The writer, hearing that his old friend had returned to England, to apply, he believes, for an increase of salary, and for a title, called upon him, unwillingly, it is true, for he had no wish to see a person for whom, though he bore him no ill-will, he could not avoid feeling a considerable portion of contempt; the truth is, that his sole object in calling was to endeavour to get back a piece of literary property which his friend had obtained from him many years previously, and which, though he had frequently applied for it, he never could get back. Well, the writer called; he did not get his property, which, indeed, he had scarcely time to press for, being almost instantly attacked by his good friend and his wife—yes, it was then that the author was set upon by an old Radical and his wife—the wife, who looked the very image of shame and malignity, did not say much, it is true, but encouraged her husband in all he said. Both of their own accord introduced the subject of Lavengro. The Radical called the writer a grumbler, just as if there had ever been a greater grumbler than himself until, by the means above described, he had obtained a place; he said that the book contained a melancholy view of human nature—just as if anybody could look in his face without having a melancholy view of human nature. On the writer quietly observing that the book contained an exposition of his principles, the pseudo-Radical replied, that he cared nothing for his principles—which was probably true, it not being likely that he would care for another person’s principles after having shown so thorough a disregard for his own. The writer said that the book, of course, would give offence to humbugs; the Radical then demanded whether he thought him a humbug—the wretched wife was the Radical’s protection, even as he knew she would be; it was on her account that the writer did not kick his good friend; as it was, he looked at him in the face and thought to himself, “How is it possible I should think you a humbug, when only last night I was taking your part in a company in which everybody called you a humbug?”
The Radical, probably observing something in the writer’s eye which he did not like, became all on a sudden abjectly submissive, and, professing the highest admiration for the writer, begged him to visit him in his government; this the writer promised faithfully to do, and he takes the present opportunity of performing his promise.
This is one of the pseudo-Radical calumniators of Lavengro and its author; were the writer on his death-bed he would lay his hand on his heart and say, that he does not believe that there is one trait of exaggeration in the portrait which he has drawn. This is one of the pseudo-Radical calumniators of Lavengro and its author; and this is one of the genus, who, after having railed against jobbery for perhaps a quarter of a century, at present batten on large official salaries which they do not earn. England is a great country, and her interests require that she should have many a well-paid official both at home and abroad; but will England long continue a great country if the care of her interests, both at home and abroad, is in many instances intrusted to beings like him described above, whose only recommendation for an official appointment was that he was deeply versed in the secrets of his party and of the Whigs?
Before he concludes, the writer will take the liberty of saying of Lavengro that it is a book written for the express purpose of inculcating virtue, love of country, learning, manly pursuits, and genuine religion, for example, that of the Church of England, and for awakening a contempt for nonsense of every kind, and a hatred for priestcraft, more especially that of Rome.
And in conclusion, with respect to many passages of his book in which he has expressed himself in terms neither measured nor mealy, he will beg leave to observe, in the words of a great poet, who lived a profligate life, it is true, but who died a sincere penitent—thanks, after God, to good Bishop Burnet—
“All this with indignation I have hurl’d
At the pretending part of this proud world,
Who, swollen with selfish vanity, devise
False freedoms, formal cheats, and holy lies,
Over their fellow fools to tyrannise.”—Rochester.
THE END.
NOTES TO THE ROMANY RYE,
WITH
CORRECTIONS, IDENTIFICATIONS AND
TRANSLATIONS.
Page 5. The man in black: The Rev. Fraser. See pp. 24–25, and “Arbuthnot” in Bibliog.—Barbarini, read Barberini: Urban VIII., pope 1623–44.—6. Nipotismo di Roma: See “Leti” in Bibliog.—Ganganelli: Clement XIV., pope, 1769–74.—10. Mezzofanti: So here and elsewhere in Romany Rye; Mezzofante in Lavengro—Cardinal Giuseppe, 1774–1849, the celebrated linguist.—Leon the Isaurian: Reigned at Constantinople from 717–741.—11. Ignacio: Spanish form of Ignatius.—14. Omani batsikhom: Manchu Tartar form of prayer given elsewhere by Borrow as Oum-ma-ni-bat-mi-houm. See Life, i., p. 176.—15. Bellissima Biondina (It.): Fairest of blondes.—16. Sono un Prete, etc. (It): I am a Roman Catholic Priest.—19. Zamarra (Sp.): A sheep-skin jacket with the wool outside.—Carajo: An oath fit neither to be written nor pronounced, but common to the lower classes of Spaniards, or to ambitious foreign Hispanophiles who cannot know its meaning. See Oudin’s Tesoro, Paris, 1607.—20. Scotch blood: He was, then, a Fraser of Lovat, of whom Simon Lord F. was a supporter of the last Pretender, Charles Edward Stuart, 1746.—Puta (Sp.): The most offensive word for harlot.—Alcoran des Cordeliers, i.e., “the Franciscans’ Coran”: A blasphemous work written in 1399 in Latin by Bartolommeo Albizzi (Albitius); first published in printed form at Milan in 1510, then by Luther in 1542 with his peculiar comments, and finally in French at Geneva, 1556. See “Albizzi” in the Bibliog.—22. Bible: The price of the old apple-woman’s Bible was, it will be remembered, one half-crown (Lavengro, p. 264).—23. Alexander VI.: Pope 1492–1503. He was a Spaniard of Valencia, and his family name was Rodrigo Borja, in It. Borgia.—24. L’opere sue, etc.: His deeds were not those of lions, but of foxes—a slight alteration of Dante’s L’opere mie, etc. See L’inf., xxvii., st. 25.—25. Oimè (It.): Alas!—To . . ., read Rome.—Sir John D., read Sir Thomas Dereham: A follower of the Stuarts; he died in 1739, and his monument stands in the English College at Rome.—There is at . . ., read Rome.—Yes, per Dio (It.): By Heaven!
