The Project Gutenberg eBook of George Borrow
    
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States,
you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
before using this eBook.

Title: George Borrow

Author: H. C. Beeching

Release date: June 8, 2007 [eBook #21776]

Language: English



*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GEORGE BORROW ***




Transcribed from the 1913 Jarrold & Sons edition by David Price, email
ccx074@pglaf.org.  Many thanks to the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium
Library, UK, for kindly supplying the images from which this transcription
was made.





GEORGE BORROW


A SERMON PREACHED IN
NORWICH CATHEDRAL ON
::  ::  JULY 6, 1913  ::  ::

BY
H. C. BEECHING, D.D., D.LITT.
DEAN OF NORWICH

LONDON
_JARROLD & SONS_
PUBLISHERS

   "As for me, I would seek unto God, which doeth great things and
   unsearchable; marvellous things without number."--_Job_ _v._ 8.

You may desire some explanation of why we in this Cathedral, have thought
it right to take part with the city in the public commemoration of George
Borrow.  It is not, of course, merely because he was a devoted lover of
our ancient house, though for that we are not ungrateful.  Nor again is
it merely because he was for the most active years of his life a zealous
servant of the Bible Society; and our Church has taken a special interest
in that society since the day when Bishop Bathurst, first of his
episcopal brethren, appeared upon its platforms side by side with Joseph
John Gurney.  Nor again is it merely because he was an accomplished man
of letters.  Religion and literature indeed have much that is common in
their purpose.  The Church exists to propagate a certain interpretation
of the world and human life.  Literature also exists to interpret life,
and the great literatures of the world have never in their
interpretations shown themselves antagonistic to religion; on the
contrary, they have always tended to discover more and more elements of
permanent value in human life, confirming the Church's message of its
Divine origin and destiny.  But, unhappily, there have always been, and
are still, men of letters whom the Church cannot honour, because their
books, although technically meritorious, take a view of life which is in
our judgment against good morals, or in some other way mischievous.  If,
then, we in this Mother Church claim our share in the commemoration of
George Borrow, it is because he was, as we think, a true seer and
interpreter; because he opened to us fresh springs of delight in the
natural world; because he aroused new and living interest in the lives of
men of many kindreds and tongues; and because he held up to our own
nation an ideal of conduct which could not but benefit those whom it
attracted.

Let me, as shortly as I can, remind you of some characteristics of that
ideal.

Every reader of the Old Testament is familiar with the two great types
which the early Israelitish civilisation sets before us again and again
in Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, Esau and Jacob--the contrast of the
wild and vagabond hunter and the "plain man, dwelling in tents."  These
types as they appear in the Bible have in them a characteristically
Semitic element, but they have still more of our common humanity.  We
observe the two types among our own children, and it is a contrast that
interests us all.  Our affections perhaps go out to the romantic Esau
rather than to his business-like brother; while at the same time we
recognise that the future of civilisation must lie not with the child of
impulse, but with him who can forecast the future and rank something
higher than his momentary whim.  It was this fundamental contrast that
was so interesting to Borrow.  He studied it in the cities and in the
wildernesses of this and many other lands; and because he studied it he
was not content to accept the easy verdict of civilisation that finds
nothing but profanity in Esau, or the equally easy paradox of a return-to-
nature philosophy, which finds all virtue in the noble savage.  Borrow
studied Esau in his wandering life with interested eyes, and won his
confidence and a glimpse of his secret; and he studied Jacob in his
counting house and workshop with no less understanding, if with a less
degree of sympathy; and then he exhibited to his countrymen an ideal
which at the time vexed and disquieted them, because there were elements
in it drawn from both.

Look first at those which he drew from his intercourse with the gipsies.
He was puzzled by the problem of their wonderful persistence.  What could
be its cause?  Their faults were proverbs.  They lived by drawing fools
into a circle and cheating them.  Stealing and lying were first
principles in their code of life.  And yet because Borrow held that
Nature did not forgive faults, much less allow men to profit by them, he
could not but ask whether those gipsies were so thoroughly vicious as was
supposed.  One day, in a conversation with a gipsy girl under a hedge--one
of the strangest talks in the chronicle of literature--he elicited the
fact that domestic honour was held among them to be a primary law, and
female unchastity an unpardonable offence.  And he left that conversation
on record for our admonition.  That, you will say, is no new ideal to
English women.  As an ideal, no.  But our English practice is something
very different.  And we have lived to see literature challenge even the
ideal.

