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THE GIPSIES’ ADVOCATE; or, OBSERVATIONS on the ORIGIN, CHARACTER, MANNERS, AND HABITS of The English Gipsies:
THE GIPSIES’ ADVOCATE; or, OBSERVATIONS on the ORIGIN, CHARACTER, MANNERS, AND HABITS of The English Gipsies:
to which are added , many interesting anecdotes , on the SUCCESS THAT HAS ATTENDED THE PLANS OF SEVERAL BENEVOLENT INDIVIDUALS, WHO ANXIOUSLY DESIRE THEIR CONVERSION TO GOD. BY JAMES CRABB, author of “ the penitent magdalen .” “The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost.” “Let that mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus.” LONDON: seeley , fleet street ; westley and davis , ave-maria-lane ; hatchard , piccadilly ; lindsay and co. , south street , andrew street , edinburgh ; c
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PREFACE.
PREFACE.
The Author of the following pages has been urged by numerous friends, and more particularly by his own conscience, to present to the Christian Public a brief account of the people called Gipsies, now wandering in Britain. This, to many readers, may appear inexpedient; as Grellman and Hoyland have written largely on this neglected part of the human family. But it should be recollected, that there are thousands of respectable and intelligent christians, who never have read, and never may read ei
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CHAP. I. On the Origin of the Gipsies.
CHAP. I. On the Origin of the Gipsies.
Of the Origin of these wanderers of the human race, the learned are not agreed; for we have no authentic records of their first emigrations. Some suppose them to be the descendants of Israel, and many others, that they are of Egyptian origin. But the evidence adduced in confirmation of these opinions appears very inconclusive. We cannot discover more than fifty Hebrew words in the language they speak, and they have not a ceremony peculiar to the Hebrew nation. They have not a word of Coptic,
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CHAP. II. Observations on the Character, Manners, and Habits of the English Gipsies.
CHAP. II. Observations on the Character, Manners, and Habits of the English Gipsies.
The origin of this people is by no means of so much importance as the knowledge of their present character, manners and habits, with the view to the devising of proper plans for the improvement of their condition, and their conversion to christianity: for to any one who desires to love his neigbour as himself, their origin will be but a secondary consideration. Fifty years ago the Gipsies had their regular journeys, and often remained one or two months in a place, when they worked at their trade
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CHAP. III. The Character, Manners and Habits of the English Gipsies, continued.
CHAP. III. The Character, Manners and Habits of the English Gipsies, continued.
From the mode of living among the Gipsies, the parents are often necessitated to leave their tents in the morning, and seldom return to them before night. Their children are then left in or about their solitary camps, having many times no adult with them; the elder children then have the care of the younger. Those who are old enough gather wood for fuel; nor is stealing it thought a crime. By the culpable neglect of the parents in this respect, the children are often exposed to accidents by f
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CHAP. IV. The Character, Manners, and Habits of the English Gipsies, continued.
CHAP. IV. The Character, Manners, and Habits of the English Gipsies, continued.
Among this poor and destitute people, instances of great guilt, depravity and misery are too common; nor can it be otherwise expected, while they are destitute of the knowledge of salvation in a crucified and ascended Saviour. One poor Gipsy, who had wandered in a state of wretchedness, bordering on despair, for nearly forty years, had not in all that time, heard of the Name which is above every name ; for there is salvation in no other ; till in his last days some Christian directed him to the
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CHAP. V. Further Account of the English Gipsies.
CHAP. V. Further Account of the English Gipsies.
It has been the lot of Gipsies in all countries to be despised, persecuted, hated, and have the vilest things said about them. In many cases they have too much merited the odium which they have experienced in continental Europe; but certainly they are not deserving of universal and unqualified contempt and hatred in this nation. The dislike they have to rule and order has led many of them to maim themselves by cutting off a finger, that they might not serve in either the army or the navy: and
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CHAP. VI. Further Account of the English Gipsies.
