This second sort of dress, namely, a short woollen jacket, with
plaited skirts, and long trowsers, made tight to the body, and
chequered with various colours, was precisely that of a Highland
gentleman, the plaid coming in place of the mantle.[25]
Of the dress and arms of the Highlanders at the close of the sixteenth
century some details are furnished by M. Nicolay d’Arfeville,
Cosmographer to the King of France, in an account of a visit to
Scotland, published at Paris in 1583. The following is a translation of
a portion of his description:—
Those who inhabit Scotland to the south of the Grampian chain, are
tolerably civilized and obedient to the laws, and speak the English
language; but those who inhabit the north are more rude, homely, and
unruly, and for this reason are called savages [or Wild Scots.] They
wear, like the Irish, a large and full shirt, coloured with saffron,
and over this a garment hanging to the knee, of thick wool, after the
manner of a cassock. They go with bare heads, and allow their hair to
grow very long, and they wear neither stockings nor shoes, except some
who have buskins made in a very old fashion, which come as high as
their knees.
Their arms are the bow and arrow, and some darts, which they throw
with great dexterity, and a large sword, with a single-edged dagger.
They are very swift of foot, and there is no horse so swift as to
outstrip them, as I have seen proved several times, both in England
and Scotland.[26]
One of the most striking and specific references to tartan is to
be found in the year 1587, and it occurs in connection with the
lands of Norraboll, in the island of Islay. In the Crown charter of
Novodamus, dated 19th March 1587-8, granted to Hector Makclene, son and
heir-apparent of Lauchlan Makclene of Dowart, the feu-duty for these
lands is specified as:-
Pro Nerrabollsadh 60 ulnas panni, albi, nigri, et grosei coloris
respective, et ulnam panni in augmentationem rentalis (vel 8 den pro
qualibet ulna).[27]
John Sobieski Stuart, who first drew attention to this entry,[28]
quotes the word “grosei” as “grisei,” and adds “in this enumeration
there appears a slight error, from a presumption that the third colour
should have been green. The word undoubtedly in each case is “grosei,”
and is so printed in the Record Issue. What was meant by “grosei”
we learn from two sources. In the signature upon which the Crown
charter above quoted proceeds, the lands and the feu-duty exigible are
thus described:—
All and haill the foirnamit fyve merk landis of Nerrabolsadh with
the pertinentis the sowme of lx ellis claith quhite blak and grene
cullouris respective or viii^d vsuall money of this realme for ilk ell
at the optioun of the said Hector and his foirsaidis at the termes
foirsaidis be equal portiounis and ane el claith or viii^d for the
price thereof in augmentation of the rentale mair nor euir the same
payit of befor.[29]
These lands formerly belonged to the “Abbot of the Isle of Iona.”
They were annexed to the Crown at the period of the alteration of the
State religion in Scotland in the sixteenth century, and feued out to
Makclene of Dowart on the conditions referred to, and they appear in
the Register of Temporalities belonging to the Crown in this form:—
Charge. Argile and Tarbart. Item, the comptar charges him with the
fewmaillis of the fyve merk lands of Narraboll liand within the said
shirefdome set in few to Hector M^cClane of Dowart extending yeirlie
in claith of quhite blak and grene cullouris respective to lx elnis.
The eln sauld be infeftment at viii^d with the new augmentation of
the same extending to 1 eln of clayth sauld as said is Inde the yeir
comptit in money to xls. viiid.[30]
John Sobieski Stuart’s transcriber had failed to give him the full
reference by omitting the words “et ulnam panni in augmentationem
rentalis,” which, taken in connection with the two contemporary
vernacular readings above given, settles that the cloth was not to be
of three separate pieces, each of an individual colour, but cloth in
which the dyes specified were interwoven.
But more remains to be said about this remarkable feu-duty. About
1617 Makclene of Dowart appears to have got into difficulties. At all
events, in that year a Crown charter of the lands was granted to Rorie
M’Kenzie of Cogeauche. The reddendo is identical with that in the
charter of 1587-8 already quoted, but the signature is in these words:—
And lykewise for the foirsaid fyve merk land of Narrobolsydh with the
pertinentis thriescoir ellis of quhyte blak and gray claith respective
or viii^d money foirsaid for euerie elne in the optioun of the said
Rory M^cKenzie his airis maill and assignais foirsaidis at the termes
abone specifiet be equall portiones as the auld meill. And lykewise
ane elne of claith or aucht penneis for the price thairof in yeirlie
augmentatioun of the rentall gif it beis askit.[31]
When the lands were restored in 1630 to Makclene of Dowart, while the
Latin charter remains unchanged, the signature is in these words:—
For the foirsaid fyve merk land of Morrabulsadtir with the
pertinentis, thriescore elnis of claith quhyte blak and gras cullour
respective or aucht penneis vsuell money of the said realme of
Scotland for ilk elne at the will of the said Lauchlane his aires male
and assignais foirsaidis at twa termes in the yeare Witsounday and
Mertinmas in winter be equall portiounis as the auld fewferme. Ane
elne of claith or aucht penneis for the price thereof in augmentatioun
of the yeirlie rent gif it beis askit.[32]
The explanation is simple enough. White and black and green are the
only colours in the oldest authenticated Mac Lean tartan.
The evidence of all accounts of the costume of the people inhabiting
the northern and western portions of Scotland in the sixteenth century
attests the use of the yellow saffron-dyed shirt, and the cloak,
cassock or plaid, reaching to about the knee, as the ordinary dress.
A reference to a yellow coat, which appears to have been a garment
distinct from the yellow shirt, is found at this period. It occurs in
a _History of the Gordons_, preserved in the Advocates’ Library, which
states that in 1590:—
Angus, the son of Lachlan, chiefe of the Clanchattan, with a great
party attempts to surpryze the Castle of Ruthven in Badenoch,
belonging to Huntly, in which there was but a small garrison; but
finding this attempt could neither by force nor fraude have successe,
he retires a little to consult how to compasse his intent. In the
meanetyme, one creeps out under the shelter of some old ruines, and
levells with his piece at one of the Clanchattan cloathed in a yellow
warr coat (which, amongst them, is the badge of the cheifetaines or
heads of clans). And, peircing his body with the bullet, stricks him
to the ground, and retires with gladness into the castle. The man
killed was Angus himselfe, whom his people carry away, and conceill
his death for many years, pretending he was gone beyond seas.[33]
On account of the proximity of the Western Isles of Scotland to the
northern portions of Ireland there was frequent intercourse between
the inhabitants, and aid in seasons of disturbance was a mutual
courtesy. During the last years of the sixteenth century the Red Earl
of Ulster, Hugh O’Donnell, was in arms against the English Crown; and
in 1594 a body of warriors was despatched from the Western Isles to
his assistance. Peregrine O’Clery’s description of these troops, as
translated from the Irish by Edward O’Reilly, is as follows:—
These (the auxiliaries from the isles) were afterwards mixed with
the Irish militia, with the diversity of their arms, their armour,
their mode, manners, and speech. The outward clothing they wore was a
mottled garment with numerous colours hanging in folds to the calf of
the leg, with a girdle round the loins over the garment. Some of them
with horn-hafted swords, large and military, over their shoulders.
A man when he had to strike with them was obliged to apply both
his hands to the haft. Others with bows, well polished, strong and
serviceable, with long twanging hempen strings, and sharp-pointed
arrows that whizzed in their flight.[34]
The tartan belted plaid is undoubtedly here described, since no
other garment could have been so disposed as to afford the requisite
protection.
