“Thou shalt pay thy debts to the Rom.”
These Draconian laws against the Gypsies died out during the development of civilization, and received their death-blow at the hands of the great and glorious French Revolution, 1789.
I propose now to collect a series of notices upon the subject of the Gypsies and the Jats which are not readily procurable by students; many are obtained from books little known to the public, and not a few are gathered by myself. And with a view of introducing some order into the scattered tribes, we will begin from the farthest East, the old home.
FOOTNOTES:
[147] Histoire des Bohémiens, French Translation of 1810.
[148] The Edinburgh Review, “Origin and Wanderings of the Gypsies,” July, 1878, adopted the opinion of F. Bataillard that a single scouting-party was in Europe between 1417 and 1427.
[149] [“They appeared in various bands, under chiefs, to whom they acknowledged obedience, and who assumed the titles of dukes and earls” (Weissenburch).]
[150] The opinion is refuted by Francisca de Cordova; yet the Histoire de Los Gitanos, by J. N., published in Barcelona 1832, expressly says that the Gitanos, whom he has specially distinguished from the Gypsies descended from the Arab or Moorish tribes, came from the coast of Africa as conquerors at the beginning of the eighth century.
[151] [Hoyland writes: “When they arrived in Paris, nearly all of them had their ears bored, with one or two silver rings in each, which they said were esteemed ornaments in their own country. The men were black, their hair curled; the women remarkably black, and all their faces scarred” (Historical Survey of the Gypsies).]