A Publisher And His Friends (Fiscle Part-4) - Samuel Smiles (books like beach read TXT) 📗

Chapter 30 ( George Borrow--Richard Ford--Horace Twiss--John Sterling--Mr. Gladstone--Death Of Southey, Etc.) Pg 179

 

 

_Mr. George Borrow To John Murray, Junior_.

 

 

 

Lowestoft, _December_ 1, 1842.

 

 

 

My Dear Sir,

 

 

 

I Received Your Kind Letter Containing The Bills. It Was Very Friendly

Of You, And I Thank You, Though, Thank God, I Have No Christmas Bills To

Settle. Money, However, Always Acceptable. I Dare Say I Shall Be In

London With The Entrance Of The New Year; I Shall Be Most Happy To See

You, And Still More Your Father, Whose Jokes Do One Good. I Wish All The

World Were As Gay As He; A Gentleman Drowned Himself Last Week On My

Property, I Wish He Had Gone Somewhere Else. I Can't Get Poor Allan Out

Of My Head. When I Come Up, Intend To Go And See His Wife. What A Woman!

I Hope Our Book Will Be Successful. If So, Shall Put Another On The

Stocks. Capital Subject; Early Life, Studies, And Adventures; Some

Account Of My Father, William Taylor, Whiter, Big Ben, Etc., Etc. Had

Another Letter From Ford; Wonderful Fellow; Seems In High Spirits.

Yesterday Read "Letters From The Baltic"; Much Pleased With It; Very

Clever Writer; Critique In _Despatch_ Harsh And Unjust; Quite Uncalled

For; Blackguard Affair Altogether.

 

 

 

I Remain, Dear Sir, Ever Yours,

 

 

 

George Borrow,

 

 

 

_December_ 31, 1842.

 

 

 

My Dear Sir,

 

 

 

I Have Great Pleasure In Acknowledging Your Very Kind Letter Of The

28th, And Am Happy To Hear That Matters Are Going On So Prosperously. It

Is Quite Useless To Write Books Unless They Sell, And The Public Has Of

Late Become So Fastidious That It Is No Easy Matter To Please It. With

Respect To The Critique In The _Times_, I Fully Agree With You That It

Was Harsh And Unjust, And The Passages Selected By No Means Calculated

Chapter 30 ( George Borrow--Richard Ford--Horace Twiss--John Sterling--Mr. Gladstone--Death Of Southey, Etc.) Pg 180

To Afford A Fair Idea Of The Contents Of The Work. A Book, However, Like

"The Bible In Spain" Can Scarcely Be Published Without Exciting

Considerable Hostility, And I Have Been So Long Used To Receiving Hard

Knocks That They Make No Impression Upon Me. After All, The Abuse Of The

_Times_ Is Better Than Its Silence; It Would Scarcely Have Attacked The

Work Unless It Had Deemed It Of Some Importance, And So The Public Will

Think. All I Can Say Is, That I Did My Best, Never Writing But When The

Fit Took Me, And Never Delivering Anything To My Amanuensis But What I

Was Perfectly Satisfied With. You Ask Me My Opinion Of The Review In The

_Quarterly_. Very Good, Very Clever, Very Neatly Done. Only One Fault To

Find--Too Laudatory. I Am By No Means The Person Which The Reviewer Had

The Kindness To Represent Me. I Hope You Are Getting On Well As To

Health; Strange Weather This, Very Unwholesome, I Believe, Both For Man

And Beast: Several People Dead, And Great Mortality Amongst The Cattle.

Am Tolerably Well Myself, But Get But Little Rest--Disagreeable

Dreams--Digestion Not Quite So Good As I Could Wish; Been On The Water

System--Won't Do; Have Left It Off, And Am Now Taking Lessons In

Singing. I Hope To Be In London Towards The End Of Next Month, And

Reckon Much Upon The Pleasure Of Seeing You. On Monday I Shall Mount My

Horse And Ride Into Norwich To Pay A Visit To A Few Old Friends.

