Seldom do these mysterious sons and daughters of Adam unite themselves in the holy obligations of marriage, after the form of the Established Church of our land. Nor, indeed, for so sacred a union, have they any ceremony at all. The parents on each side are consulted on such occasions, and if their consent be obtained, the parties become, after their custom, husband and wife. Should the parents object, like the thoughtless and imprudent persons in higher life, who flee to Gretna Green, the Gipsy lovers also escape from their parents to another district. When the couple are again met by the friends of the female, they take her from her protector; but if it appear that he has treated her kindly, and is likely to continue to do so, they restore her to him, and all objections and animosities are forgotten.
As it seldom happens that they now stay more than a few days in one place, the Gipsy, his wife, and each
of their children, may severally belong to different parishes. This is an objection to their ultimate settlement in any one place. It will be some time before this objection can be removed: not till the present generation of Gipsies has passed away, and their posterity cease to make the wilderness their homes, choosing a parish for a permanent place of settlement.
It may naturally be expected that these inhabitants of the field and forest, the lane and the moor, are not without a knowledge of the medicinal qualities of certain herbs. In all slight disorders they have recourse to these remedies, and frequently use the inner bark of the elm, star-in-the-earth, parsley, pellitory-in-the-wall, and wormwood. They are not subject to the numerous disorders and fevers common in large towns; but in some instances they are visited with that dreadful scourge of the British nation, the Typhus fever, which spreads through their little camp, and becomes fatal to some of its families. The small-pox and measles are disorders they very much dread; but they are not more disposed to rheumatic affections than those who live in houses. It is a fact, however, that ought not to be passed over here, that when they leave their tents to settle in towns, they are generally ill for a time. The children of one family that wintered with us in 1831, were nearly all attacked with fever that threatened their lives. This may be occasioned by their taking all at once to regular habits, and the renunciation of that exercise to which they have been so long accustomed,
with some disposing qualities in their change of diet and the atmosphere of a thickly populated town.
This people often live to a considerable age, many instances of which are well known. In his tent at Launton, Oxfordshire, died in the year 1830, more than a hundred years of age, James Smith, called by some, the King of the Gipsies. By his tribe he was looked up to with the greatest respect and veneration. His remains were followed to the grave by his widow, who is herself more than a hundred years old, and by many of his children, grand-children, great grand-children, and other relatives; and by several individuals of other tribes. At the funeral his widow tore her hair, uttered the most frantic exclamations, and begged to be allowed to throw herself on the coffin, that she might be buried with her husband. The religion of the Redeemer would have taught her to say, The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.
A woman of the name of B--- lived to the reputed age of a hundred and twenty years, and up to that age was accustomed to sing her song very gaily. Many events in the life of this woman were very remarkable. In her youth she was a noted swindler. At one time she got a large sum of money, and other valuable effects, from a lady; for which and other offences, she was condemned to die. A petition was presented to George the Third, to use the Gipsy’s own expression, who told the author, just after he had set
up business, that is, begun to reign, and he attended to its prayer. The sentence was reversed, and her life was consequently spared. But, poor woman, she repented not of her sins; for she taught her daughter to commit the same crimes for which she had been condemned; so that her delivery from condemnation led to no salutary reformation.
The mutual attachment which subsists between the nominal husband and wife, is so truly sincere, that instances of infidelity, on either side, occur but seldom. They are known strictly to avoid all conversation of an unchaste kind in their camps, except among the most degraded of them; and instances of young females having children, before they pledge themselves to those they love, are rare. This purity of morals, among a people living as they do, speaks much in their favour.
The anxiety of a Gipsy parent to preserve the purity of the morals of a daughter, is strongly portrayed in the following fact. The author wished to engage as a servant the daughter of a Gipsy who was desirous of quitting her vagrant life; but her mother strongly objected for some time; and when pressed for the reason of such objection, she named the danger she would be in a town, far from a mother’s eye. It would be well if all others felt for their children as did this unlettered Gipsy. After having promised that the morals of the child should be watched over, she was confided to his care. And the author has known a Gipsy parent correct with stripes a grown daughter,