To this gentleman Borrow was introduced by a young farmer, no doubt Mr. Skepper, of Oulton Hall, on December 27th, 1832. It is believed that it was through the Batemans, of Norwich (of whom the late Sir Frederic Bateman, M.D., was best known), that the acquaintance with the Skeppers began, as the families had intermarried. On the very day of the introduction Mr. Cunningham wrote to the Rev. Andrew Brandram, Secretary of the Bible Society, recommending Borrow as one who could read the Bible in thirteen languages--a very produceable person, of no very defined denomination of Christians, but, thought Mr. Cunningham, of certain Christian principle. Dr. Knapp errs in stating that Borrow owed this introduction to J. J. Gurney ("Life of Borrow," i. p. 152). Anyway, he was invited to interview the Bible Society secretaries, and when one of them hoped he had slept well, replied: "I am not aware that I fell asleep on the road; I have walked from Norwich to London." He records that he did the hundred and twelve miles in twenty-seven hours, his outlay on the journey being 5.5d. for one pint of ale, half-pint of milk, a roll of bread, and two apples. Thus began the period of Bible distribution in Russia and Spain, still a life crowded with adventures and risky situations--the tall, handsome, young Englishman now in a prison, and anon kissing his hands to a group of tittering nuns. "The Bible in Spain" was the chief enduring result of these experiences, a work which secured immediate popularity; moreover, the halo of the Bible Society shed a glamour of unquestionable respectability on Borrow's head. At Seville, in some inexplicable way, Borrow met Mrs. Clarke (born Mary Skepper), the widow of Lieut. Clarke, by whom she had the daughter Henrietta, the "Hen" of "Wild Wales," who in 1865 married Dr. MacOubrey, apparently both a physician and a barrister. Accompanied by her daughter, now about twenty-two, Mrs. Clarke arrived at Seville, and their _menage_ there with Borrow was certainly curious; but on April 3rd, 1840, the whole party, including Hayim Ben Attar, his body servant, and Sidi Habismilk, his Arab steed, boarded the "Royal Adelaide," bound for London, where she berthed on April 16th. The Borrow party at once proceeded to the Spread Eagle Inn, Gracechurch Street, and on April 23rd, George Henry Borrow, "gentleman, of the City of Norwich," was married at St. Peter's, Cornhill, in the City of London to Mary Clarke, "widow, daughter of Edmund Skepper, Esquire." One of the witnesses was Mr. John Pilgrim, a Norwich solicitor. About May 5th the little family left London for Oulton, long to be the home of Lav-engro, and of his faithful and most helpful wife, who had an assured income of 450 pounds, with something over from the estate. [Picture: George Borrow. From a Photograph by Mr. Pulley, taken in 1848. Lent by Mr. Simms Reeve]