Their marriages, which take place at a very eat ly age, are void of ceremony, and rather resemble temporary connections than a union for life. One of their own num ber performs the part of priest, and thus gives it the sanc tion of publicity. The youth then forsakes his ,father, along with his bride, and if capable of mechanical exer cises, he provides a.pair of tongs, a stone for an anvil, a hammer and a file, to continence the profession of smith, after the fashion of his predecessors. In India a scene of riot and intoxication precedes the establishment of the parties, and certain mystical ceremonies attend the mar riage. The men are extremely jealous of their wives, who are kept in strict subservience, and are in danger either of corporal punishment, or absolute dismissal, if they happen to displease them. Both sexes are extrava gantly attached to their offspring ; and, in some countries, it frequently happens that the readiest method of obtain ing payment of the father's debts is by arresting his chil dren. No education' is given to the young, unless it be instruction in obscenity, and in the art of stealing dexter ously. Infants of five or six months old arc supplied with spirits in India, and their mothers, while indulging a fatal propensity to the same beverage, suckle them until they have seen as many yoars. In Europe these people are remarkably healthy, and escape those epidemical mala dies which sweep away thousands around them; and even when they labour under dangerous diseases, they perti naciously refuse medical assistance. They make loud lamentations at funerals, and carry the body of the leader of their horde with great respect to the grave.
The language of the gypsies, though it has necessarily undergone many changes from their successive migrations, and the corruptions unavoidable from living among others, is peculiar to themselves in Europe; but it contains many affinities with a dialect of particular castes in Hin dostan. This fact receives the stronger corroboration, from having been first recognized by some young men, natives of the coast of Malabar, who were prosecuting their studies at Leyden. Numerous expressions were compared by them, and the same has since been carried to a greater extent by literary men residing in India. Etymologies are in general to be distrusted, for they fre quently lead to the most ludicrous and absurd mistakes; but we cannot deny, on the other hand, that the affinities of languages spoken by nations separated far asunder, may be found so strong and decided, that we shall find it difficult to deny them a common origin. On this subject Grellman remarks, " with respect to the construction and inflection of the two languages, they are evidently the same ; that of Hindostan has only two genders—the gyp sey the same. In the former, every word ending in j is feminine, all the rest are masculine ; in the latter it is the same. That makes the inflexions entirely by the article, and adds it to the end of the word ; the gypsey language proceeds exactly in the same manner. Finally, likewise, excepting a few trifling variations, this identical simila rity is evident in the pronouns." Many other instances of mutual correspondence may be produced, almost all tending to a similar purport, as may be seen at large in the writings of those authors who discuss this subject.
The gypsies of Europe acknowledge a chief or leader, who usually assumes the dignified title of wayvode or prince, duke, count, or lord, according to the countries frequented by them. The most exalted of these titles is given to one who presides over the gold washers in Hun gary, and the dignity is elective, but with some regard to descent from a former wayvode, and also to the stature and apparel of the individual chosen, who is commonly about the middle age. Ile is merely lifted up three times with the loudest acclamations, amidst a numerous con course of the tribe ; his wife is treated with similar Cere mony. while the dignity of both is recognized by all present. The titles assumed by these people are of an cient date : they appear in the fifteenth century ; and in the commencement of the sixteenth, King James IV. of Scotland grants a pass and recommendation to the king of Denmark, in favour of the tribe of Anthony Gawino, an Earl from little Egypt. Ile specifics that this misera ble train had visited Scotland by command of the Pope, and having conducted themselves properly, they wished to go to Denmark : He therefore solicited the extension of his royal uncle's munificence towards them ; adding, at the same time, that these wandering Egyptians must be better known to him, because the kingdom of Denmark was nearer to Egypt ! In Hindostan, the gypsies have a chief who has very little direct authority over them, but he controuls the establishment of sets who profess dra matic exhibitions, and draw a tribute from their profits. They even acknowledge a rude judicial procedure before a court of five persons, or a general assembly, and any individual, for petty offences, has to pass the ordeal of applying a hot iron to his tongue. If conviction follows, the culprit is generally sentenced to pay a fine in liquor, of which his judges participate ; or, as a mark of the highest ignominy, he_may be condemned to have his nose rubbed on the ground.
Almost in every country throughout the globe, the gyp sies have long been the objects of reproach and detestation. From their first appearance, they have been wandering outcasts and universally refused a settlement in towns, or in their immediate neighbourhood. The dislike manifested towards them, though attended with less bar barous consequences, may be assimilated to the detestation which has accompanied the Jews since the destruction of Jerusalem. Those atrocious cruelties, however, that stain the annals of nations, cannot with confidence be charged on this nomadic tribe. If their crimes are numerous, they arc of a petty description, directed against the property more than the persons of their fellow creatures. The gypsies have no where manifested virtuous principles, or any desire to excel ; the depravity of the parents passes to the children, who inherit, along with it, the detestation of the people among whom they seek an abode. In foreign states, many attempts have been made to reclaim them, but there, as well as in our own island, they have been for the most part indiscriminately condemned to exile. Nei ther have the politic and patriotic views of the governments, thus directed, been attended with the success which they merited.