A comparative view of their customs and habits, and how far they appear coincident in different countries, may afford a criterion by which to judge if they have all had one origin. By thus tracing them to that source, we may possibly discover the occasion of their peculiarities; and if the means hitherto employed to counteract them, have proved unsuccessful, we may be prepared to consider of others, better adapted to correct the errors of their education.
Conceiving that any scheme for ameliorating the condition of the Gypsies, would not only be premature, but might prove highly injudicious, before obtaining a knowledge of their history, the author has endeavoured to collect, from the most authentic European authorities to which he could have access, a general view of this people, in the different parts of the world to which they have resorted; and from these and the other sources of information, he has subjoined accounts of their state in Great Britain, and of the suggestions offered by other individuals for their improvement; concluding the subject with a review of the whole, and proposing a plan to be set on foot for accomplishing this desirable object.
_Various Appellations of them—Their arrival in Europe_ _page_ 9
_Accounts of the Gypsies in various Countries_ _page_ 17
_The Habits_, _Occupations_, _and Polity of the _page_ 37 Continental Gypsies_
_Political Regulations on the Continent respecting _page_ 61 Gypsies_
_The present State of the Gypsies in Scotland_ _page_ 91
_On the Origin of the Gypsies_ _page_ 112
_Comparative view of the Gypsey_, _Hindostanie_, _and _page_ 131 Turkish languages_
_Present State of the Gypsies in England_ _page_ 151
_Present State of the Gypsies in and about London_ _page_ 175
_Sentiments of various persons on the moral condition of _page_ 191 the Gypsies_
_Review of the Subject_, _and Suggestions for _page_ 221 ameliorating the condition of the Gypsies in the British Empire_
Various appellations of them—Their arrival in Europe.
The different appellations by which the People whom we denominate Gypsies, have been distinguished, appear generally to have had reference to the countries, from which it was supposed they had emigrated.
Grellmann states, that the French, having the first accounts of them from Bohemia, gave them the name of _Bohémiens_, Bohemians. That the Dutch apprehending they came from Egypt, called them _Heydens_, Heathens. In Denmark, Sweden, and in some parts of Germany, Tartars were thought of. The Moors and Arabians, perceiving the propensity the Gypsies had to thieving, adopted the name _Charami_, Robbers, for them.