Ji6 



MR. BORROW ON THE GIPSIES. 



She then said that if her people 

 on the Green were spoken to on the 

 subject of the language, "they 

 would merely turn up their noses, 

 and say they had no Gaelic. You 

 would not find them so communica- 

 tive as me. The Nokkums, in gen- 

 eral, are a dour set, sir" (p. 321). 

 The tricks that were mentioned to 

 her " were occasionally done, not 

 by the Nokkums^ but by other Gip- 

 sies, with whom her people had no 

 connection" (p. 323). 



On parting with her, she said she 

 would be delighted to have him 

 call on her the following day, the 

 request being his. " On going, how- 

 ever, on the following day, which 

 was Sunday, I found the garden- 

 gate locked and the window-shutters 

 up, plainly denoting that there was 

 nobody at home " (p. 326). She 

 had evidently got frightened at her 

 indiscretion, as is always the case 

 with the Scottish Gipsies, and spread 

 the alarm and fled, leaving " some o' 

 her laddies " to watch the intruder. 

 " Seeing some men lying on the hill, 

 a little way above, who appeared to 

 be observing me, I went up to them 

 for the purpose of making inquiries. 

 They were all young men [the old- 

 est not more than three-and-twenty], 

 and decently, though coarsely, 

 dressed. None wore the Scottish 

 cap or bonnet, but all the hat of 

 England" (p. 326). "I greeted 

 them civilly, but received no saluta- 

 tion in return " (p. 327). Then he 

 tried them with two catch-words, 

 which were answered, in both in- 

 stances, by a turn-up of the nose, 

 as the queen told him would be the 

 case. " Good-day, said I, and 

 turned away. I received no coun- 

 ter-salutation " (p. 328). 



Next day there was to be a fair 

 held near Kelso, to which he went, 

 " determined to be even with her," 

 as he felt sure of meeting her there ; 

 but he made a mistake if he imag- 

 ined she would look " black-affront- 

 ed," after giving him the slip, for 

 they "met in the most cordial man- 



ner smirks and giggling on her 

 side, smiles and nodding on mine " 

 (p- 3 2 9)' 



" After the smirks, smiles, and saluta- 

 tions were over, I inquired whether 

 there were many Gipsies in the fair. 



Plenty,' said she, ' plenty Tates, An- 

 dersons, Reeds, and many others. That 

 woman is an Anderson yonder is a 

 Tate,' said she, pointing to. two com- 

 mon-looking females. ' Have they much 

 Romany ? ' said I. ' No,' said she, 

 ' scarcely a word. ' ' I think I shall go 

 and speak to them,' said I. ' Don't,' 

 said she ; ' they would only be uncivil 

 to you. Moreover, they have nothing 

 of that kind on the word of a rauunie, 

 they have not ' " (p. 330). 



She had doubtless got frightened 

 at the idea of him compromising 

 her with the other Gipsies at the fair, 

 and letting the cat out of the bag, 

 and as a last resource, to decoy him 

 away from them, added, "on the 

 word of a raivnie" that they had 

 none of the language, after she had 

 said that they had scarcely a wora 

 of it. She could easily be excused 

 for playing him hukni, or false, after 

 being trapped into divulging her 

 language; and if she did ^ it once, 

 she could do it again, notwithstand- 

 ing Mr. Borrow being satisfied to 

 the contrary. The publication of 

 the " interview " should also extenu- 

 ate the trifling offence, if offence it 

 was. If the Gipsies can be excused 

 for promising a thing and " belying 

 it " in a whisper to themselves, it is 

 when their language is in considera- 

 tion, for that is the last thing they 

 will generally give to a stranger. 



Both the queen and her relation 

 that conducted Mr. Borrow to her 

 he says, had blue eyes, which does 

 not seem to have struck him as any- 

 thing odd when found in the head 

 of a Gipsy. Of the queen he says : 



" She was dressed respectably in 

 black, and was holding the arm of a 

 stout wench, dressed in garments of the 

 same colour, who, she said, was her 

 niece, and a rinkeni rakli. The girl 

 whom she called rinkeni, or handsome, 

 but whom I did not consider handsome 



