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/
THE GENERAL
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY
A NEW EDITION.
VOL. XXI.
» :
» .
; /
*. #
Printed by Nichols, Son, and Bentlby,
Red Lion Postage, Fleet Street, London.
THE GENERAL
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY:
CONTAINING
AN HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL ACCOUNT
OF THE
LIVES AND WRITINGS
OF THE
MOST EMINENT PERSONS
IN EVERY NATION;
PARTICULARLY THE BRITISH AND IRISH;
FROM THE EARLIEST ACCOUNTS TO THE PRESENT TIME.
A NEW EDITION,
REVISED AND ENLARGED BY.
ALEXANDER CHALMERS, F. S. A.
VOL. XXI.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR J. NICHOL8 AND SON ; F. C. AND J. RIV1NGTON ; T. PAYNE \
OTR1DGE AND SON ; G, AND W. NICOL ; G. WILKIE $ J. WALKER $ R. LEA ;
W.LOWNDES; WHITE, COCHRANE, AND CO.; T. EGERTON; LACKINGTON,
ALLEN, AND CO.; J. CARPENTER; LONGMAN, HURST, RER8, ORME, AND
BROWN; CADELL AND DAV1ES ; C. LAW; J. BOOKER; J. CUTHELL; CLARKE
AND SONS; J. AND A. ARCH; J.HARRIS; BLACK, PARRY, AND CO. ; J. BOOTH ;
J. MAWMAN; GALE, CURTIS, AND FENNER; R. H. EVANS; J. HATCHARDj
J.MURRAY; R. BALDWIN; CRADOCK AND JOY ; E. BENTLEY ; J. FAULDER ;
OGLE AND CO.; W. GINGER; J. DEIGHTON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE; CONSTABLE
AND CO. EDINBURGH; AND WILSON AND SON, YORK.
1815.
A NEW AND GENERAL
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
JLiUXEMBOURG (Francis Henry de Montmorenci,
DffKE of), a very celebrated general and mareschal of
France* was a posthumous son of the famous Bouteville,
who was beheaded under Louis XIII. for fighting a duel.
He was born in 1628, and in 1643 was present at the battle
of Rocroi, under the great Cond6, whose pupil he was,
and whom he followed in all his fortunes. He also re-
sembled that great man in many of hia eminent qualities,
in acuteness of perception, thirsfyfor knowledge, prompt-
ness in action, and ardour of gejjius. Tfhese qualities he
displayed in the conquest of Frat^e>6oipt£ in 1668, where
he served as lieutenant-general, ^e^eryed also in the
Dutch campaign of 1672, took many towns, and gained
some trophies in the field. He closed this expedition by
a retreat more famous than bis victories, which be accom-
plished with an army of 20,000 men, against the opposition
of 70,000. After distinguishing himself in another expe-
dition in Fran che- Com ti, he was advanced, in 1675, to
the dignity of mareschal of France. He fought, during
the remainder of that war, with various success. In the
second war of Louis XIVr against the allied powers in
1 690, he gained the battle of Fleurus, and it was gene**
rally allowed that he prevailed in it chiefly by the supe-
riority of his genius to that of his antagonist the prince of
Waldeck* In the ensuing year, 1691, he gained the.
battles of Leufen and Steinkirk; and, continuing to be op-
posed to king William of England, he was again success-
ful, in the bloody battle of Nerwinde, where there fell on
die two sides near 20,000 men. It was said in France,
that on this occasion they should not sing Te Deum, but
Vol. XXI. B
3 LUXEMBOURG^
l)e prqfundis, the mass for the dead. — The duke of Luxem-
bourg is said to have had an ordinary countenance and a
deformed figure, in consequence of which William UK
whose constant antagonist be was, is reported to have said
once with some impatience, " What ! shall I never beat
this hump-backed fellow ?" This speech being repeated to
the duke, " How should he know," said he, " the shape
of my back ? I am sure he never saw me turn it to him."
The last great action of the duke's life was a second famous
retreat, in the presence of superior forces, through a con-
siderable extent of country, to Tournay. This was in
1694, and he died the following year, Jan. 4, at the age
of sixty-seven. Notwithstanding the disadvantages of his
person, Luxembourg is said to have been much involved
in intrigues of gallantry. He had some powerful enemies,
particularly the minister Louvois, who once had him con-
fined very unjustly in the Bastille. Among other frivolous
calumnies on which he was then interrogated, he wa& asked
whether he had not made a league with the devil, to marry
his son to the daughter of the marquis de Louvois. His
answer was replete with the high spirit of French nobility.
*' When Matthew of Montmorenci," said he, <c married a
queen of France, he addressed himself, not tb the devil,
but to the states- general ; and the declaration of the states
was, that in order to gain the support of the house of
Montmorenci for the young king in his minority, it would
be right to conclude that marriage." Idle as the accusa-
tions against him were, they cost him a confinement of
fourteen months, and he had no subsequent redress.1
LYGOPHRON, a Greek poet and grammarian, was a
native of Chalcis, in Euboea, and according to Ovid, was
killed by a shot with an arrow. He flourished about 304
years before Christ, and wrote a poem entitled " Alex-
andra/9 or Cassandra, containing a long course of predic-
tions, which he supposes to be made by Cassandra, daugh-
ter of Priam, king of Troy. This poem has created a great
deal of trouble to the learned, on account of its obscurity,
which procured him the title of " the tenebrous poet."
Suidas has preserved the titles of twenty tragedies of his
composing ; and he is reckoned in the number of the poets
who were called the Pleiades, and who flourished under
Ptoletoy Philadelphus, king of Egypt. The best edition
>'. ■ *.'■"•
1 Mtoreri.— Diet. Ifot— -Perrault's Les Homines Wustres.
LYC OP HttOK. $
>
of " Lyco^hron,'* is that at Oxford, 1 697, by' Dr. (adfe*.
wards archbishop) Potter; re-printed there in 1701, folia.
A few years ago, the rev. Henry Meen, B. D. published
"Remarks" on the " Cassandra," which' are highly judi-
cious, and his conjectures in illustration of the obscurities
of Lycophron, plausible and happy.1
LYCURGUS, the celebrated lawgiver of Sparta, flou-
rished, according to the most judicious modfcrn chrorio*
logers, about 898 years before the Christian aera. Plutarch
seems to. think that he was the fifth in descent from Pfocles,
and the tenth from Hercules. When the sceptre' devolved
to him by the death of his brother Polydectes, the widow
of that prince was pregnant. He was no sooner assured of
this, than he determined to hold the sovereign power irt
trust only, in case the child should prove a son, and took
the title of Prodicus or Protector, instead of that of kingj
It is added, that he had the virtue to resist the offers of
the queen, who would have married him, with the dread-*
fill promise that no son sk&uld be born to intercept his views.
A son at length was born, and publicly presented by Kim ,
to the people, from whose joy on the occasion he named
the infant Charilaus, i. e. the people's joy. Lycurgus was
at this time a young man, and the state of Sparta was too
turbulent and licentious for him to introduce any system
of regulation, without being armed with some more ex-
press authority. How long he continued to administer the'
government is uncertain ; probably till his nephew was of age
to take it into his own hands. After resigning it, however,
he did not long remain in Sparta, but went as a traveller to
visit other countries and study their laws, particularly those
of Crete, which were highly renowned for their excellence^
and had been instituted by Rhadamanthus and Minos, two
illustrious legislators, who pretended to have received their
laws from Jupiter. Lycurgus passed some years in this
useful employment, but he had left behind him such a re-
putation for wisdom and justice, that when the corruption
and confusion of the state became intolerable, he was re-
called by a public invitation1 to assume the quality of legis-
lator, and to new model the government.
Lycurgus willingly returned to undertake the task thus
devolved upon him, and, having obtained, aft£r ' various?'
difficulties,' the co-operation of the kings, and of the
1 Sazii Onomastieon.— Gen. Diet. — Moreri.— Month. Rev. N. S. vol. XXXV 1 1.
B 2
L Y C U R GU S.
various orders of the people, he formed that extraordinary
system of government which Las been the wonder of aU
subsequent ages, tut which has been too much detailed by
various authors, for us to enter into the particulars. When
with invincible courage, unwearied perseverance, and a
judgment and penetration still more extraordinary, he had
formed and executed the most singular plan that ever was
devised, he waited for a time to see his great machine in
motion ; and finding it proceed to his wish, he had now no
other object but to secure its duration. For this purpose
he convened the kings, senate, and people, told them that
be wished to* visit Delphi, to consult the oracle on the
constitution he had formed, and engaged them alt to bind
themselves by a most solemn oath, that nothing should be
altered before bis return. The approbation of the oracle
he received, but he returned no more, being determined
to bind his countrymen indissolubly to the observance of
bis laws, and thinking bis life, according to the enthu-
siastic patriotism of those time*, a small sacrifice to secure
the welfare of his country. Different accounts are given
of the place and manner of bis death. According to some
authors, he died by voluntary abstinence. One tradition
says, that he lived to a good old age in Crete, and dying a
natural death, his body was burned, according to the prac-
tice of the age, and his relics, pursuant to his own re-
quest, scattered in the sea; lest if his bones or ashes had
ever been carried to Sparta, the Lacedaemonians might
have thought themselves free from the obligation of their
oath, to preserve his laws unaltered. He is supposed to
have died after the year 873 B. C. His laws were abro-
gated by Philopaemen in the year 188 B. C. but the Ro-
mans very soon re-established them.1
LYCURGUS, an Athenian orator, contemporary with
Demosthenes, was born about 403 years before the Christ
tian sera, and died about or after 328. He was an Athe-
nian, and the son of a person named Lycopbron. He stu-
died philosophy under Plato, and rhetoric under Isocrates.*
He was of the most exalted character for integrity, in,
which he was severely scrupulous ; a strenuous defender
of liberty, a perpetual oppose? of Philip and Alexander,
add a firm friend of Demosthenes. As a magistrate, he
»
'* Mitford's History of Greece— Mbrcti.— Gen. Diet.-— Saxir OnottuuW— -
ffetyreh in oil life.
LYCURGUS. *
proceeded with severity against criminals, but kept a regis-
ter of all bis proceedings, which, on quitting bis office, be
submitted to public inspection. When he was about to
die, be publicly offered his actions to examination, and
refuted the only accuser who appeared against him. He
was one of the thirty orators whom the Athenians refused
to give up to Alexander. One oration of his, against Leo-
crates, is still extant, and has been published in the col-
lections of Aldus, Taylor, and Reiske. His eloquence par-
took of the manly severity and truth of bis character.1
LYDGATE (John), an ancient English poet, is recorded
as one of the immediate successors of Chaucer. ' The few
dates that have been recovered of his history are, that be
was ordained a sub-deacon in 1389 ; a deacon in 1393, and
a priest iiv 1397 ; from these it has been surmised that he
was born about 1375, that is, twenty-five years before the
death of Chaucer. There is a note of Wan ley's in the
Harieian Catalogue (2251. 3.) which insinuates as if Lyd-
gate did not die till 1482. This Dr. Percy thinks too long
a date ; he was, however, living in 1446, since in his " Phi-
lomela" he mentions the death of Henry duke of Warwick,
who died that year. Some authorities place his deatb in
1461, and this date Mr. Ellis' thinks is not improbable.
He was, says Warton, who of all our modern critics hat
considered him with most attention, a monk of the Bene-
dictine abbey of Bury in Suffolk. After a short education
at Oxford* be travelled into France and Italy ; and returned
a complete master of the language and the literature of
both countries. He chiefly studied the Italian and French
poets, particularly Dante, Boccaccio, and Alain Chartier;
and became so distinguished a proficient in polite learning,
that he opened a school in his monastery, for teaching the
sons of the nobility the arts of versification, and the ele-
gancies of composition. Yet, although philology was his
object, be was not unfamiliar with the fashionable philo-
sophy : he was not only a poet and a rhetorician, but a
geometriciau, an astronomer, a theologist, and a disputant.;
Mr. Warton is of opinion that he made considerable addi-
tions to those amplifications of our language, in which
Chaucer, <Jower, and Hoccleve, led the way ; and that
be is the first of our writers whose style is clothed with that
\ 7at>r. BibI, Grac.— Moreri.
6 LYDQATE.
perspicuity in1 which the English phraseology appears at
this day to an English reader.
Lydgate's pieces are very numerous. Ritson has given
a list of two hundred and fifty-one, some of which he ad-
mits may not be Lydgate's, but he supposes, on the other
hand, that he may be the author of many others that are
anonymous. His most esteemed works are his " Story of
Thebes," his " Fall of Princes," and bis " History, Siege,
and Destruction of Troy." The first is printed by Spegbt
in his edition of Chaucer ; the second, the " Fall of
Prinzes," or " Boke of Johan Bochas," ,(first printed by
Pinson in 1494, and several times since,) is a translation
from Boccaccio, or rather from a French paraphrase of his
work " De casibus Virorum et Feminarum illustrium." The
" History, &c. of Troy" was first printed by Pinsoo in*
1513, but more correctly by Marshe in 1555., This was
once the most popular of his works, and the inquisitive
reader will find much curious information in it, although
he may not be able to discover such poetical beauties as
can justify its original popularity. That popularity was,
indeed, says Mr. Ellis, excessive and unbounded; and'it
continued without much diminution during, at least, two
Centuries. To this the praises of succeeding writers, bear
ample testimony : but it is confirmed by a most direct and
singular evidence. An anonymous writer has taken the
pains to modernize the entire poem, consisting of about
28*000 verses, to change the. ancient context, and almost
every rhyme* and to throw the whole into six-line stanzas ;
and after all he published it with the name of Lydgate,
under the title of "The Life and Death of Hector," 1614,
folio, printed by Thomas Purfoot. — Of the general merits
of Lydgate, Wartbn hag spoken very favourably ; Percy,
Ritson, and Pinkerton, with contempt ; and Mr. Ellis with
the caution of a man of correct taste and judgment.1
LYPIAT (Thomas), an eminent English scholar, was
born at Alkrington or Okerton, near Banbury in Oxford-
shire, in 1572. His father, observing his natural talents,
sent him to Winchester school, where he was admitted a
scholar on the foundation, at thirteen ; and, being elected*
thence to New-college in Oxford, was put under the tuition*
of Dr. (afterwards sir) Henry Martin, who became so well
1 Warton's History of Poetry, — Ellis's Specimens. — Ritson's B.ibliographia.
—MS note in Percy's copy of Winstaoley. — Phillips's Theatrum/' by sir E.
Brydgefi.— Censura Literaria, vol. VII.
L Y D I A T. 7
known during the rebellion. Mr. Lydiat was made proba-
tioner fellow in 1591, and two years after, actual fellow.
Then taking his degree in arts, he applied himself to
astronomy, mathematics, and divinity, in the last of which
studies he was very desirous of continuing ; but, finding a
great defect in his memory and utterance, he chose rather
to resign his fellowship, which he could not hold without
entering the church, and live upon his small patrimony.
This was in 1603 ; and he spent seven years after in finish-
ing and printing such books as he had begun when in col-
lege. He first appeared as an author in 1605, by pub-
lishing his " Tractatus de variis annorum formis." Of this
he published a defence in 1607, against the censures of
Joseph Scaliger, whom he more directly attacked in his
" Emendatio Temporum ab initio mundi hue usque com-
pendio facta, contra Scaligerum et alios," 1609. This he
dedicated to prince Henry, eldest son of James I. He
was chronographer and cosmographer to that prince, who
had a great respect for him, and, had he lived, would cer-
tainly have made a provision for him. , In 1609, he became
acquainted with Dr. Usher, afterwards archbishop of Ar<-
magh, who took him into Ireland, and placed him in the
college at Dublin, where he continued two years; ant)
then purposing to return to England, the lord-deputy and
chancellor of. Ireland n>ade him, at his request, a joint
promise of a competent support, upon his coming back
thither. This appears to have been the mastership of the
school at Armagh, endowed with 50/. per annum in laud.
