The Romany Rye

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"And now, young man," said the jockey, or whatever he was, turning
to me with an arch leer, "I suppose I may consider myself as the
purchaser of this here animal, for the use and behoof of this young
gentleman?" making a sign with his head to the tall young man by
his side. "By no means," said I, "I am utterly unacquainted with
either of you, and before parting with the horse I must be
satisfied as to the respectability of the purchaser." "Oh! as to
that matter," said he, "I have plenty of vouchers for my
respectability about me;" and thrusting his hand into his bosom
below his waistcoat, he drew out a large bundle of notes. "These
are the kind of things," said he, "which vouch best for a man's
respectability." "Not always," said I; "indeed, sometimes these
kind of things need vouchers for themselves." The man looked at me
with a peculiar look. "Do you mean to say that these notes are not
sufficient notes?" said he, "because if you do I shall take the
liberty of thinking you are not over civil, and when I thinks a
person is not over and above civil I sometimes takes off my coat;
and when my coat is off--" "You sometimes knock people down," I
added; "well, whether you knock me down or not, I beg leave to tell
you that I am a stranger in this fair, and that I shall part with
the horse to nobody who has no better guarantee for his
respectability than a roll of bank-notes, which may be good or not
for what I know, who am not a judge of such things." "Oh! if you
are a stranger here," said the man, "as I believe you are, never
having seen you here before except last night, when I think I saw
you above stairs by the glimmer of a candle--I say, if you are a
stranger, you are quite right to be cautious; queer things being
done in this fair, as nobody knows better than myself," he added
with a leer; "but I suppose if the landlord of the house vouches
for me and my notes, you will have no objection to part with the
horse to me?" "None whatever," said I, "and in the meantime the
horse can return to the stable."

Thereupon I delivered the horse to my friend the ostler.

The landlord of the house on being questioned by me as to the
character and condition of my new acquaintance, informed me that he
was a respectable horsedealer, and an intimate friend of his,
whereupon the purchase was soon brought to a satisfactory
conclusion.

CHAPTER XXXVIII

High Dutch.

It was evening: and myself and the two acquaintances I had made in
the fair--namely, the jockey and the tall foreigner--sat in a large
upstairs room, which looked into a court; we had dined with several
people connected with the fair at a long table d'hote; they had now
departed, and we sat at a small side-table with wine and a candle
before us; both my companions had pipes in their mouths--the jockey
a common pipe, and the foreigner, one, the syphon of which, made of
some kind of wood, was at least six feet long, and the bowl of
which, made of a white kind of substance like porcelain, and
capable of holding nearly an ounce of tobacco, rested on the
ground. The jockey frequently emptied and replenished his glass;
the foreigner sometimes raised his to his lips, for no other
purpose seemingly than to moisten them, as he never drained his
glass. As for myself, though I did not smoke, I had a glass before
me, from which I sometimes took a sip. The room, notwithstanding
the window was flung open, was in general so filled with smoke,
chiefly that which was drawn from the huge bowl of the foreigner,
that my companions and I were frequently concealed from each
other's eyes. The conversation, which related entirely to the
events of the fair, was carried on by the jockey and myself, the
foreigner, who appeared to understand the greater part of what we
said, occasionally putting in a few observations in broken English.
At length the jockey, after the other had made some ineffectual
attempts to express something intelligibly which he wished to say,
observed, "Isn't it a pity that so fine a fellow as meinheer, and
so clever a fellow too, as I believe him to be, is not a better
master of our language?"

"Is the gentleman a German?" said I; "if so, I can interpret for
him anything he wishes to say."

"The deuce you can," said the jockey, taking his pipe out of his
mouth, and staring at me through the smoke.

"Ha! you speak German," vociferated the foreigner in that language.
"By Isten, I am glad of it! I wanted to say--" And here he said
in German what he wished to say, and which was of no great
importance, and which I translated into English.

"Well, if you don't put me out," said the jockey; "what language is
that--Dutch?"

"High Dutch," said I.

"High Dutch, and you speak High Dutch,--why, I had booked you for
as great an ignoramus as myself, who can't write--no, nor
distinguish in a book a great A from a bull's foot."

"A person may be a very clever man," said I--"no, not a clever man,
for clever signifies clerkly, and a clever man one who is able to
read and write, and entitled to the benefit of his clergy or
clerkship; but a person may be a very acute person without being
able to read or write. I never saw a more acute countenance than
your own."

