MALLET, Paul Henri (1730-1807), born in Geneva in 1730, and educated there, became tutor in the family of the count of Calenberg in Saxony. In 1752 he was appointed professor of belles lettres to the academy at Copenhagen, but as the French language was then little known in Denmark he had but few students. He was naturally attracted to the study of the ancient literature and history of his adopted country, and in 1755 he published the first fruits of his researches, under the title —Introduction à Γhistoire de Danemarck où l'on traite de la religion, des moeurs, des lois, et des usages des anciens Danois. A second part was issued in 1750, more particularly relating to the ancient literature of the country, and bearing the title— Monuments de la mythologie et de la poesie des Celtes, et particulièrement des anciens Scandinaves. In the same year a translation of the work appeared in Danish. This is the work by which the author is best known in Britain. Though intended only as a preliminary dissertation to the formal history of Denmark, by which it was followed, it has all the merits of an independent work, complete in itself, and presenting a general view of the civilization and culture, religion and customs, of the Scandinavian nations. A translation into English, with notes and preface, by Bishop Percy, was issued in 1770 under the title of Northern Antiquities (republished with additions in 1847). It had a wide circulation, and attracted much attention on account of its being the first (though a very defective) translation into French of the Edda. Mallet’s dissertations and notes are vitiated by untenable theories as to the racial affinities of the early inhabitants of Scandinavia; but, judged by the standards of its time, his work was of great merit and ...