must be attended to. It is obviously the religious duty of a trustee to so large an amount to be diligent in watching his trust.” Borrow, with whom he discussed the matter, sums up the case by exclaiming, “Would that there were many like him, amidst the money-changers of princes! The hall of many an earl lacks the bounty, the palace of many a prelate the piety and learning, which adorn the quiet Quaker’s home.”
It was the death of his father that brought about the first severing of Borrow’s connection with Norwich. Captain Borrow, as his portrait shows and his son declares, had been a sturdy soldier, possessing great physical strength. He enjoyed several years of quiet domestic life before the end came, and lingered for some months after the fatal illness seized him. At times he would rally, so that he could walk abroad a little, or sit up in the small parlour of the house in Willow Lane, wearing an old regimental coat, and with his dog at his feet. He used to have long talks with George on such occasions, and would relate to him stories of his past life, and the distinguished people he had met. “He had frequently conversed—almost on terms of familiarity—with good old George. He had known the conqueror of Tippoo Saib: and was the friend of Townshend, who, when Wolfe fell, led the British Grenadiers against the shrinking regiments of Montcalm.”
The old veteran’s elder son, John, who was absent from England, hastened home just in time to receive his father’s blessing. In the middle of the night, a sudden relapse brought the dying man’s wife and sons to his bedside. In his last moments, his mind wandered and he spoke of “Minden, and of Meredith, the old Minden sergeant.” Last of all, “he uttered another name clearly, distinctly, and it was the name of Christ.” “With that name upon his lips,” writes George Borrow, “the brave old soldier sank back upon my bosom, and, with his hands still clasped, yielded up his soul.” His death took place on February 28, 1824, and he was buried in the churchyard of St. Giles, at Norwich.
The two brothers remained at home with their mother for some time after their father’s death. John fitted up a studio in the little house in Willow Lane, and there devoted himself to his art. His work does not seem to have been very remunerative, and eventually he went abroad in connection with a mining venture, and died in Mexico in 1833. George had a great opinion of his brother’s painting, and believed that if he had lived and continued to strive after excellence he would have left “some enduring monument of his powers”; but his estimate of John’s endowments may have been biassed by his affection. His love for his brother was deep and abiding, and was not lessened by his father’s marked preference for his elder son.
The precise date of Borrow’s leaving Norwich
and betaking himself to London cannot be ascertained, but it is certain that he left his brother behind him in the old home. Mr. Birrell believes it to have been not later than 1828, and says “his only introduction appears to have been one from William Taylor to Sir Richard Phillips, the publisher known to all readers of “Lavengro.” Mr. George Saintsbury sums up his life in Norwich with the remark that “he occupied his time with things that obviously would not pay.”
A friend of the writer, who recently examined the old house in Willow Lane, has contributed the following description of its appearance at the time of his visit:
“In a quiet, secluded court, opening from a narrow lane in the old city of Norwich, stands an unpretentious house, which at first sight presents little to attract the attention of a visitor. A closer inspection, however, discloses a marble slab affixed over the door, bearing the following inscription: ‘In this house resided for some years of the earlier portion of his life, George Henry Borrow, author of “The Bible in Spain”; and other valued works. Died in 1881, aged 78 years.’ The old house immediately becomes invested with great interest to one who has spent many enraptured hours over the pages of the writer whose association with Norwich has been thus commemorated by Sir Peter Eade.
“The house itself is of somewhat ancient date,
and its external appearance affords little indication of its size and the comfort of its arrangement within. Its condition is practically unchanged since the time when it was inhabited by the Borrow family. The present proprietor, Mr. W. Cooper, with a commendable respect for the memory of the great author, has made but few alterations. The principal change that has been effected is in the division of the house into two separate parts. This has been easily accomplished by the simple process of blocking up a door in the hall, and forming another doorway in the front of the house. The peculiar plan of the building adapts itself to this arrangement, no other alteration being found necessary for the complete disconnection of the two parts. Of the two cottages so formed, one is at present occupied by an old couple, while the other is used as a workshop.