Old and rare Scottish tartans

by Donald William Stewart

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....