A Publisher And His Friends (Fiscle Part-4), Samuel Smiles [good beach reads txt] 📗

Much In His Youth, First

Following His Father, Who Was A Captain Of Militia. He Went From South

To North, From Kent To Edinburgh, Where He Was Entered As Pupil In The

High School, And Took Part In The "Bickers" So Well Described By Sir

Walter Scott. Then The Boy Followed The Regiment To Ireland, Where He

Studied The Celtic Dialect. From Early Youth He Had A Passion, And An

Chapter 30 ( George Borrow--Richard Ford--Horace Twiss--John Sterling--Mr. Gladstone--Death Of Southey, Etc.) Pg 175

Extraordinary Capacity, For Learning Languages, And On Reaching Manhood

He Was Appointed Agent To The Bible Society, And Was Sent To Russia To

Translate And Introduce The Scriptures. While There He Mastered The

Language, And Learnt Besides The Solavonian And The Gypsy Dialects. He

Translated The New Testament Into The Tartar Mantchow, And Published

Versions From English Into Thirty Languages. He Made Successive Visits

Into Russia, Norway, Turkey, Bohemia, Spain And Barbary. In Fact, The

Sole Of His Foot Never Rested. While An Agent For The Bible Society In

Spain, He Translated The New Testament Into Spanish, Portuguese, Romany,

And Basque--Which Language, It Is Said, The Devil Himself Never Could

Learn--And When He Had Learnt The Basque He Acquired The Name Of

Lavengro, Or Word-Master.

 

 

 

Such Was George Borrow When He Called Upon Murray To Offer Him The Mss.

Of His First Book, "The Gypsies In Spain." Mr. Murray Could Not Fail To

Be Taken At First Sight With This Extraordinary Man. He Had A Splendid

Physique, Standing Six Feet Two In His Stockings, And He Had Brains As

Well As Muscles, As His Works Sufficiently Show. The Book Now Submitted

Was Of A Very Uncommon Character, And Neither The Author Nor The

Publisher Was Very Sanguine About Its Success. Mr. Murray Agreed, After

Perusal, To Print And Publish 750 Copies Of "The Gypsies In Spain," And

Divide The Profits With The Author. But This Was Only The Beginning, And

Borrow Reaped Much Better Remuneration From Future Editions Of The

Volume. Indeed, The Book Was Exceedingly Well Received, And Met With A

Considerable Sale; But Not So Great As His Next Work, "The Bible In

Spain," Which He Was Now Preparing.

 

 

 

_Mr. George Borrow To John Murray_. _August_ 23, 1841.

 

 

 

"A Queer Book Will Be This Same 'Bible In Spain,' Containing All My

Queer Adventures In That Queer Country Whilst Engaged In Distributing

The Gospel, But Neither Learning, Nor Disquisition, Fine Writing, Or

Poetry. A Book With Such A Bible And Of This Description Can Scarcely

Fail Of Success. It Will Make Two Nice Foolscap Octavo Volumes Of About

500 Pages Each. I Have Not Heard From Ford Since I Had Last The Pleasure

Of Seeing You. Is His Book Out? I Hope That He Will Not Review The

'Zincali' Until The Bible Is Forthcoming, When He May, If He Please,

Kill Two Birds With One Stone. I Hear From Saint Petersburg That There

Is A Notice Of The 'Zincali' In The _Revue Britannique_; It Has Been

Translated Into Russian. Do You Know Anything About It?"

 

 

 

_Mr. George Borrow To John Murray_. Oulton Hall, Lowestoft, _January_

1842.

 

 

 

Chapter 30 ( George Borrow--Richard Ford--Horace Twiss--John Sterling--Mr. Gladstone--Death Of Southey, Etc.) Pg 176

My Dear Sir,

 

 

 

We Are Losing Time. I Have Corrected Seven Hundred Consecutive Pages Of

Ms., And The Remaining Two Hundred Will Be Ready In A Fortnight. I Do

Not Think There Will Be A Dull Page In The Whole Book, As I Have Made

One Or Two Very Important Alterations; The Account Of My Imprisonment At

Madrid Cannot Fail, I Think, Of Being Particularly Interesting....

During The Last Week I Have Been Chiefly Engaged In Horse-Breaking. A

Most Magnificent Animal Has Found His Way To This Neighbourhood--A

Half-Bred Arabian. He Is At Present In The Hands Of A Low Horse-Dealer,

And Can Be Bought For Eight Pounds, But No One Will Have Him. It Is Said

That He Kills Everybody Who Mounts Him. I Have Been _Charming_ Him, And

Have So Far Succeeded That He Does Not Fling Me More Than Once In Five

Minutes. What A Contemptible Trade Is The Author's Compared With That Of

The Jockey's!

 

 

 

Mr. Borrow Prided Himself On Being A Horse-Sorcerer, An Art He Learned

Among The Gypsies, With Whose Secrets He Claimed Acquaintance. He

Whispered Some Unknown Gibberish Into Their Ears, And Professed Thus To

Tame Them.

 

 

 

He Proceeded With "The Bible In Spain." In The Following Month He Sent

To Mr. Murray The Ms. Of The First Volume. To The General Information As

To The Contents And Interest Of The Volume, He Added These Words:

 

 

 

_Mr. George Borrow To John Murray_.

