Besides the above-named Gypsy clans, there are other smaller ones,
some of which do not comprise more than a dozen individuals,
children included. For example, the Bosviles, the Browns, the
Chilcotts, the Grays, Lees, Taylors, and Whites; of these the
principal is the Bosvile tribe.
After the days of the great persecution in England against the
Gypsies, there can be little doubt that they lived a right merry
and tranquil life, wandering about and pitching their tents
wherever inclination led them: indeed, I can scarcely conceive any
human condition more enviable than Gypsy life must have been in
England during the latter part of the seventeenth, and the whole of
the eighteenth century, which were likewise the happy days for
Englishmen in general; there was peace and plenty in the land, a
contented population, and everything went well. Yes, those were
brave times for the Rommany chals, to which the old people often
revert with a sigh: the poor Gypsies, say they, were then allowed
to SOVE ABRI (sleep abroad) where they listed, to heat their
kettles at the foot of the oaks, and no people grudged the poor
persons one night's use of a meadow to feed their cattle in.
Pages:
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64