When he is describing ordinary mortals he treats them with coldness as mere strangers.

The commonplace town-dwellers seldom arouse his sympathy, never kindle his enthusiasm.

He is quite another being when we wander by his side within the bounds of his enchanted dingle.
This history of certain doings in a Staffordshire dingle, during the month of July 1825, begins with a battle-royal, which places Borrow high amongst the narrators of human conflicts from the days of the Iliad to those of Pierce Egan; yet the chapters that set forth this episode of the dingle are less concerned with the "gestes" than with the sayings of its occupants.

Rare, indeed, are the dramatic dialogues amid the sylvan surroundings of the tree-crowned hollow, that surpass in interest even the vivid details of the memorable fray between the flaming tinman and the pugilistic philologer.

Pre-eminent amongst the dialogues are those between the male occupant of the dingle and the popish propagandist, known as the man in black.