With such an ugly, loathly wife
The Lord has punish’d me;
I dare not take her for my life
Where’er the Spaniards be.
O, I am not of gentle clan,
I’m sprung from Gypsy tree;
And I will be no gentleman,
But an Egyptian free.
On high arose the moon so fair,
The Gypsy ’gan to sing:
I see a Spaniard coming there,
I must be on the wing.
This house of harlotry doth smell,
I flee as from the pest;
Your mother likes my sire too well;
To hie me home is best.
The girl I love more dear than life,
Should other gallant woo,
I’d straight unsheath my dudgeon knife
And cut his weasand through;
Or he, the conqueror in the strife,
The same to me should do.
Loud sang the Spanish cavalier,
And thus his ditty ran:
God send the Gypsy lassie here,
And not the Gypsy man.
At midnight, when the moon began
To show her silver flame,
There came to him no Gypsy man,
The Gypsy lassie came.
CHAPTER II
The Gitános, abject and vile as they have ever been, have nevertheless found admirers in Spain, individuals who have taken pleasure in their phraseology, pronunciation, and way of life; but above all, in the songs and dances of the females. This desire for cultivating their acquaintance is chiefly prevalent in Andalusia, where, indeed, they most abound; and more especially in the town of Seville, the capital of the province, where, in the barrio or Faubourg of Triana, a large Gitáno colon has long flourished, with the denizens of which it is at all times easy to have intercourse, especially to those who are free of their money, and are willing to purchase such a gratification at the expense of dollars and pesetas.
When we consider the character of the Andalusians in general, we shall find little to surprise us in this predilection for the Gitános. They are an indolent frivolous people, fond of dancing and song, and sensual amusements. They live under the most glorious sun and benign heaven in Europe, and their country is by nature rich and fertile, yet in no province of Spain is there more beggary and misery; the greater part of the land being uncultivated, and producing nothing but thorns and brushwood, affording in itself a striking emblem of the moral state of its inhabitants.