[207] _Hungary and Transylvania_, 1839. Before 1848 the Church, the State, and the nobles were the only landowners; the peasant, however, had leave to occupy certain tracts (_session-lands_) under his lord. [208] Mr. Andrew F. Crosse, _Round about the Carpathians_ (Blackwoods, 1878), declares (p. 146) that this “conscription was enforced with every species of official brutality.” Austria was dealing with a conquered and a peculiar, stiff-necked people. Lord Palmerston’s hatred of Austria was, we are told, the best passport to Hungarian sympathy. [209] The brothels of Buda-Pesth and other large cities of Austro-Hungary have often one Gypsy woman among their inmates. [210] I find my opinion confirmed by an older observer: “The peculiarity of the Gypsy eye consists chiefly in a strange, staring expression, which, to be understood, must be seen, and in a thin glaze which steals over it when in repose, and seems to emit phosphoric light” (_The Gypsies_, by Samuel Roberts). CHAPTER VIII THE GYPSY IN AMERICA _The Gypsies of the Brazil_ The Romá of the North American Republic are well known, and their emigration is of modern date. During the wars between England and France which followed the great Revolution many of them exchanged a wandering life for the service of the country, having been either kidnapped or impressed, or having taken the shilling. Of course, after obtaining a passage to the American colonies, they deserted the army, found friends, and settled in the country. The half-bandit bands of Scottish Gypsies were mostly broken up in this way.