November, 1835, Mr. Borrow was despatch- never question the entire veraciousness of ed to Lisbon, with instructions to travel their author-there are at this moment over whatever parts of the Peninsula he priests, and even bishops, in Spain, who adshould find most accessible. He carried here in secret to Judaism-nay, to Mawith him large quantities of Bibles and hometarism! Testaments in Portuguese; authority to But it is not our wish to go into any exsuperintend the printing of a Spanish Bible amination or discussion either of the pruat Madrid, provided the government there dence of the Bible Society on this occasion, would sanction such a proceeding; and so or of the actual state of the Spanish Church. soon as this edition should be completed, Our business is literary. We conceive he was to undertake personally its distribu- that Mr. Borrow has in these pages come tion in the provinces. Mr. Borrow spent out as an English author of high mark. the best part of five years in this service; Considering the book merely as one of adand the book before us is not a regular nar-ventures, it seems to us about the most exrative of its progress, but a set of fragment-traordinary one that has appeared in our ary sketches, intended to convey a general own, or indeed in any other language, for a notion of the sort of persons and adventures very long time past. Indeed, we are more encountered by him, while endeavoring to frequently reminded of Gil Blas, in the nar. circulate the Bible in the Peninsula, which ratives of this pious, single-hearted man, had rested on his own memory as most pe- than in the perusal of almost any modern culiar and characteristic. novelist's pages. rying him through Badajos and Talavera to Madrid, ended at Seville; thus leaving untouched the greater part of his first volume and the whole of the second. We begin with a sketch near Mafra. He is conversing with his guide about the beautiful environs. "I asked the boy whether he or his parents were We are afraid that, if Mr. Borrow had We intend to quote largely; but we hope given us a plain prosaic history, and sum- to quote enough to give our readers an ademed up its results in a statistical form, we quate notion of Mr. Borrow's style and methshould have found but little reason for con-od of observing, and thinking, and writing, gratulating the Bible Society on the suc- without interfering with the interest of his cess of their missionary's endeavors. Here book as a whole. In this view, we shall take and there we do find a glimpse of some- one, and that the first of his peninsular exthing like hope. A few, a very few, persons, peditions-which began at Lisbon, and, carboth in Spain and in Portugal, appear to have had their curiosity warmly excited, and to have received copies of the Scriptures in their own languages with not only pleasure and gratitude, but in such a way as might fairly indicate a resolution to study them with a view to the serious comparison of the popular doctrines and practices acquainted with the Scripture and ever read it; he of the popish system with the word of in- did not, however, seem to understand me. I must spiration. But, in general, the persons wil- here observe that the boy was fifteen years of age, ling to purchase, or even to accept of Bi- that he was in many respects very intelligent, and bles, seem to have been liberals in religion had some knowledge of the Latin language; neveras well as in politics; who desired to have theless he knew not the Scripture even by name, the books offered by Mr. Borrow from feel- and I have no doubt, from what I subsequently obings akin to those which must have been served, that at least two-thirds of his countrymen are on that important point no wiser than himself. uppermost with Napoleon, when, in draw-At the doors of village inns, at the hearths of the ing out a catalogue of books for his cabinet rustics, in the fields where they labor, at the stone library on the voyage to Egypt, he gave one section to Mythology, and included therein the Old Testament. All the courtesy and kindness which Mr. Borrow often experienced at the hands of the rural curates only leaves us with the melancholy conviction that Blanco White did not exaggerate in his 'Doblado's Letters' the vast spread of infidelity among the Spanish priesthood. But certainly Mr. Borrow gives some anecdotes about the religion of the Spanish clergy for which even 'Doblado' had not prepared us. If we are to rely on these pages and assuredly, though we occasionally demur to their authority, we fountains by the wayside, where they water their cattle, I have questioned the lower class of the children of Portugal about the Scripture, the Bible, the Old and New Testament, and in no one incould return me a rational answer, though on all stance have they known what I was alluding to, or other matters their replies were sensible enough; indeed, nothing surprised me more than the free and unembarrassed manner in which the Portuguese peasantry sustain a conversation, and the purity of the language in which they express their thoughts, and yet few of them can read or write; whereas the peasantry of England, whose education is in general much superior, are in their conversation coarse and dull almost to brutality, and absurdly ungrammatical in their language, though the English tongue is, upon the whole, more sim ple in its structure than the Portuguese."