In 1596 Sir Duncan Campbell of Glenvrquhay granted in heritage to his
third son,
John Campbell of Auchinryre, the lands of Auchynrere, Drumnavoke, and
Condolych, respectively of the old extent of six, four, and two marks,
for the yearly payment of £10 Scots at the usual terms, and one gallon
of sufficient aquavite “et optimam chlamidem coloratam, vulgo ane fyne
hewed brakane” [_i.e._, breacan or tartan plaid] at Martinmas.[35]
In connection with the plantation of Ulster by Scots colonists towards
the end of the sixteenth century, there is evidence that tartan was
manufactured in Ireland at that period. Concerning Lady Montgomery,
wife of Sir Hugh Montgomery of the Eglinton family, who was a daughter
of the Laird of Greenock, we read:—
She set up and encouraged linen and woollen manufactory which soon
brought down the prices of the breakens [_i.e._, tartans] and narrow
cloths of both sorts.[36]
Of seventeenth century writings one of the earliest to provide a notice
of the Highland dress is _Camden’s Britannia_, printed in 1607, which
mentions that:-
This country is inhabited by a rough, warlike, and very mischievous
sort of people, commonly called Highlandmen, who are the true
offspring of the ancient Scotch, speak Irish, call themselves
Albinnich, are set and tight moulded, of great strength and swiftness,
high spirited, bred up in war or rather robbery, and extremely prone
to revenge and deep resentment. They wear after the Irish fashion
striped mantles and thick long hair, and live by hunting, fishing, and
plunder.[37]
Doubtless there was greater intercourse between the English and their
conquered dependants in Ireland than between the English and the Scots,
and hence the dress in Ireland ranks before that in Scotland in the
comparison instituted by the writer.
Peculiar interest attaches to the description of John Taylor in _The
Pennyless Pilgrimage_; for his observations, carefully noted down in
1618, in view of the fact that they would come under the cognisance
of the king (James VI.), are full and important, as this extract
illustrates:—
Thus with extreme travell, ascending and descending, mounting and
alighting, I came at night to the place where I would be, in the Brea
of Marr, which is a large country, all composed of such mountaines,
that Shooter’s hill, Gads hill, Highgate hill, Hampsted hill, Birdlip
hill, or Malvernes hill, are but mole-hills in comparison, or like a
liver, or a gizzard under a capon’s wing, in respect to the altitude
of their tops, or perpendicularitie of their bottomes. There I saw
mount Benawne [Benavon in Braemar] with a furr’d mist upon his snowie
head instead of a night cap: for you must understand, that the oldest
man alive never saw but the snow was on the top of divers of those
hills, both in summer, as well as in winter. There did I finde the
truely noble and right honourable Lords John Erskin Earle of Marr,
James Stuart Earle of Murray, George Gordon Earle of Engye, sonne and
heire to the Marquesse of Huntly, James Erskin Earle of Bughan, and
John Lord Erskin, sonne and heire to the Earle of Marr, and their
Countesses, with my much honoured, and my best assured and approved
friend, Sir William Murray knight, of Abercarny, and hundred of
others knights, esquires, and their followers; all and every man
in generall in one habit, as if Licurgus had beene there, and made
lawes of equality. For once in the yeere, which is the whole moneth
of August, and sometimes part of September, many of the nobility
and gentry of the kingdome (for their pleasure) doe come into these
high-land countries to hunt, where they doe conforme themselves to the
habite of the High-land-men, who for the most part, speake nothing
but Irish; and in former time were those people which were called
the Red-shankes. Their habite is shooes with but one sole apiece;
stockings (which they call short hose) made of a warm stuffe of divers
colours, which they call Tartane: as for breeches, many of them, nor
their forefathers, never wore any, but a jerkin of the same stuffe
that their hose is of, their garters being bands or wreathes of hay or
straw, with a plead about their shoulders, which is a mantle of divers
colours, much finer and lighter stuffe than their hose, with blue
flat caps on their heads, a handkerchiefe knit with two knots about
their necke; and thus are they attyred. Now, their weapons are long
bowes and forked arrowes, swords and targets, harquebusses, muskets,
durks, and Loquhabor-axes. With these armes I found many of them armed
for the hunting. As for their attire, any man of what degree soever
that comes amongst them, must not disdaine to weare it: for if they
doe, then they will disdaine to hunt, or willingly to bring in their
dogges: but if men be kind unto them, and be in their habit; then are
they conquered with kindnesse, and the sport will be plentifull. This
was the reason that I found so many noblemen and gentlemen in those
shapes. But to proceed to the hunting.
My good Lord of Marr having put me into that shape, I rode with him
from his house, where I saw the ruines of an old castle, called the
castle of Kindroghit. It was built by King Malcolm Canmore (for a
hunting house) who raigned in Scotland when Edward the Confessor,
Harold, and Norman William raigned in England: I speak of it, because
it was the last house I saw in those parts; for I was the space
of twelve days after, before I saw either house, corne-field, or
habitation for any creature, but deere, wilde horses, wolves, and
suche like creatures, which made me doubt that I should never have
seene a house againe.[38]
The attachment of the Highlanders to their distinctive attire is
conspicuously evident in this account, which deserves careful study
in consequence of its profusion of detail. Trews (breeches) were
not worn, but in their stead was a tartan “jerkin”; and this had no
connection with the plaid, for the people had a “plead about their
shoulders, which is a mantle of divers colours, much finer and lighter
stuffe than their hose.” Being coarser and thicker than the plaid, the
“jerkin” could scarcely have been the shirt, and it was most probably
the feilebeg, or little kilt, used as a separate garment.
That the form of the feilebeg was known to the Highlanders before the
civil wars of the seventeenth century, and that the belted plaid was
thrown occasionally into the form of the feilebeg, is proved by the
following extract:—
As for their Apparel; next the skin, they wear a short linnen Shirt,
which the great Men among them sometimes dye of saffron Colour.
They use it short, that it may not incumber them, when running or
travelling. Major says the common People among them went out to
Battle, having their Body cover’d with Linnen of many Folds sewed
together and done over with Wax or Pitch, with a covering of Hart’s
Skin; but that the English and common lowland Scots fought in Clokes.
In the sharp Winter weather the Highland Men wear close trowzes, which
cover the Thighs, Legs, and Feet. To fence their feet they put on
Rullions or raw leather shoes. Above their Shirt they have a single
Coat, reaching no farther than the Navel. Their uppermost Garment is
a loose Cloke of several Ells, striped and party colour’d (the tartan
plaid), which they gird breadth-wise with a Leathern Belt so as it
scarce covers the knees, and that for the above-mention’d Reason, that
it may be no Lett to them, when on a Journey or doing any Work. Far
the greatest part of the Plaid covers the uppermost parts of the Body.
Sometimes it is all folded round the Body about the Region of the
Belt, for disengaging and leaving the Hands free; and sometimes ’tis
wrapped round all that is above the Flank. The trowzes are for Winter
use; at other Times they content themselves with short Hose, which
scarce reach to the knees. When they compose themselves to Rest and
Sleep, they loose the Belt, and roll themselves in the Plaid, lying
down on the bare Ground, or putting Heather under them nicely set
together after their Manner; or, for want of that, they use a little
Straw or Hay.[39]
It has been already noted that the Scottish auxiliaries who went
to France in 1552 were in trews (“hois”), and, similarly, when the
northern army invaded England in 1639, no reference is made to the kilt
or to the bare legs, the first peculiarity to impress strangers. It
would thus appear that the kilt did not at this time form part of the
military dress. The following description is extracted from Defoe’s
_Memoirs of a Cavalier_, which evinces considerable acquaintance with
military habits and equipments:—
I confess, the soldiers made a very uncouth figure, especially the
highlanders: the oddness and barbarity of their garb and arms seemed
to have something in it remarkable. They were generally tall swinging
fellows; their swords were extravagantly and I think insignificantly
broad, and they carried great wooden targets, large enough to cover
the upper part of their bodies. Their dress was as antique as the
rest; a cap on their heads, called by them a bonnet, long hanging
sleeves behind, and their doublet, breeches, and stockings, of a stuff
they called plaid, striped across red and yellow, with short cloaks
of the same. These fellows looked, when drawn out, like a regiment
of merry-andrews, ready for Bartholomew Fair. They are in companies
all of a name and therefore call one another only by their christian
names, ... and they scorn to be commanded but by one of their own clan
or family.... There were three or four thousand of these in the Scots’
army, armed only with swords and targets; and in their belts some of
them had a pistol, but no musquets at that time among them.[40]
Here again there appears to be evidence of the plaid, under the
designation of “short cloak,” as a separate garment, which, taken
in conjunction with Taylor’s description in 1618, affords a strong
presumption that its use, along with, but detached from, kilt or trews,
was quite common.
