OF SELBORNE. 289 



seemed to console the vacant hours of the other : so 

 that Milton, when he puts the following sentiment in 

 the mouth of Adam, seems to be somewhat mistaken : 



" Much less can bird with beast, or fish with fowl, 

 So well converse; nor with the ox the ape." 



I am, &c. 



LETTER XXV. 



TO THE SAME. 

 DEAR SIR, SELBORNE, Oct. 2, 1775. 



WE have two gangs or hordes of gipsies which infest 

 the south and west of England, and come round in their 

 circuit two or three times in the year. One of these 

 tribes calls itself by the noble name of Stanley, of which 

 I have nothing particular to say ; but the other is dis- 

 tinguished by an appellative somewhat remarkable. 

 As far as their harsh gibberish can be understood, they 

 seem to say that the name of their clan is Curleople : 

 now the termination of this word is apparently Grecian : 

 and as Mezeray and the gravest historians all agree 

 that these vagrants did certainly migrate from Egypt 

 and the East, two or three centuries ago, and so spread 

 by degrees over Europe, may not this family-name, a 

 little corrupted, be the very name they brought with 

 them from the Levant? It would be matter of some 

 curiosity, could one meet with an intelligent person 

 among them, to inquire whether, in their jargon, they 

 still retain any Greek words: the Greek radicals will 

 appear in hand, foot, head, water, earth, &c. It is pos- 

 sible that amidst their cant and corrupted dialect many 

 mutilated remains of their native language might still 

 be discovered. 



With regard to those peculiar people, the gipsies, 

 one thing is very remarkable, and especially as they 



u 



