Part 1

Transcriber’s Notes

Because there are so many Footnotes, these have been moved to the end of the Introduction and renumbered in sequence from #1.

Variant spelling of Scots words have been left as printed.

When the caret ^ mark has been used within a word, this indicates that the letter to the right of the mark will be raised in the original.

The equals sign (=) around a word or numbers (e.g. =162=) indicates that they will show as bold in the final project.

Changes made are noted at the end of the book.

OLD AND RARE

SCOTTISH TARTANS

_Impression limited to Three Hundred copies: 250 on Dutch hand-made paper, demy 4to of which this is number =162= and 50 on Whatman’s hand-made paper, royal 4to_

OLD AND RARE

SCOTTISH TARTANS

WITH

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION AND DESCRIPTIVE NOTICES

BY

DONALD WILLIAM STEWART F.S.A. SCOT.

EDINBURGH: GEORGE P. JOHNSTON

MDCCCXCIII

EDINBURGH: GEORGE WATERSTON AND SONS, PRINTERS.

PREFACE.

Two main objects have been kept in view in the preparation of the present volume.

The first was to render generally accessible some of those beautiful but comparatively unknown examples of old tartans represented in family portraits, miniatures, and relics, as well as in the few collections of tartans which exist in the country, and to set forth all that could be definitely ascertained regarding their origin and history. To carry this out efficiently, it was necessary to obtain the permission of the families possessing representations and examples of the tartans to inspect them, and to visit the different localities in Scotland in which they are preserved, for the purposes of examination and illustration. By the courtesy of the owners every facility and aid was given in the work of recording and identifying the setts, and in no case where permission was asked to reproduce a tartan was it refused. This preliminary work extended over a period of several years, in the course of which the Editor believes he allowed few collections to escape his notice. From the great number of setts now in his note-books he found the utmost difficulty in making the selection for the present work, and the exigencies of space alone have compelled him, to his regret, to omit many rare, beautiful, and historic examples he would willingly have included.

Having arranged as to the examples of tartan to appear in the volume, it became necessary to decide on the form of illustration. Hitherto the modes adopted in works of this description have been admittedly unsatisfactory, it being impossible, by the highest exercise of skill in colour printing, to render the shades correctly, particularly in those portions of the setts where the colours are crossed. Solid colours are generally rendered adequately by lithography, but when the most important and intricate portion of the design—viz., the representation of the interweaving of different shades—is in question, none of the processes of colour printing yet invented does justice to the great beauty of the actual fabric. The method adopted in the present work has been to weave the tartan to be represented in its proper colours in fine silk. The shades required for each specimen having been dyed, the weaving was executed by the hand-loom in exact proportion to the original. To ensure permanency the mounting was arranged so that no portion of the silk forming the illustration should come into contact with the adhesive.

The second object kept in view in the preparation of the work was to examine and present, in something like chronological order, the references in old writers to tartan and the Highland dress. The only attempt of the kind hitherto made was that by Donald Gregory and W. F. Skene, included in the _Transactions of the Iona Club_. Since that valuable work was published a great deal of interesting and original material has been discovered. But what may be termed the literature of the subject is so widely diffused, and contained in works so difficult of access to the general reader—many of them being in MS., and others rare and costly—that it seemed to be of importance to present these notices in a form which would render easy comparison between different ages and authors. Something of this kind the Editor has endeavoured to carry out in the Introduction. Particular attention has been paid to the accuracy of the extracts, which have been carefully verified by comparison with the authorities. One result has been the discovery of serious errors in quotations by previous writers, and the more important of these are pointed out. The Editor trusts that, considering the importance of the objects he had in view, the length to which several of the extracts have unavoidably run will be pardoned by his readers. He has omitted many references which he regarded as of minor consequence, while several of much importance are given for the first time.

There remains the pleasant duty of thanking those by whose aid the Editor has been enabled to produce the work.