And then there was the secret, an open one indeed, but hidden from many
Englishmen of Borrow's generation, though it had been recently proclaimed
by the gentle and thoughtful poet who lay buried in Borrow's native town
of Dereham, that though civilisation arose from life in cities, yet the
joy of life was apt to escape the city liver.  The vagabond gipsy had
something which man was the better for having, a delight in the sun and
air and wind and rain.  We in Norwich are not likely to forget those
magical words put into the mouth of the gipsy on Mousehold Heath,
"There's night and day, brother, both sweet things; sun, moon, and stars,
brother, all sweet things; there's likewise a wind on the heath.  Life is
very sweet, brother."  Allied with this love of nature was a keen
satisfaction in manly exercises, walking, riding, boxing, swimming, which
Borrow contrasted somewhat scornfully with the baser sports of dog
fighting and cock fighting, then in vogue among gentlemen.  And as a
consequence of this love of the open air and the open country Borrow
found in the gipsies a sense of freedom and independence, and so a self-
respect, which he compared unfavourably with the mingled arrogance and
servility of many city-bred people.

Here then we have some of the elements of the ideal, largely drawn from
the despised gipsies, which Borrow held up before his generation.  He
does not indeed promulgate it as the whole duty of man, though we who
have learned the lesson may think he is apt to over-emphasise it.  He
does not ignore other qualities of manliness.  He holds that from the
root of a self-respecting freedom, if the environment be but favourable,
as with the gipsies it was not, other manly qualities will spring.  From
the strength of self-respect should spring the courage of truthfulness,
and justice, and tenderness, and perseverance.  On the love of truth and
justice I need not dwell; they are conspicuous in every page that Borrow
wrote.  Perseverance is still more emphasised, because it was the main
contribution of Jacob to the human ideal, the quality most lacking in
Esau.  Tenderness may seem to be less evident; and I know it is a common
opinion that Borrow's ideal of life was too self-absorbed to allow of
much sympathy with others.  I think this view is mistaken.  There was
undoubtedly a strong stress laid on the duty of protecting one's own life
and personality from outside influence, and a corresponding stress on the
duty of respect for the independence of others; but where there was a
claim, whether of blood, or friendship, or need, Borrow's ideal admitted
it to the full.  I have wished to confine myself this morning to the
ideal of conduct which Borrow offers us in his books, because it was a
conscious and reasoned ideal, and he wrote to propagate it.  The question
how far he himself attained to his own standard we are right in passing
by unless there was any conspicuous contrast between his theory and his
practice.  But there was no such contrast.  So far as our information
goes, Borrow lived by his ideal resolutely.  His truthfulness and
perseverance and love of justice cannot be questioned; and on the point
of tenderness it is not those who knew him best--his mother, or his wife,
or his friends--who have found him wanting.

Let me pass on to indicate how this ideal connected itself with religion.
The fundamental dogma of Borrow's religion was the providence of God.  So
far as I know, he did not formulate his notion of the purpose of the
world; he accepted the view of St. Paul, that the creation is moving to
some "divine event"; and that within the great scheme there are
numberless subservient ends which man is being urged by Divine admonition
to fulfil.  Such admonitions come to men in many ways; we speak of them
as modes of inspiration; and even those who question the inspiration of
prophets do not refuse the word in speaking of poets and musicians.
Borrow did not question prophetic inspiration in the past, because he
believed in it as a present fact.  He believed that to the man who by
prayer kept himself in touch with the Divine Spirit intimations were
vouchsafed of the Divine will, which brought clear light into the dark
places of life.  He somewhat shocked the good but precise secretary of
the Bible Society by declaring in a letter from Spain that he had been
"very passionate in prayer during the last two or three days," and in
consequence, as he thought, saw his way "with considerable clearness": on
another occasion, by saying that he was "what the world calls exceedingly
superstitious" because he had changed some plan in consequence of a
dream; and again by saying, "My usual wonderful good fortune accompanied
me."  For the last expression he apologised; but, whatever the particular
expression used, there can be no doubt that Borrow was a firm believer in
what our fathers called "particular providences," "leadings of the Divine
Spirit."  He believed, for example, that he was doing the will of God in
circulating the Bible, and he also believed that God made his way plain
for so doing.  We have known since Borrow another great Englishman who
held a similar faith, Charles Gordon; and the lives of both supply so
many instances of what look like acts of special protection, that the
question will present itself to the student of their lives whether there
may not be some such connexion between faith and miracle, as our Saviour
asserted.  At any rate, we shall never understand Borrow if we exclude
from our notion of religion the idea of the miraculous, meaning by that
word not the contravention of natural law, but the providential guidance
of events.

