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diff --git a/28548.txt b/28548.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5a10928 --- /dev/null +++ b/28548.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10931 @@ +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*** + + +Transcribed from the 1880 Haughton and Co. edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org + + [Picture: Book cover] + + [Picture: Frontispiece: Among the Gipsy children] + + + + + + GIPSY LIFE: + + + BEING AN ACCOUNT + + OF + + OUR GIPSIES AND THEIR CHILDREN. + + WITH + SUGGESTIONS FOR THEIR IMPROVEMENT. + + BY + GEORGE SMITH, OF COALVILLE. + + * * * * * + + LONDON: + HAUGHTON & CO., 10, PATERNOSTER ROW. + + * * * * * + + [_All Rights Reserved_.] + + * * * * * + + 1880. + +I give my warmest thanks to W. H. OVEREND, 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 _Illustrated London News_ 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. + +I must at the same time express my heart-felt thanks to the manager and +proprietors of the _Graphic_ 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. + +W. H. OVEREND, Esq., was the artist for the sketches in the _Illustrated +London News_, and HERBERT JOHNSON, Esq., was the artist for the sketches +in the _Graphic_. + +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. + + + + +TO THE MOST HONOURABLE +THE PEERS AND MEMBERS +OF THE +HIGH COURT OF PARLIAMENT. + + +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. + + Very respectfully yours, + GEORGE SMITH, + _Of Coalville_. + +_April_ 30_th_, 1880. + + + + +INDEX. + +Part I. + + RAMBLES IN GIPSYDOM. + + PAGE + +Origin of the Gipsies and their Names 1 +Article in _The Daily News_ 8 +The Travels of the Gipsies 9 +Acts of Parliament relating to the Gipsies 16 +Article in _The Edinburgh Review_ 23 + ,, _The Saturday Review_ 25 +Professor Bott on the Gipsies 29 +The Changars of India 32 +The Doms of India 33 +The Sanseeas of India 35 +The Nuts of India 36 +Grellmann on the Gipsies 39 +Gipsies of Notting Hill 40 +Rev. Charles Wesley 42 +The Number of Gipsies 44 + +Part II. + + COMMENCEMENT OF THE CRUSADE. + +Work begun 48 +Letter to _The Standard_ and _Daily Chronicle_ 51 +Leading Article in _The Standard_ 53 +Correspondence in _The Standard_ 59 +Mr. Leland's Letter, &c., &c. 60 +My Reply 66 +_Leicester Free Press_ 69 +Article in _The Derby Daily Telegraph_ 70 + ,, _The Figaro_ 73 +Letter in _The Daily News_ 75 +Mr. Gorrie's Letter 78 +My Reply 79 +Leading Article in _The Standard_ 82 +_May's Aldershot Advertiser_ 87 +Article in _Hand and Heart_ 90 +Article in _The Illustrated London News_ 91 +Leading Article in _The Daily News_ 92 +Social Science Congress Paper 95 +Article in _Birmingham Daily Mail_ 102 + ,, _The Weekly Dispatch_ 106 + ,, _The Weekly Times_ 109 + ,, _The Croydon Chronicle_ 117 + ,, _Primitive Methodist_ 119 + ,, _Illustrated London News_ 121 + ,, _The Quiver_ 126 +Letter in _Daily News_ and _Chronicle_ 127 +Article in _Christian World_ 129 + ,, _Sunday School Chronicle_ 132 + ,, _Unitarian Herald_ 134 + ,, _Weekly Times_ 135 + +Part III. + + THE TREATMENT THE GIPSIES HAVE RECEIVED IN THIS COUNTRY. + +The Social History of our Country 142 +Acts of Parliament concerning the Gipsies 145 +Treatment of the Gipsies in Scotland, Spain, and Denmark 150 +Efforts put forth to improve their Condition 155 +His Majesty George III. and the Dying Gipsy 161 +Mr. Crabb at Southampton in 1827 164 +Fiction and the Gipsies 166 +Hubert Petalengro's Gipsy Trip to Norway 169 +Esmeralda's Song 174 +George Borrow's Travels in Spain 177 +Romance and Poetry about the Gipsies 183 +Dean Stanley's Prize Poem 190 + +Part IV. + + GIPSY LIFE IN A VARIETY OF ASPECTS. + +Persecution, Missionary Efforts, and Romance 192 +The Gipsy Contrast and _Punch_ 193 +Gipsy Slang 195 +Rees and Borrow's Description of the Gipsies 199 +Leland among the Russian Gipsies 201 +Burning a Russian Fortune-teller 203 +A Welsh Gipsy's Letter 208 +Ryley Bosvil and his Poetry: a Sad Example 213 +My Visit to Canning Town Gipsies 220 +Article in _The Weekly Times_ 222 +My Son's Visit to Barking Road 227 +Mrs. Simpson, a Christian Gipsy 228 + +Part V. + + THE SAD CONDITION OF THE GIPSIES, WITH SUGGESTIONS FOR THEIR + IMPROVEMENT. + +Gipsy Beauty and Songsters 237 +Gipsy Poetry 239 +Smart and Crofton 239 +A Little Gipsy Girl's Letter 242 +Scotch Gipsies 243 +Gipsy Trickery 244 +My Visit to the Gipsies at Kensal Green 248 +Fortune-telling and other Sins 249 +Wretched Condition of the Gipsies 254 +Hungarian Gipsies 259 +Visit to Cherry Island 260 +The Cleanliness and Food of the Gipsies 262 +A Gipsy Woman's Opinion upon Religion 264 +Gipsy Faithfulness and Fidelity 264 +A Visit to Hackney Marshes 266 +Sickness among the Gipsies 270 +A Gipsy Woman's Funeral 271 +Gipsies and the Workhouse 274 +Education of the Gipsy Children Sixty Years ago 274 +Mission Work among the Gipsies 275 +Gipsy Children upon Turnham Green and Wandsworth Common 276 +Sad Condition of the Gipsy Children 277 +The Hardships of the Gipsy Women 281 +Efforts put forth in Hungary and other Countries 282 +Things made by the Gipsies 284 +Pity for the Gipsies 285 +What the State has done for the Thugs 286 +The Remedy 287 +My Reasons for Government Interference 289 + + + +Illustrations. + + PAGE + +Frontispiece. Among the Gipsy Children. + +A Gipsy Beauty 1 +A Gentleman Gipsy's Tent and his dog "Grab" 42 +A Gipsy's Home for Man and Wife and Six Children 48 +Gipsies Camping among the Heath 66 +Gipsy Quarters, Mary Place 76 +A Farmer's Pig that does not like a Gipsy's Tent 96 +Gipsies' Winter Quarters, Latimer Road 108 +A Gipsy Tent for Two Men, their Wives, and Eleven 118 +Children, and in which "Deliverance" was born +A Gipsy Knife Grinder's Home 122 +A Gipsy Girl Washing Clothes 132 +A Respectable Gipsy and his Family "on the Road" 170 +A Bachelor Gipsy's Bed-room 174 +A Gipsy's Van, near Notting Hill 192 +A Fortune-telling Gipsy enjoying her Pipe 222 +Inside a Christian Gipsy's Van--Mrs. Simpson's 228 +Inside a Gipsy Fortune-teller's Van 236 +Gipsy Fortune tellers Cooking their Evening Meal 248 +Outside a Christian Gipsy's Van 272 +Four Little Gipsies sitting for the Artist 277 +A Top Bed-room in a Gipsy's Van 281 + + + + [Picture: A Gipsy beauty who can neither read nor write] + + + + +Part I.--Rambles in Gipsydom. + + +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 +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 "Boem," 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. + +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," "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. + +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 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, 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 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, 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. {8} I am inclined to think that it 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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 extending to them the +hand of brotherhood and sympathy, and the days of persecution passed. + +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 Luneburg, 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 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 "Encyclopaedia 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 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. + +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 +Luneburg, and later on at Hamburg, Lubeck, 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 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 . +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. + +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 _de medietate linguae_." As if the above enactment +was not sufficiently strong to prevent these wretched people multiplying +in our midst and carrying on their abominable practices, 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 pounds. 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." + +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." + +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 +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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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 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. + +"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." + +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 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. + +In no country in the world is there so much caste feeling, devilish +jealousy, and diabolical revenge manifested as in 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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; 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. + +In a leading article in the _Edinburgh Review_, July, 1878, upon the +origin and wanderings of the Gipsies, the following 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 _homines vageniti_ 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 _feudum Acinganorum_ 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." + +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 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. + +The following is an article taken from the _Saturday Review_, 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 _Hauptstamm_ 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 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, 'of the horse, +horsey,' and notorious thieves. In this they agree with the European +Gipsy. But they are not habitual eaters of _mullo balor_, 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. + +"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 _ignis-fatuus_. 