He also informed Mr Jowett that he had a brother in Mexico, subsequently assuring him that he had no doubt of John's willingness to assist the Society in "flinging the rays of scriptural light o'er that most benighted and miserable region." He sent to his brother, at Mr Jowett's request, first a sheet, and afterwards a complete copy, of the Gospel of St Luke translated into Nahuatl, the prevailing dialect of the Mexican Indians, by Mariano Paz y Sanchez. {99a}

In addition to learning Manchu, Borrow is credited with correcting and passing for press the Nahuatl version of St. Luke. {99b} The Bible Society's records, however, point to the fact that this work was carried through by John Hattersley, who later was to come up with Borrow for examination in Manchu. In the light of this, the following passage from one of John's letters is puzzling in the extreme:- "I have just received your letter of the 16th of February, together with your translation of St Luke. I am glad you have got the job, but I must say that the Bible Society are just throwing away their time."

He goes on to explain how many dialects there are in Mexico. "The job" can only refer to the Mexican translation, as, at that period, Borrow was merely studying Manchu. He had received no appointment from the Society. It may have happened that Borrow expressed a wish to look through the proofs and that a set was sent to him for this purpose; but there seems no doubt that the actual official responsibility for the work rested with Hattersley. A very important point in support of this view is that there is no record of Borrow being paid anything in connection with this Mexican translation, beyond the amount of fifteen shillings and fivepence, which he had expended in postage on the advance sheet and complete copy sent to John. To judge from the subsequent financial arrangements between the Society and its agent, it is very improbable that he was given work to do without payment.

After seven weeks' study Borrow wrote again to Mr Jowett:

"I am advancing at full gallop, and . . . able to translate with pleasure and facility the specimens of the best authors who have written in the language contained in the compilation of the Klaproth. But I confess that the want of a Grammar has been, particularly in the beginning of my course, a great clog to my speed, and I have little doubt that had I been furnished with one I should have attained my present knowledge of Manchu in half the time. I was determined, however, not to be discouraged, and, not having a hatchet at hand to cut down the tree with, to attack it with my knife; and I would advise every one to make the most of the tools which happen to be in his possession until he can procure better ones, and it is not improbable that by the time the good tools arrive he will find he has not much need of them, having almost accomplished his work." {100a}

There is a hint of the difficulties he was experiencing in his confession that tools would still be of service to him, in particular "this same tripartite Grammar which Mr Brandram is hunting for, my ideas respecting Manchu construction being still very vague and wandering." {100b} There is also a request for "the original grammatical work of Amyot, printed in the Memoires." {100c}

Borrow had been studying Manchu for seven weeks when, feeling that his glowing report of the progress he was making might be regarded as "a piece of exaggeration and vain boasting," he enclosed a specimen translation from Manchu into English. This he accompanied with an assurance that, if required, he could at that moment edit any book printed in the Manchu dialect. About this period Mr Jowett and his colleagues passed from one sensation to another. The calm confidence of this astonishing man was more than justified by his performance. His attitude towards life was strange to Earl Street.

Nineteen weeks from the date of commencing his study of Manchu, Borrow wrote again to Mr Jowett with unmistakable triumph: "I have mastered Manchu, and I should feel obliged by your informing the Committee of the fact, and also my excellent friend Mr Brandram." He proceeds to indicate some of the many difficulties with which he has had to contend, the absolute difference of Manchu from all the other languages that he has studied, with the single exception of Turkish; the number of its idiomatic phrases, which must of necessity be learnt off by heart; the little assistance he has had in the nature of books. Finally he acknowledges "the assistance of God," and asks "to be regularly employed, for though I am not in want, my affairs are not in a very flourishing condition."

The response to this letter was an invitation to proceed to London to undergo an examination. His competitor was John Hattersley, upon whom, in the event of Borrow's failure, would in all probability have devolved the duty of assisting Mr Lipovzoff. A Manchu hymn, a paean to the great Futsa, was the test. Each candidate prepared a translation, which was handed to the examiners, who in turn were to report to the Sub-Committee. Borrow returned to Norwich to await the result. This was most probably towards the end of June. {101a}

Mr Jowett wrote encouragingly to Borrow of his prospects of obtaining the coveted appointment. In acknowledgment of this letter, Borrow dashed off a reply, magnificent in its confidence and manly sincerity. It was a defiance to the fate that had so long dogged his footsteps.

"What you have written has given me great pleasure," he wrote, "as it holds out hope that I may be employed usefully to the Deity, to man, and myself. I shall be very happy to visit St Petersburg and to become the coadjutor of Lipovzoff, {102a} and to avail myself of his acquirements in what you very happily designate a most singular language, towards obtaining a still greater proficiency in it. I flatter myself that I am for one or two reasons tolerably well adapted for the contemplated expedition, for besides a competent knowledge of French and German, I possess some acquaintance with Russian, being able to read without much difficulty any printed Russian book, and I have little doubt that after a few months intercourse with the natives, I should be able to speak it fluently. It would ill become me to bargain like a Jew or a Gypsy as to terms; all I wish to say on that point is, that I have nothing of my own, having been too long dependent on an excellent mother, who is not herself in very easy circumstances."

Whilst still waiting for the confirmation by the General Committee of the Sub-Committee's resolution, which was favourable to Borrow, Mr Jowett wrote to him (5th July), telling him how good were his prospects; but warning him not to be too confident of success. The Sub-Committee had recommended that Borrow's services should be engaged that he might go to St Petersburg and assist Mr Lipovzoff in editing St Luke and the Acts and any other portions of the New Testament that it was thought desirable to publish in Manchu. Should the Russian Government refuse to permit the work to be proceeded with, Borrow was to occupy himself in assisting the Rev. Wm. Swan to transcribe and collate the manuscript of the Old Testament in Manchu that had recently come to light. At the same time, he was to seize every opportunity that presented itself of perfecting himself in Manchu. For this he was to receive a salary of two hundred pounds a year to cover all expenses, save those of the journey to and from St Petersburg, for which the Society was to be responsible. Borrow was advised to think carefully over the proposal, and, if it should prove attractive to him, to hold himself in readiness to start as soon as the General Committee should approve of the recommendation that was to be placed before it. In conclusion, Mr Jowett proceeded to administer a gentle rebuke to the confident pride with which the candidate indited his letters. Only a quotation can show the tact with which the admonition was conveyed.

"Excuse me," wrote the Literary Superintendent, "if as a clergyman, and your senior in years though not in talent, I venture, with the kindest of motives, to throw out a hint which may not be without its use. I am sure you will not be offended if I suggest that there is occasionally a tone of confidence in speaking of yourself, which has alarmed some of the excellent members of our Committee. It may have been this feeling, more than once displayed before, which prepared one or two of them to stumble at an expression in your letter of yesterday, in which, till pointed out, I confess I was not struck with anything objectionable, but at which, nevertheless, a humble Christian might not unreasonably take umbrage. It is where you speak of the prospect of becoming 'useful to the Deity, to man, and to yourself.' Doubtless you meant the prospect of glorifying God."