In the act and decreet in favour of Thomas M’Kenzie of Pluscardin
against a band of Highlanders who had plundered him and his tenants
in the month of June 1649, there are enumerated as among the articles
taken away or destroyed:—
Item ane whyt plaid worth eight punds With coat and trews and shoes
worth four pund scots with four pair of lining sheits worth four
pund the pair, ane pair of bed plaids worth twentie four punds tuo
coverings worth four punds the peice Ten elne of new lining worth
twentie shilling the elne. Item ten elnes of tartan at threttie
shilling the elne.[41]
In 1669 the Rev. James Brome, M.A., Rector of Cheriton in Kent, visited
Scotland, and in 1700 he published his work. His description of
Highland dress and arms is largely adapted from Buchanan, whose work
is, indeed, appropriated by many other writers. Brome’s note is as
follows:—
The _Highlanders_, who inhabit the West part of the Country, in their
Language Habit and Manners agree much with the Customs of the Wild
_Irish_, and their chief City is _Elgin_, in the County of _Murray_,
seated upon the Water of _Lossy_, formerly the Bishop of _Murray’s_
Seat, with a Church sumptuously built, but now gone to decay. They
go habited in Mantles striped, or streaked with divers colours about
their Shoulders, which they call _Plodden_, with a Coat girt close to
their Bodies, and commonly are naked upon their Legs, but wear Sandals
upon the Soles of their Feet, and their Women go clad much after the
same Fashion: They get their Living mostly by Hunting, Fishing, and
Fowling; and when they go to War, the Armour wherewith they cover
their Bodies, is a Morion or Bonnet of Iron, and an Habergeon, which
comes down almost to their very Heels; their Weapons against their
Enemies are Bows and Arrows, and they are generally reputed good
Marks-Men upon all occasions; their Arrows for the most part are
barbed or crooked, which once entred within the Body cannot well be
drawn out again, unless the Wound be made wider; some of them fight
with broad Swords and Axes, and in the room of a Drum make use of
a Bag-pipe. They delight much in Musick, but chiefly in Harps and
Clarishoes of their own Fashion, the strings of which are made of
Brass-Wire, and the strings of their Harps with Sinews, which strings
they strike either with their Nails growing long, or else with an
Instrument appointed for that use.[42]
Thomas Kirk, of Cookridge, Yorkshire, who made an extensive tour in
Scotland in 1677, kept a journal of his observations, and, thanks to
his minute description, it becomes possible to demonstrate that the
story of the modern invention of the feilebeg or kilt as a separate
article of dress is a fabrication. For not only does he describe the
kilt precisely, but he notes with great exactness the manner of wearing
the plaid, which corresponds in every particular with its use at the
present time. Writing at Inverness, he says:—
Here we may note the habit of a Highlander: their doublets are slashed
in the sleeves, and open on the back; their breeches and stockings
are either all on a piece, and straight to them, plaid colour; or
otherwise, a sort of breeches, not unlike a petticoat, that reaches
not so low, by far, as their knees, and their stockings are rolled up
about the calves of their legs, and tied with a garter, their knee
and thigh being naked. On their right side they wear a dagger, about
a foot or half-a-yard long, the back filed like a saw, and several
kinnes (? skeans) struck in the sheath of it; in either pocket a case
of iron or brass pistols, a sword about a handful broad, and five feet
long, on the other side, and perhaps a gun on one shoulder and a sack
of luggage on the other. Thus accoutred, with a plaid over the left
shoulder and under the right arm, and a cap a-cock, he struts like a
peacock, and rather prides in than disdains his speckled feet.[43]
It is somewhat remarkable that this testimony, which decides the vexed
question of the separate use of kilt and plaid prior to the eighteenth
century, has hitherto escaped the notice of all writers on the subject.
During the turbulent period of the wars of Montrose and Dundee many
bodies of armed Highlanders were imported into the Lowlands. One of
the largest, known as the Highland Host, consisted of ten thousand
men employed in the repression of the Western Shires. A letter in the
Wodrow MSS., Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh, written under date 1st
February 1678, states:—
We are now all quartered in and about this town [? Ayr], the
Highlanders only in free quarters. It would be truely a pleasant
sight, were it at an ordinary weaponshaw, to see this Highland crew.
You know the fashion of their wild apparel, not one of ten of them
hath breaches, yet hose and shoes are their greatest need and most
clever prey, and they spare not to take them every where: In so much
that the committee here, and the Counsel with you (as it is said) have
ordered some thousands of pairs of shoes to be made to stanch this
great spoil. As for their armes and other militarie acoutrements,
it is not possible for me to describe them in writing; here you may
see head-pieces and steel-bonnets raised like pyramides, and such as
a man would affirme they had only found in chamber-boxes; targets
and shields of the most odde and anticque forme, and pouder hornes
hung in strings, garnished with beaten nails and plates of burnished
brass. And truely I doubt not but a man, curious in our antiquities,
might in this host finde explications of the strange pieces of
armour mentioned in our old lawes, such as bosnet, iron-hat, gorget,
pesane, wambrassers, and reerbrassers, panns, leg-splents, and the
like, above what any occasion in the Lowlands would have afforded for
several hundereds of yeers. Among their ensignes also, besides other
singularities, the Glencow men were very remarkable, who had for their
ensigne a faire bush of heath, wel-spred and displayed on the head of
a staff, such as might have affrighted a Roman eagle.[44]
This letter is especially noteworthy as containing an early reference
to the badge or ensign used to distinguish particular clans. The
“Glencow” men—no doubt the Mac Ians of Glencoe, a sept of the Clan
Mac Donald—“had for their ensign a fair bush of heath,” and the badge
of the Mac Donalds is still Fraoch or heath. The writer’s description
implies that the rank and file of the Highland Host wore the kilt or
the belted plaid; those who did not being, of course, the officers,
who would wear the trews. That such was the fact is confirmed by what
follows.
A sarcastic and amusing description of the Highlanders concerned in
the expedition of 1678 was written by Lieut.-Colonel William Cleland
(1661-1689), of the Cameronian or Earl of Angus’s Regiment, who was
killed fighting the remnant of Viscount Dundee’s army. Not only does
it confirm the description in the Wodrow letter, but it furnishes
information of a detailed character as to dress and accoutrements, as
the following quotation shows:—
But to discrive them right surpasses
The art of nine Parnassus Lasses.
* * * * *
Their head, their neck, their leggs and thighs:
Are influenced by the skies,
Without a clout to interrupt them
They need not strip them when they whip them;
Nor loose their doublet, when they’re hang’d
If they be miss’d, its sure they’re wrong’d.
* * * * *
Their durks hang down between their leggs
Where they made many slopes and geggs;
By rubbing on their naked side,
And wambling from side to side.
But those who were their chief Commanders,
As such who bore the pirnie standarts,
Who led the van, and drove the rear,
Were right well mounted of their gear;
With brogues, trues, and pirnie plaides,
With good blew bonnets on their heads,
Which on the one side had a flipe
Adorn’d with a tobacco pipe.
With durk, and snap-work, and snuff-mill,
A bagg which they with onions fill,
And, as their strick observers say,
A tupe horn fill’d with usquebay;
A slasht out coat beneath her plaides,
A targe of timber, nails and hides;
With a long two handed sword,
As good’s the country can affoord;
Had they not need of bulk and bones,
Who fight with all these arms at once?
