hoice specimen of a class which no
longer exists--a gentleman lawyer of the old school. I would fain
describe him, but figures with which he has nought to do press forward
and keep him from my mind's eye; there they pass, Spaniard and Moor,
Gypsy, Turk, and livid Jew. But who is that? what that thick pursy man
in the loose, snuff-coloured greatcoat, with the white stockings, drab
breeches, and silver buckles on his shoes? that man with the bull neck,
and singular head, immense in the lower part, especially about the jaws,
but tapering upward like a pear; the man with the bushy brows, small grey
eyes, replete with cat-like expression, whose grizzled hair is cut close,
and whose ear-lobes are pierced with small golden rings? Oh! that is not
my dear old master, but a widely different personage. _Bon jour_,
_Monsieur Vidocq_! _expressions de ma part a Monsieur le Baron Taylor_.
{115} But here comes at last my veritable old master!

A more respectable-looking individual was never seen; he really looked
what he was, a gentleman of the law--there was nothing of the pettifogger
about him. Somewhat under the middle size, and somewhat rotund in
person, he was always dressed in a full suit of black, never worn long
enough to become threadbare. His face was rubicund, and not without
keenness; but the most remarkable thing about him was the crown of his
head, which was bald, and shone like polished ivory, nothing more white,
smooth, and lustrous. Some people have said that he wore false calves,
probably because his black silk stockings never exhibited a wrinkle; they
might just as well have said that he waddled, because his shoes creaked;
for these last, which were always without a speck, and polished as his
crown, though of a different hue, did creak, as he walked rather slowly.
I cannot say that I ever saw him walk fast.

He had a handsome practice, and might have died a very rich man, much
richer than he did, had he not been in the habit of giving rather
expensive dinners to certain great people, who gave him nothing in
return, except their company; I could never discover his reasons for
doing so, as he always appeared to me a remarkably quiet man, by nature
averse to noise and bustle; but in all dispositions there are anomalies.
I have already said that he lived in a handsome house, and I may as well
here add that he had a very handsome wife, who both dressed and talked
exceedingly well.

So I sat behind the deal desk,