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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:38:43 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:38:43 -0700 |
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diff --git a/28548-h/28548-h.htm b/28548-h/28548-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1561ff3 --- /dev/null +++ b/28548-h/28548-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,13647 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>Gipsy Life, by George Smith</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + P.gutsumm { margin-left: 5%;} + P.poetry {margin-left: 3%; } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4, H5 { + text-align: left; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + table { border-collapse: collapse; } +table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;} + td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid black;} + td p { margin: 0.2em; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + color: gray; + } + + div.gapspace { height: 0.8em; } + div.gapline { height: 0.8em; width: 30%; } + div.gapdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 50%; + margin-left: 25%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; margin-left:40%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + div.gapmediumline { height: 0.3em; width: 50%; margin-left: 25%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + img.floatleft { float: left; margin-right: 1em; } + img.floatright { float: right; margin-left: 1em; } + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg eBook of Gipsy Life, by George Smith + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Gipsy Life + being an account of our Gipsies and their children + + +Author: George Smith + + + +Release Date: April 9, 2009 [eBook #28548] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIPSY LIFE*** +</pre> +<p>Transcribed from the 1880 Haughton and Co. edition by David +Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/coverb.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Book cover" +title= +"Book cover" +src="images/covers.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/fpb.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Frontispiece: Among the Gipsy children" +title= +"Frontispiece: Among the Gipsy children" +src="images/fps.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h1>GIPSY LIFE:</h1> +<p style="text-align: center">BEING AN ACCOUNT</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">of</span></p> +<p style="text-align: center">OUR GIPSIES AND THEIR CHILDREN.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">with</span><br +/> +SUGGESTIONS FOR THEIR IMPROVEMENT.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">by</span><br /> +GEORGE SMITH, <span class="smcap">of Coalville</span>.</p> +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">london</span>:<br /> +HAUGHTON & CO., 10, PATERNOSTER ROW.</p> +<div class="gapshortline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center">[<i>All Rights Reserved</i>.]</p> +<div class="gapshortline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center">1880.</p> +<p><!-- page iv--><a name="pageiv"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +iv</span>I give my warmest thanks to <span class="smcap">W. H. +Overend</span>, Esq., for the block forming the Frontispiece, +which he has kindly presented to me on the condition that the +picture occupies the position it does in this book; and also to +the proprietor of the <i>Illustrated London News</i> for the +blocks to help forward my work, the pictures of which appeared in +his journal in November and December of last year and January in +the present year, as found herein on pages 42, 48, 66, 76, 96, +108, 118, 122, 174, 192, 236, 283.</p> +<p>I must at the same time express my heart-felt thanks to the +manager and proprietors of the <i>Graphic</i> for the blocks +forming the illustrations on pages 1, 132, 170, 222, 228, 248, +272, 277, and which appeared in their journal on March 13th in +the present year, and which they have kindly presented to me to +help forward my object, connected with which sketches, at the +kind request of the Editor, I wrote the article.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">W. H. Overend</span>, Esq., was the artist +for the sketches in the <i>Illustrated London News</i>, and <span +class="smcap">Herbert Johnson</span>, Esq., was the artist for +the sketches in the <i>Graphic</i>.</p> +<p>I also tender my warmest thanks to the Press generally for the +help rendered to me during the crusade so far, without which I +should have done but little.</p> +<h2><!-- page v--><a name="pagev"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +v</span><span class="smcap">to the most honourable</span><br /> +THE PEERS AND MEMBERS<br /> +<span class="smcap">of the</span><br /> +HIGH COURT OF PARLIAMENT.</h2> +<p>I have taken the liberty of humbly dedicating this work to +you, the object of which is not to tickle the critical ears of +ethnologists and philologists, but to touch the hearts of my +countrymen on behalf of the poor Gipsy women and children and +other roadside Arabs flitting about in our midst, in such a way +as to command attention to these neglected, dark, marshy spots of +human life, whose seedlings have been running wild among us +during the last three centuries, spreading their poisonous +influence abroad, not only detrimental to the growth of +Christianity and the spread of civilisation, but to the present +and eternal welfare of the children; and, what I ask for is, that +the hand of the Schoolmaster may be extended towards the +children; and that the vans and other temporary and movable +abodes in which they live may be brought under the eye and +influence of the Sanitary Inspector.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">Very respectfully yours,<br /> +GEORGE SMITH,<br /> +<i>Of Coalville</i>.</p> +<p><i>April</i> 30<i>th</i>, 1880.</p> +<h2><!-- page vii--><a name="pagevii"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. vii</span>INDEX.</h2> +<table> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><h3>Part I.</h3> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Rambles in +gipsydom</span>.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="smcap">page</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Origin of the Gipsies and their Names</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page1">1</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Article in <i>The Daily News</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page8">8</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>The Travels of the Gipsies</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page9">9</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Acts of Parliament relating to the Gipsies</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page16">16</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Article in <i>The Edinburgh Review</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page23">23</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> ,, <i>The Saturday Review</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page25">25</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Professor Bott on the Gipsies</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page29">29</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>The Changars of India</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page32">32</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>The Doms of India</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page33">33</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>The Sanseeas of India</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page35">35</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>The Nuts of India</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page36">36</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Grellmann on the Gipsies</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page39">39</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Gipsies of Notting Hill</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page40">40</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Rev. Charles Wesley</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page42">42</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>The Number of Gipsies</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page44">44</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><h3><!-- page viii--><a name="pageviii"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. viii</span>Part II.</h3> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Commencement of +the Crusade</span>.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Work begun</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page48">48</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Letter to <i>The Standard</i> and <i>Daily +Chronicle</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page51">51</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Leading Article in <i>The Standard</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page53">53</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Correspondence in <i>The Standard</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page59">59</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Mr. Leland’s Letter, &c., &c.</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page60">60</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>My Reply</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page66">66</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><i>Leicester Free Press</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page69">69</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Article in <i>The Derby Daily Telegraph</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page70">70</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> „ <i>The Figaro</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page73">73</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Letter in <i>The Daily News</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page75">75</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Mr. Gorrie’s Letter</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page78">78</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>My Reply</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page79">79</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Leading Article in <i>The Standard</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page82">82</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><i>May’s Aldershot Advertiser</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page87">87</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Article in <i>Hand and Heart</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page90">90</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Article in <i>The Illustrated London News</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page91">91</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Leading Article in <i>The Daily News</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page92">92</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Social Science Congress Paper</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page95">95</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Article in <i>Birmingham Daily Mail</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page102">102</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> „ <i>The Weekly Dispatch</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page106">106</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> „ <i>The Weekly Times</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page109">109</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> „ <i>The Croydon Chronicle</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page117">117</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> „ <i>Primitive Methodist</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page119">119</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> „ <i>Illustrated London +News</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page121">121</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> „ <i>The Quiver</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page126">126</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Letter in <i>Daily News</i> and <i>Chronicle</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page127">127</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Article in <i>Christian World</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page129">129</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> ,, <i>Sunday School Chronicle</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page132">132</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> „ <i>Unitarian Herald</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page134">134</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> „ <i>Weekly Times</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page135">135</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><h3><!-- page ix--><a name="pageix"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. ix</span>Part III.</h3> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">The Treatment +the Gipsies have received in this Country</span>.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>The Social History of our Country</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page142">142</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Acts of Parliament concerning the Gipsies</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page145">145</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Treatment of the Gipsies in Scotland, Spain, and +Denmark</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page150">150</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Efforts put forth to improve their Condition</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page155">155</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>His Majesty George III. and the Dying Gipsy</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page161">161</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Mr. Crabb at Southampton in 1827</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page164">164</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Fiction and the Gipsies</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page166">166</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Hubert Petalengro’s Gipsy Trip to Norway</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page169">169</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Esmeralda’s Song</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page174">174</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>George Borrow’s Travels in Spain</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page177">177</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Romance and Poetry about the Gipsies</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page183">183</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Dean Stanley’s Prize Poem</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page190">190</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><h3>Part IV.</h3> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Gipsy Life in a +Variety of Aspects</span>.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Persecution, Missionary Efforts, and Romance</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page192">192</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>The Gipsy Contrast and <i>Punch</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page193">193</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Gipsy Slang</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page195">195</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Rees and Borrow’s Description of the Gipsies</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page199">199</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Leland among the Russian Gipsies</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page201">201</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Burning a Russian Fortune-teller</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page203">203</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>A Welsh Gipsy’s Letter</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page208">208</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Ryley Bosvil and his Poetry: a Sad Example</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page213">213</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>My Visit to Canning Town Gipsies</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page220">220</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Article in <i>The Weekly Times</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page222">222</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>My Son’s Visit to Barking Road</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page227">227</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Mrs. Simpson, a Christian Gipsy</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page228">228</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><h3><!-- page x--><a name="pagex"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. x</span>Part V.</h3> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">The Sad +Condition of the Gipsies, with Suggestions for their +Improvement</span>.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Gipsy Beauty and Songsters</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page237">237</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Gipsy Poetry</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page239">239</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Smart and Crofton</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page239">239</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>A Little Gipsy Girl’s Letter</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page242">242</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Scotch Gipsies</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page243">243</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Gipsy Trickery</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page244">244</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>My Visit to the Gipsies at Kensal Green</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page248">248</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Fortune-telling and other Sins</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page249">249</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Wretched Condition of the Gipsies</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page254">254</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Hungarian Gipsies</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page259">259</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Visit to Cherry Island</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page260">260</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>The Cleanliness and Food of the Gipsies</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page262">262</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>A Gipsy Woman’s Opinion upon Religion</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page264">264</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Gipsy Faithfulness and Fidelity</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page264">264</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>A Visit to Hackney Marshes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page266">266</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Sickness among the Gipsies</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page270">270</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>A Gipsy Woman’s Funeral</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page271">271</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Gipsies and the Workhouse</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page274">274</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Education of the Gipsy Children Sixty Years ago</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page274">274</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Mission Work among the Gipsies</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page275">275</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Gipsy Children upon Turnham Green and Wandsworth +Common</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page276">276</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Sad Condition of the Gipsy Children</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page277">277</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>The Hardships of the Gipsy Women</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page281">281</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Efforts put forth in Hungary and other Countries</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page282">282</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Things made by the Gipsies</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page284">284</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Pity for the Gipsies</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page285">285</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>What the State has done for the Thugs</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page286">286</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>The Remedy</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page287">287</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>My Reasons for Government Interference</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page289">289</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<h2><!-- page xi--><a name="pagexi"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +xi</span>Illustrations.</h2> +<table> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="smcap">page</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p>Frontispiece. Among the Gipsy +Children.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>A Gipsy Beauty</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page1">1</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>A Gentleman Gipsy’s Tent and his dog +“Grab”</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page42">42</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>A Gipsy’s Home for Man and Wife and Six Children</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page48">48</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Gipsies Camping among the Heath</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page66">66</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Gipsy Quarters, Mary Place</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page76">76</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>A Farmer’s Pig that does not like a Gipsy’s +Tent</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page96">96</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Gipsies’ Winter Quarters, Latimer Road</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page108">108</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>A Gipsy Tent for Two Men, their Wives, and Eleven +Children, and in which “Deliverance” was born</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page118">118</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>A Gipsy Knife Grinder’s Home</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page122">122</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>A Gipsy Girl Washing Clothes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page132">132</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>A Respectable Gipsy and his Family “on the +Road”</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page170">170</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>A Bachelor Gipsy’s Bed-room</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page174">174</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>A Gipsy’s Van, near Notting Hill</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page192">192</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>A Fortune-telling Gipsy enjoying her Pipe</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page222">222</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Inside a Christian Gipsy’s Van—Mrs. +Simpson’s</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page228">228</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Inside a Gipsy Fortune-teller’s Van</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page236">236</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Gipsy Fortune tellers Cooking their Evening Meal</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page248">248</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Outside a Christian Gipsy’s Van</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page272">272</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Four Little Gipsies sitting for the Artist</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page277">277</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>A Top Bed-room in a Gipsy’s Van</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page281">281</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page xii--><a +name="pagexii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xii</span> +<a href="images/p0b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"A Gipsy beauty who can neither read nor write" +title= +"A Gipsy beauty who can neither read nor write" +src="images/p0s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h2><!-- page 1--><a name="page1"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +1</span>Part I.—Rambles in Gipsydom.</h2> +<p>The origin of the Gipsies, as to who they are; when they +became regarded as a peculiar race of wandering, wastrel, +ragamuffin vagabonds; the primary object they had in view in +setting out upon their shuffling, skulking, sneaking, dark +pilgrimage; whether they were driven at the point of the sword, +or allured onwards by the love of gold, designing dark deeds of +plunder, cruelty, and murder, or anxious to seek a haven of rest; +the route by which they travelled, whether over hill and dale, by +the side of the river and valley, skirting the edge of forest and +dell, delighting in the jungle, or pitching their tent in the +desert, following the shores of the ocean, or topping the +mountains; whether they were Indians, Persians, Egyptians, +Ishmaelites, Roumanians, Peruvians, Turks, Hungarians, Spaniards, +or Bohemians; the end of their destination; their religious +views—if any—their habits and modes of life have been +during the last three or four centuries wrapped, surrounded, and +encircled in mystery, according to some writers who have been +studying the Gipsy character. They have been a theme upon +which a “bookworm” could gloat, a chest of secret +drawers into which the curious delight to pry, a difficult +problem in Euclid for the mathematician to solve; and an +unreadable book for the author. A conglomeration of +languages for the <!-- page 2--><a name="page2"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 2</span>scholar, a puzzle for the historian, +and a subject for the novelist. These are points which it +is not the object of this book to attempt to clear up and settle; +all it aims at, as in the case of my “Cry of the Children +from the Brick-yards of England,” and “Our Canal +Population,” is, to tell “A Dark Chapter in the +Annals of the Poor,” little wanderers, houseless, homeless, +and friendless in our midst. At the same time it will be +necessary to take a glimpse at some of the leading features of +the historical part of their lives in order to get, to some +extent, a knowledge of the “little ones” whose +pitiable case I have ventured to take in hand.</p> +<p>Paint the words “mystery” and +“secrecy” upon any man’s house, and you at once +make him a riddle for the cunning, envious, and crafty to try to +solve; and this has been the case with the Gipsies for +generations, and the consequence has been, they have trotted out +kings, queens, princes, bishops, nobles, ladies and gentlemen of +all grades, wise men, fools, and fanatics, to fill their coffers, +while they have been standing by laughing in their sleeves at the +foolishness of the foolish.</p> +<p>In Spain they were banished by repeated edicts under the +severest penalties. In Italy they were forbidden to remain +more than two nights in the same place. In Germany they +were shot down like wild beasts. In England during the +reign of Elizabeth, it was felony, without the “benefit of +the clergy,” to be seen in their company. The State +of Orleans decreed that they should be put to death with fire and +sword—still they kept coming.</p> +<p>In the last century, however, a change has come over several +of the European Governments. Maria Theresa in 1768, and +Charles III. of Spain in 1783, took measures for the education of +these poor outcasts in the habits of a civilised life with very +encouraging results. The experiment is now being tried in +Russia with signal success. The emancipation of the +Wallachian Gipsies is a fact accomplished, and the best results +are being achieved.</p> +<p><!-- page 3--><a name="page3"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +3</span>The Gipsies have various names assigned to them in +different countries. The name of Bohemians was given to +them by the French, probably on account of their coming to France +from Bohemia. Some derive the word Bohemians from the old +French word “Boëm,” signifying a sorcerer. +The Germans gave them the name of “Ziegeuner,” or +wanderers. The Portuguese named them +“Siganos.” The Dutch called them +“Heiden,” or heathens. The Danes and Swedes, +“Tartars.” In Italy they are called +“Zingari.” In Turkey and the Levant, +“Tschingenes.” In Spain they are called +“Gitanos.” In Hungary and Transylvania, where +they are very numerous, they are called “Pharaoh +Nepek,” or “Pharaoh’s People.” The +notion of their being Egyptian is entirely erroneous—their +appearance, manners, and language being totally different from +those of either the Copts or Fellahs; there are many Gipsies now +in Egypt, but they are looked upon as strangers.</p> +<p>Notwithstanding that edicts have been hurled against them, +persecuted and hunted like vermin during the Middle Ages, still +they kept coming. Later on, laws more merciful than in +former times have taken a more humane view of them and been +contented by classing them as “vagrants and +scoundrels”—still they came. Magistrates, +ministers, doctors, and lawyers have spit their spite at +them—still they came; frowning looks, sour faces, +buttoned-up pockets, poverty and starvation staring them in the +face—still they came. Doors slammed in their faces, +dogs set upon their heels, and ignorant babblers hooting at +them—still they came; and the worst of it is they are +reducing our own “riff-raff” to their level. +The novelist has written about them; the preacher has preached +against them; the drunkards have garbled them over in their +mouths, and yelped out “Gipsy,” and stuttered +“scamp” in disgust; the swearer has sworn at them, +and our “gutter-scum gentlemen” have told them to +“stand off.” These +“Jack-o’-th’-Lantern,” +“Will-o’-th’-Wisp,” +“Boo-peep,” “Moonshine Vagrants,” <!-- +page 4--><a name="page4"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +4</span>“Ditchbank Sculks,” “Hedgerow +Rodneys,” of whom there are not a few, are black spots upon +our horizon, and are ever and anon flitting before our +eyes. A motley crowd of half-naked savages, carrion eaters, +dressed in rags, tatters, and shreds, usually called men, women, +and children, some running, walking, loitering, traipsing, +shouting, gaping, and staring; the women with children on their +backs, and in their arms; old men and women tottering along +“leaning upon their staffs;” hordes of children +following in the rear; hulking men with lurcher dogs at their +heels, sauntering along in idleness, spotting out their prey; +donkeys loaded with sacks, mules with tents and sticks, and their +vans and waggons carrying ill-gotten gain and plunder; and the +question arises in the mind of those who take an interest in this +singularly unfortunate race of beings: From whence came +they? How have they travelled? By what routes did +they travel? What is their condition, past and +present? How are they to be dealt with in any efforts put +forth to improve their condition? These are questions I +shall in my feeble way endeavour to solve; at any rate, the two +latter questions; the first questions can be dealt better with by +abler hands than mine.</p> +<p>I would say, in the first place, that it is my decided +conviction that the Gipsies were neither more nor less, before +they set out upon their pilgrimage, than a pell-mell gathering of +many thousands of low-caste, good for nothing, idle Indians from +Hindustan—not ashamed to beg, with some amount of sentiment +in their nature, as exhibited in their musical tendencies and +love of gaudy colours, and except in rare instances, without any +true religious motives or influences. It may be worth while +to notice that I have come to the conclusion that they were +originally from India by observing them entirely in the light +given to me years ago of the different characters of human beings +both in Asia, Europe, and Africa. Their habits, manners, +and customs, to me, is a sufficient test, without calling in the +aid of the <!-- page 5--><a name="page5"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 5</span>philologist to decide the point of +their originality. I may here remark that in order to get +at the real condition of the Gipsies as they are at the present +day in this country, and not to have my mind warped or biassed in +any way, I purposely kept myself in ignorance upon the subject as +to what various authors have said either for or against them +until I had made my inquiries and the movement had been afloat +for several months. The first work touching the Gipsy +question I ever handled was presented to me by one of the +authors—Mr. Crofton—at the close of my Social Science +Congress paper read at Manchester last October, entitled +“The Dialect of the English Gipsies,” which work, +without any disrespect to the authors—and I know they will +overlook this want of respect—remained uncut for nearly two +months. With further reference to their Indian origin, the +following is an extract from “Hoyland’s Historical +Survey,” in which the author says:—“The Gipsies +have no writing peculiar to themselves in which to give a +specimen of the construction of their dialect. Music is the +only science in which the Gipsies participate in any considerable +degree; they likewise compose, but it is after the manner of the +Eastern people, extempore.” Grellmann asserts that +the Hindustan language has the greatest affinity with that of the +Gipsies. He also infers from the following consideration +that Gipsies are of the lowest class of Indians, namely, Parias, +or, as they are called in Hindustan, Suders, and goes on to say +that the whole great nation of Indians is known to be divided +into four ranks, or stocks, which are called by a Portuguese +name, Castes, each of which has its own particular +sub-division. Of these castes, the Brahmins is the first; +the second contains the Tschechterias, or Setreas; the third +consists of the Beis, or Wazziers; the fourth is the caste of the +above-mentioned Suders, who, upon the peninsula of Malabar, where +their condition is the same as in Hindustan, are called Parias +and Pariers. The first were appointed by Brahma to seek +after knowledge, to give instruction, <!-- page 6--><a +name="page6"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 6</span>and to take +care of religion. The second were to serve in war. +The third were, as the Brahmins, to cultivate science, but +particularly to attend to the breeding of cattle. The caste +of the Suders was to be subservient to the Brahmins, the +Tschechterias, and the Beis. These Suders, he goes on to +say, are held in disdain, and they are considered infamous and +unclean from their occupation, and they are abhorred because they +eat flesh; the three other castes living entirely on +vegetables. Baldeus says the Parias or Suders are a filthy +people and wicked crew. It is related in the “Danish +Mission Intelligencer,” nobody can deny that the Parias are +the dregs and refuse of all the Indians; they are thievish, and +have wicked dispositions. Neuhof assures us, “the +Parias are full of every kind of dishonesty; they do not consider +lying and cheating to be sinful.” The Gipsy’s +solicitude to conceal his language is also a striking Indian +trait. Professor Pallas says of the Indians round Astracan, +custom has rendered them to the greatest degree suspicious about +their language. Salmon says that the nearest relations +cohabit with each other; and as to education, their children grow +up in the most shameful neglect, without either discipline or +instruction. The missionary journal before quoted says with +respect to matrimony among the Suders or Gipsies, “they act +like beasts, and their children are brought up without restraint +or information.” “The Suders are fond of +horses, so are the Gipsies.” Grellmann goes on to say +“that the Gipsies hunt after cattle which have died of +distempers in order to feed on them, and when they can procure +more of the flesh than is sufficient for one day’s +consumption, they dry it in the sun. Such is the constant +custom with the Suders in India.” “That the +Gipsies and natives of Hindustan resemble each other in +complexion and shape is undeniable. And what is asserted of +the young Gipsy girls rambling about with their fathers, who are +musicians, dancing with lascivious and indecent gesture to divert +any person who is willing to give them a small <!-- page 7--><a +name="page7"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 7</span>gratuity for so +acting, is likewise perfectly Indian.” Sonneratt +confirms this in the account he gives of the dancing girls of +Surat. Fortune-telling is practised all over the East, but +the peculiar kind professed by the Gipsies, viz., chiromancy, +constantly referring to whether the parties shall be rich or +poor, happy or unhappy in marriage, &c., is nowhere met with +but in India. Sonneratt says:—“The Indian smith +carries his tools, his shop, and his forge about with him, and +works in any place where he can find employment. He has a +stone instead of an anvil, and his whole apparatus is a pair of +tongs, a hammer, a beetle, and a file. This is very much +like Gipsy tinkers,” &c. It is usual for Parias, +or Suders, in India to have their huts outside the villages of +other castes. This is one of the leading features of the +Gipsies of this country. A visit to the outskirts of +London, where the Gipsies encamp, will satisfy any one upon this +point, viz., that our Gipsies are Indians. In isolated +cases a strong religious feeling has manifested itself in certain +persons of the Bunyan type of character and countenance—a +strong frame, with large, square, massive forehead, such as +Bunyan possessed; for it should be noted that John Bunyan was a +Gipsy tinker, with not an improbable mixture of the blood of an +Englishman in his veins, and, as a rule, persons of this mixture +become powerful for good or evil. A case in point, viz., +Mrs. Simpson and her family, has come under my own observation +lately, which forcibly illustrates my meaning, both as regards +the evil Mrs. Simpson did in the former part of her life, and for +the last twenty years in her efforts to do good among persons of +her class, and also among others, as she has travelled about the +country. The exodus of the Gipsies from India may be set +down, first, to famine, of which India, as we all know, suffers +so much periodically; second, to the insatiable love of gold and +plunder bound up in the nature of the Gipsies—the West, +from an Indian point of view, is always looked upon as a land of +gold, flowing with milk and honey; third, the hatred the Gipsies +have for wars, <!-- page 8--><a name="page8"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 8</span>and as in the years of 1408 and 1409, +and many years previous to these dates, India experienced some +terrible bloody conflicts, when hundreds of thousands of men, +women, and children were butchered by the cruel monster Timur Beg +in cold blood, and during the tenth and eleventh centuries by +Mahmood the Demon, on purpose to make proselytes to the +Mohammedan faith, it is only natural to suppose that under those +circumstances the Gipsies would leave the country to escape the +consequences following those calamities, over-populated as it +was, numbering close upon 200,000,000 of human beings. <a +name="citation8"></a><a href="#footnote8" +class="citation">[8]</a> I am inclined to think that it +<!-- page 9--><a name="page9"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +9</span>would be hunger and starvation upon their heels that +would be the propelling power to send them forward in quest of +food. From Attock, Peshawur, Cabul, and Herat, they would +tramp through Persia by Teheran, and enter the Euphrates Valley +at Bagdad. From Calcutta, Madras, Seringapatam, Bangalore, +Goa, Poonah, Hydrabad, Aurungabad, Nagpoor, Jabbulpoor, Benares, +Allahabad, Surat, Simla, Delhi, Lahore, they would wander along +to the mouth of the river Indus, and commence their journey at +Hydrabad, and travelling by the shores of the Indian Ocean, +stragglers coming in from Bunpore, Gombaroon, the commencement of +the Persian Gulf, when they would travel by Bushino to +Bassora. At this place they would begin to scatter +themselves over some parts of Arabia, making their headquarters +near Molah, Mecca, and other parts of the country, crossing over +Suez, and getting into Egypt in large numbers. Others would +take the Euphrates Valley route, which, by the way, is the route +of the proposed railway to India. Tribes branching off at +Kurnah, some to Bagdad, following the course of the river Tigris +to Mosul and Diarbeker, and others would go to Jerusalem, +Damuscus, and Antioch, till they arrived at Allepo and +Alexandretta. Here may be considered the starting-point +from which they spread over Asiatic Turkey in large numbers, till +they arrived before Constantinople at the commencement of the +fourteenth century.</p> +<p><!-- page 10--><a name="page10"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +10</span>Straggling Gipsies no doubt found their way westward +prior to the wars of Timur Beg, and in this view I am supported +by the fact that two of our own countrymen—Fitz-Simeon and +Hugh the Illuminator, holy friars—on their pilgrimage to +the Holy Land in 1322, called at Crete, and there found some +Gipsies—I am inclined to think only a few sent out as a +kind of advance-guard or feeler, adopting the plan they have done +subsequently in peopling Europe and England during the fifteenth +and sixteenth centuries.</p> +<p>Brand, in his observations in “Popular +Antiquities,” is of opinion also that the Gipsies fled from +Hindustan when Timur Beg ravaged India with a view of making +Mohammedans of the heathens, and it is calculated that during his +deeds of blood he butchered 500,000 Indians. Some writers +suppose that the Gipsies, in order to escape the sword of this +human monster, came into Europe through Egypt, and on this +account were called English Gipsies.</p> +<p>In a paper read by Colonel Herriot before the Royal Asiatic +Society, he says that the Gipsies, or Indians—called by +some Suders, by others Naths or Benia, the first signifying +rogue, the second dancer or tumbler—are to be met in large +numbers in that part of Hindustan which is watered by the Ganges, +as well as the Malwa, Gujerat, and the Deccan.</p> +<p>The religious crusades to the Holy Land commenced in the year +1095 and lasted to 1270. It was during the latter part of +the time of the Crusades, and prior to the commencement of the +wars by Timur Beg, that the Gipsies flocked by hundreds of +thousands to Asiatic Turkey. While the rich merchants and +princes were trying to outvie each other in their costly +equipages, grandeur, and display of gold in their pilgrimage to +the Holy Land, and the tremendous death-struggles between +Christianity, Idolatry, and Mohammedism, the Gipsies were busily +engaged in singing songs and plundering, and in this work they +were encouraged by the Persians as they passed through their +territory. The Persians have always been friendly to these +wandering, loafing Indians, for <!-- page 11--><a +name="page11"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 11</span>we find that +during the wars of India by Timur Beg, and other monsters +previous, they were harbouring 20,000 of these poor low-caste and +outcast Indians; and, in fact, the same thing may be said of the +other countries they passed through on their way westward, for we +do not read of their being persecuted in these countries to +anything like the extent they have been in Europe. This, no +doubt, arises from the affinity there is between the Indian, +Persian, and Gipsy races, and the dislike the Europeans have +towards idlers, loafers, liars, and thieves; and especially is +this so in England. Gipsy life may find favour in the East, +but in the West the system cannot thrive. A real Englishman +hates the man who will not work, scorns the man who would tell +him a lie, and would give the thief who puts his hands into his +pocket the cat-o’-nine-tails most unmercifully. The +persecutions of the Gipsies in this country from time to time has +been brought about, to a great extent, by themselves. John +Bull dislikes keeping the idle, bastard children of other +nations. He readily protects all those who tread upon +English soil, but in return for this kindness he expects them, +like bees, to be all workers. Drones, ragamuffins, and +rodneys cannot grumble if they get kicked out of the hive. +If 20,000 Englishmen were to tramp all over India, Turkey, +Persia, Hungary, Spain, America, Egypt, Greece, Cyprus, South +Africa, Germany, or France, in bands of from, say two to fifty +men, women, and children, in a most wretched; miserable +condition, doing little else but fiddling upon the national +conscience and sympathies, blood-sucking the hardworking +population, and frittering their time away in idleness, +pilfering, and filth, I expect, and justly so, the inhabitants +would begin to “kick,” and the place would no doubt +get rather warm for Mr. John Bull and his motley flock. If +the Gipsies, and others of the same class in this country, will +begin to “buckle-to,” and set themselves out for real +hard work, instead of cadging from door to door, they will find, +notwithstanding they are called Gipsies, John Bull <!-- page +12--><a name="page12"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +12</span>extending to them the hand of brotherhood and sympathy, +and the days of persecution passed.</p> +<p>One thing is remarkable concerning the Gipsies—we never +hear of their being actually engaged in warfare. They left +India for Asiatic Turkey before the great and terrible wars broke +out during the fourteenth century, and before the great religious +wars concerning the Mohammedan faith in Turkey, during the +fourteenth century, they fled to Western Europe. Thus it +will be seen that they “would sooner run a mile than fight +a minute.” The idea of cold steel in open day +frightens them out of their wits. Whenever a war is about +to take place in the country in which they are located they will +begin to make themselves scarce; and, on the other hand, they +will not visit a country where war is going on till after it is +over, and then, vulture-like, they swoop down upon the +prey. This feature is one of their leading characteristics; +with some honourable exceptions, they are always looked upon as +long-sighted, dark, deep, designing specimens of fallen +humanity. For a number of years prior to the capture of +Constantinople by Mohammed II. in 1453 the Gipsies had commenced +to wend their way to various parts of Europe. The 200,000 +Gipsies who had emigrated to Wallachia and Moldavia, their +favourite spot and stronghold, saw what was brewing, and had +begun to divide themselves into small bands. A band of 300 +of these wanderers, calling themselves Secani, appeared in 1417 +at Lüneburg, and in 1418 at Basil and Bern in +Switzerland. Some were seen at Augsberg on November 1, +1418. Near to Paris there were to be seen numbers of +Gipsies in 1424, 1426, and 1427; but it is not likely they +remained long in Paris. Later on we find them at Arnheim in +1429, and at Metz in 1430, Erfurt in 1432, and in Bavaria in +1433. The reason they appeared at these places at those +particular times, was, no doubt, owing to the internal troubles +of France; for it was during 1429 that Joan of Arc raised the +siege of Orleans. The Gipsies appearing <!-- page 13--><a +name="page13"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 13</span>in small +bands in various parts of the Continent at this particular time +were, no doubt, as Mr. Groom says in his article in the +“Encyclopædia Britannica,” sent forward by the +main body of Gipsies left behind in Asiatic and European Turkey, +to spy out the land whither they were anxious to bend their ways; +for it was in the year 1438, fifteen years before the terrible +struggle by the Mohammedans for Constantinople, that the great +exodus of Gipsies from Wallachia, Roumania, and Moldavia, for the +golden cities of the West commenced. From the period of +1427 to 1514, a space of about eighty-seven years—except +spies—they were content to remain on the Continent without +visiting our shores; probably from two causes—first, their +dislike to crossing the water; second, the unsettled state of our +own country during this period. For it should be remembered +that the Wars of the Roses commenced in 1455, Richard III. was +killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field, and in 1513 the Battle of +Flodden took place in Scotland, in which the Scots were +defeated. The first appearance of the Gipsies in large +numbers in Great Britain was in Scotland in 1514, the year after +the Battle of Flodden. Another remarkable coincidence +connected with their appearance in this country came out during +my inquiries; but whether there is any foundation for it further +than it is an idea floating in my brain I have not yet been able +to ascertain, as nothing is mentioned of it in any of the +writings I have perused. It seems reasonable to suppose +that the Gipsies, would retain and hand down some of their +pleasant, as well as some of the bitter, recollections of India, +which, no doubt, would at this time be mentioned to persons high +in position—it should be noted that the Gipsies at this +time were favourably received at certain head-quarters amongst +merchants and princes—for we find that within fourteen +years after the landing of the Indians upon our shores attempts +were made to reach India by the North-east and North-west +passages, which proved a disastrous affair. Then, again, in +1579 Sir F. Drake’s expedition set out <!-- page 14--><a +name="page14"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 14</span>for +India. In 1589 the Levant Company made a land expedition, +and in all probability followed the track by which the Gipsies +travelled from India to the Holy Land in the fourteenth century, +by the Euphrates valley and Persian Gulf.</p> +<p>Towards the end of the year 1417, in the Hanseatic towns on +the Baltic coast and at the mouth of the Elbe, there appeared +before the gates of Lüneburg, and later on at Hamburg, +Lübeck, Wirmar, Rostock, and Stralsuna, a herd of swarthy +and strange specimens of humanity, uncouth in form, hideous in +complexion, and their whole exterior shadowed forth the lowest +depths of poverty and degradation. A cloak made of the +fragments of oriental finery was generally used to disguise the +filth and tattered garments of their slight remaining +apparel. The women and young children travelled in rude +carts drawn by asses or mules; the men trudged alongside, casting +fierce and suspicious glances on those they met, thief-like, from +underneath their low, projecting foreheads and eyebrows; the +elder children, unkempt and half-clad, swarmed in every +direction, calling with shrill cries and monkey-like faces and +grimaces to the passers-by to their feats of jugglery, craft, and +deception. Forsaking the Baltic provinces the dusky band +then sought a more friendly refuge in central Germany—and +it was quite time they had begun to make a move, for their deeds +of darkness had oozed out, and a number of them paid the penalty +upon the gallows, and the rest scampered off to Meissen, Leipsic, +and Herse. At these places they were not long in letting +the inhabitants know, by their depredations, witchcraft, devilry, +and other abominations, the class of people they had in their +midst, and the result was their speedy banishment from Germany; +and in 1418, after wandering about for a few months only, they +turned their steps towards Switzerland, reaching Zurich on August +1st, and encamped during six days before the town, exciting much +sympathy by their pious tale and sorrowful appearance. In +Switzerland the <!-- page 15--><a name="page15"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 15</span>inhabitants were more gullible, and +the soft parts of their nature were easily getatable, and the +consequence was the Gipsies made a good thing of it for the space +of four years. Soon after leaving Zurich, according to Dr. +Mikliosch, the wanderers divided their forces. One +detachment crossed the Botzberg and created quite a panic amongst +the peaceable inhabitants of Sisteron, who, fearing and imagining +all sorts of evils from these satanic-looking people, fed them +with a hundred loaves, and induced them, for the good of their +health, to make themselves miserably less. We next hear of +them in Italy, in 1422. After leaving Asiatic Turkey, and +in their wanderings through Russia and Germany, the Asiatic, +sanctimonious, religious halo, borrowed from their idolatrous +form and notions of the worship of God in the East, had suffered +much from exposure to the civilising and Christianising +influences of the West; and the result was their leaders decided +to make a pilgrimage to Rome to regain, under the cloak of +religion, some of the self-imagined lost prestige; and in this +they were, at any rate, for a time, successful. On the 11th +day of July, 1422, a leader of the Gipsies, named Duke Andrew, +arrived at Bologna, with men, women and children, fully one +hundred persons, carrying with them, as they alleged, a decree +signed by the King of Hungary, permitting them, owing to their +return to the Christian faith—stating at the same time that +4,000 had been re-baptised—to rob without penalty or +hindrance wherever they travelled during seven years. Here +these long-faced, pious hypocrites were in clover, as a reward +for their professed re-embracing Christianity. After the +expiration of this term they told the open-mouthed inhabitants, +as a kind of sweetener, that they were to present themselves to +the Pope, and then return to India—aye, with the spoils of +their lying campaign, gained by robbing and plundering all they +came in contact with. The result of their deceitful, lying +expedition to Rome was all they could wish, and they received a +fresh passport from <!-- page 16--><a name="page16"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 16</span>. the Pope, asking for alms from his +faithful flock on behalf of these wretches, who have been +figuring before western nations of the world—sometimes as +kings, counts, martyrs, prophets, witches, thieves, liars, and +murderers; sometimes laying their misfortunes at the door of the +King of Egypt, the Sultan of Turkey, religious persecution in +India, the King of Hungary, and a thousand other Gorgios since +them. Sometimes they would appear as renegade Christians, +converted heathens, Roman Catholics, in fact, they have been +everything to everybody; and, so long as the “grist was +coming to the mill,” it did not matter how or by whom it +came.</p> +<p>By an ordinance of the State of Orleans in the year 1560 it +was enjoined that all those impostors and vagabonds who go +tramping about under the name of Bohemians and Egyptians should +quit the kingdom, on penalty of the galleys. Upon this they +dispersed into lesser companies, and spread themselves over +Europe. They were expelled from Spain in 1591. The +first time we hear of them in England in the public records was +in the year 1530, when they were described by the statute 22 Hen. +VIII., cap. 10, as “an outlandish people calling themselves +Egyptians. Using no craft nor seat of merchandise, who have +come into this realm and gone from shire to shire, and place to +place, in great company, and used great subtile, crafty means to +deceive the people, bearing them in hand, that they by palmistry +could tell men’s and women’s fortunes, and so many +times by craft and subtilty have deceived the people of their +money, and also have committed many heinous felonies and +robberies. Wherefore they are directed to avoid the realm, +and not to return under pain of imprisonment and forfeiture of +their goods and chattels; and upon their trials for any felony +which they may have committed they shall not be entitled to a +jury <i>de medietate linguæ</i>.” As if the +above enactment was not sufficiently strong to prevent these +wretched people multiplying in our midst and carrying on their +abominable practices, <!-- page 17--><a name="page17"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 17</span>it was afterwards enacted by statutes +1 and 2 Ph., and in c. 4 and 5 Eliz., cap. 20, “that if any +such person shall be imported into this kingdom, the importer +shall forfeit £40. And if the Egyptians themselves +remain one month in this kingdom, or if any person being fourteen +years old (whether natural-born subject or stranger), which hath +been seen or found in the fellowship of such Egyptians, or which +hath disguised him or herself like them, shall remain in the same +one month, or if several times it is felony, without the benefit +of the clergy.”</p> +<p>Sir Matthew Hale informs us that at the Suffolk Assizes no +less than thirteen Gipsies were executed upon these statutes a +few years before the Restoration. But to the honour of our +national humanity—which at the time of these executions +could only have been in name and not in reality, for those were +the days of bull-fighting, bear-baiting, and like sports, the +practice of which in those dark ages was thought to be the +highest pitch of culture and refinement—no more instances +of this kind were thrown into the balance, for the public +conscience had become somewhat awakened; the days of +enlightenment had begun to dawn, for by statute 23, George III., +cap. 51, it was enacted that the Act of Eliz., cap. 20, is +repealed; and the statute 17 George II., cap. 5, regards them +under the denomination of “rogues and vagabonds;” and +such is the title given to them at the present day by the law of +the land—“Rogues and Vagabonds.”</p> +<p>Borrow, in page 10 of his “Bible in Spain,” says: +“Shortly after their first arrival in England, which is +upwards of three centuries since, a dreadful persecution was +raised against them, the aim of which was their utter +extermination—the being a Gipsy was esteemed a crime worthy +of death, and the gibbets of England groaned and creaked beneath +the weight of Gipsy carcases, and the miserable survivors were +literally obliged to creep into the earth in order to preserve +their lives. But these days passed by; their persecutors +became weary of persecuting them; they <!-- page 18--><a +name="page18"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 18</span>showed their +heads from the caves where they had hidden themselves; they +ventured forth increased in numbers, and each tribe or family +choosing a particular circuit, they fairly divided the land +amongst them.</p> +<p>“In England the male Gipsies are all dealers in horses +[this is not exactly the case with the Gipsies of the present +day], and sometimes employ their time in mending the tin and +copper utensils of the peasantry; the females tell +fortunes. They generally pitch their tents in the vicinity +of a village or small town, by the roadside, under the shelter of +the hedges and trees. The climate of England is well known +to be favourable to beauty, and in no part of the world is the +appearance of the Gipsies so prepossessing as in that +country. Their complexion is dark, but not disagreeably so; +their faces are oval, their features regular, their foreheads +rather low, and their hands and feet small.</p> +<p>“The crimes of which these people were originally +accused were various, but the principal were theft, sorcery, and +causing disease among the cattle; and there is every reason for +supposing that in none of these points they were altogether +guiltless.</p> +<p>“With respect to sorcery, a thing in itself impossible, +not only the English Gipsies, but the whole race, have ever +professed it; therefore, whatever misery they may have suffered +on that account they may be considered as having called it down +upon their own heads.</p> +<p>“Dabbling in sorcery is in some degree the province of +the female Gipsy. She affects to tell the future, and to +prepare philters by means of which love can be awakened in any +individual towards any particular object; and such is the +credulity of the human race, even in the more enlightened +countries, that the profits arising from their practices are +great. The following is a case in point:—Two females, +neighbours and friends, were tried some years since in England +for the murder of their husbands. It appeared that they +were in love with the same individual, and <!-- page 19--><a +name="page19"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 19</span>had +conjointly, at various times, paid sums of money to a Gipsy woman +to work charms to captivate his affection. Whatever little +effect the charm might produce, they were successful in their +principal object, for the person in question carried on for some +time a criminal intercourse with both. The matter came to +the knowledge of the husbands, who, taking means to break off +this connection, were respectively poisoned by their wives. +Till the moment of conviction these wretched females betrayed +neither emotion nor fear; but then their consternation was +indescribable, when they afterwards confessed that the Gipsy who +had visited them in prison had promised to shield them from +conviction by means of her art.</p> +<p>“Poisoning cattle is exercised by them in two ways: by +one, they merely cause disease in the animals, with the view of +receiving money for curing them upon offering their +services. The poison is generally administered by powders +cast at night into the mangers of the animals. This way is +only practised upon the larger cattle, such as horses and +cows. By the other, which they practise chiefly on swine, +speedy death is almost invariably produced, the drug administered +being of a highly intoxicating nature, and affecting the +brain. Then they apply at the house or farm where the +disaster has occurred for the carcase of the animal, which is +generally given them without suspicion, and then they feast on +the flesh, which is not injured by the poison, it only affecting +the head.”</p> +<p>In looking at the subject from a plain, practical, +common-sense point of view—divested of +“opinions,” “surmises,” +“technicalities,” “similarities,” certain +ethnological false shadows and philological mystifications, the +little glow-worm in the hedge-bottom on a dark night, which our +great minds have been running after for generations, and +“natural consequences,” “objects sought,” +and “certain results”—we shall find that the +same thing has happened to the Gipsies, or Indians, centuries +ago, that has happened to all nations at one <!-- page 20--><a +name="page20"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 20</span>time or +other. There can be no doubt but that terrible internal +struggles took place, and hundreds of thousands of the +inhabitants were butchered in cold blood, in India, during the +tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries; there can be +no question, also, that the 200,000,000 inhabitants, in this +over-populated country, would suffer, in various forms, the +direst consequences of war, famine, and bloodshed; and, it is +more than probable, that hundreds of thousands of the idle, +low-caste Indians, too lazy to work, too cowardly to fight in +open day, with no honourable ambition or true religious instincts +in their nature, other than to aspire to the position similar to +bands of Nihilists, Communists, Socialists, or Fenians of the +present day, would emigrate to Wallachia, Roumania, or Moldavia, +which countries, at that day, were looked upon as England is at +the present time. The Gipsies, many centuries ago, as now, +did not believe in yokes being placed round their necks. +The fact of 200,000 of these emigrants, about whom, after all, +there is not much mystery, emigrating to Wallachia in such large +numbers, proves to my mind that there was a greater power behind +them and before them than is usually supposed to be the case, and +than that attending wandering minstrels, impelling them +forward. Mohammedism, soldiers, and death would not be +looked upon by the Gipsies as pleasant companions. By +fleeing for their lives they escaped death, and Wallachia was to +the Gipsies, for some time, what America has been to the +Fenians—an ark of safety and the land of Nod. Many of +the Gipsies themselves imagine that they are the descendants of +Ishmael, from the simple fact that it was decreed by God, they +say, that his descendants should wander about in tents, and they +were to be against everybody, and everybody against them. +This erroneous impression wants removing, or the Gipsies will +never rise in position.</p> +<p>In no country in the world is there so much caste feeling, +devilish jealousy, and diabolical revenge manifested as in <!-- +page 21--><a name="page21"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +21</span>India. These are true types and traits of Indian +character, especially of the lower orders and those who have lost +caste; the Turks, Arabs, Egyptians, Roumanians, Hungarians, and +Spaniards sink into insignificance when compared with the +Afghans, Hindus, and other inhabitants of some of the worst parts +of India. Any one observing the Gipsies closely, as I have +been trying to do for some time, outside their mystery boxes, +with their thin, flimsy veil of romance and superstitious turn of +their faces, will soon discover their Indian character. Of +course their intermixture with Circassians and other nations, in +the course of their travels from India, during five or six +centuries, till the time they arrived at our doors, has brought, +and is still bringing, to the surface the blighted flowers of +humanity, whose ancestral tree derived its nourishment from the +soil of Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Roumania, Wallachia, +Moldavia, Spain, Hungary, Norway, Italy, Germany, France, +Switzerland, England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, as the muddy +stream of Gipsyism has been winding its way for ages through +various parts of the world; and, I am sorry to say, this little +dark stream has been casting forth an unpleasant odour and a +horrible stench in our midst, which has so long been fed and +augmented by the dregs of English society from Sunday-schools and +the hearthstones of pious parents. The different +nationalities to be seen among the Gipsies, in their camps and +tents, may be looked upon as so many bastard off-shoots from the +main trunk of the trees that have been met with in their +wanderings.</p> +<p>In no part of the globe, owing principally to our isolation, +is the old Gipsy character losing itself among the street-gutter +rabble as in our own; notwithstanding this mixture of blood and +races, the diabolical Indian elements are easily recognisable in +their wigwams. Then, again, their Indian origin can be +traced in many of their social habits; among others, they squat +upon the ground differently to the Turk, Arab, and other +nationalities, who are pointed to by some writers <!-- page +22--><a name="page22"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 22</span>as +being the ancestors of the Gipsies. Their tramping over the +hills and plains of India, and exposure to all the changes of the +climate, has no doubt fitted them, physically, for the kind of +life they are leading in various parts of the world. To-day +Gipsies are to be found in almost every part of the civilised +countries, between the frozen regions of Siberia and the burning +sands of Africa, squatting about in their tents. The +treatment of the women and children by the men corresponds +exactly with the treatment the women and children are receiving +at the hands of the low-caste Indians. The Arabian women, +the Turkish women, and Egyptian women, may be said to be queens +when set up in comparison with the poor Gipsy woman in this +country. In Turkey, Arabia, Egypt, and some other Eastern +nations, the women are kept in the background; but among the +low-caste Indians and Gipsies the women are brought to the front +divested of the modesty of those nations who claim to be the +primogenitors of the Gipsy tribes and races. Among the +lower orders of Indians, from whom the Gipsies are the outcome, +most extraordinary types of characters and countenances are to be +seen. Any one visiting the Gipsy wigwams of the present day +will soon discover the relationship.</p> +<p>In early life, as among the Indians, some of the girls are +pretty and interesting, but with exposure, cruelty, immorality, +debauchery, idle and loose habits, the pretty, dark-eyed girl +soon becomes the coarse, vulgar woman, with the last trace of +virtue blown to the winds. If any one with but little keen +sense of observation will peep into a Gipsy’s tent when the +man is making pegs and skewers, and contrast him with the +low-caste Indian potter at his wheel and the carpenter at his +bench—all squatting upon the ground—he will not be +long in coming to the conclusion that they are all pretty much of +the same family.</p> +<p>Ethnologists and philologists may find certain words used by +the Gipsies to correspond with the Indian language, and this adds +another proof to those I have already adduced; <!-- page 23--><a +name="page23"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 23</span>but, to my +mind, this, after the lapse of so many centuries, considering all +the changes that have taken place since the Gipsies emigrated, is +not the most convincing argument, any more than our forms of +letters, the outcome of hieroglyphics, prove that we were once +Egyptians. No doubt, there are a certain few words used by +all nations which, if their roots and derivations were thoroughly +looked into, a similarity would be found in them. As +America, Australia, New Zealand, and Africa have been fields for +emigrants from China and Europe during the last century, so, in +like manner, Europe was the field for certain low-caste poor +emigrants from India during the two preceding centuries, with +this difference—the emigrants from India to Europe were +idlers, loafers who sought to make their fortunes among the +Europeans by practising, without work, the most subtle arts of +double-dealing, lying, deception, thieving, and dishonesty, and +the fate that attends individuals following out such a course as +this has attended the Gipsies in all their wanderings; the +consequence has been, the Gipsy emigrants, after their first +introduction to the various countries, have, by their actions, +disgusted those whom they wished to cheat and rob, hence the +treatment they have received. This cannot be said of the +emigrant from England to America and our own or other +colonies. An English emigrant, on account of his open +conduct, straightforward character, and industry, has been always +respected. In any country an English emigrant enters, owing +to his industrious habits, an improvement takes place. In +the country where an Indian emigrant of the Gipsy tribe enters +the tendency is the reverse of this, so far as their influence is +concerned—downward to the ground and to the dogs they +go. In these two cases the difference between civilisation +and Christianity and heathenism comes out to a marked degree.</p> +<p>In a leading article in the <i>Edinburgh Review</i>, July, +1878, upon the origin and wanderings of the Gipsies, the +following <!-- page 24--><a name="page24"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 24</span>appears:—“We next +encounter them in Corfu, probably before 1346, since there is +good reason to believe them to be indicated under the name of +<i>homines vageniti</i> in a document emanating from the Empress +Catharine of Valois, who died in that year; certainly, about +1370, when they were settled upon a fief recognised as the +<i>feudum Acinganorum</i> by the Venetians, who, in 1386, +succeeded to the right of the House of Valois in the +island. This fief continued to subsist under the lordship +of the Barons de Abitabulo and of the House of Prosalendi down to +the abolition of feudalism in Corfu in the beginning of the +present century. There remain to be noted two important +pieces of evidence relating to this period. The first is +contained in a charter of Miracco I., Waiwode of Wallachia, dated +1387, renewing a grant of forty ‘tents’ of Gipsies, +made by his uncle, Ladislaus, to the monastery of St. Anthony of +Vodici. Ladislaus began to reign in 1398. The second +consists in the confirmation accorded in 1398 by the Venetian +governor of Nanplion of the privileges extended by his +predecessors to the Acingani dwelling in that district. +Thus we find Gipsies wandering through Crete in 1322, settled in +Corfu from 1346, enslaved in Wallachia about 1370, protected in +the Peloponnesus before 1398. Nor is there is any reason to +believe that their arrival in those countries was a recent +one.”</p> +<p>Niebuhr, in his travels through Arabia, met with hordes of +these strolling Gipsies in the warm district of Yemen, and M. +Sauer in like manner found them established in the frozen regions +of Siberia. His account of them, published in 1802, shows +the Gipsy to be the same in Northern Russia as with us in +England. He describes them as follows:—“I was +surprised at the appearance of detached families throughout the +Government of Tobolsk, and upon inquiry I learned that several +roving companies of these people had strolled into the city of +Tobolsk.” The governor thought of establishing a +colony of them, but they were too cunning for <!-- page 25--><a +name="page25"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 25</span>the simple +Siberian peasant. He placed them on a footing with the +peasants, and allotted a portion of land for cultivation with a +view of making them useful members of society. They +rejected houses even in this severe climate, and preferred open +tents or sheds. In Hungary and Transylvania they dwell in +tents during the summer, and for their winter quarters make holes +ten or twelve feet deep in the earth. The women, one writer +says, “deal in old clothes, prostitution, wanton dances, +and fortune-telling, and are indolent beggars and thieves. +They have few disorders except the measles and small-pox, and +weaknesses in their eyes caused by the smoke. Their physic +is saffron put into their soup, with bleeding.” In +Hungary, as with other nations, they have no sense of religion, +though with their usual cunning and hypocrisy they profess the +established faith of every country in which they live.</p> +<p>The following is an article taken from the <i>Saturday +Review</i>, December 13th, 1879:—“It has been +repeated until the remark has become accepted as a sort of truism +that the Gipsies are a mysterious race, and that nothing is known +of their origin. And a few years ago this was true; but +within those years so much has been discovered that at present +there is really no more mystery attached to the beginning of +those nomads than is peculiar to many other peoples. What +these discoveries or grounds of belief are we shall proceed to +give briefly, our limits not permitting the detailed citation of +authorities. First, then, there appears to be every reason +for believing with Captain Richard Burton that the Jats of +North-Western India furnished so large a proportion of the +emigrants or exiles who, from the tenth century, went out of +India westward, that there is very little risk in assuming it as +an hypothesis, at least, that they formed the <i>Hauptstamm</i> +of the Gipsies of Europe. What other elements entered into +these, with whom we are all familiar, will be considered +presently. These Gipsies came from India, where caste is +established and callings are <!-- page 26--><a +name="page26"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 26</span>hereditary +even among out-castes. It is not assuming too much to +suppose that, as they evinced a marked aptitude for certain +pursuits and an inveterate attachment to certain habits, their +ancestors had in these respects resembled them for ages. +These pursuits and habits were, that:—They were tinkers, +smiths, and farriers. They dealt in horses, and were +naturally familiar with them. They were without +religion. They were unscrupulous thieves. Their women +were fortune-tellers, especially by chiromancy. They ate +without scruple animals which had died a natural death, being +especially fond of the pig, which, when it has thus been +‘butchered by God,’ is still regarded even by the +most prosperous Gipsies in England as a delicacy. They +flayed animals, carried corpses, and showed such aptness for +these and similar detested callings that in several European +countries they long monopolised them. They made and sold +mats, baskets, and small articles of wood. They have shown +great skill as dancers, musicians, singers, acrobats; and it is a +rule almost without exception that there is hardly a travelling +company of such performers, or a theatre in Europe or America, in +which there is not at least one person with some Romany +blood. Their hair remains black to advanced age, and they +retain it longer than do Europeans or ordinary Orientals. +They speak an Aryan tongue, which agrees in the main with that of +the Jats, but which contains words gathered from other Indian +sources. Admitting these as the peculiar pursuits of the +race, the next step should be to consider what are the principal +nomadic tribes of Gipsies in India and Persia, and how far their +occupations agree with those of the Romany of Europe. That +the Jats probably supplied the main stock has been +admitted. This was a bold race of North-Western India which +at one time had such power as to obtain important victories over +the caliphs. They were broken and dispersed in the eleventh +century by Mahmoud, many thousands of them wandering to the +West. They were without religion, <!-- page 27--><a +name="page27"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 27</span>‘of the +horse, horsey,’ and notorious thieves. In this they +agree with the European Gipsy. But they are not habitual +eaters of <i>mullo balor</i>, or ‘dead pork;’ they do +not devour everything like dogs. We cannot ascertain that +the Jat is specially a musician, a dancer, a mat and +basket-maker, a rope-dancer, a bear-leader, or a pedlar. We +do not know whether they are peculiar in India among the Indians +for keeping their hair unchanged to old age, as do pure-blood +English Gipsies. All of these things are, however, markedly +characteristic of certain different kinds of wanderers, or +Gipsies, in India. From this we +conclude—hypothetically—that the Jat warriors were +supplemented by other tribes.</p> +<p>“Next to the word Rom itself, the most interesting in +Romany is Zingan, or Tchenkan, which is used in twenty or thirty +different forms by the people of every country, except England, +to indicate the Gipsy. An incredible amount of far-fetched +erudition has been wasted in pursuing this philological +<i>ignis-fatuus</i>. That there are leather-working and +saddle-working Gipsies in Persia who call themselves Zingan is a +fair basis for an origin of the word; but then there are Tchangar +Gipsies of Jat affinity in the Punjab. Wonderful it is that +in this war of words no philologist has paid any attention to +what the Gipsies themselves say about it. What they do say +is sufficiently interesting, as it is told in the form of a +legend which is intrinsically curious and probably ancient. +It is given as follows in ‘The People of Turkey,’ by +a Consul’s Daughter and Wife, edited by Mr. Stanley Lane +Poole, London, 1878:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“‘Although the Gipsies are not +persecuted in Turkey, the antipathy and disdain felt for them +evinces itself in many ways, and appears to be founded upon a +strange legend current in the country. This legend says +that when the Gipsy nation were driven out of their country and +arrived at Mekran, they constructed a wonderful machine to which +a wheel was attached.’ From the context of this +imperfectly <!-- page 28--><a name="page28"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 28</span>told story, it would appear as if the +Gipsies could not travel further until this wheel should +revolve:—‘Nobody appeared to be able to turn it, till +in the midst of their vain efforts some evil spirit presented +himself under the disguise of a sage, and informed the chief, +whose name was Chen, that the wheel would be made to turn only +when he had married his sister Guin. The chief accepted the +advice, the wheel turned round, and the name of the tribe after +this incident became that of the combined names of the brother +and sister, Chenguin, the appellation of all the Gipsies of +Turkey at the present day.’ The legend goes on to +state that, in consequence of this unnatural marriage, the +Gipsies were cursed and condemned by a Mohammedan saint to wander +for ever on the face of the earth. The real meaning of the +myth—for myth it is—is very apparent. Chen is a +Romany word, generally pronounced Chone, meaning the moon, while +Guin is almost universally rendered <i>Gan</i> or +<i>Kan</i>. <i>Kan</i> is given by George Borrow as meaning +sun, and we have ourselves heard English Gipsies call it +<i>kan</i>, although <i>kam</i> is usually assumed to be +right. Chen-kan means, therefore, moon-sun. And it +may be remarked in this connection that the Roumanian Gipsies +have a wild legend stating that the sun was a youth who, having +fallen in love with his own sister, was condemned as the sun to +wander for ever in pursuit of her turned into the moon. A +similar legend exists in Greenland and the island of Borneo, and +it was known to the old Irish. It was very natural that the +Gipsies, observing that the sun and moon were always apparently +wandering, should have identified their own nomadic life with +that of these luminaries. It may be objected by those to +whom the term ‘solar myth’ is as a red rag that this +story, to prove anything, must first be proved itself. This +will probably not be far to seek. If it can be found among +any of the wanderers in India, it may well be accepted, until +something better turns up, as the possible origin of the greatly +disputed Zingan. It is quite <!-- page 29--><a +name="page29"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 29</span>as plausible +as Dr. Mikliosch’s derivation from the Acingani— +̓Ατσίyανοι—‘an +unclean, heretical Christian sect, who dwelt in Phrygia and +Lycaonia from the seventh till the eleventh century.’ +The mention of Mekran indicates clearly that the moon-sun story +came from India before the Romany could have obtained any Greek +name. And if the Romany call themselves Jengan, or Chenkan, +or Zin-gan, in the East, it is extremely unlikely that they ever +received such a name from the Gorgios in Europe.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Professor Bott, in his “Die Zigeuner in Europa und +Asien,” speaks of the Gipsies or <i>Lüry</i> as +follows:—“In the great Persian epic, the +‘Shah-Nameh’—in ‘Book of Kings,’ +Firdusi—relates an historical tradition to the following +effect. About the year 420 <span class="smcap">a.d.</span>, +Behrâm Gûr, a wise and beneficent ruler of the +Sassanian dynasty, finding that his poorer subjects languished +for lack of recreation, bethought himself of some means by which +to divert their spirits amid the oppressive cares of a laborious +life. For this purpose he sent an embassy to Shankal, King +of Canaj and Maharajah of India, with whom he had entered into a +strict bond of amity, requesting him to select from among his +subjects and transmit to the dominions of his Persian ally such +persons as could by their arts help to lighten the burden of +existence, and lend a charm to the monotony of toil. The +result was the importation of twelve thousand minstrels, male and +female, to whom the king assigned certain lands, as well as an +ample supply of corn and cattle, to the end that, living +independently, they might provide his people with gratuitous +amusement. But at the end of one year they were found to +have neglected agricultural operations, to have wasted their seed +corn, and to be thus destitute of all means of subsistence. +Then Behrâm Gûr, being angry, commanded them to take +their asses and instruments, and roam through the country, +earning a livelihood by their songs. The poet concludes as +follows:—‘The Lüry, agreeably to this mandate, +now wander about the world in search of employment, <!-- page +30--><a name="page30"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +30</span>associating with dogs and wolves, and thieving on the +road, by day and by night.’” These words were +penned nearly nine centuries ago, and correctly describe the +condition of one of the wandering tribes of Persia at the present +day, and they have been identified by some travellers as members +of the Gipsy family.</p> +<p>Dr. Von Bott goes on to say this:—“The tradition +of the importation of the Lüry from India is related by no +less than five Persian or Arab writers: first, about the year 940 +by Hamza, an Arab historian, born at Ispahan; next, as we have +seen, by Firdusi; in the year 1126 by the author of the +‘Modjmel-al-Yevaryk;’ in the fifteenth century by +Mirkhoud, the historian of the Sassanides. The transplanted +musicians are called by Hamza <i>Zuth</i>, and in some +manuscripts of Mirkhoud’s history the same name occurs, +written, according to the Indian orthography, <i>Djatt</i>. +These words are undistinguishable when pronounced, and, in fact, +may be looked upon as phonetically equivalent, the Arabic +<i>z</i> being the legitimate representative of the Indian +<i>dj</i>. Now Zuth or Zatt, as it is indifferently +written, is one of the designations of the Syrian Gipsies, and +Djatt is the tribal appellative of the ancient Indian race still +widely diffused throughout the Punjab and Beloochistan. +Thus we find that the modern Lüry, who may, without fear of +error, be classed as Persian Gipsies, derive a traditional origin +from certain Indian minstrels called by an Arab author of the +tenth century <i>Zuth</i>, and by a Persian historian of the +fifteenth, <i>Djatt</i>, a name claimed, on the one hand by the +Gipsies frequenting the neighbourhood of Damascus, and on the +other by a people dwelling in the valley of the +Indus.” The Djatts were averse to religious +speculation, and rejected all sectarian observances; the Hindu +was mystical and meditative, and a slave to the superstitions of +caste. From a remote period there were Djatt settlements +along the shores of the Persian Gulf, plainly indicating the +route by which the Gipsies travelled westward from India, as I +have before <!