The Life of George Borrow [44]
religiously to comply with this admonition, and to use every prudent method for enlarging his acquaintance with the Manchu language." {104a}
The salary was to date from the day he embarked, and on account of expenses to St Petersburg he drew the sum of 37 pounds. The actual amount he expended was 27 pounds, 7s. 6d., according to the account he submitted, which was dated 2nd October 1834. It is to be feared that Borrow was not very punctual in rendering his accounts, as Mr Brandram wrote to him (18th October 1837): --"I know you are no accountant, but do not forget that there are some who are. My memory was jogged upon this subject the other day, and I was expected to say to you that a letter of figures would be acceptable."
It is not unnatural that those who remembered Borrow as one of William Taylor's "harum-scarum" young men, who at one time intended to "abuse religion and get prosecuted," should find in his appointment as an agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society a subject for derisive mirth. Harriet Martineau's voice was heard well above the rest. "When this polyglott gentleman appeared before the public as a devout agent of the Bible Society in foreign parts," she wrote, "there was one burst of laughter from all who remembered the old Norwich days." {105a} Like hundreds of other men, Borrow had, in youth, been led to somewhat hasty and ill-considered conclusions; but this in itself does not seem to be sufficiently strong reason why he should not change his views. Many young men pass through an aggressively irreligious phase without suffering much harm. Harriet Martineau was rather too precipitate in assuming that what a man believes, or disbelieves, at twenty, he holds to at thirty; such a view negatives the reformer. Perhaps the chief cause of the change in Borrow's views was that he had touched the depths of failure. Here was an opening that promised much. He was a diplomatist when it suited his purpose, and if the old poison were not quite gone out of his system, he would hide his wounds, or allow the secretaries to bandage them with mild reproof.
Very different from the attitude of Harriet Martineau was that of John Venning, an English merchant resident at Norwich and recently returned from St Petersburg, where his charity and probity had placed him in high favour with the Emperor and the Goverment officials. Mr Venning gave Borrow letters of introduction to a number of influential personages at St Petersburg, including Prince Alexander Galitzin and Baron Schilling de Canstadt. Dr Bowring obtained a letter from Lord Palmerston to someone whose name is not known. There were letters of introduction from other hands, so that when he was ready to sail Borrow found himself "loaded with letters of recommendation to some of the first people in Russia. Mr Venning's packet has arrived with letters to several of the Princes, so that I shall be protected if I am seized as a spy; for the Emperor is particularly cautious as to the foreigners whom he admits. It costs 2 pounds, 7s. 6d. merely for permission to go to Russia, which alone is enough to deter most people." {106a}
Before leaving England, Borrow paid into his mother's account at her bank the sum of seventeen pounds, an amount that she had advanced to him either during his unproductive years, or on account of his expenses in connection with the expedition to St Petersburg.
CHAPTER VII: AUGUST 1833-JANUARY 1834
On 19th/31st July 1833 Borrow set out on a journey that was to some extent to realise his ambitions. He was to be trusted and encouraged and, what was most important of all, praised for what he accomplished; for Borrow's was a nature that responded best to the praise and entire confidence of those for whom he worked.
Travelling second class for reasons of economy, he landed at Hamburg at seven in the morning of the fourth day, after having experienced "a disagreeable passage of three days, in which I suffered much from sea-sickness." {107a} Exhausted by these days of suffering and want of sleep, the heat of the
The salary was to date from the day he embarked, and on account of expenses to St Petersburg he drew the sum of 37 pounds. The actual amount he expended was 27 pounds, 7s. 6d., according to the account he submitted, which was dated 2nd October 1834. It is to be feared that Borrow was not very punctual in rendering his accounts, as Mr Brandram wrote to him (18th October 1837): --"I know you are no accountant, but do not forget that there are some who are. My memory was jogged upon this subject the other day, and I was expected to say to you that a letter of figures would be acceptable."
It is not unnatural that those who remembered Borrow as one of William Taylor's "harum-scarum" young men, who at one time intended to "abuse religion and get prosecuted," should find in his appointment as an agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society a subject for derisive mirth. Harriet Martineau's voice was heard well above the rest. "When this polyglott gentleman appeared before the public as a devout agent of the Bible Society in foreign parts," she wrote, "there was one burst of laughter from all who remembered the old Norwich days." {105a} Like hundreds of other men, Borrow had, in youth, been led to somewhat hasty and ill-considered conclusions; but this in itself does not seem to be sufficiently strong reason why he should not change his views. Many young men pass through an aggressively irreligious phase without suffering much harm. Harriet Martineau was rather too precipitate in assuming that what a man believes, or disbelieves, at twenty, he holds to at thirty; such a view negatives the reformer. Perhaps the chief cause of the change in Borrow's views was that he had touched the depths of failure. Here was an opening that promised much. He was a diplomatist when it suited his purpose, and if the old poison were not quite gone out of his system, he would hide his wounds, or allow the secretaries to bandage them with mild reproof.
Very different from the attitude of Harriet Martineau was that of John Venning, an English merchant resident at Norwich and recently returned from St Petersburg, where his charity and probity had placed him in high favour with the Emperor and the Goverment officials. Mr Venning gave Borrow letters of introduction to a number of influential personages at St Petersburg, including Prince Alexander Galitzin and Baron Schilling de Canstadt. Dr Bowring obtained a letter from Lord Palmerston to someone whose name is not known. There were letters of introduction from other hands, so that when he was ready to sail Borrow found himself "loaded with letters of recommendation to some of the first people in Russia. Mr Venning's packet has arrived with letters to several of the Princes, so that I shall be protected if I am seized as a spy; for the Emperor is particularly cautious as to the foreigners whom he admits. It costs 2 pounds, 7s. 6d. merely for permission to go to Russia, which alone is enough to deter most people." {106a}
Before leaving England, Borrow paid into his mother's account at her bank the sum of seventeen pounds, an amount that she had advanced to him either during his unproductive years, or on account of his expenses in connection with the expedition to St Petersburg.
CHAPTER VII: AUGUST 1833-JANUARY 1834
On 19th/31st July 1833 Borrow set out on a journey that was to some extent to realise his ambitions. He was to be trusted and encouraged and, what was most important of all, praised for what he accomplished; for Borrow's was a nature that responded best to the praise and entire confidence of those for whom he worked.
Travelling second class for reasons of economy, he landed at Hamburg at seven in the morning of the fourth day, after having experienced "a disagreeable passage of three days, in which I suffered much from sea-sickness." {107a} Exhausted by these days of suffering and want of sleep, the heat of the