Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/359

M A L M A L 337 to consistency as that for the Gesta Regum. The work may be regarded as the main source for our early ecclesiastical history, and constitutes the basis of later productions relating to the same subject at the same period. It is divided into five books, the bishops being grouped under their respective sees, and the chief monasteries under their jurisdiction being also noticed, sometimes at con siderable length. The fifth book is mainly occupied by the life of St Aldhelm, and includes numerous details of interest not given in the earlier life by Faricius. The Gesta Pontificum is likewise brought by further additions down to the year 1140. William s last work was a continuation of the Gesta Rcgum under the title of Historia Novella. It concludes abruptly with the escape of Matilda from Oxford when besieged there by Stephen in 1142, and the manner of its termination suggests that the narrative was broken off by the death of the writer. Like the Gesta Regum, the Historia is dedicated to the duke of Gloucester, whose doings in behalf of his sister Matilda are described in such a way a s to make him in a great measure the central figure of the narrative. Other printed writings of William are an account of the church of Glastonbury (included along with the life of St Aldhelm in Gale s Scriptores XV.}, and a life of St Wulstan, of which a considerable portion is given in the second volume of Wharton s Anglia Sacra. The best text of the Gesta Rcgum and the Historia Novella is that given by Sir T. D. Hardy in the edition published by the English Historical Society in 1840 ; the text in Savile s Scriptores is faulty in the extreme. The Gesta Pontificum was edited for the Eolls Series, in 1870, by Mr N. E. S. A. Hamilton, from a manuscript which he was the first to identify as the autograph of William himself. Extant Works Unprintcd. Among these are Miracles of the Virgin Mary ; Miracles of St Andrew ; Life of St Dunstan ; a com- pend of the commentary on the book of Jeremiah attributed to Faschasius Radbertus ; an abridgment of the treatise by Amalarius on Sacred Offices ; Lives of the English Saints ; and an epitome of the History of Haymo of Fleury, together with other abridgments or transcripts of historical and legal writers, this last being an autograph preserved in the Bodleian, where, or at the British Museum, the other manuscripts are also to be found. Lost Works. Among these are a Life of St Patrick ; a metrical Life of St ^Elfgiva ; the Miracles of St enignus ; and the Little Chronicle, in three books (of which a supposed fragment is preserved at the British Museum, Lansdowne MS. No. 436). The work which we have probably most cause to regret is the Itinerarium Johannis Abbatis, or account of the journey of John, abbot of Malmesbury, to Rome in 1140. This was written by William from the oral account which he received from Peter Baldwin, John s companion. A few extracts are given by Leland in his Collectanea, iii. 272. Malmesbury s merits as an historian are of a very high order. He labours, it is true, under the defect of being but imperfectly acquainted with English institutions, and having but little sympathy with the English race, while he occasionally evinces a Norman contempt for the English language. His habitual carelessness in chronology is also at times extremely perplexing, and his narrative of facts is alloyed with romantic details which serve to excite dis trust with respect to his general credibility. But, notwithstanding these faults, he is entitled to rank as an authority (in relation to the period of which he treats) with Bede and Matthew Paris. He is again the first of our historical writers in whom the critical faculty is to any extent discernible, and the comparisons which he occasionally institutes between two different and discrepant accounts of the same events form a noteworthy feature in his mode of treat ment. The pains and judgment which he employs in the arrange ment of his materials are also often no less conspicuous than his industry in collecting them. MALMO, a seaport town of Sweden, inferior only to Stockholm and Gothenburg in importance, is the capital of the Ian or province of Malmohus, and stands on the eastern shore of the Sound, opposite Copenhagen, from which it is 16 miles distant. The town, which is built on a level plain, formerly had strong fortifications, of which all that now remains is the citadel, where the earl of Bothwell was imprisoned for some time after 1573 ; it is at present used as a house of correction. In the large central square (Stortorg), which is planted with trees, stands the town- hall, a brick and sandstone structure in the Renaissance style ; it contains the handsome Knutssal, or former council chamber of the guild of Canute. The principal ecclesiastical buildings are the church of St Peter (Petrikyrka), begun in 1319, and the German church (Tyskakyrka). The harbour in the north-west has recently been deepened, and admits vessels drawing 18 feet of water; there is daily communication by steamer with Copenhagen, and also at regular intervals with Stockholm, Gothenburg, Liibeck, &c. The trade of the port is con siderable, the exports including timber, iron, tar, oil-cake, and bones, while the imports consist chiefly of wine, salt- fish, salt, and coal. There are a number of manufactures, that of gloves being the specialty. Malmo is connected with Stockholm by rail. Population in 1878, 35,626. Malmo (Malmhauge, Malmey, Malmoye, Malmoughe), sometimes called " Ancoua Scanorum" or "Ellenbogen," first appears in his tory 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 Suell, one of its merchants, who first constructed the harbour, which has more than once been enlarged subsequently. MALORY, Sm THOMAS, the author or compiler of the Morte Darthur, was born most probably about the year 1430. From his own words he is known to have been a knight, and his description of himself as "a servant of Jesu both day and night " has led to the inference that he was also a priest. On the authority of Leland the antiquary he is believed to have been a Welshman. The name appears in a variety of forms, including those of Maillorie and Maleor.e. In the preface to the first edition of the Morte Darthur Caxton speaks of the work as printed by himself " after a copy unto me delivered, which copy Sir Thomas Malorye did take out of certain books of French, and reduced it into English." Malory himself tells us that he finished the book in the ninth year of Edward IV. (c. 1470). For the place of the Morte Darthur in the literary history of the Arthurian legend, see ARTHUR, GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH, GRAIL (HOLY), &c. MALPIGHI, MARCELLO (1628-1694), of Bologna, was one of the first to apply the microscope to the study of animal and vegetable structure; his discoveries are so numerous and important that he may be considered to be the founder of microscopic anatomy. 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. He was born in the country, about 20 miles to the north of Bologna, on the 10th of March 1628. At the age of seventeen he began the study of the Aris totelian philosophy, and continued it for four years ; it appears from another statement that he was in the habit of amusing himself with the microscope during this period. Owing to domestic circumstances, it became necessary for him, in 1649, to choose a profession, and he elected to study medicine ; after four years study 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 theore tical medicine at Pisa, where he enjoyed the friendship and countenance of BorelU. 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 mean time 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

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