In which the reader is introduced to several new acquaintances, and
all connected with them, except birth and parentage, which appears
to be the one thing wanting throughout the whole of this work.
By this time we had arrived at the lime-kiln to which we had been
directed, and we sat down on our bundles, chatting for about five
minutes, when our new acquaintance made his appearance, with something
in his hand, tied up in a handkerchief.
"You may as well put your coats into your bundles, and put on these
frocks," said he, "you will appear better among us, and be better
received, for there is a _gathering_ now, and some of them are queer
customers. However, you have nothing to fear; when once you are with my
wife and me, you are quite safe; her little finger would protect you
from five hundred."
"Your wife! who, then, is she?" inquired I, as I put my head through the
smock frock.
"She is a great personage among the gipsies. She is, by descent, one of
the heads of the tribe, and none dare to disobey her."
"And you--are you a gipsy?"
"No, and yes. By birth I am not, but by choice, and marriage, I am
admitted; but I was not born under a hedge, I can assure you, although I
very often pass a night there now--that is, when I am domestic; but do
not think that you are to remain long here; we shall leave in a few
days, and may not meet the tribe again for months, although you may see
my own family occasionally. I did not ask you to join me to pass a
gipsy's life--no, no, we must be stirring and active. Come, we are now
close to them. Do not speak as you pass the huts, until you have entered
mine. Then you may do as you please."
We turned short round, passed through a gap in the hedge, and found
ourselves on a small retired piece of common, which was studded with
about twenty or thirty low gipsy huts. The fires were alight and
provisions apparently cooking. We passed by nine or ten, and obeyed our
guide's injunctions, to keep silence. At last we stopped, and perceived
ourselves to be standing by the fool, who was dressed like us, in a
smock frock, and Mr Jumbo, who was very busy making the pot boil,
blowing at the sticks underneath till he was black in the face. Several
of the men passed near us, and examined us with no very pleasant
expression of countenance; and we were not sorry to see our conductor,
who had gone into the hut, return, followed by a woman, to whom he was
speaking in the language of the tribe. "Nattée bids you welcome," said
he, as she approached.
Never in my life will the remembrance of the first appearance of Nattée,
and the effect it had upon me, be erased from my memory. She was tall,
too tall, had it not been for the perfect symmetry of her form. Her
face of a clear olive, and oval in shape; her eyes jetty black; nose
straight, and beautifully formed; mouth small, thin lips, with a slight
curl of disdain, and pearly teeth. I never beheld a woman of so
commanding a presence. Her feet were bare, but very small, as well as
her hands. On her fingers she wore many rings, of a curious old setting,
and a piece of gold hung on her forehead, where the hair was parted. She
looked at us, touched her high forehead with the ends of her fingers,
and waving her hand gracefully, said, in a soft voice, "You are
welcome," and then turned to her husband, speaking to him in her own
language, until by degrees they separated from us in earnest
conversation.
She returned to us after a short time, without her husband, and said, in
a voice, the notes of which were indeed soft, but the delivery of the
words was most determined; "I have said that you are welcome; sit down,
therefore, and share with us--fear nothing, you have no cause to fear.
Be faithful, then, while you serve him, and when you would quit us, say
so, and receive your leave to depart; but if you attempt to desert us
without permission, then we shall suspect that you are our enemies, and
treat you accordingly. There is your lodging while here," continued she,
pointing to another hut. "There is but one child with you, this boy
(pointing to Jumbo), who can lay at your feet. And now join us as
friends. Fleta, where are you?"
A soft voice answered from the tent of Nattée, and soon afterwards came
out a little girl, of about eleven years old. The appearance of this
child was a new source of interest. She was a little fairy figure, with
a skin as white as the driven snow--light auburn hair, and large blue
eyes; her dress was scanty, and showed a large portion of her taper
legs. She hastened to Nattée, and folding her arms across her breast,
stood still, saying meekly, "I am here."
"Know these as friends, Fleta. Send that lazy Num (this was Philotas,
the fool), for more wood, and see that Jumbo tends the fire."
Nattée smiled, and left us. I observed she went to where forty or fifty
of the tribe were assembled, in earnest discourse. She took her seat
with them, and marked deference was paid to her. In the meantime Jumbo
had blown up a brisk fire; we were employed by Fleta in shredding
vegetables, which she threw into the boiling kettle. Num appeared with
more fuel, and at last there was nothing more to do. Fleta sat down by
us, and parting her long hair, which had fallen over her eyes, looked us
both in the face.
"Who gave you that name, Fleta?" inquired I.
"They gave it me," replied she.
"And who are they?"
"Nattée, and Melchior, her husband."
"But you are not their daughter?"
"No, I am not--that is, I believe not."
The little girl stopped short, as if assured that she had said too much,
cast her eyes down on the ground, and folded her arms, so that her hands
rested on each opposite shoulder.
Timothy whispered to me, "She must have been stolen, depend upon it."
"Silence," said I.
The little girl overheard him, and looking at him, put her finger across
her mouth, looking to where Num and Jumbo were sitting. I felt an
interest for this child before I had been an hour in her company; she
was so graceful, so feminine, so mournful in the expression of her
countenance. That she was under restraint was evident; but still she did
not appear to be actuated by fear. Nattée was very kind to her, and the
child did not seem to be more reserved towards her than to others; her
mournful pensive look, was perhaps inherent to her nature. It was not
until long after our first acquaintance that I ever saw a smile upon her
features. Shortly after this little conversation Nattée returned,
walking with all the grace and dignity of a queen. Her husband, or
Melchior, as I shall in future call him, soon joined us, and we sat
down to our repast, which was excellent. It was composed of almost every
thing; sometimes I found myself busy with the wing of a fowl, at another
the leg of a rabbit--then a piece of mutton, or other flesh and fowl,
which I could hardly distinguish. To these were added every sort of
vegetable, among which potatoes predominated, forming a sort of stew,
which an epicure might have praised. I had a long conversation with
Melchior in the evening, and, not to weary the reader, I shall now
proceed to state all that I then and subsequently gathered from him and
others, relative to the parties with whom we were associating.
