The Life of George Borrow Part 11

On another occasion he wrote, also to his mother:

"I hope that the Bible Society will employ me upon something new, for I have of late led an active life, and dread the thought of having nothing to do except studying as formerly, and I am by no means certain that I could sit down to study now. I can do anything if it is to turn to any account; but it is very hard to dig holes in the sand and fill them up again, as I used to do. However, I hope G.o.d will find me something on which I can employ myself with credit and profit. I should like very much to get into the Church, though I suppose that that, like all other professions, is overstocked."

Mrs Borrow reminded him that he had a good home ready to receive him, and a mother grown lonely with long waiting. She told him, among other things, that she had spent none of the money that he had so generously and unsparingly sent her.

Borrow certainly had every reason to expect further employment. He had proved himself not only a thoroughly qualified editor; but had discovered business qualities that must have astonished and delighted the General Committee. Above all he had brought to a most successful conclusion a venture that, but for his ability and address, would in all probability have failed utterly. The application for permission to proceed with the distribution had, it is true, been unsuccessful; but there was, as Mr Brandram wrote, the "seed laid up in the granary; but 'it is not yet written' that the sowers are to go forth to sow."

After remaining for a short time with his mother at Norwich, Borrow appears to have paid a visit to his friends the Skeppers of Oulton.

Old Mrs Skepper, Mrs Clarke's mother, had just died, and it is a proof of Borrow's intimacy with the family that he should be invited to stay with them whilst they were still in mourning. Although there is no record of the date when he arrived at Oulton, he is known to have been there on 9th October, when he addressed a Bible Society meeting, about which he wrote the following delectable postscript to a letter he addressed to Mr Brandram: {149a}

"There has been a Bible meeting at Oulton, in Suffolk, to which I was invited. The speaking produced such an effect, that some of the most vicious characters in the neighbourhood have become weekly subscribers to the Branch Society. So says the Chronicle of Norfolk in its report." The actual paragraph read:

"It will doubtless afford satisfaction to the Christian public to learn that many poor individuals in this neighbourhood, who previous to attending this meeting were averse to the cause or indifferent to it, had their feelings so aroused by what was communicated to them, that they have since voluntarily subscribed to the Bible Society, actuated by the hope of becoming humbly instrumental in extending the dominion of the true light, and of circ.u.mscribing the domains of darkness and of Satan."

On returning to the quiet of the old Cathedral city, Borrow had an opportunity of resting and meditating upon the events of the last two years; but he soon became restless and tired of inaction. {150a} "I am weary of doing nothing, and am sighing for employment," {150b} he wrote. He had impatiently awaited some word from Earl Street, where, seemingly, he had discussed various plans for the future, including a journey to Portugal and Spain, as well as the printing in Armenian of an edition of the New Testament. Hearing nothing from Mr Jowett, he wrote begging to be excused for reminding him that he was ready to undertake any task that might be allotted to him.

On the day following, he received a letter from Mr Brandram telling of how a resolution had been pa.s.sed that he should go to Portugal.

Then the writer's heart misgave him. In his mind's eye he saw Borrow set down at Oporto. What would he do? Fearful that the door was not sufficiently open to justify the step, he had suggested the suspension of the resolution. Borrow was asked what he himself thought. What did he think of China, and could he foresee any prospect for the distribution of the Scriptures there? "Favour us with your thoughts," Mr Brandram wrote. "Experimental agency in a Society like ours is a formidable undertaking." Borrow replied the same day, {150c}

"As you ask me to favour you with my thoughts, I certainly will; for I have thought much upon the matters in question, and the result I will communicate to you in a very few words. I decidedly approve (and so do all the religious friends whom I have communicated it to) of the plan of a journey to Portugal, and am sorry that it has been suspended, though I am convinced that your own benevolent and excellent heart was the cause, unwilling to fling me into an undertaking which you supposed might be attended with peril and difficulty. Therefore I wish it to be clearly understood that I am perfectly willing to undertake the expedition, nay, to extend it into Spain, to visit the town and country, to discourse with the people, especially those connected with inst.i.tutions for infantine education, and to learn what ways and opportunities present themselves for conveying the Gospel into those benighted countries. I will moreover undertake, with the blessing of G.o.d, to draw up a small volume of what I shall have seen and heard there, which cannot fail to be interesting, and if patronised by the Society will probably help to cover the expenses of the expedition. On my return I can commence the Armenian Testament, and whilst I am editing that, I may be acquiring much vulgar Chinese from some unemployed Lascar or stray Cantonman whom I may pick up upon the wharves, and then . . . to China. I have no more to say, for were I to pen twenty pages, and I have time enough for so doing, I could communicate nothing which would make my views more clear."

