Open [36.8 MB]

29
THE JACOBITE TARTAN.
HIS tartan, the pattern or set of which is given here, " was worn," says Mr Smith,
" as one of the emblems of the Jacobites. We had it from a lady of rank, who has
still in her possession a silk scarf (or plaid) of it, which was manufactured in 1712
for a lady who was a most zealous Jacobite." Her eldest son was "out" in 1715,
known aa "Mar's Year," when the Rising, which had been too long delayed, took
place.
"Many individuals of the highest rank," says a writer, " engaged in this insurrection
from motives the most honourable and disinterested ; but such was not the case
with the nobleman whose name forms a sort of epoch in Scottish history. The Earl
a*
of Mar is represented as having been selfish and ambitious in the highest degree ;
a politician he was without integrity as a commander he was destitute of skill and
; ;
as a soldier, the sudden desertion of his army showed his want of courage. He
devoted all his talents and influence to promote the detested Union his object being to ingratiate
himself with Queen Anne and to obtain the sole administration of Scottish affairs ; yet when he was
driven from the Court of King Geonge I., and had raised the standard of revolt at Braemar, on being
waited on by a number of the Jacobite nobility and gentry, he wept over his own misconduct, and
the guilty hand he had taken in eflecting 'the accursed Union.'"
Many secret signs and emblems were adopted by the Jacobites prior to the Rising of 1715, and this
Jacobite tartan was one of them. Doubtless, it was adopted and worn as a symbol to others of secret
political opinions, like the S (for Stuart) in the open work of the claymore -hilt, or the legend Ao
Union on ita blade.