MR. BORROW AS AN A UTHORITY. 



case as discovered and advanced by 

 others, assuming that he ever ex- 

 amined them ; and has put forth 

 his own ideas only, as if nothing 

 had been said by others before or 

 besides him, and given inconsiderate 

 and vague suppositions for realities, 

 and unfounded and illogical asser- 

 tions for carefully-considered induc- 

 tive reasonings. 



The History of the Gipsies, with 

 Specimens of the Gipsy Language, 

 by Walter Simson, with Preface, 

 Introduction and Notes, and a Dis- 

 quisition on the past, present, and 

 future of the race, by myself, pub- 

 lished towards the end of 1865, 

 contained, in my opinion, an ample 

 refutation of much that Mr. Borrow 

 had advanced ; but I did not expect 

 him to make any reply to it, and far 

 less admit what was advanced and, 

 I may say, proved. The book just 

 published by him, under the title of 

 Romano Lavo-Lil, has fully justified 

 my conclusion ; for he has complete- 

 ly ignored all that was said, and 

 will apparently do so for the future, 

 if the world will allow him to do it. 

 As an author, he is evidently a very 

 self-willed, opinionative, and capri- 

 cious gentleman, that is full of hard, 

 hide-bound dogmatisms that are dif- 

 ficult of being driven out of him, 

 whatever the means that may be 

 resorted to for that purpose. 



Ag the History of the Gipsies has 

 apparently been little noticed, and I 

 dare say as little read (although 

 doubtless seen by Mr. Borrow), I 

 will give some extracts from it, bear- 

 ing on him, with regard to the most 

 important parts of what he has 

 written on the subject. These, 

 however, are only a part of what 

 has been said in regard to him ; and 

 for the remainder the reader is re- 

 ferred to his name in the index to 

 the book itself. What is contained 

 in these extracts will be all the more 

 satisfactory on account of it not 

 having been got up for the present 

 occasion, but confirmed by nine 

 j r ears' reflection since the history 



8 



appeared ; while it applies to much 

 that is contained in the work just 

 published.* 



It strikes me as something very singu- 

 lar that Mr. Borrow, " whose acquaint- 

 ance with the Gipsy race, in general, 

 dates from a very early period of his 

 life ;" who " has lived more with Gip- 

 sies than Scotchmen ;" and than whom 

 " no one ever enjoyed better opportuni- 

 ties for a close scrutiny of their ways 

 and habits," should have told us so lit- 

 tle about the Gipsies. In all his writings 

 on the Gipsies, he alludes to two mixed 

 Gipsies only the Spanish half-pay cap- 

 tain, and the English flaming tinman 

 in a way as if these were the merest of 

 accidents, and meant nothing. He has 

 told us nothing of the Gipsies but what 

 was known before, with the exception, 

 as far as my memory serves me, of the 

 custom of the Spanish Gipsy dressing 

 her daughter in such a way as to protect 

 her virginity ; the existence of the tribe, 

 in a civilized state, in Moscow ; and the 

 habit of the members of the race pos- 

 sessing two names ; all of which are, 

 doubtless, interesting pieces of informa- 

 tion. In Mr. Borrow's writings upon 

 the Gipsies, we find only sketches of 

 certain individuals of the race, whom he 

 seems to have fallen in with, and not a 

 proper account of the nation. These 

 writings have done more injury to the 

 tribe than, perhaps, anything that ever 

 appeared on the subject. I have met 

 with Gipsies respectable young men 

 who complained bitterly of Mr. Bor- 

 row's account of their race ; and they 

 did that with good reason ; for his at- 

 tempt at generalization on the subject of 

 the people is as great a curiosity as 

 ever I set my eyes upon. How un- 

 satisfactory are Mr. Borrow's opinions 

 on the Gipsy question, when he speaks 

 of the *' decadence" of the race, when 

 it is only passing from its first stage of 



* When the extracts are from my con- 

 tribution to the work, they will be so 

 marked ; the others are from the history 

 proper. I make no apology for the length 

 of the extracts given in this article, for 

 the reason that a meal is more accepta- 

 ble than a tantalizing mouthful. What I 

 have said of a naturalist applies equally 

 well to this subject, that one " cannot be 

 too full and circumstantial, exact and 

 logical in his information, to make it of 

 any use in settling a question like the one 

 under consideration " (p. 36.) 



