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George Borrow - The Man and His Books by Edward Thomas
page 260 of 365 (71%)

"'And why not cuckoos, brother?'

"'You should not talk so, Jasper; what you say is little short of
blasphemy. How should a bird have a soul?'

"'And how should a man?'

"'Oh, we know very well that a man has a soul.'

"'How do you know it?'

"'We know very well.'

"'Would you take your oath of it, brother--your bodily oath?'

"'Why, I think I might, Jasper!'"

There is no doubt that Borrow liked a strong or an extraordinary man none
the less for being a scoundrel. There is equally little doubt that he
never demeaned himself with the lower orders. He never pretended, and
was seldom taken, to be one of themselves. His attitude differed in
degree, but not in kind, from that of a frank, free squire or parson
towards keepers, fishermen or labourers. And if he did not drink and
swear on an equality with them, neither did he crankily worship them as
Fitzgerald did "Posh," the fisherman. They respected him--at least so he
tells us--and he never gives himself away to any other effect--because he
was honest, courageous and fair. Thus he never gave cause for suspicion
as a man does who throws off the cloak of class, and he was probably as
interesting to them as they to him. Nor did his refusal to adopt their
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