NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 189 



LETTER XXV. 



TO THE SAME. 



SELBORNE, Oct. -2nd, 1775. 



DEAR SIR, We have two gangs or hordes of gypsies 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 distinguished 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 possible 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 gypsies, one thing is 

 very remarkable, and especially as they came from warmer 

 climates ; and that is, that while other beggars lodge in barns, 

 stables, and cow-houses, these sturdy savages seem to pride 

 themselves in braving the severities of winter, and in living sub dio 

 the whole year round. Last September was as wet a month as 

 ever was known ; and yet during those deluges did a young gypsy 

 girl lie in the midst of one of our hop-gardens, on the cold ground, 

 with nothing over her but a piece of a blanket extended on a few 

 hazel-rods bent hoop-fashion, and stuck into the earth at each end, 

 in circumstances too trying for a cow in the same condition ; yet 

 within this garden there was a large hop-kiln, into the chambers of 



