Whether the kilt did or did not form part of the ‘garb of old Gaul’ may
be left for the discussion of antiquaries, but there can be no doubt
about the antiquity of tartans. As is well known, the various clans in
the Scottish Highlands were distinguished from each other not only by
their names, their badges, their war-cries, but also by the particular
pattern and colour of the tartan which they wore. In the magnificently
printed volume just issued by Messrs W. & A. K. Johnston, entitled _The
Tartans of the Clans of Scotland_, lovers of the Highland garb will
be delighted by the splendid reproduction in colours of the tartan of
seventy-one clans or septs. Nothing can excel the accuracy and beauty
with which the cloth, both in colour and texture, has been imitated in
these plates. Each plate, moreover, is accompanied by a few notes on
the clan to which the particular tartan appertains.