Endnotes

  1. We are all relations, all alike; all who are with us are ourselves. ↩

  2. Chal is simply the contraction of chavál, a form cognate with chavoró the diminutive of chavó, a lad. Chavál is still common in Spain, both among the Gypsies and the lower orders of Spaniards. —⁠Knapp ↩

  3. East D⁠⸺⁠: East Dereham, a small town in Norfolk, 16 miles west of Norwich, and 102 northeast of London. Here Capt. Thomas Borrow, the father of George, was often stationed from 1792 to 1812. —⁠Knapp ↩

  4. East Anglia: This Anglo-Saxon kingdom comprised the present counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridge. —⁠Knapp ↩

  5. MS., “On the , at East D⁠⸺, a beautiful little town in the western division of Norfolk, I first saw the light.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  6. Tredinnock, read “Trethinnick;” Parish of St. Cleer, Cornwall. —⁠Knapp ↩

  7. “In Cornwall are the best gentlemen.” —⁠Corn. Prov. ↩

  8. MS., “after being insulted by him.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  9. So in MSS.; “manly,” an erratum. —⁠Knapp ↩

  10. Big Ben: Benjamin Brain or Bryan was born in . Some of his most severe “battles” were fought between and ⁠—one on the in the latter year, with Hooper at Newbury, Berks. A few days after this exploit, he picked a quarrel with Sergeant Borrow of the Coldstream Guards, which resulted in the Hyde Park encounter. Some four months later, i.e., , the decisive fight for the championship came off between Brain and Johnson. It was an appalling spectacle, and struck dumb with horror, even in that day, the witnesses to the dreadful conflict. Big Ben was the victor, and remained champion of England from that date until his death three years (not “four months”) later⁠—. “Lavengro,” carried away by the enthusiasm of early reminiscence, allowed himself to declare that his father read the Bible to Brain in his latter moments. But in Thomas Borrow was busy recruiting soldiers in Norfolk, one hundred miles from the scene of the dying pugilist. However, the error was probably one of date merely, and during the year Thomas doubtless read the Bible to him in London, since we learn from Pierce Egan that “Ben derived great consolation from hearing the Bible read, and generally solicited those of his acquaintance who called upon him to read a chapter to him.”409 —⁠Knapp ↩

  11. Captain: The West Norfolk Militia was raised in by the third Earl of Orford.He died in , when the regiment was reorganised (not “raised”) under the new Colonel, the Hon. Horatio Walpole, subsequently the sixth Earl of Orford. Thus in , Thomas was transferred from the Guards to be Sergeant-major in the W.N.M., and stationed at East Dereham. He married the following year, became Quartermaster (with the rank of Ensign) in , and Adjutant (Lieutenant) in . This his final promotion doubtless gave him the honorary rank of Captain, since in the Monthly Army List for we read: “Adjutant, Thomas Borrow, Capt.” But a letter before me dated , from his Major, is officially addressed to him as “Lieut. Borrow, Adjutant,” etc., etc. —⁠Knapp ↩

  12. MS., “Orford.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  13. Petrement: Our author knew very well that his mother’s maiden name was Ann Perfrement, pronounced and written Parfrement at the present day by those of the family we have met. The correct spelling is found on the tombstone of her sister, Sarah, at Dereham (), and on that of her brother, Samuel, at Salthouse near Holt (). —⁠Knapp ↩

  14. Castle of De Burgh: A fanciful Borrovian epithet applied to Norwich Castle. Nor did the exiles build the Church of St. Mary-the-Less, in Queen Street, Norwich; it was a distinct parish church long before Elizabeth’s reign, and in her time the parish was consolidated with the neighbouring one of St. George’s, Tombland, while the church became municipal property. But the French exiles of the Edict of 1685 did worship there, even as did the Dutch refugees from Alva’s persecution a century before (⁠–⁠). —⁠Knapp ↩

  15. Middle Age: Borrow’s father was thirty-four, and his mother twenty-one, at the date of their marriage. John was born seven years after the marriage, and George ten. The mother was, then, thirty-one at George’s birth. —⁠Knapp ↩

  16. Bishop Hopkins: Sermons. —⁠Knapp ↩

  17. Angola: More correctly “Angora.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  18. Foreign grave: Lieut. John Thomas Borrow died at Guanajuato, Mexico, . —⁠Knapp ↩

  19. “Snorro” Sturleson: Poet and historian of Iceland (⁠–⁠). Harald (not “Harold”) III, called “Haardraade.” Battle of Stamford Bridge,  AD, same year as Norman Conquest. See Mallet’s Northern Antiquities, pp. 168⁠–⁠71 and 194; Snorro’s Heimskringla, II, p. 164, and his Chronica, , p. 381, for the quotation. —⁠Knapp ↩

  20. Norwegian ells⁠—about eight feet. ↩

  21. Winchester: Rather “Winchelsea,” according to the Regimental Records. —⁠Knapp ↩

  22. A gallant frigate: A reminiscence of Norman Cross gossip in ⁠–⁠. “Ninety-eight French prisoners, the crew of a large French privateer of eighteen guns called the Contre-Amiral Magon, and commanded by the notorious Blackman, were captured , by Capt. Hancock of the Cruiser sloop, and brought into Yarmouth. They marched into Norwich, , and the next morning proceeded under guard on their way to Norman Cross barracks”⁠—Norwich Papers, . —⁠Knapp ↩

  23. Lady Bountiful: Dame Eleanor Fenn (⁠–⁠). —⁠Knapp ↩

  24. Bard: William Cowper (⁠–⁠). —⁠Knapp ↩

  25. Some Saint: Withburga, daughter of Anna, king of the East Angles, was the “saint” and the “daughter” at the same time. —⁠Knapp ↩

  26. Hunchbacked rhymer: Alexander Pope. —⁠Knapp ↩

  27. Properties of God, read “attributes.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  28. Rector: The Rev. F. J. H. Wollaston. —⁠Knapp ↩

  29. Philoh: James Philo (⁠–⁠). —⁠Knapp ↩

  30. Tolerism, read “toleration.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  31. MS., “in regimental slang.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  32. Mere: Whittlesea Mere, long since drained. —⁠Knapp ↩

  33. Bengui: See the glossary for all Gypsy words. —⁠Editor ↩

  34. MS., “Ambrose” throughout the book.410 —⁠Knapp ↩

  35. Three years: Included in the subsequent narrative, not excluded from it as his Norwich school days (⁠–⁠, ⁠–⁠) were. They extend from , to ⁠—from Norman Cross to Edinburgh. The chronology, according to the Regimental Records, was as follows: George was at East Dereham from to , at J. S. Buck’s (“Dr. B.’s”) school; , to , at Colchester; to , at Harwich; to , at Leicester; to , at Melton Mowbray; to , at Leicester again; to , at Tamworth; to , at Macclesfield; to , at Stockport; to , at Ashton; to , at Huddersfield; , to , at Sheffield; and , at Leeds; , at Wetherby; , Boroughbridge; , Allerton; , Darlington; , Durham (Wild Wales, pp. 258⁠–⁠59); and , Newcastle; , Morpeth; , Alnwick; and , at Berwick-upon-Tweed; , Edinburgh Castle. —⁠Knapp ↩

  36. William Lilly: A Shorte Introdvction of Grammar, generally to be vsed in the Kynges Maiesties dominions, for the bryngynge up of all those that inteade to atteyne the knowlege of the Latine tongue (). —⁠Knapp ↩

  37. Bank of a river: The Tweed. The scene here described occurred on a Sunday, , near Berwick, where they “arrived the preceding night” —⁠Knapp ↩

  38. Elvir Hill: See Borrow’s Romantic Ballads, Norwich, , pp. 111⁠–⁠14. This piece entitled “Elvir Hill,” one of the old Danish ballads of Vedel’s collection, , represents the dangers attending a youth who “rested” his “head upon Elvir Hill’s side” where he was so charmed in his sleep by a brace of seductive fairies, that:

    “If my good luck had not managed it so
    That the cock crew out then in the distance,
    I should have been murder’d by them on the Hill,
    Without power to offer resistance.

    “ ’Tis therefore I counsel each young Danish swain
    Who may ride in the forest so dreary,
    Ne’er to lay down upon lone Elvir Hill
    Though he chance to be ever so weary.”

    —⁠Knapp ↩

  39. Skaldaglam: The barditus of Tacitus, or the “din” made by the Norse “bards” (skalds) on shields and with shouts as they rushed into battle. It is not in Molbech, but Snorro frequently uses it in his Chronica, . —⁠Knapp ↩

  40. Kalevala: Title of the great Finnish epic, of which the hero is Woinomöinen. —⁠Knapp ↩

  41. Polak: Polander or Pole. —⁠Knapp ↩

  42. Magyar (pronounced “Mädjr”): Hungarian. —⁠Knapp ↩

  43. Batuscha: An erratum of the author for his “Batuschca” (161)⁠—better “Batyushca,” “father Tsar”⁠—but generally applied by Borrow to his friend the Pope. —⁠Knapp ↩

  44. Bui hin Digri: The Jomsburg Viking, 994 AD. See Borrow’s Romantic Ballads, p. 136, and Once a Week, IX, p. 686. The account is given in Snorro’s Chronica, , p. 136 (see Snorre Sturlesøns Norake Kongers Chronica. Vdaat paa Danske / aff H. Peder Claussøn. Kiöbenhavn, ), but a more accessible version of it is found in Mallet’s Northern Antiquities (Bohn’s edition), pp. 144⁠–⁠45. —⁠Knapp ↩

  45. Horunga Vog, read “Hjörúnga Vâgr” in Icelandic, or “Vaag” in Danish. In Romany Rye it is Englished as “Horinger Bay.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  46. Hickathrift: A Norfolk worthy of the eleventh century, whose prodigious exploits with the axle of his cart as an offensive weapon, and the wheel as a shield, are handed down in the chap-books of the last three centuries. —⁠Knapp ↩

  47. Elzigood: William E., of Heigham, Norwich, enlisted , became Drum-major in the regiment, ; called facetiously or maliciously “Else-than-gude” [a few pages later]. —⁠Knapp ↩

  48. O’Hanlon: Redmond O’Hanlon (died ), a proprietor of Ulster, dispossessed under the Cromwellian settlement, and afterwards leader of a band of outlaws. —⁠Knapp ↩

  49. See Life, Writings, and Correspondence of George Borrow, London, , I, pp. 39⁠–⁠43. —⁠Knapp ↩

  50. Disbanded: The W.N.M. regiment left Edinburgh in , and was disembodied at Norwich, . It was again called out, , and sent to Ireland. John Borrow was appointed Ensign, , and Lieutenant, of the same year. The regiment sailed from Harwich (“port in Essex”) , reaching Cork harbour (“the cove”) about . —⁠Knapp ↩

  51. Wight Wallace: The Life and Acts of Sir William Wallace, of Ellerslie. By Henry the Minstrel. (Published from a MS. of with Notes by Dr. Jamieson.) Edinburgh, . This rhymed “Storybook of Wight Wallace” is in twelve parts or books. —⁠Knapp ↩

  52. Shorsha: The Irish for “George,” properly written “Seors,” but the author usually wrote his Irish by sound. —⁠Knapp ↩

  53. Saggart, read “sagart:” (Lat. sacerdos), a priest. —⁠Knapp ↩

  54. Finn-ma-Coul: In Irish Fionn-mac-Cumhail, the father of Ossian. —⁠Knapp ↩

  55. Brian Boroo: In Irish, Brian Boroimhe, a king of Ireland (926⁠–⁠1014). —⁠Knapp ↩

  56. Saggarting: Studying with reference to the priesthood. —⁠Knapp ↩

  57. Mavourneen: Properly “mo mhuirnin,” my darling. —⁠Knapp ↩

  58. Hanam mon Dioul: Wrongly given for “M’anam o’n Diabhal” [God preserve] my soul from the devil! See Romany Rye, where it is quite correct⁠—from sound. —⁠Knapp ↩

  59. Christmas over: . Regiment quartered at Templemore. John, now a lieutenant (not “ensign”), is sent with a detachment to Loughmore, three miles away. Sergeant Bagg, promoted to that rank, , accompanies him. —⁠Knapp ↩

  60. Mountain: Called locally, “Devil’s Bit,” and not Devil’s Hill or Mountain, as in the text. —⁠Knapp ↩

  61. Fine old language:

    “A labhair Padric ’nninsè Fail na Riogh
    ’San faighe caomhsin Colum naomhtha ’n I.”

