A Historical Survey of the Customs, Habits, & Present State of the Gypsies. John Hoyland
commonalty, about 100, or 120, reduced from 1000, or 1200, when they came from home; the rest being dead, with their King and Queen. They were lodged by the police, out of the city, at Chapel St. Denis
“Nearly all of them had their ears bored, and one or two silver rings in each, which they said were esteemed ornaments in their country. The men were black, their hair curled; the women remarkably black, all their faces scarred, deployez, their hair black, their only clothes a large old shaggy garment, flossoye, tied over the shoulders with a cloth or cord, sash, lien, and under it a poor petticoat, roquet. In short, they were the poorest miserable creatures that had ever been seen in France; and notwithstanding their poverty, there were among them women, who by looking into people’s hands told their fortunes. And what was worse, they picked people’s pockets of their money; and got it into their own, through telling these things by art, magic, &c.
“But though this was the common report, I spoke to them several times, yet I never lost a farthing by them; or ever saw them look into people’s hands. But the Bishop of Paris, hearing of it, went to them with a Friar Preacher, named Le petit Jacobin, who, by the Bishop’s order, preached a sermon excommunicating all the men and women who pretended to believe these things; and had believed in them, and shown their hands; and it was agreed that they should go away, and they departed for Pontoise, in September.
“This was copied from an old book in the form of a journal, drawn up by a doctor of divinity in Paris, which fell into the hands of Pasquier; who remarks upon it, that however the story of a penance savours of a trick, these people wandered up and down France, under the eye, and with the knowledge of the magistrates, for 100, or 120 years. At length, in 1661, an edict was issued, commanding all officers of justice, to turn out of the kingdom, in the space of two months, under pain of the gallies, and corporal punishment, all men, women and children, who assumed the name of Bohémiens, or Egyptians.”
Dufresne, in his Glossary V. Ægyptiaci, confirms Pasquier’s character of them in these words: “Ægyptiaci, Gallicé Egyptiens, Bohémiens, vagi homines, harioli, et fatidici, qui hac et illac errantes, ex manu inspectione futura prœsagire se fingunt; ut de marsupiis incautorum nummos corrogent;” which may be thus translated, “Egyptians called by the French Egyptiens, Bohémiens, vagabonds, soothsayers and fortune-tellers, who, wandering up and down, pretend to foretel future events from the inspection of the hand, for the purpose of obtaining money from persons not careful of their purses, &c.”
Grellmann speaks of Gypsies “being numerous in Lorraine and Alsatia, before the French Revolution, but especially in the forests of Lorraine. They increased in this district, in consequence of their having been assiduously looked after in the dominions of the late Duke Deux-Fonts, and driven from thence; whither his successor would not suffer them to return. He adds, that an order of the provincial council, held at Tarragona, in 1591, subjected them to the magistrates, as people “quos vix constat esse Christianos, nisi ex eorum relatione, cum tamen sint mendaces, fures, deceptores, et aliis sceleribus multi eorum assueti;” in English, “who are scarcely allowed to be Christians, except from their own account of themselves, seeing they are liars, thieves, cheats, and many of them accustomed to other kinds of wickedness.”
Twiss, in his Travels p. 179, gives the following account of them in Spain: “They are very numerous about, and in, Murcia, Cordova, Codis, and Ronda. The race of these vagabonds is found in every part of Europe. The French call them Bohémiens, the Italians Zingari, the Germans Ziegeuners, the Dutch Heydenen, Pagans, the Portuguese Siganos, and the Spaniards Gitanos, in Latin, Cingari.
“Their language, which is peculiar to themselves, is every where so similar, that they are undoubtedly all derived from the same source. They began to appear in Europe in the 15th century, and are probably a mixture of Egyptians and Ethiopians. The men are all thieves, and the women libertines. They follow no certain trade, and have no fixed religion. They do not enter into the order of society, wherein they are only tolerated. It is supposed there are upwards of forty thousand of them in Spain; great numbers of them are innkeepers in the villages, and small towns; and they are every where fortune-tellers.
“In Spain, they are not allowed to possess any lands, nor even to serve as soldiers. They marry among themselves, stroll in troops, about the country, and bury their dead under water. Their ignorance prevents their employing themselves in any thing, but in providing for the immediate wants of nature; beyond which even their roguishness does not extend; and, only endeavouring to save themselves the trouble of labour, they are contented if they can procure food by showing feats of dexterity; and only pilfer to supply themselves with the trifles they want; so that they never render themselves liable to any severer chastisement, than that of whipping, for having stolen chickens, linen, &c. Most of the men have a smattering of physic and surgery, and are skilful in tricks performed by slight of hand.”
“The foregoing account is partly extracted from Le Voyageur François, Vol. XVI.; but the assertion that they are all so abandoned, as that author says, is too general. I have lodged many times in their houses, and never missed the most trifling things, though I have left my knives, forks, candlesticks, spoons, and linen at their mercy.”
Swinburne states, that “they swarm more in the province of Granada, than in any other part of the realm. This singular sect have kept themselves separate from the rest of mankind ever since their first appearance which has been recorded in history.
“Their origin remains a problem not to be satisfactorily solved; and I doubt whether the Gitanos themselves, have any secret tradition that might lead to a discovery of what they really were in the beginning, or from what country they came. The received opinion sets them down as Egyptians, and makes them out to be the descendants of those vagabond votaries of Isis, who appear to have exercised, in ancient Rome, pretty much the same profession as that followed by the present Gypsies, viz: fortune-telling, strolling up and down, and pilfering.
“Few of them employed themselves in works of husbandry, or handicrafts; indeed the Spaniards would not work with them. Except a small part of them who follow the trades of blacksmiths, and vintners, most of them are makers of iron rings, and other little trifles, rather to prevent their being laid hold of as vagrants, than really as a means of subsistence. Several of them travel about as carriers and pedlars.
“Though they conform to the Roman Catholic mode of worship, they are looked upon in the light of unbelievers; but I never could meet with any body that pretended to say what their private faith and religion may be. All the Gypsies I have conversed with, assured me of their sound Catholicism; and I have seen the medal of Nuestra Senora del Carmel sewed on the sleeves of several of their women.
“They seldom venture on any crimes that may endanger their lives; petty larceny is the utmost extent of their roguishness.
“The men are tall, well built, and swarthy, with a bad scowling eye, and a kind of favorite lock of hair left to grow down before their ears, which rather increases the gloominess of their features; their women are nimble and supple jointed; when young they are generally handsome, with fine black eyes. Their ears and necks are loaded with trinkets and baubles, and most of them wear a large patch on each temple.”
Of the Italian Gypsies, the same traveller in his journey through Calabria, p. 304, gives the following account: “The landlord of the inn at Mirti, earnestly recommended to the servants to leave nothing out of doors, as there was an encampment of Zingari, or Gypsies, who would lay their hands upon any part of the baggage, that was not watched with the strictest attention. His caution led me to an inquiry into the state of this strange tribe of vagrants, of whom I had seen great numbers in Spain. The result of this account, combined with those I had received from others, is as follows:
“The Gypsies of Calabria do not contract alliances with any other class of inhabitants; but marry among themselves.
“It is not possible to say where they reside, as they have no fixed habitations; and consequently possess neither house nor land, but pitch their tents wherever they think proper to make any stay. They support life by the profits of handicrafts; but more by swapping asses and horses.
“They