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 appearance in Europe

by Heinrich Moritz Gottlieb Grellmann

CHAPTER I.

Various Appellations of these People.

It is not uncommon for the same people to be called by different names, in different nations; such is the case with the Gipseys. The French received their first accounts of them from Bohemia; which occasioned their giving them the name of Bohemians (Bohémiens); the Dutch, supposing they came from Egypt, called them Heathens (Heydens). In Denmark, Sweden, and some parts of Germany, Tartars were thought of: the Moors and Arabians, perceiving the propensity the Gipseys have to thieving, adopted the name Charami (robbers) for them. In Hungary, they were formerly called Pharaohites (Pharaoh nepek, Pharaoh’s people); and the vulgar, in Transylvania, continue that name for them. The English do not differ much from these latter (calling them Egyptians—Gipseys); any more than the Portuguese and Spaniards (Gitanos). The Clementines, in Smyrnia, use the appellation Madjub; and the inhabitants of the lesser Bucharia, that of Diajii. The name of Zigeuner has obtained the most general adoption: the Gipseys are so called not only in all Germany, Italy, and Hungary (Tzigany), but frequently in Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia (Cyganis). Moreover the Turks, and other eastern nations, have no other than this name for them (Tschingenés); and perhaps the before-cited Diajii of the Bucharians may be the very same. It has been said, they call themselves Moors; but that is false; Moor is only an adjunct, not the name of any people: it is really a pity, since this name would have been so fair a pretence to make Amorites of them, as some writers have done! It is not by any means proved, that the modern Greeks called them Athingans; this opinion is supported more by the arbitrary assertions of some learned men, than by real facts: which is also the case with the rest of the catalogue of names that have been dispersed, in various treatises on the origin of the Gipseys; as will be hereafter demonstrated.

CHAPTER II.

On the Dispersion of the Gipseys, and their Numbers in Europe.

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; [3] 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.

There are but few countries, here, which are entirely free from Gipseys; although, for centuries, every state has been endeavouring to rid itself of them. Under King Henry VIII, and in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, they suffered a general persecution in England: there are, nevertheless, great numbers still to be found there. About thirty years ago, they even threatened to set the town of Northampton on fire, because the magistrates had arrested some of their young people, whose release they solicited in vain: several of the ringleaders were hanged: they had in the mean time shewn plainly, that their race was very far from being annihilated. It is not uncommon, in the county of Bedford particularly, to see them lying in byplaces, to the number of forty or fifty together: but they are cautious how they travel about in companies, and are rarely seen in towns or villages but by one at a time.

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 were universally to be found in Italy, insomuch that even Sicily and Sardinia were not free. But they were most numerous in the dominions of the church; probably because there was the worst police, with much superstition: by the former they were left undisturbed, and the latter enticed them to deceive the ignorant, as it afforded them an opportunity of obtaining a plentiful contribution by their fortune-telling, and enchanted amulets. There was a general law throughout Italy, that no Gipsey should remain more than two nights in any one place: by this regulation, it is true, no place retained its guest long; but no sooner was one gone, than another came in his room: it was a continual circle, and quite as convenient to them as a perfect toleration would have been. Italy rather suffered than benefited by this law; as, by keeping these people in constant motion, they would do more mischief there than in places where they were permitted to remain stationary.

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.

Bessarabia, all Tartary, Bulgaria, Greece, and Romania, swarm with them; even in Constantinople they are innumerable. In Romania, a large tract of Mount Hæmus, which they inhabit has acquired from them the name Tschenghe Valkan (Gipsey Mountain). This district extends from the city Aydos, quite to Philippopolis, and contains more Gipseys than any other province in the Turkish empire.

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.

CHAPTER III.

The Properties of their Bodies.

Had the Gipseys made but a temporary appearance, and we could only be acquainted with them from the publications of former centuries, it would be difficult to entertain any other idea than that they were a herd of monsters and beelzebubs. We find in those books frequent mention of a savage people, black horrid men. But now that they have continued to our time, and we have an opportunity of seeing, with our own eyes, how they are formed, and what appearance they make, they are so fortunate as to have authors who commend their beauty, and take great pains to set forth their advantages; though many, indeed most of the moderns, their colour and looks being the same, perfectly agree with the writers of past centuries, in their accounts of them. Both parties may be in the right, when we consider, that what appears beautiful in the eyes of one person, is possibly ugly and deformed in the eyes of another: this depends entirely upon habit and familiarity. For this reason, the dark brown, or olive coloured, skin of the Gipseys, with their white teeth appearing between their red lips, may be a disgusting sight to an European, unaccustomed to such objects. Let us only ask, As children, have we not, at some time or other, run affrighted from a Gipsey? The case will be entirely altered, if we divest ourselves of the idea that a black skin is disagreeable. Their white teeth; their long black hair, on which they pride themselves very highly, and will not suffer to be cut off; their lively black rolling eyes;—are, without dispute, properties which must be ranked among the list of beauties, even by the modern civilised European world. They are neither overgrown giants, nor diminutive dwarfs: their limbs are formed in the justest proportion. Large bellies are, among them, as uncommon as hump-backs, blindness, or other corporeal defects. When Grisellini asserts that the breasts of the Gipsey women, at the time of their nursing, increase to a larger size than the child they support, it is an assertion destitute of proof, and parallel with many other arguments he adduces to prove the Gipseys are Egyptians. Probably he may have confounded himself, by thinking of the Hottentots; the circumstance above mentioned being true of them, though not of the Gipseys. Every Gipsey is naturally endued with agility, great suppleness in, and the free use of, his limbs: these qualities are perceptible in his whole deportment, but in an extraordinary degree whenever he happens to be surprised in an improper place: in the act of thieving, with a stolen goose or fowl in his hand, he runs off so nimbly, that, unless his pursuer be on horseback, the Gipsey is sure to escape. These people are blessed with an astonishingly good state of health. Neither wet nor dry weather, heat nor cold, let the extremes follow each other never so quickly, seems to have any effect on them. Gipseys are fond of a great degree of heat; their supreme luxury is, to lie day and night so near the fire, as to be in danger of burning: at the same time they can bear to travel in the severest cold bareheaded, with no other covering than a torn shirt, or some old rags carelessly thrown over them, without fear of catching cold, cough, or any other disorder.

By endeavouring to discover the causes of these bodily qualities of the Gipseys, we find them, or at least some of them, very evidently arising from their education and manner of life. They are lean; but how should they be corpulent? as they are seldom guilty of excess in eating or drinking; for if they get a full meal to-day, they must not repine should they be under the necessity of keeping fast to-morrow and the next day. They have iron constitutions, because they have been brought up hardily. The pitiless mother takes her three-months-old child upon her back, and wanders about in fair or foul weather, in heat or cold, without troubling her head what may happen to it. When a boy attains the age of three years, his lot becomes still harder. While an infant, and his age reckoned by weeks and months, he was at least wrapped up closely in rags; but now, deprived even of these, he is, equally with his parents, exposed to the rigour of the elements, for want of covering: he is now put to trial how far his legs will carry him, and must be content to travel about, with, at most, no other defence for his feet than thin socks. Thus he grows up, and acquires his good health by hardship and misery. We may as easily account for the colour of the Gipsey’s skin. The Laplanders, Samoieds, as well as the Siberians, likewise, have brown yellow-coloured skins, in consequence of living, from their childhood, in smoke and dirt, in the same manner as the Gipseys: these would, long ago, have been divested of their swarthy complexions, if they had discontinued their filthy mode of living. Only observe a Gipsey from his birth, till he reaches man’s estate; and you 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. It is not uncommon for mothers to smear their children over with a 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 shews us, that the dark colour of the Gipseys, which is continued from generation to generation, is more the effect of education, and manner of life, than descent. Among those who profess music in Hungary, or serve in the Imperial army, where they have learnt to pay more attention to order and cleanliness, there are many to be found whose extraction is not at all discernible in their colour; though they had, probably, remained to the age of twelve or fourteen years under the care of their filthy parents; and must necessarily, when they first adopted a different mode of life, have borne the marks of the dirt contracted during this period. How much less, then, should we be able to distinguish a Gipsey if taken when a child from its sluttish mother, and brought up under some cleanly person! By the same reasoning we may account for their white teeth and sound limbs; namely, from their manner of life. The former are evidences of their spare diet: the latter prove them to have been reared more according to the dictates of nature, than those of art and tenderness.

CHAPTER IV.

On their Food and Beverage.

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.

Something might here be introduced concerning their relish for human flesh, and the instances which some years ago happened in Hungary might be adduced as proofs, [16] were it not likely to be objected, that these examples are at variance with common experience, as well as with the old accounts handed down to us concerning these people. We shall, therefore, not insist on this accusation: but entirely give up the point of Gipseys being men-eaters, except just hinting, that it would be expedient for governments to be watchful. But the instances in Hungary do not appear, by any means, so casual and uncommon as people may imagine.—What, according to the strictest examination, has been done, not by one, but many; not by ten, but even two hundred, and perhaps by thousands; not yesterday and to-day, but many years back; finally, not by the whole body together, but single parties by themselves, in different places: Shall these things be deemed only casual excesses? Should it be asserted, in addition to this, that eating human flesh is in practice and allowed, in the country whence they originate; we might with greater probability mention this shocking fact, of feeding on human flesh, as a prevailing custom among the Gipseys. This circumstance is expressly mentioned in histories: which assure us, that among the particular class of people from whom the Gipseys sprung, it is a long-established custom for the nearest relations and friends to kill and eat each other. It is unnecessary to bring proof of it in this place, as it belongs to the second section: let it suffice just to have hinted the matter, in order that it may be known towards what people we are to look for the origin of the Gipseys. As to the objection, that among all the crimes with which they have been charged, in the older writings, eating human flesh is not positively alledged against them, it may be obviated by more than one answer. In the first place, let it be observed, history relates, and the event in Hungary confirms, that they murder one another; further, consider their wandering mode of life; lastly, that they generally abide in byplaces: and all may be easily accounted for. A hundred fathers may sacrifice their children to their voluptuousness, and the crime still remain concealed. The absent person is not missed; as nobody watches over a family continually in motion, and every-where a stranger. Just as unlikely is it, that information should be given to government. There is no reason to suppose any of their own people would think it their duty to inform; as, not being contrary to their usual practice, they do not esteem it wrong. It is very possible for them to have destroyed many other people, without the circumstances being recorded in the courts of justice, or noticed in the annual publications. Who ever thought to enquire of them after any traveller that, far distant from his own country, might have fallen into their hands and been cut off? Or how are the remains of the poor victim to be traced, if they devour what is eatable, and burn the bones? [19]

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 (which is also used as a dish), 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!

CHAPTER V.

On the Dress of the Gipseys.

