tance,
towards the end of the session of 1788, Mr. Windham called the attention
of Government to a requisition from France, which was then suffering the
greatest distress from a scarcity of grain. The object of this
requisition was to be supplied with 20,000 sacks of flour from this
country. So small a boon ought, he thought, to be granted from motives
of humanity; but a Committee of the House of Commons having decided
against it, the Ministers, though they professed themselves disposed to
afford the relief sought for, could not, after such a decision, undertake
to grant it upon their own responsibility. The leading part which Mr.
Windham took in favour of this requisition occasioned, amongst some of
his constituents at Norwich, considerable clamour. He allayed the storm
by a private letter addressed to those citizens of Norwich who were most
likely to be affected by a rise in the price of provisions; but the fact
that Norwich should thus have backed up the inhuman policy of refusing
food to France showed how strong at that time was the force of passion,
and how hard it is to break down hereditary animosity. As a further
illustration of manners and habits of the East Anglian clergy, let me
mention that when, in 1778, Windham made the speech which pointed him out
to be a man of marked ability in connection with the call made on the
country for carrying on the American War, one of the Canons of the
cathedral, and a great supporter of the war, exclaimed: 'D--n him! I
could cut his tongue out!'

In my young days, in serious circles, there was no name dearer than that
of Joseph Gurney--a fine-looking man with a musical voice, always ready
to aid with money, or in other ways, all that was right and good, or what
seemed to him such. In the 'Memorials of a Quaker Lady' he is described
thus: 'He sat on the end seat of the first cross-form, and both preached
and supplicated. I was very much struck with him. His fine person, his
beautiful dark, glossy hair, his intelligent, benign, and truly amiable
countenance, made a deep impression upon me. And as he noticed me most
kindly, as I was introduced to him by Elizabeth Fry, as the little girl
his sister Priscilla wanted to bring to England, I felt myself greatly
honoured.' The Gurneys have an ancient lineage, and had their home in
Gourney, in Upper Normandy. One of them, of course, fought in the ranks
of the winners at the battle of Hastings. Another was a crusader.
Anot