Operation Ding-Dong

A copy of the book The Setts of the Scottish Tartans by Donald Calder Stewart. FSA Scot. First published in 1950 that belonged to Capt. T S Davidson, Hon Sec. of the Scottish Tartans Society is in the STA archives and contains a series of communications between various individuals and introduced by the letter below from Stuart Davidson dated October 1965.

"Some years ago the late Miss Margaret MacDougall FSA Scot., wrote some notes and comments on the above publication. In 1963 these notes were passed on to Mr J MacGregor Hastie FSA Scot., who enlarged on them. The Scottish Tartans Society then, with Mr Macgregor Hastie's blessing, passed the notes direct to Mr D C Stewart, the author of the above book.

The notes appended might be described as a shot by shot account of the battle that ensued and which came to be known affectionately in this office as 'Operation Ding-Dong.' We feel that it is worthy of note that there were no casualties in this battle and the relationship between the protagonists is still of a most cordial nature.

We feel sure that much remains to be said concerning many of the points raised and it is for this reason that we are making a fairly wide distribution of these notes. Comment and/or criticism is not only welcome but freely invited for only by such an attitude can we entertain any hope of arriving at anything approaching the truth.
We understand from Mr D C Stewart that a second edition of his valuable work is at the moment under consideration and that many points brought out in the course of this exchange will be incorporated in the new edition.

The Scottish Tartans Society, signed (Capt T S Davidson) Hon Sec.
The Talbooth,
Broad Street,
Stirling, Scotland.
Oct, 1965"

Operation Ding Dong - Report

All notes refer to the colour strips in "The Setts of the Scottish Tartans" by D C Stewart Esq., FSA Scot. Published by Messrs Oliver & Boyd 1950.

'A' - Original comments on the Setts by J MacGregor Hastie.
'B' - Notes by the late Miss M MacDougall of Inverness, addressed to Ingles Buchan Esq., of Galashiels.
'C' - D C Stewart's response to 'A' and 'B' above.
'D' - second wave of the attack.
'E' - DCS response to 'D'
'F' - MacG.H. Response - third wave of attack.
'G' - DCS summary.

Page 44
Abercrombie.
'A' - Logan. Central blue square should be doubled.
'C' - Doubling of blue agreed.

Page 44
Anderson
'A' - Johnston 2 Vol. Grey in place of Azure.
'B' - grey should be azure blue.
'C' - grey to azure agreed.

Page 45
Balmoral
The specimens, kilt and gillie's, show that we have been at cross-purposes. Unquestionably, these are early, perhaps the earliest form of the Balmoral. I have mentioned a B. tweed; while this is similar in effect to the ground of the tartan, it has a red fleck on a very dark navy and white ground, with an all-white weft. The white weft was more noticeable on one side of the cloth than on the other. A similar, but mush slighter, effect appears in the tartan

The use of the tweed was abandoned in more recent times, well over thirty years ago, in favour of a lovat mixture with a brown overcheck. The fact that the family had to use an old kilt worn by Edward VII as a lad, when they wanted to fit out the late Duke of Kent's son, suggests that the B. kilt tartan also had been abandoned; I doubt if they used the old kilt from a purely sentimental regard for its original wearer, and we may suppose the B. kilt tartan was no longer in stock, and not considered worth reviving for a minor member of the family.

D.W.S. wrote: "On the occasion of a royal marriage, Her Majesty's gifts to the bride invariably include articles of costume of this tartan." The photograph at p. All of Hesketh's "Tartans" shows the first instance of this usage. Heavy as was the clothing in mid-Victorian days, it is hard to suppose that so voluminous a dress would be made from our weighty B. kilt material, although the sett is of the same size. for a trousseau silk would be more appropriate: so, also, would less-granite-like colours. Even allowing for the false rendering of tone-values in the photography of the period, it is unlikely that such dark material would have come out so pale, with the black and red standing away from the dark greys of our specimens. On the other hand, a silk material in the colours of the O. & R. would give precisely the effect shown in the photograph. I suggest, therefore, that while there was a rendering of the B. in black, red, and two greys, used for the heavy woollen material, there was also a lighter version in black, red, lavender and pale grey, for feminine wear, and that this version alone was in use at the period of 'O. & R.'. That A.A.B. knew only the kilt version would be explained by the fact that his firm was concerned with wool, but not with silk. It would seem natural that only the feminine, silk version - just as truly a Balmoral tartan - would appear in 'O. & R.'.

Such is my hypothesis; and until we can come on some reliable historical information I am sticking to it. I cannot at present bring myself to believe that the 'O. & R.' rendering is merely a misrepresentation of the heavy masculine material. This is not filial piety, my stock of which is limited, but rather an assessment of probabilities.

Balmoral
No more to add. We agree that the tweed mixture was the original.

Balmoral
'A' - Old and Rare. ?lavender colour quoted. Original is grey mixture.
'B' - lavender wrong, should be dark grey.
'C' - lav, in my plate is too strong, the impression of the colour being a mixture results from the unidirectional sheen of the silk; the silk used is actually a pale lavender, not a neutral grey nor a mixture of the two.
'D' - I take it that you based your description of this sett from Old and Rare. My criticism is based on a piece of the original cloth, now in my collection at Stirling, taken from the kilt of Edward VII when a young prince. The background is not a plain grey but a mixture of black and grey.
'E' - Ed. VII was born 1841, so your specimen would date from the 1850's. Balmoral was built about this time. The Pr. Consort produced 2 designs - one, the Balmoral Tartan; the other the Balmoral Tweed. I quote from a note on the letter in the publication of the National Association of Scottish Woollen Mfrs., dated 1933. "...Pr. Albert's Balmoral - one of the few on an intricate weave. The warp arrangement is one of white, 2 of navy and white twist, 1 of navy and scarlet, 2 of navy and white. The weft is white, which from the nature of the weave mostly goes to the back. The weave unit is 8, so that it is only after 24 threads that the pattern repeats. It has also remained without imitators, and the heavy texture of the original cloth has caused its abandonment..."

How does this description tally with your Ed. VII fragment? It may be that something of the sort was attempted for the ground of the tartan, but it would not be the same, for reasons obvious to any weaver. If some alternative scheme of mixed yarns was tried first, it would also seem to have been abandoned later, for the following reasons.

When the tartan was invented, the Royal Appointment to supply it was given exclusively to Messrs Romanes and Paterson. At the time of the production of 'Old and Rare' my father, D.W.S., was a partner in the firm specifically concerned with the tartan side of the business, and he obtained Victoria's sanction for the inclusion of the specimen.

