Read Ebook: Dissertation on the Gipseys Representing their manner of life family economy occupations & trades marriages & education sickness death & burial religion language sciences & arts &c. &c. &c.; with an historical enquiry concerning their origin & first appea by Grellmann Heinrich Moritz Gottlieb Raper Matthew Translator

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INTRODUCTION P. 1 SECTION THE FIRST.

INTRODUCTION.

THE Gipseys are a singular phenomenon in Europe; whether we contemplate their habitations, attend at their meals, or merely look in their faces, they always appear particular, and we are each moment struck with something new and extraordinary.

What appears most worthy of remark is, that neither time, climate, nor example, has, in general, hitherto, made any alteration. For the space of between three and four hundred years, they have gone wandering about, like pilgrims and strangers: they are found in eastern and western countries, as well among the rude as civilised, the indolent as active, people: yet they remain ever, and in all places, what their fathers were--Gipseys. Africa makes them no blacker, nor Europe whiter: they neither learn to be lazy in Spain, nor diligent in Germany: in Turkey, Mahomet, and among Christians, Christ, remain equally without adoration. Around, on every side, they see fixed dwellings, with settled inhabitants; they, nevertheless, proceed in their own way, and continue, for the most part, unsocial wandering robbers.

When we search for similar cases, among all the different people who have quitted their mother country, and inhabited a foreign one, we do not meet with a single instance that exactly agrees with that of the Gipseys. History certainly does record accounts of people that have migrated, and remained the same in a strange country; but then this constancy has been on account of religion, either permitted by the regents, or maintained by their victorious arms: though this last circumstance has existed much less frequently than might be imagined. Many instances have occurred in which, the people subdued being more enlightened than their conquerors, the latter have adopted the manners of the former. The Romans became Greeks on the conquest of Greece; and the Franks assumed the manners of the Gauls when in possession of their country: the Mantcheous vanquished the Chinese; but Chinese customs prevailed over those of the Mantcheous. How, then, does it happen that the Gipseys, who never either established their manners and customs by force, or obtained any toleration from governments under which they lived, remain unchanged, and resemble each other exactly, in every place? There are two causes, to which this coincidence is principally owing: one is the place whence they originate, with their consequent mode of thinking; the other arises from the circumstances which have hitherto attended their situation.

The Gipseys are unquestionably of eastern origin, and have eastern notions. There is a principle inherent in uncivilised people, particularly those of Oriental countries, which occasions them to be strongly attached to their own habits: hence every custom, every conception, which has once been current among them, be it ever so pernicious or ridiculous, is invariably preserved; or any affection which has once predominated in their minds, retains its dominion even for ages. Innovations do not easily succeed with people living in a state bordering on that of nature; the least deviation from custom is observed, and often resented with impetuosity. For any new thing to take root it must either be introduced by cunning and force, or be attended with the most favourable circumstances. This latter was the case with Christianity. Providence had called Greeks and Romans into the east, and, by innumerable vicissitudes, had rendered that country ripe for further instruction: then came the great Sower--CHRIST scattered the seed, and it prospered. Mahomet, on the contrary, before he became strong enough to enforce conviction with the sword, brought about his purpose by art: knowing that the weak side of his countrymen was their veneration for every thing handed down from their forefathers, he gave his new religion the colouring of antiquity.

Mahomet says, "We have swerved from the religion of our founder Abraham, and have introduced novelties among us. Abraham worshipped only one God; we have many Gods. I am sent to retrench these novelties, and to bring you back to the religion of your forefathers." This was the first ground on which he went. When the Ishmaelite would not acquiesce in the charge of having fallen off from Abraham's religion, Mahomet proceeded: "Ye are illiterate people; ye have no books: the inhabitants of the neighbouring countries have books, which contain the religion of Abraham." The Arabians applied to the Jews and Christians, for information on this head; and as the event turned in favour of the pretended prophet, they yielded without contradiction. Mahomet proceeded in teaching, and again appealed to the people with books: the Arabians, too, continued asking questions, being more tractable whenever his assertions were confirmed; but when the contrary happened, a dispute arose, in which the prophet could only get the better by defending the antiquity of his madness at the expence of truth, accusing both the Jews and Christians with having falsified their books.

