THE 
 
 English Gipsies 
 
 AND 
 
 Their Language
 
 
 
 
 , I 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 * -
 
 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES,
 
 THE 
 
 ENGLISH GIPSIES 
 
 THEIII LANGUAGE 
 
 CHARLES G. LBLAND 
 
 AUTHOR OF "HANS BKKITMANN's BALLADS," "THE MUSIC LESSON OF CONFUCIUS, 
 ETC. ETC. 
 
 FOURTH EDITION 
 
 LONDON 
 KEGAN PAUL, TREXCH, TRUBNER, & CO, L TD 
 
 PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD 
 1893
 
 \ The rights of translation and oj reproduction are reset ved.}
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. fAC ,K 
 
 1. INTRODUCTORY, . . .1 
 
 II. A GIPSY COTTAGE, ........ 23 
 
 III. THi: GIPSY TINKER, , . 36 
 
 IV. GIPSY RESPECT FOB IRK DEAD, . . 48 
 
 V. GIPSY LETTKRS, ......... 63 
 
 VI. GIPSY WORDS PASSED INTO ENGLISH SLANG, .... 78 
 
 VII. PROVERBS AND CHANCE PHRASES, 101 
 
 VIII. INDICATIONS OF THE INDIAN ORIGIN OF THE GIPSIES, . .109 
 
 IX. MISCELLANEA, 134 
 
 X. GIPSIES IN EGYPT, 188 
 
 KOMMANI GCDLI. 
 
 GIPSY STORIES AND FABLES, ... . 201 
 
 2084620
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 As Author of this book, I beg leave to observe that 
 all which is stated in it relative to the customs or 
 peculiarities of Gipsies mas gathered directly from 
 Gipsies themselves; f md that every word of their lan- 
 guage here given, whether in conversations, stories, 
 or sayings, was taken from Gipsy mouths. While 
 entertaining the highest respect for the labours 
 of Mr George Borrow in this field, I have carefully 
 avoided repeating him in the least detail ; neither have 
 I taken anything from Simson, Hoyland, or any 
 other writer on the Rommany race in England. 
 Whatever the demerits of the work may be, it can at 
 least claim to be an original collection of material 
 fresh from nature, and not a reproduction from 
 books. There are. it is true, two German Gipsy let- 
 ters from other works, but these may be excused as 
 illustrative of an English one. 
 
 I may here in all sincerity speak kindly and grate- 
 fully of every true Gipsy I have ever met, and of the 
 cheerfulness with which they have invariably assisted 
 me in my labour to the extent of their humble 
 abilities. Other writers have had much to say of 
 their incredible distrust of Gorgios and unwillingness
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 to impart their language, but I have always found 
 them obliging and communicative. I have never had 
 occasion to complain of rapacity or greediness among 
 them ; on the contrary, I have often wondered to see 
 how the great want of such very poor people was 
 generally kept in check by their natural politeness, 
 which always manifests itself when they are treated 
 properly. In fact, the first effort which I ever made to 
 acquire a knowledge of English Rommany originated 
 in a voluntary offer from an intelligent old dame to 
 teach me "the old Egyptian language." And as she 
 also suggested that I should set forth the knowledge 
 which I might acquire from her and her relatives in 
 a book (referring to Mr Borrow's having done so), I 
 may hold myself fully acquitted from the charge of 
 having acquired and published anything which my 
 Gipsy friends would not have had made known to the 
 public. 
 
 Mr Borrow has very well and truly said that it is 
 not by passing a few hours among Gipsies that one 
 can acquire a knowledge of their characteristics ; and 
 I think that this book presents abundant evidence 
 that its contents were not gathered by slight and 
 superficial intercourse with the Rommany. It is only 
 by entering gradually and sympathetically, without 
 any parade of patronage, into a familiar knowledge 
 of the circumstances of the common life of humble 
 people, be they Gipsies, Indians, or whites, that one 
 can surprise unawares those little inner traits which
 
 PREFACE. Vll 
 
 constitute the characteristic. ' However this may be, 
 the reader will readily enough understand, on perusing 
 these pages possibly much better than 1 do myself 
 how it was I was able to collect whatever they contain 
 that is new. 
 
 The book contains some remarks on that great 
 curious centre and secret of all the nomadic and 
 vagabond life in England, THE ROMMANY, with com- 
 ments on the fact, that of the many novel or story- 
 writers who have described the "Travellers" of the 
 Roads, very few have penetrated the real nature of 
 their life. It gives several incidents illustrating 
 the character of the Gipsy, and some informa- 
 tion of a very curious nature in reference to the 
 respect of the English Gipsies for their dead, and 
 the strange manner in which they testify it. I 
 believe, that this will be found to be fully and 
 distinctly illustrated by anecdotes and a narrative in 
 the original Gipsy language, with a translation. 
 There is also a chapter containing in Rommany and 
 English a very characteristic letter from a full-blood 
 G-ipsy to a relative, which was dictated to me, and 
 which gives a sketch of the leading incidents of 
 Gipsy life trading in horses, fortune-telling, and 
 cock-shying. I have also given accounts of conver- 
 sations with Gipsies, introducing in their language 
 and in English their own remarks (noted down by me) 
 on certain curious customs ; among others, on one 
 which indicates that many of them profess among
 
 VI 11 PREFACE, 
 
 themselves a certain regard for our Saviour, because 
 His birth and life appear to them to be like that of the 
 Rommany. There is a collection of a number of words 
 now current in vulgar English which were probably 
 derived from Gipsy, such as row, shindy, pal, trash, 
 bosh, and niggling, and finally a number of Gudli or 
 short stories. These Gudli have been regarded by my 
 literary friends as interesting and curious, since they 
 are nearly all specimens of a form of original narra- 
 tive occupying a middle ground between the anecdote 
 and fable, and abounding in Gipsy traits. Some of 
 them are given word for word as they are current 
 among Gipsies, and others owe their existence almost 
 entirely either to the vivid imagination and child- 
 like fancies of an old Gipsy assistant, or were 
 developed from some hint or imperfect saying or 
 story. But all are thoroughly and truly Rommany; 
 for every one, after being brought into shape, passed 
 through a purely "unsophisticated" Gipsy rnind, and 
 was finally declared to be tdcko, or sound, by real 
 Rommanis. The truth is, that it is a difficult matter 
 to hear a story among English Gipsies which is not 
 mangled or marred in the telling ; so that to print 
 it, restitution and invention become inevitable. But 
 with a man who lived in a tent among the gorse and 
 fern, and who intermitted his earnest conversation 
 with a little wooden bear to point out to me the 
 gentleman on horseback riding over the two beautiful 
 little girls in the flowers on the carpet, such fables as I
 
 PREFACE. IX 
 
 have given sprang up of themselves, owing nothing to 
 books, though they often required the influence of a 
 better disciplined mind to guide them to a consistent 
 termination. 
 
 The Rommany English Vocabulary which I propose 
 shall follow this work is many times over more exten- 
 sive than any ever before published, and it will also be 
 found interesting to all philologists by its establishing 
 the very curious fact that this last wave of the primitive 
 Aryan-Indian ocean which spread over Europe, though 
 it has lost the original form in its subsidence and degra- 
 dation, consists of the same substance or, in other 
 words, that although the grammar has wellnigh disap- 
 peared, the words are almost without exception the 
 same as those used in India, Germany, Hungary, or 
 Turkey. It is generally believed that English Gipsy is 
 a mere jargon of the cant and slang of all nations, that 
 of England predominating ; but a very slight exami- 
 nation of the Vocabulary will show that during more 
 than three hundred years in England the Rommany 
 have not admitted a single English word to what they 
 correctly call their language. I mean, of course, so 
 far as my own knowledge of Rommany extends. To 
 this at least I can testify, that the Gipsy to whom I 
 was principally indebted for words, though he often 
 used " slang," invariably discriminated correctly be- 
 tween it and Rommany ; and I have often admired 
 the extraordinary pride in their language which has 
 induced the Gipsies for so many generations to teach
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 their children this difference.* Almost every word 
 which my assistant declared to be Gipsy I have found 
 either in Hindustani or in the works of Pott, Liebich, 
 or Paspati. On this subject I would remark by the 
 way, that many words which appear to have been 
 taken by the Gipsies from modern languages are in 
 reality Indian. 
 
 And as I have honestly done what I could to give 
 the English reader fresh material on the Gipsies, and 
 not a rewarming of that which was gathered by 
 others, I sincerely trust that I may not be held to 
 sharp account (as the authors of such books very often 
 are) for not having given more or done more or done 
 it better than was really in my power. Gipsies in Eng- 
 land are passing away as rapidly as Indians in North 
 America. They keep among themselves the most 
 singular fragments of their Oriental origin ; they 
 abound in quaint characteristics, and yet almost 
 nothing is done to preserve what another generation 
 will deeply regret the loss of. There are complete 
 dictionaries of the Dacotah and many other American 
 Indian languages, and every detail of the rude life of 
 those savages has been carefully recorded ; while the 
 autobiographic romances of Mr Borrow and Mr 
 Simson's History contain nearly all the infor- 
 
 * The reason why Gipsy words have been kept unchanged was fully 
 illustrated one day in a Gipsy camp in my hearing, when one man 
 declaring of a certain word that it was only kennick or slang, and not 
 " Roinmanis," added, " It can't be Rommanis, because everybody knows 
 it. When a word gets to be known to everybody, it 's no longer Rom- 
 manis. "
 
 PREFACE. XI 
 
 mation of any value extant relative to the English 
 Gipsies. Yet of these two writers, Mr Borrow is the 
 only one who had, so to speak, an inside view of his 
 subject, or was a philologist. 
 
 In conclusion I would remark, that if I have 
 not, like many writers on the poor Gipsies, abused 
 them for certain proverbial faults, it has been be- 
 cause they never troubled me with anything very 
 serious of the kind, or brought it to my notice ; and 
 I certainly never took the pains to hunt it up to the 
 discredit of people who always behaved decently to 
 me. I have found them more cheerful, polite, and 
 grateful than the lower orders of other races in 
 Europe or America ; and I believe that where their 
 respect and sympathy are secured, they are quite as 
 upright. Like all people who are regarded as out- 
 casts, they are very proud of being trusted, and under 
 this influence will commit the most daring acts 
 of honesty. And with this I commend my book to 
 the public. Should it be favourably received, I will 
 add fresh reading to it ; in any case I shall at least 
 have the satisfaction of knowing that I did my best 
 to collect material illustrating a very curious and 
 greatly-neglected subject. It is merely as a collection 
 of material that I offer it ; let those who can use it, 
 do what they will with it. 
 
 If I have not given in this book a sketch of the 
 history of the Gipsies, or statistics of their numbers, 
 or accounts of their social condition in ditferent
 
 XH PREFACE. 
 
 countries, it is because nearly everything- of the kind 
 may be found in the works of G-eorge Borrow and 
 Walter Simson, which are in all respectable libraries, 
 and may be obtained from any bookseller. 
 
 I would remark to any impatient reader for mere 
 entertainment, who may find fault with the abundance 
 of Rommany or Gipsy language in the following- 
 pages, that the principal object of the Author was to 
 collect and preserve such specimens of a rapidly- 
 vanishing language, and that the title-page itself 
 indirectly indicates such an object. I have, however, 
 invariably given with the Gipsy a translation imme- 
 diately following the text in plain English at times 
 very plain in order that the literal meaning of 
 words may be readily apprehended. I call especial 
 attention to this fact, so that no one may accuse me 
 of encumbering my pages with Rommany. 
 
 While writing this book, or in fact after the whole 
 of the first part was written, I passed a winter in 
 Egypt ; and as that country is still supposed by many 
 people to be the fatherland of the Gipsies, and as 
 very little is known relative to the Rommany there, 
 I have taken the liberty of communicating what I 
 could learn on the subject, though it does not refer 
 directly to the Gripsies of England. Those who are 
 interested in the latter will readily pardon the 
 addition. 
 
 There are now in existence about three hundred 
 works on the Gipsies, but of the entire number com-
 
 PREFACE. xiii 
 
 paratively few contain fresh material gathered from 
 the Rommany themselves. Of late years the first 
 philologists of Europe have taken a great interest 
 in their language, which is now included in " Die 
 Sprachen Europas " as the only Indian tongue 
 spoken in this quarter of the world ; and I believe 
 that English Gripsy is really the only strongly- 
 distinct Rommany dialect which has never as yet 
 been illustrated by copious specimens or a vocabulary 
 of any extent. I therefore trust that the critical 
 reader will make due allowances for the very great 
 difficulties under which I have laboured, and not 
 blame me for not having done better that which, so 
 far as I can ascertain, would possibly not have been 
 done at all. Within the memory of man the 
 popular Rommany of this country was really gram- 
 matical ; that which is now spoken, and from which 
 I gathered the material for the following pages, is, 
 as the reader will observe, almost entirely English as 
 to its structure, although it still abounds in Hindu 
 words to a far greater extent than has been hitherto 
 supposed.
 
 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 The Rommany of the Roads. The Secret of Vagabond Life in 
 England. Its peculiar and thoroughly hidden Nature. 
 Gipsy Character and the Causes which formed it. Moral 
 Results of hungry Marauding. Gipsy ideas of Religion. 
 The Scripture story of the Seven Whistlers. The Baker's 
 Daughter. Difficulties of acquiring Rommany. The Fable 
 of the Cat. The Chinese, the American Indian, and the 
 Wandering Gipsy. 
 
 ALTHOUGH the valuable and curious works of Mi- 
 George Borrow have been in part for more than 
 twenty years before the British public,* it may still 
 be doubted whether many, even of our scholars, are 
 aware of the remarkable, social, and philological facts 
 which are connected with an immense proportion of 
 our out-of-door population. There are, indeed, very 
 few people who know, that every time we look from 
 the window into a crowded street, the chances are 
 
 * Lavengro and the Rommany Rye : London, John Murray. 
 
 A
 
 2 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 greatly in favour of the assertion, that we shall see at 
 least one man who bears in his memory some hun- 
 dreds of Sanscrit roots, and that man English born : 
 though it was probably in the open air, and English 
 bred, albeit his breeding was of the roads. 
 
 For go where you will, though you mny not know 
 it, you encounter at every step, in one form or the 
 other, the Rommany. True, the dwellers in tents are 
 becoming few and far between, because the " close 
 cultivation " of the present generation, which has en- 
 closed nearly all the waste land in England, has left 
 no spot in many a day's journey, where " the travel- 
 lers," as they call themselves, can light the fire and 
 boil the kettle undisturbed. There is almost " no tan 
 to hatch," or place to stay in. So it has come to 
 pass, that those among them who cannot settle down 
 like unto the Gentiles, have gone across the Great 
 Water to America, which is their true Canaan, where 
 they flourish mightily, the more enterprising making 
 ;i good thing of it, by prastering graias or " running 
 horses," or trading in them, while the idler or more 
 moral ones, pick up their living as easily as a mouse 
 in a cheese, on the endless roads and in the forests. 
 And so many of them have gone there, that I am 
 sure the child is now born, to whom the sight of a 
 real old-fashioned gipsy will be as rare in England 
 as a Sioux or Pawnee warrior in the streets of New 
 York or Philadelphia. But there is a modified and 
 yet real Rommany-dom, which lives and will live 
 with great vigour, so long as a regularly organised
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 3 
 
 nomadic class exists on our roads and it is the true 
 nature and inner life of this class which has remained 
 for ages, an impenetrable mystery to the world at 
 large. A member of it may be a tramp and a beggar, 
 the proprietor of some valuable travelling show, a 
 horse-dealer, or a tinker. He may be eloquent, as 
 a Cheap Jack, noisy as a Punch, or musical with a 
 fiddle at fairs. He may "peddle " pottery, make and 
 sell skewers and clothes-pegs, or vend baskets in a 
 caravan ; he may keep cock-shys and Aunt Sallys at 
 races. But whatever he may be, depend upon it, 
 reader, that among those who follow these and simi- 
 lar callings which he represents, are literally many 
 thousands who, unsuspected by the Gorgios, are 
 known to one another, and who still speak among 
 themselves, more or less, that curious old tongue 
 which the researches of the greatest living philolo- 
 gists have indicated, is in all probability not merely 
 allied to Sanscrit, but perhaps in point of age, 
 an elder though vagabond sister or cousin of 
 that ancient language. 
 
 For THE ROMMANY is the characteristic leaven of 
 all the real tramp life and nomadic callings of Great 
 Britain. And by this word I mean not the language 
 alone, which is regarded, however, as a test of supe- 
 rior knowledge of " the roads," but a curious inner 
 life and freemasonry of secret intelligence, ties of 
 blood and information, useful to a class who have 
 much in common with one another, and very little in 
 common with the settled tradesman or worthy citizen.
 
 4 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 The hawker whom you meet, and whose blue eyea 
 and light hair indicate no trace of Oriental blood, 
 may not be a churdo, or pash-ratt, or half-blood, or 
 half-scrag, as a full Gipsy might contemptuously term 
 him, but he may be, of his kind, a quadroon or octo- 
 roon, or he may have "gipsified," by marrying a 
 Gipsy wife ; and by the way be it said, such women 
 make by far the best wives to be found among English 
 itinerants, and the best suited for " a traveller." But 
 in any case he has taken pains to pick up all the Gipsy 
 he can. If he is a tinker, he knows Kennick, or 
 cant, or thieves' slang by nature, but the Rommany, 
 which has very few words in common with the former, 
 is the true language of the mysteries ; in fact, it has 
 with him become, strangely enough, what it was ori- 
 ginally, a sort of sacred Sanscrit, known only to the 
 Brahmins of the roads, compared to which the other 
 language is only commonplace Prakrit, which any- 
 body may acquire. 
 
 He is proud of his knowledge, he makes of it a deep 
 mystery; and if you, a gentleman, ask him about it, 
 he will probably deny that he ever heard of its exist- 
 ence. Should he be very thirsty, and your manners 
 frank and assuring, it is, however, not impossible that 
 after draining a pot of beer at your expense, lie may 
 recall, with a grin, the fact that he has heard that the 
 Gipsies have a queer kind of language of their own; 
 and then, if you have any Rommany yourself at com- 
 mand, he will perhaps rakker Rommanis with greater 
 or less fluency. Mr Simson, in his " History of the
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 5 
 
 Gipsies," asserts that there is not a tinker or scissors- 
 grinder in Great Britain who cannot talk this language, 
 and my own experience agrees with his declaration, to 
 this extent that they all have some knowledge of it, 
 or claim to have it, however slight it may be. 
 
 So rare is a knowledge of Rommany among those 
 who are not connected in some way with Gipsies, that 
 the slightest indication of it is invariably taken as an 
 irrefutable proof of relationship with them. It is but 
 a few weeks since, as I was walking along the Marine 
 Parade in Brighton, I overtook a tinker. Wishing 
 him to sharpen some tools for me, I directed him to 
 proceed to my home, and en route spoke to him in 
 Gipsy. As he was quite fair in complexion, I 
 casually remarked, " I should have never supposed 
 you could speak Rommany you don't look like it." 
 To which he replied, very gravely, in a tone as 
 of gentle reproach, " You don't look a Gipsy your- 
 self, sir ; but you know you are one you talk like 
 one."" 
 
 Truly, the secret of the Rommany has been well 
 kept in England. It seems so to me when I reflect 
 that, with the exception of Laveugro and the Rommany 
 Rye,* I cannot recall a single novel, in our language, 
 in which the writer has shown familiarity with the real 
 life, habits, or language of the vast majority of that very 
 large class, the itinerants of the roads. Mr Dickens 
 has set before us Cheap Jacks, and a number of men 
 
 * To these I would add ' Zalda's Fortune," now publishing in the 
 Cornhill Magazine.
 
 O THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 who were, in their very face, of the class of which I 
 speak ; but I cannot recall in his writings any 
 indication that he knew that these men had a 
 singular secret life with their confreres, or that 
 they could speak a strange language ; for we may 
 well call that language strange which is, in the main, 
 Sanscrit, with many Persian words intermingled. 
 Mr Dickens, however, did not pretend, as some have 
 done, to specially treat of Gipsies, and he made no 
 affectation of a knowledge of any mysteries. Ho 
 simply reflected popular life as he saw it. But there 
 are many novels and tales, old and new, devoted to 
 setting forth Rommany life and conversation, which 
 are as much like the originals as a Pastor Fido is 
 like a common shepherd. One novel which I once 
 read, is so full of " the dark blood," that it might 
 almost be called a gipsy novel. The hero is a gipsy; 
 he lives among his kind the book is full of them ; 
 and yet, with all due respect to its author, who is 
 one of the most gifted and best-informed romance 
 writers of the century, I must declare that, from 
 beginning to end, there is not in the novel the slight- 
 est indication of any real and familiar knowledge of 
 gipsies. Again, to put thieves' slang into the mouths 
 of gipsies, as their natural and habitual language, has 
 been so much the custom, from Sir Walter Scott to 
 the present day, that readers are sometimes gravely 
 assured in good faith that this jargon is pure Ptom- 
 many. But this is an old error in England, since 
 the vocabulary of cant appended to the " English
 
 INTRODUCTORY. f 
 
 Rogue," published in 1680, was long believed to 
 be Gipsy; and Captain Grose, the antiquary, who 
 should have known better, speaks with the same 
 ignorance. 
 
 It is, indeed, strange to see learned and shrewd 
 writers, who pride themselves on truthfully de- 
 picting every element of European life, and every 
 type of every society, so ignorant of the habits, 
 maunerp, and language of thousands of really strange 
 people who swarm on the highways and bye-ways! 
 We have had the squire and the governess, my lord 
 and all Bohemia Bohemia, artistic and literary 
 but where are our Vrais Bohemiens? Out of Lavengro 
 and Rommany Rye nowhere. Yet there is to be 
 found among the children of Rom, or the descendants 
 of the worshippers of Rama, or the Doras or Coptic 
 Romi, whatever their ancestors may have been, more 
 that is quaint and adapted to the purposes of the 
 novelist, than is to be found in any other class of the 
 inhabitants of England. You may not detect a trace 
 of it on the roads ; but once become truly acquainted 
 with a fair average specimen of a Gipsy, pass many 
 days in conversation with him, and above all acquire 
 his confidence and respect, and you will wonder that 
 such a being, so entirely different from yourself, could 
 exist in Europe in the nineteenth century. It is said 
 that those who can converse with Irish peasants in 
 their own native tongue, form far higher opinions of 
 their appreciation of the beautiful, and of the elements 
 of humour and pathos in their hearts, than do those
 
 8 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 who know their thoughts only through the medium 
 of English. I know from my own observation that 
 this is quite the case with the Indians of North 
 America, and it is unquestionably so with the Gipsy. 
 When you know a true specimen to the depths of his 
 soul, you will find a character so entirely strange, so 
 utterly at variance with your ordinary conceptions of 
 humanity, that it is no exaggeration whatever to 
 declare that it would be a very difficult task for the 
 best writer to convey to the most intelligent reader 
 an idea of his subject's nature. You have in him, to 
 begin with, a being whose every condition of life is 
 in direct contradiction to what you suppose every 
 inan's life in England must be. " I was born in the 
 open air," said a Gipsy to me a few days since; " and 
 put me down anywhere, in the fields or woods, I 
 can always support myself." Understand me, he 
 did not mean by pilfering, since it was of America 
 that we were speaking, and of living in the lonely 
 forests. We pity with tears many of the poor among 
 us, whose life is one of luxury compared to that 
 which the Gipsy, who despises them, enjoys with a 
 zest worth more than riches. 
 
 11 What a country America must be," quoth Pir- 
 engro, the Walker, to me, on the occasion just referred 
 to. "Why, my pal, who's just welled apopli from 
 dovo tern (my brother, who has just returned from 
 that country), tells me that when a cow or anything 
 dies there, they just chuck it away, and nobody ask 
 a word for any of it." u What would you do," he
 
 IN TROD UC TOR V. 9 
 
 continued, " if you were in the fields and had nothing 
 to eat?" 
 
 I replied, " that if any could be found, I should 
 hunt for fern-roots." 
 
 " I could do better than that," he said. " I should 
 hunt for a hotehemteM^ a hedge-hog, and I should 
 be sure to find one : there's no better eating." 
 
 Whereupon assuming his left hand to be an 
 imaginary hedge-hog, he proceeded to score and turn 
 and dress it for ideal cooking with a case-knife. 
 
 "And what had you for dinner to-day?" I in- 
 quired. 
 
 " Some cocks' heads. They're very fine very fine 
 indeed ! " 
 
 Now it is curious but true that there is no person 
 in the world more particular as to what he eats 
 than the half-starved English or Irish peasant, 
 whose sufferings have so often been set forth for our 
 condolence. We may be equally foolish, you and I 
 in fact chemistry proves it when we are disgusted 
 at the idea of feeding on many things which mere 
 association and superstition render revolting. But 
 the old fashioned gipsy has none of these qualms 
 lie is haunted by no ghost of society save the police- 
 man, he knows none of its terrors. Whatever is 
 edible he eats, except horse-meat ; wherever there is 
 an empty spot he sleeps ; and the man who can do 
 this devoid of shame, without caring a pin for what 
 the world says nay, without even knowing that he 
 does not care, or that he is peculiar is independent
 
 IO THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 to a degree which of itself confers a character which 
 is not easy to understand. 
 
 I grew up as a young man with great contempt for 
 Helvetius, D'Holbach, and all the French philoso- 
 phers of the last century, whose ideal man was a 
 perfect savage ; but I must confess that since I have 
 studied gipsy nature, my contempt has changed into 
 wonder where they ever learned in their salons and 
 libraries enough of humanity to theorise so boldly, 
 and with such likeness to truth, as they did. It is not 
 merely in the absolute out-of-doors independence of 
 the old-fashioned Gipsy, freer than any wild beast 
 from care for food, that his resemblance to a " philo- 
 sopher" consists, or rather to the ideal man, free from 
 imaginary cares. For more than this, be it for good 
 or for evil, the real Gipsy has, unlike all other men, 
 unlike the lowest savage, positively no religion, no 
 tie to a spiritual world, no fear of a future, nothing 
 but a few trifling superstitions and legends, which in 
 themselves indicate no faith whatever in anything 
 deeply seated. It would be difficult, I think, for any 
 highly civilised man, who had not studied Thought 
 deeply, and in a liberal spirit, to approach in the least 
 to a rational comprehension of a real Gipsy mind. 
 During my life it has been my fortune to become inti- 
 mate with men who were "absolutely" or "posi- 
 tively " free-thinkers men who had, by long study 
 and mere logic, completely freed themselves from 
 any mental tie whatever. Such men are rare ; it 
 requires an enormous amount of intellectual culture,
 
 INT ROD UCTOR Y. 1 1 
 
 an unlimited expenditure of pains in the metaphysical 
 hot-bed, and tremendous self-confidence to produce 
 them I mean "the real article." Among the most 
 thorough of these, a man on whom utter and entire 
 freedom of thought sat easily and unconsciously, 
 was a certain German doctor of philosophy named 
 
 P . To him God and all things were simply 
 
 ideas of development. The last remark which 
 I can recall from him was " 7a, ja. We ad- 
 vanced Hegelians agree exactly on the whole with 
 the Materialists." Now, to my mind, nothing 
 seems more natural than that, when sitting entire 
 days talking with an old Gipsy, no one rises so 
 frequently from the past before me as Mr P . 
 To him all religion represented a portion of the 
 vast mass of frozen, petrified developments, which 
 simply impede the march of intelligent minds ; 
 to my Rommauy friend, it is one of the thousand 
 inventions of gorgio life, which, like policemen, are 
 simply obstacles to Gipsies in the search of a living, 
 and could he have grasped the circumstances of the 
 case, he would doubtless have replied " Avali, we 
 
 Gipsies agree on the whole exactly with Mr P ."' 
 
 Extremes meet. 
 
 One Sunday an old Gipsy was assuring me, with a 
 great appearance of piety, that on that day she neither 
 told fortunes nor worked at any kind of labour in 
 fact, she kept it altogether correctly. 
 
 "Avali, dye" I replied. "Do you know what the 
 Gipsies in Germany say became of their church ?"
 
 1 2 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 " Kek" answered the old lady. " No. What is 
 it?" 
 
 " They say that the Gipsies' church was made of 
 pork, and the dogs ate it." 
 
 Long, loud, and joyously affirmative was the peal 
 of laughter with which the Gipsies welcomed this 
 characteristic story. 
 
 So far as research and the analogy of living tribes 
 of the same race can establish a fact, it would seem 
 that the Gipsies were, previous to their quitting India, 
 not people of high caste, but wandering Pariahs, out- 
 casts, foes to the Brahmins and unbelievers. All the 
 Pariahs are not free-thinkers, but in India, the Church, 
 as in Italy, loses no time in making of all detected 
 free-thinkers Pariahs. Thus we are told, in the 
 introduction to the English translation of that very 
 curious book, " The Tales of the Gooroo Simple," 
 which should be read by every scholar, that all the 
 true literature of the country- that which has life, 
 and freedom, and humour comes from the Pariahs. 
 And was it different in those days, when Rabelais, 
 and Von Hutten, and Giordano Bruno were, in their 
 wise, Pariahs and Gipsies, roving from city to city, 
 often wanting bread and dreading fire, but asking for 
 nothing but freedom ? 
 
 The more I have conversed intimately with Gipsies, 
 the more have I been struck by the fact, that my 
 mingled experiences of European education and of 
 life in the Far West of America have given me a 
 basis of mutual intelligence which had otherwise been
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 13 
 
 utterly wanting. I, myself, have known in a wild 
 country what it is to be half-starved for many days 
 to feel that all my thoughts and intellectual exertions, 
 hour by hour, were all becoming centered on one sub- 
 ject how to get something to eat. I felt what it was 
 to be wolfish and even ravening ; and I noted, step by 
 step, in myself, how a strange sagacity grew within 
 me an art of detecting food. It was during the 
 American war, and there were thousands of us 
 pitifully starved. When we came near some log hut 
 I began at once to surmise, if I saw a flour sack lying 
 about, that there was a mill not far distant ; perhaps 
 flour or bread in the house ; while the dwellers in the 
 hut were closely scanned to judge from their appear- 
 ance if they were well fed, and of a charitable 
 disposition. It is a melancholy thing to recall ; but 
 it is absolutely necessary for a thinker to have once 
 lived such a life, that he may be able to understand 
 what is the intellectual status of those fellow beings 
 whose whole life is simply a hunt for enough food to 
 sustain life, and enough beer to cheer it. 
 
 1 have spoken of the Gipsy fondness for the 
 hedgehog. Richard Liebich, in his book, Die 
 Zigeuner in ihrem Wesen und in ihrer Sprache, tells 
 his readers that the only indication of a belief in 
 a future state which he ever detected in an old 
 Gipsy woman, was that she once dreamed she was 
 in heaven. It appeared to her as a large garden, full 
 of fine fat hedgehogs. "This is," says Mr Liebich, 
 " unquestionably very earthly, and dreamed very
 
 14 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 sensuously ; reminding us of Mahommed's paradise, 
 which in like manner was directed to the animal and 
 not to the spiritual nature, only that here were hedge- 
 hogs and there houris." 
 
 Six or seven thousand years of hungry-marauding, 
 end by establishing strange points of difference between 
 the mind of a Gipsy and a well-to-do citizen. It has 
 starved God out of the former ; he inherited unbelief 
 from his half fed Pariah ancestors, and often retains 
 it, even in England, to this day, with many other 
 unmistakable signs of his Eastern-jackal origin. And 
 strange as it may seem to you, reader, his intercourse 
 with Christians has all over Europe been so limited, 
 that he seldom really knows what religion is. The 
 same Mr Liebich tells us that one day he overheard a 
 Gipsy disputing with his wife as to what was the true 
 character of the belief of the Gentiles. Both ad- 
 mitted that there was a great, elder grown up God 
 (the baro puro demel)^ and a smaller younger God (the 
 tikno tarno dewel). But the wife maintained, appeal- 
 ing to Mr Liebich for confirmation, that the great 
 God no longer reigned, having abdicated in favour of 
 the Son, while the husband declared that the Great 
 older God died long ago, and that the world was now 
 governed by the little God who was, however, not 
 the son of his predecessor, but of a poor carpenter. 
 
 I have never heard of any such nonsense among 
 the English wandering Gipsies with regard to 
 Christianity, but at the same time I must admit that 
 their ideas of what the Bible contains are extremely
 
 IN TROD UCTOR Y. 1 5 
 
 vague. One day I was sitting with an old Gipsy, dis- 
 cussing Rommany matters, when he suddenly asked 
 me what the word was in the waver temmeny jib, or 
 foreign Gipsy, for The Seven Stars. 
 
 " That would be," I said, " the Efta Sirnie. I 
 suppose your name for it is the Hefta Pens. There 
 is a story that once they were seven sisters, but one 
 of them was lost, and so they are called seven to this 
 day though there are only six. And their right name 
 is the Pleiades." 
 
 " That gudlo that story," replied the gipsy, " is 
 like the one of the Seven Whistlers, which you know 
 is in the Scriptures." 
 
 " What ! " 
 
 " At least they told me so ; that the Seven 
 Whistlers are seven spirits of ladies who fly by 
 night, high in the air, like birds. And it says in 
 the Bible that once on a time one got lost, and 
 never came back again, and now the six whistles 
 to find her. But people calls 'em the Seven 
 Whistlers though there are only six exactly the 
 same as in your story of the stars. " 
 
 " It's queer," resumed my Gipsy, after a pause, 
 " how they always tells these here stories by Sevens. 
 Were you ever on Salisbury Plain ? " 
 
 " No ! " 
 
 " There are great stones there bori bars and 
 many a night I've slept there in the moonlight, in the 
 open air, when I was a boy, and listened to my father 
 tellin' me about the Baker. For there's seven great
 
 1 6 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 stones, and they say that hundreds of years ago a 
 baker used to come with loaves of bread, and waste it 
 all a tryin' to make seven loaves remain at the same 
 place, one on each stone. But one all'us fell off, and 
 to this here day he's never yet been able to get all 
 seven on the seven stones." 
 
 I think that my Gipsy told this story in connection 
 with that of the Whistlers, because he was under the 
 impression that it also was of Scriptural origin. It 
 is, however, really curious that the Gipsy term for an 
 owlet is the Maromengro 1 s Chavi, or Baker's Daughter, 
 and that they are all familiar with the monkish legend 
 which declares that Jesus, in a baker's shop, once 
 asked for bread. The mistress was about to give him 
 a large cake, when her daughter declared it was too 
 much, and diminished the gift by one half. 
 
 " He nothing said, 
 But by the fire laid down the bread, 
 When lo, as when a blossom blows 
 To a vast loaf the manchet rose ; 
 In angry wonder, standing by, 
 The girl sent forth a wild, rude cry, 
 And, feathering fast into a fowl, 
 Flew to the woods a wailing owl." 
 
 According to Eilert Sundt, who devoted his life to 
 studying the Fanten and Tataren, or vagabonds and 
 Gipsies of Sweden and Norway, there is a horrible and 
 ghastly semblance among them of something like a 
 religion, current in Scandinavia. Once a year, by 
 night, the Gipsies of that country assemble for the 
 purpose of un-baptizing all of their children whom
 
 INTRODUCTORY. \"J 
 
 they have, during the year, suffered to be baptized for 
 the sake of gifts, by the G-orgios. On this occasion, 
 amid wild orgies, they worship a small idol, which is 
 preserved until the next meeting with the greatest 
 secresy and care by their captain. I must declare 
 that this story seems very doubtful to me. 
 
 I have devoted this chapter to illustrating from 
 different points the fact that there lives in England a 
 race which has given its impress to a vast proportion 
 of our vagabond population, and which is more curious 
 and more radically distinct in all its characteristics, 
 than our writers, with one or two exceptions, have 
 ever understood. One extraordinary difference still 
 remains to be pointed out as it has, in fact, already 
 been, with great acumen, by Mr George Borrow, in his 
 " Gipsies in Spain," and by Dr Alexander Paspati, in 
 his " Etudes sur les Tchiughianes ou Bohemiens de 
 1'Empire Ottoman " (Constantinople, 1870) ; also by 
 Mr Bright, in his " Hungary," and by Mr Simson. 
 It is this, that in every part of the world it is extreme!) 
 difficult to get Rommany words, even from intelligent 
 gipsies, although they may be willing with all their 
 heart to communicate them. It may seem simple 
 enough to the reader to ask a man " How do you call 
 ' to carry ' in your language ? " But can the reader 
 understand that a man, Svho is possibly very much 
 shrewder than himself in reading at a glance many 
 phases of character, and in countless trickeries, 
 should be literally unable to answer such a question ? 
 And yet I have met with many such. The truth is, 
 

 
 1 8 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 that there are people in this world who never had 
 such a thing as an abstract idea, let us say even of an 
 apple, plumped suddenly at them not once in all 
 their lives and, when it came, the unphilosophi- 
 cal mind could no more grasp it, than the gentleman 
 mentioned by G. H. Lewes (History of Philosophy), 
 could grasp the idea of substance without attribute 
 as presented by Berkeley. The real Gipsy could talk 
 about apples all day, but the sudden demand for the 
 unconnected word, staggers him at least, until he 
 has had some practice in this, to him, new process. 
 And it is so with other races. Professor Max Miiller 
 once told me in conversation, as nearly as I can recol- 
 lect, that the Mohawk Indian language is extremely 
 rich in declension, every noun having some sixteen or 
 seventeen inflexions of case, but no nominative. One 
 can express one's relations to a father to a most extra- 
 ordinary extent, among the dilapidated descendants 
 of that once powerful tribe. But such a thing as the 
 abstract idea of a father, or of ' father ' pur et simple, 
 never entered the Mohawk mind, and this is very like 
 the Gipsies. 
 
 When a rather wild Gipsy once gives you a word, 
 it must be promptly recorded, for a demand for its 
 repetition at once confuses him. On doit saisir le mot 
 echappe au Nomade, et ne pas Vobliger d le repeter, 
 car il le changera selon sa faqon, says Paspati. Un- 
 used to abstract efforts of memory, all that he can 
 retain is the sense of his last remark, and very often 
 this is changed with the fleeting second by some
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 1 9 
 
 associated thought, which materially modifies it. It 
 is always difficult, in consequence, to take down a 
 story in the exact terms which a philologist desires, 
 There are two words for "bad" in English Gipsy, 
 mafro and vessavo ; and I think it must have taken 
 me ten minutes one day to learn, from a by no means 
 dull gipsy, whether the latter word was known to him, 
 or if it were used at all. He got himself into a hopeless 
 tangle in trying to explain the difference between wafro 
 and naflo, or ill, until his mind finally refused to act on 
 vessavo at all, and spasmodically rejected it. With all 
 the patience of Job, and the meekness of Moses, I 
 awaited my time, and finally obtained my information. 
 
 The impatience of such minds in narrative is 
 amusing. Let us suppose that I am asking some 
 kushto Rommany chal for a version of .ZEsop's fable of 
 the youth and the cat. He is sitting comfortably by 
 the fire, and good ale has put him into a story-telling 
 humour. I begin 
 
 l< Now then, tell me this adree Rommanis, in 
 Gipsy Once upon a time there was a young man 
 who had a cat." 
 
 Gipsy. " Yeckorus 'pre yeck cheirus a raklo 
 letted a matchka " 
 
 While I am writing this down, and long before it is 
 half done, the professor of Rommany, becoming inter- 
 ested in the subject, continues volubly 
 
 " an 1 the matchka yeck sala dicked a chillico 
 
 apre a rukk (and the cat one morning saw a bird in 
 a tree" )
 
 2O THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 I. " Stop, stop ! Hatch a mongish ! That is not 
 it ! Now go on. TJie young man loved this cat so 
 much " 
 
 Gipsy (fluently, in Rommany), " that he thought 
 her skin would make a nice pair of gloves " 
 
 " Confound your gloves ! Now do begin again" 
 
 Gipsy i with an air of grief and injury : " I 'm sure 
 I was telling the story for you the best way I knew 
 how ! " 
 
 Yet this man was far from being a fool. What 
 was it, then? Simply and solely, a lack of educa- 
 tion of that mental training which even those 
 who never entered a schoolhouse, receive more or 
 less of, when they so much as wait patiently for 
 a month behind a chair, or tug for six months 
 at a plough, or in short, acquire the civilised virtue 
 of Christian patience. That is it. We often 
 hear in this world that a little education goes 
 a great way; but to get some idea of the immense 
 value of a very little education indeed, and the 
 incredible effect it may have upon character, one 
 should study with gentleness and patience a real 
 Gipsy. 
 
 Probably the most universal error in the world is 
 the belief that all men, due allowance being made for 
 greater or less knowledge, or " talents," have minds 
 like our own ; are endowed with the same moral per- 
 ception, and see things on the whole very much as we 
 do. Now the truth is that a Chinese, whose mind Ls 
 formed, not by " religion " as we understand it, but
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 21 
 
 simply by the intense pressure of " Old Custom," 
 which we do not understand, thinks in a different 
 manner from an European ; moralists accuse him of 
 " moral obliquity," but in reality it is a moral dif- 
 ference. Docility of mind, the patriarchal principle, 
 and the very perfection of innumerable wise and moral 
 precepts have, by the practice of thousands of years, 
 produced in him their natural result. Whenever he 
 attempts to think, his mind runs at once into some 
 broad and open path, beautifully bordered with dry 
 artificial flowers,* and the result has been the ina- 
 bility to comprehend any new idea a state to which 
 the Church of the Middle Ages, or any too rigidly 
 established system, would in a few thousand years 
 have reduced humanity. Under the action of widely 
 diiferent causes, the gipsy has also a different cast of 
 mind from our own, and a radical moral difference. 
 A very few years ago, when I was on the Plains of 
 Western Kansas, old Black Kettle, a famous Indian 
 chief said in a speech, " I am not a white man, I am 
 a wolf. I was born like a wolf on the prairies. I have 
 lived like a wolf, and I shall die like one." Such is 
 the wild gipsy. Ever poor and hungry, theft seems to 
 him, in the trifling easy manner in which he practises 
 it, simply a necessity. The moral aspects of petty 
 
 * Educated Chinese often exercise themselves in what they call 
 "handsome talkee," or " talkee leeson " (i.e., reason), by sitting down 
 and uttering, by way of assertion and rejoinder, all the learned and 
 wise sentences which they can recall. In their conversation and on 
 their crockery, before every house and behind every counter, the ele- 
 gant formula makes its appearance, teaching people not merely how to 
 think, but what should be thought, and when.
 
 22 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 crime he never considers at all, nor does he, in fact, 
 reflect upon anything as it is reflected on by the 
 humblest peasant who goes to church, or who in any 
 way feels himself connected as an integral part of that 
 great body-corporate Society.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A GIPSY COTTAGE. 
 
 The Old Fortune-Teller and her Brother. The Patteran, or 
 Gipsies' Road- Mark. The Christian Cross, named by Con- 
 tinental Gipsies Trushul, after the Trident of Siva. Curious 
 English-Gipsy term for the Cross. Ash wood Fires on 
 Christmas Day. Our Saviour regarded with affection by 
 the Rommany because he was like themselves and poor. 
 Strange ideas of the Bible. The Oak. Lizards renew 
 their lives. Snails. Slugs. Tobacco Pipes as old as the 
 world. 
 
 " DUVELESTE ; Avo. Mandy's kaired my patteran 
 adusta chairuses where a drum jals atut the waver," 
 which means in English " Grod bless you, yes. 
 Many a time I have marked my sign where the roads 
 cross." 
 
 I was seated in the cottage of an old Gipsy mother, 
 one of the most noted fortune-tellers iu England, 
 when I heard this from her brother, himself an 
 ancient wanderer, who loves far better to hear the 
 lark sing than the mouse cheep when he wakes of a 
 morning. 
 
 It was a very small but clean cottage, of the kind 
 quite peculiar to the English labourer, and therefore 
 attractive to every one who has felt the true spirit of 
 the most original poetry and art which this country 
 has produced. For look high or low, dear reader^
 
 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 you will find that nothing has ever been better done 
 in England than the pictures of rural life, and over 
 nothing have its gifted minds cast a deeper charm. 
 
 There were the little rough porcelain figures of 
 which the English peasantry are so fond, and which, 
 cheap as they are, indicate that the taste of your 
 friends Lady - for Worcester " porcelain," or 
 the Duchess of - - for Majolica, has its roots among 
 far humbler folk. In fact there were perhaps twenty 
 things which no English reader would have supposed 
 were peculiar, yet which were something more than 
 peculiar to me. The master of the house was an 
 Anglo-Saxon a Gorgio and his wife, by some magic 
 or other, the oracle before-mentioned. 
 
 And I, answering said 
 
 " So you all call ii patter an f " 
 
 " No ; very few of us know that name. We do it 
 without calling it anything." 
 
 Then I took my stick and marked on the floor the 
 following' si;n 
 
 " There," 1 said, "is the oldest patteran first of 
 
 * Probably from the modern Greek irarovva., the sole of the foot, i.e., 
 a. track. Panth, a road, Hindustani.
 
 A GIPSY COTTAGE. 25 
 
 all which the Gipsies use to-day in foreign lands. 
 In Germany, when one band of Gipsies goes by a 
 cross road, they draw that deep in the dust, with the 
 end of the longest line pointing in the direction in 
 which they have gone. Then the next who come by 
 see the mark, and, if they choose, follow it." 
 
 " We make it differently," said the Gipsy. " This 
 is our sign the trin bongo drums, or cross." And he 
 drew his patteran thus 
 
 " The long end points the way," he added; "just 
 as in your sign." 
 
 " You call a cross," I remarked, " trin bongo drums, 
 or the three crooked roads. Do you know any such 
 word as trushul for it? " 
 
 " No ; trushilo is thirsty, and truskni means a 
 faggot, and also a basket." 
 
 " I shouldn't wonder if a faggot once got the old 
 Rommany word for cross," I said, " because in it 
 every stick is crossed by the wooden withy which binds 
 it ; and in a basket, every wooden strip crosses the 
 other." 
 
 I did not, however, think it worth while to explain 
 to the Gipsies that when their ancestors, centuries ago, 
 left India, it was with the memory that Shiva, the 
 Destroyer, bore a trident, the tri-cula in Sanscrit,
 
 26 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 the trisul of Mahadeva in Hindustani, and that 
 in coming to Europe the resemblance of its shape to 
 that of the Cross impressed them, so that they 
 gave to the Christian symbol the name of the 
 sacred triple spear.* For if you turn up a little the 
 two arms of a cross, you change the emblem of 
 suffering and innocence at once into one of murder 
 just as ever so little a deviation from goodness will 
 lead you, my dear boy, into any amount of devilry. 
 
 And that the unfailing lucid flash of humour may 
 not be wanting, there lightens on my mind the 
 memory of The Mysterious Pitchfork a German 
 satirical play which made a sensation in its time 
 and Herlossohn in his romance of Der Letzte Taborit 
 (which helped George Sand amazingly in Consuelo), 
 makes a Gipsy chieftain appear in a wonderfully 
 puzzling light by brandishing, in fierce midnight 
 dignity, this agricultural parody on Neptune's weapon, 
 which brings me nicely around to my Gipsies again. 
 
 If I said nothing to the inmates of the cottage of 
 all that the trushul or cross trident suggested, still 
 less did I vex their souls with the mystic possible 
 meaning of the antique patteran or sign which I had 
 drawn. For it has, I opine, a deep meaning, which 
 as one who knew Creuzer of old, I have a right to 
 set forth. Briefly, then, and without encumbering 
 my book with masses of authority, let me state that 
 in all early lore, the road is a symbol of life ; Christ 
 himself having used it in this sense. Cross roads 
 
 * Pott : "Die Zigeuner in Europa and Asien," vol. ii. p. 293.
 