When he came to England, which appears to have been
in 1611, he is supposed to have been married, and to
Usher's sister; but for either supposition there seems very
little foundation. Soon after his return, however, the
rectory of Okerton becoming void, was offered to him $
and though, while he was fellow of New-college, he had
refused the offer of it by his father, who was the patron,
yet he now accepted it, and was instituted in 1612. Here
he seems to have lived happily for many years : but being
imprudently security for the debts of a near relation, which
lie was unable to pay, he was successively imprisoned at
Oxford, the KingVbench, and elsewhere, in 1629, or
1630, and remained a prisoner till sir William Bos well, a
great patron of learned men, joining with Dr. Pink, war*
den of New-college, and Dr. Usher, paid the debt, and
released him; and archbishop Laud also, at. the request of
S L YD U T.
sir Henry Martin, gave his assistance on this occasion *.
He bad no sootier got bis liberty, tban, out of aa ardent
zeal to promote literature and the honour of bis GouiHry,
he petitioned Charles I. for bis protection and encourage*
j&ent to travel into Turkey, Ethiopia, and tbe Abyssiriian
empire, in search of manuscripts relating to civil or eccle-
siastical history, or any other branch of learning, and to
print them in England. For the farther advancement of
this design, be also requested the king would apply, by
his ambassadors and ministers, to such princes as were in
alliance with him, for a similar privilege to be granted to
Lydiat and his assigns : this was a spirited design, but it
was impossible for the king at that unhappy period to pay
attention to it
This disappointment, however, did not diminish his
loyalty, and ou that account he was a great sufferer during
the rebellion. He was a man of undaunted mind, ana
talked frequently and warmly in behalf both of the king
and the bishops, refused to comply with the demands of
money made upon him by the parliament army, and with
great personal courage defended his books and papers
against their attempts to seize them, For these offences
Jie was four times plundered by some troops of the parlia^
xnent, at Compton-house in Warwickshire* to the value of
at least 70/# ; was twice carried away from his house at
Okerton ; once to Warwick, and another time to Banbury $
he was treated infamously hy the soldiers, and so muctl
debarred from decent necessaries, that he could have up
change of linen for a considerable time, without borrowing
from some charitable person. At length, after be had
lived at his parsonage several year?, in indigence and ob-
scurity, he died April 3, 1646, and was interred the next
day in the chancel of Okerton church, which bad been
rebuilt by him. .A stone was laid over his grave in 1669,
by tbe society of New-college, who also erected an hono-
rary monument, with an inscription to his memory, in the
cloister of their college.
In bis person he was low in stature, and of mean appear-
ance. In tbe matter of church discipline and ceremonies
he is said to have thought with the non- conformists, but
* In 1633, be wrote a defence, of lease* This may be given as a proof
Laud's setting up altars in churches, that what is afterwards reported of hfa
and dedicated it to him, in gratitude ipn-cojifoflttftty haw Very little fouada/-
fer bis assistance in procuring his. re- lion.
L Y D 1 A T. 9
not enough, it would appear, to gain their protection.
$Je wis, however, highly esteemed by his learned coo*
temporaries, particularly primate Usher, air Adam New-
ton, secretary, and sir Thomas Chailon4r, chamberlain to
prince Henry, Dr. J. Bainbridge, Mr. Henry Briggg, Dr.
Peter Tomer, and other* : and some foreigners did not
scruple to rank him with Mr. Joseph Mede, and even with
lord Bacon. Yet the memory of this learned man was not
of long duration, for when his misfortunes were alluded to
by Dr. Johnson in his " Vanity of Human Wishes/' in
jthese lines, .
*r If dreams yet flatter, once again attend 9
Hear.Lydiat's life, and Galileo's end:"
it was a subject of inquiry, who Lydiat was ?
' The following is, we believe, a correct list of his works,
including those already mentioned. 1. " Tractatus de
varii* anhorum formis," 1605, 8vo. 2. " Praelectio astro-
ttotnica de natura cceli & cbuditionibus eleuientoru'm.1*
3. v Disqnisitio physiologica de origirte fontium." These
two ate printed with the first 4. " Defensio tractatus de
varifs annorum formis, contra Jos. Scaligeri obtrectatio-
nem/* 1 $07, Uvo. 5. " Examen canonum chronologic
i&gogicorum," printed with the " Defensio." 6. " Eoien-
datio iemporum, &c. contra Scaligerum & alios," 1609,
Svo. 7. ** Explicatip & additamentum argumentorum in
libello emendationis temporum compendio facta de nati~
ritate Christi, & ministerii in terris," 1613, 8vo. 8. " SolU
& lunsB periodus sell annus magnus," 163d, 8vo, &c.
9. " De anui Solaris mensura epistola astronomical &c«
1621, 3vo. 10. " Numtfrus aureus, melioribus lapillis in-
signitus," &c. 1621 ; a single large sheet on one side.
11. « Canones chronologic^ &c. 1675, 8vo. 12. " Let-^
ters to Dr. James Usher, primate of Ireland/' printed in
the Appendix of his life by Dr. Parr. 13. " Marmoreum
chronicum Arundelianum, cum Annotationibus," printed
in the " Marmora Oxoniensia," by Humphrey Prideauic
He also left twenty-two manuscripts, two of which were
written in Hebrew, in the hands of Dr. John Lamphire.1
V LYE (Edward), a learned linguist and antiquary, the
•*nth6r of an excellent dictionary of the Saxon and Gothic
languages, was born at Totnes in Devonshire, in 1 704.
•
} Geo. Ptet*»4io0. Brit.-^th, Q<. toM I. —Fuller's Worthies.— UsW*
Life aad Letter*. r
10 LYE.
He virajs educated partly at home, under his father, who
kept a school at Totnes, partly under other preceptors,
but chiefly (being obliged to return home from consump-
tive complaints) by his own private care and application.
At the age of nineteen, he was admitted at Hart hall (now
Hertford college) in Oxford, took his bachelor's degree in
1716, was ordained deacon in 1717, and priest in 1719,
soon after which he was presented to the living of Hough -
ton-parva in Northamptonshire. In this retreat he laid the
foundation of his great proficiency in the Anglo-Saxon
language. He became master of arts in 1722.
Having now qualified himself completely for a work of
that nature, he undertook the arduous task of publishing
the " Etymologicum Anglicanum" of Francis Junius, from
the manuscript of the author in the Bodleian Library. To
this undertaking he was led, as he tells us in his preface,
by the commendations which Hickes and other learned
antiquaries had given to that unpublished work. In the
seventh year from the commencement of his design, he
published the work, with many additions, and particularly
that of an Anglo-Saxon Grammar prefixed. The work
was received with the utmost approbation of the learned.
In 1750, Mr. Lye became a* member of the society of an-*
tiquaries, and about the same time was presented by the
earl of Northampton to the vicarage of Yardley Hastings,
on which accession be resigned his former living of Hough*
ton ; giving an illustrious example of primitive moderation,
especially as he had hitherto supported his mother, and
had still two sisters dependent upon him. The next pub-
lication which he issued, was that of the Gothic Gospels,
undertaken at the desire of Eric Benzelius, bishop of
Upsal, who had collated and corrected them. This, which
he had been long preparing, appeared from the Oxford
press in the same year, with a Gothic Grammar prefixed*
His last years were employed chiefly in finishing for the
press his own great work, the Anglo-Saxon and Gothic
Dictionary, which was destined to owe that to another
editor, which he had performed for Junius. His manu?
script was just completed, and given to the printer, when
he died at Yardley Hastings, in 1767; and was there
buried, with a commendatory but just and ejegarjt epitaph*
His Dictionary was published in 1772, in two volumes folio,
by the rev. Owen Manning, with a grammar of th6 two
languages united, and some memoirs of the author, from
LYE. 11
which this account is taken. It appears by some original
correspondence between Mr. Lye and Dr. Ducarel (for the
perusal of which we are indebted to Mr. Nichols), that Mr.'
Lye bad been employed on his dictionary a long tinte before
1765, and that he had almost relinquished the design from
a dread of the labour and expence. In the labour he had
none to share with him, but at the time above mentioned
archbishop Seeker offered him a subscription of 50/. to
forward the work, and he appears to have hoped for similar
instances of liberality. l
LYFORD (William), a pious clergyman of the seven-
teenth century, was born about 1598, at Peysmere, near
Newbury in Berkshire, of which place his father was rec-
tor. Iu 1614 he became a commoner of Magdalen hall,
Oxford, and a demy of Magdalen college in 1617. In
1622 he took1 his degree of M. A. and was then chosen a
fellow. In 1631 he was admitted to the reading of the
sentences, and, having taken orders, was presented to
the living of Shirburne, in Dorsetshire, by John Earl of
Bristol. Here, says Wood, " he was very much resorted
to for his edifying and practical way of preaching;" and
appears indeed to have deserved the affections of his
flock,, by the most constant diligence in discharging the
duties of his office. He divided his day into the following
portions : nine hours for study, three for visits and con-
ferences with his parishioners, three for prayers and devo-
tion, two for his affairs, and the rest for his refreshment. He
divided likewise his estate into three parts, one for the use
of his family, one for a reserve in case of future wants,
and one for pious uses. His parish he divided into twenty-
eight parts, to be visited in twenty -eight days every month,
" leaving," says one of his biographers, " knowledge wher£
he found ignorance, justice where he found oppression,
peace where he found contention, and order where . be
found irregularity." -
A man of this disposition was not likely to add to die
turbulence of the times ; and although he is said to have
inclined to the presbyterian party, and was chosen one of
the assembly of divines, he never sat among them, but
remained on his living, employed in preaching, catechizing,
&c. until his death, Oct 3, 1653. Fuller and Wood unite
in* their praises of Mr. Lyford's character, and in their
t Meitooirt as above.— MS belters in Mr. Nichols's possession*
12 L Y F O R D.
opinion of bis writings, wbicb, says Wood, " savour much
of piety, zeal, and sincerity, but shew him to have been a
sealous Calvinist." Dr. Walker informs us that " be suf-
fered much from the faction, both in his name and mi-
nistry, and they wondered that so holy a man as h$ was,
should doat so much on. kings, bishops, the common prayer,
and ceremonies." He bequeathed the sum of 120/. to
Magdalen college " in gratitude for the advantages which
be bad there enjoyed, and in restitution for a sum of money,
which, according to the corrupt custom of those times, he
had received for the resignation of his fellowship."
Although he took no active part in the disputed of the
nation, he gave bis opinion on some subjects Arising out
of tbem, respecting toleration, in a work entitled " Causes
of conscience propounded in the time of Rebellion,"
which bisbop Rennet in bis "Chronicle?' says, is written
with plainness, .modesty, and impartiality. His other works
are, 1. "Principles of Faith and of a good Conscience,"
Lond. 1642 ; Oxford, 1652; 8vo. 2. " An Apology for our
public Ministry and infant Baptism," ibid. 1652, 1653,.
4to. 3* " The plain roan's senses exercised to discern
both good and evil ; or a discovery of the errors, heresies,
and blasphemies of these times, ibid. 1655, 4to, with
sonne other pious tracts.1
LYLLY. See LILLY.
LYNAR (Rochus . Frederic Count), a Danish states-
man and scholar, was descended from an ancient family, a
branch of the counts of Guerini, in the dukedom of Tus-
cany, which had settled in Germany* He was bom in
1708, at the castle of Lubbenau, and educated at Jena and
Halle, at both which places he applied with the utmost
assiduity to the Greek and Latin languages, and even to
theology. After travelling in various parts of Europe, and
visiting England in 1732, he obtained an appointment at
the court of Denmark ; but, being ambitious of a more
public station, he volunteered his services in the home and
foreign department, and displayed so much, activity that
he was dispatched by Christian VI. to East Friezland* to
settle the affairs of the dowager princess, Sophia Caroline,
sister to the queen. This mission be discharged to the
satisfaction of hjs sovereign; and was appointed it) 1735
ambassador extraordinary to the court of Stockholm, where;
» Ath.Ox. vol. Ih— Fuller's Woithies.— Lloyd's Memoir*. f»l. p. 6(fl.—
W*ikcrV Sufferings of the Clergy,
L Y N A R. 13
« *
•hfc itstded until- 1740. On hi* return to Denmark the
king conferred on him an office in Holstein, and a few
year* after be was sent as ambassador extraordinary to Pe-
tersburgb. On his return in 1752 he was appointed go*
vernor of the counties of OHenburgh and Delchanhorst, to
which he Retired with bis family, and where he spent hit
time in the composition of literary worlcs, the first of which*
a translation of " Seneca de Beneficils," with excellent
notes^ was printed in 1753. Having renewed the study of
the Greek language while at Oldenburgh, he made so much
progress, that by comparing the best commentators he was
enabled to write a good paraphrase on " The- Epistles of
St. Paul,1' Ice. which was afterwards published. He wrote
also several moral essays. . *
In 1757 be bad an opportunity again of rendering him*
self conspicuous in a political capacity, by the part which
be took in the famous convention of Closter- seven, en-
tered into between the duke of Richelieu, commander of
the French forces, and the duke of Cumberland, who waa
then at the head of the allied army. In this, however,, ho
met with many difficulties, as the history ofthat conventions
shows ■;• and the king of France and his Britannic majesty
at last refused their ratification. In March 1763 he was*
invested with the order of the elephant by Frederic V. the
highest honour his sovereign could bestow; but some
complaints being made against him on account of his ad-
ministration, which were not altogether groundless, be
resigned in Oct 1765. The remainder of his life he passed,
in retirement at Lubennau, where he died of a dropsy of
the breast, Nov. 1781, in the seventy- third year of his
age* He was a man of considerable learning, elegant ad-,
dress, * and' various accomplishments; His works . are, 1 .
A translation of" Seneca de Beneficiis," Hamburgh, 1753,
8vo. 2. A translation of Seneca on "The Shortness of
Life," 1754. 3."Der Sonderling," or "The Singular
Mao," Hanover, 1761, 8 vo, and in French, Copenhagen,
17=77, 8vo, a work, which, according to his biographer
Btt8cbifrg, is well worth a perusal* 4. "Historical, Po-
litical and Moral Miscellanies," in four parts, 1775—1777,
8*0." 5, Paraphrases on "The Epistles,"* printed at va-
rious times, 1754 — 1770. 6. " The real ftate of Europe
in the year 1737," and. several other articles in Busching's
Magazine for History and Geography. \
\ Atbeoaeam, vol. III.
14 1YN0E.
LYNDE (Sir Humphrey), a learned English gentle-
man, was descended from a family in Dorsetshire, and born
in 1579. Being sent to Westminster school, he was ad-
mitted scholar upon the foundation, and thence elected
student of Christ Church, Oxford, in 1596. Four years
afterwards he commenced B. A. about which time he be-
came heir to ^considerable estate, was made a justice of
peace, and knighted by king James in 1613* He obtained
a seat in the House of Commons in several parliaments; but
he is entitled to a place in this work as a man of learning*
and author of several books, which had considerable re-
putation in their day. He died June 14, 1636,; and was
interred in the chancel of the church at Cobbaoi in Surrey.