Page 25. Parsons and Garnet: Two English Jesuits—Robert Parsons (1547–1610), superior to the Catholic Missions in England, and Henry Garnet (1555–1606), hanged because he refused to reveal the secrets of the confessional in connection with the Gunpowder Plot.—No hay remedio (Sp.): There is no help for it.—26. Inserted it: In vol. iv., p. 330.—32. Calañés: A Spanish hat worn by the lower classes, having the rim turned up against the crown.—There’s a chovahanee, etc.: The full ditty runs thus in one of Borrow’s MSS.:—
“THE PETULENGRES.
“There’s a chovahanee and a chovahanó,
The nav se lendè Petulengro;
Sore the chavès ’dré their ten
Are chories and labbenies—tatchipen,”
which reading corrects that of the text.—34. Flaming Bosville: Anselo Herne. See p. 67, and note to Lavengro, p. 363.—37. Gentleman Cooper and White-headed Bob: i.e., George Cooper and Ned Baldwin, who fought on the 5th of July, 1825, according to Pearce Egan’s Boxiana, v., pp. 61 and 80. Observe that the date harmonises perfectly with the chronology of the expedition.—38. Brynhilda the Valkyrie, or Amazon, was the wife of Gunnar and friend of Sigurd. See the Edda in Bibliog. Sigurd, called Fafnisbane or the Slayer of Fafnir, was a heroic character frequently mentioned in the Edda, the Wilkina Saga, Snorro’s Heimskringla, and Saxo-Grammaticus. In the Wilkina he is Sigurdr Sveinn, in the old Danish Heroic Ballads (Kiæmpeviser) he is Sigurd Snaresvend (Borrow’s “Snareswayne”), and Siegfrid in the Lay of the Nibelungs. Sivard or Sivord is a German variety of the same name.
Page 40. Feasting: This rustic banquet was offered to Sylvester and Ursula who were married that day, although our “rye” was not aware of the fact till later. The song was built up by our author from a very slender prose draft, which I find in its earliest form given thus:—
1. “DRABBING THE BAULO,
“We jaws to the drab-engro and lels dui or trin hors-worth of drab, and when we wels to the sweti we pens we can have a drab at a baulo. Then we kairs it opré, and jaws to a farm-ker to mang a bit of habben, and then we pens: ‘Chuva lis acai and dov-odoy baulo will lel it, and to-morrow sorlu we’ll wel apopli and mang it’. And so we kairs, and on the sorlu when we’ve got it, we toves it well; we kins levinor at the kitchema, and have a kosko habben. The boshom-engro plays (kils), and the tawni juva gils, a kosko puro Rommany guillie.” Then follows the gillie nearly as in the text.
2. “DRABBING THE BAULO.
“To mande shoon ye Rommany Chals
Who besh in the pus about the yag
I’ll pen how we drab the baulo.“We jaws to the drab-engro ker
Trin horsworth there of drab we lels
And when to the swety back we wels
We pens we’ll drab the baulo.“And then we kairs the drab opré,
And then we jaws to the farming ker
To mang a beti habben,
A beti poggado habben.“A rinkeno baulo there we dick,
And then we pens in Rommany jib:
‘Chiv lis odoy oprey the chick,
The baulo he will lel lis,
The baulo he will lel lis.“‘Apopli on the sorlo we
Will wel and mang him mullo,
Will wel and mang his truppo.’“And so we kairs, and so we kairs,
We mang him on the sorlo,
And rig to the tan the baulo.“And then we toves his wendror well
Till sore the wendror iuziou sie,
Till kekkeno drab’s adrey lis,
Till drab there’s kek adrey lis.“And then his truppo well we hatch,
Kin levinor at the kitchema,
And have a kosko habben,
A kosko Rommano habben.“The boshom-engro kils, he kils,
The tawni juva gils, she gils,
A puro Rommany gillie,
Now shoon the Rommany gillie.”
