rials. He was in the pride and
vigour of manhood (Joseph John Gurney was born in 1788); his features
handsome and noble, but full of calmness and benevolence; at least I
thought so, though they were somewhat shaded by a hat of finest beaver,
with broad drooping eaves."

The worthy Quaker, whose words had the effect of lessening Borrow's
inclination for angling, invited him to Earlham that he might search the
library there for any such works as might please and interest him. This
was an occupation so much to Borrow's taste, that we wonder he did not
accept the invitation. He did not do so, however, but sought out far
different companions--namely, the Romanies whom he met at Tombland Fair
and on Mousehold Heath. It was many years after that he paid his first
visit to Earlham. Gurney did not then remember him as the youth whom he
had met by the side of the marshland stream; but he took him to the
library, and showed him the books of which he had spoken many years
before. One of them was the work of a moneychanger. "I am a banker
myself," said Gurney, and the fact seems to have been the cause of
reproachings on the part of some of the Norwich "Friends." A letter of
his appears in the chronicles of "The Gurneys of Earlham," in which he
writes: "I suppose my leading object in life may be said to be the bank.
It sometimes startles me to find my leading object of such a nature, and
now and then I doubt whether it is quite consistent with my religious
pursuits and duties." Eventually he arrives at the conclusion that:
"While I am a banker, the bank must be attended to. It is obviously the
religious duty of a trustee to so large an amount to be diligent in
watching his trust." Borrow, with whom he discussed the matter, sums up
the case by exclaiming, "Would that there were many like him, amidst the
money-changers of princes! The hall of many an earl lacks the bounty,
the palace of many a prelate the piety and learning, which adorn the
quiet Quaker's home."

* * * * *

It was the death of his father that brought about the first severing of
Borrow's connection with Norwich. Captain Borrow, as his portrait shows
and his son declares, had been a sturdy soldier, possessing great
physical strength. He enjoyed several years of quiet domestic life
before the end came, and lingered for some months after the fatal illness
seized him. At times he would rally, so that he could walk abroad a
l