The Life of George Borrow [60]
completed. I hope the Society are convinced that I have served them faithfully, and that I have spared no labour to bring out the work, which they did me the honor of confiding to me, correctly and within as short a time as possible. At my return, if the Society think that I can still prove of utility to them, I shall be most happy to devote myself still to their service. 1 am a person full of faults and weaknesses, as I am every day reminded by bitter experience, but I am certain that my zeal and fidelity towards those who put confidence in me are not to be shaken." {140a}
On 15th/27th June he reported the printing completed and six out of the eight volumes bound, and that as soon as the remaining two volumes were ready, he intended to take his departure from St Petersburg; but a new difficulty arose. The East had laid a heavy hand upon St Petersburg. "To-morrow, please God!" met the energetic Westerner at every turn. The bookbinder delayed six weeks because he could not procure some paper he required. But the real obstacle to the despatch of the books was the non-arrival of the Government sanction to their shipment. Nothing was permitted to move either in or out of the sacred city of the Tsars without official permission. Probably those responsible for the administration of affairs had never in their experience been called upon to deal with a man such as Borrow. To apply to him the customary rules of procedure was to bring upon "the House of Interior Affairs" a series of visits and demands that must have left it limp with astonishment.
On 16th/28th July Borrow wrote to the Bible Society, "I herewith send you a bill of lading for six of the eight parts of the New Testament, which I have at last obtained permission to send away, after having paid sixteen visits to the House of Interior Affairs." {141a} He expresses a hope that in another fortnight he will have despatched the remaining two volumes and have "bidden adieu to Russia"; but it was dangerous to anticipate the official course of events in Russia. Even to the last Borrow was tormented by red tape. Early in August the last two volumes were ready for shipment to England; but he could not obtain the necessary permission. He was told that he ought never to have printed the work, in spite of the license that had been granted, and that grave doubts existed in the official mind as to whether or no he really were an agent of the Bible Society. At length Borrow lost patience and told the officials that during the week following the books would be despatched, with or without permission, and he warned them to have a care how they acted. These strong measures seem to have produced the desired result.
Despite his many occupations on behalf of the Bible Society, Borrow found time in which to translate into Russian the first three Homilies of the Church of England, and into Manchu the Second. His desire was that the Homily Society should cause these translations to be printed, and in a letter to the Rev. Francis Cunningham he strove to enlist his interest in the project, offering the translations without fee to the Society if they chose to make use of them. {141b} As "a zealous, though most unworthy, member of the Anglican Church," he found that his "cheeks glowed with shame at seeing dissenters, English and American, busily employed in circulating Tracts in the Russian tongue, whilst the members of the Church were following their secular concerns, almost regardless of things spiritual in respect to the Russian population." {142a}
Borrow also translated into English "one of the sacred books of Boudh, or Fo," from Baron Schilling de Canstadt's library. The principal occupation of his leisure hours, however, was a collection of translations, which he had printed by Schultz & Beneze, and published (3rd/ 15th June 1835) under the title of Targum, or Metrical Translations from Thirty Languages and Dialects. {142b} In a prefatory note, the collection is referred to as "selections from a huge and undigested mass of translation, accumulated during several years
On 15th/27th June he reported the printing completed and six out of the eight volumes bound, and that as soon as the remaining two volumes were ready, he intended to take his departure from St Petersburg; but a new difficulty arose. The East had laid a heavy hand upon St Petersburg. "To-morrow, please God!" met the energetic Westerner at every turn. The bookbinder delayed six weeks because he could not procure some paper he required. But the real obstacle to the despatch of the books was the non-arrival of the Government sanction to their shipment. Nothing was permitted to move either in or out of the sacred city of the Tsars without official permission. Probably those responsible for the administration of affairs had never in their experience been called upon to deal with a man such as Borrow. To apply to him the customary rules of procedure was to bring upon "the House of Interior Affairs" a series of visits and demands that must have left it limp with astonishment.
On 16th/28th July Borrow wrote to the Bible Society, "I herewith send you a bill of lading for six of the eight parts of the New Testament, which I have at last obtained permission to send away, after having paid sixteen visits to the House of Interior Affairs." {141a} He expresses a hope that in another fortnight he will have despatched the remaining two volumes and have "bidden adieu to Russia"; but it was dangerous to anticipate the official course of events in Russia. Even to the last Borrow was tormented by red tape. Early in August the last two volumes were ready for shipment to England; but he could not obtain the necessary permission. He was told that he ought never to have printed the work, in spite of the license that had been granted, and that grave doubts existed in the official mind as to whether or no he really were an agent of the Bible Society. At length Borrow lost patience and told the officials that during the week following the books would be despatched, with or without permission, and he warned them to have a care how they acted. These strong measures seem to have produced the desired result.
Despite his many occupations on behalf of the Bible Society, Borrow found time in which to translate into Russian the first three Homilies of the Church of England, and into Manchu the Second. His desire was that the Homily Society should cause these translations to be printed, and in a letter to the Rev. Francis Cunningham he strove to enlist his interest in the project, offering the translations without fee to the Society if they chose to make use of them. {141b} As "a zealous, though most unworthy, member of the Anglican Church," he found that his "cheeks glowed with shame at seeing dissenters, English and American, busily employed in circulating Tracts in the Russian tongue, whilst the members of the Church were following their secular concerns, almost regardless of things spiritual in respect to the Russian population." {142a}
Borrow also translated into English "one of the sacred books of Boudh, or Fo," from Baron Schilling de Canstadt's library. The principal occupation of his leisure hours, however, was a collection of translations, which he had printed by Schultz & Beneze, and published (3rd/ 15th June 1835) under the title of Targum, or Metrical Translations from Thirty Languages and Dialects. {142b} In a prefatory note, the collection is referred to as "selections from a huge and undigested mass of translation, accumulated during several years