-pp. indeed penetrated to the country, and corrupted 19, 20. man there, the source and fountain-head was amongst crowded houses, where nature is scarcely The following passage is from Mr. Bor-known. I am not one of those who look for per row's account of his journey through Portugal to the Spanish frontier. fection amongst the rural population of any country; perfection is not to be found amongst the children of the fall, wherever their abodes may happen to be; but, until the heart discredits the existence of a God, there is still hope for the soul of the possessor, however stained with crime he may be, for even Simon the magician was converted; but infidelity confirmed by carnal wisdom-an exuberance of the grace of God is required to melt it, which is seldom manifested. We read in the blessed book that the Pharisee and the wizard became receptacles of grace; but where is there mention made of the conversion of the sneering Sadducee?"-pp. 40-43. "Monte Moro is the head of a range of hills which cross this part of the Alemtejo, and from hence they fork east and southeast, towards the former of which directions lies the direct road to Elvas, Badajoz, and Madrid; and towards the lat-when the heart is once steeled with infidelityter that to Evora. A beautiful mountain, covered to the top with cork-trees, is the third of the chain, which skirts the way in the direction of Elvas. It is called Monte Almo; a brook brawls at its base, and as I passed it the sun was shining gloriously on the green herbage, on which flocks of goats were feeding, with their bells ringing merrily, so that the tout ensemble resembled a fairy scene; and that nothing might be wanted to complete the picture, I here met a man, a goatherd, beneath an azinheira, whose appearance recalled to my mind the Brute Carle, mentioned in the Danish ballad of Swayne Vonved: 'A wild swine on his shoulders he kept, Our next extract gives a night-scene at Evora, where our missionary had taken up his quarters in the midst of a motley company of smugglers of the border-a wild scene, wild people, and strange and affecting glimpses of wild superstitions harbored in rude but kind hearts. "The night was very stormy, and at about "Upon the shoulder of the goatherd was a beast, nine we heard a galloping towards the door, which he told me was a loatra, or otter, which he and then a loud knocking: it was opened, and had lately caught in the neighboring brook; it had in rushed a wild-looking man, mounted on a a string round its neck, which was attached to his donkey: he wore a ragged jacket of sheep-skin, arm. At his left side was a bag, from the top of called in Spanish zamarra, with breeches of the which peered the heads of two or three singular-same as far down as his knees: his legs were looking animals, and at his right was squatted the bare. Around his sombrero, or shadowy hat, sullen cub of a wolf, which he was endeavoring to was tied a large quantity of the herb which in tame; his whole appearance was to the last degree English is called rosemary, in Spanish romero, savage and wild. After a little conversation, such and in the rustic language of Portugal alecrim; as those who meet on the road frequently hold, I which last is a word of Scandinavian origin asked him if he could read, but he made me no (ellegren), signifying the elfin-plant, and was answer. I then inquired if he knew any thing of probably carried into the south by the Vandals. God or Jesus Christ; he looked me fixedly in the The man seemed frantic with terror, and said face for a moment, and then turned his countenance that the witches had been pursuing him and towards the sun, which was beginning to sink in the hovering over his head for the last two leagues. west, nodded to it, and then again looked fixedly He came from the Spanish frontier with meal upon me. I believe that I understood the mute and other articles; he said that his wife was reply, which probably was, that it was God who following him and would soon arrive, and in made that glorious light which illumes and glad about a quarter of an hour she made her appeardens all creation; and, gratified with that belief, Iance, dripping with rain, and also mounted on a left him, and hastened after my companions, who were by this time a