James Crabb

“ As I was expected, the utmost order, cleanliness, and quiet, prevailed throughout the camp; and all were dressed in their best clothes to receive me. The arrangement of my congregation was much the same as the preceding evening. I spoke to them of the blessed Jesus; his birth, his ministry, his death, passion, and grace; and his glory at his second coming in the clouds of heaven, to judge the world in righteousness. I spoke also of death, and of the immortality of the soul. ”

“ About three months after this, the author saw this poor Gipsy in his tent, in the last stage of a consumption; but he was without any marks of true penitence. Surely the way of wickedness is full of misery!
What a disgrace is this demoralizing mode of amusement to our country! Degrading to the greatest degree, it is nevertheless pursued with avidity by all classes of people; and large bets are often depending on these brutal exercises. Gentlemen, noblemen, and even ladies, are, on such occasions, mixed with the most degraded part of the community. ”

“ One poor Gipsy, who had wandered in a state of wretchedness, bordering on despair, for nearly forty years, had not in all that time, heard of the Name which is above every name; for there is salvation in no other; till in his last days some Christian directed him to the Bible, as a book that tells poor sinners the way to God. He gave a woman a guinea to read its pages to him; and he remunerated another woman, who read to him the book of Common Prayer. ”

“ Reader, have you encouraged any of these people in such crimes? If you have so far forgotten yourselves, the commands of God, and the curse that awaits you and those who deceive themselves the same way; reflect, before it be too late, on the evil into which you have willingly, wilfully, and without the least reasonable excuse, fallen, and on the guilt that must of necessity attach to your consciences thereby. Should you never meet those you encouraged to sin in this world, and therefore never have an opportunity of warning them of their danger, yet must you meet at the bar of Christ ”

“ Eight Gipsy men united in stealing four sheep: four were chosen by lot for the purpose. They sharpened their knives, rode to the field, perpetrated the act, and before day-break brought to their camp the sheep they had engaged to steal; and, before the evening of the same day, they were thirty miles distant. But when pressed by hunger, they have been known to take a worse method than this. For as the farmers seldom deny them a sheep that has died in the field, if they apply for it, so many were found dead in this way, that a certain farmer suspected the Gipsies of occasioning their deaths. ”

“ The dislike they have to rule and order has led many of them to maim themselves by cutting off a finger, that they might not serve in either the army or the navy: and I believe there is one instance known, of some Gipsies murdering a witness who was to appear against some of their people for horse-stealing: the persons who were guilty of the deed have been summoned to the bar of Christ, and in their last moments exclaimed with horror and despair, “Murder, murder.” But these circumstances do not stamp their race without exception as infamous monsters in wickedness. ”

“ If you saw your countrymen perishing on your shores by shipwreck, or likely to be destroyed by fire, would you not be anxious to assist both the virtuous and the wicked? Gipsies are perishing around you; hear their cries, ere they are plunged into eternity; and attend to these orders from the King of Kings:—
Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people; but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Leviticus, xix. 18. The stranger that dwelleth with you shall be as one born amongst you, and thou shalt love him as thyself ”

“ To one he held out the hope of mercy; but to the other, a poor Gipsy, who was convicted of horse-stealing, he said, no hope could be given. The young man, for he was but a youth, immediately fell on his knees, and with uplifted hands and eyes, apparently unconscious of any persons being present but the judge and himself, addressed him as follows: “Oh! my Lord, save my life!” The judge replied, “No; you can have no mercy in this world: I and my brother judges have come to the determination to execute horse-stealers, especially Gipsies, because of the increase of the crime.” ”

“ And it is lamentable that the greatest part of the little they do earn, is laid by to spend at their festivals; for like many tribes of uncivilized Indians, they mostly make their women support their families, who generally do it by swindling and fortune-telling. Their baskets introduce them to the servants of families, of whom they beg victuals, to whom they sell trifling wares, and tell their fortunes, which indeed is their principal aim, as it is their greatest source of gain. ”

“ Messrs Hyatt and Cobbin, who were deputed by the Home Missionary Society, to visit many parts of England, to enquire into the condition of this people, had no doubt, but that much good may be done among them, if proper means are pursued. It has many times been proved, that to attempt to raise them in society, without the influence of religious instruction, would be improper. They have not sufficient principles of honesty, nor purity of conduct, till they are taught those principles, and changed, by religion. ”

“ The children, who would gladly have stayed longer with us, were sickly; and it is apprehended, had not this been the case, the parents would have continued longer, that they might have gone to school. Two women, mother and daughter, in one family, are much interested in the worship of God, and already begin to feel the value of their souls; and both regret that they are under the necessity of submitting to the arbitrary will of the father. One of them declared that she could never more act as a Gipsy, and with weeping eyes she said, that, she feared she never should be pardoned, or saved. ”

“ Far more likely is it to confirm them in their vagrant propensities. And as their numbers do not decrease, oppression will only render them the dread of one part of their fellow-creatures, while it will make them the objects of scorn and obloquy to others.
It is the earnest wish of the author that milder measures may be pursued in reference to the Gipsies. To endeavour to improve their morals, and instruct them in the principles of religion, will, under the divine blessing, turn to better account than the hateful and oppressive policy so long adopted. ”

“ The ignorance of my people is a loud call to Christians to assist; and, blessed be God, they find that assistance in Southampton. The Bible has often been taken away from Southampton in the Gipsies’ pack, and I have seen it when they have returned, preserved with a great deal of care, and produced for me to read, with great delight on their part. ”

