But she was not: she was cockney to the marrow. Recluse
as Rossetti was in his later years, he had at one time been very
different, and could bring himself in touch with the lower orders of
London in a way such as was only known to his most intimate friends.
With all her impudence, and I may say insolence, Mrs. Gudgeon was a
great favourite with the police, who were the constant butts of her
chaff.
With regard to the gipsies, although I knew George Borrow intimately,
and saw a great deal of Mr. Watts-Dunton's other Romany Rye friend,
the late Frank Groome, I did not know Sinfi Lovell or Rhona Boswell.
But I may say that those who have said that Sinfi Lovell was painted
from the same model as Mr. Meredith's Kiomi are mistaken. Sinfi
Lovell was extremely beautiful, whereas Kiomi, I believe, was never
very beautiful. But that they are represented as being contemporaries
and friends is shown by D'Arcy's mention of Kiomi in Scott's
oyster-rooms. The characters who figure in the early Raxton scenes I
cannot speak of for reasons which may be pretty obvious; nor can I
speak of the Welsh chapters in _Aylwin_, which have been a good deal
discussed in recent numbers of _Notes and Queries_.
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