Borrow had yet to learn the idiom of Earl Street, which he showed himself most anxious to acquire. He clearly recognised that the Bible Society required different treatment from the Army Pay Office, or the Solicitor of the Treasury. It was accustomed to humility in those it employed, and a trust in a higher power, and Borrow's self- confident letters alarmed the members of the Committee. How thoroughly Borrow appreciated what was required is shown in a letter that he wrote to his mother from Russia, when anticipating the return of his brother. "Should John return home," he warns her, "by no means let him go near the Bible Society, for he would not do for them."

Borrow's reply to the Literary Superintendent's kindly worded admonition was entirely satisfactory and "in harmony with the rule laid down by Christ himself." It was something of a triumph, too, for Mr Jowett to rebuke a man of such sensitiveness as Borrow, without goading him to an impatient retort.

The meeting of the General Committee that was to decide upon Borrow's future was held on 22nd July, and on the following day Mr Jowett informed him that the recommendation of the Sub-Committee had been adopted and confirmed, at the same time requesting him to be at Earl Street on the morning of Friday, 26th July, that he might set out for St Petersburg the following Tuesday. On 25th July Borrow took the night coach to London. On the 29th he appeared before the Editorial Sub-Committee and heard read the resolution of his appointment, and drafts of letters recommending him to the Rev. Wm. Swan and Dr I. J. Schmidt, a correspondent of the Society's in St Petersburg and a member of the Russian Board of Censors. Finally, there was impressed upon him "the necessity of confining himself closely to the one object of his mission, carefully abstaining from mingling himself with political or ecclesiastical affairs during his residence in Russia. Mr Borrow assured them of his full determination religiously to comply with this admonition, and to use every prudent method for enlarging his acquaintance with the Manchu language." {104a}

The salary was to date from the day he embarked, and on account of expenses to St Petersburg he drew the sum of 37 pounds. The actual amount he expended was 27 pounds, 7s. 6d., according to the account he submitted, which was dated 2nd October 1834. It is to be feared that Borrow was not very punctual in rendering his accounts, as Mr Brandram wrote to him (18th October 1837): —"I know you are no accountant, but do not forget that there are some who are. My memory was jogged upon this subject the other day, and I was expected to say to you that a letter of figures would be acceptable."

It is not unnatural that those who remembered Borrow as one of William Taylor's "harum-scarum" young men, who at one time intended to "abuse religion and get prosecuted," should find in his appointment as an agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society a subject for derisive mirth. Harriet Martineau's voice was heard well above the rest. "When this polyglott gentleman appeared before the public as a devout agent of the Bible Society in foreign parts," she wrote, "there was one burst of laughter from all who remembered the old Norwich days." {105a} Like hundreds of other men, Borrow had, in youth, been led to somewhat hasty and ill-considered conclusions; but this in itself does not seem to be sufficiently strong reason why he should not change his views. Many young men pass through an aggressively irreligious phase without suffering much harm. Harriet Martineau was rather too precipitate in assuming that what a man believes, or disbelieves, at twenty, he holds to at thirty; such a view negatives the reformer. Perhaps the chief cause of the change in Borrow's views was that he had touched the depths of failure. Here was an opening that promised much. He was a diplomatist when it suited his purpose, and if the old poison were not quite gone out of his system, he would hide his wounds, or allow the secretaries to bandage them with mild reproof.

Very different from the attitude of Harriet Martineau was that of John Venning, an English merchant resident at Norwich and recently returned from St Petersburg, where his charity and probity had placed him in high favour with the Emperor and the Goverment officials. Mr Venning gave Borrow letters of introduction to a number of influential personages at St Petersburg, including Prince Alexander Galitzin and Baron Schilling de Canstadt. Dr Bowring obtained a letter from Lord Palmerston to someone whose name is not known. There were letters of introduction from other hands, so that when he was ready to sail Borrow found himself "loaded with letters of recommendation to some of the first people in Russia. Mr Venning's packet has arrived with letters to several of the Princes, so that I shall be protected if I am seized as a spy; for the Emperor is particularly cautious as to the foreigners whom he admits. It costs 2 pounds, 7s. 6d. merely for permission to go to Russia, which alone is enough to deter most people." {106a}

Before leaving England, Borrow paid into his mother's account at her bank the sum of seventeen pounds, an amount that she had advanced to him either during his unproductive years, or on account of his expenses in connection with the expedition to St Petersburg.



CHAPTER VII: AUGUST 1833-JANUARY 1834



On 19th/31st July 1833 Borrow set out on a journey that was to some extent to realise his ambitions. He was to be trusted and encouraged and, what was most important of all, praised for what he accomplished; for Borrow's was a nature that responded best to the praise and entire confidence of those for whom he worked.

Travelling second class for reasons of economy, he landed at Hamburg at seven in the morning of the fourth day, after having experienced "a disagreeable passage of three days, in which I suffered much from sea-sickness." {107a} Exhausted by these days of suffering and want of sleep, the heat of the sun brought on "a transient fit of delirium," {107b} in other words, an attack of the "Horrors." Two fellow-passengers (Jews), with whom he had become acquainted, conveyed him to a comfortable hotel, where he was visited by a physician, who administered forty drops of laudanum, caused his head to be swathed in wet towels, ordered him to bed, and charged a fee of seven shillings. The result was that by the evening he had quite recovered.

One of Borrow's first duties was to write a lengthy letter to Mr Jowett, telling him of his movements, describing the city, the service at a church he attended, the lax morality of the Hamburgers in permitting rope-dancers in the park, and the opening of dancing- saloons, "most infamous places," on the Lord's day. "England, with all her faults," he proceeds, "has still some regard to decency, and will not tolerate such a shameless display of vice on so sacred a season, when a decent cheerfulness is the freest form in which the mind or countenance ought to invest themselves." In conclusion, he announced his intention of leaving for Lubeck on the sixth, {108a} and he would be on the Baltic two days later en route for St Petersburg. "My next letter, provided it pleases the Almighty to vouchsafe me a happy arrival, will be from the Russian capital." By "a fervent request that you will not forget me in your prayers," he demonstrated that Mr Jowett's hint had not been forgotten.

