MACROMETER, an optical instrument to determine the size or distance of inaccessible objects.

MACTURK, CAPTAIN HECTOR, "the man of peace" in "St. Ronan's Well."

MADAGASCAR (3,500), largest island in the world but two, in the Indian Ocean, 300 m. off the Mozambique coast, SE. Africa; is nearly three times the size of Great Britain, a plateau in the centre, with low, fertile, wooded ground round about; has many extinct volcanoes and active hot springs; the highest peak is Ankaratra (9000 ft.), in the centre; the NW. coast has some good harbours; there are 300 m. of lagoons on the E.; the biggest lake is Alaotra, and the rivers flow mostly W.; the climate is hot, with copious rains, except in the S.; rice, coffee, sugar, and vanilla are cultivated; many kinds of valuable timber grow in the forests, and these, with cattle, hides, and india-rubber, constitute the exports; gold, iron, copper, lead, and sulphur are found, and the natives are skilled in working metals; the Malagasys possess civilised institutions; slavery was abolished in 1879; a quarter of the population is Christian; the heathen section, though untruthful and immoral, are affectionate, courageous, and loyal; Antananarivo (100), the capital, is situated in the interior, and has many fine buildings; chief ports, Tamatave on the E. and Majunga on the NW. coasts; the island has been under French protection since 1890, and is a French colony since 1896.

MADEIRA (140), the chief of a group of small volcanic islands with precipitous coasts, in the Atlantic, 400 m. off Morocco; has peaks 6000 ft. high and deep picturesque ravines; the island is a favourite resort for consumptives; the climate is very mild and equable, the rainfall moderate, and the soil fertile; crops of cereals and potatoes are raised; oranges, lemons, grapes, figs, and bananas abound; Madeira wine is famous, and the chief export; Funchal (21) is the capital, with an exposed harbour and some good buildings; the islands form a province of Portugal.

MADEIRA RIVER (i. e. river of the wood), formed by the junction of the Mamore and Beni on the borders of Bolivia and Brazil, flows 900 m. NE., and joins the Amazon, as an affluent its longest and largest, and forms a magnificent navigable waterway.

MADELEINE, CHURCH OF THE, one of the principal and wealthiest churches in Paris, erected in the style of a Greek temple, and the building of which, began in 1764, was not finished till 1842, both the interior and exterior of which has been adorned by the most distinguished artists.

MADGE WILDFIRE, a pretty but giddy girl in the "Heart of Midlothian," whom seduction and the murder of her child drove crazy.

MADISON, JAMES, American statesman and President, born at Port Conway, Virginia, educated at Princeton; devoted himself to politics in 1776; he took part in framing the Virginia constitution, and subsequently secured religious liberty in the State; with Jay and Hamilton he collaborated to establish the federation of the States and to frame the Federal Constitution; the "three-fifths" rule, which won the adhesion of the slave-holding States, was his suggestion; elected to the first Congress, he attached himself to Jefferson's party, and was Secretary of State during Jefferson's Presidency, 1801-1809; he succeeded his former leader and held office for two terms, during which the war of 1812-14 with England was waged; his public life closed with his term of office, 1817 (1751-1836).

MADMAN OF THE NORTH, Charles XII. of Sweden, so called from his temerity and impetuosity.

MADOC, a Welshman who, according to Welsh tradition, discovered America 300 years before Columbus, after staying in which for a time he returned, gave an account of what he had seen and experienced, and went back, but was never heard of more; his story has been amplified by Southey in an epic.

MADONNA is the name given to pictures of the Virgin with the infant Christ, and more generally to all sacred pictures in which the Virgin is a prominent figure; the Virgin has been a favourite subject of art from the earliest times, the first representation of her being, according to legend, by St. Luke; different countries and schools have depicted their Madonnas, each in its own characteristic style; the greatest of all are the Sistine and Della Sedia of Raphael.

