This is the first major study of Mallet's life, works, career, and the ways in which he fashioned a persona for himself at a time when the Act of Union inspired young and aspiring Scotsmen such as James Thomson to leave their homeland and settle in London to make a living by the pen. It not only supersedes Frederick Dinsdale's "Memoir" (1855) of Mallet, but offers instead a comprehensive consideration of Mallet's importance within the "new" trends in literature, his changing political allegiances, and the never-ending search for patronage as well as his response to the Opposition claim that only a "Patriot King" could restore Britain to her ancient strength and glory.