登陆注册
4616500000037

第37章

The second great Gypsyry is on the Middlesex side of the river, and is distant about three miles, as the crow flies, from that of Wandsworth. Strange as it may seem, it is not far distant from the most fashionable part of London; from the beautiful squares, noble streets, and thousand palaces of Tyburnia, a region which, though only a small part of the enormous metropolis, can show more beautiful edifices, wealth, elegance, and luxury, than all foreign capitals put together. After passing Tyburnia, and going more than halfway down Notting Hill, you turn to the right, and proceed along a tolerably genteel street till it divides into two, one of which looks more like a lane than a street, and which is on the left hand, and bears the name of Pottery Lane. Go along this lane, and you will presently find yourself amongst a number of low, uncouth-looking sheds, open at the sides, and containing an immense quantity of earthen chimney-pots, pantiles, fancy-bricks, and similar articles. This place is called the Potteries, and gives the name of Pottery Lane to the lane through which you have just passed. A dirty little road goes through it, which you must follow, and presently turning to your left, you will enter a little, filthy street, and going some way down it, you will see, on your right hand, a little, open bit of ground, chock-full of crazy, battered caravans of all colours--some yellow, some green, some red. Dark men, wild-looking, witch-like women, and yellow-faced children are at the doors of the caravans, or wending their way through the narrow spaces left for transit between the vehicles. You have now arrived at the second grand Gypsyry of London--you are amongst the Romany Chals of the Potteries, called in Gypsy the Koromengreskoe Tan, or the place of the fellows who make pots; in which place certain Gypsies have settled, not with the view of making pots, an employment which they utterly eschew, but simply because it is convenient to them, and suits their fancy.

A goodly collection of Gypsies you will find in that little nook, crowded with caravans. Most of them are Tatchey Romany, real Gypsies, "long-established people, of the old order." Amongst them are Ratzie-mescroes, Hearnes, Herons, or duck-people; Chumo-mescroes or Bosvils; a Kaulo Camlo (a Black Lovel) or two, and a Beshaley or Stanley. It is no easy thing to find a Stanley nowadays, even in the Baulo Tem, or Hampshire, which is the proper home of the Stanleys, for the Bugnior, pimples or small-pox, has of late years made sad havoc amongst the Stanleys; but yonder tall old gentlewoman, descending the steps of a caravan, with a flaming red cloak and a large black beaver bonnet, and holding a travelling basket in her hand, is a Tatchey Beshaley, a "genuine" Stanley. The generality, however, of "them Gyptians" are Ratzie-mescroes, Hearnes, or duck-people; and, speaking of the Hearnes, it is but right to say that he who may be called the Gypsy Father of London, old Thomas Ratzie-mescro, or Hearne, though not exactly residing here, lives close by in a caravan, in a little bit of a yard over the way, where he can breathe more freely, and be less annoyed by the brats and the young fellows than he would be in yonder crowded place.

Though the spot which it has just been attempted to describe, may be considered as the head-quarters of the London Gypsies, on the Middlesex side of the Thames, the whole neighbourhood, for a mile to the north of it, may to a certain extent be considered a Gypsy region--that is, a district where Gypsies, or gentry whose habits very much resemble those of Gypsies, may at any time be found. No metropolitan district, indeed, could be well more suited for Gypsies to take up their abode in. It is a neighbourhood of transition; of brickfields, open spaces, poor streets inhabited by low artisans, isolated houses, sites of intended tenements, or sites of tenements which have been pulled down; it is in fact a mere chaos, where there is no order and no regularity; where there is nothing durable, or intended to be durable; though there can be little doubt that within a few years order and beauty itself will be found here, that the misery, squalidness, and meanness will have disappeared, and the whole district, up to the railroad arches which bound it on the west and north, will be covered with palaces, like those of Tyburnia, or delightful villas, like those which decorate what is called Saint John's Wood. At present, however, it is quite the kind of place to please the Gypsies and wandering people, who find many places within its bounds where they can squat and settle, or take up their quarters for a night or two without much risk of being interfered with. Here their tents, cars, and caravans may be seen amidst ruins, half-raised walls, and on patches of unenclosed ground; here their children may, throughout the day, be seen playing about, flinging up dust and dirt, some partly naked, and others entirely so; and here, at night, the different families, men, women, and children, may be seen seated around their fires and their kettles, taking their evening meal, and every now and then indulging in shouts of merriment, as much as to say, -What care we, though we be so small?

The tent shall stand when the palace shall fall;which is quite true. The Gypsy tent must make way for the palace, but after a millennium or two, the Gypsy tent is pitched on the ruins of the palace.

