

Transcribed from the [1894?] Willsons’ edition by David Price, email
ccx074@pglaf.org





                                INCIDENTS
                                    IN
                              A GIPSY’S LIFE


                                    BY
                              GEORGE SMITH.

                                * * * * *

                                THE ROYAL
                          EPPING FOREST GIPSIES

                               THE GROUNDS,

                         INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION

                                LIVERPOOL.

                                * * * * *

                                WILLSONS’,
                         NEW WALK PRINTING WORKS,
                                LEICESTER.

                                * * * * *




THE FOLLOWING NOTABLE PERSONS HAVE PAID A VISIT TO MY PEOPLE.


  H.M. QUEEN VICTORIA.

  PRINCE VICTOR.

  SON OF THE KHEDIVE OF EGYPT.

  LORD LATHOM, High Chamberlain.

  LORD POLTIMORE.

  LORD CAMPBELL.

  LORD MONKS.

  LORD MAYO.

  LORD CLONMELL.

  LORD FARNHAM.

  LATE DUKE OF MACLIN.

  MARQUIS & MARCHIONESS OF TWEEDALE.

  SIR DAVID (Mayor of Liverpool) and LADY RADCLIFFE.

  SIR A. B. WALKER, Bart.

  SIR JOHN MAXWELL STIRLING.

                                    ALSO

  SON OF THE BISHOP OF WORCESTER.

  BISHOP OF THE ISLE OF MAN.

  LETTER FROM GOVERNOR WALPOLE of I.O.M.

  10 LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.

  And at the GREAT CARNIVAL of 1894, principal Citizens of Glasgow.




PREFACE.


My idea in writing this little pamphlet is to enlighten the minds of
people as to the mode of living, and the customs of our tribe; and I
think the reader will be convinced that we are not the desperadoes that
some people think, but, on the other hand, honest living and a christian
race; always ready to do good.  To young men especially, if they follow
my career they will find that my success in life is due to being
straight-forward and honest in all my dealings; firm purpose of mind; and
an object to gain; the result is success, and I hope it may prove a
benefit to the rising generation.

Shortly, I shall produce a full Biography of my life.

                                                         Yours faithfully,
                                                             GEORGE SMITH.




THE LIFE OF A GIPSY.


Many writers have spent months and years of _their_ lives in studying the
language, character, and customs of the Romany Rye.  Many able pens have
written volumes on the subject.

For my part I simply give an unvarnished statement of facts, as they
occur to me, so that my readers may glean some little information as to
the general life and incidents in the career of a gipsy.

With regard to the language of the Romany, whether heard in the most
distant parts of the globe or in the Liverpool Exhibition (as spoken by
my family), it is the same as in different counties in the United Kingdom
and in different provinces of continental countries; a slight _patois_
may be observable, but in the main the initiated know that the Romany
holds its own with the nomadic people the world over.

For character, climate, and circumstances, may in many instances vary the
Gitano, Romany, or Bohemian, as we are called, but custom (go where the
traveller may) remains the same, the nature and habit of the true Romany
prompting him, or her, to a wandering life, and to revel as it were in
nature’s solitude.  To begin with, I was born on the 3rd of May, 1830, my
birth place being on the common called Mousehold Heath, Norwich, Norfolk,
my parents having but a few months previously left their old camping
ground in Epping Forest, near London.

For many, many years, my ancestors recognised the Forest of Epping as
their head