3. The third and last MS. is complete, but varies considerably from the printed text. Romany is written with two m’s, as in Lavengro throughout; in the fourth verse it reads: “In Rommany chib: chiv lis odoy opré the chik”; fourth line omits “and”; in the fifth and sixth verses it gives “sorlo” properly, instead of “saulo”; in seventh verse it reads “his wendror,” and in the last, “boshom-engro” and “tawni”.
From all these variants it results that MS. No. 3 furnishes a better reading than the printed text.
Page 42. Ursula’s Song: By the aid of the Gypsy list at the end of this volume, the translation can be easily made out by the curious reader.—46. Piramus: In MS. also Priamus.—Sanpriel: Corrupt form of Sanspareil, unrivalled.—Synfye: Slavonic form of Cynthia—th in Russian is pronounced ph or f; Thomas, Fómas.—47. Life of Charles: Add XIIth.—48. The church: Mentioned as three miles from the dingle, and on pp. 53, 110, as at M., has not yet been discovered.—58. The Edda: Early Icelandic literary monuments, consisting of the Elder or Poetic Edda collected by Sæmund, and the later or Prose Edda collected by Snorro Sturleson. See Mallet’s Northern Antiquities, Bohn’s Edition.—Sagas: Early historical tales handed down by oral tradition. See Bibliog.—67. Anselo Herne: His clan-name. See note to p. 363 of Lavengro. 68. Pulci: Luigi Pulci (1432–87). See Bibliog.—69. Ingravidata (It.): With child.—E nacquene, etc.: “And of her a son was born, says story, who subsequently gave great victory to Charlemagne”.—71. Fortiguerra: Niccolò Fortiguerra (1674–1735). He did not live to print his voluminous poem entitled Ricciardetto, having died in 1735, just “ninety years” from the date 1825, as our text declares.—76. Slammocks, etc.: Norwich worthies, I suppose; at least I do not find them in the Boxiana at my command.—89. The Armenian in this (xivth) chapter I find correct. Hramahyel should have been given hramaïyel, hntal, etc., khntal (χντάλ), and madagh, madag. See “Villotte” in the Bibliog.—91. Hard-mouthed jade: This favourite expression of Mr. Borrow’s proceeds, I opine, from his readings in the quaint eighteenth century literature with which his library abounded. In Defoe’s Moll Flanders, p. 301, edition of 1722, we read: “The witnesses were the two wenches, a couple of hard mouth’d jades indeed”. And on p. 323: “A hard mouth’d man”.—93. Brynhilda: See note to p. 38.—133–34. The “daffodil” poet: William Wordsworth (1770–1850).—141. Carlo Borromeo: The Cardinal saint, born 1538, died 1584.—143. Bricconi abbasso (It.): “Down with the rogues!”
Page 157. Friar Bacon: The celebrated scientist Roger Bacon (1214–94) was fated, like Virgil, to be popularly metamorphosed into a magician and conjuror. Hence the “Friar Bacon” series of chap-books, extending (so far as we know them) from the sixteenth century to the present. I will give the passage referred to by Mr. Borrow, so that it may be seen that the myth had no reference to the railway. No. 3 in Bibliog., leaf 8:—
“Chapter V. How Miles watched the Brazen-head, and in the end went away from his master.
“Fryer Bacon, having performed many wonderful things by his curious Art, was now sifting out how he might wall England with brass; wherefore he and Fryer Bungy, when they had raised the devil, bound him to a tree, for to make him tell them how it might be performed. He told them that they should make a Brazen-head, which (if they could watch it till it spoke) would tell them how it might be done. The head was made, and they watched till they could watch no longer. At last Fryer Bungey persuaded Fryer Bacon to let his man Miles watch while they slept; to which the Fryer agreed. Then Miles was called, who undertook to awake them when the Head would speak. So to sleep they went, and Miles expected some great speech to come from the Head. At last the Head cryed, ‘TIME IS’; at which Miles fell into a great laughter, and made his scoffs and jears thereat. Then it said, ‘TIME WAS’; but yet he would not awake his master, counting them but silly and frivolous words. Lastly, the Head said, ‘TIME IS PAST’; at which words down it fell, and in falling made such a noise that it awakened the two Fryers, and had almost affrighted poor Miles out of his senses,” etc.