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:-- + + "'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 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 _Gan_ or _Kan_. _Kan_ is given + by George Borrow as meaning sun, and we have ourselves heard English + Gipsies call it _kan_, although _kam_ 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 as + plausible as Dr. Mikliosch's derivation from the Acingani--[Greek + text]--'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." + +Professor Bott, in his "Die Zigeuner in Europa und Asien," speaks of the +Gipsies or _Lury_ 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 A.D., Behram Gur, +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 Behram Gur, 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 Lury, agreeably to this mandate, now wander about the +world in search of employment, 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. + +Dr. Von Bott goes on to say this:--"The tradition of the importation of +the Lury 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 _Zuth_, and in some manuscripts of Mirkhoud's history the same +name occurs, written, according to the Indian orthography, _Djatt_. +These words are undistinguishable when pronounced, and, in fact, may be +looked upon as phonetically equivalent, the Arabic _z_ being the +legitimate representative of the Indian _dj_. 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 Lury, 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 _Zuth_, and by a +Persian historian of the fifteenth, _Djatt_, 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 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. + +The following are specimens of Indian characters, taken 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 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. + +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. +_D_ in Hindustani is found as _r_ in English Gipsy speech--_e.g._, _doi_, +a wooden spoon, is known in Europe as _roi_. Now in common Romany we +have, even in London:-- + +Rom A Gipsy. +Romni A Gipsy wife. +Romnipen Gipsydom. + +Of this word _rom_ we shall more to say. It may be observed that there +are in the Indian _Dom_ 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? + +The marked musical talent characteristic of the Slavonian and other +European Gipsies appears to link them with the Luri 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 A.D., Shankal, the Maharajah of India, sent to Behram +Gour, a ruler of the Sassanian dynasty in Persia, ten thousand minstrels, +male and female, called _Luri_. 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:-- + +"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 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. + +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. + +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. 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 _argot_ 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 Naths, 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. + +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 _Rom_. + +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 _Rom_. In it bread was called Manro.' Manro +is all over Europe the Gipsy word for _bread_. In English Romany it is +softened into _maro_ or _morro_. Captain Burton has since informed us +that _manro_ 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 Rom, and that Rom was the general slang of the road, +derived, as he supposed, from the Trablus." + +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, _churi_ is a knife, +_nak_, the nose, _balia_, hairs, and so on, with others which would be +among the first to be furnished with slang equivalents. And yet these +very Gipsies are _Rom_, and the wife is a _Romni_, 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. + +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 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." + +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 +_Illustrated London News_, 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 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 "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. + +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. + +[Picture: A gentleman gipsy's tent, and his dog, "Grab," Hackney Marshes] + +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 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 long as there is a +Methodist family upon earth to lisp its song of triumph. + + "Come on, my partners in distress, + My comrades through the wilderness, + Who still your bodies feel; + A while forget your griefs and fears, + And look beyond this vale of tears, + To that celestial hill. + + "Beyond the bounds of time and space, + Look forward to that heavenly place, + The saints' secure abode; + On faith's strong eagle-pinions rise, + And force your passage to the skies, + And scale the mount of God. + + "Who suffer with our Master here, + We shall before His face appear, + And by His side sit down; + To patient faith the prize is sure; + And all that to the end endure + The cross, shall wear the crown." + +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. + +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 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? + +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. + +"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, Fenton, Longton, and +other places in Staffordshire, but without success. + +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 _Bengaw_, for whom Gipsy +models will sit for _soonakei_, _Roopeno_, or even a _posh-hovi_. 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. + +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; so taking either the Midland counties or London as an average, +we arrive at pretty much the same number--_i.e._, 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. + +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. + +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 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. + + "I was a bruised reed + Pluck'd from the common corn, + Play'd on, rude-handled, worn, + And flung aside, aside." + + DR. GROSART, "Sunday at Home." + + + + +Part II. +Commencement of the Gipsy Crusade. + + + [Picture: A Gipsy's home for man, wife, and six children, Hackney Wick] + +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 +_employes_ of that day was + + "When lads and lasses in their best + Were dress'd from top to toe, + In the days we went a-gipsying + A long time ago; + In the days we went a-gipsying, + A long time ago." + +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: + + "'In the days we went a-gipsying, a long time ago.'" + +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" 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 + + "When lads and lasses in their best + Were dress'd from top to toe, + In the days we went a-gipsying + A long time ago," + +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 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 of England," brought forth my first +letter upon the condition of the poor Gipsy children as it appeared in +the _Standard_, _Daily Chronicle_, 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.e._, 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 +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 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." + +The foregoing letter, as it appeared in the _Standard_, 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 _argot_ to be, as Mr. Leland calls it, 'a +curious old tongue, not merely allied to Sanscrit, but perhaps in 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.' + +"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 Mycenae 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 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 _meum_ and _tuum_ is as absolutely unintelligible to him +as was the Hegelian antithesis between _nichts_ and _seyn_ 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 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. + +"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 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 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 naive 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." + +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 _Standard_ 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 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." + +"An Old Woman" writes as follows:--"In the article on Gipsies in the +_Standard_ 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 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." + +Mr. Leland wrote as follows in the _Standard_, 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. 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 _tacho +Rom_, 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 _kairs_, 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, _posh an' posh_ +(half-and-half), or _churedis_, with hardly a drop of the _kalo-ratt_, +flock with their cocoa-nuts and the balls, which have of late taken the +place of the _koshter_, or sticks. With them go the sorceresses, old and +young, who pick up money by occasional _dukkerin_, 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. + +"This merry time over, they go to the _Livinengro tem_, or +hop-land--_i.e._, Kent. Here they work hard, not neglecting 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 _en masse_, 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 _chiv the kosh_, or cut wood--_i.e._, 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. + +"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. _Chiving a gry_, 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-- + + "Could anything be more alluring + Than an old hedge? + +"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 Romany _chal_, 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 _dyes_, 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 _aficion_, 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 naive 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, _nomen est omen_, 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. + +"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: + + "'Say what you will and do what you can, + No washing e'er whitens the black Zingan.' + +"The only kindness he requires is a little charity and 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 _drom_ (road) best, or living in a house. +With sparkling eyes and clapping her hands she exclaimed, 'oh, the road! +the road!'" + +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." + +The Rev. Mr. Hewett writes to the _Standard_, under date August 19th, to +say that he baptised two Gipsy children in 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 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." + +"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." + + [Picture: Gipsies Camping among the Heath near London] + +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.e._, 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 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 _dad_, _chavo_, _tikeno_, _moosh_, _gorjo_, +_raklo_, _rakli_, _pal palla_; the feminine gender _dei_, _tikeno_, +_chabi_, _joovel_, _gairo_, _rakle_, _raklia_, _pen penya_, or the plural +of the masculine gender _dada_, _chavi_, and the feminine gender _deia_, +_chavo_; 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 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 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." + +In the _Leicester Free Press_ 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 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." + +In the _Derby Daily Telegraph_, 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 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. + +"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 +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 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." + +_Figaro_ 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 +become chairman of a society for changing the spots of the leopard, or +honorary director of an association for changing the Ethiopian's skin!" + +The following letter from the Rev. J. Finch, a rural dean, appeared in +the _Standard_, 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 _Standard_ 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." + +I next turned my steps towards London, having heard 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 _Daily +News_, 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, 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 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 beautiful white cloth, and after a shake +of the hand, we parted, hoping to meet again on some future day." + +The foregoing letter brought forth the following letter from Mr. Daniel +Gorrie, and appeared in the _Daily News_ 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:-- + + "'In yonder sheltered nook of nibbled sward, + Beside the wood, a Gipsy band are camped; + And there they'll sleep the summer night away. + By stealthy holes their ragged, brawny brood + Creep through the hedges, in their pilfering quest + Of sticks and pales to make their evening fire. + Untutored things scarce brought beneath the laws + And meek provisions of this ancient State. + Yet is it wise, with wealth and power like hers, + To let so many of her sons grow up + In untaught darkness and consecutive vice? + True, we are jealous, free, and hate constraint + And every cognisance, o'er private life; + Yet, not to name a higher principle, + 'Twere but an institute of wise police + That every child, neglected of its own, + State claimed should be, State seized and taught and trained + To social duty and to Christian life. + Our liberties have limbs, manifold; + So let the national will, which makes restraint + Part of its freedom, oft the soundest part, + Power-arm the State to do the large design.' + +"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'?" + +To which I replied as under, in the _Daily News_ 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 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.e._, 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." + +The following leading article upon Gipsies and other tramps of a similar +class appeared in the _Standard_, 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 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, 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 _ipso facto_ 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. + +"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 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. + +"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 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. AEsthetic +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 _bona-fide_ +'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 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 _argot_, 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." + +The foregoing article upon Gipsies and tramps brought from a +correspondent in the _Standard_, 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 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.' + +"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 '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." + +In _May's Aldershot Advertiser_, 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 for +recreation. But who cares for, or thinks about, the wandering Romany? +True, Police-Constable Argus receives authority by which he, _sans +ceremonie_, 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 about 75 years of +age, and two women, earned on a farm in one harvest, no less than 42 +pounds. 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 + + "'Make night hideous.' + +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 _expense of the house-dwellers_, 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 pounds; or 100 +pounds 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 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." + +In the _Hand and Heart_, 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 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.'" + +The _Illustrated London News_, 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 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.'" + +The following leading article, relating to my paper upon "The Condition +of the Gipsy Children," appears in the _Daily News_, 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 the great commandment which has gone forth, that all the English +world shall be examined. + +"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 _ne +plus ultra_ 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 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. + +"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 _raison d'etre_ 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, 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." + +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 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 _Leicester +Daily Post_, _Leicester Daily Mercury_, _Nottingham Guardian_, +_Nottingham Journal_, _Sunday School Chronicle_, _Record_, and others +nearly in full, and was read as follows:-- + +"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. + + [Picture: A Farmer's Pig that does not like a Gipsy's Tent] + +"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 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. + +"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 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. + +"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 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 pounds. 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 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 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. + +"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.e._, 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 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." + +The following is a leading article in the _Birmingham Daily Mail_, +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 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. + +"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 +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. + +"It is proposed that the principles of the Canal Boats 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 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." + +The _Weekly Dispatch_, 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 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 be no better than a standing joke +to be cracked with impunity at the expense of the rural School Boards." + + [Picture: Gipsies' Winter Quarters near Latimer Road, Notting Hill] + +The _Sportsman_ 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." + +The following leading article, taken from the _Daily Telegraph_, under +date October 17th of last year, will show that crime is far from abating +among the classes of the Gipsy 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." + +The _Weekly Times_, 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 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 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 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 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 +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.' 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 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." + +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 _Daily Chronicle_ and _Daily +News_, 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 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." + +The London correspondent of the _Croydon Chronicle_ writes as under, on +November 22nd, touching a visit we both made to a number of poor Gipsy +children squatting 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 +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." + +[Picture: A Gipsy Tent for Two Men, their Wives, and Eleven Children, and + in which "Deliverance" was born] + +Leading article in the _Primitive Methodist_, 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 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." + +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 have made good headway, consequently the +proprietor of the _Illustrated London News_, 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.e._, +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 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:-- + +"'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."'" + +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 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." + +On January 3rd, 1880, additional illustrations were given in the +_Illustrated London News_. 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. 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. 