The Nuttall Encyclopaedia
by
Edited by Rev. James Wood
Part 33 out of 53
opposite the mouth of the Main, is an important German fortress and one
of the oldest cities in Germany; it has a magnificent cathedral, restored
in 1878, and is a stronghold of Catholicism; a large transit trade is
done, and the making of furniture, leather goods, and machinery are
important industries; Gutenberg was a native.
MAISTRE, COUNT, JOSEPH DE, a keen and extreme Ultramontanist, born
at Chambery, of a noble French family; accompanied the king of Sardinia
in his retreat while the French occupied Savoy in 1792; was ambassador at
St. Petersburg from 1803 to 1817, when he was recalled to the home
government at Turin; wrote numerous works, the chief "Du Pape" and
"Soirees de St. Petersbourg" (1753-1821).
MAITLAND, WILLIAM, Scottish politician and reformer, the Secretary
Lethington of Queen Mary's reign; played a prominent part in the various
movements of his time, but gained the confidence of no party; he adhered
to the party of Moray as against the extreme measures of Knox, and proved
a highly astute ambassador at the English Court; he connived at Rizzio's
murder, but regained Mary's favour, and when she fled to England he,
though joining with the new government, acted in her interest and formed
a party to restore her to power; he and Kirkcaldy of Grange were forced
to surrender, however, at Edinburgh in 1573, and Maitland afterwards died
in Leith prison (1525-1573).
MAJOLICA, a kind of enamelled pottery imported into Italy from
Majorca, known also as faience from its manufacture at Faenza, and
applied also to vessels made of coloured clay in imitation.
MAJORCA (234), the largest of the Balearic Isles, is 130 m. NE. of
Cape San Antonio, in Spain; mountains in the N. rise to 5000 ft., their
slopes covered with olives, oranges, and vines; the plains are extremely
fertile, and the climate mild and equable; manufactures of cotton, silk,
and shoes are the industries; the capital, PALMA (61), is on the S.
coast, at the head of a large bay of the same name.
MAJUSCULE, a capital letter found in old Latin MSS. in and before
the 6th century.
MAKRIZI, TAKI-ED-DIN AHMED EL-, greatest Arabic historian of Egypt,
born at Cairo; studied philosophy and theology, and in 1385 won the green
turban; occupied several political and ecclesiastical offices; went to
Damascus in 1408, but returning to Cairo devoted himself to history, and
published among other works an important "History of Egypt and Cairo"
(1364-1442).
MALABAR (2,653), a district in the W. of Madras, sloping from the
Ghats down to the Indian Ocean, very rainy, covered with vast forests of
teak; produces rice, coffee, and pepper.
MALACCA is a name given to the whole Malay Peninsula, that
remarkable tongue of land 44 to 210 m. wide, stretching 800 m. SE. from
Burma between the Strait of Malacca and the Gulf of Siam; mountain ranges
7000 ft. high from the backbone; along the coast are deep mangrove
swamps; the plains between yield rice, sugar-cane, cotton, and tobacco;
there are forests of teak, camphor, ebony, and sandal-wood, and the
richest tin mines in the world; the climate is unhealthy; the northern
portion is Siamese, the southern constitutes the British Straits
Settlements, of which one, on the W. coast, is specifically called
MALACCA (92); it exports tin and tapioca; the capital, MALACCA
(20), 120 m. NW. of Singapore, was the scene of Francis Xavier's labours.
MALACHI, a prophetic book of the Old Testament, the author of which
is otherwise unknown, as the name, which means the "Messenger of
Jehovah," occurs nowhere else in the Bible, and it is a question whether
the name is that of a person or a mere appellative; the prophecy it
contains appears to have been uttered 420 B.C., and refers to abuses
which came to a head between the first and second visits of Nehemiah to
Jerusalem; it lacks the old prophetic fire, and gives the impression that
the prophetic office is ended.
MALACHY, ST., archbishop of Armagh in the 12th century; was a friend
of St. Bernard's, who wrote his Life and in whose arms he died at
Clairvaux; was renowned for his sanctity as well as learning; a book of
prophecies ascribed to him bearing on the Roman pontiffs is a forgery.
MALADETTA, MOUNT (i. e. the accursed), the name of the highest
summit of the Pyrenees, 11,168 ft. high, in NE. of Zaragoza.
MALAGA (132), Spanish seaport, 65 m. NE. of Gibraltar, an ancient
Phoenician town, is now an important but declining centre of commerce; it
exports olive-oil, wine, raisins, lead, &c., and manufactures cotton,
linen, machinery, fine-art pottery, &c.; its magnificent climate makes it
an excellent health resort.
MALAGROWTHER, an old courtier in the "Fortunes of Nigel" soured by
misfortune, and who would have every one be as discontented as himself.
MALAISE, an uneasy feeling which often precedes a serious attack of
some disease.
MALAPROP, MRS., a character in Sheridan's "Rivals," noted for her
blunders in the use of fine or learned words, as in the use of "allegory"
for "alligator."
MAeLAR LAKE, large and beautiful Swedish lake, stretching 80 m.
westward from Stockholm; its shores are deeply indented with bays, and
the surrounding hills as well as the thousand islands it contains are
well wooded.
MALAY ARCHIPELAGO or INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO is that group of many
hundred islands stretching from the Malay Peninsula SE. to Australia
between the North Pacific and the Indian Ocean, of which Borneo, Sumatra,
Java, and Celebes are the largest.
MALAYS, a branch of the human family now classed among the Mongols,
and which inhabit the Malay Peninsula, the islands of the Indian
Archipelago, as well as Madagascar, and many of the islands in the
Pacific; they are of a dark-brown or tawny complexion, short of stature,
have flat faces, black coarse hair, and high cheek-bones; there are three
classes of them, distinguished from each other in character and habits of
life; the more civilised of them are Mohammedans.
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).
MALHERBE, FRANCOIS DE, a French lyric poet and miscellaneous writer
of great industry, born at Caen, is, from his correct though affected
style, regarded as one of the reformers of the French language
(1555-1628).
MALIGNANTS, the advisers of Charles I., chief among whom were
Strafford and Laud; were so called by the Parliamentarians, who blamed
them for the evils of the country; the name was afterwards applied to the
whole Royalist party.
MALINES or MECHLIN (52), a Belgian city on the Dyle, 14 m. S.
of Antwerp; has lost its old commercial activity, and is now the quiet
ecclesiastical capital; masterpieces of Van Dyck and Rubens adorn its
churches.
MALINGERING, a name given in the army to the crime of feigning
illness to evade duty or obtain a discharge.
MALLET, DAVID, originally MALLOCH, Scottish litterateur, born
in Crieff; wrote several plays, and is remembered for his ballad entitled
"William and Margaret"; he was a friend of Thomson, and divided with him
the honour of the authorship of "Rule Britannia," the merit of which,
however, is more in the music than in the poetry, about which they
contested (1702-1765).
MALLOCK, WILLIAM HURRELL, author, born in Devonshire, educated at
Oxford; published "The New Republic," 1876, a masterly satire on
prominent contemporaries, which none of his subsequent work has excelled;
_b_. 1849.
MALMAISON, a historical chateau 10 m. W. of Paris; belonged
originally to Richelieu; saw the last days of Josephine, whose favourite
residence it was, and was the scene of the repulse of Ducrot's sortie in
October 1870.
MALMESBURY, WILLIAM OF, an English chronicler of the 12th century;
his chief work "Gesta Regum Anglorum" and "Gesta Pontificum Anglorum,"
followed by his "Historia Novella."
MALMOe (50), important seaport and third town of Sweden, opposite
Copenhagen; ships farm produce, cement, and timber; imports machinery,
textile fabrics, and coffee; has cigar and sugar factories, and some
shipbuilding.
MALONE, EDMUND, a Shakespearian critic and editor, born in Dublin,
was a stickler for literary accuracy and honesty (1741-1812).
MALORY, SIR THOMAS, flourished in the 15th century; was the author
of "Morte d'Arthur," being a translation in prose of a labyrinthine
selection of Arthurian legends, which was finished in the ninth year of
Edward IV., and printed fifteen years after by Caxton "with all care."
MALPIGHI, MARCELLO, Italian anatomist and professor of Medicine;
noted for his discovery of the corpuscles of the kidney and the spleen,
named after him (1628-1694).
MALSTROeM, or MAELSTROeM, a dangerous whirlpool off the coast of
Norway, caused by the rushing of the currents of the ocean in a channel
between two of the Loffoden Islands, and intensified at times by contrary
winds, to the destruction often of particularly small craft caught in the
eddies of it, and sometimes of whales attempting to pass through it.
MALTA (with Gozo) (177), a small British island in the Mediterranean,
80 m. S. of Sicily; is a strongly fortified and a most important naval
station, head-quarters of the British Mediterranean fleet, and
coaling-station for naval and mercantile marine; with a history of great
interest, Malta was annexed to Britain in 1814. The island is treeless,
and with few streams, but fertile, and has many wells. Wheat, potatoes,
and fruit are largely cultivated, and filigree work and cotton
manufactured. The people are industrious and thrifty; population is the
densest in Europe. The Roman Catholic Church is very powerful. There is a
university at Valetta, and since 1887 Malta has been self-governing.
MALTEBRUN, CONRAD, geographer, born in Denmark; studied in
Copenhagen, but banished for his revolutionary sympathies; settled in
Paris; was the author of several geographical works, his "Geographic
Universelle" the chief (1775-1826).
MALTHUS, THOMAS R., an English economist, born near Dorking, in
Surrey; is famous as the author of an "Essay on the Principle of
Population," of which the first edition appeared in 1798, and the final,
greatly enlarged, in 1803; the publication provoked much hostile
criticism, as it propounded a doctrine which was disastrous to the
accepted theory of perfectibility, and which aimed at showing how the
progress of the race was held in check by the limited supply of the means
of subsistence, a doctrine that admittedly anticipated that struggle for
life on a larger scale which the Darwinian hypothesis requires for its
"survival of the fittest" (1766-1834).
MALVERN, GREAT (6), a watering-place in Worcestershire, on the side
of the Malvern Hills, with a clear and bracing air, a plentiful supply of
water, and much frequented by invalids.
MAMBRINO, a Moorish king, celebrated in the romances of chivalry,
who possessed a helmet of pure gold which rendered the wearer of it
invulnerable, the possession of which was the ambition of all the
paladins of Charlemagne, and which was carried off by Rinaldo, who slew
the original owner; Cervantes makes his hero persuade himself that he has
found it in a barber's brass basin.
