sides of the hollow are overgrown with trees and bushes. A belt of
sallows crowns the circular edge of the small crater_. _At the lowest
part of the Dingle are discovered a stone and a fire of charcoal_, _from
which spot a winding path ascends to_ "_the plain_." _On either side of
the fire is a small encampment. One consists of a small pony cart and a
small hut-shaped tent_, _occupied by the word-master_. _On the other
side is erected a kind of tent_, _consisting of large hoops covered over
with tarpaulin_, _quite impenetrable to rain; hard by stands a small
donkey-cart_. _This is_ "_the tabernacle_" _of_ ISOPEL BERNERS. _A
short distance off_, _near a spring of clear water_, _is the encampment
of the Romany chals and chies--the Petulengres and their small clan_.

THE PLACE _is about five miles from Willenhall in Staffordshire_.

THE TIME _is July_ 1825.




CHAPTER I--THE SCHOLAR SAYS GOOD-BYE TO THE GYPSY, AND PITCHES HIS TENT
IN THE DINGLE.


[In May 1825 our autobiographer, known among the gypsies as the
word-master, decided to leave London, and travelled, partly on foot and
partly by coach, to Amesbury; and then, after two days at Salisbury,
struck northwards. A few days later, in a small beer-house, he met a
tinker and his wife; the tinker was greatly depressed, having recently
been intimidated by a rival, one Bosville, "the flaming tinman," and
forced by threats to quit the road. The word-master, who meditated