JOHN BUNYAN AND THE GIPSIES. 



I8 5 



what purpose, and under what cir- 

 cumstances, did the Gipsies assume 

 the Christian and surnames of Great 

 Britain and Europe generally ? The 

 natural answer is that it was to pro- 

 tect themselves against the severity 

 of the laws passed against them. A 

 tribal tradition (as distinguished 

 from a private family one) on a sub- 

 ject of that kind would be easily 

 and accurately handed down from 

 so recent a time as Henry VIII. 

 and Elizabeth. Now, the tradition 

 among all the British Gipsies is 

 that their British names were origi- 

 nally assumed from those of people 

 of influence, among whom the tribe 

 settled, as they scattered over the 

 country, and had districts assigned 

 to them, under chieftains, with a 

 king over all, and tokens or passes 

 to keep each in his district, or from 

 infringing on the rights of other 

 families. All that is fully explained 

 in Simson's History of the Gipsies 

 (pp. 116, 117, 205, and 218), where 

 will also be found (p. 206) the fancy 

 the tribe have always had for term- 

 ing themselves " braziers," and hav- 

 ing the word put on their tomb- 

 stones. And how a person can, in 

 the most important sense of the 

 word, be a Gipsy, with blue eyes 

 and fair hair, as well as black, no 

 matter what his character or habits, 

 calling or creed may be, is also 

 very elaborately explained in the 

 same work. And that anticipated 

 Mr. James Wyatt, who said, in 

 Notes and Queries, on the 2d Janu- 

 ary last, that John Bunyan could 

 not have been a Gipsy, owing to 

 his personal appearance, as he was 



" Tall of stature, strong-boned, with 

 sparkling eyes, wearing his hair on the 

 upper lip after the old British fashion, 

 his hair reddish, but in his latter days 

 sprinkled with grey ; his nose well cut, 

 his mouth not too large, his forehead 

 something high, and his habit always 

 plain and modest. " 



To the History of the Gipsies, and 

 to the forthcoming Contributions 

 in both of which Mr. Borrow is 



very fully reviewed all parties in- 

 quiring about the Gipsies and John 

 Bunyan are referred. 



The discovery of Bunyan (with a 

 variety in the spelling), having been 

 the name of native families, is in- 

 teresting, and shows how superficial 

 previous inquiries must have been. 

 I was under the impression that the 

 Bunyan family had brought it into 

 England with them ; but admitting 

 that it was assumed by them, it still 

 holds good that 



" Very likely there was not a drop 

 of common English blood in Bunyan's 

 veins. John Bunyan belongs to the 

 world at large, and England is only 

 entitled to the credit of the formation 

 of his character." Contributions, p, 

 159. 



The name of Bunyan having been 

 borne by native families would not, 

 under any circumstances, even 

 make it probable that John Bunyan 

 was not a Gipsy, for there is a great 

 variety of native names among the 

 race. Had he belonged to the 

 native race, he could have said that 

 he was, in all probability, of a " fine 

 old Saxon family in reduced circum- 

 stances, related to a baronet and 

 many respectable families." In 

 place of that he said : 



" For my descent, it was, as is well 

 known to many, of a low and incon- 

 siderable generation, my father's house 

 being of that rank that is meanest and 

 most despised of all the families of the 

 land." 



At this time it was death by law 

 for being a Gipsy, and " felony 

 without benefit of clergy" for as- 

 sociating with them, and odious to 

 the rest of the population. Besides 

 telling us that his descent was 

 " well known to many," he add- 

 ed : 



"Another thought came into my 

 mind, and that was, whether we [his, 

 family and relations] were of the Israel- 

 ites or no ; for finding in the Scriptures 

 that they were once the peculiar people 

 of God, thought I, if I were one of this 

 race [how significant is the expression !] 



