Tartan

“ Probably it was employed, for the most part, as a hunting tartan, by way of relief from the brilliancy of other designs of the same name. The strong resemblance between this scheme and that of the Atholl district tartan (popularly styled the Atholl-Murray) , suggests that at one time they were identical. ”

“ I will not state other objections, though so many occur, that the authenticity of the MS. being proved, I would rather suppose the author had been some tartan-weaver zealous for his craft, who wished to extend the use of tartan over the whole kingdom. I have been told, and believe till now, that the use of tartan was never general in Scotland (Lowlands) until the Union, when the detestation of that measure led it to be adopted as the national colour, and the ladies all affected tartan screens or mantles. ”

“ On this event the tartan here represented, up to that time known as Strathallan, appears to have been adopted by the Earl and some other branches of the family, and in the course of time the design came to be styled the Ogilvy, which is now its customary designation; the ground has sometimes been made blue instead of green. ”

“ Some of them with horn-hafted swords, large and military, over their shoulders. A man when he had to strike with them was obliged to apply both his hands to the haft. Others with bows, well polished, strong and serviceable, with long twanging hempen strings, and sharp-pointed arrows that whizzed in their flight. [34]
The tartan belted plaid is undoubtedly here described, since no other garment could have been so disposed as to afford the requisite protection. ”

“ 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 the word tartan does not seem to be a Scottish word, and probably comes from Tartar, which was formerly used to describe almost any Eastern people. Perhaps the fact that Eastern peoples love bright colours caused this name to be given to these bright materials, though there is nothing at all Eastern in the designs of the Scottish tartans. Another material with an Eastern name is sarcenet, or sarsenet, a soft, silky stuff now chiefly used for linings. [129]
Often in tales of olden times we read of people hiding behind the "arras." ”

“ The Mac Leods of Raasay wore a design in brilliant yellow whose authority is the Vestiarium Scoticum. An examination of the portraits and relics at Dunvegan Castle in Skye, the seat of Mac Leod of Mac Leod, has been made in search of records of the tartan of the clan. It has revealed the singular circumstance that in the only early portrait in tartan dress, that of the chief painted by Allan Ramsay in 1768, red is the predominant colour of the tartan plaid, while coat and trews are in “Rob Roy” check. Logan has stated, from recollection, that the plaid is in the Fraser pattern ”

“ Nothing authentic has been ascertained as to its first introduction, but traditions of its long use are plentiful among the families entitled to wear it. An ancient legend of the Ogilvys concerning their tartan has been deemed to apply to this pattern, and to prove its antiquity. It is averred that the fairies, displeased at the appropriation of so much of their favourite colour (green) in the design, cast their influence against the clan in one of its feuds, and brought about its overthrow. Hence, according to the legend, the adoption of the pattern shown in the preceding illustration. ”

“ In those days every lady in an undress wore a plaid when she went abroad. It was sometimes of one colour, scarlet, crimson, &c., but more commonly tartan or variegated. People fond of finery had silk ones, others wore woollen lined with silk ”

“ The Costume of the Clans, by John Sobieski Stuart and Charles Edward Stuart, contains a presentment of the painting which, though professedly coloured from the original, is nevertheless extremely inaccurate. It may be added that the tartan, which is that usually worn by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, who bears the title of the Lord of the Isles, has never hitherto been faithfully delineated in any previous work nor properly reproduced in any textile fabric of modern manufacture. ”

“ By permission of the Countess of Seafield, coloured drawings of these have been made, and comparison discovers a variety of design well-nigh as great as would be the case in an equal number of examples selected at random from as many different families. In one particular alone do they agree, and that is in the absence of any completely dark-coloured sett, such as is usually designated “uaine” or green. It is not till after the ’45 that there is an instance of any member of the clan wearing the so-called undress Grant tartan, now the familiar “Forty-Second” or Black Watch pattern. ”

“ Of the many valuable relics of the ’45 treasured by the Murray-Threipland family at Fingask, few possess greater interest than the cloak of Prince Charles Edward, whence the present representation is taken. It escaped the vandalism of the soldiery engaged in suppressing the rising, and it has since been jealously guarded, so that it is an unusually well-preserved example of the tartan manufactured in the early and middle portions of last century. In the notes on the Drummond of Perth, attention is directed to the fact that, save for one fine line, that design is the same as this one. ”

“ The women’s dress is the kirch, or white linen pinned round behind like a hood, and over the foreheads of married women, whereas maidens wear only a snood or ribbon round their heads: the tanac or plaid fastened over their shoulders and drawn over their heads in bad weather: a plaited long stocking, called ossan, is their high dress. [78]
These notes bring us down to the present century, and the account of works written on the subject which follows will give our readers some idea of the present state of the literature relating to tartan. ”

“ It is a half-length figure, and, while the coat is in simple red and blue check, the plaid is more elaborate in design. Clearly limned is an effective arrangement of red and blue, which are the only colours either in coat or plaid. Mrs Nisbet-Hamilton-Ogilvy suggests that this tartan may have been a special variety provided by Lord Ogilvy for his regiment. Careful investigation of old collections, however, reveals no earlier pattern attributed to the family than the one here given. ”

