The authority for the accompanying example is a portrait of Sir
Alexander (afterwards first Lord) Macdonald of the Isles, in the
collection of Lord Macdonald of the Isles, at Armadale Castle in
Skye. Of that painting, executed by an unknown artist about 1750,
the vignette on the title-page of the present work is a reproduction.
The tartan is represented only in the coat of the youth holding
the golf-club, the trews being in red and white check; and a close
inspection reveals an important addition to what has long been accepted
as the Lord of the Isles pattern—to wit, that of the black lines
intersecting the red squares. The omission of these black lines from
the modern sett is obviously accidental, for the tartan as now worn
is based on the authority of the picture, which was believed to have
been accurately copied. The origin of the error cannot be ascertained;
but, probably, a mistake in the reproduction of the design when
tartans became the wear after the repeal of the prohibitory statute
has remained undetected till now. On the canvas, at least, the
intersections are clearly depicted; and, moreover, the tartan thus
conforms to the rule of breaking large squares generally observed in
old clan patterns. _The Costume of the Clans_, by John Sobieski Stuart
and Charles Edward Stuart, contains a presentment of the painting
which, though professedly coloured from the original, is nevertheless
extremely inaccurate. It may be added that the tartan, which is that
usually worn by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, who bears the title of the
Lord of the Isles, has never hitherto been faithfully delineated in any
previous work nor properly reproduced in any textile fabric of modern
manufacture.
[Illustration: I. THE LORD OF THE ISLES]