"Not long afterwards he publifhed the Excurfion (1728); a defultory and capricious view of fuch fcenes of nature as his fancy led him, or his knowledge enabled him, to defcribe. It is not devoid of poetical fpirit. Many of the images are ftriking, and many of the paragraphs are elegant. The caft of diction feems to be copied from Thomfon, whofe Seafons were then in their full bloffom of reputation. He has Thomson's beauties and his faults. "His poem on Verbal Criticism (1733) was written to pay court to Pop, on a fubject which he either did not understand, or willingly mifreprefented; and is little more than an improvement, or rather expanion, of a fragment which Pope printed in a Mifcellany long before he engrafted it into a regular poem. There is in this piece more pertnefs than wit, and more confidence than knowledge. The verfification is tolerable, nor can criticifm allow it a higher praife. "His first tragedy was Eurydice, acted at Drury-Lane, in 1731; of which I know not the reception nor the merit, but have heard it mentioned as a mean performance. He was not then too high to accept a a Prologue and Epilogue from Aaron Hill, neither of which can be much commended. "Having cleared his tongue from his native pronunciation fo as to be no longer diftinguished as a Scot, he feemed inclined to difencumber himself from all adherences of his original, and took upon him to change his mame from Scotch Malloch to English Mallet, without any imaginable reafon of preference which the eye or ear can difcover. What other proofs he gave of difrefpect to his native country I know not; but it was remarked of him, that he was the only Scot whom Scotchmen did not commend. "About this time Pope, whom he vifited familiarly, published his Effay on Man, but concealed the author; and when Mallet entered one day, Pope afked him flightly what there was new. Mallet told hin, that the newest piece was fomething called an Effay on Man, which he had infpected idly; and feeing the utter inability of the author, who had neither kill in writing, nor knowledge of his fubject, had toffed it away. Pope, to punish his felfconceit, told him the fecret. "A new edition of the works of Bacon being prepared (1740) for the prefs, Mallet was employed to prefix a Life, which he has written with elegance, perhaps with fome affectation; but with fo much more knowledge of history than of science, that when he afterwards undertook the Life of Marlborough, Warburton remarked, that he might perhaps forget that Marlborough was a general, as he had forgotten that Bacon was a philofopher. "When the prince of Wales was driven from the palace, and, fetting himself at the head of the opposition, kept a feparate court, he endeavoured to increafe his popularity by the patronage of literature, and made Mallet his under-fecretary, with a falary of two hundred pounds a year: Thomfon likewife had a penfion; and they were affociated in the compofition of the Mafque of Alfred, which in its original ftate was played at Cliefden, in 1740: it was afterwards almost wholly changed by Mallet, and brought upon the stage at DruryLane in 1751, but with no great fuccess. "Maller, "Mallet, in a familiar converfation with Garrick, difcourfing of the diligence which he was then exerting upon the Life of Marlborough, let him know that in the feries of great men, quickly to be exhibited, he fhould find a nich for the hero of the theatre. Garrick profeffed to wonder by what artifice he could be introduced; but Mallet let him know, that, by a dexterous anticipation, he fhould fix him in a confpicuous place. "Mr. Mallet," fays Garrick, in his gratitude of exultation, "have you left off to write for the ftage?" Mallet then confeffed that he had a drama in his hands. Garrick promifed to act it; and Alfred was produced. "The long retardation of the Life of the Duke of Marlborough fhews, with frong conviction, how little confidence can be placed in pothumous renown. When he died, it was foon determined that his story fhould be delivered to pofterity; and the papers fuppofed to contain the neceflary information were delivered to the lord Molefworth, who had been his favourite in Flanders. When Molefworth died, the fame papers were tranfferred with the fame defign to Sir Richard Steele, who in fome of his exigencies put them in pawn. They then remained with the old duchefs, who in her will affigned the talk to Glover and Mallet, with a reward of a thousand pounds, and a prohibition to infert any veries. Glover rejected, I fuppofe, with difdain the legacy, and devolved the whole work upon Mallet; who had from the late duke of Marlborough a penfion to promote his industry, and who talked of the