63S 



MAL DE NAPLES MALET. 



earliest period to the present time; Sketches of 

 !Vr>i;i; A Memoir of Central India; and his treatise 

 on the Administration of British India, which \\i\s 

 published only a few weeks before his death. Sir 

 John liad also been engaged for some time before his 

 draih in writing a life of lord Clive, which has since 

 appeared. 



.MAL DE NAPLES; an early name for syphilis, 

 because the disease was spread among the be- 

 >ir_Ts of Naples, and from men rapidly communi- 

 cated to others. 



MALDIVE ISLANDS; a cluster of islands in 

 the. Indian sea, situated about 270 miles south-west 

 of cape Comorin. The number is said to amount to 

 1000 or more, but they are for the most part small, 

 and uninhabited. The greatest breadth of the 

 chain is from twenty to twenty-four leagues. The 

 inhabitants appear to be a mixture of Arabs and 

 Indians of Malabar. They supply vessels with 

 sails and cordage, cocoa nuts, oil and honey, dry 

 fish, tortoise-shell, and, especially, cowries. They 

 are divided into seventeen altollons, or provinces, 

 and are governed by one king ; but each attollon has 

 its particular governor, who rules with great oppres- 

 sion. The subjects are miserably poor ; and none 

 dare wear any clothing above the waist, except a 

 turban, without a particular license. They have 

 only four ports, in which their few articles of com- 

 merce are collected. The Maldive islands lie in 

 Ion. 73 30' to 75 45' E. ; and lat. 3 30' to 7 5' 

 N. No European settlements have been made in 

 them. 



MALEA, CAPE. See Matapan. 



MALEBRANCHE, NICHOLAS, a French priest of 

 the congregation of the oratory, and a celebrated 

 philosopher, was born at Paris, in 1638. His health 

 being delicate, he was classically instructed by a 

 domestic tutor, but afterwards went through courses 

 of philosophy and divinity at the colleges of La 

 Marche and of the Sorbonne. At the age of twenty- 

 two, he determined to embrace the monastic life, 

 and was admitted into the congregation of the ora- 

 tory. He applied himself first to ecclesiastical his- 

 tory, and afterwards to Oriental learning and biblical 

 criticism ; but, having accidentally met with Des- 

 carte's treatise On Man, he determined to make 

 himself master of that author's system of philosophy. 

 The result of this study was his famous treatise On 

 the Search after Truth, first printed in 1673, but of 

 which the best edition is that published by himself in 

 1712, in 2 vols. 4to. ? and 4 vols., 12mo. The doc- 

 trines of this celebrated work, which contains fine 

 thoughts and uncommon reflections, rendered still 

 more striking by his elegant manner of conveying 

 them, are founded upon Cartesian principles, and 

 are, in some particulars, Platonic. It is principally 

 distinguished by the maintenance of a mysterious 

 union between God and the soul of man, and the 

 doctrine that the human mind immediately perceives 

 God, " and sees all things in him." His next publi- 

 cation was Christian Conversations (1676). This 

 was followed (in 1680) by a Treatise on Nature and 

 Grace, which led to several controversial pieces 

 between him and Arnauld. Father Malebranche 

 also wrote several works on physical subjects, and 

 several papers for the academy of sciences, of which 

 he was admitted an honorary member in 1699. 

 Malebranche was highly venerated for his elevated 

 genius, and nothing could be more amiable and 

 simple than his conversation and manners. As a 

 philosopher, although he agreed with those who pre- 

 ceded him, in conceiving ideas to be the immediate 

 objects of perception, he distinguished, more than 

 any previous metaphysician, the object from the sen- 

 sation which it creates, and thereby led the way to a 



right understanding, both of our external senses and 

 mental pmvi r>. 



MALESHERBES, CHRISTIAN WILLIAM DE LA- 

 MOIGNON PS:, an eminent French statesman, descended 

 from a family of distinguished worth and talents. 

 He was the son of William de Lamoignon, chancel- 

 lor of France, and was born at Paris, in 1721. After 

 studying at the Jesuits' college, he qualified himself 

 for the legal profession, and became a counsellor of 

 the parliament of Paris. In 1750, he succeeded his 

 father as president of the court of aids, and was also 

 made superintendent of the press, in both which 

 offices he displayed a liberal and enlightened policy, 

 highly honourable to his talents and character. On 

 the banishment of the parliaments, and the suppres- 

 sion of the court of aids in 1771, Malesherbes was 

 exiled to his country seat, where he devoted his 

 leisure to the study of statistics and agriculture, and 

 the improvement of his estate and of the country 

 around it. After the accession of Louis XVI., he 

 resumed his presidentship over the revived tribunal, 

 and, in 1775, was appointed minister of state. 

 Finding his plans for the benefit of the nation coun- 

 teracted by the influence of others, he resigned his 

 post in May, 1776, and went to reside in Switzer- 

 land. He was recalled to the king's councils in 

 1786, when he drew up two memoirs, On the Cala- 

 mities of France, and the Means of repairing them ; 

 but his advice was rejected, and he therefore took a 

 final leave of the court. Returning to the country, 

 he continued his patriotic labours, and, in 1790, 

 published an Essay on the Means of accelerating the 

 Progress of Rural Economy in France. He took no 

 part in the proceedings which led to the overthrow 

 of the monarchical government ; but on the decree 

 of the national convention for the trial of the king, 

 he emerged from his retreat to become the voluntary 

 advocate of his unfortunate sovereign. His generous 

 attachment to his fallen master excited the jealousy 

 of the French rulers, and caused his destruction. 

 Shortly after his return home, his daughter, madame 

 De Rosambo, and her husband, were arrested and 

 conducted to Paris ; and his own arrest, with thnt of 

 his grandchildren, soon followed. Almost his whole 

 family were extirpated by the merciless proscription 

 of his persecutors. Malesherbes was beheaded April 

 22, 1794, and he bore his sufferings with a spirit 

 worthy of his life. Louis XVIII. ordered a monu- 

 ment to be erected to him in the great hall of the 

 Palais de Justice. It was completed in 1826, with 

 the inscription by the king Strenue, semper Jidelis 

 regi suo, in. solio veritatem, prcesidium in carcere 

 attulit, 



MALET, CHARLES FRANCOIS, a French brigadier- 

 general, was born at Dole, in 1754. Having entered 

 the military service, he embraced the cause of the 

 revolution with ardour, and rose rapidly in the first 

 wars of the republic. At the time of Napoleon's 

 assumption of the imperial dignity, he openly avowed 

 his republican opinions, and was, in consequence, 

 left without employment. His connexions with indi- 

 viduals known to be hostile to the imperial govern- 

 ment, rendered him an object of suspicion, and, as no 

 proofs of his guilt could be obtained, he was detained 

 in prison for several years. During his confinement, 

 he became acquainted with Lahorie, formerly at- 

 tached to Moreau's staff, and general Guidal, who 

 had both been in prison several years. In October, 

 1812, Malet formed the daring plan of overthrowing 

 a prince then at the summit of his power and glory. 

 For this purpose, he engaged the co-operation of his 

 fellow prisoners, and, having obtained permission to 

 be carried to an hospital, he escaped during the 

 night of October 23, and, presenting himself to the 

 colonel of a regiment of the Paris guards, he pT- 



