As these and the like arguments rather controvert the Tartar origin of the Gipseys, so can we as little agree with Mr. Pray, in supposing them to be [Tartars] of Asia Minor, from the Countries of the ancient Zichen, whose name the Gipseys are said to bear; nor with an older writer, Ekhard, who contends that they are Circassians, terrified from their habitations by Timur’s Mongols. Mr. Pray brings nothing further in support of his surmise, than the similarity of sound in the names Zigianer (Zichen or properly Zygier) and Zigeuner; together with the circumstance, that the latter appeared among us soon after Timur’s expedition into Asia Minor. Ekhard, on the contrary, who in like manner unites the names Zigeuner and Circassier—by endeavouring to prove that these, as possessors of the countries belonging to the Zichen, were by authors indifferently styled Circassier, Zygier, and Zichen—adds moreover, that the Circassian complexion was a brown yellow, exactly like that of the Gipseys; that they both suffer their hair to hang loose over the shoulders; that in their diet and clothes they are both equally dirty; and lastly, that among the Circassians, you meet with astrology, and all kinds of witchcraft, precisely the same as among the Gipseys. But this comparison, were it even better founded than it is, would only prove that you may make what you please of the Gipseys. Upon the same ground, they might just as well be supposed to be allied to the people of Otaheite, or any other uncivilised nation in any quarter of the globe. And yet the author draws this conclusion from it, that one egg is not more like another than the Circassian and the Gipsey; and he may confidently assert, that all who before his time have been of a different opinion, were mistaken. We ought long ago to have spoken of the reputed Egyptian descent of the Gipseys; but as that has been a very current, and almost universally received, opinion, it merits a chapter by itself. CHAPTER IV. _On the Egyptian Descent of the Gipseys_. THE belief that Gipseys are of Egyptian origin, is parallel with the existence of these people in Europe. It arose from the report circulated by the first of them who arrived here that they were pilgrims from Egypt; and this statement has not only been universally adopted by the common people, but has also, here and there, obtained credit among men of learning. Had this opinion not been received at a time when every thing was taken upon trust without examination; had it not been propagated every-where by the first Gipseys, and obtained the sanction of time in following ages; it would have been impossible for it to have gained such general acceptation, or to have maintained itself even to the latest times.