Quote Originally Posted by blackbeard View Post
I recently finished Samuel Johnson's travelogue of Scotland in 1773

While he commends the Highlanders for their hospitality and a general lively spirit, he continually comments on their poverty and lack of modern amenities.

He only mentions kilts three times, but has this to say about the kilt while on the Island of Sky.


“In the islands the plaid is rarely worn. The law by which the Highlanders have been obliged to change the form of their dress, has, in all the places that we have visited, been universally obeyed. I have seen only one gentleman completely clothed in the ancient habit, and by him it was worn only occasionally and wantonly. The common people do not think themselves under any legal necessity of having coats; for they say that the law against plaids was made by Lord Hardwicke, and was in force only for his life: but the same poverty that made it then difficult for them to change their clothing, hinders them now from changing it again.
The fillibeg, or lower garment, is still very common, and the bonnet almost universal; but their attire is such as produces, in a sufficient degree, the effect intended by the law, of abolishing the dissimilitude of appearance between the Highlanders and the other inhabitants of Britain...”

My take on this passage is that when a highland man is concerned with putting food on the table, he is not concerned about whether he is wearing a kilt or britches.
Yes, that last statement must certainly be the case in any poor society.

We should probably be a bit cautious when we read Dr Johnson's work. Apparently he was often told what folk thought he wanted to hear since he was an outsider and an Englishman; and, of course, he could only speak to those who had English and that was not the common man, to whom he quite probably would not have spoken even if he could.

It's probably a good idea to read what others wrote in the 18C as a double-check, and to consider why they were writing in the first place.

Rex