"No soft soap," said the jockey, "for I never uses any. However,
thank you for your information; I have hitherto thought myself
a'nition clever fellow, but from henceforth shall consider myself
just the contrary, and only--what's the word?--confounded 'cute."

"Just so," said I.

"Well," said the jockey, "as you say you can speak High Dutch, I
should like to hear you and master six foot six fire away at each
other."

"I cannot speak German," said I, "but I can understand tolerably
well what others say in it."

"Come no backing out," said the jockey, "let's hear you fire away
for the glory of Old England."

"Then you are a German?" said I, in German to the foreigner.

"That will do," said the jockey, "keep it up."

"A German!" said the tall foreigner. "No, I thank God that I do
not belong to the stupid sluggish Germanic race, but to a braver,
taller, and handsomer people;" here taking the pipe out of his
mouth, he stood up proudly erect, so that his head nearly touched
the ceiling of the room, then reseating himself, and again putting
the syphon to his lips, he added, "I am a Magyar."

"What is that?" said I.

The foreigner looked at me for a moment, somewhat contemptuously,
through the smoke, then said, in a voice of thunder, "A Hungarian!"

"What a voice the chap has when he pleases!" interposed the jockey;
"what is he saying?"

"Merely that he is a Hungarian," said I; but I added, "the
conversation of this gentleman and myself in a language which you
can't understand must be very tedious to you, we had better give it
up."

"Keep on with it," said the jockey, "I shall go on listening very
contentedly till I fall asleep, no bad thing to do at most times."

CHAPTER XXXIX

The Hungarian.

"Then you are a countryman of Tekeli, and of the queen who made the
celebrated water," said I, speaking to the Hungarian in German,
which I was able to do tolerably well, owing to my having
translated the Publisher's philosophy into that language, always
provided I did not attempt to say much at a time.

Hungarian. Ah! you have heard of Tekeli, and of L'eau de la Reine
d'Hongrie. How is that?

Myself. I have seen a play acted, founded on the exploits of
Tekeli, and have read Pigault Le Brun's beautiful romance, entitled
the "Barons of Felsheim," in which he is mentioned. As for the
water, I have heard a lady, the wife of a master of mine, speak of
it.

Hungarian. Was she handsome?

Myself. Very.

Hungarian. Did she possess the water?

Myself. I should say not; for I have heard her express a great
curiosity about it.

Hungarian. Was she growing old?

Myself. Of course not; but why do you put all these questions?

Hungarian. Because the water is said to make people handsome, and
above all, to restore to the aged the beauty of their youth. Well!
Tekeli was my countryman, and I have the honour of having some of
the blood of the Tekelis in my veins, but with respect to the
queen, pardon me if I tell you that she was not an Hungarian; she
was a Pole--Ersebet by name, daughter of Wladislaus Locticus King
of Poland; she was the fourth spouse of Caroly the Second, King of
the Magyar country, who married her in 1320. She was a great woman
and celebrated politician, though at present chiefly known by her
water.

Myself. How came she to invent it?

Hungarian. If her own account may be believed, she did not invent
it. After her death, as I have read in Florentius of Buda, there
was found a statement of the manner in which she came by it,
written in her own hand, on a fly-leaf of her breviary, to the
following effect:- Being afflicted with a grievous disorder at the
age of seventy-two, she received the medicine which was called her
water, from an old hermit whom she never saw before or afterwards;
it not only cured her, but restored to her all her former beauty,
so that the King of Poland fell in love with her, and made her an
offer of marriage, which she refused for the glory of God, from
whose holy angel she believed she had received the water. The
receipt for making it and directions for using it, were also found
on the fly-leaf. The principal component parts were burnt wine and
rosemary, passed through an alembic; a drachm of it was to be taken
once a week, "etelbenn vagy italbann," in the food or the drink,
early in the morning, and the cheeks were to be moistened with it
every day. The effects according to the statement, were wonderful-
-and perhaps they were upon the queen; but whether the water has
been equally efficacious on other people, is a point which I cannot
determine. I should wish to see some old woman who has been
restored to youthful beauty by the use of L'eau de la Reine
d'Hongrie.

Myself. Perhaps, if you did, the old gentlewoman would hardly be
so ingenuous as the queen. But who are the Hungarians--descendants
of Attila and his people?

