9 
£0(5 M A L 
cavated on one fide, as if the chalky laminae had extend¬ 
ed themfelves round a piece of hark; but all of them hol¬ 
lowed within, agreeable to their exterior fhape, very few 
excepted. 
MALMASE'CA, a town of Spain, in the province of 
Leon : twenty miles weft of Aftorga. 
MALME'DY, called a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment of the Ourthe; now properly again a town of Ger¬ 
many, which, though fituated in the biftiopric of Liege, 
was under the jurifdiftion of the archbifhop of Cologne in 
fpiritualities. It has fome mineral fprings, which, in the 
opinion of phyficians, are equal or rather fuperior to thofe 
of Spa. The town contains about four hundred houfes. 
The principal trade carried on is making cf cloth and 
drefting leather. It has a celebrated abbey of Benedictines, 
founded by St. Remade, united under the fame abbot 
with Stablo in the year 1071. In OCt. 1794, Malmedy 
was taken by the French. It is twenty-three miles eaft- 
fouth-eaft of Liege. Lat. 51. 24. N. Ion. 6. 7. E. 
MAL'MESBURY, a town of England, in the county 
of Wilts, faid to have been built by Dunwallo Malmu- 
tius, a Britifh king, and called Can- Bladon ; being def- 
troyed by war, a cattle is faid to have rifen out of its ruins, 
■which was called Inge/borne for a long time, till Maidul- 
phus founding a religious houfe here, it was called Mai- 
dulfsburg, and, by corruption, Malmefbury. Among the 
difciples of Maidulphus, the molt eminent was Aldelm, 
who was appointed to fucceed him, and by the help of 
Eleutherius biftiop of the Weft Saxons, and owner of the 
place, built here a fair abbey, over which he firft prefided; 
and from him this town is called, in an ancient manufcript, 
Aldclmcjbirig. But this name was foon loft, though the 
memory of the man, who was canonized, remains. The 
great Athelftan chofe this Aldelm after his death for pa¬ 
tron faint; and on this account, be granted confiderable 
privileges to the town, endowed the abbey in an ample 
manner, and chofe it for his burying-place. From ills 
reign, the abbey continued to flourilh in great wealth ; 
and, among other learned men, produced William, hence 
called of Malmefbury, to whofe learned diligence the eccle- 
fiaftical and civil hiltory of England has great obligation. 
The town depended in a manner on the abbey, and was 
fortified by Roger biftiop of Salifbury, who, in the war be¬ 
tween Henry of Anjou and king Stephen, built here walls 
andacaftle, which once held outagainft Henry II. That 
magnificent prelate raifed here, and at Salifbury, at a great 
expenfe, very extenfive and beautiful buildings, the (tones 
of which were fo laid, that the joints could fcarcely be 
feen, and the whole wall looked like one (tone. The 
caftle was not long after deinolifhed for the convenience 
of the monks, by licenfe from king John, in order to en¬ 
large the abbey, which received continual acceftion of 
wealth and buildings, till the fatal ftorm which deftroyed 
the religious houfes of England. The abbot was mitred, 
and had a feat in parliament. At the diffolution, this ab¬ 
bey, which exceeded all in the county in revenues and 
honour, and was valued at 803I. 17s. was purchafed of 
the king by Stumpe, an exceedingly-rich clothier, who 
filled with looms every corner of the valt offices belong¬ 
ing to it, and intended, in Leland’s time, to make a ftreet 
for clothiers in the back vacant ground within the town- 
walls. After this period nothing worthy of notice oc¬ 
curs in the hiltory of Malmefbury, till the era of the civil 
wars in the reign of Charles I. when it was feveral times 
befieged and taken, both by the republicans and royalifts. 
This town is built on a commanding eminence, penin- 
fulatcd by two ftreams which unite to form the Lower 
Avon. In former times it was much more extenfive than 
at prefent, many of the flreets defcribed in old records 
being totally deinolifhed. The principal manufacture car¬ 
ried on here is that of woollen cloth, for which it was fa¬ 
mous at an early period ; but a number of hands are em¬ 
ployed in the leather-trade, and in the manufacture of 
gloves, parchments, glue, See. There is a weekly market 
on 'Saturdays, and one alfo on the laft Tuefday of each 
M A L 
month, called the great market; likewife three fairs. 
