There is a word in the gypsy language to which those who speak it attach ideas of peculiar reverence, far superior to that connected with the name of the Supreme Being, the creator of themselves and the universe.

This word is _Lacha_, which with them is the corporeal chastity of the females; we say corporeal chastity, for no other do they hold in the slightest esteem; it is lawful among them, nay praiseworthy, to be obscene in look, gesture and discourse, to be accessories to vice, and to stand by and laugh at the worst abominations of the Busne (gorgios, or gentiles) provided their _Lacha ye trupos_, or corporeal chastity, remains unblemished.

The gypsy child, from her earliest years, is told by her strange mother that a good Calli need only dread one thing in this world, and that is the loss of her _Lacha_, in comparison with which that of life is of little consequence, as in such an event she will be provided for, but what provision is there for a gypsy who has lost her _Lacha_.

"Bear this in mind, my child," she will say, "and now eat this bread and go forth and see what you can steal." The Romany, in a word, is the sect of the Husbands (and Wives) and their first precept is this: Be faithful to the _Roms_ (husbands) and take not up with the gorgios, whether they be raior (gentlemen) or baior (fellows).
{293} _Godly book_.
{295a} Chore, to steal.
{295b} Hokkawar, to cheat.
{295c} Lubbeny, the whore.
{296} _God_.
{298} Choomer, a kiss.
{299a} _Uncle_.
{299b} _Father_.
{301} Batu, father; coko, uncle.
{302a} _Law_.
{302b} _With child_.
{303} Tan, tent.
{305} _Tent_.
{306} Old Fulcher was an amateur in the meanest kinds of petty larceny whose deplorable end is described in chapter xli.

of the _Romany Rye_.
{307} The boxer who lost the fight near the Castle Hill (Norwich).
{312} Poknees, magistrate.
{318} _Steal_.
{326} See Introduction, p.9.