Part 33 (1/2)
The crest of the Falls, of Dunbar, was _three_ boars' heads, couped; that of Baillie, of Lamington, is _one_ boar's head, couped. In the Statistical Account of Scotland, (1835,) appears the following notice of this family: ”A family, of the name of Fall, established themselves at Dunbar, and became, during the last century, the most extensive merchants in Scotland. They were long the chief magistrates of the burgh, and preferred the public good to their own profit. They have left no one to bear their name, _not even a stone to tell where they lie_; but they will long be remembered for their enterprise and public spirit.” There is apparently a reason for ”not even a stone being left to tell where they lie;” for in Hoyland's ”Survey of the Gipsies”
appeared the account of Baillie Smith, in which it is said: ”The descendants of Faa now take the name of Fall, from the Messrs. Fall, of Dunbar, who, they pride themselves in saying, _are of the same stock and lineage_;” which seems to have frightened their connexions at being known to be Gipsies.
Let all that has been said of the Falls be considered as their monument and epitaph; so that their memories may be preserved as long as this work exists.
It would be interesting to know who the Captain Fall was, who visited Dunbar, with an American s.h.i.+p-of-war, during the time of Paul Jones.
He might have been a descendant of a Gipsy, sent to the plantations, in the olden times. There are, as I have said before, a great many scions of Gipsy Faas, under one name or other, scattered over the world.
[277] _Whipping the cat_: Tailoring from house to house. The _cat_ is _whipped_ by females, as well as males, in America, in some parts of which the expression is current.
The truth of the matter is, these Falls must have considered themselves a world better than other people, merely on account of their being Gipsies, as all Gipsies do, arising, in part, from that antagonistic spirit of opposition which the prejudice of their fellow-creatures is so much calculated to stir up in their minds. Saying, over their cups, that they were descended from the Faws, the historical Gipsy name in Scotland, did not divulge very much to the public. For what idea had the public of the _working of Gipsydom_--what idea of the Gipsy language?
Did the public know of the existence of a Gipsy language in Scotland? In all probability, it generally did not. If the public heard a Tinkler use a strange word, all that it would think of it would be, that it was _cant_, confined to vagabonds strolling the country. Would it ever dream that what the vagabonds used was carefully preserved and spoken among the great Falls, of Dunbar, within the sanct.i.ty of their own dwellings, as it a.s.suredly must have been? Would the public believe in such a thing, if even its own ears were made the witnesses to it? Was the love which the Falls had for their Yetholm connexion confined to a mere group of their ancestors worked in tapestry? Where was the Gipsy language, during all this time? a.s.suredly it was well preserved in their family.
If it showed the least symptoms of falling off, how easily could the mothers bring into the family, as servants, other Gipsies, who would teach it to the children! For, besides the dazzling hold which the Gipsy language takes of the mind of a Gipsy, as the language of those black, mysterious heroes from whom he is descended, the keeping of it up forms the foundation of that self-respect which a Gipsy has for himself, amidst the prejudice of the world; from which, at the bottom of his heart, whatever his position in life, or character, or a.s.sociations, may be, he considers himself separated. I am decidedly of opinion that all the domestics about this Fall family were Gipsies of one caste, colour, condition, or what not.
Then, we are told that Miss Fall, who married Sir John Anstruther, of Elie, baronet, was looked down upon by her husband's friends, and received no other name than Jenny Faa; and that she was indirectly twitted with being a Gipsy, by the rabble, while attending an election in which Sir John was a candidate. What real satisfaction could Jenny, or any other Gipsy, have for ordinary natives of the country, when she was conscious of being what she was, and how she was spoken of, by her husband's relatives and the public generally? She would take comfort in telling her ”wonderful story” to her children, (for I presume she would have children,) who would sympathize with her; and in conversing with such of her own race as were near her, were it only her trusty domestics. It is the Gipsy woman who feels the prejudice that exists towards her race the most acutely; for she has the rearing of the children, and broods more over the history of her people. As the needle turns to the pole, so does the mind of the Gipsy woman to Gipsydom.