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." + +The following remarks appeared in the December number of _The +Quiver_:--"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, 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. + + "'The glories of our mortal state + Are shadows, not substantial things; + There is no armour against fate-- + Death lays its icy hands on kings: + Sceptre and crown + Must tumble down, + And in the dust be equal made + With the poor crooked scythe and spade: + Only the actions of the just + Smell sweet and blossom in the dust.'--_Shirley_." + +The following is my letter, relating to the poor little Gipsy children's +homes, as it appeared in the _Daily News_, _Daily Chronicle_, 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 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 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." + +The following article appears in the _Christian World_, 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 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. + +"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 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. +. . . + +"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. 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." + + [Picture: A Gipsy girl washing clothes] + +In the _Sunday School Chronicle_, 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 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 +_children_? 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 _bide_, we cannot say +_dwell_, in such homes as Mr. George Smith describes? + +"'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.'" + +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 _Unitarian Herald_, +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:-- + + "'I see a column of slow-rising smoke + O'ertop the lofty wood that skirts the wild. + A vagabond and useless tribe there eat + Their miserable meal. A kettle, flung + Between two poles upon a stick transverse, + Receives the morsel--flesh obscene of dog, + Or vermin, or, at best, of cock purloined + From his accustomed perch. Hard-faring race, + They pick their fuel out of every hedge, + Which, kindled with dry leaves, just saves unqueuched + The spark of life. The sportive wind blows wide + Their fluttering rags, and shows a tawny skin, + The vellum of the livery they claim.' + +"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. +Jakabhazi, at Simenfalva, who employs about one hundred and forty +civilised Gipsies 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 _en masse_, 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." + +The _Weekly Times_ 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 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. + +"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 _levee_, +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 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. + +"'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 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." + + "Farewell, farewell! so rest there, blade! + Entomb me where our chiefs are laid; + But, hark, methinks I hear the drum, + I would that holy man were come."--HARRIS. + + "What sound is that as of one knocking gently? + Yet who would enter here at hour so late? + Arise! draw back the bolt--unclose the portal. + What figure standeth there before the gate? + + "He bears to thee sweet messages from Heaven, + Whispers of love from dear ones folded there, + And tells thee that a place for thee is waiting, + That thou shalt join them in their home so fair." + + A. F. B.--"Sunday at Home." + + + + +Part III. +The Treatment the Gipsies have received in this Country. + + +The social history and improvements of our own country seem to have gone +by irregular leaps and bounds. The Parliament, like the _Times_, 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 _Christian Observer_ 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 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 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 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. + +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. + +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 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, 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 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 pounds for every trespass." + +The fine of 40 pounds 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 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. + +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 pounds 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 pounds 5s. 0d. +groming of seventeen horses sold at five shillings the peice as apperythe +by a particular book, 17 pounds 17s. 7d. Item, to Will. Wever, appointed +to have the charge of the conduct of the said Egupeians to Callis, 5 +pounds." + +In 1426 a first-rate horse was worth about 1 pounds 6s. 8d., and a colt +4s. 6d. Twenty-two years later the hay of an acre of land was worth +about 5 pounds. + +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 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. + +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. + +"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. + +"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: + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + +"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 _Egyptians_, 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. + +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 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." + +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 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. + + "It is the sound of fetters--sound of work + Is not so dismal. Hark! they pass along. + I know it is those Gipsy prisoners; + I saw them, heard their chains. O! terrible + To be in chains." + +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 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." + + "'Twere ill to banish hope and let the mind + Drift like a feather. I have had my share + Of what the world calls trial. Once a fire + Came in the darkness, when the city lay + In a still sea of slumber, stretching out + Great lurid arms which stained the firmament; + And when I woke the room was full of sparks, + And red tongues smote the lattice. Then a hand + Came through the sulphur, taking hold of mine, + And the next moment there were shouts of joy. + Ah! I was but a child and my first care + Was for my mother."--HARRIS (the Cornish poet). + +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 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 _alone_ 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 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. + +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. + +"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 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. + +In a letter addressed to the _Christian Observer_, 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 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 _Christian Observer_, 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 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." + +"Junius," in the _Northampton Mercury_, under date June 27th, 1814, +writes:--"When we consider the immense sums raised for every probable +means of doing good which have 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." + +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-- + + "'Heathen dog! + Begone, begone! you shall have nothing here.' + The Indian turned; then facing Collingrew, + In accents low and musical, he said: + 'But I am very hungry; it is long + Since I have eaten. Only give me a crust, + A bone, to cheer me on my weary way.' + Then answered he, with fury and a frown: + 'Go! Get you gone! you red-skinned heathen hound! + I've nothing for you. Get you gone, I say!'" + + HARRIS, "Wayside Pictures." + +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 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 _one in a thousand can read_. 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 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. + + "On the winds + A voice came murmuring, 'We must work and wait'; + And every echo in the far-off fen + Took up the utterance: 'We must work and wait.' + Her spirit felt it, 'We must work and wait.'" + + HARRIS. + +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. + +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 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 speech had ceased their office! _the silver cord was +loosed_, _and the wheel broken at the cistern_. 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, _but +no one could I get to come with me to pray with my dear mother_!' 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. + +"It was at this moment that some of his Majesty's attendants, who had +missed him at the chase, and who had 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. + +"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?'" + + "Hark! Don't you hear the rumbling of its wheels? + Nearer it comes and nearer! Oh, what light! + The tent is full; 'tis glory everywhere! + Dear Jesus, I am coming! Then she fell-- + As falls a meteor when the skies are clear." + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. 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. + +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 +_chal_--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 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." + +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:-- + + "There is a cabin half-way down the cliff, + You see it from this arch-stone; there we live, + And there you'll find my mother. Poverty + Weeps on the woven rushes, and long grass + Rent from the hollows is our only bed. + I have no father here; he ran away; + Perhaps he's dead, perhaps he's living yet, + And may come back again and kiss his child; + For every day, and morn, and even star, + I pray for him with face upturned to heaven, + 'O blessed Saviour, send my father home!'" + +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. + +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 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 manoeuvres. 