thousand copies were circulated. In 1846 Mackay was made an LL.D. of Glasgow University, and in July 1847 he resigned his editorship of the ‘Argus.’ In 1848 Mackay entered the editorial office of the ‘Illustrated London News,’ and became editor of the paper in 1852. At the suggestion of Herbert Ingram, the proprietor, Mackay began in December 1851 the issue of a series of musical supplements, each containing an original song by Mackay, adapted to an ancient English melody which was specially arranged by Sir Henry Bishop. Bishop's death, on 30 April 1855, interrupted the scheme; but eighty lyrics of a projected hundred were thereupon published under the title of ‘Songs by Charles Mackay.’ Reissued in a popular form in 1856 as ‘Songs for Music,’ the publisher could say with perfect truth: ‘Many of the songs included in this collection have been said and sung in every part of the world where the English language is spoken.’ The pieces included ‘Cheer, Boys! Cheer!’ ‘To the West! To the West!’ ‘Tubal Cain,’ ‘There's a Land, a dear Land,’ and ‘England over all.’ On 3 Oct. 1857 Mackay left Liverpool on an eight months' lecturing tour through the United States and Canada. By 2 June 1858 he had returned home, and in the following year brought to an end his association with the ‘Illustrated London News.’ In 1860 he established the ‘London Review,’ and his editorship was inaugurated on 2 July by a banquet at the Reform Club. Another new periodical, ‘Robin Goodfellow,’ was started by him in 1861. Neither proved successful. From February 1862 to December 1865 Mackay was the special correspondent of the ‘Times’ at New York during the civil war, and in the autumn of 1862 he revealed in the ‘Times’ the existence of the Fenian conspiracy in America. Although recognising that his real vocation was that of a song-writer, he devoted much time in his later years to wayward and eccentric excursions into Celtic philology. He died at Longridge Road, Earl's Court, London, on 24 Dec. 1889, and was buried on 2 Jan. 1890 in Kensal Green cemetery. Mackay was twice married—first, during his Glasgow editorship, to Rosa Henrietta Vale, by whom he had three sons and a daughter; and secondly to Ellen Mills, a widow, whose maiden name was Kirtland. His first wife died on 28 Dec. 1859, and his second wife in 1875.
His principal poetical works were:
- ‘Songs and Poems,’ 1834, 8vo.
- ‘The Hope of the World,’ 1840, 12mo.
- ‘The Salamandrine, or Love and Immortality,’ 1842, 12mo; 2nd edit. 1853; 3rd edit. 1856.
- ‘Legends of the Isles,’ 1845, 12mo.
- ‘Voices from the Crowd,’ 1846, 16mo; 4th edit. 1851; 5th and revised edit. 1857, 8vo.
- ‘Voices from the Mountain,’ 1847, 16mo; 2nd edit. 1857, 8vo.
- ‘Town Lyrics,’ 1848, 16mo.
- ‘Egeria, or the Spirit of Nature,’ 1850, 8vo.
- ‘The Lump of Gold,’ 1856, 8vo.
- ‘Under Green Leaves,’ 1857, 8vo.
- ‘A Man's Heart,’ 1860, 8vo.
- ‘Studies from the Antique, and Sketches from Nature,’ 1864, 8vo.
- ‘Interludes and Undertones, or Music at Twilight,’ 1884, 8vo.
- ‘Gossamer and Snowdrift,’ 1890 (posthumous), 8vo.
A volume of ‘Collected Songs,’ with illustrations by John Gilbert, was published in 1859, and in 1868 Mackay's poems appeared in the ‘Chandos Classics.’ He edited ‘Jacobite Songs and Ballads,’ 1861; ‘Cavalier Songs and Ballads of England,’ 1863; ‘A Thousand and One Gems of English Poetry,’ 1867; and ‘A Thousand and One Gems of English Prose,’ 1872.
His principal prose works were:
- ‘History of London from its Foundation by the Romans to the Accession of Queen Victoria,’ 1838, 8vo.
- ‘The Thames and its Tributaries, or Rambles among Rivers,’ 2 vols. 1840, 8vo.
- ‘Longbeard, Lord of London, a Romance,’ 3 vols. 1841, 12mo; 2nd edit. 2 vols. 1851; 3rd edit. 2 vols. 1869.
- ‘Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions,’ 3 vols. 1841, 8vo.
- ‘The Scenery and Poetry of the English Lakes, a Summer Ramble,’ 1846, 8vo; 2nd edit. 1852.
- ‘History of the Mormons,’ 1851, 8vo; 3rd edit. 1852, 8vo; 4th edit. 1853, 12mo; 5th edit. 1857, 8vo.
- ‘Life and Liberty in America,’ 2 vols. 1859, 8vo.
- ‘The Gouty Philosopher, or the Opinions, Whims, and Eccentricities of John Wagstaffe, Esq.,’ 1862, 8vo.
- ‘Under the Blue Sky,’ 1871, 8vo.
- ‘Lost Beauties of the English Language, an Appeal to Authors,’ &c., 1874, 8vo.
- ‘The Gaelic and Celtic Etymology of the Languages of Western Europe,’ 1877, 8vo.
- ‘Forty Years' Recollections of Life, Literature, and Public Affairs (1830–1870),’ 2 vols. 1877, 8vo.
- ‘Luck, and what came of it: a Tale of our Times,’ 3 vols. 1881, 8vo.
- ‘The Poetry and Humour of the Scotch Language,’ 1882, 8vo.
- ‘The Founders of the American Republic,’ 1885, 8vo.
- ‘Through the Long Day, or Memorials of a Literary Life during Half a Century,’ 2 vols. 1887, 8vo.
- ‘A Dictionary of Lowland Scotch,’ 1888.
[Personal recollections of the writer; Mackay's Forty Years' Recollections and Through the Long Day; Pall Mall Gazette, 2 Jan. 1890; Evening Standard, same date; Daily News, 3 Jan. 1890; Standard, same date.]