Particular care would therefore be taken to see that the rendering was correct; and it would have been as easy to obtain mixed yarns in silk as in wool. To publicise a travesty would have been more than the Royal Appointment was worth. Whatever peculiarities the tartan may have had a generation earlier, I think we may regard the 'Old and Rare' form as authoritative in 1893.
'F' - Regarding your quote from the National Assn. of Scottish Woollen Mfrs. 1933; the navy mentioned in this quote does not strike any bell with me. Besides the Edward VII spec. in my collection there is also a Gillies sett in the heavy tweed. This latter was obtained from Forsyth's in London before the war. The pattern and colours are the same as the Edward VII spec. I have asked Capt. Davidson to send the latter piece on to you for your examination.

If this tartan was made in 1893 to the same specifications as given in the 'Old and Rare', it must have been altered with Q. Victoria's request or demand. This will agree with your conclusions.
'-' - Dear D.C.S.,
A few days ago after reading through some of the battle dispatches from the MacG.H.-D.C.S. Front I suddenly remembered my visit to Mr A.A. Bottomley of Peter MacArthur & Co. Ltd., Hamilton and the fact that he had been telling me something interesting about the Balmoral Tartan. I wrote and asked him if he would be so kind as to let me have note of what it was he told me. Here is his reply:-

"With regard to the Balmoral Tartan, the position is that the designer used a combination of black and white twist, white, black with scarlet overcheck. However certain manufacturers who copied the design were unable to go to the expense and difficulty of using special twist yarns, and therefore employed the easiest method, i.e. using dyed greys. As you are probably aware, it is extremely difficult to dye a good grey any way similar to a mixture. So often dyed greys have a bluish slate effect. D.C. Stewart, in his book, describes the tartan as having grey and lavender, which is obviously wrong. This description however, has been occasioned by the difficulties outlined above. I am sorry that I am unable to send you a pattern of true Balmoral design, as our records appear to have been mislaid during our removal three years ago."
Yours etc..,
'G' - All at cross purposes. MacG.H. and A.A.B. had vivid impressions of the early woollen specimens, but not of 'O. & R.'. I knew only the 'O. & R.' version till I saw MacG.H.'s specimens. The latter clearly establish the original form of the tartan, but (E) I give my argument for adhering to the 'O. & R.' form as representing a later but equally authentic rendering, adapted to the use of Royal brides. See the photo of Alexandra in the Hesketh book.

Barclay
'A' - Vest. Scot.
'B' - Fine green and red lines should be double width given.
'C' - The Vest. Scot. plate shows a ratio of 1:16.

Page 46
Black Watch
'A' - Wilson. Colours too light.
'B' - My colours had to be lighter than now used, so as to make them unambiguous. The Cockburn swatches are all lighter than is now customary.
'D' - Your reasons for colours quoted are understood and agreed. They were certainly lighter originally but not so light.

Page 49
Cameron of Lochiel
'A' - Smith. Portrait of Lochiel 1762 better authority that Smith.
'B' - Fine white lines should be double width given.
'C' - The white is in the proportion shown in the portrait, J. T. Dunbar - History of Highland Dress. Plate 21.

Page 50
Campbell of Breadalbane (Old)
'A' - Wilson.
'B' - See Johnston and Innes re extreme right hand black band.
'C' - M.McD. comment not understood.

Campbell of Breadalbane
'A' - Smith. Called Abercrombie by Wilson.
'B' - Black line through centre of blue band should be same width as yellow. Fancy.
'C' - M.McD. But also Geo. Black relic, not later than 1843 (in Stirling - S.T.S. - collection): and Smiths say they had their specimen from the Marquess.

Page 51
Chisholm
'A' - Vest. Scot.
'B' - Black line now always rendered in blue.
'C' - The Vest. Scot. plate shows blue, but the text says black.

Page 52
Clergy
(28) Bk Light Blue. Lavender Bk. LB. Bk. LB. Lav. LB. Bk. LB.
4 4 28 32 4 32 4 8 4 16 4

Leave lines 1-4 of text then:-

...sold at the present time." The better known sett, (28), shown in several of the books, has been the subject of considerable confusion. It first appears in Smith, 1850, and again in James Grant, 1885. The Smith plate shows it in black, lavender and light blue; Grant's has black and two shades of blue. James Grant writes of it: 'The Breacan na'n Clerich, or tartan of the clergy, a mixture of white, black and, grey stripes, is referred to by Logan in his 'Scottish Gael'." No plate showing the sett for which Logan gave the count had been published, and it would seems as if Grant consulted Logan's book so far as to note the colours, but without checking Logan's design against that in the Smith work; and that Grant's printers used for his illustration the design already appearing in Smith, on the assumption that Smith must be correct. The present author therefore somewhat rashly concluded that, although a second Clergy tartan, differing in character from Logan's, had been evolved, it should still have been in the colours named by Grant - black, grey, white - and that the Smiths had been responsible for changing the colours. This explains, if it does not excuse, the form taken by the count and strip No 28, in the first edition of 'The Setts'.

What the author did not then know was that in the 1847 records of Wilson of Bannockburn was the count for a tartan they named "Priest". The colours to be used were black, lavender, light blue; and the proportions of the stripes were as in the Smith Clergy. The Wilson count was put forward to the author to show that the Smith rendering was entirely correct. But when the Wilson count was drawn on paper as a colour strip, it became immediately apparent that it differed materially from the Smith version in effect, though not in colour. This important difference arose from the fact that one of the lavender stripes in the Smith should have been, according to Wilson, black. It might be thought that, had that been all, these were two alternative setts; but that was not all. In appearance the Smith design is quite unlike the Logan; but as soon as one of the lavender stripes in the Smith is rendered in black, as specified by Wilson, it becomes evident that the Wilson scheme is closely related to Logan's, being in fact a shortened version of it, in livelier colours.

One is thus driven to the conclusion that the Wilson version was what was being produced at the time the Smiths were preparing their book, but that their plate accidentally gave a false rendering of it. In some of the copies of Smith another, finer, stripe of black becomes lavender, further weakening the design; and in some the light blue appears as light green. Altogether an unfortunate piece of printing.

Just when the Wilson modifications were made does not appear, but we may suppose them to have been commercially more acceptable.

Page 54
Cunningham
'A' - Vest. Scot.
'B' - Thin blue lines (either side of white) should be rendered in black.
'C' - MacD says blue lines should be black. In my abstracts from the Vest. Scot. I made a note emphasising this blue, presumably it was so in the text, though black in the plate.