-- page 31--><a name="page31"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 31</span>intimated, rather than endure the +life of an Indian slave under the Mohammedan task-masters. +Liberty! liberty! free and wild as partridges, with no +disposition to earn their bread by the sweat of the brow, ran +through their nature like an electric wire, which the chirp of a +hedge-sparrow in spring-time would bring into action, and cause +them to bound like wild asses to the lanes, commons, and +moors. They have always refused to submit to the Mohammedan +faith: in fact, the Djatts have accepted neither Brahma nor +Budda, and have never adopted any national religion +whatever. The church of the Gipsies, according to a popular +saying in Hungary, “was built of bacon, and long ago eaten +by the dogs.” Captain Richard F. Burton wrote in +1849, in his work called the “Sindh, and the Races that +Inhabit the Valley of the Indus:”—“It seems +probable, from the appearance and other peculiarities of the +race, that the Djatts are connected by consanguinity with that +singular race, the Gipsies.” Some writers have +endeavoured to prove that the Gipsies were formerly Egyptians; +but, from several causes, they have never been able to show +conclusively that such was the case. The wandering Gipsies +in Egypt, at the present day, are not looked upon by the +Egyptians as in any way related to them. Then, again, +others have tried to prove that the Gipsies are the descendants +of Hagar; but this argument falls to the ground simply because +the connecting links have not been found. The two main +reasons alleged by Mr. Groom and those who try to establish this +theory are, first, that the Ishmaelites are wanderers; second, +that they are smiths, or workers in iron and brass. The +Mohammedans claim Ishmael as their father, and certainly they +would be in a better position to judge upon this point eleven +centuries ago then we possibly can be at this late date. +And so, in like manner, where it is alleged that the Gipsies +sprang from, Roumania, Wallachia, Moldavia, Spain, and +Hungary.</p> +<p>The following are specimens of Indian characters, taken <!-- +page 32--><a name="page32"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +32</span>from “The People of India,” prepared under +the authority of the Indian Government, and edited by Dr. Forbes +Watson, M.A., and Sir John William Kaye, F.R.S. In speaking +of the Changars, they say that these Indians have an unenviable +character for thieving and general dishonesty, and form one of +the large class of unsettled wanderers which, inadmissible to +Hinduism and unconverted to the Mohammedan faith, lives on in a +miserable condition of life as outcasts from the more civilised +communities. Changars are, in general, petty thieves and +pickpockets, and have no settled vocation. They object to +continuous labour. The women make baskets, beg, pilfer, or +sift and grind corn. They have no settled places of +residence, and live in small blanket or mat tents, or temporary +sheds outside villages. They are professedly Hindus and +worshippers of Deree or Bhowanee, but they make offerings at +Mohammedan shrines. They have private ceremonies, separate +from those of any professed faith, which are connected with the +aboriginal belief that still lingers among the descendants of the +most ancient tribes of India, and is chiefly a propitiation of +malignant demons and malicious sprites. They marry +exclusively among themselves, and polygamy is common. In +appearance, both men and women are repulsively mean and wretched; +the features of the women in particular being very ugly, and of a +strong aboriginal type. The Changars are one of the most +miserable and useless of the wandering tribes of the upper +provinces. They feed, as it were, on the garbage left by +others, never changing, never improving, never advancing in the +social rank, scale, or utility—outcast and foul parasites +from the earliest ages, and they so remain. The Changars, +like other vagrants, are of dissolute habits, indulging freely in +intoxicating liquors, and smoking ganjia, or cured hemp leaves, +to a great extent. Their food can hardly be particularised, +and is usually of the meanest description; occasionally, however, +there are assemblies of the caste, when sheep are killed and +eaten; and at marriages <!-- page 33--><a name="page33"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 33</span>and other domestic occurrences feasts +are provided, which usually end in foul orgies. In the +clothes and person the Changars are decidedly unclean, and +indeed, in most respects the repulsiveness of the tribes can +hardly be exceeded.</p> +<p>The Doms are a race of Gipsies found from Central India to the +far Northern frontier, where a portion of their early ancestry +appear as the Domarr, and are supposed to be pre-Aryan. In +“The People of India,” we are told that the +appearance and modes of life of the Doms indicate a marked +difference from those who surround them (in Behar). The +Hindus admit their claim to antiquity. Their designation in +the Shastras is Sopuckh, meaning dog-eater. They are +wanderers, they make baskets and mats, and are inveterate +drinkers of spirits, spending all their earnings on it. +They have almost a monopoly as to burning corpses and handling +all dead bodies. They eat all animals which have died a +natural death, and are particularly fond of pork of this +description. “Notwithstanding profligate habits, many +of them attain the age of eighty or ninety; and it is not till +sixty or sixty-five that their hair begins to get +white.” The Domarr are a mountain race, nomads, +shepherds, and robbers. Travellers speak of them as +“Gipsies.” A specimen which we have of their +language would, with the exception of one word, which is probably +an error of the transcriber, be intelligible to any English +Gipsy, and be called pure Romany. Finally, the ordinary Dom +calls himself a Dom, his wife a Domni, and the being a Dom, or +the collective Gipsydom, Domnipana. <i>D</i> in Hindustani +is found as <i>r</i> in English Gipsy speech—<i>e.g.</i>, +<i>doi</i>, a wooden spoon, is known in Europe as +<i>roi</i>. Now in common Romany we have, even in +London:—</p> +<table> +<tr> +<td><p>Rom</p> +</td> +<td><p>A Gipsy.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Romni</p> +</td> +<td><p>A Gipsy wife.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Romnipen</p> +</td> +<td><p>Gipsydom.</p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<p><!-- page 34--><a name="page34"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +34</span>Of this word <i>rom</i> we shall more to say. It +may be observed that there are in the Indian <i>Dom</i> certain +distinctly-marked and degrading features, characteristic of the +European Gipsy, which are out of keeping with the habits of +warriors, and of a daring Aryan race which withstood the +caliphs. Grubbing in filth as if by instinct, handling +corpses, making baskets, eating carrion, living for drunkenness, +does not agree with anything we can learn of the Jats. Yet +the European Gipsies are all this, and at the same time +‘horsey’ like the Jats. Is it not extremely +probable that during the “out-wandering” the Dom +communicated his name and habits to his fellow-emigrants?</p> +<p>The marked musical talent characteristic of the Slavonian and +other European Gipsies appears to link them with the Lüri of +Persia. These are distinctly Gipsies; that is to say, they +are wanderers, thieves, fortune-tellers, and minstrels. The +Shah-Nameh of Firdusi tells us that about the year 420 <span +class="smcap">a.d.</span>, Shankal, the Maharajah of India, sent +to Behram Gour, a ruler of the Sassanian dynasty in Persia, ten +thousand minstrels, male and female, called +<i>Lüri</i>. Though lands were allotted to them, with +corn and cattle, they became from the beginning irreclaimable +vagabonds. Of their descendants, as they now exist, Sir +Henry Pottinger says:—</p> +<p>“They bear a marked affinity to the Gipsies of +Europe.” [“Travels in Beloochistan and +Scinde,” p. 153.] “They speak a dialect +peculiar to themselves, have a king to each troupe, and are +notorious for kidnapping and pilfering. Their principal +pastimes are drinking, dancing, and music. . . . They are +invariably attended by half a dozen of bears and monkeys that are +broken in to perform all manner of grotesque tricks. In +each company there are always two or three members who profess . +. . modes of divining which procure them a ready admission into +every society.” This account, especially with the +mention of trained bears and monkeys, identifies them with the +Ricinari, or bear-leading <!-- page 35--><a +name="page35"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 35</span>Gipsies of +Syria (also called Nuri), Turkey, and Roumania. A party of +these lately came to England. We have seen these Syrian +Ricinari in Egypt. They are unquestionably Gipsies, and it +is probable that many of them accompanied the early migration of +Jats and Doms.</p> +<p>The following is the description of another low-caste, +wandering tribe of Indians, taken from “The People of +India,” called “Sanseeas,” vagrants of no +particular creed, and make their head-quarters near Delhi. +The editor, speaking of this tribe, says that they have been +vagrants from the earliest periods of Indian history. They +may have accompanied Aryan immigrants or invaders, or they may +have risen out of aboriginal tribes; but whatever their origin, +they have not altered in any respect, and continue to prey upon +its population as they have ever done, and will continue to do as +long as they are in existence, unless they are forcibly +restrained by our Government and converted, as the Thugs have +been, into useful members of society.</p> +<p>They are essentially outcasts, admitted to no other caste +fellowship, ministered to by no priests, without any ostensible +calling or profession, totally ignorant of everything but their +hereditary crime, and with no settled place of residence +whatever; they wander as they please over the land, assuming any +disguise they may need, and for ever preying upon the +people. When they are not engaged in acts of crime, they +are beggars, assuming various religious forms, or affecting the +most abject poverty. The women and children have the true +whine of the professional mendicant, as they frequent thronged +bazaars, receiving charity and stealing what they can. They +sell mock baubles in some instances, but only as a cloak to other +enterprises, and as a pretence of an honest calling. The +men are clever at assuming disguises; and being often intelligent +and even polite in their demeanour, can become religious +devotees, travelling merchants, or whatever they need to further +their ends. They are perfectly unscrupulous and very daring +in their proceedings. <!-- page 36--><a +name="page36"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 36</span>The Sanseeas +are not only Thugs and Dacoits, but kidnappers of children, and +in particular of female children, who are readily sold even at +very tender ages to be brought up as household slaves, or to be +educated by professional classes for the purpose of +prostitution. These crimes are the peculiar offence of the +women members of the tribe. Generally a few families in +company wander over the whole of Northern India, but are also +found in the Deccan, sometimes by themselves, sometimes in +association with Khimjurs, or a class of Dacoits, called +Mooltanes. It is, perhaps, a difficult question for +Government to deal with, but it is not impossible, as the Thugs +have been employed in useful and profitable arts, and thus +reclaimed from pursuits in which they have never known in regard +to others the same instincts of humanity which exist among +ourselves. Sanseeas have as many wives and concubines as +they can support. Some of the women are good-looking, but +with all classes, women and men, exists an appearance of +suspicion in their features which is repulsive. They are, +as a class, in a condition of miserable poverty, living from hand +to mouth, idle, disreputable, restless, without any settled +homes, and for the most part without even habitations. They +have no distinct language of their own, but speak a dialect of +Rajpootana, which is disguised by slang or <i>argot</i> terms of +their own that is unintelligible to other classes. In +“The People of India” mention is made of another +class of wandering Indians, called Nuts, or Nâths, who +correspond to the European Gipsy tribes, and like these, have no +settled home. They are constant thieves. The men are +clever as acrobats. The women attend their performances, +and sing or play on native drums or tambourines. The Nuts +do not mix with or intermarry with other tribes. They live +for the most part in tents made of black blanket stuff, and move +from village to village through all parts of the country. +They are as a marked race, and generally distrusted wherever they +go.</p> +<p><!-- page 37--><a name="page37"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +37</span>They are musicians, dancers, conjurers, acrobats, +fortune-tellers, blacksmiths, robbers, and dwellers in +tents. They eat everything, except garlic. There are +also in India the Banjari, who are spoken of by travellers as +“Gipsies.” They are travelling merchants or +pedlars. Among all of these wanderers there is a current +slang of the roads, as in England. This slang extends even +into Persia. Each tribe has its own, but the general name +for it is <i>Rom</i>.</p> +<p>It has never been pointed out, however, that there is in +Northern and Central India a distinct tribe, which is regarded +even by the Nats and Doms and Jats themselves, as peculiarly and +distinctly Gipsy. “We have met,” says one +writer, “in London with a poor Mohammedan Hindu of +Calcutta. This man had in his youth lived with these +wanderers, and been, in fact, one of them. He had also, as +is common with intelligent Mohammedans, written his +autobiography, embodying in it a vocabulary of the Indian Gipsy +language. This MS. had unfortunately been burned by his +English wife, who informed the writer that she had done so +‘because she was tired of seeing a book lying about which +she could not understand.’ With the assistance of an +eminent Oriental scholar who is perfectly familiar with both +Hindustani and Romany, this man was carefully examined. He +declared that these were the real Gipsies of India, ‘like +English Gipsies here.’ ‘People in India called +them Trablus or Syrians, a misapplied word, derived from a town +in Syria, which in turn bears the Arabic name for Tripoli. +But they were, as he was certain, pure Hindus, and not Syrian +Gipsies. They had a peculiar language, and called both this +tongue and themselves <i>Rom</i>. In it bread was called +Manro.’ Manro is all over Europe the Gipsy word for +<i>bread</i>. In English Romany it is softened into +<i>maro</i> or <i>morro</i>. Captain Burton has since +informed us that <i>manro</i> is the Afghan word for bread; but +this our ex-Gipsy did not know. He merely said that he did +not know it in any Indian dialect except that of the <!-- page +38--><a name="page38"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 38</span>Rom, +and that Rom was the general slang of the road, derived, as he +supposed, from the Trablus.”</p> +<p>These are, then, the very Gipsies of Gipsies in India. +They are thieves, fortune-tellers, and vagrants. But +whether they have or had any connection with the migration to the +West we cannot establish. Their language and their name +would seem to indicate it; but then it must be borne in mind that +the word Rom, like Dom, is one of wide dissemination, Dom being a +Syrian Gipsy word for the race. And the very great majority +of even English Gipsy words are Hindu, with an admixture of +Persian, and not belonging to a slang of any kind. As in +India, <i>churi</i> is a knife, <i>nak</i>, the nose, +<i>balia</i>, hairs, and so on, with others which would be among +the first to be furnished with slang equivalents. And yet +these very Gipsies are <i>Rom</i>, and the wife is a +<i>Romni</i>, and they use words which are not Hindu in common +with European Gipsies. It is therefore not improbable that +in these Trablus, so called through popular ignorance, as they +are called Tartars in Egypt and Germany, we have a portion at +least of the real stock. It is to be desired that some +resident in India would investigate the Trablus.</p> +<p>Grellmann in his German treatise on Gipsies, +says:—“They are lively, uncommonly loquacious and +chattering, fickle in the extreme, consequently inconstant in +their pursuits, faithless to everybody, even their own kith and +kin, void of the least emotion of gratitude, frequently rewarding +benefits with the most insidious malice. Fear makes them +slavishly compliant when under subjection, but having nothing to +apprehend, like other timorous people, they are cruel. +Desire of revenge often causes them to take the most desperate +resolutions. To such a degree of violence is their fury +sometimes excited, that a mother has been known in the excess of +passion to take her small infant by the feet, and therewith +strike the object of her anger. They are so addicted to +drinking as to sacrifice what is most necessary <!-- page 39--><a +name="page39"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 39</span>to them that +they may feast their palates with ardent spirits. Nothing +can exceed the unrestrained depravity of manners existing among +them. Unchecked by any idea of shame they give way to every +libidinous desire. The mother endeavours by the most +scandalous arts to train up her daughter for an offering to +sensuality, and she is scarcely grown up before she becomes the +seducer of others. Laziness is so prevalent among them that +were they to subsist by their own labour only, they would hardly +have bread for two of the seven days in the week. This +indolence increases their propensity to stealing and +cheating. They seek to avail themselves of every +opportunity to satisfy their lawless desires. Their +universal bad character, therefore, for fickleness, infidelity, +ingratitude, revenge, malice, rage, depravity, laziness, knavery, +thievishness, and cunning, though not deficient in capacity and +cleverness, renders them people of no use in society. The +boys will run like wild things after carrion, let it stink ever +so much, and where a mortality happens among the cattle, there +these wretched creatures are to be found in the greatest +numbers.”</p> +<p>So devilish are their hearts, deep-rooted their revenge, and +violent their language under its impulse, that it is woe to the +man who comes within their clutches, if he does not possess an +amount of tact sufficient to cope with them. A man who +desires to tackle the Gipsies must have his hands out of his +pockets, “all his buttons on,” “his head +screwed upon the right place,” and no fool, or he will be +swamped before he leaves the place. This I experienced +myself a week or two since. During the months of November +and December of last year, my friend, the <i>Illustrated London +News</i>, had a number of faithful sketches showing Gipsy life +round London; these, it seems, with the truthful description I +have given of the Gipsies, in my letters, papers, &c., +encouraged by the untruthful, silly, and unwise remarks of a +clergyman, not overdone with too much wisdom and <!-- page +40--><a name="page40"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +40</span>common sense, residing in the neighbourhood of N--- +Hill, seemed to have raised the ire of the Gipsies in the +neighbour hood of L--- Road (I will not go so far as to say that +the minister of Christ Church did it designedly, if he did, and +with the idea of stopping the work of education among the Gipsy +children—it is certain that this farthing rushlight has +mistaken his calling) to such an extent that a friend wrote to +me, stating that the next time I went to the neighbourhood of +N--- Hill I “must look out for a warm reception,” to +which I replied, that “the sooner I had it the better, and +I would go for it in a day or two;” accordingly I went, +believing in the old Book, “Resist the devil and he will +flee from thee.” Upon my first approach towards them, +I was met with sour looks, scowls, and not over polite language, +but with a little pleasantry, chatting, and a few little things, +such as Christmas cards, oranges to give to the children, the sun +began to beam upon their countenances, and all passed off with +smiles, good humour, and shakes of the hands, till I came to a +man who had the colour and expression upon his face of his +satanic majesty from the regions below. It took me all my +time to smile and say kind things while he was pacing up and down +opposite his tent, with his hands clenched, his eye like fire, +step quick, reminding me of Indian revenge. He was speaking +out in no unmistakable language, “I should like to see you +hung like a toad by the neck till you are dead, that I should, +and I mean it from my heart.” When I asked him to +point out anything I had said or done that was not correct, he +was in a fix, and all he could say was, that “I would be +likely to stop his game.” Every now and then he would +thrust his hands into his pockets, as if feeling for his +clasp-knife, and then again, occasionally, he would give a shrug +of the shoulders, as if he felt not at all satisfied. I +felt in my pocket, and opened my small penknife. I thought +it might do a little service in case he should “close in +upon me.” Just to feel his pulse, and set his heart a +beating, I told him, good-humouredly, that <!-- page 41--><a +name="page41"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 41</span>“I was +not afraid of half-a-dozen better men than he was if they would +come one at a time, but did not think I could tackle them all at +once.” This caused him to open his eyes wider than I +had seen them before, as if in wonder and amazement at the kind +of fellow he had come in contact with. I told him I was +afraid that he would find me a queer kind of customer. +Gipsies as a rule are cowards, and this feature I could see in +his actions and countenance. However, after talking matters +over for some time we parted friends, feeling thankful that the +storm had abated.</p> +<p>The Gipsies plan of attacking a house, town, city, or country +for the sake of pillage, plunder, and gain remains the same +to-day as it did eight centuries ago. They do not generally +resort to open violence as the brigands of Spain, Turkey and +other parts of the East. They follow out an organised +system, at least, they go to work upon different lines. In +the first place, they send a kind of advance-guard to find out +where the loot and soft hearts lay and the weaknesses of those +who hold them, and when this has been done they bring all the +arts their evil disposition can devise to bear upon the weak +points till they are successful. When Mahmood was returning +with his victorious army from the war in the eleventh century +with the spoils and plunder of war upon their backs, and while +the soldiers were either lain down to rest or allured away with +the Gipsy girls’ “witching eyes,” the old +Gipsies, numbering some hundreds, who where camping in the +neighbourhood, bolted off with their war prizes; this so enraged +Mahmood, after finding out that he had been sold by a lot of +low-caste Indians or Gipsies, that he sent his army after them +and slew the whole band of these wandering Indians.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p42b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"A gentleman gipsy’s tent, and his dog, “Grab,” +Hackney Marshes" +title= +"A gentleman gipsy’s tent, and his dog, “Grab,” +Hackney Marshes" +src="images/p42s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>Sometimes they will put on a hypocritical air of religious +sanctity; at other times they will dress their prettiest girls in +Oriental finery and gaudy colours on purpose to catch the unwary; +at other times they will try to lay hold of the <!-- page 42--><a +name="page42"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 42</span>sympathic by +sending out their old women and tottering men dressed in rags; +and at other times they will endeavour to lay hold of the +benevolent by sending out women heavily laden with babies, and in +this way they have Gipsyised and are still Gipsyising our own +country from the time they landed in Scotland in the year 1514, +until they besieged London now more than two centuries ago, +planting their encampments in the most degraded parts on the +outskirts of our great city; and this holds good of them even to +this day. They are never to be seen living in the throng of +a town or in the thick of a fight. In sketching the plan of +campaigning for the day, the girls with pretty “everlasting +flowers” go in one direction, the women with babies tackle +the tradesmen and householders by selling skewers, clothes-pegs, +and other useful things, but in reality to beg, and the old women +with the assistance of the servant girls face the brass knockers +through the back kitchen. The men are all this time either +loitering about the tents or skulking down the lanes spotting out +their game for the night, with their lurcher dogs at their +heels. Thus the Gipsy lives and thus the Gipsy dies, and is +buried like a dog; his tent destroyed, and his soul flown to +another world to await the reckoning day. He can truthfully +say as he leaves his tenement of clay behind, “No man +careth for my soul.” Charles Wesley, no doubt, in his +day, had seen vast numbers of these wandering English heathens in +various parts of the country as he travelled about on his +missionary tour, and it is not at all improbable but that they +were in his mind when those soul-inspiring, elevating, and +tear-fetching lines were penned by him in 1748, and first +published by subscription in his “Hymns and Sacred +Poems,” 2 vols., 1749, the profits of which enabled him to +get a wife and set up housekeeping on his own account at +Bristol. They are words that have healed thousands of +broken hearts, fixed the hopes of the downcast on heaven, and +sent the sorrowful on his way rejoicing; and they are words that +will live as <!-- page 43--><a name="page43"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 43</span>long as there is a Methodist family +upon earth to lisp its song of triumph.</p> +<p class="poetry">“Come on, my partners in distress,<br /> +My comrades through the wilderness,<br /> + Who still your bodies feel;<br /> +A while forget your griefs and fears,<br /> +And look beyond this vale of tears,<br /> + To that celestial hill.</p> +<p class="poetry">“Beyond the bounds of time and space,<br +/> +Look forward to that heavenly place,<br /> + The saints’ secure abode;<br /> +On faith’s strong eagle-pinions rise,<br /> +And force your passage to the skies,<br /> + And scale the mount of God.</p> +<p class="poetry">“Who suffer with our Master here,<br /> +We shall before His face appear,<br /> + And by His side sit down;<br /> +To patient faith the prize is sure;<br /> +And all that to the end endure<br /> + The cross, shall wear the crown.”</p> +<p>It is impossible to give anything like a correct number of +Gipsies that are outside Europe. Many travellers have +attempted to form some idea of the number, and have come to the +conclusion that there were not less than 3,000 families in Persia +in 1856, and in 1871 there were not less than 67,000 Gipsies in +Armenia and Asiatic Turkey. In Egypt of one tribe only +there are 16,000. With regard to the number of Gipsies +there are in America no one has been able to compute; but by this +time the number must be considerable, for stragglers have been +wending their way there from England, Europe, and other parts of +the world for some time.</p> +<p>Mikliosch, in 1878, stated that there are not less than +700,000 in Europe. Turkey, previous to the war with Russia, +104,750, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1874 contained 9,537. +Servia in 1874 had 24,691; in 1873 Montenegro <!-- page 44--><a +name="page44"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 44</span>had 500, and +in Roumania there are at the present time from 200,000 to +300,000. According to various official estimates in Austria +there are about 10,000, and in 1846 Bohemia contained 13,500, and +Hungary 159,000. In Transylvania in 1850 there were 78,923, +and in Hungary proper there were in 1864, 36,842. In Spain +there are 40,000; in France from 3,000 to 6,000; in Germany and +Italy, 34,000; Scandinavia, 1,500; in Russia they numbered in +1834, 48,247, exclusive of Polish Gipsies. Ten years later +they numbered 1,427,539, and in 1877 the number is given as +11,654. It seems somewhat strange that the number of +Gipsies should be in 1844, 1,427,539, and thirty-five years later +the number should have been reduced to 11,654. Presuming +these figures to be correct, the question arises, What has become +of the 1,415,885 during the last thirty-five years?</p> +<p>As regards the number of Gipsies in England, Hoyland in his +day, 1816, calculated that there were between 15,000 and 18,000, +and goes on to say this:—“It has come to the +knowledge of the writer what foundation there has been for the +report commonly circulated that a member of Parliament had stated +in the House of Commons, when speaking on some question relating +to Ireland, that there were not less than 36,000 Gipsies in Great +Britain.</p> +<p>“To make up such an aggregate the numerous hordes must +have been included who traverse most of the nation with carts and +asses for the sale of earthenware, and live out of doors great +part of the year, after the manner of the Gipsies. These +potters, as they are commonly called, acknowledge that Gipsies +have intermingled with them, and their habits are very +similar. They take their children along with them on +travel, and, like the Gipsies, regret that they are without +education.” Mr. Hoyland says that he endeavoured to +obtain the number of pot-hawking families of this description who +visited the earthenware manufactories at Tunstall, Burslem, +Longport, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, <!-- page 45--><a +name="page45"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 45</span>Fenton, +Longton, and other places in Staffordshire, but without +success.</p> +<p>Borrow, in his time, 1843, put the number as upwards of +10,000. The last census shows that there were under 4,000; +but then it should be borne in mind that the Gipsies decidedly +objected to their numbers being taken. Their reason for +taking this step and putting obstacles in the way of the +census-takers has never been stated, except that they looked upon +it with a superstitious regard and dislike, the same as they look +upon photographers, painters, and artists, as kind of +<i>Bengaw</i>, for whom Gipsy models will sit for +<i>soonakei</i>, <i>Roopeno</i>, or even a +<i>posh-hovi</i>. They told me that during the day the +census was taken they made it a point to always be upon the move, +and skulking about in the dark. The census returns for the +number of canal-boatmen gives under 12,000. The Duke of +Richmond stated in the House of Lords, August 8, 1877, that there +were between 29,000 and 80,000 canal boatmen. The number I +published in the daily papers in 1873, viz., 100,000 men, women, +and children is being verified as the Canal Boats Act is being +put into operation.</p> +<p>At a pretty good rough estimate I reckon there are at least +from 15,000 to 20,000 Gipsies in the United Kingdom. Apart +from London, if I may take ten of the Midland counties as a fair +average, there are close upon 3,000 Gipsy families living in +tents and vans in the by-lanes, and attending fairs, shows, +&c.; and providing there are only man, wife, and four +children connected with each charmless, cheerless, wretched +abodes called domiciles, this would show us 18,000; and judging +from my own inquiries and observation, and also from the reliable +statements of others who have mixed among them, there are not +less than 2,000 on the outskirts of London in various nooks, +corners, and patches of open spaces. Thus it will be seen, +according to this statement, we shall have 1,000 Gipsies for +every 1,750,000 of the inhabitants in our great London; and this +proportion will be fully borne out throughout the rest of the +country; <!-- page 46--><a name="page46"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 46</span>so taking either the Midland counties +or London as an average, we arrive at pretty much the same +number—<i>i.e.</i>, 15,000 to 20,000 in our midst, and +moving about from place to place. Upon Leicester Race +Course, at the last races, I counted upwards of ninety tents, +vans, and shows; connected with each there would be an average of +man, woman, and three children. A considerable number of +Gipsies would also be at Nottingham, for the Goose Fair was on +about the same time. One gentleman tells me that he has +seen as many as 5,000 Gipsies collected together at one time in +the North of England.</p> +<p>Of this 20,000, 19,500 cannot read a sentence and write a +letter. The highest state of their education is to make +crosses, signs, and symbols, and to ask people to tell them the +names of the streets, and read the mile-posts for them. The +full value of money they know perfectly well. Out of this +20,000 there will be 8,000 children of school age loitering about +the tents and camps, and not learning a single letter in the +alphabet. The others mostly will tell you that they have +“finished their education,” and when questioned on +the point and asked to put three letters together, you put them +into a corner, and they are as dumb as mutes. Of the whole +number of Gipsy children probably a few hundreds might be +attending Sunday-schools, and picking up a few crumbs of +education in this way. Then, again, we have some 1,500 to +2,000 families of our own countrymen travelling about the country +with their families selling hardware and other goods, from +Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham, Leeds, Leicester, the +Staffordshire potteries, and other manufacturing towns, from +London, Liverpool, Nottingham, and other places, the children +running wild and forgetting in the summer, as a show-woman told +me, the little education they receive in the winter.</p> +<p>Caravans will be moving about in our midst with “fat +babies,” “wax-work models,” “wonders of +the age,” “the greatest giant in the world,” +“a living skeleton,” “the <!-- page 47--><a +name="page47"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 47</span>smallest man +alive,” “menageries,” “wild beast +shows,” “rifle galleries,” and like things +connected with these caravans; there will be families of +children, none of whom, or at any rate but very few of them, are +receiving an education and attending any school, and living +together regardless of either sex or age, in one small van. +In addition to these, we have some 3,000 or 4,000 children of +school age “on the road” tramping with their parents, +who sleep in common lodging-houses, and who might be brought +under educational supervision on the plan I shall suggest later +on in this book. Altogether, with the Gipsies, we have a +population of over 30,000 outside our educational and sanitary +laws, fast drifting into a state of savagery and barbarism, with +our hands tied behind us, and unable to render them help.</p> +<p class="poetry">“I was a bruised reed<br /> +Pluck’d from the common corn,<br /> +Play’d on, rude-handled, worn,<br /> +And flung aside, aside.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Dr. +Grosart</span>, “Sunday at Home.”</p> +<h2><!-- page 48--><a name="page48"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +48</span>Part II.<br /> +Commencement of the Gipsy Crusade.</h2> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p48b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"A Gipsy’s home for man, wife, and six children, Hackney +Wick" +title= +"A Gipsy’s home for man, wife, and six children, Hackney +Wick" +src="images/p48s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>When as a lad I trudged along in the brick-yards, now more +than forty years ago, I remember most vividly that the popular +song of the <i>employés</i> of that day was</p> +<p class="poetry">“When lads and lasses in their best<br /> + Were dress’d from top to toe,<br /> +In the days we went a-gipsying<br /> + A long time ago;<br /> +In the days we went a-gipsying,<br /> + A long time ago.”</p> +<p>Every “brick-yard lad” and “brick-yard +wench” who would not join in singing these lines was always +looked upon as a “stupid donkey,” and the consequence +was that upon all occasions, when excitement was needed as a +whip, they were “struck up;” especially would it be +the case when the limbs of the little brick and clay carrier +began to totter and were “fagging up.” When the +task-master perceived the “gang” had begun to +“slinker” he would shout out at the top of his voice, +“Now, lads and wenches, strike up with the:</p> +<blockquote><p>“‘In the days we went a-gipsying, a +long time ago.’”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>And as a result more work was ground out of the little English +slave. Those words made such an impression upon me at the +time that I used to wonder what “gipsying” +meant. Somehow or other I imagined that it was connected +with fortune-telling, thieving and stealing in one form or other, +especially as the lads used to sing it with “gusto” +<!-- page 49--><a name="page49"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +49</span>when they had been robbing the potato field to have +“a potato fuddle,” while they were “oven +tenting” in the night time. Roasted potatoes and cold +turnips were always looked upon as a treat for the +“brickies.” I have often vowed and said many +times that I would, if spared, try to find out what +“gipsying” really was. It was a puzzle I was +always anxious to solve. Many times I have been like the +horse that shies at them as they camp in the ditch bank, half +frightened out of my wits, and felt anxious to know either more +or less of them. From the days when carrying clay and +loading canal-boats was my toil and “gipsying” my +song, scarcely a week has passed without the words</p> +<p class="poetry">“When lads and lasses in their best<br /> + Were dress’d from top to toe,<br /> +In the days we went a-gipsying<br /> + A long time ago,”</p> +<p>ringing in my ears, and at times when busily engaged upon +other things, “In the days we went a-gipsying” would +be running through my mind. In meditation and solitude; by +night and by day; at the top of the hill, and down deep in the +dale; in the throng and battle of life; at the deathbed scene; +through evil report and good report these words, “In the +days we went a-gipsying,” were ever and anon at my +tongue’s end. The other part of the song I quickly +forgot, but these words have stuck to me ever since. On +purpose to try to find out what fortune-telling was, when in my +teens I used to walk after working hours from Tunstall to Fenton, +a distance of six miles, to see “old Elijah Cotton,” +a well-known character in the Potteries, who got his living by +it, to ask him all sorts of questions. Sometimes he would +look at my hands, at other times he would put my hand into his, +and hold it while he was reading out of the Bible, and burning +something like brimstone-looking powder—the forefinger of +the other hand had to rest upon a particular passage or verse; at +other times he would give me some of this <!-- page 50--><a +name="page50"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +50</span>yellow-looking stuff in a small paper to wear against my +left breast, and some I had to burn exactly as the clock struck +twelve at night, under the strictest secrecy. The stories +this fortune-teller used to relate to me as to his wonderful +power over the spirits of the other world were very amusing, aye, +and over “the men and women of this +generation.” He was frequently telling me that he had +“fetched men from Manchester in the dead of the night +flying through the air in the course of an hour;” and this +kind of rubbish he used to relate to those who paid him their +shillings and half-crowns to have their fortunes told. My +visits lasted for a little time till he told me that he could do +nothing more, as I was “not one of his sort.” +Like Thomas called Didymus, “hard of belief.” +Except an occasional glance at the Gipsies as I have passed them +on the road-side, the subject has been allowed to rest until the +commencement of last year, when I mentioned the matter to my +friends, who, in reply, said I should find it a difficult task; +this had the effect of causing a little hesitation to come over +my sensibilities, and in this way, between hesitation and doubt, +matters went on till one day in July last year, when the voice of +Providence and the wretched condition of the Gipsy children +seemed to speak to me in language that I thought it would be +perilous to disregard. On my return home one evening I +found a lot of Gipsies in the streets; it struck me very forcibly +that the time for action had now arrived, and with this view in +mind I asked Moses Holland—for that was his name, and he +was the leader of the gang—to call into my house for some +knives which required grinding, and while his mate was grinding +the knives, for which I had to pay two shillings, I was getting +all the information I could out of him about the Gipsy +children—this with some additional information given to me +by Mr. Clayton and several other Gipsies at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, +together with a Gipsy woman’s tale to my wife, mentioned in +my “Cry of the Children from the Brick-yards <!-- page +51--><a name="page51"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 51</span>of +England,” brought forth my first letter upon the condition +of the poor Gipsy children as it appeared in the <i>Standard</i>, +<i>Daily Chronicle</i>, and nearly every other daily paper on +August 14th of last year:—“Some years since my +attention was drawn to the condition of these poor neglected +children, of whom there are many families eking out an existence +in the Leicestershire, Derbyshire, and Staffordshire lanes. +Two years since a pitiful appeal was made in one of our local +papers asking me to take up the cause of the poor Gipsy children; +but I have deferred doing so till now, hoping that some one with +time and money at his disposal would come to the rescue. +Sir, a few weeks since our legislators took proper steps to +prevent the maiming of the little show children, who are put +through excruciating practices to please a British public, and +they would have done well at the same time if they had taken +steps to prevent the warping influence of a vagrant’s life +having its full force upon the tribes of little Gipsy children, +dwelling in calico tents, within the sound of church +bells—if living under the body of an old cart, protected by +patched coverlets, can be called living in tents—on the +roadside in the midst of grass, sticks, stones, and mud; and they +would have done well also if they had put out their hand to +rescue from idleness, ignorance, and heathenism our roadside +arabs, <i>i.e.</i>, the children living in vans, and who attend +fairs, wakes, &c. Recently I came across some of these +wandering tribes, and the following facts gleaned from them will +show that missionaries and schoolmasters have not done much for +them. Moses Holland, who has been a Gipsy nearly all his +life, says he knows about two hundred and fifty families of +Gipsies in ten of the Midland counties and thinks that a similar +proportion will be found in the rest of the United Kingdom. +He has seen as many as ten tents of Gipsies within a distance of +five miles. He thinks there will be an average of five +children in each tent. He has seen as many as ten or twelve +children in some tents, and not many of <!-- page 52--><a +name="page52"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 52</span>them able to +read or write. His child of six months old—with his +wife ill at the same time in the tent—sickened, died, and +was ‘laid out’ by him, and it was also buried out of +one of those wretched abodes on the roadside at Barrow-upon-Soar, +last January. When the poor thing died he had not sixpence +in his pocket. In shaking hands with him as we parted his +face beamed with gladness, and he said that I was the first who +had held out the hand to him during the last twenty years. +At another time later on I came across Bazena Clayton, who said +that she had had sixteen children, fifteen of whom are alive, +several of them being born in a roadside tent. She says +that she was married out of one of these tents; and her brother +died and was buried out of a tent at Packington, near +Ashby-de-la-Zouch. This poor woman knows about three +hundred families of Gipsies in eleven of the Midland and Eastern +counties, and has herself, so she says, four lots of Gipsies +travelling in Lincolnshire at the present time. She said +she could not read herself, and thinks that not one Gipsy in +twenty can. She has travelled all her life. Her +mother, named Smith, of whom there are not a few, is the mother +of fifteen children, all of whom were born in a tent. A +Gipsy lives, but one can scarcely tell how; they generally locate +for a time near hen-roosts, potato-camps, turnip-fields, and +game-preserves. They sell a few clothes-lines and +clothes-pegs, but they seldom use such things themselves. +Washing would destroy their beauty. Telling fortunes to +servant girls and old maids is a source of income to some of +them. They sleep, but in many instances lie crouched +together, like so many dogs, regardless of either sex or +age. They have blood, bone, muscle, and brains, which are +applied in many instances to wrong purposes. To have +between three and four thousand men and women, and fifteen +thousand children classed in the census as vagrants and +vagabonds, roaming all over the country, in ignorance and evil +training, that carries peril with it, is not a pleasant look-out +for the future; and I <!-- page 53--><a name="page53"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 53</span>claim on the grounds of justice and +equity, that if these poor children, living in vans and tents and +under old carts, are to be allowed to live in these places, they +shall be registered in a manner analogous to the Canal Boats Act +of 1877, so that the children may be brought under the Compulsory +Clauses of the Education Acts, and become Christianised and +civilised as other children.”</p> +<p>The foregoing letter, as it appeared in the <i>Standard</i>, +brought forth the following leading article upon the subject the +following day, August 15th, in which the writer +says:—“We yesterday published a letter from Mr. +George Smith, whose efforts to ameliorate and humanise the +floating and transitory population of our canals and navigable +rivers have already borne good fruit, in which he calls attention +to the deserted and almost hopeless lot of English Gipsy +children. Moses Holland—the Hollands are a Gipsy +family almost as old as the Lees or the Stanleys, and a Holland +always holds high rank among the ‘Romany’ +folk—assures Mr. Smith that in ten of the Midland counties +he knows some two hundred and fifty families of Gipsies, and that +none of their children can read or write. Bazena Clayton, +an old lady of caste, almost equal to that of a Lee or a Holland, +confirms the story. She has lived in tents all her +life. She was born in a tent, married from a tent, has +brought up a family of sixteen children, more or less, under the +same friendly shelter, and expects to breathe her last in a +tent. That she can neither read nor write goes without +saying; although doubtless she knows well enough how to +‘kair her patteran,’ or to make that strange cross in +the dust which a true Gipsy alway leaves behind him at his last +place of sojourn, as a mark for those of his tribe who may come +upon his track. ‘Patteran,’ it may be remarked, +is an almost pure Sanscrit word cognate with our own +‘path;’ and the least philological raking among the +chaff of the Gipsy dialect will show their secret <i>argot</i> to +be, as Mr. Leland calls it, ‘a curious old tongue, not +merely allied to Sanscrit, but perhaps in <!-- page 54--><a +name="page54"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 54</span>point of age +an elder though vagabond sister or cousin of that ancient +language.’ No Sanscrit or even Greek scholar can fail +to be struck by the fact that, in the Gipsy tongue, a road is a +‘drum,’ to see is to ‘dicker,’ to get or +take to ‘lell,’ and to go to ‘jall;’ or, +after instances so pregnant, to agree with Professor von +Kogalnitschan that ‘it is interesting to be able to study a +Hindu dialect in the heart of Europe.’ Mr. Smith, +however, being a philanthropist rather than a philologist, takes +another view of the question. His anxiety is to see the +Gipsies—and especially the Gipsy +children—reclaimed. ‘A Gipsy,’ he reminds +us, ‘lives, but one can scarcely tell how; they generally +locate for a time near hen-roosts, potato-camps, turnip-fields, +and game-preserves. They sell a few clothes-lines and +clothes-pegs; but they seldom use such things themselves. +Washing would destroy their beauty . . . To have between three +and four thousand men and women, and eight or ten thousand +children, classed in the census as vagrants and vagabonds, +roaming all over the country in ignorance and evil training, is +not a pleasant look-out for the future; and I claim that if these +poor children, living in vans and tents and under old carts, are +to be allowed to live in these places, they shall be registered +in a manner analogous to the Canal Boats Act, so that the +children may be brought under the Education Acts, and become +Christianised and civilised.’</p> +<p>“Mr. Smith, it is to be feared, hardly appreciates the +insuperable difficulty of the task he proposes. The true +Gipsy is absolutely irreclaimable. He was a wanderer and a +vagabond upon the face of the earth before the foundations of +Mycenæ were laid or the plough drawn to mark out the walls +of Rome; and such as he was four thousand years ago or more, such +he still remains, speaking the same tongue, leading the same +life, cherishing the same habits, entertaining the same wholesome +or unwholesome hatred of all civilisation, and now, as then, +utterly devoid of even the simplest rudiments of religious +belief. His whole attitude of mind is <!-- page 55--><a +name="page55"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +55</span>negative. To him all who are not Gipsies, like +himself, are ‘Gorgios,’ and to the true Gipsy a +‘Gorgio’ is as hateful as is a ‘cowan’ to +a Freemason. It would be interesting to speculate whether, +when the Romany folk first began their wanderings, the +‘Gorgios’ were not—as the name would seem to +indicate—the farmers or permanent population of the earth; +and whether the nomad Gipsy may not still hate the +‘Gorgio’ as much as Cain hated Abel, Ishmael Isaac, +and Esau Jacob. Certain in any case it is that the Gipsy, +however civilised he may appear, remains, as Mr. Leland describes +him, ‘a character so entirely strange, so utterly at +variance with our ordinary conceptions of humanity, that it is no +exaggeration whatever to declare that it would be a very +difficult task for the best writer to convey to the most +intelligent reader any idea of such a nature.’ The +true Gipsy is, to begin with, as devoid of superstition as of +religion. He has no belief in another world, no fear of a +future state, nor hope for it, no supernatural object of either +worship or dread—nothing beyond a few old stories, some +Pagan, some Christian, which he has picked up from time to time, +and to which he holds—much as a child holds to its fairy +tales—uncritically and indifferently. Ethical +distinctions are as unknown to him as to a kitten or a +magpie. He is kindly by nature, and always anxious to +please those who treat him well, and to win their +affection. But the distinction between affection and esteem +is one which he cannot fathom; and the precise shade of +<i>meum</i> and <i>tuum</i> is as absolutely unintelligible to +him as was the Hegelian antithesis between <i>nichts</i> and +<i>seyn</i> to the late Mr. John Stuart Mill. To make the +true Gipsy we have only to add to this an absolute contempt for +all that constitutes civilisation. The Gipsy feels a house, +or indeed anything at all approaching to the idea of a permanent +dwelling, to amount to a positive restraint upon his +liberty. He can live on hedgehog and acorns—though he +may prefer a fowl and potatoes not strictly his own. +Wherever a hedge gives shelter he will roll himself <!-- page +56--><a name="page56"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 56</span>up +and sleep. And it is possibly because he has no property of +his own that he is so slow to recognise the rights of property in +others. But above all, his tongue—the weird, corrupt, +barbarous Sanscrit ‘patter’ or ‘jib,’ +known only to himself and to those of his blood—is the +keynote of his strange life. In spite of every effort that +has been made to fathom it, the Gipsy dialect is still +unintelligible to ‘Gorgios’—a few experts such +as Mr. Borrow alone excepted. But wherever the true Gipsy +goes he carries his tongue with him, and a Romany from Hungary, +ignorant of English as a Chippeway or an Esquimaux, will +‘patter’ fluently with a Lee, a Stanley, a Locke, or +a Holland, from the English Midlands, and make his +‘rukkerben’ at once easily understood. Nor is +this all, for there are certain strange old Gipsy customs which +still constitute a freemasonry. The marriage rites of +Gipsies are a definite and very significant ritual. Their +funeral ceremonies are equally remarkable. Not being +allowed to burn their dead, they still burn the dead man’s +clothes and all his small property, while they mourn for him by +abstaining—often for years—from something of which he +was fond, and by taking the strictest care never to even mention +his name.</p> +<p>“What are we to do with children in whom these strange +habits and beliefs, or rather wants of belief, are as much part +of their nature as is their physical organisation? Darwin +has told us how, after generations had passed, the puppy with a +taint of the wolf’s blood in it would never come straight +to its master’s feet, but always approach him in a +semicircle. Not Kuhleborhn nor Undine herself is less +susceptible of alien culture than the pure-blooded Gipsy. +We can domesticate the goose, we can tame the goldfinch and the +linnet; but we shall never reclaim the guinea-fowl, or accustom +the swallow to a cage. Teach the Gipsy to read, or even to +write; he remains a Gipsy still. His love of wandering is +as keen as is the instinct of a migratory bird for its annual +passage; and exactly as the prisoned cuckoo <!-- page 57--><a +name="page57"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 57</span>of the first +year will beat itself to death against its bars when September +draws near, so the Gipsy, even when most prosperous, will never +so far forsake the traditions of his tribe as to stay long in any +one place. His mind is not as ours. A little of our +civilisation we can teach him, and he will learn it, as he may +learn to repeat by rote the signs of the zodiac or the +multiplication table, or to use a table napkin, or to decorously +dispose of the stones in a cherry tart. But the lesson sits +lightly on him, and he remains in heart as irreclaimable as +ever. Already, indeed, our Gipsies are leaving us. +They are not dying out, it is true. They are making their +way to the Far West, where land is not yet enclosed, where game +is not property, where life is free, and where there is always +and everywhere room to ‘hatch the tan’ or put up the +tent. Romany will, in all human probability, be spoken on +the other side of the Atlantic years after the last traces of it +have vanished from amongst ourselves. We begin even now to +miss the picturesque aspects of Gipsy life—the tent, the +strange dress, the nomadic habits. English Gipsies are no +longer pure and simple vagrants. They are tinkers, or +scissor-grinders, or basket-makers, or travel from fair to fair +with knock-’em-downs, or rifle galleries, or itinerant +shows. Often they have some ostensible place of +residence. But they preserve their inner life as carefully +as the Jews in Spain, under the searching persecution of the +Inquisition, preserved their faith for generation upon +generation; and even now it is a belief that when, for the sake +of some small kindness or gratuity, a Gipsy woman has allowed her +child to be baptised, she summons her friends, and attempts to +undo the effect of the ceremony by subjecting the infant to some +weird, horrible incantation of Eastern origin, the original +import of which is in all probability a profound mystery to +her. There is a quaint story of a Yorkshire Gipsy, a +prosperous horse-dealer, who, becoming wealthy, came up to town, +and, amongst other sights, was shown a goldsmith’s +window. His sole <!-- page 58--><a name="page58"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 58</span>remark was that the man must be a big +thief indeed to have so many spoons and watches all at +once. The expression of opinion was as naïve and +artless as that of Blucher, when observing that London was a +magnificent city ‘for to sack.’ Mr. +Smith’s benevolent intentions speak for themselves. +But if he hopes to make the Gipsy ever other than a Gipsy, to +transform the Romany into a Gorgio, of to alter habits of life +and mind which have remained unchanged for centuries, he must be +singularly sanguine, and must be somewhat too disposed to +overlook the marvellously persistent influences of race and +tongue.”</p> +<p>Rather than the cause of the children should suffer by +presenting garbled or one-sided statements, I purpose quoting the +letters and articles upon the subject as they have +appeared. To do otherwise would not be fair to the authors +or just to the cause I have in hand. The flattering +allusions and compliments relating to my humble self I am not +worthy of, and I beg of those who take an interest in the cause +of the little ones, and deem this book worthy of their notice, to +pass over them as though such compliments were not there. +The following are some of the letters that have appeared in the +<i>Standard</i> in reply to mine of the 14th instant. +“B. B.” writes on August 16th:—“Would you +allow an Irish Gipsy to express his views touching George +Smith’s letter of this date in your paper? Without in +the least desiring to warp his efforts to improve any of his +fellow-creatures, it seems to me that the poor Gipsy calls for +much less sympathy, as regards his moral and social life, than +more favoured classes of the community. Living under the +body of an old cart, ‘within the sound of church +bells,’ in the midst of grass, sticks, and stones, by no +means argues moral degradation; and if your correspondent looks +up our criminal statistics he will not find one Gipsy registered +for every five hundred criminals who have not only been within +hearing of the church bells but also listening to the +preacher’s voice. It should be remembered <!-- page +59--><a name="page59"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 59</span>that +the poor Gipsy fulfils a work which is a very great convenience +to dwellers in out-of-the-way places—brushes, baskets, +tubs, clothes-stops, and a host of small commodities, in +themselves apparently insignificant, but which enable this tribe +to eke out a living which compares very favourably with the +hundreds of thousands in our large cities who set the laws of the +land as well as the laws of decency at defiance. As to +education—well, let them get it, if possible; but it will +be found they possess, as a rule, sufficient intelligence to +discharge the duties of farm-labourers; and already they are +beginning to supply a felt want to the agriculturist whose +educated assistant leaves him to go abroad.”</p> +<p>“An Old Woman” writes as follows:—“In +the article on Gipsies in the <i>Standard</i> of to-day I was +struck with the truth of this; remark—‘He is kindly +by nature, and always anxious to please those who treat him well, +and to win their affections.’ I can give you one +instance of this in my own family, although it happened long, +long ago. The Boswell tribe of Gipsies used to encamp once +a year near the village in which my grandfather (my +mother’s father), who was a miller and farmer, lived; and +there grew up a very kindly feeling between the head of the tribe +and my grandfather and his family. Some of the Gipsies +would often call at my grandfather’s house, where they were +always received kindly, and oftener still, on business or +otherwise, at the mill, to see ‘Pe-tee,’ as they +called my grandfather, whose Christian name was Peter. Once +upon a time my grandfather owed a considerable sum of money, and, +alas! could not pay it; and his wife and children were much +distressed. I believe they feared he would be +arrested. Everything is known in a village; and the news of +what was feared reached the Gipsies. The idea of their +friend Pe-tee being in such trouble was not borne quietly; the +chief and one or two more appeared at the farm-house, asking to +see my grandmother. They told her they had come to pay my +<!-- page 60--><a name="page60"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +60</span>grandfather’s debt; ‘he should never be +distressed for the money,’ they said, ‘as long as +they had any.’ I believe some arrangement had been +made about the debt, but nevertheless my grandmother felt just as +grateful for the kindness. The head of the tribe wore +guineas instead of buttons to his coat, and when his daughter was +married her dowry was measured in guineas, in a pint +measure. I suppose, as in the old ballad of ‘The +Beggar of Bethnal Green,’ the suitor would give measure for +measure. The villagers all turned out to gaze each year +when they heard the ‘Boswell gang’ were coming down +the one long street; the women of the tribe, fine, bold, +handsome-looking women, in ‘black beaver bonnets, with +black feathers and red cloaks,’ sometimes quarrelled, and +my mother, then a girl, saw the procession several times stop in +the middle of the village, and two women (sometimes more) would +fall out of the ranks, hand their bonnets to friends, strip off +cloak and gown, and fight in their ‘shift’ sleeves, +using their fists like men. The men of the tribe took no +notice, stood quietly about till the fight was over, and then the +whole bevy passed on to their camping-ground. My +grandfather never passed the tents without calling in to see his +friends, and it would have been an offence indeed if he had not +partaken of some refreshment. Two or three times my mother +accompanied him, and whenever and wherever they met her they were +always very kind and respectful to ‘Pe-tee’s little +girl.’ In after years, when visiting her native +village, she often inquired if it was known what had become of +the tribe; at last she heard from some one it was thought they +had settled in Canada: at any rate they had passed away for ever +from that part of England.”</p> +<p>Mr. Leland wrote as follows in the <i>Standard</i>, August +19:—“As you have kindly cited my work on the English +Gipsies in your article on them, and as many of your readers are +giving their opinions on this curious race, perhaps you will +permit me to make a few remarks on the subject. <!-- page +61--><a name="page61"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 61</span>Mr. +Smith is one of those honest philanthropists whom it is the duty +of every one to honour, and I for one, honour him most sincerely +for his kind wishes to the Romany; but, with all my respect, I do +not think he understands the travellers, or that they require +much aid from the ‘Gorgios,’ being quite capable of +looking out for themselves. A <i>tacho Rom</i>, or real +Gipsy, who cannot in an emergency find his ten, or even twenty, +pounds is a very exceptional character. As I have, even +within a few days, been in company, and on very familiar footing +with a great number of Romanys of different families of the dark +blood who spoke the ‘jib’ with unusual accuracy, I +write under a fresh impression. The Gipsy is almost +invariably strong and active, a good rough rider and pedestrian, +and knowing how to use his fists. He leads a very hard +life, and is proud of his stamina and his pluck. Of late +years he <i>kairs</i>, or ‘houses,’ more than of old, +particularly during the winter, but his life at best requires +great strength and endurance, and this must, of course, be +supported by a generous diet. In fact, he lives well, much +better than the agricultural labourer. Let me explain how +this is generally done. The Gipsy year may be said to begin +with the races. Thither the dark children of Chun-Gwin, +whether pure blood, <i>posh an’ posh</i> (half-and-half), +or <i>churedis</i>, with hardly a drop of the <i>kalo-ratt</i>, +flock with their cocoa-nuts and the balls, which have of late +taken the place of the <i>koshter</i>, or sticks. With them +go the sorceresses, old and young, who pick up money by +occasional <i>dukkerin</i>, or fortune-telling. Other small +callings they also have, not by any means generally +dishonest. Wherever there is an open pic-nic on the Thames, +or a country fair, or a regatta at this season, there are +Romanys. Sometimes they appear looking like petty farmers, +with a bad, or even a good, horse or two for sale. While +summer lasts this is the life of the poorer sort.</p> +<p>“This merry time over, they go to the <i>Livinengro +tem</i>, or hop-land—<i>i.e.</i>, Kent. Here they +work hard, not neglecting <!-- page 62--><a +name="page62"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 62</span>the beer-pot, +which goes about gaily. In this life they have great +advantages over the tramps and London poor. Hopping over, +they go, almost <i>en masse</i>, or within a few days, to London +to buy French and German baskets, which they get in +Houndsditch. Of late years they send more for the baskets +to be delivered at certain stations. Some of them make +baskets themselves very well, but, as a rule, they prefer to buy +them. While the weather is good they live by selling +baskets, brooms, clothes-lines, and other small wares. Most +families have their regular ‘beats’ or rounds, and +confine themselves to certain districts. In winter the men +begin to <i>chiv the kosh</i>, or cut wood—<i>i.e.</i>, +they make butchers’ skewers and clothes-pegs. Even +this is not unprofitable, as a family, what between manufacturing +and selling them, can earn from twelve to eighteen shillings a +week. With this and begging, and occasional jobs of honest +hard work which they pick up here and there, they contrive to +feed well, find themselves in beer, and pay, as they now often +must, for permission to camp in fields. Altogether they +work hard and retire early.</p> +<p>“Considering the lives they lead, Gipsies are not +dishonest. If a Gipsy is camped anywhere, and a hen is +missing for miles around, the theft is always at once attributed +to him. The result is that, being sharply looked after by +everybody, and especially by the police, they cannot act like +their ancestors. Their crimes are not generally of a +heinous nature. <i>Chiving a gry</i>, or stealing a horse, +is, I admit, looked upon by them with Yorkshire leniency, nor do +they regard stealing wood for fuel as a great sin. In this +matter they are subject to great temptation. When the +nights are cold—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Could anything be more alluring<br /> +Than an old hedge?</p> +</blockquote> +<p>“As for Gipsy lying, it is so peculiar that it would be +hard to explain. The American who appreciates the phrase +‘to sit down and swap lies’ would not be taken in by +a <!-- page 63--><a name="page63"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +63</span>Romany <i>chal</i>, nor would an old salt who can spin +yarns. They enjoy hugely being lied unto, as do all Arabs +or Hindus. Like many naughty children, they like successful +efforts of the imagination. The old <i>dyes</i>, or +mothers, are ‘awful beggars,’ as much by habit as +anything; but they will give as freely as they will take, and +their guest will always experience Oriental hospitality. +They are very fond of all gentlemen and ladies who take a real +interest in them, who understand them, and like them. To +such people they are even more honest than they are to one +another. But it must be a real <i>aficion</i>, not a merely +amateur affectation of kindness. Owing to their entire +ignorance of ordinary house and home life, they are like children +in many respects, though so shrewd in others. Among the +Welsh Gipsies, who are the most unsophisticated and the most +purely Romany, I have met with touching instances of gratitude +and honesty. The child-like ingenuity which some of them +manifested in contriving little gratifications for myself and for +Professor E. H. Palmer, who had been very kind to them, were as +naïve as amiable. I have observed that some Gipsies of +the more rustic sort loved to listen to stories, but, like +children, they preferred those which they had heard several times +and learned to like. They knew where the laugh ought to +come in. The Gipsy is both bad and good, but neither his +faults nor his virtues are exactly what they are supposed to +be. He is certainly something of a scamp—and, +<i>nomen est omen</i>, there is a tribe of Scamps among +them—but he is not a bad scamp, and he is certainly a most +amusing and eccentric one.</p> +<p>“There is not the least use in trying to ameliorate the +condition of the Gipsy while he remains a traveller. He +will tell you piteous stories, but he will take care of +himself. As Ferdusi sings:</p> +<blockquote><p>“‘Say what you will and do what you +can,<br /> +No washing e’er whitens the black Zingan.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>“The only kindness he requires is a little charity and +<!-- page 64--><a name="page64"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +64</span>forgiveness when he steals wood or wires a hare. +All wrong doubtless; but something should be allowed to one whose +ancestors were called ‘dead-meat eaters’ in the +Shastras. Should the reader wish to reform a Gipsy, let him +explain to the Romany that the days for roaming in England are +rapidly passing away. Tell him that for his +children’s sake he had better rent a cheap cottage; that +his wife can just as well peddle with her basket from a house as +from a waggon, and that he can keep a horse and trap and go to +the races or hopping ‘genteely.’ Point out to +him those who have done the same, and stimulate his ambition and +pride. As for suffering as a traveller he does not know +it. I once asked a Gipsy girl who was sitting as a model if +she liked the <i>drom</i> (road) best, or living in a +house. With sparkling eyes and clapping her hands she +exclaimed, ‘oh, the road! the road!’”</p> +<p>Mr. Beerbohm writes under date August 19th:—“In +reading yesterday’s article on the customs and +idiosyncrasies of Gipsies I was struck by the similarity they +present to many peculiarities I have observed among the +Patagonian Indians. To those curious in such matters it may +be of interest to know that the custom of burning all the goods +and chattels of a deceased member of the tribe prevails among the +Patagonians as among the Gipsies; and the identity of custom is +still further carried out, inasmuch as with the former, as with +the latter, the name of the deceased is never uttered, and all +allusion to him is strictly avoided. So much so, that in +those cases when the deceased has borne some cognomen taken from +familiar objects, such as ‘Knife,’ +‘Wool,’ ‘Flint,’ &c., the word is no +longer used by the tribe, some other sound being substituted +instead. This is one of the reasons why the Tshuelche +language is constantly fluctuating, but few of the words +expressing a proper meaning, as chronicled by Fitzroy and Darwin +(1832), being now in use.”</p> +<p>The Rev. Mr. Hewett writes to the <i>Standard</i>, under date +August 19th, to say that he baptised two Gipsy children in <!-- +page 65--><a name="page65"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +65</span>1871. One might ask, in the language of one of the +“Old Book,” “What are these among so +many?” The following letter from Mr. Harrison upon +the subject appeared on August 20th:—“I have just +returned from the head-quarters of the Scotch +Gipsies—Yetholm (Kirk), a small village nestling at the +foot of the Cheviots in Roxburghshire. Here I saw the abode +of the Queen, a neat little cottage, with well-trimmed garden in +front. Inside all was a perfect pattern of neatness, and +the old lady herself was as clean ‘as a new +pin.’ As I passed the cottage a carriage and pair +drove up, and the occupants, four ladies, alighted and entered +the cottage. I was afterwards told that they were much +pleased with their visit, and that, in remembrance of it, each of +the four promised to send a new frock to the Queen’s +grandchild. The Queen’s son (‘the +Prince,’ as he is called) I saw at St. James’s Fair, +where he was swaggering about in a drunken state, offering to +fight any man. I believe he was subsequently locked +up. In the month of August there are few Gipsies resident +in Yetholm: they are generally on their travels selling +crockeryware (the country people call the Gipsies +‘muggers,’ from the fact that they sell mugs), +baskets made of rushes, and horn spoons, both of which they +manufacture themselves. I have a distinct recollection of +Will Faa, the then King of the Gipsies. He was 95 when I +knew him, and was lithe and strong. He had a keen hawk eye, +which was not dimmed at that extreme age. He was considered +both a good shot and a famous fisher. There was hardly a +trout hole in the Bowmont Water but he knew, and his company used +to be eagerly sought by the fly-fishers who came from the +South. My opinion of the Gipsies—and I have seen much +of them during the last forty years—is that they are a +lazy, dissolute set of men and women, preferring to beg, or +steal, or poach, to work, and that, although many efforts have +been made (more especially by the late Rev. Mr. Baird, of +Yetholm), to settle them, they are irreclaimable. There are +but two policemen in <!-- page 66--><a name="page66"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 66</span>Yetholm and Kirk Yetholm, but +sometimes the assistance of some of the townsfolk is required to +bring about order in that portion of the village in which the +Gipsies reside. I may say that the townsfolk do not +fraternise with the Gipsies, who are regarded with the greatest +suspicion by the former. Ask a townsman of Yetholm what he +thinks of the Gipsies, and he will tell you they are simply +vagabonds and impostors, who lounge about, and smoke, and drink, +and fight. In fact, they are the very scum of the human +race; and, what is more singular, they seem quite satisfied to +remain as they are, repudiating every attempt at +reformation.”</p> +<p>“F. G. S.” writes:—“One of your +correspondents suggests that the silence of the Gipsies +concerning their dead is carried so far as to consign them to +nameless graves. In my churchyard there is a headstone, +‘to the memory of Mistress Paul Stanley, wife of Mr. Paul +Stanley, who died November, 1797,’ the said Mistress +Stanley having been the Queen of the Stanley tribe. In my +childhood I remember that annually some of the members of the +tribe used to come and scatter flowers over the grave; and when +my father had restored the stone, on its falling into decay, a +deputation of the tribe thanked him for so doing. I have +reason to think they still visit the spot, to find, I am sorry to +say, the stone so decayed now as to be past restoration, and I +would much like to see another with the same inscription to mark +the resting-place of the head of a leading tribe of these +interesting people.”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p66b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Gipsies Camping among the Heath near London" +title= +"Gipsies Camping among the Heath near London" +src="images/p66s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>To these letters I replied as under, on August +21st:—“The numerous correspondents who have taken +upon themselves to reply to my letter that appeared in your issue +of the 14th inst., and to show up Gipsy life in some of its +brightest aspects, have, unwittingly, no doubt, thoroughly +substantiated and backed up the cause of my young +clients—<i>i.e.</i>, the poor Gipsy children and our +roadside arabs—so far as they have gone, as a reperusal of +the letters will show the most casual observer of our +hedge-bottom heathens of <!-- page 67--><a +name="page67"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +67</span>Christendom. At the same time, I would say the +tendency of some of the remarks of your correspondents has +special reference to the adult Gipsies, roamers and ramblers, +and, consequently, there is a fear that the attention of some of +your readers may be drawn from the cause of the poor uneducated +children, living in the midst of sticks, stones, ditches, mud, +and game, and concentrated upon the ‘guinea buttons,’ +‘black-haired Susans,’ ‘red cloaks,’ +‘scarlet hoods,’ the cunning craft of the old men, +the fortune-telling of the old women, the ‘sparkling +eyes’ and ‘clapping of hands,’ and +‘twopenny hops’ of the young women, who certainly can +take care of themselves, just as other un-Christianised and +uncivilised human beings can. I do not profess—at any +rate, not for the present—to take up the cause of the men +and women ditch-dwelling Gipsies in this matter; I must leave +that part of the work to fiction writers, clergymen, and +policemen, abler hands than mine. I may not be able, nor do +I profess, to understand the singular number of the masculine +gender of <i>dad</i>, <i>chavo</i>, <i>tikeno</i>, <i>moosh</i>, +<i>gorjo</i>, <i>raklo</i>, <i>rakli</i>, <i>pal palla</i>; the +feminine gender <i>dei</i>, <i>tikeno</i>, <i>chabi</i>, +<i>joovel</i>, <i>gairo</i>, <i>rakle</i>, <i>raklia</i>, <i>pen +penya</i>, or the plural of the masculine gender <i>dada</i>, +<i>chavi</i>, and the feminine gender <i>deia</i>, <i>chavo</i>; +but, being a matter of fact kind of man—out of the region +of romance, fantastical notions, enrapturing imagery, nicely +coloured imagination, clever lying and cleverer deception, +beautiful green fields, clear running rivulets, the singing of +the wood songster, bullfinch, and wren, in the midst of woodbine, +sweetbriar, and roses—with an eye to observe, a heart to +feel, and a hand ready to help, I am led to contemplate, aye, and +to find out if possible, the remedy, though my friends say it is +impossible—just because it is impossible it becomes +possible, as in the canal movement—for the wretched +condition of some eight to ten thousand little Gipsy children, +whose home in the winter is camping half-naked in a hut, so +called, in the midst of ‘slush’ and snow, on the +borders of a picturesque <!-- page 68--><a +name="page68"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 68</span>ditch and +roadside, winterly delights, Sunday and week day alike. The +tendency of human nature is to look on the bright side of things; +and it is much more pleasant to go to the edge of a large swamp, +lie down and bask in the summer’s sun, making +‘button-holes’ of daisies, buttercups, and the like, +and return home and extol the fine scenery and praise the +richness of the land, than to take the spade, in shirt-sleeves +and heavy boots, and drain the poisonous water from the roots of +vegetation. Nevertheless, it has to be done, if the +‘strong active limbs’ and ‘bright sparkling +eyes’ are to be turned to better account than they have +been in the past. It is not creditable to us as a Christian +nation, in size compared with other nations not much larger than +a garden, to have had for centuries these heathenish tribes in +our midst. It does not speak very much for the power of the +Gospel, the zeal of the ministers of Christ’s Church, and +the activity of the schoolmaster, to have had these plague spots +continually flitting before our eyes without anything being done +to effect a cure. It is true something has been done. +One clergyman, who has ‘had opportunities of observing +them,’ if not brought in daily contact with them, tells us +that some eight or nine years since he publicly baptised two +Gipsy children. Another tells us that some time since he +baptised many Gipsy children, as if baptism was the only thing +required of the poor children for the duties and responsibilities +of life and a future state. Better a thousand times have +told us how many poor roadside arabs and Gipsy children they have +taken by the hand to educate and train them, so as to be able to +earn an honest livelihood, instead of ‘cadging’ from +door to door, and telling all sorts of silly stories and +lies. How many poor children’s lives have been +sacrificed at the hands of cruelty, starvation, and neglect, and +buried under a clod without the shedding of a tear, it is fearful +to contemplate. The idlers, loafers, rodneys, mongrels, +gorgios, and Gipsies are increasing, and will increase, in our +midst, unless we put our hand <!-- page 69--><a +name="page69"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 69</span>upon the +system, from the simple fact that by packing up with wife and +children and ‘taking to the road,’ he thus escapes +taxes, rent, and the School-board officer. This they see, +and a ‘few kind words’ and ‘gentle +touches’ will never cause them to see it in any other +light. The sooner we get the ideal, fanciful, and romantic +side of a vagrant’s and vagabond’s life removed from +our vision, and see things as they really are, the better it will +be for us. For the life of me I cannot see anything +romantic in dirt, squalor, ignorance, and misery. Ministers +and missionaries have completely failed in the work, for the +simple reason that they have never begun it in earnest; +consequently, the schoolmaster and School-board officer must +begin to do their part in reclaiming these wandering tribes, and +this can only be done in the manner stated by me in my previous +letter.”</p> +<p>In the <i>Leicester Free Press</i> the following appeared on +August 16th:—“Mr. George Smith, of Coalville, is +earning the title of the Children’s Friend. His +‘Cry of the Brick-yard Children’ rang through +England, and issued in measures being adopted for their +protection. His description of the canal-boat children has +also resulted in legislation for their relief. Now I see +Mr. Smith has put in a good word for Gipsy children. It +will surprise a good many who seldom see or hear of these +Gipsies, except perhaps at the races, to find how numerous they +are even in this county. I do not think the number is at +all exaggerated. A few days ago while driving down a rural +lane in the country I ‘interviewed’ one of these +children, who had run some hundreds of yards ahead, in order to +open a gate. At first the young, dark-eyed, swarthy damsel +declared she did not know how many brothers and sisters she had, +but on being asked to mention their names she rattled them over, +in quick succession, giving to each Christian name the surname of +Smith—thus, Charley Smith, Emma Smith, Fanny Smith, Bill +Smith, and the like, till she had enumerated either thirteen or +fifteen juvenile Smiths, all of whom lived with their parents in +a tent which was <!-- page 70--><a name="page70"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 70</span>pitched not far from the side of the +lane. Of education the child had had none, but she said she +went to church on a Sunday with her sister. This is a +sample of the kind of thing which prevails, and in his last +generous movement Mr. Smith, of Coalville, will be acting a good +part to numerous children who, although unable to claim +relationship, rejoice in the same patronymic as +himself.”</p> +<p>In the <i>Derby Daily Telegraph</i>, under date August 16th, +the following leading article was published:—“When +the social history of the present generation comes to be written +a prominent place among the list of practical philanthropists +will be assigned to George Smith, of Coalville. The man is +a humanitarian to the manner born. His character and +labours serve to remind us of the broad line which separates the +real apostle of benevolence from what may be termed the +‘professional’ sample. George Smith goes about +for the purpose of doing good, and—he does it. He +does not content himself with glibly talking of what needs to be +done, and what ought to be done. He prefers to act upon the +spirit of Mr. Wackford Squeers’ celebrated educational +principle. Having discovered a sphere of Christian duty he +goes and ‘works’ it. Few more splendid +monuments of practical charity have been reared than the +amelioration of the social state of our canal population—an +achievement which has mainly been brought about by Mr. +Smith’s indomitable perseverance and self-denial. A +few years ago we were accustomed to speak of the dwellers in +these floating hovels as beings who dragged out a degraded +existence in a far-off land. We were gloomily told that +they could not be reached. Orators at fashionable +missionary-meetings were wont to speak of them as irreclaimable +heathens who bid defiance to civilising influences from +impenetrable fastnesses. Mr. George Smith may be credited +with having broken down this discreditable state of things. +He brought us face to face with this unfortunate section of our +fellow-creatures, with what result it is not <!-- page 71--><a +name="page71"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 71</span>necessary to +say. The sympathies of the public were effectually roused +by the narratives which revealed to us the deplorable depths of +human depravity into which vast numbers of English people had +fallen. The sufferings of the children in the gloomy, +pestiferous cabins used for ‘living’ purposes +especially excited the country’s pity. At this +present moment the lot of these poor waifs is far from being +inviting, but it is vastly different from what it was a short +time back. It was only a few days ago that the Duke of +Richmond, in reply to no less a personage than the Archbishop of +Canterbury, announced that express arrangements had been made by +the Government to meet the educational requirements of the once +helpless and neglected victims.</p> +<p>“Mr. Smith has now embarked upon a fresh crusade against +misery and ignorance. He has turned his attention from the +‘water Gipsies’ to their brethren ashore. He +has already began to busy himself with the condition of +‘our roadside arabs,’ as he calls them. We fear +Mr. Smith in prosecuting this good work of his is doomed to +perform a serious act of disenchantment. The ideal Gipsy is +destined to be scattered to the winds by the unvarnished picture +which Mr. Smith will cause to be presented to our vision. +He does not pretend to show us the romantic, +fantastically-dressed creature whose prototypes have long been in +the imaginations of many of us as types of the Gipsy +species. Those of our readers who have formed their notions +of Gipsy life upon the strength of the assurances which have been +given them by the late Mr. G. P. R. James and kindred writers +will find it hard to substitute for the joyous scenes of sunshine +and freedom he has associated with the nomadic existence, the +dull, wearisome round of squalor and wretchedness which is found, +upon examination, to constitute the principal condition of the +Gipsy tent. Whether it is that in this awfully prosaic +period of the world’s history the picturesque and jovial +rascality which novelist and poet have insisted in connecting +with the Ishmaelites is stamped ruthlessly out of <!