Note 145 — APPENDIX.

Gipsies have occasionally attained to a very advanced period of life. Margaret Finch, who, during the greater part of her life, wandered over England, at length settled at Norwood, and died at the age of 109. Her fame as a fortune-teller brought many visitors to her camp to consult her, and she had the title of queen of the gipsies. She was buried at the parish of Beckenham, in Kent, on the 24 Oct., 1740. Her funeral was said to be attended by two mourning coaches, a funeral sermon was preached on the occasion, and a great concourse of people attended her funeral. It is stated in “Dugdale’s England and Wales,” that, from the habit of sitting on the ground with her chin resting on her knees, her sinews at length became so contracted, she could not rise from that posture, and after her death they were obliged to enclose her body in a deep square box. At an inn called the “Gipsy House,” at Norwood, her picture adorned the sign-post. Another instance is that of “Liddy the Gipsy,” who not many years since wandered through Radnorshire and the adjoining counties. She is said to have danced at a wedding at the age of 100. Towards the close of her life, she travelled with a knife-grinder, sleeping at the towns on her route. She was of active, restless, blithesome temperament, and was lost in a snow drift whilst crossing through Radnor Forest, at the age, it was said, of 104. We afterwards questioned one of her people, and he said she was only 102.