 A GIPSY COTTAGE. 2/ 
 
 were peculiarly meaning-full as indicating the meet-of 
 life with life, of good with evil, a faith of which abund- 
 ant traces are preserved in the fact that until the present 
 generation suicides were buried at them, and magical 
 rites and diabolic incantations are supposed to be most 
 successful when practised in such places. The English 
 path, the Gipsy patteran, the Romm any-Hindu pat, a 
 foot, and the Hindu pant/i, a road, all meet in the San- 
 scrit path, which was the original parting of the ways. 
 Now the patteran which I have drawn, like the Koua of 
 the Chinese or the mystical Svastika of the Buddhists, 
 
 Svastika. 
 
 embraces the long line of life, or of the infinite and 
 the short, or broken lines of the finite, and, therefore, 
 as an ancient magical Eastern sign, would be most 
 appropriately inscribed as a sikker-paskero dromescro 
 or hand post to show the wandering Rommany 
 how to proceed on their way of life. 
 
 That the ordinary Christian Cross should be called 
 by the English Gipsies a trin bongo drum or the three 
 cross roads is not remarkable when we consider that 
 their only association with it is that of a "way- 
 shower," as Germans would call it. To you, reader, 
 it may be that it points the way of eternal life ; to 
 the benighted Rommany-English-Hindoo, it indicates 
 nothing more than the same old wearv track of daily
 
 28 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 travel ; of wayfare and warfare with the world, seek- 
 ing food and too often finding none ; living for petty 
 joys and driven by dire need ; lying down with 
 poverty and rising with hunger, ignorant in his very 
 wretchedness of a thousand things which he ought to 
 want, and not knowing enough to miss them. 
 
 Just as the reader a thousand, or perhaps only a 
 hundred, years hence should a copy of this work be 
 then extant may pity the writer of these lines for his 
 ignorance of the charming comforts, as yet unborn, 
 which will render his physical condition so delightful. 
 To thee, oh, future reader, I am what the Gipsy is to 
 me ! Wait, my dear boy of the Future wait till 
 you get to heaven ! 
 
 Which is a long way off from the Gipsies. Let us 
 return. We had spoken of patteran, or of crosses by 
 the way-side, and this led naturally enough to speaking 
 of Him who died on the Cross, and of wandering. 
 And I must confess that it was with great interest 
 I learned that the Gipsies, from a very singular and 
 Rommany point of view, respect, and even pay him, 
 in common with the peasantry in some parts of 
 England, a peculiar honour. For this reason I bade 
 the Gipsy carefully repeat his words, and wrote them 
 down accurately. I give them in the original, with a 
 translation. Let me first state that my informant 
 was not quite clear in his mind as to whether the 
 Boro Divvus, or Great Day, was Christmas or New 
 Year's, nor was he by any means certain on which 
 Christ was born. But he knew very well that when
 
 A GIPSY COTTAGE. 29 
 
 it came, the Gipsies took great pains to burn an ash- 
 wood fire. 
 
 " Avali adusta cheirus I've had to jal dui or trin 
 mees of a Boro Diwus sig' in the sala, to lei ash-wood 
 for the yag. That was when I was a bitti chavo$ for 
 my dadas always would keravit. 
 
 " An' we kairs it because foki pens our Saviour, the 
 tikno Duvel was born apre the Boro Diwus, 'pre the 
 puv, avree in the temm, like we Rommauis, and he 
 was brought 'pre' pash an ash yag (Why you can 
 dick dovo adree the Scriptures!}. 
 
 " The ivy and holly an' pine rukks never pookered 
 a lav when our Saviour was gaverin' of his kokero, an' 
 so they tools their jivaben saw (sar) the wen, and dicks 
 selno saw the besh; but the ash, like the surrelo rukk, 
 pukkered atut him, where he was gaverin, so they have 
 to hatch inullo adree the wen. And so we Rommany 
 chals always hatchers an ash yag saw the Boro Divvuses. 
 For the tikno duvel was chivved a wadras 'pre the 
 puvius like a Rommany chal, and kistered apre a 
 myla like a Rommany, an' jailed pale the tern a 
 maugin his moro like a Rom. An' he was always 
 a pauveri choro mush, like we, till he was nashered 
 by the Gorgios. 
 
 "An' he kistered apre a myla ? Avali. Yeckorus he 
 putchered the pash-grai if he might kister her, but 
 she pookered him kek. So because the pash-grai 
 wouldn't rikker him, she was sovahalled againsus 
 never to be a dye or lei tiknos. So she never lelled 
 kek, nor any cross either.
 
 3O THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 " Then he putchered the myla to rikker him, and 
 she penned : ' Avail ! ' so he pet a cross apre laki's 
 dumo. And to the divvus the myla has a trin bongo 
 drum and latchers tiknos, but the pash-grai has kek, 
 So the mylas 'longs of the Eommanis." 
 
 (TRANSLATION.) " Yes many a time I've had to 
 go two or three miles of a Great Day (Christmas), 
 early in the morning, to get ash-wood for the fire. 
 That was when I was a small boy, for my father always 
 would do it. 
 
 " And we do it because people say our Saviour, the 
 small God, was born on the Great Day, in the field, 
 out in the country, like we Rommanis, and he was 
 brought up by an ash-fire." 
 
 Here a sudden sensation of doubt or astonishment 
 at my ignorance seemed to occur to my informant, for 
 he said, 
 
 " Why, you can see that in the Scriptures ! " 
 
 To which I answered, "But the Gipsies have Scrip- 
 ture stories different from those of the Gorgios, and 
 different ideas about religion. Go on with your story. 
 Why do you burn ash- wood?" 
 
 " The ivy, and holly, and pine trees, never told a 
 word where our Saviour was hiding himself, and so 
 they keep alive all the winter, and look green all the 
 year. But the ash, like the oak (lit. strong tree), 
 told of him (lit. across, against him), where he was 
 hiding, so they have to remain dead through the 
 winter. And so we Gipsies always burn an ash- 
 fire every Great Day. For the Saviour was born
 
 A GIPSY COTTAGE. 31 
 
 in the open field like a Gipsy, and rode on an ass 
 like one, and went round the land a begging his 
 bread like a Rom. And he was always a poor 
 wretched man like us, till he was destroyed by the 
 Gentiles. 
 
 " And He rode on an ass ? Yes. Once he 
 asked the mule if he might ride her, but she told 
 him no. So because the mule would not carry 
 him, she was cursed never to be a mother or have 
 children. So she never had any, nor any cross 
 either. 
 
 " Then he asked the ass to carry him, and she 
 said ' Yes ; ' so he put a cross upon her back. And 
 to this day the ass has a cross and bears young, but 
 the mule has none. So the asses belong to (are 
 peculiar to) the Gipsies." 
 
 There was a pause, when I remarked 
 
 " That is a fino gudlo a fine story ; and all of it 
 about an ash tree. Can you tell me anything about 
 the surrelo rukk the strong tree the oak ? " 
 
 " Only what I've often heard our people say about 
 its life." 
 
 "And what is that?" 
 
 " Dui hundred besh a hatchin, dui hundred besh 
 nasherin his chuckko, dui hundred besh 'pre he 
 mullers, and then he nashers sar his ratt and he's 
 kekoomi kushto." * 
 
 * Two hundred (shel) years growing, two hundred years losing hie 
 coat, two hundred years before he dies, and then he loses all hia blood 
 and is no longer good.
 
 32 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES, 
 
 " That is good, too. There are a great many men 
 who would like to live as long." 
 
 " Tacho, true. But an old coat can hold out better 
 than a man. If a man gets a hole in him he dies, 
 but his chukko (coat) can be toofered and sivved apre 
 (mended and sewed up) for ever. So, unless a man 
 could get a new life every year, as they say the hep- 
 puts, the little lizards do, he needn't hope to live like 
 an oak." 
 
 u Do the lizards get a new life every year ? " 
 
 " Avail. A hepput only lives one year, and then 
 he begins life over again." 
 
 " Do snails live as long as lizards? " 
 
 " Not when I find 'em rya if I am hungry. 
 Snails are good eating.* You can find plenty on the 
 hedges. When they're going about in the fields or 
 (are found) under wood, they are not good eating. 
 The best are those which are kept, or live through 
 (literally sleep} the winter. Take 'em and wash 'em 
 and throw ; em into the kettle, with water and a little 
 salt. The broth 's good for the yellow jaundice." 
 
 * The words of the Gipsy, as I took them down from his own lips, 
 were as follows : 
 
 " Bawris are kushto habben. You can latcher adusta 'pre the 
 bors. When they're pirraben pauli the puvius, or tale the koshters, 
 they're kek kushti habben. The kushtiest are sovven sar the wen. 
 Lel'em and tove 'em and chiv 'em adre"e the kavi, with panny an' a 
 bitti lun. The simmun's kushto for the yellow jaundice." 
 
 I would remind the reader that in every instance where the original 
 Gipsy language is given, it was written down or noted during conversa- 
 tion, and subsequently written out and read to a Gipsy, by whom it 
 was corrected. And I again beg the reader to remember, that every 
 Rommany phrase is followed by a translation into English.
 
 A GIPSY COTTAGE. 33 
 
 " So you call a snail " 
 
 " A bawris," said the old fortune-teller. 
 
 " Bawris ! The Hungarian Gipsies call it a bouro. 
 But in Germany the Rommanis say stargoli. I 
 wonder why a snail should be a stargoli." 
 
 " I know," cried the brother, eagerly. " When you 
 put a snail on the fire it cries out and squeaks just 
 like a little child. Stargoli means ' four cries. ' ' 
 
 I had my doubts as to the accuracy of this startling 
 derivation, but said nothing. The same Gipsy on a 
 subsequent occasion, being asked what he would call 
 a roan horse in Rommany, replied promptly 
 
 " A matchno grai " a fish-horse. 
 
 u Why a matchno grai ? " 
 
 " Because a fish has a roan (i.e., roe), hasn't it? 
 Leastways I can't come no nearer to it, if it ain't 
 that." 
 
 But he did better when I was puzzling my brain, 
 as the learned Pott and Zippel had done before me, 
 over the possible origin of churro or tchurro, ' ; a ball, 
 or anything round," when he suggested 
 
 " Rya I should say that as a churro is round, and 
 a curro or cup is round, and they both sound alike 
 and look alike, it must be all werry much the same 
 thing." * 
 
 "Can you tell me anything more about snails?" 
 
 * Dr Pott intimates that scharos, a globe, may be identical with 
 sherro, a head. When we find, however, that in German Eommany 
 tscharo means goblet, pitcher, vessel, and in fact cup, it seems as if 
 the Gipsy had hit upon the correct derivation. 
 
 C
 
 34 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 I asked, reverting to a topic which, by the way, I 
 have observed is like that of the hedgehog, a 
 favourite one with Gipsies. 
 
 " Yes ; you can cure warts with the big black kind 
 that have no shells." 
 
 " You mean slugs. I never knew they were fit to 
 cure anything." 
 
 "Why, that's one of the things that everybody 
 knows. When you get a wart on your hands, you 
 go on to the road or into the field till you find a slug, 
 one of the large kind with no shell (literally, with no 
 house upon him), and stick it on the thorn of a black- 
 thorn in a hedge, and as the snail dies, one day after 
 the other, for four or five days, the wart will die 
 away. Many a time I've told that to Gorgios, and 
 Gorgios have done it. and the warts have gone away 
 (literally, cleaned away) from their hands." * 
 
 Here the Gipsy began to inquire very politely if 
 smoking were offensive to me ; and as I assured him 
 that it was not, he took out his pipe. And knowing 
 by experience that nothing is more conducive to 
 sociability, be it among Chippeways or Gipsies, than 
 that smoking which is among our Indians, literally 
 
 * "Dov<5s yeck o' the covvos that saw foki jins. When you lei a 
 wart 'pre" tute's wasters you jal 'prd the drum or 'dre"e the puvius till 
 you latcher a kaulo bawris yeck o' the boro kind with kek ker apre" 
 him, an' del it apre" the caro of a kaulo kosh in the bor, and sar the 
 bawris mullers, yeck divvus pauli the waver for shtar or pange 
 divvuses the wart '11 kinner away-us. 'Dusta chairusses I 've pukkered 
 dovo to Gorgios, an' Gorgios have kaired it, an' the warts have yuzhered 
 avree their wasters."
 
 A GIPSY COTTAGE. 35 
 
 a burnt-offering,* I produced a small clay pipe of 
 the time of Charles the Second, given to me by a 
 gentleman who has the amiable taste to collect such 
 curiosities, and give them to his friends under the 
 express condition that they shall be smoked, and not 
 laid away as relics of the past. If you move in etching 
 circles, dear readers, you will at once know to whom 
 I refer. 
 
 The quick eye of the Gipsy at once observed my pipe. 
 
 u That is a crow-swdgler a crow-pipe," he re- 
 marked. 
 
 " Why a crow-pipe?" 
 
 " I don't know. Some Gipsies call 'em mullos 
 smaglers, or dead men's pipes, because those who 
 made 'em were dead long ago. There are places in 
 England where you can find 'em by dozens in the 
 fields. I never dicked (saw) one with so long a stem 
 to it as yours. And they 're old, very old. What 
 is it you call it before everything " (here he seemed 
 puzzled for a word) "when the world was a-making?" 
 
 "The Creation." 
 
 " Avali that 's it, the Creation. Well, them crow- 
 swaglers was kaired at the same time ; they 're hun- 
 dreds avali thousands of beshes (years) old. And 
 sometimes we call the beng (devil) a swagler, or we 
 calls a swagler the beng/' 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Because the devil lives in smoke." 
 
 * Among certain tribes in North America, tobacco is both burned 
 before and smoked "unto" the Great Spirit.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE GIPSY TINKER. 
 
 Difficulty of coining to an Understanding with Gipsies. The 
 Cabman. Rommany for French. "Wanderlust." Gipsy 
 Politeness. The Tinker and the Painting. Secrets of Bat- 
 catching. The Piper of Hamelin, and the Tinker's Opinion 
 of the Story. The Walloon Tinker of Spa. Argot. 
 
 ONE summer day in London, in 1871, I was seated 
 alone in an artist's studio. Suddenly I heard without, 
 beneath the window, the murmur of two voices, and 
 the sleepy, hissing, grating sound of a scissors- 
 grinder's wheel. 
 
 By me lay a few tools, one of which, a chisel, was 
 broken. I took it, went softly to the window, and 
 looked down. 
 
 There was the wheel, including all the apparatus 
 of a travelling tinker. I looked to see if I could 
 discover in the two men who stood by it any trace of 
 the Rommany. One, a fat, short, mind-his-owu- 
 business, ragged son of the roads, who looked, how- 
 ever, as if a sturdy drinker might be hidden in his 
 shell, was evidently not my " affair." He seemed to 
 be the "Co." of the firm. 
 
 But by him, and officiating at the wheeling smithy, 
 stood a taller figure the face to me invisible which
 
 THE GIPSY TINKER. 37 
 
 I scrutinised more nearly. And the instant I observed 
 his hat I said to myself, " This looks like it." 
 
 For dilapidated, worn, wretched as that hat was, 
 there was in it an attempt, though indescribably humble, 
 to be something melo-dramatic, foreign, Bohemian, 
 and poetic. It was the mere blind, dull, dead germ 
 of an effort not even life only the ciliary move- 
 ment of an antecedent embryo and yet it had got. 
 beyond Anglo - Saxoudom. No costermonger, or 
 common cad, or true Englishman, ever yet had that 
 indefinable touch of the opera-supernumerary in the 
 streets. It mas a sombrero. 
 
 " That 'R the man for me," I said. So 1 called 
 him, and gave him the chisel, and after a while went 
 down. He was grinding away, and touched his hat 
 respectfully as I approached. 
 
 Now the reader is possibly aware that of all diffi- 
 cult tasks one of the most difficult is to induce a 
 disguised Gipsy, or even a professed one, to utter a 
 word of Rommany to a man not of the blood. Of 
 this all writers on the subject have much to say. For 
 it is so black-swanish, I may say so centenarian in 
 unfrequency, for a gentleman to speak Gipsy, that 
 the Zingaro thus addressed is at once subjected to 
 morbid astonishment and nervous fears, which under 
 his calm countenance and infinite " cheek" are 
 indeed concealed, but which speedily reduce them- 
 selves to two categories. 
 
 1. That Rommany is the language of men at war 
 with the law : therefore vou are either a detective
 
 38 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 who has acquired it for no healthy purpose, or else 
 you yourself are a scamp so high up in the profession 
 that it behooves all the little fish of outlawdom to 
 beware of you. 
 
 2. Or else what is quite as much to be dreaded 
 you are indeed a gentleman, but one seeking to make 
 fun of him. and possibly able to do so. At any rate, 
 your knowledge of Bommany is a most alarming coin 
 of vantage. Certainly, reader, you know that a 
 regular London streeter, say a cabman, would rather 
 go to jail than be beaten in a chaffing match. I 
 nearly drove a hansom into sheer convulsions one 
 night, about the time this chapter happened, by a very 
 light puzzler indeed. I had hesitated between him 
 and another. 
 
 " You don't know your own mind" said the dis- 
 appointed candidate to me. 
 
 " Mind your own business," I replied. 
 
 It was a poor palindrome,* reader hardly worth 
 telling yet it settled him. But he swore oh, of 
 course he did he swore beautifully. 
 
 Therefore, being moved to caution, I approached 
 calmly and gazed earnestly on the revolving wheel. 
 
 " Do you know," I said, " I think a great deal of 
 your business, and take a great interest in it." 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " I can tell you all the names of your tools in 
 French. You 'd like to hear them, wouldn't you ? " 
 
 * This word palindrome, though Greek, is intelligible to every Gipsy. 
 In both languages it means " back on the road."
 
 THE GIPSY TINKER. 39 
 
 " Wery much indeed, sir." 
 
 So I took up the chisel. "This," I said, "is 
 a churij sometimes called a chinomescro" 
 
 " That's the French for it, is it, sir? " replied the 
 tinker, gravely. Not a muscle of his face moved. 
 
 "The coals" I added, "are hangars or wongurs, 
 sometimes called kaulos." 
 
 " Never heerd the words before in my life," quoth 
 the sedate tinker. 
 
 "The bellows is &pudemengro. Some call it &pishota.^ 
 
 " Wery fine language, sir, is French," rejoined the 
 tinker. In every instance he repeated the words after 
 me, and pronounced them correctly, which I had not 
 invariably done. " Wery fine language. But it's 
 quite new to me." 
 
 " You wouldn't think now," I said, affably, " that 
 / had ever been on the roads ! " 
 
 The tinker looked at me from my hat to my boots, 
 and solemnly replied 
 
 " I should say it was wery likely. From your 
 language, sir, wery likely indeed." 
 
 I gazed as gravely back as if I had not been at that 
 instant the worst sold man in London, and asked 
 
 " Can you rakher Rominanis? " (i.e. , speak Gipsy.) 
 
 And he said he could. 
 
 Then we conversed. He spoke English inter- 
 mingled with Gripsy, stopping from time to time to 
 explain to his assistant, or to teach him a word. 
 This portly person appeared to be about as well 
 up in the English Gripsy as myself that is, he
 
 40 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 knew it quite as imperfectly. I learned that the 
 master had been in America, and made New York and 
 Brooklyn glad by his presence, while Philadelphia, 
 my native city had been benefited as to its scissors 
 and morals by him. 
 
 " And as I suppose you made money there, why 
 didn't you remain?" I inquired. 
 
 The Gipsy for he was really a Gipsy, and not a half- 
 scrag looked at me wistfully, and apparently a little 
 surprised that I should ask him such a question. 
 
 " Why, sir, you know that me can't keep still. 
 Somethin' kept telling me to move on, and keep 
 a movin'. Some day I '11 go back again." 
 
 Suddenly I suppose because a doubt of my perfect 
 Freemasonry had been aroused by my absurd question 
 he said, holding up a kettle 
 
 " What do you call this here in Rommanis ? " 
 
 " I call it a kekdvi or a ka/oi" I said. " But it 
 isn't right Rommany. It 's Greek, which the Rom- 
 manichals picked up on their way here." 
 
 And here I would remark, by the way, that I have 
 seldom spoken to a Gipsy in England who did not 
 try me on the word for kettle. 
 
 " And what do you call a face ? " he added. 
 
 " I call a face a mui" I said, " and a nose a naki 
 and as for mui, I call rikker tiro mui, i hold your jaw.' 
 That is German Rommany." 
 
 The tinker gazed at me admiringly, and then said, 
 
 " You 're ; deep ' Gipsy, I see, sir that 's what you 
 are."
 
 THE GIPSY TINKER. 4! 
 
 " Mo rov a jam; mo rakker so drovdn?" I answered. 
 " Don't talk so loud ; do yon think I want all the 
 Gorgios around here to know I talk Gipsy ? Come in , 
 jal adree the ker and pi a curro levinor" 
 
 The tinker entered. As with most Gipsies there 
 was really, despite the want of " education," a 
 real politeness a singular intuitive refinement 
 pervading all his actions, which indicated, through 
 many centuries of brutalisation, that fountain-source 
 of all politeness the Oriental. Many a time I 
 have found among Gipsies whose life, and food, 
 and dress, and abject ignorance, and dreadful 
 poverty were far below that of most paupers and 
 prisoners, a delicacy in speaking to and acting 
 before ladies, and a tact in little things, utterly 
 foreign to the great majority of poor Anglo-Saxons, 
 and not by any means too common in even higher 
 classes. 
 
 For example, there was a basket of cakes on the 
 table, which cakes were made like soldiers in 
 platoons. Now Mr Katzimengro, or Scissorman, as I 
 call him, not being familiar with the anatomy of such 
 delicate and winsome maro, or bread, was startled to 
 find, when he picked up one biscuit de Rheims, that 
 he had taken a row. Instantly he darted at me an 
 astonished and piteous glance, which said 
 
 " I cannot, with my black tinker fingers, break off 
 and put the cakes back again ; I do not want to take 
 all it looks greedy." 
 
 So I said, " Put them in your pocket." And he did
 
 42 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 BO, quietly. I have never seen anything done with :x 
 better grace. 
 
 On the easel hung an unfinished picture, represent- 
 ing the Piper of Hamelin surrounded by rats without 
 number. The Gipsy appeared to be much interested 
 in it. 
 
 " I used to be a rat-catcher myself," he said. " I 
 learned the business under old Lee, who was the 
 greatest rat-catcher in England. I suppose you know, 
 of course, sir, how to dram rats ? " 
 
 " Certainly," I replied. " Oil of rhodium. I have 
 known a house to be entirely cleared by it. There 
 were just thirty-six rats in the house, and they had a 
 trap which held exactly twelve. For three nights 
 they caught a dozen, and that finished the congre- 
 gation." 
 
 " Aniseed is better," replied the Gipsy, solemnly. 
 (By the way, another and an older Gipsy afterwards 
 told me that he used caraway-oil and the heads of 
 dried herrings.) " And if you 've got a rat, sir, any- 
 where in this here house, I '11 bring it to you in five 
 minutes." 
 
 He did, in fact, subsequently bring the artist as 
 models for the picture two very pretty rats, which he 
 had quite tamed while catching them. 
 
 " But what does the picture mean, sir ? " he in- 
 quired, with curiosity. 
 
 " Once upon a time," I replied, " there was a city 
 in Germany which was overrun with rats. They 
 teased the dogs and worried the cats, and bit the
 
 THE GIPSY TINKER. 43 
 
 babies in the cradle, and licked the soup from the 
 cook's own ladle." 
 
 " There must have been an uncommon lot of them, 
 sir/' replied the tinker, gravely. 
 
 " There was. Millions of them. Now in those 
 days there were no Rommanichals, and consequently 
 no rat-catchers." 
 
 " 'Taint so no w-a-days," replied the Gipsy, gloomily. 
 " The business is quite spiled, and not to get a livin' 
 by." 
 
 "Avo. And by the time the people had almost 
 gone crazy, one day there came a man a G-ipsy the 
 first Gipsy who had ever been seen in dovo tern (or 
 that country). And he agreed for a thousand crowns 
 to clear all the rats away. So he blew on a pipe, and 
 the rats all followed him out of town." 
 
 " What did he blow on a pipe for ? " 
 
 " Just for hokkerben, to humbug them. I suppose 
 he had oils rubbed on his heels. But when he had 
 drawn the rats away and asked for his money, they 
 would not give it to him. So then, what do you 
 think he did?" 
 
 " I suppose ah, I see," said the Gipsy, with a shrewd 
 look. " He went and drew 'em all back again." 
 
 " No ; he went, and this time piped all the children 
 away. They all went after him all except one little 
 lame boy and that was the last of it." 
 
 The Gipsy looked earnestly at me, and then, as if 
 puzzled, but with an expression of perfect faith, he 
 asked
 
 44 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 " And is that all tdcho all a fact or is it made 
 up, you know ? " 
 
 " Well, I think it is partly one and partly the other. 
 You see, that in those days Gipsies were very scarce, 
 and people were very much astonished at rat-drawing, 
 and so they made a queer story of it." 
 
 " But how about the children ? " 
 
 " Well/' I answered ; " I suppose you have heard 
 occasionally that Gipsies used to chore Gorgios' chavis 
 steal people's children? " 
 
 Very grave indeed was the assent yielded to this 
 explanation. He had heard it among other things. 
 
 My dear Mr Robert Browning, I little thought, 
 when I suggested to the artist your poem of the 
 piper, that I should ever retail the story in Rommany 
 to a tinker. But who knows with whom he may 
 associate in this life, or whither he may drift on the 
 great white rolling sea of humnnity ? Did not Lord 
 Lytton, unless the preface to Pelham err, himself once 
 tarry in the tents of the Egyptians ? and did not 
 Christopher North also wander with them, and sing 
 
 " Oh, little did rny mother think, 
 
 The day she cradled me, 
 The lands that I should travel in, 
 
 Or the death that I should dee ; 
 Or gae rovin' about wi' tinkler loons, 
 
 And sic-like companie " 1 
 
 " You know, sir/ 3 said the Gipsy, " that we have two 
 languages. For besides the Rurnmany, there's the 
 reg'lar cant, which all tinkers talk." 
 
 " Kennick you mean ?"
 
 THE GIPSY TINKER. 45 
 
 " Yes, sir ; that 's the Ruminany for it. A * dolly 
 inort ' is Kennick, but it 'sjuva or rakli iu Rummanis. 
 It 's a girl, or a rom's chi" 
 
 "You say rom sometimes, and then rum" 
 
 " There 's rums and roms, sir. The rum is a Gipsy, 
 and a rom is a husband." 
 
 " That 's your English way of calling it. All the 
 rest of the world over there is only one word among 
 Gipsies, and that is rom." 
 
 Now, the allusion to Kennick or cant by a tinker, 
 recalls an incident which, though not strictly Gipsy in 
 its nature, I will nevertheless narrate. 
 
 In the summer of 1870 I spent several weeks at 
 Spa, in the Ardennes. One day while walking I saw 
 by the roadside a picturesque old tinker, looking 
 neither better nor worse than the grinder made im- 
 mortal by Teniers. 
 
 I was anxious to know if all of his craft in Belgium 
 could speak Gipsy, and addressed him in that lan- 
 guage, giving him at the same time my knife to 
 grind. He replied politely in French that he did not 
 speak Rommany, and only understood French and 
 Walloon. Yet he seemed to understand perfectly the 
 drift of my question, and to know what Gipsy was, 
 and its nature, since after a pause he added, with a 
 significant smile 
 
 " But to tell the truth, monsieur, though I cannot 
 talk Rommany, I know another secret language. I 
 can speak Argot fluently." 
 
 Now, I retain in my memory, from reading the
 
 4.6 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 Memoirs of Vidocq thirty years ago, one or two 
 phrases of this French thieves' slang, and I at once 
 replied that I knew a few words of it myself, add- 
 ing 
 
 u Tu saisjaspiner en bigorne?" you can talk argdt? 
 
 " Oui, monsieur." 
 
 u Et tu vas roulant de vergne en vergne? " and you 
 go about from town to town? 
 
 Grave and keen, and with a queer smile, the tinker 
 replied, very slowly 
 
 " Monsieur knows the Gipsies " (here he shook his 
 head), "and monsieur speaks argot very well." (A 
 shrug.) " Perhaps he knows more than he credits him- 
 self with. Perhaps" (and here his wink was diabolical) 
 " perhaps monsieur knows the entire tongue!" 
 
 Spa is full not only of gamblers, but of numbers 
 of well-dressed Parisian sharpers who certainly know 
 ''the entire tongue." I hastened to pay my tinker, 
 and went my way homewards. Boss Browne was 
 accused in Syria of having " burgled " onions, and 
 the pursuit of philology has twice subjected me to be 
 suspected by tinkers as a flourishing member of the 
 " dangerous classes." 
 
 But to return to my rat-catcher. As I quoted a 
 verse of German Gipsy song, he manifested an interest 
 in it, and put me several questions with regard to the 
 race in other lands. 
 
 " I wish I was a rich gentleman. I would like to 
 travel like you, sir, and have nothing to do but go 
 about from land to land, looking after our Rummany
 
 THE GIPSY TINKER. 47 
 
 people as you do, and learnin' everything Rummany. 
 Is it true, sir, we come from Egypt ? " 
 
 " No. I think not. There are Gipsies in Egypt, 
 but there is less Rommany in their jib (language) 
 than in any other Gipsy tribe in the world. The 
 Gipsies came from India." 
 
 " And don't you think, sir, that we're of the chil- 
 dren of the lost Ten Tribes ?" 
 
 "I am quite sure that you never had a drop of 
 blood in common with them. Tell me, do you know 
 any Gipsy gilis any songs ?" 
 
 " Only a bit of a one, sir; most of it isn't fit to sing, 
 but it begins " 
 
 And here he sang : 
 
 " Jal 'dr6e the ker my honey, 
 And you shall be my rom." 
 
 And chanting this, after thanking me, he departed, 
 gratified with his gratuity, rejoiced at his reception, and 
 most undoubtedly benefited by the beer with which I 
 had encouraged his palaver a word, by the way, 
 which is not inappropriate, since it contains in itself 
 the very word of words, the lav, which means a word, 
 and is most antiquely and excellently Gipsy. Pehlevi 
 is old Persian, and to pen lavi is Rommany all the 
 world over " to speak words."
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 GIPSY RESPECT FOR THE DEAD. 
 
 Gipsies and Cointeists identical as to " Religion " Singular 
 Manner of Mourning for the Dead, as practised by Gipsies 
 Illustrations from Life Gipsy Job and the Cigars Oaths 
 by the Dead Universal Gipsy Custom of never Mentioning 
 the Names of the Dead Burying valuable Objects with the 
 Dead Gipsies, Comteists, Hegelians, and Jews The Rev. 
 James Crabbe. 
 
 COMTE, the author of the Positivist philosophy, never 
 felt the need of a religion until he had fallen in love ; 
 and at the present day his " faith" appears to consist 
 in a worship of the great and wise and good among the 
 dead. I have already spoken of many Gipsies remind- 
 ing me, by their entirely unconscious ungodliness, 
 of thorough Hegelians. I may now add, that, like 
 the Positivists, they seem to correct their irreligion 
 through the influence of love ; and by a strange cus- 
 tom, which is, in spirit and fact, nothing less than 
 adoring the departed and offering to the dead a 
 singular sacrifice. 
 
 He who has no house finds a home in family and 
 friends, whence it results that the Gipsy, despite his 
 ferocious quarrels in the clan, and his sharp practice 
 even with near relations, is all things considered
 
 GIPSY RESPECT POR THE DEAD. 49 
 
 perhaps the most devoted to kith and kin of any one 
 in the world. His very name rom, a husband indi- 
 cates it. His children, as almost every writer on him, 
 from Grellmann down to the present day, has observed, 
 are more thoroughly indulged and spoiled than any 
 non-gipsy can conceive ; and despite all the apparent 
 contradictions caused by the selfishness born of 
 poverty, irritable Eastern blood, and the eccentricity 
 of semi-civilisation, I doubt if any man, on the whole, 
 in the world, is more attached to his own. 
 
 It was only three or four hours ago, as I write, on 
 the fifth day of February 1872, that a Gipsy said to 
 me, " It is nine years since my wife died, and I would 
 give all Anglaterra to have her again." 
 
 That the real religion of the Gipsies, as I have 
 already observed, consists like that of the Comteists, 
 in devotion to the dead, is indicated by a very extra- 
 ordinary custom, which, notwithstanding the very 
 general decay, of late years, of all their old habits, 
 still prevails universally. This is the refraining from 
 some usage or indulgence in honour of the departed 
 a sacrifice, as it were, to their manes and I believe 
 that, by inquiring, it will be found to exist among all 
 Gipsies in all parts of the world. In England it is 
 shown by observances which are maintained at great 
 personal inconvenience, sometime for years, or during 
 life. Thus, there are many Gipsies who, because a 
 deceased brother was fond of spirits, have refrained, 
 after his departure, from tasting them, or who have 
 given up their favourite pursuits, for the reason that 
 
 D
 
 5O THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 they were last indulged in, in company with the lost 
 and loved one. 
 
 As a further illustration, I will give in the original 
 Gipsy-language, as I myself took it down rapidly, but 
 literally, the comments of a full-blooded Gripsy on this 
 custom the translation being annexed. I should 
 state that the narrative which precedes his comments 
 was a reply to my question, Why he invariably declined 
 my offer of cigars ? 
 
 il No ; I never toovs cigaras, kek. I never toovs 
 'em kenna since my pal's chavo Job mullered. And 
 I'll pooker tute how it welled." 
 
 " It was at the boro wellgooro where the graias 
 prasters. I was kairin the paiass of the koshters, 
 and mandy dicked a rye an' pookered him for a 
 droppi levinor. ' AvaliJ he penned, i I'll del you 
 levinor and a kushto tuvalo too.' ; Parraco,' says I, 
 * rya.' So he del mandy the levinor and a dozen 
 cigaras. I pet em adree my poachy an' jailed apre 
 the purge and latched odoi my pal's chavo, an' he 
 pook'd mandy, ' Where you. jallin to, kako ? ' And 
 I penned: ' Job, I've lelled some covvas for tute.' 
 ' Tacho,' says he so I del him the cigaras. Penned 
 he : ' Where did tute latcher 'em ? ' 'A rye del 'em a 
 mandy. ' So he pet em adree his poachy, an' pookered 
 mandy, * What '11 tu lei to pi?' 'A droppi levinor.' 
 So he penned, ' Pauli the grais prasters, I'll jal atut 
 the puvius and dick tute.' 
 
 " Eight or nine divvuses pauli, at the K'allis's Gav, 
 his pal welled to mandy and pookered mi Job sus
 
 GIPSY KESPECT FOR THE DEAD. 5 I 
 
 naflo. And 1 penned, ' Any thing dush ? ' l Worse 
 nor dovo.' * What is the covvo ?' Says yuv, ' Mandy 
 kaums tute to jal to my pal don't spare the gry 
 mukk her jal ! ' So he del mi a fino grai, and I 
 kistered eight mee so sig that I thought I'd mored 
 her. An' I pet her dree the stanya, an' I jailed a lay 
 in the puv and' odoi I dicked Job. ' Thank me 
 Duvel ! ' penned he, ' Kako you's welled acai, and if 
 mandy gets opre this bugni (for 'twas the bugni he'd 
 Jelled), I'll del tute the kushtiest gry that you'll 
 beat sar the Romni chuls.' But he mullered. 
 
 " And he pens as he was mullerin. l Kako, tute 
 jins the cigarras you del a mandy ?' ' Avali, says he, 
 ' I've got 'em acai in my poachy.' Mandy and my pens 
 was by him, but his romni was avree, adree the boro 
 tan, bikinin cowas, for she'd never lelled the bugni, 
 nor his chavos, so they couldn't well a dickin, for we 
 wouldn't mukk em. And so he mullered. 
 
 " And when yuv's mullo I pet my wast adree his 
 poachy and there mandy lastered the cigaras. And 
 from dovo chairus, rya, mandy never tooved a cigar. 
 
 " Avali there's adusta Romni chuls that kairs 
 dovo. And when my juvo mullered, mandy never 
 lelled nokengro kekoomi. Some chairuses in her 
 jivaben, she'd lei a bitti nokengro avree my mokto, and 
 when I'd pen, ' Deari juvo, what do you kair dovo 
 for?' she pooker mandy, 'It's kushti for my sherro.' 
 And so when she mullered mandy never lelled chichi 
 sensus. 
 
 " Some mushis wont haw mass because the pal or
 
 52 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 pen that mullered was kammaben to it, some wont 
 pi levinor for panj or ten besh, some wont haw the 
 kammaben matcho that the chavo hawed. Some 
 wont haw puvengroes or pi tood, or haw pabos, and 
 saw (sar) for the nmllos. 
 
 " Some won't kair wardos or kil the boshomengro 
 ' that's mandy's pooro chavo's gilli ' and some won't 
 kel. ' No, I can't kel, the last time I kelled was with 
 mandy's poor juvo that's been mullo this shtor 
 besh.' 
 
 " ' Come pal, let's jal an' have a drappi levinor 
 the boshomengri's odoi.' ' Kek, pal, kekoomi I 
 never pi'd a drappi levinor since my bibi's jailed/ 
 1 Kushto lei some tuvalo pal?' 'Kek kek 
 mandy never tooved since minno juvo pelled a lay in 
 the panni, and never jailed avree kekoomi a jivaben.* 
 ' Well, let's jal and kair paiass with the koshters 
 we dui'll play you dui for a pint o' levinor.' ' Kek 
 I never kaired the paiass of the koshters since my 
 dadas mullered the last chairus I ever played was 
 with him.' 
 
 " And Lena, the juva of my pal's chavo, Job, never 
 hawed plums a'ter her rom mullered." 
 
 (TRANSLATION). " No, I never smoke cigars. No; 
 I never smoke them now since my brother's son Job 
 died. And I'll tell you how it came. 
 
 " It was at the great fair where the horses run 
 (i.e., the races), I was keeping a cock-shy, and I saw 
 H gentleman, and asked him for a drop of ale. 
 ' Yes,' he said, ' I'll give you ale, and a good smoke
 
 GIPSY RESPECT FOR THE DEAD. 53 
 
 too.' ' Thank you,' says I, l Sir.' So he gave me 
 the ale, and a dozen cigars. I put them in my 
 pocket, and went on the road and found there my 
 brother's son, and he asked me, ' Where (are) you 
 going, uncle?' And I said: ' Job, I have something 
 for you.' ( Good,' says he so I gave him the cigars. 
 He said : l Where did you find them ? ' 'A gentle- 
 man gave them to me.' So he put them in his 
 pocket, and asked me, ' What '11 you take to 
 drink?' *A drop of ale.' So he said, 'After 
 the horses (have) run I'll go across the field and 
 see you.' 
 
 " Eight or nine days after, at Hampton Court,* 
 his ' pal ' came to me and told me that Job was ill. 
 And I said, 'Anything wrong?' l Worse nor that.' 
 * What is the affair ? ' Said he, ' I want you to go to 
 my pal, don't spare the horse let her go ! ' So he 
 gave me a fine horse, and I rode eight miles so fast 
 that I thought I'd killed her. And I put her in the 
 stable, and I went down into the field, and there I saw 
 Job. ' Thank God ! ' said he ; ' Uncle, you've come here ; 
 and if I get over this small-pox (for 'twas the small- 
 pox he'd caught), I'll give you the best horse that 
 you'll beat all the Gipsies.' But he died. 
 
 "And he says as he was dying, l Uncle, you know 
 the cigars you gave me?' 'Yes.' Says he, 'I've 
 got 'em here in my pocket/ I and my sisters were 
 by him, but his wife was outside in the great tent, 
 selling things, for she never had the smallpox, nor 
 
 * The Krallis's Gav, King's Village, a term also applied to Windsor.
 
 54 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 his children, so they couldn't come to see, for we 
 wouldn't let them. And so he died. 
 
 " And when he was dead, I put my hand in his 
 pocket, and there I found the cigars. And from that 
 time, Sir, I never smoked a cigar. 
 
 " Yes ! there are plenty of Gipsies who do that. 
 And when my wife died, I never took snuff again. 
 Sometimes in her life she'd take a bit of snuff out 
 (from) my box ; and when I 'd say, ' Dear wife, what 
 do you do that for ? ' she'd tell me, ' It 's good for my 
 head.' And so when she died I never took any (none) 
 since. 
 
 " Some men won't eat meat because the brother or 
 sister that died was fond of (to) it ; some won't drink 
 ale for five or ten years ; some won't eat the favourite 
 fish that the child ate. Some won't eat potatoes, or 
 drink milk, or eat apples ; and all for the dead. 
 
 " Some won't play cards or the fiddle ' that's my 
 poor boy's tune ' and some won't dance ' No, I 
 can't dance, the last time I danced was with my poor 
 wife (or girl) that's been dead this four years.' 
 
 " ' Come, brother, let 's go and have a drop of ale ; 
 the fiddler is there.' ' No, brother, I never drank a 
 drop of ale since my aunt went (died).' * Well, take 
 some tobacco, brother ? ' * No, no, I have not smoked 
 since my wife fell in the water and never came out 
 again alive.' ' Well, let 's go and play at cock-shy, 
 we two '11 play you two for a pint o' ale. ' ' No, I 
 never played at cock-shy since my father died ; the 
 last time I played was with him.'
 
 GIPSY RESPECT FOR THE DEAD. 55 
 
 " And Lena, the wife of my nephew Job, never ate 
 plums after her husband died." 
 
 This is a strange manner of mourning, but it is 
 more effective than the mere wearing of black, since 
 it is often a long-sustained and trying tribute to the 
 dead. Its Oriental -Indian origin is apparent enough. 
 But among the German Gipsies, who, I am firmly 
 convinced, represent in language and customs their 
 English brethren as the latter were three centuries 
 ago, this reverence for the departed assumes an even 
 deeper and more serious character. Mr Richard 
 Liebich (Die Zigeuner, Leipzig, 1863), tells us that 
 in his country their most sacred oath is Ap i mulende ! 
 by the dead ! and with it may be classed the 
 equally patriarchal imprecation, u By my father's 
 hand!" 
 
 Since writing the foregoing sentence a very remark- 
 able confirmation of the existence of this oath among 
 English Gipsies, and the sacredness with which it is 
 observed, came under my own observation. An 
 elderly Gipsy, during the course of a family difficulty, 
 declared to his sister that he would leave the house. 
 She did not believe he would until he swore by his 
 dead wife by his "mullo juvo." And when he had 
 said this, his sister promptly remarked: " Now you 
 have sworn by her, I know you will do it." He 
 narrated this to me the next day, adding that he was 
 going to put a tent up, about a mile away, and live 
 there. I asked him if he ever swore by his dead 
 father, to which he said : " Always, until my wife
 
 56 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 died." This poor man was almost entirely ignorant 
 of what was in the Bible, as I found by questioning 
 him ; but I doubt whether I know any Christian on 
 whom a Bible oath would be more binding than was 
 to him his own by the dead. To me there was some- 
 thing deeply moving in the simple earnestness and 
 strangeness of this adjuration. 
 
 The German, like the older English Gipsies, carefully 
 burn the clothes and bed of the deceased, and, indeed, 
 most objects closely connected with them, and what is 
 more extraordinary, evince their respect by carefully 
 avoiding mentioning their names, even when they 
 are borne by other persons or are characteristic of 
 certain things. So that when a Gipsy maiden named 
 Forella once died, her entire nation, among whom 
 the trout had always been known only by its German 
 designation, Forelle, at once changed the name, and 
 to this day it is called by them mulo madscho the 
 dead fish, or at times lolo madscho the red fish. 
 
 This is also the case among the English Gipsies. 
 Wishing to have the exact words and views of a real 
 Rommany on this subject, I made inquiry, and noted 
 down his reply, which was literally as follows : 
 
 " Avali; when Rommany dials orjuvos are mullos, 
 their pals don't kaum to shoon their navs pauli it 
 kairs 'em too bongo so they're purabend to waver 
 navs. Saw don't kair it kek but posh do, kenna. 
 My chavo's nav was Horfer or Horferus, but the bitti 
 chavis penned him Wacker. Well, yeck divvus pre 
 the wellgooro o' the graias piasters, my juvo dicked
 
 GIPSY RESPECT FOR THE DEAD. $? 
 
 a boro doll adree some hev of a buttika and penned, 
 * Dovo odoi dicks just like moro Wacker ! ' So we 
 penned him Wackerdoll, but a'ter my juvo mullered 
 I rakkered him Wacker again, because Wackerdoll 
 pet mandy in cammoben o' my poor juvo." 
 
 In English : " Yes. "When G-ipsy men or women die, 
 their friends don't care to hear their names again it 
 makes them too sad, so they are changed to other 
 names. All don't do it no but half of them do so 
 still. My boy's name was Horfer or Horferus 
 (Orpheus), but the children called him Wacker. 
 Well, one day at the great fair of the races, my wife 
 saw a large doll in some window of a shop, and said, 
 'That looks just like our Wacker!' So we called 
 him Wackerdoll, but after my wife died I called him 
 Wacker again, because Wackerdoll put me in mind 
 of my poor wife." 
 
 When further interrogated on the same subject, he 
 said : 
 
 " A'ter my juva mullered, if I dicked a waver rakli 
 with lakis'nav, an' mandy was a rakkerin laki, 
 mandy'd pen ajaw a waver geeri's uav, an rakker her 
 by a waver nav : dovo's to pen I'd lei some bongo- 
 nav sar's Polly or Sukey. An' it was the sar covva 
 with my dades nav if I dicked a mush with a nav 
 that simmed leskers, maudy'd rakker him by a 
 waver nav. For 'twould kair any mush wafro to 
 shoon the navyas of the mullas a't 'were cammoben 
 to him." 
 
 Or in English, " After my wife died, if I saw
 
 58 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 another girl with her name, and I was talking to her, 
 I'd speak another woman's name, and call her by 
 another name ; that's to say, I'd take some nick-name, 
 such as Polly or Sukey. And it was the same thing 
 with my father's name if I saw a man with a name 
 that was the same as his (literally, ' that samed his '), 
 I'd call him by another name. For 'twould make any 
 man grieve (lit. ' bad ') to hear the names of the 
 dead that were dear to him." 
 
 I suppose that there are very few persons, not of 
 Gipsy blood, in England, to whom the information 
 will not be new, that there are to be found everywhere 
 among us, people who mourn for their lost friends in 
 this strange and touching manner. 
 
 Another form of respect for the departed among 
 Gipsies, is shown by their frequently burying some 
 object of value with the corpse, as is, however, done 
 by most wild races. On questioning the same Gipsy 
 last alluded to, he spoke as follows on this subject, I 
 taking down his words : 
 
 " When Job mullered and was chivved adree the 
 puv, there was a nevvi kushto-dickin dui chakkas 
 pakkered adree the mullo mokto. Dighton penned 
 a mandy the waver clivvus, that trin thousand bars 
 was gavvered posh yeck o' the Chilcotts. An I've 
 shooned o' some Stanleys were buried with soimakai 
 wongashees apre 7 langis wastes. ' Do sar the Rom- 
 many chals kair adovo ? ' Kek. Some chivs covvas 
 pash the mullos adree the puv ; and boot adusta don't." 
 
 In English : " When Job died and was buried,
 
 GIPSY RESPECT FOR THE DEAD. 59 
 
 there was a new beautiful pair of shoes put in the 
 coffin (lit., corpse-box). Dighton told me the other 
 day, that three thousand pounds were hidden with one 
 of the Chilcotts. And I have heard of some Stanleys 
 who were buried with gold rings on their fingers. 
 4 Do all the Gipsies do that? ' No ! some put things 
 with the dead in the earth, and many do not/' 
 
 Mr Liebich further declares, that while there is 
 really nothing in it to sustain the belief, this extra- 
 ordinary reverence and regard for the dead is the 
 only fact at all indicating an idea of the immortality 
 of the soul which he has ever found among the Gip- 
 sies ; but, as he admits, it proves nothing. To me, 
 however, it is grimly grotesque, when I return to the 
 disciples of Comte the Positivists the most highly 
 cultivated scholars of the most refined form of philo- 
 sophy in its latest stage, and find that their ultimate 
 and practical manifestation of la, religion, is quite the 
 same as that of those unaffected and natural Positi- 
 vists, the Gipsies. With these, as with the others, 
 our fathers find their immortality in our short-lived 
 memories, and if among either, some one moved by 
 deep love as Auguste was by the eyes of Clotilda 
 has yearned for immortality with the dear one, and 
 cursed in agony Annihilation, he falls upon the faith 
 founded in ancient India, that only that soul lives for 
 ever which has done so much good on earth, as to 
 leave behind it in humanity, ineffaceable traces of its 
 elevation. 
 
