a
crabstick who told him his Welsh was almost as bad as his English, and a
drover who had the advantage of him in decided opinions and a sense of
superiority, and put him down as a pig-jobber; but these are exceptions.
He is not unkind, but on the other hand he forgets that as a rule his
size, his purse, and his remarkable appearance and qualities put his
casual hosts very much at a disadvantage, and he is thus led to
exaggerate what suspiciousness he observed.

His success is all the more wonderful when his position and his almost
total lack of condescension and concession are considered, but considered
they must be. When he met a Welsh clergyman who could talk about the
Welsh language, Huw Morus and ale, he said nothing about him except that
he was "a capital specimen of the Welsh country clergyman. His name was
Walter Jones." Too often he merely got answers to his questions, which
break up his pages in an agreeable manner, but do little more. In such
conversations we should fare ill indeed if one of the parties were not
Borrow, and even as it is, he can be tedious beyond the limits necessary
for truth. I will give an example:

"After a little time I entered into conversation with my guide. He had
not a word of English. 'Are you married?' said I.

"'In truth I am, sir.'

"'What family have you?'

"'I have a daughter.'

"'Where do you live?'

"'At the house of the Rhyadr.'

"'I suppose you live there as servant?'

"'No, sir, I live there as master.'

"'Is the good woman I saw there your wife?'

"'In truth, sir, she is.'

"'And the young girl I saw your daughter?'

"'Yes, sir, she is my daughter.'

"'And how came the good woman not to tell me you were her husband?'

"'I suppose, sir, you did not ask who I was, and she thought you did not
care to know.' . . ."

To multiply instances might cease to be amusing. It may have been
Borrow's right way of getting what he wanted, though it sounds like a
Charity Organization inquisitor. As to the effectiveness of setting down
every step of the process instead of the result, there can hardly be two
opinions, unless the reader prefers an impression of the wandering
inquisitive gentleman to one of the people questioned. Probably these
barren dialogues may be set down to indolence or to the too facile
adoption of a trick. They are too casual and slight to be exact, and on
the other hand they are too literal to give a direct impression.

Luckily he di