144 



MR. BORROW ON THE GIPSIES. 



and queens, princes and princesses, 

 priests and priestesses, and, "of course, 

 thieves and thievesses, that, like an ap- 

 parition, found their way into, and, after 

 wandering about, settled down in, Scot- 

 land. ' Indeed, he never knew anything 

 else than that he was an Egyptian ; for 

 it is in his blood ; and, what is more, it 

 is in his heart, so that he cannot forget 

 it, unless he should lose his faculties 

 and become an idiot ; and then he would 

 be an Egyptian idiot. How like a Gipsy 

 it was for Mrs. Fall, of Dunbar, to 

 " work in tapestry the principal events 

 in the life of the founder of her family, 

 from the day the Gipsy child came to 

 Dunbar, in its mother's creel, until the 

 same Gipsy child had become, by its 

 own honourable exertions, the head of 

 the first mercantile establishment then 

 existing in Scotland " (Ed., p. 462). 



The Scottish Gipsies, when their ap- 

 pearance has been modified by a mix- 

 ture of the white blood, have possessed, 

 in common with the Highlanders, the 

 faculty of " getting out " of the original 

 ways of their race, and becoming supe- 

 rior in character, notwithstanding the 

 excessive prejudice that exists against 

 the nation of which they hold them- 

 selves members. Except his strong par- 

 tiality for his blood and tribe, language 

 and signs, such a Gipsy becomes, in his 

 general disposition and ways, like any 

 ordinary native. It is impossible that it 

 should be otherwise. Whenever a Gip- 

 sy, then, forsakes his original habits, 

 and conforms with the ways of the other 

 inhabitants, he becomes, for all practi- 

 cal purposes, an ordinary citizen of the 

 Gipsy clan. If he is a man of good nat- 

 ural abilities, the original wild ambition 

 of his race acquires a new turn; and his 

 capacity fits him for any occupation. 

 Priding himself on being an Egyptian, a 

 member of this world-wide community, 

 he acquires, as he gains information, a 

 spirit of liberality of sentiment ; he reads 

 history, and perceives that every family 

 of mankind has not only been barbarous, 

 but very barbarous, at one time ; and, 

 from such reflections, he comes to con- 

 sider his own origin, and very readily be- 

 comes confirmed in his early, but indis- 

 tinct, ideas of his people, that they real- 

 ly are somebody. Indeed, he considers 

 himself not only as good, but better than 

 other people. His being forced to as- 

 sume an incognito, and " keep as quiet 

 as pussy," chafes his proud spirit, but it 

 does not render him gloomy, for his nat- 



ural disposition is too buoyant for that. 

 How, then, does such a Scottish Gipsy 

 feel in regard to his ancestors? He 

 feels exactly as Highlanders do, in re- 

 gard to theirs, or, as the Scottish Bor- 

 derers do, with reference to the " Bor- 

 der Ruffians," as I have heard a Gipsy 

 term them. Indeed, the gallows of 

 Perth and Stirling, Carlisle and Jed- 

 burgh, could tell some fine tales of 

 many respectable Scottish people, in 

 times that are past (Ed., p. 462). 



It is certainly a singular position 

 which is occupied, from generation to 

 generation, and century to century, by 

 our settled Scottish, as well as other, 

 Gipsies, who are not known to the world 

 as such, yet maintain a daily intercourse 

 with others not of their own tribe. It 

 resembles a state of semi-damnation, 

 with a drawn sword hanging over their 

 heads, ready to fall upon them at any 

 moment. But the matter cannot be 

 mended. They are Gipsies, by every 

 physical and mental necessity, and they 

 accommodate themselves to their cir- 

 cumstances as they best may. This 

 much is certain, that they have the ut- 

 most confidence in their incognito, as 

 regards their descent, personal feelings, 

 and exclusively private associations. 

 The word "Gipsy," to be applied to 

 them by strangers, frightens them, in 

 contemplation, far more than it does the 

 children of the ordinary natives ; for 

 they imagine it a dreadful thing to be 

 known to their neighbours as Gipsies. 

 Still they have never occupied any other 

 position ; they have been born in it, 

 and reared in it ; it has even been_ the 

 nature of the race, from the very first, 

 always to " work in the dark." In all 

 probability, it has never occurred to 

 them to imagine that it will ever be 

 otherwise ; nor do they evidently wish 

 it ; for they can see no possible way to 

 have themselves acknowledged, by the 

 world, as Gipsies. The very idea hor- 

 rifies them. So far from letting the 

 world know anything of them, as Gip- 

 sies, their constant care is to keep it in 

 perpetual darkness on the subject. Of 

 all men, these Gipsies may say : 



" . , . rather bear those ills \ve have, 

 Than fly to others that we know not of." 



Indeed, the only thing that worries 

 such a Gipsy is the idea that the public 

 should know all about him ; otherwise, 

 he feels a supreme satisfaction in being 

 a Gipsy ; as well as in having such a 