MAMELUKES, originally slaves from the regions of the Caucasus,
captured in war or bought in the market-place, who became the bodyguard
of the Sultan in Egypt, and by-and-by his master to the extent of ruling
the country and supplying a long line of Sultans of their own election
from themselves, many of them enlightened rulers, governing the country
well, but their supremacy was crushed by the Sultan of Turkey in 1517;
after this, however, they retained much of their power, and they offered
a brilliant resistance to Bonaparte at the battle of the Pyramids in
1798, who defeated them; but recovering their power after his withdrawal
and proving troublesome, they were by two treacherous massacres
annihilated in 1811 by Mehemet Ali, who became Viceroy of Egypt under the
Porte.
MAMMON, the Syrian god of riches, which has given name to the modern
passion for material wealth, specially conceived of as an abnegation of
Christianity, the profession of which is in flat antagonism to it.
MAMMOTH, an extinct species of elephant of enormous size found
fossilised in Northern Europe and Asia in deposits alongside of human
remains, and yielding a supply of fossil ivory.
MAMMOTH CAVE, a cave in Kentucky, U.S., about 10 m., the largest in
the world, and rising at one point to 300 ft. in height, with numerous
side branches leading into grottoes traversed by rivers, which here and
there collect into lakes; name also of another of smaller dimensions in
California.
MAN, ISLE OF (56), a small island in the Irish Sea, 35 m. W. of
Cumberland and about the same distance E. of Co. Down; from its equable
climate and picturesque scenery is a favourite holiday resort; it has
important lead mines at Laxey and Foxdale; fishing and cattle-grazing are
profitable industries; the people are Keltic, with a language and
government of their own; the island is a bishopric, with the title Sodor
and Man.
MAN OF DESTINY, name given to Napoleon Bonaparte as reflecting his
own belief, for he was a fatalist.
MAN OF FEELING, the title of a novel by Henry Mackenzie, frequently
applied to himself as well as his hero.
MAN OF ROSS, John Kyrle, a public-spirited gentleman, immortalised
by Pope from the name of his parish in Hereford. See KYRLE.
MAN OF SIN, name given in 2 Thess. ii. 3 to the incarnation at the
height of its pride of the spirit of Antichrist, synchronous with the day
of its fall.
MANASSEH-BEN-ISRAEL, a Jewish rabbi, born at Lisbon; settled at
Amsterdam; wrote several works in the interest of Judaism (1604-1659).
MANBY, CAPTAIN, a militia officer, born in Norfolk; was inventor of
the apparatus for saving shipwrecked persons, and by means of which he
saved the lives of nearly a thousand persons himself (1765-1854).
MANCHA, LA, an ancient province of Spain, afterwards included in New
Castile, the greater part of which is occupied by Ciudad-Real; it is
memorable as the scene of Don Quixote's adventures.
MANCHE, LA, the French name for the English Channel, so called from
its resemblance to a sleeve, which the word in French means.
MANCHESTER (505), on the Irwell, in the SE. of Lancashire, 30 m. E.
of Liverpool, the centre of the English cotton manufacturing district,
with many other textile and related industries, is an ancient, rich, and
prosperous city; it has many fine buildings, including a Gothic Town Hall
and Assize Court-House by Waterhouse; there is a picture-gallery,
philosophic and other institutions, and technical school; Owens College
is the nucleus of Victoria University; the substitution of steam for hand
power began here about 1750; the industrial struggles in the beginning of
the 19th century were severe, and included the famous "Peterloo
massacre"; the Anti-Corn-Law League originated in Manchester, and
Manchester has given its name to a school of Liberal politicians
identified with the advocacy of peace abroad, free trade, no government
interference with industry, and _laissez-faire_ principles at home; the
Bridgewater Canal 1762, the railway 1830, and the Ship Canal to the mouth
of the Mersey 1894, mark steps in the city's progress; since 1888
Manchester with Salford (198), on the opposite bank of the Irwell, have
formed a county.
MANCHESTER, EDWARD MONTAGU, EARL OF, English statesman and general,
eldest son of the first earl; sided with the Parliament in the Civil War,
and commanded in the army, but was censured by Cromwell for his slackness
at Newbury, which he afterwards resented by opposing the policy of the
Protector; he contributed to the restoration of Charles II., and was in
consequence made Lord Chamberlain (1602-1671).
MANCHURIA (21,000), a Chinese province lying between Mongolia and
Corea, with the Amur River on the N. and the Yellow Sea on the S., is
five times the size of England and Wales; the northern, central, and
eastern parts are mountainous; the Sungari is the largest river; the soil
is fertile, producing large crops of millet, maize, hemp, &c., but the
climate in winter is severe; pine forests abound; the country is rich in
gold, silver, coal, and iron, but they are little wrought; beans, silk,
skins and furs are exported; the imports include textiles, metals, paper,
and opium; the Manchus are the aristocracy of the province; Chinese
settlers are industrious and prosperous; the chief towns are Moukden
(250) in the S., Kirin (75) on the Sungari, and New-Chwang (60) on the
Liao River, a treaty-port since 1858; Russian influence predominates in
the province since 1890.
MANDAEANS, a community found working as skilled artisans in the
Persian province of Khuzistan, and in Basra on the Euphrates; are a
religious sect; called also Sabians, and holding tenets gathered from
Christian, Jewish, and heathen sources, resembling those of the ancient
Gnostics; their priesthood admits women; their chief rite is baptism, and
hence their old name, Christians of St. John the Baptist.
MANDALAY (189), capital of Upper Burma, on the Irawadi, in the
centre of the country, 360 m. N. of Rangoon; was seized by the British in
1885. The Aracan Pagoda, with a brazen image of the Buddha, attracts many
pilgrims, and Buddhist monasteries cluster outside the town. There are
silk-weaving, gold, silver, ivory, and wood work, gong-casting and
sword-making industries. Great fires raged in it in 1886 and 1892.
MANDARIN, the name given by foreigners, derived from the Portuguese,
signifying to "command," to Chinese official functionaries, of which
there are some nine orders, distinguished by the buttons on their caps,
and they are appointed chiefly for their possession of the requisite
qualifications for the office they aspire to.
MANDEVILLE, BERNARD DE, a cynical writer, born at Dordrecht,
Holland; bred to medicine; came to London to practise; wrote in racy
English the "Fable of the Bees," intended to show, as Stopford Brooke
says, how the "vices of society are the foundation of civilisation," or
as Professor Saintsbury says, how "vice makes some bees happy, and virtue
makes them miserable"; the latter calls him "The Diogenes of English
Philosophy"; he affirmed that "private vices are public benefits," and
reduced virtue into a form of selfishness; his satire is directed against
the ethics of SHAFTESBURY (q. v.) (1670-1733).
MANDEVILLE, SIR JOHN, English adventurer, named of St. Albans, who
from his own account travelled over thirty years in the East, and wrote a
narrative of the marvels he experienced in a book of voyages and travels
published in 1356; the authorship of this book has been questioned, but
on this point there is no doubt that, as Professor Saintsbury says, "it
is the first book of belles-lottres in English prose."
MANDINGOES, a negro race in Senegambia, and farther inland around
the Quorra; are numerous and powerful, and arranged in separate
nationalities so to speak.
MANES, the general name given by the Romans to the departed spirits
of good men, who are conceived of as dwelling in the nether world, and as
now and again ascending to the upper.
MANES, MANI, or MANICHAEANS, the founder of the
MANICHAEANS (q. v.), a native of Persia, and who died A.D. 274.
MANETHO, an Egyptian priest and historian, of the 3rd century B.C.;
wrote a history of Egypt in Greek, derived from study of sacred
monumental inscriptions, which is extant only in fragments.
MANFRED, king of the Two Sicilies, son of the Emperor Frederick II.,
who had to struggle for his birthright with three Popes, Innocent IV.,
Alexander IV., and Urban IV., the last of whom having excommunicated him,
as his predecessors had done, and bestowed his dominions on Charles of
Anjou, in conflict with whom at Benevento he fell, and who denied him
Christian burial, though his nobles pled with him to grant it
(1231-1266).
MANFRED, COUNT, hero of a poem of Byron's; sold himself to the
Prince of Darkness; lived in solitude on the Alps, estranged from all
sympathy with others, and was carried off in the end by the master whom
he had served.
MANHATTAN, a long island at the mouth of the Hudson, on which a
great part of New York stands.
MANICHAEISM, the creed which ascribes the created universe to two
antagonistic principles, the one essentially good--God, spirit, light;
the other essentially evil--the devil, matter, darkness; and this name is
applied to every system founded on the like dualism. Mani, the founder of
it, appears to have borrowed his system in great part from Zoroaster.
MANILA (270), capital of the Philippine Islands; at the head of a
great bay on the W. coast of Luzon; is hot, but not unhealthy; suffers
severely from storms and earthquakes, and is largely built of wood. It
has a cathedral, university, and observatory. Its only industry is
cigar-making, but the exports include also manila hemp, sugar, and
coffee. The population, chiefly Tagals, includes 25,000 Chinese, many
Spaniards and Europeans. In the Spanish-American War of 1898 Admiral
Dewey captured the city.
MANIN, DANIEL, an illustrious Italian patriot, born at Venice, of
Jewish birth; bred for the bar, and practised at it; became President of
the Venetian Republic in 1848, and was one of the most distinguished
opponents of the domination of Austria; died at Paris, a teacher of
Italian (1804-1857).
MANITO`BA (193), a partially developed inland province of Canada,
somewhat larger than England and Wales; is square in shape, with the
United States on its S. border, Assiniboia on the W., Saskatchewan and
Keewatin on the N., and Ontario on the E.; a level prairie and arable
country, scantily wooded but well watered, having three large lakes,
Winnipeg, Winnipegosis, and Manitoba, and three large rivers,
Assiniboine, Souris, and Red River. The climate is dry and healthy,
though subject to great extremes of temperature; comparatively little
snow falls; the soil is very fertile; mixed farming, dairy, cattle, and
sheep farming are carried on successfully. Land is cheap, and the
government still makes free grants of 160-acre lots. There is no mineral
wealth; coal is found in the S.; fishing is pursued on the lakes and
rivers. Constituted a province in 1870, Manitoba was the scene of the
Riel rebellion, quelled that same year. The government is vested in a
lieutenant-governor, an executive council, and a single chamber of 40
members. In the Dominion Government the province is represented by four
members of Senate and five members of the Commons. The capital is
Winnipeg (26), the seat of a university and of extensive flour-mills. The
other chief towns are Brandon (4), a market town, and Portage-la-Prairie
(4), with a brewery, flour, and paper mills.
MANITOU, among the North American Indians an animal revealed to the
head of a tribe as the guardian spirit of it, and an object of sacred
regard. See TOTEMISM.
MANLIUS, CAPITOLINUS, a Roman hero who, in 390 B.C., saved Rome
from an attack of the Gauls, and who was afterwards for treason thrown
down the Tarpeian Rock.