“ And it may safely be asserted, that much of the ignorance, depravity, and consequent misery found in the world, are occasioned by the want of a united and persevering application of the energies of Christians, to the reformation of the most debased classes of Society. This backwardness to perform that which is good, with respect to our fellow men, must be accounted for, by the want of faith in God’s word, and the little influence we allow the religion of the Saviour to have on our own hearts. ”

“ Indeed it has been too much the custom to impute to them a great number of crimes of which they either never were guilty, or which could only be committed by an inconsiderable portion of their race; and they have often suffered the penalty of the law, when they have not in the least deserved it. They have been talked of by the public, and prosecuted by the authorities, as the perpetrators of every vice and wickedness alike shocking to civil and savage life. Nor is this to be wondered at, living as they do, so remote from observation and the walks of common life. ”

“ Although the Gipsies, on account of their unsettled habits, their disposition to evil practices, and that ignorance of true religion, which is inseparably connected with a life remote from all the forms of external worship, and from the influence of religious society, may be said to be in a most lamentably wretched state; yet is their condition not desperate. They are rational beings, and have many feelings honourable to human nature. They are not as the heathens of other countries, addicted to any system of idolatry ”

“ When we rose from our knees, gratitude was seen in every countenance, and expressed by every tongue. ‘God bless you, sir; thank you, sir;’ echoed throughout the camp.”
The next evening this clergyman went again to the camp, when one of the Gipsies came to meet him, and informed him of the arrival of some of their relatives. “I shook hands with them,” says the clergyman, “and asked of their welfare. Never was a king received with a more hearty welcome, or with greater attention and respect. ”

“ This unusual act of kindness, which however required no great sacrifice on his part, made so deep an impression on the hearts of this people, as is not likely to be forgotten: they will speak of his kindness as long as they live. ”

“ They forget that the Gipsy fortune-teller has often made herself acquainted with their connexions, business, and future prospects, and consider not that God commits not his secrets to the wicked and profane. They use not the reason heaven has given them, and are therefore more easily led astray by these crafty deceivers.
They generally prophesy good. Knowing the readiest way to deceive, to a young lady they describe a handsome gentleman, as one she may be assured will be her “husband.” To a youth they promise a pretty lady, with a large fortune. ”

“ This clergyman, having fallen in with a gang of Gipsies on the road, who were travelling to their place of encampment, addressed a young female among them, and found her not ignorant of religion. “How,” said the clergyman, “did you obtain the knowledge of religion?” “Sir,” answered she, “in the depth of winter, the men folks only travel; the women and children belonging to my family and party, always live in the town. In those seasons I have gone with some of our relatives, who live there, and are religious people, to the worship of God: in that way I have learned these things.” ”

“ Oh! ye ministers of Christ! you have the order lying on your table, and in your desks, at this moment; read it in the Bible:—Go ye into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. Luke xiv. 23. The duty is ours: have we done it? Have we done it as opportunities have presented themselves? Have we done it as we ought? Yea, more; have we sought for opportunities to instruct souls? Our adorable Master did so. He came from heaven to earth, to seek and to save them who were lost. Private Christians! ”

“ Of the last-named family there are more than two hundred, most of whom are known to the author, and are the most ancient clans in this part of England.
It is a well-authenticated fact, that many persons pass for Gipsies who are not. Such persons having done something to exclude them from society, join themselves to this people, and marrying into their clans, become the means of leading them to crimes they would not have thought of, but for their connection with such wicked people. Coining money and forging notes are, however, crimes which cannot be justly attributed to them. ”

“ It is presumed little could be said to profit them in a state of intoxication, and many of the women are then employed either in swindling or fortune-telling.
Should the sympathies of the British public be efficiently directed to the Gipsies of this country, it may call forth the zeal of other nations to improve their still more degraded condition on the Continent, where more than half a million of them wander, ignorant as the heathens of all that is necessary to salvation. Those of this country loudly call upon us for instruction, which may easily be given them. ”

“ She would not leave the corpse, which she often affectionately embraced, till persuaded she would endanger her own life. This appeared a melancholy event to all who wished well to the Gipsies in the neighbourhood of Southampton. For the widow, fearing her child would become ill and die too, immediately removed her from the school. And many of the Gipsy people treated the women with great contempt, for giving up their children; and the prospects of doing them lasting good, became very much beclouded. ”

“ The severe and unchristian-like treatment they meet with from many, only obliges them to travel further, and often drives them to commit greater depredations. When driven by the constables from their station, they retire to a more solitary place in another parish, and there remain till they are again detected, and again mercilessly driven away. But this severity does not accomplish the end it has in view; their numbers remain the same, and they retain the same dislike to the crowded haunts of man. For they only visit towns in small parties, offering trifling wares for sale, or telling fortunes ”

“ But should there not be sufficient energy and benevolence in all towns to form a committee, two or three who are well disposed to the object, may unite together and accomplish a great deal. And should there not be found more than one person thus benevolently disposed, let not that one be discouraged. The single talent must not be neglected, should it be only the power to give a cup of cold water, or to speak one word about the water of life to a necessitous and perishing Gipsy ”

“ We have already observed that there are many genuine features of humanity in the character of this degraded and despised people. Their constantly retaining an affectionate remembrance of their deceased relatives, affords a striking proof of this statement. And their attachment to the horse, donkey, rings, snuffbox, silver-spoons, and all things, except the clothes, of the deceased relatives, is very strong. With such articles they will never part, except in the greatest distress; and then they only pledge some of them, which are redeemed as soon as they possess the means. ”