The Project Gutenberg eBook of Gipsy Life, by George SmithThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and withalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away orre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License includedwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.orgTitle: Gipsy Lifebeing an account of our Gipsies and their childrenAuthor: George SmithRelease Date: April 9, 2009 [eBook #28548]Language: EnglishCharacter set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIPSY LIFE***Transcribed from the 1880 Haughton and Co. edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.orgBook coverFrontispiece: Among the Gipsy childrenGIPSY LIFE:BEING AN ACCOUNTofOUR GIPSIES AND THEIR CHILDREN.withSUGGESTIONS FOR THEIR IMPROVEMENT.byGEORGE 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 tome on the condition that the picture occupies the position it does in this book; and also to the proprietor of the IllustratedLondon News for the blocks to help forward my work, the pictures of which appeared in his journal in November andDecember 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 ...
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Gipsy Life, by George Smith
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Gipsy Life
being an account of our Gipsies and their children
Author: George Smith
Release Date: April 9, 2009 [eBook #28548]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIPSY LIFE***
Transcribed from the 1880 Haughton and Co. edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
Book cover
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 30th, 1880.INDEX.
Part I.
Rambles in gipsydom.
page
Origin of the Gipsies and their Names 1
8Article in The Daily News
The Travels of the Gipsies 9
Acts of Parliament relating to the Gipsies 16
23Article in The Edinburgh Review
,, 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
51Letter to The Standard and Daily Chronicle
Leading Article in The Standard 53
59Correspondence in The Standard
Mr. Leland’s Letter, &c., &c. 60
My Reply 66
69Leicester Free Press
70Article in The Derby Daily Telegraph
„ The Figaro 73
75Letter in The Daily News
Mr. Gorrie’s Letter 78
My Reply 79
82Leading Article in The Standard
May’s Aldershot Advertiser 87
90Article in Hand and Heart
91Article in The Illustrated London News
Leading Article in The Daily News 92
Social Science Congress Paper 95
102Article in Birmingham Daily Mail
106 „ The Weekly Dispatch
„ The Weekly Times 109117 „ The Croydon Chronicle
„ Primitive Methodist 119
121 „ Illustrated London News
„ The Quiver 126
127Letter in Daily News and Chronicle
129Article in Christian World
,, Sunday School Chronicle 132
134 „ Unitarian Herald
„ 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 243Gipsy 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 289Illustrations.
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, Mary Place 76
A Farmer’s Pig that does not like a Gipsy’s Tent 96
Gipsies’ Winter Quarters, Latimer Road 108
A Gipsy Tent for Two Men, their Wives, and Eleven Children, and in which “Deliverance” was born 118
A Gipsy Knife Grinder’s Home 122
A Gipsy Girl Washing Clothes 132
A Respectable Gipsy and his Family “on the Road” 170
A Bachelor Gipsy’s Bed-room 174
A Gipsy’s Van, near Notting Hill 192
A Fortune-telling Gipsy enjoying her Pipe 222
Inside a Christian Gipsy’s Van—Mrs. Simpson’s 228
Inside a Gipsy Fortune-teller’s Van 236
Gipsy Fortune tellers Cooking their Evening Meal 248
Outside a Christian Gipsy’s Van 272
Four Little Gipsies sitting for the Artist 277
A Top Bed-room in a Gipsy’s Van 281
A Gipsy beauty who can neither read nor writePart I.—Rambles in Gipsydom.
The origin of the Gipsies, as to who they are; when they became regarded as a peculiar race of wandering, wastrel,
ragamuffin vagabonds; the primary object they had in view in setting out upon their shuffling, skulking, sneaking, dark
pilgrimage; whether they were driven at the point of the sword, or allured onwards by the love of gold, designing dark
deeds of plunder, cruelty, and murder, or anxious to seek a haven of rest; the route by which they travelled, whether over
hill and dale, by the side of the river and valley, skirting the edge of forest and dell, delighting in the jungle, or pitching their
tent in the desert, following the shores of the ocean, or topping the mountains; whether they were Indians, Persians,
Egyptians, Ishmaelites, Roumanians, Peruvians, Turks, Hungarians, Spaniards, or Bohemians; the end of their
destination; their religious views—if any—their habits and modes of life have been during the last three or four centuries
wrapped, surrounded, and encircled in mystery, according to some writers who have been studying the Gipsy character.
They have been a theme upon which a “bookworm” could gloat, a chest of secret drawers into which the curious delight
to pry, a difficult problem in Euclid for the mathematician to solve; and an unreadable book for the author. A
conglomeration of languages for the scholar, a puzzle for the historian, and a subject for the novelist. These are points
which it is not the object of this book to attempt to clear up and settle; all it aims at, as in the case of my “Cry of the
Children from the Brick-yards of England,” and “Our Canal Population,” is, to tell “A Dark Chapter in the Annals of the
Poor,” little wanderers, houseless, homeless, and friendless in our midst. At the same time it will be necessary to take a
glimpse at some of the leading features of the historical part of their lives in order to get, to some extent, a knowledge of
the “little ones” whose pitiable case I have ventured to take in hand.
Paint the words “mystery” and “secrecy” upon any man’s house, and you at once make him a riddle for the cunning,
envious, and crafty to try to solve; and this has been the case with the Gipsies for generations, and the consequence has
been, they have trotted out kings, queens, princes, bishops, nobles, ladies and gentlemen of all grad