The Life of George Borrow [180]
his hands on his knees--his favourite position--pouring forth tales of the scenes he had witnessed in his wanderings. . . . Then he would suddenly spring from his seat and walk to and fro the room in silence; anon he would clap his hands and sing a Gypsy song, or perchance would chant forth a translation of some Viking poem; after which he would sit down again and chat about his father, whose memory he revered as he did his mother's; {411a} and finally he would recount some tale of suffering or sorrow with deep pathos--his voice being capable of expressing triumphant joy or the profoundest sadness."
It was Borrow's intention to write a book about his visit to Cornwall, and he even announced it at the end of The Romany Rye. He was delighted with the Duchy, and evidently gave his relatives to understand that it was his intention to use the contents of his Note Books as the nucleus of a book. "He will undoubtedly write a description of his visit," Mrs Taylor wrote to her friend. "I walked through the whole of Cornwall and saw everything," Borrow wrote to his wife after his return to London. "I kept a Journal of every day I was there, and it fills TWO pocket books."
Borrow left Cornwall the second week in February and was in London on the 10th, where he was to break his journey home in order to obtain some data at the British Museum for the Appendix of The Romany Rye. On 13th February he writes to his wife:-
"For three days I have been working hard at the Museum, I am at present at Mr Webster's, but not in the three guinea lodgings. I am in rooms above, for which I pay thirty shillings a week. I live as economically as I can; but when I am in London I am obliged to be at certain expense. I must be civil to certain friends who invite me out and show me every kindness. Please send me a five pound note by return of post."
His wife appears to have been anxious for his return home, and on the 17th he writes to her:-
"It is hardly worth while making me more melancholy than I am. Come home, come home! is the cry. And what are my prospects when I get home? though it is true that they are not much brighter here. I have nothing to look forward to. Honourable employments are being given to this and that trumpery fellow; while I, who am an honourable man, must be excluded from everything."
Of literature he expressed himself as tired, there was little or nothing to be got out of it, save by writing humbug, which he refused to do. "My spirits are very low," he continues, "and your letters make them worse. I shall probably return by the end of next week; but I shall want more money. I am sorry to spend money for it is our only friend, and God knows I use as little as possible, but I can't travel without it." {412b} A few days later there is another letter with farther reference to money, and protests that he is spending as little as possible. "Perhaps you had better send another note," he writes, "and I will bring it home unchanged, if I do not want any part of it. I have lived very economically as far as I am concerned personally; I have bought nothing, and have been working hard at the Museum." {413a}
These constant references to money seem to suggest either some difference between Borrow and his wife, or that he felt he was spending too much upon himself and was anticipating her thoughts by assuring her of how economically he was living. He had an unquestioned right to spend, for he had added considerable sums to the exchequer from the profits of his first two books.
Borrow returned to Yarmouth on 25th February. The Romany Rye was now rapidly nearing completion; but there was no encouragement to publish a new book. He worked at The Romany Rye, not because he saw profit in it, not because he was anxious to give another book to an uneager public; but because of the sting in its tail, because of the thunderbolt Appendix in which he paid off old scores against the critics and his personal enemies. The Romany Rye was to him a work of hate; it was a bomb disguised as a book, which he intended
It was Borrow's intention to write a book about his visit to Cornwall, and he even announced it at the end of The Romany Rye. He was delighted with the Duchy, and evidently gave his relatives to understand that it was his intention to use the contents of his Note Books as the nucleus of a book. "He will undoubtedly write a description of his visit," Mrs Taylor wrote to her friend. "I walked through the whole of Cornwall and saw everything," Borrow wrote to his wife after his return to London. "I kept a Journal of every day I was there, and it fills TWO pocket books."
Borrow left Cornwall the second week in February and was in London on the 10th, where he was to break his journey home in order to obtain some data at the British Museum for the Appendix of The Romany Rye. On 13th February he writes to his wife:-
"For three days I have been working hard at the Museum, I am at present at Mr Webster's, but not in the three guinea lodgings. I am in rooms above, for which I pay thirty shillings a week. I live as economically as I can; but when I am in London I am obliged to be at certain expense. I must be civil to certain friends who invite me out and show me every kindness. Please send me a five pound note by return of post."
His wife appears to have been anxious for his return home, and on the 17th he writes to her:-
"It is hardly worth while making me more melancholy than I am. Come home, come home! is the cry. And what are my prospects when I get home? though it is true that they are not much brighter here. I have nothing to look forward to. Honourable employments are being given to this and that trumpery fellow; while I, who am an honourable man, must be excluded from everything."
Of literature he expressed himself as tired, there was little or nothing to be got out of it, save by writing humbug, which he refused to do. "My spirits are very low," he continues, "and your letters make them worse. I shall probably return by the end of next week; but I shall want more money. I am sorry to spend money for it is our only friend, and God knows I use as little as possible, but I can't travel without it." {412b} A few days later there is another letter with farther reference to money, and protests that he is spending as little as possible. "Perhaps you had better send another note," he writes, "and I will bring it home unchanged, if I do not want any part of it. I have lived very economically as far as I am concerned personally; I have bought nothing, and have been working hard at the Museum." {413a}
These constant references to money seem to suggest either some difference between Borrow and his wife, or that he felt he was spending too much upon himself and was anticipating her thoughts by assuring her of how economically he was living. He had an unquestioned right to spend, for he had added considerable sums to the exchequer from the profits of his first two books.
Borrow returned to Yarmouth on 25th February. The Romany Rye was now rapidly nearing completion; but there was no encouragement to publish a new book. He worked at The Romany Rye, not because he saw profit in it, not because he was anxious to give another book to an uneager public; but because of the sting in its tail, because of the thunderbolt Appendix in which he paid off old scores against the critics and his personal enemies. The Romany Rye was to him a work of hate; it was a bomb disguised as a book, which he intended