112 



MR. BORROW ON THE GIPSIES. 



truth, where would humanity have | 

 been to-day? Knowledge would j 

 never have progressed, and we 

 would have been in a condi- 

 tion little better than that of 

 semi-barbarism. What reason could 

 any one advance in favour of the 

 Gipsies " ceasing to be Gipsies " by 

 disappearing from the roads, woods, 

 and fields? And how could he 

 maintain that position as a matter 

 of fact ? Look at a tent of such 

 of the Gipsies as still go about, 

 when all the family are together, 

 and see how prolific they are, and 

 consider that it has been so from at 

 least the time of Henry VIII. How 

 could any one say that the progeny 

 and descendants of this people had 

 no more affinity with the tribe, or 

 even knowledge of it, than the com- 

 pany that played the part on the 

 stage the night before ? 



The true position of the Gipsies 

 is described as follows : " Here we 

 have ethnology on its legs a wild 

 Oriental race dropt into the midst -of 

 all the nations of Europe, and legal- 

 ly and socially proscribed by them, 

 yet drawing into their body much 

 of the blood of other people and 

 incorporating it with their own, and 

 assimilating to the manners of the 

 countries in which they live ; some- 

 times threading their way by mar- 

 riage through native families, and 

 maintaining their identity, in a more 

 or less mixed state, in the world, 

 notwithstanding their having no re- 

 ligion peculiar to themselves, like 



the Jews." In the Gipsies we have 

 a race, mixed as it is, that is dis- 

 tinct from any other, having blood, 

 language or w|rds, a cast of mind, 

 signs, and a sort of masonic society 

 extending over the world all of 

 comparatively recent appearance in 

 Europe which hold them together 

 in feeling and, to a certain extent, 

 association, in the face of the popu- 

 lar prejudice against the name, 

 which none of them will acknow- 

 ledge, after leaving the tent for 

 " tramping " or any calling in set- 

 tled society. There is in this sub- 

 ject, when fully explained, much to 

 interest a variety of societies, classes 

 of people, and kinds of readers ; 

 who cannot say when investigating 

 it that they do not find facts and 

 arguments to demonstrate what is 

 set forth, for the work contains a 

 superabundance of such. In ap- 

 proaching the subject, however, it is 

 necessary that people should divest 

 themselves of preconceived ideas, 

 and advance in it as far as the facts 

 will lead them. They should like- 

 wise show that moral and social 

 courage, in the face of public opin- 

 ion, that is so necessary towards ac- 

 knowledging the tribe, and extend- 

 ing to it the respect that is shown to 

 similar classes of the ordinary na- 

 tives, whatever the origin of the 

 former, and their sympathies with the 

 tribe at home or scattered over the 

 world.* 



* Dated August 2Oth, 1873. 



MR. BORROW ON THE GIPSIES. 



first thought which a physi- 

 cian should have is for his pa- 

 tient, a lawyer for his client, and an 

 author for his subject, in all its as- 

 pects, whether good, bad, or indif- 

 ferent each leaving himself out of 



consideration. It cannot be said 

 that Mr. Borrow has obeyed this 

 law in regard to the Gipsies, for, as 

 far as my memory serves me, he has 

 neglected to comment on, admit, or 

 reject the facts and opinions of his 



