28 Towards the end of his life he went with his wife to France; but after a while, finding his health declining, he returned alone to England, and died in April, 1765.2* He was twice married, and by his first wife had several children." One daughter, who married an Italian of rank, named Cilesia, wrote a tragedy, called 'Almida,' which was acted at Drury Lane." His second wife was the daughter of a nobleman's steward, who had a considerable fortune, which she took care to retain in her own hands."7 27 let's pamphlet. I had read it quite through, and, upon the whole, caanot find much fault with it, though I must own I am not much enamoured with it. But this entre nous, for authors of this kind must not be discouraged by too much criticism. However, I have ventured to put down in the enclosed sheet of paper some remarks and queries, which I desire your Lordship will take the trouble to peruse, and to consider whether you think any of them improper, especially in what relates to maritime affairs and dispositions. Whatever you shall disapprove in this paper of mine, I desire you will strike out, and then deliver it to Mr. Cleveland, with my request to him to copy it over fair, and forthwith send such copy to Mr. Mallet, keeping my original. My reason (which I will tell your Lordship) for taking this method is, that I am not fond of giving a handle to be named as a joint author with this gentleman; but I have writ him a very civil letter, wherein I have informed him that he will very soon receive such a paper from Mr. Cleveland. I have also modestly suggested to him to add something further, by way of observation and argument, upon the points of conduct chiefly objected to) for in that part I suspect the performance to be chiefly deficient. -(Barrow's 'Anson,' 8vo., 1839.) Ever yours, HARDWICKE. 23 His last dirty work was in the famous Hamilton and Douglas case :-"Know, then, that there is not a retailer of gingerbread nuts, a vender of brandy by the gill, or of mellow apples by the dozen, a dresser of bullock's liver for the Savoyards, or a washer of their linen shirts when shirts they have, from one end of the Faubourg St. Antoine to the other, with whom I am not particularly acquainted; for such, my Lord, are the marvellous engines with which the House of Hamilton is attempting to overturn that of Douglas."-MALLET to Lord Bathurst, Paris, Dec. 16, 1764 (MS.). 24 By his will, dated 20th June, 1755, he leaves his wife Lucy Mallet his sole executrix. He was buried 27th April, 1765, I believe, at Putney, where he had long resided. 25 7th Oct., 1742, David Mallet, Esq., Under-Secretary to the Prince of Wales, to Miss Lucy Elstob.-Gent.'s Mag. for 1742, p. 546. This, I suspect, was his second wife. 26 Mallet's widow, I hear, sets out on her return to France very soon; and, having despatched her daughter down to Scotland, there remains nothing in this country that can deprive the beaux esprits of Paris of the company of that unparalleled lady.-BP. DOUGLAS to D. Hume, London, June 25, 1765: Letters of Eminent Persons addressed to D. Hume, 8vo. 1849, p. 20. 27 Mr. Mallet and his lady appeared to all the world to be the happiest couple in it, and I desire to have no doubt that they really were what they wished the world should think them. However, Mrs. Mallet to her excessive love joined the most consummate prudence. Every shilling of her fortune, which amounted to seven or eight thousand pounds, she settled upor herself; but then she took all imaginable care that Mr. Mallet should appear like a gentleman of distinction, and, from her great kindness, she always purchased everything that he wore: hat, stockings, coat, waistcoat, &c., were all of her own choice, as well as at her own cost; His stature was diminutive, but he was regularly formed; his appearance, till he grew corpulent, was agreeable, and he suffered it to want no recommendation that dress could give it. His conversation was elegant and easy." The rest of his character may, without injury to his memory, sink into silence.29 28 As a writer, he cannot be placed in any high class. There is no species of composition in which he was eminent. His Dramas had their day, a short day, and are forgotten: his blank verse seems to my ear the echo of Thomson. His 'Life of Bacon' is known as it is appended to Bacon's volumes, but is no longer mentioned. His works are such as a writer, bustling in the world, showing himself in public, and emerging occasionally from time to time into notice, might keep alive by his personal influence; but which, conveying little information, and giving no great pleasure, must soon give way, as the succession of things produces new topics of conversation and other modes of amusement.3 30 and such was the warmth of her fondness, that she took care all the world should know the pains she bestowed on her husband's dress.