MANN, HORACE, American educationist, born in Massachusetts; was
devoted to the cause of education as well as that of anti-slavery
(1790-1859).
MANNA, the food with which the Israelites were miraculously fed in
the wilderness, a term which means "What is this?" being the expression
of surprise of the Israelites on first seeing it.
MANNHEIM (79), on the right bank of the Rhine, 55 m. above Mainz;
the chief commercial centre of Baden; has manufactures of tobacco,
india-rubber, and iron goods, and a growing river trade. An old
historical city, it was formerly capital of the Rhenish Palatinate, and a
resort of Protestant refugees.
MANNING, HENRY EDWARD, cardinal, born in Hertfordshire; Fellow of
Merton, Oxford, and a leader in the Tractarian Movement there; became
rector in Sussex; married, and became Archdeacon of Chichester; his wife
being dead, and dissatisfied with the state of matters in the Church of
England, in 1851 joined the Church of Rome, became Archbishop of
Westminster in 1865, and Cardinal in 1875; took interest in social
matters as well as the Catholic propaganda; a too candid "Life" has been
written of him since his decease, which has created much controversy
(1808-1892).
MANS, LE (53), capital of French department of Sarthe, on the river
Sarthe, 170 m. SW. of Paris; has a magnificent cathedral; is an important
railway centre, and has textile and hosiery factories. It was the scene
of a great French defeat in January 1871.
MANSARD, the name of two French architects, born in
Paris--FRANCOIS, who constructed the Bank of France (1598-1666), and
JULES HARDOUN, his grand-nephew, architect of the dome of the
Invalides and of the palace and chapel of Versailles (1645-1708).
MANSEL, HENRY LONGUEVILLE, dean of St. Paul's, born in
Northamptonshire; wrote admirably on philosophical and religious
subjects, and was a doughty adversary in controversy both with Mill and
Maurice; he was a follower in philosophy of SIR WILLIAM HAMILTON
(q. v.) (1820-1871).
MANSFIELD (16), market-town of Notts, 14 m. N. of Nottingham, in the
centre of a mining district, with iron and lace-thread manufactures.
MANSFIELD, WILLIAM MURRAY, EARL OF, Lord Chief-Justice of England,
born in Perth, called to the bar in 1730; distinguished himself as a
lawyer, entered Parliament in 1743, and became Solicitor-General,
accepted the chief-justiceship in 1756; was impartial as a judge, but
unpopular; raised to the peerage in 1776, and resigned his judgeship in
1789 (1704-1793).
MANSFIELD COLLEGE, Oxford, a theological college established there
for the education of students intended for the Nonconformist ministry,
though open to other classes; the buildings were opened in 1889.
MANSION HOUSE, the official residence of the Lord Mayor of London,
erected in 1739 at a cost of L42,638, with a banqueting-room capable of
accommodating 400 guests.
MANTEGNA, ANDREA, an Italian painter and engraver, born at Padua;
his works were numerous, did atlas pieces and frescoes, his greatest "The
Triumph of Caesar"; he was a man of versatile genius, was sculptor and
poet as well as painter, and his influence on Italian art was great
(1430-1504).
MANTELL, GIDEON, an eminent English geologist and palaeontologist,
born at Lewes, in Sussex; wrote "The Wonders of Geology," "Thoughts on a
Pebble," &c.; he was a voluminous author, and distinguished for his study
of fossils (1790-1852).
MANTEUFFEL, BARON VON, field-marshal of Germany, born in Dresden;
entered the Prussian army in 1827, rose rapidly, and took part in all the
wars from 1866 to 1872, and was appointed viceroy at the close of the
last in Alsace-Lorraine, a rather unhappy appointment, as it proved
(1809-1885).
MANTRA, the name given to hymns from the Veda, the repetition of
which are supposed to have the effect of a charm.
MANTUA (28), the strongest fortress in Italy, in SE. Lombardy, on
two islands in the river Mincio, 83 m. E. of Milan, is a somewhat gloomy
and unhealthy town, with many heavy mediaeval buildings; there are
saltpetre refineries, weaving and tanning industries. Virgil was born
here in 70 B.C. The town was Austrian in the 18th century, but ceded to
Italy 1866.
MANTUAN SWAN, a name given to the Roman poet Virgil, from his having
been a native of Mantua, in N. Italy.
MANU, CODE OF, one of the sacred books of the Hindus, in which is
expounded the doctrine of Brahminism, inculcating "sound, solid, and
practical morality," and containing evidence of the progress of
civilisation among the Aryans from their first establishment in the
valley of the Ganges. Manu, the alleged author, appears to have been a
primitive mythological personage, conceived of as the ancestor and
legislator of the human race, and as having manifested himself through
long ages in a series of incarnations.
MANZONI, ALESSANDRO, Italian poet and novelist, born at Milan; began
a sceptic, but became a devout Catholic; wrote a volume of hymns,
entitled "Inni Sacri," and a tragedy, "Adelchi," his masterpiece, and
admired by Goethe, as also a prose fiction, "I Promessi Sposi," which
spread his name over Europe; in 1860 was made a senator of the kingdom of
Italy, and was visited by Garibaldi in 1862; he was no less distinguished
as a man than as an author (1780-1875).
MAORIS, the natives of New Zealand, a Polynesian race numbering
40,000, who probably displaced an aboriginal; are distinguished for their
bravery; are governed by chiefs, and speak a rich sonorous language; they
are the most vigorous and energetic of all the South Sea islanders.
MAR, a district in S. Aberdeenshire, between the Don and the Dee,
has given a title to many earls; one was regent of Scotland in 1572,
another, nicknamed "Bobbing Joan," led the Jacobite rising of 1715; on
the death without issue of the earl in 1866 the question of succession
was at issue; the Committee of Privileges granted it to his cousin, the
Earl of Kellie, thereafter Mar and Kellie, and a Bill in Parliament
awarding it to his nephew, who is thus Earl of Mar.
MARABOUTS, a sect of religious devotees of a priestly order much
venerated in North Africa, believed to possess supernatural power,
particularly in curing diseases, and exercising at times considerable
political influence; their supernatural power appears to come to them by
inheritance.
MARACAYBO (34), a Venezuelan town and fortress on the W. shore of
the outlet of Lake Maracaybo; has handsome streets and buildings, and
exports coffee and valuable woods; the lake of Maracaybo is a large
fresh-water lake in the W. of Venezuela, connected with the Gulf of
Maracaybo by a wide strait, across which stretches an effective bar.
MARANATHA (lit. the Lord cometh to judge), a form of anathema in
use among the Jews.
MARANON, one of the head-waters of the Amazon, rising in Lake
Lauricocha, Peru, and flowing N. and E. till it joins the Ucayali and
forms the Amazon; the name is sometimes given to the whole river.
MARAT, JEAN PAUL, a fanatical democrat, born in Neuchatel, his
father an Italian, his mother a Genevese; studied and practised medicine,
came to Paris as horse-leech to Count d'Artois; became infected with the
revolutionary fever, and had one fixed idea: "Give me," he said, "two
hundred Naples bravoes, armed each with a good dirk, and a muff on his
left arm by way of shield, and with them I will traverse France and
accomplish the Revolution," that is, by wholesale massacre of the
aristocrats; he had more than once to flee for his life, and one time
found shelter in the sewers of Paris, contracting thereby a loathsome
skin disease; he was assassinated one evening as he sat in his bath by
CHARLOTTE CORDAY (q. v.), but his body was buried with honours
in the Pantheon by a patriot people, "that of Mirabeau flung out to make
room for him," to be some few months after himself cast out with
execration (1743-1793).
MARATHON, a village, 22 m. NE. of Athens, on the sea border of a
plain where the Greeks under Miltiades on a world-famous occasion
defeated the Persians under Darius in 480 B.C.; the plain on which the
battle was fought extends between mountains on the W. and the sea on the
E.
MARBURG (13), quaint university town of Hesse-Nassau, on the Lahn,
40 m. NE. of Limburg; has many old buildings; its Gothic church contains
St. Elizabeth's tomb; Luther and Zwingli held a conference in the castle,
1529; William Tyndale and Patrick Hamilton were students at its
university, which has now 97 teachers, 1000 students, and a fine library.
MARCEAU, French general, born at Chartres; distinguished himself in
the Republican army in La Vendee and Fleurus, and was killed at
Altenkirchen when covering a retreat of the French army (1760-1796).
MARCELLO, BENEDETTO, an Italian musical composer; composed music for
an Italian version of the Psalms (1686-1739).
MARCELLUS, CLAUDIUS, Roman general; in a war with the Gauls killed
their chief Viridomarus with his own hands, whose spoils he dedicated as
_SPOLIA OPIMA_ (q. v.) to Jupiter; took Syracuse, which long
baffled him through the skill of Archimedes, and fell fighting against
Hannibal 208 B.C.; he was five times consul though but of plebeian
birth.
MARCELLUS, MARCUS, son of Octavia, the sister of Augustus, who had
named him his heir; his decease at 20 was mourned as a public calamity,
and inspired Virgil to pen his well-known lament over his death in the
sixth book of the "AEneid."
MARCET, MRS. JANE, authoress, born at Geneva; married a Swiss doctor
settled in London; wrote elementary text-books on chemistry (from which
Faraday gained his first knowledge), political economy, natural
philosophy, &c., under the title "Conversations," and her best work,
"Stories for very Little Children" (1769-1858).
MARCH, the third month of our year; was before 1752 reckoned first
month as in the Roman calendar, the legal year beginning on the 25th; it
is proverbially dusty and stormy, and is the season of the spring
equinox; it was dedicated to the Roman god Mars, whence the name.
MARCHAND, MAJOR, a French emissary in Africa; was sent in 1890 to
explore the sources of the Niger and other districts, and was afterwards
appointed to push on to the Nile, where he arrived in 1898, hoisting the
French flag by the way, and finally at Fashoda, from which he was
recalled; with extreme disgust he was obliged to retire and find his way
back to France; _b_. 1863.
MARCION, a heretic of the 2nd century, born at Sinope, in Pontus,
who, convinced that the traditional records of Christianity had been
tampered with, sought to restore Christianity to its original purity,
taking his stand on the words of Christ and the interpretation of St.
Paul as the only true apostle; he held that an ascetic life was of the
essence of Christianity, and he had a following called Marcionites.
MARCUS AURELIUS. See ANTONINUS.
MAREMMA, a malarial coast district of Italy, N. of the Campagna,
stretching from Orbitello to Guardistallo, with few villages or roads.
Part of it was improved by draining and planting (1824-44), and the
inhabitants come down from the neighbouring Apennine slopes in summer to
cultivate it; healthier in winter, it affords good pasturage.