The distance between Hamburg and Lubeck is only about thirty miles, yet it occupied Borrow thirteen hours, so abominable was the road, which "was paved at intervals with huge masses of unhewn rock, and over this pavement the carriage was very prudently driven at a snail's pace; for, had anything approaching speed been attempted, the entire demolition of the wheels in a few minutes must have been the necessary result. No sooner had we quitted this terrible pavement than we sank to our axle-trees in sand, mud, and water; for, to render the journey perfectly delectable, the rain fell in torrents and ceaselessly." {108b} The state of the road Borrow attributed to the ill-nature of the King of Denmark, for immediately on leaving his dominions it improved into an excellent carriageway.

On 28th July/9th August Borrow took steamer from Travemunde, and three days later landed at St Petersburg. His first duty was to call upon Mr Swan, whom he found "one of the most amiable and interesting characters" he had ever met. The arrival of a coadjutor caused Mr Swan considerable relief, as he had suffered in health in consequence of his uninterrupted labours in transcribing the Manchu manuscript.

Borrow was enthusiastic in his admiration of the capital of "our dear and glorious Russia." St Petersburg he considered "the finest city in the world" {109a} other European capitals were unworthy of comparison. The enormous palaces, the long, straight streets, the grandeur of the public buildings, the noble Neva that flows majestically through "this Queen of the cities," the three miles long Nevsky Prospect, paved with wood; all aroused in him enthusiasm and admiration. "In a word," he wrote to his mother, "I can do little else but look and wonder." All that he had read and heard of the capital of All the Russias had failed to prepare him for this scene of splendour. The meeting and harmonious mixing of East and West early attracted his attention. The Oriental cultivation of a twelve- inch beard among the middle and lower classes, placed them in marked contrast with the moustached or clean-shaven patricians and foreigners. In short, Russia gripped hold of and warmed Borrow's imagination. Here were new types, curious blendings of nationalities unthought of and strange to him, a mine of wealth to a man whose studies were never books, except when they helped him the better to understand men.

Another thing that attracted him to Russia was the great kindness with which he was received, both by the English Colony and the natives: to the one he appealed by virtue of a common ancestry; to the other, on account of his knowledge of the Russian tongue, not to speak of his mission, which acted as a strong recommendation to their favour. On his part Borrow reciprocated the esteem. If he were an implacable enemy, he was also a good friend, and he thoroughly appreciated the manner in which he was welcomed by his countrymen, especially the invitation he received from one of them to make his house his home until he found a suitable dwelling. To his mother he wrote:

"The Russians are the best-natured, kindest people in the world, and though they do not know as much as the English [he was not referring to the Colony], they have not their fiendish, spiteful dispositions, and if you go amongst them and speak their language, however badly, they would go through fire and water to do you a kindness." Later, when in Portugal, he heartily wished himself "back in Russia . . . where I had left cherished friends and warm affections."

High as was his opinion of the Russians, he was at a loss to understand how they had earned their reputation as "the best general linguists in the world." He found Russian absolutely necessary to anyone who wished to make himself understood. French and German as equivalents were of less value in St Petersburg than in England.

At first Borrow took up his residence "for nearly a fortnight in a hotel, as the difficulty of procuring lodgings in this place is very great, and when you have procured them you have to furnish them yourself at a considerable expense . . . eventually I took up my abode with Mr Egerton Hubbard, a friend of Mr Venning's [at 221 Galernoy Ulitza], where I am for the present very comfortably situated." {110a} He stayed with Mr Hubbard for three months; but was eventually forced to leave on account of constant interruptions, probably by his fellow-boarders, in consequence of which he could neither perform his task of transcription nor devote himself to study. He therefore took a small lodging at a cost of nine shillings a week, including fires, where he could enjoy quiet and solitude. His meals he got at a Russian eating-house, dinner costing fivepence, "consequently," he writes to his mother, "I am not at much expense, being able to live for about sixty pounds a year and pay a Russian teacher, who has five shillings for one lesson a week."

One of Borrow's earliest thoughts on arriving at St Petersburg had been to present his letters of introduction. Within two days of landing he called upon Prince Alexander Galitzin, {111a} accompanied by his fellow-lodger, young Venning. One of the most important, and at the same time useful, friendships that he made was with Baron Schilling de Canstadt, the philologist and savant, who, later, with his accustomed generosity, was to place his unique library at Borrow's disposition. The Baron was one of the greatest bibliophiles of his age, and possessed a collection of Eastern manuscripts and other priceless treasures that was world-famous. He spared neither expense nor trouble in procuring additions to his collection, which after his death was acquired by the Imperial Academy of Science at St Petersburg. In this literary treasure-house Borrow found facilities for study such as he nowhere else could hope to obtain.

Another friendship that Borrow made was with John P. Hasfeldt, a man of about his own age attached to the Danish Legation, who also gave lessons in languages. Borrow seems to have been greatly attracted to Hasfeldt, who wrote to him with such cordiality. It was Hasfeldt who gave to Borrow as a parting gift the silver shekel that he invariably carried about with him, and which caused him to be hailed as blessed by the Gibraltar Jews.

In his letter Hasfeldt shows himself a delightful correspondent. His generous camaraderie seemed to warm Borrow to response, as indeed well it might. Who could resist the breezy good humour of the following from a letter addressed to Borrow by Hasfeldt years later? -

"Do you still eat Pike soup? Do you remember the time when you lived on that dish for more than six weeks, and came near exterminating the whole breed? And the pudding that accompanied it, that always lay as hard as a stone on the stomach? This you surely have not forgotten. Yes, your kitchen was delicately manipulated by Machmoud, your Tartar servant, who only needed to give you horse-meat to have merited a diploma. Do you still sing when you are in a good humour? Doubtless you are not troubled with many friends to visit you, for you are not of the sort who are easily understood, nor do you care to have everyone understand you; you prefer to have people call you grey and let you gae."

Other friends Borrow made, including Nikolai Ivanovitch Gretch, {112a} the grammarian, and Friedrich von Adelung, {112b}} who assisted him with the loan of books and MSS. in Oriental tongues.

The story of Borrow's labours in connection with the printing of the Manchu version of the New Testament, forms a remarkable study of unswerving courage and will-power triumphing over apparently insurmountable obstacles. The mere presence of difficulties seemed to increase his eagerness and determination to overcome them. Disappointments he had in plenty; but his indomitable courage and untiring energy, backed up by the earnest support he received from Earl Street, enabled him to emerge from his first serious undertaking with the knowledge that he had succeeded where failure would not have been discreditable.

He threw himself into his work with characteristic eagerness. At the end of the first two months he had transcribed the Second Book of Chronicles and the Gospel of St Matthew. He formed a very high opinion of the work of the translator, and took the opportunity of paying a tribute to the followers of Ignatius Loyola (Father Puerot was a Jesuit). "When," he writes, "did a Jesuit any thing which he undertook, whether laudable or the reverse, not far better than any other person?" yet they laboured in vain, for "they thought not of His glory, but of the glory of their order." {113a}

Borrow discovered that Mr Lipovzoff knew nothing of the Bible Society's scheme for printing the New Testament in Manchu; but he found, what was of even greater importance to him, that the old man knew no European language but Russian. Thus the frequent conversations and explanations all tended to improve Borrow's knowledge of the language of the people among whom he was living.