Her Majesty the Queen permitted the Balmoral Tartan as used by the Royal Family to be reproduced, and communicated an account of its origin. Miss Dick Lauder placed at the disposal of the Editor the unique copy of the _Vestiarium Scoticum_ made by her father at Relugas in 1828-29 from the manuscript in possession of the Messrs Hay, and also the correspondence between Sir Walter Scott and Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, so fully referred to in the Introduction. Mrs Charles Elphinstone Dalrymple kindly supplied transcripts of notes on tartans and the Highland dress made by the late Mr Charles Elphinstone Dalrymple, and lent several paintings and drawings, as well as a collection of tartans made by the Highland Society of London and the late Dr. W. F. Skene. To Mr Alexander Donald Mackenzie, Edinburgh, the Editor has been indebted for many valuable suggestions from the first inception of his work; and the fruits of Mr Mackenzie’s study of Gaelic literature and customs were freely placed at his disposal.

Opportunities of inspecting paintings and taking notes of the tartans depicted were kindly granted by His Grace the Duke of Sutherland, the Right Hon. the Earl of Eglinton, the Right Hon. the Earl of Ancaster, the Right Hon. the Countess of Seafield, the Right Hon. Lord Macdonald of the Isles, the Right Hon. Lord Donington, Macleod of Macleod, Cluny Macpherson, The Mackintosh of Mackintosh, the Hon. Mrs R. Baillie-Hamilton, Mr and Mrs Nisbet-Hamilton-Ogilvy, John Alastair Erskine Cunninghame, Esquire of Balgownie, Captain W. Home Drummond Moray of Abercairney, and Frederick Granville Sinclair, Esquire of Barrogill.

The collections of tartans preserved by several families were also placed at the disposal of the Editor.

Information and assistance on various points connected with the subject were accorded by the Most Hon. the Marquis of Ailsa, the Most Hon. the Marchioness of Breadalbane, Lord Archibald Campbell, Sir Arthur Halkett of Pitfirrane, Bart., Miss Fraser of Abertarff, Walter Douglas Campbell, Esquire of Blythswood, James Campbell, Esquire, representative of the Campbells of Craignish, Mr Godwin, Librarian to the Marquis of Bute, Mrs Tilly, London, and others.

To Dr. Thomas Dickson, Curator of the Historical Department H.M. Register House, and to Mr Andrew Ross, Marchmont Herald, the Editor is indebted for valuable direction in regard to many points contained in the Introduction.

DONALD WILLIAM STEWART.

EDINBURGH, _May 1893_.

CONTENTS.

PREFACE PAGES v-viii

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 1-56

NOTES ON WORKS TREATING OF TARTANS 57-61

TARTANS: WITH DESCRIPTIVE NOTICES NOS. 1a-45a

The Figure stamped on the cover is from the painting known as “The Regent Moray,” at Langton, formerly at Taymouth. It is one of the oldest pictures in Scotland showing the Highland dress.

The Vignette on the title-page is from a painting in Armadale Castle, dated about 1750. It represents Sir James Macdonald of Sleat and his brother Alexander, afterwards first Lord Macdonald of the Isles.

INTRODUCTION.

Of the dress of the Highlanders of Scotland prior to the fifteenth century the descriptions available are few and meagre. True, there are many references to a style of costume which consisted mainly of a loose outer garment, but these are equally applicable to the wear of neighbouring countries, and contain no account of the distinctive features associated with the Highland dress. Probably the earliest reference to the latter is to be found in the Saga of Magnus Barefoot, King of Norway, 1093-1103, who led marauding expeditions to the west of Scotland in the first year of his reign and subsequently. Of his return from such a raid the historian chronicles:—

People say that when King Magnus came home from his viking cruise to the Western countries, he and many of his people brought with them a great deal of the habits and fashions of clothing of those Western parts. They went about on the streets with bare legs, and had short kirtles and over-cloaks; and therefore his men called him Magnus Barefoot or Bareleg.[1]

The word “kyrtlu” probably indicates a garment corresponding somewhat to the feilebeg or kilt, though it may also indicate one which covered the upper portion of the body as well, and thus formed a species of tunic.[2] Still, the description of the distinctive costume of the Western Islanders at this remote period is extremely valuable, especially as it is written by one who lived so near the time when the incidents narrated took place. In accordance with the custom of fosterage then prevalent in Norway, and continued in Scotland long afterwards, Snorro Sturleson, the author of the Saga, was reared with the children of the king’s daughter, and so had opportunity of hearing and noting the use of the strange costume.

The chartularies of Aberdeen attest the use not merely of the style of dress that figures in the Saga, but also of a parti-coloured cloth, which was probably tartan. In these ancient records are notes on early customs of the utmost importance to antiquaries. They contain, besides the charters of the lands belonging to the See, the canons of the Scottish Church, and the statutes of the Church of Aberdeen, framed in the thirteenth century; it is there provided that “all ecclesiastics are to be suitably apparelled, avoiding red, green, and striped clothing, and their garments shall not be shorter than to the middle of the leg.”[3] Of course, it cannot be held that this conclusively proves the existence of breacan or tartan, but striped clothing is as near an approach to an accurate description of it as can be expected at so early a period. The injunctions indicate a general use of parti-coloured garments in the northern districts of the country in the thirteenth century.

The famous clan battle on the North Inch of Perth took place in 1396, but only the slightest reference is made to the dress of the combatants in any of the accounts now extant. In the narrative by Abbot Bower, the continuator of Fordun, it is recorded that the battle was waged

By thirty men against thirty of the opposite party, armed only with swords, bows and arrows, without mantles or other armour except axes.[4]

The mantle is doubtless the over-cloak of Magnus Barefoot’s time, and the prototype of the plaid often so designated by writers of later date.

Borthwick in his _Antiquities_[5] prints the Accounts for 1474 of John, Bishop of Glasgow, Treasurer to James III., which contain the entry: “Halve ane elne of double tartan to lyne riding collars to the queen.” Pinkerton adopts Borthwick’s reading.[6] Pitcairn cites entries, under date October 1488, of a fabric called “tarter,” and he adds “this is evidently tartan.”[7] Had the conclusions of these antiquaries as to the identity of the words been correct, then these would be the earliest specific references to tartan hitherto discovered in our records; but that they are not is pointed out by the editor of the _Treasurer’s Accounts_, who writes:—

Tartar, the name of which bespeaks its Eastern origin, though it was no doubt imitated by the weavers of Italy and France, is described as “single” or “double,” according to texture, and as “variant” or shot, the warp and woof being of contrasted colours. This not uncommon word has been frequently misread “tartan,” and examples of its occurrence quoted from the _Treasurer’s Accounts_ as illustrative of the early use of that material.[8]

The opinion of such eminent antiquaries has misled all subsequent writers of important works relating to tartans, with the exception of John Sobieski Stuart and W. F. Skene; even works appearing many years after the issue of the _Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer_ continue to perpetuate the old errors.

There is a significant passage in the old Gaelic tale of “Curio,” describing the giant Anteus, which runs thus:—

Nibidh dono tuighi na craibheach, na pell, no brotrach, na brecan, na crocend anmanna, fui isin leapaidh sin acht a thaoebh fri sin talmain.

Now he had not thatch, nor branches, nor hide, nor coverlet, nor breacan [_i.e._, tartan, or tartan plaid], nor skin under him in that bed, but his side to the earth.[9]

“Brecan,” literally a speckled or variegated cloth, has been employed in the Gaelic language as synonymous with tartan and the tartan plaid from earliest times, in evident allusion to the checked or spotted appearance of the garment. “Breac” signifies parti-coloured or spotted. It is a Gaelic name of the salmon and of the trout, conferred, no doubt, on account of their speckled aspect.

A curious fifteenth century reference to “hewyt,” _i.e._, coloured, striped, or variegated clothing, occurs in a sumptuary law of the Scots Parliament:—

Item it is statut that na yeman na comonner to landwarts wer hewyt clathes siddar na the kne na yit ragyt clathes bot allenarly centynal yemen in lords housis at rids with gentill men thar masters the quhilks sal haf narow slewis and litil poks.[10]

The introduction of printing naturally tended to produce and to preserve many descriptions of the Highland dress written in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries by Scottish historians and by travellers from other countries. Of the more important of these, the earliest in chronological order is John Major (1469-1550), whose work was originally published in Latin in 1521. He writes:—