MARENGO, a village of N. Italy, SE. of Alessandria, where Napoleon
defeated the Austrians on 14th June 1800.
MAREOTIS, LAKE, a lagune in the N. of Egypt, 40 m. long by 18 m.
broad, separated from the Mediterranean by a tongue of land on which part
of Alexandria is situated.
MARGARET, queen of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, was the daughter of
Waldemar IV. of Denmark, whose crown, on his death in 1375, she received
in trust for her son Olaf; her husband, Hacon VIII. of Norway, died in
1380, and left her queen; Olaf died 1387, when she named her
grand-nephew, Eric of Pomerania, her heir; the Swedes deposed their king
next year, and offered Margaret the throne; she accepted it, put down all
resistance, and ultimately brought about the Union of Calmar (1397),
which provided for the perpetual union of the three crowns; her energy
and force of character won for her the title of "Semiramis of the North"
(1353-1412).
MARGARET, a simple, innocent girl in Goethe's "Faust," who is the
victim of a tragic fatality; Faust meets her as she comes from church,
falls in love with her, and seduces her; she slays the infant born, is
convicted and condemned to death, and loses her reason; Faust would fain
save her, but he is hurried away by Mephistopheles, and she is left to
her fate.
MARGARET, ST., the type of female innocence, represented as a
beautiful young maiden bearing the palm and crown of a martyr and
attended by a dragon; is patron saint against the pains of childbirth.
Festival, July 20.
MARGARET, ST., queen of Scotland, wife of Malcolm Canmore, and
sister of Edgar Atheling, born in Hungary; brought up at the court of
Edward the Confessor; after the conquest sought refuge in Scotland, and
winning the heart of the Scotch king, was married to him at Dunfermline;
was a woman of beautiful character and great piety, and did much to
civilise the country by her devotion and example; she died in Edinburgh
Castle, and was in 1250 canonised by Innocent IV.; Lanfranc had been her
spiritual instructor (1047-1093).
MARGARET OF ANGOULEME, queen of Navarre, Sister of Francis I.,
married in 1527 Henri d'Albret, king of Navarre, by whom she became the
mother of JEANNE D'ALBRET (q. v.); protected the Protestants,
and encouraged learning and the arts; she left a collection of novels,
under the name of "Heptameron," and a number of interesting letters, as
well as some poems (1492-1549).
MARGARET OF ANJOU, queen of Henry VI. of England, and daughter of
the good King Rene of Anjou; was distinguished for the courage she
displayed during the Wars of the Roses, though, after a struggle of
nearly twenty years, she was defeated at Tewkesbury and committed to the
Tower, from which, after four years of incarceration, she was afterwards
released by ransom (1429-1482).
MARGARET OF VALOIS, third daughter of Henry II. of France and
Catherine de' Medicis; married Henry IV., by whom she was divorced for
her immoral conduct (1552-1615).
MARGATE (18), seaport and watering-place, 3 m. W. of the North
Foreland, Kent, is with its firm sands, bathing facilities, and various
attractions a favourite resort of London holiday-makers. Its
church-tower, 135 ft., is a prominent landmark. There are large
almshouses and orphanages, and other charitable institutions; J. M. W.
Turner was at school here.
MARHEINECKE, a German theologian, born at Hildesheim; professor
successively at Erlangen, Heidelberg, and Berlin; was a Hegelian in
philosophy; his chief works, a "System of Catholicism" and a "History of
the German Reformation" (1780-1846).
MARIA LOUISA, empress of France, daughter of Francis I., Emperor of
Austria; was married to Napoleon in 1810 after the divorce of Josephine,
and bore him a son, who was called King of Rome; after Napoleon's death
she became the wife of Count von Neipperg (1791-1847).
MARIA THERESA, empress of Austria, daughter of the Emperor Charles
VI., a queenly woman; was in 1736 married to Francis of Lorraine;
ascended the throne in 1740 on the death of her father, associating her
husband with her in the government under the title of Francis I.; no
sooner had she done so than, despite the PRAGMATIC SANCTION (q. v.),
which assured her of her dominions in their integrity, she was
assailed by claimants one for this and one for another portion of them,
in particular by Frederick the Great, who by force of arms wrenched
Silesia from her and kept it fast; the war thus occasioned is known as
the war of the Austrian Succession, which lasted seven years, and was
concluded by the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748; this peace, however,
was soon broken, and Maria, backed by France and counselled by Kaunitz,
renewed hostilities in the hope of compelling Frederick to restore what
he had taken; all in vain, for the end of this war, known as the Seven
Years' War, was to leave Frederick still in possession of the territory
which he had sliced from her empire as in the former; in the interim of
these wars Maria devoted her attention to the welfare of her subjects,
who were conspicuously loyal to her, and before the end of her reign she
saw what she had lost made up to her in a measure by the partition of
Poland, in which she took part (1717-1780).
MARIAMNE, the wife of Herod the Great, whom he put to death on
suspicion of her unfaithfulness.
MARIANA, JUAN, Spanish historian and political philosopher, born at
Talavera; joined the Jesuits in 1554, and taught in their colleges in
Rome, Sicily, and Paris; returning to Toledo he gave himself to
literature; his "History of Spain" appeared in 1592 and 1605, theological
writings incurred persecution, and his greatest work, "De Rege et Regis
Institutione," in which he defended the right of the people to cast out a
tyrant, was condemned by the general of his order (1536-1624).
MARIE ANTOINETTE, queen of France, fourth daughter of Maria Theresa;
was married in 1770 to the dauphin of France, who in 1774 succeeded to
the throne as Louis XVI.; was a beautiful woman, but indiscreet in her
behaviour; had made herself unpopular and impotent for good when the
Revolution broke out; when matters became serious the queenliness of her
nature revealed itself, but it was in haughty defiance of the
million-headed monster that was bellowing at her feet; the heroism she
showed at this crisis the general mass of the people could not
appreciate, though it won the homage of such men as Mirabeau and Barnave;
all she wanted was a wise adviser, for she had courage to follow any
course which she could be persuaded to see was right; in Mirabeau she had
one who could have guided her, but by his death in 1791 she was left to
herself, and the course she took was fatal to all the interests she had
at heart; fatality followed fatality: first she saw her husband hurried
off to the guillotine, and then she followed herself; hers, if any, was
the most tragic of fates, and any one who has read that heart-moving
apostrophe to her by Carlyle on the way to her doom must know and feel
that it was her fate; she and her husband suffered as the representatives
of the misgovernment of France for centuries before they were born, and
were left a burden on their shoulders which they could not bear and under
which they were crushed to death (1756-1793).
MARIE DE FRANCE, a poetess and fabulist of Henry III.'s time; her
fables are translations into French from an English version of old Greek
tales; a greater work was her "Lais," consisting of 12 or 14 beautiful
narratives in French verse.
MARIE DE' MEDICI, daughter of the Grand-Duke of Tuscany, born at
Florence; was married to Henry IV. of France in 1600, with whom she lived
unhappily till his murder in 1610; she was then regent for seven years;
in 1617 her son assumed power as Louis XIII.; she was for two years
banished from the court, and on her return so intrigued as to bring about
her imprisonment in 1631; though a lover of art she was neither good wife
nor good queen, and escaping from confinement she died in destitution at
Cologne (1573-1642).
MARIENBAD, a high-lying Bohemian watering-place, 18 m. S. of
Carlsbad; it is much frequented for its saline springs.
MARIETTE PASHA, FRANCOIS AUGUSTE FERDINAND, Egyptologist, born at
Boulogne; became professor in the college there in 1841, entered the
Egyptian department of the Louvre in 1849, and next year set out for
Egypt; eight years later he was made keeper of the monuments to the
Egyptian government, and in 1879 was made a pasha; he died at Cairo; he
made many valuable discoveries and excavations, among which were the
burial-place of the Apis bulls, the Sphinx monument, and many temples
(1821-1881).
MARIO, GIUSEPPE, a celebrated tenor, born in Cagliari; acquired a
large fortune as a professional singer, but lost it through unsuccessful
speculations; in the circumstances a concert was given in London for his
benefit which realised L1000; he was a handsome man and of charming
manners (1808-1883).
MARIOTTE, EDME, a French physicist, born at Dijon; discoverer of the
law named after him, that the volume of a gas is inversely as the
pressure; called also Boyle's; it bears the name of Mariotte's law on the
Continent, and Boyle's in England (1620-1684).
MARIUS, CAIUS, a celebrated Roman general, born near Arpinum, uncle
by marriage to Julius Caesar and head of the popular party, and the rival
of Sulla; conquered the Teutons and the Cimbri in Gaul, and made a
triumphal entry into Rome; having obtained command of the war against
Mithridates, Sulla marched upon the city and drove his rival beyond the
walls; having fled the city, he was discovered hiding in a marsh, cast
into prison, and condemned to die; to the slave sent to execute the
sentence he drew himself haughtily up and exclaimed, "Caitiff, dare you
slay Caius Marius?" and the executioner fled in terror of his life and
left his sword behind him; Marius was allowed to escape; finding his way
to Africa, he took up his quarters at Carthage, but the Roman praetor
ordered him off; "Go tell the praetor," he said to the messenger sent,
"you saw Caius Marius sitting a fugitive on the ruins of Carthage"; upon
this he took courage and returned to Rome, and along with Cinna made the
streets of the city run with the blood of the partisans of Sulla; died
suddenly (156-88 B.C.).
MARIVAUX, a French dramatist and novelist, born in Paris; was a man
of subtle wit, and his writings reveal it as well as an affectation of
style named _Marivaudage_ after him; his fame rests on his novels rather
than his dramas (1688-1763).
MARK, GOSPEL ACCORDING TO, is mainly a narrative of the doings of
Christ and of the events of His life in their historical sequence; moves
on at an even pace, abounds in graphic touches, and adds minute traits as
if by an eye-witness; it represents Christ as the Son of man, but
manifesting Himself by such signs and wonders as to show that He was also
the Son of God; it is written for Gentile Christians and not for Jewish,
and hence little stress is laid on Old Testament fulfilments or reference
made to those antagonisms to Christianity which had a merely Jewish root.
MARK, JOHN, the author of the second Gospel, the son of Mary,
Barnabas' sister, who ministered to Christ, and whose house in Jerusalem
was a place of resort for the disciples of Christ after the resurrection;
accompanied Paul and his uncle on their first missionary journey,
afterwards accompanied Peter, who calls him "my son," and to him it is
thought he is indebted for his Gospel narrative; he is regarded as the
founder of the Coptic Church, and his body is said to have been buried in
Venice, of which he is the patron saint, and the cathedral of which is
named St. Mark's after him; he is represented in Christian art as a man
in the prime of life accompanied by a winged lion, with his Gospel in his
left hand and a pen in his right.
