William Dymock, W. S. Edinburgh, distinguished in the profession of the law, by his sound judgment and strict integrity, having had the perusal of the preceding report from William Smith, gives the following testimony concerning that account: “Baillie Smith’s report is quite graphical, correct truth, and
correctly expressed.—It is useful as showing, that the parties of Tinklers are great detachments from one colony.”
With this, accords Sir John Sinclair’s observation in his Statistical Account of Scotland, Vol. II. p. 124, when describing the village of Eaglesham, he remarks: “There is no magistrate nearer than four miles, and the place is oppressed with gangs of Gypsies, commonly called Tinklers, or sturdy beggars.”
Before receiving the very interesting report from William Smith, the author of this Survey was entirely at a loss to determine what was become of the descendants of John Faw, who styled himself Lord and Earl of Little Egypt; and with a numerous retinue entered Scotland in the reign of Queen Mary, as stated in Section the 5th.—His complaint of his men refusing to return home with him, might be only a feint, invented to cover his design of continuing in the country; for there does not appear to be any traces in history of the banishment of Faw-gang, or of their quitting
Scotland.—But in the above cited report, we find at the head of the Tinklers a Will Faa, in whose name there is only a variation of one letter from that of his distinguished predecessor; and that in reference to this origin, he asserts the Falls of Dunbar to be of the same stock and lineage.
SECTION VII.
On the origin of the Gypsies
Various are the conjectures which have been indulged, and the coincidences which have been sought for, in order to obtain a solution of the query, What race of people are the Gypsies?
Whoever is disposed to refer to Continental writers, may see more than thirty different opinions started on this subject, founded on no better authority than some similarity of appellation, garb, complexion, or unsettled way of life.
They were sometimes Torlaques, Kalendars, or Faquirs. The Torlaques are Mahometan Monks, who under the pretence of holiness, are guilty of the most flagrant excesses. Bajazet the 2d, banished them from the Turkish empire in 1494. The Kalendars