The same means that helped Mahomet with the Arabians, have been, in latter times, very serviceable to the Jesuits, in China. How would these cunning fathers have obtained admission for their religion among the Chinese, had they not referred to Confucius, in aid of their doctrines? These are only instances of changes in religion; but the case is precisely the same in other things. In the eastern nations, no improvement is adopted, be it of what kind it may, merely because it is an improvement. The Chinese are acquainted with the use of glass; yet their mirrors are always made of metal, and their windows of oyster-shells. Mechanical watches have been for ages used at the court of Pekin; but the bulk of the nation depend upon fire and water.

It is evident from the above, that the Gipseys, by reason of their eastern origin, and consequent way of thinking, are not easily made to change their principles and habits. When we further consider the circumstances under which these people have hitherto existed, we want nothing more to make us comprehend why they have remained, to the present time, what they were at their first arrival in Europe.

Figure to yourself a person, in whom custom, and deep-rooted affections, are the only, and at the same time strong, impulses to action; in whose soul no new unwonted thoughts arise, in consequence of his own reflections, nor find easy admittance when proposed by others:--leave this man entirely to himself; do not permit any of those means to be used which are requisite to give a new turn to his ideas, and deep-rooted prejudices:--he must necessarily remain the same; and his latest posterity will continue like him: this is exactly the case with the Gipseys. Unused to reflect, fettered by habits, they arrived in our quarter of the globe. No state has, hitherto, done any thing for the express purpose of instructing or reforming them; except the Empress Theresa, by her regulations, which were never put in execution. On their first arrival, they procured passports, and free quarters, by their holy lies. They dispersed, begged, deceived the common people, by fortune telling: they stole: and for a long time no attention was paid to them. At last the evil grew too enormous; the complaints against them became so loud, that government was constrained to take official notice of them. Exemplary punishments were judged necessary: hanging and beheading were not sufficiently efficacious; and it was then thought expedient to banish them;--a proceeding more likely to render them worse than better, and even in other respects liable to many objections; still the custom has prevailed, down to the latest times. The neighbour, to whom these unpolished guests were sent, sooner or later, followed the same method of disengaging the evil, till, in the end, they were persecuted by almost all kingdoms and governments. Many states afterwards relaxing in their severity, the Gipseys were suffered to creep in, a few at a time, and were permitted to remain quiet: yet every one of them stood in fear, innocent or guilty, lest he might be taken unawares, merely because he was Gipsey, and delivered over to the executioner. They had been accustomed, in their own country, to live remote from cities and towns: now they became still more uniformly inhabitants of the forests, and outcasts; as, in consequence of the search which was made after them, or at least threatened to be made, they judged themselves to be more secure in deserts and concealment, than they would have been if frequenting places of established abode, and having free intercourse with the civilised inhabitants: whereby they were divested of the most, perhaps only, probable means of inducing them to change their manners. And yet, had they not sequestered themselves from other people, or had they been more inclined to mix in society, it is not likely, without some direct interference of government, that they would have been rendered better. There were two great obstacles to be surmounted:--first, by mere intercourse, it would have been, generally speaking, difficult to eradicate the prejudices and customs from their Oriental minds: secondly, being Gipseys, people would not willingly have established any correspondence with them. Let us reflect how different they are from Europeans: the one is white, the other black;--this clothes himself, the other goes half naked;--this shudders at the thought of eating carrion, the other regales on it as a dainty. Moreover these people are famed, and were even from their first appearance in Europe, for being plunderers, thieves, and incendiaries: the European, in consequence, not merely dislikes, but hates them. For the reasons above stated, the Gipseys have been, at different periods, driven from all the countries of Europe; and only a few simple people occasionally made a nearer acquaintance, in order to consult them on matters of superstition.

Such is the state of what has been done, and attempted, for the improvement of the Gipseys; whereas, so soon as it was discovered that they were strangers, who thought of nothing less than of returning into their own country, if any plan had been acted upon for their reformation, and only half the wise regulations left behind by the Empress Theresa in her states for the management of these people been adopted, and duly enforced, they would long ago have been divested of the rude nature of their ancestors, and have ceased to be the uncultivated branches of a wild stock. On the contrary, having always been either left to themselves or persecuted, it could not be otherwise, but that they must remain for ever, and in all places, the same.

