Hew Morrison Collection > Poems and songs of John MacCodrum, Archibald MacDonald, and some of the minor Uist bards

[NTRODUCTIOX.
I I.— PATRIOTIC SONGS.
We now pass on to a brief review of Mac Codrum's
patriotic poems, nearly all of which are composed either to
the Clan MacDonald in general, or some of its more noted
scions. The bard exulted in the heroic history of his
favourite clan, and the great men who gave it lustre, and he
lavishes all the wealth of his copious vocabulary in singing
their praises. For a man who could neither read nor write
— such is the tradition, and most probably the truth — he
showed a singular acquaintance — not only with MacDonald
history, but that of other clans as well.
A notable poem to an individual MacDonald is that to
Captain Allan MacDonald of Kingsburgh whom Dr. John-
son's biographer describes as "the figure of a gallant High-
lander exhibiting the graceful mien and manly looks which
our popular Scottish song has justly attributed to that char-
acter." Through the strange irony of fortune, it was his
destiny to fight for the royal house on behalf of whose foe>
both his father and wife had risked life and fortune.
Owing to the part which old Kingsburgh took in the troubles
of '45 and the pecuniary losses he sustained in connection
with the movement. Captain Allan and his brave wife and
children were compelled to seek a home in the American
continent in the month of August, 1774. On the outbreak
of the War of Independence which took place shortly after
his arrival in the new world, Kingsburgh joined the loyalist