{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_19852/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_19852","id":"gutenberg_19852","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19852","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: History - British","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Sociology","Romanies -- England"],"text":"Transcribed from the 1831 edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org\n\n\n\n\n\n                          THE GIPSIES' ADVOCATE;\n                                   OR,\n                               OBSERVATIONS\n                                  ON THE\n                  ORIGIN, CHARACTER, MANNERS, AND HABITS\n                                    OF\n                           The English Gipsies:\n\n\n                           TO WHICH ARE ADDED,\n                       MANY INTERESTING ANECDOTES,\n                                  ON THE\n              SUCCESS THAT HAS ATTENDED THE PLANS OF SEVERAL\n                  BENEVOLENT INDIVIDUALS, WHO ANXIOUSLY\n                     DESIRE THEIR CONVERSION TO GOD.\n\n                             BY JAMES CRABB,\n\n                    AUTHOR OF \"THE PENITENT MAGDALEN.\"\n\n     \"The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost.\"\n           \"Let that mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus.\"\n\n                                 LONDON:\n\n    SEELEY, FLEET STREET; WESTLEY AND DAVIS, AVE-MARIA-LANE; HATCHARD,\n   PICCADILLY; LINDSAY AND CO., SOUTH STREET, ANDREW STREET, EDINBURGH;\n         COLLINS, GLASGOW; WAKEMAN, DUBLIN, WILSON AND SON, YORK.\n\n                                  1831.\n\n                  BAKER AND SON, PRINTERS, SOUTHAMPTON.\n\n                                    TO\n                         THE JUDGES, MAGISTRATES,\n                                   AND\n                           Ministers of Christ,\n                                  AS THE\n              ORGANS OF PUBLIC JUSTICE, AND REVEALED TRUTH,\n                          THE GIPSIES' ADVOCATE\n                                 IS MOST\n                   RESPECTFULLY AND SINCERELY DEDICATED\n                                    BY\n                               THE AUTHOR.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nThe Author of the following pages has been urged by numerous friends, and\nmore particularly by his own conscience, to present to the Christian\nPublic a brief account of the people called Gipsies, now wandering in\nBritain.  This, to many readers, may appear inexpedient; as Grellman and\nHoyland have written largely on this neglected part of the human family.\nBut it should be recollected, that there are thousands of respectable and\nintelligent christians, who never have read, and never may read either of\nthe above authors.  The writer of the present work is partly indebted for\nthe sympathies he feels, and which he wishes to awaken in others toward\nthese miserable wanderers, to various authors who have written on them,\nbut more particularly to Grellman and Hoyland, who, in addition to the\nfacts which came under their own immediate notice, have published the\nobservations of travellers and others interested in the history of this\npeople.  A list of these authors may be seen in the Appendix.\n\nBut his knowledge of this people does not entirely depend on the\ntestimony of others, having had the opportunity of closely examining for\nhimself their habits and character in familiar visits to their tents, and\nby allowing his door to be free of access to all those encamped near\nSouthampton, when they have needed his help and advice.  Thus has he\ngained a general knowledge of their vicious habits, their comparative\nvirtues, and their unhappy modes of life, which he hopes the following\npages will fully prove, and be the means of placing their character in\nthe light of truth, and of correcting various mistakes respecting them,\nwhich have given rise to many unjust and injurious prejudices against\nthem.\n\nThe Author could have enlarged the present work very considerably, had he\ndetailed all the facts with which he is well acquainted.\n\nHis object, however, was to furnish a work which should be concise and\ncheap, that he might be the means of exciting among his countrymen an\nenergetic benevolence toward this despised people; for it cannot be\ndenied that many thousands of them have never given the condition of the\nGipsies a single thought.\n\nSuch a work is now presented to the public.  Whether the author has\nsucceeded, will be best known to those persons who have the most correct\nand extensive information relative to the unhappy race in question.\nShould he be the honoured instrument of exciting in any breasts the same\nfeelings of pity, mercy, love and zeal for these poor English heathens,\nas is felt and carried into useful plans for the heathens abroad, by\nchristians of all denominations; he will then be certain that, by the\nblessing of the Redeemer, the confidence of the Gipsies will be gained,\nand, that they will be led to that Saviour, who has said, _Whosoever\ncometh unto me_, _I will in no wise cast him out_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. I.  On the Origin of the Gipsies.\n\n\nOf the Origin of these wanderers of the human race, the learned are not\nagreed; for we have no authentic records of their first emigrations.\nSome suppose them to be the descendants of Israel, and many others, that\nthey are of Egyptian origin.  But the evidence adduced in confirmation of\nthese opinions appears very inconclusive.  We cannot discover more than\nfifty Hebrew words in the language they speak, and they have not a\nceremony peculiar to the Hebrew nation.  They have not a word of Coptic,\nand but few of Persian derivation.  And they are deemed as strangers in\nEgypt at the present time.  They are now found in many countries of\nEurope, Asia, and Africa, in all of which they speak a language _peculiar\nto themselves_.  On the continent of America alone are there none of them\nfound.  Grellman informs us that there were great numbers in Lorraine,\nand that they dwelt in its forests, before the French Revolution of 1790.\nHe supposes that there are no less than 700,000 in the world, and that\nthe greatest numbers are found in Europe.  Throughout the countries they\ninhabit, they have kept themselves a distinct race of people in every\npossible way.\n\nThey never visit the Norman Isles; and it is said by the natives of\nIreland, that their numbers are small in that country.  Hoyland informs\nus, that many counties in Scotland are free of them, while they wander\nabout in other districts of that country, as in England.  He has also\ninformed us, sec. 6, of a colony which resides during the winter months\nat Kirk Yetholm in the county of Roxburgh. {10}\n\nSir Thomas Brown, in his work entitled \"VULGAR ERRORS,\" says, that they\nwere seen first in Germany, in the year 1409.  In 1418, they were found\nin Switzerland; and in 1422, in Italy.  They appeared in France, on the\n17th August, 1427.  It is remarkable that, when they first came into\nEurope, they were black, and that the women were still blacker than the\nmen.  From Grellman we learn, that \"in Hungary, there are 50,000; in\nSpain, 60,000; and that they are innumerable in Constantinople.\"\n\nIt appears from the statute of the 22nd of Henry VIII, made against this\npeople, that they must at that time have been in England some years, and\nmust have increased much in number, and in crime.  In the 27th of that\nreign, a law was made against the importation of such persons, subjecting\nthe importer to 40_l_ penalty.  In that reign also they were considered\nso dangerous to the morals and comfort of the country, that many of them\nwere sent back to Calais.  Yet in the reign of Elizabeth, they were\nestimated at 10,000. {11a}\n\nDr Walsh says, that the Gipsies in Turkey, like the Jews, are\ndistinguishable by indelible personal marks, dark eyes, brown complexion,\nand black hair; and by unalterable moral qualities, an aversion to\nlabour, and a propensity to petty thefts. {11b}\n\nThe celebrated traveller, Dr Daniel Clarke, speaks of great numbers of\nGipsies in Persia, who are much encouraged by the Tartars.  Formerly, and\nparticularly on the Continent, they had their counts, lords, and dukes;\nbut these were titles without either power or riches.\n\nThe English Gipsies were formerly accustomed to denominate an aged man\nand woman among them, as their king and queen; but this is a political\ndistinction which has not been recognized by them for many years.\n\nIf we suppose the Gipsies to have been heathens before they came into\nthis country, their separation from pagan degradation and cruelty, has\nbeen attended with many advantages to themselves.  They have seen neither\nthe superstitions of idolatry, nor the unnatural cruelties of heathenism.\nThey are not destitute of those sympathies and attachments which would\nadorn the most polished circles.  In demonstration of this, we have only\nto make ourselves acquainted with the fervour and tenderness of their\nconjugal, parental, and filial sensibilities,--and the great care they\ntake of all who are aged, infirm, and blind, among them.  Were these\nhighly interesting qualities sanctified by pure religion, they would\nexhibit much of the beauty and loveliness of the christian character.  I\nam aware that an opinion is general, that they are cruel to their\nchildren; but it may be questioned if ebullitions of passion are more\nfrequent among them, in reference to their children, than among other\nclasses of society; and when these ebullitions, which are not lasting,\nare over--their conduct toward their children is most affectionate.  The\nattachment of Gipsy children to their parents is equally vivid and\nadmirable; it grows with their years, and strengthens even as their\nconnections increase. {12}  And indeed the affection that sisters and\nbrothers have one for the other is very great.  A short time since, the\nlittle sister of a Gipsy youth seventeen years of age, was taken ill with\na fever, when his mind became exceedingly distressed, and he gave way to\nexcessive grief and weeping.\n\nThose who suppose these wanderers of mankind to be of Hindostanee or\nSuder origin, have much the best proof on their side.  A real Gipsy has a\ncountenance, eye, mouth, hands, ancle, and quickness of manners, strongly\nindicative of Hindoo origin.  This is more particularly the case with the\nfemales.  Nor is the above mere assertion.  The testimony of the most\nintelligent travellers, many of whom have long resided in India, fully\nsupports this opinion.  And, indeed, persons who have not travelled on\nthe Asiatic Continent, but who have seen natives of Hindostan, have been\nsurprised at the similarity of manners and features existing between them\nand the Gipsies.  The Author of this work once met with a Hindoo woman,\nand was astonished at the great resemblance she bore in countenance and\nmanners to the female Gipsy of his own country.\n\nThe Hindoo Suder delights in horses, tinkering, music, and fortune\ntelling; so does the Gipsy.  The Suder tribes of the same part of the\nAsiatic Continent, are wanderers, dwelling chiefly in wretched mud-huts.\nWhen they remove from one place to another, they carry with them their\nscanty property.  The English Gipsies imitate these erratic tribes in\nthis particular.  They wander from place to place, and carry their small\ntents with them, which consist of a few bent sticks, and a blanket. {14}\nThe Suders in the East eat the flesh of nearly every unclean creature;\nnor are they careful that the flesh of such creatures should not be\nputrid.  How exactly do the Gipsies imitate them in this abhorrent choice\nof food!  They have been in the habit of eating many kinds of brutes, not\neven excepting dogs and cats; and when pressed by hunger, have sought\nafter the most putrid carrion.  It has been a common saying among\nthem--_that which God kills_, _is better than that killed by man_.  But\nof late years, with a few exceptions, they have much improved in this\nrespect; for they now eat neither dogs nor cats, and but seldom seek\nafter carrion.  But in winter they will dress and eat snails, hedge-hogs,\nand other creatures not generally dressed for food.\n\nBut the strongest evidence of their Hindoo origin is the great\nresemblance their own language bears to the Hindostanee.  The following\nVocabulary is taken from Grellman, Hoyland, and Captain Richardson.  The\nfirst of these respectable authors declares, that twelve out of thirty\nwords of the Gipsies' language, are either purely Hindostanee, or nearly\nrelated to it.\n\nThe following list of words are among those which bear the greatest\nresemblance to that language.\n\n_Gipsy_.                _Hindostanee_.          _English_.\nIck, Ek,                Ek,                     One.\nDuj, Doj,               Du,                     Two.\nTrin, Tri,              Tin,                    Three.\nSchtar, Star,           Tschar,                 Four.\nPantsch, Pansch,        Pansch,                 Five.\nTschowe, Sshow,         Tscho,                  Six.\nEfta,                   Hefta, Sat,             Seven.\nOchto,                  Aute,                   Eight.\nDesch, Des,             Des,                    Ten.\nBisch, Bis,             Bis                     Twenty.\nDiwes,                  Diw,                    Day.\nRatti,                  Ratch,                  Night.\nCham, Cam,              Tschanct                The sun.\nPanj,                   Panj,                   Water.\nSonnikey,               Suna,                   Gold.\nRup,                    Ruppa,                  Silver.\nBal,                    Bal,                    The hair.\nAok,                    Awk,                    The eye.\nKan,                    Kawn,                   The ear.\nMui,                    Mu,                     The mouth.\nDant,                   Dant,                   A tooth.\nSunjo,                  Sunnj,                  The hearing.\nSunj,                   Sunkh,                  The smell.\nSik,                    Tschik,                 The taste.\nTschater,               Tschater,               A tent.\nRajah,                  Raja,                   The prince.\nBaro,                   Bura,                   Great.\nKalo,                   Kala,                   Black.\nGrea,                   Gorra,                  Horse.\nKer,                    Gurr,                   House.\nPawnee,                 Paniee,                 Brook, drink, water.\nBebee,                  Beebe,                  Aunt.\nBouropanee,             Bura-panee,             Ocean, wave.\nRattie,                 Rat,                    Dark night,\nDad,                    Dada,                   Father.\nMutchee,                Muchee,                 Fish.\n\nThis language, called by themselves Slang, or Gibberish, invented, as\nthey think, by their forefathers for secret purposes, is not merely the\nlanguage of _one_, or a _few _of these wandering tribes, which are found\nin the European Nations; but is adopted by the vast numbers who inhabit\nthe earth.\n\nOne of our reformed Gipsies, while in the army, was with his regiment at\nPortsmouth, and being on garrison duty with an invalid soldier, he was\nsurprised to hear some words of the Gipsy language unintentionally\nuttered by him, who was a German.  On enquiring how he understood this\nlanguage, the German replied, that he was of Gipsy origin, and that it\nwas spoken by this race in every part of his native land, for purposes of\nsecrecy. {16}\n\nA well known nobleman, who had resided many years in India, taking\nshelter under a tree during a storm in this country, near a camp of\nGipsies, was astonished to hear them use several words he well knew were\nHindostanee; and going up to them, he found them able to converse with\nhim in that language.\n\nNot long ago, a Missionary from India, who was well acquainted with the\nlanguage of Hindostan, was at the Author's house when a Gipsy was\npresent; and, after a conversation which he had with her, he declared,\nthat, her people must once have known the Hindostanee language _well_.\nIndeed Gipsies have often expressed surprise when words have been read to\nthem out of the Hindostanee vocabulary.\n\nLord Teignmouth once said to a young Gipsy woman in Hindostanee, _Tue\nburra tschur_, that is, _Thou a great thief_.  She immediately replied;\nNo--_I am not a thief_--_I live by fortune telling_.\n\nIt can be no matter of surprise that this language, as spoken among this\npeople, is generally corrupted, when we consider, that, for many\ncenturies, they have known nothing of elementary science, and have been\nstrangers to books and letters.  Perhaps the secrecy necessary to effect\nmany of their designs, has been the greatest means of preserving its\nscanty remains among them.  But an attempt to prove that they are _not_\nof Hindoo origin, because they do not speak the Hindostanee with perfect\ncorrectness, would be as absurd as to declare, that, our Gipsies are not\nnatives of England, because they speak very incorrect English.  The few\nwords that follow, and which occurred in some conversations the Author\nhad with the most intelligent of the Gipsies he has met, prove how\nincorrectly they speak _our_ language; and yet it would be worse than\nfolly to attempt to prove that they are not natives of England.\n\nExpencival _for_ expensive.\n\nCide _for_ decide.\n\nDevice _for_ advice.\n\nDixen _for_ dictionary. {18}\n\nEalfully _for_ equally.\n\nIndistructed _for_ instructed.\n\nGemmem _for_ gentleman.\n\nDauntment _for_ daunted.\n\nSpiteliness _for_ spitefulness.\n\nHawcus Paccus _for_ Habeas Corpus.\n\nIncreach _for_ increase.\n\nCommist _for_ submit.\n\nBrand, in his observations on POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, is of opinion that the\nfirst Gipsies fled from Asia, when the cruel Timur Beg ravaged India,\nwith a view to proselyte the heathen to the Mohammedan religion; at which\ntime about 500,000 human beings were butchered by him.  Some suppose,\nthat, soon after this time, many who escaped the sword of this human\nfury, came into Europe through Egypt; and on this account were called, in\nEnglish, GIPSIES.\n\nAlthough there is not the least reason whatever to suppose the Gipsies to\nhave had an Egyptian origin, and although, as we have asserted in a\nformer page, they are strangers in that land of wonders to the present\nday; yet it appears possible to me, that Egypt may have had something to\ndo with their present appellation.  And allowing that the supposition is\nwell founded, which ascribes to them a passage through Egypt into\nEuropean nations, it is very likely they found their way to that place\nunder the following circumstances.\n\nIn the years 1408 and 1409, Timur Beg ravaged India, to make, as has\nalready been observed, proselytes to the Mohammedan delusion, when he put\nhundreds of thousands of its inhabitants to the sword.  It is very\nrational to suppose, that numbers of those who had the happiness not to\nbe overtaken by an army so dreadful, on account of the cruelties it\nperpetrated, should save their lives by flying from their native land, to\nbecome wandering strangers in another.  Now if we assert that the Gipsies\nwere of the Suder cast of Asiatic Indians, and that they found their way\nfrom Hindostan into other and remote countries when Timur Beg spread\naround him terrors so dreadful, it is natural to ask, why did not some of\nthe other casts of India accompany them?  This objection has no weight at\nall when we consider the hatred and contempt poured upon the Suder by all\nthe other casts of India.  The Bramins, Tschechteries, and Beis, were as\nsafe, though menaced with destruction by Timur Beg, as they would have\nbeen along with the Suder tribes, seeking a retreat from their enemy in\nlands where he would not be likely to follow them.  Besides, the other\ncasts, from time immemorial, have looked on their country as especially\ngiven them of God; and they would as soon have suffered death, as leave\nit.  The Suders had not these prepossessions for their native soil.  They\nwere a degraded people--a people looked on as the lowest of the human\nrace; and, with an army seeking their destruction, they had every motive\nto leave, and none to stay in Hindostan.\n\nIt cannot be determined by what track the forefathers of the Gipsies\nfound their way from Hindostan to the countries of Europe.  But it may be\npresumed that they passed over the southern Persian deserts of Sigiston,\nMakran and Kirman, along the Persian Gulph to the mouth of the Euphrates,\nthence to Bassora into the deserts of Arabia, and thence into Egypt by\nthe Isthmus of Suez.\n\nIt is a fact not unworthy a place in these remarks on the origin of this\npeople, that they do not like to be called Gipsies, unless by those\npersons whom they have reason to consider their real friends.  This\nprobably arises from two causes of great distress to them--_Gipsies are\nsuspected and hated as the perpetrators of all crime_--_and they are\nalmost universally prosecuted as vagrants_.  Is it to be wondered at,\nthat to strangers, they do not like to acknowledge themselves as Gipsies?\nI think not.\n\nWe will conclude our remarks on the origin of these erratic sons of Adam,\nby adding the testimony of Col. Herriot, read before the Royal Asiatic\nSociety, Sir George Staunton in the chair.  That gentleman, giving an\naccount of the Zingaree of India, says, that this class of people are\nfrequently met with in that part of Hindostan which is watered by the\nGanges, as well as the Malwa, Guzerat, and the Decan: they are called\nNath, or Benia; the first term signifying a _rogue_--and the second a\n_dancer_, or _tumbler_.  And the same gentleman cites various authorities\nin demonstration of the resemblance between these Gipsies and their\nneglected brethren in Europe.  Nor does he think that the English Gipsies\nare so degraded as is generally supposed; in support of which he mentions\nsome instances of good feeling displayed by them under his own\nobservation, while in Hampshire.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. II.  Observations on the Character, Manners, and Habits of the\nEnglish Gipsies.\n\n\nThe origin of this people is by no means of so much importance as the\nknowledge of their present character, manners and habits, with the view\nto the devising of proper plans for the improvement of their condition,\nand their conversion to christianity: for to any one who desires to love\nhis neigbour as himself, their origin will be but a secondary\nconsideration.\n\nFifty years ago the Gipsies had their regular journeys, and often\nremained one or two months in a place, when they worked at their trades.\nAnd as access to different towns was more difficult than at the present\nday, partly from the badness of the roads and partly from the paucity of\ncarriers, they were considered by the peasantry, and by small farmers, of\nwhom there were great numbers in those days, as very useful branches of\nthe human family; I mean the industrious and better part of them.  At\nthat period they usually encamped in the farmers' fields, or slept in\ntheir barns; and not being subject to the _driving system_, as they now\nare, they seldom robbed hedges; for their fires were replenished with\ndead-wood procured, without any risk of fines or imprisonments, from\ndecayed trees and wooded banks.  And it is proper to suppose, that, at\nsuch a time, their outrages and depredations were very few.\n\nIt has already been stated that the Gipsies are very numerous, amounting\nto about 700,000.  It is supposed that there are about 18,000 in this\nkingdom.  But be they less or more, we ought never to forget--that they\nare branches of the same family with ourselves--that they are capable of\nbeing fitted for all the duties and enjoyments of life--and, what is\nbetter than all, that they are redeemed by the same Saviour, may partake\nof the same salvation, and be prepared for the same state of immortal\nbliss, from whence flows to the universal church of Christ, that peace\nwhich the world cannot take from her.  Their condition, therefore, at\nonce commands our sympathies, energies, prayers, and benevolence.\n\nGipsies in general are of a tawny or brown colour; but this is not wholly\nhereditary.  The chief cause is probably the lowness of their habits; for\nthey very seldom wash their persons, or the clothes they wear, their\nlinen excepted.  Their alternate exposures to cold and heat, and the\nsmoke surrounding their small camps, perpetually tend to increase those\ncharacteristics of complexion and feature by which they are at present\ndistinguishable.\n\nIt is not often that a Gipsy is seen well-dressed, even when they possess\ncostly apparel; but their women are fond of finery.  They are much\ndelighted with broad lace, large ear-drops, a variety of rings, and\nglaring colours; and, when they possess the means, shew how great a share\nthey have of that foolish vanity, which is said to be inherent in\nfemales, and which leads many, destitute of the faith, and hope, and\nlove, and humility of the gospel, into utter ruin.\n\nA remarkable instance of the love of costly attire in a female Gipsy, is\nwell known to the writer.  The woman alluded to, obtained _a very large\nsum of money_ from three maiden ladies, pledging that it should be\ndoubled by her art in conjuration.  She then decamped to another\ndistrict, where she bought a blood-horse, a black beaver hat, a new\nside-saddle and bridle, a silver-mounted whip, and figured away in her\nill-obtained finery at the fairs.  It is not easy to imagine the\ndisappointment and resentment of the covetous and credulous ladies, whom\nshe had so easily duped.\n\nNor indeed are the males of this people less addicted to the love of gay\nclothing, if it suited their interests to exhibit it.  An orphan, only\nten years of age, taken from actual starvation last winter, and who was\nfed and clothed, and had every care taken of him, would not remain with\nthose who wished him well, and who had been his friends; but returned to\nthe camp from which he had been taken, saying, that he _would be a\nGipsy_, _and would wear silver buttons on his coat_, _and have topped\nboots_; and when asked how he would get them, he replied--_by catching\nrats_.\n\nSome Gipsies try to excel others in the possession of silver buttons.\nThey will sometimes give as much as fifteen pounds for a set.  The\nfemales too spend many pounds on weighty gold rings for their fingers.\nThe Author has by him, belonging to a Gipsy, three massy rings soldered\ntogether, and with a half sovereign on the top, which serves instead of a\nbrilliant stone.  We pity a vain Gipsy whose eyes are taken, and whose\nheart delights in such vulgar pomp.  Are not those equally pitiable, who\nestimate themselves only by the gaiety, singularity, or costliness of\ntheir apparel?  The Saviour has given us a rule by which we may judge\npersons in reference to their dress, as well as in other ostensibilities\nof character--_by their fruits ye shall know them_.\n\nThe Gipsies are not strangers to pawn-brokers shops; but they do not\nvisit these places for the same purposes as the vitiated poor of our\ntrading towns.  A pawnshop is their bank.  When they acquire property\nillegally, as by stealing, swindling, or fortune-telling, they purchase\nvaluable plate, and sometimes in the same hour pledge it for safety.\nSuch property they have in store against days of adversity and trouble,\nwhich on account of their dishonest habits, often overtake them.  Should\none of their families stand before a Judge of his country, charged with a\ncrime which is likely to cost him his life, or to transport him, every\narticle of value is sacrificed to save him from death, or apprehended\nbanishment.  In such cases they generally retain a Counsellor to plead\nfor the brother in adversity.\n\nAt other times they carry their plate about with them, and when visited\nby friends, they bring out from dirty bags, a silver tea-pot, and a\ncream-jug and spoons of the same metal.  Their plate is by no means\npaltry.  Of course considerable property in plate is not very generally\npossessed by them.\n\nThe Gipsies of this country are very punctual in paying their debts.  All\nthe Shop-keepers, with whom they deal in these parts, have declared, that\nthey are some of their best and most honest customers.  For the payment\nof a debt which is owing to one of their own people, the time and place\nare appointed by them, and should the debtor disappoint the creditor, he\nis liable by their law of honour to pay double the amount he owes; and he\nmust pay it by personal servitude, if he cannot with money, if he wish to\nbe considered by his friends honest and respectable.  They call this law\n_pizharris_.\n\nThere are few of these unhappy people that can either read or write.  