The tinkler-gypsies . I said in language known to everyGypsy, and raised my hat as I said so. But shemoved not a muscle, and sailed out of sightwithout ever looking back over her , surely, is the one way in which a Scotchlady would not have acted under similarcircumstances \ Having become afficionada towards Gypsies,I had undergone a course of pretty extensivereading upon the subject. That was a fortunatecircumstance for me, because had I approachedthe Galloway Tinklers without first having hadsome knowledge of cant, then I would havestood a poor chance of getting any informationf
The tinkler-gypsies . I said in language known to everyGypsy, and raised my hat as I said so. But shemoved not a muscle, and sailed out of sightwithout ever looking back over her , surely, is the one way in which a Scotchlady would not have acted under similarcircumstances \ Having become afficionada towards Gypsies,I had undergone a course of pretty extensivereading upon the subject. That was a fortunatecircumstance for me, because had I approachedthe Galloway Tinklers without first having hadsome knowledge of cant, then I would havestood a poor chance of getting any informationfrom them. Speaking of the reticence of theScotch Gypsies in regard to their language,Simson says : On speaking to them of their speech, theyexhibit an extraordinary degree of fear, caution,reluctance, distrust, and suspicion; and, ratherthan give any information on the subject, wallsubmit to any self-denial. It has been so wellretained among themselves that I believe it isscarcely credited, even by individuals of the. Tmklers Beticence. 309 greatest intelligence, that it exists at nil, at thepresent day, but as slang, used by commonthieves, house-breakers, and beggars, and bythose denominated flash and family men Until lately the Galloway Tinklers weredespised and regarded merely as commonTinklers having nothing in common with realGypsies ; but now it is both clear that there isGypsy blood in their veins, and that their cantcontains many words of real Romaius. In one of my first interviews with WilliamMarshall, the present head of the few descen-dants of Billy, who still travel Galloway, I hadsome experience of his reticence on the subjectof language. He had told me about an oldwoman named Marshall, who lived at the Brigo Dee, and who had horn spoons and ladlesmade by the Marshalls. As I was anxious toobtain photographs of such, I suggested that Imight call upon her, but William said she mightnow be dead, as he had not seen her for nearlythree years, and she was then an aul bod
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