Blackwood's Magazine/Volume 1/Issue 1/Notices Concerning the Scottish Gypsies

NOTICES CONCERNING THE SCOTTISH GYPSIES.

"Hast thou not noted on the bye-way side,
Where aged saughs lean o'er the lazy tide,
A vagrant crew, far strangled through the glade,
With trifles busied, or in slumber laid;
Their children lolling round them on the grass,
Or pestering with their sports the patient ass?
—The wrinkled beldame there you may espy,
And ripe young maiden with the glossy eye,
Men in their prime, and striplings dark and dun,—
Scathed by the storm and freckled with the sun:
Their swarthy hue and mantle's flowing fold,
Bespeak the remnant of a race of old:
Strange are their annals!—list, and mark them well—
For thou hast much to hear and I to tell."Hogg.

---

That an Asiatic people should have resided four hundred years in the heart of Europe, subject to its civilized polity and commingled with its varied population, and yet have retained almost unaltered their distinct oriental character, customs, and language, is a phenomenon so singular as only to be equalled, perhaps, by the unaccountable indifference with which, till very lately, this remarkable fact appears to have been regarded. Men of letters, while eagerly investigating the customs of Otaheite or Kamschatka, and losing their tempers in endless disputes about Gothic and Celtic antiquities, have witnessed with apathy and contempt the striking spectacle of a Gypsey camp,—pitched, perhaps, amidst the mouldering entrenchments of their favourite Picts and Romans. The rest of the community, familiar from infancy with the general character and appearance of these vagrant hordes, have probably never regarded them with any deeper interest than what springs from the recollected terrors of a nursery tale, or the finer associations of poetical and picturesque description. It may, indeed, be reckoned as one of the many remarkable circumstances in the history of this singular race, that the best and almost the only accounts of them that have hitherto appeared in this country, are to be found in works of fiction. Disregarded by philosophers and literati,—the strange, picturesque, and sometimes terrific features of the gypsey character, have afforded to our poets and novelists a favourite subject for delineation; and they have executed the task so well, that we have little more to ask of the historian, than merely to extend the canvass, and to affix the stamp of authenticity to the striking representations which they have furnished. In presenting to the public the following desultory notices, we are very far from any thoughts of aspiring to this grave office—nor indeed is it our province. Our duty is rather to collect and store up (if we may so express it,) the raw materials of literature—to gather into our repository scattered facts, hints, and observations,—which more elaborate and learned authors may afterwards work up into the dignified tissue of history or science. With this idea, and with the hope of affording to general readers something both of information and amusement on a subject so curious and so indistinctly known, we have collected some particulars respecting the Gypsies in Scotland, both from public records and popular tradition; and, in order to render the picture more complete, we shall introduce these by a rapid view of their earlier history—reserving to a future occasion our observations on their present state, and on the mysterious subject of their national language and origin.

That this wandering people attracted considerable attention on their first arrival in Christendom in the beginning of the fifteenth century, is sufficiently evident, both from the notices of contemporary authors, and from the various edicts respecting them still existing in the archives of every state in Europe. Their first appearance and pretensions were indeed somewhat imposing. They entered Hungary and Bohemia from the east, travelling in numerous hordes, under leaders who assumed the titles of Kings, Dukes, Counts, or Lords of Lesser Egypt, and they gave themselves out for Christian Pilgrims, who had been expelled from that country by the Saracens for their adherence to the true religion. However doubtful may now appear their claims to this sacred character, they had the address to pass themselves on some of the principal sovereigns of Europe, and, as German historians relate, even on the Pope himself, for real pilgrims; and obtained, under the seals of these potentates, various privileges and passports, empowering them to travel through all Christian countries under their patronage, for the space of seven years.—Having once gained this footing, however, the Egyptian pilgrims were at no great loss in finding pretences for prolonging their stay; and though it was soon discovered that their manners and conduct corresponded but little to the sanctity of their first pretensions, yet so strong was the delusion respecting them, and so dexterous were they in the arts of imposition, that they seem to have been either legally protected or silently endured by most of the European governments for the greater part of a century.^[1]

When their true character became at length fully understood, and they were found to be in reality a race of profligate and thievish impostors,—who from their numbers and audacity had now become a grievous and intolerable nuisance to the various countries that they had inundated,—severe measures were adopted by different states to expel them from their territories. Decrees of expulsion were issued against them by Spain in 1492, by the German empire in 1500, and by France in 1561 and 1612. Whether it was owing, however, to the inefficient systems of police at that time in use, or, that the common people among whom they were mingled favoured their evasion of the public edicts, it is certain, that notwithstanding many long and bloody persecutions, no country that had once admitted "these unknown and uninvited guests," has ever again been able to get rid of them. When rigorously prosecuted by any government on account of their crimes and depredations, they generally withdrew for a time to the remote parts of the country, or crossed the frontiers to a neighbouring jurisdiction—only to return to their accustomed haunts and habits as soon as the storm passed over. Though their numbers may perhaps have since been somewhat diminished in particular states by the progress of civilization, it seems to be generally allowed that their distinctive character and modes of life have nowhere undergone any material alteration. In Germany, Hungary, Poland,—in Italy, Spain, France, and England, this singular people, by whatever appellation they may be distinguished,—Cingari, Zi-geuners, Tziganys, Bohemiens, Ghanos, or Gypsies,—still remain uncombined with the various nations among whom they are dispersed,—and still continue the same dark, deceitful, and disorderly race as when their wandering hordes first emigrated from Egypt or from India. They are still every where characterized by the same strolling and pilfering propensities,—the same peculiarity of aspect,—and the same pretensions to fortune-telling and 'warlockry,'^[2]

The estimate of their present numbers, by the best informed continental writers on the subject, is almost incredible.—"Independently," says Grellmann, "of the multitudes of gypsies in Egypt and some parts of Asia, could we obtain an exact estimate of them in the countries of Europe, the immense number would probably greatly exceed what we have any idea of. At a moderate calculation, and without being extravagant, they might be reckoned at between seven and eight hundred thousand."

The gypsies do not appear to have found their way to this Island till about 100 years after they were first known in Europe. Henry VIII. and his immediate successors, by several severe enactments, and by re-exporting numbers of them at the public expense, endeavoured to expel from their dominions "this outlandish people calling themselves Egupeians,"—but apparently with little better success than their brother sovereigns in other countries; for in the reign of Elizabeth the number of them in England is stated to have exceeded 10,000, and they afterwards became still more numerous. If they made any pretension to the character of pilgrims, on their arrival among our southern neighbours, it is evident at least that neither Henry nor Elizabeth were deceived by their impostures. Both these monarchs, indeed, (particularly the former), were too much accustomed to use religion, as well as law, for a cloak to cover their own violent and criminal conduct, to be easily imposed upon by the like artifices in others. We find them accordingly using very little ceremony with the 'Egyptian pilgrims,' who, in several of their statutes, are described by such designations as the following:—'Sturdy roags,' 'rascalls, vacabonds,' 'masterless men, ydle, vagraunte, loyteringe, lewde, and yll-disposed persons, going aboute usinge subtiltie and unlawful games or plaie,'—'such as faynt themselves to have knowledge in physiognomye, palmestrie, or other abused sciences'—'tellers of destinies, deaths, or fortunes, and such lykefantasticall imaginatiouns.'

