barrier. "I have observed the poor lad attentively and really I do
not see what to make of him," Captain Borrow is said to have
remarked. What could be expected of a lad who would forsake Greek
for Irish, or Latin for the barbarous tongue of homeless vagabonds?
Certainly not a good churchman. At length it became obvious to the
distressed parents that there was only one choice left them--the law.

About this period Borrow fell ill of some nameless and unclassified
disease, which defied the wisdom of physicians, who shook their heads
gravely by his bedside. An old woman, however, cured him by a
decoction prepared from a bitter root. The convalescence was slow
and laborious; for the boy's nerves were shattered, and that deep,
haunting melancholy, which he first called the "Fear" and afterwards
the "Horrors," descended upon him.

On the 30th of March 1819 Borrow was articled for five years to
Simpson & Rackham, solicitors, of Tuck's Court, St Giles, Norwich.
{26a} He consequently left home to take up his abode at the house of
the senior partner in the Upper Close. {27a} Mr William Simpson was
a man of considerable importance in the city; for besides being
Treasurer of the County, he was Chamberlain and Town Clerk, whilst
his wife was famed for her hospitality, in particular her expensive
dinners.

With that unerring instinct of contrariety that never seemed to
forsake him, Borrow proceeded to learn, not law but Welsh. When the
eyes of authority were on him he transcribed Blackstone, but when
they were turned away he read and translated the poems of Ab Gwilym.
He performed his tasks "as well as could be expected in one who was
occupied by so many and busy thoughts of his own."