George Borrow and His Circle Wherein May Be Found Many Hitherto Unpublished Letters Of Borrow And His Friends

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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.

Preface,Introduction,CHAPTER ICAPTAIN BORROW OF THE WEST NORFOLK MILITIA,CHAPTER IIBORROW'S MOTHER,CHAPTER IIIJOHN THOMAS BORROW,CHAPTER IVA WANDERING CHILDHOOD,CHAPTER VGEORGE BORROW'S NORWICH—THE GURNEYS,CHAPTER VIGEORGE BORROW'S NORWICH—THE TAYLORS,CHAPTER VIIGEORGE BORROW'S NORWICH—THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL,CHAPTER VIIIGEORGE BORROW'S NORWICH—THE LAWYER'S OFFICE,CHAPTER IXSIR RICHARD PHILLIPS,CHAPTER X'FAUSTUS' AND 'ROMANTIC BALLADS,'CHAPTER XI'CELEBRATED TRIALS' AND JOHN THURTELL,CHAPTER XIIBORROW AND THE FANCY,CHAPTER XIIIEIGHT YEARS OF VAGABONDAGE,CHAPTER XIVSIR JOHN BOWRING,CHAPTER XVBORROW AND THE BIBLE SOCIETY,CHAPTER XVIST. PETERSBURG AND JOHN P. HASFELD,CHAPTER XVIITHE MANCHU BIBLE—'TARGUM'—'THE TALISMAN,'CHAPTER XVIITHREE VISITS TO SPAIN,CHAPTER XIXBORROW'S SPANISH CIRCLE,CHAPTER XXMARY BORROW,CHAPTER XXI'THE CHILDREN OF THE OPEN AIR,'CHAPTER XXII'THE BIBLE IN SPAIN,'CHAPTER XXIIIRICHARD FORD,CHAPTER XXIVIN EASTERN EUROPE,CHAPTER XXV'LAVENGRO,'CHAPTER XXVIA VISIT TO CORNISH KINSMEN,CHAPTER XXVIIIN THE ISLE OF MAN,CHAPTER XXVIIIOULTON BROAD AND YARMOUTH,CHAPTER XXIXIN SCOTLAND AND IRELAND,CHAPTER XXX'THE ROMANY RYE,'CHAPTER XXXIEDWARD FITZGERALD,CHAPTER XXXII'WILD WALES,'CHAPTER XXXIIILIFE IN LONDON,CHAPTER XXXIVFRIENDS OF LATER YEARS,CHAPTER XXXVBORROW'S UNPUBLISHED WRITINGS,CHAPTER XXXVIHENRIETTA CLARKE,CHAPTER XXXVIITHE AFTERMATH,INDEX,

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

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George Borrow,A photogravure portrait from the painting by Henry Wyndham Phillips.PAGEThe Borrow House, Norwich,Robert Hawkes, Mayor of Norwich in 1824,From the painting by Benjamin Haydon in St. Andrew's Hall, Norwich.George Borrow,From a portrait by his brother, John Thomas Borrow, in the National Portrait Gallery, London.The Erpingham Gate and the Grammar School, NorwichWilliam Simpson,From a portrait by Thomas Phillips, R.A., in the Black Friars Hall, Norwich.Friends of Borrow's Early Years—Sir John Bowring in 1826,John P. Hasfeld in 1835,William Taylor,Sir Richard Phillips,The Family of Jasper Petulengro,Where Borrow Lived in Madrid,The Calle del Principe, Madrid,A hitherto Unpublished Portrait of George Borrow,Taken in the garden of Mrs....