The Author could have enlarged the present work very considerably, had he detailed all the facts with which he is well acquainted. His object however was to furnish a work which should be concise and cheap, that he might be the means of exciting among his countrymen an energetic benevolence towards this despised people; for it cannot be denied that many thousands of them have never given the condition of the Gipsies a single thought. Such a work is now presented to the public. Whether the author has succeeded, will be best known to those persons who have the most correct and extensive information relative to the unhappy race in question. Should he be the honoured instrument of exciting in any breast the same feelings of pity, mercy, love and zeal, for these poor English heathens, as is felt and carried into useful plans for the heathens abroad, by Christians of all denominations, he will then be certain that, by the blessing of the Redeemer, the confidence of the Gipsies will be gained, and that they will be led to that Saviour who has said, Whoever cometh unto me, I will in nowise cast him out. CHAP. IX. Plans suggested for the Reformation of the Gipsies, continued... CHAP. X. Further Account of encouraging Interviews with Gipsies, and interesting Correspondence CHAP. XI. Interesting Particulars of the Gipsies, related by a CHAP. XII. Visits to Gipsy Camps, including an Anecdote of his late beloved Majesty George the Third Page 128 116 165 176 THE GIPSIES' ADVOCATE. CHAP. I. On the Origin of the Gipsies. Or the origin of these wanderers of the human race the learned are not agreed; for we have no authentic records of their first emigrations. Some suppose them to be the descendants of Israel, and many others that they are of Egyptian origin. But the evidence adduced in confirmation of these opinions appears very inconclusive. We cannot discover more than fifty Hebrew words in the language they speak, and they have not a ceremony peculiar to the Hebrew nation. They have not many words of Coptic, and but few of Persian derivation; and they are deemed as strangers in Egypt to the present time. They are now found in many countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa, in all of which they speak a language peculiar to themselves. On the continent of America alone are there none of them found. Grellman informs us that there were great numbers in Lorraine, and that they dwelt in its forests, before the French Revolution B |