In king Edward's journal we find them mentioned along with other 'masterless men.' The following association of persons seems curious:—'June 22, 1549. There was a privy search made through Suffolk for all vagabonds, gipsies, conspirators, prophesiers, all players, and such like.^[3]

A more distinct account of the English gypsies, on their first arrival, is to be found in a work quoted by Mr Hoyland, which was published in the year 1612, to detect and expose the art of juggling and legerdemain. "This kind of people," says the author, "about a hundred years ago, beganne to gather on head, at the first heere, about the southerne parts. And this, as I am informed, and can gather, was their beginning: Certain Egyptians banished their country, (belike not for their good conditions,) arrived heere in England, who for quaint tricks and devices not known heere at that time among us, were esteemed and had in great admiration; insomuch, that many of our English loyterers joined with them, and in time learned their crafty cozening." "The speach which they used was the right Egyptian speach, with whom our Englishmen conversing, at last learned their language. These people, continuing about the country, and practising their cozening art, purchased themselves great credit among the country people, and got much by palmistry and telling of fortunes; insomuch, they pitifully cozened poor country girls both of money, silver, spoons, and the best of their apparele, or any goods they could make." "They had a leader of the name of Giles Hather, who was termed their king; and a woman of the name of Calot was called queen. These riding through the country on horseback, and in strange attire, had a prettie traine after them." After mentioning some of the laws passed against them, this writer adds:—"But what numbers were executed on these statutes you would wonder; yet, notwithstanding, all would not prevail, but they wandered as before uppe and downe, and meeting once in a yeare at a place appointed; sometimes at the Peake's Hole in Derbyshire, and other whiles by Retbroak at Blackheath."^[4]

It is probable that the gypsies entered Scotland about the same period in which they are stated by these accounts to have first pitched their tents in the sister kingdom. The earliest notice of them, however, that we have been able to discover in our national records, is contained in the celebrated writ of Privy Seal, passed in the 28th year of James V. (1540), in favour of "Johnne Faw, Lord and Erle of Litill Egipt." A complete copy of this document, which has been carefully collated with the original record in the Register House, will be found in another department of our Magazine. This writ was renewed by the Earl of Arran as Regent of Scotland in 1553, nearly in the same words.^[5] It appears from these very curious edicts, that John Faw, under the character of 'Lord and Erle of Litill Egipt,' had formerly obtained letters under the Great Seal, enjoining all magistrates, &c. to support his authority "in executioun of justice vpon his cumpany and folkis, conforme to the laws of Egipt, and in punissing of all thaim that rebellis aganis him." He complains that certain of his followers had, nevertheless, revolted from his jurisdiction, robbed and left him, and were supported in their contumacious rebellion by some of the king's lieges;—"Sua that he (the said Johnne, thair lord and maister) on na wyse can apprehend nor get thame, to have thame hame aganc within thair awin cuntre," "howbeit he has biddin and reraanit of lang tyme vpon thame, and is bundin and oblist to bring hame with him all thame of his company that ar on live, and ane testimoniale of thame that ar deid;"—the non-fulfilment of which obligation, he pretends, will subject him to "hevy dampnage and skaith, and grete perell of tynsell (loss) of his heretage."—The names of these rebellious Egyptians are exactly the same in both edicts, and having been given in to the Scottish government by the chieftain himself, may be supposed to be correctly reported. We shall be glad if any of our learned readers can help us to trace their etymology.

It affords a striking evidence of the address of these audacious vagrants, and of the ignorance of the times, to find two of our sovereigns imposed upon by this gypsey chieftain's story, about his 'band' and 'heretage.' This was at least 120 years after the first arrival of these hordes in Europe.—We hear no more of the return of Earl John and his company to 'thair awin cuntre.'

In the following year (1554), "Andro Faw, capitane of the Egiptianis," and twelve of his gang, specified by name, obtained a remission for "the slauchter of Niniane Smaill, commit within the toune of Lyntoune, in the moneth of March last bypast, vpoun suddantie."^[6]

The gypsies appear to have kept their quarters in the country without further molestation for the next twenty-five years; and their enormities, as well as their numbers, it would seem, had greatly increased during the long political and religious struggles that occupied the greater part of Mary's disastrous reign. At length, in 1579, the government found it necessary to adopt the most rigorous methods to repress the innumerable swarm of strolling vagabonds of every description, who had overspread the kingdom. A new statute was enacted by parliament, "For pwnishment of the strang and ydle beggaris, and relief of the puir and impotent." In the comprehensive provisions of this act, we find bards, minstrels, and vagabond scholars, (lachrymabile dictu!) conjoined in ignominious fellowship with the Egyptian jugglers. The following passages, prescribing the mode of punishment, and specifying some of the various sorts of vagrants against whom it is denounced, are particularly curious:—"That sic as makis thame selffis fuilis, and ar bairdts, or vtheris siclike rynarris about, being apprehendit, salbe put in the kingis waird and yrnis, sa lang as they haue ony guidis of thair awin to leif on; and fra they haue not quhairupoun to leif of their awin, that thair earis be nailit to the trone, or to ane vther trie, and thair earis cuttit of, and banist the cuntrie; and gif thairefter that they be found agane that they be hangit."—"And that it maybe knawin quhat maner of personis ar meanit to be strang and idle beggaris, and vagaboundis, and worthie of the pwnishment before specifiit, it is declairit, that all ydle personis ganging about in ony cuntrie of this realme, vsing subtill, crafty, and vnlauchfull playis, as juglarie, fast and lowis, and sic vthers; the idle people calling thame selffis Egyptianis, or ony vtheris that fenzies thame selffis to have knowledge ef prophecie, charmeing, or vtheris abusit sciences, quhairby they persuaid the people that they can tell their weardis deathis, and fortunes, and sic vther fantasticall imaginationes;"—"and all menstrullis, sangstaris, and tailtellaris, not avouit in speciall service be sum of the lordis of parliament, or greit barronis, or be the heid burrowis and cities, for thair commoun menstrallis;"—"all vagabund scholaris of the vniuersities of Sanctandrois, Glasgw, and Abirdene, not licencit be the rector and deane of facultie to ask almous," &c. &c.^[7]

This statute was repeatedly renewed, and strengthened with additional clauses, during the twenty-five years ensuing, "anent the counterfaict Egyptianis;"^[8]—all which, however, proved so utterly ineffectual in restraining the crimes and depredations of these banditti, that in 1603, the Lords of Privy Council judged it expedient to issue a decree and proclamation, banishing the whole race out of Scotland for ever, under the severest penalties. This edict is not extant, (that part of the record which contained it being lost), but it was ratified and enforced in 1609, by an act of parliament to the same effect—"Commanding the vagaboundis, sorneris, and commoun thieffis, commounlie callit Egyptianis, to pas furth of this realme, and nevir to returne within the samyn, vnder the paine of death," and declaring it lawful to all his Majesty's subjects, to apprehend and execute any of them that might be found in the country after a certain day, "as notorious and condemned thieffis—by ane assyse only to be tried that they are callit, knawin, repute, and haldin Egiptianis."^[9]