considerable way in advance. "I have always found in the disposition of the children of the fields a more determined tendency to religion and piety than amongst the inhabitants of towns and cities, and the reason is obvious: they are less acquainted with the works of man's hands than with those of God; their occupations, too, which are simple, and requiring less of ingenuity and skill than those which engage the attention of the other portion of their fellow-creatures, are less favorable to the engendering of self-conceit and sufficiency, so utterly at variance with that lowliness of spirit which constitutes the best foundation of piety. The sneerers and scoffers at religion do not spring from amongst the simple children of nature, but are the excrescences of overwrought refinement; and though their baleful influence has donkey. "I asked my friends the contrabandists why he wore the rosemary in his hat; whereupon they told me that it was good against witches and the mischances on the road. I had no time to argue against this superstition, for, as the chaise was to be ready at five the next morning, I wished to make the most of the short time which I could devote to sleep. "I rose at four, and after having taken some refreshment, I descended and found the strange man and his wife sleeping in the chimney-corner by the fire, which was still burning; they soon awoke and began preparing their breakfast, which consisted of salt sardinhas, broiled upon the embers. In the mean time the woman sang snatches of the beautiful hymn, very common in Spain, which commences thus: Near to Bethlem's holy tower, kept at dead of night their sheep; nited oak, Round about the trunk they nodded of a huge igWhence the crackling flame ascending, bright and clear, the darkness broke.' 'Once of old upon a mountain, shepherds overcome | by means which are a mystery. Earthquakes with sleep, have heaved it, but its cope-stone has not fallen; rain-floods have deluged it, but failed to sweep upon it, but neither split nor crumbled it; and it from its station; the burning sun has flashed Time, stern old Time, has rubbed it with his iron tooth, and with what effect let those who view it declare. There it stands; and he who wishes to study the literature, the learning, and the history of the ancient Celt and Cymbrian, may gaze on its broad covering, and glean from that blank stone the whole known amount. The Roman has left behind him his deathless writings, his history, and his songs; the Goth his liturgy, his traditions, and the germs of noble institutions; the Moor his chivalry, his discoveries in medicine, and the foundations of modern commerce; and where is the memorial of the Druidic races? Yonder: that pile of eternal stone !"-p. 118-124. "On hearing that I was about to depart, she said, 'You shall have some of my husband's rosemary, which will keep you from danger, and prevent any misfortune occurring.' I was foolish enough to permit her to put some of it in my hat."-pp. 65-68. Riding among the mountains near Estremos, Mr. Borrow is called to a halt by his first peninsular specimen of Druidical remains. How genuine is the spirit of his commentary! On reaching Elvas Mr. Borrow was curious to examine the fortifications; but the officer in command denied admission. Our author's commentary is too bold to be omitted-for boldness of thought and language is the broadest stamp of the man. We demur to his character of the wines of Portugal; but perhaps he is no wine-bibber at all. What he says of our own popularity in Portugal is, we believe, too true; and perhaps in what he says of the feeling towards us in France he is not so far wrong neither. He is not speaking of Paris or Boulogne. "After proceeding about a league and a half, a blast came booming from the north, rolling before it immense clouds of dust; happily it did not blow in our faces, or it would have been difficult to proceed, so great was its violence. We had left the road in order to take advantage of one of those short cuts, which, though passable for a horse or a mule, are far too rough to permit any species of carriage to travel along them. We were in the midst of sands, brushwood, and huge pieces of rock, which thickly studded the ground. These are the stones which form the sierras of Spain and Portugal; those singular mountains which rise in naked horridness, like the ribs of some mighty carcass from which the flesh has been torn. Many of these stones, or rocks, grew out of the earth, and many lay on its surface unattached, perhaps wrested from their bed by the waters of the deluge. Whilst toiling along these wild wastes, I observed, a little way to my left, a pile of stones of rather a singular appearance, and rode up to it. It was a Druidical altar, and the most perfect and beautiful one of the kind which I had ever seen. It was