unintelligible. This was only to be expected, as Borrow confesses
that, when he found himself unable to comprehend what was the meaning
of the English text, he had translated it LITERALLY INTO GERMAN!

The result of the interview was that Borrow, after what appears to be
a tactless, not to say impertinent, rejoinder, {50a} relapsed into
silence and finally left the house, ordered back to his compilation
by Sir Richard, as soon as he became sufficiently calm to appear
coherent, and Borrow walked away musing on the "difference in clever
men."

The discovery of the inadequacy of the German translation apparently
urged Borrow to hasten on with Celebrated Trials. The Universal
Review was dead, the German version of Proximate Causes {50b} had
passed out of his hands. It was desirable, therefore, that the
remaining undertaking should be completed as soon as possible, that
the two might part. The last of the manuscript was delivered, the
proofs passed for press, and on 19th March the work appeared, the six
volumes, running to between three and four thousand pages, containing
accounts of some four hundred trials, including that of Borrow's old
friend Thurtell for the murder of Mr Weare.

Borrow's name did not appear. He was "the editor," and as such was
referred to in the preface contributed by Sir Richard himself. Among
other things he tells of how, in some cases, "the Editor has
compressed into a score of pages the substance of an entire volume."
Sir Richard was a philosopher as well as a preface-writing publisher,
and it was only natural that he should speculate as to the effect
upon his editor's mind of months spent in reading and editing such
records of vice. "It may be expected," he writes, "that the Editor