The Life of Sir Richard Burton

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Title: The Life of Sir Richard Burton

Author: Thomas Wright

Release Date: February 19, 2010 [EBook #4315]

Last Updated: February 7, 2013

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF SIR RICHARD BURTON ***

Produced by JC Byers, Laura Shaffer, and David Widger

THE LIFE OF SIR RICHARD BURTON

By Thomas Wright

Author of The Life of Edward Fitzgerald, etc.

Two Volumes in One

This Work is

Dedicated to

Sir Richard Burton's Kinsman

And Friend,

Major St. George Richard Burton,

The Black Watch.

CONTENTS

Preface.

Chapter I. 19th March 1821-October 1840

1. Torquay and Elstree.

2. Tours and Elstree.

3. Death of Richard Baker, 16th September 1824.

4. At School, Richmond, 1829.

5. The Continent Again.

Chapter II. October 1840-April 1842, Oxford

6. Trinity College, October 1840.

7. Expelled, April 1842.

Chapter III. April 1842-20th February 1847, Sind

8. To Bombay, 18th June 1842.

9. Baroda. The Bubu.

10. Karachi. Love of Disguise.

11. A Dangerous Mission, 1845.

12. The Persian Beauty.

13. A Simian Dictionary.

14. Duality.

Chapter IV. 20th February 1847-1849. Under the Spell of Camoens

15. Goa and Camoens.

16. Would you a Sufi be?

17. Letter to Sarah Burton, 14th Nov. 1848.

18. Allahdad.

Chapter V. 1849 to 3rd April, 1853, Chiefly Boulogne

19. A Motto from Ariosto.

20. Isabel Arundell & My Dear Louisa. 1851.

21. Forster FitzGerald Arbuthnot 1853.

Chapter VI. 3rd April 1853 to 29th October 1854, Pilgrimage to Mecca

22. The Man Wants to Wander.

23. Haji Wali, 1853.

24. The Pilgrim Ship, 6th July 1853.

25. Medina.

26. Mecca.

27. Burton's Delight in Shocking.

28. El Islam.

Chapter VII. 29th October 1854—9th February, 1855 To Harar

Bibliography: 13. Pilgrimage to Al-Madimah and Meccah. 3 vols. 1855-1856.

29. At Aden. The Arabian Nights. Oct. 1854.

30. From Zeila to Harar, 27th November 1854 to 2nd January 1855.

31. At Harar.

32. From Harar to Berbera. 13th Jan. 1855-5th Feb. 1855.

33. The Fight at Berbera, 22nd April, 1855.

Chapter VIII. 9th February 1855-October 1856, The Crimea

34. The Crimea.

35. Engaged to Isabel Arundell, August 1856.

Chapter IX. December 1856-21st May 1859, The Unveiling of Isis

36. To Fuga. January to March 1857.

37. Zanzibar to Tanganyika, 26th June 1857 to 26th May 1858.

38. The Return Journey, 26th May 1858 to 13th February 1859.

Chapter X. 22nd January 1861-to August 1861, Mormons and Marriage

39. We rushed into each other's arms. 22nd May, 1860.

40. Brigham Young. April 1860 to November 1860.

41. Marriage. 22nd January 1861.

42. At Lord Houghton's.

Chapter XI. August 1861-November 1863, Fernando Po

43. African Gold.

44. Anecdotes.

45. Fans and Gorillas.

46. The Anthropological Society, 6th Jan. 1863.

Chapter XII. 29th November 1863 to 15th September 1865, Gelele

47. Whydah and its Deity. 29th November 1863.

48. The Amazons.

49. The Customs.

50. Death of Speke, 15th September 1864.

Chapter XIII. September 1865-October 1869 Santos, Burton's Second Consulate

51. To Santos.

52. Aubertin. Death of Steinhauser, 27th July 1866.

53. The Facetious Cannibals.

54. Down the Sao Francisco.

The next event was a canoe journey which Burton made alone down the river Sao Francisco from its source to the falls

55. In Paraguay. August 15th to September 15th 1868. April 4th to April 18th 1869.

Chapter XIV. October 1869-16th August 1871, Emperor and Empress of Damascus.

56. Archbishop Manning and the Odd Fish.

57. 3rd Consulate, Damascus.

58. Jane Digby el Mezrab.

59. To Tadmor.

60. Palmer and Drake. 11th July 1870.

61. Khamoor.

62. The Shazlis.

63. The Recall. 16th August 1871.

Chapter XV. 16th August 1871-4th June 1872, The Blackness of Darkness

64. With Sir H. Stisted at Norwood. August 1871.

65. Reduced to £15.

66. An Orgie at Lady Alford's. 2nd November 1871.

67. The Tichborne Trial.

68. Khamoor at the Theatre.

Chapter XVI. 4th June 1872-24th October 1872, In Iceland

69. In Edinburgh Again, 4th June 1872.

70. Wardour Castle, 5th July 1872.

71. St. George and Frederick Burton.

72. At the Athenaeum.

73. Jane Digby Again.

74. His Book on Zanzibar.

Chapter XVII. 24th October 1872-12th May 1875, Trieste

75. Burton at Trieste, 24th October 1872.

76. At the Vienna Exhibition, 1873.

77. A Visit from Drake, June 1873.

78. Khamoor returns to Syria, 4th December 1874.

Chapter XVIII. 12th May 1875-18th June 1876, The Trip to India

79. Visit to England, 12th May 1875.

80. Tonic Bitters.

81. A Trip to India, December 1875, 18th June 1876.

82. Arbuthnot Again. Rehatsek.

83. In Sind.

84. Golconda.

Chapter XIX. 18th June 1876-31st March 1877, Colonel Gordon

85. Ariosto.

86. Death of Rashid Pasha, 24th June 1876.

87. Colonel Gordon 1877.

88. Jane Digby the Second.

89. The Old Baronetcy. 18th January 1877.

Chapter XX. 31st March 1877 to 27th December 1879, Midian

90. The New Joseph. 31st March 1877-21st April 1877. 19th October 1877-20th April 1878.

Burton now felt that the time was ripe to broach his views concerning the golden Chersonese to the Khedive (Ismail), and

91. More Advice to Lazybones. 8th May 1877.

92. Haji Wali Again.

93. Graffiti.

94. Letter to Sir Henry Gordon, 4th July 1878.

95. Death of Maria Stisted, 12th November 1878.

96. Burton's Six Senses.

97. Still thinking of Midian. April-December 1879.

Chapter XXI. 27th December 1879-August 1881, Camoens

Bibliography

98. The Lusiads.

99. At Ober Ammergau, August 1880.

100. Mrs. Burton's Advice to Novelists. 4th September 1880.

101. The Kasidah, 1880.

102. Lisa.

Chapter XXII. August 1881-May 1882, John Payne

103. With Cameron at Venice, August 1881.

104. John Payne, November 1881.

105. To the Gold Coast, 25th November 1881-20th May 1882.

Chapter XXIII. 20th May 1882-July 1883, The Meeting of Burton and Payne

Bibliography

106. Mrs. Grundy begins to roar. May 1882.

107. The Search for Palmer, October 1882.

Chapter XXIV. July 1883-November 1883, The Palazzone

108. Anecdotes of Burton.

109. Burton and Mrs. Disraeli.

110. I am an Old English Catholic.

111. Burton begins his Translation, April 1884.

112. The Battle over the Nights.

113. Completion of Mr. Payne's Translation.

Chapter XXV. 1883 to May 1885, The Kama Shastra Society

114. The Azure Apollo.

115. The Kama Sutra.

Chapter XXVI. The Ananga Ranga or Lila Shastra

116. The Ananga Ranga. [403]

117. The Beharistan, 1887.

118. The Gulistan, 1888.

119. The Nigaristan.

120. Letters to Payne, 19th January 1884.

121. At Sauerbrunn, 12th August 1884.

122. Burton's Circulars, September 1884.

123. The Book of the Sword.

124. The Lyrics of Camoens, 1884.

125. More Letters to Payne, 1st October 1884.

126. Death of Gordon, January 1885.

127. W. F. Kirby, [418] 25th March 1885.

Chapter XXVII. May 1885-5th Feb. 1886, A Glance through The Arabian Nights

128. Slaving at the Athenaeum, May 1885.

129. A Visit to Mr. Arbuthnot's.

130. Dr. Steingass.

131. Anecdotes.

132. The Pentameron. Burton and Gladstone.

133. A Brief Glance through the Nights.

Chapter XXVIII. The Two Translations Compared

134. The Blacksmith Who, etc.

135. Abu al-Hasan.

136. The Summing Up.

Chapter XXIX. Burton's Notes

137. Burton's Notes.

138. The Terminal Essay.

139. Final Summing up.

140. Mr. Swinburne on Burton.

Chapter XXX. 21st November 1885-5th June 1886 K. C. M. G.

141. In Morocco, 21st November 1885.

142. K.C.M.G., 5th February 1886.

143. Burton at 65.

144. More Anecdotes.

Chapter XXXI. Burton's Religion

145. Burton's Religion.

146. Burton as a Writer.

Chapter XXXII. 5th June 1886-15th April 1888, Burton and Social Questions: Anecdotes

147. The Population Question.

148. New Projects.

149. Mr. A. G. Ellis and Professor Blumhardt. 5th June 1886-5th April 1887.

150. Dr. Leslie and Dr. Baker: Anecdotes. April 1887.

151. Three Months at Abbazia. 1st Dec. 1887-5th March 1888.

Chapter XXXIII. 19th March 1888-15th October 1888, The Last Visit to England The Supplemental Nights

152. Meeting with Mr. Swinburne and others, 18th July 1888-15th October 1888.

153. H. W. Ashbee.

154. A Bacon Causerie.

155. The Gypsy, August 1888.

156. The Supplemental Nights. 1st December 1886-1st August 1888.

157. Comparison.

Chapter XXXIV. The Scented Garden

158. Nafzawi.

159. Origin of The Scented Garden.

160. Contents of The Scented Garden.

161. Sir Richard Burton's Translation.

Chapter XXXV. 15th October 1888 to 21st July 1890. Working at the Catullus and The Scented Garden

162. Switzerland 15th October 1888.

163. Mr. Letchford, August and September 1889.

164. To Dr. Tuckey.

165. To Mr. Kirby 15th May 1889.

166. Tunis and Algiers, November 1889 to March 1890.

Chapter XXXVI. The Priapeia

168. The Priapeia.

169. Catullus and the Last Trip, July—September 1890.

170. At Maloja, July 1890.

171. The Golden Ass.

Chapter XXXVII. Death of Sir Richard Burton

173. Death. 20th October 1890.

Chapter XXXVIII. 20th October 1890-December 1890, The Fate of The Scented Garden

173. The Fate of The Scented Garden.

174. Discrepancies in Lady Burton's Story.

175. The Fate of the Catullus.

176. Lisa Departs, November 1890.

Chapter XXXIX. January 1891 to July 1891, Lady Burton in England

Bibliography (Posthumous works):

177. Lady Burton in England.

178. The Funeral at Mortlake, 15th June 1891.

179. The Scented Garden Storm, June 1891.

Chapter XL. July 1891-December 1893, O Tomb, O Tomb!

180. A Letter to Miss Stisted.

181. The writing of the Life August 1892-March 1893.

182. The Library Edition of The Nights 1894.

Chapter XLI. Death of Lady Burton

183. Lady Burton at Eastbourne.

184. Death of Lady Burton, 22nd Mar. 1896.

185. Miss Stisted's True Life.

186. Mr. Wilkins's Work, 1897.

187. Burton's Friends.

Verses on the Death of Richard Burton [703] By Algernon Charles Swinburne

APPENDICES

Footnotes:

Preface.

Fifteen years have elapsed since the death of Sir Richard Burton and twelve since the appearance of the biography of Lady Burton. A deeply pathetic interest attaches itself to that book. Lady Burton was stricken down with an incurable disease. Death with its icy breath hung over her as her pen flew along the paper, and the questions constantly on her lips were Shall I live to complete my task? Shall I live to tell the world how great and noble a man my husband was, and to refute the calumnies that his enemies have so industriously circulated? She did complete it in a sense, for the work duly appeared; but no one recognised more clearly than herself its numerous shortcomings. Indeed, it is little better than a huge scrap-book filled with newspaper cuttings and citations from Sir Richard's and other books, hurriedly selected and even more hurriedly pieced together. It gives the impressions of Lady Burton alone, for those of Sir Richard's friends are ignored—so we see Burton from only one point of view. Amazing to say, it does not contain a single original anecdote 1—though perhaps, more amusing anecdotes could be told of Burton than of any other modern Englishman. It will be my duty to rectify Lady Burton's mistakes and mis-statements and to fill up the vast hiatuses that she has left. Although it will be necessary to subject her to criticism, I shall endeavour at the same time to keep constantly in mind the queenliness and beauty of her character, her almost unexampled devotion to her husband, and her anxiety that everyone should think well of him. Her faults were all of the head. Of the heart she had absolutely none.

As the Richard Burton whom I have to pourtray differs considerably from Lady Burton's Earthly God, 2 I have been very careful to give chapter and verse for all my statements. The work has been written on the same lines as my Life of Edward FitzGerald; that is to say, without any aim except to arrive at the precise truth. But although I have regarded it as no concern of mine whether any particular fact tells for or against Sir Richard Burton, I do think that when the reader rises from the last page he will feel that he has been in the company not only of one of the greatest, noblest and most fearless of Englishmen, but also of one who, without making much profession of doing so, really loved his fellow-men, and who, despite his inability to put himself in line with religionists, fought steadily on the side of righteousness. We are aware that there are in his books a few observations which call for vehement and unqualified denunciation; but against them must be placed the fundamental goodness of the man, to which all who knew him intimately have testified. In not a few respects Sir Richard Burton's character resembled Edward FitzGerald's. Burton, indeed, hailed the adapter of Omar Khayyam as a fellow Sufi.

Lady Burton, too, comes extremely well out of the fire of criticism. The reader may object to her religious views, he may smile at her weaknesses, he may lament her indiscretions, but he will recognise that at bottom she was a God-fearing, noble-minded woman; and he will, we think, find himself really in love with her almost before knowing it.

The amount of absolutely new information in this work is very large. Thus we are telling for the first time the history of Burton's friendships with Mr. F. F. Arbuthnot, Mr. John Payne, and others; and we are giving for the first time, too, a complete and accurate history of the translation of The Arabian Nights, The Scented Garden, and other works. Hundreds of new facts are recorded respecting these and other absorbing topics, while the citations from the unpublished letters of Burton and Lady Burton will, we are sure, receive a welcome. We are able to give about fifty entirely new anecdotes—many of them extremely piquant and amusing. We also tell the touching story of Burton's brother Edward. In our accounts of Burton's travels will be found a number of interesting facts and some anecdotes not given in Burton's works.

The new material has been derived from many sources—but from ten in particular.

(1) From two hundred unpublished letters of Sir Richard Burton and Lady Burton.

(2) From interviews with Mrs. E. J. Burton 3 and Mr. F. Burton (Burton's cousins), Mr. John Payne, Mrs. Arbuthnot, Mr. Watts-Dunton, Mr. W. F. Kirby, Mr. A. G. Ellis, Dr. Codrington, Professor James F. Blumhardt, Mr. Henry R. Tedder (librarian and secretary of The Athenaeum, Burton's club), Mrs. Baddeley (mother of Burton's friend, St. Clair Baddeley), Madame Nicastro (sister of the late Mr. Albert Letchford, illustrator of The Arabian Nights), Dr. Grenfell Baker (Burton's medical attendant during the last three years of his life), and many other ladies and gentlemen.

(3) From letters received from Major St. George Burton (to whom I have the pleasure of dedicating this work), Lady Bancroft, Mr. D. MacRitchie, Mr. E. S. Mostyn Pryce (representative of Miss Stisted), Gunley Hall, Staffordshire, M. Charles Carrington, of Paris, who sent me various notes, including an account of Burton's unfinished translation of Apuleius's Golden Ass, the MS. of which is in his possession, the Very Rev. J. P. Canon McCarthy, of Ilkeston, for particulars of The Shrine of our Lady of Dale, Mr. Segrave (son of Burton's dear Louisa), Mrs. Agg (Burton's cousin), and Mr. P. P. Cautley (Burton's colleague at Trieste). Nor must I omit reference to a kind letter received from Mrs. Van Zeller, Lady Burton's only surviving sister. 4

(4) From the Burton collections in the Free Libraries of Camberwell and Kensington.

(5) From unpublished manuscripts written by Burton's friends.

(6) From the church registers of Elstree. By examination of these and other documents I have been able to correct many mistakes.

(7) From the manuscripts of F. F. Arbuthnot and the Oriental scholar, Edward Rehatsek. These are now in the possession of the Royal Asiatic Society.

(8) From Mr. Arbuthnot's typewritten and unpublished Life of Balzac now in my possession. This contains many notes throwing light on the Burton and Arbuthnot friendship.

(9) From the Genealogical Table of the Burtons of Shap, very kindly sent me by Mr. E. S. Mostyn Pryce.

(10) From various persons interviewed during many journeys. One of these journeys (June 1905) took me, of course, to the Tomb of Mortlake, and I was gratified to find that, owing to the watchfulness of the Arundell family, it is kept in perfect repair. 5

Let me first speak of the unpublished letters. These were lent me by Mr. John Payne (40 letters), Mr. W. F. Kirby (50 letters), Major St. George Burton, Mrs. E. J. Burton, Mrs. Agg, Mr. Mostyn Pryce, Dr. Tuckey, Mr. D. MacRitchie, and Mr. A. G. Ellis. Many of the letters reveal Burton in quite a new light. His patriotism and his courage were known of all men, but the womanly tenderness of his nature and his intense love for his friends will come to many as a surprise. His distress, for example, on hearing of the death of Drake, 6 is particularly affecting.

Of the friends of Sir Richard Burton who have been interviewed I must mention first of all Mr. John Payne. But for Mr. Payne's generous assistance, this work I must frankly admit, could not have been written. He, and he alone, held the keys to whole chambers of mystery. Mr. Payne was at first extremely reluctant to give me the material required. Indeed, in his first letter of reply to my request for information (7th August 1904) he declined positively either to enter the lists against Burton, with whom, he said, he had been on terms of intimate friendship, or to discuss the matter at all. As for what, he said, it pleases the public to think (save the mark!) of the relative merits of my own and Burton's translations, I have long ceased to care a straw. But this led me to write even more pressingly. I assured Mr. Payne that the public had been unjust to him simply because nobody had hitherto set himself the great task of comparing the two translations, and because the true history of the case had never been laid before them. I assured him that I yielded to nobody in admiration of Sir Richard Burton—that is, on account of what he (Sir Richard) did do, not on account of what he did not do; and I gave it as my opinion that Mr. Payne owed it both to the public and to himself to lay bare the whole story. After several letters and interviews I at last induced him to give way; and I think the public will thank me for my persistency.

My revelations, which form an astonishing story, will no doubt come as a complete surprise to almost everybody. I can imagine them, indeed, dropping like a bombshell into some circles; but they are founded, not only upon conversations with Mr. Payne, but upon Burton's own letters to Mr. Payne, all of which have been in my hands, and careful study of the two translations. The public, however, cannot possibly be more surprised than I myself was when I compared the two translations page by page, I could scarcely believe my own eyes; and only one conclusion was possible. Burton, indeed, has taken from Payne at least three-quarters of the entire work. He has transferred many hundreds of sentences and clauses bodily. Sometimes we come upon a whole page with only a word or two altered. 7 In short, amazing to say, the public have given Burton credit for a gift which he did not possess 8—that of being a great translator. If the public are sorry, we are deeply sorry, too, but we cannot help it. Burton's exalted position, however, as ethnologist and anthropologist, is unassailable. He was the greatest linguist and traveller that England ever produced. And four thrones are surely enough for any man. I must mention that Mr. Payne gave me an absolute free hand—nay, more than that, having placed all the documents before me, he said—and this he repeated again and again—Wherever there is any doubt, give Burton the benefit of it, and I have done so.

In dealing with the fight 9 over The Arabian Nights I have endeavoured to write in such a way as to give offence to nobody, and for that reason have made a liberal use of asterisks. I am the more desirous of saying this because no one is better aware than myself of the services that some of Burton's most bitter opponents—those ten or twelve men whom he contemptuously termed Laneites—have rendered to literature and knowledge. In short, I regard the battle as fought and won. I am merely writing history. No man at the present day would dream of mentioning Lane in the same breath with Payne and Burton. In restoring to Mr. Payne his own, I have had no desire to detract from Burton. Indeed, it is impossible to take from a man that which he never possessed. Burton was a very great man, Mr. Payne is a very great man, but they differ as two stars differ in glory. Burton is the magnificent man of action and the anthropologist, Mr. Payne the brilliant poet and prose writer. Mr. Payne did not go to Mecca or Tanganyika, Burton did not translate The Arabian Nights, 10 or write The Rime of Redemption and Vigil and Vision. He did, however, produce the annotations of The Arabian Nights, and a remarkable enough and distinct work they form.

I recall with great pleasure an evening spent with Mr. Watts-Dunton at The Pines, Putney. The conversation ran chiefly on the Gipsies, 11 upon whom Mr. Watts-Dunton is one of our best authorities, and the various translations of The Arabian Nights. Both he and Mr. A. C. Swinburne have testified to Burton's personal charm and his marvellous powers. He was a much valued and loved friend, wrote Mr. Swinburne to me 12, and I have of him none but the most delightful recollections. Mr. Swinburne has kindly allowed me to give in full his magnificent poem on The Death of Richard Burton. Dr. Grenfell Baker, whom I interviewed in London, had much to tell me respecting Sir Richard's last three years; and he has since very kindly helped me by letter.

The great object of this book is to tell the story of Burton's life, to delineate as vividly as possible his remarkable character—his magnetic personality, and to defend him alike from enemy and friend. In writing it my difficulties have been two. First, Burton himself was woefully inaccurate as an autobiographer, and we must also add regretfully that we have occasionally found him colouring history in order to suit his own ends. 13 He would have put his life to the touch rather than misrepresent if he thought any man would suffer thereby; but he seems to have assumed that it did not matter about keeping strictly to the truth if nobody was likely to be injured. Secondly, Lady Burton, with haughty indifference to the opinions of everyone else, always exhibited occurrences in the light in which she herself desired to see them. This fact and the extreme haste with which her book was written are sufficient to account for most of its shortcomings. She relied entirely upon her own imperfect recollections. Church registers and all such documents were ignored. She begins with the misstatement that Burton was born at Elstree, she makes scarcely any reference to his most intimate friends and even spells their names wrongly. 14 Her remarks on the Kasidah are stultified by the most cursory glance at that poem; while the whole of her account of the translating of The Arabian Nights is at variance with Burton's own letters and conversations. I am assured by several who knew Burton intimately that the untrustworthiness of the latter part of Lady Burton's Life of her husband is owing mainly to her over-anxiety to shield him from his enemies. But I think she mistook the situation. I do not believe Burton had any enemies to speak of at the time of his death.

If Lady Burton's treatment of her husband's unfinished works cannot be defended, on the other hand I shall show that the loss as regards The Scented Garden was chiefly a pecuniary one, and therefore almost entirely her own. The publication of The Scented Garden would not—it could not—have added to Burton's fame. However, the matter will be fully discussed in its proper place.

It has generally been supposed that two other difficulties must confront any conscientious biographer of Burton—the first being Burton's choice of subjects, and the second the friction between Lady Burton and the Stisteds. But as regards the first, surely we are justified in assuming that Burton's studies were pursued purely for historical and scientific purposes. He himself insisted in season and out of season that his outlook was solely that of the student, and my researches for the purposes of this work have thoroughly convinced me that, however much we may deprecate some of these studies, Burton himself was sincere enough in his pursuit of them. His nature, strange as it may seem to some ears, was a cold one 15; and at the time he was buried in the most forbidding of his studies he was an old man racked with infirmities. Yet he toiled from morning to night, year in year out, more like a navvy than an English gentleman, with an income of £700 a year, and 10,000 jingling, tingling, golden, minted quid, as R. L. Stevenson would have said, in his pocket. In his hunger for the fame of an author, he forgot to feed his body, and had to be constantly reminded of its needs by his medical attendant and others. And then he would wolf down his food, in order to get back quickly to his absorbing work. The study had become a monomania with him.

I do not think there is a more pathetic story in the history of literature than that which I have to tell of the last few weeks of Burton's life. You are to see the old man, always ailing, sometimes in acute pain—working twenty-five hours a day, as it were—in order to get completed a work by which he supposed he was to live for ever. In the same room sits the wife who dearly loves him, and whom he dearly loves and trusts. A few days pass. He is gone. She burns, page by page, the work at which he had toiled so long and so patiently. And here comes the pathos of it—she was, in the circumstances, justified in so doing. As regards Lady Burton and the Stisteds, it was natural, perhaps, that between a staunch Protestant family such as the Stisteds, and an uncompromising Catholic like Lady Burton there should have been friction; but both Lady Burton and Miss Stisted are dead. Each made, during Lady Burton's lifetime, an honest attempt to think well of the other; each wrote to the other many sweet, sincere, and womanly letters; but success did not follow. Death, however, is a very loving mother. She gently hushes her little ones to sleep; and, as they drop off, the red spot on the cheek gradually fades away, and even the tears on the pillow soon dry.

Although Miss Stisted's book has been a help to me I cannot endorse her opinion that Burton's recall from Damascus was the result of Lady Burton's indiscretions. Her books give some very interesting reminiscences of Sir Richard's childhood and early manhood, 16 but practically it finishes with the Damascus episode. Her innocent remarks on The Scented Garden must have made the anthropological sides of Ashbee, Arbuthnot, and Burton's other old friends shake with uncontrollable laughter. Unfortunately, she was as careless as Lady Burton. Thus on page 48 she relates a story about Burton's attempt to carry off a nun; but readers of Burton's book on Goa will find that it had no connection with Burton whatever. It was a story someone had told him.

In these pages Burton will be seen on his travels, among his friends, among his books, fighting, writing, quarrelling, exploring, joking, flying like a squib from place to place—a 19th century Lord Peterborough, though with the world instead of a mere continent for theatre. Even late in life, when his infirmities prevented larger circuits, he careered about Europe in a Walpurgic style that makes the mind giddy to dwell upon.

Of Burton's original works I have given brief summaries; but as a writer he shines only in isolated passages. We go to him not for style but for facts. Many of his books throw welcome light on historical portions of the Bible. 17

Of those of his works which are erotic in the true sense of the word I have given a sufficient account, and one with which I am convinced even the most captious will not find fault. 18 When necessity has obliged me to touch upon the subject to which Sir Richard devoted his last lustrum, I have been as brief as possible, and have written in a way that only scholars could understand. In short I have kept steadily in view the fact that this work is one which will lie on drawing-room tables and be within the reach of everyone. I have nowhere mentioned the subject by name, but I do not see how I could possible have avoided all allusion to it. I have dwelt on Burton's bravery, his tenderness, his probity, his marvellous industry, his encyclopaedic learning—but the picture would not have been a true one had I entirely over-passed the monomania of his last days. Hamlet must be shown, if not at his maddest, at any rate mad, or he would not be Hamlet at all.

As regards Burton's letters, I have ruthlessly struck out every sentence that might give offence. 19 While I have not hesitated to expose Sir Richard's faults, I have endeavoured to avoid laying too much stress upon them. I have tried, indeed, to get an idea of the mountain not only by climbing its sides, but also by viewing it from a distance. I trust that there will be found nothing in this book to hurt the feelings of any living person or indeed of any body of persons. I have certainly tried my utmost to avoid causing pain, and if the reader will kindly bear in mind that it is as much a Christian duty to avoid taking offence as to avoid giving offence, we shall amble along pleasantly together to the very last page. Out of consideration for Catholics I have suppressed a number of passages; and if I have allowed Sir Richard in one or two instances to make a lunge at their church, I trust they will notice that I have permitted him the same licence with regard to the Church of England and Exeter Hall. Finally, my impartiality is proved by my allowing him to gird at the poet Cowper.

Wherever possible, that is to say, when I could do it without ambiguity I have also out of courtesy used the term Catholic instead of Roman Catholic; and in order to meet what I believe to be the wishes of Lady Burton's executors, I have omitted all mention of certain events that occurred after Sir Richard's death.

The various works of Mr. W. H. Wilkins have been of great help to me, and I cannot avoid paying a passing tribute to the excellent opening passages 20 of the Preface of his edition of Lady Burton's Life of her husband.

The illustrations in this book are of exceptional interest. They include the Burton family portraits, the originals of which are in the possession of Mr. Mostyn Pryce and Mrs. Agg. During the lifetime of Sir Richard and Lady Burton they were the property of Lady and Miss Stisted; but, owing to her difference with these ladies, Lady Burton was not able to use them in the life of her husband; and Miss Stisted's own scheme did not include illustrations. So they are now reproduced for the first time. The most noticeable are the quaint picture of Burton, his brother and sister as children, and the oil painting of Burton and Lady Stisted made by Jacquand about 1851. Of great interest, too, is the series of photographs taken at Trieste by Dr. Grenfell Baker; while the portraits of Burton's friends, Mr. F. F. Arbuthnot, Mr. John Payne, Major St. George Burton, Dr. Baker, Mr. W. F. Kirby, Mr. A. G. Ellis, Professor J. F. Blumhardt, and others, will no doubt be appreciated by the public.

The writing of this book has been a thorough pleasure to me, not only on account of the infinite charm of the subject, but also because everyone whom I have approached has treated me with studied kindness. The representatives of Sir Richard Burton, of Lady Burton (through Mr. W. H. Wilkins) and of Miss Stisted have not only helped and permitted me to use the unpublished letters, 21 but have generously given me a free hand. I am deeply indebted to them, and I can only trust that these pages will prove that their confidence in my judgment has not been misplaced.

To everyone who has assisted me I tender my sincere thanks, and I assure them that I shall never forget their abundant kindness.

Finally, in writing this work every possible care has been taken to ensure accuracy 22; but that absolute perfection has been attained is improbable. It is hoped, however,—to borrow the quaint expression of the Persian poet Jami—that the noble disposition of the readers will induce them to pass over defects. 23

My grateful thanks are due to the following ladies and gentlemen for various services.

  Arbuthnot, Mrs. F. F., 43 South Street, Park Lane, London.

  Ashbee, Mr. C. G., Woolstapler Hall, Chipping Cambden,

     Gloucestershire.

  Agg, Mrs. Hewletts, Cheltenham.

  Baddeley, Mrs., Brighton.

  Baker, Dr. Grenfell, 25, Southwick Street, Hyde Park, W.

  Birch, Mrs. G. M., Lympstone Grange, South Devon.

  Blumhardt, Prof. James F., British Museum.

  Burton, Mrs. E. J., 31, Wilbury Road, Brighton.

  Burton, Major St. George, The Black Watch.

  Burton, Mr. Frederick, Brighton.

  Cautley, Mr. P. P., 4, Via della Zonta, Trieste.

