Lavengro by George Borrow (read me a book txt) 📕
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Lavengro, the Scholar, the Gypsy, the Priest, published in 1851, is a heavily fictionalized account of George Borrow’s early years. Borrow, born in 1803, was a writer and self-taught polyglot, fluent in many European languages, and a lover of literature.
The Romany Rye, published six years later in 1857, is sometimes described as the “sequel” to Lavengro, but in fact it begins with a straight continuation of the action of the first book, which breaks off rather suddenly. The two books therefore are best considered as a whole and read together, and this Standard Ebooks edition combines the two into one volume.
In the novel Borrow tells of his upbringing as the son of an army recruiting officer, moving with the regiment to different locations in Britain, including Scotland and Ireland. It is in Ireland that he first encounters a strange new language which he is keen to learn, leading to a life-long passion for acquiring new tongues. A couple of years later in England, he comes across a camp of gypsies and meets the gypsy Jasper Petulengro, who becomes a life-long friend. Borrow is delighted to discover that the Romany have their own language, which of course he immediately sets out to learn.
Borrow’s subsequent life, up to his mid-twenties, is that of a wanderer, traveling from place to place in Britain, encountering many interesting individuals and having a variety of entertaining adventures. He constantly comes in contact with the gypsies and with Petulengro, and becomes familiar with their language and culture.
The book also includes a considerable amount of criticism of the Catholic Church and its priests. Several chapters are devoted to Borrow’s discussions with “the man in black,” depicted as a cynical Catholic priest who has no real belief in the religious teachings of the Church but who is devoted to seeing it reinstated in England in order for its revenues to increase.
Lavengro was not an immediate critical success on its release, but after Borrow died in 1881, it began to grow in popularity and critical acclaim. It is now considered a classic of English Literature. This Standard Ebooks edition of Lavengro and The Romany Rye is based on the editions published by John Murray and edited by W. I. Knapp, with many clarifying notes.
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- Author: George Borrow
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Hanged the mayor: The suppressed name of the Welshman and the whole account of the affair is given in Wild Wales, p. 7 (chapter III). —Knapp ↩
Bardd Cwsg: The Sleeping Bard, by Ellis Wynn: The Sleeping Bard; or Visions of the World, Death, and Hell. By Elis Wyn. Translated from the Cambrian British by George Borrow. London, 1860. —Knapp ↩
Merddin Wyllt (“Myrddin”): i.e., Wild Merlin, called the Wizard. —Knapp ↩
Found written: See Moll Flanders by Defoe, p. 188, ed. 1722: “Oh! what a felicity is it to mankind,” said I, “that they cannot see into the hearts of one another!” I have carefully reread the whole volume of Moll Flanders, and find no such passages as those referred to here, save the one above. Hence, we may justly infer that Borrow quoted the spirit, rather than the words, of his author. —Knapp ↩
Catraeth, read “Cattraeth.” The reference is to Aneurin’s book, the Y Gododin. A poem on the Battle of Cattraeth, by Aneurin, a Welsh Bard of the Sixth Century. With an English translation by J. Williams ab Ithel. Llandovery, 1852. —Knapp ↩
Fish or flesh: See Borrow’s Targum, St. Petersburg, 1835, p. 76, under the “History of Taliesin,” ending:—
“I saw the end with horror
Of Sodom and Gomorrah!
And with this very eye
Have seen the [Trinity];
I till the judgment day
Upon the earth shall stray:
None knows for certainty
Whether fish or flesh I be.”
The original Welsh of the “Hanes Taliesin” is in the Gorchestion Beirdd Cymru, 1773. —Knapp ↩
Take this: This Bible, with Peter Williams’ name in it, was sold in London in 1886 out of George Borrow’s collection. —Knapp ↩
Mumpers’ Dingle: Near Willenhall, Staffordshire. The place is properly Momber or Monmer Lane, and is now occupied by the “Monmer Lane Ironworks,” hence totally obliterated. —Knapp ↩
Volundr (Völundr): The Wayland Smith of Northern legends. Wayland Smith.—A Dissertation on a Tradition of the Middle Ages. From the French of G. B. Depping and Francisque Michel. London, 1847. —Knapp ↩
Ingeborg: The lines are from the Romantic Ballads of 1826, p. 58, entitled the “Heroes of Dovrefeld. From the old Danish.” —Knapp ↩
“As I was jawing:” Text and translation of the whole eight lines are found on pp. 182–83 of the Lavo-Lil, 1874:—
As I to the town was going one day
My Roman lass I met by the way.
The MS. is somewhat different—“Rommany” instead of “Roman,” and the last line, “If you will share my lot with me.” —Knapp ↩
The man in black: This priest seems to have been a Fraser of Lovat. See The Life, Adventures, and many and great Vicissitudes of Fortune of Simon, Lord Lovat, the Head of the Family of Frasers. From his birth at Beaufort, near Inverness, in the Highlands of Scotland, in 1668, to the time of his being taken by Capt. Millar, after three days search, in a hollow tree, on the coasts of Knoidart and Arisaig. By the Rev. Archibald Arbuthnot, London, 1746. —Knapp ↩
Armenian: It must be remembered that Borrow’s Armenian was limited to the Introduction, Grammar and Latin-Armenian Dictionary of the Jesuit Joseph Villotte, 1714, which he picked up at Norwich in 1822–23. Hence all his examples are taken from that book—mi, one; yergou, two; yerek, three, and those in Romany Rye. —Knapp ↩
Buona sera (Italian): Good evening. —Knapp ↩
Per far visita, etc.: To pay your lordship a call, that is my motive. —Knapp ↩
MS. “Lord A[berdeen].” —Knapp ↩
Che io non, etc., read ch’ in, etc.: That I do not believe at all. —Knapp ↩
Addio: Farewell. —Knapp ↩
Pulci: See Morgante Maggiore di Luigi Pulci Firentino, etc. Venetia, 1546. This version is rather free and local. Here is the original (canto XVIII, f. 97, ed. 1546):—
Rispose allhor Margutte: “A dirtel tosto,
Io non credo piu al nero ch’ a l’azzurro,
Ma nel cappone, o lesso, o, vuogli, arrosto,
E credo alcuna volta anco nel burro,
Nella cervogia, e, quando io n’ho, nel mosto,
E molto pui nell’ aspro che il mangurro,
Ma sopra tutto nel buon vino ho fede,
E credo che sia salvo chi gli crede.”
—Knapp ↩
O Cavaliere, etc.: Oh, Sir Walter, ye have wrought much in behalf of the Holy See! —Knapp ↩
Poveri frati: Poor friars! —Knapp ↩
One fellow I met: See the postillion’s story [later]. —Knapp ↩
Master in Armenian is d’yèr; of a master, d’yearn; plural, d’yeark. —Knapp ↩
Koul Adonai, read “Kôl Adonai.” The next quotation is from part of verse 4 of the XXIX Psalm, which he gives according to the prayerbook version. —Knapp ↩
The one sole emendation consists in substituting the masculine cheval for the feminine jument, [in chapter XVIII]. Le jument est beau was a solecism that could not longer be tolerated. —Knapp ↩
MS., “ ’49.” —Knapp ↩
MS., “execrated by every unmanly scoundrel, every sycophantic lackey, and every political and religious renegade in Britain.” —Knapp ↩
The man in black: This priest seems to have been a Fraser of Lovat. See The Life, Adventures, and many and great Vicissitudes of Fortune of Simon, Lord Lovat, the Head of the Family of Frasers. From his birth at Beaufort,
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