154 



THE SOCIAL EMANCIPA TION OF THE GIPSIES. 



" wild speculations " and " unsup- 

 ported assertions," in all probability 

 got up to meet a special order from 

 the shop. 



The fact is, the author had a 

 grievance against the Blackwoods, 

 and I have a letter from Blackwood 

 the elder, stating that he will have 

 his MS. searched for. In sending 

 the MS. home for publication, I un- 

 fortunately omitted to say that it 

 was not to be given to the Black- 

 woods ; and, as bad luck would have 

 it, it went straight to their shop. 

 There it remained for nearly three 

 years, the firm, so far as is known, 

 acting the dog in the manger that 

 is, they would neither take it, nor 

 allow it to be offered to another. A 

 correspondence ensued, and a de- 

 termination was come to to com- 

 mence legal proceedings against 

 them, which I presume were threat- 

 ened, for the MS. very soon made 

 its appearance, after I had given it 

 up as lost, for the fifth time. Not- 

 withstanding that, the article con- 

 tinues : 



" The book has a wandering history 

 of its own. . . . Even now it has 

 been banished the realm, and shipped 

 off to America [!], and there at last it 

 has found its way into print." 



It was indeed a pity that it had 

 not been altogether " burked." The 

 younger Blackwoods seem to have 

 conceived a spite for the work, aris- 

 ing, I presume, from their father 

 and their magazine having been so 

 much mixed up with it, in its incep- 

 tion and origin, of which they were 

 doubtless ashamed, in the present 

 popular feeling towards the subject. 

 As for a civilized Gipsy, the maga- 

 zine (on what authority does not 

 appear) scoffs at the idea, and says, 

 *' Very few [it might have said none] 

 can have realized it, as set forth in 

 this book " an interesting admis- 

 sion. 



Space will not permit me to say 

 much about the history of the Gip- 

 sies, as the blood becomes mixed 

 with native. The question is very 



fully discussed in the work. The 

 humblest native will tell you that he 

 "would as soon take a toad to his 

 bosom, as marry a tinkler." The 

 consequence is, that when an amal- 

 gamation does take place, the pro- 

 geny naturally and instinctively go 

 with the " toad " and the toad's peo- 

 ple ; and if they are settled Gipsies, 

 everything is kept a profound se- 

 cret from the relations on the " other 

 side of the house," and an ab- 

 solute separation ensues if they are 

 Gipsies of the old stock. You can 

 thus see that the native element in- 

 troduced /// detail^ into the body of 

 Gipsydom goes with that body, and 

 in feeling becomes incorporated 

 with it, although in physical appear- 

 ance it so changes the Gipsy race, 

 that it becomes " confounded with 

 the residue of the population," but 

 remains Gipsy as before ; and that, 

 instead of the Gipsies becoming lost 

 among the native population, a cer- 

 tain part of the native blood becomes 

 lost among them, adding greatly to 

 the number of the body. 



It would be unreasonable to say 

 that a thing does not exist among 

 the Esquimaux, because it is not to 

 be found among the New Zealanders, 

 or vice versa. Analogy has its use, 

 no doubt; but everything must be 

 settled on its own merits, although 

 JBlackwood seems to think otherwise, 

 for in reference to the Gipsies be- 

 coming wedged in among native 

 families, he says : 



" If your great -great-grand father had 

 the eccentric taste to marry a Hotten- 

 tot, you have at least the comfort of 

 thinking that by this time the cross 

 must have pretty nearly disappeared." 



What astonishes me the most, in 

 connexion with the subject of the 

 Gipsies, is, that writers, like the 

 present one, should dogmatize so 

 positively on what are in reality 

 matters of fact of which they ap- 

 parently know nothing ; which can 

 hardly be said of any other subject 

 of which the mind takes cognizance. 

 You might as well take some people 