circular, and consisted of stones immensely large and heavy at the bottom, which towards "This is one of the beneficial results of protectthe top became thinner and thinner, having been ing a nation and squandering blood and treasure in fashioned by the hand of art to something of the its defence. The English, who have never been at shape of scollop-shells. These were surmount-war with Portugal, who have fought for its indepened by a very large flat stone, which slanted down towards the south, where was a door. Three or four individuals might have taken shelter within the interior, in which was growing a small thorn tree. "I gazed with reverence and awe upon the pile where the first colonists of Europe offered their worship to the unknown God. The temples of the mighty and skilful Roman, comparatively of modern date, have crumbled to dust in its neighborhood. The churches of the Arian Goth, his successor in power, have sunk beneath the earth, and are not to be found; and the mosques of the Moor, the conqueror of the Goth, where and what are they? Upon the rock, masses of hoary and vanishing ruin. Not so the Druid's stone; there it stands on the hill of winds, as strong and as freshly new as the day, perhaps thirty centuries back, when it was first raised "He presently appeared, and inquired whether I was an Englishman; to which, having replied in the affirmative, he said, 'In that case, sir, you cannot enter: indeed, it is not the custom to permit any foreigners to visit the fort.' I answered that it was perfectly indifferent to me whether I visited it or not; and, having taken a survey of Badajoz from the eastern side of the hill, descend. ed by the way I came. dence on land and sea, and always with success, who have forced themselves by a treaty of commerce to drink its coarse and filthy wines, which no other nation cares to taste, are the most unpopular people who visit Portugal. The French have ravaged the country with fire and sword, and shed the blood of its sons like water; the French buy not its fruits and loathe its wines, yet there is no bad spirit in Portugal toward the French. The reason of this is no mystery: it is the nature not of the Portuguese only, but of corrupt and unregenerate man, to dislike his benefactors, who, by conferring benefits upon him, mortify in the most generous manner his miserable vanity. "There is no country in which the English are so popular as in France; but, though the French have been frequently roughly handled by the Eng. lish, and have seen their capital occupied by an English army, they have never been subjected to the supposed ignominy of receiving assistance from | came to a wide doorway. Go in, my child of them."-pp. 143, 144. Egypt,' said the hag; go in: that is my little stable.' The place is as dark as pitch,' said I, and may be a well for what I know; bring a light, or I will not enter.' 'Give me the solabarri (bridle),' said the hag, and I will lead your horse in, my chabo of Egypt; yes, and tether him to my little manger.' She led the horse through the doorway, and I heard her busy in the darkness; presently the horse shook himself:Grasti terelamos,' said the hag, who now made her appear ance with the bridle in her hand; the horse has shaken himself; he is not harmed by his day's journey. Now let us go in, my Caloro, into my little room.' Soon after passing the Spanish line Mr. Borrow fell into company with a party of his old friends the gipsies. One of them, the Antonio familiar to the readers of his former work, offers to be his guide onward, and the ancient hankering for Romman society is too strong for the temptation. The missionary accepts the offer; and we have him pursuing his way for more than a week, mounted on a spare pony (Egypticè gras), from the Gitano camp-lodging, whether "We entered the house and found ourselves in in field, forest, village, town, or city, exactly where Antonio would naturally have lodged but for a faint glow which appeared at the fara vast room, which would have been quite dark had there been no stranger with him.-ther end; it proceeded from a brasero, beside There can be no sort of doubt that through- which were squatted two dusky figures. These out his travels Mr. Borrow has usually are Callees,' said the hag; 'one is my daughter, passed with gipsies for one, in part at least, and the other is her chabi; sit down, my Lonof their own blood. It was so at Moscow-don Caloro, and let us hear you speak. I looked where the Prima Donna of the celebrated about for a chair, but could see none: at a short distance, however, I perceived the end of a Singing Company was at once ready to broken pillar lying on the floor; this I rolled to hail him as a kinsman. It is so everywhere the brasero and sat down upon it. This is a in Spain; and most queer are some of the fine house, mother of the gipsies,' said I; ‘raresults to the supposed " London Caloro." ther cold and damp, though: it appears large enough to be a barrack.' Plenty of houses in Merida, my London Caloro, some of them just as they were left by the Corahanoes. Ah! a fine people are the Corahanoes; I often wish myself in their chim once more.' 