It appears, that not only the lower classes, but also many persons of note, either out of compassion, or from less reputable motives, still continued, after the promulgation of this law, and in spite of repeated reprehensions from the Privy Council, to afford shelter and protection to the proscribed Egyptians. In February 1615, we find a remission under the Privy Seal, granted to William Auchterlony of Cayrnie, for resetting^[10] of John Faw and his followers. On the 4th July 1616, the Sheriff of Forfar is severely reprimanded for delaying to execute some gypsies who had been taken within his jurisdiction, and for troubling the Council with petitions in their behalf.^[11] In November following, appears a "proclamatioun aganis Egyptianis and their ressettaris;^[12]--in December 1619, we find another proclamation against 'resetters' of them;^[13]—in April 1620 another proclamation of the same kind;^[14]—and in July 1620, a commission against 'resetters;' all with very severe penalties.^[15] The nature of these acts will be better understood from the following extract from that of 4th July 1816, which also very well explains the way in which the gypsies contrived to maintain their footing in the country, in defiance of all the efforts of the legislature to extirpate them.—"It is of treuthe, that the theivis and lymmaris foirsaidis, haueing for some shorte space after the said act of parliament (1609), . . . . . . . . . . . . .dispersit thame selffis in certane darne and obscure places of the cuntrey, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .thay wer not knawne to wander abroad in troupis and companies, according to thair accustomed maner; yitt shortlie thairefter, finding that the said act of parliament wes neglectit, and that no inquirie nor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .wes maid for thame, thay begane to tak new breth and courage, and. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vnite thame selffis in infamous companies and societies vnder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .commanderis, and continuallie sensyne lies remanit within the cuntrie, committing alsweill oppin and avowed reiffis in all partis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .murtheris, as pleine stouthe and pykarie, quair thay may not be maisterit; and thay do shamefullie and meschantlie abuse the simple and ignorant people, by telling of fortunes, and vsing of charmes, and a nomber of jugling trikis and falsettis, vnworthie to be hard of in a cuntrey subject to religioun, law, and justice; and thay ar encourageit to remane within the cuntrey, and to continew in thair thevish and jugling trickes and falsettis, not onlie throw default of the executioun of the said act of parliament, bot whilk is worse, that gritt nomberis of his Majestie's subjects, of whom some outewardlie pretendis to be famous and vnspotted gentilmen, hes gevin and gevis oppen and avowed protectioun, resett, supplie, and mantenance vpon thair ground and landis, to the saidis vagaboundis, sorenaris, and condampned thevis and lymmaris, and sufferis thame to remane dayis, oulkis, and monethis togidder thairvpoun, without controlement and with connivence and oversicht," &c.—"So thay do leave a foull, infamous, and ignominious spott vpoun thame, thair houses, and posteritie, that thay ar patronis to thievis and lymmaris," &c. &c.

There is still, however, sufficient evidence on record, of the summary root-and-branch justice that was frequently executed upon this unhappy race, in terms of the above statute. The following may serve for specimens:—In July 1611, four Faas were sentenced to be hanged—as Egyptians. They pleaded a special licence from the Privy Council, to abide within the country;—but they were held (from failure of their surety,) to have infringed the terms of their protection, and were executed accordingly.—In July 1616, two Faas and a Baillie were capitally convicted on the same principle.—In January 1624, Captain John Faa and seven of his gang (five of whom were Faas,) were doomed to death on the statute—and hanged.—A few days after, Helen Faa, relict of the captain, Lucretia Faa, and other women, to the number of eleven, were in like manner convicted, and condemned to be drowned.^[16]—A similar case occurs in 1636.^[17] This we have inserted at length in another department of our present Number, as a fair specimen of these sanguinary proceedings. In later times, the statute began to be interpreted with a more merciful spirit towards these wretched outcasts, and they were hanged only when convicted (as happened, however, pretty frequently,) of theft, murder, and other violent offences against public order.

Instead of carrying forward, in this manner, our own desultory sketch, we shall place at once before our readers, the accurate and striking account given of the Scottish gypsies, by a celebrated anonymous author of the present day, and by the distinguished person whose authority he has quoted. Considering how very unnecessary, and how difficult it would be to convey the same information in other words—and allowing due attention to the conveniency of those who may not have the book at hand to refer to—we do not apprehend that any apology is necessary for availing ourselves of the following passage from the well-known pages of Guy Mannering.

"It is well known," says the author, "that the gypsies were, at an early period, acknowledged as a separate and independent race by one of the Scottish monarchs; and that they were less favourably distinguished by a subsequent law which rendered the character of gypsey equal, in the judicial balance, to that of common and habitual thief, and prescribed his punishment accordingly. Notwithstanding the severity of this and other statutes, the fraternity prospered amid the distresses of the country, and received large accessions from among those whom famine, oppression, or the sword of war, had deprived of the ordinary means of subsistence. They lost, in a great measure, by this intermixture, the national character of Egyptians, and became a mingled race, having all the idleness and predatory habits of their eastern ancestors, with a ferocity which they probably borrowed from the men of the north who joined their society. They travelled in different bands, and had rules among themselves, by which each tribe was confined to its own district. The slightest invasion of the precincts which had been assigned to another tribe, produced desperate skirmishes, in which there was often much bloodshed.

"The patriotic Fletcher of Saltoun drew a picture of these banditti about a century ago, which my readers will peruse with astonishment.

'There are, at this day, in Scotland (besides a great many poor families, very meanly provided for by the church boxes, with others who, by living upon bad food, fall into various diseases) two hundred thousand people begging from door to door. These are not only no way advantageous, but a very grievous burden to so poor a country. And though the number of them be perhaps double to what it was formerly, by reason of this present great distress, yet in all times there have been about one hundred thousand of these vagabonds, who have lived without any regard or subjection either to the laws of the land, or even those of God and nature; * * * * * * No magistrate could ever discover, or be informed, which way one in a hundred of these wretches died, or that ever they were baptized. Many murders have been discovered among them; and they are not only a most unspeakable oppression to poor tenants (who, if they give not bread, or some kind of provision, to perhaps forty such villains in one day, are sure to be insulted by them), but they rob many poor people who live in houses distant from any neighbourhood. In years of plenty, many thousands of them meet together in the mountains, where they feast and riot for many days; and at country weddings, markets, burials, and other the like public occasions, they are to be seen, both man and woman, perpetually drunk, cursing, blaspheming, and fighting together.

"Notwithstanding the deplorable picture presented in this extract, and which Fletcher himself, though the energetic and eloquent friend of freedom, saw no better mode of correcting than by introducing a system of domestic slavery, the progress of time, and increase both of the means of life and of the power of the laws, gradually reduced this dreadful evil within more narrow bounds. The tribes of gypsies, jockies, or cairds,—for by all these denominations such banditti were known,—became few in number, and many were entirely rooted out. Still, however, enough remained to give occasional alarm and constant vexation. Some rude handicrafts were entirely resigned to these itinerants, particularly the art of trencher-making, of manufacturing horn-spoons, and the whole mystery of the tinker. To these they added a petty trade in the coarser sorts of earthen-ware. Such were their ostensible means of livelihood. Each tribe had usually some fixed place of rendezvous, which they occasionally occupied and considered as their standing camp, and in the vicinity of which they generally abstained from depredation. They had even talents and accomplishments, which made them occasionally useful and entertaining. Many cultivated music with success; and the favourite fiddler or piper of a district was often to be found in a gypsey town. They understood all out-of-door sports, especially otter-hunting, fishing, or finding game. In winter, the women told fortunes, the men showed tricks of legerdemain; and these accomplishments often helped away a weary or a stormy evening in the circle of the "farmer's ha'." The wildness of their character, and the indomitable pride with which they despised all regular labour, commanded a certain awe, which was not diminished by the consideration, that these strollers were a vindictive race, and were restrained by no check, either of fear or conscience, from taking desperate vengeance upon those who had offended them. These tribes were in short the Parias of Scotland, living like wild Indians among European settlers, and, like them, judged of rather by their own customs, habits, and opinions, than as if they had been members of the civilized part of the community. Some hordes of them yet remain, chiefly in such situations as afford a ready escape either into a waste country, or into another jurisdiction. Nor are the features of their character much softened. Their numbers, however, 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."

