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comfort, are less solicitous about personal appearance, and less willing to bear personal privations in regard to food and accommodation. To such privations the former readily submit, that they may be enabled to procure arms and habiliments which may set off to advantage a person unbent and unsubdued by conscious inferiority, with limbs unshackled, and accustomed to move with ease and grace. The point of personal decoration once secured, it mattered not to the Highlander that his dwelling was mean, his domestic utensils scanty and of the simplest construction, and his household furniture merely such as could be prepared by his own hands. He was his own cooper, carpenter, and shoemaker, while his wife improved the value of his dress by her care and pride in preparing the materials. To be his own tailor or weaver he thought beneath him; these occupations were left to such as, from deficiency in strength, courage, or natural ability, were disqualified for the field or the chace. Gentlemen on horseback, old men, and others, occasionally wore the truis. These were both breeches and stockings in one piece, were made to fit perfectly close to the limbs, and were always of tartan, though the coat or jacket was sometimes of green or blue cloth. The waistcoat and short coat were adorned with silver buttons, tassels, embroidery, or lace, according to the fashion of the times. But the arrangements of the belted plaid were of greatest importance in the toilet of a Highlandman of fashion. This was a piece of tartan two yards in breadth, and four in length, which surrounded the waist in large plaits, or folds, adjusted with great nicety, and confined by a belt, buckled tight round the body, while the lower part came down to the knees, the other was drawn up and adjusted to the left shoulder, leaving the right arm uncovered, and at full liberty. In wet weather, the plaid was thrown loose, and covered both shoulders and body; and when the use of both arms was required, it was fastened across the

• See Appendix, L.

breast by a large silver bodkin, or circular brooch, often enriched with precious stones, or imitations of them, having mottos engraved, consisting of allegorical and figurative sentences. These were also employed to fix the plaid on the left shoulder. A large purse of goat's or badger's skin, answering the purpose of a pocket, and ornamented with a silver or brass mouth-piece, and many tassels, hung before. * A dirk, with a knife and fork stuck in the side of the sheath, and sometimes a spoon, together with a pair of steel pistols, were essential accompaniments. The bonnet, which gentlemen generally wore with one or more feathers, completed the national garb. The dress of the common people differed only in the deficiency of finer or brighter colours, and of silver ornaments, being otherwise essentially the same; a tuft of heather, pine, holly, or oak, supplying the place of feathers in the bonnet. The garters were broad, and of rich colours, wrought in a small primitive kind of loom, the use of which is now little known, and formed a close texture, which was not liable to wrinkle, but which kept the pattern in full display. † The silver buttons were frequently found among the better and more provident of the lower ranks,—an inheritance often of long descent. The belted plaid, which was

• The ladies have recently adopted this purse, as a substitute for the female pocket, which has disappeared. The form and mouth-pieces of the Ridicule are a perfect model of the Highlanders' purses,

These garters are still made on the estate of General Campbell of Monzie, and on the banks of Lochow in Argyleshire.

The officers of the Highland regiments of Mackay's and Munroe's, who served under Gustavus Adolphus, in the wars of 1626 and 1638, “ in addition to rich buttons, wore a gold chain round the neck to secure the owner in case of being wounded or taken prisoner, good treatment, or payment for future ransom." In the Highlands, buttons of large size, and of solid silver, were worn, that, in the event of falling in battle, or dying in a strange country, and at a distance from their friends and their home, the value of the buttons might defray the expenses of a decent funeral. "The women," says Martin, "wore sleeves of scarlet cloth, closed at the end as men's vests, with gold lace round them, having plate buttons, set with fine stones. The head dress was a fine kerchief of linen

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generally double, or in two folds, formed, when let down so as to envelop the whole person, a shelter from the storm, and a covering in which the wearer wrapt himself up in full security, when he lay down fearlessly among the heather. This, if benighted in his hunting excursions, or on a distant visit, he by no means considered a hardship; nay, so little was he disturbed by the petty miseries which others feel from inclement weather, that, in storms of snow, frost, or wind, he would dip the plaid in water, and, wrapping himself up in it when moistened, lie down on the heath. The plaid thus swelled with moisture was supposed to resist the wind, so that the exhalation from the body during sleep might surround the wearer with an atmosphere of warm vapour. Thus their garb contributed to form their constitutions in early life for the duties of hardy soldiers, while their habits, their mental recollections, and the fearless spirit they nourished, rendered them equally intrepid in the attack, and firm in resisting an enemy.