    [which] “Patrick spoke in Innisfail to heathen chiefs of old,
    And Columb, the mild prophet-saint, spoke in his island-hold.”

    So Borrow gives the Irish and his version in Romantic Ballads, p. VIII. The Erse lines were taken from Lhuyd’s Archaeologia Britannica, Oxford, 1707.

    —⁠Knapp ↩

  62. The Castle: Loughmore Castle. —⁠Knapp ↩

  63. Figure of a man: Jerry Grant, the Irish outlaw. See the Newgate Calendars subsequent to ⁠—Pelham. Griffith, etc. —⁠Knapp ↩

  64. “Sas” and “Sassanach,” of course mean Englishman or English (Saxon). —⁠Knapp ↩

  65. Clergyman of the parish: The Rev. Patrick Kennedy, vicar of Loughmore. His name is also on the list of subscribers to the Romantic Ballads, Norwich, , as J. Kennedy, by mistake. —⁠Knapp ↩

  66. Swanton Morley: A village near East Dereham. —⁠Knapp ↩

  67. MS., “like the philologist Scaliger, who, though acquainted with the exact value of every word in the Latin language, could see no beauty in the ‘Enchantments of Canidia,’ the masterpiece of the prince of Roman poets. What knew he,” etc. —⁠Knapp ↩

  68. Arrigod yuit (Irish), read “airgiod dhuit:” Have you any money? —⁠Knapp ↩

  69. Tabhair chugam (pronounced “tower khoogam”): Give (it) to me. —⁠Knapp ↩

  70. Is agam an’t leigeas (read “an t-leigheas”): I have the remedy. —⁠Knapp ↩

  71. Another word: deaghbhlasda: See Romany Rye, p. 266, and Notes and Queries, , p. 339, article by George Métivier. —⁠Knapp ↩

  72. Old city: Norwich. The regiment having returned to headquarters, , was mustered out . The author describes the city from the “ruined wall” of the old Priory on the hill to the east. —⁠Knapp ↩

  73. The Norman Bridge: is Bishop’s Bridge. —⁠Knapp ↩

  74. Sword of Cordova, in Guild Hall, is a mistake for the sword of the Spanish General Don Xavier Winthuysen. —⁠Knapp ↩

  75. Vone banished priest: Rev. Thomas d’Éterville. The MS. gives the following inedited account of D’Éterville. I omit the oft-recurring expletive sacré (accursed):⁠—

    Myself. Were you not yourself forced to flee from your country?

    D’Éterville. That’s very true.⁠ ⁠… I became one vagabond⁠—nothing better, I assure you, my dear; had you seen me, you would have said so. I arrive at Douvres; no welcome. I walk to Canterbury and knock at the door of one auberge. The landlord opens. “What do you here?” he says; “who are you?” “Vone exiled priest,” I reply. “Get you gone, sirrah!” he says; “we have beggars enough of our own,” and he slams the door in my face. Ma foi, il faisoit bien, for my toe was sticking through my shoe.

    Myself. But you are no longer a vagabond, and your toe does not stick through your shoe now.

    D’Éterville. No, thank God, the times are changed. I walked and walked, till I came here, where I became one philologue and taught tongues⁠—French and Italian. I found good friends here, those of my religion. “He very good man,” they say; “one banished priest; we must help him.” I am no longer a vagabond⁠—ride a good horse when I go to visit pupils in the country⁠—stop at auberge⁠—landlord comes to the door: “What do you please to want, sir?” “Only to bait my horse, that is all.” Eh bien, landlord very polite; he not call me vagabond; I carry pistols in my pocket.

    Myself. I know you do; I have often seen them. But why do you carry pistols?

    D’Éterville. I ride along the road from the distant village. I have been to visit my pupil whom I instruct in philology. My pupil has paid me my bill, and I carry in my purse the fruits of my philology. I come to one dark spot. Suddenly my bridle is seized, and one tall robber stands at my horse’s head with a very clumsy club in his hand. “Stand, rascal,” says he; “your life or your purse!” “Very good, sir,” I respond; “there you have it.” So I put my hand, not into my pocket, but into my holster; I draw out, not my purse, but my weapon, and⁠—bang! I shoot the English robber through the head.

    Myself. It is a bad thing to shed blood; I should be loth to shoot a robber to save a purse.

    D’Éterville. Que tu es bête! mon ami. Am I to be robbed of the fruits of my philology, made in foreign land, by one English robber? Shall I become once more one vagabond as of old? one exiled priest turned from people’s doors, my shoe broken, toe sticking through it, like that bad poet who put the Pope in hell? Bah, bah!

    By degrees D’Éterville acquired a considerable fortune for one in his station. Some people go so far as to say that it was principally made by an extensive contraband trade in which he was engaged. Be this as it may, some twenty years from the time of which I am speaking, he departed this life, and shortly before his death his fellow-religionists, who knew him to be wealthy, persuaded him to make a will, by which he bequeathed all his property to certain popish establishments in England. In his last hours, however, he repented, destroyed his first will, and made another, in which he left all he had to certain of his relations in his native country;⁠—“for,” said he, “they think me one fool, but I will show them that they are mistaken. I came to this land one banished priest, where I made one small fortune; and now I am dying, to whom should I leave the fruits of my philology but to my blood-relations? In God’s name, let me sign. Monsieur Boileau left the fruits of his verses to his niece; eh bien, I will bequeath the fruits of my philology to my niece and nephew. There, there! thanks be to God, it is done! They take me for a fool; I am no fool. Leave to the Pope the fruits of my philology! Bah, bah! I do no such thing. I do like Monsieur Boileau.”

    —⁠Knapp ↩

  76. Earl’s Home: Earlham Hall, the residence of Joseph John Gurney (⁠–⁠), the Norwich banker and famous Quaker. The “tall figure” mentioned on the next page was Mr. Gurney, then twenty-eight years of age. —⁠Knapp ↩

  77. Only read Greek: This is a mistake. Mr. Gurney was an early student of Italian. See Braithwaite’s Life, I. —⁠Knapp ↩

  78. Zohar: Very correct. Braithwaite, I. —⁠Knapp ↩

  79. Abarbenel, read Abarbanel or Abrabanel: A Spanish Jew driven from Spain in . —⁠Knapp ↩

  80. Castle Hill: Norwich. —⁠Knapp ↩

  81. Fair of horses: Tombland Fair, held on Maundy Thursday every year. —⁠Knapp ↩

  82. Heath: Mousehold Heath, near Norwich. —⁠Knapp ↩

  83. Gemiti, sospiri ed alti guai, (compare Dante, Inferno, III, 8: “Quivi sospiri, pianti, e alti guai.”): Groans, sighs, and deep lamentations. —⁠Knapp ↩

  84. MS. note: “Written in .” ↩

  85. Barddoniaeth Dafydd ab Gwilym. O grynhoad Owen Jones, a William Owen. [The Poetical Works of David ap Gwilym (son of William), edited by O. J. and W. O.] Llundain, .

    Translations into English Verse from the Poems of Davyth ap Gwilym, a Welsh Bard of the Fourteenth Century by Arthur J. Johnes. London, . —⁠Knapp ↩

  86. Cowydd: A species of Welsh poetry. —⁠Knapp ↩

  87. Bwa Bach: The “little hunchback.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  88. Narrow Court: Tuck’s Court, St. Giles, Norwich. —⁠Knapp ↩

  89. Old master: William Simpson of the law firm of Simpson & Rackham, Norwich. —⁠Knapp ↩

  90. Bon jour: read Bonjour⁠ ⁠… ! bien des chases de ma part à Monsieur Peyrecourt or Pierrecourt. “Expressions” in this sense (kind regards) is the Spanish expresiones, disguised as French. —⁠Knapp ↩

  91. MS., “à Monsieur Peyrecourt” or “Pierrecourt.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  92. Parkinson the poet: This character, who appears for the first time among the inedited episodes of Lavengro, was a real one, although his true name (Parkerson) is given somewhat veiled, as usual with Mr. Borrow. He seems to have been the poet-laureate of farmers, corn-merchants, drovers and publicans, selling his muse to the highest bidder, at first in printed sheets of eight pages, and subsequently gathered into pamphlets of thirty or more pages which he offered for one or two shillings each. They were printed by R. Walker, “near the Duke’s Palace, Norwich,” and sold by “Lane and Walker, St. Andrew’s.” They are without date, but cannot range far from . Here are some specimens of his style: “The Norwich Corn Mart. By J. Parkerson, Junior.”

    At one o’clock the busy scene begin,
    Quick to the hall they all are posting in;
    The cautious merchant takes his stand,
    The farmer shows the produce of his land,

    etc., for sixty-six lines. “On Mr. L⁠ ⁠… taking leave of his wife and children, who was sentenced to transportation for fourteen years” (!):⁠—

    Hannah, farewell, I’m bound to go,
    To taste the bitter draught of woe,

    134 lines. “A Description of the Pineapple at Trowse:”⁠—

    Both Beauty and Art have exerted their skill,
    You will find on a spot near the brow of a hill;
    The hill is near Norwich and call’d Bracondale,
    I stepped into Vince’s myself to regale,

    etc., four pages of that. —⁠Knapp ↩

  93. Mr. C.: Thomas William Coke, Esq., of Holkham, Earl of Leicester in , and died in . —⁠Knapp ↩

  94. MS., “Simpson.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  95. Freya: The Venus of the North was the sister of Frey, according to Mallet (p. 94), and the original sources. —⁠Knapp ↩

  96. The Wake of Freya: This incident must have occurred to Mrs. Borrow at her home, Dumpling Green, East Dereham, on a Friday night, , when she was twelve (not “ten”) years old. Her eldest sister, Elizabeth, would be in her seventeenth year. Friday was then, as now, market day at Dereham. The place was the Blyth farm about one and a half miles (not “three”) from “pretty D.” The superstition referred to in this episode is, or was, a very common one in Norfolk, and even other countries. See the Norfolk Chronicle for ; Glyde’s Norfolk Garland, pp. 13⁠–⁠14, and George Borrow in the Quarterly Review for , p. 62. —⁠Knapp ↩

  97. To London: Crome (John’s teacher) died at Norwich, ; but John could not leave until after the Regimental Training, which closed that year on ; hence his departure may be set down for the last of . —⁠Knapp ↩

  98. Rafael: Note inconsistent spelling with “Raphael” later in the book. —⁠Editor ↩

  99. Corregio, read “Correggio.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  100. Klopstock. ↩

  101. Murray and Latroon, the Scotch outlaw and the “English Rogue.” English Rogue: Life of Meriton Latroon, a Witty Extravagant. Being a Compleat History of the Most Eminent Cheats of Both Sexes. London, ⁠–⁠. —⁠Knapp ↩

  102. Draoitheac, magic, read “draoidheachd” —⁠Knapp ↩

  103. Muggletonians: Evidently a Borrovian slip here. See Notes and Queries for , p. 320. —⁠Knapp ↩

  104. Vedel: Anders Sörensen Vedel, first collector of the Kiaempeviser, or Heroic Ballads of the Danes, Copenhagen, . —⁠Knapp ↩

  105. Interview between William Taylor (21 King Street, Norwich) and George Borrow. —⁠Knapp ↩

  106. Orm Ungarswayne: “Orm the youthful Swain,” Romantic Ballads, p. 86. But see the Danish ballad “Birting” in Borrow’s Targum, St. Petersburgh, , pp. 59⁠–⁠61, commencing:⁠—

    “It was late at evening tide,
    Sinks the daystar in the wave,
    When alone Orm Ungarswayne
    Rode to seek his father’s grave.”