There is one special side of this doctrine of Providence which must be
referred to specially, because Borrow himself calls attention to it in
the curious commentary which he annexed to "The Romany Rye"; the doctrine
so familiar to the last generation in the poems of Browning, that
trouble, to which "man is born, as the sparks fly upward," is ordained by
the Creator as a stimulus to endeavour, because "where least man suffers,
longest he remains."  Some of you may remember that he argues in that
appendix that the old man who had learnt Chinese to distract his mind
would have played but a sluggard's part in life if no affliction had
befallen him, since he had never taken the pains to learn how to tell the
time from a clock.  "Nothing but extreme agony," says Borrow, "could have
induced such a man to do anything useful."  And every one will recall the
passage in "Lavengro" where he speaks of the fit of horrors that attacked
his hero, may we not say himself, when recovering from an illness.  "In
the recollection and prospect of such woe," he asks, "Is it not lawful to
exclaim, 'Better that I had never been born'"?  And he replies, "Fool,
for thyself thou wast not born, but to fulfil the inscrutable decrees of
thy Creator; and how dost thou know that this dark principle is not,
after all, thy best friend; that it is not that which tempers the whole
mass of thy corruption?  It may be, for what thou knowest, the mother of
wisdom and of great works, it is the dread of the horror of the night
that makes the pilgrim hasten on his way.  When thou feelest it nigh, let
thy safety word be 'Onward!'  If thou tarry, thou art overwhelmed.
Courage!  Build great works; 'tis urging thee."

In the passage just quoted Borrow speaks of God's "inscrutable" decrees.
After sitting as a young man at the feet of William Taylor and learning
from him some philosophy and much scepticism, he had come back to the old
Hebrew idea that in religion reverence was the beginning of wisdom.  This
did not mean that he had discarded Western science, or put a bridle upon
his own insatiable curiosity.  No man was more ready to learn what could
anyhow or anywhere be learned.  It meant that when all had been learned
that science could teach, the really vital questions remained still
without an answer, because natural science can throw no light on what
nature itself really is.  The only clue within our reach to that first
and last problem lay, in his judgment, with the simple-hearted and lowly-
minded, those in whom this wonderful world still aroused wonder.  In thus
calling to the soul of man not to lose its power of wonder, Borrow is in
sympathy with the deepest thought of our time.

         For ah! how surely,
   How soon and surely will disenchantment come,
   When first to herself she boasts to walk securely,
   And drives the master spirit away from his home;
   Seeing the marvellous things that make the morning
   Are marvels of every day, familiar, and some
   Have lost with use, like earthly robes, their adorning,
   As earthly joys the charm of a first delight,
   And some are fallen from awe to neglect and scorning. {12}

Let us say then with the ancient seer: "As for me, I would seek unto God;
which doeth great things and unsearchable, marvellous things without
number."




Footnotes:


{12}  Robert Bridges, _Prometheus the Firegiver_, 824.





*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GEORGE BORROW ***


    

Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will
be renamed.

Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright
law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,
so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United
States without permission and without paying copyright
royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part
of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™
concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following
the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use
of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for
copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very
easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation
of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project
Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away—you may
do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected
by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark
license, especially commercial redistribution.


START: FULL LICENSE

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE

PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project
Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at
www.gutenberg.org/license.

Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™
electronic works

1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your
possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound
by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person
or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.

1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this
agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™
electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.

1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the
Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual
works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting
free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™
works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the
Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily
comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when
you share it without charge with others.

1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no
representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
country other than the United States.

1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:

1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other
immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear
prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work
on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the
phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed,
performed, viewed, copied or distributed:

    This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
    other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
    whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
    of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
    at www.gutenberg.org. If you
    are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws
    of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
  
1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is
derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project
Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™
trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works
posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the
beginning of this work.

1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™.

1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg™ License.

1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format
other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official
version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website
(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain
Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the
full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.

1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works
provided that:

    • You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
        the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method
        you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed
        to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has
        agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
        Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid
        within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are
        legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty
        payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project
        Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in
        Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg
        Literary Archive Foundation.”
    
    • You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
        you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
        does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™
        License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
        copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
        all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™
        works.
    
    • You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
        any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
        electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
        receipt of the work.
    
    • You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
        distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.
    

1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than
are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of
the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set
forth in Section 3 below.

1.F.

1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project
Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™
electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may
contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate
or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
cannot be read by your equipment.

1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right
of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.

1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
without further opportunities to fix the problem.

1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO
OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.

1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
remaining provisions.

1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in
accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™
electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or
additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any
Defect you cause.

Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™

Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
from people in all walks of life.

Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will
remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future
generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see
Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org.

Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation

The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws.

The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West,
Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up
to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website
and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact

Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation

Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread
public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest
array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
status with the IRS.

The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state
visit www.gutenberg.org/donate.

While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
approach us with offers to donate.

International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.

Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation
methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate.

Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works

Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be
freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of
volunteer support.

Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
edition.

Most people start at our website which has the main PG search
facility: www.gutenberg.org.

This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™,
including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.