purchase; but I will pause two or three months before I call upon you
to fulfil your kind promise. It is believed that the Militia will be
embodied in order to be sent to that unhappy country Ireland, and
provided I can obtain a commission in one of them, and they are kept
in service, it would be better than spending 500 pounds about one in
the line. I am acquainted with the Colonels of the two Norfolk
regiments, and I daresay that neither of them would have any
objection to receive me. If they are not embodied I will most
certainly apply to you, and you may say when you recommend me that
being well grounded in Arabic, and having some talent for languages,
I might be an acquisition to a corps in one of our Eastern Colonies.
I flatter myself that I could do a great deal in the East provided I
could once get there, either in a civil or military capacity; there
is much talk at present about translating European books into the two
great languages, the Arabic and Persian; now I believe that with my
enthusiasm for these tongues I could, if resident in the East, become
in a year or two better acquainted with them than any European has
been yet, and more capable of executing such a task. Bear this in
mind, and if before you hear from me again you should have any
opportunity to recommend me as a proper person to fill any civil
situation in those countries or to attend any expedition thither, I
pray you to lay hold of it, and no conduct of mine shall ever give
you reason to repent it.

I remain,
My Dear Sir,
Your most obliged and obedient Servant,
GEORGE BORROW.

P.S.--Present my best remembrances to Mrs B. and to Edgar, and tell