rdly find one more implacable,
more fierce, or more blindly fanatical than your Borrovian. Charles Lamb
is almost the only author we can think of (out of Scotland) who is
worshipped by his admirers with quite the same canine sort of affection.
But the cult of Lamb is restricted largely to briefless Templars, to
University men and "Oxford M.A.'s"; the Borrovian is drawn from a lower
social stratum, from printers, librarians, booksellers, and others who
seldom read books, from indexers, dictionary makers, and such harmless
drudges of literature. To men of such close and restricted horizons the
breath of the Romany Rye is as that of "the wind on the heath, brother."
Hence the stern and unbending jealousy of their cult. Real literary
enthusiasts of advanced years are almost as rare in our streets as
elderly naval men of the peculiar type discovered by Mr. Gilbert. Yet a
chance word in a London thoroughfare has before now elicited this
ingenuous confession of faith: "I'd walk any distance to see anything
belonging to George Borrow or to read anything fresh of his. Lord bless
you, I almost worship that man!"

Footnotes:

{213a} It was not the policy of the Times Literary Supplement to give
the name of the author. For completeness the author is Thomas Seccombe,
and the editor of the TLS. at the time was James Thursfield.--DP.

{213b} Two brothers. See "Gypsies in Spain," Preface to Second Edition.

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GEORGE BORROW***

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