MALCOLM, SIR JOHN, Indian soldier and statesman, born in Dumfriesshire; went as cadet to the Madras army in 1785, and for over 30 years was an important figure in Eastern affairs; he was ambassador to Persia 1800, governor of Mysore 1803, again in Persia as plenipotentiary in 1807 and 1810, political agent in the Deccan 1817, and governor of Bombay 1827-30; he distinguished himself also in several wars; wrote “A History of Persia” and other historical works, and returning to England entered Parliament in 1831, opposed to the Reform Bill; two years later he died in London (1769-1833).

MALCOLM CANMORE, son of Duncan, whom Macbeth slew, succeeded his father in 1040 as king of Cumbria and Lothian, and in 1057, on Macbeth’s death, became king of all Scotland; till 1066 his reign was peaceful, but thereafter it was one long conflict with the Normans in England; raids and counter-raids succeeded each other till, in 1091, Malcolm was forced to do homage to William Rufus; next year he lost his possessions S. of the Solway, and in 1093 he was slain in battle at Alnwick; the influence of his second wife, the saintly Margaret, did much to promote the civilisation of Scotland and to bring the Scottish Church into harmony with the rest of Christendom.

MALDIVE ISLANDS (20), a chain of several hundred tiny coral islands in the Indian Ocean stretching 550 m. southward from a point 300 m.  SW. of Cape Comorin, 200 of which are inhabited; Male is the residence of the sultan, who is a tributary of the governor of Ceylon; the natives are akin to the Singhalese, and occupy themselves gathering cowries, cocoa-nuts, and tortoise-shell for exportation.

MALEBOLGE, the name given to the eighth circle in Dante’s “Inferno,” as consisting of “evil pits,” which the name means, 10 in number, for those guilty of frauds:  contains (1) seducers, (2) flatterers, (3) simonists, (4) soothsayers, (5) bribers and receivers of bribes, (6) hypocrites, (7) robbers, (8) evil advisers, (9) slanderers, (10) forgers.

MALEBRANCHE, NICHOLAS, a French metaphysician, born in Paris; determined to embrace a monastic life, entered the congregation of the Oratory at the age of 22, and devoted himself to theological study, till the treatise of Descartes on “Man” falling into his hands, he gave himself up to philosophy; his famous work “De la Recherche de la Verite” was published in 1673, the main object of which was to bridge over the gulf which separates mind from matter by the establishment of the thesis that the mind immediately perceives God, and sees all things in God, who in Himself includes the presumed irreconcilable antithesis (1638-1715).

MALESHERBES, LAMOIGNON DE, French statesman, born in Paris; a good and upright man; was twice over called to be one of Louis XVI.’s advisers, but his advice was not taken and he retired; defended Louis at his trial; pled for him “with eloquent want of eloquence, in broken sentences, in embarrassment and sobs,” and was guillotined for it; he had been censor of the press, and to his liberal-minded censorship the world owes the publication of the “Encyclopedie” (1721-1794).