 Verily, the poor Gipsies would seem, to a humourist,
 
 DO THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 to have been created by the devil, whose name they 
 almost use for God, a living parody and satanic bur- 
 lesque of all that human faith, doubt, or wisdom, 
 have ever accomplished in their highest forms. Even 
 to the weakest minded and most uninformed manufac- 
 turers of " Grellmann-diluted" pamphlets, on the Gip- 
 sies, their parallel to the Jews is most apparent. All 
 over the world this black and God-wanting shadow 
 dances behind the solid Theism of " The People," 
 affording proof that if the latter can be preserved, 
 even in the wildest wanderings, to illustrate Holy 
 Writ so can gipsydom for no apparent purpose 
 whatever. How often have we heard that the pre- 
 servation of the Jews is a phenomenon without 
 equal ? And yet they both live the sad and sober 
 Jew, the gay and tipsy Gipsy, Shemite and Aryan 
 the one so ridiculously like and unlike the other, 
 that we may almost wonder whether Humour does 
 not enter into the Divine purpose and have its 
 place in the Destiny of Man. For my own 
 part, I shall always believe that the Heathen 
 Mythology shows a superiority to any other, in one 
 conception that of Loki, who into the tremendous 
 upturnings of the Universe always inspires a grim 
 grotesqueness ; a laughter either diabolic or divine. 
 
 Judaism, which is pre-eminently the principle of 
 religious belief: the metaphysical emancipation and 
 enlightenment of Germany, and the materialistic posi- 
 tivism of France, are then, as I have indicated, nowhere 
 so practically and yet laughably illustrated as by the
 
 GIPSY RESPECT FOR THE DEAD. 6 1 
 
 Gipsy. Free from all the trammels of faith, and, to 
 the last degree, indifferent and rationalistic, he satis- 
 fies the demands of Feuerbach ; devoted to the posi- 
 tive and to the memory of the dead, he is the ideal of the 
 greatest French philosophy, while as a wanderer on 
 the face of the earth not neglectful of picking up 
 things en route he is the rather blurred facsimile of 
 the Hebrew, the main difference in the latter parallel 
 being that while the Jews are God's chosen people, 
 the poor Gipsies seem to have been selected as favour- 
 ites by that darker spirit, whose name they have 
 naively substituted for divinity : Nomen et omen. 
 
 I may add, however, in due fairness, that there are 
 in England some true Gipsies of unmixed blood, who 
 it may be without much reflection have certainly 
 adopted ideas consonant with a genial faith in immor- 
 tality, and certain phases of religion. The reader 
 will find in another chapter a curious and beautiful 
 Gipsy custom recorded, that of burning an ash fire on 
 Christmas-day, in honour of our Saviour, because He 
 was born and lived like a Gipsy ; and one day I was 
 startled by hearing a Rom say " Miduvel hatch for 
 mandy an' kair me kushto." My God stand up for 
 me and make me well. " That " he added, in an ex- 
 planatory tone, " is what you say when you 're sick." 
 These instances, however, indicate no deep-seated con- 
 viction, though they are certainly curious, and, in their 
 extreme simplicity, affecting. That truly good man, 
 the Rev. James Crabb, in his touching little book, 
 " The Gipsies' Advocate," gave numbers of instances
 
 62 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 of Gipsy conversions to religion and of real piety among 
 them, which occurred after their minds and feelings 
 had been changed by his labours ; indeed, it would 
 seem as if their lively imaginations and warm hearts 
 render them extremely susceptible to the sufferings 
 of Jesus. But this does not in the least affect the ex- 
 traordinary truth that in their nomadic and natural 
 condition, the Gipsies, all the world over, present the 
 spectacle, almost without a parallel, of total indiffer- 
 ence to, and ignorance of, religion, and that I have 
 found true old-fashioned specimens of it in England. 
 I would say, in conclusion, that the Rev. James 
 Crabb, whose unaffected and earnest little book tells 
 its own story, did much good in his own time and way 
 among the poor Gipsies ; and the fact that he is men- 
 tioned to the present day, by them, with respect and 
 love, proves that missionaries are not useless, nor 
 Gipsies ungrateful though it is almost the fashion 
 with too many people to assume both positions as 
 rules without exceptions.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 GIPSY LETTERS. 
 
 A Gipsy's Letter to his Sister. Drabbing Horses. Fortune 
 Telling. Cock Shys. " Hatch, 'em pauli, or he'll lei sar tht 
 Covvas !" Two German Gipsy Letters. 
 
 I SHA.LL give in this chapter a few curious illustrations 
 of Gipsy life and character, as shown in a letter, which 
 is illustrated by two specimens in the German Rom- 
 many dialect. 
 
 With regard to the first letter, I might prefix to it, 
 as a motto, old John Willett's remark : " What's a 
 man without an imagination?" Certainly it would 
 not apply to the Gipsy, who has an imagination so 
 lively as to be at times almost ungovernable ; con- 
 sidering which I was much surprised that, so far 
 as I know, the whole race has as yet produced only 
 one writer who has distinguished himself in the 
 department of fiction albeit he who did so was a 
 giant therein I mean John Bunyan. 
 
 And here I may well be allowed an unintended 
 digression, as to whether Bunyan were really a Gipsy. 
 In a previous chapter of this work, I, with little thought 
 of Bunyan, narrated the fact that an intelligent tinker, 
 and a full Gipsy, asked me last summer in London, if
 
 64 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 I thought that the Rommany were of the Ten Tribes 
 of Israel ? When John Banyan tells us explicitly that 
 he once asked his father whether he and his relatives 
 were of the race of the Israelites he having then 
 never seen a Jew and when he carefully informs his 
 readers, that his descent was of a low and inconsiderable 
 generation, " my father's house being of that rank 
 that is meanest and most despised of all the families 
 of the land," there remains no rational doubt whatever 
 that Bunyan was indeed a Rom of the Rommany. 
 " Applico " of which, as my own special and par- 
 ticular Gipsy is wont to say it is worth noting that the 
 magician Shakespeare, who knew everything, showed 
 himself superior to many modern dramatists in being 
 aware that the tinkers of England had, not a peculiar 
 cant, but a special language. 
 
 And now for the letters. One day Ward'engro of 
 the K'allis's Grav, asked me to write him a letter to 
 his daughter, in Rommany. So I began to write 
 from his dictation. But being, like all his race, 
 unused to literary labour, his lively imagination con- 
 tinually led him astray, and as I found amusement in 
 his so doing, it proved to be an easy matter to induce 
 him to wander off into scenes of gipsy life, which, 
 however edifying they might be to my reader, would 
 certainly not have the charm of novelty to the black- 
 eyed lady to whom they were supposed to be addressed. 
 However, as I read over from time to time to my 
 Rommany chal what I had written, his delight in 
 actually hearing his own words read from writing,
 
 GIPSY LETTERS. 6$ 
 
 partook of all the pride of successful authorship it 
 was, my dear sir, like your delight over your first 
 proof sheet. 
 
 Well,, this was the letter. A translation will be 
 found following it. 
 
 THE PANNI GAV, Dec. 16, 1871. 
 
 MY KAMLI CHAVI, Kushti bak ! My cammoben 
 to taro mush an' turo dadas an' besto bak. We've 
 had wafri bak, my pen's been naflo this here cooricus, 
 we're doin' very wafro and couldn't lei no wongur. 
 Your dui pals are kairin kushto, prasturin 'bout the 
 tern, bickinin cowas.* Your puro kako welled acai 
 to his pen, and hatched trin divvus, and jawed avree 
 like a puro jucko, and never del mandy a poshero. 
 
 Kek adusta nevvi. A rakli acai lelled a hora waver 
 divvus from a waver rakli, and the one who nashered 
 it pens : " Del it pauli a mandi and I wont dukker 
 tute ! Del it apre ! " But the waver rakli penned 
 "kek," and so they bitchered for the prastramengro. 
 He lelled the juva to the wardo, and just before she 
 welled odoi, she hatched her wast in her poachy, an' 
 chiv it avree, and the prastramengro hatched it apre. 
 So they bitchered her for shurabun. 
 
 (Here my Gipsy suggested that stdrdo or stara- 
 mangro might be used for greater elegance, in place 
 of shurabun.) 
 
 I've got kek gry and can't ]el no wongur to kin 
 kek. My kamli chavi, if you could bitch me a few 
 bars it would be caminoben. I rikkers my cowas 
 
 * Pronounced cuv-vas, like covers without the r. 
 
 E
 
 66 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 apre mi dumo kenna. I dicked my kako, waver divvus 
 adree a lot o Rommany chals, saw a piin'. There was 
 the juvas a koorin adoi and the mushis a koorin an' 
 there was a boro chingaree, some with kali-yakkas 
 an' some with sherros chinned so the ratt jailed alay 
 'pre the drum. There was dui or trin bar to pessur 
 in the sala for the graias an' mylas that got in pand- 
 amum (pandapenn). 
 
 Your pal's got a kushti gry that can jal alangus 
 
 the drum kushto. L too's got a baro kushto gry. 
 
 He jawed to the wellgooro, to the boro gav, with a 
 poggobavescro gry an' a nokengro. You could a 
 mored dovo gry an' kek penn'd a lav tute. I del it 
 some ballovas to hatch his bavol and I bikened it for 
 9 bar, to a rye that you jins kushto. Lotti was at 
 the wellgooro dukkerin the ranis. She lelled some 
 kushti habben, an' her jellico was saw porder, when 
 she dicked her mush and shelled. " Havacai! I've 
 got some fine habben!" She penned to a rakli, 
 " Pet your wonger adree turo wast an I'll dukker 
 tute." An' she lelled a pash bar from the rani. 
 She penned her : " You kaums a rye a longo duros. 
 He's a kaulo and there's a waver rye, a pauno, that 
 kaums you too, an' you'll soon lei a chinamangree. 
 Tute'll rummorben before dui besh, an' be the dye of 
 trin chavis.' 
 
 There was a gry jallin with a wardo langus the 
 drum, an' I dicked a raklo, an' putsched (pootched) 
 him. " How much wongur? " an' he pookered man'y 
 " Desh bar;" I penned: "Is dovo, noko gry?"
 
 GIPSY LETTERS. 6? 
 
 " Avali." Well, a Rommany chul del him desh bar 
 for the gry an' bikined it for twelve bar to a boro rye. 
 It was a fino kaulo gry with a boro herree, but had 
 a naflo piro ; it was the nearo piro an' was a del- 
 lemescro. He del it some hopium drab to hatch adoi, 
 and tooled his solivengro upo the purgis. 
 
 At the paiass with the koshters a rye welled and 
 Wantelo shelled avree : " Trin kosters for a horra, 
 eighteen for a shekori !" An' the rye lelled a koshter 
 an' we had pange collos for trin dozenos. The rye 
 kaired paiass kushto and lelled pange cocoanuts, and 
 lelled us to his wardo, and dell'd mandy trin currus oi 
 tatty panni. so that I was most matto. He was a 
 kushti rye and his rani was as good as the rye. 
 
 There was a waver mush a play in, an' mandy 
 penned : " Pen the kosh paulier, hatch 'em odoi, 
 don't well adoorer or he '11 lei saw the covvos ! Chiv 
 'em pauli !" A chi rakkered the ryes an' got fifteen 
 cullos from yeck. And no moro the divvus from 
 your kaum pal, M. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 THE WATER VILLAGE, Dec. 16, 1871. 
 
 MY DEAR DAUGHTER, Good luck ! my love to your 
 husband and your father, and best luck ! We've had 
 bad fortune, my sister has been sick this here week, 
 we're doing very badly and could not get any money. 
 Your two brothers are doing well, running about the 
 country selling things. Your old uncle came to his 
 sister and stayed three days, and went away like an 
 old dog and never gave me a penny.
 
 68 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 Nothing much new. A girl here took a watch the 
 other day from another girl, and the one who lost it 
 said : " Give it back to me and I won't hurt you." 
 But the other girl said " No," and so they sent for 
 the constable. He took the girl to the station (or 
 carriage), and just before she got there she put her 
 hand in her pocket and threw it away, and the police- 
 man picked it up. So they sent her to prison. 
 
 I have no horse, and can't get any money to buy 
 none. My dear daughter, if you could send me a few 
 pounds it would be agreeable. I carry my traps on 
 my back now. I saw my uncle the other day among 
 a lot of Gipsies, all drinking. There were the women 
 fighting there, and the men fighting, and there was 
 a great shindy, some with black eyes, and some with 
 heads cut so that the blood ran down on the road. 
 There were two or three pounds to pay in the morning 
 for the horses and asses that were in the pound. 
 
 Your brother has got a capital horse that can go 
 
 along the road nicely. L , too, has a large fine 
 
 horse. He went to the fair in with a broken - 
 
 winded horse and a glandered. You could have 
 killed that horse and nobody said a word to you. I 
 gave it some lard to stop his breathing, and I sold it 
 for nine pound to a gentleman whom you know well. 
 
 Lotty was at the fair telling fortunes to the ladies. 
 She got some excellent food, and her apron was quite 
 full, when she saw her husband and cried out : 
 " Come here ! I've got some nice victuals ! " She said 
 to a girl : " Put you money in your hand and I'll
 
 GIPSY LETTERS. 69 
 
 tell you your fortune." And she took half a sove- 
 reign from the lady. She told her : " You love a 
 gentleman who is far away. He is dark, and there is 
 another gentleman, a fair-haired man that loves you, 
 and you'll soon get a letter. You'll marry before two 
 years, and be the mother of three children." 
 
 There was a horse going with a waggon along the 
 road ; and I saw a youth, and asked him, " How 
 much money?" (for the horse), and he replied to me, 
 "Ten pounds." I said, "Is that your horse?" 
 " Yes." Well, a Gipsy gave him ten pounds for the 
 horse, and sold it for twelve pounds to a great 
 gentleman. It was a good black horse, with a 
 (handsome) strong leg (literally large), but it had a 
 bad foot ; it was the near foot, and it was a kicker. 
 He gave it some opium medicament to keep quiet 
 (literally to stop there), and held his rein (i.e., trotted 
 him so as to show his pace, and conceal his faults) 
 on the road. 
 
 At the cock-shy a gentleman came, and Wantelo 
 halloed out, " Three sticks for a penny, eighteen for 
 a sixpence !" And the gentleman took a stick, and 
 we had five shillings for three dozen throws ! The 
 gentleman played well, and got five cocoanuts, and 
 took us to his carriage and gave me three glasses of 
 brandy, so that I was almost drunk. He was a good 
 gentleman, and his lady was as good as her husband. 
 
 There was another man playing: and I said, " Set 
 the sticks more back, set 'em there ; don't go further 
 or he'll get all the things! Set 'em back!" A
 
 7O THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 Gipsy girl talked to the gentlemen (i.e., persuaded 
 them to play), and got fifteen shillings from one. 
 And no more to-day from your dear brother, 
 
 M. 
 
 One thing in the foregoing letter is worth noting. 
 Every remark or incident occurring in it is literally 
 true drawn from life pur et simple. It is, indeed, 
 almost the resume of the entire life of many poor 
 Gipsies during the summer. And I may add that the 
 language in which it is written, though not the "deep " 
 or grammatical Gipsy, in which no English words 
 occur as for instance in the Lord's Prayer, as given 
 by Mr Borrow in his appendix to the Gipsies in Spain* 
 is still really a fair specimen of the Romanny of 
 the present day, which is spoken at races by cock- 
 shysters and fortune-tellers. 
 
 The " Water Village," from which it is dated, is 
 the generic term among Gipsies for all towns by the 
 sea-side. The phrase kushto (or kushti}, bak! " good 
 luck ! " is after " Sarishan / " or u how are you ? " the 
 
 * The Lord's Prayer in pure English Gipsy : 
 
 ' ' Moro Dad, savo d jives oteh drey o charos, te caumen Gorgio ta 
 Rommanny chal tiro nav, te awel tiro tem, te kairen tiro lav 
 aukko prey puv, sar kairdios oteh drey o charos. Dey men to- 
 divvus moro divvuskoe moro, ta for dey men pazorrhus tukey 
 sar men for-denna len pazhorrns amande ; ma muck te petrenna 
 drey caik temptaciones ; ley men abri sor doschder. Tiro se o 
 tem, mi-duvel, tiro o zoozlu vast, tiro sor koskopen drey sor 
 cheros. Avali. Tachipen." 
 
 Specimens of old English Gipsy, preserving grammatical forms, may 
 be found in Bright's Hungary (Appendix). London, 1818. I call 
 attention to the fact that all the specimens of the language which I 
 give in this book simply represent the modern and greatly corrupted 
 Rommany of the roads, which has, however, assumed a peculiar form 
 of its own.
 
 GIPS Y LE TTERS. 7 1 
 
 common greeting among Gipsies. The fight is from 
 life and to the life ; and the " two or three pounds to 
 pay in the morning for the horses and asses that got 
 impounded," indicates its magnitude. To have a beast 
 in pound in consequence of a frolic, is a common dis- 
 aster in Gipsy life. 
 
 During the dictation of the foregoing letter, my 
 Gipsy paused at the word " broken-winded horse," 
 when I asked him how he could stop the heavy 
 breathing ? 
 
 " With ballovas (or lard and starch) long enough 
 to sell it." 
 
 " But how would you sell a glandered horse?" 
 
 Here he described, with great ingenuity, the manner 
 in which he would tool or manage the horse an art 
 in which Gipsies excel all the world over and which, 
 as Mr Borrow tells us, they call in Spain " de pacuaro" 
 which is pure Persian. 
 
 " But that would not stop the running. How would 
 you prevent that ? " 
 
 " I don't know." 
 
 "Then I am a better graiengro than you, for I 
 know a powder, and with a penny's worth of it I 
 could stop the glanders in the worst case, long enough 
 to sell the horse. I once knew an old horse-dealer 
 who paid sixty pounds for a nokengro (a glandered 
 horse) which had been powdered in this way." 
 
 The Gipsy listened to me in great admiration. 
 About a week afterwards I heard he had spoken of 
 me as follows :
 
 72 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 11 Don't talk about knowing. My rye knows more 
 than anybody. He can cheat any man in England 
 selling him a glandered horse. 
 
 Had this letter been strictly confined to the limits 
 originally intended, it would have spoken only of the 
 sufferings of the family, the want of money, and pos- 
 sibly, the acquisition of a new horse by the brother. 
 
 In this case it bears a decided family-likeness 
 to the following letter in the German - Gipsy 
 dialect, which originally appeared in a book entitled, 
 Beytrag zur Rottwellischen Grammatik, oder Worter- 
 buch von der Zigeuner Spracke, Leipzig 1755, and 
 which was republished by Dr A. F. Pott in his 
 stupendous work, Die Zigeuner in Europa und Asien. 
 Halle, 1844. 
 
 GERMAN GIPSY. 
 
 MIRI KOMLI ROMNI, Ertiewium Francfurtter wiurn 
 te gajum apro Newoforo. Apro drum ne his mange 
 mishdo. Mare manushtschingerwenes ketteni. Tschiel 
 his te midschach wettra. Tschawe wele naswele. Dowa 
 ker, kai me gaijam medre gazdias tele; mare ziga 
 t'o terno kalbo nahsle penge. flachso te hanfa te 
 wulla te schwigarizakri te stifftshakri ho spiuderde 
 gotshias uina. Lopennawa, wium ke tshorero te 
 wiam hallauter nange Denkerdum tschingerwam 
 inangi kasht te mre wastiengri butin, oder hunte di 
 kaw te kinnaw tschommoni pre te bikkewaw pale, te 
 de denkerwaw te ehrnahrwaw man kiacke. Me bium 
 kiacke kuremangrender pene aper mande, buteu
 
 GIPSY LETTERS. 73 
 
 tschingerde buten trinen marde te man, tshimaster 
 apri butin tshidde. bolloben te rackel tutt andre 
 sawe kolester, kai me wium adre te me tshawa tiro 
 rum shin andro meraben. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 MY DEAR WIFE, Before I came to Frankfort I 
 went to Neustadt. On the way it did not go well with 
 me. Our men quarrelled together. It was cold and wet 
 weather. The children were ill. That house into 
 which we had gone burnt down ; our kid and the 
 young calf run away. The flax and hemp and wool 
 [which] the sister-in-law and step-daughter spun are 
 also burned. In short, I say I became so poor that 
 we all went naked. I thought of cutting wood and 
 working by hand, or I should go into business 
 and sell something. I think I will make my living 
 so. I was so treated by the soldiers. They fell on 
 us, wounded many, three they killed, and I was taken 
 to prison to work for life. Heaven preserve you in 
 all things from that into which I have fallen, and I 
 remain thy husband unto death. 
 
 It is the same sad story in all, wretchedness, 
 poverty, losses, and hunger. In the English letter 
 there was a chingari a shindy ; in the German they 
 have a tshinger, which is nearly the same word, and 
 means the aame. It may be remarked as curious 
 that the word meraben at the end of the letter,
 
 74 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 meaning death, is used by English G-ipsi.es to signify 
 life as well. 
 
 " Dick at the gorgios, 
 
 The gorgios round mandy ; 
 Trying to take my meripon, 
 My meripon away." 
 
 The third letter is also in the German- Gipsy 
 dialect, and requires a little explanation. Once 
 a man named Charles Augustus was arrested as a 
 beggar and suspected Gipsy, arid brought before Mr 
 Richard Liebich, who appears to have been nothing 
 less in the total than the Furstlich Reuss-Plauenschem 
 Criminalrathe und Vorstande des Fiirstlichen Criminal- 
 gerichts zu Lobenstein in fact, a rather lofty local 
 magistrate. Before this terrible title Charles ap- 
 peared, and swore stoutly that he was no more a 
 Rommany chal than he was one of the Apostles for 
 be it remembered, reader, that in Germany at the 
 present day, the mere fact of being a Gipsy is 
 still treated as a crime. Suddenly the judge attacked 
 him with the words " Tu hal rom, me kom, rakker 
 tschatschopenn ! " " Thou art a Gipsy, I am a Gipsy, 
 speak the truth." And Charles, looking up in amaze- 
 ment and seeing the black hair and brown face of the 
 judge, verily believed that he was of the blood 
 of Dom. So crossing his arms on his breast in true 
 Oriental sty?e, he salaamed deeply, and in a submis- 
 sive voice said " Me horn rom" " I am a Gipsy." 
 
 The judge did not abuse the confidence gained by 
 his little trick, since he appears to have taken Charles
 
 GIPSY LETTERS. 75 
 
 under his wing, employed him in small jobs (in 
 America we should say chores, but the word would be 
 frightfully significant, if applied to a Gipsy),* and 
 finally dismissed him. And Charles replied Eom- 
 manesquely, by asking for something. His applica- 
 tion was as follows : 
 
 GEKMAN GIPSY. 
 
 " LlCHTENBERG ANE DESCHE OCHDADO, 
 Januar 1859. 
 
 " LADSCHO BARO RAI, Me hunde dschinawe duge 
 gole dui trin Lawinser mire zelle gowe, har geas 
 mange an demaro foro de demare Birengerenser. Har 
 weum me stildo gage lean demare Birengere mr lowe 
 dele, de har weum biro gage lean jon man dran o 
 stilibin bri, de manguni me mr lowe lender, gai 
 deum dele. Jon pendin len wellen geg mander. 
 Gai me deum miro lowe lende, naste pennene jon gar 
 wawer. Brinscherdo lowe hi an i Gissig, o baro 
 godder lolo paro, trin Chairingere de jeg dschildo 
 gotter sinagro lowe. Man weas mr lowe gar gobe 
 dschanel o Baro Dewel ani Bolebin. Miro baaro bar- 
 gerbin vaschge demare Ladschebin bennawe. baro 
 Dewel de pleisserwel de maro ladscho sii i pure sasde 
 Tschiwaha demende demaro zelo Beero. De hadzin 
 e Birengere miro lowe, dale mangawa me len de 
 bidschin jon mire lowe gadder o foro Naile abbi 
 Bidschebasger wurtum sikk. Gai me dschingerdum 
 
 * In gipsy chores would mean swindles. In America it is applied to 
 small jobs.
 
 76 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 ab demende, hi gar dschadscho, gai miri romni hass 
 mando, gowe hi dschadscho. Obaaro Dewel de 
 bleiserwel de mange de menge demaro Ladscho Sii. 
 Micro Bargerbin. De me dschawe demaro gandelo 
 Waleddo. CHAKLES AUGUSTIN." 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 " LICHTENBERG, January 18, 1859. 
 
 " GOOD GREAT SIB, I must write to you with these 
 two or three words my whole business (gowe, English 
 Gipsy covvo, literally ' thing, 5 ) how it happened to 
 me in your town, by your servants (literally ' foot- 
 men '). When I was arrested, your servants took my 
 money away, and when I was freed they took me out 
 of prison. I asked my money of them which I had 
 given up. They said they had got none from me. 
 That I gave them my money they cannot deny. The 
 said (literally, known) money is in a purse, a great 
 piece, red (and) old, three kreutzers, and a yellow 
 piece of good-for-nothing money. I did not get my 
 money, as the great God in heaven knows. My great 
 thanks for your goodness, I say. The great God re- 
 ward your good heart with long healthy life, you and 
 your whole family. And if your servants find my 
 money, I beg they will send it to the town Naila, by 
 the post at once. That I cursed you is not true ; that 
 my wife was drunk is true. The great God reward 
 your good heart. My thanks. And I remain, your 
 obedient servant, CHARLES AUGUSTIN."
 
 GIPSY LETTERS. 77 
 
 Those who attempt to read this letter in the ori- 
 ginal, should be informed that German Gipsy is, as 
 compared to the English or Spanish dialects, almost 
 a perfect language ; in fact, Pott has by incredible 
 industry, actually restored it to its primitive complete 
 form ; and its orthography is now settled. Against 
 this orthography poor Charles Augustin sins sadly, 
 and yet it may be doubted whether many English 
 tramps and beggars could write a better letter. 
 
 The especial Gipsy characteristic in this letter is 
 the constant use of the name of God, and the pious 
 profusion of blessings. " She's the blessing-est old 
 woman I ever came across," was very well said of an 
 old Rommany dame in England. And yet these well- 
 wishings are not always insincere, and they are earnest 
 enough when uttered in Gipsy.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 GIPSY WOKDS WHICH HAVE PASSED INTO ENGLISH SLANG. 
 
 Jockey. Tool. Cove or Covey. Hook, Hookey, and Walker, 
 Hocus, Hanky-Panky, and Hocus-Pocus. Shindy. Row. 
 Chivvy. Bunged Eye. Shavers. Clichy. Caliban. A 
 Bum 'un. Pal. Trash. Cadger. Cad.^ Bosh. Bats. 
 Chee-chee. The Cheese. Chiv Fencer. Cooter. Gorger. 
 Dick. Book. Tanner. Drum. Gibberish. Ken. Lil. 
 Loure. Loafer. Maunder. Moke. Parny. Posh. Queer. 
 Eaclan. Bivvy. Rigs. Moll. Distarabin. Tiny. Toffer. 
 Tool. Punch. Wardo. Voker (one of Mr Hotten's Gipsy 
 words). Welcher. Yack. Lushy. A Mull. Pross. 
 Toshers. Up to Trap. Barney. Beebee. Cull, Culley. 
 Jomer. Bloke. Duffer. Niggling. Mug. Bamboozle-, 
 Slang, and Bite. Rules to be observed in determining the 
 Etymology of Gipsy Words. 
 
 THOUGH the language of the G-ipsies has been kept a 
 great secret for centuries, still a few words have in 
 England oozed out here and there from some un- 
 guarded crevice, and become a portion of our tongue. 
 There is, it must be admitted, a great difficulty in 
 tracing, with anything like accuracy, the real origin 
 or identity of such expressions. Some of them came 
 into English centuries ago, and during that time 
 great changes have taken place in Rommany. At 
 least one-third of the words now used by Scottish 
 Gipsies are unintelligible to their English brothers. 
 To satisfy myself on this point, I have examined an
 
 GIPSY WORDS PASSED INTO ENGLISH SLANG. 79 
 
 intelligent English Gipsy on the Scottish Gipsy voca- 
 bularies in Mr Simpson's work, and found it was as I 
 anticipated; a statement which will not appear incre- 
 dible when it is remembered, that even the Eommany 
 of Yetholni'have a dialect marked and distinct from 
 that of other Scotch Gipsies. As for England, 
 numbers of the words collected by William Marsden, 
 and Jacob Bryant, in 1784-5, Dr Bright in 1817, 
 and by Harriott in 1830, are not known at the present 
 day to any Gipsies whom I have met. Again, it 
 should be remembered that the pronunciation of 
 Ronimany differs widely with individuals; thus the 
 word which is given as cumbo, a hill, by Bryant, I 
 have heard very distinctly pronounced choomure. 
 
 I believe that to Mr Borrow is due the discovery 
 that the word JOCKEY is of Gipsy origin, and derived 
 from chuckni, which means a whip. For nothing is 
 more clearly established than that the jockey-whip 
 was the original term in which this word first made its 
 appearance on the turf, and that the chuckni was 
 a peculiar form of whip, very long and heavy, first 
 used by the Gipsies. " Jockeyism," says Mr Borrow, 
 " properly means the management of a whip, and the 
 word jockey is neither more nor less than the term, 
 slightly modified, by which they designate the formid- 
 able whips which they usually carry, and which are 
 at present in general use among horse- traffickers, 
 under the title of jockey- whips." In Hungary and 
 Germany the word occurs as tschuckini or chookni, 
 and tschupni.
 
 8O THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 Many of my readers are doubtless familiar with 
 the word to TOOL as applied to dexterously managing 
 the reins and driving horses. ' To tool the horses 
 down the road,' is indeed rather a fine word of its 
 class, being as much used in certain clubs as in 
 stables, and often denotes stylish and gentlemanly 
 driving. And the term is without the slightest 
 modification, either of pronunciation or meaning, 
 directly and simply Gipsy, and is used by Gipsies in 
 the same way. It has, however, in Rommany, as a 
 primitive meaning to hold, or to take. Thus I 
 have heard of a feeble old fellow that " he could not 
 tool himself togetherus" for which last word, by 
 the way, kettenus might have been more correctly 
 substituted. 
 
 COVE is not an elegant, though a very old, word, but 
 it is well known, and I have no doubt as to its having 
 come from the Gipsy. In Eommany, all the world 
 over, cova means " a thing," but it is almost indefinite 
 in its applicability. "It is," says Pott, " a general 
 helper on all occasions ; is used as substantive and 
 adjective, and has a far wider scope than the Latin 
 res." Thus cow may mean " that man;" com, " that 
 woman;" and cow or cuvvo, as it very often does in 
 English, "that, there." It sometimes appears in the 
 word acovat, or this. There is no expression more 
 frequent in a Gipsy's mouth, and it is precisely the 
 one which would be probably overheard by " Gorgios " 
 and applied to persons. I believe that it first made 
 its appearance in English slang as covey, and was
 
 GIPSY WORDS PASSED INTO ENGLISH SLANG. 8 1 
 
 then pronounced cuvvy, being subsequently abbreviated 
 into cove. 
 
 Quite a little family of words has come into Eng- 
 lish from the Rommany, Hocben, huckaben, hokkeny, 
 or hooker, all meaning a lie, or to lie, deception and 
 humbug. Mr Borrow shows us that hocus, to "be- 
 witch " liquor with an opiate, and hoax, are probably 
 Rommany from this root, and I have no doubt that 
 the expression, "Yes, with a hook" meaning "it is 
 false," comes from the same. The well-known 
 "Hookey" who corresponds so closely with his un- 
 truthful and disreputable pal " Walker," is decidedly 
 of the streets gipsy. In German Gipsy we find 
 chochavav and hochewawa, and in Roumanian Gipsy 
 kokao a lie. Hanky r panky and Hocus-pocus are 
 each one half almost pure Hindustani.* 
 
 A SHINDY approaches so nearly in sound to the 
 Gipsy word chingaree, which means precisely the same 
 thing, that the suggestion is at least worth considera- 
 tion. And it also greatly resembles chindi, which may 
 be translated as " cutting up," and also quarrel. "To 
 cut up shindies" was the first form in which this 
 extraordinary word reached the public. In the original 
 Gipsy tongue theword to quarrel is chinger-av, meaning 
 also (Pott, Zigeuner, p. 209) to cut, hew, and fight, 
 while to cut is chinav. "Cutting up" is, if the 
 reader reflects, a very unmeaning word as applied to 
 outrageous or noisy pranks; but in Gipsy, whether 
 English, German, or Oriental, it is perfectly sensible 
 
 * Vide chapter x.
 
 82 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 and logical, involving the idea of quarrelling, separat- 
 ing, dividing, cutting, and stabbing. What, indeed, 
 could be more absurd than the expression * ' cutting 
 up shines," unless we attribute to shine its legitimate 
 Gipsy meaning of a piece cut off, and its cognate 
 meaning, a noise ? 
 
 I can see but little reason for saying that a man 
 cut away or that he shinned it, for run away, unless 
 we have recourse to Gipsy, though I only offer this 
 as a mere suggestion. 
 
 " Applico" to shindy we have the word now, mean- 
 ing nearly the same thing and as nearly G-ipsy in 
 every respect as can be. It is in Gipsy at the present 
 day in England, correctly, rov, or roven to cry but 
 v and w are so frequently transposed that we may 
 consider them as the same letter. Raw or me raztaw, 
 11 I howl " or " cry," is German Gipsy. Rowan is 
 given by Pott as equivalent to the Latin ululatus. 
 which constituted a very respectable row as regards 
 mere noise. " Rowdy " comes from "row" and both 
 are very good Gipsy in their origin, In Hindustani 
 Rao mut is "don't cry !" 
 
 CHIVVY is a common English vulgar word, meaning 
 to goad, drive, vex, hunt, or throw as it were here 
 and there. It is purely Gipsy, and seems to have 
 more than one root. Chiv, chib, or chipe, in Rom- 
 many, mean a tongue, inferring scolding, and chiv 
 anything sharp-pointed, as for instance a dagger, or 
 goad or knife. But the old Gipsy word chiv-av among 
 its numerous meanings has exactly that of casting,
 
 GIPSY WORDS PASSED INTO ENGLISH SLANG. 83 
 
 throwing, pitching, and driving. To ckiv in English 
 Gipsy means as much and more than to fix in 
 America, in fact, it is applied to almost any kind of 
 action. 
 
 It may be remarked in this connection, that in 
 German or continental Gipsy, which represents the 
 English in a great measure as it once was, and which 
 is far more perfect as to grammar, we find different 
 words, which in English have become blended into 
 one. Thus, chib or chic, a tongue, and tschiwana (or 
 ckiv-B,\ r a). to lay, place, lean, sow, sink, set upright, 
 move, harness, cover up, are united in England into 
 chiv, which embraces the whole. " Chic it apre " may 
 be applied to throwing anything, to covering it up, to 
 lifting it, to setting it. to pushing it, to circulating, 
 and in fact to a very great number of similar verbs. 
 
 There is, I think, no rational connection between 
 the BUNG of a barrel and an eye which has been closed 
 by a blow. One might as well get the simile from a 
 knot in a tree or a cork in a flask. But when we re- 
 flect on the constant mingling of Gipsies with prize- 
 fighters, it is almost evident that the word BONGO may 
 have been the origin of it. A bongo yakko or yak, 
 means a distorted, crooked, or, in fact, a bunged eye. 
 It also means lame, crooked, or sinister, and by a very 
 singular figure of speech, Bongo Tern or the Crooked 
 Land is the name for hell.* 
 
 SHAVERS, as a quaint nick-name for children, is 
 
 * This should be Bengo-tem or devil land, but the Gipsy who gave 
 me the word declared it was bongo.
 
 84 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 possibly inexplicable, unless we resort to Gipsy, 
 where we find it used as directly as possible. Chavo 
 is the Rommany word for child all the world over, and 
 the English terra chavies, in Scottish Gipsy shavies, 
 or shavers, leaves us but little room for doubt. I am 
 not aware to what extent the term " little shavers " 
 is applied to children in England, but in America it 
 is as common as any cant word can be. 
 
 I do not know the origin of the French word CLICHY, 
 as applied to the noted prison of that name, but it is 
 perhaps not undeserving the comment that in Conti- 
 nental Gripsy it means a key and a bolt. 
 
 I have been struck with the fact that CALIBAN, the 
 monster in " The Tempest," by Shakespeare, has an 
 appellation which literally signifies blackness in 
 Gripsy. In fact, this very word, or Cauliban, is given 
 in one of the Gipsy vocabularies for "black." Kau- 
 lopen or Kauloben would, however, be more correct. 
 
 " A regular RUM 'un" was the form in which the 
 application of the word "rum" to strange, difficult, 
 or distinguished, was first introduced to the British 
 public. This, I honestly believe (as Mr Borrow indi- 
 cates), came from Rum or Rom, a Gipsy. It is a pecu- 
 liar word, and all of its peculiarities might well be 
 assumed by the sporting Gipsy, who is always, in his 
 way, a character, gifted with an indescribable self- 
 confidence, as are all " horsey " men characters, 
 " sports " and boxers, which enables them to keep to 
 perfection the German eleventh commandment, " Thou 
 shall not let thyself be bluffed!' 1 '' i.e., abashed.
 
 GIPSY WORDS PASSED INTO ENGLISH SLANG. 8$ 
 
 PAL is a common cant word for brother or friend, 
 and it is purely Gipsy, having come directly from that 
 language, without the slightest change. On the Con- 
 tinent it is prala or pral. In England it sometimes 
 takes the form "pel." 
 
 TRASH is derived by Mr Wedgwood (Dictionary of 
 English Etymology, 1872) from the old word trousse, 
 signifying the clipping of trees. But in old Gipsy or 
 in the German Gipsy of the present day, as in the 
 Turkish Rommany, it means so directly " fear, mental 
 weakness and worthlessness," that it may possibly 
 have had a Rommany origin. Terror in Gipsy is 
 trash, while thirst is trusk, and both are to be found 
 in the Hindustani. Tras, which means thirst and 
 alarm or terror. 
 
 It should be observed that in no instance can these 
 Gipsy words have been borrowed from English slang. 
 They are all to be found in German Gipsy, which is in 
 its turn identical with the Rommany language of India 
 of the Nats, Bhazeghurs, Doms, Multanee or Ban- 
 joree, as I find the primitive wandering Gipsies 
 termed by different writers. 
 
 I am aware that the word CAD was applied to the 
 conductor of an omnibus, or to a non-student at 
 Universities, before it became a synonym for vulgar 
 fellow, yet I believe that it was abbreviated from 
 CADGER, and that this is simply the Gipsy word 
 Gorgio, which often means a man in the abstract. I 
 have seen this word printed as gorger in English slang. 
 CODGER, which is common, is applied, as Gipsies use
 
 86 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 the term Gorgio, contemptuously, and it sounds still 
 more like it. 
 
 BOSH, signifying nothing, or in fact empty humbug, 
 is generally credited to the Turkish language, but I 
 can see no reason for going to the Turks for what the 
 Gipsies at home already had, in all probability, from 
 the same Persian source, or else from the Sanskrit. 
 With the Gipsies, bosh is a fiddle, music, noise, bark- 
 ing, and very often an idle sound or nonsense. " Stop 
 your bosherin," or "your bosh," is what they would 
 term &jlickin lav, or current phrase. 
 
 " BATS," a low term for a pair of boots, especially 
 bad ones, is, I think, from the Gipsy and Hindustani 
 pat, a foot, generally called, however, by the Rom- 
 many in England, Tom Pats. " To pad the hoof," 
 and " to stand pad " the latter phrase meaning to 
 stand upright, or to stand and beg, are probably 
 derived from pat. It should be borne in mind that 
 Gipsies, in all countries, are in the habit of changing 
 certain letters, so that p and b, like I and n, or k and 
 g hard, may often be regarded as identical. 
 
 " CHEE-CHEE," "be silent!" or "fie," is termed 
 " Anglo-Indian," by the author of the Slang Dic- 
 tionary, but we need not go to India of the present 
 day for a term which is familiar to every Gipsy and 
 "traveller" in England, and which, as Mr Simsou 
 discovered long ago, is an excellent " spell " to 
 discourage the advances of thimble-riggers arid similar 
 gentry, at fairs, or in public places. 
 
 CHEESE, or " THE CHEESE," meaning that anything
 
 GIPSY WOXDS PASSED INTO ENGLISH SLANG. 87 
 
 is pre-eminent or superior; in fact, "the thing," is 
 supposed by many to be of gipsy origin because 
 Gipsies use it, and it is to be found as " chiz " in 
 Hindustani, in which language it means a thing. 
 Gipsies do not, however, seem to regard it themselves, 
 as tacho or true Rommanis, despite this testimony, 
 and I am inclined to think that it partly origi- 
 nated in some wag's perversion of the French word 
 chose. 
 
 In London, a man who sells cutlery in the streets 
 is called a CHIVE-FENCER, a term evidently derived 
 from the Gipsy chiv, a sharp-pointed instrument or 
 knife. A knife is also called a chiv by the lowest 
 class all over England. 
 
 COUTER or COOTER is a common English slang term 
 for a guinea. It was not necessary for the author of 
 the Slang Dictionary to go to the banks of the 
 Danube for the origin of a word which is in the 
 mouths of all English Gipsies, and which was brought 
 to England by their ancestors. A sovereign, a pound, 
 in Gipsy, is a bar. 
 
 A GORGER, meaning a gentleman, or well-dressed 
 man, and in theatrical parlance, a manager, is derived 
 by the author of the Slang Dictionary absurdly 
 enough, it must be confessed from " gorgeous," 
 a word with which it has no more in common than 
 with gouges or chisels. A gorger or gorgio the 
 two are often confounded is the common Gipsy word 
 for one who is not Gipsy, and very often means with 
 them a rye or gentleman, and indeed any man what-
 
 88 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 ever. Actors sometimes call a fellow-performer a 
 cully -g or ger. 
 
 DICK, an English slang word for sight, or seeing. 
 is purely Gipsy in its origin, and in common use by 
 Rommanis over all the world. 
 
 DOOK, to tell fortunes, and BOOKING, fortune- 
 telling, are derived by the writer last cited, correctly 
 enough, from the Gipsy dukkerin, a fact which I 
 specify, since it is one of the very rare instances in 
 which he has not blundered when commenting on 
 Rommanny words, or other persons' works. 
 
 Mr Borrow has told us that a TANNER or sixpence, 
 sometimes called a Downer, owes its pseudonym to 
 the Gipsy word tawno or tano, meaning " little " 
 the sixpence being the little coin as compared witli 
 a shilling. 
 
 DRUM or DROM, is the common English Gipsy word 
 for a road. In English slang it is applied, not only 
 to highwa} r s, but also to houses. 
 
 If the word GIBBERISH was, as has been asserted. 
 first applied to the language of the Gipsies, it may 
 have been derived either from " Gip," the nickname 
 for Gipsy, with ish or risk appended as in EngWsA, 
 1-rish, or from the Rommany word Jib signifying a 
 language. 
 
 KEN, a low term for a house, is possibly of Gipsy 
 origin. The common word in every Rommany dialect 
 for a house is, however, neither ken nor khan, but Ker. 
 
 LIL, a book, a letter, has passed from the Gipsies 
 to the low " Gorgios," though it is not a very common
 
 GIPSY WORDS PASSED INTO ENGLISH SLANG. 89 
 
 word. In Rommany it can be correctly applied only 
 to a letter or a piece of paper, which is written on, 
 though English Gipsies call all books by this name, 
 and often speak of a letter as a Chinamangri. 
 
 LOUR or LOWR, and LOAVER, are all vnlgar terms 
 for money, and combine two Gipsy words, the one 
 lovo or lovey, and the other loure, to steal. The reason 
 for the combination or confusion is obvious. The 
 author of the Slang Dictionary, in order to explain 
 this word, goes as usual to the Wallachian Gipsies, 
 for what he might have learned from the first tinker 
 in the streets of London. I should remark on the 
 word loure, that Mr Borrow has shown its original iden- 
 tity with loot, the Hindustani for plunder or booty. 
 
 [ believe that the American word loafer owes some- 
 thing to this Gipsy root, as well as to the German 
 ianfer (landlaufer), and Mexican Spanish galeofar, 
 abd for this reason, that when the term first be^an to 
 
 f C3 
 
 t>e popular in 1834 or 1835, 1 can distinctly remember 
 that it meant to pilfer. Such, at least, is my earliest 
 recollection, and of hearing school boys ask one 
 another in jest, of their acquisitions or gifts, " Where 
 did you loaf that from?" A petty pilferer was a 
 loafer, but in a very short time all of the tribe of 
 loungers in the sun, and disreputable pickers up of 
 unconsidered trifles, now known as bummers, were 
 called loafers. On this point my memory is positive, 
 and I call attention to it, since the word in 
 question has been the subject of much conjecture in 
 America.
 
 QO THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 It is a very curious fact, that while the word loot 
 is unquestionably Anglo-Indian, and only a recent 
 importation into our English " slanguage," it hag 
 always been at the same time English- Gipsy, although 
 it never rose to the surface. 
 
 MAUNDER, to stroll about and beg, has been derived 
 from Mand, the Anglo- Saxon for a basket, but is quite 
 as likely to have come from Maunder, the Gipsy 
 for " to beg." Mumper, a beggar, is also from the 
 same source. 
 
 MOKE, a donkey, is said to be Gipsy, by Mr Hotteri, 
 but Gipsies themselves do not use the word, nor does 
 it belong to their usual language. The proper Rom- 
 many word for an ass is myla. 
 
 PAENY, a vulgar word for rain, is supposed to have 
 come in to England from the "Anglo-Indian" source, 
 but it is more likely that it was derived from the 
 Gipsy panni or water. " Brandy pawnee " is un- 
 doubtedly an Anglo-Indian word, but it is used by a 
 very different class of people from those who know 
 the meaning of Parny. 
 
 POSH, which has found its way into vulgar popu- 
 larity, as a term for small coins, and sometimes for 
 money in general, is the diminutive of the Gipsy word 
 pashero or poshero, a half-penny, from pash a half, 
 and haura or tiarra, a penny. 
 
 QUEER, meaning across, cross, contradictory, or 
 bad, is " supposed " to be the German word quer, 
 introduced by the Gipsies. In their own language 
 atut means across or against, though to curry (German
 
 GIPSY WORDS PASJSED INTO ENGLISH SLANG. QI 
 
 and Turkish Gipsy kurava), has some of the slang 
 meaning attributed to queer. An English rogue will 
 say, li to shove the queer," meaning to pass counter- 
 feit money, while the Gipsy term would be to chiv 
 wafri lovvo, or lovey. 
 
 " RAGLAN, a married woman, originally Gipsy, but 
 now a term with English tramps " (The Slang 
 Dictionary, London 1865). In Gipsy, raklo is a youth 
 or boy, and rakli, a girl; Arabic, ragol, a man. I am 
 informed, on good authority, that these words are 
 known in India, though I cannot find 1 them in dic- 
 tionaries. They are possibly transposed from Lurka 
 a youth and lurki a girl, such transpositions being 
 common among the lowest classes in India. 
 
 RUMMY or RUMY, as applied to women, is simply 
 the Gipsy word romi, a contraction of romni, a wife ; 
 the husband being her rom. 
 
 BIVVY for beer, has been derived from the Italian 
 bevere, but it is probably Gipsy, since in the old form 
 of the latter language, Biava or Piava, means to 
 drink. To pivit, is still known among English 
 Gipsies. 
 
 RIGS running one's rigs is said to be Gipsy, but 
 the only meaning of rig, so far as I arn able to ascer- 
 tain in Rommany, is a side or an edge. It is, how- 
 ever, possible that one's side may in earlier times 
 have been equivalent to " face, or encounter." To 
 rikker or rigger in Gipsy, is to carry anything. 
 
 MOLL, a female companion, is probably merely the 
 nickname for Mary, but it is worth observing, that
 
 92 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 Mai in old Gipsy, or in G-erman Gipsy, means an 
 associate, and Mahar a wife, in Hindustani. 
 
