Monday, January 06, 2014
The Last Resource of Dulness and Ennui
George Borrow (1803-1881), Lavengro, chapter XLVII:
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'In the name of all that is wonderful, how came you to know aught of my language?'Related post: Something Craggy.
'There is nothing wonderful in that,' said I; 'we are at the commencement of a philological age, every one studies languages: that is, every one who is fit for nothing else; philology being the last resource of dulness and ennui, I have got a little in advance of the throng, by mastering the Armenian alphabet; but I foresee the time when every unmarriageable miss, and desperate blockhead, will likewise have acquired the letters of Mesroub, and will know the term for bread, in Armenian, and perhaps that for wine.'
