George Borrow: The Man and His BooksThomas, Edward
General
George Borrow: The Man and His Books
Thomas, Edward
Borrow, George, 1803-1881
"'I would, your hanner; and why not? for in spite of what I have heard
Father Toban say, I am by no means certain that all Protestants will be
damned.'
"'Farewell,' said I.
"'Farewell, your hanner, and long life and prosperity to you! God bless
your hanner and your Orange face. Ah, the Orange boys are the boys for
keeping faith. They never served me as Dan O'Connell and his dirty gang
of repalers and emancipators did. Farewell, your hanner, once more; and
here's another scratch of the illigant tune your hanner is so fond of, to
cheer up your hanner's ears upon your way.'
"And long after I had left him I could hear him playing on his fiddle in
first-rate style the beautiful tune of 'Down, down, Croppies Lie Down.'"
CHAPTER XXX--"WILD WALES" (_continued_)
Much more than in any of his other books Borrow is the hero in "Wild
Wales"--a strange black-coated gentleman with white hair striding over
the hills and along the rivers, carrying an umbrella, asking innumerable
questions and giving infinite information about history, literature,
religion, politics, and minor matters, willing to talk to anyone, but
determined not to put up at a trampers' hostelry. The Irish at Chester
took him for a minister, the Irish reapers in Anglesey took him for a
priest and got him to bless them in Latin while they knelt. All wondered
to hear the Saxon speaking or reading in Welsh. A man who could speak
Spanish addressed him in that language as a foreigner--"'I can't tell you
how it was, sir,' said he, looking me very innocently in the face, 'but I
was forced to speak Spanish to you.'" At Pentre Dwr the man with the
pigs heard his remarks on pigs and said: "I see you are in the trade and
understand a thing or two." The man on the road south to Tregaron told
him that he looked and spoke like the Earl of Leicester.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account