Chapter X (4)

When the Gipsies appeared in Scotland, the natives themselves, as I have already said, were nearly wholly uneducated. Many of the Gipsies, then, and long afterwards, being smart, presumptuous, overbearing, audacious fellows, seem to have assumed great importance, and been looked upon as no small people by the authorities and the inhabitants of the country. In every country in which they have settled, they seem to have instinctively and very readily appreciated the ways and spirit of the people, while, at the same time, they preserved what belonged particularly to themselves--their Gipsyism. Gipsydom being, in its very essence, a "working in among other people," "a people within a people," it followed, that marriages between adopted Gipsies, and even Gipsies themselves, and the ordinary natives, would be encouraged, were it only to contribute to their existence in the country. The issue of such marriages, go where they might, would become centres of little Gipsy circles, which, in their turn, would throw off members that would become the centres of other little Gipsy circles; the leaven of Gipsydom leavening into a lump everything that proceeded out of itself. To such an extent has this been followed, that, at the present day, the Scottish Gipsies--at least the generality of them--have every outward characteristic of Scotchmen. But the secret of being Gipsies, which they carry in their bosoms, makes them appear a little queer to others; they have a something about them that makes them look somewhat odd to the other Scotchman, who is not "one of them," although he does not know the cause of it.

Upon, or shortly after, their arrival, they seem to have divided the country among themselves; each tribe exercising its rights over its own territory, to the exclusion of others, just as a native lord would have done against other natives; with a system of passes, regulated by councils of local or provincial chieftains, and a king, over all. The Scottish Gipsies, from the very first, seem to have been thoroughly versed in their vocation, from having had about a hundred years' experience, in some other part of Europe, before they settled in Scotland; although stragglers of their race evidently had made their appearance in the country many years before. What might have been the number of Gipsies then in Scotland, it is impossible to conjecture; it must have been considerable, if we judge from what is said in Wraxall's History of France, vol. 2, page 32, when, in reference to the Act of Queen Elizabeth, in 1563, he states, that, in her reign, the Gipsies throughout England were supposed to exceed ten thousand. The employments of the original Gipsies, within their respective districts, seem to have been what is described under the head of Tweed-dale and Clydesdale Gipsies; that is, tinkering, making spoons and other wares, petty trading, telling fortunes, living as much as possible at free-quarters, dealing in horses, and visiting fairs. It is extremely likely that those who travelled Tweed-dale, for example, always averaged about the same number, down to the time of the American Revolution, (except in times of civil commotion, when they would have the country pretty much to themselves,) and were confined to such of the families of the respective tribes, or the members of these families, in whom the right was hereditary. The consequence seems to have been, that perhaps the younger members of the family had to betake themselves to towns and villages, and engage in whatever they could possibly turn their hands to. Some would, of course, take to the highway, and kindred fields of industry. Admitting that the circumstances attending the Gipsies in Scotland, at that time, and subsequently, were the same, as regards the manner of making a living, which attend those in England, at the present day, (with this difference, that they could more easily roam at large then than now,) and we can have no difficulty in coming to a conclusion how the surplus of the tented Gipsy population was disposed of. Among the English Gipsies of to-day, taking year with year, and tent with tent, there is, yearly, a continual moving out of the tent; a kind of Gipsy crop is annually gathered from tented Gipsydom; and some of these gradually find themselves drawn into almost every kind of mechanical or manual labour, even to working in coal-mines and iron-works; others become peddlers, itinerant auctioneers, and _tramps_ of almost every imaginable kind; not to speak of those who visit fairs, in various capacities, or engage in various settled traffic.

Put a Gipsy to any occupation you like, and he shows a capability and handiness that is astonishing, if he can only muster up steadiness in his new vocation. But it is difficult to break him off the tent; he will return, and lounge, for weeks together, about that of his father, or some other relative. But get him fairly out of the tent, married, and, in a degree, settled to some occupation, in a town where there are not too many of his own race in close proximity to him, but where he gets mixed up, in his daily avocation, with the common natives, and he sooner or later falls into the ranks. Still, his intimate associations are always with Gipsies; for his ardent attachment to his people, and a corresponding resentment of the prejudice that exists against it, keep him aloof from any intimate intercourse with the ordinary inhabitants; his associations with them hardly ever extending beyond the commons or the public-house. If he experiences an attack from his old habits, he will take to the tramp, from town to town, working at his mechanical occupation; leaving his wife and children at home. But it is not long before he returns. His children, having been born and reared in a town, become habituated to a settled life, like other people.

