CURIOSITIES IN HISTORY, ETC.—(Continued.)

Gipsies.—Mr. Lyons, in his entertaining work of the Environs of London, has given the following curious account of the Queen of the Gipsies, and the extraordinary people under her dominion.From the register of the parish of Bockenham, in Kent; extract: ‘Margaret Finch, buried October 24, 1740.’—“This remarkable person lived to the age of one hundred and nine years. She was one of the people called Gipsies; and had from them the title of Queen. After travelling over various parts of the kingdom, during the greater part of a century, she settled at Norwood, whither her age, and the fame of her fortune-telling, attracted numerous visitors. From a habit of sitting on the ground with her chin resting on her knees, the sinews at length became so contracted, that she could not rise from that posture. After her death, they were obliged to enclose her body in a deep square box. Her funeral was attended by two mourning coaches, a sermon was preached on the occasion, and a great concourse of people attended the ceremony. Her portrait adorns the sign-post of a house of entertainment in Norwood, called the Gipsy-House. In an adjoining cottage lives an old woman, grand-daughter of queen Margaret, who inherits her title. She is niece of queen Bridget, who was buried at Dulwich, in 1768. Her rank seems to be merely titular: I do not find that the gypsies pay her any particular deference; or that she differs in any other respect from the rest of her tribe, than that of being a householder.” To the above he adds some leading facts concerning this extraordinary race of people, who are scattered over most parts of Europe, Asia, and America.

“The gipsies, (continues he,) in most places on the Continent are called Cingari, or Zingari: the Spaniards call them Gitanos. It is not certain when they first appeared in Europe; but mention is made of them, in Hungary and Germany, so early as the year 1417. Within ten years afterwards, they made their appearance in France, Switzerland, and Italy. The date of their arrival in England is more uncertain: it is most probable, that it was not till nearly a century afterwards. In the year 1530, they are thus spoken of in the penal statutes: ‘Forasmuch as before this time, divers and many outlandish people, calling themselves Egyptians, using no craft nor feat of merchandise, have come into this realm, and gone from shire to shire, and from place to place, in great companies, and used great subtilty and crafty means to deceive the people; bearing them in hand, that they, by palmistry, could tell men’s and women’s fortunes; and so, many times, by craft and subtilty, have deceived the people of their money; and also have committed many heinous felonies and robberies, to the great hurt and deceit of the people they have come among, &c.’

“It was afterwards made death to them to continue in the kingdom; and it remains on record, that thirteen were executed for a violation of this law, a few years before the Restoration: nor was this cruel act repealed till about the year 1783.

“The gipsies were expelled from France in 1560, and from Spain in 1591; but it does not appear that they have been entirely extirpated in any country. Their collective numbers, in every quarter of the globe, have been calculated at seven or eight hundred thousand. They are most numerous in Asia, and in the northern parts of Europe. Various have been the opinions relating to their origin. That they came from Egypt has been the most prevalent. This opinion (which has procured them here the name of Gipsies, and in Spain that of Gitanos,) arose, from some of the first who arrived in Europe, pretending that they came from that country; which assertion they made, perhaps, to heighten their reputation for skill in palmistry[22] and the occult sciences. It is now, I believe, pretty generally agreed, that they came originally from Hindostan; since their language so far coincides with the Hindostanic, that even now, after a lapse of more than three centuries, during which they have been dispersed in various foreign countries, nearly one half of their words are precisely those of Hindostan; and scarcely any variation is to be found in vocabularies procured from the gipsies in Turkey, Hungary, Germany, and those in England.

“Their manners, for the most part, coincide, as well as their language, in every quarter of the world where they are found; being the same idle, wandering race of beings, and seldom professing any ostensible mode of livelihood, except that of fortune-telling. Though they are no great frequenters either of mosques or churches, they generally conform to rites and ceremonies as they find them established.

“Upon the whole, we may certainly agree with Grellman, who has written their history, by regarding them as a singular phenomenon in Europe. For the space of between three or four hundred years, they have gone wandering about like pilgrims and strangers, yet neither time nor example has made in them any alteration: they remain ever, and every where, what their fathers were. Africa makes them no blacker, nor does Europe make them whiter.”