Just as among the Scots we find two distinct tongues, so we likewise find two different ways of life and conduct. For some are born in the forests and mountains of the north, and these we call men of the Highland, but the others men of the Lowland. By foreigners the former are called Wild Scots, the latter householding Scots. The Irish tongue is in use among the former, the English tongue among the latter. One half of Scotland speaks Irish, and all these as well as the Islanders we reckon to belong to the Wild Scots. In dress, in the manner of their outward life, and in good morals, for example, these come behind the householding Scots.... From the mid-leg to the foot they go uncovered; their dress is, for an over garment, a loose plaid, and a shirt saffron-dyed. They are armed with bow and arrows, a broadsword, and a small halbert. They always carry in their belt a stout dagger, single-edged, but of the sharpest. In time of war they cover the whole body with a coat of mail, made of iron rings, and in it they fight. The common folk among the Wild Scots go out to battle with the whole body clad in a linen garment sewed together in patchwork, well daubed with wax or with pitch, and with an over-coat of deerskin. But the common people among our domestic Scots and the English fight in a woollen garment.[11]

From these and other passages in Major’s work it may be inferred that the chiefs and upper classes of the Highlands alone wore the plaid, or any woollen clothing whatever, and that the lower orders were prevented by poverty from obtaining luxuries of this sort. Writing of the clan battle at Perth in 1396, Major states:—

Thirty men, naked but for a doublet that hung from one side, made for the field of battle, armed with bow and double-axe; and these forthwith met the encounter of a like number, armed in the same fashion.... One of the combatants made his escape from the fight.... And there was not found any man who would take the place of the runaway; and ’twas no marvel, since to fight for your life, naked but for a plaid, is no trifle.[12]

In his account of the revolt of Alexander, Lord of the Isles, against the king, describing the Wild Scots, and particularly Clan Chattan and Clan Cameron, Major observes:—

They lead a life of blissful ease; from the poor people they take what they want in victual; bows they have, and quivers, and they have halberts of great sharpness, for their iron ore is good. They carry a stout dirk in their belts; they are often naked from the knee down. In winter for an over garment they wear a plaid.[13]

Perhaps the first indisputable reference to the Highland breacan occurs in the _Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland_ in August 1538:—

THE EXPENSIS ON THE KINGIS PERSOUN DELIVERIT TO THOMAS ARTHURE.

Item in the first for ij elnis ane quarter elne of variant cullorit velvet to be the Kingis Grace ane schort Heland coit price of the elne vj^{lib} summa xiij^{lib} x^s.

Item for iij elnis quarter elne of grene taffatyis to lyne the said coit with, price of the elne x^s summa xxxij^s vj^d.

Item for iij elnis of Heland tertane to be hoiss to the Kingis Grace, price of the elne iiij^s iiij^d summa xiij^s.

Item for xv elnis of holland claith to be syde Heland sarkis to the Kingis Grace, price of the elne viij^s summa vj^{lib}.

Item for sewing and making of the said thre sarkis ix^s.

Item for twa vnce of silk to sew thame x^s.

Item for iiij elnis of rubeins to the handis of thame[14] ij^s.

The costume thus consisted of a short “variant cullorit” Highland coat, tartan hose—that is, trews and stockings combined—and three “syde” or low-hanging Highland shirts (each of which, it would appear, contained five ells), with ties of ribbons at the cuffs. The trews, described in the extract as “hoiss,” extended from the waist to the foot, and were tied with a garter below the knee.

Doubts have been cast, indeed, on the possibility of existence in the rigours of a northern winter with the scanty raiment attributed to the poorer classes, but these are dispelled by the evidence on the point. Preserved in the British Museum is a remarkable letter written in 1542 or 1543 by John Elder, clerk, a “Reddshancke,” to Henry VIII., proposing the union of Scotland with England. The following excerpt affords positive testimony of the hardihood of the people, and of the title “Reddshanckes” conferred upon them by the Lowlanders:—

