“Hon. Sir,
“As you wish me to give you some account of the Gipsies, I gladly comply with your request. I am a poor individual of that wandering race, called Gipsies; yet, by the mercies of God, I was rescued from that wandering life. In my youthful days I entered into the Wiltshire militia, when it pleased God to bring me under the preaching of the Gospel at Exeter; and it was the means of awakening my conscience. From that time I have often been led to bepity the sad state of the people whereof I made a part. I have given them the best instruction that lay in my power, and by reading the Scriptures to them; but with very little visible effect for many years. Neither did I think, till lately, that there were any of them in the world, that cared for their souls, till the year 1827; when I was quite overcome with love to God, to find that the Lord had put it into the hearts of his dear people at Southampton, to pity them in their forlorn condition; and now wonder not if I am at a loss for words to speak the feeling of my heart; for, since that time I have seen seventeen or eighteen; nay, from twenty to thirty; nay, from forty to fifty attend divine worship; and add to this the many happy hours I have spent with them in their tents near Southampton, in reading and praying with them; and some of them that six months ago would not stay in their camp on my approach to them, but would go away swearing, will now receive me gladly, and produce a Bible or a Testament, which had been given to them, and desire me to read it to them, saying, this book was given to me by our dear friends in Southampton. But, dreadful to relate, I find some children, from three years old to fifteen, who never said a prayer to their God; who never heard any one pray, and who was never in a church or chapel, nor have heard of the name of Christ, but in blaspheming; and these are the inhabitants of England! Oh, England! England! they are living and dying without God: no wonder if they draw down the divine vengeance of Heaven on the land!
“Many of these poor ignorant mortals do not know that they are doing wrong by fortune-telling; and being informed that it is displeasing to God, and ruinous to their own souls, they will say, it is of no service for me to give attendance to religion, for I am forced to ruin my soul for every morsel of bread I eat; but if God spares my life I will leave it off as soon as I can; while others who are both ignorant and hardened in their crimes, have told me it was the gift of God to them, by which they were to gain their living. Surely they call darkness light! Many of my people who join in talk with me, declare, that if the Bible which I read to them be true, there cannot be many saved. But they say that a reformation is needful, and this is promised by them; and I am in great hopes that the time is at hand. Oh, Lord! work for thine own glory, and stir up the minds of thy people in all parts of the land, that they may help forward this good work amongst these poor wanderers!
“Their ignorance and their crimes seem to have increased of late years. When I was a boy, I well recollect their parting expressions, which was so common amongst them—Artmee Devillesty, which is—God bless you. But now it is truly awful; it is darkness itself, for they now ask God to send them good luck in their crimes. I myself thought for many years, till I heard the Gospel, that God was like some great gentleman, living at a great distance from us; but I had not a thought that he was every where present to notice the conduct of his creatures, or to hear prayer. The ignorance of my people is a loud call to Christians to assist; and, blessed be God, they find that assistance in Southampton. The Bible has often been taken away from Southampton in the Gipsies’ pack, and I have seen it when they have returned, preserved with a great deal of care, and produced for me to read, with great delight on their part.
“Surely this blessed book will not be idle, but will do wonders amongst them, through God’s grace. I see the effects already; do you say, how? I answer, Was it ever known, till now, that Gipsies assembled on the sabbath day on the common and in the lanes for divine worship? Did you ever see them come to town on a sabbath day in such great numbers as they now do, when encamping near Southampton? Some of the most ignorant of them are now learning to read the Scriptures. This is the beginning of good days. Oh! the good this will do to my people at large! Nothing of importance took place in their camp all last summer, and I almost fainted under the discouragement; but of late it shows another face; and I make no doubt but it will spread, and I shall soon see greater things than these.
I am, hon. Sir,
Your most obliged and humble Servant,
William Stanley.”“P. S.—On examining the different branches of my family, I find upwards of 200 of us in different parts of England.”
This poor man, when a soldier, and in the habit of attending divine service, as a part of his duty, often heard his comrades speak of the text, on their return to the barracks. He one day made up his mind to bring home the text also, the next time he went to church. He heard with attention, and when he returned to the barracks, he said, “I’ve got the text now.” “What is it, Stanley?” he was asked by a comrade, when he answered, “The 19th day of the month, and the 95th Psalm.” When relating this to the author, he added, “I had the mortification to be laughed at by all my comrades who witnessed my ignorance.” Do not many professing Christians come away from the house of God as ignorant as this poor Gipsy? Or if they have been taught to know and remember the text, it is all they attend to. This man’s mind did not long remain in this dark state. After the above event he learned to read, and one day, taking up a Testament from the barracks’ table, he read a portion of it, (for so he expressed himself) The sublimity of the language struck his mind with astonishment, and he said, I will buy that book if I can. His comrade asked him three halfpence for it; and he was glad of his purchase; although the Testament was very much torn. The Holy Scriptures were scarce in those days, a copy of which could seldom be bought by the poor;
nor, indeed, would the word of life have been useful to them, as not one in a hundred could read.
Soon after this, he was invited to attend a Wesleyan chapel in Exeter, where a funeral sermon was to be preached by the Rev. Wm. Aver. The text was, Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his. While the minister was describing the happiness of the righteous, divine light shone upon his soul, he felt that he was not that character, and that there was no prospect of his dying happily, unless he possessed it. This sermon was the means of his conversion.
CHAP. XIV. Interesting particulars of the Gipsies, related by a Clergyman.
The following account is selected from a tract published in York, in 1822, detailing several interesting visits that a Yorkshire clergyman made to some of the camps of that wandering and neglected people. Were the author of the little book known, application would have been made to him, for permission to reprint these extracts. But it is hoped he will excuse the liberty taken, as the design is to induce other clergymen and ministers to go and do likewise. This clergyman, having fallen in with a gang of Gipsies on the road, who were travelling to their place of encampment, addressed a young female among them, and found her not ignorant of religion. “How,” said the clergyman, “did you obtain the knowledge of religion?” “Sir,” answered she, “in the depth of winter, the men folks only travel; the women and children belonging to my family and party, always live in the town. In those seasons I have gone with some of our relatives, who live there, and are religious people, to the worship of God: in that way I have learned these things.”
“This was a practical comment on the text which says, The entrance of the word giveth light; it giveth
understanding to the simple. After giving her some suitable advice, and with it his benediction, he left her; but not without hopeful expectations that the seeds of grace were sown in her heart.
“He next overtook the grandmother and several of her grandchildren. She was pleased at his noticing her, and answered his enquiries with modesty and propriety. She corroborated what her daughter had said, and in her answers discovered not only an acquaintance with the general truths of the Gospel, but a feeling sense of their importance. She said, ‘I love to go to church, and do go now, sir, when I can; but do not always meet with the right doctrines: my prayers I offer up night and morning, under the hedge. I hope God Almighty hears my prayers.’ The clergyman observed, that sincere prayer was acceptable to God any where, equally under the hedge, as in the parlour, or in the church. When arrived at their camp, he promised them a Bible, as they had none, and directed some of the party to call at the friend’s house in the neighbourhood where he was staying. Soon after his return thither, a knock was heard at the door, when it was announced, ‘Two Gipsies, sir, are come for a Bible.’ On going out, he found in the hall the young man who could read, and a younger brother, a fine boy of about fourteen years of age.” The gentleman who wrote the account, adds as follows:—
“Their countenances were very animated and expressive; there seemed to be a ray of heavenly brightness resting upon them; and while I gave them a