“I do not see that the women are any otherwise employed, than attending the young children; and assisting to sell the pottery when carried through the country.”
“Query 3rd. Have they any settled abode in winter, and where?
“C. Their residence, with the exception of a single family, who some years ago came to
Kelso, is at Kirk Yetholm, and chiefly confined to one row of houses, or street of that town, which goes by the name of Tinkler Row. Most of them have leases of their possessions, granted for a term of nineteen times nineteen years, for payment of a small sum yearly; something of the nature of a quit rent. There is no tradition in the neighbourhood concerning the time when the Gypsies first took up their residence at that place, nor whence they came.
“Most of their leases, I believe were granted by the family of the Bennets of Grubet; the last of whom was Sir David Bennet, who died about sixty years ago. The late Mr. Nesbit of Dirleton, then succeeded to the estate, comprehending the Baronies of Kirk Yetholm, and Grubet. He died about the year 1783, and not long after, the property was acquired by the late Lord Tweedale’s trustees.
“During the latter part of the life of the late Mr. Nesbit, he was less frequently at his estate in Roxburghshire than formerly. He was a great favourite of the Gypsies, and was
in use to call them his body guards, and often gave them money, &c.
“On the other hand, both the late and present Mr. Wauchope were of opinion, that the example of these people had a bad effect upon the morals and industry of the neighbourhood; and seeing no prospect of their removal, and as little of their reformation, considered it as a duty to the public, to prevent the evil increasing; and never would consent to any of the colony taking up their residence in Town Yetholm.
“They mostly remain at home during winter, but as soon as the weather becomes tolerably mild in spring, most of them, men, women, and children, set out on their peregrination over the country, and live in a state of vagrancy, until again driven into their habitations by the approach of winter.
“Seeming to pride themselves as a separate tribe, they very seldom intermarry out of the colony; and in rare instances where that happens, the Gypsey, whether male or female, by influence and example, always induces the