The Life of Sir Richard Burton | Page 4

since the death of Sir Richard Burton and
twelve since the appearance of the biography of Lady Burton. A deeply
pathetic interest attaches itself to that book. Lady Burton was stricken
down with an incurable disease. Death with its icy breath hung over her
as her pen flew along the paper, and the questions constantly on her lips
were "Shall I live to complete my task? Shall I live to tell the world
how great and noble a man my husband was, and to refute the
calumnies that his enemies have so industriously circulated?" She did
complete it in a sense, for the work duly appeared; but no one
recognised more clearly than herself its numerous shortcomings. Indeed,
it is little better than a huge scrap-book filled with newspaper cuttings
and citations from Sir Richard's and other books, hurriedly selected and
even more hurriedly pieced together. It gives the impressions of Lady
Burton alone, for those of Sir Richard's friends are ignored--so we see
Burton from only one point of view. Amazing to say, it does not
contain a single original anecdote[FN#1]--though perhaps, more
amusing anecdotes could be told of Burton than of any other modern

Englishman. It will be my duty to rectify Lady Burton's mistakes and
mis-statements and to fill up the vast hiatuses that she has left.
Although it will be necessary to subject her to criticism, I shall
endeavour at the same time to keep constantly in mind the queenliness
and beauty of her character, her almost unexampled devotion to her
husband, and her anxiety that everyone should think well of him. Her
faults were all of the head. Of the heart she had absolutely none.
As the Richard Burton whom I have to pourtray differs considerably
from Lady Burton's "Earthly God,"[FN#2] I have been very careful to
give chapter and verse for all my statements. The work has been written
on the same lines as my Life of Edward FitzGerald; that is to say,
without any aim except to arrive at the precise truth. But although I
have regarded it as no concern of mine whether any particular fact tells
for or against Sir Richard Burton, I do think that when the reader rises
from the last page he will feel that he has been in the company not only
of one of the greatest, noblest and most fearless of Englishmen, but also
of one who, without making much profession of doing so, really loved
his fellow-men, and who, despite his inability to put himself in line
with religionists, fought steadily on the side of righteousness. We are
aware that there are in his books a few observations which call for
vehement and unqualified denunciation; but against them must be
placed the fundamental goodness of the man, to which all who knew
him intimately have testified. In not a few respects Sir Richard Burton's
character resembled Edward FitzGerald's. Burton, indeed, hailed the
adapter of Omar Khayyam as a "fellow Sufi."
Lady Burton, too, comes extremely well out of the fire of criticism. The
reader may object to her religious views, he may smile at her
weaknesses, he may lament her indiscretions, but he will recognise that
at bottom she was a God-fearing, noble-minded woman; and he will,
we think, find himself really in love with her almost before knowing it.
The amount of absolutely new information in this work is very large.
Thus we are telling for the first time the history of Burton's friendships
with Mr. F. F. Arbuthnot, Mr. John Payne, and others; and we are
giving for the first time, too, a complete and accurate history of the

translation of The Arabian Nights, The Scented Garden, and other
works. Hundreds of new facts are recorded respecting these and other
absorbing topics, while the citations from the unpublished letters of
Burton and Lady Burton will, we are sure, receive a welcome. We are
able to give about fifty entirely new anecdotes--many of them
extremely piquant and amusing. We also tell the touching story of
Burton's brother Edward. In our accounts of Burton's travels will be
found a number of interesting facts and some anecdotes not given in
Burton's works.
The new material has been derived from many sources--but from ten in
particular.
(1) From two hundred unpublished letters of Sir Richard Burton and
Lady Burton.
(2) From interviews with Mrs. E. J. Burton[FN#3] and Mr. F. Burton
(Burton's cousins), Mr. John Payne, Mrs. Arbuthnot, Mr. Watts-Dunton,
Mr. W. F. Kirby, Mr. A. G. Ellis, Dr. Codrington, Professor James F.
Blumhardt, Mr. Henry R. Tedder (librarian and secretary of The
Athenaeum, Burton's club), Mrs. Baddeley (mother of Burton's friend,
St. Clair Baddeley), Madame Nicastro (sister of the late Mr. Albert
Letchford, illustrator of The Arabian Nights), Dr. Grenfell Baker
(Burton's medical attendant during the last three