difcoveries which he made but left not, when he died, any hiftorical labours behind him. : "While he was in the prince's fervice he published Mustapha, with a Prologue by Thomfon, not mean, but far inferior to that which he had received from Mallet for Agamemnon. The Epilogue, faid to be written by a friend, was compofed in hafte by Mallet, in the place of one promifed, which was never given. This tragedy was dedicated to the prince his mafter. It was acted at Drury-Lane, in 1739, and was well received, but was never revived. "In 1740, he produced, as has been already mentioned, the Mafque of Alfred, in conjunction with Thomfon. "For fome time afterwards he lay at reft. After a long interval, his next work was Amyntor and Theodora (1747), a long ftory in blank verfe; in which it cannot be denied that there is copioufnefs and elegance of language, vigour of fentiment, and imagery well adapted to take poffeffion of the fancy. But it is blank verfe. The firft fale was not great, and it is now loft in forgetfulness. "Mallet, by addrefs or accident, perhaps by his independence on the prince, found his way to Bolingbroke; a man whofe pride and petulance made his kindnefs difficult to gain, or keep, and whom Mallet was content to court by an act, which, I hope, was unwillingly performed. When it was found that Pope had clandeftinely printed an unauthorifed number of the pamphlet called the Patriot King,' Bolingbroke, in a fit of useless fury, refolved to blast his memory, and employed Mallet (1747) as the executioner of his vengeance. Mallet had not virtue, or had not spirit to refufe the office; and was reward ed, ed, not long after, with the legacy of lord Bolingbroke's works. "Many of the political pieces had been written during the oppofition to Walpole, and given to Franklin, as he fuppofed, in perpetuity. Thefe, among the reft, were claimed by the will. The question was referred to arbitrators; but when they decided against Mallet, he refufed to yield to the award; and by the help of Millar the bookfeller published all that he could find, but with fuccefs very much be. low his expectation. "In 1753, his mafque of Britannia' was acted at Drury Lane, and his tragedy of Elvira' in 1763; in which year he was appointed keeper of the book of Entries for fhips in the port of London. In the beginning of the laft war, when the nation was exafperated by ill fuccefs, he was employed to turn the public vengeance upon Byng, and wrote a letter of accufation under the character of a Plain Man.' The paper was with great industry circulated and difperfed; and he for his feafonable intervention had a confiderable penfion bestowed upon him, which he retained to his death. "Towards the end of his life he went with his wife to France; but after a while, finding his health declining, he returned alone to England, and died in April 1765. "He was twice married, and by his firft wife had feveral children. One daughter, who married an Italian of rank named Cilefia, wrote a tragedy called Almida,' which was acted at Drury-Lane. His fecond wife was the daughter of a nobleman's fteward, who had a confiderable fortune, which she took care to retain in her own hands. "His ftature was diminutive, but he was regularly formed; his appearance, till he grew corpulent, was agreeable, and he fuffered it to want no recommendation that dress could give it. His converfation was elegant and eafy. The reft of his character may, without injury to his memory, fink into filence. "As a writer, he cannot be placed in any high clafs. There 19 no fpecies of compofition in which he was eminent. His dramas had their day, a fhort day, and are forgotten; his blank verfe feems to my ear the echo of Thomfon. His life of Bacon is known as it is appended to Bacon's volumes, but is no longer mentioned. His works are fuch as a writer, bustling in the world, fhewing himself in public, and emerging occafionally from time to time into notice, might keep alive by his perfonal influence; but which, conveying little information, and giving no great pleafure, muft foon give way, as the fucceffion of things produces new topics of converfation, and other modes of amufement." SINGULAR CHARACTER of an Inhabitant of GLENORCHAY [From a Letter in the GLENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE for October, 1781.] "I parifh, be thought fingular and uncommon. I can affure you that there is not a stroke in the picture embellished beyond the truth, nor a fingle [62] Singular Character of an INHABITANT of GLENORCHAY. fingle trait given but what is really in the original. I have feen him occafionally two or three times, never indeed in the church but once, and that at the interment