_Plaids and Tartans_ (Vol. iv., p. 7.).--
"The belted plaid was the original dress. It is precisely that of
a savage, who, finding a web of cloth he had not skill to frame
into a garment, wrapt one end round his middle, and threw the rest
about his shoulders.... And it is little to the honour of Highland
ingenuity, that although the chiefs wore long pantaloons called
_trews_, the common _gael_ never fell upon any substitute for the
belted plaid, till an English officer, for the benefit of the
labourers who worked under his direction on the military roads,
invented the _fileah beg_, philabeg, or little petticoat, detached
from the plaid, and fastened by a buckle round the waist."
Although the above extract from the _Quarterly Review_, vol. i. p. 186.,
is not exactly a reply to the Query of A JUROR (Vol. iv., p. 7.), still
it may be of some use to him.
I would like also to learn how much of the reviewer's story is founded
upon fact, as I confess I am very much inclined to doubt the truth of it
_in toto_.