“When the Emperor of Germany, the King of Poland, and other Christian Princes, heard of this; they fell upon them, and obliged the whole of them, both great and small, to quit their country, and go to the Pope at Rome; who enjoined them seven years’ penance, to wander over the world, without lying in a bed. They had been wandering five years when they came to Paris; first the principal people, and soon after the commonalty, about 100, or 120, reduced from 1000, or 1200, when they came from home; the rest being dead, with their King and Queen. They were lodged by the police, out of the city, at Chapel St. Denis
“Nearly all of them had their ears bored, and one or two silver rings in each, which they said were esteemed ornaments in their country. The men were black, their hair curled; the women remarkably black, all their faces scarred, _deployez_, their hair black, their only clothes a large old shaggy garment, _flossoye_, tied over the shoulders with a cloth or cord, sash, _lien_, and under it a poor petticoat, _roquet_. In short, they were the poorest miserable creatures that had ever been seen in France; and notwithstanding their poverty, there were among them women, who by looking into people’s hands told their fortunes. And what was worse, they picked people’s pockets of their money; and got it into their own, through telling these things by art, magic, &c.
“But though this was the common report, I spoke to them several times, yet I never lost a farthing by them; or ever saw them look into people’s hands. But the Bishop of Paris, hearing of it, went to them with a Friar Preacher, named _Le petit Jacobin_, who, by the Bishop’s order, preached a sermon excommunicating all the men and women who pretended to believe these things; and had believed in them, and shown their hands; and it was agreed that they should go away, and they departed for Pontoise, in September.
“This was copied from an old book in the form of a journal, drawn up by a doctor of divinity in Paris, which fell into the hands of Pasquier; who remarks upon it, that however the story of a penance savours of a trick, these people wandered up and down France, under the eye, and with the knowledge of the magistrates, for 100, or 120 years. At length, in 1661, an edict was issued, commanding all officers of justice, to turn out of the kingdom, in the space of two months, under pain of the gallies, and corporal punishment, all men, women and children, who assumed the name of _Bohémiens_, or Egyptians.”