New-York tribune., 1912-03-31

biographical that portraits of him drawn
by other hands would seem superfuous
if II were not for two facts Of undenla-
hly potent significance. In the irst
place he was never a systematic writer,
but. on the contrary, one born TO ram
ble. in letters as in life, and given, into
The bargain. to the coloring or the sup
preston of this or that circumstance as
suited his whim This is no reflection
upon the essential value of his work, but
il does point to the necessity of memoirs
setting forth accurately and in good or
der the incidents Of his career. Further
more. every new biogrdphcr of Borrow
can quite legitimately plead, If excuse
for his Intervention is desired, that he
has only suCcumbcd To the mere tascina- =
ton of his subject. Thus there is no
reason why the appearance of DIR.
Knapps Voluminous Life in lN39
should have deferred Mr. jenkins from
making the book that now lies before us.
Even without the unpublished documents
TO which he has gained access he would
have been sure of sympathetic readers,
for he has given a real freshness TO his
biography 10y paying special attention to
Borrow's labors as an cmployc of the
British and Foreign Bible Society. As
for the collection of letters preserved in
the archives Of that institution and now
edited by Mr.. Darlow, good Bouovlans
must devoutly rejoice in their publica-
tion. They were discovered too late fOr
DR.. Knapp 10 make use of them, and
though they have been freely drawn
upon by Mr.. Jenkins it is good to have
them printed intact and by themselves
a mass Of documentary evidence foI
some Of the authors best years.
The elements in Borrow were strangely
mixed. a country parson who knew
him in his earlier years once described
him as "a very produceable person. but
it was not long before the eccentricity
always characteristic of him overlay
his whole nature. He became a man OF
mystery, and the 'produceable person
not infrequently so embarrassed and
naturally left him TO himself 1t all
counts, the ecCentricitY and the mys-
terry, in that fascination to which We
have referred, but about the central
source Of his power while he lived and
his interest for us to-day there was
nothing either eccentric or mysterious.
!. amounted 10 nothing more nor less than
an intensely individualized manliness, an
almost rude grip upon life a passion for
the moving, breathing world rather than
iJr the world Of the imagination. There
IL a passage in "LaVCngTo' from which
we may deduce a suggestive confirma
tion of this view of the matter. In il
he speaks Of certain words put in the
mouth Of Henry Simms, a man executed
at Tyburn: so | went with them TO a
music booth where they made me al
most drunk with gin, and began to talk
their flash language, which l did not
understand" Borrow had come across
those words while compiling his "Celc-
lrated Trials" and they illustrated for
him literary virtue not Uncharacteris-
tic of the English criminal adventurcr.
81 have always looked upon this SEN
tenCc.' he says, 'as a masterpiece Of the
narrative style, it is 50 concise and yeJ
so clear As he liked a plain story, SO
he liked q straightforward action, Il
clcan-cJt. direct way OF carrying on cx-
istcnce. So. correctly observed. Borrow
remains, with all his mystery, an under
standable man, very human, true to
clearly recognizable. and. when all is
said highly admirable principles.
There have been "detences" of Borrow.
They have hardly been needed. Take.
for example, the question of his attain
ments ds q master of languages. He
was A lnCuist. not philologist. He had
10 science in him. II is true that as a
man Of learning and he WAS d man Of
learning he sometimes took himself
seriously. But instead Of examining
with solemnity his claims 70 scholarly
en1.nence the wise reader Will take Bor-
rows self-confidence for precisely what
y uat. the harmless foble Of robust
To defend Borrow in this
matter, or In others Of kindred import IS
10 treat him in humoress, and therefore