Yet\na regular and frequent correspondence is kept up between the members of\nfamilies who have had the least advantage of the sort; and those who have\nhad no advantages whatever, correspond through the kindness of friends\nwho write for them.  Numerous are the letters which they receive from\ntheir relatives in New South Wales, to which Colony so many hundreds of\nthis unsettled race have been transported.  Their letters are usually\nleft at one particular post-office, in the districts where they travel;\nand should such letters not be called for during a long period, they are\nusually kept by the post-master, who is sure they will be claimed, sooner\nor later.  A long journey will be no impediment, when a letter is\nexpected; for a Gipsy will travel any distance to obtain an expected\nfavour of the kind.  They are never heard to complain of the heavy\nexpense of postage.\n\nWe have already observed that there are many genuine features of humanity\nin the character of this degraded and despised people.  Their constantly\nretaining an affectionate remembrance of their deceased relatives,\naffords a striking proof of this statement.  And their attachment to the\nhorse, donkey, rings, snuffbox, silver-spoons, and all things, except the\nclothes, of the deceased relatives, is very strong.  With such articles\nthey will never part, except in the greatest distress; and then they only\npledge some of them, which are redeemed as soon as they possess the\nmeans.\n\nMost families visit the graves of their near relatives, once in the year;\ngenerally about the time of Christmas.  Then the depository of the dead\nbecomes a rallying spot for the living; for there they renew their\nattachments and sympathies, and give and receive assurances of continued\ngood will.  At such periods however they are too often addicted to\nfeasting and intemperance.\n\nThe graves of the deceased of this people, are usually kept in very good\norder in the various Church yards where they lie interred.  This is done\nby the Sextons, for which they are annually remunerated.  Sometimes large\nsums of money are expended on the erection of head-stones; and in one\ninstance a monument was erected in the County of Wilts at considerable\ncost.  It is not very long since, that the parents of a deceased Gipsy\nchild, whom they loved very much, paid a great sum to have it buried in\nthe Church.\n\nThe Gipsies have a singular custom of burning all the clothes belonging\nto any one among them deceased, with the straw, litter, &c, of his tent.\nWhether this be from fear of infection, or from superstition, the Author\nhas not been able to learn.  Perhaps both unite in the continuation of a\ncustom which must be attended with some loss to them. {28}\n\nSeldom do these mysterious sons and daughters of Adam unite themselves in\nthe holy obligations of marriage, after the form of the Established\nChurch of our land.  Nor, indeed, for so sacred a union, have they _any\nceremony at all_.  The parents on each side are consulted on such\noccasions, and if their consent be obtained, the parties become, after\ntheir custom, _husband and wife_.  Should the parents object, like the\nthoughtless and imprudent persons in higher life, who flee to Gretna\nGreen, the Gipsy lovers also escape from their parents to another\ndistrict.  When the couple are again met by the friends of the female,\nthey take her from her protector; but if it appear that he has treated\nher kindly, and is likely to continue to do so, they restore her to him,\nand all objections and animosities are forgotten.\n\nAs it seldom happens that they now stay more than a few days in one\nplace, the Gipsy, his wife, and each of their children, may severally\nbelong to different parishes.  This is an objection to their ultimate\nsettlement in any one place.  It will be some time before this objection\ncan be removed: not till the present generation of Gipsies has passed\naway, and their posterity cease to make the wilderness their homes,\nchoosing a parish for a permanent place of settlement.\n\nIt may naturally be expected that these inhabitants of the field and\nforest, the lane and the moor, are not without a knowledge of the\nmedicinal qualities of certain herbs.  In all slight disorders they have\nrecourse to these remedies, and frequently use the inner bark of the elm,\nstar-in-the-earth, parsley, pellitory-in-the-wall, and wormwood.  They\nare not subject to the numerous disorders and fevers common in large\ntowns; but in some instances they are visited with that dreadful scourge\nof the British nation, the Typhus fever, which spreads through their\nlittle camp, and becomes fatal to some of its families.  The small-pox\nand measles are disorders they very much dread; but they are not more\ndisposed to rheumatic affections than those who live in houses.  It is a\nfact, however, that ought not to be passed over here, that when they\nleave their tents to settle in towns, they are generally ill for a time.\nThe children of one family that wintered with us in 1831, were nearly all\nattacked with fever that threatened their lives.  This may be occasioned\nby their taking all at once to regular habits, and the renunciation of\nthat exercise to which they have been so long accustomed, with some\ndisposing qualities in their change of diet and the atmosphere of a\nthickly populated town.\n\nThis people often live to a considerable age, many instances of which are\nwell known.  In his tent at Launton, Oxfordshire, died in the year 1830,\nmore than a hundred years of age, James Smith, called by some, the King\nof the Gipsies.  By his tribe he was looked up to with the greatest\nrespect and veneration.  His remains were followed to the grave by his\nwidow, who is herself more than a hundred years old, and by many of his\nchildren, grand-children, great grand-children, and other relatives; and\nby several individuals of other tribes.  At the funeral his widow tore\nher hair, uttered the most frantic exclamations, and begged to be allowed\nto throw herself on the coffin, that she might be buried with her\nhusband.  The religion of the Redeemer would have taught her to say, _The\nLord gave_, _and the Lord hath taken away_; _blessed be the name of the\nLord_.\n\nA woman of the name of B--- lived to the reputed age of a hundred and\ntwenty years, and up to that age was accustomed to sing her song very\ngaily.  Many events in the life of this woman were very remarkable.  In\nher youth she was a noted swindler.  At one time she got a large sum of\nmoney, and other valuable effects, from a lady; for which and other\noffences, she was condemned to die.  A petition was presented to George\nthe Third, to use the Gipsy's own expression, who told the author, _just\nafter he had set __up business_, that is, begun to reign, and he attended\nto its prayer.  The sentence was reversed, and her life was consequently\nspared.  But, poor woman, she repented not of her sins; for she taught\nher daughter to commit the same crimes for which she had been condemned;\nso that her delivery from condemnation led to no salutary reformation.\n\nThe mutual attachment which subsists between the nominal husband and\nwife, is so truly sincere, that instances of infidelity, on either side,\noccur but seldom.  They are known strictly to avoid all conversation of\nan unchaste kind in their camps, except among the most degraded of them;\nand instances of young females having children, before they pledge\nthemselves to those they love, are rare.  This purity of morals, among a\npeople living as they do, speaks much in their favour.\n\nThe anxiety of a Gipsy parent to preserve the purity of the morals of a\ndaughter, is strongly portrayed in the following fact.  The author wished\nto engage as a servant the daughter of a Gipsy who was desirous of\nquitting her vagrant life; but her mother strongly objected for some\ntime; and when pressed for the reason of such objection, she named the\ndanger she would be in a town, far from a mother's eye.  It would be well\nif all others felt for their children as did this unlettered Gipsy.\nAfter having promised that the morals of the child should be watched\nover, she was confided to his care.  And the author has known a Gipsy\nparent correct with stripes a grown daughter, for mentioning what a\nprofligate person had talked about.\n\nThe following is an instance of conjugal attachment.  A poor woman, whose\neldest child is now under the care of the Society for the improvement of\nthe Gipsies, being near her confinement, came into the neighbourhood of\nSouthampton, to be with her friends, who are reformed, during the time.\nThis not taking place so soon as she expected, and having promised to\nmeet her husband at a distance on a certain day, he not daring to shew\nhimself in Hampshire, she determined on going to him; and having mounted\nher donkey, set off with her little family.  She had a distance of nearly\nfifty miles to travel, and happily reached the desired spot, where she\nmet her husband before her confinement took place.  The good people at\nWarminster, near which place she was, afforded her kind and needful\nassistance; and one well-disposed lady became God-mother to the babe, who\nwas a fine little girl; the grateful mother pledging that, at a proper\nage, she should be given up to Christians to be educated.\n\nBefore this woman left Southampton, referring to many kind attentions\nshewn her by the charitable of that place, she was heard to say,\n_Well_--_I did not think any one would take such trouble for me_!\n\nProfessing to be church people whenever they speak of religion, the\nGipsies generally have their children baptized at the church near which\nthey are born, partly because they think it right, and partly, perhaps\nchiefly, to secure the knowledge of the parish to which the child\nbelongs; for every illegitimate child is parishioner in the parish in\nwhich it happens to be born.  They will sometimes apply to the parish\nofficers for something toward the support of a child, which they call\n_settling the baby_.\n\nThe sponsors at baptism are generally branches of the same family, and\nthey speak of their God-children with pleasure, who in return manifest a\nhigh feeling of respect for them, and superstitiously ask their blessing\non old Christmas-days, when in company with them.  It is worthy of remark\nthat all the better sort of Gipsies teach their children the LORD'S\nPRAYER.\n\nThe anxiety evidenced by some parish officers to prevent these families\nfrom settling in their districts, has occasionally led the Gipsies to act\nunjustifiably by menacing them with the settlement of a number of their\nfamilies; but this, from their perpetual wandering, need never be feared.\nHappy would it be for the Gipsies as a people, if these civil officers\ndid encourage them to stay longer in their neighbourhood; for they then\nmight be induced to commence and persevere in honest, industrious and\nregular habits.  Not long ago thirty-five Gipsies came to a parish in\nHampshire, to which they belonged, and demanded of the overseers ten\npounds, declaring that, if that sum were not given them, they would\nremain there.  Seven pounds were advanced, and they soon left the place.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. III.  The Character, Manners and Habits of the English Gipsies,\ncontinued.\n\n\nFrom the mode of living among the Gipsies, the parents are often\nnecessitated to leave their tents in the morning, and seldom return to\nthem before night.  Their children are then left in or about their\nsolitary camps, having many times no adult with them; the elder children\nthen have the care of the younger.  Those who are old enough gather wood\nfor fuel; nor is stealing it thought a crime.  By the culpable neglect of\nthe parents in this respect, the children are often exposed to accidents\nby fire; and melancholy instances of children being burnt and scalded to\ndeath, are not unfrequent.  The author knows one poor woman, two of whose\nchildren have thus lost their lives, during her absence from her tent, at\ndifferent periods: and very lately a child was scalded to death in the\nparish where the author writes.\n\nThe Gipsies are not very regular in attending to the calls of appetite\nand hunger.  Their principal meal is supper, and their food is supplied\nin proportion to the success they have had through the day; or, to use\ntheir own words, _the luck they have met with_.\n\nLike the poor of the land through which they wander, they are fond of\ntea, drinking it at every meal.  When times are hard with them, they use\nEnglish herbs, of which they generally carry a stock, such as agrimony,\nground-ivy, wild mint, and the root of a herb called spice-herb.\n\nThe trades they follow are generally chair-mending, knife-grinding,\ntinkering, and basket-making, the wood for which they mostly steal.  Some\nof them sell hardware, brushes, corks, &c.; but in general, neither old\nnor young among them, do much that can be called labour.  And it is\nlamentable that the greatest part of the little they do earn, is laid by\nto spend at their festivals; for like many tribes of uncivilized Indians,\nthey mostly make their women support their families, who generally do it\nby swindling and fortune-telling.  Their baskets introduce them to the\nservants of families, of whom they beg victuals, to whom they sell\ntrifling wares, and tell their fortunes, which indeed is their principal\naim, as it is their greatest source of gain.  They have been awkwardly\nfixed, both servants and the Gipsy fortune-teller, when the lady of the\nhouse has unexpectedly gone into the kitchen and surprised them while\nthus employed; and sometimes, to avoid detection, the obnoxious party has\nbeen hurried into a closet, or butler's pantry, where there has been much\nplate.  Few are aware of the losses that have attended the conduct of\nunprincipled servants in this, as in other respects.  It may be hoped\nthat few families would knowingly look over conduct so improper, so\ndangerous.\n\nMany of these idle soothsayers endeavour to persuade the people whom they\ndelude, that the power to foretell future events, is granted to them from\nheaven, to enable them to get bread for their families.  It would be well\nwere the prognostications of these women encouraged only among servants;\nbut this is not the case.  They are often invited into gay and\nfashionable circles, whom they amuse, if, by the information possessed by\nthe parties, they are not cunning enough to deceive.  They are well paid,\nand are thus encouraged in their iniquity by those who ought to know, and\n_teach them_ better.  But it is astonishing how many _respectable_ people\nare led away with the artful flattery of such visitors.  They forget that\nthe Gipsy fortune-teller has often made herself acquainted with their\nconnexions, business, and future prospects, and consider not that God\ncommits not his secrets to the wicked and profane.  They use not the\nreason heaven has given them, and are therefore more easily led astray by\nthese crafty deceivers.\n\nThey generally prophesy good.  Knowing the readiest way to deceive, to a\nyoung lady they describe a handsome gentleman, as one she may be assured\nwill be her \"husband.\"  To a youth they promise a pretty lady, with a\nlarge fortune.  And thus suiting their deluding speeches to the age,\ncircumstances, anticipations and prospects of those who employ them, they\nseldom fail to please their vanity, and often gain a rich reward for\ntheir fraud.\n\nThey suit their incantations, or their pretended means of gaining\nknowledge, to their employers.  Two female servants went into the camp of\nsome Gipsies near Southampton, to have their fortunes told by one well\nknown to the author, and a great professor of the art.  On observing them\nto appear like persons in service, she said to a companion, _I shall not\nget my books or cards for them_; _they are but tenants_.  And calling for\na frying-pan, she ordered them to fill it with water, and hold their\nfaces over it.  This being done, she proceeded to flatter and to promise\nthem great things, for which she was paid 1_s_ 6_d_ each.  This is called\nthe frying-pan fortune.  But it ought to be remembered that all\nfortune-telling is quite as contemptible.\n\nThese artful pretenders to a knowledge of future events, generally\ndiscover who are in possession of property; and if they be superstitious\nand covetous, they contrive to persuade them there is a lucky stone in\ntheir house, and that, if they will entrust to them, _all_, or a _part of\ntheir money_, they will double and treble it.  Sorry is the author to say\nthat they often gain their point.  Tradesmen have been known to sell\ntheir goods at a considerable loss, hoping to have the money doubled to\nthem by the supposed power of these wicked females, who daringly promise\nto multiply the blessings of Providence.\n\nIf the fortune-teller cannot succeed in obtaining a large sum at first,\nfrom such credulous dupes, she commences with a small one; and then\npretending it to be too insignificant for the planets to work upon, she\nsoon gets it doubled, and when she has succeeded in getting all she can,\nshe decamps with her booty, leaving her mortified victims to the just\npunishment of disappointment and shame, who are afraid of making their\nlosses known, lest they should be exposed to the ridicule they deserve.\nParties in Gloucestershire, Dorsetshire, and Hampshire, have been robbed\nin this manner of considerable sums, even as much as three and four\nhundred pounds, the greatest part of which has been spent in Hampshire.\n\nA young lady in Gloucestershire allowed herself to be deluded by a Gipsy\nwoman of artful and insinuating address, to a very great extent.  This\nlady admired a young gentleman, and the Gipsy promised that he would\nreturn her love.  The lady gave her all the plate in the house, and a\ngold chain and locket, with no other security than a vain promise that\nthey should be restored at a given period.  As might be expected, the\nwicked woman was soon off with her booty, and the lady was obliged to\nexpose her folly.  The property being too much to lose, the woman was\npursued, and overtaken.  She was found washing her clothes in a Gipsy\ncamp, with the gold chain about her neck.  She was taken up; but on\nrestoring the articles, was allowed to escape.\n\nThe same woman afterwards persuaded a gentleman's groom, that she could\nput him in possession of a great sum of money, if he would first deposit\nwith her, all he then had.  He gave her five pounds and his watch, and\nborrowed for her ten more of two of his friends.  She engaged to meet him\nat midnight in a certain place a mile from the town where he lived, and\nthat he there should dig up out of the ground a silver pot full of gold,\ncovered with a clean napkin.  He went with his pick-axe and shovel at the\nappointed time to the supposed lucky spot, having his confidence\nstrengthened by a dream he happened to have about money, which he\nconsidered a favourable omen of the wealth he was soon to receive.  Of\ncourse he met no Gipsy; she had fled another way with the property she\nhad so wickedly obtained.  While waiting her arrival, a hare started\nsuddenly from its resting place, and so alarmed him, that he as suddenly\ntook to his heels and made no stop till he reached his master's house,\nwhere he awoke his fellow servants and told to them his disaster.\n\nThis woman, who made so many dupes, rode a good horse, and dressed both\ngaily and expensively.  One of her saddles cost 30 pounds.  It was\nliterally studded with silver; for she carried on it the emblems of her\nprofession wrought in that metal; namely, a half-moon, seven stars, and\nthe rising sun.  Poor woman! _her_ sun is now nearly set.  Her sins have\nfound her out.  She has been in great distress on account of a son, who\nwas transported for robbery; but has never thought of seeking, as a\npenitent, refuge in the God of mercy; for seeing one of her reformed\ncompanions reading the New Testament, she exclaimed, _That book will make\nyou crazy_, at the same time calling her a fool for burning her\nfortune-telling book.  Her condition is now truly wretched; for her\nill-gotten gains are all fled, and she is dragging out a miserable\nexistence, refusing still to seek the mercy of God, and despising those\nwho have made him their refuge.\n\nAnother woman, whom the author would also call a _bad_ Gipsy, who\nlikewise practised similar deceptions, having persuaded a person to put\nhis notes and money in a wrapper and lock it up in a box, she obtained\nthe liberty of seeing it in his presence, that she might pronounce\ncertain words over it; and although narrowly watched, she contrived to\nsteal it, and to convey into the box a parcel similar in appearance, but\nwhich on examination, contained only a bundle of rubbish.  This money\namounted to several hundred pounds.  She was immediately pursued and\ntaken with the whole amount about her person.  She was also allowed to\nescape justice, because the covetous old man neither wished to expose\nhimself, nor waste his money in a prosecution.\n\nThe daughter of this woman has followed the same evil and infamous\npractices; and the crime has descended to her through several\ngenerations.  Many circumstances like the above are hid to prevent the\nshame that would assuredly follow their exposure.  But the day of Christ\nwill exhibit both these deceivers and their dupes, who are equally\nheinous in the sight of God.  It were well if such characters had paid\nmore attention to the words of the apostle Paul--_And having food and\nraiment_, _let us therewith be content_.  _They that will be rich_, _fall\ninto temptation_, _and a snare_, _and into many foolish and hurtful\nlusts_, _which drown men in destruction_.  _The love of money is the root\nof all __evil_; _which_, _while some have coveted after_, _they have\nerred from the faith_, _and pierced themselves through with many\nsorrows_.\n\nNot to mention many other facts with which the author is acquainted, and\nwhich he would relate, were he not likely thereby too much to enlarge his\nwork, he will conclude this chapter with observing, that, thankfulness to\nAlmighty God, for the blessings we enjoy, less anxiety about future\nevents, and more confidence in what God has revealed in his word and\nprovidence, would leave no room for the encouragement of Gipsy\nfortune-tellers, and their craft would soon be discontinued.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. IV.  The Character, Manners, and Habits of the English Gipsies,\ncontinued.\n\n\nAmong this poor and destitute people, instances of great guilt, depravity\nand misery are too common; nor can it be otherwise expected, while they\nare destitute of the knowledge of salvation in a crucified and ascended\nSaviour.  One poor Gipsy, who had wandered in a state of wretchedness,\nbordering on despair, for nearly forty years, had not in all that time,\n_heard of the Name which is above every name_; _for there is salvation in\nno other_; till in his last days some Christian directed him to the\nBible, as a book that tells poor sinners the way to God.  He gave a woman\na guinea to read its pages to him; and he remunerated another woman, who\nread to him the book of Common Prayer.  The last few years of his life\nwere marked by strong conviction of sin.  His children thought he must\nhave been a murderer.  They often saw him under the hedges at prayer.  In\nhis last moments he received comfort through a pious minister, who\nvisited him in his tent, and made him acquainted with the promises of the\ngospel.\n\nA similar instance has been related by a clergyman known to the author;\nnor should the interview of GEORGE THE THIRD with a poor Gipsy woman, be\nforgotten; for a brighter example of condescending kindness is not\nfurnished in the history of kings.  This gracious monarch became the\nminister of instruction and comfort to a dying Gipsy, to whom he was\ndrawn by the cries of her children, and saw her expire cheered by the\nview of that redemption he had set before her.\n\nBut how few are there of the tens of thousands of Gipsies, who have died\nin Britain, that, whether living or dying, have been visited by the\nminister or his people!  The father of three orphan children lately taken\nunder the Care of the Southampton Committee for the improvement of the\nGipsies, had lived an atheist, but such he could not die.  He had often\ndeclared there was no God; but before his death, he called one of his\nsons to him and said--_I have always said there was no God_, _but now I\nknow there is_; _I see him now_.  He attempted to pray, but knew not how!\nAnd many other Gipsies have been so afraid of God, that they dreaded to\nbe alone.\n\nIt is a fact not generally known, that the Gipsies of this country have\nnot much knowledge of one another's tribes, or clans, and are very\nparticular to keep to their own.  Nor will those who style themselves\nrespectable, allow their children to marry into the more depraved clans.\n\nThe following are a few of the family names of the Gipsies of this\ncountry:--Williams, Jones, Plunkett, Cooper, Glover, Carew (descendants\nof the famous Bamfield Moore Carew), Loversedge, Mansfield, Martin,\nLight, Lee, Barnett, Boswell, Carter, Buckland, Lovell, Corrie, Bosvill,\nEyres, Smalls, Draper, Fletcher, Taylor, Broadway, Baker, Smith, Buckly,\nBlewett, Scamp, and Stanley.  Of the last-named family there are more\nthan two hundred, most of whom are known to the author, and are the most\nancient clans in this part of England.\n\nIt is a well-authenticated fact, that many persons pass for Gipsies who\nare not.  Such persons having done something to exclude them from\nsociety, join themselves to this people, and marrying into their clans,\nbecome the means of leading them to crimes they would not have thought\nof, but for their connection with such wicked people.  Coining money and\nforging notes are, however, crimes which cannot be justly attributed to\nthem.  Indeed it has been too much the custom to impute to them a great\nnumber of crimes of which they either never were guilty, or which could\nonly be committed by an inconsiderable portion of their race; and they\nhave often suffered the penalty of the law, when they have not in the\nleast deserved it.  They have been talked of by the public, and\nprosecuted by the authorities, as the perpetrators of every vice and\nwickedness alike shocking to civil and savage life.  Nor is this to be\nwondered at, living as they do, so remote from observation and the walks\nof common life.\n\nWhoever has read Grellman's Dissertation on the Continental Gipsies, and\nsupposes that those of England are equally immoral and vicious, will be\nfound greatly mistaken.  The former are a banditti of robbers, without\nnatural affection, living with each other almost like brutes, and\nscarcely knowing, and assuredly never caring about the existence of God;\nsome of them are even counted cannibals.  The Gipsies of this country are\naltogether different; for monstrous crimes are seldom heard of among\nthem.\n\nThe author is not aware of any of them being convicted of house-breaking,\nor high-way robbery.  Seldom are they guilty of sheep-stealing, or\nrobbing henroosts. {45}  Nor can they be justly charged with stealing\nchildren; this is the work of worthless beggars who often commit far\ngreater crimes than the Gipsies.\n\nThey avoid poaching, knowing that the sporting gentlemen would be severe\nagainst them, and that they would not be permitted to remain in the lanes\nand commons near villages.  They sometimes take osiers from the banks and\ncoppices of the farmer, of which they make their baskets; and\noccasionally have been known to steal a sheep, but never when they have\nhad any thing to eat, or money to buy it with; for according to a proverb\nthey have among themselves, _they despise those who risk their necks for\ntheir bellies_.\n\nThe author however recollects a transgression of the sort in the county\nof Hants.  Eight Gipsy men united in stealing four sheep: four were\nchosen by lot for the purpose.  They sharpened their knives, rode to the\nfield, perpetrated the act, and before day-break brought to their camp\nthe sheep they had engaged to steal; and, before the evening of the same\nday, they were thirty miles distant.  But when pressed by hunger, they\nhave been known to take a worse method than this.  For as the farmers\nseldom deny them a sheep that has died in the field, if they apply for\nit, _so many_ were found dead in this way, that a certain farmer\nsuspected the Gipsies of occasioning their deaths.  He therefore caused\none of these animals to be opened, and discovered a piece of wool in its\nthroat, with which it had been suffocated.  The Gipsies, who had no\nobjection to creatures that die in their blood, had killed all these\nsheep in the above manner.\n\nHorse-stealing is one of their principal crimes, and at this they are\nvery dextrous.  