FOOTNOTES:
[222] 'Not one drop of East Anglian blood was in the veins of Borrow's father, and very little in the veins of his mother. Borrow's ancestry was pure Cornish on one side, and on the other mainly French.'—Theodore Watts-Dunton: Introduction to The Romany Rye (Ward and Lock).
[223] The advertisement describes it thus: 'In two volumes, Songs of Europe: or Metrical Translations from all the European Languages; With Brief Prefatory Remarks on each Language and its Literature.'
[224] Wild Wales: Its People, Language, and Scenery. By George Borrow. 3 vols. John Murray, 1862.
[225] Mary Botham (1799-1888) was born at Coleford, Gloucestershire, and married William Howitt in 1821. The pair compiled many books together. The statement in the Dictionary of National Biography that 'nothing that either of them wrote will live' is quite unwarranted. William Howitt's Homes and Haunts of the most eminent British Poets (Bentley, 2 vols., 1847) is still eagerly sought after for every good library. In Mary Howitt: An Autobiography (Isbister, 2 vols., 1889), a valuable book of reminiscences, there is no mention of Borrow.
[226] Edward James Mortimer Collins (1827-1876), once bore the title of 'King of the Bohemians' among his friends; wrote Sweet and Twenty and many other novels once widely popular.
[227] Goronwy or Gronow Owen (1723-1769), born at Rhos Fawr in Anglesey, and died at St. Andrews, Brunswick County, Virginia.
[228] Borrow had at many points certain affinities to Carlyle's hero Johnson, but lacked his epigrammatic wit—and much else. But he seems to have desired to emulate Johnson in one particular, as we find in the following dialogue:—
'I wouldn't go on foot there this night for fifty pounds.'
'Why not?' said I.
'For fear of being knocked down by the colliers, who will be all out and drunk.'
'If not more than two attack me,' said I, 'I shan't so much mind. With this book I am sure I can knock down one, and I think I can find play for the other with my fists.'
[229] When searching for the home of Goronwy Owen Borrow records a meeting with one of his descendants—a little girl of seven or eight years of age, named Ellen Jones, who in recent years has been interviewed as to her impressions of Borrow's visit. 'He did speak funny Welsh,' she says, ' ... he could not pronounce the "ll." 'He had plenty of words, but bad pronunciation.'—Herbert Jenkins: Life of Borrow, p. 418. But Borrow in Wild Wales frequently admits his imperfect acquaintance with spoken Welsh.