Men of Muscle, and the Highland Games of Scotland, etc.

CHARLES M'LEAN, OF FORT-\VILLTAM. T HE ClanM'Lean held their annual gathering in Glasgow last week,* when Colonel Sir Fitzroy Donald M'Lean, Bart., the chief of the clan, was the recipient of a presentation from the members of his clan. Of course the bagpipes and the tartan were much in evidence, and speeches were made in which the deeds of the great M'Leans, in bygone times were recounted. The uncharitable maintain that the reason of the present-day M'Leans-and, in fact, all Highlanders -being such law-abiding citizens, is because all the bad characters of the clans were hanged for hcep stealing. Others, again, add that only a few suffered the extreme penalty, the remainder having escaped. However, whether Charlie l\I'Lean, who forms the subject of thi · sketch, i: the descendant of a vassal of ir Fitzroy's ancestors, or just an ordinary M'Lean, without any cousinship connection with the chief, his name is now perhaps as well known to Scotsmen the world over as any other of the clan. He first saw the light at Fort-William, December 1874, where, after his school dJ.ys, he began the serious affairs of life as a clerk in the office of Mr. Duncan M'Niven, solicitor and banker, } ort-William. Charlie had scarcely left school ere he began to practise athletics. Jumping and pole vaulting were the branches of sport towards which his inclination first led him. 1'Lean's early practice ground was the ramparts of the old fort, where many English and American touri ts went * Thi article wa published in the Times, .1. ' u,·. 1900. 67