Perhaps it is reserved for our age, in which so much has been attempted for the benefit of mankind, to humanise a people who, for centuries, have wandered in error and neglect: and it may be hoped, that while we are endeavouring to ameliorate the condition of our African brethren, the civilisation of the Gipseys, who form so large a portion of humanity, will not be overlooked. It cannot be denied, that, considering the multitude of them, their reform must be an object of very serious consideration to many states. Suppose, according to a rough estimate, that the Gipseys in Hungary and Transylvania, including the Banat, amount to upwards of one hundred thousand; what a difference would it not make, in those countries, if one hundred thousand inhabitants, mostly loungers, beggars, cheats, and thieves, who now reap where they have not sown, consuming the fruits of others' labour, were to become industrious useful subjects! Their reformation would be a difficult task, as the attempts made by the Empress Theresa evinced:--a boy would frequently seem in the most promising train to civilisation; on a sudden his wild nature would appear, a relapse follow, and he became a perfect Gipsey again. But the measure is not, therefore, impossible: Was not the case precisely the same with the Saxons, whom Charles the Great converted to Christianity? Let the state resolving to appropriate the Gipsey tribe only persevere in its endeavours; some effect will be gained on the second generation, and with the third or fourth, the end will certainly be accomplished.

The origin of the Gipseys has remained a perfect philosopher's stone till a late period. For more than two hundred years, people have been anxious to discover who these guests were, that, under the name of Gipseys, came, unknown and uninvited, into Europe, in the fifteenth century, and have chosen to remain here ever since. No enquirer ever broached an opinion that met with his successor's approbation; a fourth scarcely heard what a third had said, before he passed sentence and advanced something new. We have no reason to wonder at the miscarriage of these enquiries, which were neither more nor less than a collection of conjectures founded on imaginary proofs and partial speculation.--An author set to work, to discover a country whence the Gipseys came, or a people to whom they could belong; he found out a place which had been named, for instance, Zeugitana, or a people who bore some faint resemblance to the Gipseys. As one coal lights another, so these two similarities became perfectly applicable to the people whose origin he was seeking; he stopped here, and published his discovery.

Several investigators laid their foundation on hearsay, and unauthenticated evidence; they then endeavoured to assist this testimony by modelling the extraneous circumstances which could not be passed over, in order to make them coincide; if, notwithstanding all this, difficulties still occurred, they borrowed Alexander's sword, and cut the knot which no milder means could undo.

Whether their Hindostan origin has so much in its favour, is more than we dare venture to affirm; as it is very possible for the judgment to be so deceived, that we may believe what does not, in fact, exist. However, on perusing the subsequent pages, our readers will judge if, like our predecessors, we have erred, or have discovered the truth.

THE numerous hordes of Gipseys, widely dispersed over the face of the earth, are incredible. They wander about in Asia; in the interior part of Africa, they plunder the merchants of Agades; and, like locusts, have overrun most of the countries of Europe. America seems to be the only part of the world where they are not known; no mention appearing to be made of them by authors who have written on that quarter of the globe. It would be superfluous to dilate on the history of those in Asia and Africa, as we have no minute accounts of them; we shall therefore confine ourselves to those in Europe.

Spain, especially the southern provinces, contains so many of these people, that they rove about in large troops, threatening to plunder and murder travellers whom they happen to meet in lonely places: at a distance from the cities, and where no place of refuge is near, danger is always to be apprehended. Swinburne rates their number very high; he asserts, that the loss of the Gipseys would immediately be perceived by the apparent diminution of population. Now as Spain contains eleven millions of people, how considerable a draft must there be to render it perceptible! Twiss also mentions a great many, but sums up a determinate number, 40,000; which is certainly considerable, but probably twice twenty, or even twice forty, thousand too few;--unless we charge Swinburne, and others, with having greatly exaggerated;--even admitting, that he means to be understood as speaking of the southern provinces only.

In France, before the revolution, there were but few, for the obvious reason, that every Gipsey who could be apprehended, fell a sacrifice to the police. Lorrain and Alsatia were indeed exceptions; they being very numerous there, especially in the forests of Lorrain. Here they seem to have met with milder treatment; yet, according to the assurances of a traveller, many of them were to be found in the gaols of Lorrain. They increased the more in this district, in consequence of their having been very assiduously looked after, and driven from the dominions of a late Duke of Deuxponts, whither his successor would not suffer them to return.

They are very scarce in many parts of Germany; as well as in Switzerland and the Low-countries. A person may live many years in Upper Saxony, or in the districts of Hanover and Brunswic, without seeing a single Gipsey: when one happens to stray into a village, or town, he occasions as much disturbance as if the black gentleman with his cloven foot had appeared; he frights children from their play, and draws the attention of the older people; till the police officers get hold of him, and make him again invisible. In other provinces, on the contrary, particularly on the Rhine, a Gipsey is a very common sight. Some years ago there were such numbers of them in the dutchy of Wirtemburg, that they seen lying about every where: but as, according to custom, they either lived by thieving, by fortune-telling or other tricks, plundering the illiterate people of their money, the government ordered detachments of soldiers to drive them from their holes and lurking-places throughout the country; and then transported the congregated swarm, in the same manner as they were treated by the Duke of Deuxponts, as before related.