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 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. + + [Picture: A Respectable Gipsy and his Family "on the Road"] + + "'Give the snakes and toads a twist, + And banish them for ever,' + +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--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-- + + "'Dawdy! Dawdy! dit a kei + Rockerony, fake your bosh!' + +"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:-- + + "'The turf shall be my fragrant shrine, + My temple, Lord, that arch of Thine, + My censor's breath the mountain airs, + And silent thoughts my only prayers. + + "'My choir shall be the moonlight waves, + When murm'ring homeward to their caves, + Or when the stillness of the sea + Even more of music breathes of Thee!' + +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 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." + +"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." + + [Picture: A Bachelor Gipsy's Bedroom] + +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"-- + + "My father's the King of the Gipsies, that's true, + My mother she learned me some camping to do; + With a packel on my back, and they all wish me well, + I started up to London some fortunes for to tell. + + "As I was a walking up fair London streets, + Two handsome young squires I chanced for to meet, + They viewed my brown cheeks, and they liked them so well, + They said 'My little Gipsy girl, can you my fortune tell?' + + "'Oh yes! kind Sir, give me hold of your hand, + For you have got honours, both riches and land; + Of all the pretty maidens you must lay aside, + For it is the little Gipsy girl that is to be your bride.' + + "He led me o'er the Mils, through valleys deep I'm sure, + Where I'd servants for to wait on me, and open me the door; + A rich bed of down to lay my head upon-- + In less than nine months after I could his fortune tell. + + "Once I was a Gipsy girl, but now a squire's bride, + I've servants for to wait on me, and in my carriage ride. + The bells shall ring so merrily, sweet music they shall play, + And will crown the glad tidings of that lucky, lucky day." + +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. + +"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. + + "Shula gang shaugh gig a magala, + I'll set me down on yonder hill; + And there I'll cry my fill, + And every tear shall turn a mill. + Shula gang shaugh gig a magala + To my Uskadina slawn slawn. + + "Shula gang shaugh gig a magala, + I'll buy me a petticoat and dye it red, + And round this world I'll beg my bread; + The lad I love is far away. + Shula gang shaugh gig a magala + To my Uskadina slawn slawn. + + "Shul shul gang along with me, + Gang along me, I'll gang along with you, + I'll buy you a petticoat and dye it in the blue, + Sweet William shall kiss you in the rue. + Shula gang shaugh gig a magala + To my Uskadina slawn slawn." + +"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." + +"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 _czardas,_ {176} 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-- + + "Nothing but leaves! + Sad memory weaves + No veil to hide the past; + And as we trace our weary way, + Counting each lost and misspent day, + Sadly we find at last, + Nothing but leaves!" + +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." + + "There is a land, a sunny land, + Whose skies are ever bright; + Where evening shadows never fall: + The Saviour is its light." + + "There's a land that is fairer than day, + And by faith we can see it afar; + For the Father waits over the way + To prepare us a dwelling-place there + In the sweet by-and-bye." + +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 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." + +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 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.' + +"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 (_houses_) in this place; it is doubtless a fire +made by durotunes (_shepherds_); let us go and join them, for, as you +say, it is doleful work wandering about at night amidst rain and mire.' + +"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.' + +"'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?' + +"'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.' + +"'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 (_stealing a donkey_); 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 Calore have slept +at the root of a tree.' + +"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. + +"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." + +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-- + + "Guide me, O thou great Jehovah, + Pilgrim through this barren land; + I am weak, but Thou art mighty, + Hold me with Thy powerful hand. + Bread of heaven, feed me till I want no more. + + "Open now the crystal fountain + Whence the healing waters flow; + Let the fiery, cloudy pillars, + Lead me all my journey through. + Strong Deliverer, be Thou still my strength and shield." + +"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. + +"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 chabes 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 _canaille_ upon +us in a twinkling--it is such a bad place.'" + +I almost imagine Borrow would have said, under the 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:-- + + "Jesus, lover of my soul, + Let me to Thy bosom fly; + While the nearer waters roll, + While the tempest still is high. + Hide me, O my Saviour, hide, + Till the storm of life is past, + Safe into the haven guide, + Oh, receive my soul at last. + + "Other refuge have I none, + Hangs my helpless soul on Thee, + Leave, O leave me not alone, + Still support and comfort me. + All my trust on Thee is stayed, + All my help from Thee I bring, + Cover my defenceless head, + With the shadow of Thy wing." + +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." + +"'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 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." + +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 +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 _love_ much. She ought to be a queen, and she _is_ one, +none the less despotic for ruling over a tribe of Gipsies instead of a +civilised community . . . + +"'Every Gipsy can tell fortunes; mine has been told many a time, but it +never came true.' + +"She was studying the lines on his palm with earnest attention. She +raised her dark eyes angrily to his face. + +"'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 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!' . . . + +"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. + +"'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, 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.' + +"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.' . . . + +"'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.'" + +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." + +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." + +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. + + "He grows, like the young oak, healthy and broad, + With no home but the forest, no bed but the sward; + Half-naked he wades in the limpid stream, + Or dances about in the scorching beam. + The dazzling glare of the banquet sheen + Hath never fallen on him I ween, + But fragments are spread, and the wood pine piled, + And sweet is the meal of the Gipsy child."--ELIZA COOK. + + "The Gipsy eye, bright as the star + That sends its light from heaven afar, + Wild with the strains of thy guitar, + This heart with rapture fill. + Then, maiden fair, beneath this star, + Come, touch me with the light guitar. + Thy brow unworked by lines of care, + Decked with locks of raven hair, + Seems ever beautiful and fair + At moonlight's stilly hour. + What bliss! beside the leafy maze, + Illumined by the moon's pale rays, + On thy sweet face to sit and gaze, + Thou wild, uncultured flower. + Then, maiden fair, beneath this star, + Come, touch me with the light guitar." + + HUBERT SMITH: "Tent Life in Norway." + + "From every place condemned to roam, + In every place we seek a home; + These branches form our summer roof, + By thick grown leaves made weather-proof; + In shelt'ring nooks and hollow ways, + We cheerily pass our winter days. + Come circle round the Gipsy's fire, + Come circle round the Gipsy's fire, + Our songs, our stories never tire, + Our songs, our stories never tire."--REEVE. + + "Where is the little Gipsy's home? + Under the spreading greenwood tree, + Wherever she may roam, + Wherever that tree may be. + Roaming the world o'er, + Crossing the deep blue sea, + She finds on every shore, + A home among the free, + A home among the free, + Ah, voila la Gitana, voila la Gitana."--HALLIDAY. + + "He checked his steed, and sighed to mark + Her coral lips, her eyes so dark, + And stately bearing--as she had been + Bred up in courts, and born a queen. + Again he came, and again he came, + Each day with a warmer, a wilder flame, + And still again--till sleep by night + For Judith's sake fled his pillow quite."