-- page +72--><a name="page72"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 72</span>being +by force of circumstances, it is barely possible to say. +Perhaps Gipsies, in common with other tribes of the romantic +past, have gradually become denuded of their old +attractiveness. It is, we confess, rather difficult to +believe that Bamfylde Moore Carew (wild, restless fellow though +he was) would persistently have linked his lot with that of the +poor, degraded, poverty-stricken wretches whom Mr. Smith has +taken in hand. Perchance it happens that our old heroes of +song and story have, so far as England is concerned, deteriorated +as a consequence of the money-making, business-like atmosphere +that they are compelled to breathe, and that with more favoured +climes they are to be seen in much of their primitive +glory. In Hungary, for instance, it is declared that Gipsy +life is pretty much what it is represented to be in our own +glowing pages of fiction. The late Major Whyte-Melville, in +a modern story declared to be founded on fact, introduces us to a +company of these continental wanderers who, with their beautiful +Queen, seem to invest the scenes from our old friend, ‘The +Bohemian Girl,’ with something akin to probability. +But there is, of course, a limit to even Mr. Smith’s +labours. Hungary is beyond his jurisdiction. He does +not pretend to carry his experience of the Gipsies further than +the Midlands. Derbyshire, Staffordshire, and our +neighbouring counties have offered him the examples he requires +with his new campaign. The lot of the roamers who eke out a +living in the adjacent lanes and roadways is, he explains to us, +as pitiful as anything of the sort well could be. The tent +of the Gipsy he finds to be as filthy and as repulsive as the +cabin of the canal-boat. Human beings of both sexes and of +all ages are huddled together without regard to comfort. As +a necessary sequence the women and children are the chief +sufferers in a social evil of this sort. The men are able +to rough it, but the weaker sex and their little charges are +reduced to the lowest paths of misery. Children are born, +suffer from disease, and die in the canvas hovels; and are +committed to the dust by the <!-- page 73--><a +name="page73"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +73</span>roadside. One old woman told Mr. Smith ‘that +she had had sixteen children, fifteen of whom are alive, several +of them being born in a roadside tent. She says that she +was married out of one of these tents; and her brother died and +was buried out of a tent at Packington, near +Ashby-de-la-Zouch.’ The experience of this old crone +is akin to that of most of her class. She also tells Mr. +Smith that she could not read herself, and she did not believe +one in twenty could. Morally, as well as from a sanitary +point of view, Gipsy life, as it really exists, is a social +plague-spot, and consequently a social danger. Especially +does this contention apply to the children, of whom Mr. Smith +estimates that there are ten thousand roaming over the face of +the country as vagrants and vagabonds. It is to be hoped +many months will not be allowed to elapse before this difficulty +is seriously and successfully grappled with. Mr. +Smith’s counsel as to the children is that ‘living in +vans and tents and under old carts, if they are to be allowed to +live in these places they should be registered in a manner +analogous to the Canal Boats Act of 1877, so that the children +may be brought under the compulsory clauses of the Education +Acts, and become Christianised and civilised as other +children.’ The Duke of Richmond and his department +may do much to facilitate Mr. Smith’s crusade without +temporising with the prejudices of red-tapeism.”</p> +<p><i>Figaro</i> writes August 27th:—“Our old friend +having successfully tackled the brick-yard children, and the +floating waifs and strays of our barge population, has now taken +the little Gipsies in hand, with a view of bringing them under +the supervision of the School Board system now general in this +country. He is a bold and energetic man, but we are bound +to say we doubt a little whether he will be able to tame the +offspring of the merry Zingara, and pass them all through the +regulation educational standard. Should he succeed, we +shall be thenceforth surprised at nothing, but be quite prepared +to hear that Mr. Smith has <!-- page 74--><a +name="page74"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 74</span>become +chairman of a society for changing the spots of the leopard, or +honorary director of an association for changing the +Ethiopian’s skin!”</p> +<p>The following letter from the Rev. J. Finch, a rural dean, +appeared in the <i>Standard</i>, August 30th:—“The +following facts may not be without some interest to those who +have read the letters which have recently appeared in the pages +of the <i>Standard</i> respecting Gipsies. During the +thirty years I have been rector of this parish, members of the +Boswell family have been almost constantly resident here. I +buried the head of the family in 1874, who died at the age of +87. He was a regular attendant at the parish church, and +failed not to bow his head reverently when he entered within the +House of God. His burial was attended by several sons +resident, as Gipsies, in the Midland counties, and a headstone +marks the grave where his body rests. I never saw, or +heard, any harm of the man. He was a quiet and inoffensive +man, and worked industriously as a tinman within a short time of +his death. If he had rather a sharp eye for a little gift, +that is a trait of character by no means confined to +Gipsies. One of his daughters was married here to a member +of the Boswell tribe, and another, who rejoiced in the name of +Britannia, I buried in her father’s grave two years +ago. After his death she and her mother removed to an +adjoining parish, where she was confirmed by Bishop Selwyn in +1876. Regular as was the old man at church, I never could +persuade his wife to come. In 1859 I baptized, privately, +an infant of the same tribe, whose parents were travelling +through the parish, and whose mother was named Elvira. +Great was the admiration of my domestics at the sight of the +beautiful lace which ornamented the robe in which the child was +brought to my house. Clearly there are Gipsies, and those +of a well-known tribe, glad to receive the ministrations of the +Church.”</p> +<p>I next turned my steps towards London, having heard <!-- page +75--><a name="page75"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 75</span>that +Gipsies were to be found in the outskirts of this Babylon. +I set off early one morning in quest of them from my lodgings, +not knowing whither; but my earliest association came to my +relief. Knowing that Gipsies are generally to be found in +the neighbourhood of brick-yards, I took the ’bus to +Notting Hill, and after asking the policeman, for neither +clergyman or other ministers could tell me where they were to be +found, I wended my way to Wormwood Scrubs, and the following +letter, which appeared in the <i>Daily News</i>, September 6th of +last year, is the outcome of that “run out,” and is +as follows:—“It has been the custom for years—I +might almost say centuries—when speaking of the Gipsies, to +introduce in one form or other during the conversation either +‘the King of the Gipsies,’ ‘the Queen,’ +or some other member of ‘the Royal Family.’ It +may surprise many of your readers who cling to the romantic side +of a Gipsy’s life, and shut their eyes to the fearful +amount of ignorance, wretchedness, and misery there is amongst +them, to say that this extraordinary being is nothing but a +mythological jack-o’-th’-lantern, phantom of the +brain, illusion, the creation of lying tongues practising the art +of deception among some of the ‘green horns’ in the +country lanes, or on the village greens. It is true there +are some ‘horse-leeches’ among the Gipsies who have +got fat out of their less fortunate hedge-bottom brethren and the +British public, who delight in calling them either ‘the +King,’ ‘Queen,’ ‘Prince,’ or +‘Princess.’ It is true also that there are vast +numbers of the Gipsies who, with a chuckle, tongue in cheek, wink +of the eye, side grin and a sneer, say they have these important +personages amongst them; and if any little extra stir is being +made at a fair-time in the country lanes, in the neighbourhood of +straw-yards, they will be sure to tell them that either the +‘king,’ ‘queen,’ or some member of the +‘royal family’ is being married or visiting them; and +nothing pleases the poor, ignorant Gipsies better than to get the +bystanders, with mouths open, <!-- page 76--><a +name="page76"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 76</span>to believe +their tales and lies. I should think that there is scarcely +a county in England but what a Gipsy king’s or +queen’s wedding has not taken place there within the last +twenty years. There was one in Bedfordshire not long since; +another at Epping Forest; and the last I heard of this wonderful +airy being was that he had taken up his head-quarters at the +Royal Hotel, Liverpool, and a carriage with eight wheels and six +piebald horses had been presented to him as a wedding present +from the Gipsies. Gipsy ‘kings,’ +‘queens,’ and ‘princes,’ their marriages +and deaths, are innumerable among the ‘royal +family.’ It is equally believing in moonshine and +air-bubbles to believe that the Gipsies never speak of their +dead. There is a beautiful headstone put in a little +churchyard about two and a half miles from Barnet in memory of +the Brinkly family, and it is carefully looked after by members +of the family; one of the Lees has a tombstone erected to his +memory in Hanwell Cemetery; and such silly nonsense is put out by +the cunning, crafty Gipsies as ‘dazzlers,’ to enable +them more readily to practise the art of lying and deception upon +their gullible listeners. Then again, with reference to the +Gipsies having a religion of their own. There is not a word +of truth in this imaginative notion prevalent in the minds or +some who have been trying to study their habits. Excepting +the language of some of the old-fashioned real Gipsies, and a few +other little peculiarities, any one studying the real hard facts +of a Gipsy’s life with reference to the amount of +ignorance, and everything that is bad among them, will come to +the conclusion that there is much among them to compare very +unfavourably with the most neglected in our back streets and +slums. Of course, there are some good among them, as with +other ‘ragamuffin’ ramblers. The following +particulars, related to me by a well-known Gipsy woman in the +neighbourhood of ‘Wormwood Scrubs’ and the +‘North Pole,’ remarkable for her truthfulness, +honesty, and uprightness, will tend <!-- page 77--><a +name="page77"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 77</span>to show that +my previous statement as regards the amount of ignorance +prevalent among the poor Gipsy children has not been +over-stated. She has had six brothers and one sister, all +born in a tent, and only one of the eight could read a +little. She has had nine children born in a tent, four of +whom are alive, and only one could read and write a little. +She has seventeen grandchildren, and only two of them can read +and write a little, and thinks this a fair average of other Gipsy +children. She tells me that she got a most fat living for +more than twenty years by telling lies and fortunes to +servant-girls, old maids, and young men, mostly out of a book of +which she could not read a sentence, or tell a letter. She +said she had heard that I had taken up the cause of the poor +Gipsy children to get them educated, and, with hands uplifted and +tears in her eyes, which left no doubt of her meaning, said, +‘I do hope from the bottom of my heart that God will bless +and prosper you in the work till a law is passed, and the poor +Gipsy children are brought under the School Board, and their +parents compelled to send them to school as other people +are. The poor Gipsy children are poor, ignorant things, I +can assure you.’ She also said ‘Does the Queen +wish all our poor Gipsy children to be educated?’ I +told her that the Queen took special interest in the children of +the working-classes, and was always pleased to hear of their +welfare. Again, with tears trickling down her face, she +said, ‘I do thank the Lord for such a good Queen, and for +such a noble-hearted woman. I do bless her. Do Thou, +‘Lord, bless her!’ After some further +conversation, and taking dinner with her in her humble way in the +van, she said she hoped I would not be insulted if she offered +me, as from a poor Gipsy woman, a shilling to help me in the work +of getting a law passed to compel the Gipsies to send their +children to school. I took the shilling, and, after making +her a present of a copy of the new edition of my ‘Cry of +the Children from the Brick-yards of England,’ which she +wrapped in a <!-- page 78--><a name="page78"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 78</span>beautiful white cloth, and after a +shake of the hand, we parted, hoping to meet again on some future +day.”</p> +<p>The foregoing letter brought forth the following letter from +Mr. Daniel Gorrie, and appeared in the <i>Daily News</i> under +date September 13th, as under:—“Mr. George Smith, +Coalville, Leicester, whose letter on the above subject appears +in your impression to-day, succeeded so well in his efforts on +behalf of the poor slave-children of the Midland brick-yards, +that it is to be hoped he will attain equal success in drawing +attention to the pitiful condition of the Gipsy children, who are +allowed to grow up as ignorant as savages that never saw the face +nor heard the voice of a Christian missionary. In one of +the late Thomas Aird’s poems, entitled ‘A Summer +Day,’ there are some lines which, with your permission, I +should like to quote, that are in perfect accord with Mr. +Smith’s wise and kindly suggestion. The lines are +these:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“‘In yonder sheltered nook of nibbled +sward,<br /> +Beside the wood, a Gipsy band are camped;<br /> +And there they’ll sleep the summer night away.<br /> +By stealthy holes their ragged, brawny brood<br /> +Creep through the hedges, in their pilfering quest<br /> +Of sticks and pales to make their evening fire.<br /> +Untutored things scarce brought beneath the laws<br /> +And meek provisions of this ancient State.<br /> +Yet is it wise, with wealth and power like hers,<br /> +To let so many of her sons grow up<br /> +In untaught darkness and consecutive vice?<br /> +True, we are jealous, free, and hate constraint<br /> +And every cognisance, o’er private life;<br /> +Yet, not to name a higher principle,<br /> +’Twere but an institute of wise police<br /> +That every child, neglected of its own,<br /> +State claimed should be, State seized and taught and trained<br +/> +To social duty and to Christian life.<br /> +Our liberties have limbs, manifold;<br /> +So let the national will, which makes restraint<br /> +Part of its freedom, oft the soundest part,<br /> +Power-arm the State to do the large design.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p><!-- page 79--><a name="page79"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +79</span>“The above lines, I may add, were written by the +poet (in losing whom Mr. Thomas Carlyle lost one of his oldest +and most valued friends) many, many years before the Education +Acts now in force came into existence. As many parents +might not like the idea of Gipsy children attending the same +Board schools as their own, would it not be possible to establish +special schools in those parts of the Midland counties where +Gipsies ‘most do congregate’?”</p> +<p>To which I replied as under, in the <i>Daily News</i> bearing +date September 13th:—“In reply to Mr. Gorrie’s +letter which appears in your issue of this morning, I consider +that it would be unwise and impracticable to build separate +schools for either the brick-yard, canal-boat, Gipsy, or other +children moving about the country, in tents, vans, &c., for +their use solely; especially would it be so in the case of Gipsy +children and roadside arabs. What I have been and am still +aiming at is the education of these children, not by isolating +them from other working-classes—colliers, potters, +ironworkers, factory hands, tradesmen, &c.—but by +bringing them in daily contact with the children of these +parents, and also under some of the influences of our little +missionary civilisers who are brought up and receiving some of +their education in drawing-rooms, and whose parents cannot afford +to send them to boarding-schools, colleges, &c., and have to +content themselves by having their children educated at either +the national, British, or Board schools. I confess that it +is not pleasant to hear that our children have picked up vulgar +words at school; and it requires patience, care, and watchfulness +on the part of parents to counteract some of the downward +tendencies resulting from an uneven mixing of children brought up +and educated under such influences. Better by far put up +with these little ills than others we know not of, the outcome of +ignorance. On the other hand, it is pleasing to note how +glad the parents of Gipsy, canal-boat, and brick-yard children +are when their children pick up ‘fine words’ and +become more ‘gentlerified’ by mixing with <!-- page +80--><a name="page80"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +80</span>children higher up the social scale. Bad habits, +words, and actions are generally picked up between school +times. It would be well for us to rub down class feeling +among children as much as possible as regards their +education. The children of brick-makers, canal-boatmen, and +Gipsies are of us and with us, and must be taken hold of, +educated, and elevated in things pertaining to their future +welfare. The ‘turning up of the nose,’ by those +whose duty, education, and privilege should have taught them +better things, at these poor children has had more to do in +bringing about their pitiable and ignorant condition than can be +imagined. The Canal Boats Act, if wisely carried out, will +before long bring about the education of the canal-boat children; +and in order to bring the Gipsy children, show children, and +other roadside arabs under the Education Acts, I am seeking to +have all movable habitations, <i>i.e.</i>, tents, vans, shows, +&c., in which the families live who are earning a living by +travelling from place to place, registered and numbered, as in +the case of canal-boats, and the parents compelled ‘by hook +or by crook’ to send their children to school at the place +wherever they may be temporarily located, be it national, +British, or Board school. The education of these children +should be brought about at all risks and inconveniences, or we +may expect a blacker page in the social history of this country +opening to our view than we have seen for many a long +day.”</p> +<p>The following leading article upon Gipsies and other tramps of +a similar class appeared in the <i>Standard</i>, September 10th, +1879, and as it relates to the subject I have in hand I quote it +in full:—“Not only in his ‘Uncommercial +Traveller,’ but in many other scattered passages of his +works, Dickens, who for many years lived in Kent, has described +the intolerable nuisance inflicted by tramps upon residents in +the home counties, and has sketched the natural history of the +sturdy vagabond who infests our roads and highways from early +spring to late <!-- page 81--><a name="page81"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 81</span>autumn, with a minuteness and power +of detail worthy of a Burton. The subject of vagabondage is +not, however, confined in its interest to the Metropolis and its +adjacent parts. In the United States the habitual beggar +has become as serious a nuisance, and, indeed, source of positive +danger, as he was once amongst ourselves; and in the State of +Pennsylvania more especially it has been found necessary to pass +what may be described as an Habitual Vagrants Act for his +suppression. That the terms of this enactment should be +excessively severe is hardly matter of astonishment, when we bear +in mind the fate of little Charley Ross. Early in the year +1874 a couple of men who were travelling up and down the country +in a waggon stole from the home of his parents in Germantown, +Pennsylvania, a boy of some seven years named Charley Ross. +They then sent letters demanding a large sum of money for his +restoration. The ransom increased, until no less than +twenty thousand dollars was insisted upon. While the +parents, on the one hand, were attempting to raise the money, and +while the police were endeavouring to arrest the kidnappers, all +negotiations fell through. The two men believed to have +been concerned in the abduction were shot down in the act of +committing a burglary on Rhode Island, and from that day to this +the fate of Charley Ross has remained a mystery. Under +these circumstances, public opinion has naturally run high, and +it has been provided that any habitual tramp making his way from +place to place, without earning an honest livelihood, shall be +liable to imprisonment with hard labour for a period of twelve +months; and that tramps who enter dwellings without permission, +who carry fire-arms, or other weapons, or who threaten to injure +either persons or property, shall be put to work in the common +penitentiary for a period of three years. Pennsylvania in +this is but reverting to the old law of England in the Tudor +days. In the time of Henry VIII. vagrants were whipped at +the cart’s tail, without distinction of either sex or +age. The whipping-post, <!-- page 82--><a +name="page82"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 82</span>together with +the stocks, was a conspicuous ornament of every parish green, and +it was not until the year 1791 that the whipping of women was +expressly forbidden by statute. There were other enactments +even more severe. By an act of Elizabeth idle soldiers and +marines, or persons pretending to be soldiers or marines, +wandering about the realm, were held <i>ipso facto</i> guilty of +felony, and hundreds of such offenders were publicly +executed. Another act of the same kind was directed against +Gipsies, by which any Gipsy, or any person over fourteen who had +been seen or found in their fellowship, was guilty of felony if +he remained a month in the kingdom; and in Hale’s +‘Pleas of the Crown’ we learn that at one Suffolk +Assizes no less than thirteen Gipsies were executed on the +strength of this barbarous act, and without any other reason or +cause whatever.</p> +<p>“The ancient severity of our Statute Book has long since +been modified, and the worst that can now befall ‘idle +persons and vagabonds, such as wake on the night and sleep on the +day, and haunt customable taverns and ale-houses, and routs +about; and no man wot from whence they come ne whither they +go,’ is a brief period of hard labour under the provisions +of the Vagrant Act. Under this comprehensive statute are +swept together as into one common net a vast variety of petty +offenders, of whom some are deemed ‘idle and disorderly +persons,’ other ‘rogues and vagabonds,’ and +others again ‘incorrigible rogues.’ Under one +or other of these heads are unlicensed hawkers or pedlars; +persons wandering abroad to beg or causing any child to beg; +persons lodging in any outhouse or in the open air, not having +any visible means of subsistence, and not giving a good account +of themselves; persons playing or betting in the public street; +and notorious thieves loitering about with intent to commit a +felony. At the present period of the year the country in +the neighbourhood not of the Metropolis alone, but of all large +towns, is filled with offenders of this kind. Indeed, the +sturdy tramp renders the country to a <!-- page 83--><a +name="page83"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 83</span>very great +extent unsafe for ladies who have ventured to go about without +protection. Ostensibly he is a vendor of combs, or +bootlaces, or buttons, or is in quest of a hop-picking job, or is +a discharged soldier or sailor, or a labourer out of +employment. But whatever may be his pretence, his mode of +procedure is more or less the same. If he can come upon a +roadside cottage left in the charge of a woman, or possibly only +of a young girl, he will demand food and money, and if the demand +be not instantly complied with will never hesitate at +violence. Indeed, when we remember how many horrible +outrages have within the last few years been committed by +ruffians of this kind, it is quite easy to understand the +severity necessary in less civilised times. Only recently +the Spaniard Garcia murdered an entire family in Wales; and some +few years ago, at Denham, near Uxbridge, a small household was +butchered for the sake of a few shillings and such little plunder +as the humble cottage afforded. And although grave crimes +of this kind are happily rare, and tend to become rarer, petty +violence is far from uncommon. Many ladies resident in the +country can tell how they have been beset upon the highway by +sturdy tramps of forbidding aspect, to whom, in despair, they +have given alms to an amount which practically made the +solicitation an act of brigandage. The farmer’s wife +and the bailiff tell us how haystacks are converted into +temporary lodging-houses, chickens stolen, and outbuildings +plundered. Only too often the rogues are in direct league +with the worst offenders in London. Whitechapel supplies a +large contingent of the Kentish hop-pickers, and the +‘traveller’ who is ostensibly in search of a +haymaking or hopping job is, as often as not, spying out the +land, and planning profitable burglaries to be carried out in +winter with the aid of his colleagues.</p> +<p>“There is, no doubt, much about the tramp that is +picturesque. A romantic imagination pictures him as a sort +of peripatetic philosopher, with more of Jacques in him than of +Autolycus; living in constant communion with <!-- page 84--><a +name="page84"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 84</span>Nature; +sleeping in the open air; subsisting on the scantiest fare; +slaking his thirst at the running brook; and only begging to be +allowed to live his own childlike and innocent life, as +purposeless as the butterflies, as happy as the swallows, as +destitute of all worldly ends and aims as are the very violets of +the hedge-row. Æsthetic enthusiasm of this kind is +apt to be severely checked by the prosaic realities of actual +existence. The tramp, like the noble savage, is a relic of +uncivilised life with which we can very well afford to +dispense. There is no appreciation of the country about +him; no love of Nature for its own sake. In winter he +becomes an inmate of the workhouse, where he almost always proves +himself turbulent and disorderly. As soon as it becomes +warm enough to sleep in a haystack, or under a hedge, or in a +thick clump of furze and bracken, he discharges himself from +‘the Union’ and takes to ‘the +roads.’ From town to town he begs or steals his way, +safe in the assurance that should things go amiss the nearest +workhouse must always provide him with gratuitous board and +lodging. Work of any kind, although he vigorously pretends +to be in ‘want of a job,’ is utterly abhorrent to +him. Home county farmers, led by that unerring instinct +which is the unconscious result of long experience, know the +tramp at once, and can immediately distinguish him from the +<i>bonâ-fide</i> ‘harvester,’ in quest of +honest employment. The tramp, indeed, is the sturdy idler +of the roads—a cousin-german of the +‘beach-comber,’ who is the plague of consuls and +aversion of merchant skippers. In almost every port of any +size the harbour is beset by a gang of idle fellows, whose +pretence is that they are anxious to sign articles for a voyage, +but who are, in reality, living from hand to mouth. +Captains know only too well that the true +‘beach-comber’ is always incompetent, often +physically unfit for work, and constitutionally mutinous. +When his other resources fail, he throws himself upon the nearest +consul of the nation to which he may claim to belong, and a very +<!-- page 85--><a name="page85"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +85</span>considerable sum is yearly wasted in providing such +ramblers with free passages to what they please to assert is the +land of their birth. Harbour-masters and port authorities +generally are apt to treat notorious offenders of this kind +somewhat summarily, and our local police and poor-law officers +are ill-advised if they do not follow the good example thus set, +and show the tramp as little mercy as possible. Leniency, +indeed, of any kind he simply regards as weakness. He would +be a highwayman if the existing conditions of society allowed it, +and if he had the necessary personal courage. As it is, he +is a blot upon our country life, and an eyesore on our +roads. Vagabondage is not a heritage with him, as it is +with the genuine Gipsies. He has taken to it from choice, +and the true-bred Romany will always regard him with contempt, as +a mere migratory gaol bird, who knows no tongue of the roads +beyond the cant or ‘kennick’ of thieves—a +Whitechapel <i>argot</i>, familiarity with which at once tells +its own tale. Fortunately, our existing law is sufficient +to keep the nuisance in check, if only it be resolutely +administered. The tramp, however, trades upon spurious +sympathy. There will always be weak-minded folk to pity the +poor man whom the hard-hearted magistrates have sent to gaol for +sleeping under a haystack—forgetting that this interesting +offender is, as a rule, no better than a common thief at large, +who will steal whatever he can lay his hands on, and who makes +our lanes and pleasant country byways unpleasant, if not actually +dangerous.”</p> +<p>The foregoing article upon Gipsies and tramps brought from a +correspondent in the <i>Standard</i>, under date September 12th, +the following letter:—“I have just been reading the +article in your paper on the subject of tramps. If you +could stand at my gate for one day, you would be astonished to +see the number of tramps passing through our village, which is on +the high road between two of the principal towns in South +Yorkshire; and the same may be <!-- page 86--><a +name="page86"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 86</span>said of any +place in England situated on the main road, or what was formerly +the coach road. We seldom meet tramps in town, except +towards evening, when they come in for the casual ward. +They spend their day in the country, passing from one town to +another, and to those who reside near the high road, as I do, +they are an intolerable nuisance. A tramp in a ten mile +journey, which occupies him all day, will frequently make 1s. 6d. +or 2s. a day, besides being supplied with food, and the more +miserable and wretched he can make himself appear, the more +sympathy he will get, and if he is lucky enough to meet a +benevolent old lady out for her afternoon drive he will get 6d. +or 1s. from her. She will say ‘Poor man,’ and +then go home thinking how she has helped ‘that poor, +wretched man’ on his way. Tramps are a class of +people who never have worked, and who never will, except it be in +prison, and, as long as they can get a living for nothing, they +will continue to be, as you say in your article, ‘A blot +upon the country and an eyesore on our roads.’</p> +<p>“I always find the quickest way of getting rid of a +tramp is to threaten him with the police, and I am quite sure if +every householder would make a rule never to relieve tramps with +money, and only those who are crippled, with food, the number +would soon be decreased. If people have any old clothes or +spare coppers to give away, I am sure they will soon find in +their own town or village many cases more worthy of their charity +than the highway tramp. I do not recommend anybody to find +a tramp even temporary employment, unless they can stand over him +and then see the man safe off the premises, and even then he may +come again at night as a burglar; but I am sure work could be +found at 1s. 6d. or 2s. a day by our corporations or on the +highways, where, under proper supervision, these idle vagabonds +would be made to earn an honest living. You will find that +nine out of ten tramps have been in prison and have no character, +and although they may say they <!-- page 87--><a +name="page87"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 87</span>‘want +work,’ they really do not mean it. Not long ago I +caught a great rough fellow trying to get the dinner from a +little girl who was taking it to her father at his work. +‘Poor man! he must have been very hungry,’ I fancy I +hear the benevolent old lady saying. Of course, during the +last year we have had many men ‘on the road’ who are +really in search of work, but I always tell them that there is as +much work in one place as another, and unless they really have a +situation in view they should not go tramping from town to +town. Many of them have no characters to produce, and I +expect when they find ‘tramping’ is such a pleasant +and easy mode of living they will join the ranks and become +roadsters also.”</p> +<p>In <i>May’s Aldershot Advertiser</i>, September 13th, +1879, the following is a leading article upon the condition of +Gipsies:—“The incoming of September reminds us that +in the hop districts this is the season of advent of those +British nomads—the Gipsies, the only class for whom there +is so little legislation, or with whose actions and habits, +lawless as they are, the agents of the law so seldom +interfere. The miners of the Black Country owe the +suppression of juvenile labour and the short time law to the long +exertions of the generous-hearted Richard Oastler. The +brickmaker may no longer debase and ruin, both morally and +physically, his child of the tender age of nine or ten years, by +turning it—boy or girl—into the brick-yard to toil, +shoeless and ragged, at carrying heavy lumps on its head. +The canal population—they who are born and die in the +circumscribed hole at the end of a barge, dignified by the name +of ‘cabin,’ are just now receiving the special +attention of Mr. Smith, of Coalville, and certainly, excepting +the section of whom I am writing, there is not to be found in +privileged England a people so utterly debased and regardless of +the characteristics of civilised life. The Factory Act +prevents the employing of boys or girls under a certain age, and +secures for those who are legally employed a sufficient time <!-- +page 88--><a name="page88"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +88</span>for recreation. But who cares for, or thinks +about, the wandering Romany? True, Police-Constable Argus +receives authority by which he, <i>sans +cérémonie</i>, commands them to ‘move +on,’ should he come across any by the roadside in his +diurnal or nocturnal perambulations. But it often occurs +that the object for which they ‘camped’ in the spot +has been accomplished. The farmer’s hedge has been +made to supply them with fuel for warmth and for culinary +purposes; his field has been trespassed upon, and fodder stolen +for their overworked and cruelly-treated quadrupeds; so, the +‘move on’ simply means a little inconvenience +resulting from their having to transfer their paraphernalia to +another ‘camp ground’ not far off. They also +enjoy certain immunities which are withheld from other +classes. Excepting that some of them pay for a +hawker’s licence, they roam about as they list, untaxed and +uncontrolled, though the earnings of most of them amount to a +considerable sum every year; as they are free from the +conventional rule which requires the house-dwelling population, +often at great inconvenience, to ‘keep up +appearances,’ it often happens that the wearer of the most +tattered garments earns the most money. They can and do +live sparingly, and spend lavishly. The labour which they +choose is the most remunerative kind. Ploughing or +stone-breaking is not the employment, which the Gipsy usually +seeks! He takes the cream and leaves the skimmed milk for +the cottier, and having done all there is to do of the kind he +chooses, he is off to some other money-making industry. A +Gipsy will make four harvests in one year; first he goes +‘up the country,’ as he calls going into Middlesex, +for ‘peas-hacking.’ That over, he goes into +Sussex (Chichester—’wheat-fagging’ or tying), +and on that being done, returns toward Hampshire—North +Hants—to ‘fag’ or tie, and that being done he +enters Surrey for hop-picking (previously securing a +‘bin’ in one of the gardens). Some idea of his +gross earnings may be obtained from the following fact:—Two +able-bodied men, an old woman of <!-- page 89--><a +name="page89"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 89</span>about 75 +years of age, and two women, earned on a farm in one harvest, no +less than £42. After that, they went hop-picking, +and, in answer to my question, ‘How much will they earn +there?’ the farmer, who is a hop-grower, said, ‘More +than they have here.’ These operations were performed +in less than a quarter of the year. In the places through +which they pass to their work they sell what they can, and at +night pitch their tent or draw their van on some common or waste +land, buy no corn for their horses, nor spend any money for coal +or wood. If they locate themselves on the margin of a wood, +and make a prolonged sojourn, the uproar, the screams, the cries +of ‘murder’ heard from their rendezvous</p> +<blockquote><p>“‘Make night hideous.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>All this, and more, they do with impunity. ‘It is +only the Gipsies quarrelling.’ No inspector of +nuisances pays them a visit; the tax-gatherer knows not their +whereabouts; the rate-collector troubles them not with any +‘demand note;’ their children are not provided with +proper and necessary education, yet no school attendance officer +serves them with a summons. Their existence is not known +officially, saving the time a census is taken, when, at the +<i>expense of the house-dwellers</i>, a registry is made of +them. Not a farthing do they contribute to the government, +imperial or local, though many of them are in a position to do +it, and can, without inconvenience, find from £40 to +£80; or £100 for a new-travelling van when they want +one. Overcrowding and numerous indecencies exist in galore +among them, yet no representative of the Board of Health troubles +himself about the number of cubic feet of air per individual +there may be in their tent or van. Is this neglect, +indifference, obliviousness, or do the authorities believe that +the impurities and unsanitary exhalements are sufficiently +oxidised to prevent any disease? It is worthy of remark +that they are not liable to the epidemics which afflict +others. The loss of a <!-- page 90--><a +name="page90"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 90</span>pony from a +common simultaneously with their exodus is a suspicious fact +occasionally. They live in defiance of social, moral, +civil, and natural law, a disgrace to the legislature.—J. +W. B.”</p> +<p>In the <i>Hand and Heart</i>, September 19th of last year, the +editor says, with reference to our roadside +arabs:—“Mr. George Smith, of Coalville, whose efforts +to better the condition of the wretched canal population have met +deserved success, draws attention to the state of another +neglected class. Parliament, he says, which has lately been +reforming so many things, would have done well to consider the +case of the Gipsies, ‘our roadside arabs.’ Of +the idleness, ignorance, heathenism, and general misery +prevailing among these strange people he gives some curious +instances. One old man, whose acquaintance Mr. Smith made, +calculates that ‘there are about 250 families of Gipsies in +ten of the Midland counties, and thinks that a similar proportion +will be found in the rest of the United Kingdom. He has +seen as many as ten tents of Gipsies within a distance of five +miles. He thinks there will be an average of five children +in each tent. He has seen as many as ten or twelve children +in some tents, and not many of them able to read or write. +His child of six months old—with his wife ill at the same +time in the tent—sickened, died, and was “laid +out” by him, and it was also buried out of one of those +wretched abodes on the roadside at Barrow-upon-Soar, last +January. When the poor thing died he had not sixpence in +his pocket.’ An old woman bore similar +testimony. ‘She said that she had had sixteen +children, fifteen of whom are alive, several of them being born +in a roadside tent. She says that she was married out of +one of these tents; and her brother died and was buried out of a +tent at Packington, near Ashby-de-la-Zouch. This poor woman +knows about three hundred families of Gipsies in eleven of the +Midland and Eastern counties, and has herself, so she says, four +lots <!-- page 91--><a name="page91"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +91</span>of Gipsies travelling in Lincolnshire at the present +time. She said she could not read herself, and thinks that +not one Gipsy in twenty can. She has travelled all her +life. Her mother, named Smith, of whom there are not a few, +is the mother of fifteen children, all of whom were born in a +tent.’ Mr. Smith’s conclusion (which will not +be disputed) is that ‘to have between three and four +thousand men and women, and eight or ten thousand children +classed in the Census as vagrants and vagabonds, roaming all over +the country, in ignorance and evil training that carries peril +with it, is not a pleasant look-out for the future.’ +He contends that ‘if these poor children, living in vans +and tents and under old carts, are to be allowed to live in these +places, they should be registered in a manner analogous to the +Canal Boats Act of 1877, so that the children may be brought +under the compulsory clauses of the Education Acts, and become +Christianised and civilised as other children.’”</p> +<p>The <i>Illustrated London News</i>, October 4th, +says:—“Among the papers to be read at Manchester is +one on the condition of the Gipsy children and roadside +‘arabs’ in our midst, by Mr. George Smith, of +Coalville, Leicester. Here, indeed, is a gentleman who is +certainly neither a dealer in crotchets nor a rider of +hobbies. Mr. Smith has done admirable service on behalf of +the poor children on board our barges and canal-boats, and the +even more pitiable boys and girls in our brick-fields; and to his +philanthropic exertions are mainly due the recent amendments in +the Factory Acts regulating the labour of young children. +He has now taken the case of the juvenile ‘Romanies’ +in hand; and I wish him well in his benevolent crusade. Mr. +Smith has obligingly sent me a proof of his address, from which I +gather that, owing to a superstitious dislike which the Gipsies +entertain towards the Census, and the successfully cunning +attempts on their part to baffle the enumerators, it is only by +conjecture and guesswork that we can form any idea of the number +of Bohemians in this country. The <!-- page 92--><a +name="page92"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 92</span>result of Mr. +Smith’s diligent inquiries has led him to the assumption +that there are not less than 4,000 Gipsy men and women, and from +15,000 to 20,000 Gipsy and ‘arab’—that is to +say, tramp—children roaming about the country +‘outside the educational laws and the pale of +civilisation.’”</p> +<p>The following leading article, relating to my paper upon +“The Condition of the Gipsy Children,” appears in the +<i>Daily News</i>, October 6th:—“At the Social +Science Congress Mr. George Smith, of Coalville, will to-morrow +open a fresh campaign of philanthropy. The philanthropic +Alexander is seldom in the unhappy condition of his Macedonian +original, and generally has plenty of worlds remaining ready to +be conquered. Brick-yards and canal-boats have not +exhausted Mr. Smith’s energies, and the field he has now +entered upon is wider and perhaps harder to work than either of +these. Mr. Smith desires to bring the Gipsy children under +the operation of the Education Act. Education and Gipsies +seem at first sight to be words mutually contradictory. +Amid the mass of imaginative fiction, idle speculation, and +deliberate forgery that has been set afloat on the subject of the +Gipsies, one thing has been made tolerably clear, and that is the +intense aversion which the pure bred Gipsy has to any of the +restraints of civilised life. Whether those restraints take +the form of orderly and cleanly living in houses of brick and of +stone, or of military service, or of school attendance, is pretty +much a matter of indifference to him. Schools, indeed, may +be regarded from the Gipsy point of view as not merely irksome, +but useless institutions. Our most advanced places of +technical education do not teach fortune-telling, or that +interesting branch of the tinker’s art which enables the +practitioner in mending one hole in a kettle to make two. +Except for music the Gipsies do not seem to have much aptitude +for the arts; they are more or less indifferent to literature; +and business, except of certain dubious kinds, is a detestable +thing to them. Their vagrant habits, on the other hand, +enable them, without much difficulty, to evade <!-- page 93--><a +name="page93"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 93</span>the great +commandment which has gone forth, that all the English world +shall be examined.</p> +<p>“The condition of the Gipsies is a sufficiently gloomy +one. We may pass over those degenerate members of the race +who have elected to pitch permanent tents in the slums and +rookeries of great towns, because, in the first place, they are +degenerate, and in the second, their children ought to be within +reach of School Board visitors who do their duty +diligently. It is only the Gipsy proper who has the +opportunity of evading this vigilance. His opportunity is +an excellent one, and he fully avails himself of it. Gipsy +households, if they can be so called, are of the most fluid, not +to say intangible character. The partnerships between men +and women are rarely of a legal kind, and the constant habit of +aliases and double names make identification still more +difficult. As a rule, the race is remarkably prolific, and +though the hardships to which young children are exposed thin it +considerably, the proportion of children to adults is still very +large. Hawking, their chief ostensible occupation, cannot +legally be practised until the age of seventeen, and until that +time the Gipsy child has nothing to do except to sprawl and loaf +about the camp, and to indulge in his own devices. Idleness +and ignorance, unless the whole race of moralists have combined +to represent things falsely, are the parents of every sort of +vice, and the average Gipsy child would appear to be brought up +in a condition which is the <i>ne plus ultra</i> of both. +It is true that Gipsies do not very often make their appearance +in courts of justice, but this is partly owing to the cunning +with which their peccadilloes are practised, partly to their +well-known habit of sticking by one another, and still more to +the mild but very definite terrorism which they exercise. +Country residents, when a Gipsy encampment comes near them, know +that a certain amount of blackmail in this way or that has to be +paid, and that in their own time the strangers, if not interfered +with, will go. Interference with them is apt to bring down +a <!-- page 94--><a name="page94"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +94</span>visit from that very unpleasant fowl, the ‘red +cock,’ whose crowings usually cost a good deal more than a +stray chicken here and a vanished blanket there. So the +Ishmaelites are left pretty much alone to wander about from +roadside patch to roadside patch to pick up a living somehow or +other, and to exist in the condition of undisturbed freedom and +filth which appears to be all that they desire.</p> +<p>“The gloss has long been taken off the picture which +imaginative persons used to varnish for themselves as to the +Romany. Nor, perhaps is any country in Europe so little +fitted for these gentry as ours. England is every year +becoming more and more enclosed, and the spaces which are not +enclosed are more and more carefully looked after. Whether +in our climate open-air living was ever thoroughly satisfactory +is a question not easy to answer. But even if we admit that +it might have been merry in good greenwood under the conditions +picturesquely described in ballads, the admission does not extend +to the present day. There is no good greenwood now, except +a few insignificant patches, which are pretty sharply preserved; +and the killing of game, except on a small scale and at +considerable risk, is difficult. The cheapness of modern +manufactures has interfered a good deal with the various trades +of mending, mankind having made up their minds that it is better +to buy new things and throw them away when they fail than to have +them patched and cobbled. Fortune-telling is a resource to +some extent, but even this is meddled with by the Gorgio and his +laws. The <i>raison d’être</i> of the vagabond +Gipsy is getting smaller and smaller in England, and as this goes +on the likelihood of his practices becoming more and more +undisguisedly criminal is obvious. The best way to prevent +this is, of course, to catch him young and educate him. A +century or two ago the innate Bohemianism of the race might have +made this difficult, if not impossible. But it is clear +that even if the Gipsy blood has not been largely crossed during +their four centuries of residence in England, <!-- page 95--><a +name="page95"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 95</span>other +influences have been sufficient to work upon them. If they +can live in towns at all, they can live in them after the manner +of civilised townsmen. A Gipsy at school suggests odd +ideas, and one might expect that the pupils would imitate some +day or other, though less tragically, the conduct of that +promising South African prince who, the other day, solemnly took +off his trousers (as a more decisive way of shaking our dust from +his feet), and began vigorously to kill colonists. But it +is by no means certain that this would be the case. The old +order of Gipsy life has, in England, at any rate, become +something of an impossibility and everything of a nuisance. +It has ceased to be even picturesque.”</p> +<p>The following is a copy of my paper upon the “Condition +of Gipsy Children,” as read by me before the Social Science +Congress, held at Manchester on October 7th, 1879. Although +it was at the “fag end” of the session, and the last +paper but two, it was evident the announcement in the papers that +my paper was to be read on Tuesday morning had created a little +interest in the Gipsy children question, for immediately I began +to read it in the large room, under the presidency of Dr. +Haviland, it was manifest I was to be honoured with a large +audience, so much so, that, before I had proceeded very far with +it, the hall was nearly full of merchant princes—who could +afford to leave their bags of gold and cotton—and ladies +and gentlemen desirous of listening to my humble tale of +neglected humanity, and the outcasts of society, commonly called +“Gipsies’ children.” Dr. Gladstone, of +the London School Board, opened the discussion and said that he +could, from his own observation and knowledge of the persons I +had quoted, testify to the truthfulness of my remarks. Dr. +Fox, of London, Mr. H. H. Collins, Mr. Crofton, and other +gentlemen took part in the discussion, and it was the unanimous +feeling of those present that something should be done to remedy +this sad state of things; and the chairman said that the result +of my labours with regard to the Gipsies would be that something +<!-- page 96--><a name="page96"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +96</span>would be done in the way of legislation. The paper +caused some excitement in the country, and was copied lengthily +into many of the daily papers, including the <i>Leicester Daily +Post</i>, <i>Leicester Daily Mercury</i>, <i>Nottingham +Guardian</i>, <i>Nottingham Journal</i>, <i>Sunday School +Chronicle</i>, <i>Record</i>, and others nearly in full, and was +read as follows:—</p> +<p>“As it is not in my power to open out a painful subject +in the flowery language of fiction, romance, and imagery, in +musical sounds of the highest pitch of refinement, culture, and +sentiment, I purpose following out very briefly the same course +on the present occasion as I adopted on the three times I have +had the honour to address the Social Science Congress with +reference to the brick-yard and canal-boat children—viz., +that of attempting to place a few serious, hard, broad dark facts +in a plain, practical, common-sense view, so as to permeate your +nature till they have reached your hearts and consciences, and +compelled you to extend the hand of sympathy and help to rescue +my young clients from the dreadful and perilous condition into +which they have fallen through long years of neglect.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p96b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"A Farmer’s Pig that does not like a Gipsy’s Tent" +title= +"A Farmer’s Pig that does not like a Gipsy’s Tent" +src="images/p96s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>“Owing to a superstitious regard and dislike the Gipsies +had towards the Census, and their endeavours to evade being +taken, no correct number has been arrived at; and it is only by +guess work and conjecture we can form any idea of the number of +Gipsies there are in this country. The Census puts the +number at between 4,000 and 5,000. A gentleman who has +lived and moved among them many years writes me to say that there +cannot be less than 2,000 in the neighbourhood of London, whose +Paradises are in the neighbourhood of Wormwood Scrubs, Notting +Hill Pottery, New Found Out, Kensal Green, Battersea, Dulwich +Common, Lordship Lane, Mitcham Common, Barnes Common, Epping +Forest, Cherry Island, and like places. A gentleman told me +some time since that he gave a tea to over 150 Gipsies residing +in the neighbourhood of Kensal Green. A Gipsy woman who has +moved about all her life says she knows about 300 families <!-- +page 97--><a name="page97"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +97</span>in ten of the Midland counties. Another Gipsy, in +a different part of England, tells me a similar story, and says +the same proportion will be borne out all over the country. +Of hawkers, auctioneers, showmen, and others who live in caravans +with their families, there would be, at a rough calculation, not +less than 3,000 children; taking these things along with others, +and the number given in the Census, it may be fairly assumed that +I am under the mark when I state that there are not less than +4,000 Gipsy men and women, and 15,000 to 20,000 Gipsy and other +children moving about the country outside the educational laws +and the pale of civilisation.</p> +<p>“Some few Gipsies who have arrived at what they consider +the highest state of a respectable and civilised life, reside in +houses which, in 99 cases out of 100, are in the lowest and most +degraded part of the towns, among the scum and offscouring of all +nations, and like locusts they leave a blight behind them +wherever they have been. Others have their tents and vans, +and there are many others who I have tents only. A tent as +a rule is about 7ft. 6in. wide, 16ft. long, and 4ft. 6in. high at +the top. They are covered with pieces of old cloth, +sacking, &c., to keep the rain and snow out; the opening to +allow the Gipsies to go in and out of their tent is covered with +a kind of coverlet. The fire by which they cook their meals +is placed in a kind of tin bucket pierced with holes, and stands +on the damp ground. Some of the smoke or sulphur arising +from the sticks or coke finds its way through an opening at the +top of the tent about 2ft. in diameter. The other part of +the smoke helps to keep their faces and hands the proper Gipsy +colour. Their beds consist of a layer of straw upon the +damp ground, covered with a sack or sheet, as the case may +be. An old soapbox or tea-chest serves as a chest of +drawers, drawing-room table, and clothes-box. In these +places children are born, live, and die; men, women, grown-up +sons and daughters, lie huddled together in such a state as would +shock the <!-- page 98--><a name="page98"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 98</span>modesty of South African savages, to +whom we send missionaries to show them the blessings of +Christianity. As in other cases where idleness and filth +abounds, what little washing they do is generally done on the +Saturday afternoons; but this is a business they do not indulge +in too often. They are not overdone with cooking utensils, +and the knives and forks they principally use are of the kind +Adam used, and sensitive when applied to hot water. They +take their meals and do their washing squatting upon the ground +like tailors and Zulus. Lying, begging, thieving, cheating, +and every other abominable, low, cunning craft that ignorance and +idleness can devise, they practise. In some instances these +things are carried out to such a pitch as to render them more +like imbeciles than human beings endowed with reason. +Chair-mending, tinkering, and hawking are in many instances used +only as a ‘blind;’ while the women and children go +about the country begging and fortune-telling, bringing to their +heathenish tents sufficient to keep the family. The poor +women are the slaves and tools for the whole family, and can be +seen very often with a child upon their backs, another in their +arms, and a heavily-laden basket by their side. Upon the +shoulders of the women rests the responsibility of providing for +the herds of ditch-dwelling heathens. Many of the women +enjoy their short pipes quite as much as the men.</p> +<p>“Judging from the conversations I have had with the +Gipsies in various parts of the country, not more than half +living as men and wives are married. No form or ceremony +has been gone through, not even ‘jumping the +broomstick,’ as has been reported of them; and taking the +words of a respectable Gipsy woman, ‘they go together, take +each other’s words, and there is an end of it.’ +I am also assured by Levi Boswell, a real respectable Gipsy, and +a Mrs. Eastwood, a Christian woman and a Gipsy, who preaches +occasionally, that not half the Gipsies who are living as men and +wives are married. When once a Gipsy woman has <!-- page +99--><a name="page99"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 99</span>been +ill-used, she becomes fearful, and as one said to me a few days +since, ‘we are either like devils or like +lambs.’ In the case of some of the adult Gipsies +living on the outskirts of London an improvement has taken +place. There is some good among them as with others. +A Gipsy in Wiltshire has built himself a house at the cost of +£600. Considerable difficulty is experienced +sometimes in finding them out, as many of the women go by two +names; but in vain do I look for any improvement among the +children. Owing to the act relating to pedlars and hawkers +prohibiting the granting of licences for hawking to the youths of +both sexes under seventeen, and the Education Acts not being +sufficiently strong to lay hold of their dirty, idle, travelling +tribes to educate them—except in rare cases—they are +allowed to skulk about in ignorance and evil training, without +being taught how to get an honest living. No ray of hope +enters their breast, their highest ambition is to live and loll +about so long as the food comes, no matter by whom or how it +comes so that they get it. In many instances they live like +pigs, and die like dogs. The real old-fashioned Gipsy has +become more lewd and demoralised—if such a thing could +be—by allowing his sons and daughters to mix up with the +scamps, vagabonds, ‘rodneys,’ and gaol birds, who now +and then take their flight from the ‘stone cup’ and +settle among them as they are camping on the ditch banks; the +consequence is our lanes are being infested with a lot of dirty +ignorant Gipsies, who, with their tribes of squalid children, +have been encouraged by servant girls and farmers—by +supplying their wants with eggs, bacon, milk, potatoes, the men +helping themselves to game—to locate in the neighbourhood +until they have received the tip from the farmer to pass on to +his neighbours. Children born under such circumstances, +unless taken hold of by the State, will turn out to be a class of +most dangerous characters. Very much, up to the present, +the wants of the women and children have been supplied through +gulling the large-hearted and liberal-minded they <!-- page +100--><a name="page100"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +100</span>have been brought in contact with, and the result has +been that but few of the real Gipsies have found their way into +gaols. This is a redeeming feature in their character; +probably their offences may have been winked at by the farmers +and others who do not like the idea of having their stacks fired +and property destroyed, and have given the Gipsies a wide +berth. Gipsies, as a rule, have very large families, +generally between eight and sixteen children are born in their +tents. Owing to their exposure to the damp and cold ground +they suffer much from chest and throat complaints. Large +numbers of the children die young before they are +‘broken’ in.’ And it is a ‘breaking +in’ in a tremendous sense, fraught with fearful +consequences. With regard to their education, the following +cases, selected from different parts of the country, may be +fairly taken as representative of the entire Gipsy +community. Boswell, a respectable Gipsy, says he has had +nine sons and daughters (six of whom are alive), and nineteen +grandchildren, and none of them can read or write; and he also +thinks that about half the Gipsy men and women living as husbands +and wives are unmarried. Mrs. Simpson, a Gipsy woman and a +Christian, says she has six sons and daughters and sixteen +grandchildren, and only two can read and write a little. +Mrs. Eastwood says she has nine brothers and sisters. Mr. +Eastwood, a Christian and a Gipsy, has eight brothers and +sisters, many among them have large families, making a total of +adults and children of about fifty of all ages, and there is +scarcely one among them who can tell a letter or read a sentence; +in addition to this number they have between them from 130 to 150 +first and second cousins, among whom there are not more than two +who can read or write, and that but very little indeed, and Mr. +Eastwood thinks this proportion will apply to other +Gipsies. Mrs. Trayleer has six brothers and sisters, all +Gipsies, and not one can read or write. A Gipsy woman, +whose head-quarters are near Ashby-de-la-Zouch, has fifteen +brothers and sisters, some <!-- page 101--><a +name="page101"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 101</span>of whom +have large families. She herself has fifteen sons and +daughters alive, some of whom are married. But of the whole +of these brothers and sisters, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, +&c., numbering not less than 100 of all ages, not more than +three or four can read or write, and they who can but very +imperfectly. Mrs. Matthews has a family of seven children, +nearly all grown-up, and not one out of the whole of these can +read or write; thus it will be seen that I shall be under the +mark when I state that not five per cent. of the Gipsies, +&c., travelling about the country in tents and vans can +either read or write; and I have not found one Gipsy but what +thinks it would be a good thing if their tents and vans were +registered, and the children compelled to go to school—in +fact, many of them are anxious for such a thing to be brought +about. In the case of the brick-yard and canal-boat +children, they were over-worked as well as ignorant. In the +case of the Gipsy children, these children and roadside arabs, +for the want of education, ambition, animation, and push, are +indulging in practices that are fast working their own +destruction and those they are brought into contact with, and a +great deal of this may lay at the door of flattery, twaddle, +petting, and fear.</p> +<p>“The plan I would adopt to remedy this sad state of +things is to apply the principles of the Canal Boats Act of 1877 +to all movable habitations—<i>i.e.</i>, I would have all +tents, shows, caravans, auctioneers’ vans, and like places +used as dwellings registered and numbered, and under proper +sanitary arrangements and supervision of the sanitary inspectors +and School Board officers in every town and village. With +regard to the education of the children when once the tent or van +is registered and numbered, the children, whether travelling as +Gipsies, auctioneers, &c., are mostly idle during the day; +consequently, a book similar to the half-time book, in which +their names and attendance at school could be entered, they could +take from place to place as they travel about, and it could be +endorsed by the schoolmaster <!-- page 102--><a +name="page102"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 102</span>showing +that the child was attending school. The education obtained +in this way would not be of the highest order; but through the +kindness of the schoolmaster—for which extra trouble he +should be compensated, as he ought to be under the Canal Boats +Act—and the vigilance of the School Board visitor, a plain, +practical, and sound education could be imparted to, and obtained +by, these poor little Gipsy children and roadside arabs, who, if +we do our duty, will be qualified to fill the places of those of +our best artisans who are leaving the country to seek their +fortunes abroad.”</p> +<p>The following is a leading article in the <i>Birmingham Daily +Mail</i>, October 8th:—“Mr. George Smith, whose +exertions on behalf of the canal population and the children +employed in brick-yards have been accompanied with so much +success, is now turning his attention to the education of the +Gipsies. He read a paper on this subject at the Social +Science Congress, yesterday, suggesting that the same plan of +registration which had proved advantageous in the case of the +canal-boatmen and their families should be adopted for the more +nomadic class who roam from place to place, with no settled home +and no local habitation. The Gipsies are a strange race, +with a romantic history, and their vagabond life is surrounded +with enough of the mysterious to give them at all times a special +and curious interest. In the days of our infancy we are +frightened with tales of their child-thieving propensities, and +even when years and reason have asserted their influence we are +apt to regard with a survival of our childish awe the wandering +‘diviners and wicked heathens’ who roam about the +country, living in a mysterious aloofness from their +fellow-men. Scores of theories have been propounded as to +the origin of the Gipsy race, whence they sprang, and how they +came to be so largely scattered over three of the four quarters +of the globe. Opinion, following in the wake of the learned +Rudiger, has finally settled down to the view that they came <!-- +page 103--><a name="page103"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +103</span>from India, but whether they are the Tshandalas +referred to in the laws of Menou, or kinsmen of the Bazeegars of +Calcutta, or are descended from the robbers of the Indus, or are +identical with the Nuts and Djatts of Northern India, has not +been ascertained with any degree of certainty. The +Gyptologists are not yet agreed upon the ancestry of this ancient +but obscure race, and possibly they never will be. We know, +however, that the Gipsies have wandered up and down Europe since +the eleventh century, if not from a still earlier period, and +that they have preserved their Bohemian characteristics, their +language—which is a sort of daughter of the old +Sanscrit—their traditions, and the mysteries of their +religion during a long career of restless movement and frequent +persecution. And they have kept, too, their indolent, and +not too creditable habits. Early in the twelfth century an +Austrian monk described them as ‘Ishmaelites and braziers, +who go peddling through the wide world, having neither house, nor +home, cheating the people with their tricks, and deceiving +mankind, but not openly.’ That description would hold +good at the present day. The Gipsies are still a lazy, +thieving set of rogues, who get their living by robbing +hen-roosts, telling fortunes, and ‘snapping up unconsidered +trifles’ like Autolycus of old. Pilfering, varied +with a rude sort of magic, and the swindling arts of divination +and chiromancy for the special behoof of credulous servant-girls, +are the stock-in-trade of the modern Zingaris. Without +education, and without industry, they transmit their vagrant +habits to generation after generation, and perpetuate all the +vices of a lawless and nomadic life.</p> +<p>“It is very easy to give a romantic and even a +sentimental colouring to the wandering Romany. The +‘greenwood home,’ with its freedom from all the +restraints of a conventional state of society, is not without its +attractive side—in books and in ballads. Minor poets +have told us that ‘the Gipsy’s life is a joyous +life,’ and plays and operas have been <!-- page 104--><a +name="page104"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 104</span>written to +illustrate the superiority of vagabondage over +civilisation. But the pretty Gitana of the stage is +altogether a different sort of being from the brown-faced, +elf-locked, and tawdrily dressed female who haunts back entries +with the ostensible object of selling clothes-pegs, but with the +real motive of picking up whatever may be lying in her way. +There is but small chance of Bohemian Girls finding themselves in +drawing-rooms nowadays. The last experiment of the kind was +made by the writer of a charming book on the Gipsies, who was so +fascinated by one of their number that he married her; but the +wild, restless spirit was untameable, and the divorce court +proved that the supposed precept of fidelity, which is said to +guide the conduct of Gipsy wives, is not without its +exceptions. The Gipsies have nothing in common with our +conventional ways and habits, and whether it is possible ever to +remove the barrier that separates them from civilisation is a +question which only experiment can satisfactorily answer. +Mr. Smith’s scheme is not the first, by many, that has been +made to improve the conditions of Gipsy life. Nearly half a +century ago the Rev. Mr. Crabb, of Southampton, formed a society +with the object of amalgamating the Gipsies with the general +population, but the scheme was comparatively futile. Still, +past failure is no reason why a new attempt should not be +made. Mr. Smith says there cannot be less than 4,000 Gipsy +men and women, and from 15,000 to 20,000 Gipsy children moving +about the country, outside the educational laws and the pale of +civilisation, and not five per cent. of them can either read or +write. Their mode of life is such as ‘would shock the +modesty of South African savages,’ for men, women, and +grown-up sons and daughters lie huddled together, and in many +cases they ‘live like pigs and die like dogs.’ +There is certainly room enough here for education, and education +is the only thing that is likely to have any practical +results.</p> +<p>“It is proposed that the principles of the Canal Boats +<!-- page 105--><a name="page105"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +105</span>Act shall be applied to all movable habitations; that +is, that all tents, shows, caravans, auctioneers’ vans, and +like places used as dwellings, shall be registered and numbered, +and put under proper sanitary supervision. Mr. Smith points +out that when once a tent or van had been registered and +numbered, it could be furnished with a book similar to a +half-time book, in which the names of the children having first +been entered, the attendances at school could be endorsed by the +schoolmaster—for which extra trouble he should be +compensated—as the children travelled about from place to +place. By this means something tangible would be done to +prevent the roadside waifs from growing up in the ignorance which +is the parent of idleness. Why should these ten or fifteen +thousand little nomads be allowed to remain in the neglected +condition which has characterised their strange race for +centuries? It is time that the spell was broken. +There are no traditions of Gipsy life worth perpetuating; there +is no sentimental halo around its history which it would be cruel +to dispel. In past ages the Gipsies have been subjected to +harsh laws and barbarous edicts; it remains for our more +enlightened times to deal with them on a humaner plan. It +is only by the expanding influence of education that the little +minds of their children can gain a necessary experience of the +utility and dignity of honest labour. When they have +received some measure of instruction they will be fitter to +emerge from the aimless and vagabond life of their forefathers, +and break away from the squalor and precarious existence which +has held so many generations of them in thrall. Mr. +Smith’s idea is worthy the attention of legislators. +It does not look so grand on paper, we admit, but it is a nobler +thing to educate the young barbarian at home than to make war +upon the unoffending barbarian abroad. The instincts and +habits which have been transmitted from father to son for +hundreds of years are not, of course, to be eradicated in a day, +or even in a generation; but the time will, perhaps, eventually +<!-- page 106--><a name="page106"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +106</span>come when the Gipsies will cease to exist as a separate +and distinct people, and become absorbed into the general +population of the country. Whether that absorption takes +place sooner or later, nothing can be lost by conferring on the +young ‘Arabs’ of the tents the rudiments of an +education which will hereafter be helpful to them if they are +desirous of abandoning their squalor and indolence, and of +earning an industrious livelihood. Their dread of fixed and +continuous occupation may die out in time, and closer intimacy +with the conditions of industrial life may teach them that +civilisation has some compensations to offer for the sacrifice of +their roaming propensities, and for taking away from them their +‘free mountains, their plains and woods, the sun, the +stars, and the winds’ which are the companions of their +free and unfettered, but wasted and purposeless lives.”</p> +<p>The <i>Weekly Dispatch</i>, in a leading article, October +13th, says:—“Mr. George Smith, of Coalville, has an +eye for the nomads of the country. His name must already be +unfavourably known throughout most of the canal barges of the +United Kingdom. If he is not the Croquemitaine of every +floating nursery journeying inland from the metropolis he ought +to be, for it was mainly he who thrust a half-time book into the +hands of the bargee and compelled him, by the Canal Boats Act of +1877, to soap his infants’ faces and put primers in their +way. With Smith of Coalville, therefore, it may be expected +that each juvenile of the wharves and locks now associates his +most unhappy moments. The half-time book of the act comes +between him and the blessed state of his previous +ignorance. Registered and numbered, supervised and +inspected, he has been put on the road to know things that must +necessarily disillusionise him of the black enchantments of life +on the water highway. It is allowable to hope, however, +that having recovered from the first discomforts of civilising +soap and primers, he will yet live to appreciate Mr. +Smith’s name as one associated <!-- page 107--><a +name="page107"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 107</span>with kindly +intent and generous aspirations in his behalf. A generation +of bargemen who had a less uncompromising vocabulary of oaths, +who could beguile some of the tedium of their voyaging with +reading, and who in other important respects showed the +influences of half-time, would be a smiling reward of +philanthropy and an important addition to our civilisation. +That Mr. Smith anticipates some such reward is evident from the +eagerness with which he has been pushing the principle in another +quarter. At the Social Science Congress he has just +propounded a scheme of educational annexation for Gipsy children +similar in every respect to that applied to the occupants of the +canal-boats. That is, he would have every tent and van +numbered and furnished with a half-time book, and he would ordain +it as the duty of School Board visitors to see that the Gipsies +render their children amenable to the terms of the act to the +extent of their wandering ability, under threat of the usual +penalties. The prospect which he foresees from such +treatment is that a body of wanderers numbering not much below +20,000 will be rescued from a position which, he says, would at +present shock South African savages, and will thus be brought in +to honest industry and ‘qualified to fill the places of our +best artisans, who are leaving the country to seek their fortunes +abroad.’ It is impossible not to wish Mr. +Smith’s scheme well, especially as he contends that the +Gipsies themselves are not averse to having their children +educated; but it is equally impossible to be sanguine as to +results. The true Gipsy, who is not to be confounded with +the desultory hawker of English origin, has many arteries of +untameable blood within him. He has never as yet shown the +slightest concern about the English phases of civilisation which +Mr. Smith would like to press upon his notice. Such ideas +as those of God, immortality, and marriage are as unknown to him +as the commonest distinction between mine and thine. He is +a well-looking artistic vagabond, to whom a half-time book and a +penalty will in all probability <!-- page 108--><a +name="page108"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 108</span>be no +better than a standing joke to be cracked with impunity at the +expense of the rural School Boards.”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p108b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Gipsies’ Winter Quarters near Latimer Road, Notting Hill" +title= +"Gipsies’ Winter Quarters near Latimer Road, Notting Hill" +src="images/p108s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>The <i>Sportsman</i> of October 16th, 1879, has the following +notice:—“Mr. George Smith, of Coalville, whose +philanthropic efforts on behalf of ‘our canal-boat +population’ are well known, has lately turned his attention +to the wandering Gipsy tribes who infest the roadside, with the +view to procuring at least a modicum of education for their +children. He says that the Gipsies are lamentably ignorant, +few of them being able even to write their names. By +certain proceedings which took place at Christchurch Police-court +on Tuesday, it would almost seem that some of the dark-faced +wanderers already are educated a little too much. At all +events, they occasionally manifest an ability to ‘take a +stave’ out of the rest of the community. At the court +in question a Gipsy woman named Emma Barney was brought to task +for ‘imposing by subtle craft to extort money’ from a +Bournemouth shopkeeper named Richard Oliver. It seems that +Oliver is troubled with pimples on his face, and that Emma +Barney—not an inappropriate name, by the way—said she +could cure these by means of a certain herb, the name of which +she would divulge ‘for a consideration.’ Before +doing so, however, she required Richard’s coat and +waistcoat, and some silver to ‘steam in hot water,’ +after which the name of the herb would be given—on the +following day. It is needless to say that the coat, +waistcoat, and silver did not return to the Oliver home, and that +the pimples did not depart from the Oliver face. The +‘Gipsy’s home’ for the next two months will be +in the county gaol. It is a curious reflection, however, +that such strange credulity as that displayed by the Bournemouth +shopkeeper in this case can be found in the present year of +grace, with its gigantic machinery for educating the +masses.”</p> +<p>The following leading article, taken from the <i>Daily +Telegraph</i>, under date October 17th of last year, will show +that crime is far from abating among the classes of the Gipsy +<!-- page 109--><a name="page109"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +109</span>fraternity:—“The melancholy truth that +there exists a ‘breed’ of criminals in all societies +was well illustrated at Exeter this week. Sir John +Duckworth, as Chairman of the Devon Quarter Sessions, in charging +the grand jury, had to tell them that the calendar was very +heavy, the heaviest, in fact, known for many years. There +were forty-five prisoners for trial, whereas the average number +is twenty-five, taking the last five years. Sir John could +assign no particular reason for such a lamentable increase, +though he supposed the prevailing depression of trade might have +had something to do with it. But he pointed out a very +notable fact indeed, which sprang from an examination of the gaol +delivery, and this was that out of the forty-five prisoners +twenty had been previously convicted. Such a percentage +goes far to prove that the criminal propensity is innate, and to +a certain degree ineradicable by punishments; and this only +enhances the immense importance of national education, by which +alone society can hope to conquer the predatory tendency in +certain baser blood, and to supply it with the means and the +instincts of industry. In justice, however, to the existing +generation of criminals, we ought also to remember that such +serious figures further prove the difficulty encountered by +released prisoners in living honestly. A rat will not steal +where traps are set if it can only find food in the open, and +some of these twice-captured vermin of our community might tell a +piteous tale of the obstacles that lie in the way of +honesty.”</p> +<p>The <i>Weekly Times</i>, under date October 26th, 1879, has +the following article upon the Gipsies near London. The +locality described is not one hundred miles from Mary’s +Place and Notting Hill Potteries. The writer goes on to say +that “There are at the present time upwards of two thousand +people—men, women, and children, members of the Gipsy +tribe—camped in the outlying districts of London. +They are settled upon waste places of every kind. Bits of +ground that will ere long be occupied by houses, waste corners +that <!-- page 110--><a name="page110"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 110</span>seem to be of no good for anything, +yards belonging to public-houses, or pieces of +‘common’ over which no authority claims any rights; +or if there are rights, the authority is too obscure to interfere +with such poor settlers as Gipsies, who will move away again +before an authoritative opinion can be pronounced upon any +question affecting them. The Gipsies, in the winter, +certainly cause very few inconveniences in such places as the +metropolis. They do not cause rents to rise. They are +satisfied to put up their tent where a Londoner would only +accommodate his pig or his dog, and they certainly do not affect +the balance of labour, few of them being ever guilty of robbing a +man of an honest day’s work. Yet, with all their +failings, the Gipsies have always found friends ready to take +their part in times of trouble, and crave a sufferance on account +of their hard lot, and the scanty measure with which the good +things of this life have been, and still are, meted out to +them. Constrained by an irresistible force to keep ever +moving, they fulfil the fate imposed upon them with a degree of +cheerfulness which no other class of people would exhibit. +As the approach of winter reduces outdoor pursuits to the fewest +possible number, the farm labourer finds it difficult to employ +the whole of his time profitably, and those who only follow an +outdoor life for the pleasures it yields naturally gravitate +towards the shelter of large towns in which to spend the winter +months of every year. So when the cold winds begin to blow, +and the leaves are falling, the Gipsies come to town, and settle +upon the odd nooks and corners, and fill up the unused yards, and +eat and drink, and bring up children, in the very places where +their fathers and grandfathers have done the same before +them. The young men get a day’s work where they can; +the young women hawk wool mats, laces, or other women’s +vanities; while the more skilful go round with rope mats, and +every form of chair or stool that can be made of rushes and +canes. The old folks do a little grinding of knives, or +tinker pots and pans; and, if a fine <!-- page 111--><a +name="page111"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 111</span>day or a +pleasure fair calls forth all the useful mouths and hands from +their tents and caravans, the babies will take care of themselves +in the straw which makes the pony’s bed until some member +of the camp returns home in the evening. So the winter +months pass away, and in the spring, when the cuckoo begins to +call, these restless-footed people, whose origin no man is +acquainted with, go forth again, and in the lanes and woods, or +on the commons of the country, pass their summer, earning a +precarious subsistance—honestly if they can—content +with hard food and poor clothes, so that they may feel the free +air of heaven blowing about them night and day, while the sun +paints their cheeks the colour of the ancient Egyptians. +Our Gipsies have always been a favourite study with ethnological +folk; poets have sung their wild, free life, and painters have +taken them as types of the happy, if the careless; while +philanthropists have occasionally gone amongst them, and told +pitiful tales of their degradation, ignorance, and misery. +It was not from any feeling of romance or pity that we were +induced the other day to accept an invitation from Mr. George +Smith, of Coalville, to spend a few hours amongst some of these +people. Mr. George Smith’s life has been devoted to +the amelioration of the condition of many very poor and almost +entirely neglected classes of the community, and it was pleasant +to have the opportunity of going with such a simple-hearted hero +amongst those in whom he takes a deep interest. Having +devoted many years of his life to the poor brick-yard children, +and afterwards to the children labouring in canal-boats, he has +found one more class still left outside every Act of Parliament, +and beyond every chance of being helped in the right way to earn +an honest living and become industrious members of society. +These are the Gipsies and their children, who have been let alone +so severely by all so-called right-thinking men and women that +there is great danger of their becoming a sore evil in our +midst. Unable to read or write—their powers of +thought <!