-T. DAVIES: Life of Garrick, ii. 47. 28 Mr. Mallet, a name among the English poets, is praised by an unforgiving enemy for the ease and elegance of his conversation, and his wife was not destitute of wit or learning.— GIBBON: Autobiography. When Gibbon's father removed him from Oxford, he carried him to the house of his friend and neighbour at Putney-Mallet, "by whose philosophy," the future historian records, "I was rather scandalised than reclaimed." Gibbon attended the rehearsal and first night of Mallet's last play, and has left a long account of it in his journal. "He [Johnson] said that Mallet was the prettiest dressed puppet about town, and always kept good company. That, from his way of talking, he saw, and always said, that he had not written any part of the Life of the Duke of Marlborough, though perhaps he intended to do it at some time, in which case he was not culpable in taking the pension."-JOHNSON: Boswell by Croker, p. 321. "Mr. Mallet's favourite dress was a suit of black velvet."-T. DAVIES: Life of Garrick, ii., 47. 29 "Mallet's boasts, however, should not, I imagine, have much effect with those who know him; for, from the knowledge I have of him, I feel an unaccountable propensity to believe the contrary of what he tells me. His conduct as commissioner has not at all belied the opinion you had of him. In one respect we have a little improved; we have made him less impertinent; but I can't boast that we have made him more candid."-ALEx. Wedderburn (Lord Loughborough) to D. Hume, Paris, 28th Oct, 1764. 30 "Mallet had talents enough to keep his literary reputation alive as long as he himself lived; and that, let me tell you, is a good deal."-JOHNSON: Boswell by Croker, p. 257. If Johnson had been fond of ballads, he could have said a word in favour of Mallet's 'Edwin and Emma,' 1760 (4to. Baskerville); but Johnson did not care for ballads. In his 'Life of Tickell' he is silent about Colin and Lucy.' AKENSIDE. 1721-1770. Born at Newcastle-on-Tyne-Educated at Edinburgh and Leyden-Determines to study Physic -Publishes 'The Pleasures of Imagination '-His Quarrel with Warburton-Writes a Poem against Pulteney-Publishes a volume of Odes-Mr. Dyson's friendship for him-His small practice as a Physician-Death, and Burial in St. James's Church, Piccadilly, London. MARK AKENSIDE was born on the 9th of November, 1721, at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. His father Mark was a butcher, of the Presbyterian sect; his mother's name was Mary Lumsden.' He received the first part of his education at the grammar-school of Newcastle, and was afterwards instructed by Mr. Wilson, who kept a private academy. At the age of eighteen he was sent to Edinburgh, that he might qualify himself for the office of a dissenting minister, and received some assistance from the fund which the Dissenters employ in educating young men of scanty fortune. But a wider view of the world opened other scenes and prompted other hopes he determined to study physic, and repaid that contribution, which, being received for a different purpose, he justly thought it dishonourable to retain. Whether, when he resolved not to be a dissenting minister, he ceased to be a Dissenter, I know not. He certainly retained an unnecessary and outrageous zeal for what he called and thought liberty; a zeal which sometimes disguises from the world, and not rarely from the mind which it possesses, an envious desire of plundering wealth or degrading greatness, and of which the immediate tendency is innovation and anarchy, an impetuous eagerness to subvert and confound, with very little care what shall be established.' 1 "1710, August 10.-Mark Akenside and Mary Lumsden. Mar."-Register of St. Nicholas, Newcastle. ( Biographical Notice of Akenside,' by Robert White, p. 1.) His father wrote his name Akinside, and so did his son till he became distinguished. 2 Akenside, when a student at Edinburgh, was a member of the Medical Society, then |