New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-08-06
SIR RICHARD BURTON.
LADY BCGTON'S NARRATIVE OF HIS EX-
PLORATIONS AND CONSULATES.
I.

TIE LIFE OF CAPTAIN SIX RICHARD F; BURTON.
X. G. NJ. g., +. r. q. S. by his Vile. lsaoe bur,
ton. With numciOus portraits, illustrations anu
maps Vol. l. PIP. XIII, COG. ID. Appleton az 20.
When CAPTAIN Burton, on being recalled from
his Consulate at Damascus. rushed of 10 the coast
without dcliberation, without considering the
points of the game which he had been playing
with his enemies without even waiting to talk
with his wife, he betrayed the particular detect
in his makeup that made him unsuitable Ior
public service of high importance 1t Is well 10
he ready TO 90 anywhere at a moments notice
But it is indispensable to know when TO move
slowly and when to be in haste. Even IL tnere
were no hope of the recall being conntermandcd,
hurry was needless for after the eN-|ohsui
reached London he avoided the Foreign Office, 100
uroud 20 ask for the reasons which had dictatn
the blow to his prospects. win the courage
of a lion in the presence of danger and death, he
was as timid as a child in cases where his 1a'e
depended upon the good will or the good offices
of Others. 1t was Lady Burton who had to look
after his interests in all such cases. and she re-
marks reCretfuly that he might have done better
in a worldly way if he had depended more upon
himself. -
To the public which listencd-with rapt attention
10 the romantic narrative Of his adventures 'he
details of his life public servant are oH
comparatively small Importance. what lha''erS
II how he kept the wolf from the door While ne
translated The Thousand Nights and One N9h',
or the "Lusiad?" In time TO come people VIII
wonder at his anxious quest for political hohofs'
knowing that his years of literary leisure We're
nassed in comfort Compare his well-rounded
career full of abors, at times glowing WIN SUCH
splendor as to dazzle the mere admirers of pagean-
try, with the tragic fate of Palmer, one trahS"o
of the Koran, and the dull misery endured py
Sale another translator of the same work. III
addition 10 success that could only be won oy u
oreat mind Burton thirsted also for the hoho!s
which belong. in the nature Of things. 10 sh'a'i
minds. -, ho
1t is impossible TO sympathize WIN MN
no commiscrates himself for not having peeh
educated in England lie thought, perhaps right
". that if he had gone through the traui'ioha
course at Eton and the University lie wouiu nave
emerged fit for the highest rewards Oh 'hc lr
coveted by an Englishman. His 1ather hopeu 10
make him clergyman. Imagine the man "hoHi
his friends al his life called not mailciousv' pu'
.aactionate,v. "Rufian Dick in the robes of
nriest. Not that he would have failed in the char
actcr His adaptability miraculous But
tho limitations on a nature so versatile as his
would have been uncomfortable In all DISCUSSES
which he assumed, as Lady Burton points out, lie
had the Indispensable trait of identifying himself
ahsolutely with the part he was to play. mat
is. he was for the time being truly Mahometan
on that famous journey to Mecca and in the latter
expedition TO 1larrar. .. .....
pECULIARITIES OF HIS EARLY TRAlNlNG'
II is necessary to understand his early Lille In
order 70 comprehend the facility with which Bur
ION adapted himself to Oriental conditions OF ne
His father was a soldier who had something Oh
his sons rowing and adventurous disposl'loh' ana
wandered with his family from one Engish 'oioh!
Ia another i'm France and Italy during the R"riou
while his children were growing up pu'.o"
therefore, had no chance 10 he imDned WIN 'a'
exclusive love for England which he woulu proo
ab,v have inhibited il he had followed the ordi-
naru educational routine of English poyhoou. AS
a child he loved France, and occasiona' solourns
In ENGLAND were to him like periods OF exile. ne
and his brother shocked the British sailors by ther
Aerisiye shouts of contempt for the land on which
".ho sun pevcr sets-nor rises, Family disciplin"
ras nractically- unknown. Once when the children
were out walking with their mother tieir az
tention was first called to some apple-puhs !"
bakers window and then they were lcctureo on
the beauty of self-denial. Their response was
- .. tho window They broke the glass,
natcbed the good things and left their astoni'hed
narent TO pay the damages. In places where 'h'r'
was no English parson there was an evening ~r-
vice at home in which one OF the children was
expected to read sermon selected Tor the occa-
sion. Invariably the elders, including 1ather.
mother tutor and governess, went TO sleep anu
the children learned by modulating their voices
70 the mitch used in reading the sermon to con-
worse with each other until It WAS time to dis
nerse tins family gathering. Richard and his
brother had their love-scrapes almost before th'E
were fairly in their teens. They learned TO rae
20 swim, TO shoot, to fence. la oil tn"Se b"r'oh
became expert. He was, as everybody mas hca'"
one of the most sllful swordsmen III Europe .N
an age when average boys were uhuer s''0'
tutelace he was experimenting with VIVA, S'"
dangerous drugs for yOuth-with strong hquo'S'
with tobacco, even with opium only MS ha'uiai
viror and the life of hearty exercise when he leu
could have prevented the banefus ehect oil 'he"'
things.
o,.orv ,anouare and dialect with which he came
:, contact lie could as readily exchange In
snlts with the Neapolitan lazzaroni as with the
Frepcb butcher boys. With wonderful activity
he sought learning everywhere except III uia'
highway which it was supposed 10 ueou' "'
ATTEMPT on tho part of his tutor 10 eN'icie AZ"
thority brought on violent COLLISION, ana WIN
the father thought it time to send his son 10 oA-
81 .ho latter was found to be wofully deficient
IN the classics and, worse than all the resi- n'u
never even heard OF the lhlrty-hihe Ar'ioo'-
Although his quickness and his wonderful hen'oiS
enabled him 10 make up for these defects YET HIS
r,ivote instructor, doubtless observing his wiitui
ness. told him that while he was capable oil
taxing a first at the University, it was not al al
certain that he would get one. In "a" OF
failure, Burton forcsaw that all his time Won"
no wasted lie had desire for felowshlp' 10
,yorl, for one and then be disappointed was "a
prospect which he could not endure. Even 'heh
b;s hopes were fixed on the Orient but when ne
soucht to learn Arabic he found that the hegius
Professor of that language did not leei caip'
unon TO instruct single student sun lie Niue
some advances in the study. Lile III i"ni'S
Tu.oo ,yas ANYTHING but slow yet IL sce'hcu