--DELTA. + + "A race that lives on prey, as foxes do, + With stealthy, petty rapine; so despised, + It is not persecuted, only spurned, + Crushed under foot, warred on by chance like rats, + Or swarming flies, or reptiles of the sea, + Dragged in the net unsought and flung far off, + To perish as they may." + + GEORGE ELIOT: "The Spanish Gipsies," 1865. + + "Help me wonder, here's a booke, + Where I would for ever looke. + Never did a Gipsy trace + Smoother lines in hands or face; + Venus here doth Saturne move + That you should be the Queene of Love." + + BEN JONSON. + + "Fond dreamer, pause! why floats the silvery breath + Of thin, light smoke from yonder bank of heath? + What forms are those beneath the shaggy trees, + In tattered tent, scarce sheltered from the breeze; + The hoary father and the ancient dame, + The squalid children, cowering o'er the flame? + Those were not born by English hearths to dwell, + Or heed the carols of the village bell; + Those swarthy lineaments, that wild attire, + Those stranger tones, bespeak an eastern sire; + Bid us in home's most favoured precincts trace + The houseless children of a homeless race; + And as in warning vision seem to show + That man's best joys are drowned by shades of woe. + + "Pilgrims of Earth, who hath not owned the spell + That ever seems around your tents to dwell; + Solemn and thrilling as the nameless dread + That guards the chambers of the silent dead! + The sportive child, if near your camp he stray, + Stands tranced with fear, and heeds no more his play; + To gain your magic aid, the love-sick swain, + With hasty footsteps threads the dusky lane; + The passing traveller lingers, half in sport, + And half in awe beside your savage court, + While the weird hags explore his palm to spell + What varied fates these mystic lines foretell. + + "The murmuring streams your minstrel songs supply, + The moss your couch, the oak your canopy; + The sun awakes you as with trumpet-call, + Lightly ye spring from slumber's gentle thrall; + Eve draws her curtain o'er the burning west, + Like forest birds ye sink at once to rest. + + "Free as the winds that through the forest rush, + Wild as the flowers that by the wayside blush, + Children of nature wandering to and fro, + Man knows not whence ye came, nor where ye go; + Like foreign weeds cast upon Western strands, + Which stormy waves have borne from unknown lands; + Like the murmuring shells to fancy's ears that tell + The mystic secrets of their ocean cell. + + "Drear was the scene--a dark and troublous time-- + The Heaven all gloom, the wearied Earth all crime; + Men deemed they saw the unshackled powers of ill + Rage in that storm, and work their perfect will. + Then like a traveller, when the wild wind blows, + And black night flickers with the driving snows, + A stranger people, 'mid that murky gloom, + Knocked at the gates of awe-struck Christendom! + No clang of arms, no din of battle roared + Round the still march of that mysterious horde; + Weary and sad arrayed in pilgrim's guise, + They stood and prayed, nor raised their suppliant eyes. + At once to Europe's hundred shores they came, + In voice, in feature, and in garb the same. + Mother and babe and youth, and hoary age, + The haughty chieftain and the wizard sage; + At once in every land went up the cry, + 'Oh! fear us not--receive us or we die!'" + + DEAN STANLEY'S PRIZE POEM, 1837: "The Gipsies." + + + + +Part IV. +Gipsy Life in a Variety of Aspects. + + + [Picture: A Gipsy's van near Notting Hill, Latimer Road] + +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 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 _few_ 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. + +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 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 +_Punch_ 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." + +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 MAN--the noblest work of God. The peculiar fascinating +charms about them, conjured up by 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-gujo means sailor, or water gentile, +another Gipsy would say it means an Irishman, or potato gentile; another +would say poovengri-gujo 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 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. + +William Stanley, a converted Gipsy, said, some years since, that "God +bless you" was in Romany, Artmee Devillesty; Smart and Crofton say it is, +Doovel, parav, parik toot, tooti. In another place they say it is Doovel +jal toosa. Mrs. Simpson says it is, Mi-Doovel-kom-tooti. Mrs. Smith +says it is Mi-Doovel Andy-Paratuta. + +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:-- + +I. + +I, Man, me, mandi, manghi. + +Ill, Nasfelo, naffelo doosh. + +Illness, Naffelopen. + +Ill-tempered, Korni. + +Imitation, Foshono. + +Immediately, Kenaw sig. + +In, Adre, dre, ando, inna. + +Indebted, Pazerous. + +Inflame, Katcher. + +Injure, Dooka. + +Inn, Kitchema. + +Innkeeper, Kitchemengro. + +Intestine, Venderi. + +Into, Ande, adre, dre. + +Ireland, Hindo-tem, Hinditemeskro-tem. + +Irishman, Hindi-temengro, poovengri gaujo. + +Irish Gipsy, Efage. + +Iron, Saster, saasta, saashta. + +Iron, Sastera. + +Is, See. + +It, Les. + +Itch, Honj. + +J. + +Jail, Steripen. + +Jews, Miduvelesto-mauromengri. + +Jockey, Kestermengro. + +Judgment, Bitchama. + +Jump, Hokter hok oxta. + +Jumper, Hoxterer. + +Just now, Kenaw sig. + +Justice of the peace, Chivlo-gaujo, chuvno-gaujo, pokenyus, + pookinyus. + +K. + +Keep, Righer, riker. + +Kettle, Kekavvi, kavvi. + +Key, Klerin klisin. + +Kick, Del, de. + +Kill, Maur. + +Kin, Simensa. + +Kind, Komelo komomuso. + +King, Kralis. + +Kingdom, Kralisom tem. + +Kiss, Chooma. + +Knee, Chong, choong. + +Knife, Choori chivomengro chinomengro. + +Knock, Koor, de. + +Know, Jin. + +Knowing, Yoki, jinomengro, jinomeskro. + +Q. + +Quarrel, Chingar. + +Quarrel, Chingariben, godli. + +Quart, Trooshni. + +Queen, Kralisi krailisi. + +Quick, Sig. + +Quick, Be, Sigo toot, ressi toot kair abba. + +Quietly, Shookar. + +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-- + +Expensive, Expencival. + +Decide, Cide. + +Advice, Device. + +Dictionary, Dixen. + +Equally, Ealfully. + +Instructed, Indistructed. + +Gentleman, Gemmen. + +Daunted, Dauntment. + +Spitefulness, Spiteliness. + +Habeas Corpus, Hawcus paccus. + +Increase, Increach. + +Submit, Commist. + + + +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. + +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. + +Rees, in his Encyclopaedia, 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." + +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. + +"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 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 _insouciance_ 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." + +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 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." + +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." + +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 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." + +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, 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." + +"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." + +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! + +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:-- + + 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. + + Being branded with this reputation, it naturally followed that powers + of divination and enchantment were attributed to her, including the + ability to afflict both men and animals with various plagues and + sicknesses. + + 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. + + 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. + + 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. + + 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." + + 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. + + At this point Ignatjewa's brother came on the scene, and ran towards + the cottage to rescue his sister. But a dozen 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." + + 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. + + The ashes smouldered the whole night; on the following morning + nothing was found remaining but the charred bones of Ignatjewa. + + 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. + + 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. + +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. + +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. + + "Newtown Moor, + "the 22nd, 1877. + + "Dear Sir,-- + + "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. + + "I am yours + "Very obediently,t + "WELSH HARPER. + + (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 _hotche_ yoi. Matteva ma + tot _in staid_ 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 + _them_. _Well_, hear goes to make a start. (You must not always + laugh.) + +"Singular Feminine M. F. +"Masculine gender. gender. + +Dad Dai Dada Daia + +Chavo Chai Chavay Chaia + +Tieno Tienoy Tickna + +Morsh Jovel Morsha Jovya + +Gongeo Gangee Gongea Gongeya + +Racloo Raclee + +Raclay or Racklay + +Pal Pen Palla Peoya + +Pella Penya Cock Bebey + + + + (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. + + "THE WHOL FAMALY CAMPING WITH HORSES, DONKEYS, AND DOGS. + + "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. + + "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 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. + + "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 _pattern_ by the side of the + cross road, if you sal be dare before me. + + "(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 _choben_ behind her + back, anugh to frighten waggens and carts of the road with her humpey + back. + + "(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 a half 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.) + + "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, 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. + + "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. + + "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 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. + + "The old man goes off for a stroll with a couple of dogs. + + "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 pounds 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. + + "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. + + "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]. + + "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. + + "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. + + "I again beg to remain, + "Yours very respectfully, + "WELSHANENGAY BORY BOSHAHENGBO. + + [Hedge Fiddler.] + + "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." + +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. + +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. + +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 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 best +means to _hok_ and _dukker_ 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. + +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 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-- + + "The Gorgios seek to hang me, + The Gipsies seek to kill me; + This country we must leave." + + SHURI. + + "I'll join with you to heaven, + I'll fare with you, Yandors, + But not if Lura goes." + + LURA. + + "I'll join with you to heaven + And to the wicked country, + Though Shuri goeth too." + + RYLEY. + + "Since I must choose betwixt you, + My choice is