578 
GIPSY. 
account of the prevalence of fuperflitlon, which entices 
them to deceive the ignorant. They are fcattered, 
tliough not in great numbers, through Germany, Den¬ 
mark, Sweden, and Raffia; but their chief population 
is in the fouth-eaft parts of Europe, which leem to be 
the general rendezvous of the gipfy nation. At a mo¬ 
derate computation, Europe contains more than feven 
hundred thoufand of thefe vagabonds. Eor near four 
centuries they have wandered througli the world ; and 
in every region, and among every people, whether bar¬ 
barous or civilized, they have continued equally un¬ 
changed by tlie lapfe of time, the variation of climate, 
and the force of example. Their fingular phyfiognomy 
and particular manners are the fame in every'country. 
Their fwarthy complexion derives no darker fiiade from 
the burning fun of Africa, nor any fairer tindture from 
the temperate climates of Europe ; they contract no 
additional lazinefs in Spain, nor acquire any new induf- 
try in England ; in Turkey they behold the mofque and 
the crefeent with equal indifference as they do the re¬ 
formed and the catholic church in Europe. In the 
neighbourhood of civilized life they continue barba¬ 
rous ; and, beholding around them cities and fettled 
inhabitants, tliey live in tents or holes in tlteearth, and 
wander from place to place as fugitives and vagabonds. 
Niebuhr, in his Travels through Arabia, met with 
liordes of thefe drolling gipfies in the warm diftridl of 
Yemen; and M. Sauer, in like manner, found them 
eftablifiled in the frozen regions of Siberia. His ac¬ 
count of them, publifiied in 1802, lliews the gipfy cha- 
raiSter to be the fame in northern Ruffia, as witli us in 
England. He deferibes them as follows ; “ I was fur- 
prii'ed'at the appearance of detached families of gipfies 
throughout the government of Tobolfk; and upon en¬ 
quiry I learned, that fevcral roving companies of thefe 
people had flrolled into the city of Tobolfk. The go¬ 
vernor thought of eftablifhing a colony of them ; but 
they were too cunning for the fimple Siberian peafant ; 
■which induced him to feparate each family. He placed 
them on the footing of the peafants, and allotted a por¬ 
tion of land for cultivation, with a view of making 
them ufeful to fociety. They, however, rejett hoiifes 
even in this fevere climate, and dw'ell in open tents or 
fiieds; nor can they be brought to any regular courfe 
of induftry ; but they watch every traveller, and pre¬ 
tend to explain the myfteries of futurity, by palmiftry 
or phyfiognomy. The peafant dreads their power; and, 
from motives of fear, contributes to their liipport, left 
they fliould fpoil his cattle and horfes.' It is laid, that 
they are very (kilful farriers and cow-leeches.” 
In Hungary and Tranfylvania, their fummer habita¬ 
tions are tents ; their winter ones, lioles ten or tw’elve 
feet deep in the earth. They are fond of plate, parti¬ 
cularly iilver cups, which they bury under the earth 
tor fecurity. The principal occupations which they 
pretend to follow are, fmith’s work, or tinker’s, or 
wooden ware, and horfe-dealing ; they are alfo execu- 
'vioners of criminals, flayers of dead beafts, and wafiiers 
of gold. The women deal in old clothes, proflitution, 
wanton dances, and fortune-telling. Notwithflanding 
thefe occupations, this people are indolent beggars and 
thieves. They bring up tlieir children to their own 
profeliions, and appear very fond of them. They have 
few dilbrders, except the mealies and fmall-pox, and 
weaknefles in their eyes, occalioned by the fmoke ; and 
live to an advanced age, with a Itrong attachment to 
life. Their phylic is fitflron in their foups, with bleeding. 
In their food thefe people are by no means choice : 
it is all one to them, whether it be carrion of a llieep, 
hog, cow, or other beaft, horfe-flelh only excepted. 
When any one cenl'ures tlreir talie, they anfwer, “ The 
lielh of a bead which God kills mult be better than 
that ot one killed by the hand of naan.” They there¬ 
fore take every opportunity of getting fitch dainties. 