There is a vast amount of ambition about every Gipsy, which is displayed, among the humble classes, in all kinds of athletic exercises.[274] The same peculiarity is discernible among the educated Scottish Gipsies. Carrying about with them the secret of being Gipsies, which they assume would be a terrible imputation cast upon them by the ordinary natives, if they knew of it, they, as it were, fly up, like game-cocks, and show a disposition to surpass the others in one way or other; particularly as they consider themselves better than the common inhabitants. They must always be "cock of the company," master of ceremonies, or stand at the top of the tree, if possible. The reader may ask, how do they consider themselves better than the ordinary natives? And I answer, that, from having been so long in Scotland, they are Scotchmen, (as indeed they are, for the most part, in point of blood,) and consider themselves as good as the others--nay, smarter than others in the same sphere, which, generally speaking, they are; and, in addition to that, being Gipsies, a great deal better. They pique themselves on their descent, and on being in possession of secrets which are peculiarly and exclusively theirs, and which they imagine no other knows, or will ever know. They feel that they are part and parcel of those mysterious beings who are an enigma to others, no less than to themselves. Besides this vanity, which is peculiar to the Gipsy everywhere, the Scottish Gipsies have chimed in with all the native Scotch ideas of clanism, kith, kin, and consequence, as regards family, descent, and so forth; and applied them so peculiarly to themselves, as to render their opinion of their body as something of no small importance. Some of them, whose descent leads them more directly back to the tented stock, speak of their families having possessed this district or the other district of the country, as much, almost, as we would expect to hear from some native Scottish chieftain.

[274] "I was one of these verminous ones, one of these great
sin-breeders; I infected all the youth of the town where I was born
with all manner of youthful vanities. The neighbours counted me so; my
practice proved me so: wherefore Christ Jesus took me first, and
taking me first, the contagion was much allayed all the town
over."--_Bunyan._

As regards the various phases of history through which many of the Scottish Gipsies have passed, we can only form an estimate from what has been observed in recent times. The further back, however, we go, the greater were their facilities to rise to a position in society; for this reason, that a very little education, joined to good natural talents, were all that was necessary, in a mixed Gipsy, to raise himself in the world, at the time to which I allude. He could leave the district in which, when a youth, he had travelled, with his parents; settle in a town where he was not personally known; commence some traffic, and, by his industry, gradually raise himself up, and acquire wealth. He would not lack a proper degree of innate manners, or personal dignity, to deport himself with propriety in any ordinary company into which he might enter. Even at the present day, in Scotland, a poor Gipsy will commence life with a wheelbarrow, then get a donkey-cart, and, in a few years, have a very respectable crockery-shop. I am intimate with an English mixed Gipsy family, the father of which commenced life as a basket-maker, was afterwards a constable, and now occasionally travels with the tent. His son is an M. D., for I have seen his diploma; and is a smart, intelligent fellow, and quite an adept at chemistry. To illustrate the change that has taken place among some of the Scottish Gipsies, within the last fifty years, I may mention that the grand-children of a prominent Gipsy, mentioned in chapter V., follow, at the present day, the medical, the legal, and the mercantile professions. Such occurrences have been frequent in Scotland. There are the cases mentioned by our author; such as one of the Faas rising to such eminence in the mercantile world, at Dunbar; and another who rose to the rank of lieutenant in the East India Company's service; and the Baillie family, which furnished a captain and a quarter-master to the army, and a country surgeon. These are but instances of many others, if they were but known. Some may object, that these were not full-blood Gipsies. That, I readily admit. But the objection is more nominal than real. 'If a white were to proceed to the interior of the American continent, and cast his lot with a tribe of Indians, his children would, of course, be expected to be superior, in some respects, to the children of the native blood exclusively, owing to what the father might be supposed to teach them. But it is different in the case of a white marrying a Scottish Gipsy woman, born and reared in the same community with himself; for the white, in general cases, brings only his blood, which enables the children, if they take after himself, in appearance, to enter such places as the black Gipsies would not enter, or might not be allowed to enter. The white father, in such a case, might not even be so intelligent as the Gipsy mother. Be that as it may, the individuals to whom I have alluded were nothing but Gipsies; possibly they did not know when, or through whom, the white blood was introduced among them; they knew, at least, that they were Gipsies, and that the links which connected them with the past were substantially Gipsy links. Besides the Scottish Gipsies rising to respectable positions in life, by their own exertions, I can well believe that Gipsydom has been well brought up through the female line; especially at a time when females, and particularly country females, were rude and all but uneducated. Who more capable of doing that than the lady Baillies, of Tweed-dale, and the lady Wilsons, of Stirlingshire? Such Gipsy girls could "turn natives round their little fingers" and act, in a way, the lady at once; "turn over a new leaf," and "pin it down;" and conduct themselves with great propriety.

Upon a superior Scottish Gipsy settling in a town, and especially a small town, and wishing to appear respectable, he would naturally take a pew in the church, and attend public worship, were it only, as our author asserts, to hide the fact of his being a Gipsy. Because, among the Scotch, there is that prying inquisitiveness into their neighbours' affairs, that compels a person to be very circumspect, in all his actions, movements, and expressions, if he wishes to be thought anything of, at all. The habit of attending church would then become as regular, in the Gipsy's family, as in the families of the ordinary natives, and, in a great measure, proceed from as legitimate a motive. The family would be very polite, indeed, extra polite, to their neighbours. After they had lulled to sleep every suspicion of what they were, or, by their really good conduct, had, according to the popular idea, "ceased to be Gipsies," they would naturally encourage a formal acquaintance with respectable (and nothing but respectable,) people in the place. The Gipsy himself, a really good fellow at heart, honourable in his dealings, but fond of a bargain, when he could drive a bargain, and, moreover, a jovial fellow, would naturally make plenty of business and out-door friends, at least. Rising in circumstances and the public esteem, he makes up his mind that his children ought to be something better than himself, at all events; in short, that they ought not to be behind those of his respectable neighbours. Some of them he, therefore, educates for a liberal profession. The Gipsy himself becomes more and more ambitious: besides attending church, he must become an elder of the church; or it may be that the grace of God takes hold of him, and brings him into the fold. He and his wife conduct themselves with much propriety; but some of the boys are rather wild; the girls, however, behave well. Altogether, the whole family is very much thought of. Such is a Scottish Gipsy family, (the parents of which are now dead,) that I have in my mind at the present moment. No suspicion existed in regard to the father, but there was a breath of suspicion in regard to the mother. But what difference did that make? What knowledge had the public of the nature of Gipsydom?

