Gordon book

The Due of the Duchess 21
After the ceremony his mother was so pleased with the pattern of his plaid
that she sent a specimen of it to China for reproduction in silk. Soon after the
silk plaid came back, the Duchess of Cumberland called on the Duchess in Pall
Mall, and was astonished to learn that her Grace of Gordon intended to appear
at Court in a Gordon tartan dress. " It may do for yourself very well," quoth
her Grace of Cumberland, doubtlessly jealous of her other Grace's popularity,
" but it would not do for me." Therein, however, she made a big mistake, for
the Duchess of Gordon immediately set off to a Spittalfields silk weaver and
ordered a large quantity of the tartan to be woven. She duly appeared in it at
the Drawing Room, as she had resolved, and, as her personal appearance was
" extraordinarily fine, and calculated to show any dress to advantage, and her
example was highly influential, silk tartan, actually, in a few days became the
rage of all the fashionable ladies about the town, even including the Duchess of
Cumberland. Nor of the ladies only ; all the gentlemen's waistcoats being
presently made of the same material. So much was this silk tartan in request,
that the weavers for a considerable time could do no such thing as finish a piece
before it was hurried away : but they had constantly to cut it out of the looms
by piecemeal to supply present demands. In the end," adds this veracious valet,
" scarce a respectable female but wore the tartan waist to her gown at least, and
there was hardly a waiter at any inn in London but appeared in his tartan waist-
coat." At last the tartan craze reached Paris, and the Duchess had the
gratification of knowing that she was the leader of fashion both for London and
the French metropolis, where tartan is still very popular.
I may note that a coloured caricature of the Duchess, entitled " A
Tartan Belle," was published in London in 1792 by S. W. Fores.
The Duchess was a great dancer. Indeed, her service in this
respect is said by her biographer in Public Characters to have
diminished the time and attention hitherto bestowed
The Duchess as . ~,
a Dancer. upon gaming. I he same writer notes : —
Among the external accomplishments on which she laid the
greatest stress was dancing, as contributing to health, agility, and grace. The
Duchess, who was and is an admirable performer, became more and more
attached to Scotch dancing, and the appropriate music, as being more conform-
able to the British character than French. Under her patronage the sons of her
old protege, Neil Gow [whom she had first seen at the Duke of Atholl's], first
received that encouragement and attention which, by making their merits known,
rendered their music so generally attractive. The Duchess observed that the
Messrs. Gow to the natural genius of their father superadded taste and science,
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