It’s marvelous how in such weather,
Ov’r hill and hop they came together;
How in such stormes they came so farr;
The reason is, they’re smear’d with tar,
Which doth defend them heel and neck,
Just as it doth their sheep protect;
But least ye doubt that this is true,
They’re just the colour of tar’d wool.[45]
Here we have two distinct forms of dress—that of the men, the kilt or
the belted plaid, and that of the “chief Commanders,” who “were right
well mounted of their gear; with brogues, trues, and pirnie plaides.”
But perhaps the most striking evidence that two forms of dress were in
use in the Highlands at this time is that supplied by the supporters of
the arms of Skene of that Ilk. The blazon of the supporters in the Lyon
Register is:—
[Illustration:
On the dexter by a highland man in his proper garb holding a skene
with his right hand in a guarding posture, and on the sinister be
another in a servill habit his target on the left arm and the darlach
by his side.[46]
]
In the Introduction to the _Nisbet Plates_,[47] the work from which the
illustration is taken, it is pointed out that in the Nisbet MS. the
description of the supporters runs as follows:—
Supported on the dexter by a highland gentleman in his proper garb,
holding a skein with his right hand in a guarding posture, and on the
sinister by another highlandman in a servill habit, with his target on
his left arme and his dorloch be his side.[48]
It is impossible to conceive of evidence of a more conclusive and
satisfactory character than that here adduced of the existence of
both modes of dress at this period and of the rank of the respective
wearers. The original illustration is the work of Robert Wood, an
Edinburgh engraver, and in Mr Ross’s Opinion was executed, and
Alexander Nisbet’s description above quoted written, 1695-1704.[49]
_The Grameid_, written in 1691, contains many references to the
clothing and uniforms of the Highland army serving under Viscount
Dundee. From the shoulder of Keppoch “hung the tartan plaid.” The
inhabitants of the Hebrides are clothed “in yellow and blue.” Dundee,
addressing the leaders, bids them “draw out your clans in their
saffron array upon the plain,” and speaks of “the plaided race of
Grampian giants.” General Mackay is represented as concluding “that
he had subdued the tartaned bands of ancient Albion.” A most explicit
description is that of the followers of Glengarry, “three hundred
illustrious youths in the first flower of vigorous manhood, each of
whom a tartan garb covers, woven with Phrygian skill in triple stripe,
and as a garment clothes their broad chests and flanks. A helmet
defends the temples of the men. A coloured plaid veils their shoulders,
and otherwise they are naked.... Following him closely comes his
brother Allan, the brave, with a hundred men all clothed in garments
interwoven with the red stripe, their brawny calves bound with the
red buskin.” Of Locheil, the poet says, “his tartan hose are gartered
round his calf.” M’Martin in “variegated array advances with lofty
mien”; the garter ribbons “hanging at his leg were dyed with Corycian
saffron, and with the tint of the Tyrian shell, as was his plaid.” Of
Mac Lean of Duart and his brother Alexander “the flowing plaid with
yellow stripe covers the shoulders of both the brothers.” Mac Neill of
Barra “displays as many colours woven into his plaid as the rainbow in
the clouds shows in the sunlight.” The Mac Leods of Raasay advance
“with plumed heads erect, and shoulders covered with girded plaid.” The
Dougals of Craignish “all carry the brazen-hilted sword, and wear the
girded plaid.” “The whole plaided forces of the Highland chiefs, both
horse and foot, the entire body take post.” Dundee beholds his “bands
gleaming with brass, and admires the companies in their brilliant
colours, and is refreshed by the sharp note of the pipe.” The “tartaned
host” pours itself out upon the field. In sight of their opponents the
Highland warriors “draw their swords, and, extended on the plain, they
move in ordered ranks; they cast their brogues of bull’s hide, and make
a pile of their plaids, and thus stripped, prepare for the battle.”
General Mackay takes counsel how he “will overwhelm the tartaned lines
of the target-bearing Scot”; while the poet writes of the march of
his opponents, “the whole body of the Highlanders is formed into one
column, and forthwith the cavalry mount their horses, and the whole
plaided army, with floating banners, went forth from the deserted camp
into the open plain.”[50]
It appears from various references that the trews and the belted plaid
were sometimes worn together. On a powder-horn which belonged to the
late James Drummond, R.S.A., and now in the Museum of the Society of
Antiquaries in Edinburgh, there are figures in the Highland dress,
and one of these seems to illustrate this mode. As to the age of the
relic, Mr Drummond, in a communication to the Society in April 1872,
gave various reasons for believing it to have been the property of Sir
George Mackenzie of Tarbat, who was born in 1630. Again, in an extract
from a MS. stated to have been in the possession of Dr. Mac Lean, Oban,
giving an account of the battle of Killiecrankie, it is stated that
John Macrae of Inversheil, having been struck in the thigh by a musket
shot—
The ball having carried into the wound the cloth of his belted plade,
and the trewes that he wore under them, the woolen did so wrankle the
flesh, that with his hard travail, and need of a chirurgeon, it was
long after before he got cured.[51]
In fact, so late as 1746, when Prince Charles Edward embarked on his
return to France, a letter written by Colonel Warren, and preserved
among the Stuart papers, records that he was dressed in “a threadbare
coat of coarse black frieze, tartan trews, and over them a belted
plaid.”
In 1688 William Sacheverell, Governor of the Isle of Man, visited Mull
and other Western Islands, and his account is valuable and interesting
because it is fair in its criticism and accurate in its description;
and it affords evidence of the general use of the belted plaid, to
the exclusion of the trews, among the common people. Sacheverell
superintended the efforts made to recover the guns and other fittings
of the _Florida_, one of the scattered vessels of the Spanish Armada,
blown up, according to the traditions of the Mac Leans, by Donald Glas,
son of Mac Lean of Morvern, in Tobermory Bay in 1588. Thus he had ample
opportunity of noting the costume and manners of the natives of Mull
and other Highlanders, of whom he writes:—
During my stay I generally observed the men to be large-bodied,
stout, subtle, active, patient of cold and hunger. There appeared in
all their actions a certain generous air of freedom, and contempt of
those trifles, luxury and ambition, which we so servilely creep after.
They bound their appetites by their necessities, and their happiness
consists, not in having much, but in coveting little. The women seem
to have the same sentiments with the men; though their habits were
mean and they had not our sort of breeding, yet in many of them there
was a natural beauty and a graceful modesty, which never fails of
attracting. The usual habit of both sexes is the pladd; the women’s
much finer, the colours more lively, and the squares larger than the
men’s, and put me in mind of the ancient Picts. This serves them for
a veil, and covers both head and body. The men wear theirs after
another manner; especially when designed for ornament, it is loose and
flowing, like the mantles our painters give their heroes. Their thighs
are bare, with brawny muscles. Nature has drawn all her strokes bold
and masterly; what is covered is only adapted to necessity; a thin
brogue on the foot, a short buskin of various colours on the legg,
tied above the calf with a striped pair of garters. What should be
concealed is hid with a large shot-pouch, on each side of which hangs
a pistol and a dagger; as if they found it necessary to keep those
parts well guarded. A round target on their backs, a blew bonnet on
their heads, in one hand a broadsword, and a musquet in the other,
perhaps no nation goes better armed; and I assure you they will handle
them with bravery and dexterity, especially the sword and target, as
our veteran regiments found to their cost at Gille Crankee.[52]
In the closing years of the seventeenth century the Western Isles of
Scotland were visited by a traveller, who has left the most complete
account of the people and their manner of life which had been written
up to that date. The author, Martin, undertook the journey with the
specific purpose of recording particulars concerning the people; and,
as his work evinces careful observation, reliance may be placed on his
description of their dress at the time of his visit. It supplies the
first indication, in any book of travel, of the use of special colours
or setts for tartans used in different localities.
The first Habit wore by Persons of Distinction in the Islands, was the
_Leni-Croich_, from the _Irish_ word _Leni_, which signifies a Shirt,
and _Croich_ Saffron, because their Shirt was dyed with that Herb: the
ordinary number of Ells us’d to make this Robe, was twenty four; it
was the upper Garb, reaching below the Knees, and was tied with a Belt
round the middle: but the Islanders have laid it aside about a hundred
Years ago.
They now generally use Coat, Wastcoat, and Breeches, as elsewhere;
and on their Heads wear Bonnets made of thick Cloth, some blue, some
black, and some grey.
Many of the People wear _Trowis_: some have them very fine woven
like Stockings of those made of Cloth; some are colour’d, and others
striped: the latter are as well shap’d as the former, lying close
to the Body from the middle downwards, and tied round with a Belt
above the Haunches. There is a square Piece of Cloth which hangs down
before. The Measure for shaping the _Trowis_ is a Stick of Wood, whose
Length is a Cubit, and that divided into the Length of a Finger, and
half a Finger; so that it requires more Skill to make it than the
ordinary Habit.
The Shoes antiently wore, were a piece of the Hide of a Deer, Cow, or
Horse, with the Hair on, being tied behind and before with a Point of
Leather. The generality now wear Shoes, having one thin Sole only, and
shaped after the right and left Foot; so that what is for one Foot,
will not serve the other.
But Persons of Distinction wear the Garb in Fashion in the South of
_Scotland_.
The _Plad_ wore only by the Men, is made of fine Wool, the Thred as
fine as can be made of that kind; it consists of divers Colours, and
there is a great deal of Ingenuity requir’d in sorting the Colours, so
as to be agreeable to the nicest Fancy. For this reason the Women are
at great pains, first to give an exact Pattern of the _Plad_ upon a
piece of Wood, having the number of every Thred of the Stripe on it.
The Length of it is commonly seven double Ells; the one end hangs by
the Middle over the left Arm, the other going round the Body, hangs by
the end over the left Arm also; the right Hand above it is to be at
liberty to do any thing upon occasion. Every Isle differs from each
other in their Fancy of making _Plads_, as to the Stripes in Breadth,
and Colours. This Humour is as different thro the main Land of the
_Highlands_, in-so-far that they who have seen those Places, are
able, at the first View of a Man’s _Plad_, to guess the Place of his
Residence.
When they travel on foot, the _Plad_ is tied on the Breast with a
Bodkin of Bone or Wood (just as the _Spina_ wore by the _Germans_,
according to the Description of _C. Tacitus_:) the _Plad_ is tied
round the middle with a Leather Belt; it is pleated from the Belt to
the Knee very nicely: this Dress for Footmen is found much easier and
lighter than _Breeches_, or _Trowis_.
The antient Dress wore by the Women, and which is yet wore by some of
the Vulgar, called _Arisad_, is a white _Plad_, having a few small
Stripes of black, blue, and red; it reach’d from the Neck to the
Heels, and was tied before on the Breast with a Buckle of Silver, or
Brass, according to the Quality of the Person. I have seen some of the
former of an hundred Marks value; it was broad as any ordinary Pewter
Plate, the whole curiously engraven with various Animals, _&c._ There
was a lesser Buckle, which was wore in the middle of the larger,
and above two Ounces weight; it had in the Center a large piece of
Chrystal, or some finer Stone, and this was set all round with several
finer Stones of a lesser size.
The _Plad_ being pleated all round, was tied with a Belt below
the Breast; the Belt was of Leather, and several Pieces of Silver
intermix’d with the Leather like a Chain. The lower end of the Belt
has a Piece of Plate about eight Inches long, and three in breadth,
curiously engraven; the end of which was adorned with fine Stones, or
Pieces of Red Coral. They wore Sleeves of Scarlet Cloth, clos’d at the
end as Mens Vests, with Gold Lace round ’em, having Plate Buttons set
with fine Stones. The Head-dress was a fine _Kerchief_ of Linen strait
about the Head, hanging down the Back taper-wise; a large Lock of Hair
hangs down their Cheeks above their Breast, the lower end tied with a
Knot of Ribbands....
The antient way of Fighting was by set Battles; and for Arms some had
broad two-handed Swords and Head-pieces, and others Bows and Arrows.
When all their Arrows were spent, they attack’d one another with Sword
in hand. Since the Invention of Guns, they are very early accustomed
to use them, and carry their Pieces with them where-ever they go:
They likewise learn to handle the broad Sword and Target. The _Chief_
of each Tribe advances with his Followers within shot of the Enemy,
having first laid aside their upper Garments; and after one general
Discharge, they attack them with Sword in hand, having their Target on
their left Hand (as they did at _Kelicranky_) which soon brings the
Matter to an Issue, and verifies the Observation made of ’em [by] your
Historians:
_Aut Mors cito, aut Victoria læta_.[53]
Certainly this is evidence of the employment of fixed designs and
special colours in the tartans, as well by the Islanders as by the
Highlanders of the mainland; and many have held it to settle the
question of their use as clan distinctions at that period. At all
events, it shows that district tartans were in use in Martin’s day, and
that their colourings furnished an indication of the localities whence
the wearers came.
It is out of the question to suppose that the tartans described by
Martin sprang into being in his day. On the contrary, all the evidence
we possess—proving, as it does, the extremely conservative character
of the inhabitants of the Western Islands—points to the conclusion
that Martin was the witness, at the end of the seventeenth century, of
habits and customs in use long previously.
Of the existence of a uniform clan pattern at the very commencement of
the eighteenth century there is a complete chain of evidence. Captain
Hamilton writes from Inverness, 23rd July 1703, to Brigadier-General
Maitland, Governor of Fort-William:—
I wrote to you Tuesday last in answer to your last letter to me, but
I neglected to acquaint you of our news here. The thing is there is a
match of Hunting to be as is said against 2nd of next month amongst
several of our great folks, particularly the Duke of Hamilton is to be
there, the Marquis of Athole, and our neighbour the Laird of Grant,
who has ordered 600 of his men in arms, in good order, with Tartane
Coats all of one colour and fashion. This is his order to his people
in Straithspey. If it be a match at Hunting only I know not, but I
think it my duty to acquaint you, whatever may fall out, of any such
body of men in arms, particularly in our Northern Parts.[54]
The following entries in the Court Books of the Regality of Grant,
1703-1710, are given in full, because they are of the utmost
importance, and have never hitherto been accurately quoted. Among
others, Sir William Fraser, in his _Chiefs of Grant_, refers merely to
the second entry, and that incorrectly:—
Court of the Lordship of the parochine of Duthell holden at Duthell
the 20 July 1704 be Duncan Grant of Mullochard bailie constitute be
the Right Hono^{ll} Alex^r Grant of that Ilk your bailie principall
of the Regalitie of Grant David Blair notar and clerk to the said
Regalitie Court of the District of Duthell. Suites called and the
Court lawfullie fenced and affirmed.
* * * * *
The said day Ronald Makdonald of Gelloway and Archibald Makdonald of
Tulloch Crombie wassales of Lugan in Badzenoch to the Right Hono^{ll}
Ludovick Grant of that Ilk and the tennantes and indwellers on these
landes are ordained to have readie tartan short coates trewes and
short hose of red and grein set dyce all broad springed betuixt and
the eight of August nixt and to be readie upon 48 hours advertisement
to rendevouze when the Laird of Grant shall call them for his hosting
or hunteing under the failie of fyve pounds sterling.
(Signed) D. GRANT, B.
Court of the Landes of Tulchine and Skeiradvey, holdine at Delay upon
the 27 July 1704 be William Grant of Delay bailie of the saids lands
constitute be the Right Hono^{ll} the Laird of Grant heretor of the
saidis landis, David Blair notar and clerk; James Gedlie officer.
