account is entitled to particular notice.

Those who have been accustomed to consider the Gypsy as a wandering
outcast, incapable of appreciating the blessings of a settled and
civilised life, or - if abandoning vagabond propensities, and
becoming stationary - as one who never ascends higher than the
condition of a low trafficker, will be surprised to learn, that
amongst the Gypsies of Moscow there are not a few who inhabit
stately houses, go abroad in elegant equipages, and are behind the
higher orders of the Russians neither in appearance nor mental
acquirements. To the power of song alone this phenomenon is to be
attributed. From time immemorial the female Gypsies of Moscow have
been much addicted to the vocal art, and bands or quires of them
have sung for pay in the halls of the nobility or upon the boards
of the theatre. Some first-rate songsters have been produced among
them, whose merits have been acknowledged, not only by the Russian
public, but by the most fastidious foreign critics. Perhaps the
highest compliment ever paid to a songster was paid by Catalani
herself to one of these daughters of Roma. It is well known
throughout Russia that the celebrated Italian was so enchanted with
the voice of a Moscow Gypsy (who, after the former had displayed
her noble talent before a splendid audience in the old Russian
capital, stepped forward and poured forth one of her national
strains), that she tore from her own shoulders a shawl of cashmire,
which had been presented to her by the Pope, and, embracing the
Gypsy, insisted on her acceptance of the splendid gift, saying,
that it had been intended for the matchless songster, which she now
perceived she herself was not.

The sums obtained by many of these females by the exercise of their