George Borrow

“ He was dressed in a blue coat, white corduroy breeches, fastened below the knee with small golden buttons; on his legs he wore white lamb's-wool stockings, and on his feet shoes reaching to the ankles; round his neck was a handkerchief of the blue and bird's eye pattern; he wore neither whiskers nor moustaches, and appeared not to delight in hair, that of his head, which was of a light brown, being closely cropped; the forehead was rather high, but somewhat narrow; the face neither broad nor sharp, perhaps rather sharp than broad ”

“ His companion!—there, indeed, was the bruiser—no mistake about him: a tall massive man, with a broad countenance and a flattened nose; dressed like a bruiser, but not like a bruiser going into the ring; he wore white-topped boots, and a loose brown jockey coat.
As the first advanced towards the table, behind which the magistrate sat, he doffed a white castor from his head, and made rather a genteel bow ”

“ But how is this, young gentleman, you look as if you had been walking; you did not come on foot?'
'Yes, sir, I came on foot.'
'On foot! why it is sixteen miles.'
'I shan't be tired when I have walked back.'
'You can't ride, I suppose?'
'Better than I can walk.'
'Then why do you walk?'
'I have frequently to make journeys connected with my profession; sometimes I walk, sometimes I ride, just as the whim takes me.'
'Will you take a glass of wine?'
'Yes.'
'That's right; what shall it be?'
'Madeira!'
The magistrate gave a violent slap on his knee ”