In the introduction to a later edition of Arthur Bryant's life of Macaulay he quotes TBM saying (xviii) "There were three or four Highland Chiefs in kilts, plaids and philibegs with eagles plumes in their hats, dirks and pistols at their sides, and claymores in their hands."
Philibeg
or Filibeg
refers to the kilt worn by Scottish Highlanders
[from Scottish Gaelic fēileadhbeag, from fēileadh kilt + beag small]
