OF SELBORNE. 185 



and the East, two or three centuries ago, and so spread by 

 degrees over Europe, may not this 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 pos- 

 sible that amidst their cant and corrupted dialect many 

 mutilated remains of their native language might still be 

 discovered. 



With regard to those peculiar people, the gypsies, one 

 thing is very remarkable, and especially as they came from 

 wanner 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 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 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 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 return from Peking, 

 met a gang of these people on the confines of Tartary, who 

 were endeavouring to penetrate those deserts and try their 

 fortune in China* 



Gypsies are called in French, Bohemiens; in Italian and 

 modern Greek, ZinganL 



I am, <fec. 

 k See Bell's Travels in China. 