When disposed to steal a horse, they select one a few\nmiles from their tent, and make arrangements for disposing of it at a\nconsiderable distance, to which place they will convey it in a night.  An\nold and infirm man has been known to ride a stolen horse nearly fifty\nmiles in that time.  They pass through bye-lanes, well known to them, and\nthus avoid turnpikes and escape detection.\n\nUnless they are taught better principles than at present they possess,\nand unless those on whom they impose, use their understandings, it is to\nbe feared that swindling also will long continue among them; for they are\nso ingenious in avoiding detection.  When likely to be discovered, a\nchange of dress enables them to remove with safety to any distance.\nInstances of this kind have been innumerable.  But as it is the aim of\nthis book to solicit a better feeling towards them, rather than expose\nthem to the continuation of censure, the writer will not enter into\nfurther detail in reference to their crimes, than barely to shew the\ngreat evils into which they have been led by many of those in high life,\nwho have long encouraged them in the savage practice of prize-fighting.\nPugilism has been the disgrace of our land, and our nobility and gentry\nhave not been ashamed to patronize it.\n\nNot long ago a fight took place in this county which will be a lasting\ndisgrace to the neighbourhood.  One of the pugilists, a Gipsy, in the\npride of his heart, said during the fight, that he _never would be beaten\nso long as he had life_.  The poor wretch fought till not a feature of\nhis countenance could be seen, his head and face being swollen to a\nfrightful size, and his eyes quite closed.  He attempted to tear them\nopen that he might see his antagonist; and was at last taken off the\nstage.  Not satisfied with this brutal scene, the spectators offered a\npurse of ten guineas for another battle.  This golden bait caught the eye\nof another Gipsy, who, but a few months before, had ruptured a\nblood-vessel in fighting.  Throwing up his hat on the stage, the sign of\nchallenge, he was soon met with a fellow as degraded as himself, but with\nmuch more strength and activity.  He was three times laid prostrate at\nthe feet of his antagonist, and was taken away almost lifeless.  His\nconqueror put a half-crown into his hand as he was carried off, saying,\nit was a little something for him to drink.  About three months after\nthis, the author saw this poor Gipsy in his tent, in the last stage of a\nconsumption; but he was without any marks of true penitence.  Surely the\nway of wickedness is full of misery!\n\nWhat a disgrace is this demoralizing mode of amusement to our country!\nDegrading to the greatest degree, it is nevertheless pursued with avidity\nby all classes of people; and large bets are often depending on these\nbrutal exercises.  Gentlemen, noblemen, and even ladies, are, on such\noccasions, mixed with the most degraded part of the community.  In the\ninstance referred to it is said, that fifty pounds were taken by\nadmitting carriages into the field in which the fight took place.  Where\nwere the peace-officers at this time?  Perhaps some of them spectators of\nthe horrid scene!\n\nVerily our men of rank and fortune are guilty in encouraging these\nshocking practices; and they are little better than murderers, who goad\ntheir fellow-men on to fight by the offer of money.  Such persons are\nfrequently instruments of sending sinners, the most unprepared, into the\npresence of a righteous God.  What an account will they have to give when\nthey meet the victims of their amusement at the bar of Christ!\n\nThe Gipsies often fight with each other at fairs, and other places where\nthey meet in great numbers.  This is their way of settling old grudges;\nbut so soon as one yields, the quarrel is made up, and they repair to a\npublic house to renew their friendship.  This forgiving spirit is a\npleasing trait in their character.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. V.  Further Account of the English Gipsies.\n\n\nIt has been the lot of Gipsies in all countries to be despised,\npersecuted, hated, and have the vilest things said about them.  In many\ncases they have too much merited the odium which they have experienced in\ncontinental Europe; but certainly they are not deserving of universal and\nunqualified contempt and hatred in this nation.  The dislike they have to\nrule and order has led many of them to maim themselves by cutting off a\nfinger, that they might not serve in either the army or the navy: and I\nbelieve there is one instance known, of some Gipsies murdering a witness\nwho was to appear against some of their people for horse-stealing: the\npersons who were guilty of the deed have been summoned to the bar of\nChrist, and in their last moments exclaimed with horror and despair,\n\"Murder, murder.\"  But these circumstances do not stamp their race\nwithout exception as infamous monsters in wickedness.  Not many years\nsince several of their men were hung in different places for stealing\nfourteen horses near Bristol, who experienced the truth of that\nscripture, _be sure your sins will find you out_.  Indeed there is not a\nfamily among them that has not to mourn over the loss of some relative\nfor the commission of this crime.  But even in this respect their guilt\nhas been much over-rated; for in many cases it is to be feared they have\nsuffered innocently.  There was formerly a reward of 40_l_ to those who\ngave information of offenders, on their being capitally convicted.  Those\nof the lower orders, therefore, who were destitute of principle, had a\ngreat temptation before them to swear falsely in reference to Gipsies;\nand of which it is known they sometimes availed themselves, knowing that\nfew would befriend them.  For the sake of the above sum, vulgarly, but\ntoo justly called _blood-money_, they perjured themselves, and were much\nmore wicked than the people they accused.  But the Gipsies were thought\nto be universally depraved, and no one thought it worth his while to\ninvestigate their innocence.  Let us be thankful that many at the present\nday look upon them with better feelings.\n\nVery lately one of these vile informers swore to having seen a Gipsy man\non a horse that had been stolen; and although it came out on the trial,\nthat it was night when he observed him, and that he had never seen him\nbefore, which ought to have rendered his evidence invalid, the prisoner\nwas convicted and condemned to die.  His life was afterwards spared by\nother facts having been discovered and made known to the judge, after he\nhad left the city.\n\nThe Gipsies in this country have for centuries been accused of\nchild-stealing; and therefore it is not to be wondered at, that, when\nchildren have been missing, the Gipsies should be taxed with having\nstolen them.  About thirty years since, some parents who had lost a\nchild, applied to a man at Portsmouth, well known in those days, by the\nname of Payne, or Pine, as an astrologer, wishing to know from him what\nwas become of it.  He told them _to search the Gipsy tents for twenty\nmiles round_.  The distressed parents employed constables, who made\ndiligent search in every direction to that distance, but to no purpose;\nthe child was not to be found in their camps.  It was however soon\nafterwards discovered, drowned in one of its father's pits, who was a\ntanner.  Thus was this pretended astrologer exposed to the ridicule of\nthose who but a short time before foolishly looked on him as an oracle.\n\nOn another occasion the same accusation was brought against the Gipsies,\nand proved to be false.  The child of a widow at Portsmouth was lost, and\nafter every search was made on board the ships in the harbour, and at\nSpithead, and the ponds dragged in the neighbourhood, to no effect, it\nwas concluded that the Gipsies had stolen him.  The boy was found a few\nyears afterwards, at Kingston-upon-Thames, apprenticed to a chimney\nsweeper.  He had been enticed away by a person who had given him\nsweet-meats; but not by a Gipsy.\n\nI may be allowed here to say a word about this boy's mother.  She was a\ngood and pious woman, and had known great trials.  Her husband was\ndrowned in her presence but a short time before she lost her son in the\nmysterious way mentioned; and before he was heard of, she was removed to\nthe enjoyment of a better world.  Her death was a very happy one, for it\ntook place while she was engaged in public worship.  _Many are the\nafflictions of the righteous_, _but the Lord delivereth them out of them\nall_.\n\nInstances have been known of house-breakers leaving some of their stolen\ngoods near the tents of the Gipsies; and these being picked up by the\nchildren, and found upon them, have been the cause of much unjust\nsuffering among them.  The grandfather of three little orphans now under\nthe care of the Southampton Committee, was charged with stealing a horse,\nand was condemned and executed; although the farmer of whom he bought it,\ncame forward and swore to the horse being the same which he had sold him.\nHis evidence was rejected on account of some slight mistake in the\ndescription he gave of it.  When under the gallows, the frantic Gipsy\nexclaimed--_Oh God_, _if thou dost not deliver me_, _I will not believe\nthere is a God_!\n\nThe following anecdote will prove the frequent oppression of this people.\nNot many years since, a collector of taxes in a country town, said he had\nbeen robbed of fifty pounds by a Gipsy; and being soon after at Blandford\nin Dorsetshire, he fixed on a female Gipsy, as the person who robbed him\nin company with two others, and said she was in man's clothes at the\ntime.  They were taken up and kept in custody for some days; and had not\na farmer voluntarily come forward, and proved that they were many miles\ndistant when the robbery was said to be perpetrated, they would have been\ntried for their lives, and probably hanged.  The woman was the wife of\nWm. Stanley, (who was in custody with her,) who now reads the Scriptures\nin the Gipsy tents near Southampton.  Their wicked accuser was afterwards\nconvicted of a crime for which he was condemned to die, when he confessed\nthat he had not been robbed at the time referred to, but had himself\nspent the whole of the sum in question.\n\nAnother Gipsy of the name of Stanley was lately indicted at Winchester,\nfor house-breaking, and had not his friends at great expense proved an\n_alibi_, it is likely he might have been executed.  And in this way have\nthey been suspected and persecuted ever since the days of Henry the\nEighth.  They have been hunted like wild beasts; their property has been\ntaken from them; themselves have been frequently imprisoned, and in many\ncases their lives taken, or what to many of them would be much worse,\nthey have been transported to another part of the world, for ever divided\nfrom their families and friends.\n\nIn the days of Judge Hale, thirteen of these unhappy beings were hanged\nat Bury St Edmonds, for no other cause than that they were Gipsies; and\nat that time it was death without benefit of clergy, for any one to live\namong them for a month.  Even in later days two of the most industrious\nof this people have had a small pony and two donkeys taken away merely on\nsuspicion that they were stolen.  They were apprehended and carried\nbefore a magistrate, to whom they proved that the animals were their own,\nand that they had legally obtained them.  The cattle were then pounded\nfor trespassing on the common, and if their oppressed owners had not had\nmoney to defray the expenses, one of the animals must have been sold for\nthat purpose.\n\nNot long ago, one of the Gipsies was suspected of having stolen lead from\na gentleman's house.  His cart was searched, but no lead being found in\nhis possession, he was imprisoned for three months, for living under the\nhedges as a vagrant; and his horse, which was worth thirteen pounds, was\nsold to meet the demands of the constables.  And another Gipsy, who had\ntwo horses in his possession, was suspected of having stolen them, but he\nproved that they were legally his property.  He was committed for three\nmonths as a vagrant, and one of his horses was sold to defray the\nexpenses of his apprehension, examination, &c.\n\nWhile writing this part of the GIPSIES' ADVOCATE, the author knows that a\npoor, aged, industrious woman, with whom he has been long acquainted, had\nher donkey taken from her, and that a man with four witnesses swore that\nit was his property.  The poor woman told a simple, artless tale to the\nmagistrates, and was not fully committed.  She was allowed two days to\nbring forward the person of whom she bought it.  Conscious of her\ninnocence, she was willing to risk a prison if she could recover her\ndonkey, and establish her character.  After a great deal of trouble and\nexpense in dispatching messengers to bring forward her witnesses, she\nsucceeded in obtaining them.  They had no sooner made their appearance\nthan the accuser and his witnesses fled, and left the donkey to the right\nowner, the poor, accused and injured woman.\n\nIt cannot be expected that oppression will ever reform this people, or\ncure them of their wandering habits.  Far more likely is it to confirm\nthem in their vagrant propensities.  And as their numbers do not\ndecrease, oppression will only render them the dread of one part of their\nfellow-creatures, while it will make them the objects of scorn and\nobloquy to others.\n\nIt is the earnest wish of the author that milder measures may be pursued\nin reference to the Gipsies.  To endeavour to improve their morals, and\ninstruct them in the principles of religion, will, under the divine\nblessing, turn to better account than the hateful and oppressive policy\nso long adopted.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. VI.  Further Account of the English Gipsies.\n\n\nMany persons are of opinion in reference to the Gipsies, that, if all the\nparishes were alike severe in forcing them from their retreats, they\nwould soon find their way into towns.  But if this were the case, what\nadvantage would they derive from it?  In large towns, in their present\nignorant and depraved state, would they not be still more wicked?  They\nwould change their condition only from bad to worse, unless they were\ntreated better than they now are, and could be properly employed; but\nfrom the prejudice that exists among all classes of men against them,\nthis is not likely to be the case: they would not be employed by any,\nwhile other persons could be got.  At a hop plantation, so lately as\n1830, Gipsies were not allowed to pick hops in some grounds, while\npersons as unsettled and undeserving, were engaged for that purpose.  Had\nthis been a parochial arrangement to benefit the poor of their own\nneighbourhood, who were out of employ, it were not blameable.\n\nIf they were driven to settle in towns, and could not, generally\nspeaking, obtain employment, it might soon become necessary to remove all\ntheir children to their own parishes; a measure not only very unhappy in\nitself, but one to which the Gipsies would never submit.  Sooner would\nthey die than suffer their children to go to the parish workhouses.\n\nThe severe and unchristian-like treatment they meet with from many, only\nobliges them to travel further, and often drives them to commit greater\ndepredations.  When driven by the constables from their station, they\nretire to a more solitary place in another parish, and there remain till\nthey are again detected, and again mercilessly driven away.  But this\nseverity does not accomplish the end it has in view; their numbers remain\nthe same, and they retain the same dislike to the crowded haunts of man.\nFor they only visit towns in small parties, offering trifling wares for\nsale, or telling fortunes; and this is done to gain a present support.\n\nIn this neighbourhood there was lately a sweeping of the commons and\nlanes of the Gipsy families.  Their horses and donkeys were driven off,\nand the sum of 3 pounds 5_s_ levied on them as a fine to pay the\nconstables for thus afflicting them.  In one tent during this distressing\naffair, there was found an unburied child, that had been scalded to\ndeath, its parents not having money to defray the expenses of its\ninterment.  The constables declared that it would make any heart ache to\nsee the anguish the poor people were in, when thus inhumanly driven from\ntheir resting places; but, said they, _We were obliged to do our duty_.\nTo the credit of these men, thirteen in number, it should be mentioned,\nthat, with only one exception, they returned the fines to the people; and\none of them, who is a carpenter, offered a coffin for the unburied child,\nshould the parish be unwilling to bury it.\n\nIn this instance of their affliction and grief, the propensity to accuse\nthese poor creatures was strongly marked by a report charging them with\nhaving dug a grave on the common in which to bury it; a circumstance very\nfar from their feelings and general habits.  The fact was, some person\nhad been digging holes in search of gravel, and these poor creatures\npitched their tent just by one of them.\n\nIt was supposed by many in this neighbourhood, that the poor wretches\nthus driven away, were gone out of the country; but this was not the\ncase.  They had only retired to more lonely places in smaller parties,\nand were all seen again a few days after at a neighbouring fair.  This\ncircumstance is sufficient to prove that they are not to be reclaimed by\nprosecutions and fines.  It is therefore high time the people of England\nshould adopt more merciful measures towards them in endeavouring to bring\nthem into a more civilized state.  The money spent in sustaining\nprosecutions against them, if properly applied, would accomplish this\ngreat and benevolent work.  And without flattering any of its members,\nthe author thinks the Committee at Southampton have discovered plans,\nwholly different to those usually adopted, which may prove much more\neffectual in accomplishing their reformation; for by these plans being\nput in prudent operation, many have already ceased to make the lanes and\ncommons their home; and their minds are becoming enlightened and their\ncharacters religious.\n\nIn concluding this chapter it may not be improper to remark, that, bad as\nmay be the character of any of our fellow-creatures, it is very\nlamentable that they should suffer for crimes of which individually they\nare not guilty.  Let us hope that, in reference to this people, unjust\nexecutions have ceased; that people will be careful in giving evidence\nwhich involves the rights, liberties, and lives of their\nfellow-creatures, though belonging to the unhappy tribes of Gipsies; and\nabove all, let us hope, that such measures will be pursued by the good\nand benevolent of this highly favoured land, as will place them in\nsituations where they will learn to fear God, and support themselves\nhonestly in the sight of all men.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. VII.  Of the formation of the Southampton Committee, and the\nsuccess that has attended its endeavours.\n\n\nAlthough the Gipsies, on account of their unsettled habits, their\ndisposition to evil practices, and that ignorance of true religion, which\nis inseparably connected with a life remote from all the forms of\nexternal worship, and from the influence of religious society, may be\nsaid to be in a most lamentably wretched state; yet is their condition\nnot desperate.  They are rational beings, and have many feelings\nhonourable to human nature.  They are not as the heathens of other\ncountries, addicted to any system of idolatry; and what is of infinite\nencouragement, they inhabit a land of Bibles and of Christian ministers;\nand, although at present, they derive so little benefit from these\nadvantages, there are many of them willing to receive instruction.  The\nfollowing details, to which I gladly turn, will shew that, when _patient_\nand _persevering_ means are used, Gipsies may be brought to know God; and\nno body of people were ever yet converted to Christianity without means.\nThe following circumstances gave rise to the idea of forming a society\nfor the improvement of this people.\n\nIn March, 1827, during the Lent Assizes, the author was in Winchester,\nand wishing to speak with the sheriff's chaplain, he went to the court\nfor that purpose.  He happened to enter just as the judge was passing\nsentence of death on two unhappy men.  To one he held out the hope of\nmercy; but to the other, _a poor Gipsy_, who was convicted of\nhorse-stealing, he said, _no hope could be given_.  The young man, for he\nwas but a youth, immediately fell on his knees, and with uplifted hands\nand eyes, apparently unconscious of any persons being present but the\njudge and himself, addressed him as follows: \"_Oh_! _my Lord_, _save my\nlife_!\"  The judge replied, \"_No_; _you can have no mercy in this world_:\n_I and my brother judges have come to the determination to execute\nhorse-stealers_, _especially Gipsies_, _because of the increase of the\ncrime_.\"  The suppliant, still on his knees, entreated--\"_Do_, _my Lord\nJudge_, _save my life_! _do_, _for God's sake_, _for my wife's sake_,\n_for my baby's sake_!\"  \"_No_,\" replied the judge, \"_I cannot_: _you\nshould have thought of your wife and children before_.\"  He then ordered\nhim to be taken away, and the poor fellow was _rudely dragged_ from his\nearthly judge.  It is hoped, as a penitent sinner, he obtained the more\nneedful mercy of God, through the abounding grace of Christ.  After this\nscene, the author could not remain in court.  As he returned, he found\nthe mournful intelligence had been communicated to some Gipsies who had\nbeen waiting without, anxious to learn the fate of their companion.  They\nseemed distracted.\n\nOn the outside of the court, seated on the ground, appeared an old woman,\nand a very young one, and with them two children, the eldest three years,\nand the other an infant but fourteen days old.  The former sat by its\nmother's side, alike unconscious of her bitter agonies, and of her\nfather's despair.  The old woman held the infant tenderly in her arms,\nand endeavoured to comfort its weeping mother, soon to be a widow under\ncircumstances the most melancholy.  _My dear_, _don't cry_, said she,\n_remember you have this dear little baby_.  Impelled by the sympathies of\npity and a sense of duty, the author spoke to them on the evil of sin,\nand expressed his hope that the melancholy event would prove a warning to\nthem, and to all their people.  The poor man was executed about a\nfortnight after his condemnation.\n\nThis sad scene, together with Hoyland's Survey of the Gipsies, which the\nauthor read about this time, combined to make a deep impression on his\nmind, and awaken an earnest desire which has never since decreased, to\nassist and improve this greatly neglected people.  The more he\ncontemplated their condition and necessities, the difficulties in the way\nof their reformation continued to lessen, and his hope of success, in\ncase any thing could be done for them, became more and more confirmed.\nHe could not forget the poor young widow whom he had seen in such deep\ndistress at Winchester, and was led to resolve, if he should meet her\nagain, to offer to provide for her children.\n\nSome weeks elapsed before he could hear any thing of her, till one day he\nsaw the old woman sitting on the ground at the entrance of Southampton,\nwith the widow's infant on her knee.  \"Where is your daughter?\" he\ninquired.  \"Sir,\" she replied, \"She is my niece; she is gone into the\ntown.\"  \"Will you desire her to call at my house?\"  \"I will, sir,\" said\nthe poor old woman, to whom the author gave his address.\n\nIn about an hour after this conversation, the widow and her aunt\nappeared.  After inviting them to sit down, he addressed the young woman\nthus:--\"My good woman, you are now a poor widow, and I wished to see you,\nto tell you that I would be your friend.  I will take your children, if\nyou will let me have them, and be a father to them, and educate them;\nand, when old enough to work, will have them taught some honest trade.\"\n\"Thank you, sir,\" said she; \"but I don't like to part with my children.\nThe chaplain at the prison offered to take my oldest, and to send her to\nLondon to be taken care of; but I could not often see her there.\"  I\nreplied, \"I commend you for not parting with her, unless you could\noccasionally see her; for I suppose you love your children dearly.\"  \"Oh!\nyes, sir,\" said the widow.  The old aunt also added, \"Our people set\ngreat store by their children.\"  \"Well,\" I replied, \"I do not wish you to\ndetermine on this business hastily; it is a weighty one.  You had better\ntake a fortnight for consideration, and then give me a second call.\"\n\nHow improbable did it then appear that this interview would ultimately\nlead to so much good to many of her people!  When the fortnight expired,\nthe widow and her aunt again appeared, when the following conversation\ntook place.  \"I am glad you are come again,\" said their friend.  \"Yes,\"\nreplied the widow, \"and I will now let you have my Betsy;\" and the aunt\nimmediately added, pointing to one of her grand-children, \"I will let you\nhave my little _deary_, if you will take care of her.  Her father,\"\ncontinued she, \"was condemned to die, but is transported for life, and\nher mother now lives with another man.\"  The proposal was readily\naccepted; and three days after, these two children were brought washed\nvery clean, and dressed in their best clothes.  It was promised the\nwomen, that they should see their children whenever they chose, and all\nparties were pleased.  The eldest of these children was six years of age;\nthe widow's little daughter, only three.  The first day they amused\nthemselves with running up and down stairs, and through the rooms of the\nhouse.  But when put to bed at night, they cried for two hours, saying\nthat the house would fall upon them.  They had never spent a day in a\nhouse before, and were at night like birds that had been decoyed, and\nthen robbed of their liberty.  A few kisses and some promises at length\nquieted them, and they went to sleep.\n\nAfter remaining with the author three days, they were removed to one of\nthe Infants' Schools, where they were often visited by the widow and her\naunt.  Soon after this the eldest girl was taken ill.  A medical\ngentleman attended her at the tent, a little way from the town, whither\nher grandmother had begged to remove her for change of air.  But the\nsickness of this child _was unto death_.  She was a lovely and\naffectionate girl, notwithstanding the disadvantages under which she had\nnecessarily laboured.  When on her bed, in the tent, suffering much pain,\nshe was asked by a gentleman, \"Although you love Mr Crabb so much, would\nyou rather live with him, or die, and go to Jesus?\"  She answered, \"I\nwould rather die and go to Jesus.\"  Her death very much affected her\ngrandmother.  She would not leave the corpse, which she often\naffectionately embraced, till persuaded she would endanger her own life.\nThis appeared a melancholy event to all who wished well to the Gipsies in\nthe neighbourhood of Southampton.  For the widow, fearing her child would\nbecome ill and die too, immediately removed her from the school.  And\nmany of the Gipsy people treated the women with great contempt, for\ngiving up their children; and the prospects of doing them lasting good,\nbecame very much beclouded.  It was however represented to them, that God\nwas doing all things for the best, and their spirits were soothed; and in\nconsequence, the little fatherless girl was again brought to the school.\n\nAfter this event, the women remained a considerable time in the\nneighbourhood, waiting to see if the little one, again given up to the\nauthor, would be kindly treated.  By this detention they were often\nbrought into the company of good people, whose kindness gained their\nconfidence.  They began to listen to invitations to settle in the town,\nand finally determined on doing so.  Even the _old_ woman, who had lived\nunder hedges for fifty years, and who had declared but a short time\nbefore, that she would not leave her tent for a palace, now gladly\noccupied a house; this greatly encouraged their friends, who well knew\nthat it was not a small sacrifice, for a Gipsy to give up what is thought\nby them to be their liberty.\n\nA short time before these women removed from under the hedges, the sister\nof the unhappy man who had been executed, came out of Dorsetshire with\nher three children, on her way to Surry, where she had been accustomed to\ngo to hop-picking.  Encamping under the same hedge with the widow and her\naunt, she was seen by the author in one of his visits to them.  