Tbe night before he died, being exhorted by a friend to
give some testimony of his constancy in the reformed re-
ligion, because it was not unlikely that his adversaries
might say of him, as they did of fieza, Reynolds, King
bishop of London, and bishop Andrews, that they recanted
the protestant religion, and were reconciled to the church
of Rome before their death ; he professed, that if he had a
thousand souls, he would pawn them all upon the truth of
that religion established by law in the church of England*
and which he had declared and maintained in his " Via
tut£" * Accordingly, in his funeral sermon by Dr. Daniel
Featly, he is not only styled " a general scholar, an ac-
complished gentleman, a gracious Christian, a zealous pa-
triotr and an able champion for truth;9' but "one that
stood always as well for the discipline, as the doctrine of
the church of JEngland ; and whose actions, as well as writ-
ings, were conformable both to the laws of God and canons
and constitutions of that church." - .-
His works are, 1. " Ancient characters of the visible
Church, 1625." 2. "Via tuta, the safe way, &c." re-
printed several times, and translated into Latin, Dutch*
and French, printed at Paris, 1647, from the sixth edition
published in 1636, !2mo, under the title of " Popery con-
futed by Papists," &c. 3. " Via devia, the by-way," &c.
1630 and 1632, 8vo. 4. (( A Case for the Spectacles;
or, a Defence of the Via tuta," in answer to a book written
by J. R. called "A pair of Spectacles," &c. with a supple-
ment in vindication of sir Humphrey, by the publisher,
Dr. Daniel Featly. A book entitled " A pair of Spectacles
for sir Humphrey Lynde," was printed at Roan, 1631, in
8vo, by Robert Jenison, or Frevili a Jesuit. 5. "An
IYND E.. 15
account of Bertram, with observation* concerning the cen-
sures upon his Tract De corpore et sanguine Christi,"
prefixed to an edition of it at London, 1623, 8vo, and re-
printed there in 1686, 8vo, by Dr. Matthew Brian.1
LYONET (Peter), an eminent naturalist, was born at
Maestricht July 22, 1707. He was of a French family,
originally of Lorraine, whence they were obliged to take
refuge in Switzerland, on account of their religion. His
father, Benjamin Lyonet, was a protestant minister at Heuf-
ion. In his early years he displayed uncommon activity
both of body and mind, with a memory so prompt, that he .
acquired an exact knowledge of nine languages, ancient
and modern, and in the farther pursuit of his academical
studies at Leyden, made great progress in logic, philo-
sophy, geometry, aud algebra. It was his father's wish that
he should study divinity, with a view to the church, and it
appears that he might have passed by an easy transition to
any of the learned professions. The law, however, was hit
ultimate destination ; and he applied himself to this with
so much zeal, that he was promoted the first year, when
he delivered a thesis " on the use of the torture," which
was published, and gained him considerable reputation.
At what time he settled at the Hague we are not told, but
there he was. made decypherer, translator of the Latin and
French languages, and patent-master to the States General.
It was now that he turned his attention to natural history,
especially entomology, and undertook an historical, descrip-
tion of such ^insects as are found about the Hague ; and as,
among his other accomplishments, he understood drawing,
he enriched his work with a great number of plates, which '
were much admired by the connoisseurs. In 1741 a French
translation of Lesser's " Theology of Insects" was printed
at the Hague, which induced Mr. Lyonet to defer the
publication of his own work, and make some observations
on Lesser's, to which he added two beautiful plates de-
signed by himself. His observations were thought of so
much importance that Reaumur caused the above transla-
tion to be reprinted at Paris, merely on account of them.
Lyonet afterwards executed drawings of the fresh water
polypes for Mr. Trembley's beautiful work, in 1744-. Wan-
delaar had engraved the first five plates of this work, and
being rather dilatory in producing the rest, Lyonet took a
i Ath. Ox. vol. I.
single lesson in engraving, and executed the btfaete Mm-*
*elf in a manner which astonished not only amateurs, but
experienced artists. In 1748 his reputation procured tan*
the hohour of being elected a member of the royal society
of London, as he was afterwards of other learned societies
in Europe. In 1764 appeared his magnificent work on
the caterpillar, " Traitg anatomique de la Chenille qui
ronge ie bois de Saule." In order to enable such as might
be desirous of following him in bis intricate and astonishing
discoveries respecting the structure of this animal, he pub-
lished, in the Transactions of the Dutch society of sciences,
at Haerlem, a description and plate of the instrument and
tools be had invented for the purpose of dissection, and
likewise of the method he used to ascertain the degree of
strength of his magnifying glasses. Mr. Lyonet died at tbe
Hague, Jan. 10, 1789, leaving some other works on ento-
mology unfinished, one of the most extensive collections of
shells in Europe, and a very fine cabinet of pictures. In
his early years, Mr. Lybnet practised sculpture and por-
trait-painting. Of the former, bis Apollo and the Moses,
a basso relievo cut in palm wood, is mentioned by Vaii
Gool, in his " Review of the Dutch Painters/9 as a master*
piece. To these many accomplishments Mr. Lyonet added
a personal character which rendered him admired during
his long life, and deeply regretted when his friends and
his country were deprived of his services. '
LYONS (Israel), son of a Polish Jew, who was a silver-
smith, and teacher of Hebrew at Cambridge, was bora
there, in 1739. He displayed wonderful talents as a young
man; and shewed very early a great inclination to learn*
ing, particularly mathematics ; but though Dr. Smith, then
master of Trinity-college, offered to put him to school at
his own expence, he would go only for a day or two* say-
ing, " he could learn more by himself in an hour than in
a day with his master." He began the study of botany in
1755, which he continued to his death ; and could remem-
ber, not only the Linnaean names of almost all the English
plants, but even the synonyma of the old botanists, which
form a strange and barbarous farrago of great bulk ; autl
bad collected large materials for a "Flora Cantabrigien-
sis," describing fully every part of each plant from the life,
without being obliged to consult, or being liable to be mis-*
1 Diet. Hist.— CUmt. Mag. vol. LIX.
I
LYONS. 17
■ ■
led by, former authors. In 1758 he obtained much cele-
brity by publishing a treatise " on Fluxions," dedicated
to his patron, J)r. Smith; and in 1763 a work entitled
" Fasciculus plantarum circi Cantabrigiam nascentium, quae
post Raium observatse fuere," 8vo. Mr. Banks (now sir
Joseph Banks, bart. and president of the royal society),
whom he first instructed in this science, sent for him to
Oxford, about 1762 or 1763, to read lectures; which he
did with great applause, to at least sixty pupils ; but could
not be induced to make a long absence from Cambridge.
He had a salary of a hundred pounds per annum for cal-
culating the " Nautical Almanack," and frequently received
presents from the board of longitude for his inventions.
•He cpuld read Latin and French with ease ; but wrote the
former ill ; had studied the English history, and could quote
whole passages from the Monkish writers verbatim. He
was appointed by the board of longitude to go with cap-
tain Phipps (afterwards lord Mulgrave) to the North pole
in 1773, and made the astronomical and other mathemati-
cal calculations, printed in the account of that voyage.
After his return he married and settled in London, where,
on May 1, 1775, he died of the measles. He was then
engaged in publishing a complete edition of all the works
of Dr. Halley. His " Calculations in Spherical Trigo-
nometry abridged,** were printed in "Philosophical Trans-
actions," vol. LXI. art 46. After his death his name ap-
peared in the title-page of "A Geographical Dictionary/' of
which the astronomical parts were said to be " taken from
the papers of the late Mr. Israel Lyons, of Cambridge, au-
thor of several valuable mathematical productions, and
astronomer in lord Mulgrave*s voyage to the Northern he-
misphere." It remains to be noticed, that a work entitled
" The Scholar's Instructor, or Hebrew Grammar, by Israel
Lyons, Teacher of the Hebrew Tongue in the University
of Gambridge : the second edition, with many Additions
and Emendations which the Author has found necessary in
his long course of teaching Hebrew,*' Cambridge, 1757,
8vo, was the production of his father; as was a treatise
printed at the Cambridge press, under the title of " Obser-
vations and Enquiries relating to various parts of Scripture
jjistory, 1761," published by subscription at two shillings
and six-pence. He died in August 1770, and was bu-
ried, agreeably to his own desire, although contrary to
the Jewish principles, in Great St. Mary's Church-yard,
Vol. XXI. C
18 LYONS.
Cambridge. He was on this occasion carried through the
church, and his daughter Judith read some form of inter*
ment-service over his grave. He had resided near forty
years at Cambridge. '
LYRA (Nicholas de), or LYRANUS, a celebrated
Franciscan, in the 14th century, and one of the most
learned men of his time, was born of Jewish parents at
Lyre, a town in Normandy, in the diocese of Evreux.
After having been instructed in rabbinical learning, he em-
braced Christianity, entered among the Franciscans at
Verneuil, 1291, and taught afterwards at Paris with great
credit. He rose by his merit to the highest offices in bis
order, and also gained the esteem of the great; queen
Jane, countess of Burgundy, and wife of Philip the Long,
appointed him one of her executors in 1'325. He died at
a very advanced age, October 23, 1340, leaving some
" Postils," or short Commentaries oh the whole Bible,
which were formerly in considerable reputation : the most
scarce edition of them is that of Rome, 1472, seven vols,
folio; and the best that of Antwerp, 1634, six vols, folio.
These commentaries are incorporated in the " Biblia Max-
ima," Paris, 1660, nineteen vols, folio; and there is a
French translation of them, Paris, 1511, and 1512, five
vols, folio. He published also " A Disputation against the
Jews," in 8vo, a treatise against a particular rabbi, who
made use of the New Testament to combat Christianity*
These, and his other works not printed, show the author
to have had a much more perfect knowledge of the Holy
Scriptures than was common at that time. 9
LYSERUS (Polycarp), a learned Protestant theologian,
was born at'Winendeen in the territory of Wittemberg, in
the year 1552. He was educated at Tubingen, at the ex-
pence of the duke of Saxony, and became a minister of
the church of Wittemberg in 1577. He was one of th£
first to sign the ", Concord," and was deputed, with James
Andreas, to procure the signature of the divines and mi-
nisters in the electorate of Saxony. He died at Dresden,,
where he was then minister, February 14, 1601, aged 50,
leaving a great number of works, both in German and La*
tin. The principal are, 1. " Explanations of Genesis/' in.
six parts, or six volumes, 4to, each of which bears th&
name of the patriarch whose history it explains. 2. "Com-
i Nichols's Bowyer.— Cole's MS Athenst in Brit Mus.
8 Moreri. — Dupin.— Diet. Hist.
LY8ERUS. 19
mentaries on the two first chapters of Daniel," 2 vols. 4to.
3, u A Paraphrase on the History of the Passion," 4to, or
12mo. 4. " Explanation of Psalm CI," 8vo. 5. " Com-
mentaries on the Minor Prophets," 4to, published at Leip-
sic, 1609, by Polycarp Lyserus, his great-grandson, who
has added some remarks on Haggai, according to his an-
cestor's method. 6. " Commentaries oil the Epistle to the
Hebrews." 7. " Centuria qosestionufti de articulis libri
Christians Concordiae," 4to. 8. " Christiantsmus, Papis-
mus, Calvinismus," 8vo. 9. " tlarmonia Calviniafrorum et
Photinianornm in Doctrkia de Sacfa Cemfa," 4to. 10. li Vin-
diciafc Lyserianro, an sincretisrtius in rebus fidei cum Cal-
vinianis coli prodest," 4to. 11. " Disputatioftes IX. An-
ti Steinianscr quijbus examinacar defensio concionis. Irenica
Paiili Steinii," 4to. 12. u Harmonia Evangelistarum con-
tinuata ad Christianam Harmon iam et ejusdem Epitome,
Svo\ 13. " Dispot. de Deo patre Creatore coeli et terrae,
4to. 14. "De aeternitate Fitii Dei," 4to. 15. " De sa-
cramentis decades date/9 4to. He published also the
" History of the Jesuits/9 written by Elias Hasenmullor,
who having quitted that society, and turned Lutheran, re-
tired to Witteraberg, and died there before his work was
printed. Father Gretser attacked this history, and Lyserus
auswered him by " Strena ad Gretserum pro honorario
ejus," 8vo.1
LYSERUS (John), another learned protestant, of the
same family as the preceding, but of opposite character,
may be introduced here as the precursor of the celebrated
Martin Madan, in supporting the doctrine of polygamy.
Lyserus is said to have been so infatuated with the am*
bition of founding a sect of polygamists, that he sacrificed
his life and fortune to prove that polygamy is not only
permitted,, but even commanded in certain cases ; and tra-
velled about Europe, endeavouring to find some countries
that would adopt his opinion. At length, after many fruit-
less journeys, Lyserus took the singular resolution of visit*
ing France, with a view to repair his fortune by chess, a
game he was perfectly master of, and accordingly settled
at Versailles. Here, however, he likewise failed, and
having, when sick, set out to walk from Versailles to Paris,
be encreased his disorder so much, that he died at a bouse
on the road, in 1634. He left numerous pieces, under
I Melchior Adam. — Moreri.— Gen. Diet.
C 2
,20 LY8 E R U S.
fictitious names, in favour of polygamy, the most consider*
able of which is entitled " Polygamia triumpbatrix," 1682,
4to. Brunsmanus, a minister of Copenhagen has refuted
this in a book* entitled " Polygamia. triumphata," 1689,
8vo; and again in another work, " Monogamia victrix,"
1639, 8vo. This poor man's attachment to a plurality of
wives appears the more wonderful,' Bayle observes, because
he had been much embarrassed by one. In less than a cen-v
tury he was succeeded in his opinions by the rev. M. Madan,
of whom hereafter. *
LYSIAS, an .eminent Greek orator, was born at Syra-
cuse, about the year 459 B. C. He was educated at Athens,
and became a teacher of rhetoric, and composed orations
for others, but does not appear to have been a pleader. Of
his orations, which are said to have amounted to three or
four hundred, only thirty-four remain. He died in the
eighty-first year of his age, and in the 378th year B.C.
Cice.ro and Quintilian give him a very high character, and
suppose that there is nothing of their kind more perfect
than his orations. Lysias lived at a somewhat earlier period
than .Isocrates ; and exhibits a model of that manner which
the ancients call the " tenuis vel subtilis." He has none
of the pomp of Isocrates. He is every where pure and
$ttic in the highest degree ; simple and unaffected ; but
wants force, and is sometimes frigid in his compositions. In
the judicious comparison which Dionysius of Halicarnas-
sus makes of the merits of Lysias and Isocrates, he
ascribes to Lysias, as the distinguishing character of
his manner, a qprtain graoe or elegance arising from sim-
plicity : " the style of Lysias has gracefulness for its na-
ture ; that of Isocrates seems to have it.9' In the art of
narration, as distinct, probable, and persuasive, he holds
Lysias to be superior to all orators ; at the same time be
admits, that his composition is more adapted to private
litigation than to great subjects. He convinces, but he
does not elevate nor animate. The magnificence and splen-
dour of Isocrates are more suited to great occasions. He
is more agreeable than Lysias ; and in dignity of senti-
ment far excels him. The first edition of Lysias is that
by Aldus, folio, 1513, in the first part of the " Rhetorum
Gnecorum orationes." The best modern editions are that
of Taylor, beautifully and correctly printed by Bowyer, in
1739, 4toj of Reiske, at Leipsic, 1772, 8vo; and of
• *
1 Moreri«— Geo, Diet,
LYSIPPUS'. it
Anger it Paris, 1782. Auger also published an excellent
French translation of Lysias in 1783. ■
LYSIPPUS, a celebrated statuary among the ancients,
was a native of Sicyon, and flourished in the time of
Alexander the Great. He was bred a locksmith, and fol-
lowed that business for a while ; but, by the advice of Eu-
pompus, a painter, he applied himself to painting, which,
however, he soon quitted 'for sculpture, and being thought
to execute his works with more ease than the ancients,
he became more employed than any other artist. The
statue of a man wiping and anointing himself after bathing
was particularly excellent : Agrrppa placed it before his
baths at Rome. Tiberius, who was charmed with it, and
not able to resist the desire of being master of it, when he
came to the empire, took it into his own apartment, and
placed another very fine one in its place. But the Roman
people demanding, in a full theatre, that he would replace
the first statue, he found it necessary, notwithstanding his
power, to comply witji their solicitations, in order to ap-
pease the tumult Another of Lysippus's capital pieces
was a statue of the sun, represented in a car drawn by four
% horses ; this statue was worshipped at Rhodes. He 'made
also several statues of Alexander and his favourites, which
were brought to Rome by Metellus, after he had "reduced
the Macedonian empire. He particularly excelled in the
representation of the hair, which be more happily expressed
than any of his predecessors in the art. He also made his
figures less than the life, that they might be seen such as
statues appear when placed, as usual, at some height;
and when he was charged with this fault, he answered,
" That other artists had indeed represented men such as
nature had made them, but, for his part, he chose to re-
present them such as they appeared to be to the eye."
