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 66 MALLET would pay for it, not sparing even his old f nend Pope, whom after his death, at the instiga- tion of Bolingbroko, he assailed in his preface to that nobleman's " Idea of a Patriot King. Bolingbroke made him his literary executor, and the duchess of Marlborough left by her will the sum of 1,000 to Glover and Mallet jointly, provided they drew up from the family papers a life of the great duke. Glover de- ,1m, ,1, but Mallet accepted, and on pretence of being engaged upon the work received for the rest of his life a pension from the second duke. On his death, however, it was found that he had never written a line of it. A collection of Mal- let's works was published by himself (3 vols., 1750). A new edition of his songs and ballads, by Frederick Dinsdale, appeared in 1857. " MALLET, Paul Henri, a Swiss historian, born in Geneva, Aug. 20, 1730, died there, Feb. 8, 1807. After completing his education he went to Copenhagen, where he was appointed regius professor of belles-lettres in 1752. He em- ployed his leisure in studying the language, history, and archaeology of the ancient Scandi- navians, and wrote his Introduction d Vhistoire de Danemarlc (Copenhagen, 1755-'6). In 1760 Mallet returned to Geneva, and filled the chair of history in the college of that city for four years. The most important of his works, be- sides that above named, are : Histoire de Dane- mark (3 vols. 4to, Copenhagen, 1758-'77); Memoires sur la literature du nord (6 vols. 8vo, Copenhagen, 1769-'60); Histoire des Suisses (4 vols. 8vo, Geneva, 1808) ; and Histoire de la ligue Hanseatique (Geneva, 1805). His Intro- duction d Vhittoire de DanemarTc was trans- lated into English by Bishop Percy, under the title of "Mallet's Northern Antiquities" (2 vols. 8vo, London, 1770 ; new ed., by I. A. Blackwell, 1 vol. 12mo, 1847). MALLOW, a common name for plants of the genus maha (from Gr. /zaAdatretv, to soften, in allusion to their softening and emollient prop- erties). The genus, as at present restricted, includes about 16 species, none of which are indigenous to this country, though several of them are more or less extensively naturalized ; it is the type of the natural order mahacece, which comprises many kindred genera dis- tinguishable mainly in the structural differ- ences of the fruit, but all agreeing in hav- ing their stamens united into a tube by their filaments, and in having one-celled anthers; about 700 species are known, distributed among 69 genera. It is remarkable that none of the order possess any unwholesome qualities, while all abound in mucilage. The wild or high mallow (M. tyhestris) is a handsome biennial, with :IM i-rcct stem and kidney-shaped leaves having five to seven deeply crenate lobes ; the flowers are large, of a purple or a rosy color, the calyx hairy, the carpels wrinkled. It grows on waste places and roadsides in Eu- rope, and is an introduced and naturalized weed in the older portions of this count rv. For fomentations and poultices, its properties MALLOW are not inferior in value to those of tlie marsh mallow (see ALTH^A), and decoctions of its eaves have been used in dysentery and urinary troubles. This is the mauve of the French, who use the dried flowers in preparing a tisane, or diet drink, which is in great repute with them ; "Wild Mallow (Malva sylvestris). the name mauve is also applied to a dye re- sembling the flowers of this plant in tint. ^ By far the most common with us is the familiar weed known as common or dwarf mallow (M. rotundifolia), so abundant by the wayside, m rich shaded dooryards, and cultivated grounds generally. Its stems are prostrate, spreading, and spring from a long, deeply buried root ; its leaves are round-heart-shaped, somewhat lobed and crenate on their edges ; the flowers small, whitish, with purplish veins. The plant is much prized by children, who in play seek its flat and circular mucilaginous fruits under the name of "cheeses." The musk mallow (M. moschata) is a low perennial, sometimes cultivated in gardens, from which it has to some extent escaped, and is occasionally found naturalized along waysides ; it has handsome, deeply cut leaves, diffusing a pleasant, musky fragrance, and large rose-colored or white flowers. The curled mallow (M. crispa) is likewise seen in old gardens, conspicuous for its large, strong, tall stem, and rich, deep green, singularly curled foliage, the beauty of which supplies the defect of its flowers, which are rather inconspicuous. The hollyhock mallow (M. Alcea), a European perennial species about 3 ft. high, with palmately five-cleft leaves and rosy-purple flowers 2 in. across, is cultivated and has become naturalized in some parts of Pennsylvania. The American species formerly placed in malva are mostly now in the genus malvastrum. There are many very showy flowers belonging to the order malvacece, such as those of Lavatera, malope, abutilon, and sida, prized in border and greenhouse cultivation.