court to Pope, on a subject which he either did not understand or willingly misrepresented; and is little more than an improvement, or rather expansion, of a fragment which Pope printed in a Miscellany long before he engrafted it into a regular poem. There is in this piece more pertness than wit, and more confidence than knowledge. The versification is tolerable, nor can criticism allow it a higher praise.

8 His first tragedy was Eurydice, acted at Drury-Lane in 1731; of which I know not the reception nor the merit, but have heard it mentioned as a mean performance3. He was not then too high to accept a Prologue and Epilogue from Aaron Hill, neither of which can be much commended.

9

Having cleared his tongue from his native pronunciation so as to be no longer distinguished as a Scot, he seems inclined to disencumber himself from all adherences of his original, and took upon him to change his name from Scotch Malloch to English Mallet, without any imaginable reason of preference which the eye or ear can discover. What other proofs he gave of dis

delight.' Pope's Works (Elwin and Courthope), x. 86. He mentions it also in a letter to Richardson, written, I believe, in the same month, but dated Nov. 2, 1732. Ib. ix. 498. For a quotation from it see John. Misc. i. 358.

[The 'fragment' of which Verbal Criticism is an 'expansion' was inserted by Pope in his Miscellany of 1727 under the title of Fragment of a Satire. The 'regular poem' into which Pope engrafted it is The Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, being the Prologue to the Satires, published in 1735. The Fragment of a Satire, consisting of sixty-eight lines, contains the celebrated attack on Addison, preceded by some lines in disparagement of critics and commentators which, like Mallet's Verbal Criticism, are aimed especially at Bentley and Theobald. Pope's Works (Elwin and Courthope), iii. 236. For the Fragment of a Satire from the Miscellany see ib. 538.]

Dr. Warton describes it as 'stuffed with illiberal cant about pedantry and collators of manuscripts.' Essay on Pope, ii. 299.

Hill was present at the first re

Hill's Works, iii. 334, iv. 74; ante, SAVAGE, 55; POPE, 154.

5

JOHNSON. I never catched Mallet in a Scotch accent; and yet Mallet, I suppose, was past five-andtwenty before he came to London.' Boswell's Johnson, ii. 159.

Hume got Mallet to help him in clearing his History from Scotticisms. Burton's Hume, ii. 3, 142.

[Mallet's residence in Oxford may have helped him to get rid of his accent. Together with his pupil Mr. Newsham, he matriculated from St. Mary Hall on Nov. 2, 1733, proceeding B.A. on March 15, 1734, and M.A. on April 6 of the same year. Alumni Oxonienses, 1715-1886, iii. 906, and Mallet's Ballads and Songs, ed. Dinsdale, 1857, p. 25.]

respect to his native country I know not; but it was remarked of him that he was the only Scot whom Scotchmen did not commend 1.

About this time Pope, whom he visited familiarly, published 10 his Essay on Man, but concealed the author 2; and when Mallet entered one day, Pope asked him slightly what there was new. Mallet told him that the newest piece was something called an Essay on Man, which he had inspected idly; and seeing the utter inability of the author, who had neither skill in writing nor knowledge of his subject, had tossed it away. Pope, to punish his self-conceit, told him the secret 3.

A new edition of the works of Bacon being prepared (1740) 11

Simpson, alias Smith, alias Baker.' In his Abridged Dictionary (published not long after Byng's execution, post, MALLET, 21) he defines it as 'a Latin word, signifying otherwise; as Mallet alias Malloch; that is otherwise Malloch.' See ante, THOMSON, 13.

In the lines prefixed to Thomson's Winter, 3rd ed. 1726 (ante, THOMSON, 13), Mallet signs himself 'D. Malloch.'

'The change of name occurred in 1726. "My Cousin Paton," he says to Ker in 1724, "would have me write my name Mallet, for there is not one Englishman that can pronounce it." Johnson was ignorant of the proper pronunciation. To a Scottish ear there is a considerable difference between Mallock and Malloch Cunningham's Lives of the Poets, iii. 365.

In an entry in the Register of Laureations in the University of Edinburgh, dated April 16, 1734, he is described as 'David Malloch alias Mallet, olim alumnus noster.' N. & 2. 7 S. xii. 265.

I

Johnson, contrasting the Irish with the Scotch, said:-'The Irish are not in a conspiracy to cheat the world by false representations of the merits of their countrymen. No, Sir, the Irish are a fair people; they never speak well of one another.' Boswell's Johnson, ii. 307.

