to their
extermination, by the hang-man, to their being reclaimed by the religious
zeal and fervour of the minister, and to their improvement by the
artificial means of poetry, fiction, and romance. First, the persecution
dealt out to the Gipsies in this, as well as other countries, during a
period of several centuries, although to a large extent brought upon
themselves by their horrible system of lying and deception, neither
exterminated them nor improved their habits; but, on the contrary, they
increased and spread like mushrooms; the oftener they were trampled upon
the more they seemed to thrive; the more they were hated, hunted, and
driven into hiding-places the oftener these sly, fortune-telling, lying
foxes would be seen sneaking across our path, ready to grab our chickens
and young turkeys as opportunities presented themselves. Second, that
when stern justice said "it is enough," persecution hanging down its
hands and revenge drooping her head, a few noble-hearted men, filled with
missionary zeal, took up the cause of the Gipsies for a period of nearly
forty years in various forms and ways at the end of the last and the
commencement of the present century. Except in a few isolated cases,
they also failed in producing any noticeable change in either the moral,
social, or religious condition of the Gipsies, and with the death of
Hoyland, Borrow, Crabb, Roberts, and others, died the last flicker of a
flickering light that was to lead these poor, deluded, benighted heathen
wanderers upon a road to usefulness, honesty, uprightness, and industry.
Third, that on the decline of religious zeal, fervour, and philanthropy
on behalf of the Gipsies more than forty years ago the spasmodic efforts
of poets, novelists, and dramatists, in a variety of forms of fiction and
romance, came to the front, to lead them to the goal through a lot of
questionable by-lanes, queer places, and artificial lights, the result
being that these melodramatic personages have left the Gipsies in a more
pitiable condition than they were before they took up their cause,
although they, in doing so, put "two faces under one hat," blessing and
cursing, smiling and frowning, all in one breath, praising their faults
and sins, and damning their _few_ virtues. In fact, to such a degree
have fiction writers painted the black side of a Gipsy's life, habits,
and character in glowing colours that, to take another 20,000 men, women,
and children out of our back