MALIBRAN MALTA. 



635 



number of persons. The paper manufactured is j 

 of the finest kind, and its whiteness is attributed j 

 to the character of the water. Maidstone has re- : 

 turned two members to parliament ever since the j 

 reign of Edward VI., and it continues to do so j 

 under the reform bill. By the corporation bill of 

 1835, the town was divided into three wards, and 

 is governed by six aldermen and eighteen coun- 

 cillors. Population in 1841, 18,086. 



MALIBRAN. See Beriot, Madam Malibran 

 de. 



MALLOW; a town in the south of Ireland, in 

 the county of Cork, situated on the banks of the 

 Blackwater, on the mail coach road between Cork 

 and Limerick, 163 miles S. by W. from Dublin. 

 It is much resorted to in summer on account of its 

 mineral waters, which are considered peculiarly 

 efficacious in scrofulous and consumptive cases, 

 and the properties of which are nearly the same as 

 those of Clifton in England. The spa-house was 

 built in 1828 by the lord of the manor, C. D. O. 

 Jephson, Esq. M. P. The surrounding district is 

 noted for beauty and fertility, and abounds in gen- 

 tlemen's seats. The town enjoys a good retail 

 trade, and is thriving. Population 9965 within 

 the limits of the parish, including the suburbs of 

 Ballydaheen. 



MALMESBURY; an ancient town of England, 

 situated at the north-west extremity of Wiltshire, 

 ninety-five miles W. by N. from London. It is 

 almost surrounded by two streams, the Newnton 

 Water and the Avon. These streams unite near 

 the town, and form what is termed the Lower 

 Avon, which runs into the Severn below Bristol. 

 Mulmesbury derived its ancient splendour from its 

 ecclesiastical institutions. The abbey, once a 

 magnificent structure, was founded in the seventh 

 century ; it was originally a religious house or 

 monastic retreat for a few recluses, until by grants 

 and donations it became a stately abbey. The 

 buildings are said to have occupied a space of 

 forty-five acres, including the gardens and offices 

 belonging to the monks. The town contains 

 many relics of its monastic glory, but they have 

 either been converted into dwelling-houses, and 

 altered from their original appearance, or they are 

 mere fragments, with the exception of the Abbey 

 Church, the remains of the nave of which have 

 been repaired, and rendered fit to be used for 

 public worship. Near the centre of the town is 

 the market-cross, which appears to have been 

 built in the reign of Henry VII. ; it is a beautiful 

 octangular stone edifice, with flying buttresses and 

 a richly ornamented turret, which is also octangular, 

 with a small niche on each side, filled with figures, 

 in basso-relievo, one of which represents the Cru- 

 cifixion. Malmesbury was one of the earliest in- 

 corporated boroughs of England, and was also 

 early distinguished as a place of trade. It is now, 

 however, considered on the decline. It formerly 

 returned two members to parliament, but by the 

 reform bill now elects only one. Population in 

 1841, 2367. William of Malmesbury, the monk- 

 ish historian, resided in the abbey here, and 

 Hobbes, the celebrated metaphysician, was a 

 native of the town. 



MALTA,* (a.) the most southerly island in 

 Enrope.f is in the parallel (Valletta Observatory) 



* Abridged from " The British Colonial Library, By K. 

 Montgomery Martin, vol. vii. London, 1837," 12mo. 



t The island was formerly placed by all geographers in 

 Africa, bat was declared to be in Europe, as regards the 

 service of our soldiery, by a British act of Parliament. 



of 35 53' north, and in the meridian of 14 30" 

 35" east of Greenwich. The shape is an irregular 



oval, which has been compared by some to a fish 



its southern aspect resembling the back, the bay 

 of Marsa Sirocco the mouth, the various indenta- 

 tions on the north aspect the ventral fins, and the 

 deep indentation of the bay of Melleha, with a 

 corresponding indentation at the back of the island, 

 the tail; the island, in fact, stretches east and west, 

 and is much indented with bays and inlets of the 

 sea on the side which corresponds with the coast of 

 Sicily, while that which looks towards the Afri- 

 can coast is nearly a continued curve. The extreme 

 length of the island is stated by Dr Hennen at 

 eighteeen to twenty miles, and its greatest breadth 

 from north to south ten to twelve miles, and cir- 

 cumference sixty to seventy ; but a chart of the 

 islands under the British crown, drawn up at the 

 colonial office, makes the extreme length sixteen 

 and three quarter miles, extreme breadth nine, 

 with an area of ninety-five square miles. The 

 same document makes Gozo (the island adjacent 

 to Malta, and under the same government) nine 

 and three quarter rniles extreme length, five and 

 one third breadth, with an area of twenty-seven 

 square miles. Malta is distant from Cape Passaro 

 the nearest point of Sicily, north, fifty-six miles, 

 and Cape Bon, the nearest point of the African 

 continent, is almost two hundred miles distant in 

 a south-west direction. It is bounded on the east 

 by the island of Candia, on the west by the islets 

 of Pantelleria, Linosa, and Lampedusa, on the 

 north by Sicily, and on the south by Tripoli. 

 The sea dividing Malta from Sicily is only eighty 

 fathoms deep in the middle or deepest part, very 

 shallow in other places, and the bottom sandy ; 

 it is called the canal of Malta, and is generally 

 rough, with strong currents setting through it on 

 the north-west side towards the east-south-east, 

 and on the east-south-east side towards the east. 

 Gozo Isle, originally known under the name of 

 " Gaulos " by the Greeks, " Gaulum " by the 

 Romans, and by corruption in the Arabic language 

 " Gaudese," which in process of time was Italian- 

 ized into Gozo (pronounced Godso), is situate on 

 the westward of Malta, distant from thence in its 

 nearest point about three miles, though some parts 

 of the strait is five miles broad. In the channel 

 lies the small islet of Comino, formerly called 

 " Hephostia," of an oblong shape, and about five 

 miles in circumference, with a still smaller islet or 

 rock called Cominetto, off its north-west extremity. 

 Malta, comparatively speaking, is low, the highest 

 land being estimated at no more than 1200 feet 

 above the level of the sea, and cannot be discerned 

 until the mariner approaches within twenty to 

 thirty miles off the shore. The hill and dale sur- 

 face is beautifully diversified, and the natural in- 

 dustry of the Maltese has converted an apparently 

 barren rock into a very picturesque country. As 

 a general feature, it may be observed, that the 

 island is furrowed with valleys running from south- 

 west to north-east, parallel to each other, and 

 becoming longer and deeper as they extend from 

 the eastern and western extremity. One, termed 

 Melleha, nearly divides Malta into two parts; the 

 most fertile, however, is the vale, which forms at 

 its lowest extremity the port of Valletta. 



A small range of hills and craggy rocks, called 

 the Ben Jemma Hills, bearing a north-west direc- 

 tion from Valletta, stretch across the entire 

 breadth of the island, and from these different 



