The Sun.
London, England, 1851-07-11 00:00:00

THE SCOTTISH FETE AT HOLLAND

PARK.
Yesterday was the opening day of this national enter-
tainment, which, during the last year or two, has been
advancing to a very good position amongst the amuse-
ments of the season. The wretched weather, however,
bw
sp ,filed all. No out-of-door sports could by possibility
nrcy drizzle,i:llt o
etahave any chance in the face of such repeated deluges as
yesterday poured down in rapid succession—the intervals
r heavyte
and rains
be a
the
s b,
grassgsirn
ags s filledandun d p
pathwaysul!
tbhyw at
ys drearilycboei
uncomfortableoeft course, between
the very
v ue
could
be. The morning was lowering and uncertain, and rain
had fallen heavily before the commencement of the pro-
ceedings. Notwithstanding this, however, a rather fair
sprinkling of company had assembled, and it was hoped
that a fine afternoon would attract many more. The spot
occupied, and the general arrangements, were much the
same as those of last year. A. succession of open stands
flanked the grand stand, which alone was covered, and round
the fenced-in area were ranged several tents for the
convenience of the committee and competitors, with a
somewhat larger one at a little distance in the park,
devoted to commissariat purposes. The band of the Fu-
silier Guards was upon the ground, with the juvenile
band of the Scottish Hospital—an admirably instructed
party of young musicians—while the performers upon
the national instrument were headed by Mr. Angus
Mackay, the Queen's piper. Including competitors and
gentlemen-members of the Scottish Society, and spe-
cially interested in the games, there might have been
about fifty persons present in the Highland dress, many
of them showing perfect specimens of what the costume
of the Gael really is in its native and unadulterated sim-
plicity, and contrasting strikingly with the caricatures
of the Highland garb adopted in our Highland regi-
ments. Several of the competitors were magnificent
specimens of the genuine mountain breed—not
the pranked up gentlemen one sometimes sees,
who imagine that, to be properly equipped in
the garb in question, a man must carry half a
jeweller's shop about him in the shape of brooches,
powder-horns, chains, and so forth—but hardy active
fellows, with magnificent thews and sinews, especially
great
' in the development of calf, and with all that
springy, airy easiness of gait—mingled, too, with a
certain dignity of step—which invariably reveals the
man brought up among the mountains and accustomed
from childhood to the elastic rebound of the heather.
The simple ease of the Highland dress—made in many
cases out of home-manufactured materials—was excel-
lently exhibited by the individuals in question, and
the style in which they managed to shelter themselves
with their plaids when the rain came down heavily de-
monstrated the great availability of the garment as a
protection from the weather, with its extreme handiness
and flexibility, as well as its graceful and picturesque
character. Among the visitors we remarked a good
many foreigners, watching with great interest the pro-
ceedings of lea lontagnards Ecossais.
The proceedings, however, were sadly interfered with
by the rain—not that the Highlanders were in the smallest
degree discomfited by the mere wet, but the ground was
in no state for manly exercises. The platform erected
for singlestick, fencing, end so forth, had to be abandoned
for the grass; the really tremendous violence of the
showers necessitated dreary waitings; and, iu short,
the life and soul of the whole thing was drenched out of
it. The sports, such as they were, were all in the
nature of heats—this being the decisive day, when yes-
terday's victors will be matched against each other.
There was, as usual, turning the caber, throwing the
hammer and the stone, running, leaping, and throw-
ing the discus, with plenty of dancing, the dreary
weather not appearing in any way to damp
the uproarious spirit of hilarity which a High-
lander always throws into a threesome or a four-
some reel. Besides the exclusively Scotch sports,
we had wrestling, singlestick, and there was to have
been a morris dance round a Maypole, under the super-
intendence of Mr. Flexmore. The performers were
ready dressed all day, but, up to the hour at which we
left the ground, the state of the weather made the notion
of dancing round a Maypole the most dismal of tragedies.
So we suppose it was put off, to be performed under sun-
nier auspices, One of the best features of the day's
amusement was the race in sacks, which created the
1 most boisterous mirth, oyez iu the teeth of the_till-do-