ole of them are as well off as all this. Smith tells us that
there is not one in twenty who can show one pound, much less twenty. A
Gipsy named Boswell travelled about in the Midland counties with a large
van pretty well stocked with his wares, and everybody, especially the
Gipsies, thought he was a rich man; but in course of time it came to pass
that he died, which event revealed the fact that he was not worth
half-a-crown. No class of men and women under the sun has been more
wicked than the Gipsies, and no class has prospered less. By their evil
deeds for centuries they have brought themselves under the curse of God
and the lash of the law wherever they have been.

"To our foes we leave a shame! disgrace can never die;
Their sons shall blush to hear a name still blackened with a lie."

Their miserable condition, the persecution, misrepresentation, and the
treatment they are receiving are due entirely to their own
evil-doing--lying, cheating, robbing, and murder bring their own reward.
The Gipsies of to-day are drinking the dregs of the cups they had mixed
for others. The sly wink of the eye intended to touch the heart of the
innocent and simple has proved to be the electric spark that has reached
heaven, and brought down the vengeance of Jehovah upon their heads. The
lies proceeding from their bad hearts have turned out to be a swarm of
wasps settling down upon their own pates; their stolen goods have been
smitten with God's wrath; the horses, mules, and donkeys in their
unlawful possession are steeds upon which the Gipsies are riding to hell;
and the fortune-telling cards are burning the fingers of the Gipsy women;
in one word, the curse of God is following them in every footstep on
account of their present sins, and not on account of their past
traditions. Immediately they alter their course of life, and "cease to
do evil and learn to do well"--no matter whether they are Jews or
barbarians, bond or free--the blessing of God will follow, and they will
begin to thrive and prosper.

Smoking and eating tobacco adds another leaden weight to those already
round their neck, and it helps to bow them down to the ground--a short
black pipe, the ranker and oftener it has been used the more delicious
will be the flavour, and the better they will like it. When their
"baccy" is getting "run out," the short pipe is handed round to the
company of Gipsies squatting upon the ground, without any delicacy of
feeling,