  Clayton, Mr. Arthur, South View, Ropley, Hants.

  Carrington, Mr. Charles, 13, Faubourg Montmartre, Paris.

  Chatto, Mr. Andrew, Hillside, Elstree.

  Codrington, Dr., Royal Asiatic Society, Albemarle Street.

  Committee, The, of the Central Library, Camberwell.

  Eales, Rev. A. R. T., The Rectory, Elstree, Herts.

  Ellis, Mr. A. G., British Museum.

  Editors, The, of the following newspapers: The Times, The Daily

     Telegraph, The Standard, The Daily News, The Morning Post,

     The Daily Chronicle, The Daily Mail, The Athenaeum, The Saturday

     Review, The Academy, for inserting letters for me at different

     times.  These letters put me in touch with several of Burton's

     old friends.

  Gardiner, Mr. C. H., 4, Montpelier Crescent, Brighton.

  George, Mr. William H., 2, Highfield Terrace, Bognor.

  Hector, Mr. E., Bookseller, 103, John Bright Street, Birmingham.

  Hutchinson & Co., Messrs, for the loan of the portrait of Khamoor.

  Jones, Mr. Herbert, The Library, High Street, Kensington.

  Josling, Mr. A., 36, Lyndhurst Grove, Camberwell.

  Kirby, Mr. W. F., Hilden, Sutton Court Road, Chiswick, London.

  Letchford, Miss Daisy (now Madame Nicastro), Mezellina 178, Naples.

  McCarthy, The Very Rev. P. J. Canon, Ilkeston, Derbyshire.

  Mendelssohn, Mr. S., 21, Kensington Court Gardens, London, W.

  Murray, Mr. T. Douglas, Pyt Cottage, Tisbury, Wilts.

  MacRitchie, Mr. David, 4, Archibald Place, Edinburgh.

  Newcombe, Mr. C. F., 16, Champion Park, Denmark Hill, London, S. E.

  Nicastro, Madame.

  Payne, Mr. John.

  Pelham, Dr., President of Trinity College, Oxford.

  Pryce, Mr. E. S. Mostyn, Gunley Hall, Chirbury, Shropshire.

  Rankin-Lloyd, Mrs., Wilne House, Pembroke.

  Royal Asiatic Society (for permission to examine the Arbuthnot and

     Rehatsek manuscripts).

  Roe, Rev. Henry, 12, Barnoon Terrace, St. Ives, Cornwall.

  Sams, Rev. G. F., The Rectory, Emberton, Bucks.

  Segrave, Mr. H., Seaview, Lyme Regis, Dorset.

  Snowsill, Mr. W. G., Camberwell Central Library.

  Spencer, Mr. W. T., Bookseller, 27, New Oxford Street, London, W. C.

  Steingass, Mrs., 36, Lyndhurst Grove, Camberwell.

  Tussaud, Mr. John, of Madame Tussaud's.

  Tedder, Mr., The Athenaeum.

  Tuckey, Dr. Charles Lloyd, 88, Park Street, Grosvenor Square,

     London.

  Van Zeller, Mrs. (Lady Burton's sister).

  Wilkins, Mr. W. H., 3, Queen Street, Mayfair, London, W.

  Wood, Mr. W. Martin, Underwood, Oatlands Avenue, Weybridge.

  Wyllie, Mr. Francis R. S., 6, Montpellier Villas, Brighton.

  My wife, too, upon whom devolved the heavy task of transcribing,

     must also be awarded her meed of praise.

The following is a fairly complete list of the various Books and Magazine Articles that have been laid under contribution.

  Arbuthnot, F. F., Persian Portraits. 1887

     The Mysteries of Chronology.

     Life of Balzac (in Manuscript).

  Baily's Monthly Magazine, April 1883.

  Baddeley, St. Clair (See Richards, A. B.)

  Burton, Lady. Life of Sir Richard Burton, 2 vols. 1893.

     Her Works. 5 vols.

  Burton, Sir Richard. His Works. 60 vols.

  Edinburgh Review, July 1886. No. 335.

  Hitchman, F., Richard R. Burton, 2 vols. 1887.

  Kama Shastra Society's Publications.

  Magazine Articles by or relating to Burton.  Too numerous

     to mention.

  Payne, Mr. John, The Book of The Thousand Nights and One Night,

     9 vols., 1882-4, and Omar Kheyyam.

  Perfumed Garden, The. Published in 1904 by Mr. Carrington,

     of Paris.

     Its Preface contains letters from several of the leading Arabists

     of the day, including M. Fagnan and Professor Hartwig Derenbourg,

     Membre de l'Institut.

  Richards (A. B.), Wilson (A.), and Baddeley (St. C.), "Sketch of the

     Career of Richard F. Burton," 1886.

  Rehatsek (Edward), Translations.

  Roe, Rev. Henry, West African Scenes, Fernando Po Mission.

  Stisted, Miss Georgiana, Reminiscences of Sir Richard Burton—

     Temple Bar, July, 1891.  Vol. 92.

     The True Life of Sir Richard Burton, 1896.

  Saturday Review, Ultima Thule, 1876, Jan. 15 (p. 82).

     Zanzibar, 1872, February 17th (p. 222).

  Wilkins, W. H., The Romance of Isabel Lady Burton, 2 vols. 1897.

     Also the various works by Sir Richard Burton that have been

     edited by Mr. Wilkins.

