 As a result in late 1840 Murray submitted the manuscript of George Borrow's account of the Gypsies of Spain, "The Zincali", to Ford, who recommended publication.This resulted in a literary friendship in which Ford did his very best to encourage the highly temperamental author and which came to an end in 1851, when Ford, because of his own personal commitments, but also puzzlement about its content, felt unable to review "Lavengro"; Borrow took offence.A review of Captain Charles Rochfort Scott's excursions in the mountains of Ronda and Granada (Quarterly, April 1839) demonstrated Ford's topographical knowledge of the area, and this may have prompted Murray to invite Ford to write a handbook for Spain.