“As I have said of Mr. Borrow, any one treating of such a subject as the Gipsies should, so far as space allowed, ‘comment on and admit or reject the facts and opinions of his case as discovered and advanced by others,’ and not ‘put forth his own ideas only, as if nothing had been said by others before or besides him’” (p. 12).—“I think that what I have written and published on the Gipsies should have been treated with more candour and courtesy, at least with more care and consideration, by others who have done likewise, saying nothing of the press. I also think that I have embraced almost all, if not all, of the principles connected with the existence and perpetuation of the race; so that others in discussing them should ‘comment on and admit or reject’ what I have advanced, and I think proved, in place of putting forth opinions apparently without due investigation” (p. 14).—“His illustrations of their language, in common with those of other writers, are very interesting, . . . and the occasional, as if accidental, remarks made by the Gipsies, at intervals, bearing on the Gipsy question proper, are of importance” (p. 17).—“He gives us nothing of the philosophy of the existence, history, perpetuation, development and destiny of the tribe and its off-shoots. He seems to use his eyes and ears only, and with those and his turn for writing he has given us some really good sketches and scenes . . . But besides using the eyes and ears in connection with such a subject, it is necessary to exercise the intellect to discover and explain what is not obvious or hidden, and illustrate the meaning and bearing of what is described . . . His book however interesting parts of it may be, is not calculated to serve any ultimate purpose of importance; nor is it written in a regular or systematic manner . . . Nothing can make a subject like that of the Gipsies attractive (if it can ever be made attractive) to the better classes of readers, and perpetuate an interest in it, but by treating it in such a way as will combine a variety of facts, well arranged and illustrated, and principles; out of which can be constructed a theory or system that can be discussed and proved by a reference to the facts and principles given . . . These writers are useful in their ways, but beyond that they _spoil_ the subject of the Gipsies, in consequence of the ‘utter absence in them of everything of the nature of a philosophy of the subject’; which is peculiar to ‘all the works that have hitherto appeared on the Gipsies’ (_Dis._, p. 532), so far as I have seen or heard of them” (p. 18).—“A knowledge of the science of race, in the essential meaning of the word, and especially as it applies to the Gipsies, cannot be said to be even in its infancy. Still, it might have been asked, what could two Scotch Gipsies