156 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



rubbing herself gently against his legs : while the horse would 

 look down with satisfaction, and move with the greatest caution 

 and circumspection, lest he should trample on his diminutive 

 companion. Thus, by mutual good offices, each seemed to con- 

 sole the vacant hours of the other : so that Milton, when he puts 

 the following sentiment in the mouth of Adam, seems to be some- 

 what mistaken : 



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

 "So well converse, nor with the ox the ape." l 



LETTER XXV. 



TO THE SAME. 



Selborne, Oct. 2, 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 in- 

 telligent 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 them- 

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



1 [Paradise Lost, viii., 395.] 



