These people did not bring any particular religion with them from their native country, by which, as the Jews, they could be distinguished among other persons; but regulate themselves, in religious matters, according to the country where they live. Being very inconstant in their choice of residence, they are likewise so in respect to religion. No Gipsey has an idea of submission to any fixed profession of faith: it is as easy for him to change his religion at every new village, as for another person to shift his coat. They suffer themselves to be baptised in Christian countries; among Mahometans to be circumcised. They are Greeks with Greeks, Catholics with Catholics, and again profess themselves to be Protestants, whenever they happen to reside where protestantism prevails. There are not, perhaps, any other people among whom marriages are contracted with so little consideration, or solemnised with so little ceremony, as among the Gipseys. No sooner has a boy attained the age of fourteen or fifteen years, than he begins to perceive that something more than mere eating and drinking is necessary to him. Having no fear of consequences, nor being under any restraint from his parents, he forms a connection with the girl he most fancies, of twelve, or at most thirteen, years old, without any scruple of conscience, whether she be his nearest relation, or an entire stranger; but it is to be observed, that a Gipsey never marries a person who is not of the true Gipsey breed. God’s commandments are unknown to him; and human laws cannot have much influence over one who lives in a desert, remote from the observation of any ruling power. The term of courtship is very short, often only long enough for the parties to communicate their mutual inclination. They do not wait for any marriage ceremony, as it is a matter of no consequence to them, whether it be performed afterwards, or not at all. Yet they do not seem to be entirely indifferent about matrimony, p. 62not on account of conforming to any institution, but from a pride they have in imitating what is done by other people, lest they should appear to be inferior to them. As the very early age of the parties, or some other irregularity, might meet with objections from a regular clergyman, they frequently get one of their own people to act the priest, and tack the decent couple together. A marriage being thus accomplished, the man provides a stone for an anvil, a pair of pincers, a file, and hammers away as a smith; or works at some other trade, he may have just learned from his father: then begins his peregrination. Should his wife commit a fault at a future time, he gives her half a dozen boxes on the ear; or very likely, for some trifling cause, turns her off entirely. Her conduct must, in general, be very much regulated by his will; and she is obliged to be more attentive to him than to herself. When the woman lies-in, which happens frequently, these people being remarkably prolific, the child is brought forth, either in their miserable hut, or, according to circumstances, it may be in the open air, but always easily and fortunately: a woman of the same kind performs the office of midwife. True Gipsey like, for want of some vessel, they dig a hole in the ground, which is filled up with cold water, and the new-born child washed in it. This being done, it is wrapped up in some old rags, which the motherly foresight has taken care to provide. p. 63Next comes the christening, at which ceremony they prefer strangers, for witnesses, rather than their own caste: but what kind of folks their guests are, may be collected from the mode of entertaining them.

  When the christening is over, the father takes the sponsors to an alehouse, or if none be near, to some other house, where he treats them with cakes and brandy.  If he is a little above the lowest state of misery, and has a mind to be generous, other things are provided; but he does not join the company, being employed in serving his guests.  Thus the affair ends.  The lying-in woman passes her short time of confinement, seldom exceeding eight days, with her child, in the hut, or under a tent, in the smoke by the fire.  Refreshments are often sent from the godfathers and godmothers; yet they are sometimes so uncivil, that they do not hesitate to quarrel with them or even to discharge them from the trust, if they think the present too small, or do not like the provisions.  When this happens, they have another christening, in some other place; nay, sometimes even a third.

Gipsey women, as already mentioned, frequently smear their children over with a particular kind of ointment, and then lay them in the sun, or before the fire, in order that the skin may be more completely parched, and their black beauty thereby increased.  They never use a cradle, nor even p. 64possess such a piece of furniture; the child sleeps in its mother’s arms, or on the ground.  When the lying-in is over, the Gipsey woman goes to church, and thence, immediately, either to begging or stealing.  While the child remains in her arms, perhaps imagining that people will be less severe in their chastisements, she is more rapacious than at other times, and takes whatever she can lay her hands on.  If she cannot escape without a beating, she endeavours to screen herself by holding up the child to receive the blows, till she finds an opportunity of retiring imperceptibly, and running away.

