The Macpherson tartans present unwonted difficulty in consequence of
the multiplicity of setts, each having claims of its own. These are
(1) the Chief’s, (2) the Cluny, or full dress, (3) the Hunting, and
(4) the Clan tartans. The first, though one of the oldest designs, has
often been wrongly presented. Of the second, which was illustrated in
the _Vestiarium Scoticum_, the Cluny Macpherson of 1850 wrote to Messrs
Smith, then compiling a book of tartans, that:-
The design was known as the Breacan Glas’ long before John [Sobieski]
Stuart was heard of in this country, although I rather think the
addition of the yellow stripe was introduced by him, or rather taken
from his MS., but, at all events, the tartan is an old Macpherson.
The _Vestiarium_ had only been published eight years before (1842),
though strenuous efforts had been made to issue it in 1829. It is
evident from an unpublished correspondence between Sir Walter Scott
and Sir Thomas Dick Lauder that the chief of Cluny received his first
drawing of the tartan from the brothers Stuart—a fact obviously
unknown to his successor of 1850. Sir Thomas, writing to Sir Walter on
1st June 1829, observes:—
The Messrs Hay [the name at first borne by the brothers] have already
instructed several of the chiefs of clans who have had webs of the
true tartans made, and, as an instance of this, I may mention that
Cluny Macpherson appeared at the late fancy ball at Edinburgh in his
beautiful and genuine tartan as taken from the MS. ... which excited
universal admiration. Mac Leod has got a sketch of his splendid tartan.
There is no evidence of this second pattern having been in actual
use prior to 1829, the only authority of earlier date being the MS.
above referred to. The third design is identical with that illustrated
here, except that the ground is grey instead of white. In use for
many years, the fourth appears in some of the early collections. The
only Macpherson (other than that peculiar to the chief) found in the
earliest collections is that here given, and there is every reason
to believe it the pattern worn by the clan from the repeal of the
prohibitory statute to the middle of the present century, when the
white ground was exchanged for grey. It is not known why the alteration
was made.
[Illustration: XXVI. MACPHERSON]