In Poland and Lithuania, as well as in Courland, there is an amazing number of Gipseys. Their wayvode in Courland is distinguished from the principals of hordes in other countries; being not only very much respected by his own people, but, even by the Courland nobility, is esteemed a man of high rank, and is frequently to be met with at entertainments and card parties in the first families, where he is always a welcome guest. His dress is uncommonly rich, in comparison with others of his tribe; generally silk in summer, and constantly velvet in winter. The common Gipseys, on the contrary, are, in every particular, exactly like their brethren in other countries: even with regard to religion, they shew the same levity and indifference;--they suffer their children to be several times baptised; now they profess themselves to be Catholics, then Lutherans, and presently after nothing at all.

That they are to be found in Denmark, and Sweden, is certain, but how numerous they are in those countries we cannot affirm; and therefore proceed to the south-east of Europe.

The countries in this part seem to be the general rendezvous of the Gipseys: their number amounts in Hungary, according to a probable statement, to upwards of 50,000; and in the districts of the Banat, Grisellini assures us, that when Count Clary occupied the situation of president, they were reckoned at 5500: yet they appear to be still more numerous in Transylvania. It is not only Mr. Benko, a German writer, who says they swarm upon the land like locusts, but we have also certain calculation, wherein their numbers are estimated at between 35 and 36,000.

Cantemir says, the Gipseys are dispersed all over Moldavia, where every baron has several families of them subject to him: in Wallachia, and the Sclavonian countries, they are quite as numerous. In Wallachia and Moldavia they are divided into two classes--the princely, and bojarish: the former, according to Sulzer, amounts to many thousands; but that is trifling, in comparison with the latter, as there is not a single bojar in Wallachia who has not at least three or four of them for slaves; the rich have often some hundreds each, under their command.

From what has been advanced, the reader will be enabled to form some conception, how considerable a class of people the Gipseys are in Europe; independent of their numbers in Egypt, and some parts of Asia.

If we could obtain an exact estimate of them in the different countries, or if the unsettled life of these people did not render it extremely difficult, perhaps impossible, to procure such information, the immense number would probably greatly exceed what we have any idea of. At a moderate calculation, without being extravagant, they might be reckoned at between 7 and 800,000. What a serious matter of consideration when we reflect, that the greatest part of these people are idlers, cheats, and thieves! What a field does this open for the contemplation of governments!--But more of this in another place.

THOSE Gipseys who are more connected with civilised people are not remarkable in their diet; though it is to be observed of them, that they are by no means particular in their cookery. The others, on the contrary, have their table furnished in a very irregular and extraordinary way. Sometimes they fast, or at best have only bread and water to subsist upon: at other times they regale on fowls and geese. The greatest luxury to them is, when they can procure a roast of cattle that have died of any distemper. It is the same to them, whether it be the carrion of a sheep, hog, cow, or other beast, horse-flesh only excepted: they are so far from being disgusted with it, that to eat their fill of such a meal is to them the height of epicurism. When any person censures their taste, or shews surprise at it, they answer, "The flesh of a beast which God kills, must be better than that of one killed by the hand of man:" they therefore embrace every opportunity of getting such dainties. That they take carrion from the laystalls, as is affirmed of the Gipseys in Hungary, is not probable, any more than that they eat horse flesh. But if a beast out of a herd die, and they find it before it become rotten and putrefied; or if a farmer give them notice of a cow dead in the stable; they proceed, without hesitation, to get possession of the booty. They are particularly fond of animals that have been destroyed by fire; therefore, whenever a conflagration has happened, either in town or country, the next day the Gipseys, from every neighbouring quarter, assemble, and draw the suffocated, half consumed, beasts out of the ashes. Men, women, and children, in troops, are extremely busy, joyfully carrying the flesh home to their dwellings: they return several times, provide themselves plentifully with this roast meat, and gluttonise in their huts as long as their noble fare lasts. Their manner of dressing this delicious food is curious:--they boil or roast what is intended for the first day; if they have more than they can devour at once, the remainder is either dried in the sun, or smoked in their huts, and eaten without any further preparation.

