The Life of George Borrow Part 10

CHAPTER IX: NOVEMBER 1834-SEPTEMBER 1835

Borrow was an unconventional editor. He foresaw the interminable delays likely to arise from allowing workmen to incorporate his corrections in the type. To obviate these, he first corrected the proof, then, proceeding to the printing office, he made with his own hands the necessary alterations in the type. This involved only two proofs, the second to be submitted to Mr Lipovzoff, instead of some half a dozen that otherwise would have been necessary. During these days Borrow was ubiquitous. Even the binder required his a.s.sistance, "for everything goes wrong without a strict surveillance."

Borrow had pa.s.sed through THE crisis in his career. Stricken with fever, which was followed by an attack of the "Horrors" (only to be driven away by port wine), he had scarcely found time in which to eat or sleep. He had emerged triumphantly from the ordeal, and if he had "almost killed Beneze and his lads"{135a} with work, he had not spared himself. If he had to report, as he did, that "my two compositors, whom I had instructed in all the mysteries of Manchu composition, are in the hospital, down with the brain fever," {135b} he himself had grown thin from the incessant toil.

The simple manliness and restrained dignity of his justification had produced a marked effect upon the authorities at home. If the rebuke administered by Mr Jowett had been mild, his acknowledgment of the reply that it had called forth was most cordial and friendly. After a.s.suring Borrow of the Committee's high satisfaction at the way in which its interests had been looked after, he proceeds sincerely to deprecate anything in his previous letter which may have caused Borrow pain, and continues:

"Yet I scarcely know how to be sorry for what has been the occasion of drawing from you (what you might otherwise have kept locked up in your own breast) the very interesting story of your labours, vexations, disappointments, vigilance, address, perseverance, and successes. How you were able in your solitude to keep up your spirits in the face of so many impediments, apparently insurmountable, I know not . . . Do not fear that WE should in any way interrupt your proceedings. We know our interest too well to interfere with an agent who has shown so much address in planning, and so much diligence in effecting, the execution of our wishes."

These encouraging words were followed by a request that he would keep a careful account of all extraordinary expenses, that they might be duly met by the Society:-

"I allude, you perceive, to such things," the letter goes on to explain, "as your journies huc et illuc in quest of a better market, and to the occasional bribes to disheartened workmen. In all matters of this kind the Society is clearly your debtor." Borrow replied with a flash of his old independent spirit: "I return my most grateful thanks for this most considerate intimation, which, nevertheless, I cannot avail myself of, as, according to one of the articles of my agreement, my salary of 200 pounds was to cover all extra expenses. Petersburg is doubtless the dearest capital in Europe, and expenses meet an individual, especially one situated as I have been, at every turn and corner; but an agreement is not to be broken on that account." {136a}

That the Committee, even before this proof of his ability, had been well pleased with their engagement of Borrow is shown by the acknowledgment made in the Society's Thirtieth Annual Report: "Mr Borrow has not disappointed the expectation entertained."

There were other words of encouragement to cheer him in his labours.

His mother wrote in September of that year, telling him how, at a Bible Society's gathering at Norwich, which had lasted the whole of a week, his name "was sounded through the Hall by Mr Gurney and Mr Cunningham"; telling how he had left his home and his friends to do G.o.d's work in a foreign land, calling upon their fellow-citizens to offer up prayers beseeching the Almighty to vouchsafe to him health and strength that the great work he had undertaken might be completed. "All this is very pleasing to me," added the proud old lady. "G.o.d bless you!"

From Mrs Clarke of Oulton Hall, with whom he kept up a correspondence, he heard how his name had been mentioned at many of the Society's meetings during the year, and how the Rev. Francis Cunningham had referred to him as "one of the most extraordinary and interesting individuals of the present day." Even at that date, viz., before the receipt of the remarkable account of his labours, the members and officials of the Bible Society seem to have come to the conclusion that he had achieved far more than they had any reason to expect of him. Their subsequent approval is shown by the manner in which they caused his two letters of 8th/20th and 13th/25th October to be circulated among the influential members of the Society, until at last they had reached the Rev. F. Cunningham and Mrs Clarke.

About the middle of January (old style) 1835, Borrow placed in the hands of Baron Schilling a copy of each of the four Gospels in Manchu, to be conveyed to the Bible Society by one of the couriers attached to the Foreign Department at St Petersburg; but they did not reach Earl Street until several weeks later. There were however, still the remaining four volumes to complete, and many more difficulties to overcome.