He found\nthem one evening about six o'clock at dinner, and took his seat near\nthem; and while they were regaling themselves with broiled meat,\npotatoes, and tea, the following interesting conversation took place.\n\n\"Sir,\" said the widow, \"this is my sister and her children.\"  No one\ncould have introduced this woman and her little ones with more easy\nsimplicity than she did, while, by the smile on her swarthy countenance,\nshe exhibited real heartfelt pleasure.  \"I am glad to see you, my good\nwoman;\" said the author, \"are these your children?\"  \"Yes, sir,\" replied\nshe, very cheerfully.  \"And where are you going?\"  \"I am going into\nSurry, sir.\"  \"Have you not many difficulties to trouble you in your way\nof life?\"  \"Yes, sir,\" answered she.  The author continued, \"I wish you\nwould let me have your children to provide for and educate.\"  \"Not I,\nindeed,\" she replied sharply; \"others may part with their children, if\nthey like, but I will never part with mine.\"  \"Well, my good woman, the\noffer to educate them has done no harm: let me hope it will do good.  I\nwould have you recollect that you have now a proposal made you of\nbettering their present and future condition.  You and I must soon meet\nat the judgment-seat of Christ, to give an account of this meeting; and\nyou know that I can do better for your little ones than you can.\"  She\nwas silent.  The author then addressed these people and left the tents.\n\nThe next day he visited the camp again, when the widow woman said, \"Sir,\nmy sister was so _cut up_ (putting her hand to her heart), with what you\nsaid last night, that she could not eat any more, and declared she felt\nas she never had done before; and she has determined to come and live\nwith us at Michaelmas.\"  What was still better, in consequence of what\nwas said to this poor stranger, she did not go to the races, although she\nhad stopped near Southampton for that purpose.\n\nFrom this time endeavours were made to confirm the woman's intentions to\nstay at Southampton, and to place her children with the other.  She was\nasked, why she would not stay at Southampton then?  \"Why, to tell you the\ntruth,\" said she, \"for it's no use to tell a lie about that, I don't want\nto bring my children to you, like vagabonds; and as we shall earn a good\n_bit_ of money at hopping, I shall buy them some clothes; and then, if\nyou will take me a room at Michaelmas, I will surely return and live in\nSouthampton, and my children shall go to school; but I will never give\nthem up entirely.\"  She continued with her sister till the house which\nhad been taken for the latter was ready; during which time a gentleman\nfrom Ireland, then living near the encampment, had her children every day\nto his house, and taught them to read.  The remembrance of him will be\nprecious to them for ever.  She came on the day appointed, and her\nchildren were put to the Infants' School, where they have continued ever\nsince, clean and respectable, and very diligent in their learning.  They\noften explain the Scriptures to their mother.  One of them has long been\na monitor in the school.  May she continue a credit to the institution in\nwhich she has been so far educated.\n\nAlthough the mother of these children is not yet decidedly pious, she is\nvery much improved.  She is now able to read her Testament with tolerable\nease, takes great pleasure in receiving instruction, and we hope is\ndeeply impressed with the importance of personal religion.  She attends\npublic worship diligently, and loves Christians, whom she once hated.\nShe weeps with abhorrence over past crimes, and says she would rather\nhave her hands cut off, than do as she has done.  For more than twelve\nmonths after living at Southampton, she continued occasionally to tell\nfortunes for the gain it brought her.  But a remarkable dream led her to\nsee the wickedness of this practice; for it so terrified her that she\nrose from her bed, lighted a fire, and burnt the book in which she had\npretended to see the fortune of others.  Large sums of money had been\noffered her for this volume; but, though in extreme poverty, she\ndetermined to make any sacrifice, rather than enrich herself by its sale.\nShe dreamed that she was at the adult school, where she regularly\nattended, and, that while she was reading her Testament, it changed into\na book of divination, and she began to tell the fortune of the lady who\nwas teaching her; and while thus employed, she thought she heard awful\nthunderings, and the sound of trumpets; after which a tremendous tempest\nensued, during which she fancied herself in an extensive plain, exposed\nto all the fury of the storm.  She then thought the day of judgment was\ncome, and that she was summoned to render up her account.  She awoke in\ngreat terror, and as soon as she had a little recovered herself, arose\nand followed the example of those we read of in the Acts of the\nApostles:--_And many of them which also used curious arts_, _brought\ntheir books together_, _and burned them before all men_; _and they\ncounted the price of them_, _and found fifty thousand pieces silver_.\nActs xix. 19.\n\nWhen relating this dream to a lady, she was asked whether she had\nformerly been in the habit of seeking by any means, the aid of the devil,\nin order to know future events; it having been asserted that many of the\nGipsies had done so.  She informed the lady that she never had done so,\nand that she thought none of her people had any thing to do with him,\notherwise than by giving themselves up to do wickedly.  The devil tempted\nthem to do still worse; as those who neglect to seek to God for help,\nmust of course be under the power of the wicked one.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. VIII.  Of the plans pursued by the Southampton Committee, and the\nsuccess which has attended them, continued.\n\n\nSixteen reformed Gipsies are now living at Southampton, one of whom is\nthe aged Gipsy whose history has been published by a lady. {72}  There\nare also her brother and four of his children, her sister, who has been a\nwanderer for more than fifty years, and her daughter, three orphans, and\na boy who has been given up to the Committee by his mother, a woman and\nher three children, and the young woman before mentioned, who has, since\nher reformation, lost her two children by the measles.\n\nIn addition to those who have retired from a wandering life, and are\npursuing habits of honest industry, three other families, whose united\nnumber is sixteen, begged the privilege of wintering with us in the\nbeginning of 1831.  These Gipsies regularly attended divine service twice\non a Sunday, and on the work-day evenings the adults went to school to\nlearn to read.  The children were placed at one of the Infants' Schools.\nThe prospects of doing one of the families lasting good, are rather dark,\nas they are grown old and hardened in crime; but the condition of the\nothers is more encouraging.  The children, who would gladly have stayed\nlonger with us, were sickly; and it is apprehended, had not this been the\ncase, the parents would have continued longer, that they might have gone\nto school.  Two women, mother and daughter, in one family, are much\ninterested in the worship of God, and already begin to feel the value of\ntheir souls; and both regret that they are under the necessity of\nsubmitting to the arbitrary will of the father.  One of them declared\nthat she could never more act as a Gipsy, and with weeping eyes she said,\nthat, she feared she never should be pardoned, or saved.  When directed\nto go to Jesus, she replied, she knew not how to go to him.  In three\ndays they will leave us, and it will be a painful separation.  It was\nvery gratifying to the author to see so many Gipsies attend the house of\nGod, and he frequently recollected with pleasure, that promise of holy\nScripture, _For as the rain cometh down_, _and the snow from heaven_,\n_and returneth not thither_, _but watereth the earth_, _and maketh it\nbring forth and bud_, _that it may give seed to the sower_, _and bread to\nthe eater_: _so shall my word be that goeth forth of my mouth_: _it shall\nnot return unto me void_, _but it shall accomplish that which I please_,\n_and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I send it_.  _For ye shall go\nout with joy_, _and be led forth with peace_; _the mountains and the\nhills shall break forth before you into singing_, _and all the trees of\nthe field shall clap their hands_.  _Instead of the thorn shall come up\nthe __fur tree_, _and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle\ntree_: _and it stall be to the Lord for a name_, _for an everlasting sign\nthat shall not be cut off_.\n\nSix of the children are at an Infants' School at Southampton, and three\nothers attend a charity school; and another is learning to be a coach\nwheelwright.  This youth has behaved so well in his situation, that he\nhas been advanced by his master to a higher branch in the business.  His\nfellow-workmen, who at first disliked him for being a Gipsy, have\nsubscribed money to assist him in the purchase of additional tools, to\nwhich the foreman added five shillings, and the master _one pound_.  This\nis a most encouraging circumstance.\n\nThe aged man who has been so many years reformed, is a basket maker.  He\noften visits his brethren in their tents, under the direction of the\nCommittee, to give advice and instruction.  His sister, lately reclaimed,\ntakes care of the six Gipsy children, and is become very serious and\nindustrious; and though in the decline of life, she receives but one\nshilling per week from the Committee.  Two instances of the gratitude of\nthis woman ought not to be omitted.\n\nThe author's horse having strayed from the field, a sovereign was offered\nto any one who would bring it back to him.  Several persons sought for it\nin vain.  This old Gipsy woman was sent in quest of it, and in two days\nreturned with the horse.  Of course she was offered the sovereign that\nhad been named as a reward; but she refused to take it, saying, she owed\nthe author more than that; yea, all that she had, for the comfort she was\nthen enjoying.  This was the language of an honest and grateful heart.\nOn being compelled to take it, she bought herself some garments for the\nwinter.\n\nOn another occasion, when she was coming from some place which she had\nvisited, and was detained on the road longer than she had expected, she\nbecame penniless; yet would she not beg, lest it might be looked on as\none step towards turning back to habits she had entirely abandoned.  She\nassured the author that she would rather have starved than return to her\nold trade of begging; and besides, added she, \"the people know that I am\none of your reformed Gipsies, and I will never bring a reproach upon my\nbest friends.\"\n\nThe young widow was taught to make shoes; but becoming depressed in\nspirits after the death of her children, she has been placed in service.\nAnd another young Gipsy woman has also obtained a situation as a servant.\n\nBut while the Committee has had to rejoice over the success that has\nattended its efforts, it has also experienced great and manifold\ndisappointments.  But its members are not discouraged, and it is hoped\nthey never will be.\n\nOne young woman stayed with the Committee a month, and then ran away.\nShe was lamentably ignorant, and could never be brought to work. {75}\nAnother very promising in temper and habits, stayed in a family three\nmonths, and then left them to live again with her parents, who encouraged\nher to believe that she would be married to one of her clan.  It may be\nhoped the knowledge she gained while in service may be useful to her at\nsome future time.  She is not, cannot be happy, and is sorry that she\nleft her service and her friends.  The father and mother have promised to\nstay in Southampton through the next winter, which they will be\nencouraged to do, with the hope of gaining instruction in the truths of\nreligion.\n\nA woman, her four sons, and their grandmother, {76} joined the family of\nreformed Gipsies for a short time, and we had considerable hopes of them\nall, the two eldest boys excepted, who refused to work, and who grew much\nmore vicious than when under the hedges.  Their father had formerly been\nsentenced to death, but by the interest of a friend, the sentence was\nchanged to fourteen years' hard labour on board the hulks at Portsmouth,\nnearly nine of which had expired at the time his family came under the\ndirection of the Committee.  His wife intimating that if they were to\napply for his release, it might be granted, and that then he might govern\nthe boys, and make them work, his liberty was obtained.  But within three\ndays afterwards, he declared he would not constrain any of his children\nto labour; they might do it or not, as they pleased.  And, in the course\nof the week, he took them all away and went to Brighton.\n\nA lady then staying at that place, and who had known this family at\nSouthampton, sent to the place where the Gipsies usually encamp, hoping\nto recall some of them to a sense of their duty, but was informed that\nthe whole of the party had set off a few days before.  Early on the\nfollowing morning, a Gipsy called at the house of this lady, and offered\nto tell the fortunes of the servants.  She was asked if she knew the\nwoman who was enquired for the preceding day?  She replied, that _she was\nthe very person_.  On hearing by whose servant she was addressed, she\nbecame almost speechless with shame, and said, _I would rather have met\nthe king_.  On recovering, she expressed great delight and gratitude that\nshe was not forgotten by the lady, and declared she had been very unhappy\nsince she had left Southampton, and that the sin of fortune-telling\ngreatly distressed her mind; but that she knew not how to support her\nfamily without it.  They had undergone many hardships.  The little boys,\nshe said, had frequently amused themselves with trying to spell the\ndifferent things about their tent, and were often wishing for their\nSouthampton fire.  The next morning she brought them to see their kind\nbenefactress.  The youngest of them, a fine promising boy, both as to\ntalent and disposition, was overjoyed at the meeting; his little eyes\nwere filled with tears, and he could scarcely speak.  He and his brother\nwere immediately provided with clothing, and sent to the School of\nIndustry; where, in addition to the religious instruction given them,\nthey were taught reading, writing, arithmetic, digging, &c.  Their master\nhas been much pleased with their progress.  The mother was afterwards\ninduced to stay at Brighton, being allowed a small sum weekly.  She has\nbeen taught to read by some kind friends, and many hopes are entertained\nof her conversion to God.  A letter has lately been received, which gives\na very interesting account of her increase in knowledge and improvement\nin morals.\n\nA very promising Gipsy youth, who was placed with a coach-maker in\nSouthampton, after working some time, cut his hand, and then relinquished\nhis employment, to wander with his father, who is a rat-catcher.  But it\nis hoped that he, as well as others of his brethren who have returned to\ntheir former courses, will be brought back, or find some other desirable\nand permanent abode; that what has been done by this society may not\nultimately be lost.  Indeed, while writing this, I am happy to be able to\nstate, that the morals of this young man appear very correct, and that he\nhas, by constant application, learned to read tolerably well since he\nleft Southampton.  He supports himself by selling brushes, lines, and\ncorks, but talks very seriously of giving up his wandering habits to\nreturn to us again.\n\nAmong the reclaimed Gipsies are three women who were notorious\nfortune-tellers, and who doubtless have done much injury to the morals of\nsociety.  They are now very promising; and there is a fair prospect of\ntheir children being saved from much sin and misery, as they are placed\nat Infants' Schools, where they are gradually acquiring useful scriptural\nknowledge, and correctness of habits; in which, if they persevere, by the\ngrace of the Redeemer, their present and everlasting welfare will be\nsecured.  Such examples of success amply repay the Committee for the\ntrouble and expense already bestowed on the Gipsies; and it is hoped its\nmembers will be stimulated to every exertion in their power by the good\ndone to those in a state of reformation and improvement, that the whole\nwandering race may be led into the right way.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. IX.  Of the plans pursued by the Southampton Committee, and the\nsuccess which has attended them, continued.\n\n\nA gipsy woman, of whose reformation we have already taken some notice,\nhaving gone to solicit the assistance of the parish to which one of her\nchildren belonged, met with many difficulties and troubles.  She was not\nat this time destitute of the knowledge of religion.  She had learned to\nread, and had become acquainted with the Scriptures, at an adult school,\nand by attending at a place of worship; and these instructions were not\nthrown away on her; for although she was frequently invited to eat and\ndrink in the tents of the Gipsies on her journey, she conscientiously\nrefused, fearing that what they were partaking of might not be honestly\nobtained.  She informed them that her Testament had taught her better\nhabits than those she had formerly known.  Her children helped to keep\nalive her religious impressions.  They often talked to her about the\nschool from which she had taken them, of their lessons, and the\nobservations of the master and mistress, on different parts of the\nScriptures, and at other times they catechised each other on the objects\nthat presented themselves on the road, in the same way they had been used\nto in the Infants' Schools; to which they often begged their mother to\nlet them return.  These circumstances, she has since said, made her so\nmiserable that she felt she _could not live as she had done_.\n\nSome time after this, she made a visit to a parish in which another of\nher children was born, near Basingstoke.  She entered the cottage of an\nold couple who sold fruit, &c.  Tea being proposed, the old woman\nexpressed her surprise that she had not seen her visitor for so long a\ntime, saying she was glad she was come, as she wanted her to tell her\nmany things, meaning future events.  She mentioned a great deal that\nanother Gipsy woman had told her, on which the reformed one\nexclaimed--_Don't believe her_, _dame_.  _It is all lies_.  _She knows no\nmore about it than you do_.  _If you trust to what she says_, _you will\nbe deceived_.  The old woman was still more surprised, and asked _how\nshe_, who had so often told their fortunes, and had promised them such\ngood luck, could be so much altered?  The woman taking her Testament from\nher bosom, replied, \"I have learned from this blessed book, and from my\nkind friends, _that all liars shall have their portion in the lake that\nburneth with brimstone and fire_; and rather than tell fortunes again, I\nwould starve.\"  She then opened her book and began reading a chapter,\nendeavouring to explain as she read, at which her host and hostess began\nto weep.  She told them that though she knew she had been a great sinner,\nand was one still, yet she never had felt so happy as then.  The old\nwoman observed, that _she_ could not say _she was happy_, and wished to\nknow what she must do to feel happy.  The Gipsy replied, you must leave\noff selling on Sundays, and go to a place of worship, and learn to read\nthe Testament, and to pray, and _then_ you will become happy.\n\nThis poor Gipsy woman, who was so anxious to instruct those she had many\ntimes deceived, was soon after taken sick, at which time her distress of\nsoul was very great; and she then said, were she to die, her _soul could\nnot go to heaven_.\n\nMany were her temptations, while in great poverty, to renew the practice\nof fortune-telling.  Several genteel parties have visited her, and\nsometimes offered her gold, tempting her to begin again the sins she had\nfor ever given up; but, much to her credit, she at all times resolutely\nrefused all such unholy gain.\n\nAt one time some very gay young women called on her, desiring to have\ntheir fortunes told.  Her Testament lay on the table, which she had but a\nshort time before been reading, and pointing to it, she said--_That\nbook_, _and that only_, _will tell your fortunes_; _for it is God's\nbook_; _it is his own word_.  She reproved them for their sin, and said,\nthe Bible had told her, _all unrighteousness is sin_.  They then\nrequested she would not tell any one that they had called upon her.  She\nreplied--_Oh_! _you fear man more than God_!\n\nA few days since, this reformed woman was sweeping the pavement in front\nof her house, when two female servants came up, enquiring for the house\nof the fortune-teller; mourning over them for their folly, she said--_My\ndears_, _she cannot tell your fortunes_.  _I have been a professed\nfortune-teller_, _and have deceived hundreds_.  She succeeded in\npersuading them to go home.\n\nAt a meeting of Gipsies held at a gentleman's house, Jan. 1830, the\nyoungest child of this woman said to her mother, _Mammy_, _who be all\nthese folks_?  The mother replied, _They are Gipsies_.  _Was_ I _ever\nlike 'em_? asked the child.  _Yes_, said the mother, _you was once a poor\nlittle Gipsy without stockings and shoes_, _and glad to beg a halfpenny\nof any body_.  It is a circumstance not to be lamented, that the\ncondition even of a little child, has been so much bettered by the\nexertions of the Committee.\n\nIn addition to the encouragement afforded us by this woman, giving up\nwith so much decision the practice of fortune-telling, the author must\nnot forget to mention an instance of her forbearance of temper under\nprovocation and outrage.  She had, when a vagrant, a quarrel with some of\nher ignorant people of another tribe.  Meeting with them after her\nreformation, she was severely beaten by them, and had her ear-drops torn\nfrom her ears, while they contemptuously called her _Methodist_.  When\nasked, why she did not bring her persecutors to justice, she replied,\n_How can I be forgiven_, _if I do not forgive_?  _That is what my\nTestament tells me_.\n\nThe young widow we have before mentioned, continued to tell fortunes for\nsome time after we had taken her children; but it pleased the Holy Spirit\nto awaken her conscience, and to shew her the wickedness of such crimes,\nby which she was led to true repentance and reformation of character.\n\nAfter the death of both the children of this interesting individual, she\nwent into the service of a kind and pious lady in London.  For this\nsituation she was prepared by one of equal benevolence in Southampton,\nwho had her for some time in her own house for that purpose.  She\ncontinued in this situation till the lady's death, and has since been in\nother service, where she has conducted herself so well as to prove she is\nbecome a sincere servant of Christ.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. X.  Some Remarks on the Sin of Fortune-telling.\n\n\nThe author will be pardoned, he is willing to hope, by the kind reader,\nif he digress in one or two paragraphs in this part of his work,\npurposely to expose the great wickedness of prognostication and\nfortune-telling; as the whole is not only unsound, foolish, absurd and\nfalse, but is most peremptorily forbidden in the Scriptures.\n\nIn the law of Moses it is commanded, that there should not be found among\nthe people, any that used divination, or that was an observer of the\ntimes, or that was an enchanter: Deut. xiii. 10.  In the prophecies of\nMalachi, the Lord has declared--_Thou shalt have no more soothsayers_:\nMal. v. 12.  Balaam and Balak were cursed of the Lord of Hosts; the\nformer for using enchantments, and the latter for employing Balaam in\nthis wicked work.  _Woe to them that devise iniquity_: Micah, ii. 1.\nThose who employ unhappy Gipsy women, should think on the portion of the\nliar; Rev. xxi. 8: for the person who tempts another to utter falsehood\nby offering rewards, is equally guilty before God.  _A companion of fools\nshall be destroyed_: Prov. xiii. 20.  _Though hand join in hand_, in sin,\n_the wicked shall not go unpunished_: Prov. xvi. 5.  _The destruction of\nthe transgressors and the sinners shall be together_: Isai. i. 28.  It\nmay be safely affirmed that the sin of those persons, who trifle with\nGipsy women in having their fortunes told by them, nearly resembles that\nof the first king of Israel; who, by consulting, in his trouble, a wicked\nwoman, who pretended to supernatural power, filled up the measure of\nthose sins, by which he lost the protection of heaven, his crown, and his\nlife, and by which he involved his family in the most ruinous calamity.\n\nReader, have you encouraged any of these people in such crimes?  If you\nhave so far forgotten yourselves, the commands of God, and the curse that\nawaits you and those who deceive themselves the same way; reflect, before\nit be too late, on the evil into which you have willingly, wilfully, and\nwithout the least reasonable excuse, fallen, and on the guilt that must\nof necessity attach to your consciences thereby.  Should you never meet\nthose you encouraged to sin in this world, and therefore never have an\nopportunity of warning them of their danger, yet must you meet at the bar\nof Christ; and if then loaded with the weight of the sin in question, how\nawful will be your condition!  Yourself and a fellow creature turned out\nfor ever from God, and heaven, and hope!  You may find mercy _now_, if\nyou, by faith in the Redeemer, _seek for it_; and who can tell but if you\nsincerely pray for those you led into sin, but that the mercy of which\nyou part take, may find out them!  May it even be so, to your everlasting\ncomfort!\n\nSome have supposed that this contemptible practice was first introduced\ninto Europe by the Gipsies: but such persons are greatly mistaken.  In\nthe dark ages of superstition, in which this wandering people came to our\npart of the world, prognostication and fortune-telling were carried on to\nan infinite extent; and so enraged were the deceivers of those days\nagainst the Gipsies, that they proclaimed they knew nothing of the _art_;\nthat they were deceivers and impostors.\n\nIt were well if the Gipsies were _now_ the only persons addicted to such\nwickedness; but this is not the case; for it is well known that almost\nevery town is cursed with an astrological, magical, or slight-of-hand\nfortune-teller.  There are two now in Southampton; and their wretched\nabodes are visited not only by vain and ignorant servants, but often by\nthose who belong to the higher circles, and not unfrequently by those who\ndrive their carriages.\n\nTo conclude this chapter, it may be safely said, that the sort of\nwickedness in question, is not only forbidden in the Scriptures, and will\nadd much to the guilt of an impenitent death; but that it is calculated\nto give us the most airy anticipations, or oppress us with the most\nunreasonable despair.  _Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof_; why\nshould we then afflict ourselves about ill-fortune in future years?  If\nwe _seek_, as the first great object of life, _the kingdom of heaven_,\n_all _[necessary] _things shall be added_.  And why should we deceive\nourselves with gay and splendid expectations?  _Riches make themselves\nwings and soon fly away_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XI.  Plans suggested to the pious and benevolent for promoting a\nReformation among the Gipsies.\n\n\nAs no event happens without a cause, so no good is accomplished without\nmeans.  It is in the power of man as an instrument, frequently to make\nhis fellow-creatures either happy or miserable.  And it may safely be\nasserted, that much of the ignorance, depravity, and consequent misery\nfound in the world, are occasioned by the want of a united and\npersevering application of the energies of Christians, to the reformation\nof the most debased classes of Society.  This backwardness to perform\nthat which is good, with respect to our fellow men, must be accounted\nfor, by the want of faith in God's word, and the little influence we\nallow the religion of the Saviour to have on our own hearts.  It may also\nbe occasioned by the strong evidences we have of the corruption of human\nnature, and the little good we see attend the labours of others: and we\nare often likewise discouraged because our own efforts fail.  On these\naccounts, how often do we sigh for opportunities of doing good, whilst we\nneglect the openings of Providence in little things, which would\nfrequently lead to the accomplishment of most important usefulness.  Dr\nJohnson used to say, \"He who waits to do a great deal of good at once,\nwill never do any.\"  Good is done by degrees.  