with the philanthropical head, his master, was forced to expostulate
and adjure his clerk to judge, not by faces but by clothes, which in
reality make the man. Borrow bowed to the ruling of "the prince of
English solicitors," revised his standards and continued to act as
keeper of the door.

Mr Simpson seems to have earned Borrow's thorough regard, no small
achievement considering in how much he differed from his illustrious
articled-clerk in everything, not excepting humour, of which the
delightful, old-world gentleman seems to have had a generous share.
He was doubtless puzzled to classify the strange being by whose
instrumentality a stream of undesirable people was admitted to his
presence, whilst distinguished clients were sternly and rigorously
turned away. He probably smiled at the story of the old yeoman and
his wife who, in return for some civility shown to them by Borrow,
presented him with an old volume of Danish ballads, which inspired
him to learn the language, aided by a Danish Bible. {30a} He was not
only "the first solicitor in East Anglia," but "the prince of all
English solicitors--for he was a gentleman!" {30b} In another place
Borrow refers to him as "my old master . . . who would have died
sooner than broken his word. God bless him!" {30c} And yet again as
"my ancient master, the gentleman solicitor of East Anglia." {30d}

Borrow was always handsome in everything he did. If he hated a man
he hated him, his kith and kin and all who bore his name. His
friendship was similarly sweeping, and his regard for William Simpson
prompted him to write subsequently of the law as "a profession which
abounds with honourable men, and in which I believe there are fewer
scamps than in any other. The most honourable men I have ever known
have been lawyers; they were men whose word was their bond, and who