'How is this, mother? said I; 'have you been in the land of the Moors?" "Twice have I been in their country, my Caloro--twice have I been in the land of the Corahai. The first time is more than fifty years ago: I was then with the Sese (Spaniards), for my husband was a soldier of the Crallis (King) of Spain, and Oran at that time belonged to Spain. You were not then with the real Moors,' said I, 'but only with the Spaniards who occupied part of their country?' 'I have been with the real Moors, my London Caloro. About forty years ago I was with my ro in Ceuta, for he was still a soldier of the "Towards evening we drew near to a large town or village. That is Merida,' said Antonio, formerly a mighty city of the Corahai. We shall stay here to-night, and perhaps for a day or two, for I have some business of Egypt to transact in this place. Now, brother, step aside with the horse, and wait for me beneath yonder wall. I must go before and see in what condition matters stand. I dismounted, and sat down on a stone beneath the ruined wall to which Antonio had motioned me the sun went down, and the air was exceedingly keen; I drew close around me an old tattered gipsy cloak with which my companion had provided me, and, being somewhat fatigued, fel into a doze which lasted for nearly an hour. : "Is your worship the London Caloro?' said a strange voice close beside me. I started, and beheld the face of a woman peering under my hat.king; and he said to me one day, 'I am tired Notwithstanding the dusk, I could see that the of this place, where there is no bread and less features were hideously ugly and almost black; water; I will escape and turn to Corahano: this they belonged, in fact, to a gipsy crone, at least night I will kill my sergeant, and flee to the seventy years of age, leaning upon a staff. Is camp of the Moor.' 'Do so,' said I, 'my chabo; your worship the London Caloro?' repeated she. and as soon as may be I will follow you and beI am he whom you seek,' said I; where is Anto- come a Corahani.' That same night he killed nio? Curelando, curelando, baribustres curelos his serjeant, who five years before had called torela," said the crone: come with me, Caloro of him Calo and cursed him; then running to the my garlochin, come with me to my little ker; he wall he dropped from it, and, amidst many will be there anon." I followed the crone, who shots, he escaped to the land of the Corahai: as led the way into the town, which was ruinous and for myself, I remained in the presidio of Ceuta seemingly half deserted; we went up the street, as a suttler, selling wine and repani to the hunfrom which she turned into a narrow and dark dunares. Two years passed by, and I neither lane, and presently opened the gate of a large dila-saw nor heard from my ro. One day there pidated house. Come in,' said she. And the gras?' I demanded. Bring the gras in too; my chabo, bring the gras in too; there is room for the gras in my little stable.' We entered a large court, across which we proceeded till we came a strange man to my cachimani (wineshop); he was dressed like a Corahano, and yet he did not look like one; he looked more like a callardo (black), and yet he was not a callardo either, though he was almost black; and as I looked upon him I thought he looked something like the Errate (gipsies); and he said to me, Zincali; chachipé!' and then he whispered to "Myself.—Wherefore do you ask, O Dai de los Cales? "Gipsy Mother.-It is high time that the lacha of the chabi were taken from her, and that she had a ro. You can do no better than take her for romi, my London Caloro. "Myself. I am a stranger in this land, O mother of the gipsies, and scarcely know how to provide for myself, much less for a romi. 66 me in queer language, which I could scarcely telling fortunes. Are you married, my London understand, 'Your ro is waiting; come with me, Caloro?' said the old woman to me. • Are you a my little sister, and I will take you unto him.' ro?" " 'Where is he?' said I; and he pointed to the west, to the land of the Corahai, and said, 'He is yonder away; come with me, little sister, the ro is waiting. For a moment I was afraid, but I bethought me of my husband, and I wished to be amongst the Corahai. The sentinel challenged us at the gate, but I gave him repani, and he let us pass. About a league from the town, beneath a cerro (hill), we found four men and women, all very black like the strange man, and they all saluted me and called me little sister, and they gave me other clothes, and