, a pure blood or real _Kalorat_ Romany. I had already in America
studied Pott's "Thesaurus of Gypsy Dialects," and picked up many phrases
of the tongue from the works of Borrow, Simson, and others. The old dame
tackled us at once. As soon as I could, I whispered in her ear an
improvised rhyme:--

"The bashno and kani,
The rye and the rani,
Hav'd akai 'pre o boro lon pani."

Which means that the cock and the hen, the gentleman and the lady, came
hither across the great salt water. The effect on the gypsy was
startling; she fairly turned pale. Hustling the ladies away to one side
to see a beautiful view, she got me alone and hurriedly exclaimed,
"_Rya_--master! _be_ you one of our people?" with much more. We became
very good friends, and this little incident had in time for me great
results, and many strange experiences of gypsy life.

There live in Brighton two ladies, Miss Horace Smith and her sister Rosa,
who were and are well known in the cultured world. They are daughters of
Horace Smith, who, with his brother James, wrote the "Rejected
Addresses." Their reminiscences of distinguished men are extremely
varied and interesting. The elder sister possesses an album to which
Thackeray contributed many verses and pen-sketches. Their weekly
receptions were very pleasant; at them might be seen most of the literary
or social celebrities who came to Brighton. A visit there was like
living a chapter in a book of memoirs and reminiscences. I have had, if
it be only a quiet, and not very eventful or remarkable, at least a
somewhat varied life, and the Laings and Smiths, with their surroundings,
form two of its most interesting varieties. I believe they never missed
an opportunity to do us or any one a kindly act, to aid us to make
congenial friends, or the like. How many good people there really are in
the world!

Of these ladies the author of "Gossip of the Century" writes:--

"Horace Smith's two daughters are still living, and in Brighton. Their
very pleasant house is frequented by the best and most interesting
kind of society, affording what may be called a _salon_, that rare
relic of ancient literary taste and cementer of literary intimacies--a
salon which the cultivated consider it a privilege to frequent, and
where these ladies receive with a grace and geniality which their
friends know how to appreciate. It is much to be regretted that
gatherings of this descrip