 STASH, to be quiet, to stop, is, I think, a variation 
 of the common Gipsy word hatch, which means pre- 
 cisely the same thing, and is derived from the older 
 word atchava. 
 
 STURABAN, a prison, is purely Gipsy. Mr Hotten 
 says it is from the Gipsy distarabin, but there is no 
 such word beginning with dis, in the English Rom- 
 many dialect. In German Gipsy a prison is called 
 stillapenn. 
 
 TLLCY or TEENY has been derived from the Gipsy 
 tano, meaning " little.'' 
 
 TOFFEH, a woman who is well dressed in new clean 
 clothes, probably gets the name from the Gipsy tove, 
 to wash (German Gipsy Tovava). She is, so to speak, 
 freshly washed. To this class belong Toff, a dandy ; 
 Tofficky, dressy or gay, and Toft, a dandy or swell. 
 
 TOOL as applied to stealing, picking pockets, and 
 burglary, is. like tool, to drive with the reins ; derived 
 beyond doubt from the Gipsy word tool, to take or 
 hold. In all the Continental Rommauy dialects it is 
 TulliiDcuva. 
 
 PUNCH, it is generally thought, is Anglo-Indian, 
 derived directly from the Hindustani Pantch or five, 
 from the five ingredients which enter into its com- 
 position, but it may have partially got its name from 
 some sporting Gipsy in whose language the word for 
 five is the same as in Sanskrit. There have been 
 thousands of " swell" Rommany dials who have moved
 
 GIPSY WORDS PASSED INTO ENGLISH SLANG. 93 
 
 in sporting circles of a higher class than they are to 
 found in at the present day. 
 
 " VARDO formerly was Old Cant for a waggon" 
 ( The Slang Dictionary). It may be added that it is 
 pure Gipsy, and is still known at the present day to 
 every Rom in England. In Turkish Gipsy, Vordon 
 means a vehicle, in German Gipsy, Wortin. 
 
 " Can you VOKER Bomrnany?" is given by Mr 
 Hotten as meaning " Can you speak Gipsy, but 
 there is no such word in Rommany as voker. He 
 probably meant " Can you rdkker " pronounced very 
 often Roker. Continental Gipsy Rakkervava. Mr 
 Hotten derives it from the Latin Vocare ! 
 
 I do not know the origin of WELCHER, a betting 
 cheat, but it is worthy of remark that in old Gipsy a 
 Walshdo or Welsher meant a Frenchman (from the 
 German Walsch) or any foreigner of the Latin races. 
 
 YACK, a watch, probably received its name from 
 the Gipsy Yak an eye, in the old times when watches 
 were called bull's eyes. 
 
 LUSHY, to be tipsy, and LUSH, are attributed for 
 their origin to the name of Lushington, a once well- 
 known London brewer, but when we find Losho and 
 Loshano in a Gipsy dialect, meaning jolly, from such 
 a Sanskrit root as Lush ; as Paspati derives it, there 
 seems to be some ground for supposing the words to 
 be purely Rommany. Dr Johnson said of lush that 
 it was " opposite to pale," and this curiously enough 
 shows its first source, whether as a " slang" word or 
 as indicative of colour, since one of its early Sanskrit
 
 94 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 meanings is light or radiance. This identity of the so 
 regarded vulgar and the refined, continually confronts 
 us in studying Ronimany. 
 
 " To make a MtnLL of anything," meaning thereby 
 to spoil or confuse it, if it be derived, as is said, from 
 the Gipsy, must have come from Mullo meaning dead, 
 and the Sanskrit Mara. There is, however, no such 
 G-ipsy word as mull, in the sense of entangling or 
 spoiling. 
 
 PROSS is a theatrical slang word, meaning to 
 instruct and train a tyro. As there are several stage 
 words of manifest Gipsy origin, I am inclined to derive 
 this from the old Gipsy Priss, to read. In English 
 Gipsy Prasser or Pross means to ridicule or scorn. 
 Something of this is implied in the slang word Pross, 
 since it also means * to sponge upon a comrade," fec., 
 "for drink." 
 
 TOSHERS are in English low language, u men who 
 steal copper from ship's bottoms." I cannot form 
 any direct connection between this word and any in 
 English Gipsy, but it is curious that in Turkish Gipsy 
 Tasi is a cup, and in Turkish Persian it means, 
 according to Paspati, a copper basin used in the baths. 
 It is as characteristic of English Gipsy as of any of 
 its cognate dialects, that we often find lurking in it the 
 most remarkable Oriental fragments, which cannot be 
 directly traced through the regular line of transmission. 
 
 UP TO TRAP means, in common slang, intelligent. 
 It is worth observing, that in Gipsy, drab or trap 
 (which words were pronounced alike by the first Gip-
 
 GIPSY WORDS PASSED INTO ENGLISH SLANG. 95 
 
 sies who came from Germany to England), is used 
 for medicine or poison, and the employment of the 
 latter is regarded, even at the present, as the greatest 
 Rommany secret. Indeed, it is only a few days since a 
 Gipsy said to me, " If you know drab, you 're up to 
 everything; for there's nothing goes above that." 
 With drab the Gipsy secures game, fish, pigs, and 
 poultry ; he quiets kicking horses until they can be 
 sold; and last, not least, kills or catches rats and 
 mice. As with the Indians of North America, medi- 
 cine whether to kill or cure is to the Gipsy the 
 art of arts, and those who affect a knowledge of it are 
 always regarded as the most intelligent. It is, how- 
 ever, remarkable, that the Gipsy, though he lives in 
 fields and woods, is, all the world over, far inferior to 
 the American Indian as regards a knowledge of the 
 properties of herbs or minerals. One may pick the 
 first fifty plants which he sees in the woods, and 
 show them to the first Indian whom he meets, with 
 the absolute certainty that the latter will give him a 
 name for every one, and describe in detail their quali- 
 ties and their use as remedies. The Gipsy seldom 
 has a name for anything of the kind. The country 
 people in America, and even the farmers' boys, have 
 probably inherited by tradition much of this know- 
 ledge from the aborigines. 
 
 BARNEY, a mob or crowd, may be derived from the 
 Gipsy baro, great or many, which sometimes takes 
 the form of barno or barni, and which suggests the 
 Hindustani Bahrna " to increase, proceed, to gain,
 
 9& THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 to be promoted ; " and Bharna, " to fill, to satisfy, to 
 be filled, &c." (Brice's " Hindustani and English 
 Dictionary." London, Triibner & Co., 1864). 
 
 BEEBEE, which the author of the Slang Dictionary 
 declares means a lady, and is " Anglo-Indian," is in 
 general use among English Gipsies for aunt. It is 
 also a respectful form of address to any middle-aged 
 woman, among friends. 
 
 CULL or CULLY, meaning a man or boy, in Old 
 English cant, is certainly of Gipsy origin. Chulai 
 signifies man in Spanish Gipsy (Borrow), and Khulai 
 a gentleman, according to Paspati ; in Turkish Bom- 
 many a distinction which the word cully often pre- 
 serves in England, even when used in a derogatory 
 sense, as of a dupe. 
 
 JOMEE, a sweetheart or female favourite, has pro- 
 bably some connection in derivation with choomer, a 
 kiss, in Gipsy. 
 
 BLOKE, a common coarse word for a man, may be 
 of Gipsy origin ; since, as the author of the Slang Dic- 
 tionary declares, it may be found in Hindustani, as 
 Loke. " Lok, people, a world, region." (" Brice's 
 Hind. Dictionary.") Bala? lok, a gentleman. 
 
 A DUFFER, which is an old English cant term, 
 expressive of contempt for a man, may be de- 
 rived from the Gipsy Adovo, " that," " that 
 man," or "that fellow there." Adovo is fre- 
 quently pronounced almost like " a duffer," or " a 
 duvva." 
 
 NIGGLING, which means idling, wasting time, doing
 
 GIPSY WORDS PASSED INTO ENGLISH SLANG, 97 
 
 anything slowly, may be derived from some other 
 Indo-European source, but in English Gipsy it means 
 to go slowly, " to potter along," and in fact it is the 
 same as the English word. That it is pure old Rom- 
 many appears from the fact that it is to be found as 
 Niglavava in Turkish Gipsy, meaning " I go," which 
 is also found in Nikliovava and Nikavdva, which are 
 in turn probably derived from the Hindustani Nikalnd. 
 "To issue, to go forth or out," &c. (Brice, Hind. Die.) 
 Niggle is one of the English Gipsy words which are 
 used in the East, but which I have not been able to 
 find in the German Romrnany, proving that here, as 
 in other countries, certain old forms have been pre- 
 served, though they have been lost where the vocabu- 
 lary is far more copious, and the grammar much more 
 perfect. 
 
 MUG, a face, is derived by Mr Wedgwood from the 
 Italian MOCCA, a mocking or apish mouth (Diction- 
 ary of English Etymology), but in English Gipsy we 
 have not only mui, meaning the face, but the older 
 forms from which the English word was probably 
 taken, such as Mak'h (Paspati), and finally the Hin- 
 dustani Mook and the Sanskrit Mukha, mouth or face 
 (Shakespeare, Hind. Die., p. 745). In all cases where 
 a word is so " slangy " as mug, it seems more likely 
 that it should have been derived from Rommany than 
 from Italian, since it is only within a few years that 
 any considerable number of the words of the latter 
 language was imparted to the lower classes of 
 
 London. 
 
 G
 
 98 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 BAMBOOZLE, BITE, and SLANG are all declared by 
 the author of the Slang Dictionary to be Gipsy, but, 
 with the exception of the last word, I am unable to 
 verify their Rommany origin. Bambhorna does in- 
 deed mean in Hindustani (Brice), " to bite or to 
 worry," and bamboo-bakshish to deceive by pay- 
 ing with a whipping, while sreang, as signifying 
 mimicking, acting, disguise and sham, whether of 
 words or deeds, very curiously conveys the spirit 
 of the word slang. As for bite I almost hesitate to 
 suggest the possibility of a connection between it and 
 Bidorna, to laugh at. I offer not only these three 
 suggested derivations, but also most of the others, 
 with every reservation. For many of these words, as 
 for instance bite, etymologists have already suggested 
 far more plausible and more probable derivations, and 
 if I have found a place for Rommany " roots," it is 
 simply because what is the most plausible, and appar- 
 ently the most probable, is not always the true origin. 
 But as I firmly believe that there is much more 
 Gipsy in English, especially in English slang and 
 cant, than the world is aware of, I think it advisable 
 to suggest what I can, leaving to abler philologists 
 the task of testing its value. 
 
 Writers on such subjects err, almost without an 
 exception, in insisting on one accurately defined and 
 singly derived source for every word, when perhaps 
 three or four have combined to form it. The habits 
 of thought and methods of study followed by philolo- 
 gists render them especially open to this charge.
 
 GIPSY WORDS PASSED INTO ENGL1SHSLANG. 99 
 
 They wish to establish every form as symmetrical and 
 mathematical, where nature has been freakish and 
 bizarre. Some years ago when I published certain 
 poems in the broken English spoken by Germans, 
 an American philologist, named Haldemann, demon- 
 strated to his own satisfaction that the language which 
 I had put into Hans Breitmann's mouth was inaccu- 
 rate, because I had not reduced it to an uniform 
 dialect, making the same word the same in spelling 
 and pronunciation on all occasions, when the most ac- 
 curate observation had convinced me, as it must any 
 one, that those who have only partially learned a lan- 
 guage continually vary their methods of uttering its 
 words. 
 
 That some words have come from one source and 
 been aided by another, is continually apparent in 
 English Gipsy, as for instance in the word for reins, 
 " guiders," which, until the Rommany reached Eng- 
 land, was voidas. In this instance the resemblance 
 in sound between the words undoubtedly conduced 
 to an union. Gibberish may have come from the 
 Gipsy, and at the same time owe something to gabble, 
 jabber, and the old Norse or Icelandic gifra. Lush 
 may owe something to Mr Lushington, something to 
 the earlier English lush, or rosy, and something to the 
 Gipsy and Sanskrit. It is not at all unlikely that 
 the word codger owes, through cadger, a part of its 
 being to kid, a basket, as Mr Hall i well suggests 
 (Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, 1852), 
 and yet come quite as directly from gorger or gorgio.
 
 IOO THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 u The cheese " probably has the Gipsy-Hidustani chiz 
 for a father, and the French chose for a mother, while 
 both originally sprung thousands of years ago in the 
 great parting of the Aryan nations, to be united after 
 so long a separation in a distant island in the far 
 northern seas. 
 
 The etymologist who hesitates to adopt this prin- 
 ciple of joint sources of derivation, will find abundant 
 instances of something very like it in many English 
 Gipsy words themselves, which, as belonging to a lan- 
 guage in extreme decay, have been formed directly 
 from different, but somewhat similarly sounding, 
 words, in the parent German or Eastern Rommany. 
 Thus, schukker, pretty ; bi-shukker, slow ; tsckukko, 
 dry, and tschororanes, secretly, have in England all 
 united in shukdr, which expresses all of their mean- 
 ings.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 PROVERBS AND CHANCE PHRASES. 
 
 An Old Gipsy Proverb Common Proverbs in Gipsy Dress Quaint 
 Sayings Characteristic Rommany Picture-Phrases. 
 
 EVERY race has not only its peculiar proverbs, sayings, 
 and catch- words, but also idiomatic phrases which 
 constitute a characteristic chiaroscuro, if not colour. 
 The Gipsies in England have of course borrowed 
 much from the Gorgios, but now and then something 
 of their own appears. In illustration of all this, I 
 give the following expressions noted down from Gipsy 
 conversation : 
 
 Tacho like my dad. True like my father. 
 
 Kushto like my dad. Good like my father. 
 
 This is a true Gipsy proverb, used as a strongly 
 marked indication of approbation or belief. 
 
 Kushto bdk. Good luck ! 
 
 As the Genoese of old greeted their friends with 
 the word Guadagna! or "Gain!" indicating as 
 Rabelais declares, their sordid character, so the Gipsy, 
 whose life is precarious, and who depends upon chance 
 for his daily bread, replies to "Sarishan!" (good 
 day !) with " Kushto bak I" or " Good luck to you !"
 
 IO2 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 The Arabic " Baksheesh " is from the same root as 
 bak, i.e., bacht. 
 
 When there's a boro bavol, huller the tan parl the 
 waver rikk pauli the bor. When the wind is high, 
 move the tent to the other side of the hedge behind it. 
 
 That is to say, change sides in an emergency. 
 
 " Hatch apre ! Hushti ! The prastramengro 's 
 wellin ! Jdl the graias avree ! Prastee ! " 
 
 " Jump up ! Wide awake there ! The policeman's 
 coming! Bun the horses off! Scamper!" 
 
 This is an alarm in camp, and constitutes a suffi- 
 ciently graphic picture. The hint to run the horseg 
 off indicates a very doubtful title to their possession. 
 
 The prastramengro pens we mustn't hatch acai. 
 
 The policeman says we mustn't stop here. 
 
 No phrase is heard more frequently among G-ipsies, 
 who are continually in trouble with the police as to 
 their right to stop and pitch their tents on commons. 
 
 I can hatch apre for pange (panj) divvuses. 
 
 I can stop here for five days. 
 
 A common phrase indicating content, and equivalent 
 to, " I would like to sit here for a week." 
 
 The graias have taddered at the kas-stoggus we 
 mustjdl an durer the gorgio's dicked us ! 
 
 The horses have been pulling at the hay-stack we 
 must hurry away the man has seen us ! 
 
 When Gipsies have remained over night on a farm, 
 it sometimes happens that their horses and asses 
 inadvertently of course find their way to the hay- 
 stacks or into a good field. Humanum est errare !
 
 PROVERBS AND CHANCE PHRASES. 1 03 
 
 Yeck mush can lei a grai tapanni, but twenty cant kair 
 him pi. 
 
 One man can take a horse to water, but twenty 
 can't make him drink. 
 
 A well-known proverb. 
 
 A chirrico 'dree the wast is worth dui ''dree the bor. 
 
 A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush (hedge). 
 
 Never kin a pong dishler nor lei a romni by momeli 
 dood. 
 
 Never buy a handkerchief nor choose a wife by 
 candle-light. 
 
 Always jal by the divvus. 
 
 Always go by the day. 
 
 Chin tutes chuckko by tute's kaum. 
 
 Cut your coat according to your fancy. This is a 
 Gipsy variation of an old proverb. 
 
 Fino r any as kair fino trusknees. 
 
 Nice reeds make nice baskets. 
 
 He can't tool his kokerus togetherus (kettenus). 
 
 He can't hold himself together. Spoken of an 
 infirm old man. 
 
 Too boot of a mush for his kokero. 
 
 Too much of a man for himself; i.e., he thinks 
 too much of himself. 
 
 He 's too boot of a mush to rdkker a pameri chaw. 
 
 He's too proud too speak to a poor man. This 
 was used, not in depreciation of a certain nobleman, 
 whom the Gipsy who gave it to me had often seen, 
 but admiringly, as if such hauteur were a commend- 
 able quality.
 
 IO4 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 More (koomi} covvas the well. 
 
 There are more things to come. Spoken of food 
 on a table, and equivalent to " Don't go yet." The 
 appears to be used in this as in many other instances, 
 instead of to for the sake of euphony. 
 
 Thejivaben has jawed avree out of his gad. 
 
 The life has gone out of his shirt, i.e., body. This 
 intimates a long and close connection between the 
 body and the under garment. " Avree out of," a 
 phrase in which the Gipsy word is immediately fol- 
 lowed by its English equivalent, is a common form of 
 expression for the sake of clearness. 
 
 / toves my own gad. 
 
 I wash my own shirt. 
 
 A saying indicating celibacy or independence. 
 
 Mo rdkkerfor a pennis when tute can't lei it. 
 
 Don't ask for a thing when you can't get it. 
 
 The wongurs kairs the grasnijdl. 
 
 Money makes the mare go. 
 
 It 's allers the boro matcho that pet-a-lay 'drde the 
 panni. 
 
 It is always the largest fish that falls back in to the 
 water. 
 
 Bengis your see ! Beng in tutes bukko! 
 
 The devil in your heart. The devil in your body, 
 or bowels. 
 
 This is a common form of imprecation among 
 Gipsies all over the world. 
 
 Jawin sdr a mush mullerin adrde the boro nq/io-ker. 
 
 Going like a man dying in the hospital.
 
 PROVERBS AND CHANCE PHRASES. 1 05 
 
 Rikker it adrte tutes kokero see art keKlljin it. 
 
 Keep it a secret in your own heart, and nobody 
 will know it. 
 
 Del sdr mush a sigaben to kair hisjivaben. 
 
 Give every man a chance to make his living. 
 
 It 's sim to a choomer, kushti for kek till it '* 
 pordered atween dui. 
 
 It 's like a kiss, good for nothing until it is divided 
 between two. 
 
 A cloudy sola often purabens to afino divvus. 
 
 A cloudy morning often changes to a fine day. 
 
 luzhiou panni never jailed avreefrom a chickli tan. 
 
 Clean water never came out from a dirty place. 
 
 Sdr mush must jdl to the cangry, yeck divvus or the 
 waver. 
 
 Every man must go to the church (i.e., be buried) 
 some day or other. 
 
 Kek mush ever lelled adusta mongur. 
 
 No man ever got money enough. 
 
 Pale the nafri bdkjdls the kushti bdk. 
 
 Behind bad luck comes good luck. 
 
 Sam mushis ain't got the sim kammoben as wavers. 
 
 All men have not the same tastes. 
 
 Lei the tacho pirro, an' it 's pdsk haired. 
 
 Well begun is half done. 
 
 Whilst tute 's rdkkerin the cheiruses jdl. 
 
 While you are talking the times (hours) fly. 
 
 Wafri bdk in a boro ker, sims adrte a bitti ker. 
 
 There may be adversity in a large house as well as 
 iu a small one.
 
 IO6 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 The kushtiest comas allersjdl avree siggest. 
 
 The best is soonest gone. 
 
 To dick a puro pal is as cdmmoben as a kushti 
 habben. 
 
 To see an old friend is as agreeable as a good meal. 
 
 When tutfs pals chinger yeck with a waver, don't 
 tutejdl adoi. 
 
 When your brothers quarrel don't you meddle. 
 
 Pet up with the rdkkerin an" mor pen chichi. 
 
 Endure the chattering and say nothing. 
 
 When a mush dels tute a grai tute man dick 'drde 
 lesters mui. 
 
 When a man gives you a horse you must not look 
 in his mouth. 
 
 Manjal atut the puvius. 
 
 Do not go across the field. Intimating that one 
 should travel in the proper road. 
 
 There 's a kushti sovaben at the kunsus of a duro 
 drum. 
 
 There is a sweet sleep at the end of a long road. 
 
 Kair the cdmmodearer. 
 
 Make the best of it. 
 
 Eikker dovo adrde tute's see. 
 
 Keep that a secret. 
 
 The koomifoki the tacho. 
 
 The more the merrier. 
 
 The pishom hairs the gudlo. 
 
 The bee makes the honey. Id est, each does his own 
 work. 
 
 The pishom lels the gudlo avree the roozhers.
 
 PROVERBS AND CHANCE PHRASES. IQJ 
 
 The bee gets honey from flowers. Id est, seeks it 
 in the right place. 
 
 Hatch till the clood wells aprd. 
 
 Wait till the moon rises. A very characteristic 
 Gipsy saying. 
 
 Can't pen shukker atut lendy. 
 
 You cannot say aught against them. 
 
 He's boccalo ajaw to ham his chokkas. 
 
 He's hungry enough to eat his shoes. 
 
 The puro beng is ajino mush ! 
 
 The devil is a nice character. 
 
 Mansha tu pal ! 
 
 Cheer up, brother. Be a man ! Spoken to am 
 one who seems dejected. This corresponds partially 
 to the German Gipsy Manuschwari! which is, how- 
 ever, rather an evil wish and a curse, meaning 
 according to Dr Liebich (Die Zigeuner) the gallows, 
 dire need, and epilepsy. Both in English and 
 German it is, however, derived from Manusch, a 
 man. 
 
 He's a hunnalo nakin mush. 
 
 He is an avaricious man. Literally, a spiteful 
 nosed man. 
 
 Tute can kair a coma ferridearer ifyoujal shukdr. 
 
 You can do a thing better if you go about it 
 secretly. 
 
 We're lullero adoi we don't Jin the jib. 
 
 We are dumb where we do not understand the 
 language. 
 
 Chucked (chivved) saw the habben avree.
 
 IO8 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 He threw all the victuals about. A melancholy 
 proverb, meaning that state of irritable intoxication 
 when a man comes home and abuses his family. 
 
 A myla that rikkers tute is kushtier to kistur than a 
 grai that chivs you aprL 
 
 An ass that carries you is better than a horse that 
 throws you off. 
 
 Thejuva that sikkers her bwrk will sikker her butt. 
 
 " Free of her lips, free of her hips." 
 
 He sims mandy dree the mui like apuvengro. 
 
 He resembles me like a potato. 
 
 Yeck hotchewitchi sims a waver as yeck bubby sims 
 the waver. 
 
 One hedgehog is as like another as two peas. 
 
 He mored men dui. 
 
 He killed both of us. A sarcastic expression. 
 
 / dicked their stadees an langis sherros. 
 
 I saw their hats on their heads. Apropos of 
 amazement at some very ordinary thing. 
 
 When you've tatti panni and rikker tutes kokero 
 posh matto you can jal aprd the wen sar a grai. 
 
 When you have brandy (spirits), and keep your- 
 self half drunk, you can go through the winter like a 
 horse.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 INDICATIONS OF THE INDIAN ORIGIN OF THE GIPSIES. 
 
 Boro Duvel, or " Great God," an Old Gipsy term for Water Bish- 
 noo or Vishnu, the Rain-God The Rain, called God's Blood 
 by Gipsies The Snow, " Angel's Feathers." Mahadeva 
 Buddha The Simurgh The Pintni or Mermaid The Nag 
 or Blind-Worm Nagari and Niggering The Nile Nats 
 and Nautches, Naubat and Nobbet A Puncher Pitch, Pil- 
 ler and Pivlibeebee Quod Kishmet or Destiny The Koran 
 in England " Sass " Sherengro Sarserin Shali or Rice 
 The Shaster in England The Evil Eye Sikhs Stan, 
 Hindostan, Iranistan The true origin of Slang Tat, the 
 Essence of Being Bahar and Bar The Origin of the Words 
 Rom and Ronmi. Dom and Domni The Hindi tern 
 Gipsy and Hindustani points of the Compass Salaam and 
 Shulam Sarisham ! The Cups Women's treading on 
 objects Horseflesh English and Foreign Gipsies Bohemian 
 and Rommany. 
 
 A LEARNED Sclavonian Michael von Kogaluitschan 
 has said of Rommany, that he found it interesting 
 to be able to study a Hindu dialect in the heart of 
 Europe. He is quite right ; but as mythology far 
 surpasses any philology in interest, as regards its 
 relations to poetry, how much more wonderful is it to 
 lind to-day in England traces of the tremendous 
 avatars, whose souls were gods, long ago in India. 
 And though these traces be faint, it is still apparent 
 enough that they really exist.
 
 I IO THE ENGLISH G/PSIES. 
 
 One day an old Gipsy, who is said to be more than 
 usually " deep " in Rominany, and to have had un- 
 usual opportunity for acquiring such knowledge from 
 Gipsies older and deeper than himself, sent word to 
 me, to know if " the rye " was aware that Boro 
 Duvel, or the Great God, was an old Rommany ex- 
 pression for water ? I thought that this was a singu- 
 lar message to come from a tent at Battersea, and 
 asked my special Gipsy factotum, why God should be 
 called water, or water, God ? And he replied in the 
 following words : 
 
 " Panni is the Boro Duvel, and it is Bishnoo or 
 Vishnoo, because it pells alay from the Boro Duvel. 
 ' Vishnu is the Boro Duvel then ? ' Avail. There 
 can't be no stretch adoi can there, rya ? Duvel is 
 Duvel all the world over but by the Tight formation, 
 Vishnoo is the Duvel's ratt. I 've shuned adovo but 
 dusta cheiruses. An' the snow is poris, that jals from 
 the angels' winguses. And what I penned, that Bish- 
 noo is the Duvel's ratt, ispuro Rommanis, and jinned 
 by saw our fold." * 
 
 Now in India, Vishnu and Indra are the gods of the 
 rain. 
 
 The learned, who insist that as there ought to be, 
 so there must be, but a single source of derivation for 
 
 * In English : " Water is the Great God, and it is Bishnoo or Vish- 
 noo because it falls from God. Vishnu is then the Great God 1 " Yes ; 
 there can be no forced meaning there, can there, sir ? Duvel (God) 
 is Duvel all the world over ; but correctly speaking, Vishnu is God's 
 blood I have heard that many times. And the snow is feathers that 
 fall from the angels' wings. And what I said, that Bishnoo is God's 
 Blood is old Gipsy, aad known by all our people. "
 
 IN DIC A TIONS OF INDIAN ORIGIN OF GIPSIES. Ill 
 
 every word, ignoring the fact that a dozen causes 
 may aid in its formation, will at once declare that, as 
 Bishnoo or Vishnoo is derived from the old Gipsy 
 Brishni or Brschindo, and this from the Hindu Bar- 
 ish, and the Sanscrit Varish or Prish, there can be 
 " no rational ground " for connecting the English 
 Gipsy word with the Hindu god. But who can tell 
 what secret undercurrents of dim tradition and vague 
 association may have come down to the present day 
 from the olden time. That rain should be often called 
 God's blood, and water bearing the name of Vishnu 
 be termed God, and that this should be regarded as a 
 specially curious bit of Gipsy lore, is at any rate re- 
 markable enough. 
 
 As for the Gipsies in question ever having heard of 
 Vishnu and other gods (as a friend suggests to me), 
 save in this dim tradition, I can only say, that I doubt 
 whether either of them ever heard even of the apostles; 
 and I satisfied myself that the one who brought the 
 secret had never heard of Joseph, was pitiably igno- 
 rant of Potiphar's wife, and only knew of " Mozhus " 
 or Moses, that he " once heerd he was on the bul- 
 rushes." 
 
 Mahadeva, or Mahadev, exists apparently in the 
 mouth of every English Gipsy in the phrase " Madu- 
 veleste ! " or, God bless you. This word Maduvel is 
 often changed to Mi duvel, and is generally supposed 
 to mean " My God ; " but I was once assured, that 
 the old and correct form was Ma, meaning great, and 
 that it only meant great in connection with Duvel.
 
 1 1 2 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 A curious illustration of a lost word returning by 
 chance to its original source was given one day, when 
 I asked a Gipsy if he knew such a word as Buddha ? 
 He promptly replied, " Yes ; that a booderi or bood- 
 ha mush was an old man ; " and pointing to a Chinese 
 image of Buddha, said : " That is a Boohda." He 
 meant nothing more than that it represented an aged 
 person, but the coincidence was at least remarkable. 
 Budha in Hindustani really signifies an old man. 
 
 The same Gipsy, observing on the chimney-piece a 
 quaint image of a Chinese griffin a hideous little 
 goblin with wings informed me that the Gipsy 
 name for it was a Seemor or Seemorus, and further 
 declared that the same word meant a dolphin. " But a 
 dolphin has no wings," I remarked. " Oh, hasn't it ? " 
 rejoined the Gipsy ; " itsjins are its wings, if it hadn't 
 wings it could not be a Seemor." I think I recognise 
 in this Seemor, the Simurgh or Griffin of Persian 
 fable.* I could learn nothing more than this, that 
 the Gipsy had always regarded a dolphin as resem- 
 bling a large-headed winged monster, which he 
 called a Seemor. 
 
 NAG is a snake in Hindustani. The English Gipsies 
 still retain this primaeval word, but apply it only to the 
 blind-worm. It is, however, remarkable that the Nag, 
 or blind- worm, is, in the opinion of the Rommany, the 
 most mysterious of creatures. I have been told that 
 " when a nag mullers it's hardus as a kosh, and you 
 
 * " Simurgh a fabulous bird, a griffin. " Brice's Hindustani Die 
 tionary.
 
 IN DIG A TIONS OF INDIAN ORIGIN OF GIPSIES. 113 
 
 can pogger it like a swagler's toov," "When a blind- 
 worm dies it is as hard as a stick, and you can break 
 it like a pipe-stem." They also believe that the Nag 
 is gifted, so far as his will goes, with incredible 
 malignity, and say of him 
 
 " If he could dick sim 's lie can shoon, 
 He wouldn't mukk mush or gral jal an the drum.'' 
 
 "If he could see as well as he can hear, he would 
 not allow man or horse to go on the road." 
 
 The Hindi alphabet Deva Nagari, " the writing of 
 the gods," is commonly called Nagari. A common 
 English Gipsy word for writing is " niggering." 
 " He niggered sar he could pooker adree a china- 
 mangree." The resemblance between nagari and 
 nigger may, it is true, be merely accidental, but the 
 reader^ who will ascertain by examination of the 
 vocabulary the proportion of Rommany words un- 
 questionably Indian, will admit that the terms have 
 probably a common origin. 
 
 From Sanskrit to English Gipsy may be regarded 
 as a descent " from the Nile to a street-gutter," but 
 it is amusing at least to find a passable parallel for 
 this simile. Nill in Gipsy is a rivulet, a river, or a 
 gutter. Nala is in Hindustani a brook ; nali, a ken- 
 nel : and it has been conjectured that the Indian word 
 indicates that of the great river of Egypt. 
 
 All of my readers have heard of the Nautch girls, 
 the so-called bayaderes or dancing-girls of India; 
 but very few, I suppose, are aware that their generic 
 
 H
 
 114 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 name is remotely preserved in several English Gipsy 
 words. Nachna in Hindustani means to dance, while 
 the Nats, who are a kind of Gipsies, are generally 
 jugglers, dancers, and musicians. A natua is one of 
 these Nats, and in English Gipsy nautering means 
 going about with music. Other attractions may be 
 added, but, as I have heard a Gipsy say, " it always 
 takes music to go a-nauteriri or nobbin\" 
 
 Naubat in the language of the Hindu Nats signi- 
 fies " time, turn, and instruments of music sounding 
 at the gate of a great man, at certain intervals." 
 " Nobbet," which is a Gipsy word well known to all 
 itinerant negro minstrels, means to go about with 
 music to get money. " To nobbet round the tern, 
 bosherm'." It also implies time or turn, as I inferred 
 from what I was told on inquiry. " You can shoou 
 dovo at the wellgooras when yeck rakkers the waver, 
 You jal and nobbet." "You can hear that at the 
 fairs when one says to the other, You go and 
 nobbet," meaning, "It is your turn to play now." 
 
 Nachna, to dance (Hindustani), appears to be re- 
 flected in the English Gipsy " nitchering," moving 
 restlessly, fidgeting and dancing about. Nobbeting, I 
 was told, " is nauterin' it 's all one, rya ! " 
 
 Paejama in India means very loose trousers ; and 
 it is worth noting that Gipsies call loose leggings, 
 trousers, or " overalls," peajamangris. This may 
 be Anglo-Indian derived from the Gorgios. Whether 
 " pea-jacket " belongs in part to this family, I will not 
 attempt to decide.
 
 INDICATIONS OF INDIAN ORIGIN OF GIPSIES. 1 15 
 
 Living constantly among the vulgar and unedu- 
 cated, it is not to be wondered at that the English 
 Gipsies should have often given a vulgar English and 
 slangy term to many words originally Oriental. I 
 have found that, without exception, there is a dispo- 
 sition among most people to promptly declare that all 
 these words were taken, " of course," from English 
 slang. Thus, when I heard a Gipsy speak of his fist 
 as a " puncher." I naturally concluded that he did so 
 because he regarded its natural use to be to " punch" 
 heads with. But on asking him why he gave it that 
 name, he promptly replied, " Because it takes pauge 
 (five) fingers to make a fist." And since panja 
 means in Hindustani a hand with the five fingers 
 extended, it is no violent assumption to conclude 
 that even puncher may owe quite as much to Hindus- 
 tani as to English, though I cheerfully admit that 
 it would perhaps never have existed had it not been 
 for English associations. Thus a Gipsy calls a pedlar 
 a packer or pack-mush. Now, how much of this word 
 is due to the English word pack or packer, and how 
 much to paikdr, meaning in Hindustani a pedlar? 
 I believe that there has been as much of the one as of 
 the other, and that this doubly-formative influence, 
 or influence of continuation, should be seriously con- 
 sidered as regards all Eommany words which resemble 
 in sound others of the same meaning, either in Hin- 
 dustani or in English. It should also be observed 
 that the Gipsy, while he is to the last degree inaccurate 
 and a blunderer as regards English words (a fact
 
 I 1 6 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 pointed out long ago by the Rev. Mr Crabb), has, 
 however, retained with great persistence hundreds of 
 Hindu terms. Not being very familiar with peasant 
 English, I have generally found Gipsies more intel- 
 ligible in Eommany than in the language of their 
 " stepfather-land," and have often asked my prin- 
 cipal informant to tell me in Gipsy what I could not 
 comprehend in " Anglo-Saxon." 
 
 "To pitch together" does not in English mean to 
 stick together, although pitch sticks, but it does in 
 Gipsy ; and in Hindustani, pichchi means sticking or 
 adhering. I find in all cases of such resemblance 
 that the Gipsy word has invariably a closer affinity 
 as regards meaning to the Hindu than to the English, 
 and that its tendencies are always rather Oriental 
 than Anglo- Saxon. As an illustration, I may point 
 out piller (English Gipsy) to attack, having an affi- 
 nity in pilna (Hindustani), with the same meaning. 
 Many readers will at once revert to pill, piller, 
 and pillage all simply implying attack, but really 
 meaning to rob, or robbery. But piller in English 
 Gipsy also means, as in Hindustani, to assault 
 indecently; and this is almost conclusive as to its 
 Eastern origin. 
 
 It is remarkable that the Gipsies in England, or 
 all the world over, have, like the Hindus, a distinctly 
 descriptive expression for every degree of relationship. 
 ThusajtnWz beebee in English Gipsy, or pupheri bahim 
 in Hindustani, is a father's sister's daughter. This in 
 English, as in French or German, is simply a cousin.
 
 INDICATIONS OF INDIAN ORIGIN OF GIPSIES. I \J 
 
 Quod, imprisonment, is an old English cant and 
 Gipsy word which Mr Hotten attempts to derive from 
 a college quadrangle ; but when we find that the 
 Hindu quaid also means confinement, the probability 
 is that it is to it we owe this singular term. 
 
 There are many words in which it is evident that the 
 Hindu Gipsy meaning has been shifted from a cognate 
 subject. Thus putti, the hub of a wheel in Gipsy, 
 means the felly of a wheel in Hindustani. Kctizy, to 
 rub a horse down, or scrape him, in the original tongue 
 signifies " to tie up a horse's head by passing the 
 bridle to his tail," to prevent his kicking while being 
 rubbed or scraped. Quasur, or kasur, is in Hindustani 
 ilame : in English Gipsy kessur signifies smoke ; but I 
 have heard a Gipsy more than once apply the same 
 term to flame and smoke, just as miraben stands for 
 both life and death. 
 
 Very Oriental is the word kismet, or destiny, as 
 most of my readers are probably aware. It is also 
 English Gipsy, and was explained to me as follows : 
 ' A man's kismut is what he 's bound to kair it 's 
 the kismut of his see. Some men's kismut is better'n 
 wavers, 'cos they 've got more better chiv. Some men's 
 kismut's to bikin grais, and some to bikin kanis ; but 
 saw foki has their kismut, an' they can't pen chichi 
 elsus." In English, " A man's destiny is what he 
 is bound to do it is the fate of his soul (life). Some 
 men's destiny is better than others, because they have 
 more command of lan;ua:e. Some are fated to sell
 
 1 1 8 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 horses, and others to sell hens ; but all people have 
 their mission, and can do nothing else." 
 
 Quran in the East means the Koran, and quran 
 uthara to take an oath. In English Gipsy kurran, or 
 kurraben, is also an oath, and it seems strange that 
 such a word from such a source should exist in 
 England. It is, however, more interesting as indi- 
 cating that the Gipsies did not leave India until 
 familiarised with Mohammedan rule. " He kaired his 
 kurran pre theDuvel's Bavolthat he would jal 'vree the 
 tern for a besh." " He swore his oath upon God's 
 Breath (the Bible) that he would leave the country 
 for a year." Upon inquiring of the Gipsy who uttered 
 this phrase why he called the Bible "God's Breath," 
 he replied naively, " It's sim to the Duvel's jivaben, 
 just the same as His breathus." "It is like God's life, 
 just the same as His breath." 
 
 It is to be observed that nearly all the words which 
 Gipsies claim as Gipsy , notwithstanding their resem- 
 blance to English, are to be found in Hindustani. Thus 
 rutter, to copulate, certainly resembles the English rut, 
 but it is quite as much allied to rutana (Hindustani), 
 meaning the same thing. tc Sass," or sauce, meaning 
 in Gipsy, bold, forward impudence, is identical with 
 the same English word, but it agrees very well with 
 the Hindu sdkas, bold, and was perhaps born of the 
 latter term, although it has been brought up by the 
 former. 
 
 Dr A. F. Pott remarks of the German Gipsy word
 
 INDICATIONS OF INDIAN ORIGIN OF GIPSIES. 1 1 9 
 
 schetra, or violin, that he could nowhere find in Rom- 
 many a similar instrument with an Indian name. 
 Surrhingee, or sarunghee, is the common Hindu word 
 for a violin; and the English Gipsies, on being asked 
 if they knew it, promptly replied that it was "an old 
 word for the neck or head of a fiddle." It is true 
 they also called it sarengro, surhingro, and shorengro, 
 the latter word indicating that it might have been 
 derived from sherro-engro i.e., "head-thing." But 
 after making proper allowance for the Gipsy tendency, 
 or rather passion, for perverting words towards possible 
 derivations, it seems very probable that the term is 
 purely Hindu. 
 
 Zuhru, or Zohru, means in the East Venus, or the 
 morning star ; and it is pleasant to find a reflection of 
 the rosy goddess in the Gipsy soor, signifying " early 
 in the morning." I have been told that there is a 
 Ilommany word much resembling soor, meaning the 
 early star, but my informant could not give me its 
 exact sound. Dood of the sola, is the common name 
 for Venus. Sunrise is indicated by the eccentric term 
 of " kam-left the panni" or sun-left the water. " It 
 wells from the waver tern you Jin," said my informant, 
 in explanation. " The sun comes from a foreign 
 country, and first leaves that land, and then leaves 
 the sea, before it gets here." 
 
 When a Gipsy is prowling for hens, or any other 
 little waifs, and wishes to leave a broken trail, so that 
 his tracks may not be identified, he will walk with the 
 feet interlocked one being placed outside the other
 
 I2O THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 making what in America is very naturally termed a 
 snake-trail. This he calls sarserin, and in Hindu 
 sarasdnd means to creep along like a snake. 
 
 Supposing that the Hindu word for rice, shall, 
 could hardly have been lost, I asked a Gipsy if he 
 knew it, and he at once replied, " Shall qw is small 
 grain-corn, wem r little grainuses indeed." 
 
 Shalita in Hindustani is a canvas sack in which a 
 tent is carried. The English Gripsy has confused this 
 word with shelter, and yet calls a small or " shelter" 
 tent a shelter gunno, or bag. " For we rolls up the 
 big tent in the shelter tent, to carry it." A tent 
 cloth or canvas is in Gripsy a shummy, evidently 
 derived from the Hindu shumiyana, a canopy or 
 awning. 
 
 It is a very curious fact that the English Gipsies 
 call the Scripture or Bible the Shaster, and I record 
 this with the more pleasure, since it fully establishes 
 Mr Borrow as the first discoverer of the word in Rom- 
 many, and vindicates him from the suspicion with 
 which his assertion was received by Dr Pott. On 
 this subject the latter speaks as follows : 
 
 ; ' Eschastra de Moyses, 1. ii. 22 ; 6 ^O'/AOS, M. ; Sanskrit, 
 castra; Hind., shastr, m. Hindu religious books, 
 Hindu law, Scripture, institutes of science (Shake- 
 speare). In proportion to the importance of the real 
 existence of this word among the Gipsies must be the 
 suspicion with which we regard it, when it depends, 
 as in this instance, only on Sorrow's assertion, who, 
 in case of need, to supply a non-existing word, may
 
 IN DIG A TIONS OF INDIAN ORIGIN OF GIPSIES. 121 
 
 have easily taken one from the Sanskrit." Die 
 Zigeuner, vol. ii. p. 224. 
 
 The word shaster was given to me very distinctly 
 by a Gipsy, who further volunteered the information, 
 that it not only meant the Scriptures, but also any 
 written book whatever, and somewhat marred the 
 dignity of the sublime association of the Bible and 
 Shaster, by adding that " any feller's bettin'-book on 
 the race-ground was a shasternilil, 'cos it 's written." 
 
 I have never heard of the evil eye among the 
 lower orders of English, but among Gipsies a belief in 
 it is as common as among Hindus, and both indicate 
 it by the same word, seer or sihr. In India sikr, it 
 is true, is applied to enchantment or magic in general, 
 but in this case the whole may very well stand for a 
 part. I may add that my own communications on 
 the subject of the jettatura, and the proper means of 
 averting it by means of crab's claws, horns, and the 
 usual sign of the fore and little finger, were received 
 by a Gipsy auditor with great faith and interest. 
 
 To show, teach, or learn, is expressed in Gipsy by 
 the word sikker, sig, or seek. The reader may not be 
 aware that the Sikhs of India derive their name from 
 the same root, as appears from the following extract 
 from Dr Paspati's etudes : ' ' Sikava, v. prim. 1 cl. 
 1 conj. part, siklo', montrer, apprendre. Sanskrit, 
 s'iks', to learn, to acquire science ; siksaka, adj., a 
 learner, a teacher. Hindustani, seek'hna, v.a., to 
 learn, to acquire; seek'h, s.f., admonition." I next 
 inquired why they were called Seeks, and they told
 
 122 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 me it was a word borrowed from oiie of the command- 
 ments of their founder, which signifies ' learn thou.' 
 and that it was adopted to distinguish the sect soon 
 after he disappeared. The word, as is well known, 
 has the same import in the Hindoovee " (" Asiatic 
 Researches," vol. i. p. 293, and vol. ii. p. 200). This 
 was a noble word to give a name to a body of fol- 
 lowers supposed to be devoted to knowledge and 
 truth. 
 
 The English Gipsy calls a mermaid a pintni : in 
 Hindu it is bint ool buhr, a maid of the sea. Bero 
 in G-ipsy is the sea or a ship, but the Rommany had 
 reduced the term to the original bint, by which a girl 
 is known all over the East. 
 
 " Ya binf Eeskendereyeh." 
 
 Stan is a word confounded by Gipsies with both 
 stand, a place at the races or a fair, and tan, a stop- 
 ping-place, from which it was probably derived. But 
 it agrees in sound and meaning with the Eastern 
 stan, "a place, station," and by application "country,'* 
 so familiar to the reader in Hindustan, Iranistan, 
 Beloochistan, and many other names. It is curious 
 to find in the G-ipsy tan not only the root-word of a 
 tent, but also the " Alabama," or "here we rest," ap- 
 plied by the world's early travellers to so many 
 places in the Morning Land. 
 
 Slang does not mean, as Mr Hotten asserts, the 
 secret language of the Gipsies, but is applied by 
 them to acting ; to speaking theatrical language, as 
 in a play ; to being an acrobat, or taking part in a
 
 INDICA TIONS OF INDIAN ORIGIN OF GIPSIES. 1 23 
 
 show. It is a very old Gipsy word, and indicates 
 plainly enough the origin of the cant word t; slang." 
 Using other men's words, and adopting a conventional 
 language, strikes a Gipsy as artificial ; and many men 
 not Gipsies express this feeling by speaking of con- 
 ventional stage language as " theatrical slang." Its 
 antiquity and origin appear in the Hindu swangi, an 
 ;ictor ; swang, mockery, disguise, sham ; and swang 
 lena, to imitate. As regards the sound of the words, 
 most English Gipsies would call swaug i- slang " as 
 faithfully as a Cockney would exchange hat with ""at. 
 
 Deepest among deep words in India is tat, an 
 element, a principle, the essence of being ; but it is 
 almost amusing to hear an English Gipsy say 
 ' ; that's the tatto (or tat) of it," meaning thereby 
 " the thing itself, 3 ' the whole of it. And thus 
 the ultimate point of Brahma, and the infinite 
 depth of all transcendental philosophy, may re- 
 appear in a cheap, portable, and convenient form, 
 as a declaration that the real meaning of some 
 mysterious transaction was that it amounted to a 
 sixpenny swindle at thimble-rig; for to such base 
 uses have the Shaster and the Vedas come in England. 
 
 It is, however, pleasant to find the Persian bakar, 
 a garden, recalling Bahar Danush, the garden of know- 
 ledge (Hindustani, bagh), reappearing in the English 
 Gipsy bar. " She pirryed adree the bar lellin ruzhers." 
 " She walked in the garden plucking flowers. " And 
 it is also like old times and the Arabian Nights at 
 home, to know that bazaar is a Gip.sy word, though
 
 1 24 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 it be now quite obsolete, and signifies no longer a 
 public street for shops, but an open field. 
 
 But of all words which identify the Gipsies with 
 the East, and which prove their Hindu origin, those 
 by which they call themselves Rom and Romni are 
 most conclusive. In India the Dom caste is one of 
 the lowest, whose business it is for the men to 
 remove carcasses, while the Domni, or female Dom, 
 sings at weddings. Everything known of the Dom 
 identifies them with Gipsies. As for the sound of 
 the word, any one need only ask the first Gipsy whom 
 he meets to pronounce the Hindu d or the word Dom, 
 and he will find it at once converted into I or r. 
 There are, it is true, other castes and classes in India, 
 such as Nats, the roving Banjaree, Thugs, &c., all of 
 which have left unmistakable traces on the Gipsies, 
 from which I conclude that at some time when these 
 pariahs became too numerous and dangerous there 
 was a general expulsion of them from India.* 
 
 I would call particular attention to my suggestion 
 that the Dom of India is the true parent of the Rom, 
 because all that is known of the former caste indi- 
 cates an affinity between them. The Dom pariahs 
 of India who carry out or touch dead bodies, also eat 
 the bodies of animals that have died a natural death, 
 as do the Gipsies of England. The occupation of 
 the Domni and Romni, dancing and making music at 
 festivals, are strikingly allied. I was reminded of this 
 at the last opera which I witnessed at Covent Garden, 
 
 * Komi in Coptic signifies a man.
 
