The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-05-21

charm OF the wild Eastern strains with that OF
the regular melody Ineligible to the western
ear. Mr.. Leland learned that the Russian Eyr-
sizes profess Christianity, and compared with
tho native Russians. are brilliant exafuplers
OF morality. Their cleanliness. also. Is pro-
vsrbial In country not noted fer the virtue. 1t
appears that the Russian Romany girls are
never guilty OF transient amours. but II
wealthy man falls in love with one and is will
ing to maintain her permanently In his house
she may go with him on condition that she pays
monthly sum into the gypsy treasury. for
these people. like other classes OF Russians.
form an artel. or guild. Mr.. Leland explains
this apparent incongruity in the manners OF
Russian Romany women by reminding us
that gypsies oil over the world regard
steady cohabitaton as a form on mar
riage. 1t appears that the Romany spoken
by the eypses Of Moscow and st. Pc
tersburg is full OF Russian. and the pronun-
citation puzzled Mr.. Leland a good deal. In
deed. our author found that he knew a good
many moro gypsy words than did his Russian
Romany friends. A remarkable fact Ms re-
corded touching the power of these gypsies to
endure cold. in which. Notwithstanding their
Oriental origin. they far surpass the native
Russians There Is a story told OF Romani
who. for wager undertook to sleep naked
against well-clothed Muscovite on the Ice OF
river during an unusually cold night; in the
morning the Russian was found frozen stiff.
While the gypsy was snoring away unframed.
1t is noteworthy that while the subtle charm
OF the Russian gypsy girls singing was de-
stroyed by the atmosphere or applause OF a
Paris concert room. In which they appeared
during the Exhibition OF 1878. yet. amid pre-
csely the same surroundings. the Hungarian
Romans conquered by sheer intensity. and
kinded extraordinary excitement among the
audience. The gypsy artists Of Hungary play
by inspiration. without even knowing their
notes. Lisst who has closely studied thom.
says they have inventedSheir music for their
own use. to express themselves in the most
heartfelt and touching monologues. 1t is as
free as their lives. has no intermediate modula-
ton, no chords no transition; 1t goes at n
bound from one key to another" The Magyars
are paseienately fond Of this gypsy music.
and there is nothing that appeals so
powerfully to their emotions. There is. Mr..
Leland thinks. an element in the gypsy char
acter which meets with no comprehension or
sympathy in the German, and With very little
in other western Europeans, but which accords
closely with a trait of the slavonisn and Hun
garian nature. 1t Ia. he says n dreamy
mysticism; an indefinite semi supernatural
lam often passing into gloom; a Buddhistic
sentiment. which has taken q new and darker
color among winter lands. 1t is strong in the
Czech or Bohemian. and according to Mr..
Leland. the German self-conscious mysticism
Is like a problem OF Euclid beside the in
stinctive, uncxpressed dreaminess OF the
Czech. And as the Spaniard perfectly under
stands the objective vagabond side of the
Gitano. SO the Slavonian and the Magyar un-
derstand the musical and wildforest yearning
OF the Tsigane.
Apropos OF an aluson in Shakespeare
Henry the Fourth Il can drink with any
tinker in his own language" Mr.. Leland gives
us large number Of words belonging to this
curious tongue The Shelta Thar is not Ro-
many. and although il bears marks of q Celtic
origin il seems to be an entirely distinct dia-
leet from the old Irish. the Welsh. or the Gaelic.
That il is not jargon. but a true language. il
attested by the fact that 1t can be spoken
dramatically without any admixturc OF Ro.
many or English. The origin and history Of
this idiom is a problem which Il is reserved for
professional phlologists to solve. We venture to
offer a suggestion. viz. that the mechanical arts
practsed by tinkers are Just those in which the
Romanized Britons OF eastern and southern
Britain would have been decidedly superior to
their Jute. Angle. and Saxon invaders. and
their exercise by vagrant craftsmen Of British
stock would. from sheer necessity have been
tolerated by the Teutonic conouerors. We
know that the same crafts were practised by
the Romanized Celts of northern Gaul after
their country had been overrun By the Franks.
That the forms Of the Celtic language spoken
by the Britons OF Kent and OF the country be-
tween the Thames and the Humber differed
materially from one another and from the dia-
lects employed in the west and north of the
island is we'll established. and this fact might
account for the marked differences between the
Shelta Thar and the Welsh or the Gaelic.
NJ. W. H.