Notes & Queries Archive
REPLY1851

True Blue

By E. L. N.

I find the following account of this phrase in my note-book, but I cannot at present say whence I obtained it:— "The first assumption of the phrase 'true blue' was by the Covenanters in opposition to the scarlet badge of Charles I., and hence it was taken by the troops of Leslie in 1639. The adoption of the colour was one of those religious pedantries in which the Covenanters affected a Pharisaical observance of the scriptural letter and the usages of the Hebrews; and thus, as they named their children Habakkuk and Zerubbabel, and their chapels Zion and Ebenezer, they decorated their persons w…

Topics: Covenanters, Religious Customs, Scriptural Observance

Locations: Zion, Ebenezer