A HARPER, SOME YOUNG LADIES AND THE MINISTER;- The backgroundto the MacLean Clephane MS.

Now the title of this talk says ‘a harper’, which is of course singular and refers to the Harper Echlin O’Cathain, but as a bonus I am going to start by talking about a different harper altogether. As most of you will know, O’Cathain was taught by the harper Cornelius Lyons and we need to begin at the beginning, which in this case is a generationbefore O’Cathain. This immediately leads to some problems. When there is only one source of information things are fairly straight forward, you can either believe the source or you don’t, but when there are, as in this case, two sometimes conflicting sources, then informed choices really have to be made.

The details of Lyons life appear primarily in a short accounttaken down directly from Echlin O’Cathain in 1779, by one of the Campbell of Inverneill family in Argyleshire,and the other and later version appears in an account of the life of Arthur O’Neil written sometime around 1808. O’Neil’s version formed the basis of what appears in Bunting’s 1840 edition, and probably due to its appearance there becamethe established account ofLyons life. However, where there are differences between the two, I tend to favour O’Cathains version, not least because he actually knew Lyons whereas O’Neil did not. Secondly, O’Neil’s reminiscences of his own life can be shownto contain errors or omissions.

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Both of these accounts make Lyons a contemporary of Carolan and on that basis Lyons own birth is usually placed around 1670. The date of his death is also unrecorded, but since Lyons must have lived long enough to have been the tutor of Echlin O’Cathain and we have his word that he was born in 1729, then assuming that the young Echlin had received tuition until at least the age of 15, it would suggest that Lyons died sometime between 1745 to 1750.

Lyons was the son of a schoolmaster in Macroom in County Cork. Although it is possible to theorize on a Gaelic version of his name, I do not know ofany instance of one being used, and as the city of Cork and its immediate environs was like, Dublin one of the long standing centres of Anglo Irish speakers, it is possible thatLyons was not in fact a Gaelic speaker. He was described as a man of good education, not toosurprising as his father was a schoolmaster, and it is attested that he could write music. Since, as far as we know, the harping tradition was passed`on ‘aurally’, then we can infer that writing music wasin fact part of that ‘good education’, and would have been some sort of a grounding in the conventional Baroque music of that period. This would certainly fit with his taste and reputation for creating variations on existing Irish melodies.

Both O’Cathain and O’Neil relate the story of a trick played by Lyons on Carolan which

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involved Lyons in hiding, writing down a newly composed Carolan piece, but the version given by O’Neil with the introduction of another harper called Murphy may have been

embroidered compared to Echlin’s account where the main participants were Lyons, Carolan and the Earl of Antrim.

Lyons was harper to the Earl of Antrim, but it is not totallyclear which one. The best I can suggest at present is that it was probably Randal MacDonnell, the 4th Earl who lived from 1680 to 1721, but that Lyons may have remained in the Antrim household under Alexander, the 5th Earl, who lived from 1713 to 1755. This would also neatly accommodateO’Neil at one point in his memoir saying it was Earl Randal, but elsewhere referring to himas the ‘great-grandfather of the present Marchioness of Antrim’, by which I assume he meant Anne Catherine MacDonnell, the 2nd Countess of Antrim, whose great grandfather would have been Alexander the 5th Earl.

The suggestion that Lyons remained in the Antrim household during the lifetimes of both the 4th and 5th Earls rather than returning to his native Cork, makes it easier to understand how Echlin O’Cathain living in Coleraine, not very far from the MacDonnell properties at Dunluce or their later home at Ballymagarry, would have become a pupil of Lyons.

Before we move on to Echlin, it’s probably worth mentioning that the MacDonnells of

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Antrim had a long association with the harp, despite, or perhaps even because of a muchearlier occasion when an Irish minstrel assassinated the thenhead of the senior branch of Clan Donald in Inverness, thereby creating the circumstances which led to the rise toprominence of what became the Antrim family.

We know that when in 1642 the wife of the 1st Marquis of Antrim fled to England, taking most of the household goods from their homes at Dunluce and Coleraine with her, among their possessions was an ‘Irish Harp’ valued at £1- 10 sh. Furthermore, a Scottish Gaelic poem from around that period which is associated with the MacKenzies of Applecross, specifically mentions a harper of the Earl of Antrim and the harpers praise of MacKenzies generosity. It was also of course Dr James MacDonnell, another member of this branch of Clan Donald, who was instrumental in trying to preserve the remains of the harping tradition.

