rapidly becoming grey, Taylor showed great interest, and, as an act
of friendship, undertook to teach him German. He was gratified by
the young man's astonishing progress, and much interested in his
remarkable personality. As a result Borrow became a frequent visitor
at 21 King Street, Norwich, where Taylor lived and many strange men
assembled.

It is doubtful if William Taylor ever found another pupil so apt, or
a disciple so enthusiastic among all the "harum-scarum young men"
{33b} that he was so fond of taking up and introducing "into the best
society the place afforded." {33c} He was much impressed by Borrow's
extraordinary memory and power of concentration. Speaking one day of
the different degrees of intelligence in men he said:- "I cannot give
you a better example to explain my meaning than my two pupils (there
was another named Cooke, who was said to be 'a genius in his way');
what I tell Borrow once he ever remembers; whilst to the fellow Cooke
I have to repeat the same thing twenty times, often without effect;
and it is not from want of memory either, but he will never be a
linguist." {33d}

To a correspondent Taylor wrote:-


"A Norwich young man is construing with me Schiller's Wilhelm Tell,
with the view of translating it for the press. His name is George
Henry Borrow, and he has learnt German with extraordinary rapidity;
indeed, he has the gift of tongues, and, though not yet eighteen,
understands twelve languages--English, Welsh, Erse, Latin, Greek,
Hebrew, German, Danish, French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese; he
would like to get into the Office for Foreign Affairs, but does not