blank cheque, in a letter
so that if I want money I may be able to draw for a little. I
shall not be long from home, but now I am here I wish to do all
that's necessary. If you send me a blank cheque, I suppose W.
or Murray would give me the money. I hope you got my last
letter. I received yours, and Cooke has just sent the two
copies of _Lavengro_ you wrote for, and I believe some
engravings of the picture. I shall wish to return by the packet
if possible, and will let you know when I am coming. I hope to
write again shortly to tell you some more news. How is mother
and Hen., and how are all the creatures? I hope all well. I
trust you like all I propose--now I am here I want to get two
or three things, to go to the Museum, and to arrange matters.
God bless you. Love to mother and Hen.

GEORGE BORROW.

To Mrs. George Borrow

No. 58 JERMYN STREET, ST. JAMES.

DEAR CARRETA,--I got here safe, and upon the whole had not so
bad a journey as might be expected. I put up at the Spread
Eagle for the night for I was tired and _hungry_; have got into
my old lodgings as you see, those on the second floor, they are
very nice ones, with every convenience; they are expensive, it
is true, but they are _cheerful_, which is a grand
consideration for me. I have as yet seen nobody, for it is only
now a little past eleven. I can scarcely at present tell you
what my plans are, perhaps to-morrow I shall write again. Kiss
Hen., and God bless you.

G. B.

It was in the year 1843 that Borrow, on a visit to London following upon
the success of _The Bible in Spain_, sat to Henry Wyndham Phillips for
his portrait at the instigation of Mr. Murray, who gave Borrow a
replica, retaining for himself Phillips's more finished picture, which
has been reproduced again and again in the present Mr. Murray's Borrow
productions.[230]

Borrow was in London in 1845 and again in 1848. There must have been
other occasional visits on the way to this or that starting point of his
annual holiday, but in 1860 Borrow took a house in London, and he
resided there until 1874, when he returned to Oulton. In a letter to Mr.
John Murray, written from Ireland in November 1859, Mrs. Borrow writes
to the effect that in the spring of the following year she will wish to
look round 'and select a pleasant holid