Chapter 21

The marsh mallow (Althaea officinalis), theguimauveof the French, belongs to another genus having an involucre of numerous bracts. It is a native of marshy ground near the sea or in the neighbourhood of saline springs. It is an erect perennial herb, with somewhat woody stems, velvety, ovate, acute, unequally serrate leaves, and delicate pink showy flowers blooming from July to September. The flowers are said to yield a good deal of honey to bees. The marsh mallow is remarkable for containing asparagin, C4H8N2O3, H2O, which, if the root be long kept in a damp place, disappears, butyric acid being developed. The root also contains about 25% of starch and the same quantity of mucilage, which differs from that of gum arabic in containing one molecule less of water and in being precipitated by neutral acetate of lead. It is used inpâte de guimauvelozenges.Althaea roseais the hollyhock (q.v.).The mallow of Scripture, Job xxx. 4, has been sometimes identified with Jew’s mallow (Corchorus olitorius), a member of the closely allied order Tiliaceae, but more plausibly (the wordמלוחimplying a saline plant) withAtriplex Halimus, or sea orache. In Syria theHalimuswas still known by the nameMallūhin the time of Ibn Beitar. See Bochart,Hieroz.iii. 16.

The mallow of Scripture, Job xxx. 4, has been sometimes identified with Jew’s mallow (Corchorus olitorius), a member of the closely allied order Tiliaceae, but more plausibly (the wordמלוחimplying a saline plant) withAtriplex Halimus, or sea orache. In Syria theHalimuswas still known by the nameMallūhin the time of Ibn Beitar. See Bochart,Hieroz.iii. 16.

MALMEDY,a town of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine Province, lying in a wild and deep basin, on the Warche, 20 m. S. of Aix-la-Chapelle by rail via Eupen. It contains two Roman Catholic churches, a modern town-hall and a classical school. Its industries include tanning, dyeing and paper-making. Pop. (1900), 4680. Malmedy was famous for its Benedictine abbey, founded about 675, which was united with that of Stablo, the abbot of the joint house being a prince of the empire. In 1802 the lands of the abbey passed to France, and in 1815 they were divided between Prussia and Netherlands.

See Kellen,Malmedy und die preussische Wallonie(Essen, 1897).

MALMESBURY, JAMES HARRIS,1st Earl of(1746-1820), English diplomatist, was born at Salisbury on the 21st of April 1746, being the son of James Harris (q.v.), the author ofHermes. Educated at Winchester, Oxford and Leiden, young Harris became secretary in 1768 to the British embassy at Madrid, and was left aschargé d’affairesat that court on the departure of Sir James Grey until the arrival of George Pitt, afterwards Lord Rivers. This interval gave him his opportunity; he discovered the intention of Spain to attack the Falkland Islands, and was instrumental in thwarting it by putting on a bold countenance. As a reward he was appointed ministerad interimat Madrid, and in January 1772 minister plenipotentiary to the court of Prussia. His success was marked, and in 1777 he was transferred to the court of Russia. At St Petersburg he made his reputation, for he managed to get on with Catherine in spite of her predilections for France, and steered adroitly through the accumulated difficulties of the first Armed Neutrality. He was made a knight of the Bath at the end of 1778, but in 1782 he returned home owing to ill-health, and was appointed by his friend Fox to be minister at the Hague, an appointment confirmed after some delay by Pitt (1784). He did very great service in furthering Pitt’s policy of maintaining England’s influence on the Continent by the arms of her allies, and held the threads of the diplomacy which ended in the king of Prussia’s overthrowing the republican party in Holland, which was inclined to France, and re-establishing the prince of Orange. In recognition of his services he was created Baron Malmesbury of Malmesbury (Sept. 1788), and permitted by the king of Prussia to bear the Prussian eagle on his arms, and by the prince of Orange to use his motto “Je maintiendrai.” He returned to England, and took an anxious interest in politics, which ended in his seceding from the Whig party with the duke of Portland in 1793; and in that year he was sent by Pitt, but in vain, to try to keep Prussia true to the first coalition against France. In 1794 he was sent to Brunswick to solicit the hand of the unfortunate Princess Caroline for the prince of Wales, to marry her as proxy, and conduct her to her husband in England. In 1796 and 1797 he was at Paris and Lille vainly negotiating with the French Directory. After 1797 he became partially deaf, and quitted diplomacy altogether; but for his long and eminent services he was in 1800 created earl of Malmesbury, and Viscount Fitzharris, of Heron Court in the county of Hants. He now became a sort of political Nestor, consulted on foreign policy by successive foreign ministers, trusted by men of the most different ideas in political crises, and above all the confidant, and for a short time after Pitt’s death almost the political director, of Canning. Younger men were also wont to go to him for advice, and Lord Palmerston particularly, who was his ward, was tenderly attached to him, and owed many of his ideas on foreign policy directly to his teaching. His later years were free from politics, and till his death on the 21st of November 1820 he lived very quietly and almost forgotten. As a statesman, Malmesbury had an influence among his contemporaries which is scarcely to be understood from his writings, but which must have owed much to personal charm of manner and persuasiveness of tongue; as a diplomatist, he seems to have deserved his reputation, and shares with Macartney, Auckland and Whitworth the credit of raising diplomacy from a profession in which only great nobles won the prizes to a career opening the path of honour to ability. He was succeeded as 2nd earl by his son James Edward (1778-1841), under-secretary for foreign affairs under Canning; from whom the title passed to James Howard, 3rd earl of Malmesbury (q.v.).

Malmesbury did not publish anything himself, except an account of the Dutch revolution, and an edition of his father’s works, but his importantDiaries(1844) andLetters(1870) were edited by his grandson.

