The Life of George Borrow [45]
sun brought on "a transient fit of delirium," {107b} in other words, an attack of the "Horrors." Two fellow-passengers (Jews), with whom he had become acquainted, conveyed him to a comfortable hotel, where he was visited by a physician, who administered forty drops of laudanum, caused his head to be swathed in wet towels, ordered him to bed, and charged a fee of seven shillings. The result was that by the evening he had quite recovered.
One of Borrow's first duties was to write a lengthy letter to Mr Jowett, telling him of his movements, describing the city, the service at a church he attended, the lax morality of the Hamburgers in permitting rope-dancers in the park, and the opening of dancing- saloons, "most infamous places," on the Lord's day. "England, with all her faults," he proceeds, "has still some regard to decency, and will not tolerate such a shameless display of vice on so sacred a season, when a decent cheerfulness is the freest form in which the mind or countenance ought to invest themselves." In conclusion, he announced his intention of leaving for Lubeck on the sixth, {108a} and he would be on the Baltic two days later en route for St Petersburg. "My next letter, provided it pleases the Almighty to vouchsafe me a happy arrival, will be from the Russian capital." By "a fervent request that you will not forget me in your prayers," he demonstrated that Mr Jowett's hint had not been forgotten.
The distance between Hamburg and Lubeck is only about thirty miles, yet it occupied Borrow thirteen hours, so abominable was the road, which "was paved at intervals with huge masses of unhewn rock, and over this pavement the carriage was very prudently driven at a snail's pace; for, had anything approaching speed been attempted, the entire demolition of the wheels in a few minutes must have been the necessary result. No sooner had we quitted this terrible pavement than we sank to our axle-trees in sand, mud, and water; for, to render the journey perfectly delectable, the rain fell in torrents and ceaselessly." {108b} The state of the road Borrow attributed to the ill-nature of the King of Denmark, for immediately on leaving his dominions it improved into an excellent carriageway.
On 28th July/9th August Borrow took steamer from Travemunde, and three days later landed at St Petersburg. His first duty was to call upon Mr Swan, whom he found "one of the most amiable and interesting characters" he had ever met. The arrival of a coadjutor caused Mr Swan considerable relief, as he had suffered in health in consequence of his uninterrupted labours in transcribing the Manchu manuscript.
Borrow was enthusiastic in his admiration of the capital of "our dear and glorious Russia." St Petersburg he considered "the finest city in the world" {109a} other European capitals were unworthy of comparison. The enormous palaces, the long, straight streets, the grandeur of the public buildings, the noble Neva that flows majestically through "this Queen of the cities," the three miles long Nevsky Prospect, paved with wood; all aroused in him enthusiasm and admiration. "In a word," he wrote to his mother, "I can do little else but look and wonder." All that he had read and heard of the capital of All the Russias had failed to prepare him for this scene of splendour. The meeting and harmonious mixing of East and West early attracted his attention. The Oriental cultivation of a twelve- inch beard among the middle and lower classes, placed them in marked contrast with the moustached or clean-shaven patricians and foreigners. In short, Russia gripped hold of and warmed Borrow's imagination. Here were new types, curious blendings of nationalities unthought of and strange to him, a mine of wealth to a man whose studies were never books, except when they helped him the better to understand men.
Another thing that attracted him to Russia was the great kindness with which he was received, both by the English Colony and the natives: to the one he appealed by virtue of a common ancestry; to the other, on account of his knowledge
One of Borrow's first duties was to write a lengthy letter to Mr Jowett, telling him of his movements, describing the city, the service at a church he attended, the lax morality of the Hamburgers in permitting rope-dancers in the park, and the opening of dancing- saloons, "most infamous places," on the Lord's day. "England, with all her faults," he proceeds, "has still some regard to decency, and will not tolerate such a shameless display of vice on so sacred a season, when a decent cheerfulness is the freest form in which the mind or countenance ought to invest themselves." In conclusion, he announced his intention of leaving for Lubeck on the sixth, {108a} and he would be on the Baltic two days later en route for St Petersburg. "My next letter, provided it pleases the Almighty to vouchsafe me a happy arrival, will be from the Russian capital." By "a fervent request that you will not forget me in your prayers," he demonstrated that Mr Jowett's hint had not been forgotten.
The distance between Hamburg and Lubeck is only about thirty miles, yet it occupied Borrow thirteen hours, so abominable was the road, which "was paved at intervals with huge masses of unhewn rock, and over this pavement the carriage was very prudently driven at a snail's pace; for, had anything approaching speed been attempted, the entire demolition of the wheels in a few minutes must have been the necessary result. No sooner had we quitted this terrible pavement than we sank to our axle-trees in sand, mud, and water; for, to render the journey perfectly delectable, the rain fell in torrents and ceaselessly." {108b} The state of the road Borrow attributed to the ill-nature of the King of Denmark, for immediately on leaving his dominions it improved into an excellent carriageway.
On 28th July/9th August Borrow took steamer from Travemunde, and three days later landed at St Petersburg. His first duty was to call upon Mr Swan, whom he found "one of the most amiable and interesting characters" he had ever met. The arrival of a coadjutor caused Mr Swan considerable relief, as he had suffered in health in consequence of his uninterrupted labours in transcribing the Manchu manuscript.
Borrow was enthusiastic in his admiration of the capital of "our dear and glorious Russia." St Petersburg he considered "the finest city in the world" {109a} other European capitals were unworthy of comparison. The enormous palaces, the long, straight streets, the grandeur of the public buildings, the noble Neva that flows majestically through "this Queen of the cities," the three miles long Nevsky Prospect, paved with wood; all aroused in him enthusiasm and admiration. "In a word," he wrote to his mother, "I can do little else but look and wonder." All that he had read and heard of the capital of All the Russias had failed to prepare him for this scene of splendour. The meeting and harmonious mixing of East and West early attracted his attention. The Oriental cultivation of a twelve- inch beard among the middle and lower classes, placed them in marked contrast with the moustached or clean-shaven patricians and foreigners. In short, Russia gripped hold of and warmed Borrow's imagination. Here were new types, curious blendings of nationalities unthought of and strange to him, a mine of wealth to a man whose studies were never books, except when they helped him the better to understand men.
Another thing that attracted him to Russia was the great kindness with which he was received, both by the English Colony and the natives: to the one he appealed by virtue of a common ancestry; to the other, on account of his knowledge