under the editorial care of Dr Mackay, formerly of Dunoon. The chief
amusement of Maclachlan's leisure hours was executing translations of
Homer into Gaelic. His translation of the third book of the Iliad has
been printed. Of his powers as a Gaelic poet, an estimate may be formed
from the following specimens in English verse.

A MELODY OF LOVE.

The first stanza of this song was the composition of a
lady. Maclachlan completed the composition in Gaelic,
and afterwards produced the following version of the
whole in English.

Not the swan on the lake, or the foam on the shore,
Can compare with the charms of the maid I adore:
Not so white is the new milk that flows o'er the pail,
Or the snow that is shower'd from the boughs of the vale.

As the cloud's yellow wreath on the mountain's high brow,
The locks of my fair one redundantly flow;
Her cheeks have the tint that the roses display
When they glitter with dew on the morning of May.

As the planet of Venus that gleams o'er the grove,
Her blue rolling eyes are the symbols of love:
Her pearl-circled bosom diffuses bright rays,
Like the moon when the stars are bedimm'd with her blaze.

The mavis and lark, when they welcome the dawn,
Make a chorus of joy to resound through the lawn:
But the mavis is tuneless, the lark strives in vain,
When my beautiful charmer renews her sweet strain.

When summer bespangles the landscape with flowers,
While the thrush and the cuckoo sing soft from the bowers,
Through the wood-shaded windings with Bella I 'll rove,
And feast unrestrained on the smiles of my love.

THE MAVIS OF THE CLAN.

These verses are allegorical. In the character of a
song-bird the bard relates the circumstances of his
nativity, the simple habits of his progenitors, and his
own rural tastes and recreations from infancy, giving
the first place to the delights of melody. He proceeds
to give an account of his flight to a strange but
hospitable region, where he continued to sing his songs
among the birds, the flocks, the streams, and
cultivated fields of the land of his sojourn. This
piece is founded upon a common usage of the Gaelic
bards, several of whom assume the allegorical character
of the "Mavis" of their own clan. Thus we have the
Mavis of Clan-ranald by Mac-Vaistir-Allister--o