‘Soldier's Widow’). 77. ‘Runaway Bride, or the New Marriage Act repealed,’ farce, 1823. 78. ‘Beautiful Insane, or the Rose of Morven,’ dramatic piece, 1824. 79. ‘Arrogance brought down,’ interlude, 1824. 80. ‘Music hath Charms, or Marrow Bones and Cleavers,’ comic interlude, 1824. 81. ‘Ups and Downs of Life, or the Fortunate Irishman,’ 1824. 82. ‘Affair of Honor, or the Dishonorable Affair,’ a dramatic burlesque (also under the title of ‘Follies of the Day, or a Tragi-comedy Duel’), 1825. 83. ‘Eccentricity, or Every one has his Whim,’ farce, 1826. Unless otherwise specified the above were all published in London.
II. Prose.—‘A Minute Description of the Battles of Gorey, Arklow, and Vinegar Hill,’ 1798, 12mo, and ‘An Account of the Insurrection in Ireland,’ 1800.
III. Poetry.—1. ‘The Repository’ (songs and poems), 1811. 2. ‘Coll and Rotha,’ a poem (published with the ‘Swindlers’), 1812. 3. ‘Poetical Trifles,’ 1825.
[Memoir of Archibald Maclaren, Dramatist, Edinburgh, 1835 (Maidment's publications, 25 copies); Baker's Biog. Dram.; Irving's Book of Scotsmen; Genest's Account of the English Stage, ix. 25–8.]
MACLAREN, CHARLES (1782–1866), editor of the 'Scotsman,' son of a small farmer and cattle-dealer, was born at Ormiston, Haddingtonshire, 7 Oct. 1782, and received some education at Fala and Colinton, but was mainly self-taught. Removing to Edinburgh, where he served as clerk and bookkeeper to several firms, he joined the Philomathic Debating Society, where he made the acquaintance of John Ritchie, William Ritchie, and other persons of advanced whig views. In conjunction with William Ritchie and John M'Diarmid (1790–1852) [q. v.], and in the face of much opposition, he established the 'Scotsman,' 26 Jan. 1817, and was joint editor of the first few numbers, but on his obtaining, in the same year, a position as a clerk in the custom house, he yielded the editorial chair to John Ramsay M'Culloch [q. v.] In 1820 Maclaren resumed the editorship and held it till 1846, when he resigned it to Alexander Russel. The paper rapidly became the leading political journal of Scotland; its tone was throughout decidedly whiggish, and in church matters it advocated much freedom of opinion. In 1820 Archibald Constable employed Maclaren to edit the sixth edition of the 'Encyclopædia Britannica,' 1823, and to revise the historical and geographical articles. The editor contributed the articles 'America,' 'Europe,' 'Greece,' 'Physical Geography,' and 'Troy,' Maclaren interested himself in science and especially in geology. He was elected F.R.S. Edinburgh in 1837, F.G.S. London in 1846, and was president of the Geological Society of Edinburgh from 1864 to his death. He published 'A Sketch of the Geology of Fife and the Lothians,' 1839; 2nd edit. 1866; and 'A Dissertation on the Topography of the Plain of Troy' in 1822, which, after visiting the district, he reissued in 1863 as 'The Plains of Troy described.' He died at Moreland Cottaffe? Edinburgh, 10 Sept. 1866, and was buried in the Grange cemetery. He married, 27 Jan. 1842, Jean Veitch, daughter of Richard Somner of Somnerfield, East Lothian, and widow of David Hume [q. v.], the nephew of the philosopher. A bust was executed by William Brodie.
A copy by John Hutchinson is in the National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh.
[Cox and Nicol's Select Writings of C. Maclaren, 2 vols. 1869, with portrait; Proceedings of Royal Soc. of Edinburgh, 1869, vi. 27; Gent. Mag. 1866, ii. 562; Irving's Book of Scotsmen, 1881, p. 310.]
McLAREN, DUNCAN (1800–1886), politician, son of John McLaren, farmer, was born at Renton, Dumbartonshire, 12 Jan. 1800. At the age of twelve he was apprenticed for four years to a draper at Dunbar. From Dunbar he removed to Haddington, and thence in 1818 to Edinburgh, where the whole of his subsequent life was passed. Here he was employed under John Lauder & Co., in the High Street, until 1824, when he commenced business as a draper, in a shop opposite St. Giles's Church. In 1838 he became member .of the town council of Edinburgh, and he was successively baillie, treasurer, and finally provost from 1851 till 1864. When he was appointed treasurer the city was almost bankrupt, but he made satisfactory arrangements with the creditors, including the imperial treasury. In 1862 he unsuccessfully contested Edinburgh as a liberal, and in connection with the contest received from the 'Scotsman,' in an action for libel, the sum of 500l., which he gave away in charity. At the general election of 1865 he took his seat for Edinburgh, and continued to represent the city for sixteen years, acquiring in the House of Commons a position of so much authority on Scottish questions that he used to be called 'the member for Scotland.' He took part in passing the act for the commutation of the annuity tax, a local church rate peculiar to Edinburgh and Montrose. He also helped to pass the Burgess Act and the Irish Sunday Closing Act. On his retirement in 1881 he received a testimonial from his fellow-mem-
