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Lochside, near Yetholm, she had carefully abstained from committing any depredations on the farmer's property. But her sons (nine in number) had not, it seems, the same delicacy, and stole a brood-sow from their kind entertainer. Jean was so much mortified at this ungrateful conduct, and so much ashamed of it, that she absented herself from Lochside for several years. At length, in consequence of some temporary pecuniary necessity, the Goodman of Lochside was obliged to go to Newcastle to get some money to pay his rent. Returning through the mountains of Cheviot, he was benighted, and lost his way. A light, glimmering through the window of a large waste barn, which had survived the farm-house to which it had once belonged, guided him to a place of shelter; and when he knocked at the door, it was opened by Jean Gordon. Her very remarkable figure, for she was nearly six feet high, and her equally remarkable features and dress, rendered it impossible to mistake her for a moment; and to meet with such a character in so solitary a place, and probably at no great distance from her clan, was a terrible surprise to the poor man, whose rent (to lose which would have been ruin to him) was about his person. Jean set up a loud shout of joyful recognition-Eh, sirs! the winsome gudeman of Lochside! Light down, light down; for ye maunna gang farther the night, and a friend's house sae near. The farmer was obliged to dismount, and accept of the gypsey's offer of supper and a bed. There was plenty of meat in the barn, however it might be come by, and preparations were going on for a plentiful supper, which the farmer, to the great increase of his anxiety, observed, was calculated for ten or twelve guests, of the same description no doubt with his landlady. Jean left him in no doubt on the subject. She brought up the story of the stolen sow, and noticed how much pain and vexation it had given her. Like other philosophers, she remarked that the world grows worse daily; and like other parents, that the bairns got out of her guiding, and neglected the old gypsey regulations, which commanded them to respect, in their depredations, the property of their benefactors. The end of all this was, an inquiry what money the farmer had about him,

and an urgent request, that he would make her his purse-keeper, as the bairns, as she called her sons, would be soon home. The poor farmer made a virtue of necessity, told his story, and surrendered his gold to Jean's custody. She made him put a few shillings in his pocket, observing it would excite suspicion should he be found travelling altogether pennyless. This arrangement being made, the farmer lay down on a sort of shakedown, as the Scotch call it, upon some straw, but as will easily be believed, slept not. About midnight the gang returned with various articles of plunder, and talked over their exploits in language which made the farmer tremble. They were not long in discovering their guest, and demanded of Jean whom she had got there." E'en the winsome gudeman of Lochside, poor body," replied Jean, "he's been at Newcastle seeking for siller to pay his rent, honest man, but deil-be-lickit he's been able to gather in, and sae he's gaun e'en hame wi' a toom purse and a sair heart."-"That may be, Jean," replied one of the banditti, "but we maun ripe his pouches a bit, and see if it be true or no." Jean set up her throat in exclamations against this breach of hospitality, but without producing any change of their determi nation. The farmer soon heard their stifled whispers and light steps by his bedside, and understood they were rummaging his clothes. When they found the money which the providence of Jean Gordon had made him retain, they held a consultation if they should take it or no, but the smallness of the booty, and the vehemence of Jean's remonstrances determined them in the negative. They caroused and went to rest. So soon as day dawned, Jean roused her guest, produced his horse, which she had accommodated behind the hallan, and guided him for some miles till he was on the high road to Lochside. She then restored his whole property, nor could his earnest intreaties prevail on her to accept so much as a single guinea.

"I have heard the old people at Jedburgh say, that all Jean's sons were condemned to die there on the same day. It is said the jury were equally divided, but that a friend to justice, who had slept during the whole discussion, waked suddenly and gave his vote for condemnation, in the empha

tic words, " Hang them a'." Jean was present, and only said, "The Lord help the innocent in a day like this!" Her own death was accompanied with circumstances of brutal outrage, of which poor Jean was in many respects wholly undeserving. Jean had among other demerits, or merits, as you may choose to rank it, that of being a staunch Jacobite. She chanced to be at Carlisle upon a fair or market day, soon after the year 1746, where she gave vent to her political partiality, to the great offence of the rabble of that city. Being zealous in their loyalty when there was no danger, in proportion to the tameness with which they had surrendered to the Highlanders in 1745, they inflicted upon poor Jean Gordon no slighter penalty than that of ducking her to death in the Eden. It was an operation of some time, for Jean was a stout woman, and struggling with her murtherers, often got her head above water; and while she had voice left, continued to exclaim at such intervals, "Charlie yet! Charlie yet!" -When a child, and among the scenes which she frequented, I have often heard these stories, and cried piteously for poor Jean Gordon.