The Hungarian shook his head, and gave me to understand that he did
not believe that his nation were the descendants of Attila and his
people, though he acknowledged that they were probably of the same
race. Attila and his armies, he said, came and disappeared in a
very mysterious manner, and that nothing could be said with
positiveness about them; that the people now known as Magyars first
made their appearance in Muscovy in the year 884, under the
leadership of Almus, called so from Alom, which, in the Hungarian
language, signifies a dream; his mother, before his birth, having
dreamt that the child with which she was enceinte would be the
father of a long succession of kings, which, in fact, was the case;
that after beating the Russians he entered Hungary, and coming to a
place called Ungvar, from which many people believed that modern
Hungary derived its name, he captured it, and held in it a grand
festival, which lasted four days, at the end of which time he
resigned the leadership of the Magyars to his son Arpad. This
Arpad and his Magyars utterly subdued Pannonia--that is, Hungary
and Transylvania, wresting the government of it from the Sclavonian
tribes who inhabited it, and settling down amongst them as
conquerors! After giving me this information, the Hungarian
exclaimed with much animation,--"A goodly country that which they
had entered on, consisting of a plain surrounded by mountains, some
of which intersect it here and there, with noble rapid rivers, the
grandest of which is the mighty Dunau; a country with tiny
volcanoes, casting up puffs of smoke and steam, and from which hot
springs arise, good for the sick; with many fountains, some of
which are so pleasant to the taste as to be preferred to wine; with
a generous soil which, warmed by a beautiful sun, is able to
produce corn, grapes, and even the Indian weed; in fact, one of the
finest countries in the world, which even a Spaniard would
pronounce to be nearly equal to Spain. Here they rested--
meditating, however, fresh conquests. Oh, the Magyars soon showed
themselves a mighty people. Besides Hungary and Transylvania, they
subdued Bulgaria and Bosnia, and the land of Tot, now called
Sclavonia. The generals of Zoltan, the son of Arpad, led troops of
horsemen to the banks of the Rhine. One of them, at the head of a
host, besieged Constantinople. It was then that Botond engaged in
combat with a Greek of gigantic stature, who came out of the city
and challenged the two best men in the Magyar army. 'I am the
feeblest of the Magyars,' said Botond, 'but I will kill thee;' and
he performed his word, having previously given a proof of the
feebleness of his arm by striking his battle-axe through the brazen
gate, making a hole so big that a child of five years old could
walk through it."

Myself. Of what religion were the old Hungarians?

Hungarian. They had some idea of a Supreme Being, whom they called
Isten, which word is still used by the Magyars for God; but their
chief devotion was directed to sorcerers and soothsayers, something
like the Schamans of the Siberian steppes. They were converted to
Christianity chiefly through the instrumentality of Istvan or
Stephen, called after his death St. Istvan, who ascended the throne
in the year one thousand. He was born in heathenesse, and his
original name was Vojk: he was the first kiraly, or king of the
Magyars. Their former leaders had been called fejedelmek, or
dukes. The Magyar language has properly no term either for king or
house. Kiraly is a word derived from the Sclaves; haz, or house,
from the Germans, who first taught them to build houses, their
original dwellings having been tilted waggons.

Myself. Many thanks for your account of the great men of your
country.

Hungarian. The great men of my country! I have only told you of
the-- Well, I acknowledge that Almus and Arpad were great men, but
Hungary has produced many greater; I will not trouble you by
recapitulating all, but there is one name I cannot forbear
mentioning--but you have heard of it--even at Horncastle, the name
of Hunyadi must be familiar.

Myself. It may be so, though I rather doubt it; but, however that
may be, I confess my ignorance. I have never, until this moment,
heard the name of Hunyadi.

Hungarian. Not of Hunyadi Janos, not of Hunyadi John--for the
genius of our language compels us to put a man's Christian name
after his other; perhaps you have heard of the name of Corvinus?

Myself. Yes, I have heard the name of Corvinus.

Hungarian. By my God, I am glad of it; I thought our hammer of
destruction, our thunderbolt, whom the Greeks called Achilles, must
be known to the people of Horncastle. Well, Hunyadi and Corvinus
are the same.

Myself. Corvinus means the man of the crow, or raven. I suppose
that your John, when a boy, climbed up to a crow or a raven's nest,
and stole the young; a bold feat, well befitting a young hero.

Hungarian. By Isten, you are an acute guesser; a robbery there
was, but it was not Hunyadi who robbed the raven, but the raven who
robbed Hunyadi.

Myself. How was that?

