[71] By the above, and subsequent statutes, in the reign of James VI, “Coal and salt-masters might apprehend, and put to labour, all vagabonds and sturdy beggars.” The truth is, these kidnapped individuals and their children were made slaves of to these masters. The colliers were emancipated only within these fifty years. It has been stated to me that some of the colliers in the Lothians are of Gipsy extraction. [Our author might have said Gipsies; for being “of Gipsy extraction,” and “Gipsies,” are expressions quite synonymous, notwithstanding the application by the public of the latter term to the more original kind of Gipsies only.—Ed.]
[72] If Fletcher of Saltoun be correct, when he states that, in his time, which was about the end of the 17th century, there were two hundred thousand people, (about one-fifth of the whole population,) begging from door to door in Scotland, it would be a task of no little difficulty, for those in power, to put in force the laws against the Gipsies, and vagabonds generally. The editor of Dr. Pennicuick’s history of Tweed-dale, thinks Fletcher’s is an over-charged picture. Some are of opinion that, when he made his statement, he included the greater part of the inhabitants of the Scottish Border, and also those in the north of Scotland; for, he said, the Highlands “was an inexhaustible source of beggars,” and wished these banditti transplanted to the low country, and to people the Highlands from hence.
[73] The records in which this order is contained are lost.
[74] Glendook’s Scots Act.
[75] Ib.
[76] 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 Belmadie, et infra eius habitationis domium, aliaq. edificia eiusdem, Joannis Fall, Ethiopis, lie Egiptian, eiusq. uxoris, 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, Blackwood’s Magazine.—Ed.
[77] The same state of things existed in Spain. Charles II. passed a law on the 12th June, 1695, the 16th article of which, as given by Mr. Borrow, enacts: “And because we understand that the continuance of those who are called Gitanos has depended on the favour, protection, and assistance which they have experienced from persons of different stations, we do ordain that whosoever against whom shall be proved the fact of having, since the day of the publication hereof, favoured, received, or assisted the said Gitanos, in any manner whatever, whether within their houses or without, provided he is a noble, shall be subjected to the fine of six thousand ducats, . . . . and if a plebeian, to a punishment of ten years in the galleys.” Such an enactment would surely prove that the Gipsies in Spain were greatly favoured by the Spanish people generally, even two centuries after they entered the country.
The causes to which may be attributed this toleration, even encouragement, of the Gipsies, are various. Among these may be mentioned a fear of consequences to person and property, tinkering, trafficking and amusement, and corruption on the part of those in power. But in the character of the Gipsies itself may be found a general cause for their escaping the effects of the laws passed against them, viz., wheedling. The term Gitano has been variously modified in the Spanish language, thus:
Gitano. Gipsy, flatterer; Gitanillo, a little Gipsy; Gitanismo, the Gipsy tribe; Gitanesco, Gipsy-like; Gitanear, to flatter, entice; Gitaneria, wheedling, flattery; Gitanamento, in a sly, winning manner; Gitanada, blandishment, wheedling, flattery.—Ed.
[78] There were 17 clans on the Borders, and 34 clans in the Highlands, who appear to have had chiefs and captains over them. There were 22 baronial proprietors connected with the Borders, and 106 connected with the Highlands, named in a roll, who were likewise ordered to find pledges.—Glendook’s Scots Acts.