It is clear from this that there were strong historical connections between the Antrim lands and Scotland, and this probably helps to explain a lot of what we know for certain about Echlin’s life. Since his father was a farmer and fruit and wine merchant in Coleraine, wecan assume that the area around Coleraine was effectively hishome base. In the account taken directly from him while he was visiting Campbell of Inverneill, it was said that he frequently visited Scotland, and had made a tour through Holland, Flanders, France and Spain. It may also be more thancoincidence that most of the countries mentioned as part of his continental tour are also those from which, certainly the

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wine and probably the more exotic fruit, sold by his father would have been imported.

At a time when travel by land was still difficult when compared to sea, a glance at a mapdemonstrates how easily Echlin could reach the west of Scotland, especially the coast of Argyle, and it is in Argyle in the records of the burgh of Inveraray that we find the earliestmention of him, when on the 9th September 1751 he was enteredinto the Burgess roll of that town. Now there are two main reasons why non residents of a Burgh were made honorary Burgesses, if you were important enough and had a title, then it was just a case of old fashioned grovelling by the burgh council. But otherwise, at a time when burghcouncils effectively controlled who could practice a trade ofprofession within the burgh limits, it was basically a temporary license to practice yourtrade while visiting the area.

As with any travelling harper of the period, Echlin would have stayed and played whereverhe was welcomed, but in one case we do know exactly where he would have been stayingwhen he was visiting the Inverneil family. Since a lot of what we know about Echlin is derived from these Campbells, it is perhaps worthwhile briefly sketching in their background and how it relates to the harper.

For these purposes, the family starts with the three sons of James Campbell, the

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Chamberlain of Argyle and his wife Elizabeth, the daughter ofJames Fisher who was Provost of Inveraray. Their children were James, later to become Sir James Campbell ofInverneil, (1737- 1805), Archibald, later to become Major General Sir Archibald Campbell(1739-1791), and who was the one who having made a lot of money in India, bought the Inverneil estate in 1773, and finally Duncan later to become Commissary of Stirling and was the one who did most of the actual administration of the Inverneil estate for his older brothers. Duncan also seems to have been the author of the brief memoir or biography taken down from Echlin, having had as it was put ‘from 1757 to 1779, the last year he wasin Argyleshire, had frequent opportunities of hearing his performance on the harp’.

We also know that the elder brother, Sir James had taken downsome of the harpers musicwhile Echlin was staying with the family at what they called St Johns. Now the Inverneil estate is actually some eight miles south of what is now the eastern entrance to the Crinan Canal, near Lochgilphead, but there was no place called St Johns there. It has actually taken quite a while to locate it, neither Colm O’Boyle or I had much success until finally it was Murdo MacDonald, the former Argyle archivist who suggested it was possibly an Anglicisation of a place called Killian just a few miles to the west of Inveraray. This has been confirmed by a birth entry for one of Sir James Campbell’s children in 1771, which is recorded as ‘born at Killeon or St Johns.

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The details regarding this collection of O’Cathains music come from two letters writtenby Sir James Campbell to Lachlan MacTavish of Dunardry. It can sometimes be quite difficult when there is only one side of a correspondence, but in this case it is the right sidethat has survived. Dunardry was a small estate to the north of that of Inverneil, but at the time of writing in 1790 Lachlan MacTavish was working as Governor of Taxes in

Edinburgh having been forced to sell Dunardry in 1785. He would though have been in and around Argyle during the times that Echlin was the area and therefore would most probably have heard the harper in person and was clearly aware that Sir James had noted down some of the Harpers material.

Extracts from letters3 January 1791 from Sir James Campbell at Port Glasgow, to Lachlan MacTavish Esq at New Buildings, Nicholson Street, Edinburgh.