CHAP. VI. Further Account of the English Gipsies.
Many persons are of opinion in reference to the Gipsies, that, if all the parishes were alike severe in forcing them from their retreats, they would soon find their way into towns. But if this were the case, what advantage would they derive from it? In large towns, in their present ignorant and depraved state, would they not be still more wicked? They would change their condition only from bad to worse, unless they were treated better than they now are, and could be properly employed; but fro
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CHAP. VII. Of the formation of the Southampton Committee, and the success that has attended its endeavours.
CHAP. VII. Of the formation of the Southampton Committee, and the success that has attended its endeavours.
Although the Gipsies, on account of their unsettled habits, their disposition to evil practices, and that ignorance of true religion, which is inseparably connected with a life remote from all the forms of external worship, and from the influence of religious society, may be said to be in a most lamentably wretched state; yet is their condition not desperate. They are rational beings, and have many feelings honourable to human nature. They are not as the heathens of other countries, addicted t
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CHAP. VIII. Of the plans pursued by the Southampton Committee, and the success which has attended them, continued.
CHAP. VIII. Of the plans pursued by the Southampton Committee, and the success which has attended them, continued.
Sixteen reformed Gipsies are now living at Southampton, one of whom is the aged Gipsy whose history has been published by a lady. [72] There are also her brother and four of his children, her sister, who has been a wanderer for more than fifty years, and her daughter, three orphans, and a boy who has been given up to the Committee by his mother, a woman and her three children, and the young woman before mentioned, who has, since her reformation, lost her two children by the measles. In additio
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CHAP. IX. Of the plans pursued by the Southampton Committee, and the success which has attended them, continued.
CHAP. IX. Of the plans pursued by the Southampton Committee, and the success which has attended them, continued.
A gipsy woman, of whose reformation we have already taken some notice, having gone to solicit the assistance of the parish to which one of her children belonged, met with many difficulties and troubles. She was not at this time destitute of the knowledge of religion. She had learned to read, and had become acquainted with the Scriptures, at an adult school, and by attending at a place of worship; and these instructions were not thrown away on her; for although she was frequently invited to eat
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CHAP. X. Some Remarks on the Sin of Fortune-telling.
CHAP. X. Some Remarks on the Sin of Fortune-telling.
The author will be pardoned, he is willing to hope, by the kind reader, if he digress in one or two paragraphs in this part of his work, purposely to expose the great wickedness of prognostication and fortune-telling; as the whole is not only unsound, foolish, absurd and false, but is most peremptorily forbidden in the Scriptures. In the law of Moses it is commanded, that there should not be found among the people, any that used divination, or that was an observer of the times, or that was an en
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CHAP. XI. Plans suggested to the pious and benevolent for promoting a Reformation among the Gipsies.
CHAP. XI. Plans suggested to the pious and benevolent for promoting a Reformation among the Gipsies.
As no event happens without a cause, so no good is accomplished without means. It is in the power of man as an instrument, frequently to make his fellow-creatures either happy or miserable. And it may safely be asserted, that much of the ignorance, depravity, and consequent misery found in the world, are occasioned by the want of a united and persevering application of the energies of Christians, to the reformation of the most debased classes of Society. This backwardness to perform that whic
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CHAP. XII. Plans suggested to the pious and benevolent, for promoting a Reformation among the Gipsies, continued.
CHAP. XII. Plans suggested to the pious and benevolent, for promoting a Reformation among the Gipsies, continued.
It is usual, in Southampton, for a few pence to be given to a child who informs any of the members of the Committee when a family of Gipsies begin to erect their tents on the common, that they may immediately be visited by our Reader. This may be done elsewhere. It may be well, too, to buy a basket, or any other article they may honestly have to dispose of, when opportunity offers; but it is not well to bestow money on them, unless in sickness or want. When their wives are confined, a favoura
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CHAP. XIII. Further Account of encouraging interviews with Gipsies, and interesting Correspondence.
