mned to die. His life was afterwards spared by
other facts having been discovered and made known to the judge, after he
had left the city.

The Gipsies in this country have for centuries been accused of
child-stealing; and therefore it is not to be wondered at, that, when
children have been missing, the Gipsies should be taxed with having
stolen them. About thirty years since, some parents who had lost a
child, applied to a man at Portsmouth, well known in those days, by the
name of Payne, or Pine, as an astrologer, wishing to know from him what
was become of it. He told them _to search the Gipsy tents for twenty
miles round_. The distressed parents employed constables, who made
diligent search in every direction to that distance, but to no purpose;
the child was not to be found in their camps. It was however soon
afterwards discovered, drowned in one of its father's pits, who was a
tanner. Thus was this pretended astrologer exposed to the ridicule of
those who but a short time before foolishly looked on him as an oracle.

On another occasion the same accusation was brought against the Gipsies,
and proved to be false. The child of a widow at Portsmouth was lost, and
after every search was made on board the ships in the harbour, and at
Spithead, and the ponds dragged in the neighbourhood, to no effect, it
was concluded that the Gipsies had stolen him. The boy was found a few
years afterwards, at Kingston-upon-Thames, apprenticed to a chimney
sweeper. He had been enticed away by a person who had given him
sweet-meats; but not by a Gipsy.

I may be allowed here to say a word about this boy's mother. She was a
good and pious woman, and had known great trials. Her husband was
drowned in her presence but a short time before she lost her son in the
mysterious way mentioned; and before he was heard of, she was removed to
the enjoyment of a better world. Her death was a very happy one, for it
took place while she was engaged in public worship. _Many are the
afflictions of the righteous_, _but the Lord delivereth them out of them
all_.

Instances have been known of house-breakers leaving some of their stolen
goods near the tents of the Gipsies; and these being picked up by the
children, and found upon them, have been the cause of much unjust
suffering among them. The grandfather of three little orphans now under
the care of the Southampton Committee, was charged with stealing a horse,
and was condemned and execu