The Life of George Borrow [170]
"Think not, my dear friend," replied Borrow, "that I am idle. I am finishing up the concluding part. I should be sorry to hurry the work towards the last. I dare say it will be ready by the middle of February." The correspondence grew more and more tense. Mrs Borrow wrote to the printer urging him to send to her husband, who has been overworked to the point of complaint, "one of your kind encouraging notes." Later Borrow went to Yarmouth, where sea-bathing produced a good effect upon his health; but still the manuscript was not sent to the despairing printer. "I do not, God knows! wish you to overtask yourself," wrote the unhappy Woodfall; "but after what you last said, I thought I might fully calculate on your taking up, without further delay, the fragmentary portions of your 1st and 2nd volumes and let us get them out of hand."
Letters continued to pass to and fro, but the balance of manuscript was not forthcoming until November 1850, when Mrs Borrow herself took it to London. Another trade-dinner was at hand, and John Murray had written to Mrs Borrow, "If I cannot show the book then--I must throw it up." To Mrs Borrow this meant tragedy. The poor woman was distracted, and from time to time she begs for encouraging letters. In response to one of these appeals, John Murray wrote with rare insight into Borrow's character, and knowledge of what is most likely to please him: "There are passages in your book equal to De Foe."
The preface when eventually submitted to John Murray disturbed him somewhat. "It is quaint," he writes to Mrs Borrow, "but so is everything that Mr Borrow writes." He goes on to suggest that the latter portion looks too much as if it had been got up in the interests of "Papal aggression," and he calls attention to the oft- repeated "Damnation cry". There appears to have been some modification, a few "Damnation Cries" omitted, the last sheet passed for press, and on 7th February 1851 Lavengro was published in an edition of three thousand copies, which lasted for twenty-one years.
The appearance of Lavengro was indeed sensational: but not quite in the way its publisher had anticipated. Almost without exception the verdict was unfavourable. The book was attacked vigorously. The keynote of the critics was disappointment. Some reviews were purely critical, others personal and abusive, but nearly all were disapproving. "Great is our disappointment" said the Athenaeum. "We are disappointed," echoed Blackwood. Among the few friendly notices was that of Dr Hake, in which he prophesied that "Lavengro's roots will strike deep into the soil of English letters." Even Ford wrote (8th March):
"I frankly own that I am somewhat disappointed with the very LITTLE you have told us about YOURSELF. I was in hopes to have a full, true, and particular account of your marvellously varied and interesting biography. I do hope that some day you will give it to us."
In this chorus of dispraise Borrow saw a conspiracy. "If ever a book experienced infamous and undeserved treatment," he wrote, {390a} "it was that book. I was attacked in every form that envy and malice could suggest." In The Romany Rye he has done full justice to the subject, exhibiting the critics with blood and foam streaming from their jaws. In the original draft of the Advertisement to the same work he expresses himself as "proud of a book which has had the honour of being rancorously abused and execrated by every unmanly scoundrel, every sycophantic lacquey, and EVERY POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS RENEGADE in Britain." A few years previously, Borrow had written to John Murray, "I have always myself. If you wish to please the public leave the matter [the revision of The Zincali] to me." {391a} From this it is evident that Borrow was unprepared for anything but commendation from critics and readers.
Dr Bowring had some time previously requested the editor of The Edinburgh Review to allow him to review Lavengro; but no notice ever appeared. In all probability he realised the impossibility of writing about a book in which
Letters continued to pass to and fro, but the balance of manuscript was not forthcoming until November 1850, when Mrs Borrow herself took it to London. Another trade-dinner was at hand, and John Murray had written to Mrs Borrow, "If I cannot show the book then--I must throw it up." To Mrs Borrow this meant tragedy. The poor woman was distracted, and from time to time she begs for encouraging letters. In response to one of these appeals, John Murray wrote with rare insight into Borrow's character, and knowledge of what is most likely to please him: "There are passages in your book equal to De Foe."
The preface when eventually submitted to John Murray disturbed him somewhat. "It is quaint," he writes to Mrs Borrow, "but so is everything that Mr Borrow writes." He goes on to suggest that the latter portion looks too much as if it had been got up in the interests of "Papal aggression," and he calls attention to the oft- repeated "Damnation cry". There appears to have been some modification, a few "Damnation Cries" omitted, the last sheet passed for press, and on 7th February 1851 Lavengro was published in an edition of three thousand copies, which lasted for twenty-one years.
The appearance of Lavengro was indeed sensational: but not quite in the way its publisher had anticipated. Almost without exception the verdict was unfavourable. The book was attacked vigorously. The keynote of the critics was disappointment. Some reviews were purely critical, others personal and abusive, but nearly all were disapproving. "Great is our disappointment" said the Athenaeum. "We are disappointed," echoed Blackwood. Among the few friendly notices was that of Dr Hake, in which he prophesied that "Lavengro's roots will strike deep into the soil of English letters." Even Ford wrote (8th March):
"I frankly own that I am somewhat disappointed with the very LITTLE you have told us about YOURSELF. I was in hopes to have a full, true, and particular account of your marvellously varied and interesting biography. I do hope that some day you will give it to us."
In this chorus of dispraise Borrow saw a conspiracy. "If ever a book experienced infamous and undeserved treatment," he wrote, {390a} "it was that book. I was attacked in every form that envy and malice could suggest." In The Romany Rye he has done full justice to the subject, exhibiting the critics with blood and foam streaming from their jaws. In the original draft of the Advertisement to the same work he expresses himself as "proud of a book which has had the honour of being rancorously abused and execrated by every unmanly scoundrel, every sycophantic lacquey, and EVERY POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS RENEGADE in Britain." A few years previously, Borrow had written to John Murray, "I have always myself. If you wish to please the public leave the matter [the revision of The Zincali] to me." {391a} From this it is evident that Borrow was unprepared for anything but commendation from critics and readers.
Dr Bowring had some time previously requested the editor of The Edinburgh Review to allow him to review Lavengro; but no notice ever appeared. In all probability he realised the impossibility of writing about a book in which