476 



NOTES ANt) QUERIES. C^"* s. vi. 154., dec. n. '58. 



stati auKiirin di servitii; il qual liormai parmi assai chia- 



ramente adempiuto Cosi 1' liavfer noi mutati gli 



haljiti Italian! ne gli stranieri, parmi, che significasse 

 tutti quelli ; ne gli habiti de' quali i nostii ferano tias- 

 forniati, dovfer venir il subiugarci: il che h stato troppo 

 pin che vero, che hormai non resta natione, che di noi non 

 hdbbia fatto preda; tanto che poco piii resta che predare, 

 & pur ancbr di pred&r non si resta." 



Among other new modes of dress then adopted 

 in Italy appears that of the French ; and how true 

 it is, that at the present moment, in her richest 

 possessions, she is within the grasp of this military 

 power, and the energies of her people crushed and 

 subdued by it. 



It may be instanced, as a case nearer home, that 

 after the memorable year 1745, no better plan 

 could be invented fairly to blot out Highland 

 nationality than by attacking the dresn. The 

 following Act of Parliament now sounds strangely 

 in our ears, and one is almost tempted to suppose 

 that the Honourable House had called into its 

 council the '' three tailors of Tooley Street " to 

 give technical advice. What, in passing, may it 

 be asked, are we to think of such a law, with his 

 late Majesty George IV. sporting a kilt at Holy- 

 rood House, and the Queen of England wearing 

 tartan at Balmoral ? 



" And it is further enacted, That from and after the 

 Ist of August, 1747, no man or boy within Scotland other 

 than such as shall be employed as officers or soldiers in 

 the King's forces, shall on any pretence whatsoever wear 

 or put on the cloaths commonly called highland cloaths, 

 that is to say, the plaid, philebeg, or little kilt, trowse, 

 shoulder belts, or any part whatsoever of what peculiarly 

 belongs to the highland garb ; and that no tartan or 

 party-coloured plaid or stuff shall be used for great coats, 

 or for upper coats; and if any such person shall, after 

 said 1st of August, wear or put on the aforesaid garments, 

 or any part of them, every such person so offending, being 

 convicted thereof by the oath of one or more witnesses 

 before any court of justiciary, or any one or more Justices 

 of Peace, for the shire or stewartry, or judge ordinary of 

 the place where such offence shall be committed, shall 

 suffer imprisonment, without bail, during six mcmths, 

 and no longer; and being convicted of a second offence, 

 before a court of justiciary, or at the circuits, shall be 

 liable to be transported to any of his Majesty's planta- 

 tions beyond the seas for seven years."— Scots Magazine 

 for 1746, vol. viii. p. 371. 



The potency and future operations of this Act 

 suppressed the open manifestations of treason and 

 Jacobitism, though the latter lingered long after- 

 wards in many a pair of breeks. In more modern 

 times the Celt, as if blushing at his humiliation, 

 through a kind of mock-heroics, occasionally re- 

 sumes the apparel and the paraphernalia i/f his 

 ancient glory, his dances, and his athletic games ; 

 but it cannot be concealed that he has been sub- 

 jugated by the English nation. 



In the Lowlands of Scotland, even in the most 

 out-of-the-way rural districts, how seldom now is 

 to be seen the Hue bonnet and the lioddeii grey of 

 her independent sons. London fashions reign in- 

 stead ; misses mincing the English speech, and 



aping manners which their mothers do not un- 

 derstand : tables s|)read with recherche English 

 dishes, which have usurped the place of hail broth, 

 haggis and sheep's-head. In a generation or so 

 there is danger that we shall be absorbed irito 

 England, characteristics and all. Alas for "puir 

 auld Scotland!" 



From the public prints we are at the present 

 time informed that, more completely to assimilate 

 the Sepoy of India to British rule, an alteration of 

 costume is in process of being effected. 



I leave it to classical readers to search out early 

 precedents. The subject is not without its philo- 

 sophy and uses in respect to the history of nations, 

 as well as to that of private individuals. G. N. 



Military Aiithors. — Once or twice you have in- 

 cidentally pointed out persons who have wielded the 

 sword as well as the peii, and among others that 

 distinguished author Edw. Gibbon, who was a cap- 

 tain in the South Hampshire Militia, commanded 

 by Sir Rich. Worsley, Bart. ; and which regiment 

 might boast of another great literary luminary in 

 the historian of Greece, Lieut.-Col. Wra. Mitford. 

 I beg to enumerate two or three more. Steevens, 

 whose name is associated with Hogarth (Biog. 

 Drnmatica, &c.), was an ensign in the East Essex 

 Militia early in the reign of Geo. III., and previous 

 to his appearance among the literati. Wm. Henry 

 Bunbury, celebrated as a writer and caricaturist, 

 was Lieut.-Colonel of the West Suffolk Militia. 

 The Hon. Thos. Erskine, who was a lieutenant in 

 the 1st Foot, wrote Armata, and was renowned as 

 a forensic advocate, and denique became Lord 

 Chancellor. To these may be added Lieutenant 

 Henry F. R. Soame, of Lieut.-Gen. F. E. Gwyn's 

 regiment, the 25th Dragoons, who composed part 

 of the Pleasures of Memory, and whose beautiful 

 poems are added to the Correspondence of Sir 

 Thomas Haumer, Bart., London, 1838. In con- 

 nexion with this subject, and somewhat strange as 

 it may appear, our prince of lexicographers (John- 

 son) had a considerable penchant for military mat- 

 ters. In the summer of 1 778, he paid a visit to 

 Capt. Langton, of the North Lincoln Militia, at 

 Warley camp, staid a week (sleeping under can- 

 vass), attending the parades, exercises, a regimental 

 court-martial, and once accompanying the grand 

 rounds at night. See Boswell's Life of Johnson. 



H. 



Lincolnshire Worthies. — I am aware that the 

 county of Lincoln is regarded by many persons as 

 the Boeotia of England, but this arises, I am willing 

 to think, frOin their not being better acquainted 

 with that district. The ancient Boeotia, notwith- 

 standing its proverbial dulness, produced such 

 men as Pindar, Hesiod, and Plutarch ; and, I 