Mar. 17, Apr. 17, and May 26. Befides the churches 
belonging to the eftablifhment, there are four places of 
public worfhip appropriated to the meetings of diflenters. 
The only charitable inltitutions are two alms-houfes, and 
two free-fchools. 
It has been already mentioned that the original charter 
to this town was granted by Edward the Elder, and con¬ 
firmed by his fucceftor Athelftan. Charters of confirma¬ 
tion, with additional privileges, were likewife beftowed 
by feveral fucceeding monarchs. The prefent one is dated 
in the reign of William III. and by virtue of it the go¬ 
vernment was vefted in an alderman, a high fteward, twelve 
capital burgefles, and twenty-four afliftants. The aider- 
man and high fteward, or their deputies, arejuftices of the 
peace. The other perfons connected with the borough 
are ftyled landholders and commoners. In the latter 
charters the commoners are denominated free-burgefles, 
and conftitute the lowed members of the corporation. 
The landholders occupy a fituation between them and the 
afliftant burgefles, and are entitled by their office to the 
pofleflion of an acre of land for life. Two members have 
been fent by this borough to parliament, from the third 
year of the reign of Edward I. During the laft century 
it was celebrated for its electioneering contefts, the higher 
branches of the corporation claiming the exclufive privi¬ 
lege of voting at elections, while the lower members main¬ 
tained their title to participate in the nomination of their 
reprefentatives. The point, however, was finally de¬ 
cided by a committee of the houfe of commons in favour 
of the aldermen and twelve capital burgefles ; concerning 
whom the following curious notice occurs in Oldfield’s 
Hilt, of the Boroughs, (1796.) “ Thefe thirteen indivi¬ 
duals are all the dependants of Dr. Wilkins, a phyfician 
of this town. This gentleman holds the lucrative place 
of receiver-general for the county; from which circutn- 
flance it may be inferred, that the reprefentatives for this 
place are feldom inimical to adminiftration. Mr. Paul 
Benfield, one of the gentlemen returned at the general 
election in 1790, becoming a profelyte to oppofition fhortly 
after his acceflion to that fituation, did not fail to receive 
a hint from the doCtor, that the vacation of his feat be¬ 
came an indifpenfible etiquette; in confequence of which 
the Chiltern Hundreds were given, and fir James Sander- 
fon fucceeded to the reprefentation of this immaculate 
body of conftituents.” The prefent members are—W. 
Hicks Beach, efq. of Williamftrip Park, Cirencelter, Glou- 
cefterfhire ; and Col. Peter Patten, of Bank Hall, Lan- 
cafhire. 
Malmefbury abounds with remains of antiquity, which 
fufficiently declare its former greatnefs. The moft exten¬ 
five and important of thefe is the abbey. By the dona¬ 
tions and grants, both of princes and private individuals, 
this inftitution foon rofe into great celebrity. The church 
was built in the form of acrofs; and the whole buildings 
are faid to have covered no lefs than forty-five acres of 
ground, including the garden and offices belonging to the 
monks. The church was a noble ftruCture of great ex¬ 
tent, and furmounted by two magnificent towers, one of 
which flood in the middle of the tranfept, and the other 
at the weft end. The weltern front is faid by Brown Willis 
to have been an uncommonly fine piece of architecture, 
and richly adorned with fculpture. Over the entrance, 
on this fide, was a very magnificent window filled with 
painted glafs. About a fourth of the building only now 
remains. Both the towers are long ago levelled with the 
ground, that at the weft end having been battered down 
during the civil wars, when, it is probable, the cloifters 
alfo were deinolifhed, as no trace of them can be difeo- 
vered above ground. Part of a mofaic pavement, however, 
was found a few years ago, in a garden to the north-weft 
of the church, which is fuppofed to have formed the floor 
of that portion of the monaftery. The fouthern porch 
of this church is a truly curious and interefting fpecimen 
of ancient architecture. It confifts of two diftinCt divi- 
Jions; 