of his mother. "His name his Angus Roy Fletcher; he lives in the highest farm of Glenorchay, and has done fo all his life-time. He has always made his livelihood moftly by fifh ing and hunting. The dog is his fole, though faithful attendant; the gun and the dirk are his conftant companions. He fometimes indeed exchanges the gun for the fishing fpear, but was never obferved without the one or the other. At a diftance from focial life, he has his refidence in the wildest and most remote parts of the lofty mountains which feparate the country of Glenorchay from that of Rannoch. In the midst of thefe wilds he builds his hut, and there he spends the most part of fpring, fummer, and autumn, and even part of winter. He has a few goats, which he tends at times on thefe lofty cliffs. Thefe, with the dog, the gun, the fpear, and the dirk, belted plaid hofe, and brogs, conftitute the whole property of this favage. They are all he feems to defire. While his goats feed amonog the rocks and wide extended heaths, he ranges the hill and the foreft in purfuit of the game. He returns to his little flock in the evening. He leads them to his folitary hut. He milks them with his own hands; and after making a comfortable meal of what game he may have caught for the day, and of the milk of his goats, he lays himself down to rest in the midst of them. By day they are his chief care, by night his only companions, the dog excepted. He defires not to affociate with any of his own fpecies, either man or woman; and yet if the step of the wandering tranger happens to approach his little hut, Angus Roy is humane and hofpitable to a high degree. Whatever he is pofleted of, even to the laft morfel, he chearfully beftows on his gueft; at a time too when he knows not where to purchafe the next meal for himself. Strange, that a man who apparently has no affection for fociety, thould be fo much difpofed to exercife one of its nobleft virtues! His contempt for fociety, however, is inconteit able, for if he happens at any time to build his hut near the fhealing of a farm, he abandons the hut. The moment the people come to the fhealing he removes to a greater diftance, and builds another habitation for himself. He feems to have in folitude a certain enjoyment, of which no other highlandman has any conception or feeling. Such is the manner in which this extraordinary man spends the spring, the fummer, and the autumn, and even part of winter. But when the chill blaft of December returns; when the exceffive coldness of the climate forces him to depart from the mountain, to quit the folitary cell, he condefcends to hold fome intercourfe with mankind. He defcends to the village, but he enters with reluctance into a fociety where no man thinks as he does himself; where no man lives or acts after his manner. In this fituation, and in fuch fociety, he difcovers evident fymptoms of uneafinefs and difguft. To alleviate the pain as much as poffible, to remove the languor of an intercourfe in which he finds no enjoyment, he has devised the most proper expedient, he goes forth every morning, before the dawn, to the hill and the wood, in fearch of game. He returns not till late at Singular Character of an INHABITANT of GLENORCHAY. night, and then goes to his reft, generally without feeing any body. "If ever he felt the paffion for fex, it must have been in a degree extremely low, for he hadly ever difcovered the fymptom of fuch a paffion; and yet he dreffes after the manner of the most finished coxcomb. "The belted plaid and the dirk are fitted on him with a wild and affected elegance; his bonet, which is very small, after the fame manner. His hair, which is naturally curled and very thick, is always tied with a filken or variegated cord at the root, and being loofe towards the crop, it curls, and forms a great bunch, in fize and figure refembling a large bunch of heath. This he esteems as one of his brightest ornaments. His look is lofty; his gait is ftately and flow. Who can conceive that this coxcomb is his own butcher, baker, and cook? and when he kills a bird, a hare, or a deer, he prepares it himself for eating; makes his bed, washes his shirt, milks his goats. "Under all thefe circumstances, fo feemingly depreffing, he is haughty and high-minded in the extreme. [63] Were he ftarving for want, there is would ask a mouthful of meat. In not a perfon living from whom he conformity to the custom of men, he takes off his bonnet to what is with reluctance, and in a manner called a gentleman, but he does it which indicates contempt rather than refpect for the perfon whom he addreffes. appellation of a moft fingular cha would make a diftinguished figure, MANNERS |