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 (tschischmen) 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. [29]

The women are as fond of dress as the men, and equally ridiculous in their choice of it; they are often seen in a dress cap, while their rotten linen jacket scarcely serves to cover their nakedness. In Spain, they plaster their temples with great patches of black silk; and hang all sorts of trumpery in their ears, besides a number of baubles about the neck.

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.

CHAPTER VI.

On the Family Economy of the Gipseys.

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 (in their language called tschater) 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.

CHAPTER VII.

Their Occupations and Trades.

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.

Working in iron, is the most usual occupation of the Gipseys. In Spain, very few follow any regular business; but among these few, some are smiths: on the contrary, in Hungary this profession is so common among them, that there is a proverb—‘So many Gipseys, so many smiths:’ the same might be said of those in Transylvania, Wallachia, Moldavia, and all Turkey in Europe; at least such workers in fire are very numerous in all those countries. This occupation seems to have been a favourite with them from the most distant periods, as appears not only by Bellonius’s account, but by an older record, of an Hungarian king Uladislaus, in the year 1496, mentioned by the Abbé Pray, in his Annals, and Friedwaldsky, in his Mineralogy, wherein it is ordered, that every officer and subject, of whatever rank or condition, do allow to Thomas Polgar, leader of twenty-five tents of wandering Gipseys, free residence everywhere, and on no account to molest either him or his people; because they had prepared musket bullets, and other military stores, for the Bishop Sigismund, at Fünfkirchen. Another instance occurred in the year 1565, when Mustapha, Turkish regent of Bosnia, besieged Crupa; the Turks having expended their powder and cannon balls, Gipseys were employed to make the latter, part of iron, the rest of stone cased with lead.

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.

Their materials, tools, apparatus, all are bad, and of the most inferior kind. Their common method of proceeding is, to collect some pieces of rusty iron, old nails, broken horse-shoes, and such-like, which they fuse and shape to their purpose. The anvil is a stone; the other implements are, a pair of hand-bellows, a pair of pincers, a hammer, a vice, and a file: these are the tools which a nomadic Gipsey carries with him in his perambulations. Whenever he is disposed to work, he is at no loss for fuel: on his arrival at a station where he purposes remaining a few days, or perhaps weeks, he takes his beast, loads him with wood, builds a small kiln, and prepares his own coals. In favourable weather, his work is carried on in the open air; when it is stormy, or the sun too powerful, he retires under his tent. He does not stand, but sits down on the ground, cross-legged, to his work; which position is rendered necessary, not only by custom, but by the quality of his tools. The wife sits by to work the bellows, in which operation she is sometimes relieved by the elder children; the little ones sit, naked as they were born, round the fire. The Gipseys are generally praised for their dexterity and quickness, notwithstanding the wretched tools they have to operate with. When any piece of work requires much time to finish, they are apt to lose their patience, and in that case become indifferent whether it be well executed or not. They never submit to labour so long as they have got a dry crust, or any thing else to satisfy their hunger. They frequently receive orders to fabricate different articles; but if not, no sooner are a few nails, or some other trifles, manufactured, than man, woman, and children, dislodge, to convey their merchandise, from house to house, for sale, in the neighbouring villages: their traffick is carried on sometimes for ready money, sometimes by barter for eatables or other necessaries.

Another branch of commerce much followed by the Gipseys is horse dealing, to which they seem to have been attached from the earliest period of their history. In those parts of Hungary where the climate is so mild that horses may lie out all the year, the Gipseys avail themselves of this circumstance to breed, as well as deal in, those animals; by which they sometimes not only procure a competence, but grow rich. Instances have been known on the Continent of Gipseys keeping from fifty to seventy horses each, and those the best bred horses of the country; some of which they let out for hire, others they sold or exchanged, as occasion offered. But this description of Gipsey horse-dealers is not very numerous; for the greatest number of them deal only in blind worn-out jades, which they drive about to different markets, to sell or barter. When the dealer is not fortunate enough to find a chap for his nag, he leads him to the collar-maker, who values the hide, and takes him off his hands for a few groschens. In order to prevent being reduced to this necessity, the slyest tricks are practised to conceal the animal’s defects. In Spain, therefore, Gitano and Gitaneria (Gipsey and Gipseyism) are become familiar expressions to imply a cheater in horses, with the deceptions he makes use of. In the year 1727 they had become so infamous in Sweden, that the subject was thought of sufficient consequence for the consideration of the diet, and their total expulsion was voted to be a necessary measure. The following trick is frequently played in Hungary, and the adjacent country, to make a horse appear brisk and active:—the rider alights at a small distance from the place where he means to offer his horse for sale, and belabours him till he has put the whole muscular system in motion with fright; he then mounts again, and proceeds. The poor beast remembering the blows he has received, jumps about, or sets out full speed, at the least signal; the buyer, entirely ignorant of the preparatory discipline the animal has undergone, supposes this to be natural vivacity, and in hopes that good feeding, with care, will render him still more lively, strikes a bargain: but the next day he has the mortification to discover that he has bought a jade, on which all his care will be thrown away, as the beast has not a leg to stand upon. In Suabia, and on the Rhine, they have another device:—they make an incision in some hidden part of the skin, through which they blow the creature up, till he looks fleshy and plump; they then apply a strong sticking-plaster, to prevent the air from returning. If what Wolfgang Franz assures us be true, they sometimes make use of a trick with a live eel, to this blown-up horse, that he may not only appear in good condition, but spirited and lively. It might be thought, that, on account of these and such-like roguish proceedings, nobody would ever venture to deal with a Gipsey for a horse, were not the possibility proved by the fact itself. But we see instances of this infatuation in other transactions: it is well known that every Jew will cheat, whenever he has an opportunity; yet these people have lived by trade, ever since their dispersion from Babel. Then, these frauds do not always happen: the Gipseys too sell their horses cheap; and as poor people cannot afford to pay dear for them, they must buy where they can; and thus the Gipseys are enabled to continue their traffick.

To the two professions before mentioned as commonly followed by the men, may be added, those of carpenters and turners: the former make watering-troughs and chests; the latter turn trenchers, dishes, make spoons and other trifling articles, which they hawk about. There are others who make sieves, or maintain themselves by cobbling shoes. Many of these, as well as the blacksmiths and whitesmiths, find constant employment in the houses of the better sort of people, for whom they work the year round. They are not paid in money; but, beside other advantages, find a certain subsistence. Those who are not thus circumstanced, do not wait at home for customers, but, with their implements in a sack thrown over their shoulders, seek business in the cities or villages: when any one calls, they throw down the bundle, and prepare the apparatus for work, before the door of their employer.

The Gipseys have a fixed dislike to agriculture; and had rather suffer hunger, or any privation, than follow the plough, to earn a decent livelihood. But, as there is no general rule without an exception, so, beside the slaves to the bojars in Moldavia and Wallachia, who are constrained to apply to it, there are some in Hungary who are cultivators by choice. Since the year 1768, the Empress Theresa has commanded that the Hungarian and Transylvanian Gipseys should be instructed in husbandry; but these orders have been very little regarded. At this time there are so few of them farmers, in those parts, that they are undeserving of notice; though in Spain, and other European countries, they are still more scarce, as it would be difficult to find one who had ever made a furrow in his life.

Formerly, Gipseys were commonly employed in Hungary, and in Transylvania almost universally, for hangmen and executioners. They still perform the business of flayers in Hungary, and of executioners in different parts of Transylvania. Their assiduity in torturing, their cruel invention in tormenting, are described by Toppeltin to be so shocking, that the Gipseys seem eminently calculated for works of barbarity. They do not follow flaying as a regular profession any-where; it is merely a casual occupation, in addition to their usual employment. Whenever a beast dies near where they happen to be, it is a fortunate circumstance if there be no skinner in the place; not because they can make much of the skin, which they always leave with the owner for a trifling consideration, but they are thus enabled to procure a plentiful provision of flesh for the family.

Such are the employments of the men. We shall now proceed to shew the particular methods the women have of obtaining support. It was formerly, and still is, the custom, among the wandering Gipseys, especially in winter, not for the man to maintain the wife, but the wife the husband. This is not precisely the fact in summer, when the men have the before-recited occupations; nor among those who have a regular settlement; but the women always endeavour to contribute their share towards the maintenance of the family: some deal in old clothes; others frequent brothels, which is commonly the case in Spain, and still more so in Constantinople, and all over Turkey. There are others, in Constantinople, who make and sell brooms; but this trade is followed by those chiefly who are too old to get a livelihood by their debauchery. Dancing is another means they have of obtaining contributions: they generally practise this when begging, particularly of men, in the streets; or when they enter houses, to ask charity. Their dancing is the most disgusting that can be conceived, always ending with fulsome grimaces, or the most lascivious attitudes and gestures: nor is this indecency confined to the married women, but is rather more practised by young girls, travelling with their fathers, who are also musicians, and who, for a trifling acknowledgement, will exhibit their dexterity to any body who is pleased with these unseemly dances. They are trained up to this impudence from their earliest years, never suffering a passenger to pass their parents’ hut, without endeavouring to obtain something by frisking about naked before him.

Respecting fortune telling, with which the female Gipseys impose on people’s credulity, in every district and corner of Europe, little need be said. Yet it is extraordinary, that women, generally too not till they become old, should be so sharpsighted as to discover, in every person’s hand they are permitted to inspect, the events of futurity! There are some instances of men being thus gifted; but so few, that they are only exceptions to a general rule. It is, therefore, to be ascribed to the Gipsey women alone, that faith in divination still exists in the minds of millions of people. It is true, Europe was not originally beholden to the Gipseys for this faith, it being deeply rooted in the ignorance of the middle age, when they arrived and brought it with them also. The science of divination here, was already brought to a much greater degree of perfection than among them: rules were invented to tell lies from the inspection of the hand; whereas these poor wretches were esteemed mere bunglers. During the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth century the Gipseys were considered as only a supernumerary party; there being men of great learning, who not only read lectures in college on the divine art of chiromancy, but wrote many books, vilifying these people, and endeavouring to spoil their market by exposing their ignorance. But those enlightened men are no more; their knowledge is deposited in the dead archives of literature: and probably, if there were no Gipseys, with them would also have died the belief in chiromancy, as has happened in regard to astrology, necromancy, oneirocritica, and the other offsprings of imbecile fancy. By the Gipseys alone will this deceit be kept alive, till every Gipsey is constrained to acknowledge some country, and to have some ostensible mode of gaining a livelihood. We can only pity the poor weak deluded beings, who pay their groschen or kreutzer, their shilling or sixpence, for a few unmeaning words!—as if it were possible for people to instruct us concerning our future fortune in life, who are ignorant of their own; being unable to determine whether a day or two hence, they may still be telling fortunes, or be taken before the magistrates, and hanged for theft.

