ert Taylor of Penquite, invited him to his
father's homeland, and Borrow accepted, glad, we may be sure, of any
excuse for a renewal of his wanderings. And so on the 23rd of December
1853 Borrow made his way from Yarmouth to Plymouth by rail, and thence
walked twenty miles to Liskeard, where quite a little party of Borrow's
cousins were present to greet him. The Borrow family consisted of Henry
Borrow of Looe Doun, the father of Mrs. Taylor, William Borrow of
Trethinnick, Thomas Nicholas and Elizabeth Borrow, all first cousins,
except Anne Taylor. Anne, talking to a friend, describes Borrow on this
visit better than any one else has done:

A fine tall man of about six feet three; well-proportioned and
not stout; able to walk five miles an hour successively; rather
florid face without any hirsute appendages; hair white and
soft; eyes and eyebrows dark; good nose and very nice mouth;
well-shaped hands;--altogether a person you would notice in a
crowd.[179]

Dr. Knapp possessed two 'notebooks' of this Cornish tour. Borrow stayed
at Penquite with his cousins from 24th December to 9th January, then he
went on a walking tour to Land's End, through Truro and Penzance; he was
back at Penquite from 26th January to 1st February, and then took a
week's tramp to Tintagel, King Arthur's Castle, and Pentire. Naturally
he made inquiries into the language, already extinct, but spoken within
the memory of the older inhabitants. 'My relations are most excellent
people,' he wrote to his wife from London on his way back, 'but I could
not understand more than half of what they said.'

I have only one letter to Mrs. Borrow written during this tour:

To Mrs. George Borrow

PENQUITE, _27th Janry. 1854._

MY DEAR CARRETA,--I just write you a line to inform you that I
have got back safe here from the Land's End. I have received
your two letters, and hope you received mine from the Land's
End. It is probable that I shall yet visit one or two places
before I leave Cornwall. I am very much pleased with the
country. When you receive this if you please to write a line
_by return of post_ I think you may; the Trethinnick people
wish me to stay with them for a day or two. When you see the
Cobbs pray remember me to them; I am sorry Horace has lost his
aunt, he will _miss her_. Love to Hen. Ever yours, dearest,

G. BORROW.

(Ke