In 1733. Ante, POPE, 176. 3 Johnson's authority is Ayre's Pope, ii. 215. See also Ruffhead's Pope, p. 261. Mr. Elwin, who shows that one part of Ayre's story is false,

'This,' writes Mr. Courthope, appears to be an allusion to Mallet. Pope may have intended to punish him for his depreciation of the Essay on Man. lb. iii. 241. Mr. Elwin says that Warburton 'had appended a bitter note upon Mallet; but the leaf was cancelled.' 1b.i. Introd. p. 17. For the cancelled leaf see ib. iii. 534-5, where it is shown that, to fill the hiatus,' Warburton invented the title of Prologue to the Satires?

'Mallet, thinking Warburton intended to write Pope's life, told him he had an anecdote which he believed nobody knew but himself. "I was sitting one day with Mr. Pope in his last illness. "Mr. Mallet," said he, "I have had an odd kind of a vision; methought I saw my own head open, and Apollo come out of it; then I saw your head open, and Apollo went into it; after which our heads closed up again." Warburton replied:"Why, Sir, if I had an intention of writing your life this might, perhaps, be a proper anecdote; but I do not see that in Mr. Pope's it will be of any consequence whatever." Ruffhead, p. 532.

for the press, Mallet was employed to prefix a Life, which he has written with elegance, perhaps with some affectation '; but with so much more knowledge of history than of science, that when he afterwards undertook the Life of Marlborough, Warburton remarked that he might perhaps forget that Marlborough was a general, as he had forgotten that Bacon was a philosopher 2.

When the Prince of Wales was driven from the palace3, and, setting himself at the head of the opposition, kept a separate Court, he endeavoured to increase his popularity by the patronage of literature, and made Mallet his under-secretary, with a salary of two hundred pounds a year. Thomson likewise had a pension*; and they were associated in the composition of the masque of Alfred, which in its original state was played at Cliefden in 1740 5; it was afterwards almost wholly changed by Mallet, and brought upon the stage at Drury-Lane in 1751, but with no great success".

Mallet, in a familiar conversation with Garrick, discoursing of the diligence which he was then exerting upon the Life of Marl

1 Fielding, in Joseph Andrews (1742), says to the Muse who presides over biography :-Thou who hast carefully guided the judgment, whilst thou hast exalted the nervous manly style of thy Mallet.' Bk. iii. ch. 6.

Gibbon, in 1762, referring to this Life, speaks of the vigorous sense of Mallet.' Memoirs, p. 146. Nearly thirty years later he said the Life had rated above its value.' Autos. p. 300 n.

2 Warburton, in the cancelled note [ante, MALLET, 10 n. 3], says of Margret's Ghost:-' Written by one Malloch. Since risen by due degrees from a maker of Ballads to a maker of Lives. He made L. B.'s life, and by ill-hap forgot he was a Philosopher; he is now about making the D. of M.'s. Be not surprised, therefore, gentle reader, if he should forget that his Grace was a General. Pope's Works (Elwin and Courthope), iii. 534.

3 In July, 1737, the Prince, 'who considered himself a state prisoner in the palace of his father,' under the plea of the Princess being seized with

the pangs of child-birth, hurried her from Hampton Court, where the Royal Family was staying, to St. James's. The King ordered him to leave that palace with his family, as soon as it was safe for her to move. He also forbade all persons who paid court to them to be admitted into his presence. The correspondence that passed was published by his order. Coxe's Walpole, i. 533, 543.

For the Duchess of Marlborough's defence of the Princess see Walpole's Letters, Preface, p. 149. See also ante, POPE, 217; THOMSON, 28; post, LYTTELTON, 6.

• Ante, THOMSON, 28.

5 Ante, THOMSON, 33. In the list of books in Gent. Mag. March, 1745, p. 168, is Alfred, An Opera altered from the play. By Mr. Thomson and Mr. Mallet. Price Is.'

Garrick, who played the part of Alfred, thought that by his acting, the splendid scenery and fine music, 'the play would have been crowned with brilliant success. He was much disappointed.' Murphy's Garrick,

p. 132.

borough, let him know that in the series of great men, quickly to be exhibited, he should find a nich' for the hero of the theatre. Garrick professed to wonder by what artifice he could be introduced, but Mallet let him know that, by a dexterous anticipation, he should fix him in a conspicuous place. 'Mr. Mallet,' says Garrick in his gratitude of exultation, 'have you left off to write for the stage?' Mallet then confessed that he had a drama in his hands. Garrick promised to act it; and Alfred was produced 1.