Melchior would not state who and what he was previous to his having
joined the fraternity of gipsies; that he was not of humble birth, and
that he had, when young, quitted his friends out of love for Nattée, or
from some other causes not to be revealed, he led me to surmise. He had
been many years in company with the tribe, and although, as one received
into it, he did not stand so high in rank and estimation as his wife,
still, from his marriage with Nattée, and his own peculiar
qualifications and dexterity, he was almost as absolute as she was.
Melchior and Nattée were supposed to be the most wealthy of all the
gipsies, and, at the same time, they were the most liberal of their
wealth. Melchior, it appeared, gained money in three different
characters; as a quack doctor, the character in which we first saw him;
secondly, as a juggler, in which art he was most expert; and thirdly, as
a fortune-teller, and _wise man_.
Nattée, as I before mentioned, was of very high rank, or caste, in her
tribe. At her first espousal of Melchior she lost much of her influence,
as it was considered a degradation; but she was then very young, and
must have been most beautiful. The talents of Melchior, and her own
spirit, however, soon enabled her to regain, and even add still more to,
her power and consideration among the tribe, and it was incredible to
what extent, with the means which she possessed, this power was
augmented.
Melchior had no children by his marriage, and, as far as I could judge
from the few words which would escape from the lips of Nattée, she did
not wish for any, as the race would not be considered pure. The
subdivision of the tribe which followed Nattée, consisted of about
forty, men, women, and children. These were ruled by her during the
absence of her husband, who alternately assumed different characters, as
suited his purpose; but in whatever town Melchior might happen to be,
Nattée and her tribe were never far off, and always encamped within
communication.
I ventured to question Melchior about the little Fleta; and he stated
that she was the child of a soldier's wife, who had been brought to bed,
and died a few hours afterwards; that, at the time, she was on her way
to join her husband, and had been taken ill on the road--had been
assisted by Nattée and her companions, as far as they were able--had
been buried by them, and that the child had been reared in the camp.
In time, the little girl became very intimate, and very partial to me. I
questioned her as to her birth, telling her what Melchior had stated;
for a long while she would not answer; the poor child had learned
caution even at that early age; but after we were more intimate, she
said, that which Melchior had stated was _not true_. She could recollect
very well living in a great house, with everything very fine about her;
but still it appeared as if it were a dream. She recollected two white
ponies--and a lady who was her mamma--and a mulberry-tree, where she
stained her frock; sometimes other things came to her memory, and then
she forgot them again. From this it was evident that she had been
stolen, and was probably of good parentage; certainly, if elegance and
symmetry of person and form, could prove blood, it never was more marked
than in this interesting child. Her abode with the gipsies, and their
peculiar mode of life and manners, had rendered her astonishingly
precocious in intellect; but of education she had none, except what was
instilled into her by Melchior, whom she always accompanied when he
assumed his character as a juggler. She then danced on the slack wire,
at the same time performing several feats in balancing, throwing of
oranges, &c. When Melchior was under other disguises, she remained in
the camp with Nattée.
Of Num, or Philotas, as Melchior thought proper to call him, I have
already spoken. He was a half-witted idiot, picked up in one of
Melchior's excursions, and as he stated to me, so did it prove to be the
fact, that when on the stage, and questioned as a fool, his natural
folly, and idiotical vacancy of countenance, were applauded by the
spectators as admirably assumed. Even at the alehouses and taverns where
we stopped, every one imagined that all his folly was pretence, and
looked upon him as a very clever fellow. There never was, perhaps, such
a lachrymose countenance as this poor lad's, and this added still more
to the mirth of others, being also considered as put on for the
occasion. Stephen Kemble played Falstaff without stuffing--Num played
the fool without any effort or preparation. Jumbo was also "picked up;"
this was not done by Melchior, who stated, that any body might have him
who claimed him; he tumbled with the fool upon the stage, and he also
ate pudding to amuse the spectators--the only part of the performance
which was suited to Jumbo's taste, for he was a terrible little glutton,
and never lost any opportunity of eating, as well as of sleeping.
And now, having described all our new companions, I must narrate what
passed between Melchior and me, the day after our joining the camp. He
first ran through his various professions, pointing out to me that as
juggler he required a confederate, in which capacity I might be very
useful, as he would soon instruct me in all his tricks. As a quack
doctor he wanted the services of both Tim and myself in mixing up,
making pills, &c., and also in assisting him in persuading the public of
his great skill. As a fortune-teller, I should also be of great service,
as he would explain to me hereafter. In short, he wanted a person of
good personal appearance and education, in whom he might confide in
every way. As to Tim, he might be made useful if he chose, in various
ways; amongst others, he wished him to learn tumbling and playing the
fool, when, at times, the fool was required to give a shrewd answer on
any point on which he would wish the public to be made acquainted. I
agreed to my own part of the performance, and then had some conversation
with Timothy, who immediately consented to do his best in what was
allotted as his share. Thus was the matter quickly arranged, Melchior
observing, that he had said nothing about remuneration, as I should find
that trusting to him was far preferable to stipulated wages.