    —⁠Knapp ↩

  107. Swayne Vonved: See this piece in Romantic Ballads, pp. 61⁠–⁠81. —⁠Knapp ↩

  108. Mousha, read “Muça,” in Arabic or “Moshé” in Hebrew; both represent our “Moses.” But the Jew’s name was Levi, according to the MS. —⁠Knapp ↩

  109. The Fight: Between Painter and Oliver, near North Walsham, . This chapter XXIV relates the author’s call on Mr. Petre of Westwick House, which must have been after , when it was decided that the “battle” should take place within twenty miles of Norwich. —⁠Knapp ↩

  110. Parr: There were two Parrs, one, Thomas, called “English” or “Old” Parr (⁠–⁠) who lived 152 years, and Samuel, called the “Greek” Parr (⁠–⁠,) who had been Head Master of the Norwich Grammar School from to . This Dr. Samuel Parr was the one referred to by Mr. Petre. —⁠Knapp ↩

  111. Whiter: Rev. Walter Whiter, author of the Commentary on Shakespeare, London , and Etymologicum Magnum, Cambridge, . —⁠Knapp ↩

  112. Game Chicken: Henry Pierce, nicknamed Game Chicken, beat Gulley, (Egan’s Boxiana, I, p. 145). —⁠Knapp ↩

  113. Sporting Gentlemen: John Thurtell and Edward Painter (“Ned Flatnose”). —⁠Knapp ↩

  114. Harmanbeck: Slang for “constable”⁠—word taken from the English Rogue. —⁠Knapp ↩

  115. MS., “John Thurtell.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  116. Batuschca (read “Bátyooshca”) —⁠Knapp ↩

  117. Priberjensky, read “Préobrazhenski:” Crack regiment of the Russian Imperial Guard, so called from the barracks situated near the Church of the Transfiguration (Préobrazhenïe). —⁠Knapp ↩

  118. The Fight of 1820, chapter XXVI. We will here give a condensed portion of a chapter which we suppressed from the Life.

    On the , an eager crowd might have been seen pressing up to a card displayed in the Castle Tavern, Norwich. The card was signed “T. C.” and “T. Belcher;” but every one knew that the initials stood for the Champion of England, Thomas Cribb. The purport of the notice was that Edward Painter of Norwich was to fight Thomas Oliver of London for a purse of 100 guineas, on Monday, the , in a field within twenty miles of the city.

    A few days after this announcement, George Borrow was charged by his principals to convey a sum of money to a country gentleman by the name of John Berney Petre, Esq., J.P., residing at Westwick House, some thirteen and a half miles distant on the North Walsham road. The gentleman was just settling the transfer of his inheritance, his father having died eight months before. Borrow walked the entire distance, and while he tarried with the magistrate, the interview took place between him and Thurtell who desired to secure a field for the fight. Mr. Petre could not accommodate them, and they drove on to North Walsham. There they found the “pightle” which suited them in the vicinity of that town, on the road leading to Happisburgh (Hazebro).

    Norwich began to fill on Saturday, the , as the stagecoaches rolled in by the London (now Ipswich) and Newmarket roads. The Inn attached to the Bowling Green on Chapel-Field, then kept by the famous one-legged ex-coachman Dan Gurney, was the favourite resort of the “great men” of the day. Belcher, not old Belcher of , but the “Teucer” Belcher, and Cribb, the champion of England, slept at the Castle Tavern, which like Janus had two faces⁠—backed on the Meadows and fronted on White-Lion. The Norfolk in St. Giles and the Angel on the “Walk,” housed other varieties of the sporting world.

    At an early hour on Monday, the , the roads were alive with pedestrians, equestrians, Jews, Gentiles and Gypsies, in coaches, barouches and vehicles of every sort. From Norwich they streamed down Tombland into Magdalen street and road, out on the Coltishall highway, and thence⁠—sixteen and one half miles in all⁠—to North Walsham and the field. One ancient MacGowan (the Scotch for Petulengro) stood on Coltishall bridge and counted 2,050 carriages as they swept past. More than 25,000 men and thieves gathered in concentric circles about the stand.

    I do not propose to attempt the description of this celebrated pugna or “battle with the fists.” Those who crave such diversions will find this one portrayed fittingly in the newspapers of the time. The closing passage of one of them has always seemed to me to be a masterpiece of grim brutality: “Oliver’s nob was exchequered, and he fell by heavy right-handed blows on his ears and temple. When on his second’s knee, his head dangled about like a poppy after a shower.”

    A second fight, this time between Sampson, called the “Birmingham boy,” and Martin the “baker,” lost much of its interest by reason of the storm described in Lavengro. “During the contest,” says the Norfolk Chronicle, “a most tremendous black cloud informed the spectators that a rare sousing was in preparation for them.” And the Mercury states that “the heavy rain drenched the field, and most betook themselves to a retreat, but the rats were all drinkled.” Thus the “cloud” was no fiction, by which the Gypsy foretold the dreadful fate awaiting John Thurtell before Hertford gaol, . Ned Painter never fought again. He was landlord of the White Hart Inn from to . The present proprietor still shows his portrait there, with the above fact duly inscribed on the back of the frame.

    —⁠Knapp ↩

  119. Public: The Castle Tavern, Holborn, kept by Tom Belcher⁠—the “Daffy Club.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  120. “Here’s a health to old honest John Bull:” The verses were taken from a rare old volume entitled: The Norwich Minstrel, p. 30:⁠—

    Honest John Bull

    Here’s a health to “Old honest John Bull”;
    When he’s gone we shan’t find such another;
    With hearts and with glasses brim full,
    We’ll drink to “Britannia, his mother”;
    For she gave him a good education,
    Bade him keep to his God and his King,
    Be loyal and true to the nation,
    And then to get merry and sing.

    For John is a good-natured fellow,
    Industrious, honest and brave;
    Not afraid of his betters when mellow,
    For betters he knows he must have.
    There must be fine lords and fine ladies,
    There must be some little, some great;
    Their wealth the support of our trade is,
    Our trade the support of the State.

    Some were born for the court and the city,
    And some for the village and cot;
    For it would be a dolorous ditty,
    If we were born “equal in lot.”
    If our ships had no pilots to steer,
    What would come of poor Jack on the shrouds?
    Or our troops no commanders to fear,
    They would soon be arm’d robbers in crowds.

    The plough and the loom would stand still,
    If we were made gentlefolks all;
    If clodhoppers⁠—who then would fill
    The parliament, pulpit or hall?
    “Rights of Man” makes a very fine sound,
    “Equal riches” a plausible tale;
    Whose labourers would then till the ground?
    All would drink, but who’d brew the ale?

    Half naked and starv’d, in the streets
    We should wander about, sans culottes;
    Would Liberty find us in meats,
    Or Equality lengthen our coats?
    That knaves are for levelling, don’t wonder,
    We may easily guess at their views;
    Pray, who’d gain the most by the plunder?
    Why, they that have nothing to lose.

    Then away with this nonsense and stuff,
    Full of treason, confusion and blood;
    Every Briton has freedom enough
    To be happy as long as he’s good.
    To be rul’d by a glorious king,
    To be govern’d by jury and laws;
    Then let us be happy and sing,
    “This, this, is true Liberty’s cause.”

    —⁠Knapp ↩

  121. Haik, read “Haïk:” Armenian. —⁠Knapp ↩

  122. Conqueror of Tippoo Sahib: General Harris (). —⁠Knapp ↩

  123. March: The exact date was discovered by me in private letters in Norwich. See Life, I, p. 91. George left Norwich on the evening of , and consequently reached London early on the morning of . —⁠Knapp ↩

  124. Lodging: No. 16 Millman Street, Bedford Row. —⁠Knapp ↩

  125. The publisher: Sir Richard Phillips. —⁠Knapp ↩

  126. Mr. so-and-so: Taylor of Norwich. —⁠Knapp ↩

  127. MS., “Bartlett.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  128. The Magazine: The Monthly Magazine; or, British Register. —⁠Knapp ↩

  129. MS., “Saviour.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  130. MS., “High Tory principles.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  131. The Oxford Review: The Universal Review; or, Chronicle of the Literature of All Nations. No. 1, , to No. 6, . —⁠Knapp ↩

  132. Red Julius, called elsewhere by Borrow Iolo Goch: A Welsh bard of the fifteenth century. —⁠Knapp ↩

  133. Caesar’s Castle: The Tower of London. —⁠Knapp ↩

  134. Blessed Mary Flanders: Defoe’s “Moll Flanders:” The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, etc., Who Was Born in Newgate, and during a Life of continu’d Variety for Threescore Years, besides her Childhood, Was Twelve Year a W⁠⸺, five Times a Wife ⸻, Twelve Year a Thief, Eight Year a Transported Felon in Virginia, at Last Grew Rich, liv’d Honest, and Died a Penitent. Written from her Own Memorandums. London, . —⁠Knapp ↩

  135. Booksellers’ shop: The shop was a depository of the Religious Tract Society, the publishers of Legh Richmond’s Annals of the Poor, of which the first section was the Dairyman’s Daughter. —⁠Knapp ↩

  136. MS., “Arden” throughout. —⁠Knapp ↩

  137. Newly married: Richard, Jr., married . —⁠Knapp ↩

  138. “Newgate Lives:” The true title was: Celebrated Trials, and Remarkable Cases of Criminal Jurisprudence, from the Earliest Records to the Year 1825, London, (February). —⁠Knapp ↩

  139. Translator of “Faustus:” Faust, a Drama by Goethe, and Schiller’s Song of the Bell; translated by Lord Francis Leveson Gower, London, J. Murray, —⁠Knapp ↩

  140. Translator of Quintilian: I doubt whether this was John Carey, LL.D. (⁠–⁠), who published an edition of Quintilian, , but no translation. My information is positive that it was Wm. Gifford, translator of Juvenal, , 3rd ed. . —⁠Knapp ↩

  141. The MS. develops this paragraph as follows:⁠—

    So Francis Ardry called upon me, and right glad I was that he did so; and after we had sat conversing for some time, he said, “Did you ever see Kean?”

    “No,” said I, “but I have heard both of him and of Belcher. I should like to see either, especially the latter. Where are they to be found?”

    “I know nothing of the latter,” said Frank, “but if you wish to see Kean, you had better come with me where he will appear tonight after a long absence. The public are anxiously waiting for him, intending to pelt him off the stage.”

    “And what has he done,” said I, “to be pelted off the stage?”

    “What is very naughty,” said Frank; “breaking one of the commandments.”

    “And did he break the commandment on the stage?”

    “No,” said Frank, “I never heard that he broke it on the stage, except in the way of his profession.”

    “Then, what have the public to do with the matter?”

    “They think they have,” said Frank.

    And then we went out together to see Shakespeare’s Richard, or rather we went to see the man who was to personate Shakespeare’s Richard⁠—and so did thousands; we did not see him, however. There was a great tumult, I remember, in the theatre. The man who was to perform the part of Richard, and who it was said was the best hand for interpreting the character that had ever appeared on the stage, had a short time before been involved in a disgraceful affair, and this was to be his first appearance on the stage since the discovery. The consequence was that crowds flocked to the theatre with the firm intention of expressing their indignation. “We will pelt his eyes out,” said a man who sat beside me in the pit⁠—for we sat in the pit⁠—and who bore the breach of all the commandments in his face. The actor in question, however, who perhaps heard the threats which were vented against him, very prudently kept out of the way, and the manager coming forward informed the public that another would perform the part⁠—whereupon there was a great uproar. “We have been imposed upon,” said the individual who sat beside me. “I came here for nothing else than to pelt that scoundrel off the stage.” The uproar, however, at length subsided, and the piece commenced. In a little time there was loud applause. The actor who had appeared in place of the other was performing. “What do you clap for?” said I to the individual by my side, who was clapping most of all. “What do I clap for?” said the man. “Why, to encourage Macready, to be sure. Don’t you see how divinely he acts? why, he beats Kean hollow. Besides that, he’s a moral man, and I like morality.” “Do you mean to say,” said I, “that he was never immoral?” “I neither know nor care,” said the man; “all I know is that he has never been found out. It will never do to encourage a public man who has been found out. No, no! the morality of the stage must be seen after.”

