half-converted publican, who is being ruined by sherry and Popery. Borrow
pursuades him to take ale, which gives him the courage to give up
thoughts of conversion, and to turn on his enemies and re-establish
himself, to make a good business, become a churchwarden, and teach boxing
to the brewer's sons, because it is "a fine manly English art and a great
defence against Popery." It is at least a greater defence than Borrow's
pen, or deserves to be.




CHAPTER XXVI--"LAVENGRO" AND "THE ROMANY RYE": THE STYLE


The writing of the autobiography differs from that of "The Bible in
Spain." It is less flowing and more laboured. It has less movement and
buoyancy, but more delicacy and variety. It is a finer and more intimate
style, which over and over again distinguishes Borrow from the Victorian
pure and simple. The dialogue is finer; it is used less to disguise or
vary narrative, and more to reveal character and make dramatic effect;
and it is even lyrical at times. Borrow can be Victorian still. This
example is from the old man's history in "The Romany Rye":

"My mother had died about three years previously. I felt the death of my
mother keenly, but that of my father less than was my duty; indeed, truth
compels me to acknowledge that I scarcely regretted his death. The cause
of this want of proper filial feeling was the opposition which I had
experienced from him in an affair which deeply concerned me. I had
formed an attachment for a young female in the neighbourhood, who, though
poor, was of highly respectable birth, her father having been a curate of