He had three sons, who were all his disciples,- and ac-
quired great reputation in the art,9
LYTTLETON. See LITTLETON.
LYTTELTON (George), an elegant English writer^
was the eldest son of sir Thomas Lyttelton, of Hagley, in
Worcestershire, bart. and was born in 1709. He came into
the world two months before the usual time, and was
imagined by the nurse to be dead, but upon closer in spec*
1 From his editors.— Saxii Onomast.— Moreri.— Diet. Hist. — Dibciin and
Clarke.— Biair'i lecture*. * Pliim Hist. Nat. lib. III. cop. 9.
32 LYTTEITON.
tion was found alive, apd with sojne difficulty r e*r§d* At
Eton school, where he was educated, be w?s so much dis-
tinguished that his exercises were recommended as ippdels
to his school-fellows. From Eton he wept to Christ Church,
where he retained the same reputation of superiority, and
displayed his abilities to the public in a poem on Blenheim*
He was a very early writer, both in verse and prose ; bis
" Progress of Love/' and his " Persian Letters," hav-
ing both been written when he was very young, Aftefr
a short residence at Oxford, he began bis travels in
J728-, and visited France and Italy. From Rome he
sent those elegant verses which are prefixed to the works
of Pope, whom he consulted in 1730 respecting his four
pastorals. Pope made some alterations in them, which
may be seen in Bowles's late edition of that poet's wprks
(vol. IV. p. 139). We find Pope, a few years afterwards,
in a letter to Swift, speak thus of him : He is " one of
those whom his own merit has forced me to contract an
intimacy with, after I had sworn never to love st man
more, since the sorrow it cost me to have loved so many
now dead, banished, or unfortunate, I mean Mr. Lyttel-
ton, one of the worthiest of the rising generation," &c.
In another letter Mr. Lyttelton is mentioned in a manner
with which Dr. Warton says he was displeased *.
When he returned from his continental tour, he was
(May 4, 1729) made page of honour to the princess royal.
He also obtained a seat ip parliament, and soon distin-
guished himself among the most eager opponents of sir
Robert Walpole, though his father, who was one of the
lords of the admiralty, always voted with the court. For
many years the name of George Lyttelton was. seen in
every account of every debate in the bouse of commons.
Among the great leading questions* be qpposed the stand-
ing army j and the excise, and supported the motion for
petitioning the king to remove Wajpole. The prince of
Wales having, in consequence of a quarrel with the king,
been obliged to leave St. James's in 1737, kept a separate
court, and opened his arms to the opponents of the mi-
nistry. Mr. Lyttelton was made his secretary, and was
supposed to have great influence in the direction of his
conduct. His name consequently ocgurs, although not
very often, in Doddington's Diary. He persuaded the
♦ Pope's Works, vol. IX. Letter LXXXV,
LYTTELT'Otf.
23
prince, whose business it was now to be popular, that ha
would advance his character by patronage. Mallet wa*
made undersecretary, with 200/. a year; and Thomson
had a pension of 100/. The disposition of the two men
must account for the difference in, the sums. Mallet could
do more political service than the honest-hearted Thomson.
For Thomson, however, Mr. Lyttehon always retained
bis kindness, and was able at last to place him at ease.
Moore courted his favour by an apologetical poem called
" The Trial of Selim," and was paid with kind words,
which, as is common, says Dr. Johnson, raised great hopes,
that at last were disappointed. This matter, however, ii
differently stated in our account of Moore.
Mr. Lyttelton now stood in the first rank of opposition ;
and Pope, who was incited, it is not easy to say how, to
increase the clamour against the ministry, commended
him among the other patriots. This drew upon him the
reproaches of Mr. Henry Fox, who, in the House of Com-
mons, was weak enough to impute to hitan as a crime
his intimacy with a lampooner so unjust and licentious.
Eyttelton supported bis friend, and replied, " that he
thought it an honour to be received into the familiarity of
so great a poet.9' While he was thus conspicuous, he
married (1741) Miss Lucy Fortescne, sister to Matthew lord
Fortescue, of Devonshire, by whom he bad a sort, Thomas,
and two daughters, and with whom he appears to have
lived in the highest degree of cownubial felicity : but hn-
tnan pleasures are *hort; dhe died in childbed about six
years afterwards (1747) ; and he solaced his grief by writ-
ing a " Monody" * to her memory, without, however, con-
• This notice of the Monody, which
it given in Dr. Johnson's words, has
been thought toe scanty praise. In
truth, it is no praise at all, but an
assertion, and not a just one, that lord
Lyttelton " solaced his grief" by writ-
ing the poem. The praise or blame
was usually reserved by Johnson • for
the conclusion of his lives, but in this
case the Monody is not- mentioned at
all. We have on record, however, an
opinion of Gray, which the admirers of
the poem will perhaps scarcely think
more sympathetic than Johnson's «-
line*. In a letter to lord Orford, who
had probably spoken "with disrespect
of the Monody, pray says, " I am
not totally of your mind as to Mr.
Lyttelton's elegy, though I love kids
and fauns as little as you do. If it
were aH like the fourth stanza, I should
be eacessively pleased. Nature and
sorrow and tenderness are the true
genius of such things ; and something
of these I find in several parts of it
(not in the orange tree) : poetical or-
naments are foreign to the purpose,
for they only show a man is not sorry
—and, devotion worse ; for it teaches
hjm that. he ought not to he sorry,
which * all the pleasure of the thiiijr."
— Orford's Works, vol. V. p. 359. Dr,
Johnson is undoubtedly ironical in say-
ing that the author " solaced his grief"
by writing the Monody. The poet's
grief must have abated, and hi^mind
24 iYtf ELTON.
demning himself to perpetual solitude and sorrow; for
soon after he sought to find the same happiness again in a
second marriage with the daughter of sir Robert Rich
(1749) ; but the experiment was unsuccessful, and he was
for some years before his death separated from this lady.
" She was," says Gilbert West in a letter to Dr. Doddridge,
" an intimate and dear friend of his former wife, which »
some kind of proof of her merit ; I mean of the goodness
of her heart, for that is the chief merit which Mr. Lyttel-
ton esteems; and I hope she will not in this disappoint,
his expectations;, in all otter points she is well suited to
him; being extremely well accomplished in languages,
music, painting, &c. very sensible, and well bred." This
lady died Sept. 17, 1795.
When, after a long struggle, Walpole gave way,, and
honour and profit were distributed among his conquerors,
Lyttelton was made in (1744) one of the lords of the trea-
sury ; an^ from that time was engaged hi supporting the
schemes of ministry. Politics did not, however, so muph
engage him as to withhold his thoughts from things of more
importance. He had, in the pride of juvenile confidence,
with the help of corrupt conversation, entertained doubts
of the truth of Christianity ; but he thought the time now
come when it was no longer* fit to doubt or believe by
chance, aifd applied himself seriously to the great question.
His studies being honest, ended in conviction. He found
that Religion was true, and what he had learned he endea-
voured to teach, by " Observations on the Conversion and
Apostleship of St. Paul," printed in 1747 ; a treatise to
which infidelity has never been able to fabricate a specious
answer. This book his father h?d the happiness of seeing,
and expressed his pleasure in a letter which deserves to be
inserted, and must have given to such a son a pleasure
more easily conceived than described : " I have read your
religious treatise with infinite pleasure and satisfaction.
The style is fine and clear, the arguments close, cogent,
.and irresistible. May the King of kings, whose glorious
cause you have so well defended, reward your pious la-
bours, and grant that I may be found worthy, through the
recovered its tone before be could led him to do this in poetry, and he
write at all ; and when this became no more deserves the suspicion of Ijr-
Mr. Lyttelton% case, he felt it his duty pocrisy, than if he had, as an artist,
to pay an affectionate tribute to the painted an apotheosis, or executed a
memory of his lady, who certainly was monument,
one of % best of women. His talent*
IYTTELTO**. 25
merits of Jesus Christ, to be an eye-witness of that happi-
ness which I don't doubt He will bountifully bestow upon
you! In the mean time, I shall never cease glorifying
God, for havjng endowed you with such useful talents, and
given me so good a son. Your affectionate father, Tho-
mas Lyttelton." — When the university of Oxford con-
ferred the degree of LL. D. on Mr. West for his excellent
work on the " Resurrection," the same honour is said to
have been offered to our author for the above piece, but he
declined it in a handsome maimer, by saying that he chose
not to be under any particular attachments, that, if he
should happen to write any thing of the like kind for the
future, it might not appear to proceed from any other mo-
tive whatsoever, but a pure desire of doing good.
A few years afterwards, in 1751, by the death of his
father, be inherited the title of baronet, with a large es-
tate, which, though perhaps he did not augment, he was
careful to adorn, by a house of great elegance and ' ex-
pence, and by much attention to the decoration of his
park at Hagley. As he continued his exertions in parlia-
ment, he was gradually advancing his claim to" profit and
preferment; and accordingly was made in 1754 cofferer
and privy-counsellor. This place he exchanged next year
for that of chancellor of the exchequer, an office, however,
that required some qualifications which he soon perceived
himself to want. It is au anecdote no less remarkable than
true, that he never could comprehend the commonest rules
of arithmetic. The year after, his curiosity led him into
Wales; of which he has given an account, perhaps rather
with too much affectation of delight, to Archibald Bower,
a man of whom he had conceived an opinion more favour-
able than he seems to have deserved, \md whom, having
once espoused his interest and fame, he never was per-
suaded to disown. It must indeed have proceeded from a
strong conviction of Bower's innocence, however acquired,
that such a man as Lyttelton adhered to him to the very last.
About 1755, he prevented Garrick from bringing Bower
on the stage in the character of a mock convert, to be
shewn in various attitudes, in which the profligacy of his
conduct was to be exposed : and a Very few years before
his own death, he declared to the. celebrated Dr. Lardner
bis opinion of Bower in these words, " I have no more
doubt of his having continued a firm protestant to the last
hour of his life, than I have of my not being a papist my-
self."
26
EYTTELTON.
About this time he published his " Dialogues of the
Dead," which were very eagerly read, though the produce
tion rather, as it seems, of leisure than of study, rather
effusions than compositions. When, in the latter part of
the last reign, the inauspicious commencement of the war
made the dissolution of the ministry unavoidable, sir
George Lyttelton, losing his employment with the rest,
was raised to the peerage, Nov. 19, 1757, by the title of
lord Lyttelton, baron of Frankley, in the county of Wor-
cester. His last literary production was, " The History of
Henry the Second," 1764, elaborated by the researches
and deliberations of twenty years, and published with the
greatest anxiety, which Dr. Johnson, surely very impro-
perly, ascribes to vanity. The story of the publication,
however, we allow to be remarkable. The whole work
was printed twice over, greatest part of it three times, and
many sheets four or five times *. The booksellers paid
for the first impression f ; but the charges and repeated
alterations of the press were at the expence of the author,
whose ambitious accuracy is known to have cost him at
least a thousand pounds. He began to print in 1755. Three
volumes appeared in 1764; a second edition of them in
1767 ; a third edition in 1768 ; and the conclusion in 1771.
Andrew Reid, a man not without considerable abilities, and
Hot unacquainted with letters or with life, undertook to
persuade the noble author, as he had persuaded himself,
that he was master of the secret of punctuation ; and, as
fear begets credulity, he was employed, we know not at
what price, to point the pages of " Henry the Second," as
if# said Johnson once in conversation, " another man could
point his sense better than himself.'* The book, however,
* The copy was all transcribed by
hit lordship's own hand, and that net
a vary legible one, as he acknowledges
in a letter to bis printer. See Nichols's
Bowyer.
f This fact is undoubtedly true. We
snail not scruple, however, to add to it
a trifling circumstance, which shews
that the excellent peer (whose finances
tfere not in the most flourishing situa-
tion) could bear with great fortitude
#hat by many would hare been deem-
ed an insnlt. The booksellers, at a
stated period, had paid the stationer
for at much paper as they had agreed
to- purchase. His lordship then be-
came the paymaster ; in which state
the work went on for some years, till
the stationer, having been disappointed
of an expected sum, refused to furnish
any more paper. With great reluct-
ance Mr. Bowyer was prevailed on to
carry this report to his lordship ; and
began the tale with much hesitation.—-
" Oh ! I understand you," says his
lordship very calmly, " the man is
afraid to trust me ! I acknowledge I am
poor, and so are two thirds of the
House of Peers ; but let me request
you to be my security." It is need-
less to add, that Mr. Bowyer obliged
his lordship, and had no reason to re-
pent of the civility.
LYTTELTON. it
was at last pointed and printed, and sent into the world.
His lordship took money for his copy, of which, when he
had paid the pointer, he probably gave the rest away ; for
be was very liberal to the indigent* When time brought
the history to a third edition, Reid was either dead or dis-
carded ; and the superintendence of typography and punc-
tuation was committed to a man originally a eomb-jnaker,
but then known by the style of Dr. Saunders. Something
uncommon was probably expected, and something uncom-
mon was at last done ; for to the edition of Dr. Saunders is
appended, what the world had hardly seen before, a list of
errors of nineteen pages.
Lord Lyttelton had never the appearance of a strong or
a healthy man ; be had a slender uncompacted frame, and
a meagre face * : he lived, however, above sixty years,
and then was seized with bis last illness, ' Of his death this
very affecting and instructive account has been given by
his physician, Dr. Johnstone of Kidderminster/ " On Sun-
day evening the symptoms of his lordship's disorder, which
for a week past had alarmed us, put on a fatal appearance,
and his lordship believed himself to be a dying man. From
this time he suffered by restlessness rather than pain ; and
though his nerves were apparently much fluttered, bis
mental faculties never seemed stronger, when he was tho-
roughly awake. His lordship's bilious and hepatic com-
plaints seemed alone not equal to the expected mournful
event ; bis long want of sleep, whether the consequence
of the irritation in the bowels, or, which is more probable,
of causes of a different kind, accounts for his loss of
strength, and for his death, very sufficiently. Though his
lordship wished his approaching dissolution not to be lin-
gering, he waited for it with resignation. He said, * It is
a folly, a keeping me in misery, now to attempt to prolong
life ;' yet he was easily persuaded, for the satisfaction of
others, to do or take any thing thought proper for him.
On Saturday he had been remarkably better, and we were
apt without some hopes of bis recovery. On Sunday, about
eleven in the forenoon, his lordship sent for me, and said
he felt a great hurry, and wished to have a little conversa-
tion with me in order to divert it. He then proceeded to
open the fountain of that heart, from whence goodness had
* la a political Caricature print, le- " But who be dat to lank, 90 lean, to
#Ned against lir Robert Walpole, he bony )
i* tfcus described : O dat be great orator, Lytteltony."