MALMESBURY, JAMES HOWARD HARRIS,3rd Earl of(1807-1889), English statesman, son of the 2nd earl, was born on the 25th of March 1807, and educated at Eton and Oriel College, Oxford. He led a life of travel for several years, making acquaintance with famous people; and in 1841 he had only just been elected to the House of Commons as a Conservative, when his father died and he succeeded to the peerage. His political career, though not one which made any permanent impression on history, attracted a good deal of contemporary attention, partly from his being foreign secretary in 1852 and again in 1858-1859 (he was also lord privy seal in 1866-1868 and in 1874-1876), and partly from his influential position as an active Tory of the old school in the House of Lords at a time when Lord Derby and Mr Disraeli were, in their different ways, moulding the Conservatism of the period. Moreover his long life—he survived till the 17th of May 1889—and the publication of hisMemoirs of an Ex-Ministerin 1884, contributed to the reputation he enjoyed. TheseMemoirs, charmingly written, full of anecdote, and containing much interesting material for the history of the time, remain his chief title to remembrance. Lord Malmesbury also edited his grandfather’sDiaries and Correspondence(1844), and in 1870 publishedThe First Lord Malmesbury and His Friends: Letters from 1745 to 1820. He was succeeded as 4th earl by his nephew, Edward James (1842-1899), whose son, James Edward (b. 1872) became the 5th earl in 1899.

MALMESBURY,a market town and municipal borough in the Chippenham parliamentary division of Wiltshire, England, 94½ m. W. of London by the Great Western railway. Pop. (1901),2854. It lies on a ridge surrounded on all sides except the north-west by the river Avon and a small tributary. The church of St Mary and St Aldhelm, standing high, is a majestic fragment consisting of the greater part of the nave (with aisles) of a Benedictine abbey church. The ruined skeleton of the great tower arches now terminates the building eastward. The nave is transitional Norman, with a Decorated superstructure including the clerestory. The south porch is one of the finest Norman examples extant, both the outer and the inner doorways (especially the first) exhibiting the typical ornament of the period in remarkable exuberance. With the exception of a crypt, the monastic buildings have disappeared. In the market square stands a fine market cross of the 16th century, borne upon an octagonal battlemented basement. Early English fragments of a hospital of St John of Jerusalem appear in the corporation almshouse. Malmesbury has an agricultural trade, with breweries, tanneries and manufactures of silk and pillow lace. It is governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. Area, 178 acres.

Maildulphus, a Scottish or Irish monk, who came into England about 635, built a hermitage near the site of the modern Malmesbury (Maildulphi-urbs,Maldelmesburh,Malmesbiri) and gathered disciples round him, thus forming the nucleus of the later abbey of which Aldhelm his pupil became the first abbot. Æthelstan, who was buried here (though his tomb in the church only dates from the 16th century), rebuilt and endowed the monastery. Round the abbey the town of Malmesbury grew up, and by the time of the Domesday Survey it had become one of the only two Wiltshire boroughs. The first charter, said to be a forgery, purports to have been given by Æthelstan. It granted to the burgesses all privileges and free customs such as they held in the time of Edward the Elder, with many additional exemptions, in return for help rendered against the Danes. The castle built at Malmesbury during the reign of Henry I. gave a further impetus to the growth of the town during the 12th and 13th centuries. It was not incorporated, however, until 1645, when it was made a free borough under the title of “aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Malmesbury, County Wilts.” By this charter it was governed until 1885. The borough returned two members to parliament from 1295 to 1832 when the number was reduced to one. Finally in 1885 its representation was merged in that of the county. A grant of a yearly fair on the 31st of March, the feast of St Aldhelm, was obtained from William II., and another for three days from the 25th of July from John. In 1792 fairs were held on the 28th of March, the 28th of April and the 29th of June, but in 1891 they had ceased entirely. John also granted a weekly market on Thursday. In the 16th and 18th centuries it was held on Saturday, and in 1891 on the third Wednesday in each month. In the middle ages Malmesbury possessed a considerable cloth manufacture, and at the Dissolution the abbey was bought by a rich clothier and fitted with looms for weaving. The trade in wool still flourished in 1751.

SeeVictoria County History: Wiltshire; andRegistrum malmesburiense(1879-1880).

MALMÖ,a seaport of Sweden, chief town of the district (län) of Malmöhus, on a small bay of the Sound, 384 m. S.S.W. of Stockholm by rail. Pop. (1800), 38,054; (1900), 60,857. It is connected with Copenhagen, 17¼ m. W. by N., by steam-ferry, the Sound being kept open in winter by an ice-breaker. It is also the first important station in Sweden on the Berlin-Stockholm route, which crosses the sea between Sassnitz in Rügen and Trelleborg, 20 m. S.E. of Malmö. The town, which stands upon a level plain, formerly had strong fortifications, of which only the citadel (Malmöhus) remains; in it the earl of Bothwell was imprisoned by Frederick II. of Denmark for some time after his departure from Scotland in 1567. The town-hall (1546, largely restored in 1864) contains a handsome chamber, the Knutssal, formerly used by the council of the gild of Canute. The hall fronts the central square (Stortorg) which is planted with trees and contains a colossal statue of Charles X. by Johan Helenus Börjeson (b. 1835) erected in 1896. The most notable church is that of St. Peter (Peterkyrka), dating in part from 1319. Malmö is second to Stockholm as an industrial centre. There are breweries and large works for the manufacture of machinery, among which may be mentioned the Kockum mechanical works, with yards for the construction of vessels of war, and others; of cotton and woollen goods, gloves, chocolate, sweetmeats and tobacco. A large export trade is carried on in butter and other agricultural produce, and matches. Coal is the chief import. The harborage includes an outer harbour of 22 ft. depth, and two inner basins admitting vessels of 21 ft. draught, with dry dock and patent slip. Malmö returns four members to the second chamber of the Riksdag (parliament).

