But ‘Rule Britannia’, which appeared in its first form in the ‘Alfred’ of 1740, although ascribed to Mallet, is probably by Thomson. In the Advertisement to the masque, in the edition of his works published in 1759, Mallet, with studied vagueness and perhaps with some insincerity, says: ‘I was obliged to reject a great deal of what I myself had written in the other: neither could I retain, of my friend’s part, more than three or four single speeches, and a part of one song.’ A collation of the versions, in the light of that statement, may appear to favour Mallet’s claims; but to this, at best an inference, is opposed the fact that the song appeared during his lifetime with Thomson’s name affixed (The Charmer, 2nd edit. Edinb. 1752, p. 130).
Besides the works mentioned above, Mallet published a collection of ‘Poems on Several Occasions’ in 1743, and a second under the same title in 1762, and. at Smollett’s request, he contributed to the ‘Critical Review’ (Dinsdale, p. 46). A collected edition of ‘The Works of D. Mallet, Esq.’ appeared in 3 vols. in 1759. His poems have been reprinted by Johnson (vol. liii.), Bell (vol. lxxiii.), Anderson (vol. ix.), Park (vol. xxix.), and Chalmers (vol. xiv.) An annotated edition of his ‘Ballads and Songs,’ by F. Dinsdale, was published in 1857.
[Letters in European Mag. vols. xxiii. xxiv. xxv., reprinted in Edinburgh Mag. vols. i. and ii.; Works of Aaron Hill, 1753, vols. i. and ii.; Genest’s Account of the Stage, esp. v. 13 sq.; Elwin and Courthope’s Pope, iii. 534 (Warburton’s cancelled page), iv. 448, 450, 452, v. 79, viii. 519-24, ix. 448, 452, 455, 498, x. 32, 72, 79-98; Boswell’s Life of Johnson, ed. by Birkbeck Hill, vols. i-iv, and Johnson’s Lives of the Poets (1791), vol. iv.; Wilkes’s Correspondence, i. 77; Aldine edition of Thomson’s Works, App.; Burton’s Life and Letters of David Hume, vol. ii.; Collection of Letters written by Pope, &c., to A. Hill, Dublin, 1751; Davies’s Memoirs of David Garrick, 1780, vol. ii.; Critical Review; Macaulay’s Essays; Notes and Queries, 7th ser. ii. 132, 411, 490; Preface to Dinsdale’s edition, referred to above, especially for documents relating to Mallet’s early life.]
MALLET, Sir LOUIS (1823–1890), civil servant and economist, was descended from a Huguenot family which left Rouen in 1558 because of religious persecution, and settled in Geneva, where they soon attained a position of importance in the republic. His grandfather was the celebrated publicist, Mallet du Pan, who had settled in Paris as a journalist, but was forced in 1798 to seek a refuge in England from the storms of the French revolution. His correspondence has been lately republished under the auspices of M. Taine. Louis Mallet’s father, John Lewis Mallet, was well known to Pitt, and owing to Pitt’s influence became a clerk in the audit office soon after 1800. Louis’s mother was Frances, daughter of John Merivale of Barton Place, Exeter. Born in London on 14 March 1823, he entered the public service in 1839 as a clerk in the audit office. In 1847 he was transferred to the Board of Trade, where he soon attained the post of private secretary to the president. In this capacity he served Henry Labouchere (afterwards Lord Taunton) [q. v.], 1848–52, and Lord Stanley of Alderley, 1855–7. It was not until 1860 that a chance of distinction offered itself, which his economic studies and financial ability enabled him to turn to account. In that year he was appointed one of the assistant commissioners under Richard Cobden [q. v.] for drawing up the tariff in accordance with the articles of the treaty of commerce with France, which had provided merely that no duty should exceed thirty per cent. ad valorem. The work of the commissioners was therefore very important and laborious; upon its success depended that of the treaty, and Mallet, in the course of his negotiations, soon impressed Cobden with his ‘strong intelligence and efficiency.’ The extension of commercial treaties throughout Europe, the policy of which, though never frankly accepted by the liberal party, Mallet strenuously advocated, gave him incessant employment at the board of trade until April 1865. From that date till September 1867 he was employed in the negotiations connected with the signature of the treaty with Austria. In 1866 he was made a C.B. and in 1868 he was knighted.
The death of Cobden in 1865 left him the principal authority on questions of commercial policy, and the chief official representative of free trade opinion. He had unfortunately little time for extra official work, but he contributed occasionally to the publications of the Cobden Club (see below) and at a later date he assisted Mr. John Morley in preparing the ‘Life of Cobden.’ In 1872 he retired from the board of trade, but was almost immediately nominated (August 1872) by the Duke of Argyll to the council of India in London. Two years later (February 1874) he succeeded his cousin, Herman Merivale [q. v.], as permanent under-secretary for India. In 1875–6 an official visit to India, unfortunately cut short by illness, enabled him to obtain some practical insight into Indian problems. His work at the India office was of great importance and utility. In the controversy which ended in giving to India