MADRAS (35,630), one of the three Indian Presidencies, occupies the S. and E. of the peninsula, and is one-half as large again as Great Britain; the chief mountains are the Ghats, from which flow SE. the Godavari, Kistna, and Kavari Rivers, which, by means of extensive irrigation works, fertilise the plains; climate is various; on the W. coast very hot and with a rainfall from June to October of 120 inches, producing luxurious vegetation; on the E. the heat is also great, but the rainfall, which comes chiefly between October and December, is only 40 inches; in the hill country, e. g. Ootacamund, the government summer quarters, it is genial and temperate all the year, and but for the monsoons the finest in the world; rice is everywhere the chief crop; cotton is grown in the E., tobacco in the Godavari region, tea, coffee, and cinchona on the hills, and sugar-cane in different districts; gold is found in Mysore (native State), and diamonds in the Karnul; iron abounds, but without coal; the teak forests are of great value; cotton, gunny-bags, sugar, and tiles are the chief manufactures; English settlements date from 1611; the population, chiefly Hindu, includes 2 million Mohammedans and 3/4 million Christians; the chief towns are Rujumahendri (28), Vizugapatam (34), Trichinopoli (91), of cheroot fame, and Mangalore (41), on the W. coast, and the capital MADRAS (453), on the E., Coromandel, coast, a straggling city, hot but healthy, with an open roadstead, pier, and harbour exposed to cyclones, a university, examining body only, colleges of science, medicine, art, and agriculture, and a large museum; the chief exports are coffee, tea, cotton, and indigo.

MADRID (522), since 1561 the capital of Spain, on the Manzanares, a mere mountain torrent, on an arid plateau in New Castile, the centre of the peninsula; is an insanitary city, and liable to great extremes of temperature; it is regularly built, sometimes picturesque, with great open spaces, such as the Prado, 3 m. long; fine buildings and handsome streets. It contains the royal palace, parliament and law-court houses, a university, magnificent picture-gallery, many charitable institutions, and a bull-ring. The book-publishing, tapestry weaving, and tobacco industries are the most important. It is a growing and prosperous city.

MADRIGAL, a short lyric containing some pleasant thought or sweet sentiment daintily expressed; applied also to vocal music of a similar character.

MADVIG, JOHAN NICOLAI, Danish scholar and politician, born at Svaneke, Bornholm; studied at Copenhagen, where he became professor of Latin in 1829; his studies of the Latin prose authors brought him world-wide fame, and his Latin Grammar (1841) and Greek Syntax (1846) were invaluable contributions to scholarship; he entered parliament, was repeatedly its president, and was Liberal Minister of Education and Religion 1848 to 1851; he died blind (1804-1886).

MAEANDER, a river in Phrygia, flowing through the Plain of Troy, and noted for its numerous windings.

MAECENAS, a wealthy Roman statesman, celebrated for his patronage of letters; was the friend and adviser of Augustus Caesar, and the patron of Virgil and Horace; claimed descent from the ancient Etruscan kings; left the most of his property to Augustus; d. 8 B.C.

MAELSTROeM. See MALSTROeM.

MAENADES, the priestesses of Bacchus, who at the celebration of his festivals gave way to expressions of frenzied enthusiasm, as if they were under the spell of some demonic power.

MAEONIDES, a name given to Homer, either as the son of Maeon, or as born, according to one tradition, in Maeonia.

MAESTRICHT (33), capital of Dutch Limburg, on the Maes, 57 m. E. of Brussels; has manufactures of glass, earthenware, and carpets; near it are the vast subterranean quarries of the Pietersberg, opened by the Romans.

MAETERLINCK, MAURICE, Belgian dramatist, born at Ghent; earned his fame by "La Princesse Maleine," produced in Paris 1890, and followed by "L'Intruse," "Les Aveugles," and several other plays; his essays show religious sympathies; b. 1864.

MAFEKING, a station in NE. of British Bechuanaland, on the Transvaal frontier, on the railway from Cape Town.

MAFFIA, a Sicilian secret society which aims at boycotting the law-courts, superseding the law, and ruling the island; its chief weapon is the boycott; violence is only resorted to for vengeance; funds are raised by blackmail; popular support enables it to control elections, avoid legal proceedings, and influence industrial questions. The Italian government try in vain to put it down.

MAGDALA, an Abyssinian hill fortress on a lofty plateau 300 m. S. of Massowah; captured by Lord Napier, who had been sent in 1868 to rescue certain British subjects held prisoners there, and which he succeeded in doing.