We are likewise told that this eminent Gipsy family were connected, by marriage, with the Footies, of Balgonie; the Coutts, afterwards bankers; Collector Whyte, of Kirkaldy, and Collector Melville, of Dunbar. We may a.s.sume, as a mathematical certainty, that Gipsydom, in a refined form, is in existence in the descendants of these families, particularly in such of them as were connected with this Gipsy family by the female side.[278]
[278] Of the Gipsies at Moscow, the following is the substance of what Mr. Borrow says: ”Those who have been accustomed to consider the Gipsy as a wandering outcast ... ... will be surprised to learn that, amongst the Gipsies of Moscow, there are not a few who inhabit stately houses, go abroad in elegant equipages, and are behind the higher order of Russians neither in appearance nor mental acquirements.
... . The sums obtained by the Gipsy females, by the exercise of their art (singing in the choirs of Moscow,) enable them to support their relatives in affluence and luxury. Some are married to Russians; and no one who has visited Russia can but be aware that a lovely and accomplished countess, of the n.o.ble and numerous family of Tolstoy is, by birth, a Zigana, and was originally one of the princ.i.p.al attractions of a Romany choir at Moscow.”
This short notice appears unsatisfactory, considering, as Mr. Borrow says, that one of his princ.i.p.al motives for visiting Moscow was to hold communication with the Gipsies. It might have occurred to him to enquire what relation the children of such marriages would bear to Gipsydom generally; that is, would they be initiated in the mysteries, and taught the language, and hold themselves to be Gipsies? It is evident, however, that the Gipsy-drilling process is going on among the Russian n.o.bility.
A person who has never considered this subject, or any other cognate to it, may imagine that a Gipsy reproaches himself with his own blood.
Pshaw! Where will you find a man, or a tribe of men, under the heavens, that will do that? It is not in human nature to do it. All men venerate their ancestors, whoever they have been. A Gipsy is, to an extraordinary degree, proud of his blood. ”I have very little of the blood, myself,”
said one of them, ”but just come and see my wife!” But people may say that the ancestors of the Falls were thieves. And were not all the Borderers, in their way, the worst kind of thieves? They might not have stolen from their nearest relatives; but, with that exception, did they not steal from each other? Now, Gipsies never, or hardly ever, steal from each other. Were not all the Elliots and Armstrongs thieves of the first water? Were not the Scotts and the Kers thieves, long after the Gipsies entered Scotland? When the servants of Scott of Harden drove out his last cow, and said, ”There goes Harden's cow,” did not the old cow-stealer say, ”It will soon be Harden's _kye_”--meaning, that he would set out on a cow-stealing expedition? In fact, he lived upon spoil. Was it not his lady's custom, on the last bullock being killed, to place on the table a dish, which, on being uncovered, was found to contain a pair of clean spurs--a hint, to her husband and his followers, that they must s.h.i.+ft for their next meal? The descendants of these Scotts, and the Scottish public generally, look, with the utmost complacency and pride, upon the history of such families; yet would be very apt to make a great ado, if the ancestress of a Gipsy should, in such a predicament, have hung out a c.o.c.k's tail at the mouth of her tent, as a hint to her ”laddies” to look after poultry. Common sense tells us, that, for one excuse to be offered for such conduct, on the part of the _landed-gentry_ of the country, a hundred can be found for the ancestor of a Gipsy--an unfortunate wanderer on the face of the earth, who was hunted about, like a wolf of the forest.[279]
[279] On his return with his gallant prey, he pa.s.sed a very large hay-stack. It occurred to the provident laird that this would be extremely convenient to fodder his new stock of cattle; but, as no means of transporting it were obvious, he was fain to take leave of it, with the apostrophe, now become proverbial, ”_By my saul, had ye but four feet, ye should not stand lang there._” In short, as Froissart says of a similar cla.s.s of feudal robbers. ”Nothing came amiss to them that was not _too heavy_ or _too hot_.” Sir Walter Scott speaks, in the most jocular manner, of an ancestress who had a _curious hand at pickling the beef which her husband stole_; and that there was not a stain upon his escutcheon, barring Border theft and high treason.--_Lockhart's Life of Sir Walter Scott._
We should never forget that a ”hawk's a hawk,” whether it is a falcon or a mosquito hawk, which is the smallest of all hawks.
