

Transcribed from the 1880 Haughton and Co. edition by David Price, email
ccx074@pglaf.org

                          [Picture: Book cover]

            [Picture: Frontispiece: Among the Gipsy children]





                               GIPSY LIFE:


                             BEING AN ACCOUNT

                                    OF

                     OUR GIPSIES AND THEIR CHILDREN.

                                   WITH
                    SUGGESTIONS FOR THEIR IMPROVEMENT.

                                    BY
                       GEORGE SMITH, OF COALVILLE.

                                * * * * *

                                 LONDON:
                   HAUGHTON & CO., 10, PATERNOSTER ROW.

                                * * * * *

                         [_All Rights Reserved_.]

                                * * * * *

                                  1880.

I give my warmest thanks to W. H. OVEREND, Esq., for the block forming
the Frontispiece, which he has kindly presented to me on the condition
that the picture occupies the position it does in this book; and also to
the proprietor of the _Illustrated London News_ for the blocks to help
forward my work, the pictures of which appeared in his journal in
November and December of last year and January in the present year, as
found herein on pages 42, 48, 66, 76, 96, 108, 118, 122, 174, 192, 236,
283.

I must at the same time express my heart-felt thanks to the manager and
proprietors of the _Graphic_ for the blocks forming the illustrations on
pages 1, 132, 170, 222, 228, 248, 272, 277, and which appeared in their
journal on March 13th in the present year, and which they have kindly
presented to me to help forward my object, connected with which sketches,
at the kind request of the Editor, I wrote the article.

W. H. OVEREND, Esq., was the artist for the sketches in the _Illustrated
London News_, and HERBERT JOHNSON, Esq., was the artist for the sketches
in the _Graphic_.

I also tender my warmest thanks to the Press generally for the help
rendered to me during the crusade so far, without which I should have
done but little.




TO THE MOST HONOURABLE
THE PEERS AND MEMBERS
OF THE
HIGH COURT OF PARLIAMENT.


I have taken the liberty of humbly dedicating this work to you, the
object of which is not to tickle the critical ears of ethnologists and
philologists, but to touch the hearts of my countrymen on behalf of the
poor Gipsy women and children and other roadside Arabs flitting about in
our midst, in such a way as to command attention to these neglected,
dark, marshy spots of human life, whose seedlings have been running wild
among us during the last three centuries, spreading their poisonous
influence abroad, not only detrimental to the growth of Christianity and
the spread of civilisation, but to the present and eternal welfare of the
children; and, what I ask for is, that the hand of the Schoolmaster may
be extended towards the children; and that the vans and other temporary
and movable abodes in which they live may be brought under the eye and
influence of the Sanitary Inspector.

                                                  Very respectfully yours,
                                                             GEORGE SMITH,
                                                           _Of Coalville_.

_April_ 30_th_, 1880.




INDEX.

Part I.

                         RAMBLES IN GIPSYDOM.

                                                                  PAGE

Origin of the Gipsies and their Names                                1
Article in _The Daily News_                                          8
The Travels of the Gipsies                                           9
Acts of Parliament relating to the Gipsies                          16
Article in _The Edinburgh Review_                                   23
  ,, _The Saturday Review_                                         25
Professor Bott on the Gipsies                                       29
The Changars of India                                               32
The Doms of India                                                   33
The Sanseeas of India                                               35
The Nuts of India                                                   36
Grellmann on the Gipsies                                            39
Gipsies of Notting Hill                                             40
Rev. Charles Wesley                                                 42
The Number of Gipsies                                               44

Part II.

                     COMMENCEMENT OF THE CRUSADE.