The earnestness of this letter seems effectually to have dissipated Mr Brandram's scruples, for events moved forward with astonishing rapidity. Four days after the receipt of Borrow's letter, a resolution was adopted by the Committee to the following effect:-

"That Mr Borrow be requested to proceed forthwith to Lisbon and Oporto for the purpose of visiting the Society's correspondents there, and of making further enquiries respecting the means and channels which may offer for promoting the circulation of the Holy Scriptures in Portugal." {151a}

Mr Brandram gave Borrow two letters of introduction, one to John Wilby, a merchant at Lisbon, and the other to the British Chaplain, the Rev. E. Whiteley. Having explained to Mr Whiteley how Borrow had recently been eventually going to employed in St Petersburg in editing the Manchu New Testament, he wrote:-

"We have some prospect of his China; but having proved by experience that he possesses an order of talent remarkably suited to the purposes of our Society, we have felt unwilling to interrupt our connection with him with the termination of his engagement at St Petersburg. In the interval we have thought that he might advantageously visit Portugal, and strengthen your hands and those of other friends, and see whether he could not extend the promising opening at present existing. He has no specific instructions, though he is enjoined to confer very fully with yourself and Mr Wilby of Lisbon.

"I have mentioned his recent occupation at St Petersburg, and you may perhaps think that there is little affinity between it and his present visit to Portugal. But Mr Borrow possesses no little tact in addressing himself to anything. With Portugal he is already acquainted, and speaks the language. He proposes visiting several of the princ.i.p.al cities and towns . . .

"Our correspondence about Spain is at this moment singularly interesting, and if it continues so, and the way seems to open, Mr Borrow will cross the frontier and go and enquire what can be done there. We believe him to be one who is endowed with no small portion of address and a spirit of enterprise. I recommend him to your kind attentions, and I antic.i.p.ate your thanks for so doing, after you shall have become acquainted with him. Do not, however, be too hasty in forming your judgment."

This letter outlines very clearly what was in the minds of the Committee in sending Borrow to Portugal. He was to spy out the land and advise the home authorities in what direction he would be most likely to prove useful. He was in particular to direct his attention to schools, and was "authorised to be liberal in GIVING New Testaments." Furthermore, he was to be permitted to draw upon the Society's agents to the extent of one hundred pounds.

The most significant part of this letter is the pa.s.sage relating to China. It leaves no doubt that Borrow's reiterated requests to be employed in distributing the Manchu New Testament had appealed most strongly to the General Committee. Mr Brandram was evidently in doubt as to how Borrow would strike his correspondent as an agent of the Bible Society, hence his warning against a hasty judgment.

Apparently this letter was never presented, as it was found among Borrow's papers, and Mr Whiteley had to form his opinion entirely unaided.

On 6th November Borrow sailed from the Thames for Lisbon in the steamship London Merchant. The voyage was fair for the time of year, and was marked only by the tragic occurrence of a sailor falling from the cross-trees into the sea and being drowned. The man had dreamed his fate a few minutes previously, and had told Borrow of the circ.u.mstances on coming up from below. {153a}

Borrow had scarcely been in Lisbon an hour before he heartily wished himself "back in Russia . . . where I had left cherished friends and warm affections." The Customs-house officers irritated him, first with their dilatoriness, then by the minuteness with which they examined every article of which he was possessed. Again, there was the difficulty of obtaining a suitable lodging, which when eventually found proved to be "dark, dirty and exceedingly expensive without attendance." Mr Wilby was in the country and not expected to return for a week. It would also appear that the British Chaplain was likewise away. Thus Borrow found himself with no one to advise him as to the first step he should take. This in itself was no very great drawback; but he felt very much a stranger in a city that struck him as detestable.

Determined to commence operations according to the dictates of his own judgment, he first engaged a Portuguese servant that he might have ample opportunities of perfecting himself in the language. He was fortunate in his selection, for Antonio turned out an excellent fellow, who "always served me with the greatest fidelity, and . . .

exhibited an a.s.siduity and a wish to please which afforded me the utmost satisfaction." {154a}

When Borrow arrived in Portugal, it was to find it gasping and dazed by eight years of civil war (1826-1834). In 1807, when Junot invaded the country, the Royal House of Braganza had sailed for Brazil. In 1816 Dom Joao succeeded to the thrones of Brazil and Portugal, and six years later he arrived in Portugal, leaving behind him as Viceroy his son Dom Pedro, who promptly declared himself Emperor of Brazil.

