I wish to live like a dog of the wood. {2}


It is clear-sounding and melodious, and well adapted to the purposes
of poetry. Let him who doubts peruse attentively the following
lines:-


Coin si deya, coin se dado?
Pukker mande drey Romanes,
Ta mande pukkeravava tute.

Rossar-mescri minri deya!
Wardo-mescro minro dado!
Coin se dado, coin si deya?
Mande's pukker'd tute drey Romanes;
Knau pukker tute mande.

Petulengro minro dado,
Purana minri deya!
Tatchey Romany si men -
Mande's pukker'd tute drey Romanes,
Ta tute's pukker'd mande.


The first three lines of the above ballad are perhaps the oldest
specimen of English Gypsy at present extant, and perhaps the purest.
They are at least as old as the time of Elizabeth, and can pass among
the Zigany in the heart of Russia for Ziganskie. The other lines are
not so ancient. The piece is composed in a metre something like that