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THIS Nobleman, whose talents have been from his youth employed in the fervice of his country, and whofe amiable qualities have acquired him the efteem and regard of all to whom he is known, is of an ancient family fettled in Ireland, though originally from Scotland. He has been the architect of his own fortune in a great measure, and has on every occafion fhewn that he is deferving of the honours conferred upon him. He is the only fon of George Macartney, Efq. of Auchinleck in Scotland, of an ancient family, who was fe. cond fon of another George Macartney, by Elizabeth, youngest daughter of the Rev. John Winder, Prebendary of Kilroot, and Rector of Carmony, in the county of Antrim. He was born in the year 1737. His education, we believe, was received in Ireland, and from his literary acquirements appears to have been liberal. In the early part of his life he travelled with the two fons of the late Lord Holland, by which Nobleman he was introduced into business. At the age of 27 years, in 1764, he was appointed Envoy Extraordinary to the Empress of Ruffia, and in October following received the honour of knighthood. In June 1766, with the confent of his Sovereign, he had conferred on him, by the King of Poland, the most ancient order of the White Eagle; and on the 20th of November 1767, he was appointed Ambaffador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Emprefs of Ruffia.

He foon afterwards returned from Ruffia, and was employed in his own country

In the be

as Secretary to Lord Townshend, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. In April 1768 he was chofen to reprefent the borough of Cockermouth in the Parliament of Great Britain, and in July following obtained a feat in the Irish Parliament, being chofen for Armagh. ginning of 1769 he was fworn of the Privy Council of Ireland, and continued in,that kingdom during the reft of Lord Townshend's administration. In June 1772 he was nominated a Knight of the Bath, and was inftalled at Westminster by proxy the 15th of the fame month.

In 1774 he was chofen Member of the British Parliament for the boroughs of Air, Irwin, Rothfay, Campbeltown, and Inverary, and in December 1775 was appointed Captain General and Governor in Chief of the islands of Grenada, the Grenadines, and Tobago; in which poft he continued until the year 1779, when, on the capture of thefe Islands by the French, he was fent a prifoner to France. On the 10th of June 1776, his Majefty, by privy feal at St. James's, and by patent at Dublin 19th July fol lowing, advanced him to the Peerage by the title of Lord Macartney, Baron of Liffanoure in the county of Antrim, though he did not take his feat until the 12th of March 1788.

After having ferved his country in Ruffia, in Ireland, and in the Weft-Indics, a new fcene opened, and in December 1780 he was called upon by Government, and by the Eaft-India Company, to take charge of their affairs at Madras and its dependencies. He was accordingly appointed Governor

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and Prefident of Fort St. George, where his conduct obtained fuch univerfal approbation, that in February 1785 he was appointed Governor-general of Bengal. But this office, Honourable and lucrative as it was, he declined to accept, and returned to England in January following. He immediately conformed himself to certain regulations fince adopted in an act of parliament paffed refpecting property acquired in the Eaft, and, at a Court of Directors held the 12th of April 1786, received the following honourable testimonial of his good conduct in the poft he had held: Refolved, That it is the opinion of this Court, that the Right Honourable George Lord Macartney, whilft he was Governor of Madras, upon all occafions manifefted the greateft zeal in fupport of the intereft of this Company, and that he faithfully difcharged his duty as fuch, more especially by adhering strictly to his covenants and engagements with the Company, in declining to accept any prefents from the Country Powers or from any perfon whatever in India; that the example fet by his Lordfhip, in giving in upon oath a ftate of his property gained in the Company's fervice, was highly meritorious, inafmuch as fuch conduct was afterwards fanétioned by an act of the legislature; and by which statement it appears,that his Lord fhip's fortune had been very moderately increased during his refidence in India, and that the fame arofe folely from the favings he made from his falary, and allowances authorised by this Court.

"Refolved, that it is incumbent upon this Court to fhew their fulleft approbation of fuch upright and difinterefted conduct, in the hope that fo laudable an example will be followed by their fervants in India; and moreover, that it is fitting that foine compenfation fhould be made to his Lordship, and that it will be a proper reward for fuch diftin

guished fervices, and ftrict integrity, to grant his Lordship an annuity of fifteen hundred pounds during the term of his natural life.

Signed, by order of the faid Court, THOMAS MORTON, Sec. Eaft-India Houfe, 13th of April 1786.

This honourable teftimony in favour of Lord Macartney's conduct in India was not fufficient to exempt him from being involved in a fituation which, as a publick character, we cannot but think he ought not to have fuffered himself to be placed in. Having in India difapproved the conduct of Major-Genera! Stuart, he fuperfeded that officer, and fent him to Europe. Difcontented with this mark of difgrace, on Lord Macart ney's arrival in England the General called his Lordfhip into the field for fatisfaction. They met accordingly near Kenfington, the 7th of May 1786, when, after firing each his piftol, Lord Macartney was wounded, the feconds interfered, and the bufinefs ended. A particular detail of this rencontre may be feen in our Magazine for June 1786, P. 464.

After this tranfaction, Lord Macartney enjoyed for feveral years the quier of a retired life, until the year 1792, when he was felected to go on an embally to China, an authentic detail of, which is fhortly expected from the pen of Sir George Staunton. This embaffy employed near three years; fince which period his Lordship has refided fome time at the court of the exiled King of France; and lately, in confideration of the various fervices performed by his Lordship, his Majefty of Great Britain has been pleafed to advance him to the dignity of an English Peer.