Moreover, wherfor they call us in Scotland Reddshanckes, and in your Graces dominion of England roghefootide Scottis, Pleas it your Maiestie to understande, that we of all people can tolleratt, suffir, and away best with colde, for boithe somer and wyntir, (excepte whene the froest is mooste vehement,) goynge alwaies bair leggide and bair footide, our delite and pleasure is not onely in huntynge of redd deir, wolfes, foxes, and graies, wherof we abounde, and have greate plentie, but also in rynninge, leapinge, swymynge, shootynge, and thrawinge of dartis: therfor, in so moche as we use and delite so to go alwaies, the tendir delicatt gentillmen of Scotland call us Reddshanckes. And agayne in wyntir, whene the froest is mooste vehement (as I have saide) which we can not suffir bair footide, so weill as snow, whiche can never hurt us whene it cummes to our girdills, we go a huntynge, and after that we have slayne redd deir, we flaye of the skyne, bey and bey, and settinge of our bair foote on the insyde therof, for neide of cunnynge shoemakers, by your Graces pardon, we play the sutters; compasinge and mesuringe so moche therof, as shall retche up to our ancklers, pryckynge the upper part therof also with holis, that the water may repas wher it entris, and stretchide up with a stronge thwange of the same, meitand above our saide ancklers, so, and pleas your noble Grace, we make our schoois: Therfor, we usinge suche maner of shoois, the roghe hairie syde outwart, in your Graces dominion of England we be callit roghefootide Scottis; which maner of schoois (and pleas your Highnes) in Latyne be callid perones, wherof the poete Virgill makis mencioun, sayinge, That the olde auncient Latyns in tyme of warrs uside suche maner of schoos. And althoughe a greate sorte of us Reddshanckes go after this maner in our countrethe, yeit never the les, and pleas your Grace, whene we come to the courte (the Kinges grace our great master beinge alyve) waitinge on our Lordes and maisters, who also, for velvettis and silkis be right well araide, we have as good garmentis as some of our fellowis whiche gyve attendaunce in the court every daye.[15]

That the clothing of the Highlanders at this period was parti-coloured, or tartan, is evident from a foreign traveller’s record almost contemporaneous with John Elder’s epistle. Jean de Beaugué, who accompanied the expedition sent in 1548 by Henry II. of France under Montalembert, Sieur d’Essé, to aid the Scots against the English, wrote an account of his observations, printed in Paris in 1556. Of the appearance of certain Islanders among the troops at the siege of Haddington in the latter year he observes:—

Several Highlanders [or Wild Scots] followed them [the Scottish army] and they were naked except their stained shirts, and a certain light covering made of wool of various colours; carrying large bows, and similar swords and bucklers to the others, _i.e._ to the Lowlanders.[16]

Proof is thus supplied of the continued use of the Highland shirt, generally saffron-dyed; and the “light covering” was doubtless the mantle or breacan, the belted plaid, for this last is either identical with or a development of the over-cloak of Magnus Barefoot’s time.

In 1552 the Scottish Privy Council passed an Act for the formation of “tua ansaingyeis of fittmen,” to be raised in the Highland portion of Lord Huntly’s lieutenancy, for service in France. The instructions laid down for their equipment afford some idea of the dress of the Highland soldier of the period, since the levy was to be drawn from the north country. It is provided that the men are to be

Substantiouslie accomptirit with jack and plait, steilbonett, sword, bucklair, new hois and new dowblett of cannvus at the lest, and slevis of plait or splenttis, and ane speir of sax elnes lang or thairby.[17]

The trews (hois) and doublet are to be of canvas at least, presumably as a precaution against any shortcoming of woollen stuff; while the kilt or plaid appears to form no portion of the outfit on this occasion.

Of the dress of the common people another description, written about 1573, is given by Lindsay of Pitscottie. It is once more obvious that the belted plaid of latter days was then represented by a loose garment, which was probably plaited round the body to some extent. The chronicle sets forth:—

The other pairt [of Scotland] northerne, ar full of montaines, and verie rud and homlie kynd of people doeth inhabite, which is called the Reidschankis, or wyld Scottis. They be cloathed with ane mantle, with ane schirt fachioned (or saffroned) after the Irisch maner, going bair legged to the knie. Thair weapones ar bowis and dartes, with ane verie broad sword and ane dagger scharp onlie at the on syd.[18]