Suites called and the court lawfully fenced and affirmed.
* * * * *
The said day by ordor from the Laird of Grant younger the said
bailie ordanes and enacts that the haill tennantes cottars malenders
tradesmen and servantes within the saidis landis of Skearadvie
Tulchine and Calender that are fencible men shall provyd and have
in readiness against the eight day of August nixt ilk ane of them
Heighland coates trewes and short hoes of tartane of red and greine
sett broad springed and also with gun sword pistoll and durk, and with
these present themselves to ane rendewouze when called upone 48 hours
advertisement within the country of Strathspey, for the said Laird
of Grant or his faither their hosting and hunteing. And this under
the failie of twenty poundes Scotis ilk ane that shall faill in the
premisses. And the Master to outrig the servantes in the saids coates
trewes and hose out of their fies.[55]
A very curious and somewhat puzzling state of affairs is disclosed
by a minute examination of the fine series of family portraits
preserved at Castle Grant.[56] Of these portraits no fewer than ten
were painted by Richard Waitt, namely, Brigadier Grant of Grant and
Donald Grant of Glenbeg, in 1713; Patrick Grant of Miltown, Mungo Grant
of Mulloch-hard, —— Grant of Delbuaick, David Grant of Delbuaick,
Patrick Grant of Tullochgriban, Alister Grant “Mohr,” and the Piper
to the Laird of Grant, in 1714; and John Grant of Burnside, in 1725.
Besides these, Waitt painted other Grant portraits in tartan attire. By
permission of the Countess of Seafield, coloured drawings of these have
been made, and comparison discovers a variety of design well-nigh as
great as would be the case in an equal number of examples selected at
random from as many different families. In one particular alone do they
agree, and that is in the absence of any completely dark-coloured sett,
such as is usually designated “uaine” or green. It is not till after
the ’45 that there is an instance of any member of the clan wearing
the so-called undress Grant tartan, now the familiar “Forty-Second” or
Black Watch pattern.
Similar remarks might be made concerning other family portraits. For
example, in the Mac Donald portraits at Armadale there are at least six
distinct setts of tartan. The Campbell portraits at Loudoun Castle and
Langton House exhibit equal diversity, while differing at the same time
from any of the Campbell setts at present in use. In the same way the
pictures of the Sutherland family at Dunrobin and Barrogill, the Mac
Donell portraits at Balgownie, the Mac Leod at Dunvegan, the Drummond
at Gordon Castle and Drummond Castle, the Macpherson at Cluny, the
Frasers in Inverness-shire, show remarkable variety of arrangement and
colouring. Whatever the reason of this, it assuredly did not arise from
carelessness or ignorance on the part of the artists employed. On the
contrary, in the great majority of the pictures referred to, painful
attention has been paid to minuteness and accuracy in details of the
dress, and the sett of a tartan is reproduced in different portions of
the costume with a faithfulness which leaves no room for doubt that the
artists were studiously copying distinct patterns.
The importance of the tartan manufacture to Scotland in the beginning
of the eighteenth century is evident from the following:—
In this place it’s proper to mention their Plaids, a Manufacture
wherein they exceed all Nations, both as to Colour and Fineness.
They have of late been pretty much fancy’d in England, and are very
ornamental as well as durable for Beds, Hangings, Window-Curtains
and Night-Gowns for Men and Women; so that Attempts have been made
in England to resemble them, at Norwich and elsewhere, but they fall
much short both in Colour, Fineness, and Workmanship, as is evident
at first sight. A good improvement may be made of this manufacture
for domestick use and export, now that the prohibition is remov’d by
the Union. The stronger sort of those Plaids is the usual Cloathing
for their Men in the Highlands, where they never alter the form of
their Habit, which, to other People, seems uncouth, because not us’d
elsewhere; yet it must be own’d, that as they are us’d by those of the
better sort in the Highlands, they make a manly as well as a decent
Habit.[57]
In _A Journey through Scotland_, undertaken between 1716 and 1723,
occurs this description of the cattle fair at Crieff and of the dress
of the Highland gentlemen and their followers, which confirms in all
particulars the other accounts of the use of tartan at the period, and
the distinction between the dress of the upper and lower orders:—
The Highland Fair of Criff happening when I was at Stirling, I had the
Curiosity to go see it. There were at least Thirty Thousand Cattle
sold there, most of them to English Drovers; who paid down above
Thirty Thousand Guineas in ready Money to the Highlanders; a Sum they
had never seen before, and proves one good Effect of the Union. The
Highland Gentlemen were mighty civil, dress’d in their slash’d short
Wastcoats, a Trousing, (which is, Breeches and Stockings of one Piece
of strip’d Stuff) with a Plaid for a Cloak, and a blue Bonnet. They
have a Ponyard Knife and Fork in one Sheath, hanging at one side of
their Belt, their Pistol at the other, and their Snuff-Mill before;
with a great broad Sword by their side. Their Attendance [attendants]
were very numerous, all in belted Plaids, girt like Womens Petticoats
down to the Knee; their Thighs and Half of the Leg all bare. They
had also each their broad Sword and Ponyard, and spake all Irish, an
unintelligible Language to the English.[58]
It appears from the regulations issued to the retainers of the Clan
Grant anent the wearing of a uniform tartan that distinctive patterns
were in use, at least for military purposes, or on occasions of great
gatherings, early in the eighteenth century. That widespread attention
was at that period bestowed upon particular arrangements of tartan
appears from a letter quoted by Sir Walter Scott, dated from the Manse
of Comrie, 2nd July 1717:—
I give your lady hearty thanks for the highland plaid. Its good cloath
but it does not answer the sett I sent some time agoe with M^cArthur.
This implies, at the least, in a district on the southern border of the
Highlands, adhesion to particular patterns, just as in Martin’s account
of the Western Islands, already quoted, the existence of district setts
is proved by the use of the words “able, at the first view of a man’s
plad, to guess the place of his residence.”
Alexander Nisbet, the great herald, referring to the supporters of
Macpherson of Cluny, writes:—
The family has been in use to have their arms supported with two
Highland men with steel helmets on their heads and cut out short
doublets azure, thighs bare, their shirts tied between them, and round
targets on their arms, being the dress wherein those of this clan were
wont to fight in many battles for the crown being always loyal.[59]
That the dress thus described by Nisbet was intended by him to
represent what we know to be the usual dress of the Highlanders at
that period, viz., the belted plaid, is proved by another allusion
of his to the Cluny arms in a portion of his work not yet published,
and preserved in the Lyon Office, in which, treating generally of
supporters, he writes:—
M^cPherson of Clunie two highlandmen in their belted plaids with
targets.[60]
An almost contemporary example of the peculiar mode of wearing the
dress, described as “shirts tied,” is to be found in the portrait of
Sir Stuart Threipland of Fingask, by Delacour, painted about this
period.[61]
Without exception the most complete description of the Highlands
and the dress worn there, written during the eighteenth century, is
that given by Burt. The account has been frequently the subject of
criticism, but it is now generally accepted as presenting a faithful
picture of the state of the country at the period to which it relates.
As it traverses a wide field, a lengthened extract is given, for the
purpose of comparison with earlier descriptions of the costume and
manners of the people already quoted:—
The plaid is the undress of the ladies [writing of Inverness]; and to
a genteel woman, who adjusts it with a good air, is a becoming veil.
But as I am pretty sure you never saw one of them in England, I shall
employ a few words to describe it to you. It is made of silk or fine
worsted, chequered with various lively colours, two breadths wide,
and three yards in length; it is brought over the head, and may hide
or discover the face according to the wearer’s fancy or occasion; it
reaches to the waist behind; one corner falls as low as the ankle on
one side; and the other part, in folds, hangs down from the opposite
arm.
I have been told, in Edinburgh, that the ladies distinguish their
political principles, whether Whig or Tory, by the manner of wearing
their plaids;—that is, one of the parties reverses the old fashion,
but which of them it is, I do not remember, nor is it material.
As I was travelling in a very wild part of the country, and
approaching the house of one of those gentlemen, who had notice of
my coming, he met me at some distance from his dwelling, with his
Arcadian offering of milk and cream, as usual, carried before him by
his servants. He afterwards invited me to his hut, which was built
like the others, only very long, but without any partition, where
the family was at one end, and some cattle at the other. By the way
(although the weather was not warm), he was without shoes, stockings,
or breeches, in a short coat, with a shirt not much longer, which hung
between his thighs, and just hid his nakedness from two daughters,
about seventeen or eighteen years old, who sat over against him. After
some compliments on either side, and his wishing me _good weather_, we
entered into conversation, in which he seemed to be a man of as good
sense as he was well-proportioned. In speaking of the country, he told
me he knew I wondered how any body would undergo the inconveniences of
a Highland life.
The Highland dress consists of a bonnet made of thrum without a
brim, a short coat, a waistcoat, longer by five or six inches, short
stockings, and brogues, or pumps without heels. By the way, they cut
holes in their brogues, though new made, to let out the water, when
they have far to go and rivers to pass: this they do to preserve their
feet from galling.
Few besides gentlemen wear the _trowze_,—that is, the breeches and
stockings all of one piece, and drawn on together; over this habit
they wear a plaid, which is usually three yards long and two breadths
wide, and the whole garb is made of chequered tartan, or plaiding:
this, with the sword and pistol, is called a _full dress_, and, to a
well-proportioned man, with any tolerable air, it makes an agreeable
figure; but this you have seen in London, and it is chiefly their
mode of dressing when they are in the Lowlands, or when they make a
neighbouring visit, or go anywhere on horseback; but when those among
them who travel on foot, and have not attendants to carry them over
the waters, they vary it into the _quelt_ [kilt], which is a manner I
am about to describe.
The common habit of the ordinary Highlanders is far from being
acceptable to the eye: with them a small part of the plaid, which
is not so large as the former, is set in folds and girt round the
waist, to make of it a short petticoat that reaches half way down
the thigh, and the rest is brought over the shoulders, and then
fastened before, below the neck, often with a fork, and sometimes
with a bodkin or sharpened piece of stick, so that they make pretty
nearly the appearance of the poor women in London when they bring
their gowns over their heads to shelter them from the rain. In this
way of wearing the plaid, they have sometimes nothing else to cover
them, and are often barefoot; but some I have seen shod with a kind
of pumps, made out of a raw cow-hide, with the hair turned outward,
which being ill made, the wearer’s foot looked something like those
of a rough-footed hen or pigeon: these are called _quarrants_, and
are not only offensive to the sight, but intolerable to the smell of
those who are near them. The stocking rises no higher than the thick
of the calf, and from the middle of the thigh to the middle of the leg
is a naked space, which, being exposed to all weathers, becomes tanned
and freckled, and the joint being mostly infected with the country
distemper, the whole is very disagreeable to the eye. This dress is
called the _quelt_; and, for the most part, they wear the petticoat
so very short, that in a windy day, going up a hill, or stooping, the
indecency of it is plainly discovered....
Various reasons are given both for and against the Highland dress. It
is urged against it, that it distinguishes the natives as a body of
people distinct and separate from the rest of the subjects of Great
Britain, and thereby is one cause of their narrow adherence among
themselves, to the exclusion of all the rest of the kingdom; but
the part of the habit chiefly objected to is the plaid (or mantle),
which, they say, is calculated for the encouragement of an idle life,
in lying about upon the heath, in the day-time, instead of following
some lawful employment; that it serves to cover them in the night
when they lie in wait among the mountains, to commit their robberies
and depredations; and is composed of such colours as altogether, in
the mass, so nearly resemble the heath on which they lie, that it is
hardly to be distinguished from it until one is so near them as to be
within their power, if they have any evil intention; that it renders
them ready, at a moment’s warning, to join in any rebellion, as they
carry continually their tents about them: and, lastly, it was thought
necessary, in Ireland, to suppress that habit by act of parliament,
for the above reasons, and no complaint for the want of it now remains
among the mountaineers of that country.
On the other hand, it is alleged, the dress is most convenient to
those who, with no ill design, are obliged to travel from one part
to another upon their lawful occasions, viz.—That they would not be
so free to skip over the rocks and bogs with breeches as they are in
the short petticoat; that it would be greatly incommodious to those
who are frequently to wade through waters, to wear breeches, which
must be taken off upon every such occurrence, or would not only gall
the wearer, but render it very unhealthful and dangerous to their
limbs, to be constantly wet in that part of the body, especially in
winter-time, when they might be frozen: and with respect to the plaid
in particular, the distance between one place of shelter and another,
is often too great to be reached before night comes on; and, being
intercepted by sudden floods, or hindered by other impediments, they
are frequently obliged to lie all night in the hills, in which case
they must perish, were it not for the covering they carry with them.
That even if they should be so fortunate as to reach some hospitable
hut, they must lie upon the ground uncovered, there being nothing to
be spared from the family for that purpose.
And to conclude, a few shillings will buy this dress for an ordinary
Highlander, who, very probably, might hardly ever be in condition to
purchase a Lowland suit, though of the coarsest cloth or stuff, fit to
keep him warm in that cold climate.
I shall determine nothing in this dispute, but leave you to judge
which of these two reasonings is the most cogent.
The whole people are fond and tenacious of the Highland clothing, as
you may believe by what is here to follow.
Being, in a wet season, upon one of my peregrinations, accompanied
by a Highland gentleman, who was one of the clan through which I was
passing, I observed the women to be in great anger with him about
something that I did not understand: at length, I asked him wherein
he had offended them? Upon this question he laughed, and told me his
great-coat was the cause of their wrath; and that their reproach was
that he could not be contented with the garb of his ancestors, but was
degenerated into a Lowlander, and condescended to follow their unmanly
fashions.[62]
To the edition of the _Letters_ from which the above is quoted the
editor appended some notes on the Highland dress, which, though open to
criticism on many points, are sufficiently interesting to justify their
insertion here:—
The chequered stuff, commonly worn by the Highlanders, by them called
_breacan_ (_parti-coloured_), and by the Lowlanders _tartan_ (Fr.
_tiretaine_), is neither peculiar to Celts nor Goths, and is to be
found, at this day, although not in such general use, among many of
the Sclavonic tribes, who have no connection with either. The wife
of every Russian boor, in the north-western provinces at least, who
can make her such a present at her marriage (and it is often a _sine
quâ non_), has a _tartan plaid_, which she wears just as the Scotish
women, in our author’s time, did theirs: it is of massy silk, richly
varied, with broad cross-bars of gold and silver tissue, and makes a
very splendid appearance.
That the Lowlanders had their _tartan_ from the _French_, at a time
when it was fashionable in other countries, may be presumed from
the _name_; and to imagine that the manufacture began among the
Highlanders would be ridiculous.