28 L Y T TELTON.
a
so long flowed as from a copious spring* ' Doctor,' said
he, € you shall be my confessor : When I first set out in
the world, I had friends, tvho endeavoured to shake my
belief in the Christian religion. I saw difficulties which
staggered me; but I kept. my mind open to conviction.
The evidences and doctrines of Christianity, studied with
attention, made me a most firm and persuaded believer of
the Christian religion. I have made it the rule of my life,
and it is the ground of my future hopes. I have erred
and sinned ; but have repented, and never indulged any
vicious habit. In politics, and public life, I have made
the1 public good the rule of my conduct. I never gave
counsels which I did not at the time think the best. I
have seen that I was sometimes in the wrong, but I did
not err designedly. I have endeavoured, in private life,
%o do all the good in my power, and never for a moment
could indulge malicious or unjust designs upon any person
whatsoever.9 At another time he said, '. I must leave my
soul in the same state it was in before this illness ; I find
this a very inconvenient time for solicitude about any
thing.9. On the evening when the symptoms of death
came on him, he said, 'I shall die ; but it will not be your
fault' When lord and lady Valentia came to see bis lord-
ship, he gfwe them this solemn benediction, and said, ' Be
good, be virtuous, my lord. You must come to this.9 Thus
he continued giving his dying benediction to all around
him. On Monday morning a lucid interval gave some
'small hopes, but these vanished in the evening; and he
continued dying, but with very little uneasiness, till Tues-
day morning, August 22, when between seven and eight
o'clock he expired, almost without a groan." His lord-
ship was buried at Hagley ; with an inscription cut on the
side of his lady's monument.
He was succeeded by his son Thomas, second lord LyU
telton, of whom the following too just character is on
record : " With great abilities generally very ill applied ;
with a strong sense of religion, which he never suffered to
influence .his conduct, his days were mostly passed in
splendid misery ; and in the painful change of the most
extravagant gaiety, and the deepest despair. The delight,
when lie pleased, of the first and most select societies, he
chose to pass his time, for the most part, #rith the most
profligate and abandoned of both sexes. Solitude was qi
him the most insupportable torment ; and to banish reflec-
LYTTELTON,
tion, be flew to company whom he despised and ridiculed.
His conduct was a subject of bitter regret both to fait father
and all his friends*." He closed this unhappy life, Nov. 27,
1779. Two volumes of "Letters" published in 1780 and
1782, though attributed to him, are known to have been
the production of an ingenious writer yet living; and a
quarto volume of "Poems," published in 1780, was, as
well as the " Letters," publicly disowned by his executors,
but as to the "Poems," they added, * great part whe^of
are undoubtedly spurious."
We have more pleasure, however, in returning to the cha*
racter of George lord Lvttelton, which has been uniformly
delineated by those who • knew him best, in favourable
colours. Of the various sketches which we have seen, we
are inclined to give a place to the following, which,
although somewhat Ipng, is less known than those to be
found in the accounts of his biographers, and appears to
have been written by a near observer : " Few characters, *
says the writer, "recorded m the annals of this country,,
ever united so many rare, valuable, and amiable qualities,
as that of the late lord Lyttelton. Whether we consider
this- great man in public or private life, we are* justified in
affirming, that he abounded in virtues not barely sufficient
to create reverence and esteem, but to insure him the love
and admiration of all who knew him. — Look upon him as a
statesman, and a public man ; where shall we find another,
who always thought right and meant well, and who So sel-
dom acted wrong, or was misled or mistaken in his mini-
sterial, or senatorial conduct? Look upon his lordship in
the humbler scene of private and domestic life; and if
thou hadst the pleasure of knowing him, gentle reader,
point out the breast warm or cold, Khat so copiously
abounded with every gift and acquirement which indulgent
nature could bestow, or the tutored mind improve arid re-
fine, to win and captivate mankind.
" His personal accomplishments, and the sweetness and
pliability of his temper, which accompanied and swayed
them, always recalled to my memory, that line of his own,
only varying the sex ', bis ' Wit was Nature by the Grace*
drest.' — His affability and condescension to those below
him, was not the effect of art, or constrained politeness,
dictated by the hackneyed sterile rules of decorum 'and
* Pennington's Memoirs of Mrs. Carter.
SO LYTTELTON.
a
good breeding : no, the benevolence of his heart pervaded
the whole man ; it illuminated his countenance, it softened
his accents, it mixed itself with bis demeanour, and gave
evidence at once of the goodness of his heart, and the
soundness of his understanding.
" To such as were honoured with his friendship and his
intimacy, his kindness was beyond example ; he shared at
once bis affections and his interests among his friends, and
. tomrds the latter part of his life, when his ability to serve
them ceased, he felt only for those who depended on biof
for their future advancement in life. The unbounded au-
thority be possessed over them was established in parental
dominion, not in the cold, haughty, supercilious supe-
riority of a mere patron. — Among this latter description,
the author of the present rude outline is proud of ranking
himself, and is happy in recollecting, that he obeyed, or
ratber anticipated, the wishes of bis noble friend, as far as
lay in bis power, with more ehearfulness and alacrity than
he would in executing even the confidential mandates of
the greatest monarch or minister in Christendom.
" His lordship's acquaintance with men and books was
accurate and extensive. His studies in the early part of
hisJife must have been well directed, and his taste remark-
ably judicious, for no person ever lived who was less tinc-
tured with the vulgar moroseness, and self- conceited air of
a pedant, nor with the affectation and frivolity of that rank
in life, which his birth, fortune, and situation, rendered
customary and familiar to him.
" He was perfectly and intimately acquainted with the
works of the most celebrated writers of antiquity in verse
and prose. His. memory was stocked with the most strik-
ing passages contained in them; but he never indulged
nor gave way to the strong impressions they had stamped
on his mind, but to gratify his confidential friend* When*
ever he consented to their entreaties, his allusion* were
judiciously selected, and applied with thenvost consummate
propriety. His language was manly, nervous, and tech*
nicak It was suited to the personal rank, knowledge, and'
disposition, of those be conversed with ; by which means
be rendered himself agreeable and intelligible to every
mtsoq, whom chance, amusement, or business, threw in
us way.
" His discernment of spirits, the term which the late
lord Bolingbroke substitutes for th e familiar ' phrase of
LYTT ELTON. 31
knowing mankind, was no less conspicuous, when he
thought proper to exert it with steadiness and vigour ; but
unfortunately for his own domestic peace, it was extremely
difficult to rouse him. He trusted too much to the repre-
sentations of others, and was always ready to leave the
labour of discriminating characters, to those who too often
found an interest in deceiving him. Though his steadiness
of principle, penetration, and justness of reflection, might
be well ranked in the first class, those talents were in a
great measure effectually lost, because his employments
and pursuits as a public man, his amusements as a man of
taste and science, and, in the latter part of his life, bis
avocations as a writer, so totally engrossed his attention,
that he entirely neglected his private affairs, and in a va-
riety of instances fell a prey to private rapine and literary
imposition. This was the joint effect of native indolence,
and a certain incurable absence of mind. To show that
his want of discrimination was not native, but that the
power of knowing those he communicated with* was ren-
dered to some purpose useless, because it was not em-
ployed, a stronger proof need not be given, than his'
thorough knowledge of the court, as exhibited in parties,
and the several individuals who composed them. He could
tell the political value of almost every veteran courtier, of
candidate for power. He could develope their latent view%
he cotold foretell their change of conduct He foresaw the
effect of such and such combinations, the motives which
formed them, the principles which held them together,
and the probable date of their dissolution. Whenever tab
was imposed on, it was through the want of attentive, not
of parts ; or from a kind of settled opinion, that men of
common plain understandings, and good reputation, would
hardly risque solid advantages in pursuit of unlawful gain,
which last might eventually be accompanied with loss of
character, as well as the object proposed to he attained*
Whatever plausibility tber/s may appear in this mode of
reasoning, experience frequently informed his lordship,
tfrat it was not to be depended on. He was plundered by
his servants, deceived by bis, humble companions, misled
by his confidents, and imposed on by several of those
whom he patronized. He felt the effects of all this, in his
family, in his finances, ^nd even in the rank he should
have preserved. Those who were not acquainted with the
solidity, of his judgment, the acuteness of his wit, the
S2 IYTTELTON. .
brilliancy and justness of bis thoughts, the depth of his
penetration, and with the amazing extent of bis genius,
were apt to confound the consequences of his conduct,
with the powers and resources of his mind. If his lordship
remained out of place, on principle, the ignorant inclined
to ascribe this seeming court proscription to simplicity or
want of talents. If he did not support his rank with that
ostentatious splendour now become so fashionable, the
world was ready to impute it to a want of (economy, or a
want of spirit ; but in all those conjectures and conclu-
sions, the world were much mistaken and misled. He had
frequent offers, some of them the most flattering, to take
a part in administration ; but he uniformly rejected them.
His manner of living at his seat at Hagley was founded on
the truest principles of hospitality, politeness, and society ;
and as to money, he knew no other use of it but to answer
his own immediate calls, or to enable him to promote the
happiness of others *." #
Much of this character corresponds with the accounts
which might be extracted from the correspondence of his
friends, who were so numerous as perhaps to include all
the eminent literary persons of his time. With such he
delighted to associate, was often a useful patron of rising
genius, and to the last was ambitious of a personal ac-
quaintance with men whose works he admired. We have
a remarkable instance of this in his visiting (in 1767) old
Dr. Lardner, and introducing himself as one who had read
his volumes with pleasure and profit. Lardner was at this
time so deaf that his visitors were obliged to carry on con-
versation with him by writing, to which tiresome condition
lord Lyttelton gladly submitted.
Lord Lyttelton's literary character has been so long
established that it is unnecessary to add much on the sub-
ject. His Miscellaneous Works have been often reprinted,
and, although in some of them rigid criticism may find ob-
jections, cannot be read without pleasure and advantage.
His " History of Henry II.'9 is also now a standard work,
valuable both for matter and style. , His " Persian Let-
ters,11 written when a very young man, are included among
his miscellaneous works, but Dr. Warton informs us that
he had intended to discard them, as there were principles
and remarks in them that he wished to retract and alter.
* St. James's Chronicle, Sept. 1776.
LYTTELT O'tf. 33
The reader finds them, however, as originally published,
and they contain many shrewd remarks and just ridicule on
the manners of the times. His juvenile pieces were not
always his worst. Dr. Warton remarks that his Observa-
tions on the life of Cicero contain perhaps a more dispas-
sionate and impartial character of that great orator than is
exhibited in the panegyrical volumes of Middleton, It
may here be noticed that some of his letters to Warton
occur in WoolPs Life, by which we learn that lord Lyttel-
ton made him his chaplain in 1756. As a poet, we do not
find among critics any wide departure from Dr. Johnson's
opinion. Lord Lyttelton's poems are to be praised chiefly
for correctness and elegance of versification and style.
His " Advice to Belinda/' though for the most part writ-
ten when he was very young, contains, Dr. Johnson says,
" much truth and much prudence, very elegantly and vi-
gorously expressed, and shows a mind attentive to life, and
a power of poetry which cultivation might have raised to
excellence." As far, however, as this implies that lord
Lyttelton did not cultivate his powers, we are inclined to
think our great critic in error. Lord Lyttelton was very
early a poet, and appears to have not only valued his talent,
bat acquired his first reputation from the exercise of it.
He was very early a critic too, as appears by his account
of Glover's " Leonidas," printed in 1737, and few men *
were oftener consulted by young poets in the subsequent
part of his life. Mickle may be instanced as one whose
first pieces were carefully perused and corrected by him,
and although Mickle was disappointed in the hopes he en-
tertained from him as a patron, he often owned his obligations
to him as a critic; Lord Lyttelton's was the patronage of
kindness rather than of bounty. He courted the acquaint-
ance and loved the company of men of genius and learning,
with whom his correspondence also was extensive, but he
had little of his own to give away, and was so long of the
party in opposition to ministers, as to have very little state
interest.
His collected works, first printed in 4to, in 1774, and
since in 8vo, consist of, 1. "Observations on the Life of
Cicero." 2. " Observations on the Roman History." 3.
" Observations on the present state of our affairs at home,
and abroad," &c. 4. " Letters from a Persian in England
to his friend at Ispahan." 5. " Observations on the con-
version and apostleship of St. Paul." 6. " Dialogues of
Vol. XXI. D
S* t. Y T. T E. U T O Nl
the XHNkL" 7. " Four Speeches in parliament." fr.
V Poems." 9, " Letters to Sir Thomas Lyttelton." lO.
V Account of * Journey into Wales." Some other lesser
pieces, which appeared in the periodical journals, have been
attributed to him, and some anonymous political pamphlets*
Lord Qrford mentions him as a writer in the. paper called
" Copimon Sense," hut has riot discovered his share. In
th*t, however, he certainly wrote the criticism on " Leo*
oidas," which occurs in p. 72, of the first volume. In
yol, II. p. 31, is a paper from the pen of lord Chesterfield,
dated March 4, 173 8, in defence of lord (then Mr.) Lyt-
telton against the attacks of the writers in the Daily Ga-
zetteer. From bis connection with the party in opposition
to sir Robert Waipole, it seems not unreasonable to con*
jecture that he wrote in the ".Craftsman ;" but for this we
have no positive authority.1
LYTTELTON (Charles), third son of sir Thomas, and
brother to George lord Lyttelton, was born at Hagley, in
1714. He was educated at Eton-school, and went thence
first to University-college, Oxford, and then to the Inner-
Temple* where he became a barrister at law ; but entering
into orders, was collated by bishop Hough to the rectory
of Alvechuroh, in Worcestershire, Aug. IS, 1742. He
took the degree of LL. B. March 28, 1745 ; LL. D. June
18 the same year ; was appointed king's chaplain in Dee.
1747, dean of Exeter in May 1748, and was consecrated
bishop of Carlisle, March 21, 1762. In 1754 he caused
the cieling and cornices of the chancel of Hagley church
to be ornamented with shields of arms in their proper co-
lours, representing the paternal coats of his ancient and
fespectable family. In 1765, on the death of Hugh lord
Willoughby of Parham, he was unanimously elected pre-
sident of the society of antiquaries ; a station in which hia
distinguished abilities were eminently displayed. He died
unmarried, Dec*. 22, 1768. His merits and good qualities
are universally acknowledged ; and those parts of his cha-
racter which more particularly endeared him to the learned
1 Life by Johnson.—- Lord Orford's Works, vol. T. p. 539, and vol. V. p. 38S.
— Nichols's Bowyer. — Swift's Works. — BosweiPs Life of Johnson — Doddridge's
Letters* p. 1 19f 344, 443, 470,— .Gent. Mag. vol. XLV. p. 371, and LX. p. 594.
—Forbes^ Life of Beattie.-*-Wooll's Life of Warton, p. 242. 321.— Da vies* s
Xifeof Garrick, vol. I. p. 272.— Bowles's edition of Pope's Works.— Leland's
tteistieal Writers, and an interesting chapter in Graves's " Recollection- of
some particulars in the Life of Sbeasfone,?' 1788, 8vo. — Sir E. Brydges's edit*
*t Coliins'a Peerage.
