LXYIL] 
OF SELBORNE. 
193 
LETTEK LXYII. 
TO THE HONOURABLE HAINES BAIUUNGTON. 
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. Xow 
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, l:)e the very name they 
brought with them from the Levant ? It would be matter of 
some curiosity, could one meet v/ith 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 mJght 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 
in the open air 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 in the midst of one of our hop- 
gardens, on the cold ground, with nothing over her but a piece 
of 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 
o 
