Matt
I didn't mean to suggest that the feilidh-beag was invented around Walter Scott's time but that tailored kilts, some with drawstrings appeared to be in existence about then. From what I have seen in the Edinburgh museum, the upper classes of that time were not generally wearing kilts but rather tailored tartan doublets and trousers and they may well have gone to their tailors to have kilts made for the festivities around the king's visit. There is a truism about fashions though, what goes around comes around, and we see the same or similar styles repeating themselves. It was probably no different then and to say some individual invented the feilidh-beag is akin to saying Lord Wellington invented boots when in fact he is just known for a particular style. I have been corrected about the names of different doublets, one I know as a Montrose others call a Kenmore and so on but all it really shows is the sheer diversity of styles and what they are known as by different people at the same point in time. Who is correct? Everybody really.