David Mallet

David Mallet studied at the parish school at Crieff, worked as a tutor at Edinburgh University (1721-23), and studied at St. Mary Hall Oxford (B.A. 1724, M.A. 1734). After accompanying the sons of the duke of Montrose on their tour of Europe he made his residence in London, where he published poems and plays and Anglicized his name (perhaps in response to John Dennis, who had dubbed him "Moloch"). Pope introduced him to Bolingbroke, who found him a position as undersecretary to the prince of Wales (1742). In later life Mallet worked as a political pen for hire, accepting a legacy of £1000 from Sarah Churchill for a life of the Duke of Marlborough which he never wrote.

TEXT RECORDS:

1720A Pastoral, inscrib'd to Mr. M[itche]l.
1728The Excursion. A Poem.
1743 ca.A Fragment.
1743Prologue to the Siege of Damascus. Spoken by Lord Sandwich.

PUBLICATIONS:

William and Margaret: an old ballad. 1723.
A poem in imitation of Donaides. 1725.
The excursion: a poem in two books. 1728.
Eurydice: a tragedy. 1731.
Of verbal criticism: an epistle to Mr. Pope, occasioned by Theobald's Shakespear and Bentley's Milton. 1733.
Verses presented to the Prince of Orange on his visiting Oxford [with Walter Harte]. 1734.
Mustapha: a tragedy. 1739.
Alfred: a masque [with James Thomson]. 1740.
The life of Francis Bacon. 1740.
Poems on several occasions. 1743.
Works. 1743.
Amyntor and Theodora, or the hermit: a poem in three cantos. 1747.
A congratulatory letter to Selim on the three letters to the Whigs. 1748.
Bolingbroke, Letters on the spirit of patriotism: on the idea of a patriot king [ed. Mallet]. 1749.
Bolingbroke, Works [ed. Mallet]. 5 vols, 1754.
Britannia: a masque. 1755.
Observations on the twelfth article of war. 1757.
Works. 3 vols, 1759.
Edwin and Emma. 1760.
Verses on the death of Lady Anson. 1760.
Poems on several occasions. 1762.
Elvira: a tragedy. 1763.
Ballads and songs, ed. Frederick T. Dinsdale. 1857.

PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:

Scottish
Presbyterian

Crieff School
Edinburgh University
St. Mary Hall Oxford
Bachelor of Arts
Master of Arts

secretary
tutor
poet
dramatist
historian

Dr. John Armstrong
Viscount Bolingbroke
Earl of Bute
Lord Chesterfield
William Collins
John Dennis
Prince Frederick
Edward Gibbon
Rev. Walter Harte
Aaron Hill
David Hume
George Lyttelton
Joseph Mitchell
Alexander Pope
Allan Ramsay
Tobias Smollett
James Thomson
Benjamin Victor
Edward Young

REFERENCE:

DNB; NCBEL.

David Erskine Baker, Companion to the Play-House (1764); obituary in Gentleman's Magazine 35 (April 1765) 199; Thomas Percy, in Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765); Pearch, Supplement to Dodsley's Collection (1768-83); Bell's Poets of Great Britain (1776-82); Samuel Johnson, Life in Works of the English Poets (1779-81); Thomas Davies, in Life of Garrick (1780); Biographia Dramatica (1782; 1812); Correspondence with John Ker in European Magazine 23-25 (1793-94); Robert Anderson, British Poets (1795); "Birthplace of Mallet" Gentleman's Magazine 67 (January 1797) 8; Alexander Campbell, Introduction to the History of Poetry in Scotland (1798); Robert Southey, Specimens of Later English Poets (1807); Samuel Jackson Pratt, Cabinet of Poetry (1808); Alexander Chalmers, English Poets (1810); Alexander Chalmers, General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17); John Nichols, Literary Anecdotes (1812-15); Thomas Campbell, Specimens of the British Poets (1819); Joseph Spence, Anecdotes (1820); Joseph Robertson, Lives of Scottish Poets (1821-22) 3:1:46-62; "Memoirs of David Mallet" The Minerva [New York] 2 (10 January 1824) 316-17; William Hazlitt, Select British Poets (1824); Robert Watt, Bibliotheca Britannica (1824); Robert Chambers, revised Thomson, Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen (1832-35; 1870); The Georgian Era: Memoirs of the most Eminent Persons (1832-34); Robert Chambers, Cyclopaedia of English Literature (1844); Peter Cunningham, "James Thomson and David Mallet" Philobiblion Society Miscellanies 4 (1857-58); Frederick Dinsdale, memoir in Ballads and Songs of David Mallet (1857); Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1858-71; 1882); William Anderson, Scottish Nation (1859-63); Andrew R. Bonar, Poets and Poetry of Scotland (1864); James Grant Wilson, Poetry of Scotland (1876); Foster, Alumni Oxon (1887-91); George Eyre-Todd, in Scottish Poetry of the Eighteenth Century (1896); Moulton, Library of Literary Criticism (1901-05); H. W. Starr, "Notes on Mallet" Notes and Queries 22 (November 1941); Dobree, OHEL (1959); A. N. L. Munby, Sale Catalogues of Libraries of Eminent Persons (1971-75); Chadwyck-Healey English Poetry Database (1995).

