having succeeded Elisha de Hague, who attested Borrow's articles. The
portraits of both these worthies hang in Blackfriars Hall, that of De
Hague by Sir William Beechey, that of Simpson by Thomas Phillips, whose
son, H. W. Phillips, painted Borrow's portrait in 1843: it was exhibited
at the Royal Academy in 1844. As articled clerk Borrow lived at Mr.
Simpson's house in the Upper Close, which has long since disappeared.

Mr. Simpson was a genial and indulgent employer, so probably young Borrow
found little to prevent him from bringing Ab Gwilym into company with
Blackstone: by adopting the law the ardent young linguist had not ceased
to be Lav-engro; indeed, the acquisition of languages was his chief
pursuit. He already knew, in a way, Latin, Greek, Irish, French,
Italian, Spanish, and what Dr. Knapp calls "the broken jargon" then
current in England as gypsy. From a misshapen Welsh groom this queer
lawyer's clerk learned Welsh pronunciation, and to the consternation of
his employer, "turned Sir Edward from the door," and gladly admitted the
petty versifier Parkerson who sold his sheets to the highest bidder in
the streets; worse even than this was his audacity in contending against
a wealthy archdeacon that Ab Gwilym was the superior of Ovid. This
gentleman was probably the Rev. John Oldershaw, Archdeacon of Norfolk
from 1797 till his death, January 31st, 1847, aged ninety-three. As he
was one of the most active magistrates in the county, he would naturally
be on friendly terms with so prominent a lawyer as Mr. Simpson, whose
handsome wife, moreover, was in the habit of giving entertainments which
rather worried her spouse. The episode of the Wake of Freya, included in
Chapter XX. of Dr. Knapp's edition of "Lavengro," and the fine eulogy of
Crome in the succeeding chapter, should inspire every reader's genuine
interest. Here is the memorable Crome passage: "A living master? Why,
there he comes! thou hast had him long, he has long guided thy young hand
towards the excellence which is yet far from thee, but which thou canst
attain if thou shouldst persist and wrestle, even as he has done, midst
gloom and despondency--ay, and even contempt; he who now comes up the
creaking stair to thy little studio in the second floor to inspect thy
last effort before thou departest, the little stout man whose face is
very dark, and whose eye is vivacious; that man has attained excellence,
destined some day to be acknowledged, thou