    —⁠Knapp ↩

  142. MS. “Charlie” and “Charlie’s” throughout. —⁠Knapp ↩

  143. Oxford: This constant satirising of the great English university in connection with the publisher’s theory, doubtless grew out of a series of articles printed in the Magazine during the years ’23 and ’24, and which may be summarised by this notice in volume LVI, p. 349: “In a few days will appear a series of Dialogues between an Oxford Tutor and a Disciple of the new Commonsense Philosophy; in which the mechanical principles of matter and motion will be accurately contrasted with the theories of occult powers which are at present cherished by the Universities and Royal Associations throughout Europe.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  144. Churchyard: St. Giles churchyard where Capt. Borrow was buried on the 4th of March previous. —⁠Knapp ↩

  145. A New Mayor: Inexact. Robert Hawkes was mayor of Norwich in . Therefore he was now ex-mayor. —⁠Knapp ↩

  146. Man with a Hump: Thomas Osborn Springfield, was not a watchmaker so far as is known in Norwich, but “carried on the wholesale silk business, having almost a monopoly of the market” (Bayne’s Norwich, p. 588). —⁠Knapp ↩

  147. Painter of the heroic: Benjamin Robert Haydon (⁠–⁠). —⁠Knapp ↩

  148. The MS. adds: “ ‘It will, perhaps, be as well, first of all, to go to the exhibition of British art, which is at present open. I hear he has a picture there, which he has just finished. We will look at it, and from that you may form a tolerable estimate of his powers.’ Thereupon my brother led the way, and we presently found ourselves in the Gallery of British Art.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  149. Norman Arch: The grand entrance and exit to the Norwich Cathedral, west side. —⁠Knapp ↩

  150. Snap: The Snapdragon of Norwich is the Tarasque of the south of France, and the Tarasca of Corpus day in Spain. It represents a Dragon or monster with hideous jaws, supported by men concealed, all but their legs, within its capacious belly, and carried about in civic processions prior to the year ; even now it is seen on Guy Fawkes’ day, the 5th of November. —⁠Knapp ↩

  151. Whiffler: An official character of the old Norwich Corporation, strangely uniformed and accoutred, who headed the annual procession on Guildhall day, flourishing a sword in a marvellous manner. All this was abolished on the passage of the Municipal Reform Act in . As a consequence, says a contemporaneous writer, “the Aldermen left off wearing their scarlet gowns, Snap was laid up on a shelf in the ‘Sword Room’ in the Guildhall, and the Whifflers no longer danced at the head of the procession in their picturesque costume. It was a pretty sight, and their skill in flourishing their short swords was marvellous to behold.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  152. Billy Blind and Owlenglass: Till Eulenspiegel: The German Rogue; or, the Life and Merry Adventures, Cheats, Stratagems, and Contrivances of Tiel Eulespiegle. Made English from the High-Dutch. London, . —⁠Knapp ↩

  153. Brandt and Struensee: For High-Treason in Denmark, . See Celebrated Trials, IV, p. 465; and for Richard Patch (“yeoman Patch”), 1805, volume V, p. 584. —⁠Knapp ↩

  154. Lord Byron: The remains of the poet lay in state from Friday , in Sir Edward Knatchbull’s house, Great George Street, to Monday the when they were conveyed to Hucknall-Torkard in Nottinghamshire. On that day () Borrow witnessed the procession as described in the text. —⁠Knapp ↩

  155. “Arden” throughout the MS. —⁠Knapp ↩

  156. The text is: “Malheur, as the French say, that it is so choked.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  157. Carolan’s Receipt: Torlough (i.e., Charles) O’Carolan, the celebrated Irish harper and bard, was born at Nobber, Co. Meath, in , and died in . See Alfred Webb’s Compendium of Irish Biography, Dublin, , p. 372; J. C. Walker’s Irish Bards, , App., pp. 86⁠–⁠87, and Dictionary of National Biography, XLI, p. 343. The “Receipt” in Irish is in Walker, and at the end of Vallancey’s Irish Grammar, second ed., Dublin, .411 Here is the translation given in Walker:⁠—

    “When by sickness or sorrow assail’d,
    To the mansion of Stafford I hie’d
    His advice or his cordial ne’er fail’d
    To relieve me⁠—nor e’er was denied.

    “At midnight our glasses went round,
    In the morning a cup he would send;
    By the force of his wit he has found
    That my life did on drinking depend.

    “With the spirit of Whiskey inspir’d,
    By my Harp e’en the pow’r is confess’d;
    ’Tis then that my genius is fir’d,
    ’Tis then I sing sweetest and best.

    “Ye friends and ye neighbours draw near,
    Attend to the close of my song;
    Remember, if life you hold dear,
    That drinking your life will prolong.”

    Curiously enough among the subscribers to the Romantic Ballads, Norwich, , we find these names: (p. 185) “F. Arden, Esq., London, five copies,” “T. G. O’Donnahoo, Esq., London, five copies;” (p. 187) “Mr. J. Turner, London.”

    —⁠Knapp ↩

  158. “Bishop Sharpe,” a pugilist of that name and time. —⁠Knapp ↩

  159. “Three are after my death.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  160. The Review: The Review actually ceased , with its sixth number. —⁠Knapp ↩

  161. MS. (apparently) “L⁠⸺,” but [later, T⁠⸺]. —⁠Knapp ↩

  162. MS., “is quite as rational an amusement as politics.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  163. “Le Noir” in MS. A, and in Romany Rye, appendix. —⁠Knapp ↩

  164. MS., “L⁠⸺,” or “T.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  165. MS., “Canning.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  166. MS., “L⁠⸺,” or “T⁠⸺.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  167. Laham: In Hebrew bread is lèhem; but our author probably wrote it by sound. Z’hats is the accusative of hats, the Armenian for bread; for as Borrow’s source, old Villotte (), says: “Accusativus praefigit nominativo literam z.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  168. Mesroub, read “Miesrob,” who, about 450 AD introduced the Armenian alphabet. —⁠Knapp ↩

  169. Sea in Armenian is dzow. —⁠Knapp ↩

  170. Adelánte (Spanish): Come in. —⁠Knapp ↩

  171. Bueno (Spanish): Good. This sound of the word bueno, heard in from the Jew Manasseh, was brought to Borrow’s memory in when he met the Jew Abarbanel on the roads in Spain. —⁠Knapp ↩

  172. Una vez, etc. (Spanish): On one occasion when he was intoxicated. —⁠Knapp ↩

  173. Goyim (Hebrew): Nations, Gentiles. —⁠Knapp ↩

  174. Lasan akhades, read “Lâshôn haqqôdesh:” Sacred language, i.e., Hebrew. —⁠Knapp ↩

  175. Janin: Wine in Hebrew is “yâyim” (not “yânin”), but our author quoted correctly from the Dialoghi di Amore composti per Leone Medico, Vinegia, , and the Spanish edition (which I use): Los Dialogos de Amor de mestre Leon Abarbanel medico y Filosofo excelente, Venetia, . The passage is: “And he (Noah), after the flood, was called Janus on account of his invention of wine, for Janin in Hebrew signifies wine, and he is represented with two faces turned in opposite directions, because he saw before the flood and after it.”412 George Borrow always writes Abarbenel for Abarbanel. His true name was Leo Abrabanel. —⁠Knapp ↩

  176. Janinoso (Judaeo-Spanish) meaning vinosus, intoxicated. —⁠Knapp ↩

  177. Epicouraiyim: Christians, as below, the “Epicureans,” for so the rabbis of the East call us in the West⁠—properly, “unbelievers.” But Borrow’s form is not found in Buxtorf ()⁠—read [unknown Hebrew text] Epikûrôsîn and (pop.) Epikûrîn. —⁠Knapp ↩

  178. Sephardim: Spanish and Portuguese Jews, as the Ashkenazim are the German Jews. —⁠Knapp ↩

  179. I am at ⸻: Greenwich, Blackheath and Shooter’s Hill. —⁠Knapp ↩

  180. Colonel B.⁠ ⁠… : Colonel Blood. See Celebrated Trials, volume II, pp. 248⁠–⁠354: “Thomas Blood, generally called Colonel Blood, who stole the crown from the Tower of London, .” —⁠Knapp ↩

  181. Got fare to ⸻, read Amesbury, Wiltshire. —⁠Knapp ↩

  182. City of the Spire: Salisbury. —⁠Knapp ↩

  183. From ⸻, read Bristol. —⁠Knapp ↩

  184. Stranger: Could not be William Beckford (⁠–⁠) of Fonthill Park, three miles from Hinton, a dozen or fifteen miles from Salisbury. Besides the place was sold in and George Mortimer occupied it in . Borrow had been walking five days in a N.W. direction from Salisbury, and all his narrative harmonises with the places and dates that bring him to Horncastle in . —⁠Knapp ↩

  185. MS., “The Times.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  186. Abedariums, read “abecedariums.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  187. Flaming Tinman: He is also called by Borrow, Blazing Tinman, Flying Tinker, Blazing Bosville or Boswell, and finally Anselo Herne, his true clan-name. —⁠Knapp ↩

  188. Ten years ago, i.e., thirteen, when he was at Tamworth in or . —⁠Knapp ↩

  189. The Romany chi, etc. [the translation appears later in the book]:

    The Rommany churl
    And the Rommany girl,
    Tomorrow shall hie
    To poison the sty,
    And bewitch on the mead
    The farmer’s steed.

    —⁠Knapp ↩

  190. Answer to the gillie: The Rommany churl and the Rommany girl love thieving and spaeing and lying and everything but honesty and truth. —⁠Knapp ↩

  191. Peth yw, etc. (Welsh): What is that lying there on the ground? Yn wirionedd, in truth, surely. —⁠Knapp ↩

  192. Gwenwyn: Poison! Poison! the lad has been poisoned! —⁠Knapp ↩

  193. Hanged the mayor: The suppressed name of the Welshman and the whole account of the affair is given in Wild Wales, p. 7 (chapter III). —⁠Knapp ↩

  194. Bardd Cwsg: The Sleeping Bard, by Ellis Wynn: The Sleeping Bard; or Visions of the World, Death, and Hell. By Elis Wyn. Translated from the Cambrian British by George Borrow. London, . —⁠Knapp ↩

  195. Merddin Wyllt (“Myrddin”): i.e., Wild Merlin, called the Wizard. —⁠Knapp ↩

  196. Found written: See Moll Flanders by Defoe, p. 188, ed. : “Oh! what a felicity is it to mankind,” said I, “that they cannot see into the hearts of one another!” I have carefully reread the whole volume of Moll Flanders, and find no such passages as those referred to here, save the one above. Hence, we may justly infer that Borrow quoted the spirit, rather than the words, of his author. —⁠Knapp ↩

  197. Catraeth, read “Cattraeth.” The reference is to Aneurin’s book, the Y Gododin. A poem on the Battle of Cattraeth, by Aneurin, a Welsh Bard of the Sixth Century. With an English translation by J. Williams ab Ithel. Llandovery, 1852. —⁠Knapp ↩

  198. Fish or flesh: See Borrow’s Targum, St. Petersburg, , p. 76, under the “History of Taliesin,” ending:⁠—

    “I saw the end with horror
    Of Sodom and Gomorrah!
    And with this very eye
    Have seen the [Trinity];
    I till the judgment day
    Upon the earth shall stray:
    None knows for certainty
    Whether fish or flesh I be.”

    The original Welsh of the “Hanes Taliesin” is in the Gorchestion Beirdd Cymru, . —⁠Knapp ↩

  199. Take this: This Bible, with Peter Williams’ name in it, was sold in London in out of George Borrow’s collection. —⁠Knapp ↩

  200. Mumpers’ Dingle: Near Willenhall, Staffordshire. The place is properly Momber or Monmer Lane, and is now occupied by the “Monmer Lane Ironworks,” hence totally obliterated. —⁠Knapp ↩

  201. Volundr (Völundr): The Wayland Smith of Northern legends. Wayland Smith.⁠—A Dissertation on a Tradition of the Middle Ages. From the French of G. B. Depping and Francisque Michel. London, . —⁠Knapp ↩

  202. Ingeborg: The lines are from the Romantic Ballads of , p. 58, entitled the “Heroes of Dovrefeld. From the old Danish.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  203. “As I was jawing:” Text and translation of the whole eight lines are found on pp. 182⁠–⁠83 of the Lavo-Lil, :⁠—

    As I to the town was going one day
    My Roman lass I met by the way.