It is not the least singular feature in the history of this wandering and vagabond race, that they should have so long maintained their credit for foretelling events, when the fallacy of their predictions must have been so often experienced, and their ignorance and want of principle so well known. What reliance can be placed on the oracular decisions of a man, who has not sufficient foresight of his own affairs, to escape the hands of justice for robbing a hen-roost?The desire of prying into futurity seems to be a natural propensity in the human mind. In the ancient world, the consultation of oracles, soothsayers, and augurs, divining by the flight of birds, the entrails of the victims, or the feeding of chickens, were so many efforts of a weak endeavour to withdraw that veil, which in mercy is appointed to conceal from our view the events that are to befal us.

In modern times, the impudent pretensions of astrologers, conjurers, and fortune-tellers, have deluded the credulous, even of that rank, in which men should set a more rational example. About sixty years ago, a celebrated professor of this dark science lived in London, in a place called Frying-pan Alley; and crowds of carriages were daily seen waiting in the neighbourhood, whilst the artful impostor was distributing different allotments to their owners, according to his arbitrary caprice, or what he thought would bring most money into his purse.

The following account is taken from a Liverpool weekly magazine, entitled ‘The Freeman,’ published some years since:—

“Of late years some attempts have been made to reduce the numbers, or at any rate to civilize the habits, of that vagabond and useless race, the gipsies. In pursuance of such purpose, a society of gentlemen have been making all the preliminary inquiries requisite to a proper understanding of the subject. A series of questions have been proposed to competent persons in the different counties of England and Scotland; and answers have been received. The following are specimens of these replies:

“1. All gipsies believe that Egypt was the residence of their most remote ancestors.

“2. They cannot form any idea of their number in England.

“3. The gipsies of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, some parts of Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, and Huntingdonshire, are continually making revolutions within the ranges of those counties.

“4. They are either ignorant of the number of gipsies in the counties through which they travel, or unwilling to disclose their knowledge.

“5. The most common names are Smith, Cooper, Draper, Taylor, Boswell, Lee, Lovel, Loversedge, Allen, Mansfield, Glover, Williams, Carew, Martin, Stanley, Buckley, Plunkett, and Corrie.

“6. and 7. The gangs in different towns have not any regular connection or organization; but those who take up their winter quarters in the same city or town, appear to have some knowledge of the different routes each horde will pursue; probably with a desire to prevent interference with each other.

“8. In the county of Herts, it is computed there may be sixty families, having many children. Whether they are quite so numerous in Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, and Northamptonshire, the answers are not sufficiently definite to determine. In Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, and Dorsetshire, greater numbers are calculated upon. In various counties, the attention has not been competent to the procuring data for any estimate of families or individuals.

“9. More than half their number follow no business: some are dealers in horses and asses: while others profess themselves to be farriers, smiths, tinkers, braziers, grinders of cutlery, basket-makers, chair-bottomers, and musicians.

“10. The children are brought up in the habits of their parents, particularly to music and dancing, and are of dissolute habits.

“11. The women mostly carry baskets with trinkets and small wares; and tell fortunes.

“12. They are too ignorant to have acquired accounts of genealogy, and perhaps indisposed by the irregularity of their habits.

“13. In most counties there are particular situations to which they are partial. There is a marsh, near Newbury in Berkshire, much frequented by them; and Dr. Clark states, that in Cambridgeshire, their principal rendezvous is near the western villages.

“14. It cannot be ascertained whether this attachment to particular places has prevailed from their first coming into the nation.

“15, 16, and 17. When among strangers, they elude inquiries respecting their peculiar language, calling it Gibberish. They know of no person that can write it, or of any written specimen of it.

“18. Their habits and customs in all places are peculiar.

“19. Those who profess any religion, represent it to be that of the country in which they reside: but their description of it seldom goes beyond repeating the Lord’s Prayer; and only a few of them are capable of that. Instances of their attending any place for worship are very rare.

“20. They marry for the most part by pledging to each other, without any ceremony. A few exceptions have occurred, when money was plentiful.

“21. They do not teach their children religion.

“22, and 23. Not one in a thousand can read.”