L Y TT E L T O M. 35
Society over which he so wbrtfcily presided, shall be
pointed out in the words of his learned successor dean
Miiles : " The study of antiquity, especially that part of
it which relates to the history and constitution of these
kingdoms, was one of his earliest and most favourable pur-
suits ; and he acquired great knowledge in it by constant
study and application, to which he was led, not only by his
natural disposition, but also by his state and situation in
life. He took frequent opportunities of improving and en-
riching this knowledge by judicious observations iu the
course of several journies which he made through every
country of England, and through many parts of Scotland
and Wales. The society has reaped the fruits of these
observations in the most valuable papers, which* his lord-
ship from' time to time has communicated to us ; which
are more in number, and not inferior either in merit or im-
portance, to those conveyed to us by other hands. Blest
with a retentive memory, and happy both in the disposi-
tion and facility of communicating his knowledge, he was
enabled also to act the part of a judicious commentator
and candid critic, explaining, illustrating, and correcting
from his own observations many of the papers which have
been ^read at this society. His station and connection* in
the world, which necessarily engaged a very considerable
part of his time, did not lessen his attention to the business
and interests of the society. His doors were always open
to his friends, amongst whom none were more welcome
tohiin than the friends of literature, which he endeavoured
to promote in all its various branches, especially in those
which are the more immediate objects of our attention.
Even this circumstance proved beneficial to' the society,
for, if I may be allowed the expression, lie was the centre
in which the various informations on points of antiquity
from the different parts of the kingdom united, and the
medium through which they were conveyed to us. His
literary merit with the society received an additional lustre
from the affability of his temper, the gentleness of his
manners, and the benevolence of his heart, which united
every member of the society in esteem $o their head, and
in harmony and friendship with each other. A principle -
so essentially necessary to the prosperity and even to the
existence of all communities, especially those which have
arts and literature for their object, that its beneficial ef-
fects are visibly to be discerned in the present flourishing
D 2
36 L Y T T E L T O N,
state of our society, which I flatter myself will be long
continued under the influence of the same agreeable prin-
ciples. I shall conclude this imperfect sketch of a most
worthy character, by observing that the warmth of his af-
fection to the society continued to his latest breath; and
he has given a signal proof of it in the last great act which
a wise man does with respect to his worldly affairs ; for,
amongst the many charitable and generous donations con-
tained in his will, he has made a very useful and valuable
bequest of manuscripts and printed books to the society,
as a token of his affection for them, and of his earnest de-?
sire to promote those laudable purposes for which they were
instituted." The society expressed their gratitude apd re-r
spect to his memory by a portrait of him engraved at their
expence in 1770.
Besides his contributions to th* papers of the society of
antiquaries, published in the " Archseologia," there is in
Gutch's " Collectanea Curiosa," vol. II. p. 354, " Dean
Lyttelton's Memoir concerning the authenticity of his copy
of Magna Charta," from the minutes of the antiquarian
society, and an answer by judge Blackstone.1
I Nichols's Bowyer.
M.
JtVlABILLON (John), a very learned French writer,
was born Nov. 23, 1632, at Pierre-mont, on the frontiers
of Champagne. He was educated in the university of
Rheims, and afterwards entered into the abbey of the
Benedictines of St. Remy ; where he took the habit ir\
1653, and made Che profession the year following. He
was looked upon at first as a person that would do. honour
to his order ; but a perpetual head-ach, with which he was
afflicted, almost destroyed all the expectations which were
conceived of him. He was ordained priest at Amiens in
M A B I L L O N. it
1660; and afterwards, lest too much solitude should
injure his health, which was not yet re-established, was
sent by his superiors to St. Denis, where he was appointed,
during the whole year 1663, to shew the treasure arid 'mo-
numents of , the kings of France. But having there un-
fortunately broken a looking-glass, which was pretended
to have belonged to Virgil, he obtained leave to quit an
employment, which, as he said, frequently obliged him to
relate things he did not believe. As the indisposition of
his head gradually abated, he began to shew himself more
and* more to the world. Father d'Acheri, who was then
compiling his " Spicilegium," desiring to have some young
monk, who could assist him in that work, Mabillon was
chosen for the purpose, and accordingly went to Paris in
1664, where he was very serviceable to d'Acheri. This
began to place his talents in a conspicuous light, and to
shew what might be expected from him. A fresh occasion
soon offered itself to him. The congregation of St. Maur had*
formed a design of publishing new editions of the fathers,
revised from the manuscripts, with which the libraries of
the order of the Benedictines, as one of the most ancient,
are furnished. Mabillon was ordered to undertake the
edition of St. Bernard, which he had prepared with great
judgment and learning, and published at Paris, in 1667,
in two volumes folio, and nine octavo. In 1690 he pub-
lished a second edition, augmented with almost fifty letters,
new preliminary dissertations-, and new notes; and just
before his death was preparing to publish a third. He
had no sooner published the first edition of St. Bernard,
than the congregation appointed him to undertake an
edition of the " Acts of the Saints of the order of Benedic-
tines;" the first volume of which he published in 1668,
and continued it to nine volumes in folio, the last of which;
was published in 1701. The writers of the "Journal de
Trevoux" speak not improperly of this work when they
say that " it ought to be considered, not as a simple col-
lection of memoirs relating to monastic history, but as a
valuable compilation of ancient monuments ; which, being
illustrated by learned notes, give a great light to "the most
obscure part 6f ecclesiastical history. " The prefaces alone,'*
say they, " would secure to the author an immortal reputa-
tion. The manners and usages of those dark ages are
examined with great care; and an* hundred important
questions are ably discussed." Le Clerc, in the placfe
. /
3* MA RILL ON.
referred to above, from which we have chiefly drawn out
account of Mabillon, has given us one example of a que**
tion occasionally discussed by him in the course of hi*
work, concerning the use of unleavened bread, in the ce*
lebration of the sacrament. Mabillon shews, in the pre-
face to the third age of his " Acta Sanctorum," that the
use of it is more ancient than is generally believed ; and*
in 1674, maintained it in a particular dissertation, ad*
dressed to cardinal Bona, who was before of a contrary
opinion. But the work which is supposed to have done
him the most honour i» his " De re diplomatic* libri sex,
in quibus quicquid ad veterum instrumentorum antiquita-
tern, materiam, scripturam et stilum ; quicquid ad sigilla*
monogrammata, subscriptiones, ac notas cnronologicas ;
quicquid inde ad antiquariam, historicam, forensemque
disciplinam pertinet, expljcatur, et illustratur. Accedunt
commentarius de antiquis regum Francorum palatiis, ve«*
terum scripturarum varia specimina tabulis LX. compre*>
hensa, nova ducentorum et amplius monumentorum coi lec-
tio," Paris, 1681, folio. The examination of almost an
infinite number of charters and ancient titles, which had
passed through his hands, led him to form the design of
reducing to certain rules and principles an art, of which,
before there had been only very confused ideas. It was a,
bold attempt; but he executed it with such success, that
he was thought to have carried it at once to perfection.
In 1682 he took a journey into Burgundy, in which M.
Colbert employed him to examine some ancient titles re-
lating to the, royal family. That minister received all the
satisfaction he could desire ; and, being fully convinced
of Mabillon's experience and abilities in these points, sent
him the year following into Germany, in order to search
there, among the archives and libraries of the ancient
abbeys for materials to illustrate the history of the church
in general, and that of France in particular. He spent five
months in this journey, and published an account of it.
He took another journey into Italy in 1685, by order of
the king of France ; and returned the yesrr following with
a very noble collection of above three thousand volumes of
rare books, both printed and manuscript, which he added
to the king's library ; and, in 1687, composed two volumes,
of the pieces he had discovered in that country, under the
title of "Museum Italicum." After this he employed
himself in publishing other works, which are strong evi~
fif ▲ B I L L 0 & 3*
dence* of his vast abilities and application* In 16»S be<
published a Latin letter concerning the worship of theim*
knQwn<$aints, which be called " Eusebii Romafli.ad Theo-.
philum, Galium epistola." The history of Ibis piece does
credit to his love of truth, and freedoofc from traditional
prejudices. While at Rome be had endeavoured to iO"
form himself particularly of those rules and precautions,
which were*>necessary to be observed witb regard to the
bodies of saints taken out of the catacombs, in order . to be
exposed to the veneration of the public. He had himself
visited those plaies, and consulted all persons who could
give him light upon the subject; but five or six years
elapsed after bis return to France, without his* having ever
thought of making use of these observation*. . In 1692,
however, be drew up the treatise above-mentioned J in
which be gave it as bis opinion, that the bodies found ii*
the catacombs were Aoo hastily, and without sufficient
foundation, concluded to be the bodies of martyrs. Still,;
aware this was a subject pf a very delicate nature, and that
such an opinion might possibly give offence, be kept it by
bim five years, without communicating it to above one
person ; and tb$n sent it, under the seaL of secresy, to
rardinal Collorrde at Rome, whose opinion was, that it
should not be published in the form it was then in. JNever*
theiess, in 1698 it waa published ; aad, as might easily be
foreseen, very ill received at Rome ; and after many com*
plaints, murmurs, and criticisms, it was to 1701 brought
before (be Congregation of the Index, and MabiUon fo iud
it necessary to employ all his interest to prevent the ( cen-
sure of that body. Nor, perhaps, could he have averted
this misfortune if be bad not agreed to publish a new
edition of it ; in which, by softening seine passages, and
throwing upon inferior officers whatever abuses might be
committed with regard to the bodies taken out of the ca^
tacombs, be easily satisfied his judges; who, to do them
justice, bad a great esteepa for his learning and virtues,
and were not very desirous of condemning bim.
• This eminent man died of a suppression of urine, at the
abbey of St. Germain- des^Pres* in Dec. 1707. His great
merit bad procured bim, in 1701, the plaae of honorary
member of the academy of inscriptions. : Du Pin tells us.
thac " it would be difficult to give Mabillpn the praises he
deserves : the voice of the ptiMic, and the general esteem
of all the learned, are a much better commendation of him
4fr MABILLOHr.
r _
•
than any thing we* can say. His profound learning ap-
pears from his works : his modesty, humility, meekness,
and piety, are no less known to those who have had the
least conversation with him. His style is masculine, pure,
clear, and methodical, without affectation or superfluous
ornaments, and suitable to the subjects of which he has
treated*" Few men were more honoured by the notice of
the great than Mabillon, aad to this he was entitled both
by his virtues and his extensive learning. Pope Cle-,
. merit XI. paid him the compliment to write to father
Ruinart, expressing his hopes that the remains of such a
man had been interred with the honours due to him.
^ Every man of learning who goes to Paris," said cardinal
Colloredo, *' will ask where»you have placed him V% l
MABLY (Gabriel Bonnot, Abbe' de), a celebrated
French. political and miscellaneous writer, and brother to
the abbe Condillac, was born at Grenoble in March 1709,
and was educated in the Jesuits' college at Lyons. In his
youth he attached himself to his relation the cardinal de
Tencin, but never took any higher order in the church
than that of sub-deacon. On his coming into life, as it is
called, he had the -honour to be admitted, both as a rela-
tion and a man of letters, into the parties of madame d%
Tencin, so well "known for her intrigues and her sprightly
talents, who at that time gave dinners not only to wits, but
to politicians. Here madame de Tencin was so much
pleased with the figure Mably made in conversation with
Montesquieu and other philosophical politicians at her
table, that she thought he might prove useful to her bro-
ther, then entering on his • ministerial career. The first
service he rendered to the cardinal was- to draw out an
abridgment of all the treaties from the peace of West-
phalia to that time (about 1740) : the second service he ren-
dered his patron, was of a more singular kind. The cardi-
nal soon becoming sensible that he had not the talent of
conveying his ideas in council, Mably suggested to him.
the lucky expedient of an application to the king, that he
might be permitted to express his thoughts in writing, and
there can be little doubt that in this also he profited by the
assistance of his relative, who soon began himself to med-
dle in matters of state. In 1743 he was entrusted to nego-
* Gen. Diet.— Niceron, vol. VII. and X.— Life by Ruinart, 1708.— Le Cl*rt>
Bibl. Choisie. — Saxii Onomast.
M A B L Y. 4t
ciate privately at Paris with the Prussian ambassador, and
drew up a treaty, which Voltaire was appointed to carry to
Berlin. Frederick, to whom this was no secret, conceived
from this time a very high opinion of the abb6, and, as
Mably's biographer remarks, it was somewhat singular that
two men of letters, who had no political character, should
be employed on a negociation which made such an impor-
tant change in the state of affairs in Europe. The abb£
also drew up the papers which were to serve as the basis of
the negociation carried on in tbe congress at Breda in the
month of April 1746.
His success in these affairs bad nearly fisted him in poli-
tical life, when a dispute with the cardinal changed his
destination, and tbe circumstance does credit to his libe-
rality. The cardinal was not only minister of state, but
archbishop of Lyons, when the question was agitated re-
specting the marriages of protestants. The abb6 wished
him to view this question with the eyes of a statesman
only, but the cardinal would consider it only as a prince of
the Romish church, and as he persisted in this opinion,
the abb6 saw him no more. From this time he. gave him-
self up to study, without making any advances to fortune,
or to literary men. He always said he was more anxious
to merit general esteem than to obtain it. He lived a long
time on a small income of a thousand crowns, and an an-
nuity ; which last, on the death of his brother, he gave up
to" his relations. The court, however, struck with this dis-
interested act, gave him a pension of 2800 livres, without
tBe solicitation or knowledge of any of his friends. Mably
not only inveighed against luxury and riches, but showed
by his example that he was sincere ; and to these moderate
desires, he joined an ardent love of independence, which
he took every opportunity to evince. One day when a
friend brought him an invitation to dine with a minister of
state, he could not prevail on him to accept it, but at
length the abbe said he would visit the gentleman with
pleasure as soon as he heard that he was " out of office."
He had an equal repugnance to become a member of any
of the learned societies. The marshal Richelieu pressed
him much to become a candidate for the academy, and
with such arguments that he could not refuse to accept the
offer; but he had no sooner quitted the marshal than he
rah to his brother the abbe* Condillac, arfd begged he would
get himreleased, cost what it w^uld. " Why all this ob-
43 MABL Y-
stinacy ?,f said bia brother.-—" Wby !" rejoined the afeW,
Mabiy, " because, if I accept it 1 shall be obliged t? praise
the cardinal de Richelieu, which is contrary to nay princi-
ples, or, if I do not praise him, as I owe every thing to,
bis nephew, I shall be accused of ingratitude." la the
qame spirit, he acquired a bluntoess. of manner that was not
very agreeable in the higher circles, where he never failed
to take the part of men of genius who were poor, against
the ins pita of the rich and proud. His works, by which
the booksellers acquired large sum? of money, contributed
very little to his own finances, for he demanded no return,
but a few copies to give ag presents to bis, friends. He ap-
peared always dissatisfied with the state- of public affairs*-
aud had the credit of predicting the French revolution..
Political sagacity, indeed, was that on which be chiefly
rested his fame, and having formed his theory from certain
systems which be thought might be traced to the Greek*
and Romans, and even the ancient Gauls, he went as far
as most of his contemporaries in undervaluing the preroga-
tives of the crowi), and introducing a representative go-
vernment. In his latter works bis own mind appears to*
have undergone a revolution, and be proved that if he wa»
before sincere in bis notions of freedom, he was aow<
equally illiberal. After enjoying considerable reputation,.
and being considered as one of the most popular French
writers on the subjects of politics, morals, and history, he
died at Paris, April 23, 1785. The abb6 Barruel ranks?
him among the class of philosophers, who wished to be
styled the Moderates, but whom Rousseau calls the Iruon-
sistents. He adds, that " without being impious like a
Voltaire or a Condorcet, even though averse to their im-
piety, his own tenets were extremely equivocal. At times
his morality was so very disgusting, that it was necessary,
to suppose his language was ambiguous, and that he bad
been misunderstood, lest one should be obliged to throw
off all esteem for his character." Such at least was the
defence which Barruel heard him make, to justify himself
from the censures of the Sor bonne.