In addition to the chiromantic deception of the Gipsey women, they also—though not exclusively, as the men likewise often profess the same talent—cure bewitched cattle, discover thefts, and possess nostrums of various kinds, to which they ascribe great virtues. These nostrums consist principally of roots, and amulets made of unfermented dough, marked with strange figures, and dried in the air. Griselini says, that, in the Banat of Temeswar, they sell certain small stones, chiefly a kind of scoriæ, which they say possess the quality of rendering the wearer fortunate in love, play, &c. Were that true, why deliver to others what they have so much occasion for themselves? Why do they beg and steal, when, with the assistance of these stones, they might honourably acquire riches, and good fortune? Yet these stones are purchased with avidity, not only in the Banat, but in Germany. People use their quack medicines; call the Gipsey woman into the stable, to exorcise their bewitched cattle, without suspecting any trick or deception. So the open-hearted farmer, in Suabia and Bavaria, has recourse to the Gipseys on many occasions, employing them as doctors for man and beast; and constantly, in cases of supposed enchantment, flies to the Gipsey: this circumstance happens most frequently among those of the common people who pretend to have the least belief in witches and witchcraft. Whenever a cow does not feed kindly, something is immediately suspected; and the Gipsey woman is called, who is often so successful as to remove the impediment. She goes into the stable, orders the cow to be shewn to her, and, after desiring every one else to go out, remains a few minutes alone with it: having finished her operations, she calls in the master, acquaints him with the beast’s recovery, and behold it eats heartily! How happens this? Was it not a piece of enchantment, wherein the Gipsey really acted the magician? Certainly not. The fraud is this:—When the cattle are feeding abroad, the Gipsey woman takes advantage of the keepers absence to entice some of them, with a handful of fodder, to follow her; she then smears them, over the nose and mouth, with some filthy composition, which she has ready in the other hand. From that moment the creature loaths all kinds of food and drink. When the Gipsey is called in to apply a remedy, the whole skill required, is to cleanse the animal’s nose and mouth from the stuff she had put on a day or two before: by this means the true smell is restored, and the cow being hungry, it is not surprising she should fall-to greedily. From this single instance, a judgment may be formed of other cases.

The more common Gipsey occupations, wherein the men and women take an equal share, are—in Spain, keeping inns; principally music in Hungary and Turkey; and gold-washing in Transylvania, the Banat, Moldavia, and Wallachia. The Gipseys, formerly, were concerned in smuggling; and probably still are, although it is not mentioned by late writers.

Both male and female Gipseys attend at entertainments with their music, and often shew great proficiency in the art: besides some wind instrument, they have generally a violin; and many of them have attained so great perfection on that instrument, as to be employed in the chapels of the nobility, and admired as great masters. Barna Mihaly, in the country of Zips, who distinguished himself, about the middle of the last century, in the chapel of the cardinal Count Emerick von Cschaky, was an Orpheus of this kind. The cardinal, who was a judge of music himself, had so great a regard for him, that he had his likeness taken by one of the most capital painters. Instances of the kind are not wanting in the other sex: it is well known that a Gipsey girl, at fourteen years of age, was so famous as a fidler, that the greatest and most fashionable people in Hungary were accustomed to send twenty or thirty miles for her, to play at their balls. There are likewise very many scrapers; these are generally such as have learned of other scrapers, at their own expense. This kind of musicians travel about, with the dancers before mentioned; or play to the peasants, who, not having much taste, always make them welcome at their weddings, or dances. They scratch away on an old patched violin, or rumble on a broken base, neither caring about better instruments, nor minding to stop in tune; being what they are, more for want of application than capacity. Others practise vocal music; and some have acquired considerable fortunes, particularly in Spain, by singing.

Goldwashing, in the rivers, is another occupation, by which many thousand Gipseys, of both sexes, procure a livelihood, in the Banat, Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia. As this is only a summer employment, they are under the necessity of finding some other means of supporting themselves during the winter. It is not permitted for every one, without exception, to be a goldwasher: in Transylvania, such only can follow the employment, who have leave from the office of Mons; [51] and these only enjoy the privilege under certain restrictions. In Wallachia and Moldavia, none of the bojars’ slaves, thence called bojaresk (bojar Gipseys), are suffered to meddle with goldwashing; that being a liberty granted only to those who, like other subjects, are immediately under the prince, denominated domnesk (princely Gipseys): which are also subdivided into three classes; the first named Rudar; the second Ursar; and the third Lajaschen. The Radars alone have the licence above mentioned; the others are obliged to seek a different means of obtaining support. Each person is forced to pay a certain tribute to government. The goldwashers in Transylvania and the Banat pay four guilders annually, which is discharged in gold-dust: the same sum is due from every Gipsey, though many evade the contribution. When the time for payment approaches; they contrive to keep out of the way, particularly the Hungarian Gipseys. The tribute collected in Wallachia and Moldavia does not go into the public treasury, but belongs to the princesses for pin-money. In Cantemir’s time, that in Moldavia produced yearly one thousand six hundred drachms: and the consort of the Wallachian hospodar Stephen Rakowitza, in the year 1764, received from her Rudars, two hundred and forty in number, twelve hundred and fifty-four drachms;—a sum, according to General von Bauer and Sulzer, amounting to one thousand and three drachms, fine gold. What the Gipseys in Wallachia and Moldavia get more than their head-money, goes to the grand armasch, at two lion-guilders the drachm: this he afterwards sells again, at a higher price, according with its real value; as General von Bauer believes, for his own profit, not for that of the prince. The goldwashers in the Banat and Transylvania dispose of their share at the royal redemption-office, in Zalatnya. The earnings of these people vary with time and at different places; during heavy rains and floods they are usually most successful: besides, their profit is more or less, according to the quality of the river they wash in. At the most favourable times, viz. at the floods, Griselini calculates their daily gain not to exceed three groschens. If we understand, as we certainly ought, that this sum is not earned by each person, but by a whole family, the statement will agree, pretty nearly, with Mr. Dembscher’s account: he says, “In the year 1770 there were, in the districts of Uj-Palanka, Orsova, and Caransebes, upwards of eighty goldwashers, all of whom had families, and followed the business, with their wives and children; yet this number of hands delivered in only six or seven hundred ducats worth of gold.” Take half of the doubtful seventh hundred; deduct three hundred and twenty guilders, head money, from the gross sum; divide the remainder among eighty families, and each will receive yearly thirty-two guilders: allot to each day, in the summer half-year, its proportion, and it will be found very little more or less than three groschens. As before stated, the labour of two hundred Rudars produced, in the year 1764, twelve hundred fifty-four drachms: General von Bauer adds, this sum was exactly the half of what was collected, over the whole country, in the same year. Now as these Gipseys were under the necessity of parting with their twelve or thirteen hundred drachms, which remained after the capitation tax was paid, to the grand-armasch, at the rate of two lion-guilders per drachm, they earned still less than those in the Banat; although the rivers in Wallachia contain a sufficient plenty of gold to have enabled them to make ten times that advantage, did not their laziness prevent them. The Transylvanian rivers yield the most gold: there are annually, from eight to ten hundred weight separated from their sand, which are brought to Zalatnya, to be disposed of. As this quantity is not obtained by Gipseys only, but together with the Wallachians, and we have no account of the gross number of goldwashers, how many of them are Gipseys, nor what proportion they have of these eight hundred weight, it is impossible to ascertain the profits of the Transylvanian Gipsey goldwashers. That they are better off than those in the Banat and other places, is certain, from the circumstance of the rivers abounding more with gold, than elsewhere.

It may not be uninteresting in this place to give the process of goldwashing, in the words of those who, as mineralogists, have superintended the work. The account communicated by the Councellor von Kotzian, concerning the goldwashing in the Banat, is as follows: “The operation consists in, first, providing a board of lime-wood, about one fathom long, and half a fathom broad; being hollowed at the upper end, in the form of a dish, from which are cut ten or twelve channels, in an oblique direction. This board is fixed in an inclined position so as to form an angle of forty-five degrees with the horizon. The sand containing the gold, being laid in the hollow at the top of the board, a quantity of water is then poured upon it, which carries off the lighter parts; such as are more heavy they shove down by hand: what remains in the channels, or furrows, is discharged into an oblong tray, carried to the straining-trough, and the gold which remains picked clean out. The whole of this work is performed in so careless a manner, that much pure gold is lost: it is, moreover, to be lamented, that the Gipseys get only the gold which is perfectly separated from the sand, but by no means any that sticks to the ore, which they throw away, though there is gold in it.”

As it seems evident, from the foregoing statement, that this method is very inadequate to the purpose, and that consequently much gold must be wasted, we are the more surprised when another author, in the following words, assures us of the contrary:—“So negligent and careless as the work of the Gipseys appears at first sight, just as effectual it is proved when put to the test. Daily practice gives to these people a degree of discernment, without which another person would think they must lose a great deal. I convinced myself in the following manner: When they had finished their washing on the board—for which they commonly used from fifteen to twenty troughs of coarse stuff—I divided the washed stuff into three parcels; the ten or fifteen uppermost furrows always contained the most gold, the second division not more than an eighth part as much, but the last fifteen to twenty furrows scarcely three grains. I have also narrowly examined the refuse, and very seldom found any traces of gold in it.”

The art of goldwashing is brought to much greater perfection in Transylvania. In the description of the process adopted in that country, it is said that all the rivers, brooks, and even the pools which the rain forms, produce gold: of these the river Aranyosch is the richest, insomuch that the historians have compared it to the Tagus and Pactolus. Excepting the Wallachians, who live by the rivers, the goldwashers consist chiefly of Gipseys. They can judge with the greatest certitude where to wash to advantage. The apparatus used by them for this work is a crooked board, four or five feet long, by two or three broad, generally provided with a wooden rim on each side; over this board they spread a woollen cloth, and scatter the gold-sand, mixed with water, upon it: the small grains of the metal remain sticking to the cloth, which they afterwards wash in a vessel of water, and then separate the gold by means of the trough. When larger particles of sand are found in their washing, they make deeper channels in the middle of their crooked boards, to stop the small pieces as they roll down: they closely examine these small stones, and some are frequently found to have solid gold fixed in them.