Page 158. L . . ., read Liverpool; C . . ., read Chester.—162. Brooke of Borneo: Sir James Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak (1803–68), George Borrow’s school-mate at Norwich in 1816–17–18.—165. “Vails”: He means, of course, vale.—175–6–7. Romanvile: London. See “English Rogue” in Bibl.—176. The chi she is kaulo (read kauley), etc.: “The lass she is black, she sleeps upon her back”.—177–78. Sivord: Or Sivard, the same as Sigurd, called the Snaresvend (“Snareswayne” on the next page). See note to p. 38, and Romantic Ballads, 1826, pp. 83 and 90. For the reason of Borrow’s changing the Danish svend into “swayne,” see Life, ii., p. 269.—The horse Grayman: i.e., the “Skimming gray” of p. 96, Romantic Ballads.—183. The Maugrabin sorcerer: The “African Magician” in Lane’s translation. There is in this passage of The Romany Rye evidently a confusion of two of the tales in the Arabian Nights—those of Aladdin and Sindbad, fifth voyage.—221. Isten (pron. íshten): Hung. for God.—222. Magyar (pron. mädjr): A Hungarian.—223. Tékéli (1658–1705).—L’Eau de la Reine d’Hongrie, read de Hongrie, h being aspirate in this word.—Pigault Lebrun (Charles), 1753–1835; Les Barons de Felsheim, Paris, 1822.—Ersebet, read Erszebet, Elisabeth.—Florentius of Buda: Flourished 1790–1805. See “Budai Ferencz” in the Bibliog.—224. Álmus, or Álmos (älmosh), died 889. The Hungarian scholar Vámbéri, has exploded the “dream” (or rather “sleep”) theory heretofore entertained with regard to the origin of the name Almos; he says it is an epithet, meaning the Great, the Sublime, the Noble, the Glorious (Ursprung, pp. 62, 156).—225 (228 and elsewhere), Dunau, read Donau, Germ. for Danube.—Király and Ház: The former comes from the Servian Králj (lj like Span. ll or Port. lh), which the Hungarian lengthened into kir-ály, not finding it convenient to pronounce kr. [383] As for haz, from haus (Austrian pop. pronunciation hôs), we are told by Vámbéri that the ancient form was not ház, but hos (Ursp., p. 556).—226. Janos (pron. Yánosh): John.—226. Szava (Hung.): The Save.—229. Laszlo: Ladislaus.—Cilejia: The Roman Claudia Celleia, now Cilly, in Carinthia.—230. Matyas: In English Matthias.—Huz, read husz (Hung.): Twenty. Vámbéri questions this etymology of “hussar” (p. 283), but unsatisfactorily, we think.—Ulazslo: Wladislaus.—Tché Drak: The Roumanian cé dracŭ, but pronounced as in the text, and equivalent to the exclamation que diable!—Mohacs Veszedelem, read Mohacsi Veszedelem: The Disaster of Mohács, the title of a poem by Baron Liszti.—231. Bátory: A mere epithet, the “valiant”.—232. Lajos (laï-osh), Louis or Lewis.—Mufti: The ulémas or Doctors of the (Mahomedan) law.—233. Coloscvar, read Koloszvár, in German, Klausenburg.—Budáï Ferencz: See Bibliog.—235. Rysckie Tsar, read Russki Tsar: The Russian Emperor.—Plescova, now Pskov.—Iván Basilowitz, read Vasiliévitch, known as Iván the Terrible.—236. Izbushka (Russ.): Hut—Tyzza, read Tisza: The river Theiss.—Kopacs Teto, read Kopász Tetö.—Kassau, read Kaschau.—239. Eljen edes, etc. (pron. elyen edesh tsigáñ oor, elyen gool eraï): “Long live the sweet Gypsy gentleman, long live the gudlo Rye”.—241. Roth-Welsch: The German for Thieves’ Slang.—Tzernebock, read Tchernobog (g like Germ. ch): Black god, evil principle.—Bielebock, read Bielbog: White god, the good principle.—242. Saxo-Gramaticus, read Grammaticus, see Bibliog.—Fekete (Hung.): Black.—246. Erik Bloodaxe (Danish Blodöxe): King of Norway, Snorro, 1633, p. 64.—256. Regner Lodbrok: “Regnar” in Icelandic; Borrow gives the Danish term of this king’s name. See his famous Death Song in Mallet, pp. 383–85.—Halgerdr, read Halgerda, Mallet, pp. 340–41.—257. Biorn, read Björn and Ivarr, Ivar.—258. Verdammt (Germ.): Confounded.
Page 262. “Wife selling”: A very common practice among a certain class, it seems, in England; and, as this will hardly be credited in America, I will append some extracts from the newspapers. The Norfolk Chronicle of 5th May, 1894, says: “The belief formerly prevailed, especially among the rural population, that a man had a perfectly legal right to sell his wife to another, provided he observed two indispensable formalities. One was that he placed a halter about her neck, and the other that he led her into the market and publicly transferred her to the purchaser. Numerous instances of these strange transactions have been recorded. Our columns, on the 9th of February, 1805, contained an account of the sale of a wife at Norwich. A Kentish tailor, the affections and person of whose amiable spouse had been jockeyed away by a neighbouring horse-dealer, caparisoned her neck with a halter and surrendered all right and title to his virtuous rib, in consideration of the sum of £5. On the 2nd of May, 1823, a similar sale was effected in this city. A man named Stebbings disposed of his wile to a person named Turner for the sum of £6 10s. The latter paid £4 on account, took the woman home, and brutally turned his lawful wife out of doors.”