In dyeing and arranging the various colours of their tartans, they displayed no small art and taste, preserving at the same time the distinctive patterns (or sets, as they were called) of the different clans, tribes, families, and districts. Thus a Macdonald, a Campbell, a Mackenzie, &c. was known by his plaid; and in like manner the Athole, Glenorchy, and other colours of different districts, were easily distinguishable. Besides those general divisions, industrious housewives had patterns, distinguished by the set, superior quality, and fineness of the cloth, or brightness and variety of the colours. In those times when mutual attachment and confidence subsisted between the proprie

strait about the head. The plaid was tied before on the breast, with a buckle of silver or brass, according to the quality of the person. I have seen some of the former of one hundred merks value, with the figures of various animals curiously engraved. A lesser buckle was worn in the middle of the larger. It had in the centre a large piece of crystal, or some finer stone, and this was set round with several precious stones of a lesser size."

• This is still worn by old women in Breadalbane, and other districts in Perthshire.

tors and occupiers of land in the Highlands, the removal of tenants, except in remarkable cases, rarely occurred, and consequently, it was easy to preserve and perpetuate any particular set, or pattern, even among the lower orders. *

I have dwelt the longer on the particulars of this costume, as much of the distinctive character of the people was connected with it. In Eustace's Classical Tour, he has some ingenious strictures on the European habit contrasted with the Asiatic costume. The former, he says, is stiff, formal, confined, full of right angles, and so unlike the drapery which invests the imperishable forms of grace and beauty left us by ancient sculptors, as to offer a revolting contrast to all that is flowing, easy, and picturesque in costume. The Asiatic dress, he observes, is only suited to the cumbrous pomp, and indolent effeminacy of Oriental customs: it impedes motion, and incumbers the form which it envelops. In one corner of Great Britain, he continues, a dress is worn by which these two extremes are avoided: it has the easy folds of a drapery, which takes away from the constrained and angular air of the ordinary habits, and is, at the same time, sufficiently light and succinct to answer all the purposes of activity and ready motion. With some obvious and easy alterations, he thinks it might, in many cases, be adopted with advantage.

At Inch Ewan, in Breadalbane, a family of the name of Macnab occupied the same farm, for nearly four centuries, till within these few years, the last occupier resigned. A race of the name of Stewart, in Glenfinglas, in Menteith, has for several centuries possessed the same farms, and, from the character and disposition of the present noble proprietor, it is probable that, without some extraordinary cause, this community will not be disturbed. It would be endless to give instances of the great number of years during which the same families possessed their farms, in a succession as regular and unbroken as that of the landlords. The family of Macintyre possessed the farm of Glenoe, in Nether Lorn, from about the year 1300 down till 1810. They were originally foresters of Stewart Lord Lorn, and were continued in their possession and employments after the succession of the Glenorchy and Breadalbane families to this estate by a marriage with a co-heiress of the last Lord Lorn of the Stewart family, in the year 1435.

SECTION VI.

Bards-Pipers-Music.

WHILE the common people amused themselves, as I will have occasion to notice afterwards, with recitals of poetry and imaginary or traditionary tales, every chief had his bard, whose office it was to celebrate the warlike deeds of the family and of individuals of the clan, to entertain the festive board with the songs of Ossian, of Ullin, and of Oran, and to raise the feelings and energies of the hearers by songs and narratives, in which the exploits of their ancestors and kinsmen were recorded. The bards were an important order of men in Highland society. In the absence of books they constituted the library, and concentrated the learning of the tribe. By retentive memories, indispensable requisites in their vocation, they became the living chronicles of past events, and the depositaries of popular poetry. They followed the clans to the field, where they eulogised the fame resulting from a glorious death, and held forth the honour of expiring in the arms of victory in defence of their beloved country, as well as the disgrace attending dastardly conduct, or cowardly retreat. Before the battle they passed from tribe to tribe, and from one party to another, giving to all exhortations and encouragement; and when the commencement of the fight rendered it impossible for their voice to be heard, they were succeeded by the pipers, who, with their inspiring and warlike strains, kept alive the enthusiasm which the bard had inspired. When the contest was decided, the duties of these two public functionaries again became important. The bard was employed to honour the memory of the brave who had fallen, to celebrate the actions of those who survived, and to excite them to future deeds of valour. The piper, in

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