In point of mode and plainness their dress reminded me of that of our country-people more than forty years ago, bonnets and parti-coloured plaids being frequent.... In those days every lady in an undress wore a plaid when she went abroad. It was sometimes of one colour, scarlet, crimson, &c., but more commonly tartan or variegated. People fond of finery had silk ones, others wore woollen lined with silk; whilst the lower classes were satisfied with plain worsted.... In 1747, when I first knew Edinburgh, nine-tenths of the ladies still wore plaids, especially at church. By this time, however, silk or velvet cloaks of one form or another were much in request among people of fashion. And so rapidly did the plaid wear out, that when I returned to Edinburgh in 1752 one could hardly see a lady in that piece of dress.[64] Of the extensive manufacture of tartans in Scotland during the eighteenth century some evidence may be obtained from a reference to the newspapers of the period. For example:— Last Saturday the _Agatha and Jane_, Thomas Christie [master] cleared out from Leith for London, having on board the following Scots manufactures, viz., 53,381 yards of Linen, 3006 yards of Tartans.[65] Leith, Feb. 18.—_The Edinburgh Merchant_, John Dick, cleared out for London with the following Scots manufactures, viz., 41,400 yards of Linen, 6400 yards of Tartan.[66] In the same newspaper, and side by side with the orders issued by Prince Charles Edward, then at Holyrood, appears the following:— Gairdner and Taylor, in their Warehouse at the Sign of the Golden Key, opposite to Forrester’s Wynd, Lawn-Market, Edinburgh, continue to sell, in Wholesale and Retail, at lowest Prices, all sorts of Woollen Narrow and Broad Cloths of the Manufacture of Scotland, in same manner as was done by the late Andrew Gairdner, who was one of the first Introducers of an extensive Manufactory of this Kind, so very beneficial to, and so much wanted in this Country.... At above Warehouse to be sold at lowest Rates, great Choice of Tartans, the newest Patterns, Cotton Checks and Sarges, of which they are also Makers.[67] This advertisement, it may be urged, is a stumbling-block in the way of those who argue for the antiquity of clan patterns; for it seems peculiar that, when the city was filled with Highlanders of all ranks and many clans, they should be offered, not their ancient setts, but “great choice of the newest patterns.” A statement which points in exactly the contrary direction appears in the Lockhart Papers to the following effect:—