A keeper is, or should be, a trusted man, and while he may present his friends with game shot upon his master’s estate and take advantage to almost any extent of that curious term—perquisite, so great is his honesty and his consideration for his employer that he is willing to affirm—on his oath if needs be—that he has detected gypsies in the act of poaching on milord’s estate at the same instant of time he and his brother keepers or intimates were drinking to the health of anyone rather than themselves at the local “hotel.” In a court of justice the judge himself is probably a land-owner and preserver of game and is prone to accept the statement of anyone whom he considers trustworthy, and the gypsy whom he may regard as having been “born in sin” will probably be sent to eat the prison loaf.

I hold no brief for the gypsies, nor contend that they are better or worse than others, neither do I close my eyes to the fact that treatment such as I have known them to be subjected to cannot be defended either on the score of Christian charity or the normal Englishman’s love of fair play.

Can it then be wondered at that the gypsy is taciturn, difficult to approach, suspicious of all men?

1.Lamp for Oil.10, 15, 17.Simple Kettle Supports.
2, 3.Lamps for Candles.11, 12, 13.Knives for Wood-working.
4.Kettle Crane (old Cornish).14.Stand for Fire Tray.
5, 6, 8, 9.Crane Heads.16.Iron Tripod.
7.Crane designed to carry both Kettle and Cooking Pot.18, 19.Framework of Tents.
20, 21.Elevation and Plan of Tent.
22.Frying-pan.

To go back a little, we find we must give Henry VIII credit for issuing the first act of persecution against the gypsies, Mary and Elizabeth followed suit, and at last even capital punishment was prescribed as a means of getting rid of them.

Nowadays it is somewhat difficult to realise that, formerly, because a people or a class were not understood, those who were in power should, for no other reason, become obsessed with the insane idea of annihilating them.

In France under Louis XIII and Louis XIV some of the gypsies were massacred, others barely escaped with their lives, while in 1633 Philip IV appears to have forbidden them to use their own language, and in 1745 a decree was issued ordering the putting to death of all wandering gypsies.

Fortunately, this could not be carried out to the letter. Yet, with all this persecution, past and present, the gypsy, when really known and understood, is one of the best of friends. “Aye, it’s a merry life and plenty o’ fun,” said one to me recently.