The London Daily Mail of 1st March, 1899, prints the following:—
“Very few people are aware that wives are literally sold to-day in England. A very common error of the vulgar is that a man by selling his wife releases himself from the marriage contract as surely as if he were legally divorced. In March, 1796, The Times announced the sale of a wife at Sheffield for sixpence. A short time afterwards the same journal calmly stated that the price of wives has risen in Smithfield Market from half a guinea to three guineas and a half! In 1803 a man led his wife, by a halter round her neck, into the cattle market at Sheffield, and sold her for a guinea, the purchaser leading away the woman to his home. In 1820 a man named Brouchet hired a cattle-pen in the Canterbury market, placed his wife in it, and ultimately sold her for 5s. Then wives began to increase in value, for soon afterwards one was sold for £15. This was followed by a ‘slump’. In 1855 a man led his wife with a halter round her waist into Derby marketplace and offered her for sale, but all be could get for her was eighteen pence and a quart of ale. In 1873 a husband left his home and creditors in Belper for the liberty of America. The week after his flight all his goods were put up for auction to satisfy his debts. His wife claimed part of the money, and this being refused she insisted on being offered for sale as part of her husband’s assets. There was no sale, however, for ‘Lot 29’. In even more recent days wife sales were common, and are even being effected in this present year of grace. In 1882 John Wilson, a collier of Alfreton, Derbyshire, sold his wife in a public-house for fourpence. Sheffield knife-grinders have long been noted for their transactions in the wife trade. Within quite recent times many a Sheffield wife has been sold by her husband for a gallon of beer, which has been drunk on the spot. Sometimes these sales assume a more formal aspect. In 1887, in the Sheffield County Court, a man admitted that he had bought another man’s wife for 5s. Most of these discreditable ‘deals’ escape notice, but a case has come to light where a man agreed to sell his wife to a collier, and the trio, with the woman’s father and mother and two family friends, assembled to arrange terms. Thirty shillings was the price finally agreed on. Four years ago, at Leeds, a man charged with bigamy pleaded that, as he had sold his wife for 3s. 6d. to another man, he could marry again legally! Eighteen months’ imprisonment was what he got, and more than deserved. A police court case in 1896 at Doncaster revealed the fact that John Tart sold his wife to Enoch Childs, on the understanding that the latter reared the vendor’s four children. In a Durham court in 1894 it transpired that a man named Shaw sold his daughter, a girl of sixteen, to a collier called Cudman, for 1s. Many a wife is at present sold in the East End of London, as well as in Yorkshire, for a quart of beer or an ounce of thick twist. It is the poor man’s method of divorce, and such is popular ignorance that there are scores of people who imagine that selling a wife is as legal a separation as a decree nisi pronounced by a bewigged and berobed judge.”
Page 265. Herodotus: The story is found in Thalia III., 84–88 (pp. 208–9 of Cary’s Eng. translation). The groom’s name was Œbares.—266. Deaghblasda, read deaghbhlasda (Ir.): Sweet-tasted, dainty. This is the soothing word hinted at, but not given, in Lavengro, p. 83.—269. At H . . ., read Hertford, where John Thurtell was hanged, 9th January, 1824.—Ned Flatnose: Ed. Painter of Norwich.—270. Spring: His true name was Thomas Winter; see Lavengro, p. 168. He died 20th August, 1851.—276. . . . Fair, read Greenwich Fair, on Easter Monday. See Dickens’ Sketches.—279. Oilien (and p. 295, Oilein) nan Naomha, read Oilean na Naomhtha (Ir.): Island of the Saints (Patrick and Columba).—Finn-ma-Coul: The tale of Finn was first learned by Borrow in January, 1854, from his Irish guide Cronan, while travelling in Cornwall (Life, ii., p. 86, and note). This fact shows that Murtagh and his tale are introduced here to exhibit the author’s discovery of the identity between the Finn of Ireland and the Eddaic tradition of Sigurd Fafnisbane (p. 281). For Sigurd in the Wilkina Saga is suckled by a hind (p. 120) and fostered by Mymmer Smed or Mimer the Smith (p. 121) whom he eventually slays (p. 124). In the Eddaic Lay of the serpent-killer we read: “Sigurd took the heart of Fafnir and broiled it on a spit. And when he judged that it was done, he touched it with his finger to ascertain if that were really the case. Having burned his finger in the act, he put it to his mouth, and no sooner had the heart’s blood of Fafnir come in contact with Sigurd’s tongue than he understood the speech of birds,” etc. Here we have the two sides verified, the Irish by Cronan, and the Scandian by the Edda. But Brooke’s Reliques, a favourite work of Borrow’s in his Norwich days, and which he cites in 1832 (Life, i., p. 146), give us certain other fragments of these Finnic fables, whereby we can trace the sources of the text before us. For example, after Jack Dale had stripped Murtagh of all his money he is observed to be sitting “in deep despondency, holding his thumb to his mouth” (p. 278). And a little farther on (p. 282) a verse is cited from “Conan the Bald”. Now all this is found in Miss Brooke, that is, the names and the ideas—Conan the Bald (p. 106), Lochlin (p. 46), and Darmod Odeen (minus Taffy) and the verse with this note (p. 109):—“This strange passage is explained by some lines in the Poem of Dubmac-Dighruibh, where Finn is reproached with deriving all his courage from chewing his thumb for prophetic information.”—281. Siol Loughlin, read Lochlin (Ir.): Literally “the seed of Norway,” i.e., the Danish or Norwegian race. Miss Brooke very properly says (p. 46): “Lochlin is the Gælic (and Irish) name for Scandinavia in general”; but Borrow limits it to Denmark—the Danish race. And a little below, “the Loughlin songs” are his Danish Ballads which he published the following year.
