“The gipsies, (continues he,) in most places on the Continent are called Cingari, or Zingari: the Spaniards call them Gitanos. It is not certain when they first appeared in Europe; but mention is made of them, in Hungary and Germany, so early as the year 1417. Within ten years afterwards, they made their appearance in France, Switzerland, and Italy. The date of their arrival in England is more uncertain: it is most probable, that it was not till nearly a century afterwards. In the year 1530, they are thus spoken of in the penal statutes: ‘Forasmuch as before this time, divers and many outlandish people, calling themselves Egyptians, using no craft nor feat of merchandise, have come into this realm, and gone from shire to shire, and from place to place, in great companies, and used great subtilty and crafty means to deceive the people; bearing them in hand, that they, by palmistry, could tell men’s and women’s fortunes; and so, many times, by craft and subtilty, have deceived the people of their money; and also have committed many heinous felonies and robberies, to the great hurt and deceit of the people they have come among, &c.’
“It was afterwards made death to them to continue in the kingdom; and it remains on record, that thirteen were executed for a violation of this law, a few years before the Restoration: nor was this cruel act repealed till about the year 1783.
“The gipsies were expelled from France in 1560, and from Spain in 1591; but it does not appear that they have been entirely extirpated in any country. Their collective numbers, in every quarter of the globe, have been calculated at seven or eight hundred thousand. They are most numerous in Asia, and in the northern parts of Europe. Various have been the opinions relating to their origin. That they came from Egypt has been the most prevalent. This opinion (which has procured them here the name of Gipsies, and in Spain that of Gitanos,) arose, from some of the first who arrived in Europe, pretending that they came from that country; which assertion they made, perhaps, to heighten their reputation for skill in palmistry[22] and the occult sciences. It is now, I believe, pretty generally agreed, that they came originally from Hindostan; since their language so far coincides with the Hindostanic, that even now, after a lapse of more than three centuries, during which they have been dispersed in various foreign countries, nearly one half of their words are precisely those of Hindostan; and scarcely any variation is to be found in vocabularies procured from the gipsies in Turkey, Hungary, Germany, and those in England.
“Their manners, for the most part, coincide, as well as their language, in every quarter of the world where they are found; being the same idle, wandering race of beings, and seldom professing any ostensible mode of livelihood, except that of fortune-telling. Though they are no great frequenters either of mosques or churches, they generally conform to rites and ceremonies as they find them established.
“Upon the whole, we may certainly agree with Grellman, who has written their history, by regarding them as a singular phenomenon in Europe. For the space of between three or four hundred years, they have gone wandering about like pilgrims and strangers, yet neither time nor example has made in them any alteration: they remain ever, and every where, what their fathers were. Africa makes them no blacker, nor does Europe make them whiter.”
It is not the least singular feature in the history of this wandering and vagabond race, that they should have so long maintained their credit for foretelling events, when the fallacy of their predictions must have been so often experienced, and their ignorance and want of principle so well known. What reliance can be placed on the oracular decisions of a man, who has not sufficient foresight of his own affairs, to escape the hands of justice for robbing a hen-roost?
The desire of prying into futurity seems to be a natural propensity in the human mind. In the ancient world, the consultation of oracles, soothsayers, and augurs, divining by the flight of birds, the entrails of the victims, or the feeding of chickens, were so many efforts of a weak endeavour to withdraw that veil, which in mercy is appointed to conceal from our view the events that are to befal us.
In modern times, the impudent pretensions of astrologers, conjurers, and fortune-tellers, have deluded the credulous, even of that rank, in which men should set a more rational example. About sixty years ago, a celebrated professor of this dark science lived in London, in a place called Frying-pan Alley; and crowds of carriages were daily seen waiting in the neighbourhood, whilst the artful impostor was distributing different allotments to their owners, according to his arbitrary caprice, or what he thought would bring most money into his purse.
The following account is taken from a Liverpool weekly magazine, entitled ‘The Freeman,’ published some years since:—
“Of late years some attempts have been made to reduce the numbers, or at any rate to civilize the habits, of that vagabond and useless race, the gipsies. In pursuance of such purpose, a society of gentlemen have been making all the preliminary inquiries requisite to a proper understanding of the subject. A series of questions have been proposed to competent persons in the different counties of England and Scotland; and answers have been received. The following are specimens of these replies: