sh me to give you some account of the Gipsies, I gladly
comply with your request. I am a poor individual of that wandering
race, called Gipsies; yet, by the mercies of God, I was _rescued_
from that wandering life. In my _youthful days_ I entered into the
Wiltshire militia, when it pleased God to bring me under the
preaching of the Gospel at Exeter; and it was the means of awakening
my conscience. _From that time I have often been led to bepity the
sad state of the people whereof I made a part_. I have given them
the best instruction that lay in my power, and by reading the
Scriptures to them; but with very little visible effect for many
years. Neither did I think, till lately, that there were any of them
in the world, that cared for their souls, till the year 1827; when I
was quite _overcome with love to God_, _to find that the Lord had put
it into the hearts of his dear people at Southampton_, _to pity them
in their forlorn condition_; and now wonder not if I am at a loss for
words to speak the feeling of my heart; for, since that time I have
seen _seventeen or eighteen_; _nay_, _from twenty to thirty_; _nay_,
_from forty to fifty attend divine worship_; and _add_ to this the
many happy hours I have spent with them in their tents near
Southampton, in reading and praying with them; and some of them that
six months ago would not stay in their camp on my approach to them,
but would go away swearing, will now receive me gladly, and produce a
Bible or a Testament, which _had_ been given to them, and desire me
to read it to them, saying, this book was given to me by our dear
friends in Southampton. But, _dreadful to relate_, I find some
children, _from three years old to fifteen_, who never _said a prayer
to their God_; who never heard any one pray, and who _was_ never in a
church or chapel, nor have heard of the name of Christ, but in
blaspheming; and these are the inhabitants of England! Oh, England!
England! they are living and dying without God: no wonder if they
draw down the divine vengeance of Heaven on the land!

"Many of these poor _ignorant mortals_ do not know that they are
doing wrong by fortune-telling; and being informed that it is
displeasing to God, and ruinous to their own souls, they will say, it
is _of no service for me to give attendance to religion_, for I am