-- page 112--><a name="page112"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 112</span>thereby cramped—with no one to +look after them, separated from the people in whose midst they +live, there can be little wonder that they should grow up with +certain loose notions about right and wrong, and a manner of life +the reverse of that which prevails amongst Christian people; but, +now that Mr. George Smith has got his eyes and his heart fixed +upon them, there will surely be something done which, in the near +future, will redeem these people from many of the disadvantages +under which they labour, and add to the body corporate a tribe +possessed of many amiable characteristics. Mr. Smith never +takes up more than one thing at a time, and upon the +accomplishment of it he concentrates all his energies. This +attribute is the one which has enabled him to carry to successful +conclusions the acts for the relief of the brick-yard and the +canal-boat children; but while he is about a work he becomes +thoroughly possessed by his subject, and the most important event +that may happen for the country, or for the world, loses all +value in his eyes unless it bears directly upon the +accomplishment of the object in hand. Thus it happened +that, from the time we sallied out together in search of a Gipsy +camp, until the moment we parted at night, Mr. Smith thought of +nothing, spoke of nothing, remembered nothing, saw nothing, but +what had some relation to the Gipsies and their mode of +life. The Zulus were to be pitied because theirs was a sort +of Gipsy life; and the Gipsies’ tents were nothing more +than kraals. All his stories were of what Gipsies he had +met, and what they had said; and even our fellow-travellers in +the train were only noticeable because they looked like some +Gipsy man or woman whom he had met elsewhere. We had a +short ride by rail, and a tramp through a densely-populated +district, and then we came to the camping-ground we wanted. +It was a spacious yard, entered through a gate, and surrounded +with houses, whose back yards formed the enclosure. There +were three caravans and three kraals erected there, and as it was +Sunday afternoon nearly all the inhabitants <!-- page 113--><a +name="page113"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 113</span>were at +home. Those who were absent were a few children able to go +to Sunday-school, whither they went of their own free will and +with the approval of their parents. The kraals were not all +constructed on the same pattern—two were circular in form +and the third was square. This was on the right hand at +entering, and had at one time been a tumble-down shelter for a +calf, who had many years before gone the way of all +beef—into a butcher’s shop. There were tiles on +the low roof—in places—but plenty of openings were +left for the rain to come in, and for the smoke from the fire in +the bucket to find a way out if it chose. The floor was +common earth, and very uneven in places. Alice, the +mistress of this abode, was a woman over fifty, with a face the +colour of leather, and vigour enough to do any amount of +work. As we entered, she told Mr. Smith a piteous tale of +the loss of her spectacles, without which she solemnly declared +she could not read a line. She left the spectacles one day +when she was going ‘hopping,’ hidden under a tile +above her head, and when she returned the case was there, but the +spectacles were gone. She carried her licence to hawk in +her spectacle-case, until the time came when she could happily +beg the gift of a pair of new ones. Her husband, a +white-haired old man, with a look of innocent wonder in his face, +sat on a lump of wood, warming his hands over the fire. He +said little—his wife scarcely allowing an opportunity for +any one else to speak—but seemed to consider that he was a +fortunate man in having such a remarkable wife. There was a +handsome young woman sitting in the only chair in the place, +daughter of the old couple; and her brother lay extended on a bed +made of indescribable things in one portion of the cabin, where +the tiles in the roof showed no openings to the sky. His +wife, a thoroughbred Gipsy, sat nursing a baby—their +first-born—on the edge of the bed. The wood walls +were covered with old clothes, sacking, and a variety of odd +things, fastened in their places by wooden skewers, and adorned +with a few pots and pans <!-- page 114--><a +name="page114"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 114</span>used in +cooking. Here, for six or seven winters, this family had +resided, defying alike the frosts and snows and rains of the most +severe winters. Nor could they be made to admit that a +cottage would be more comfortable; that hut had served them well +enough so many years, and would be good enough as long as they +lived. Besides, said Alice, the rent was a consideration, +and the whole yard only cost 2s. a week. This woman was the +mother of eighteen children, of whom eleven were living. +Drawn up close by was a caravan, in the occupation at the time of +two young women, thorough Gipsies in face and tongue, who chaffed +us as to the object of our visit, and begged hard for some kind +of remembrance to be left with them. But we did not accept +their invitation to walk up, but passed down the yard, by heaps +of manure and refuse of all kinds, by another kraal, where a +bucket containing coal was burning, and a young man lay stretched +on a dirty mattress, and a little bantam kept watch beside him, +to the steps of another caravan, where, from the sounds we heard, +high jinks were going on with some children. At the sound +of a tap on the door there was an instant hush, and then a girl +of nineteen, who had a baby in her arms, asked us to come +in. We looked up in amazement; the girl’s face +appeared like an apparition—so fair, so beautiful, so like +some face we had seen elsewhere, that we were confused and +puzzled. In a moment the mystery was solved; we had seen +that face before in several of the choicest canvases that have +hung in recent years upon the walls of the Academy; we had met +with the fairest Gipsy model that ever stood before the students +of the Academy, the favourite alike of the young artist and the +head of his profession. It can only fall to the lot of a +few to see Annie, the Gipsy model; but the curious may look upon +her counterpart, only of heroic size, in Clytie, at the British +Museum. Annie has a face of exquisite Grecian form, and a +hand so delicate that it has been painted more than once in the +‘portrait of a titled lady.’ <!-- page 115--><a +name="page115"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 115</span>When she +was a very little girl, she told us, hawking laces in a basket +one day, a gentleman met her at the West-end who was a painter, +and from that day to the present Annie has earned a +living—and at times of great distress maintained all the +family—by the fees she received as a model. Her +mother had had nine children, of whom eight were living; and +three of the family are constantly employed as models. +Annie is one, the young fellow who was watched over by the bantam +was another, and a boy of four was the third. The father is +of pure Gipsy blood, but the mother is an Oxfordshire woman, and +neither of them possess any striking characteristic in their +faces; yet all their girls are singularly beautiful, and their +sons handsome fellows. They have got a reputation for +beauty now, and ladies have, but without success, tried to +negotiate for the possession of the youngest. Never before +had we seen such fair faces, such dainty limbs, such exquisite +eyes, as were possessed by the Gipsy occupants of that +caravan. Annie was as modest and gentle-voiced and mannered +as she was beautiful; and there came a flush of trouble over her +fair face as she told us that not being able to read or write had +‘been against’ her all her life. There was more +refinement about Annie and her mother than we had discovered +amongst others with whom we had conversed. Thus, Annie, +speaking of her grandfather, laid great emphasis on the assertion +that he was a fine man. He lived to be 104, she said, and +walked as upright as a young man to his death. He went +about crying ‘chairs to mend,’ in that very locality, +up to within a short time of his death, and all the old ladies +employed him because he was so handsome. She was playing +with a baby girl as she talked with us, and the child fixed her +black eyes upon her sister’s face, and crooned with baby +pleasure. ‘What is baby’s name,’ we +asked? ‘Comfort,’ replied Annie. +‘We were hopping one year’ said the mother, +‘and there was a young woman in the party I took to very +much, and her name was Comfort. Coming away <!-- page +116--><a name="page116"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +116</span>from the hop grounds, the caravans had to cross a +river, and while we were in the water one day the river suddenly +rose, the caravans were upset, and eleven were drowned, Comfort +amongst the number. So I christened baby after her in +remembrance.’ All the family were neatly dressed, and +once, when Annie opened the cupboard door for an instant, we +caught sight of a dish of small currant puddings.”</p> +<p>A visit to a batch of Gipsy wigwams, Wardlow Street, Garrett +Lane, Wandsworth, induced me to send the following letter to the +London and country daily papers, and it appeared in the <i>Daily +Chronicle</i> and <i>Daily News</i>, November 20th, as +under:—“The following touching incident may slightly +show the thorough heartfelt desire there is—but lacking the +power—among the Gipsies to be partakers of some of the +sanitary and educational advantages the Gorgios or Gentiles are +the recipients of. A few days since I wended my way to a +large number of Gipsies located in tents, huts, and vans near +Wandsworth Common, to behold the pitiable spectacle of some sixty +half-naked, poor Gipsy children, and thirty Gipsy men and women, +living in a state of indescribable ignorance, dirt, filth, and +misery, mostly squatting upon the ground, making their beds upon +peg shavings and straw, and divested of the last tinge of +romantical nonsense, which is little better in this +case—used as a deal of it is—than paper pasted upon +the windows, to hide from public view the mass of human +corruption which has been festering in our midst for centuries, +breeding all kinds of sin and impurities, except in the eyes of +those who see beautiful colours and delights in the aroma of +stagnant pools and beauty in the sparkling hues of the gutter, +and revel in adding tints and pictures to the life and death of a +weasel, lending enchantment to the life of a vagabond, and admire +the non-intellectual development of beings many of whom are only +one step from that of animals, if I may judge from the amount of +good the 20,000 Gipsies have accomplished in the <!-- page +117--><a name="page117"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +117</span>world during the last three or four centuries. +Connected with this encampment not more than four or five of the +poor creatures could read a sentence or write a letter. In +creeping almost upon ‘all-fours,’ into one of the +tents, I came across a real, antiquated, live, good kind of Gipsy +woman named Britannia Lee, who boasted that she was a Lee of the +fourth generation; and in sitting down upon a seat that brought +my knees upon a level with my chin, I entered into conversation +with the family about the objects of my inquiries—of which +they said they had heard all about—viz., to get all the +Gipsy tents, vans, and other movable habitations in the country +registered and under proper sanitary arrangements, and the +children compelled to attend school wherever they may be +temporarily located, and to receive an education which will in +some degree help to get these poor unfortunate people out of the +heartrending and desponding condition into which they have been +allowed to sink. Although Mrs. Lee was ill and poor, her +face beamed with gladness to find that I was trying in my humble +way to do the Gipsy children good; and in a kind of maternal +feeling she said she should be pleased to show her deep interest +in my work, and asked me if I would accept all the money she had +in the world, viz., one penny and two farthings? With much +persuasion and hesitation, and under fear of offending her, I +accepted them, which I purpose keeping as a token of a +woman’s desire to do something towards improving her +‘kith and kin.’ She said that Providence would +see that she was no loser for the mite she had given to me. +He once sent her, in her extremity, a shilling in the middle of a +potato, which she found when cooking. With many expressions +of ‘God bless you in your work among the children! +You will be rewarded some day for all your time, trouble, and +expense,’ we parted.”</p> +<p>The London correspondent of the <i>Croydon Chronicle</i> +writes as under, on November 22nd, touching a visit we both made +to a number of poor Gipsy children squatting <!-- page 118--><a +name="page118"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 118</span>about upon +Mitcham Common. Among other things he says:—“I +have had a day in your neighbourhood with George Smith, of +Coalville. He is visiting all the Gipsy grounds he can find +and reach, for the purpose of gaining information as to the +condition of the swarms of children who live in squalor and +ignorance under tents. He is of opinion that he will be +able to get them into schools, and do as much for them generally +as he has done for the brick-field and canal children; and I have +no doubt myself that he will succeed. Well, the other day +he asked me to have a run round with him, and we went to Mitcham +Common to see some of the families there. He told me that +one of the Gipsy women had been confined, and that she wanted him +to give the child a name. He did not know what to call it, +so we had to put our heads together and settle the matter. +After a great deal of careful deliberation he decided that when +we reached the common the child should be called +‘Deliverance.’ I have been told that this +sounds like the name of a new ironclad, and perhaps it would have +done as well for one as for the other. The tents were much +of a character—some kind of stitched-together rags thrown +over sticks. Our visit was made on a fine day, when it was +not particularly cold, and the first tent we came to had been +opened at the top. We looked over (these tents are only +about five feet high), and beheld six children, the eldest being +a girl of about eight or ten. The father was anywhere to +suit the imagination, and the mother was away hawking. +These children, sitting on the ground with a fire in the middle +of them, were making clothes-pegs. The process seemed +simple. The sticks are chopped into the necessary lengths +and put into a pan of hot water. This I suppose swells the +wood and loosens the bark. A child on the other side takes +out the sticks as they are done and bites off the bark with its +teeth. Then there is a boy who puts tin round them, and so +the work goes on. When the day is done they look for the +mother coming home from <!-- page 119--><a +name="page119"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 119</span>hawking +with anything she may have picked up. When they have +devoured such scraps and pickings as are brought, they lie down +where they have worked and as they are, and go to sleep. It +is a wonderful and mysterious arrangement of Providence that they +can sleep. They have only a rag between them and the +snow. A good wind would blow their homes over the +trees. I do not wish to make any particularly violent +remarks, but I should like some of the comfortable clergymen of +your neighbourhood, when they have done buying their toys and +presents for young friends at Christmas, to walk to Mitcham +Common and see how the children are there. They would then +find out what humbugs they are, and how it is they do the work of +the Master. One tent is very much like another. We +visited about half-a-dozen, and we then went to name the +child. We stayed in this tent for about ten minutes. +It was inhabited by two families, numbering in all about +twenty. I talked a little time with the woman lying on the +ground, and she uncovered the baby to show it to me. I do +not know whether it is a boy or a girl, but +‘Deliverance’ will do for either one or the +other. She asked me to write the name on a piece of paper, +and I did so. With a few words, as jolly as we could make +them, we crawled out, thanks and blessings following George +Smith, as they always do.”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p118b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"A Gipsy Tent for Two Men, their Wives, and Eleven Children, and +in which “Deliverance” was born" +title= +"A Gipsy Tent for Two Men, their Wives, and Eleven Children, and +in which “Deliverance” was born" +src="images/p118s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>Leading article in the <i>Primitive Methodist</i>, November +27th:—“Mr. George Smith, of Coalville, is +endeavouring to do a work for the children of Gipsies similar to +that he has done for the children employed in brick-yards and the +children of canal-boatmen—that is, bring them under some +sort of supervision, so that they may secure at least a small +share in the educational advantages of the country. +Recently he published an account of a visit to an encampment of +the Gipsies near Wandsworth Common, and it is evident that these +wanderers without any settled place of abode look on his efforts +with some considerable approval. The encampment was made up +of a number of tents, huts, and <!-- page 120--><a +name="page120"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 120</span>vans, and +contained some sixty half-naked poor Gipsy children and thirty +Gipsy men and women, living in an indescribable state of +ignorance, dirt, filth, and misery, mostly squatting upon the +ground, or otherwise making their beds upon peg shavings and +straw; and it turned out upon inquiry that not more than four of +these poor creatures could read a sentence or write a +letter. They are, however, not indisposed to be subject to +regulations that will contribute to their partial education, if +to nothing more. In passing from one of these miserable +habitations to another, Mr. Smith found an old Gipsy woman proud +of her name and descent, for she was a Lee, and a Lee of the +fourth generation. To this old woman he explained his +purpose, sitting on a low seat under the cover of the tent with +his knees on a level with his chin. He wanted, he said, +‘to get all the Gipsy tents and vans, and other movable +habitations in the country, registered and under proper sanitary +arrangements, and the children compelled to attend school +wherever they may be temporarily located, and to receive an +education which will in some degree help to get them out of the +low, heartrending condition into which they have been allowed to +sink.’ Mrs. Lee listened with pleasure to this +narration of Mr. Smith’s purpose, and, though in great +poverty, desired to aid this good work. Her stock of cash +amounted to three-halfpence; but this she insisted upon giving, +so that she might contribute a little, at any rate, towards the +improvement of her people. We hope Mr. Smith may succeed in +his work, and succeed speedily, so that these Gipsy children, who +are trained up to a vagabond life, may have a chance of learning +something better. And evidently, from Mr. Smith’s +experience, there is no hostility to such a measure as he wishes +to have made law among the Gipsies themselves.”</p> +<p>Owing to my letters, papers, articles and paragraphs, and +efforts in other directions during the last several months, the +Gipsy subject might now be fairly considered to <!-- page +121--><a name="page121"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +121</span>have made good headway, consequently the proprietor of +the <i>Illustrated London News</i>, without any difficulty, was +induced—in fact, with pleasure—to have a series of +sketches of Gipsy life in his journal, the first appearing +November 29th, connected with which was the following notice, and +in which he says:—“Our illustrations, from a sketch +taken by one of our artists in the neighbourhood of Latimer Road, +Notting Hill, which is not far from Wormwood Scrubs, show the +habits of living folk who are to be found as well in the +outskirts of London, where there are many chances of picking up a +stray bit of irregular gain, as in more rural parts of the +country. The figure of a gentleman introduced into this +sketch, who appears to be conversing with the Gipsies in their +waggon encampment, is that of Mr. George Smith, of Coalville, +Leicester, the well-known benevolent promoter of social reform +and legislative protection for the long-neglected class of people +employed on canal-barges, whose families, often living on board +these vessels, are sadly in want of domestic comfort and of +education for the children.” The editor also inserted +my Congress paper fully. The following week another sketch +of Gipsy life appeared in the same journal, connected with which +were the following remarks:—“Another sketch of the +wild and squalid habits of life still retained by vagrant parties +or clans of this singular race of people, often met with in the +neighbourhood of suburban villages and other places around +London, will be found in our journal. We may again direct +the reader’s attention to the account of them which was +contributed by Mr. George Smith, of Coalville, Leicester, to the +late Social Science Congress at Manchester, and which was +reprinted in our last week’s publication. That +well-known advocate of social reform and legal protection for the +neglected vagrant classes of our population reckons the total +number of Gipsies in this country at three or four thousand men +and women and ten thousand children. He is now seeking to +have all movable habitations—<i>i.e.</i>, tents, vans, +shows, &c.—in which the <!-- page 122--><a +name="page122"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 122</span>families +live who are earning a living by travelling from place to place, +registered and numbered, as in the case of canal-boats, and the +parents compelled to send their children to school at the place +wherever they may be temporarily located, be it National, +British, or Board school. The following is Mr. +Smith’s note upon what was to be seen in the Gipsies’ +tent on Mitcham Common:—</p> +<p>“‘Inside this tent—with no other +home—there were two men, their wives, and about fourteen +children of all ages: two or three of these were almost men and +women. The wife of one of the men had been confined of a +baby the day before I called—her bed consisting of a layer +of straw upon the damp ground. Such was the wretched and +miserable condition they were in that I could not do otherwise +than help the poor woman, and gave her a little money. But, +in her feelings of gratitude to me for this simple act of +kindness, she said she would name the baby anything I would like +to chose; and, knowing that Gipsies are fond of outlandish names, +I was in a difficulty. After turning the thing over in my +mind for a few hours, I could think of nothing but +“Deliverance.” This seemed to please the poor +woman very much; and the poor child is named Deliverance +G---. Strange to say, the next older child is named +“Moses.”’”</p> +<p>On December 13th, an additional sketch, showing the inside of +a van, was given, to which were added the following +remarks:—“Another sketch of the singular habits and +rather deplorable condition of these vagrant people, who hang +about, as the parasites of civilisation, close on the suburban +outskirts of our wealthy metropolis, is presented by our artist, +following those which have appeared in the last two weeks. +Mr. G. Smith, of Coalville, Leicester, having taken in hand the +question of providing due supervision and police regulation for +the Gipsies, with compulsory education for their children, we +readily dedicate these local illustrations to the furtherance of +his good work. The ugliest place we know in the +neighbourhood of London, the most dismal <!-- page 123--><a +name="page123"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 123</span>and +forlorn, is not Hackney Marshes, or those of the Lea, beyond Old +Ford, at the East-end; but it is the tract of land, half torn up +for brick-field clay, half consisting of fields laid waste in +expectation of the house-builder, which lies just outside of +Shepherd’s Bush and Notting Hill. There it is that +the Gipsy encampment may be found, squatting within an +hour’s walk of the Royal palaces and of the luxurious town +mansions of our nobility and opulent classes, to the very west of +the fashionable West-end, beyond the gentility of Bayswater and +Whiteley’s avenue of universal shopping. It is a +curious spectacle in that situation, and might suggest a few +serious reflections upon social contrasts at the centre and +capital of the mighty British nation, which takes upon itself the +correction of every savage tribe in South and West Africa and +Central Asia. The encampment is usually formed of two or +three vans and a rude cabin or a tent, placed on some piece of +waste ground, for which the Gipsy party have to pay a few +shillings a week of rent. This may be situated at the back +of a row of respectable houses, and in full view of their bedroom +or parlour windows, not much to the satisfaction of the quiet +inhabitants. The interior of one of the vans, furnished as +a dwelling-room, which is shown in our artist’s sketch, +does not look very miserable; but Mr. Smith informs us that these +receptacles of vagabond humanity are often sadly +overcrowded. Besides a man, his wife, and their own +children, the little ones stowed in bunks or cupboards, there +will be several adult persons taken in as lodgers. The +total number of Gipsies now estimated to be living in the +metropolitan district is not less than 2,000. Among these +are doubtless not a small proportion of idle runaways or +‘losels’ from the more settled classes of our +people. It would seem to be the duty of somebody at the +Home Office, for the sake of public health and good order, to +call upon some local authorities of the county or the parish to +look after these eccentricities of Gipsy life.”</p> +<p><!-- page 124--><a name="page124"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +124</span>On January 3rd, 1880, additional illustrations were +given in the <i>Illustrated London News</i>. 1. Tent at +Hackney; 2. Tent at Hackney; 3. Sketch near Latimer Road, Notting +Hill; 4. A Bachelor’s Bedroom, Mitcham Common; 5. +Encampment at Mitcham Common; 6. A Knife-grinder at Hackney Wick; +7. A Tent at Hackney Marshes. “A few additional +sketches, continuing those of this subject which have appeared in +our journal, are engraved for the present number. It is +estimated by Mr. George Smith, of Coalville, Leicester, who has +recently been exploring the queer outcast world of Gipsydom in +different parts of England, that some 2,000 people called by that +name, but of very mixed race, living in the manner of Zulu +Kaffirs rather than of European citizens, frequent the +neighbourhood of London. They are not all thieves, not even +all beggars and impostors, and they escape the law of vagrancy by +paying a few shillings of weekly rent for pitching their tents or +booths, and standing their waggons or wheeled cabins, on pieces +of waste ground. The western side of Notting Hill, where +the railway passenger going to Shepherd’s Bush or +Hammersmith sees a vast quantity of family linen hung out to dry +in the gardens and courtyards of small dwelling-houses, bordered +towards Wormwood Scrubs by a dismal expanse of brick-fields, +might tempt the Gipsies so inclined to take a clean shirt or +petticoat—certainly not for their own wearing. But we +are not aware that the police inspectors and magistrates of that +district have found such charges more numerous in their official +record than has been experienced in other quarters of London; and +it is possible that honest men and women, though of irregular and +slovenly habits, may exist among this odd fragment of our motley +population. It is for the sake of their children, who ought +to be, at least equally with those of the English labouring +classes, since they cannot get it from their parents, provided +with means of decent Christian education, that Mr. George Smith +has brought this subject under public notice. <!-- page +125--><a name="page125"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +125</span>The Gipsies, so long as they refrain from picking and +stealing, and do not obstruct the highways, should not be +persecuted; for they are a less active nuisance than the Italian +organ-grinders in our city streets, whose tormenting presence we +are content to suffer, to the sore interruption both of our daily +work and our repose. But it is expedient that there should +be an Act of Parliament, if the Home Secretary has not already +sufficient legal powers, to establish compulsory registration of +the travelling Gipsy families, and a strict licensing system, +with constant police supervision, for their temporary +encampments, while their children should be looked after by the +local School Board. These measures, combined with judicious +offers of industrial help for the adults and industrial training +for the juniors, with the special exercise of Poor-Law Guardian +administration, and some parochial or missionary religious +efforts, might put an end to vagabond Gipsy life in England +before the commencement of the twentieth century, or within one +generation. We hope to see the matter discussed in the +House of Lords or the House of Commons during the ensuing +session; for it actually concerns the moral and social welfare of +more than thirty thousand people in our own country, which is an +interest quite as considerable as that we have in Natal or the +Transvaal, among Zulus and Basutos, and the rest of +Kaffirdom. The sketches we now present in illustration of +this subject are designed to show the squalid and savage aspect +of Gipsy habitations in the suburban districts, at Hackney and +Hackney Wick, north-east of London; where the marsh-meadows of +the river Lea, unsuitable for building-land, seem to forbid the +extension of town streets and blocks of brick or stuccoed +terraces; where the pleasant wooded hills of Epping and Hainault +Forest appear in the distance, inviting the jaded townsman, on +summer holidays, to saunter in the Royal Chace of the old English +kings and queens; where genuine ruralities still lie within an +hour’s walk, of which the fashionable West-ender knoweth +nought. <!-- page 126--><a name="page126"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 126</span>There lurks the free and fearless +Gipsy scamp, if scamp he truly be, with his squaw and his +piccaninnies, in a wigwam hastily constructed of hoops and poles +and blankets, or perhaps, if he be the wealthy sheikh of his wild +Bedouin tribe, in a caravan drawn from place to place by some +lost and strayed plough-horse, the lawful owner of which is a +farmer in Northamptonshire. Far be it from us to say or +suspect that the Gipsy stole the horse; ‘convey, the wise +it call;’ and if horse or donkey, dog, or pig, or cow, if +cock and hen, duck or turkey, be permitted to escape from field +or farmyard, these fascinated creatures will sometimes follow the +merry troop of ‘Romany Rye’ quite of their own +accord, such is the magic of Egyptian craft and the innate +superiority of an Oriental race. These Gipsies, Zingari, +Bohemians, whatever they be called in the kingdoms of Europe, are +masters of a secret science of mysterious acquisition, as remote +from proved crime of theft or fraud as from the ways of earning +or winning by ordinary industry and trade. There is many a +rich and splendid establishment at the West-end supported by a +different application of the same mysterious craft. +Solicitors and stockbrokers may have seen it in action. It +is that of silently appropriating what no other person may be +quite prepared to claim.”</p> +<p>The following remarks appeared in the December number of +<i>The Quiver</i>:—“Mr. George Smith, who has earned +a much-respected and worthy name by his interest in and +persevering efforts for the well-being of our canal population, +is bent on doing similar service for the Gipsy children and +roadside arabs, who are sadly too numerous in the suburban and +rural districts of the land. By securing the registration +of canal-boats as human domiciles, he has brought quite a host of +poor little outcasts within the pale of society and the +beneficent influence of the various educational machineries of +the age. By bringing the multitudinous tents, vans, shows, +and their peripatetic lodgers under some similar arrangements, +<!-- page 127--><a name="page127"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +127</span>he hopes to put civilisation, education, and +Christianity within reach, of the thousand ragged Ishmaelites who +are at present left to grow up in ignorance and +degradation. These vagrant juveniles are growing up to +strengthen the ranks of the unproductive and criminal classes; +and policy, philanthropy, and Christianity alike demand that the +nomadic waifs should be encircled by the arms of an ameliorating +law which will give them a chance of escaping from the life of +semi-barbarity to which untoward circumstances have consigned +them, and to place them in a position to make something better of +the life that now is, and to secure some fitting preparation for +the life that is to come. It is evidently high time that +something should be done, otherwise we must sooner or later be +faced with more serious difficulties than even now exist. +Our sympathies are strongly with the warm-hearted philanthropist; +and we trust that in taking to this new field of effort he will +win all needful aid, and that his endeavours to rescue from a +life of crime and vagabondage these hitherto much-neglected +little ones will be crowned with success.</p> +<blockquote><p>“‘The glories of our mortal state<br +/> + Are shadows, not substantial things;<br /> +There is no armour against fate—<br /> + Death lays its icy hands on kings:<br /> + Sceptre and crown<br /> + Must tumble down,<br /> + And in the dust be equal made<br +/> +With the poor crooked scythe and spade:<br /> +Only the actions of the just<br /> +Smell sweet and blossom in the +dust.’—<i>Shirley</i>.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The following is my letter, relating to the poor little Gipsy +children’s homes, as it appeared in the <i>Daily News</i>, +<i>Daily Chronicle</i>, and other London and country daily +papers, December 2nd:—“Amongst some of the sorrowful +features of Gipsy life I have noticed lately, none call more +loudly for Government help, assistance, and supervision than the +<!-- page 128--><a name="page128"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +128</span>wretched little rag and stick hovels, scarcely large +enough to hold a costermonger’s wheelbarrow, in which the +poor Gipsy women and children are born, pig, and die—aye, +and men too, if they can be called Gipsies, with three-fourths, +excepting the faintest cheering tint, of the blood of English +scamps and vagabonds in their reins, and the remainder consisting +of the blood of the vilest rascals from India and other +nations. A real Gipsy of the old type, of which there are +but few, will tell you a lie and look straight at you with a +chuckle and grin; the so-called Gipsy now will tell you a lie and +look a thousand other ways while doing so. In their own +interest, and without mincing matters, it is time the plain facts +of their dark lives were brought to daylight, so that the +brightening and elevating effects of public opinion, law, and the +Bible may have their influence upon the character of the little +ones about to become in our midst the men and women of the +future. Outside their hovels or sack huts, poetically +called ‘tents’ and ‘encampments,’ but in +reality schools for teaching their children how to gild +double-dyed lies,—sugar-coat deception, gloss idleness and +filth, paint immorality with Asiatic ideas, notions, and hues, +and put a pleasant and cheerful aspect upon taking things that do +not belong to them, may be seen thousands of ragged, half-naked, +dirty, ignorant and wretched Gipsy children, and the men +loitering about mostly in idleness. Inside their sack +hovels are to be found man, wife, and six or seven children of +all ages, not one of them able to read or write, squatting or +sleeping upon a bed of straw, which through the wet and damp is +often little better than a manure-heap, in fact sometimes +completely rotten, and as a Gipsy woman told me last week, +‘it is not fit to be handled with the hands.’ +In noticing that many of the Gipsy children have a kind of +eye-disease, I am told by the women that it is owing to the +sulphur arising from the coke fire they have upon the ground in +their midst, and which at times also causes the children to turn +pale and sickly. The sulphur affects the men and <!-- page +129--><a name="page129"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +129</span>women in various ways, sometimes causing a kind of +stupor to come over them. I have noticed farther that many +of the adults are much pitted with small-pox. It is a +wonder to me that there is not more disease among them than there +appears to be, considering that they are huddled together, +regardless of sex or age, in the midst of a damp atmosphere +rising out of the ground, and impregnated with the sulphur of +their coke fires. Probably their flitting habits prevent +detection. My plan to improve their condition is not by +prosecuting them and breaking up their tents and vans and turning +them into the roads pell-mell, but to bring their habitations +under the sanitary officers and their children under the +schoolmaster in a manner analogous to the Canal Boats Act, and it +has the approval of these wandering herds. The process will +be slow but effective, and without much inconvenience. +Unless something be done for them in the way I have indicated, +they will drift into a state similar to Darwin’s +forefathers and prove to the world that civilisation and +Christianity are a failure.”</p> +<p>The following article appears in the <i>Christian World</i>, +December 19th, by Christopher Crayon (J. Ewing Ritchie), in which +he says:—“The other day I was witness to a spectacle +which made me feel a doubt as to whether I was living in the +nineteenth century. I was, as it were, within the shadow of +that mighty London where Royalty resides, where the richest +Church in Christendom rejoices in its Abbey and Cathedral, and +its hundreds of churches, where an enlightened and energetic +Dissent has not only planted its temples in every district, but +has sent forth its missionary agents into every land, where the +fierce light of public opinion, aided by a Press which never +slumbers, is a terror to them that do evil, and a praise to them +that do well; a city which we love to boast heads the onward +march of man; and yet the scene before me was as intensely that +of savage life, as if I had been in a Zulu kraal, and savage life +destitute of all that lends it picturesque attractions, or ideal +charms. I was standing in <!-- page 130--><a +name="page130"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 130</span>the midst +of some twenty tents and vans, inhabited by that wandering race +of whose origin we know so little, and of whose future we know +less. The snow was on the ground, there was frost in the +very air. Within a few yards was a great Board school; +close by were factories and workshops, and the other concomitants +of organised industrial life. Yet in that small area the +Gipsies held undisputed sway. In or about London there are, +it is calculated, some two thousand of these dwellers in +tents. In all England there are some twenty thousand of +these sons of Ishmael, with hands against every one, or, perhaps +to put it more truly, with every one’s hands against +them. In summer-time their lot is by no means to be envied; +in winter their state is deplorable indeed.</p> +<p>“We entered, Mr. George Smith and I, and were received +as friends. Had I gone by myself, I question whether my +reception would have been a pleasant one. As Gipsies pay no +taxes, they can keep any number of dogs, and these dogs have a +way of sniffing and snarling, anything but agreeable to an +unbidden guest. The poor people complained to me no one +ever came to see them. I should be surprised if any one +did; but Mr. George Smith, of Coalville, is no common man, and +having secured fair play for the poor children of the +brick-fields—he himself was brought up in a +brick-yard—and for the poor, and sadly-neglected, inmates +of the canal-boats, he has now turned his attention to the +Gipsies. His idea is—and it is a good one—that +an Act of Parliament should be passed for their +benefit—something similar to that he has been the means of +carrying for the canal and brick-field children. In a paper +read before the Social Science Congress at Manchester, Mr. Smith +argued that all tents, shows, caravans, auctioneer vans, and like +places used as dwellings should be registered and numbered, and +under proper sanitary arrangements, with sanitary inspectors and +School Board officers, in every town and village. Thus in +every district the children would have their names and <!-- page +131--><a name="page131"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +131</span>attendance registered in a book, which they could take +with them from place to place, and when endorsed by the +schoolmaster, it would show that the children were attending +school. In carrying out this idea, it is a pity that Mr. +Smith should have to bear all the burden. As it is, he has +suffered greatly in his pocket by his philanthropic effort. . . +.</p> +<p>“It is no joke going into a Gipsy yard, and it is still +less so when you go down on your hands and knees, and crawl into +the Gipsy’s wigwam; but the worst of it is, when you have +done so, there is little to see after all. In the middle, +on a few bricks, is a stove or fireplace of some kind. On +the ground is a floor of wood-chips, or straw, or shavings, and +on this squat some two or three big, burly men, who make +linen-pegs and skewers, and mend chairs and various articles, the +tribe, as they wander along, seek to sell. The women are +away, for it is they who bring the grist to the mill, as they +tell fortunes, or sell their wares, or follow their doubtful +trade; but the place swarms with children; and it was wonderful +to see with what avidity they stretched out the dirtiest little +hand imaginable as Mr. Smith prepared to distribute some sweets +he had brought with him for that purpose. As we entered, +all the vans were shut up, and the tents only were occupied, the +vans being apparently deserted but presently a door was opened +half-way, and out popped a little Gipsy head, with sparkling eyes +and curly hair; and then another door opened, and a similar +spectacle was to be seen. Let us look into the van, about +the size of a tiny cabin, and chock full, in the first place, +with a cooking-stove; and then with shelves, with curtains and +some kind of bedding, apparently not very clean, on which the +family repose. It is a piteous life, even at the best, in +that van; even when the cooking pot is filled with something more +savoury than cabbages or potatoes; the usual fare; but the +children seem happy, nevertheless, in their dirty rags, and with +their luxurious heads of curly hair. All of them are as +ignorant as Hottentots, and lead a life horrible to think +of. <!-- page 132--><a name="page132"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 132</span>I only saw one woman in the camp, +and I only saw her by uncovering the top and looking into the +tent in which she resides. She is terribly poor, she says, +and pleads earnestly for a few coppers; and I can well believe +she wants them, for in this England of ours, and especially in +the outskirts of London, the Gipsy is not a little out of +place. Around us are some strapping girls, one with a +wonderfully sweet smile on her face, who, if they could be +trained to domestic service, would have a far happier life than +they can ever hope to lead. The cold and wet seem to affect +them not, nor the poor diet, nor the smoke and bad air of their +cabins, in which they crowd, while the men lazily work, and the +mothers are far away. The leading lady in this camp is +absent on business; but she is a firm adherent of Mr. George +Smith, and wishes to see the children educated; and as she is a +Lee, and as a Lee in Gipsy annals take the same rank as a Norfolk +Howard in aristocratic circles, that says a good deal; but, then, +if you educate a Gipsy girl, she will want to have her hands and +face, at any rate, clean; and a Gipsy boy, when he learns to +read, will feel that he is born for a nobler end than to dwell in +a stinking wigwam, to lead a lawless life, to herd with +questionable characters, and to pick up a precarious existence at +fairs and races; and our poets and novelists and artists will not +like that. However, just now, by means of letters in the +newspapers, and engravings in the illustrated journals, a good +deal of attention is paid to the Gipsies, and if they can be +reclaimed and turned into decent men and women a good many +farmers’ wives will sleep comfortably at night, especially +when geese and turkeys are being fattened for Christmas fare; and +a desirable impulse will be given to the trade in +soap.”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p132b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"A Gipsy girl washing clothes" +title= +"A Gipsy girl washing clothes" +src="images/p132s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>In the <i>Sunday School Chronicle</i>, December 19th, the +kind-hearted editor makes the following +allusions:—“Mr. George Smith stirs every feeling of +pity and compassion in our hearts by his descriptions of the +Gipsy Children’s Homes. It is one of the curious +things of English life that the <!-- page 133--><a +name="page133"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 133</span>distinct +Gipsy race should dwell among us, and, neither socially nor +politically, nor religiously, do we take any notice of +them. No portion of our population may so earnestly plead, +‘No man careth for our souls.’ The chief +interest of them, to many of us, is that they are used to give +point, and plot, to novels. But can nothing be done for the +Gipsy <i>children</i>? Christian enterprise is seldom found +wanting when a sphere is suggested for it; and those who live in +the neighbourhood of Gipsy haunts should be especially concerned +for their well-being. What must the children be, morally +and religiously, who <i>bide</i>, we cannot say <i>dwell</i>, in +such homes as Mr. George Smith describes?</p> +<p>“‘In their own interest, and without mincing +matters, it is time the plain facts of their dark lives were +brought to daylight, so that the brightening and elevating +effects of public opinion, law, and the Bible may have their +influence upon the character of the little ones about to become +in our midst the men and women of the future. Outside their +hovels or sack huts, poetically called “tents” and +“encampments,” but in reality schools for teaching +their children how to gild double-dyed lies, sugar-coat +deception, gloss idleness and filth, and put a pleasant and +cheerful aspect upon taking things that do not belong to them, +may be seen thousands of ragged, half-naked, dirty, ignorant, and +wretched Gipsy children, and the men loitering about mostly in +idleness. Inside their sack hovels are to be found man, +wife, and six or seven children of all ages, not one of them able +to read or write, squatting or sleeping upon a bed of straw, +which through the wet and damp is often little better than a +manure-heap, in fact sometimes it is completely rotten, and as a +Gipsy woman told me last week, “it is not fit to be handled +with the hands.” In noticing that many of the Gipsy +children have a kind of eye disease, I am told by the women that +it is owing to the sulphur arising from the coke fire they have +upon the ground in their midst, and which at times also causes +the children to turn pale and sickly.’”</p> +<p><!-- page 134--><a name="page134"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +134</span>The following brief account of the Hungarian Gipsies of +the present day, as seen by a writer under the initials “A. +C.,” who visited the Unitarian Synod in Hungary last +summer, is taken from the <i>Unitarian Herald</i>, bearing date +January 9th, 1880, and in which the author says:—“Not +far from Rugonfalva we came on a colony of exceedingly squalid +Gipsies, living in huts which a respectable Zulu would utterly +despise. Their appearance reminded me of Cowper’s +graphic sketch, which I am tempted to quote:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“‘I see a column of slow-rising +smoke<br /> +O’ertop the lofty wood that skirts the wild.<br /> +A vagabond and useless tribe there eat<br /> +Their miserable meal. A kettle, flung<br /> +Between two poles upon a stick transverse,<br /> +Receives the morsel—flesh obscene of dog,<br /> +Or vermin, or, at best, of cock purloined<br /> +From his accustomed perch. Hard-faring race,<br /> +They pick their fuel out of every hedge,<br /> +Which, kindled with dry leaves, just saves unqueuched<br /> +The spark of life. The sportive wind blows wide<br /> +Their fluttering rags, and shows a tawny skin,<br /> +The vellum of the livery they claim.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>“Transylvania is one great museum of human as well as +natural products, and this singular race forms an interesting +element of its motley population. It is supposed that the +tribe found its way to Hungary in the beginning of the fifteenth +century, having fled from Central Asia or India during the Mongol +reign of terror. About the close of last century Pastor +Benedict, of Debreczin, mastered their language, and on visiting +England found that the Gipsies in this country understood him +very well. There are now about eighty thousand of them in +Transylvania, but three-fourths of this number have settled +homes, and caste distinctions are so strong that the higher +grades would not drink from a cup used by one of their +half-savage brethren. On reaching the mansion of Mr. +Jakabházi, at Siménfalva, who employs about one +hundred and forty civilised Gipsies <!-- page 135--><a +name="page135"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 135</span>on his +estate, we had an opportunity after dinner of seeing them return +in a long procession from the fields. Some of the women +carried small brown babies, that appeared able to find footing +anywhere on their mothers’ shoulders, backs, or +breasts. These labourers are almost entirely paid in food +and other necessaries, and if kindly treated are very honourable +towards their master, and generally adopt his religion. +When smarting under any grievance, they, on the contrary, +sometimes change their faith <i>en masse</i>, and when +conciliated undergo as speedy a re-conversion. The women +are, as a rule, very fond of ornaments, and the men are, above +all things, proud of a horse or a pair of scarlet breeches. +Of late years they have in a few districts began to intermarry +with the Wallachs, and the sharp distinction between them and the +other races in Hungary will, no doubt, gradually +disappear.”</p> +<p>The <i>Weekly Times</i> again takes up the subject, and the +following appears on January 9th, 1880:—“We made a +second expedition, with Mr. George Smith, of Coalville, on +Sunday, in search of a Gipsy encampment; and though the way was +long and tedious, and we were both lamed with walking before we +returned at night, yet we had not gone one step out of our +way. There is no encampment of these ancient and +interesting people in the neighbourhood of the hundred odd square +miles which composes the site of the metropolis, with which Mr. +Smith is not acquainted, and to which we verily believe he could +lead a friend if he was blindfolded. The way we went must +remain somewhat of a secret, because the Gipsies do not care to +see many visitors on the only day of the week which is one of +absolute rest to them. All that we shall disclose about the +way is, that we skirted Mount Nod, and for a short distance +looked upon the face of an ancient river, then up-hill we +clambered for many longish miles, until we turned out of a +certain lane into the encampment. There was a rude +picturesqueness in the gaping of the vans and tents. In +<!-- page 136--><a name="page136"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +136</span>the foreground were the vans, to the rear the cloth +kraals, with their smoky coverings stretched over poles; from a +hole in the centre the smoke ascended, furnishing evidence that +the open brazier was burning within. The vans protected the +approach to the camp, just in the same way that artillery are +planted to keep the road to a military encampment. Mr. +Smith’s face seemed to be well known to these strange +people, and we no sooner appeared in sight than the swinging door +of every van was edged with faces, and forth from the strange +kraals there crept child and woman, youth and dog, to say a +kindly word, or bark a welcome to the visitors. But for the +Gipsies’ welcome we might have had an unpleasant reception +from the dogs. They were evidently dubious as to our +character, their training inclining them to bite, if they get a +chance, any leg wearing black cloth, but to give the +ragged-trousered visitors a fawning welcome; so they sniffed +again and again, and growled, until driven away by the voices of +their owners. Perchance, during the remainder of the day, +they were revolving in their intelligent minds how it had come to +pass that the black cloth legs were received with evident marks +of favour. Nor were they able to settle the point easily, +for whenever we happened to look round the encampment during the +afternoon, from the raised door-way of a kraal where we happened +to be couched, we noticed the eyes of one or other of the +four-footed guardians fixed intently on us. There were +about twenty vans and tents in all; and each paid one shilling a +week to the ground landlord. That money, with whatever else +was required for food, was obtained by hawking at this season of +the year, and trade was very bad. Winter must be a fearful +experience for these children of the air, and the field, the +summer sun, the wild flowers, and the fruits of harvest. +Such rains as have descended, such snows as have been falling, +such cold winds as have been blowing, must discount fearfully the +joys of the three happier seasons of the year.</p> +<p><!-- page 137--><a name="page137"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +137</span>“Invitations to stoop and enter any +‘tent’ were freely tendered, and ‘peeps’ +were indulged in with regard to a few. In one, a closed +cauldron covered the brazier fire, and two men and a dog watched +with unceasing vigilance. We tried to make friends here, +but failed. There was a steamy exudation from the cauldron +which filled the air with fragrance, and our curiosity overcame +our prudence, but with no satisfactory result. ‘A +stew,’ we suggested. ‘Yes! it was summut +stewing.’ ‘Couldn’t we guess what it +was?’ ‘Not soon,’ was the reply; ‘a +few bones and a potato or two; perhaps a bit of something +green. At such hard times they were mostly glad to get +anything.’ But nothing more could be gleaned, and the +two men and the dog never lost sight of the cauldron while the +visitors remained. In a few cases the tents were pegged +down all round, and across the top, upon a stout line, there hung +a few articles fresh from the wash. The pegged cloth +indicated that the female occupants were within, but ‘not +at home,’ nor would they be visible until the wind had +dried the garments that fluttered overhead. We tarried, and +were made quite at home in another kraal, where we gleaned many +interesting particulars of Gipsy life; and here we held a sort of +smoking <i>levée</i>, and were honoured by the company of +many distinguished residents in camp. We lay upon a bed of +straw, which covered the whole of the interior, save a little +space filled with the brazier, in which a fire of coke was +burning; above was a hole, out of which the smoke passed. +The straw had been stamped into consistency by the feet of the +family; there was no odour from it, and in that particular was an +improvement on the rush and straw floors in the English houses of +which Erasmus made such great complaint. There was no +chair, stool, or box on which to sit, and all of us reclined +Eastern fashion in the posture that was most convenient. +The owner of the kraal and his wife were very interesting people: +the mother’s hair descended by little steps from the crown +of her head, until it stuck out <!-- page 138--><a +name="page138"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 138</span>like a +bush, in a line with the nape of her neck, a dense dead-black +mass of hair. She had been a model for painters many a +time, she said, before small-pox marked her; and, since, the back +of her head had often been drawn to fit somebody else’s +face.</p> +<p>“‘When I come again what shall I bring you?’ +said Mr. Smith, in most reckless fashion, to the Egyptian +Queen. ‘Well,’ said she, without a +moment’s hesitation, ‘if there is one thing more than +another that I do want, it’s a silk handkercher for my +head—a real Bandana.’ The request was +characteristic. Of the tales we heard one or two were +curious, one positively laughable, and one related to a deed of +blood. Mr. Smith, going into a tent, found an aged Gipsy +woman, to whom he told the object of his visiting the Gipsies, +and what he hoped to accomplish for the children, and she forwith +handed him a money gift. On more than one occasion a +well-polished silver coin of small value, a penny, or a farthing +has been quietly put into Mr. Smith’s hands, in furtherance +of his work, by some poor Gipsy woman. The story which made +us laugh was of a Gipsy marriage. It is one of the +unwritten laws of Gipsy life that the wife works while the +husband idles about the tent. The wife hawks with the +basket or the cart and sells, while the husband loiters about the +encampment or cooks the evening meal. But one young Gipsy +fell in love with an Irish girl named Kathleen, and from the day +of their marriage Tom never had an idle moment. In vain did +he plead the usages of Gipsy married life. Kathleen was +deaf to all such modes of argument, and drove her husband forth +from tent and encampment, by voice or by stake, until she +completely cured him of his idleness, and she remained mistress +of the field. Whenever a young Gipsy is supposed to be +courting a stranger, the fate of Tom at the hands of Kathleen is +told him as a warning. During the afternoon we were +continually exhorted to see ‘Granny’ before we +left. Every one spoke of her with respect, and when we were +<!-- page 139--><a name="page139"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +139</span>about to leave, Patience offered to show us +‘Granny’s tent.’ Repentance joined her +sister, and before we were up and out of the tent opening, we saw +Patience at a tent not far off; she dived head and shoulders +through an opening she made, and then appeared to be pulling +vigorously. Her activity was soon explained. We +thrust our heads through the opening, and were face to face with +a shrivelled-faced old woman, whose cheeks were like discoloured +parchment, and whose hands and arms appeared to be mere +bones. But her eye was bright, and her tongue proved her to +be in possession of most of her faculties. She could not +stand or walk, nor could she sit up for many minutes at a time, +and the action of Patience was caused by her hastily seizing the +old woman by her arms as she lay on her straw floor, and dragging +her into a sitting position. If the old dame had been +asleep, Patience had thoroughly aroused her. She greeted us +with Gipsy courtesy, and told us she was ‘fourscore and six +years of age.’ Her name, in answer to our query, she +said was ‘Sinfire Smith.’ ‘Why, +that’s the same as mine,’ said Mr. Smith. +‘O, likely,’ said Sinfire, ‘the Smiths is a +long family.’ For four score and six years poor +Sinfire has led a Gipsy life, and though her house now is only a +tent, and her bed and bedding straw, she made no moan, and there +was nothing she wished to have.”</p> +<blockquote><p>“Farewell, farewell! so rest there, +blade!<br /> +Entomb me where our chiefs are laid;<br /> +But, hark, methinks I hear the drum,<br /> +I would that holy man were come.”—<span +class="smcap">Harris</span>.</p> +<p>“What sound is that as of one knocking gently?<br /> +Yet who would enter here at hour so late?<br /> +Arise! draw back the bolt—unclose the portal.<br /> +What figure standeth there before the gate?</p> +<p>“He bears to thee sweet messages from Heaven,<br /> +Whispers of love from dear ones folded there,<br /> +And tells thee that a place for thee is waiting,<br /> +That thou shalt join them in their home so fair.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">A. F. B.—“Sunday at +Home.”</p> +</blockquote> +<h2><!-- page 140--><a name="page140"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 140</span>Part III.<br /> +The Treatment the Gipsies have received in this Country.</h2> +<p>The social history and improvements of our own country seem to +have gone by irregular leaps and bounds. The Parliament, +like the <i>Times</i>, follows upon the heels of public opinion +in all measures concerning the welfare of the nation; and it is +well it should be so. An Englishman will be led by a child; +but it requires a strong hand and a sharp whip to drive +him. One hundred and forty years ago the Wesleys and +Whitfield caused a commotion in the religious world. +Upwards of a century ago the first canal in this country was +opened for the conveyance of goods upon our silent highways, and +trade began in earnest to show signs of life and activity. +A century ago Robert Raikes, of Gloucester, opened his first +Sunday-school—the beginning of a system ever widening and +expanding, carrying with it blessings incomprehensible to finite +minds, and only to be revealed in another world. Nearly a +century ago Raper’s translation of Grellmann’s +“Dissertation on the Gipsies” was published, and +which caused no little stir at the time, being the first work of +any kind worth notice that had appeared. Seventy years ago +an interesting correspondence took place in the <i>Christian +Observer</i> upon the condition of the Gipsies, and various lines +of missionary action were suggested; but no plan was adopted, and +all words blown to the wind. Then, as now, people would +look at the Gipsies <!-- page 141--><a name="page141"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 141</span>in their pitiable condition, and +with a shrug of the shoulders would say, “Poor +things,” and away they would go to their mansions, doff +their warm winter clothing, put on their needleworked slippers, +stretch their legs before a blazing fire in the drawing-room, and +call “John” to bring a box of the best cigars, the +champagne, dry sherry, and crusted port, and then noddle off to +sleep. Sixty-four years ago Hoyland’s +“Historical Survey of the Gipsies” made its +appearance, a work that caught the fire and spirit of +Grellmann’s, the object of both being to stir up the +missionary zeal of this country in the cause of the +Gipsies. Fifty years ago James Crabb began his missionary +work among the Gipsies at Southampton, and for a while did well; +but in course of time, owing to the Gipsies moving about, as in +the case of “Our Canal Population,” the work dwindled +down and down, till there is not a vestige of this good +man’s efforts to be seen. About the same time that +Crabb was at work among the Gipsies missionary efforts were put +in motion to improve the canal-boatmen, and mission stations were +established at Newark, Stoke-on-Trent, Aylesbury, Oxford, +Birmingham, and other places, but fared the same fate as the +missionary effort of Crabb and others among the Gipsies. +Fifty years ago railways were opened, which gave an impetus to +trade never experienced before. Fifty years ago the +preaching of Bourne and Clowes was causing considerable +excitement in the country. Nearly fifty years ago witnessed +the passing of the Reform Bill, and the Factory Act received the +Royal signature. Forty years have passed away since George +Borrow’s missionary efforts among the Gipsies were +prominently before the public, which, sad to say, shared the fate +of Crabb’s, Hoyland’s, Roberts’, and +Raper’s. From that day till now, except the spasmodic +efforts of a clergyman here and there, or some other kind-hearted +friend, these 20,000 poor slighted outcasts have been left to +themselves to sink or swim as they thought well. The only +man, except the dramatist and novelist, who has seemed <!-- page +142--><a name="page142"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 142</span>to +notice them has been the policeman, and his vigilant eye and +staff have been used to drive them from their camping-ground from +time to time, and thus—if possible—made their lives +more miserable, and created within them deeper-seated revenge, +owing to the way in which they are carrying out the Enclosures +Act. All missionary efforts put forth to improve the +condition of the factory operative and canal-boatmen, previous to +the passing of the Factory Act, nearly fifty years since, and the +Canal Boats Act of 1877, were fruitless and unprofitable. +The passing of the Factory Act has done more for the children in +one year than all the missionaries in the kingdom could have done +in their lifetime. Similar results are the outcome of the +Brickyard Act of 1871, as touching the welfare of the +children. And so in like manner it will be with the Canal +Boats Act when properly carried out, the canal-boat children of +to-day, in fifty years hence, will be equal to other working +classes. From the days of Hoyland, and Borrow, and Crabb, +down to the present time, but little seems to have been done for +the Gipsies. With Crabb died all real interest in the +welfare of these poor unfortunate people. The difficulties +he had encountered seemed to have had a deterrent effect upon +others. Missionary zeal, without moral force of law and the +schoolmaster, will accomplish but little for the Gipsies at our +doors; and it may be said with special emphasis as regards the +improvement of the Gipsy children. From the days of the +relentless, cruel, and merciless persecution the Gipsies received +under the reigns of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, down to the +present time, nothing has been done by law to reclaim these +Indian outcasts and Asiatic emigrants. The case of the +Gipsies shows us plainly that hunting the women and children with +bloodhounds, and dragging the Gipsy leaders to the gallows, will +neither stamp them out nor improve their character and habits; +and, on the other hand, it appears that the love-like gentleness, +child-like simplicity, and religious fervour of the circumscribed +influence <!-- page 143--><a name="page143"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 143</span>of Crabb and others, about this +time, did but little for these poor, little, dark-eyed, wandering +brethren of ours from afar. The next agents that appeared +upon the scene to try to elevate the Gipsies into something like +a respectable position in society were the dramatists and +novelists. These flickering lights of the night have met +with no better success, in fact, their efforts, in the way they +have been put forth, have, as a rule, exhibited Gipsy life in a +variety of false colours and shades, which exhibition has turned +out to be a failure in accomplishing the object the authors had +in view, other than to fill their coffers and mislead the public +as to the real character of a Gipsy vagabond’s life; and +thus it will be seen, I think, that the Gipsies and their +children of to-day present to us the miserable failure, of bitter +persecution in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the +efforts of Christianity alone at the beginning of the nineteenth +century, and more recently the novelist and dramatist as a means +in themselves, separately, to effect a reformation in the habits +and character of the Gipsy children and their parents.</p> +<p>If the Gipsy and other tramping, travelling “rob +rats” of to-day are to become honest, industrious, and +useful citizens of the future, it must be by the influence of the +schoolmaster and the sanitary officer, coming to a great extent +as they do between the fitful and uncertain efforts of the +missionary, the relentless hands of persecution, the policeman, +and the stage.</p> +<p>From the time the Gipsies landed in this country in 1515, down +to the time when Raper’s translation of Grellmann’s +work appeared in 1787, a period of 272 years, nothing seems to +have been done to improve the Gipsies, except to pass laws for +their extermination. The earliest notice of the Gipsies in +our own country was published in a quarto volume in the year +1612, the object of which was to expose the system of +fortune-telling, juggling, and legerdemain, and in which +reference is made to the <!-- page 144--><a +name="page144"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 144</span>Gipsies as +follows:—“This kind of people about a hundred years +ago beganne to gather an head, as the first heere about the +southerne parts. And this, as I am imformed and can gather, +was their beginning: Certain Egyptians banished their country +(belike not for their good conditions) arrived heere in England, +who for quaint tricks and devices, not known heere at that time +among us, were esteemed and had in great admiration; insomuch +that many of our English loyterers joined with them, and in time +learned their crafty cosening. The speech which they used +was the right Egyptian language, with whom our Englishmen +conversing at least learned their language. These people +continuing about the country and practising their cosening art, +purchased themselves great credit among the country people, and +got much by palmistry and telling of fortunes; insomuch they +pitifully cosened poor country girls, both of money, silver +spoons, and the best of their apparalle or other goods they could +make.” And he goes on to say, “But what numbers +were executed on these statutes you would wonder; yet, +notwithstanding, all would not prevaile, but they wandered as +before uppe and downe and meeting once a year at a place +appointed; sometimes at the Peake’s Hole in Derbyshire, and +other whiles by Ketbroak at Blackheath.” The annual +gathering of the Gipsies and others of the same class, who make +Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire and +neighbouring counties, their head-quarters, takes place at the +well-known Bolton Fair, held about Whitsuntide, on the borders of +Leicestershire, a village situated in a kind of triangle, between +Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. Spellman +speaks of the Gipsies about this time as +follows:—“The worst kind of wanderers and impostors +springing up on the Continent, but yet rapidly spreading +themselves through Britain and other parts of Europe, disfigured +by their swarthiness, sun-burnt, filthy in their clothing and +indecent in all their customs.” Under these +circumstances it is not to be wondered at, in these dark ages, +<!-- page 145--><a name="page145"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +145</span>that some steps should be taken to stop these lawless +desperadoes and vagabonds from contaminating our English +labourers’ and servant girls with their loose ideas of +labour, cleanliness, honesty, morality, truthfulness, and +religion. It was soon manifest what kind of strange people +had begun to flock to our shores to make their domiciles among +us, as will be seen in a description given of them in an Act of +Parliament passed in the twenty-second year of the reign of Henry +VIII., being only about seven years after their landing in +Scotland, and to which I have referred before. In the tenth +chapter of the said act they are described as—“An +outlandish people calling themselves Egyptians, using no crafte +nor feat of merchandise; who have come into this realm and gone +from shire to shire and place to place in great company, and used +great subtle and crafty means to deceive the people, bearing them +in hand that by palmistry they could tell the men’s and +women’s fortunes, and so many times by crafte and subtlety +have deceived the people of their money, and also have committed +many heinous felonies and robberies. Wherefore all are +directed to avoid the realm and not to return under pain of +imprisonment and forfeitures of their goods and chattels; and on +their trials for any felonies which they may have committed they +shall not be entitled to a jury.” As if this was not +sufficient or as if it had not the desired effect the authors +anticipated viz., in preventing other Gipsies flocking to our +shores or driving those away from us who were already in our +midst another act was passed in the twenty-seventh year of the +same reign, more severe than the previous act, and part of it +runs as follows:—“Whereas certain outlandish people, +who do not profess any crafte or trade, whereby to maintain +themselves, but go about in great numbers from place to pace +using insidious underhand means to impose on His Majesty’s +subjects, making them believe that they understand the art of +foretelling to men and women their good and evil fortunes by +looking in their hands, whereby they <!-- page 146--><a +name="page146"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 146</span>frequently +defraud people of their money; likewise are guilty of thefts and +highway robberies; it is hereby ordered that the said vagrants, +commonly called Egyptians, in case they remain one month in the +kingdom, shall be proceeded against as thieves and rascals, and +at the importation of such Egyptians (the importer) shall forfeit +£40 for every trespass.”</p> +<p>The fine of £40 being inflicted at that time, which +means a large sum at the present day, carries something more with +it than the thefts committed by the Gipsies. It is evident +that the Gipsies had wheedled themselves into the graces and +favours of some portion of the aristocracy by their crafts and +deception. If the Gipsy offences had been committed against +the labouring population it would have been the height of +absurdity for Parliament to have inflicted a fine of some +hundreds of pounds upon the working man of the poorer +classes. It has occurred to me that the question of Popery +may have been one of the causes of their persecution; and it is +not unlikely that wealthy Roman Catholics may have had something +to do with their importation into this country. The fact +is, before the Gipsies left the Continent for England they were +Roman Catholic pilgrims, and going about the country doing the +work of the Pope to some extent, and this may have been one of +the objects of those who were opposed to the Protestant +tendencies of Henry VIII. in causing them to come over to +England. At this time our own country was in a very +disturbed state, religiously, and no people were so suitable to +work in the dark and carry messages from place to place as the +Gipsies, especially if by so doing they could make plenty of +plunder out of it; and this idea I have hinted at before as one +of their leading characteristics. It should not be +overlooked that telegraphs, railways, stagecoaches, and canals +had not been established at this time, consequently for the +Gipsies to be moving about the country from village to village +under a cloak, as they appeared to the <!-- page 147--><a +name="page147"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 147</span>higher +powers, was sufficient to make them the subjects of bitter +persecution. For the Gipsies to have openly avowed that +they were Roman Catholics before landing upon our shores, would +in all probability have defeated the object of those who +induced—if induced—them to come over to +Britain. At any rate, we may, I think, fairly assume that +this feature of their character, an addition to their +fortune-telling proclivities, may have been one of the causes of +their persecution, and in this view I am to some extent supported +by circumstances.</p> +<p>During the reign of Henry VIII. a number of Gipsies were sent +back to France, and in the book of receipts and payments of the +thirty-fifth of the same reign the following entries are +made:—“Nett payments, 1st Sept., 36 of Henry +VIII. Item, to Tho. Warner, Sergeant of the Admyraltie, +10th Sept., for victuals prepared for a shippe appointed to +convey certaine Egupeians, 58s. Item, to the same Tho. +Warner, to the use of John Bowles for freight of said shippe, +£6 5s. 0d. Item, to Robt. ap Rice, Esq., Shriff +of Huntingdon, for the charge of the Egupeians at a special gailo +delivery, and the bringing of them to be carreied over the sees; +over and besides the sum of £4 5s. 0d. groming of seventeen +horses sold at five shillings the peice as apperythe by a +particular book, £17 17s. 7d. Item, to Will. Wever, +appointed to have the charge of the conduct of the said Egupeians +to Callis, £5.”</p> +<p>In 1426 a first-rate horse was worth about £1 6s. 8d., +and a colt 4s. 6d. Twenty-two years later the hay of an +acre of land was worth about £5.</p> +<p>There were several acts passed relating to the Gipsies during +the reign of Philip and Mary, and fifth of Elizabeth, by which it +states—“If any person, being fourteen years old, +whether natural born subject or stranger, who had been seen in +the fellowship of such persons, or had disguised himself like +them, or should remain with them one month at once or several +times, it should be felony without the benefit of the +clergy.” Wraxall, in his “History of +France,” vol. ii., <!-- page 148--><a +name="page148"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 148</span>page 32, in +referring to the act of Elizabeth, in 1653, states that in her +reign the Gipsies throughout England were supposed to exceed +10,000. About the year 1586 complaints were again made of +the increase of vagabonds and loitering persons.</p> +<p>The following order is copied from the Harleian MSS. in the +British Museum:—“Orders, rules, and directions, +concluded, appointed, and agreed upon by us the Justices of Peace +within the county of Suffolk, assembled at our general session of +peace, holden at Bury, the 22nd daie of Aprill, in the 31st yeare +of the raigne of our Souraigne Lady the Queen’s Majestie, +for the punishing and suppressinge of roags, vacabonds, idle +loyterings, and lewde persons, which doe or shall hereafter +wander and goe aboute within the hundreths of Thingo cum Bury, +Blackborne, Thedwardstree, Cosford, Babings, Risbridge, Lackford, +and the hundreth of Exninge, in the said county of Suffolk, +contrary to the law in that case made and provided.</p> +<p>“Whereas at the Parliament beganne and holden at +Westminster, the 8th daie of Maye, in the 14th yeare of the +raigne of the Queen’s Majesty that nowe is, one Acte was +made intytuled, ‘An Acte for the punishment of Vacabonds +and for releife of the Pooere and Impotent’; and whereas at +a Session of the Parliament, holden by prorogacon at Westminster, +the eight daie of February, in the 28th yeare of Her Majesties +raigne, an other Acte was made and intytuled, ‘An Act for +settinge of the Poore to work and for the avoydinge of +idleness’; by virtue of which severall Acts certeyne +provisions and remedies have been ordeyned and established, as +well for the suppressinge and punishinge of all roags, vacabonds, +sturdy roags, idle and loyteringe persons; as also for the +reliefe and setting on worke of the aged and impotente persons +within this realm, and authoritie gyven to justices of peace, in +their several charges and commissions, to see that the said Acts +and Statuts be putte in due execution, to the glorie of +Allmightie God and the benefite of the Common Welth.</p> +<p><!-- page 149--><a name="page149"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +149</span>“And whereas also yt appeareth by dayly +experience that the numbr of idle, vaggraunte, loyteringe sturdy +roags, masterless men, lewde and yll disposed persons are +exceedingly encreased and multiplied, committinge many grevious +and outerageous disorders and offences, tendinge to the great . . +. of Allmightie God, the contempt of Her Majesties laws, and to +the great charge, trouble, and disquiet of the Common Welth:</p> +<p>“We, the Justices of Peace above speciefied, assembled +and mett together at our general sessions above-named for remedie +of theis and such lyke enormitities which hereafter shall happen +to arrise or growe within the hundreths and lymits aforesaid, doe +by theis presents order, decree, and ordeyne That there shall be +builded or provided a convenient house, which shall be called the +House of Correction, and that the same be establishd within the +towne of Bury, within the hundreth of Thingoe aforesaid: And that +all persons offendinge or lyvinge contrary to the tenor of the +said twoe Acts, within the hundreths and lymitts aforesaid, shall +be, by the warrante of any Justice of Peace dwellinge in the same +hundreths or lymitts, committed thether, and there be received, +punished, sett to worke, and orderd in such sorte and accordinge +to the directions, provisions, and limitations hereafter in theis +presents declard and specified.</p> +<p>“Fyrst—That yt maie appeare what persons arre +apprehended, committed, and brought to the House of Correction, +it is ordered and appointed, that all and every person and +persons which shall be found and taken within the hundreths and +lymitts aforesaid above the age of 14 yeares, and shall take upon +them to be procters or procuraters goinge aboute without +sufficiente lycense from the Queen’s Majestie; all idle +persons goinge aboute usinge subtiltie and unlawfull games or +plaie; all such as faynt themselves to have knowledge in +physiognomeye, palmestrie, or other absurd sciences; all tellers +of destinies, deaths, or fortunes, and such lyke fantasticall +imaginations.”</p> +<p><!-- page 150--><a name="page150"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +150</span>In Scotland, the Gipsies, and other vagrants of the +same class, were dealt with equally as severely under Mary Queen +of Scots as they were under Henry VIII. and Elizabeth in +England. In an act passed in 1579 I find the following +relating to Gipsies and vagabonds:—“That sik as make +themselves fules and ar bairdes, or uther sik like runners about, +being apprehended, sall be put into the Kinge’s Waird, or +irones, sa lang as they have ony gudes of their owin to live on, +and fra they have not quhair upon to live of thir owin that their +eares be nayled to the trone or to an uther tree, and thir eares +cutted off and banished the countrie; and gif thereafter they be +found againe, that they be hanged.</p> +<p>“And that it may be knowen quwhat maner of persones ar +meaned to be idle and strong begares, and vagabounds, and worthy +of the punischment before specified, it is declared: That all +idle persones ganging about in any countrie of this realm, using +subtil craftie and unlawful playes, as juglarie, fast-and-lous, +and sik uthers; the idle people calling themselves +<i>Egyptians</i>, or any uther, that feinzies themselves to have +a knowledge or charming prophecie, or other abused sciences, +quairby they perswade peopil that they can tell thir weirds, +deaths, and fortunes, and sik uther phantastical +imaginations,” &c., &c.</p> +<p>Another law was passed in Scotland in 1609, not less severe +than the one passed in 1579, called Scottish Acts, and in which I +find the following:—“Sorcerers, common thieves, +commonly called Egyptians, were directed to pass forth of the +kingdom, under pain of death as common, notorious, and condemned +thieves.” This was persecution with vengeance, and no +mistake; and it was under this kind of treatment, severe as it +was, the Gipsies continued to grow and prosper in carrying out +their nefarious practices. The case of these poor miserable +wretches, midnight prowlers, with eyes and hearts and bending +steps determined upon mischief and evil-doing, presents to us the +spectacle of justice untempered with mercy. The phial +filled with <!-- page 151--><a name="page151"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 151</span>revenge, malice, spite, hatred, +extermination and blood—without the milk of human kindness, +the honey of love, water from the crystal fountain, and the +tincture of Gethsemane’s garden being added to take away +the nauseousness of it—being handed these poor deluding +witches and wretches to drink to the last dregs, failed to get +rid of social and national grievances. The hanging of +thirteen Gipsies at one of the Suffolk Assizes a few years before +the Restoration carried with it none of the seeds of a +reformation in their character and habits, nor did it lessen the +number of these wandering prowlers, for we find that from the +landing of a few hundred of Gipsies from France in 1514, down to +the commencement of the eighteenth century, the number had +increased to something like 15,000. The number who had been +hung, died in prison, suffered starvation, and the fewness of +those who were Christians, and gone to heaven, during the period +of over 250 years, and prior to the noble efforts of Raper, Sir +Joseph Banks, Hoyland, Crabb, Borrow, and others, is fearful to +contemplate. Hoyland tells us that in his day, “not +one Gipsy in a thousand could read or write.”</p> +<p>Efforts put forth to exterminate these Asiatic heathens, +babble-mongers, and bush-ranging thieves, were not confined to +England alone. King Ferdinand of Spain was the first to set +the persecuting machine at work to grind them to powder, and +passed an edict in the year 1492 for their extermination, which +only drove them into hiding-places, to come out, with their +mouths watering, in greater numbers, for fresh acts of violence +and plunder. At the King’s death, the Emperor Charles +V. persecuted them afresh, but with no success, and the +consequence was they were left alone in Spain to pursue their +course of robbery and crime for more than 200 years. In +France an edict was passed by Francis I. At a Council of +the State of Orleans an order was sent to all Governors to drive +the Gipsies out of the country with fire and the sword. +Under this edict <!-- page 152--><a name="page152"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 152</span>they still increased, and a new +order was issued in 1612 for their extermination. In 1572 +they were driven from the territories of Milan and Parma, and +earlier than this date they were driven beyond the Venetian +jurisdiction.</p> +<blockquote><p>“It is the sound of fetters—sound of +work<br /> +Is not so dismal. Hark! they pass along.<br /> +I know it is those Gipsy prisoners;<br /> +I saw them, heard their chains. O! terrible<br /> +To be in chains.