Dissertation on the Gipseys: Representing their manner of life, family economy, occupations & trades, marriages & education, sickness, death, & burial, religion, language, sciences & arts, &c. &c. &c.; with an historical enquiry concerning their origin & first appearance in EuropeGrellmann, Heinrich Moritz Gottlieb
History
Dissertation on the Gipseys: Representing their manner of life, family economy, occupations & trades, marriages & education, sickness, death, & burial, religion, language, sciences & arts, &c. &c. &c.; with an historical enquiry concerning their origin & first appearance in Europe
Grellmann, Heinrich Moritz Gottlieb
Romanies
We are not to suppose, from what is said above, that the Gipseys are
indifferent about dress; on the contrary, they love fine clothes to an
extravagant degree: the want proceeds from necessity, which is become
with them a second nature, forgetting that labour and care are the means
to procure clothes, as well as nourishment. Whenever an opportunity
offers of acquiring a good coat, either by gift, purchase, or theft, the
Gipsey immediately bestirs himself to become master of it: possessed of
the prize, he puts it on directly, without considering in the least,
whether it suits the rest of his apparel. If his dirty shirt had holes
in it as big as a barn door, or his breeches were so out of condition
that one might perceive their antiquity at the first glance; were he
unprovided with shoes, stockings, or a covering for the head; neither of
these defects would prevent his strutting about in a laced coat, feeling
himself of still greater consequence in case it happened to be a red one.
Martin Kelpius therefore says, that the Gipseys in Transylvania spend all
their earnings in alehouses and in clothes. It would excite laughter in
the sternest philosopher, to see a Gipsey parading about, with a beaver
hat, a silk or red cloth coat, at the same time his breeches torn, and
his shoes or boots, if perchance he have either, covered with patches.
Benko, also, assures us, that this kind of state is common in
Transylvania; and adds, the Gipseys are particularly fond of clothes made
after the Hungarian fashion, or which had been worn by people of
distinction. The habits and properties of the Gipseys in Hungary are
precisely the same. The following passage, which appeared in the
Imperial Gazettes, is very much to the purpose: “Notwithstanding these
people are so wretched, that they have nothing but rags to cover them,
which do not at all fit, and are scarcely sufficient to hide their
nakedness, yet they betray their foolish taste and vain ostentation
whenever they have an opportunity.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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