George Borrow and His Circle Wherein May Be Found Many Hitherto Unpublished Letters Of Borrow And His Friends   By: Clement King Shorter (1857-1926)

From a painting by Henry Wyndham Phillips]

GEORGE BORROW

AND HIS CIRCLE

WHEREIN MAY BE FOUND MANY HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED LETTERS OF BORROW AND HIS FRIENDS

BY

CLEMENT KING SHORTER

BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 1913

TO

AUGUSTINE BIRRELL

A FRIEND OF LONG YEARS AND A TRUE

LOVER OF GEORGE BORROW

C. K. S.

Transcriber's Notes: Minor typos have been corrected. A letter with a macron over it has been designated with a [=], for example [=a] is an a with a macron over it. There is Persian and Russian writing in this book, which have been marked as [Persian] or as [Russian]. V^{m} signifies that the m is a superscript.

PREFACE

I have to express my indebtedness first of all to the executors of Henrietta MacOubrey, George Borrow's stepdaughter, who kindly placed Borrow's letters and manuscripts at my disposal. To the survivor of these executors, a lady who resides in an English provincial town, I would particularly wish to render fullest acknowledgment did she not desire to escape all publicity and forbid me to give her name in print. I am indebted to Sir William Robertson Nicoll without whose kindly and active intervention I should never have taken active steps to obtain the material to which this biography owes its principal value. I am under great obligations to Mr. Herbert Jenkins, the publisher, in that, although the author of a successful biography of Borrow, he has, with rare kindliness, brought me into communication with Mr. Wilfrid J. Bowring, the grandson of Sir John Bowring. To Mr. Wilfrid Bowring I am indebted in that he has handed to me the whole of Borrow's letters to his grandfather. I have to thank Mr. James Hooper of Norwich for the untiring zeal with which he has unearthed for me a valuable series of notes including certain interesting letters concerning Borrow. Mr. Hooper has generously placed his collection, with which he at one time contemplated writing a biography of Borrow, in my hands. I thank Dr. Aldis Wright for reading my chapter on Edward FitzGerald; also Mr. W.H. Peet, Mr. Aleck Abrahams, and Mr. Joseph Shaylor for assistance in the little known field of Sir Richard Phillips's life. I have further to thank my friends, Edward Clodd and Thomas J. Wise, for reading my proof sheets. To Theodore Watts Dunton, an untiring friend of thirty years, I have also to acknowledge abundant obligations.

C. K. S.

CONTENTS

PREFACE, v

INTRODUCTION, xv

CHAPTER I

CAPTAIN BORROW OF THE WEST NORFOLK MILITIA, 1

CHAPTER II

BORROW'S MOTHER, 12

CHAPTER III

JOHN THOMAS BORROW, 18

CHAPTER IV

A WANDERING CHILDHOOD, 36

CHAPTER V

GEORGE BORROW'S NORWICH THE GURNEYS, 54

CHAPTER VI

GEORGE BORROW'S NORWICH THE TAYLORS, 63

CHAPTER VII

GEORGE BORROW'S NORWICH THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL, 70

CHAPTER VIII

GEORGE BORROW'S NORWICH THE LAWYER'S OFFICE, 79

CHAPTER IX

SIR RICHARD PHILLIPS, 87

CHAPTER X

'FAUSTUS' AND 'ROMANTIC BALLADS,' 101

CHAPTER XI

'CELEBRATED TRIALS' AND JOHN THURTELL, 112

CHAPTER XII

BORROW AND THE FANCY, 126

CHAPTER XIII

EIGHT YEARS OF VAGABONDAGE, 133

CHAPTER XIV

SIR JOHN BOWRING, 138

CHAPTER XV

BORROW AND THE BIBLE SOCIETY, 153

CHAPTER XVI

ST. PETERSBURG AND JOHN P. HASFELD, 162

CHAPTER XVII

THE MANCHU BIBLE 'TARGUM' 'THE TALISMAN,' 169

CHAPTER XVII

THREE VISITS TO SPAIN, 179

CHAPTER XIX

BORROW'S SPANISH CIRCLE, 201

CHAPTER XX

MARY BORROW, 215

CHAPTER XXI

'THE CHILDREN OF THE OPEN AIR,' 226

CHAPTER XXII

'THE BIBLE IN SPAIN,' 237

CHAPTER XXIII

RICHARD FORD, 248

CHAPTER XXIV

IN EASTERN EUROPE, 260

CHAPTER XXV

'LAVENGRO,' 275

CHAPTER XXVI

A VISIT TO CORNISH KINSMEN, 289

CHAPTER XXVII

IN THE ISLE OF MAN, 296

CHAPTER XXVIII

OULTON BROAD AND YARMOUTH, 304

CHAPTER XXIX

IN SCOTLAND AND IRELAND, 320

CHAPTER XXX

'THE ROMANY RYE,' 341

CHAPTER XXXI

EDWARD FITZGERALD, 350

CHAPTER XXXII

'WILD WALES,' 364

CHAPTER XXXIII

LIFE IN LONDON, 379

CHAPTER XXXIV

FRIENDS OF LATER YEARS, 389

CHAPTER XXXV

BORROW'S UNPUBLISHED WRITINGS, 401

CHAPTER XXXVI

HENRIETTA CLARKE, 413

CHAPTER XXXVII

THE AFTERMATH, 434

INDEX, 438

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FULL PAGE PLATES

GEORGE BORROW, Frontispiece