One vexation that presented itself was a difference of opinion between Borrow and Lipovzoff, who "thought proper, when the Father Almighty is addressed, to erase the personal and possessive p.r.o.nouns thou or thine, as often as they occur, and in their stead to make use of the noun as the case may require. For example, 'O Father! thou art merciful' he would render, 'O Father! the Father is merciful.'"

Borrow protested, but Lipovzoff, who was "a gentleman, whom the slightest contradiction never fails to incense to a most incredible degree," told him that he talked nonsense, and refused to concede anything. {138a} Lipovzoff, who had on his side the Chinese scholars and unlimited powers as official censor (from whose decree there was no appeal) over his own work, carried his point. He urged that "amongst the Chinese and Tartars, none but the dregs of society were ever addressed in the second person; and that it would be most uncouth and indecent to speak of the Almighty as if He were a servant or a slave." This difficulty of the verbal ornament of the East was one that the Bible Society had frequently met with in the past. It was rightly considered as ill-fitting a translation of the words of Christ. Simplicity of diction was to be preserved at all costs, whatever might be the rule with secular books. Mr Jowett had warned Borrow to "beware of confounding the two distinct ideas of translation and interpretation!" {138b} and also informed him that "the pa.s.sion for honorific-abilitudinity is a vice of Asiatic languages, which a Scripture translator, above all others, ought to beware of countenancing." {139a}

Well might Borrow write to Mr Jowett, "How I have been enabled to maintain terms of friendship and familiarity with Mr Lipovzoff, and yet fulfil the part which those who employ me expect me to fulfil, I am much at a loss to conjecture; and yet such is really the case."

{139b} On the whole, however, the two men worked harmoniously together, the censor-translator being usually amenable to editorial reason and suggestion; and Borrow was able to a.s.sure Mr Jowett that with the exception of this one instance "the word of G.o.d has been rendered into Manchu as nearly and closely as the idiom of a very singular language would permit."

Borrow's mind continued to dwell upon the project of penetrating into China and distributing the Scriptures himself. He wrote again, repeating "the a.s.surance that I am ready to attempt anything which the Society may wish me to execute, and, at a moment's warning, will direct my course towards Canton, Pekin, or the court of the Grand Lama." {139c} The project had, however, to be abandoned. The Russian Government, desirous of maintaining friendly relations with China, declined to risk her displeasure for a missionary project in which Russia had neither interest nor reasonable expectation of gain.

In agreeing to issue a pa.s.sport such as Borrow desired, it stipulated that he should carry with him "not one single Manchu Bible thither."

{139d} In spite of this discouragement, Borrow wrote to Mr Jowett with regard to the Chinese programme, "I AGAIN REPEAT THAT I AM AT COMMAND." {139e}

This determination on Borrow's part to become a missionary filled his mother with alarm. She had only one son now, and the very thought of his going into wild and unknown regions seemed to her tantamount to his going to his death. Mrs Clarke also expressed strong disapproval of the project. "I must tell you," she wrote, "that your letter chilled me when I read your intention of going as a Missionary or Agent, with the Manchu Scriptures in your hand, to the Tartars, the land of incalculable dangers."

By the middle of May 1835 Borrow saw the end of his labours in sight.

On 3rd/15th May he wrote asking for instructions relative to the despatch of the bulk of the volumes, and also as to the disposal of the type. "As for myself," he continues, "I suppose I must return to England, as my task will be speedily completed. I hope the Society are convinced that I have served them faithfully, and that I have spared no labour to bring out the work, which they did me the honor of confiding to me, correctly and within as short a time as possible.

At my return, if the Society think that I can still prove of utility to them, I shall be most happy to devote myself still to their service. 1 am a person full of faults and weaknesses, as I am every day reminded by bitter experience, but I am certain that my zeal and fidelity towards those who put confidence in me are not to be shaken." {140a}

On 15th/27th June he reported the printing completed and six out of the eight volumes bound, and that as soon as the remaining two volumes were ready, he intended to take his departure from St Petersburg; but a new difficulty arose. The East had laid a heavy hand upon St Petersburg. "To-morrow, please G.o.d!" met the energetic Westerner at every turn. The bookbinder delayed six weeks because he could not procure some paper he required. But the real obstacle to the despatch of the books was the non-arrival of the Government sanction to their shipment. Nothing was permitted to move either in or out of the sacred city of the Tsars without official permission.

