The names of the numbers are almost the same everywhere. The German dialect seems to me much purer than the Spanish; for it has retained a number of the primitive grammatical forms, while the _gitanos_ have adopted those of the Castilian tongue. A few words, however, are exceptions to this rule and attest the former community of the dialects. The preterit tenses in the German dialect are formed by adding _ium_ to the imperative, which is always the root of the verb. The verbs in the Spanish _rommani_ are all conjugated like Castilian verbs of the first conjugation. From the infinitive _jamar_, to eat, they regularly make _jamé_, I have eaten; from _lillar_, to take, _lillé_, I have taken. But some old gypsies say, on the other hand, _jayon_, _lillon_. I know no other verbs which have retained this ancient form. While I am thus parading my slight acquaintance with the _rommani_ tongue, I must note a few words of French argot, which our thieves have borrowed from the gypsies. The _Mystères de Paris_ has taught good society that _chourin_ means knife. The word is pure _rommani_; _tchouri_ is one of the words common to all the dialects. M. Vidocq calls a horse _grès_--that is another _rommani_ word--_gras_, _gre_, _graste_, _gris_. Add the word _romanichel_, which in Parisian slang means gypsies. It is a corruption of _rommane tchave_, gypsy youths. But an etymology of which I am proud is that of _frimousse_, expression, face--a word which all schoolboys use, or did use in my day. Observe first that Oudin, in his curious dictionary, wrote in 1640 _firlimouse_. Now, _firla_, _fila_, in _rommani_ means face; _mui_ has the same meaning, it exactly corresponds to the Latin _os_. The combination _firlamui_ was instantly understood by a gypsy purist, and I believe it to be in conformity with the genius of his language. This is quite enough to give the readers of _Carmen_ a favourable idea of my studies in _rommani_. I will close with this proverb, which is quite apropos: _En retudi panda nasti abela macha_--“a fly cannot enter a closed mouth.” 1845. FOOTNOTES: [1] The Andalusians aspirate the _s_, and in pronunciation confound it with _c_ soft and _z_, which the Spaniards pronounce like the English _th_. It is possible to recognise an Andalusian by the one word _señor_. [2] That is, the _privileged provinces_, which enjoy special _fueros_, namely, Alava, Biscay, Guipuzcoa, and a part of Navarre. Basque is the language spoken in those provinces. [3] A café provided with an ice-house, or rather with a store of snow. There is hardly a village in Spain which has not its _neveria_. [4] In Spain every traveller who does not carry about with him specimens of calico or silk is taken for an Englishman, _Inglesito_. It is the same in the East; at Chalcis I had the honour of being announced as a Μιλὸρδος Φραντσέοος. [5] Fortune.