[137] What our author says of “the usual Gipsy policy of making the people believe that they are descended from families of rank and influence in the country,” ([page 154],) and that “the greater part of them will tell you that they are sprung from a bastard son of this or that noble family, or other person of rank and influence, of their own surname,” ([117],) is doubtless true as a rule; but there were as likely cases of what the Gipsies assert, and that Gipsy women, “in some instances, bore children to some of the ‘unspotted gentlemen’ mentioned by act of parliament as having so greatly protected and entertained the tribe,” ([114],) and that Baillie was one of them, ([121] and [185].) If Baillie had been following the occupation, and bearing the reputation, of an ordinary native of Scotland, there would have been some chance “that great interest would be used to save a bastard branch of an honourable house from an ignominious death upon the scaffold,” for almost any offence he had committed, but not for one who was guilty of “sorning, pickery, and little thieving, and habit and repute an Egyptian.” There was doubtless a connexion, in Gipsy blood, between Baillie and his influential friends who saved him and his relatives so often from the gallows.—See Baillies of Lamington and McLaurin’s Criminal Trials, in the Index.—Ed.
[138] On some of the tombstones of the Gipsies, the word “brazier” is added to their names. [Brazier is a favourite name with the Gipsies, and sounds better than tinker. Southey, in his Life of Bunyan, says: “It is stated, in a history of Bedfordshire, that he was bred to the business of a brazier, and worked, as a journeyman, at Bedford.”—Ed.]
[139] The English Gipsies say that the old mode of getting a wife among the tribe was to steal her. The intended bride was nothing loth, still it was necessary to steal her, while the tribe were on the watch to detect and prevent it.—Ed.
[140] Scot’s Magazine, vol xxxviii., page 675.
[141] McLaurin’s Trials, page 555. [See [note] at page 205.—Ed.]
[142] It appears, from Vidocq’s memoirs, that the Gipsies on the continent changed their apparel, so as they could not again be recognized: “At break of day everybody was on foot, and the general toilet was made. But for their (the Gipsies’) prominent features, their raven-black tresses, and oily and tanned skins, I should scarcely have recognized my companions of the preceding evening. The men, clad in rich jockey Holland vests, with leathern sashes like those worn by the men of Poirsy, and the women, covered with ornaments of gold and silver, assumed the costume of Zealand peasants; even the children, whom I had seen covered with rags, were neatly clothed, and had an entirely different appearance. All soon left the house, and took different directions, that they might not reach the market place together, where the country-people were assembled in crowds.”—Vidocq had lodged all night in a ruinous house, with a band of Gipsies.
[143] The females of this tribe also rode to the fairs at Moffat and Biggar, on horses, with side-saddles and bridles, the ladies themselves being very gaily dressed. The males wore scarlet cloaks, reaching to their knees, and resembling exactly the Spanish fashion of the present day.
[144] Weekly Magazine, 10th September, 1772, page 354.
[145] According to Hoyland, the most common names among the English tented Gipsies are Smith, Cooper, Draper, Taylor, Boswell, Lee, Lovel, Loversedge, Allen, Mansfield, Glover, Williams, Carew, Martin, Stanley, Berkley, Plunket, and Corrie. Mr. Borrow says: “The clans Young and Smith, or Curraple, still haunt two of the eastern counties. The name Curraple is a favourite among the English Gipsies. It means a smith—a name very appropriate to a Gipsy. The root is Curaw, to strike, hammer, &c.” Among the English and Scottish Gipsies in America, I have found a great variety of surnames.—Ed.
[146] In the “Gipsies in Spain,” Mr. Borrow says: “Every family in England has two names; one by which they are known to the Gentiles, and another which they use among themselves.”—Ed.