    The MS. is somewhat different⁠—“Rommany” instead of “Roman,” and the last line, “If you will share my lot with me.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  204. The man in black: This priest seems to have been a Fraser of Lovat. See The Life, Adventures, and many and great Vicissitudes of Fortune of Simon, Lord Lovat, the Head of the Family of Frasers. From his birth at Beaufort, near Inverness, in the Highlands of Scotland, in , to the time of his being taken by Capt. Millar, after three days search, in a hollow tree, on the coasts of Knoidart and Arisaig. By the Rev. Archibald Arbuthnot, London, . —⁠Knapp ↩

  205. Armenian: It must be remembered that Borrow’s Armenian was limited to the Introduction, Grammar and Latin-Armenian Dictionary of the Jesuit Joseph Villotte, , which he picked up at Norwich in ⁠–⁠. Hence all his examples are taken from that book⁠—mi, one; yergou, two; yerek, three, and those in Romany Rye. —⁠Knapp ↩

  206. Buona sera (Italian): Good evening. —⁠Knapp ↩

  207. Per far visita, etc.: To pay your lordship a call, that is my motive. —⁠Knapp ↩

  208. MS. “Lord A[berdeen].” —⁠Knapp ↩

  209. Che io non, etc., read ch’ in, etc.: That I do not believe at all. —⁠Knapp ↩

  210. Addio: Farewell. —⁠Knapp ↩

  211. Pulci: See Morgante Maggiore di Luigi Pulci Firentino, etc. Venetia, . This version is rather free and local. Here is the original (canto XVIII, f. 97, ed. 1546):⁠—

    Rispose allhor Margutte: “A dirtel tosto,
    Io non credo piu al nero ch’ a l’azzurro,
    Ma nel cappone, o lesso, o, vuogli, arrosto,
    E credo alcuna volta anco nel burro,
    Nella cervogia, e, quando io n’ho, nel mosto,
    E molto pui nell’ aspro che il mangurro,
    Ma sopra tutto nel buon vino ho fede,
    E credo che sia salvo chi gli crede.”

    —⁠Knapp ↩

  212. O Cavaliere, etc.: Oh, Sir Walter, ye have wrought much in behalf of the Holy See! —⁠Knapp ↩

  213. Poveri frati: Poor friars! —⁠Knapp ↩

  214. One fellow I met: See the postillion’s story [later]. —⁠Knapp ↩

  215. Master in Armenian is d’yèr; of a master, d’yearn; plural, d’yeark. —⁠Knapp ↩

  216. Koul Adonai, read “Kôl Adonai.” The next quotation is from part of verse 4 of the XXIX Psalm, which he gives according to the prayerbook version. —⁠Knapp ↩

  217. The one sole emendation consists in substituting the masculine cheval for the feminine jument, [in chapter XVIII]. Le jument est beau was a solecism that could not longer be tolerated. —⁠Knapp ↩

  218. MS., “ ’49.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  219. MS., “execrated by every unmanly scoundrel, every sycophantic lackey, and every political and religious renegade in Britain.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  220. The man in black: This priest seems to have been a Fraser of Lovat. See The Life, Adventures, and many and great Vicissitudes of Fortune of Simon, Lord Lovat, the Head of the Family of Frasers. From his birth at Beaufort, near Inverness, in the Highlands of Scotland, in , to the time of his being taken by Capt. Millar, after three days search, in a hollow tree, on the coasts of Knoidart and Arisaig. By the Rev. Archibald Arbuthnot, London, . —⁠Knapp ↩

  221. Barbarini, read “Barberini:” Urban VIII, Pope ⁠–⁠. —⁠Knapp ↩

  222. Nipotismo di Roma: Il Nipotismo di Roma: or, the History of the Popes Nephews. From the time of Sixtus IV anno , to the death of the late Pope, Alexander VII anno . In Two Parts. By Gregorio Leti. Written originally in Italian, and Englished by W. A., Fellow of the Royal Society. London, .

    This was the edition used by Mr. Borrow, and purchased by me. —⁠Knapp ↩

  223. Ganganelli: Clement XIV, Pope, ⁠–⁠. —⁠Knapp ↩

  224. Mezzofanti: So here and elsewhere in Romany Rye; Mezzofante in Lavengro⁠—Cardinal Giuseppe, ⁠–⁠, the celebrated linguist. —⁠Knapp ↩

  225. Leon the Isaurian: Reigned at Constantinople from 717⁠–⁠741. —⁠Knapp ↩

  226. Ignacio: Spanish form of Ignatius. —⁠Knapp ↩

  227. Omani batsikhom: Manchu Tartar form of prayer given elsewhere by Borrow as Oum-ma-ni-bat-mi-houm. See Life, I, p. 176. —⁠Knapp ↩

  228. Bellissima Biondina (Italian): Fairest of blondes. —⁠Knapp ↩

  229. Sono un Prete, etc. (Italian): I am a Roman Catholic Priest. —⁠Knapp ↩

  230. Zamarra (Spanish): A sheepskin jacket with the wool outside. —⁠Knapp ↩

  231. Scotch blood: He was, then, a Fraser of Lovat, of whom Simon Lord F. was a supporter of the last Pretender, Charles Edward Stuart, 1746. —⁠Knapp ↩

  232. Puta (Spanish): The most offensive word for harlot. —⁠Knapp ↩

  233. Alcoran des Cordeliers, i.e., “the Franciscans’ Coran:” A blasphemous work written in 1399 in Latin by Bartolommeo Albizzi (Albitius); first published in printed form at Milan in 1510, then by Luther in 1542 with his peculiar comments, and finally in French at Geneva, 1556. —⁠Knapp ↩

  234. Bible: The price of the old apple-woman’s Bible was, it will be remembered, one half-crown (Lavengro). —⁠Knapp ↩

  235. Alexander VI.: Pope ⁠–⁠. He was a Spaniard of Valencia, and his family name was Rodrigo Borja, in Italian, Borgia. —⁠Knapp ↩

  236. L’opere sue, etc.: His deeds were not those of lions, but of foxes⁠—a slight alteration of Dante’s “L’opere mie,” etc. See L’inferno, XXVII, stanza 25. —⁠Knapp ↩

  237. Oimè (Italian): Alas! —⁠Knapp ↩

  238. To ⸻, read “Rome.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  239. There is at ⸻, read “Rome.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  240. Yes, per Dio (Italian): By Heaven! —⁠Knapp ↩

  241. Parsons and Garnet: Two English Jesuits⁠—Robert Parsons (⁠–⁠), superior to the Catholic Missions in England, and Henry Garnet (⁠–⁠), hanged because he refused to reveal the secrets of the confessional in connection with the Gunpowder Plot. —⁠Knapp ↩

  242. No hay remedio (Spanish): There is no help for it. —⁠Knapp ↩

  243. Inserted it: In volume IV, p. 330. —⁠Knapp ↩

  244. Calañés: A Spanish hat worn by the lower classes, having the rim turned up against the crown. —⁠Knapp ↩

  245. There’s a chovahanee, etc.: The full ditty runs thus in one of Borrow’s MSS.:⁠—

    The Petulengres

    “There’s a chovahanee and a chovahanó,
    The nav se lendè Petulengro;
    Sore the chavès ’dré their ten
    Are chories and labbenies⁠—tatchipen,”

    which reading corrects that of the text. —⁠Knapp ↩

  246. Flaming Bosville: Anselo Herne. He is also called by Borrow, Flaming Tinman, Blazing Tinman, Flying Tinker, Blazing Bosville or Boswell. —⁠Knapp ↩

  247. Gentleman Cooper and White-headed Bob: i.e., George Cooper and Ned Baldwin, who fought on the 5th of July, 1825, according to Pearce Egan’s Boxiana, V, pp. 61 and 80. Observe that the date harmonises perfectly with the chronology of the expedition. —⁠Knapp ↩

  248. Brynhilda the Valkyrie, or Amazon, was the wife of Gunnar and friend of Sigurd. Sigurd, called Fafnisbane or the Slayer of Fafnir, was a heroic character frequently mentioned in the Edda, the Wilkina Saga, Snorro’s Heimskringla, and Saxo-Grammaticus. In the Wilkina he is Sigurdr Sveinn, in the old Danish Heroic Ballads (Kiaempeviser) he is Sigurd Snaresvend (Borrow’s “Snareswayne”), and Siegfrid in the Lay of the Nibelungs. Sivard or Sivord is a German variety of the same name. —⁠Knapp ↩

  249. Feasting: This rustic banquet was offered to Sylvester and Ursula who were married that day, although our “rye” was not aware of the fact till later. —⁠Knapp ↩

  250. Piramus: In MS. also “Priamus.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  251. Gipsy song: The song was built up by our author from a very slender prose draft, which I find in its earliest form given thus:⁠—

    “1. Drabbing the Baulo

    “We jaws to the drab-engro and lels dui or trin hors-worth of drab, and when we wels to the sweti we pens we can have a drab at a baulo. Then we kairs it opré, and jaws to a farm-ker to mang a bit of habben, and then we pens: ‘Chuva lis acai and dov-odoy baulo will lel it, and tomorrow sorlu we’ll wel apopli and mang it.’ And so we kairs, and on the sorlu when we’ve got it, we toves it well; we kins levinor at the kitchema, and have a kosko habben. The boshom-engro plays (kils), and the tawni juva gils, a kosko puro Rommany guillie.”

    Then follows the gillie nearly as in the text.

    “2. Drabbing the Baulo

    “To mande shoon ye Rommany Chals
    Who besh in the pus about the yag
    I’ll pen how we drab the baulo.

    “We jaws to the drab-engro ker
    Trin hors-worth there of drab we lels
    And when to the swety back we wels
    We pens we’ll drab the baulo.

    “And then we kairs the drab opré,
    And then we jaws to the farming ker
    To mang a beti habben,
    A beti poggado habben.

    “A rinkeno baulo there we dick,
    And then we pens in Rommany jib:
    ‘Chiv lis odoy oprey the chick,
    The baulo he will lel lis,
    The baulo he will lel lis.

    “ ‘Apopli on the sorlo we
    Will wel and mang him mullo,
    Will wel and mang his truppo.’

    “And so we kairs, and so we kairs,
    We mang him on the sorlo,
    And rig to the tan the baulo.

    “And then we toves his wendror well
    Till sore the wendror iuziou sie,
    Till kekkeno drab’s adrey lis,
    Till drab there’s kek adrey lis.

    “And then his truppo well we hatch,
    Kin levinor at the kitchema,
    And have a kosko habben,
    A kosko Rommano habben.

    “The boshom-engro kils, he kils,
    The tawni juva gils, she gils,
    A puro Rommany gillie,
    Now shoon the Rommany gillie.”

    3. The third and last MS. is complete, but varies considerably from the printed text. “Romany” is written with two m’s, as in Lavengro throughout; in the fourth verse it reads: “In Rommany chib: chiv lis odoy opré the chik;” fourth line omits “and;” in the fifth and sixth verses it gives “sorlo” properly, instead of “saulo;” in seventh verse it reads “his wendror,” and in the last, “boshom-engro” and “tawni.”