Page 56
Douglas
'A' - Logan.
'B' - Black between blue guards should be double the width.
'C' - MacD says black should be doubled. Not so in Logan, but so in Smibert. ? Wilson
'G' - Take your choice.

Drummond
'A' - Smith, Johnston.
'B' - '...Clan.' Four narrow blue lines through centre of red band should all be same width. c.f. Grant (70).
'C' - MacD says quadruple blue lines should be equal.
Equal:- Smibert's Drummond, Smith's "Grant", James Grant's "Drummond" and "Grant".
Unequal:- Dress of Lady Drummond, 1746, (Kingussie); Malcolm MacCallum of Glen Lyon, 1822; Logan's "Grant"; Smibert's Grant"; Smith's Drummond.
'G' - Kingussie version should prevail.

Drummond (Old)
'A' - "Old and Rare".
'B' - Vest. Scot. c.f. Hay (75).

Page 57
Dunbar
'A' - Vest. Scot. No mention of Wilson's Black and White sett.
'B' - ? Bk & Red Wilson sett.
'D' - The black and red sett was seen by me in a collection of Wilson's on loan to Wm. Anderson, George Street, Edinburgh, in 1934. Please remind me to quote the count later.
'G' - Wilson counts to be consulted for this.

Wilson sett noted. McG.H. specimen is as my 47, from Vest. Scot.

Page 58
Farquharson
'B' - Logan's.
'G' - '?'

Page 59
Fletcher of Dunans
'A' - Johnston.
'B' - This is the "Fletcher of Dunans". The Fletcher has a black line NOT red through centre of green.
'G' - Accepted.

Page 61
Gordon
'A' - Vest. Scot. Triple yellow.
'B' - Ancient - to distinguish it from 64.
'C' - MacD.; "Ancient", to distinguish it from 64". As ancient as the Vest. Scot.
'G' - Cannot accept that appearance in the Vest. Scot., entitles the sett to be described as ancient. The Gordon with one yellow is known to be 18th. cent.

Page 62
Gow
'A' - D.C.S. only. Incorrect. Given a black bar where it should be blue. Highland Society Collection.
'C' - MacG.H. says H. Soc. of London Coll. shows blue, not black. Positive blue? Many old blacks are blue, brown or, green
'D' - A piece of cloth from Niel Gow's trews is in the collection of the Highland Society's Coll. The blue is definitely a navy.
'E' - The authority quoted is convincing; I must make the change.

Graham of Montrose
'A' - Smith. Wilson gives is at Abercrombie.
'C' - Wilson gives it as Abercrombie. But it is Graham of Montrose in Cockburn.

Page 63
Grant
'A' - (70) Logan & Smith. Called Glenmoriston.
'C' - (70) Called Glenmoriston.
'A' - (71) Vest. Scot. Called Rothiemurchus.
'C' - (71) Called Rothiemurchus.
'D' - (70 & 71) So described to Miss MacDougall by families concerned.
'G' - (70 & 71) Noted.

Page 64
Hay-Leith
'A' - Wilson as Leith. Logan as Hay.
'B' - Purple should be Royal Blue.
'C' - Hay and Leith - MacD: Purple should be Royal Blue. Dealt with in setts.
'G' - According to Capt. Hay of Hayfield (Aboyne - Sep.1965), the name of this tartan should be Hay in Leith.

Hay
'A' - Vest. Scot.
'B' - White stripes should be same size as the green flanking stripes.
'C' - Not so in Vest. Scot. Plate.
'G' - Will check this.

Page 65
Home
'A' - Vest. Scot.
'B' - This is correct NOT Innes.

Page 67
Innes & MacInnes
'A' - McIntyre North from. Logan. This is strictly MacInnes. Innes has the second sett in black.
'B' - "?" sits on top of black line running thro' green band.
'G' - Will be revised to accord with Lyon Register sett.

Page 71
Livingstone
'A' - Bain. Johnston's not correct. No mention of Wilson's sett.
'C' - No mention because no knowledge.
'D' - Remarks on Dunbar apply likewise to this one.
'G' - Wilson count to be consulted.
Wilson sett noted. of McG.H.'s specimens, 3 show differing setts. The 2c looks like a mistake for 2a, with one red band accidentally omitted.
The 2c pattern was from Forsyths of London, and the only one in their pattern book. whether this was a mistaken weave or an especially woven variation I cannot say.

Logan
'A' - (93) Logan & MacLennan. - Logan.
'D' - (93) Bain's 1st Ed. July 1938 is the only illustration of this sett. It was changed at the request of the chief of the Clan in Bain's reprint ed. to the present sett, your No. 93.
'G' - (93) 'this sett' in 'D' above - No. 94.
'A' - (94) (Red) Wilson. Green Logan (Bain's 1st edit.) not mentioned.
'C' - (94) MacG.H.'s remark puzzling; surely 93 is the green Logan? 93 is the one in my 1st ed. Bain - 1939 reprint of 1938 publication, not a new edition.
'G' - (94) Examples of this with Wilson letters 1793-1806 now under consideration.

Page 72
MacAlister
'A' - Smith (Mauchline) Yellow lines sett not mentioned.
'C' I have four counts for yellow lined setts, three of which are widely differing counts of the same scheme; thus, I have two schemes with yellow. These, with 95 and 96, made six, and some selection was necessary. The two chosen seemed the most authoritative, though it was claimed for one of the yellow line setts that it dated from 1800. I plumped for safety.
'G' - More precise information may turn up.

Page 73
MacAlpine
'A' - D.C.S. only D.C.S. incorrect - outer black lines should be blue - more difference than he says.
'C' - Possibly should be G Bk. Y. B. G. B. G. Bk. etc.
2 8 2 8 2 2 12 2
These are the colours in the Johnston pocket book of 1910 and 1929, and F. Adam, 1934.
'D' - Yes. The outer half of your broad black square is always made in navy blue as per Johnstone.
'E' - I shall change as suggested, though it looks odd. Any date of origin? In Scottish N & Q., 4th Ser. Vol. VI, it says at p.264 that "Rob Roy" is the tartan of Clan Alpine; and at page 368 that an alpine tartan had never been heard of. This was Oct. 22nd. 1870.
'F' - I know of no earlier origin than Johnston. The apparent contradiction in the two statements could be accounted for by the fact that the Clan Gregor were always known as Clan Alpin. The second statement may apply to the MacAlpine family.

