an angry look threw it on the
ground saying, that He had nothing to do with the Civil Governor,
that He was authorised by His Ambassador to sell the Work in
question, and that an English Stable Boy, is more than any Spanish
Civil Governor, and that I had forcibly entered his house, to which I
replied that I only went there to communicate the order to Him, as
proprietor as he was of the said Shop, and to seize the Copies in it
in virtue of that Order, and He answered I might do as I liked, that
He should go to the House of His Ambassador, and that I should be
responsible for the consequences; to which I replied that He had
personally insulted the Civil Governor and all Spain, to which He
answered in the same terms, holding the same language as above
stated.

All of which I communicate to you for the objects required.