Having, in the preceding pages, endeavoured to give our readers a general outline of what may be termed the public annals of our Scottish Gypsies, we now proceed to detail some of those more private and personal anecdotes, concerning them, with which we have been furnished chiefly from local traditions, or the observation of intelligent individuals. These we shall relate without much regard to arrangement, and, for the present, without any further remarks of our own than may be requisite merely for connecting or explaining them. It may be proper generally to mention, that though we deem it unnecessary to quote our authorities by name in every particular case, or for every little anecdote, yet we can very confidently pledge ourselves, in every instance, for the personal credibility of our informers.

The intrigue of the celebrated Johnnie Faa with the Earl of Cassilis' lady, rests on ballad and popular authority. Tradition points out an old tower in Maybole, as the place where the frail countess was confined. The portrait shown as hers in the Abbey of Holyroodhouse, however, is not genuine.—Of this affair of gypsey gallantry, Mr Finlay, in his notes to the old ballad of the Gypsie Laddie, gives the following account, as the result of his inquiries regarding the truth of the traditionary stories on the subject:—"The Earl of Cassilis had married a nobleman's daughter contrary to her wishes, she having been previously engaged to another; but the persuasion and importunity of her friends at last brought her to consent. Sir John Faw of Dunbar, her former lover, seizing the opportunity of the earl's absence on a foreign embassy, disguised himself and a number of his retainers as gypsies, and carried off the lady, 'nothing loth.' The earl having returned opportunely at the time of the commission of the act, and nowise inclined to participate in his consort's ideas on the subject, collected his vassals, and pursued the lady and her paramour to the borders of England; where, having overtaken them, a battle ensued, in which Faw and his followers were all killed, or taken prisoners, excepting one,

——— the meanest of them all,
Who lives to weep, and sing their fall.

It is by this survivor that the ballad is supposed to have been written. The earl, on bringing back the fair fugitive, banished her a mensa et thoro, and, it is said, confined her for life in a tower at the village of Maybole, in Ayrshire, built for the purpose; and that nothing might remain about this tower unappropriated to its original destination, eight heads carved in stone, below one of the turrets, are said to be the effigies of so many of the gypsies. The lady herself, as well as the survivor of Faw's followers, contributed to perpetuate the remembrance of the transaction; for if he wrote a song about it, she wrought it in tapestry; and this piece of workmanship is still preserved at Culzean Castle. It remains to be mentioned, that the ford, by which the lady and her lover crossed the river Doon from a wood near Cassilis House, is still denominated the Gypsie steps."^[18]

Mr Finlay is of opinion that there are no good grounds for identifying the hero of this adventure with Johnnie Faa, who was king or captain of the gypsies about the year 1590, and he supposes that the whole story may have been the invention of some feudal or political rival, to injure the character, and hurt the feelings of an opponent. As Mr F. however, has not brought forward any authority to support this opinion, we are inclined still to adhere to the popular tradition, which, on the present occasion, is very uniform and consistent. We do not know any thing about the Sir John Faw of Dunbar, whom he supposes to have been the disguised knight, but we know for certain, that the present gypsey family of Faa in Yetholm have been long accustomed to boast of their descent from the same stock with a very respectable family of the name of Faw, or Fall, in East Lothian, which we believe is now extinct.

The transformation of Johnnie Faa into a knight and gentleman, is not the only occasion on which the disguise of a gypsey is supposed to have been assumed for the purpose of intrigue. The old song of 'Clout the Caudron' is founded upon such a metamorphosis, as may be seen from the words in Allan Ramsay's Tea-table Miscellany; but an older copy preserves the name of the disguised lover:—

"Yestreen I was a gentleman,
This night I am a tinkler;
Gae tell the lady o' this house,
Come down to Sir John Sinclair."

Notwithstanding the severe laws frequently enacted by the Scottish legislature against this vagrant race, and, as we have seen, often rigorously enforced, they still continued grievously to molest the country about the end of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth century. They traversed the whole mountainous districts of the south, particularly Roxburghshire, Selkirkshire, and Tweeddale, and committed great and daring depredations. A gang of them once broke into the House of Pennycuick, while the greater part of the family were at church. Sir John Clerke, the proprietor, barricadoed himself in his own apartment, where he sustained a sort of siege—firing from the windows upon the robbers, who fired in return. By an odd accident, one of them, while they strayed through the house in quest of plate and other portable articles, began to ascend the stair of a very narrow turret. When he had got to some height, his foot slipt; and to save himself, in falling, the gypsey caught hold of what was rather an ominous means of assistance—a rope, namely, which hung conveniently for the purpose. It proved to be the bell-rope, and the fellow's weight, in falling, set the alarm-bell a-ringing, and startled the congregation who were assembled in the parish church. They instantly came to rescue the laird, and succeeded, it is said, in apprehending some of the gypsies, who were executed. There is a written account of this daring assault kept in the records of the family.

Tweeddale was very much infested by these banditti, as appears from Dr Pennycuick's history of that county, who mentions the numerous executions to which their depredations gave occasion. He also gives the following account of a bloody skirmish which was fought between two clans of gypsies near his own house of Romanno. "Upon the 1st of October 1677, there happened at Romanno, in the very spot where now the dovecoat is built, a memorable polymachy betwixt two claims of gipsies, the Fawes and Shawes, who had come from Haddingtoun fair, and were going to Harestains to meet with two other clanns of those rogues, the Baillies and Browns, with a resolution to fight them; they fell out at Romanno amongst themselves, about divideing the spoyl they had got at Haddingtoun, and fought it manfully; of the Fawes were four brethren and a brother's son; of the Shawes, the father with three sons, with several women on both sides: Old Sandie Faw, a bold and proper fellow, with his wife, then with child, were both kill'd dead upon the place, and his brother George very dangerously wounded. February 1678, old Robin Shaw the gipsie, with his three sons, were hang'd at the Grass-mercat for the above-mentioned murder committed at Romanno, and John Faw was hang'd the Wednesday following for another murder. Sir Archibald Primrose was justice-general at the time, and Sir George M'Kenzie king's advocat."^[19] Dr Pennycuick built a dove-cote upon the spot where this affray took place, which he adorned with the following inscription:

"A. D. 1683.
The field of Gipsie blood which here you see,
A shelter for the harmless Dove shall be."