The Highland _field-dress_ of the men was of a coarser texture, and
thickened by fulling; it was called _cadda_ (_cath da’_, the war
colour), and was a _tartan_ of such colours as were least likely to
betray the wearer, among the woods and heaths, either to the game he
was in quest of, or to his enemies. The dyes were mostly extracted
from woad, when it could be got, and from heath-tops, the bark and
tender twigs of the alder, and other vegetable substances. As to
the ancient _form_ of the dress, nothing could be more simple: the
_gentlemen_, having less frequent occasion to use their _full suit_
as a _blanket_, wore a yellow shirt, a vest, trowsers, and mantle, of
the same fashion as their neighbours. In Ireland, a few centuries ago,
the _lower class_ seldom encumbered themselves with dress of any kind
within doors; and there is every reason to suppose that this was also
the case among their brethren in Scotland. When they went out, they
threw a light blanket round their shoulders, the upper part made tight
with skewers, and the lower gathered up into folds, which they secured
under the girdle, from which the sword, dagger, purse, &c., were
suspended; this they called _feile_, a word of the same origin with
the Scotish _fell_, English, _peel_; Old English, _pilche_; German
and Northern, _peltz_, _pels_, &c.; and the Latin, _pellis_, all
which signified an _external surface_, _skin_, or _covering_ of any
kind. _Skins_, in the modern acceptation of the term, were, no doubt,
the first _covering_; and the name was afterwards properly enough
applied to a covering of cloth. At night they took out the skewers,
unbuckled the girdle, and reduced the _feile_ to its primary form of
a blanket, to sleep in. The women wore a petticoat, or trowsers, of
skin, cloth, or what they could get, and a cloth thrown round their
bodies when they went out. As civilization advanced, a shirt, with a
tunic, or short jacket, was introduced; the plaits of the _feile_ were
rendered permanent by sewing, and the _plaid_, to be used either as a
mantle or blanket, was added. The _kilt_, _feilebeg_ (_little feile_),
or petticoat, now worn, has succeeded to the folded-up ends of the
original blanket; _it is all that remains of the ancient costume_, and
was reduced to its present form some time in the beginning of the last
century. The _bonnet_, or flat, blue thrum cap, is of a very modern
date, and was introduced from the Lowlands. The gentlemen of the
Highlands wore such hats and caps as were worn by gentlemen of their
times in neighbouring countries; and, in the days of our grandfathers,
the lower class of Highlanders were, by their Lowland neighbours (in
the north-east Lowlands, at least), denominated _humblies_, from their
wearing no covering on their head but their hair, which, at a more
early period, they probably matted and felted, for horror and defence,
as the Irish did in Queen Elizabeth’s time. The helmet-looking bonnet,
now worn, was introduced within the memory of persons still living.
From this simple account of the Highland dress, it will be seen that
it has in itself nothing peculiar to one country more than another; as
the different improvements upon the manner of girding the loins, and
trussing up a blanket, can hardly be called a _national costume_. The
dress of the Romans began in the same manner, and went through nearly
the same varieties of form; but, for a long time after the Romans
left Britain, it can hardly be imagined, that the inhabitants of the
more remote Highlands had either wool or cloth of their own produce.
Scattered as their sheep, if they had any, must have been upon the
mountains, they had no means of protecting them from the wolves; and
they had not then patient industry enough to look after tame animals
that could not take care of themselves.
The names of the different parts of this dress are all conformable
to what has been said above. The _feilebeg_ is, by the Lowlanders,
called a _kilt_, from its having been _kilted_, _quilted_, or _trussed
up_ under the girdle. The meaning of the Latin _toga_ is found in the
Gaëlic _toga’_; in English, to _tuck up_, from the same circumstance;
and a square _body-cloth_, still worn round the shoulders by the
Highland women, is called a _tunic_, or _tonnac_. _Plaid_ (which is
always misapplied in England), in its primary sense, means simply
any thing _broad and flat_, and thence, a _broad, unformed piece of
cloth_, and, in its secondary and modern acceptation, a _blanket_;
in which last import alone it is now used by the Highlanders. The
_trews_, or trowsers, formerly worn only by the gentry, and by
the lower classes, after the _philibeg_ was proscribed by act of
parliament, are so denominated, from the Gaëlic _trusa’_, to _truss
up_, as they supplied the place of the end of the _feile_ which was
_trussed_ under the girdle.[63]
During the period following the Union of the Kingdoms of Scotland and
England (1707), tartan plaids were worn in the Lowlands by all classes.
The significance of this universal display of a simple article of dress
consisted in the fact that its wear was regarded as a sort of sumptuary
protest against the Union and the surrender of Scottish independence.
Certain it is that up to the prohibition of the use of tartans and of
the Highland dress by the Act of 1747 the tartan plaid continued in
general use throughout Scotland. Many references to the prevalence of
the habit in the Lowlands as well as in the Highlands might be quoted.
One interesting contribution is that of Ramsay of Ochtertyre, who,
writing in 1795 of the congregation of the Rev. John Skinner’s church
at Linshart, in Buchan, observes:—
In point of mode and plainness their dress reminded me of that of our
country-people more than forty years ago, bonnets and parti-coloured
plaids being frequent.... In those days every lady in an undress wore
a plaid when she went abroad. It was sometimes of one colour, scarlet,
crimson, &c., but more commonly tartan or variegated. People fond of
finery had silk ones, others wore woollen lined with silk; whilst the
lower classes were satisfied with plain worsted.... In 1747, when I
first knew Edinburgh, nine-tenths of the ladies still wore plaids,
especially at church. By this time, however, silk or velvet cloaks of
one form or another were much in request among people of fashion. And
so rapidly did the plaid wear out, that when I returned to Edinburgh
in 1752 one could hardly see a lady in that piece of dress.[64]
Of the extensive manufacture of tartans in Scotland during the
eighteenth century some evidence may be obtained from a reference to
the newspapers of the period. For example:—
Last Saturday the _Agatha and Jane_, Thomas Christie [master] cleared
out from Leith for London, having on board the following Scots
manufactures, viz., 53,381 yards of Linen, 3006 yards of Tartans.[65]
Leith, Feb. 18.—_The Edinburgh Merchant_, John Dick, cleared out for
London with the following Scots manufactures, viz., 41,400 yards of
Linen, 6400 yards of Tartan.[66]
In the same newspaper, and side by side with the orders issued by
Prince Charles Edward, then at Holyrood, appears the following:—
Gairdner and Taylor, in their Warehouse at the Sign of the Golden
Key, opposite to Forrester’s Wynd, Lawn-Market, Edinburgh, continue
to sell, in Wholesale and Retail, at lowest Prices, all sorts of
Woollen Narrow and Broad Cloths of the Manufacture of Scotland, in
same manner as was done by the late Andrew Gairdner, who was one of
the first Introducers of an extensive Manufactory of this Kind, so
very beneficial to, and so much wanted in this Country.... At above
Warehouse to be sold at lowest Rates, great Choice of Tartans, the
newest Patterns, Cotton Checks and Sarges, of which they are also
Makers.[67]
This advertisement, it may be urged, is a stumbling-block in the way
of those who argue for the antiquity of clan patterns; for it seems
peculiar that, when the city was filled with Highlanders of all ranks
and many clans, they should be offered, not their ancient setts, but
“great choice of the newest patterns.”
A statement which points in exactly the contrary direction appears in
the Lockhart Papers to the following effect:—
It was necessary for us [_i.e._, the troops under the command of the
Duke of Perth and the Earl of Cromarty in the Prince’s army], in
order to come at him [_i.e._, Lord Louden, who commanded a detachment
in the Duke of Cumberland’s army], to go about by the head of
Tyne,[68] through Torendonel, about ten miles’ march, and accordingly
Glengary’s, Clanronald’s, Ardsheal’s, Glengyle’s, and Barisdale’s
battalions were ordered after them, under the command of the Duke
of Perth and Lord Cromarty. Those under Lord Louden’s command were
the M’Loads, Sir Alexander M’Donald’s men, the Makays and Monroes,
and the Grants—about three thousand in all.... We M’Donalds were
much perplex’d, in the event of ane ingagement, how to distinguish
ourselves from our bretheren and nighbours the M’Donalds of Sky,
seeing we were both Highlanders and both wore heather in our bonnets,
only our white cocades made some distinction.[69]
The inference from the passage is, that the opposing battalions
being of the same great family, with dress and badge alike, the sole
remaining difference between them was the cockade.
One result of the civil war of 1745-6 was the proscription by Act of
Parliament of the Highland dress:—