MAGDALENE, MARY, a Galilaean, belonging to Magdala, on the Sea of Galilee, who followed Christ, stood by the cross, prepared spices for His sepulchre, to whom He first appeared after His resurrection, and who is supposed by some recent critics to be the sole voucher for His rising again.

MAGDEBURG (202), on the Elbe, 75 m. SW. of Berlin, is the capital of Prussian Saxony, one of the most important fortresses, the chief sugar market of Germany, and the seat of large iron manufactures; it has also distilleries and cotton mills, and is a busy railway centre; it is a place of ancient date and historical interest.

MAGELLAN, FERDINAND, Portuguese navigator; served his country first in the East Indies and Morocco, but dissatisfied with King Manuel's treatment of him, offered himself to Spain; under Charles V.'s patronage he and Ruy Falero set out to reach the Moluccas by the west in 1519; he reached the Philippines, and died in battle in Matan; on this voyage he discovered the MAGELLAN STRAIT, 375 m. long and 15 m. wide, between the South American mainland and Tierra del Fuego; he gave name to the Pacific from the calm he exceptionally, it appears, experienced on entering it (1470-1521).

MAGELLANIC CLOUDS, two masses of stars and nebulae seen in the southern hemisphere, not far from the South Pole.

MAGENDIE, FRANCOIS, a celebrated French physiologist, born at Bordeaux; was the author of several works on physiology, made important discoveries in connection with the animal system, and was an unscrupulous vivisectionist (1783-1855).

MAGENTA (6), Italian town, 15 m. W. of Milan, where Macmahon defeated a superior Austrian force in 1859.

MAGGIORE, LAGO (i. e. the Greater Lake), a large lake in the N. of Italy, partly in Switzerland, 37 m. in length, and 8 m. in greatest breadth, the river Ticino flowing through it. THE BORROMEAN ISLANDS (q. v.) occupy a western arm of the lake.

MAGI, a priestly caste in the East, constituting the "learned" class, as the Druids in the West: the custodiers of religion and the rites connected therewith, and who gave themselves up to the study of sciences of a recondite character, but with a human interest, such as astrology and magic, and who were held in great reverence by, and exercised a great influence over, the people.

MAGI, THE THREE, the "wise men from the East" mentioned in Matt. ii.—Melchior, an old man, who brought gold, the emblem of royalty; Gaspar, a youth, who brought frankincense, the emblem of divinity; Balthazar, a Moor, who brought myrrh, the emblem of humanity—and who were eventually regarded as the patron saints of travellers.

MAGIC, the pretended art to which extraordinary and marvellous effects are ascribed, of evoking and subjecting to the human will supernatural powers, and of producing by means of them apparitions, incantations, cures, &c., and the practice of which we find prevailing in all superstitious ages of the world and among superstitious people. See SUPERSTITION.

MAGINN, WILLIAM, a witty, generous-hearted Irishman, born in Cork; a man of versatile ability, who contributed largely to Blackwood, and became editor of Fraser's Magazine, in the conduct of which latter he gathered round him as contributors a number of the most eminent literary men; the stories and verses he wrote gave signs of something like genius (1793-1842).

MAGLIABECCHI, an inordinate bookworm, born in Florence; became librarian of the Grand-Duke; his book-knowledge was as unbounded as his avidity for knowledge; his memory was extraordinary; he carried in his head the page of a passage in a book as well as the passage itself in the ipsissima verba, (1633-1714).

MAGNA CHARTA, "the great charter," extorted from King John by the barons of England at Runnymede on June 5, 1215, that guaranteed certain rights and privileges to the subjects of the realm, which were pronounced inviolable, and that established the supremacy of the law over the will of the monarch.

MAGNA GRAECA, the ancient name of the southern part of Italy, so called in early times as it was extensively colonised by Greeks.

MAGNET, the name given to loadstone as first discovered in Magnesia, a town in Asia Minor; also to a piece of iron, nickel, or cobalt having similar properties, notably the power of setting itself in a definite direction; also a coil of wire carrying an electric current, because such a coil really possesses the properties characteristic of an iron magnet.

MAGNETIC INDUCTION, power in a magnet of imparting its qualities to certain other substances.