    From all these variants it results that MS. No. 3 furnishes a better reading than the printed text. —⁠Knapp ↩

  252. The apothecary. ↩

  253. Ursula’s Song: By the aid of the Gypsy list [the Glossary] at the end of this volume, the translation can be easily made out by the curious reader. —⁠Knapp ↩

  254. MS., see Life, I, 34, n. —⁠Knapp ↩

  255. Sanpriel: Corrupt form of “Sanspareil,” unrivalled. —⁠Knapp ↩

  256. Synfye: Slavonic form of “Cynthia”⁠—th in Russian is pronounced ph or f; Thomas, Fómas. —⁠Knapp ↩

  257. Life, I, 34, n. —⁠Knapp ↩

  258. Life of Charles: Add “XII” —⁠Knapp ↩

  259. The church: Mentioned as three miles from the dingle, has not yet been discovered. —⁠Knapp ↩

  260. The Edda: Early Icelandic literary monuments, consisting of the Elder or Poetic Edda collected by Saemund, and the later or Prose Edda collected by Snorro Sturleson. See Mallet’s Northern Antiquities, Bohn’s Edition. —⁠Knapp ↩

  261. Sagas: Early historical tales handed down by oral tradition. —⁠Knapp ↩

  262. Anselo Herne: His clan-name. —⁠Knapp ↩

  263. Pulci: Luigi Pulci (⁠–⁠). See Morgante Maggiore di Luigi Pulci Firentino, etc. Venetia, . —⁠Knapp ↩

  264. Ingravidata (Italian): With child. —⁠Knapp ↩

  265. E nacquene, etc.: “And of her a son was born, says story, who subsequently gave great victory to Charlemagne.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  266. Fortiguerra: Niccolò Fortiguerra (⁠–⁠). He did not live to print his voluminous poem entitled Ricciardetto, having died in , just “ninety years” from the date , as our text declares. —⁠Knapp ↩

  267. Slammocks, etc.: Norwich worthies, I suppose; at least I do not find them in the Boxiana at my command. —⁠Knapp ↩

  268. The Armenian in this chapter I find correct. “Hramahyel” should have been given hramaïyel, “hntal,” etc., khntal (χντάλ), and “madagh,” madag.

    See The Latin-Armenian Dictionary, with a Grammar Prefixed. By Jacobus Villotte, from which Borrow drew the Haïkian words and forms displayed in Lavengro and Romany Rye. —⁠Knapp ↩

  269. Hard-mouthed jade: This favourite expression of Mr. Borrow’s proceeds, I opine, from his readings in the quaint eighteenth century literature with which his library abounded. In Defoe’s Moll Flanders, p. 301, edition of , we read: “The witnesses were the two wenches, a couple of hard mouth’d jades indeed.” And on p. 323: “A hard mouth’d man.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  270. The “daffodil” poet: William Wordsworth (⁠–⁠). —⁠Knapp ↩

  271. Carlo Borromeo: The Cardinal saint, born , died . —⁠Knapp ↩

  272. Bricconi abbasso (It.): “Down with the rogues!” —⁠Knapp ↩

  273. Friar Bacon: The celebrated scientist Roger Bacon (⁠–⁠) was fated, like Virgil, to be popularly metamorphosed into a magician and conjuror. Hence the “Friar Bacon” series of chap-books, extending (so far as we know them) from the sixteenth century to the present. I will give the passage referred to by Mr. Borrow, so that it may be seen that the myth had no reference to the railway. No. 3 in The History of Frier Bacon. London, , leaf 8:⁠—

    “Chapter V: How Miles watched the Brazen-head, and in the end went away from his master.

    “Fryer Bacon, having performed many wonderful things by his curious Art, was now sifting out how he might wall England with brass; wherefore he and Fryer Bungy, when they had raised the devil, bound him to a tree, for to make him tell them how it might be performed. He told them that they should make a Brazen-head, which (if they could watch it till it spoke) would tell them how it might be done. The head was made, and they watched till they could watch no longer. At last Fryer Bungey persuaded Fryer Bacon to let his man Miles watch while they slept; to which the Fryer agreed. Then Miles was called, who undertook to awake them when the Head would speak. So to sleep they went, and Miles expected some great speech to come from the Head. At last the Head cryed, ‘Time Is’; at which Miles fell into a great laughter, and made his scoffs and jears thereat. Then it said, ‘Time Was’; but yet he would not awake his master, counting them but silly and frivolous words. Lastly, the Head said, ‘Time Is Past’; at which words down it fell, and in falling made such a noise that it awakened the two Fryers, and had almost affrighted poor Miles out of his senses,” etc.

    —⁠Knapp ↩

  274. L⁠⸺⁠, read Liverpool. —⁠Knapp ↩

  275. C⁠⸺⁠, read Chester. —⁠Knapp ↩

  276. Brooke of Borneo: Sir James Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak (⁠–⁠), George Borrow’s schoolmate at Norwich in ⁠–⁠. —⁠Knapp ↩

  277. “Vails:” He means, of course, “vale.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  278. Romanvile: London. See The English Rogue, the Life of Meriton Latroon, a Witty Extravagant. Being a Compleat History of the Most Eminent Cheats of Both Sexes. London, ⁠–⁠. —⁠Knapp ↩

  279. The chi she is kaulo (read “kauley”), etc.: “The lass she is black, she sleeps upon her back.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  280. Sivord: Or Sivard, the same as Sigurd, called the Snaresvend (“Snareswayne” on the next page). See Romantic Ballads, , pp. 83 and 90. For the reason of Borrow’s changing the Danish svend into “swayne,” see Life, II, p. 269. —⁠Knapp ↩

  281. The horse Grayman: i.e., the “Skimming gray” of p. 96, Romantic Ballads —⁠Knapp ↩

  282. The Maugrabin sorcerer: The “African Magician” in Lane’s translation. There is in this passage of The Romany Rye evidently a confusion of two of the tales in the Arabian Nights⁠—those of Aladdin and Sindbad, fifth voyage. —⁠Knapp ↩

  283. Isten (pronounced “ishten”): Hungarian for God. —⁠Knapp ↩

  284. Magyar (pronounced “mädjr”): A Hungarian. —⁠Knapp ↩

  285. L’Eau de la Reine d’Hongrie, read “de Hongrie,” h being aspirate in this word. —⁠Knapp ↩

  286. Tékéli (⁠–⁠). —⁠Knapp ↩

  287. Pigault Lebrun (Charles), ⁠–⁠; Les Barons de Felsheim, Paris, 1822. —⁠Knapp ↩

  288. Ersebet, read “Erszebet,” Elisabeth. —⁠Knapp ↩

  289. Florentius of Buda: Flourished ⁠–⁠. See Magyar Ország Poigári Históriá-járá való Lexicon. Nagy-Varad (Gross-Wardein), by Budai Ferencz, ⁠–⁠. —⁠Knapp ↩

  290. Álmus, or Álmos (“älmosh”), died 889. The Hungarian scholar Vámbéri, has exploded the “dream” (or rather “sleep”) theory heretofore entertained with regard to the origin of the name Almos; he says it is an epithet, meaning the Great, the Sublime, the Noble, the Glorious (Ursprung, pp. 62, 156). —⁠Knapp ↩

  291. Dunau, read “Donau,” German for Danube. —⁠Knapp ↩

  292. Király and Ház: The former comes from the Serbian Králj (lj like Spanish ll or Portugese lh), which the Hungarian lengthened into kir-ály, not finding it convenient to pronounce kr.413 As for haz, from haus (Austrian popular pronunciation hôs), we are told by Vámbéri that the ancient form was not ház, but hos (Ursprung, p. 556). —⁠Knapp ↩

  293. Janos (pronounced “Yánosh”): John. —⁠Knapp ↩

  294. Szava (Hungarian): The Save. —⁠Knapp ↩

  295. Laszlo: Ladislaus. —⁠Knapp ↩

  296. Cilejia: The Roman Claudia Celleia, now Cilly, in Carinthia. —⁠Knapp ↩

  297. Matyas: In English “Matthias.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  298. Huz, read “husz” (Hungarian): Twenty. Vámbéri questions this etymology of “hussar” (p. 283), but unsatisfactorily, we think. —⁠Knapp ↩

  299. Ulazslo: Wladislaus. —⁠Knapp ↩

  300. Tché Drak: The Romanian cé dracŭ, but pronounced as in the text, and equivalent to the exclamation que diable! —⁠Knapp ↩

  301. Mohacs Veszedelem, read “Mohacsi Veszedelem:” The Disaster of Mohács, the title of a poem by Baron Liszti. —⁠Knapp ↩

  302. Lajos (“laï-osh”), Louis or Lewis. —⁠Knapp ↩

  303. Bátory: A mere epithet, the “valiant.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  304. Mufti: The ulémas or Doctors of the (Mahomedan) law. —⁠Knapp ↩

  305. Coloscvar, read “Koloszvár,” in German, “Klausenburg.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  306. Budáï Ferencz: Flourished ⁠–⁠. See Magyar Ország Poigári Históriá-járá való Lexicon. Nagy-Varad (Gross-Wardein), by Budai Ferencz, ⁠–⁠. —⁠Knapp ↩

  307. Rysckie Tsar, read “Russki Tsar:” The Russian Emperor. —⁠Knapp ↩

  308. Plescova, now Pskov. —⁠Knapp ↩

  309. Iván Basilowitz, read “Vasiliévitch,” known as Iván the Terrible. —⁠Knapp ↩

  310. Izbushka (Russian): Hut. —⁠Knapp ↩

  311. Tyzza, read “Tisza:” The river Theiss. —⁠Knapp ↩

  312. Kopacs Teto, read “Kopász Tetö.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  313. Kassau, read “Kaschau.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  314. Eljen edes, etc. (pronounced “elyen edesh tsigáñ oor, elyen gool eraï”): “Long live the sweet Gypsy gentleman, long live the gudlo Rye.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  315. Roth-Welsch: The German for Thieves’ Slang. —⁠Knapp ↩

  316. Tzernebock, read “Tchernobog” (g like German ch): Black god, evil principle. —⁠Knapp ↩

  317. Bielebock, read “Bielbog:” White god, the good principle. —⁠Knapp ↩

  318. Saxo-Gramaticus, read “Grammaticus.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  319. Fekete (Hungarian): Black. —⁠Knapp ↩

  320. Erik Bloodaxe (Danish Blodöxe): King of Norway [c. 947⁠–⁠948]. —⁠Knapp ↩

  321. Regner Lodbrok: “Regnar” in Icelandic; Borrow gives the Danish term of this king’s name. See his famous “Death Song” in Mallet, Northern Antiquities; or, an Historical Account of the Manners, Customs, Religion and Laws, Language and Literature of the Ancient Scandinavians. London: Bonn, , pp. 383⁠–⁠85. —⁠Knapp ↩

  322. Halgerdr, read “Halgerda,” Mallet, Northern Antiquities; or, an Historical Account of the Manners, Customs, Religion and Laws, Language and Literature of the Ancient Scandinavians. London: Bonn, , pp. 340⁠–⁠41. —⁠Knapp ↩

  323. Biorn, read “Björn” and Ivarr, “Ivar.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  324. Verdammt (German): Confounded. —⁠Knapp ↩

  325. “Wife selling:” A very common practice among a certain class, it seems, in England; and, as this will hardly be credited in America, I will append some extracts from the newspapers. The Norfolk Chronicle of , says:

    “The belief formerly prevailed, especially among the rural population, that a man had a perfectly legal right to sell his wife to another, provided he observed two indispensable formalities. One was that he placed a halter about her neck, and the other that he led her into the market and publicly transferred her to the purchaser. Numerous instances of these strange transactions have been recorded. Our columns, on the , contained an account of the sale of a wife at Norwich. A Kentish tailor, the affections and person of whose amiable spouse had been jockeyed away by a neighbouring horsedealer, caparisoned her neck with a halter and surrendered all right and title to his virtuous rib, in consideration of the sum of £5. On the , a similar sale was effected in this city. A man named Stebbings disposed of his wile to a person named Turner for the sum of £6 10s. The latter paid £4 on account, took the woman home, and brutally turned his lawful wife out of doors.”

