134 



MR. BORROW ON THE GIPSIES. 



and histoiy, is, in itself, indestructible, 

 imperishable and immortal (Ed., p. 452). 



What may be termed the philosophy 

 of the Gipsies is very simple in itself, 

 when we have before us its main points, 

 its principles, its bearings, its genius ; 

 and fully appreciated the circumstances 

 with which the people are surrounded. 

 The most remarkable thing about the 

 subject is, that people never should 

 have dreamt of its nature, but, on the 

 contrary, believed that " the Gipsies are 

 gradually disappearing, and will soon 

 become extinct." The Gipsies have 

 always been disappearing, but where do 

 they go to ? Look at any tent of Gip- 

 sies, when the family are all together, 

 and see how prolific they are. What, 

 then, becomes of this increase ? The 

 present work answers the question. It 

 is a subject, however, which I have 

 found some difficulty in getting people 

 to understand. One cannot see how a 

 person can be a Gipsy, " because his 

 father was a respectable man ;" another, 

 " because his father was an old soldier ;" 

 and another cannot see " how it neces- 

 sarily follows that a person is a Gipsy, 

 for the reason that his parents were 

 Gipsies." The idea, as disconnected 

 from the use of a tent, or following a 

 certain kind of life, may be said to be 

 strange to the world ; and, on that ac- 

 count, is not very easily impressed on 

 the human mind. It would be singular, 

 however, if a Scotchman, after all that 

 has been said, should not be able to 

 understand what is meant by the Scot- 

 tish Gipsy tribe, or that it should ever 

 cease to be that tribe as it progresses in 

 life. In considering the subject, he need 

 not cast about for much to look at, for 

 he should exercise his mind, rather than 

 his eyes, when he approaches it. It is, 

 principally, a mental phenomenon, and 

 should, therefore, be judged of by the 

 faculties of the mind : for a Gipsy may 

 not differ a whit from an ordinary na- 

 tive, in external appearance or character, 

 while, in his mind, he may be as thor- 

 ough a Gipsy as one could well imag- 

 ine. 



In contemplating the subject of the 

 Gipsies, we should have a regard for 

 the facts of the question, and not be led 

 by what we might, or might not, imag- 

 ine of it. The race might, to a certain 

 extent, be judged analogously, by what 

 we know of other races ; but that which 

 is pre-eminently necessary, is to judge 

 of it by facts : for facts, in a matter like 



this, take precedence of everything. 

 Even in regard to the Gipsy language, 

 broken as it is, people are very apt to 

 say that it cannot exist at the present 

 day; yet the least reflection will con- 

 vince us, that the language which the 

 Gipsies use is the remains of that which 

 they brought with them into Europe, 

 and not a make-up, to serve their pur- 

 poses. The very genius peculiar to 

 them, as an Oriental people, is a suffi- 

 cient guarantee of this fact ; and the 

 more so from their having been so thor- 

 oughly separated, by the prejudice of 

 caste, from others around them ; which 

 would so naturally lead them to use and 

 retain their peculiar speech. But the 

 use of the Gipsy language is not the 

 only, not even the principal, means of 

 maintaining a knowledge of being Gip- 

 sies ; perhaps it is altogether unneces- 

 sary ; for the mere consciousness of the 

 fact of being Gipsies, transmitted from 

 generation to generation, and made the 

 basis of marriages, and the intimate as- 

 sociations of life, is, in itself, perfectly 

 sufficient. The subject of two distinct 

 races existing upon the same soil is not 

 very familiar to the mind of a British 

 subject. To acquire a knowledge of 

 such a phenomenon, he should visit cer- 

 tain parts of Europe, or Asia, or Africa, 

 or the New World. Since all (I may 

 say all) Gipsies hide the knowledge of 

 their being Gipsies from the other in- 

 habitants, as they leave the tent, it can- 

 not be said that any of them really deny 

 themselves, even should they hide them- 

 selves from those of their own race. 

 The ultimate test of a person being a 

 Gipsy would be for another to catch the 

 internal response of his mind to the 

 question put to him as to the fact ; or 

 observe the workings of his heart in his 

 contemplations of himself. It can hardly 

 be said that any Gipsy denies, at heart, 

 the fact of his being a Gipsy (which, in- 

 deed, is a contradiction in terms), let 

 tiim disguise it from others as much as 

 tie may. If I could find such a man, 

 tie would be the only one of his race 

 whom I would feel inclined to despise 

 as such (Ed., p. 505). 



In investigating this subject, I 

 would formulate the inquiry under 

 the following heads : 



i st. What constitutes a Gipsy in 

 a settled or unsettled state ? 



2d. What should we ask a Gipsy 



