Tell me, do you know any Gipsy _gilis_--any songs?"

"Only a bit of a one, sir; most of it isn't fit to sing, but it begins--"

And here he sang:

"Jal 'dree the ker my honey,
And you shall be my rom."

And chanting this, after thanking me, he departed, gratified with his
gratuity, rejoiced at his reception, and most undoubtedly benefited by
the beer with which I had encouraged his palaver--a word, by the way,
which is not inappropriate, since it contains in itself the very word of
words, the _lav_, which means a word, and is most antiquely and
excellently Gipsy. Pehlevi is old Persian, and to _pen lavi_ is Rommany
all the world over "to speak words."




CHAPTER IV. GIPSY RESPECT FOR THE DEAD.


Gipsies and Comteists identical as to "Religion"--Singular Manner of
Mourning for the Dead, as practised by Gipsies--Illustrations from
Life--Gipsy Job and the Cigars--Oaths by the Dead--Universal Gipsy Custom
of never Mentioning the Names of the Dead--Burying valuable Objects with
the Dead--Gipsies, Comteists, Hegelians, and Jews--The Rev. James Crabbe.

Comte, the author of the Positivist philosophy, never felt the need of a