Those we have mentioned are the customary professions and occupations of Gipseys, in the different countries and states of Europe. But people must not imagine that their smiths’ shops are continually resounding with the hammer; nor that those of other professions are so attentive to their callings, as to provide even a daily subsistence, not to think of a comfortable maintenance. Their consummate laziness, on the contrary, as before observed, occasions so many idle hours in the day, that their family is often reduced to the greatest distress; for which reason, begging or stealing is by far a more common method, than diligence or assiduous application to business, for quieting the cravings of hunger. If we except soldiers, who are kept in order by the discipline of the corporal, with some of the Transylvanian goldwashers, who apply to music—and, living separate from their own caste, in constant habits of intercourse with people of a better sort, have thereby acquired more civilised manners, and learned the distinction, if not between right and wrong, at least between social honour and disgrace—the remainder are, in the most unlimited sense, arrant thieves. In fact, working at any trade, or employment, seems to be merely a disguise, in order the better to enable them to carry on their thieving practices; as the articles which they prepare for sale in the cities and villages, furnish an excellent excuse for sneaking into houses, to pry where there is any thing which they may appropriate to themselves. This kind of artifice is particularly the province of the women, who have always been reckoned more dextrous than the men in the art of stealing. They commonly take children with them, who are tutored to remain behind, in the outer part of the house, to purloin what they can, while the mother is negotiating in the chamber. It is generally the women’s office to make away with the boor’s geese and fowls, when they are to be found in a convenient place. Should the creature make a noise when seized, it is killed and dressed for the consumption of the family; but if, by chance, it have strayed so far from the village, that its crying cannot give any alarm, they keep it alive to sell at the next market town. Winter is the time when the women generally are most called upon to try their skill in this way: during that season, many of the men remain in their huts, sending the women abroad to forage. They go about in the guise of beggars—a character they well know how to support—and commonly carry with them a couple of children, miserably exposed to the cold and frost; one of these is led by the hand, the other tied in a cloth to the woman’s back, in order to excite compassion in well-disposed people. Whole troops of these Gipsey beggars are met with in Spain; and the encounter is by no means pleasant, as they ask alms in a manner, and with such importunity, as if they thought you could not deny them. They also tell fortunes; and impose on the credulous with amulets. Besides all this, they seldom return to their husbands without some pilfered booty. Many writers confine the thefts of the Gipseys to small maters, and will not allow that they are ever guilty of violence. This is not only denied by the testimony of others, but absolutely contradicted by some recent instances. It is true that, on account of their natural timidity, they do hesitate to commit a robbery which appears to be attended with great danger, nor do they often break open houses by night: they rather confine themselves to petty depredations, than, as they think, rush voluntarily into destruction by a great and dangerous action. Yet we have more than one proof, that they make no scruple to murder a traveller, or plunder cities and villages.

CHAPTER VIII.

On their Marriages and Education.

There are not, perhaps, any other people among whom marriages are contracted with so little consideration, or solemnised with so little ceremony, as among the Gipseys. No sooner has a boy attained the age of fourteen or fifteen years, than he begins to perceive that something more than mere eating and drinking is necessary to him. Having no fear of consequences, nor being under any restraint from his parents, he forms a connection with the girl he most fancies, of twelve, or at most thirteen, years old, without any scruple of conscience, whether she be his nearest relation, or an entire stranger; but it is to be observed, that a Gipsey never marries a person who is not of the true Gipsey breed. God’s commandments are unknown to him; and human laws cannot have much influence over one who lives in a desert, remote from the observation of any ruling power. The term of courtship is very short, often only long enough for the parties to communicate their mutual inclination. They do not wait for any marriage ceremony, as it is a matter of no consequence to them, whether it be performed afterwards, or not at all. Yet they do not seem to be entirely indifferent about matrimony, not on account of conforming to any institution, but from a pride they have in imitating what is done by other people, lest they should appear to be inferior to them. As the very early age of the parties, or some other irregularity, might meet with objections from a regular clergyman, they frequently get one of their own people to act the priest, and tack the decent couple together. A marriage being thus accomplished, the man provides a stone for an anvil, a pair of pincers, a file, and hammers away as a smith; or works at some other trade, he may have just learned from his father: then begins his peregrination. Should his wife commit a fault at a future time, he gives her half a dozen boxes on the ear; or very likely, for some trifling cause, turns her off entirely. Her conduct must, in general, be very much regulated by his will; and she is obliged to be more attentive to him than to herself. When the woman lies-in, which happens frequently, these people being remarkably prolific, the child is brought forth, either in their miserable hut, or, according to circumstances, it may be in the open air, but always easily and fortunately: a woman of the same kind performs the office of midwife. True Gipsey like, for want of some vessel, they dig a hole in the ground, which is filled up with cold water, and the new-born child washed in it. This being done, it is wrapped up in some old rags, which the motherly foresight has taken care to provide. Next comes the christening, at which ceremony they prefer strangers, for witnesses, rather than their own caste: but what kind of folks their guests are, may be collected from the mode of entertaining them. When the christening is over, the father takes the sponsors to an alehouse, or if none be near, to some other house, where he treats them with cakes and brandy. If he is a little above the lowest state of misery, and has a mind to be generous, other things are provided; but he does not join the company, being employed in serving his guests. Thus the affair ends. The lying-in woman passes her short time of confinement, seldom exceeding eight days, with her child, in the hut, or under a tent, in the smoke by the fire. Refreshments are often sent from the godfathers and godmothers; yet they are sometimes so uncivil, that they do not hesitate to quarrel with them or even to discharge them from the trust, if they think the present too small, or do not like the provisions. When this happens, they have another christening, in some other place; nay, sometimes even a third.

Gipsey women, as already mentioned, frequently smear their children over with a particular kind of ointment, and then lay them in the sun, or before the fire, in order that the skin may be more completely parched, and their black beauty thereby increased. They never use a cradle, nor even possess such a piece of furniture; the child sleeps in its mother’s arms, or on the ground. When the lying-in is over, the Gipsey woman goes to church, and thence, immediately, either to begging or stealing. While the child remains in her arms, perhaps imagining that people will be less severe in their chastisements, she is more rapacious than at other times, and takes whatever she can lay her hands on. If she cannot escape without a beating, she endeavours to screen herself by holding up the child to receive the blows, till she finds an opportunity of retiring imperceptibly, and running away.

When the child gets a little stronger, and has attained the age of three or four months, the mother seldom carries it on the arm, but at her back; there it sits, winter and summer, in a linen rag, with its head over her shoulder. If she have more children, in course of time, which is generally the case, as this race of beings is so prolifick, she leads one or two by the hand, while such as are older run by her side; and thus attended, she strolls through the villages and into houses. Notwithstanding their dark complexion, and bad nursing, writers are unanimous in stating, that these children are good-looking, well shaped, lively, clever, and have fine eyes. The mother plaits their black hair on the crown of the head, partly to keep it out of their face, and partly for ornament. This is all she ever does towards decorating her offspring; for in summer the children wear no clothes till ten years of age, and in winter they are forced to be content with a few old rags hung about them.

No sooner is the child, whether boy or girl, capable of running about, than it is taught to dance; which talent consists in jumping on one foot, and constantly striking behind with the other. As the young Gipsey grows up, all kinds of postures are added, in hopes of diverting, and thereby to obtain a reward from persons who happen to pass the parents’ habitation. What the children are further taught, especially by their mothers, is the art of stealing, which they often put in practice, as before related. Instruction or school is never thought of; nor do they learn any business, except perhaps to blow the fire when the father forges, or to assist in goldwashing.

By the twelfth or thirteenth year, a boy acquires some knowledge of his father’s trade; and then becomes emancipated from parental authority; as he now begins to think of forming his own separate connections. The Gipseys, in common with uncivilised people, entertain unbounded love for their children: this is a source of the most unpardonable neglect. Gipsey children never feel the rod; they fly into the most violent passion, and at the same time hear nothing from their parents but flattery and coaxing. In return, they act, as is commonly the consequence of such education, with the greatest ingratitude. This excessive fondness for their children is, however, attended with one advantage:—when they are indebted to any person, which is frequently the case in Hungary and Transylvania, the creditor seizes a child, and by that means obtains a settlement of his demand; as the Gipsey will immediately exert every method to discharge the debt, and procure the release of his darling offspring.

To the beforegoing account of Gipsey marriages, and education, there are but few exceptions; comprised in a small proportion of them who have fixed habitations. The character of people being formed by the instruction they receive in their early years, can it then be thought surprising that Gipseys should be idlers, thieves, murderers, and incendiaries? Is it probable, that man should become diligent, who has been educated in laziness? Can it be expected those should leave every person in possession of his own property, whose father and mother have taught them to steal, from their earliest infancy? Who can have a general idea of fair dealing, that knows not right from wrong, nor has ever learned the distinction between good and evil, virtue and vice? Punishments inflicted on others, for their crimes, have no effect upon one who is not sufficiently attentive to take warning by the examples of strangers: and when, by his own experience, he is taught not to lay hands on the property of others, he is become so hardened, that the milder punishments leave no lasting impression; while the more severe ones, which reach the life, cannot have any effect on him, and are, as before observed, totally disregarded by his fellows. So long therefore as the education of the Gipseys continues to be what it is, we cannot hope that they should leave off their vile practices and filthy habits.

CHAPTER IX.

On their Sickness, Death, and Burial.

We have before had occasion to mention the constant good health of these people; and it is fact, that they do enjoy it more uninterruptedly, and perfectly, than persons of the most regular habits, and who pay the greatest attention to themselves. They get no cold nor defluxions, from the inclemency of the air. They are not subject to rashes; even poisons, or epidemical disorders, have no effect upon them. Any prevailing sickness penetrates sooner into ten habitations of civilised people, than it finds its way under a Gipsey’s tent, or into his hut. They are equally liable to the small-pox and measles with other people, though with infinitely less danger; and they are subject to a disorder in the eyes, occasioned by the continual smoke and steam in their huts, during the winter season: excepting these complaints, the Gipseys, in general, experience little inconvenience till the time comes that Nature demands her own back again, and entirely destroys the machine. Though this be not always at a great age, it is generally at an advanced period; it being very uncommon for a Gipsey to die early in life, or during his childhood. Their love of life is excessive; yet they hardly ever take the advice of a physician, or use medicines, even in the most dangerous maladies. They generally leave every thing to nature, or good fortune: if they do any thing, it is, to mix a little saffron in their soup, or bleed and scarify themselves; having observed that their horses use bleeding, as a remedy for disorders. When the sickness indicates danger, and that the universal enemy to life is really in earnest, the Gipsey breaks out into sighs and lamentations, on account of his departure; till at last he gives up the ghost, in his usual place of residence—under a tree, or in his tent.

The preparations for death are usually regulated according to a person’s religious principles; but the Gipsey, who neither knows nor believes any thing concerning the immortality of the soul, or of rewards and punishments beyond this life, for the most part dies like a beast—ignorant of himself and his Creator, as well as utterly incapable of forming any opinion respecting a higher destination.

The Gipsey’s decease is instantly succeeded by the most frantic lamentations: parents, in particular, who have lost their children, appear inconsolable. Little can be said of their burials; only, that on those occasions the cries and bewailings are redoubled, and become very violent. When the leader of a horde dies, things are conducted more quietly. His own people carry him, with great respect, to the grave, where each one appears earnest and attentive; although at the same time employed in a manner to excite laughter.

This is the mode of proceeding when a Gipsey dies a natural death. But it often happens that he loses his life by violent means—not by his own hands for self-murder and infanticide are equally unheard of among them. No Gipsey ever puts a period to his own existence on account of vexation, anxiety, or despair; as, besides his unbounded love of life, care or despair is totally unknown to him.