Those Hungarian wretches have, according to their own account, for twelve years gratified their horrid cravings, undiscovered by the magistrates, in a country where the police is by no means bad: perhaps they might have continued unsuspected for ever, had they not laid their unlucky hands on the people of the country, thereby bringing on a strict enquiry, and rendering the discovery more easy. Nor do the older writings seem to be entirely silent on this head; at least there is an appearance of something of the kind in them. Many authors mention the Gipseys stealing people, and accuse them particularly of lying in wait for young children. Others again deny this, saying, that the Gipseys have brats enough of their own, and therefore have not the least reason to covet strange children. How does the matter look, if we suppose they did not want to rear these children, but to sacrifice them to their inordinate appetite?--and the Hungarian intelligence expressly says, they were particularly fond of young subjects. What renders the truth of this accusation in the old writings suspicious, is, that before even a single Gipsey had set his foot in Europe, the Jews lay under the same imputation. Perhaps in this, as in many other instances, the calumny invented against the Jews might be afterwards transferred to the Gipseys. This alone considered, the imputation of kidnapping children might become doubtful; but then occurs the weighty circumstance, that it has been judicially proved in England; and, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, an act of parliament was passed on the occasion. Enough of this; let people reason upon the cannibal appetite of the Gipseys as they please, there will always remain ground for suspicion.

After having shewn how little delicate they are in satisfying their appetites, we should scarcely expect to find them squeamish with regard to articles of diet that are highly esteemed among civilised people. But Griselini gives a long catalogue of things which, he says, are disagreeable to a Gipsey's palate; among which, he particularly mentions beans and onions, red bream, pearch, lampreys, with every kind of wild-fowl. Whereas the fact is, Gipseys not only eat beans and onions, but are very fond of them; and as for the red bream, pearch and lampreys, pheasants, partridges, &c. their only reason for abstaining from them is, the difficulty of procuring them: in which they are not singular; many other people being in the same predicament.

The Gipseys are not much accustomed to baking of bread; that is an article which they usually buy, beg or steal, or go entirely without. If by chance they do bake, the business is performed quite in the eastern method:--a wood fire is made on the ground, which soon becomes embers; in the mean time the mother kneads her dough, forms it into small cakes, lays them on the hot ashes, and thus they are baked.

To eat with a knife and fork, is no part of a Gipsey's politeness; nor is a table or plate thought necessary: even a dish is frequently dispensed with. The whole kitchen and table apparatus consists of an earthen pot, an iron pan , a knife, and a spoon. When the meal is ready, all the family sit around the pot or pan, the boiled or roast is divided into pieces, on which they fall-to; their teeth and fingers serving them for knives and forks, as does the ground for table and plates.

The common beverage of the Gipseys is water; now and then beer, when it costs them nothing. Wine is too expensive, nor is it particularly grateful to them. The case is very different when brandy comes in question, of which they are immoderately fond. They feel great pleasure in intoxicating themselves; which being easiest and soonest effected with brandy, it is in their esteem the only liquor worth purchasing: all they can earn goes that way: and whenever by chance they become possessed of a penny, it is expended at the first house where brandy is to be met with. Every christening, wedding, or other occasion of rejoicing, is solemnised with brandy: if they have plenty of it, they, as it were, drive the world before them; each trying, by screaming or holloing, to express his felicity and consummate happiness.

But, however great the thirst the Gipseys have for brandy, it is even exceeded by their immoderate love of tobacco. This is not, as might be supposed, peculiar to the men; for the women sometimes exceed them in it: and they not only smoke it, but chew and swallow the very leaves and stalks, with great avidity. That it may sooner reach its place of destination, and stimulate the gums and tongue more forcibly, they use a pipe not longer than ones finger: this pipe is made of wood, for economical reasons--as it absorbs the moisture, and thereby becomes a very great Gipsey delicacy; for having smoked it as long as they choose, they gnaw it with astonishing greediness, till not a splinter remains. It is immaterial, whether the pipe be smoked by the person himself or another, to bring it to the proper degree of perfection: he accepts it, as a valuable present, from any body; and is so chary of it, that it frequently lasts him many days. The Gipsey will abstain from food for more than a day, when he can procure a leaf of tobacco, or a piece of his pungent pipe, which he chews, drinks a little water, and is happy. This surely exceeds every thing that has been related of the most famous smoker!

IT cannot be expected that the description of the dress of a set of people whose whole economy belongs to the class of beggars, should exhibit any thing but poverty and want. The first of them that came to Europe appeared ragged and miserable--unless we perhaps allow their leaders to have been an exception;--in like manner their descendants have continued for hundreds of years, and still remain. This is particularly remarkable in the countries about the mouth of the Danube, which abound with Gipseys; namely, Transylvania, Hungary, and Turkey in Europe, where they dress even more negligently than in other parts.