MacArthur
'A' - Vest. Scot. No mention of Highland Society's sett - double yellow lines.
'C' - Ignorant of H. Soc. double yellow line sett.
'D' - This two yellow line sett is, if my memory serves me right, the only MacArthur sett in the collection of the Highland Society. Another sett to quote.
'F' - It will be interesting to see how the H. Soc. of L. sett differs
H. Soc. of Lond. sett noted. Clearly related to my 98, a Vest. Scot. sett.

MacAulay
'A' - Peter & McIntyre North, Grant was not the originator of this variation.
'B' - This is sett in modern use.

Page 74
MacBeth
'A' - Brydone (1862). Johnstone 1891.
'B' - The narrow yellow lines on outside of narrow whites in black band should be white.
'C' - MacD: Johnston 1910 shows this line W, but so palpable a crib from Royal Stuart should follow it as far as maybe.
'G' - Consider above oddity is due to mistake in printing.

Page 75
MacCallum (Old)
'A' - Old & Rare.
'B' - Azure blue stripes on outside of Bk lines running thro' green band should be all the same size.
'C' - MacD. must have had a badly printed plate in her copy; the count would show that.

MacColl
'A' - Bain. No mention of green sett. D.C.S. gives fine lines as blue. They are brown.
'C' - What green sett? B lines more probably should be Bk., if B is wrong. Yet I saw this sett as grouped with 38 Dalziel (Logan) and 200 Munro (Smith etc..), in which these lines are B. Compare also 44 Drummond and 70 Grant.
'D' - The fine lines in the red sett are definitely brown. Wm Andersons of Edin. have made this, so a line to Alex Yule can confirm it. The green sett is another one to quote.
'E' - I suppose we must follow Anderson.
'G' - But still consider it 'fancy'
Two McG.H. specimens and a hunting count. The W lines in 1a become green in 1b. The hunting is as 1a. These are described as green setts in distinction from the grant-like 106, but they are not markedly green.
The correct hunting tartan is 1a with the whlines (white lines?). by MacArthur of Glasgow.

Page 76
MacDonald of Staffa
'A' - MacKay & Bain. Wilson's sett not mentioned although older.
'C' - Wilson sett not known; older than Cockburn?
'D' - Johnston gives it, but it is not complete.
'E' - The Johnston plate probably follows Grants, which differs slightly from Smith. Mine follows Cockburn.

Lord of the Isles
'A' - (Red with Bk. ov.ck.) - "Old & Rare" & MacKay. Should have included the sett without the black also. It may be even older.
'C' - Re. Bk. ov.ck., see 'O & R', Pl.1. and text. 1750 at latest.
'D' - I am inclined to agree with MacKay. See also remarks in the 'Grameid; on the 300 men of Glengarry all wearing the triple stripe.
'E' - I set no value on setts described in the Grameid as being entirely fanciful.
'F' - Although you may se no value on setts described in the 'Grameid', you cannot but be impressed with his description of Glengarry and his men all dressed in the triple stripe. how else could you have described the Lord of the Isles if you had been James Philip? I fear we must agree to disagree here. Actually the description 'triple stripe' does not so greatly matter as the fact that Glengarry men were all in uniform in the mid 17th. cent.
'G' - Still quite unimpressed.

Lord of the Isles (Htg. Old)
'A' - 'Old & Rare'.
'B' - Blue should be dark green. (D.C.S. states this is NOT so and quotes D.W.S. Plate II.)
'C' - MacD.: I state the B should be B, not G, and stick to it.
'G' - Dalgety has seen the portrait, and says it shows B. Lord MacDonald says his tartan has "always" had the G, but has been asked to examine the portrait. His reply is pending.

MacDonald Clan
'A' - Wilson-Logan. Portrait.
'C' - What portrait?
'D' - The portrait referred to is of Alasdair MacDonald of Glencoe, who escaped the massacre in 1692. see opp. page 72 in J.G. MacKay.
'E' - Does the 17th century portrait show a different tartan?
'F' - With the usual allowances being made for portraiture, the tartan of MacDonald of Glencoe is as now worn.
'G' - The '17th cent.' portrait has every characteristic of early 19th cent.

MacDonald Glengarry
'A' - McKay & Johnston. D.C.S. takes Raeburn's portrait too seriously. No painter is line perfect.
'C' - Agreed; but an examination of Raeburn's painting infuriated me.

MacDonald of Clanranald
'A' - MacDonald of Glengarry. Wilson - Smith. Called Clan Ranald in Vest. Scot.
'B' - 'Chief of Clanranald' NOT 'of Glengarry'.
'C' - MacD. Agreed. - so called in Vest. Scot., its first appearance. But Smiths had it from Miss MacDonnell of Glengarry. see Setts, p.77.
'G' - These notes due for revision.

MacDonell Glengarry (Red)
'A' - MacKay. D.C.S. does not acknowledge MacKay, nor does he include red Clanranald.
'B' - This sett is called the 'Mull Dress'.
'C' - MacKay's Red Clanranald was originally to have been included; but late in the day, I decided to find a place for the Boisdale, and pushed MacKay out to make room for it. Unscholarly, but I could not face redrawing all subsequent plate, as would otherwise have been necessary.

MacDougall
'A' - Wilson & Smith. White lines quoted should be pink.
'C' - I interpreted these lines as white. Margaret MacD. makes no comment.
'D' - Quoted by Wilson's 1819 as pink.
'E' - Note that the white always adjoins crimson. Wilson may have entered their count from an older specimen in which the crimson dye had bled into the white in the finishing process. Wilsons cannot have been first every time, or necessarily right all the time. see your own latest note on 133 Glenorchy.
'F' - Agreed.

Page 81
MacFarlane
'B' - (128) Purple should really be blue with a purple tinge.
'G' - (128) Colour in strip too purple.
'A' - (129) Vest. Scot. Htg sett should have been included.
'C' - (129) Ignorant of Hunting sett. Cockburn shows Red Menzies as MacFarlane.
'D' - (129) Surprised. It has red squares changed to green.
'G' - (129) Who can keep up with all these hunting tartans?

MacFarlane Hunting. McG.H. specimen. As Logan's count, but with R ground changed to G.

Page 83
MacIntyre & Glenorchy
'A' - (133) "Old & Rare" Glenorchy. Wilson adds pink guard lines?
'C' - (133) This is related to, but simpler than the Cockburn piece, which is entitled Cumming or Glenorchy. Know nothing of Wilson's pink guards.
'D' - (133) Wilson does indeed add pink lines, but have seen 18th century piece which agrees with 'Old & Rare'.
'A' - (134) Red MacIntyre from Smith. (Not Glenorchy).
'C' - Miss MacD., in Bain, calls this MacIntyre of Whitehouse.