COMMENTARY RECORDS
for David Mallet:

1.	1733  Alexander Pope to David Mallet, 7 November 1733; Works of Pope, ed. Elwin and Courthope (1871-1889) 10:86.
2.	1734  A. W., "From the Pegasus in Grub-Street" Grub-Street Journal (25 July 1734).
3.	1739  Anonymous, "To Mr. Mallet, occasioned by being at the Representation of Mustapha" Scots Magazine 1 (February 1739) 87.
4.	1739  A—s, "To Mr. Mallet on his Tragedy of Mustapha" Gentleman's Magazine 9 (February 1739) 99.
5.	1740 ca.  Aaron Hill, "To David Mallet, Esq; on a mistaken Supposition that I had forgot him" 1740 ca.; Hill, Works (1753-54) 4:72-73.
6.	1741  Anonymous, "To Mr. Mallet, after reading his Life of my Lord Bacon" London Evening Post (7 March 1741).
7.	1747  William Collins?, in "The Essential Excellencies in Poetry" The Museum: or the Literary and Historical Register 3 (1747) 285-86.
8.	1754  Samuel Johnson, 1754; Boswell, Life of Johnson (1791); ed. G. B. Hill (1891) 1:311-12.
9.	1755 ca.  Sarah Scott, in undated letter, 1755 ca.; Gentleman's Magazine 75 (March 1805) 219.
10.	1756  Joseph Warton, in Essay on the Genius and Writings of Pope (1756; 1782) 1:147.
11.	1762  William Shenstone to Thomas Percy, 16 May 1762; Letters, ed. Williams (1939) 625.
12.	1763  Robert Lloyd, in "A Dialogue between the Author and his Friend" St. James's Magazine 1 (February 1763) 383.
13.	1763  Charles Churchill, in The Prophecy of Famine (1763); Poetical Works of Charles Churchill, ed. William Took (1804) 1:128-30.
14.	1763  Anonymous, in The Triumph of the Beasts, a Satire (1763) 11-12.
15.	1763  Anonymous, "What's in a Name?" St. James's Chronicle (12 February 1763).
16.	1763  Anonymous, "On the Posthumous Works of Lord Bolingbroke, published by David Malloch" St. James's Chronicle (12 February 1763).
17.	1763  Anonymous, "Rare David Mallet!" St. James's Chronicle (19 February 1763).
18.	1764  Andrew Millar to A. Mitchell, 4 May 1764; in Frederick Dinsdale, Ballads and Songs of David Mallet (1857) 49n.
19.	1765  Cuthbert Shaw, in The Race (1765; 1766) 19.
20.	1772  Anonymous, in "Catalogue of the most celebrated Writers" Letters concerning the present State of England (1772) 382.
21.	1780  Thomas Davies, in Life of Garrick (1780) 2:47-48.
22.	1790  Anonymous, "Alexander Pope and David Mallet" European Magazine 17 (March 1790) 175.
23.	1791  Joseph Mawbey, in "Anecdotes of Thomas Cooke" Gentleman's Magazine 61 (Supplement 1791) 1183.
24.	1791  James Robertson, in "Memorandums of Thomson" The Bee 6 (21 December 1791) 284.
25.	1791  Francis Garden, in "On Poetry" Miscellanies in Prose and Verse (1791) 203.
26.	1795  Robert Anderson, in Works of the British Poets (1795) 9:677.
27.	1797  Joseph Warton, Note in Life of Pope; Works of Alexander Pope, ed. Warton (1797) 8:235-36.
28.	1798  Alexander Campbell, in Introduction to the History of Poetry in Scotland (1798) 213-14.
29.	1801  Arthur Murphy, in Life of David Garrick (1801) 246-48.
30.	1803  Joseph Moser, "Mr. Mallet" European Magazine 43 (January 1803) 16.
31.	1803  Anonymous, "Anecdote of Mallet the Poet" Scots Magazine 65 (January 1803) 17.
32.	1804  William Tooke, Note to The Prophecy of Famine; Poetical Works of Charles Churchill (1804) 1:128-29n.
33.	1807  Robert Southey, in Specimens of the Later English Poets (1807) 2:342.
34.	1822  Joseph Robertson, in Lives of the Scottish Poets (1822) 5:62.
35.	1824  William Hazlitt, in Select British Poets (1824); Works, ed. Howe (1932) 9:241.
36.	1825  Allan Cunningham, in Songs of Scotland, Ancient and Modern (1825) 1:193-97.
37.	1826  Richard Ryan, in Poetry and Poets: being a Collection of the choicest Anecdotes relative to the Poets of every Age and Nation (1826) 1:270-72.
38.	1859  William Anderson, in Scottish Nation (1859-63) 7:102.
39.	1860  George Gilfillan, in Specimens with Memoirs of the less-known British Poets (1860) 3:130-32.
40.	1876  James Grant Wilson, in Poetry of Scotland (1876) 1:164.

BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for David Mallet:

1.	1764  David Erskine Baker, in Companion to the Play-House (1764) 2:Sig. X.
2.	1765  Anonymous, Obituary Notice in Gentleman's Magazine 35 (April 1765) 199.
3.	1779  Samuel Johnson, Lives of the English Poets (1779-81); ed. Hill (1905) 3:400-10.
4.	1783  Isaac Reed, in Pearch, Supplement to Dodsley (1783) 1:115-16n.
5.	1808  Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 4:185-86.
6.	1812  Alexander Chalmers, in General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17) 21:192-99.
7.	1819  Thomas Campbell, in Specimens of the British Poets (1819; 1845) 464.
8.	1844  Robert Chambers, in Cyclopaedia of English Literature (1844; 1850) 2:40-41.
9.	1857  Frederick Dinsdale, Memoir in Ballads and Songs of David Mallet (1857) 3-50.
10.	1896  George Eyre-Todd, in Scottish Poetry in the Eighteenth Century (1896) 1:116-17.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(commentary records)

1.	1721  Joseph Mitchell:   David Mallet to John Ker, 3 September 1721; European Magazine 23 (May 1793) 339-40.
2.	1722  Allan Ramsay:   David Mallet to John Ker, 10 September 1722; European Magazine 24 (July 1793) 25.
3.	1727  James Thomson:   David Mallet to John Ker, 31 July 1727; European Magazine 25 (February 1794) 100.
4.	1732  Rev. Richard Bentley:   David Mallet, in Of Verbal Criticism (1732); Moulton, Library of Literary Criticism (1901-05) 3:120.
5.	1733  Thomas Cooke:   David Mallet, in Of Verbal Criticism (1733); Works (1759) 1:28.
6.	1733  Lewis Theobald:   David Mallet, in Of Verbal Criticism (1733); Works (1759) 1:28.
7.	1733  Leonard Welsted:   David Mallet, in Of Verbal Criticism (1733); Works (1759) 1:29.
8.	1744  Alexander Pope:   David Mallet to Lord Orrery, 1 June 1744; ; Works of Pope, ed. Elwin and Courthope (1871-1889) 8:522-23.