I looked like a Corahani, and away we marched for many days amidst deserts and small villages, and more than once it seemed to me that I was amongst the Errate, for their ways were the same: the men would hokkawar (cheat) with mules and asses, and the women told baji; and after many days we came before a large town, and the black man said, 'Go in there, little sister, and there you will find your ro;' and I went to the gate, and an armed Corahano stood within the gate, and I looked in his face, and lo! it was my ro. “Well, brother, to be short, my ro was killed in the wars, before a town to which the king of the Corahai laid siege, and I became a piuli (widow), and I returned to the village of the renegades, as it was called, and supported myself as well as I could; and one day, as I was sitting weeping, the black man, whom I had never seen since the day he brought me to my ro, again stood before me, and said, Come with me, little sister, come with me; the ro is at hand' and I went with him, and be yond the gate in the desert was the same party of black men and women which I had seen before. Where is my ro?' said I. Here he is, little sister,' said the black man, 'here he is; from this day I am the ro, and you the romi; come, let us go, for there is business to be done.' And I went with him, and he was my ro; and we lived among the deserts, and hokkawar'd and choried and told baji; and I said to myself, This is good: sure I am amongst the Errate, in a better chim than my own.' And I had three chai by the black man: two of them died, but the youngest, who is the Calli who sits by the brasero, was spared: and it came to pass that once in the winter-time our company attempted to pass a wide and deep river, and the boat overset, and all our people were drowned, all but myself and my chabi, whom I bore in my bosom. I had now no friends amongst the Corahai, and I wandered about the desplobados, howl. ing and lamenting till I became half lili (mad), and in this manner I found my way to the coast, where I made friends with the captain of a ship, and returned to this land of Spain. And now I am here, I often wished myself back again amongst the Corahai."-p. 165. Our 'London Caloro' is now, we understand, a married man: but in 1835 he was open to a tender proposition. "In the afternoon I was seated with the gipsy mother in the hall; the two Callees were absent Gipsy Mother-She wants no one to provide for her, my London Caloro; she can at any time provide for herself and her ro. She can hokkawar, tell baji, and there are few to equal her at stealing á pastesas. Were she once at Madrilati, she would make much treasure; in this foros she is nahi (lost), for there is nothing to be gained; but in the foros baro it would be another matter: she would go dressed in lachipi and sonacai (silk and gold), whilst you would ride about on your black-tailed gra; and when you had got much treasure, you night return hither and live like a Crallis, and all the Errate of the Chim del Manro should bow down their heads to you. What say you, my London Caloro? 66 "Myself. Your plan is a plausible one, mother; but I am, as you are aware, of another chim, and have no inclination to pass my life in this country. Gipsy Mother.-Then return to your own country, my Caloro; the chabi can cross the pani. Would she not do business in London with the rest of the Caloré? Or why not go to the land of the Corabai? "Myself. And what should we do in the land of the Corahai? It is a poor and wild country, I believe. "Gipsy Mother. Aromali! I almost think that I am speaking to a lilipendi (simpleton). Are there not horses to chore? Yes I trow, better ones than in this land, and asses and mules. In the land of the Corahai you must hokkawar and chore even as you must here, or in your own country, or else you are no Caloro. Can you not join yourselves with the black people who live in the despoblados? Yes, surely; and glad they would be to have among them the Errate from Spain and London. I am seventy years of age, but I wish not to die in this chim, but yonder, far away, where both my roms are sleeping. Take the chabi, therefore, and go to Madrilati to win the parné, and, when you have got it, return, and we will give a banquet to all the Busné (Christians) in Merida, and in their food I will mix drow, and they shall eat and burst like poisoned sheep And when they have eaten we will leave them, and away to the land of the Moor." pp. 178 181. Mr. Borrow, we suppose, had nothing for it but to hint that he was engaged to be the Ro of some Chabi among the East Anglian Errate. He passes over his method of escape, however, with a lyrical obscurity; and we soon find him in the open country again with his elegant companion Antonio. To be sure, the learned and devout agent of the Bible Society seems a little out of his |