me, 1 



M. Btudant's Travels in Hungary. 



me, like little fiends, and I always surveyed them with pain- 

 ful sensations blended with pity. 



The Zigeuner has ever been addicted to a rambling life, 

 neglecting advantageous offers on the part of the sovereigns. 

 Maria Theresa and Joseph II. endeavoured to fix them in 

 Transylvania and the Banat, but could prevail only on a small 

 number that applied themselves to agriculture. When they 

 remove, they take their all with them, that is, a few rags and 

 certain instruments to carry on their trade. They live much 

 in the woods, or near to the villages, where they sometimes 

 stop several years, and, at last, decamp suddenly without pre- 

 vious notice. We see nothing in their cabins but a few earthen 

 pots and a little straw, and, in winter, much of their time is spent 

 smoking together men, women, and children. They appear 

 very fond of the caustic and oily soot, nauseous to the scent, 

 that lodges in the tube of their pipes. They ask, pressingly, 

 for this, when they see any one cleaning his pipe before them. 



These gypsies are indolent and vicious, never working but 

 from the pressure of necessity. The most common trade 

 among them is that of blacksmith, and it is they who manu- 

 facture the little iron or copper hatchets with cane handles 

 every where met with. Not a few are musicians, and some 

 have risen to celebrity; they then roam about the villages 

 playing to the peasants on holidays. They have their slight 

 of hand tricks and posture masters, though less in Hungary 

 than elsewhere. They are subtle and active, and pilfer any 

 little articles that fall in their way ; but I never heard of gross 

 enormities among them. I have frequently met with them 

 in woods where they might have robbed me with impunity, 

 but they never spoke, unless I addressed them first, and then, 

 after answering, they would ask for some tobacco. 



The Zigeuners have a peculiar language that has no analogy 

 with any other. They are not originally European, and were 

 not known in France till the beginning of the fifteenth century. 

 It is certain that they were in Hungary in 1417, and that then 

 great numbers of them were scattered throughout Wallachia, 

 Transylvania, Moldavia, the Buckawine, &c. In 1427, a band 

 of them came to Paris, representing themselves as inhabitants of 

 Lower Egypt, first converted to the Christian faith, relapsing into 

 Mahometanism, and admitted to penitence by Pope Martin V. 

 who, by way of penance, ordered them to travel about every 

 where for seven years, without sleeping in beds. The Parisians 

 would not receive them, and they were sent to la Chapelle, near 

 St. Denys, where people went in crowds to hear them tell for- 

 tunes. Their conduct, however, was complained of, and the 

 Bishop of Paris, to prevent greater disorders, excommunicated 



