A History of the Gipsies Part 21

In May, 1829, while near the manse of Inverkeithing, my friend and I accidentally fell in, on the high road, with four children, the youngest of whom appeared to be about four, and the eldest about thirteen, years of age. They were accompanied by a woman, about twenty years old, who had the appearance of being married, but not the mother of any of the children with her. Not one of the whole party could have been taken for a Gipsy, but all had the exact appearance of being the family of some indigent tradesman or labourer. Excepting the woman, whose hair was dark, all of the company had hair of a light colour, some of them inclining to yellow, with fair complexions. In not one of their countenances could be seen those features by which many pretend the Gipsies can, at all times, be distinguished from the rest of the community. The manner, however, in which the woman, at first, addressed me, created in my mind a suspicion that she was one of the tribe. In order to ascertain the fact, I put a question to her in Gipsy, in such a manner that it might appear to her that I was quite certain she was one of the fraternity. She immediately smiled at my question, held down her head, cast her eyes to the ground, then appeared as if she had been detected in something wrong, and pretended not to understand what I said. One of the children, however, being thrown entirely off his guard, immediately said to her, "You know quite well what he says." The woman, recovering from her surprise and confusion, and being a.s.sured she had nothing to fear from me, now answered my question. She also replied to every other interrogation I put to her, without showing the least fear or hesitation. After I had repeated a few words more, and a sentence in the Gipsy tongue, one of the boys exclaimed, "He has good cant!" and then addressed me entirely in the Gipsy language. (All the Gipsies, as I have already mentioned, call their language _cant_, for the purpose of concealing their tribe.) The whole party seemed extremely happy that I was acquainted with their speech. The woman put several questions to me, in return, some of which were wholly in her own peculiar tongue. She asked my name, place of residence, and whether I was a _nawken_--that is a Gipsy. She further enquired whether my friend was also a _nawken_; adding, with a smile, that she was sure I was a _tramper_. The children sometimes conversed among themselves wholly in their own language; and, when I could not understand the woman, as she requested, in her own speech, to know my name, &c., one of them instantly interpreted the sentence into English for me. One of the oldest boys, however, thinking I was only pretending to be ignorant of their speech, observed, in English, to his companions, "I am sure he is a tramper, and can speak as good cant as any of us." To keep up the character, my friend told them that I had been a tramper in my youth, but that I had now nearly lost the language. On hearing this, the woman, with great earnestness, exclaimed, "G.o.d bless the gentleman!" In order to confirm their belief that I was one of their tribe, I bade the woman good-day in her own tongue, and parted with them. She informed me, on leaving, that she resided at Banff, but that her husband was then at Perth.

During the short interview which I had with these Gipsies, I collected the following words:

_Gaugie_, man.

_Riah_, gentleman.

_Raunie_, lady.

_Vast_, hand.

_Sonnakie_, gold.

_Sonnakie vanister_, gold ring.

_Roug_, silver.

_Lowie_, money.

_Grye_, horse.

_Aizel_, a.s.s.

_Jucal_, dog.

_Matchka_, cat.

_Baurie_, great.

_Vile_, village.

_Baurie vile_, large village.

_Nawken_, Gipsy.

_Davies_, day.

_Beens.h.i.+p davies_, _Nawken_, good-day, Gipsy.

_Pen yer naam?_ what is your name?

_Shucha_, coat.

_Calshes_, breeches.

_Gogle_, hat.

_Coories_, blankets.

_Roys_, spoons.

_Skews_, platters.

_Habben kairer_, baker of bread.

The method I adopted with them, as I have already hinted, was to ask them the English of the words I gave them in Gipsy, so that the answers I got were confirmations of the same words collected from other individuals, and which I drew from memory for the occasion. Had I attempted to write down any of their sentences, it would have instantly shut the door to all further conversation on the subject, and, in all probability, the Gipsies would have taken to their heels, muttering imprecations against me for having insulted them. Of this I was satisfied, that had I really been acquainted with their speech, these Gipsy children could have kept up a regular and connected conversation with me, with the greatest fluency, and without their sentences being intermixed with any English or Scotch words whatever, a fact which has been repeatedly stated to me by the Gipsies.

In confirmation of these facts, I shall transcribe a letter addressed to me by the gentleman who was present on the occasion.[198]

[198] This letter is interesting to the extent that it ill.u.s.trates the amount of knowledge possessed by the Scottish community, generally, regarding the subject of the Gipsies.--ED.