Mr Lipovzoff struck Borrow as being "rather a singular man," as he took occasion to inform Mr Jowett, apparently utterly indifferent as to the fate of his translation, excellent though it was. As a matter of fact, Mr Lipovzoff was occupied with his own concerns, and, as an official in the Russian Foreign Office, most likely saw the inexpediency of a too eager enthusiasm for the Bible Society's Manchu-Tartar programme. He was probably bewildered by the fierce energy of its honest and compelling agent, who had descended upon St Petersburg to do the Society's bidding with an impetuosity and determination foreign to Russian official life. Borrow was on fire with zeal and impatient of the apathy of those around him.

He soon began to show signs of that singleness of purpose and resourcefulness that, later, was to arouse so much enthusiasm among the members of the Bible Society at home. The transcribing and collating Puerot's version of the Scriptures occupied the remainder of the year. On the completion of this work, it had been arranged that Mr Swan should return to his mission-station in Siberia. The next step was to obtain official sanction to print the Lipovzoff version of the New Testament. Dr Schmidt, to whom Borrow turned for advice and information, was apparently very busily occupied with his own affairs, which included the compilation of a Mongolian Grammar and Dictionary. The Doctor was optimistic, and promised to make enquiries about the steps to be taken to obtain the necessary permission to print; but Borrow heard nothing further from him.

"Thus circumstanced, and being very uneasy in my mind," he writes, "I determined to take a bold step, and directly and without further feeling my way, to petition the Government in my own name for permission to print the Manchu Scriptures. Having communicated this determination to our beloved, sincere, and most truly Christian friend Mr Swan (who has lately departed to his station in Siberia, shielded I trust by the arm of his Master), it met with his perfect approbation and cordial encouragement. I therefore drew up a petition, and presented it with my own hand to His Excellence Mr Bludoff, Minister of the Interior." {114a}

The minister made reply that he doubted his jurisdiction in the matter; but that he would consider. Fearful lest the matter should miscarry or be shelved, Borrow called on the evening of the same day upon the British Minister, the Hon. J. D. Bligh, "a person of superb talents, kind disposition, and of much piety," {114b} whose friendship Borrow had "assiduously cultivated," and who had shown him "many condescending marks of kindness." {114c} But Mr Bligh was out. Nothing daunted, Borrow wrote a note entreating his interest with the Russian officials. On calling for an answer in the morning, he was received by Mr Bligh, when "he was kind enough to say that if I desired it he would apply officially to the Minister, and exert all his influence in his official character in order to obtain the accomplishment of my views, but at the same time suggested that it would, perhaps, be as well at a private interview to beg it as a personal favour." {115a}

There was hesitation, perhaps suspicion, in official quarters. It is easy to realise that the Government was not eager to assist the agent of an institution closely allied to the Russian Bible Society, which it had recently been successful in suppressing. It might with impunity suppress a Society; but in George Borrow it soon became evident that the officials had to deal with a man of purpose and determination who used a British Minister as a two-edged sword. Borrow was invited to call at the Asiatic Department: he did so, and learned that if permission were granted, Mr Lipovzoff (who was a clerk in the Department) was to be censor (over his own translation!) and Borrow editor. There was still the "If." Borrow waited a fortnight, then called on Mr Bligh. By great good chance Mr Bludoff was dining that evening with the British Minister. The same night Borrow received a message requesting him to call on Mr Bludoff the next day. On presenting himself he was given a letter to the Director of Worship, which he delivered without delay, and was told to call again on the first day of the following week.

"On calling there I FOUND THAT PERMISSION HAD BEEN GRANTED TO PRINT THE MANCHU SCRIPTURE." {115b} Baron Schilling had rendered some assistance in getting the permission, and Borrow was requested to inform him of "the deep sense of obligation" of the Bible Society, to which was added a present of some books.

Borrow clearly viewed this as only a preliminary success; he had in mind the eventual printing of the whole Bible. He was beginning to feel conscious of his own powers. Mr Swan had gone, and upon Borrow's shoulders rested the whole enterprise. A mild wave of enthusiasm passed over the Head Office at Earl Street on receipt of the news that permission to print had been obtained.

"You cannot conceive," Borrow wrote to Mr Jowett, "the cold, heartless apathy in respect to the affair, on which I have been despatched hither as an ASSISTANT, which I have found in people to whom I looked not unreasonably for encouragement and advice." {116a} Well might he underline the word "assistant." In this same letter, with a spasmodic flicker of the old self-confidence, he adds, "In regard to what we have yet to do, let it be borne in mind, that we are by no means dependent upon Mr Lipovzoff, though certainly to secure the services, which he is capable of performing, would be highly desirable, and though he cannot act outwardly in the character of Editor (he having been appointed censor), he may privately be of great utility to us." Borrow seems to have formed no very high opinion of Mr Lipovzoff's capacity for affairs, although he recognised his skill as a translator.

At first Borrow seems to have found the severity of the winter very trying. "The cold when you go out into it," he writes to his mother (1st/13th Feb. 1834), "cuts your face like a razor, and were you not to cover it with furs the flesh would be bitten off. The rooms in the morning are heated with a stove as hot as ovens, and you would not be able to exist in one for a minute; but I have become used to them and like them much, though at first they made me dreadfully sick and brought on bilious headaches."

There was still at the Sarepta House, the premises of the Bible Society's bankers in St Petersburg, the box of Manchu type, which had not been examined since the river floods. In addition to this, the only other Manchu characters in St Petersburg belonged to Baron Schilling, who possessed a small fount of the type, which he used "for the convenience of printing trifles in that tongue," as Borrow phrased it. This was to be put at Borrow's disposal if necessary; but first the type at the Sarepta House had to be examined. Borrow's plan was, provided the type were not entirely ruined, to engage the services of a printer who was accustomed to setting Mongolian characters, which are very similar to those of Manchu, who would, he thought, be competent to undertake the work. He suggested following the style of the St Matthew's Gospel already printed, giving to each Gospel and the Acts a volume and printing the Epistles and the Apocalypse in three more, making eight volumes in all.

These he proposed putting "in a small thin wooden case, covered with blue stuff, precisely after the manner of Chinese books, in order that they may not give offence to the eyes of the people for whom they are intended by a foreign and unusual appearance, for the mere idea that they are barbarian books would certainly prevent them being read, and probably cause their destruction if ever they found their way into the Chinese Empire." {117a} Borrow left nothing to chance; he thought out every detail with great care before venturing to put his plans into execution.