When the child gets a little stronger, and has attained the age of three or four months, the mother seldom carries it on the arm, but at her back; there it sits, winter and summer, in a linen rag, with its head over her shoulder.  If she have more children, in course of time, which is generally the case, as this race of beings is so prolifick, she leads one or two by the hand, while such as are older run by her side; and thus attended, she strolls through the villages and into houses.  Notwithstanding their dark complexion, and bad nursing, writers are unanimous in stating, that these children are good-looking, well shaped, lively, clever, and have fine eyes.  The mother plaits their black hair on the crown of the head, partly to keep it out of their face, and partly for ornament.  This p. 65is all she ever does towards decorating her offspring; for in summer the children wear no clothes till ten years of age, and in winter they are forced to be content with a few old rags hung about them.

No sooner is the child, whether boy or girl, capable of running about, than it is taught to dance; which talent consists in jumping on one foot, and constantly striking behind with the other.  As the young Gipsey grows up, all kinds of postures are added, in hopes of diverting, and thereby to obtain a reward from persons who happen to pass the parents’ habitation.  What the children are further taught, especially by their mothers, is the art of stealing, which they often put in practice, as before related.  Instruction or school is never thought of; nor do they learn any business, except perhaps to blow the fire when the father forges, or to assist in goldwashing.

By the twelfth or thirteenth year, a boy acquires some knowledge of his father’s trade; and then becomes emancipated from parental authority; as he now begins to think of forming his own separate connections.  The Gipseys, in common with uncivilised people, entertain unbounded love for their children: this is a source of the most unpardonable neglect.  Gipsey children never feel the rod; they fly into the most violent passion, and at the same time hear nothing from their parents but flattery and coaxing.  In return, they act, as is commonly p. 66the consequence of such education, with the greatest ingratitude.  This excessive fondness for their children is, however, attended with one advantage:—when they are indebted to any person, which is frequently the case in Hungary and Transylvania, the creditor seizes a child, and by that means obtains a settlement of his demand; as the Gipsey will immediately exert every method to discharge the debt, and procure the release of his darling offspring.

To the beforegoing account of Gipsey marriages, and education, there are but few exceptions; comprised in a small proportion of them who have fixed habitations.  The character of people being formed by the instruction they receive in their early years, can it then be thought surprising that Gipseys should be idlers, thieves, murderers, and incendiaries?  Is it probable, that man should become diligent, who has been educated in laziness?  Can it be expected those should leave every person in possession of his own property, whose father and mother have taught them to steal, from their earliest infancy?  Who can have a general idea of fair dealing, that knows not right from wrong, nor has ever learned the distinction between good and evil, virtue and vice?  Punishments inflicted on others, for their crimes, have no effect upon one who is not sufficiently attentive to take warning by the examples of strangers: and when, by his own experience, p. 67he is taught not to lay hands on the property of others, he is become so hardened, that the milder punishments leave no lasting impression; while the more severe ones, which reach the life, cannot have any effect on him, and are, as before observed, totally disregarded by his fellows.  So long therefore as the education of the Gipseys continues to be what it is, we cannot hope that they should leave off their vile practices and filthy habits.

p. 68CHAPTER IX.

On their Sickness, Death, and Burial.

We have before had occasion to mention the constant good health of these people; and it is fact, that they do enjoy it more uninterruptedly, and perfectly, than persons of the most regular habits, and who pay the greatest attention to themselves.  They get no cold nor defluxions, from the inclemency of the air.  They are not subject to rashes; even poisons, or epidemical disorders, have no effect upon them.  Any prevailing sickness penetrates sooner into ten habitations of civilised people, than it finds its way under a Gipsey’s tent, or into his hut.  They are equally liable to the small-pox and measles with other people, though with infinitely less danger; and they are subject to a disorder in the eyes, occasioned by the continual smoke and steam in their huts, during the winter season: excepting these complaints, the Gipseys, in general, experience little inconvenience till the time comes that Nature demands her own back again, and entirely destroys the machine.  Though this be not always at a great age, it is generally at an advanced period; it being very uncommon for a Gipsey to die early in life, or during his childhood.  Their love of life is excessive; yet they hardly ever take p. 69the advice of a physician, or use medicines, even in the most dangerous maladies.  They generally leave every thing to nature, or good fortune: if they do any thing, it is, to mix a little saffron in their soup, or bleed and scarify themselves; having observed that their horses use bleeding, as a remedy for disorders.  When the sickness indicates danger, and that the universal enemy to life is really in earnest, the Gipsey breaks out into sighs and lamentations, on account of his departure; till at last he gives up the ghost, in his usual place of residence—under a tree, or in his tent.

