C.'

[30] Although Captain Borrow was never as ignorant as one or two of
Borrow's biographers, who call the Irish language 'Erse.'

[31] _The Bible in Spain_, ch. xx.

[32] Dr. Johnson was the first as Borrow was the second to earn this
distinction. Johnson, as reported by Boswell, says:

'_I have long wished that the Irish literature were cultivated. Ireland
is known by tradition to have been once the seat of piety and learning,
and surely it would be very acceptable to all those who are curious on
the origin of nations or the affinities of languages to be further
informed of the evolution of a people so ancient and once so
illustrious. I hope that you will continue to cultivate this kind of
learning which has too long been neglected, and which, if it be suffered
to remain in oblivion for another century, may perhaps never be
retrieved._'

[33] _Lavengro._

CHAPTER V

GEORGE BORROW'S NORWICH--THE GURNEYS

Norwich may claim to be one of the most fascinating cities in the
kingdom. To-day it is known to the wide world by its canaries and its
mustard, although its most important industry is the boot trade, in
which it employs some eight thousand persons. To the visitor it has many
attractions. The lovely cathedral with its fine Norman arches, the
Erpingham Gate so splendidly Gothic, the noble Castle Keep so imposingly
placed with the cattle-market below--these are all as Borrow saw them
nearly a century ago. So also is the church of St. Peter Mancroft, where
Sir Thomas Browne lies buried. And to the picturesque Mousehold Heath
you may still climb and recall one of the first struggles for liberty
and progress that past ages have seen, the Norfolk rising under Robert
Kett which has only not been glorified in song and in picture, because--

Treason doth never prosper--what's the reason?
Why if it prosper none dare call it treason.

And Kett's so-called rebellion was destined to failure, and its leader
to cruel martyrdom. Mousehold Heath has been made the subject of
paintings by Turner and Crome, and of fine word pictures by George
Borrow. When Borrow and his parents lighted upon Norwich in 1814 and
1816 the city had inspiring literary associations. Before the invention
of railways it seemed not uncommon for a fine intellectual life to
emanate from this or that cathedral city. Such an intellectual life was
associated with Lichfield when the Darwins and the Edgeworths gathered
at the Bishop's Palace