Consider, then, that the process which I have attempted to describe has been going on, more or less, for at least the last three hundred and fifty years; and I may well ask, where might we _not_ expect to meet with Gipsies, in Scotland, at the present day? And I reply, that we will meet with them in every sphere of Scottish life, not excepting, perhaps, the very highest. There are Gipsies among the very best Edinburgh families. I am well acquainted with Scotchmen, youths and men of middle age, of education and character, and who follow very respectable occupations, that are Gipsies, and who admit that they are Gipsies. But, apart from my own knowledge, I ask, is it not a fact, that, a few years ago, a pillar of the Scottish church, at Edinburgh, upon the occasion of founding a society for the reformation of the poor class of Scottish Gipsies, and frequently thereafter, said that he himself was a Gipsy? I ask, again, is not that a fact? It is a fact. And such a man! Such prayers! Such deep-toned, sonorous piety! Such candour! Such judgment! Such amiability of manners! How much respected! How worthy of respect! The good, the godly, the saintly doctor! When will we meet his like again?[275]

[275] "Grand was the repose of his lofty brow, dark eye, and aspect of
soft and melancholy meaning. It was a face from which every evil and
earthly passion seemed purged. A deep gravity lay upon his
countenance, which had the solemnity, without the sternness, of one of
our old reformers. You could almost fancy a halo completing its
apostolic character."

This leads me to speak of a high-class Scottish Gipsy family--the Falls, who settled at Dunbar, as merchants, alluded to under the chapter on Border Gipsies.[276] Who can doubt that they were Gipsies to the last? How could they avoid being Gipsies? The Gipsies were their people; their blood was Gipsy blood. How could they get rid of their blood and descent? Could they throw either off, as they would an old coat? Could medical science rid them of either? Assuredly not. They admitted their descent, _over their cups_. But being _descendants of Gipsies_, and yet _not Gipsies_, is a contradiction in terms. The principles which regulate the descent of other Gipsy families applied equally to theirs. The fact that Mrs. Fall had the history of her people, in the act of leaving Yetholm, represented in tapestry, may be taken as but a straw that indicated how the wind blew. Was not old Will Faa, the Gipsy king, down to his death, at the end of the first American war, admitted to their hospitality as a relative? And do not the Scottish Gipsies, at the present day, claim them to have been Gipsies? Why might not the Falls glory in being Egyptians among themselves, but not to others? Were not their ancestors _kings_? "Wee kings," no doubt, but still kings; one of them being the "loved John Faw," of James V., whom all the tribe consider as a great man, (which, doubtless, he was, in that barbarous age,) and the principal of the thirteen patriarchs of Scottish Gipsydom. Was not a Gipsy king, (themselves being Gipsies,) an ancestor of far more respect, in their eyes, than the founder of a native family, in their neighbourhood; who, in the reign of Charles II., was a common country _snip_, and most likely commenced life with "whipping the cat" around the country, for fivepence a day, and victuals and clippings?[277]

[276] Burns alludes to this family, thus: "Passed through the most
glorious corn country I ever saw, till I reached Dunbar, a neat little
town. Dine with Provost Fall, an eminent merchant, and most
respectable character, but indescribable, as he exhibits no marked
traits. Mrs. Fall, a genius in painting; fully more clever in the fine
arts and sciences than my friend Lady Wauchope, without her consummate
assurance of her own abilities."--_Life of Burns, by Robert Chambers._

The crest of the Falls, of Dunbar, was _three_ boars' heads, couped;
that of Baillie, of Lamington, is _one_ boar's head, couped. In the
Statistical Account of Scotland, (1835,) appears the following notice
of this family: "A family, of the name of Fall, established themselves
at Dunbar, and became, during the last century, the most extensive
merchants in Scotland. They were long the chief magistrates of the
burgh, and preferred the public good to their own profit. They have
left no one to bear their name, _not even a stone to tell where they
lie_; but they will long be remembered for their enterprise and public
spirit." There is apparently a reason for "not even a stone being left
to tell where they lie;" for in Hoyland's "Survey of the Gipsies"
appeared the account of Baillie Smith, in which it is said: "The
descendants of Faa now take the name of Fall, from the Messrs. Fall,
of Dunbar, who, they pride themselves in saying, _are of the same
stock and lineage_;" which seems to have frightened their connexions
at being known to be Gipsies.

