38 THE VALE OF GALA. 



berland, Roxburgh, and Dumfries, when a shep- 

 herd-boy first goes 'to service out amang the 

 farmers roun,' the ( gudewife ' cuts a ( whang,' 

 of about three or four yards length, from 

 her home-spun plaiden web, to keep him warm 

 when herding the sheep on the hills. As the 

 youth grows and gets bigger, the maud which 

 lias been thus homely made, is, of course, in- 

 creased in size. Accordingly, in M'Neil's song 

 of l The Plaidy,' we have the following line, 



' There's room in't, dear lassie, believe me, for twa.' 



But although the black-and-white check is that 

 generally worn as a plaid or maud, and is the 

 same as Dandie Dinmont calls a grey marled 

 maud (and he appears seldom to have gone with- 

 out one), they are now made in all the different 

 clan patterns. 



The plaid, as worn in the Highland costume, is 

 fastened with a brooch on the left shoulder, and 

 is doubtless of very ancient origin. King Robert 

 the Bruce' s brooch was presented by the Hon. 

 Fox Maule to Prince Albert, on the occasion of 

 her Majesty's visit to Scotland. The Low- 

 landers, on the contrary, use the right shoulder, 

 as in Sir Walter Scott's monument at Glasgow. 



