MACKINTOSH, SIR JAMES (1765-1832).—­Philosopher and historian, was b. at Aldowrie, Inverness-shire, s. of an officer in the army and landowner, ed. at Aberdeen, whence he proceeded to Edinburgh to study medicine, in which he grad. in 1787.  In the following year he went to London, where he wrote for the press and studied law, and in 1791 he pub. Vindiciae Gallicae in answer to Burke’s Reflections on the French Revolution, which was well received by those who, in its earlier stages, sympathised with the Revolution, and procured for him the friendship of Fox, Sheridan, and other Whigs.  Called to the Bar at Lincoln’s Inn in 1795, he delivered before that society in 1799 a brilliant course of lectures on The Law of Nature and Nations, which greatly increased his reputation.  In 1804 he went out to India as Recorder of Bombay, and two years later was appointed a Judge of the Admiralty Court.  He remained in India until 1811, discharging his official duties with great efficiency.  After his return he entered Parliament in 1813 as member for Nairnshire, and attained a considerable reputation as a forcible and informing speaker on questions of criminal law and general politics.  On the accession of the Whigs in 1830 he was made a member of the Board of Control for India.  He also held from 1818-24 the Professorship of Law and General Politics at Haileybury.  His true vocation, however, was to literature, and it is to be regretted that so much of his time and strength was withdrawn from it, his writings being confined to a Dissertation on the Progress of Ethical Philosophy in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, a sketch of the History of England for Lardner’s Cabinet Cyclopaedia, a Life of Sir Thomas More for the same, a fragment of a projected History of the Revolution of 1688, and some articles in the Edinburgh Review.

MACKLIN, CHARLES (1697?-1797).—­Actor and dramatist, b. in the north of Ireland, was one of the most distinguished actors of his day, shining equally in tragedy and comedy.  Having killed another actor in a quarrel he was tried for murder, but acquitted, and d. a centenarian.  He wrote, among other comedies, Love a la Mode (1759) and The Man of the World (1781), which were the only ones printed.  He was the creator of Sir Pertinax Macsycophant, a famous burlesque character.

M’LENNAN, JOHN FERGUSON (1827-1881).—­Sociologist, b. at Inverness, and ed. at Aberdeen and Camb., was in 1857 called to the Scottish Bar, and was subsequently Parliamentary Draftsman for Scotland.  His main contribution to literature is his original and learned book, Primitive Marriage (1865).  Another work, The Patriarchal Theory, left unfinished, was completed by his brother (1884).  These works and other papers by M. gave a great impulse to the study of the problems with which they deal, and cognate questions.  M. received the degree of LL.D. from Aberdeen in 1874.