Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 35.djvu/196

 Maclachlan obtaining his liberty he endeavoured at his own expense to establish a service of packetboats to Dublin, but the undertaking involved him in heavy expenses, and was soon dropped. Ultimately he went abroad, and he died at Rotterdam in 1726.

He is the author of a somewhat important contribution to contemporary history: 'Memoirs of the Secret Services of John Macky, Esq., during the Reign of King William, Queen Anne, and King George I. Including also the true Secret History of the Rise, Promotions, &c., of the English and Scots Nobility; Officers, Civil, Military, Naval, and other Persons of distinction from the Revolution. In their respective Characters at large: drawn up by Mr. Macky pursuant to the direction of Her Royal Highness the Princess Sophia. Published from his original Manuscript, as attested by his son. Spring Macky, Esq.,' London, 1733. An edition in French, translated by 'A. R.,' was published at the Hague in the same year. The chief value of the 'Memoirs' consists in its descriptions of the leading personages of the period, which evidence both keen powers of observation and great impartiality of judgment. Swift has appended notes, generally of an acrid character, to many of the descriptions. Macky was also the author of 'Journey through England,' 1714; 2nd edition, 1722, with additional volume; 3rd edition, 1723, with a third volume; reprinted, with large additions, 1724 and 1732; 'Journey through Scotland,' 1723; and 'Journey through the Austrian Netherlands,' 1725.

[Pref. to Secret Memoirs; Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. ii. 430, 4th ser. iv. 135.]  MACLACHLAN, EWEN (1775–1822), Gaelic poet and scholar, born in 1775 at Torracaltin, Fort William, was educated at the parish school of Kilmallie, and subsequently employed by neighbouring families as private tutor. In youth he was very poor and had to struggle hard for the means of education. In 1796 he was brought under the notice of the chief of Glengarry, who paid the necessary expenses to enable him to attend university classes at Aberdeen. He had a distinguished university record, and when he graduated in 1800 he was awarded a royal bursary, the gift of the lords of the treasury, and entered the Divinity Hall. On the recommendation of his friend Dr. Beattie he became librarian at King's College and one of the masters at the Old Aberdeen grammar school. The death of Dr. Beattie hindered his promotion, but in 1819 he became headmaster of the grammar school, which position he held until his death. In Aberdeen he also held the appointments of session clerk and treasurer to the parish of Old Machar, and was secretary to the Highland Society of the city. He had always been a hardworking student, and his health broke while he was yet young. He died from overwork in Aberdeen on 29 March 1822. He is buried in his native glen, where a monument has been erected to his memory.

Maclachlan's poems are few, but of high merit. In 1798 he helped Allan MacDougall [q. v.] to publish a small volume of poems, and as MacDougall's own work was not then sufficient to make a book, Maclachlan added some of his. While a student at Aberdeen he wrote some excellent Greek and Latin verses, winning the prize for a Greek ode. A poem on the Duke of Wellington, which he submitted for a competition in Latin verse, though unsuccessful, was afterwards published (1808), and according to a manuscript note attached to the copy in the British Museum, written by Dr. Irving, author of 'The Poetry of Scotland,' who had met Maclachlan, both Principal Brown and Professor Beattie voted the verses the best in the competition. In 1807 a small volume of verse, 'Attempts in Verse,' was published in Aberdeen, containing work in English, Greek, and Latin, and in 1816 another volume, 'Metrical Effusions,' appeared. At odd times Maclachlan had been translating the 'Iliad' into Gaelic, and on his death had completed seven books. Part of this, with other verses by him, appeared in Patrick Macfarlane's 'Choice Collection of Gaelic Poems.' He was appointed by the Highland Society of Scotland to assist the Rev. John Macleod, D.D. 1757-1841 [q. v.], with the 'Gaelic Dictionary,' published in 1828. Maclachlan was engaged on the Gaelic-English part of the dictionary, but he died before his manuscript was far advanced.

[Reid's Bibliotheca Scoto-Celtiea, pp. 60, 84; Mackenzie's Beauties of Gaelic Poetry, p. 321; Blackie's Language and Literature of the Scottish Highlands, p. 261; MacNeill's Literature of the Highlands, p. 272; Rogers's Modern Scottish Minstrel, vol. ii.; Introduction to the Gaelic Dictionary of the Highland Society of Scotland, p. xiii.]  MACLACHLAN, LAUCHLAN (d. 1746), fifteenth chief of the ancient Argyllshire clan, Lachlan (Lachuinn), of which the original stock is said to be the O'Loughlins of Meath, was served heir to his father on 23 Sept. 1719. In 1745, undeterred by the close proximity of Inverary (the seat of the Campbells), Maclachlan set out from his hereditary tower by the shores of Loch Fyne, at the head of 260 fighting men, and joined Prince Charles. He took part in the defeat 