同类推荐
  • 明伦汇编家范典姊妹部

    明伦汇编家范典姊妹部

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说如来兴显经

    佛说如来兴显经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 除恐灾患经

    除恐灾患经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 阿毗达磨集异门足论

    阿毗达磨集异门足论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Twenty Years at Hull House

    Twenty Years at Hull House

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 系统是大佬的小挂件

    系统是大佬的小挂件

    单纯的那个她已经死了,而我,是地狱归来的厉鬼――楚陌前世她信错了人,一生都在黑暗中度过,最后还是落得一个惨死的下场。当她重回到人生转折点,她发誓,这一世她必定要活出自己的精彩,让仇人付出惨痛的代价!她的一生都活在黑暗当中,但她渴望光明,渴望站在阳光之下!手握系统,天下我有,重来一世,她仿佛开了挂!随便写本小说赚赚信仰值,结果成了小说榜的NO.1;随便在校园露个脸,结果当了校花;随便进进娱乐圈,结果爆红走成了影后;随便……众人:您别随便了!墨枭寒得意道:看见没,我女人就是这样强,不接受反驳!众人:呵呵,妻奴滚粗!!!【绝对1v1甜宠+异能(精神力),女主已黑化!欢迎小可爱入坑!】
  • 浮白之歌

    浮白之歌

    一个身负遗世之宝:点睛笔的少年,被迫从一个宁静的小城离开,与由一群不同种族的怪人构成的集合体一起,踏上了未知旅程
  • 首席灰姑娘

    首席灰姑娘

    偶然的碰撞让原本天差地别的两个人相遇,命运的玩笑让他们选择了错误的开始。他的靠近温暖了她冰凉的生活,然而注定只是擦肩而过的邂逅。初恋情人的归来会给她的生活带来转机吗,他的深情是辜负还是接受?拨开云雾终于认识了自己的真心,却无力靠近。使尽手段,花招用尽,最终只是他们生命里的跳梁小丑?迷茫的她到底情归何处,是执着爱慕的校友,是深情难改的初恋,还是飘忽不定的情人?你的深情我许生以报!如果爱情只是发生在我们生命中的偶然事件,那么我很庆幸,你我的生命中幸运地发生了这次偶然事件。
  • 南明大丈夫

    南明大丈夫

    在属下眼里他是英明神武的将军,在同僚眼里他是个精明市侩的小地主,在李自成眼里他是可堪一用的外省人,在崇祯眼里他是失陷亲藩的贼寇,在多尔衮眼里他是厚黑无耻的南人,在郑成功眼里他是值得信赖的盟友。历史的节点在这一刻转动,潮流的波澜在这一刻起伏,欢迎阅读南明大丈夫,看高二哥再造天下。作者已有三百万字完本作品一部,书友放心收藏。欢迎加入话凄凉书友群,无管理冷清群号码:162357907有管理撕逼群160522963
  • 马克思主义箴言:我从哪里来·家庭

    马克思主义箴言:我从哪里来·家庭

    《马克思主义箴言·我从哪里来:家庭》内容包括史前的蒙昧时代、史前的野蛮时代、、普那路亚家庭、对偶家庭、一夫一妻制家庭、婚姻的三种形式。
  • 谋妃入瓮,冷王强宠下堂妻

    谋妃入瓮,冷王强宠下堂妻

    临死前,她方雪梅才知道自己这一世活的多么荒唐。她本以为作为罪臣之女被流放是她此生唯一的归宿,可天不亡她路遇流寇中箭最终倒在了梅林,他将她救起护她周全,原以为这是上天垂怜,却不料,他居然是当今圣上的十二皇子,一场秘密协定,她看着他另娶她人,一杯毒酒了此残生。再醒来,竟然重生为当朝尚书嫡女,这一次她要改写一切,让害她的人付出应有的代价。家族要护,大仇要报,江山帝位,也要分一杯羹。这辈子,且看谁斗得过谁!她容颜清丽,绝世无双,心却如冬日最冷的寒冰。“方雪梅你听着,我只要你,若无你,这江山这权势我要有何用,你这一生一世都休想逃掉。”--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 逢岁晚

    逢岁晚

    料峭初春,久医不得治的邢牧之以一句“平生只愿见阿霁”,将尘封十年之久的旧故重新回到悠悠之口。被世人称作逆骨的云家孤女正翻着话本子,眼皮都没抬起来,倒是连当今圣上也讨不得半点好。自她初闻岁寒这名字,往后生命,皆被这二字深深镌刻进了灵魂。一纸沧卷,她写尽天下痴男怨女,何时,亦成了卷中之人?陵川传言,春风不渡雪霁山,百年前有妖入世,带来了一场大雪,十里荒山有个红衣姑娘,若是你看的久了,她会转身报以微笑。
  • Dreams & Dust

    Dreams & Dust

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 驴行职场

    驴行职场

    给那些进入职场有一段时间,但却陷入困惑之中的“白(领)骨(干)精(英)”们,以及更多的职场“菜鸟”们一些案例式的启发,同时也给从事人力资源管理工作的同行以及执掌“驴”运的老板们一些有益的分享。本书所有寓吾故事均来自于职场实境,但故事情节均属虚构,如有雷同,纯属巧合,请勿对号入座。
  • 恶人修改器

    恶人修改器

    大恶人异世界重生之后想要再度兴风作浪,等待他的竟然是......