CHAP. XIII. Further Account of encouraging interviews with Gipsies, and interesting Correspondence.
The author laments that he has passed so many years of his life wholly careless of the Gipsies of this country. Having travelled many times through England, he has had frequent opportunities of seeing them. But, till now, he looked on their conversion as a hopeless case, and nearly wholly neglected them. He has already stated the manner his attention was first roused to consider their condition and necessities more particularly, and he reflects with pleasure on the kindness of Providence in l
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CHAP. XIV. Interesting particulars of the Gipsies, related by a Clergyman.
CHAP. XIV. Interesting particulars of the Gipsies, related by a Clergyman.
The following account is selected from a tract published in York, in 1822, detailing several interesting visits that a Yorkshire clergyman made to some of the camps of that wandering and neglected people. Were the author of the little book known, application would have been made to him, for permission to reprint these extracts. But it is hoped he will excuse the liberty taken, as the design is to induce other clergymen and ministers to go and do likewise . This clergyman, having fallen in wit
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CHAP. XV. Interesting visits to Gipsy camps, including an Anecdote of his late beloved majesty, george the third.
CHAP. XV. Interesting visits to Gipsy camps, including an Anecdote of his late beloved majesty, george the third.
The following account is extracted from the Home Missionary Magazine for June, 1823. March , 1823. “Sir, “If the following facts should afford any encouragement to the benevolent intentions of the Home Missionary Society, which has, for one of its objects, the improvement of the state of the poor Gipsies , my end in relating them will be amply answered. “On Saturday evening, in the month of October, the narrator followed several Gipsy families. Being arrived at the place of their encampment, h
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CHAP. XVI. Further interesting Correspondence.
CHAP. XVI. Further interesting Correspondence.
“Dear Sir, “In answer to your inquiries, I have to say, that within my knowledge, little or nothing has as yet been accomplished for the Gipsies. The Home Missionaries have frequently paid flying visits to their camps, and prayed, read, preached and distributed tracts. In all cases they have been treated with much respect, and their labour has been repaid with the most sincere marks of gratitude. But I never met with very warm support in carrying on this object, but was often exposed to some
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CHAP. XVII. Concluding Remarks.
CHAP. XVII. Concluding Remarks.
Had the author availed himself of all the facts relating to the addresses which have been given in different places by clergymen, home missionaries, and other ministers, and published all the letters of an interesting nature addressed to himself and the Southampton Committee, in reference to the Gipsies, together with the gratitude they have shown for such Christian attentions, it might have gratified many readers; but these pages would thereby have been increased to too great a number. But, bef
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APPENDIX.
APPENDIX.
Since the Gipsies’ Advocate was put to press, the author, as might naturally be expected on a subject so interesting as the conversion of the Gipsies, has had many other pleasing communications. From his Bristol correspondents he has been favoured with several of delightful interest, in reference to a small colony in that neighbourhood; and these state that several of the Gipsies not only begin to evidence an aversion to their former life, but increase in seriousness, and in habits of industry.
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LIST OF AUTHORS WHO HAVE WRITTEN ON THE GIPSIES.
LIST OF AUTHORS WHO HAVE WRITTEN ON THE GIPSIES.
H. M. G. Grellman’s Dissertation on the Gipsies . Translated by M. Rapier. Hoyland’s Survey of the Gipsies . Twiss’s Travels in Spain . Swinburne’s Travels in Italy . Dr C. D. Clark’s Travels in Russia . Capt. David Richardson . Referred to in the seventh volume of Asiatic Researches . Sir Thomas Brown’s Vulgar Errors . While these are the leading authors, whose works are either composed in, or translated into English, it may impress us with the importance by which the Gipsies have been viewed
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ERRATA.
ERRATA.
Page Line 31, 24, For ‘would be in a town,’ read , ‘would be in, in a town.’ 55, 30, For ‘dispatching,’ read , ‘despatching.’ baker and son , printers , southampton ....
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