The long retardation of the Life of the Duke of Marlborough 14 shews, with strong conviction, how little confidence can be placed in posthumous renown. When he died it was soon determined that his story should be delivered to posterity; and the papers supposed to contain the necessary information were delivered to the lord Molesworth 2, who had been his favourite in Flanders. When Molesworth died the same papers were transferred with the same design to Sir Richard Steele, who in some of his exigences put them in pawn. They then remained with the old dutchess, who in her will assigned the task to Glover3 and Mallet, with a reward of a thousand pounds, and a prohibition to insert any verses. Glover rejected, I suppose, with disdain the legacy 5, and devolved the whole work upon Mallet, who had from the late duke of Marlborough a pension to promote his industry, and who talked of the discoveries which he made; but left not, when he died, any historical labours behind him.

Chesterfield and all her executors. She gives to Mr. Glover and Mr. Mallet £500 each, to be paid when it is finished to the satisfaction as aforesaid.' She gave them also the copyright. Horace Walpole (Letters, ii. 160) admired her humour in the limitation about verses.

5 [Glover says in his Memoirs (ed. 1814, P. 57), 'I cannot at intervals refrain from regret that the capricious restrictions in the Duchess of Marlborough's will appointing me to write the life of her illustrious husband compelled me to reject the undertaking.'"]

64 Johnson said that from Mallet's way of talking he saw, and always said, that he had not written any part of the Life, though perhaps he intended to do it at some time, in which

15

While he was in the Prince's service he published Mustapha, with a Prologue by Thomson, not mean, but far inferior to that which he had received from Mallet for Agamemnon'. The Epilogue, said to be written by a friend, was composed in haste by Mallet, in the place of one promised, which was never given. This tragedy was dedicated to the Prince his master. It was acted at Drury-Lane in 1739, and was well received, but was never revived.

16 In 1740 he produced, as has been already mentioned, the masque of Alfred, in conjunction with Thomson 3.

17 For some time afterwards he lay at rest. After a long interval his next work was Amyntor and Theodora (1747)†, a long story in blank verse; in which it cannot be denied that there is copiousness and elegance of language, vigour of sentiment, and imagery well adapted to take possession of the fancy 5. But it is blank verse. This he sold to Vaillant for one hundred and twenty pounds. The first sale was not great, and it is now lost in forgetfulness.

case he was not culpable in taking the pension.' Boswell's Johnson, v. 175.

Johnson perhaps had in mind his own treatment of the subscribers to his Shakespeare. Ib. i. 319, 496. He added:-'Mallet groped for materials, and thought of it, till he had exhausted his mind. Thus it sometimes happens that men entangle themselves in their own schemes.' Ib. iii. 386. See post, GRAY, 19.

Hume wrote to Millar, the bookseller, on April 21, 1763:-'Mr. Mallet complains much of a report that I was writing the English History since the Revolution; which, he says, he cannot believe, because it would be a very invidious task to him. I answered him that I had not wrote a line; that as he was near twenty years advanced before me, it was ridiculous to fear that I could overtake him.' Burton's Hume, ii. 143. On Mallet's death the Marlborough papers were offered to Hume, with the view of his continuing his own History. Ib. p. 392.

In 1762 Mallet had the impudence, in a Dedication to the third Duke, to hold out hopes of a speedy publication. Eng. Poets, lxiii. 131.

* Ib. lxiii. 24; ante, THOMSON, 29.

* The Epilogue, with the Dedication, is given in Gent. Mag. Feb. 1739, p. 95. The play was printed in the same month. Ib. p. 108. Pope wrote to Mallet :-'I heartily rejoice in the success you so justly merit, and so fortunately have met with, considering what a stage, and what a people you have to do with.' Pope's Works (Elwin and Courthope), x. 93. See also Aaron Hill's Works, ii. 67. 3 Ante, THOMSON, 33.

4

Eng. Poets, lxiii. 77. It is in the May list of books in Gent. Mag. 1747, p. 252, quarto, price 3s. 6d. Mallet's Poems apparently were worth pirating, for there is added to the advertisement the following most rare announcement:-'This poem is entered in the hall-book of the company of stationers, and whoever pirates it will be prosecuted.'

5 Of this poem Dr. Warton wrote in 1756:-The nauseous affectation of expressing everything pompously and poetically is nowhere more visible than in a poem lately published, entitled Amyntor and Theodora Essay on Pope, i. 145.

This sentence is not in the first