George Borrow and His Circle | Page 2

UNPUBLISHED PORTRAIT OF GEORGE BORROW, 304
Taken in the garden of Mrs. Simms Reeve of Norwich in 1848.
OULTON COTTAGE FROM THE BROAD, 352
THE SUMMER-HOUSE, OULTON, AS IT IS TO-DAY, 352
ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT
GEORGE BORROW'S BIRTHPLACE AT DUMPLING GREEN, 35
From a Drawing by Fortunino Matania.
TITLE-PAGES OF 'TARGUM' AND 'THE TALISMAN,' 178
PORTION OF A LETTER FROM GEORGE BORROW TO THE REV. SAMUEL BRANDRAM, 187
Written From Madrid, 13th May 1838.
FACSIMILE OF AN ACCOUNT OF GEORGE BORROW'S EXPENSES IN SPAIN MADE OUT BY THE BIBLE SOCIETY, 190
A LETTER FROM SIR GEORGE VILLIERS, AFTERWARDS EARL OF CLARENDON, BRITISH MINISTER TO SPAIN, TO GEORGE BORROW, 211
MRS. BORROW'S COPY OF HER MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE, 222
AN APPLICATION FOR A BOOK IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM, WITH BORROW'S SIGNATURE, 230
A SHEKEL, 244
TITLE-PAGE OF BASQUE TRANSLATION BY OTEIZA OF THE GOSPEL OF ST. LUKE, 247
TITLE-PAGE OF FIRST EDITION OF ROMANY TRANSLATION OF THE GOSPEL OF ST. LUKE, 247
TWO PAGES FROM BORROW'S CORRECTED PROOF SHEETS OF ROMANY TRANSLATION OF THE GOSPEL OF ST. LUKE, 247
INSCRIPTIONS IN BORROW'S HANDWRITING ON HIS WIFE'S COPIES OF 'THE BIBLE IN SPAIN' AND 'LAVENGRO,' 275
THE ORIGINAL TITLE-PAGE OF 'LAVENGRO,' 280
From the Manuscript in the possession of the Author of 'George Borrow and his Circle.'
FACSIMILE OF THE FIRST PAGE OF 'LAVENGRO,' 282
From the Manuscript in the possession of the Author of 'George Borrow and his Circle.'
RUNIC STONE FROM THE ISLE OF MAN, 302
FACSIMILE OF A COMMUNICATION FROM CHARLES DARWIN TO GEORGE BORROW, 318
FACSIMILE OF A PAGE OF THE MANUSCRIPT OF 'THE ROMANY RYE,' 346
From the Borrow Papers in the possession of the Author of 'George Borrow and his Circle.'
'WILD WALES' IN ITS BEGINNINGS, 365
Two pages from one of George Borrow's Pocket-books with pencilled notes made on his journey through Wales.
FACSIMILE OF THE TITLE-PAGE OF 'WILD WALES,' 368
From the original Manuscript in the possession of the Author of 'George Borrow and his Circle.'
FACSIMILE OF THE FIRST PAGE OF 'WILD WALES,' 370
From the original Manuscript in the possession of the Author of 'George Borrow and his Circle.'
FACSIMILE OF A POEM FROM 'TARGUM,' 403
A Translation from the French by George Borrow.
BORROW AS A PROFESSOR OF LANGUAGES--AN ADVERTISEMENT, 409
A PAGE OF THE MANUSCRIPT OF BORROW'S 'SONGS OF SCANDINAVIA'--AN UNPUBLISHED WORK, 411
A LETTER FROM BORROW TO HIS WIFE WRITTEN FROM ROME IN HIS CONTINENTAL JOURNEY OF 1844, 418

INTRODUCTION
It is now exactly seventeen years ago since I published a volume not dissimilar in form to this under the title of Charlotte Bront? and her Circle. The title had then an element of novelty, Dante Gabriel Rossetti's Dante and his Circle, at the time the only book of this particular character, having quite another aim. There are now some twenty or more biographies based upon a similar plan.[1] The method has its convenience where there are earlier lives of a given writer, as one can in this way differentiate the book from previous efforts by making one's hero stand out among his friends. Some such apology, I feel, is necessary, because, in these days of the multiplication of books, every book, at least other than a work of imagination, requires ample apology. In Charlotte Bront? and her Circle I was able to claim that, even though following in the footsteps of Mrs. Gaskell, I had added some four hundred new letters by Charlotte Bront? to the world's knowledge of that interesting woman, and still more considerably enlarged our knowledge of her sister Emily. This achievement has been generously acknowledged, and I am most proud of the testimony of the most accomplished of living biographers, Sir George Otto Trevelyan, who once rendered me the following quite spontaneous tribute:
We have lately read aloud for the second time your Bront? book; let alone private readings. It is unique in plan and excellence, and I am greatly obliged to you for it. Apart from the pleasure of the book, the form of it has always interested me as a professional biographer. It certainly is novel; and in this case I am pretty sure that it is right.
With such a testimony before me I cannot hesitate to present my second biography in similar form. In the case of George Borrow, however, I am not in a position to supplement one transcendent biography, as in the case of Charlotte Bront? and Mrs. Gaskell. I have before me no less than four biographies of Borrow, every one of them of distinctive merit. These are:
Life, Writings, and Correspondence of George Borrow. Derived from Official and other Authentic Sources. By William I. Knapp, Ph.D., LL.D. 2 vols. John Murray, 1899.
George Borrow: The Man and his Work. By R. A. J. Walling. Cassell, 1908.
The Life of George Borrow. Compiled from Unpublished Official Documents. His Works, Correspondence, etc. By Herbert Jenkins. John Murray, 1912.
George Borrow: The Man and his Books. By Edward Thomas. Chapman and Hall, 1912.
All of these books have contributed something of value and importance to the