Tuckwell Press, East Linton, Scotland, 1996. 80pp. £9.99

Published to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the battle of Culloden, this is very much a book of two halves.The first, Captain John Maclean's journal, is decidedly thin and had it been re-discovered a hundred years ago would have found its natural home in one of the Scottish History Society's miscellanies or "Collected Papers".

The second part of the book, on the other hand, is quite priceless and comprises over 40 contemporary sketches and caricatures of Jacobite & Loyalist troops in Edinburgh. Prior to the appearance of this collection I was aware of only one eye-witness drawing (reproduced in LIKE HUNGRY WOLVES) , now here is a whole Portfolio. It includes such gems as a trooper of Bagot's Hussars who (happily) looks very like Gerry Embleton's reconstruction in HUNGRY WOLVES.

For the most part the sketches are caricatures, but perhaps for that very reason they do highlight some interesting features. Swords & Targes are chiefly carried by often named Highland Gentlemen, such as Glengary and Keppoch, while the majority of the clansmen have firelocks and bayonets.

The Loyalist volunteers are lampooned just as mercileesly and include such gems as a Guard Commander esconced in a sedan chair and a minister employing his maid servant as a gun bearer!

In sum, although the Maclean journal is thinly useful, the sketches more than amply justify the very modest price.

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