Annotation:Mrs. MacLeod
MRS. MACLEOD. AKA - "Mrs. McLeod of Rasey's." Scottish, Strathspey (whole time). G Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. Composed by William Morrison (1780-1825), who called it "Mrs. McLeod of Rasey's" in his c. 1813 collection. The MacLeod's of Raasay were lairds whose family seat was Raasay House. Built in 1747 on the site of an earlier home burned to the ground by government troops in 1746 in reprisal for the family's part in the Jacobite rising, it was occupied by successive generations until 1843, when the 13th laird became bankrupt and emigrated to Tasmania. Dr Samuel Johnson and his companion Boswell stayed at Raasay House in 1773 on their tour of the Highlands, and wrote of it extensively, so impressed were they of the hospitality the 11th laird afforded them in the remote place. The Laird of Raasay contemporaneous with composer Morrison's dates was the 12th, James MacLeod (1761–1724). In 1786 James inherited several western islands, including Rassay and the family seat of Raasay House (built c. 1750), and enlarged it in 1790, adding a seven-bayed front block. The 'Mrs. MacLeod' of the title may have been Florianne, or Flora Maclean of (the Isle of) Muck, who married James around 1805.
For the tune usually known as "Mrs. MacLeod" see "Mrs. MacLeod of Raasay (1)."