Malmö (Malmhauge, Malmey, Malmöye, Malmoughe), sometimes calledAncona ScanorumorEllenbogen, first appears in history about the middle of the 13th century. During the Hanseatic period it was the most important commercial town on the Sound, but in the 16th and 17th centuries greatly lost ground owing to the decay of its herring fisheries and the rise of its rival, Copenhagen. Its modern prosperity is largely due to the enterprise of Frans Snell, one of its merchants in the second half of the 18th century, who first constructed the harbour.

MALMSEY,a strong sweet wine, originally made at Monemvasia (Gr.Μονεμβασία), Napoli di Malvasia, in the Morea, Greece. The name of the place was corrupted in Med. Lat. intomalmasia, whence the English form of the word. The corruption malvasia gives the O. Fr.malvesie, from which comes the alternative English form “malvoisie.” The wine is now made not only in Greece but also in Spain, Madeira and the Azores.

MALOCELLO, LANCILOTO(“Lanzarote, the ‘Lancelot Maloisiel’ of the French”), leader of the first of modern European oceanic enterprises. This was a Genoese expedition, which about 1270 seems to have sailed into theAtlantic, re-discovered the “Fortunate Islands” or Canaries, and made something of a conquest and settlement in one of the most northerly isles of this archipelago, still known (after the Italian captain) as Lanzarote. According to a Spanish authority of about 1345, the anonymous Franciscan’sConosçimiento de todos los reinos, “Lancarote” was killed by the Canarian natives; but the castle built by him was standing in 1402-1404, when it was utilized for the storage of grain by the French conquerors under Gadifer de la Salle. To Malocello’s enterprise, moreover, it is probable that Petrarch (born 1304) alludes when he tells how, within the memory of his parents, an armed fleet of Genoese penetrated to the “Fortunatae”; this passage some would refer, without sufficient authority, to the expedition of 1291. Malocello’s name and nationality are certainly preserved by those earlyPortolanior scientific charts (such as the “Dulcert” of 1339 and the “Laurentian Portolano” of 1351), in which the African islands appear, for the first time in history, in clear and recognizable form. Thus Dulcert readsInsula de LanzarotusandMarocelus, the Laurentian mapI. de Lanzarote, against Lanzarote Island, which is well depicted on both designs, and marked with the cross of Genoa. TheConosçimiento(as noticed above) explicitly derives the island-name from the Genoese commander who perished here. Malocello’s enterprise not only marks the beginning of the oversea expansion of western Europe in exploration, conquest and colonization (after the age of Scandinavian world-roving had passed); it is also probably not unconnected with the great Genoese venture of 1291 (in search of a waterway to India, which soon follows), with which this attempt at Canarian discovery and dominion has been by some unjustifiably identified.

See theConosçimiento, p. 100, as edited by Marcos Jimenez de la Espada in theBoletin de la sociedad geográfica de Madrid, (February 1877);Le Canarienin P. Margry,Conquête des ... Canaries, p. 177; M. A. P. d’Avezac in vol. vi., part ii., ofL’Univers, pp. 1-41 (Îles africaines de l’océan atlantique); C. R. Beazley,Dawn of Modern Geography, iii. 411-413, 449, 451.

MALOLOS,a town and the capital of the province of Bulacán, island of Luzon, Philippine Islands, on a branch of the PampangaGrande river. Pop. (1903), after the annexation of Barasoain and Santa Isabel, 27,025. There are thirty-eight villages, or barrios, of which eight had, in 1903, 1000 inhabitants or more. The principal language is Tagalog, but Spanish is spoken to some extent. Malolos is served by the Manila & Dagupan railway, and is a trade centre of considerable importance. The cultivation of rice is an important industry. In 1898-99, during the Filipino revolt, Malolos was the seat of the rebel government, but it was captured and reduced to desolation in March 1899. In 1904 a new municipal school building, a municipal market and a provincial building were erected.

MALONE, EDMOND(1741-1812), Irish Shakespearian scholar and editor, was born in Dublin, on the 4th of October 1741, the son of a barrister and a member of the Irish House of Commons. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and was called to the Irish bar in 1767. The death of his father in 1774 assured him a competency, and he went to London, where he frequented literary and artistic circles. He frequently visited Dr Johnson and was of great assistance to Boswell in revising and proofreading hisLife, four of the later editions of which he annotated. He was intimate with Sir Joshua Reynolds, to whom he sat for a portrait now in the National Portrait Gallery. He was one of Reynolds’ executors, and published a posthumous collection of his works (1798) with a memoir. Horace Walpole, Burke, Canning, Lord Charlemont, and, at first, George Steevens, were among Malone’s friends. Encouraged by the two last he devoted himself to the study of Shakespearian chronology, and the results of his “Attempt to ascertain the Order in which the Plays of Shakespeare were written” (1778) are still largely accepted. This was followed in 1780 by two supplementary volumes to Steevens’s version of Dr Johnson’sShakespeare, partly consisting of observations on the history of the Elizabethan stage, and of the text of doubtful plays; and this again, in 1783, by an appendix volume. His refusal to alter some of his notes to Isaac Reed’s edition of 1785, which disagreed with Steevens’s, resulted in a quarrel with the latter. The next seven years were devoted to Malone’s own edition of Shakespeare in eleven volumes, of which his essays on the history of the stage, his biography of Shakespeare, and his attack on the genuineness of the three parts of Henry VI., were especially valuable. His editorial work was lauded by Burke, criticized by Walpole and damned by Joseph Ritson. It certainly showed indefatigable research and proper respect for the text of the earlier editions. Malone published a denial of the claim to antiquity of the Rowley poems (seeChatterton), and in this (1782) as in his branding (1796) of the Ireland MSS. (seeIreland, William Henry) as forgeries, he was among the first to guess and state the truth. His elaborate edition of Dryden’s works (1800), with a memoir, was another monument to his industry, accuracy and scholarly care. In 1801 the university of Dublin made him an LL.D. At the time of his death, on the 25th of April 1812, Malone was at work on a new octavo edition of Shakespeare, and he left his material to James Boswell the younger; the result was the edition of 1821—generally known as the Third Variorum edition—in twenty-one volumes. Lord Sunderlin (1738-1816), his elder brother and executor, presented the larger part of Malone’s splendid collection of books, including dramatic varieties, to the Bodleian Library, which afterwards bought many of his MS. notes and his literary correspondence. The British Museum also owns some of his letters and his annotated copy of Johnson’sDictionary.

