ialogues are amongst the best parts of the book; but in several
of them the tone of the speakers, of those especially who are in
humble life, is too correct and elevated, and therefore out of
character. This takes away from their effect. I think it would be very
advisable that Mr Borrow should go over them with reference to this
point, simplifying a few of the terms of expression and introducing a
few contractions--_don'ts, can'ts_, &c. This would improve them
greatly."

It is the same with his pictures of the English gipsies. The reader has
only to compare the dialogues between gipsies given in that photographic
study of Romany life, _In Gipsy Tents_, by F.H. Groome, with the
dialogues in _Lavengro_ and _The Romany Rye_, to see how the illusion in
Borrow's narrative is disturbed by the uncolloquial locutions of the
speakers. It is true, no doubt, that all Romanies, especially perhaps
the English and Hungarian, have a passion for the use of high-sounding
words, and the present writer has shown this in his remarks upon the
Czigany Czindol, who is said to have taught the Czigany language to the
archduke Joseph, often called the "Gipsy Archduke." But after all
allowance is made for this racial peculiarity, Borrow's presentation of
it considerably weakens our belief in Mr and Mrs Petulengro, Ursula, and
the rest, to find them using complex sentences and bookish words which,
even among English people, are rarely heard in conversation. As to the
deep impression that Borrow made upon his gipsy friends, that is partly
explained by the singular nobility of his appearance, for the gipsies of
all countries are extremely sensitive upon matters of this kind. The
silvery whiteness of the thick crop of hair which Borrow retained to the
last seemed to add in a remarkable way to the nobility of his hairless
face, but also it gave to the face a kind of strange look "not a bit
like a Gorgio's," to use the words of one of his gipsy friends.
Moreover, the shy, defiant, stand-off way which Borrow assumed in the
company of his social equals left him entirely when he was with the
gipsies. The result of this was that these wanderers knew him better
than did his own countrymen.

Seven years after the events recorded in _Lavengro_ and _The Romany Rye_
Borrow obtained the post of agent to the Bible Society, in which
capacity he visited St Petersburg (1833-1835) (where he published
_Targum_, a collection of translations), and Spain,