Such skirmishes among the gypsies are still common, and were formerly still more so. There was a story current in Teviotdale,—but we cannot give place and date,—that a gang of them came to a solitary farmhouse, and, as is usual, took possession of some waste out-house. The family went to church on Sunday, and expecting no harm from their visitors, left only one female to look after the house. She was presently alarmed by the noise of shouts, oaths, blows, and all the tumult of a gypsey battle. It seems another clan had arrived, and the earlier settlers instantly gave them battle. The poor woman shut the door, and remained in the house in great apprehension, until the door being suddenly forced open, one of the combatants rushed into the apartment, and she perceived with horror that his left hand had been struck off. Without speaking to or looking at her, he thrust the bloody stump, with desperate resolution, against the glowing bars of the grate; and having staunched the blood by actual cautery, seized a knife, used for killing sheep, which lay on the shelf, and rushed out again to join the combat.—All was over before the family returned from church, and both gangs had decamped, carrying probably their dead and wounded along with them: for the place where they fought was absolutely soaked with blood, and exhibited, among other reliques of the fray, the amputated hand of the wretch wnose desperate conduct the maid-servant had witnessed.

The village of Denholm upon Teviot was, in former times, partly occupied by gypsies. The late Dr John Leyden, who was a native of that parish, used to mention a skirmish which he had witnessed there between two clans, where the more desperate champions fought with clubs, having harrow teeth driven transversely through the end of them.

About ten years ago, one John Young, a tinker chief, punished with instant death a brother tinker of inferior consequence who intruded on his walk. This happened in Aberdeenshire, and was remarked at the time chiefly from the strength and agility with which Young, constantly and closely pursued, and frequently in view, maintained a flight of nearly thirty miles. As he was chased by the Highlanders on foot, and by the late General Gordon of Cairnfield and others on horseback, the affair much resembled a fox chase. The pursuers were most of them gamekeepers; and that active race of men were so much exhausted, that they were lying by the springs lapping water with their tongues like dogs. It is scarce necessary to add, that the laws of the country were executed on Young without regard to the consideration that he was only enforcing the gypsey subordination.

The crimes that were committed among this hapless race were often atrocious. Incest and murder were frequent among them. In our recollection, an individual was tried for a theft of considerable magnitude, and acquitted, owing to the absence of one witness, a girl belonging to the gang, who had spoken freely out at the precognition. This young woman was afterwards found in a well near Cornhill, with her head downwards, and there was little doubt that she had been murdered by her companions.

We extract the following anecdotes from an interesting communication on this subject, with which we have been favoured by Mr Hogg, author of 'The Queen's Wake.'—"It was in the month of May that a gang of gypsies came up Ettrick;—one party of them lodged at a farm-house called Scob-Cleugh, and the rest went forward to Cossarhill, another farm about a mile farther on. Among the latter was one who played on the pipes and violin, delighting all that heard him; and the gang, principally on his account, were very civilly treated. Next day the two parties again joined, and proceeded westward in a body. There were about thirty souls in all, and they had five horses. On a sloping grassy spot, which I know very well, on the farm of Brockhoprig, they halted to rest. Here the hapless musician quarrelled with another of the tribe, about a girl, who, I think, was sister to the latter. Weapons were instantly drawn, and the piper losing courage, or knowing that he was not a match for his antagonist, fled,—the other pursuing close at his heels. For a full mile and a half they continued to strain most violently,—the one running for life, and the other thirsting for blood,—until they came again to Cossarhill, the place they had left. The family were all gone out, either to the sheep or the peats, save one servant girl, who was baking bread at the kitchen table, when the piper rushed breathless into the house. She screamed, and asked what was the matter? He answered, "Nae skaith to you—nae skaith to you—for God in heaven's sake hide me!"—With that he essayed to hide himself behind a salt barrel that stood in a corner but his ruthless pursuer instantly entering, his panting betrayed him. The ruffian pulled him out by the hair, dragged him into the middle of the floor, and ran him through the body with his dirk. The piper never asked for mercy, but cursed the other as long as he had breath. The girl was struck motionless with horror, but the murderer told her never to heed or regard it, for no ill should happen to her. It was this woman's daughter, Isabel Scott, who told me the story, which she had often heard related with all the minute particulars. If she had been still alive, I think she would have been bordering upon ninety years of age;—her mother, when this happened, was a young unmarried woman—fit, it seems, to be a kitchen-maid in a farm-house,—so that this must have taken place about 100 years ago.—By the time the breath was well out of the unfortunate musician, some more of the gang arrived, bringing with them a horse, on which they carried back the body, and buried it on the spot where they first quarrelled. His grave is marked by one stone at the head, and another at the foot, which the gypsies themselves placed; and it is still looked upon by the rustics, as a dangerous place for a walking ghost to this day. There was no cognizance taken of the affair, that any of the old people ever heard of—but God forbid that every amorous minstrel should be so sharply taken to task in these days!

"There is a similar story, of later date, of a murder committed at Lowrie's-den, on Soutra Hill, by one gypsey on another: but I do not remember the particulars farther, than that it was before many witnesses;—that they fought for a considerable time most furiously with their fists, till at last one getting the other down, drew a knife, and stabbed him to the heart—when he pulled the weapon out, the blood sprung to the ceiling, where it remained as long as that house stood;—and that though there were many of the gang present, none of them offered to separate the combatants, or made any observation on the issue, farther than one saying—"Gude faith, ye hae done for him now, Rob!" The story bears, that the assassin fled, but was pursued by some travellers who came up at the time, and after a hot chace, was taken, and afterwards hanged."

The travellers here mentioned, we happen to know, were the lute Mr Walter Scott, writer to the signet, then a very young man, and Mr Fairbairn, long afterwards innkeeper at Blackshiels, who chanced to pass about the time this murder was committed, and being shocked at the indifference with which the bystanders seemed to regard what had passed, pursued, and with the assistance of a neighbouring blacksmith, who joined in the chase, succeeded in apprehending the murderer, whose name, it is believed, was Robert Keith. The blacksmith judged it prudent, however, to emigrate soon after to another part of the country, in order to escape the threatened vengeance of the murderer's clan.

"In my parents' early years," continues Mr Hogg, "the Faas and the Bailleys used to traverse the country in bodies of from twenty to thirty in number, among whom were many stout, handsome, and athletic men. They generally cleared the waters and burns of fish, the farmers' out-houses of poultry and eggs, and the lums of all superfluous and moveable stuff, such as hams, &c. that hung there for the purpose of reisting. It was likewise well known, that they never scrupled killing a lamb or a wether occasionally; but they always managed matters so dexterously, that no one could ever ascertain from whom these were taken. The gypsies were otherwise civil, full of Immour and merriment, and the country people did not dislike them. They fought desperately with one another, but were seldom the aggressors in any dispute or quarrel with others.—Old Will of Phaup, a well-known character at the head of Ettrick, was wont to shelter them for many years;—they asked nothing but house-room and grass for their horses; and though they sometimes remained for several days, he could have left every chest and press about the house open, with the certainty that nothing would be missing; for he said, 'he aye ken'd fu' weel that the tod wad keep his ain hole clean.' But times altered sadly with honest Will—which happened as follows:—The gypsies (or tinklers, as they then began to be called) were lodged at a place called Potburn, and the farmer either having bad grass about his house, or not choosing to have it eaten up, had made the gypsies turn their horses over the water to Phaup ground. One morning about break of day, Will found the stoutest man of the gang, Ellick Kennedy, feeding six horses on the Coomb-loan, the best piece of grass on the farm, and which he was carefully haining for winter fodder. A desperate combat ensued—but there was no man a match for Will—he threshed the tinkler to his heart's content, cut the girthing and sunks off the horses, and hunted them out of the country. A warfare of five years duration ensued between Will and the gypsies. They nearly ruined him; and at the end of that period he was glad to make up matters with his old friends, and shelter them as formerly. He said, 'He could maistly hae hauden his ain wi' them, an' it hadna been for their warlockry, but the deil-be-licket he could keep fra their kenning—they ance fand out his purse, though he had gart Meg dibble't into the kail-yaird.'—Lochmaben is now one of their great resorts—being nearly stocked with them. The redoubted Rachel Bailley, noted for her high honour, is viewed as the queen of the tribe."