His works are, 1. " Parallele des Romains et des Fran-
jais," Paris, 1740, 2 vols. 12 mo. 2. " Le Droit public de
l'Euro'pe," 1747, 3 vols. 12mo. 3. "Observations su»
les Romains/9 2 vols. 12mo. 4. " Observations sur lee
Qrecs," 1751, 12mo, reprinted in 1766, with the title of
" Observations sur I'histoire de la Grece," £. " Des prtA-
M A B L Y. 4*
cipesdes negociatioos," 1757, 19mo. €. " Entretiens de
Phocion sur le rapport da la morale avec la politique,"
Arose. (Paris), 1763, 12mo, reprinted in 1783, S vols* 12mo,
and by Didot in 1795, 4to. Of this an English translation
was published by Mr. Macbean in 1770. It was once a
very popular work in America, where bis name was held
in the highest honour1, until be published his work on the
constitution of the United States after tbe peace of 1783,
when tbe Americans hung him in effigy as an enemy to
toleration and liberty. ' 7. " Observations sur I'bistoiie de
France," 1765, 2 vols* 12 mo. 8. " Entretiens sur PHis*
toire," 12 mo. This is the work by which be has been
most known in England, but in it, as well as bis other
works, be gives too great preference to the ancients over
tbe moderns. 9. " De la maniere dPecrire L'bistoire,"
Kehl, 1784, 2 vols. 13mo. Tbe whole of his works were
collected, with an eloge by the abb6 Brizard, in 15 vob.
8vo, 1794. In tbis are many pieces not enumerated above,
particularly his work on " Morals/9 and bis " Observations
on the Government and Laws of America," which last, as
we have noticed, destroyed his popularity in America. In
both are symptoms of decayed intellect, and that confu-
sion, of thought which is peculiar to men who have been
theorizing all their lives.1
MABUSE, or MABEUGE (JoHK de), a Hungarian
artist, was born at Maubeuge, a village in Hainault, in
1499, though in the Chronological Tables his birth is sop*
posed to have been in 1492. It is not known from whom
he derived bis knowledge of the art of painting ; but, isj
his youth, be was laborious in his practice, and his princi-
pal studies were after nature, by which he acquired a great
deal of truth in his compositions. To improve himself in
bis profession, he travelled to Italy, and became an artist
of great repute. He bad a good pencil, and finished his
pictures highly, with great care ; yet, notwithstanding his
studies in Italy, and the correctness of his design, he never
could arrive at tbe elegance of tbe Roman school;. Hia
manner was dry, stiff, and laboured ; but he was exceed*
ingly industrious to give a polished smoothness to his co-
louring. By king Henry VIII. of England he was em-
ployed to paint the portraits of .some of his children, which
gained him great reputation, as he finished them deli-
* Diet. Bat.-r-BarrqtPi Mem. of Jacobinism, vpl. II. p. 93&
4* MABUSE.
cately, and gave them spirit and liveliness ; and he painted
several others for the nohjlity who attended the court at
London. His paintings are consequently not unfrequent
in this country;
Many excellent works of Mabuse are at Middleburg;
one of the most capital is the altar-piece of the great
church, representing the descent from the cross. That
picture had been so highly commended, that it raised the
curiosity of Albert Durer ; and he took a journey to Mid-
dleburg, merely to be an eye-witness of the merit of that
performance. He viewed it with singular attention, and
expressed the pleasure it afforded him, by the praise he
bestowed upon it. But the picture which is accounted to
exrcel all his other productions, is the Virgin with the in-
fant Jesus, which he finished while he was retained in the
service of the marquis of Veren ; and in that subject he
contrived to pay an extraordinary compliment to his patron,
by making the heads of his lady and son the models for the
heads of his figures.
He is censured by all writers for his immoderate love of
drinking ; and it is confidently said, that having received,
by order of the marquis, a piece of brocade for a dress, to
appear in before the emperor Charles V. he sold it at a
tavern, and painted a paper suit so exceedingly like it,
that the emperor could not be convinced of the deception
till he felt the paper, and examined every part with bis
own hands. He died in 1562,1
MACARIUS (St.), the elder, a celebrated hermit of the
•fourth century, saJ4 to be a disciple of St. Antony, was
born at Alexandria, in the year 301, of poor parents. Hie
was bred a bakjsr,. which trade he pursued to the age of
thirty ; then, being baptized, he retired and took up a so-
litary life. He passed sixty years in a monastery in mount
Sceta, dividing his time between prayer and manual la-
bour. He died about the year 391. Fifty homilies in
Greek have been attributed to him, which were printed at
Paris in 1526, with Gregory Thaumaturgus, in* folio; and
in 2 vols. 8vo, at Leipsic, in 1698.*
MACARIUS (St.), the younger, another famous monk,
a friend of the former, and a native also of Alexandria,
had near 5000 monks under his direction. • He was per-
1 Pilkington.—Wal pole's Anecdotes.
3 Cave, vol. I«— Mosheiuu — Saxii Onomast. *
MACARIUS. 45
*ecuted by the Arians, and banished into an island where
there was not a single Christian, but where, he converted
,almost all the inhabitants by his preaching, and as some
*ay> hy his miracles. He died in the year 394 or 395.
"-The Rules of Monks/9 in 30 chapters, are attributed
to him, and a discourse by him on the " Death of the
Just," was published by Tollius, in his " Insignia Itine-
rarii Italici."1
MACAULAY (Catherine) or Graham, the name of
her second husband, was born in 1733, at OUantigh, in
Kent, the seat of her father, John Sawbridge, esq. She
appears to have had none of the regular education given
to youpg ladies of her rank, but had an early taste for pro-
miscuous reading, which at length terminated in a fond-
ness for history. That of the Romans is supposed to have
inspired her with the republican notions which she pro*
fessed throughout life, and in which she was probably en*
couraged by her brother the late alderman Sawbridge,
whose politics were of the same cast. In 1760 she married
Dr. George Macaulay, a, physician of London. Soon after
this, she commenced her career in literature, and in 1763
published the first volume, in 4to, of her " History of
England, from the accession of James L to that of the
Brunswick Line." This work was completed in 8 vols,
in 1783 ; it was read with some avidity at the period of its
publication, as the production of a female pen, but has
since fallen into so much disrepute,- as scarcely ever to be
inquired after. It was written in the true spirit of ranco-
rous republicanism, and was greatly deficient in that im-
partiality which ought to be the characteristic of true his-
tory. While in the height of her fame, Mrs. Macaulay
excited the admiration of Dr. Wilson, rector of St. Ste-
phen's, Walbrook, who in his dotage placed her statue,
while living, in the chancel of his church. This disgrace-
ful appendage, however, his successor thought himself
justified in removing. Having been left a widow, Mrs.
Macaulay in 177$ married Mr. Graham, a step which, from
the disparity of years, exposed 'her to much ridicule. In
the year 1785 she went to America, for the purpose of
visiting the illustrious Washington, with whom she had be-
fore maintained a correspondence. She died at Binfield,'
in Berkshire, June 22, 1791. Her works, besides the his-
* * * • *
1 Cave, vol. L— Saxii Ooomast.
■*« M A C A U L A Y,
tory already referred to, which may be regarded as the
yvincipal) are, M Remarks on Hobbes's Rudimerrt« of Go*
*ernment and Society j" " Loose Remarks on some <>f M*.
Hobbes'a Positions ;** the latter being an enlarged edition
of the former : tbe object of these is to shew the supe-
riority of a republican to a monarchical form of govern-
jnent In 1770, Mrs. Macanlay wrote a reply to Mr.
Burke's celebrated pamphlet entitled " Thoughts on the
Cteses of the Present Discontents ;" and in 1775 she pub-
lished " An Address to the People of England, Scotland,
and Ireland, on the present important Crisis of Affairs,**
She wrote also " A Treatise on the Immutability of Moral
Truth;'* which she afterwards re-published, with much
other original matter, under the title of " Letters on Edu-
cation," 1790. Her last publicatiou was " Observations
on tbe Reflections of the Right Hon. Edmund Burke, on
the Revolution in France, in a letter to the Right Hon. the
Earl of Stanhope," 1790, 8vo. Many curious particular*
of this lady may be found in our authorities.1
MAC BRIDE (David), a distinguished physician, was
born at Ballymony, co. Antrim, on tbe 26th of April,
1726. He was descended from an ancient family of his
name in the shire of Galloway, in Scotland ; but his grand-
father, who was bred to the church, was called to officiate
at Belfast to a congregation of Presbyterians, and bis
father became the minister of Ballymony, where David
was born. Having received the first elements of his edu-
cation at the public school of this place, and served his
apprenticeship to* a surgeon, he went into the navy, first
in the capacity of mate to an hospital-ship, and subse-
quently in tbe rank of surgeon, in which station he re-
mained for some years preceding tbe peace of Aix-la-
Chapel le. At this period he was led from the frequent
opportunities of witnessing tbe attacks of scurvy which a
sea-faring life afforded him, to investigate the best method
of cure for that disease, upon which he afterwards pub-
lished a treatise. After the peace of Aix, Mr. Macbride
went to Edinburgh and London, where he studied anatomy
Under those celebrated teachers doctors Monro and Hunter,
and midwifery under Smellie. About the end of 1749, he
* Gort. Mag. vol. XL. p. 505 ; LXI. p. 569,^1 8. Sfe also Iad«x.~*Brft»
Critic, vol IV.— Baldwin's Literary Journal, vol. f. p. Ill, 284, 317, 377,
§62.— BoswelTs life of Johnson,— Wilkes's Life and Lepers, 4 volt. lSmoi
MACBRIDE. 4?
Muted m Dublin as a surgeon and accoucheur; but his
youth and remarkable bashf illness occasioned him to re*
itmttvi number of years in obscurity* little employed ; al-
though he was endeared to a smalt circle of friends by his
great abilities, amiable dispositions, and his general know-
ledge in all the branches of polite literature and the arts.
In 1764, he published bis " Experimental Essays," which
were received with great applause, and were soon trans*
lated into different languages; and the singular merit of
this performance induced the university of Glasgow to
confer the degree of doctor of physic on its author. The
improvement introduced by Dr. Macbride in the art of
tanning, by substituting lime-water for common water in
preparing ooze, procured him the honour of a silver medal
from the Dublin Society, in 1768, and of a gold medal of
considerable value from the society of arts and commerce
in London.
• For several years after Dr. Macbride obtained his de-
gree, he employed part of his time in the duties of a me-
dical teacher, and delivered at his own bouse a course of
lectures on the theory and practice of physic. These lec-
tures were published in 1772, in 1 vol. 4to, under the title
of" An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Medi-
cine," and a second edition appeared in 1777. It was'
translated into Latin, and published at Utrecht, in 2 vols.
$vo, in (774. This work displayed great acoteness of ob-
servation, and very philosophical views of pathology, and
contained a new arrangement of diseases, which was
deemed of so much merit by Dr. Cullen, that an outline
of it was given by that celebrated professor in his Com-
pendium of Nosology. Of the five classes, however, into
which Dr. Macbride distributed diseases, the genera and
species ef the first only were detailed.
The talents of Dr. Macbride were now universally known,
his character was duly appreciated, and his professional
emoluments increased, rapidly; for the public, as if to make
amends for former neglect, threw more occupation into
his hands than he could accomplish either with ease or
safety. Although much harassed both in body and mind,
so as to have suffered for some time an almost total inca-
pacity for sleep, he continued in activity and1 good spirits
until the -end of December, 1778, when an accidental cold
brought on a fever and delirium, which terminated his life
en the 13th of that month, in the fifty-third year of his
« M A C-C AG H W E L L*
age ; his death was sincerely lamented by persons of al|
ranks.1
MAC-CAGHWELL (Hugh), who in his Latin work*
called himself Cavellus, was titular primate of Armagh*
and a learned writer in defence of Duns Scotus, whose
opinions were generally embraced by his countrymen. He
was born in the county of Down, in Ireland, in 1571, ai|d
became a Franciscan friar. He studied at Salamanca, in
Spain, and afterwards for many years governed the Irish
Franciscan college at Louvain, dedicated to St. Anthony,
in the founding of which he had been instrumental. In
this college he was also professor of divinity, which office
he filled afterwards in the convent of Ara Coeli at Rome*
was definitor-general of his order, and at length advanced
by the pope to the see of Armagh ; but died at Rome, as
he was preparing for his journey to Ireland, Sept. 22,
1626, in the fifty-fifth year of his age. He was buried
in the church of St. Isidore, under a monumental stone,
and inscription, placed there by the earl of Tyrone. He
was reckoned a man of great learning, and one of the best
schoolmen of his time. His works, which consist chiefly
of commentaries on and a defence of Scotus, were in sub-.*
stance incorporated in Wading's edition of Scotus's works,
printed at Lyons, 1639, in 12 vols, folio.9
MACDIARMID (John), an ingenious young writer, was
the son of the rev. Mr. Macdiarmid, minister of Weem ia
the northern part of Perthshire, and was b#rn in 17.79.
He studied at the universities of Edinburgh and St. An-
drews, and was for some years tutor in a . gentleman's,
family. Such a situation is generally desired in Scotland
with the view of provision in the church, but as this was.
not Mr. Macdiarmid's object, he became desirous of visit-
ing the metropolis, and trying, his fortune in the career of
literary competition. He accordingly came to London in
1-801, and was soon in the receipt of a. competent income,
from periodical writing. His principal occupations of this
kind were, as editor of the St. James's Chronicle (a paper
in which some of the first scholars and wits of the last half
century have employed their pens), and as a reviewer in a
critical publication. On the commencement or rather the
renewal of the late war in 1802-3, his attention was di-
rected to our military establishment, and hejelinquisbed
<
1 Rees'f Cyclopedia. * Ware's Ireland, by Harris.
MACD1ARMID. W
Ms periodica* engagements to become the author of a vtof
elaborate work, entitled " An Inquiry into the System of
Military Defence of Great Britain/' 1803, 2 vols. 8vo.
This exposed the defects of the volunteer system, as welt art
of all temporary expedients, and asserted the superiority
of a regular army ; and had be lived, he would have doubt-
less been highly gratified to contemplate the army forrned
by the illustrious Wellington. His nertt Work was, an
" Inquiry into the Nature of Civil and Military Subordina-
lion," 1804, 8vo, perhaps .the, fullest disquisition which
the subject has received. He now determined to suspend
his theoretic labours, and to turn his attention to Works of
narrative. He accordingly wrote the " Lives of British
Statesmen/' 4 to, beginning with the life of sir Thomas
More^ This work has strong claims on public attention.
The style is perspicuous and unaffected ; authorities are
quoted for every statement of consequence, and a variety
of curious information is extracted from voluminous records*
and brought for the first time before the public view. His
political speculations were always temperate and libefah
He was indeed in all respects qualified for a work of this
description, by great powers of research and equal impart
Jiality. But unfortunately he was destined to enjoy, for a
short time only, the approbation with whidh bis work was
received. His health, at all times delicate, received in
November 1807, an irreparable blow by a paralytic stroke ;
and in February 1808 a second attack proved fatal, April 7.