    The London Daily Mail of , prints the following:⁠—

    “Very few people are aware that wives are literally sold today in England. A very common error of the vulgar is that a man by selling his wife releases himself from the marriage contract as surely as if he were legally divorced. In , The Times announced the sale of a wife at Sheffield for sixpence. A short time afterwards the same journal calmly stated that the price of wives has risen in Smithfield Market from half a guinea to three guineas and a half! In a man led his wife, by a halter round her neck, into the cattle market at Sheffield, and sold her for a guinea, the purchaser leading away the woman to his home. In a man named Brouchet hired a cattle-pen in the Canterbury market, placed his wife in it, and ultimately sold her for 5s. Then wives began to increase in value, for soon afterwards one was sold for £15. This was followed by a ‘slump.’ In a man led his wife with a halter round her waist into Derby marketplace and offered her for sale, but all be could get for her was eighteen pence and a quart of ale. In a husband left his home and creditors in Belper for the liberty of America. The week after his flight all his goods were put up for auction to satisfy his debts. His wife claimed part of the money, and this being refused she insisted on being offered for sale as part of her husband’s assets. There was no sale, however, for ‘Lot 29.’ In even more recent days wife sales were common, and are even being effected in this present year of grace. In John Wilson, a collier of Alfreton, Derbyshire, sold his wife in a public-house for fourpence. Sheffield knife-grinders have long been noted for their transactions in the wife trade. Within quite recent times many a Sheffield wife has been sold by her husband for a gallon of beer, which has been drunk on the spot. Sometimes these sales assume a more formal aspect. In , in the Sheffield County Court, a man admitted that he had bought another man’s wife for 5s. Most of these discreditable ‘deals’ escape notice, but a case has come to light where a man agreed to sell his wife to a collier, and the trio, with the woman’s father and mother and two family friends, assembled to arrange terms. Thirty shillings was the price finally agreed on. Four years ago, at Leeds, a man charged with bigamy pleaded that, as he had sold his wife for 3s. 6d. to another man, he could marry again legally! Eighteen months’ imprisonment was what he got, and more than deserved. A police court case in at Doncaster revealed the fact that John Tart sold his wife to Enoch Childs, on the understanding that the latter reared the vendor’s four children. In a Durham court in it transpired that a man named Shaw sold his daughter, a girl of sixteen, to a collier called Cudman, for 1s. Many a wife is at present sold in the East End of London, as well as in Yorkshire, for a quart of beer or an ounce of thick twist. It is the poor man’s method of divorce, and such is popular ignorance that there are scores of people who imagine that selling a wife is as legal a separation as a decree nisi pronounced by a bewigged and berobed judge.”

    —⁠Knapp ↩

  326. Herodotus: The story is found in Thalia III, 84⁠–⁠88 (pp. 208⁠–⁠9 of Cary’s English translation). The groom’s name was “Oebares.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  327. Deaghblasda, read “deaghbhlasda” (Irish): Sweet-tasted, dainty. This is the soothing word hinted at, but not given, in Lavengro [end of Chapter XIII]. —⁠Knapp ↩

  328. At H⁠⸺⁠, read “Hertford,” where John Thurtell was hanged, . —⁠Knapp ↩

  329. Ned Flatnose: Edward Painter of Norwich. —⁠Knapp ↩

  330. Spring: His true name was Thomas Winter. He died . —⁠Knapp ↩

  331. ⸻ Fair, read “Greenwich Fair,” on Easter Monday. See Dickens’ Sketches. —⁠Knapp ↩

  332. Oilien (and later, “Oilein”) nan Naomha, read “Oilean na Naomhtha” (Irish): Island of the Saints (Patrick and Columba). —⁠Knapp ↩

  333. Finn-ma-Coul: The tale of Finn was first learned by Borrow in January, , from his Irish guide Cronan, while travelling in Cornwall (Life, II, p. 86, and note). This fact shows that Murtagh and his tale are introduced here to exhibit the author’s discovery of the identity between the Finn of Ireland and the Eddaic tradition of Sigurd Fafnisbane (p. 281). For Sigurd in the Wilkina Saga is suckled by a hind (p. 120) and fostered by Mymmer Smed or Mimer the Smith (p. 121) whom he eventually slays (p. 124). In the Eddaic Lay of the serpent-killer we read: “Sigurd took the heart of Fafnir and broiled it on a spit. And when he judged that it was done, he touched it with his finger to ascertain if that were really the case. Having burned his finger in the act, he put it to his mouth, and no sooner had the heart’s blood of Fafnir come in contact with Sigurd’s tongue than he understood the speech of birds,” etc. Here we have the two sides verified, the Irish by Cronan, and the Scandian by the Edda. But Brooke’s Reliques, a favourite work of Borrow’s in his Norwich days, and which he cites in (Life, I, p. 146), give us certain other fragments of these Finnic fables, whereby we can trace the sources of the text before us. For example, after Jack Dale had stripped Murtagh of all his money he is observed to be sitting “in deep despondency, holding his thumb to his mouth” (p. 278). And a little farther on (p. 282) a verse is cited from “Conan the Bald.” Now all this is found in Miss Brooke, that is, the names and the ideas⁠—Conan the Bald (p. 106), Lochlin (p. 46), and Darmod Odeen (minus Taffy) and the verse with this note (p. 109):⁠—“This strange passage is explained by some lines in the Poem of Dubmac-Dighruibh, where Finn is reproached with deriving all his courage from chewing his thumb for prophetic information.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  334. Dungarvon times of old: See Life, I, p. 46, and II, pp. 16⁠–⁠17. Cradock’s letter was dated, , and Mr. B.’s answer (I, p. 146) a little after. —⁠Knapp ↩

  335. Siol Loughlin, read “Lochlin” (Irish): Literally “the seed of Norway,” i.e., the Danish or Norwegian race. Miss Brooke very properly says (p. 46): “Lochlin is the Gaelic (and Irish) name for Scandinavia in general;” but Borrow limits it to Denmark⁠—the Danish race. And a little below, “the Loughlin songs” are his Danish Ballads which he published the following year. —⁠Knapp ↩

  336. Religious house: The story of Murtagh at the Irish College in Rome, and his subsequent wanderings in the South of France and in Spain, mask, as we have said elsewhere, the peregrinations of George Borrow in ⁠–⁠. —⁠Knapp ↩

  337. Tipperary. ↩

  338. M’anam on Dioul: [God preserve] my soul from the devil! —⁠Knapp ↩

  339. Raparees: Irish marauders, [in the time of] James II. See Life, I, p. 146, and Brooke’s Reliques, p. 205. The latter says that the word is from the Irish Réubóir Ri, plunderer, robber, freebooter of the king, from reubaim, I tear. —⁠Knapp ↩

  340. Chiviter Vik: Cività Vecchia, the modern seaport of Rome, fifty miles distant. —⁠Knapp ↩

  341. Army of the Faith: Spanish frontier corps of observation under Gen. Don Vicente Quesada, ⁠–⁠. —⁠Knapp ↩

  342. Prince Hilt: The Duke d’Angoulême, nephew of Louis XVIII, and son of the Count d’Artois (afterwards Charles X). D’Angoulême invaded Spain in with 100,000 Frenchmen, to restore Ferdinand VII to his absolute throne, against the Liberals of ⁠–⁠. —⁠Knapp ↩

  343. To ⸻, read Rome. —⁠Knapp ↩

  344. Educated at ⸻, read Rome —⁠Knapp ↩

  345. Direction of the east, read “south.” He could only have gone south from Horncastle to reach Boston (the “large town on the arm of the sea”) that day. The next he came to Spalding, some fifteen miles farther, where he met the recruiting serjeant, thence on to Norwich by Lynn Regis.

    We must not forget that before Lavengro was begun, and fifteen years prior to the publication of The Romany Rye, that is, , Mr. Petulengro remarked to George Borrow at Oulton: “I suppose you have not forgot how, fifteen [seventeen] years ago, when you made horseshoes in the dingle by the side of the great north road, I lent you fifty guineas to purchase the wonderful trotting cob of the innkeeper with the green Newmarket coat, which three days after you sold for two hundred.”414 Now, this is a very remarkable statement, and, taken in connection with the fact that so little is said about Horncastle in the book, it seems to me we are justified in proclaiming that Borrow was never in Horncastle at all. The interview with the Magyar and the syllabus of Hungarian history are clearly drawn from his experiences in Hungary and Transylvania in the year , and hence are an anachronism here. It is a pity that the author did not adhere to the chronological facts of his life so strictly in The Romany Rye as he did in Lavengro. Truth and literature would have gained by it. And then that valedictory pledge,415 confirmed in the appendix, drawing a veil over the period of his travails, if not his travels, was an error of judgment which, in an autobiography will, we fear, not easily be condoned. —⁠Knapp ↩

  346. Age of nineteen, read “twenty;” he was twenty-one less four months at his father’s death. —⁠Knapp ↩

  347. Children of Roma: Borrovian for Gypsies. —⁠Knapp ↩

  348. Balm in Mary Flanders: Defoe’s Moll Flanders. —⁠Knapp ↩

  349. MS., “Canning” ().416 —⁠Knapp ↩

  350. Viscount Goderich. —⁠Knapp ↩

  351. MS., “Canning” (). —⁠Knapp ↩

  352. MS., “Canning” (). —⁠Knapp ↩

  353. MS., “who eventually presented him with a bishopric, had espoused,” —⁠Knapp etc. ↩

  354. MS., “He is a small landed proprietor who eats,” etc. —⁠Knapp ↩

  355. Vaya! qué demonio es este! (Spanish): Bless me! what demon have we here! —⁠Knapp ↩

  356. MS., “the Despatch, of course.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  357. The Spanish Revolution of ’54⁠–⁠’56, made by O’Donnell. ↩

  358. MS. (corrected):⁠—

    Un Erajái
    Sinába chibando an sermón;
    Y lle falta un balichó
    Al chindomá de aquel gáo;
    Y chanéla que los calés
    Lo habían nicobáo;
    Y penelá ’l erajái:
    “Chaboró!
    Guíllate á tu quer,
    Y nicobéla la pirí
    Que teréla ’l balichó,
    Y chibéla andró
    Una lima de tun chaborí,
    Chaborí,
    Una lima de tun chaborí.”

    See also Lavo-Lil, p. 200. —⁠Knapp ↩

  359. Sessions of Hariri: Arabic tales in prose interlarded with verse. —⁠Knapp ↩

  360. The two languages: Chinese and Manchu. —⁠Knapp ↩

  361. Canto I, stanza 53.417 —⁠Knapp ↩

  362. Stanza 57.418 —⁠Knapp ↩

  363. An obscene oath.419 ↩

  364. Oberon: A poem by Wieland (⁠–⁠). —⁠Knapp ↩

  365. The father of Anglo-Germanism: Taylor of Norwich. —⁠Knapp ↩

  366. Andrew Borde: The Fyrst Boke of the Introduction of Knowledge. “The which doth teache a man to speake parte of all maner of Languages, and to knowe the vsage and fashion of al maner of coũtreys. And for to knowe the most parte of all maner of Coynes of money, ye which is curraunt in euery region. Made by Andrew Borde, of Phisicke Doctor. Dedicated to the right Honorable and gracios lady Mary doughter of our souerayne lord Kyng Henry the eyght.”

    The text of the Bodleian copy (?) runs as follows⁠—(A 3 verso):⁠—

    “I am an Englysh man, and naked I stand here,
    Musyng in my mynd what rayment I shall were;
    For now I wyll were thys, and now I wyl were that,
    Now I wvl were I cannot tel what.
    All new fashyons be plesaunt to me,
    I wyll haue them, whether I thryue or thee;
    Now I am a frysker, all men doth on me looke,
    What should I do but set cocke on the hoope;
    What do I care yf all the worlde me fayle,
    I wyl get a garment shal reche to my tayle;
    Than I am a minion, for I were the new gyse;
    The yere after this I trust to be wyse,
    Not only in wering my gorgious aray,
    For I wyl go to learnyng a hoole somers day;
    I wyll learne Latyne, Hebrew, Grecke and Frenche,
    And I wyl learne Douche sittyng on my benche;
    I do feare no man, all men fearyth me,
    I ouercome my aduersaries by land and by see;
    I had no peere yf to my selfe I were trew,
    Because I am not so diuers times I do rew;
    Yet I lake nothing, I haue all thyng at wyll
    If were wyse and wold holde my selfe styll,
    And medel wyth no matters not to me partayning;
    But I haue suche matters rolling in my pate,
    That I wyl speake and do I cannot tell what.” etc.

    —⁠Knapp ↩

  367. See Muses’ Library, pp. 86, 87. London, . [Better, the original ed. (). —⁠Knapp ] ↩

  368. Genteel with them seems to be synonymous with Gentile and Gentoo; if so, the manner in which it has been applied for ages ceases to surprise, for genteel is heathenish. Ideas of barbaric pearl and gold, glittering armour, plumes, tortures, blood-shedding, and lust, should always be connected with it. Wace, in his grand Norman poem, calls the Baron Genteel:⁠—

    “La furent li gentil Baron,” etc.

