GIPSY SURNAMES AND CHILD-STEALING. 



121 



an extraordinary degree of reluctance 

 and fear they evince in answering ques- 

 tions tending to develop their histo- 

 ry ; and, consequently, how difficult it 

 is to learn anything satisfactory about 

 them (p, 291). 



In dealing with Mr. Borrow, the 

 great thing to be aimed at is to get 

 him committed to some point that 

 can be tested by means out of him- 

 self, so as to get rid of assertion and 

 counter -assertion in any question 

 that may be raised with him. He 

 furnishes a very satisfactory one 

 when he says : " There are only 

 two names of trades which have 

 been adopted by English Gipsies as 

 proper names Cooper and Smith " 

 (p. 225). If he had turned to Hoy- 

 land's Survey of the Gipsies, he 

 would have found, in addition to 

 these, the names of Taylor, Draper, 

 and Glover. One English Gipsy 

 family I know of the name of 

 Brewer, and there are doubtless a 

 variety of such names. As illus- 

 trating the surnames of English 

 Gipsies, I mention two families of 

 the names of Herring and Salmon : 

 the first I know from reliable infor- 

 mation, and the other from personal 

 intimacy, that is, Gipsies by admis- 

 sion, and speaking the language in 

 my hearing. Had Mr. Borrow said 

 that the only names of trades adopt- 

 ed by the English Gipsies for sur- 

 names were two that he knew of, the 

 expression could have been allowed 

 to pass; but when he asserts that 

 the only two in England are Cooper 

 and Smith, we have beyond ques- 

 tion an incontrovertible proof of his 

 unreliability on the subject which he 

 treats. A trifle like this indicates 

 character. A variety of similar 

 things prove that Mr. Borrow can 

 be relied on only when he describes 

 what he has actually seen and heard ; 

 and even these must sometimes be 

 taken as passed through his peculiar 

 mind. 



Mr. Borrow writes : 



" At the commencement of the last 

 century, and for a considerable time af- 



terwards, there was a loud cry raised 

 against the Gipsy women for stealing 

 children. This cry, however, was quite 

 as devoid of reason as the suspicion en- 

 tertained of old against the Gipsy com- 

 munities of harbouring disguised priests. 

 Gipsy women, as the writer had occa- 

 sion to remark many a long year ago, 

 have plenty of children of their own, 

 and have no wish to encumber them- 

 selves with those of other people " (p. 

 217). 



Here is what is said in the His- 

 tory of the Gipsies on that subject : 



Among many other mal-practices, the 

 Gipsies have, in all countries, been ac- 

 cused of stealing children ; but what be- 

 came of these kidnapped infants, no one 

 appears to have given any account, that 

 I am aware of. To satisfy myself on 

 this trait of their character, I inquired 

 of a Gipsy the reasons which induced his 

 tribe to steal children. He candidly ac- 

 knowledged the practice, and said that 

 the stolen children were adopted as 

 members of the tribe, and instructed in 

 the language, and all the mysteries of 

 the body. They became, he said, equally 

 hardy, clever, and expert in all the prac-, 

 tices of the fraternity. The male Gip- 

 sies were very fond of marrying the stolen 

 females. Some of the kidnappped chil- 

 dren were made servants, or, rather, a 

 sort of slaves to the tribe. They con- 

 sidered that the occasional introduction of 

 another race into their own, and mixing 

 the Gipsy blood, in that manner, invig- 

 orated and strengthened their race. In 

 this manner would the Gipsies alter the 

 complexion of their race, by the intro- 

 duction of foreign blood among them 

 (P- 342). 



The persecutions to which the Gipsies 

 were exposed, merely for being Gipsies, 

 which their appearance would readily 

 indicate, seem to have induced the body 

 to intermarry with our race, so as to 

 disguise theirs. That would be done by 

 receiving and adopting males of our 

 race, whom they would marry to females 

 of theirs, who would bring up the chil- 

 dren of such unions as members of their 

 fraternity. They also adopted the prac- 

 tice to give their race stamina, as well 

 as numbers, to contend with the people 

 among whom they lived. The desire of 

 having servants (for Gipsies generally 

 have been too proud to do menial work 

 for each other), led to many children be- 

 ing kidnapped, and reared among them ; 