Although busily occupied in an endeavour to stimulate Russian government officials to energy and decision, Borrow was not neglecting what had been so strongly urged upon him, the perfecting of himself in the Manchu dialect. In reply to an enquiry from Mr Jowett as to what manner of progress he was making, he wrote

"For some time past I have taken lessons from a person who was twelve years in Pekin, and who speaks Manchu and Chinese with fluency. I pay him about six shillings English for each lesson, which I grudge not, for the perfect acquirement of Manchu is one of my most ardent wishes." {118a}

This person Borrow subsequently recommended to the Society "to assist me in making a translation into Manchu of the Psalms and Isaiah," but the pundit proved "of no utility at all, but only the cause of error."

Borrow was soon able to transcribe the Manchu characters with greater facility and speed than he could English. In addition to being able to translate from and into Manchu, he could compose hymns in the language, and even prepared a Manchu rendering of the second Homily of the Church of England, "On the Misery of Man." He had, however, made the discovery that Manchu was far less easy to him than it had at first appeared, and that Amyot was to some extent justified in his view of the difficulties it presented. "It is one of those deceitful tongues," he confesses in a letter to Mr Jowett, "the seeming simplicity of whose structure induces you to suppose, after applying to it for a month or two, that little more remains to be learned, but which, should you continue to study a year, as I have studied this, show themselves to you in their veritable colours, amazing you with their copiousness, puzzling with their idioms."{118b} Its difficulties, however, did not discourage him; for he had a great admiration for the language which "for majesty and grandeur of sound, and also for general copiousness is unequalled by any existing tongue." {118c}

However great his exertions or discouragements, Borrow never forgot his mother, to whom he was a model son. On 1st/13th February he sent her a draft for twenty pounds, being the second since his arrival six months previously. Thus out of his first half-year's salary of a hundred pounds, he sent to his mother forty pounds (in addition to the seventeen pounds he had paid into her account before sailing), and with it a promise that "next quarter I shall try and send you thirty," lest in the recent storms of which he had heard, some of her property should have suffered damage and be in need of repair. The larger remittance, however, he was unable to make on account of the illness that had necessitated the drinking of a bottle of port wine each day (by doctor's orders); but he was punctual in remitting the twenty pounds. The attack which required so drastic a remedy originated in a chill caught as the ice was breaking up. "I went mad," he tells his mother, "and when the fever subsided, I was seized with the 'Horrors,' which never left me day or night for a week." {119a} During this illness everyone seems to have been extremely kind and attentive, the Emperor's apothecary, even, sending word that Borrow was to order of him anything, medical or otherwise, that he found himself in need of.



CHAPTER VIII: FEBRUARY-OCTOBER 1834



Borrow had at last found work that was thoroughly congenial to him. It was not in his nature to exist outside his occupations, and his whole personality became bound up in the mission upon which he was engaged. Not content with preparing the way for printing the New Testament in Manchu, he set himself the problem of how it was to be distributed when printed. He foresaw serious obstacles to its introduction into China, on account of the suspicion with which was regarded any and everything European. With a modest disclaimer that his suggestion arose "from a plenitude of self-conceit and a disposition to offer advice upon all matters, however far they may be above my understanding," he proceeds to deal with the difficulties of distribution with great clearness.

To send the printed books to Canton, to be distributed by English missionaries, he thought would be productive of very little good, nor would it achieve the object of the Society, to distribute copies at seaports along the coasts, because it was unlikely that there would be many Tartars or people there who understood Manchu. There was a further obstacle in the suspicion in which the Chinese held all things English. On the other hand, he tells Mr Jowett,

"there is a most admirable opening for the work on the Russian side of the Chinese Empire. About five thousand miles from St Petersburg, on the frontiers of Chinese Tartary, and only nine hundred miles distant from Pekin, the seat of the Tartar Monarchy, stands the town of Kiakhta, {121a} which properly belongs to Russia, but the inhabitants of which are a medley of Tartary, Chinese, and Russ (sic). As far as this town a Russian or foreigner is permitted to advance, but his further progress is forbidden, and if he make the attempt he is liable to be taken up as a spy or deserter, and sent back under guard. This town is the emporium of Chinese and Russian trade. Chinese caravans are continually arriving and returning, bringing and carrying away articles of merchandise. There are likewise a Chinese and a Tartar Mandarin, also a school where Chinese and Tartar are taught, and where Chinese and Tartar children along with Russian are educated." {121b}

The advantages of such a town as a base of operations were obvious. Borrow was convinced that he could dispose "of any quantity of Testaments to the Chinese merchants who arrive thither from Pekin and other places, and who would be glad to purchase them on speculation." {121c}

Russia and China were friendly to each other, so much so, that there was at Pekin a Russian mission, the only one of its kind. These good relations rendered Borrow confident that books from Russia, especially books which had not an outlandish appearance, would be purchased without scruple. "In a word, were an agent for the Bible Society to reside at this town [Kiakhta] for a year or so, it is my humble opinion, and the opinion of much wiser people, that if he were active, zealous and likewise courageous, the blessings resulting from his labours would be incalculable." {121d}

He might even make excursions into Tartary, and become friendly with the inhabitants, and eventually perhaps, "with a little management and dexterity," he might "penetrate even to Pekin, and return in safety, after having examined the state of the land. I can only say that if it were my fortune to have the opportunity, I would make the attempt, and should consider myself only to blame if I did not succeed." Borrow was to revert to this suggestion on many occasions, in fact it seems to have been in his mind during the whole period of his association with the Bible Society.

Acting upon instructions from Earl Street, Borrow proceeded to find out the approximate cost of printing the Manchu New Testament. He early discovered that in Russia "the wisdom of the serpent is quite as necessary as the innocence of the dove," as he took occasion to inform Mr Jowett. The Russians rendered him estimates of cost as if of the opinion that "Englishmen are made of gold, and that it is only necessary to ask the most extravagant price for any article in order to obtain it."

In St Petersburg Borrow was taken for a German, a nation for which he cherished a cordial dislike. This mistake as to nationality, however, did not hinder the Russian tradesmen from asking exorbitant prices for their services or their goods. At first Borrow "was quite terrified at the enormous sums which some of the printers . . . required for the work." At length he applied to the University Press, which asked 30 roubles 60 copecks (24s. 8d.) per sheet of two pages for composition and printing. A young firm of German printers, Schultz & Beneze, was, however, willing to undertake the same work at the rate of 12.5 roubles (10s.) per two sheets.