    And he certainly could not have applied the word better than to the strong Norman thief, armed cap-a-pie without one particle of ruth or generosity; for a person to be a pink of gentility, that is heathenism, should have no such feelings; and, indeed, the admirers of gentility seldom or never associate any such feelings with it. It was from the Norman, the worst of all robbers and miscreants, who built strong castles, garrisoned them with devils, and tore out poor wretches’ eyes, as the Saxon Chronicle says, that the English got their detestable word genteel. What could ever have made the English such admirers of gentility, it would be difficult to say; for, during three hundred years, they suffered enough by it. Their genteel Norman landlords were their scourgers, their torturers, the plunderers of their homes, the dishonourers of their wives, and the deflowerers of their daughters. Perhaps after all, fear is at the root of the English veneration for gentility. ↩

  369. Mr. Flamson: Samuel Morton Peto, M.P., later Sir Morton Peto of Somerleyton Hall, some five miles inland from Lowestoft. See Life, II, p. 52. —⁠Knapp ↩

  370. Gentle and gentlemanly may be derived from the same root as genteel; but nothing can be more distinct from the mere genteel, than the ideas which enlightened minds associate with these words. Gentle and gentlemanly mean something kind and genial; genteel, that which is glittering or gaudy. A person can be a gentleman in rags, but nobody can be genteel. ↩

  371. Orcadian poet: “Ragnvald, Earl of the Orkney Islands, passed for a very able poet; he boasts himself, in a song of his which is still extant, that he knew how to compose verses on all subjects,” Mallet, [Northern Antiquities] p. 235. The original Runic of the lines translated by Borrow is found in Olaus Wormius. Transliterated into Latin letters they read thus:⁠—

    Tafl em eg or at efta
    Idrottir kan eg niu
    Tum eg tradla Runur
    Tid er mer bog og smider
    Skrid kann eg a gidum
    Skot eg og re so nyter
    Hvor tweggia kan ek hyggiu
    Harpslatt og bragdattu.

    —⁠Knapp ↩

  372. Lieut. P⁠⸺⁠, read “Perry.” The item was taken from a newspaper (which, I know not) published in . Mr. Borrow read it at Llangollen in Wales. I loaned the clipping and it was not returned. —⁠Knapp ↩

  373. Balaklava: The usual etymon of this famous name is the Italian Bella chiave, beautiful key. —⁠Knapp ↩

  374. Companion of Bligh: This was Thomas Hayward. —⁠Knapp ↩

  375. Once: See Bligh’s Narrative (A Narrative of the Mutiny on board His Majesty’s Ship Bounty; and the subsequent voyage of part of the crew, in the ship’s boat, from Tofoa, one of the Friendly Islands, to Timor, a Dutch settlement in the East Indies. Written by Lieutenant William Bligh. London, .), p. 55.⁠—336. —⁠Knapp ↩

  376. “Malditas sean tus tripas,” etc.: This Borrovian Spanish must be rendered truthfully or not at all. The squeamish may excuse the borracha: “D⁠⸺ your g⁠⸺⁠s; we had enough of the stink of your g⁠⸺⁠s the day you ran away from the battle of the Boyne.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  377. Coronach (Gaelic), read “Corránach:” The funeral wail, a dirge; in Irish, coránach. —⁠Knapp ↩

  378. The writer has been checked in print by the Scotch with being a Norfolk man. Surely, surely, these latter times have not been exactly the ones in which it was expedient for Scotchmen to check the children of any county in England with the place of their birth, more especially those who have had the honour of being born in Norfolk⁠—times in which British fleets, commanded by Scotchmen, have returned laden with anything but laurels from foreign shores. It would have been well for Britain had she had the old Norfolk man to despatch to the Baltic or the Black Sea, lately, instead of Scotch admirals. ↩

  379. Abencerages, read “Abencerrages:” Arabic ibn-serradj; son of the saddle. —⁠Knapp ↩

  380. Whiffler: An official character of the old Norwich Corporation, strangely uniformed and accoutred, who headed the annual procession on Guildhall day, flourishing a sword in a marvellous manner. All this was abolished on the passage of the Municipal Reform Act in . As a consequence, says a contemporaneous writer, “the Aldermen left off wearing their scarlet gowns, Snap was laid up on a shelf in the ‘Sword Room’ in the Guildhall, and the Whifflers no longer danced at the head of the procession in their picturesque costume. It was a pretty sight, and their skill in flourishing their short swords was marvellous to behold.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  381. Francis Spira: Francesco Spiera, a lawyer of Cittadella (Venice), accepted the doctrines of the Reformation in . Terrified by the menaces of the Church of Rome and the prospective ruin of his family, he went to Venice and solemnly abjured the Evangelical faith in the hands of the Legate, Giovan della Casa (see Dict. de Bayle) who required him to return home and repeat his abjuration before his fellow-townsmen and the local authorities. Having performed this act, he fell into the horrid state of remorse depicted in the Protestant accounts of the time. The report was first brought to Geneva by Pietro Paolo Vergerio, ex-bishop of Pola, who visited Spiera in his last moments at Padua, whence he himself bent his way to the Valtelina, as a fugitive from the Roman Church. —⁠Knapp ↩

  382. Duncan Campbell: History of the Life and Adventures of Mr. Duncan Campbell, a gentleman who, though deaf and dumb, writes down any strangers’ name at first sight, with their future contingencies of fortune; now living in Exeter Court, over against the Savoy in the Strand. By Daniel Defoe. —⁠Knapp ↩

  383. Falconer, The Voyages, dangerous Adventures and imminent escapes of Captain Richard Falconer⁠ ⁠… intermix’d with the Voyages⁠ ⁠… of T. Randal. London, . —⁠Knapp ↩

  384. John Randall: Here is a confusion of John Rolfe and John Randolph of Roanoke (⁠–⁠). Pocahontas, daughter of the Indian Chief Powhatan, saved the life of Captain John Smith in Virginia and married John Rolfe in . John Randolph of Roanoke claimed to be descended from Pocahontas, but Rolfe is evidently the one referred to in the text.

    See The Indian Princess; or, the Story of Pocahontas. By Edward Eggleston and Lillie Eggleston Seelye. London (?). —⁠Knapp ↩

  385. Iriarte (⁠–⁠): Spanish poet and writer of fables. See Coleccion de Obras en Verso y Prosa de D. Tomas de Yriarte. Madrid, . —⁠Knapp ↩

  386. Autobiographical character of Lavengro denied: but see Life, II, pp. 3⁠–⁠27 and 211. —⁠Knapp ↩

  387. Ginnúngagap: The “yawning abyss” of Northern Mythology. See Mallet, Northern Antiquities p. 402. —⁠Knapp ↩

  388. Horinger Bay: Hjörúnga Vâgr in Icelandic, or Vaag in Danish. —⁠Knapp ↩

  389. Harum-beck, read “harmanbeck,” as in Lavengro. —⁠Knapp ↩

  390. Holkham Estate: The seat of the Cokes of Norfolk and the Earl of Leicester. See White’s Norfolk. —⁠Knapp ↩

  391. He said in ’32: See Life, I, p. 143. —⁠Knapp ↩

  392. Son of Norfolk clergyman: Nelson (nom de noms!). —⁠Knapp ↩

  393. As the present work will come out in the midst of a vehement political contest, people may be led to suppose that the above was written expressly for the time. The writer therefore begs to state that it was written in the year . He cannot help adding that he is neither Whig, Tory, nor Radical, and cares not a straw what party governs England, provided it is governed well. But he has no hopes of good government from the Whigs. It is true that amongst them there is one very great man, Lord Palmerston, who is indeed the sword and buckler, the chariots and the horses of the party; but it is impossible for his lordship to govern well with such colleagues as he has⁠—colleagues which have been forced upon him by family influence, and who are continually pestering him into measures anything but conducive to the country’s honour and interest. If Palmerston would govern well, he must get rid of them; but from that step, with all his courage and all his greatness, he will shrink. Yet how proper and easy a step it would be! He could easily get better, but scarcely worse, associates. They appear to have one object in view and only one⁠—jobbery. It was chiefly owing to a most flagitious piece of jobbery, which one of his lordship’s principal colleagues sanctioned and promoted, that his lordship experienced his late parliamentary disasters. ↩

  394. Thistlewood and Ings: See article in Celebrated Lives and Trials, volume VI, p. 339. —⁠Knapp ↩

  395. The old Radical: John Bowring in . —⁠Knapp ↩

  396. Volume of translations: See Specimen of the Russian Poets: With Preliminary Remarks and Biographical Notices. By John Bowring, F.L.S. London: Whittaker, . —⁠Knapp ↩

  397. Red Rhys: Rhys Goch of Snowdon. See Wild Wales, p. 150, and Neu Flodau Godidowgrwydd Awen. O gasgliad Rhys Jones, o’r Tyddyn Mawr. [Beauties of the Bards of Wales; or, Flowers of Welsh Poetry. Collected by Rhys Jones of Great Farms] Amwythig (Shrewsbury), . —⁠Knapp ↩

  398. A fact. ↩

  399. The Doctor of Medicine: Dr. Lewis Evans. See Life, I, p. 74. —⁠Knapp ↩

  400. S⁠⸺⁠, read “Southey.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  401. Literary project (⁠–⁠): See Life, I, p. 129. —⁠Knapp ↩

  402. Astolfo: His journey to the moon mentioned in Pulci, ed. , Canto XXI, f. cxx b:

    “Malagigi tagliava le parole,
    Astolfo sopra ’l suo caval rimonta;
    Cavalcano à la luna tanto e al sole
    Che capitorno al castel di Creonta.”

    —⁠Knapp ↩

  403. MS. “Aberdeen.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  404. MS. “Aberdeen.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  405. In ⸻, read “China.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  406. To ⸻, read “China.” —⁠Knapp ↩

  407. Copy of a work: Borrow’s edition of the Manchu New Testament, St. Petersburg, . All the dashes mean Canton or China. —⁠Knapp ↩

  408. Serendib: (Ceylon) put for China. —⁠Knapp ↩

  409. Boxiana⁠—Fights for the Championship, and Celebrated Prize Battles, from the Days of Figg and Broughton to the Present Time. London, , II, 497. —⁠Knapp ↩

  410. The change from Ambrose to Jasper was made in pencil in Mrs. Borrow’s transcript at the last moment in , before handing it to the printers. —⁠Knapp ↩

  411. Beginning⁠—

    Mas tinn no slán atharlaigheas féin,
    Do ghluàis me trá, agus bfhéirde mé,
    Air cuáirt an Seóin le sócal dfhághail,
    “An Stafartach saímh, nach gnáth gan chéill.”

    —⁠Knapp ↩

  412. “El qual (Noé) despues del diluuio, por su inuencion del uino, fue lhamado lano, porque Ianin en ebràico quiere dezir uino, y lo pintan con dos caras boltadas, porque tuuo uista antes del diluuio y despues” (Foja 71, verso). —⁠Knapp ↩

  413. Like Ingilis in Turkish, for English; Beritania (England) in Hawaiian, for Britannia. —⁠Knapp ↩

  414. Zincali, , second ed., volume II, p. 146. —⁠Knapp ↩

  415. “I think I’ll go there,” p. 301. “He is about to quit his native land on a grand philological expedition,” p. 303. —⁠Knapp ↩

  416. Canning: Premier from to his death, ; succeeded by Viscount Goderich from , to .⁠—312. —⁠Knapp ↩

  417. Luigi Pulci: Io vo’ tagliar, etc.: I’ll sever the hands of them all and bring them to those holy monks. —⁠Knapp ↩

  418. Tu sarai or perfetto, etc.: Now thou wilt be as true a friend to Christ as aforetime thou wert his foe (Morgante Maggiore di Luigi Pulci Firentino, etc. Venetia, , canto I, stanzas 53 and 57). —⁠Knapp ↩

  419. Carajo: An oath fit neither to be written nor pronounced, but common to the lower classes of Spaniards, or to ambitious foreign Hispanophiles who cannot know its meaning. See Oudin’s Tesoro, Paris, . —⁠Knapp ↩