When an editor selects a favourite ballad for notes and illustrations,
he may be supposed, naturally, to have a sort of respect, not to say
veneration, for its author. Such is the case with the recent editor of
_Edwin and Emma_ (Dr. Dinsdale), when, in his brief biography of David
Mallet, he glosses over the vices of this man's character in the
quietest and most inoffensive manner possible. If he was a "heartless
villain" I do not see that we ought to screen him; and I think those who
may choose to look into his doings will find him full as "black" as he
is painted.
Southey, in his _Specimens of the Later English Poets_, vol. ii. p.
342., does not mince the matter. His words are these:--
"A man of more talents than honesty, who was always ready to
perform any dirty work for interest; to blast the character either
of the dead or the living, and to destroy life as well as
reputation. Mallet was 'first assassin' in the tragedy of Admiral
Byng's murder."
In a copy of Gascoigne's _Works_, sold in Heber's sale, was the
following MS. note by George Steevens:--
"This volume was bought for 1_l._ 13_s._ at Mr. Mallet's _alias_
Malloch's, sale, March 14, 1776. He was the only Scotchman who
died in my memory unlamented by an individual of his own nation."
David Malloch, or Mallet, is said to have been born about the year 1700,
at Crieff, in Perthshire, at which place his father was an innkeeper. A
search has been made in the parochial registers of Crieff, from 1692 to
1730, but his baptism is not registered.
The names of various children of Charles and Donald Malloch's in the
neighbourhood of Crieff occur, including a David, in 1712. This
obviously was not the poet; but it appears that his father "James
Malloch, and Beatrix Clark his wife," were brought before the Kirk
Session of Crieff in October and November, 1704, for profanation of the
Lord's day, "by some strangers drinking and fighting in their house on
the Sabbath immediately following Michaelmas." On the 12th of November,
"they being both rebuked for giving entertainment to such folks on the
sabbath-day, and promising never to do the like, were dismissed."
Some of Mallet's letters are printed in the _Edinburgh Magazine_, a
literary miscellany, for 1793. They contain a number of curious literary
notices, including some particulars of the writer's life not generally
known.
Much interesting matter concerning the literary career and character of
David Mallet may also be found in the recent _Life of David Hume_ by
John Hill Burton, Esq., Advocate.