INVERKEITHING, _25th May, 1829._

"MY DEAR SIR:

"Agreeably to your desire, I have looked over that part of your ma.n.u.script of the Scottish Gipsies which details the particulars of a short and accidental interview which we had with a woman and four children, whom we met near Inverkeithing Manse, on the 22d inst., and who turned out to be Gipsies. I have no hesitation in averring that your statements, to my knowledge, are substantially correct--being present during the whole conversation which took place with the individuals mentioned. It was the first time I ever heard the Gipsy language spoken, and it appeared quite evident that those Gipsies could converse, in a regular and connected manner, on any subject, without making use of a single English word; and which particularly appeared from the questions which they put to you, as well as from the conversation which they had among themselves, in their own peculiar speech: and that, otherwise, the woman and children had not, in the colour of their hair, complexion, and general appearance, any resemblance to those people whom I always considered to be Gipsies. I am, &c.,

"JAMES H. COBBAN, _Deputy Compt. of Customs, Inverkeithing._

"MR. WALTER SIMSON, _Supt. of Quarantine, Inverkeithing_."[199]

[199] Sir Walter Scott was disposed to think that our Gipsy population was rather exaggerated at five thousand souls; but when families such as the above mentioned are taken into account--leaving alone those who may be cla.s.sed as settled Gipsies--I am convinced that their number is not over-estimated.

[Not being in possession of sufficient information on the subject of the Gipsies, the opinion of Sir Walter Scott, on the point in question, amounted to nothing. See the Index, for Sir Walter Scott's ideas of the Scottish Gipsy population.--ED.]

I have already mentioned having succeeded in obtaining a few words of Gipsy, from two sisters, of the name of Jamieson, who came begging to my door. I had reason to suppose they would acquaint their relatives of having been questioned in their own speech, and would greatly exaggerate my knowledge of it; for I always observed that the individuals with whom I conversed were at first impressed with a belief that I knew much more of it than I really did.

During the following summer, a brother and a cousin of these girls called at my house, selling baskets. The one was about twenty-one, the other fifteen, years of age. I happened to be from home, but one of my family, suspecting them to be Gipsies, invited them into the house, and mentioned to them, (although very incorrectly,) that I understood every word of their speech. "So I saw," replied the eldest lad, "for when he pa.s.sed us on the road, some time ago, I called, in our language, to my neighbour, to come out of the way, and he understood what I said, for he immediately turned round, and looked at us." I, however, knew nothing of the circ.u.mstance; I did not even recollect having seen them pa.s.s me. It is likely, however, I had been examining their appearance, and it is as likely they had been trying if I understood their speech. At all events, they appeared to have known me, while I was entirely ignorant of who they were, and to have had their curiosity excited, on account, as I imagined, of their relatives having told them I was acquainted with their language. This occurrence produced a wonderful effect upon the two lads, for they appeared pleased to think I could speak their language.

At this moment, one of my daughters, about seven years of age, repeated, in their hearing, the Gipsy word for pot, having picked it up from hearing me mention it. The young Tinklers now thought they were in the midst of a Gipsy family, and seemed quite happy. "But are you really a _nawken_?" I asked the eldest of them. "Yes, sir," he replied; "and to show you I am no impostor, I will give you the names of everything in your house;" which, in the presence of my family, he did, to the extent I asked of him. "My speech," he continued, "is not the cant of packmen, nor the slang of common thieves."

But Gipsy-hunting is like deer-stalking. In prosecuting it, it is necessary to know the animal, its habits, and the locality in which it is to be found. I saw the unfavourable turn approaching: the Gipsies'

time was up; their patience was exhausted. I dropped the subject, and ordered them some refreshment. On their taking leave of me, I said to them, "Do you intend coming round this part of the country again?" (I need not have asked them such a question as that.) "That we do, sir; and we will not fail to come and see you again." They thus left me, with the strong impression on their minds, that I was a _nawken_, like themselves, but a _riah_--a gentleman Gipsy. I waited patiently for their return, which would happen in due season, on their half-yearly _tramp_. Everything looked so favourably, circ.u.mstances had contributed so fortunately, to the end which I had so much at heart, that I looked upon the information to be drawn from these poor Tinkler lads, with as much solicitude and avarice as one would who had discovered a treasure hid in his field.

This species of Gipsy-hunting, I believe, I had exclusively to myself. I had none of the difficulties to contend with, which would be implied in the field of it having been gone over by others before me. That kind of Gipsy-hunting which implied imprisonment, banishment, and hanging, was a thing of which the Gipsies had had sad experience; if not in their own persons, at least in that which the traditions of their tribe had so carefully handed down to them. Besides this, the experience of the daily life of the members of their tribe afforded an excellent school of training, for acquiring a host of expedients for escaping every danger and difficulty to which their habits exposed them. But so thoroughly had they preserved their secrets, and especially the grand one--their language--that they came to their wits' end how to understand, and how to act in, the new sphere of danger into which they were now thrown, or even to comprehend its nature. Such was the advantage which education and enlightenment had given their civilized neighbour over them. How could _they_ imagine that the commencement of my knowledge of their language had been drawn from _books_? What did some of them know of _books_, beyond, perhaps, a youth sent to school, where, owing to his restless and unsettled good-for-nothingness, he would advance little beyond his alphabet?[200] For we know that some Gipsies are so intensely vain as to send a child to school, merely to brag before their civilized neighbours that their children have been educated. How could _they_ comprehend that _their_ language had found, or could find, its way into _books_? The thing to them was impossible; the idea of it could not, by any exertion of their own, even enter into their imagination.

The danger to arise from such a quarter was altogether beyond their capacity of comprehension. Knowing, however, that there was danger of some singular nature surrounding them, yet being unable to comprehend it, they flickered about it, like moths about a candle; till at last they did come to comprehend, if not its origin, or extent, at least its tendency, and the consequences to which it would lead.

[200] In speaking of the more original kind of Gipsy, Grellmann says: "No Gipsy has ever signalized himself in literature, notwithstanding many of them have partaken of the instruction to be obtained at public schools. Their volatile disposition and unsteadiness will not allow them to complete anything which requires perseverance or application.

In the midst of his career of learning, the recollection of his origin seizes him; he desires to return to what he thinks a more happy manner of life; this solicitude encreases; he gives up all at once, turns back again, and consigns over his knowledge to oblivion."

There are too many circ.u.mstances surrounding such a Gipsy to remind him of his origin, and arrest him in his career of learning: for his race never having been tolerated--that is, no position ever having been a.s.signed it, he feels as if he were a vagabond, if known or openly avowed to the public as a member of the tribe. And this, in itself, is sufficient to discourage such a Gipsy in every effort towards improvement.--ED.

According to promise, the eldest of the Gipsy boys called at my house, in about six months, accompanied by his sister. He was selling white-iron ware, for he was a tin-smith by occupation. Without entering into any preliminary conversation, for the purpose of smoothing the way for more direct questions, I took him into my parlour, and at once enquired if he _could_ speak the Tinkler language? He applied to my question the construction that I doubted if he could, and the consequences which that would imply, and answered firmly, "Yes, sir; I have been bred in that line all my life." "Will you allow me," said I, "to write down your words?" "O yes, sir; you are welcome to as many as you please." "Have you names for everything, and can you converse on any subject, in that language?" "Yes, sir; we can converse, and have a name for everything, in our own speech." I now commenced to "make hay while the sun shone," as the phrase runs; for I knew that I could have only about an hour with the Gipsy, at the most. The following, then, are the words and sentences which I took down, on this occasion:

_Slaps_, tea.

_Moozies_, porridge.

_Ma.s.s_, flesh.

_Shaucha_, broth.

_Mumlie_, candle.

_Stramel_, straw.

_Parnie_, wheat.

_Duff_, smoke.

_Yak_, fire.

_Wuther_, door.

_Glue_, window.

_Kair_, house.

_Shucha_, coat.

_Shuch-hamie_, waistcoat.

_Castie_, stick.

_Coories_, blankets.

_Eegees_, bed-clothes.

_Wautheriz_, bed.

_Suchira_, sixpence.

_Sye-boord_, sixpence.

_Chinda_, s.h.i.+lling.

_Chinda ochindies_, twelve s.h.i.+llings.

_Trin chindies_, three s.h.i.+llings.

_Baurie_, grand, great, good.

_Shan_, bad.

_Davies-pagrin_, daybreak.

_Baurie davies_, good day.

_Shan davies_, bad day.

_Paunie davies_, wet day.

_Sheelra davies_, frosty or cold day.

_Sneepa davies_, snowy or white day.