However small in\nproportion the benefit which follows _individual attempts_ to do good, a\ngreat deal may thus be accomplished by perseverance, even in the midst of\ndiscouragements and disappointments.  The first missionaries who visited\nEngland, had to contend with all the frightful cruelties of savage life,\nand the more horrid rites of Druidical worship.  But now, though much\nwickedness abounds in England, it is, in a religious point of view, the\nparadise of the earth.  May all those who wish to diffuse the genuine\ninfluences of Christianity among the poor Gipsies, imitate the example of\nthe adorable Saviour, who _made himself of no reputation_, that he might\nenlighten the most ignorant, and impart happiness to the most miserable.\n\nIt will not be denied that the Gipsies are capable of feeling the\ninfluence, and appreciating the worth of the Gospel: and no one will\ndoubt that the earlier the plans are adopted for their improvement, the\nsooner will this desirable work be accomplished.\n\nThe reader is requested to pay particular attention to the following\nsuggestions.\n\nThe establishment of an Institution to supply instruction to the Gipsies\nby regular Ministers, or Missionaries, would be of but little use.\nIndeed such a measure could scarcely be carried into effect.  For the\nGipsies, beside associating in very small companies, are perpetually\ndriven from place to place.  To supply them, therefore, with regular\ninstruction, a preacher would be necessary to every family; who would\ncondescend to their mode of life, travel when they travelled, rest when\nthey rested, and be content with the ground and straw for his bed, and a\nblanket tent for his covering!  All this would subject them to great\npersonal inconvenience, and at the same time be very expensive and highly\nimproper.  Neither would it be possible for ministers to be appointed\noccasionally and alternately to visit the Gipsies in different counties.\nFor it might often happen that, before intelligence could be forwarded to\nthose appointed to give them instruction, they might be removed by a\npeace officer, or have set out on a journey of several miles distance.\nBenevolent, zealous, and prudent persons may do much by visiting the\ncamps near towns; and the most suitable parts of the day for promoting\nthis object, are morning and evening.  But the most simple and easy plans\nof instruction should invariably be adopted.\n\nTo those persons who are afraid of visiting the Gipsies, lest they should\nbe insulted, abused, and robbed, the author may be allowed to say that\nthey have not the least grounds for such fears.  In Scotland this fear is\nquite as general among the religious people as it is in England; and in\nthat country the inhabitants are even afraid to prosecute them for their\ndepredations and crimes.  In England ladies are frequently known to visit\ntheir camps singly, when more than a mile from towns, and to sit and read\nand converse with them for a considerable time, with the greatest\nconfidence and safety.\n\nThere is not the least prospect of doing them good, by forcing\ninstruction upon them.  About the year 1748, the Empress Theresa\nattempted the improvement of the Gipsies in Germany, by taking away, by\nforce, all their children of a certain age, in order to educate and\nprotect them; but such an unnatural and arbitrary mode of benevolence,\ndefeated its own object; and this is not to be wondered at: the souls of\nthe free resist every effort of compulsion, whether the object be good or\nbad.  Compulsatory instruction, therefore, would do no good among the\nGipsies.  But they are easily won by kindness, and whoever wishes really\nto benefit them, must convince them that this is his intention, by\npatiently bearing with the unpleasing parts of their characters, and by a\nwillingness to lessen their distresses so far as it is in his power.\nSuch kindness will never be lost upon them.  Nor would the author\nrecommend their being encouraged to live in Towns, except they are truly\ndesirous of leading a new life, as it is almost certain that their morals\nwould be greatly corrupted thereby: and they would be capable of more\nextensive injury to society, should they take to their wandering habits\nagain.\n\nA correspondent of a friend of the author, has just communicated the\nfollowing particulars, which prove the truth of the above remarks.\n\nThere is in the neighbourhood of Harz, at Nordausen, a colony of Gipsies,\nto whom a Missionary has been sent from Berlin.  His last letter speaks\nvery favourably of their disposition to receive the word of life.  The\nmanner of his introduction to them was by no means likely to ensure him a\nfavourable reception.  \"Here,\" said the person who brought him among\nthem, \"you have a Missionary, who is come to convert you; now mind and be\nconverted, or you shall go to prison.\"  The effect this foolish speech\nproduced on the Gipsies may be easily imagined, and likewise how useless\nit rendered the situation of the Missionary who desired to labour among\nthem.  They took to flight whenever they saw him approach, and thus,\nhumanly speaking, there appeared not the least prospect of success, as\nthe seed of the word could not so much as be sown.  But HE, who alone is\nable to turn the heart, mercifully looked upon the work, and directed him\nto the right means effectually to bring it about.\n\nThe Gipsies were obliged to cultivate the land on which they were\npermitted to reside; but being quite ignorant of agriculture, they were\nat a loss how to proceed.  The missionary undertook himself to give them\nadvice and assistance in the work.  Seeing the success that attended his\nlabours, they began to be much more diligent in the cultivation of their\ngrounds, while their confidence daily increased in their missionary, and\nthey became more accessible and willing to be taught.  At last they asked\nhim for what reason the people at Berlin had sent him among them? and\nwhen he told them, they were overpowered with gratitude, and melted into\ntears.  Their attachment to him and the friends who had sent him, became\nstronger and stronger.  In some cases, it may be true, the conquest of\ntheir prejudices against the missionary, might proceed from the\nadvantages they reaped by attending to his advice; and this is much to\ntheir credit, and is a most desirable improvement.  It is hoped they will\nsoon be led to attend sincerely to his religious instructions.\n\nA gentleman resident in one of the towns of Hampshire, was agreeably\nsurprised one sabbath morning, by seeing a number of Gipsies at public\nworship; and on being induced to converse with them, was pleased to find\nthat they regularly attended divine service at Southampton, and other\nplaces.  He directed them to move their tents into a more commodious\nsituation in one of his own fields.  This unusual act of kindness, which\nhowever required no great sacrifice on his part, made so deep an\nimpression on the hearts of this people, as is not likely to be\nforgotten: they will speak of his kindness as long as they live.  This,\nas well as the instances we have mentioned already in this work, and many\nmore which we may not notice, shew that we are not without opportunities\nof observing their gratitude for those favours that have been bestowed\nupon them.\n\nThey receive with willingness one of their own people, who is now a\nreformed and pious character, living at Southampton, and whom we have\nnamed in a former page.  They now rejoice, too, in the assurance that a\ngreat number of good Christians pity and love them, and are seeking to\npromote their present and everlasting happiness.\n\nIt is therefore much to be wished, that committees of ladies or gentlemen\nwere formed in every town in the kingdom, and their attention directed to\nthis neglected class of British subjects.  An active person might be\nfound in every place, to act under the sanction of such committees, who\nshould visit their tents, instruct them in the Scriptures, and pray with\nand for them (the latter he should never neglect) by which means he would\ngain their confidence, and would always be looked on as a friend.  Such a\nperson should not be ashamed to speak kindly to them when he meets them\nin the street, or on the road.  Indeed at all times he should converse\nwith them plainly and affectionately about the great love of the\nRedeemer, in coming into this our world, to suffer and die for guilty\nsinners, of whom they make a number.  But all the labour should not be\nconfined to one person.  Every member of these committees should be alive\nto this good work; as also all Christians, and especially ministers.\n\nBut should there not be sufficient energy and benevolence in all towns to\nform a committee, two or three who are well disposed to the object, may\nunite together and accomplish a great deal.  And should there not be\nfound more than one person thus benevolently disposed, let not that one\nbe discouraged.  The single talent must not be neglected, should it be\nonly the power to give a cup of cold water, or to speak one word about\nthe water of life to a necessitous and perishing Gipsy; for it may not,\ncannot be in vain.  Reader, are you doing what you can in this humble\nway?  It may be, you would rather ascend the pulpit and preach to\nwell-informed Christians, or visit the ignorant in your own town!  This\nis well; but the other should not be left undone.  The wanderers in the\nwilderness are not to be forgotten; the outcasts of society are to be\nsought after.  Let us imitate our adorable Redeemer, _who went about\ndoing good_, and who sought those who were not the least desirous of\nfinding him.  As an encouragement to British Christians, who are alive to\nthe happiness of the Gipsies, they should know that there are many among\nthem desirous of a new mode of life, as will appear by an application\nlately made to the author.\n\n                                          \"_Bristol_, _Oct._ 11_th_, 1830.\n\n    \"My dear Sir,\n\n    \"I am unwilling to let a parcel go to Southampton, without sending\n    you a line to give you a little information respecting H---, of whom\n    I made enquiry if she had called on the friends to whom I directed\n    her?  This was done by her; but she could obtain no employment.  Both\n    H--- and her husband conduct themselves in a very satisfactory\n    manner.  A young lady, I hope, will employ her soon; and, perhaps, in\n    time she may get into regular work; but at present, she gets very\n    little, and it is very necessary that the man should have employment.\n    The cork trade is now over; (he used to sell corks.)  They can have\n    the loan of a donkey for two months for nothing, and that being the\n    case, I told H--- to look out for a small cart, which I desired her\n    to hire for a week, and sell coals and potatoes in small quantities.\n    {97}  I have felt fearful lest you should think me too busy; but\n    necessity has compelled me to do something, or they must have almost\n    _starved_; and I cannot bear the thought of their wanting bread;\n    knowing it must be a great temptation for them to return to their old\n    habits.  The man appears much altered for the better.  He said one\n    day, when they wanted food, that he would rather beg than oblige his\n    wife to return to fortune-telling.  H--- tells me that her husband\n    and she live happily, and that they have had words but once since\n    they left their vagrant life.  I am also happy to discover in her\n    pleasing evidences of honesty, as she pays her weekly rent often\n    before it is due, when she has money, fearing that she may spend it\n    in food.  Job, their son, has no work, but I hope that he will be\n    able to help his father.  Do, my dear Mr Crabb, pray for this little\n    branch of your family.  I have received two pounds for your Infants'\n    Schools, from Mr ---, and would send it now, but I have been obliged\n    to expend a considerable part of it on these poor Gipsies.  Do write\n    to me when you can, and give me advice respecting this poor family.\"\n\n    The author must remark that, since the above letter was received,\n    others also have been sent from two ladies in that neighbourhood,\n    which give the Southampton committee great pleasure.  The following\n    are extracts.\n\n    \"I have seen Mr ---, and have had a pleasing interview with Miss ---,\n    relating to the poor wanderers you wrote to me about.  I have had the\n    man and woman at my house.  After having heard H--- read, I told her\n    'that the leprosy she had been reading of, represented the evil of\n    our sinful heart; that we were born with it; that it prevailed in\n    every part of the soul; and that we had lived always under its\n    influence.'  She exclaimed, _dear me_! _ I never heard the like of\n    that before_! _now it seems good for me to know this_.  She wept\n    much.  When I told her of the love of Christ, she appeared struck\n    with her own extreme ingratitude.  Her expressions were so simple and\n    full of pathos, that my heart was quite overcome.  She ran out of the\n    room for her husband, and on her return, said, \"ah! _do talk_ to my\n    poor husband, just what you said to me.\"  I found him not so\n    interesting, but desirous of leaving his wandering life for ever, and\n    get employment if possible.  They have made some flower baskets for\n    me; and hoping they may obtain orders for more, I have recommended\n    them to my friends.  I have heard of another family, consisting of\n    fourteen souls, who encamp on Bedminster Down, and there by God's\n    help, I intend to send a minister of Jesus, to try what can be done\n    for them.  There is also another family expected, who have a house of\n    _their own_ at Bedminster, and who winter there.  Should the Lord\n    bless our humble endeavours, we must have a regular Committee, and\n    set about our work in a workman-like manner; nothing short of a\n    Colony will satisfy me.  I intend to introduce this interesting\n    subject at a party this evening, and hope the Lord will open the\n    hearts of his people, to do good to those poor benighted wanderers.\"\n\nThe author has also just received from a clergyman in Scotland, a most\ninteresting account of a colony of Gipsies in that country, where, I am\nhappy to observe, they do not seem so much hunted as in England.  And as\nthe severity of their winters drive them into houses for three months,\nduring that season, there is offered a fair opportunity to both ministers\nand kindly disposed Christians to do them good.  The letter alluded to is\nmost gladly inserted with the view to encourage the Christian\ndenominations of England to imitate the benevolence, zeal, and industry\nof their much respected brethren the Scotch.\n\n                                     \"_Yetholm Hall_, _Dec._ 11_th_, 1830.\n\n    \"My dear Sir,\n\n    \"Through the report of the Society for ameliorating the condition of\n    that unfortunate race, the Gipsies, I am acquainted with your name,\n    and with your benevolent exertions in their behalf.  As the minister\n    of a parish in which perhaps the largest colony of this people in\n    Scotland reside, and naturally, therefore, very much interested in\n    any plan that promises to improve their condition, I take the liberty\n    of writing you; not so much for the purpose of answering the numerous\n    queries subjoined to the report, as of requesting your advice and\n    opinion, with regard to what plan might be adopted for the\n    improvement of the colony, placed, in some degree, under my care and\n    superintendence.  I have but lately been called to the ministerial\n    office, and appointed to the pastoral care of this parish; and\n    previous to the period of my appointment, I had no opportunity of\n    being acquainted with the character and habits of the Gipsies.  Your\n    longer acquaintance with this people, and experience, may suggest to\n    me some useful hints on the subject, should you take the trouble to\n    notice this letter.  The number of Gipsies in the parish of Yetholm\n    is about 100.  You are no doubt already in some degree acquainted\n    with the Gipsies of Kirk Yetholm, from the interesting notices\n    furnished by Mr Smith, of Kelso, and published in HOYLAND'S SURVEY,\n    and in one of the earliest numbers of Blackwood's Magazine.  And his\n    account of them is substantially correct to this day.  It would\n    appear that the Gipsy population of this place is fluctuating.  In\n    1798, there were only 59.  In 1818, when Mr Smith wrote, there were\n    109.  In 1830, there are 100.  And in a few years more, this number\n    may be considerably diminished or increased.  The greater part of\n    them are \"muggers,\" or \"potters,\" who carry earthen-ware about the\n    country for sale.  There are two horn spoon makers; all the others\n    are abroad from their head quarters, of Kirk Yetholm, from eight to\n    nine months in the year.  The history of some of the individuals and\n    families of the clan, would furnish something very interesting.  One\n    of the family of the Taa's is still denominated the \"King.\"  The\n    number of children belonging to each family is generally large.\n    There may be thirty children under twelve years of age.  The parents\n    express themselves very anxious that their children should be\n    educated, and are willing, for this purpose, to leave them at home\n    all the summer; and farther, that they should be trained to some\n    occupation different from their own.  Many of the parents declare,\n    that they would willingly remain at home, could they be supplied with\n    constant employment.  Of late, the greater number of them have\n    occasionally attended church, and some of them continue to attend\n    most regularly when at home.  A considerable number of the younger\n    children also, when at home, attend our Sabbath School.  I have\n    likewise assisted the parents to send most of their children to the\n    Day School: still, however, these children are at home scarcely three\n    months in the depth of winter.  Several families have not returned\n    yet.  Their education, therefore, even were they sent regularly to\n    school, during this time, would be very limited.  And besides, by\n    attending the parents to the country, they contract an attachment to\n    their loose, wandering life, which must tend to perpetuate the\n    peculiarities of the tribe.  A few weeks ago I was requested by Dr\n    Baird, the Principal of the University, and one of the ministers of\n    Edinburgh, to write out a pretty full account of these my\n    parishioners.  This I have done.  The account, however, was written\n    so hastily, that I had not time even to correspond with you on the\n    subject, before doing so, as my object in writing to you was chiefly\n    to propose some plan which might be adopted for their improvement, on\n    which you might give me some useful information.  In this account, I\n    have proposed that a fund or subscription should be raised for the\n    purpose of keeping the children at home during those months their\n    parents are traversing the country, for paying their school wages,\n    and, if possible, for giving a salary to a teacher to superintend\n    their education, and that a small additional sum be occasionally in\n    readiness for paying an apprentice-fee with the boys.  This account\n    may probably be published.  I am in hopes, also, that the Principal\n    will interest himself in the cause.  Should the account be published,\n    the proof-sheet may be sent down to me, ere long, in which case I\n    should wish to hear from you before that time, as I may have then an\n    opportunity of supplying any hint, or otherwise altering the plan\n    proposed, from your kind communication.  The sum which I conceived\n    would be required for the purpose was about a hundred pounds per\n    annum.  Mr B---, of Killau, with whom, I believe, we both have the\n    pleasure of being acquainted, has more than once wished me to open a\n    correspondence with you on this subject.  He also is interested in\n    the cause, and promises to use his influence with others.  I think he\n    told me that some more detailed account of your plan was published,\n    or preparing for the press, in which various alterations and\n    improvements had been made.  This was an additional reason for my\n    wishing to hear from you, before submitting to the people of Scotland\n    any plan on the subject.  I should wish to know how the cause\n    prospers with you, and what number you have at present under your\n    care.  I am extremely interested for this unfortunate people, and any\n    information therefore with regard to what is doing elsewhere, would\n    be acceptable.  May He prosper the cause, whose blessing alone can\n    render our labours effectual!\n\n    I remain, my dear Sir,\n\n                                             With much respect and esteem,\n                                                              Yours truly,\n                                                               JOHN BAIRD.\n\n\"P. S.--I have just received a letter from Principal Baird, informing me\nthat my account of the Gipsies of Kirk Yetholm, will be published, and a\nproof for correction be sent to me shortly.  It will be published in a\nnew statistical account of Scotland, which will ensure for it a very\nextensive circulation, especially among the ministers of the established\nchurch of Scotland.\"\n\nAnother letter relating to the Gipsies of Yetholm, has been received from\nthe same clergyman, extracts of which may be seen in the Appendix.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XII.  Plans suggested to the pious and benevolent, for promoting a\nReformation among the Gipsies, continued.\n\n\nIt is usual, in Southampton, for a few pence to be given to a child who\ninforms any of the members of the Committee when a family of Gipsies\nbegin to erect their tents on the common, that they may immediately be\nvisited by our Reader.  This may be done elsewhere.  It may be well, too,\nto buy a basket, or any other article they may honestly have to dispose\nof, when opportunity offers; but it is not well to bestow money on them,\nunless in sickness or want.  When their wives are confined, a favourable\nopportunity offers to bring into action the sympathies of compassion in\nother females; and what gratitude would such an instance of tenderness\nbeget!  These poor women have frequently been heard to exclaim, while\ntears filled their eyes, _How kind_, _how good to us_! for favours very\nmuch less!\n\nThe author has seldom met with instances of ingratitude, though he is\nobliged to record one.  He was interested in the reformation of a Gipsy\nfamily that encamped, a short time since, about five miles from\nSouthampton, whom he visited early on a Monday morning.  Reaching the\ncamp, accompanied by the old Gipsy he has often mentioned in the course\nof this work, he said to them, \"Since you would not come to see me, I am\ncome to see you.\"  The camp, consisting of eight persons, gave him a\ncordial reception, the husband excepted, who said, he did not want his\ncompany.  \"You certainly do not mean what you say,\" said his friend; to\nwhich he ungratefully replied, \"I never speak words without meaning.\"  In\na good-natured way he was questioned as to the truth of his being a\nGipsy, accompanied with the remark, that Gipsies were seldom ungrateful\nfor the favours which were shown them.  In half an hour after, he left\nthe camp very angrily.  This man had been released from many years'\nimprisonment, through the author's intercession; but having associated\nwith thieves so long, the worst principles of his heart were drawn forth.\nBefore he left the camp, he said he had no care about his children, but\nto feed and clothe them.  \"Then you only treat your children as a man\ndoes his dogs and pigs.\"  He replied, that \"such treatment was good\nenough.\"  This is a common sentiment; for the generality of parents have\nno further care about their children than to feed and clothe them.  Such\npersons are not perhaps aware how nearly they come to that dreadful state\nof mind and heart, of which this ungrateful Gipsy so wickedly boasted.\n\nAfter he had left the party, those who remained attended to conversation\nand prayer, when one of the women wept bitterly on account of her sin of\nfortune-telling.  The author has since been informed that this poor man\nexpresses his sorrow for his uncalled-for behaviour.\n\nThe plans adopted in Southampton, for the conversion of the Gipsies in\nHampshire, are now generally known among their people.  Not long ago, an\nold woman brought four orphans of a deceased relative from a great\ndistance, in order to place them under the care of the Committee.  On\nthis occasion the old woman thus addressed the author.  \"Are you Mr\nCrabb?\"  Being told, yes, she continued--\"Mr Chas. Stanley, a Gipsey,\ndesired me to bring you these poor orphans.\"  The author being assured\nthat they were orphans, promised, after some conversation, to visit their\ntent the following day.  He did so, and never can he forget the\ndistressing scene he then witnessed.  It was winter, and the weather was\nunusually cold, there being much snow on the ground.  The tent, which was\nonly covered with a _ragged_ blanket, was pitched on the lee side of a\n_small_ hawthorn bush.  The children had stolen a few _green_ sticks from\nthe hedges, but they would not burn.  _There was no straw_ in the tent,\nand only one blanket to lay betwixt six children and the frozen ground,\nwith nothing to cover them.  The youngest of these children was three,\nand the eldest, seventeen years old.  In addition to this wretchedness,\nthe smaller children were nearly naked.  The youngest was squatted on the\nground, her little feet and legs bare, and gnawing a frozen turnip, which\nhad been stolen from an adjoining field.  None of them had tasted bread\nfor more than a day.  The moment they saw their visitor, the little ones\nrepeatedly shouted, \"Here is the _gemman come for us_!\"  Some money was\ngiven to the oldest sister to buy bread with, at which their joy was\ngreatly increased.  Straw was also provided for them to sleep on, four\nwere measured for clothes, and, after a few days, they were placed under\nthe care of one of our reformed Gipsies.  The youngest child died,\nhowever, a short time after, in consequence of having been so neglected\nin infancy.\n\nThe children were cleanly washed and newly clothed, before they were\nremoved from the common.  Perhaps they had never been thoroughly washed\nbefore.  The oldest sister would not give up her wandering habits; and\nthe oldest boy chose to go back to the camp again; so that the Committee\nhad soon only three of them in charge.  And these were so filthy in their\nhabits for a long time, that it was very disagreeable to be near them.\nIt is hoped that, though they have lost their earthly parents, they may\nbe led, through this event, to God their heavenly Father.  These children\nwere soon baptized, and two of them are improving at one of the Infants'\nSchools.\n\nA short account of their parents may not be out of place here.  The\nmother was a great fortune-teller and swindler.  She once robbed a poor\nshepherd in Dorsetshire of twenty pounds, by promising to fill his box\nwith money.  Their father was a most depraved character.  Their life and\npractices are well described in the language of the Apostle, _Let us eat\nand drink_, _for to morrow we die_.  1 Cor. xv. 32.  The man was the\nbuffoon of their company, and became more depraved every year.  They\noften had a great deal of money, which was, no doubt, obtained through\ndishonest means.  On one occasion, he and many other Gipsies, entered the\nparlour of a small public house on the borders of Hants, when emptying\nthe contents of a dirty purse into an half-pint cup, he nearly filled it\nwith sovereigns; and declared, they would not leave the house, till they\nhad spent it all.  His wife, at this time, who was intoxicated, was\nrobbed of all the money she had got from the poor credulous shepherd,\nexcepting one pound.\n\nThe same man once put 150 sovereigns into his kettle, to treat himself\nwith what he called, _gold water_, for his tea; a piece of folly and\nwickedness only equalled by a fact with which the author is well\nacquainted, when an old man had his gold put under his pillow, and often\nshown to him, when he was dying.  We need not wonder, therefore, that the\nchildren of this Gipsy couple should be so ignorant, depraved, and\ndestitute.  For money that is ill-gotten, and squandered in extravagance,\nentails a double curse on the parties concerned.  But to return to the\nsubject of this chapter.\n\nTo visit the Gipsies in their tents is of great importance.  