Towns > Dalkeith > 1899, 1902 - Carment's directory for Dalkeith and district and year book > 1899

"A BLYTHE HEAEl: MAKES A BLOOMING VISAGE."
25. — Some years ago a friend
thus wrote from his own knowledge
of the late R. W. Emerson, the
American philosopher :—" To get a
clear and adequate conception of
Emerson, one must see him at home,
in undress, so to speak, if lie may
be considered as ever in uniform,
who is the soul of simplicity and
sincerity. He is the kindest of
husbands, the most considerate of
fathers.
"It is related of him that, when
any thought strikes him, when any
suggestion occurs, or any pat quota-
tion is recalled, he invariably stops
the thing he is doing and jots down
the thought or suggestion for
future use or reference. Even in
the middle of the night he observes
this habit, knowing that a good
thing may be lost for ever unless
recorded.
" Before his second wife got used
to his ways, she would ask him,
when he arose to strike a light,
' Are you ill, husband ? ' ' No, my
dear,' he would reply, 'only an
idea.' . .
" Nobody has ever seen him out
of temper, or even ruffled. He is
the embodiment of calm courtesy,
of placid refinement — the very
reverse of the supremely nervous,
irritable being an author is believed
to be, and often is, in truth."
27.— It must be said of Calvin
that in all he did he was firmly
convinced of the righteousness of
his cause. He never sinned aguinst
his conscience ; never even parleyed
with his conscience. He spared
not himself. Never strong, his
untiring zeal, energy, and activity
were extraordinary. If he made
mistakes, they were few and far
l)etween. The good he did to the
Protestant cause was incalculable.
He had to fight against tremendous
foes, the bitterest opposition, and
he triumphed over all.
He was a man more to be feared
than to he loved, but, from his
intellectual greatness, he no doubt
felt himself separated from most
of his companions, and, from his
boyhood, had always shown himself
indifferent to friendship. His whole
life and soul and devotion lay in
his cause ; for which, indeed, he
shortened his days.
29. Till 1859 a religious service
was observed in every church and
chapel in England to celebrate the
Restoration of Charles II.— in the
words of the Act of Parliament,
" to render thanks to God for 'the
King's peaceable restoration to
actual possession and exercise of
his legal authority over his
people,"
MORNING.
See the day begins to break.
And the light shoots like a streak
Of subtle fire, the wind blows cold.
While the morning doth unfold :
Now the birds begin to rovse,
And the squirrel from the boughs
Leaps to get in nuts and fruit, •
The early lark, that erst was mute,
Carols to the rising day
Many a note and many a lay."
Faithful Shephekdess.
arm his translations of certain Welsh, German, and Danish
letters.
In London he found that the drudgery of a literary ap-
prenticeship was at least as bad as a legal one. He became
a hack wi-iter to Sir Richard Philips of the Monthly Magazine,
and assisted him to compile the " Newgate Calendar," but
could find no publisher for his ballads. His remuneration
barely allowed him to live ; and his master was harsh and
tyrannical. But all the time Borrow was still studying in the
great world-school, and learning all he could of men and
languages. Getting tired of servitude, his gipsy nature
asserted itself once more, and he left London and wandered
through England with a bundle and a stick, and met with
many wonderful adventures, which are recounted in his
marvellously fascinating manner in " Lavengro" and " Romany
Rye."
Then came his fortunate appointment as agent of the Bible
Society, in which capacity he visited France, Spain, Germany,
Russia, and Morocco. On his return in 1840 he married
Mary Clarke, the widow of a naval officer whom he had met
in Spain, and settled down at Oulton, near Lowestoft, in
Suffolk, where his wife possessed a small estate. Here he
wrote in 1841 "The Gipsies in Spain," and in 1842 his famous
" Bible in Spain."
In 1844 he visited Hungary and Turkey with the object of
still further improving his acquaintance with the gipsies,
collecting and writing down their songs, and bringing back
with him also a beautiful Arab horse, on which he loved to
ride about and create a sensation. And a sensation indeed he
seems to have created wherever he went, for he had a
splendid figure, was 6 feet 2 inches in height, had splendid
brown eyes, an oval, beardless face, a loud, rich voice, and a
great mass of silvery hair.
In 1850 Borrow published " Lavengro," that romantic auto-
biography, which he continued in 1857 under the name of
"Romany Rye." A tour in Wales gave birth to his "Wild
Wales"; and in 1874 he published " Romany Lavo-Lil," an
account of the English gipsy language. His later years were
spent in great retirement ; and he died at Oulton in the begin-
ning of August, 1881.
The " Bible in Spain," perhaps the best known of his works,
was published in December, 1842, and was at once received
with enthusiastic praise. And no wonder ! for it was a record
of stirring adventure in a country little known, and written
by a man who knew how to make the most of his story.
Theodore Watts speaks of Borrow as " a splendid literary
amateur"; but he was by no means an amateur when he
wrote the " Bible in Spain." He may not have arrived at
his literary power through the usual channels ; but he had
already served a good apprenticeship to literature, and studied
the best models. And in this book he mingles life-like de-
scription with romantic adventure and brisk dialogue in such
a way that the interest of the reader never flags.
One secret of his success is that the author is himself
enthusiastically interested in his subject. Spain, as he tells
us, had been to him always a country of romance, and had
filled the day-dreams of his youth. He was thoroughly
versed in its history, language, and traditions ; and he
enjoyed his sojourn there ; he tells us that the five years he
spent in Spain were the happiest in his existence.
It must be remembered also that he was himself a man of
unique and interesting personality— a personality which
prominently pervades the whole book. He was a man of
great strength and fearlessness ; a splendid rider ; as ac-
complished a pugilist as he was a scholar ; and a man above
all who loved humanity, who mixed by preference with the
odd, the outcast, the degraded classes of society ; a man
who kept his eyes open and took an interest in everything.
We see from his book, too, that although a lover of Spain,
he was none the less a patriot. England to him was first of
all countries, and East Anglia the best part of England.