language is a mixture of corrupt words from the Wallachian, Sclavonian, Hungarian, and other nations.” Among these, the best-founded notion may be, that it is the dialect of some particular country, though no longer so pure as in the country whence it originated. This opinion meets the greatest concurrence of the learned: and will, we hope, be fully proved in another part of this book, where the subject will be again discussed, more fully, in order to corroborate the other proofs of the origin of this people. It will then be certified, in what country this is the native mother tongue. This is a point concerning which most writers think differently. Sometimes the Gipseys are Hebrews, then Nubians, Egyptians, Phrygians, Vandals, Sclavonians, or, as opinions vary, perhaps some other nation. It appears extraordinary, that the language of a people who have lived for centuries among us, and has been matter of enquiry almost ever since, should still remain an affair of so much uncertainty. Gipseys are to be found every-where, and might be very easily examined, as closely and often as any body pleased, about their language. It would have been attended with no great trouble, to have made so near an acquaintance as to bring them to converse with variety of people, and thereby, by means of comparison, to have attained some degree of certainty. This observation sounds plausibly; but on a closer examination the case is found to be very different. First, it is not so easy as people may imagine, to gain much information from the Gipseys concerning their language. They are suspicious, apprehending an explanation might be attended with danger to themselves; and are therefore not very communicative. To this must be added, their natural levity, and consequent seeming inattention to the questions put to them. A writer, who had frequent experience of this behaviour, expresses himself to the following effect: “Suppose any person had an inclination to learn the Gipsey language, he would find it very difficult to accomplish his purpose. Intercourse with these people is almost insufferable; and very few of them have sense enough to teach any thing, or even to give a proper answer to a question. If you ask about a single word, they chatter a great many, which nobody can understand. Others have equally failed of success, not being able, by any means whatever, to obtain from them the paternoster in their own language.” Secondly, suppose the language of the Gipseys had been perfectly understood soon after their arrival in Europe, variety of opinions would nevertheless have been maintained among the learned. It would still have been necessary, in order to ascertain truth, to have revised the original languages of all the inhabitants both in and out of Europe, or at least a general sketch of them. By such a review, the Gipseys’ mother tongue might easily have been discovered. But many there are, as Büttner, Schlözer, Gibelin, and