Edmund Burt's Letters...

[Troglodyte]

Our man Edmund Burt is often quoted, as being perhaps the most comprehensive source of eye-witness accounts of the life, manners and character of the Highlanders in the early years of the 18th century - that is, before it was systematically dismantled after the failed rising of The '45 in the name of pacification.

His Letters' descriptions of both the men's and women's mode of dress are well-known, and his own illustrations are one of the few sources we have that are not romanticised or stylised portraits. However, what makes his observations most valuable is the examples he gives when referring to matters other than directly about dress. Talking of clan chiefs and lairds and their postition in Highland society, he says this -

As I was travelling in a very wild Part of the Country, and approaching the House of one of those Gentlemen, who had Notice of my coming, he met me at some Distance from his Dwelling, with his Arcadian Offering of Milk and Cream, as usual carried before him by his Servants... By the Way (although the Weather was not warm), he was without Shoes, Stockings, or Breeches, in a short Coat, with a Shirt not much longer, which hung between his Thighs, and just hid his Nakedness from his two Daughters, about seventeen or eighteen Years old...

That is, he was dressed much in the usual way for the time, but was without his plaid belted to form the kilt as if it was quite normal.

And of the plaid, he gives this account of its practicality when on a journey -

...when the Highlanders are constrained to lie among the Hills in cold, dry, windy Weather, they sometimes soak the Plaid in some River or Bourn; and then holding up a Corner of it a little above their Heads, they turn themselve round and round, till they are enveloped by the whole Mantle. They then lay themselves down on the Heath, upon the Leeward Side of some Hill, where the wet and the warmth of their Bodies make a Steam like that of a boiling Kettle. The wet they say keeps them warm by thickening the Stuff, and keeping the Wind from penetrating.

Burt adds qualification to this, by saying that the Highlander is so used to rain and bad weather, that they seldom seek shelter, except in a 'storm' by which they mean a blizzard! And of the lying-out in the plaid, he confirms -

...setting out early in a Morning from one of the Huts, I have seen the Marks of their Lodging, where the ground has been free from Rime or Snow, which remained all round the Spots where they had lain.

Burt's account of the half-naked laird is backed-up by other accounts in his other letters, of the Highlanders' indifference to nudity or the exposure of bare flesh, as it contrasts with that of the Lowlands and south of the border. But he gives one example that clearly shocked and suprised him to some degree, and comes as part of his description of the style and use of Highland dwellings -

We were soon conducted to a House where lives a Brother to the Pretender's famous Brigadier; and upon entering a large Room, by the Candle, we soon discovered, on different Parts of the Floor, nine Persons, including Children, all laid in the Manner above described; and among the rest, a young Woman, as near as I could guess about seventeen or eighteen, who, being surprised and the Light and Bustle we made, between Sleeping and Waking, threw off part of the Blankets, and started up, stared at us earnestly, and, being startk naked, scratched hereself in several Parts till thoroughly wakened.

I mean, what..?

All I can say is, that in all the many visits to friends living in the Highlands, I have never been introduced to their daughters in that way. It's sad the way old traditions die out...