ENGLISH GIPSIES.
The first arrival of the Gipsies in England appears to have been about
the year 1512,[41] but this does not seem to be quite certain. It is
probable they may have arrived there at an earlier period. The author
from which the fact is derived published his work in 1612, and states,
generally, that "this kind of people, about a hundred years ago, began
to gather an head, about the southern parts. And this, I am informed and
can gather, was their beginning: Certain Egyptians, banished their
country, (belike not for their good condition,) arrived here in England;
who, for quaint tricks and devices, not known here at that time among
us, were esteemed, and held in great admiration; insomuch that many of
our English loiterers joined with them, and in time learned their crafty
cozening.
[41] Hoyland.
"The speech which they used was the right Egyptian language, with whom
our Englishmen conversing at least learned their language. These people,
continuing about the country, and practising their cozening art,
purchased themselves great credit among the country people, and got much
by palmistry and telling of fortunes; insomuch that they pitifully
cozened poor country girls both of money, silver spoons, and the best of
their apparel, or any goods they could make."[42]
[42] A quarto work by S. R., published to detect and expose the art of
juggling and legerdemain, in 1612.
From this author it is collected they had a leader of the name of Giles
Hather, who was termed their king; and a woman of the name of Calot was
called queen. These, riding through the country on horseback, and in
strange attire, had a pretty train after them.[43]
[43] Hoyland.
It appears, from this account, that the Gipsies had been observed on the
continent about a hundred years before they visited England. According
to Dr. Bright, they seemed to have roamed up and down the continent of
Europe, without molestation, for about half a century, before their true
character was perfectly known. If 1512 was really the year in which
these people first set foot in England, it would seem that the English
government had not been so easily nor so long imposed on as the kings of
Scotland, and the authorities of Europe generally. For we find that,
within about the space of ten years from this period, they are, by the
10th chapter of the 22d Henry VIII, denominated "an outlandish people,
calling themselves Egyptians, using no craft nor feat of merchandise,
who have come into this realm, and gone from shire to shire, and place
to place, in great company; and used great subtlety and crafty means to
deceive the people--bearing them in hand that they, by palmistry, could
tell men's and women's fortunes; and so, many times, by craft and
subtlety, have deceived the people for their money; and also have
committed many heinous felonies and robberies." As far back as the year
1549, they had become very troublesome in England, for, on the 22d June
of that year, according to Burnet's History of the Reformation, "there
was privy search made through all Sussex for all vagabonds, Gipsies,
conspirators, prophesiers, players, and such like."
The Gipsies in England still continued to commit numberless thefts and
robberies, in defiance of the existing statutes; so that each succeeding
law enacted against them became severer than the one which preceded it.
The following is an extract from the 27th Henry VIII: "Whereas, certain
outlandish people, who do not profess any craft or trade whereby to
maintain themselves, but go about in great numbers, from place to place,
using insidious means to impose on his majesty's subjects, making them
believe that they understand the art of foretelling to men and women
their good and evil fortunes, by looking in their hands, whereby they
frequently defraud people of their money; likewise are guilty of thefts
and highway robberies: It is hereby ordered that the said vagrants,
commonly called Egyptians, in case as thieves and rascals . . . . and on
the importation of any such Egyptians, he, the importer, shall forfeit
forty pounds for every trespass." So much had the conduct of the Gipsies
exasperated the government of Queen Elizabeth, that it was enacted,
during her reign, that "If any person, being fourteen years, whether
natural born subject or stranger, who had been seen in the fellowship of
such persons, or disguised like them, and remain with them one month at
once, or at several times, it should be felony without benefit of
clergy."[44] It would thus appear that, when the Gipsies first arrived
in England, they had not kept their language a secret, as is now the
case; for some of the Englishmen of that period had acquired it by
associating with them.[45]
[44] English acts of Parliament.
[45] This does not appear to be necessarily the case. These Englishmen
may have married Gipsies, become Gipsies by adoption, and so learned
the language, as happens at the present day.--ED.
In carrying out the foregoing extraordinary enactments, the public was
at the expense of exporting the Gipsies to the continent; and it may
reasonably be assumed that great numbers of these unhappy people were
executed under these sanguinary laws. A few years before the restoration
of Charles II, thirteen Gipsies were executed "at one Suffolk assize."
This appears to have been the last instance of inflicting the penalty of
death on these unfortunate people in England, merely because they were
Gipsies.[46] But although these laws of blood are now repealed, the
English Gipsies are liable, at the present day, to be proceeded against
under the Vagrant Act; as these statutes declare all those persons
"pretending to be Gipsies, or wandering in the habit and form of
Egyptians, shall be deemed rogues and vagabonds."
[46] Hoyland.