'I'iutt they take carrion from a layllall, as is affirmed of 
the gipfies in Hungary, is by no means certain, any 
more than that they eat horfe-flefii. But if a bead out 
of an herd dies, and they find it before it becomes rot¬ 
ten or putrefied ; or, if a farmer gives them notice of a 
cow dead, they proceed, without hefitation, to take 
polTelfion of the booty. Tlieir favourite objeft is ani¬ 
mals tliat have been dedroyed by fire ; therefore, when¬ 
ever a conflagration has happened, either in town or 
country, the next day the gipfies, from every neigh¬ 
bouring quarter, alTemble and draw the fulfocated half- 
confumed beads out of the alhes. Men, women, and 
children, in troops, are extremely bufy, joyfully col- 
ledfing the flelli, upon which they gluttonize in their 
huts as long as tliis delicious fare lads. 
The gipfies have, at lead in Tranfylvania, a fort of 
regular government, rather nominal titan real or effec¬ 
tive. They have their leaders or ciiiefs, whom they 
dldinguifii by the Sclavonian title, xvayzuode. To this 
dignity every perfoti is eligible who is of a family de- 
feended front a former waywode ; but the preference is 
generally given to thofe who have the mod wealth, who 
are of a large dature, and not pad the meridian of life. 
Of religion they have no fenfe ; though, with their 
ufual cunning and hypocrify, they profefs the edablifiied 
faith of every country in which they live. They alfo 
fpeak the languages of tlte refped'tive countries, ^et 
have a dialedt of their own ; from whence derived, au¬ 
thors differ. The only fcieitce whiclt they have attained 
is mufic. Their poetry is indecent rhyme. 
Their general charadter is thus given by Grellman, 
in his German Treatife on Gipfies : “ They are lively, 
uncommonly loquacious and chattering; fickle in the 
extreme, confequently incondant in their purfuits; 
faithlefs to every body, even their own cad ; void of 
the lead emotion of gratitude, frequently rewarding be¬ 
nefits with the mod infidious malice. Fear makes.them 
flavifhly compliant when under fubjedtion ; but having 
nothing to apprehend, like other timorous people, they 
are cruel. Defire of revenge often caufes them to take 
the mod defperate refoiutions. To fuch a degree of 
violence is their fury fometimes excited, that a mother 
has been known, in the excefs of paffion, to take her 
fmall infant by the feet, and therewith drike the objedt 
of her anger, when no other indrument has readily pre- 
fented itfelf. They are fo addicted to drinking, as to 
facrifice what is mod neceffary to them, that they may 
fead their palates with ardent fpirits. Nothing can ex¬ 
ceed the unredrained depravity of manners exiding 
among them. Unchecked by any idea of Ihame, they 
give way to every libidinous defire. The mother en¬ 
deavours, by the mod fcandalous arts, to train up her 
daughter for an offering to fenfuality ; and this is 
fcarcely grovvn up, before Ihe becomes the feducer of 
others. Lazinefs is fo prevalent among them, that were 
they to fiibfid by their own labour only, they would 
hardly have bread for two of the feven days in the 
week. This indolence increafes their propenfity to deal¬ 
ing and cheating, the common attendants on idlenefs. 
They feek to avail themfelves of every opportunity to 
fatisfy their lawlefs defires. Their univerfal bad cha¬ 
radter therefore for ficklenefs, infidelity, ingratitude, 
revenge, malice, rage, depravity, lazinefs, knavery, 
thievifimefs, and cunning, though not deficient in capa¬ 
city and clevevnefs, render thefe people of no ufe in fo¬ 
ciety, except as foldiers to form marauding parties. 
Attempts have in vain been made for cultivating and 
civilizing them. This appears from a very intelligent 
Hungarian lady’s experience on the fubjedt, communi¬ 
cated in a letter as follows: ‘ There are a great number 
of them on my edates, but I have permitted two fami¬ 
lies in particular to edablilh themfelves at the place of 
my own refidence, under the exprefs condition that no 
others fhall come here and join them. I took all pof- 
fible pains to make them reafonable creatures. I fet 
the elder ones to work j the younger ones to tend the 
cattle. 