MARK ANTONY. See ANTONIUS, MARCUS.
MARK TWAIN. See CLEMENS.
MARKHAM, CLEMENTS ROBERT, traveller and author, born near York, son
of a clergyman; served in the navy from 1844 to 1851, taking part in the
Franklin search expedition; 1852-1854 he spent exploring Peru; he
introduced the cinchona plant to India 1860, became secretary to the
Royal Geographical Society 1863, served as geographer to the Abyssinian
Expedition of 1867-68, and was then put at the head of the Geographical
department of the India Office; among many books of travels may be named
"The Threshold of the Unknown Region" 1874, and among biographies
"Columbus," 1892; _b_. 1830.
MARLBOROUGH (9), on the Kennet, 38 m. E. of Bristol, a Wiltshire
market-town, with sack and rope making, brewing, and tanning industries;
has an old Norman church, the remains of an old royal residence, and a
college, chiefly for sons of clergymen, founded in 1845.
MARLBOROUGH, JOHN CHURCHILL, DUKE OF, soldier and statesman, born in
Devonshire; joined the Guards as ensign, and served in Tangiers in 1667;
sent in command of a company to help Louis XIV. in his Dutch wars, his
courage and ability won him a colonelcy; he married Sarah Jennings in
1678, and seven years later became Baron Churchill on James II.'s
succession; as general he was employed in putting down Monmouth's
rebellion; he seceded to William of Orange in 1688, and received from him
the earldom of Marlborough; he was in disfavour from 1694 till the
outbreak of the Spanish Succession War, in which he gained his great
renown; beginning by driving the Spaniards from the Netherlands in 1702,
he won a series of important victories--Blenheim 1704, Ramillies 1706,
Oudenard 1708, and Malplaquet 1709, contributed to enhance the military
glory of England; Queen Anne loaded him with honours; large sums of
money, Woodstock estate, Blenheim Palace, and a dukedom were bestowed on
him; his wife was the Queen's closest friend, and the duke and duchess
virtually governed the country, till in 1711 the Queen threw off their
influence, and charges of misappropriation of funds forced him into
retirement; he was restored to many of his offices by George I. in 1714,
but for the last six years of his life he sank into imbecility; one of
England's greatest generals, he was also one of her meanest men
(1650-1722).
MARLOWE, CHRISTOPHER, English dramatist and poet, precursor of
Shakespeare; son of a shoemaker at Canterbury; besides a love poem
entitled "Hero and Leander," he was the author of seven plays,
"Tamburlaine," in two parts, "Doctor Faustus," "The Jew of Malta,"
"Edward the Second," "The Massacre of Paris," and "Dido," the first four
being romantic plays, the fifth a chronicle play, and the last two
offering no particular talent; he dealt solely in tragedy, and was too
devoid of humour to attempt comedy; "In Marlowe," says Prof. Saintsbury,
"two things never fail him long--a strange, not by any means impotent,
reach after the infinite, and the command of magnificent verse"; his life
was a short one (1564-1593).
MARMONT, Duke of Ragusa and marshal of France, served under
Napoleon, and distinguished himself on many a battlefield; received the
title of duke for his successful defence of Ragusa against the Russians;
was present at Wagram, Luetzen, Bautzen, and Dresden, but came to terms
with the allies after the taking of Paris, which led to Napoleon's
abdication in 1814; obliged to flee on Napoleon's return, he came back to
France and gave his support to the Bourbons; left Memoirs (1774-1852).
MARMONTEL, JEAN FRANCOIS, French writer, born at Bort; author of
"Les Incas," "Belesaire," and "Contes Moraux;" "was," says Ruskin, "a
peasant's son, who made his way into Parisian society by gentleness, wit,
and a dainty and candid literary power; he became one of the humblest yet
honestest, placed scholars at the court of Louis XV., and wrote pretty,
yet wise, sentimental stories in finished French, the sayings and
thoughts in them, in their fine tremulous way, perfect like the
blossoming heads of grass in May" (1723-1799).
MARMORA, SEA OF, 175 m. long and 50 broad, lies between Europe and
Asia Minor, opening into the AEgean through the Dardanelles and into the
Baltic through the Bosphorus; the Gulf of Ismid indents the eastern
coasts; Marmora, the largest island, has marble and alabaster quarries.
MARNE (435) and HAUTE-MARNE (244), contiguous departments in
the N.E. of France, in the upper basin of the Marne River; in both
cereals, potatoes, and wine are the chief products, the best champagne
coming from the N. In the former, capital Chalons-sur-Marne, building
stone is quarried; there are metal works and tanneries; in the latter,
capital Chaumont, are valuable iron mines and manufactures of cutlery and
gloves.
MAROCHETTI, BARON, Italian sculptor, born in Turin; after working in
Paris, came to this country in 1848, and executed several public statues,
one of the Queen among others (1805-1867).
MARONITES, a sect of Syrian Christians, numbering 200,000, dwelling
on the eastern slopes of Lebanon, where they settled in the 7th century,
and who joined the Roman Catholic Church in 1445, while they retain much
of their primitive character; they maintained a long sanguinary rivalry
with their neighbours the DRUSES (q. v.).
MAROONS, the name given to wild negro bands in Jamaica and Guiana;
those in Jamaica left behind by the Spaniards on the conquest of the
island by the English, 1655, escaped to the hills, and continued
unsubdued till 1795; in Guiana they still maintain independent
communities. To MAROON a seaman is to leave him alone on an
uninhabited island, or adrift in a boat.
MAROT, CLEMENT, French poet, born at Cahors; was valet-de-chambre of
Margaret of Valois; was a man of ready wit and a satirical writer, the
exercise of which often brought him into trouble; his poems, which
consist of elegies, epistles, rondeaux, madrigals, and ballads, have left
their impress on both the language and the literature of France
(1495-1544).
MARPRELATE TRACTS, a series of clever but scurrilous tracts
published under the name of Martin Marprelate, but which are the work of
different writers in the time of Elizabeth against prelacy, and which
gave rise to great excitement and some inquisition as to their
authorship.
MARQUE. See LETTER OF MARQUE.
MARQUESAS ISLANDS (5), a group of 13 small volcanic mountainous
islands in the S. Pacific, 3600 m. W. of Peru, under French protection
since 1842, are peopled by a handsome but savage race, which is rapidly
dying out; Chinese immigrants grow cotton; the more southerly were
discovered by Mendana in 1595, the more northerly by Ingraham, an
American, in 1791.
MARROW CONTROVERSY, a theological controversy which arose in
Scotland in the 18th century over the teaching of a book entitled "The
Marrow of Modern Divinity," and which led to a secession from the
Established Church on the part of the "Marrow men," as the supporters of
the doctrine of the book were called. It contained an assertion of the
evangelical doctrine of free grace, which was condemned by the Assembly,
and for maintaining which the "Marrow men," headed by the Erskines, were
deposed in 1733, to the formation of the Secession Church.
MARRYAT, FREDERICK, novelist, born at Westminster; after service in
the royal navy, which he entered in 1806, and in which he attained the
rank of commandant, he retired in 1830, and commenced a series of novels;
"Frank Mildmay," the first, proving a success, he resolved to devote the
rest of his life to literature; his novels were numerous, all of interest
for their character sketches and adventures, and "Peter Simple" and
"Midshipman Easy" are reckoned the best; it was by recourse to Marryat's
stories of sea life that Carlyle solaced himself after the burning of the
MS. volume of his "French Revolution," and that he put himself in tune to
repair the loss (1792-1848).
MARS, the exterior planet of the Solar system, nearest the earth, of
one-half its diameter, with a mean distance from the sun of 141,000,000
m., round which it takes 686 days to revolve, in a somewhat centric
orbit, and 241/2 hours to revolve on its own axis, which inclines to its
equator at an angle of 29 deg.; examination of it shows that there is four
times as much land as water in it; it is accompanied by two moons, an
outer making a revolution round it in 30 hours 18 minutes, and an inner
in 7 hours and 38 minutes; they are the smallest heavenly bodies known to
science.
MARS, the Roman god of war, the reputed father of Romulus, and the
recognised protector of the Roman State, identified at length with the
Greek Ares.
MARSEILLAISE, THE, the hymn or march of the French republicans,
composed, both words and music, at Strasburg by Rouget de Lisle one night
in April 1792, and singing which the 600 volunteers from Marseilles
entered Paris on the 30th July thereafter. "Luckiest musicial
composition," says Carlyle, "ever promulgated. The sound of which will
make the blood tingle in men's veins, and whole armies and assemblages
will sing it, with eyes weeping and burning, with hearts defiant of
death, despot, and devil."
MARSEILLES (321), third city and first seaport of France, on the
shore of the Gulf of Lyons, 27 m. E. of the mouth of the Rhone; has
extensive dock accommodation; does great trade in wheat, oil, wine,
sugar, textiles, and coal, and manufactures soap, soda, macaroni, and
iron; there is a cathedral, picture-gallery, museum, and library, schools
of science and art; founded by colonists from Asia Minor in 600 B.C., it
was a Greek city till 300 B.C.; after the days of Rome it had many
vicissitudes, falling finally to France in 1575, and losing its privilege
as a free port in 1660; always a Radical city, it proclaimed the Commune
in 1871; a cholera plague devastated it in 1885; six years later great
sanitary improvements were begun; Thiers and Puget were born here.
MARSHAL FORWARDS, a name given to BLUeCHER (q. v.) for the
celerity of his movements and the dash of his attack.
MARSHALL, JOHN, an American judge; served in the army during the
first years of the American War; afterwards entered the legal profession
and became Chief-Justice of the United States; was an authority on
constitutional law (1755-1835).
MARSTON, JOHN, English dramatist, so called, was more of a poet than
a dramatist, and his dramas are remembered chiefly for the poetic
passages they contain; his masterpiece is a comedy entitled "What You
Will" (1575-1634).
MARSTON, JOHN WESTLAND, dramatist, born at Boston, Lincolnshire;
wrote several dramas, "Strathmore" and "Marie de Meranie" among the
number (1819-1890).
MARSTON, PHILIP BOURKE, poet, son of preceding; wrote three volumes
of verse, admired by Rossetti and Swinburne; was blind from boyhood
(1850-1887).
MARSTON MOOR, 7 m. W. of York; here Cromwell and Fairfax defeated
the Royalists under Prince Rupert, July 2, 1644, and so won the north of
England for the Parliament.
