Just as he played up to the Secretary in conversation, so he played up to
the friends and the public who were allured by the stories left untold or
half-told in "The Zincali" and "The Bible in Spain." Chief among his
encouragers was Richard Ford, author (in 1845) of the "Handbook for
Travellers in Spain and Readers at Home," a man of character and style,
learned and a traveller. In 1841, before "The Bible in Spain" appeared,
Ford told Borrow how he wished that he had told more about himself, and
how he was going to hint in a review that Borrow ought to publish the
whole of his adventures for the last twenty years. The publisher's
reader, who saw the manuscript of "The Bible in Spain" in 1842, suggested
that Borrow should prefix a short account of his birth, parentage,
education and life. But already Borrow had taken Ford's hint and was
thinking of an autobiography. By the end of 1842 he was suggesting a
book on his early life, studies and adventures, Gypsies, boxers,
philosophers; and he afterwards announced that "Lavengro" was planned and
the characters sketched in 1842 and 1843. He saw himself as a public
figure that had to be treated heroically. Read, for example, his preface
to the second edition of "The Zincali," dated March 1, 1843. There he
tells of his astonishment at the success of "The Zincali," and of John
Murray bidding him not to think too much of the book but to try again and
avoid "Gypsy poetry, dry laws, and compilations from dull Spanish
authors."

"Borromeo," he makes Murray say to him, "Borromeo, don't believe all you
hear, nor think that you have accomplished anything so very
extraordinary. . . ."

And so, he says, he sat down and began "The Bible in Spain." He proceeds
to make a picture of himself amidst a landscape by some raving Titanic
painter's hand: