4 ! ; 
MAC 
MACKEREL-SKY',/ A Iky variegated with a num¬ 
ber of very fmall clouds. 
MACK'ERMORE, a fmall ifland near the weft coaft of 
Scotland, about five miles eaft from the ifland of Jura. 
Eat. 55. 57. N. Ion. 6. 43. W. 
MACK'ERTER’s HEAD', a cape on the eaft coaft of 
the ifland of Ilay. Lat. 55. 52. N. Ion. 5. 59. W. 
MACK'EY (John), an Englifhman, who followed James 
II. to France after the revolution, and was admitted by 
that unfortunate monarch to his confidence, which he 
fcandaloufly betrayed, by giving information to king Wil¬ 
liam of every fecret with which he was entrufted. As an 
author he is known by his “ Picture of the Court of St. 
Germain,” which was publifhed in 16913 and his “Me¬ 
moirs of the Court of England, in the Reigns of William 
and Anne,” publifhed at the Hague in 1733; this work 
abounds in curious anecdotes. He died in 1726 at Rot¬ 
terdam. 
MACK'LIN (Charles), a native of Ireland, probably 
born in the county of Weft Meath, of a family named 
M'Laughlin, which was anglicifed to that by which he 
was ever afterwards known. He was born about the ift 
of May, 1690; and in 1708, abfconding from his mother, 
then a widow, he came over to England. For fome mif- 
conduft with regard to a female connexion, he was fent 
back to Ireland. Here he formed an acquaintance with 
certain under-graduates of Trinity-college, Dublin, and 
took up the employment of badgerhan in that college, read 
much for the improvement of his mind, and remained in 
that degraded ftate till he-had attained the age of twenty- 
one. He then came to London, made a connexion with 
a ftrolling company of players, and afted the part of har¬ 
lequin. After leading an extraordinary courfe of life, he 
was again reftored to his mother, and returned a penitent 
to his former ftation in Trinity-college. In 1716 he ar¬ 
rived in England for the third time, joined a company of 
players at Briftol, then attached himfelf to feveral ftrolling 
companies, and afterwards made his entre at the theatre in 
Lincoln’s-inn-fields, where his merit was firft difcovered 
in a trifling character in Fielding’s CofFee-houfe Politi¬ 
cian, which, it is faid, would in any other hands have gone 
unnoticed. He now for feveral fucceflive feafons per¬ 
formed comic charafters. On the tenth of May, 1735, he 
had the misfortune to kill Mr. Hallam, an aftor in the 
/Imre theatre with himfelf, in a private quarrel. He was 
brought to trial in confequence ; but, no malicious intent 
appearing in evidence, he was acquitted. In 1741 he ef- 
tablifhed his fame as an aftor, in the character of Shylock 
in the Merchant of Venice, and by his fine and impreffive 
manner reftored to the ftage a play which had been forty 
years fupplanted by lord Lanfdown’s Jew of Venice. The 
•manager and performers having about this time dilagreed, 
Macklin, and feveral of the molt eminent of the company, 
among whom was Garrick, revolted, and figned a formal 
agreement, by which they were bound not to accede to 
any terms which might be propofed to them by the paten¬ 
tee, without confent of the fubfcribers. The leceders 
applied, but without effect, for the grant of a new patent; 
of courfe they found themfelves under the hard neceflity 
of agreeing to the terms offered by the manager, who 
afcribed the revolt of the players to the influence and fug- 
geftion of Macklin, and refolved to punifh him for his 
ingratitude. To the others he was reconciled ; but the 
fentence of eternal banifnment from his theatre was pro¬ 
nounced again the man who had been once his friend and 
advifer. A change in the management, by which Mr. 
James Lacy fucceeded Fleetwood, reftored Macklin to his 
ulual employment. This was in 1747 ; and in the follow¬ 
ing lpring he accepted an invitation from the manager of 
the Dublin theatre, by which he engaged his fervices for 
two years; but fcarcely had he gone through the duties of 
his ftation a Angle month, when he took offence at fome 
inftances of fuppofed negleft, which ended in a feparation 
from that concern. After various incidents, he, in 1753, 
obtained from Mr, Garrick the ufe of his theatre for a fin- 
* VofcXlV. No, 955. 
M A C 
gle night, and took a formal leave of the ftage, in a pro¬ 
logue written for the occafion, in which he introduced hi* 
daughter as an aftrefs to the proteftion of the public.. 
He now projefted the eftablifliment of a tavern and coffee- 
houfe which was to make his fortune; this he foon after 
converted into a debating and fpouting dub, under the 
name of the Britifh Inquifition; but Macklin was wholly 
unfit for the bufinefs of a tavern-keeper; and, in Feb, 
i 755 > w , as te en *n lift of bankrupts. On his examina¬ 
tion before the commiffioners, every thing turned to his 
character, except that he had been miferabiy deficient iu 
prudence; and in the end he paid twenty-flvillings in the 
pound. He next joined Mr. Barry in founding a new 
theatre in Dublin, where, however, he did not remain, 
more than two or three years ; and in 1159 he returned to 
London, and made an engagement at Drury-lane, at a very 
confiderabie falary, and brought out his farce of Love a- 
la-mode, which, though oppofed at firft, was received in 
London and at Dublin with unbounded applaufe. Mack¬ 
lin in a fliort time transferred himfelf from Drury-lane to 
Covent-garden theatre, to which he continued afterwards 
uniformly attached. He obtained great and almoft uni- 
verfal applaufe as an after of certain parts in comedy ; 
but in 1773 he determined to attempt the charafter’of 
Macbeth ; in this new line he gave fatisfaftion (it is laid) 
to his friends; but the public, headed perhaps by a few 
violent fpirits, were lb much enraged at his attempting 
tragedy, that a riot enfued, and he was formally difmiffed! 
In 1775 he brought an action againft his opponents; and, 
having obtained a verdift in his favour, he willingly re- 
linquilhed the damages awarded to him upon the molt 
liberal terms ; a circumftance which drew from lord chief 
jultice Mansfield the following handfome and well-turned 
compliment: “ You have met with great applaufe to-day; 
you never afted better.” From this period Macklin oc- 
calionally performed, and paid a vifit to Dublin during 
Mr. Daly’s management. In 1788, and again in 1789*, 
while afting his favourite charafters, he fuddenly loft his 
memory, and in the fecond inftance he refolved to make 
no other effort; but by the advice of his friends he pub¬ 
lished by fubfeription his two pieces, The Man of the 
World, and Love a-la-Mode. By the exertions of Mr. 
Murphy, who fuperintended the printing, and his other 
friends, 1500I. was railed, with which an annuity of 200I. 
was fettled on himfelf, and 75I. per annum on his wife, 
if Ihe furvived him. 
Macklin died on the nth of July, 1797, at the age of 
107, if he were born at the period before mentioned ; but 
of this the reader Ihould be apprifed there were fome fe- 
rious doubts entertained. His remains were interred un¬ 
der the chancel of Covent-garden church. As a come¬ 
dian, his principal and moft important parts were Sir Gil¬ 
bert Wrangle in the Refulal; Sir Archy Mac Sarcafm 
in his own farce of Love a-la-Mode; and Sir Pertinax 
Mac Sycophant in the Man of the World, written alfo 
by himfelf, and firft brought forward in 1781. Macklin 
alfo made fome figure in the charafter of Shakefpeare’s 
Iago ; but the part in which he was allowed to fnine with¬ 
out a competitor was that of Shylock. Befides the dra¬ 
matic works already referred to, Macklin wrote a tragedy 
of King Henry VII. or the Popilh Impoftor; A Will or 
no Will; The Sufpicious Hulband criticifed, or the Plague 
of Envy; The Fortune-Hunters; and fome other pieces. 
Biog. Dram. vol. i. s 
MACKNl'GHT (James), a learned clergyman of the 
church ot Scotland, was born at Irvine in the fliire of Air, 
in the year 1721. Haying received the rudiments of edu¬ 
cation at the fchool of his native town ; about the age of 
fourteen he was lent to the univerfity of Glafgow; and, 
after completing the ufual courfe of academical (tudies, 
he crofted the fea to Holland, and attended the leftures at 
the univerfity of Leyden, particularly thofe in theologv, 
to which he had (hown an early attachment. Here he 
had an opportunity of procuring manv valuable books 
written by foreign divines, which afterwards aftifted him 