Yesterday The Son Of Our Excellent Dawson Turner Rode Over To See Me;

They Are All Well, It Seems. Our Friend Joseph Gurney, However, Seems To

Be In A Strange Way--Diabetes, I Hear. I Frequently Meditate Upon "The

Life," And Am Arranging The Scenes In My Mind. With Best Remembrances To

Mrs. M. And All Your Excellent Family,

 

 

 

Truly And Respectfully Yours,

 

 

 

George Borrow.

 

 

 

Mr. Richard Ford's Forthcoming Work--"The Handbook For Spain"--About

Which Mr. Borrow Had Been Making So Many Enquiries, Was The Result Of

Many Years' Hard Riding And Constant Investigation Throughout Spain, One

Of The Least Known Of All European Countries At That Time. Mr. Ford

Called Upon Mr. Murray, After "The Bible In Spain" Had Been Published,

And A Copy Of The Work Was Presented To Him. He Was About To Start On

His Journey To Heavitree, Near Exeter. A Few Days After His Arrival Mr.

Murray Received The Following Letter From Him:

 

 

 

_Mr. Richard Ford To John Murray_.

 

 

 

"I Read Borrow With Great Delight All The Way Down Per Rail, And It

Shortened The Rapid Flight Of That Velocipede. You May Depend Upon It

That The Book Will Sell, Which, After All, Is The Rub. It Is The

Chapter 30 ( George Borrow--Richard Ford--Horace Twiss--John Sterling--Mr. Gladstone--Death Of Southey, Etc.) Pg 181

Antipodes Of Lord Carnarvon, And Yet How They Tally In What They Have In

Common, And That Is Much--The People, The Scenery Of Galicia, And The

Suspicions And Absurdities Of Spanish Jacks-In-Office, Who Yield Not In

Ignorance Or Insolence To Any Kind Of Red-Tapists, Hatched In The

Hot-Beds Of Jobbery And Utilitarian Mares-Nests ... Borrow Spares None

Of Them. I See He Hits Right And Left, And Floors His Man Wherever He

Meets Him. I Am Pleased With His Honest Sincerity Of Purpose And His

Graphic Abrupt Style. It Is Like An Old Spanish Ballad, Leaping In _Res

Medias_, Going From Incident To Incident, Bang, Bang, Bang, Hops, Steps,

And Jumps Like A Cracker, And Leaving Off Like One, When You Wish He

Would Give You Another Touch Or _Coup De Grace_ ... He Really Sometimes

Puts Me In Mind Of Gil Blas; But He Has Not The Sneer Of The Frenchman,

Nor Does He Gild The Bad. He Has A Touch Of Bunyan, And, Like That

Enthusiastic Tinker, Hammers Away, _A La Gitano_, Whenever He Thinks He

Can Thwack The Devil Or His Man-Of-All-Work On Earth--The Pope. Therein

He Resembles My Friend And Everybody's Friend--_Punch_--Who, Amidst All

His Adventures, Never Spares The Black One. However, I Am Not Going To

Review Him Now; For I Know That Mr. Lockhart Has Expressed A Wish That I

Should Do It For The _Quarterly Review_. Now, A Wish From My Liege

Master Is A Command. I Had Half Engaged Myself Elsewhere, Thinking That

He Did Not Quite Appreciate Such A _Trump_ As I Know Borrow To Be. He Is

As Full Of Meat As An Egg, And A Fresh Laid One--Not One Of Your Inglis

Breed, Long Addled By Over-Bookmaking. Borrow Will Lay You Golden Eggs,

And Hatch Them After The Ways Of Egypt; Put Salt On His Tail And Secure

Him In Your Coop, And Beware How Any Poacher Coaxes Him With 'Raisins'

Or Reasons Out Of The Albemarle Preserves. When You See Mr. Lockhart

Tell Him That I Will Do The Paper. I Owe My Entire Allowance To The _Q.

