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The Life of George Borrow by Herbert George Jenkins
page 76 of 597 (12%)
accordance with Borrow's autobiographical methods.

Borrow wrote in Lavengro, "I have been a wanderer the greater part of
my life; indeed I remember only two periods, and these by no means
lengthy, when I was, strictly speaking, stationary." {75a} One of
the "two periods" was obviously the eight years spent at Norwich,
1816-24, the other is probably the years spent at Oulton. Thus the
"Veiled Period" may be assumed to have been one of wandering. The
seven years are gloomy and mysterious, but not utterly dark. There
is a hint here, a suggestion there--a letter or a paragraph, that
gives in a vague way some idea of what Borrow was doing, and where.
It seems comparatively safe to assume that after the publication of
Romantic Ballads he plunged into a life of roving and vagabondage,
which, in all probability, was brought to an abrupt termination by
either the loss or the exhaustion of his money. Anything beyond this
is pure conjecture. {75b}

After he became associated with the British & Foreign Bible Society,
his movements are easily accounted for; but all we have to guide us
as to what countries he had seen before 1833 is an occasional hint.
He casually admits having been in Italy, {75c} at Bayonne, {75d}
Paris, {75e} Madrid, {75f} the south of France. {75g} "I have
visited most of the principal capitals of the world," he writes in
1843; and again in the same year, "I have heard the ballad of Alonzo
Guzman chanted in Danish, by a hind in the wilds of Jutland." {76a}
"I have lived in different parts of the world, much amongst the
Hebrew race, and I am well acquainted with their words and
phraseology," {76b} he writes; and on another occasion: "I have seen
gypsies of various lands, Russian, Hungarian, and Turkish; and I have
also seen the legitimate children of most countries of the world."
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