_February_ 1_st_.
MY DEAR FRIEND,--You will be glad to learn that I, within the week,
found a real Romany family (place) here in this town. Charming it
was to find our folk again; pleasant it was to listen to our tongue.
The Lord be on me! but I was half sick of Gentiles and their ways
till this occurred. The other day, as I was returning from a highly
aristocratic breakfast, where we had winter strawberries with the
_creme de la creme_, I saw two gypsy women sitting on a bench in ---
Square. Black eyes, black hair, red kerchiefs on their heads, their
baskets on the ground before their feet. Dear Lord! but I was half
wild with delight at seeing them. Aye, I made the coachman stop the
horses, and cried aloud, "Come here!" They thought I was a lady to
fortune-tell, and came quickly. But I laughed, and said in Romany,
"How are you, my dears? You don't know that I am a gypsy." They
could not trust their very ears or eyes! At length one said, "My
God! what _is_ your name?" "My name's Britannia Lee," and, at a
glance, they saw that I was to be trusted, and a Romany. Their
names, they said, were M. and D. It was hard (far) for them to
understand how a Romany lady _could_ live among Gentiles, and look so
Gorgious, and yet be a true gypsy withal, and proud of her dark
blood. Much they talked about our people; much news I heard,--much
as to who was married and born and buried, who was come from the old
country, and much more. Oh, _never_ was such news so sweet to me!
M. said, "I don't know how you _can_ live among the Gentiles." I
answered, "I don't live; I _die_, living in their houses with them."
They begged me then to come and see them in their home, upon the
hill, where they are wintering. M. said, "Come, my sister, and eat a
little with us. You know that the women are only at home at night
and on Sunday."
Sunday morning, sister and I went there, and found the house. It was
a little place, but, as they said, after the life in wagons it seemed
large. M. was there, and her husband's mother, a nice old woman;
also A., with four children. M. was cooking as we entered. The old
mother was glad to see us; she wished to know all about us. All
talked, indeed, and that quite rapidly, and she said that I was the
first Romany lady {279} she had ever seen. I said to her that in
society are many gypsy ladies to be found, but that the wretched
Gentiles do not know it.
She said that my sister looked like Lusha Cooper, and showed her dark
blood more than I do. "You don't favor the Coopers, my dearie. You
say your mother married a Smith. Was that the Smith who kept a
dancing and boxing place near London Bridge? Were you born in
England?" I told the old mother all I knew about myself and my
relations. You know that no Gorgios are so long-winded on
genealogies as old mothers in Rom. When people don't write them down
in their family Bibles, they carry them, extended, in their heads.
_Que la main droit perd recueille la gauche_.
"Do you know any of the ---'s?" said M. "You look like ---'s wife."
"No; she's too pale," said A. "It's something in the look of her,"
said M.
Reflect, my brother. You know that --- was the woman who "cleaned
out" a man named --- of a very large sum {280} by "dukkeripen" and
"dudikabin." "When she was arrested, the justice made her dress like
any Gorgio, and placed her among twelve Gentile women. The man who
had been robbed was to point out who among them had stolen his money.
When she came into the room, he went at once to her, and said, 'I
know her by her long skinny fingers and handsome face.' She was
imprisoned for two years, but the Gorgio never recovered his money."
What time we reasoned thus, the door undid, and three men entered.
After their greetings, M. cried, "Come to table; bring your chairs
with you!" "Mrs. Lee, why didn't you bring your husband?" "Because
I am not married." "Lord! Britannia! Why, M. told me that you
were." "Ah, M. didn't fortune right when she fortuned that. She's a
fool," quoth I. And then we all laughed like children. The food was
good: chickens and ham and fried potatoes, with a glass of sound ale.
We were gay as flies in summer, in the real old Romany way. 'T was
"Britannia" here, "Britannia" there, as in the merry days when we
were young. Little do I believe in Dante's words,--
"Nessun maggior dolore,
Che ricordarsi dei tempi felici."
"There is no greater grief
Than to remember by-gone happy days."
For it is always happiness to me to think of good old times when I
was glad. All drank my health, _Romaneskaes_, together, with a
shout,--all save H., who said he had already had too much.
Good-looking gypsy, that! You'd know him anywhere for Romany, he is
so dark,--_avec l'air indefinissable du vrai Bohemien_. He promised
to drink my health another time.
As we sat, a gentleman came in below, wishing to have his fortune
told. I remember to have read that the Pythoness of Delphian oracle
prepared herself for _dukkerin_, or presaging, by taking a few drops
of cherry-laurel water. (I have had it prescribed for my eyes as R
_aq. laur. cerasi. fiat lotio_,--possibly to enable me to see into
the future.) Perhaps it was the cherry-brandy beloved of British
matrons and Brighton school-girls, taken at Mutton's. _Mais revenons
a nos moutons_. The old mother had taken, not cherry-laurel water,
nor even cherry-brandy, but joly good ale, and olde, which, far from
fitting her to reveal the darksome lore of futurity, had rendered her
loath to leave the festive board of the present. Wrathful was the
sybil, furious as the Vala when waked by Odin, angry as Thor when he
missed his hammer, to miss her merriment. "May the devil take the
old dog for coming when we are eating, and when thou art here, my
Britannia! Little good fortune will he hear this day. Evil shall be
the best I'll promise him." Thus spake the sorceress, and out she
went to keep her word. Truly it was a splendid picture this of "The
Enraged Witch," as painted by Hexenmeister von Teufel, of
Hollenstadt,--her viper eyes flashing infernal light and most
unchristian fire, shaking _les noirs serpents de ses cheveux_, as she
went forth. I know how, in an instant, her face was beautiful with
welcome, smiling like a Neapolitan at a cent; but the poor believer
caught it hot, all the same, and had a sleepless night over his
future fate. I wonder if the Pythoness of old, when summoned from a
_petit souper_, or a holy prophet called out of bed of a cold night,
to decide by royal command on the fate of Israel, ever "took it out"
on the untimely king by promising him a lively, unhappy time of it.
Truly it is fine to be behind the scenes and see how they work the
oracle. For the gentleman who came to consult my witch was a man of
might in the secrets of state, and one whom I have met in high
society. And, oh! _if_ he had known who it was that was up-stairs,
laughing at him for a fool!
While she was forth, A. asked me, "Do you tell fortunes, or _what_?"
"My sister," I replied, "I'll tell thee the truth. I do tell
fortunes. I keep a house for the purchase of stolen goods. I am
largely engaged in making counterfeit money and all kinds of forgery.
I am interested in burglary. I lie, swear, cheat, and steal, and get
drunk on Sunday. And I do many other things. I am a real Romany
witch." This little confession of faith brought down the house.
"Bravo! bravo!" they cried, laughing.
Sister and I had brought a great tipsy-cake for the children, and
they were all sitting under a table, eating it. It was a pretty
picture. I thought I saw in it myself and all my sisters and
brothers as we were once. Just such little gypsies and duckling
Romanys! And now! And then! What a comedy some lives are,--yea,
such lives as mine! And now it is _you_ who are behind the scenes;
anon, I shall change with you. _Va Pierre_, _vient Pierette_. Then
I surprised a little brown maiden imp of five summers stealing my
beer, and as she was caught in the act, and tore away shrieking with
laughter, she looked, with her great black eyes and flowing jetty
curling locks, like a perfect little Bacchante.
Then we said, "Thank you for the happy time!" "Good luck!" and "Good
day!" giving our promises to come again. So we went home all well.
I hope to see you at the races here. Good luck and good-night also
to you.
Always your friend,