168 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



LETTER XXV 



TO THE HONOURABLE DAINES HARRINGTON 



Selborne, Oct. 2, 1775. 



DEAR SIR, 



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 

 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, etc. It is possible 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 

 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 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 



