consoles himself by the purchase of a splendid horse, to obtain which he
consents, much against his will, to accept a loan of 50 pounds from
Jasper Petulengro, the product of that worthy's labours in the prize
ring. He travels across England with the horse, meeting with adventures
by the way, narrating them to others, and obtaining some curious
autobiographical narratives in return. Finally he reaches Horncastle,
and sells the animal at the horse fair there for 150 pounds. Here, in
August 1825, the narrative of his life abruptly ends. {43}

It must not be supposed by any means that the interest of Borrow's two
autobiographical volumes is concentrated in the last eighteen chapters of
_Lavengro_ and the first sixteen chapters of the _Romany Rye_. The
quality of continuity is, it is true, best preserved in the dingle
episode. Artistically the Brynhildic figure of Isopel serves as the best
relief that could be found for Borrow's own "Titanic self." There is
undoubtedly a feeling of unity here which is hardly to be felt in any
other part of the Borrovian "Odyssey."

It is nevertheless true that, taken as a whole, a marked characteristic
of the two volumes is the evenness with which the charms are scattered
hither and thither betwixt the four covers. Attractive, therefore, as
the Isopel Berners episode unquestionably is, and convenient as it is to
the reader to have it detached for him in its unity, its perusal must not
be taken for a moment to absolve the lover of good literature from
traversing chapter by chapter, canto by canto, the whole of the Borrevian
epic. It is outside the dingle that he will have to look for the
faithfully described bewilderment of the old applewoman after the loss of
her book, and for the compassionate delineation of the old man with the
bees and the donkey who gave the young Rye to drink of mead at his
cottage, and was unashamed at having shed tears on the road. The most