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own, relieves us from the apprehensions that haunted the mind of the Duke of Wellington on the eve of the First Reform Billhow, under the new democratic conditions, the King's Government was to be carried on. Unless the leaders of the Conservative Party have declined far below their ancestors in courage and resource, they will take thought, on their approaching accession to power, for providing the Constitution with supplemental machinery. They will have the goodwill of the British people throughout the Empire behind them; and if interested partisans pretend that they are tampering with the Constitution, they can rely on an argument to which such opponents have no answer:

During many years [says Macaulay] old-fashioned politicians continued to regard the Cabinet as an unconstitutional and dangerous Board. Nevertheless it constantly became more and more important. It at length drew to itself the chief executive power, and has now been regarded, during several generations, as an essential part of our polity. Yet, strange to say, it still continues to be unknown to the law: the names of the noblemen and gentlemen who compose it are never officially announced to the public; no record is kept of its meetings and resolutions; nor has its existence ever been recognised by any Act of Parliament.*

A body thus formed will not lose its position in a single night; but there is no reason why a representative body should not grow up by its side of which some future historian may have to record that, though "for many years old-fashioned politicians continued to regard it as an unconstitutional and dangerous Board, it gradually drew to itself the chief executive power "[in Imperial as distinct from local affairs], "and has now been regarded, during several generations, as an essential part of our polity."

W. J. COURTHOPE.

History of England, vol. i. p. 212.

GEORGE BORROW IN RUSSIA

ONE January morning in the year 1833, a tall, athletic figure might have been seen striding swiftly along the high-road from Norwich to London :

A lad who twenty tongues can talk,
And sixty miles a day can walk;
Drink at a draught a pint of rum,
And then be neither sick nor dumb;
Can tune a song and make a verse,
And deeds of Northern kings rehearse;
Who never will forsake his friend
While he his bony fist can bend;
And, though averse to brawl and strife,
Will fight a Dutchman with a knife;
O that is just the lad for me,

And such is honest six-foot-three.

The figure was that of George Borrow, philologist, author, and gentleman gipsy, on his way to interview the secretaries of the British and Foreign Bible Society in the hope of obtaining employment. A few days previously, after a life of stirring adventure, over a large portion of which is drawn an impenetrable veil of mystery, Borrow, then in his thirtieth year, had met the Rev. Francis Cunningham, Vicar of St. Margaret's, Lowestoft, founder of the Paris Branch of the British and Foreign Bible Society. The vicar was much impressed with Borrow's talent for languages, and fully aware of his value to so militant an institution as the Bible Society. He accordingly wrote to the secretary, the Rev. Andrew Brandram,

December 27, 1832.

A young farmer in this neighbourhood has introduced me to-day to a person of whom I have long heard, who appears to me to promise so much that I am induced to offer him to you as a successor of Platt and Greenfield [Hon. Librarian and Editorial Superintendent respectively]. He is a person without

University education, but he has read the Bible in thirteen languages. He is independent in circumstances, of no very exactly defined denomination of Christians, but I think of certain Christian principle. He is of the middle order in Society and a very producable person.

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Thus it appears that Borrow's introduction to the Bible Society came through the Rev. Francis Cunningham and not J. J. Gurney, the Quaker-banker and philanthropist of Norwich. Mr. Gurney may, at his brother-in-law's request, have added his word of commendation later, perhaps this is what Dr. Knapp in his Life of Borrow refers to, but he is obviously wrong in crediting J. J. Gurney with the introduction. In the light of Mr. Cunningham's intimate association with the Society, it seems strange that he should feel the necessity of making his suggestion through a third person. The recommendation was well timed. In 1821 the Society had commissioned Mr. Stepán Vasiliévitch Lipóftsof, of St. Petersburg, to translate the New Testament into Manchu, the Court and Diplomatic language of China. A year later 550 copies of the First Gospel were printed from type specially cast. A hundred copies were despatched to headquarters in London, and the remainder, together with the type, placed with the Society's bankers at St. Petersburg, until the time should arrive for their distribution.

