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MRS. GURNEY’S
APOLOGY.
MRS. GURNEY’S
APOLOGY.
IN JUSTIFICATION
OF
MRS. ——’S FRIENDSHIP.
PHILADELPHIA.
WILLIAM BROTHERHEAD.
No. 218 South Eighth Street.
MDCCCLX.
[Entered, according to the Act of Congress, July 23, 1860, by WILLIAM BROTHERHEAD, in the
Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.]
PREFACE.
In presenting to the world theextraordinary document which follows,the Publisher deems it fit, by way ofPreface, to advert briefly to the principalcircumstances and persons connected withthis great outrage, which it embodies,upon the sensibilities and morals of thepublic—distinctly repudiating, himself,any endorsement of the views of themisguided writer, and deeply regrettingthe scandal which has attached in consequenceof her acts to the influentialSociety of Friends, and to the numeroushigh families, with which she is allied,both in England and America.
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The Gurney Family is known whereveron the Eastern or Western continent, philanthropy,charity, liberality in its mostcomprehensive meaning, scholarship andliterary ability of the highest order, orwealth in the most profuse exuberance,becomes the theme of the social circle orthe text of the author’s pen. It is, moreover,one of the most notable and ancientof the English aristocracy, dating from thetime of the Conqueror, ever since whenthey have held wealth and position in theCounty of Norfolk, where nearly all thevarious members of the name still reside.In England’s early and stormy days theyrendered essential service to the State inmany famous battles both at home andabroad—for it was at a comparativelyrecent date only that this till then redoubtablerace became identified, through someof its branches, with the pacific and lowlydoctrines of the Quakers.
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They are closely connected with familieshere of the very highest respectabilityof character—the celebrated John JosephGurney having taken a wife from thiscity; and no man in the Society of Friendsranked equal to him in his day, either inreligious influence, mental ability, or excellenceof heart. His indeed gave the nameto the Gurneyite Orthodox Friends, of whichbranch of that sect he was the acknowledgedleader. He died about twelve yearsago.
His only son, John Henry Gurney,who was the heir not merely of his father’swealth, and name, but of his good character,is the betrayed husband of thisstory. He is the present representativein Parliament of King’s Lynn, Norfolkshire,and is noted for his liberal political sentiments.He is now forty years of ag