Even in the greatest distress, the Gipsey is never troubled with low spirits; ever merry and blythe, he dies not till he cannot help it: this often happens on the gallows, attended with scenes ridiculous as the most ludicrous imagination could invent. One man requested, as a particular act of grace, that he might not be hanged with his face towards the high road; saying, “Many of his acquaintance passed that way, and he should be very much ashamed to be seen by them hanging on a gallows.” At another time the relations of a Gipsey who was leading to execution, perceiving, by the discourse and gestures of the criminal, how unwillingly he advanced, not having the least inclination to be hanged, addressed themselves to the magistrates and officers of justice, with the following wise remonstrance: “Gentlemen, pray do not compel a man to a thing for which you see he has no desire nor inclination.” Such scenes happen at almost every Gipsey execution, which are proofs that these people are quite deficient in thought or consideration.

CHAPTER X.

Political Regulations peculiar to the Gipseys.

When the Gipseys first arrived in Europe, they had leaders and chiefs, to conduct the various tribes in their migrations. This was necessary, not only to facilitate their progress through different countries and quarters of the globe, but to unite their force if necessary, and thereby enable them to make a more formidable resistance when opposed: and likewise to carry any plan, they might have formed, more readily into execution. We accordingly find, in old books, mention made of knights, counts, dukes, and kings. Krantz and Munster mention counts, and knights, in general terms, among the Gipseys; other people give us the very names of these dignified men: Crusius cites a duke Michael; Muratori a duke Andreas; and Aventinus records a king Zindelo: not to speak of inscriptions on monuments, erected in different places, to the memories of duke Panuel, count Johannis; and a noble knight Petrus, in the fifteenth century. But no comment is requisite to shew how improperly these appellations were applied. Though the Gipsey chiefs might be gratified with these titles, and their dependants probably esteemed them people of rank, it was merely a ridiculous imitation of what they had seen and admired among civilised people. Nevertheless, the custom of having leaders and chiefs over them prevails to this time, at least in Hungary and Transylvania; probably it may also still exist in Turkey, and other countries where these people live together in great numbers.

Their chiefs—or waywodes, as they proudly call them—were formerly of two degrees in Hungary. Each petty tribe had its own leader; beside which, there were four superior waywodes, of their own caste, on both sides the Danube and Teisse, whose usual residences were at Raab, Lewentz, Szathmar, and Kaschau: to these the smaller waywodes were accountable. It would appear extraordinary that any well-regulated state should allow these people a distinct establishment in the heart of the country, did not the Hungarian writers assign a reason: viz. that in the commotions and troubles, occasioned by the Turkish wars, in former centuries, they were, by means of their waywodes, more easily summoned, when occasion required, and rendered useful to the community. But the Gipseys in Hungary and Transylvania were permitted to choose, from their own people, only the small waywodes of each tribe. The superior waywodes, to whom the Gipseys, in many districts, were subject, have existed till within a few years; but they were appointed by the court, and always selected from the Hungarian nobility. The appointment was by no means despicable; as each Gipsey was bound to pay the superintendent under whom his tribe was classed, a guilder annually, of which one half was demanded at Easter, the other half at Michaelmas. In order to render the levying this tax more certain, the magistrates, in all towns, cities, and villages, were ordered to be assisting to the collectors, where necessary; to protect them also from any violence that might be offered by the Gipseys. These superior waywodes are now no longer appointed, except a single one in Transylvania, who has authority over the goldwashers in those parts. But the Gipseys still continue the custom, among themselves, of dignifying certain persons, whom they make heads over them, and call by the exalted Sclavonian title—waywode. To choose their waywode, the Gipseys take the opportunity when a great number of them are assembled in one place, commonly in the open field. The elected person is lifted up three times, amidst the loudest acclamations, and confirmed in his dignity by presents; his wife undergoes the same ceremony. When this solemnity is performed, they separate with great conceit, imagining themselves people of more consequence than electors returning from the choice of an emperor. Every one who is of a family descended from a former waywode is eligible; but those who are best clothed, not very poor, of large stature, and about the middle age, have generally the preference. Understanding or wise conduct is of no consideration: therefore it is easy to distinguish the waywode from the multitude, by observing his size and clothing. The particular distinguishing mark of dignity, is a large whip, hanging over the shoulder. His outward deportment, his walk and air, also plainly shew his head to be filled with notions of authority.

It is uncertain how far the waywode’s sway over his subjects extends. A distinction must here be made, whether the state gives him any power, and what he assumes or derives by custom from his caste. It were ridiculous to suppose that the state should, on any occasion, appoint this sort of illustrious personage a judge. In Transylvania, indeed, the magistrates do interfere with regard to the fellow whom this or that horde has elected chief, and impose an obligation on him; but it is only that he should be careful to prevent his nimble subjects from absconding, when the time arrives for them to discharge their annual tribute at the land-regent’s chamber. He has no right to interfere in disputes or quarrels which the Gipseys have among themselves, or with other people, further than to give notice of them to the regular courts of the district where they happen to be. In this point of view, what Toppeltin and others after him assert, that the waywodes have little or no power over their own people, is perfectly correct: but if we attend to their actions, the affair carries a very different appearance. Whenever a complaint is made, that any of their people have been guilty of theft, the waywode not only orders a general search to be made, in every tent or hut, and returns the stolen goods to the owner, if they can be found, but punishes the thief, in presence of the complainant, with his whip. Certainly it is not by any written contract that he acquires his right over the people, for no such thing exists among them, but custom gives him this judicial power. Moreover he does not punish the aggressor from any regard to justice, but rather to quiet the plaintiff, and at the same time to make his people more wary in their thefts, as well as more dextrous in concealing their plunder. These discoveries materially concern him, since by every detection his income suffers; as the whole profit of his office arises from his share of the articles that are stolen. Every time a Gipsey brings in a booty, he is obliged to give information to the arch-Gipsey of his successful enterprise; and then render a just account of what and how much he has stolen, in order that the proper division may be made. In this proceeding the Gipsey considers himself bound to give a fair and true detail; though in every other instance he does not hesitate to commit the grossest perjury. We may therefore judge how precarious success is likely to be, when a waywode is applied to for the recovery of stolen goods. The Gipseys are cunning enough to hide what they have pilfered, in such a manner, that out of a hundred searches the complainer hardly once accomplishes his desire. It does not at all forward the cause, that the waywode knows who the thief is: his interest requires him to dissemble. Thus, though he does not steal himself, the Spanish proverb is a very true one: “The Count and the Gipsey are rogues alike.” For which reason people seldom apply to so suspicious a judge. If a thief is caught in the fact, the owner takes his property, and gives the offender his proper reward, or else delivers him over to the civil power for correction. Here ensues a truly laughable scene: As soon as the officer seizes on, and forces away the culprit, he is surrounded by a swarm of Gipseys, who take unspeakable pains to procure the release of the prisoner. They endeavour to cajole him with kind words, desiring him to consider this, that, and the other, or admonish him not to be so uncivil. When it comes to the infliction of punishment, and the malefactor receives a good number of lashes, well laid on, in the public market-place, an universal lamentation commences among the vile crew; each stretches his throat, to cry over the agony his dear associate is constrained to suffer. This is oftener the fate of the women than of the men; for, as the maintenance of the family depends most upon them, they more frequently go out for plunder.

CHAPTER XI.

On the Religion of the Gipseys.

These people did not bring any particular religion with them from their native country, by which, as the Jews, they could be distinguished among other persons; but regulate themselves, in religious matters, according to the country where they live. Being very inconstant in their choice of residence, they are likewise so in respect to religion. No Gipsey has an idea of submission to any fixed profession of faith: it is as easy for him to change his religion at every new village, as for another person to shift his coat. They suffer themselves to be baptised in Christian countries; among Mahometans to be circumcised. They are Greeks with Greeks, Catholics with Catholics, and again profess themselves to be Protestants, whenever they happen to reside where protestantism prevails.

From this mutability, we may conceive what ideas they have, and thence deduce their general opinions of religion. As parents suffer their children to grow up without education or instruction, and were reared in the same manner themselves, so neither have any knowledge of God or morality. Few of them will attend to any discourse on religion: they hear what is said with indifference, nay rather with impatience and repugnance; despising all remonstrance, believing nothing, they live without the least solicitude concerning what shall become of them after this life. An instance, quoted by Toppeltin, will fully illustrate this matter: One of the more civilised Gipseys in Transylvania took the resolution of sending his son to school: leave being obtained from the government, the lad was admitted, and was going on very well, under his teachers’ hands. The child died; whereupon the relations applied to the magistrates and clergy for permission to give the young man Christian burial, he being a student at the time of his death. On this occasion the priest asked, whether they believed the deceased would rise again at the last day?—“Strange idea!” they answered; “to believe that a carcase, a lifeless corpse, should be reanimated, and rise again!—In our opinion, it would be no more likely to happen to him, than to the horse we flayed a few days ago.” Such are the opinions of the greatest part of these people with regard to religion; it naturally follows, that their conduct should be conformable to such ideas and conceptions. Every duty is neglected, no prayer ever passes their lips: as little are they to be found in any assembly of public worship; whence the Wallachian adage—“The Gipsey’s church was built with bacon, and the dogs ate it.” The religious party from which a Gipsey apostatises, as little loses a brother believer, as the one into which he goes acquires one. He is neither Mahometan nor Christian; for the doctrines of Mahomet and of Christ are alike unknown or indifferent to him, producing no other effect than that in Turkey his child is circumcised, and baptised in Christendom. The Turks are so fully convinced of the little sincerity the Gipseys entertain in regard to religion, that although a Jew, by becoming a Mahometan, is freed from the payment of the charadsch, the Gipseys are not, at least in the neighbourhood of Constantinople. They are compelled to pay this polltax even though their ancestors, for centuries back, had been Mahometans; or though they should actually have been a pilgrimage to Mecca: the privilege of wearing a white turban is the only advantage their conversion gives them over unbelieving Jews and Gipseys.

Such is the respect paid by the Gipseys to moral institutions, in every country where they are found. It is true that in this, as well as in other things, there may be exceptions, but they are very rare; by much the greatest part of them are as above described. Wherefore the more ancient, as well as the more modern, writers agree, in positively denying that the Gipseys have any religion; placing them even below the heathens. This sentence cannot be contradicted; since, so far from having a respect for religion, they are adverse to every thing which in the least relates to it.

CHAPTER XII.

Their Language, Sciences, and Arts.