Page 283. The story of Murtagh at the Irish College in Rome, and his subsequent wanderings in the South of France and in Spain, mask, as we have said elsewhere, the peregrinations of George Borrow in 1826–27.—286. M’anam on Dioul: Explained in Lavengro, note to p. 65.—291. Dungarvon times of old: See Life, i., p. 46, and ii., pp. 16–17. Cradock’s letter was dated, 18th August, 1849, and Mr. B.’s answer (i., p. 146) a little after.—Raparees: Irish marauders, temp. James II. See Life, i., p. 146, and Brooke’s Reliques, p. 205. The latter says that the word is from the Irish Réubóir Ri, plunderer, robber, freebooter of the king, from reubaim, I tear.—292. Chiviter Vik: Cività Vecchia, the modern seaport of Rome, fifty miles distant.—Army of the Faith: Spanish frontier corps of observation under Gen. Don Vicente Quesada, 1823–24.—Prince Hilt: The Duke d’Angoulême, nephew of Louis XVIII., and son of the Count d’Artois (afterwards Charles X.). D’Angoulême invaded Spain in 1823 with 100,000 Frenchmen, to restore Ferdinand VII. to his absolute throne, against the Liberals of 1820–23.—298. To . . ., read Rome.—At . . ., read Rome.—Educated at . . ., read Rome.—300. Direction of the east, read south. He could only have gone south from Horncastle to reach Boston (the “large town on the arm of the sea”) that day. The next he came to Spalding, some fifteen miles farther, where he met the recruiting serjeant, thence on to Norwich by Lynn Regis.
We must not forget that before Lavengro was begun, and fifteen years prior to the publication of The Romany Rye, that is, 26th December, 1842, Mr. Petulengro remarked to George Borrow at Oulton: “I suppose you have not forgot how, fifteen [seventeen] years ago, when you made horseshoes in the dingle by the side of the great north road, I lent you fifty guineas to purchase the wonderful trotting cob of the innkeeper with the green Newmarket coat, which three days after you sold for two hundred”. [386a] Now, this is a very remarkable statement, and, taken in connection with the fact that so little is said about Horncastle in the book, it seems to me we are justified in proclaiming that Borrow was never in Horncastle at all. The interview with the Magyar and the syllabus of Hungarian history are clearly drawn from his experiences in Hungary and Transylvania in the year 1844, and hence are an anachronism here. It is a pity that the author did not adhere to the chronological facts of his life so strictly in The Romany Rye as he did in Lavengro. Truth and literature would have gained by it. And then that valedictory pledge, [386b] confirmed in the appendix, drawing a veil over the period of his travails, if not his travels, was an error of judgment which, in an autobiography will, we fear, not easily be condoned.
APPENDIX.
Page 302. Age of nineteen, read twenty; he was twenty-one less four months at his father’s death.—303. Children of Roma: Borrovian for Gypsies.—305–6. Balm in Mary Flanders: See Lavengro, note to p. 423.—311. Canning: Premier from 24th April to his death, 8th August, 1827; succeeded by Viscount Goderich from September, 1827, to 25th January, 1828.—312. Vaya! qué demonio es este! (Sp.): Bless me! what demon have we here!—314. Sessions of Hariri: Arabic tales in prose interlarded with verse. The two languages: Chinese and Manchu.—315–6. Luigi Pulci: Io vo’ tagliar, etc.: I’ll sever the hands of them all and bring them to those holy monks. Tu sarai or perfetto, etc.: Now thou wilt be as true a friend to Christ as aforetime thou wert his foe (M. M., canto i, sts. 53 and 57).—318. Oberon: A poem by Wieland (1733–1813).—319. The father of Anglo-Germanism: Taylor of Norwich.—Andrew Borde: (see Bibliog.). The text of the Bodleian copy (1547?) runs as follows—(A 3 verso):—
“I am an Englysh man, and naked I stand here,
Musyng in my mynd what rayment I shall were;
For now I wyll were thys, and now I wyl were that,
Now I wvl were I cannot tel what.
