Bachmeister, who have taken great pains in the minute investigation of the languages, as well as manners, of different people, and reckon those they have learned by dozens. How was it, indeed, possible for the learned of former centuries to be competent to the enquiry, as they had not the aids which now so copiously occur to the historical etymologist? Many dialects have been discovered, and our knowledge of others greatly increased, within the last fifty or sixty years. During that term, the treasures of the farthest north have been opened; and the most eastern idioms become more familiar to us: we even know how the Otaheitian expresses himself. All this information did not exist before; knowledge in this science was much more confined than at this period: nor was it possible for the most learned man, so circumstanced, to point out the country in which the Gipsey language was spoken. The Gipseys have no writing, peculiar to them, in which to express their language. {87} Writing, or reading, is, in general, a very uncommon accomplishment with any of them; nor must either of these attainments be at all expected among the wandering sort. Sciences and the refined arts are never to be looked for amongst people whose manner of living and education are so irregular. Twiss does, indeed, mention, that the Spanish Gipseys have some knowledge of medicine and surgery; but woe betide the person who confides in their skill! It is absurd to suppose that they are possessed of any secret for extinguishing fire: superstition formerly gave the Jews credit for this art; in process of time, the Gipseys also were believed to be gifted with it. Music is the only science in which the Gipseys participate, in any considerable degree: they likewise compose, but it is after the manner of the eastern people, extempore. In Wallachia, no other people possess this talent; and, like the Italian _improvisatori_, they always accompany their verses with singing and music. The quality of the poetry of these ready composers may be appreciated, when it is known that the rhyme is the part most considered: to accomplish this, they are frequently guilty of the most glaring solecisms in grammar; besides their ideas are usually of the most obscene kind, and these expressed in the gross style of rude unpolished people. It is not necessary, therefore, to be a master, to hold their art in the greatest contempt. {88} CHAPTER XIII. _Character and Capacities of the Gipseys_; _whether they are an Advantage or a Detriment to States_. IMAGINE a people of childish thoughts, whose minds are filled with raw indigested conceptions, guided more by sense than reason, and using understanding and reflection only so far as they promote the gratification of any particular appetite;—and you have a perfect sketch of the general character of the Gipseys.