In the reign of Queen Elizabeth it was thought England contained above
10,000 Gipsies; and Mr. Hoyland, in his historical survey of these
people, supposes that there are 18,000 of the race in Britain at the
present day. A member of Parliament, it is reported, stated, in the
House of Commons, that there were not less than 36,000 Gipsies in Great
Britain. I am inclined to believe that the statement of the latter will
be nearest the truth; as I am convinced that the greater part of all
those persons who traverse England with earthenware, in carts and
waggons, are a superior class of Gipsies. Indeed, a Scottish Gipsy
informed me, that almost all those people are actually Gipsies. Now Mr.
Hoyland takes none of these potters into his account, when he estimates
the Gipsy population at only 18,000 souls. Besides, Gipsies have
informed me that Ireland contains a great many of the tribe; many of
whom are now finding their way into Scotland.[47]
[47] The number of the British Gipsies mentioned here is greatly
understated. See Disquisition on the Gipsies.--ED.
I am inclined to think that the greater part of the English Gipsies live
more apart from the other inhabitants of the country, reside more in
tents, and exhibit a great deal more of their pristine manners, than
their brethren do in Scotland.[48]
[48] In no part of the world is the Gipsy life more in accordance with
the general idea that the Gipsy is like Cain--a wanderer on the face
of the earth--than in England; for there, the covered cart and the
little tent are the houses of the Gipsy; and he seldom remains more
than three days in the same place. So conducive is the climate of
England to beauty, that nowhere else is the appearance of the race so
prepossessing as in that country. Their complexion is dark, but not
disagreeably so; their faces are oval, their features regular, their
foreheads rather low, and their hands and feet small. The men are
taller than the English peasantry, and far more active. They all speak
the English language with fluency, and in their gait and demeanour are
easy and graceful; in both respects standing in striking contrast with
the peasantry, who, in speech, are slow and uncouth, and, in manner,
dogged and brutal.--_Borrow._--ED.
The English Gipsies also travel in Scotland, with earthenware in carts
and waggons. A body of them, to the number of six tents, with sixteen
horses, encamped, on one occasion, on the farm of Kingledoors, near the
source of the Tweed. They remained on the ground from Saturday night
till about ten o'clock on Monday morning, before they struck their tents
and waggons.
At St Boswell's fair I once inspected a horde of English Gipsies,
encamped at the side of a hedge, on the Jedburgh road as it enters St.
Boswell's Green. Their name was Blewett, from the neighbourhood of
Darlington. The chief possessed two tents, two large carts laden with
earthenware, four horses and mules, and five large dogs. He was attended
by two old females and ten young children. One of the women was the
mother of fourteen, and the other the mother of fifteen, children. This
chief and the two females were the most swarthy and barbarous looking
people I ever saw. They had, however, two beautiful children with them,
about five years of age, with light flaxen hair, and very fair
complexions. The old Gipsy women said they were twins; but they might
have been stolen from different parents, for all that, as there was
nothing about them that had the slightest resemblance to any one of the
horde that claimed them. Apparently much care was taken of them, as they
were very cleanly and neatly kept.[49]
[49] It does not follow, from what our author says about these two
children, that they were stolen. I have seen some of the children of
English Gipsies as fair as any Saxon. It sometimes happens that the
flaxen hair of a Gipsy child will change into raven black before he
reaches manhood.--ED.
This Gipsy potter was a thick-set, stout man, above the middle size. He
was dressed in an old dark-blue frock coat, with a profusion of black,
greasy hair, which covered the upper part of his broad shoulders. He
wore a high-crowned, narrow-brimmed, old hat, with a lock of his black
hair hanging down before each ear, in the same manner as the Spanish
Gipsies are described by Swinburn. He also wore a pair of old
full-topped boots, pressed half way down his legs, and wrinkled about
his ankles, like buskins. His visage was remarkably dark and gloomy. He
walked up and down the market alone, without speaking to any one, with a
peculiar air of independence about him, as he twirled in his hand, in
the Gipsy manner, by way of amusement, a strong bludgeon, about three
feet long, which he held by the centre. I happened to be speaking to a
surgeon in the fair, at the time the Gipsy passed me, when I observed to
him that that strange-looking man was a Gipsy; at which the surgeon only
laughed, and said he did not believe any such thing. To satisfy him, I
followed the Gipsy, at a little distance, till he led me straight to his
tents at the Jedburgh road already mentioned.
This Gipsy band had none of their wares unpacked, nor were they selling
anything in the market. They were cooking a lamb's head and pluck, in a
pan suspended from a triangle of rods of iron, while beside it lay an
abundance of small potatoes, in a wooden dish. The females wore black
Gipsy bonnets. The visage of the oldest one was remarkably long, her
chin resting on her breast. These three old Gipsies were, altogether, so
dark, grim, and outlandish-looking, that they had little or no
appearance of being natives of Britain. On enquiring if they were
Gipsies, and could speak the language, the oldest female gave me the
following answer: "We are potters, and strangers in this land. The
people are civil unto us. I say, God bless the people; God bless them
all." She spoke these words in a decided, emphatic, and solemn tone, as
if she believed herself possessed of the power to curse or bless at
pleasure. On turning my back, to leave them, I observed them burst out a
laughing; making merry, as I supposed, at the idea of having deceived me
as to the tribe to which they belonged.
