For an appreciation of this fine poem see `Introduction',
pp. xlv, xlvii [Part IV], Mr. J. R. Tait, a friend with whom Mr. Lanier
discussed `The Revenge of Hamish', kindly writes me that the author
took the plot from William Black's novel, `Macleod of Dare'.
In chapter iii. Macleod, of Castle Dare, Mull, tells the story
to his London entertainer; but, as the story of the novel
is identical with that of the poem, it need not be given here.
The novel, I should add, gives the name of the chieftain only,
though, as it has a Hamish in another connection, it doubtless gave Lanier
this name for the henchman. Previous to the reception of Mr. Tait's letter
I supposed that Lanier had borrowed his plot from a poem by Charles Mackay,
`Maclaine's Child, A Legend of Lochbuy, Mull', which in plot
is identical with Lanier's poem, except that the former begins
with the speech of the flogged henchman, here named Evan,
and ends by telling us that the bodies were found and that of Evan was hanged
on a gallows-tree. The poem is too long for quotation, but may be found
in any edition of Mackay or in Garrett's `One Hundred Choice Selections:
Number Nine' (Phila., 1887).
17. The Macleans, for centuries one of the most powerful of Scottish clans,
have since the fourteenth century lived in Mull, one of the largest
of the Hebrides Islands. The two leading branches of the clan
were the Macleans of Dowart and the Macleans of Lochbuy,
both taking their names from the seats of their castles. The Lochbuy family
now spells its name MacLAINE. For a detailed history of the clan
see Keltie's `History of the Scottish Highlands, Highland Clans', etc.
(London, 1885). Interesting books about Mull and the Hebrides are:
Johnson's `A Journey to the Hebrides' and Robert Buchanan's `The Hebrid Isles'
(London, 1883). Instructive, too, is Cummin's `Around Mull'
(`The Atlantic Monthly', 16. 11-19, 167-176, July, August, 1865).