George Borrow's Second Tour in Wales

Transcribed from the 1910 Y Cymmrodor edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
By T. C. CANTRILL, B.Sc., F.G.S., and J. PRINGLE.
191 r. de l’ Université, Paris. 26 Aug. 1908. Dear Sir,—Your very interesting communication of the 1st of Aug. reached me on the 6th. My chests containing Borrow’s MSS., Letters and Note Books, are stored and sealed up, so that they are no longer readily accessible even to me, in the present state of my health and impaired strength. Besides, the Note Books are in pencil, written as he strode along the roads of England and Wales, very badly, and subsequently much thumbed as he pored over them in later years. Hence they are very trying to the eyes, and as mine are giving me much trouble, growing weaker and weaker, I dreaded to subject them to any fresh tension even with the powerful lenses I am forced to employ. However, after much reflection I decided to unscrew the boxes till I came to the Note Books, from among which I drew forth the little one for 1857. And although it has cost me two weeks to decipher and write down only ten pages, I feel that the labour is wisely bestowed if it in any way accomplishes your desire. From Lampeter into Brecknock hills to Builth I could no longer follow Borrow. He is full of badly written Welsh, is constantly losing his way, and the Welsh names of villages, hamlets and parishes cited are not in Lewis or Lett’s County Atlas as he gives them. Still, if you want the Itinerary or anything further, please let me know. I should very much like to meet you, but I travel little. Last year we were in Norwich three months—July 1 to Oct. 1—for my wife’s health, but we went nowhere, only passing thro’ London going and coming. I was glad to learn the date of Henrietta’s death. Mr. Murray wrote me of the fact without mentioning the date. By the way I should like a picture of Borrow’s birthplace at Dumpling Green; I have the one given in “The Sphere” but cannot lay my hands on it. Could I trouble you further for the title of the best modern Welsh-English Dictionary—not Pughe’s—and a Grammar with Exercises, and of whom it could be ordered. Your letter is very valuable to me and I prize it greatly. Yours very truly, W. I. KNAPP. T. C. Cantrill , Esq.