In contracting for the paper Borrow showed himself quite equal to the commercial finesse of the Russian. He scoured the neighbourhood round St Petersburg in a calash at a cost of about four pounds. Russian methods of conducting business are amazing to the English mind. At Peterhof, a town about twenty miles out of St Petersburg, he found fifty reams of a paper such as he required. "Concerning the price of this paper," he writes, "I could obtain no positive information, for the Director and first and second clerks were invariably absent, and the place abandoned to ignorant understrappers (according to the custom of Russia). And notwithstanding I found out the Director in St Petersburg, he himself could not tell me the price." {123a}

Eventually 75 roubles (3 pounds) a ream was quoted for the stock, and 100 roubles (4 pounds) a ream for any further quantity required. Thus the paper for a thousand copies would run to 40,000 roubles (1600 pounds), or 32s. a copy. Borrow found that the law of commerce prevalent in the East was that adopted in St Petersburg. A price is named merely as a basis of negotiation, and the customer beats it down to a figure that suits him, or he goes elsewhere. Borrow was a master of such methods. The sum he eventually paid for the paper was 25 roubles (1 pound) a ream! Of all these negotiations he kept Mr Jowett well informed. By June he had received from Earl Street the official sanction to proceed, together with a handsome remittance.

For some time past Borrow had been anxious on account of his brother John. On 9th/21st November, he had written to his mother telling her to write to John urging him to come home at once, as he had seen in the Russian newspapers how the town of Guanajuato had been taken and sacked by the rebels, and also that cholera was ravaging Mexico. Later {123b} he tells her of that nice house at Lakenham, {123c} which he means to buy, and how John can keep a boat and amuse himself on the river, and adds, "I dare say I shall continue for a long time with the Bible Society, as they see that I am useful to them and can be depended upon."

On the day following that on which Borrow wrote asking his mother to urge his brother to return home, viz., 10th/22nd November, John died. He was taken ill suddenly in the morning and passed away the same afternoon.

In February 1832 John Borrow had, much against the advice of his friends, left the United Mexican Company, which he had become associated with the previous year. He was of a restless disposition, never content with what he was doing. Thinking he could better himself, and having saved a few hundred dollars, he resigned his post. He appears soon to have discovered his mistake. First he indulged in an unfortunate speculation, by which he was a considerable loser, then cholera broke out. Without a thought of himself he turned nurse and doctor, witnessing terrible scenes of misery and death and ministering to the poor with an energy and humanity that earned for him the admiration of the whole township. Finally, finding himself in serious financial difficulties, he entered the service of the Colombian Mining Company, and was to be sent to Colombia "for the purpose of introducing the Mexican system of beneficiating there." It only remained for the agreement to be signed, when he was taken ill.

In the letter in which she tells George of their loss, Mrs Borrow expresses fear that he does "not live regular. When you find yourself low," she continues, "take a little wine, but not too much at one time; it will do you the more good; I find that by myself." Her solicitude for George's health is easily understandable. He is now her "only hope," as she pathetically tells him. "Do not grieve, my dear George," she proceeds tenderly, "I trust we shall all meet in heaven. Put a crape on your hat for some time."

George wrote immediately to acknowledge his mother's letter containing the news of John's death, which had given him "the severest stroke I ever experienced. It [the letter] quite stunned me, and since reading its contents I have done little else but moan and lament . . . O that our darling John had taken the advice which I gave him nearly three years since, to abandon that horrid country and return to England! . . . Would that I had died for him! for I loved him dearly, dearly." Borrow's affection for his bright and attractive brother is everywhere manifest in his writings. He never showed the least jealousy when his father held up his first-born as a model to the strange and incomprehensible younger son. His love for and admiration of John were genuine and deep-rooted. In the same letter he goes on to assure his mother that he was never better in his life, and that experience teaches him how to cure his disorders. "The 'Horrors,' for example. Whenever they come I must drink strong Port wine, and then they are stopped instantly. But do not think that I drink habitually, for you ought to know that I abhor drink. The 'Horrors' are brought on by weakness."

He goes on to reassure his mother as to the care he takes of himself, telling her that he has three meals a day, although, as a rule, dinner is a poor one, "for the Russians, in the first place, are very indifferent cooks, and the meat is very bad, as in fact are almost all the provisions." The fish is without taste, Russian salmon having less savour than English skate; the fowls are dry because no endeavour is made to fatten them, and the "mutton stinks worst than carrion, for they never cut the wool."

With great thought and tenderness he tells her that he wishes her "to keep a maid, for I do not like that you should live alone. Do not take one of the wretched girls of Norwich," he advises her, but rather the daughter of one of her tenants. "What am I working for here and saving money, unless it is for your comfort? for I assure you that to make you comfortable is my greatest happiness, almost my only one." Urging her to keep up her spirits and read much of the things that interest her, he concludes with a warning to her not to pay any debts contracted by John. {126a} The letter concludes with the postscript: "I have got the crape."

In July 1834 Borrow again changed his quarters, taking an unfurnished floor, {126b} at the same time hiring a Tartar servant named Mahmoud, {126c} "the best servant I ever had." {126d} The wages he paid this prince of body-servants was thirty shillings a month, out of which Mahmoud supplied himself "with food and everything." Borrow's reason for making this change in his lodgings was that he wanted more room than he had, and furnished apartments were very expensive. The actual furnishing was not a very costly matter to a man of Borrow's simple wants; for the expenditure of seven pounds he provided himself with all he required.

After the letter of 27th June/9th July the Bible Society received no further news of what was taking place in St Petersburg. Week after week passed without anything being heard of its Russian agent's movements or activities. On 25th September/7th October Mr Jowett wrote an extremely moderate letter beseeching Borrow to remember "the very lively interest" taken by the General Committee in the printing of the Manchu version of the New Testament; that people were asking, "What is Mr Borrow doing?" that the Committee stands between its agents and an eager public, desirous of knowing the trials and tribulations, the hopes and fears of those actively engaged in printing or disseminating the Scriptures. "You can have no difficulty," he continues, "in furnishing me with such monthly information as may satisfy the Committee that they are not expending a large sum of money in vain." There was also a request for information as to how "some critical difficulty has been surmounted by the translator, or editor, or both united, not to mention the advance already made in actual printing." On 1st/13th Oct. Borrow had written a brief letter giving an account of his disbursements during the journey to St Petersburg FIFTEEN MONTHS PREVIOUSLY; but he made no mention of what was taking place with regard to the printing.

The letter in which Borrow replied to Mr Jowett is probably the most remarkable he ever wrote. It presents him in a light that must have astonished those who had been so eager to ridicule his appointment as an agent of the Bible Society. The letter runs:-

ST PETERSBURG, 8th [20th] October 1834.