Besides that the Gipseys understand and speak the language of the country where they live, they have a general language of their own, in which they always converse with each other. Writers differ in opinion concerning this language, being undecided whether it be really that of any country, and who are the people from whom it originates. Some pronounce it a mere jargon, others say it is gibberish. We can by no means agree with the supporters of the first opinion, as the only ground for the assertion is barely, that they do not know any other language correspondent to that of the Gipseys. But they do not seem to have considered how extravagant a surmise it is, to believe a whole language an invention; that too of people rude, uncivilised, and hundreds of miles distant from each other. This opinion is too absurd to employ more time to controvert it. Neither can the Gipsey language be admitted for gibberish; unless by those who know nothing of the former, or are totally ignorant of the latter, which is corrupt German; whereas the former has neither German words, inflexions, nor the least affinity in sound. No German, were he to listen a whole day to a Gipsey conversation, would comprehend a single expression. A third party allow that the language of the original Gipseys was really vernacular, and that of some country; but assert it to be so disguised and falsified, partly by design of the Gipseys themselves, partly by adventitious events, through length of time, and the continual wandering of these people, that it is entirely new formed, and now used by the Gipseys only. This opinion contains much truth; but carries the matter too far, in not allowing that any traces remain to prove any particular dialect to be the Gipseys’ mother tongue. Perhaps the great Büsching means the same thing, when he says, “the Gipsey language is a mixture of corrupt words from the Wallachian, Sclavonian, Hungarian, and other nations.” Among these, the best-founded notion may be, that it is the dialect of some particular country, though no longer so pure as in the country whence it originated. This opinion meets the greatest concurrence of the learned: and will, we hope, be fully proved in another part of this book, where the subject will be again discussed, more fully, in order to corroborate the other proofs of the origin of this people. It will then be certified, in what country this is the native mother tongue. This is a point concerning which most writers think differently. Sometimes the Gipseys are Hebrews, then Nubians, Egyptians, Phrygians, Vandals, Sclavonians, or, as opinions vary, perhaps some other nation.

It appears extraordinary, that the language of a people who have lived for centuries among us, and has been matter of enquiry almost ever since, should still remain an affair of so much uncertainty. Gipseys are to be found every-where, and might be very easily examined, as closely and often as any body pleased, about their language. It would have been attended with no great trouble, to have made so near an acquaintance as to bring them to converse with variety of people, and thereby, by means of comparison, to have attained some degree of certainty. This observation sounds plausibly; but on a closer examination the case is found to be very different. First, it is not so easy as people may imagine, to gain much information from the Gipseys concerning their language. They are suspicious, apprehending an explanation might be attended with danger to themselves; and are therefore not very communicative. To this must be added, their natural levity, and consequent seeming inattention to the questions put to them. A writer, who had frequent experience of this behaviour, expresses himself to the following effect: “Suppose any person had an inclination to learn the Gipsey language, he would find it very difficult to accomplish his purpose. Intercourse with these people is almost insufferable; and very few of them have sense enough to teach any thing, or even to give a proper answer to a question. If you ask about a single word, they chatter a great many, which nobody can understand. Others have equally failed of success, not being able, by any means whatever, to obtain from them the paternoster in their own language.” Secondly, suppose the language of the Gipseys had been perfectly understood soon after their arrival in Europe, variety of opinions would nevertheless have been maintained among the learned. It would still have been necessary, in order to ascertain truth, to have revised the original languages of all the inhabitants both in and out of Europe, or at least a general sketch of them. By such a review, the Gipseys’ mother tongue might easily have been discovered. But many there are, as Büttner, Schlözer, Gibelin, and Bachmeister, who have taken great pains in the minute investigation of the languages, as well as manners, of different people, and reckon those they have learned by dozens. How was it, indeed, possible for the learned of former centuries to be competent to the enquiry, as they had not the aids which now so copiously occur to the historical etymologist? Many dialects have been discovered, and our knowledge of others greatly increased, within the last fifty or sixty years. During that term, the treasures of the farthest north have been opened; and the most eastern idioms become more familiar to us: we even know how the Otaheitian expresses himself. All this information did not exist before; knowledge in this science was much more confined than at this period: nor was it possible for the most learned man, so circumstanced, to point out the country in which the Gipsey language was spoken.

The Gipseys have no writing, peculiar to them, in which to express their language. [87] Writing, or reading, is, in general, a very uncommon accomplishment with any of them; nor must either of these attainments be at all expected among the wandering sort. Sciences and the refined arts are never to be looked for amongst people whose manner of living and education are so irregular. Twiss does, indeed, mention, that the Spanish Gipseys have some knowledge of medicine and surgery; but woe betide the person who confides in their skill! It is absurd to suppose that they are possessed of any secret for extinguishing fire: superstition formerly gave the Jews credit for this art; in process of time, the Gipseys also were believed to be gifted with it. Music is the only science in which the Gipseys participate, in any considerable degree: they likewise compose, but it is after the manner of the eastern people, extempore. In Wallachia, no other people possess this talent; and, like the Italian improvisatori, they always accompany their verses with singing and music. The quality of the poetry of these ready composers may be appreciated, when it is known that the rhyme is the part most considered: to accomplish this, they are frequently guilty of the most glaring solecisms in grammar; besides their ideas are usually of the most obscene kind, and these expressed in the gross style of rude unpolished people. It is not necessary, therefore, to be a master, to hold their art in the greatest contempt. [88]

CHAPTER XIII.

Character and Capacities of the Gipseys; whether they are an Advantage or a Detriment to States.

Imagine a people of childish thoughts, whose minds are filled with raw indigested conceptions, guided more by sense than reason, and using understanding and reflection only so far as they promote the gratification of any particular appetite;—and you have a perfect sketch of the general character of the Gipseys.

They are lively; uncommonly loquacious; fickle to an extreme, consequently inconstant in their pursuits; faithless to every body, even of their own caste; void of the least emotion of gratitude, frequently returning benefits with the most insidious malice. Fear makes them slavishly compliant [89] when under subjection; but having nothing to apprehend, like other timorous people, they are cruel. A desire of revenge often causes them to take the most desperate resolutions. Thus they vowed no less than death against a respectable German prince who died not many years ago, because, on account of their misdeeds, he had persecuted and driven them from his territories. They even went so far as to offer a reward among themselves (probably something considerable) to whoever would deliver him to them, either alive or dead. Nor did they give up this insolent design, till some of them, who talked too openly about it in the Darmstadt dominions, were taken, and being delivered up to the parties concerned, paid the forfeit of their lives for their good intentions.

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, when no other instrument has readily presented, 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 gratify their taste for spirituous liquors. They have likewise, what one would little expect, an enormous share of vanity, which is evidenced in their fondness for fine clothes, and their gait and deportment when dressed in them. It might be supposed that this pride would have the good effect of rendering the Gipsey cautious not to be guilty of such crimes as subject him to public shame: but here his levity of character is rendered conspicuous, for he never looks either to the right or to the left in his transactions; and though his conceit and pride are somewhat humbled during the time of punishment, and while the consequent pain lasts, these being over, he no longer remembers his disgrace, but entertains quite as good an opinion of himself as before. The Gipseys are loquacious and quarrelsome in the highest degree, though they seldom make much noise in their huts, in which they generally keep quiet enough: but in the public markets, and before alehouses, where they are surrounded by a number of spectators, they bawl, spit at each other—catch up sticks and cudgels, vapour and brandish them over their heads—throw dust and dirt—now run from each other, then back again, with furious gestures and threats. The women scream, drag their husbands by force from the scene of action; these break from them again, and return to it: the children, too, howl piteously. After a short time, without any person’s interference, when they have cried and made a noise till they are tired, and without either party having received any personal injury, the affair finishes itself, and they separate, with as much ostentation as if they had performed the most heroic feats.

Thus the Gipsey seeks honour! of which his ideas seldom coincide with those of other people, and sometimes deviate entirely from propriety: we may therefore assert, what all, who have made observations on these people agree in, that honour and shame are to them totally indifferent. We establish this decision by comparing Gipsey notions with our own: trying their dealings and conduct by this standard, they will often appear ridiculous, frequently even infamous.

Nothing can exceed the unrestrained depravity of manners existing among these people, particularly the softer sex. Unchecked by any idea of shame, they give way to every desire. The mother endeavours, by the most scandalous arts, to train her daughter for an offering to sensuality; and the latter is scarcely grown up, before she becomes the seducer of others. Let the dance, formerly mentioned, be called to mind; it will then be unnecessary to adduce fresh examples, of which regard for decency will not permit a detail.

Their indolence has been already quoted. Laziness is so natural to 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 disposition increases their propensity to stealing and cheating—the common attendants on idleness. They seek and avail themselves of every opportunity to satisfy their lawless desires. Thomasius endeavours to propagate a notion, that this habit has grown upon the latter Gipseys by degrees, in opposition to the practice of those who first arrived, quoting Stumpf for his authority, who talks of Christian discipline and order among the original Gipseys; he assures us, too, that they paid ready money for all they wanted; but this testimony does not deserve attention: the Gipseys in Stumpf’s time were the same as they are at this day, nor are they differently described by any of the old writers.

This is a lamentable enumeration of evil and ruinous properties in the Gipsey’s character, which applies not only to a few individuals, but to by far the greatest number of these people. Scarcely any virtue could exist in a soul so replete with vices. What at first sight appears less censurable, or perhaps even amiable, in them is, their habitual content in their situation. They have no care about futurity; they are unacquainted either with anxiety or solicitude: and pass through every day lively and satisfied. But this, in itself commendable resignation, is as little to be accounted a virtue among the Gipseys as among the Iroquois, and proceeds from the excessive levity of their dispositions.

Let us now take a view of the natural qualities, and capacities, of the Gipseys. Here they will appear to advantage. Observe them at whatever employment you may, there always appear sparks of genius. It is well known, and no writer omits to remark, what artful curious devices they have recourse to in perpetrating any cheat or robbery: but this is not the only particular in which they shew brains and capacity. The following extract from an Hungarian author, who was an attentive observer of these people, contains corroborating instances:

“The Gipseys,” he says, “have a fertile imagination in their way, and are quick and ready at expedients, so that in many serious doubtful cases they soon recollect how to act, in order to extricate themselves. We cannot, indeed, help wondering, when we attend to and consider the skill they display in preparing and bringing their works to perfection, which is the more necessary, from the scarcity of proper tools and apparatus. They are very acute and cunning in cheating or thieving: and when called to account, for any fraud or robbery, fruitful in invention and persuasive in their arguments to defend themselves.”

At Debrezin, as well as at other schools in Hungary and Transylvania, there have been several lads admitted for instruction. Cleverness is observable in all, with no despicable talents for study. If another proof should be wanting, let us advert to their skill in music. That no Gipsey has ever signalised himself in literature, notwithstanding, according to the foregoing accounts, many of them have partaken of the instruction to be obtained at public schools, is no contradiction to the point in question. Their volatile disposition and unsteadiness will not allow them to complete any thing which requires perseverance or application. Frequently the bud perishes before it blows; or if it proceed so far that fruit appears, it commonly falls off and rots ere it attains maturity. In the midst of his career of learning, the recollection of his origin seizes him; a desire arises to return to, what he thinks, a more happy manner of life; this solicitude increases; he gives up all at once, turns back again, and consigns over his knowledge to oblivion. Such is the reason why the Gipsey race has never produced a learned man, nor ever will so long as these principles are retained.

