However pleasant it may be--and proverbs tell us that it is so--to
go a-gipsying, it is manifest that this mode of life, unless
professionally adopted, cannot keep the pot boiling. It is one thing
to be an amateur, and another to be a thorough-paced practitioner. Mr
Borrow, though tempted by his associates to adopt the latter course,
and ally himself in marriage with a young fortune-teller of the name
of Ursula, had the firmness and good sense to decline the proposal;
and, accordingly, we presently find him ostensibly engaged in the
study of law under the tutelage of an attorney. Young gentlemen so
situated, are, we fear, but too apt to overlook the advantages within
their reach, and to cultivate the Belles Lettres secretly when they
should be immersed in Blackstone. If they do nothing worse, we may
indulge the charitable hope that there is mercy for them in this world
and the next. Mr Borrow did like his neighbours; with this difference
that, instead of concealing the last new novel in his desk, he began
manfully to master the difficulties of the Welsh language, and became
an enthusiastic admirer of the poetry of Ab Gwilym. This, at all
events, was a step in the right direction. Next, by one of those
extraordinary accidents which, somehow or other, never occur except in
novels, he became possessed of a copy of the Danish ballad-book--we
presume the Kjoempeviser--and mastered the language by means of a
Danish bible. To this he added afterwards a knowledge of German, and
German literature; so that, when compelled to go forth and struggle,
single-handed with the world, his accomplishments were of a varied, if
not a very marketable kind.
We are here treated to a description of a prize-fight, which, if we
recollect has been already sketched by Mr Borrow in his "Gipsies in
Spain." It is rather too bombastic for our taste, though it is worked
up with considerable effect, both as regards action and accessories.
It is introduced, we presume, principally on account of an individual
who was present, and who took a prominent part in the proceedings
of the day--we mean the notorious Thurtell. That Mr Borrow should
have added Thurtell to the list of his acquaintances,--for it seems
the grim murderer of Weare was wont to bestow upon him a nod of
recognition,--after having known Haggart, is certainly remarkable, and
testifies, at all events, his superiority to vulgar prejudice. There is
a clever scene at the house of a magistrate, where Thurtell introduces
a prize-fighter to the notice of the _Custos Rotulorum_, a portion of
which we are tempted to quote:--
"'In what can I oblige you, sir?' said the magistrate.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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