As the reader will
probably wish to know the cause of this change in the lives and
habits of these people, we shall, as briefly as possible, afford as
much information on the subject as the amount of our knowledge will
permit.
One fact has always struck us with particular force in the history
of these people, namely, that Gitanismo - which means Gypsy
villainy of every description - flourished and knew nothing of
decay so long as the laws recommended and enjoined measures the
most harsh and severe for the suppression of the Gypsy sect; the
palmy days of Gitanismo were those in which the caste was
proscribed, and its members, in the event of renouncing their Gypsy
habits, had nothing farther to expect than the occupation of
tilling the earth, a dull hopeless toil; then it was that the
Gitanos paid tribute to the inferior ministers of justice, and were
engaged in illicit connection with those of higher station, and by
such means baffled the law, whose vengeance rarely fell upon their
heads; and then it was that they bid it open defiance, retiring to
the deserts and mountains, and living in wild independence by
rapine and shedding of blood; for as the law then stood they would
lose all by resigning their Gitanismo, whereas by clinging to it
they lived either in the independence so dear to them, or beneath
the protection of their confederates.
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