The Gipseys consider a covering for the head as perfectly useless: the wind will not easily blow his hat off, who never wears any thing of the kind, excepting when he has a mind to make a figure, and even then a rough cap usually supplies its place. During the winter, if the female Gipseys do not knit socks, which those in Moldavia and Wallachia do, with wooden needles, he winds a couple of rags round his feet, which in summer are laid aside as unnecessary. He is not better furnished with linen, as the women neither spin, sew, nor wash. For want of change, what he once puts on his body, remains till it falls off of itself. His whole dress often consists of only a pair of breeches and a torn shirt.

We are not to suppose, from what is said above, that the Gipseys are indifferent about dress; on the contrary, they love fine clothes to an extravagant degree: the want proceeds from necessity, which is become with them a second nature, forgetting that labour and care are the means to procure clothes, as well as nourishment. Whenever an opportunity offers of acquiring a good coat, either by gift, purchase, or theft, the Gipsey immediately bestirs himself to become master of it: possessed of the prize, he puts it on directly, without considering in the least, whether it suits the rest of his apparel. If his dirty shirt had holes in it as big as a barn door, or his breeches were so out of condition that one might perceive their antiquity at the first glance; were he unprovided with shoes, stockings, or a covering for the head; neither of these defects would prevent his strutting about in a laced coat, feeling himself of still greater consequence in case it happened to be a red one. Martin Kelpius therefore says, that the Gipseys in Transylvania spend all their earnings in alehouses and in clothes. It would excite laughter in the sternest philosopher, to see a Gipsey parading about, with a beaver hat, a silk or red cloth coat, at the same time his breeches torn, and his shoes or boots, if perchance he have either, covered with patches.

Benko, also, assures us, that this kind of state is common in Transylvania; and adds, the Gipseys are particularly fond of clothes made after the Hungarian fashion, or which had been worn by people of distinction. The habits and properties of the Gipseys in Hungary are precisely the same. The following passage, which appeared in the Imperial Gazettes, is very much to the purpose: "Notwithstanding these people are so wretched, that they have nothing but rags to cover them, which do not at all fit, and are scarcely sufficient to hide their nakedness, yet they betray their foolish taste and vain ostentation whenever they have an opportunity."

In Transylvania, some of them wear the Wallachian dress; but in Hungary they are so attached to the habits of the country, that a Gipsey had rather go half naked, or wrap himself up in a sack, than he would condescend to wear a foreign garb, even though a very good one were given to him. Green is a favourite colour with the Gipseys; but scarlet is held in so great esteem by them, that a man cannot appear abroad in a red habit, though worn out, without being surrounded by a crowd old and young, who, in the open street, are solicitous to purchase of him, be it coat, pellisse, or breeches. Unless severely pinched by the cold, or in case of the greatest necessity, they will not deign to put on a boor's coat: they rather choose to buy for their own use cast-off clothes; and if they happen to be ornamented with lace or loops, they strut about in such dresses, as proudly as if they were not merely lords of the district, but of the whole creation. Thus all the money they can spare, is expended in obtaining a sort of clothes not at all becoming their station, and which answer no other purpose, but to betray their weak silly notions, and expose them to the ridicule of the more sensible part of mankind. They do not pay the least regard to symmetry, nor care what reasonable people think of their dress: provided they can only get something shining to put on, that will catch the eye, they give themselves no concern if the rest of their clothing be very bad, or though they be nearly in a state of nudity. It is no uncommon spectacle to see a Gipsey parading the streets in an embroidered pellisse, or laced coat decorated with silver buttons, with a dirty ragged shirt, barefooted, and without a hat; or with a pair of embroidered scarlet breeches on, and perhaps no other covering but half a shirt.

Nothing pleases Hungarian Gipseys more than a pair of yellow boots, and spurs: no sooner do the latter glitter on his feet, but he bridles up, and marches consequentially about, often eying his fine boots, at the same time totally regardless of his breeches, which may have lost a portion before or behind, or be in some other respects quite shabby.

