of twelve and fourteen through France, even to Rome. Once, during
my own wanderings in Italy, I rested at nightfall by the side of a
kiln, the air being piercingly cold; it was about four leagues from
Genoa. Presently arrived three individuals to take advantage of
the warmth - a man, a woman, and a lad. They soon began to
discourse - and I found that they were Hungarian Gypsies; they
spoke of what they had been doing, and what they had amassed - I
think they mentioned nine hundred crowns. They had companions in
the neighbourhood, some of whom they were expecting; they took no
notice of me, and conversed in their own dialect; I did not approve
of their propinquity, and rising, hastened away.

When Napoleon invaded Spain there were not a few Hungarian Gypsies
in his armies; some strange encounters occurred on the field of
battle between these people and the Spanish Gitanos, one of which
is related in the second part of the present work. When quartered
in the Spanish towns, the Czigany invariably sought out their
peninsular brethren, to whom they revealed themselves, kissing and
embracing most affectionately; the Gitanos were astonished at the
proficiency of the strangers in thievish arts, and looked upon them
almost in the light of superior beings: 'They knew the whole
reckoning,' is still a common expression amongst them. There was a
Cziganian soldier for some time at Cordoba, of whom the Gitanos of
the place still frequently discourse, whilst smoking their cigars
during winter nights over their braseros.

The Hungarian Gypsies have a peculiar accent when speaking the
language of the country, by which they can be instantly
distinguished; the same thing is applicable to the Gitanos of Spain
when speaking Spanish. In no part of the world is the Gypsy