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>In Denmark they were not allowed to pass about the country +unmolested, and every magistrate was ordered to take them into +custody. A very sharp and severe order came out for their +expulsion from Sweden in the year 1662. Sixty-one years +later a second order was published by the Diet; and in 1727 +additional stringent measures were added to the foregoing +edicts. Under pain of death they were excluded from the +Netherlands by Charles V., and in 1582 by the United +Provinces. Germany seems to have led the van in passing +laws for their extermination. At the Augsburg Diet in 1500, +Maximillian I. had the following edict drawn +up:—“Respecting those people who call themselves +Gipsies roving up and down the country. By public edict to +all ranks of the empire, according to the obligations under which +they are bound to us and the Holy Empire, it is strictly ordered +that in future they do not permit the said Gipsies (since there +is authentic evidence of their being spies, scouts, and conveyers +of intelligence, betraying the Christians to the Turks) to pass +or remain within their territories, nor to trade or traffic, +neither to grant them protection nor convoy, and that the said +Gipsies do withdraw themselves before Easter next ensuing from +the German Dominions, entirely quit them, nor suffer themselves +to be found therein. As in case they should transgress +after this time, and receive injury from any person, they shall +have no redress, nor shall such persons be thought to have +committed <!-- page 153--><a name="page153"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 153</span>any crime.” Grellmann +says the same affair occupied the Diet in 1530, 1544, 1548, and +1551, and was also enforced in the stringent police regulations +of Frankfort in 1577, and he goes on to say that with the +exception of Hungary and Transylvania, they were similarly +proscribed in every civilised state. I think it will be +seen by the foregoing German edict that there is some foundation +for the supposition I have brought forward earlier, viz., that +the persecution of the Gipsies in this country was not so much on +account of their thieving deeds, plunder, and other abominations, +as their connection with the emissaries of the Pope of Rome, and +in the secrecy of their movements in going from village to +village, undermining the foundation of the State, law, and order, +civil and religious liberty. The only bright spot and +cheerful tint upon this sorrowful picture of persecution which +took place in our own country during these dark ages was the +appearance of the Star of Elstow, John Bunyan, the Bedfordshire +tinker, whose life and death forcibly illustrates the last words +of Jesus upon the Cross, “Father, forgive them, they know +not what they do.”</p> +<blockquote><p>“’Twere ill to banish hope and let the +mind<br /> +Drift like a feather. I have had my share<br /> +Of what the world calls trial. Once a fire<br /> +Came in the darkness, when the city lay<br /> +In a still sea of slumber, stretching out<br /> +Great lurid arms which stained the firmament;<br /> +And when I woke the room was full of sparks,<br /> +And red tongues smote the lattice. Then a hand<br /> +Came through the sulphur, taking hold of mine,<br /> +And the next moment there were shouts of joy.<br /> +Ah! I was but a child and my first care<br /> +Was for my mother.”—<span class="smcap">Harris</span> +(the Cornish poet).</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Towards the end of the eighteenth century it became evident +that edicts and persecutions were not going to stamp out the +Gipsies in this country, for instead of them decreasing in +numbers they kept increasing; at this time there <!-- page +154--><a name="page154"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +154</span>were supposed to be about 18,000 in the country. +The following sad case, showing the malicious spirits of the +Gipsies, and the relentless hand of the hangman, seemed to have +had the effect of bringing the authorities to bay. They had +begun to put their “considering caps” on, and were in +a fix as to the next move, and it was time they had. They +had never thought of tempering justice with mercy. A +century ago, 1780, a number of young Gipsies were arrested at +Northampton, upon what charge it does not appear. It should +be noted that Northamptonshire at this time was a favourite round +for the Gipsy fraternity as well as the adjoining counties. +This, it seems, excited the feelings of the Gipsies in the +county, and they sought to obtain the release of the young +Gipsies who were in custody, but were not successful in their +application to the magistrate; the consequence was—true to +their instincts—the spirit of revenge manifested itself to +such a degree that the Gipsies threatened to set fire to the +town, and would, in all probability have carried it out had not a +number of them been brought to the gallows for these +threats. With this case the hands of persecution began to +hang down, for it was evident that persecution <i>alone</i> would +neither improve these Gipsies nor yet drive them out of the +country. The tide of events now changed. Law, rigid, +stern justice alone could do no good with them, and consequently +handed them over to the minister of love and mercy. This +step was a bound to the opposite extreme, and as we go along we +shall see that the efforts put forth in this direction alone met +with but little more success than under the former +treatment. Seven years after the foregoing executions +Grellmann’s work upon the Gipsies appeared, which caused a +considerable commotion among the religious communities, +following, as it did, the universal feeling aroused in the +welfare of the children of this country by the establishment of +Sunday-schools throughout the length and breadth of the land to +teach the children of the working-classes reading and writing and +<!-- page 155--><a name="page155"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +155</span>the fundamental principles of Christianity. After +repeated efforts put forth by a number of Christian gentlemen, +and the interest caused by the publication of Grellmann’s +book, the work of reforming the Gipsies by purely religious and +philanthropic action began to lag behind; the result was, as in +the case of persecution, no good was observable, and the Gipsies +were allowed to go again on their way to destruction. The +next step was one in the right direction, viz., that of trying to +improve the Gipsies by the means of the schoolmaster; although +humble and feeble in its plan of operation, yet if we look to the +agency put forth and its results, the Sunday-school teacher must +have felt encouraged in his work as he plodded on Sunday after +Sunday.</p> +<p>It may be said of Thomas Howard as it was said of the poor +widow of old, he “hath done more than them +all.” The following account of this cheerful, +encouraging, and interesting gathering is taken from Hoyland, in +which he says:—“The first account he received of any +of them was from Thomas Howard, proprietor of a glass and china +shop, No. 50, Fetter Lane, Fleet Street. This person, who +preached among the Calvinists, said that in the winter of 1811 he +had assisted in the establishment of a Sunday-school in Windwill +Street, Acre Lane, near Clapham. It was under the patronage +of a single gentlewoman, of the name of Wilkinson, and +principally intended for the neglected and forlorn children of +brick-makers and the most abject poor.” At the +present day Gipsies generally locate in the neighbourhood of +brick-yards and low, swampy marshes, or by the side of rivers or +canals. It was begun on a small scale, but increased till +the number of scholars amounted to forty.</p> +<p>“During the winter a family of Gipsies, of the name of +Cooper, obtained lodgings at a house opposite the school. +Trinity Cooper, a daughter of the Gipsy family, who was about +thirteen years of age, applied to be instructed at the school; +but in consequence of the obloquy affixed to that description of +persons she was repeatedly refused. She <!-- page 156--><a +name="page156"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +156</span>nevertheless persevered in her importunity, till she +obtained admission for herself and two of her brothers. +Thomas Howard says, surrounded as he was by ragged children, +without shoes and stockings, the first lesson he taught them was +silence and submission. They acquired habits of +subordination and became tractable and docile; and of all his +scholars there were not any more attentive and affectionate than +these; and when the Gipsies broke up in the spring, to make their +usual excursions, the children expressed much regret at leaving +school. This account was confirmed by Thomas Jackson, of +Brixton Row, minister of Stockwell Chapel, who said:—Since +the above experiment, several Gipsies had been admitted to a +Sabbath-school under the direction of his congregation. At +their introduction, he compared them to birds when first put into +the cage, which flew against the sides of it, having no idea of +restraint; but by a steady, even care over them, and the +influence of the example of other children, they soon become +settled and fell into their ranks.” The next step +taken to let daylight upon the Gipsy and his dark doings in the +dark ages was by means of letters to the Press, and what +surprises me is that this step, the most important of all, was +not taken before.</p> +<p>In a letter addressed to the <i>Christian Observer</i>, vol. +vii., p. 91, in the year about 1809, “Nil” +writes:—“As the divine spirit of Christianity deems +no object, however uncouth or insignificant, beneath her notice, +I venture to apply to you on behalf of a race, the outcasts of +society, of whose pitiable condition, among the many forms of +human misery which have engaged your efforts, I do not recollect +to have seen any notice in the pages of your excellent +miscellany. I allude to the deplorable state of the +Gipsies, on whose behalf I beg leave to solicit your good offices +with the public. Lying at our very doors, they seem to have +a peculiar claim on our compassion. In the midst of a +highly refined state of society, they are but little removed from +savage life. In this happy country, where the light of +Christianity shines <!-- page 157--><a name="page157"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 157</span>with its purest lustre, they are +still strangers to its cheering influence. I have not heard +even of any efforts which have been made either by individuals or +societies for their improvement.” +“Fraternicus,” writing to the same Journal, vol. +vii., and in the same year, says:—“It is painful to +reflect how many thousands of these unhappy creatures have, since +the light of Christianity has shone on this island, gone into +eternity ignorant of the ways of salvation;” and goes on to +say that, “there is an awful responsibility attached to +this neglect,” and recommends the appointment of +missionaries to the work; and finishes his appeal as +follows:—“Christians of various denominations, +perhaps may, through the divine providence, be the means of +exciting effectual attention to the spiritual wants of this +deplorable set of beings; and the same benevolence which induced +you to exert your talents and influence on behalf of the +oppressed negroes may again be successfully employed in +ameliorating the condition of a numerous class of our +fellow-creatures.” “H.” wrote to the +<i>Christian Observer</i>, and said he hoped “to see the +day when the nation, which has at length done justice to the poor +negroes, will be equally zealous to do their duty in this +instance,” and he offered to subscribe “twenty pounds +per annum towards so good an object.” +“Minimus,” another writer to the same paper, with +reference to missionary enterprise, says:—“The soil +which it is proposed to cultivate is remarkably barren and +unpropitious; of course, a plentiful harvest must not be soon +expected;” and finishes his letter by saying, “Let us +arise and build; let us begin; there is no fear of progress and +help.” “H.,” a clergyman, writes again +and says:—“Surely, when our charity is flowing in so +wide a channel, conveying the blessings of the Gospel to the most +distant quarters of the globe, we shall not hesitate to water +this one barren and neglected field in our own land. My +attention was drawn to the state of this miserable class of human +beings by the letter of ‘Fraternicus,’ and looking +upon it as a reproach to our country;” and ends his letter +<!-- page 158--><a name="page158"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +158</span>with a short prayer, as follows: “It is my +earnest prayer to God that this may not be one of these projects +which are only talked of and never begun; but that it may tend to +the glory of His name and to the bringing back of these poor lost +sheep to the fold of their Redeemer.” “J. +P.” writes to the same Journal, April 28, 1810, in which he +says:—“Circumstances lead to think that were +encouragement given to them the Gipsies would be inclined to live +in towns and villages like other people; and would in another +generation become civilised, and with the pains which are now +taken to educate the poor, and to diffuse the Scriptures and the +knowledge of Christ, would become a part of the regular +fold. It would require much patient continuance in well +doing in those who attempted it, and they must be prepared, +perhaps, to meet with some untowardness and much +disappointment.” “Fraternicus” sums up +the correspondence by suggesting a plan of taking the school to +the Gipsies instead of taking the Gipsies to the +schools:—“If the compulsory education of the Gipsies +had taken place a century ago, and their tents brought under some +sort of sanitary inspection, what a change by this time would +have taken place in their habits,” &c.; and he further +says:—“By degrees they might be brought to attend +divine worship; and if in the parish of a pious clergyman he +would probably embrace the opportunity of teaching them. +Much might be done by a pious schoolmaster and schoolmistress, by +whom the girls might be taught different kinds of work, knitting, +sewing, &c. Should these suggestions be deemed worthy +of your insertion, they might, perhaps, awaken the attention of +some benevolent persons, whose superior talents and experience in +the ways of beneficence would enable them to perfect and carry +into execution a plan for the effectual benefit of these unhappy +portioners of our kind.”</p> +<p>“Junius,” in the <i>Northampton Mercury</i>, under +date June 27th, 1814, writes:—“When we consider the +immense sums raised for every probable means of doing good which +have <!-- page 159--><a name="page159"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 159</span>hitherto been made public, we cannot +doubt if a proper method should be proposed for the relief and +ameliorating the state of these people it would meet with +deserved encouragement. Suppose that legislature should +think this not unworthy its notice, and as a part of the great +family they ought not to be overlooked.” Another +correspondent to the same Journal, “A Friend of +Religion,” writes under date July 21st, 1815, urging the +necessity of some means being adopted for their improvement, and +remarks as follows:—“Thousands of our +fellow-creatures would be raised from depravity and wretchedness +to a state of comfort; the private property of individuals be +much more secure, and the public materially benefited.”</p> +<p>Instead of putting into practice measures for their +improvement, and the State taking hold of them by the hand as +children belonging to us, and with us, and for whom our first +care ought to have been, we have said in anger—</p> + +<blockquote><p> “‘Heathen +dog!<br /> +Begone, begone! you shall have nothing here.’<br /> +The Indian turned; then facing Collingrew,<br /> +In accents low and musical, he said:<br /> +‘But I am very hungry; it is long<br /> +Since I have eaten. Only give me a crust,<br /> +A bone, to cheer me on my weary way.’<br /> +Then answered he, with fury and a frown:<br /> +‘Go! Get you gone! you red-skinned heathen hound!<br +/> +I’ve nothing for you. Get you gone, I +say!’”</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Harris</span>, +“Wayside Pictures.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>During the summer of 1814, Mr. John Hoyland, of Sheffield, set +to work in earnest to try to improve the condition of the +Gipsies, and for that purpose he visited, in conjuction with Mr. +Allen, solicitor at Higham Ferners, many parts of +Northamptonshire and neighbouring counties; and he also sent out +a circular to most of the sheriffs in England with a number of +questions upon it relating to their numbers, condition, &c., +and the following are a few of the answers sent in +reply:—1. All Gipsies suppose the <!-- page 160--><a +name="page160"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 160</span>first of +them came from Egypt. 2. They cannot form any idea of the +number in England. 5. The more common names are Smith, +Cooper, Draper, Taylor, Boswell, Lee, Lovell, Leversedge, Allen, +Mansfield, Glover, Williams, Carew, Martin, Stanley, Buckley, +Plunkett, and Corrie. 6 and 7. The gangs in different towns +have not any connection or organisation. 8. In the county +of Herts it is computed there may be sixty families, having many +children. Whether they are quite so numerous in +Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, and Northamptonshire the answers +are not sufficiently definite to determine. In +Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, and +Dorsetshire, greater numbers are calculated upon. 9. More +than half their numbers follow no business; others are dealers in +horses and asses, &c., &c. 10. Children are brought +up in the habits of their parents, particular to music and +dancing, and are of dissolute conduct. 11. The women mostly +carry baskets with trinkets and small wares, and tell +fortunes. 13. In most counties there are particular +situations to which they are partial. 15, 16, and 17. Do +not know of any person that can write the language, or of any +written specimen of it. 19. Those who profess any religion +represent it to be that of the country in which they reside; but +their description of it seldom goes beyond repeating the +Lord’s Prayer, and only a few of them are capable of +that. 20. They marry, for the most part, by pledging to +each other, without any ceremony. 21. They do not teach +their children religion. 22 and 23. Not <i>one in a +thousand can read</i>. Most of these answers were confirmed +by Riley Smith, who, during many years, was accounted the chief +of the Gipsies in Northamptonshire. Mr. John Forster and +Mr. William Carrington, respectable merchants of Biggleswade, and +who knew Riley Smith well, corroborated his statements. +After Hoyland had published his book no one stepped into the +breach, with flag in hand, to take up the cry; and for several +years—except the efforts of a clergyman here and +there—the interest in the cause of the <!-- page 161--><a +name="page161"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 161</span>Gipsies +dwindled down, and became gradually and miserably less, and the +consequence was the Gipsies have not improved an iota during the +three centuries they have been in our midst. As they were, +so they are, and likely to remain unless brought under State +control.</p> + +<blockquote><p> “On +the winds<br /> +A voice came murmuring, ‘We must work and wait’;<br +/> +And every echo in the far-off fen<br /> +Took up the utterance: ‘We must work and wait.’<br /> +Her spirit felt it, ‘We must work and +wait.’”</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span +class="smcap">Harris</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>No one heeded the warning. No one listened to the cries +of the poor Gipsy children as they glided into eternity. No +one put out their hands to save them as they kept disappearing +from the gaze of the bystanders, among whom were artificial +Christians, statesmen, and philanthropists. All was as +still as death, and the poor black wretches passed away.</p> +<p>Whether His Majesty George III. had ever read +Grellmann’s or Hoyland’s works on Gipsies has not +been shown. The following interesting account will show +that royal personages are not deaf to the cries of suffering +humanity, be it in a Gipsy’s wigwam, a cottage, or +palace. It is taken from a missionary magazine for June, +1823, and in all probability the circumstance took place not many +years prior to this date, and is as follows:—“A king +of England of happy memory, who loved his people and his God +better than kings in general are wont to do, occasionally took +the exercise of hunting. Being out one day for this +purpose, the chase lay through the shrubs of the forest. +The stag had been hard run; and, to escape the dogs, had crossed +the river in a deep part. As the dogs could not be brought +to follow, it became necessary, in order to come up with it, to +make a circuitous route along the banks of the river, through +some thick and troublesome underwood. The roughness of <!-- +page 162--><a name="page162"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +162</span>the ground, the long grass and frequent thickets, gave +opportunity for the sportsmen to separate from each other, each +one endeavouring to make the best and speediest route he +could. Before they had reached the end of the forest the +king’s horse manifested signs of fatigue and uneasiness, so +much so that his Majesty resolved upon yielding the pleasures of +the chase to those of compassion for his horse. With this +view he turned down the first avenue in the forest and determined +on riding gently to the oaks, there to wait for some of his +attendants. His Majesty had only proceeded a few yards +when, instead of the cry of the hounds, he fancied he heard the +cry of human distress. As he rode forward he heard it more +distinctly. ‘Oh, my mother! my mother! God pity +and bless my poor mother!’ The curiosity and kindness +of the king led him instantly to the spot. It was a little +green plot on one side of the forest, where was spread on the +grass, under a branching oak, a little pallet, half covered with +a kind of tent, and a basket or two, with some packs, lay on the +ground at a few paces distant from the tent. Near to the +root of the tree he observed a little swarthy girl, about eight +years of age, on her knees, praying, while her little black eyes +ran down with tears. Distress of any kind was always +relieved by his Majesty, for he had a heart which melted at +‘human woe’; nor was it unaffected on this +occasion. And now he inquired, ‘What, my child, is +the cause of your weeping? For what do you +pray?’ The little creature at first started, then +rose from her knees, and pointing to the tent, said, ‘Oh, +sir! my dying mother!’ ‘What?’ said his +Majesty, dismounting, and fastening his horse up to the branches +of the oak, ‘what, my child? tell me all about +it.’ The little creature now led the king to the +tent; there lay, partly covered, a middle-aged female Gipsy in +the last stages of a decline, and in the last moments of +life. She turned her dying eyes expressively to the royal +visitor, then looked up to heaven; but not a word did she utter; +the organs of <!-- page 163--><a name="page163"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 163</span>speech had ceased their office! +<i>the silver cord was loosed</i>, <i>and the wheel broken at the +cistern</i>. The little girl then wept aloud, and, stooping +down, wiped the dying sweat from her mother’s face. +The king, much affected, asked the child her name, and of her +family; and how long her mother had been ill. Just at that +moment another Gipsy girl, much older, came, out of breath, to +the spot. She had been at the town of W---, and had brought +some medicine for her dying mother. Observing a stranger, +she modestly curtsied, and, hastening to her mother, knelt down +by her side, kissed her pallid lips, and burst into tears. +‘What, my dear child,’ said his Majesty, ‘can +be done for you?’ ‘Oh, sir!’ she replied, +‘my dying mother wanted a religious person to teach her and +to pray with her before she died. I ran all the way before +it was light this morning to W---, and asked for a minister, +<i>but no one could I get to come with me to pray with my dear +mother</i>!’ The dying woman seemed sensible of what +her daughter was saying, and her countenance was much +agitated. The air was again rent with the cries of the +distressed daughters. The king, full of kindness, instantly +endeavoured to comfort them. He said, ‘I am a +minister, and God has sent me to instruct and comfort your +mother.’ He then sat down on a pack by the side of +the pallet, and, taking the hand of the dying Gipsy, discoursed +on the demerit of sin and the nature of redemption. He then +pointed her to Christ, the all-sufficient Saviour. While +the king was doing this the poor creature seemed to gather +consolation and hope; her eyes sparkled with brightness, and her +countenance became animated. She looked up; she smiled; but +it was the last smile; it was the glimmering of expiring +nature. As the expression of peace, however, remained +strong in her countenance, it was not till some little time had +elapsed that they perceived the struggling spirit had left +mortality.</p> +<p>“It was at this moment that some of his Majesty’s +attendants, who had missed him at the chase, and who had <!-- +page 164--><a name="page164"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +164</span>been riding through the forest in search of him, rode +up, and found the king comforting the afflicted Gipsies. It +was an affecting sight, and worthy of everlasting record in the +annals of kings.</p> +<p>“His Majesty now rose up, put some gold into the hands +of the afflicted girls, promised them his protection, and bade +them look to heaven. He then wiped the tears from his eyes +and mounted his horse. His attendants, greatly affected, +stood in silent admiration. Lord L--- was now going to +speak, when his Majesty, turning to the Gipsies, and pointing to +the breathless corpse, and to the weeping girls, said, with +strong emotion, ‘Who, my lord, who, thinkest thou, was +neighbour unto these?’”</p> +<blockquote><p>“Hark! Don’t you hear the +rumbling of its wheels?<br /> +Nearer it comes and nearer! Oh, what light!<br /> +The tent is full; ’tis glory everywhere!<br /> +Dear Jesus, I am coming! Then she fell—<br /> +As falls a meteor when the skies are clear.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>After this solemn but interesting event nothing further seems +to have been done by either Christian or philanthropist towards +wiping out this national disgrace, and the Gipsies were left to +follow the bent of their evil propensities for several years, +till Mr. Crabb’s reading of Hoyland and witnessing the +sentence of death passed upon a Gipsy at Winchester, in 1827, for +horse-stealing.</p> +<p>Mr. Crabb happened to enter just as the judge was passing +sentence of death on two unhappy men. To one he held out +the hope of mercy; but to the other, a poor Gipsy, who was +convicted of horse-stealing, he said, no hope could be +given. The young man, for he was but a youth, immediately +fell on his knees, and with uplifted hands and eyes, apparently +unconscious of any persons being present but the judge and +himself, addressed him as follows: “Oh, my Lord, save my +life!” The judge replied, “No; you can have no +mercy in this world: I and my brother judges <!-- page 165--><a +name="page165"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 165</span>have come +to the determination to execute horse-stealers, especially +Gipsies, because of the increase of the crime.” The +suppliant, still on his knees, entreated—“Do, my Lord +Judge, save my life! do, for God’s sake, for my +wife’s sake, for my baby’s sake!” +“No,” replied the judge, “I cannot; you should +have thought of your wife and children before.” He +then ordered him to be taken away, and the poor fellow was rudely +dragged from his earthly judge. It is hoped, as a penitent +sinner, he obtained the more needful mercy of God, through the +abounding grace of Christ. After this scene Mr. Crabb could +not remain in court. As he returned he found the mournful +intelligence had been communicated to some Gipsies who had been +waiting without, anxious to learn the fate of their +companion. They seemed distracted.</p> +<p>On the outside of the court, seated on the ground, appeared an +old woman and a very young one, and with them two children, the +eldest three years and the other an infant but fourteen days +old. The former sat by its mother’s side, alike +unconscious of her bitter agonies and of her father’s +despair. The old woman held the infant tenderly in her +arms, and endeavoured to comfort its weeping mother, soon to be a +widow under circumstances the most melancholy. “My +dear, don’t cry,” said she; “remember you have +this dear little baby.” Impelled by the sympathies of +pity and a sense of duty, Mr. Crabb spoke to them on the evil of +sin, and expressed his hope that the melancholy event would prove +a warning to them, and to all their people. The poor man +was executed about a fortnight after his condemnation.</p> +<p>Mr. Crabb being full of fire and zeal, set to work in right +good earnest, and succeeded in forming a committee at Southampton +to bring about a reformation among the Gipsies. He also +enlisted the sympathy of other earnest Christians in the work, +and for a time, while the sun shone, received encouraging signs +of success, in fact, according to his little work published in +1831, his labours were attended with blessed results among the +adult portion of the Gipsies. <!-- page 166--><a +name="page166"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 166</span>Owing to +the wandering habits of the Gipsies, discouragements, and his own +death, the work, so far as any organisation was concerned, came +to an end. No Elisha came forward to catch his mantle, the +consequence was the Gipsies were left again to work out their own +destruction according to their own inclinations and tastes, as +they deemed best, plainly showing that voluntary efforts are very +little better than a shadow, vanishing smoke, and spent steam, to +illuminate, elevate, warm, cheer, and encourage the wandering, +dark-eyed vagabonds roving about in our midst into paths of +usefulness, honesty, and sobriety.</p> +<p>Thus far in this part I have feebly endeavoured to show that +rigid, stern, inflexible law and justice on the one hand, and +meek, quiet, mild, human love and mercy on the other hand, have +separately failed in the object the promoters had in view. +Justice tried to exterminate the Gipsy; mercy tried to win them +over. Of the two processes I would much prefer that of +mercy. It is more pleasant to human nature to be under its +influence, and more in the character of an Englishman to deal out +mercy. The next efforts put forth to reform these renegades +was by means of fiction, romance, and poetry. Some writers, +in their praiseworthy endeavours to make up a medicine to improve +the condition of the Gipsies, have neutralised its effects by +adding too much honey and spice to it. Others, who have +mistaken the emaciated condition of the Gipsy, have been dosing +him with cordials entirely, to such a degree, that +he—Romany <i>chal</i>—imagines he is right in +everything he says and does, and he ought to have perfect liberty +to go anywhere or do anything. Some have attempted to paint +him white, and in doing so have worked up the blackness from +underneath, and presented to us a character which excites a +feeling in our notions—a kind of go-between, akin to +sympathy and disgust. Not a few have thrown round the Gipsy +an enchanting, bewitching halo, which an inspection has proved +nothing less than a delusion and a snare. Others have tried +to improve this <!-- page 167--><a name="page167"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 167</span>field of thistles and sour docks by +throwing a handful of daisy seeds among them. It requires +something more than a phantom life-boat to rescue the Gipsy and +bring him to land. Scents and perfumes in a death-bed +chamber only last for a short time. A bottle of rose-water +thrown into a room where decomposition is at work upon a body +will not restore life. Scattering flowers upon a cesspool +of iniquity will not purify it. A fictitious rope composed +of beautiful ideas is not the thing to save drowning Gipsy +children. To put artificially-coloured feathers upon the +head of a Gipsy child dressed in rags and shreds, with his body +literally teeming with vermin and filth, will not make him +presentable at court or a fit subject for a drawing-room. +To dress the Satanic, demon-looking face of a Gipsy with the +violet-powder of imagery only temporally hides from view the +repulsive aspect of his features. The first storm of +persecution brings him out again in his true colour. The +forked light of imagination thrown across the heavens on a dark +night is not the best to reveal the character of a Gipsy and set +him upon the highways for usefulness and heaven. The +dramatist has strutted the Gipsy across the stage in various +characters in his endeavour to improve his condition. After +the fine colours have been doffed, music finished, applause +ceased, curtain dropped, and scene ended, he has been a black, +swarthy, idle, thieving, lying, blackguard of a Gipsy +still. Applause, fine colours, and dazzling lights have not +altered his nature. Bad he is, and bad he will remain, +unless we follow out the advice of the good old book, +“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is +old he will not depart from it.”</p> +<p>Would to God the voice of the little Gipsy girl would begin to +ring in our ears, when she spoke with finger pointed and tears in +her eyes:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“There is a cabin half-way down the +cliff,<br /> +You see it from this arch-stone; there we live,<br /> +<!-- page 168--><a name="page168"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +168</span>And there you’ll find my mother. Poverty<br +/> +Weeps on the woven rushes, and long grass<br /> +Rent from the hollows is our only bed.<br /> +I have no father here; he ran away;<br /> +Perhaps he’s dead, perhaps he’s living yet,<br /> +And may come back again and kiss his child;<br /> +For every day, and morn, and even star,<br /> +I pray for him with face upturned to heaven,<br /> +‘O blessed Saviour, send my father home!’”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The word “Gipsy” seems to have a magic thread +running through it, beginning at the tip end of “G” +and ending with the tail end of “y.” Geese have +tried to gobble it, ducks swallow it, hens scratched after it, +peacocks pecked it, dandy cocks crowed over it, foxes have hid +it, dogs have fought for it, cats have sworn and spit over it, +pigs have tried to gulp it as the daintiest morsel, parrots have +chatted about it, hawks, eagles, jackdaws, magpies, ravens, and +crows have tried to carry it away as a precious jewel, and in the +end all have put it down as a thing they could neither carry nor +swallow; and after all, when it has been stripped of its dowdy +colours, what has it been? Only a “scamp,” in +many cases, reared and fostered among thieves, pickpockets, and +blackguards, in our back slums and sink gutters. Strip the +20,000 men, women, and children of the word “Gipsy,” +moving about our country under the artificial and unreal +association connected with Gipsy life, so-called, of the +“red cloaks,” “silver buttons,” +“pretty little feet,” “small hands,” +“bewitching eyes,” “long black hair,” in +nine cases out of ten in name only, and you, at a glance, see the +class of people you have been neglecting, consequently sending to +ruin and misery through fear on the one hand and lavishing smiles +on the other.</p> +<p>In all ages there have been people silly enough to be led away +by sights, sounds, colours, and unrealities, to follow a course +of life for which they are not suited, either by education, +position, or tastes. No one acts the part of a butterfly +among school-boys better than the black-eyed Gipsy girl has <!-- +page 169--><a name="page169"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +169</span>done among “fast-goers,” swells, and +fops. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred she has trotted +them out to perfection and then left them in the lurch, and +those, when they have come to their senses, and had their eyes +opened to the stern facts of a Gipsy’s life, have said to +themselves, “What fools we have been, to be sure,” +and they would have given any amount to have undone the +past. The praise, flattery, and looks bestowed upon the +“bewitching deceivers,” when they have been labouring +under the sense of infatuation and fascination instead of reason, +has made them in the presence of friends hang down their heads +like a willow, and to escape, if possible, the company of their +“old chums” by all sorts of manœuvres. +Hubert Petalengro—a gentleman, and a rich member of a long +family—conceived the idea, after falling madly in love with +a dark-eyed beauty, so-called, of turning Gipsy and tasting for +himself—not in fiction and romance—the charms of tent +life, as he thought, in reality passing through the +“first,” “second,” and “third +degrees.” At first, it was ideal and fascinating +enough in all conscience; it was a pity Brother Petalengro did +not have a foretaste of it by spending a month in a Gipsy’s +tent in the depth of winter, with no balance at his +banker’s, and compelled to wear Gipsy clothing, and make +pegs and skewers for his Sunday broth; gather sticks for the +fire, and sleep on damp straw in the midst of slush and snow, and +peeping through the ragged tent roof at the moon as he lay on his +back, surrounded by Gipsies of both sexes, of all ages and sizes, +cursing each other under the maddening influence of brandy and +disappointment. To make himself and his damsel comfortable +on a Gipsy tour he fills his pocket with gold, flask with brandy, +buys a quantity of rugs upon which are a number of foxes’ +heads—and I suppose tails too—waterproof covering for +the tent, and waterproof sheets and a number of blankets to lay +on the damp grass to prevent their tender bodies being overtaken +with rheumatics, and he also lays in a stock of potted meats and +other dainties; makes <!-- page 170--><a name="page170"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 170</span>all “square” with +Esmeralda and her two brothers and the donkeys; takes first and +second-class tickets for the whole of them to Hull—the +Balaams excepted (it is not on record that they spoke to him on +his journey); provides Esmeralda with dresses and +petticoats—not too long to hide her pretty ankles, red +stockings, and her lovely little foot—gold and diamond +rings, violin, tambourine, the guitar, Wellington boots, and +starts upon his trip to Norway in the midst of summer +beauty. Many times he must have said to himself, “Oh! +how delightful.” “As we journeyed onward, how +fragrant the wild flowers—those wild flowers can never be +forgotten. Gipsies like flowers, it is part of their +nature. Esmeralda would pluck them, and forming a charming +bouquet, interspersed with beautiful wild roses, her first +thoughts are to pin them in the button-hole of the Romany Rye +(Gipsy gentleman). As we journeyed quietly through the +forest, how delightful its scenes. Free from all care, we +enjoy the anticipation of a long and pleasant ramble in +Norway’s happy land. We felt contented with all +things, and thankful that we should be so permitted to roam with +our tents and wild children of nature in keeping the solitudes we +sought. The rain had soon ceased, tinkle, tinkle went the +hawk-bells on the collar of our Bura Rawnee as she led the way +along the romantic Norwegian road.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p170b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"A Respectable Gipsy and his Family “on the Road”" +title= +"A Respectable Gipsy and his Family “on the Road”" +src="images/p170s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<blockquote><p>“‘Give the snakes and toads a +twist,<br /> +And banish them for ever,’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>sang Zachariah, ever and anon giving similar wild +snatches. Then Esmeralda would rocker about being the wife +of the Romany Rye (Gipsy gentleman) and as she proudly paced +along in her heavy boots, she pictured in imagery the pleasant +life she should lead as her Romany Rye’s joovel, monshi, or +somi. She was full of fun, yet there was nothing in her +fanciful delineations which could offend us. They were but +the foam of a crested wave, soon dissipated in the air. +They were the evanescent creations of a lively, open-hearted +girl—<!-- page 171--><a name="page171"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 171</span>wild notes trilled by the bird of +the forest. We came again into the open valley. Down +a meadow gushed a small streamlet which splashed from a wooden +spout on to the roadside.” “The spot where we +pitched our tents was near a sort of small natural terrace, at +the summit of a steep slope above the road, backed by a mossy +bank, shaded by brushwood and skirting the dense foliage of the +dark forest of pine and fir, above our camp.” +“We gave two of the peasants some brandy and +tobacco.” “Then all our visitors left, except +four interesting young peasant girls, who still +lingered.” “They had all pleasant +voices.” “We listened to them with much +pleasure; there was so much sweetness and feeling in their +melody. Zachariah made up for his brother’s +timidity. Full of fun, what dreadful faces the young Gipsy +would pull, they were absolutely frightful; then he would twist +and turn his body into all sorts of serpentine contortions. +If spoken to he would suddenly, with a hop, skip, and a jump +alight in his tent as if he had tumbled from the sky, and, +sitting bolt upright, make a hideous face till his mouth nearly +stretched from ear to ear, while his dark eyes sparkled with wild +excitement, he would sing—</p> +<blockquote><p>“‘Dawdy! Dawdy! dit a kei<br /> +Rockerony, fake your bosh!’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>“At one time a woman brought an exceedingly fat child +for us to look at, and she wanted Esmeralda to suckle it, which +was, of course, hastily declined. We began to ask ourselves +if this was forest seclusion. Still our visitors were kind, +good-humoured people, and some drank our brandy, and some smoked +our English tobacco. After our tea, at five o’clock, +we had a pleasant stroll. Once more we were with +Nature. There we lingered till the scenes round us, in +their vivid beauty, seemed graven deep in our thought. How +graphic are the lines of Moore:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“‘The turf shall be my fragrant +shrine,<br /> +My temple, Lord, that arch of Thine,<br /> +My censor’s breath the mountain airs,<br /> +And silent thoughts my only prayers.</p> +<p><!-- page 172--><a name="page172"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +172</span>“‘My choir shall be the moonlight waves,<br +/> +When murm’ring homeward to their caves,<br /> +Or when the stillness of the sea<br /> +Even more of music breathes of Thee!’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>How appropriate were the words of the great poet to our +feelings. We went and sat down.” “As we +were seated by our camp fire, a tall, old man, looking round our +tents, came and stood contemplating us at our tea. He +looked as if he thought we were enjoying a life of +happiness. Nor was he wrong. He viewed us with a +pleased and kindly expression, as he seemed half lost in +contemplation. We sent for the flask of brandy. +Returning to our tents we put on our Napoleon boots and made some +additions to our toilette.” Of course, kind Mr. +Petalengro would assist lovely Esmeralda with hers. +“Whilst we were engaged some women came to our tents. +The curiosity of the sex was exemplified, for they were dying to +look behind the tent partition which screened us from +observation. We did not know what they expected to see; +one, bolder than the rest, could not resist the desire to look +behind the scenes, and hastily drew back and dropped the curtain, +when we said rather sharply, ‘Nei! nei!’ +Esmeralda shortly afterwards appeared in her blue dress and +silver buttons. Then we all seated ourselves on a mossy +bank, on the side of the terrace, with a charming view across the +valley of the Logan. At eight o’clock the music +commenced. The sun shone beautifully, and the mosquitoes +and midges bit right and left with hungry determination. We +sat in a line on the soft mossy turf of the grassy slope, +sheltered by foliage. Esmeralda and Noah with their +tambourines, myself with the castanets, and Zachariah with his +violin. Some peasant women and girls came up after we had +played a short time. It was a curious scene. Our +tents were pleasantly situated on an open patch of green sward, +surrounded by border thickets, near the sunny bank and the small +flat terrace. The rising hills and rugged ravines on the +other side of the valley all gave a singular and <!-- page +173--><a name="page173"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +173</span>romantic beauty to the lovely view. Although our +Gipsies played with much spirit until nine o’clock, none of +the peasants would dance. At nine o’clock our music +ceased, and we all retired to our tents with the intention of +going to bed. When we were going into our tents, a peasant +and several others with him, who had just arrived, asked us to +play again. At length, observing several peasant girls were +much disappointed, we decided to play once more. It was +past nine o’clock when we again took up our position on the +mossy bank; so we danced, and the peasant girls, until nearly ten +o’clock. Once we nearly whirled ourself and Esmeralda +over the slope into the road below. Esmeralda’s dark +eyes flashed fire and sparkled with merriment and +witchery.”</p> +<p>“The bacon and fish at dinner were excellent; we hardly +knew which was best. A peasant boy brought us a bundle of +sticks for our fire. The sun became exceedingly hot. +Esmeralda and myself went and sat in some shade near our +tents.” “Noah stood in the shade blacking his +boots, and observed to Esmeralda, ‘I shall not help my wife +as Mr. Petalengro does you.’ ‘Well,’ said +Esmeralda, ‘what is a wife for?’ +‘For!’ retorted Noah, sharply, giving his boot an +extra brush, ‘why, to wait upon her husband.’ +‘And what,’ said Esmeralda, ‘is a husband +for?’ ‘What’s a husband for!’ +exclaimed Noah, with a look of profound pity for his +sister’s ignorance, ‘why, to eat and drink, and look +on.’” Mr. Petalengro goes on to say: “It +would seem to us that the more rude energy a man has in his +composition the more a woman will be made to take her position as +helpmate. It is always a mark of great civilisation and the +effeminacy of a people when women obtain the undue mastery of +men.” And he farther goes on to say: “We were +just having a romp with Esmeralda and her two brothers as we were +packing up our things, and a merry laugh, when some men appeared +at the fence near our camping-ground. We little +think,” says Mr. Petalengro, “how much we can do in +this world to lighten a lonely wayfarer’s heart.”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p174b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"A Bachelor Gipsy’s Bedroom" +title= +"A Bachelor Gipsy’s Bedroom" +src="images/p174s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p><!-- page 174--><a name="page174"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +174</span>Esmeralda and Mr. Petalengro tell each other their +fortunes. “Esmeralda and myself were sitting in our +tents. Then the thought occurred to her that we should tell +her fortune. ‘Your fortune must be a good one,’ +said we, laughing; ‘let me see your hand and your lines of +life.’ We shall never forget Esmeralda. She +looked so earnestly as we regarded attentively the line of her +open hand.” (Mr. Petalengro does not say that tears +were to be seen trickling down those lovely cheeks of Esmeralda +while this fortune-telling, nonsensical farce was being played +out.) “Then we took her step by step through some +scenes of her supposed future. We did not tell all. +The rest was reserved for another day. There was a serious +look on her countenance as we ended; but, reader, such secrets +should not be revealed. Esmeralda commenced to tell our +fortunes. We were interested to know what she would +say. We cast ourselves on the waves of fate. The +Gipsy raised her dark eyes from our hand as she looked earnestly +in the face. You are a young gentleman of good +connections. Many lands you have seen. But, young +man, something tells me you are of a wavering +disposition.’” And then charming Esmeralda +would strike up “The Little Gipsy”—</p> +<blockquote><p>“My father’s the King of the Gipsies, +that’s true,<br /> +My mother she learned me some camping to do;<br /> +With a packel on my back, and they all wish me well,<br /> +I started up to London some fortunes for to tell.</p> +<p>“As I was a walking up fair London streets,<br /> +Two handsome young squires I chanced for to meet,<br /> +They viewed my brown cheeks, and they liked them so well,<br /> +They said ‘My little Gipsy girl, can you my fortune +tell?’</p> +<p>“‘Oh yes! kind Sir, give me hold of your hand,<br +/> +For you have got honours, both riches and land;<br /> +Of all the pretty maidens you must lay aside,<br /> +For it is the little Gipsy girl that is to be your +bride.’</p> +<p><!-- page 175--><a name="page175"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +175</span>“He led me o’er the Mils, through valleys +deep I’m sure,<br /> +Where I’d servants for to wait on me, and open me the +door;<br /> +A rich bed of down to lay my head upon—<br /> +In less than nine months after I could his fortune tell.</p> +<p>“Once I was a Gipsy girl, but now a squire’s +bride,<br /> +I’ve servants for to wait on me, and in my carriage +ride.<br /> +The bells shall ring so merrily, sweet music they shall play,<br +/> +And will crown the glad tidings of that lucky, lucky +day.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The drawback to this evening’s whirligig farce was that +the mosquitoes determined to come in for a share. These +little, nipping, biting creatures preferred settling upon young +blood, full of life and activity, existing under artificial +circumstances, to the carcase of a dead horse lying in the +knacker’s yard. To prevent these little stingers +drawing the sap of life from the sweet bodies of these pretty, +innocent, lovable creatures, the Gipsies acted a very cruel part +in dressing their faces over with a brown liquid, called the +“tincture of cedar.” It is not stated whether +the “tincture of cedar “was made in Shropshire or +Lebanon, nor whether it was extracted from roses, or a decoction +of thistles. Alas, alas! how fickle human life is! +How often we say and do things in jest and fun which turn out to +be stern realities in another form.</p> +<p>“As we looked upon the church and parsonage, surrounded +as they were by the modern park, with the broad silver lake near, +the rising mountains on all sides, and the clear blue sky above, +our senses seemed entranced with the passing beauty of the +scene. It was one of those glimpses of perfect nature which +casts the anchor deep in memory, and leaves a lasting impression +of bygone days.” And then Esmeralda danced as she +sang the words of her song; the words not in English are her own, +for I cannot find them even in the slang Romany, and what she +meant by her bosh is only known to herself.</p> +<blockquote><p>“Shula gang shaugh gig a magala,<br /> +I’ll set me down on yonder hill;<br /> +And there I’ll cry my fill,<br /> +And every tear shall turn a mill.<br /> +Shula gang shaugh gig a magala<br /> +To my Uskadina slawn slawn.</p> +<p><!-- page 176--><a name="page176"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +176</span>“Shula gang shaugh gig a magala,<br /> +I’ll buy me a petticoat and dye it red,<br /> +And round this world I’ll beg my bread;<br /> +The lad I love is far away.<br /> +Shula gang shaugh gig a magala<br /> +To my Uskadina slawn slawn.</p> +<p>“Shul shul gang along with me,<br /> +Gang along me, I’ll gang along with you,<br /> +I’ll buy you a petticoat and dye it in the blue,<br /> +Sweet William shall kiss you in the rue.<br /> +Shula gang shaugh gig a magala<br /> +To my Uskadina slawn slawn.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>“We were supremely happy,” says Mr. Petalengro, +“in our wandering existence. We contrasted in our +semi-consciousness of mind our absence from a thousand anxious +cares which crowd upon the social position of those who take part +in an overwrought state of extreme civilisation. How long +we should have continued our half-dormant reflections which might +have added a few more notes upon the philosophy of life, we knew +not, but we were roused by the rumble of a stolk-jaerre along the +road.”</p> +<p>“For the dance no music can be better than that of a +Gipsy band; there is life and animation in it which carries you +away. If you have danced to it yourself, especially in a +<i>czardas,</i> <a name="citation176"></a><a href="#footnote176" +class="citation">[176]</a> then to hear the stirring tones +without involuntarily springing up is, I assert, an absolute +impossibility.” Poor, deluded mortals, I am afraid +they will find—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Nothing but leaves!<br /> +Sad memory weaves<br /> + No veil to hide the past;<br /> +And as we trace our weary way,<br /> +Counting each lost and misspent day,<br /> + Sadly we find at last,<br /> +Nothing but leaves!”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><!-- page 177--><a name="page177"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +177</span>The converse of all this artificial and misleading +Gipsy life is to be seen in hard fate and fact at our own +doors—“Look on this picture and then on +that.”</p> +<blockquote><p>“There is a land, a sunny land,<br /> + Whose skies are ever bright;<br /> +Where evening shadows never fall:<br /> + The Saviour is its light.”</p> +<p>“There’s a land that is fairer than day,<br /> + And by faith we can see it afar;<br /> +For the Father waits over the way<br /> + To prepare us a dwelling-place there<br /> + + +In the sweet by-and-bye.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>George Borrow, during his labours among the Gipsies of Spain +forty years ago, did not find much occasion for rollicking fun, +merriment, and boisterous laughter; his path was not one of +roses, over mossy banks, among the honeysuckles and daisies, by +the side of running rivulets warbling over the smooth pebbles; +sitting among the primroses, listening to the enchanting voices +of the thousand forest and valley songsters; gazing at the +various and beautiful kinds of foliage on the hill-sides as the +thrilling strains of music pealed forth from the sweet voice of +Esmeralda and her tambourine. No, no, no! George +Borrow had to face the hard lot of all those who start on the +path of usefulness, honour, and heaven. Hard fare, +disappointment, opposition, few friends, life in danger, his path +was rough and covered with stones; his flowers were thistles, his +songs attended with tears, and sorrow filled his heart. But +note his object, and mark his end. In speaking of some of +the difficulties in his travels, he says:—“My time +lay heavily on my hands, my only source of amusement consisting +in the conversation of the woman telling of the wonderful tales +of the land of the Moors—prison escapes, thievish feats, +and one or two poisoning adventures in which she had been +engaged. There was something very wild in her +gestures. She goggled frightfully with her +eyes.” And then <!-- page 178--><a +name="page178"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 178</span>speaking of +the old Gipsy woman whom he went to see:—“Here, +thrusting her hand into her pocket, she discharged a handful of +some kind of dust or snuff into the fellow’s face. He +stamped and roared, but was for some time held fast by the two +Gipsy men; he extricated himself, however, and attempted to +unsheath a knife which he wore in his girdle; but the two young +Gipsies flung themselves upon him like furies.”</p> +<p>Borrow says, after travelling a long distance by night, and +setting out again the next morning to travel thirteen +leagues:—“Throughout the day a drizzling rain was +falling, which turned the dust of the roads into mud and +mire. Towards evening we reached a moor—a wild place +enough, strewn with enormous stones and rocks. The wind had +ceased, but a strong wind rose and howled at our backs. The +sun went down, and dark night presently came over us. We +proceeded for nearly three hours, until we heard the barking of +dogs, and perceived a light or two in the distance. +‘That is Trujillo,’ said Antonio, who had not spoken +for a long time. ‘I am glad of it,’ I replied; +‘I am so thoroughly tired, I shall sleep soundly in +Trujillo.’ That is as it may be. We soon +entered the town, which appeared dark and gloomy enough. I +followed close behind the Gipsy, who led the way, I knew not +whither, through dismal streets and dark places where cats were +squalling. ‘Here is the house,’ said he at +last, dismounting before a low, mean hut. He knocked, but +no answer. He knocked again, but no answer. +‘There can be no difficulty,’ said I, ‘with +respect to what we have to do. If your friends are gone +out, it is easy enough to go to a posada.’ ‘You +know not what you say,’ replied the Gipsy. ‘I +dare not go to the mesuna, nor enter any house in Trujillo save +this, and this is shut. Well, there is no remedy; we must +move on; and, between ourselves, the sooner we leave the place +the better. My own brother was garroted at +Trujillo.’ He lighted a cigar by means of a steel and +yesca, sprung on his <!-- page 179--><a name="page179"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 179</span>mule, and proceeded through streets +and lanes equally dismal as those through which we had already +travelled.” Mr. Borrow goes on to say:—“I +confess I did not much like this decision of the Gipsy; I felt +very slight inclination to leave the town behind, and to venture +into unknown places in the dark of the night, amidst rain and +mist—for the wind had now dropped, and the rain again began +to fall briskly. I was, moreover, much fatigued, and wished +for nothing better than to deposit myself in some comfortable +manger, where I might sink to sleep lulled by the pleasant sound +of horses and mules despatching their provender. I had, +however, put myself under the direction of the Gipsy, and I was +too old a traveller to quarrel with my guide under present +circumstances. I therefore followed close to his crupper, +our only light being the glow emitted from the Gipsy’s +cigar. At last he flung it from his mouth into a puddle, +and we were then in darkness. We proceeded in this manner +for a long time. The Gipsy was silent. I myself was +equally so. The rain descended more and more. I +sometimes thought I heard doleful noises, something like the +hooting of owls. ‘This is a strange night to be +wandering abroad in,’ I at length said to Antonio, the +Gipsy. (The Gipsy word for Antonio is +‘Devil.’) ‘It is, brother,’ said +the Gipsy; ‘but I would sooner be abroad in such a night, +and in such places, than in the estaripel of Trujillo.’</p> +<p>“We wandered at least a league further, and now appeared +to be near a wood, for I could occasionally distinguish the +trunks of immense trees. Suddenly Antonio stopped his +mule. ‘Look, brother,’ said he, ‘to the +left, and tell me if you do not see a light; your eyes are +sharper than mine.’ I did as he commanded me. +At first I could see nothing, but, moving a little further on, I +plainly saw a large light at some distance, seemingly amongst the +trees. ‘Yonder cannot be a lamp or candle,’ +said I; ‘it is more like the blaze of a fire.’ +‘Very likely,’ said Antonio. ‘There are +no queres (<i>houses</i>) in this place; it is doubtless a fire +made by <!-- page 180--><a name="page180"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 180</span>durotunes (<i>shepherds</i>); let us +go and join them, for, as you say, it is doleful work wandering +about at night amidst rain and mire.’</p> +<p>“We dismounted and entered what I now saw was a forest, +leading the animals cautiously amongst the trees and +brushwood. In about five minutes we reached a small open +space, at the farther side of which, at the foot of a large +cork-tree, a fire was burning, and by it stood or sat two or +three figures. They had heard our approach, and one of them +now exclaimed, ‘Quien Vive?’ ‘I know that +voice,’ said Antonio, and, leaving the horse with me, +rapidly advanced towards the fire. Presently I heard an +‘Ola!’ and a laugh, and soon the voice of Antonio +summoned me to advance. On reaching the fire, I found two +dark lads, and a still darker woman of about forty, the latter +seated on what appeared to be horse or mule furniture. I +likewise saw a horse and two donkeys tethered to the neighbouring +trees. It was, in fact, a Gipsy bivouac . . . ‘Come +forward, brother, and show yourself,’ said Antonio to me; +‘you are amongst friends; these are of the Errate, the very +people whom I expected to find at Trujillo, and in whose house we +should have slept.’</p> +<p>“‘And what,’ said I, ‘could have +induced them to leave their house in Trujillo and come into this +dark forest, in the midst of wind and rain, to pass the +night?’</p> +<p>“‘They come on business of Egypt, brother, +doubtless,’ replied Antonio, ‘and that business is +none of ours. Calla boca! It is lucky we have found +them here, else we should have had no supper, and our horses no +corn.’</p> +<p>“‘My ro is prisoner at the village yonder,’ +said the woman, pointing with her hand in a particular direction; +‘he is prisoner yonder for choring a mailla (<i>stealing a +donkey</i>); we are come to see what we can do in his behalf; and +where can we lodge better than in this forest, where there is +nothing to pay? It is not the first time, I trow, that +Caloré have slept at the root of a tree.’</p> +<p><!-- page 181--><a name="page181"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +181</span>“One of the striplings now gave us barley for our +animals in a large bag, into which we successively introduced +their heads, allowing the famished creatures to regale themselves +till we conceived that they had satisfied their hunger. +There was a puchero simmering at the fire, half-fall of bacon, +garbanzos, and other provisions; this was emptied into a large +wooden platter, and out of this Antonio and myself supped; the +other Gipsies refused to join us, giving us to understand that +they had eaten before our arrival; they all, however, did justice +to the leathern bottle of Antonio, which, before his departure +from Merida, he had the precaution to fill.</p> +<p>“I was by this time completely overcome with fatigue and +sleep. Antonio flung me an immense horse-cloth, of which he +bore more than one beneath the huge cushion on which he +rode. In this I wrapped myself, and placing my head upon a +bundle, and my feet as near as possible to the fire, I lay +down.”</p> +<p>How delightful and soul-inspiring it would have been to the +weary pilgrim, jaded in the cause of the poor Gipsies, if +Antonio’s heart had been full of religious zeal and +fervour, and Hubert Petalengro and Esmeralda, their souls filled +to overflowing with the love of God, had been by the side of the +camp-fire, and the trio had struck up with their sweet voices, as +the good man was drawing his weary legs and cold feet together +before the embers of the dying Gipsy fire—</p> +<blockquote><p> “Guide me, O thou great +Jehovah,<br /> + Pilgrim through this barren +land;<br /> + I am weak, but Thou art mighty,<br /> + Hold me with Thy powerful hand.<br +/> +Bread of heaven, feed me till I want no more.</p> +<p> “Open now the crystal fountain<br /> + Whence the healing waters flow;<br +/> + Let the fiery, cloudy pillars,<br /> + Lead me all my journey through.<br +/> +Strong Deliverer, be Thou still my strength and +shield.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><!-- page 182--><a name="page182"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +182</span>“Antonio and the other Gipsies remained seated by +the fire conversing. I listened for a moment to what they +said, but I did not perfectly understand it, and what I did +understand by no means interested me. The rain still +drizzled, but I heeded it not, and was soon asleep.</p> +<p>“The sun was just appearing as I awoke. I made +several efforts before I could rise from the ground; my limbs +were quite stiff, and my hair was covered with rime, for the rain +had ceased, and a rather severe frost set in. I looked +around me, but could see neither Antonio nor the Gipsies; the +animals of the latter had likewise disappeared, so had the horse +which I had hitherto rode; the mule, however, of Antonio still +remained fastened to the tree. The latter circumstance +quieted some apprehensions which were beginning to arise in my +mind. ‘They are gone on some business of +Egypt,’ I said to myself, ‘and will return +anon.’ I gathered together the embers of the fire, +and heaping upon them sticks and branches, soon succeeded in +calling forth a blaze, beside which I again placed the puchero, +with what remained of the provision of last night. I waited +for a considerable time in expectation of the return of my +companions, but as they did not appear, I sat down and +breakfasted. Before I had well finished I heard the noise +of a horse approaching rapidly, and presently Antonio made his +appearance amongst the trees, with some agitation in his +countenance. He sprang from the horse, and instantly +proceeded to untie the mule. ‘Mount, brother, +mount!’ said he, pointing to the horse; ‘I went with +the Callee and her chabés to the village where the ro is +in trouble; the chino-baro, however, seized them at once with +their cattle, and would have laid hands also on me; but I set +spurs to the grasti, gave him the bridle, and was soon far +away. Mount, brother, mount, or we shall have the whole +rustic <i>canaille</i> upon us in a twinkling—it is such a +bad place.’”</p> +<p>I almost imagine Borrow would have said, under the <!-- page +183--><a name="page183"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +183</span>circumstances, as he was putting his foot into the +stirrup to mount his horse to fly for his life into the wild +regions of an unknown country:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Jesus, lover of my soul,<br /> + Let me to Thy bosom fly;<br /> +While the nearer waters roll,<br /> + While the tempest still is high.<br /> +Hide me, O my Saviour, hide,<br /> + Till the storm of life is past,<br /> +Safe into the haven guide,<br /> + Oh, receive my soul at last.</p> +<p>“Other refuge have I none,<br /> + Hangs my helpless soul on Thee,<br /> +Leave, O leave me not alone,<br /> + Still support and comfort me.<br /> +All my trust on Thee is stayed,<br /> + All my help from Thee I bring,<br /> +Cover my defenceless head,<br /> + With the shadow of Thy wing.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Sir Walter Scott, in “Guy Mannering,” speaking of +the dark deeds of the Gipsies, says:—“The idea of +being dragged out of his miserable concealment by wretches whose +trade was that of midnight murder, without weapons or the +slightest means of defence, except entreaties which would be only +their sport, and cries for help which could never reach other ear +than their own—his safety intrusted to the precarious +compassion of a being associated with these felons, and whose +trade of rapine and imposture must have hardened her against +every human feeling—the bitterness of his emotions almost +choked him. He endeavoured to read in her withered and dark +countenance, as the lamp threw its light upon her features, +something that promised those feelings of compassion which +females, even in their most degraded state, can seldom altogether +smother. There was no such touch of humanity about this +woman.”</p> +<p>“‘Never fear,’ said the old Gipsy man, +‘Meg’s true-bred; she’s the last in the gang +that will start; but she has some <!-- page 184--><a +name="page184"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 184</span>queer ways, +and often cuts queer words.’ With more of this +gibberish, they continued the conversation, rendering it thus, +even to each other, a dark, obscure dialect, eked out by +significant nods and signs, but never expressing distinctly or in +plain language the subject on which it turned.”</p> +<p>G. P. Whyte-Melville speaks of the Russian Gipsies in the +language of fiction in his “Interpreter” as +follows:—“The morning sun smiles upon a motley troop +journeying towards the Danube. Two or three lithe, supple +urchins, bounding and dancing along with half-naked bodies, and +bright black eyes shining through knotted elf-locks, form the +advanced guard. Half-a-dozen donkeys seem to carry the +whole property of the tribe. The main body consists of +sinewy, active-looking men, and strikingly handsome girls, all +walking with the free, graceful air and elastic gait peculiar to +those whose lives are passed entirely in active exercise, under +no roof but that of heaven. Dark-browed women in the very +meridian of beauty bring up the rear, dragging or carrying a race +of swarthy progeny, all alike distinguished for the sparkling +eyes and raven hair, which, with a cunning nothing can overreach, +and a nature nothing can tame, seem to be the peculiar +inheritance of the Gipsy. Their costume is striking, not to +say grotesque. Some of the girls, and all the matrons, bind +their brows with various coloured handkerchiefs, which form a +very picturesque and not unbecoming head-gear; whilst in a few +instances coins even of gold are strung amongst the jetty locks +of the Zingyni beauties. The men are not so particular in +their attire. One sinewy fellow wears only a goatskin shirt +and a string of beads round his neck, but the generality are clad +in the coarse cloth of the country, much tattered, and bearing +evident symptoms of weather and wear. The little +mischievous urchins who are clinging round their mothers’ +necks, or dragging back from their mothers’ hands, and +holding on to their mothers’ skirts, are almost +naked. Small heads and hands and feet, all the marks of +what we are <!-- page 185--><a name="page185"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 185</span>accustomed to term high birth, are +hereditary among the Gipsies; and we doubt if the Queen of the +South herself was a more queenly-looking personage than the dame +now marching in the midst of the throng, and conversing earnestly +with her companion, a resolute-looking man scarce entering upon +the prime of life, with a Gipsy complexion, but a bearing in +which it is not difficult to recognise the soldier. He is +talking to his protectress—for such she is—with a +military frankness and vivacity, which even to that royal +personage, accustomed though she be to exact all the respect due +to her rank, appear by no means displeasing. The lady is +verging on the autumn of her charms (their summer must have been +scorching indeed!), and though a masculine beauty, is a beauty +nevertheless. Black-browed is she, and deep-coloured, with +eyes of fire, and locks of jet, even now untinged with +grey. Straight and regular are her features, and the wide +mouth, with its strong, even dazzling teeth, betokens an energy +and force of will which would do credit to the other sex. +She has the face of a woman that would dare much, labour much, +everything but <i>love</i> much. She ought to be a queen, +and she <i>is</i> one, none the less despotic for ruling over a +tribe of Gipsies instead of a civilised community . . .</p> +<p>“‘Every Gipsy can tell fortunes; mine has been +told many a time, but it never came true.’</p> +<p>“She was studying the lines on his palm with earnest +attention. She raised her dark eyes angrily to his +face.</p> +<p>“‘Blind! blind!’ she answered, in a low, +eager tone. ‘The best of you cannot see a yard upon +your way. Look at that white road, winding and winding many +a mile before us upon the plain. Because it is flat and +soft and smooth as far as we can see, will there be no hills on +our journey, no rocks to cut our feet, no thorns to tear our +limbs? Can you see the Danube rolling on far, far before +us? Can you see the river you will have to cross some day, +or can you tell me where it leads? I have the map of our +journey here in my brain; I have the map of your career here on +your <!-- page 186--><a name="page186"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 186</span>hand. Once more I say, when +the chiefs are in council, and the hosts are melting like snow +before the sun, and the earth quakes, and the heavens are filled +with thunder, and the shower that falls scorches and crushes and +blasts—remember me! I follow the line of wealth: Man +of gold! spoil on; here a horse, there a diamond; hundreds to +uphold the right, thousands to spare the wrong; both hands full, +and broad lands near a city of palaces, and a king’s +favour, and a nation of slaves beneath thy foot. I follow +the line of pleasure: costly amber; rich embroidery; dark eyes +melting for the Croat; glances unveiled for the shaven head, many +and loving and beautiful; a garland of roses, all for +one—rose by rose plucked and withered and thrown away; one +tender bud remaining; cherish it till it blows, and wear it till +it dies. I follow the line of blood:—it leads towards +the rising sun—charging squadrons with lances in rest, and +a wild shout in a strange tongue; and the dead wrapped in grey, +with charm and amulet that were powerless to save; and hosts of +many nations gathered by the sea—pestilence, famine, +despair, and victory. Rising on the whirlwind, chief among +chiefs, the honoured of leaders, the counsellor of +princes—remember me! But ha! the line is +crossed. Beware! trust not the sons of the adopted land; +when the lily is on thy breast, beware of the dusky shadow on the +wall! beware, and remember me!’ . . .</p> +<p>“I proffered my hand readily to the Gipsy, and crossed +it with one of the two pieces of silver which constituted the +whole of my worldly wealth. The Gipsy laughed, and began to +prophesy in German. There are some events a child never +forgets; and I remember every word she said as well as if it had +been spoken yesterday.</p> +<p>“‘Over the sea, and again over the sea; thou shalt +know grief and hardship and losses, and the dove shall be driven +from its nest. And the dove’s heart shall become like +the eagle’s, that flies alone, and fleshes her beak in the +slain. Beat on, though the poor wings be bruised by the +tempest, <!-- page 187--><a name="page187"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 187</span>and the breast be sore, and the +heart sink; beat on against the wind, and seek no shelter till +thou find thy resting-place at last. The time will +come—only beat on.’</p> +<p>“The woman laughed as she spoke; but there was a kindly +tone in her voice and a pitying look in her bright eyes that went +straight to my heart. Many a time since, in life, when the +storm has indeed been boisterous and the wings so weary, have I +thought of those words of encouragement, ‘The time will +come—beat on.’ . . .</p> +<p>“‘Thou shalt be a “De Rohan,” my +darling, and I can promise thee no brighter lot—broad +acres, and blessings from the poor, and horses, and wealth, and +honours. And the sword shall spare thee, and the battle +turn aside to let thee pass. And thou shalt wed a fair +bride with dark eyes and a queenly brow; but beware of St. +Hubert’s Day. Birth and burial, birth and +burial—beware of St. Hubert’s Day.’”</p> +<p>Disraeli, speaking of the Gipsies in his +“Venetia,” says:—“As Cadurcis approached +he observed some low tents, and in a few minutes he was in the +centre of an encampment of Gipsies. He was for a moment +somewhat dismayed, for he had been brought up with the usual +terror of these wild people; nevertheless he was not unequal to +the occasion. He was surrounded in an instant, but only +with women and children, for Gipsy men never immediately +appear. They smiled with their bright eyes, and the flashes +of the watch-fire threw a lurid glare over their dark and +flashing countenances; they held out their practised hands; they +uttered unintelligible, but not unfriendly sounds.”</p> +<p>Matilda Betham Edwards, in her remarks upon Gipsies, +says:—“Your pulses are quickened to Gipsy pitch, you +are ready to make love or war, to heal and slay, to wander to the +world’s end, to be outlawed and hunted down, to dare and do +anything for the sake of the sweet, untramelled life of the tent, +the bright blue sky, the mountain air, the free savagedom, the +joyous dance, the passionate friendship, the fiery +love.”</p> +<p><!-- page 188--><a name="page188"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +188</span>I come now to notice what a few of the poets have said +about these ignorant, nomadic tribes, who have been skulking and +flitting about in our midst, since the days of Borrow, Roberts, +Hoyland, and Crabb—a period of over forty years.</p> +<blockquote><p>“He grows, like the young oak, healthy and +broad,<br /> +With no home but the forest, no bed but the sward;<br /> +Half-naked he wades in the limpid stream,<br /> +Or dances about in the scorching beam.<br /> +The dazzling glare of the banquet sheen<br /> +Hath never fallen on him I ween,<br /> +But fragments are spread, and the wood pine piled,<br /> +And sweet is the meal of the Gipsy child.”—<span +class="smcap">Eliza Cook</span>.</p> +<p>“The Gipsy eye, bright as the star<br /> +That sends its light from heaven afar,<br /> +Wild with the strains of thy guitar,<br /> + This heart with rapture fill.<br /> +Then, maiden fair, beneath this star,<br /> +Come, touch me with the light guitar.<br /> +Thy brow unworked by lines of care,<br /> +Decked with locks of raven hair,<br /> +Seems ever beautiful and fair<br /> + At moonlight’s stilly hour.<br /> +What bliss! beside the leafy maze,<br /> +Illumined by the moon’s pale rays,<br /> +On thy sweet face to sit and gaze,<br /> + Thou wild, uncultured flower.<br /> +Then, maiden fair, beneath this star,<br /> +Come, touch me with the light guitar.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Hubert +Smith</span>: “Tent Life in Norway.”</p> +<p>“From every place condemned to roam,<br /> +In every place we seek a home;<br /> +These branches form our summer roof,<br /> +By thick grown leaves made weather-proof;<br /> +In shelt’ring nooks and hollow ways,<br /> +We cheerily pass our winter days.<br /> +Come circle round the Gipsy’s fire,<br /> +Come circle round the Gipsy’s fire,<br /> +Our songs, our stories never tire,<br /> +Our songs, our stories never tire.”—<span +class="smcap">Reeve</span>.</p> +<p><!-- page 189--><a name="page189"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +189</span>“Where is the little Gipsy’s home?<br /> + Under the spreading greenwood tree,<br /> +Wherever she may roam,<br /> + Wherever that tree may be.<br /> +Roaming the world o’er,<br /> + Crossing the deep blue sea,<br /> +She finds on every shore,<br /> + A home among the free,<br /> +A home among the free,<br /> + Ah, voilà la Gitana, voilà la +Gitana.”—<span class="smcap">Halliday</span>.</p> +<p>“He checked his steed, and sighed to mark<br /> +Her coral lips, her eyes so dark,<br /> +And stately bearing—as she had been<br /> +Bred up in courts, and born a queen.<br /> +Again he came, and again he came,<br /> +Each day with a warmer, a wilder flame,<br /> +And still again—till sleep by night<br /> +For Judith’s sake fled his pillow quite.”—<span +class="smcap">Delta</span>.</p> +<p>“A race that lives on prey, as foxes do,<br /> +With stealthy, petty rapine; so despised,<br /> +It is not persecuted, only spurned,<br /> +Crushed under foot, warred on by chance like rats,<br /> +Or swarming flies, or reptiles of the sea,<br /> +Dragged in the net unsought and flung far off,<br /> +To perish as they may.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">George +Eliot</span>: “The Spanish Gipsies,” 1865.</p> +<p>“Help me wonder, here’s a booke,<br /> +Where I would for ever looke.<br /> +Never did a Gipsy trace<br /> +Smoother lines in hands or face;<br /> +Venus here doth Saturne move<br /> +That you should be the Queene of Love.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Ben +Jonson</span>.</p> +<p>“Fond dreamer, pause! why floats the silvery breath<br +/> +Of thin, light smoke from yonder bank of heath?<br /> +What forms are those beneath the shaggy trees,<br /> +In tattered tent, scarce sheltered from the breeze;<br /> +<!-- page 190--><a name="page190"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +190</span>The hoary father and the ancient dame,<br /> +The squalid children, cowering o’er the flame?<br /> +Those were not born by English hearths to dwell,<br /> +Or heed the carols of the village bell;<br /> +Those swarthy lineaments, that wild attire,<br /> +Those stranger tones, bespeak an eastern sire;<br /> +Bid us in home’s most favoured precincts trace<br /> +The houseless children of a homeless race;<br /> +And as in warning vision seem to show<br /> +That man’s best joys are drowned by shades of woe.</p> +<p>“Pilgrims of Earth, who hath not owned the spell<br /> +That ever seems around your tents to dwell;<br /> +Solemn and thrilling as the nameless dread<br /> +That guards the chambers of the silent dead!<br /> +The sportive child, if near your camp he stray,<br /> +Stands tranced with fear, and heeds no more his play;<br /> +To gain your magic aid, the love-sick swain,<br /> +With hasty footsteps threads the dusky lane;<br /> +The passing traveller lingers, half in sport,<br /> +And half in awe beside your savage court,<br /> +While the weird hags explore his palm to spell<br /> +What varied fates these mystic lines foretell.</p> +<p>“The murmuring streams your minstrel songs supply,<br /> +The moss your couch, the oak your canopy;<br /> +The sun awakes you as with trumpet-call,<br /> +Lightly ye spring from slumber’s gentle thrall;<br /> +Eve draws her curtain o’er the burning west,<br /> +Like forest birds ye sink at once to rest.</p> +<p>“Free as the winds that through the forest rush,<br /> +Wild as the flowers that by the wayside blush,<br /> +Children of nature wandering to and fro,<br /> +Man knows not whence ye came, nor where ye go;<br /> +Like foreign weeds cast upon Western strands,<br /> +Which stormy waves have borne from unknown lands;<br /> +Like the murmuring shells to fancy’s ears that tell<br /> +The mystic secrets of their ocean cell.</p> +<p>“Drear was the scene—a dark and troublous +time—<br /> +The Heaven all gloom, the wearied Earth all crime;<br /> +Men deemed they saw the unshackled powers of ill<br /> +Rage in that storm, and work their perfect will.<br /> +<!-- page 191--><a name="page191"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +191</span>Then like a traveller, when the wild wind blows,<br /> +And black night flickers with the driving snows,<br /> +A stranger people, ’mid that murky gloom,<br /> +Knocked at the gates of awe-struck Christendom!<br /> +No clang of arms, no din of battle roared<br /> +Round the still march of that mysterious horde;<br /> +Weary and sad arrayed in pilgrim’s guise,<br /> +They stood and prayed, nor raised their suppliant eyes.<br /> +At once to Europe’s hundred shores they came,<br /> +In voice, in feature, and in garb the same.<br /> +Mother and babe and youth, and hoary age,<br /> +The haughty chieftain and the wizard sage;<br /> +At once in every land went up the cry,<br /> +‘Oh! fear us not—receive us or we +die!’”</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Dean +Stanley’s Prize Poem</span>, 1837: “The +Gipsies.”</p> +</blockquote> +<h2><!-- page 192--><a name="page192"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 192</span>Part IV.<br /> +Gipsy Life in a Variety of Aspects.</h2> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p192b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"A Gipsy’s van near Notting Hill, Latimer Road" +title= +"A Gipsy’s van near Notting Hill, Latimer Road" +src="images/p192s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>In Part III. I have endeavoured, as well as I have been able, +to show some of the agencies that have been set in motion during +the last three centuries for and against the Gipsies, with a view +to their extermination, by the hang-man, to their being reclaimed +by the religious zeal and fervour of the minister, and to their +improvement by the artificial means of poetry, fiction, and +romance. First, the persecution dealt out to the Gipsies in +this, as well as other countries, during a period of several +centuries, although to a large extent brought upon themselves by +their horrible system of lying and deception, neither +exterminated them nor improved their habits; but, on the +contrary, they increased and spread like mushrooms; the oftener +they were trampled upon the more they seemed to thrive; the more +they were hated, hunted, and driven into hiding-places the +oftener these sly, fortune-telling, lying foxes would be seen +sneaking across our path, ready to grab our chickens and young +turkeys as opportunities presented themselves. Second, that +when stern justice said “it is enough,” persecution +hanging down its hands and revenge drooping her head, a few +noble-hearted men, filled with missionary zeal, took up the cause +of the Gipsies for a period of nearly forty years in various +forms and ways at the end of the last and the commencement of the +present century. Except in a few isolated cases, they also +failed in producing any noticeable <!-- page 193--><a +name="page193"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 193</span>change in +either the moral, social, or religious condition of the Gipsies, +and with the death of Hoyland, Borrow, Crabb, Roberts, and +others, died the last flicker of a flickering light that was to +lead these poor, deluded, benighted heathen wanderers upon a road +to usefulness, honesty, uprightness, and industry. Third, +that on the decline of religious zeal, fervour, and philanthropy +on behalf of the Gipsies more than forty years ago the spasmodic +efforts of poets, novelists, and dramatists, in a variety of +forms of fiction and romance, came to the front, to lead them to +the goal through a lot of questionable by-lanes, queer places, +and artificial lights, the result being that these melodramatic +personages have left the Gipsies in a more pitiable condition +than they were before they took up their cause, although they, in +doing so, put “two faces under one hat,” blessing and +cursing, smiling and frowning, all in one breath, praising their +faults and sins, and damning their <i>few</i> virtues. In +fact, to such a degree have fiction writers painted the black +side of a Gipsy’s life, habits, and character in glowing +colours that, to take another 20,000 men, women, and children out +of our back slums and sink-gutters and write the word +“Gipsy” upon their back, instead of +“scamp,” and send them through the country with a few +donkeys, some long sticks, old blankets and rags, dark eyes, +dirty faces, filthy bodies, short petticoats, and old scarlet +hoods and cloaks, you would in fifty years make this country not +worth living in. It is my decided conviction that unless we +are careful, and take the “bull by the horns,” and +compel them to educate their children, and to put their +habitations, tents, and vans under better sanitary arrangements, +we shall be fostering seeds in these dregs of society that will +one day put a stop to the work of civilisation, and bring to an +end the advance in arts, science, laws, and commerce that have +been making such rapid strides in this country of late years.