uch resembling those generally worn in that province. In
stature he was shorter than his more youthful companion, yet he must have
measured six feet at least, and was stronger built, if possible. What
brawn! what bone! what legs! what thighs! The third gipsy, who remained
on horseback, looked more like a phantom than anything human. His
complexion was the colour of pale dust, and of that same colour was all
that pertained to him, hat and clothes. His boots were dusty, of course,
and his very horse was of a dusty dun. His features were whimsically
ugly, most of his teeth were gone, and as to his age, he might be thirty
or sixty. He was somewhat lame and halt; but an unequalled rider when
once upon his steed, which he was naturally not very solicitous to quit.
I subsequently discovered that he was considered the wizard of the gang."

Any one who is familiar with the living descendants of the Romanies of
Borrow's early lifetime will know that amongst the few characteristics of
their fathers that have been preserved down to the present day is that
skill at boxing or fisticuffs which was an absolute necessity in a time
when their hand was against every man and every man's hand against them.
Nearly all the male Romanies are possessed of a lithe, sinewy, active
frame, combined with a quickness of hand and eye that gives them a
considerable advantage over less alert antagonists of heavier build.
They are not, as a rule, in a hurry to come to blows, for they know that
in the event of injury or police-court proceedings resulting from an
encounter, prejudice is strongly against the gipsy. Still, the Romany
blood pulses quickly, and when it flies to the swarthy cheek and sets the
eyes flashing, the time has come for someone to beware. The writer has
seen something of the gipsy's skill and adroitness under such conditions,
and the impression made was a lasting one. He has known, too, of a
small, slim-built Romany thrashing a strong, six-feet-high constable, for
unwarrantable interference with the former's mother in a public bar. The
Romany race is fast dying out from our midst; but it is dying what the
sportsman would call "game."

Although Borrow's obvious admiration for the brawny men of the prize-ring
brought him almost universal condemnation, his opinions were unchanged by
his critics' wrath and denunciations. There were many points in his
father's character for which he held him in esteem and affection; but he
admir