Borrow, we see, was less than a year in Ireland, and he was only thirteen years of age when he left the country.

But it seems to have been the greatest influence that guided his career.

Three of the most fascinating chapters in _Lavengro_ were one outcome of that brief sojourn, a thirst for the acquirement of languages was another, and perhaps a taste for romancing a third.

Borrow never came to have the least sympathy with the Irish race, or its national aspirations.

As the son of a half-educated soldier he did not come in contact with any but the vagabond element of Ireland, exactly as his father had done before him.[30] Captain Borrow was asked on one occasion what language is being spoken: 'Irish,' said my father with a loud voice, 'and a bad language it is....