f Borrow.'[147] In her biography of one of these
successors in gypsy lore, Charles Godfrey Leland, Mrs. Pennell discusses
the probability that Borrow and Leland met in the British Museum. That
is admitted in a letter from Leland to Borrow in my possession. To this
letter Borrow made no reply. It was wrong of him. But he was then--in
1873--a prematurely old man, worn out and saddened by neglect and a
sense of literary failure. For this and for the other vagaries of those
latter years Borrow will not be judged harshly by those who read his
story here. Nothing could be more courteous than Borrow's one letter to
Leland, written in the failing handwriting--once so excellent--of the
last sad decade of his life:

[Illustration: AN APPLICATION FOR A BOOK IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM, WITH
BORROWS SIGNATURE]

22 HEREFORD SQUARE, BROMPTON, _Nov. 2, 1871._

SIR,--I have received your letter and am gratified by the
desire you express to make my acquaintance. Whenever you please
to come I shall be happy to see you.--Yours truly,

GEORGE BORROW.[148]

The meeting did not, through Leland's absence from London, then take
place. Two years later it was another story. The failing powers were
more noteworthy. Borrow was by this time dead to the world, as the
documents before me abundantly testify. It is not, therefore, necessary
to assume, as Leland's friends have all done, that Borrow never replied
because he was on the eve of publishing a book of his own about the
gypsies. There seems no reason to assume, as Dr. Knapp does and as
Leland does, that this was the reason for the unanswered letter:

To George Borrow, Esq.

LANGHAM HOTEL, PORTLAND PLACE, _March 31st, 1873._

DEAR SIR,--I sincerely trust that the limited extent of our
acquaintanceship will not cause this note to seem to you too
presuming. _Breviter_, I have thrown the results of my
observations among English gypsies into a very unpretending
little volume consisting almost entirely of facts gathered from
the Romany, without any theory. As I owe all my interest in the
subject to your writings, and as I am sincerely grateful to you
for the impulse which they gave me, I should like very much to
dedicate my book to you. Of course if your kindness permits I
shall submit the proofs to you, that you may judge whether the
work deserves the honour. I should have sent