Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 35.djvu/138

Macken the union. He was appointed moderator of the synod of 1866, received the degree of D.D. from the college of Hamilton, Ohio, U.S.A.., and died in December 1868. In 1835 Mackelvie originated the Dick Club, before which he read an account of the poet Michael Bruce, whose birth and burial places were in the vicinity of Balgedie. This paper was extended and published in 1887 as 'The Life and Poems of Bruce,' It contains a biographv of the poet and an elaborate vindication of Brace's right to the authorship of certain of the 'paraphases' and 'odes' claimed by John Logan [q. v.] the divine. Mackelvie in 1850 edited the works of Dr. Hay of Kinross, with a memoir.

But the work for which Mackelvie is best known is the 'Annals and Statistics of the United Presbyterian Church. 'On this denominational encyclopaedia Mackelvie spent, from 1838 almost to his death, much time, money, and labour. It contains lists of students and sketches of congregations and of their ministers. When Mackelvie died the large mass of manuscripts was given to the synod by his widow and sons, and the synod appointed a large committee to arrange for the completion and publication of the volume. Dr. William Blair of Dunblane was appointed editor, and the work was published in 1873, under the synod's sanction. Mackelvie also wrote numerous articles for the 'United Secession Magazine,' the 'Voluntary Church Magazine,' and other periodicals.  MACKEN, JOHN (1784?–1823), poet, born about 1784, was eldest son of Richard Macken, merchant, of Brookeborough, near Enniskillen, co. Fermanagh. In early life he carried on business at Ballyconnell, co. Cavan. He then came to Enniskillen, where he helped to establish, and was fellow-editor with his brother-in-law, Edward Duffy, of the 'Erne Packet' or 'Enniskillen Chronicle.' The first number was published on 10 Aug. 1808, and to it Macken contributed both prose and verse. In 1818 he went to London, and published at his own cost a volume of poetry, which proved a failure. After visiting Paris, Macken assisted in the compilation in London of the 'Huntingdon Peerage' (1821), published with the name of Henry Nugent Bell [q. v.] as the author. William Jordan [q. v.] wards issued several of his poems in the 'Literary Gazette,' and procured the publication of his third volume of poems, the 'Lays on Land.' Macken returned in bad health in 1821 to Ireland, where he resumed his position as joint-editor of the 'Enniskillen Chronicle.' He died on 7 May 1823, aged 39, and was buried in Aughaveagh parish church, where there is a memorial to him. Letitia Elizabeth Landon [q. v.] wrote a fanciful monody on his death in the 'Literary Gazette.'

Macken published: 1. 'Minstrel Stolen Moments, or Shreds of Fancy,' Dublin, 1814, 8vo (anon.) 2. 'The Harp of the Desert, containing the Battle of Algiers, with other Pieces in Verse. By Ismael Fitzadam, formerly able seaman on board the frigate,' 8vo, London, 1818; the pseudonym is wholly fanciful, and seems to have been resented by Lord Exmouth, the hero of Algiers, to whom, with the officers under his command, the book was dedicated. 3. 'Lays on Land,' 8vo, London, 1821, under the same pseudonym. Alaric Watts published several of Macken's poems in his 'Poetical Album' (1828-9), together with a long autobiographical letter from him, which is mostly apocryphal. At his best Macken is a very feeble imitator of Byron. A poem of some merit, entitled 'Napoleon Moribundus,' was long attributed to him; it was, however, written by Thomas McCarthy (d. 1820).  MACKENNA, JOHN or JUAN (1771–1814), Chilian general, son of William Mackenna of Willville, co. Monaghan, by Eleanor, daughter of Philip O'Reilly of Ballymorris, was born at Clogher, co. Tyrone, on 26 Oct. 1771. He was fourth in lineal descent from Major John Mackenna, Jacobite high sheriff of co. Monaghan, who was killed by William's troops in an affair at Drumbanagher on 13 March 1689 (, Life of William III). His education was entrusted to his kinsman, Alexander O'Reilly (1730-1794), a general in the Spanish service, who had been governor of Louisiana, 1767-9, commanded against Algiers in 1775, and was at the time of his death commander of the army of the Eastern Pyrenees. By O'Reilly's directions he left Ireland in 1784, entered the Royal Academy of Mathematics at Barcelona, and in 1787 was appointed cadet in the Irish corps of military engineers in the Spanish army. He served under O'Reilly 