In 1824, the overflowing Neva flooded the cellars in which the books were stored, reducing the delicate Chinese paper, upon which they were printed, to a shapeless mass of pulp, and, to all appearances, causing the irretrievable ruin of the type itself. This misfortune appeared to discourage the authorities at home, although Mr. Lipóftsof was permitted to proceed with the work of translation, which he completed in two years from the date of the inundation. In 1832 the Rev. William Swan, connected with the London Missionary Society, discovered, in the famous library of Baron Schilling de Canstadt at St. Petersburg, the manuscript of an almost complete translation of the Old Testament into the Manchu tongue. This discovery reawakened the enthusiasm of the authorities for the Manchu-Tartar programme, and, as if to encourage them in their labours, George Borrow appeared upon the scene. Thus the material and the man were fortuitously brought within the reach of that indefatigable institution.

To a man of Borrow's energetic, virile temperament, action and industry were imperative. He had longed for some sphere of operations wherein he might have an opportunity of proving himself. He accomplished the 112 miles between Norwich and London in some twenty-seven hours; a notable feat of endurance, the more so when it is remembered that his refreshment by the way consisted of a roll, two apples, half a pint of milk and a jug of ale, the total outlay amounting to fivepencehalfpenny. On reaching London he, with characteristic directness, proceeded straight to the offices of the Society in Earl Street. Here he awaited the arrival of the Revs. Joseph Jowett and Andrew Brandram, who "had various opportunities of examining me in Eastern languages." Their report was duly handed to the committee, with the result that it expressed itself as "quite satisfied with me and my philological capabilities." A more material sign of that body's approval was found in its undertaking to defray "the expenses of my journey to and from London, and also of my residence in that city, in the most handsome manner." That is to say the committee voted him

the sum of ten pounds.

There is no doubt that Borrow had impressed both committee and secretaries favourably; for, after a fortnight's detention he returned to Norwich, this time by coach, with numerous books in the Manchu-Tartar dialect, including the Gospel of St. Matthew and Amyot's Manchu-French Dictionary. His instructions were to learn the language and come up for examination in six months' time. Possibly the time-limit was suggested by Borrow himself, for he once said that he believed he could master any tongue in a few months. After two or three weeks' study of a language which Amyot says "one may acquire in five or six years," Borrow who, it must be remembered, possessed no grammar of the tongue, wrote to Mr. Jowett :

It is, then, your opinion that, from the lack of anything in the form of Grammar, I have scarcely made any progress towards the attainment of Mandchou perhaps you will not be perfectly miserable at being informed that you were never more mistaken in your life. I can already, with the assistance of Amyot translate Mandchou with no great difficulty, and am perfectly qualified to write a critique on the version of St. Matthew's Gospel which I brought with me into the country.

After seven weeks study he was able to translate with pleasure and facility the specimens of the best authors who have written in the language contained in the compilation of the Klaproth.

But [he continues] I must confess that the want of a grammar has been, particularly in the beginning of my course, a great clog to my speed, and I have little doubt that had I been furnished with one I should have attained my present knowledge of Mandchou in half the time. I was determined, however, not to be discouraged, and, not having a hatchet at hand to cut down the tree with, to attack it with my knife; and I would advise every one to make the best of the tools which happen to be in his possession until he can procure better ones, and it is not improbable that by the time the good tools arrive he will find he has not much need of them, having almost accomplished his work.

Twelve weeks later, that is nineteen from the date of commencing his studies, he writes again to Mr. Jowett:

I have mastered Mandchou, and I should feel obliged by your informing the Committee of the fact, and also my excellent friend Mr. Brandram.

I assure you that I have had no easy and pleasant task in acquiring this language. In the first place, it is in every respect different from all others which I have studied, with perhaps the exception of the Turkish, to which it seems to bear some remote resemblance in syntax, though none in words. In the second place, it abounds with idiomatic phrases, which can only be learnt by habit, and to the understanding of which a Dictionary is of little or no use, the words separately having either no meaning or a meaning quite distinct from that which they possess when thus conjoined. And thirdly the helps afforded me in this undertaking have been sadly inadequate. However, with the assistance of God, I have performed my engagement.

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I shall now be happy to be regularly employed, for though I am not in want, my affairs are not in a very flourishing condition.

In June the "Norwich Young Man" found himself once more in London, undergoing an examination at the hands of the Messrs. Jowett, Brandram and John Jackson. As a competitor there was a John Hattersley, a member of the London Staff of the Society. A Manchu hymn, a pæan to the Great Fûtsa, was the test. Each candidate prepared a version which was duly handed to the examiners, who, in turn, were to report to the sub-committee. Borrow returned to Norwich, there to await the result. On July 6 he was informed that the Sub-Committee had recommended the General Committee to engage him for one year at a salary of £200, in addition to the expenses to and from

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