MARSYAS, a Phrygian peasant, who, having found a flute which Athena
had thrown away because playing on it disfigured her face, and which, as
still inspired by the breath of the goddess, yielded sweet tones when he
put his lips to it, one day challenged Apollo to a contest, the condition
being that the vanquished should pay whatever penalty the victor might
impose on him; Apollo played on the lyre and the boor on the flute, when
the Muses, who were umpires, assigned the palm to the former; upon this
Apollo caught his rival up, bound him to a tree, and flayed him alive for
his temerity.
MARTELLO TOWERS, round towers of strong build, erected as a defence
at one time off the low shores of Sussex and Kent; they are of Italian
origin; there is one off the harbour of Leith.
MARTENS, FREDERICK DE, German diplomatist and publicist, born at
Hamburg; author of a "Precis du Droit des Gens" (1756-1821).
MARTENSEN, HANS LASSEN, bishop of Copenhagen, a distinguished
theologian; author of "Meister Eckhart," a study of mediaeval mysticism,
"Christliche Dogmatic" and "Christliche Ethic"; was a Hegelian of a
conservative type (1808-1884).
MARTHA, ST., the sister of Mary and Lazarus, the patron saint of
good housewives, is represented, in homely costume, with a bunch of keys
at her girdle, and a pot in her hand. Festival, July 20.
MARTIAL, a Latin poet, born at Bilbilis, in Spain; went to Rome,
stayed there, favoured of the emperors Titus and Domitian, for 35 years,
and then returned to his native city, where he wrote his Epigrammata, a
collection of short poems over 1500 in number, divided into 14 books,
books xiii. and xiv. being entitled respectively Xenia and Apophoreta;
these epigrams are distinguished for their wit, diction, and indecency,
but are valuable for the light they shed on the manners of Rome at the
period (43-104).
MARTIAL LAW, law administered by military force, to which civilians
are amenable during an insurrection or riot.
MARTIN, the name of five popes: M. I., ST., Pope from 649 to
655; M. II., pope from 882 to 884; M. III., Pope from 942 to
946; M. IV., pope from 1281 to 1285; M. V., Pope from 1417 to
1431, distinguished for having condemned Huss to be burned.
MARTIN, AIME, a French writer, born at Lyons, repaired to Paris,
became the pupil and friend of Bernardin de St. Pierre; collected his
works and married his widow; his letters to Sophia on "Natural History,"
&c., highly popular (1781-1844).
MARTIN, HENRI, celebrated French historian, born at Saint-Quentin;
devoted his life to the study of the history of France; wrote an account
of it, entitled "Histoire de France," a magnificent work in 19 volumes;
brought the history down to 1789, and received from the Institute 20,000
francs as a prize (1810-1885).
MARTIN, JOHN, English painter, born near Hexham; was an artist of an
ardent temperament and extraordinary imaginative power; his paintings,
the first "Sadak in Search of the Waters of Oblivion," characterised as
"sublime" and "gorgeous," were 16 in number, and made a great impression
when produced; engravings of some of them are familiar, such as the "Fall
of Babylon" and "Belshazzar's Feast" (1789-1854).
MARTIN, LADY. See FAUCIT, HELEN.
MARTIN, ST., bishop of Tours, was in early life a soldier, and
meeting with a naked beggar one cold day in winter divided his military
cloak in two, and gave him the half of it; was conspicuous both as a monk
and bishop for his compassion on the poor; seated at a banquet on one
occasion between the king and queen, hobnobbed with a poor beggar looking
on, and extended his goblet of wine to him; he is the patron saint of
topers; _d_. 397. Festival, November 11.
MARTIN, SARAH, a philanthropist, born at Great Yarmouth; lived by
dressmaking, and devoted much of her time among criminals in the jails
(1791-1843).
MARTIN, SIR THEODORE, man of letters, born in Edinburgh; acquired
his first fame under the pseudonym of Bon Gaultier; is author of the
"Life of the late Prince Consort"; wrote along with Aytouna "Book of
Ballads," and translated the Odes of Horace, Dante's "Vita Nuova" and
Goethe's "Faust"; _b_. 1816.
MARTINEAU, HARRIET, English authoress, born at Norwich; a lady with
little or no genius but with considerable intellectual ability, and not
without an honest zeal for the "progress of the species"; she was what is
called an "advanced" thinker, and was a disciple of Auguste Comte; wrote
a number of stories bearing on social questions, and had that courage of
her opinions which commanded respect; it was she who persuaded Carlyle to
try lecturing when his finances were low, and she had a real pride at the
success of the scheme (1802-1876).
MARTINEAU, JAMES, rationalistic theologian, born in Norwich, brother
of the preceding; began life as an engineer, took to theology, and
became a Unitarian minister; was at first a follower of Bentham and then
a disciple of Kant; at one time a materialist he became a theist, and a
most zealous advocate of theistic beliefs from the Unitarian standpoint;
he is a thinker of great power, and has done much both to elevate and
liberate the philosophy of religion; his views are liberal as well as
profound, and he is extensively known as the author of the "Endeavours
after the Christian Life" and "Hours of Thought on Sacred Things"; _b_.
1805.
MARTINIQUE (176, of which a few are white), a West Indian French
possession, one of the Lesser Antilles; has a much-indented precipitous
coast; a mountain range in the centre is densely wooded; the plains are
fertile, and produce sugar, coffee, and cotton, which with fruit are the
exports; the climate is hot and not salubrious; the island has been
French, with three short intervals, since 1635.
MARTYN, HENRY, a Christian missionary, born at Truro, in Cornwall;
was a Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge; went to India as a
chaplain, settled in various stations and in Persia; translated the New
Testament into Hindi and Persian, as well as the Prayer-book; fell into
broken health; did more than he was able for, caught fever and died
(1781-1812).
MARVELL, ANDREW, poet and politician, born at Worcester; was first a
lyric poet, and in politics much of a Royalist, at last a violent
politician on the Puritan side, having become connected with Milton and
Cromwell; he wrote a tract "On the Growth of Popery and Arbitrary
Government in England" after the Restoration, which brought him into
trouble; being a favourite with the king, the king sought to bribe him,
but he could not be caught; he died suddenly, and an unfounded rumour was
circulated that he had been poisoned (1621-1678).
MARX, KARL, a German Socialist, born at Treves, of Jewish descent;
was at first a student of philosophy and a disciple of Hegel, but soon
abandoned philosophy for social economy on a democratic basis and in a
materialistic interest, early adopted socialistic opinions, for his zeal
in which he was driven from Germany, France, and finally Belgium, to
settle in London, where he spent the last 30 years of his life; founded
the "INTERNATIONAL" (q. v.), and wrote a work "Das Kapital,"
which has become the text-book of Socialism, a remarkable book, and one
that has materially promoted the cause it advocates (1818-1866).
MARY, THE VIRGIN. Of her we know nothing for certain except what is
contained in the Gospel history, and that almost exclusively in her
relation to her Son, in connection with whom, and as His mother, she has
become an object of worship in the Roman Catholic and Greek Churches.
MARY I., queen of England, was born at Greenwich, daughter of Henry
VIII. and Catharine of Aragon; at first the king's favourite, on her
mother's divorce she was treated with aversion; during her brother Edward
VI.'s reign she lived in retirement, clinging to her Catholic faith; on
her accession in 1553 a Protestant plot to put Lady Jane Grey on the
throne failed; she began cautiously to restore Catholicism, imprisoning
Reformers and reinstating the old bishops; on her choosing Philip of
Spain for her husband a revolt broke out under Sir Thomas Wyatt, and
though easily put down was the occasion for the execution of Lady Jane
Grey and the imprisonment of Elizabeth; after her marriage in 1554 the
religious reaction gained strength, submission was made to Rome, and a
persecution began in which 300 persons, including Latimer, Ridley, and
Cranmer, perished in three years; ill-health, Philip's cruelty, and her
childlessness drove her to melancholy; a war with France led to the loss
of Calais in 1558, and she died broken-hearted, a virtuous and pious, but
bigoted and relentless woman (1516-1558).
MARY II., queen of England, daughter of the Duke of York (afterwards
James II.) and Anne Hyde; was married to her cousin William of Orange in
1677, ascended the English throne along with him on her father's
abdication in 1688, and till her death was his much loved, good, and
gentle queen; Greenwich Hospital for disabled sailors, which she built,
is her memorial (1662-1694).
MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, daughter of James V. and Mary of Lorraine,
born at Linlithgow, became by her father's death queen ere she was a week
old; her early childhood was spent on an island in the Lake of Menteith;
she was sent to France in 1548, brought up at court with the royal
princes, and married to the dauphin in 1558, who for a year, 1559-60, was
King Francis II.; on his death she had to leave France; she returned to
assume the government in Scotland, now in the throes of the Reformation;
refraining from interference with the Protestant movement she retained
her own Catholic faith, but chose Protestant advisers; out of many
proposed alliances she elected, against all advice, to be married to her
cousin Darnley 1565, and easily quelled the insurrection that broke out
under Moray; Darnley, granted the title king, tried to force her to
settle the succession in the event of her dying childless on him and his
heirs; deeming her favourite Rizzio to stand in the way, he plotted with
the Protestant Lords to have him murdered, and Mary was reduced to agree
to his demands; the murder was done; the queen was for a time a prisoner
in Holyrood, but she succeeded in detaching Darnley, and the scheme fell
through; her only son, afterwards James VI., was born three months later
in 1566; the murder of Darnley took place in February 1567, being
accomplished by Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, almost certainly with Mary's
connivance; her marriage with Bothwell in May alienated the nobles; they
rose, took the queen prisoner at Carberry, carried her to Edinburgh, then
to Loch Leven, where they forced her to abdicate in July; next year,
escaping, she fled to England, and was there for many years a prisoner;
Catholic plots were formed to liberate her and put her in place of
Elizabeth on the English throne (she was next in order of succession,
being great-granddaughter of Henry VII.); at last she was accused of
complicity in Babbington's conspiracy, tried, found guilty, and executed
in Fotheringhay Castle, February 8, 1587; faithful to her religion to the
end; she was a woman of great beauty and charm, courage and ability, warm
affection and generous temper (1542-1587).
MARYLAND (1,042), a State of the American Union, occupying the basin
of the Potomac and of Chesapeake Bay, with Pennsylvania on the N.,
Delaware on the E., and the Virginias on the W. and S.; has a much
indented coast-line affording great facilities for navigation; the soil
is throughout fertile; on the level coast plains tobacco and fruit,
chiefly peaches, are grown; in the undulating central land wheat; the
mountains in the W. are well wooded with pine; there are coal-mines in
the W., copper and chrome in the midland, and extensive marble quarries;
the shad and herring fisheries are valuable; the manufactures of clothing
stuffs, flour, tobacco, and beer are extensive; the climate of Maryland
is temperate and genial; education is free, and advanced; the John
Hopkins University is in Baltimore; there is a State college in every
county, and schools for blind, deaf, and feeble-minded children;
colonisation began in 1634, and a policy of religious toleration and
peace with the Indians led to prosperity; the State was active in the War
of Independence, and remained with the North in the Civil War; the
capital is Annapolis (8), but the largest city is Baltimore (434), a
great wheat-shipping port and centre of industry; Cumberland (13) has
brick and cement works, and Hagerstown (10) has machine, farm implement,
and furniture factories.
