MALLET, or Malloch, David, a poet and miscellaneous writer, was born at Crieff, in Scotland, about 1700. By the penury of his parents, he was compelled to act as janitor of the High School at Edinburgh; but he surmounted the disadvantages of his birth and fortune; and when the Duke of Montrose applied to the College of Edinburgh for a tutor to educate his sons, Malloch was recommended. When his pupils went abroad, they were intrusted to his care; and having conducted them through their travels, he returned with them to London. Here he resided in their family, and thus gained access to persons of high rank and character. His first production was the popular and pathetic ballad of William and Margaret, which was printed in the Plain Dealer (No. 36, 1724); but in the last edition of his works it appears considerably altered. In 1733, he published a poem on Verbal Criticism, in order to make his court to Pope. In 1740, he wrote a Life of Lord Bacon, which was then prefixed to an edition of that great man’s works; but when he afterwards undertook the Life of Marlborough, some were apprehensive he would forget that Malborough was a general, as he had forgotten that Bacon was a philosopher. The old Duchess of Marlborough, in her will, assigned this task to Glover and Mallet, with a reward of L.1000, and a prohibition to insert any verses. Glover is supposed to have rejected the legacy with disdain, so that the work devolved upon Mallet, who bad also a pension from the Duke of Marlborough to promote his industry; and he was continually talking of the discoveries he made, but when he died he left no trace of his historical labours behind him. When the Prince of Wales was driven from the palace, and kept a separate court by way of opposition, his royal highness, in order to increase his popularity by patronizing literature, made Mallet his under secretary, with a salary of L.200 a year. Thomson likewise had a pension; and they were associated in the composition of the masque of Alfred, which, in its original state, was played at Clifden, in the year 1740. It was afterwards almost wholly changed by Mallet, and brought upon the stage of Drury Lane in 1751, but with no great success. He had before published two tragedies; Eurydice, acted at Drury Lane in 1731, and Mustapha, acted at the same theatre in 1739. The latter was dedicated to the prince his master, and was well received, but never revived. His next work was Amyntor and Theodora, 1747, a long story in blank verse. In 1753, his masque 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 ships in the port of London. In the beginning of the war, which ended in 1763, when the nation was exasperated by ill success, he was employed to turn the public vengeance upon Byng, and wrote a letter of accusation against that officer, under the character of a Plain Man. The paper was circulated with great industry; and for this seasonable intervention he had a considerable pension bestowed upon him, which he retained till his death. His connection with Bolingbroke is well known, and almost equally disgraceful to the characters of both. Towards the close of his life, he went with his wife to France; but finding his health declining, he returned alone to England, where he died in April 1765. He was twice married, and by his first wife had several children. His stature was diminutive, but he was regularly formed; his appearance, till he grew corpulent, was agreeable, and he suffered it to want no recommendation that dress could bestow upon it.

Mallet, a large kind of hammer made of wood, and much used by artificers who work with a chisel, as sculptors, masons, and stone-cutters, whose mallet is ordinarily round; and by carpenters, joiners, and others, who use it square. There are several sorts of mallets used for different purposes on ship-board.