Dom Joao died in 1826, leaving, in addition to the self-styled Emperor of Brazil, another son, Miguel. Dom Pedro relinquished his claim to the throne of Portugal in favour of his seven years old daughter, Maria da Gloria, whose right was contested by her uncle Dom Miguel. In 1834 Dom Miguel resigned his imaginary rights to the throne by the Convention of Evora, and departed from the country that for eight years had been at war with itself, and for seven with a foreign invader.

Borrow proceeded to acquaint himself with the state of affairs in Lisbon and the surrounding country, that he might transmit a full account to the Bible Society. He visited every part of the city, losing no opportunity of entering into conversation with anyone with whom he came in contact. The people he found indifferent to religion, the lower orders in particular. They laughed in his face when he enquired if ever they confessed themselves, and a muleteer on being asked if he reverenced the cross, "instantly flew into a rage, stamped violently, and, spitting on the ground, said it was a piece of stone, and that he should have no more objection to spit upon it than the stones on which he trod." {154b}

Many of the people could read, as they proved when asked to do so from the Portuguese New Testament; but of all those whom he addressed none appeared to have read the Scriptures, or to know anything of what they contain.

After spending four or five days at Lisbon, Borrow, accompanied by Antonio, proceeded to Cintra. {155a} Here he pursued the same method, also visiting the schools and enquiring into the nature of the religious instruction. During his stay of four days, he "traversed the country in all directions, riding into the fields, where I saw the peasants at work, and entering into discourse with them, and notwithstanding many of my questions must have appeared to them very singular, I never experienced any incivility, though they frequently answered me with smiles and laughter." {155b}

From Cintra he proceeded on horseback to Mafra, a large village some three leagues distant. Everywhere he subjected the inhabitants to a searching cross-examination, laying bare their minds upon religious matters, experiencing surprise at the "free and unembarra.s.sed manner in which the Portuguese peasantry sustain a conversation, and the purity of the language in which they express their thoughts," {155c} although few could read or write.

On the return journey from Mafra to Cintra he nearly lost his life, owing to the girth of his saddle breaking during his horse's exertions in climbing a hill. Borrow was cast violently to the ground; but fortunately on the right side, otherwise he would in all probability have been bruised to death by tumbling down the steep hill-side. As it was, he was dazed, and felt the effects of his mishap for several days.

On his return to Lisbon, Borrow found that Mr Wilby was back, and he had many opportunities of taking counsel with him as to the best means to be adopted to further the Society's ends. He learned that four hundred copies of the Bible and the New Testament had arrived, and it was decided to begin operations at once. Mr Wilby recommended the booksellers as the best medium of distribution; but Borrow urged strongly that at least half of the available copies "should be entrusted to colporteurs," who were to receive a commission upon every copy sold. To this Mr Wilby agreed, provided the operations of the colporteurs were restricted to Lisbon, as there was considerable danger in the country, where the priests were very powerful and might urge the people to mishandle, or even a.s.sa.s.sinate, the bearers of the Word.

By nature Borrow was not addicted to half measures. His whole record as an agent of the Bible Society was of a series of determined onslaughts upon the obstacles animate and inanimate, that beset his path. Sometimes he took away the breath of his adversaries by the very vigour of his attack, and, like the old Northern leaders, whose deeds he wished to give to an uneager world in translated verse, he faced great dangers and achieved great ends. Recognising that the darkest region is most in need of light, he enquired of Mr Wilby in what province of Portugal were to be found the most ignorant and benighted people, and on being told the Alemtejo (the other side of the Tagus), he immediately announced his intention of making a journey through it, in order to discover how dense spiritual gloom could really be in an ostensibly Christian country.

The Alemtejo was an unprepossessing country, consisting for the most part of "heaths, broken by knolls and gloomy dingles, swamps and forests of stunted pine," with but few hills and mountains. The place was infested with banditti, and robberies, accompanied by horrible murders, were of constant occurrence. On 6th December, accompanied by his servant Antonio, Borrow set out for Evora, the princ.i.p.al town, formerly a seat of the dreaded Inquisition, which lies about sixty miles east of Lisbon. After many adventures, which he himself has narrated, including a dangerous crossing of the Tagus, and a meeting with Dom Geronimo Joze d'Azveto, secretary to the government of Evora, Borrow arrived at his destination, having spent two nights on the road. During the journey he had been constantly mindful of his mission; beside the embers of a bandit's fire he left a New Testament, and the huts that mark the spot where Dom Pedro and Dom Miguel met, he sweetened with some of the precious little tracts."