Dear Sir

I am favoured with your letter of the 30th ult regarding O Kains musick and have since receipt of your letter been making search for them among my collection of musick, I find that the best of them have been plundered from me & the books they were in by Mess Casamaijor & Addison, But shall write them both to send me down copies of them – Such as I have remaining here shallbe made out & sent you – when the others come from London they shall be sent also. Lady Campbell joins me in best respects to Mrs MacTavish self & family and in wishing you all many happy returns of the Season I am Dear Sir Your most Obedient Servant J A Campbell

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20th January 1791 from Port Glasgow to Lachlan MacTavish Esq

Dear Sir

This will be delivered you by my friend Askomill who goes to your city – I have been at the greatest pains to collect O Kains true Irish Airs which I was fortunate enough to obtain from himwhile he was in good humour which by the bye was seldom the case. The Bases to the tunes nowsent you herewith were made by Miss Shean who had a very delicate taste for musick and happened to be Governess to my children at St John’s while OKain was with me. As a proof of hergenius, when she played the tunes over to the Harper upon the Forte Piano, he could not resist Swearing , she was a damn’d clever bitch, for she had just produced his own Bases just as they were handed down by the famous Carline- the Correllie of the Irish Harpers- I could not entrust any person with the transcribing of the Tunes, of course did them all myself – there may be several incorrections in the way I pricked them off from our unruly Harper which can be easily rectified by yourself or any proficient in the pricking off musick – all I can assure you of is that the tunes are genuine indeed they bear the true marks of their being so- If Ican fallin with any more you may depend upon having them sent – but I think you are now furnished with those that OKain himself considered the best of his collection, I have nothing further at present to trouble you with but to request that you make Lady Campbell & my best respects acceptable to Mrs MacTavish & family and I am Dear Sir Yours most sincerely J A Campbell

( Endorsed on outside, Sir Jas Campbell 20th January 1791 and Inverneil about OKains favourite Irish Airs)

Before moving on from Echlin, there are two more linked references to him that should perhaps be mentioned. The story of his visit to Lord MacDonald and his receiving a gift of a harp key, is recorded in Dr Johnston and Boswells accounts of their Highland Jaunt. It is usually automatically assumed that this incident occurred on Skye, but this may not be thecase since Lord MacDonald probably spent more time in Edinburgh and London than he did on Skye. However, he is mentioned in an account publishedin German by D W Soltanin 1808, quoting one Hugh MacDonald in South Uist.

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ExtractD W Soltan, Reise Durch Scottland, published 1808, description of visitto Uist in 1804.

I, Did Ossian accompany himself with instruments, did one use musical accompaniment in your younger days.

Hugh MacDonald, People say Ossian accompanied his songs with the harp, I was acquainted with O’Kain an old harper who sang to harp accompaniment, he maintained it was the Gaelic or Irish Harp, I myself do not believe it was our national instrument, I am not sure about it since I never took a great deal of interest in the instrumental side ofit,

Echlin was thought to have died sometime between 1779 when last heard of in Argyle but before the first Belfast harp festival which he would have been likely to have attended. According to Arthur O’Neil he was informed by a ‘General Campbell’ that O’Cathain had died in Scotland, not unlikely given the amount of time he seems to have spent thereand its possible that there may be some record of his death still waiting to be found in some parish record.

The MacLean Clephanes and Torloisk

The estate of Torloisk is in the parish of Kilninian and Kilmore in the north of the Isle of Mull, in the former county of Argyle. Torloisk House stands in wooded grounds on the north side of Loch Tuath, facing south towards the islands ofGometra, Ulva and the Treshnish group. The oldest part of the house is said to dateback to the year 1600, but it has been much rebuilt and is now mostly Scots Baronial style dating from around 1860.

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The estate has been associated with the MacLeans for a considerable period of time. The first of the Torloisk line being Lachlan Og, a younger son ofSir Hector Mor MacLean of Duart, who was killed at the battle of Gruinart in Islay in 1596. The MacLeans of Torloisk descended in the male line to Lachlan the seventh of Torloisk, who had succeeded his elder brother Hector, a lawyer in Glasgow, who died unmarried, in 1765.

Lachlan was a merchant seaman, captain of the ship the Mary, in which he also had an interest, sailing the London and Jamaica routes. He married Margaret, the daughter of Richard Smith from Fife and they had just one child, a daughter called Marianne, who succeeded to the estate on the death of her father in 1799. Marianne married William

Douglas Clephane from Carslogie in Fife in 1790, with issue of three surviving daughters, Margaret, Anne-Jane and Wilimina-Marianne. After 1803 when their father, by then a Major General in the army, died in Grenada, Sir Walter Scottwho had become friendly with the family seems to have become a sort of unofficial guardian to the three young girls, who were to become great friends of Scott’s own daughter Sophia. Sir Walter thought highly of both Mrs MacLean Clephane and her accomplished daughters and was impressed by their knowledge of the Gaelic Poetry and Music of their native island.

