ngs or hordes of gypsies which infest the south
and west of England, and come round in their circuit two or three times
in the year. One of these tribes calls itself by the noble name of
Stanley, of which I have nothing particular to say; but the other is
distinguished by an appellative somewhat remarkable. As far as their
harsh gibberish can be understood, they seem to say that the name of
their clan is Curleople; now the termination of this word is apparently
Grecian, and as Mezeray and the gravest historians all agree that these
vagrants did certainly migrate from Egypt and the East, two or three
centuries ago, and so spread by degrees over Europe, may not this family-
name, a little corrupted, be the very name they brought with them from
the Levant? It would be matter of some curiosity, could one meet with an
intelligent person among them, to inquire whether, in their jargon, they
still retain any Greek words; the Greek radicals will appear in hand,
foot, head, water, earth, etc. It is possible that amidst their cant and
corrupted dialect many mutilated remains of their native language might
still be discovered.

With regard to those peculiar people, the gypsies, one thing is very
remarkable, and especially as they came from warmer climates; and that
is, that while other beggars lodge in barns, stables, and cow-houses,
these sturdy savages seem to pride themselves in braving the severities
of winter, and in living _sub dio_ the whole year round. Last September
was as wet a month as ever was known; and yet during those deluges did a
young gipsy girl lie in the midst of one of our hop-gardens, on the cold
ground, with nothing over her but a piece of a blanket extended on a few
hazel-rods bent hoop-fashion, and stuck into the earth at each end, in
circumstances too trying for a cow in the same condition; yet within this
garden there was a large hop-kiln, into the chambers of which she might
have retired, had she thought shelter an object worthy her attention.

Europe itself, it seems, cannot set bounds to the rovings of these
vagabonds; for Mr. Bell, in his return from Peking, met a gang of those
people on the confines of Tartary, who were endeavouring to penetrate
those deserts, and try their fortune in China.

Gypsies are called in French, Bohemians; in Italian and modern Greek,
Zingari.

I am, etc.

LETTER XXVI.

SELBORNE, _Nov._ 1_st_, 1775.

"Hic . . . taedae pingues, hic plurimus ignis
S