The Life of George Borrow

m had written (5th June 1835) that the Committee "will not very willingly suffer themse

placed that confidence. I dare say that when I return home they will always be happy to employ me to edit their Bibles, and there is n

ion he wrote, al

s certain that I could sit down to study now. I can do anything if it is to turn to any account; but it is very hard to dig holes in the sand and fill them up again, as I used to do. However, I hope

her grown lonely with long waiting. She told him, among other things, that she

e General Committee. Above all he had brought to a most successful conclusion a venture that, but for his ability and address, would in all probability have failed utterly. The application for permission to

t is a proof of Borrow's intimacy with the family that he should be invited to stay with them whilst they were still in mourning. Although there is no record of the date when he arrived at Oulto

uch an effect, that some of the most vicious characters in the neighbourhood have become weekly subscr

averse to the cause or indifferent to it, had their feelings so aroused by what was communicated to them, that they have since voluntarily subscribed to the Bible S

nothing, and am sighing for employment," [150b] he wrote. He had impatiently awaited some word from Earl Street, where, seemingly, he had discussed various plans for the future, including a journey to Portugal and Spain,

What would he do? Fearful that the door was not sufficiently open to justify the step, he had suggested the suspension of the resolution. Borrow was asked what he himself thought. What did he think of China, and could he for

l and difficulty. Therefore I wish it to be clearly understood that I am perfectly willing to undertake the expedition, nay, to extend it into Spain, to visit the town and country, to discourse with the people, especially those connected with institutions for infantine education, and to learn what ways and opportunities present themselves for conveying the Gospel into those benighted countries. I will moreover undertake, with the blessing of God, to draw up a small volume of what I shall have seen and heard there,

ples, for events moved forward with astonishing rapidity. Four days after the receipt

ng the Society's correspondents there, and of making further enquiries respecting the means and

her to the British Chaplain, the Rev. E. Whiteley. Having explained to Mr Whiteley how Borrow had recent

errupt our connection with him with the termination of his engagement at St Petersburg. In the interval we have thought that he might advantageously visit Portugal, and strengthen your hands and those of o

it and his present visit to Portugal. But Mr Borrow possesses no little tact in addressing himself to anything. With Portu

o and enquire what can be done there. We believe him to be one who is endowed with no small portion of address and a spirit of enterprise. I recommend him to your k

me authorities in what direction he would be most likely to prove useful. He was in particular to direct his attention to schools, and was "authoris

ment had appealed most strongly to the General Committee. Mr Brandram was evidently in doubt as to how Borrow would strike his correspondent as an agent of the Bible Society, henc

f year, and was marked only by the tragic occurrence of a sailor falling from the cross-trees into the sea and being drowned.

ed every article of which he was possessed. Again, there was the difficulty of obtaining a suitable lodging, which when eventually found proved to be "dark, dirty and exceedingly expensive without attendance." Mr Wilby was in the country and not expected to return for a wee

opportunities of perfecting himself in the language. He was fortunate in his selection, for Antonio turned out an excellent fellow, who "alway

d in Portugal, leaving behind him as Viceroy his son Dom Pedro, who promptly declared himself Emperor of Brazil. Dom Joāo died in 1826, leaving, in addition to the self-styled Emperor of Brazil, another son, Miguel. Dom Pedro relinquished his claim to the throne of Portugal in favour of his seven

conversation with anyone with whom he came in contact. The people he found indifferent to religion, the lower orders in particular. They laughed in his face when he enquired if ever they confessed themselves, and a muleteer on being ask

e Portuguese New Testament; but of all those whom he addressed none appea

f the religious instruction. During his stay of four days, he "traversed the country in all directions, riding into the fields, where I saw the peasants at work, and entering into discourse with

cross-examination, laying bare their minds upon religious matters, experiencing surprise at the "free and unembarrassed manner in which the Portugu

in climbing a hill. Borrow was cast violently to the ground; but fortunately on the right side, otherwise he would in all probability hav

it was decided to begin operations at once. Mr Wilby recommended the booksellers as the best medium of distribution; but Borrow urged strongly that at least half of the available copies "should be entrusted to colporteurs," who were to receive a commission upon every cop

s attack, and, like the old Northern leaders, whose deeds he wished to give to an uneager world in translated verse, he faced great dangers and achieved great ends. Recognising that the darkest region is most in need of light, he enquired of Mr Wilby in what province of Portugal wer

ied by his servant Antonio, Borrow set out for Evora, the principal town, formerly a seat of the dreaded Inquisition, which lies about sixty miles east of Lisbon. After many adventures, which he himself has narrated, including a dangerous crossing of the Tagus, and a meeting with Dom Geronimo Jozé d'Azveto, secretary to the governme

g his stay at Evora, Borrow spent two hours beside the fountain where the cattle were watered, entering into conversation with all who approached, the result being that before he left the town, he had spoken to "about two hundred . . . of the children of Portugal upon matters connected with their eternal welfare." Sometimes his hearers would ask f

opped them in their favourite walks, in the hope that they would be picked up out of curiosity. He caused the daughter of the landlady of the inn at which he stopped

in Portugal. He wrote, therefore, to Dr Bowring, now M.P. for Kilmarnock, telling him of his wandering

to make what interest I can towards obtaining the admission of the Gospel of Jesus into the public schools of Portugal, which are about to be established. I beg leave to state that this is my plan and no other person's, as I was merely sent over to Portugal to observe the disposition of the people, therefore I d

t commence operations seriously in Spain until I have disposed of Portugal. I will not apologise for writing to you in this manner, for you know me, but I will tell you one thing, which is, that the letter which you procured for me, on my going to St Pet

nathema in a Roman Catholic country, whereas if he posed merely as "a gentleman who has plans for the mental improvement of the Portuguese," he could enlist the sympathetic interest of any and every

next fortnight he spent in a further examination of Lisbon, and becoming acquainted with the Jews of the city, by whom he was welcomed as a po

Earl Street most favourably. In a lett

things. You are probing the wound, and I hope preparing the way for our pouring in by and by the healing balsam of the Scripture. We shall be anxious

of the people, and report to the Bible Society their state of preparedness to receive the Scriptures. On the afternoon of 1st January 1836 he set out, b

n spoken to, made reply only with an uncouth laugh, he plunged once more into the dangerous and desolate Alemtejo on a four days' journey "over the most savage and ill-noted track in the whole ki

and black waving hair," [160a] strove to obtain a glance of the stranger who, a few minutes previously, had dared to tell one

cular, because "the devil helps foreigners and hates the Portuguese." When about forty yards ahead of the advance guard, with which the discontented soldier marched, Borrow had the imprudence to laugh, with the result that the next moment two well-aimed bullets sang past his ears. Ta

ng that was to be obtained on the Serre Dorso, the Alemtejo's finest mountain. "He likewise described with great minuteness a wonderful dog, which was kept in the neighbourhood for the purpose of catching the wolves and wild boars, and for which

emonstrated very clearly, in his expressions of indignation at the Portuguese attitude towards England, that he reserved this right of criticism strictly to himself. At the inn where he stayed, he thoroughly discomfited a Portuguese officer who dared to criticise the English Governmen

matter must end. Let a foreigner, a Portuguese, dare to say a word against his, Borrow's, country, and he became subjected to either a biting cross-examination, or was denounced in eloquent and telling periods. "I could not command myself," he writes in extenuation of his u

omantic Spain," and having forded the stream that separates the two countries, he crossed the bridge over the Guadiana and entered the North Gate of Badajos, immortalised by