Page 85
MacKay
'A' - Wilson - Logan. No mention of Inverness coat or Norwich sett - yellow lines.
'C' - Know nothing of Inverness coat or Norwich sett with yellow lines.
'D' - Coat of tartan found in Reay country now in Inverness museum - early 18th. c. Norwich Museum sett different from above & has yellow lines.
'E' - I must see the Inverness coat; but does being found in the Reay country make it a MacKay tartan? It may have belonged to a sworn enemy. or to a fugitive outsider.
19th c. specimen. As Logan's count, but his "corbeau" has been changed to purple. Norwich sett, Y lines, will be noted when I come to the Norwich files.

MacKeane
'A' - (MacIan) - "Old & Rare". An early portrait - he also calls it 'Glencoe'.
'C' - It is not I who call it Glencoe.
'D' - See you text on p.77. Apologies. I read it as your own comment.

Page 87
MacKinnon
'A' - (143) D.C.S. only. He is incorrect - not azure. The Cockburn Collection. specimen which he quotes has pink lines. This is also verified by Wilson.
'C' - (143) I originally had these lines white, as in Logan but changed them to azure on the strength of the Cockburn swatch, which I did not see as pink. Smibert has PINK. What is the date of Wilson's pink? Later than Cockburn? This would explain Smibert. It may be that Wilson's dye bled. I have a note that a clan tartan now worn by MacKinnons has these lines in purple.
'D' - (143) Wilson's key book, 1819 gives two counts for this sett for two different reds. The colours are the same for both counts. They are: white, scarlet, green, purple, scarlet, green, scarlet, purple, green, scarlet, green, pink, scarlet, white. According to Paterson's note, Cockburn Colln., has pink as the first colour.
'E' - (143) I must work out a strip for this sometime - given a count.
'G' - (143) Lyon Register MacKinnon now has a Pink pivot. See Chev. MacKinnon's book "Clan MacKinnon". This Makes the Seventh version.
'A' - (144) Vest. Scot.
'C' - (144) There is a hunting version:- W/G Brown G R
2 16 16 2
Where I have Az., Wilson has pink, and McG.H's own weave has W. What does Cockburn have? Count for Hunting noted.
Remarks not understood. My own woven pattern was taken from Wilsons and the pink and W lines are the same. Try reading count from bottom. Cockburn sett is the same.

MacKintosh
'A' - Chief. Wilson - Smith. Ignores Lord Lyon and does not mention Clan Chattan.
'C' - "Ignores Lord Lyon..." So what? There are several versions, of which one in Cockburn is not seen elsewhere.
'D' - MacKintosh & MacPherson in Cockburn, on Paterson's examination are stated to be the same sett. this corresponds to the crubin plaid. The Moy Hall specimen, and the Farquharson of Finzean setts have the added white lines crossing the red squares. Smiths incorrectly exchange their two plates. The Lyon is by no means the first one to proclaim this sett as Clan Chattan. Here we have three of the Chattan Clans with the tradition of using the same design. Surely rather much to be dubbed as coincidence?
'E' - We have (1) Crubin (2) Cockburn (3) 146 MacKintosh (Smith) (4) 174 MacPherson (5) Clan Chattan Chief (Lyon); which is "Finzean's Fancy" (6) Clan Chattan (Lyon). All these differ. Cockburn names his MacKintosh, and does not give any tartan to MacPherson. I have heard a MacPherson discourse on (5) and (6), but dare not repeat it.
'F' - All specimens you quote:- Crubin - Cockburn - Smith - Lyon - Finzean - etc.., are but variations of one and the same tartan, and can by no means be classed as different setts. For there is no need for me to point out the variation that occur in many old setts, you already know them.
'G' - It is not for me to settle the MacKintosh-MacPherson squabbles.

Page 88
MacLachlan
'A' - "Old & Rare" - Does not mention Red & Green sett.
'C' - The red and green sett is mentioned in L.5 of my quotation from "Old & Rare".
'D' - Apologies. I had overlooked the text.

Page 89
MacLaren
'A' - Smith. Wilson calls it 'Regent' and Logan misquotes it as 'Maclaren'.
'C' - Wilson's name, Regent, is interesting - the Regency was 1811-1820. The MacLarens therefore adopted it between 1820 and the time Logan came on it. probably 1825-1830. Wilson may have changed the name to Maclaren about 1822.

MacLaine of Lochbuie
'A' - "Old & Rare".
'B' - Green should be 2 1/2 times Azure.
'C' - MacD: The O & R version is strictly x2, but there may be other older examples which show x2 1/2. Given in Cockburn as Sinclair.
'D' - I was quoting from memory.

MacLaine of Lochbuie (Htg)
'A' - "Old & Rare"
'B' - No black guards to yellow stripes.
'C' - MacD: Frank Adam shows the black, but the print is poor; he wrote: "The Hunting sett (for which I am indebted to the courtesy of the late Lochbuie) is a modern one." M'G.H.: This is not in 'O & R'

MacLean of Duart
'A' - Wilson - Smith
'B' - Black stripes flanking azure lines should be only double width of narrow black.
'C' - MacD: Black stripes double in Logan and Smibert versions (Which have other differences also), but nearly treble in Smith and J. Grant. In Cockburn (named Stewart) the ration is 10:6. You pays your penny and takes your choice.

MacLean of Duart (Htg)
'A' - Vest. Scot.
'B' - Black Line thro' centre of broad green band should be double this width.
'C' - MacD: The V.S. plate has it as I have it; the lines first appear equal in 'O & R'., and this has since been followed.

Page 91
MacLeod Yellow
'A' - Vest. Scot. The oldest sett is red and black.
'C' - The Red and black (Rob Roy) may be in the oldest MacLeod portrait, but that does not make it a MacLeod tartan. As a pattern it must have extended from China to Peru.
'D' - I was not referring to the Rob Roy check in the portrait, but to the specimens in the Highland Society Collection and at Inverness, wherein the groundwork of the tartan is red. See MaKay's reference p.159.
'E' - I must look into this. Might ask Flora. I do not have MacKay's book.
'F' - The black and red sett I first saw in the collection of the Highland Society of London, and later I had the count from Inverness. They were the same tartan, but different size setts.
'G' - Will examine this. P.S. The K & R MacLeod in the Highland Soc. of London Coll. is a K & R version of the V.S. MacLeod - 158, Setts.

