HOW THEY LEAVE THE TENT, YET LOVE THE LANGUAGE. 



Gipsies is the tent and tilted cart. But 

 as any country can support only a limit- 

 ed number in that way, and as the in- 

 crease of the body is very large, it fol- 

 lows that they must cast about to make 

 a living in some other way, however bit- 

 ter the pill may be which they have to 

 swallow. The nomadic Gipsy portion 

 resembles, in that respect, a water 

 trough ; for the water which runs into 

 it, there must be a corresponding quan- 

 tity running over it. The Gipsies who 

 leave the tent resemble the youth of our 

 small seaports and villages ; for there, 

 society is so limited as to compel such 

 youth to take to the sea or towns, or go 

 abroad, to gain that livelihood which the 

 neighbourhood in which they have been 

 reared denies to them. In the same 

 manner do these Gipsies look back to 

 the tent from which they, or their fa- 

 thers, have sprung. They carry the 

 language, the associations, and the 

 sympathies of their race, and their pecu- 

 liar feelings toward the community, with 

 them ; and as residents of towns have 

 generally greater facilities, 'from others 

 of their race residing near them, for 

 perpetuating their language, than when 

 strolling over the country (Ed., p. 10). 

 Still, they will deny that they are Gipsies, 

 and will rather almost perish than let 

 any one, not of their own race, know 

 that they speak their language in their 

 own households and among their own 

 kindred. They will even deny, or at 

 least hide it from many of their own 

 race (Ed., p. 12). But it is in large towns 

 they feel more at home. They then 

 form little communities among them- 

 selves ; and by closely associating and 

 sometimes huddling together, they can 

 more easily perpetuate their language, 

 as I have already said, than by straggling 

 twos or threes through the country. But 

 their quarrelsome disposition frequent- 

 ly throws an obstacle in the way of such 

 associations. Secret as they have been 

 in keeping their language from even 

 being heard by the public while wander- 

 ers, they are much more so since they 

 have settled in towns (Ed., p. 13). 



I further inquired of her how many of 

 her tribe were in Scotland. Her an- 

 swer was, " There are several thousand ; 

 and there are many respectable shop- 

 keepers and householders in Scotland 

 that are Gipsies." It was evident from 

 this woman's manner, that she knew 

 much she would not communicate (p. 

 297). These innkeepers and stone- ware 



merchants are scarcely to be distinguish- 

 ed as Gipsies : yet they all retain the 

 language, and converse in it among 

 themselves. The females, as is their 

 custom, are particularly active in mana- 

 ging the affairs of their respective con- 

 cerns (p. 347). 



The love which the Gipsies have 

 for their language is described as 

 follows : 



It is certain that a Gipsy can be a 

 good man, as the world goes, nay, a 

 very good man, and glory in being a 

 Gipsy, but not to the public. He will 

 adhere to his ancient language, and talk 

 it in his own family ; and he has as 

 much right to do so, as, for example, a 

 Highlander has to speak Gaelic in the 

 Lowlands, or when he goes abroad, and 

 teach it to his children. And he takes 

 a greater pride in doing it, for thus he 

 reasons : " What is English, French, 

 Gaelic, or any other living language 

 compared to mine? Mine will carry 

 me through every part of the known 

 world ; wherever a man is to be found, 

 there is my language spoken. I will 

 find a brother in every part of the 

 world on which I may set my foot ; 

 I will be welcomed and passed along 

 wherever I may go. Freemasonry in- 

 deed ! what is Masonry compared to the 

 brotherhood of the Gipsies ? A lan- 

 guage a whole language is its pass- 

 word. I almost worship the idea of be- 

 ing a member of a society into which I 

 am initiated by my blood and language. 

 I would not be a man if I did not love 

 my kindred, and cherish in my heart 

 that peculiarity of my race [its lan- 

 guage] which casts a halo of glory 

 around it, and makes it the winder of 

 the world ! " (Ed., p. 12.) 



For, besides the dazzling hold which 

 the Gipsy language takes of the mind of 

 a Gipsy, as the language of those black, 

 mysterious heroes from whom he is de- 

 scended, the keeping of it up forms the 

 foundation of that self-respect which a 

 Gipsy has for himself, amidst the preju- 

 dice of the world ; from which, at the 

 bottom of his heart, whatever his posi- 

 tion in life, or character, or associations, 

 may be, he considers himself separated 

 (Ed., p. 408). They pique themselves 

 on their descent, and on being in pos- 

 session of secrets which are peculiarly 

 and exclusively theirs, and which they 

 imagine no other knows, or will ever 



