2>»d S. X. Aug. 25. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



149 



THE EOMMAjSTY, OR GYPSIES, 



(1" S. iv. 471. ; xi. 326. ; 2"^ S. ii. 143. 193.; vi. 

 270.; vii. 96.170. 262. 325.) 



JSTone of your correspondents, I think, have 

 mentioned the remarkable work of Mr. Roberts of 

 Sheffield, entitled : — 



" The Gypsies : Their Origin, Continuance, and Des- 

 tination ; or The Sealed Book Opened. The Fifth Edi- 

 twn, greatly Enlarged. By Samuel Roberts. London : 

 Longmans, 1842," 8vo. 



The germ of the above was a small volume pub- 

 lished in 1830, and entitled: "Parallel Mira- 

 cles, OB THE Jews and the Gypsies." Mr. 

 Roberts is apparently the first writer, who, on 

 prophetical grounds, declared the Gypsies to be 

 Egyptians. In his preface he tells us that : — 



"The principal object in view is to prove that the 

 Gypsies are the descendants of the ancient Egyptians, 

 decreed by the fiat of the Almighty, as proclaimed by 

 His three great Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, 

 to be dispersed for a certain period, in the wildernesses and 

 open fields, of almost all nations, and to be then gathered to 

 their native land, and taught, under a jSario«r and a Great 

 One, to know the Lord." — p. v. 



"About twenty years ago, BIr. John Hoyland, of this 

 town, a member of the Society of Friends, published a work 

 entitled ' An Historical Survey of the Customs, Habits, 

 and Present State of the Gypsies [York, 181G,' 8vo.]. 

 He, like almost all preceding writers on the subject, con- 

 ceived that they were Soudeas, the lowest caste of Hin- 

 doos, driven from their native country by Timour Beg, in 

 1408-9.* This work strongly engaged the attention of 

 the author of the following pages ; and being then about 

 publishing a small miscellaneous volume, he inserted an 

 article in it, entitled, ' A Word for the Gypsies.' In that 

 he attempted to prove that they could' not possibly be 

 Soudras ; but he was not then able to show who, or what, 

 or whence they were . . , 



" The preservation of the Gypsies as a distinct people, 

 so dispersed in the wilds of all countries, appeared to him 

 as partaking more strong!}' of the miraculous than even 

 that of the Jews, whose remaining a dispersed people is 

 acknowledged to be by Divine appointment. The idea 

 at length led him to examine if there were any intima- 

 tions given in the Scriptures of the preser\'ation of any 

 such people, for he had not then the least recollection of 

 that being the case. His astonishment, therefore, was 

 great indeed, when he found, as he conceived, not only 

 that there was such intimation given, but that there 

 was the most astonishingly clear prediction of such a 

 people so remaining that could possibly have been writ- 

 ten] . ... 



" Where then, it may be asked, are those extraordinary 

 people, on whose existence the truth of Prophecy and the 

 accuracy of .the Scriptures depend? If they exist at all, 

 they cannot be hid, for they are to be in all countries ; 

 they cannot be mistaken, since their peculiarities are so 

 numerous and striking. Ask not, then, where the scat- 

 tered Egyptians are, but rather ask where are they not f 

 During four or five liundred years they have been known 

 to have been occupying the Wildernesses and the open 

 fields of almost every country in Europe. They have 

 from the first told every one who they were and ivhence 



* " It can be proved that the Gypsies were in Europe 

 before that period." 



they came. Though they knew nothing about Egypt, 

 they all, always, asserted that they were Egyptians. 

 Nobody believed them, because, as predicted, they were 

 despised. Images and idols they have none ; they have 

 ceased. They have, as a people, no Religion, In all coun- 

 tries they are in all respects the same ; all speaking the 

 same language. JN'ow, then, if the Gypsies are not the 

 dispersed Egyptians, what are they? If the dispersed 

 and scattered Gypsies are not the descendants of the 

 off'ending Egyptians, where are that scattered people ? — 

 Introd. to 4tli edit., pp. ix.-x. xiv.-xv. 



Mr. Roberts' arguments against the Gypsies 

 bein.g Soudras, or any Caste of Hindoos, are given 

 at p. 67. He declares that, " The affinity of the 

 two languages is the only ground on which the 

 popular opinion is grounded ; " and meets this by 

 observing that " it is very probable that both lan- 

 guages, viz. the Egyptian and Hindoo, may have 

 sprung from the same root." At p. xv. he ad- 

 duces a passage from the " History of Egypt" 

 in the Edinh. Cab. Lib. on the connexion between 

 India and Egypt, and " the striking resemblance 

 which is known to subsist between the usages, 

 superstitions, arts, and mythology of the ancient 

 inhabitants of Western India, and those of the first 

 settlers on the Upper Nile." — cf. pp. xxix.-xx.x. 



" The most remarkable circumstance," says Sir. 

 Roberts, " that is known as having taken place in 

 the History of the World, between two nations, is 

 the Connection between the Egyptians and the 

 Hebrews." This remarkable connection is well 

 stated in pp. xxxv. 145-190. 61., &c. 



Again, the contrast between the Ancient Egyp- 

 tians and modern Gypsies is presented to us in a 

 very striking, and, to say the least, ingenious way, 

 as a retributive reverse, a prophetical antithesis. 

 — pp. xii.-xiii. 59-60. 



The remarkable peculiarity, strongly stated by 

 Mr. Borrow, attaching to the Gypsies in all coun- 

 tries, viz. the almost universal chastity of their 

 women, and the exceeding rareness of any con- 

 nection between them and the Busne or Gentiles, 

 is well turned to account by Mr. Roberts : — 



"It seems clearly to me that there is one and only one 

 way of accounting for it — the Decree of the Almighty as 

 requisite to keep them a distinct people; just as He has 

 bestowed upon them, for the same purpose, such an un- 

 conquerable attachment to living in the open fields, with- 

 out either God or Idols." — p. xxxix. 



At p, 210, the author has a curious chapter, 

 entitled " The Expelled Egyptians, or Gypsies, 

 Discovered as Ancient Inhabitants of Mexico." 

 It thus opens : — 



" It has been already observed, that many ages had 

 passed between the time of the Egyptians being con- 

 quered and expelled from their native country, to that 

 when the Gypsies are now stated to have been first pub- 

 licly noticed as wandering strangers in Europe : that cir- 

 cumstance, it was said, might be accounted for — even 

 supposing that they had been for ages existing in the 

 same wandering state." 



The next chapter, in continuation of the former, 

 treats of the "Ancient Ruins in Central America." 



