The Life of George Borrow [139]
towards your enlightened sense of justice if, after the reasons given, I stopped to prove the just and prudent conduct of Seville authorities.
"Hope he will therefore be completely satisfied, especially after the want of exactitude on Borrow's part.
From EVARISTO PEREZ DE CASTRO." To Mr Aston. {319a}
And so the matter ended. The Spanish authorities knew that they no longer had a Sir George Villiers to deal with, and had recourse to that trump card of weak and vacillating diplomatists--delay. Whatever Borrow's offence, the method of his arrest and imprisonment was in itself unlawful.
It was Borrow's intention on his return to England to endeavour to obtain an interview with some members of the House of Lords, in order to acquaint them with the manner in which Protestants were persecuted in Spain. They were debarred from the exercise of their religion from being married by Protestant rites, and the common privileges of burial were denied them. He was anxious for Protestant England, lest it should fall a victim to Popery. This fear of Rome was a very real one to Borrow. He marvelled at people's blindness to the danger that was threatening them, and he even went so far as to entreat his friends at Earl Street "to drop all petty dissensions and to comport themselves like brothers" against their common enemy the Pope.
Unfortunately Borrow had shown to a number of friends one of his letters to Mr Brandram dealing with the Seville imprisonment, and had even allowed several copies of it to be taken "in order that an incorrect account of the affair might not get abroad." The result was an article in a London newspaper containing remarks to the disparagement of other workers for the Gospel in Spain. Borrow disavowed all knowledge of these observations.
"I am not ashamed of the Methodists of Cadiz," he assures Mr Brandram, "their conduct in many respects does them honor, nor do I accuse any one of fanaticism amongst our dear and worthy friends; but I cannot answer for the tittle-tattle of Madrid. Far be it from me to reflect upon any one, I am but too well aware of my own multitudinous imperfections and follies."
There is nothing more mysterious in Borrow's life than his years of friendship with Mrs Clarke. He was never a woman's man, but Mary Clarke seems to have awakened in him a very sincere regard. The menage at Seville was a curious one, and both Borrow and Mrs Clarke should have seen that it was calculated to make people talk. There may have been a tacit understanding between them. Everything connected with their relations and courtship is very mysterious. Dr Knapp is scarcely just to Borrow or gracious to the woman he married, when he implies that it was merely a business arrangement on both sides. Mrs Clarke's affairs required a man's hand to administer them, and Borrow was prepared to give the man's hand in exchange for an income. The engagement could scarcely have taken place in the middle of November 1839, as Dr Knapp states, for on the day of his arrest at Seville (24th Nov.) Borrow wrote:-
MY DEAR MRS CLARKE,--Do not be alarmed, but I am at present in the prison, to which place the Alcalde del Barrio conducted me when I asked him to sign the Passport. If Phelipe is not already gone to the Consul, let Henrietta go now and show him this letter. When I asked the fellow his motives for not signing the Passport, he said if I did not go away he would carry me to prison. I dared him to do so, as I had done nothing; whereupon he led me here.--Yours truly,
GEORGE BORROW.
This is obviously not the letter of a man recently engaged to the woman who is to become his wife. On the other hand, Borrow may have been writing merely for the Consul's eye.
On hearing the news of the engagement old Mrs Borrow wrote:-
"I am not surprised, my dear Mrs Clarke, at what you tell me, though I knew nothing of it. It put me in mind of the Revd. Flethers; you know they took time to consider. So far all is well. I shall now resign him to your care, and may you love and cherish him as
"Hope he will therefore be completely satisfied, especially after the want of exactitude on Borrow's part.
From EVARISTO PEREZ DE CASTRO." To Mr Aston. {319a}
And so the matter ended. The Spanish authorities knew that they no longer had a Sir George Villiers to deal with, and had recourse to that trump card of weak and vacillating diplomatists--delay. Whatever Borrow's offence, the method of his arrest and imprisonment was in itself unlawful.
It was Borrow's intention on his return to England to endeavour to obtain an interview with some members of the House of Lords, in order to acquaint them with the manner in which Protestants were persecuted in Spain. They were debarred from the exercise of their religion from being married by Protestant rites, and the common privileges of burial were denied them. He was anxious for Protestant England, lest it should fall a victim to Popery. This fear of Rome was a very real one to Borrow. He marvelled at people's blindness to the danger that was threatening them, and he even went so far as to entreat his friends at Earl Street "to drop all petty dissensions and to comport themselves like brothers" against their common enemy the Pope.
Unfortunately Borrow had shown to a number of friends one of his letters to Mr Brandram dealing with the Seville imprisonment, and had even allowed several copies of it to be taken "in order that an incorrect account of the affair might not get abroad." The result was an article in a London newspaper containing remarks to the disparagement of other workers for the Gospel in Spain. Borrow disavowed all knowledge of these observations.
"I am not ashamed of the Methodists of Cadiz," he assures Mr Brandram, "their conduct in many respects does them honor, nor do I accuse any one of fanaticism amongst our dear and worthy friends; but I cannot answer for the tittle-tattle of Madrid. Far be it from me to reflect upon any one, I am but too well aware of my own multitudinous imperfections and follies."
There is nothing more mysterious in Borrow's life than his years of friendship with Mrs Clarke. He was never a woman's man, but Mary Clarke seems to have awakened in him a very sincere regard. The menage at Seville was a curious one, and both Borrow and Mrs Clarke should have seen that it was calculated to make people talk. There may have been a tacit understanding between them. Everything connected with their relations and courtship is very mysterious. Dr Knapp is scarcely just to Borrow or gracious to the woman he married, when he implies that it was merely a business arrangement on both sides. Mrs Clarke's affairs required a man's hand to administer them, and Borrow was prepared to give the man's hand in exchange for an income. The engagement could scarcely have taken place in the middle of November 1839, as Dr Knapp states, for on the day of his arrest at Seville (24th Nov.) Borrow wrote:-
MY DEAR MRS CLARKE,--Do not be alarmed, but I am at present in the prison, to which place the Alcalde del Barrio conducted me when I asked him to sign the Passport. If Phelipe is not already gone to the Consul, let Henrietta go now and show him this letter. When I asked the fellow his motives for not signing the Passport, he said if I did not go away he would carry me to prison. I dared him to do so, as I had done nothing; whereupon he led me here.--Yours truly,
GEORGE BORROW.
This is obviously not the letter of a man recently engaged to the woman who is to become his wife. On the other hand, Borrow may have been writing merely for the Consul's eye.
On hearing the news of the engagement old Mrs Borrow wrote:-
"I am not surprised, my dear Mrs Clarke, at what you tell me, though I knew nothing of it. It put me in mind of the Revd. Flethers; you know they took time to consider. So far all is well. I shall now resign him to your care, and may you love and cherish him as