Lavengro by George Borrow (read me a book txt) ๐
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Lavengro, the Scholar, the Gypsy, the Priest, published in 1851, is a heavily fictionalized account of George Borrowโs 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 โsequelโ 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.
Borrowโs 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 Borrowโs discussions with โthe man in black,โ 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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Idrottir kan eg niu
Tum eg tradla Runur
Tid er mer bog og smider
Skrid kann eg a gidum
Skot eg og re so nyter
Hvor tweggia kan ek hyggiu
Harpslatt og bragdattu.
โโ Knapp โฉ
Lieut. Pโ โธบโ , read โPerry.โ The item was taken from a newspaper (which, I know not) published in September, 1854. Mr. Borrow read it at Llangollen in Wales. I loaned the clipping and it was not returned. โโ Knapp โฉ
Balaklava: The usual etymon of this famous name is the Italian Bella chiave, beautiful key. โโ Knapp โฉ
Companion of Bligh: This was Thomas Hayward. โโ Knapp โฉ
Once: See Blighโs Narrative (A Narrative of the Mutiny on board His Majestyโs Ship Bounty; and the subsequent voyage of part of the crew, in the shipโs boat, from Tofoa, one of the Friendly Islands, to Timor, a Dutch settlement in the East Indies. Written by Lieutenant William Bligh. London, 1790.), p. 55.โ โ336. โโ Knapp โฉ
โMalditas sean tus tripas,โ etc.: This Borrovian Spanish must be rendered truthfully or not at all. The squeamish may excuse the borracha: โDโ โธบ your gโ โธบโ s; we had enough of the stink of your gโ โธบโ s the day you ran away from the battle of the Boyne.โ โโ Knapp โฉ
Coronach (Gaelic), read โCorrรกnach:โ The funeral wail, a dirge; in Irish, corรกnach. โโ Knapp โฉ
The writer has been checked in print by the Scotch with being a Norfolk man. Surely, surely, these latter times have not been exactly the ones in which it was expedient for Scotchmen to check the children of any county in England with the place of their birth, more especially those who have had the honour of being born in Norfolkโ โtimes in which British fleets, commanded by Scotchmen, have returned laden with anything but laurels from foreign shores. It would have been well for Britain had she had the old Norfolk man to despatch to the Baltic or the Black Sea, lately, instead of Scotch admirals. โฉ
Abencerages, read โAbencerrages:โ Arabic ibn-serradj; son of the saddle. โโ Knapp โฉ
Whiffler: An official character of the old Norwich Corporation, strangely uniformed and accoutred, who headed the annual procession on Guildhall day, flourishing a sword in a marvellous manner. All this was abolished on the passage of the Municipal Reform Act in 1835. As a consequence, says a contemporaneous writer, โthe Aldermen left off wearing their scarlet gowns, Snap was laid up on a shelf in the โSword Roomโ in the Guildhall, and the Whifflers no longer danced at the head of the procession in their picturesque costume. It was a pretty sight, and their skill in flourishing their short swords was marvellous to behold.โ โโ Knapp โฉ
Francis Spira: Francesco Spiera, a lawyer of Cittadella (Venice), accepted the doctrines of the Reformation in 1548. Terrified by the menaces of the Church of Rome and the prospective ruin of his family, he went to Venice and solemnly abjured the Evangelical faith in the hands of the Legate, Giovan della Casa (see Dict. de Bayle) who required him to return home and repeat his abjuration before his fellow-townsmen and the local authorities. Having performed this act, he fell into the horrid state of remorse depicted in the Protestant accounts of the time. The report was first brought to Geneva by Pietro Paolo Vergerio, ex-bishop of Pola, who visited Spiera in his last moments at Padua, whence he himself bent his way to the Valtelina, as a fugitive from the Roman Church. โโ Knapp โฉ
Duncan Campbell: History of the Life and Adventures of Mr. Duncan Campbell, a gentleman who, though deaf and dumb, writes down any strangersโ name at first sight, with their future contingencies of fortune; now living in Exeter Court, over against the Savoy in the Strand. By Daniel Defoe. โโ Knapp โฉ
Falconer, The Voyages, dangerous Adventures and imminent escapes of Captain Richard Falconerโ โโ โฆ intermixโd with the Voyagesโ โโ โฆ of T. Randal. London, 1720. โโ Knapp โฉ
John Randall: Here is a confusion of John Rolfe and John Randolph of Roanoke (1773โ โโ 1833). Pocahontas, daughter of the Indian Chief Powhatan, saved the life of Captain John Smith in Virginia and married John Rolfe in 1614. John Randolph of Roanoke claimed to be descended from Pocahontas, but Rolfe is evidently the one referred to in the text.
See The Indian Princess; or, the Story of Pocahontas. By Edward Eggleston and Lillie Eggleston Seelye. London (1880?). โโ Knapp โฉ
Iriarte (1750โ โโ 96): Spanish poet and writer of fables. See Coleccion de Obras en Verso y Prosa de D. Tomas de Yriarte. Madrid, 1787. โโ Knapp โฉ
Autobiographical character of Lavengro denied: but see Life, II, pp. 3โ โโ 27 and 211. โโ Knapp โฉ
Ginnรบngagap: The โyawning abyssโ of Northern Mythology. See Mallet, Northern Antiquities p. 402. โโ Knapp โฉ
Horinger Bay: Hjรถrรบnga Vรขgr in Icelandic, or Vaag in Danish. โโ Knapp โฉ
Harum-beck, read โharmanbeck,โ as in Lavengro. โโ Knapp โฉ
Holkham Estate: The seat of the Cokes of Norfolk and the Earl of Leicester. See Whiteโs Norfolk. โโ Knapp โฉ
He said in โ32: See Life, I, p. 143. โโ Knapp โฉ
Son of Norfolk clergyman: Nelson (nom de noms!). โโ Knapp โฉ
As the present work will come out in the midst of a vehement political contest, people may be led to suppose that the above was written expressly for the time. The writer therefore begs to state that it was written in the year 1854. He cannot help adding that he is neither Whig, Tory, nor Radical, and cares not a straw what
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