Antiquaries in the Age of Romanticism: 1789-1851 - Queen Mary ...

might the Edinburgh Observer conclude that: ‘We are now all Jacobites, thorough-bred
Jacobites, in acknowledging George IV’. 75 The necessary sleight of hand had been
accomplished; the antiquarian romance of history had adjusted the past to the needs of the
present. England too was soon fervently Jacobite, in the Edinburgh Observer’s sense.
It was at this moment, probably, that the brothers who became known as the
Sobieski Stuarts began their career. Although they later denied having been in Edinburgh
in August 1822, Scott, as mentioned earlier, believed they were. 76 They were certainly in
Scotland, something they also denied. According to the diary of Lady Elinor Campbell
they were in Islay in August and stayed until 13 October, though whether continuously or
not is not clear. 77 That year saw the birth of Lady Elinor’s son, Ian Campbell of Islay
(1822-1885) who grew up to become a Gaelic scholar and folklorist. He thus knew the
brothers from childhood and remembered them being responsible for dressing him, at the
age of three, in his first kilt. Remaining fond of them he was torn, as his own researches
into highland customs and traditions developed, between a desire to protect their
reputation and a sense of responsibility to set the historic record straight. Unpublished
notes that he kept in the 1870s, which survive in the National Library of Scotland, reveal
Campbell’s touching struggle in the course of his investigation into ‘the origin of the
luxuriant crop of tartans which now pervades all the world’ with his divided personal
loyalties. 78 In the course of his researches and reminiscences a picture of the brothers’
gradual self-creation emerges. From the first both the novelty and the romantic resonance
of their appearance was essential to their success.
On 22 March 1871 Mrs William Russell, formerly Miss Emma Campbell, told Ian
Campbell that in 1827 she:
75
Quoted in Prebble, The King’s Jaunt, p.123.
76
In A Reply to the Quarterly Review, pp. 3-4, the brothers wrote that: ‘At the period mentioned, neither the
Editor nor the MS of the Vestiarium were in Scotland, nor did he return to that country until four years
afterwards.’
77
Recorded in notes by her son Ian Campbell, National Library of Scotland, adv.ms. 50.3.9, f54.
78
National Library of Scotland adv.ms.50.3.10 inside front cover.
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