</p> +<p>It is more pleasant to human nature to sit upon a stile on a +midsummer eve, down a country lane, in the twilight, as the <!-- +page 194--><a name="page194"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +194</span>shades of evening are gathering around you, the stars +twinkling over head, the little silver stream rippling over the +pebbles at your feet in sounds like the distant warbling of the +lark, and the sweet notes of the nightingale ringing in your +ears, than to visit the abodes of misery, filth, and squalor +among the Gipsies in their wigwams. It is more agreeable to +the soft parts of our hearts and our finer feelings to listen to +the melody and harmony of lively, lovely damsels as they send +forth their enchanting strains than to hear the cries of the poor +little, dirty Gipsy children sending forth their piteous moans +for bread. It is more delightful to the poetic and +sentimental parts of our nature to guide over the stepping-stones +a number of bright, sharp, clean, lively, interesting, little +dears, with their “hoops,” +“shuttle-cocks,” and “battle-doors,” than +to be seated among a lot of little ragged, half-starved Gipsy +children, who have never known what soap, water, and comb +are. It is more in harmony with our sensibilities to sit +and listen to the drollery, wit, sarcasm, and fun of <i>Punch</i> +than to the horrible tales of blood, revenge, immorality, and +murder that some of the adult Gipsies delight in setting +forth. It is more in accordance with our feelings to sit +and admire the innocent, angelic being, the perfection of the +good and beautiful, than to sit by the hardened, wicked, ugly, +old Gipsy woman who has spent a lifetime in sin and debauchery, +cursing the God who made her as she expires. Nevertheless, +these things have to be done if we are to have the angelic beings +from the other world ministering to our wants, and wafting us +home as we leave our tenement of clay behind to receive the +“Well done.”</p> +<p>I will now, as we pass along, endeavour to show what the +actual condition of the Gipsies has been in the past, and what it +is at the present time, which, in some cases, has been touched +upon previously, with reference to the moral, social, and +religious traits in their character that go to the making up of a +<span class="smcap">man</span>—the noblest work of +God. The peculiar fascinating charms about them, conjured +up by <!-- page 195--><a name="page195"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 195</span>ethnologists and philologists, I +will leave for those learned gentlemen to deal with as they may +think well. I will, however, say that, as regards their +so-called language, it is neither more nor less than gibberish, +not “full of sound and fury signifying nothing,” but +full of “sound and fury” signifying something. +They never converse with it openly among themselves for a good +purpose, as the Frenchmen, Germans, Turks, Spaniards, or other +foreigners do. Some of the old Gipsies have a thousand or +more leading words made up from various sources, English, French, +German, Spanish, Indian, &c., which they teach their +children, and use in the presence of strangers with a certain +amount of pride, and, at the same time, to throw dust into their +eyes while the Gipsies are talking among themselves. They +will in the same breath bless you in English and curse you in +Romany; this I experienced myself lately while sitting in a tent +among a dozen uninteresting-looking Gipsies, while they one and +all were thanking me for taking steps to get the children +educated. There was one among them who with a smile upon +his face, was cursing me in Romany from his heart. Many +writers differ in the spelling and pronunciation of Gipsy words, +and what strikes me as remarkable is, the Gipsies themselves are +equally confused upon these points. No doubt the confusion +in the minds of writers arises principally from the fact that +they have had their information from ignorant, lying, deceiving +Gipsies. Almost all Gipsies have an inveterate hatred and +jealousy towards each other, especially if one sets himself up as +knowing more than John Jones in the next yard. One Gipsy +would say paanengro-gújo means sailor, or water gentile, +another Gipsy would say it means an Irishman, or potato gentile; +another would say poovengri-gújo meant a sailor; another +would say it means an Irishman. They glory in +contradictions and mystification. I was at an encampment a +few days ago, and out of the twenty-five men and women and forty +children there were <!-- page 196--><a name="page196"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 196</span>not three that could talk Romany, +and there was not one who could spell a single word of it. +Their language, like themselves, was Indian enough, no doubt, +when they started on their pilgrimage many centuries ago; but, as +a consequence of their mixing with the scum of other nations in +their journey westward, the charm in their language and +themselves has pretty nearly by this time vanished. If I +were to attempt to write a book about their language it would not +do the Gipsies one iota of good. “God bless +you” are words the Gipsies very often use when showing +their kindness for favours received, and, as a kind of test, I +have tried to find out lately if there were any Gipsies round +London who could tell me what these words were in Romany, and I +have only found one who could perform the task. They all +shake their heads and say, “Ours is not a language, only +slang, which we use when required.” Taking their +slang generally, according to Grellmann, Hoyland, Borrow, Smart, +and Crofton, there is certainly nothing very elevating about +it. Worldliness, sensuality, and devilism are things helped +forward by their gibberish. Words dealing with honesty, +uprightness, fidelity, industry, religion, cleanliness, and love +are very sparse.</p> +<p>William Stanley, a converted Gipsy, said, some years since, +that “God bless you” was in Romany, Artmee +Devillesty; Smart and Crofton say it is, Doòvel, +pàrav, pàrik toot, toòti. In another +place they say it is Doovel jal toosà. Mrs. Simpson +says it is, Mi-Doovel-kom-tooti. Mrs. Smith says it is +Mi-Doovel Andy-Paratuta.</p> +<p>The following are the whole of the slang words Smart and +Crofton have under the letters indicated, and which words are +taken principally from Grellmann, Hoyland, Borrow, and Dr. +Paspati:—</p> +<table> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><h3>I.</h3> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>I,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Man, mè, màndi, mànghi.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Ill,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Nàsfelo, nàffelo doosh.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><!-- page 197--><a name="page197"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 197</span>Illness,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Nàffelopén.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Ill-tempered,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Kòrni.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Imitation,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Foshono.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Immediately,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Kenàw sig.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>In,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Adrè, dre, ando, inna.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Indebted,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Pazerous.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Inflame,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Katcher.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Injure,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Dooka.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Inn,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Kítchema.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Innkeeper,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Kitchemèngro.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Intestine,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Vénderi.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Into,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Andè, adrè, drè.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Ireland,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Hindo-tem, Hinditemeskro-tem.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Irishman,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Hindi-temengro, poovengri gaujo.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Irish Gipsy,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Efage.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Iron,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Sáster, saàsta, saáshta.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Iron,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Sástera.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Is,</p> +</td> +<td><p>See.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>It,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Les.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Itch,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Honj.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><h3>J.</h3> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Jail,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Stèripen.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Jews,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Midùvelesto-maùromèngri.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Jockey,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Kèstermèngro.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Judgment,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Bitchama.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Jump,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Hokter hok òxta.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Jumper,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Hoxterer.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Just now,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Kenaw sig.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Justice of the peace,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Chivlo-gaujo, chuvno-gaùjo, pòkenyus, +poòkinyus.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><h3>K.</h3> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Keep,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Righer, riker.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Kettle,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Kekàvvi, kavvi.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Key,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Klèrin klisin.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Kick,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Del, dé.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><!-- page 198--><a name="page198"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 198</span>Kill,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Maur.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Kin,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Simènsa.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Kind,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Komelo komomuso.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>King,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Kràlis.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Kingdom,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Kralisom tem.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Kiss,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Chooma.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Knee,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Chong, choong.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Knife,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Choori chivomèngro chinomèngro.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Knock,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Koor, dè.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Know,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Jin.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Knowing,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Yoki, jinomengro, jinomeskro.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><h3>Q.</h3> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Quarrel,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Chíngar.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Quarrel,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Chingariben, gòdli.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Quart,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Troòshni.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Queen,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Kralisi krailisi.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Quick,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Sig.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Quick, Be,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Sigo toot, rèssi toot kair àbba.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Quietly,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Shookàr.</p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<p>The following dozen words will show, in some degree, the +fearful amount of ignorance there is amongst them, even when +using the language of their mother country, for England is the +mother country of the present race of Gipsies. +For—</p> +<table> +<tr> +<td><p>Expensive,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Expencival.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Decide,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Cide.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Advice,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Device.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Dictionary,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Dixen.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Equally,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Ealfully.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Instructed,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Indistructed.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Gentleman,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Gemmen.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Daunted,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Dauntment.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Spitefulness,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Spiteliness.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Habeas Corpus,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Hawcus paccus.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Increase,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Increach.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Submit,</p> +</td> +<td><p>Commist.</p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<p><!-- page 199--><a name="page199"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +199</span>I cannot find joy, delight, eternity, innocent, ever, +everlasting, endless, hereafter, and similar words, and, on +inquiry, I find that many of the Gipsies do not believe in an +eternity, future punishment, or rewards; this belief, no doubt, +has its effects upon their morals in this life.</p> +<p>The opinion respecting the Gipsy language at the commencement +of the present century was, that it was composed only of cant +terms, or of what has been called the slang of beggars; much of +this probably was promoted and strengthened by the dictionary +contained in a pamphlet, entitled, “The Life and Adventures +of Bamfylde Moore Carew.” It consists for the most +part of English words trumped up apparently not so much for the +purpose of concealment as a burlesque. Even if used by this +people at all, the introduction of this cant and slang as the +genuine language of the community of Gipsies is a gross +imposition on the public.</p> +<p>Rees, in his Encyclopædia, 1819, describes the Gipsies +as “impostors and jugglers forming a kind of commonwealth +among themselves, who disguise themselves in uncouth habits, +smearing their faces and bodies, and framing to themselves a +canting language, wander up and down, and under pretence of +telling fortunes, curing diseases, &c., abuse the common +people, trick them of their money, and steal all that they come +at.”</p> +<p>Mr. Borrow, speaking of the Hungarian Gipsies in his +“Zyncali,” page 7, says:—“Hungary, though +a country not a tenth part so extensive as the huge colossus of +the Russian empire, whose Czar reigns over a hundred lands, +contains perhaps as many Gipsies, it not being uncommon to find +whole villages inhabited by this race. They likewise abound +in the suburbs of the towns.</p> +<p>“In Hungary the feudal system still exists in all its +pristine barbarity. In no country does the hard hand of +oppression bear so heavy upon the lower classes—not even in +Russia. The peasants of Russia are serfs, it is true, but +their condition <!-- page 200--><a name="page200"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 200</span>is enviable compared with that of +the same class in the other country; they have certain rights and +privileges, and are, upon the whole, happy and contented, at +least, there, whilst the Hungarians are ground to powder. +Two classes are free in Hungary to do almost what they +please—the nobility and the Gipsies (the former are above +the law, the latter below it). A toll is wrung from the +hands of the hard working labourers, that most meritorious class, +in passing over a bridge, for example, at Perth, which is not +demanded from a well-dressed person, nor from Zingany, who have +frequently no dress at all, and whose <i>insouciance</i> stands +in striking contrast with the trembling submission of the +peasants. The Gipsy, wherever you find him, is an +incomprehensible being, but nowhere more than in Hungary, where +in the midst of slavery he is free, though apparently one step +lower than the lowest slave. The habits of the Hungarian +Gipsies are abominable; their hovels appear sinks of the vilest +poverty and filth; their dress is at best rags; their food +frequently of the vilest carrion, and occasionally, if report be +true, still worse: thus they live in filth, in rags, in +nakedness. The women are fortune-tellers. Of course +both sexes are thieves of the first water. They roam where +they list.”</p> +<p>The “Chronicle of Bologna,” printed about the year +1422, says:—“And of those who went to have their +fortunes told few there were who had not their purses stolen, or +some portion of their garments cut away. Their women also +traversed the city six or eight together, entering the houses of +the citizens, and diverting them with idle talk while one of the +party secured whatever she could lay her hands upon. In the +shops they pretended to buy, but in fact stole. They were +amongst the cleverest thieves that the world contained. Be +it noted that they were the most hideous crew ever seen in these +parts. They were lean and black, and ate like pigs. +The women wore mantles flung upon one shoulder, with only a vest +underneath.” Forli, who wrote about them about the +<!-- page 201--><a name="page201"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +201</span>same time as the “Chronicle of Bologna,” +does not seem to have liked them, and says they were not +“even civilised, and resembling rather savage and untamed +beasts.”</p> +<p>A writer describes a visit to a Gipsy’s tent as +follows:—“We were in a wigwam which afforded us but +miserable shelter from the inclemency of the season. The +storm raged without; the tempest roared in the open country; the +wind blew with violence, and whistled through the fissures of the +cabin; the rain fell in torrents, and prevented us from +continuing our route. Our host was an Indian with sparkling +and intelligent eyes, clad with a certain elegance, and wrapped +majestically in a large fur cloak. Seated close to the +fire, which cast a reddish gleam through the interior of the +wigwam, he felt himself all at once seized with an irresistible +desire to imitate the convulsion of nature, and to sing his +impressions. So taking hold of a drum which hung near his +bed, he beat a slight rolling, resembling the distant sounds of +an approaching storm, then raising his voice to a shrill treble, +which he knew how to soften when he pleased, he imitated the +whistling of the air, the creaking of the branches dashing +against one another, and the particular noise produced by dead +leaves when accumulated in compact masses on the ground. By +degrees the rollings of the drum became more frequent and louder, +the chants more sonorous and shrill; and at last our Indian +shrieked, howled, and roared in the most frightful manner; he +struggled and struck his instrument with extraordinary rapidity; +it was a real tempest, to which nothing was wanting, not even the +distant howling of the dogs, nor the bellowing of the affrighted +buffaloes.”</p> +<p>Mr. Leland, speaking of the Russian Gipsies near Moscow, says +that after meeting them in public, and penetrating to their +homes, they were altogether original, deeply interesting, and +able to read and write, and have a wonderful capacity for music, +and goes on to say that he speedily found the Russian Gipsies +were as unaffected and childlike as they <!-- page 202--><a +name="page202"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 202</span>were gentle +in manner, and that compared with our own prize-fighting, sturdy, +begging, and always suspecting Gipsy roughs, as a delicate +greyhound might compare with a very shrewd old bulldog trained by +a fly tramp. Leland, in his article, speaking of one of the +Russian Gipsy maidens, says:—“Miss Sarsha, who had a +slight cast in one of her wild black eyes, which added something +to the Gipsiness and roguery of her smiles, and who wore in a +ring a large diamond, which seemed as if it might be the right +eye in the wrong place, was what is called an earnest young lady, +and with plenty to say and great energy wherewith to say +it. What with her eyes, her diamond, her smiles, and her +tongue, she constituted altogether a fine specimen of +irrepressible fireworks.”</p> +<p>Leland, referring to the musical abilities of the Russian +Gipsies, in his article in “Macmillan’s +Magazine,” November, 1879, says:—“These +artists, with wonderful tact and untaught skill have succeeded in +all their songs in combining the mysterious and maddening chorus +of the true wild eastern music with that of regular and simple +melody intelligible to every western ear.” “I +listened,” says Leland, “to the strangest, wildest, +and sweetest singing I ever had heard—the singing of +Lurleis, of syrens, of witches. First, one damsel, with an +exquisitely clear, firm voice began to sing a verse of a love +ballad, and as it approached the end the chorus stole in, softly +and unperceived, but with exquisite skill, until, in a few +seconds, the summer breeze, murmuring melody over a rippling +lake, seemed changed to a midnight tempest roaring over a stormy +sea, in which the basso of the black captain pealed like thunder, +and as it died away a second girl took up the melody, very +sweetly, but with a little more excitement—it was like a +gleam of moonlight on the still agitated waters—a strange +contralto witch gleam, and then again the chorus and the storm, +and then another solo yet sweeter, sadder, and stranger—the +movement continually increasing, until all was fast, and wild, +<!-- page 203--><a name="page203"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +203</span>and mad—a locomotive quick step and then a sudden +silence—sunlight—the storm had blown away;” and +adds, “I could only think of those strange fits of +excitement which thrill the Red Indian, and make him burst into +song.”</p> +<p>“After the first Gipsy lyric then came another to which +the captain especially directed my attention as being what Sam. +Petalengro calls ‘The girl in the red +chemise’—as well as I can recall his words. A +very sweet song, with a simple but spirited chorus, and as the +sympathetic electricity of excitement seized the performers we +were all in a minute going down the rapids in a spring +freshet. ‘Sing, sir, sing!’ cried my handsome +neighbour, with her black Gipsy eyes sparkling fire.”</p> +<p>Some excuse ought to be made for Leland getting into this wild +state of excitement, for he had on his right and on his left, +before and behind him, dark-eyed Gipsy beauties—as some +would call them—among whom was one, the belle of the party, +dressed in black silk attire, wafting in his face the enchanting +fan of fascination till he was completely mesmerised. How +different this hour’s excitement to the twenty-three +hours’ reality!</p> +<p>The following is the full history of a remarkable case which +has recently occurred in Russia, taken from the London daily +papers last November, and it shows the way in which Gipsy witches +and fortune-tellers are held and horribly treated in that +country. It is quite evident that Gipsies and witches are +not esteemed by the Russians like angels:—</p> +<blockquote><p>Agrafena Ignatjewa was as a child simple and +amiable, neither sharper nor more stupid than all the other girls +of her native village, Wratschewo, in the Government of +Novgorod. But the people of the place having, from her +early youth, made up their minds that she had the “evil +eye,” nothing could eradicate that impression.</p> +<p>Being branded with this reputation, it naturally followed <!-- +page 204--><a name="page204"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +204</span>that powers of divination and enchantment were +attributed to her, including the ability to afflict both men and +animals with various plagues and sicknesses.</p> +<p>In spite, however, of the supernatural skill with which she +was credited, she met with no suitor save a poor soldier. +She accepted him gladly, and going with him, shortly after her +marriage, to St. Petersburg, Wratschewo lost sight of her for +some twelve years. She was, however, by no means forgotten +there, for when, after the death of her husband, she again betook +herself to the home of her childhood, she found that her old +reputation still clung to her. The news of her return +spread like wild-fire, and general disaster was anticipated from +her injurious spells. This, however, was, from fear, talked +of only behind her back, and dread of her at length reached such +a pitch that the villagers and their wives sent her presents and +assisted her in every way, hoping thereby to get into her good +graces, and so escape being practised upon by her infernal +arts. As she was now fifty years of age, somewhat weakly, +and therefore unable to earn a living, these attentions were by +no means unwelcome, and she therefore did nothing to disabuse her +neighbours’ minds. Their superstition enabled her to +live comfortably and without care, and she knew very well that +any assurances she might give would not have produced the +slightest effect.</p> +<p>A short time after her return to Wratschewo, several women +fell ill. This was, of course, laid at the door of +Ignatjewa, particularly as one of these women, the daughter of a +peasant, had been attacked immediately after being refused a +slight favour by her. Whenever any misfortune whatsoever +happened in the village, all fingers pointed to Ignatjewa as the +source of it. At the beginning of the present year a +dismissed soldier, in the interest of the community, actually +instituted criminal proceedings against her before the local +urjadnik, the chief of the police of the district, the immediate +charge preferred being that she had bewitched his wife.</p> +<p><!-- page 205--><a name="page205"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +205</span>Meanwhile the feeling in the village against her became +so intensified that it was resolved by the people, pending the +decision on the complaint that had been lodged, to take the law +into their hands so far as to fasten her up in her cottage.</p> +<p>The execution of this resolve was not delayed a moment. +Led by Kauschin, Nikisorow, Starovij, and an old man of seventy, +one Schipensk, whose wife and daughters were at the time supposed +to be suffering from her witchcraft, a crowd of villagers set out +on the way to Ignatjewa’s dwelling. Nikisorow had +provided himself with hammer and nails, and Iwanow with some +chips of pinewood “to smoke out the bad +spirits.” Finding the cottage door locked, they beat +it in, and while a portion of them nailed up the windows the +remainder crowded in and announced to the terrified woman that, +by unanimous decision, she was, for the present, to be kept +fastened up in her house. Some of them then proceeded to +look through the rooms, where they found, unfortunately, several +bottles containing medicaments. Believing these to be +enchanted potions, and therefore conclusive proofs of +Ignatjewa’s guilt, it was decided, on the suggestion of +Nikisorow, to burn her and her devilish work there and +then. “We must put an end to it,” shouted the +peasants in chorus; “if we let her off now we shall be +bewitched one and all.”</p> +<p>Kauschin, who held in his hand a lighted chip of pine-wood, +which he had used “to smoke out the spirits” and to +light him about the premises, instantly applied it to a bundle of +straw lying in a room, after which all hastily left. +Ignatjewa attempted in vain to follow them. The agonised +woman then tried to get out at the windows, but these were +already nailed up. In front of the cottage stood the +people, blankly staring at the spreading flames, and listening to +the cries of their victim without moving a muscle.</p> +<p>At this point Ignatjewa’s brother came on the scene, and +ran towards the cottage to rescue his sister. But a dozen +<!-- page 206--><a name="page206"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +206</span>arms held him back. “Don’t let her +out,” shouted the venerable Schipensk, the husband and +father of the bewitched women. “I’ll answer for +it, that we won’t, father; we have put up with her long +enough,” replied one of the band. “The Lord be +praised!” exclaimed another, “let her burn away; she +bewitched my daughters too.”</p> +<p>The little room in which Ignatjewa had taken refuge was not as +yet reached by the fire. Appeals were now made to her to +confess herself a witch, the brother joining, probably in the +hope that if she did so her life might be spared. +“But I am entirely innocent,” the poor woman cried +out. One of the bystanders, apparently the only one in +possession of his five senses, made another attempt at rescue, +but was hindered by the mob. He then, in loud tones, warned +them of the punishment which would certainly await them, but in +vain, no attention was paid to him. On the contrary, the +progress of the flames not appearing rapid enough, it was +endeavoured to accelerate it by shoving the snow from the roof +and loosening the frame-work. The fire now extended +rapidly, one beam after another blazed up, and at length the roof +fell in on the wretched woman.</p> +<p>The ashes smouldered the whole night; on the following morning +nothing was found remaining but the charred bones of +Ignatjewa.</p> +<p>The idea now, it would seem, occurred to the murderers that +perhaps, after all, their action had not been altogether +lawful. They accordingly resolved to bribe the local +authority, who had already viewed the scene of the affair, to +hush it up. For this purpose they made a collection, and +handed him the proceeds, twenty-one roubles ninety copecks. +To their astonishment he did not accept the money, but at once +reported the horrible deed to his superior officer. Sixteen +of the villagers were, in consequence, brought up for trial at +Tichwin before the district court of Novgorod on the charge of +murdering Agrafena Ignatjewa, in the manner above described.</p> +<p><!-- page 207--><a name="page207"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +207</span>After a protracted hearing with jury the following +result was arrived at:—Kauschin, who had first set fire to +the building; Starovij, who had assisted in accelerating the +burning; and Nikisorow, the prime mover in the matter, who had +nailed up the windows, were found guilty, and sentenced by the +judge to some slight ecclesiastical penance, while the remaining +thirteen, including the aged Schipensk—who had used his +influence to prevent a rescue—went scot free.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The Spanish Gipsies, in Grellmann’s day, would resort to +the most wicked and inhuman practices. Before taking one of +their horses to the fair they would make an incision in some +secret part of the skin, through which they would blow the +creature up till his flesh looked fat and plump, and then they +would apply a strong sticking plaster to prevent the air +escaping. Wolfgang Franz says they make use of another +device with an eel. Grellmann says of the Spanish Gipsies +in his day that dancing was another means of getting something; +they generally practised dancing when they were begging, +particularly if men were about the streets. Their dances +were of the most disgusting kind that could be conceived; the +most lascivious attitudes and gestures, young girls and married +women, travelling with their fathers, would indulge in, to the +extent of frisking about the streets in a state of nudity.</p> +<p>Further inquiries among the Gipsies more than ever satisfy me +that my first statement last August, viz., that five per cent. of +them could not read and write, is being more than fully borne out +by facts brought under my notice; in fact, I question if there +will be three per cent. of the Gipsies who can read and +write. The following letter has been sent to me by a friend +to show that there is one Gipsy in the country, at least, who +knows how to put a letter together, and as it is somewhat of a +curiosity I give it, as exactly as possible as I received it, of +course leaving out the name, and without note or comment.</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: right"><!-- page 208--><a +name="page208"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +208</span>“Newtown Moor,<br /> +“the 22nd, 1877.</p> +<p>“Dear Sir,—</p> +<p>“I recivd your last Letter, and proude to say that I +shall (if alls well) endeavor to cum on the day mentioned. +I shall start from hear 5.36 a.m., and be in Edinburgh betwen 3 +and 4. I have no more to say very particular, only feel +proude of having the enviteation (we are all well hear) with the +exception of my little Daughter. She still keeps about the +same. I shall finish (this little bit) by sending all our +very kind love and respects to Mrs. --- and yourself. +Hopeing this will find you boath in good helth (I shall go on +with a little bit of something else) (by the way, a little +filling up which I hope you will parden me for taking up so much +of your time.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">“I am yours<br /> +“Very obediently,t<br /> +“<span class="smcap">Welsh Harper</span>.</p> +<p>(Now a little more about what my poor old mother leant me when +a child) and before I go on any further I want you (if you will +be so kind) as to perticullery—understand me—that the +ch has a curious sound—also the LR, as, for instence, +chommay, in staid hommay, choy in place of hoi. Chotche yoi +instaid of <i>hotche</i> yoi. Matteva ma tot <i>in +staid</i> of lat eva ma tot and so on. I shall now commence +with the feminine and the musculin gender (but I must mind as I +don’t put my foot in it) as you know a hundred times more +than I do about these last words—the same time the maight +be a little picket up by <i>them</i>. <i>Well</i>, hear +goes to make a start. (You must not always laugh.)</p> +</blockquote> +<table> +<tr> +<td><p>“Singular<br /> +“Masculine gender.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Feminine gender.</p> +</td> +<td><p>M.</p> +</td> +<td><p>F.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Dad</p> +</td> +<td><p>Dai</p> +</td> +<td><p>Dada</p> +</td> +<td><p>Daia</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Chavo</p> +</td> +<td><p>Chai</p> +</td> +<td><p>Chavay</p> +</td> +<td><p>Chaia</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Tieno</p> +</td> +<td><p>Tienoy</p> +</td> +<td colspan="2"><p>Tickna</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><!-- page 209--><a name="page209"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 209</span>Morsh</p> +</td> +<td><p>Jovel</p> +</td> +<td><p>Morsha</p> +</td> +<td><p>Jovya</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Gongeo</p> +</td> +<td><p>Gangee</p> +</td> +<td><p>Gongea</p> +</td> +<td><p>Gongeya</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Racloo</p> +</td> +<td><p>Raclee</p> +</td> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Raclay or</p> +</td> +<td><p>Racklay</p> +</td> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Pal</p> +</td> +<td><p>Pen</p> +</td> +<td><p>Palla</p> +</td> +<td><p>Peoya</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Pella</p> +</td> +<td><p>Penya</p> +</td> +<td><p>Cock</p> +</td> +<td><p>Bebey</p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<blockquote><p>(I shall finish this) as you know yourself it will +take me to long to go on with more of it. I shall now sho +how my poor mother use to speak her English.</p> +<p>“<span class="smcap">The whol Famaly Camping with +Horses</span>, <span class="smcap">Donkeys</span>, <span +class="smcap">and Dogs</span>.</p> +<p>“On the first weakning in the morning (mother speaking +to my Father in the Tent)—“Now, man, weak dear Boys +up to go and geather some sticks to light the fire, and to see +whare dem Hoses and Donkeys are. I think I shoud some +marshas helen a pray the Drom and coving the collas out of the +pub. Mother again—Now, boy, go and get some water to +put in the ole kettle for breakfast. The Boy—I +davda—I must go and do every bit a thing. Why +don’t you send dat gel to cer some thing some times her +crie chee tal only wishing talkay all the blessed time. +Mother, I am going to send her to the farm House for milk (jack +loses mony) when a Bran of fire is flying after him, and he (the +boy) over a big piece of wood, and hurts his knea.</p> +<p>“The girl goes for the milk (and she has a river to go +threw) when presently a Bull is heard roreng. Mother, dare +now, boy, go and meet your sister; does de Bull roreing after +her. She will fall down in a faint in de middle of de +riber. Boy sar can I gal ear yoi ta ma docadom me heroi ta +shom quit leam (the old woman), go, man, go, man, and stick has +dat charey chai is a beling da da say dat dat is a very bad after +jovyas. Strenge men brings the Horses and donkeys up to the +tents, and begins to scould very much. (The little girl +comes with the milk.) The girl <!-- page 210--><a +name="page210"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 210</span>said to her +brother that she may fall over the wooden in the river for what +he cared; yet the boy said that when she would fall down she +would chin a bit, and all the fish would come and nibble at +her. Horras and her bull; and then they began the scrubble, +and begins to scould her brother for not going to meet her, when +they boath have a scuffel over the fire, and very near knocks the +jockett over, when the boy hops away upon one leg, and hops upon +one of the dog’s paws—un-seen—and dog runs away +barking, and runs himself near one of the Donkeys, and the Donkey +gives him a kick, until he is briging in the horse. The old +woman: Dare now, dare now, ockkie now chorro jocked mardo. +Breakfast is over with a deal of boather, and a little laughing +and cursing and swaring.</p> +<p>“They strike the tents. (The old woman) Men +chovolay nen sig waste ja mangay. I am a faling a vaver +drom codires, and you will meet me near old Town. Be shewer +and leave a <i>pattern</i> by the side of the cross road, if you +sal be dare before me.</p> +<p>“(The old man and the Boys Pitches the Tents) and gets +himself ready to go to the Town. The old woman comes up, +and one of the girls with her—boath very tired and havey, +loaded with <i>choben</i> behind her back, anugh to frighten +waggens and carts of the road with her humpey back.</p> +<p>“(They intend to stay in this delightfull camping place +for a good many days.) To day is soposid to be a very hot +day, and a fare day in a Town about three miles and ½ from +there. The old woman and one of her Daughters goes out as +usual. The old man takes a couple of Horses to the Fare to +try and sell. (The boys go a fishing.) The day is +very bright and hot. (The old man soon comes home.)</p> +<p>“One of the prityist girls takes a strol by herself down +to a butyfull streem of water to have herself a wash, and she +begins singing to the sound of a waterfall close by her, when all +of a suden a very nice looking young gentleman, who got tiard +fishing in the morning, and the day being very hot, <!-- page +211--><a name="page211"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +211</span>took a bit of a lull on his face, his basket on his +back, and Fishing-rod by his side (the girl did not see him) nor +him her) until he was atracted by some strange sound, when all of +a instant he sprung upon his heels, and to his surprise seen a +most butyfull creature with her bear bosom and her long black +hair and butyfull black eyes, white teeth, and a butyfull +figure. He stared with all the eyes he had, and he made a +advance towards her, and when she seen him she stared also at +him, and aproaching slowly towards her and saying, from whence +comest thou hear, my butyfull maid (and staring at her butyfull +figure) thinking that she was some angel as droped down (when she +with a pleasant smile by showing her ivory and her sparkling +eyes) Oh, my father’s tents are not fare off, and +seen the day very warm I thought to have a little wash.</p> +<p>“Gentleman Well indeed I have been fishing to day, and +cot a few this morning; but the day turned out so excesably hot I +was obliged to go in to a shade and have a sleep, but was alarmed +at your sweet voice mingling with the murmuring waters. +They boath steer up to the camp, when now and then as he is +speaking to her on the road going up, a loude and shrill laugh is +heard many times—the same time he does not sho the least +sign of vulgaraty by taking any sort of liberty with her +whatever. They arrive at the tents, when one or the little +boys says to his dady Dady, dady, there is a rye a velin a +pra. The gentleman sitts himself down and pulls out a big +Flask very near full of Brandy and toboco, and offers to the old +man.</p> +<p>“By this time that young girl goes in her Tent and pull +down the front, and presently out she comes butyfully dressed, +which bewitched the young gentleman, and he said that they were +welcome to come there to stop as long as they had a mind so as +they would not tear the Headges. He goes and leaves them +highly delighted towards hime, and he should pay them another +visit. This camping ground belonged to the young +gentleman’s father, and is situated in <!-- page 212--><a +name="page212"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 212</span>a butyfull +part of Derbyshire. One of the little girls sees two young +ladys coming a little sideways across the common from a +gentleman’s house which is very near, which turns out to be +the gentleman’s two sisters. The little girl, Mamey, +mamey, der is doi Rawngas avelin accai atch a pray. The +young ladys comes to the tents and smiles, when the old woman +says to one of them, Good day, meyam, it’s a very fine day, +meyam; shall I tell you a few words, meyam? The old woman +takes them on one side and tells them something just to please +them, now and then a word of truth, the rest a good lot of +lies.</p> +<p>“The old man goes off for a stroll with a couple of +dogs.</p> +<p>“One of the young boys asks his mother for some money, +and she refuses him, or says she has got none. The boy +says, Where is the £000 tooteys sold froom those doi +Rawngas maw did accai I held now from them they pend them not +appopolar? One of the other brothers says to him, Hear, +Abraham, ile lend you 5s. Will you, my blessed +brother. Yes, I will; hear it is. Now we will boath +of us go to the gav togeather. One gets his fiddle ready +and the other the Tamareen. The harp is too heavy to +carry. They go to call at the post office for a +chinginargery—they boath come home rather wary.</p> +<p>“The next day the Boys go a fishing again and bring home +a good lot (as the day was not near so hot as the day before) and +comes home in good time to play the harp and violin (and +sometimes the Tambureen) for the county gouges [green horns], as +a good many comes to have a dance on the green—the +collection would be the boys pocket money.</p> +<p>“There is a great deal of amusement found by those that +us to follow Barns. The have many country people coming +them to hear there music and to dance on the green, or sometimes +in the barn, but most oftener in the house in a big kitchen, and +the country people would be staring at the collays, Gipsies, with +all there eyes, and the Gipsies would stare at the people to see +them such Dinalays [fools].</p> +<p><!-- page 213--><a name="page213"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +213</span>“Those who followed Barns, us to call +gentlemen’s houses with the Harps, and us to be called in +and make a good thing of it.</p> +<p>“Dear Mr.—With your permission I will leave of +now, and let you know a little more when I come. Hoping +that I have not trespased on your time to read such +follishness. All that I have written has happened.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">“I again beg to remain,<br /> +“Yours very respectfully,<br /> +“<span class="smcap">Welshanengay Bory +Boshahengbo</span>.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Hedge Fiddler.]</p> +<p>“I beg to acquaint you that I am the oldest living Welsh +Harper in the world at the present time. Mr. Thomas G---, +Welsh Harper to the Prince of Wales, is next to me.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>It would be perhaps a difficult task to find a score of +Gipsies out of the 15,000 to 20,000 there are in this country who +can write as well as the foregoing letter.</p> +<p>The following may be considered a fair specimen of the high +class or “Gentleman Gipsy,” so much admired by those +who have got the Gipsy spell round their necks, the Gipsy +spectacles before their eyes, the Gipsy charm in their pocket, +and who can see nothing but what is lively, charming, +fascinating, and delightful in the Gipsy, from the crown of his +head to the sole of his foot. To those of my friends I +present them with an account of Ryley Bosvil as a man after their +own heart, at the same time I would call their attention to his +ending, as related by Borrow.</p> +<p>Ryley Bosvil was a native of Yorkshire, a county where, as the +Gipsies say, “There’s a deadly sight of +Bosvils.” He was above the middle height, exceedingly +strong and active, and one of the best riders in Yorkshire, which +is saying a great deal. He was thoroughly versed in all the +arts of the old race; he had two wives, never went to church, and +considered that when a man died he was cast into the earth <!-- +page 214--><a name="page214"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +214</span>and there was an end of him. He frequently used +to say that if any of his people became Gorgios he would kill +them. He had a sister of the name of Clara, a nice, +delicate girl, about fourteen years younger than himself, who +travelled about with an aunt; this girl was noticed by a +respectable Christian family, who, taking great interest in her, +persuaded her to come and live with them. She was +instructed by them, in the rudiments of the Christian religion, +appeared delighted with her new friends, and promised never to +leave them. After the lapse of about six weeks there was a +knock at the door, and a dark man stood before it, who said he +wanted Clara. Clara went out trembling, had some discourse +with the man in an unknown tongue, and shortly returned in tears, +and said that she must go. “What for?” said her +friends. “Did you not promise to stay with +us?” “I did so,” said the girl, weeping +more bitterly; “but that man is my brother, who says I must +go with him; and what he says must be.” So with her +brother she departed, and her Christian friends never saw her +again. What became of her? Was she made away +with? Many thought she was, but she was not. Ryley +put her into a light cart, drawn by a “flying pony,” +and hurried her across England, even to distant Norfolk, where he +left her with three Gipsy women. With these women the +writer found her encamped in a dark wood, and had much discourse +with her both on Christian and Egyptian matters. She was +very melancholy, bitterly regretted her having been compelled to +quit her Christian friends, and said that she wished she had +never been a Gipsy. She was exhorted to keep a firm grip of +her Christianity, and was not seen again for a quarter of a +century, when she was met on Epsom Downs on the Derby day, when +the terrible horse, “Gladiateur,” beat all the +English steeds. She was then very much changed indeed, +appearing as a full-blown Egyptian matron, with two very handsome +daughters flaringly dressed in genuine Gipsy fashion, to whom she +was giving motherly counsels as to the <!-- page 215--><a +name="page215"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 215</span>best means +to <i>hok</i> and <i>dukker</i> the gentlefolk. All her +Christianity she appeared to have flung to the dogs, for when the +writer spoke to her on that very important subject she made no +answer save by an indescribable Gipsy look. On other +matters she was communicative enough, telling the writer, amongst +other things, that since he saw her she had been twice married, +and both times very well, for that her first husband, by whom she +had the two daughters, whom the writer “kept staring +at,” was a man every inch of him, and her second, who was +then on the Downs grinding knives with a machine he had, though +he had not much manhood, being nearly eighty years old, had +something much better, namely, a mint of money, which she hoped +shortly to have in her possession.</p> +<p>Ryley, like most of the Bosvils, was a tinker by profession; +but though a tinker, he was amazingly proud and haughty of +heart. His grand ambition was to be a great man among his +people, a Gipsy king (no such individuals as either Gipsy kings +or queens ever existed). To this end he furnished himself +with clothes made after the costliest Gipsy fashion; the two +hinder buttons of the coat, which was of thick blue cloth, were +broad gold pieces of Spain, generally called ounces; the +fore-buttons were English “spaded guineas,” the +buttons of the waistcoat were half-guineas, and those of the +collar and the wrists of his shirt were seven-shilling +gold-pieces. In this coat he would frequently make his +appearance on a magnificent horse, whose hoofs, like those of the +steed of a Turkish Sultan, were cased in shoes of silver. +How did he support such expense? it may be asked. Partly by +driving a trade in “wafedo loovo,” counterfeit coin, +with which he was supplied by certain honest tradespeople of +Brummagem; partly and principally by large sums of money which he +received from his two wives, and which they obtained by the +practice of certain arts peculiar to Gipsy females. One of +his wives was a truly remarkable woman. She was of the +Petalengro or Smith <!-- page 216--><a name="page216"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 216</span>tribe. Her Christian name, if +Christian name it can be called, was Xuri or Shuri, and from her +exceeding smartness and cleverness she was generally called by +the Gipsies Yocky Shuri—that is, smart or clever Shuri, +Yocky being a Gipsy word signifying “clever.” +She could dukker—that is, tell fortunes—to +perfection, by which alone, during the racing season, she could +make a hundred pounds a month. She was good at the big +hok—that is, at inducing people to put money into her hands +in the hope of it being multiplied; and, oh, dear! how she could +caur—that is, filch gold rings and trinkets from +jewellers’ cases, the kind of thing which the Spanish +Gipsies call ustibar pastesas—filching with hands. +Frequently she would disappear and travel about England, and +Scotland too, dukkering, hokking, and cauring, and after the +lapse of a month return and deliver to her husband, like a true +and faithful wife, the proceeds of her industry. So no +wonder that the Flying Tinker, as he was called, was enabled to +cut a grand appearance. He was very fond of hunting, and +would frequently join the field in regular hunting costume, save +and except that instead of the leather hunting cap he wore one of +fur, with a gold band round it, to denote that though he mixed +with Gorgios he was still a Romany chal. Thus equipped, and +mounted on a capital hunter, whenever he encountered a Gipsy +encampment he would invariably dash through it, doing all the +harm he could, in order, as he said, to let the juggals know that +he was their king, and had a right to do what he pleased with his +own. Things went on swimmingly for a great many years, but, +as prosperity does not continue for ever, his dark hour came at +last. His wives got into trouble in one or two expeditions, +and his dealings in wafedo loovo to be noised about. +Moreover, by his grand airs and violent proceedings, he had +incurred the hatred of both Gorgios and Gipsies, particularly of +the latter, some of whom he had ridden over and lamed for +life. One day he addressed his two wives—</p> +<blockquote><p><!-- page 217--><a name="page217"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 217</span>“The Gorgios seek to hang +me,<br /> +The Gipsies seek to kill me;<br /> +This country we must leave.”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Shuri</span>.</p> +<p>“I’ll join with you to heaven,<br /> +I’ll fare with you, Yandors,<br /> +But not if Lura goes.”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Lura</span>.</p> +<p>“I’ll join with you to heaven<br /> +And to the wicked country,<br /> +Though Shuri goeth too.”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Ryley</span>.</p> +<p>“Since I must choose betwixt you,<br /> +My choice is Yocky Shuri,<br /> +Though Lura loves me best.”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Lura</span>.</p> +<p>“My blackest curse on Shuri;<br /> +Oh, Ryley, I’ll not curse you,<br /> +But you will never thrive.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>She then took her departure, with her cart and donkey, and +Ryley remained with Shuri.</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Ryley</span>.</p> +<p>“I’ve chosen now betwixt ye,<br /> +Your wish you now have gotten,<br /> +But for it you shall smart.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>He then struck her with his fist on the cheek and broke her +jaw-bone. Shuri uttered no cry or complaint, only +mumbled—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Although with broken jaw-bone,<br /> +I’ll follow thee, my Riley,<br /> +Since Lura doesn’t fal.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Thereupon Ryley and Yocky Shuri left Yorkshire and wended +their way to London, where they took up their abode in the +Gipsyry near Shepherd’s Bush. Shuri went about +dukkering and hokking, but not with the spirit of former times, +for she was not quite so young as she had been, and her jaw, +which was never properly cured, pained her very <!-- page +218--><a name="page218"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +218</span>much. Ryley went about tinkering, but he was +unacquainted with London and its neighbourhood, and did not get +much to do. An old Gipsy man, who was driving about a +little cart filled with skewers, saw him standing in a state of +perplexity at a place where four roads met:—</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Old +Gipsy</span>.</p> +<p>“Methinks I see a brother.<br /> +Who’s your father? Who’s your mother?<br /> +And what be your name?”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Ryley</span>.</p> +<p>“A Bosvil was my father,<br /> +A Bosvil was my mother,<br /> +And Ryley is my name.”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Old +Gipsy</span>.</p> +<p>“I’m glad to see you, brother;<br /> +I am a kaulo camlo. <a name="citation218a"></a><a +href="#footnote218a" class="citation">[218a]</a><br /> +What service can I do?”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Ryley</span>.</p> +<p>“I’m jawing petulengring, <a +name="citation218b"></a><a href="#footnote218b" +class="citation">[218b]</a><br /> +But do not know the country;<br /> +Perhaps you’ll show me round.”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Old +Gipsy</span>.</p> +<p>“I’ll sikker tulle prala!<br /> +Ino bikkening escouyor, <a name="citation218c"></a><a +href="#footnote218c" class="citation">[218c]</a><br /> +And av along with me.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The old Gipsy showed Ryley about the country for a week or +two, and Ryley formed a kind of connection and did a little +business. He, however, displayed little or no energy, was +gloomy and dissatisfied, and frequently said that his heart was +broken since he had left Yorkshire. Shuri did her best to +cheer him, but without effect. Once when she bade him get +up and exert himself, he said that if he did it would be of no +use, and asked her whether she did not remember the parting +prophecy of his other wife, that he would never thrive. At +the end of about two years he ceased <!-- page 219--><a +name="page219"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 219</span>going his +rounds, and did nothing but smoke under the arches of the +railroad and loiter about beershops. At length he became +very weak and took to his bed; doctors were called in by his +faithful Shuri, but there is no remedy for a bruised +spirit. A Methodist came and asked him, “What was his +hope?” “My hope,” said he, “is that +when I am dead I shall be put into the ground, and my wife and +children will weep over me,” and such, it may be observed, +is the last hope of every genuine Gipsy. His hope was +gratified. Shuri and his children, of whom he had +three—two stout young fellows and a girl—gave him a +magnificent funeral, and screamed and shouted and wept over his +grave. They then returned to the “arches,” not +to divide his property among them, and to quarrel about the +division, according to Christian practice, but to destroy +it. They killed his swift pony—still swift though +twenty-seven years of age—and buried it deep in the ground +without depriving it of its skin. Then they broke the +caravan to pieces, making of the fragments a fire, on which they +threw his bedding, carpets, curtains, blankets, and everything +which would burn. Finally, they dashed his mirrors, china, +and crockery to pieces, hacked his metal pots, dishes, and what +not to bits, and flung the whole on the blazing pile. <a +name="citation219"></a><a href="#footnote219" +class="citation">[219]</a> Such was the life, such the +death, and such were the funeral obsequies of Ryley Bosvil, a +Gipsy who will be long remembered amongst the English Romany for +his buttons, his two wives, grand airs, and last not least, for +having been the composer of various stanzas in the Gipsy tongue, +which have plenty of force if nothing else to recommend +them. One of these, addressed to Yocky Shuri, runs as +follows:—</p> +<blockquote><p><!-- page 220--><a name="page220"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 220</span>“Beneath the bright sun there +is none,<br /> + There is none<br +/> +I love like my Yocky Shuri;<br /> +With the greatest delight in blood I would fight<br /> +To the knees for my Yocky Shuri.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>How much better and happier it would have been for this poor, +hardened, ignorant, old Gipsy, if, instead of indulging in such +rubbish as he did in the last hours of an idle and wasted life, +he could, after a life spent in doing good to the Gipsies and +others over whom he had influence, as the shades of the evening +of life gathered round him, sung, from the bottom of his +heart—fetching tears to his eyes as it did mine a Sunday or +two ago—the following verses to the tune of +“Belmont:”—</p> +<blockquote><p>“When in the vale of lengthened years<br /> + My feeble feet shall tread,<br /> +And I survey the various scenes<br /> + Through which I have been led,</p> +<p>“How many mercies will my life<br /> + Before my view unfold!<br /> +What countless dangers will be past!<br /> + What tales of sorrow told!</p> +<p>“This scene will all my labours end,<br /> + This road conduct on high;<br /> +With comfort I’ll review the past,<br /> + And triumph though I die.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>On the first Sunday in February this year I found myself +surrounded by a black, thick London fog—almost as dense as +the blackest midnight, and an overpowering sense of suffocation +creeping over me—in the midst of an encampment of Gipsies +at Canning Town, and, acting upon their kind invitation, I crept +into one of their tents, and there found about a dozen Gipsy men +of all sizes, ages, and complexions, squatting upon peg +shavings. Some of their faces looked full of intelligence +and worthy of a better vocation, and others seemed as if they had +had the “cropper” at work round their ears; so short +was their hair <!-- page 221--><a name="page221"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 221</span>that any one attempting to +“pull it up by the roots” would have a difficult +task, unless he set to it with his teeth. They looked to me +as if several of them had worn bright steel ornaments round their +wrists and had danced at a county ball, and done more stepping +upon the wheel of fortune than many people imagine; at any rate, +they were quite happy in their way, and seemed prepared for +another turn round when needful. Their first salutation +was, “Well, governor, how are you? Sit you down and +make yourself comfortable, and let’s have a chat. +Never mind if it is Sunday, send for some ‘fourpenny’ +for us.” I partly did as they bid me, but, owing to +the darkness of the tent and the fog, I sat upon a seat that was +partly covered with filth, consequently I had an addition to my +trousers more than I bargained for. I told them my object +was not to come to send for “fourpenny,” but to get a +law passed to compel the Gipsy parents to send their children to +school, and to have their tents registered and provided with a +kind of school pass book; and, before I had well finished my +remarks, one of the Gipsies, a good-looking fellow, said, +“I say, Bill, that will be a capital thing, won’t +it?” “God bless you, man, for it,” was +the remark of another, and so the thing went the round among +them. By this time there were some score or more Gipsy +women and children at the tent door, or, I should rather say, rag +coverlet, who heard what had passed, and they thoroughly fell in +with the idea. The question next turned upon +religion. They said they had heard that there were +half-a-dozen different religions, and asked me if it was +true. One said he was a Roman Catholic; but did not believe +there was a hell. Another said he was a Methodist, but +could not agree with their singing and praying, and so it went +round till they asked me what religion was. I told them in +a way that seemed to satisfy them, and I also told them some of +its results. I could not learn that any of these Gipsies +had ever been in a place of worship.</p> +<p><!-- page 222--><a name="page222"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +222</span>I mentioned to them that I wanted to show, during my +inquiries, both sides of the question, and should be glad if they +would point out to me the name of a Gipsy whom they could look up +to and consider as a good pattern for them to follow. Here +they began to scratch their heads, and said I had put them +“a nightcap on.” “Upon my soul,” +said one, “I should not know where to begin to look for +one,” and then related to me the following +story:—“The Devil sent word to some of his agents for +them to send him the worst man they could find upon the face of +the earth. So news went about among various societies +everywhere, consultations and meetings were held, and it was +decided that a Gipsy should be sent, as none of the societies or +agents could find one bad enough. Accordingly a passport +was procured, and they started the Gipsy on his way. When +he came to the door of hell he knocked for admittance. The +Devil shouted out, ‘Who is there?’ The Gipsy +cried out, ‘A Gipsy.’ ‘All right,’ +said the Devil; ‘you are just the man I am wanting. I +have been on the look-out for you some time. Come in. +I have been told the Gipsies are the worst folks in all the +world.’ The Gipsy had not been long in hell before +the Devil perceived that he was too bad for his place, and the +place began to swarm with young imps to such a degree that the +Devil called the Gipsy to him one day, and said, ‘Of all +the people that have ever come to this place you are the +worst. You are too bad for us. Here is your +passport. Be off back again!’ The Devil opened +the door, and said, as the Gipsy was going, ‘Make yourself +scarce.’ So you see,” said Lee to me, “we +are too bad for the Devil. We’ll go anywhere, fight +anybody, or do anything. Now, lads, drink that +‘fourpenny’ up, and let’s send for some +more.” This is Gipsy life in England on a Sunday +afternoon within the sound of church bells.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p222b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"A Fortune-telling Gipsy enjoying her pipe" +title= +"A Fortune-telling Gipsy enjoying her pipe" +src="images/p222s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>The proprietor of the <i>Weekly Times</i> very readily granted +permission for one of the principals of his staff to accompany me +to one of the Gipsy encampments a Sunday or two ago <!-- page +223--><a name="page223"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 223</span>on +the outskirts of London. Those who know the writer would +say the article is truthful, and not in the least +overdrawn:—“The lane was full of decent-looking +houses, tenanted by labourers in foundries and gas and +waterworks; but there were spaces between the rows of houses, +forming yards for the deposit of garbage, and in these unsavoury +spots the Gipsies had drawn up their caravans, and pitched their +smoke-blackened tents. These yards were separated from each +other by rows of cottages, and each yard contained families +related near or distantly, or interested in each other’s +welfare by long associations in the country during summer time, +and in such places as we found them during the winter +season. After spending several hours with these people in +their tents and caravans, and passing from yard to yard, asking +the talkative ones questions, we came to the conclusion that, in +the whole bounds of this great metropolis, it would have been +impossible to have found any miscalling themselves Gipsies whose +mode of living more urgently called for the remedial action of +the law than the tenants of Lamb-lane. In the first place, +there was not a true Gipsy amongst them; nor one man, woman, or +child who could in any degree claim relationship with a +Gipsy. They were, all of them, idle loafers, who had +adopted the wandering life of the Gipsy because of the +opportunities it afforded of combining a maximum of idle hours +with a minimum of work. The men exhibited this in their +countenances, in the attitudes they took up, by the whining drawl +with which they spoke; the women, by their dirtiness and +inattention to dress; and the children, by their filthy +condition. The men and women had fled from the restraints +of house life to escape the daily routine which a home involved; +the men had no higher ambition than to obtain a small sum of +money on the Saturday to pay for a few days’ food. +There was not one man amongst them who could solder a broken +kettle; a few, however, could mend a chair bottom, but there all +industrial ability ended; and the <!-- page 224--><a +name="page224"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 224</span>others got +their living by shaving skewers from Monday morning to Friday +night, which were sold to butchers at 10d. or 1s. the +stone. These men stayed at home, working over the brazier +of burning coke during the week, while their wives hawked small +wool mats or vases, but nothing of their own manufacture; and the +grown-up lads, on market-days, added to the general industry by +buying flowers in Covent-garden, and hawking them in the suburbs +of the metropolis. We were assured by Mr. Smith that this +class of pseudo-Gipsy was largely on the increase, and to check +their spread Mr. Smith suggests that the provisions of an Act of +Parliament should be mainly directed. Only one of all we +saw and spoke to on Sunday was ‘a scholar’—that +is, could read at all—and this was a lad of about fourteen, +who had spent a few hours occasionally at a Board school. +With all the others the knowledge that comes of reading was an +absolute blank. They knew nothing, except that the proceeds +of the previous week had been below the average; social events of +surpassing interest had not reached them, and the future was +limited by ‘to-morrow.’ We questioned them upon +their experiences of the past winter, and the preference they had +for their tents over houses was emphatically marked. +‘Brick houses,’ said one woman, who was suckling a +baby, ‘are so full of draughts.’ Night and day +the brazier of burning coke was never allowed to go low, and +under the tent the ground was always dry, however wet it might be +outside, because of the heat from the brazier; besides, they lay +upon well-trodden-down straw, six or eight inches deep, and +covered themselves with their clothes, their wraps, their filthy +rugs, and tattered rags, and were as warm as possible. The +tents had many advantages over a brick house. Besides +having no draughts, there was no accumulation of snow upon the +tops of the tents; and so these witless people were content to +endure poverty, hunger, cold, and dirt for the sake of minimising +their contribution to the general good of the whole +commonwealth. The poorest working man in <!-- page 225--><a +name="page225"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 225</span>London who +does an honest week’s work is a hero compared with such men +as these. It would be impossible to nurture sentiment in +any tent in Lamb-lane. There was no face with a glimmer of +honest self-reliance about it, no face bearing any trace of the +strange beauty we had noticed in other encampments, and no form +possessed of any distinguishing grace. The whole of the +yards were redolent of dirt; and the people, each and all, +inexcusably foul in person. In several yards little boys or +girls sat on the ground in the open air, tending coke fires over +which stood iron pots, and, as the water boiled and raised the +lids, it was plain that the women were taking advantage of the +quiet hours of the afternoon for a wash. Before we came +away from the last yard, lines had been strung across all the +yards, and the hastily-washed linen rags were fluttering in the +air. One tent was closed to visitors. It was then +four o’clock, and a woman told us confidentially her friend +was washing a blanket, which she would have to dry that same +afternoon, as it would be ‘wanted’ at night; but +‘the friend’ professed her readiness to take charge +of anything we had to spare for the washerwoman—a mouthful +of baccy, a ‘sucker’ for the baby, or ‘three +ha’pence for a cup of tea.’ Boys were there of +fourteen and sixteen, with great rents in the knees of their +corduroys, who only went out to hawk one day in the +week—Saturday. They started with a light truck for +Covent-garden at four in the morning, and would have from 4s. to +6s. to lay out in flowers. When questioned as to what +flowers they had bought on the previous day, one lad said they +were ‘tulips, hyacinths, and cyclaments,’ but nobody +could give us an intelligible description of the last-named +flowers. Two lads generally took charge of the flower +truck, and the result of the day’s hawking was usually a +profit of half-a-crown to three shillings. These lads also +assisted during the week in shaving skewers, and accompanied +their fathers to market when they had a load to sell. In +one tent we found a dandy-hen sitting; she had been so <!-- page +226--><a name="page226"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +226</span>occupied one week, and the presence of the children and +adults, who shared her straw bed, in no way discomposed +her. We found that baccy and ‘suckers’ were the +most negotiable exchanges with these people. The women, +young and old, small boys and the men, all smoked, and the day +became historic with them because, of the extra smokes they were +able to have. The ‘suckers’ were the largest +specimen of ‘bulls’ eyes’ we could +find—not those dainty specimens sold at the West-end or in +the Strand, but real whoppers, almost the size of pigeons’ +eggs; and yet there was no baby whose mouth was not found equal +to the reception and the hiding of the largest; and we noticed as +a strange psychological fact that no baby would consent, though +earnestly entreated by its mother, to suffer the +‘sucker’ to leave its mouth for the mother to look +at. The babies knew better, shaking their wary little heads +at their mothers. Instinct was stronger than +obedience. We were not sorry to get away from Lamb-lane, +with its filthy habitations, blanket washings, ragged boys and +girls, lazy men and women. For the genuine Gipsy tribe, and +their mysterious promptings to live apart from their fellows in +the lanes and fields of the country, we have a sentimental pity; +but with such as these Lamb-lane people, off-scourings of the +lowest form of society, we have no manner of sympathy; and we +hope that a gracious Act of Parliament may soon rid English +social life of such a plague, and teach such people their duty to +their children and to society at large—things they are too +ignorant and too idle to learn for themselves.”</p> +<p>My son sends me the following account of a visit he made to a +Gipsy encampment near London:—I visited the camp at Barking +Road this afternoon. Possibly you thought I might not go if +you gave me a correct description of the route, for I certainly +went through more muddy streets and over lock-bridges than your +instructions mentioned. Presuming I was near the camp, I +inquired of a policeman, and was surprised with the reply that +there used to be one, but <!-- page 227--><a +name="page227"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 227</span>he had not +heard anything of it for a long while. His mind was +evidently wandering, or else he meant it as a joke, for we were +then standing within three hundred yards of the largest +encampment I have yet seen. It is situated at the back of +Barking Road, in what may be termed a field, but it certainly is +not a green one, for the only horse and donkey that I saw were +standing against boxes eating—perhaps corn.</p> +<p>I am surprised that the Gipsies should choose such an exposed, +damp place for camping-ground, as it is always partly under +water, and the only shelter afforded being a few houses at the +back and one side; the rest faces, and is consequently exposed +to, the bleak winds blowing over the marsh and the river.</p> +<p>At the entrance I was met by a poor woman taking a child to +the doctor, her chief dread being that if she did not the law +would be down upon her. She had put the journey off to the +last minute, for the poor thing looked nearly dead then.</p> +<p>Once in the camp one could not but notice the miserable +appearance of the place. Women and children, not one of +whom could read and write, with scarcely any clothing, the latter +without shoes or stockings. Twenty to twenty-five old, +ragged, and dirty tents—not canvas, but old, worn-out +blankets—separated by the remains of old broken vans, +buckets, and rubbish that must have taken years to +accumulate. Everything betokened age and poverty. +Evidently this field has been a camping-ground for some +years. Three old vans were all the place could boast of, +and one of those was made out of a two-wheeled cart.</p> +<p>I was for the first ten minutes fully occupied in trying to +keep a respectable distance from a number of dogs of all sizes +and breeds, which had the usual appetite for fresh meat and tweed +trowsering, and, at the same time, endeavouring in vain to find +solid ground upon which to stand, for the place at the entrance +and all round the tents was one regular mass of deep +“slush.” It soon became known that my <!-- page +228--><a name="page228"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +228</span>pockets were plentifully supplied with half-ounces of +tobacco and sweets. These I soon disposed off, especially +the latter, for there seemed no end to the little bare-footed +children that could walk, and those that couldn’t were +brought in turn by their sisters or brothers. I was invited +to visit all the tents, but I could gain but little information +beyond an account of the severe winter, bad state of trade, your +visit in one of the black, dense fogs, &c.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p228b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Inside a Christian Gipsy’s Van—Mrs. Simpson’s" +title= +"Inside a Christian Gipsy’s Van—Mrs. Simpson’s" +src="images/p228s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>The men followed the occupation of either tinkers or +peg-makers, and all the young women will pull out their pipe and +ask for tobacco as readily as the old ones.</p> +<p>The camp is one of the Lees. The majority of the men, +women, and children are of light complexion, and, as for a +dark-eyed beauty, one was not to be found. I stayed most of +the time under the “blanket” of the old man, Thomas +Lee, who is a jolly old fellow about sixty, and the father of +eleven young children. He was evidently the life of the +camp, for they all flock round his tent to hear his interesting +snatches of song and story.</p> +<p>He had heard that Her Majesty had sent £50 to assist you +in getting the children educated, and just before I left I was +pleased to hear him give vent to his feelings with the rough but +patriotic speech that “She was a rare good woman, and a +Queen of the right sort.”</p> +<p>It must not be inferred from what I have said, or shall say, +that there are no good Gipsies among them. Here and there +are females to be found ready at all hours and on all occasions +to do good both to the souls and bodies of Gipsies and +house-dwellers as they travel with their basket from door to door +hawking their wares; and to illustrate the truth of this I cannot +do better than refer to the case of the good and kind-hearted +Mrs. Simpson, who is generally located with her husband and some +grand-children in her van in the neighbourhood near Notting Hill, +on the outskirts of London. Mrs. Simpson tells me that she +is not a thorough Gipsy, only a half one. Her father was +<!-- page 229--><a name="page229"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +229</span>one of the rare old Gipsy family of Lees, of Norfolk, +and her mother was a Gorgio or Gentile, who preferred following +the “witching eye” and “black locks” to +the rag and stick hovel—or, to be more aristocratic, +“the tent”—whose roof and sides consisted of +sticks and canvas, with an opening in the roof to serve as a +chimney, through which the smoke arising from the hearth-stick +fire could pass, excepting that which settled on the hands and +face. Grass, green, decayed, or otherwise, to serve as a +carpet, the brown trampled turf taking the place of mosaic and +encaustic tile pavements, straw instead of a feather-bed, and a +soap-box, tea-chest, and like things doing duty as drawing-room +furniture. Mrs. Simpson, when quite a child, was always +reckoned most clever in the art of deception, telling lies and +fortunes out of a small black Testament, of which she could not +read a sentence or tell a letter; sometimes reading the planets +of silly geese, simpletons, and fools out of it when it was +upside down, and when detected she was always ready with a +plausible excuse, which they, with open mouths, always swallowed +as Gospel; and for more than twenty-five years she kept herself +and family in this way with sufficient money to keep them in +luxury, loose living, and idleness, till the year of 1859, when, +by some unaccountable means, her conscience, which, up to this +time, had been insensible, dull, and without feeling, became +awakened, sharp, and alive. Probably this quickening took +place in consequence of her hearing a good Methodist minister in +a mission-room in the neighbourhood. The result was that +the money she took by telling fortunes began to burn her fingers, +and to make it sit upon her conscience as easy as possible she +had a large pocket made in her dress so that she could drop it in +without much handling. It was no easy thing to give up such +an easy way of getting a living to face the realities of an +honest pedlar’s life, in the midst of “slamming of +doors,” “cold-shoulders,” “scowls,” +“frowns,” and insults; and a woman with less +determination of character would never <!-- page 230--><a +name="page230"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 230</span>have +attempted it—or, at least, if attempted, it would soon have +been given up on account of the insurmountable difficulties +surrounding it. Many times she has sat by the wayside with +her basket, after walking and toiling all day, and not having +taken a penny with which to provide the Sunday’s dinner, +when at the last extremity Providence has opened her way and +friends have appeared upon the scene, and she has been enabled to +“go on her way rejoicing,” and for the last twenty +years she has been trying to do all the good she can, and to day +she is not one penny the loser, but, on the other hand, a gainer, +by following such a course. Personally, I have received +much encouragement and valuable information at her hands to help +me in my work to do the Gipsy children good in one form or +other. I have frequently called to see the grand old Gipsy +woman, sometimes unexpectedly, and when I have done so I have +either found her reading the Bible or else it has been close to +her elbow. Its stains and soils betoken much wear and +constant use. Very different to the old woman who put her +spectacles into her Bible as she set it upon the clock, and lost +them for more than seven years. She is a firm believer in +prayer; in fact, it seems the very essence of her life, and she +can relate numbers of instances when and where God has answered +her petitions. On her bed-quilt are the following texts of +scripture, poetry, &c., which, as she says, these, with other +portions of God’s word, she “has learnt to read +without any other aid except His Holy +Spirit:”—“For God so loved the world that He +gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him should +not perish but have everlasting life.” “Every +kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a +house divided against a house falleth.” “But +whoso hath this world’s goods and seeth his brother have +need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how +dwelleth the love of God in him?” “All things +whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer believing ye shall +receive.” “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not +want. <!-- page 231--><a name="page231"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 231</span>He maketh me to lie down in green +pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters.” +“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of +death I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy +staff they comfort me.” “I am the door; by Me +if any man enter in he shall be saved, and shall go in and out +and find pasture.” “Let nothing be done through +strife, but in lowliness of mind; let each esteem others better +than themselves.” “Look not every man on his +own things, but every man also on the things of +others.” “Let your speech be always with grace, +seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every +man.” “Wives submit yourselves unto your +husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.” “Husbands +love your own wives and be not bitter against them.” +“Children obey your parents in all things, for this is well +pleasing unto the Lord.” “Fathers provoke not +your children to anger lest they be discouraged.” +“Servants obey in all things your masters according to the +flesh, not with eye service as man pleases, but in singleness of +heart fearing God.” “The fruit of the spirit is +love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,” +&c. “The wages of sin is death.” +“Let us run the race with patience.” +“Judge not, that ye be not judged.” +“Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even +so to them.” “He that cometh unto Me I will in +no wise cast out.” “Come unto Me all ye that +labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” +“I am the way, the truth, and the life.” +“Whatsoever ye find to do, do it with all your +might.” “And God shall wipe away all tears from +their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor +crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former +things are passed away.” “He that overcometh +shall inherit all things; and I will be his God and he shall be +My son.” “And they shall see His face and His +name shall be in their foreheads.” “And there +shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light +of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall +reign for ever and ever.”</p> +<blockquote><p><!-- page 232--><a name="page232"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 232</span>“Rock of Ages, cleft for +me,<br /> +Let me hide myself in Thee;<br /> +Let the water and the blood,<br /> +From Thy riven side which flowed,<br /> +Be of sin the double cure,<br /> +Save me from its guilt and power.</p> +<p>“While I draw this fleeting breath,<br /> +When mine eyes shall close in death,<br /> +When I soar to worlds unknown,<br /> +See Thee on Thy judgment throne;<br /> +Rock of Ages, cleft for me,<br /> +Let me hide myself in Thee.”</p> +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>“Just as I am, without one plea,<br /> +But that Thy blood was shed for me,<br /> +And that Thou bidd’st me come to Thee,<br /> +O Lamb of God, I come, I come!</p> +<p>“Just as I am—Thy love unknown<br /> +Has broken every barrier down;<br /> +Now to be Thine, yea, Thine alone,<br /> +O Lamb of God, I come, I come!”</p> +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>“Abide with me: fast falls the eventide;<br /> +The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide;<br /> +When other helpers fail, and comforts flee,<br /> +Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.</p> +<p>“Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;<br +/> +Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away!<br /> +Change and decay in all around I see;<br /> +O Thou who changest not, abide with me.