Margaret MacLean Clephane married Lord Spencer John Alwyne Compton, heir to the Marquis of Northampton in July 1815, The estate of Toroisk eventually passed through

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Margaret, the eldest daughter to the family of the Marquis ofNorthampton. It was decided that Torloisk should not be held by the Marquis, so when LordSpencer became Marquis, the estate passed to William, the eldest son and eventually, through marriage to the present owner Farquharson of Invercauld.

Wilmina-Marianne, the youngest of the three sisters was married in 1831 to Wilhelm, Baron de Normann of the diplomatic service of Prussia, while Anne-Jane, the second oldest daughter and the one who copied the section of the MacLean-Clephane manuscripts containing the O’Kane harp tunes died unmarried. Like her mother and sisters, Anna Jane was musically inclined, she played the pedal harp and keyboards, and they all collected Gaelic song, both words and music. Indeed, they were ideally placed for doing so, being surrounded by a living Gaelic culture and also through being a part of a local social circle which included a number of other likeminded musically inclined ladies with a particular interest in Gaelic Music. The ‘Miss MacLean’ who had so impressed Dr Johnson when he visited Mull, was staying not too far away at Dervaig and a little further up the peninsula at Quinish was the Mull home of Miss Breadalbane MacLean of Coll, both of whom were known to have their own collections of music.

The MacLean Clephane family must have also been very aware ofthe areas connections with harping. Fanmore nan Clarsairean, the former home of MacLean of Duarts harper, had by then become part of the Torloisk Estate and the sisters grandfather Lachlan, who

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was born in 1720, was bound to have known the harper Murdoch MacDonald who spent his final years until circa 1739, on the adjacent Mull estateof Quinish. There may well have been other people still alive, including the harpers owndescendents, who had also heard him play and there are three pieces among the MacLean Clephane music manuscripts labelled Ancient Harp Airs, which appear to have come down from Murdoch.

What are loosely called the MacLean Clephane manuscripts are a fairly mixed collection, mostly of Gaelic song material with its accompanying music, and ranging from rough working copies to highly arranged and privately printed volumes. There may well be more to come as not too long ago, Peter Cooke, the musicologist who was formerly a senior lecturer at the School of Scottish Studies, found another volume of over a hundred songs

tucked away in the archives of Castle Ashby, the Marquis of Northampton’s estate in England. I have not seen this one but the description Peter sent me describes it as;-

Music is set out arranged for melody and figured bass with a verse textunderlaid between the six sets of two staves and further verses (sometimes as many as 8 or more) are neatly written out on facing unlined pages. It is obviously a fair copy and contains only a few corrections ….. Texts beautifully laid out with between 3 and 8 verses per song. Some use is made of Gaelic accent signs. On first inspection there is little or no evidence of alteration of tunes to suit the added harmonies. Thus the tunes appear to represent

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a remarkable source of Gaelic melody as performed in the inner Hebridesin the early 19th century……there is no other comparable early Gaelic source of texts with their melodies. So beautifully has the copying out been done that the work is eminently reproducible in facsimile.

It is not yet clear exactly which of the sisters was responsible for that particular MS, butit does seem likely to have been the work of Anna Jane, the young lady who copied the particular manuscript which is the subject of this talk.

Anna Jane MacLean Clephane was born on the 12 November 1798. She would therefore have been just eighteen years old when she wrote her initialsand ‘Copied December 1816’on the 69th page of the manuscript. Earlier at the end of ‘The Irish Cuckoo’ on page 39, she had written

‘The foregoing airs are all taken from the playing of O’Kain by Mr MacDonald’.

There can be little doubt, given that statement and the nature of the 36 tunes precedingit that the O’Kain referred to was the harper Echlin O’Cathain. There is possibly slightly more scope for debating the identity of Mr MacDonald, but I would argue that there really is only one suitable candidate. However, before we go on to discuss him, lets draw a few conclusions from what we do know.