Probably those responsible for the administration of affairs had never in their experience been called upon to deal with a man such as Borrow. To apply to him the customary rules of procedure was to bring upon "the House of Interior Affairs" a series of visits and demands that must have left it limp with astonishment.

On 16th/28th July Borrow wrote to the Bible Society, "I herewith send you a bill of lading for six of the eight parts of the New Testament, which I have at last obtained permission to send away, after having paid sixteen visits to the House of Interior Affairs." {141a} He expresses a hope that in another fortnight he will have despatched the remaining two volumes and have "bidden adieu to Russia"; but it was dangerous to antic.i.p.ate the official course of events in Russia.

Even to the last Borrow was tormented by red tape. Early in August the last two volumes were ready for shipment to England; but he could not obtain the necessary permission. He was told that he ought never to have printed the work, in spite of the license that had been granted, and that grave doubts existed in the official mind as to whether or no he really were an agent of the Bible Society. At length Borrow lost patience and told the officials that during the week following the books would be despatched, with or without permission, and he warned them to have a care how they acted. These strong measures seem to have produced the desired result.

Despite his many occupations on behalf of the Bible Society, Borrow found time in which to translate into Russian the first three Homilies of the Church of England, and into Manchu the Second. His desire was that the Homily Society should cause these translations to be printed, and in a letter to the Rev. Francis Cunningham he strove to enlist his interest in the project, offering the translations without fee to the Society if they chose to make use of them. {141b} As "a zealous, though most unworthy, member of the Anglican Church,"

he found that his "cheeks glowed with shame at seeing dissenters, English and American, busily employed in circulating Tracts in the Russian tongue, whilst the members of the Church were following their secular concerns, almost regardless of things spiritual in respect to the Russian population." {142a}

Borrow also translated into English "one of the sacred books of Boudh, or Fo," from Baron Schilling de Canstadt's library. The princ.i.p.al occupation of his leisure hours, however, was a collection of translations, which he had printed by Schultz & Beneze, and published (3rd/ 15th June 1835) under the t.i.tle of Targum, or Metrical Translations from Thirty Languages and Dialects. {142b} In a prefatory note, the collection is referred to as "selections from a huge and undigested ma.s.s of translation, acc.u.mulated during several years devoted to philological pursuits." Three months later he published another collection ent.i.tled The Talisman, From the Russian of Alexander Pushkin. With Other Pieces. {143a} There were seven poems in all, two after Pushkin, one from the Malo-Russian, one from Mickiewicz, and three "ancient Russian Songs." Again the printers were Schultz & Beneze. Each of these editions appears to have been limited to one hundred copies. {143b}

Writing in the Athenaeum, {143c} J. P. H[asfeldt] says:- "The work is a pearl in literature, and, like pearls, derives value from its scarcity, for the whole edition was limited to about a hundred copies." W. B. Donne admired the translations immensely, considering "the language and rhythm as vastly superior to Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome." {143d}

Whilst the last two volumes of the Manchu New Testament were waiting for paper (probably for end-papers), Borrow determined to pay a hurried visit to Moscow, "by far the most remarkable city it has ever been my fortune to see." One of his princ.i.p.al objects in visiting the ancient capital of Russia was to see the gypsies, who flourished there as they flourished nowhere else in Europe. They numbered several thousands, and many of them inhabited large and handsome houses, drove in their carriages, and were "distinguishable from the genteel cla.s.s of the Russians only . . . by superior personal advantages and mental accomplishments." {143e} For this unusual state of prosperity the women were responsible, "having from time immemorial cultivated their vocal powers to such an extent that, although in the heart of a country in which the vocal art has arrived at greater perfection than in any other part of the world, the princ.i.p.al Gypsy choirs in Moscow are allowed by the general voice of the public to be unrivalled and to bear away the palm from all compet.i.tors. It is a fact notorious in Russia that the celebrated Catalani was so filled with admiration for the powers of voice displayed by one of the Gypsy songsters, who, after the former had sung before a splendid audience at Moscow, stepped forward and with an astonishing burst of melody ravished every ear, that she [Catalani] tore from her own shoulders a shawl of immense value which had been presented to her by the Pope, and embracing the Gypsy, compelled her to accept it, saying that it had been originally intended for the matchless singer, which she now discovered was not herself." {144a}

These Russian gypsy singers lived luxurious lives and frequently married Russian gentry or even the n.o.bility. It was only the successes, however, who achieved such distinction, and there were "a great number of low, vulgar, and profligate females who sing in taverns, or at the various gardens in the neighbourhood, and whose husbands and male connections subsist by horse-jobbing and such kinds of low traffic." {144b}

One fine evening Borrow hired a calash and drove out to Marina Rotze, "a kind of sylvan garden," about one and a half miles out of Moscow, where this particular cla.s.s of Romanys resorted. "Upon my arriving there," he writes, "the Gypsies swarmed out of their tents and from the little tracteer or tavern, and surrounded me. Standing on the seat of the calash, I addressed them in a loud voice in the dialect of the English Gypsies, with which I have some slight acquaintance.

