itorious class, in passing over
a bridge, for example, at Perth, which is not demanded from a
well-dressed person, nor from Zingany, who have frequently no dress at
all, and whose _insouciance_ stands in striking contrast with the
trembling submission of the peasants. The Gipsy, wherever you find him,
is an incomprehensible being, but nowhere more than in Hungary, where in
the midst of slavery he is free, though apparently one step lower than
the lowest slave. The habits of the Hungarian Gipsies are abominable;
their hovels appear sinks of the vilest poverty and filth; their dress is
at best rags; their food frequently of the vilest carrion, and
occasionally, if report be true, still worse: thus they live in filth, in
rags, in nakedness. The women are fortune-tellers. Of course both sexes
are thieves of the first water. They roam where they list."

The "Chronicle of Bologna," printed about the year 1422, says:--"And of
those who went to have their fortunes told few there were who had not
their purses stolen, or some portion of their garments cut away. Their
women also traversed the city six or eight together, entering the houses
of the citizens, and diverting them with idle talk while one of the party
secured whatever she could lay her hands upon. In the shops they
pretended to buy, but in fact stole. They were amongst the cleverest
thieves that the world contained. Be it noted that they were the most
hideous crew ever seen in these parts. They were lean and black, and ate
like pigs. The women wore mantles flung upon one shoulder, with only a
vest underneath." Forli, who wrote about them about the same time as the
"Chronicle of Bologna," does not seem to have liked them, and says they
were not "even civilised, and resembling rather savage and untamed
beasts."

A writer describes a visit to a Gipsy's tent as follows:--"We were in a
wigwam which afforded us but miserable shelter from the inclemency of the
season. The storm raged without; the tempest roared in the open country;
the wind blew with violence, and whistled through the fissures of the
cabin; the rain fell in torrents, and prevented us from continuing our
route. Our host was an Indian with sparkling and intelligent eyes, clad
with a certain elegance, and wrapped majestically in a large fur cloak.
Seated close to the fire, which cast a reddish gleam through the interior
of the wigwam, he felt himself all at once seized with an irresistible
desire t