I have just received your most kind epistle, the perusal of which has given me both pain and pleasure—pain that from unavoidable circumstances I have been unable to gratify eager expectation, and pleasure that any individual should have been considerate enough to foresee my situation and to make allowance for it. The nature of my occupations during the last two months and a half has been such as would have entirely unfitted me for correspondence, had I been aware that it was necessary, which, on my sacred word, I was not. Now, and only now, when by the blessing of God I have surmounted all my troubles and difficulties, I will tell, and were I not a Christian I should be proud to tell, what I have been engaged upon and accomplished during the last ten weeks. I have been working in the printing-office, as a common compositor, between ten and thirteen hours every day during that period; the result of this is that St Matthew's Gospel, printed from such a copy as I believe nothing was ever printed from before, has been brought out in the Manchu language; two rude Esthonian peasants, who previously could barely compose with decency in a plain language which they spoke and were accustomed to, have received such instruction that with ease they can each compose at the rate of a sheet a day in the Manchu, perhaps the most difficult language for composition in the whole world. Considerable progress has also been made in St Mark's Gospel, and I will venture to promise, provided always the Almighty smiles upon the undertaking, that the entire work of which I have the superintendence will be published within eight months from the present time. Now, therefore, with the premise that I most unwillingly speak of myself and what I have done and suffered for some time past, all of which I wished to keep locked up in my own breast, I will give a regular and circumstantial account of my proceedings from the day when I received your letter, by which I was authorised by the Committee to bespeak paper, engage with a printer, and cause our type to be set in order.

My first care was to endeavour to make suitable arrangements for the obtaining of Chinese paper. Now those who reside in England, the most civilised and blessed of countries, where everything is to be obtained at a fair price, have not the slightest idea of the anxiety and difficulty which, in a country like this, harass the foreigner who has to disburse money not his own, if he wish that his employers be not shamefully and outrageously imposed upon. In my last epistle to you I stated that I had been asked 100 roubles per ream for such paper as we wanted. I likewise informed you that I believed that it was possible to procure it for 35 roubles, notwithstanding our Society had formerly paid 40 roubles for worse paper than the samples I was in possession of. Now I have always been of opinion that in the expending of money collected for sacred purposes, it behoves the agent to be extraordinarily circumspect and sparing. I therefore was determined, whatever trouble it might cost me, to procure for the Society unexceptionable paper at a yet more reasonable rate than 35 roubles. I was aware that an acquaintance of mine, a young Dane, was particularly intimate with one of the first printers of this city, who is accustomed to purchase vast quantities of paper every month for his various publications. I gave this young gentleman a specimen of the paper I required, and desired him (he was under obligations to me) to inquire of his friend, AS IF FROM CURIOSITY, the least possible sum per ream at which THE PRINTER HIMSELF (who from his immense demand for paper should necessarily obtain it cheaper than any one else) could expect to purchase the article in question. The answer I received within a day or two was 25 roubles. Upon hearing this I prevailed upon my acquaintance to endeavour to persuade his friend to bespeak the paper at 25 roubles, and to allow me, notwithstanding I was a perfect stranger, to have it at that price. All this was brought about. I was introduced to the printer, Mr Pluchard, by the Dane, Mr Hasfeldt, and between the former gentleman and myself a contract was made to the effect that by the end of October he should supply me with 450 reams of Chinese paper at 25 roubles per ream, the first delivery to be made on the 1st of August; for as my order given at an advanced period of the year, when all the paper manufactories were at full work towards the executing of orders already received, it was but natural that I should verify the old apophthegm, 'Last come, last served.' As no orders are attended to in Russia unless money be advanced upon them, I deposited in the hands of Mr Pluchard the sum of 2000 roubles, receiving his receipt for that amount.

Having arranged this most important matter to my satisfaction, I turned my attention to the printing process. I accepted the offer of Messrs Schultz & Beneze to compose and print the Manchu Testament at the rate of 25 roubles per sheet [of four pages], and caused our fount of type to be conveyed to their office. I wish to say here a few words respecting the state in which these types came into my possession. I found them in a kind of warehouse, or rather cellar. They had been originally confined in two cases; but these having burst, the type lay on the floor trampled amidst mud and filth. They were, moreover, not improved by having been immersed within the waters of the inundation of '27 [1824]. I caused them all to be collected and sent to their destination, where they were purified and arranged—a work of no small time and difficulty, at which I was obliged to assist. Not finding with the type what is called 'Durchschuss' by the printers here, consisting of leaden wedges of about six ounces weight each, which form the spaces between the lines, I ordered 120 pounds weight of those at a rouble a pound, being barely enough for three sheets. {129a} I had now to teach the compositors the Manchu alphabet, and to distinguish one character from another. This occupied a few days, at the end of which I gave them the commencement of St Matthew's Gospel to copy. They no sooner saw the work they were called upon to perform than there were loud murmurs of dissatisfaction, and . . . 'It is quite impossible to do the like,' was the cry—and no wonder. The original printed Gospel had been so interlined and scribbled upon by the author, in a hand so obscure and irregular, that, accustomed as I was to the perusal of the written Manchu, it was not without the greatest difficulty that I could decipher the new matter myself. Moreover, the corrections had been so carelessly made that they themselves required far more correction than the original matter. I was therefore obliged to be continually in the printing-office, and to do three parts of the work myself. For some time I found it necessary to select every character with my own fingers, and to deliver it to the compositor, and by so doing I learnt myself to compose. We continued in this way till all our characters were exhausted, for no paper had arrived. For two weeks and more we were obliged to pause, the want of paper being insurmountable. At the end of this period came six reams; but partly from the manufacturers not being accustomed to make this species of paper, and partly from the excessive heat of the weather, which caused it to dry too fast, only one ream and a half could be used, and this was not enough for one sheet; the rest I refused to take, and sent back. The next week came fifteen reams. This paper, from the same causes, was as bad as the last. I selected four reams, and sent the rest back. But this paper enabled us to make a beginning, which we did not fail to do, though we received no more for upwards of a fortnight, which caused another pause. At the end of that time, owing to my pressing remonstrances and entreaties, a regular supply of about twelve reams per week of most excellent paper commenced. This continued until we had composed the last five sheets of St Matthew, when some paper arrived, which in my absence was received by Mr Beneze, who, without examining it, as was his duty, delivered it to the printers to use in the printing of the said sheets, who accordingly printed upon part of it. But the next day, when my occupation permitted me to see what they were about, I observed that the last paper was of a quality very different from that which had been previously sent. I accordingly instantly stopped the press, and, notwithstanding eight reams had been printed upon, I sent all the strange paper back, and caused Mr Beneze to recompose three sheets, which had been broken up, at his own expense. But this caused the delay of another week.

