222 GIPSIES. 



them from the Levant ? It would be matter of some 

 curiosity could one meet with an intelligent person 

 among them, to inquire whether, in their jargon, 

 they still retained any Greek words : the Greek radi- 

 cals will appear in hand, foot, head, water, earth, &c. 

 It is possible, that, amidst their cant and corrupted 

 dialect, many mutilated remains of their native lan- 

 guage might still be discovered. 



With regard to these peculiar people, the gipsies, 

 one thing is very remarkable, and especially as they 

 came from warmer climate ; and that is, that while 

 other beggars lodge in barns, stables, and cow- 

 houses, these sturdy savages seem to pride them- 

 selves in braving the severities of winter, and in 

 living sub dio the whole year round. Last September 

 was as wet a month as ever was known ; and yet, 

 during those deluges, did a young gipsy girl lie in 

 the midst of one of our hop-gardens, on the cold 

 ground, with nothing over her but a piece of a 

 blanket, extended on a few hazel rods bent hoop 

 fashion, and stuck into the earth at each end, in cir- 

 cumstances too trying for a cow in the same con- 

 dition : yet within this garden there was a large hop- 

 kiln, into the chambers of which she might have 

 retired, had she thought shelter an object worthy 

 her attention. 



Europe itself, it seems, cannot set bounds to the 

 rovings of these vagabonds ; for Mr. Bell, in his re- 

 turn from Peking, met a gang of these people on the 

 confines of Tartary, who were endeavouring to pene- 

 trate those deserts, and try their fortune in China*. 



Gipsies are called in French, Bohemiens, in Italian 

 and modern Greek, Zingani. 



* See BELL'S Travels in China. 