MAGNETISM, the branch of science devoted to the study of the properties of magnets, and of electric currents in their magnetic relations; sometimes also used to denote the subtle influence supposed to lie at the root of all magnetic phenomena, of the true nature of which nothing is known. See ANIMAL MAGNETISM.

MAGNIFICAT, THE, a musical composition embracing the song of the Virgin Mary in Luke I. 46-55, so called from the first word of the song in the Vulgate; it belongs to, and forms part of, the evening service.

MAGNUSSEN, FINN, a Scandinavian scholar and archaeologist, born in Iceland; became professor of Literature at Copenhagen in 1815; distinguished for his translation and exposition of the "Elder Edda" (1781-1847).

MAGYARS, a people of Mongolian origin from the highlands of Central Asia that migrated westward and settled in Hungary and Transylvania, where they now form the dominant race.

MAHABHARATA, one of the two great epic poems of ancient India, a work of slow growth, extending through ages, and of an essentially encyclopaedic character; one of the main sources of our knowledge of the ancient Indian religions and their mythologies; it is said to consist of upwards of 100,000 verses.

MAHADEVA, the great god of the Hindus; an appellation of SIVA (q. v.), as Mahadevi is of Durga, his wife.

MAHANADE, a great Indian river which, after flowing eastward for over 500 m., the last 300 of which are navigable, falls into the Bay of Bengal near Cape Palmyras; its volume in flood is enormous, and renders it invaluable for irrigation.

MAHATMA, one who, according to the Theosophists, has passed through the complete cycle of incarnation, has thereby attained perfection of being, and acquired the rank of high priesthood and miraculous powers in the spirit world, one, it would seem, of "the spirits of just men made perfect."

MAHDI (i. e. religious leader), a name given to any Mohammedan fanatic who arises in the interest of the Mohammedan faith, summons the Moslems to war, and leads them to repel the infidel; a kind of Mohammed Messiah armed with the sword for the conquest of the world to the faith.

MAHDI, MOHAMMED AHMED, a Mohammedan fanatic, born in Dongola, and who, at the head of an army of dervishes, raised his standard for the revival of Islam in the Soudan; he was unsuccessfully opposed by the Egyptians, and Khartoum, occupied by them, fell into his hands, to the sacrifice of General Gordon, just as the British relief army under Lord Wolseley approached its walls in 1885, a few months after which he died at Omdurman.

MAHDISM, a hope cherished by devout Moslems of a Mahdi to come who will lead them on to victory against the infidel and to the conquest of the world.

MAHMUD II., Sultan of Turkey; crushed a rebellion on his accession by putting his brother to death, on whose behalf the janissaries had risen, as they afterwards did to their annihilation at his hands by wholesale massacre; by the victory of Navarino in 1827 he lost his hold of Greece, which declared its independence, and was near losing his suzerainty in Egypt when he died; his reign was an eventful one (1785-1839).

MAHOMET. See MOHAMMED.

MAHON, LORD, EARL STANHOPE, statesman and historian; wrote "History of the War of the Succession in Spain," "History of the Reign of Queen Anne," and "History of England from the Peace of Utrecht to the Peace of Versailles" (1805-1875).

MAHONY, FRANCIS, an Irish priest, born in Cork, who took to journalism, and is known by his nom de plume of Father Prout; contributed to Fraser's Magazine, and was foreign correspondent to the Daily News and the Globe; was famous for his elegant translations (1804-1866).

MAHOUN, a contemptuous name for Mahomet, transferred in Scotland to the devil, who was called Old Mahoun.

MAHRATTAS, a warlike Hindu race in Central India, occupying a territory watered by the Nerbudda, Godavari, and Kistna, who at one time kept up a struggle for the supremacy of India with the British, but were finally subdued in 1843.

MAI, ANGELO, cardinal, distinguished scholar and editor; became librarian of the Vatican; was distinguished for deciphering PALIMPSESTS (q. v.), and thus disclosing lost classical works or fragments of them; he edited a number of unedited MSS. which he found in the Vatican, and in particular the Vatican codex of the Bible (1782-1854).

MAIA, the daughter of Atlas, the eldest of the seven PLEIADES (q. v.), and the mother by Zeus of Hermes or Mercury.

