Blair Collection > Gaelic bards

134
most beautiful poems in any language. The
broken-hearted poet became insane, and was set
at liberty. He crossed over to Scotland. He
wandered about Kintyre several years. He lived
to be an old man.
John Mackenzie, in his Sar-Obair nam Bard,
says that the author of "Mo Mhali bheag og "
was the son of a respectable tenant in the High-
lands of Perthshire, that he had served under King
William on the Continent, soon after the Revolu-
tion, and that Mali was the daughter of a neigh-
bouring landed proprietor. A writer in the Oban
Telegraph, of January 30th, 1891, gives an inter-
esting account of Kilchrenan, at Loch Awe in
Argyleshire. He makes the following reference to
the author of " Mali bheag og ":— " In the south
side of Coille Na h-earraich, on the bank of
Uisge-Chille, is a little chasm known as ' Eas
Lachain Hogie, ' as he was called in Lorn, the
author of the beautifully melodious, and saddest
of love-wails, 'Mo Mhali Bheag Og.' The
melancholy occurrence that caused this gentleman
to lose his reason and wander a harmless lunatic
through the country, happened in Ireland. He
was an officer in a Scotch Regiment quartered
there ; his name was Maclachlan, and he was a
man of soldierly appearance, tall and handsome.
He fell in love with an Irish lady, and his ardent
feelings were fully reciprocated, but the lady's
friends were bitterly opposed to their wooing, and
the only alternative open to the lovers was to run
away ; this they did, but their flight was discover-
ed, and pursuit given on horseback which speedily ■
overtook the fugitives. ^laclachlan placed his
lady love in the shelter of a low rock and took his
stand, sword in hand, in front of her, prepared to
defend them both. This he did successfully for
some time, until by a back hand stroke he un-
fortunately struck and killed his sweetheart, while