It appears certain that the Gipseys are not deficient in capacity; and it seems equally decided that they have throughout a wicked depraved turn of mind. Their skill and ingenuity might render them very profitable subjects to the state, but their disposition makes them the most useless pernicious beings. They are not fit for agriculture, nor any other art which requires industry; on the contrary, they are burthensome from their begging, they do mischief by their various impositions, besides, being thieves and robbers, they destroy the security of a state. The goldwashers, in Transylvania and the Banat, are the only considerable exceptions; these Gipseys are considered the best of the caste; they have no intercourse with those of their own nation, nor do they like to be called Gipseys, but Bräschen, and in the Hungarian language Aranyasz (gold collectors). Their employment not being profitable, they are generally poor and necessitous; yet seldom beg, and it is still more rare for them to steal. Content with their scanty subsistence, they sift gold sand in summer; in winter they make trays and troughs, which they sell in an honest way. These properties render them, not only harmless, but serviceable to government; as they annually produce large sums, which, but for them, would remain in the earth. What pity it is, that so small a part should be well inclined, in proportion to the multitude, in Transylvania and elsewhere, who live in the manner above described! There remains perhaps one more profession, in which a state might reap advantage from the Gipseys, viz. that of a military life. This seems to be doubted in Spain, as no Gipsey there, even were he so inclined, can become a soldier. In other countries, people think differently. For example, in the two Hungarian regiments, the Orosaish and the Julaish, nearly every eighth man is a Gipsey. In order to prevent either them or any other persons from remembering their descent, it is ordered by government, that as soon as a Gipsey joins the regiment, he is no longer to be called by that appellation. Here he is placed, promiscuously with other men; and by this wise regulation, may be systematically rendered useful. But whether he would be adequate to a soldier’s station, unmixed with strangers, in the company of his equals only, is very doubtful. His healthy robust body, active on every occasion; at the same time so inured to hardship, that he can defy hunger, thirst, heat, cold, and other inconveniences; makes him extremely well qualified for a military life: on the other hand, his innate properties seem incompatible with his profession, and he has little of the essential requisite for a serviceable soldier. How could a regiment composed of people without heart or courage, who would be overcome with fear and dismay on the least appearance of danger, who would give up every thing, and only think of saving themselves by flight, ever perform any great action? Or how could we expect, from their levity, and unspeakable want of foresight, that they should avail themselves to the utmost of any advantage with proper precaution and judgment? The following incident, taken from the Hungarian annals, may serve as proof, whether this suspicion be or be not well founded.—In the year 1557, during the troubles in Zapoly, the castle of Nagy Ida, in the county of Abauywar, was in danger of being besieged and taken by the imperial troops. Francis von Perenyi, who had the command, being short of men, was obliged to have recourse to the Gipseys, of whom he collected a thousand; these he furnished with proper means of defence, and stationed them in the outworks, keeping his own small compliment of men to garrison the citadel. The Gipseys imagined that they should be perfectly free from annoyance behind their entrenchments, and therefore went courageously to their posts. Every thing was in order when the enemy arrived, and the storm commenced. The Gipseys, behind their fortifications, supported the attack with so much more resolution than was expected, returning the enemy’s fire with such alacrity, that the assailants, little suspecting who were the defendants, were actually retreating. They had hardly quitted their ground, when the conquerors, elated with joy on their victory, crept out of their holes, crying after them, “Go and be hanged, you rascals! Thank God we had no more powder and shot, or we would have played the very devil with you!”—“What!” replied the retiring besiegers, as they turned about, and, to their great astonishment, instead of regular troops, discovered a motley Gipsey tribe, “are you the heroes! is it so with you!” immediately wheeling about to the left, sword in hand, they drove the black crew back to their works, forced their way after, and in a few minutes totally subdued them. Thus the affair ended. In this manner Gipseys would frequently trifle away by heedlessness, what they might have secured by good fortune and alacrity, if they were permitted to act in separate corps.

There are many instances recorded in the annals of former centuries, [89a] of Gipseys having been employed in military expeditions: but seldom, or rather never, were they thought of as solders. At Crupa, 1565, they prepared cannon balls for the Turks: still earlier, in 1496, they served Bishop Sigismund at Fünfkirchen in the same manner. In the thirty-years war, the Swedes likewise had a body of Gipseys in their army. And when, in 1686, Hamburgh was besieged by the Danes, there were three companies of them in the Danish army. Their destination was not so much to stand to their arms, as to perform other services; they were chiefly employed in flying parties, to burn, plunder, or lay waste, the enemy’s country. As these are the operations most suitable to their genius, they are now by the Turks destined to such purposes, and incorporated with the Sains Serdenjesti, and Nephers.

Such is the assistance which has hitherto been derived from the Gipseys in war; whence we experience the possibility of their being rendered serviceable, although the strict watch necessary to be kept over them, on account of their propensity to be guilty of excesses and irregularities, would be exceedingly troublesome.

But, in order to bring the advantages and disadvantages attending them to a fair discussion, it must not be forgotten, that at the very time one part of these people might be rendered beneficial, [a/]viz. in time of war, another part would have it in their power to do more mischief; by reason of the disorder which then prevails, when the relaxed attention of the magistrates makes them more daring in their depredations. Besides, what is still worse, they are very convenient for the enemy to use as machines for treachery. What they were in former times accustomed to practise very commonly, they still continue whenever they have an opportunity. They have been generally decried, in early ages, as traitors and spies: perhaps this accusation may be too far extended, but it is not without foundation. A Gipsey possesses all the properties required to render him a fit agent to be employed in traitorous undertakings. Being necessitous, he is easily corrupted; and his misconceived ambition and pride persuade him that he thus becomes a person of consequence: he is at the same time too inconsiderate to reflect on danger; and, artful to the greatest degree, works his way under the most difficult circumstances.

This accusation may be proved by more than one instance.—Count Eberhard, of Wirtemberg, with a train of forty people, made a pilgrimage to Palestine in the year 1468: and, as Crusius says, fell into the hands of the Sultan of Egypt, through the treachery of the Gipseys. Further, during the troubles excited by John Zapolya, in Hungary, in the sixteenth century, sundry spies and delegated incendiaries [a/]were taken, which proved to be Gipseys. In 1602 Count Basta, the imperial general, who besieged the city of Bistritz in Transylvania, when he wanted to circulate a letter among the besieged, effected it by means of a Gipsey.

They have been sometimes still more dangerous to a country, by harbouring other spies, who, under the disguise of Gipseys, made excursions, surveying cities and countries, without being noticed. An example of this kind is recited in the Adventures of a certain French engineer, Peter Durois; which is a circumstance, in the records of Louis XIV. perhaps as much unknown as it is remarkable. It relates, that at Padock (Patak), in Upper Hungary, a great fire happened, through the carelessness of the Gipseys; by which not only the little city adjoining the fort was burnt, but the beautiful Bruderhoff was also reduced to ashes: on which occasion seven supposed Gipseys were taken into custody, one of whom was the French engineer above mentioned. This person had travelled about with them during nine years: he had sketches of all the principal fortifications in the whole Roman empire, and the imperial hereditary dominions, taken in the most concise manner, with remarks where each place was least defensible.—This affair has still another voucher, who says, “in the month of June of the year 1676, the Gipseys fired this little city (Patak), together with the church. [a/]With these Gipseys was found a French engineer, named Peter Durois, who had been nine years in this disguise, and received considerable remittances from France. He was taken by the imperialists, and there were found upon him plans of almost all the cities of Upper Hungary, and the German empire.”

Thus these people, in whatever point of view they are considered, are found to cause incalculable damage and mischief, without, in general, returning the smallest profit or benefit to the state in which they reside.

[a/]CHAPTER XIV.

Concerning the Toleration of the Gipseys by the different States of Europe.

From the inherent bad and pernicious qualities of the Gipseys, the question arises, What a government can do with them? The evil they occasion has long been a subject of serious consideration, and various means of security have been devised. As banishment was a mode punishing formerly often resorted to, nothing could be more natural than that it should likewise be exercised against the Gipseys. The clergy and politicians inveighed strongly against the toleration of these people; and their exile was actually resolved upon in most countries of Europe.

About the end of the fifteenth century, their persecution commenced in Spain. King Ferdinand, who esteemed it a good work to expatriate useful and profitable subjects—Jews, and even Moorish families—could much less be guilty of an impropriety in laying hands on the mischievous progeny of the Gipseys. The edict for their extermination was published in the year 1492. But, instead of passing the boundaries, they slunk into hiding-places, and shortly after appeared every-where in as great numbers as before. The emperor Charles V. [a/]persecuted them afresh; as did Philip II. also. Since that time they have nestled in again, and were left unmolested till about twenty years ago, when they were threatened with another storm; but it blew over, without taking effect.

In France, Francis I. passed an edict for their expulsion; and at the assembly of the States of Orleans, in 1561, all governors of cities received orders to drive them away with fire and sword. Nevertheless, in process of time they had collected again, and increased to such a degree, that in 1612 a new order came out for their extermination.

In Italy, their situation has been equally precarious. In the year 1572 they were compelled to retire from the territories of Milan and Parma; and at a period somewhat earlier they were chased beyond the Venetian jurisdiction.

England first endeavoured to disburthen itself of them in the year 1531, under Henry VIII: but as the act passed for that purpose fell into disregard, a new one was published in the reign of Elizabeth.

They were not allowed the privilege of remaining unmolested in Denmark, as the code of Danish laws specifies: “The Tartars (Gipseys) who wander about every-where, doing great damage to the people, by their lies, thefts, and witchcraft, [a/]shall be taken into custody by every magistrate.”

Sweden has not been more favourable, having at three different times attacked them. A very sharp order for their explusion came out in the year 1662. The diet of 1723 published a second: and that of 1727 repeated the foregoing, with additional severity.

They were excluded from the Netherlands under pain of death, partly by Charles V. and partly afterwards by the United Provinces in 1582.

Finally, the greatest number of sentences of exile have been pronounced against them in Germany. As well imperial decrees, as those of particular princes, have been repeatedly issued, for removing these people. The beginning was made, under Maximilian I. at the Augsburgh diet in 1500; where the following article was drawn up: “Respecting those people who call themselves Gipseys, 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 Gipseys (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 [a/]traffic; neither to grant them protection nor convoy. And that the said Gipseys 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 that time, and receive injury from any person, they shall have no redress, nor shall such person be thought to have committed any crime.” The same business occupied the attention of the diet in 1530, 1544–48–51; and was also again enforced in the improved police regulation of Frankfort in 1577.

Several princes were however so little attentive to these orders of the empire, that, instead of endeavouring to drive out the Gipseys, they, on the other hand, furnished them with passports and safe-conducts: others, on the contrary, and by far the greatest number, exerted themselves to the utmost to clear their states of this vermin, and some still continue the same watchfulness.