Clergymen of\nthe Establishment, dissenting ministers, and home missionaries, have at\nvarious times done this, and conversed freely with them on the Christian\nreligion; and it has _not been in vain_.  Indeed, nothing that is done,\nthrough Jesus Christ, purposely to please God, and benefit the wretched,\ncan fail to produce a good effect.  The Rev. Messrs Hyatt and Cobbin, who\nwere deputed by the Home Missionary Society, to visit many parts of\nEngland, to enquire into the condition of this people, had no doubt, but\nthat much good may be done among them, if proper means are pursued.  It\nhas many times been proved, that to attempt to raise them in society,\nwithout the influence of religious instruction, would be improper.  They\nhave not sufficient principles of honesty, nor purity of conduct, till\nthey are taught those principles, and changed, by religion.  One, among\nseveral instances, may be named.\n\nA young female Gipsy, remarkable for the beauty of her person, was much\nnoticed by a lady of rank.  She was made to sit many times for her\nportrait, was introduced into the drawing-room, and became of consequence\nas one of the family.  She might have done well, had she not given up all\nher prospects by running away with a Gipsy youth, for whom she had an\nattachment, and with whom she has ever since lived in great misery.  If\nless attention had been paid to her beauty, and more to the cultivation\nof right principles, she might now have been reformed, religious, and\nhappy.\n\nTo those who wish to forward the instruction of the children of these\nwanderers, which is of vast importance, the use of tins with letters and\nmonosyllables stamped upon them, is recommended.  A little ink or paint\nwill be necessary to make the letters visible.  This plan would save much\nexpense, and render elementary books unnecessary.  They could not be\ntorn, as books generally are.  The pieces thrown away by the tinman, if\nthe corners were taken off, would answer every purpose.  To induce those\nchildren, who cannot be got from the tent, to learn from these tins, the\nvisitor might promise them an old garment, or some other trifle.  Should\nthe Gipsies conduct themselves properly, when thus visited, a little\nwillow-wood may be given them to encourage them in industry, and forward\nthe manufactory of baskets.  And it might be well were a small piece of\nground devoted to the growth of willows, in neighbourhoods frequented by\nthem, on purpose to encourage them thereby.  It might be adviseable, too,\nto give them testimonials on a card, of good conduct, when about to\nremove to another district, which might serve as an introduction to\nbenevolent persons, and those interested in their welfare in other\nplaces; and this means would effectually prevent all imposition, keep up\nthe attention of the good among them, and would constantly bring them\nbefore the notice of christian society.  Such kindness would be felt by\nthe Gipsies, and, in time, might produce a good effect.  This method has\nbeen attended to by the Southampton Committee.\n\nThe great object that Christians should have in view, should be to\ninstruct them in the blessed truths of the Christian religion, imbue them\nwith a happy sense of honesty and morality, and then reclaim them wholly\nfrom their unsettled and wandering habits; for until they have some\nknowledge of religion, and some anxiety to reform, they would only be\nworse by being brought constantly before the bad examples that would be\nset them in towns.  Of course, such a change _cannot be fully\naccomplished in the present generation_; it cannot be expected.  But\ntheir conversion to God will wholly be accomplished in time, if all\nChristians do their duty, depending on the influence of the Holy Spirit.\n\nFrom what has been said in this chapter, it will appear, that, visiting\ntheir tents to pray for, and instruct them, teaching such children to\nread as cannot get to public schools, and prevailing on all who are able\nto do so, to attend public worship; are the principal things to be\nattempted, in this great and good undertaking.  Those Christians who wish\nfor opportunities of doing good to the Gipsies in and about London, will\nfind many of them in the suburbs in the months of April, May, and June,\nwhen they generally find work in the market gardens.  In the months of\nJuly and August they move into Sussex and Kent, and are engaged in the\nharvest.  And in the month of September, _great numbers_ of them are to\nbe found in the hop-districts of Kent, Sussex and Surry, where they find\nemployment.  During the winter, many of them settle in London,\nWestminster, Bristol, and other large towns, when a good opportunity is\npresented for teaching, both to the children and adults of this class,\nthe elements of reading, and the principles of true religion.  For the\ninformation of those who may wish to visit the Gipsies in London and\nBristol, during the winter, the author thinks it his duty to name the\nstreets where they generally reside.\n\nTottenham-court Road; Battle Bridge; Paddington; Bolton Street; Church\nLane; Church Street; Kent Street, Borough; New Street; White Street;\nBanbridge Street; Shore-ditch; Tothill-fields; and Tunbridge Street.  In\nBristol they are principally found in Saint Phillip's, Newfoundland\nStreet, Bedminster, and at the March and September fairs.\n\nAt the Ascot and Epsom races, they may be met in large numbers; and if a\nbenevolent, kind, and zealous minister of Christ were to visit them at\ntheir encampments at these seasons, and explain to them the facts,\ndoctrines, and blessings of the Gospel, much good might be done.  The\nmorning would be the happiest time to visit these Gipsies, as they are\ntoo often at races, inebriated before night.  It is presumed little could\nbe said to profit them in a state of intoxication, and many of the women\nare then employed either in swindling or fortune-telling.\n\nShould the sympathies of the British public be efficiently directed to\nthe Gipsies of this country, it may call forth the zeal of other nations\nto improve their still more degraded condition on the Continent, where\nmore than half a million of them wander, ignorant as the heathens of all\nthat is necessary to salvation.  Those of this country loudly call upon\nus for instruction, which may easily be given them.  Let all who have\neither time, money, or ability, give a helping hand; and, above all,\nassist by their unfeigned and earnest prayers.  It may be very advisable\nto pray publicly for them in places of worship, and at the family altar,\nafter visiting them in the highways and hedges.  It might impress those\nof them who attend, with a grateful sense of the gracious care of God,\nand lead Christian congregations to think more of them, and to do more\nfor them.  May the merciful God of heaven and of earth, hasten the happy\nperiod, when the Gipsies of this, and of all other countries, shall\nembrace, and love, and be obedient to the Gospel of the gracious\nRedeemer!\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XIII.  Further Account of encouraging interviews with Gipsies, and\ninteresting Correspondence.\n\n\nThe author laments that he has passed so many years of his life wholly\ncareless of the Gipsies of this country.  Having travelled many times\nthrough England, he has had frequent opportunities of seeing them.  But,\ntill now, he looked on their conversion as a hopeless case, and nearly\nwholly neglected them.  He has already stated the manner his attention\nwas first roused to consider their condition and necessities more\nparticularly, and he reflects with pleasure on the kindness of Providence\nin leading him to witness those events which called for sympathy towards\nthem; and on the mercy of God so apparent in blessing the labours of\nhimself and others in their behalf.\n\nThe late Rev. Legh Richmond felt a deep interest in the conversion of\nthis people.  To awaken the sympathies and energies of his countrymen to\nthat subject, he composed the following hymn on their behalf.\n\n    THE GIPSIES' PETITION.\n\n    Oh! ye who have tasted of mercy and love,\n       And shared in the blessings of pardoning grace;\n    Let us the kind fruits of your tenderness prove,\n       And pity, oh! pity the poor Gipsy race\n\n    For long have we wandered, neglected and wild,\n       Esteemed by all people as wretched and base;\n    Nor once on our darkness has light ever smiled;\n       Then pity, oh! pity the poor Gipsy race.\n\n    Like you, we have lost that pure gem, which, when lost,\n       Not the mines of Golconda {115} can ever replace;\n    To redeem it the blood of a Saviour it cost:\n       Then pity, oh! pity the poor Gipsy race.\n\n    Like us, you were wild in the sight of your God;\n       But he looked, and he loved, and he pitied your case;\n    The Redeemer has cleansed you in streams of his blood;\n       Then pity, oh! pity the poor Gipsy race.\n\n    Ye, who have found mercy, that mercy display;\n       Ye sons of adoption, your origin trace;\n    And then sure you cannot your face turn away,\n       But will pity and pray for the poor Gipsy race;\n\n    That we may form part of that numerous throng,\n       Redeemed from destruction by infinite grace;\n    And mingle with you in the heavenly song;\n       Then pity, oh! pity the poor Gipsy race.\n\nIt has been the custom of the author to have a yearly meeting of the\nGipsies at his own house, which is then open to all their families.\nHere, early in the year 1830, those who were in the lanes and on the\ncommon near Southampton, met many of their kind and religious friends,\nwho are interested in their happiness.  The morning was agreeably spent\nin a religious service, conducted for their spiritual benefit; after\nwhich some attention was paid to their temporal wants.  Forty-eight of\nthem, all nearly related to each other, who were at that time assembled\nin the neighbourhood to renew their family friendships, attended on this\noccasion, and were much pleased with the services in which they engaged.\nDifferent portions of the Scriptures were read and expounded to them,\nafter which they had a plain and familiar address.  It was a pleasure to\nmeet these people at a throne of grace.  After partaking of bread and\ncheese and ale, during which they conducted themselves very properly, a\nblanket was presented to the proprietor of each tent, a pair of stockings\nto every individual, and a quantity of calico for changes for the\nchildren.  There were thirteen reformed Gipsies among them, who spent the\nrest of the day in reading the Scriptures to their brethren at their own\nhouses.\n\nThese people expressed themselves very gratefully.  One of the families,\nof whom the mother could read, begged a bible.  Some weeks after this\nbible had been given, the family was visited in its tent, when this copy\nof the Holy Scriptures was shewn to him, who observed many of the pages\ndoubled down to mark the passages with which the reader had been\nimpressed.  The father of the family said--\"I will never rest till I can\nread that book through.\"  This poor man now attends divine service\nwhenever he has an opportunity, although he strongly opposed, at one\ntime, the reading of the Scriptures in his tent.\n\nA lady, who was present at this meeting, asked one of the reformed\nGipsies, how she had felt herself on that morning?  She replied--\"I never\nwas so happy;\" and, after a short silence, continued--\"The dinner we had\nlast year, was much better than that we had to-day, as it was roast beef\nand plum-pudding; but what I heard then, of the minister's address, was\nonly the word of man to me; but to-day, it has been the word of God; I am\nsure it has.\"\n\nAlthough it may be feared, that to many Gipsies then present, the reading\nof the Scriptures, and the familiar address, were only as _the words of\nman_, yet is there reason to hope they understood it, and that they will\nbenefit thereby.\n\nThis woman had an only surviving brother who was killed in fighting, and\nwhose death was instantaneous.  She was exceedingly distressed, and\nobserved, in reference to this awful circumstance, \"I should not have\nthought of his soul after death, at one time; but now I can read my\nTestament, I am sure that none can go to heaven but those who are born\nagain.\"  And she made an observation, too, of the utmost importance,\nshewing the great necessity there is for the Gipsies to be taught to\nread.  _My being able to read myself_, said she, _has a great deal more\neffect upon me_, _than it would if another read it to me_, _and I could\nnot read_; _for now_ I AM SURE IT IS IN THE BOOK.  She carries her\nTestament in her pocket when she goes a journey, and reads it to her\nformer companions, when she meets them on the road; and if they express\nany wonder at the change that has taken place, she refers them to the\nScriptures as the cause, and her kind friends at Southampton, as the\ninstruments.\n\nThe following circumstance lately occurred, and will shew the improvement\nthat has taken place in her daughters.  One of them had been sent by her\nmother to receive the weekly sum allowed her.  On receiving the money,\nshe said, \"This is twopence too much, sir.\"  Being accustomed now and\nthen to give her a few pence towards buying a Testament, she was told to\nkeep it for that purpose.  \"I thank you,\" said she, \"I have got a\nTestament, now, and mother has given her's to my next sister, since she\nhas had a bible; and my youngest sister had a Testament given her at the\nSunday School: but one of us is saving money to buy a hymn-book with; I\nwill give _her_ the twopence.\"\n\nThis incident, trifling as it may seem to some, will not fail to gratify\nothers, whose hearts are anxiously desirous of improving the Gipsies.\n\nIn the autumn of 1830, the author felt a strong desire to visit Farnham,\nwhere were, at that time, thousands of poor people assembled to pick\nhops, among whom were many Gipsies.  Stanley was sent a few days before\nto make known his intentions of preaching to them on the evening of a\nfixed day.  While at Farnham, Stanley ate, drank, and slept in some of\ntheir camps, by which he gained their confidence and affection.\n\nDuring the author's stay he accompanied Stanley to various\nhop-plantations, where great numbers of the most wretched part of the\ncommunity are employed in the hopping season.  Great numbers of tracts\nwere distributed among them, while the author entered into many free and\nfamiliar conversations with them.  Many were found very much depraved;\nbut none were more depraved among the Gipsies, than many of the other\nclass; for they were blasphemers of God and his religion.  One man, like\nmany of old, stirred up the people to reject and despise the truth.  He\nsaid, \"No one would get any thing by praying to God;\" and, \"if people\nwanted bread on a Sunday, it would be better for them to steal a mess of\npotatoes, and wood to cook them with, than go to church.\"  Some of the\npoor shuddered at his boldness, and contempt of God's law.  With much\nimpudence he declared, \"that he knew a man who put his dough into the\noven on a Sunday without heating it, and then went to church to pray that\nGod would bake it for him; but that the fool was disappointed.\"  The\nminister said to him--\"You know that you have told a wilful lie.  You\nnever knew such a man.  There is not one of these little children will\nbelieve you.\"  He appeared confounded at this unexpected rebuke.  May\nthis sinner repent and be saved!\n\nAmong the hop-pickers of Farnham were many Gipsies the visitors had long\nknown; and their smiling faces spoke the gladness of their hearts and the\nwarmth of their gratitude, when they were noticed by their friends\naffectionately and kindly; nor had they forgotten the favours that had\nbeen shewn them at Southampton.\n\nThose of the Gipsies who were not acquainted with the object the author\nhad in view, in paying them a visit, were much alarmed when enquiries\nwere made for the Gipsies in the hop-grounds; supposing they were pursued\nby the magistrates.  One youth told Stanley, that he knew not whether to\nrun, or stay where he was; but recollecting to have been _in no spray\nlately_, he resolved on staying.  When Stanley spoke to him in his own\nlanguage, and introduced the minister, all his fears vanished.  The\nGipsies were astonished that any one should travel forty miles to see\nthem.\n\nTheir public meeting was after the labours of the day, near one of the\nhop-grounds, about half an hour after sun-set.  A few small candles gave\nlight to a small tenement, used as a lodging place for the hop-gatherers,\nwhere the congregation was accommodated.  A few of the inhabitants of\nFarnham, and some of the female Gipsies, who were much delighted to\nmingle with them in the worship of God, were put inside, and the men,\nwith such women and children as could not get in, stood outside, the\nplace being very much too small for so great a number of people.  The\npreacher stood on the threshold of the door and addressed the people, of\nwhom those without could only be seen now and then, as an adjacent wood\nfire cast at intervals upon them an intermitting light.  The Rev. Mr\nJohnson kindly attended, and assisted in the devotional part of the\nservice; and some of his congregation obligingly assisted in the singing.\n\nOn this occasion the Gospel of Christ was addressed to many who had never\nbefore heard an exposition of the blessed word of God.  The sermon was\nfrom Psalm lxxxvi. 5.  After service the Gipsies were exhorted to seek\nfor opportunities of attending the house of God; to beg of some minister\na bible for every tent; and to ask every one who may come near them to\nread certain of its pages to them.\n\nDuring the address, many of _their crimes_ were enlarged upon, and their\ndread of, and liability to punishment for them in this world; and they\nwere urged to call on the God of all compassion and mercy, for help and\nfor forgiveness, by that all-powerful motive, that he will never be\ninattentive to the prayers of the most helpless, wretched, and guilty\nsinner, when presented to God by faith in our only mediator, Jesus\nChrist.\n\nStanley, who, after the service, accompanied the Gipsies to their tents,\nfound that the sermon afforded conversation for the whole evening.  One\nof them said, \"The minister has told us every thing, as though he had\nlived with us.\"  Another observed, \"If it be all true what the gentleman\nhas said, not a Gipsy can be saved.\"  A third exhorted his children\n\"never to say bad words again.\"  The little creature replied--\"Then I\nhope my _grandfer_ (grandfather) will never swear any more.\"  Many of\nthem talked of the evils of fortune-telling, and some resolved on going\nto Southampton, to see the reformed Gipsies.\n\nDuring the stay of the minister in that neighbourhood, eighty of them\nwere visited, among whom was a dying woman, who very gladly received\ninstruction, and heard prayer.  A minister, in the neighbourhood, had\nbeen asked to visit her, but had neglected to do so.\n\nThe author must not forget to acknowledge the kindness of the farmers who\nassisted him in the distribution of tracts, &c. &c., and who solicited\nthat some might be left them for that purpose.\n\nThis visit afforded an opportunity to contradict many false reports of\nthe treatment with which the Gipsy children had met in the Infants'\nSchools at Southampton.  It was said that they were all confined, and\nwould at a future period be transported.  This shews how easily people\nwho deceive others, are imposed on themselves.\n\nThe following letter was addressed to the author by a Gipsy woman when\nshe was in great trouble of mind.  It is presented to the reader just as\nit was received, and may be found interesting to the friends of their\ncause.\n\n    \"Sir,\n\n    \"I Hope you will Excuse Me for Riun These few Lines too you, I did\n    Not Now where To Cend to My Sister, I Have Been very Il and my\n    Familee.  My Children Ave Had The Measils, They are Got Well from\n    That.  I am Sorry to hinform you I Have Had A Shockin Accedent To my\n    Little Girl, She was Burnd to Death.  I Give My Luv To My Son Job.\n    Plese to Give My Luv to My Sister Paishince, and Hur Childern.  Plese\n    to Give My Luv To My Ant Pheny, and Plese to Lett Me Now How My Cuzin\n    James doos Go on, Plese to Lett Me Now How My Unkil Charls and His\n    Famly Is.  Wm Duff Gives His Best Rispecs To All.  Plese To Tel My\n    Sister too Anser This Letter By Returne of Post.  I Am So unappy in\n    My Mind Till I Do Hear From Er.  Dear Sister, I Have Mett With so\n    Much Trubel Sinc I Saw you Last, That I Am Sorre To inform you.\n    Plese to Tel my Child from Me To Bee A Good Boy, and Think Imself Wel\n    off Wher He Is.  My Distris and My Trubel Makes Me Think More of My\n    Sister.  Ples To Direct the Letter To Be Left At The Post Offis, for\n    Haryett Duff, Till Caulld for, in Bristil.  Plese To Give My Luv To\n    My Son Job.  So No More At Prezint from your Umble Sarvint.  Plese\n    God I Am Coming To See You Some time This Munth.\n\n    \"My Littel Girl Met The Accedent Wednesday, April 23, 1828.\"\n\nThe following letter, too, refers to the writer of the above.\n\n                                                _Bristol_, _August_, 1830.\n\n    \"My dear Sir,\n\n    \"As I know that you are deeply interested in every circumstance\n    relating to the Gipsies, I trouble you with the following anecdote.\n    In the month of January last, when walking in the city of Bristol, I\n    met a Gipsy woman, who accosted me with the usual salutation of her\n    race, \"Shall I tell you your fortune?\"  I enquired her name, and then\n    said, \"You well know that you are not able to tell me my fortune; and\n    I am sorry to see you carrying on such deception.\"  I then\n    endeavoured to speak to her about the importance of considering her\n    eternal welfare, and of seeking the salvation which is in Christ\n    Jesus; at the same time pointing out the certain condemnation she was\n    bringing upon herself, by willingly following the _multitude to do\n    evil_, even carrying _a lie in her right hand_.  She urged that her\n    trade (which she acknowledged to be built on deceit and falsehood)\n    was her only support; and that she must starve if she followed my\n    advice.  I reminded her that she would be like Dives, if she gained\n    the whole world and lost her own soul; but that were she indeed to\n    honour God, by giving up her wicked trade, because she knew that it\n    was displeasing to him, he would never suffer her to want any good\n    thing.  After much more conversation, she assured me that she would\n    never tell fortunes again, and would discontinue her evil habits of\n    life.  I told her that I could not allow her to make to me any\n    promise of the kind; for she did not know her wickedness, nor the\n    power which could alone prevent her from committing sin.  I again\n    besought her to avail herself of the means of instruction within her\n    power.\n\n    Before leaving the city, I commended her to the care of some pious\n    friends, who were interested in my account of her, and who kindly\n    promised not to lose sight of her.  Since that time I have received\n    very pleasing accounts from them respecting her.  They have purchased\n    materials in order that she may be able to support herself by\n    basket-making, which she has begun; and I trust she has relinquished\n    her former trade.  She is making progress in reading, and constantly\n    attends the preaching of the Gospel.  I hope also that she is really\n    in earnest for the welfare of her soul.  I earnestly wish that every\n    one would take an interest in the same; and I should be much rejoiced\n    if the circumstance which I have just mentioned, should be the means\n    of encouraging any one to notice those Gipsies with whom they may\n    occasionally meet, and to exert themselves in saving them from their\n    present degraded condition.\n\n    \"I am, my dear Sir,\n       \"Yours respectfully,\n          * * * * *\n\n_Wm. Stanley's Letter to the Author_.\n\n    \"Hon. Sir,\n\n    \"As you wish me to give you some account of the Gipsies, I gladly\n    comply with your request.  I am a poor individual of that wandering\n    race, called Gipsies; yet, by the mercies of God, I was _rescued_\n    from that wandering life.  In my _youthful days_ I entered into the\n    Wiltshire militia, when it pleased God to bring me under the\n    preaching of the Gospel at Exeter; and it was the means of awakening\n    my conscience.  _From that time I have often been led to bepity the\n    sad state of the people whereof I made a part_.  I have given them\n    the best instruction that lay in my power, and by reading the\n    Scriptures to them; but with very little visible effect for many\n    years.  Neither did I think, till lately, that there were any of them\n    in the world, that cared for their souls, till the year 1827; when I\n    was quite _overcome with love to God_, _to find that the Lord had put\n    it into the hearts of his dear people at Southampton_, _to pity them\n    in their forlorn condition_; and now wonder not if I am at a loss for\n    words to speak the feeling of my heart; for, since that time I have\n    seen _seventeen or eighteen_; _nay_, _from twenty to thirty_; _nay_,\n    _from forty to fifty attend divine worship_; and _add_ to this the\n    many happy hours I have spent with them in their tents near\n    Southampton, in reading and praying with them; and some of them that\n    six months ago would not stay in their camp on my approach to them,\n    but would go away swearing, will now receive me gladly, and produce a\n    Bible or a Testament, which _had_ been given to them, and desire me\n    to read it to them, saying, this book was given to me by our dear\n    friends in Southampton.  But, _dreadful to relate_, I find some\n    children, _from three years old to fifteen_, who never _said a prayer\n    to their God_; who never heard any one pray, and who _was_ never in a\n    church or chapel, nor have heard of the name of Christ, but in\n    blaspheming; and these are the inhabitants of England!  Oh, England!\n    England! they are living and dying without God: no wonder if they\n    draw down the divine vengeance of Heaven on the land!\n\n    \"Many of these poor _ignorant mortals_ do not know that they are\n    doing wrong by fortune-telling; and being informed that it is\n    displeasing to God, and ruinous to their own souls, they will say, it\n    is _of no service for me to give attendance to religion_, for I am\n    forced to ruin my soul for every morsel of bread I eat; but if God\n    spares my life I will leave it off as soon as I can; while others who\n    are both ignorant and hardened in their crimes, have told me it was\n    the gift of God to them, by which they were to gain their living.\n    Surely they call _darkness light_!  Many of my people who join in\n    talk with me, declare, that if the Bible which I read to them be\n    true, there cannot be many saved.  But they say that a reformation is\n    needful, and this is promised by them; and I am in great hopes that\n    the time is at hand.  Oh, Lord! work for thine own glory, and stir up\n    the minds of thy people in all parts of the land, that they may help\n    forward this good work amongst these poor wanderers!\n\n    \"Their ignorance and their crimes seem to have increased of late\n    years.  When I was a boy, I well recollect their parting expressions,\n    which _was_ so common amongst them--_Artmee Devillesty_, which\n    is--_God bless you_.  But now it is _truly awful_; it is _darkness\n    itself_, _for they now ask God to send them good luck_ in their\n    crimes.  I _myself_ thought for many years, _till __I heard the\n    Gospel_, _that God was like some great gentleman_, _living at a great\n    distance from us_; but I had not a thought that he was every where\n    present to notice the conduct of his creatures, or to hear prayer.\n    The ignorance of _my people_ is a loud call to Christians to assist;\n    and, blessed be God, they find that assistance in Southampton.  The\n    Bible has often been taken away from Southampton in the Gipsies'\n    pack, and I have seen it when they have returned, preserved with a\n    great deal of care, and produced for me to read, with great delight\n    on their part.\n\n    \"Surely this blessed book will not be idle, but will do _wonders_\n    amongst them, _through God's grace_.  I see the effects already; do\n    you say, how?  I answer, _Was it ever known_, _till now_, that\n    Gipsies assembled on the sabbath day on the common and in the lanes\n    for divine worship?  Did you ever see them come to town on a sabbath\n    day in such great numbers as they now do, when encamping near\n    Southampton?  Some of the most ignorant of them are now learning to\n    read the Scriptures.  This is the beginning of good days.  