ons to English
literature. To her he was merely a conceited, brusque old man.
Concerning the adage that 'no man is a hero to his valet,' well may
Carlyle remark that that is more often the fault of the valet than of
the hero.

[234] _Personal and Family Glimpses of Remarkable People_. By Edward W.
Whately. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1889.

[235] London _Daily Chronicle_, July 9, 1913.

[236] There is an interview between Borrow and his wife's medical
attendant, Dr. Playfair, recorded in Herbert Jenkins's _Life_, that is
full of poignancy.

CHAPTER XXXIV

FRIENDS OF LATER YEARS

We should know little enough of George Borrow's later years, were it not
for his friendship with Thomas Gordon Hake and Theodore Watts-Dunton.
Hake was born in 1809 and died in 1895. In 1839 he settled at Bury St.
Edmunds as a physician, and he resided there until 1853. Here he was
frequently visited by the Borrows. We have already quoted his prophecy
concerning _Lavengro_ that 'its roots will strike deep into the soil of
English letters.' In 1853 Dr. Hake and his family left Bury for the
United States, where they resided for some years. Returning to England
they lived at Roehampton and met Borrow occasionally in London. During
these years Hake was, according to Mr. W. M. Rossetti, 'the earthly
Providence of the Rossetti family,' but he was not, as his _Memoirs_
show, equally devoted to Borrow. In 1872, however, he went to live in
Germany and Italy for a considerable period. Concerning the relationship
between Borrow and Hake, Mr. Watts-Dunton has written:

After Hake went to live in Germany, Borrow told me a good deal
about their intimacy, and also about his own early life: for,
reticent as he naturally was, he and I got to be confidential
and intimate. His friendship with Hake began when Hake was
practising as a physician in Norfolk. It lasted during the
greater part of Borrow's later life. When Borrow was living in
London his great delight was to walk over on Sundays from
Hereford Square to Coombe End, call upon Hake, and take a
stroll with him over Richmond Park. They both had a passion for
herons and for deer. At that time Hake was a very intimate
friend of my own, and having had the good fortune to be
introduced by him to Borrow I used to join the two in their
walks. Afterwards, when Hake went to live in Germany, I used to
take those walks with Borrow