Blair Collection > Popular tales of the West Highlands > Volume 4

WEST HIGHLAND STORIES. 3 7 I
Murray," so the owner may have erred ; perhaps it is
" Johne Earl of Mar, 1637." It is at least certain that
before Jamesone's time kilts were worn by the nobihty,
and were supposed to have been worn by their remote
ancestors. There are several other pictures at Taymonth,
which are portraits of men and boys dressed in kilts of
various fashions, though the dress of the nobility gene-
rally must have been that of the Court, and the High-
land dress was probably abandoned by Scotch kings at
an early date.
We have foreign authority also for the antiquity of
the Highland costume.
At the British Museum there is a curious collection
of broadsides and ballads, printed in Germany during
the thirty years' war. One of these designs heads a
ballad, and represents an " Irlander," a " Lappe," and
a " Findlander." In the baUad the Lappe asks what
has brought them all so far from home, and the " Ir-
lander " explains the reason of their coming, which was
to assist the Protestant cause. This was in 1631.
The Lappe is partly dressed in skins, and is armed with
a bow and arrows. His face is very characteristic ;
his boots are of the same pattern as those now made in
Lappmark, and his knife and its scabbard resemble
those now used on the Tana river.
The Finlander is evidently in uniform ; and the
Lapp wears knickerbokers ; so he was probably clad in
part at the expense of his country.
The " Irlander" is dressed in tartan ; his face is the
face of a Scotchman, and he carries a bow and arrows.
All three have the same kind of guns, so probably