This last circumstance made me determine not to depend in future for paper on one manufactory alone. I therefore stated to Mr P[luchard] that, as his people were unable to furnish me with the article fast enough, I should apply to others for 250 reams, and begged him to supply me with the rest as fast as possible. He made no objection. Thereupon I prevailed upon my most excellent friend, Baron Schilling, to speak to his acquaintance, State-Councillor Alquin, who is possessed of a paper-factory, on the subject. M. Alquin, as a personal favour to Baron Schilling (whom, I confess, I was ashamed to trouble upon such an affair, and should never have done so had not zeal for the cause induced me), consented to furnish me with the required paper on the same terms as Mr P. At present there is not the slightest risk of the progress of our work being retarded—at present, indeed, the path is quite easy; but the trouble, anxiety, and misery which have till lately harassed me, alone in a situation of great responsibility, have almost reduced me to a skeleton.

My dearest Sir, do me the favour to ask our excellent Committee, Would it have answered any useful purpose if, instead of continuing to struggle with difficulties and using my utmost to overcome them, I had written in the following strain—and what else could I have written if I had written at all?—'I was sent out to St Petersburg to assist Mr Lipovzoff in the editing of the Manchu Testament. That gentleman, who holds three important Situations under the Russian Government, and who is far advanced in years, has neither time, inclination, nor eyesight for the task, and I am apprehensive that my strength and powers unassisted are incompetent to it' (praised be the Lord, they were not!), 'therefore I should be glad to return home. Moreover, the compositors say they are unaccustomed to compose in an unknown tongue from such scribbled and illegible copy, and they will scarcely assist me to compose. Moreover, the working printers say (several went away in disgust) that the paper on which they have to print is too thin to be wetted, and that to print on dry requires a twofold exertion of strength, and that they will not do such work for double wages, for it ruptures them.' Would that have been a welcome communication to the Committee? Would that have been a communication suited to the public? I was resolved 'to do or die,' and, instead of distressing and perplexing the Committee with complaints, to write nothing until I could write something perfectly satisfactory, as I now can; {132a} and to bring about that result I have spared neither myself nor my own money. I have toiled in a close printing-office the whole day, during ninety degrees of heat, for the purpose of setting an example, and have bribed people to work when nothing but bribes would induce them so to do.

I am obliged to say all this in self-justification. No member of the Bible Society would ever have heard a syllable respecting what I have undergone but for the question, 'What has Mr Borrow been about?' I hope and trust that question is now answered to the satisfaction of those who do Mr Borrow the honour to employ him. In respect to the expense attending the editing of such a work as the New Testament in Manchu, I beg leave to observe that I have obtained the paper, the principal source of expense, at fifteen roubles per ream less than the Society formerly paid for it—that is to say, at nearly half the price.

As St Matthew's Gospel has been ready for some weeks, it is high time that it should be bound; for if that process be delayed, the paper will be dirtied and the work injured. I am sorry to inform you that book-binding in Russia is incredibly dear, {132b} and that the expenses attending the binding of the Testament would amount, were the usual course pursued, to two-thirds of the entire expenses of the work. Various book-binders to whom I have applied have demanded one rouble and a half for the binding of every section of the work, so that the sum required for the binding of one Testament alone would be twelve roubles. Doctor Schmidt assured me that one rouble and forty copecks, or, according to the English currency, fourteenpence halfpenny, were formerly paid for the binding of every individual copy of St Matthew's Gospel.

I pray you, my dear Sir, to cause the books to be referred to, for I wish to know if that statement be correct. In the meantime arrangements have to be made, and the Society will have to pay for each volume of the Testament the comparatively small sum of forty- five copecks, or fourpence halfpenny, whereas the usual price here for the most paltry covering of the most paltry pamphlet is fivepence. Should it be demanded how I have been able to effect this, my reply is that I have had little hand in the matter. A nobleman who honours me with particular friendship, and who is one of the most illustrious ornaments of Russia and of Europe, has, at my request, prevailed on his own book-binder, over whom he has much influence, to do the work on these terms. That nobleman is Baron Schilling.

Commend me to our most respected Committee. Assure them that in whatever I have done or left undone, I have been influenced by a desire to promote the glory of the Trinity and to give my employers ultimate and permanent satisfaction. If I have erred, it has been from a defect of judgment, and I ask pardon of God and them. In the course of a week I shall write again, and give a further account of my proceedings, for I have not communicated one-tenth of what I have to impart; but I can write no more now. It is two hours past midnight; the post goes away to-morrow, and against that morrow I have to examine and correct three sheets of St Mark's Gospel, which lie beneath the paper on which I am writing. With my best regards to Mr Brandram,

I remain, dear Sir, Most truly yours, G. BORROW.

Rev. JOSEPH JOWETT.

Closely following upon this letter, and without waiting for a reply, Borrow wrote again to Mr Jowett, 13th/25th October, enclosing a certificate from Mr Lipovzoff, which read:-

"Testifio:- Dominum Burro ab initio usque ad hoc tempus summa cum diligentia et studio in re Mantshurica laborasse, Lipovzoff."

He also reported progress as regards the printing, and promised (D.V.) that the entire undertaking should be completed by the first of May; but the letter was principally concerned with the projected expedition to Kiakhta, to distribute the books he was so busily occupied in printing. He repeated his former arguments, urging the Committee to send an agent to Kiakhta. "I am a person of few words," he assured Mr Jowett, "and will therefore state without circumlocution that I am willing to become that agent. I speak Russ, Manchu, and the Tartar or broken Turkish of the Russian Steppes, and have also some knowledge of Chinese, which I might easily improve." As regards the danger to himself of such a hazardous undertaking, the conversion of the Tartar would never be achieved without danger to someone. He had become acquainted with many of the Tartars resident in St Petersburg, whose language he had learned through conversing with his servant (a native of Bucharia [Bokhara]), and he had become "much attached to them; for their conscientiousness, honesty, and fidelity are beyond all praise."

To this further offer Mr Jowett replied:-

"Be not disheartened, even though the Committee postpone for the present the consideration of your enterprising, not to say intrepid, proposal. Thus much, however, I may venture to say: that the offer is more likely to be accepted now, than when you first made it. If, when the time approaches for executing such a plan, you give us reason to believe that a more mature consideration of it in all its bearings still leaves you in hope of a successful result, and in heart for making the attempt, my own opinion is that the offer will ultimately be accepted, and that very cordially."



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 assistance, "for everything goes wrong without a strict surveillance."

Borrow had passed 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 assuring 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 God'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. "God 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 pronouns 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 passion 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 assure Mr Jowett that with the exception of this one instance "the word of God 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 assurance 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 passport 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 God!" 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 anticipate 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 principal 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 title 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 mass of translation, accumulated during several years devoted to philological pursuits." Three months later he published another collection entitled 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 principal 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 class 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 principal Gypsy choirs in Moscow are allowed by the general voice of the public to be unrivalled and to bear away the palm from all competitors. 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 nobility. 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 class 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 pronounced 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 pawnee, 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 anticipation 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 passport 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 entitle 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 assured 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 classes, 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.