 INDICATIONS OF INDIAN ORIGIN OF GIPSIES. 125 
 
 on seeing stage Gipsies introduced af part of the fete 
 in "LaTraviata." 
 
 A curious indication of the Indian origin of the 
 Gipsies may be found in the fact that they speak of 
 every foreign country beyond sea as the Hindi tern, 
 Hindi being in Hindustani their own word for Indian. 
 Nothing was more natural than that the Rommany 
 on first coming to England should speak of far-away 
 regions as being the same as the land they had left, 
 and among such ignorant people the second genera- 
 tion could hardly fail to extend the term and make 
 it generic. At present an Irishman is a Hindi tern 
 mush, or Hindu ; and it is rather curious, by the way, 
 that a few years ago in America everything that was 
 anti- Irish or native American received the same appel- 
 lation, in allusion to the exclusive system of castes. 
 
 Although the Gipsies have sadly confounded the 
 Hindu terms for the " cardinal points," no one can 
 deny that their own are of Indian origin. Uttar is 
 north in Hindustani, and Utar is west in Rommany. 
 As it was explained to me, I was told that ; " Utar 
 means west and wet too, because the west wind is 
 wet." Shimal is also north in Hindu; and on asking 
 a Gipsy what it meant, he promptly replied, ' It's 
 where the snow comes from." Poorub is the east in 
 Hindustani ; in Gipsy it is changed to porus, and 
 means the west. 
 
 This confusion of terms is incidental to every rude 
 race, and it must be constantly borne in mind that 
 it is very common in Gipsy. Night suggests day, or
 
 126 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 black white, to the most cultivated mind ; but the 
 Gipsy confuses the name, and calls yesterday and 
 to-morrow, or light and shadow, by the same word. 
 More than this, he is prone to confuse almost all 
 opposites on all occasions, and wonders that you do 
 not promptly accept and understand what his own 
 people comprehend. This is not the case among the 
 Indians of North America, because oratory, involving 
 the accurate use of words, is among them the one 
 great art ; nor are the negroes, despite their heedless 
 ignorance, so deficient, since they are at least ver\ r 
 fond of elegant expressions and forcible preaching. 
 I am positive and confident that it would be ten times 
 easier to learn a language from the wildest Indian on 
 the North American continent than from any real 
 English Gipsy, although the latter may be inclined 
 with all his heart and soul to teach, even to the 
 extent of passing his leisure days in " skirmishing" 
 about among the tents picking up old Rommany words. 
 Now the Gipsy has passed his entire life in the 
 busiest scenes of civilisation, and is familiar with all 
 its refined rascalities ; yet notwithstanding this, I 
 have found by experience that the most untutored 
 Kaw or Chippewa, as ignorant of English as I was 
 ignorant of his language, and with no means of 
 intelligence between us save signs, was a genius as 
 regards ability to teach language when compared to 
 most Gipsies. 
 
 Everybody has heard of the Oriental salaam! In 
 English Gipsy shulam means a greeting. " Shulam
 
 INDICATIONS OF INDIAN ORIGIN OF GIPSIES. 12 7 
 
 to your kokero ! " is another form of sariskan ! the 
 common form of salutation. The Hindu sar i sham 
 signifies " early in the evening," from which I infer 
 that the Dom or Rom was a nocturnal character like 
 the Night-Cavalier of Quevedo, and who sang when 
 night fell, " Arouse ye, then, my merry men ! " or 
 who said " Good-evening!" just as we say (or used 
 to say) " Good-day!"* 
 
 A very curious point of affinity between the Gipsies 
 and Hindus may be found in a custom which was 
 described to me by a Rom in the following words: 
 
 " When a mush mullers, an' the juvas adree his 
 ker can't kair habben because they feel so naflo 'bout 
 the rom being gone, or the chavii or juvalo mush, 
 or whoever it may be, then their friends for trin 
 diwuses kairs their habben an' bitchers it a lende. 
 An' that 's tacho Rommanis, an' they wouldn't be 
 dessen Rommany chuls that wouldn't kair dovo for 
 mushis in sig an' tukli." 
 
 " When a man dies, and the women m his house 
 cannot prepare food (literally, make food) as they feel 
 so badly because the man is gone (or the girl, or 
 young man, or whoever it may be), then their friends 
 
 * Since writing the above I have been told that among many 
 Hindus " (good) evening " is the common greeting at any time of the 
 day. And more recently still, meeting a gentleman who during 
 twelve years in India had paid especial attention to all the dialects, I 
 greeted him, as an experiment, with " Sarisham ! '' He replied, *V'hy, 
 that 's more elegant than common Hindu it 's Persian ! " " Sarisham " 
 is, in fact, still in use in India, as among the Gipsies. And as the 
 latter often corrupt it into sha'shan, so the vulgar Hindus call it 
 "shan ! " Sarishan means in Gipsy, " How are you? " but its affinity 
 with sarisham is evident.
 
 128 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 for three days prepare their food and send it to them. 
 And that is real Rommauy (custom), and they would 
 not be decent Rommany fellows who would not do 
 that for people in sorrow and distress." 
 
 Precisely the same custom prevails in India, where 
 it is characterised by a phrase strikingly identical 
 with the English Gipsy term for it. In England it 
 is to kair habben, in Hindustani (Brice, Hin. Diet.) 
 " karwa khana is the food that is sent for three 
 days from relations to a family in which one of the 
 members has died." The Hindu karwana, to make 
 or to cause to do, and kara, to do, are the origin of 
 the English Gipsy kair (to make or cook), while from 
 khana, or 'hana, to eat, comes haw and habben, or food. 
 
 The reader who is familiar with the religious ob- 
 servances of India is probably aware of the extra- 
 ordinary regard in which the cup is held by many 
 sects. In Germany, as Mr Liebich declares, drinking- 
 cups are kept by the Gipsies with superstitious re- 
 gard, the utmost care being taken that they never fall 
 to the ground. " Should this happen, the cup is never 
 used again. By touching the ground it becomes 
 sacred, and should no more be used. When a Gipsy 
 cares for nothing else, he keeps his drinking-cup 
 under every circumstance." I have not been able to 
 ascertain whether this species of regard for the cup 
 ever existed in England, but I know of many who 
 could not be induced to drink from a white cup or 
 bowl, the reason alleged being the very frivolous and 
 insufficient one, that it reminded them of a blood-
 
 LVDICA TIONS OF INDIAN ORIGIN OF GIPSIES. I 29 
 
 basin. It is almost needless to say that this could 
 never have been the origin of the antipathy. No 
 such consideration deters English peasants from using 
 white crockery driuking-vessels. 
 
 In Germany, among the Gipsies, if a woman has 
 trodden on any object, or if the skirt of her dress has 
 swept over or touched it, it is either destroyed, or if 
 of value, is disposed of or never used again. I found 
 on inquiry that the same custom still prevails among 
 the old Gipsy families in England, and that if the 
 object be a crockery plate or cup, it is at once broken. 
 For this reason, even more than for convenience, real 
 Gipsies are accustomed to hang every cooking uten- 
 sil, and all that pertains to the table, high up in their 
 waggons. It is almost needless to point out how 
 closely these ideas agree with those of many Hindus. 
 
 The Gipsy eats every and any thing except horse- 
 flesh. Among themselves, while talking Rommany, 
 they will boast of having eaten mullo baulors, or 
 pigs that have died a natural death, and hotchercit- 
 chi. or hedgehog, as did the belle of a Gipsy party 
 to me at Walton-on-Thames in the summer of 1872. 
 They can give no reason whatever for this inconsist- 
 ent abstinence. But Mr Simsoii in his ' ; History of 
 the Gipsies "has adduced a mass of curious facts, in- 
 dicating a special superstitious regard for the horse 
 among the Rommany in Scotland, and identifying it 
 with certain customs in India. It would be a curious 
 matter of research could we learn whether the mis- 
 sionaries of the Middle Ages, who made abstinence 
 
 I
 
 I3O THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 from horse-flesh a point of salvation (when preach- 
 ing in Germany and in Scandinavia), derived 
 their superstition, in common with the Gipsies, from 
 India. 
 
 There can be no doubt that in seeking for the 
 Indian origin of many Gipsy words we are often 
 bewildered, and that no field in philology presents 
 such opportunity for pugnacious critics to either 
 attack or defend the validity of the proofs alleged. 
 The very word for " doubtful " or " ambiguous/' 
 dubeni or duftna, is of this description. Is it derived 
 from the Hindu dkoobd'ha, which every Gipsy would 
 pronounce doobna, or from the English dubious, which 
 has been made to assume the Gipsy-Indian termina- 
 tion na? Of this word I was naively told, " If a 
 juva 's bori (girl is big), that's dub'ni ; and if she's 
 shuvalo (swelled up), that 's dubni : for it may pen 
 (say) she 's kaired a tikno (is enceinte), and it may 
 pen she hasn't." But when we find that the English 
 Gipsy also employs the word dukkenifor " doubtful," 
 and compare it with the Hindustani dhokna or dukna, 
 the true derivation becomes apparent. 
 
 Had Dr Pott or Dr Paspati had recourse to the 
 plan which I adopted of reading a copious Hindustani 
 dictionary entirely through, word byword, to a patient 
 Gipsy, noting down all which he recognised, and his 
 renderings of them, it is very possible that these 
 learned men would in Germany and Turkey have 
 collected a mass of overwhelming proof as to the 
 Indian origin of Rommany. At present the die-
 
 IN DIC A TIONS OF INDIAN ORIGIN OF GIPSIES. I 3 I 
 
 tionary which I intend shall follow this work shows 
 that, so far as the Rom many dialects have been 
 published, that of England contains a far greater 
 number of almost unchanged Hindu words than any 
 other, a fact to which I would especially call the 
 attention of all who are interested in this curious 
 language. And what is more, I am certain that the 
 supply is far from being exhausted, and that by 
 patient research among old Gipsies, the Anglo-Rorn- 
 rnany vocabulary might be increased to possibly five 
 or six thousand words. 
 
 It is very possible that when they first came from 
 the East to Europe the Gipsies had a very copious 
 supply of words, for there were men among them of 
 superior intelligence. But in Turkey, as in Germany, 
 they have not been brought into such close contact 
 with the Gorgios as in England: they have not pre- 
 served their familiarity with so many ideas, and 
 consequently their vocabulary has diminished. Most 
 of the Continental Gipsies are still wild, black wan- 
 derers, unfamiliar with many things for which the 
 English Gipsy has at least a name, and to which he 
 has continued to apply old Indian words. Every one 
 familiar with the subject knows that the English 
 Gipsies in America are far more intelligent than their 
 German Rommaiiy cousins. A few years ago a large 
 party of the latter appeared at an English racecourse, 
 where they excited much attention, but greatly dis- 
 gusted the English Roms, not as rivals, but simply 
 from their habits. " They couldn't do a thing but
 
 132 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 beg," said my informant. " They jinned (knew) 
 nothing else : they were the dirtiest Gipsies I ever 
 saw ; and when the juvas suckled the children, they 
 sikkered their burks (showed their breasts) as I never 
 saw women do before foki." Such people would not, 
 as a rule, know so many words as those who looked 
 down on them. 
 
 The conclusion which I have drawn from studying 
 Anglo-Kommany, and different works on India, is 
 that the Gipsies are the descendants of a vast number 
 of Hindus, of the primitive tribes of Hindustan, who 
 were expelled or emigrated from that country early in 
 the fourteentli century. I believe they were chiefly of 
 the primitive tribes, because evidence which I have 
 given indicates that they were identical with the two- 
 castes of the Doms and Nats the latter being, in 
 fact, at the present day, the real Gipsies of India. 
 Other low castes and outcasts were probably included 
 in the emigration, but Ibelieve that future research will 
 prove that they were all of the old stock. The first 
 Pariahs of India may have consisted entirely of those 
 who refused to embrace the religion of their con- 
 querors. 
 
 It has been coolly asserted by a recent writer that 
 Gipsies are not proved to be of Hindu origin be- 
 cause " a few " Hindu words are to be found in 
 their language. What the proportion of such words 
 really is may be ascertained from the dictionary which 
 will follow this work. But throwing aside all the 
 evidence aiforded by language, traditions, manners^
 
 INDICATIONS OF INDIAN ORIGIN OF GIPSIES. 133 
 
 and customs, one irrefutable proof still remains in 
 the physical resemblance between Gipsies all the 
 world over and the natives of India. Even in Egypt, 
 the country claimed \)y the Gipsies themselves as 
 their remote great-grandfather-land, the native Gipsy 
 is not Egyptian in his appearance but Hindu. The 
 peculiar brilliancy of the eye and its expression in 
 the Indian is common to the Gipsy, but not to the 
 Egyptian or Arab ; and every donkey-boy in Cairo 
 knows the difference between the Rhagarin and the 
 native as to personal appearance. I have seen both 
 Hindus in Cairo and Gip.sies, and the resemblance 
 to each other is as marked as their difference from 
 Egyptians. 
 
 A few years ago an article on the Rommany language 
 appeared in the "Atlantic Magazine" (Boston, U.S., 
 America), in which the writer declared that Gipsy has 
 very little affinity with Hindustani, but a great deal with 
 Bohemian or Chech in fact, he maintained, if I remem- 
 ber right, that a Chech and a Rom could understand 
 one another in either of their respective tongues. I 
 once devoted my time for several months to uuinter- 
 mitted study of Chech, and consequently do not speak in 
 entire ignorance when I declare that true Rommany 
 contains scores of Hindu words to one of Bohemian.* 
 
 * Miklosich ("Uber die Munclarten de der Zigeuner," Wien, 1872) 
 gives, it is true, 647 Rommany words of Slavonic origin, but many of 
 these are also Hindustani. Moreover, Dr Miklosich treats as Gipsy 
 words numbers of Slavonian words which Gipsies in Slavonian lands 
 have Rommauised, but which are not generally Gipsy.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 Gipsies and Cats. " Christians.'' Christians not " Haninials." 
 Green, Ked, and Yellow. The Evil Eye. Models anl 
 Morals. Punji and Sponge-cake. Troubles with a Gipsy 
 Teacher. Pilferin' and Bilberin'. Khapana and Hopper. 
 Hoppera-glasses. The little wooden Bear. Huckeny Pon- 
 kee, Hanky Panky, Hocus-pocus, and Hokkeny Baro. 
 Burning a Gipsy Witch alive in America. Daniel in the 
 Lions' Den. Gipsy Life in Summer. The Gavengroes. 
 The Gipsy's Story of Pitch-and-Toss. " You didn't fight 
 your Stockings off I" The guileless and venerable Gipsy. 
 The Gipsy Professor of Rommany and the Police. His 
 Delicacy of Feeling. The old Gipsy and the beautiful 
 Italian Models. The Admired of the Police. Honesty 
 strangely illustrated. Gipsies willing or unwilling to com- 
 municate Rommany. Romance and Eccentricity of Gipsy 
 Life and Manners. The Gipsy Grandmother and her 
 Family. A tine Frolic interrupted. The Gipsy Gentleman 
 from America. No such Language as Rommany. Hedge- 
 hogs. The Witch Element in Gipsy Life. Jackdaws and 
 Dogs. Their Uses. Lurchers and Poachers. A Gipsy 
 Camp. The Ancient Henry. I am mistaken for a Magis- 
 trate or Policeman. Gipsies of Three Grades. The Slangs. 
 Jim and the Twigs. Beer rained from Heaven. Fortune- 
 telling. A golden Opportunity to live at my Ease. 
 Petulamengro. I hear of a New York Friend. The Pro- 
 fessor's Legend of the Olive-leaf and the Dove, " A wery 
 tidy little Story." The Story of Samson as given by a 
 Gipsy. The great Prize-fighter who was hocussed by a 
 Fancy Girl. The Judgment Day. Passing away in Sleep 
 or Dream to God. A Gipsy on Ghosts. Dogs which can
 
 MISCELLANEA. 135 
 
 kill Ghosts. Twisted-legged Stealing. How to keep Doga 
 away from a Place. Gipsies avoid Unions. A Gipsy 
 Advertisement in the " Times." A Gipsy Poetess and a Eoin- 
 many Song. 
 
 IT would be a difficult matter to decide whether the 
 superstitions and odd fancies entertained by the Gipsies 
 in England are derived from the English peasantry, 
 were brought from India, or picked up on the way. 
 This must be left for ethnologists more industrious 
 and better informed than myself to decide. In any 
 case, the possible common Aryan source will tend to 
 obscure the truth, just as it often does the derivation 
 of Rommany words. But nothing can detract from the 
 inexpressibly quaint spirit of Gipsy originality in 
 which these odd credos are expressed, or surpass the 
 strangeness of the reasons given for them. If the 
 spirit of the goblin and elfin lingers anywhere on 
 earth, it is among the Rommany. 
 
 One day I questioned a Gipsy as to cats, and what 
 his opinion was of black ones, correctly surmising 
 that he would have some peculiar ideas on the sub- 
 ject, and he replied 
 
 " Rommanys never lei kaulo matchers adree the 
 ker, 'cause they 're mullos, and beng is covvas ; and 
 the puro beng, you jin, is kaulo, an' has shtor herros 
 an' dui mushis an' a sherro. But pauno matchers san 
 kushto, for they 're sim to pauno ghosts of ranis." 
 
 Which means in English, " Gipsies never have 
 black cats in the house, because they are unearthly 
 creatures, and things of the devil ; and the old devil.
 
 1*36 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 you know, is black, and has four legs and two arms 
 and a head. But white cats are good, for they are 
 like the white ghosts of ladies." 
 
 It is in the extraordinary reason given for liking 
 white cats that the subtle G-ipsyism of this cat-com- 
 mentary consists. Most people would consider a re- 
 semblance to a white ghost rather repulsive. But the 
 Gipsy lives by night a strange life, and the reader who 
 peruses carefully the stories which are given in this 
 volume, will perceive in them a familiarity with goblin- 
 land and its denizens which has become rare among 
 " Christians." 
 
 But it may be that I do this droll old Gipsy great 
 wrong in thus apparently classing him with the 
 heathen, since lie one day manifested clearly enough 
 that he considered he had a right to be regarded as a 
 true believer the only drawback being this, that he 
 was apparently under the conviction that all human 
 beings were " Christians." And the way in which he 
 declared it was as follows : I had given him the Hin- 
 dustani wordjanwur, and asked him if he knew such 
 a term, and he answered 
 
 " Do I jin sitch a lav (know such a word) as jan- 
 wur for a hanimal ? Avo (yes) ; it 's jomper it 's a 
 toadus " (toad). 
 
 " But do you jin the lav (know the word) for an 
 animal?" 
 
 " Didn't I just pooker tute (tell you) it was a 
 jomper ? for if a toad 's a hanimal, jomper must be the 
 lav for hanimal."
 
 MISCELLANEA. 137 
 
 " But don't you jin kek lav (know a word) for sar 
 the covvas that have jivaben (all living things) for 
 jompers, and bitti matchers (mice), and gryas 
 (horses) ? You and I are animals." 
 
 " Kek, rya, kek (no, sir, no), we aren't hanimals. 
 Hanimals is critters that have something queer about 
 'em, such as the lions an' helephants at the well- 
 gooroos (fairs), or cows with five legs, or won'ful pie- 
 bald grais them's hanimals. But Christins aint 
 hanimals. Them 's mushis " (men). 
 
 To return to cats : it is remarkable that the colour 
 which makes a cat desirable should render a bowl or 
 cup objectionable to a true Gipsy, as I have elsewhere 
 observed in commenting on the fact that no old- 
 fashioned Romrnany will drink, if possible, from white 
 crockery. But they have peculiar fancies as to other 
 colours. Till within a few years in Great Britain, as at 
 the present day in Germany, their fondness for green 
 coats amounted to a passion. In Germany a Gipsy who 
 loses caste for any offence is forbidden for a certain 
 time to wear green, so that ver non semper viret may 
 be truly applied to those among them who bloom too 
 rankly. 
 
 The great love for red and yellow among the Gipsies 
 was long ago pointed out by a German writer as a 
 proof of Indian origin, but the truth is, I believe, that 
 till dark people instinctively choose these hues as 
 agreeing with their complexion. A brunette is fond 
 of amber, as a blonde is of light blue ; and all true 
 kaulo or dark Rommany chals delight in a bright
 
 138 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 yellow pongdishler, or neckerchief, and a red waist- 
 coat. The long red cloak of the old Gipsy fortune- 
 teller is, however, truly dear to her heart ; she feels as 
 if there were luck in it that bdk which is ever on 
 Gipsy lips ; for to the wanderers, whose home is the 
 roads, and whose living is precarious, Luck becomes 
 a real deity. I have known two old fortune-telling 
 sisters to expend on new red cloaks a sum which 
 seemed to a lady friend very considerable. 
 
 I have spoken in another chapter of the deeply- 
 seated faith of the English Gipsies in the evil eye. 
 Subsequent inquiry has convinced me that they be- 
 lieve it to be peculiar to themselves. One said in my 
 presence, " There was a kauli juva that dicked the 
 evil yack ad mandy the sala my chavo's missis 
 an' a'ter dovo I shooned that my chavo was iiaflo. A 
 bongo-yacki mush kairs wafro-luckus. Avail, the 
 Q-orgios don't jin it it's saw Ronimany." 
 
 I.e. , " There was a dark woman that looked the evil 
 eye at me this morning my son's wife and after 
 that I heard that my son was ill. A squint-eyed man 
 makes bad -luck. Yes, the Gorgios don't know it 
 it's all Ronimany." 
 
 The Gipsy is of an eminently social turn, always 
 ready when occasion occurs to take part in every 
 conversation, and advance his views. One day my 
 old Rom hearing an artist speak of having rejected 
 some uncalled-for advice relative to the employment 
 of a certain model, burst out in a tone of hearty 
 approbation with
 
 MISCELLANEA . 139 
 
 % - That 'a what / say. Every man his own juva 
 (every man his own girl), an' every painter his own 
 morals." 
 
 If it was difficult in the beginning for me to accus- 
 tom the Gripsy mind to reply clearly and consistently 
 to questions as to his language, the trouble was ten- 
 fold increased when he began to see his way, as he 
 thought, to my object, and to take a real interest in, 
 aiding me. For instance, I once asked 
 
 " Puro ! do you know such a word as punji? It 's 
 the Hindu for capital." 
 
 (Calmly.) " Yes. rya ; that's a wery good word 
 for capital." 
 
 " But is it Rommany?" 
 
 (Decidedly.) " It'll go first-rateus into Rorn- 
 many." 
 
 " But can you make it out ? Prove it !" 
 
 (Fiercely.) " Of course I can make it out. 
 Kushto. Suppose a man sells 'punge-cake, would'nt 
 that be his capital? Punje must be capital." 
 
 But this was nothing to what I endured after a 
 vague fancy of the meaning of seeking a derivation 
 of words had dimly dawned on his mind, and he 
 vigorously attempted to aid me. Possessed with the 
 crude idea that it was a success whenever two words 
 could be forced into a resemblance of any kind, he 
 constantly endeavoured to Anglicise Gipsy words 
 often, alas ! an only too easy process, and could never 
 understand why it was I then rejected them. By the 
 former method I ran the risk of obtaining false
 
 140 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES, 
 
 Hindustani Gipsy words, though. I very much doubt 
 whether I was ever caught by it in a single instance ;. 
 so strict were the tests which I adopted, the com- 
 monest being that of submitting the words to other 
 Gipsies, or questioning him on them some days after- 
 wards. By the latter "aid" I risked the loss of 
 Rommany words altogether, and undoubtedly did 
 lose a great many. Thus with the word bilber (to 
 entice or allure), he would say, in illustration, that 
 the girls bilbered the gentleman into the house to rob 
 him, and then cast me into doubt by suggesting that 
 the word must be all right, " 'cause it looked all the 
 same as pilferirC" 
 
 One da}' I asked him if the Hindustani word 
 khapana (pronounced almost hopana) (to make away 
 with) sounded naturally to his ears. 
 
 " Yes, rya ; that must be happer, kabber, OY huvver. 
 To hopper covvas away from the tan (i.e., to hopper 
 things from the place), is when you rikker 'em 
 away us (carry them away, steal them), and gaverit 
 hide it) tally your chuckko (under your coat). An' 
 I can pen you a waver covva (I can tell you another 
 thing) that 's hopper them 's the glasses that you 
 look through hojypera-gl&sses. " 
 
 And here in bounding triumph he gave the little 
 wooden bear a drink of ale, as if it had uttered this 
 chunk of solid wisdom, and then treated himself 
 to a good long pull. But the glance of triumph 
 which shot from his black-basilisk eyes, and the 
 joyous smile which followed these feats of philology,
 
 MISCELLANEA. \\ 
 
 were absolutely irresistible. All that remained for me 
 to do was to yield in silence. 
 
 One day we spoke of huckeny pokee, or huckern/ 
 ponkee, as it is sometimes called. It means in Rom- 
 many " sleight of hand," and also the adroit substi- 
 tution of a bundle of lead or stones for another con- 
 taining money or valuables, as practised by Gipsy 
 women. The Gipsy woman goes to a house, and 
 after telling the simple-minded and credulous house- 
 wife that there is a treasure buried in the cellar, per- 
 suades her that as " silver draws silver," she must 
 deposit all her money or jewels in a bag near the 
 place where the treasure lies. This is done, and the 
 Rommany dye adroitly making up a parcel resem- 
 bling the one laid down, steals the latter, leaving the 
 former. 
 
 Mr Barrow calls this hokkeny baro, the great 
 swindle. I may remark, by the way, that among 
 jugglers and " show-people " sleight of hand is called 
 hanky panky. "' Hocus-pocus " is attributed by seve- 
 ral writers to the Gipsies, a derivation which gains 
 much force from the fact, which I have never before 
 seen pointed out, that hoggu bazee, which sounds very 
 much like it, means in Hindustani legerdemain. 
 English Gipsies have an extraordinary fancy for add- 
 ing the termination us in a most irregular manner 
 to words both Rommany and English. Thus ket- 
 tene (together) is often changed to kettenus, and side 
 to sidus. In like manner, hoggu (Iwcku or honku) 
 bazee could not fail to become hocus bozus, and the
 
 142 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 next change, for the sake of rhyme, would be to hocus- 
 po-cus. 
 
 I told iny ancient rambler of an extraordinary case 
 of "huckeny pokee " which had recently occurred in 
 the United States, somewhere in the west, the de- 
 tails of which had been narrated to me by a lady who 
 lived at the time in the place where the event 
 occurred. 
 
 " A Gipsy woman," I said, " came to a farmhouse 
 and played huckeny pokee on a farmer's wife, and 
 got away all the poor woman's money." 
 
 " Did she indeed, rya ? " replied my good old friend, 
 with a smile of joy flashing from his eyes, the un- 
 earthly Itommany light just glinting from their 
 gloom. 
 
 " Yes," I said impressively, as a mother might 
 tell an affecting story to a child. " All the money 
 that that poor woman had, that wicked Gipsy woman 
 took away, and utterly ruined her." 
 
 This was the culminating point ; he burst into an 
 irrepressible laugh ; he couldn't help it the thing 
 had been done too well. 
 
 " But you haven't heard all yet," I added. 
 " There '? more covvas to well." 
 
 " Oh, I suppose the Rummany chi prastered avree 
 (ran away), and got off with the swag ? " 
 
 " No, she didn't." 
 
 " Then they caught her, and sent her to starabuu " 
 (prison). 
 
 " No," I replied.
 
 MISCELLANEA. 143 
 
 " And what did they do? " 
 
 <b THEY BURNT HER ALIVE ! " 
 
 His jaw fell ; a glossy film came over his panther- 
 eyes. For a long time he had spoken to me, had this 
 good and virtuous man, of going to America. Sud- 
 denly he broke out with this vehement answer 
 
 " I won't go to that country s'up mi duvel ! I '11 
 never go to America." 
 
 It is told of a certain mother, that on showing her 
 darling boy a picture in the Bible representing Daniel 
 in the lions' den, she said, " And there is good 
 Daniel, and there are those naughty lions, who are 
 going to eat him all up." Whereupon the dear boy 
 cried out, " mother, look at that poor little lion 
 in the corner he won't get any." 
 
 It is from this point of view that such affairs are 
 naturally regarded by the Rommany. 
 
 There is a strange goblinesque charm in Gipsy- 
 dom something of nature, and green leaves, and 
 silent nights but it is ever strangely commingled 
 with the forbidden ; and as among the Greeks of old 
 with Mercury amid the singing of leafy brooks, there 
 is a tinkling of, at least, petty larceny. Witness the 
 following, which came forth one day from a Gipsy, in 
 my presence, as an entirely voluntary utterance. He 
 meant it for something like poetry it certainly was 
 suggested by nothing, and as fast as he spoke I wrote 
 it down : 
 
 "It's kushto in tattoben for the Rommany chals. 
 Then they can jal langs the drum, and hatch their
 
 144 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 tan acai and odoi pre the tern. We '11 lei moro hab- 
 ben acai, and jal andurer by-an'-byus, an' then jal by 
 ratti, so 's the Gorgios won't dick us. I jins a kushti 
 puv for the graias ; we '11 hatch 'pre in the sala, be- 
 fore they latcher we 've been odoi, an' jal an the drum 
 an' lei moro habben." 
 
 " It is pleasant for the Gipsies in the summer-time. 
 Then they can go along the road, and pitch their tent 
 here and there in the land. We '11 take our food here, 
 and go further on by-and-by, and then go by night, 
 so that the Gorgios won't see us. I know a fine field 
 for the horses ; we '11 stop there in the morning, be- 
 fore they find we have been there, and go on the road 
 and eat our food." 
 
 " I suppose that you often have had trouble with 
 the gavengroes (police) when you wished to pitch your 
 tent?" 
 
 Now it was characteristic of this Gipsy, as of many 
 others, that when interested by a remark or a ques- 
 tion, he would reply by bursting into some picture of 
 travel, drawn from memory. . So he answered by 
 saying 
 
 " They hunnelo'd the choro puro mush by pennin' 
 him he mustn't hatch odoi. t What 's tute ? ' he pens 
 to the prastramengro ; ' I '11 del you thrin bar to lei 
 your chuckko offus an' koor mandy. You 're a rat- 
 fully jucko an' a huckaben.' ' 
 
 English They angered the poor old man by telling 
 him he must not stop there. " What are you? " he 
 said to the policeman , " I '11 give you three pounds to
 
 MISCELLANEA. 145 
 
 take your coat off and fight me. You 're a bloody 
 dog and a lie" (liar). 
 
 " I suppose you have often taken your coat off? " 
 
 " Once I lelled it avree an' never chivved it apre 
 ajaw." 
 
 (I.e., " Once I took it off and never put it on 
 again.") 
 
 "How was that?" 
 
 " Yeckorus when I was a tano mush, thirty besh 
 kenna rumnied about pange besh, but with kek 
 chavis I jailed to the pi-asters of the graias at Brighton. 
 There was the paiass of wussin' the pasheros apre for 
 wongur, an' I got to the pyass, an' first cheirus I 
 lelled a boro bittus twelve or thirteen bar. Then I 
 nashered my wongur, an' penned I wouldn't pyass 
 koomi, an' I 'd latch what I had in my poachy. Adoi 
 I jailed from the gudli 'dree the toss-ring for a pash- 
 ora, when I dicked a waver mush, an' he putched 
 mandy, ' What bak ? ' and I penned pauli, ' Kek 
 bak ; but I 've got a bittus left.' So I wussered with 
 lester an' nashered saw my covvas my chukko, my 
 gad, an' saw, barrin' my rokamyas. Then I jailed 
 kerri with kek but my rokamyas an I borried a 
 chukko off my pen's chavo. 
 
 " And when my juva dickt'omandy pash-naugo, 
 she pens, ' Dovo's tute's heesis?' an' I pookered 
 her I 'd been a-koorin'. But she penned, ' Why, 
 you haven't got your hovalos an; you didn't 
 koor tute's hovalos avree ? ' ' No,' I rakkered ; * I 
 
 K
 
 \/\.6 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 laddered em offus. (The mush played me with a 
 dui-sherro poshero.) 
 
 " But dree the sala, when the mush welled to lei 
 avi>ee the jucko (for I 'd nashered dovo ajaw), I felt 
 wafrodearer than when I 'd nashered saw the waver 
 covvas. An' my poor juva ruvved ajaw, for she had 
 no chavo. I had in those divvuses as kushti coppas 
 an' heesus as any young Gripsy in Anglaterra good 
 chukkos, an' gads, an' pongdishlers. 
 
 " An' that mush kurried many a geero a'ter mandy, 
 but he never lelled no bak. He 'd chore from his own 
 dadas; but he mullered wafro adree East Kent." 
 
 " Once when I was a young man, thirty years ago 
 (now) married about five years, but with no children 
 I went to the races at Brighton. There was toss- 
 ing halfpence for money, and I took part in the game, 
 and at first (first time) I took a good bit twelve or 
 thirteen pounds. Then I lost my money, and said I 
 would play no more, and would keep what I had in 
 my pocket. Then I went from the noise in the toss- 
 ring for half an hour, when I saw another man, 
 and he asked me, ' What luck ? ' and I replied, ' No 
 luck ; but I 've a little left yet.' So I tossed with 
 him and lost all my things my coat, my shirt, and 
 all, except my breeches. Then I went home with 
 nothing but my breeches on I borrowed a coat of 
 my sister's boy. 
 
 " And when my wife saw me half-naked, she says, 
 1 Where are your clothes ? ' and I told her I had 
 been fighting. But she said, ' Why, you have not
 
 MISCELLANEA. 147 
 
 your stockings on ; you didn't fight your stockings 
 off ! ' ' No,' I said ; ' I drew them off.' (The man 
 played me with a two-headed halfpenny.) 
 
 *' But in the morning when the man came to take 
 away the dog (for I had lost that too), I felt worse 
 than when I lost all the other things. And my 
 poor wife cried again, for she had no child. I had 
 in those days as fine clothes as any young Gipsy 
 in England good coats, and shirts, and handker- 
 chiefs. 
 
 " And that man hurt many a man after me, but he 
 never had any luck. He'd steal from his own father ; 
 but he died miserably in East Kent," 
 
 It was characteristic of the venerable wanderer who 
 had installed himself as my permanent professor of 
 Rornmany, that although almost every phrase which 
 lie employed to illustrate words expressed some act 
 at variance with law or the rights of property, he was 
 never weary of descanting on the spotlessness, beauty, 
 and integrity of his own life and character. These 
 little essays on his moral perfection were expressed 
 Avith a touching artlessness and child-like simplicity 
 which would carry conviction to any one whose heart 
 had not been utterly hardened, or whose eye-teeth 
 had not been remarkably well cut, by contact with 
 the world. In his delightful naivete and simple 
 earnestness, in his ready confidence in strangers and 
 freedom from all suspicion in fact, in his whole de- 
 portment, this Rommany elder reminded me contin- 
 ually of one and of one man only whom I had
 
 148 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 known of old in America. Need I say that I refer 
 
 to the excellent - ? 
 
 It happened for many days that the professor, 
 being a man of early habits, arrived at our rendezvous 
 an hour in advance of the time appointed. As he 
 resolutely resisted all invitation to occupy the room 
 alone until my arrival, declaring that he had never 
 been guilty of such a breach of etiquette, and as he 
 was, moreover, according to his word, the most cour- 
 teous man of the world in it, and I did not wish to 
 " contrary " him, he was obliged to pass the time in 
 the street, which he did by planting himself on the 
 front steps or expanding himself on the railings of 
 an elderly and lonely dame, who could not endure 
 that even a mechanic should linger at her door, and 
 was in agony until the milkman and baker had re- 
 moved their feet from her steps. Now, the appear- 
 ance of the professor (who always affected the old 
 Gipsy style), in striped corduroy coat, leather breeches 
 and gaiters, red waistcoat, yellow neck-handkerchief, 
 and a frightfully-dilapidated old white hat, was not,, 
 it must be admitted, entirely adapted to the exterior 
 of a highly respectable mansion. " And he had such 
 a vile way of looking, as if he were a-waitin' for some 
 friend to come out o' the 'ouse." It is almost need- 
 less to say that this apparition attracted the police 
 from afar off and all about, or that they gathered 
 around him like buzzards near a departed lamb. I 
 was told by a highly intelligent gentleman who wit- 
 nessed the interviews, that the professor's kindly re-
 
 MISCELLANEA. 149 
 
 ccption of these public characters the infantile smile 
 with which he courted their acquaintance, and the 
 good old grandfatherly air with which he listened to 
 their little tales was indescribably delightful. " In 
 a quarter of an hour any one of them would have lent 
 him a shilling; " and it was soon apparent that the 
 entire force found a charm in his society. The 
 lone lady herself made a sortie against him once; 
 but one glance at the amiable smile, " which was 
 child-like and bland," disarmed her, and it was re- 
 ported that she subsequently sent him out half-a-pint 
 of beer. 
 
 It is needless to point out to the reader accustomed 
 to good society that the professor's declining to sit 
 in a room where valuable and small objects abounded, 
 in the absence of the owner, was dictated by the most 
 delicate feeling. Not less remarkable than his strict 
 politeness was the mysterious charm which this 
 antique nomad unquestionably exercised on the entire 
 female sex. Ladies of the highest respectability and 
 culture, old or young, who had once seen him, in- 
 variably referred to him as ''that charming old 
 Gipsy." 
 
 Nor was his sorcery less potent on those of low degree. 
 Never shall I forget one morning when the two prettiest 
 young Italian model-girls in all London were poseeing 
 to an artist friend while the professor sat and imparted 
 to me the lore of the Rommany. The girls behaved 
 like moral statues till he appeared, and like quick- 
 silver imps and devilettes for the rest of the sitting.
 
 I5O THE EN GUSH GIPSIES. 
 
 Something of the wild and weird in the mountain 
 Italian life of these ex-contaaine seemed to wake 
 like unholy fire, and answer sympathetically to the 
 Gipsy wizard-spell. Over mountain and sea, and 
 through dark forests with legends of streghe and 
 Zingari, these semi-outlaws of society, the Neapolitan 
 and Rommany, recognised each other intuitively. 
 The handsomest young gentleman in England could 
 not have interested these handsome young sinners 
 as the dark-brown, grey-haired old vagabond did. 
 Their eyes stole to him. Heaven knows what they 
 talked, for the girls knew no English, but they 
 whispered ; they could not write little notes, so they 
 kept passing different objects, to which Gipsy and 
 Italian promptly attached a meaning. Scolding them 
 helped not. It was " a pensive sight." 
 
 To impress me with a due sense of his honesty and 
 high character, the professor informed me one day 
 that he was personally acquainted, as he verily be- 
 lieved, with every policeman in England. " You 
 see, rya," he remarked, " any man as is so well known 
 couldn't never do nothing wrong now, could he?" 
 
 Innocent, unconscious, guileless air and smile ! 
 I shall never see its equal. I replied 
 
 " Yes; I think I can see you, Puro, walking down 
 between two lines of hundreds of policemen every 
 one pointing after you and saying, * There goes 
 that good honest the honestest man in Eng- 
 land ! ' " 
 
 " Avo, rya," he cried, eagerly turning to me, as if
 
 MISCELLANEA. 151 
 
 delighted and astonished that I had found out the 
 truth. " That's just what they all pens of me, an' 
 just what I seen 'em a-doin' every time." 
 
 " You know all the police." I remarked. " Do you 
 know any turnkeys ? " 
 
 He reflected an instant, and then replied, artlessly 
 
 a I don't jin many o' them. But I can jist tell you 
 a story. Once at Wimbledown, when the kooroo-menr 
 groes were odoi (when the troopers were there), I 
 used to get a pound a week carryin' things. One 
 day, when I had well on to two stun on my dumo 
 (back), the chief of police sees me an' says, l There's 
 that old scoundrel again ! that villain gives the police 
 more trouble than any other man in the country ! ' 
 1 Thank you, sir,' says I, wery respectable to him. 
 4 1 'm glad to see you 're earnin' a 'onest livin' for once,' 
 says he. ' How much do you get for carryin' that 
 there bundle?' * A sixpence, rya!' says I. 'It's 
 twice as much as you ought to have,' says he ; ' an' 
 I'd be glad to carry it myself for the money.' ''All 
 right, sir,' says I, touchin' my hat and goin' off, for 
 he was a wery nice gentleman. Rya," he exclaimed, 
 with an air of placid triumph, "do you think the head- 
 police his selfus would a spoke in them wery words 
 to me if he hadn't a thought I was a good man ? " 
 
 "Well, let's get to work, old Honesty. What is 
 the Rommanis for to hide/" 
 
 " To gaverit is to hide any tiling, rya. Gaverit." 
 And to illustrate its application he continued 
 
 " They penned mandy to gaver the gry, but I
 
 152 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES.. 
 
 nashered to keravit, an' the mush who lelled the 
 gry welled alangus an' dicked it." 
 
 (" They told me to hide the horse, but I forgot to 
 do it, and the man who owned the horse came by and 
 saw it") 
 
 It is only a few hours since I heard of a gentleman 
 who took incredible pains to induce the Gipsies to 
 teach him their language, but never succeeded. I 
 must confess that I do not understand tlfis. When I 
 have met strange Gipsies, it has often greatly grieved 
 me to find that they spoke their ancient tongue very 
 imperfectly, and were ignorant of certain Rommany 
 words which I myself, albeit a stranger, knew very 
 well, and would fain teach them. But instead of 
 accepting my instructions in a docile spirit of ignorant 
 humility, I have invariably found that they were 
 eagerly anxious to prove that they were not so igno- 
 rant as I assumed, and in vindication of their intelli- 
 gence proceeded to pour forth dozens of words, of 
 which I must admit many were really new to me, and 
 which I did not fail to remember. 
 
 The scouting, slippery night-life of the Gipsy; 
 his familiarity with deep ravine and lonely wood- 
 path, moonlight and field-lairs ; his use of a secret 
 language, and his constant habit of concealing every- 
 thing from everybody ; his private superstitions, and 
 his inordinate love of humbugging and selling friend 
 and foe, tend to produce in him that goblin, elfin, 
 boyish-mischievous, out-of-the-age state of mind 
 which i? utterly indescribable to a prosaic modern-
 
 MISCELLANEA. 153 
 
 souled man, but which is delightfully piquant to 
 others. Many a time among Gipsies I have felt, I 
 confess with pleasure, all the subtlest spirit of fun 
 combined with picture-memories of Hayraddin Mau- 
 grabin witch-legends and the " Egypcians;" for in 
 their ignorance they are still an unconscious race, 
 and do not know what the world writes about them. 
 They are not attractive from the outside to those who 
 have no love for quaint scholarship, odd humours, and 
 rare fancies. A lady who had been in a camp had 
 nothing to say of them to me save that they were 
 " dirty dirty, and begged." But I ever think, 
 when I see them, of Tieck's Elves, and of the Strange 
 Valley, which was so grim and repulsive from without, 
 but which, once entered, was the gay forecourt of 
 goblin-land. 
 
 The very fact that they hide as much as they can 
 of their Gipsy life and nature from the Gorgios 
 would of itself indicate the depths of singularity con- 
 cealed beneath their apparent life and this reminds 
 me of incidents in a Sunday which I once passed 
 beneath a Gipsy roof. I was, en voyage, at a little 
 cathedral town, when learning that some Gipsies 
 lived in a village eight miles distant, I hired a car- 
 riage and rode over to see them. I found my way 
 to a neat cottage, and on entering it discovered that 
 I was truly enough among the Rommany. By the 
 fire sat a well-dressed young man ; near him was a 
 handsome, very dark young woman, and there pre- 
 sently entered a very old woman, all gifted with the
 
 154 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 unmistakable and peculiar expression of real Gip- 
 sies. 
 
 The old woman overwhelmed me with compliments 
 and greetings. She is a local celebrity, and is con^ 
 stantly visited by the most respectable ladies and 
 gentlemen. This much I had learned from my coach- 
 man. But I kept a steady silence, and sat as serious 
 as Odin when he visited the Vala, until the address 
 ceased. Then I said in Rommany 
 
 " Mother, you don't know me. I did not come here 
 to listen to fortune-telling." 
 
 To which came the prompt reply, " I don't know 
 what the gentleman is saying." I answered always 
 in Rommany. 
 
 " You know well enough what I am saying. You 
 needn't be afraid of me I 'm the nicest gentleman 
 you ever saw in all your life, and I can talk Rom- 
 many as fast as ever you ran away from a policeman.'' 
 
 " What language is the gentleman talking ?" 
 cried the old dame, but laughing heartily as she 
 spoke. 
 
 " Oh dye miri dye, 
 Don't tute jin a Rommany rye ? 
 Can't tu rakker Rommany jib, 
 Tachipen and kek fib ?" 
 
 " Avo, my rye ; I can understand you well enough, 
 but I never saw a Gipsy gentleman before." 
 
 [Since I wrote that last line I went out for a walk, 
 and on the other side of Walton Bridge, which 
 legend says marks the spot where Julius Caesar
 
 .:;. MISCRLLANEA. I 5 5 
 
 crossed, I saw ja. tent and a waggon by the hedge, 
 and knew by the curling blue smoke that a Gipsy 
 was near. So I went over the bridge, and sure 
 enough there on the ground lay a full-grown Petul- 
 amengrc, while his brown juva tended the pot. And 
 when I spoke to her in Eommany she could only 
 burst out into amazed laughter as each new sentence 
 struck her ear, and exclaim, '' Well ! well ! that ever 
 I should live to hear this ! Why, the gentleman talks 
 just like one of us! ' Bien apropos,' sayde ye 
 ladye."] 
 
 " Dye," quoth I to the old Gipsy dame, " don't 
 be afraid. I 'm tdcho. And shut that door if there 
 are any Gorgios about, for I don't want them to 
 hear our rakkerben. Let us take a drop of brandy 
 life is short, and here 's my bottle. I 'm not English 
 I 'm a waver temmeny mush (a foreigner). But I 'm 
 all right, and you can leave your spoons out. Tacho." 
 
 " The boshno an' kani 
 The rye an' the rani ; 
 Welled acai 'pre the boro lun pani. 
 Rinkeni juva hav acai ! 
 Del a choomer to the rye ! " 
 
 " Duvelfiste ! " said the old fortune-teller, "that 
 ever I should live to see a rye like you ! A boro rye 
 rakkerin' Rommanis ! But you must have some tea 
 now, my son good tea." 
 
 " I don't pi muttermengri dye (' drink tea,' but 
 an equivoque). It 's muttermengri with you and with 
 us of the German jib."
 
 156 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! but you must have food. You won't go 
 away like a Gorgio without tasting anything? " 
 
 " I'll eat bread with you, but tea I haven't tasted 
 this five-and- twenty years." 
 
 "Bread you shall have, rya." And saying this, 
 the daughter spread out a clean white napkin, and 
 placed on it excellent bread and butter, with plate and 
 knife. I never tasted better, even in Philadelphia. 
 Everything in the cottage was scrupulously neat 
 there was even an approach to style. The furniture 
 and ornaments were superior to those found in com- 
 mon peasant houses. There was a large and beautifully- 
 bound photograph album. I found that the family 
 could read and write the daughter received and read 
 a note, and one of the sons knew who and what Mr 
 Robert Browning was. 
 