Let all that has been said of the Falls be considered as their
monument and epitaph; so that their memories may be preserved as long
as this work exists.

It would be interesting to know who the Captain Fall was, who visited
Dunbar, with an American ship-of-war, during the time of Paul Jones.
He might have been a descendant of a Gipsy, sent to the plantations,
in the olden times. There are, as I have said before, a great many
scions of Gipsy Faas, under one name or other, scattered over the
world.

[277] _Whipping the cat_: Tailoring from house to house. The _cat_ is
_whipped_ by females, as well as males, in America, in some parts of
which the expression is current.

The truth of the matter is, these Falls must have considered themselves a world better than other people, merely on account of their being Gipsies, as all Gipsies do, arising, in part, from that antagonistic spirit of opposition which the prejudice of their fellow-creatures is so much calculated to stir up in their minds. Saying, over their cups, that they were descended from the Faws, the historical Gipsy name in Scotland, did not divulge very much to the public. For what idea had the public of the _working of Gipsydom_--what idea of the Gipsy language? Did the public know of the existence of a Gipsy language in Scotland? In all probability, it generally did not. If the public heard a Tinkler use a strange word, all that it would think of it would be, that it was _cant_, confined to vagabonds strolling the country. Would it ever dream that what the vagabonds used was carefully preserved and spoken among the great Falls, of Dunbar, within the sanctity of their own dwellings, as it assuredly must have been? Would the public believe in such a thing, if even its own ears were made the witnesses to it? Was the love which the Falls had for their Yetholm connexion confined to a mere group of their ancestors worked in tapestry? Where was the Gipsy language, during all this time? Assuredly it was well preserved in their family. If it showed the least symptoms of falling off, how easily could the mothers bring into the family, as servants, other Gipsies, who would teach it to the children! For, besides the dazzling hold which the Gipsy language takes of the mind of a Gipsy, as the language of those black, mysterious heroes from whom he is descended, the keeping of it up forms the foundation of that self-respect which a Gipsy has for himself, amidst the prejudice of the world; from which, at the bottom of his heart, whatever his position in life, or character, or associations, may be, he considers himself separated. I am decidedly of opinion that all the domestics about this Fall family were Gipsies of one caste, colour, condition, or what not.

Then, we are told that Miss Fall, who married Sir John Anstruther, of Elie, baronet, was looked down upon by her husband's friends, and received no other name than Jenny Faa; and that she was indirectly twitted with being a Gipsy, by the rabble, while attending an election in which Sir John was a candidate. What real satisfaction could Jenny, or any other Gipsy, have for ordinary natives of the country, when she was conscious of being what she was, and how she was spoken of, by her husband's relatives and the public generally? She would take comfort in telling her "wonderful story" to her children, (for I presume she would have children,) who would sympathize with her; and in conversing with such of her own race as were near her, were it only her trusty domestics. It is the Gipsy woman who feels the prejudice that exists towards her race the most acutely; for she has the rearing of the children, and broods more over the history of her people. As the needle turns to the pole, so does the mind of the Gipsy woman to Gipsydom.

We are likewise told that this eminent Gipsy family were connected, by marriage, with the Footies, of Balgonie; the Coutts, afterwards bankers; Collector Whyte, of Kirkaldy, and Collector Melville, of Dunbar. We may assume, as a mathematical certainty, that Gipsydom, in a refined form, is in existence in the descendants of these families, particularly in such of them as were connected with this Gipsy family by the female side.[278]

[278] Of the Gipsies at Moscow, the following is the substance of what
Mr. Borrow says: "Those who have been accustomed to consider the Gipsy
as a wandering outcast . . . . . . will be surprised to learn that,
amongst the Gipsies of Moscow, there are not a few who inhabit stately
houses, go abroad in elegant equipages, and are behind the higher
order of Russians neither in appearance nor mental acquirements.
. . . . The sums obtained by the Gipsy females, by the exercise of
their art (singing in the choirs of Moscow,) enable them to support
their relatives in affluence and luxury. Some are married to Russians;
and no one who has visited Russia can but be aware that a lovely and
accomplished countess, of the noble and numerous family of Tolstoy is,
by birth, a Zigana, and was originally one of the principal
attractions of a Romany choir at Moscow."

This short notice appears unsatisfactory, considering, as Mr. Borrow
says, that one of his principal motives for visiting Moscow was to
hold communication with the Gipsies. It might have occurred to him to
enquire what relation the children of such marriages would bear to
Gipsydom generally; that is, would they be initiated in the mysteries,
and taught the language, and hold themselves to be Gipsies? It is
evident, however, that the Gipsy-drilling process is going on among
the Russian nobility.