Echlin O’Cathain is thought to have died before 1790 ish at the latest, the manuscript was copied by Anna Jane in 1816, so Mr MacDonald must have taken down the original copy

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at least 26 years earlier. Even if at that time Mr MacDonald was a youthful 20 year old then by 1816 he would have been at least 46 to 50 years old, and we are talking minimums here, he was almost certainly what one would describe as an older man. Likewise the Mrin conjunction with the ‘mac’ part of MacDonald written in full rather than contracted to Mc or an M apostrophe suggest an element of respect which along with young ladies position and the social mores of the period, all point to a Minister.

Patrick MacDonald

Patrick MacDonald was born the Manse at Durness in Sutherlandon the 22 April 1729. His father was the Reverend Murdo MacDonald and he had an uncle who was also a minister in that area of the country. His mother was the daughter of the Rev Cooper of Pittenweem, in the county of Fife, so in common with the MacLean Clephanes the

MacDonald family had one foot planted in the Gaelic world andthe other in Fife, which to many in Scotland is a world to itself. The MacDonaldfamily comprised four sons and seven daughters, and according to the Rev Murdo’s diariesproviding for a family of that size on a ministers stipend was a constant problem. Nevertheless he taught them all the principles of music along with encouraging its practice.

They probably received their initial violin tuition from Kenneth Sutherland of Cnocbreac, who was noted for his remarkable skill in violin playing, and Patrick’s precocious

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younger brother Joseph MacDonald also acquired some additional skill in piping, probably from George MacLeod, Lord Reays family piper, who was certainly one of the Rev Murdo’s households frequent visitors. And what a household itmust have been, since another regular visitor was the Gaelic poet commonly known as Rob Donn, who was to describe the Minister as the most important influence on his life.

At the time when the minister first came to Durness the highlanders were evolving the ‘long tunes’ out of the Lowlandairs to which the metrical psalms were sung. The minister wasa powerful and melodious singer with a love of music, which not only carried over to his family, but also onto Rob Donn, who although having no formal musical education was to compose more of his own original airs than any of the other Scottish Gaelic poets of his time. Like his contemporary Alaisdair MacDonald, Rob Donn composed a pibroch song, in hiscase to Isabel MacKay and set to the pipe tune ‘Welcome to the Prince’ as well as songs/poems to the Rev Murdoch MacDonald as well as his son Patrick.

Patrick MacDonald, was initially sent to be educated at his grandfathers in Pittenweem before returning home where his father took charge of his education, then in 1747 he was sentto Aberdeen University and then, after being licensed as a minister was presented to the parish of Kilmore in 1756, an appointment that was in the remit and patronage of the Duke of Argyle. Where he was to remain until he died as Father of the Church in 1824.

Despite coming from both a staunchly Presbyterian and Hanoverian background he married Barbara MacDonald, the daughter of the MacDonald of Keppoch who fought on the Jacobyte side in the 45, she was a practicing Catholic and attended neither public or family worship with her husband. Furthermore, although fulfilling his duties as a minister,

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Patrick also continued his interest in music. He was a very competent violinist and it is recorded that on one occasion while in Edinburgh for the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, he stood in as first violinist in a concert in the place of the professional Stabilini who was unwell.

In 1784 Patrick published a ‘Collection of Highland Vocal Airs’ based on a collection originally started by his younger brother Joseph, who seems to have been even more of a musical genius. Well, he was a piper, what more can one say ?Joseph had unfortunately died in India in 1763, which means that a good portion of the music in that work was presumably collected some twenty four years or so earlier before Joseph left the country

for India in 1760. Which makes it not only the earliest collection of Gaelic music made by musicians firmly grounded in the idiom, but also edited bya musician who according to the introduction was fully aware of the problems in presenting that Gaelic music in theconventional notation.

The comments on the harp made in that introduction are fairlywell known, but perhaps not sufficiently well dissected, at least against the background of the Minister having comeinto contact with Echlin O’Caithain. For those of you not familiar with the preface, the writer compares what is described as ‘the remains of the ancient harp music of the

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Highlands’ with more recent and current state of the Harpers in Ireland. In particular,an example is given of ‘The Lady in the desart, as played by an old harper and as played according to the sets now in fashion, can hardly be known to be the same tune. It is now regular in its structure, but its native character and expression, its wildness and melancholy are gone. The variations are such as might have been composedat this day in Italy or Germany.

Now I had always assumed that the ‘Old Harper’ that he had inmind was Echlin O’Cathain but more recently I have begun to wonder, but firstlets draw together some conclusions.

