then had only a draught of cold water before going to bed. He
wrote much in praise of 'strong ale,' and was very fond of good
ale, of whose virtue he had a great idea. Once I was speaking
of a lady who was attached to a gentleman, and he asked, 'Well,
did he make her an offer?' 'No,' I said. 'Ah,' he exclaimed,
'if she had given him some good ale he would.' But although he
talked so much about ale I never saw him take much. He was very
temperate, and would eat what was set before him, often not
thinking of what he was doing, and he never refused what was
offered him. He took much pleasure in music, especially of a
light and lively character. My sister would sing to him, and I
played. One piece he seemed never to tire of hearing. It was a
polka, 'The Redowa,' I think, and when I had finished he used
to say, 'Play that again, E----.' He was very polite and
gentlemanly in ladies' society, and we all liked him.

It is refreshing to read this tribute, from which I have omitted nothing
salient, because a very disagreeable Borrow has somehow grown up into a
tradition. I note in reading some of the reviews of Dr. Knapp's _Life_
that he is charged, or half-charged, with suppressing facts, 'because
they do not reflect credit upon the subject of his biography.' Now,
there were really no facts to suppress. Borrow was at times a very
irritable man, he was a very self-centred one. His egotism might even be
pronounced amazing by those who had never met an author. But those of us
who have, recognise that with very few exceptions they are all egotists,
although some conceal it from the unobservant more deftly than others.
Let me recall Mr. Arthur Christopher Benson's verses on 'My Poet.'

He came; I met him face to face,
And shrank amazed, dismayed; I saw
No patient depth, no tender grace,
No prophet of the eternal law.

But weakness, fretting to be great,
Self-consciousness with sidelong eye,
The impotence that dares not wait
For honour, crying 'This is I.'

The tyrant of a sullen hour,
He frowned away our mild content;
And insight only gave him power
To see the slights that were not meant.[189]

Many successful and unsuccessful authors, living and dead, are here
described, and Borrow was far from one of the worst. He was quarrelsome,
and I rather like him for that. If he was a good hater he was