A scream of wonder instantly arose, and welcomes and greetings were poured forth in torrents of musical Romany, amongst which, however, the most p.r.o.nounced cry was: ah kak mi toute karmuma {145a}--'Oh how we love you'; for at first they supposed me to be one of their brothers, who, they said, were wandering about in Turkey, China, and other parts, and that I had come over the great p.a.w.nee, or water, to visit them." {145b}

On several other occasions during his stay at Moscow, Borrow went out to Marina Rotze, to hold converse with the gypsies. He "spoke to them upon their sinful manner of living," about Christianity and the advent of Christ, to which the gypsies listened with attention, but apparently not much profit. The promise that they would soon be able to obtain the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth in their own tongue interested them far more on account of the pleasurable strangeness of the idea, than from any antic.i.p.ation that they might derive spiritual comfort from such writings.

Returning to St Petersburg from Moscow, after four-days' absence, Borrow completed his work, settled up his affairs, bade his friends good-bye, and on 28th August/9th September left for Cronstadt to take the packet for Lubeck. The authorities seem to have raised no objection to his departure. His pa.s.sport bore the date 28th August O/S (the actual day he left) and described him as "of stature, tall-- hair, grey--face, oval--forehead, medium--eyebrows, blonde--eyes, brown--nose and mouth, medium--chin, round."

Borrow's work at St Petersburg gave entire satisfaction to the Bible Society. The Official Report for the year 1835 informed the members that -

"The printing of the Manchu New Testament in St Petersburg is now drawing to a conclusion. Mr G. Borrow, who has had to superintend the work, has in every way afforded satisfaction to the Committee.

They have reason to believe that his acquirements in the language are of the most respectable order; while the devoted diligence with which he has laboured, and the skill he has shown in surmounting difficulties, and conducting his negotiations for the advantage of the Society, justly ent.i.tle him to this public acknowledgment of his services." {146a}

Of the actual work itself John Hasfeldt justly wrote:

"I can only say, that it is a beautiful edition of an oriental work-- that it is printed with great care on a fine imitation of Chinese paper, made on purpose. At the outset, Mr Borrow spent weeks and months in the printing office to make the compositors acquainted with the intricate Manchu types; and that, as for the contents, I am a.s.sured by well-informed persons, that this translation is remarkable for the correctness and fidelity with which it has been executed."

{146b}

The total cost to the Society of his labours in connection with the transcription of Puerot's MS., and printing and binding one thousand copies of Lipovzoff's New Testament had reached the very considerable sum of 2600 pounds. What the amount would have been if Borrow had not proved a prince of bargainers, it is impossible to imagine. The entire edition was sent to Earl Street, and eventually distributed in China as occasion offered. An edition of the Gospels in this version has recently been reprinted, and is still in use among certain tribes in Mongolia.

Borrow arrived in London somewhere about 20th September (new style), after an absence of a little more than two years. He went to St Petersburg "prejudiced against the country, the government, and the people; the first is much more agreeable than is generally supposed; the second is seemingly the best adapted for so vast an empire; and the third, even the lowest cla.s.ses, are in general kind, hospitable, and benevolent." {147a}

On 23rd September Borrow was still in London writing his report to the General Committee upon his recent labours. In all probability he left immediately afterwards for Norwich, there to await events.

CHAPTER X: OCTOBER 1835-JANUARY 1836

Borrow had strong hopes that the Bible Society would continue to employ him. Mr Brandram had written (5th June 1835) that the Committee "will not very willingly suffer themselves to be deprived of your services. From Russia Borrow had written to his mother: {148a}

"They [the Bible Society] place great confidence in me, and I am firmly resolved to do all in my power to prove that they have not misplaced that confidence. I dare say that when I return home they will always be happy to employ me to edit their Bibles, and there is no employment in the whole world which I should prefer and for which I am better fitted. I shall, moreover, endeavour to get ordained."