VIII. George Borrow and Goethe's Faust

Extract

In a letter from William Taylor of Norwich to Robert Southey, is to be found perhaps the earliest trustworthy clue to the date of Borrow's first acquaintance with the German language. Writing on March 12th, 1821, Taylor, whose name will probably survive because of his relation to Borrow, says:

A Norwich young man is construing with me, Schiller's Wilhelm Tell with a view of translating it for the press. His name is George Henry Borrow, and he has learnt German with extraordinary rapidity, indeed, he has the gift of tongues, and, though not yet eighteen, understands twelve languages—English, Welsh, Erse, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, German, Danish, French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese….