and cart that his five pounds ten shillings had purchased. He found
a tent, a straw mattress and a blanket, "quite clean and nearly new."
There were also a frying-pan, a kettle, a teapot (broken in three
pieces) and some cups and saucers. The stock-in-trade "consisted of
various tools, an iron ladle, a chafing-pan, and small bellows,
sundry pans and kettles, the latter being of tin, with the exception
of one which was of copper, all in a state of considerable
dilapidation." The pans and kettles were to be sold after being
mended, for which purpose there was "a block of tin, sheet-tin, and
solder." But most precious of all his possessions was "a small anvil
and bellows of the kind which are used in forges, and two hammers
such as smiths use, one great, and the other small." {62b} Borrow
had learned the blacksmith's art when in Ireland, and the anvil,
bellows and smith's hammers were to prove extremely useful.

A few days after pitching his tent, Borrow received from his old
enemy Mrs Herne, Mr Petulengro's mother-in-law, a poisoned cake,
which came very near to ending his career. He then encountered the
Welsh preacher ("the worthiest creature I ever knew") and his wife,
who were largely instrumental in saving him from Mrs Herne's poison.
Having remained with his new friends for nine days, he accompanied
them as far as the Welsh border, where he confessed himself the
translator of Ab Gwilym, giving as an excuse for not accompanying
them further that it was "neither fit nor proper that I cross into
Wales at this time, and in this manner. When I go into Wales, I
should wish to go in a new suit of superfine black, with hat and
beaver, mounted on a powerful steed, black and glossy, like that
which bore Greduv to the fight of Catraeth. I should wish,
moreover," he continued, "to see the Welshmen assembled on the border
ready to welcome me with pipe and fiddle, and much whooping and