I have
found them more cheerful, polite, and grateful than the lower orders of
other races in Europe or America; and I believe that where their respect
and sympathy are secured, they are quite as upright. Like all people who
are regarded as outcasts, they are very proud of being trusted, and under
this influence will commit the most daring acts of honesty. And with
this I commend my book to the public. Should it be favourably received,
I will add fresh reading to it; in any case I shall at least have the
satisfaction of knowing that I did my best to collect material
illustrating a very curious and greatly-neglected subject. It is merely
as a collection of material that I offer it; let those who can use it, do
what they will with it.

If I have not given in this book a sketch of the history of the Gipsies,
or statistics of their numbers, or accounts of their social condition in
different countries, it is because nearly everything of the kind may be
found in the works of George Borrow and Walter Simson, which are in all
respectable libraries, and may be obtained from any bookseller.

I would remark to any impatient reader for mere entertainment, who may
find fault with the abundance of Rommany or Gipsy language in the
following pages, that _the principal object of the Author was to collect
and preserve such specimens of a rapidly-vanishing language_, and that
the title-page itself indirectly indicates such an object. I have,
however, invariably given with the Gipsy a translation immediately
following the text in plain English--at times very plain--in order that
the literal meaning of words may be readily apprehended. I call especial
attention to this fact, so that no one may accuse me of encumbering my
pages with Rommany.

While writing this book, or in fact after the whole of the first part was
written, I passed a winter in Egypt; and as that country is still
supposed by many people to be the fatherland of the Gipsies, and as very
little is known relative to the Rommany there, I have taken the liberty
of communicating what I could learn on the subject, though it does not
refer directly to the Gipsies of England. Those who are interested in
the latter will readily pardon the addition.

There are now in existence about three hundred works on the Gipsies, but
of the entire number comparatively few contain fresh material gathered
from the Rommany themselves. Of late years the first philologists of
Europe have ta