GIPSIES. 207 



LETTEE LXVII. 



TO THE SAME. 



Selborne, Oct. 2, 1775. 

 Deae Sie, — "We haye two gangs, or liordes of gipsies, wlvicli 

 infest tlie 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 Ourleople. 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,t 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 

 retained any G-reek words : the Grreek radicals wiU 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 these peculiar people, the gipsies, one 

 thing is very remarkable, and especially as they came from a 

 warmer climate, 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 gipsy girl lie in the midst of one of our 



* I rememter asking a gipsy of tlie name of Stanley whether she was of 

 the Derby family. The woman was very indignant at the question, and stood 

 up for the antiquity of her family, as infinitely more ancient than that of 

 Derby. — Ed. 'h See Borrow 's Gi/psies 