MASACCIO, an Italian painter, born in Florence; went when very young
to Rome, where he painted in the church of St. Clement a series of
frescoes, his greatest work being the frescoes in the Brancacci chapel of
the Carmine church; he was a great master of perspective and colour
(1402-1443).
MASAI, a warlike tribe in Africa, between the coast of Zanzibar and
Victoria Nyanza, of the race of the Gallas, men of powerful physique,
though far from prepossessing in appearance; when their warlike spirit
and prowess are spent they settle down to cattle-breeding.
MASANIELLO, a fisherman of Amalfi, who headed a revolt against the
Spanish viceroy in Naples, which proved successful, but turned his head
and led to his assassination (1623-1647).
MASHONALAND, a plateau 4000 ft. high crossed by the Umvukwe
Mountains, lying to the NE. of Matabeleland and S. of the Zambesi River,
of which its streams are tributaries; is a fertile country, and being
traversed continually by cold SE. winds is healthy and bracing; the
natives, of Bantu stock, are peaceful and industrious, growing rice,
maize, tobacco, and cotton, which they also weave, and working with skill
in iron; they live in dread of the fierce Matabele tribes; the country is
very rich in iron, copper, and gold, and has traces of ancient scientific
gold-mining; it has been under British protection since 1888.
MASK, IRON. See IRON MASK.
MASKELYNE, NEVIL, astronomer-royal, born in London; determined the
method of finding longitude at sea, and the density of the earth by
experiments at Schiehallion, and commenced the "National Almanack," and
produced the first volume of "Astronomical Observations at Greenwich"
(1732-1811).
MASON, SIR JOSIAH, Birmingham manufacturer and philanthropist, born
at Kidderminster; made his fortune by split rings, steel pens,
electro-plating; founded an orphanage at Erdington at the cost of nearly
L300,000, and the college at Birmingham which bears his name (1795-1881).
MASON, WILLIAM, a minor poet, a friend of poet Gray; the author of
two tragedies, "Elfrida" and "Caractacus" (1724-1797).
MASON AND DIXON'S LINE, so called after English engineers who
surveyed it 1764-67; is the boundary separating Maryland from
Pennsylvania and Delaware; during the Civil War it was inaccurately
regarded as dividing the slave-holding from the free States, Maryland and
Delaware both recognising slavery.
MASPERO, GASTON CAMILLE CHARLES, French Egyptologist, born at Paris;
made extensive explorations and important discoveries in Egypt; has
written, among works bearing on Egypt, "Histoire Ancienne des Peuples
d'Orient"; _b_. 1846.
MASSACHUSETTS (2,239), a New England State of the American Union,
lies on the Atlantic seaboard between New Hampshire and Vermont on the N.
and Rhode Island and Connecticut on the S., with New York on its western
border; has a long irregular coast-line and an uneven surface, rising to
the Green Mountains in the W.; the scenery is of great beauty, but the
soil is in many places poor, the farms raising chiefly hay and dairy
produce; the winters are severe; Massachusetts is the third manufacturing
State of the Union; its industries include cotton, woollen, worsted,
clothing, leather and leather goods, iron and iron goods; school
education throughout the State is free and of a high standard; there are
several universities and colleges, including Harvard, Boston, Williams,
and Amherst; founded in 1620 by the Pilgrim Fathers, Massachusetts had
many hardships in early days, and was long the scene of religious
intolerance and persecution; the War of Independence began at Bunker's
Hill and Lexington in 1776; the capital and chief seaport is Boston
(448); Worcester (85) has machinery factories, Springfield (44) paper,
and Lowell (78) cotton mills; Concord was for long a literary centre.
MASSAGE, in medicine a process of kneading, stroking, and rubbing,
with the fingers and palms of the hands, applied to the body as a whole
or to locally affected parts, to allay pain, promote circulation, and
restore nervous and vital energy; it was practised in very early times in
China and India; was known to the Greeks and Romans, and was revived by
Dr. Mezger of Amsterdam in 1853.
MASSAGETAE, a Scythian people on the NE. of the Caspian Sea, who used
to kill and eat the aged among them, in an expedition against whom, it is
said, Cyrus the Great lost his life.
MASSENA, Duc de Rivoli, Prince of Essling, one of the most
illustrious marshals of France, born at Nice; he distinguished himself at
Rivoli in 1796, at Zurich in 1799, at the siege of Genoa in 1800, at
Eckmuehl and at Wagram in 1809, and was named by Napoleon _L'enfant cheri
de la Victoire_, i. e. the favoured child of victory; he was recalled
from the Peninsula by Napoleon for failing to expel Wellington, and it
appears he never forgot the affront (1758-1817).
MASSEY, GERALD, English democratic poet, born in Hertfordshire;
wrote "Poems and Charms," "Voices of Freedom and Lyrics of Love"; has
written for the reviews, and taken a great interest in spiritualism; _b_.
1828.
MASSILLON, JEAN BAPTISTE, celebrated French pulpit orator, born at
Hieres, in Provence; entered the congregation of the Oratory, and became
so celebrated for his eloquence that he was called to Paris, where he
gathered round him hearers in crowds; Bourdaloue, when he heard him,
said, "He must increase, but I must decrease," and Louis XIV. said to
him, "When I hear others preach I go away much pleased with them, but
when I hear you I feel displeased with myself"; he was made bishop of
Clermont, and next year preached before Louis XV., now king, his famous
"Petit Careme," a series of ten sermons for Lent; he was a devoted
bishop, and the idol of his flock; his style was perfect, and his
eloquence was winning, and went home to the heart (1663-1742).
MASSINGER, PHILIP, English dramatist; little is known of his
personal history except that he studied at Oxford without taking a
degree, that he lived in London, and was buried as "a stranger" in St.
Saviour's, Southwark; of his 37 plays only 18 remain, and of these the
most famous is the comedy entitled "New Way to Pay Old Debts," the chief
character in which is Sir Giles Overreach, and the representation of
which still holds its place on the stage (1583-1640).
MASSON, DAVID, man of letters, born in Aberdeen; elected literature as
his profession in preference to theology, with the study of which he
commenced; joined the staff of the Messrs. Chambers; settled in London,
and became professor of English Literature in University College, from
the chair of which he removed to the corresponding one in Edinburgh in
1865; edited _Macmillan's Magazine_ from 1859 to 1868; his great work,
the "Life of Milton," in 6 vols., a thorough book, and of great
historical value; has written on "British Novelists and their
Styles," "Life of Drummond of Hawthornden," &c.; became in 1893
Historiographer-Royal of Scotland; _b_. 1822.
MASSO`RAH, a body of Biblical references, chiefly handed down by
tradition, and calculated to be of great service in verifying the
original text of the Hebrew Scriptures.
MASSORETIC POINTS, the vowel points and accents in Hebrew; invented
by the Massorites, or authors of the Massorah.
MASTER HUMPHREY, a character in Dickens's "Old Curiosity Shop."
MASTER OF SENTENCES, PETER LOMBARD (q. v.).
MASTODON, one of an extinct species of mammals akin to the elephant.
MASULIPATAM (38), chief seaport in the district of Kistna, Madras
Presidency, India, 215 m. N. of Madras, with a large coasting trade.
MATABELELAND, a country stretching northward from the Transvaal, 180
m. by 150 m., towards the Zambesi River; formerly occupied by peaceful
Mashona and Makalaka tribes, but conquered by the Matabele in 1840, and
since held by them. They are warlike, and have no industries. The women
grow mealies, the men make continual forays on their neighbours. Gold
exists in various parts, and the country was declared British territory
in 1890. It is developed by the British South African Company, whose
chief stations are Buluwayo in the SW. and Fort Salisbury in the NE.
MATANZA (50), a fortified town in Cuba, 32 m. E. of Havana.
MATERIALISM, the theory which, denying the independent existence of
spirit, resolves everything within the sphere of being into matter, or
into the operation and the effect of the operation of forces latent in
it, or into the negative and positive interaction of mere material
forces, to the exclusion of intelligent purpose and design.
MATHER, COTTON, an American divine, born in Boston; notorious for
his belief in witchcraft, and for the persecution he provoked against
those charged with it by his zeal in spreading the delusion (1663-1728).
MATHEW, THEOBALD, or FATHER MATHEW, apostle of temperance, born
in Tipperary; studied for the Catholic priesthood, but joined the
Capuchin Minorites; was in 1814 ordained a priest, and located in Cork,
where at sight of the cruel effects of drunkenness on the mass of the
people his heart was moved, and he resolved on a crusade against it to
stamp it out; he started on this enterprise in 1827, but it took a year
and a half before his mission bore any fruit, and then it was accompanied
with marvellous success wherever he went, even as far as the New World
itself (1790-1856).
MATHEWS, CHARLES, comedian, born in London; abandoned his father's
trade of bookseller for the stage in 1794; appeared in Dublin and York,
and from 1803 till 1818 played in Drury Lane, Covent Garden, and the
Lyceum; the rest of his life he spent as a single-handed entertainer,
charming countless audiences in Britain and America with his good singing
and incomparable mimicry; he died at Plymouth (1776-1835).
MATHEWS, CHARLES JAMES, light comedian, son of the preceding;
married Madame Vestris; was a charming actor, acted with a great grace
and delicacy of feeling (1803-1878).
MATLOCK, a watering-place in Derbyshire, on a slope overlooking the
Derwent, 15 m. NW. of Derby.
MATILDA, the "Great Countess" of Tuscany, celebrated for her zeal on
behalf of the Popes against the Emperor Henry IV., and for the donation
of her possessions to the Church, which gave rise to a contest after her
death (1046-1115).
MATILDA or MAUD, daughter of Henry I. of England and wife of
the Emperor Henry V., on whose decease she was married to Geoffrey
Plantagenet of Anjou and became mother of Henry II.; on the death of her
father succeeded to the English throne, but was supplanted by Stephen,
whom she defeated and who finally defeated her (1103-1167).
MATADORE, the athlete who kills the bull in a bull-fight.
MATSYS, QUENTIN, a Flemish painter, originally a blacksmith, did
altar-pieces and _genre_ paintings (1466-1530).
