LXVII.] 



OF SELBORNE. 



193 



LETTER LXVII. 



TO THE HONOURABLE DAINES BARRINOTON. 



WE have two gangs or hordes of gypsies which infest the south 

 and west of England, and come round in their circuit two or 

 three times in the year. One of these tribes calls itself by the 

 noble name of Stanley, of which I have nothing particular to 

 say ; but the other is distinguished by an appellative somewhat 

 remarkable as far as their harsh gibberish can be understood, 

 they seem to say that the name of their clan is Curleople. Now 

 the termination of this word is apparently Grecian : and as 

 Mezeray and the gravest historians all agree that these vagrants 

 did certainly migrate from Egypt and the East, two or three 

 centuries ago, and so spread by degrees over Europe, may not 

 this family-name, a little corrupted, be the very name they 

 brought with 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 retain any 

 Greek words : the Greek radicals 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 

 langxiage might still be discovered. 



With regard to those peculiar people, the gypsies, one thing 

 is very remarkable, and especially as they came from warmer 

 climates ; and that is, that while other beggars lodge in barns, 

 stables, and cow-houses, these sturdy savages seem to pride 

 themselves in braving the severities of winter, and in living 

 in the open air the whole year round. Last September was as 

 wet a month as ever was known ; and yet during those deluges 

 did a young gypsy-girl lie-in in the midst of one of our hop- 

 gardens, on the cold ground, with nothing over her but a piece 

 of blanket extended on a few hazel-rods bent hoop-fashion, and 

 stuck into the earth at each end, in circumstances too trying for 

 a cow in the same condition : yet within this garden there 

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