182 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



caution and circumspection, lest he should trample on his dimi- 

 nutive companion. Thus, by mutual good offices, each seemed 

 to console the vacant hours of the other : so that Milton, when 

 he puts the following sentiment in the mouth of Adam, seems to 

 be somewhat mistaken : 



" Much less can bird with beast, or fish with fowl, 

 So well converse, nor with the ox the ape." 



LETTER XXV. To THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON. 

 DEAR SIR, Selborne, Oct. 2, 1775. 



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 Me- 

 zeray and the gravest historians all agree that these vagrants did 

 certainly migrate from Egypt and the East, two or three cen- 

 turies 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 enquire 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 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 a blanket ex- 

 tended on a few hazel-rods bent hoop fashion, and stuck into 



