MACDONALD.
One of the most romantic stories associated with tartans is attached to the fragment now reproduced. In the Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh, is a collection of MSS. in ten black-edged volumes bearing the title ofThe Lyon in Mourning, the reference being to the misfortunes of the House of Stuart. Fastened to the inner sides of the boards are many relics of the pathetic experiences of Prince Charles during the interval between his defeat at Culloden and his escape to France. The documents were written and the mementoes gathered by Bishop Robert Forbes, an enthusiastic Jacobite. Under a scrap of tartan with a bit of red lining he has noted:—
The above are pieces of the outside and inside of that identical waistcoat which Macdonald of Kingsburgh gave to the Prince when he laid aside the woman’s clothes. The said waistcoat being too fine for a servant the Prince exchanged it with Malcolm Macleod. Malcolm, after parting with the Prince, and finding himself in danger of being seized, did hide the waistcoat in a cleft of a rock, where, upon his returning home in the beginning of September 1747, he found it all rotten to bits, except only as much as would serve to cover little more than one’s loof, and two buttons, all of which he was pleased to send to me. The waistcoat had lain more than a full year in the cleft of the rock, for Malcolm Macleod was made prisoner sometime in July 1746.
The above are pieces of the outside and inside of that identical waistcoat which Macdonald of Kingsburgh gave to the Prince when he laid aside the woman’s clothes. The said waistcoat being too fine for a servant the Prince exchanged it with Malcolm Macleod. Malcolm, after parting with the Prince, and finding himself in danger of being seized, did hide the waistcoat in a cleft of a rock, where, upon his returning home in the beginning of September 1747, he found it all rotten to bits, except only as much as would serve to cover little more than one’s loof, and two buttons, all of which he was pleased to send to me. The waistcoat had lain more than a full year in the cleft of the rock, for Malcolm Macleod was made prisoner sometime in July 1746.
In the MSS. a copy of Macleod’s letter is given, and it runs thus:—
Reverend Dr. Sir,You’l received from the bearer all that was to the for of the weast Coat that the P. gave to me, because no Body cou’d get it where I put it till I came home my self likwise tow of the Buttons that wor in it. I cou’d get that from Kingsborrow you desired me ——. However he has it. I have more to tell you when I see ——. Writ to me by the Bearer mind me most kindly to Lady Bruce & all aquantance Especiall Lady Balmirina & her sister.I’m your very humble servant,MAL MACLEOD.Rasay, October 13, 1747.
Reverend Dr. Sir,
You’l received from the bearer all that was to the for of the weast Coat that the P. gave to me, because no Body cou’d get it where I put it till I came home my self likwise tow of the Buttons that wor in it. I cou’d get that from Kingsborrow you desired me ——. However he has it. I have more to tell you when I see ——. Writ to me by the Bearer mind me most kindly to Lady Bruce & all aquantance Especiall Lady Balmirina & her sister.
I’m your very humble servant,MAL MACLEOD.
Rasay, October 13, 1747.
The MSS., sold by the bishop’s widow to Sir Henry Steuart of Allanton, were acquired by Robert Chambers, who presented them to the Library. An account of the MSS. appears inChambers’s Jacobite Memoirs. Edinburgh, 1834.
XVI. MACDONALD
XVI. MACDONALD