A person who has never considered this subject, or any other cognate to it, may imagine that a Gipsy reproaches himself with his own blood. Pshaw! Where will you find a man, or a tribe of men, under the heavens, that will do that? It is not in human nature to do it. All men venerate their ancestors, whoever they have been. A Gipsy is, to an extraordinary degree, proud of his blood. "I have very little of the blood, myself," said one of them, "but just come and see my wife!" But people may say that the ancestors of the Falls were thieves. And were not all the Borderers, in their way, the worst kind of thieves? They might not have stolen from their nearest relatives; but, with that exception, did they not steal from each other? Now, Gipsies never, or hardly ever, steal from each other. Were not all the Elliots and Armstrongs thieves of the first water? Were not the Scotts and the Kers thieves, long after the Gipsies entered Scotland? When the servants of Scott of Harden drove out his last cow, and said, "There goes Harden's cow," did not the old cow-stealer say, "It will soon be Harden's _kye_"--meaning, that he would set out on a cow-stealing expedition? In fact, he lived upon spoil. Was it not his lady's custom, on the last bullock being killed, to place on the table a dish, which, on being uncovered, was found to contain a pair of clean spurs--a hint, to her husband and his followers, that they must shift for their next meal? The descendants of these Scotts, and the Scottish public generally, look, with the utmost complacency and pride, upon the history of such families; yet would be very apt to make a great ado, if the ancestress of a Gipsy should, in such a predicament, have hung out a cock's tail at the mouth of her tent, as a hint to her "laddies" to look after poultry. Common sense tells us, that, for one excuse to be offered for such conduct, on the part of the _landed-gentry_ of the country, a hundred can be found for the ancestor of a Gipsy--an unfortunate wanderer on the face of the earth, who was hunted about, like a wolf of the forest.[279]

[279] On his return with his gallant prey, he passed a very large
hay-stack. It occurred to the provident laird that this would be
extremely convenient to fodder his new stock of cattle; but, as no
means of transporting it were obvious, he was fain to take leave of
it, with the apostrophe, now become proverbial, "_By my saul, had ye
but four feet, ye should not stand lang there._" In short, as
Froissart says of a similar class of feudal robbers. "Nothing came
amiss to them that was not _too heavy_ or _too hot_." Sir Walter Scott
speaks, in the most jocular manner, of an ancestress who had a
_curious hand at pickling the beef which her husband stole_; and that
there was not a stain upon his escutcheon, barring Border theft and
high treason.--_Lockhart's Life of Sir Walter Scott._

We should never forget that a "hawk's a hawk," whether it is a falcon
or a mosquito hawk, which is the smallest of all hawks.

And what shall we say of our Highland thieves? Highlanders may be more touchy on this point, for their ancestors were the last of the British race to give up that kind of life. Talk of the laws passed against the Gipsies! Various of our Scottish monarchs issued decrees against "the wicked thieves and limmers of the clans and surnames, inhabiting the Highlands and Isles," accusing "the chieftains principal of the branches worthy to be esteemed the very authors, fosterers, and maintainers, of the wicked deeds of the vagabonds of their clans and surnames." Indeed, the doweries of the chiefs' daughters were made up by a share of the booty collected on their expeditions. The Highlands were, at one time, little better than a nest of thieves; thieving from each other, and more particularly from their southern neighbours. It is notorious that robbery, in the Highlands, was "held to be a calling not merely innocent, but honourable;" and that a high-born Highland warrior was "much more becomingly employed, in plundering the lands of others, than in tilling his own." At stated times of the year, such as at Candlemas, regular bands of Highlanders, the sons of gentlemen and what not, proceeded south in quest of booty, as part of their winter's provisions. The Highlanders might even have been compared, at one time, to as many tribes of Afghans. Mr. Skene, the historian of the Highlands, and himself a Highlander, says that the Highlanders believed that they _had a right_ to plunder the people of the low country, _whenever it was in their power_. We naturally ask, how did the Highlanders _acquire_ this right of plunder? Were they ever proscribed? Were any of them hung, merely for being Highlanders? No. What plea, then, did the Highlanders set up, in justification of this wholesale robbery?--"They believed, _from tradition_, that the Lowlands, _in old times_, were the possessions of their ancestors." (_Skene._) But that was no excuse for their plundering each other.[280]

[280] Sir Walter Scott makes Fitz-James, in the "Lady of the Lake,"
say to Roderick Dhu:

"But then, thy chieftain's robber life!--
Winning mean prey by causeless strife,
Wrenching from ruined Lowland swain
His herds and harvests reared in vain--
Methinks a soul like thine should scorn
The spoils from such foul foray borne.

The Gael beheld him, grim the while,
And answered with disdainful smile,--

* * * * *

'Where live the mountain chiefs, who hold
That plundering Lowland field and fold
Is aught but retribution true?
Seek other cause 'gainst Roderick Dhu!'"

The Gipsy's ordinary pilfering was confined to such petty things as "hens and peats at pleasure," "cutting a bit lamb's throat," and "a mouthfu' o' grass and a pickle corn, for the cuddy"--"things that a farmer body ne'er could miss." But your Highlanders did not content themselves with such "needles and pins;" they must have "horned cattle." If the coast was clear, they would table their drawn dirks, and commence their _spulzie_, by making their victims furnish them with what was necessary to fill their bellies; upon the strength of which, they would "lift" whatever they could carry and drive, or take its equivalent in black-mail.

