In MacMurrough's Chant, Mr Daniel Maclise, R.A., represents a scene in the twentieth chapter. Waverley is entertained at Glennaquoich by Fergus Maclvor in the hall of his ancestor, Ian-nan-Chaistel, "John of the Tower." The hall occupied all the first storey of the original erection, and a huge oak table extended through its whole length. The company was numerous, even to crowding. At the head of the table sat the chief himself, with Waverley, and two or three Highland visitors of neighbouring tribes; the elders of his own tribe, wadsetters and tacksmen, who occupied portions of his estate, as mortgagers or lessees, sat next in rank; beneath them, their sons and nephews, and foster-brethren; then the officers of the chief's household, according to their order; and lowest of all, the tenants.... Beyond this long perspective, upon the green, to which a huge pair of folding doors opened, might be seen a multitude of Highlanders of a yet inferior description, who, nevertheless, were considered as guests, and had their share both of the countenance of the entertainer and the cheer of the day. In the distance, and fluctuating round the extreme verge of the banquet, was a changeful group of women, ragged boys and girls, beggars young and old.
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The banquet was approaching its close, when the chief signalled the piper to cease, and then exclaimed, "Where is the song hidden, my friends, that MacMurrough cannot find it?" The bhairdh took the hint, and began to chant, with low and rapid utterance, a profusion of Celtic verses. As he advanced in his declamation, his ardour seemed to increase: he had at first spoken with eyes fixed on the ground; he now cast them around, as if beseeching, and anon as if commanding attention; and his tones rose into wild and impassioned notes, accompanied with appropriate gestures. The poet's ardour communicated itself to the audience; their wild and sun-burnt countenances assumed a fiercer and more animated expression; all bent towards the reciter, many sprang up and waved their arms in ecstasy, and some laid their hands upon their swords.