languages generally termed learned, being considered in any light

but accomplishments, but not so the possession of thieves' slang or
the dialect of the Gitanos, the knowledge of a few words of which

invariably creates a certain degree of respect, as indicating that
the individual is somewhat versed in that kind of life or TRATO for

which alone the Andalusians have any kind of regard.
In Andalusia the Gitano has been studied by those who, for various

reasons, have mingled with the Gitanos. It is tolerably well
understood by the chalans, or jockeys, who have picked up many

words in the fairs and market-places which the former frequent. It
has, however, been cultivated to a greater degree by other

individuals, who have sought the society of the Gitanos from a zest
for their habits, their dances, and their songs; and such

individuals have belonged to all classes, amongst them have been
noblemen and members of the priestly order.

Perhaps no people in Andalusia have been more addicted in general
to the acquaintance of the Gitanos than the friars, and pre-

eminently amongst these the half-jockey half-religious personages
of the Cartujan convent at Xeres. This community, now suppressed,

was, as is well known, in possession of a celebrated breed of
horses, which fed in the pastures of the convent, and from which

they derived no inconsiderable part of their revenue. These
reverend gentlemen seem to have been much better versed in the

points of a horse than in points of theology, and to have
understood thieves' slang and Gitano far better than the language

of the Vulgate. A chalan, who had some knowledge of the Gitano,
related to me the following singularanecdote in connection with

this subject.
He had occasion to go to the convent, having been long in treaty

with the friars for a steed which he had been commissioned by a
nobleman to buy at any reasonable price. The friars, however, were

exorbitant in their demands. On arriving at the gate, he sang to
the friar who opened it a couplet which he had composed in the

Gypsy tongue, in which he stated the highest price which he was
authorised to give for the animal in question; whereupon the friar

instantly answered in the same tongue in an extemporary couplet
full of abuse of him and his employer, and forthwith slammed the

door in the face of the disconcerted jockey.
An Augustine friar of Seville, called, we believe, Father Manso,

who lived some twenty years ago, is still remembered for his
passion for the Gitanos; he seemed to be under the influence of

fascination, and passed every moment that he could steal from his
clerical occupations in their company. His conduct at last became

so notorious that he fell under the censure of the Inquisition,
before which he was summoned; whereupon he alleged, in his defence,

that his sole motive for following the Gitanos was zeal for their
spiritual conversion. Whether this plea availed him we know not;

but it is probable that the Holy Office dealt mildly with him; such
offenders, indeed, have never had much to fear from it. Had he

been accused of liberalism, or searching into the Scriptures,
instead of connection with the Gitanos, we should, doubtless, have

heard either of his execution or imprisonment for life in the cells
of the cathedral of Seville.

Such as are thus addicted to the Gitanos and their language, are
called, in Andalusia, Los del' Aficion, or those of the

predilection. These people have, during the last fifty years,
composed a spurious kind of Gypsy literature: we call it spurious

because it did not originate with the Gitanos, who are, moreover,
utterly unacquainted with it, and to whom it would be for the most

part unintelligible. It is somewhat difficult to conceive the
reason which induced these individuals to attempt such

compositions; the only probable one seems to have been a desire to
display to each other their skill in the language of their

predilection. It is right, however, to observe, that most of these
compositions, with respect to language, are highly absurd, the

greatest liberties being taken with the words picked up amongst the
Gitanos, of the true meaning of which the writers, in many

instances, seem to have been entirely ignorant. From what we can
learn, the composers of this literature flourished chiefly at the

commencement of the present century: Father Manso is said to have
been one of the last. Many of their compositions, which are both

in poetry and prose, exist in manuscript in a compilation made by
one Luis Lobo. It has never been our fortune to see this

compilation, which, indeed, we scarcely regret, as a rather curious
circumstance has afforded us a perfect knowledge of its contents.

Whilst at Seville, chance made us acquainted with a highly
extraordinary individual, a tall, bony, meagre figure, in a

tattered Andalusian hat, ragged capote, and still more ragged
pantaloons, and seemingly between forty and fifty years of age.

The only appellation to which he answered was Manuel. His
occupation, at the time we knew him, was selling tickets for the

lottery, by which he obtained a miserablelivelihood in Seville and
the neighbouring villages. His appearance was altogether wild and

uncouth, and there was an insane expression in his eye. Observing
us one day in conversation with a Gitana, he addressed us, and we

soon found that the sound of the Gitano language had struck a chord
which vibrated through the depths of his soul. His history was

remarkable; in his early youth a manuscript copy of the compilation
of Luis Lobo had fallen into his hands. This book had so taken

hold of his imagination, that he studied it night and day until he
had planted it in his memory from beginning to end; but in so

doing, his brain, like that of the hero of Cervantes, had become
dry and heated, so that he was unfitted for any serious or useful

occupation. After the death of his parents he wandered about the
streets in great distress, until at last he fell into the hands of

certain toreros, or bull-fighters, who kept him about them, in
order that he might repeat to them the songs of the AFICION. They

subsequently carried him to Madrid, where, however, they soon
deserted him after he had experienced much brutality from their

hands. He returned to Seville, and soon became the inmate of a
madhouse, where he continued several years. Having partially

recovered from his malady, he was liberated, and wandered about as
before. During the cholera at Seville, when nearly twenty thousand

human beings perished, he was appointed conductor of one of the
death-carts, which went through the streets for the purpose of

picking up the dead bodies. His perfect inoffensiveness eventually
procured him friends, and he obtained the situation of vendor of

lottery tickets. He frequently visited us, and would then recite
long passages from the work of Lobo. He was wont to say that he

was the only one in Seville, at the present day, acquainted with
the language of the Aficion; for though there were many pretenders,

their knowledge was confined to a few words.
From the recitation of this individual, we wrote down the

Brijindope, or Deluge, and the poem on the plague which broke out
in Seville in the year 1800. These and some songs of less

consequence, constitute the poetical part of the compilation in
question; the rest, which is in prose, consisting chiefly of

translations from the Spanish, of proverbs and religious pieces.
BRIJINDOPE. - THE DELUGE (65)

A POEM: IN TWO PARTS
PART THE FIRST

I with fear and terror quake,
Whilst the pen to write I take;

I will utter many a pray'r
To the heaven's Regent fair,

That she deign to succour me,
And I'll humbly bend my knee;

For but poorly do I know
With my subject on to go;