284 WILD SPAIN. 



were to be expelled from Spanish soil. This act was eon- 

 firmed and supplemented with more vigorous penalties by 

 Charles I. at Toledo in 1539, and again by Philip II. in 

 1586, at Madrid. 



By an enactment of Philip IV. at Madrid, 1633, the 

 former laws were confirmed, but in order still further to 

 penalize the profession and race of gypsies, their dress, 

 their language, and even the name of gitanos, were 

 declared illegal, and suppressed under pain of servitude in 

 the galleys, or banishment. The gypsies were forbidden 

 to form colonies or tribes, to intermarry, or to trade at 

 markets and fairs ; while the local authorities were com- 

 missioned to " hunt them down, take and deliver them," 

 even beyond the boundaries of their respective jurisdic- 

 tions. Still further legal fulminations against the gypsies 

 were promulgated by Charles II. in 1692 and 1695, but all 

 alike proved futile. 



Similarly Philip V., in 1726, again increased the penal- 

 ties on (/itanismo, banishing the sect from Madrid and 

 other royal cities, and in 1745, by a yet fiercer edict, 

 he directed that they were to be " hunted down with fire 

 and sword ; that even the sanctity of the temples was to 

 be invaded in their pursuit, and the gitanos dragged from 

 the horns of the altar, should they flee thither for refuge." 



Such, during three centuries (1499-1783), was the set 

 policy of Spain towards her gypsy population. They were 

 a proscribed race, treated as aliens and outlaws, forbidden 

 to intermarry, and their very name, dress, and language 

 were interdicted under severe penalties. Yet in spite of 

 it all the gypsies continued to flourish, to increase in 

 numbers, and to ply their customary trades of thieving, 

 sorcery, and the rest, without the slightest check. 



Whether under any circumstances these repressive 

 measures were or were not the means best calculated 

 to attain the object in view, it is at least certain that their 

 failure was assured beforehand by the negligent way 

 in which they were put in force ; or rather by the fact 

 they were never put in force at all. The gypsies, and 

 especially the females, as we have already mentioned, 