  Wilson, A. (See Richards, A. B.)

  Thomas Wright.

Chapter I. 19th March 1821-October 1840

Childhood and Youth

1. Torquay and Elstree.

Sir Richard Burton, the famous traveller, linguist, and anthropologist—the Arabian Knight—the last of the demi-gods—has been very generally regarded as the most picturesque figure of his time, and one of the most heroic and illustrious men that this blessed plot... this England, this mother of heroes every produced.

The Burtons, a Westmoreland family 24 who had settled in Ireland, included among their members several men of eminence, not only in the army, which had always powerfully attracted them, but also in the navy and the church. 25 For long there was a baronetcy in the family, but it fell into abeyance about 1712, and all attempts of the later Burtons to substantiate their claim to it proved ineffectual. 26

Burton supposed himself to be descended from Louis XIV. La Belle Montmorency, a beauty of the French court, had, it seems, a son, of which she rather believed Louis to be the father. In any circumstances she called the baby Louis Le Jeune, put him in a basket of flowers and carried him to Ireland, where he became known as Louis Drelincourt Young. Louis Young's grand-daughter married the Rev. Edward Burton, Richard Burton's grandfather. Thus it is possible that a runnel of the blood of le grand monarque tripped through Burton's veins. But Burton is a Romany name, and as Richard Burton had certain gipsy characteristics, some persons have credited him with gipsy lineage. Certainly no man could have been more given to wandering. Lastly, through his maternal grandmother, he was descended from the famous Scotch marauder, Rob Roy.

Burton's parents were Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Netterville Burton, a tall, handsome man with sallow skin, dark hair, and coal-black eyes, and Martha Beckwith, the accomplished but plain daughter of Richard and Sarah Baker, of Barham House (now Hillside 27), Elstree, Hertfordshire.

Richard Baker was an opulent country gentleman, and the most important personage in the parish. Judging from the size of his pew at church, No. 19, he must also have been a man of eminent piety, for it contained sixteen sittings. At all events he kept the parish in admirable order, and, as churchwarden, discountenanced unreasonable sleeping in church. Thanks to his patronage the choir made marked progress, and eventually there was no louder in the county. In 1813, we find him overseer with one George Olney. He took a perfunctory 28 interest in the village school (where, by the by, Arthur Orton, the Tichborne claimant, received his elaborate education), and was for a time director. He led the breezy life of a country gentleman. With his fat acres, his thumping balance at the bank, his cellar of crusted wine, and his horse that never refused a gate, this world seemed to him a nether paradise. He required, he said, only one more boon to make his happiness complete—namely, a grandson with unmistakably red hair. A shrewd man of business, Mr. Baker tied up every farthing of his daughter's fortune, £30,000; and this was well, for Burton's father, a rather Quixotic gentleman, had but a child's notion of the use of money. The Burtons resided at Torquay, and Colonel Burton busied himself chiefly in making chemical experiments, of which he was remarkably fond; but the other members of the household, who generally went about holding their noses, appear not to have sympathised with his studies and researches. He was very superstitious—nothing, for instance, could induce him to reveal his birthday; and he fretted continually because he was not permitted to invest his wife's money and make a second fortune; which no doubt he would very soon have done—for somebody else.

Richard Francis Burton was born at Torquay 29 on 19th March 1821; and to the intemperate joy of the family his hair was a fierce and fiery red. The news flew madly to Elstree. Old Mr. Baker could scarcely contain himself, and vowed then and there to leave the whole of his fortune to his considerate grandson. The baby, of course, was promptly called Richard after Mr. Baker, with Francis as an afterthought; and a little later the Burtons went to reside at Barham House with the grandparents. Richard was baptised in the parish church at Elstree, 2nd September 1821. In the entry his father's abode is called Bareham Wood, 30 the name being spelt various ways. Our illustration of the old church is taken from an engraving made to commemorate the burial of William Weare 31 murdered by the notorious John Thurtell; an event that occurred in 1823, when Burton was two years old.

There was another link between the Burtons and the Bakers, for Joseph Netterville's youngest brother, Francis, military surgeon in the 99th regiment, married Sarah Baker, Mr. Richard Baker's eldest daughter. Dr. Burton 32 who was in St. Helena at the time of Napoleon's death lives in history as the man who took a bust of the dead emperor. 33

2. Tours and Elstree.

Being subject to asthma, Colonel Burton now left England and hired a chateau called Beausejour situated on an eminence near Tours, where there was an English colony. For several years the family fluctuated between Tours and Elstree, and we hear of a great yellow chariot which from time to time rolled into daylight. Richard's hair gradually turned from its fiery and obtrusive red to jet black, but the violent temper of which the former colour is supposed to be indicative, and of which he had already many times given proofs, signalised him to the end of life. In 1823 Mrs. Burton gave birth to a daughter, Maria Katharine Elisa, who became the wife of General Sir Henry Stisted; and on 3rd July 1824 to a son, Edward Joseph Netterville, both of whom were baptized at Elstree. 34 While at Tours the children were under the care of their Hertfordshire nurse, Mrs. Ling, a good, but obstinately English soul who had been induced to cross the Channel only after strenuous opposition.

3. Death of Richard Baker, 16th September 1824.

Richard Burton always preserved some faint recollections of his grandfather. The first thing I remember, he says, "was being brought down after