The following anecdote will give some idea of the manner of life of the
Gipsies in England.
A man, whom I knew, happened to lose his way, one dark night, in
Cambridgeshire. After wandering up and down for some time, he observed a
light, at a considerable distance from him, within the skirts of a wood,
and, being overjoyed at the discovery, he directed his course toward it;
but, before reaching the fire, he was surprised at hearing a man, a
little way in advance, call out to him, in a loud voice, "Peace or not
peace?" The benighted traveller, glad at hearing the sound of a human
voice, immediately answered, "Peace; I am a poor Scotchman, and have
lost my way in the dark." "You can come forward then," rejoined the
sentinel. When the Scotchman advanced, he found a family of Gipsies,
with only one tent; but, on being conducted further into the wood, he
was introduced to a great company of Gipsies. They were busily employed
in roasting several whole sheep--turning their carcasses before large
fires, on long wooden poles, instead of iron spits. The racks on which
the spits turned were also made of wood, driven into the ground,
cross-ways, like the letter X. The Gipsies were exceedingly kind to the
stranger, causing him to partake of the victuals which they had prepared
for their feast. He remained with them the whole night, eating and
drinking, and dancing with his merry entertainers, as if he had been one
of themselves. When day dawned, the Scotchman counted twelve tents
within a short distance of each other. On examining his position, he
found himself a long way out of his road; but a party of the Gipsies
voluntarily offered their services, and went with him for several miles,
and, with great kindness, conducted him to the road from which he had
wandered.
The crimes of some of the English Gipsies have greatly exceeded those of
the Scottish, such as the latter have been. The following details of
the history of an English Gipsy family are taken from a report on the
prisons in Northumberland. The writer of this report does not appear to
have been aware, however, of the family in question being Gipsies,
speaking an Oriental language, and that, according to the custom of
their tribe, a dexterous theft or robbery is one of the most meritorious
actions they can perform.
"_Crime in Families. William Winters' Family._
"William himself, and one of his sons, were hanged together for murder.
Another son committed an offence for which he was sent to the hulks,
and, soon after his release, was concerned in a murder, for which he was
hanged. Three of the daughters were convicted of various offences, and
the mother was a woman of notorious bad character. The family was a
terror to the neighbourhood, and, according to report, had been so for
generations. The father, with a woman with whom he cohabited, (himself a
married man,) was hanged for house-breaking. His first wife was a woman
of very bad character, and his second wife was transported. One of the
sons, a notorious thief, and two of the daughters, were hanged for
murder. Mr. Blake believes that the only member of the family that
turned out well was a girl, who was taken from the father when he was in
prison, previous to execution, and brought up apart from her brothers
and sisters. The grandfather was once in a lunatic asylum, as a madman.
The father had a quarrel with one of his sons, about the sale of some
property, and shot him dead. The mother co-habited with another man, and
was one morning found dead, with her throat cut. One of the sons, (not
already spoken of,) had a bastard child by one of his cousins, herself
of weak intellect, and, being under suspicion of having destroyed the
child, was arrested. While in prison, however, and before the trial came
on, he destroyed himself by cutting his throat."
This family, I believe, are the Winters noticed by Sir Walter Scott, in
Blackwood's Magazine, as follows:
"A gang (of Gipsies), of the name of Winters, long inhabited the wastes
of Northumberland, and committed many crimes; among others, a murder
upon a poor woman, with singular atrocity, for which one of them was
hung in chains near Tonpitt, in Reedsdale. The mortal reliques having
decayed, the lord of the manor has replaced them by a wooden effigy, and
still maintains the gibbet. The remnant of this gang came to Scotland,
about fifteen years ago, and assumed the Roxburghshire name of Wintirip,
as they found their own something odious. They settled at a cottage
within about four miles of Earlston, and became great plagues to the
country, until they were secured, after a tight battle, tried before the
circuit court at Jedburgh, and banished back to their native country of
England. The dalesmen of Reedwater showed great reluctance to receive
these returned emigrants. After the Sunday service at a little chapel
near Otterbourne, one of the squires rose, and, addressing the
congregation, told them they would be accounted no longer Reedsdale men,
but Reedsdale women, if they permitted this marked and atrocious family
to enter their district. The people answered that they would not permit
them to come that way; and the proscribed family, hearing of the
unanimous resolution to oppose their passage, went more southernly, by
the heads of the Tyne, and I never heard more of them, but I have little
doubt they are all hanged."[50]
[50] It is but just to say that this family of Winters is, or at least
was, the worst kind of English Gipsies. Their name is a by-word among
the race in England. When they say, "It's a winter morning," they wish
to express something very bad. It is difficult to get them to admit
that the Winters belong to the tribe--ED.