A woman of the name of Rachel Bailley, (but not the same person, we believe, that our correspondent alludes to) a few years ago, in Selkirkshire, afforded a remarkable evidence of the force of her gypsey habits and propensities. This woman, having been guilty of repeated acts of theft, was condemned by Mr W. Scott, sheriff of that county, to imprisonment in the bridewell there, on hard labour, for six months. She became so excessively wearied of the confinement, to which she had not been accustomed, and so impatient of the labour of spinning, although she span well, that she attempted suicide, by opening her veins with the point of a pair of scissors. In compassion for her state of mind, she was set at liberty by the magistrate; but she had not travelled farther than Yair Bridge-end, being about four miles from Selkirk, when she thought proper to steal a watch from a cottage, and being taken with it in her possession, was restored to her place of confinement just about four hours after she had been dismissed from it. She was afterwards banished the county.

The unabashed hardihood of the gypsies in the face of suspicion, or even of open conviction, is not less characteristic than the facility with which they commit crimes, or then: address in concealing them. A gypsey of note, still alive (an acquaintance of ours), was, about twenty years ago, tried for a theft of a considerable sum of money at a Dalkeith market. The proof seemed to the judge fully sufficient, but the jury being of a different opinion, brought in the verdict Not Proven; on which occasion, the presiding judge, when he dismissed the prisoner from the bar, informed him, in his own characteristic language, "That he had rubbit shouthers wi' the gallows that morning;" and warned him not again to appear there with a similar body of proof against him, as it seemed scarce possible he should meet with another jury who would construe it as favourably. Upon the same occasion, the prisoner's counsel, a gentleman now deceased, thought it proper also to say something to his client on the risk he had run, and the necessity of future propriety of conduct; to which the gypsey replied, to the great entertainment of all around, "That he was proven an innocent man, and that naebody had ony right to use siccan language to him."

We have much satisfaction in being enabled to relate the following characteristic anecdotes, in the words of another correspondent of the highest respectability:—

"A gang, of the name of Winters, long inhabited the wastes of Northumberland, and committed many crimes; among others, a murder upon a poor woman, with singular atrocity, for which one of them was hung in chains, near Tone-pitt, in Reedsdale. His mortal reliques having decayed, the lord of the manor has replaced them by a wooden effigy, and still maintains the gibbet. The remnant of this gang came to Scotland about fifteen years ago, and assumed the Roxburghshire name of Winterip, as they found their own something odious. They settled at a cottage within about four miles of Earlston, and became great plagues to the country, until they were secured, after a tight battle, tried before the circuit court at Jedburgh, and banished back to their native country of England. The dalesmen of Reedwater shewed great reluctance to receive these returned emigrants. After the Sunday service at a little chapel near Otterbourne, one of the squires rose, and, addressing the congregation, told them they would be accounted no longer Reedsdale men, but Reedsdale women, if they permitted this marked and atrocious family to enter their district. The people answered, that they would not permit them to come that way; and the proscribed family, hearing of the unanimous resolution to oppose their passage, went more southerly by the heads of Tyne, and I never heard more of them, but have little doubt they are all hanged.

"Will Allan, mentioned by the Reedwater Minstrel,^[20] I did not know, but was well acquainted with his son, Jamie, a most excellent piper, and at one time in the household of the Northumberland family; but being an utterly unprincipled vagabond, he wearied the benevolence of all his protectors, who were numerous and powerful, and saved him from the gallows more than once. Upon one occasion, being closely pursued, when surprised in some villany, he dropped from the top of a very high wall, not without receiving a severe cut upon the fingers with a hanger from one of his pursuers, who came up at the moment he hung suspended for descent. Allan exclaimed, with minstrel pride, 'Ye hae spoiled the best pipe hand in Britain.' Latterly, he became an absolute mendicant, and I saw him refused quarters at the house of my uncle, Mr ——— at ——— (himself a most excellent Border piper.) I begged hard to have him let in, but my uncle was inexorable, alleging his depredations on former occasions. He died, I believe, in jail, at Morpeth.

"My father remembered old Jean Gordon of Yetholm, who had great sway among her tribe. She was quite a Meg Merrilies, and possessed the savage virtue of fidelity in the same perfection. Having been often hospitably received at the farm-house of Lochside, near Yetholm, she had carefully abstained from committing any depredations on the farmer's property. But her sons (nine in number) had not, it seems, the same delicacy, and stole a brood-sow from their kind entertainer. Jean was so much mortified at this ungrateful conduct, and so much ashamed at it, that she absented herself from Lochside for several years. At length, in consequence of some temporary pecuniary necessity, the Goodman of Lochside was obliged to go to Newcastle to get some money to pay his rent. Returning through the mountains of Cheviot, he was benighted, and lost his way. A light, glimmering through the window of a large waste barn, which had survived the farm-house to which it had once belonged, guided him to a place of shelter; and when he knocked at the door, it was opened by Jean Gordon. Her very remarkable figure, for she was nearly six feet high, and her equally remarkable features and dress, rendered it impossible to mistake her for a moment; and to meet with such a character in so solitary a place, and probably at no great distance from her clan, was a terrible surprise to the poor man, whose rent (to lose which would have been ruin to him) was about his person. Jean set up a loud shout of joyful recognition—'Eh, sirs! the winsome gudeman of Lochside! Light down, light down; for ye manna gang farther the night, and a friend's house sae near.' The farmer was obliged to dismount, and accept of the gypsey's offer of supper and a bed. There was plenty of meat in the barn, however it might be come by, and preparations were going on for a plentiful supper, which the farmer, to the great increase of his anxiety, observed, was calculated for ten or twelve guests, of the same description no doubt with his landlady. Jean left him in no doubt on the subject. She brought up the story of the stolen sow, and noticed how much pain and vexation it had given her. Like other philosophers, she remarked that the world grows worse daily; and, like other parents, that the bairns got out of her guiding, and neglected the old gypsey regulations, which commanded them to respect, in their depredations, the property of their benefactors. The end of all this was, an inquiry what money the farmer had about him, and an urgent request, that he would make her his purse-keeper, as the bairns, so she called her sons, would be soon home. The poor farmer made a virtue of necessity, told his story, and surrendered his gold into Jane's custody. She made him put a few shillings in his pocket, observing it would excite suspicion should he be found travelling altogether pennyless. This arrangement being made, the farmer lay down on a sort of shake-down, as the Scotch call it, upon some straw, but, as will easily be believed, slept not. About midnight the gang returned with various articles of plunder, and talked over their exploits in language which made the farmer tremble. They were not long in discovering their guest, and demanded of Jane whom she had got there? "E'en the winsome gudeman of Lochside, poor body," replied Jane: "he's been at Newcastle seeking for siller to pay his rent, honest man, but deil-be-licket he's been able to gather in, and sae he's gaun e'en hame wi' a toom purse and a sair heart." "That may be, Jane," replied one of the banditti; "but we maun ripe his pouches a bit, and see if it be true or no." Jean set up her throat in exclamations against this breach of hospitality, but without producing any change of their determination. The farmer soon heard their stifled whispers and light steps by his bedside, and understood they were rummaging his clothes. When they found the money which the providence of Jean Gordon had made him retain, they held a consultation if they should take it or no, but the smallness of the booty, and the vehemence of Jean's remonstrances, determined them in the negative. They caroused and went to rest. So soon as day dawned, Jean roused her guest, produced his horse, which she had accommodated behind the kalian, and guided him for some miles till he was on the high road to Lochside. She then restored his whole property, nor could his earnest intreaties prevail on her to accept so much as a single guinea.