Hungarian. In this manner: Hunyadi, according to tradition, was
the son of King Sigmond, by a peasant's daughter. The king saw and
fell in love with her, whilst marching against the vaivode of
Wallachia. He had some difficulty in persuading her to consent to
his wishes, and she only yielded at last, on the king making her a
solemn promise that, in the event of her becoming with child by
him, he would handsomely provide for her and the infant. The king
proceeded on his expedition; and on his returning in triumph from
Wallachia, again saw the girl, who informed him that she was
enceinte by him; the king was delighted with the intelligence, gave
the girl money, and at the same time a ring, requesting her, if she
brought forth a son, to bring the ring to Buda with the child, and
present it to him. When her time was up, the peasant's daughter
brought forth a fair son, who was baptized by the name of John.
After some time the young woman communicated the whole affair to
her elder brother, whose name was Gaspar, and begged him to convey
her and the child to the king at Buda. The brother consented, and
both set out, taking the child with them. On their way, the woman,
wanting to wash her clothes, laid the child down, giving it the
king's ring to play with. A raven, who saw the glittering ring,
came flying, and plucking it out of the child's hand, carried it up
into a tree; the child suddenly began to cry, and the mother,
hearing it, left her washing, and running to the child, forthwith
missed the ring, but hearing the raven croak in the tree, she
lifted up her eyes, and saw it with the ring in its beak. The
woman, in great terror, called her brother, and told him what had
happened, adding that she durst not approach the king if the raven
took away the ring. Gaspar, seizing his cross-bow and quiver, ran
to the tree, where the raven was yet with the ring, and discharged
an arrow at it, but, being in a great hurry, he missed it; with his
second shot he was more lucky, for he hit the raven in the breast,
which, together with the ring, fell to the ground. Taking up the
ring, they went on their way, and shortly arrived at Buda. One
day, as the king was walking after dinner in his outer hall, the
woman appeared before him with the child, and, showing him the
ring, said, "Mighty lord! behold this token! and take pity upon me
and your own son." King Sigmond took the child and kissed it, and,
after a pause, said to the mother, "You have done right in bringing
me the boy; I will take care of you, and make him a nobleman." The
king was as good as his word, he provided for the mother; caused
the boy to be instructed in knightly exercises, and made him a
present of the town of Hunyad, in Transylvania, on which account he
was afterwards called Hunyadi, and gave him, as an armorial sign, a
raven bearing a ring in his beak.

Such, oh young man of Horncastle! is the popular account of the
birth of the great captain of Hungary, as related by Florentius of
Buda. There are other accounts of his birth, which is, indeed,
involved in much mystery, and of the reason of his being called
Corvinus, but as this is the most pleasing, and is, upon the whole,
founded on quite as good evidence as the others, I have selected it
for recitation.

Myself. I heartily thank you; but you must tell me something more
of Hunyadi. You call him your great captain; what did he do?

Hungarian. Do! what no other man of his day could have done. He
broke the power of the Turk when he was coming to overwhelm Europe.
From the blows inflicted by Hunyadi, the Turk never thoroughly
recovered; he has been frequently worsted in latter times, but none
but Hunyadi could have routed the armies of Amurath and Mahomed the
Second.

Myself. How was it that he had an opportunity of displaying his
military genius?

Hungarian. I can hardly tell you, but his valour soon made him
famous; King Albert made him Ban of Szorenyi. He became eventually
waivode of Transylvania, and governor of Hungary. His first grand
action was the defeat of Bashaw Isack; and though himself surprised
and routed at St. Imre, he speedily regained his prestige by
defeating the Turks, with enormous slaughter, killing their leader,
Mezerbeg; and subsequently, at the battle of the Iron Gates, he
destroyed ninety thousand Turks, sent by Amurath to avenge the late
disgrace. It was then that the Greeks called him Achilles.

Myself. He was not always successful.