What an effort is made by our McGregors, at the present day, to scrape up kin with this or the other bandit McGregor; and yet how apt the McGregor is to turn up his nose--just as Punch, only, could make him turn it up--if a Gipsy were to step out, and say, that he was a descendant, and could speak the language, of Will Baillie, mentioned under the head of Tweed-dale and Clydesdale Gipsies: a Gipsy, described by my ancestor, (and he could judge,) to have been "the handsomest, the best dressed, the best looking, and the best bred, man he ever saw; and the best swordsman in Scotland, for, with his weapon in his hand, and his back at a wall, he could set almost everything, saving fire-arms, at defiance; a man who could act the gentleman, the robber, the sorner, and the tinker, whenever it answered his purpose."[281] And yet, some of this man's descendants will doubtless be found among our medical doctors, and even the clergy. I recollect our author pointing out a clergyman of the Scottish Church, who, he was pretty sure, was "one of them." What name could have stood lower, at one time, than McGregor? Both by legal and social proscription, it was looked upon as vagabond; and doubtless the clan brought it, primarily and principally, upon themselves; but as for the rapine they practised upon their neighbours, and the helpless southerners, they were, at first, no worse, in that respect, than others of their nation. Are the McGregors sure that there are no Gipsies among them? There are plenty of Gipsies of, at least, the name of McGregor, known to both the Scottish and English Gipsies. What more likely than some of the McGregors, when "out," and leading their vagabond lives, getting mixed up with the better kind of mixed Gipsies? They were both leading a wild life, and it is not unlikely that some of the McGregors, of even no small consequence, might have been led captive by such Gipsy girls as the lady Baillies, of Tweed-dale. Let a Gipsy once be grafted upon a native family, and she rises with it; leavens the little circle of which she is the centre, and leaves it, and its descendants, for all time coming, Gipsies.

[281] See page 202.

I now come to ask, what constitutes a Gipsy at the present day? And common sense replies: the simple fact of knowing from whom he is descended, that is, who he is, in connection with having the Gipsy words and signs, although these are not absolutely necessary. It requires no argument to show that there is no tribe or nation but finds something that leads it to cling to its origin and descent, and not despise the blood that runs in its own veins, although it may despise the condition or conduct of some of its members. Where shall we find an exception to this rule? The Gipsy race is no exception to it. Civilize a Gipsy, and you make him a civilized Gipsy; educate him, and you make him an educated Gipsy; bring him up to any profession you like, Christianize him as much as you may, and he still remains a Gipsy; because he is of the Gipsy race, and all the influences of nature and revelation do not affect the questions of blood, tribe, and nationality. Take all the Gipsies that ever came out of the tent, or their descendants, including those brought into the body through the male and female line; and what are they now? Still Gipsies. They even pass into the other world Gipsies. "But they will forget that they are Gipsies," say, perhaps, some of my readers. Forget that they are Gipsies! Will we hear, some of these days, that Scotch people, themselves, will get up of a morning, toss about their night-caps, and forget that they are Scotch? We may then see the same happen with the Gipsies. What I have said, of the Gipsy always being a Gipsy, is self-evident; but it has a wide difference of meaning from that contained in the quotation given by Mr. Borrow, in which it is said: "For that which is unclean by nature thou canst entertain no hope; no washing will turn the Gipsy white."[282] But, taking the world all over, there will doubtless be Gipsies, in larger or smaller numbers, who will always be found following the original ways of their race.

[282] In expatiating on the subject of the Gipsy race always being the
Gipsy race, I have had it remarked to me: "Suppose Gipsies should not
mention to their children the fact of their being Gipsies." In that
case, I replied, the children, especially if, for the most part, of
white blood, would simply not be Gipsies; they would, of course, have
some of "the blood," but they would not be Gipsies if they had no
knowledge of the fact. But to suppose that Gipsies should not learn
that they are Gipsies, on account of their parents not telling them of
it, is to presume that they had no other relatives. Their being
Gipsies is constantly talked of among themselves; so that, if Gipsy
children should not hear their "wonderful story" from their parents,
they would readily enough hear it from their other relatives. This is
assuming, however, that the Gipsy mind can act otherwise than the
Gipsy mind; which it cannot.

It sometimes happens, as the Gipsies separate into classes, like all
other races or communities of men, that a great deal of jealousy is
stirred up in the minds of the poorer members of the tribe, on account
of their being shunned by the wealthier kind. They are then apt to say
that the exclusive members have _left_ the tribe; which, with them, is
an undefined and confused idea, at the best, principally on account of
their limited powers of reflection, and the subject never being
alluded to by the others. This jealousy sometimes leads them to dog
these straggling sheep, so that, as far as lies in their power, they
will not allow them to leave, as they imagine, the Gipsy fold. [See
second note at page 532.]