Before quitting the border gypsies, I may mention, that my grandfather riding over Charterhouse-moor, then a very extensive common, fell suddenly among a large band of them, who were carousing in a hollow of the moor surrounded by bushes. They instantly seized on his horse's bridle with many shouts of welcome, exclaiming (for he was well known to most of them) that they had often dined at his expense, and he must now stay and share their good cheer. My ancestor was a little alarmed, for, like the Goodman of Lochside, he had more money about his person than he cared to venture with into such society. However, being naturally a bold lively man, he entered into the humour of the thing, and sate down to the feast, which consisted of all the varieties of game, poultry, pigs, and so forth, that could be collected by a wide and indiscriminate system of plunder. The feast was a very merry one, but my relative got a hint from some of the older gypsies to retire just when

• The mirth and fun grew fast and furious,' and mounting his horse accordingly, he took a French leave of his entertainers, but without experiencing the least breach of hospitality. I believe

Jean Gordon was at this festival.To the admirers of good eating, gypsey cookery seems to have little to recommend it. I can assure you, however, that the cook of a nobleman of high distinction, a person who never reads even a novel without an eye to the enlargement of the culinary science, has added to the Almanach des Gourmands, a certain Potage a la Meg Mer rilies de Derncleugh, consisting of game and poultry of all kinds, stewed with vegetables into a soup, which rivals in savour and richness the gal lant messes of Comacho's wedding and which the Baron of Bradwardine would certainly have reckoned among the Epula lautiores.

"The principal settlements of the gypsies, in my time, have been the two villages of Easter and Wester Gordon, and what is called Kirk-Yetholm,

Making good the proverb odd,

Near the church, and far from God. A list of their surnames would be very desirable. The following are among the principal clans: Faas, Bailleys, Gordons, Shaws, Browns, Keiths, Kennedies, Ruthvens, Youngs, Taits, Douglasses, Blythes, Allans, Montgomeries."

Many of the preceding stories were familiar to us in our schoolboy days, and we well remember the peculiar feelings of curiosity and apprehension with which we sometimes encountered the formidable bands of this roaming people, in our rambles among the Border hills, or when fishing for perch in the picturesque little lake at Lochside. The late Madge Gordon was at that time accounted the queen of the Yetholm clans. She was, we believe, a granddaughter of the celebrated Jean Gordon, and was said to have much resembled her in appearance. The following account of her is extracted from the letter of a friend, who for many years enjoyed frequent and favourable opportunities of observing the characteristic peculiarities of the Yetholm tribes." Madge Gordon was descended from the Faas by the mother's side, and was married to a Young. She was rather a remarkable personage of a very commanding presence, and high stature, being nearly six feet high. She had a large aquiline nose,-penetrating eyes, even in her old age-bushy hair that hung around her shoulders from beneath a gypsey bonnet of straw-a short cloak of a

peculiar fashion, and a long staff nearly as tall as herself. I remember her well; every week she paid my father a visit for her almous, when I was a little boy, and I looked upon Madge with no common degree of awe and terror. When she spoke vehemently (for she had many complaints) she used to strike her staff upon the floor, and throw herself into an attitude which it was impossible to regard with indifference. She used to say that she could bring from the remotest parts of the island, friends to revenge her quarrel, while she sat motionless in her cottage; and she frequently boasted that there was a time when she was of considerable importance, for there were at her wedding fifty saddled asses, and unsaddled asses without number. If Jean Gordon was the prototype of the character of Meg Merrilies, I imagine Madge must have sat to the unknown author as the representative of her person."

