275 Years!

[Peter Crowe]

It might be possible you were thinking of something in Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature, as well. I'll read through both.
* Addition:
Matt Newsome expresses some interesting things about the way the feilidh-beag or kilts in general changed in his article, "Is the Kilt English?" He says something basic about the way our cultural creations, like kilts, develop. To me, it seems to resonate with some of the discussion, and what CDNSushi posted.
http://www.albanach.org/kilt_english.html

Thanks Bugbear, as I say it's been a while since I did Professor Chris Berry's Scottish Enlightenment class at Glasgow University (13 years ago) Not that Hume was speaking of the Kilt you understand, just that custom and habit are efficacious although he was less explicit on this than Burke.

As to the Rawlinson tale, I first heard it closer to 30 years ago when Hugh Trevor-Roper (Lord Dacre) was having one of his Scotophobic episodes. As Matt Newsome's article states, it proves very little one way or the other.

My response to CDNSushi, was basically one of agreement, but merely pointing out where traditionalists are coming from, and why they deserve to be heard. I for one have never believed the Kilt should remain only in Scotland (or the UK), or that it's use should only be restricted to certain groups of people.