The preparations for death are usually regulated according to a person’s religious principles; but the Gipsey, who neither knows nor believes any thing concerning the immortality of the soul, or of rewards and punishments beyond this life, for the most part dies like a beast—ignorant of himself and his Creator, as well as utterly incapable of forming any opinion respecting a higher destination.

The Gipsey’s decease is instantly succeeded by the most frantic lamentations: parents, in particular, who have lost their children, appear inconsolable.  Little can be said of their burials; only, that on those occasions the cries and bewailings are redoubled, and become very violent.  When the leader of a horde dies, things are conducted more quietly.  His own people carry him, p. 70with great respect, to the grave, where each one appears earnest and attentive; although at the same time employed in a manner to excite laughter.

This is the mode of proceeding when a Gipsey dies a natural death.  But it often happens that he loses his life by violent means—not by his own hands for self-murder and infanticide are equally unheard of among them.  No Gipsey ever puts a period to his own existence on account of vexation, anxiety, or despair; as, besides his unbounded love of life, care or despair is totally unknown to him.

Even in the greatest distress, the Gipsey is never troubled with low spirits; ever merry and blythe, he dies not till he cannot help it: this often happens on the gallows, attended with scenes ridiculous as the most ludicrous imagination could invent.  One man requested, as a particular act of grace, that he might not be hanged with his face towards the high road; saying, “Many of his acquaintance passed that way, and he should be very much ashamed to be seen by them hanging on a gallows.”  At another time the relations of a Gipsey who was leading to execution, perceiving, by the discourse and gestures of the criminal, how unwillingly he advanced, not having the least inclination to be hanged, addressed themselves to the magistrates and officers of justice, with the following p. 71wise remonstrance: “Gentlemen, pray do not compel a man to a thing for which you see he has no desire nor inclination.”  Such scenes happen at almost every Gipsey execution, which are proofs that these people are quite deficient in thought or consideration.

p. 72CHAPTER X.

Political Regulations peculiar to the Gipseys.

When the Gipseys first arrived in Europe, they had leaders and chiefs, to conduct the various tribes in their migrations.  This was necessary, not only to facilitate their progress through different countries and quarters of the globe, but to unite their force if necessary, and thereby enable them to make a more formidable resistance when opposed: and likewise to carry any plan, they might have formed, more readily into execution.  We accordingly find, in old books, mention made of knights, counts, dukes, and kings.  Krantz and Munster mention counts, and knights, in general terms, among the Gipseys; other people give us the very names of these dignified men: Crusius cites a duke Michael; Muratori a duke Andreas; and Aventinus records a king Zindelo: not to speak of inscriptions on monuments, erected in different places, to the memories of duke Panuel, count Johannis; and a noble knight Petrus, in the fifteenth century.  But no comment is requisite to shew how improperly these appellations were applied.  Though the Gipsey chiefs might be gratified with these titles, and their dependants probably esteemed them people of rank, it was merely p. 73a ridiculous imitation of what they had seen and admired among civilised people.  Nevertheless, the custom of having leaders and chiefs over them prevails to this time, at least in Hungary and Transylvania; probably it may also still exist in Turkey, and other countries where these people live together in great numbers.

Their chiefs—or waywodes, as they proudly call them—were formerly of two degrees in Hungary.  Each petty tribe had its own leader; beside which, there were four superior waywodes, of their own caste, on both sides the Danube and Teisse, whose usual residences were at Raab, Lewentz, Szathmar, and Kaschau: to these the smaller waywodes were accountable.  It would appear extraordinary that any well-regulated state should allow these people a distinct establishment in the heart of the country, did not the Hungarian writers assign a reason: viz. that in the commotions and troubles, occasioned by the Turkish wars, in former centuries, they were, by means of their waywodes, more easily summoned, when occasion required, and rendered useful to the community.  But the Gipseys in Hungary and Transylvania were permitted to choose, from their own people, only the small waywodes of each tribe.