GYPSIES, or Egyptians, a strange kind of commonwealth of wandering impostors and jugglers, who made their first appearance in Germany about the beginning of the sixteenth century. Munster, it is true, who is followed and relied upon by Spelman, fixes the time of their first appearance in the year 1417; but as he owns that the first time he ever saw them was in 1529, it is probably an error of the press for 1517; especially as other historians inform us,thatwhen Sultan Selim conquered Egypt intheyear 1517, several of the natives refused to submit to the Turkish yoke, and revolted under one Zinganeus, whence the Turks call them Zinganees; but being at length surrounded and banished, they agreed to disperse in small parties all over the world, where their supposed skill in the black art gave them an universal reception in that age of superstition and credulity. In the space of a very few years they gained such a number of idle proselytes (who imitated their language and complexion, and betook themselves to the same arts of chiromancy, begging, and pilfering), that they became troublesome, and even formidable, to most of the states of Europe. Hence they were expelled from France in the year 1560, and from Spain in the year 1591. But the government of England took the alarm much earlier; for in 1530 they are described by statute 22 Henry VIII. c. 10, as “an outlandish people calling themselves Egyptians, using no craft nor feat of merchandise, who have come into this realm, and gone from shire to shire, and place to place, in great companies, and used great, subtle, and crafty means to deceive the people; bearing them in hand that they by paloustry could tell men’s and women’s fortunes; and so many times by craft and subtility have deceived the people of their money, and also have committed many heinous felonies and robberies.” They are, therefore, directed to avoid the realm, and not to return under pain of imprisonment, and forfeiture of their goods and chattels; and it is further declared, that upon their trials for any felony which they may have committed, they shall not be entitled to a jury de medictate linguoe. And afterwards it was enacted, by statutes 1st and 2d Philip and Mary, c. 4, and 5th Eliz. c. 20, that if any such persons shall be imported into the kingdom, the importer shall forfeit L.40. And if the Egyptians themselves remain one month in the kingdom, or if any person being fourteen years old, whether natural-born subject or stranger, who has been seen or found in the fellowship of such Egyptians, or having disguised him or herself like them, shall remain in the same one month at one or several times, it is felony without benefit of clergy. And Sir Mathew Hale informs us, that at one Suffolk assizes no less than thirteen persons were executed upon these statutes a few years before the restoration. But, to the honour of our national humanity, there are no instances more modern than this of carrying these laws into practice; and the last sanguinary act itself was repealed by 23 Geo. III. c. 54.

In Scotland they seem to have enjoyed some share of indulgence; for a writ of privy seal, dated in 1594, supports John Faw, lord and carl of Little Egypt, in the execution of justice on his company and folk, conform to the laws of Egypt, and in punishing certain persons therein named who had rebelled, robbed him, absconded, and refused to return home. James’s subjects are commanded to assist in apprehending the fugitives, and in assisting Faw and his adherents to return home. There is another writ in his favour from Mary queen of Scots, 1553, and in 1554 he obtained a pardon for the murder of Nunan Small; so that it appears he had remained long in Scotland, and perhaps spent some time in England. From him this kind of strolling people received the name of the Faw Gang, which they still retain among the common people.

A very circumstantial account of this singular race has been given in a German treatise by Grellman, which has been translated into English by Mr Raper, and published in a quarto volume. It is incredible to think how this regular swarm of banditti has spread itself over the face of the earth. They wander about in Asia, and in the interior parts of Africa, and have overrun most of the European nations. In the reigns of Henry VIII. and Queen Elizabeth, they were set up as a mark of general persecution in England; yet their numbers do not appear to have much diminished in consequence. They are scattered, though not in great numbers, throughout Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and Russia; but their chief population is in the south-east parts of Europe. For nearly four centuries they have wandered through the world; and in every region, and amongst every people, whether barbarous or civilized, they have continued equally unchanged by the lapse of time, the variety of climate, or the force of example. Their singular physiognomy and particular manners are the same in every country. Their swarthy complexion receives no darker shade from the burning sun of Africa, nor any fairer tincture from the temperate climes of Europe; they contract no additional laziness in Spain, nor acquire any new industry[7:11:98] in England; in Turkey they behold the mosque and the crescent with the same indifference as they do the Catholic and the Reformed church in Europe. In the neighbourhood of civilized life they continue barbarous; and, beholding around them cities and settled inhabitants, they live in tents or holes in the earth, and wander from place to place as fugitives and vagabonds.