 

 

 

_February_, 1842.

 

 

 

"I Spent A Day Last Week With Our Friend Dawson Turner At Yarmouth. What

Capital Port He Keeps! He Gave Me Some Twenty Years Old, And Of Nearly

The Finest Flavour That I Ever Tasted. There Are Few Better Things Than

Old Books, Old Pictures, And Old Port, And He Seems To Have Plenty Of

All Three."

 

 

 

_May_ 10, 1842.

 

 

 

"I Am Coming Up To London Tomorrow, And Intend To Call At Albemarle

Chapter 30 ( George Borrow--Richard Ford--Horace Twiss--John Sterling--Mr. Gladstone--Death Of Southey, Etc.) Pg 177

Street.... I Make No Doubt That We Shall Be Able To Come To Terms; I

Like Not The Idea Of Applying To Second-Rate People. I Have Been

Dreadfully Unwell Since I Last Heard From You--A Regular Nervous Attack;

At Present I Have A Bad Cough, Caught By Getting Up At Night In Pursuit

Of Poachers And Thieves. A Horrible Neighbourhood This--Not A Magistrate

That Dares To Do His Duty.

 

 

 

"P.S.--Ford's Book Not Out Yet?"

 

 

 

There Seems To Have Been Some Difficulty About Coming To Terms. Borrow

Had Promised His Friends That His Book Should Be Out By October 1, And

He Did Not Wish Them To Be Disappointed:

 

 

 

_Mr. George Borrow To John Murray_.

 

 

 

_July_ 4, 1842.

 

 

 

Why This Delay? Mr. Woodfall [The Printer] Tells Me That The State Of

Trade Is Wretched. Well And Good! But You Yourself Told Me So Two Months

Ago, When You Wrote Requesting That I Would Give You The Preference,

Provided I Had Not Made Arrangements With Other Publishers. Between

Ourselves, My Dear Friend, I Wish The State Of The Trade Were Ten Times

Worse Than It Is, And Then Things Would Find Their True Level, And An

Original Work Would Be Properly Appreciated, And A Set Of People Who

Have No Pretensions To Write, Having Nothing To Communicate But

Tea-Table Twaddle, Could No Longer Be Palmed Off Upon The Public As

Mighty Lions And Lionesses. But To The Question: What Are Your

Intentions With Respect To "The Bible In Spain"? I Am A Frank Man, And

Frankness Never Offends Me. Has Anybody Put You Out Of Conceit With The

Book? There Is No Lack Of Critics, Especially In Your Neighbourhood.

Tell Me Frankly, And I Will Drink Your Health In Rommany. Or, Would The

Appearance Of "The Bible" On The First Of October Interfere With The

Avatar, First Or Second, Of Some Very Lion Or Divinity, To Whom George

Borrow, Who Is Neither, Must, Of Course, Give Place? Be Frank With Me,

My Dear Sir, And I Will Drink Your Health In Rommany And Madeira.

 

 

 

In Case Of Either Of The Above Possibilities Being The Fact, Allow Me To

Assure You That I Am Quite Willing To Release You From Your Share Of The

Agreement Into Which We Entered. At The Same Time, I Do Not Intend To

Let The Work Fall To The Ground, As It Has Been Promised To The Public.

Unless You Go On With It, I Shall Remit Woodfall The Necessary Money For

The Purchase Of Paper, And When It Is Ready Offer It To The World. If It

Chapter 30 ( George Borrow--Richard Ford--Horace Twiss--John Sterling--Mr. Gladstone--Death Of Southey, Etc.) Pg 178

Be But Allowed Fair Play, I Have No Doubt Of Its Success. It Is An

Original Book, On An Original Subject. Tomorrow, July 5, I Am

Thirty-Nine. Have The Kindness To Drink My Health In Madeira.

 

 

 

Ever Most Sincerely Yours,

 

 

 

George Borrow.

 

 

 

Terms Were Eventually Arranged To The Satisfaction Of Both Parties.

Borrow Informed Murray That He Had Sent The Last Proofs To The Printer,

And Continued:

 

 

 

_Mr. George Borrow To John Murray_.

 

 

 

_November_ 25, 1842.

 

 

 

Only Think, Poor Allan Cunningham Dead! A Young Man, Only Fifty-Eight,

Strong And Tall As A Giant, Might Have Lived To A Hundred And One; But

He Bothered Himself About The Affairs Of This World Far Too Much. That

Statue Shop [Of Chantrey's] Was His Bane! Took To Bookmaking

Likewise--In A Word, Was Too Fond Of Mammon. Awful Death--No

Preparation--Came Literally Upon Him Like A Thief In The Dark. I'm

Thinking Of Writing A Short Life Of Him; Old Friend Of Twenty Years'

Standing. I Know A Good Deal About Him; "Traditional Tales," His Best

Work, First Appeared In _London Magazine_, Pray Send Dr. Bowring A Copy

Of The Bible-Another Old Friend. Send One To Ford, A Capital Fellow. God

Bless You--Feel Quite Melancholy.

 

 

 

Ever Yours,

 

 

 

G. Borrow.

 

 

 

"The Bible In Spain" Was Published Towards The End Of The Year, And

Created A Sensation. It Was Praised By Many Critics, And Condemned By

Others, For Borrow Had His Enemies In The Press.