'I saw in some _Athenæum_ a somewhat contemptuous notice of G. B.'s _Rommany Lil_ or whatever the name is. I can easily understand that B. should not meddle with _science_ of any sort; but some years ago he would not have liked to be told so; however, old age may have cooled him now.'
[218] Mr. Robert Cooke was a partner in John Murray's firm at this time.
[219] It is to be found in Dr. Knapp's _Life_, vol. ii. pp. 248-9.
[221] Dr. Aldis Wright tells me that he did go over to Oulton to see Mrs. MacOubrey, and gave her the best advice he could, but it was neglected.
The year 1854 was an adventurous one in Borrow's life, for he, so essentially a Celt, as Mr. Watts-Dunton has more than once reminded us,[222] had in that year two interesting experiences of the 'Celtic Fringe.' He spent the first months of the year in Cornwall, as we have seen, and from July to November he was in Wales. That tour he recorded in pencilled notebooks, four of which are in the Knapp Collection in New York, and are duly referred to in Dr. Knapp's biography, and two of which are in my possession. In addition to this I have the complete manuscript of _Wild Wales_ in Borrow's handwriting, and many variants of it in countless, carefully written pages. Therein lie the possibilities of a singularly interesting edition of _Wild Wales_ should opportunity offer for its publication. When I examine the manuscript, with its demonstration of careful preparation, I do not wonder that it took Borrow eight years--from 1854 to 1862--to prepare this book for the press. Assuredly we recognise here, as in all his books, that he realised Carlyle's definition of genius--'the transcendent capacity of taking trouble--first of all.'
[Illustration: _WILD WALES_ IN ITS BEGINNINGS.
Two pages from one of George Borrow's Pocket-books with pencilled notes made on his journey through Wales.]
It was on 27th July 1854 that Borrow, his wife and her daughter, Henrietta Clarke, set out on their journey to North Wales. Dr. Knapp prints two kindly letters from Mrs. Borrow to her mother-in-law written from Llangollen on this tour. 'We are in a lovely quiet spot,' she writes, 'Dear George goes out exploring the mountains.... The poor here are humble, simple, and good.' In the second letter Mrs. Borrow records that her husband 'keeps a _daily_ journal of all that goes on, so that he can make a most amusing book in a month.' Yet Borrow took eight years to make it. The failure of _The Romany Rye_, which was due for publication before _Wild Wales_, accounts for this, and perhaps also the disappointment that another book, long since ready, did not find a publisher. In the letter from which I have quoted Mary Borrow tells Anne Borrow that her son will, she expects at Christmas, publish _The Romany Rye_, 'together with his poetry in all the European languages.' This last book had been on his hands for many a day, and indeed in _Wild Wales_ he writes of 'a mountain of unpublished translations' of which this book, duly advertised in _The Romany Rye_, was a part.[223]