All new fashyons be plesaunt to me,
I wyll haue them, whether I thryue or thee;
Now I am a frysker, all men doth on me looke,
What should I do but set cocke on the hoope;
What do I care yf all the worlde me fayle,
I wyl get a garment shal reche to my tayle;
Than I am a minion, for I were the new gyse;
The yere after this I trust to be wyse,
Not only in wering my gorgious aray,
For I wyl go to learnyng a hoole somers day;
I wyll learne Latyne, Hebrew, Grecke and Frenche,
And I wyl learne Douche sittyng on my benche;
I do feare no man, all men fearyth me,
I ouercome my aduersaries by land and by see;
I had no peere yf to my selfe I were trew,
Because I am not so diuers times I do rew;
Yet I lake nothing, I haue all thyng at wyll
If were wyse and wold holde my selfe styll,
And medel wyth no matters not to me partayning;
But I haue suche matters rolling in my pate,
That I wyl speake and do I cannot tell what.” etc.
—321. Mr. Flamson: Samuel Morton Peto, M.P., later Sir Morton Peto of Somerleyton Hall, some five miles inland from Lowestoft. See Life, ii., p. 52.—327. Orcadian poet: “Ragnvald, Earl of the Orkney Islands, passed for a very able poet; he boasts himself, in a song of his which is still extant, that he knew how to compose verses on all subjects,” Mallet, p. 235. The original Runic of the lines translated by Borrow is found in Olaus Wormius. Transliterated into Latin letters they read thus:—
Tafl em eg or at efta
Idrottir kan eg niu
Tum eg tradla Runur
Tid er mer bog og smider
Skrid kann eg a gidum
Skot eg og re so nyter
Hvor tweggia kan ek hyggiu
Harpslatt og bragdattu.
—329. Lieut. P. . ., read Perry. The item was taken from a newspaper (which, I know not) published in September, 1854. Mr. Borrow read it at Llangollen in Wales. I loaned the clipping and it was not returned.—330. Balaklava: The usual etymon of this famous name is the Italian Bella chiave, beautiful key.—331. Companion of Bligh: This was Thomas Hayward.—Once: See Bligh’s Narrative (Bibliog.), p. 55.—336. “Malditas sean tus tripas,” etc.: This Borrovian Spanish must be rendered truthfully or not at all. The squeamish may excuse the borracha: “D— your g—s; we had enough of the stink of your g—s the day you ran away from the battle of the Boyne”.—338. Coronach (Gælic), read Corránach: The funeral wail, a dirge; in Irish, coránach.—342. Abencerages, read Abencerrages: Arab. ibn-serradj; son of the saddle.—349–50. Whiffler: See note to Lavengro, p. 225.—352. Francis Spira: Francesco Spiera, a lawyer of Cittadella (Venice), accepted the doctrines of the Reformation in 1548. Terrified by the menaces of the Church of Rome and the prospective ruin of his family, he went to Venice and solemnly abjured the Evangelical faith in the hands of the Legate, Giovan della Casa (see Dict. de Bayle) who required him to return home and repeat his abjuration before his fellow-townsmen and the local authorities. Having performed this act, he fell into the horrid state of remorse depicted in the Protestant accounts of the time. The report was first brought to Geneva by Pietro Paolo Vergerio, ex-bishop of Pola, who visited Spiera in his last moments at Padua, whence he himself bent his way to the Valtelina, as a fugitive from the Roman Church.—Duncan Campbell and Falconer: See Bibliog.—John Randall: Here is a confusion of John Rolfe and John Randolph of Roanoke (1773–1833). Pocahontas, daughter of the Indian Chief Powhatan, saved the life of Captain John Smith in Virginia and married John Rolfe in 1614. John Randolph of Roanoke claimed to be descended from Pocahontas, but Rolfe is evidently the one referred to in the text. See Bibliog. under “Pocahontas”.—354. Iriarte (1750–96): Spanish poet and writer of fables. See Bibliog.—355. Autobiographical character of Lavengro denied: but see Life, ii., pp. 3–27 and 211.—357. Ginnúngagap: The “yawning abyss” of Northern Mythology. See Mallet, p. 402.—359. Horinger Bay: See note on Lavengro, p. 46.—360. Harum-beck, read harmanbeck, as in Lavengro, p. 158.—Holkham Estate: The seat of the Cokes of Norfolk and the Earl of Leicester. See White’s Norfolk, and the C . . . of Lavengro, p. 124.—363. He said in ’32: See Life, i., p. 143.—Son of Norfolk clergyman: Nelson (nom de noms!).—364–66. Thistlewood and Ings: See article in Celebrated Lives and Trials, vol. vi., p. 339.—368. The old Radical: John Bowring in 1821.—Vol. of translations: See “Bowring” in Bibliog.—Red Rhys: Rhys Goch of Snowdon. See Wild Wales, p. 150, and “Gorchestion” in Bibliog.—369. The Doctor of Medicine: Dr. Lewis Evans. See Life, i., p. 74.—370. S . . ., read Southey.—Literary project (1829–30): See Life, i., p. 129.—371. Astolfo: His journey to the moon mentioned in Pulci, ed. 1546, Canto xxi., f. cxx. b:—
“Malagigi tagliava le parole,
Astolfo sopra ’l suo caval rimonta;
Cavalcano a la luna tanto e al sole
Che capitorno al castel di Creonta”.
