ABSTRACT
English tourists were fascinated with Scottish history, often developing a vicarious Scottish patriotism during their journeys. Promoters of tourism evidently hoped that English sightseers would develop just such a kinship with their northern neighbors. Scottish promoters of tourism clearly realized the marketability of history, and they understood the celebration of it as a way to emphasize Scotland’s distinctiveness. In doing so, however, they often de-emphasized Scotland’s busy and creative present. While a thriving economy intrigued eighteenth-century travelers who reveled in the expansion of the British commercial spirit, Victorians sought an exotic differentness. One of the chief means by which tourists believed Scotland kept the past alive was through the traditions of the Highlands, particularly what was considered the historic dress of the region. Tourism was thus complicit in the ‘Balmoralization’ of Scotland, as practices which were of dubious historical authenticity and representative of only part of the country became symbols of the whole.
