s, and professed thus to
tame them.

He proceeded with "The Bible in Spain." In the following month he sent
to Mr. Murray the MS. of the first volume. To the general information as
to the contents and interest of the volume, he added these words:

_Mr. George Borrow to John Murray_.

_February_, 1842.

"I spent a day last week with our friend Dawson Turner at Yarmouth. What
capital port he keeps! He gave me some twenty years old, and of nearly
the finest flavour that I ever tasted. There are few better things than
old books, old pictures, and old port, and he seems to have plenty of
all three."

_May_ 10, 1842.

"I am coming up to London tomorrow, and intend to call at Albemarle
Street.... I make no doubt that we shall be able to come to terms; I
like not the idea of applying to second-rate people. I have been
dreadfully unwell since I last heard from you--a regular nervous attack;
at present I have a bad cough, caught by getting up at night in pursuit
of poachers and thieves. A horrible neighbourhood this--not a magistrate
that dares to do his duty.

"P.S.--Ford's book not out yet?"

There seems to have been some difficulty about coming to terms. Borrow
had promised his friends that his book should be out by October 1, and
he did not wish them to be disappointed:

_Mr. George Borrow to John Murray_.

_July_ 4, 1842.

Why this delay? Mr. Woodfall [the printer] tells me that the state of
trade is wretched. Well and good! But you yourself told me so two months
ago, when you wrote requesting that I would give you the preference,
provided I had not made arrangements with other publishers. Between
ourselves, my dear friend, I wish the state of the trade were ten times
worse than it is, and then things would find their true level, and an
original work would be properly appreciated, and a set of people who
have no pretensions to write, having nothing to communicate but
tea-table twaddle, could no longer be palmed off upon the public as
mighty lions and lionesses. But to the question: What are your
intentions with respect to "The Bible in Spain"? I am a frank man, and
frankness never offends me. Has anybody put you out of conceit with the
book? There is no lack of critics, especially in your neighbourhood.
Tell me frankly, and I will drink your health in Rommany. Or, would the
appearance of "The Bible" on the first of October interfere with the
Avatar, first or second, of some very Lion or Divinity, to whom Georg