188 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



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, etc. 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 Sep- 

 tember was as wet a month as ever was known ; and yet 

 during those deluges did a young gipsy 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 con- 

 dition ; yet within this garden there was a large hop-kiln, 

 into the chambers of which she might have retired, had she 

 thought shelter an object worthy her attention. 



Europe itself, it seems, cannot set bounds to the rovinga 