—372. In —, read China.—373. To —, read China.—Copy of a work: Borrow’s edition of the Manchu New Testament, St. Petersburg, 1835, in 8 parts, 4to.—All the dashes mean Canton or China.—Serendib: (Ceylon) put for China.
COMPLETE LIST OF ENG. GYPSY WORDS SCATTERED THROUGH LAVENGRO AND ROMANY RYE.
Common European G. forms are in parenthesis.
Abri (avrí), out, forth.
Adré / Adrey } (andré), in, into.
Ambról, a pear.
Andé, in, into.
Angár, charcoal, coal.
Apopli, again, once more.
Ankko (aveká), here is.
Ava / Ávali } yes.
Avella (3rd sing. of aváva), he comes; gorgio a., some one is coming. [Avava, avesa, avela.]
Ballúva (baló), pork.
Baló, hog.
Baró, f. barí, pl. baré, big, great.
Bátu, father.
Baulo, see baló.
Bawlor (pl. of baló), swine.
Bebee (bibí), aunt; (in G. B. grandmother, with and without grand).
Beng, toad; dragon, devil.
Bengui (Sp. G. bengue), i.q. beng.
Besh (beshava), to sit.
Beti, a little, a bit of.
Bitchadey (bichavdé; pl. of bichavdó), sent. With pawdel, transported.
Bokht (bakht), fate, luck, fortune.
Boró, see baró.
Borodromengro, highwayman.
Boshom (bashava, I sing or play), violin, fiddle.
Boshomengro, fiddler.
Bovaló (barvaló), rich.
Bute (but), much. B. dosta, a good many, plenty of.
Cafi (καρφἱ), horse-shoe nail.
Caloró, f, a Spanish Gypsy. Dim. of caló; see kaló.
Cambrí (kamní), with child.
Camomescro (fr. kamama, I love), a Lovell (Gypsy tribe-name).
Cana (kánna), when.
Caulor (collor, L.L.), pl. shillings.
Chabé, pl. of Chabó.
Chabó (tchavó), child, lad; Gypsy.
Chachipen (tchatchipé), truth.
Chal (chabál or chavál, still existant in Spain), lad; Gypsy. Romany ch., Gypsy; R. chi, Gypsy (lass).
Chal (for jal, from java). Ch. Devléhi (ja Devlésa), go with God, farewell.
Chavó, i.q. chabó.
Chi (tchái), girl, lass, child; Gypsy.
Chibándo (Sp. G., see chive), tossing; preaching (a sermon).
Chick (tchik), dirt, mud.
Chie, i.q. chi.
Chiknó (tiknó), a youth. Tawno Ch., “Shorty”.
Chinomescro (from tchinava, I cut), chisel, parer.
Chipe (tchip), tongue.
Chive (tchivava), to throw; to pass (false coin).
Chívios, is cast (he).
Chong (tumba), hill. Ch. gav, Norwich, town of the Castle hill.
Choomer (tchumi), a kiss.
Chore (tchorava), to steal.
Chories, thieves.
Chovahanee (tchovekhaní), a witch.
Chovahanó (tchovekhanó), a wizard.
Coin (kon), who?
Coko (káko), uncle.
Colikó (kalikó, Sp. G. calicaste, on the morrow), on the morrow, in the morning (B.’s “early” is a mistake).
Coor (curava, I strike), to strike, to hammer.
Cooromengro, boxer.
Covántza, anvil.
Covar (ková), a thing.
Cral / Crállis } (krális), king
Cukkerin (merely alliterative with dukkerin).
Curomengro, boxer.
Czigány (Hung.), Gypsy—(tsigáñ).
Dearginni (Hung., dörŏg, thunder; dörgeni, to th.), it thunders.
Dick (dikava), to see.
Dinelo (deniló or diniló), a fool.
Divvus (divés), day.
Dloovu (error for lovó).
Dook (Slavic), spirit, soul, divining spirit, demon, ghost. Russ. dux.
Dook, to spirit away, to bewitch.
Dosta, enough.
Dove odoy (fr. odová), that there; up yonder.
Drab, herb, drug; poison, see drow.
Drab, to poison.
Drabengro, seller of medicines, apothecary. D. ker, apothecary’s shop.
Drom (δρόμος), road, way.
Drow, i.q. drab; often pl. drugs; poison.
Dúi, two.
Duk (B.’s dook).
Dukker (fr. duk, spirit or demon, and ker, to make, to evoke), to tell any one’s fortune, to tell fortunes.
Dukkerin (the in is Eng. ing), any one’s fortune or fortunes, fate; fortune-telling. “To pen” a dukkerin is incorrect.
Dukkerin dook, the fortune-telling or divining spirit.
Dukkeripen, fortune-telling.
Dumo (dumó), the back.
Duvel (devél), God.
Duvelskoe (devlesko), divine.
Dye (daï), mother.