His Lordship, on the 1st of February 1768, married Lady Jane Stuart, fecond daughter of John Earl of Bute; but by her has no fue.

ON THE HIGHLAND DRESS.
BY SIR JOHN SINCLAIR,

IT T is not my intention to difpute, ei-
ther the genuinenets, or the warlike
appearance of the garb worn by that
gallant Corps the 42d Regiment, and
which by many is fuppofed to be the on
ly true Highland drefs. Every foldier
muft naturally entertain a predilection
for the drefs of a body of men fo dif-
tinguished for military prowels. At

the fame time, there is every reafon to believe, that the trews, as worn by the Rothfay and Caithnefs Fencibles, is not only an antient part of the drefs of the Scottish Highlanders, but rivals the belted plaid in antiquity, as well as in utility and elegance.

In tracing the antiquity of this dress, it is neceffary in the first place to afcer

tain, whether it was worn by the antient Celtic nations, from whom the Scottish Highlanders are acknowledged to be defcended. As my leifure at prefent does not admit of engaging in such refearches, I shall take the liberty of quot ing modern, rather than antient authors, but at the fame time such as have inveftigated that fubje&t. The opinion of the celebrated Gibbon*, and the authoritics he quotes, are on this head ex. tremely important. He ftates, that Tetricus, who had been declared Emperor in Gaul, when led in triumph by Aurelian, was clothed in Gallic trowfers; and he remarks in a note, that the ufe of bracche, breeches or trowfers, was ftill confidered in Italy as a Gallic and barbarian fashion. The Romans how ever had made great advances towards it. To encircle the legs and thighs with fafcia, or bands, was understood in the time of Pompey and Horace to be a proof of ill health and effeminacy. In The age of Trajan the custom was confined to the rich and luxurious. It gradually was adopted by the meaneft of the people, in proof of which he refers to a curious note in Cafaubon ad Sueton. in Auguft. c. 82.

In fact the trews or trowfers feem to have been a characteristical part of the antient drefs of the Gauls or Celts, and the bare knees to have been a Roman, rather than a Celtic fashion.

Dr. Henry, who has delineated the antient hiftory of this country with fo much diligence and difcernment, is decidedly of opinion, that trowfers were a par: of the antient dress, not only of the Celtic nations in general, but of the Scottish Highlanders in particular. "For a confiderable time," fays this respectable hiftorian, † “the Antient Britons, and other Celtic nations, had no other garments but their plaids or mantles, which, being neither very long nor very broad, left their legs, arms, and fome other parts of their bodies, naked. As this defect in their dress could not but be fenfibly felt, it was by degrees fupplied. It is indeed uncertain, whether the tunick or doubler, for covering more clofely the trunk of the body, or breech es and hofe for covering the thighs and legs, were first invented and ufed by thefe nations; though the limbs being quite naked, while the trunk was tolera bly covered by the plaid, it is probable

that these laft were most antient, as they were moft neceffary. But, however this may be, it is abundantly evident, from the teftimonies of many antient authors, (which have been carefully collected by the two modern writers quoted below) that the antient Gauls, Britons, and other Celtic nations, wore a garment which covered both their thighs and legs, aud very much refembled our breeches and ftockings united. This garment was called, in the Celtic tongue, the common language of all thefe nations, braxe, or bracce, probably because it was made of the fame party-coloured cloth with their plaids, as breac in that language fignifics any thing that is party-coloured. Thefe braxe or close trowfers, which were both graceful and convenient, and discovered the fine shape and turn of their limbs to great advantage, were ufed by the genuine pofterity of the Caledonian Britons in the Highlands of Scotland till very lately, and are hardly yet laid afide in fome remote corners of that country."

The evidence of antient fongs may alfo be adduced in fupport of the rews, more especially the well known verfes in "Tak' your auld Cloak about ye;" from which it would appear, that in the reign of one of the Roberts, probably Robert Bruce, it was a ufual part of the drefs of the Scots:

“In days when our King Robert rang,
His treas they coft but ha'f a crown,
He faid they were a groat ou'r dear,
And ca`d the Taylor thief and loun."'

There is a book printed at Paris, an-
no 1613, intitled “ Les Eftats, Empires,
et Principautez du Monde," which
thus defcribes the drefs of the antieut
Scots : "Leur bas de chaufe ne paf-
foient pas le genoüil, et le haut (de
chaufe) eftoit de lin, ou de chanure."
In English,
In English," Their fockings (or
more properly speaking their hose) ne-
ver paffed the knee, and their trowsers
were of flax or hemp." And the en-
gravings of the Scottish dress, in the
Recueil de la diverfité des habi's qui font de
prefent en ufage, &c. published at Paris
in 12mo, anno 1562, (mentioned in the
laft edition of Pinkerton's Scottish Pq-
ems, in three volumes octavo, printed
anno 1792) prove, that the French,
who knew Scotland' fo intimately, al-
ways confidered trowfers a part of the

Gibbon's Hiftory, vol. 2. p. 47, octavo edit on 1792.
+ Hißory of Great Britain, vol. 2. p. 341.

Pelloutier Hift. Celt. 1, 2. c. 6. b. 1. p. 307. &c, Cluv. Germ. Antiq. 1. 1. c. 5 p. 115, &c.

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