A memoir of Malone by James Boswell is included in theProlegomenato the edition of 1821. See also Sir J. Prior’sLife of Edmond Malone(1860).

MALONE,a village and the county-seat of Franklin county, in the township of Malone, in the N.E. part of New York, U.S.A., about 60 m. E.N.E. of Ogdensburg. Pop. (1890), 4986; (1900), 5935 (910 foreign-born); (1905, state census), 6478; (1910), 6467. It is served by the New York Central & Hudson River and the Rutland (N.Y. Central Lines) railways. The village has a Memorial Park, Arsenal Green, on the site of an arsenal and parade-ground sold by the state in 1850, a state armoury, the Northern New York Institute for Deaf Mutes, Franklin Academy, St Joseph’s Ursuline Academy, and a detention-house for Chinamen entering the state from Canada. From Malone tourists visit the Great North Woods, in the Adirondack foothills, about 15 m. distant. Iron ore and Potsdam sandstone are found near Malone. In the surrounding region hops, potatoes, &c., are grown, and there are dairying and livestock interests. The village is a centre for the collection of hides and pelts. It manufactures woollen goods, paper and pulp, &c., and has foundry and machine shops and car repair shops. Malone, being on the line of communication between lakes Champlain and Ontario, was of strategic importance in the war of 1812, and later was twice the rendezvous of Fenians for attacks on Canada. The township of Malone was settled and erected from Chateaugay in 1805. The village was first known as Harison, was named Ezraville, in honour of Ezra L’Hommedieu, in 1808, received its present name in 1812, and was incorporated in 1853.

MALONIC ACID,C3H4O4or CH2(COOH)2, occurs in the form of its calcium salt in the sugar beet. It was first prepared in 1858 by V. Dessaignes, who obtained it by oxidizing malic acid (Ann., 1858, 107, p. 251). It may also be obtained by oxidizing allylene and propylene with cold potassium permanganate solution, by the hydrolysis of barbituric acid (malonyl urea) with alkalis (A. Baeyer,Ann., 1864, 130, p. 143); by the hydrolysis of cyanacetic acid (H. Kolbe,Ann., 1864, 131, p. 349; H. Muller,Ann., 1864, 131, p. 352), and by the action of silver oxide on β-di-chloracrylic ester at 125° C. (O. Wallach,Ann., 1878, 193, P. 25)

CCl2:CH·COOC2H5+ Ag2O + H2O =2AgCl + HOOC·CH2·COOC2H5.

It crystallizes in monoclinic tables, and is readily soluble in water, alcohol and ether. The acid melts at 132° C., and at a higher temperature it rapidly decomposes into acetic acid and carbon dioxide. When heated with bromine and water to 100° C. it forms tribromacetic acid, some bromoform being produced at the same time. Malonic acid, as well as its esters, is characterized by the large number of condensation products it can form. In the presence of a dehydrating agent (such as acetic anhydride), it combines with aldehydes to form compounds of the type R·CH:C(COOH)2, or their decomposition products (formed by loss of CO2) R·CH:CH·COOH.

Many salts of the acid are known and, with the exception of those of the alkali metals, they are difficultly soluble in water. Many esters of malonic acid have been prepared, the most important being thediethyl ester(malonic ester), CH2(COOC2H5)2, which is obtained by dissolving monochloracetic acid in water, neutralizing the solution with potassium carbonate, and then adding potassium cyanide and warming the mixture until the reaction begins. When the reaction has finished, the whole is evaporated and heated to about 130°-140° C. and then allowed to cool. The mass is then covered with two-thirds of its weight of alcohol, and saturated with hydrochloric acid gas. The whole is then poured into ice-cold water, extracted by ether and the ethereal solution distilled (L. Claisen,Ann., 1883, 218, p. 131). It is a colourless liquid boiling at 197°.7-198°.2 C. (W. H. Perkin). It is a most important synthetic reagent; with sodium or sodium ethylate it forms sodio-malonic ester, which reacts readily with alkyl halides, forming alkyl malonic esters, which are again capable of forming sodium derivatives, that by further treatment with alkyl halides yield the di-alkyl malonic esters. These esters are readily hydrolysed and yield the mono- and di-alkyl malonic acids which, on heating, are readily decomposed, with evolution of carbon dioxide and the formation of mono- and di-alkyl acetic acids. The scheme of reactions is shown thus:When sodio-malonic ester is heated to 145° C., it undergoes condensation, with elimination of alcohol and formation of the benzene derivative,phloroglucin tricarboxylic ester. The addition of urea to an alcoholic solution of sodio-malonic ester results in the formation of barbituric acid (A. Michael,Jour. pr. Chem., 1887 [2], 35, p. 456)The half nitrile of malonic acid iscyanacetic acid, CN·CH·2COOH, which, in the form of its ester, may be obtained by the action of a solution of potassium cyanide on monochloracetic acid. The solution obtained is neutralized, concentrated on the water-bath, acidified by sulphuric acid and extracted with ether. It is then converted into the lead salt, which is decomposed by sulphuretted hydrogen and the solution is carefully concentrated (Th. Meves,Ann., 1867, 143, p. 201). It melts at 70° C. and at higher temperatures decomposes, with evolution of carbon dioxide and formation of aceto-nitrile, CH3·CN. The true nitrile of malonic acid ismethylene cyanide, CH2(CN)2, which is obtained by distilling a mixture of cyanacetamide and phosphorus pentoxide. It is a crystalline solid, which melts at 29°-30° C. and boils at 218°-219° C., and is readily soluble in alcohol and ether.

