NOTICE TO THE FOURTH EDITION



THIS edition has been carefully revised by the author, and some few
insertions have been made. In order, however, to give to the work
a more popular character, the elaborate vocabulary of the Gypsy
tongue, and other parts relating to the Gypsy language and
literature, have been omitted. Those who take an interest in these
subjects are referred to the larger edition in two vols. (10)



THE GYPSIES - INTRODUCTION



THROUGHOUT my life the Gypsy race has always had a peculiar
interest for me. Indeed I can remember no period when the mere
mention of the name of Gypsy did not awaken within me feelings hard
to be described. I cannot account for this - I merely state a
fact.

Some of the Gypsies, to whom I have stated this circumstance, have
accounted for it on the supposition that the soul which at present
animates my body has at some former period tenanted that of one of
their people; for many among them are believers in metempsychosis,