neighbourhood. In years of plenty, many thousands of them meet
together in the mountains, where they feast and riot for many
days; and at country weddings, markets, burials, and other the
like public occasions, they are to be seen, both man and woman,
perpetually drunk, cursing, blaspheming, and fighting together.'

Notwithstanding the deplorable picture presented in this extract,
and which Fletcher himself, though the energetic and eloquent
friend of freedom, saw no better mode of correcting than by
introducing a system of domestic slavery, the progress of time,
and increase both of the means of life and of the power of the
laws, gradually reduced this dreadful evil within more narrow
bounds. The tribes of gipsies, jockies, or cairds--for by all
these denominations such banditti were known--became few in
number, and many were entirely rooted out. Still, however, a
sufficient number remained to give, occasional alarm and constant
vexation. Some rude handicrafts were entirely resigned to these
itinerants, particularly the art of trencher-making, of
manufacturing horn-spoons, and the whole mystery of the tinker. To
these they added a petty trade in the coarse sorts of earthenware.
Such were their ostensible means of livelihood. Each tribe had
usually some fixed place of rendezvous, which they occasionally
occupied and considered as their standing camp, and in the
vicinity of which they generally abstained from depredation. They
had even talents and accomplishments, which made them occasionally
useful and entertaining. Many cultivated music with success; and
the favourite fiddler or piper of a district was often to be found
in a gipsy town. They understood all out-of-door sports,
especially otter-hunting, fishing, or finding game. They bred the
best and boldest terriers, and sometimes had good pointers for