The usual dress of the women is no better than that of the men; indeed they have generally been thought rather to go beyond them in filth and nastiness. Their appearance is truly disgusting to any civilised person: their whole covering consists of, either a piece of linen thrown over the head and wound round the thighs, or an old shift hung over them, through which their smoky hides appear in numberless places. Sometimes, in winter, they wrap themselves in a piece of woollen stuff like a cloak. Occasionally, their dress partakes of the other sex; as they do not hesitate to wear breeches, or other male habilament. They use the same covering for the feet as the men;--either a pair of coarse socks, knit with wooden needles, which is commonly done in Moldavia and Wallachia; or they sew them up in rags, which remain on till the stuff perishes and falls off, or till spring arrives, at which season both men and women go barefooted.

The Gipseys were at very little trouble respecting the dress of their children; these ran about naked, in the true Calmuc style, till ten years of age, when the boys got breeches, and the girls aprons. But this nuisance is at an end in the Imperial dominions, both in Germany and Hungary, where an order to suppress it was issued out by the emperor Joseph.

Before we dismiss the subject of dress, we may mention a laudable custom established among the Gipseys, in order to save their clothes when they have quarreled, and mean to fight. Before they proceed to action, a truce takes place for a minute or two, to give the combatants time to strip to their shirts, that their apparel may not suffer in the fray: then the storm breaks loose, and each lays on the other as hard as he can. The custom has this use in it, that whenever any body appears in a ragged coat, he may affirm, on his honour, that it was not rendered so in a Gipsey brawl.

THAT these people are still the rude unpolished creatures that nature formed them, or, at most, have only advanced one degree towards humanity, is evinced, with other circumstances, by their family economy.

Many of the Gipseys are stationary, having regular habitations, according to their situation in life. To this class belong those who keep public-houses in Spain; and others in Transylvania and Hungary, who follow some regular business; which latter have their own miserable huts near Hermanstadt, Cronstadt, Bistritz, Grosswaradein, Debrezin, Eperies, Karchau, and other places. There are also many slaves, to particular bojars, in Moldavia and Wallachia, who do not wander any more than the others. But by far the greatest number of these people lead a very different kind of life: ignorant of the comforts attending a fixed place of residence, they rove from one district to another in hordes, having no habitations but tents, holes in the rocks, or caves; the former shade them in summer, the latter screen them in winter. Many of these savage people, particularly in Germany and Spain, do not even carry tents with them, but shelter themselves, from the heat of the sun, in forests shaded by the rocks, or behind hedges: they are very partial to willows, under which they erect their sleeping place, at the close of the evening. Some live in their tents during both summer and winter; which indeed the Gipseys generally prefer. In Hungary, even those who have discontinued their rambling way of life, and built houses for themselves, seldom let a spring pass, without taking advantage of the first settled weather, to set up a tent for their summer residence; under this each one enjoys himself, with his family, nor thinks of his house till the winter returns, and the frost and snow drive him back to it again.

The wandering Gipsey, in Hungary and Transylvania, endeavours to procure a horse; in Turkey, an ass serves to carry his wife, a couple of children, with his tent. When he arrives at a place he likes, near a village or city, he unpacks, pitches his tent, ties his animal to a stake to graze, and remains some weeks there: or if he do not find his station convenient, he breaks up in a day or two, loads his beast, and looks out for a more agreeable situation, near some other town. Indeed, it is not always in his power to determine how long he will remain in the same place; for the boors are apt to trouble him, on account of fowls and geese he has made free with: it sometimes happens, when he is very much at his ease, they sally out with bludgeons or hedge-stakes, making use of such forcible arguments, that he does not hesitate a moment to set up his staff a little farther off: though, in general, the Gipseys are cunning enough, when they have purloined any thing, or done mischief, to make off in time before the villagers begin to suspect them.

For their winter huts, they dig holes in the ground, ten or twelve feet deep; the roof is composed of rafters laid across, which are covered with straw and sods: the stable, for the beast which carried the tent in summer, is a shed built at the entrance of the hollow, and closed up with dung and straw. This shed, and a little opening rising above the roof of their subterranean residence, to let out the smoke, are the only marks by which a traveller can distinguish their dwellings. Both in summer and winter, they contrive to have their habitation in the neighbourhood of some village, or city. Their favourite mode of building is against a hillock: the holes in the level ground being only used in cases of necessity, when there is no rising ground near the spot they have chosen to pass the winter on. A Hungarian writer thus describes their method of constructing the second sort of huts: "They first dig a hollow, about a fathom broad, far enough into the hillock to bring their floor on a level with the rest of the plain, in order to form a firm upright wall, for the back of the building. Into the wall they fix a beam, about six feet from, and parallel to, the floor; this beam reaches as far as the intended depth of the house, seldom exceeding seven or eight feet. One end being fast in the wall, the other rests on, and is fixed to, a pillar or post driven into the ground. When that is done, they lay boards, balks, or such other wood as they can find, against it on each side, in form of a pointed roof, which, viewed from a distance, exhibits a front in the shape of an equilateral triangle. The business is finished by covering the whole building with straw, sods, and earth, to secure its inhabitants from the rain, snow, and cold. They always contrive, when they can, to place their edifice so as to front either the rising or mid-day sun; this being the side where the opening is left for a door to go in and out at, which is closed at night, either with a coarse woollen cloth or a few boards."

