James Simson

“ There is a great deal of curious information to be obtained from this history, nearly all of which will be new to Americans.” “It is singular that so little attention has been heretofore given to this particular topic; but it is probably owing to the fact that Gipsies are so careful to keep outsiders from a knowledge of their language that they even deny its existence.” “The history is just the book with which to occupy one’s idle moments; for, whatever else it lacks, it certainly is not wanting in interest.” ”

“ As regards John Bunyan, it is not in dispute that he was an English man, but whether he was of the native English race, or of the Gipsy English one, or of both, and holding by the Gipsy connexion. What is necessary to be done is not merely to correct, but to create, and permanently establish a knowledge that has now no existence with people generally, in consequence of the habits of the original Gipsies leading to their legal and social proscription, and the naturally secretive nature of the race, which has been intensified by the way in which they were everywhere treated or regarded. ”

“ The history of the Gipsies, when thus comprehensively treated, forms a study for the most advanced and cultivated mind, as well as for the youth whose intellectual and literary character is still to be formed; and furnishes, among other things, a system of science not too abstract in its nature, and having for its subject-matter the strongest of human feelings and sympathies. The work also seeks to raise the name of Gipsy out of the dust, where it now lies ”

“ That an article on Gipsyism is not out of place in this Magazine will be admitted by every one who knows anything of the history, manners, and customs of these strange wanderers among the nations of the earth. The Freemasons have a language, words, and signs peculiar to themselves; so have the Gipsies. A Freemason has in every country a friend, and in every climate a home, secured to him by the mystic influence of that worldwide association to which he belongs; similar are the privileges of the Gipsy. ”

“ Apart from John Bunyan personally, the subject of the race to which he belonged has a very important bearing on the “social emancipation of the Gipsies” in the British Isles. There cannot be less than several hundred thousand of these in various positions in life—many, perhaps most of them, differing in no other way from the “ordinary natives” but that in respect to that part of their blood which is Gipsy, they have sprung, really or representatively, from the tent—the hive from which the whole of the Gipsy tribe have swarmed. ”

“ Even now . . . they do not realize the kindly feeling of enlightened minds toward them, and view with fierce suspicion every approach designed to draw from them the secrets of their history, habits, laws and language.” “The age of racial caste is passing away. Modern Christianity will refuse to tolerate the spirit of hostility and oppression based on feature, colour, or lineage.” ”

“ Simson, though his task is to set right the unduly high estimate in which the squire of Walton Hall has been held as a man of science, shows an appreciation of the strong points of his character that completely takes away any appearance of censoriousness; and his work incidentally affords an interesting study of the man himself, who, in his personal life and his enthusiastic devotion to natural history, showed a strong individuality that is quite refreshing in this age of conventionalities.”—Aberdeen Journal, August 30, 1880. ”

“ Simson suggests, and supports, on arguments that have the highest bearing on anthropological questions, the theory that John Bunyan was a Gipsy. The great secret that civilised Europe has even now amongst it a few individuals who are descended from a Hindoo race, and are capable, by reason of the fact that they have a particularly original soul of their own, to reconcile some of the difficulties between the eastern and the western schools of thought, may be the real future fact of modern anthropology. The difficulty is, of course, where and how to find the Gipsies. ”

“ Unfortunately many have so publicly committed themselves to this view of the subject that it is hardly possible to get them to revise their opinion, and admit the leading fact of the question, viz.: that the Gipsies do not “cease to be Gipsies” by any change in their style of life or character, and that the same holds good with their descendants. Taking the race or blood in itself, and especially when mixed with native, it has every reason to call itself, in one sense at least, English, from having been nearly four hundred years in England. ”

“ Still, we can gather from it where Gipsies are to be found, what a Scottish Gipsy is, and what the race is capable of, and what might be expected of it, if the prejudice of their fellow-creatures was withdrawn from the race, as distinguished from the various classes into which it may be divided, or, I should rather say, the personal conduct of each Gipsy individually” (p. 415) .—“It is a subject, however, which I have found some difficulty in getting people to understand. One cannot see how a person can be a Gipsy ‘because his father was a respectable man’ ”

“ In England to-day there are many such men as Bunyan, barring his piety and genius, following his original calling, that speak the Gipsy language with more or less purity, saying nothing of others in much higher positions in life. Of the former especially I have met and conversed in America with a number, who had no doubt of John Bunyan having been one of their race. ”

“ On this head I said in the Disquisition on the Gipsies:—“Considering what is popularly understood to be the natural disposition and capacity of the Gipsies, we would readily conclude that to turn innkeepers would be the most unlikely of all their employments; yet that is very common” (p. 467) , all over Europe from almost the day of their arrival in it. It is no uncommon thing for English Gipsies who have the means to buy a small house with a little ground attached on landing in America, even should they not always occupy it personally. ”

“ His only motive for an interview seemed to be to gratify his curiosity and behold the person who would dare to “cast a stigma on Bunyan’s memory.” Now he says that there is no “ferocious prejudice of caste against the name of Gipsy,” and that “none of Bunyan’s admirers would object to his being shown to be a Gipsy, if only sufficient proof were adduced”; while he has ignored everything that bears upon the subject, even what came out of Bunyan’s mouth. ”

“ Leaving out the tented or more primitive Gipsies, there is hardly anything about this people, when their blood has been mixed and their habits changed, to attract the eye of the world; hence it becomes the subject of a mental inquiry, so far as its nature is concerned. And the human faculties being so limited in their powers, even when trained from early youth, it will be, at the best, a difficult matter to get the subject of the Gipsies understood ”

“ The race has been a very hardy and prolific one, and (with the exception of a few families, about which there it no certainty) has got very much mixed with native blood, which so greatly modified the appearance of that part of it that it was enabled to steal into society, and escape the observation of the native race, and their prejudice against everything Gipsy, so far as they understood the subject. ”