Oh! the\n    good this will do to _my people at large_!  Nothing of importance\n    took place in their camp all last summer, _and I almost fainted under\n    the discouragement_; but of late _it shows another face_; and I make\n    no doubt but it will spread, and I shall soon see greater things than\n    these.\n\n    I am, hon. Sir,\n    Your most obliged and humble Servant,\n    WILLIAM STANLEY.\"\n\n    \"P. S.--On examining the different _branches of my family_, I find\n    upwards of 200 of us in different parts of England.\"\n\nThis poor man, when a soldier, and in the habit of attending divine\nservice, as a part of his duty, often heard his comrades speak of the\ntext, on their return to the barracks.  He one day made up his mind to\nbring home the text also, the next time he went to church.  He heard with\nattention, and when he returned to the barracks, he said, \"I've got the\ntext now.\"  \"What is it, Stanley?\" he was asked by a comrade, when he\nanswered, \"The 19th day of the month, and the 95th Psalm.\"  When relating\nthis to the author, he added, \"I had the mortification to be laughed at\nby all my comrades who witnessed my ignorance.\"  Do not many professing\nChristians come away from the house of God as ignorant as this poor\nGipsy?  Or if they have been taught to know and remember the text, it is\nall they attend to.  This man's mind did not long remain in this dark\nstate.  After the above event he learned to read, and one day, taking up\na Testament from the barracks' table, he read a portion of it, (for so he\nexpressed himself)  _The sublimity of the language struck his mind with\nastonishment_, and he said, _I will buy that book if I can_.  His comrade\nasked him three halfpence for it; and he was glad of his purchase;\nalthough the Testament was very much torn.  The Holy Scriptures were\nscarce in those days, a copy of which could seldom be bought by the poor;\nnor, indeed, would the word of life have been useful to them, as not one\nin a hundred could read.\n\nSoon after this, he was invited to attend a Wesleyan chapel in Exeter,\nwhere a funeral sermon was to be preached by the Rev. Wm. Aver.  The text\nwas, _Let me die the death of the righteous_, _and let my last end be\nlike his_.  While the minister was describing the happiness of the\nrighteous, divine light shone upon his soul, he felt that _he_ was not\nthat character, and that there was no prospect of his dying happily,\nunless he possessed it.  This sermon was the means of his conversion.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XIV.  Interesting particulars of the Gipsies, related by a\nClergyman.\n\n\nThe following account is selected from a tract published in York, in\n1822, detailing several interesting visits that a Yorkshire clergyman\nmade to some of the camps of that wandering and neglected people.  Were\nthe author of the little book known, application would have been made to\nhim, for permission to reprint these extracts.  But it is hoped he will\nexcuse the liberty taken, as the design is to _induce other clergymen and\nministers to go and do likewise_.  This clergyman, having fallen in with\na gang of Gipsies on the road, who were travelling to their place of\nencampment, addressed a young female among them, and found her not\nignorant of religion.  \"How,\" said the clergyman, \"did you obtain the\nknowledge of religion?\"  \"Sir,\" answered she, \"in the depth of winter,\nthe men folks only travel; the women and children belonging to my family\nand party, always live in the town.  In those seasons I have gone with\nsome of our relatives, who live there, and are religious people, to the\nworship of God: in that way I have learned these things.\"\n\n\"This was a practical comment on the text which says, _The entrance of\nthe word giveth light_; _it giveth __understanding to the simple_.  After\ngiving her some suitable advice, and with it his benediction, he left\nher; but not without hopeful expectations that the seeds of grace were\nsown in her heart.\n\n\"He next overtook the grandmother and several of her grandchildren.  She\nwas pleased at his noticing her, and answered his enquiries with modesty\nand propriety.  She corroborated what her daughter had said, and in her\nanswers discovered not only an acquaintance with the general truths of\nthe Gospel, but a feeling sense of their importance.  She said, 'I love\nto go to church, and do go _now_, sir, when I can; but do not always meet\nwith the right doctrines: my prayers I offer up night and morning, under\nthe hedge.  I hope God Almighty hears my prayers.'  The clergyman\nobserved, that sincere prayer was acceptable to God any where, equally\nunder the hedge, as in the parlour, or in the church.  When arrived at\ntheir camp, he promised them a Bible, as they had none, and directed some\nof the party to call at the friend's house in the neighbourhood where he\nwas staying.  Soon after his return thither, a knock was heard at the\ndoor, when it was announced, 'Two Gipsies, sir, are come for a Bible.'\nOn going out, he found in the hall the young man who could read, and a\nyounger brother, a fine boy of about fourteen years of age.\"  The\ngentleman who wrote the account, adds as follows:--\n\n\"Their countenances were very animated and expressive; there seemed to be\na ray of heavenly brightness resting upon them; and while I gave them a\ncharge how to read the sacred gift, they were much affected: the boy, in\nparticular, listened with eager attention, fixing his eyes first on me,\nthen on the Bible.  After I had inscribed their names in the title-page,\nthey departed with my blessing; and what is better--with the blessing of\nGod.\"\n\nAt another part of the year, this clergyman returned to the same spot\nwhere he had before been so delightfully engaged in attempting to benefit\nthe poor Gipsies.  He found out another camp, and thus writes of them.\n\n\"On my approach to the camp (where was a group of nearly naked children,)\nthe Gipsy girls rose up, and, in a modest and respectful manner, answered\nmy questions; while the little swarthy group of children gathered around\nme.  To one of these girls I said, 'How is it that you bear such a\nwandering and exposed life?'  In reply, she said, 'Sir, it is _use_;\n_use_ is second nature.'  'But have you any religion?  Do you think about\nGod, about judgment, and eternity?  Do you know how to pray?'  She\nanswered, 'I say my prayers, sir, night and morning.'  I then said, 'can\nany of your people read?'  'Yes, sir,' she replied, 'one of our men that\nis not here, can read very well.'  'Have you a Bible among you?'  'No,\nsir; we should be thankful for one, sir.'\"\n\nOn leaving the camp, the clergyman promised to call on them again, when\nthe other part of the family should be returned from the town, where they\nwere gone to vend their wares.\n\n\"On my return to the encampment,\" says he, \"I was met by two men who came\nout to greet me.  I asked them kindly of their names.  They informed me\nit was Bosvill.  The women and children were now collected around me.  I\ninquired who among them could read.  Captain Bosvill, for so I called\nhim, answered me, 'My wife, sir, can read any thing in English.'  I was\nglad to hear this, and asked them if they had any books.  Bosvill went to\na package and brought forth his stock, fragments of an old Testament, and\nan old spelling-book.  'And what use do you make of your spelling book?'\nasked I.  'My wife,' replied Bosvill, 'when she has time, teaches the\nchildren their letters.'  I now shewed them the Bible I had in my pocket,\nsaying, that as it was so holy and blessed a book, it ought not to be\ngiven in an indifferent and common manner; and asked, if I were to ride\nover in the evening to give it them, and to explain to them its use,\nwhether they would be all together to hear me.  'Yes, yes;' was the\nreply, from many voices.  I appointed seven o'clock for the purpose.  I\nthen distributed amongst them some tracts, containing passages for every\nday in the week, and also the tract of Short Sermons; for which they were\nvery thankful.  I told them that I intended to give them a Bible in the\nevening, a book which few of them had ever seen, and which fewer\nunderstood.  I was pleased with the modesty of their deportment, and with\ntheir eagerness for instruction.  Surely they are a people whose hearts\nthe Lord has prepared for the reception of his word.\n\n\"At the hour appointed, I put the Bible in my pocket, and rode again to\nthe camp.  The evening was particularly fine: the sun, hidden behind some\nthick fleecy clouds, had thrown around a mild and pleasing tint; the\nbirds were every where singing their evening song; the ploughman was\n'whistling o'er the lea;' and nature, after the labours of the day, was\npreparing for her wonted rest.  It was a fit time for meditation, prayer,\nand praise.  Such an evening, perhaps, as that which led the patriarch of\nold to meditation, when he lifted up his eyes and saw the returning\nservants of his father bringing home his future wife.  As I drew near to\nthe camp, I began to revolve in my mind the best way of making them\nacquainted with the importance of the most essential doctrines contained\nin the holy book I was about to give them.  On my arrival, I found that I\nhad been long expected.  The men, however, were not there; they were gone\nto water a horse, which they had lent all the day to a farmer; but a\ntawny girl ran with great speed, barefooted, and brought them to the\ncamp.  I now dismounted, and gave my horse, with my stick, to the care of\none of the men.  The family circle was formed into an irregular circle\nround some pale embers, some of them sitting cross-legged on the grass,\nand others standing.  I placed myself so as to have the women and\nchildren chiefly before me.  The woman who could read, was seated\nopposite me: the men, the tents, and the package to the right; while the\nhorses and asses belonging to the tribe, were quietly grazing at a short\ndistance in the lane.  All was solemn stillness; all was attentive\nexpectation.  As I took from my pocket the Bible, the eyes of the whole\ncompany were instantly fixed upon it.  This book, said I, which I bring\nyou, is the book of God; it is sent from heaven to make poor miserable\nand dying man happy.  I then spoke a short time on God; on creation; how\nGod created man upright; how he was once happy in paradise; the way in\nwhich he sinned, and broke the law of his Maker, and became guilty,\npolluted, and exposed to death and hell; that to save men from this\ndreadful state, God devised a plan of mercy; that he sent his Son, and\nthe Scriptures of truth, which shew unto us the way of salvation.  This\nwas something of the outline of my lecture; but I added the\nresponsibility of men to read the book, and to seek to understand it.  I\nsolemnly charged them, by the sacred book itself, and by the account\nwhich they, at the day of judgment, must give to God for it, to make the\nmost sacred and constant use of it, by reading it together daily in their\ncamp.  In the course of my discourse, I stopped, and said,--'Now do you\nunderstand what I say?'  Captain Bosvill's wife replied, 'We understand\nyou, sir; but we have not the same words which you have.'  In conclusion,\nI spoke of the coming judgment, when they and all men must stand and be\njudged at the righteous bar of God.  The Bible was then delivered to the\ncare of the captain of the gang, and of his wife, the woman who could\nread.\n\n\"Now, I said, let us all kneel down on the grass, and pray for God's\nblessing with this holy book.  Instantly a female brought from her tent a\nsmall piece of carpet, and spread it before me on the grass, for me to\nkneel upon; and then all kneeling down, I prayed that the minds of these\nmiserable outcasts of society might be enlightened, to discover the\nexceeding sinfulness of sin, and the blessedness and efficiency of the\nSaviour; that the sacred book given them through the influence of the\nHoly Ghost, might lead them into the way of righteousness, and finally\nguide them to everlasting life.  When we rose from our knees, gratitude\nwas seen in every countenance, and expressed by every tongue.  '_God\nbless you_, _sir_; _thank you_, _sir_;' echoed throughout the camp.\"\n\nThe next evening this clergyman went again to the camp, when one of the\nGipsies came to meet him, and informed him of the arrival of some of\ntheir relatives.  \"I shook hands with them,\" says the clergyman, \"and\nasked of their welfare.  Never was a king received with a more hearty\nwelcome, or with greater attention and respect.\n\n\"As I was expected, the utmost order, cleanliness, and quiet, prevailed\nthroughout the camp; and all were dressed in their best clothes to\nreceive me.  The arrangement of my congregation was much the same as the\npreceding evening.  I spoke to them of the blessed Jesus; his birth, his\nministry, his death, passion, and grace; and his glory at his second\ncoming _in the clouds of heaven_, _to judge the world in righteousness_.\nI spoke also of death, and of the immortality of the soul.\n\n\"I had not proceeded far in my lecture, before several farmers and\npassengers, some on horse back, and others on foot, joined my\ncongregation.\n\n\"Before concluding my address, I said, 'It may seem singular to some of\nyou that a stranger should interest himself on your behalf in the way I\nhave done; and it might be expected that I should give some reasons for\ndoing as I have.  My chief reason is a sense of duty.  Gipsies have long\nbeen neglected, and left to perish in their sins; but Gipsies have souls\nequally precious as others, and of equal price in the sight of God.  Who,\nI asked, cares for the souls of Gipsies? who uses means for their\ninstruction in righteousness?  Yet must it be equally our duty to care\nfor them, and to endeavour their conversion and happiness, as to plan\nsocieties, obtain subscriptions, and send out missionaries to the\nheathen.'\n\n\"I said, moreover, that, 'supposing, when I first saw your camp, I had\nrode by you on the other side, and taken no notice of you, nor felt an\ninterest in your welfare; and after that, had met you at the bar of\njudgment; what would have been the language with which you might have\naddressed me at that awful period?  Might you not have charged the misery\nof your eternal condemnation upon me, and said, The curse we are doomed\nto bear, thoughtless man, might, perchance, have been prevented by you?\nYou saw us when riding by our camp lying in ignorance, and unbelief: you\nmight have rode up to us, and imparted instruction to our perishing\nsouls; because to you were committed the oracles of God, and you knew the\nway to heaven.  But, no, _cruel man_, our state excited in you no\ncompassion, or desire for our salvation.  In your conduct there was no\nimitation of your Lord and Master.  Go, cruel man, and if heaven you\nenter, let your felicity be embittered by the recollection of neglect to\nthe Gipsy wanderers, whom Providence had placed in your way, that you\nmight direct them to God, but which you neglected.'  In conclusion, I\nagain referred to the holy Bible, which I had given them; and again\nrepeated the way to use it.  After which I said, Now we will conclude\nwith prayer, as we did last evening.  Immediately the same female who\nbefore brought the carpet, again spread it, with great civility, for me\nto kneel upon; and again I offered up a solemn prayer for the salvation\nof these lost and perishing mortals.  The greatest seriousness and awe\nrested upon the assembly.  Surely the prayer was registered in heaven,\nand shall, in time not far distant, be answered.--Come, and take these\nheathens for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for\nthy possession.--When I proposed to take leave of my swarthy flock, it\nwas not without feelings of attachment on both sides.  I had observed\nseveral of them much affected under my discourse, and now they manifested\nit more openly.  As I shook hands with them, I said, 'You see, I did not\ncome among you to give you money.  I considered religious instruction of\nthe most value; therefore I have endeavoured to impart it.'  'Sir,'\nreplied several, 'we did not want your money; your instruction is better\nto us than money; and we thank you for coming.'  The camp now resounded\nwith voices, saying, 'Thank you, sir; God bless you, sir;' and every\ncountenance seemed to glow with gratitude.  The young branches of the\nfamily seemed to think a great honour and blessing had been conferred\nupon them.\n\n\"As I mounted my pony to come away, I observed one of the females, a fine\nyoung woman about twenty-five years of age, the same that brought the\ncarpet from the package, and spread on the grass for me to kneel upon, to\nretire from the rest.  She walked slowly near to the hedge, and appeared\nevidently much distressed.  Her expressive eyes were lifted up to heaven,\nwhile the big tears rolling down her cheeks, were wiped away with her\nlong black tresses.  I thought--Here, surely, are some of the first\nfruits!--Thus did the woman, who was a sinner, weep, and with her hair\nwipe away the tears from the feet of her Saviour.  May those tears be as\nacceptable to God: may the same Redeemer bid her go in peace!  Her\nconduct attracted the notice of her family, and she was asked the reason\nof her sorrow.  At first she could scarcely speak; but at length\nexclaimed, 'Oh!  I am a sinner!'  Then lifting up her eyes to heaven, she\nwept aloud, and again wiped away the falling tears with her hair.  'But\ndid you not know that before? we are all sinners.  What have you done to\ncause you so much distress?'  She made no reply, but shook her head and\nwept.\"\n\nThe author of the GIPSIES' ADVOCATE, who, for the encouragement of his\nreaders, has embodied the above interesting paragraphs in his work,\nsincerely hopes and prays that all ministers of Christ will, ere long, be\nled to imitate this clergyman in his benevolent and Christian attempts to\nbenefit by the influence of religion and the word of God, the lost, and\nignorant, and miserable, and perishing among mankind.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XV.  Interesting visits to Gipsy camps, including an Anecdote of\nhis late beloved MAJESTY, GEORGE THE THIRD.\n\n\nThe following account is extracted from the Home Missionary Magazine for\nJune, 1823.\n\n_March_, 1823.  \"Sir,\n\n\"If the following facts should afford any encouragement to the benevolent\nintentions of the Home Missionary Society, which has, for one of its\nobjects, the improvement of the state of the _poor Gipsies_, my end in\nrelating them will be amply answered.\n\n\"On Saturday evening, in the month of October, the narrator followed\nseveral Gipsy families.  Being arrived at the place of their encampment,\nhis first object was to gain their confidence.  This was accomplished;\nafter which, to amuse their unexpected visitant, they shewed forth their\nnight diversions in music and dancing; likewise the means by which they\nobtained their livelihood, such as tinkering, fortune-telling, and\nconjuring.  That the narrator might be satisfied whether he had obtained\ntheir confidence or not, he represented his dangerous situation, in the\nmidst of which, they all with one voice cried, 'Sir, we would kiss your\nfeet, rather than hurt you!'  After manifesting a confidence in return,\nthe master of this formidable gang, about forty in number, was challenged\nby the narrator for a conjuring match.  The challenge was instantly\naccepted.  The Gipsies placed themselves in the circular form, and both\nbeing in the middle, commenced with their conjuring powers to the best\nadvantage.  At last the narrator proposed the making of something out of\nnothing.  This proposal was accepted.  A stone which never existed, was\nto be created, and appear in a certain form in the middle of a circle\nmade on the turf.  The master of the gang commenced, and after much\nstamping with his foot, and the narrator warmly exhorting him to cry\naloud; like the roaring of a lion, he endeavoured to call forth nonentity\ninto existence.  Asking him if he could do it? he answered, 'I am not\nstrong enough.'  They were all asked the same question, which received\nthe same answer.  The narrator commenced.  Every eye was fixed upon him,\neager to behold this unheard-of exploit; but (and not to be wondered at,)\nhe failed!--telling them, he possessed no more power to _create_ than\nthemselves.  Perceiving the thought of insufficiency pervading their\nminds, he thus spoke:--\"Now, if you have not power to create a poor\nlittle stone, and if I have not power either; what must that power be,\nwhich made the whole world out of nothing?--men, women, and children!\nthat power I call God Almighty.\"\n\nThe night's diversion having received a change, the golden moment was\neagerly seized to impress on their minds the infinite power, holiness,\nand justice of their Creator.  This being done, the origin of sin, and\nthe immortality of the soul, were, in the second place, impressed on\ntheir minds.  Then followed the awful effects of sin, and the soul's\neternal punishment in hell, because of offending this great God, whose\nholiness could not look on sin, and whose justice would punish it.\nRepresenting the soul's eternal punishment by the wrath of an incensed\nGod, never did the preacher before witness such an effect; the poor\nGipsies, with tremulous voice, crying, '_Did you ever hear the like_! _\nWhat ever shall we do_?'  These expressions gave new energies to the\npreacher, and still brighter hopes of a good effect.  Going on with the\nawful representation, and in the act of turning, as if to leave them, he\nbade them the long farewell.  'Never, never more to meet till we meet in\nhell!  Oh! what a dreadful thing it is, my fellow-sinners, that we have\nto part in this world with the thought of meeting in an eternal world of\npains, never to see God! never to see heaven! never to see any thing to\ncomfort our poor souls!  Oh! we are lost, lost, poor souls, we are lost\nfor ever!--farewell!'  In the act of leaving them, these poor creatures\ncried, 'Not yet, Sir, not yet.'  Now was the glorious moment come, which\nthe preacher eagerly anticipated of proclaiming the glad tidings of\nsalvation through a crucified Saviour.  Asking how long they would stand\nto hear the way of escape from the wrath to come, they instantly lifted\nup their voices, answering, 'All night, Sir, all night.'  Then the\npreacher, without much persuasion, exhibited a Saviour, in all his\nsufferings, merits, death, and glory.  They were sorry that such a good\nbeing should suffer so much; but the preacher took care to show the\nabsolute necessity of his sufferings.  Their manner bespoke an imperfect\nidea of a substitute.  This was soon made clear to their understandings\nby comparisons, when the master of the gang cried, 'I see it, I see it!'\nHe was asked what he saw?  'I see Jesus Christ getting between us and\nGod, and satisfying our great God's justice by dying instead of us.'\nThis truly made the preacher's heart glad, seeing the great plan of\nsalvation was so clearly understood by those who declared (although in a\nland of light,) they never heard of Jesus Christ before.\n\n\"The preacher sang the hymn:--\n\n    \"How condescending, and how kind\n    Was God's eternal Son, &c,\"\n\nand then ended with prayer.  They solicited him to return on the sabbath\nmorning; he did so, and, as he hopes, under the influence of the Holy\nSpirit.  The master gratefully accepted of a bible; for though the\nGipsies could not read, a little boy was among them, who was not a Gipsy,\nthat could read remarkably well, having been taught at a Sunday school at\nHastings, in Sussex.  They all joyfully anticipated the pleasure of going\nto the Rev. J. Carter's Chapel, of Braintree, in the afternoon, but met\nwith a disappointment, arising from an unexpected decampment.  About one\nmonth after, in the latter end of November, two Gipsy women called on the\nnarrator, earnestly entreating him to go and preach to them, which they\ncalled conversation.  Asking the reason, why they entreated this favour?\ntheir answer was, 'We have heard much about your conversation, sir, and\nwe should like to hear it.  Come, do come, and we will be all ready to\nreceive you.'  Asking who they were that told them of the conversation\njust mentioned, they said, 'some of our people, Sir, that you were with\nabout a month since.  They told us a great deal about your conversation,\nand we should so much like to hear it.  Oh! sir, do come to us poor\ncreatures, for we have an invitation for you, if you would condescend to\ntake it, to meet with the Gipsies on Christmas day.'  That night, the\nnarrator walked a few miles to their camp, and in their smoky tent\npreached Jesus Christ the only way of salvation, to these poor, despised,\nneglected creatures.  After being with them two hours and a half, he bade\nthem farewell, and going behind a hedge, anxious to know what effect the\nnew unheard of doctrines would produce on their minds, he listened for a\nshort time.  In the midst of conversation with each other, one of them\nsaid, 'Well, I know this, if I could get a house near where that\ngentleman lives, and could live by my business, I would send all my\nchildren to that school there, and hear him as long as ever I could\nlive.'  While they were conversing about Adam and Eve, and the evil\neffects of sinning against God; one of the women said, 'However, you see,\nall the punishment that us women get, is sorrow and pains in\nchild-bearing.'  'Stop, stop,' says one of the men, 'that won't do, Ann,\nthat won't do.  If sorrow and pains in child-bearing be all the\npunishment that women are to have, what punishment must those women have\nthat do not bear children?  You are quite wrong, Ann; you women are as\nbad as _us_.'  This led on to a further discovery, and the conversation\namong themselves was truly interesting.\n\n\"One of the children telling a lie, the mother touched it on the head,\nsaying, 'What are you telling lies about?  Have you forgotten what the\ngentleman said to night?  You will go to hell, if you tell any more lies.\nLet me never hear you tell another, you bad lad, for God will not take\nyou to heaven.'\n\n\"These, and several remarks about Jesus Christ, afforded no small\npleasure to the preacher, and he hopes that these facts will afford no\nsmall encouragement to the Home Missionary Society.\n\n                                                         \"Your very humble\n                                                                  Servant,\n                                                                \"J. H. C.\"\n\nBefore the author relates one of the most extraordinary anecdotes with\nwhich he is acquainted, one, of which a King and a dying Gipsy are the\ncharacters, he will relate another interesting account of a visit to a\nGipsy camp, which will, it is hoped, prove that such visits are not in\nvain, when made in dependence on the Divine blessing.  A Gipsy, in great\ndistress of mind, and with weeping eyes, came to inform him of one of\ntheir people, who was in great anguish of mind, and entreated him to\nvisit them at the camp, which was several miles distant.  The request was\ngladly complied with.  On arriving at the tent, he found a woman sitting\nin a melancholy attitude on the ground; and distress and anguish were\nstrongly marked in her countenance.  She appeared quite indifferent to\nany thing that was said; and kept herself apparently engaged with the\nsticks and brands around the fire near the mouth of the tent.  The man\nalso appeared very melancholy.  We learned that the cause of their\ndistress was jealousy on the part of the man, who was called her husband.\nThe circumstance which gave rise to those unhappy feelings had taken\nplace several years before; yet the poor man has been so unhappy, that he\nhas often intended to destroy both himself and his wife; and not many\ndays before this visit to the camp, he had threatened to execute his\npurpose.  The author talked and prayed with him, and exhorted him to look\nto God for strength and grace.  Their repeated conversations were made\nuseful to him, and those miserable feelings were subdued, and he now\nlives happily with the woman he had before hated, even to an intention of\nmurder.  This is another evidence, although a distressing one, that a\nwant of chastity is evil in their sight.\n\n\"A king of England, of happy memory, who loved his people and his God,\nbetter than kings in general are wont to do, occasionally took the\nexercise of hunting.  Being out one day for this purpose, the chase lay\nthrough the shrubs of the forest.  The stag had been hard run; and, to\nescape the dogs, had crossed the river in a deep part.  As the dogs could\nnot be brought to follow, it became necessary, in order to come up with\nit, to make a circuitous route along the banks of the river, through some\nthick and troublesome underwood.  