Salmon believes the Gipseys to be Mamelukes, who were obliged to quit Egypt in 1517, when the Turkish emperor conquered this country, and thereby put an end to the Circassian government. They are reputed to have acquired the name of Zigeuner, or in the Turkish language Zinganies, from a Captain Zinganeus, who was very active in opposing the Turks. How all this is proved, will best appear from his own words: “They had no occasion for any testimony to shew they were of Egyptian descent. The blackness of their skin clearly indicated from what part they came. What confirms me, in my belief of this intelligence, concerning the origin of the Gipseys, is an act of Parliament, passed in the twenty-seventh year of the reign of Henry VIII.—that is, fourteen years after the victory obtained by Selim emperor of the Turks over Egypt—in which are the following words: _Whereas certain outlandish people_, _who do not profess any craft or trade_, _whereby to maintain themselves_; _but go about_, _in great numbers_, _from place to place_, _using insidious underhand means to impose on his Majesty’s subjects_, _making them believe that they understand the art of foretelling to men and women their good or ill fortune_, _by looking in their hands_, _whereby they frequently defraud people of their money_; _likewise are guilty of thefts and highway robberies_: _it is hereby ordered_, _that __the said vagrants_, _commonly called Egyptians_, _in case they remain one month in the kingdom_, _shall be proceeded against as thieves and rascals_, _and on the importation of any such Egyptian_, _he_ (_the importer_) _shall forfeit_ 40_l._ . . . _for every trespass_.” He then quotes another act, passed during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, wherein the Gipseys are also called Egyptians.
From the blackness of their skins, therefore, with the official use of the name Egyptian, Salmon first draws the inference that they were really Egyptians: then, because the first decree published against the Gipseys in England was fourteen years after Selim’s conquest of Egypt, that they were Mamelukes. There is not any connection to be discovered in either conclusion. The Parliament used in the act the word Egyptian, because it was universally current in England. Whether the Gipseys were Egyptians or not, was a question of learning, totally irrelevant with the intention of the order; nor could it be determined by any juridical decree.