reated a few steps, yet without turning to flee. I was not,
however, without apprehension, which, indeed, the appearance of these two
people was well calculated to inspire. The woman was a stout figure,
seemingly between thirty and forty; she wore no cap, and her long hair
fell on either side of her head, like horse-tails, half-way down her
waist; her skin was dark and swarthy, like that of a toad, and the
expression of her countenance was particularly evil; her arms were bare,
and her bosom was but half-concealed by a slight bodice, below which she
wore a coarse petticoat, her only other article of dress. The man was
somewhat younger, but of a figure equally wild; his frame was long and
lathy, but his arms were remarkably short, his neck was rather bent, he
squinted slightly, and his mouth was much awry; his complexion was dark,
but, unlike that of the woman, was more ruddy than livid; there was a
deep scar on his cheek, something like the impression of a halfpenny. The
dress was quite in keeping with the figure: in his hat, which was
slightly peaked, was stuck a peacock's feather; over a waistcoat of hide,
untanned and with the hair upon it, he wore a rough jerkin of russet hue;
small clothes of leather, which had probably once belonged to a soldier,
but with which pipe-clay did not seem to have come in contact for many a
year, protected his lower man as far as the knee; his legs were cased in
long stockings of blue worsted, and on his shoes he wore immense
old-fashioned buckles.

* * * * *

Because they have been known to beg the carcass of a hog which they
themselves have poisoned, it has been asserted that they prefer carrion
which has perished of sickness to the meat of the shambles; and because
they have been seen to make a ragout of boror (snails), and to roast a
hotchiwitchu or hedgehog, it has been supposed that reptiles of every
description form a part of their cuisine. It is high time to undeceive
the Gentiles on these points. Know, then, O Gentile, whether thou be
from the land of the Gorgios or the Busne, that the very Gypsies who
consider a ragout of snails a delicious dish will not touch an eel,
because it bears resemblance to a snake; and that those who will feast on
a roasted hedgehog could be induced by no money to taste a squirrel, a
delicious and wholesome species of game, living on the purest and most
nutritious food which the fields and forests can supply. I myself, while
living among the