MAID MARIAN, a man dressed as a woman who grimaced and performed antics in the morris dances.

MAID OF NORWAY, daughter of Eric II., king of Norway, and through her mother heiress to the Scottish crown; died on her passage to Scotland in 1240.

MAID OF ORLEANS, Joan of Arc, so called from her defence of Orleans against the English. See JOAN.

MAIDEN, THE, a sort of guillotine that appears to have been in use in Scotland during the 15th and 16th centuries, of which there is one in the Antiquarian Museum, Edinburgh.

MAIDMENT, JAMES, antiquary and collector, born in London; passed through Edinburgh University to the Scotch bar, and was chief authority on genealogical cases; his hobby was the collection of literary rarities, and he published editions of ancient literary remains; he died at Edinburgh (1794-1879).

MAIDSTONE (32), county town of Kent, on the Medway, 30 m. SE. of London; has several fine old churches and historical buildings, a grammar school and a school of art and music, numerous paper-mills, and breweries, and does a large trade in hops; Woollett the engraver and Hazlitt the essayist were born here.

MAIMON, SOLOMON, philosopher, born, of Jewish parents, in a village of Minsk; came to Berlin, where he studied, lived an eccentric, vagabond life, dependent mostly on his friends; made the acquaintance of Kant and Goethe, and attempted and published an eclectic system of philosophy in 1790, being Kant's system supplemented from Spinoza, Leibnitz, and Locke, and even Hume; his last patron was Count Kalkreuth, at whose house in Siegersdorf he died (1754-1800).

MAIMONIDES, MOSES, a Jewish rabbi, born at Cordova, whom the Jews regarded as their Plato, and called the "Lamp of Israel" and the "Eagle of the doctors"; was a man of immense learning, and was physician to the Sultan of Egypt; in his relation to the Jews he ranks next to Moses, and taught them to interpret their religion in the light of reason; he wrote a "Commentary on the Mishna and the Second Law," but his chief work is the "Moreh Nebochim," or "Guide to the Perplexed" (1135-1204).

MAINE (662), the most north-easterly State in the American Union, lies between Quebec and New Hampshire on the W. and New Brunswick and the Atlantic on the E., and is a little larger than Ireland, a picturesque State with high mountains in the W., Katahdin (5000 ft), many large lakes like Moosehead, numerous rivers, and a much indented rocky coast; the climate is severe but healthy, the soil only in some places fertile, the rainfall is abundant; dense forests cover the north; hay, potatoes, apples, and sweet corn are chief crops; cotton, woollen, leather manufactures, lumber working, and fruit canning are principal industries; the fisheries are valuable; timber, building stone, cattle, wool, and in winter ice are exported; early Dutch, English, and French settlements were unsuccessful till 1630; from 1651 Maine was part of Massachusetts, till made a separate State in 1820; the population is English-Puritan and French-Canadian in origin; education is advancing; the State's Liquor Law of 1851 was among the first of the kind: the capital is Augusta (11); Portland (36) is the largest city and chief seaport; Lewiston (22) has cotton manufactures.

MAINE, SIR HENRY, English jurist, legal member of the Council in India, and professor of Jurisprudence at Oxford; wrote on "Ancient Law," and important works on ancient institutions generally; regarded the social system as a development of the patriarchal system (1822-1888).

MAINTENANCE, CAP OF, an ermine-lined, crimson velvet cap, the wearing of which was a distinction granted first to dukes but subsequently to various other families.

MAINTENON, FRANCOISE D'AUBIGNE, MARQUISE DE, born in the prison of Niort, where her father was incarcerated as a Protestant; though well inoculated with Protestant principles she turned a Catholic, married the poet Scarron in 1652, became a widow in 1660; was entrusted with the education of the children of Louis XIV. and Madame de Montespan; supplanted the latter in the king's affections, and was secretly married to him in 1684; she exercised a great influence over him, not always for good, and on his death in 1715 retired into the Convent of St. Cyr, which she had herself founded for young ladies of noble birth but in humble circumstances (1635-1719).

MAINZ or MAYENCE (72), in Hesse-Darmstadt, on the Rhine, 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).