between 1418 and
1427,--and in those very countries in which the Orphans ought first to
have been seen. But the earliest circumstantial notice of a company of
Gypsies relates to the one that visited Paris in 1427. Pasquier gave a
particular account of them, and remarks, that, though they had a very
bad name, and though he was with them a great deal, he "never lost a
coin."

These were called Bohemians, and the French have adhered to that name
ever since. Doubtless the French of that day, who conversed with these
people, and looked at them with very wide-open eyes, had as good reason
for calling them Bohemians as they had for calling other men Spaniards,
Italians, or Russians. Bohemia then formed too important a part of
Europe for Frenchmen to confound men of that country with Hindoos just
from Asia. The Bohemians were not strangers in France. Nearly a hundred
years before, a king of Bohemia, with a large retinue, was present on
the French side at the battle of Crecy, and Ziska himself fought at
Agincourt. But writers on the Gypsies treat very slightingly the fact,
that the French called the first party that visited Paris, as mentioned
above, Bohemians, and merely say that they use that name for the
Gypsies, "because they first heard of them from Bohemia."

Various circumstances point to the probability that the Gypsies were, at
their first appearance in different countries, fugitives from religious
intolerance. They always called themselves pilgrims, which Egyptians or
Hindoos would scarcely have done, but which would be quite natural in
that age to Europeans desirous of concealing their real character and of
commending themselves to strangers in whom their difference of faith
made them expect to find enemies. They called themselves Christians
also, and declared ostentatiously their conformity to the Roman Catholic
rites; but they carefully kept away from the churches. This assumption
of a character which they knew would protect them is in keeping with the
whole craft of their lives.

Another notable fact is, that they showed everywhere passes of
safe-conducts from the Emperor Sigismund. Ziska's followers could not
have got authentic passes, but they could forge them easily; and Hindoo
stragglers, on their first appearance in Europe, would hardly have known
the value of such pieces of paper. In all the original Gypsy parties
there were dukes and counts, and these men called themselves Lords of
Little Egypt; and from