MATTATHIAS, a Jewish priest, the father of the Maccabees, who in 170
B.C., when asked by a Syrian embassy to offer sacrifice to the Syrian
gods, not only refused to do so, but slew with his own hand the Jew that
stepped forward to do it for him, and then fell upon the embassy that
required the act; upon which he rushed with his five sons into the
wilderness of Judea and called upon all to follow him who had any regard
for the Lord; this was the first step in the war of the Maccabees, the
immediate issue of which was to the Jew the achievement of an
independence which he had not enjoyed for 400 years.
MATTERHORN, a sharp Alpine peak 14,700 ft., on the Swiss-Italian
border, difficult of ascent; first scaled by Whymper 1865.
MATTHEW, a publican, by the Sea of Tiberias, who being called became
a disciple and eventually an apostle of Christ; generally represented in
Christian art as an old man with a large flowing beard, often occupied in
writing his gospel, with an angel standing by.
MATTHEW, GOSPEL ACCORDING TO, written not later than 62 A.D., is
the earliest record we possess of the ministry and teaching of Christ,
and is believed to have been originally a mere collection of His sayings
and parables; was written in Aramaic, the spoken language of the Jews at
the period, of which the version we have in Greek is a translation, as
some think by Matthew himself; its aim is to show that Jesus of Nazareth
is the Messiah promised in the Old Testament, in a form, however, which
led to His rejection by the Jews, and their consequent rejection by Him,
to the proclamation of His gospel among the Gentiles (chap. xxviii. 19,
20).
MATTHIAS CORVINUS, conqueror and patron of learning, born at
Klausenburg; was elected King of Hungary 1458; though arbitrary in his
measures, he promoted commerce, dispensed justice, fostered culture, and
observed sound finance; he founded the University of Buda-Pesth, an
observatory, and great library, but his reign was full of wars; for nine
years he fought the Turks and took from them Bosnia, Moldavia, and
Wallachia; from 1470 till 1478 the struggle was with Bohemia, from which
he wrested Moravia, Silesia, and Lusatia; then followed war with
Frederick III., the capture of Vienna 1485, and a large part of Austria
1487; he made Vienna his capital, and died there (1443-1490).
MATURIN, CHARLES ROBERT, novelist, a poor curate in Dublin, where
he died; wrote "The Fatal Revenge" and other extravagant tales, and
produced one successful tragedy, "Bertram," 1816 (1782-1824).
MAUDSLEY, HENRY, specialist in mental diseases, born near
Giggleswick; was educated at University College, London, and graduated
M.D. 1857; after being physician in Manchester Asylum, he returned to
London 1862, and was professor of Medical Jurisprudence at his own
college 1869-79; he is the author of several works on mental pathology;
_b_. 1835.
MAUNDAY-THURSDAY, the Thursday before Good Friday, on which day it
was customary for high people to wash the feet of a number of poor
people, and on which Royal alms are bestowed by the Royal Almoner to the
poor.
MAUPASSANT, GUY DE, a clever French romancer, born at Fecamp; served
in the Franco-German War, and afterwards gave himself to letters,
producing novels, stories, lyrics, and plays; died insane (1850-1893).
MAUPEOU, chancellor of France, whose ministry was signalised by the
banishment of the Parlement of Paris, and the institution of _Conseils du
roi_; the Parlement Maupeou became a laughing-stock under Louis XV., and
Louis XVI. recalled the old Parlement on his accession (1714-1792).
MAUPERTUIS, PIERRE LOUIS MOREAU DE, French mathematician and
astronomer, born at St. Malo; went to Lapland to measure a degree of
longitude, to ascertain the figure of the earth; wrote a book "On the
Figure of the Earth"; was invited to Berlin by Frederick the Great, and
made President of the Academy of Science there; was satirised by Voltaire
much to the annoyance of the king, who patronised him and prided himself
in the institution of which he was the head (1698-1759).
MAUR, ST., a disciple of St. Benedict in the 6th century; the
congregation of Saint-Maur, founded in 1613, was a perfect nursery of
scholarly men, known as Maurists.
MAUREPAS, French statesman, born at Versailles; was minister of
France under Louis XV. and again under Louis XVI., an easy-going,
careless minister, "adjusted his cloak well to the wind, if so be he
might have pleased all parties" (1701-1784).
MAURICE, FREDERICK DENISON, a liberal theologian and social
reformer, born at Normanstone, near Lowestoft, the son of a Unitarian
minister; started as a literary man, and for a time edited the
_Athenaeum_, and took orders in the English Church in 1834; was chaplain
to Guy's Hospital and afterwards to Lincoln's Inn, and incumbent of Vere
Street Chapel; held professorships in Literature, in Theology, and Moral
Philosophy; was a disciple of Coleridge and a Broad Churchman, who
"promoted the charities of his faith, and parried its discussion"; one of
the originators of Christian Socialism along with Kingsley, and the
founder of the Working-Man's College; his writings were numerous though
somewhat vague in their teachings, and had many admirers (1805-1872).
MAURICE OF NASSAU, Prince of Orange; one of the most famous generals
of modern times, son of William the Silent, on whose assassination he was
elected Stadtholder, and became by his prowess the liberator of the
United Provinces from the yoke of Spain; his name is stained by his
treatment of Barneveldt, who saw and opposed his selfish designs
(1567-1625).
MAURISTS, a congregation of reformed Benedictines, with
head-quarters in Paris, disbanded in 1792; were through the 17th and 18th
centuries noted for their services to learning; they published many
historical and ecclesiastical works, including a "History of the
Literature of France," and boasted in their number Montfaucon, Mabillon,
and other scholars. See MAUR, ST.
MAURITANIA, was the old name of the African country W. of the Muluya
River and N. of the Atlas Mountains, from which supplies of corn and
timber were obtained.
MAURITIUS, or ISLE OF FRANCE (372), a volcanic island in the
Indian Ocean, 550 m. E. of Madagascar, as large as Caithness, with
mountains 3000 feet high, a tableland in the centre, and many short
streams; the climate is cool in winter, hot in the rainy season, and
subject to cyclones; formerly well wooded, the forests have been cut down
to make room for sugar, coffee, maize, and rice plantations; sugar is the
main export; the population is very mixed; African and Eastern races
predominate; descendants of French settlers and Europeans number 110,000;
discovered by the Portuguese in 1510, they abandoned it 90 years later;
the Dutch held it for 112 years, and abandoned it in turn; occupied by
the French in 1721, it was captured by Britain in 1810, and is now, with
some other islands, a crown colony, under a governor and council. PORT
LOUIS (62), on the NW., is the capital, and a British naval coaling
station.
MAURY, ABBE, born in Vaucluse, son of a shoemaker; came to Paris,
and became celebrated as a preacher; "skilfulest vamper of old rotten
leather to make it look like new," was made member of the Constituent
Assembly, "fought Jesuistico-rhetorically, with toughest lungs and heart,
for throne, specially for altar and tithes"; his efforts, though
fruitless for throne, gained in the end the "red cardinal plush," and
Count d'Artois and he embraced each other "with a kiss" (1740-1817).
MAURY, MATTHEW FONTAINE, American hydrographer, born in Virginia;
entered the United States navy in 1825, became lieutenant in 1837,
studied the Gulf Stream, oceanic currents, and great circle sailing, and
in 1856 published his "Physical Geography of the Sea"; took the side of
the Confederates in the Civil War, and was afterwards appointed professor
in the Military College at Lexington, in Virginia (1806-1873).
MAUSOLE`UM, a building more or less elaborate, used as a tomb. See
MAUSOLUS.
MAUSOLUS, a king of Caria, husband of Artemisia, who in 353 raised a
monument to his memory, called the Mausoleum, and reckoned one of the
Seven Wonders of the world.
MAX MUeLLER, FRIEDRICH, philologist, born at Dessau, son of a German
poet, Wilhelm Mueller; educated at Leipzig; studied at Paris, and came to
England in 1846; was appointed Taylorian Professor at Oxford in 1854, and
in 1868 professor of Comparative Philology there, a science to which he
has made large contributions; besides editing the "Rig-Veda," he has
published "Lectures on the Science of Language" and "Chips from a German
Workshop," dealing therein not merely with the origin of languages, but
that of the early religious and social systems of the East; _b_. 1823.
MAXIM, HIRAM S., American inventor, born at Tangerville, Maine,
U.S.; showed early a decided mechanical talent, and is best known in
connection with the invention of the gun named after him, but among his
other inventions are the smokeless powder, the incandescent lamp carbons,
and search-lights; B. 1840.
MAXIM GUN, an automatic machine-gun invented by Hiram S. Maxim, an
American, in 1884, capable of discharging 620 rifle cartridges per
minute; the first shot is fired by hand, and the recoil is utilised to
reload and fire the next, and so on. A cylinder of water keeps the barrel
from heating.
MAXIMILIAN, FERDINAND JOSEPH, archduke of Austria, younger brother
of Francis Joseph, born at Schoenbrunn; became emperor of Mexico; issued
an edict threatening death to any Mexican who took up arms against the
empire, roused the Liberal party against him, and was at the head of 8000
men defeated at Queretaro, taken prisoner, tried by court-martial, and
shot (1832-1867).
MAXIMILIAN I., emperor of Germany, son of Frederick III., acquired
Burgundy and Flanders by marriage, which involved him in a war with
France; became emperor on the death of his father in 1493; became by
marriage Duke of Milan, and brought Spain under the power of his dynasty
by the marriage of his son Philip to the daughter of Ferdinand and
Isabella; it was he who assembled the Diet of Augsburg at which Luther
made appeal to the Pope (1459-1519).
MAXWELL, JAMES CLERK, eminent physicist, born in Edinburgh, son of
John Clerk Maxwell of Middlebie; attained the rank of senior wrangler at
Cambridge; became professor in Aberdeen in 1856, in London in 1860, and
of Experimental Physics in Cambridge in 1871; in this year appeared the
first of his works, "The Theory of Heat," which was followed by
"Electricity and Magnetism" and "Matter and Motion," the second being his
greatest; he was as sincere a Christian as he was a zealous scientist
(1831-1879).
MAXWELL, SIR WILLIAM STIRLING, of Keir, Perthshire, a man of refined
scholarship; travelled in Italy and Spain; wrote on subjects connected
with the history and the artists of Spain (1818-1878).
MAY, the fifth month of the year, so called from a Sanskrit word
signifying to grow, as being the shooting or growing month.
MAY, ISLE OF, island at the mouth of the Firth of Forth, 51/2 m. SE.
of Crail on the Fife coast; has a lighthouse with an electric light,
flashing out at intervals to a distance of 22 nautical miles.
MAY, SIR THOMAS ERSKINE, English barrister; became Clerk of the
House of Commons in 1871; wrote a parliamentary text-book, "Democracy in
Europe," and a "Constitutional History of England since the Accession of
George III.," in continuation of the works of Hallam and Stubbs
(1815-1886).
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