Hungarian. Who could be always successful against the early Turk?
He was defeated in the battle in which King Vladislaus lost his
life, but his victories outnumbered his defeats three-fold. His
grandest victory--perhaps the grandest ever achieved by man--was
over the terrible Mahomed the Second; who, after the taking of
Constantinople in 1453, said, "One God in Heaven--one king on
earth;" and marched to besiege Belgrade at the head of one hundred,
and fifty thousand men; swearing by the beard of the prophet, "That
he would sup within it ere two months were elapsed." He brought
with him dogs, to eat the bodies of the Christians whom he should
take or slay; so says Florentius; hear what he also says: The Turk
sat down before the town towards the end of June, 1454, covering
the Dunau and Szava with ships: and on the 4th of July he began to
cannonade Belgrade with cannons twenty-five feet long, whose roar
could be heard at Szeged, a distance of twenty-four leagues, at
which place Hunyadi had assembled his forces. Hunyadi had been
able to raise only fifteen thousand of well-armed and disciplined
men, though he had with him vast bands of people, who called
themselves Soldiers of the Cross, but who consisted of
inexperienced lads from school, peasants, and hermits, armed with
swords, slings, and clubs. Hunyadi, undismayed by the great
disparity between his forces and those of the Turk, advanced to
relieve Belgrade, and encamped at Szalankemen with his army. There
he saw at once, that his first step must be to attack the flotilla;
he therefore privately informed Szilagy, his wife's brother, who at
that time defended Belgrade, that it was his intention to attack
the ships of the Turks on the 14th day of July in front, and
requested his co-operation in the rear. On the 14th came on the
commencement of the great battle of Belgrade, between Hunyadi and
the Turk. Many days it lasted.

Myself. Describe it.

Hungarian. I cannot. One has described it well--Florentius of
Buda. I can only repeat a few of his words: --"On the appointed
day, Hunyadi, with two hundred vessels, attacked the Turkish
flotilla in front, whilst Szilagy, with forty vessels, filled with
the men of Belgrade, assailed it in the rear; striving for the same
object, they sunk many of the Turkish vessels, captured seventy-
four, burnt many, and utterly annihilated the whole fleet. After
this victory, Hunyadi, with his army, entered Belgrade, to the
great joy of the Magyars. But though the force of Mahomed upon the
water was destroyed, that upon the land remained entire; and with
this, during six days and nights, he attacked the city without
intermission, destroying its walls in many parts. His last and
most desperate assault was made on the 21st day of July. Twice did
the Turks gain possession of the outer town, and twice was it
retaken with indescribable slaughter. The next day the combat
raged without ceasing till mid-day, when the Turks were again
beaten out of the town, and pursued by the Magyars to their camp.
There the combat was renewed, both sides displaying the greatest
obstinacy, until Mahomed received a great wound over his left eye.
The Turks then, turning their faces, fled, leaving behind them
three hundred cannon in the hands of the Christians, and more than
twenty-four thousand slain on the field of battle."

Myself. After that battle, I suppose Hunyadi enjoyed his triumphs
in peace?

Hungarian. In the deepest, for he shortly died. His great soul
quitted his body, which was exhausted by almost superhuman
exertions, on the 11th of August, 1456. Shortly before he died,
according to Florentius, a comet appeared, sent, as it would seem,
to announce his coming end. The whole Christian world mourned his
loss. The Pope ordered the cardinals to perform a funeral ceremony
at Rome in his honour. His great enemy himself grieved for him,
and pronounced his finest eulogium. When Mahomed the Second heard
of his death, he struck his head for some time against the ground
without speaking. Suddenly he broke silence with these words,
"Notwithstanding he was my enemy, yet do I bewail his loss; since
the sun has shone in heaven, no Prince had ever yet such a man."

Myself. What was the name of his Prince?

Hungarian. Laszlo the Fifth; who, though under infinite
obligations to Hunyadi, was anything but grateful to him; for he
once consented to a plan which was laid to assassinate him,
contrived by his mortal enemy Ulrik, Count of Cilejia; and after
Hunyadi's death, caused his eldest son, Hunyadi Laszlo, to be
executed on a false accusation, and imprisoned his younger son,
Matyas, who, on the death of Laszlo, was elected by the Magyars to
be their king, on the 24th of January, 1458.

Myself. Was this Matyas a good king?

Hungarian. Was Matyas Corvinus a good king? O young man of
Horncastle! he was the best and greatest that ever Hungary
possessed, and, after his father, the most renowned warrior,--some
of our best laws were framed by him. It was he who organized the
Hussar force, and it was he who took Vienna. Why does your
Government always send fools to represent it at Vienna?

Myself. I really cannot say; but with respect to the Hussar force,
is it of Hungarian origin?

Hungarian. Its name shows its origin. Huz, in Hungarian, is
twenty and the Hussar force is so called because it is formed of
twentieths. A law was issued by which it was ordered that every
Hungarian nobleman, out of every twenty dependents, should produce
a well-equipped horseman, and with him proceed to the field of
battle.

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