So I sat behind a desk many hours in the day,ostensibly engaged in transcribing documents of various kinds;the scene of my labours was a strange old house,occupying one side of a long and narrow court,into which,however,the greater number of the windows looked not,but into an extensive garden,filled with fruit trees,in the rear of a large,handsome house,belonging to a highly respectable gentleman,who,moyennant un douceur considerable,had consented to instruct my father's youngest son in the mysteries of glorious English law.Ah!would that I could describe the good gentleman in the manner which he deserves;he has long since sunk to his place in a respectable vault,in the aisle of a very respectable church,whilst an exceedingly respectable marble slab against the neighbouring wall tells on a Sunday some eye wandering from its prayer-book that his dust lies below;to secure such respectabilities in death,he passed a most respectable life.Let no one sneer,he accomplished much;his life was peaceful,so was his death.Are these trifles?I wish I could describe him,for Iloved the man,and with reason,for he was ever kind to me,to whom kindness has not always been shown;and he was,moreover,a choice 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 gray eyes replete with catlike 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.But here he 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,engaged in copying documents of various kinds;and in the apartment in which I sat,and in the adjoining ones,there were others,some of whom likewise copied documents,while some were engaged in the yet more difficult task of drawing them up;and some of these,sons of nobody,were paid for the work they did,whilst others,like myself,sons of somebody,paid for being permitted to work,which,as our principal observed,was but reasonable,forasmuch as we not unfrequently utterly spoiled the greater part of the work intrusted to our hands.
There was one part of the day when I generally found myself quite alone,I mean at the hour when the rest went home to their principal meal;I,being the youngest,was left to take care of the premises,to answer the bell,and so forth,till relieved,which was seldom before the expiration of an hour and a half,when Imyself went home;this period,however,was anything but disagreeable to me,for it was then that I did what best pleased me,and,leaving off copying the documents,I sometimes indulged in a fit of musing,my chin resting on both my hands,and my elbows planted on the desk;or,opening the desk aforesaid,I would take out one of the books contained within it,and the book which I took out was almost invariably,not Blackstone,but Ab Gwilym.