Yocky Shuri, + Though Lura loves me best." + + LURA. + + "My blackest curse on Shuri; + Oh, Ryley, I'll not curse you, + But you will never thrive." + +She then took her departure, with her cart and donkey, and Ryley remained +with Shuri. + + RYLEY. + + "I've chosen now betwixt ye, + Your wish you now have gotten, + But for it you shall smart." + +He then struck her with his fist on the cheek and broke her jaw-bone. +Shuri uttered no cry or complaint, only mumbled-- + + "Although with broken jaw-bone, + I'll follow thee, my Riley, + Since Lura doesn't fal." + +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 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:-- + + OLD GIPSY. + + "Methinks I see a brother. + Who's your father? Who's your mother? + And what be your name?" + + RYLEY. + + "A Bosvil was my father, + A Bosvil was my mother, + And Ryley is my name." + + OLD GIPSY. + + "I'm glad to see you, brother; + I am a kaulo camlo. {218a} + What service can I do?" + + RYLEY. + + "I'm jawing petulengring, {218b} + But do not know the country; + Perhaps you'll show me round." + + OLD GIPSY. + + "I'll sikker tulle prala! + Ino bikkening escouyor, {218c} + And av along with me." + +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 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. {219} 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:-- + + "Beneath the bright sun there is none, + There is none + I love like my Yocky Shuri; + With the greatest delight in blood I would fight + To the knees for my Yocky Shuri." + +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:"-- + + "When in the vale of lengthened years + My feeble feet shall tread, + And I survey the various scenes + Through which I have been led, + + "How many mercies will my life + Before my view unfold! + What countless dangers will be past! + What tales of sorrow told! + + "This scene will all my labours end, + This road conduct on high; + With comfort I'll review the past, + And triumph though I die." + +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 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. + +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. + + [Picture: A Fortune-telling Gipsy enjoying her pipe] + +The proprietor of the _Weekly Times_ 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 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 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 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 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." + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + + [Picture: Inside a Christian Gipsy's Van--Mrs. Simpson's] + +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. + +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. + +He had heard that Her Majesty had sent 50 pounds 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." + +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 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 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. +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." + + "Rock of Ages, cleft for me, + Let me hide myself in Thee; + Let the water and the blood, + From Thy riven side which flowed, + Be of sin the double cure, + Save me from its guilt and power. + + "While I draw this fleeting breath, + When mine eyes shall close in death, + When I soar to worlds unknown, + See Thee on Thy judgment throne; + Rock of Ages, cleft for me, + Let me hide myself in Thee." + + * * * * * + + "Just as I am, without one plea, + But that Thy blood was shed for me, + And that Thou bidd'st me come to Thee, + O Lamb of God, I come, I come! + + "Just as I am--Thy love unknown + Has broken every barrier down; + Now to be Thine, yea, Thine alone, + O Lamb of God, I come, I come!" + + * * * * * + + "Abide with me: fast falls the eventide; + The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide; + When other helpers fail, and comforts flee, + Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me. + + "Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day; + Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away! + Change and decay in all around I see; + O Thou who changest not, abide with me. + + "I need Thy presence every passing hour; + What but Thy grace can foil the tempter's power? + Who like Thyself my guide and stay can be? + Through cloud and sunshine, oh, abide with me." + +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, 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 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. + + "And they return at evening: they growl like a dog and compass the + city; + They--they prowl about for food. + If (or since) they are not satisfied they spend the night (in the + search)." + + "Sunday at Home." + +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 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. + + "How dark yon dwelling by the solemn grove!" + + + + +Part V. +The sad Condition of the Gipsies, with Suggestions for their Improvement. + + +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. + + [Picture: Inside a Gipsy Fortune-teller's van near Latimer Road] + +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 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. + +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 keeps away from +the Gipsies and seeks his models elsewhere. Dregs among the Gipsies have +produced queens for the artists. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + +TWO GIPSIES. + + + "Two Gipsy lads were transported, + Were sent across the great water; + Plato was sent for rioting, + And Louis for stealing the purse + Of a great lady. + + "And when they came to the other country, + The country that lies across the water, + Plato was speedily hung, + But Louis was taken as a husband + By a great lady. + + "You wish to know who was the lady: + 'Twas the lady from whom he stole the purse; + The Gipsy had a black and witching eye, + And on account of that she followed him + Across the great water." + +Smart and Crofton, speaking poetically and romantically of Gipsy life, +say as follows:-- + +"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-- + + "I loiter down by thorpe and town, + For any job I'm willing; + Take here and there a dusty brown, + And here and there a shilling. + +No carpet can please him like the soft green turf, and no 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 + + "'Tis sweet to see the evening star appear, + 'Tis sweet to listen as the night winds creep + From leaf to leaf. + +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." + +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 much poetry and romance in language and characters of +this description. + + "These Indians ne'er forget + Nor evermore forgive an injury." + +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." + +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. + +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. + + (Copy of envelope.) + + "JOB CLATAN + "Char bottomar + "at ash be hols in + "Darbyshere." + + (Copy of letter.) + + "febury 18 1880. + +"Dear uncel and Aunt + +"I wright these few li to you hoping find you all well. + +"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 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 * * +* *" + +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 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 _Standard_ 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. + +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." + +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 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." + +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. + +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 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 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." + +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 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, 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." + + [Picture: Gipsy Fortune-tellers cooking their evening meal] + +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 +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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! _her_ sun is set. Her sins have found her +out. Fortune-tellers die hard without exception, so I am told by the +Gipsies themselves. + +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 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." + +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. + +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. + +Gipsies of the old type are not strangers to pawnbrokers' shops; but they +do not visit these places for the same 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. + +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. + + "To our foes we leave a shame! disgrace can never die; + Their sons shall blush to hear a name still blackened with a lie." + +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. + +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 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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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 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 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. + +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. + + "Whirl fiery circles, and the moon is full: + Imps with long tongues are licking at my brow, + And snakes with eyes of flame crawl up my breast; + Huge monsters glare upon me, some with horns, + And some with hoofs that blaze like pitchy brands; + Great trunks have some, and some are hung with beads. + Here serpents dash their stings into my face, + All tipped with fire; and there a wild bird drives + His red-hot talons in my burning scalp. + Here bees and beetles buzz about my ears + Like crackling coals, and frogs strut up and down + Like hissing cinders; wasps and waterflies + Scorch deep like melting minerals. Murther! Fire!" + +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. + +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 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 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. + +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 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 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.e._, 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 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. + +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 _employes_ in my "Cry of +the Children from the Brick-yards of England," and also those living in +canal-boats, in "Our 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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, 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 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, 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 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. + +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 +pounds in doctors' bills this winter for his children's good. Not one +Gipsy in a thousand would do likewise. + +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 _Suburban Press_, 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 +_locale_ 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 + + "'Short and simple annals of the poor,' + +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 + + "'Born to blush unseen, + And waste its sweetness on the desert air.' + + [Picture: Outside a Christian Gipsy's van] + +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 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.' _Requiescat in pace_. 