When sodio-malonic ester is heated to 145° C., it undergoes condensation, with elimination of alcohol and formation of the benzene derivative,phloroglucin tricarboxylic ester. The addition of urea to an alcoholic solution of sodio-malonic ester results in the formation of barbituric acid (A. Michael,Jour. pr. Chem., 1887 [2], 35, p. 456)The half nitrile of malonic acid iscyanacetic acid, CN·CH·2COOH, which, in the form of its ester, may be obtained by the action of a solution of potassium cyanide on monochloracetic acid. The solution obtained is neutralized, concentrated on the water-bath, acidified by sulphuric acid and extracted with ether. It is then converted into the lead salt, which is decomposed by sulphuretted hydrogen and the solution is carefully concentrated (Th. Meves,Ann., 1867, 143, p. 201). It melts at 70° C. and at higher temperatures decomposes, with evolution of carbon dioxide and formation of aceto-nitrile, CH3·CN. The true nitrile of malonic acid ismethylene cyanide, CH2(CN)2, which is obtained by distilling a mixture of cyanacetamide and phosphorus pentoxide. It is a crystalline solid, which melts at 29°-30° C. and boils at 218°-219° C., and is readily soluble in alcohol and ether.

MALORY, SIR THOMAS,translator and compiler of the famous English classic, theMorte d’Arthur. Previous to the publication of Professor Kittredge’s monograph,Who was Sir Thomas Malory?the identity of this writer remained an unsolved problem. Mr. Sidney Lee, in theDictionary of National Biography, was compelled to admit that he could find no one of that name fulfilling the necessary conditions. Of direct evidence we have very little; in the concluding passage of the book the author asks the prayers of the reader for “Syr Thomas Maleore knyght,” and states that the book was ended “the ix. yere of the reygne of Kyng Edward the fourth.” Caxton, in his preface, says that he printed the book “after a copye unto me delivered whyche copye Syr Thomas Malorye dyd take oute of certeyn bookes of frensshe and reduced it in to Englysshe”; in his colophon he repeats this statement, adding that he himself is responsible for the division of the work into books and chapters, and that it was printed in 1485. It will be noted that Caxton does not say that he received the book from Malory, only that he had received a copy made by Malory; from this Professor Kittredge draws the conclusion that the compiler was no longer living. The problem then is to find a Thomas Malory who was (a) a knight, (b) alive in the ninth year of King Edward IV. (Mar. 4, 1469-Mar. 3, 1470), and (c) who was no longer living in July (or June) 1485.

All these conditions Professor Kittredge finds fulfilled in the life of Sir Thomas Malory, knight, of Newbold Revell (or Fenny Newbold), M.P. for Warwickshire in 1445. The date of Sir Thomas’s birth is uncertain, but he succeeded his father, Sir John, in 1433 or 1434. Previously to this he had served in France, in the retinue of the earl of Warwick, most probably during the time that that nobleman held the office of captain of Calais. It seems probable that he is also to be identified with a “Thomas Malorie, miles,” who in 1468 was, on account of the part played by him in the Wars of the Roses, excluded with several others from the operation of a pardon issued by Edward IV. As, however, on the death of Sir Thomas on the 14th of March 1470, there was no difficulty as to inheritance, his estates passing to his grandson, he must, if this identification be correct, have come under the general amnesty of 1469. It will be seen, therefore, that so far as it is in our power to state the question this Sir Thomas Malory fulfils all the necessary conditions.

It is interesting to note that the career of the earl of Warwick in France was marked by certain picturesque and chivalric features which might well impress the imagination of a young retainer. John Rous, in hisLife of Richard Earl of Warwick, tells us that at a certain tourney held near Calais at Christmastide, Earl Richard appeared three days running in different armour, overthrowing his adversary on each occasion—an exploit obviously imitated from the chivalric romances of the period.

The work with which Malory’s name is connected is an abridged compilation of the great body of Arthurian romance in its latest form. TheMerlin(Vulgate and Suite),Tristan,Lancelot,QuesteandMort Artusare all represented, the only branch omitted is that dealing with the “early history” of the Grail, theJoseph of ArimatheaandGrand S. Graal. Thanks mainly to the labours of Dr Oskar Sommer, we can now assign the majority of the books to their separate sources, although certain stories, such as the adventures of Sir Gareth under the pseudonym of Beaumains, the handling of Sir Urre of Hungary, and the details of the abduction of Guenevere by Meleagaunt, still remain unidentified. But we do not yet know whether Malory himself was responsible for this selection, or whether he found it ready to hand in a MS., the “Frensshe Booke” to which he often refers. To make such a compilation at first hand, considering the extent of the ground covered, would involve an enormous amount of study and selection, and the access to a very large library—conditions which scarcely seem to fit in with the social position and activities of Sir Thomas. On the other hand it is undeniable that the medieval copyists, at the instance of their patrons, did make compilations from the various romances within their reach, such ase.g.the enormous codex 112 (fonds Franç.) of the Bibliothèque Nationale, which includes large sections of theTristan, theLancelot, and theMerlinSuite. Taking into consideration alike what Malory retains and what he omits, it seems most probable that he was in possession, not of complete copies of the romances, but of one or more volumes of compilations from these sources.