R & Bk. McG.H. count noted. This is the Vest. Scot. horse-blanket, with R for Y and Bk for R.
MacKay, if my memory serves me right, had his specimen of the red and black from MacLeod country in the Isles, Lewis I think, this can be checked with the index file.

MacMillan (Yellow)
'A' - Johnston. D.C.S. is incorrect in attributing this sett to the Vest. Scot.
'C' - Correction already noted; a nasty slip.

Page 93
MacNicol & Nicolson
'A' - D.C.S. only. Not quite correct - he gives his own version (?) MacIan.
'B' - Incorrect - Innes shows right sett.
'C' - MacD: What is the authority of the Innes version? My plate, but not the text, is wrongly named - obviously a slip somewhere. This was almost the only printing error I found.
'D' - Miss MacDougall and I carefully examined the Inverness Library MacIan plate and came to the conclusion that the fine lines should be reversed from your version:- two fine greens next to green bars and the triple lines between the black bars. The azure stripe should cross the black, this being a solid bar adjoining the green. Most MacIan versions are very poor, but library editions are generally to be depended upon. I cannot remember Innes's sett, my copy is in Stirling.
'E' - Logan says he did not know of a Nicolson or MacNicol tartan, and he says it with MacIan's plate in front of him. MacIans plates were printed in litho -

Page 94
- in monochrome, then coloured by hand, and this gave scope for considerable variation in detail as between one copy and another; the detail varies, as a matter of fact, from one part of a plate to another - hence the need for me, when I was trying to abstract a sett from the copy I examined, to make a compromise.

It seems odd since there was no Nicolson tartan, that MacIan should have bothered to produce a plate with that name; but what he was actually doing was to show that fashion of square head shawl, in a tartan he made up as he went along. To put a name to it may seem daft; but no more so than to copy an English print showing an Irishman in what might have been the Saffron shirt, and to name it Ferguson, or to present MacColl in the garb of Charlemagne.
'F' - I will agree that this is a most difficult sett to decide on. MacIan is a nuisance and Logan was not much better. Whichever of the versions we accept, we are agreed that the usual Johnston sett is incorrect. MacIan was not intending to show a Nicolson tartan. Logan's text, quoting from memory, says "as the Nicolsons had no tartan of their own, they would wear that of their superiors, the MacLeods." Therefore MacIan was illustrating what he obviously though was a MacLeod tartan; but the green and azure included in it means that Logan either knew a MacLeod sett not known to us; or else MacIan was embellishing the red and black. The further one goes into the origin of tartans, the worse it gets.
'G' - May be revised in second edition.

Page 94a
Besides my own tentative interpretation of McIan's plate, I have three schemes worthy of consideration. First, there is McG.H.'s own specimen; to which, with some slight modifications of proportion, I most incline. Secondly, there is the sett seen in Bain and (badly printed) in Innes, and in at least one other Johnston book. For this I have a count appearing in the Oban Times for 1:II:1929, where it was stated that the particulars had been supplied by J.G. MacKay. Thirdly, there is in the Oban Times for 14:I:29 a non-reversing sett. We may assume that all three are interpretations of MacIan, and must conclude that the Nicolson plates vary from one copy to another, or even within each plate. Which brings us back where we started.

The label "MacLeod and MacNicol" seems to me carrying things too far. I can accept one of the setts, to be called Nicolson, with a smile, just to keep the Nicolsons happy; what I do not accept is that any of them was a Nicolson tartan before McIan let it be thought so - which he does only by implication of putting the name below the plate. To go further and suggest it was, if not exclusively a Nicolson, at least a Macleod, has no warrant I can see. I wonder what the MacLeods have to say about it.

I have put the three strips on a card so that you can compare them visually.

Page 94
MacPherson Chief
'A' - Smith. No mention of Clan Chattan or Farquharson.
'B' - Quite wrong - see sep. note. (Could this note referred to by MacD. be in the text of the Setts?)
'C' - MacD: a pity about the missing note. There are several versions of this sett, and they all stem from the Crubin plaid. To say this version is 'quite wrong' seems to me quite wrong. As for the Clan Chattan question, that is too hot for me to handle.

Page 95
MacQuarrie
'A' - (177) From Cockburn Coll. Colours misquoted.
'C' - (177) The colours given accord with me notes on the Cockburn sett, so any error must be in my original notes.
'D' - (177) As already remarked, this collection was very carefully examined by Paterson of Edinburgh for me and he vouched that the blue bars in the Setts should be black, and also the central green line crossing the red square should also be black.
'E' - (177) I look forward to an opportunity to reexamine the Cockburn Coll.
'A' - (179) Wilson & Smith. He does not mention Royal Scot. Museum Coll. presented by Wilson.
'G' - (179) Must follow this up sometime.
'A' - (180) Johnston.
'B' - This sett now used. MacDonald of Sleat (sic as in 109) but without bk lines.
'G' - See text, foot of page 95.

Page 96
MacRae Ancient
'Old and Rare. Cockburn Coll.

MacRae Htg
'B' - Purple should be blue.
'C' - The blue in the plate should be purple, as in 'O & R'. MacD says the purple should be blue; I can only suppose that she was going by Frank Adam's plate.
'A' - "Old & Rare". Blue in plate but purple in scale and strip.
'G' - Call it purplish blue. I think there is an early Wilson specimen of this which can be so described.

Page 97
MacTavish and Thompson
'A' - Johnston. No mention of Wilson & Moy Hall sett.
'G' - I have a modern specimen of the tartan adopted by the Mac Thomas Society, given me by its founder. It would be interesting to compare it with the Moy Hall sett, if this differs from that shown by Johnston.
'D' - In Wilson's Colln. and the Moy Hall Colln. this sett is the same as Sinclair but with a wider green than now woven. In Moy Hall it is labelled 'Caithness and MacTavish'.
'G' - Narrower Black to be changed to Blue in 2nd Edit.

Page 98
Maxwell
'A' - Vest. Scot.
'B' - Black and Red stripes flanking green bands should (combined) be same width as green bands.
'C' - MacD: My notes on the Vest. Scot., the only source of the sett, show proportions of G/36, R/10, Black 14; i.e. 3:2. Innes conforms to 3:2.
'G' - so also does Bain - MacD.

Menzies (Old)
'A' - Wilson. Incorrect to say pale green in place of azure.
'C' I gave azure as the colour, but mentioned light green. My notes on Cockburn accept the azure, but with the alternative of pale 'Reseda', with the G a darker 'reseda'. The actual colour seemed on the border line, and I thought it worth mentioning. MacD comments on 197: "Reseda should be green". Is reseda a green or isn't it?
'G' - Wilson Smith Institute specimen (named Sinclair) has A W G
24 6 68
It is the Cockburn specimen which has "rather a pale green" for this azure.

