Colonel Habrio t on the Oriental Origin of the Gypsies. 521 



In A.D. 1560 they were expelled from France ; in 1591 from Spain : in 

 1530 by a statute of Henry the Vlllth, and subsequently by others of Mary 

 andEhzabeth. « an outlandish people, calling themselves Egyptians, using 

 no craft or feat of merchandise." were outlawed and banished fro^ En. 

 and. on pain of death ; but. notwithstanding these and other sanguina "y 

 laws, the Gypsies* still wander over the face of the country 



In France, as well as in the Austrian dominions, frequent violent attempts 

 have been made to force them to quit their singular mode of life ; but even 

 the absolute power of Maria Theresa, and of the Emperor Joseph, wa" 

 unable to overcome their invincible dislike to « house-dwelling." as they 

 emphatically term a settled life; or to obliterate the love of that rude 

 unostentatious sort of liberty they command; the enjoyment of which.' 



telf t, f "r™^"*^ °^ "^^^*'^' °f 1— y, or domestic comfort, can 

 tempt hem to forego ; so true it is, that " amid the revolution of ages 

 national character seems indued with unconquerable vitality, and retain! to 

 the last Its original peculiarities."t 



rlIr'f"''V°^f '/"''"'' ""^^^ the title « F«...«// mentions what 



Unde l'"'t;" ''"^:'^"t^''f "^^ '^--'^^ ^y '- -g-s and vagabonds. 

 Under the eighth section he classes, « persons pretending to be Gypsies 

 wandenng .n the habit or form of Egyptians, who are a sirange common: 

 wealth of impostors and jugglers, originally called Zinganees by the Turks " 

 On the other hand, Baronius observes of the same tribe of people "thlt 

 no part of the world is free from those banditti, wandering about in'troops. 

 whom we by mistake, call Egyptians and Bohemians. When we were a; 

 Cairo, and in the villages bordering on the Nile, we found troops of these 

 strolling thieves sitting under palm trees ; and they are esteemed foreigners 

 in Egypt, as well as among us." Leo Africanus mentions the same tribe 

 inhabiting the interior of Africa, and plundering the merchants of Agades. 



count of Aleppo, those of Syria ; and Bright, a later tourist, those of 

 Hungary-giving a considerable list of words and sentences used both by 

 the Hungarian and Spanish Gypsey. 

 ^^In^oboration of the opinion of Baronius. the English Encyclopedia. 



t« h.!."'"f '' "'" '"'?''"" '"■^" "''"'■"^ ''^'•e^ "'« Hid it was felony without benefitof clergy" 

 to beseenfor one ™onth together in the cotnpany of persons calling tlJselves Egyptians. KwT 

 t Vide Edinb. Rev. Dec. 1818. 