"I have ever understood," says the same correspondent, speaking of the Yetholm gypsies, "that they are extremely superstitious-carefully noticing the formation of the clouds, the flight of particular birds, and the soughing of the winds, before attempting any enterprise. They have been known for several successive days to turn back with their loaded carts, asses, and children, upon meeting with persons whom they considered of unlucky aspect; nor do they ever proceed upon their summer peregrinations without some propitious omen of their fortunate return. They also burn the clothes of their dead, not so much from any apprehension of infection being communicated by them, as the conviction that the very circumstance of wearing them would shorten the days of the living. They likewise carefully watch the corpse by night and day till the time of interment, and conceive that the deil tinkles at the lykewake' of those who felt in their dead thraw the agonies and terrors of remorse.-I- am rather uncer⚫tain about the nature of their separate language. They certainly do frequently converse in such a way as completely to conceal their meaning from other people; but it seems doubtful whether the jargon they use, on such occasions, be not a mere slang invented for very obvious purposes. I recollect of having heard them conversing in VOL. I.

this manner,-and whether it was an imaginary resemblance I know not,but the first time I listened to Hindhustance spoken fluently, it reminded me of the colloquies of the Yetholm gypsies."

On the subject of the gypsey language, our readers will remark a curious coincidence between the observation just quoted, and the first of the following anecdotes, which we are enabled to state upon the authority and in the words of Mr Walter Scott-a gentleman to whose distinguished assistance and advice we have been on the present occasion very peculiarly indebted, and who has not only furnished us with many interesting particulars himself, but has also oblig ingly directed us to other sources of curious information :

"Whether the Yetholm gypsies have a separate language or not I imagine might be ascertained, though those vagrants always reckon this among their arcana majora. A lady who had been in India addressed some gypsies in the Hindhustanee language, from the received opinion that it is similar to their own. They did not apparently understand her, but were extremely incensed at what they conceived a mockery; so it is probable the sound of the language had an affinity to that of their own.

"Of the Highland gypsies I had the following account from a person of observation, and highly worthy of credit. There are many settled in Kintyre, who travel through the highlands and lowlands annually. They frequently take their route through the passes of Loch Katrine, where they are often to be met with. They certainly speak among themselves a language totally distinct from either Gaelic or Lowland Scotch. A family having settled near my informer for a few days, he wormed some of the words out of a boy of about twelve years old, who communicated them with the utmost reluctance, saying, his grandfather would kill him if he knew of his teaching any one their speech. One of the sentences my informer remembered-it sounded like no language I ever heard, and I am certain it has no affinity with any branch of the Gothic or Celtic dialects. I omitted to write the words down, but they signified, I will stick my knife into you, you black son of a devil-a gypsey-like exclamation. My

H

informer believed that many crimes and even murders were committed among them, which escaped the cogniZance of the ordinary police; the seclusion of their habits and the solitary paths which they chose, as well as the insignificance of their persons, withdrawing them from the ordinary inspection and attention of the magis

trate.

"The Scottish lowland gypsies have not in general so atrocious a character, but are always poachers, robbers of hen-roosts, black-fishers, stealers of wood, &c. and in that respect inconvenient neighbours. A gang of them, Faas and Baillies, lately fought a skirmish with the Duke of Buccleuch's people and some officers of mine, in which a fish spear was driven into the thigh of one of the game-keep

ers.

"A lady of rank, who has resided some time in India, lately informed me, that the gypsies are to be found there in the same way as in England, and practise the same arts of posture-making and tumbling, fortune-telling, stealing, and so forth. The Indian gypsies are called Nuts, or Bazeegurs, and are believed by many to be the remains of an original race, prior even to the Hindhus, and who have never adopted the worship of Bramah. They are entirely different from the Parias, who are Hindhus that have lost caste, and so become degraded."

There is a very curious essay concerning the Nuts in the seventh volume of the Asiatic Researches, which contains some interesting observations on the origin and language of the European gypsies. But we have been tempted to extend this article already far beyond the limits we propose usually to allot to any subject in the course of a single Number; and though we have still many curious particulars to detail, we find these must necessarily be delayed till our next appearance. We cannot, however, quit this subject for the present without noticing with particular approbation a little work lately published by Mr Hoyland of Sheffield, entitled, "A Historical Survey of the Customs, Habits, and present State of the Gypsies; designed to develope the origin of this singular people, and to promote the amelioration of their condition."-The author has industriously collected the subtance of what previous historians or

travellers have related of them, from their first appearance in Europe down to our own times. He has also taken great pains to procure information respecting their present state in Britain,

by sending circular queries to the chief provincial magistrates, and by personally visiting several of their encampments,-for the purpose of setting on foot some plan for their improvement and civilization. Mr Hoyland, we understand, is a member of the respectable society of Friends or Quakers,

