Colonel Has RIO t on the Oriental Origin of the Gypseys. 533 



The Nat' of Hindustan live in matted huts, which can be removed at 

 will, and are usually pitched near to some town or village, or any open 

 spot of ground, in order either to sell their small manufactured wares and 

 goods, or to practise their manual feats of dexterity. Generally speakino- 

 they appear to be more industrious here than in other countries; but stilT 

 as the late Colonel Richardson expresses it, they are esteemed, as elsewhere 

 "rogues, not downright, but imaginary ; being at least reputed thieves." ' 

 Having thus traced the Gypsey through Europe and Asia to his native 

 place, and shewed the general resemblance of this tribe in feature and in 

 anguage. I may briefly advert to what occurred the day before I left my 

 late residence in Hampshire. Old Master Sam. Ayres is considered as the 

 head or chief of those bearing his name, or that of Stanley : he was born 

 in the year 1745. and had served several years in the army. On one occasion 

 I saved his life by a little surgical aid, and he acknowledged the service I 

 had done him gratefully. A number of his family came to pay their humble 

 respects at Court House, and to wish me a prosperous journey : this was 

 done in a plain but earnest manner; and seated on the steps before my 

 door, eating some slices of fresh barley bread which I gave them, with 

 water to drink, it was impossible not to be pleased with tlieir songs and 

 artless mirth, their cheerful merry countenances. The children danced 

 and sang ; but as soon as they had finished tiieir homely meal, they came and 

 said m a very pretty manner. « Thank God. and thank you. sir !»— a grace 

 that I httle expected, and which, if studied ever so much, could scarcely 

 be altered for the better. 



The following remarks I owe to Mr. Horace Hayman Wilson, of 

 Calcutta, and I cite them to mark this eminent Oriental scholar's 

 opm.on of the origin of this race:-" The affinity of the Gypsey 

 to the Hindustani language was first pointed out by Grellman, in his 

 • Historischer Versuch uber die Zigeuner.' His French translator, the 

 Baron de Bach, in I787, added considerably to the vocabulary. The 

 Petersburg vocabulary contained specimens of the same. Bartolomeo 

 exhibited the Sanscrit origin of many of Grellman's examples ; but the 

 Monthly Register of Berlin, for February and April I793, contained the 

 most extensive collection of this nature. Some of the most intelligent 

 views of their origin and language are to be found in Bright's Travelt in 

 Hungary, where the Zigeuner appear to be numerous, and enjoy some- 

 thing like political existence, being assembled in towns, under peculiar 

 VoL.n. 3Z 