From the point of view of matter it must be admitted that theMorte d’ Arthurdoes not represent the Arthurian cycle at its best, but rather in the period of its decadence; nor does Malory in any way endeavour to overcome the difficulties caused by the juxtaposition of a number of independent (and often contradictory) versions. This is especially noticeable in his treatment of Gawain; in the section derived from theLancelotandMort Artushe is a good and valiant knight, “a ful noble knyghte as ever was borne,” in those derived from theTristanand theQueste, he is treacherous, dissolute, and a murderer of good knights.

The great charm of Malory’s work lies in his style; stately, earnest and dignified, it has lent to the relations between Lancelot and Guenevere a character of truth and vitality in which the French original is wholly lacking. Malory achieved a remarkable feat—he took the Arthurian story in its worst and weakest form and he imparted to it a moral force and elevation which the cycle, even in its earlier and finer stage, had, save in the unique case of Von Eschenbach’sParzival, never possessed. While genuine lovers of the Arthurian cycle must regret that the romances should only be known to the great majority of English readers through the versions of Malory and Tennyson, it is impossible to withhold from theMorte d’ Arthurthe admiration due to an imperishable monument of English language and literature.

SeeWho was Sir Thomas Malory?G. L. Kittredge (Harvard Studies and Notes, vol. v., 1896);Morte d’ Arthur, ed. by Dr Oskar Sommer (an exact reproduction of the original text in 2 vols.)—vol. iii. a study on “The Sources of Malory.” The sections onLancelotandQuesteare unfortunately very inadequate; for these cf.The Legend of Sir Lancelot, Grimm Library, vol. xii.

(J. L. W.)

MALOT, HECTOR HENRI(1830-1907), French novelist and man of letters, the son of a notary, was born at La Bouille (Seine Inférieure) on the 20th of May 1830. He studied law at Rouen and Paris, but literature early absorbed his attention. He collaborated in theBiographie généraleof Didot, became literary critic ofL’Opinion Nationale, and dramatic critic of theLloyd français. He is the author of a long series of popular novels dealing with contemporary life, including: a trilogy of domestic novels entitledVictimes d’amour(1859, 1865, 1866);Un Beau frère(1869);Madame Obernin(1870);Le Docteur Claude(1879);Justice(1889).Les Aventures de Romain Kalbris(1869) andSans famille(1888) are excellent stories for children. A complete edition of Hector Malot’s works appeared in 1894-1897. He died at Vincennes in July 1907.

MALOU, JULES ÉDOUARD XAVIER(1810-1886), Belgian statesman, one of the leaders of the clerical party, was born at Ypres on the 19th of October 1810. He was a civil servant in the department of justice when he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies by his native constituency in 1841, and was for some time governor of the province of Antwerp. He was minister of finance in the coalition ministry of J. B. Nothomb in 1844, and formed with B. T. de Theux a Catholic cabinet in 1846, which was overthrown in the Liberal victory of 1847. Malouthen became a member of the senate, and his party only regained ascendancy in 1870. The extreme clerical ministry of Baron d’Anethan retired in December 1871 after serious rioting in Brussels, and Malou was the real, though not the nominal, head of the more moderate clerical administrations of de Theux and Aspremont-Lynden (1870-1878). He was wise enough to disavow the noisy sympathy of Belgian Ultramontane politicians with the German victims of theKulturkampf, and, retaining in his own hands the portfolio of finance, he subordinated his clerical policy to a useful administration in commercial matters, including a development of the railway system. It was only after the fall of the ministry in 1878 that he adopted a frankly clerical policy, and when he became chief of a new government in June 1884 he proceeded to undo the educational compromise of his predecessors in the Frère-Orban ministry. His legislation in favour of the Catholic schools caused rioting in Brussels, and in October the king demanded the retirement of MM. Jacobs and Woeste, the members of the cabinet against whom popular indignation was chiefly directed. Malou followed them into retirement, and died at Woluwe Saint Lambert, in Brabant, on the 11th of July 1886. He was a financier of great knowledge and experience, and his works (of which a long list is given in Koninck’sBibliographie nationale de Belgique) include three series (1874-1880) of memoirs on financial questions, edited by him for the Chamber of Deputies, besides pamphlets on railroad proposals, mining and other practical questions. His brother Jean Baptiste Malou (1809-1864) was a well-known divine.

MALOUET, PIERRE VICTOR,,Baron(1740-1814), French publicist and politician, was born at Riom (Puy-de-Dôme) on the 11th of February 1740, the son of a lawyer. He entered the civil service and was employed successively at the French embassy in Lisbon, in the administrative department of the duc de Broglie’s army, as commissary in San Domingo from 1767-1774, and, after his return to France, as commissary-general of the marine. In 1776 he was entrusted to carry out plans of colonization in French Guiana, but was superseded in 1779. On his return to France he was well received at court, and the execution of his plans in Guiana was assured. He became intendant of the port of Toulon, and in 1789 was returned to the states-general, where he soon became well known as a defender of the monarchical principle. He emigrated to England in September, 1792, but shortly afterwards sought in vain permission to return to assist in the defence of Louis XVI. His name was erased from the list of emigrants in 1801 by Napoleon, who restored him to his position in the service and sent him to Antwerp as commissioner-general and maritime prefect to superintend the erection of defence works, and the creation of a fleet. He entered the council of state in 1810, but, having offended the emperor by his plainness of speech, he was disgraced in 1812. At the Restoration, Louis XVIII. made him minister of marine; and he died on the 7th of September 1814.