We

whose disinterested and unwearied exertions in the cause of injured humanity are above all praise. It is enough to say of the present object, that it is not unworthy of that christian philanthropy which accomplished the abolition of the slave trade. shall account ourselves peculiarly happy, should our humble endeavours in any degree tend to promote Mr H.'s benevolent purpose, by attracting public attention to this degraded race of outcasts-the Parias of Europe-thousands of whom still exist in Britain, in a state of barbarism and wretchedness scarcely equalled by that of their brethren in India. From such of our readers as may have had opportunities of observing the manners, or investigating the origin and peculiar dialect of this singular people, we respectfully invite communications. Even solitary or seemingly trivial notices on such a subject ought not to be neglected: though singly unimportant, they may lead collectively to valuable results. But we need not multiply observations on this point

since our idea is already so well expressed in the following extract from the same valuable communication which we last quoted." I have always considered," says Mr Scott, "as a very curious phenomenon in society, the existence of those wandering tribes, having nearly the same manners and habits in all the nations of Europe, and mingling everywhere with civil society without ever becoming amalgamated with it. It has been hitherto found difficult to trace their origin, perhaps because there is not a sufficient number of facts to go upon. I have not spared you such as I have heard or observed, though many are trivial: if others who have better opportunities would do the same, some general conclusions might result from the whole."

(To be continued.)

SELECT EXTRACTS.

ACCOUNT OF COLONEL BEAUFOY's mouni, accompanied by a guide who

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COLONEL BEAUFOY, a philosopher of considerable eminence, has lately published, in the Annals of Philosophy (No 50, Feb. 1817), an interesting account of a journey which he made to the summit of Mount Blanc in the month of August of the year 1787.From about the year 1776, various unsuccessful attempts had been made, by different adventurers, to reach the summit of this stupendous mountain. -The first of these attempts was made in that year by M. Couteran, accompanied by three guides from the neighbouring valley. After travelling fourteen hours, during which they had made their way over many of the most hazardous and fatiguing parts of the ascent, they arrived at the eminence next to Mount Blanc, at about 13,000 feet above the Mediterranean; but perceiving that four hours would still be necessary to accomplish their enterprise, that the day was far advanced, and that clouds were beginning to envelope the summit, they were obliged, with much regret, to give up the project they had so nearly accomplished. -The next attempt was made in September of the year 1784, by M. Bourrit, accompanied by six guides; but he was so affected by the intensity of the cold, when he had very nearly accomplished the object of his journey, that he found it to be a matter of absolute necessity to relinquish any hope of making farther progress.-In the following year, 1785, Marie Coutet and James Balma reached a sheltered place at a very considerable elevation, where they passed the night, and were afterwards proceeding towards the summit of the mountain, when a violent storm of hail obliged them to desist.

On the 13th of the same month, Saussure and Bourrit, with twelve guides, after having advanced about 7808 feet above the level of the sea, were also prevented by a fall of snow from accomplishing their design. At last, on the 8th of August of the year 1786, Dr Paccard, a physician of Cha

was skilled in the passes, and availing himself of the knowledge of the route which had been acquired by the attempts of former travellers, succeeded, after many discouraging accidents, in actually gaining the summit of the mountain. The travellers remained about half an hour on a spot which had never probably been trod by any human foot, and where the cold was so intense as not only to freeze the provisions and ink which they carried along with them, but also to affect their own bodies with several very unpleasant and dangerous symptoms.

The success of this expedition of Dr Paccard appears to have encouraged Saussure to a second attempt; and, accordingly, on the 14th of August 1787, he succeeded in conveying to the top of the mountain a pretty large assortment of philosophical instruments, and of other conveniences for the success of the expedition. He remained on the summit of the mountain four hours, enjoying the satisfaction of a most extensive prospect, and diligently employing this favourable opportunity in the performance of several interesting and instructive experiments. At this vast elevation of something more than 15,000 feet above the level of the sea, respiration was very sensibly affected-a burning thirst seemed almost to parch the skin, and a particular aversion was at the same time felt for every kind of spirituous liquors-the only alleviation which the sensations of the travellers admitted, being that derived from copious and repeated draughts of fresh water. It will be seen in the sequel, that precisely the same effects were experienced in the subsequent ascent which we are about to consider.

The expedition of Col. Beaufoy was the third successful attempt to gain the summit of the mountain. It was undertaken only five days after that of M. Saussure, which we have now related; and to a few extracts from the Colonel's paper, comprehending what seems most remarkable in the journey, we shall now direct the attention of our readers.

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