What is more, this is the vocabulary and tone of the whole book, and how
far the total effect is from coarseness and rigidity I cannot show now if
I have not done so already. Borrow's gusto triumphs over this style in
descriptions of men riding, fighting, talking or drinking. His sense of
mystery triumphs over it continually as the prevailing atmosphere must
prove. The gusto and the mystery are all the more impressive because the
means are entirely concealed, except when the writer draws himself up for
an apostrophe, and that is not much too often nor always tedious. The
style is capable of essential simplicity, though not of refined
simplicity, just as a man with a hard hat, black clothes and a malacca
cane may be a good deal simpler and more at home with natural things than
a hairy hygienic gentleman. I will quote one example--the old bee-keeper
in "The Romany Rye":

"I was bidding him farewell, when he hemmed once or twice, and said that
as he did not live far off, he hoped that I would go with him and taste
some of his mead. As I had never tasted mead, of which I had frequently
read in the compositions of the Welsh bards, and, moreover, felt rather
thirsty from the heat of the day, I told him that I should have great
pleasure in attending him. Whereupon, turning off together, we proceeded
about half a mile, sometimes between stone walls, and at other times
hedges, till we reached a small hamlet, through which we passed, and
presently came to a very pretty cottage, delightfully situated within a
garden, surrounded by a hedge of woodbines. Opening a gate at one corner
of the garden, he led the way to a large shed which stood partly behind
the cottage, which he said was his stable; thereupon he dismounted and
led his donkey into the shed, which was without stalls, but had a long
rack and manger. On one side he tied his donkey, after taking off her
caparisons, and I followed his example, tying my horse at the other side