What were the Hungarians, at one time, and what are they now? Pritchard says of them: "The Hungarians laid aside the habits of rude and savage hunters, far below the condition of the nomadic hordes, for the manners of civilized life. In the course of a thousand years, they have become a handsome people, of fine stature, regular European features, and have the complexion prevalent in that tract of Europe where they dwell." Now the Gipsies have been in Scotland at least three hundred and fifty years; and what with the mixture of native blood, (which, at least, helped to remove the prejudice against the man's appearance, and, consequently, gave him a larger and freer scope of action;) the hard laws of necessity, and the being tossed about by society, like pebbles on the seashore; the influences of civilization, education, and the grace of God itself; by such means as these, some of the Scottish Gipsies have risen to a respectable, even eminent, position in life. But some people may say: "These are not Gipsies; they have little of the blood in them." That is nothing. Ask themselves what they are, and, if they are at all candid, they will reply that they are Gipsies. "No doubt," they say, "we have fair, or red, or black, hair, (as the case may be;) we know nothing about that; but we know that we _are_ Gipsies; that is all." There is as much difference between such a high-class Gipsy and a poor Gipsian, as there is between a Scottish judge and the judge's fourth cousin, who makes his living by clipping dogs' ears. The principle of progression, the passing through one phase of history into another, while the race maintains its identity, holds good with the Gipsies, as well as with any other people.

Take a Gipsy in his original state, and we can find nothing really _vulgar_ about him. What is popularly understood to be Gipsy life may be considered low life, by people who do not overmuch discriminate in such matters; but view it after its kind, and it is not really low; for a Gipsy is naturally polite and well mannered. He does not consider himself as belonging to the same race as the native, and would rather be judged by a different standard. The life which he leads is not that of the lowest class of the country in which he dwells, but the primitive, original state of a people of great antiquity, proscribed by law and society; himself an enemy of, and an enemy to, all around him; with the population so prejudiced against him, that attempts to change his condition, consistently with his feelings as a man, are frequently rendered in vain: so that, on the ground of strict morals, or even administrative justice, the man can be said to be only half responsible. The subject, however, assumes quite a different aspect, when we consider a Gipsy of education and refinement, like the worthy clergyman mentioned, between whose condition and that of his tented ancestor an interval of, perhaps, two or three centuries has elapsed. We should then put him on the footing of any other race having a barbarous origin, and entertain no prejudice against him on account of the race to which he belongs. He is then to be judged as we judge Highland and Border Scots, for the whole three were at one time robbers; and all the three having welled up to respectable life together, they ought to be judged on their merits, individually, as men, and treated accordingly. And the Gipsy ought to be the most leniently dealt with, on the principle that the actions of his ancestors were far more excusable, and even less heinous, than those of the others. And as regards antiquity of descent, the Gipsy's infinitely surpasses the others, being probably no less than the shepherd kings, part of whose blood left Egypt, in the train of the Jews. I would place such a Gipsy on the footing of the Hungarian race; with this difference, that the Hungarians entered Europe in the ninth century, and became a people, occupying a territory; while the Gipsies appeared in the fifteenth century, and are now to be found, civilized and uncivilized, in almost every corner of the known world.

The admission of the good man alluded to casts a flood of light upon the history of the Scottish Gipsy race, shrouded as it is from the eye of the general population; but the information given by him was apt to fall flat upon the ear of the ordinary native, unless it was accompanied by some such exposition of the subject as is given in this work. Still, we can gather from it, where Gipsies are to be found, what _a_ Scottish Gipsy is, and what the race is capable of; and what might be expected of it, if the prejudice of their fellow-creatures was withdrawn from the race, as distinguished from the various classes into which it may be divided, or, I should rather say, the personal conduct of each Gipsy individually. View the subject any way I may, I cannot resist coming to the conclusion that, under more favourable circumstances, it is difficult to say what the Gipsies might not attain to. But that would depend greatly upon the country in which they are to be found. Scotland has been peculiarly favourable for them, in some respects.

As regards the Scottish Gipsy population, at the present day, I can only adopt the language of the immortal Dominie Sampson, and say, that it must be "prodigious." If we consider the number that appear to have settled in Scotland, the length of time they have been in Scotland, the great amount of white blood that has, by one means or other, been brought into, and mixed up with, the body, and its great natural encrease; the feelings that attach them to their descent--feelings that originate, more properly, within themselves, and feelings that press upon them from without--the various occupations and positions in life in which they are to be found; we cannot set any limit to their number. Gipsies are just like other people; they have their own sets or circles of associates, out of which, as a thing that is almost invariable, they will hide, if not deny, themselves to others of their race, for reasons which have already been given. So almost invariable is this, at the present day, amongst Gipsies that are not tented Gipsies, that, should an English Gipsy come across a settlement of them in America--German Gipsies, for example--and cast his sign, and address them in their own speech, they will pretend not to know what he means, although he sees the Gipsy in their faces and about their dwellings. But should he meet with them away from their homes, and where they are not known, they would answer, and be cheek-by-jowl with him, in a moment. I have found, by personal experience, that the same holds with the French and other continental Gipsies in America.[283] It is particularly so with the Scottish Gipsies. For these reasons, it seems to be beyond question that the number at which our author estimates them in Scotland, viz., 5,000, must be vastly below the real number. If I were to say 100,000, I do not think I would over-estimate them. The opinion of the Gipsies whom our author questioned was a guess, so far as it referred to the class to which they belonged, or with which they were acquainted; so that, if we take all kinds of Gipsies into account, it would be a very moderate estimate to set the Scottish Gipsies down at 100,000; and those in all the British Isles at 300,000. The number might be double what I have stated. The intelligent English Gipsies say that, in England, they are not only "dreadfully mixed," but extremely numerous. There is not a race of men on the face of the earth more prolific than tented Gipsies; in a word, tented Gipsydom, if I may hazard such an expression, is, comparatively speaking, like a rabbit warren. The rough and uncouth kind of settled Gipsies are likewise very prolific; but the higher classes, as a rule, are by no means so much so. To set down any specific number of Gipsies to be found in the British Isles, would be a thing too arbitrary to serve any purpose; I think sufficient data have been given to enable the intelligent reader to form an opinion for himself.[284]

