2OO 



APPENDIX. 



assert nothing further of them," (p. 

 459). 



In expatiating on the difficulties 

 attending the " endowment of re- 

 search," Professor Huxley, on the 

 occasion mentioned, while discour- 

 aging the vulgar expedient of offer- 

 ing money for it, said nothing of ex- 

 tending to it the courtesy of discus- 

 sion through the ordinary channels, 

 doubtless for the reason that that 

 aspect of the question was not 

 specially before the meeting. 



Another subject requiring to be 

 " brought into more prominent no- 

 tice than ordinary, when the publi- 

 cations devoted to it decline or de- 

 lay doing it," as I wrote in the 

 Spectator^ on the 26th of August, 

 1876, with reference to Mr. Frank 

 Buckland and the viper, is that of 

 the Gipsies, a race that has existed 

 in Great Britain for upwards of 

 three centuries and a half, and about 

 which I have said : 



" I admit that the subject of the Gip- 

 sies, so far as it is understood, and as 

 Blackwood will have, or will allow, it to 

 be understood, presents little interest to 

 the world, if it means only a certain 

 style of life that may cease at any mo- 

 ment," (p. 153). 



The real interest, in the higher 

 sense of the word, attaching to this 

 people is centred in the relation in 

 which it " stands to others around it, 

 with reference to intermarriage and 

 the destiny of the mixed progeny, 

 and that of the tribe generally " (p. 

 135), especially in English-speaking 

 countries. 



In an appeal which I made to the 

 Scottish Clergy on this subject, I 

 said : 



"You thus see that the subject be- 

 comes one of disinterested and serious 

 inquiry, in which there should be shown 

 none of that apathy and contempt, and 

 unreflecting incredulity, that is general- 

 ly manifested, and is so unworthy of the 

 age in which we live, and especially of 



men of education, and social and official 

 standing in society," (p. 151). 



I find that the great " bar in the 

 way " of this subject being investi- 

 gated is Mr. George Borrow, for 

 people say that if there is anything 

 of the nature mentioned in it, he 

 must have found it and told us of it, 

 as it has been in his " special keep- 

 ing " for many years. In that re- 

 spect I have said : 



" What becomes of the Gipsies, is a 

 question that cannot be settled by 

 reference to any of Mr. Borrow's writ- 

 ings, although these contain a few inci- 

 dental remarks that throw some light 

 on it, when information of a positive 

 and circumstantial nature is added," 

 (p. 120). 



In his Gipsies in Spain he wrote : 



" We have already expressed our be- 

 lief that the caste has diminished of 

 latter years ; whether this diminution 

 was the result of one or many causes 

 combined of a partial change of habits, 

 of pestilence or sickness, of war or 

 famine, or of a freer intercourse with 

 the Spanish population we have no 

 means of determining, and shall abstain 

 from offering conjectures on the sub- 

 ject," (p. 126). 



And in his Romano Lavo-Lil he 

 said : 



"There is every reason to suppose 

 that within a few years the English Gip- 

 sy caste will have disappeared, merged 

 in the dregs of the English population," 

 (P- 



This last remark, as he admits, is 

 a mere supposition, based on noth- 

 ing of the nature of a research, and 

 contradicted by every fact or cir- 

 cumstance bearing on the subject 

 mentioned in his writings. 



Mr. Borrow has never been re- 

 garded as an accurate investigator 

 and reasoner, possessing the com- 

 prehensiveness and judicial calm- 

 ness of a philosopher, or as showing 

 solidity of judgment in any question 

 treated by him. He has had many 