Conclusions

There can be little doubt that Echlin O’Cathain made a numberof visits to Scotland and especially Argyll, and that while he was there on at least two occasions his music was copied down. It is also the case that one of these was the exemplar of the volume from which Anna Jane MacLean Clephane made her copy. Now her manuscript is very much a ‘fair copy’ there is not a mistake, or at least a correctedmistake in it. This in turn would suggest that the copy she was using for her standard was in itself also a fair copy. Anyone looking at say, Buntings material taken down while the harpers were playing, or even the other MacLean Clephane manuscripts will know the sort of, for want of a better description, ‘scrawl’, that results from that sort of hurriedjotting of music.

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There is also no doubt, because the manuscript says so, that Anna Jane was copying from a manuscript by Mr MacDonald, who as far as we can tell was the Reverend Patrick and while the original music must have been compiled at least some 26 or more years earlier, plenty of time for the original rough notation to have been transcribed into a fair copy. At this point I would like to raise two further questions albeit no answers. That figure of 26years is the latest point, based on the probable date of the harpers death, at which the musicwas first noted. It could have been taken down at any time from when O’Kain was first known to be in Argyle.

This brings up the possibility that Patrick MacDonald’s musically precocious youngerbrother Joseph might have had a hand in it. He is known to have spent some time with

Patrick at Kilmore in the year or two before heading out to India in 1760. It is also known that one of the brothers sisters made copies of Josephs musicso there are actually a number of possibilities still unresolved.

So what can we deduce from the MacLean Clephane harp music. Well this is purely a personal opinion of a simple piper who is easily confused when there are more notes than he has fingers for and anything other than a single melody line with those other small decorative additional note clusters that we pipers revel in. But for what it is worth, here

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goes. I think that it certainly provides us with the best example to date of one particular harpers repertoire. Given its likely provenance in terms of original notation it is certainly one of the earliest actual notations of Irish Harp music, pre dating Bunting, possibly by some years. The melodyline is probably a fair reflection of what Echlin O’Cathain played or sang and we need to consider a point I have made raised before in relation to Buntings notes from the harp festival, that since the harpers also sang, some of the melody lines noted may be vocal and not what the accompanyingharp was doing.

Turning to the question of the MacLean Clephane Bass line andwhat in the way of decoration the harper may have added to the melody then we enter some more dangerous waters because it raises the question of how typical was O’Caithain as a harper and to help raise the ante for questions, I would like to briefly expand on an answer of ‘not very’.

There is an old military maxim that if possible hold your best ammunition in reserve, butfacing an audience predominantly of knowledgeable harpers I shall open with it.In 1972 the late Professor Fleischmann, in an article on Petrie’s contribution to Irish Music made the comment that Petrie had ‘ failed to take into account the thoroughness with which the Italian Style became assimilated into the Irish idiom, particularly of dance music , in the first half of the eighteenth century’. Now like all such generalisations itis possible to quibble with certain aspects of it, but the point is made and to a certain extentCarolan’s music was an example of that change.

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Lyons, from what we know of him was probably even more to theMediterranean side of Carolan and as Echlin O’Cathain’s tutor this was likely to have passed onto the youngharper. Certainly Echlin played with his fingernails, but I suspect that was about the only thing that he had in common with for example, Denis Hempson.

It is probably no coincidence that just about all we know about Echlin comes from outwithIreland, since he seems to have spent most of his time out ofthe country. We know from the footnote in John Gunn’s enquiry, that he was told by Antonio Manini, who was first violin and leader of the orchestra at Cambridge, that ‘O’Kanewith an astonishing variety of other things could, although blind, play with great accuracy and fine effect the first treble and bass parts of many of Correlli’s concertos, in concert with other instruments’.

That actually raises an interesting point about tuning, but Iwould also refer back to the description by Sir James Campbell of Miss Shean accurately reproducing the ‘harpers own Basses on the piano’. Certainly when the harper was playing his native music there would be some reflection of an older form, but just take a mental image of those descriptions and try and fit Hempson into it, if there was such a thing as a spectrum of harpers at that period, then I would imagine that Hempson would be at one end with Echlin far away at the other. Not I must emphasise in terms of ability, but what they did with it.

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K SangerHarp SchoolKilkenny August 2007

An expanded and fully referenced version of the life of Echlin O’Cathain can now be found at;-www.wirestrungharp.com/harps/harpers/o-cathain-echlin.html

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