R_. Flag ... Perhaps My Understanding The _Full Force_ Of This 'Gratia'

Makes Me Over Partial To This Wild Missionary; But I Have Ridden Over

The Same Tracks Without The Tracts, Seen The Same People, And Know That

_He_ Is True, And I Believe That He Believes All That He Writes To Be

True."

 

 

 

Mr. Lockhart Himself, However, Wrote The Review For The _Quarterly_ (No.

141, December 1842). It Was A Temptation That He Could Not Resist, And

His Article Was Most Interesting. "The Gypsies In Spain" And "The Bible

In Spain" Went Through Many Editions, And There Is Still A Large Demand

For Both Works. Before We Leave George Borrow We Will Give A Few

Extracts From His Letters, Which, Like His Books, Were Short, Abrupt,

And Graphic. He Was Asked To Become A Member Of The Royal Institution.

 

 

 

_Mr. George Borrow To John Murray_.

 

 

 

_February_ 26, 1843.

 

 

 

"I Should Like To Become A Member. The Thing Would Just Suit Me, More

Chapter 30 ( George Borrow--Richard Ford--Horace Twiss--John Sterling--Mr. Gladstone--Death Of Southey, Etc.) Pg 182

Especially As They Do Not Want _Clever_ Men, But _Safe_ Men. Now, I Am

Safe Enough; Ask The Bible Society, Whose Secrets I Have Kept So Much To

Their Satisfaction, That They Have Just Accepted At My Hands An English

Gypsy Gospel Gratis. What Would The Institution Expect Me To Write? I

Have Exhausted Spain And The Gypsies, Though An Essay On Welsh Language

And Literature Might Suit, With An Account Of The Celtic Tongue. Or,

Won't Something About The Ancient North And Its Literature Be More

Acceptable? I Have Just Received An Invitation To Join The Ethnological

Society (Who Are They?), Which I Have Declined. I Am At Present In Great

Demand; A Bishop Has Just Requested Me To Visit Him. The Worst Of These

Bishops Is That They Are Skin-Flints, Saving For Their Families. Their

Cuisine Is Bad, And Their Port Wine Execrable, And As For Their

Cigars!--I Say, Do You Remember Those Precious Ones Of The Sanctuary? A

Few Days Ago One Of Them Turned Up Again. I Found It In My Great-Coat

Pocket, And Thought Of You. I Have Seen The Article In The _Edinburgh_

About The Bible--Exceedingly Brilliant And Clever, But Rather Too

Epigrammatic, Quotations Scanty And Not Correct. Ford Is Certainly A

Most Astonishing Fellow; He Quite Flabbergasts Me--Handbooks, Review's,

And I Hear That He Has Just Been Writing A 'Life Of Velasquez' For The

'Penny Cyclopaedia'!"

 

 

 

 

Oulton Hall, Lowestoft, _March_ 13, 1843.

 

 

 

"So The Second Edition Is Disposed Of. Well And Good. Now, My Dear

Friend, Have The Kindness To Send Me An Account Of The Profits Of It And

Let Us Come To A Settlement. Up To The Present Time Do Assure You I Have

Not Made A Penny By Writing, What With Journeys To London And Tarrying

There. Basta! I Hate To Talk Of Money Matters.

 

 

 

"Let Them Call Me A Nonentity If They Will; I Believe That Some Of Those

Who Say I Am A Phantom Would Alter Their Tone Provided They Were To Ask

Me To A Good Dinner; Bottles Emptied And Fowls Devoured Are Not Exactly

The Feats Of A Phantom: No! I Partake More Of The Nature Of A Brownie Or

Robin Goodfellow--Goblins, 'Tis True, But Full Of Merriment And Fun, And

Fond Of Good Eating And Drinking. Occasionally I Write A Page Or Two Of

My Life. I Am Now Getting My Father Into The Earl Of Albemarle's

Regiment, In Which He