struck by the
want of susceptibility, the obvious lack of interest in the other sex,
showed by his few references to women, and what is even more significant
the absence of any love story in his own life, apart from his books (his
marriage with the well-to-do widow, though a happy one, can scarcely be
called romantic). These things certainly outweigh the trivial incident
which Mr. Watts-Dunton recalls.

As for the pipe episode, it reminds me of Macaulay's well-known gibe at
the Puritans, who objected to bear-baiting, he says, less because it gave
pain to the bear than because it gave pleasure to the spectators.
Similarly his objection to the pipe seems not so much on account of the
child suffering, as because the woman took pleasure in this "pernicious
habit."

But enough of fault-finding. After all, Mr. Watts-Dunton has done a
signal service to literature by preferring the claims of Borrow, and has
upheld him loyally against attacks which were too frequently
mean-spirited and unfair.

Obviously, Borrow was a man of an ingratiating personality, which is a
very different thing from saying that he was a man with an ingratiating
manner. Of all manners, the ingratiating is the one most likely to
arouse suspicion in the minds of all but the most obtuse. An
ingratiating personality, however, is one that without effort and in the
simplest way attracts others, as a magnet attracts iron. Once get Borrow
interested in a man, it followed quite naturally that the man was
interested in Borrow. He might be a rough, unsociable fellow with whom
others found it hard to get on, but Borrow would win his confidence in a
few moments.

Borrow seemed to know exactly how to approach people, what to say, and
how to say it. Sometimes he may have preferred to stand aloof in moody
reserve; that is another matter. But given the inclination, he had a
genius for companionship, as some men have a genius for friendship. As a
rule it will be found that the Vagabond, the Wanderer, is far better as a
companion than as friend. What he cares for is to smile, chatter, and
pass on. Loyal he may be to those who have done him service, but he is
not ready to encroach upon his own comfort and convenience for any man.
Borrow remained steadfast to his friends, but a personal slight, even if
not intended, he regarded as unforgivable.

The late Dr. Martineau was at school with him at Norwich, and after a
youthful escapade on Borrow's part, Martineau