“ Simson may fairly claim credit for having adhered to the Shakespearian advice in regard to fault-finding; for, if he has extenuated nothing, he has set down naught in malice. The example of Charles Waterton, country gentleman and naturalist, may serve as a useful warning to students of natural history, by teaching them that only the most patient investigation and careful reflection can produce results that will be of real and permanent value to science. ”

“ They have here the example of a man who had most excellent opportunities for such investigations, as well as the strongest taste for their pursuit, and who, by an exact and systematic method of study, might have made most important additions to our knowledge of natural history. ”

“ New York Times.—“Mr. . . . has done good service to the American public by reproducing here this very interesting and valuable volume.” “The work is more interesting than a romance, and that it is full of facts is very easily seen by a glance at the index, which is very minute, and adds greatly to the value of the book.”
New York Albion.—“An extremely curious work is a History of the Gipsies.” “The wildest scenes in ‘Lavengro,’ as for instance the fight with the Flaming Tinman, are comparatively tame beside some of the incidents narrated here.” ”

“ That was the character of a superior Gipsy in 1540. In 1840 we find the race represented by as fine a man as ever graced the Church of Scotland” (p. 465) .—“Scottish Gipsies are British subjects as much as either Highland or Lowland Scots; their being of foreign origin does not alter the case; and they are entitled to have that justice meted out to them that has been accorded to the ordinary natives. They are not a heaven-born race, but they certainly found their way into the country as if they had dropped into it out of the clouds. ”

“ Our readers will see that the work is full of controversial matter, embracing natural history, theology, and biography, and consequently will suit the taste of those who like to enter into discussions which excite the feelings, and in which abundance of energy and ability is displayed. The book is certainly ably written, and the author shows himself to be a man of large accomplishments. ”

“ This subject does not in any way clash with what is generally held in dispute among men, but touches many traits of their common humanity. Its investigation illustrates the laws of evidence on whatever subject to which evidence may be applicable—that all questions should be settled by facts, and not by suppositions; and that no one has a right to maintain capriciously that anything is a truth until it is proved to be an untruth. ”

“ What difficulty can there therefore be in understanding how a man can be a Gipsy whose blood is mixed, even ‘dreadfully mixed,’ as the English Gipsies express it? Gipsies are Gipsies, let their blood be mixed as much as it may, whether the introduction of the native blood may have come into the family through the male or the female line. ”

“ The amalgamation has done much to merge them in the general current of modern education and civilization; yet they retain their language with closest tenacity, as a sort of Freemason medium of intercommunion; and while they never are willing to own their origin among outsiders, they are very proud of it among themselves. ”

“ This Thomas could not have been less than the grandson of the first-mentioned Thomas, and described himself in his will, dated November 20th, 1641, as a “pettie chapman”—a calling that is very common with Gipsies of mixed blood. The will of his son Thomas (John’s father) is dated May 28th, 1675, in which he describes himself as a “braseyer”—which is a favourite word with the Gipsies, and sounds better than tinker, and is frequently put on their tombstones. Mr. Brown says:—“From this it appears that Bunyan’s father was the first tinker in the family.” ”

“ It is with real pleasure we see these Contributions to Land and Water no longer limited to the columns of a newspaper, whatever may be its circulation. For the excellence and charm of these papers we must refer the reader to the volume before us, which cannot fail to interest and instruct its readers. ”

“ Afraid or ashamed to reveal the secret to the outside world, the young Gipsy is inwardly intensely proud of his unique nobility, and is very likely to despise his alien father, who is of course glad to keep the late discovered secret from the world. Hence dear reader, you know not but your next neighbour is a Gipsy.” “The volume before us possesses a rare interest, both from the unique character of the subject, and from the absence of nearly any other source of full information. ”

“ For this reason, it must be said of the race, that whenever it shakes itself clear of objectionable habits, and follows any kind of ordinary industry, the cause of every prejudice against it is gone, or ought to disappear; for then, as I have already said, the Gipsies become ordinary citizens of the Gipsy clan. ”

“ The “book is an intended first step for the improvement of the race that forms its subject, and every magnanimous spirit must wish that it may prove not the last. We heartily commend the work to our readers as not only full of fascinating details, but abounding with points of interest to the benevolent Christian heart.” “The general spirit of the work is eminently enlightened, liberal, and humane.”
Evangelical Quarterly Review.—“The Gipsies, their race and language have always excited a more than ordinary interest. ”

“ Brown, Bunyan’s admission, or rather reminder, had no bearing on his nationality, while others think it conclusive, apart from his having been a tinker. But Mr. Brown did not give all of Bunyan’s language, for he left out the most important part of it, which was that of his descent, which was well known to many to have been of a low and inconsiderable generation, which had no reference to his “father being a poor man in a village.” He also omitted Bunyan’s question as to his “father’s house” being or not being Jews, using the word we in both instances ”

“ True to nature, every Gipsy is delighted with his descent, no matter what other people, in their ignorance of the subject, may think of it, or what their prejudices may be in regard to it” (p. 500) .—“If we refer to the treaty between John Faw and James V., in 1540, we will very readily conclude that, three centuries ago, the leaders of the Gipsies were very superior men in their way; cunning, astute, and slippery Oriental barbarians, with the experience of upwards of a century in European society generally ”

“ Simson is to be believed, they swarm our country in secret legions. There is no place on the four quarters of the globe where some of them have not penetrated. Even in New England a sly Gipsy girl will enter the factory as employe, will by her allurements win a young Jonathan to marry her, and in due season, the ’cute gentleman will find himself the father of a young brood of intense Gipsies. ”