The roughness of the ground, the long\ngrass and frequent thickets, gave opportunity for the sportsmen to\nseparate from each other; each one endeavouring to make the best and\nspeediest route he could.  Before they had reached the end of the forest,\nthe king's horse manifested signs of fatigue and uneasiness; so much so,\nthat his Majesty resolved upon yielding the pleasures of the chase to\nthose of compassion for his horse.  With this view, he turned down the\nfirst avenue in the forest, and determined on riding gently to the oaks,\nthere to wait for some of his attendants.  His Majesty had only proceeded\na few yards, when, instead of the cry of the hounds, he fancied he heard\nthe cry of human distress.  As he rode forward, he heard it more\ndistinctly.  'Oh, my mother! my mother!  God pity and bless my poor\nmother!'  The curiosity and kindness of the king led him instantly to the\nspot.  It was a little green plot on one side of the forest, where was\nspread on the grass, under a branching oak, a little pallet, half covered\nwith a kind of tent; and a basket or two, with some packs, lay on the\nground at a few paces distant from the tent.  Near to the root of the\ntree he observed a little swarthy girl, about eight years of age, on her\nknees, praying, while her little black eyes ran down with tears.\nDistress of any kind was always relieved by his Majesty, for he had a\nheart which melted at 'human woe;' nor was it unaffected on this\noccasion.  And now he inquired, 'What, my child, is the cause of your\nweeping?  For what do you pray?'  The little creature at first started,\nthen rose from her knees, and pointing to the tent, said, 'Oh, sir! my\ndying mother!'  'What?' said his Majesty, dismounting, and fastening his\nhorse up to the branches of the oak, 'what, my child? tell me all about\nit.'  The little creature now led the King to the tent:--there lay,\npartly covered, a middle-aged female Gipsy, in the last stages of a\ndecline, and in the last moments of life.  She turned her dying eyes\nexpressively to the royal visitor, then looked up to heaven; but not a\nword did she utter; the organs of speech had ceased their office; _the\nsilver cord was loosed_, _and the wheel broken at the cistern_.  The\nlittle girl then wept aloud, and, stooping down, wiped the dying sweat\nfrom her mother's face.  The King, much affected, asked the child her\nname, and of her family; and how long her mother had been ill.  Just at\nthat moment another Gipsy girl, much older, came, out of breath, to the\nspot.  She had been at the town of W---, and had brought some medicine\nfor her dying mother.  Observing a stranger, she modestly courtsied, and,\nhastening to her mother, knelt down by her side, kissed her pallid lips,\nand burst into tears.  'What, my dear child,' said his Majesty, 'can be\ndone for you?'  'Oh, sir!' she replied, 'my dying mother wanted a\nreligious person to teach her, and to pray with her, before she died.  I\nran all the way before it was light this morning to W---, and asked for a\nminister, _but no one could I get to come with me to pray with my dear\nmother_!'  The dying woman seemed sensible of what her daughter was\nsaying, and her countenance was much agitated.  The air was again rent\nwith the cries of the distressed daughters.  The King, full of kindness,\ninstantly endeavoured to comfort them: he said, 'I am a minister, and God\nhas sent me to instruct and comfort your mother.'  He then sat down on a\npack, by the side of the pallet, and taking the hand of the dying Gipsy,\ndiscoursed on the demerit of sin, and the nature of redemption.  He then\npointed her to Christ, the all sufficient Saviour.  While the King was\ndoing this, the poor creature seemed to gather consolation and hope: her\neyes sparkled with brightness, and her countenance became animated.  She\nlooked up; she smiled; but it was the last smile; it was the glimmering\nof expiring nature.  As the expression of peace, however, remained strong\nin her countenance, it was not till some little time had elapsed, that\nthey perceived the struggling spirit had left mortality.\n\n\"It was at this moment that some of his Majesty's attendants, who had\nmissed him at the chase, and who had been riding through the forest in\nsearch of him, rode up, and found the King comforting the afflicted\nGipsies.  It was an affecting sight, and worthy of everlasting record in\nthe annals of kings.\n\n\"His Majesty now rose up, put some gold into the hands of the afflicted\ngirls, promised them his protection, and bade them look to heaven.  He\nthen wiped the tears from his eyes, and mounted his horse.  His\nattendants, greatly affected, stood in silent admiration.  Lord L--- was\nnow going to speak, when his Majesty, turning to the Gipsies, and\npointing to the breathless corpse, and to the weeping girls, said, with\nstrong emotion, 'Who, my lord, who, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto\nthese?'\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XVI.  Further interesting Correspondence.\n\n\n    \"Dear Sir,\n\n    \"In answer to your inquiries, I have to say, that within my\n    knowledge, little or nothing has as yet been accomplished for the\n    Gipsies.  The Home Missionaries have frequently paid flying visits to\n    their camps, and prayed, read, preached and distributed tracts.  In\n    all cases they have been treated with much respect, and their labour\n    has been repaid with the most sincere marks of gratitude.  But I\n    never met with very warm support in carrying on this object, but was\n    often exposed to some sarcastical insinuations or sardonic smiles\n    from those who thought the attempt to ameliorate the condition of the\n    Gipsies, only Quixotic.\n\n    \"I think their wandering life is one very great impediment in the way\n    of improving the Gipsy tribes, and yet they are so attached to it,\n    that, when taken into families, as servants, they will not stay.  Nor\n    can any good be done to their children; for, like all wild people,\n    the parents are attached to them to a fault; so that they cannot\n    allow them to be absent from them even to enjoy the instruction of a\n    school, suspecting that such a separation might end in their final\n    disunion.\n\n    \"Were a distinct society formed to effect a reformation among the\n    Gipsies, many of the nobility, and other classes of the higher\n    orders, would no doubt subscribe.  There is a feeling among them on\n    the subject, and many times the formation of a society has been on\n    the tapis.  The Gipsies are singularly attached to the Establishment,\n    and many of them are married at the parish churches; and it is a pity\n    the episcopalian body have not taken them up.  There is a prejudice\n    against them which I think is unfounded; but I cannot enter into\n    details in a mere letter.  People look on them as vagabonds, and\n    _they_ seem shy in return; and hence they continue a kind of outcast\n    body in a civilized country.\n\n    \"If any further steps are taken, and if I can in any way assist in\n    promoting your good object, you may command my services.\n\n    \"I am, dear sir, respectfully yours,\n\n    \"I. COBBIN.\"\n\n_Extracts from the Letter of a Clergyman's Lady_.\n\n    \"Sir,\n\n    \"My best thanks are due to you for your compliance with my request;\n    and, in return, I beg to assure you, that I consider your answer to\n    my friend's objection, as quite satisfactory and efficient.  I\n    rejoice to hear that God has been pleased to bless the endeavours and\n    earnest exertion of the Scripture-readers (to the Gipsies) with\n    success.  To behold sixteen, and afterwards twenty-one Gipsies\n    voluntarily attending Divine worship, must have conveyed feelings of\n    heartfelt gratitude to the heart of every Christian, and at the same\n    time encourage him to persevere in earnest prayer to the Father of\n    mercies, to pour his holy Spirit into their souls, that they might\n    become the true and faithful followers of the Redeemer.  You say you\n    would be glad to receive any intelligence respecting this interesting\n    people; by which I am led to suppose that an account of an interview\n    which I had with some of them, may not be unacceptable; an interview\n    that was highly pleasing and satisfactory, as I found them less\n    ignorant of spiritual concerns, and to possess better qualities, than\n    I had imagined.\n\n    \"Having sent for two women, (the heads of the camps) I received them\n    in a cottage in the town of ---, and after allowing them some\n    refreshment, proceeded to put the different questions to them that\n    are inserted in the Observer.  They told me that their family,\n    altogether, consisted of eighteen persons, who travelled about the\n    country in three camps; that the men found it difficult to obtain\n    regular employment; that sometimes, during the winter, they made\n    cabbage-nets, and mended culinary utensils; that in the summer, men\n    and women were occasionally employed in making hay, &c.  These women\n    appeared very destitute of necessary clothing, which they said they\n    found great difficulty in obtaining.  They appeared careful to speak\n    the truth, alleging that it hurt their consciences to speak\n    otherwise.  On the question being put to them, whether they\n    appropriated to themselves the property of those near whom they\n    encamped? they candidly confessed that they sometimes took a little\n    straw, hay, and sticks; but no fowls or any other live-stock.  They\n    shewed a very affectionate disposition and warm feelings towards\n    their children.  The eldest of them assured me, that if any in their\n    camp became orphans, she considered herself more bound to provide for\n    them than her own, as the former needed it the more, being destitute.\n    She did not object to their gaining instruction, if it came in the\n    way, and she wished to be read to herself, and appeared to take much\n    pleasure in listening to my explanations of the important doctrines\n    of religion.  They said that none of their party could read, but that\n    they were sometimes visited by a relative who was a good scholar.\n    She said, too, that she always kept in her possession a _godly book_,\n    for the purpose of asking, as opportunity offered, a traveller to\n    read to them.  She assured me, too, (which I rather doubted,) that\n    they constantly attended Divine worship, when encamped near enough to\n    churches; that they send for the nearest clergyman _to preach_ to the\n    dying, and that they never omit having their babes _full christened_,\n    excepting in cases of sickness, when the child is only baptized: and\n    should such child die, they obtain the services of a parochial\n    clergyman to inter it.  They said, thinking, no doubt, to please me,\n    that they did not like the Ranters, but that they thought well of the\n    _church folks_.  I fear that, though they had a general knowledge of\n    the Supreme Being, they were sadly ignorant of the most important\n    point of Christianity, namely, the all-sufficient sacrifice that was\n    made for the whole world.  While I expatiated to them on the day of\n    judgment and the final doom of man, displaying the extreme and\n    exquisite happiness of the righteous part of the human family, and\n    the dreadful misery of the wicked, the younger of them, who appeared\n    indisposed, was considerably agitated.  They then said, that they\n    were not in the habit of swearing, but occasionally did so, though\n    they were aware it was very wicked.  When travelling, they told me\n    that they avoid breaking the sabbath; and that they visit all places\n    included in the district through which they wander, three times per\n    year, from which plan they seldom deviate.  I inquired if they would\n    like to settle in cottages, and gain their livelihood by industry.\n    They replied, that _if house-rent_, _clothes_, _food_, _and all other\n    necessaries were found them_, they would; but that they would not\n    settle on any other condition.\n\n    \"I am desirous of obtaining your opinion respecting the plan I have\n    lately formed to benefit this people; for, should you approve of it,\n    it will be carried into immediate execution.  I thought it would be\n    very advantageous to offer an adequate remuneration to a pious person\n    who would devote every half-day to reading and explaining the\n    Scriptures to the old, and teaching the young to read.  I was aware\n    that it would be difficult to obtain one, who, while he would teach\n    the young to read, and explain the Scriptures to the aged, would be\n    wise enough to give wholesome advice to every case of mental\n    distress, and be gifted to guide the first steps of those who are\n    disposed to be good, in the way of Christian godliness.  After much\n    anxiety and many attempts, I at length succeeded in meeting with a\n    person most disinterestedly pious; one who was willing to accede to\n    any proposal to benefit his fellow-creatures.  He appears to attach\n    little importance to himself, but to have much confidence in God, in\n    reference to his exertions.  He is really desirous to promote the\n    immortal interests of the poor people to whom his attention has been\n    directed, and is pious, zealous and intelligent.  He, however, cannot\n    devote himself to this work more than three days per week.  He will\n    visit all Gipsy camps for seven or eight miles round.\n\n    \"Some clear, forcible, simple, religious tracts, such as are likely\n    to instruct and awaken, with the Scriptures, would, perhaps, be of\n    service.  I shall hold out rewards of clothes and books to those of\n    whom I hear the best accounts, and shall endeavour to meet them, a\n    few at a time, in a cottage, at least once per year.  Will you let me\n    know whether you think I am doing right?\"\n\n_Extracts of a Letter from a man of plain_, _but pious character_,\n_addressed to the Southampton Committee_.\n\n    \"Gentlemen,\n\n    \"It is natural for me to suppose that you expect, by this period, to\n    hear something of the success that has attended my labours on the\n    common among the people called Gipsies.  I visit them three or four\n    times a-week, besides going among them on sabbath days.  I go from\n    tent to tent, and talk to them on religious subjects, read and\n    explain the word of God to them, so far as I am able, and pray with\n    them.  At such times they thankfully receive what I humbly\n    communicate to them, and often, with tears and gratitude, wonder that\n    I should think of them in their poor degraded state.  I hope some of\n    them may be brought to the knowledge of God.\"\n\nAfter some other pleasing details, this humble person concludes his\nletter thus:\n\n    \"With regard to the children, I meet with here and there _one_ among\n    them that can read, but it is very little.  These children, however,\n    are desirous, I may say very desirous to have some little books.  To\n    such I have given books, till I have none left.  I could have given\n    away, where desired, and with the prospect of knowing they might be\n    useful, many more, had I possessed them.  Upon the whole I think\n    there is cause for much encouragement.\n\n    \"I am, gentlemen, your humble servant,\n       \"* * * * *\"\n\nA clergyman, a most valuable correspondent, observes, while addressing\nthe Committee, through the author:\n\n    \"In speaking to the Gipsies on the road side, and offering a tract, I\n    have never but once met with impertinence.  It is probable that the\n    individual had been impertinently treated, first, by people called\n    Christians.\n\n    \"Dr More has well said, with respect to the Jews, 'If Christians had\n    believed and acted like Christians, it would have been a miracle if\n    the Jews had not been converted.'\n\n    \"This observation is equally applicable to the Gipsies of England;\n    for, if Christian denominations did their duty, they would cease to\n    be Gipsies.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XVII.  Concluding Remarks.\n\n\nHad the author availed himself of all the facts relating to the addresses\nwhich have been given in different places by clergymen, home\nmissionaries, and other ministers, and published all the letters of an\ninteresting nature addressed to himself and the Southampton Committee, in\nreference to the Gipsies, together with the gratitude they have shown for\nsuch Christian attentions, it might have gratified many readers; but\nthese pages would thereby have been increased to too great a number.\n\nBut, before concluding this little work, he desires to impress upon the\nreader, the necessity there is of engaging in the great work of the\nconversion of the poor Gipsies.\n\nWhy do not all ministers, and all good people unite in it?  May we not\nconclude that they do not feel the value of their souls as they ought, if\nthey do not perform all that is in their power for this end?  Both\nministers and their congregations are too lukewarm.  We are discouraged\nby difficulties under the influence of unbelief, and we often say, How\ncan these things be accomplished?  Every Christian is called by his\nSaviour to attempt the instruction of his fellow-creatures; and no common\nexcuse, such as business, poverty, a want of time, acknowledged\nignorance, and a want of talent, can justify us in neglecting the attempt\nto speak a word of advice, or reproof, or promise, to our\nfellow-creatures.  This is the duty of every Christian, and if done in\nfaith, Almighty God will bless the effort.\n\nTo the magistrates the author would make a most ardent appeal on behalf\nof the despised members of the Gipsy family.  Most respectfully and most\nearnestly does he entreat them to pity their destitute condition, when\nbrought before them as vagrants, and from which they have been so often\nmade to suffer; for, sooner would the wild creatures of the forest be\ntamed, than those branches of the human family be brought, through\ncoercion, to dwell in houses and follow trades, who were born under the\nhedges, and have, through life, made unfrequented solitudes their homes.\nMuch better would it be for the magistrates to encourage the education of\ntheir children, with the view to improve and reform the rising\ngeneration.  The author hopes and prays that they may.  _Blessed are the\nmerciful_, _for they shall obtain mercy_.\n\nIf we all felt the importance and necessity of discharging our Christian\nduties as the sailor and the soldier do in their different stations, no\ndifficulties would deter us; but God expects every _Christian_ to do his\nduty.  A celebrated commander once called his officers together, and\nsaid, \"We must carry such a garrison.\"  The officers said, \"It is\nimpossible; the attempt would be vain.\"  The general replied, \"It can,\nand must be done, for I have the order in my pocket.\"  Oh! ye ministers\nof Christ! you have the order lying on your table, and in your desks, at\nthis moment; read it in the Bible:--_Go ye into the highways and hedges_,\n_and compel them to come in_, _that my house may be filled_.  Luke xiv.\n23.  The duty is ours: have we done it?  Have we done it as opportunities\nhave presented themselves?  Have we done it as we ought?  Yea, more; have\nwe sought for opportunities to instruct souls?  Our adorable Master did\nso.  He came from heaven to earth, to seek and to save them who were\nlost.  Private Christians! you also have your order from the high throne\nof heaven, in your houses, perhaps unnoticed; or, it may be, you have not\nrightly interpreted these orders to their full extent.  Others may have\nacted the coward's part, and thrown these orders aside.  Would a soldier\nor a sailor thus serve his king and country?  If you saw your countrymen\nperishing on your shores by shipwreck, or likely to be destroyed by fire,\nwould you not be anxious to assist both the virtuous and the wicked?\nGipsies are perishing around you; hear their cries, ere they are plunged\ninto eternity; and attend to these orders from the King of Kings:--\n\n_Thou shalt not avenge_, _nor bear any grudge against the children of thy\npeople_; _but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself_.  Leviticus, xix.\n18.  _The stranger that dwelleth with you shall be as one born amongst\nyou_, _and thou shalt love him as thyself_; xxxiv. 5.  _Beware of\nhardness of heart toward thy poor brother_.  Deut. vii. 15, 9.  _Be ye\ntherefore __merciful_, _as your Father who is in heaven is merciful_.\nLuke vi. 36.  _For he raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth the\nneedy out of the dunghill_.  Psalm cxiii. 7.  _Therefore all things\nwhatsoever ye would that men should do to you_, _do ye even so to them_;\n_for this is the law and the prophets_.  Matt. vii. 12.  _Thou shalt love\nthy neighbour as thyself_.  Matt. xix. 19.  And who is thy neighbour?\nRead the parable of the Good Samaritan, and _Go and do likewise_.  Luke\nx. 15.\n\nThe author will finally conclude by observing, that England will have a\ngreat deal to answer for in reference to the Gipsies of past generations.\nFor, from a very moderate calculation that he has made, 150,000 of these\noutcasts have passed into the eternal world, uninformed, unacquainted\nwith God, since they came to this country.  May the present, and\nsucceeding generations, be wiser than the past!\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX.\n\n\nSince the GIPSIES' ADVOCATE was put to press, the author, as might\nnaturally be expected on a subject so interesting as the conversion of\nthe Gipsies, has had many other pleasing communications.  From his\nBristol correspondents he has been favoured with several of delightful\ninterest, in reference to a small colony in that neighbourhood; and these\nstate that several of the Gipsies not only begin to evidence an aversion\nto their former life, but increase in seriousness, and in habits of\nindustry.  And happy is he to say, that several influential Christians of\nthat city are growing in the interest they manifest to these outcasts of\nsociety; for they are endeavouring to improve every opportunity of\naffording them instruction.  It is with peculiar pleasure too, the author\nlearns, that the students of the Baptist Academy of the above-named city,\nare not dead to the affecting necessities of this poor people.  Some of\nthe students of that academy spent the whole of one day in endeavouring\nto find one of their large encampments, of which they had had some\nprevious information, and spent the evening in giving such instruction as\nappeared to them to be the best calculated to enlighten and reform the\npeople to whom they were so anxious to do good; some of them occupying\nthemselves with the children, and others with the adults.  May their\nexample have its due influence on surrounding Christians!\n\nThe author must not forget to mention here, that he has been apprised by\nthe clergyman in Scotland, whose letter forms so interesting a part of\nthe ninth chapter, that the account he mentioned to him, as gaining\ninsertion in a statistical publication, has not been published, he\nbelieves, in consequence of the death of the gentleman who had interested\nhimself for its insertion in the work referred to; but that he hopes it\nmay meet the public eye in a short time.\n\nAnd now, having redeemed the pledge which he gave his friends about\ntwelve months since; having furnished them with a history of the Gipsies,\nsuch a one as he hopes will be beneficial to the race, whose conduct,\ncondition, and necessities it narrates; he will conclude by thanking\nthose kind friends who have unintentionally contributed to the interest\nof these pages, and by asking the continuation of their favours, with a\nview to give increasing interest to an intended second edition.  He would\nnot forget publicly to solicit, likewise, the correspondence of ladies\nand gentlemen who may be in possession of facts or plans likely to\ninterest the public towards the Gipsies.\n\nThe author now commits these pages to the all-influential blessing of\nGod, earnestly praying that these poor, hard-faring wanderers, whose\ncharacter he has endeavoured to delineate, may be speedily rescued from\ntheir present forlorn condition, and, that they may eventually be\nconducted to the mansions of eternal bliss, where neither storm nor\ntempest shall any longer afflict them, but where they shall join with the\nransomed of the Lord, in ascribing _blessing_, _and honour_, _and glory_,\n_and power_, _unto him that sitteth upon the throne_, _and unto the Lamb\nfor ever and ever_.\n\n                                 THE END.\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF AUTHORS\nWHO HAVE WRITTEN ON THE GIPSIES.\n\n\nH. M. G. GRELLMAN'S DISSERTATION ON THE GIPSIES.  Translated by M.\nRapier.\n\nHOYLAND'S SURVEY OF THE GIPSIES.\n\nTWISS'S TRAVELS IN SPAIN.\n\nSWINBURNE'S TRAVELS IN ITALY.\n\nDR C. D. CLARK'S TRAVELS IN RUSSIA.\n\nCAPT. DAVID RICHARDSON.  Referred to in the seventh volume of _Asiatic\nResearches_.\n\nSIR THOMAS BROWN'S VULGAR ERRORS.\n\nWhile these are the leading authors, whose works are either composed in,\nor translated into English, it may impress us with the importance by\nwhich the Gipsies have been viewed, to know, that nearly 200 have written\nabout them in other languages.\n\n\n\n\nERRATA.\n\n\nPage Line\n\n31, 24, _For_ 'would be in a town,' _read_, 'would be in, in a town.'\n\n55, 30, _For_ 'dispatching,' _read_, 'despatching.'\n\n                  BAKER AND SON, PRINTERS, SOUTHAMPTON.\n\n\n\n\nFootnotes:\n\n\n{10}  See a late account of this Colony in a subsequent page.\n\n{11a}  See Hoyland, pages 78, 79, and 80.\n\n{11b}  We should not forget that the grace of God can change their hearts\nand morals.  The facts contained in this book are very encouraging\nexamples of the power of divine grace upon the heart and character of the\nGipsy people.  The reader would do well to turn to the following\nscriptures--Isaiah, XI. 6, 7, 8, 9.  1 Cor. VI. 9, 10, 11.\n\n{12}  Children, after grown up to men and women, have an affection for\ntheir parents somewhat childish.  A young Gipsey man known to the author,\nwhen his mother stays longer from the camp than usual, expresses his\nanxiety for her return, by saying--_Where is my mum_?  _I wish my mum\nwould come home_.\n\n{14}  Some of those Gipsies who have families, and a little property,\nprovide themselves with a cart, or waggon, as most convenient for a\nwarehouse for their goods, and more comfortable than a tent to dwell in\nduring winter.\n\n{16}  \"Should any be inclined to doubt, which I scarcely suppose\npossible, the identity of the Gipsy or Cingari, and Hindostanee\nlanguages, still it will be acknowledged as no uninteresting subject,\nthat tribes wandering through the mountains of Nubia, or the plains of\nRomania, have conversed for centuries in a dialect precisely similar to\nthat spoken at this day, by the obscure, despised, and wretched people in\nEngland, whose language has been considered as a fabricated gibberish,\nand confounded with a cant in use among thieves and beggars; and whose\npersons have been, till within the period of the last year, an object of\nthe persecution, instead of the protection of our laws.\"--Extract from a\nletter of William Marsden, Esq. addressed to Sir Joseph Banks, F. R. S.,\nand read to the Society of Antiquaries in London, 1785.\n\n{18}  \"The gentleman spoke dixen to me,\" said a Gipsy to the Author; that\nis, long hard words.\n\n{28}  May not this be a proof of their Hindostanee origin?  There is this\ndifference, however--the clothes, &c. of the deceased Gipsy, are burnt\ninstead of his body!\n\n{45}  One Gipsy, I believe, has been convicted of having some stolen\npoultry in his tent; but he had received it from the thief.  No other\nfact of the sort has come to my knowledge.\n\n{72}  Sold by Seeley, and by Westley and Co, London; Clark, Bristol;\nBinns, Bath; and Lindsay and Co, Edinburgh.\n\n{75}  I ought to say perhaps, that though this young and ignorant woman\nran away, she did not go with any thing that was not her own; for she\nleft behind her a bonnet that had been lent her, while she had nothing\nmore on her head than a piece of cloth.\n\n{76}  The latter was the daughter of the dying Gipsy, an account of whom\nmay be seen in the tract numbered 803, and published by the Tract\nSociety.\n\n{97}  The friends of this good cause at Bristol, now think that manual\nlabour is far more conducive to their conversion than hawking any article\nwhatever: the above plan is therefore totally abandoned for labour.\n\n{115}  A district in East India celebrated for diamonds.","title":"The Gipsies' Advocate: Or, Observations on the Origin, Character, Manners, and Habits of the English Gipsies","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":39182}