McHENRY, JAMES (1785–1845), poet and novelist, son of a merchant in Larne, co. Antrim, was born there on 20 Dec. 1765. After attending a. local school, he studied medicine and begun practice in his native town, whence he later removed to Belfast. In 1817 he emigrated to the United States, where he lived successively in Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia. Re settled in the last-named place in 1824, both trading; and practising medicine. From 1842 till his death he was United States consul in Londonderry, Ireland. He died at Larne, 21 July 1845. his son James, who died in 1891 at Kensington, was a well-known financier. His daughter Mary married Mr. J. Bellargee Cox of Philadelphia.
McHenry had strong literary interests. His first work, 'The Pleasures of Friendship,' a poem, appeared in 1822, and was reprinted with other poems at Philadelphia in 1836. In 1824 he became editor of the 'American Monthly Magazine,' and in its pages 'O'Halloran, or the Insurgent Chief,' the novel by which he is probably best known, first appeared. His other prose works are:
- 'The Wilderness, or Braddock's Times: a Tale of the West,' 2 vols. New York,1823.
- 'The Spectre of the Forest,' 2 vols. 1823.
- ' The Hearts of Steel: an Irish Historical Tale of the last Century,' 2 vols. Philadelphia, 1825.
- 'The Betrothed of Wyoming,' 1831.
- 'Meredith, or the Mystery of the Meschianza,' 1831.
In verse he published:
- 'Walthani: an American Revolutionary Tale,' New York, 1823.
- 'The Usurper: an Historical Tragedy,' Philadelphia, 1829.
- 'Jackson's Wreath,' written in honour of Andrew Jackson, 1829.
- 'The Antediluvians, or the World Destroyed,' 1840.
[Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography.]
MACHIN or MACHYN, HENRY (1498?–1563?), diarist, born about 1498, was according to his own perplexing account, fifty-six on 16 May 1554 (Diary, p. 63), and sixty-six on 20 May 1562 (ib. p. 283). He was a citizen of London, dwelling in the parish of Trinity the Little by Queenhithe, and calls himself a merchant tailor. But his chief occupation seems to have been that of a furnisher of funerals. He was a devout catholic, and welcomed Mary's accession and the restoration of the old religion. On 30 July 1557 he attended an oyster feast at a friend's house in Anchor Lane (ib. p. 143). On 23 Nov. 1561 he did penance at St. Paul's Cross for having circulated a libellous story respecting M. Veron, the French protestant preacher (ib. p. 272; Strype, Annals, i. 237). His ‘Diary’ concludes with an account of an outbreak of the plague in London in July 1563, and it is possible that he himself fell a victim to the disease.
A brother Christopher, also a merchant tailor, died in the parish of St. James on 30 Nov. 1550. A daughter, Catherine, was christened 27 Sept. 1557 (Diary, p. 153), and a niece, ‘Kynlure Machen,’ Christopher's daughter, obtained a license to marry Edward Gardener, a cooper, on 7 July 1562 (ib. p. 287). The interest manifested by the diarist in the families of two persons named John Heath has suggested a relationship between him and them: the one, a sergeant of the king's bakehouse, died in the autumn of 1551 (ib. p. 9); the other, a painter-stainer, lived in Fenchurch Street, and died in the spring of 1553 (ib. p. 32). Each left a widow named Annes. Mrs. Heath, the painter-stainer's wife, may possibly have been the diarist's sister or daughter (ib. p. 105).
Machin kept a diary, which is still extant, from July 1550 till August 1563. The earliest entries record in detail the funerals which he provided in the way of business, but in February 1550–1 he made a note of Bishop Gardiner's committal to the Tower, and thenceforth he interspersed his descriptions of funerals with accounts of the chief public events, paying especial attention to the city pageants and incidents in the religious struggles. Machin was the earliest writer to describe the lord mayor's show. The manuscript of the work is at the British Museum (MS. Cotton. Vitellius F v.), but was severely injured in the fire at the Cottonian Library. After remaining neglected till 1829, the injured leaves were carefully repaired by Sir Frederick Madden. Strype used the manuscript in his ‘Ecclesiastical Memorials and Annals,’ and commended the writer's diligence. The ‘Diary’ was printed by the Camden Society in 1848, being edited by J. G. Nichols.
A family of the name was connected with Gloucestershire, and of this branch Thomas Machen (1568–1614) was demy and fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford (B.A. 1587 and M.A. 1592), a student of Lincoln's Inn 1589, M.P. for Gloucester in 1614, and alderman and thrice mayor of the town (cf. Bloxam, Magd. Coll. Reg. iv. 224). He was buried in Gloucester Cathedral, and an elaborate