Imagination will easily conceive how dismal and horrid the inside of such Gipsey huts must be to civilised humanity. Air and daylight excluded, very damp, and full of filth, they have more the appearance of wild beasts' dens, that of the habitations of intelligent beings. Rooms or separate apartments are not even thought of; all is one open space: in the middle is the fire, serving both for the purpose of cooking and warmth; the father and mother lie half naked, the children entirely so, round it. Chairs, tables, beds or bedsteads, find no place here; they sit, eat, sleep, on the bare ground, or at most spread an old blanket, or, in the Banat, a sheep-skin, under them. Every fine day the door is set open for the sun to shine in, which they continue watching so long as it is above the horizon; when the day closes, they shut their door and consign themselves over to rest. When the weather is cold, or the snow prevents them opening the door, they make up the fire, and sit round it till they fall asleep, without any more light than it affords.

The furniture and property of the Gipseys have been already described; they consist of an earthen pot, an iron pan, a spoon, a jug, and a knife; when it happens that every thing is complete, they sometimes add a dish: these serve for the whole family. When the master of the house is a smith by trade, as will be hereafter mentioned, he has a pair of bellows to blow up his fire, a small stone anvil, a pair of tongs, and perhaps a couple of hammers; add to these a few old tatters in which he dresses himself, his knapsack, some pieces of torn bed-clothes, his tent, with his antiquated jade, and you have a complete catalogue of a nomadic Gipsey's estate.

Very little can be said respecting the domestic employment of the women. The care of their children is the most trifling concern: they neither wash, mend their clothes, nor clean their utensils: they seldom bake: the whole of their business, then, is reduced to--dressing their food and eating it, smoking tobacco, prating, and sleeping. They continue during the whole winter in their hut; but at the first croaking of the frogs, they pull down their house, and decamp.

Such is the condition of the Gipseys who wander about in Hungary, Turkey, and other countries; being no-where, or rather every-where, at home. The remainder of these people who have reconciled themselves to a settled mode of living, are in much better circumstances, and infinitely more rational, than those just described. It will be expected, that those Spanish Gipseys who are innkeepers, and entertain strangers, are more civilised; and it also holds good with regard to those in Hungary and Transylvania who have different ways of gaining a livelihood. Their habitations are conveniently divided into chambers; and are furnished with tables, benches, decent kitchen furniture, and other necessaries. The few who farm, or breed cattle, have a plough and other implements of husbandry; the others, what is necessary for carrying on their trade; though even here you are not to expect superfluity: habitations, clothes, every thing, indicate that their owners belong to the class of poor. They are very partial to gold and silver plate, particularly silver cups; which is a disposition they have in common with the wandering Gipseys: they let slip no opportunity of acquiring something of the kind; and will even starve themselves to procure it. Though they seem little anxious to heap up riches for their children, yet these frequently inherit a treasure of this sort, and are obliged in their turn to preserve it as a sacred inheritance. The ordinary, travelling Gipseys when in possession of such a piece of plate, commonly bury it under the hearth of their dwelling, in order to secure it. This inclination to deprive themselves of necessaries, that they may possess a superfluity, as well as many other of their customs, is curious, yet appears to be ancient; and it was probably inherent in them when they were first seen by Europeans.

ON considering the means to which the Gipseys have recourse to maintain themselves, we shall perceive the reason why poverty and want are so generally their lot; namely, their excessive indolence, and aversion from industry. They abhor every kind of employment which is laborious or requires application; and had rather suffer even hunger and nakedness, than obviate these privations on such hard terms. They therefore either choose some profession which requires little exertion, allowing them many idle hours; or addict themselves to unlawful courses, and vicious habits.

The Gipseys of our time are not willing to undertake heavy work; they seldom go beyond a pair of light horse-shoes: in general, they confine themselves to small articles, such as rings, jews-harps, and small nails: they mend old pots and kettles, make knives, seals, needles, and sometimes work trifles in tin or brass.

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