I've started another thread in the Off Topic section dealing with things Scottish, but one of the pages included the words to a song (author unknown) written sometime after the Dress Act. I felt that these lyrics touched on several topics of interest here and warranted a thread of its own.

Farewell to the (new) tartan,
it is my fairest choice,
pleasingly set above the knee,
tightly pleated all around

the curse of all the Gaels,
upon King William and his kind,
who insisted we wear the grey breeks,
and took the kilt away from us
I pulled on the grey breeks,
instead of the kilt,
in order to be like the Lowlander,
on the far side of the Clyde

I clad myself in the grey breeks,
I must have looked foolish!
no young lass will look my way,
since I got the new uniform

but when I get to the army,
I'll sport a kilt and a rough-haired sporran,
a shaggy blue bonnet with a yard of ribbon,
the storm of battle all around!

Farewell to the (new) tartan,
it is my fairest choice,
pleasingly set above the knee,
tightly pleated all around
Is anyone familliar with this song or know if there is any surviving music for it?

Cheers,

blu