I frequently meditate upon "The
Life," and am arranging the scenes in my mind. With best remembrances to
Mrs. M. and all your excellent family,
Truly and respectfully yours,
GEORGE BORROW.
Mr. Richard Ford's forthcoming work--"The Handbook for Spain"--about
which Mr. Borrow had been making so many enquiries, was the result of
many years' hard riding and constant investigation throughout Spain, one
of the least known of all European countries at that time. Mr. Ford
called upon Mr. Murray, after "The Bible in Spain" had been published,
and a copy of the work was presented to him. He was about to start on
his journey to Heavitree, near Exeter. A few days after his arrival Mr.
Murray received the following letter from him:
_Mr. Richard Ford to John Murray_.
"I read Borrow with great delight all the way down per rail, and it
shortened the rapid flight of that velocipede. You may depend upon it
that the book will sell, which, after all, is the rub. It is the
antipodes of Lord Carnarvon, and yet how they tally in what they have in
common, and that is much--the people, the scenery of Galicia, and the
suspicions and absurdities of Spanish Jacks-in-office, who yield not in
ignorance or insolence to any kind of red-tapists, hatched in the
hot-beds of jobbery and utilitarian mares-nests .
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