_Romany Rye_. Most are in some sort of agreement as to the supremacy of
the dingle episode, which has this advantage: Borrow is always at his
best when dealing with strange beings and abnormal experiences. When he
is describing ordinary mortals he treats them with coldness as mere
strangers. The commonplace town-dwellers seldom arouse his sympathy,
never kindle his enthusiasm. He is quite another being when we wander by
his side within the bounds of his enchanted dingle.

This history of certain doings in a Staffordshire dingle, during the
month of July 1825, begins with a battle-royal, which places Borrow high
amongst the narrators of human conflicts from the days of the Iliad to
those of Pierce Egan; yet the chapters that set forth this episode of the
dingle are less concerned with the "gestes" than with the sayings of its
occupants. Rare, indeed, are the dramatic dialogues amid the sylvan
surroundings of the tree-crowned hollow, that surpass in interest even
the vivid details of the memorable fray between the flaming tinman and
the pugilistic philologer. Pre-eminent amongst the dialogues are those
between the male occupant of the dingle and the popish propagandist,
known as the man in black. More fascinating still, perhaps, are the word-
master's conversations with Jasper; most wonderful of all, in the opinion
of many, is his logomachy with Ursula under the thorn bush. We shall not
readily forget Jasper's complaints that all the 'old-fashioned,
good-tempered constables' are going to be set aside, or his gloomy
anticipations of the iron roads in which people are to 'thunder along in
vehicles pushed forward by fire and smoke.' As for his comparison of the
gypsies to cuckoos, the roguish charring fellows, for whom every one has
a bad word, yet whom every one is glad to greet once again when the
spring comes round, or Ursula's exposition of gypsy love and marriage
beneath the hedge,--these are Borrow at his best, as he is most familiar
to us, in the open air among gypsies. With the popish emissary it is