which association may have produced the result above alluded to;
but it will be as well here to state, that in no country of Europe

have the Gypsies forsaken or forgotten their native tongue, and in
its stead adopted the 'Germania,' 'Red Italian,' or robber jargon,

although in some they preserve their native language in a state of
less purity than in others. We are induced to make this statement

from an assertion of the celebrated Lorenzo Hervas, who, in the
third volume of his CATALOGO DE LAS LENGUAS, trat. 3, cap. vi., p.

311, expresses himself to the following effect:- 'The proper
language of the Gitanos neither is nor can be found amongst those

who scattered themselves through the western kingdoms of Europe,
but only amongst those who remained in the eastern, where they are

still to be found. The former were notably divided and disunited,
receiving into their body a great number of European outlaws, on

which account the language in question was easily adulterated and
soon perished. In Spain, and also in Italy, the Gitanos have

totally forgotten and lost their native language; yet still wishing
to converse with each other in a language unknown to the Spaniards

and Italians, they have invented some words, and have transformed
many others by changing the signification which properly belongs to

them in Spanish and Italian.' In proof of which assertion he then
exhibits a small number of words of the 'Red Italian,' or

allegorical tongue of the thieves of Italy.
It is much to be lamented that a man like Hervas, so learned, of

such knowledge, and upon the whole well-earned celebrity, should
have helped to propagate three such flagrant errors as are

contained in the passages above quoted: 1st. That the Gypsy
language, within a very short period after the arrival of those who

spoke it in the western kingdoms of Europe, became corrupted, and
perished by the admission of outlaws into the Gypsy fraternity.

2ndly. That the Gypsies, in order to supply the loss of their
native tongue, invented some words, and modified others, from the

Spanish and Italian. 3rdly. That the Gypsies of the present day
in Spain and Italy speak the allegorical robberdialect.

Concerning the first assertion, namely, that the Gypsies of the
west lost their language shortly after their arrival, by mixing

with the outlaws of those parts, we believe that its erroneousness
will be sufficiently established by the publication of the present

volume, which contains a dictionary of the Spanish Gitano, which we
have proved to be the same language in most points as that spoken

by the eastern tribes. There can be no doubt that the Gypsies have
at various times formed alliances with the robbers of particular

countries, but that they ever received them in considerable numbers
into their fraternity, as Hervas has stated, so as to become

confounded with them, the evidence of our eyesight precludes the
possibility of believing. If such were the fact, why do the

Italian and Spanish Gypsies of the present day still present
themselves as a distinct race, differing from the other inhabitants

of the west of Europe in feature, colour, and constitution? Why
are they, in whatever situation and under whatever circumstances,

to be distinguished, like Jews, from the other children of the
Creator? But it is scarcely necessary to ask such a question, or

indeed to state that the Gypsies of Spain and Italy have kept
themselves as much apart as, or at least have as little mingled

their blood with the Spaniards and Italians as their brethren in
Hungaria and Transylvania with the inhabitants of those countries,

on which account they still strikingly resemble them in manners,
customs, and appearance. The most extraordinaryassertion of

Hervas is perhaps his second, namely, that the Gypsies have
invented particular words to supply the place of others which they

had lost. The absurdity of this supposition nearly induces us to
believe that Hervas, who has written so much and so laboriously on

language, was totallyignorant of the philosophy of his subject.
There can be no doubt, as we have before admitted, that in the

robber jargon, whether spoken in Spain, Italy, or England, there
are many words at whose etymology it is very difficult to arrive;

yet such a fact is no excuse for the adoption of the opinion that
these words are of pure invention. A knowledge of the Rommany

proves satisfactorily that many have been borrowed from that
language, whilst many others may be traced to foreign tongues,

especially the Latin and Italian. Perhaps one of the strongest
grounds for concluding that the origin of language was divine is

the fact that no instance can be adduced of the invention, we will
not say of a language, but even of a single word that is in use in

society of any kind. Although new dialects are continually being
formed, it is only by a system of modification, by which roots

almost coeval with time itself are continually being reproduced
under a fresh appearance, and under new circumstances. The third

assertion of Hervas, as to the Gitanos speaking the allegorical
language of which he exhibits specimens, is entitled to about equal

credence as the two former. The truth is, that the entire store of
erudition of the learned Jesuit, and he doubtless was learned to a

remarkable degree, was derived from books, either printed or
manuscript. He compared the Gypsy words in the publication of

Grellmann with various vocabularies, which had long been in
existence, of the robber jargons of Spain and Italy, which jargons

by a strange fatuity had ever been considered as belonging to the
Gypsies. Finding that the Gypsy words of Grellmann did not at all

correspond with the thieves' slang, he concluded that the Gypsies
of Spain and Italy had forgotten their own language, and to supply

its place had invented the jargons aforesaid, but he never gave
himself the trouble to try whether the Gypsies really understood

the contents of his slang vocabularies; had he done so, he would
have found that the slang was about as unintelligible to the

Gypsies as he would have found the specimens of Grellmann
unintelligible to the thieves had he quoted those specimens to

them. The Gypsies of Spain, it will be sufficient to observe,
speak the language of which a vocabulary is given in the present

work, and those of Italy who are generally to be found existing in
a half-savage state in the various ruined castles, relics of the

feudal times, with which Italy abounds, a dialect very similar, and
about as much corrupted. There are, however, to be continually

found in Italy roving bands of Rommany, not natives of the country,
who make excursions from Moldavia and Hungaria to France and Italy,

for the purpose of plunder; and who, if they escape the hand of
justice, return at the expiration of two or three years to their

native regions, with the booty they have amassed by the practice of
those thievish arts, perhaps at one period peculiar to their race,

but at present, for the most part, known and practised by thieves
in general. These bands, however, speak the pure Gypsy language,

with all its grammaticalpeculiarities. It is evident, however,
that amongst neither of these classes had Hervas pushed his

researches, which had he done, it is probable that his
investigations would have resulted in a work of a far different

character from the confused, unsatisfactory, and incorrect details
of which is formed his essay on the language of the Gypsies.

Having said thus much concerning the robber language in general, we
shall now proceed to offer some specimens of it, in order that our

readers may be better able to understand its principles. We shall
commence with the Italian dialect, which there is reason for

supposing to be the prototype of the rest. To show what it is, we
avail ourselves of some of the words adduced by Hervas, as

specimens of the language of the Gitanos of Italy. 'I place them,'
he observes, 'with the signification which the greater number

properly have in Italian.'
Robber jargon Proper signification of

of Italy. the words.
Arm { Ale Wings

{ Barbacane Barbican
Belly Fagiana Pheasant

Devil Rabuino Perhaps RABBIN, which,