Part 16 (1/2)

All Gypsies must have some parish to which they belong; and if these parishes were to provide habitations for them, and to hold out encouragement to them to come and settle, and were to bear for the present with any ways which might be different from those of the regular inhabitants, affording them work as tinkers, &c. and providing education and work for their children; and for the present, even bearing with their travelling in the summer; this now almost unprofitable race of beings might be reclaimed to society. Many of them are accustomed, in the seasons, to undertake hay and harvest work. These, I think, with proper encouragement, might be induced to get their living by husbandry work throughout the year.

Should these suggestions lead to any farther discussion upon the subject, or to adopting any measures to promote the desired object; it would give me sincere pleasure to lend my a.s.sistance, either pecuniary or personal.

I am, Sir, &c. J. P.

_Cambridge_, _April_ 28, 1810.

P.S. I recollect having heard that the benevolent Jonas Hanway took a Gypsey for his servant, but I know not on what authority this was said.

_To the Editor of the Christian Observer_. {217}

The candid acknowledgment of your benevolent correspondent, in the Christian Observer for February last, that his attention had been first drawn to the state of the Gypsies by the letter of Fraternicus, was matter of unfeigned satisfaction to me; and as it is probable there may be no want of inclination in the Christian world, to extend relief effectually to them, permit me to solicit a place in your pages, for a thought which has occurred to me in my meditations on the subjects.

It appears from a letter in your number for May, that they are not totally dest.i.tute of a desire for the benefit of instruction.

Information might easily be obtained, as to what part of England they are to be found in the greatest numbers; and if a free school could be inst.i.tuted, and the means of instruction provided for those of their children who were willing to attend, at least in the winter season; might it not be a means of conveying useful knowledge to them?

By degrees, they might be brought to attend divine wors.h.i.+p regularly; and if in the parish of a pious clergyman, he would probably embrace the opportunity of teaching them, more particularly, the way of salvation. Much, however, might be done by a pious schoolmaster, and a schoolmistress, by whom the girls might be instructed in different kinds of work, knitting, sewing, &c.; and if any of the parents should evince a desire for instruction, they could be admitted at different hours in the day. It would be an interesting inquiry, what becomes of orphans among them, and whether there is not a possibility of at least rescuing them from their present state of ignorance and misery.

Should these suggestions be deemed worthy of your insertion, they might, perhaps awaken the attention of some benevolent persons, whose superior talents and experience in the ways of beneficence, would enable them to perfect and carry into execution, a plan for the effectual benefit of those unhappy partners of our kind. That He may grant it, from whom every good thought proceeds, is the fervent prayer of

FRATERNICUS.

SECTION XII.

Review of the Subject, and Suggestions for ameliorating the condition of the Gypsies in the British Empire.

Since the commencement of the present year, 1816, a friend {221} of the author has informed him, that about three weeks before, he was in company with an English and a Persian gentleman, who had lately come from Persia, through Russia; the latter well understood the languages of both countries, and spoke them fluently. He had travelled with the Persian Amba.s.sador; and said that he had met with many hordes of Gypsies in Persia; had many times conversed with them; and was surprised to find their language was the true Hindostanie. He did not then know of Grellmann's work. He further stated, that the Gypsies in Russia were, in language and manners, the same, and exactly corresponded with the Gypsies of this country. Their name in Persia signified _Black Eyes_.

From whatever part of the world we derive intelligence of this people, it tends to corroborate the opinion, that they have all had one peculiar origin. How little has it occupied the contemplation of Britons, that there existed among them, subjects of such great curiosity as the poor and despised Gypsies!

The statute of Henry VIII. imposing a fine of forty pounds upon the importation of a Gypsey, induces the belief they were much in request in England at that period. The attention which their low performances attracted in those times, will not perhaps excite surprise, when we see the encouragement given in our day, to their idly disposed countrymen, termed, _Indian Jugglers_. It is remarkable, that the earliest account of Gypsies in Great Britain, is in a work published to expose and detect the ”Art of Juggling,” &c.

The first of this people who came into Europe, must have been persons of discernment and discrimination, to have adapted their deceptions so exactly to the genius and habits of the different people they visited, as to ensure success in all countries.

The stratagem to which they had recourse on entering France, evinces consummate artifice of plan, and not a little adroitness and dexterity in the execution. The specious appearance of submission to papal authority, in the penance of wandering seven years without lying in a bed, combined three distinct objects. They could not have devised an expedient more likely to recommend them to the favor of Ecclesiastics; or better concerted for taking advantage of the superst.i.tious credulity of the people, and, at the same time, for securing to themselves the gratification of their own nomadic propensities. So complete was the deception they practised, that we find they wandered up and down in France, under the eye of magistracy, not for seven only, but for more than a hundred years, without molestation.

In 1561, the edict of the States of Orleans directed their expulsion by fire and sword; yet in 1612, they had increased to such a degree, that there was another order for their total extermination. Notwithstanding this severity, in 1671 they were again spread over the kingdom, as appears in the letters of the Marchioness de Sevigne to her friends, and the Countess Grignan, in nine volumes, translated from the last Paris edition: ”Bohemians travel up and down the Provinces of France, and get their living by dancing, showing postures, and telling fortunes; but chiefly by pilfering, &c.”

It is remarkable, that in all countries, they professed to be Egyptians; but the representation is not only refuted by Bellonius, but by later writers, who a.s.sert, that the ”few who are to be found in _Egypt_, wander about as strangers _there_, and form a distinct people.”

As historians admit that the greatest numbers of them are to be found in Turkey, and south of Constantinople, there is reason to apprehend they had a pa.s.sage through that country. If many of them did not visit Egypt previously to their arrival in Europe, they probably wished to avail themselves of the reputation the Egyptians had acquired in occult sciences, that they might practise with greater success, the arts to which they had been previously accustomed, and the practice of which is common in various parts of Asia. In other respects the habits of Egypt were very dissimilar to theirs.

We find by the reports on the first question put by the Circular, mentioned in Section IX. that ”all Gypsies in this country suppose the first of them came from Egypt;” and this idea is confirmed by many circ.u.mstances that have been brought into view in the course of this work. In addition it may be observed, that before the discovery of the pa.s.sage to India, by the Cape of Good Hope, all the productions of the east, that were distributed in Europe, came to Egyptian ports. Hence we have many concurring testimonies, which render it highly probable, if not evidently clear, that the first Gypsey tribes who came into England, and other parts of Europe, migrated from hordes of that people who had previously found their way into Egypt.

The evidence appears equally strong, that they were not natives of Egypt; but as the Egyptians were in great repute for the practice of the occult sciences, common to them and to the Suder caste; we cannot be surprized to find these crafty itinerants, should avail themselves of such an opportunity, as coming out of that country, to profess themselves Egyptians.