CHAPTER XXIII

RICHARD FORD

The most distinguished of Borrow's friends in the years that succeeded his return from Spain was Richard Ford, whose interests were so largely wrapped-up in the story of that country. Ford was possessed of a very interesting personality, which was not revealed to the public until Mr. Rowland E. Prothero issued his excellent biography[164] in 1905, although Ford died in 1858. This delay is the more astonishing as Ford's _Handbook for Travellers in Spain_ was one of the most famous books of its day. Ford's father, Sir Richard Ford, was a friend of William Pitt, and twice sat in Parliament, being at one time Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department. He ended his official career as a police magistrate at Bow Street, but deserves to be better known to fame as the creator of the mounted police force of London. Ford was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, inheriting a fortune from his father, and from his mother an extraordinary taste for art. Although called to the bar he never practised, but spent his time in travelling on the Continent, building up a valuable collection of books and paintings. He was three times married, and all these unions seem to have been happy, in spite of an almost unpleasant celerity in the second alliance, which took place nine months after the death of his first wife. A very large portion of his life he devoted to Spain, which he knew so intimately that in 1845 he produced that remarkable _Handbook_ in two closely printed volumes, a most repellent-looking book in appearance to those who are used to contemporary typography, usually so attractive. Ford, in fact, was so full of his subject that instead of a handbook he wrote a work which ought to have appeared in half a dozen volumes. In later editions the book was condensed into one of Mr. Murray's usual guide-books, but the curious may still enjoy the work in its earliest form, so rich in discussions of the Spanish people, their art and architecture, their history and their habits. The greater part of the letters in Mr. Prothero's collection are addressed to Addington, who was our ambassador to Madrid for some years, until he was superseded by George Villiers, Lord Clarendon, with whom Borrow came so much in contact. Those letters reveal a remarkably cultivated mind and an interesting outlook on life, an outlook that was always intensely anti-democratic. It is impossible to sympathise with him in his brutal reference to the execution by the Spaniards of Robert Boyd, a young Irishman who was captured with Torrijos by the Spanish Government in 1831. Richard Ford apparently left Spain very shortly before George Borrow entered that country. Ford passed through Madrid on his way to England in September 1833. He then settled near Exeter, purchasing an Elizabethan cottage called Heavitree House, with twelve acres of land, and devoted himself to turning it into a beautiful mansion. Presumably he first met Borrow in Mr. John Murray's famous drawing-room soon after the publication of _The Gypsies of Spain_. He tells Addington, indeed, in a letter of 14th January 1841:

I have made acquaintance with an extraordinary fellow, George Borrow, who went out to Spain to convert the gypsies. He is about to publish his failure, and a curious book it will be. It was submitted to my perusal by the hesitating Murray.

Ford's article upon Borrow's book appeared in _The British and Foreign Review_, and Ford was delighted that the book had created a sensation, and that he had given sound advice as to publishing the manuscript. When _The Bible in Spain_ was ready, Ford was one of the first to read it. Then he wrote to John Murray:

I read Borrow with great delight all the way down per rail. You may depend upon it that the book will sell, which after all is the rub.

And in that letter Ford describes the book as putting him in mind of Gil Blas with 'a touch of Bunyan.' Lockhart himself reviewed the book in _The Quarterly_, so Ford had to go to the rival organ--_The Edinburgh Review_--receiving £44 for the article, which sum, he tells us, he invested in Château Margaux.

Ford's first letter to Borrow in my collection is written in Spanish:

To George Borrow, Esq., Oulton Hall, Lowestoft.

HEAVITREE HOUSE, EXETER, _Jan. 19, 1842._

QUERIDO COMPADRE,--Mucho m'ha alegrado el buen termino de sus trabajos literarios que V.M. me participó. Vaya con los picaros de Zincali, buenas pesetas han cobrado--siempre he tenido á los Sres. M. como muy hombres de bien, suele ser que los que tratan mucho con personages de categoria, tomen un algo del grande y liberal. Convega V.M. que soy critico de tipo, y que digo, 'Bahi de los gabicotes.' Conosco bastante loque agradecera al muy noble y illustrado publico--conque sigue V.M. adelante y no dejes nada en el tintero, pero por vida del Demonio, huyese V.M. de los historiadores españoles, embusteros y majaderos. Siento mucho que V.M. haya salido de Londres, salgo de esto Sabato, y pienso hacer una visita de como unas tres semanas, en la casa maternal, como es mi costumbre por el mes de los aguinaldos. Con mucho gusto hubiera praticado con V.M. y charleado sobre las cosas de España y otra chismografia gitanesca y zandungera, por ahora no entiendo nada de eso. No dejaré de llevar conmigo los papeles y documentos que V.M. se sirvio de remitirme á Cheltenham. Haré de ellos un paquete, y lo confiaré á los Señores Murray, para quando V.M. guste reclamarlo. Haré el mio posible de averiguar y aprofundicar aquellos misterios y gente estrambotica. El Señor Murray hijo, me escrive muy contento de la _Biblia en España_. Descaria yo escribir un articulo sobre asunto tan relleno de interes. Talvez el articulo mio de los Gitanos parecera en el numero proximo, y en tal caso ha de ser mas util á V.M. que no hubiera sido ahora. La vida y memoria de las revistas, es muy corta. Salen como miraposas y mueren en un dia. Los muertos y los idos no tienen amigos. Los vivos á la mesa, y los muertos á la huesa. Al istante que está imprimido un nuevo numero, el pasado y esta olvidado y entra entre las cosas del Rey Wamba. Que le parece á V.M., ultimamente en un baile donde sacaron un Rey de Hubas (twelfth night) tiré El Krallis de los Zincali. Incluyo á V. Majestad tabula, de veras es preciso que yo tengo en mis venas algunas gotitas de legitimo errante. El Señor Gagargos viene á ser nombrado Consul español á Tunis, donde no le faltaron medios de adelantarse en el idioma y literatura arabica. Queda de S.M. afemo. su amigo, Q.B.S.M.,

RICHARD FORD.[165]

Here is a second letter of the following month:

_February 26th_, HEAVITREE HOUSE, EXETER.

BATUSCHCA BORROW,--I am glad that the paper pleased you, and I think it calculated to promote the sale, which a too copious extracting article does not always do, as people think that they have had the cream. Napier sent me £44 for the thirty-two pages; this, with Kemble's £50, 8s. for the _Zincali_, nearly reaches £100: I lay it out in claret, being not amiss to do in the world, and richer by many hundreds a year than last year, but with a son at Eton and daughters coming out, and an overgrown set of servants, money is never to be despised, and I find that expenditure by some infernal principle has a greater tendency to increase than income, and that when the latter increases it never does so in the ratio of the former--enough of that. How to write an article without being condensed--epigrammatical and _epitomical cream-skimming that is_--I know not, one has so much to say and so little space to say it in.

I rejoice to hear of your meditated biography; really I am your wet nurse, and you ought to dedicate it to me; take time, but not too much; avoid all attempts to write fine; just dash down the first genuine uppouring idea and thoughts in the plainest language and that which comes first, and then fine it and compress it. Let us have a glossary; for people cry out for a Dragoman, and half your local gusto evaporates.

I am amazed at the want of profits--'tis sad to think what meagre profits spring from pen and ink; but Cervantes died a beggar and is immortal. It is the devil who comes into the market with ready money: _No_ solvendum in futuro: I well know that it is cash down which makes the mare to go; dollars will add spurs even to the Prince of Mustard's paces.

It is a bore not receiving even the crumbs which drop from such tables as those spread by Mr. Eyre: Murray, however, is a deep cove, _y muy pratico en cosas de libreteria_: and he knew that the _first out_ about Afghan would sell prodigiously. I doubt now if Lady Sale would now be such a general Sale. Murray builds solid castles in Eyre. Los de España rez