[283] I very abruptly addressed a French Gipsy, in the streets of New
York, thus: "Vous êtes un _Romany chiel_." "Oui, monsieur," was the
reply which he, as abruptly, gave me. But, ever afterwards, he got
cross, when I alluded to the subject. On one occasion, I gave him the
sign, which he repeated, while he asked, with much tartness of manner,
"What is that--what does it mean?" This was a roguish Gipsy, and was
afterwards lodged in jail.

On one occasion, I met with a German cutler, in a place of business,
in New York. I felt sure he was a Gipsy, although the world would not
have taken him for one. Catching his eye, I commenced to look around
the room, from those present to himself, as if there was to be
something confidential between us, and then whispered to him, "_Callo
chabo_," (Gipsy, or black fellow;) and the effect was instantaneous. I
afterwards visited his family, on a Sabbath evening, and took tea with
them. They were from Wurtemberg, and appeared very decent people. The
mother, a tall, swarthy, fine looking intelligent young woman, said
grace, which was repeated by the children, whom I found learning their
Sabbath-school lessons. The family regularly attend church. A
fair-haired German called, and went to church with the Gipsy himself.
What with the appearance of everything about the house, and the fine,
clean, and neatly-dressed family of children, I felt very much pleased
with my visit.

French and German Gipsies are very shy, owing to the severity of the
laws against their race.

[284] Fletcher, of Saltoun, speaks of there being constantly a hundred
thousand people in Scotland, leading the life (as Sir Walter Scott
describes it,) of "Gipsies, Jockies, or Cairds." Between the time
alluded to and the date of John Faw's league with James V., a period
of 140 years had elapsed; and 174 years from the date of arrival of
the race in the country: so that, from the natural encrease of the
body, and the large amount of white blood introduced into it, the
greater part, if not the whole, of the people mentioned, were
doubtless Gipsies. But these Gipsies, according to Sir Walter's
opinion, "died out by a change of habits." How strange it is that the
very first class Scottish minds should have so little understood the
philosophy of origin, blood, and descent, and especially as they
applied to the Gipsies! For Sir Walter says: "The progress of time,
and encrease both of the means of life and the power of the laws,
gradually reduced this dreadful evil within more narrow bounds.
. . . . Their numbers are so greatly diminished, that, instead of one
hundred thousand, as calculated by Fletcher, it would now, perhaps, be
impossible to collect above five hundred throughout all Scotland(!)"
It is perfectly evident that Sir Walter Scott, in common with many
others, never realized the idea, in all its bearings, of what a Gipsy
was; or he never could have imagined that those, only, were of the
Gipsy race, who followed the tent.

It is very doubtful if Anthonius Gawino, and his tribe, departed with
their letter of introduction from James IV. to his uncle, the king of
Denmark, in 1506. Having secured the favour of the king of Scots, by
this recommendatory notice, he was more apt, by delaying his
departure, to secure his position in the country. The circumstances
attending the league with his successor, John Faw, show that the tribe
had been long in the country; doubtless from as far back as 1506. From
1506 till 1579, with the exception of about one year, during the reign
of James V., the tribe, as I have already said, (page 109,) must have
encreased prodigiously. The persecutions against the body extended
over the reign of James VI., and part of that of Charles I.; for,
according to Baron Hume, such was the terror which the executions
inspired in the tribe, that, "for the space of more than 50 years from
that time, (1624,) there is no trial of an Egyptian;" although our
author shows that an execution of a band of them took place in 1636.
But "towards the end of that century," continues Baron Hume, "the
nuisance seems to have again become troublesome;" in other words, that
from the reign of Charles I. to the accession of William and Mary, the
time to which Fletcher's remark applies, the attention of all being
taken up with the troubles of the times, the Gipsies had things pretty
much their own way; but when peace was restored, they would be called
to strict account.

For all these reasons, it may be said that the 100,000 people spoken
of were doubtless Gipsies of various mixtures of blood; so that, at
the present day, there ought to be a very large number of the tribe in
Scotland. I admit that many of the Scottish Gipsies have been hanged,
and many banished to the Plantations; but these would be in a small
ratio to their number, and a still smaller to the natural encrease of
the body. Suppose that such and such Gipsies were either hanged or
banished; so young did they all marry, that, when they were hanged or
banished, they might leave behind them families ranging from five to
ten children. We may say, of the Scottish Gipsies generally, in days
that are past, what a writer in Blackwood's Magazine, already alluded
to, said of Billy Marshall: "Their descendants were prodigiously
numerous; I dare say, numberless." Many of the Scottish Gipsies have
migrated to England, as well as elsewhere. In Liverpool, there are
many of them, following various mechanical occupations.