Whether this discourse produced any benefit to the author, we have
no means of ascertaining. One thing is certain, that it did no
harm to the Gitanos, who still continue in Spain.
If he had other expectations, he must have understood very little
of the genius of his countrymen, or of King Philip and his court.
It would have been easier to get up a crusade against the wild cats
of the sierra, than against the Gitanos, as the former have skins
to reward those who slay them. His discourse, however, is well
worthy of perusal, as it exhibits some learning, and comprises many
curious details respecting the Gitanos, their habits, and their
practices. As it is not very lengthy, we here subjoin it, hoping
that the reader will excuse its many absurdities, for the sake of
its many valuable facts.
CHAPTER X
'SIRE,
'The people of God were always afflicted by the Egyptians, but the
Supreme King delivered them from their hands by means of many
miracles, which are related in the Holy Scriptures; and now,
without having recourse to so many, but only by means of the
miraculous talent which your Majesty possesses for expelling such
reprobates, he will, doubtless, free this kingdom from them, which
is what is supplicated in this discourse, and it behoves us, in the
first place, to consider
'WHO ARE THE GITANOS?
'Writers generally agree that the first time the Gitanos were seen
in Europe was the year 1417, which was in the time of Pope Martinus
the Fifth and King Don John the Second; others say that Tamerlane
had them in his camp in 1401, and that their captain was Cingo,
from whence it is said that they call themselves Cingary.
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