The Life of George Borrow [57]
Committee. Assure them that in whatever I have done or left undone, I have been influenced by a desire to promote the glory of the Trinity and to give my employers ultimate and permanent satisfaction. If I have erred, it has been from a defect of judgment, and I ask pardon of God and them. In the course of a week I shall write again, and give a further account of my proceedings, for I have not communicated one-tenth of what I have to impart; but I can write no more now. It is two hours past midnight; the post goes away to-morrow, and against that morrow I have to examine and correct three sheets of St Mark's Gospel, which lie beneath the paper on which I am writing. With my best regards to Mr Brandram,
I remain, dear Sir, Most truly yours, G. BORROW.
Rev. JOSEPH JOWETT.
Closely following upon this letter, and without waiting for a reply, Borrow wrote again to Mr Jowett, 13th/25th October, enclosing a certificate from Mr Lipovzoff, which read:-
"Testifio:- Dominum Burro ab initio usque ad hoc tempus summa cum diligentia et studio in re Mantshurica laborasse, Lipovzoff."
He also reported progress as regards the printing, and promised (D.V.) that the entire undertaking should be completed by the first of May; but the letter was principally concerned with the projected expedition to Kiakhta, to distribute the books he was so busily occupied in printing. He repeated his former arguments, urging the Committee to send an agent to Kiakhta. "I am a person of few words," he assured Mr Jowett, "and will therefore state without circumlocution that I am willing to become that agent. I speak Russ, Manchu, and the Tartar or broken Turkish of the Russian Steppes, and have also some knowledge of Chinese, which I might easily improve." As regards the danger to himself of such a hazardous undertaking, the conversion of the Tartar would never be achieved without danger to someone. He had become acquainted with many of the Tartars resident in St Petersburg, whose language he had learned through conversing with his servant (a native of Bucharia [Bokhara]), and he had become "much attached to them; for their conscientiousness, honesty, and fidelity are beyond all praise."
To this further offer Mr Jowett replied:-
"Be not disheartened, even though the Committee postpone for the present the consideration of your enterprising, not to say intrepid, proposal. Thus much, however, I may venture to say: that the offer is more likely to be accepted now, than when you first made it. If, when the time approaches for executing such a plan, you give us reason to believe that a more mature consideration of it in all its bearings still leaves you in hope of a successful result, and in heart for making the attempt, my own opinion is that the offer will ultimately be accepted, and that very cordially."
CHAPTER IX: NOVEMBER 1834-SEPTEMBER 1835
Borrow was an unconventional editor. He foresaw the interminable delays likely to arise from allowing workmen to incorporate his corrections in the type. To obviate these, he first corrected the proof, then, proceeding to the printing office, he made with his own hands the necessary alterations in the type. This involved only two proofs, the second to be submitted to Mr Lipovzoff, instead of some half a dozen that otherwise would have been necessary. During these days Borrow was ubiquitous. Even the binder required his assistance, "for everything goes wrong without a strict surveillance."
Borrow had passed through THE crisis in his career. Stricken with fever, which was followed by an attack of the "Horrors" (only to be driven away by port wine), he had scarcely found time in which to eat or sleep. He had emerged triumphantly from the ordeal, and if he had "almost killed Beneze and his lads"{135a} with work, he had not spared himself. If he had to report, as he did, that "my two compositors, whom I had instructed in all the mysteries of Manchu composition, are in the hospital, down with the brain fever," {135b} he himself had grown thin from the incessant toil.
I remain, dear Sir, Most truly yours, G. BORROW.
Rev. JOSEPH JOWETT.
Closely following upon this letter, and without waiting for a reply, Borrow wrote again to Mr Jowett, 13th/25th October, enclosing a certificate from Mr Lipovzoff, which read:-
"Testifio:- Dominum Burro ab initio usque ad hoc tempus summa cum diligentia et studio in re Mantshurica laborasse, Lipovzoff."
He also reported progress as regards the printing, and promised (D.V.) that the entire undertaking should be completed by the first of May; but the letter was principally concerned with the projected expedition to Kiakhta, to distribute the books he was so busily occupied in printing. He repeated his former arguments, urging the Committee to send an agent to Kiakhta. "I am a person of few words," he assured Mr Jowett, "and will therefore state without circumlocution that I am willing to become that agent. I speak Russ, Manchu, and the Tartar or broken Turkish of the Russian Steppes, and have also some knowledge of Chinese, which I might easily improve." As regards the danger to himself of such a hazardous undertaking, the conversion of the Tartar would never be achieved without danger to someone. He had become acquainted with many of the Tartars resident in St Petersburg, whose language he had learned through conversing with his servant (a native of Bucharia [Bokhara]), and he had become "much attached to them; for their conscientiousness, honesty, and fidelity are beyond all praise."
To this further offer Mr Jowett replied:-
"Be not disheartened, even though the Committee postpone for the present the consideration of your enterprising, not to say intrepid, proposal. Thus much, however, I may venture to say: that the offer is more likely to be accepted now, than when you first made it. If, when the time approaches for executing such a plan, you give us reason to believe that a more mature consideration of it in all its bearings still leaves you in hope of a successful result, and in heart for making the attempt, my own opinion is that the offer will ultimately be accepted, and that very cordially."
CHAPTER IX: NOVEMBER 1834-SEPTEMBER 1835
Borrow was an unconventional editor. He foresaw the interminable delays likely to arise from allowing workmen to incorporate his corrections in the type. To obviate these, he first corrected the proof, then, proceeding to the printing office, he made with his own hands the necessary alterations in the type. This involved only two proofs, the second to be submitted to Mr Lipovzoff, instead of some half a dozen that otherwise would have been necessary. During these days Borrow was ubiquitous. Even the binder required his assistance, "for everything goes wrong without a strict surveillance."
Borrow had passed through THE crisis in his career. Stricken with fever, which was followed by an attack of the "Horrors" (only to be driven away by port wine), he had scarcely found time in which to eat or sleep. He had emerged triumphantly from the ordeal, and if he had "almost killed Beneze and his lads"{135a} with work, he had not spared himself. If he had to report, as he did, that "my two compositors, whom I had instructed in all the mysteries of Manchu composition, are in the hospital, down with the brain fever," {135b} he himself had grown thin from the incessant toil.