If I could, I would be weeping For your shame and for your sorrow, Orphans’ cry and widows’ wailing, Through the long Argyll to-morrow. All this to the weird and exulting chorus:— H-i rim h-ŏ-rò, h-ò-rò leatha, H-i rim h-ŏ-rò, h-ò-rò leatha, H-i rim h-ŏ-rò, h-ò-rò leatha, Chaidh an la le Clann-Dòmhnuill. His dangerous strategy and stinging sarcasm at length roused the Marquis of Argyll to offer a reward for his head, and it is characteristic of the impetuous John that he appeared in person in the audience-hall of this mighty chief to claim it, relying for safety, no doubt, on the sacred regard in which Highlanders always held the professional bard. The Marquis received him courteously, and as they passed through a room hung round with heads of moor-fowl, he asked him, “Have you ever seen, John, so many black-cocks together?” “Yes,” he replied. “Where?” “At Inverlochy.” “Ah! John,” muttered Argyll, “will you never cease gnawing at the Campbells?” “I am only sorry,” added the implacable bard, “that I cannot swallow them.” For his services in the Stuart cause he was created Gaelic poet-laureate, and received from Charles II. a yearly pension. Iain Lom thus holds the unique distinction of having been the first and only Gaelic poet-laureate. Altogether his poems would occupy a considerable volume, though they have never been so issued.[34] Pattison has not translated any, but Iain Lom has nevertheless obtained a well-merited niche in Messrs. Blackie, the publishers, _Poets and Poetry of Scotland_, 1876, compiled by James G. Wilson; and the romantic side of his character is charmingly represented incidentally in Neil Munro’s novel, entitled _John Splendid_. Long after his death his Jacobite effusions still exercised a powerful influence over his countrymen, counteracting in no small degree the efforts of the Government to suppress the Stuart factions. “Children were taught to lisp them,” says the _New Statistical Account of Scotland_. “They were sung in the family circle on winter nights, and at weddings, lykewakes, fairs, and in every company. They attributed to the Stuarts and their adherents the most exalted virtues, and represented their opponents as incarnate fiends. In 1745, Moidart and Kilmonivaig were called ‘The Cradle of the Rebellion,’ and they were the very districts where the songs of Iain Lom leavened the whole mass of society with Jacobite sentiments.” Mightier was the verse of Iain Hearts to nerve, to kindle eyes, Than the claymore of the valiant, Than the counsel of the wise.