"I have heard the old people at Jedburgh say, that all Jean's son's were condemned to die there on the same day. It is said the jury were equally divided; but that a friend to justice, who had slept during the whole discussion, waked suddenly, and gave his vote for condemnation, in theemphatic words, "Hang them a'." Jean was present, and only said, "The Lord help the innocent in a day like this!" Her own death was accompanied with circumstances of brutal outrage, of which poor Jean was in many respects wholly undeserving. Jean had among other demerits, or merits, as you may choose to rank it, that of being a staunch Jacobite. She chanced to be at Carlisle upon a fair or market day, soon after the year 1746, where she gave vent to her political partiality, to the great offence of the rabble of that city. Being zealous in their loyalty when there was no danger, in proportion to the lameness with which they had surrendered to the Highlanders in 1745, they inflicted upon poor Jean Gordon no slighter penalty than that of ducking her to death in the Eden. It was an operation of some time, for Jean was a stout woman, and, struggling with her murderers, often got her head above water; and while she had voice left, continued to exclaim at such intervals, "Charlie yet! Charlie yet!"—When a child, and among the scenes which she frequented, I have often heard these stories, and cried piteously for poor Jean Gordon.

"Before quitting the border gypsies, I may mention, that my grandfather riding over Charterhouse-moor, then a very extensive common, fell suddenly among a large band of them, who were carousing in a hollow of the moor, surrounded by bushes. They instantly seized on his horse's bridle, with many shouts of welcome, exclaiming (for he was well known to most of them) that they had often dined at his expense, and he must now stay and share their good cheer. My ancestor was a little alarmed, for, like the gudeman of Lochside, he had more money about his person than he cared to venture with into such society. However, being naturally a bold lively man, he entered into the humour of the thing, and sate down to the feast, which consisted of all the varieties of game, poultry, pigs, and so forth, that could be collected by a wide and indiscriminate system of plunder. The feast was a very merry one, but my relative got a hint from some of the older gypsies to retire just when

'The mirth and fun grew fast and furious,'

and mounting his horse accordingly, he took a French leave of his entertainers, but without experiencing the least breach of hospitality. I believe

Jean Gordon was at this festival.—To the admirers of good eating, gypsey cookery seems to have little to recommend it. I can assure you, however, that the cook of a nobleman of high distinction, a person who never reads even a novel without an eye to the enlargement of the culinary science, has added to the Almanach des Gourmands, a certain Potage a la Meg Merrills de Derncleugh, consisting of game and poultry of all kinds, stewed with vegetables into a soup, which rivals in savour and richness the gallant messes of Comacho's wedding; and which the Baron of Bradwardine would certainly have reckoned among the Epulæ lautiores.

"The principal settlements of the gypsies, in my time, have been the two villages of Easter and Wester Gordon, and what is called Kirk-Yetholm.

Making good the proverb odd,
Near the church and far from God.

A list of their surnames would be very desirable. The following are among the principal clans: Faas, Bailleys, Gordons, Shaws, Browns, Keiths, Kennedies, Ruthvens, Youngs, Taits, Douglasses, Blythes, Allans, Montgomeries."

Many of the preceding stories were familiar to us in our schoolboy days, and we well remember the peculiar feelings of curiosity and apprehension with which we sometimes encountered the formidable bands of this roaming people, in our rambles among the Border hills, or when fishing for perch in the picturesque little lake at Lochside. The late Madge Gordon was at that time accounted the queen of the Yetholm clans. She was, we believe, a granddaughter of the celebrated Jean Gordon, and was said to have much resembled her in appearance. The following account of her is extracted from the letter of a friend, who for many years enjoyed frequent and favourable opportunities of observing the characteristic peculiarities of the Yetholm tribes.—"Madge Gordon was descended from the Faas by the mother's side, and was married to a Young. She was rather a remarkable personage—of a very commanding presence and high stature, being nearly six feet high. She had a large aquiline nose—penetrating eyes, even in her old age—bushy hair that hung around her shoulders from beneath a gypsey bonnet of straw—a short cloak of a peculiar fashion, and a long staff nearly as tall as herself. I remember her well;—every week she paid my father a visit for her almous, when I was a little boy, and I looked upon Madge with no common degree of awe and terror. When she spoke vehemently (for she had many complaints) she used to strike her staff upon the floor, and throw herself into an attitude which it was impossible to regard with indifference. She used to say that she could bring from the remotest parts of the island, friends to revenge her quarrel, while she sat motionless in her cottage; and she frequently boasted that there was a time when she was of considerable importance, for there were at her wedding fifty saddled asses, and unsaddled asses without number. If Jean Gordon was the prototype of the character of Meg Merrilies, I imagine Madge must have sat to the unknown author as the representative of her person.

"I have ever understood," says the same correspondent, speaking of the Yetholm gypsies, "that they are extremely superstitious—carefully noticing the formation of the clouds, the flight of particular birds, and the soughing of the winds, before attempting any enterprise. They have been known for several successive days to turn back with their loaded carts, asses, and children, upon meeting with persons whom they considered of unlucky aspect; nor do they ever proceed upon their summer peregrinations without some propitious omen of their fortunate return. They also burn the clothes of their dead, not so much from any apprehension of infection being communicated by them, as the conviction that the very circumstance of wearing them would shorten the days of the living. They likewise carefully watch the corpse by night and day till the time of interment, and conceive that 'the deil tinkles at the lykewake' of those who felt in their dead thraw the agonies and terrors of remorse.—I am rather uncertain about the nature of their separate language. They certainly do frequently converse in such a way as completely to conceal their meaning from other people; but it seems doubtful whether the jargon they use, on such occasions, be not a mere slang invented for very obvious purposes. I recollect of having heard them conversing in this manner—and whether it was an imaginary resemblance I know not—but the first time I listened to Hindhustanee spoken fluently, it reminded me of the colloquies of the Yetholm gypsies."