They are passionately fond of ornaments, in which however they consult neither propriety nor consistency; for they will wear an old laced coat, whilst the rest of their garments scarcely hang together. In Hungary and Transylvania their summer habitations are tents; their winter residences holes dug ten or twelve feet deep in the earth, except such as keep inns or exercise trades. They are fond of plate, particularly silver cups, which they bury under the hearth for security. Their principal occupations are, smith’s-work, or tinkering, wooden ware, and horse-dealing; and in Hungary and Transylvania they are executioners of criminals, flayers of dead beasts, and washers of gold. The women deal in old clothes, prostitution, wanton dances, and fortune-telling. Notwithstanding these occupations, the majority of this people are lazy, beggars, and thieves. They bring up their children to their own professions, and are very fond of them.

The gypsies have, at least in Transylvania, a sort of regular government, rather nominal than real or effective. They have their leaders of chiefs, whom they distinguish by the Sclavonian title waywode. To this dignity every person is eligible who is of a family descended from a former waywode; but the preference is generally given to those who have the best clothes and the most wealth, or who are of a large stature, and not past the meridian of life. Of religion, however, they have no sense; though, with their usual cunning and hypocrisy, they profess the established faith of every country in which they live. They also speak the languages of the respective countries, yet have a language of their own, though whence derived authors are by no means agreed. It seems to be a sort of lingua franca, formed out of fragments and corruptions of many tongues. The only science which they have attained is music. Their poetry is ungrammatical and indecent rhyme.

The origin of this people, as we have seen, has been generally believed to be Egyptian; and that belief is as old as their existence in Europe. This theory, however, according to Grellman, is without foundation. The Egyptian descent of these people, he thinks, is not only destitute of proofs, but the most positive evidence is found to contradict it. Their language differs entirely from the Coptic; and their customs are very different from those of the Egyptians. They are indeed to be found in Egypt; but they wander about there as strangers, and form a distinct people, as in other countries. The expressions of Bellonius are strong and decisive: “No part of the world, I believe, is free from those banditti, wandering about in troops, whom we by mistake call Egyptians and Bohemians. When we were at Cairo, and in the villages bordering on the Nile, we found troops of these strolling thieves sitting under palm trees; and they are esteemed foreigners in Egypt as well as among us.”

The Egyptian descent of the gypsies being rejected, our author next endeavours to show that they came originally from Hindustan. The same opinion is maintained by Mr Marsden, in a paper on this subject in the seventh volume of the Archaeologia. Mr Grellman does not insist on the similarity of colour between the two people, nor on the cowardice common to both, nor on the attachment of the Indians to tents, or letting their children go naked, all these being traits to be met with in other nations; but he dwells on the word Polgar, the name of one of the first gypsy leaders, and of the Hindustance god of marriage; also on the correspondence between the travelling smiths among the two people, who carry two pairs of bellows, the Indian’s boy blowing them in India, the wife or child of the gypsy in Europe; as if every travelling tinker, in every nation where tinkers travel, had not the same journeymen. In lascivious dances and chiromancy the two people agree; nor are these uncommon in other parts of the globe. The excessive loquacity of both is produced as another coincidence; as if no other nations in the world were loquacious. The fainter resemblances are, a fondness for saffron, and the intermarrying only with their own people. The last position in the author’s theory is, that the gypsies are of the lowest class of Indians, namely, Pariahs, or, as they are called in Hindustan, Sudras. He compares the manners of this class with those of the gypsies, and enumerates many circumstances in which they agree; but some of the comparisons are frivolous, and prove nothing.

The objections, however, to which this learned author’s theory is liable, are such as only show that it is not conclusive, but do not prove that it is wrong. It may possibly be right; and upon this supposition the cause of their emigration from their country, he conjectures, not without probability, may have been the war of Timour Beg in India. In the years 1408 and 1409 this conqueror ravaged India; and the progress of his arms was attended with horrid devastation and cruelty. All who offered resistance were destroyed; and those who fell into the enemy’s hands were made slaves, of whom, however, one hundred thousand were put to death. As on this occasion an universal panic took place, what could be more natural than that a great number of terrified inhabitants should endeavour to save themselves by flight? In the last place, the author endeavours to trace the route by which the gypsies came from Hindustan to Europe; but here he franκly acknowledges that all that can be said on the subject is mere surmise.