 But behind it all, when the inner life came out, 
 was the wild Rommany and the witch-aura,' the 
 fierce spirit of social exile from the world in which 
 they lived (the true secret of all the witch-life of old), 
 and the joyous consciousness of a secret tongue and 
 hidden ways. To those who walk in the darkness of 
 the dream, let them go as deep and as windingly as 
 they will, and into the grimmest gloom of goblin- 
 land, there will never be wanting flashes of light, 
 though they be gleams diavoline, corpse-candlelights, 
 elfin sparkles, and the unearthly blue lume of the 
 eyes of silent night-hags wandering slow. In the 
 forgotten grave of the sorcerer burns steadily through 
 long centuries the Rosicrucian lamp, and even to him
 
 MISCELLANEA. 157 
 
 whose eyes are closed, sparkle, ou pressure, phos- 
 phorescent rings. So there was Gipsy laughter ; and 
 the ancient y&icca and Vala flashed out into that 
 sky-rocketty joyousness and Catherine-wheel gaiety, 
 which at eighty or ninety, in a woman, vividly re- 
 minds one of the Sabbat on the Brocken. of the oint- 
 ment, and all things terrible and unearthly and 
 forbidden. 
 
 I do not suppose that there are many people who 
 can feel or understand that among the fearfully dirty 
 dwellers in tents and caravans, cock-shysters and 
 dealers in dogs of doubtful character, there can be 
 anything strange, and quaint, and deeply tinged with 
 the spirit of which I have spoken. As well might one 
 attempt to persuade the twenty-stone half- illiterate 
 and wholly old-fashioned rural magistrate of the last 
 century that the poor devil of a hen-stealing Gipsy 
 dragged before him knew that which would send 
 thrills of joy through the most learned philologist in 
 Europe, and cause the great band of scholars to sing 
 for joy. Life, to most of us. is nothing without its 
 humour ; and to me a whilome German student illus- 
 trating his military marauding by phrases from Fichte, 
 or my friend Pauno the Rommany urging me with 
 words to be found in the Mahabahrata and Hafiz to 
 buy a terrier, is a charming experience. 
 
 I believe that my imagination has neither been led 
 nor driven, when it has so invariably, in my conversing 
 with Gipsy women, recalled Faust, and all I have ever 
 read in Wierus, Bodinus, Bekker, Mather, or Glanvil,
 
 I 5 8 THE -ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 of the sorceress and sortilega. And certainly on tins 
 earth I never met with such a perfect replica of Old 
 Mother Baubo, the mother of all the witches, as I once 
 encountered at a certain race. Swarthy, black-eyed 
 stout, half-centuried, fiercely cunning, and immoder- 
 ately sensual, her first salutation was expressed in a 
 phrase such as a Corinthian soul might be greeted with 
 on entering that portion of the after-world devoted to 
 the fastest of the fair. With her came a tall, lithe, 
 younger sorceress ; and verily the giant fat sow for 
 her majesty, and the broom for the attendant, were all 
 that was wanting. 
 
 To return to the cottage. Our mirth and fun grew 
 fast and furious ; the family were delighted with my 
 anecdotes of the Rommany in other lands German, 
 Bohemian, and Spanish, not to mention the gili. 
 And we were just in the gayest centre of it all, 
 " whin, och, what a pity! this fine tay-party was 
 suddenly broken up," as Patrick O'FJanegan re- 
 marked when he was dancing with the chairs to the 
 devil's fiddling, and his wife entered. For in rushed 
 a Gipsy boy announcing that Gorgios (or, as I may 
 say, " wite trash ") were near at hand, and evidently 
 bent on entering. That this irruption of the enemy 
 gave a taci-turn to our riotry and revelling will be 
 believed. I tossed the brandy in the cup into the 
 fire ; it flashed up, and with it a quick memory of the 
 spilt and blazing witch-brew in " Faust." I put the 
 tourist-flask in my pocket, and in a trice had changed 
 my seat and assumed the air of a chance intruder.
 
 M ISC ELLA NBA. 159 
 
 In they came, two ladies one decidedly pretty and 
 three gentlemen, all of the higher class, as they 
 indicated by their manner and language. They were 
 almost immediately followed by a Gipsy, the son of 
 my hostess, who had sent for him that he might 
 see me. 
 
 He was a man of thirty, firmly set, and had a stern 
 hard countenance, in which shone two glittering black 
 eyes, which were serpent-like even among the Rom- 
 many. Nor have I ever seen among his people a 
 face so expressive of self-control allied to wary sus- 
 picion. He was neatly dressed, but in a subdued 
 Gipsy style, the principal indication being that of a 
 pair of " cords," which, however, any gentleman 
 might have worn in the field. His English was 
 excellent in fact, that of an educated man ; his 
 sum total that of a very decided u character," and 
 one who, if you wronged him, might be a dangerous 
 one. 
 
 We entered into conversation, and the Rornmauy 
 rollicking seemed all at once a vapoury thing of the 
 dim past ; it was the scene in a witch-revel suddenly 
 shifted to a drawing-room in May Fair. We were all, 
 and all at once, so polite and gentle, and so readily 
 acquainted and cosmo-polite quite beyond the aver- 
 age English standard ; and not the least charming 
 part of the whole performance was the skill with 
 which the minor parts were filled up by the 
 Gipsies, who with exquisite tact followed our lead, 
 seeming to be at once hosts and guests. I have been
 
 l6o THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 at many a play, but never saw anything better 
 acted. 
 
 But under it all burnt a lurid though hidden flame; 
 and there was a delightful diablerie of concealment 
 kept up among the Rommany, which was the more 
 exquisite because I shared in it. Reader, do you 
 remember the scene in George Sorrow's " Gipsies in 
 Spain," in which the woman blesses the child in 
 Spanish, and mutters curses on it meanwhile in 
 Zincali? So it was that my dear old hostess blessed 
 the sweet young lady, and " prodigalled *' compli- 
 ments on her ; but there was one instant when her 
 eye met mine, and a soft, quick-whispered, wicked 
 Rommany phrase, unheard by the ladies, came to my 
 ear, and in the glance and word there was a concen- 
 trated anathema. 
 
 The stern-eyed Gipsy conversed well, entertaining 
 his guests with ease. After he had spoken of the 
 excellent behaviour and morals of his tribe and I 
 believe that they have a very high character in these 
 respects I put him a question. 
 
 " Can you tell me if there is really such a thing as 
 a Gipsy language ? one hears such differing accounts, 
 you know." 
 
 With the amiable smile of one who pitied my 
 credulity, but who was himself superior to all petty 
 deception or vulgar mystery, he replied 
 
 " That is another of the absurd tales which people 
 have invented about Gipsies. As if we could have 
 kept such a thing a secret ! "
 
 MISCELLANEA . 1 6 1 
 
 " It does, indeed, seem to me," I replied. " that if 
 you had, some people who were not Gipsies must have 
 learned it." 
 
 " Of course," resumed the Gipsy, philosophically, 
 4 'all people who keep together get to using a few 
 peculiar terms. Tailors and shoemakers have their 
 own words. And there are common vagabonds who 
 go up and down talking thieves' slang, and imposing 
 it on people for Gipsy. But as for any Gipsy 
 tongue, I ought to know it " (" So I should 
 think," I mentally ejaculated, as I contemplated his 
 brazen calmness) ; " and I don't know three words of 
 it" 
 
 And we, the Gorgios, all smiled approval. At least 
 that humbug was settled ; and the Rommany tongue 
 was done for dead and buried if, indeed, it ever 
 existed. Indeed, as I looked in the Gipsy's face, I 
 began to realise that a man might be talked out of 
 a belief in his own name, and felt a rudimentary 
 sensation to the effect that the language of the Black 
 Wanderers was all a dream, and Pott's Zigeuner the 
 mere tinkling of a pot of brass, Paspati a jingling 
 Turkish symbol, and all Rommany a prceterea nihil 
 without the vox. To dissipate the delusion, I inquired 
 of the Gipsy 
 
 " You have been in America. Did you ever hunt 
 game in the west?" 
 
 ' Yes ; many a time. On the plains." 
 
 u Of course buffalo antelope jack rabbits. And 
 once " (I said this as if forgetfully) " I once ate 
 
 L
 
 1 62 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 a hedgehog no, I don't mean a hedgehog, but a 
 porcupine." 
 
 A meaning glance shot from the Gipsy's eye. I 
 uttered a first-class password, and if he had any 
 doubt before as to who the Rommany rye might be, 
 there was none now. But with a courteous smile he 
 replied 
 
 ' ; It 's quite the same, sir porcupine or hedgehog. 
 I know perfectly well what you mean." 
 
 " Porcupines," I resumed, " are very common in 
 America. The Chippeways call them hotckemitcki." 
 
 This Rommany word was a plumper for the Gipsy, 
 and the twinkle of his eye the smallest star of mirth 
 in the darkest night of gravity I ever beheld in my 
 life was lovely. I had trumped his card at any rate 
 with as solemn gravity as his own ; and the Gorgios 
 thought our reminiscences of America were very enter- 
 taining. 
 
 " He had more tow upon his distant 
 Than Gervais wot of." 
 
 But there was one in the party and I think only 
 one who had her own private share in the play. 
 That one was the pretty young lady. Through all 
 the conversation, I observed from time to time her 
 eyes fixed on my face, as if surmising some unac- 
 countable mystery. I understood it at once. The 
 bread and butter on the table, partly eaten, and the 
 snow-white napkin indicated to a feminine eye that 
 some one not of the household had been entertained, 
 and that I was the guest. Perhaps she had seer the
 
 MISCELLANEA. 163 
 
 old woman's quick glance at me, but it was evident 
 that she felt a secret. "What she divined I do not 
 know. Should this work ever fall into her hands, she 
 will learn it all, and with it the fact that Gipsies can 
 talk double about as well as any human beings on the 
 face of the earth, and enjoy fun with as grave a face 
 as any Ojib'wa of them all. 
 
 The habits of the Gipsy are pleasantly illustrated 
 by the fact that the collection of " animated books," 
 which no Rommany gentleman's library should be 
 without, generally includes a jackdaw. When the 
 foot of the Gorgio is heard near the tent, a loud 
 " wa-amk " from the wary bird (sounding very much 
 like an alarm) at once proclaims the fact ; and on 
 approaching, the stranger finds the entire party in 
 all probability asleep. Sometimes a dog acts as 
 sentinel, but it comes to the same thing. It is said 
 you cannot catch a weasel asleep : I am tempted to 
 add that you can never find a Gipsy awake but it 
 means precisely the same thing. 
 
 Gipsies are very much attached to their dogs, and 
 in return the dogs are very much attached to their 
 masters so much so that there are numerous in- 
 stances, perfectly authenticated, of the faithful 
 animals having been in the habit of ranging the 
 country alone, at great distances from the tent, and 
 obtaining hares, rabbits, or other game, which they 
 carefully and secretly brought by night to their 
 owners as a slight testimonial of their regard and 
 gratitude. As the dogs have no moral appreciation
 
 164 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 of the Game Laws, save as manifested in gamekeepers,. 
 no one can blame them. Gipsies almost invariably 
 prefer, as canine manifesters of devotion, lurchers 
 a kind of dog which of all others can be most easily 
 taught to steal. It is not long since a friend of mine, 
 early one morning between dark and dawn, saw a 
 lurcher crossing the Thames with a rabbit in his 
 mouth. Landing very quietly, the dog went to a 
 Gipsy tan, deposited his burden, and at once returned 
 over the river. 
 
 Dogs once trained to such secret hunting become 
 passionately fond of it, and pursue it unweariedly 
 with incredible secrecy and sagacity. Even cats 
 learn it, and I have heard of one which is "good for 
 three rabbits a week." Dogs, however, bring every- 
 thing home, while puss feeds herself luxuriously 
 before thinking of her owner. But whether dog or 
 cat, cock or jackdaw, all animals bred among Gipsies 
 do unquestionably become themselves Rommanised, 
 and grow sharp, and shrewd, and mysterious. A 
 writer in the Daily News of October 19, 1872, speaks 
 of having seen parrots which spoke Rommany among 
 the Gipsies of Epping Forest. A Gipsy dog is, if we 
 study him, a true character. Approach a camp : a 
 black hound, with sleepy eyes, lies by a tent; he 
 does not bark at you or act uncivilly, for that forms 
 no part of his master's life or plans, but wherever you 
 go those eyes are fixed on you. By-and-by he dis- 
 appears he is sure to do so if there are no people 
 about the tan and then reappears with some dark
 
 MISCELLANEA. 165 
 
 descendant of the Dom and Domni. I have always 
 been under the impression that these dogs step out 
 and mutter a few words in Ronimany their deport- 
 ment is, at any rate, Rommanesque to the highest 
 degree, indicating a transition from the barbarous 
 silence of doghood to Christianly intelligence. You 
 may persuade yourself that the Gipsies do not mind 
 your presence, but rest assured that though he may 
 lie on his side with his back turned, the cunning 
 jucko is carefully noting all you do. The abject and 
 humble behaviour of a poor negro's dog in America 
 was once proverbial : the quaint shrewdness, the droll 
 roguery, the demure devilry of a real Gipsy dog are 
 beyond all praise. 
 
 The most valuable dogs to the Gipsies are by no 
 means remarkable for size or beauty, or any of the 
 properties which strike the eye ; on the contrary, an 
 ugly, shirking, humble-looking, two-and-sixpenny- 
 countenanced cur, if he have but intellect, is much 
 more their affaire. Yesterday morning, while sitting 
 among the tents of "ye Egypcians," I overheard 
 a knot of men discussing the merits of a degraded- 
 looking doglet, who seemed as if he must have com- 
 mitted suicide, were he only gifted with sense enough 
 to know how idiotic he looked. " Would you take 
 *even pounds for him?" asked one. " Avo, I would 
 take seven bar ; but I wouldn't take six, nor six an' 
 a half neither." 
 
 The stranger who casts an inquisitive eye, though 
 from afar off, into a Gipsy camp, is at once noted ; and
 
 1 66 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 if he can do this before the wolf I mean the Rom 
 sees him. he must possess the gift of fern-seed and 
 walk invisible, as was illustrated by the above- 
 mentioned yesterday visit. Passing over the bridge, 
 I paused to admire the scene. It was a fresh sunny 
 morning in October, the autumnal tints were beauti- 
 ful in golden brown or oak red, while here and there 
 the horse-chestnuts spread their saffron robes, waving 
 in the embraces of the breeze like hetairas of the 
 forest. Below me ran the silver Thames, and above 
 a few silver clouds the belles of the air were fol- 
 lowing its course, as if to watch themselves in the 
 watery winding mirror. And near the reedy island, 
 at the shadowy point always haunted by three swans, 
 whom I suspect of having been there ever since the 
 days of Odin-faith, was the usual punt, with its elderly 
 gentlemanly gudgeon-fishers. But far below me, 
 along the dark line of the hedge, was a sight which 
 completed the English character of the scene a 
 real Gipsy camp. Caravans, tents, waggons, asses, 
 smouldering fires ; while among them the small forms 
 of dark children could be seen frolicking about. One 
 Gipsy youth was fishing in the stream from the 
 bank, and beyond him a knot of busy basketmakers 
 were visible. 
 
 I turned the bridge, adown the bank, and found 
 myself near two young men mending chairs. They 
 greeted me civilly ; and when I spoke Rommany, they 
 answered me in the same language; but they did 
 not speak it well, nor did they, indeed, claim to be
 
 MISCELLANEA . \ 67 
 
 "Gipsies" at all, though their complexions had the 
 peculiar hue which indicates some other than Saxon 
 admixture of blood. Half Romanny in their know- 
 ledge, and yet not regarded as such, these " travellers" 
 represented a very large class in England, which is 
 as yet but little understood by our writers, whether 
 of fact or fiction. They laughed while telling me 
 anecdotes of gentlemen who had mistaken them for 
 real Rommany chals, and finally referred me to 
 '' l Old Henry," further down, who " could talk with 
 me." This ancient I found a hundred yards beyond, 
 basketing in the sun at the door of his tent. Ht 
 greeted me civilly enough, but worked away with his 
 osiers most industriously, while his comrades, les> 
 busy, employed themselves vigorously in looking 
 virtuous. One nursed his infant with tender em- 
 braces, another began to examine green sticks with a 
 view to converting them into clothes-pegs in fact 
 I was in a model community of wandering Shakers. 
 
 I regret to say that the instant I uttered a Rom- 
 many word, and was recognised, this discipline of 
 decorum was immediately relaxed. It was not com- 
 plimentary to my moral character, but it at least 
 showed confidence. The Ancient Henry, who bore, 
 as I found, in several respects a strong likeness to 
 the Old Harry, had heard of me, and after a short 
 conversation confided the little fact, that from the 
 moment in which I had been seen watching them, 
 they were sure I was a gav-musk, or police or village 
 authority, come to spy into their ways, and to at least
 
 1 68 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 order them to move on. But when they found that 
 I was not as one having authority, but, on the con- 
 trary, came talking Rommany with the firm intention 
 of imparting to them three pots of beer just at the 
 thirstiest hour of a warm day, a great change came 
 over their faces. A chair was brought to me from a 
 caravan at some distance, and I was told the latest 
 news of the road. 
 
 " Matty 's got his slangs," observed Henry, as he 
 inserted a ranya or osier-withy into his basket, and 
 deftly twined it like a serpent to right and left, and 
 almost as rapidly. Now a slang means, among divers 
 things, a hawker's licence. 
 
 " I 'm glad to hear it," I remarked. There was 
 deep sincerity in this reply, as I had more than once 
 contributed to the fees for the aforesaid slangs, which 
 somehow or other were invariably refused to the 
 applicant. At last, however, the slangs came; and his 
 two boys, provided with them (at ten shillings per 
 head), were now, in their sphere of life, in the position 
 of young men who had received an education or been 
 amply established in business, and were gifted with 
 all that could be expected from a doting father. In 
 its way this bit of intelligence meant as much to the 
 basketmaker as, " Have you heard that young Fitz- 
 Grubber has just got the double-first at Oxford ? " or, 
 "Do you know that old Cheshire has managed that 
 appointment in India for his boy? splendid indepen- 
 dence, isn't it ? " And I was shrewdly suspected by my 
 audience, as the question implied, that I had had a hand
 
 MISCELLANEA. 169 
 
 ill expanding this magnificent opening for the two for- 
 tunate young men. 
 
 '''Dick adoif" cried one, pointing up the river. 
 "Look there at Jim!" 
 
 I looked and saw a young man far off, shirking 
 along the path by the river, close to the hedge. 
 
 "He thinks you're &g<w-mush" observed Henry; 
 " and he 's got some sticks, an' is tryin' to hide them 
 'causehe daren't throw 'em away. Oh, aint he scared? " 
 
 It was a pleasing spectacle to see the demi-G-ipsy 
 coming in with his poor little green sticks, worth 
 perhaps a halfpenny, and such as no living farmer in 
 all North America would have grudged a cartload of 
 to anybody. Droll as it really seemed, the sight 
 touched me while I laughed. Oh, if charity covereth 
 a multitude of sins, what should not poverty do ? 
 I care not through which door it comes nay, be 
 it by the very portal of Vice herself when sad 
 and shivering poverty stands before me in humble 
 form, I can only forgive and forget. And this child- 
 theft was to obtain the means of work after all. And 
 if you ask me why I did not at once proceed to the 
 next magistrate and denounce the criminal, I can 
 only throw myself for excuse on the illustrious 
 example of George the Fourth, head of Church and 
 State, who once in society saw a pickpocket remove 
 from a gentleman's fob his gold watch, winking at 
 the king as he did so. " Of course I couldn't say 
 anything." remarked the good-natured monarch, " for 
 the rascal took me into his confidence."
 
 1 70 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 Jim walked into camp amid mild chaff, to be 
 greeted in Kommany by the suspected policeman , and 
 to accept a glass of the ale, which had rained as it 
 were from heaven into this happy family. These 
 basketmakers were not real Gipsies, but churdi or 
 half-bloods, though they spoke with scorn of the two 
 chair-menders, who. working by themselves at the 
 extremity of the tented town (and excluded from a 
 share in the beer), seemed to be a sort of pariahs unto 
 these higher casters. 
 
 I should mention, en passant, that when the beer- 
 bearer of the camp was sent for the three pots, he was 
 told to " go over to Bill and borrow his two-gallon 
 jug and be very careful not to let him find out what 
 it was for." I must confess that I thought this was 
 deeply unjust to the imposed-upon and beerless 
 William ; but it was another case of confidence, and 
 he who sits among Gipsies by hedgerows green 
 must not be over-particular. Ilfaut heurler avec les 
 loups. " Ain't it wrong to steal dese here chickens ?" 
 asked a negro who was seized with scruples while 
 helping to rob a hen-roost. " Dat, Cuff, am a great 
 moral question, an' we haint got time to discuss it 
 so jist hand down anoder pullet." 
 
 I found that Henry had much curious knowledge 
 as to old Rommany ways, though he spoke with 
 little respect of the Gripsy of the olden time, who, as 
 he declared, thought all he needed in life was to get 
 a row of silver buttons on his coat, a pair of high 
 boots on his feet, and therewith basta! He had
 
 MISCELLANEA . 1 7 1 
 
 evidently met at one time with Mr George Borrow, 
 as appeared by his accurate description of that gentle- 
 man's appearance, though he did not know his name. 
 " Ah ! he could talk the jib first-rateus," remarked 
 my informant ; " and he says to me, ' Bless you ! 
 you 've all of you forgotten the real Gipsy language, 
 and don't know anything about it at all.' Do you 
 know Old Frank ? " he suddenly inquired. 
 
 " Avo," I replied. " He's the man who has been 
 twice in America." 
 
 " But d'ye know how rich he is ? He 's got money 
 in bank. And when a man gets money in bank, / say 
 there is somethin' in it. An' how do you suppose he 
 made that money ? " he inquired, with the air of one 
 who is about to " come down with a stunner." " He 
 did it &-dukkerin\" But he pronounced the word 
 durkerin* ; and I, detecting at once, as I thought, an 
 affinity with the German " turkewava," paused and 
 stared, lost in thought. My pause was set down to 
 amazement, and the Ancient Henry repeated 
 
 " Fact. By durkeriri. I don't wonder you're 
 astonished. Tellin' fortunes just like a woman. It 
 isn't every man who could do that. But I suppose 
 you could," he continued, looking at me admiringly. 
 " You know all the ways of the Gorgios, an' could talk 
 to ladies, an' are up to high life ; ah. you could 
 make no end of money. Why don't you do it ? " 
 
 Innocent Gipsy ! was this thy idea of qualification 
 for a seer and a reader of dark lore? What wouldsl 
 
 * Fortune-telling.
 
 1/2 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 thou say could I pour into thy brain the contents of 
 the scores of works on "occult nonsense," from Agrippa 
 to Zadkiel, devoured with keen hunger in the days of 
 my youth ? Yes, in solemn sadness, out of the whole 
 I have brought no powers of divination ; and in it all 
 found nothing so strange as the wondrous tongue in 
 which we spoke. In this mystery called Life many 
 ways have been proposed to me of alleviating its ex- 
 penses ; as, for instance, when the old professor ear- 
 nestly commended that we two should obtain (I trust 
 honestly) a donkey and a rinkni juva, who by tell- 
 ing fortunes should entirely contribute to our main- 
 tenance, and so wander cost-free, and kost-frei over 
 raerrie England. But I threw away the golden oppor- 
 tunityruthlessly rejected it thereby incurring the 
 scorn of all scientific philologists (none of whom, I 
 trow, would have lost such a chance). It was for doing 
 the same thing that Matthew Arnold immortalised 
 a clerke of Oxenforde : though it may be that " since 
 Elizabeth " such exploits have lost their prestige, 
 as I knew of two students at the same university 
 who a few years ago went off on a six weeks' lark with 
 two Gipsy girls; but who, far from desiring to have the 
 fact chronicled in immortal rhyme, were even much 
 afraid lest it should get into the county newspaper! 
 
 Leaving the basketmakers (among whom I subse- 
 quently found a grand-daughter of the celebrated 
 Gipsy Queen, Charlotte Stanley), I went up the 
 river, and there, above the bridge, found, as if with- 
 drawn in pride, two other tents, by one of which stood
 
 MISCELLANEA. 173 
 
 a very pretty little girl of seven or eight years with a 
 younger brother. While talking to the children, 
 their father approached leading a horse. I had 
 never seen him before, but he welcomed me politely 
 in Rommany, saying that I had been pointed out to 
 him as the Rommany rye, and that his mother, who 
 was proficient in their language, was very desirous of 
 meeting me. He was one of the smiths a Petulen- 
 gro or Petulamengro, or master of the horse-shoe, a 
 name familiar to all readers of Lavengro. 
 
 This man was a full Gipsy, but he spoke better 
 English, as well as better Rr.mrnany, than his neigh- 
 bours, and had far more refinement of manner. And 
 singularly enough, he appeared to be simpler hearted 
 and more unaffected, with less Gipsy trickery, and 
 more of a disposition for honest labour. His brother 
 and uncle were, indeed, hard at work among the masons 
 in a new building not far off, though they lived like 
 true Gipsies in a tent. Petulamengro, as the name 
 is commonly given at the present day, was evidently 
 very proud of his Rommany, and talked little else : 
 but he could not speak it nearly so well nor so flu- 
 ently as his mother, who was of " the old sort," and 
 who was, I believe, sincerely delighted that her skill 
 was appreciated by me. All Gipsies are quite aware 
 that their language is very old and curious, but they 
 very seldom meet with Gorgios who are familiar with 
 the fact, and manifest an interest in it. 
 
 While engaged in conversation with this family, 
 Petulamenoro asked me if I had ever met in America
 
 174 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 with Mr , adding, " He is a brother-in-law of 
 
 mine." 
 
 I confess that I was startled, for I had known 
 the gentleman in question very well for mnny years. 
 He is a man of considerable fortune, and nothing in 
 his appearance indicates in the slightest degree any 
 affinity with the Rommany. He is not the only real 
 or partial Gipsy whom I know among the wealthy 
 and highly cultivated, and it is with pleasure I declare 
 that I have found them all eminently kind-hearted 
 and hospitable. 
 
 It may be worth while to state, in this connection, 
 that Gipsy blood intermingled with Anglo-Saxon 
 when educated, generally results in intellectual and 
 physical vigour. The English Gripsy has greatly 
 changed from the Hindoo in becoming courageous, in 
 fact, his pugnacity and pluck are too frequently 
 carried to a fault. 
 
 My morning's call had brought me into contact 
 with the three types of the Gipsy of the roads. Of 
 the half-breeds, and especially of those who have only 
 a very slight rrace of the dark blood or kdlo ratt, there 
 are in Great Britain many thousands. Of the true 
 stock there are now only a few hundreds. But all 
 are u Rommany," and all have among themselves 
 an " understanding " which separates them from the 
 " Gorgios." 
 
 It is difficult to define what this understanding is 
 suffice it to say, that it keeps them all in many 
 respects " peculiar," and gives them a feeling of free-
 
 MISCELLANEA. 1/5 
 
 masonry, and of guarding a social secret, long after 
 they leave the roads and become highly reputable 
 members of society. But they have a secret, and no 
 one can know them who has not penetrated it. 
 
 One day I mentioned to my old Rommany, what Mr 
 Borrow has said, that no English Gipsy knows the 
 word for a leaf, or patrin. He admitted that it was 
 true ; but after considering the subject deeply, and 
 dividing the deliberations between his pipe and 
 a little wooden bear on the table his regular 
 oracle and friend he suddenly burst forth in the 
 following beautiful illustration of philology by 
 theology : 
 
 " Rya, I pens you the purodirus lav for a leaf-- 
 ^n' that's a holluf. (Don't you jin that the holluf 
 was the firstus leaf? so holluf must be the Rom- 
 many lav, sense Rommanis is the purodirest jib 
 o' saw.) For when the first mush was kaired an' 
 created in the tern adree and that was the boro Duvel 
 himself, I expect an' anuered the tern apre, he was 
 iu the bero, an' didn't jin if there was any puvius 
 about, so he bitchered the chillico avree. An' the 
 chillico was a dove, 'cause dove-us is like Duvel, an' 
 pash o' the Duvel an' Duvel's chillico. So the dove 
 mukkered avree an' jailed round the tern till he 
 latchered the puvius ; for when he dickered a tan an' 
 lelled a holluf-leaf, he jinned there was a tern, an' 
 hatched the holluf apopli to his Duvel. An' when 
 yuv's Duvel jinned there was a tern, he kaired bitti
 
 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 tiknos an' foki for the tern an' I don't jin no more 
 of it. Kekoomi. An' that is a wery tidy little story 
 of the leaf, and it sikkers that the holluf was the 
 first leaf. Tacho." 
 
 " Sir, I will tell you the oldest word for a leaf and 
 that is an olive. (Don't you know that the olive was 
 the first leaf ? so olive must be the Eommany word, 
 since Rommanis is the oldest language of all.) For 
 when the first man was made and created in the 
 world and that was the great God himself, I expect 
 and brought the land out, he was in the ship, and 
 didn't know if there was any earth about him, so he 
 sent the bird out. And the bird was a dove, because 
 done is like Duvel (God), and half God and God's bird. 
 So the dove flew away and went around the world till 
 he found the earth ; for when he saw a place and 
 took an olive-leaf, he knew there was a country (land), 
 and took the olive-leaf back to his Lord. And when 
 his Lord knew there was land, he made little children 
 and people for it and I don't know anything more 
 about it. And that is a very tidy little story of the 
 leaf, and it shows that the olive was the first leaf." 
 
 Being gratified at my noting down this original 
 narrative from his own lips, my excellent old friend 
 informed me, with cheerfulness not unmingled with 
 the dignified pride characteristic of erudition, and of 
 the possession of deep and darksome lore, that ht x 
 also knew the story of Samson. And thus spake he : 
 
 " Samson was a boro mush, wery hunnalo an' 
 tatto at koorin', so that he nashered saw the mushis
 
 MISCELLANEA. 177 
 
 avree, an' they were atrash o' lester. He was so 
 surrelo that yeckorus when he poggered avree a ker, 
 an' it had a boro sasterni wuder, he just pet it apre 
 his dumo, an' hookered it avree, an' jailed kerri an' 
 bikin'd it. 
 
 " Yeck divvus he lelled some weshni juckals, an' 
 pandered yagni-trushnees to their poris and mukked 
 'em jal. And they uashered avree like puro bengis, 
 sig in the sala, when sar the mushis were sutto, 'unsa 
 parl the giv puvius, and hotchered sar the giv. 
 
 " Then the krallis bitchered his mushis to lei 
 Samson, but he koshered 'em, an' pash mored the 
 tat of 'em; they couldn't kurry him, and he sillered 
 'em to praster for their miraben. An' 'cause they 
 couldn't serber him a koorin', they kaired it sidd 
 pre the chingerben drum. Now Samson was a see- 
 hiatty mush, wery cammoben to the juvas, so they 
 got a wery rinkeni chi to kutter an' kuzzer him. So 
 yuv welled a laki to aworretty tan, an' she hocussed 
 him with drab till yuv was pilfry o' sutto, an his 
 sherro hungered hooper side a lacker ; an' when yuv 
 was selvered, the mushis welled and chinned his ballos 
 apre an' chivved him adree the sturaben. 
 
 " An' yeck divvus the foki hitchered him avree the 
 sturaben to kair pyass for 'em. And as they were 
 gillerin' and huljerin' him, Samson chivved his 
 wasters kettenus the boro chongurs of the sturabeu, 
 and bongered his kokerus adree, an sar the ker pet 
 a lay with a boro gudli, an' sar the pooro mushis 
 were mullered an' the ker poggered to bitti cutters." 
 
 M
 
 178 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 (l Sarnson was a great man, very fierce and expert 
 at fighting, so that he drove all men away, and they 
 were afraid of him. He was so strong that once 
 when he broke into a house, and it had a great iron 
 door, he just put it on his back, and carried it away 
 and went home and sold it. 
 
 " One day he caught some foxes, and tied fire- 
 brands to their tails and let them go. And they ran 
 away like old devils, early in the morning, when all 
 the people were asleep, across the field, and burned 
 all the wheat. 
 
 " Then the king sent his men to take Samson, but 
 he hurt them, and half killed the whole of them; 
 they could not injure him, and he compelled them to 
 run for life. And because they could not capture 
 him by fighting, they did it otherwise by an opposite 
 way. Now Samson was a man full of life, very fond 
 of the girls, so they got a very pretty woman to 
 cajole and coax him. And he went with her to a 
 lonely house, and she ' hocussed ' him with poison 
 till he was heavy with sleep, and his head drooped by 
 her side ; and when he was poisoned, the people came 
 and cut his hair off and threw him into prison. 
 
 " And one day the people dragged him out of 
 prison to make sport for them. And as they were 
 making fun of him and teasing him, Samson threw 
 his hands around the great pillars of the prison, and 
 bowed himself in, and all the house fell down with 
 a great noise, and all the poor men were killed and 
 the house broken to small pieces.
 
 MISCELLANEA. 1 79 
 
 And so he died." 
 
 " Do you know what the judgment day is, Puro ? " 
 
 " Avo, rya. The judgment day is when you soves alay 
 (go in sleep, or dream away) to the boro Duvel." 
 
 I reflected long on this reply of the untutored 
 Rommany. I had often thought that the deepest 
 and most beautiful phrase in all Tennyson's poems 
 was that in which the impassioned lover promised 
 his mistress to love her after death, ever on u into 
 the dream beyond." And here I had the same 
 thought as beautifully expressed by an old Gipsy, 
 who, he declared, for two months hadn't seen three 
 nights when he wasn't as drunk as four fiddlers. 
 And the same might have been said of Carolan, the 
 Irish bard, who lived in poetry and died in whisky. 
 
 The soul sleeping or dreaming away to God sug- 
 gested an inquiry into the Gipsy idea of the nature 
 of spirits. 
 
 " You believe in mullos (ghosts), Puro. Can every- 
 body see them, I wonder ? " 
 
 " Avo, rya, avo. Every mush can dick mullos if 
 it 's their cammoben to be dickdus. But 'dusta critters 
 can dick mullos whether the mullos kaum it or kek. 
 There 's grais an' mylas can dick mullos by the 
 ratti ; an' yeckorus I had a grai that was trasher 'dree 
 a tern langs the rikkorus of a drum, pash a boro 
 park where a mush had been mullered. He prastered 
 a mee pauli, but pash a cheirus he welled apopli to the 
 wardos. A chinned jucko or a wixen can hunt 
 mullos. Avali, they chase sperits just the sim as
 
 1 8O THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 anything 'dree the world dan'r 'em, koor 'em, chinger 
 'em 'cause the dogs can't be dukkered by mullos. " 
 
 In English : " Yes, sir, yes. Every man can see 
 ghosts if it is their will to be seen. But many 
 creatures can see ghosts whether the ghosts wish it 
 or not. There are horses and asses (which) can see 
 ghosts by the night ; and once I had a horse that was 
 frightened in a place by the side of a road, near a 
 great park where a man had been murdered. He 
 ran a mile behind, but after a while came back 
 to the waggons. A cut (castrated) dog or a vixen 
 can hunt ghosts. Yes, they chase spirits just the 
 same as anything in the world bite 'em, fight 'em, 
 tear 'em because dogs cannot be hurt by ghosts." 
 
 " Dogs," I replied, " sometimes hunt men as well 
 as ghosts." 
 
 li Avo ; but men can fool the juckals avree, and men 
 too, and mullos can't." 
 
 " How do they kair it ?" 
 
 " If a choramengro kaums to chore a covva when 
 the snow is apre the puvius, he jals yeck piro, pale- 
 wavescro. If you chiv tutes piros pal-o-the-waver 
 your kusto piro kaired bongo, jallin' with it a rikkorus, 
 an' the waver piro straightus your patteran '11 dick 
 as if a bongo-herroed mush had been apre the puvius. 
 (I jinned a mush yeckorus that had a dui chokkas 
 kaired with the dui tachabens kaired bongo, to jal a- 
 chorin' with.) But if you're pallered by juckals, and 
 pet hilly dantymengro adree the chokkas, it '11 dukker 
 the sunaben of the juckos.
 
 MISCELLANEA. - l8l 
 
 " An' if you chiv lully dantymengro where juckoa 
 kair panny, a'ter they soom it they won't jal adoi 
 chichi no moreus, an' won't mutter in dovo tan, and 
 you can keep it cleanus." 
 
 That is, " If a thief wants to steal a thing when 
 the snow is on the ground, he goes with one .foot 
 behind the other. If you put your feet one behind the 
 the other your right foot twisted, going with it to one 
 side, and the other foot straight your trail will look 
 as if a crooked-legged man had been ou the ground. 
 (I knew a man once that had a pair of shoes made 
 with the two heels reversed, to go a-thieving with.) 
 But if you are followed by dogs, and put red pepper 
 in your shoes, it will spoil the scent of the dogs. 
 
 u And if you throw red pepper where dogs make 
 water, they will not go there any more after they smell 
 it, and you can keep it clean." 
 
 " Well," I replied, " I see that a great many 
 things can be learned from the Gipsies. Tell me, 
 now, when you wanted a night's lodging did you ever 
 go to a union ?" 
 
 " Kek, rya; the tramps that jal langs the drum an' 
 mang at the unions are kek Rommany chals. The 
 Eonimany never kair dovo they 'd sooner besh in the 
 bavol puv tirstus. We 'd putch the farming rye for 
 mukkaben to hatch the ratti adree the grauja,but we 'd 
 sooner suv under the bor in the bishnoo than jal 
 adree the chuvveny-ker. The Rom-many- dials aint sim 
 to tramps, for they 've got a diiferent drum into 'em." 
 
 In English : " No, sir ; the tramps that go along
 
 1 82 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 the road and beg at the unions are not Gipsies. The 
 Rommany never do that they 'd sooner stay in the 
 open field (literally, air-field). We would ask the 
 farmer for leave to stop the night in the barn, but 
 we 'd sooner sleep under the hedge in the rain than 
 go in the poorhouse. Gipsies are not like tramps, for 
 they have a different way." 
 
 The reader who will reflect on the extreme misery 
 and suffering incident upon sleeping in the open air, 
 or in a very scanty tent, during the winter in Eng- 
 land, and in cold rains, will appreciate the amount of 
 manly pride necessary to sustain the Gipsies in thus 
 avoiding the union. That the wandering Rommany 
 can live at all is indeed wonderful, since not only are 
 all other human beings less exposed to suffering than 
 many of them, but even foxes and rabbits are better 
 protected in their holes from storms and frost. The 
 Indians of North America have, without exception, 
 better tents ; in fact, one of the last Gipsy tans which 
 I visited was merely a bit of ragged canvas, so small 
 that it could only cover the upper portion of the 
 bodies of the man and his wife who slept in it. 
 Where and how they packed their two children I can- 
 riot understand. 
 
 The impunity with which any fact might be pub- 
 lished in English Rommany, with the certainty that 
 hardly a soul in England not of the blood could 
 understand it, is curiously illustrated by an incident 
 which came within my knowledge. The reader is 
 probably aware that there appear occasionally in the
 
 MISCELLANEA. 183 
 
 "Agony" column of the Times (or in that devoted 
 to " personal " advertisements) certain sentences 
 apparently written in some very strange foreign 
 tongue, but which the better informed are aware are 
 made by transposing letters according to the rules of 
 cryptography or secret writing. Now it is estimated 
 that there are in Great Britain at least one thousand 
 lovers of occult lore and quaint curiosa, decipherers 
 of rebuses and adorers of anagrams, who, when one 
 of these delightful puzzles appears in the Times, set 
 themselves down and know no rest until it is un- 
 puzzled and made clear, being stimulated in the 
 pursuit by the delightful consciousness that they are 
 exploring the path of somebody's secret, which 
 somebody would be very sorry to have made known. 
 
 Such an advertisement appeared one day, and a 
 friend of mine, who had a genius for that sort of 
 thing, sat himself down early one Saturday morning 
 to decipher it. 
 
 First of all he ascertained which letter occurred 
 most frequently in the advertisement, for this must 
 be the letter e according to rules made and provided 
 by the great Edgar A. Poe, the American poet- 
 cryptographer. But to reveal the secret in full, I may 
 as well say, dear reader, that you must take printers' 
 type in their cases, and follow the proportions accord- 
 ing to the size of the boxes. By doing this you cannot 
 fail to unrip the seam of any of these transmutations. 
 
 But, alas ! this cock would not fight it was a 
 dead bird in the pit. My friend at once apprehended
 
 1 84 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 that he had to deal with an old hand' one of those 
 aggravating fellows who are up to cryp a man who 
 can write a sentence, and be capable of leaving the 
 letter e entirely out. For there are people who will 
 do this. 
 
 So he went to work afresh upon new hypotheses, 
 and pleasantly the hours fled by. Quires of paper 
 were exhausted ; he worked all day and all the 
 evening with no result. That it was not in a foreign 
 language my friend was well assured. 
 
 " For well hee knows the Latiue and the Dutche ; 
 Of Fraunce and Toscanie he hath a touche." 
 
 Russian is familiar to him, and Arabic would not 
 have been an unknown quantitj r . So he began again 
 with the next day, and had been breaking the Sabbath 
 until four o'clock in the afternoon, when I entered, 
 and the mystic advertisement was submitted to me. 
 I glanced at it, and at once read it into English, 
 though as I read the smile at my friend's lost labour 
 vanished in a sense of sympathy for what the writer 
 must have suffered. It was as follows, omitting 
 names : 
 
 " "il/TANDY jins of . Patsa mandy, 
 
 te bitcha lav ki tu shan. Opray 
 minno lav, niandy ; 1 kek pukka til tute 
 muks a inandi. Tute's di's see se welni 
 poggado. Shorn atrash tuti dad'l jal 
 divio. Yov '1 fordel sor. For miduveFs 
 kom, milk lesti shoon choomani." 
 
 In English : " I know of . Trust me, and
 
 MISCELLANEA. 185 
 
 send word where you are. On my word, I will not 
 tell till you give me leave. Your mother's heart is 
 wellnigh broken. I am afraid your father will go 
 mad. He will forgive all. For God's sake, let him 
 know something." 
 
 This was sad enough, and the language in which it 
 was written is good English Eommany. I would 
 only state in addition, that I found that in the very 
 house in which I was living, and at the same time, a 
 lady had spent three days in vainly endeavouring to 
 ascertain the meaning of these sentences. 
 
 It is possible that many Gipsies, be they of high or 
 low degree, in society or out of it, may not be pleased 
 at my publishing a book of their language, and 
 revealing so much of what they fondly cherish as a 
 secret. They need be under no apprehension, since I 
 doubt very much whether, even with its aid, a dozen 
 persons living will seriously undertake to study it 
 and of this dozen there is not one who will not be a 
 philologist ; and such students are generally aware 
 that there are copious vocabularies of all the other 
 Gipsy dialects of Europe easy to obtain from any 
 bookseller. Had my friend used the works of Pott 
 or Paspati, Ascoli or Grellman, he would have found 
 it an easy thing to translate this advertisement. The 
 truth simply is, that for scholars there is not a single 
 secret or hidden word in English Gipsy or in any 
 other Rommany dialect, and none except scholars 
 will take pains to acquire it. Any man who wished 
 to learn sufficient Gipsy to maintain a conversation,
 
 1 86 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 and thereby learn all the language, could easily have 
 done so half a century ago from the vocabularies 
 published by Bright and other writers. A secret 
 which has been for fifty years published in very 
 practical detail in fifty books, is indeed a secret de 
 Ponchinelle. 
 
 I have been asked scores of times, "Have the 
 Gipsies an alphabet of their own ? have they grammars 
 of their language, dictionaries, or books ?" Of course 
 my answer was in the negative. I have heard of 
 vocabularies in use among crypto-Rommanies, or 
 those who having risen from the roads live a secret 
 life, so to speak, but I have never seen one. But 
 they have songs ; and one day I was told that in my 
 neighbourhood there lived a young Gipsy woman 
 who was a poetess and made Rommany ballads. " She 
 can't write," said my informant ; " but her husband 's 
 a Gorgio, and he can. If you want them, I'll get you 
 some." The offer was of course accepted, and the 
 Gipsy dame, flattered by the request, sent me the fol- 
 lowing. The lyric is without rhyme, but, as sung, 
 not without rhythm. 
 
 " GILLI OF A RUMMANY JUVA. 
 
 " Die at the gargers (Gorgios), 
 The gargers round mandy ! 
 Trying to lei my meripon, 
 My meripon (meripen) away. 
 
 I will care (kair) up to my chungs (chongs). 
 
 Up to my chungs in Rat, 
 
 All for my happy Racier (raklo).
 
 MISCELLANEA. 187 
 
 My mush is lelled to sturribon (staripen), 
 
 To sturribon, to sturribon ; 
 
 Mymush is lelled to sturribon, 
 
 To the Tan where mandy gins (j in s)*" 
 
 TBANSLATION. 
 
 " Look at the G-orgios, the Gorgios around me ! 
 trying to take my life away. 
 
 " I will wade up to my knees in blood, all for my 
 happy boy. 
 
 " My husband is taken to prison, to prison, to 
 prison ; my husband is taken to prison, to the place 
 of which I know."
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 GIPSIES IN EGYPT. 
 
 Difficulty of obtaining Information. The Khedivd on the Gipsies. 
 Mr Edward Elias. Mahomet introduces me to the Gipsies. 
 They call themselves Tataren. The Khagarin or Gipsies 
 at Boulac. Cophts. Herr Seetzen on Egyptian Gipsies. 
 The Gipsy with the Monkey in Cairo. Street-cries of the 
 Gipsy Women in Egypt. Captain Newbold on the 
 Egyptian Gipsies. 
 
 SINCE writing the foregoing pages, and only a day or 
 two after one of the incidents therein described, I 
 went to Egypt, passing the winter in Cairo and on 
 the Nile. While waiting in the city for the friend 
 with whom I was to ascend the mysterious river, it 
 naturally occurred to me, that as I was in the country 
 which many people still believe is the original land 
 of the Gipsies, it would be well worth my while to 
 try to meet with some, if any were to be found. 
 
 It is remarkable, that notwithstanding my inquiries 
 from many gentlemen, both native and foreign, in- 
 cluding savans and beys, the only educated person 
 I ever met in Egypt who was able to give me any 
 information on the subject of its Gipsies was the
 
 G/PSIES IN EGYPT. 189 
 
 Khedive or Viceroy himself, a fact which will not 
 seem strange to those who are aware of the really 
 wonderful extent of his knowledge of the country 
 which he rules. I had been but a few days in Cairo 
 when, at an interview with the Khedive, Mr Beardsley, 
 the American Consul, by whom I was presented, 
 mentioned to his Highness that I was interested in 
 the subject of the Gipsies, upon which the Khedive 
 said that there were in Egypt many people known as 
 " Rhagarin " (Ghagarin), who were probably the same 
 as the " Bohemiens " or Gipsies of Europe. His 
 words were, as nearly as I" can remember, as 
 follows : 
 
 " They are wanderers who live in tents, and are 
 regarded with contempt even by the peasantry. 
 Their women tell fortunes, tattoo,* and sell small- 
 wares ; the men work in iron (quincaillerie}. They 
 are all adroit thieves, and noted as such. The men 
 may sometimes be seen going around the country with 
 monkeys ; in fact, they appear to be in all respects 
 the same people as the Gipsies of Europe." 
 
 This was all that I could learn for several days; 
 for though there were Gipsies or ' ; Egypcians"- 
 in Egypt, I had almost as much trouble to find them 
 as Eilerr Sundt had to discover their brethren in 
 Norway. In speaking of the subject to Mr Edward 
 Elias, a gentleman well known in Egypt, he most 
 kindly undertook to secure the aid of the chief of 
 
 * In Egypt, as in Syria, every child is more or less marked by 
 tattooing. Infants of the first families, even among Christians, are 
 thus stamped.
 
 IQO THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 police, who in turn had recourse to the Shekh of the 
 Gipsies. But the Shekh I was told was not himself 
 a Gipsy, and there were none of his subjects in 
 Cairo. After a few days, three wanderers, supposed 
 to be Rommany, were arrested; but on examination 
 they proved to be ignorant of any language except 
 Arabic. Their occupation was music and dancing 
 " with a stick ; " in fact, they were performers in 
 those curious and extremely ancient Fescennine farces, 
 or Atellance, which are depicted on ancient vases, and 
 are still acted on the roads in Egypt as they were in 
 Greece before the days of Thespis. Then I was 
 informed that Gipsies were often encamped near the 
 Pyramids, but research in this direction was equally 
 fruitless. 
 
