NOTICES OF THE AMERICAN PRESS. 



in the United Kingdom a vast multitude of mixed Gipsies, differing 

 very little in outward appearance, manners, and customs from ordinary 

 Britons; bat in heart thorough Gipsies, as carefully and jealously 

 guarding their language and secrets, as we do the secrets of the Masonic 

 Order." " Mr. Simson makes masterly establishment of the fact that 

 John Bunyan, the world-renowned author of the ' Pilgrim's Progress/ 

 was descended from Gipsy blood." 



New York Independent " Such a book is the History of the 

 Gipsies. Every one who has a fondness for the acquisition of out-of-the- 

 way knowledge, chiefly for the pleasure afforded by its possession, will 

 like this book. It contains a mass of facts, of stories, and of legends 

 connected with the Gipsies ; a variety of theories as to their origin . . . 

 and various interesting incidents of adventures among these modern 

 Ishmaelites. There is a great deal of curious information to be ob- 

 tained from this history, nearly all of which will be new to Americans." 

 " It is singular that so little attention has been heretofore given to this 

 particular topic ; but it is probably owing to the fact that Gipsies are so 



occupy 



not wanting in interest." 



New York Observer. " Among the peoples of the world, the 

 Gipsies are the most mysterious and romantic. '1 heir origin, modes of 

 life, and habits have been, until quite recently, rather conjectural than 

 known. Mr. Walter Simson, after years of investigation and study, 

 produced a history of this remarkable people which is unrivalled for the 

 amount of information which it conveys in a manner adapted to excite 

 the deepest interest ." " We are glad that Mr. James Simson has not 

 felt the same timidity, but has given the book to the public, having en- 

 riched it with many notes, an able introduction, and a disquisition upon 

 the past, present, and future of the Gipsy race." " Of the Gipsies in 

 Spain we have already learned much from the work of Borrow, but this 

 is a more thorough and elaborate treatise upon Gipsy life in general, 

 though largely devoted to the tribe as it appeared in England and Scot- 

 land." " Such are some views and opinions respecting a curious people, 

 of whose history and customs Mr. Simson has given a deeply interest- 

 ing delineation." 



Neiv York Metfyodist." The Gipsies present one of the most 

 remarkable anomalies in the history of the human race. Though they 

 have lived among European nations for centuries, forming in some dis- 

 tricts a prominent element in the population, they have succeeded in 

 keeping themselves separate in social relations, customs, language, and 

 in a measure, in government, and excluding strangers from real knowl- 

 edge of the character of their communities and organizations. Scarcely 

 more is known of them by the world in general than was know when 

 they first made their appearance among civilized nations." " Another 

 curious thing advanced by Mr. Simson is that of the perpetuity of the 



race He thinks that it never dies out, and that Gipsies, however 



much they may intermarry with the world's people, and adopt the hab- 

 its of civilization, remain Gipsies, preserve the language, the Gipsy mode 

 of thought, and loyalty to the race and its traditions to remote genera- 

 dons. His work turns, in tact, upon these two theories, and tho Incl- 