Hence it appears how universally the opinion was adopted, that banishing the Gipseys was the only method to be secure from their malignity. Perhaps there is not one civilised state, Hungary and Transylvania excepted, where this remedy has not been tried: but whether it be as expedient as it has been hitherto general, is much to be doubted.

In the first place, it had very little effect, and [a/]that little was only temporary. Even if every civilised nation had driven out the Gipseys at the same time, Europe could not have been entirely cleared of them, so long as they preserved an asylum in Turkey. Now, as experience evinces there is no country in which a constant equal attention is paid to the execution of the laws, they would, in more or less time, have again insinuated themselves into the neighbouring countries; from these into others; and recommenced where they had left off. But a general extermination never did happen: for the law for banishing them passed in one state before it was thought of in the next, or when a like order had long become obsolete and sunk into oblivion. These desirable guests were, therefore, merely compelled to shift their quarters to an adjoining state, where they remained till the government began to clear them away; upon which the fugitives either retired back whence they came, or went on progressively to a third place, thus making a continual revolution.

Secondly, this remedy was premature: endeavouring to exterminate was the same as if a surgeon should proceed directly to the amputation of a diseased limb, because it created inconvenience to the rest of the body. Whereas the first enquiry ought to be, Whether the disorder were of such a nature, as not to be removed but by entire separation? This is a desperate course, and should only [a/]be adopted when no other can be efficacious. Though it be proved that the Gipseys had occasioned ever so much mischief, it was not impossible that they might cease to be such pernicious beings: at least there had never been any trial made, by which this impossibility could be ascertained. Men may be formed to any thing. Had proper means been used for their civilisation, it is highly probable the event would have proved that they were not incapable of becoming better. If several Gipseys, at different times, have voluntarily emerged from their savageness, how much more likely is it that the remainder might have been altered, had they received such aids as their necessities required?—But expelling the Gipseys entirely was not merely a premature step; it was,

Thirdly, a wasteful one. This may perhaps appear strange, but is indisputable, so long as the state maxim holds good—that a numerous population is the most advantageous. It is allowed that a state would not lose any thing by the Gipseys, as Gipseys; on the contrary, it would be a gainer, because an obstacle to the general welfare would be removed: but this is not the matter in question. If the Gipsey do not know how to make use of the faculties with which nature has endowed him; let the state teach him, and keep him in leading-strings till the end is attained. And though the root of this depravity lie so deep, that it cannot be removed in the first generation, a continuation of the same care will, in the second and third descent, be sure of meeting its reward. Now let us reflect on a Gipsey when he has discontinued his vagrant mode of living—consider him with his fecundity and numerous family, who by being reformed are made useful citizens—and we shall perceive how great a want of economy it was to throw him away as dross.

Nearly the same idea has occurred to other authors; at least they so far agree in what has been advanced, that they advise rendering the Gipseys useful: only the means they recommend are liable to powerful objections. They think the state might make public slaves, or penitentiaries, of these people, and put them to all kinds of work. But such dependants, even supposing them to be employed in the most beneficial way, are always a nuisance and burthen to a state. Besides, in the above scheme, there is no proposal made for the bettering these people: they must, therefore, remain under the restraint of convicts, from generation to generation. And, if allowed to increase, what could be done at last with this multitude and their brood? Would not whole districts be required, merely to turn the thousands of these wretches into? Moreover, what an expense and inconvenience to superintend them! Plausible, therefore, as that proposal appears at the first glance, little will it stand the test of a closer examination.

Banishment was not the proper method to be adopted; nor would it have been adviseable to make them penitentiaries or galley-slaves: but care should have been taken to enlighten their understandings, and to mend their hearts.

However, what has been hitherto omitted, there is still time enough to execute. Few, or scarcely any, of the larger states are so entirely cleared of Gipseys, that these people may not here and there be found by hundreds, in most countries by thousands. The periods when the first sentences of banishment were pronounced, were too unphilosophical for any preferable mode of punishment to be suggested: but it may be expected, from a more informed age, that better maxims will be adopted. We send apostles to the East and West, to the most distant parts of the earth, and, as will be hereafter shewn, into the very country whence the Gipseys migrated, in order to instruct the people who know not God. Is it not inconsistent for men to be solicitous for the welfare of their fellow-creatures in distant regions, and to throw off and leave to chance those who, equally wretched, have brought their errors home to us? If it be a good work, to teach religion and virtue to such as are ignorant of their Creator, why not begin with those nearest to us? especially as neglect, in this particular, is attended with detriment to society in general. The Gipseys have been long enough among civilised people, to prove that they will not be allured, by the mere example of others, to free themselves from the fetters of old customs and vices. In order to accomplish that end, foreign and more effectual help is requisite. It were vain to hope for any considerable progress with those who are grown up; it would be sufficient, by compulsion, to make them quit their unsettled manner of life, and, by instruction and teaching, to convey a glimmering of light to their understanding, and produce some amelioration of the heart. Proper care being taken of the education of the children, society would be more likely to have its endeavours crowned with success.

CHAPTER XV.

Essay on the Improvement of the Gipseys.

It would be a lamentable case, if the before-mentioned regulations were merely pious wishes. Let us hope something better! The work has been commenced;—a great empress, Theresa, laid down a plan to win over these poor unfortunate people to virtue and the state. But it is to be regretted, that the execution of her wise dispositions, respecting the Gipseys in Hungary, seems to have been entrusted to people inadequate to the task.

What was done, in her time, towards the accomplishment of this work, may be seen by the following article, extracted from the Newspaper already often quoted, called Anzeigen aus den Kayserl. Königl. Erbländern (Intelligence from the Hereditary Imperial Royal Dominions): “Since the year 1768, several decrees regarding these people have been published in the country (Hungary), and the strictest orders dispatched to the several districts in consequence. They were prohibited from dwelling in huts or tents; from wandering up and down the country; from dealing in horses; from eating animals which died naturally, and carrion; and from electing their own wayda or judge. It was intended to extirpate the very name and language of these folks, out of the country. They were no longer to be called Gipseys, but New Boors (Uj Magyar); not to converse any longer with each other in their own language, but in that of any of the countries in which they had chosen to reside. Some months were to be allowed, after which time they were to quit their Gipsey manner of life, and settle, like the other inhabitants, in cities or villages; to build decent houses, and follow some reputable business. They were to procure boors’ clothing, to commit themselves to the protection of some territorial superior, and live regularly. Such as were fit for soldiers, to be enlisted into regiments.” Nevertheless, although these regulations were calculated entirely for the good of these people and the state, the greatest part were not in the smallest degree benefited by them. The effect which was produced gave occasion, in the year 1773, for these orders not only to be repeated, but made more rigid; and as even this measure would not answer the end, it was then thought necessary to proceed to extremity with them. Wherefore it was ordered, That no Gipsey should have permission to marry, who could not prove himself in condition to support a wife and children: that from such Gipseys who had families, the children should be taken away by force, removed from their parents, relations, and intercourse with the Gipsey race, to have a better education given them. A beginning was made in some places; and where they would not comply voluntarily, they were compelled to submit to the decree. At Fahlendorf in Schütt, and in the district of Pressburg, all the children of the New Boors (Gipseys) above five years old, were carried away in waggons during the night of the 21st 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 become accustomed to work. Those boors who were willing to receive and bring up these children, were paid eighteen guilders yearly from government. On the 24th of April, 1774, between five and six o’clock in the morning, the children of the Gipseys, which had been growing up from December of the foregoing year, were again removed from Fahlendorf in Schütt and Hideghid, for the purpose of being put under the same course of discipline as the others. Among the children taken away on this occasion, was a girl fourteen years old, who was forced to submit to be carried off in her bridal state. She tore her hair for grief and rage, and was quite beside herself with agitation: but she recovered a composed state of mind; and, in 1776, in Fasching, obtained permission to accomplish her marriage.

So far our intelligence quoted from the Gazettes; by which we may see how prudently every thing was concerted. It is true, the means here used are compulsory; but such measures were necessary, and the only ones capable of insuring success. Moreover, it may at the same time be observed, although the publisher of this information endeavours to conceal it, how little these salutary regulations were put in force: there were scarcely two places in the kingdom, where even an endeavour was made to give them proper effect. This supineness must have been unknown to the emperor Joseph, or he would certainly have again enforced them, to all chiefs and governors, at the same time that he gave orders for their being observed in Transylvania.

The tenor of the decree just mentioned, which was published in the year 1782, was consonant with the intention of Theresa with regard to the Hungarian Gipseys, namely, that those also in Transylvania should become better men, and more useful inhabitants. For the accomplishment of which, it prohibits their wandering about and living under tents; requires that they become settled, and put themselves under some territorial chief. In order to strike immediately at the root of the evil, necessary and minute directions are given for the improvement of their religious ideas and opinions, and, by correcting their vicious habits, for rendering them good citizens. First, with respect to religion, they must

1. Not only be taught the principles of religion themselves, but send their children early to school:

2. Prevent, as much as possible, their children from running about naked, in the house, the roads, and streets, thereby giving offense and disgust to other people:

3. In their dwellings, not permit their children to sleep promiscuously by each other, without distinction of sex:

4. Diligently attend at church, particularly on Sundays and holidays, to give proof of their Christian disposition:

5. Put themselves under the guidance of spiritual teachers, and conduct themselves conformably to the rules laid down by them.

Secondly, with regard to their temporal conduct and better mode of living, they are bound

1. To conform to the custom of the country, in diet, dress, and language: consequently to abstain from feeding on cattle which have died of distempers; not to go about in such unseemly dresses; and to discontinue the use of their own particular language:

2. Not to appear any more in large cloaks, which are chiefly useful to hide things that have been stolen.

3. No Gipsey, except he be a goldwasher, shall keep a horse: also the goldwashers

4. Must refrain from all kinds of bartering at the annual fairs.

5. The magistrates of every place must be very attentive, that no Gipsey waste his time in idleness: but at those seasons when they have no employment, either for themselves or any landholder, recommend them to some other person, with whom they shall be compelled to work for hire.

6. They are to be kept, particularly, to agriculture; therefore

7. It is to be observed, where possible, that every territorial lord who takes any Gipseys under his jurisdiction, do allot them a certain piece of ground to cultivate:

8. Whoever is remiss in his husbandry, shall be liable to corporal punishment:

9. They shall only be permitted to amuse themselves with music, or other things, when there is no field work to be done.

Such were the regulations wisely adopted by the emperor Joseph, for the purpose of civilising, and rendering good and profitable citizens, upwards of eighty thousand miserable wretches, ignorant of God and virtue. It must be regretted that similar measures have not been used in the other countries of Europe, where these people still remain wandering in error, and scarcely deserving to be considered as human beings.

SECTION II.
ON THE ORIGIN OF THE GIPSEYS.