 Remembering what his Highness had told me, 
 that Gipsies went about exhibiting monkeys, I one 
 day, on meeting a man bearing an ape, endeavoured 
 to enter into conversation with him. Those who 
 know Cairo can imagine with what result ! In an 
 instant we were surrounded by fifty natives of the 
 lower class, jabbering, jeering, screaming, and beg- 
 ging all intent, as it verily seemed, on defeating my 
 object. I gave the monkey-bearer money ; instead 
 of thanking me, he simply clamoured for more, while 
 the mob became intolerable, so that I was glad to 
 make my escape. 
 
 At last I was successful. I had frequently employed 
 as donkey-driver an intelligent and well-behaved man 
 named Mahomet, who spoke English well, and who
 
 GIPSIES IN EGYPT. IQI 
 
 was familiar with the byways of Cairo. On asking 
 him if he could show me any Bhagarin, he replied 
 that every Saturday there was a fair or market held 
 at Boulac, where I would be sure to meet with women 
 of the tribe. The men, I was told, seldom ventured 
 into the city, because they were subject to much 
 insult and ill-treatment from the common people. 
 On the day appointed I rode to the market, which was 
 extremely interesting. There were thousands of blue- 
 shirted and red-tarbouched or white-turbaned Egyp- 
 tians, buying or selling, or else merely amusing 
 themselves ; dealers in sugar-cane, pipe-pedlars, and 
 vendors of rosaries ; jugglers and minstrels. At last 
 we came to a middle-aged woman seated on the 
 ground behind a basket containing beads, glass 
 armlets, and similar trinkets. She was dressed like 
 any Arab woman of the lower class, but was not 
 veiled, and on her chin blue lines were tattooed. 
 Her features and whole expression were, however, 
 evidently Gipsy. 
 
 I spoke to her in Rommany, using such words as 
 would have been intelligible to any of the race in 
 England, Germany, or Turkey; but she did not under- 
 stand me, and declared that she could speak nothing 
 but Arabic. At my request Mahomet explained to 
 her that I had travelled from a distant country in 
 u Orobba," where there were many Rhagarin who 
 declared that their fathers came from Egypt, and 
 that I wished to know if any in the latter country 
 could speak the old language. She replied that the
 
 1 92 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 Rhagarin of " Montesinos " could still speak it, but 
 that her people in Egypt had lost the tongue. 
 Mahomet declared that Montesinos meant Mount 
 Sinai or Syria. I then asked her if the Rhagarin 
 had no peculiar name for themselves, and she 
 replied, " Yes, we call ourselves Tataren." 
 
 This was at least satisfactory. All over Southern 
 Germany and in Norway the Rommany are called 
 Tataren ; and though the word means Tartars, and is 
 simply a misapplied term, it indicates a common race. 
 The woman seemed to be very much gratified at the 
 interest I manifested in her people. I gave her a 
 double piastre, and asked for its value in blue-glass 
 armlets. She gave me two pair, and as I turned to 
 depart called me back, and with a good-natured smile 
 handed me four more as a present. This generosity 
 was very Gipsy-like, and very unlike the usual be- 
 haviour of any common Egyptian. 
 
 While on the Nile, I inquired of people in different 
 towns if they had ever seen Gipsies where they lived, 
 and was invariably answered in the negative. Re- 
 membering to have read in some book a statement 
 that the Ghawazi or dancing-girls formed a tribe by 
 themselves, and spoke a peculiar language, I asked 
 an American who has lived for many years in Egypt 
 if lie thought they could be Gipsies. He replied that 
 an English lady of title, who had also been for a long 
 time in the country, had formed this opinion. But 
 when I questioned dancing-girls myself, I found them 
 quite ignorant of any language except Arabic, and
 
 . GIPSIES IN EGYPT. 193 
 
 knowing nothing relating to the Rommany. Two 
 Ghawazi whom I saw had, indeed, the peculiarly 
 brilliant eyes and general expression of Gipsies. The 
 rest appeared to be Egyptian-Arab ; and I found on 
 inquiry that one of the latter had really been a peasant 
 girl who till within seven months had worked in the 
 fields, while two others were occupied alternately with 
 field-work and dancing. 
 
 At the market in Boulac, Mahomet took me to a 
 number of Rhagarin. They all resembled the one 
 whom I have described, and were all occupied in selling 
 exactly the same class of articles. They all differed 
 slightly, as I thought, from the ordinary Egyptians 
 in their appearance, and were decidedly unlike them, 
 in being neither importunate for money nor disagree- 
 able in their manners. But though they were certainly 
 Gipsies, none of them would speak Rommany, and 
 I doubt very much if they could have done so. 
 
 Bonaventura Vulcanius, who in 1597 first gave the 
 world a specimen of Rommany in his curious book 
 " De Literis et Lingua Getarum" (which specimen, 
 by the way, on account of its rarity, I propose to 
 republish in another work), believed that the Gipsies 
 were Nubians ; and others, following in his track, 
 supposed they were really Cophtic Christians (Pott, 
 "Die Zigeuner," &c., Halle, 1844, p. 5). And I 
 must confess that this recurred forcibly to my memory 
 when, at Minieh, in Egypt, I asked a Copht scribe if 
 he were Muslim, and he replied, " La, ana Gipti " 
 (" No, I am a Copht"), pronouncing the word Gipti, 
 
 N
 
 IQ4 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 or Copht, so that it might readily be taken for 
 " Gipsy." And learning that romi is the Cophtic 
 for a man, I was again startled ; and when I found 
 tema (tern, land) and other Rommany words in 
 ancient Egyptian (vide Brugsch, "Grauimaire," &c.), 
 it seemed as if there were still many mysteries to 
 solve in this strange language. 
 
 Other writers long before me attempted to investi- 
 gate Egyptian Gipsy, but with no satisfactory result. 
 A German named Seetzen ascertained that there were 
 Gipsies both in Egypt and Syria, and wrote (1806) 
 on the subject a MS., which Pott (" Die Zigeuner," 
 &c.) cites largely. Of these Roms he speaks as fol- 
 lows : ' ' Gipsies are to be found in the entire Osmanli 
 realm, from the limits of Hungary into Egypt. The 
 Turks call them Tschinganih ; but the Syrians and 
 Egyptians, as well as themselves, Nury, in the 
 plural El Nauar. It was on the 24th November 1806 
 when I visited a troop of them, encamped with their 
 black tents in an olive grove, to the west side of 
 Naples. They were for the greater part of a dirty 
 3 T ellow complexion, with black hair, which hung down 
 on the side from where it was parted in a short 
 plait, and their lips are mulatto-like." (Seetzen sub- 
 sequently remarks that their physiognomy is precisely 
 like that of the modern Egyptians.) ' The women had 
 their under lips coloured dark blue, like female 
 Bedouins, and a few eaten-in points around the mouth 
 of like colour. They, and the boys also, wore ear- 
 rings. They made sieves of horse-hair or of leather,
 
 GIPSIES IN EGYPT. 195 
 
 iron nails, and similar small ironware, or mended 
 kettles. They appear to be very poor, and the men 
 go almost naked, unless the cold compels them to put 
 on warmer clothing. The little boys ran about naked. 
 Although both Christians and Mahometans declared 
 that they buried their dead in remote hill corners, or 
 burned them, they denied it, and declared they were 
 good Mahometans, and as such buried their dead in 
 Mahometan cemeteries." (This corresponds to their 
 custom in Great Britain in the past generation, and 
 the earnestness which they display at present to 
 secure regular burial like Christians.) " But as their 
 instruction is even more neglected than that of the 
 Bedouins, their religious information is so limited that- 
 one may say of them, they have either no religion at 
 all, or the simplest of all. As to wine, they are 
 less strict than most Mahometans. They assured 
 me that in Egypt there were many Nury" 
 
 The same writer obtained from one of these Syrian- 
 Egyptian Gipsies a not inconsiderable vocabulary of 
 their language, and says : "I find many Arabic, 
 Turkish, and some Greek words in it; it appears to 
 me, however, that they have borrowed from a fourth 
 language, which was perhaps their mother-tongue, 
 but which I cannot name, wanting dictionaries." The 
 words which he gives appear to me to consist of 
 Egyptian- Arabic, with its usual admixture from other 
 sources, simply made into a gibberish, and some- 
 times with one word substituted for another to hide 
 the meaning the whole probably obtained through a
 
 1 96 THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 dragoman, as is seen, for instance, when he gives the 
 word nisnaszeM, a fox, and states that it is of unknown 
 origin. The truth is, nisnas means a monkey, and,, 
 like most of Seetzen's " Nuri" words, is inflected 
 with an d final, as if one should say "monkeyo." I 
 have no doubt the Nauar may talk such a jargon ; 
 but I should not be astonished, either, if the Shekh 
 who for a small pecuniary consideration eagerly 
 aided Seetzen to note it down, had " sold " him with 
 what certainly would appear to any Egyptian to be 
 the real babble of the nursery. There are a very few 
 Bommany words in this vocabulary, but then it should 
 be remembered that there ar,e some Arabic words in 
 Bommany. 
 
 The street-cry of the Gipsy women in Cairo is 
 
 " Neduqq nanetahir /" " We tattoo and circumcise !"' 
 a phrase which sufficiently indicates their calling. 
 In the " Deutscher Dragoman " of Dr Philip Wolff, 
 Leipzig, 1867, I find the following under the word 
 Zigeuner : 
 
 " Gipsy in Egypt, Gagri " (pronounced more 
 nearly 'Bh'agri), " plural Gagar ; in Syria, Nawari, 
 plural Nanar. When they go about with monkeys, 
 they are called Kuruddti, from kird, ape. The Gipsies 
 of Upper Egypt call themselves Saaideh i.e., people 
 from Said, or Upper Egypt (vide Kremer, i. 138-148). 
 According to Von Gobineau, they are called in Syria 
 Kurbati, ^jf (vide ' Zeitschrift der D. M. G.,' 
 xi. 690)."
 
 GIPSIES JN EGYPT. 197 
 
 More than this of the Gipsies in Egypt the de- 
 ponent sayeth not. He has interrogated the oracles, 
 and they were dumb. That there are Roms in the 
 land of Mizr his eyes have shown, but whether any of 
 them can talk Rommany is to him as yet unknown. 
 
 Since the foregoing was printed, I have found in 
 the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (Vol. XVI., 
 Part 2, 1856, p. 285), an article on The Gipsies in 
 Egypt, by the late Captain Newbold, F.R.S., which 
 gives much information on this mysterious subject. 
 The Egyptian Gipsies, as Captain Newbold found, 
 are extremely jealous and suspicious of any inquiry 
 into their habits and mode of life, so that he had 
 great difficulty in tracing them to their haunts, and 
 inducing them to unreserved communication. 
 
 These Gipsies are divided into three kinds, the 
 Helebis, Ghagars (Rhagarin), and Nuns or Nawer. 
 Of the Rhagars there are sixteen thousand. The 
 Helebi are most prosperous of all these, and their 
 women, who are called Fehemis, are the only ones 
 who practice fortune-telling and sorcery. The male 
 Helebis are chiefly ostensible dealers in horses and 
 cattle, but have a bad character for honesty. Some 
 of them are to be found in every official department 
 in Egypt, though not known to be Gipsies (a state- 
 ment which casts much light on the circumstance that 
 neither the chief of police himself nor the Shekh of 
 the Rhagarin, with all their alleged efforts, could find
 
 198 THE ENGLISH GIPSIhS. 
 
 a single Gipsy for me). The Helebis look down on 
 the Rhagarin, and do not suffer their daughters to 
 intermarry with them, though they themselves marry 
 Rhagarin girls. The Fehemi, or Helebi women, are 
 noted for their chastity ; the Rhagarin are not. The 
 men of the Rhagarin are tinkers and blacksmiths, and 
 sell cheap jewellery or instruments of iron and brass. 
 Many of them are athletes, mountebanks, and monkey- 
 exhibitors ; the women are rope-dancers and musicians. 
 They are divided into classes, bearing the names of 
 Romani, Meddahin, G-hurradin, Barmeki (Barmecides), 
 Waled Abu Tenna, Beit er Rifai, Hemmeli, &c. The 
 Helebis and Rhagarin are distinctly different in their 
 personal appearance from the other inhabitants of 
 Egypt, having the eyes and expression peculiar to all 
 Gipsies. Captain Newbold, in fact, assumes that any 
 person " who remains in Egypt longer than the or- 
 dinary run of travellers, and roams about the streets 
 and environs of the large towns, can hardly fail to 
 notice the strange appearance of certain females, 
 whose features at once distinguish them from the 
 ordinary Fellah Arabs and Cophts of the country." 
 
 "The Nuris or Nawers are hereditary thieves, but 
 are now (1856) employed as police and watchmen in 
 the Pacha's country estates. In Egypt they inter- 
 marry with the Fellahin or Arabs of the soil, from 
 whom, in physical appearance and dress, they can 
 hardly be distinguished. Outwardly they profess 
 Mohammedanism, and have little intercourse with the 
 Helebis and Ghagars (or Rhagarin)."
 
 GIPSIES IN EGYPT. 199 
 
 Each of these tribes or classes speak a separate and 
 distinct dialect or jargon. That of the Rhagarin most 
 resembles the language spoken by the Kurbats, or 
 Gripsies of Syria. " It seems to me probable," says 
 Captain Newbold, " that the whole of these tribes 
 had one common origin in India, or the adjacent 
 countries on its Western frontier, and that the differ- 
 ence in the jargons they now speak is owing to their 
 sojourn in the various countries through which they 
 have passed. This is certain, that the Gipsies arc 
 strangers in the land of Egypt.''' 
 
 I am not astonished, on examining the specimens 
 of these three dialects given by Captain Newbold, with 
 the important addition made by Mr W. Burckhardt 
 Barker, that I could not converse with the Rhagarin. 
 That of the Nawers does not contain a single word 
 which would be recognised as Rornmany, while those 
 which occur in the other two jargons are, if not posi- 
 tively either few and far between, strangely distorted 
 from the original. A great number are ordinary 
 vulgar Arabic. It is very curious that while in Eng- 
 land such a remarkably large proportion of Hindustani 
 words have been preserved, they have been lost in 
 the East, in countries comparatively near the father- 
 land India. 
 
 I would, in conclusion to this work, remark that 
 numbers of Rommany words, which are set down by 
 philologists as belonging to Greek, Slavonian, and 
 other languages, were originally Hindu, and have only 
 changed their form a little because the wanderers found
 
 2OO THE ENGLISH GIPSIES. 
 
 a resemblance to the old word in a new one. I am 
 also satisfied that much may be learned as to the 
 origin of these words from a familiar acquaintance 
 with the vulgar dialects of Persia, and such words as 
 are not put down in dictionaries, owing to their pro- 
 vincial character. I have found, on questioning a 
 Persian gentleman, that he knew the meaning of 
 many Eommany words from their resemblance to 
 vulgar Persian, though they were not in the Persian 
 dictionary which I used.
 
 KOMMANI GTJDLI: 
 
 OB, 
 
 GIPSY STOEIES AND FABLES. 
 
 THE Gipsy to whom I was chiefly indebted for the 
 material of this book frequently narrated to me 
 the Gudli or small stories current among his people, 
 and being a man of active, though child-like imagi- 
 nation, often invented others of a similar character. 
 Sometimes an incident or saying would suggest to 
 me the outline of a narrative, upon which he would 
 eagerly take it up, and readily complete the tale. 
 But if I helped him sometimes to evolve from a hint, 
 a phrase, or a fact, something like a picture, it was 
 always the Gipsy who gave it Eommany characteristics 
 and conferred colour. It was often very difficult for 
 him to distinctly recall an old story or clearly develop 
 anything of the kind, whether it involved an effort of 
 memory or of the imagination, and here he required 
 aid. I have never in my life met with any man whose 
 mind combined so much simplicity, cunning, and 
 grotesque fancy, with such an entire incapacity to 
 appreciate either humour or " poetry" as expressed 
 in the ordinarv lan^uagre of culture. The metre and
 
 2O2 ROMMANI GUDLI ; OX, 
 
 rhyme of the simplest ballad made it unintelligible to 
 him, and I was obliged to repeat such poetry several 
 times before he could comprehend it. Yet he would, 
 while I was otherwise occupied than with him, address 
 to his favourite wooden image of a little bear on 
 the chimneypiece, grotesque soliloquies which would 
 have delighted a Hoffman, or conduct with it dia- 
 logues which often startled me. With more education, 
 be would have become a Rommany Bid-pai ; and since- 
 India is the fatherland of the fable, he may have 
 derived his peculiar faculty for turning morals and 
 adorning tales legitimately from that source. 
 
 I may state that those stories, which were made 
 entirely ; as a few were ; or in part, by my assistant 
 and myself, were afterwards received with approba- 
 tion by ordinary Gipsies as being thoroughly Kom- 
 many. As to the language of the stories, it is all 
 literally and faithfully that of a Gipsy, word by word, 
 written down as he uttered it, when, after we had got 
 a gudlo into shape, he told it finally over, which he 
 invariably did with great eagerness, ending with an 
 improvised moral. 
 
 GUDLO I. 
 
 HOW A GIPSY SAVED A CHILD'S LIFE BY BREAKING 
 A WINDOW. 
 
 'Pre yeck divvus (or yeckorus) a Rommany chal 
 was kairin' pyass with the koshters, an' he wussered
 
 GIPSY STORIES AND FABLES. 2O3 
 
 a kosh 'pre the hev of a boro ker an' poggered it. 
 Welled the prastramengro and penned, " Ta must 
 pooker (or pessur) for the glass." But when they 
 jawed adree the ker, they lastered the kosh had mul- 
 lered a divio juckal that was jawan' to dant the chavo. 
 So the rani del the Eommany chal a sonnakai ora an' 
 a fino gry. 
 
 But yeck koshter that poggers a hev doesn't rnuller 
 a juckal. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 On a day (or once) a Gipsy was playing at cock- 
 shy, and he threw a stick through the window of a 
 great house and broke the glass. Came the policeman 
 and said, " You must answer (or pay) for the glass." 
 But when they went into the house, they found the 
 stick had killed a mad dog that was going to bite the 
 child (boy). So the lady gave the Gipsy a gold 
 watch and a good horse. 
 
 But every stick that breaks a window does not kill 
 a dog. 
 
 GUDLO II. 
 
 THE GIPSY STORY OF THE BIRD AND THE HEDGEHOG. 
 
 'Pre yeck divvus a hotchewitchi dicked a chillico 
 adree the puv, and the chillico pukkered lesco, 
 " Mor jal pauli by the kiishto wastus, or the hunters' 
 graias will chiv tute adree the chick, mullo; an' if 
 you jal the waver rikk by the bongo wast, dovo 's a
 
 2O4 ROMMANI GUDLI ; OR, 
 
 Rommany tan adoi, and the Rommany chals will havr 
 tute." Penned the hotchewitchi, "I'd rather jal 
 with the Rommany chals, an r be hawed by foki that 
 kaurn mandy, than be pirraben apre by chals that dick 
 kaulo apre mandy." 
 
 It 's kushtier for a tacho Rom to be mullered by a 
 Rommany pal than to be nashered by the Gorgios. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 On a day a hedgehog met a bird in the field, and 
 the bird told him, " Do not go around by the right 
 hand, or the hunters' horses will trample you dead in 
 the dirt ; and if you go around by the left hand, there 's 
 a Gipsy tent, and the Gipsies will eat you." Said 
 the hedgehog, " I 'd rather go with the Gipsies, and 
 be eaten by folk that like me, than be trampled on by 
 people that despise (literally, look black upon) me. 
 
 It is better for a real Gipsy to be killed by a Gipsy 
 brother than to be hung by Gorgios. 
 
 GUDLO III. 
 
 A STORY OF A FORTUNE-TELLER. 
 
 Yeckorus a tario Gorgio chivved apre a shubo an' 
 jailed to a puri Rommany dye to get dukkered. And 
 she pookered lester, " Tute '11 rummorben a Fair Man 
 with kauli yakkas." Then the raklo delled laki yeck 
 shukkori an' penned. " If this shukkori was as boro as
 
 GIPSY STORIES AND FABLES. 2O5 
 
 the hockaben tute pukkered mandy, tute might porder 
 sar the bongo tern with rupp." But, hatch a won- 
 gish ! maybe in a divvus, maybe in a ciirricus, maybe 
 a dood, maybe a besh, maybe waver divvus, he 
 riimmorbend a rakli by the nav of Fair Man, and 
 her yakkas were as kaulo as miri jiiva's. 
 There 's always dui rikk to a diikkerben. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Once a little Gorgio put on a woman's gown and 
 went to an old Gipsy mother to have his fortune 
 told. And she told him, " You '11 marry a Fair Man 
 with black eyes." Then the young man gave her a 
 sixpence and said, " If this sixpence were as big as 
 the lie you told me, you could fill all hell with 
 silver." But, stop a bit ! after a while maybe in a 
 week, maybe a month, maybe in a year, maybe the 
 other day he married a girl by the name of Fair 
 Man, and her eyes were as black as my sweetheart's. 
 
 There are always two sides to a prediction. 
 
 GUDLO IV. 
 
 HOW THE ROYSTON ROOK DECEIVED THE ROOKS AND 
 PIGEONS. 
 
 'Pre yeck divvus a Royston rookus jailed mongin 
 the kaulo chiriclos, an' they putched (pootschered) 
 him, "Where did tute chore tiro pauno chukko?"
 
 206 ROMMANI GUDLI ; OR, 
 
 And yuv pookered, " Mandy chored it from a bik- 
 sherro of a pigeon." Then he jailed a-men the 
 pigeons an' penned, " Sarishan, pals?" And they 
 putched lesti, " Where did tute lei akovo kauli 
 rokamyas te byascros ?" And yuv penned, " Mandy 
 chored 'em from those wafri miishis the rookuses." 
 
 Pash-ratis pen their kokeros for Gorgios mongin 
 G-orgios, and for Kommany mongin Eommany chals. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 On a day a Royston rook* went among the crows 
 (black birds), and they asked him, " Where did you 
 steal your white coat?" And he told (them), "I 
 stole it from a fool of a pigeon." Then he went 
 among the pigeons and said, " How are you, 
 brothers?" And they asked him, "Where did you 
 get those black trousers and sleeves?" And he said, 
 " I stole 'em from those wretches the rooks." 
 
 Half-breeds call themselves Gorgio among Gorgios, 
 and Gipsy among Gipsies. 
 
 GUDLO Y. 
 
 THE GIPSY'S STOKY OF THE GORGIO AND THE ROMMANY 
 CHAL. 
 
 Once 'pre a chairus (or chyrus) a Gorgio penned to 
 a Rommany chal, " Why does tute always jal about 
 
 * The Royston rook or crow has a greyish-white back, but is with 
 this exception entirely black.
 
 GIPSY STORIES AND FABLES. 2O/ 
 
 the tern ajaw ? There 's no kushtoben in what don't 
 hatch acai." Penned the Rommany chal, " Sikker 
 mandy tute's wongur ! " And yuv sikkered him a 
 cutter (cotter ?), a bar, a pash-bar, a pash-cutter, 
 a pange-cullo (caulor ?) bittus, a pash-krooner 
 (korauna), a dui-cullos bittus, a trin-mushi, a shuckori, 
 a stor'oras, a trin'oras, a dui'oras, a haura, a poshero, 
 a lulli, a pash-lulli. Penned the Eommany chal, 
 11 Acovo 's sar wafri wongur." " Kek," penned the 
 GJ-orgio ; " se sar kushto an' kirus. Chiv it adree tute's 
 wast and shoon it ringus." " Avo," penned the Rom- 
 many chal. " Tute pookered mandy that only wafri 
 cowas keep jallin', te 'covo wongur has jailed sar 
 'pre the 'tern adusta timei (or timey)." 
 
 Sar mushis aren't all sim ta riikers (riikkers.) 
 Some must pirraben, and can't besh't a lay. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Once upon a time a Gorgio said to a Gipsy, " Why 
 do you always go about the country so ? There is ' no 
 good' in what does not rest (literally, stop here).' 
 Said the Gripsy, "Show me your money!" And he 
 showed him a guinea, a sovereign, a half-sovereign, a 
 half-guinea, a five-shilling piece, a half-crown, a two- 
 shilling piece, a shilling, a sixpence, a fourpenny piece, 
 a threepence, a twopence, a penny, a halfpenny, a 
 farthing, a half-farthing. Said the Gipsy, " This is 
 all bad money." " No," said the other man ; "it is all 
 good and sound. Toss it in your hand and hear it ring ! " 
 " Yes," replied the Gipsy. " You told me that only
 
 2O8 ROM MAN I GUDLI / OJ?, 
 
 bad things keep going , and this money has gone all 
 over the country many a time." 
 
 All men are not like trees. Some must travel, and 
 cannot keep still. 
 
 GUDLO VI. 
 
 HOW THE GIPSY BRIBED THE POLICEMAN. 
 
 Once apre a chairus a Rommany chal chored a rani 
 chillico (or chiriclo), and then jailed atiit a prastra- 
 meugro 'pre the drum. " Where did tute chore adovo 
 rani ? " putchered the prastrameugro. " It 's kek rani ; 
 it's a pauno rani that I kinned 'dree the gav to del 
 tute." " Tacho," penned the prastramengro, " it's 
 the kushtiest pauno rani mandy ever dickdus. Ki did 
 tute kin it?" 
 
 Avali, many's the chairus maudy's tippered a trin- 
 mushi to a prastramengro ta mukk mandy hatch my 
 tan with the chavvis. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Once on a time a Gipsy stole a turkey, and then 
 met a policeman on the road. " Where did you steal 
 that turkey? " asked the policeman. "It's no turkey ; 
 it's a goose that I bought in the town to give you." 
 " Fact," said the policeman, " it is the finest goose I 
 ever saw. Where did you buy it?" 
 
 Yes, mauy's the time I have given a shilling
 
 GIPSY STORIES AND FABLES. 2CK) 
 
 (three fourpence) to a policeman to let me pitch my 
 tent with the children.* 
 
 GUDLO VII. 
 
 HOW A GIPSY LOST THREEPENCE. 
 
 Yeckorus a choro mush besht a lay ta kair trin 
 horras- worth o' peggi for a masengro. There jessed 
 alang's a rye, who penned, u Tool my gry, an' I'll 
 del tute a shukori." While he tooled the gry a rani 
 pookered him, " Rikker this trushni to my ker, an' 
 I'll del tute a trin grushi." So he lelled a chavo to 
 tool the gry, and pookered lester, " Tute shall get 
 pash the wongur." Well, as yuv was rikkinin' the 
 triishnee an' siggerin burry ora bender the drum, 
 he dicked a rye, who penned, "If tute '11 jaw to 
 the ker and hatch minni's jiickal ta mandy, mi '11 
 del tute a pash-koraiina." So he got a waver 
 chavo to rikker the triishnee for pash the wongur, 
 whilst he jailed for the jiickal. Wellin' alangus, 
 he dicked a barvelo givescro, who penned, " 'Avacai 
 an' husker mandy to lei my guriivni (gruvni} 
 avree the ditch, and I '11 del you pange cullos " 
 (caulos). So he lelled it. But at the kunsus of the 
 diwus, sa yuv sus kennin apre sustis wongurs, he 
 
 * The peacock and turkey are called lady-birds in Rornmany, 
 because, as a Gipsy told me, " they spread out their clothes, and hold 
 up their heads and look fine, and walk proud, like great ladies," I 
 have heard a swan called a pauno rani chillico a white lady-bird. 
 
 O
 
 2IO ROMMANI GUDLI / OR, 
 
 penned, " How wafro it is mandy nashered the 
 trinoras I might have lelled for the mass-koshters ! " 
 A mush must always pet the giv in the puv before 
 he can chin the harvest. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Once a poor man sat down to make threepence- 
 worth of skewers* for a butcher. There came along 
 a gentleman, who said, " Hold my horse, and I '11 
 give you a sixpence." While he held the horse a 
 lady said to him, " Carry this basket to my house, 
 and I'll give you a shilling." So he got a boy to 
 hold the horse, and said to him, " You shall have 
 half the money." Well, as he was carrying the 
 basket and hurrying along fast across the road 
 he saw a gentleman, who said, " If you'll go to 
 the house and bring my dog to me, I will give 
 you half-a-crown." So he got another boy to carry 
 the basket for half the money, while he went for the 
 dog. Going along, he saw a rich farmer, who said, 
 " Come and help me here to get my cow out of the 
 ditch, and I'll give you five shillings." So he got it. 
 But at the end of the day, when he was counting his 
 money, he said, " What a pity it is I lost the three- 
 pence I might have got for the skewers ! " (literally, 
 meat- woods.) 
 
 A man must always put the grain in the ground 
 before he can cut the harvest. 
 
 * To make skewers is a common employment among the poorer 
 English Gipsies.
 
 GIPS Y STORIES AND FABLES. 2 1 1 
 
 GUDLO VIII. 
 
 THE STORY OF THE GIPSY'S DOG. 
 
 'Pre yeck divvus a choro mush had a jiickal that 
 used to chore covvas and hakker them to the ker for 
 his mush mass, wongur, horas, and rooys. A rye 
 kinned the juckal, an' kaired boot dusta wongur by 
 sikkerin' the jiickal at wellgooras. 
 
 Where barvelo mushis can kair wongur tacho, chori 
 rnnshis have to lonre. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 On a day a poor man had a dog that used to steal 
 things and carry them home for his master meat, 
 money, watches, and spoons. A gentleman bought 
 the dog, and made a great deal of money by showing 
 him at fairs. 
 
 Where rich men can make money honestly, poor 
 men have to steal. 
 
 GUDLO IX. 
 
 A STORY OF THE PRIZE-FIGHTER AND THE GENTLEMAN. 
 
 ' Pre yeck chairus a cooromengro was to coor, and a 
 rye rakkered him, " Will tute mukk your kokero be 
 koored for twenty bar?" Penned the cooromengro, 
 " Will tute mukk mandy pogger your berry for a
 
 212 ROM MAN I GUDLI ; OR, 
 
 hundred bar?" " Kek," penned the rye; "for if 1 
 did, mandy'd never pirro kushto ajaw." " And if I 
 nashered a kooraben," penned the engro, " mandy 'd 
 never praster kekoomi." 
 
 Kammoben is kushtier than wongur. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 On a time a prize-fighter was to fight, and a gen- 
 tleman asked him, " Will you sell the fight " (i.e., let 
 yourself be beaten) "for twenty pounds?" Said the 
 prize-fighter, " Will you let me break your leg for a 
 hundred pounds ?" " No," said the gentleman ; " fcr 
 if I did, I should never walk well again." t; And if 
 I lost a fight," said the prize-fighter (literally, master, 
 doer), " I could never ' run ' again." 
 
 Credit is better than money. 
 
 GUDLO X. 
 
 OF THE GENTLEMAN AND THE OLD GIPSY WOMAN. 
 
 Pre yeck chairus a Rommany dye adree the well- 
 guoro rakkered a rye to del laker trin mushi for 
 kushto bak. An' he del it, an' putchered laki, "If 
 I bitcher my wongur a-mukkerin' 'pre the graias, 
 Id '11 manni's bak be?" "My fino rye," she 
 penned, " the bak '11 be a collos-worth with mandy 
 arid my chavvis." 
 
 Bak that's pessured for is saw (sar) adoi.
 
 GIPSY STORIES AND FABLES. 2 I 3 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 On a time a Gipsy mother at the fair asked a 
 gentleman to give her a shilling for luck. And he 
 gave it. and asked her, " If I lose my money 
 a-betting on the horses, where will my luck be ? " 
 " My fine gentleman," she said, " the luck will be 
 a shilling's worth with me and my children." 
 
 Luck that is paid for is always somewhere (lite- 
 rally, there). 
 
 GUDLO XL 
 
 THE GIPSY TELLS OF THE CAT AND THE HARE. 
 
 Yeckorus the matchka jailed to dick her kako's 
 chavo the kanengro. An' there welled a hunting- 
 mush, an' the matchka taddied up the choomber, pre 
 durer, pre a rukk, an' odoi she lastered a chillico's 
 nest. But the kanengro prastered alay the choomber, 
 lougodurus adree the tern. 
 
 Wafri bak kairs 
 
 A choro mush ta jal alay, 
 But it niukks a boro mush 
 To chiv his kokero apre.* 
 
 * This rhyme and metre (such as they are) were purely accidental 
 with my narrator ; but as they occurred verb, et lit., I set them down.
 
 214 ROMMANI GUDLI ; OR, 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Once the cat went to see her cousin the hare. And 
 there came a hunter, and the cat scrambled up the 
 hill, further up, up a tree, and there she found a bird's 
 nest. But the hare ran down the hill, far down into 
 the country. 
 
 Bad luck sends a poor man further down, but it 
 causes a great man to rise still more. 
 
 GUDLO XII. 
 
 OF THE GIPSY WOMAN AND THE CHILD. 
 
 Pre yeck cbairus a chi jailed adree a waver tern, an' 
 she rikkered a gunno pre laki dumo with a baulo 
 adree. A rakli who was ladge of her tikno chored 
 the baulo avree the gunno and chivved the chavi 
 adree. Pasch a waver bora the chi shooned the tikno 
 rov (rawing), and dicked adree the gunno in boro 
 toob, and penned, " If the baulos in akovo tern 
 puraben into chavos, sa do the chavos puraben 
 adree?" 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Once a woman went into a strange land, and she 
 carried a bag on her back with a pig in it. A girl 
 who was ashamed of her child stole the pig from the 
 bag and put the baby in (its place). After an hoar 
 the woman heard the child cry, and looked into the
 
 GIPSY STORIES AND FABLES. 21$ 
 
 bag with great amazement, and said, u If the pigs in 
 this country change into children, into what do the 
 children change?" 
 
 GUDLO XIII. 
 
 OF THE GIRL THAT WAS TO MARRY THE DEVIL. 
 
 'Pre yeck divvus a Rommany dye dukkered a 
 rakli, and pookered laki that a kaulo rye kaumed her. 
 But when the chi putchered her wongur, the rakli 
 penned, " Puri dye, I haven't got a poshero to del 
 tute. But pen mandy the nav of the kaulo rye." 
 Then the dye shelled avree, very hiinnalo, u Beng is 
 the nav of tute's pirryno, and yuv se kaulo adusta," 
 
 If you chore puri juvas tute '11 lei the beng. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 On a day a Gipsy mother told a girl's fortune, and 
 said to her that a dark (black) gentleman loved her. 
 But when the woman demanded her money, the girl 
 said, " Old mother, I haven't got a halfpenny to give 
 yon. But tell me the name of the dark gentleman." 
 Then the mother roared out, very angry, ' Devil 
 is the name of your sweetheart, and he is black 
 enough." 
 
 If you cheat old women you will catch the devil.
 
 2l6 ROM MAN I GUDLI ; OR, 
 
 GUDLO XIV. 
 
 OF THE GIPSY WHO STOLE THE HORSE. 
 
 Yeckorus a mush chored a gry and jailed him avree 
 adree a waver tern, and the gry and the mush jailed 
 kushti bak kettenus. Penned the gry to his mush. 
 " I kaums your covvas to wear us kushtier than 
 mandy's, for there 's kek chiicknee or rnellicus 
 (pusimigree) adree them." ' Kek," penned the mush 
 pauli; " the trash I lei when mandy jins of the 
 prastramengro an' the bitcherin' mush (krallis mush) 
 is wafrier than any chucknee or busaha, an' they 'd 
 kair mandy to praster my miramon (miraben) avree 
 any divvus." 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Once a man stole a horse and ran him away into 
 another country, and the horse and the man became 
 very intimate. Said the horse to the man, " I like 
 your things to wear better than I do mine, for there 's 
 no whip or spur among them." " No," replied the 
 man ; " the fear I have when I think of the police- 
 man and of the judge (sending or "transporting" 
 man, or king's man) is worse than any whip or 
 spur, and they would make me run my life away any 
 day."
 
 GfPS Y STORIES AND FABLES. 2 1 "J 
 
 GUDLO XV. 
 
 THE HALF-BLOOD GIPSY, HIS WIFE, AND THE PIG. 
 
 'Pre yeck diwus there was a mush a-piin' ma his 
 Rommany chals adree a kitchema, an' pauli a chairus 
 he got pash matto. An' he penned about mullo 
 haulers, that he never hawed kek. Kenna-sig his 
 juvo welled adree an' putched him to jal kerri, but 
 yuv pookered her, "Kek I won't jal kenna." 
 Then she penned, " Well alang, the chawis got kek 
 habben." So she putchered him ajaw an' ajaw, an' 
 he always rakkered her pauli " Kek." So she 
 lelled a mullo baulor ap her dumo and wussered it 
 'pre the haumescro pre saw the foki, an' penned, 
 " Lei the mullo baulor an' rummer it, an' mandy 
 '11 dick pauli the chavos/' 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Once there was a man drinking with his Gipsy 
 fellows in an alehouse, and after a while he got half 
 drunk. And he said of pigs that had died a natural 
 death, he never ate any. By-and-by his wife came in 
 and asked him to go home, but he told her, " No 1 
 won't go now." Then she said, " Come along, the 
 children have no food." So she entreated him again 
 and again, and he always answered " No." So she 
 took a pig that had died a natural death, from her 
 back and threw it on the table before all the people,
 
 2l8 ROM MAN I GUDLI ; OR, 
 
 and said, " Take the dead pig for a wife, and I will 
 look after the children." * 
 
 GUDLO XVI. 
 
 THE GIPSY TELLS THE STORY OF THE SEVEN WHISTLERS. 
 
 My raia, the gudlo of the Seven Whistlers, youjin, 
 is adree the Scriptures so they pookered mandy. 
 
 An' the Seven Whistlers (Efta Shellengeri) is 
 seven spirits of ranis that jal by the ratti, 'pre the 
 bavol, parl the heb, like chillicos. An' it pookers 
 'dree the Bible that the Seven Whistlers shell wher- 
 ever they praster atiit the bavol. But adiiro timeus 
 yeck jailed avree an' got nashered, and kenna there 's 
 only shove ; but they pens 'em the Seven Whistlers. 
 An' that sims the story tute pookered mandy of the 
 Seven Stars. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Sir, the story of the Seven Whistlers, you know, is 
 in the Scriptures so they told me. 
 
 An' the Seven Whistlers are seven spirits of ladies 
 that go by the night, through the air, over the 
 heaven, like birds. And it tells (us) in the Bible that 
 the Seven Whistlers whistle wherever they fly across 
 the air. But a long time ago one went away and got 
 lost, and now there are only six ; but they call them 
 
 * This story is well known to most " travellers." It is also true, the 
 "hero" being a pash-and-pash, or half-blood Rommany chal, whose 
 name was told to me.
 
 GIPSY STORIES AND FABLES. 2ig 
 
 the Seven Whistlers. And that is like the story you 
 told me of the Seven Stars.* 
 
 OUDLO XVII. 
 
 AN OLD STORY WELL KNOWN TO ALL GIPSIES. 
 
 A Rommany rakli yeckorus jailed to a ker a-duk- 
 kerin'. A'ter she jailed avree, the rakli of the ker 
 missered a plachta, and pookered the rye that the 
 Rommany chi had chored it. So the rye jailed aduro 
 pauli the tern, and latched the Rommany chals, and 
 bitchered them to staruben. Now this was adree the 
 puro chairus when they used to nasher mushis for 
 any bitti covvo. And some of the Rommany chals 
 were nashered, an' some pannied. An' sar the 
 gunnos, an' kavis. and covvas of the Rommanis were 
 chivved and pordered kettenus 'pre the bor adree 
 the cangry-puv, an' kek mush tooled 'em. An' trin 
 dood (or munti) pauli. the rakli was kairin' the 
 haulers' habben at the kokero ker, when she latched 
 the plachta they nashered trin dood adovo divvus. So 
 the rakli jailed with the plachta ta laki rye, and 
 penned, " Dick what I kaired on those chuvvenny, 
 chori Rommany chals that were nashered and pannied 
 for adovo bitti cowo adoi ! " 
 
 And when they jailed to dick at the Rommanis' 
 
 * The reader will find in Lord Lytton's "Harold" mention of an 
 Anglo-Saxon superstition very similar to that embodied in tha storj? 
 of the Seven Whistlers. This story is, however, entirely Gipsy.
 
 22O ROMMANI GUDLI ; OR, 
 
 co was pauli the bor adree the cangry-puv, the 
 gunnos were pordo and chivved adree, chingered saw 
 to cut-eugroes, and they latched 'era full o' ruppeny 
 cowos rooys an' churls of sonnakai, an' oras, 
 curros an' piimangris, that had longed o' the Rom- 
 many chals that were nashered an' bitschered padel. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 A Gipsy girl once went to a house to tell fortunes. 
 After she went away, the girl of the house missed a 
 pudding-bag (literally, linen clotfi), and told the master 
 the Gipsy girl had stolen it. So the master went far 
 about the country, and found the Gipsies, and sent 
 them to prison. Now this was in the old time when 
 they used to hang people for any little thing. And 
 some of the Gipsies were hung, and some transported 
 (literalty, watered}. And all the bags, and kettles, and 
 things of the Gipsies were thrown and piled together 
 behind the hedge in the churchyard, and no man 
 touched them. And three months after, the maid 
 was preparing the pigs' food at the same house, when 
 she found the linen cloth they lost three months 
 (before) that day. So the girl went with the cloth 
 to her master, and said, " See what I did to those 
 poor, poor Gipsies that were hung and transported for 
 that trifle (there) !' 
 
 And when they went to look at the Gipsies' things 
 behind the hedge in the churchyard, the bags were 
 full and burst, torn all to rags, and they found them 
 full of silver things spoons and knives of gold, and
 
 GIPSY STORIES AND FABLES. 221 
 
 watches, cups and teapots, that had belonged to the 
 Gipsies that were hung and transported.* 
 
 GUDLO XVIII. 
 
 HOW THE GIPSY WENT TO CHURCH. 
 
 Did mandy ever jal to kangry ? Avali, dui 
 koppas, and beshed a lay odoi. I was adree the tale 
 tern o' sar, an' a rye putched mandy to well to 
 kangry, an' I welled. And sar the ryas an' ranis 
 clicked at mandy as I jailed adree. f So I beshed 
 pukkenus mongin some geeros and dicked upar again 
 the chumure praller my sherro, and there was a deer 
 and a kanengro odoi chinned in the bar, an' kaired 
 kushto. I shooned the rashai a-rakkeriu'; and when 
 the shunaben was kerro, I welled avree and jailed 
 alay the drum to the kitchema. 
 
 I latchered the raias mush adree the kitchema ; 
 so we got matto odoi, an' were jallin' kerri alay the 
 
 * This, which is a common story among the English Gipsies, and 
 told exactly in the words here given, is implicitly believed in by them. 
 Unfortunately, the terrible legends, but too well authenticated, of the 
 persecutions to which their ancestors were subjected, render it very 
 probable that it may have occurred as narrated. When Gipsies were 
 hung and transported merely for being Gipsies, it is not unlikely that a 
 persecution to death may have originated in even such a trifle as the 
 alleged theft of a dish-clout. 
 
 t Although they bear it with remarkable apparent indifference, 
 Gipsies are in reality extremely susceptible to being looked at or 
 laughed at.
 
 222 ROMMAN1 GUDLI / OR, 
 
 drum when we dicked the raias wardo a-welliii'. 
 So we jailed sig 'dusta parl the bor, an' gavered our 
 kokeros odoi adree the puv till the rye had jessed 
 avree. 
 
 I dicked adovo rye dree the sala. and he putched 
 mandy what I'd kaired the cauliko, pash kangry. I 
 pookered him I 'd pii'd dui or trin curros levinor and 
 was pash matto. An' he penned mandy, " My mush 
 was matto sar tute, and I nashered him." I pookered 
 him ajaw, " I hope not, rya, for such a bitti covvo as 
 dovo ; an' he aint cammoben to pirn' levinor, he 's 
 only used to pabengro, that don't kair him matto." 
 But kek, the choro mush had to jal avree. An' 
 that's sar I can rakker tute about my jallin' to 
 kangry. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Did I ever go to church ? Yes. twice, and sat 
 down there. I was in the lower land of all (Corn- 
 wall), and a gentleman asked me to go to church, and 
 I went. And all the ladies and gentlemen looked at 
 me as I went in. So I sat quietly among some men 
 and looked up on the wall above my head, and there 
 were a deer and a rabbit cut in the stone, beautifully 
 done. I heard the clergyman speaking ; and when 
 the sermon was ended (literally, made), I came oat 
 and went down the road to the alehouse. 
 
 I found the gentleman's servant in the alehouse; 
 so we got drunk there, and were going home down 
 the road when we saw the gentleman's carriage 
 coming. So we went quickly enough over the hedge,
 
 GIPSY STORIES AND FABLES. 22$ 
 
 and hid ourselves there in the field until the gentle- 
 man was gone. 
 
 1 saw the gentleman in the morning, and he 
 asked me what I had done the day before, after 
 church. I told him I 'd drunk two or three cups of 
 ale and was half tipsy. And he said, ' My man was 
 drunk as you, and I sent him off." I told him 
 then. " I hope not, sir, for such a little thing as 
 that ; and he is not used to drink ale, he 's only 
 accustomed to cider, that don't intoxicate him." But 
 no, the poor man had to go away. And that 's all 1 
 can tell you about my going to church. 
 
 GUDLO XIX. 
 
 WHAT THE LITTLE GIPSY GIRL TOLD HER BROTHER. 
 
 Penned the tikni Rommani chavi laki pal, " More 
 mor the pishom, 'cause she 's a Rommaui, and kairs 
 her jivaben jallin' parl the tern dukkerin' the ruzhas 
 and lellin' the gudlo avree 'em, sar moro dye dukkers 
 the ranis. An' ma wusser bars at the rookas, 'cause 
 they 're kaulos, an' kaulo ratt is Rommany ratt. 
 An' maun pogger the bawris, for yuv rikkers his tan 
 pre the dumo, sar moro puro dadas, an' so yuv 's 
 Rommany." 
 
 TRANSLATION. v 
 
 Said the little Gipsy girl to her brother, " Don't
 
 224 ROMMANI GUDLI ; OR, 
 
 kill the bee, because she is a Gipsy, and makes her 
 living going about the country telling fortunes to the 
 flowers and taking honey out of them, as our mother 
 tells fortunes to the ladies. And don't throw stones 
 at the rooks, because they are dark, and dark blood 
 is Gipsy blood. And don't crush the snail, for he 
 carries his tent on his back, like our old father" (i.e., 
 carries his home about, and so he too is Eommany). 
 
 GUDLO XX. 
 
 HOW CHARLEY LEE PLAYED AT PITCH-AND-TOSS. 
 
 I jinned a tano mush yeckorus that nashered sar 
 his wongur 'dree the toss-ring. Then he jailed 
 kerri to his dadas' kanyas and lelled pange bar 
 avree. Paul' a bitti chairus he dicked his dadas an' 
 pookered lester he 'd lelled pange bar avree his 
 gunnas. But yuv's dadas penned, " Jal an, kair it 
 ajaw and win some wongur againus !" So he jailed 
 apopli to the toss-ring an' lelled sar his wongur pauli, 
 an' pange bar ferridearer. So he jailed ajaw kerri 
 to the tan, an' dicked his dadas beshtin' alay by 
 the rikk o' the tan, and his dadas penned, " Sa 
 did you keravit, my chavo ?" " Kushto, dadas. I 
 lelled sar my wongur pauli ; and here 's tute's 
 wongur acai, an' a bar for tute an' shtar bar for 
 mi-kokero."
 
