eologist of
considerable pretensions mistook it for a genuine historical record of
the place on which it was written. His next work, and up till that
period his noblest poem, "The Salamandrine, or Love and Immortality,"
appeared in 1843. As there is no hesitation in his thought, there is no
vagueness in his language; it is terse, clear, and direct in every
utterance. An enemy to spasms in every form, he abhors the Spasmodic
School of Poets. If the true poet be the seer--the far seer into
futurity--he should see his way clear before him. He should write
because he has a thought to utter, and ought to utter it in the clearest
and the fittest language, and this is the principle which manifestly
governs the compositions of Charles Mackay. The "Salamandrine" lifted
his works high in the poetic scale, and permanently fixed him, not only
in the ranks, but marked him as a leader of the host of eminent British
poets. His residence in Scotland enabled him to visit many places famous
in Scottish history. The results were his "Legends of the Isles,"
published in 1845 and his "Voices from the Mountains" in 1846. A few
months before the publication of the last named volume, the University
of Glasgow conferred upon him the degree of LL.D.

When the London _Daily News_ was started, he contributed some stirring
lyrics, under the title of "Voices from the Crowd." They arrested the
attention of the public, and tended greatly to popularise and establish
the reputation of that journal. In 1847 appeared his "Town Lyrics," a
series of ballads which harrowed the soul by laying bare many of the
secret miseries of the town. In 1850 was published his exquisite poem of
"Egeria," probably the most refined and artistic of all his productions;
and in 1856 he gave to the world "The Lump of Gold," and "Under Green
Leaves," two volumes of charming poetry; the first tracing the evils
that flow from unrestrained cupidity; the second the delights of the
country, under every circumstance that can or does occur. Latterly he
has composed some popular airs, set to his own lyrics; thus giving to
the melody he has conceived the immortality of his verse. With the late
Sir Henry Bishop he was associated in re-arranging a hundred of the
choicest old English melodies. The music has been re-arranged; and many
a lovely air, inadmissible to cultivated society from its being
associated with vulgar or debasing words, has been re-admitted to the
social circle, and is fast