New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-04-23
\ FAMOUS SUMMER-HOUSE.
WHERE GEORGE BORROW WROTE LA
VENGRO." THE BIBLE IN SfAiN
AND THE ROMANY RYE

AND THE ROMANY Rye.
Tho house wherein George Borrow spent ,he
Iatter half OF his life was pulled oo"h ~"
,roara aoo II was an isolated dwelling he1
Iowestoft on one Of the East Angular pio"u''
and marshland stretched around IT, ~ ""
more easily reached by water thah oy '""u'
Eorro,vs visitors therefore were mos'y ac'
tho Observation-Disclosures. ecl-catchels anu o
.hootors The little garden slopeu oo""
the water and ridge Of mrs shei'e'. u
bouse from the cold winds when ne ie'"'
from his travels on the Continent Do =, >,
Tod down here to work on his "Biple III op'"
"at first" he writes II proceeded Slowly
ness was in the land. and the iaoe u 40,
,,as oScrcast-heavy rain-clouus swan -
leavem, the blast howied amid ''ie p'''e' 49,
nearly slrround my lonely o"eii"e' ~"
y,atars ~ the lake which lies before IT, Do au',
in general and tranquil were ie.A
tatei Often he was not in the moou Aoi AZ.
work and then he would amuse hi'i''e'
"oatcbinp huge pike. which lie perdue III 'si on
deem nonds. upon my land. and 10 WHO" '"''
is a communication from the lagoon ny ueep
and narrow watercourse." When inc SUNNI
came however. he recalled the sunny ua' IN
had spent I'm Andalusia," and remempereu III
Rible in slpain." 49," he says L hasteneu
70 INV summer house by the side OF the iaKe'
ard there / thought and wrote uhth h''
finished The Bible in Spain
This eummer-bouse was left when the dwell
;no was pulled down, and is still in much inc
same condition as when Borrow worked IN It,
"yyhen he used 1t as study and writing-room
saws a traveller in the London sketch IL
was lined with books, including according TO
one who visited him there, az many as nun
dred lexicons He Is also said to have kept SOL
dier's coat and sword which had belonged to his
father-who was q captain and adJutant OF the
West Norfolk Militia in the days OF the great
Napoleon-constantly hanging on the wall De-
fore him The Outon villagers, who we're most
ly fishermen and wherrymen. and therefore
often from home, knew little of Borrow ana less
OF the work he did in his lonely retreat lney
looked upon him as a queer kind or reciuse'
whose few chosen companions were the swdr'hS
e-ypsies who camped on the waste lands not
far from his home. Few OF the summer hoh-
lawmakers who now sail the waters OF Ouitoh
Broad are aware that Borrow lived so long and
died in that quiet corner or MS loVeo I'aS'
Anglia and the summer-house In when ne
wrote Is no more to most Of them than one OF
the eel-catchers' houseboats or reed-cutters
RATS that lie moorcd in the many sedgy creeks
ROrrOW'S name ~ almost forgotten III Int hcibh-
borhood, though there are a few persons living
in Oulton village who can remember the taii'
gaunt figure that wearing kind Of stage-con-
snirotors cloak and wide brimmed hat, used. in
the dusk of evening, to stalk along the ioheiy
country lanes that wind in and out among the
meadows around the Broad. He, the Romanies
Iavengro, or book-fellow. the friend OF the hght-
ing-men and the agent of the British ana FOR
eign Bible Society. died at Oulton on July 70
1881, having long before that time cropped out
OF the Knowledge of the wider world Of London
life. for which he had so little liking. AS ne
chose in his declining years TO live life apart
from his fellow-men. 1t cannot have been a
wholly uncongenial one to him. He loved the
lonely lowands. where the sunsets are so grahd
and the wdfowl haunt the misty meres' and
as one OF his few literary friends has said. He
could draw more poetry from wide-spreadins
marsh with its struggling rushes than from the
most beautiful scenery. and would stand and
look at it with rapture"