GYPSIES
1041
GYPSIES
practising Persian customs. Others liave referred them variouslj' to Tartary, Nubia, Mesopotamia, As- syria Etiiiopia, Morocco, etc. ; but the account wliich the Gypsies, at their appearance in Western Europe, gave of themselves, claimed "Little Egypt" as the orifinal home of the race, whence they were driven in consequence of the Moslem conquests. According to one version of the story, pope Martin V imposed on them as a penance for their renunciation of the true faith, a life of wandering and an inhibition of the use of a bed for seven years; according to another version, God himself had doomed them to this vaga- bond life because their forefathers had refused hospi- tality to Joseph and Mary when they took refuge in Egypt with the infant Saviour — "a notion which has, curiously enough, been partly revived in our own da}' by Roberts, with this difference only, that he proves them, from the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, to be the descendants of the ancient Egyp- tians, and their wanderings to be the predicted pun- ishment of the various iniquities of their forefathers" (Chambers). We owe to the once-prevalent belief that they were from Egypt the origin of the English term Gypsies and the Spanish Gitanos. The results of the investigations made within the last hundred years in the fields of comparative philology and eth- nology prove beyond reasonable grounds of doubt that the theories above named are erroneous, and that we must look to India, "the nursing home of nations" (telhis gentium nntrir), as also the fatherland of the Gypsies. It is now the almost, if not entirely univer- sally received opinion that they came to Europe from Hindustan, either impelled l)y the ravages of Tamer- lane, or, more probably, at an earlier date, in quest of fresh fields for the enjoj'ment of their vagabond life, and the exercise of their propensity for theft and de- ception. This view of tlieir origin rests upon their physiological affinities with Asiatic types of men, as well as on the striking resemblances between the Gypsy language and Hindustanee, and the similarity of their habits and modes of life to those of many rov- ing tribes of India, especially of the Nuts or Bazegurs, who are styled the Gypsies of India, and are counter- parts of those in Europe, both in other respects and also in having no peculiar religion, since tliej' have never adopted the \i'Ofship of Brahma. The Nuts are tliought b}' some to be an aboriginal race, prior even to tlie Hindus. Another theorj', which seeks to rec- oncile the Gyps}' statement of an Egyptian origin with the clear evidences of a Hindu one, would find their ancestors in the mixed multitude that went out from Egypt with Moses (see Exod. xii, 38 ; Numb, xi, 4 ; Nell, xiii, 3), and who, according to this view, passed onward to India and settled there, and from their de- scendants, subsequent!}', bands of Gypsies migrated to Europe, probably at different times and by different routes (see Simson).
The earliest supposed reference to Gypsies in Euro- pean literature is contained in a German paraphrase of Genesis, written about A.D. 1122 l)y an Austrian monk, in which mention is made of " Ishmaelites and braziers, who go peddling through the wide world, having neither house nor home, cheating people with their tricks, and deceiving mankind, but not openly." In the early part of the loth century they had estab- lished themselves in Hungary and Wallachia, and be- gan to spread over Western Europe in considerable numbers ; one of their bands, which appeared at Basle in 1422, numbered, according to the old Swiss histo- rian Stumpf, 14,000. They were under a kind of feu- dal leadership of so-called dukes, knights, etc., and, telling the story of their expulsion from Egypt and penal pilgrimage, sought to excite sympathy. At first they were well received as Christian pilgrims per- forvniug their allotted penance ; but tlie deception was soon found out, and their thefts and impositions on the pre(lulitv of the people soon caused them to be regard- Ill.— U u u
ed as nuisances and pests to society. Very stringent, even barbarously cruel laws were enacted, and in most places enforced against them, without, however, extirpating them, or seriously diminishing their num- bers. After the middle of tlie 18th century more hu- mane views in regard to them obtained, and measures were employed to improve their social and moral con- dition with some degree of success. A society for their improvement was formed at Southampton, Eng- land, in 1832, by the Rev. George Crabbc, and a school has been established at Farnham, in Dorsetshire, " in which Gypsy children are instructed in the knowledge of Scripture, where they are at the same time trained for service and taught various trades." The number of tiiem who adopt more settled modes of life is in- creasing, according to Simson, who further states that Gypsies have been found occupying honorable and re- SDonsible positions in public as well as private life, and reckons the celebrated John Banyan among Gyp- sies. Grellman estimated the number of Gypsies in Europe at 700,000 to 800,000. Simson (p. 493) con- siders that estimate far too low, and thinks there are at least 4,000,000 in Europe and America. The Gyp- sies, as a race, have no religion, and, indeed, arc usu- ally described as destitute of religious sentiments or ideas, their language containing no word signifying God, soul, or immortality. But the sacrifice of horses, which, Simson asserts, formerly constituted a part of the Gypsy marriage ceremonies, and is still a neces- sary part of a valid divorce ceremony, not only in- volves a religious idea, but presents a coincidence with Hindu mythological conceptions. See Ganges. They have, for policy's sake, often conformed, so far as nec- essary, to the religion of the country in which they roved, but Velasquez says sarcastically, " The Gyp- sies' church was built of lard, and the dogs ate it." In regard to their morals, little that is commendatory can be said. They are described as squalid, thievish, treacherous, and revengeful, and their most strongly- marked virtue, viz. a strict regard for the corporeal chastity (lachd) of their women, is sadly disfigured by the permission allowed them to employ the grossest licentiousness in manner merely in order to allure others to vice for the sake of gain as procuresses. Some of them show great aptitude for music, and the choirs of IHoscow owe their chief excellence to them, and among the Hungarian Gypsies arc found the most celebrated violinists of that country. They furnish a field for the display of the religious activities of this age, full of difficulties, yet provocative of effort, and Christians should zealously labor and pray for the con- version of this race, assured that its evangelization and consequent moral and material elevation will bo one of the grandest of the victories of the Gospel over degradation and sin promised to the Church of Christ in its conflicts here.