Chapter Macdonald to Macklin of M by Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

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 His true vocation, however, was to literature, and it is to be regretted that so much of his time and strength was withdrawn from it, his writings being confined to a Dissertation on the Progress of Ethical Philosophy in the Encyclopædia, Britannica, a sketch of the History of England for Lardner’s Cabinet Cyclopædia, 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, born 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 died a centenarian. He wrote, among other comedies, Love á 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.