The most important documents for his domestic and colonial policy are aCollection de ses opinions à l’Assemblée Nationale(3 vols., 1791-1792); andCollection de mémoires et correspondances officielles sur l’administration des colonies et notamment sur la Guiane française et hollandaise(5 vols., 1802).

MALPIGHI, MARCELLO(1628-1694), Italian physiologist, was born at Crevalcuore near Bologna, on the 10th of March 1628. At the age of seventeen he began the study of philosophy; it appears that he was also in the habit of amusing himself with the microscope. In 1649 he started to study medicine; after four years at Bologna he graduated there as doctor. He at once applied to be admitted to lecture in the university, but it was not till after three years (1656) that his request was granted. A few months later he was appointed to the chair of theoretical medicine at Pisa, where he enjoyed the friendship and countenance of G. A. Borelli. At the end of four years he left Pisa, on the ground of ill-health, and returned to Bologna. A call to be professor primarius at Messina (procured for him through Borelli, who had in the meantime become professor there) induced him to leave Bologna in 1662. His engagement at Messina was for a term of four years, at an annual stipend of 1000 scudi. An attempt was made to retain him at Messina beyond that period, but his services were secured for his native university, and he spent the next twenty-five years there. In 1691, being then in his sixty-fourth year, and in failing health, he removed to Rome to become private physician to Pope Innocent XII., and he died there of apoplexy three years later, on the 30th of November 1694. Shortly before his death, he drew up a long account of his academical and scientific labours, correspondence and controversies, and committed it to the charge of the Royal Society of London, a body with which he had been in intimate relations for more than twenty years. The autobiography, along with some other posthumous writings, was published in London in 1696, at the cost of the Society. The personal details left by Malpighi are few and dry. His narrative is mainly occupied with a summary of his scientific contributions and an account of his relations to contemporary anatomists, and is entirely without graces of style or elements of ordinary human interest.

Malpighi was one of the first to apply the microscope to the study of animal and vegetable structure; and his discoveries were so important that he may be considered to be the founder of microscopic anatomy. It was his practice to open animals alive, and some of his most striking discoveries were made in those circumstances. Although Harvey had correctly inferred the existence of the capillary circulation, he had never seen it; it was reserved for Malpighi in 1661 (four years after Harvey’s death) to see for the first time the marvellous spectacle of the blood coursing through a network of small tubes on the surface of the lung and of the distended urinary bladder of the frog. We are enabled to measure the difficulties of microscopic observation at the time by the fact that it took Malpighi four years longer to reach a clear understanding of the corpuscles in the frog’s blood, although they are the parts of the blood by which its movement in the capillaries is made visible. His discovery of the capillary circulation was given to the world in the form of two lettersDe Pulmonibus, addressed to Borelli, published at Bologna in 1661 and reprinted at Leiden and other places in the years following; these letters contained also the first account of the vesicular structure of the human lung, and they made a theory of respiration for the first time possible. The achievement that comes next both in importance and in order of time was a demonstration of the plan of structure of secreting glands; against the current opinion (revived by F. Ruysch forty years later) that the glandular structure was essentially that of a closed vascular coil from which the secretion exuded, he maintained that the secretion was formed in terminal acini standing in open communication with the ducts. The name of Malpighi is still associated with his discovery of the soft or mucous character of the lower stratum of the epidermis, of the vascular coils in the cortex of the kidney, and of the follicular bodies in the spleen. He was the first to attempt the finer anatomy of the brain, and his descriptions of the distribution of grey matter and of the fibre-tracts in the cord, with their extensions to the cerebrum and cerebellum, are distinguished by accuracy; but his microscopic study of the grey matter conducted him to the opinion that it was of glandular structure and that it secreted the “vital spirits.” At an early period he applied himself to vegetable histology as an introduction to the more difficult study of the animal tissues, and he was acquainted with the spiral vessels of plants in 1662. It was not till 1671 that he wrote hisAnatome plantarumand sent it to the Royal Society, who published it in the following year. An English work under a similar title (Anatomy of Vegetables) had been published in London a few months earlier, by Nehemiah Grew; so that Malpighi’s priority as a vegetable histologist is not so incontestable as it is in animal histology. TheAnatome plantarumcontained an appendix,Observations de ovo incubato, which gave an account (with good plates) of the development of the chick (especially of the later stages) in many points more complete than that of Harvey, although the observations were needlessly lessened in value by being joined to the metaphysical notion of “praedelineation” in the undeveloped ovum.He also wroteEpistolae anatomicae Marc. Malpighii et Car. Fracassati(Amsterdam, 1662) (on the tongue, brain, skin, omentum, &c.);De viscerum structura: exercitatio anatomica(London, 1669);De structura glandularum conglobatarum(London, 1689);Opera posthuma, et vita a seipso scripta(London, 1697; another edition, with preface and additions, was published at Amsterdam in 1700.). An edition containing all his works except the last two was published in London in 1687, in 2 vols. folio, with portrait and plates.

He also wroteEpistolae anatomicae Marc. Malpighii et Car. Fracassati(Amsterdam, 1662) (on the tongue, brain, skin, omentum, &c.);De viscerum structura: exercitatio anatomica(London, 1669);De structura glandularum conglobatarum(London, 1689);Opera posthuma, et vita a seipso scripta(London, 1697; another edition, with preface and additions, was published at Amsterdam in 1700.). An edition containing all his works except the last two was published in London in 1687, in 2 vols. folio, with portrait and plates.

MALPLAQUET, a village of France in the department of the Nord, close to the Belgian frontier and about 10 miles S. by E. of Mons, famous as the scene of the battle, September 1709, between the Allies under the duke of Marlborough and PrinceEugène and the French commanded by Marshal Villars, in which the former were victorious. The country to the west and south of Mons is enclosed by a semicircular wall of woods and broken ground, through which there are only two important gaps—that of Jemappes (famous in 1792) to the west, and that of Aulnois, in which stands the village of Malplaquet, to the south. In the latter gap and the woods on either side Villars took up his position facing north-eastwards, on August 29/September 9. The forces in presence, over 90,000 on each side, were exceptionally large, and the French army in particular represented the spirit of its nation to a degree unusual in the armies of that time. Villars was the best general in the service of Louis XIV. and the veteran Marshal Boufflers, though senior to him, had volunteered to serve as his second in command. Marlborough and Eugène lay with their army between Mons and the French camps, which were almost within cannon shot. Marlborough’s own wish was for an immediate battle, but he was opposed by the Dutch deputies at his headquarters, and even by Eugène, so that it was only on August 31/September 11 that the attack actually took place. Villars had made full use of his respite. The French right stood at the fringe of the wood of Lanière, the left was strongly posted in the midst of the wood of Taisnière, and across the two and a half miles of open ground between the woods the position was entrenched with several successive lines of works. The troops were almost equally distributed along the whole line as usual, and the cavalry was massed in rear of the infantry. In the Allied army the mounted troops were also kept back, but for the most part distributed to the various infantry commands.

The intention of Marlborough and Eugène, when on the morning of the battle they examined this formidable position, was to deliver the main attack upon the French left wing, combining the assaults of several columns on its front and flanks. In this quarter the French not only held the interior of the wood but also were thrown forward so as to occupy the edges of its north-eastern salient, and upon the two faces of this salient Count Lottum (1650-1719) with the Prussians, and Count von der Schulenburg (1661-1747) with the Austrian infantry were to deliver a double attack, while farther to the Allied right a column under the English General Withers was detached to make a wide turning movement through the woods. Marlborough took command on the right, Eugène on the left. The centre, which was intended only to observe the enemy until the decision had been forced at the wood of Taisnière, consisted of Lord Orkney’s British corps and the prince of Orange’s Dutch contingent. These extended across the Trouée d’Aulnois as soon as the combined attack of Lottum and Schulenburg opened. The general advance was covered by a heavy cannonade, and the salient of the Taisnière wood was duly attacked on its two faces by the Prussians and Austrians about 9 a.m. They encountered a sterner resistance than in any of the battles and combats of the past seven campaigns, for on this field the defenders were fighting, not as hitherto for the interests of their king, but to defend their country, and the regiments of Picardie and Champagne which held the salient were the oldest and most famous of the French line. Lottum attacked the works on the eastern edge, again and again without success, until three British battalions had to be sent to reinforce him, and Marlborough placed himself with a corps of cavalry in close support. At last the entrenchments were stormed. Schulenburg, with the Austrians, had by this time fought his way through the woods and undergrowth, and the united force pressed back the French farther and farther into the wood. Still, so stubborn was the defence and so dense the wood that the impetus of the assault died away and the troops on both sides broke up into small disconnected bodies, fighting too fiercely to be amenable to superior control.

But the French were not reinforced from their right wing as Villars expected. The prince of Orange, far from merely observing the hostile right as he had been ordered to do, committed his corps, very early in the battle, to a serious assault upon it, which Boufflers repulsed with enormous loss. The Dutch infantry never recovered from its casualties on this day, and the memory of Malplaquet was strong even at Fontenoy nearly forty years afterwards. Some Hanoverian troops which took part in this futile attack suffered equally heavily. The only advantage to the Allies—an advantage which, as it happened, counted for much—was that Boufflers did not dare to send reinforcements to the hard-pressed left wing. Thanks to this the Austrians and Prussians, with the English detached to their aid, made steady progress in the wood of Taisnière. Villars launched the “Irish brigade” to check the advance of the Allies, and this famous corps charged into the forest. Villars, Eugène and Marlborough personally led their troops in the encounter which followed. Eugène was wounded, but refused to quit the field. Villars was more seriously hurt, and after trying in vain to direct the fighting from a chair was carried insensible from the field. At this crisis General Withers, who commanded the force that had been ordered to turn the French extreme left, and had fought his way through the forest, appeared on the scene. The British 18th regiment (Royal Irish), encountering the FrenchRoyal Irlandais, put it to the rout, and Villars’s counterstroke was at an end. The French maintained themselves on this side only by the aid of troops drawn from the centre and right, and this gave the Allied centre the opportunity which the prince of Orange had so rashly anticipated. The great attack over the open was carried out, in spite of the previous repulse, with the greatest determination. Preceded by forty guns, the corps of the prince of Orange and Lord Orkney swiftly carried the first line of works. The Allied cavalry then pushed out to the front, and horse, foot and artillery were combined in the last advance. Boufflers’s cavalry masses, coming into play for the first time, fought hard, and the struggle fluctuated with the arrival of successive reserves on either side, but in the end, shortly before 3 p.m., Boufflers (who had been in command since Villars’s fall) decided to retreat. The Allies had no troops left intact for the pursuit, and those engaged had expended their last efforts. Moreover Boufflers, experienced soldier as he was, drew off his men before they had lost their order and discipline.

Thus this “very murdering battle” as Marlborough called it—the last and greatest pitched battle of the war—was almost barren of results. The Allies lost not less than twenty thousand men, or nearly a quarter of the whole force, the thirty battalions of the Dutch infantry losing half their numbers. On the French side there were some twelve thousand casualties. If further evidence were necessary to prove that the French fought their hardest, it could be found in the fact that whereas in almost every other battle, from 1660 to 1792, there were deserters and prisoners by the thousand, at Malplaquet only 500 of the French fell into the hands of the victors unwounded.

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