Their dress was as antique as the rest; a cap on their heads,
called by them a bonnet, long hanging sleeves behind, and their
doublet, breeches, and stockings of a stuff they called plaid, striped
across red and yellow, with short cloaks of the same. These fellows
looked, when drawn out, like a regiment of merry-andrews, ready for
Bartholomew Fair. They are in companies all of a name, and therefore
call one another only by their Christian names, as Jemmy, Jocky, that
is, John, and Sawny, that is, Alexander, and the like. And they scorn
to be commanded but by one of their own clan or family. They are all
gentlemen, and proud enough to be kings. The meanest fellow among them
is as tenacious of his honour as the best nobleman in the country,
and they will fight and cut one another's throats for every trifling
affront.
But to their own clans or lairds, they are the willingest and most
obedient fellows in nature. Give them their due, were their skill in
exercises and discipline proportioned to their courage, they would
make the bravest soldiers in the world. They are large bodies, and
prodigiously strong; and two qualities they have above other nations,
viz.
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