He had brought with him to Evora twenty Testaments and two Bibles, half of which he left with an enlightened shopkeeper, to whom he had a letter of introduction. The other half he subsequently bestowed upon Dom Geronimo, who proved to be a man of great earnestness, deeply conscious of his countrymen's ignorance of true Christianity.

Each day during his stay at Evora, Borrow spent two hours beside the fountain where the cattle were watered, entering into conversation with all who approached, the result being that before he left the town, he had spoken to "about two hundred . . of the children of Portugal upon matters connected with their eternal welfare."

Sometimes his hearers would ask for proofs of his statements that they were not Christians, being ignorant of Christ and his teaching, and that the Pope was Satan's prime minister. He invariably replied by calling attention to their own ignorance of the Scripture, for if the priests were in reality Christ's ministers, why had they kept from their flocks the words of their Master?

When not engaged at the fountain, Borrow rode about the neighbourhood distributing tracts. Fearful lest the people might refuse them if offered by his own hand, he dropped them in their favourite walks, in the hope that they would be picked up out of curiosity. He caused the daughter of the landlady of the inn at which he stopped to burn a copy of Volney's Ruins of Empire, because the author was an "emissary of Satan," the girl standing by telling her beads until the book were entirely consumed.

Borrow had been greatly handicapped through the lack of letters of introduction to influential people in Portugal. He wrote, therefore, to Dr Bowring, now M.P. for Kilmarnock, telling him of his wanderings among the rustics and banditti of Portugal, with whom he had become very popular; but, he continues:

"As it is much more easy to introduce oneself to the cottage than the hall (though I am not utterly unknown in the latter), I want you to give or procure me letters to the most liberal and influential minds in Portugal. I likewise want a letter from the Foreign Office to Lord [Howard] de Walden. In a word, I want to make what interest I can towards obtaining the admission of the Gospel of Jesus into the public schools of Portugal, which are about to be established. I beg leave to state that this is MY PLAN and no other person's, as I was merely sent over to Portugal to observe the disposition of the people, therefore I do not wish to be named as an Agent of the B.S., but as a person who has plans for the mental improvement of the Portuguese; should I receive THESE LETTERS within the s.p.a.ce of six weeks it will be time enough, for before setting up my machine in Portugal, I wish to lay the foundations of something similar in Spain."

P.S.--"I start for Spain to-morrow, and I want letters something similar (there is impudence for you) for Madrid, WHICH I SHOULD LIKE TO HAVE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. I do not much care at present for an introduction to the Amba.s.sador at Madrid, as I shall not commence operations seriously in Spain until I have disposed of Portugal. I will not apologise for writing to you in this manner, for you know me, but I will tell you one thing, which is, that the letter which you procured for me, on my going to St Petersburg, from Lord Palmerston, a.s.sisted me wonderfully; I called twice at your domicile on my return; the first time you were in Scotland--the second in France, and I a.s.sure you I cried with vexation. Remember me to Mrs Bowring, and G.o.d bless you." {159a}

In this letter Borrow gives another ill.u.s.tration of his shrewdness.

He saw clearly the disadvantage of appealing for a.s.sistance as an agent of the Bible Society, a Protestant inst.i.tution which was anathema in a Roman Catholic country, whereas if he posed merely as "a gentleman who has plans for the mental improvement of the Portuguese," he could enlist the sympathetic interest of any and every broad-minded Portuguese mindful of his country's intellectual gloom. In response to this request Dr Bowring, writing from Brussels, sent two letters of introduction, one each for Lisbon and Madrid.

After remaining at Evora for a week (8th to 17th December) Borrow returned to Lisbon, thoroughly satisfied with the results of his journey. The next fortnight he spent in a further examination of Lisbon, and becoming acquainted with the Jews of the city, by whom he was welcomed as a powerful rabbi. He favoured the mistake, with the result that in a few days he "knew all that related to them and their traffic in Lisbon." {159b}

Borrow's methods seem to have impressed Earl Street most favourably.

In a letter of acknowledgment Mr Brandram wrote:-

"We have been much interested by your two communications. {159c} They are both very painful in their details, and you develop a truly awful state of things. You are probing the wound, and I hope preparing the way for our pouring in by and by the healing balsam of the Scripture. We shall be anxious to hear from you again. We often think of you in your wanderings. We like your way of communicating with the people, meeting them in their own walks."