MALHERBE- MALLICOLO. 



639 



suaded him that tlie emperor was dead, and that an 

 opportunity was now ottered to restore the republic. 

 He also showed him a decree of the conservative 

 senate, abolishing the imperial government, and con- 

 stituting general Malet commander of Paris. He 

 next hastened to the barracks of the tenth cohort, 

 under the command of Soullier, who had either been 

 previously gained, or was easily made to believe 

 what he desired the emperor's death and a change 

 of government. Soullier took possession of the 

 Hotel de-ville at eight o'clock in the morning, and 

 i'rochot, the prefect of Paris, who arrived soon after, 

 was also brought to believe that the emperor had 

 been killed. Measures were taken for establishing 

 a provisional government, and a detachment under 

 general Gnidal hastened to the Hotel of the Police, 

 seized general Savary, the minister, conducted him to 

 the prison La Force, and installed Lahorie in his place. 

 Malet next proceeded with some soldiers to the quar- 

 ters of general Hullin, but could not convince him 

 that the story of the emperor's death was true, nor 

 that the pretended decree was genuine. After some 

 altercation, Malet discharged a pistol at him, and 

 wounded him in the jaw, but was immediately seized 

 from behind, and thrown to the ground, by general 

 Laborde, adjutant of the post, who, on hearing of 

 the military movements, had hastened to general 

 Hullin's quarters, and had been admitted without 

 opposition by Malet's soldiers. The latter, who ap- 

 peared to have been ignorant of Malet's designs, con- 

 sented to conduct him to prison. His accomplices 

 were soon after arrested, and were examined, with 

 him, before a court-martial, the next day. The 

 examination continued two days and three nights. 

 During the whole time Malet displayed the most 

 imperturbable coolness, avowed his designs, and de- 

 clared himself ready to die. He was shot, with the 

 other conspirators, October 27, in the plain of 

 Crenelle. 



MALHERBE, FRANCIS DE, a celebrated French 

 poet, was born in 1555, at Caen, of an ancient but 

 decayed family. His father was a Calvinist, but, 

 having adopted as a principle, that a gentleman 

 should be of the religion of his prince, he himself 

 adhered to the church of Rome. He entered into 

 the service of Henry d'Angouleme, natural son of 

 Henry II., and married the widow of a counsellor, 

 by whom he had several children. He did not visit 

 court until his fiftieth year, when Henry IV. received 

 him into his service, and gave him a liberal pension, 

 chiefly in consequence of the recommendation of 

 cardinal du Perron, who mentioned him as one who 

 surpassed all the French poets who had preceded him. 

 He died at Paris, in 1627. Although the recorded 

 incidents of his life be few, numerous testimonies 

 abound of his caustic wit, greediness of presents, and 

 litigious temper; he being generally at war with 

 one or another of his relations. He was also lax and 

 licentious in respect both to morals and religion. Such 

 was his zeal for the purity of the French language, 

 that, when near expiring, he reproved his nurse for 

 using a word not duly authorized. Fie may be 

 deemed the father of cultivated French poetry, being 

 not only an excellent versifier, but possessed of many 

 of the qualities of a poet ; not indeed of the highest 

 class, but he was ingenious, harmonious, elegant, and 

 sometimes even elevated. His poetry consists of 

 odes, stanzas, sonnets, epigrams, and other short 

 pieces, with a few of a devotional cast. He also 

 published translations of Seneca De Beneficiis,andof 

 a portion of Livy, with some letters. The best edi- 

 tions of his works are those of Paris, 1722, 3 vols., 

 I2mo, and 1757, 8vo. 



MALL, or PALL-MALL, was a game formerly 

 much played in England, in which a box ball was 



struck through a ring. The mall (French mail) was 

 properly the stick (mallet) used for striking ; but 

 the French mail also signified the game itself, more 

 commonly called, by the English, pall-mall or pail- 

 mail, and the ground or alley on which it was played j 

 which was often planted with trees. The site of the 

 street now called Pali-Mall (pronounced pell-mell) 

 was originally appropriated to playing this game, and 

 derives its name from that circumstance. The walk 

 called the mall, in St James's park, also received its 

 name from having been the royal play-ground in the 

 time of Charles II., when mall was a fashionable 

 amusement. 



MALLEABILITY ; a property of metals, where- 

 by they are capable of being extended under the 

 hammer. (See Ductility, and Metal.) This word 

 has of late been used by some philologists, to indicate 

 the power of certain languages to form words from 

 given roots by adding prefixes and affixes, and thus 

 to express many different shades of the original idea. 



MALLET, DAVID, a miscellaneous writer, was 

 born at Grief, in the county of Perth, about 1700, 

 and, in 1720, was a tutor in the family of Mr Home 

 of Edinburgh. In 1723, he accompanied the two 

 younger sons of the duke of Montrose to Winchester 

 school, and, in the same year, published his admired 

 ballad of William and Margaret. He subsequently 

 made the tour of Europe with his pupils, on his return 

 settled in London, and dropped the name of Malloch 

 for Mallet. In 1728, he published a poem, entitled 

 the Excursion, and, in 1731, a tragedy, called Eury- 

 dice, which met with temporary success. A poem 

 on Verbal Criticism followed in 1733, and he was 

 soon after made under-secretary to Frederic, prince 

 of Wales. His tragedy of Mustapha was produced 

 with success in 1739, and, the following year, 

 his life of lord Bacon appeared, prefixed to 

 new edition of the works of that great man. In 1747, 

 he published his largest poem, entitled Amyntor and 

 Theodora. On the death of Pope, Mallet lent him- 

 self to the resentment of lord Bolingbroke against 

 the deceased poet, for having clandestinely printed 

 his Idea of a Patriot King. For this service, he was 

 rewarded by Bolingbroke with a bequest of his works, 

 the publication of which produced a prosecution. 

 The duchess of Marlborough having left 1000 be- 

 tween him and Glover, to write the life of her hus- 

 band, the latter declined the task, and it was 

 undertaken by Mallet alone, who received more or 

 less of the recompense, without leaving on his death, 

 a line towards the work. On the prosecution of 

 admiral Byng, he was employed, by the ministry, to 

 assist in making that unfortunate offieer their scape- 

 goat, and was rewarded by a considerable pension. 

 On the accession of lord Bute to the premiership, he 

 wrote his Truth in Rhyme, and tragedy of Elvira, to 

 which a political tendency was given, to serve the 

 politics of that nobleman, and he obtained a place in 

 the customs for his recompense. He died in 1765. 

 The religious scepticism which he avowed, may have 

 assisted to darken the portraits usually given of Mal- 

 let ; but it is obvious that no partiality could have 

 rendered it amiable. 



MALLET ; a weapon. See Mace. 



MALLEUS, in anatomy ; a bone of the ear, so 

 called from its resemblance to a mallet, and in which 

 is observed the head, the neck, and handle, which 

 joins the membrane of the tympanum. See Ear. 



MALLICOLO, or MANICOLO ; an island in 

 the South Pacific ocean, which, according to captain 

 Dillon, should be considered as forming one of the 

 group called Queen Charlotte's islands ; lat. 11 41' 

 S. ; Ion. 167 5' E. It has acquired an interest 

 from having been the place where Laperouse was 

 cast away, as appears from the results of the expe-li- 