On the subject of the gypsey language, our readers will remark a curious coincidence between the observation just quoted, and the first of the following anecdotes, which we are enabled to state upon the authority and in the words of Mr Walter Scott—a gentleman to whose distinguished assistance and advice we have been on the present occasion very peculiarly indebted, and who has not only furnished us with many interesting particulars himself, but has also obligingly directed us to other sources of curious information:—

"Whether the Yetholm gypsies have a separate language or not, I imagine might be ascertained, though those vagrants always reckon this among their arcana majora. A lady who had been in India addressed some gypsies in the Hindhustanee language, from the received opinion that it is similar to their own. They did not apparently understand her, but were extremely incensed at what they conceived a mockery; so it is probable the sound of the language had an affinity to that of their own.

"Of the Highland gypsies I had the following account from a person of observation, and highly worthy of credit. There are many settled in Kintyre, who travel through the highlands and lowlands annually. They frequently take their route through the passes of Loch Katrine, where they are often to be met with. They certainly speak among themselves a language totally distinct from either Gaelic or Lowland Scotch. A family having settled near my informer for a few days, he wormed some of the words out of a boy of about twelve years old, who communicated them with the utmost reluctance, saying, his grandfather would kill him if he knew of his teaching any one their speech. One of the sentences my informer remembered—it sounded like no language I ever heard, and I am certain it has no affinity with any branch of the Gothic or Celtic dialects. I omitted to write the words down, but they signified, 'I will stick my knife into you, you black son of a devil'—a gypsey-like exclamation. My informer believed that many crimes and even murders were committed among them, which escaped the cognizance of the ordinary police; the seclusion of their habits, and the solitary paths which they chose, as well as the insignificance of their persons, withdrawing them from the ordinary inspection and attention of the magistrate.

"The Scottish lowland gypsies have not in general so atrocious a character, but are always poachers, robbers of hen-roosts, black-fishers, stealers of wood, &c. and in that respect inconvenient neighbours. A gang of them, Faas and Baillies, lately fought a skirmish with the Duke of Buccleuch's people and some officers of mine, in which a fish-spear was driven into the thigh of one of the game-keepers.

"A lady of rank, who has resided sometime in India, lately informed me, that the gypsies are to be found there in the same way as in England, and practise the same arts of posture-making and tumbling, fortune-telling, stealing, and so forth. The Indian gypsies are called Nuts, or Bazeegurs, and are believed by many to be the remains of an original race, prior even to the Hindhus, and who have never adopted the worship of Bramah. They are entirely different from the Parias, who are Hindhus that have lost caste, and so become degraded.

There is a very curious essay concerning the Nuts in the seventh volume of the Asiatic Researches, which contains some interesting observations on the origin and language of the European gypsies. But we have been tempted to extend this article already far beyond the limits we propose usually to allot to any subject in the course of a single Number; and though we have still many curious particulars to detail, we find these must necessarily be delayed till our next appearance. We cannot, however, quit this subject for the present without noticing with particular approbation a little work lately published by Mr Hoyland of Sheffield, entitled, "A Historical Survey of the Customs, Habits, and present State of the Gypsies; designed to develope the origin of this singular people, and to promote the amelioration of their condition."—The author has industriously collected the substance of what previous historians or travellers have related of them, from their first appearance in Europe down to our own times. He has also taken great pains to procure information respecting their present state in Britain—by sending circular queries to the chief provincial magistrates, and by personally visiting several of their encampments—for the purpose of setting on foot some plan for their improvement and civilization. Mr Hoyland, we understand, is a member of the respectable society of Friends or Quakers—whose disinterested and unwearied exertions in the cause of injured humanity are above all praise. It is enough to say of the present object, that it is not unworthy of that Christian philanthropy which accomplished the abolition of the slave trade. We shall account ourselves peculiarly happy, should our humble endeavours in any degree tend to promote Mr H.'s benevolent purpose, by attracting public attention to this degraded race of outcasts—the Parias of Europe—thousands of whom still exist in Britain, in a state of barbarism and wretchedness scarcely equalled by that of their brethren in India.—From such of our readers as may have had opportunities of observing the manners, or investigating the origin and peculiar dialect of this singular people, we respectfully invite communications. Even solitary or seemingly trivial notices on such a subject ought not to be neglected: though singly unimportant, they may lead collectively to valuable results. But we need not multiply observations on this point—since our idea is already so well expressed in the following extract from the same valuable communication which we last quoted.—"I have always considered," says Mr Scott, "as a very curious phenomenon in Society, the existence of those wandering tribes, having nearly the same manners and habits in all the nations of Europe, and mingling everywhere with civil society without ever becoming amalgamated with it. It has been hitherto found difficult to trace their origin, perhaps because there is not a sufficient number of facts to go upon. I have not spared you such as I have heard or observed, though many are trivial: if others who have better opportunities would do the same, some general conclusions might result from the whole."

(To be continued.)

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1. Grellmann.
2. Grellmann—See also Hume on Crim. Law of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 344. Mackenzie's Obs. on Stat. p, 333
3. Appendix to Burnet's Hist. of Reformation, vol. ii.
4. Hoyland's Historical Survey.
5. Registrum Secreti Sigilli, vol. xxv. fol. 62.
6. Regist. Secreti Sigilli, vol. xxvii. fol. 3 36.
7. Acta Parl. vol. iii. p. 139.
8. Acta Parl. vol. iii. p. 576. vol. iv. pp. 140, 232.
9. Acta Parl. vol. iv. p. 440.
10. The nature of this crime, in Scotch Law, is fully explained in the following extract from the original, which also appears curious in other respects: The pardon is granted—"pro receptione, supportatione, et detentione supra terra suas de Balmadie, et infra eius habitationis domum, aliaq. edificia eiusdem, Joannis Fall, Ethiopis, lic Egiptian, eiusq. vxoris, puerorum, servorum, et associatorum; Necnon pro ministrando ipsis cibum, potum, pecunias, hospicium, aliaq. necessaria, quocunq. tempore vel occasione preterita, contra acta nostri Parliamenti vel Secreti Concilii, vel contra quecunq. leges, alia acta, aut constitutiones huius nostri regni Scotiæ in contrarium facta."—Regist. Secreti Sigilli, vol. lxxxiii, fol. 291.
11. Regist. Secreti Concilii, Jul. 4. 1616.
12. Ibid. Nov. 9. 1616.
13. Ibid. Dec. 21. 1619.
14. Ibid. Apr. 19. 1620.
15. Ibid. Jul. 6. 1620.
16. Hume on Crim. Law, vol. ii. p. 339.
17. Regist. Secreti Concilii, Nov. 10. 1636.
18. Finlay's Scottish Ballads, vol. i. p. 39.
19. Pennycuick's Description of Tweeddale,—Edit. Edin. 1715, p. 14.

20. "A stalwart Tinkler wight was he,
    An' weel could mend a pot or pan,
    An' deftly Wull could thraw a flee,
    An' neatly weave the willow wan';
    
    "An' sweetly wild were Allan's strains,
    An' mony a jig an' reel he blew,
    Wi' merry lilts he charm'd the swains,
    Wi' barbed spear the otter slew," &c.

    Lay of the Reedwater Minstrel.—Newcastle, 1809.

    In a note upon a preceding passage of the same poem, the author (whose name was George Rokesby) says—
    "Here was the rendezvous of the vagrant train of Faas, tinklers, &c. The celebrated Wull Allan frequently sojourned here, in the progress of his fishing and otter-hunting expeditions; and here often resounded the drones of his no less celebrated son, Jamie Allan, the Northumberland piper.