Page 99
Montgomery
'A' - "Old & Rare." Strip has blue - it should be purplish blue. 9 see 'Old & Rare'.
'B' - Broad blue band should be purple; Red should be scarlet; Reseda should be green.
'C' - MacD: My colour-strip is defective, but I do not know how much more scarlet the red could get. In 'O & R' the green is reseda green, not 'tartan' green, which is why I so described it.

Morrison
'A' - Johnston. Does not mention the designer - J.G. MacKay; nor the red sett.
'C' - Does J.G. MacKay explain why he designed it?
'D' - My notes on this are in Stirling. Perhaps Capt. Davidson will kindly look this up for us when he peruses these notes. Do you know the red sett?
'E' - Red tartan unknown.
'G' - MacKay designed it for Morrison Clan Society. The red tartan is Sindex GWG:RGR (2), and suggests Seton GWG:RGR (1) as possible source.

Page 98b
Mc.G.H.'s count noted. If this is an ancient Morrison tartan, why did J.G. MacKay have to design my 199 for the Morrison Society c. 1909? Comparison with my 226 the Vest. Scot. Seton, raises questions I cannot start to answer. Here are the two counts, which will give a hint of the relation between them.
Morrison R G R Bk R Bk R G W G
12 8 48 8 12 8 36 24 6 12
B
Seton 4 2 64 8 4 8 8 24 2 12
They should be seen in colour. (H/w card with strips - more convincing than counts).
D.C.S. 2:VI:64

Page 100
Munro
'A' - Smith. With crimson insert. This is Lochiel in Wilson's. Double green is better.

Murray
'A' - Logan & Vest. Scot. Single red (Cockburn).
'C' - Possibly a Sobieski design. The simpler of the two Cockburn setts. 'Athole Murray', is rarely if ever used now.

Page 101
Murray of Mansfield
'A' - Wilson & Smith. Triple red.
'C' - This is the second Cockburn sett.
'G' - This is the usual Murray of Athole, as still worn by the Athole Highlanders. as in Bain.

Murray of Tullibardine
'A' - Smith. Does not know of museum plaid.
'C' - Which museum?
'D' - In the Museum of Antiquities, Edinburgh, they have a plaid labelled "Old plaid of the MacKintosh tartan known to have been in the family since the '45." Presented by Mrs M.C. Bell, 1905. The tartan is the Tullibardine with small differences in the centre of the sett.
'E' - The Smiths had their specimens from a dealer who supplied that tartan to the Earl of Dunmore, a Murray. It has the character of a plaid design, but whether Murray or MacKintosh we may never know; perhaps both. A bed cover in the Tullibardine room at Blair Castle is entirely different - probably a greatly faded 203.
'F' - The museum sett is useful in quoting a date for it, although we have Grant's remark that it was woven in the 17th century for the Earl of Dunmore. An examination of the plaid in the museum is well worth the visit.

Page 104
Robertson
'A' - D.C.S. only. A combination of Logan and Smith.
'G' - Side lines should be 'B' as in 212.

Robertson of Kindeace (Htg)
'B' - Or Hunting Robertson

Page 105
Rose (Red)
'B' - Blue now used instead of purple.
'G' - Purple specified in Vest. Scot., text - Few seems to bother to consult the text.

Ross
'A' - Vest. Scot., Has blue ov.ck. in text, but green in plate.

Page 106
Rothesay
'A' - Incorrect. Repeats triple white lines.
'C' - What's wrong? Most of Vest. Scot. text for this seems to refer to differences from its preceding sett, the Royal Stewart, and a credible sett can be constructed on this basis - but it would not be that shown on the plate. The plate shows three white lines on the red ground, and the text says:- "...moreover, ane of ye quhite stryppes be simpil of saxteen threidis and ane sail be cotticit (bordered) of ye semen, the number of four threidis or yrby..." In this the text and the plate are in accord, giving tripple white.
'D' - It is generally conceded that the white lines should run alternately 3-1 3-1 etc.. I haven't the Vest. Scot. so cannot check on this. The triple white running consecutively has always been considered an incorrect version.
'E' - I assume that my rendering of the Vest. Scot. plate is accepted as such, and that the dispute is over the interpretation of the text. If the text is to be followed, it is open to argument that the white lines should be as you say 3:1:3:1 etc.., But it could equally be argued that this feature should appear at the centre of the pattern band, not away out on the red ground. What is quite certain is the absence of anything in the text to justify the pair of green lines; there should be a single line only, and that blue not green.
One of the other MSS describes Rothesay, but the result is quite unlike 222, being closer to R. Stewart. What it boils down to is this - are we to follow the Vest. Scot. plate? That is a simple matter, and is what I did. Or are we to try and make sense of the confusions and conflicts of the text - or rather the two texts? That way madness lies.... Merely to take one disputable feature of one of the texts, and impose it on the plate, while ignoring all other discrepancies, is tinkering. I might almost say it is introducing difficulties into what is already impossible. "Generally conceded" is a poor guide; we suffer from too much of it. I fear the Vest. Scot. brings out the worst in me. McIan I can laugh at; but when it comes to the Vest. Scot., we are not amused.
'F' - Perhaps the width of the white line at the edge of the plate could decide?

Page 107
Scott
'A' - Vest. Scot. Does not give either the green or brown setts.
'C' - Brown: R Br. G. R G W G R Green: Bk G Az B
6 28 16 4 4 4 4 2 4 12 4 28

Seton
'B' - There is also a hunting sett
'G' - Very likely.

Page 108
Sinclair
'A' - Logan. Early portrait. No mention of Moy Hall Coll. as Caithness & MacTavish. Also in Wilson Coll.
'C' - Moy Hall specimen unknown
'G' - This is probably the MacTavish as shown in Johnston 1906. (Moy Hall specimen is listed in recent list sent to Scottish Tartans Society by Mrs MacKintosh of MacKintosh as "46. Caithness, Sinclair and MacTavish.")

Page 109
Skene
'A' - Incorrect. Blue should be half width otherwise it is Logan Red.
'C' - D.W.S. shows it as Logan, and says that it is in the Highland Soc. of London and the Moy Hall Collections. I am reluctant to conclude that, with Dr. W. F. Skene's named specimen before him, he made a glaring error rather than a conscious choice. As a matter of fact, he has the blue and the green in the ration of 40:38. We cannot suppose there to have been two tartans, Logan and Skene, one having the blue about half the width in the other; one must be a deviation from the other. The question is, which?

