knowing it, akin.


And now as to my two Gypsy heroines, the Sinfi Lovell of
_Aylwin_ and the Rhona Boswell of _The Coming of Love_.
Although Borrow belonged to a different generation from mine, I
enjoyed his intimate friendship in his later years--during the time
when he lived in Hereford Square; and since his death I have written
a good deal about him--both in prose and in verse--in the Athenæum,
in the Encyclopædia Britannica, and in other places. When, some seven
or eight years ago, I brought out an edition of _Lavengro_ (in
Messrs. Ward, Lock & Co.'s Minerva Library), I prefaced that
delightful book by a few desultory remarks upon Sorrow's Gypsy
characters. On that occasion I gave a slight sketch of the most
remarkable 'Romany Chi' that had ever been met with in the part of
East Anglia known to Borrow and myself--Sinfi Lovell. I described
her playing on the crwth. I discussed her exploits as a boxer, and I
contrasted her in many ways with the glorious Anglo-Saxon road-girl
Isopel Berners. Since the publication of _Aylwin_ and _The
Coming of Love_ I have received very many letters from English and
American readers inquiring whether 'the Gypsy girl described in the
introduction to _Lavenyro_ is the same as the Sinfi Lovell of
_Aylwin_,' and also whether 'the Rhona Boswell that figures in
the prose story is the same as the Rhona of _The Coming of
Love_?' The evidence of the reality of Rhona so impressed itself
upon the reader that on the appearance of Rhona's first letter in the
_Athenæum_, where the poem was printed in fragments, I got among
other letters one from the sweet poet and adorable woman Jean
Ingelow, who was then very ill,--near her death indeed,--urging me to
tell her whether Rhona's love-letter was not a versification of a