And what shall we say of our Highland thieves? Highlanders may be more touchy on this point, for their ancestors were the last of the British race to give up that kind of life. Talk of the laws pa.s.sed against the Gipsies! Various of our Scottish monarchs issued decrees against ”the wicked thieves and limmers of the clans and surnames, inhabiting the Highlands and Isles,” accusing ”the chieftains princ.i.p.al of the branches worthy to be esteemed the very authors, fosterers, and maintainers, of the wicked deeds of the vagabonds of their clans and surnames.” Indeed, the doweries of the chiefs' daughters were made up by a share of the booty collected on their expeditions. The Highlands were, at one time, little better than a nest of thieves; thieving from each other, and more particularly from their southern neighbours. It is notorious that robbery, in the Highlands, was ”held to be a calling not merely innocent, but honourable;” and that a high-born Highland warrior was ”much more becomingly employed, in plundering the lands of others, than in tilling his own.” At stated times of the year, such as at Candlemas, regular bands of Highlanders, the sons of gentlemen and what not, proceeded south in quest of booty, as part of their winter's provisions.
The Highlanders might even have been compared, at one time, to as many tribes of Afghans. Mr. Skene, the historian of the Highlands, and himself a Highlander, says that the Highlanders believed that they _had a right_ to plunder the people of the low country, _whenever it was in their power_. We naturally ask, how did the Highlanders _acquire_ this right of plunder? Were they ever proscribed? Were any of them hung, merely for being Highlanders? No. What plea, then, did the Highlanders set up, in justification of this wholesale robbery?--”They believed, _from tradition_, that the Lowlands, _in old times_, were the possessions of their ancestors.” (_Skene._) But that was no excuse for their plundering each other.[280]
[280] Sir Walter Scott makes Fitz-James, in the ”Lady of the Lake,”
say to Roderick Dhu:
”But then, thy chieftain's robber life!-- Winning mean prey by causeless strife, Wrenching from ruined Lowland swain His herds and harvests reared in vain-- Methinks a soul like thine should scorn The spoils from such foul foray borne.
The Gael beheld him, grim the while, And answered with disdainful smile,--
'Where live the mountain chiefs, who hold That plundering Lowland field and fold Is aught but retribution true?
Seek other cause 'gainst Roderick Dhu!'”
The Gipsy's ordinary pilfering was confined to such petty things as ”hens and peats at pleasure,” ”cutting a bit lamb's throat,” and ”a mouthfu' o' gra.s.s and a pickle corn, for the cuddy”--”things that a farmer body ne'er could miss.” But your Highlanders did not content themselves with such ”needles and pins;” they must have ”horned cattle.”
If the coast was clear, they would table their drawn dirks, and commence their _spulzie_, by making their victims furnish them with what was necessary to fill their bellies; upon the strength of which, they would ”lift” whatever they could carry and drive, or take its equivalent in black-mail.
What an effort is made by our McGregors, at the present day, to sc.r.a.pe up kin with this or the other bandit McGregor; and yet how apt the McGregor is to turn up his nose--just as Punch, only, could make him turn it up--if a Gipsy were to step out, and say, that he was a descendant, and could speak the language, of Will Baillie, mentioned under the head of Tweed-dale and Clydesdale Gipsies: a Gipsy, described by my ancestor, (and he could judge,) to have been ”the handsomest, the best dressed, the best looking, and the best bred, man he ever saw; and the best swordsman in Scotland, for, with his weapon in his hand, and his back at a wall, he could set almost everything, saving fire-arms, at defiance; a man who could act the gentleman, the robber, the sorner, and the tinker, whenever it answered his purpose.”[281] And yet, some of this man's descendants will doubtless be found among our medical doctors, and even the clergy. I recollect our author pointing out a clergyman of the Scottish Church, who, he was pretty sure, was ”one of them.” What name could have stood lower, at one time, than McGregor?
Both by legal and social proscription, it was looked upon as vagabond; and doubtless the clan brought it, primarily and princ.i.p.ally, upon themselves; but as for the rapine they practised upon their neighbours, and the helpless southerners, they were, at first, no worse, in that respect, than others of their nation. Are the McGregors sure that there are no Gipsies among them? There are plenty of Gipsies of, at least, the name of McGregor, known to both the Scottish and English Gipsies. What more likely than some of the McGregors, when ”out,” and leading their vagabond lives, getting mixed up with the better kind of mixed Gipsies?