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."

It appears, that not only the lower elasses, 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 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. In November following, appears a "proclamatioun aganis Egyptianis and their ressettaris;§--in December 1619, we find another proclamation against resetters' of them ;||-in April 1620 another proclamation of the same kind;¶-and in July 1620, a commission against 'resetters; all with

Acta Parl. vol. iv. p. 440. 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, lie 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 Scotia in contrarium facta."-Regist. Secreti Sigilli, vol. lxxxiii,

fol. 291.

Regist. Secreti Concilii, Jul. 4. 1616.
Ibid. Nov. 9. 1616.
Ibid. Dec. 21. 1619.
Ibid. Apr. 19. 1620.

very severe penalties.* The nature of these acts will be better understood from the following extract from that of 4th July 1616, which also very well explains the way in which the gypsies contrived to maintain their footing in the country, in defiance of all the ef forts 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......... manderis, and continuallie sensyne hes remanit within the cuntrie, committing alsweill oppin and avowed reiffis in all partis murtheris, as

..com

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 evi

Ibid. Jul. 6. 1620.

dence on record, of the summary rootand-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.*-A similar case occurs in 1636.† 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 conveni ency 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 subse

* Hume on Crim. Law, vol. ii. p. 339. + Regist. Secreti Concilii, Nov. 10. 1636.

quent law which rendered the charac ter 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 neighbour

* *

*

*

hood. 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 otterhunting, fishing, or finding game. In winter, the women told fortunes, the men showed tricks of legerdemain; and these accomplishments often helpaway 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 VOL. I.

ed

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

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. 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 G

John Faw of Dunbar, her former lov er, seizing the opportunity of the earl's absence on a foreign embassy, disguised himself and a number of his retain ers 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 in clined 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."

Mr Finlay is of opinion that there are no good grounds for identifying

the hero of this adventure with John

nie 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 feud al 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

• Finlay's Scottish Ballads, vol. i. p. 39.

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 as sumed 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 com

mitted 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 bellrope, 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