The specimen here presented is a careful reproduction of the tartan
of Campbell of Breadalbane, as worn by the Fencibles of that district
from their embodiment in 1793 to their disbandment in 1802. The
authority is a portion of the regimental uniform of Major Campbell,
one of the officers, whose descendants now treasure it as a precious
relic. Wherever the tartan occurs in early collections, dating from
before 1790 down to 1840, the pattern agrees with the accompanying
illustration. The later date, however, witnessed the inception of a
delusion that has prevailed even to the present day; for a tartan
similar in some respects, which appears in certain early collections
under the simple designation of “fancy,” began about that time to usurp
the title of Breadalbane Campbell, and is now received as the correct
design. But the existence of this regimental dress now a century old,
the uninterrupted record of the pattern to 1840, and the proved genesis
of the spurious variety, afford the amplest justification for including
the earlier pattern in the present work. It is the only Campbell tartan
included in the collection made by the Highland Society of London in
1816-17. It is doubtful if any of the so-called Campbell tartans as
worn at the present time were in use earlier than the middle of last
century, while several are of more recent introduction. The early
Campbell portraits at Langton and Loudoun show designs entirely unlike
any Campbell tartans now in use, being chiefly red.
[Illustration: IV. CAMPBELL OF BREADALBANE]