when he hears the boast, laughs within his sleeve, and whispers to
himself, LET HIM TRY.

The third section, which relates to the paying of debts, is highly
curious. In the Gypsy language, the state of being in debt is
called PAZORRHUS, and the Rom who did not seek to extricate himself
from that state was deemed infamous, and eventually turned out of
the society. It has been asserted, I believe, by various gorgio
writers, that the Roms have everything in common, and that there is
a common stock out of which every one takes what he needs; this is
quite a mistake, however: a Gypsy tribe is an epitome of the
world; every one keeps his own purse and maintains himself and
children to the best of his ability, and every tent is independent
of the other. True it is that one Gypsy will lend to another in
the expectation of being repaid, and until that happen the borrower
is pazorrhus, or indebted. Even at the present time, a Gypsy will
make the greatest sacrifices rather than remain pazorrhus to one of
his brethren, even though he be of another clan; though perhaps the
feeling is not so strong as of old, for time modifies everything;
even Jews and Gypsies are affected by it. In the old time, indeed,
the Gypsy law was so strong against the debtor, that provided he
could not repay his brother husband, he was delivered over to him
as his slave for a year and a day, and compelled to serve him as a
hewer of wood, a drawer of water, or a beast of burden; but those
times are past, the Gypsies are no longer the independent people
they were of yore, - dark, mysterious, and dreaded wanderers,
living apart in the deserts and heaths with which England at one
time abounded. Gypsy law has given place to common law; but the
principle of honour is still recognised amongst them, and base
indeed must the Gypsy be who would continue pazorrhus because Gypsy