“ One can easily conceive what must have been the effect of this gallant force, unbroken by fatigue or pri [Pg 88] vation, and glorying in their enterprise, as they entered into the friendly county of Lancaster, filled with Roman Catholic gentry, who gathered around the standard of the Prince. The colours of the Tartan, which was worn, as we have seen, by the whole of the army, both Highlanders and Lowlanders, although denominated by a writer in the Scots' Magazine as a "vulgar glare," never offend the eye, but are, according to a high authority, "beautifully blended and arranged." ”

“ Several early examples of the pattern are in existence, and one of these is here reproduced in the exact tints of the original. As will be seen in the plate, the single red stripe is scarlet and the two fine red lines are crimson; but manufacturers, to save themselves trouble, have been accustomed to vitiate the design by failing to mark this distinction. It is noteworthy that the tartan bears little resemblance to any other Lochaber design of ancient date, and that the Kennedys, while generally allied with the Camerons, have ever maintained their own colours. ”

“ Silks, plaids, gay woollens, delightful things of all sorts in dry goods—which ladies especially can so well appreciate—are here in luxurious abundance, and at prices that do not seem to soar too high. As for tartans, one can study in color and pattern not only a whole encyclopædia of the heraldry of the clans, but may be shown combinations of checks and stripes, wrought into tartans never known in dream, use, or history, by any Highland clan. ”

“ Their coats are commonly tartan, striped with black, red, or some other colour, after a pattern made, upon a stick, of the yarn, by themselves, or some other ingenious contriver. Their waistcoats are either of the same, or some such stuff; but the feilabegs are commonly of breacan, or fine Stirling plaids, if their money can afford them.
At common work they use either short or long coats and breeches made of striped cloth, and many of them very coarse, according to their work. Their shirts are commonly made of wool ”

“ Their habite is shooes with but one sole apiece; stockings (which they call short hose) made of a warm stuffe of divers colours, which they call Tartane: as for breeches, many of them, nor their forefathers, never wore any, but a jerkin of the same stuffe that their hose is of, their garters being bands or wreathes of hay or straw, with a plead about their shoulders, which is a mantle of divers colours, much finer and lighter stuffe than their hose, with blue flat caps on their heads, a handkerchiefe knit with two knots about their necke ”

“ This tartane, which is not very different to look at from the other tartanes along the coast between Cette and Genoa, had started from a cove on the Giens peninsula. An old man with a white head of hair was entrusted with the service, and really they could have found nobody better. He came round Cape Esterel intending to pass through the Hyères Roadstead. Apparently he did not expect to find the Amelia in his way. ”

“ 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. ”

“ With their tartans for their shrouds,
Menzies, Malcolms from the islands,
Frasers from the upper Highlands—
Callous is the passer by
Who can turn without a sigh
From the tufts of heather deep
Where the noble clansmen sleep. ”

“ The old woman raised an idiotic, cadaverous face, with a goitre swaying upon her throat as large as the rustic bell of a Swiss cow. Then, after gazing at him for a long time, she was seized with inextinguishable laughter, which stretched her mouth from ear to ear, wrinkled up the corners of her little eyes, and every time she opened them the sight of Tartarin, planted before her with his ice-axe on his shoulder, redoubled her joy.
“Tron de l’air!” growled the Tarasconese, “lucky for her that she’s a woman...” ”

“ Tartarin began cutting down his food, taking very watery soup. Early in the morning, too, he walked round the town seven or eight times, and at nights he would stay in the garden from ten till eleven o'clock, alone with his gun, to inure himself to night chills; while, so long as the menagerie remained in Tarascon, a strange figure might have been seen in the dark, prowling around the tent, listening to the growling of the lion. This was Tartarin, accustoming himself to be calm when the king of beasts was raging. ”

“ Tartarin knew who these pirates were—“they,” of course, the celebrated “they” who had too often been hunted after by him in the by-ways of Tarascon. At last they had decided to meet him face to face. At the outset surprise nailed him to the spot. But when he saw the outlaws fall upon the luggage, tear off the tarpaulin covering, and actually commence the pillage of the ship, then the hero awoke. Whipping out his hunting-sword, “To arms! to arms!” he roared to the passengers; and away he flew, the foremost of all, upon the buccaneers. “Ques aco? What’s the stir? What’s the matter with you?” ”

“ The unfortunate Tartarin did not know where to shrink. The fond, mute gaze of these splendrous Oriental orbs agitated him, perturbed him, and made him feel like dying with flushes of heat and fits of cold shivers.
To finish him, the lady’s slipper meddled in the onslaught: he felt the dainty thing wander and frisk about over his heavy hunting boots like a tiny red mouse. What could he do? Answer the glance and the pressure, of course. Ay, but what about the consequences? A loving intrigue in the East is a terrible matter! ”

“ AT Milianah, Tartarin of Tarascon alighted, leaving the stage-coach to continue its way towards the South.
Two days’ rough jolting, two nights spent with eyes open to spy out of window if there were not discoverable the dread figure of a lion in the fields beyond the road—so much sleeplessness well deserved some hours repose. Besides, if we must tell everything, since his misadventure with Bombonnel, the outspoken Tartarin felt ill at ease, notwithstanding his weapons, his terrifying visage, and his red cap, before the Orleansville photographer and the two ladies fond of the military. ”