Bot the cleithing of the women with thame was maist decent. For thair cotes war syd evin to the hanckleth, wyd mantilis abone, or playdes all embroudiret artificiouslie; bracelets about thair armes, iewalis about thair neck, broches hinging at thair halse, baith cumlie and decent, and mekle to thair decore and outsett.[19] The editor in his notes to Book I. observes:— The Latin _braccæ_ is generally understood to be equivalent to our _breeks_. There are, however, traces of the Latin word being used in a wider sense to mean a loose flowing garment. Bishop Leslie here applies it to the plaid or tartan, and, as it would seem, on the ground of the variegated colours expressed by the Gaelic _breac_. This is felt even in the use of the Latin word. We find _braccæ_ described as _pictæ_ and _virgatæ_, coloured and striped. Perhaps the original _braccæ_, which so took the attention of the Romans when they met the Gauls, were striped and parti-coloured, and so gave rise to the name. In Irish _breacan_ still means a plaid. It would seem, then, that the Latin word is borrowed from Celtic. The modern word _breeks_ or _breeches_ is a double plural, and stands for _brec_, plural of Anglo-Saxon _broc_. This last reminds us of Celtic _brog_, a shoe. _Broc_ can hardly be derived from either _breac_ or _brog_, for we find corresponding forms in all the Teutonic dialects. Neither can _broc_ mean speckled, for we have _freck_, _freckle_, to represent _breac_. The Teutonic words, together with _brog_, may thus be cognate terms expressing the sense of _cover_ or _protect_, perhaps allied to Anglo-Saxon _beorgan_. Comp. _bark_, the covering of a tree. _Brock_ in modern English and Scots means a badger; but this is clearly the Gaelic _broc_. The animal was so named from its colour—pie or speckle.[20] It has been held that this particular account, while establishing the use of tartans by the chiefs or nobles, proves them to have been by no means common wear. But, taken in conjunction with the writings of Buchanan, a few years later, the interpretation seems to be that, while the leaders preferred the more brilliantly coloured patterns, the rank and file had quieter designs, at once more economical and more serviceable. George Buchanan in his _History_, published in 1582, furnishes a detailed account of the dress and arms of the Highlanders. He writes:—