In 1823 he betook himself to London, and endeavoured to obtain a livelihood by literature.

For some time he was a hack author, doing common work for booksellers.

For one in particular he prepared an edition of the Newgate Calendar, from the careful study of which he has often been heard to say that he first learned to write genuine English.

His health failed, he left London, and for a considerable time he lived a life of roving adventure.
[4] Knapp's _Life of Borrow_, vol.i.p.

6.
[5] The writer recalls at his own school at Downham Market in Norfolk an old Crimean Veteran--Serjeant Canham--drilling the boys each week, thus supplementing his income precisely in the same manner as did Serjeant Borrow.
[6] The date has always hitherto been wrongly given.