is life, and would seem to have had many sterling qualities
before he was spoiled by success. He was born in the neighbourhood of
Leicester, and his father was 'in the farming line,' and wanted him to
work on the farm, but he determined to seek his fortune in London. After
a short absence, during which he clearly proved to himself that he was
not at present qualified to capture London, young Phillips returned to
the farm. Borrow refers to his patron's vegetarianism, and on this point
we have an amusing story from his own pen! He had been, when previously
on the farm, in the habit of attending to a favourite heifer:

During his sojournment in London this animal had been killed;
and on the very day of his return to his father's house, he
partook of part of his favourite at dinner, without his being
made acquainted with the circumstance of its having been
slaughtered during his absence. On learning this, however, he
experienced a sudden indisposition; and declared that so great
an effect had the idea of his having eaten part of his
slaughtered favourite upon him, that he would never again taste
animal food; a vow to which he has hitherto firmly adhered.[50]

Farming not being congenial, Phillips hired a small room in Leicester,
and opened a school for instruction in the three R's, a large blue flag
on a pole being his 'sign' or signal to the inhabitants of Leicester,
who seem to have sent their children in considerable numbers to the
young schoolmaster. But little money was to be made out of schooling,
and a year later Phillips was, by the kindness of friends, started in a
small hosiery shop in Leicester. Throwing himself into politics on the
side of reform, Phillips now started the _Leicester Herald_, to which
Dr. Priestley became a contributor. The first number was issued gratis
in May 1792. His _Memoir_ informs us that it was an article in this
newspaper that secured for its proprietor and editor eighteen months
imprisonment in Leicester gaol, but he was really charged with selling
Paine's _Rights of Man_. The worthy knight had probably grown ashamed of
_The Rights of Man_ in the intervening years, and hence the reticence of
the memoir. Phillips's gaoler was the once famous Daniel Lambert, the
notorious 'fat man' of his day. In gaol Phillips was visited by Lord
Moira and the Duke of Norfolk. It was this Lord Moira who said in the
House of Lords in 1797 that 'he had seen in Ir