Lavengro : $b The Scholar; The Gypsy; The Priest, Vol. 2 (of 2)Borrow, George
General
Lavengro : $b The Scholar; The Gypsy; The Priest, Vol. 2 (of 2)
Borrow, George
England -- Fiction; Romanies -- Fiction
Rather late in the morning I awoke; for a few minutes I lay still,
perfectly still; my imagination was considerably sobered; the scenes and
situations which had pleased me so much over night appeared to me in a
far less captivating guise that morning. I felt languid and almost
hopeless--the thought, however, of my situation soon roused me--I must
make an effort to improve the posture of my affairs; there was no time to
be lost; so I sprang out of bed, breakfasted on bread and water, and then
sat down doggedly to write the "Life of Joseph Sell."
It was a great thing to have formed my plan, and to have arranged the
scenes in my head, as I had done on the preceding night. The chief thing
requisite at present was the mere mechanical act of committing them to
paper. This I did not find at first so easy as I could wish--I wanted
mechanical skill; but I persevered, and before evening I had written ten
pages. I partook of some bread and water; and, before I went to bed that
night, I had completed fifteen pages of my "Life of Joseph Sell."
The next day I resumed my task--I found my power of writing considerably
increased; my pen hurried rapidly over the paper--my brain was in a
wonderfully teeming state; many scenes and visions which I had not
thought of before were evolved, and, as fast as evolved, written down;
they seemed to be more pat to my purpose, and more natural to my history,
than many others which I had imagined before, and which I made now give
place to these newer creations: by about midnight I had added thirty
fresh pages to my "Life and Adventures of Joseph Sell."
The third day arose--it was dark and dreary out of doors, and I passed it
drearily enough within; my brain appeared to have lost much of its former
glow, and my pen much of its power; I, however, toiled on, but at
midnight had only added seven pages to my history of Joseph Sell.
On the fourth day the sun shone brightly--I arose, and, having
breakfasted as usual, I fell to work. My brain was this day wonderfully
prolific, and my pen never before or since glided so rapidly over the
paper; towards night I began to feel strangely about the back part of my
head, and my whole system was extraordinarily affected. I likewise
occasionally saw double--a tempter now seemed to be at work within me.
"You had better leave off now for a short space," said the tempter, "and
go out and drink a pint of beer; you have still one shilling left--if you
go on at this rate, you will go mad--go out and spend sixpence, you can
afford it, more than half your work is done." I was about to obey the
suggestion of the tempter, when the idea struck me that, if I did not
complete the work whilst the fit was on me, I should never complete it;
so I held on. I am almost afraid to state how many pages I wrote that
day of the "Life of Joseph Sell."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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