</p> +<p>“I need Thy presence every passing hour;<br /> +What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?<br /> +Who like Thyself my guide and stay can be?<br /> +Through cloud and sunshine, oh, abide with me.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Upon these promises of help, comfort, warning, encouragement, +and consolation, she has many times rested her wearied body after +returning from her day’s trudging and toil, and under these +she has slept peacefully as in the arms of death, ready to answer +the Master’s summons, and to meet with her dear little boy +who has crossed the river, <!-- page 233--><a +name="page233"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 233</span>when He +shall say, “It is enough; come up hither,” and +“sit on My throne.” Although she is a big, +powerful woman, and has been more so in years that are past, when +any one begins to talk about Heaven and the happiness and joy in +reserve for those who have a hope of meeting with loved ones +again, when the cares and anxieties of life are ended, it is not +long before they see big, scalding, briny tears rolling down her +dark, Gipsy-coloured face, and she will frequently edge in words +during the conversation about her “Dear Saviour” and +“Blessed Lord and Master.” I may mention the +names of other warm-hearted Gipsies who are trying to improve the +condition of some of the adult portion of their brethren and +sisters—dwellers upon the turf, and clod scratchers, who +feed many of their poor women and children upon cabbage broth and +turnip sauce, and “bed them down,” after kicks, +blows, and ill-usage, upon rotten straw strewn upon the damp +ground. Mrs. Carey, Mr. and Mrs. Eastwood, Mrs. Hedges, and +the three Gipsy brothers Smith, Mrs. Lee, and a few others, have +not laboured without some success, at the same time they are +powerless to improve the condition of the future generations of +Gipsy women and children, young mongrels and hut-dwelling +Gorgios, by applying the civilising influences of education and +sanitary measures to banish heathenism worse than that of Africa, +idleness, immorality, thieving, lying, and deception of the +deepest dye from our midst, as exhibited in the dwellings of the +rag and stick hovels to be seen flitting about the outskirts, +fringe, and scum of our own neglected ragamuffin population, +roaming about under the cognition that the name of a Gipsy is +nauseous and disgusting in most people’s mouths on account +of the damning evil practices they have followed and carried out +for centuries upon the honest and industrious artisans, +tradesmen, and others they have been brought in contact +with. A raw-boned Gipsy, with low, slanting forehead, +deep-set eyes, large eyebrows, thick lips, wide mouth, skulkingly +slow gait, slouched hat, and a large <!-- page 234--><a +name="page234"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +234</span>grizzly-coloured dog at his heels, in a dark, narrow +lane, on a starlight night, is not a pleasant state of things for +a timid and nervous man to grapple with; nevertheless this is one +side of a Gipsy’s life as he goes prowling about in quest +of his prey, and as such it is seen by those who know something +of Gipsy life.</p> +<blockquote><p>“And they return at evening: they growl like +a dog and compass the city;<br /> +They—they prowl about for food.<br /> +If (or since) they are not satisfied they spend the night (in the +search).”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">“Sunday at Home.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Even my friends, the canal-boatmen, look upon Gipsies as the +lowest of the low, and lower down the social scale than any +boatman to be met with. Some of them have gone so far as to +try to shake my nerves by telling me that, now I had taken the +Gipsy women and children in hand, they would not give sixpence +for my life. I could only reply with a smile, and tell them +that I was in safe keeping till the work was done, as in the case +of the canal movement. Frowns, dogs, sticks, stones, and +oaths did not frighten me. The time had arrived when the +vagabondish life of a Gipsy—so called—should be +unmasked and the plain truth made known; and for this the Gipsies +will thank me, if they take into consideration the object I have +in view and the end I am seeking. My object is to elevate +them, through the instrumentality of sanitary officer and +schoolmaster being at work among the children, into respectable +citizens of society, earning an honest livelihood by honourable +and legitimate means; far better to do this than to go sneaking +about the country, begging, cadging, lying, and stealing all they +can lay their hands upon, and training their children to put up +with the scoffs, sneers, and insults of the Gorgios or Gentiles +for the sake of pocketing a penny at the cost of losing their +manhood. A thousand times better live a life such as would +enable them to look <!-- page 235--><a name="page235"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 235</span>everybody straight in the face than +burrowing and scratching their way into the ground, making +skewers at one shilling per stone, and being considered as +outlaws, having the mark of Cain upon their forehead, with their +hands against everybody and everybody against them. There +is no honour in a scamp’s life, credit in being a thief, +glory surrounding a rogue, and halo over the life of a vagabond +and a tramp. To see a half-naked, full grown-man and his +wife, with six or eight children, sitting on the damp ground in +rag huts large enough only for a litter of pigs, scratching +roasted potatoes out of the dying embers of a coke fire, as +thousands are doing to-day, is enough to freeze the blood in +one’s veins, make one utter a shriek of horror and despair, +and to bring down the wrath of God upon the country that allows +such a state of things in her midst.</p> +<blockquote><p>“How dark yon dwelling by the solemn +grove!”</p> +</blockquote> +<h2><!-- page 236--><a name="page236"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 236</span>Part V.<br /> +The sad Condition of the Gipsies, with Suggestions for their +Improvement.</h2> +<p>One thing that strikes me in going through the writings of +those authors in this country who have endeavoured to deal with +the Gipsy question is, their hesitation to tackle the Gipsy +difficulty at home. On the surface of the books they have +written there appears a disposition to mince the subject, at all +events, that amount of courage has not been put into their works +that characterised Grellmann’s work upon the Gipsies of his +own country. If an account similar to Grellmann’s had +appeared concerning our English Gipsies a century ago, and +energetic action had been taken by our law-makers, instead of +publishing an account of the Hungarian and other Continental +Gipsies, it is impossible to calculate the beneficent results +that would have accrued long before this, both to the Gipsies +themselves and the country at large.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p236b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Inside a Gipsy Fortune-teller’s van near Latimer Road" +title= +"Inside a Gipsy Fortune-teller’s van near Latimer Road" +src="images/p236s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>One writer deals principally with the Scotch Gipsies, another +with the Spanish Gipsies, another is trying to prove the Egyptian +origin of the Gipsies, another is tracing their language, another +treats upon our English Gipsies in a kind of +“milk-and-watery” fashion that will neither do them +good nor harm—he pleases his readers, but leaves the +Gipsies where he found them, viz., in the ditch. Another +went to work on the principle of praying and believing for them; +but, I am sorry to say, in his circumscribed sphere his faith and +works fell flat, on account, no doubt, of this dear, good <!-- +page 237--><a name="page237"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +237</span>man and his friends undertaking to do a work which +should in that day have been undertaken by the State, at least, +that part of it relating to the education of the Gipsy +children.</p> +<p>The Gipsy race is supposed to be the most beautiful in the +world, and amongst the Russian Gipsies are to be found +countenances, which, to do justice to, would require an abler pen +than mine; but exposure to the rays of the sun, the biting of the +frost, and the pelting of the pitiless sleet and snow destroys +the beauty at a very early age, and if in infancy their personal +advantages are remarkable, their ugliness at an advanced age is +no less so, for then it is loathsome and +appalling:—“He wanted but the dark and kingly crown +to have represented the monster who opposed the progress of +Lucifer whilst careering in burning arms and infernal glory to +the outlet of his hellish prison.” In our own country +a number of Gipsies sit as models, for which they get one +shilling per hour. They are not in demand as perfect +specimens of the human figure from the crown of the head to the +sole of the foot; but few of them, owing to their low, debasing +habits, have arrived at that state of perfection. I know +one real, fine, old Gipsy woman who sits to artists for the back +of her head only, on account of her black, frizzy, raven +locks. One will sit for her eyes, another for the nose, +another for the hands and feet, another for the colour +only. Alfred Smith sits for his feet, and there are others +who sit for their legs and arms. No class of people, owing +to their mixture with other classes, tribes, and nations, +presents a greater variety of models for the artist than the +Gipsy. If an artist wants to paint a thief he can find a +model among the Gipsies. If he wants to paint a dark +highwayman lurking behind a hedge after his prey he goes to the +Gipsy. If he wants to paint Ajax he goes to the +Gipsy. If he wants to paint a Grecian, Roman, or Spaniard +he goes to the Gipsy. Of course there are exceptions, but +if an artist wants to paint a large, fine, intellectual-looking +figure, with an open countenance, he <!-- page 238--><a +name="page238"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 238</span>keeps away +from the Gipsies and seeks his models elsewhere. Dregs +among the Gipsies have produced queens for the artists.</p> +<p>Gipsies with a mixture of English blood in their veins have +produced men with pluck, courage, and stamina, strongly built, +with plenty of muscle and bone. Two “bruisers” +of the Gipsy vagabond class have worn the champion’s belt +of the world; and, on the other hand, this mixture of English and +Gipsy blood has produced some fine delicate Grecian forms of +female beauty, dove-like, soft in eye, hand, and heart—the +flashy fire in the eye of a Gipsy has been reduced to the modesty +and innocence and simplicity of a child. Our present race +of Gipsies, under the influence of education, refinement, and +religion, will, if properly and wisely taken in hand and dealt +with according to the light of reason and truth, produce a class +of men and women well qualified to take their share, for weal or +for woe, in the struggle of life.</p> +<p>Some first-rate songsters and musicians have been produced +among the Gipsies, and whose merits have been acknowledged. +Perhaps the highest compliment ever paid to a singer was paid by +Catalini herself to one of the daughters of a tanned and tawny +skin. It is well known in Russia that the celebrated +Italian was so enchanted with the voice of a Moscow Gipsy (who, +after the former had displayed her noble talent before a splendid +audience in the old Russian capital, stepped forward and poured +forth one of her national strains) that she tore from her own +shoulders a shawl of cashmere which had been presented to her by +the Pope, and, embracing the Gipsy, insisted on her acceptance of +the splendid gift, saying that it was intended for the matchless +songster, which she now perceived she herself was not. No +doubt there are many good voices among our Gipsies; what is +required to bring them out is education and culture. Our +best Gipsy songsters and musicians are in Wales.</p> +<p><!-- page 239--><a name="page239"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +239</span>The following is a specimen of a Gipsy poetic effusion, +which my Gipsy admirers will not consider an extraordinarily +high-flown production—the outcome of nearly one million +Gipsies who have wandered up and down Europe for more than three +hundred years, as related by Borrow.</p> +<h3>TWO GIPSIES.</h3> +<blockquote><p>“Two Gipsy lads were transported,<br /> +Were sent across the great water;<br /> +Plato was sent for rioting,<br /> +And Louis for stealing the purse<br /> + Of a great lady.</p> +<p>“And when they came to the other country,<br /> +The country that lies across the water,<br /> +Plato was speedily hung,<br /> +But Louis was taken as a husband<br /> + By a great lady.</p> +<p>“You wish to know who was the lady:<br /> +’Twas the lady from whom he stole the purse;<br /> +The Gipsy had a black and witching eye,<br /> +And on account of that she followed him<br /> + Across the great water.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Smart and Crofton, speaking poetically and romantically of +Gipsy life, say as follows:—</p> +<p>“With the first spring sunshine comes the old longing to +be off, and soon is seen, issuing from his winter quarters, a +little cavalcade, tilted cart, bag and baggage, donkeys and dogs, +rom, romni, and tickni, chavis, and the happy family is once more +under weigh for the open country. With dark, restless eye +and coarse, black hair fluttered by the breeze, he slouches +along, singing as he goes, in heart, if not in precise +words—</p> +<blockquote><p>“I loiter down by thorpe and town,<br /> + For any job I’m willing;<br /> +Take here and there a dusty brown,<br /> + And here and there a shilling.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>No carpet can please him like the soft green turf, and no <!-- +page 240--><a name="page240"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +240</span>curtains compare with the snow-white blossoming +hedgerow thereon. A child of Nature, he loves to repose on +the bare breast of the great mother. As the smoke of his +evening fire goes up to heaven, and the savoury odour of roast +hotchi witchi or of canengri soup salutes his nostrils, he sits +in the deepening twilight drinking in with unconscious delight +all the sights and sounds which the country affords; with his +keen senses alive to every external impression he feels that</p> +<blockquote><p>“’Tis sweet to see the evening star +appear,<br /> +’Tis sweet to listen as the night winds creep<br /> + From leaf to leaf.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>He dreamily hears the distant bark of the prowling fox, and +the melancholy hootings of the wood owls; he marks the shriek of +the night-wandering weasel, and the rustle of the bushes as some +startled forest creature darts into deep coverts; or, perchance, +the faint sounds from a sequestered hamlet of a great city. +Cradled from infancy in such haunts as these ‘places of +nestling green for poets made,’ and surely for Gipsies too, +no wonder if, after the fitful fever of town life, he sleeps +well, with the unforgotten and dearly-loved lullabies of his +childhood soothing him to rest.”</p> +<p>The following is in their own Gipsy language to each other, +and exhibits a true type of the feeling of revenge they foster to +one another for wrongs done and injuries received, and may be +considered a fair specimen of the disposition of thousands of +Gipsies in our midst:—“Just see, mates, what a +blackguard he is. He has been telling wicked lies about us, +the cursed dog. I will murder him when I get hold of +him. That creature, his wife, is just as bad. She is +worse than he. Let us thrash them both and drive them out +of our society, and not let them come near us, such cut-throats +and informers as they are. They are nothing but +murderers. They are informers. We shall all come to +grief through their misdoings.” Not <!-- page +241--><a name="page241"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +241</span>much poetry and romance in language and characters of +this description.</p> +<blockquote><p>“These Indians ne’er forget<br /> +Nor evermore forgive an injury.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The following is a wail of their own, taken from Smart and +Crofton, and will show that the Gipsies themselves do not think +tent life is so delightful, happy, and free as has been pictured +in the imaginative brain of novel writers, whose knowledge has +been gained by visiting the Gipsies as they have basked on the +grassy banks on a hot summer day, surrounded by the warbling +songsters and rippling brooks of water, as clear as crystal, at +their feet, sending forth dribbling sounds of enchantment to fall +upon musical ears, touching the cords of poetic affection and +lyric sympathy:—“Now, mates, be quick. Put your +tent up. Much rain will come down, and snow, too—we +shall all die to-night of cold; and bring something to make a +good fire, too. Put the tent down well, much wind will come +this night. My children will die of cold. Put all the +rods in the ground properly to make it stand well. The poor +children cry for food. My God! what shall I do to give them +food to eat? I have nothing to give them. They will +die without food.”</p> +<p>My object in this part will be to deal with the Gipsy question +in a hard, matter of fact way, both as regards their present +condition and the only remedy by which they are to be +improved. No one believes in the power of the Gospel more +than I do as to its being able to rescue the very dregs of +society from misery and wretchedness; but in the case of the +Gipsies and canal-boatmen they cannot be got together so as to be +brought under its influence. Their darkness, ignorance, and +flitting habits, prevent them either reading about Jesus or being +brought within the magic spell of the Gospel. When once the +Gipsy children have learned to read and write I shall then have +more faith in the power of God’s truth reaching the hearts +of the Gipsies and producing better results.</p> +<p><!-- page 242--><a name="page242"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +242</span>The following letter has been handed to me by the +uncle, to show what a little, dark-eyed Gipsy girl of twelve +years of age can do. Notwithstanding all its faults it is a +credit to the little beauty, especially if it is taken into +consideration that she has had no father to teach her, and she +has chiefly been her own schoolmaster and mistress. She is +the only one who can read and write in a large family. Her +books have been sign-boards, guide-posts, and mile-stones, and +her light the red glare of a coke fire. I give the letter +to show two things; first, that there is a strong desire among +the poor Gipsy children for education; second, that there is that +mental calibre about the Gipsy children of the present generation +that only requires fostering, handling, educating, and caring for +as other children are to produce in the next generation a class +of people of whom no country need be ashamed. They will be +equal to stand shoulder to shoulder with other labouring +classes.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">(Copy of envelope.)</p> +<p style="text-align: center">“JOB CLATAN<br /> +“Char bottomar<br /> +“at ash be hols in<br /> +“Darbyshere.”</p> +<p style="text-align: center">(Copy of letter.)</p> +<p style="text-align: right">“febury 18 1880.</p> +<p>“Dear uncel and Aunt</p> +<p>“I wright these few li to you hoping find you all +well.</p> +<p>“Fanny Vickers as sent you a rose father and Mother as +sent there best love to you I think it is very strang you have +never wrote it is Twenty year if live till may it is a strang +thing you doant com to see her She is stark stone blind and +lives with son john at gurtain I hope and trust you will +send us word how you are getting Fanny mother <!-- page +243--><a name="page243"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 243</span>is +not only a very poor crater somtimes Mother often thinks she +should often like to see your bazy and joby you might com land +see us in the summer if we had nothing elce I ca il find them +something to eat if mother never see you in this world she +is hopining to see you in heaven so no more from your +afexenen brother and sister Vickers good buy * * * * Kiss +all on you * * * *”</p> +<p>In speaking of the Gipsies in Scotland sixty years ago, Mr. +Deputy-Sheriff Moor, of Aberdeenshire, says as +follows:—“Occasionally vagrants, both single and in +bands, appear in this part of the country, resorting to fairs, +when they commit depredations on the unwary.” Sir +Walter Scott, Bart., says of the Gipsies:—“A set of +people possessing the same erratic habits, and practising the +trade of tinkers, are well known in the Borders, and have often +fallen under the cognisance of the law. They are often +called Gipsies, and pass through the country annually in small +bands, with their carts and asses. The men are tinkers, +poachers, and thieves upon a small scale,” and he goes on +to say that “some of the more atrocious families have been +extirpated.” Mr. Riddell, Justice of Peace for +Roxburghshire, says:—“They are thorough desperadoes +of the worst class of vagabonds. Those who travel through +this county give offence chiefly by poaching and small +thefts. All of them are perfectly ignorant of +religion. They marry and cohabit amongst each other, and +are held in a sort of horror by the common people.” +Mr. William Smith, the Baillie of Kelso, and a gentlemen of high +position, says:—“Some kind of honour peculiar to +themselves seems to prevail in their community. They reckon +it a disgrace to steal near their homes, or even at a distance if +detected. I must always except that petty theft of feeding +their shilties and asses on the farmers’ grass and corn, +which they will do whether at home or abroad.” And he +further says, “I am sorry to say, however, that when +checked in their licentious appropriations they are much addicted +both to threaten and to <!-- page 244--><a +name="page244"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 244</span>execute +revenge.” Mr. Smith always visited the Gipsies upon +one of the estates of which he had the charge, consequently he +would be likely to know more about them than most people. A +number of other gentleman confirmed these statements. By +comparing these remarks with the statements of Mr. Harrison in a +letter published in the <i>Standard</i> last August, backing up +my case, it will be seen that the Scotch Gipsies if anything have +degenerated. Mr. Harrison’s letter will be found in +Part II.</p> +<p>Much has been said and written with reference to their health +and age. For my own part I firmly believe that the great +ages to which they say they live—of course there are many +exceptions—are only myths and delusions, and another of +their dodges to excite sympathy. From the days of their +debauchery, and becoming what are termed under a respectable +phrase for Gipsies, “old hags,” they seem to jump +from sixty to between seventy and eighty at a bound. I was +talking to one I considered an old woman as to her age only a day +or two ago, and she said, with a pitiful tone, “I am a long +way over seventy,” and I asked her if she could tell me the +year in which she was born, to which she replied that she +“was sixteen when the good Queen was crowned.”</p> +<p>The following case, related to me by the tradesman himself, at +Battersea—a sharp, quick, business gentleman, who boasted +to me that he had never been sold before by any one—will +show faintly how clever the Gipsy women are at lying, deception, +and cheating:—Three pretty, well-dressed Gipsy women went +into his shop one day last summer, and said that they had +arranged to have a christening on the morrow, and as beer got +into the heads of their men, and made them wild, which they did +not like to see on such occasions, they had decided to have a +quiet, little, respectable affair, and in place of beer they were +going to have wine, cakes, and biscuits after their tea; and they +ordered some currant cake, several bottles of wine, tea, sugar, +and other things required on such occasions, to the amount of two +pounds fourteen <!-- page 245--><a name="page245"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 245</span>shillings. The Gipsies asked +to have the bill made out and the goods packed in a hamper. +And while this was being done the Gipsies said to the tradesman: +“Now, as we have ordered so much from you, we think that +you ought to buy a mat or two and other things of +us.” Without consulting his wife, he agreed to buy +one or two things, to the amount of eleven shillings, which the +tradesman had thought would have been deducted from their +account; but the Gipsies thought differently—and here was +the craft—and said, “We don’t understand +figures. You had better pay us for the mats, &c., and +we will pay you for the wine.” The tradesman, who was +thrown off his guard, paid them the eleven shillings. With +this they walked out of his shop, saying that they would take the +bill with them, and send a man with the money and a barrow for +the wine, cake, &c., in a few minutes, which they did not, +but left the tradesman a wiser but sadder man for spending eleven +shillings in things he did not require; and his remarks to me +were, “No more Gipsies for me, thank you. I’ve +had quite plenty of Gipsies for my lifetime.”</p> +<p>Cases have been known when the Gipsy women have gone among the +farmers’ cattle and rubbed their nostrils with some +nastiness to such an extent as to cause the cattle to loathe +their food. The Gipsy in the lane—who of course knows +all about the affair—goes to the farmer and tells him he +can cure his cattle. This is agreed upon. All the +Gipsy does is to visit the cattle secretly and slyly, and rub off +the nastiness he has put on. The cattle immediately begin +to eat their food, and the Gipsy gets his fee. They kill +lambs by sticking pins into their heads.</p> +<p>Tallemant says that near Peye, in Picardy, a Gipsy offered a +stolen sheep to a butcher for one hundred sous, or five francs; +but the butcher declined to give more than four francs for +it. The butcher then went away; whereupon the Gipsy pulled +the sheep from a sack into which he had put it, and substituted +for it a child belonging to his tribe. He then ran after +the butcher, and said, “Give me <!-- page 246--><a +name="page246"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 246</span>five +francs, and you shall have the sack into the +bargain.” The butcher paid him the money, and went +away. When he got home he opened the sack, and was much +astonished when he saw a little boy jump out of it, who in an +instant caught up the sack and ran off. “Never was a +poor man so hoaxed as this butcher.” When they want +to leave a place where they have been stopping they set out in an +opposite direction to that in their right course. The +Gipsies have a thousand other tricks—so says one of the +Gipsy fraternity named Pechou de Ruby. Paul Lacroix says +that when they take up their quarters in any village they steal +very little in its immediate vicinity, but in the neighbouring +parishes they rob and plunder in the most daring manner. If +they find a sum of money they give notice to the captain, and +make a rapid flight from the place. They make counterfeit +money, and put it into circulation. They play all sorts of +games; they buy all sorts of horses, whether sound or unsound, +provided they can manage to pay for them in their own base +coin. When they buy food, they pay for it in good money the +first time, as they are held in such distrust; but when they are +about to leave a neighbourhood they again buy something, for +which they tender false coin, receiving the change in good +money. In harvest time all doors are shut against them, +nevertheless they contrive, by means of picklocks and other +instruments, to effect an entrance into houses, when they steal +linen, clocks, silver, and any other movable article which they +can lay their hands upon. They give a strict account of +everything to their captain, who takes his share. They are +very clever in making a good bargain. When they know of a +rich merchant living in the place, they disguise themselves, +enter into communication with him, and swindle him, after which +they change their clothes, have their horses shod the reverse +way, and the shoes covered with some soft material, lest they +should be heard, and gallop away. Grellmann +says:—“The miserable condition of the Gipsies may be +imagined <!-- page 247--><a name="page247"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 247</span>from the following facts: many of +them, and especially the women, have been burned, by their own +request, in order to end their miserable existence; and we can +give the case of a Gipsy, who, having been arrested, flogged, and +conducted to the frontier, with the threat that if he re-appeared +in the country he would be hanged, resolutely returned after +three successive and similar threats at three different places, +and implored that the capital sentence might be carried out, in +order that he might be released from a life of such +misery.” And he goes on to say that “these +unfortunate people were not even looked upon as human beings, for +during a hunting party the huntsmen had no scruple whatever in +killing a Gipsy woman who was suckling her child, just as they +would have done any wild beast which came in their +way.” And he further says that they received +“into their ranks all those whose crime, the fear and +punishment of an uneasy conscience, or the charm of a roaming +life continually threw in their path; they made use of them +either to find their way into countries of which they were +ignorant, or to commit robberies which would otherwise have been +impracticable. They were not slow to form an alliance with +profligate characters, who sometimes worked in concert with +them.”</p> +<p>A century ago it was somewhat romantic, and answered very well +as a contrast to civilisation, to see a number of people moving +about the country, dressed in beaver hats and bonnets, scarlet +cloaks and hoods, short petticoats, velvet coats with silver +buttons, and a plentiful supply of gold rings. The novelty +of their person, with dark skin and eyes, black hair, and their +fortune-telling proclivities, and other odd curiosities and +eccentricities, answered well for a time as a kind of eye-blinder +to their little thefts and like things; but that day is +over. Their silver buttons are all gone to pot. Their +silk velvet coats, plush waistcoats, and diamond rings have +vanished, never more to return with their present course of life; +patched breeches, torn coats, slouched hats, and washed gold +rings have taken their <!-- page 248--><a +name="page248"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 248</span>places, and +ragged garments in place of silk dresses for the poor Gipsy +women. The Gipsy men “lollock” about, the women +tell fortunes, and the children gambol on the ditch banks with +impunity, nobody caring to interfere with them in any way. +This kind of thing, as regards dash and show, is to a great +extent passed, and those men who put on a show of work at all, it +is as a general thing at tinkering, chair-mending, peg-splitting, +skewer-making, and donkey buying. The men make the skewers +and sell them at prices varying from one shilling to two +shillings per stone; the wood for the skewers they do not always +buy. A friend of mine told me a couple of months since that +the Gipsies had broken down his fences with impunity, and had +taken five hundred young saplings out of his plantation for this +purpose. Chairs are bottomed at prices ranging from one +shilling and upwards. Some of them do scissor-grinding, for +which they charge exorbitant prices. Sir G. H. Beaumont, +Bart., of Coleorton Hall, told me very recently that one of the +Boswell gang had charged him two shillings for grinding one +knife. Some of the women, who are not good hands at +fortune-telling, sell artificial flowers, combs, brushes, lace, +&c. The women who are good at fortune-telling can make +a good thing out of it, even at this late day, in the midst of so +much light and Christianity, and they carry it out very adroitly +and cleverly too. Two or three months ago I was invited by +some Gipsy friends to have tea with them on the outskirts of +London. They very kindly sent for twopenny worth of butter +for me, and allowed me the honour of using the only cup and +saucer, which they said were over one hundred years old. +The tea for the grown-up sons and daughters was handed round in +mugs, jugs, and basins. The good old man cut my bread and +butter with his dark coloured hands pretty thin, but the bread +for his sons and daughters was like pieces of bricks, which, with +pieces of bacon, he pitched at them without any ceremony, and as +they caught it they, although men and women, <!-- page 249--><a +name="page249"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 249</span>kept saying +“Thank you, pa,” “Thank you, pa,” and +down it went without either knives or forks, or very little +grinding. We were all sitting upon the floor, my table +being an undressed brick out of some old building, and it was +with some difficulty I could keep the pigs that were running +loose in the yard from taking a piece off my plate, but with a +pretty free use of my toe I kept sending the little grunters +squeaking away. After tea I felt a little curious to know +what was in the big old Gipsy dame’s basket, for I had an +idea one or two hair-brushes, combs, laces, and other small +trifles which lay on the top of a small piece of oilcloth +covering the inside of the basket had, by their greasy +appearance, done duty for many a long day. I told the old +Gipsy dame that I was going home the next day, and should like to +take a little thing or two for my little ones at home, as having +been bought of a Gipsy woman near London. The sharp old +woman was not long in offering me one or two of her trifles that +lay on the top of her basket, but these I said were not so +suitable as I should like. “Had she nothing more +suitable lower down as a small present?” After a +little fumbling and flustering she began to see my motive, and +said, “Ah! I see what you are after. I will +tell you the truth and show you all.” She turned the +oilcloth off the basket, underneath of which were “shank +ends” of joints, ham-bones, pieces of bacon, and +crusts. “These,” she said, “have been +given to me by servant girls and others for telling their +fortunes, really lies, and I have brought them here for my +children to live upon, and this is how we live.”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p248b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Gipsy Fortune-tellers cooking their evening meal" +title= +"Gipsy Fortune-tellers cooking their evening meal" +src="images/p248s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>Fortune-telling is a soul-crushing and deadly crying evil, and +it is far from being stamped out. A hawker’s licence, +about the size of one of these pages, covers a life-time of sin +and iniquity in this respect. A basket with half-a-dozen +brushes, combs, laces, a piece of oilcloth, and a pocket Bible, +is all the stock-in-trade they require, and it will serve them +for a year. They generally prophecy good. Knowing the +readiest way <!-- page 250--><a name="page250"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 250</span>to deceive, to a young lady they +describe a handsome gentleman as one she may be assured will be +her “husband.” To a youth they promise a pretty +lady with a large fortune. And thus suiting their deluding +speeches to the age, circumstances, anticipations, and prospects +of those who employ them, they seldom fail to please their +vanity, and often gain a rich reward for their fraud.</p> +<p>A young lady in Gloucestershire allowed herself to be deluded +by a Gipsy woman, of artful and insinuating address, to a very +great extent. This lady admired a young gentleman, and the +Gipsy promised that he would return her love. The lady gave +her all the plate in the house, and a gold chain and locket, with +no other security than a vain promise that they should be +restored at a given period. As might be expected, the +wicked woman was soon off with her booty, and the lady was +obliged to expose her folly. The property being too much to +lose, the woman was pursued and overtaken. She was found +washing her clothes in a Gipsy camp, with the gold chain about +her neck. She was taken up, but on restoring the articles +was allowed to escape.</p> +<p>The same woman afterwards persuaded a gentleman’s groom +that she could put him in possession of a great sum of money if +he would first deposit with her all he then had. He gave +her five pounds and his watch, and borrowed for her ten more of +two of his friends. She engaged to meet him at midnight in +a certain place a mile from the town where he lived, and that he +there should dig up out of the ground a silver pot full of gold +covered with a clean napkin. He went with his pickaxe and +shovel at the appointed time to the supposed lucky spot, having +his confidence strengthened by a dream he happened to have about +money, which he considered a favourable omen of the wealth he was +soon to receive. Of course he met no Gipsy; she had fled +another way with the property she had so wickedly obtained. +While waiting her arrival a hare started suddenly from its +resting-place and so alarmed him that he as suddenly took <!-- +page 251--><a name="page251"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +251</span>to his heels and made no stop till he reached his +master’s house, where he awoke his fellow-servants and told +to them his disaster.</p> +<p>This woman, who made so many dupes, rode a good horse, and +dressed both gaily and expensively. One of her saddles cost +thirty pounds. It was literally studded with silver, for +she carried on it the emblems of her profession wrought in that +metal—namely, a half moon, seven stars, and the rising +sun. Poor woman! <i>her</i> sun is set. Her sins have +found her out. Fortune-tellers die hard without exception, +so I am told by the Gipsies themselves.</p> +<p>Some time ago a gentleman followed several Gipsy +families. Arriving at the place of their encampment his +first object was to gain their confidence. This was +accomplished; after which, to amuse their unexpected visitant, +they showed forth their night diversions in music and dancing; +likewise the means by which they obtained their livelihood, such +as tinkering, fortune-telling, and conjuring. That the +gentleman might be satisfied whether he had obtained their +confidence or not, he represented his dangerous situation, in the +midst of which they all with one voice cried, “Sir, we +would kiss your feet rather than hurt you!” After +manifesting a confidence in return, the master of this formidable +gang, about forty in number, was challenged by the gentleman for +a conjuring match. The challenge was instantly +accepted. The Gipsies placed themselves in a circular form, +and both being in the middle commenced with their conjuring +powers to the best advantage. At last the visitor proposed +the making of something out of nothing. This proposal was +accepted. A stone which never existed was to be created, +and appear in a certain form in the middle of a circle made on +the turf. The master of the gang commenced, and after much +stamping with his foot, and the gentleman warmly exhorting him to +cry aloud, like the roaring of a lion, he endeavoured to call +forth nonentity into existence. Asking him if he could do +it, he answered, “I am not strong <!-- page 252--><a +name="page252"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +252</span>enough.” They were all asked the same +question, which received the same answer. The visitor +commenced. Every eye was fixed upon him, eager to behold +this unheard-of exploit; but (and not to be wondered at) he +failed! telling them he possessed no more power to create than +themselves. Perceiving the thought of insufficiency +pervading their minds, he thus spoke: “Now, if you have not +power to create a poor little stone, and if 1 have not power +either, what must that power be which made the whole world out of +nothing?—men, women, and children! that power I call God +Almighty.”</p> +<p>I have been told that the dislike they have to rule and order +has led many of them to maim themselves by cutting off a finger, +that they might not serve in either the army or the navy; and I +believe there is one instance known of some Gipsies murdering a +witness who was to appear against some of their people for +horse-stealing; the persons who were guilty of the deed are dead, +and in their last moments exclaimed with horror and despair, +“Murder, murder.” But these circumstances do +not stamp their race without exception as infamous monsters in +wickedness.</p> +<p>The following is a remarkable instance of the love of costly +attire in a female Gipsy of the old school. The woman +alluded to obtained a very large sum of money from three maiden +ladies, pledging that it should be doubled by her art in +conjuration. She then decamped to another district, where +she bought a blood-horse, a black beaver hat, a new side-saddle +and bridle, a silver-mounted whip, and figured away in her +ill-obtained finery at the fairs. It is not easy to imagine +the disappointment and resentment of the covetous and credulous +ladies, whom she had so easily duped. With the present race +of our gutter-scum Gipsies the last remnant of Gipsy pride is +nearly dead—poverty, rags, and despair taking the +place.</p> +<p>Gipsies of the old type are not strangers to +pawnbrokers’ shops; but they do not visit these places for +the same <!-- page 253--><a name="page253"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 253</span>purposes as the vitiated poor of our +trading towns. A pawnshop is their bank. When they +acquire property illegally, as by stealing, swindling, or +fortune-telling, they purchase valuable plate, and sometimes in +the same hour pledge it for safety. Such property they have +in store against days of adversity and trouble, which on account +of their dishonest habits often overtake them. Should one +of their families stand before a judge of his country, charged +with a crime which is likely to cost him his life, or to +transport him, every article of value is sacrificed to save him +from death or apprehended banishment. In such cases they +generally retain a counsel to plead for the brother in +adversity. Their attachment to the horse, donkey, rings, +snuff-box, silver spoons, and all things, except the clothes, of +the deceased relatives is very strong. With such articles +they will never part, except in the greatest distress, and then +they only pledge some of them, which are redeemed as soon as they +possess the means.</p> +<p>It has been stated by some writers, that there is hardly a +Gipsy in existence who could not, if desired, produce his ten or +twenty pounds “at a pinch.” Some of those who +work, no doubt, could; but it is entirely erroneous, as many +other statements relating to the Gipsies, to imagine that the +whole of them are as well off as all this. Smith tells us +that there is not one in twenty who can show one pound, much less +twenty. A Gipsy named Boswell travelled about in the +Midland counties with a large van pretty well stocked with his +wares, and everybody, especially the Gipsies, thought he was a +rich man; but in course of time it came to pass that he died, +which event revealed the fact that he was not worth +half-a-crown. No class of men and women under the sun has +been more wicked than the Gipsies, and no class has prospered +less. By their evil deeds for centuries they have brought +themselves under the curse of God and the lash of the law +wherever they have been.</p> +<blockquote><p><!-- page 254--><a name="page254"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 254</span>“To our foes we leave a shame! +disgrace can never die;<br /> +Their sons shall blush to hear a name still blackened with a +lie.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Their miserable condition, the persecution, misrepresentation, +and the treatment they are receiving are due entirely to their +own evil-doing—lying, cheating, robbing, and murder bring +their own reward. The Gipsies of to-day are drinking the +dregs of the cups they had mixed for others. The sly wink +of the eye intended to touch the heart of the innocent and simple +has proved to be the electric spark that has reached heaven, and +brought down the vengeance of Jehovah upon their heads. The +lies proceeding from their bad hearts have turned out to be a +swarm of wasps settling down upon their own pates; their stolen +goods have been smitten with God’s wrath; the horses, +mules, and donkeys in their unlawful possession are steeds upon +which the Gipsies are riding to hell; and the fortune-telling +cards are burning the fingers of the Gipsy women; in one word, +the curse of God is following them in every footstep on account +of their present sins, and not on account of their past +traditions. Immediately they alter their course of life, +and “cease to do evil and learn to do well”—no +matter whether they are Jews or barbarians, bond or +free—the blessing of God will follow, and they will begin +to thrive and prosper.</p> +<p>Smoking and eating tobacco adds another leaden weight to those +already round their neck, and it helps to bow them down to the +ground—a short black pipe, the ranker and oftener it has +been used the more delicious will be the flavour, and the better +they will like it. When their “baccy” is +getting “run out,” the short pipe is handed round to +the company of Gipsies squatting upon the ground, without any +delicacy of feeling, for all of them to “have a +pull.” Spittoons are things they never use. +White, scented, cambric pocket-handkerchiefs are not often +brought into request upon their “lovely faces.” +They prefer allowing the bottom of the dresses the honour of +appearing before his worship “the nose.” +Nothing pleases the <!-- page 255--><a name="page255"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 255</span>Gipsies better than to give them +some of the weed. I saw a poor, dying, old Gipsy woman the +other day. Nothing seemed to please her so much, although +she could scarcely speak, as to delight in referring to the sins +of her youth, of a kind before referred to, and no present was so +acceptable to her as “a nounce of baccy.” She +said she “would rather have it than gold,” and I +“could not have pleased her better.” I doubt +whether she lived to smoke it. I think I am speaking within +the mark when I state that fully three-fourths of the Gipsy women +in this country are inveterate smokers. It is a black, +burning shame for us to have such a state of things in our +midst. In nine cases out of ten the children of drunken, +smoking women will turn out to be worthless scamps and vagabonds, +and a glance at the Gipsies will prove my statements.</p> +<p>Eternity will reveal their deeds of darkness—murders, +immorality, torturous and heart-rending treatment to their poor +slaves of women, beastly and murderous brutality to their poor +children. There is a terrible reckoning coming for the +“Gipsy man,” who can chuckle to his fowls, and kick, +with his iron-soled boot, his poor child to death; who can warm +and shelter his blackbird, and send the offspring of his own body +to sleep upon rotten straw and the dung-heap, covered over with +sticks and rags, through which light, hail, wind, rain, sleet, +and snow can find its way without let or hinderance; who can take +upon his knees a dog and fondle it in his bosom, and, at the same +time, spit in his wife’s face with oaths and cursing, and +send her out in the snow on a piercing-cold winter’s day, +half clad and worse fed, with child on her back and basket on her +arm, to practise the art of double-dyed lying and deception on +honest, simple people, in order to bring back her ill-gotten +gains to her semi-clad hovel, on which to fatten her “lord +and master,” by half-cleaned knuckle-bones, ham-shanks, and +pieces of bacon that fall from the “rich man’s +table.”</p> +<p><!-- page 256--><a name="page256"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +256</span>The following is a specimen of house-dwelling Gipsies +in the Midlands I have visited. In the room downstairs +there were a broken-down old squab, two rickety old chairs, and a +three-legged table that had to be propped against the wall, and a +rusty old poker, with a smoking fire-place. The Gipsy +father was a strong man, not over fond of work; he had been in +prison once; the mother, a strong Gipsy woman of the old type, +marked with small-pox, and plenty of tongue—by the way, I +may say I have not yet seen a dumb and deaf Gipsy. She +turned up her dress sleeves and showed me how she had “made +the blood run out of another Gipsy woman for hitting her +child.” As she came near to me exhibiting her +fisticuffing powers, I might have been a little nervous years +ago; but dealing with men and things in a rough kind of fashion +for so many years has taken some amount of nervousness of this +kind out of me.</p> +<p>It may be as well to remark here that the Gipsy women can do +their share of fighting, and are as equally pleased to have a +stand-up fight as the Gipsy men are. One of these Gipsy +women lives with a man who is not a thorough Gipsy, who spends a +deal of his time under lock and key on account of his poaching +inclinations; and other members of this large family are on the +same kind of sliding scale, and not one of whom can read or +write.</p> +<p>It is not pleasant to say strong things about clergymen, for +whom I have the highest respect; nevertheless, there are times +when respect for Christ’s church, duty to country, love for +the children and anxiety for their eternal welfare, compels you +to step out of the beaten rut to expose, though with pain, +wrong-doing. In a day and Sunday school-yard connected with +the Church of England, not one hundred miles from London, there +are to be seen—and I am informed by them, except during the +hop-picking season, that it is their camping-ground, and has been +for years—one van, in which there are man, wife, young +woman, and a daughter of about fourteen years of age; the young +woman <!-- page 257--><a name="page257"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 257</span>and daughter sleep in a kind of box +under the man and his wife. In another part of the yard is +a Gipsy tent, where God’s broad earth answers the purpose +of a table, and a “batten of straw” serves as a +bed. There is a woman, two daughters, one of whom is of +marriageable age and the other far in her teens, and a youth I +should think about sixteen years of age. I should judge +that the mother and her two daughters sleep on one bed at one end +of the tent and the youth at the other; there is no partition +between them, and only about seven feet of space between each bed +of litter. In another tent there is man, wife, and one +child. When I was there, on the Sunday afternoon, they were +expecting the Gipsy “to come home to his tent drunk and +wake the baby.” In another tent there was a Gipsy +with his lawful wife and three children. One of the Gipsy +women in the yard frequently came home drunk, and I have seen her +smoking with a black pipe in her mouth three parts tipsy. +Now, I ask my countrymen if this is the way to either improve the +habits and morals of the Gipsies themselves, or to set a good +example to day and Sunday scholars. Drunkenness is one of +the evil associations of Gipsy life. Brandy and +“fourpenny,” or “hell fire,” as it is +sometimes called, are their chief drinks. A Gipsy of the +name of Lee boasted to me only a day or two since that he had +been drunk every night for more than a fortnight, his language +being, “Oh! it is delightful to get drunk, tumble into a +row, and smash their peepers. What care we for the +bobbies.” They seldom if ever use tumblers. A +large jug is filled with this stuff, in colour and thickness +almost like treacle and water, leaving a kind of salty taste +behind it as it passes out of sight; but, I am sorry to say, not +out of the body, mind, or brain, leaving a trail upon which is +written—more! more! more! Under its influence they +either turn saints or demons as will best serve their +purpose. The more drink some of the Gipsy women get the +more the red coloured piety is observable in their faces, and +when I have been <!-- page 258--><a name="page258"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 258</span>talking to them, or otherwise, they +have said, “Amen,” “Bless the Lord,” +“Oh, it is nice to be ’ligious and Christany,” +as they have closed round me; and with the same breath they have +begun to talk of murder, bloodshed, and revenge, and to say, +“How nice it is to get a living by telling +lies.” Half an ounce of tobacco and a few gentle +words have a most wonderful effect upon their spirits and nerves +under such circumstances. I have frequently seen drunken +Gipsy women in the streets of London. Early this year I met +one of my old Gipsy women friends in Garrett Lane, Wandsworth, +with evidently more than she could carry, and a weakness was +observable in her knees; and when she saw me she was not so far +gone as not to know who I was. She tried to make a curtsy, +and in doing so very nearly lost her balance, and it took her +some ten yards to recover her perpendicular. With a little +struggling, stuttering, and stumbling, she got right, and pursued +her way to the tent.</p> +<p>In December of last year four Gipsies, of Acton Green, were +charged before the magistrates at Hammersmith with violently +assaulting an innkeeper for refusing to allow them to go into a +private part of his house. A terrible struggle ensued, and +a long knife was fetched out of their tents, and had they not +been stopped the consequences might have been fearful. They +were sent to gaol for two months, which would give them time for +reflection. A few days ago two Gipsies from the East End of +London were sent to gaol for thieving, and are now having their +turn upon the wheel of fortune.</p> +<blockquote><p>“Whirl fiery circles, and the moon is +full:<br /> +Imps with long tongues are licking at my brow,<br /> +And snakes with eyes of flame crawl up my breast;<br /> +Huge monsters glare upon me, some with horns,<br /> +And some with hoofs that blaze like pitchy brands;<br /> +Great trunks have some, and some are hung with beads.<br /> +Here serpents dash their stings into my face,<br /> +All tipped with fire; and there a wild bird drives<br /> +<!-- page 259--><a name="page259"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +259</span>His red-hot talons in my burning scalp.<br /> +Here bees and beetles buzz about my ears<br /> +Like crackling coals, and frogs strut up and down<br /> +Like hissing cinders; wasps and waterflies<br /> +Scorch deep like melting minerals. Murther! +Fire!”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Cries the Gipsy, as he rolls about on his bed of filthy +litter, in a tent whose only furniture is an old tin bucket +pierced with holes, a soap-box, and a few rags, with a +poor-looking, miserable woman for a wife, and a lot of wretched +half-starved, half-naked children crying round him for +bread. “Give us bread!” “Give us +bread!” is their piteous cry.</p> +<p>The Gipsy in Hungary is a being who has puzzled the wits of +the inhabitants for centuries, and the habits of the Hungarian +Gipsies are abominable; their hovels, for they do not all live in +tents and encampments, are sinks of the vilest poverty and filth; +their dress is nothing but rags, and they live on carrion; and it +is in this pitiable condition they go singing and dancing to +hell. Nothing gives them more pleasure than to be told +where a dead pig, horse, or cow may be found, and the Gipsies, +young and old, will scamper to fetch it; decomposition rather +sharpens their ravenous appetites; at any rate, they will not +“turn their noses up” at it in disgust; in fact, +Grellmann goes so far as to say that human flesh is a dainty +morsel, especially that of children. What applies to the +Hungarian Gipsies will to a large extent apply to the Gipsies in +Spain, Germany, France, Russia, and our own country. There +is no proof of our Gipsies eating children; but if I am to +believe their own statements, the dead dogs, cats, and pigs that +happen to be in their way run the risk of being potted for soup, +and causing a “smacking of the lips” as the heathens +sit round their kettle—which answers the purpose of a +swill-tub when not needed for cooking—as it hangs over the +coke fire, into which they dip their platters with relish and +delight. What becomes of the dead donkeys, mules, ponies, +and horses that die during their trafficking is best known to +<!-- page 260--><a name="page260"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +260</span>themselves. No longer since than last winter I +was told by some Gipsies on the outskirts of London that some of +their fraternity had been seen on more than one occasion picking +up dead cats out of the streets of London to take home to their +dark-eyed beauties and lovely damsels. Only a few days +since I was told by a lot of Gipsies upon Cherry Island, and in +presence of some of the Lees, that some of their fraternity, and +they mentioned some of their names, had often picked up snails, +worms, &c., and put them alive into a pan over their coke +fires, and as the life was being frizzled out of the creeping +things they picked them out of the pan with their fingers and put +them into their months without any further ceremony. I +cannot for the life of me think that human nature is at such a +low ebb among them as to make this kind of life general. At +most I should think cases of this kind are exceptional. +Their food, whether it be animal or vegetable, is generally +turned into a kind of dirty-looking, thick liquid, which they +think good enough to be called soup. Their principal meal +is about five o’clock, upon the return of the mother after +her hawking and cadging expeditions. Their bread, as a +rule, is either bought, stolen, or begged. When they bake, +which is very seldom, they put their lumps of dough among the red +embers of their coke fires. Sometimes they will eat like +pigs, till they have to loose their garments for more room, and +other times they starve themselves to fiddle-strings. A few +weeks since, when snow was on the ground, I saw in the outskirts +of London eight half-starved, poor, little, dirty, Gipsy children +dining off three potatoes, and drinking the potato water as a +relish. They do not always use knife and fork. Table, +plates, and dishes are not universal among them. Their +whole kitchen and table requirements are an earthen pot, an iron +pan, which serves as a dish, a knife, and a spoon. When the +meal is ready the whole family sit round the pot or pan, and then +“fall to it” with their fingers and teeth, +Adam’s knives and forks, and the ground providing the <!-- +page 261--><a name="page261"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +261</span>table and plates. Boiled pork is, as a rule, +their universal, every-day, central pot-boiler, and the longer it +is boiled the harder it gets, like the Irishman who boiled his +egg for an hour to get it soft, and then had to give it up as a +bad job. Some of these kind-hearted folks have, on more +than one occasion, given me “a feed” of it. It +is sweet and nice, but awfully satisfying, and I think two meals +would last me for a week very comfortably; all I should require +would be to get a good dinner off their knuckle-bones, roll +myself up like a hedgehog, doze off like Hubert Petalengro into a +semi-unconscious state, and I should be all right for three or +four days. “Beggars must not be +choosers.” They have done what they could to make me +comfortable, and for which I have been very thankful. I +have had many a cup of tea with them, and hope to do so +again.</p> +<p>One writer observes:—“Commend me to Gipsy life and +hard living. Robust exercise, out-door life, and pleasant +companions are sure to beget good dispositions both of body and +mind, and would create a stomach under the very ribs of death +capable of digesting a bar of pig-iron.” Their habits +of uncleanliness are most disgusting. Occasionally you will +meet with clean people, and children with clean, red, chubby +faces; but in nine cases out of ten they are of parents who have +had a different bringing up than squatting about in the mud and +filth. One woman I know at Notting Hill, and who was born +in an Oxfordshire village, is at the present time surrounded with +filth of the most sickening kind, which she cannot help, and to +her credit manages to keep her children tolerably clean and nice +for a woman of her position. There is another at Garrett +Lane, Wandsworth; another at Sheepcot Lane, Battersea; two at +Upton Park; one at Cherry Island; two at Hackney Wick, and +several others in various parts on the outskirts of London. +At Hackney Wick I saw twenty tents and vans, connected with which +there were forty men and women and about seventy children of all +ages, entirely devoid of all <!-- page 262--><a +name="page262"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 262</span>sanitary +arrangements. A gentleman who was building some property in +the neighbourhood told me that he had seen grown-up youths and +big girls running about entirely nude in the morning, and +squatting about the ground and leaving their filth behind them +more like animals than human beings endowed with souls and +reason. When I was there it was with some difficulty I +could put my foot in a clean place. The same kind of thing +occurs in a more or less degree wherever Gipsies are located, +and, sad to relate, house-dwelling Gipsies are very little better +in this respect. Grellmann, speaking of the German and +Hungarian Gipsies many years ago, says:—“We may +easily account for the colour of their skin. The +Laplanders, Samoyeds, as well as the Siberians, have bronze, +yellow-coloured skins, in consequence of living from their +childhood in smoke and dirt, as the Gipsies do. These would +long ago have got rid of their swarthy complexions if they had +discontinued this Gipsy manner of living. Observe only a +Gipsy from his birth till he comes to man’s estate, and one +must be convinced that their colour is not so much owing to their +descent as to the nastiness of their bodies. In summer the +child is exposed to the scorching sun, in winter it is shut up in +a smoky hut. Some mothers smear their children over with +black ointment, and leave them to fry in the sun or near the +fire. They seldom trouble themselves about washing or other +modes of cleaning themselves. Experience also shows us that +it is more their manner of life than descent which has propagated +this black colour of the Gipsies from generation to +generation.” I am told, and I verily believe it, that +many of the children are not washed for years together. I +have seen over and over again dirt peeling off the poor +children’s bodies and faces like a skin, and leaving a kind +of white patch behind it, presenting a kind of a piebald +spectacle. Some of the children never take their clothes +off till they drop off in shreds. Many of the Gipsies, both +old and young, have only one suit of <!-- page 263--><a +name="page263"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +263</span>clothes. English delicacy of feeling and +sentiment for female virtue must stand abashed with horror at +this kind of civilisation in the nineteenth century of Christian +England. I have seen washing done on the Sunday afternoon +among them, and while the clothes have been drying on the line +the women and children have been roasting themselves before the +fires in nearly a nude state. A Sunday or two ago a poor +Gipsy woman was washing her only smoky-looking blanket late in +the afternoon, and upon which she would have to lay that +night. It was a cold, wintry, drizzling afternoon, and how +it was to get dry was a puzzle to me. A Gipsy woman, named +Hearn, said to me a few days ago, in answer to some conversation +relating to their dirty habits; “The reason for the Gipsies +not washing themselves oftener was on account of their catching +cold after each time they washed.” She “only +washed herself once in a fortnight, and she was almost sure to +catch cold after it.” In some things the real old +Gipsies are very particular, <i>i.e.</i>, they will on no account +take their food out of cups, saucers, or basins, that have been +washed in the same pansions in which their linen has been washed; +so sensitive are they on this point that if they found out that +by an accident this custom had been transgressed they would +immediately break the vessel to pieces. This is a custom +picked up by the Gipsies among the Jews in their wandering from +India through the Holy Land. Another practice they adopt in +common with the Jews is, swearing or taking oaths over their dead +relations. The customs, practices, and words picked up by +them during their wanderings have added to their +mystification. While they will respect certain delicacy +observed among the Jews, they will eat pork, the most detestable +of all food in the eyes of the Israelites, and will even pay a +greater price for it than for beef or mutton. An +Englishwoman, who had married a Gipsy named Smith, told me very +recently, in presence of her mother-in-law and another woman, +that she had seen her husband eat a small <!-- page 264--><a +name="page264"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 264</span>plate of +cooked snails as a dainty. While the daughter-in-law was +telling me this, the old Gipsy mother-in-law, with one foot in +the grave, not far from Mary’s Place, near the Potteries, +Notting Hill, was trying to make me believe what a choice dish +there was in store for me if I would allow her to cook me a +hedgehog. She said I should “find it nicer than the +finest rabbit or pheasant I had ever tasted.” The +fine, old, Gipsy woman, as regards her appearance, although +suffering from congestion of lungs and inflammation, and +expecting every moment to be her last, would joke and make fun as +if nothing was the matter with her. When I questioned her +upon the sin of lying, she said, “If the dear Lord spares +me, I shall tell lies again. I could not get on without it; +how could I? I could not sell my things without +lies.” She was rather severe, and this was a pleasing +feature in the old woman’s character, upon a Gipsy who was +pretending to “’ligious,” and yet living upon +the money gained by his wife in telling fortunes. She said, +“If I must be ‘’ligious,’ I would be +‘’ligious.’ You might,” said the +old woman, “as well eat the devil as suck his broth. +Ah! I hate the fellow.” After asking her, and getting +her interpretation of “God bless you” in Romany, +which is Mi-Doovel-Parik-tooti—and she was the only Gipsy +round London who could put the words in Romany—and some +other conversation accompanied with “coppers and +baccy,” &c., and to which she replied, +“Amen!” with as much earnestness as if she was the +greatest saint outside heaven, we parted.</p> +<p>Much has been said and written years ago about the chastity, +fidelity, and faithfulness of the Gipsies towards each +other. This may have been the case, and in a few +exceptional cases it holds good now; but if I am to believe these +men themselves they are very isolated indeed, and what I have +said upon this point about the brick-yard <i>employés</i> +in my “Cry of the Children from the Brick-yards of +England,” and also those living in canal-boats, in +“Our <!-- page 265--><a name="page265"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 265</span>Canal Population,” holds good, +but with ten times more force concerning the Gipsies. +Immorality abounds to a most alarming degree. Incest, +wantonness, lasciviousness, lechery, whoring, bigamy, and every +other abomination low, degrading, carnal appetites, propensity, +and lust originate and encourage they practise openly, without +the least blush; in fact, I question if many of them know what it +is to blush at all.</p> +<p>I have heard a deal of disgusting, filthy language in my time +among brick-yard and canal-boat women, but not a tithe so +sickening as among some Gipsy women. I pitied them, and to +look upon them as charitably as possible I set it down to their +extreme ignorance of the language they used. A Gipsy at +Upton Park last week named D--- gloried to my face in the fact +that he was not married. This same man has a brother not +far from Mitcham Common living with two sisters in an unlawful +state. Abraham Smith, a Gipsy at Upton Park, who is over +seventy, and tells me that he is trying to serve God and get to +heaven, mentioned a case to me of a Gipsy and a woman at Hackney +Wick. The man has several children by a woman now living +with another man, and the woman has several children by another +man.</p> +<p>This Gipsy, S---, and his woman S---, turned both lots of +their former own children adrift upon the wide, wide world, +uncared for, unprotected, and abandoned, while they are living +and indulging in sin to their hearts’ content, without the +least shame and remorse. Inquire of whoever I may, and look +whichever way Providence directs me among the various phases of +Gipsy life, I find the same black array of facts staring me in +the face, the same dolorous issues everywhere. The words +reason, honour, restraint, and fidelity are words not to be found +in their vocabulary. My later inquiries fully confirm my +previous statements as to two-thirds living as husband and wife +being unmarried. I have not found a Gipsy to contradict +this statement. Abraham Smith fully agrees with it.</p> +<p><!-- page 266--><a name="page266"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +266</span>The marriage ceremony of the Gipsies is a very off-hand +affair. Formerly there used to be some kind of ceremony +performed by a friend. Now the ceremony is not performed by +any one. Of course there are a few who get married at the +church, which, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, is +performed by the clergyman gratuitously. As soon as a boy +has arrived in his teens he begins to think that something more +than eating and drinking is necessary to him, and as the children +of Gipsies are under no kind of parental, moral, or social +restraint, a connection is easily formed with girls of twelve, +some of them of close relationship. After a few hours, in +many cases, of courtship, they go together, and the affair so far +is over. They leave their parents’ tents and set up +one for themselves, and for a short time this kind of life +lasts. In course of time children are born, the only +attendant being, in many instances, another Gipsy woman, or it +may be members of their own families see to the poor woman in her +hour of need. If they have no vessel in which to wash the +newly-born child, they dig a hole in the ground, which is filled +with cold water, and the Gipsy babe is washed in it. This +being over, the poor little thing is wrapped in some old +rags. This was the custom years ago, and I verily believe +the Gipsies have gone backwards instead of forwards in matters of +this kind.</p> +<p>The following brief account of a visit—one of many I +have made to Gipsy encampments at Hackney Marshes and other +places during the present winter—will give some faint idea +of what Gipsy life is in this country, as seen by me during my +interviews with the Gipsies. The morning was dark; the snow +was falling fast; about six inches of snow and slush were upon +the ground—my object being in this case, as in others, +viz., to visit them at inclement seasons of the weather to find +as many of the Gipsies in their tents as possible, and as I +closed my door I said, “Lord, direct me,” and off I +started, not knowing which way to go. Ultimately I found my +way to Holborn, and took the ’bus, and, <!-- page 267--><a +name="page267"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 267</span>as I +thought, to Hackney, which turned out to be “a delusion and +a snare,” for at the terminus I found myself some two and a +half miles from the Marshes; however, I was not going to turn +back if the day was against me, and after laying in a stock of +sweets for the Gipsy children, and “baccy” for the +old folks, I commenced my squashy tramp till I arrived at the +Marshes; the difficulty here was the road leading to the tents +being covered ankle deep with snow and water, but as my feet were +pretty well wet I could be no worse off if I paddled through +it. Consequently, after these little difficulties were +overcome, I found myself in the midst of about a score of tents +and vans of all sizes and descriptions, connected with which +there were not less than thirty-five grown-up Gipsies and about +sixty poor little Gipsies. The first van I came to was a +kind of one-horse cart with a cover over it; inside was a strong, +hulking-looking fellow and a poor, sickly-looking woman with five +children. The woman had only been confined a few days, and +looked more fit for “the box” than to be washing on +such a cold, wintry day. On a bed—at least, some +rags—were three poor little children, one of whom was sick, +which the mother tried to prevent by putting her dirty apron to +the child’s mouth. The large, piercing eyes of this +poor, death-looking Gipsy child I shall never forget; they have +looked into my innermost soul scores of times since then, and +every time I think about this sight of misery the sickly +child’s eyes seem to cry out, “Help me! Help +me!” The poor woman said it was the marshes that +caused the illness, but my firm opinion is that it was neither +more nor less than starvation. The poor woman seemed to be +given up to despair. A few questions put to her in the +momentary absence of the man elicited the fact that she was no +Gipsy. She had been brought up as a Sunday-school scholar +and teacher, and had been beguiled away from her home by this +“Gipsy man.” She said she could tell me a lot +if I would come some other time. She also said, +“Gipsy life as it is at present carried out ought <!-- page +268--><a name="page268"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 268</span>to +be put a stop to, and would be if people knew all.” +With a few coppers given to her and the children we parted. +In another tent on the marshes there was a man, woman, and six +children. The tent was about twelve feet long, six feet six +inches wide, and an average height of about three feet, making a +total of about two hundred and thirty-four cubic feet of space +for man, wife, and six children. These were of both sexes, +grown-up and in their teens. Their bed was straw upon the +damp ground, and their sheets, rags. The man was +half-drunk, and the poor children were running about half-naked +and half-starved. The woman had some Gipsy blood in her +veins, but the man was an Englishman, and had, so he said, been a +soldier. With a few coppers and sweets among the children, +and in the midst of “Good-byes!” and “God bless +you’s!” I left them, promising to pay them another +visit. Out of these twenty families only three were +properly married, and only two could read and write, and these +were the poor woman who had been a Sunday-school scholar and the +man who had been a soldier, and, strange to say, the children of +these two people could not read a sentence or tell a +letter. No minister ever visited them, and not one ever +attended a place of worship. In a visit to an encampment in +another part of London I came across a poor Irishwoman, who had +been allured away from her respectable home at the age of sixteen +by one of the Gipsy gang. When I saw her she was sitting +crying, with two half-starved children by her side, who, owing to +the coke fire, had bad eyes. Their home was an old ragged +tent, and their bed, rotten straw. When I saw them, and it +was about one o’clock, they had not tasted food for +twenty-four hours. I sent for a loaf for them, and they set +to work upon it with as much relish as if they had been gnawing +at the leg of a Christmas fat turkey. The poor Gipsy woman +had been a Sunday-school scholar, and could read and write, but +neither her husband nor children could tell a letter. Her +taking to Gipsy life had broken her father’s heart. +Her eldest child, <!-- page 269--><a name="page269"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 269</span>a fine little girl of about seven +years of age, had been taken from her by her friends, and was +being educated and cared for. A few weeks since the little +daughter was anxious to see her mother, consequently she was +taken to her tent; but, sad to relate, instead of the daughter +going to kiss her mother, as she would expect, she turned away +from her with a shudder and a shriek, and for the whole day the +child did nothing but cry. It would not touch a morsel of +anything. The only pleasant look that came upon its +countenance was as it was leaving. As the poor child was +leaving the tent she would not kiss her mother or say the usual +“Good-bye” as she went away. This poor woman, +as in the case of the woman at Hackney, said she could tell me a +lot of things, which she would some time, and said, “Gipsy +life ought to be put a stop to, for there was something about it +more than people knew,” and I thoroughly believe what this +poor woman says. It is my firm conviction that there is +much more in connection with Gipsy life than many people imagine, +or is dreamt of in their philosophy. There is a substratum +of iniquity lower than any writers have ever touched. There +are certain things in connection with their dark lives, hidden +and veiled by their slang language, that may not come out in my +day, but most surely daylight will be shed upon them some +day. They will kill and murder each other, fight and +quarrel like hyenas, but certain things they will not divulge, +and so long as the well-being of society is not in danger I +suppose we have no right to interfere. A query arises +here. Their past actions back me up in this theory. +Upon Mitcham Common last week there were nearly two hundred tents +and vans. In one tent, which may be considered a specimen +of many others, there were two men and their wives, and about +twelve children of both sexes and of all ages. In another +tent there were nine children of both sexes and all ages, some of +them men and women, and for the life of me I cannot tell how they +are all packed when they sleep—I suppose like herrings in a +box, pell-mell, “all <!-- page 270--><a +name="page270"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 270</span>of a +heap.” One of these Gipsy young women was a model, +and has her time pretty much occupied during the day. I +have been among house-dwelling Gipsies in the Midland counties, +and have found twelve to fifteen men, women, and children, +squatting about on the floor, which they used as a workshop, +sitting-room, drawing-room, and bed-room; although there was a +bed-room up-stairs it was not often used—so I was told by +the landlady.</p> +<p>There is much more sickness among the Gipsies than is +generally known, especially among the children. They have +strong faith in herbs; the principal being chicken-weed, +groundsel, elder leaves, rue, wild sage, love-wort, agrimony, +buckbean, wood-betony, and others; these they boil in a saucepan +like they would cabbages, and then drink the decoction. +They only go to the chemist or surgeon at the last +extremity. They are very much like the man who tried by +degrees to train his donkey to live and work without food, and +just as he succeeded the poor Balaam died; and so it is with the +poor Gipsy children. It kills them to break them in to the +hardships of Gipsy life. Occasionally I have heard of +Gipsies who act as human beings should do with their +children. A well-to-do Gipsy whom I know—one of the +Lees, a son of Mrs. Simpson—has spent over £30 in +doctors’ bills this winter for his children’s +good. Not one Gipsy in a thousand would do likewise.</p> +<p>Gipsies die like other folk, although before doing so they may +have lived and quarrelled like the Kilkenny cats among other +Gipsies; but at death these things are all forgotten, and a Gipsy +funeral seems to be the means to revive all the good they knew +about the person dead and a burying of all the bad connected with +the dead Gipsy’s life. I am now referring to a few of +the better class of Gipsies. Gipsies, as a rule, pay +special regard to the wishes of a dying Gipsy, and will sacrifice +almost anything to carry them out. I attended the funeral +of a house-dwelling Gipsy, Mrs. Roberts, at Notting Hill, a few +weeks ago. The editor and proprietor of the <i>Suburban +Press</i>, <!-- page 271--><a name="page271"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 271</span>refers to this funeral in his +edition under date February 28th, as follows:—“On +Monday last a noteworthy event took place in the humble locality +of the Potteries, Notting Dale. In this district are +congregated a miscellaneous population of the poorest order, who +get what living they can out of the brick-fields or adjoining +streets and lanes, or by costermongering, tinkering, &c., +&c. They dwell together in the poorest and most +melancholy-looking cottages, some in sheds and outhouses, or in +dilapidated vans, for it is the resort and <i>locale</i> of many +of the Gipsies that wander in the western suburbs. Yet all +these make up a kind of community and live together as friends +and neighbours, and every now and again they show themselves +amenable to good influences, and characters of humble mark and +power arise among them. To those who sympathise with the +poet who sings of the</p> +<blockquote><p>“‘Short and simple annals of the +poor,’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>we scarcely know a region that can be studied to greater +advantage. In the present instance it was the funeral of an +old inhabitant of the Gipsy tribe, one of the oldest, most +respected, and loved of all the nomads, and related in some way +to many Gipsy families in London and the neighbouring +counties. Abutting from the Walmer Road is a good sized +court or alley called ‘Mary Place,’ and in a nook of +one of the small cottages here lived Mrs. Roberts for a number of +years, who has been described to us by one who long enjoyed her +acquaintance as ‘a very superior woman, intelligent and +happy Christian.’ So that she must indeed have shone +in that humble and sombre spot as a ‘gem of purest ray +serene,’ though not exactly as the flower</p> +<blockquote><p> “‘Born to blush +unseen,<br /> +And waste its sweetness on the desert air.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p272b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Outside a Christian Gipsy’s van" +title= +"Outside a Christian Gipsy’s van" +src="images/p272s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>For the comprehensive genius of Christian sympathy and labour +had found her out, and she was known and respected, and her +influence was felt by all around her. She lived for <!-- +page 272--><a name="page272"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +272</span>years a widow, but with five grown-up, strong, and +thrifty children—two sons and three daughters and troops of +friends—to cheer her latter days. The +preliminaries—a service of song conducted by Mr. Adams and +his sons—were soon over, and the coffin being lifted +through the window was placed on the strong shoulders which had +been appointed to convey it to Brompton Cemetery, a distance of +some three miles. It was a neat coffin, covered with black +cloth, and when the pall had been thrown over it affectionate +hands placed upon it two or three large handsome wreaths of +immortals white as snow, and so the procession moved off followed +by weeping sons, daughters, and friends, and a host of +sympathising neighbours, to the strains of the ‘Dead March +in Saul.’ <i>Requiescat in pace</i>. Among +those present at this interesting ceremony standing next to us, +and sharing in part our umbrella, was a gentleman whose name and +vocation we were not aware until afterwards. We were glad, +however, to learn that we were unwittingly conversing with no +other than Mr. George Smith, of Coalville, Leicester, the +philanthropic and well-known promoter of the +‘Brick-maker’s’ and ‘Canal +Boatman’s’ Acts, who has specially devoted himself to +the improvement of the social condition of these too-neglected +people. He is now giving his attention to the case of the +Gipsies, and specially to the children, to whom he is anxious to +see extended among other things the provisions of the School +Board Act. The great and good work of Mr. Smith has already +attracted the attention of a number of charitable Christian +people, and it has not been overlooked by Her Majesty the Queen, +who, with her accustomed care and kindness, has expressed her +special interest therein.” She was a good, Christian +woman, and I think I am speaking within bounds when I say that +there is not one in five hundred like she was. Before she +died she wished for two things to be carried out at her +funeral—one was that she should be carried on +Gipsies’ shoulders all the way to Brompton Cemetery, a +distance of some miles; and the <!-- page 273--><a +name="page273"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 273</span>other was +that Mr. Adams, a gentleman in the neighbourhood, should conduct +a service of song just before the funeral <i>cortége</i> +left the humble domicile; both requests were carried out, +notwithstanding that it was a pouring wet day. The service +of song was very impressive, surrounded as we were by some two +hundred Gipsies and others of the lowest of the low, living in +one of the darkest places in London. Some stood with their +mouths open and appeared as if they had not heard of the name of +Jesus before, and there were others whose features betokened +strong emotion, and upon whose cheeks could be seen the trickling +tears as we sung, among others:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Shall we gather at the river,<br /> +Where bright angels’ feet have trod,<br /> +With its crystal tide for ever<br /> +Flowing by the throne of God?<br /> + Yes, we’ll gather at the +river,<br /> + The beautiful, the beautiful +river,<br /> + That flows by the throne of +God.</p> +<p>“Soon we’ll reach the silvery river,<br /> +Soon our pilgrimage will cease,<br /> +Soon our happy hearts will quiver,<br /> +With the melody of peace.<br /> + Yes, we’ll gather at the +river,<br /> + The beautiful, the beautiful +river,<br /> + That flows by the throne of +God.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>It has frequently been stated that the Gipsies never allow +their poor to go into the union workhouses; this statement is +both erroneous, false, and misleading. Clayton, a Gipsy, at +Ashby-de-la-Zouch, told me only the other day that he knew an old +Gipsy woman who was living in the Melton Mowbray Union Workhouse +at the present time, and mentioned some others who had died in +the union, a few connected with his own family. Abraham +Smith, a respectable and an old Christian Gipsy, mentioned the +names of a dozen or more Gipsies of his acquaintance who had died +in the <!