 GfPSY STORIES AND FABLES. 22$ 
 
 An' that 's tacho as ever you tool that pen in tute's 
 waster an' dovo mush was poor Charley Lee, that 's 
 uiullo kenna. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 I knew a little fellow once that lost all his money 
 in the toss-ring {i.e., at pitch-and-toss). Then he 
 went home to his father's sacks and took five pounds 
 out. After a little while he saw his father and told him 
 he 'd taken five pounds from his bags. But his father 
 said, "Goon, spend it and win some more money!" So 
 he went again to the toss-ring and got all his money 
 back, and five pounds more. And going home, he saw 
 his father sitting by the side of the tent, and his father 
 said, " How did you succeed (i.e., do if), my son?" 
 " Very well, father. I got all my money back; and 
 here 's your money now, and a pound for you and 
 four pounds for myself." 
 
 And that 's true as ever you hold that pen in your 
 hand and that man was poor Charley Lee, that 's 
 dead now. 
 
 GUDLO XXI. 
 
 OF THE TINKER AND THE KETTLE. 
 
 A petulamengro hatched yeck divvus at a givescro 
 ker, where the rani del him mass an' tood. While 
 he was hawin' he dicked a kekavi sar chicklo an' 
 bongo, pashall a boro hev adree, an' he putchered, 
 " Del it a mandy an' I '11 lei it avree for chichi,
 
 226 ROMMANI GUDL1 ; OR, 
 
 'cause you've been so kushto an' kammoben to 
 mandy." So she del it a lester, an' he jailed avree for 
 trin cooricus, an' he keravit apre, an' kaired it pauno 
 sar rupp. Adovo he welled akovo drum pauli, an' 
 jessed to the same ker, an' penned, " Dick acai at 
 covi kushti kekavi ! I del shove trin mushis for it, 
 an' tu shall lei it for the same wongur, 'cause you 've 
 been so kushto a mandy." 
 
 Dovo mush was like boot 'dusta mushis wery 
 cammoben to his kokero. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 A tinker stopped one day at a farmer's house, where 
 the lady gave him meat and milk. While he was 
 eating he saw a kettle all rusty and bent, with a great 
 hole in it, and he asked, " Grive it to me and I will 
 take it away for nothing, because you have been so 
 kind and obliging to me." So she gave it to him, 
 and he went away for three weeks, .and he repaired it 
 (the kettle), and made it as bright (white) as silver. 
 Then he went that road again, to the same house, 
 and said, " Look here at this fine kettle ! I gave six 
 ^hillings for it, and you shall have it for the same 
 money, because you have been so good to me." 
 
 That man was like a great many men very bene- 
 volent to himself.
 
 GIPSY STORIES AND FABLES. 22J 
 
 GUDLO XXII. 
 
 THE STORY OF " ROMMANY JOTER." 
 
 If a Rommany chal gets nashered an' can't latch 
 
 liis drum i' the ratti, he shells avree, " Hup, hup 
 
 Rom-ma-ny, Rom-ma-ny jo-ter f " When the chawis 
 
 can't latch the tan, it's the same gudlo, " Rom-ma-ny 
 
 jo-ter!" Joter pens kett'nus. 
 
 And yeck ratti my dadas, sixty besh kenna, was 
 pirryin' par the weshes to tan, an' he shooned a bitti 
 gudlo like bitti ranis a rakkerin' puro tacho Rom- 
 manis, and so he jailed from yeck boro rukk to the 
 waver, and paul' a clieirus he dicked a tani rani, and 
 she was shellin' avree for her miraben, "Rom-ma-ny, 
 Rom-ma-ny jo-terf'' So my dada shokkered ajaw, 
 '" Rom-ma-ny ckal, ak-di f" But as he shelled there 
 welled a boro bavol, and the bitti ranis an' sar pras- 
 tered avree i' the heb like chillicos adree a starmus, and 
 all he shunned was a savvaben and u Rom-ma-ny 
 jo-ter! " shukaridir an' shukaridir, pash sar was kerro. 
 
 An' you can dick by dovo that the kukalos, an' 
 fairies, an' rnullos, and chovihans all rakker piiro 
 tacho Rommanis, 'cause that 's the old 'Gyptian jib 
 that was penned adree the Scripture tern. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 If a Gipsy is lost and cannot find his way in the 
 night, he cries out, " Hup, hup Rom-ma-ny, Rom- 
 ma-ny jo-ter !" When the children cannot find the
 
 228 KOMMANl GUDLl ; OR, 
 
 teut, it is the same cry, " Rom-ma-ny jo-ter /" Joter 
 means together. 
 
 And cue night my father, sixty years ago (literally, 
 now), was walking through the woods to his tent, and 
 he heard a little cry like little ladies talking real old 
 Gipsy, and so he went from one great tree to the 
 other (i.e., concealing himself), and after a while he 
 saw a little lady, and she was crying out as if for her 
 life, " Rom-ma-ny, Rom-ma-ny jo-ter ! " So my father 
 cried again, " Gipsy, here!" But as he hallooed 
 there came a great blast of wind, and the little ladies 
 and all flew away in the sky like birds in a storm, 
 and all he heard was a laughing and " Rom-ma-ny 
 jo-ter ! " softer and softer, till all was done. 
 
 And you can see by that that the goblins (dwarfs, 
 mannikins), and fairies, and ghosts, and witches, and 
 all talk real old Gipsy, because that is the old Egyptian, 
 language that was talked in the Scripture land. 
 
 GUDLO XXIII. 
 
 OF THE RICH GIPSY AND THE PHEASANT. 
 
 Yeckorus a Rommany chal kaired adusta wongur, 
 and was boot barvelo an' a boro rye. His chuckko 
 was kashno, an' the crafnies 'pre lester chuckko were 
 o' sonnakai, and his graias solivaris an' guiders were 
 sar ruppeny. Yeck divvus this here Rommany rye 
 was hawin' habben anerjal the krallis's chavo, an*
 
 GIPSY STORIES AND FABLES. 22Q 
 
 they hatched adree a weslmi kanni that was kannelo, 
 but saw the mushis penned it was kushtidearer. 
 <i Bless mi-Duvel!" rakkered the Kommany rye shukar 
 to his juvo, " tu and mandy have hawed mullo mass 
 boot 'dusta cheiruses, mi-deari, but never soomed kek 
 eo wafro as dovo. It kauns worse than a mullo grai! " 
 Boro mushis an' bitti mushis sometimes kaum 
 covvas that waver mushis don't jin. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Once a Gipsy made much money, and was very 
 rich and a great gentleman. His coat was silk, and 
 the buttons on his coat were of gold, and his horse's 
 bridle and reins were all silver. One day this Gipsy 
 gentleman was eating (at table) opposite to the king's 
 son, and they brought in a pheasant that smelt badly, 
 but all the people said it was excellent. " Bless me, 
 God !" said the Gipsy gentleman softly (whimpering) 
 to his wife, " you and I have eaten dead meat (meat 
 that died a natural death) many a time, my dear, but 
 never smelt anything so bad as that. It stinks worse 
 than a dead horse !" 
 
 Great men and small men sometimes like (agree 
 in liking things) that which other people do not 
 understand.
 
 23O ROMMANI GUDL1 ; OR, 
 
 GUDLO XXIV. 
 
 THE GIPSY AND THE " VISITING-CARDS." 
 
 Yeckorus a choro Rommany chal dicked a raui 
 hatch taller the wuder of a boro ker an' mukked 
 adovo a bitti lil. Then he putched the rakli, when 
 the rani jessed avree, what the lil kaired. Adoi the 
 rakli pukkered lesco it was for her rani ta jin kun 'd 
 welled a dick her. " Avali ! " penned the Rommany 
 chal; " that's the way the Gorgios mukks their 
 patteran ! We mukks char apre the drum." 
 
 The grai mukks his pirro apre the drum, an' the 
 sap kairs his trail adree the puv. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Once a poor Gipsy saw a lady stop before the door 
 of a great house and left there a card (little letter). 
 Then he asked the girl, when the lady went away, 
 what the card meant (literally, did). Then (there) 
 the girl told him it was for her lady to know who 
 had come to see her. " Yes ! " said the Gipsy; " so 
 that is the way the Gorgios leave their sign ! We 
 leave grass on the road." 
 
 The horse leaves his track on the road, and the 
 Bnake makes his trail in the dust.
 
 GIPSY STGKIES AND FABLES. 2$\ 
 
 GUDLO XXV. 
 
 THE GIPSY IN THE FOREST. 
 
 When I was beshin' alay adree the wesh tale the 
 bori rukkas, mandy putched a tikno chillico to latch 
 mandy a bitti moro, but it jailed avree an' I never 
 dicked it kekoorni. Adoi I putched a boro chillico to 
 latch maudy a curro o' tatti panni, but it jailed avree 
 paul' the waver. Mandy never putchered the rukk 
 parl my sherro for kek, but when the bavol welled it 
 wussered a lay to mandy a hundred ripe kori. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 When I was sitting down in the forest under the 
 great trees, I asked a little bird to bring (find) me a 
 little bread, but it went away and I never saw it 
 again. Then I asked a great bird to bring me a cup 
 of brandy, but it flew away after the other. I never 
 asked the tree over my head for anything, but when 
 the wind came it threw down to me a hundred ripe 
 nuts. 
 
 GUDLO XXVI. 
 
 THE GIPSY FIDDLER AND THE YOUNG LADY. 
 
 Yeckorus a ta.no mush was kellin' kushto pre the 
 boshomengro, an' a kushti dickin rani pookered him. 
 " Tute's killaben is as sano as best-tood." And he
 
 232 KOMMANl GUDLl; OR, 
 
 rakkered ajaw, " Tute's mui 's gudlo sar pishom, an* 
 I 'd cammoben to puraben mi tood for tute's pishom." 
 Rush to padi kushto kairs ferridearer. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Once a young man was playing well upon the 
 violin, and a beautiful lady told him, " Your playing 
 is as soft as cream." And he answered, "Your 
 mouth (i.e., lips or words) is sweet as honey, and I 
 would like to exchange my cream for your honey." 
 
 Good with good makes better. 
 
 GUDLO XXVII. 
 
 HOW THE GIPSY DANCED A HOLE THROUGH A STONE. 
 
 Yeckorus some plochto E-ommany chals an' juvas 
 were kellin' the pash-divvus by dood tall' a boro ker, 
 and yeck penned the waver, "I'd be cammoben if 
 dovo ker was mandy's." And the rye o' the ker, kun 
 sus dickin' the kellabeu, rakkered, " When tute kells 
 a hev muscro the bar you 're hatchin' apre, mandy '11 
 del tute the ker." Adoi the Eom tarried the bar 
 apre, an' dicked it was hollow tale, and sar a curro 
 'pre the waver rikk. So he lelled dui sastern chokkas 
 and kelled sar the ratti 'pre the bar, kairin' such a 
 gudlo you could shoon him a mee avree ; an' adree 
 the sala he had kaired a hev adree the bar as boro as
 
 GIPSY STORIES AND FABLES. 233 
 
 1 esters sherro. So the barvelo rye del him the fino 
 leer, and sar the nmshis got matto, hallauter kettenus. 
 Many a cheirus I 've shooned my puri dye pen that 
 a bar with a hev adree it kairs kammoben. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Once some jolly Gipsy men and girls were dancing 
 in the evening by moonlight before a great house, 
 and one said to the other, " I 'd be glad if that house 
 was mine." And the gentleman of the house, who 
 was looking at the dancing, said, " When you dance 
 & hole through (in the centre of) the stone you are 
 standing on, I'll give you the house." Then the 
 Gipsy pulled the stone up, and saw it was hollow 
 underneath, and like a cup on the other side. So he 
 took two iron shoes and danced all night on the 
 stone, making such a noise you could hear him a 
 mile off; and in the morning he had made a hole in 
 the stone as large as his head. So the rich gentle- 
 man gave him the fine house, and all the people got 
 drunk, all together. 
 
 Many a time I 've heard my old mother say that a 
 stone with a hole in it brings luck.
 
 234 ROM MAN I GUDL1 ; OR, 
 
 GUDLO XXVIII. 
 
 STOKY OF THE GRNTLEMAN AND THE GIPSY. 
 
 Yeckorus a boro rye wouldn't mukk a choro, 
 pauvero, chovveny Rommany chal hatch odoi 'pre his 
 farm. So the Rommany chal jailed on a puv apre 
 the waver rikk o' the drum, anerjal the ryas beshaben. 
 And dovo ratti the ryas ker pelled alay ; kek kash of 
 it hatched apre, only the foki that loddered adoi 
 hullered their kokeros avree ma their miraben. 
 And the ryas tikno chavo would a-mullered if a. 
 Rommany juva had not lelled it avree their pauveri 
 bitti tan. 
 
 An' dovo 's sar tacho like my dad, an' to the divvus 
 kenna they pens that piiv the Rommany Puv. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Once a great gentleman would not let a poor, poor> 
 poor Gipsy stay on his farm. So the Gipsy went to- 
 a field on the other side of the way, opposite the 
 gentleman's residence. And that night the gentle- 
 man's house fell down; not a stick of it remained 
 standing, only the people who lodged there carried 
 themselves out (i.e., escaped) with their lives. And 
 the gentleman's little babe would have died if a 
 Gipsy woman had not taken it into their poor little 
 tent. 
 
 And that 's all true as my father, and to this day 
 they call that field the Gipsy Field.
 
 GIPS Y S TORIES AND FABLES. 235 
 
 GUDLO XXIX. 
 
 HOW THE GIPSY WENT INTO THK WATER. 
 
 Yeck divvus a prastramengro prastered pauli a 
 Rommany chal, an' the chal jailed adree the panni, 
 that was pordo o' boro bittis o' floatin' shill, and there 
 he hatched pall his men with only his sherro avree. 
 " Hav avree," shelled a rye that was wafro in his see 
 for the pooro mush, " an' we'll mukk you jal!" 
 "Kek," penned the Rom ; "I shan't jal." "Well 
 avree," penned the rye ajaw, " an' I '11 del tute pange 
 bar!" "Kek," rakkered the Rom. " Jal avree," 
 shokkered the rye, " an' I'll del tute pange bar an' a 
 nevvi chukko !" " Will you del mandy a walin o' 
 tatto panni too?" putched the Rommany chal. 
 " Avali, avali," penned the rye ; " but for Duveleste 
 hav' avree the panni!" " Kushto," penned the 
 Rommany chal, " for cammoben to tute, rya, I '11 jal 
 avree !" * 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Once a policeman chased a Gipsy, and the Gipsy 
 ran into the river, that was full of great pieces of 
 floating ice, and there he stood up to his neck with 
 only his head out. " Come out," cried a gentleman 
 that pitied the poor man, " and we'll let you go !" 
 "No," said the Gipsy; "I won't move." "Come 
 
 * This story was told me in a Gipsy tent near Brighton, and after- 
 wards repeated by one of the auditors while I transcribed it.
 
 236 ROMMANI GUDLI ; OR, 
 
 out," said the gentleman again, "and I'll give you 
 five pounds!" " No," said the Gipsy. " Come out," 
 cried the gentleman, "and I'll give you five pounds 
 and a new coat!" "Will you give me a glass of 
 brandy too?" asked the Gipsy. "Yes, yes," said 
 the gentleman ; " but for God's sake come out of the 
 water! " " Well," exclaimed the Gipsy, " to oblige 
 you, sir, I '11 come out ! " 
 
 GUDLO XXX. 
 
 THE GIPSY AND HIS TWO MASTERS. 
 
 " Savo 's tute's rye ? " putched a ryas mush of a 
 Rommany chal. " I 've dui ryas," pooked the Rom- 
 many chal : " Duvel 's the yeck an' beng 's the waver. 
 Mandy kairs booti for the beng till I 've lelled my 
 yeckora habben, an' pallers mi Duvel panli ajaw." 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 " Who is your master ? : ' asked a gentleman's 
 servant of a Gipsy. " I 've two masters," said the 
 Gipsy : " God is the one, and the devil is the other. 
 I work for the devil till I have got my dinner (one- 
 o'clock food), and after that follow the Lord."
 
 GIPSY STORIES AND FABLES. 237 
 
 GUDLO XXXL 
 
 THE LITTLE GIPSY BOY AT THE SILVERSMITH'S. 
 
 A bitti chavo jailed adree the boro gav pash hit, 1 
 dadas, an' they hatched taller the hev of a ruppeno- 
 inengro's buddika sar pordo o' kushti-dickin covvas. 
 ' dadas," shelled the tikno chavo, " what a boro 
 choromengro dovo mush must be to a' lelled so boot 
 adusta rooys an' horas ! " 
 
 A tacho covva often dicks sar a hokkeny (huckeny) 
 covva ; an dovo 's sim of a tacho mush, but a juva 
 often dicks tacho when she isn't. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 A little boy went to the great village (i.e.. London) 
 with his father, and they stopped before the window 
 of a silversmith's shop all full of pretty things. " O 
 father," cried the small boy, " what a great thief 
 that man must be to have got so many spoons and 
 watches ! " 
 
 A true thing often looks like a false one ; and the 
 same is true (and that's same) of a true man, but a 
 girl often looks right when she is not.
 
 238 ROMMANI GUDL1 ; OR, 
 
 GUDLO XXXII. 
 
 THE GIPSY S DREAM. 
 
 Mandy sutto'd I was pirraben lang o' tute, an' I 
 dicked mandy's pen odoi 'pre the choomber. Then I 
 was pirryin' ajaw parl the puvius, an' I welled to the 
 panni paul' the Beng's Choomber, an' adoi I dicked 
 some ranis, saw nango barrin' a pauno plachta 'pre 
 lengis sherros, adree the panni pash their bukkos. 
 An' I pookered leugis, " Mi-ranis, I putch tute's 
 cammoben ; I didn't jin tute sus acai." But yeck 
 pre the wavers penned mandy boot kushti cammoben, 
 " Chichi, mor dukker your-kokero ; we just welled 
 alay acai from the ker to lei a bitti bath." An' 
 she savvy'd sa kushto, but they all jailed avree glan 
 mandy sar the bavol, an' tute was hatchin' pash a 
 mandy sar the cheirus. 
 
 So it pens, " when you dick ranis sar dovo, 
 .you'll muller kushto." Well, if it's to be akovo, I 
 kaum it '11 be a booti cheirus a-wellin.' Tacho ! 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 I dreamed I was walking with you, and I saw my 
 sister (a fortune-teller) there upon the hill. Then I 
 (found myself) walking again over the field, and I 
 came to the water near the Devil's Dyke, and there I 
 saw some ladies, quite naked excepting a white cloth 
 on their heads, in the water to the waists. And I 
 said to them, " Ladies, I beg your pardon ; I did not
 
 GIPSY STORIES AND FABLES. 239 
 
 know you were here." But one among the rest said 
 to me very kindly, " No matter, don't trouble your- 
 self ; we just came down here from the house to take 
 a little bath." And she smiled sweetly, but they all 
 vanished before me like the cloud (wind), and you 
 were standing by me all the time. 
 
 So it means, " when you see ladies like that, you will 
 die happily" Well, if it's to be that, I hope it will 
 be a long time coming. Yes, indeed. 
 
 aUDLO XXXIII. 
 
 OF THE GIRL AND HER LOVER. 
 
 Yeckorus, boot hundred beshes the divvus acai, a 
 juva was wellin' to chore a yora. " Mukk mandy 
 hatch," penned the yora, " an' I 'llsikker lute ki tute 
 can lei a tikno pappni." So the juva lelled the tikno 
 pappni, and it pookered laki, " Mukk mandy jal an' 
 I'll sikker tute ki tute can chore a bori kani." Then 
 she chored the bori kani, an' it shelled avree, 
 " Mukk mandy jal an' J '11 sikker tute ki you can 
 loure a rani-chillico." And when she lelled the rani- 
 chillico, it penned, " Mukk mandy jal an' I '11 sikker 
 tute odoi ki tute can lei a guruvni's tikuo." So she 
 lelled the guruvni's tikno, an' it shokkered and ruvved, 
 an' rakkered, " Mukk mandy jal an' I '11 sikker tute 
 where to lei a fino grai." An' when she loured the 
 grai, it penned laki, ; ' Mukk mandy jal an' I '11 rikker
 
 240 ROMMANI GUDLl ; OK, 
 
 lute to a kushto-dick barvelo rye who kaums a pir- 
 reny." So she lelled the kushto tauno rye, an' she 
 jivved with lester kushto yeck cooricus ; but pash dovo 
 he pookered her to jal avree, he didn't kauni her 
 kekoomi. " Sa a wafro mush is tute," ruvved the 
 rakli, " to bitcher mandy avree ! For tute's cammoben 
 I delled avree a yora, a tikno pappni, a boro kani, a 
 rani-chillico, aguruvni's tikno, an' a finograi." ' ; Is 
 dovo tacho ?" putched the raklo. " 'Pre my mullo 
 dadas !" sovahalled the rakli, " I del 'em sar apre for 
 tute, yeck paul the waver, an* kenna tu bitchers 
 mandy avree !" " So 'p mi-Duvel !" penned the rye, 
 " if tute nashered sar booti covvas for mandy, I '11 
 rummer tute." So they were rummobend. 
 
 Avali, there 's huckeny (hokkeny) tachobens and 
 tacho huckabens. You can sovahall pre the lil adovo. 
 
 TEANSLATION. 
 
 Once, many hundred years ago (to-day now), a girl 
 was going to steal an egg. u Let me be," said the 
 egg, " and I will show you where you can get a 
 duck." So the girl got the duck, and it said (told) 
 to her, " Let me go and I will show you where you 
 can get a goose " (large hen). Then she stole the 
 goose, and it cried out, " Let me go and I'll show you 
 where you can steal a turkey " (lady-bird). And when 
 she took the turkey, it said, ; ' Let me go and I'll show 
 you where you can get a calf." So she got the calf, 
 und it bawled and wept, and cried, " Let me go and 
 I '11 show vou where to get a fine horse." And when
 
 GIPSY STORIES AND FABLES. 241 
 
 she stole the horse, it said to her, " Let me go and 
 I'll carry you to a handsome, rich gentleman who 
 wants a sweetheart." So she got the nice young 
 gentleman, and lived with him pleasantly one week ; 
 but then he told her to go away, he did not want her 
 any more. " What a bad man you are," wept the 
 girl, " to send me away ! For your sake I gave away 
 an egg, a duck, a goose, a turkey, a calf, and a fine 
 horse." " Is that true ?" asked the youth. " By my 
 dead father!" swore the girl, "I gave them all up 
 for you, one after the other, and now you send me 
 away !" " So help me God !" said the gentleman, "if 
 you lost so many things for me, I'll marry you." So 
 they were married. 
 
 Yes, there are false truths and true lies. You may 
 kiss the book on that. 
 
 GUDLO XXXTV. 
 
 THE GIPSY TELLS OF WILL-o'-THE-WISP. 
 
 Does mandy jin the lav adree Rommanis for a Jack- 
 o'-lantern the dood that prasters, and hatches, an' 
 kells o' the ratti, parl the parmi, adree the puvs? Avail; 
 some pens 'eni the Momeli Mullos, and some the Bitti 
 Mullos. They 're bitti geeros who rikker tute adree 
 the gogemars, an' sikker tute a dood till you 're all 
 jailed apre a wafro drum au nashered, an' odoi 
 they chiv their kokeros pauli an savs at tute. Mandy 's 
 
 Q
 
 242 ROMMANI GUDLI ; OR, 
 
 dicked their doods adusta cheiruses, an' kekoomi ; but 
 my pal dicked langis muis pash mungwe yeck ratti. 
 He was jallin' langus an' dicked their doods, and jiuned 
 it was the yag of lesters tan. So he pallered 'em, 
 an' they tadered him diikker the drum, parl the 
 bors, weshes, puvius, gogemars, till they lelled 
 him adree the panni, an then savvy'd avree. And 
 odoi he dicked lender pre the waver rikk, ma lesters 
 kokerus yakkis, an' they were bitti mushis, bitti 
 chovihanis, about dui peeras boro. An' my pal was 
 bengis hunnalo, an' sovahalled pal' lengis, " If I 
 lelled you acai, you ratfolly juckos ! if I nashered 
 you, I 'd chin tutes curros ! " An' he jailed to tan 
 ajaw an' pookered mandy saw dovo 'pre dovo rat. 
 "Klin sus adovo ? " Avali, rya ; dovo was pash 
 Kaulo Pauni near Black water. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Do I know the word in Hommanis for a Jack-o'- 
 lantern the light that runs, and stops, and dances 
 by night, over the water, in the fields ? Yes ; some call 
 them the Light Ghosts, and some the Little G-hosts. 
 They 're little men who lead you into the waste and 
 swampy places, arid show you a light until you have 
 gone astray and are lost, and then they turn them- 
 selves around and laugh at you. I have seen their 
 lights many a time, and nothing more ; but my 
 brother saw their faces close and opposite to him 
 (directly vis-a-vis) one night. He was going along and 
 saw their lights, and thought it was the fire of his
 
 GIPSY STORIES AND FABLES. 243 
 
 tent. So lie followed them, and they drew him from the 
 road over hedges, woods, fields, and lonely marshes till 
 they got him in the water, and then laughed out loud. 
 And there he saw them with his own eyes, on the 
 opposite side, and they were little fellows, little 
 goblins, about two feet high. And my brother was 
 devilish angry, and swore at them ! '' If I had you 
 here, you wretched dogs! if I caught you, I'd cut your 
 thrcfats ! " And he went home and told me all that 
 that night. " Where mas it?" Yes, sir; that was 
 near Blackwater. 
 
 GUDLO XXXV. 
 
 THE GIPSY EXPLAINS WHY THE FLOUNDER HAS HIS 
 MOUTH ON ONE SIDE. 
 
 Yeckorus sar the matchis jailed an' suvved 
 kettenescrus 'dree the panni. And yeck penned as 
 yuv was a boro mush, an' the waver rakkered ajaw sa 
 yuv was a borodiro mush, and sar pookered sigan 
 ket'nus how lengis were borodirer mushis. Adoi the 
 flounder shelled avree for his meriben " Mandy's the 
 krallis of you sar ! " an' he shelled so surrelo he 
 kaired his mm bongo, all o' yeck rikkorus. So to 
 ukovo divvus acai he's penned the Krallis o' the 
 Matchis, and rikkers his mui bongo sar o' yeck 
 sidus. 
 
 Mushis shouldn't shell too shumibeD apre lengis 
 kokeros.
 
 244 ROMMANl GUDLl ; OR, 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Once all the fish came and swam together in the 
 water. And one said that he was a great person, and 
 the other declared that he was a greater person, and 
 (at last) all cried out at once what great characters 
 (men) they all were. Then the flounder shouted for 
 his life, " I'm the king of you all ! " and he roared 
 so violently he twisted his mouth all to one side. So 
 to this day he is called the King of the Fishes, and 
 bears his face crooked all on one side. 
 
 Men should not boast too loudly of themselves. 
 
 GUDLO XXXVI. 
 
 A GIPSY ACCOUNT OF THE TRUE ORIGIN OF THE FISH 
 CALLED OLD MAIDS OR YOUNG MAIDS. 
 
 Yeckorus kushti-dickin raklos were suvviu' 'dree 
 the lun panni, and there welled odoi some plochti 
 raklis an' juvas who pooked the tano ryas to hav' 
 avree an' choomer 'em. But the raklos wouldn't 
 well avree, so the ranis rikkered their rivabens avree 
 an' pirried adree the panni pauT lendy. An' the 
 ryas who were kandered alay, suvved andurer 'dree 
 the panni, an' the ranis pallered 'em far avree till 
 they were saw latchered, raklos and raklis. So the 
 tauno ryas were purabened into Barini Mushi Matchis 
 because they were too ladge (latcho) of the ranis
 
 GIPSY S TORIES AND FABLES. 245 
 
 that kaumed 'em, and the ranis were kaired adree 
 Puri Rani Matchis and Tani Rani Matchis because 
 they were too tatti an' ruzli. 
 
 Raklos shouldn't be too ladge, nor raklis be too 
 boro of their kokeros. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Once some handsome youths were swimming in the 
 gea, and there came some wanton women and girls 
 who told the young men to come out and kiss them. 
 But the youths would not come out, so the ladies 
 stripped themselves and ran into the water after 
 them. And the gentles who were driven away swam 
 further into the water, and the ladies followed them 
 far away till all were lost, boys and girls. So the 
 young men were changed into Codfish because they 
 were too shy of the girls that loved them, and the 
 ladies were turned into Old Maids and Young Maids 
 because they were too wanton and bold. 
 
 Men should not be too modest, nor girls too forward. 
 
 GUDLO XXXVII. 
 
 BOW LORD COVENTRY LEAPED THE GIPSY TENT. 
 A TRUE STORY. 
 
 I dicked Lord Coventry at the Worcester races. 
 He kistured lester noko grai adree the steeple-chase 
 for the ruppeny kek. a sonnakai tank I think
 
 246 ROMMANI GUDL1 ; OR, 
 
 it was, but he nashered. It was dovo tano rye that 
 yeck divvus in his noko park dicked a Rommany 
 chal's tan pash the rikk of a bor ; and at yeck leap 
 he kistered apre the bor, and jailed right atut an' 
 parl the Rommany chal's tan. " Ha, kun's acai?" 
 he shelled, as he dicked the tikno kaulos ; "a Rom- 
 many chal's tan !" And from dovo divvus he mukked 
 akovo Rom hatch his cainmoben 'pre his puv. Tacho. 
 Ruzlo mushis has boro sees. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 I saw Lord Coventry at the Worcester races. He 
 rode his own horse in the steeple-chase for the sil- 
 ver no, it was a gold tankard, I think, but he lost. 
 
 It was that young gentleman wbo one day in his own 
 park saw a Gipsy tent by the side of a hedge, and 
 took a flying leap over tent, hedge, and all. " Ha, 
 what's here ? " he cried, as he saw the little brown 
 children ; " a Gipsy's tent!" And from that day he 
 let that Gipsy stay as much as he pleased on his 
 land. 
 
 Bold men have generous hearts. 
 
 GUDLO XXXVIII. 
 OF MR BARTLETT'S LEAP. 
 
 Dovo's sirn to what they pens of Mr Bartlett in 
 Glo'stershire, who had a fino tern pash Glo'ster an'
 
 GIPSY STORIES AND FABLES. 247 
 
 Bristol, where he jivved adree a boro ker. Kek mush 
 never dicked so booti weshni juckalos or weshni 
 kannis as yuv rikkered odoi. They prastered atut 
 saw the drumyas sim as kanyas. Yeck divvus he 
 was kisterin' on a kushto grai, an' he dicked a Rom- 
 many chal rikkerin' a truss of gib-puss 'pre Jester 
 dfimo pral a bitti drum, an' kistered 'pre the pooro 
 mush, puss an' sar. I jins that puro mush better 'n 
 I jins tute, for I was a'ter yeck o' his raklis yeckorus; 
 he had kushti-dick raklis, an' he was old Knight 
 Locke. " Puro," pens the rye, " did I kair you 
 trash ?" " I mang tute's shunaben, rya," pens Locke 
 pauli ; "I didn't jin tute sus wellin'!" So puro 
 Locke hatched odoi 'pre dovo tern sar his miraben, 
 an' that was a kushti cowa for the puro Locke. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 That is like what is told of Mr Bartlett in Glouces- 
 tershire, who had a fine place near Gloucester and 
 Bristol, where he lived in a great house. No man 
 ever saw so many foxes or pheasants as he kept there. 
 They ran across all the paths like hens. One day he 
 was riding on a fine horse, when he saw a Gipsy 
 carrying a truss of wheat-straw on his back up a little 
 path, and leaped over the poor man, straw and all. 
 I knew that old man better than I know you, for I was 
 after one of his daughters then ; he had beautiful girls, 
 and he was old Knight Locke. " Old fellow," said 
 the gentleman, " did I frighten you ? " "I beg your 
 pardon, sir," said Locke after him ; " I didn't know
 
 248 ROMMANI GUDLi; OK, 
 
 you were coming ! " So old Locke stayed on that 
 land all his life, and that was a good thing for old 
 Locke. 
 
 GUDLO XXXIX. 
 
 THE GIPSY, THE PIG, AND THE MUSTAKD. 
 
 Yeckorus a Rommany chal jailed to a boro givescro- 
 ker sa 's the rye sus hawin'. And sikk 's the Rom 
 wan't a-dickin', the rye all-sido pordered a kell- 
 mallico pash kris, an' del it to the Rommany chal. 
 An' sa's the kris dantered adree his gullo, he was 
 pash tassered, an' the panni welled in his yakkas. 
 Patched the rye, " Klin's tute ruvvin' ajaw for ? " 
 An' he rakkered pauli, " The kris lelled mandys 
 bavol ajaw." Penned the rye, " I kaum the kris '11 
 del tute kushti bak." " Parraco, rya," penned 
 the Rom pauli; "I'll kommer it kairs dovo." 
 Sikk 's the rye bitchered his sherro, the Rommany 
 chal loured the krissko-curro ma the ruppeny rooy, 
 an' kek dicked it. The waver divvus anpauli, dovo 
 Rom jailed to the ryas baulo-tan, an' dicked odoi a 
 boro rikkeno baulo, an' gillied, "I'll dick acai if I 
 can kair tute ruv a bitti." 
 
 Now, rya, you must jin if you del a baulor kris adree 
 a pabo, he can't shell avree or kair a gudlo for his 
 mirabeu, an' you can rikker him bissin', or chiv him 
 apre a wardo, an' jal andurer an' kek jin it. An' 
 dovo's what, the Rommany chal kaired to the baulor.
 
 GIPSY STORIES AND FABLES. 249 
 
 pash the sim kris ; an' as he bissered it avree an' 
 pakkered it adree a gunno, he penned shukkar adree 
 the hauler's kan, " Calico tute's rye hatched my 
 bavol, an' the divvus I 've hatched tute's; an' yeckorus 
 your rye kaumed the kris would del mandy kushti 
 bak, and kenna it has del mengy kushtier bak than 
 ever he jinned. 
 
 Ryes must be sig not to kair pyass an' trickis atop 
 o' choro mushis. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Once a Gipsy went to a great farmhouse as the 
 gentleman sat at table eating. And so soon as 
 the Gipsy looked away, the gentleman very quietly 
 filled a cheese-cake with mustard and gave it to the 
 G-ipsy. When the mustard bit in his throat, he was 
 half choked, and the tears came into his eyes. The 
 gentleman asked him, " What are you weeping for 
 now?" And he replied, ''The mustard took my 
 breath away." The gentleman said, "I hope the 
 mustard will give you good luck ! " " Thank you, sir," 
 answered the Gipsy ; " I'll take care it does " (that). 
 As soon as the gentleman turned his head, the Gipsy 
 stole the mustard-pot with the silver spoon, and no 
 one saw it. The next day after, that Gipsy went to 
 the gentleman's pig-pen, and saw there a great fine- 
 looking pig, and sang, " I'll see now if I can make 
 you weep a bit." 
 
 Now, sir, you must know that if you give a pig 
 mustard in an apple, he can't cry out or squeal for his
 
 25O ROMMANI GUDLl ; OR, 
 
 life, and YOU can carry him away, or throw him on a 
 waggon, and get away, and nobody will know it. And 
 that is what the Gipsy did to the pig, with the 
 same mustard ; and as he ran it away and put it in a 
 bag, he whispered softly into the pig's ear, "Yester- 
 day your master stopped my breath, and to-day I've 
 stopped yours ; and once your master hoped the mus- 
 tard would give me good luck, and now it has given 
 me better luck than he ever imagined." 
 
 Gentlemen must be careful not to make sport of 
 and play tricks on poor men. 
 
 GUDLO XL. 
 
 EXPLAINING THE ORIGIN OF A CUKKENT GIPSY PROVERB 
 OR SAYING 
 
 Trin or shtor beshes pauli kenna yeck o' the 
 Petulengros dicked a boro mullo banlor adree a bitti 
 drum. An' sig as he latched it, some Rommany chals 
 welled alay an' dicked this here Rommany chal. So 
 Petulengro he shelled avree, " A fino baulor ! saw 
 tulloben ! jal an the sala an' you shall have pash." 
 And they welled apopli adree the sala and lelled pash 
 sar tacho. And ever sense dovo divvus it 's a rakker- 
 ben o' the Rommany chals, " Sar tulloben ; jal an 
 the sala an' tute shall lei your pash."
 
 GIPSY STO&IES AND FABLES. 25 I 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Three or four years ago one of the Smiths fouud a 
 great dead pig in a lane. And just as he found 
 it, some Gipsies came by and saw this Rommany. So 
 Smith bawled out to them, " A fine pig ! all fat ! 
 come in the morning and you shall have half." And 
 they returned in the morning and got half, all right. 
 And ever since it has been a saying with the Gipsies, 
 " It's all fat ; come in the morning and get your 
 half." 
 
 GUDLO XLI. 
 
 THE GIPSY'S FISH-HOOK. 
 
 Yeckorus a rye pookered a Rommauy chal he might 
 jal matchyin' 'dree his panni, and he 'd del lester 
 the cammoben for triu mushi, if he 'd only matchy 
 with a bongo sivv an' a piinsy-ran. So the Rom jailed 
 with India-drab kaired apre moro, an' he drabbered saw 
 the matchas adree the panni, and rikkered avree his 
 wardo sar pordo. A boro cheirus pauli dovo, the rye 
 dicked the Rommany chal, an* penned, " You chora- 
 mengro, did tute lei the matchas avree my pauni 
 with a hook?" " Avali, rya, with a hook," penned 
 the Rom pale, werry sido. " And what kind of a hook?" 
 " Rya," rakkered the Rom, " it was yeck o' the longi 
 kind, what we pens in amaridis jib a hookaben" (i.e. 9 
 huckaben or hoc'aben).
 
 252 ROMMANI GUDLI , OK, 
 
 When you del a mush cammoben to lei matchyas 
 avree tute's pauni, you'd better hatch adoi an' dick 
 how he kairs it. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Once a gentleman told a Gipsy he might fish in his 
 pond, and he would give him permission to do so for 
 a shilling, but that he must only fish with a hook and a 
 fishing-pole (literally, crooked needle). So the Gipsy 
 went with India-drab (juice of the berries of Indicus 
 cocculus) made up with bread, and poisoned all the fish 
 in the pond, and carried away his waggonful. A long 
 time after, the gentleman met the Gripsy, and said, 
 " You thief, did you catch the fish in my pond with a 
 hook?" " Yes, sir, with a hook," replied the Gipsy 
 very quietly. " And what kind of a hook ? " " Sir," 
 said the Gipsy, '' it was one of the long kind, what we 
 call in our language a hookaben" (i.e., a lie or trick). 
 
 When you give a man leave to fish in your pond, 
 you had better be present and see how he does it. 
 
 GUDLO XLII. 
 
 THE GIPSY AND THE SNAKE, 
 
 If you more the first sappa you dicks, tute '11 more 
 the first enemy you've got. That's what 'em pens, 
 but I don ? t jin if it 's tacho or nettus. And yeckorus 
 there was a werry wafro mush that was allers a-kairin'
 
 GIPSY STORIES AND FABLES. 253 
 
 wafri covvabens. An' yeck divvus he dicked a sap in 
 the wesh, an' he prastered paller it with a bori churi 
 adree lester waster and chinned her sherro apre. An' 
 then he rakkered to his kokerus, " Now that I 've 
 mored the sap, I '11 lei the jivaben of my wenomest 
 enemy." And just as he penned dovo lav he delled his 
 pirro atut the danyas of a rukk, an' pet alay and 
 chivved the churi adree his bukko. An' as he was 
 beshin' alay a-mullerin' 'dree the weshes, he penned 
 to his kokerus, " Avali, I dicks kenua that dovo 's 
 tacho what they pookers about morin' a sappa ; for I 
 never had kek worser ennemis than I 've been to 
 mandy's selfns, and what wells of morin' innocen 
 hanimals is kek kushtoben." 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 If you kill the first snake you see, you '11 kill the 
 first (principal) enemy you have. That is what they 
 say, but I don't know whether it is true or not. And 
 once there was a very bad man who was always doing- 
 bad deeds. And one day he saw a snake in the forest, 
 and ran after it with a great knife in his hand and 
 cut her head off. And then he said to himself, 
 " Now that I 've killed the snake, I'll take the life of 
 my most vindictive (literally, most venomous) enemy." 
 And just as he spoke that word he struck his foot 
 against the roots of a tree, and fell down and drove 
 the knife into his own body (liver or heart). And as 
 he lay dying in the forests, he said to himself, " Yes, 
 I see now that it is true what they told me as to
 
 254 ROM MAN I GUDL1 ; OR, 
 
 killing a snake ; for I never had any worse enemy 
 than I have been to myself, and what comes of killing 
 innocent animals is naught good." 
 
 GUDLO XLIII. 
 
 THE STORY OF THE GIPSY AND THE BULL. 
 
 Yeckorus there was a Rommany chal who was a 
 bpro koorin' mush, a surrelo mush, a boro-wasteni 
 mush, werry toonery an' hunnalo. An' he penned 
 adusta cheiruses that kek geero an' kek covva 'pre the 
 drumyas couldn't trasher him. But yeck divvus, as 
 yuv was jalliri' langs the drum with a waver pal, chun- 
 derin' an' hookerin' an' lunterin', an' shorin' his kokero 
 how he could koor the puro bengis' selfus, they shooued 
 a guro a-goorin' an' googerin', an' the first covva they 
 jinned he prastered like divius at 'em, an' these here 
 geeros prastered apre ye rukk, an' the boro koorin' 
 mush that was so flick o' his wasters chury'd first o' 
 saw (sar), an' hatched duri-dirus from the puv pre 
 the limmers. An' he beshed adoi an' dicked ye 
 bullus wusserin' an' chongerin' his trushnees sar 
 aboutus, an' kellin' pre lesters covvas, an' poggerin' to 
 cutengroes saw he lei led for lesters miraben. An' 
 whenever the bavol pudered he was atrash he 'd pelt-a- 
 lay 'pre the shinger-ballos of the gooro (gu.ro). An' 
 so they beshed adoi till the sig of the sala, when the
 
 GfPS Y S TORIES AND FABLES. 255 
 
 mush who dicked a'ter the gruvnis welled a-pirryin' 
 by an' dicked these here chals beshin' like chillicos 
 pre the rukk, an' patched lengis what they were kairin' 
 -dovo for. So they pookered him about the bullus, 
 an' he hankered it avree ; an' they welled alay an' 
 jailed andurer to the kitchema, for there never was 
 dui mushis in 'covo tern that kaumed a droppi levinor 
 koomi than lender. But pale dovo divvus that 
 trusheni mush never sookered he couldn't be a trashni 
 mush no moreus. Tacho. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Once there was a Gipsy who was a great fighting 
 man, a strong man, a great boxer, very bold and 
 fierce. And he said many a time that no man and no 
 thing on the roads could frighten him. But one day, 
 as he was going along the road with another man (his 
 friend), exaggerating and bragging and boasting, and 
 praising himself that hecouldbeat theold devil himself, 
 they heard a bull bellowing and growling, and the first 
 thing they knew he ran like mad at them ; and these 
 men hurried up a tree, and the great fighting man 
 that was so handy with his fists climbed first of all, 
 and got (placed) himself furtherest from the ground 
 on the limbs. And he sat there and saw the bull 
 tossing and throwing his baskets all about, and 
 dancing on his things, and breaking to pieces all he 
 had for his living. And whenever the wind blew he 
 was afraid he would fall on the horns of the bull. 
 And so they sat there till daybreak, when the man
 
 2$6 ROM AN 1 GUDLI ; OR, 
 
 who looked after the cows came walking by and saw 
 these fellows sitting like birds on the tree, and asked 
 them what they were doing that for. So they told 
 him about the bull, and he drove it away ; and they 
 came down and went on to the alehouse, for there never 
 were two men in this country that wanted a drop of 
 beer more than they. But after that day that thirsty 
 man never boasted he could not be a frightened man. 
 True. 
 
 GUD.LO XLIV. 
 
 THE GIPSY AND HIS THREE SWEETHEARTS. 
 
 Yeckorus a tano mush kaired his cammoben ta 
 trin juvas kett'rius an' kek o' the trin jinned yuv sus 
 a pirryin' ye waver dui. An 'covo raklo jivved adree 
 a bitti tan pash the rikkorus side o' the boro lun 
 panni. an' yeck ratti sar the chais welled shikri kett'- 
 nus a lester, an' kek o' the geeris jinned the wavers 
 san lullerin adoi. So they jailed sar-sigan kett'nus, 
 an' rakkered, " Sarshan ! " ta yeck chairus. An' 
 dovo raklo didn't j in what jiiva kaumed lester ferri- 
 dirus, or kun yuv kaumed ye ferridirus, so sar the 
 shtor besht-a-lay sum, at the habbenescro, and yuv 
 del len habben an' levinor. Yeck hawed booti, but 
 ye waver dui wouldn't haw kek, yeck pii'd, but ye 
 waver dui wouldn't pi chommany, 'cause they were 
 sar hunnali, and sookeri an* kuried. So the raklo
 
 GIPS Y S TORIES AND FABLES. 
 
 penned lengis, yuv sos atrash if yuv lelled a juva 'at 
 couldn't haw, she wouldn't jiv, so he rummored the 
 rakli that hawed her habben. 
 
 All'ers haw sar the habben foki banders apre a 
 tute, an' tute '11 jal sikker men dush an' tukli. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Once a young man courted three girls together, 
 and none of the three knew he was courting the two 
 others. And that youth lived in a little place n ear 
 the side of the great salt water, and one night all the 
 girls came at once together to him, and none of the 
 girls knew the others were coming there. So they 
 went all quick together, and said "Good evening," 
 (sarishan means really " How are you? ") at the same 
 time. And that youth did not know which girl liked 
 him best, or whom he loved best ; so all the four sat 
 down together at the table, and he gave them food 
 and beer. One ate plenty, but the other two would 
 eat nothing ; one drank, but the other two would not 
 drink something, because they were all angry, and 
 grieved, and worried. So the youth told them he 
 was afraid if he took a wife that could not eat, she 
 would not live, so he married the girl that ate her 
 food. 
 
 Always eat all the food that people give you (liter- 
 ally share out to you), and you will go readily 
 (securely) through sorrow and trouble.
 
 258 ROMMANl GUDLI ; OR, 
 
 GUDLO XLV. 
 
 THE GIPSIES AND THE SMUGGLERS. A TRUE STORY. 
 
 Yeckorus, most a hundred besh kenna, when mi 
 dadas sus a chavo, yeck ratti a booti Rommany chals 
 san millerin kettenescrus pash the boro panni, kiin 
 sar-sig the graias ankaired a-wickerin an' liidderin 
 an' niickerin' an kairin a boro giidli, an' the Rom- 
 manis shuned a shellin, an' dicked mushis prasterin 
 and lullyin for lenders mirabeu, sa's seer-dush, avree 
 a boro hev. An' when len san sar jailed lug, the 
 Rommany chals welled adoi an' latched adusta bitti 
 barrels o' tatto-panni, an' fino covvas, for dovo mushis 
 were 'mugglers, and the Roms lelled sar they mukked 
 pali. An' dovo sus a boro covva for the Rommany 
 chals, an' they pii'd sar graias, an' the raklis an' 
 juvas jailed in kiishni heezis for booti divvuses. An' 
 dovo sus kerro pash Bo-Peep a boro puvius adree 
 bori chumures, pash Hastings in Sussex. 
 
 When 'mugglers nasher an' Rommauy chals latch, 
 there 's kek worser cammoben for it. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Once almost a hundred years now, when my father 
 was a boy, one night many Gipsies were going to- 
 gether near the sea, when all at once the horses began 
 whinnying and kicking and neighing, and making a 
 great noise, and the Gipsies heard a crying out, and 
 saw men running and rushing as if in alarm, from a
 
 GIPSY STORIES AND FABLES. 259 
 
 great cave. And when they were all gone away to- 
 gether, the Gipsies went there and found many little 
 barrels of brandy, and valuables, for those men were 
 smugglers, and the Gipsies took all they left behind. 
 And that was a great thing for the Gipsies, and they 
 drank like horses, and the girls and women went in 
 silk clothes for many days. And that was done near 
 Bo-Peep, a great field in the hills, by Hastings in 
 Sussex. 
 
 When smugglers lose and Gipsies find, nobody is 
 the worse for it. 
 
 PRINTED BY BAI.I.ANTYNE AND COMPANY 
 EDINBURGH AND LONDON

 
 
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