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 other was that Mr. Adams, a gentleman +in the neighbourhood, should conduct a service of song just before the +funeral _cortege_ 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:-- + + "Shall we gather at the river, + Where bright angels' feet have trod, + With its crystal tide for ever + Flowing by the throne of God? + Yes, we'll gather at the river, + The beautiful, the beautiful river, + That flows by the throne of God. + + "Soon we'll reach the silvery river, + Soon our pilgrimage will cease, + Soon our happy hearts will quiver, + With the melody of peace. + Yes, we'll gather at the river, + The beautiful, the beautiful river, + That flows by the throne of God." + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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; 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. + +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 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 _Christian World_ and the _Christian +Globe_ with me. The Gipsy lad who they said was "a clever scholard" was +brought to me, and I put the _Christian World_ before him to see if he +could read the large letters; sad to say, instead of _Christian World_, +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. + + [Picture: Four little Gipsies sitting for the Artist outside their tent, + dressed for the occasion, and who can neither read nor write] + +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. + +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 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. + +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--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. 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. + + [Picture: A top bedroom in a Gipsy's van for man, wife, and three + children, the sons and daughters sleeping underneath] + +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.e._, 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 dropped with no satisfactory answer to my mind. I have my +own idea about the matter. + +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.e._, 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 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. + +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 Schutt, 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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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, + + "Oh! ye who have tasted of mercy and love, + And shared in the blessings of pardoning grace, + Let us the kind fruits of your tenderness prove, + And pity, oh! pity, the poor Gipsy race." + +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 +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. + +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 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-- + + "Woodman, spare that tree! + Touch not a single bough; + In youth it sheltered me, + And I'll protect it now." + +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.e._, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Fifth,--The compulsory attendance at school of all 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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.e._, at their halting-places. + +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, 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-- + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Eighth. The Gipsies and other travellers of the same 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. + +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. + +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 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. + + "An aged woman walks along, + Her piercing scream is on the air, + Her head and streaming locks are bare, + She sadly sobs 'My child, my child!'" + +A faint voice is heard in the distance calling out-- + + "My dying daughter, where art thou? + Call on our gods and they shall come." + + "So mote it be." + + * * * * * + + * * * * * + + London: Printed by HAUGHTON & CO., 10, Paternoster Row, E.C. + + + + +WORKS PUBLISHED +BY +HAUGHTON & CO., +10, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. + + + * * * * * + + _Just Published_, _price_ 1_s._ 6_d._, _cloth boards_. + + + +THE LIFE OF GEORGE SMITH, +OF COALVILLE. + + +"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."--_The Graphic_. + +"Readers of Mr. Smith's letters in numerous papers, and of his +descriptive articles in the _Illustrated London News_, _Graphic_, 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."--_Capital and Labour_. + +"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."--_The +Christian_. + +"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."--_Christian Age_. + +"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."--_Literary World_. + +"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."--_Scotsman_. + +"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."--_Free Press_. + + * * * * * + + _Price_ 3_s._ 6_d._, _cloth boards_, _with Illustrations_. + + + +OUR CANAL POPULATION: +A CRY FROM THE BOAT CABINS, WITH REMEDY. + + + New Edition, with Supplement. + By GEORGE SMITH, F.S.A., Coalville, Leicester. + +"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."--_Morning +Advertiser_. + +"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."--_Daily News_. + +"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."--_Standard_. + +"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."--_The Times_. + +"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."--_Daily Telegraph_. + +"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."--_Christian Herald_. + + * * * * * + + _Price_ 3_s._ 6_d._, _cloth boards_, _with Portrait of Author and other + Illustrations_. + + + +THE CRY OF THE CHILDREN FROM THE BRICK-YARDS OF ENGLAND, AND HOW THE CRY +HAS BEEN HEARD, + + + With Observations on the Carrying-out of the Act. + + By GEORGE SMITH, of Coalville, Leicester. + SIXTH EDITION. + +"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."--_Sunday School Chronicle_. + +"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."--_Weekly Times_. + +"His cry for the protection for the helpless little ones is one that must +assuredly command attention."--_Daily Chronicle_. + +"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."--_Derby Reporter_. + +"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."--_Derbyshire +Advertiser_. + +"'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."--_Live Stock +Journal_. + +"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."--_Staffordshire Sentinel_. + +"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."--_Birmingham +Gazette_. + +"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."--_The Graphic_. + +"This is a deeply interesting book, both from the facts which it sets +forth and the cause it advocates."--_Christian Age_. + +"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."--_Derby Mercury_. + +"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.'"--_Potteries Examiner_. + +"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."--_Daily Telegraph_. + +"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."--_Leicester Daily Post_. + + * * * * * + +_Crown_ 8_vo_, 216 _pages_. _Price_, _paper covers_, 1_s._; _post free_, + 1_s._ 2_d._ _Cloth binding_, _with Portrait_, 2_s._, _post free_. + + + +Life of the Right Hon. W. E. 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By DUNCAN CUNNINGHAM. + + +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. + +The engravings are beautifully executed, the explanations extremely +simple, and the words and music specially adapted to instruct and attract +the young. + + * * * * * + + _Crown_ 8_vo_, _cloth_, _gilt edges_, 3_s._ + + + +From Egypt to Canaan; OR, FROM BONDAGE TO REST. BY T. J. HUGHES. + + +"This delightful book really drops pearls of thought from almost every +page."--_The Christian's Pathway of Power_. + +"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."--_The Christian_. + + * * * * * + + HAUGHTON & CO., 10, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. + + + + +Footnotes: + + +{8} Since writing the foregoing concerning Mahmood or Mahmud, I came +across the enclosed, taken from an article in the _Daily News_, 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 A.D., +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." + +{176} 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. + +{218a} A Black Govel. + +{218b} Going a tinkering. + +{218c} I'll show you about, brother; I'm selling skewers. + +{219} 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. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIPSY LIFE*** + + +******* This file should be named 28548.txt or 28548.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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