Work begun                                                          48
Letter to _The Standard_ and _Daily Chronicle_                      51
Leading Article in _The Standard_                                   53
Correspondence in _The Standard_                                    59
Mr. Leland's Letter, &c., &c.                                       60
My Reply                                                            66
_Leicester Free Press_                                              69
Article in _The Derby Daily Telegraph_                              70
  ,, _The Figaro_                                                  73
Letter in _The Daily News_                                          75
Mr. Gorrie's Letter                                                 78
My Reply                                                            79
Leading Article in _The Standard_                                   82
_May's Aldershot Advertiser_                                        87
Article in _Hand and Heart_                                         90
Article in _The Illustrated London News_                            91
Leading Article in _The Daily News_                                 92
Social Science Congress Paper                                       95
Article in _Birmingham Daily Mail_                                 102
  ,, _The Weekly Dispatch_                                        106
  ,, _The Weekly Times_                                           109
  ,, _The Croydon Chronicle_                                      117
  ,, _Primitive Methodist_                                        119
  ,, _Illustrated London News_                                    121
  ,, _The Quiver_                                                 126
Letter in _Daily News_ and _Chronicle_                             127
Article in _Christian World_                                       129
  ,, _Sunday School Chronicle_                                    132
  ,, _Unitarian Herald_                                           134
  ,, _Weekly Times_                                               135

Part III.

       THE TREATMENT THE GIPSIES HAVE RECEIVED IN THIS COUNTRY.

The Social History of our Country                                  142
Acts of Parliament concerning the Gipsies                          145
Treatment of the Gipsies in Scotland, Spain, and Denmark           150
Efforts put forth to improve their Condition                       155
His Majesty George III. and the Dying Gipsy                        161
Mr. Crabb at Southampton in 1827                                   164
Fiction and the Gipsies                                            166
Hubert Petalengro's Gipsy Trip to Norway                           169
Esmeralda's Song                                                   174
George Borrow's Travels in Spain                                   177
Romance and Poetry about the Gipsies                               183
Dean Stanley's Prize Poem                                          190

Part IV.

                 GIPSY LIFE IN A VARIETY OF ASPECTS.

Persecution, Missionary Efforts, and Romance                       192
The Gipsy Contrast and _Punch_                                     193
Gipsy Slang                                                        195
Rees and Borrow's Description of the Gipsies                       199
Leland among the Russian Gipsies                                   201
Burning a Russian Fortune-teller                                   203
A Welsh Gipsy's Letter                                             208
Ryley Bosvil and his Poetry: a Sad Example                         213
My Visit to Canning Town Gipsies                                   220
Article in _The Weekly Times_                                      222
My Son's Visit to Barking Road                                     227
Mrs. Simpson, a Christian Gipsy                                    228

Part V.

     THE SAD CONDITION OF THE GIPSIES, WITH SUGGESTIONS FOR THEIR
                             IMPROVEMENT.

Gipsy Beauty and Songsters                                         237
Gipsy Poetry                                                       239
Smart and Crofton                                                  239
A Little Gipsy Girl's Letter                                       242
Scotch Gipsies                                                     243
Gipsy Trickery                                                     244
My Visit to the Gipsies at Kensal Green                            248
Fortune-telling and other Sins                                     249
Wretched Condition of the Gipsies                                  254
Hungarian Gipsies                                                  259
Visit to Cherry Island                                             260
The Cleanliness and Food of the Gipsies                            262
A Gipsy Woman's Opinion upon Religion                              264
Gipsy Faithfulness and Fidelity                                    264
A Visit to Hackney Marshes                                         266
Sickness among the Gipsies                                         270
A Gipsy Woman's Funeral                                            271
Gipsies and the Workhouse                                          274
Education of the Gipsy Children Sixty Years ago                    274
Mission Work among the Gipsies                                     275
Gipsy Children upon Turnham Green and Wandsworth Common            276
Sad Condition of the Gipsy Children                                277
The Hardships of the Gipsy Women                                   281
Efforts put forth in Hungary and other Countries                   282
Things made by the Gipsies                                         284
Pity for the Gipsies                                               285
What the State has done for the Thugs                              286
The Remedy                                                         287
My Reasons for Government Interference                             289



Illustrations.

                                                                  PAGE

Frontispiece.  Among the Gipsy Children.

A Gipsy Beauty                                                       1
A Gentleman Gipsy's Tent and his dog "Grab"                         42
A Gipsy's Home for Man and Wife and Six Children                    48
Gipsies Camping among the Heath                                     66
Gipsy Quarters,