obable some of them were
reduced to the necessity of having recourse to legitimate means of
subsistence, for within thirty years afterward, we have accounts of
Gypsies in Hungary being employed in the working of iron. This
occupation, appears from old writings, to have been a favourite one with
them. Bellonius also takes notice of its being so; and there is a record
of the Hungarian King Uladislaus, in the year 1496, cited by the Abbe
_Pray_ in his Annals; and by _Friedwalsky_ in his Mineralogy, wherein it
is ordered, "_That every __officer and subject_, _of whatever rank and
condition_, _do allow to Thomas Polgar_, _leader of twenty-five tents of
wandering Gypsies_, _free residence every where_, _and on no account to
molest him_, _or his people_; _because they had prepared military stores
for the Bishop Sigismund at Funfkirchen_."

GRELLMANN.

SECTION II.

Accounts of the Gypsies in various countries.

* * * * *

To propose means for improving the condition of Gypsies, before we have
informed ourselves of their real state, and what has been done for them,
would be as injudicious, as for a Physician to prescribe for a patient,
without being acquainted with the nature or extent of his disease, and
the means attempted for his cure. To form a just opinion, on the case of
the Gypsies, it appears necessary to ascertain their general habits, and
their mode of life.

From Pasquier's _Recherches de la France_, B. IV. C. 9, is selected the
following account of the Gypsies in that country: "On August 17th, 1427,
came to Paris, twelve Penitents, _Penanciers_, as they called themselves,
viz: a Duke, an Earl, and ten men, all on horse-back, and calling
themselves good christians. They were of Lower Egypt, and gave out, that
not long before, the Christians had subdued their country, and obliged
them to embrace christianity, on pain of being put to death. Those who
were baptized, were great Lords in their own country; and had a King and
Queen there. Some time after their conversion, the Saracens over-ran
their country, and obliged them to renounce christianity.

"When the Emperor of Germany, the King of Poland, and other Christian
Princes, heard of this; they fell upon them, and obliged the whole of
them, both great and small, to quit their country, and go to the Pope at
Rome; who enjoined them seven years' penance, to