Cockburn shows a specimen (as "Rose"); but unfortunately, though in my notes I have ' as 94 Logan', my scribbled figures leave it open to doubt whether I counted B/32, G/32 or B/32, G/52. A check up at Moy, London, and Glasgow might help to clear things up; it may be that both forms existed quite early.

The narrow blue band is first shown in Smith, as Skene, and they also make the fine lines Green instead of Blue; they "confess it is a pattern about the antiquity of which we entertain some doubts". Smith seems not to have been aware of any early specimens. All the Johnston plates, starting with James Grant's, follow Smith, with green lines and narrow blue. The Smith ratio between blue and green bands is actually 4:7. The Smith change of the lines from blue to green does not reassure us that they were right about the blue bands.
'D' - In point of fact my criticism was based on the modern conception of these two tartans. Actually in Wilson's key book, 1819, there are several counts of this sett, all called 'Logan'.
'E' - Interested to note that Wilson in 1819 also called it 'Logan'.
'G' - Wilson specimens with orders from 1797 show this band (blue) as rather more than half the green. An order dated 1798 asks for "Darke Logan" with this band Purple, and also its adjacent lines, but other orders from 1797 to 1806 have green only, no purple. The name is always Logan - never Skene. Evidence of later date not yet examined.

Page 110
Stewart (Htg)
'A' - Grant & Johnston. Wilson's slightly different. 1819.
'G' - Wilson count in '1819' book omits one of the black lines in the double track:
G B Bk. B Bk. G R or Y
4 18 6 6 16 54 8

Stewart (Appin)
'A' - Johnston. 18th century plaid.

Page 111
Victoria
'A' - Grant. Vest. Scot. has extra line.
'C' - The first plate in the Vest. Scot., names Clan Stewart, is much as the usual Royal Stewart, except that the blue is slightly offset into the red, and there is a green line centered on the red ground. Their white-grounded pattern, No 3, "Royal Stewart", has in the plate no blue or yellow, and shows one red line on the white ground. The text referring back to No. 1, says:- "These be ye pryncipal colorris of ye clanne Stewart, bot ye Tartaine Rioale, quhilk pertainethe vnto ye house of ovr Lorde ye kingis grace allannerlie, hathe nae scarlatt sett, bot ain quhite set, and through ye mydest yroff ane sprainge scarlatt ("Cramosin" in MS St.Aug) of saxteine threidis..." Where then is the extra line?
'D' - The Vest. Scot., plate has two outer Royal Blue Guards.
'E' - The Vest. Scot., version, there called R. Stuart, differs from the Victoria in several respects. I took the outer line to be black. In either case there is, as with the Rothesay, no textual justification for the doubling. I understood the Victoria was the Lady's own choice. - Or John Brown's.

Page 112
Sutherland
'A' - Logan - Smith. & Cockburn Coll.

Page 113
Urquhart
'A' - Smith and Johnston. Cockburn Coll.

Page 114
MacKintosh
'A' - "Old and Rare". Sett is incomplete (follows 255 sett) MacKintosh plaid.
'C' - I have the full count for this plaid; there are 85 stripes or lines to a repeat of something like 2500 threads.
'D' - I also have full count of this plaid and have woven it.
'E' - I am glad you have noticed the correlation between 255 and the MacKintosh plaid. Were they originally from the same web, but 255 subjected to a chemically bleaching atmosphere? or was 255 an experiment by the same weaver? Only a remnant of the Mot Hall plaid remains; when the MacKintosh sent it to me for comment there was little sign of fading, and that mostly in the black. You may care to have the actual count of the original, not the Wilson one:-
Bk. R. B. R. B. R. G. R. Bk. R. B. R. B. R. B. R. B. R. Bk. R. G. R. B. R.
72 4 4 4 4 72 90 4 4 72 4 4 4 12 4 4 4 72 4 4 90 77 68 78
G. R. Bk. R. Bk. R. Bk. R. Bk. R. G. R. B. R. G. R. Bk. R. B.
20 4 4 4 4 72 4 4 4 4 20 72 72 78 74 4 4 78 72
I have underlined the portion corresponding to 253; the difference in size between this in the original and in the 'Old and Rare' piece amounts to '08", suggesting identity of source.
'F' - Thank you for the count of the plaid, but again I cannot compare with the sett I had from Miss MacD., as this is in Stirling. I think you will have to borrow the strip to compare.

Copy of letter from D.C.S. to Scottish Tartans Society.

J.C. MacKay: Romantic Story of the Highland Garb and the Tartan.

The sett (111) MacDonald cannot be distinguished in MacKay's plate, p.72, but this hardly matters, for it is impossible to believe that the portrait was painted within a lifetime of the date of the Glencoe Massacre, even allowing for the date given, 1672, being wrong. I would place this portrait as contemporary with McIan, if not actually by him. The Romantic pose of the figure, with its early-Victorian facial features and whiskers, the cocked bonnet, the goat-hair sporran, the shoe buckles, are all marks of a period a century or more after "Glencoe". I am surprised that MacKay put it forward as evidence of anything. At p.101 he blows cold on the wearing of buckles on the shoes before 1746. Even if the original painting shows 111 MacDonald clearly, it does not date the tartan.

MacLeod: MacKay's quotation at p.159 is poor evidence for a MacLeod Clan Tartan with a scarlet ground. the tartan in the Highland Society and Inverness collections is a Black-and-Red version of the Vest. Scot. MacLeod (158), and I have no reason so far to suppose the Red ground predates the Yellow. Neither of these collections is exclusively ancient in its contents.

The greater part of the book is taken up with a defence of the antiquity of the little kilt, and of the clan-tartan system. That J.G.McK., thought it helpful to show a photograph of the Kilt Rock, Skye, is sufficient indication of the poverty of his arguments for the former, and the portraits at pp. 72 and 166 do not help the latter. It is not till he comes to the Vest. Scot. that his original faculties wake up.

MacDonald (J.G. MacKay)
I have seen a coloured reproduction of this portrait somewhere in the past and can vouch that the sett is as near as one can expect to the MacDonald clan tartan. I have no idea when the portrait was painted, or by whom, but MacKay says - (page 71) that the original portrait was in his possession at the time of writing) - 1924 so it should not be difficult to trace the portrait and the artist. J. T. D. confirms composition and modernity of portrait in question.