-- page 274--><a name="page274"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 274</span>union workhouse, some in the +Biggleswade Union, of the name of Shaw. There was a time +when there was a little repugnance to the union, but this feeling +has died out, thus adding another proof that the Gipsies, in many +respects, are not so good as what they were fifty years or more +ago; and this fact, to my mind, calls loudly for Government +interference as regards the education of the children. +Abraham Smith also further stated that nearly all the old people +belonging to one family of S--- had died in the workhouse in +Bedfordshire. Another thing has forced itself upon my +attention, viz., that there seems to be a number of poor +unfortunate idiots among them. I know, for a fact, of one +family where there are two poor creatures, one of whom is in the +asylum, and of another family where there is one, and a number in +various parts where they are semi-idiotic, and only next door to +the asylum. These painful facts will plainly show to all +Christian-thinking men and women, and to others who love their +country and seeks its welfare, that the time has arrived for the +Gipsies to be taken hold of in a plain, practical, common-sense +manner by those at the helm of affairs, and placed in such a +position as to help themselves to some of the blessings we are in +possession of ourselves. During all my inquiries, when the +Gipsies have not fallen in with all I have said with reference to +Gipsy life, they have all agreed without exception to the plan I +have sketched out for the education of their children and the +registration of their tents, &c.</p> +<p>In the days of Hoyland and Borrow the Gipsies were very +anxious for the education of their children and struggled hard +themselves to bring it about. Sixty years ago one of the +Lovells sent three of his children to school, at No. 5, George +Street, taught by Partak Ivery, and paid sixpence per week each +with them; but the question of religion came up and the children +were sent home. The schoolmaster, Ivery, said that he had +had six Gipsy children sent to his school, and when placed among +the other children they <!-- page 275--><a +name="page275"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 275</span>were +reduceable to order. It is a standing disgrace and a shame +to us as a nation professing Christianity that at this time we +had in our midst ten to fifteen thousand poor little heathen +children thirsting for knowledge, and no one to hand it to them +or put them in the way to help themselves. The sin lays at +some one’s door, and I would not like to be in their shoes +for something. While this dense ignorance was manifest +among the poor Gipsy children at our doors we were scattering the +Bibles all over the world, and sending missionaries by hundreds +to foreign lands and supporting them by hundreds of thousands of +pounds gladly subscribed by our hard-working artisans and +others. Not that I am finding fault with those who take an +interest in foreign missions in the least—would to God that +more were done for every nation upon the face of the +globe—but I do think in matters relating to the welfare of +the children we ought to look more at home.</p> +<p>With reference to missionary effort among the Gipsies, I must +confess that I am not a strong advocate for a strictly sectarian +missionary organisation to be formed with headquarters in London, +and a paid staff of officials, to convert the Gipsies. If +the act is passed upon the basis I have laid down, the result +will be that in course of time the Gipsies will be +localised. I am strongly in favour of all sections of +Christ’s Church dealing with our floating population, +whether upon land or water, in their own localities, and in a +kind of spirit of holy rivalry among themselves, if I may use the +term. For the life of me I cannot see why temporary wooden +erections, something of the “penny-gaff” style, +should not be erected upon race-courses, and in the market-places +during fair time, in which religious services could be held free +from all sectarian bias, and which could be called the +Showman’s or Gipsy’s Church. There are times +when a short interesting service could be held without coming in +collision with the steam whistles of the +“round-abouts,” “big drums,” reports from +the “rifle galleries,” the screams and shouts of +stall-keepers; <!-- page 276--><a name="page276"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 276</span>and at any rate, I think it would be +better to have a number of organisations at work rather than one, +dealing both with our Gipsies and canal-boatmen. In +whatever form missionary effort is put forth, it must go further +than that of a clergyman, who told me one Sunday afternoon last +year, after he had been preaching in the most fashionable church +in Kensington, to the effect that, if any of the large number of +Gipsies who encamped in his parish in the country, and not far +from the vicarage, “raised their hats to him as he passed +them, he returned the compliment.” Poor stuff this to +educate their children and to civilise and Christianise their +parents.</p> +<p>It is my decided opinion that if the Gipsy children had been +taken hold of at that day, and placed side by side with the +children of other working classes, we should not by this time +have had a Gipsy wigwam flitting about our country; fifty +years’ educational influences mean, to a great extent, +their present and eternal salvation. A tremendous +responsibility and sin hangs, and will hang, about the necks of +those who have in the past, or will in the future, shut the door +of the school in the face of the poor Gipsy child, and turn it +into the streets to perish everlastingly. I am confident +the Gipsies will do their part if a simple plan for its +accomplishment can be set in motion. Harshness, cruelty, +and insult, rigid, and extreme measures will do no good with the +Gipsies. Fiery persecution will only frustrate my +object. God knows, they are bad enough, and I have no wish +to mince matters, or to paint them white, as fiction has +done. I have tried—how far I have succeeded it is not +for me to say—to expose the evils, and not individuals, +thoroughly, in accordance with my duty to my God, my country, and +my conscience, without partiality, bias, or fear, be the +consequences what they may. To write a book full of glowing +colour, pictures, fancies, imagination, and fiction, is both more +profitable and pleasant. The waft of a scented +pocket-handkerchief across one’s face by the hand of a fair +<!-- page 277--><a name="page277"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +277</span>and lovely damsel is only as a fleeting shadow and a +passing vapour; they quickly come and they quickly go, leaving no +footstep behind them; a shooting star and a flitting comet, and +all is in darkness blacker than ever. Somehow or other the +Gipsies will, if possible, encamp near a school, but they lack +the power to enter, and some of them, no doubt, could send their +children to school for a few days occasionally; but the Gipsies +have got it in their heads that their children are not wanted, +and this is the case with the show people’s children. +Last autumn I saw myself an encampment of Gipsies upon Turnham +Green; there were about thirty Gipsy children playing upon the +school-fence, not one of whom could either read or write. +The school was only half full, and the teacher was looking very +pleasantly out of the door of the school upon the poor, ignorant +children as they were rolling about in the mud. In another +part of London a Gipsy owns some cottages, with some spare land +between each cottage; upon this land there is her own van and a +number of other vans and tents, for which standing ground they +pay the Gipsy woman a rent of one shilling and sixpence per week +each. Neither herself nor any of the Gipsies connected with +the encampment could tell a letter, and there were some sixty to +seventy men, women, and children of all ages; and the strange +part of the thing is, the Gipsy woman’s tenants in her +cottages were compelled by the School Board officer to send their +children to school, while the Gipsy children were running wild +like colts, and revelling in dirt and filth in the +neighbourhood. A similar state of things to this exists in +a more or less degree with all the other encampments on the +outskirts of London. At one of the large encampments I +tried to find if there were really any who could read and write, +and to put this to the test I took the <i>Christian World</i> and +the <i>Christian Globe</i> with me. The Gipsy lad who they +said was “a clever scholard” was brought to me, and I +put the <i>Christian World</i> before him to see if he could read +the large <!-- page 278--><a name="page278"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 278</span>letters; sad to say, instead of +<i>Christian World</i>, he called it “Christmas,” and +there he stuck and could get no further. I have said some +strong things, and endeavoured to lay bare some hard facts +relating to Gipsy life in the preceding part of this book, with a +view to enlist help and sympathy for the poor children, and not +to submit the Gipsy fathers to insult and ridicule.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p277b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Four little Gipsies sitting for the Artist outside their tent, +dressed for the occasion, and who can neither read nor write" +title= +"Four little Gipsies sitting for the Artist outside their tent, +dressed for the occasion, and who can neither read nor write" +src="images/p277s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>From the mode of living among the Gipsies, the mother is often +necessitated to leave her tent in the morning, and seldom returns +to it before night. Their children are then left in or +about their solitary camps, having many times no adult with them; +the elder children then have the care of the younger ones. +Those who are old enough gather wood for fuel; nor is stealing it +thought a crime. By the culpable neglect of the parents in +this respect the children are often exposed to accidents by fire, +and melancholy instances of children being burnt and scalded to +death are not unfrequent. One poor woman relates that two +of her children have thus lost their lives by fire during her +absence from her tent at different periods, and some years ago a +child was scalded to death at Southampton.</p> +<p>The following account will faintly show something of the +hardships of Gipsy children’s lives:—It was winter, +and the weather was unusually cold, there being much snow on the +ground. The tent, which was only covered with a ragged +blanket, was pitched on the lee side of a small hawthorn +bush. The children had stolen a few green sticks from the +hedges, but they would not burn. There was no straw in the +tent, and only one blanket to lay betwixt six children and the +frozen ground, with nothing to cover them. The youngest of +these children was three and the eldest seventeen years +old. In addition to this wretchedness the smaller children +were nearly naked. The youngest was squatted on the ground, +her little feet and legs bare, and gnawing a frozen turnip which +had been stolen from an adjoining field. None of them had +tasted bread for more than a day. The <!-- page 279--><a +name="page279"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 279</span>moment they +saw their visitor, the little ones repeatedly shouted, +“Here is the gemman come for us!” Some money +was given to the eldest sister to buy bread with, at which their +joy was greatly increased. Straw was also provided for them +to sleep on, four were measured for clothes, and after a few days +they were placed under proper care. The youngest child +died, however, a short time after in consequence of having been +so neglected in infancy.</p> +<p>During last June a Gipsy woman, of the name of Bishop, was +found in one of the tents, on a common just outside London, with +her throat cut and her child lying dead by her side in a pool of +blood, and the man with whom she cohabited—true to his +Gipsy character—refused to answer any questions concerning +this horrible affair. An impression has gone the round for +years that the Gipsies are exceedingly kind and affectionate to +their children, in some instances it, no doubt, is true, but they +are rare indeed if I may judge from appearances. I have yet +to learn that starvation, allowing their children to grow up +infinitely worse than barbarians, subjecting them to fearful +oaths and curses, and inflicting upon the poor children blows +with sticks, used with murderous passion, to within an inch of +their lives, exhibits much of the lamb-like spirit, dove-like +innocence, and childish simplicity fiction would picture to our +minds concerning these English barbarians as they camp on the +mossy banks on a hot summer day. In the presence of myself +and a friend one of these lawless fellows very recently hurled a +log of wood at a poor Gipsy child’s head for an offence +which we could not learn, farther than it was for a trifling +affair; fortunately, it missed the poor child’s head, or +death must have been the result. In visiting an encampment +last autumn I came across six Gipsy children having their dinner +off three small boiled turnips, and drinking the water as broth; +the eldest girl, although dressed in rags, was going to sit the +same afternoon for a leading artist upon a throne as a Spanish +queen. In another part of London—<!-- page 280--><a +name="page280"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 280</span>Mary +Place—I found a family of Gipsies living under sticks and +rags in the most filthy, sickening, and disgusting backyard I +have ever been into—to such an extent was the stench that +immediately I came out of it I had to get a little brandy or I +should have fainted—the eldest girl of whom had her time +pretty fully taken up by sitting as an artist’s model in +the costume of a peasant girl, sometimes gathering buttercups and +daisies, at other times gathering roses and making button-holes +for gentlemen’s coats and placing them there with gentle +hands and a smiling face; occasionally she would be painted as a +country milk-girl driving the cows to pasture; at other times as +a young lady playing at croquet on the lawn and gambolling with +children. What a contrast, what a delusion! from rags to +silks and satins; from a filthy abode not fit for pigs to a +palace; from turnips and diseased bacon to wine and biscuits; +from beds of rotten straw to crimson and gold-covered chairs; +from trampling among dead cats to a carpet composed of wild +flowers; from “Get out you wretch and fetch some money, no +matter how,” to “Come here, my dear, is there +anything I can do for you?” from the stench of a cesspool +to the fragrance of the honeysuckle and sweetbriar, in one word, +from hell to heaven all in an hour—such is one side of +Gipsy life among the little Gipsies, not one of whom can read a +sentence or write one word, and it is in this way Gipsy girls are +found exposing their bodies to keep their big, healthy brothers +and fathers at home in idleness and sin. Two such Gipsy +girls have come under my own notice, and no doubt there are +scores of similar cases. Gipsy children are fond of a great +degree of heat, and sometimes lie so near to the coke fires as to +be in danger of burning. I have seen them with their faces +as red as if they were upon the point of being roasted, and yet +they can bear to travel in the severest cold bare-headed, with no +other covering than some old rags carelessly thrown over +them. The cause of their bodily qualities, at least some of +them, arises from their education and hardy manner of life. +<!-- page 281--><a name="page281"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +281</span>Formerly the Gipsies, when there was less English blood +in their veins, could stand the extreme changes and hardships of +the English climate much better than now. An Englishman, +notwithstanding the fact that he has let go all moral and social +respect and restraint over his conduct and joined the Gipsies, +does not, and cannot, thrive and look well under their manner of +living, and this I see more and more every day. I have been +struck very forcibly lately in visiting some of the hordes of +Gipsies with the vast number of children the Gipsies bring into +the world and the few that are reared. At one encampment +there were forty men and women and only about the same number of +children to be seen. At another encampment I found double +the quantity of children to adult Gipsies.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p281b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"A top bedroom in a Gipsy’s van for man, wife, and three +children, the sons and daughters sleeping underneath" +title= +"A top bedroom in a Gipsy’s van for man, wife, and three +children, the sons and daughters sleeping underneath" +src="images/p281s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>No one can deny the fact that some of the children look well, +but, on the other hand, a vast number look quite the reverse of +this, pictures of starvation, neglect, bad blood, and +cruelty. An Englishman is born for a nobler purpose than to +lead a vagabond’s life and end his days in scratching among +filth and vermin in a Gipsy’s wigwam, consequently, upon +those of our own countrymen who have forsaken the right path, the +sin attending such a course is dogging them at every footstep +they take. I don’t lay at the door of their wigwam +the sin of child-stealing, but this I have seen, <i>i.e.</i>, +many strange-looking children in their tents without the least +shadow of a similarity to the adults in either habits, +appearance, manner, or conversation. Some of the poor +things seemed shy and reserved, and quite out of their +element. Sometimes the thought has occurred to me that they +were the children of sin, and put out of the way to escape shame +being painted upon the back of their parents. Sometimes my +pity for the poor things has led me to put a question or two +bearing upon the subject to the Gipsies, and the answer has been, +“The poor things have lost their father and +mother.” When I have asked if the fathers and mothers +were Gipsies a little hesitation was manifested, and the subject +<!-- page 282--><a name="page282"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +282</span>dropped with no satisfactory answer to my mind. I +have my own idea about the matter.</p> +<p>The hardships the women have to undergo are most +heartrending. The mother, in order to procure a morsel of +food, takes her three months’ old child either in her arms +or on her back, and wanders the streets or lanes in foul or fair +weather—in heat or cold. Some of them have told me +that they walk on an average over twelves miles a day. They +are the bread-winners. I have seen them on their return to +their wigwams, in the depth of winter, with six inches of snow on +the ground, and scantily clad, and with six little children +crying round them for bread. No fire in the tent, and her +husband idling about in other tents. In cases of +confinements, the men have to do something, or they would all +starve. For a few days they wake up out of their idle +dreams. I know of Gipsy women who have trudged along with +their loads, and their children at their heels, to within the +last five minutes of their confinement. The children were +literally born under the hedge bottom, and without any tent or +protection whatever. A Gipsy woman told me a week or two +since that her mother had told her that she was born under the +hedge bottom in Bagworth Lane, in Leicestershire. When I +questioned her on the subject, she rather gloried in the fact +that they had not time to stick the tent-sticks into the +ground. This kind of disgraceful procedure is not far +removed from that of animals. I should think that I am +speaking within compass when I state that two-thirds of the +Gipsies travelling about the country have been born under what +they call the “hedge bottom,” <i>i.e.</i>, in tents +and like places. The Gipsy women use no cradles; the child, +as a rule, sleeps on the ground. When a boy attains three +years of age, so says Hoyland, the rags he was wrapped in are +thrown on one side, and he is equally exposed with the parents to +the severest weather. He is then put to trial to see how +far his legs will carry him. Clayton told me that when he +was a boy of about twelve, his father sent <!-- page 283--><a +name="page283"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 283</span>him into +the town and among the villages—with no other covering upon +him only a piece of an old shirt—to bring either bread or +money home, no matter how.</p> +<p>Among some of the State projects put forth in Hungary more +than a century since to improve the condition of the Gipsies, the +following may be mentioned: (1) They were prohibited from +dwelling in huts and tents, from wandering up and down the +country, from dealing in horses, from eating animals which died +of themselves and carrion. (2) They were to be called New +Boors instead of Gipsies, and they were not to converse in any +other language but that of any of the countries in which they +chose to reside. (3) After some months from the passing of +the Act, they were to quit their Gipsy manner of life and settle, +like the other inhabitants, in cities or villages, and to provide +themselves with suitable and proper clothing. (4) No Gipsy +was allowed to marry who could not prove himself in a condition +to provide for and maintain a wife and children. (5) That +from such Gipsies who were married and had families, the children +should be taken away by force, removed from their parents, +relations, or intercourse with the Gipsy race, and to have a +better education given to them. At Fahlendorf, in +Schütt, and in the district of Prassburg, all the children +of the New Boors (Gipsies) above five years old were carried away +in waggons on the night of the twenty-first of December, 1773, by +overseers appointed for that purpose, in order, that, at a +distance from their parents or relations, they might be more +usefully educated and sent to work. (6) They were to be +taught the principles of religion, and their children +educated. Their children were prohibited running about +their houses, streets, or roads naked, and they were not to be +allowed to sleep promiscuously by each other without distinction +of sex. (7) They were enjoined to attend church regularly, +and to give proof of their Christian disposition, and they were +not to wear large cloaks, which were chiefly used to hide the +<!-- page 284--><a name="page284"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +284</span>things they had stolen. (8) They were to be kept +to agriculture, and were only to be permitted to amuse themselves +with music when their day’s work was finished. (9) +The magistrates at every place were to be very attentive to see +that no Gipsy wasted his time in idleness, and whoever was remiss +in his work was to be liable to corporal punishment.</p> +<p>All these suggestions and plans of operation may not suit +English life; be that as it may, they were suitable to the +condition of the Hungarian Gipsies, and no doubt laid the +foundation for the improvement that has taken place among +them. The Hungarian Gipsies are educated, and are tillers +of the soil. If a plan similar in some respects had been +carried out with our Gipsies at the same period, we should not by +this time have had a Gipsy-tent in the country, or an uneducated +Gipsy in our land. What a different aspect would have +presented itself ere this, if the 5,000 Gipsies among us had been +tilling our waste lands and commons for the last century. +With proper management, these 5,000 Gipsy men could have bought +and kept under cultivation some 20,000 acres of land for the +well-being of themselves and for the good of the country. +There is neglect, indifference, and apathy somewhere. The +blame will lay heavily upon some one when the accounts are made +up.</p> +<p>It is appalling and humiliating to think that we, as a +Christian nation, should have had in our midst for more than +three centuries 15,000 to 20,000 poor ignorant Asiatic heathens, +naturally sharp and clever, and next to nothing being done to +reclaim them from their worse than midnight darkness. A +heavy sin and responsibility lays at our doors. Take away +John Bunyan, a few of the Smiths, Palmers, Lovells, Lees, Hearns, +Coopers, Simpsons, Boswells, Eastwoods, Careys, Roberts, &c., +and what do we find?—a black army of human beings who have +done next to nothing—comparatively speaking—for the +country’s good. They have cadged at our doors, lived +on our commons, worn our <!-- page 285--><a +name="page285"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 285</span>roads, been +fed from our tables, sent their paupers to our workhouses, their +idiots to our asylums, and not contributed one farthing to their +maintenance and support. Rates and taxes are unknown to +them. There is only one instance of them paying rates for +their vans, and that is at Blackpool.</p> +<p>It is a black, burning shame and disgrace to see herds of +healthy-looking girls and great strapping youths growing up in +ignorance and idleness, not so much as exerting themselves to +wash the filth off their bodies or make anything better than +skewers. Their highest ambition is to learn slang, roll in +the ditch, spread small-pox and fevers, threaten vengeance, and +carry out revenge upon those who attempt to frustrate their evil +designs. Excepting skewers, clothes-pegs, and a few other +little things of this kind, they have not manufactured anything; +the highest state of perfection they have arrived at is to be +able to make and tie up a bundle of skewers, split a clothes-peg, +tinker a kettle, mend a chair, see-saw on an old fiddle, rap +their knuckles on a tambourine, clatter about with their feet, +tickle the guitar, and make a squeaking noise through their +teeth, that fiction and romance call singing. The most that +can be said in their favour is, that a few of them have become +respectable Christians and hard-working men and women, and have +done something for the country’s good—and whose fault +is it that there are not more? They have been the agents of +hell, working out Satan’s designs, and we have stood by +laughing and admiring their so-called pretty faces, scarlet +cloaks, and “witching eyes.” For the life of me +I can find no more bewitching beauty among them than can be found +in our back slums any day, circumstances considered—and +where does the blame lay?—upon our own shoulders for not +paying more attention to the education and welfare of their +children. It is truly horrible to think that we have had +15,000 to 20,000 young and old Gipsies at work, carrying out the +designs of the infernal regions at the tip end of the roots of +our national life, vigour, and Christianity.</p> +<p><!-- page 286--><a name="page286"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +286</span>Only the other day the country was much shocked, and +rightly so, at a hundred poor Russian emigrants landing upon our +shores; and yet we have two hundred times this quantity of +Gipsies among us, and we quietly stand by and take no notice of +their wretched condition. The time will come, and that +speedily, when we shall have the scales taken off our eyes, and +the thin, flimsy veil of romance torn to shreds. Sitting by +and admiring their “pretty faces” and “witching +eyes” will not save their souls, educate their children, or +put them in the way of earning an honest livelihood. It is +not pity—whining, sycophantic pity—alone that will do +them good. The Rev. Mr. Cobbin’s Gipsy’s +petition, written fifty years ago,</p> +<blockquote><p>“Oh! ye who have tasted of mercy and +love,<br /> + And shared in the blessings of pardoning grace,<br +/> +Let us the kind fruits of your tenderness prove,<br /> + And pity, oh! pity, the poor Gipsy race.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>has been little better than beating the air, and it may be +repeated a thousand times, but if nothing further is done more +than “pity,” the Gipsies will be worse off in fifty +years hence than they are now, nor will presenting to them bread, +cheese, ale, blankets, stockings, and a dry sermon, as Mr. Crabb +did half a century ago, render them permanent help. We must +do as the eagle does with her young: we must cause a little +fluster among them, so that they may begin to flounder for +themselves. Take them up, turn them out, and teach them to +use their own wings, and the schoolmaster and sanitary officers +are the agencies to do it. The men are clever and can get +money sufficient to keep their families comfortable even at +skewer-making and chair-mending, &c., if they will only +work. All the police-officer must do will be to take charge +of those who prefer to fall to the ground rather than to struggle +for life with its attendant pleasures and enjoyments. The +State has taken in hand a more dangerous class—perhaps the +most dangerous—in <!-- page 287--><a +name="page287"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 287</span>India, +viz., the Thugs, and is teaching them useful trades and honest +industry with most encouraging results. Before the +Government tackled them, they were idling, loafing, rambling, and +robbing all over the country, alike to our Gipsies; now they have +settled down and become useful and good citizens. In Norway +the Gipsies are put into prison, and there kept till they have +learnt to read and write. In Hungary the Government has +appointed a special Minister to look after them, and see that +they are being properly educated and brought up. In Russia, +the laws passed for their imprisonment has had the effect of +causing them, to a great extent, to settle down to useful trades, +and they are forming themselves into colonies. And so, in +like manner, in Spain, Germany, France, and other European +countries, steps have been taken to bring about an improvement +among them. In these countries nearly the whole of the +Gipsies can read and write; and we, of all others, who ought to +have set the example a century ago in the way of educating the +Gipsy children, have stood by with folded arms, and let them +drift into ruin. I claim it to be our duty—and it +will be to our shame if we do not—to see to the welfare of +the Gipsy children for four reasons. First, that they are +Indians, and under the rule of our noble Queen; second, that they +are in our midst, and ought to take their share of the blessings, +duties, and responsibilities pertaining to the rest of the +community; third, that as a Christian nation, professing to lead +the van and to set forth the blessings of Christianity and +civilisation; and, fourth, their universal desire for the +education of their children, and to contribute their quota, +however small, to the country’s good, and for the eternal +welfare of their own children; and I do not think that there will +be any objection on their part to it being brought about on the +plan I have briefly sketched out.</p> +<p>I fancy I can hear some of the artists who have been delighted +with Gipsy models—the novelists who have hung many a tale +upon the skirts of their garments—the <!-- page 288--><a +name="page288"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 288</span>dramatists +who have trotted them before the curtain to please the public, +and some old-fashioned croakers, who delight in allowing things +to be as they have always been—the same yesterday, to-day, +and for ever—saying, “let everybody look after their +own children;” and then, in a plaintive tone, +singing—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Woodman, spare that tree!<br /> + Touch not a single bough;<br /> +In youth it sheltered me,<br /> + And I’ll protect it now.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>First,—I would have all movable or temporary +habitations, used as dwellings, registered, numbered, and the +name and address of the owner or occupier painted in a prominent +place on the outside, <i>i.e.</i>, on all tents, Gipsy vans, +auctioneers’ vans, showmen’s vans, and like places, +and under proper sanitary arrangements in a manner analogous to +the Canal Boats Act of 1877.</p> +<p>Second,—Not less than one hundred cubic feet of space +for each female above the age of twelve, and each male above the +age of fourteen; and not less than fifty cubic feet of space for +each female young person under the age of twelve, and for each +male under the age of fourteen.</p> +<p>Third,—No male above the age of fourteen, and no female +above the age of twelve, should be allowed to sleep in the same +tent or van as man and wife, unless separate sleeping +accommodation be provided for each male of the age of fourteen, +and for each female of the age of twelve; and also with proper +regard for partitions and suitable ventilation.</p> +<p>Fourth,—A registration certificate to be obtained, +renewable at any of the offices of the Urban or Rural sanitary +authorities throughout the country, for which the owner or +occupier of the tent or van should pay the sum of ten shillings +annually, commencing on the first of January in each year.</p> +<p>Fifth,—The compulsory attendance at school of all <!-- +page 289--><a name="page289"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +289</span>travelling children, or others living in temporary or +unrateable dwellings, up to the age required by the Elementary +Education Acts, which attendance should be facilitated and +brought about by means of a school pass-book, in which the +children’s names, ages, and grade could be entered, and +which pass-book could be made applicable to children living and +working on canal-boats, and also to other wandering +children. The pass-book to be easily procurable at any +bookseller’s for the sum of one shilling.</p> +<p>Sixth,—The travelling children should be at liberty to +go to either National, British, Board, or other schools, under +the management of a properly-qualified schoolmaster, and which +schoolmaster should sign the children’s pass-book, showing +the number of times the children had attended school during their +temporary stay.</p> +<p>Seventh,—The cost for the education of these wandering +children should be paid by the guardians of the poor out of the +poor rates, a proper account being kept by the schoolmaster and +delivered to the parochial authorities quarterly.</p> +<p>Eighth,—Power to be given to any properly-qualified +sanitary officer, School Board visitor or inspector, to enter the +tents, vans, canal-boats, or other movable or temporary +habitations, at any time or in any place, and detain, if +necessary, for the purpose of seeing that the law was being +properly carried out; and any one obstructing such officer in his +duty, and not carrying out the law, to be subject to a fine or +imprisonment for each offence.</p> +<p>Ninth,—It would be well if arrangements could be made +with lords of manors, the Government, or others who are owners of +waste lands, to grant those Gipsies who are without vans, and +living in tents only, prior to the act coming into force, a long +lease at a nominal rent of, say, half an acre or an acre of land, +for ninety-nine years, on purpose to encourage them to settle +down to the cultivation of it, and to take to honest +industry—as many of them are prepared to do. By this +means a number of the Gipsies would collect <!-- page 290--><a +name="page290"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 290</span>together on +the marshes and commons, and no doubt other useful and profitable +occupation would be the outcome of the Gipsies being thus +localised, and in which their children could and would take an +important part; and in addition to these things the social and +educational advantages to be reaped by following such a course +would be many.</p> +<p>I have not the least doubt in my mind but that if a law be +passed embodying these brief, but rough, suggestions, on the one +hand, and steps are taken to encourage them to settle down, in +accordance with the idea thrown out in clause nine, on the other, +we shall not have in fifty years hence an uneducated Gipsy in our +midst. Many of the Gipsies are anxious, I know, for some +steps to be taken for the children to be brought up to +work. The operation of the present Hawkers’ and +Pedlars’ Act is acting very detrimental to the interests of +the Gipsy children, as none are allowed to carry a licence under +the age of sixteen, consequently all Gipsy children, except a few +who assist in making pegs and skewers, are neither going to +school nor yet are they learning a trade or in fact work of any +kind; they are simply living in idleness, and under the influence +of evil training that carries mischief underneath the +surface.</p> +<p>It is truly appalling to think that over seven hundred +thousand sharp, clever, well-formed human beings, and with plenty +of muscular power, have, as I have said before, been roaming +about Europe for many centuries with no object before them, and +accomplishing nothing. Something like ten millions of +Gipsies have been born, lived, died, and gone into the other +world since they set foot upon European soil, and what have they +done? what work have they accomplished? Alas! alas! worse +than a cipher might be written against them. They have +lived in the midst of beauty, songsters, romance, and fiction, +and they have been surrounded by everything that would help to +call forth natural energy, mechanical skill, and ability, but +they have been in some senses like children playing in the street +gutters. They have <!-- page 291--><a +name="page291"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 291</span>the +elements of success within them, but no one has taken them by the +hand to put them upon the first step, at any rate, so far as +England is concerned. It is grievous to think that not one +of these ten millions of Gipsies who have gone the way of all +flesh has written a book, painted a painting, composed any +poetry, worth calling poetry, produced a minister worthy of much +note—at least, I can only hear of one or two. They +have fine voices as a rule, and except some half-dozen Gipsies no +first-rate musicians have sprung from their midst. No +engineer, no mechanic—in fact, no nothing. The +highest state of their manufacturing skill has been to make a few +slippers for the feet, as some of them are doing at Lynn; skewers +to stick into meat, for which they have done nothing towards +feeding; pegs to hang out other people’s linen, some +tinkering, chair-bottoming, knife-grinding, and a little light +smith work, and a few have made a little money by +horse-dealing. There are others clever at “making +shifts” and roadside tents, and will put up with almost +anything rather than put forth much energy. Since the +Gipsies landed in this country more than one hundred and fifty +thousand have been born, principally, as they say, “under +the hedge bottom,” lived, and died. They are gone +“and their works do follow them.” Their present +degraded condition in this country may be laid upon our +backs.</p> +<p>This book, with its many faults and few virtues, is my own as +in the case of my others, and all may be laid upon my back; and +my object in saying hard and unpalatable things about the poor, +ignorant Gipsy wanderers in our midst is not to expose them to +ridicule, or to cause the finger of scorn to be pointed at them +or to any one connected with them, but to try to influence the +hearts of my countrymen to extend the hand of practical sympathy, +and help to rescue the poor Gipsy children from dropping into the +vortex of ruin, as so many thousands have done before. It +is not unlikely but that I shall, in saying plain things about +the Gipsies, expose myself to some inconvenience, +misrepresentation, malice, and spite from <!-- page 292--><a +name="page292"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 292</span>those who +would keep the Gipsies in ignorance, and also from shadow +philanthropists, who are always on the look out for other +people’s brains; but these things, so long as God gives me +strength, will not deter me from doing what I consider to be +right in the interest of the children, so long as I can see the +finger of Providence pointing the way, and it is to Him I must +look for the reward, “Well done,” which will more +than repay me for all the inconvenience I have undergone, or may +have still to undergo, in the cause of the “little +ones.” That man is no real friend to the Gipsies who +seeks to improve them by flattery and deception. A Gipsy, +with all his faults, likes to be dealt fairly and openly +with—a little praise but no flattery suits him. They +can practise cunning, but they do not care to have any one +practising it upon them.</p> +<p>I dare not be sanguine enough to hope that I shall be +successful, but I have tried thus far to show, first, the past +and present condition of the Gipsies; second, the little we, as a +nation, have done to reclaim them; and, third, what we ought to +do to improve them in the future, so as to remove the stigma from +our shoulders of having 20,000 to 30,000 Gipsies, show people, +and others living in vans, &c., in our midst, fast drifting +into heathenism and barbarism, not five per cent. of whom can +read and write, at least, so far as the Gipsies are concerned; +and those children travelling with “gingerbread” +stalls, rifle galleries, and auctioneers are but little better, +for all the parents tell me their children lose in the summer +what little they learn at school in the winter, for the want of +means being adopted whereby their children could go to school +during the daytime as they are travelling through the country +with their wares, <i>i.e.</i>, at their halting-places.</p> +<p>In bringing this book to a close, I would say, in the name of +all that is just, fair, honourable, and reasonable, in the name +of science, religion, philosophy, and humanity, and in the name +of all that is Christ-like, God-like, and heavenly, <!-- page +293--><a name="page293"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 293</span>I +ask, nay I claim, the attention of our noble Queen—whose +deep interest in the children of the labouring population is +unbounded—statesmen, Christians, and my countrymen to the +condition of the Gipsies and their children, whose condition is +herein feebly described, and whose cause I have ventured to take +in hand, praying them to adopt measures and to pass such laws +that will wipe out the disgrace of having so many thousands of +poor, ignorant, uneducated, wretched, and lost Gipsy children in +our midst, who cannot read and write, on the following +grounds—</p> +<p>First. Their Indian origin, which I venture to think has +been satisfactorily proved, and over which country our Queen is +the Empress; consequently, our Gipsies ought and have as much +need to be taken in hand and their condition improved by the +State as the Thugs in India have been, with such beneficial +results, a class similar in many respects to our Gipsies.</p> +<p>Second. As the Government in 1877 passed an act, called +“The Canal Boats Act,” dealing pretty much with the +same class of people as the Gipsies and other travelling +children, they ought, in all fairness, to extend the principle to +those living in tents and vans.</p> +<p>Third. As small-pox, fevers, and other infectious +diseases are at times very prevalent among them—a medical +officer being called in only under the rarest occasion—and +as the tents and vans are not under any sanitary arrangements, +there is, therefore, urgent need for some sort of sanitary +supervision and control to be exercised over their wretched +habitations to prevent the spread of disease in such a stealthy +manner.</p> +<p>Fourth. As the Government took steps some three +centuries ago to class the Gipsies as rogues and vagabonds, but +took no steps at the same time to improve their condition or even +to encourage them to get upon the right paths for leading an +honourable and industrious life, the time has now come, I think, +both in justice and equity, for <!-- page 294--><a +name="page294"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 294</span>the +Government to adopt some means to catch the young hedge-bottom +“Bob Rats,” and to deal out to them measures that +will Christianise and civilise them to such an extent that the +Gipsies will not in the future be deserving of the epithets +passed upon them by the Government for their sins of omission and +commission.</p> +<p>Fifth. By passing an Act of Parliament, as I suggest, or +amending the Canal Boats Act, in accordance with the plan I have +laid down, and embodying the suggestions herein contained, the +Government will complete the educational system and bring under +the educational and sanitary laws the lowest dregs of society, +which have hitherto been left out in the cold, to grope about in +the dark as their inclinations might lead them.</p> +<p>Sixth. The families who are seeking a living as hawkers, +show people, &c., apart from the Gipsies, are on the +increase. By travelling up and down the country in this way +they not only escape rates and taxes, but their children are +going without education, as no provision is made in the education +acts to meet cases of this kind. By bringing the Gipsy +children under the influence of the schoolmaster our law-makers +will be adding the last stroke to the system of compulsory +education introduced and carried into law through its first +difficult and intricate phases by the Right Hon. W. E. Forster, +M.P., when he was at the head of the Education Department under +the Liberal Government, and through its second stages by the +Right Hon. Lord Sandon, M.P., when he was at the head of the +Education Department under the Conservative Government.</p> +<p>Seventh. There is an universal desire among people of +the classes I have before referred to for the education of their +children, in fact, I have not met with one exception during my +inquiries, and the Gipsies will be glad to make some sacrifices +to carry it out if the Government will do their part in the +matter.</p> +<p>Eighth. The Gipsies and other travellers of the same +<!-- page 295--><a name="page295"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +295</span>kind use our roads, locate on our commons, live in our +lanes, and send their poor, halt, maimed, and blind to our +workhouses, infirmaries, and asylums, towards the support of +which they do not contribute one farthing.</p> +<p>Ninth. As a Christian nation professing to send the +Gospel all over the world, to preach glad tidings, peace upon +earth and good-will towards men everywhere, to take steps for the +conversion of the Gipsies in India, the African, the Chinese, the +South Sea Islander, the Turk, the black, the white, the bond, the +free, in fact everywhere where an Englishman goes the Gospel is +supposed to go too, and yet—and it is with sadness, sorrow, +and shame I relate it—we have had on an average during the +last three hundred and sixty-five years not less than 15,000 +Gipsies moving among us, and not less than 150,000 have died and +been buried, either under water, in the ditches, or on the +roadside, on the commons, or in the cemeteries or churchyards, +and we, as Christians of Christian England, have not spent +150,000 pence to reclaim the adult Gipsies, or to educate their +children.</p> +<p>Tenth. As a civilised country we are supposed to lead +the van in civilising the world by passing the most humane, +righteous, just, and liberal laws, carrying them out on the plan +of tempering justice with mercy; but in matters concerning the +interests and welfare of the Gipsies we are, as I have shown +previously, a long way in the rear. We have passed laws to +improve the condition of the agricultural labourer’s child, +children working in mines, children working in factories, +performing boys, climbing boys, children working in brick-yards, +children working and living on canal-boats, and a thousand +others; but we have done nothing for the poor Gipsy child or its +home. In things pertaining to their present and eternal +welfare they have asked for bread and we have given them a stone; +and they have asked for fish and we have given them a +serpent. We have allowed them to wander and lose themselves +in the dark wilds of sin and <!-- page 296--><a +name="page296"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 296</span>iniquity +without shedding upon their path the light of Gospel truths or +the blessings of education; and to-day the Gipsy children are +dying, where thousands have died before, among the brambles and +in the thicket of bad example, ignorance, and evil training, into +which we have allowed them to stray blinded by the evil +associations of Gipsy life.</p> +<blockquote><p>“An aged woman walks along,<br /> +Her piercing scream is on the air,<br /> +Her head and streaming locks are bare,<br /> +She sadly sobs ‘My child, my child!’”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>A faint voice is heard in the distance calling out—</p> +<blockquote><p>“My dying daughter, where art thou?<br /> +Call on our gods and they shall come.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p style="text-align: center">“So mote it be.”</p> +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center">London: Printed by <span +class="smcap">Haughton & Co.</span>, 10, Paternoster Row, +E.C.</p> +<h2><!-- page 297--><a name="page297"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 297</span>WORKS PUBLISHED<br /> +<span class="smcap">by</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">HAUGHTON & Co.</span>,<br /> +<span class="smcap">10</span>, <span class="smcap">paternoster +row</span>, <span class="smcap">london</span>.</h2> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Just Published</i>, <i>price</i> +1<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>, <i>cloth boards</i>.</p> +<h3>THE LIFE OF GEORGE SMITH,<br /> +OF COALVILLE.</h3> +<p>“The name of George Smith, of Coalville, is familiar as +household words, and the unpretending memoir just published by +Messrs. Haughton & Co. of him, to whose deep sympathy and +ceaseless effort the populations of our brick-yards and canals +owe so much, will be read with interest by +all.”—<i>The Graphic</i>.</p> +<p>“Readers of Mr. Smith’s letters in numerous +papers, and of his descriptive articles in the <i>Illustrated +London News</i>, <i>Graphic</i>, and other journals and +magazines, will be glad to possess this little work, which tells +the story of his career in a brief but interesting manner. +The book is elegantly printed on good paper, and is embellished +with an excellent portrait and with an engraving of Mr. Smith +among the Gipsy children.”—<i>Capital and +Labour</i>.</p> +<p>“This is ‘a chapter’ in philanthropy, yet it +contains three times as much in the way of practical philanthropy +as would suffice to make any man a benefactor to his +generation. His devoted, self-denying, persistent, and +successful endeavours on behalf of the brick-yard children, the +canal population, and more recently the Gipsy +‘arabs,’ of our country and time, are concisely and +vividly set forth in this neat volume.”—<i>The +Christian</i>.</p> +<p>“The name of George Smith, and his noble work amongst +the canal-boat folk and the Gipsies, have become familiar and +welcome to multitudes in Great Britain. This volume is an +excellent sketch of Mr. Smith; it contains a capital likeness, +and should be read by all who desire to possess increasing zeal +in rescuing the perishing.”—<i>Christian Age</i>.</p> +<p>“A smartly written biography of a man who may be justly +termed the Children’s Friend. It is well got up, and +contains an excellent portrait of the great social +reformer. It is well that this fascinating sketch should be +given to the world.”—<i>Literary World</i>.</p> +<p>“In this book we are presented with a sketch of the life +and labours—labours which have been attended with a large +measure of success—of one of the most devoted of living +philanthropists.”—<i>Scotsman</i>.</p> +<p>“A fine biography, which every one should read in order +to understand the noble character of a man who must be pronounced +a great benefactor.”—<i>Free Press</i>.</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page 298--><a +name="page298"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +298</span><i>Price</i> 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>, <i>cloth +boards</i>, <i>with Illustrations</i>.</p> +<h3>OUR CANAL POPULATION:<br /> +<span class="smcap">a cry from the boat cabins</span>, <span +class="smcap">with remedy</span>.</h3> +<p style="text-align: center">New Edition, with Supplement.<br /> +By GEORGE SMITH, F.S.A., Coalville, Leicester.</p> +<p>“A little book called ‘Our Canal +Population,’ lately published and written by Mr. George +Smith, of Coalville, furnishes the most incredible details of +what is going on on our silent highways.”—<i>Morning +Advertiser</i>.</p> +<p>“The notorious state of ‘Our Canal +Population,’ the women and children who live on barges, and +in whose condition Mr. George Smith, of Coalville, has awakened +public interest, is described as ‘revolting and +intolerable.’ If only a part of the statements made +were true it would be enough to make the ears of them that hear +it tingle for pity and shame.”—<i>Daily News</i>.</p> +<p>“Although the statements made by Mr. George Smith, of +Coalville, in ‘Our Canal Population,’ were doubtless, +in some instances, open to the charge of exaggeration, in the +main they were largely correct. Mr. Smith has earned the +thanks of the community in this philanthropic object, as he +previously earned our thanks for his efforts to ameliorate the +condition of children in the +brick-yards.”—<i>Standard</i>.</p> +<p>“Canal Boats.—On the 1st inst. came into operation +an Act (the 40 and 41 Vic., c. 60) which is calculated to do much +good. Hitherto ‘Our Canal Population’ were left +pretty much to themselves. They were considered outside the +pale of local and educational authorities. They were +permitted to live in their boats as they pleased, and to bring up +their children without any interference from school +authorities. Mr. George Smith, of Coalville, whose efforts +on behalf of the children employed in brick-fields were attended +with such beneficial results, turned his attention to ‘Our +Canal Population,’ and the credit likely to be won by the +passing of the Act of last Session will be mainly +his.”—<i>The Times</i>.</p> +<p>“Mr. George Smith, of Coalville, who has done so much +for the well-being of ‘Our Canal Population,’ is now +busied in attempts to ameliorate the condition of juvenile +Gipsies.”—<i>Daily Telegraph</i>.</p> +<p>“This gentleman represents by name, at least, a very +large family, but he has won for himself considerable distinction +among the ‘Smiths’ for his unparalleled efforts to +ameliorate the wretched condition of ‘Our Canal +Population’ on the English canals, the women and children +working in the brick-yards, and the Gipsy +children.”—<i>Christian Herald</i>.</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page 299--><a +name="page299"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +299</span><i>Price</i> 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>, <i>cloth +boards</i>, <i>with Portrait of Author and other +Illustrations</i>.</p> +<h3>THE CRY OF THE CHILDREN FROM THE BRICK-YARDS OF ENGLAND, AND +HOW THE CRY HAS BEEN HEARD,</h3> +<p style="text-align: center">With Observations on the +Carrying-out of the Act.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">By GEORGE SMITH, of Coalville, +Leicester.<br /> +<span class="smcap">sixth edition</span>.</p> +<p>“We heartily commend to our readers’ notice a new +edition of a work which is full of thrilling interest to those +who sympathise with childhood, whose hearts bleed at the story of +its wrongs and leap for joy at any humane or beneficial measures +on its behalf.”—<i>Sunday School Chronicle</i>.</p> +<p>“This book, now in its sixth edition, has many capital +illustrations, and is a monument to the patient self-denial and +unwearying zeal brought to bear in favour of the poor children by +the author.”—<i>Weekly Times</i>.</p> +<p>“His cry for the protection for the helpless little ones +is one that must assuredly command +attention.”—<i>Daily Chronicle</i>.</p> +<p>“This book is the record of a splendid service nobly +done. The author is likewise the hero of it. The +value of the book is enhanced by the careful and tasteful manner +in which Messrs. Haughton have fulfilled their share of the +undertaking.”—<i>Derby Reporter</i>.</p> +<p>“This is a title of an interesting work. The whole +forms a most interesting record of a noble-hearted work. We +hope the book will meet, as it deserves, with an increasingly +large circulation.”—<i>Derbyshire Advertiser</i>.</p> +<p>“‘The Cry of the Children’ and ‘Our +Canal Population’ are unique in many ways. They have +brought prominently before public attention two unsuspected blots +upon our civilisation. We wish any word of our’s +could give still wider publicity to his self-denying +labours.”—<i>Live Stock Journal</i>.</p> +<p>“Mr. Smith writes with vehement energy, which he puts +into everything he does. Some will perhaps think that his +language is occasionally too little measured, but then it is +probable that a man of more delicacy of feeling and expression +would have never undertaken, and we think it is certain that he +would never have carried through, the work which Mr. George Smith +has accomplished. That work is of no small +value.”—<i>Staffordshire Sentinel</i>.</p> +<p>“A good deal of new matter is inserted in this edition, +including an interesting account of the history and progress of +the movement. . . . The volume is certainly worthy of a careful +perusal.”—<i>Birmingham Gazette</i>.</p> +<p><!-- page 300--><a name="page300"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +300</span>“In it is written the author’s account of +his single-handed struggle for the emancipation of the poor +children of the brick-yards—a struggle long and patiently +sustained, and which at last, in 1872, met with its past merited +reward in freeing 10,000 of these little ones from their dark +slavery.”—<i>The Graphic</i>.</p> +<p>“This is a deeply interesting book, both from the facts +which it sets forth and the cause it +advocates.”—<i>Christian Age</i>.</p> +<p>“Every true philanthropist will read with deep interest +Mr. Smith’s account of the history and the passing of the +Act, which marks one of the brightest victories yet won over +prejudice and self-interest in the United +Kingdom.”—<i>Derby Mercury</i>.</p> +<p>“This excellently got-up work will strike a cord of +sympathy in the bosoms of all who are interested in the works of +Christianity and philanthropy. . . . Should find a place +upon every book-shelf because its contents are of thrilling +interest. . . . The book is essentially a statement of +facts, and no one can peruse its pages without feeling the +impulse of the living spirit which breathes in this ‘Cry of +the Children.’”—<i>Potteries Examiner</i>.</p> +<p>“Mr. George Smith has, in his ‘Cry of the Children +from the Brick-yards of England,’ raised issues too +serious, and advanced pleas too passionate, to be treated with +indifference.”—<i>Daily Telegraph</i>.</p> +<p>“In the present volume, which contains a number of +excellent woodcuts, we have gathered up the full story of the +evils which used to prevail, which in the hands of a person of +less moral courage and perseverance than Mr. Smith would have +failed.”—<i>Leicester Daily Post</i>.</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo</i>, 216 +<i>pages</i>. <i>Price</i>, <i>paper covers</i>, +1<i>s.</i>; <i>post free</i>, 1<i>s.</i> 2<i>d.</i> +<i>Cloth binding</i>, <i>with Portrait</i>, 2<i>s.</i>, <i>post +free</i>.</p> +<h3>Life of the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P.</h3> +<p>“A carefully prepared story of the public life of Mr. +Gladstone in the several spheres of politics and +literature. It would be well if similar books to this were +as sensibly compiled. It is a handy and useful little book, +honestly worth its price.”—<i>Christian +World</i>.</p> +<p>“Written with great fairness and impartiality, as well +as with considerable literary ability. It furnishes the +reader with a key to the study of that which is undoubtedly one +of the greatest characters of modern times. We can hardly +conceive of a more useful political publication at the present +moment. It is clear, pains-taking, and dispassionate. +We commend it to the favourable attention of +all.”—<i>Leads Mercury</i>.</p> +<p>“Those who desire to know what Mr. Gladstone’s +life has been, and what are the objects to which he has devoted +himself, what have been the growth of his political mind and the +tendency of his political conduct, will do well to get this +book. It is neatly and simply written, and contains a great +many facts which have a bearing even beyond the life of its +subject.”—<i>Scotsman</i>.</p> +<p>“No one can read this book without advantage. The +author has presented Mr. Gladstone in a manner easily +recognisable by friends and foes alike. The volume forms an +important chapter in Parliamentary history, extending over half a +century.”—<i>Literary World</i>.</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page 301--><a +name="page301"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 301</span><i>Bound in +cloth</i>, <i>with four Illustrations</i>, <i>price</i> +1<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> +<h3>The Life of the Great African Traveller, Dr. <span +class="smcap">Livingstone</span>. By <span class="smcap">J. +M. McGilchrist</span>.</h3> +<p>“The appearance of this little work is very seasonable, +and to young readers especially it will be very +acceptable.”—<i>North British Daily Mail</i>.</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Cloth binding</i>, <i>post +free</i>, 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> +<h3>Methodism in 1879: Impressions of the Wesleyan <span +class="smcap">Church and Its Ministers</span>.</h3> +<p>“A new contribution to an important chapter of church +history, and promises to be of much +interest.”—<i>Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone</i>.</p> +<p>“The remarks in this work on the general relations of +the Methodists to the tendencies of the age are full of +instruction.”—<i>Dean Stanley</i>.</p> +<p>“We have read this book with considerable interest and +pleasure, feelings which any reader who approaches it from the +Church of England point of view can scarcely fail to +share.”—<i>Spectator</i>.</p> +<p>“Bearing, as it does throughout, the impress of thought +and calm judgment, as well as of an intimate knowledge of the +varied aspects of the subject dealt with, it should be of +universal interest.”—<i>Morning Post</i>.</p> +<p>“The author has rendered a splendid service to +Methodism. Much that the writer tells us with respect to +the various agencies of Methodism is extremely +interesting.”—<i>Edinburgh Daily Review</i>.</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<h3>HAUGHTON’S POPULAR ILLUSTRATED BIOGRAPHIES.</h3> +<p style="text-align: center">PRICE ONE PENNY EACH.</p> +<div class="gapshortline"> </div> +<h4>Life of Her Majesty the Queen.</h4> +<p>“Written with great ability, and is full of +interest. It contains a complete review of the principal +events of Her Majesty’s reign. This biography should +be circulated by thousands among the masses of the +people.”—<i>Review</i>.</p> +<h4>Life of H.R.H. the Prince Consort.</h4> +<p>“A grand biography of a grand man, and replete with +sterling interest. It is as fascinating as a work of +fiction.”—<i>Review</i>.</p> +<h4><!-- page 302--><a name="page302"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 302</span>Life of H.R.H. the Prince of +Wales.</h4> +<p>“Very full, just, and interesting, and very brilliant is +this account of the Prince of Wales. His visits to the +United States and to India are well and fully +described.”—<i>Review</i>.</p> +<h4>Life of the Right, Hon. W. E. Gladstone.</h4> +<p>“The penny ‘Gladstone’ has a mass of facts +in small bulk.”—<i>Liverpool Courier</i>.</p> +<p>“Contains the leading events of Mr. Gladstone’s +life in a small compass.”—<i>Echo</i>.</p> +<p>“We can hardly conceive of a more useful political +publication at the present moment. It is clear, +pains-taking, and dispassionate. We commend it to the +favourable attention of all.”—<i>Leeds +Mercury</i>.</p> +<p>“An admirably drawn sketch.”—<i>Edinburgh +Daily Review</i>.</p> +<h4>Life of the Earl of Beaconsfield, K.G.</h4> +<p>“These penny biographies have a laudable spirit in +common. They are free from party +bias.”—<i>Liverpool Courier</i>.</p> +<h4>Life of the Right Hon. John Bright, M.P.</h4> +<p>“Sets forth the principal events in the career of this +remarkable man.”—<i>Review</i>.</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Recently Published</i>, +<i>beautifully bound in cloth</i>, <i>bevelled boards</i>, +<i>price</i> 5<i>s.</i></p> +<h3>From the Curate to the Convent.</h3> +<p>“This comely volume is intended to open the eyes of +Englishmen to the Romanising influence of the High Church, and to +the wiles of the Jesuits, who are using the Establishment to +their own ends.”—<i>Rev. C. H. Spurgeon in</i> +“<i>Sword and Trowel</i>.”</p> +<p>“In this work the natural, logical, and most mischievous +results of the confessional in our Church, are portrayed with +fidelity and power.”—<i>The Standard</i>.</p> +<p>“The book is the product of a master-mind, and ought to +be in every Protestant family as well as in the school or +parochial library of every parish. We cannot speak of the +work in too high terms.” <i>The Gospel +Magazine</i>.</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Now Ready</i>, <i>post free</i>, +3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>, <i>handsomely bound</i>, <i>new +edition</i>, <i>with Frontispiece</i>.</p> +<h3>Vestina’s Martyrdom: A Story of the Catacombs. By +<span class="smcap">Mrs. Emma Raymond Pitman</span>.</h3> +<p>“This Story of the Catacombs is readable and +well-written. The historical portion does not occupy any +undue position, and the moral is good and sound. The book +is very suitable for Sunday-school +libraries.”—<i>Christian World</i>.</p> +<p><!-- page 303--><a name="page303"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +303</span>“One of the best stories of the kind we ever +read—the very best, we think, of this particular era. +The volume abounds in deeply interesting matter, while the +religious teaching is of the very simplest and +purest.”—<i>Literary World</i>.</p> +<p>“The description of Vestina’s martyrdom, or rather +of her timely release from martyrdom, is simple and +touching. The present story will revive many interesting +associations.”—<i>Athenæum</i>.</p> +<p>“It is told in language of beauty and +power.”—<i>Rock</i>.</p> +<p>“Many of the descriptions are far beyond the common +range of tale-writing. The book is remarkably +well-written.”—<i>Watchman</i>.</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Now ready</i>, <i>handsomely +bound in gilt cloth</i>, <i>crown</i> 8<i>vo</i>, <i>with +full-page Illustrations and Medallion on cover</i>, 4<i>s.</i>; +<i>or</i>, <i>with gilt edges</i>, <i>extra gilt cloth</i>, +<i>for presentation</i>, 5<i>s.</i></p> +<h3>Profit and Loss: A Tale of Modern Life, for<br /> +<span class="smcap">Young People</span>. By Mrs. <span +class="smcap">Emma Raymond Pitman</span>, Authoress of +“Vestina’s Martyrdom,” “Margaret +Mervyn’s Cross,” “Olive Chauncey’s +Trust,” &c., &c.</h3> +<p>“This is evidently a tale in favour of Sunday-schools, +but written with a freshness, a vivacity, and truthfulness, which +must render it eminently calculated for usefulness, and must +touch every heart.”—<i>Literary World</i>.</p> +<p>“The story is interesting and well +told.”—<i>Evangelical Magazine</i>.</p> +<p>“The incidents are by no means of a commonplace +character, and the heroine will certainly win the reader’s +admiration, so that the book is likely to prove attractive and +useful.”—<i>The Rock</i>.</p> +<p>“The book is sure to have many +readers.”—<i>Methodist Recorder</i>.</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Beautifully bound</i>, +<i>price</i> 2<i>s.</i>, <i>post free</i>.</p> +<h3>Sheen from my Thought-Waves. By Rev. <span +class="smcap">W. Osborne Lilley</span>.</h3> +<p>“The author walks on solid ground, and looks at men and +things with the eye of a close observer and a thoughtful +man.”—<i>U. M. F. Church Magazine</i>.</p> +<p>“We think the author has done well to collect and +re-issue these papers.”—<i>Christian Age</i>.</p> +<p>“Nearly three hundred paragraphs, varying in length from +a couple of lines to two or three pages, afford as many striking +thoughts. The points are pithy and taking. Our advice +is, ‘Buy the book and make free use of +it.’”—<i>The Lay Preacher</i>.</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Just Published</i>. +<i>Price</i> 1<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>, <i>in cloth</i>, <i>bevelled +boards</i>.</p> +<h3>Comforting Words for the Weary, and Words<br /> +<span class="smcap">of Counsel and Warning</span>, with Original +Hymns. By F. M. M. With an Introduction, by the Rev. +<span class="smcap">Hugh Macmillan, D.D.</span></h3> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page 304--><a +name="page304"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +304</span><i>Price</i>, <i>cloth boards</i>, 2<i>s.</i> +6<i>d.</i>; <i>handsome binding</i>, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>, +<i>post free</i>.</p> +<h3>Leisure Hours with London Divines. Second Edition.</h3> +<p>“The features of the London Divines in all denominations +have been caught by an observant eye and reproduced by a faithful +hand. We cordially commend the book to those who desire to +learn what the intellectual ecclesiastical life of London really +means.”—<i>Standard</i>.</p> +<p>“Theological portraits of very considerable +value.”—<i>Leeds Mercury</i>.</p> +<p>“There is a brilliancy about this book which only a +scholar could impart.”—<i>Literary World</i>.</p> +<p>“Written from an elevated standpoint. In his +eminently careful essays the author has furnished material for +study such as might be vainly looked for in a more pretentious +book.”—<i>Morning Post</i>.</p> +<p>“Only a man naturally liberal-minded, and brought into +frequent contact with intellects of the most diverse order, could +have written such a work.”—<i>Edinburgh Daily +Review</i>.</p> +<p>“A series of studies of eminent preachers in which the +author deals with the nature and causes of the influence they +exercise, and the distinctive principles which they +advocate. This work has been performed appreciatively and +intelligently.”—<i>Scotsman</i>.</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<h3>Hanani: A <span class="smcap">Memoir of William Smith</span>, +Father of <span class="smcap">George Smith</span>, of +Coalville. A Local Preacher. By the Rev. Dr. <span +class="smcap">Grosart</span>, St. George’s, Blackburn, +Lancashire. Best Edition, Crown 8vo, toned paper, cloth, +with Portrait, price 1s. 6d.; small Edition, cloth, with +Portrait, price 1s.; cloth, flush, without Portrait, 8d.; paper +cover, 6d.</h3> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Elegantly bound and +illustrated</i>, <i>gilt edges</i>, <i>price</i> 3<i>s.</i> +<i>6d.</i></p> +<h3>From out the Deeps: <span class="smcap">A Tale of Cornish +Life</span>.<br /> +By an Old Cornish Boy. With Introduction by Rev. <span +class="smcap">S. W. Christophers</span>.</h3> +<p>“A vein of deep religious feeling runs throughout it, +or, rather, religion pervades its every page. The volume is +tastefully ‘got up,’ and its matter +excellent.”—<i>The Christian Miscellany</i>.</p> +<p>“This is an admirable story, which we heartily commend +for presents, school prizes, &c.”—<i>The +Christian</i>.</p> +<p>“The lessons taught by Mr. Christophers are excellent; +his spirit is always admirable. . . . Our readers had +better get the book.”—<i>Spurgeon</i>.</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page 305--><a +name="page305"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +305</span><i>Illustrated and beautifully bound</i>, <i>gilt +edges</i>, <i>price</i> 5<i>s.</i></p> +<h3>The Poets of Methodism. By the Rev. <span +class="smcap">S. W. Christophers</span>.</h3> +<p>“This is a charming book. Its exquisite getting-up +is not inappropriate to its contents.”—<i>City Road +Magazine</i>.</p> +<p>“This is a thoroughly good book. It is filled with +life-like sketches of the men who are amongst the most endeared +to the Methodist people. It would be difficult to name any +more acceptable gift-book than this work, for which we heartily +thank Mr. Christophers.”—<i>Rev. Mark Guy +Pearse</i>.</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Bound in cloth</i>, <i>price</i> +5<i>s.</i></p> +<h3>The Voyage of Life: <span class="smcap">Homeward +Bound</span>. By a <span class="smcap">Sea +Captain</span>.</h3> +<p>This is intended as a companion-book for the +“Pilgrim’s Progress,” and therefore something +new for the reading world. Its originality will make it +interesting to all classes of readers.</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>In very large type</i>, +<i>price</i> 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> +<h3>An Illustrated Edition of Precious Truths.<br /> +By <span class="smcap">S. M. Haughton</span>.</h3> +<p>“We wish that a copy of this ‘<span +class="smcap">precious</span>’ book could be placed in the +hands of every one who is able to read, as it contains the very +marrow of the ‘<span class="smcap">Glorious +Gospel</span>.’”</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Cloth</i>, <i>boards</i>, +<i>illustrated</i>, <i>price</i> 1<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> +<h3>Annals of the Poor. By <span class="smcap">Legh +Richmond</span>.</h3> +<p>These short and simple annals have been translated into more +than 50 languages and blessed to hundreds of souls.</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Cloth</i>, <i>bevelled +boards</i>, <i>price</i> 2<i>s.</i></p> +<h3>Remarkable Conversions. By the Rev. <span +class="smcap">James Fleming</span>.</h3> +<p>“In each of these chapters a number of remarkable cases +of conversion is given. Some of them do indeed afford +extraordinary proof of the long-suffering and infinite mercy of +our God. We are here shown a number of examples which +should stimulate our hope and zeal to the utmost. Well may +the author call his book ‘Remarkable Conversions,’ +and well may every reader have greater faith than ever in the +Divine Word, ‘He is able to save to the +uttermost.’”—<i>Living Waters</i>.</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page 306--><a +name="page306"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +306</span><i>Elegantly bound</i>, <i>cloth</i>, <i>boards</i>, +<i>with Portrait</i>, <i>price</i> 2<i>s.</i>; <i>limp cloth</i>, +1<i>s.</i></p> +<h3>The Autobiography of Foolish Dick (<span +class="smcap">Richard Hampton</span>) <span class="smcap">the +Cornish Pilgrim Preacher</span>; with Introduction and Notes by +Rev. <span class="smcap">S. W. Christophers</span>.</h3> +<p>“We hope this deeply interesting book will obtain a wide +circulation.”—<i>Christian Age</i>.</p> +<p>“This singular book is quite a little curiosity in its +way. The whole of the little volume combines instruction +with interest in a very high degree, so that we can heartily +commend it.”—<i>Spurgeon</i>.</p> +<p>“A man of one talent, he put it out to usury, and it +multiplied under the mighty hand of God, so that during his long +itinerant ministry, multitudes were led to the Saviour. . . +. Those who would be fishers of men will find their souls +kindled by the weird narrative of this strange, yet saintly +man.”—<i>The Christian</i>.</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Cloth</i>, <i>boards</i>, +<i>price</i> 1<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> +<h3>God’s way of Electing Souls; or, <span +class="smcap">Glad Tidings for Every One</span>.</h3> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Cloth</i>, <i>bevelled +boards</i>, <i>with four full-page Illustrations</i>, +<i>price</i> 2<i>s.</i></p> +<h3>The Glory-Land. By <span class="smcap">J. P. +Hutchinson</span>, Author of “Footmarks of Jesus,” +“The Singer in the Skies,” &c.</h3> +<p>“This is in every sense a beautiful volume. To the +spiritually-minded and the careworn, and, indeed, to the earnest +inquirer, we commend it as a precious +help.”—<i>Watchman</i>.</p> +<p>“It will cheer many a mourner, and stimulate their +aspirations after things unseen and eternal.”—<i>The +Christian</i>.</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Cloth</i>, <i>boards</i>, +<i>price</i> 1<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> +<h3>Seeking after Peace. A book for Inquirers after True +Religion. By M. M.</h3> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Cloth</i>, <i>boards</i>, +<i>price</i> 1<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> +<h3>Pioneer Experiences in the Holy Life. With Expository +Chapters. Edited by <span class="smcap">T. Bowman +Stephenson</span>, B.A., Hon. Director of the Children’s +Home.</h3> +<p>“‘Pioneer Experiences’ consist of personal +testimonies by eminent Christians of Europe and America, +respecting the attainment of ‘The Higher Christian +Life.’”</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page 307--><a +name="page307"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +307</span><i>Handsomely bound</i>, <i>with Illustrations</i>, +<i>price</i> 2<i>s.</i></p> +<h3>Brave Seth. By <span class="smcap">Sarah +Doudney</span>.</h3> +<p>“We know of no better book than this to place in the +hands of our young people to inculcate the importance of +truthfulness, courage, and reliance upon God. The incidents +are thrilling, the lessons are unexceptionable, and the language +and style are beautiful. It reminds us, in its pathos and +deeply interesting character, of ‘Jessica’s First +Prayer.’”—<i>Living Waters</i>.</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Cloth</i>, <i>bevelled +boards</i>, <i>price</i> 2<i>s.</i></p> +<h3>Misunderstood Texts. <span class="smcap">By Dr. +Mahan</span>.</h3> +<p>“All who wish to have clear views of the doctrine taught +by those who believe in <i>entire consecration</i> should peruse +this able, decided, and unanswerable +volume.”—<i>Living Waters</i>.</p> +<p>“This is an able book, and the teaching it embodies is +that of the Wesleys, Fletcher, Clarke, Benson, Watson, and many +others. . . . We recommend young ministers to read the +book.”—<i>The Watchman</i>.</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Handsomely bound</i>, <i>gilt +edges</i>, <i>price</i> 1<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> +<h3>The Children’s Treasury Text Book, interleaved with +Writing-paper for Collecting the Autographs of Friends and +Acquaintances. It contains a Text of Scripture for Every +Day in the Year, with an appropriate Verse of Poetry.</h3> +<p>The Rev. <span class="smcap">C. Dukes</span> says of the +“<span class="smcap">Children’s Treasury Text +Book</span>:”—“I admire it very much, and were +it left to my option, every young person in my circle and beyond +it should have a copy.”</p> +<p>A. L. O. E. writes:—“Accept my thanks for your +truly beautiful and valuable book. It appears to be a +‘Treasury’ indeed.”</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Cloth</i>, <i>elegant +binding</i>, <i>Illustrated</i>, <i>price</i> 1<i>s.</i> +6<i>d.</i></p> +<h3>By the Still Waters. Meditations and Hymns on the 23rd +Psalm. By the Rev. <span class="smcap">S. W. +Christophers</span> and <span class="smcap">B. Gough</span>.</h3> +<p>“The prose meditations of this excellent volume have all +the sweetness and grace of poetry; and the poems contain the true +spirit of devotional piety, with great power of poetic +expression. Every reader of this precious book must be +greatly refreshed and blessed.”</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<h3><!-- page 308--><a name="page308"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 308</span>Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s +Progress, 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> Printed on toned paper, +illustrated, beautifully bound, red edges, 400 pages.</h3> +<p>“This is undoubtedly the cheapest edition of this +marvellous book ever published.”</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Uniform with the above</i>, +<i>price</i> 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> +<h3>Bunyan’s Holy War. 348 pages, with frontispiece, +printed on toned paper, red edges.</h3> +<p>“Every one should read this most instructive +volume.”</p> +<p>“If the ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ did not +exist, the ‘Holy War’ would be the best allegory that +ever was written.”—<span class="smcap">Lord +Macaulay</span>.</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Uniform with the above</i>, +<i>price</i>, 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> +<h3>Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. 352 pages, well +illustrated, printed on toned paper, red edges.</h3> +<p>“The arguments in this book are such as the plainest man +can understand, and the facts should be constantly kept in +remembrance by every Protestant.”</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Cloth</i>, <i>elegantly +bound</i>, <i>with</i> 150 <i>striking Illustrations</i>, +<i>price</i> 2<i>s.</i></p> +<h3>Calisthenics, Drilling, and Deportment Simplified. By +<span class="smcap">Duncan Cunningham</span>.</h3> +<p>This book is highly recommended by eminent medical +gentlemen. It is intended more especially for female +teachers and parents, who are desirous that children under their +care should possess a strong mind in a healthy body.</p> +<p>The engravings are beautifully executed, the explanations +extremely simple, and the words and music specially adapted to +instruct and attract the young.</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo</i>, +<i>cloth</i>, <i>gilt edges</i>, 3<i>s.</i></p> +<h3>From Egypt to Canaan; <span class="smcap">or</span>, <span +class="smcap">From Bondage to Rest</span>. <span +class="smcap">By T. J. Hughes</span>.</h3> +<p>“This delightful book really drops pearls of thought +from almost every page.”—<i>The Christian’s +Pathway of Power</i>.</p> +<p>“There are some books on which a special blessing rests, +even beyond their apparent excellence, because they have been +steeped in prayer, and we think that this is one of them. +We heartily commend it to the numerous young converts who are now +being gathered into the Church of Christ.”—<i>The +Christian</i>.</p> +<div class="gapshortline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">haughton & +co.</span>, <span class="smcap">10</span>, <span +class="smcap">paternoster row</span>, <span +class="smcap">london</span>.</p> +<h2>Footnotes:</h2> +<p><a name="footnote8"></a><a href="#citation8" +class="footnote">[8]</a> Since writing the foregoing +concerning Mahmood or Mahmud, I came across the enclosed, taken +from an article in the <i>Daily News</i>, January 11, 1880, which +confirms my statements as regards one of the main causes why the +Gipsies or Indians left their native +country:—“Ghuznee was the capital of Mahmud of +Ghuznee, or Mahmud the Destroyer, as he is known in Eastern +story, the first of the Mohammedan conquerors of India, and the +only one who had his home in Afghanistan, though he was himself +of Turki or Mongol nationality. Seventeen times did he +issue forth from his native mountains, spreading fire and sword +over the plains of Hindustan, westward as far as the Ganges +Valley, and southward to the shore of Gujerat. Seventeen +times did he return to Ghuznee laden with the spoil of Rajput +kings and the shrines of Hindu pilgrimage. In one of these +expeditions his goal was the far-famed temple of Somnauth or +Somnauth Patan in Gujerat. Resistance was vain, and equally +useless were the tears of the Brahmins, who besought him to take +their treasures, but at least spare their idol. With his +own hand, and with the mace which is the counterpart of Excalibar +in Oriental legend, he smote the face of the idol, and a torrent +of precious stones gushed out. When Keane’s army took +Ghuznee in 1839, this mace was still to be seen hanging up over +the sarcophagus of Mahmud, and the tomb was then entered through +folding gates, which tradition asserted to be those of the Temple +of Somnauth. Lord Ellenborough gave instructions to General +Nott to bring back with him to India both the mace and the +gates. The latter, as is well-known, now lie mouldering in +the lumber-room of the fort at Agra, for their authenticity is +absolutely indefensible; but the mace could nowhere be found by +the British plunderer. Mahmud reigned from 997 to 1030 +<span class="smcap">a.d.</span>, and in his days Ghuznee was +probably the first city in Asia. The extensive ruins of his +city stretch northwards along the Cabul road for more than two +miles from the present town; but all that now remains standing +are two lofty pillars or minarets, 400 yards apart, one bearing +the name of Mahmud, the other that of his son Masaud. +Beyond these ruins again is the Roza or Garden, which surrounds +the mausoleum of Mahmud. The building itself is a poor +structure, and can hardly date back for eight centuries. +The great conqueror is said to rest beneath a marble slab, which +bears an inscription in Cufic characters, thus interpreted by +Major (now Sir Henry) Rawlinson: ‘May there be forgiveness +of God upon him, who is the great lord, the noble Nizam-ud-din +(Ruler of the Faith) Abul Kasim Mahmud, the son of +Sabaktagin! May God have mercy upon him!’ The +Ghuznevide dynasty founded by Mahmud lasted for more than a +century after his death, though with greatly restricted +dominions. Finally, it was extinguished in 1152 by one of +those awful acts of atrocity which are fortunately recorded only +in the East. Allah-ud-din, Prince of Ghore, a town in the +north-western hills of Afghanistan, marched upon Ghuznee to +avenge the death of two of his brothers. The king was slain +in battle, and the city given up to be sacked. The common +orders of the people were all massacred upon the spot; the nobles +were taken to Ghore, and there put to death, and their blood used +to cement the rising walls of the capital.”</p> +<p><a name="footnote176"></a><a href="#citation176" +class="footnote">[176]</a> The “Czardas” is a +solitary public-house, an institution which plays a considerable +part in all romantic poems or romantic novels whose scene is laid +in Hungary, as a fitting haunt for brigands, horse-thieves, +Gipsies, Jews, political refugees, strolling players, vagabond +poets, and other melodramatic personages.</p> +<p><a name="footnote218a"></a><a href="#citation218a" +class="footnote">[218a]</a> A Black Govel.</p> +<p><a name="footnote218b"></a><a href="#citation218b" +class="footnote">[218b]</a> Going a tinkering.</p> +<p><a name="footnote218c"></a><a href="#citation218c" +class="footnote">[218c]</a> I’ll show you about, +brother; I’m selling skewers.</p> +<p><a name="footnote219"></a><a href="#citation219" +class="footnote">[219]</a> The fact of Ryley having at his +death a caravan, pony, carpets, curtains, blankets, mirrors, +china, crockery, metal pots and dishes, &c., seems hardly, in +my mind, to be in accord with his doing no work for years, +smoking under railroad arches and loitering about +beershops. I expect, if the truth were known, the whole of +his furniture and stock-in-trade could have been placed upon a +wheelbarrow.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIPSY LIFE***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 28548-h.htm or 28548-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/5/4/28548 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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