Mr. D' Israeli has paid a just and pathetic tribute to his
memory tind talents in the work referred to below. l
MAC DONALD (AnUrew), another yourtg writer of
considerable talents, was the son of George Donald, a
gardener at Leith. The Mac he appended to ht$ name
when he came to London. He was born in 1757 at Leith,
where he was educated, chiefly by the assistance of bishop
Forbes. For some time he bad the charge of a chapel at
Glasgow, in which city he published a novel, entitled
u The Independent." He afterwards came to London,
and- wrote for the newspapers. His works were lively,
satirical, and humorous, and were published under the
signature of Matthew Bramble. He naturally possessed a
fine genius, and had improved his understanding with
classical and scientific knowledge ; but for want of con nee-
1 Atheneum, vol. III. — D' Israeli'* Calatoitics of Author?.
you xxi. e
SOt MACDONAL D.
tions in this southern part of the united kingdom/ and s
proper opportunity to, bring bis talents into notice, he was
always embarrassed, and had occasionally to struggle with
great and accumulated distress. He died in the 33d year
of his age, at Kentish Town, in Aug. 17V0, leaving a wife
and infant daughter in a state, of extreme indigence. A
volume of his " Miscellaneous Works" was published in
1791, in which were comprised, " The. fair Apostate, a
tragedy; "Love and Loyalty," an opera; "Princess. of
Tarejnto," a comedy ; and " Vimonda," a tragedy. l
MACE (Francis), a learned French priest, was born at
Paris about 1640, and pursued his divinity studies at the
university of hiq native city, where he took his degree^.
About this. time he; was appointed secretary to the council
for managing the domains and finances of the queen, con-
sort to Lewis XIV. ; and when he took holy orders, in 1 6&59
he wap immediately appointed canon and rector of the
church of St. Opportune, at Paris. He was a very dili-
gent student as well in profane as in sacred literature, and
was celebrated for his* popular talents as a preacher. He
died in 1721, leaving behind him a great number of works
that do honour to bis memory, of which we shall men tiou
" A chronological, historical, and moral abridgment o$
the Old and New Testament," in 2 vols, 4to ; t€. Scriptural
Knowledge, reduced into four tables ;" a French version
of the apocryphal " Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs;'*
of which Grosse teste, bishop of Lincoln, gave the first
Latin translation, . Grabe the first Greek edition, . from
MSS. in the English universities, and Whiston an English
version ; " The History of the Fiwr Ciceros," in which he
attempts to prove, that {be sons of Cicero were as illustri-
ous as their father* *
MACE .(Thomas), a practitioner on the lute, but more
distinguished among lovers of music by a work entitled
^.Music's Monument, or a Remembrancer of, the best
practical Musi*?, both divine and civil,, that has ever been
known to .have been in the world,V 1676, folio, was borrr
in 1613, and became one of the clerks of Trinity-college,
Cambridge. He does not appear to have held any con-
siderable rank among musicians, nor is he celebrated
either as a -composer or practitioner on the lute: yet his.
* ■ *
1 Biog. Dram.— Gent. Mag. vol. LX,— ^Israeli's Calamities.
' 2 Moreri.— <Dict Hist.— Rees'a Cyclopaedia.
MACE. 51
■
book is a proof that he was an excellent judge of the in-
strument;. and contains such variety of directions for the
ordering and management of it, and for performing on it,
as renders it a work of great utility. It contains also many
particulars respecting himself, many traits of an original
and singular character; and. a vein of humour which, far
from being disgusting, exhibits a lively portraiture of a
good-natured gossiping old man. Dr. Burney recommends
its perusal to all who have taste for excessive simplicity
and quaintness, and can extract pleasure from the sincere,
and unassembled happiness of an author, who, with ex-
alted notions of his subject and abilities, discloses to his
reader every inward working of self-approbation in as un-
disguised a manner, as if he were communing with himself
in all the plenitude of mental comfort and privacy. There
is a print of him prefixed to his book, from an engraving
of Faithorne, the inscription under which shews him to
have been sixty-three in 167.6: how long be lived after-
wards, is not known. He had a wife and children.1
MACEDO (Francis), a Portuguese Jesuit, and most
indefatigable writer, born at Coimbra, in 1596, quitted
that order after a time to take the habit of a cordelier/
He was strongly in the interest of the duke of Braganza
when he seized the crown of Portugal. Being sent to
Rome, he acquired for a time the favour of pope Alexan-
der the Vllth, and was preferred by him to several impor-
tant offices. The violence of his temper however soort
embroiled him with this patron, and he went to Venice,
where he disputed de omni scibiti; and gaining great repu-
tation, obtained the professorship of moral philosophy at
Padua. Afterwards, having .ventured to interfere in some
state matter at Venice, where he had been held very high,
he was imprisoned, and died in confinement, in 1681,. at
the age of 85. He is said, in the " Bibliotbeque Portu-
gaise," to have published 109 different works : and in one
of his own books he boasts that he had pronounced 53 pub-
lic panegyrics, 60 Latin discourses, and 32 funeral ora-
tions; that he had written 48 epic poenjs, 123 elegies,
^1 15 epitaphs, 212 dedications, 700 familiar letters, 26QQ
poems in heroic verse, 3000 epigrams, 4 Latin comedies.,
and had written or pronounced 150,000 verses extempo-
1 Hswfcias and Barney's Histories of Music, but especially the latter, m
Reel's Cyclopaedia,
£2
5* M A C t 1> O.
raneously. Yet the man who could declare all this, is
hardly known by name in the greater part of Europe ; and
of the enormous list of his printed works, not more than
fiVe are thought worthy of mention by the Writers of his
life. To write much, is far easier than to write well. The
works specified by his biographers are, 1. " Clavis Aa-
giistiniana liberi arbitrii,1' a book written against father,
afterwards cardinal Noris. The disputants were both
silenced by authority; but Macedo, not to seem vanquished,
dent his antagonist a regular challenge to a verbal cotttro*-
versy, which by some biographers has been mistaken for a
Challenge to fight. The challenge may be found in thm
"Journal Etranger" for June 1757. 2. 4< Schema Sane-
te Congregationis," 1676, 4to: a dissertation on the in-
quisition, full of learning and absurdity. 3. " Encyclo-
paedia in agon em 1 iterator um," 1677, folio. 4. •" Praise
df the French," in Latin, 1641, 4to; « book on the Jan-
senian controversy. 5. " Myrothechim Morale/9 4to. This
is the book in which be gives the preceding account of
what he had written and spoken, &c. He -possessed a
prodigious memory, and a ready command of language;
but his judgment and taste were by no means equal to his
learning and fecundity. '
MACEDONIUS, was an ancient heretic of the church
of Constantinople, whom the Arians made bishop of that
see in the year 342, at the same time that the orthodox
contended for Paul. This occasioned a contest, which rose
at length to such a height, that arms were taken up, and
many lives lost. The emperor Constantius, however, put
* an end to the dispute, by banishing Paul, and ratifying the
nomination of Macedonius; who, after much opposition,
which ended at the death of Paul, became peaceably and
quietly settled in his see, and might have remained so had
.he been of a temper to be long peaceable and quiet in any
situation : he soon fell into disgrace with Constantius, for
acting the part of a tyrant, rather than a bishop. What
made bitn still more disliked by the emperor; was his caus-
ing the body of Con stan tine to be translated from the
temple of *he Apostles to that of Acacius the martyr* This
also raised great tumults and confusion among the peo-
ple, some highly approving, others loudly condemning,
the. procedure of Macedonius ; and the parties again taking
* Gen. Diet.— Niceroo, yo1. XXXI,— -Moreri.— Antonio Bibl. Hisp.
M A C E D O N I US. $$
up arms, a great number on both aide* were slain. : Mac**
doaiuo, however, notwithstanding the emperor's displde^
sure, sthieb be bad incurred by his seditious «rid tUTbniefat
practices contrived te a opport himself by bm party, which
be bad lately increased by taking hi the tsemi -Arians \ tfll
at length* imprudently offending two of bm bishops, they
procured his deposition by the council of Constantinople^
in the year 359. He was so enraged at this, as to resotofe
to revenge the insok by broaching a new heresy. He began
to teach, therefore, that the Holy Spirit had no resem*
Uance to either the Father or the son, but was only a merfe
creature, one of God's ministers, ***d somewhat more e»-
jsellent than the angels. ThetHsaffeeted bishops subscribed
at once to this opinion ; and to the Arians it e4Uid not bt
unacceptable. According to St. Jerome, even the Donatists
of Africa joined with them : for he says, that Dftnatus of
Carthage wrote a treatise upon the Holy Ghost, agreeable
to the doctrine of the Arians; and the outward shew of
piety, which the Macedonians observed, drew over to their
party many other* One Maratorus, who had been for*
meriy a treasurer, having amassed vast riches, forsook Ms
secular life, devoted himself entirely to the seraoe of *tfcte
poor and sick, became a monk; and afeiast adopted *he
Macedonian heresy, which he disseminated veey extent
a+veiy, > In this he succeeded in most cases by hit rictp*^
which, being freely and properly distributed, ware found
of mono force in effecting conversions than- all his Argu-
ments i mud from this,m*n, as Socrates relates, the Mac«*>
dpnians were called Maratoriaas. They were also called
Pnenmatomachi, 4W persons who were .enemies of the Hoty
Ghost. The report of the Macedonian heresy being spread
over fcgypty Use bishop Serapsoo advertised Afchatjasiti*
m£ ity who then was leading a maaastie life, and lay hid i*
She desert; and this celebrated saint vras the first wb|>
confoted iuJ j
MACER {JEmum)9 an ancient Latin poet, was bore
at Verooa, and flourished about the year 24 B. G. Etoifr-
bcus relates, that be died a few year* after Virgil. • Ovid
speaks of a poem by him, en the nature and qtiality of
birds, serpents, and herbs; which, he says, Macer, being
•hen. very oidt had often read to him, a ad he is said also tfr
iWe written a supplement to Hosher; bqt the work by
* MbffecidL— Socrat. Hist. Ecclel. lib. ii.-~ftftreri.
i
H . » M A C E R. .
which his name is chiefly known, first printed at Naples in
1477, 4to, and often since under the tide " De virtu tibus
Herbarum," is unquestionably, spurious, and the produc-
tion of a much later writer. By some it is ascribed to
Odo or Odobonus, a French physician of the ninth cen-
tury. This barbarous poem is in Leonine verse, and va-
rious manuscripts of it are in our public libraries of Ox?
ford, Cambridge, the British Museum, &c. It was, ac-
cording to Dr. Pulteney, in common use in England before *
the sera of printing, and was translated into English by
John Lelamar, master of Hereford-school, who lived about
1473. Even Linacre did. not disdain to employ himself on
this work, as in " Macer's Herbal practysed by Dr. Linacro,
translated out of Latin into English." Lond. J 542,- 12 mo.
This jejune performance, adds Dr. Pulteney, which is writ-
ten wholly on Galenical principles, treats on the virtues of
not more than eighty- eight simples. 1
. . MACFAKLANE (Robert), a political and miscella-
neous writer, was born in Scotland in 1734, and educated
in the university of Edinburgh. He came to London at
an early period of life, and for many years kept an aca-
demy of considerable reputation at Walthamstow. , He was
also. much engaged in the political disputes at the begin*
<ning of the reign of his present majesty, and concentrated
bi$* sentiments on them, in a " History of the Reign of
fJeorge III." an octavo volume, which was published in
1770. A dispute occurring between him and his book-
seller, the late. Mr. Thomas Evans of Paternoster- row,
the latter employed another person to continue the history,
of which vol. II appeared in 1782, and vol. III. about
•J 794. Mr. Macfarlane being then reconciled to his em-
ployer, published a fourth volume. The whole is com-
piled from the journals of the day, and cannot, either in
<ppiht of style or matter, entitle Mr. Mactarlane, or the
other writers, to the character of historians. In early life,
also, he was editor of the Morning Chroniclq and London
Packet, in which he gave the debates with great accuracy
and at. considerable length, and wrote many, letters and
papers under fictitious names, in favour.of the politics of
the opposition Being an enthusiastic admirer of Ossian,
and an assistant, as has been said, to Mr. Macpherson in the
arranging and publishing of these poems, he>conceived the
1 Vossius Hist. Lat. — Fabric, Bib]. Lat.— Haller Bibl. Bot. — Pulteney'i
Sketcbet.
M A C F A R L A N E. 55
very preposterous design of translating tberh into Latin
verse. Accordingly, in 1769, he published " Temdra," as
a specimen, and issued, at the same time; proposals -for
publishing, the whole by subscription, in one vol u toe, 4to1
but few subscribers appearing, he desisted: from -hts plarf,
During the latter years of his life, he resumed it, and
was employed in it at the time of his death: Curiosity ted
him one evening to witness the triumphs of an election*
mob coming from Brentford, when he fell under a carriage*
and was so much hurt as to survive only half an hour.
This happened on Augusts, 1304. He had at this time
in' the press, an " Essay on the authenticity ofOssian anp
his Poems.0
In 1797, Mr. Macfaflane published "Ah Address to the
people of the British Empire, on the present posture and
future prospect of public affaire," by which it appears thai
he bad got rid of most of his former politicalpr^judiees.
He likewise formally disclaim the second and third vo-
lumes of the " History of George III." 'and says, that eteft
tbe first h£s been so disfigured ill a third edition, that' fife
Will no longer claim it as his own. In ISOl, he published
" George Buchanan's Dialogue, concerning the rights of
tbe crown of Scotland. Translated iftto 'English : with two
dissertations prefixed: one archaeological, inquiring into
the pretended identity of the Getes and Scythians, of thi
Getes and Goths, and of the. Goths and Scots : arid the
other historical, vindicating tbe character of Buchanan
as a historian : and containing some specimens of his poetry
in English verse,'* 8vo. In this work there is much curious
discussion. '
MACHAULT (John de), a Jesuit, was born at Paristiti
J 65!, and was professor of rhetoric in his society, doctor
of divinity, and rector of the Jesuits college at Rouen,"
then of the college de Clermont at Paris. He died March
15, 1619, aged 58. He published under the* name of
Gall us, or Le Cocq, which was bis mother's name, "Jo.
Galli jurisconsulti uotationes in Historian) Thuani," In-
goldstadt, 1614, 4to, a scarce volume, because suppressed
in that year, as pernicious, seditious, and full, of falsehoods
and calumnies against the magistrates and officers of the
king. Machault also translated from the Italian, a*" His-
tory of transactions in China and Japan, taken from letters
* Gent Ma* vol. 1XX1V. he.
U VSA'CHAOL T.:
piittpn J $24 and 1622," Paris, 1627, ftvo.— Job* Baf*
TIST D£ MACHAfrvr, another Parisian Jesuit, who died May
$$, 1640, aged 29, after having been rector of the colleges
at Nevers aod Rouen, left " Gesta i.Soe. Jes. in Regno
Sinen^i, jEthiopico, et Tibetano;" *nd some other works of
the historical kind, but of little reputation.-^-JAME8 B*
jMUcwwvr, a Jesuit also, born 1600, at Paris, taught ethics
apd philosophy, and was afterwards rector at Alencon, Or*
Jean?, and Caen. He died 1690, at Paris. His works are,
# J)e Missionibus Paraguariae et aliis in America meridio*
Kli ;" « Pe rebus Japonicis ;" " De Provinciis Goana,
al^btrica, et aliis ;" " De Regno Cochineinensi ;" " De
Missione Religiosorum Societatis J. in Perside ;" ** De
Ifogno Madurensi, Tangoreosi," &c*
MACHIAVEL (Nicholas), a celebrated political writer
?nd historian, was born of a good family, at Florence, in
1469. He first distinguished himself as a dramatic writer,
bpt bis comedies are not formed on the purest moralr, nor
lire the verses by which he gained some reputation about
the samp time, entitled to much praise, Sodn after he
Jjad entered public life, either from the love of liberty, or
* spirit of faction, he displayed a restless and turbulent
disposition, which not only diminished the respect due to
tys abilities, but frequently endangered his personal safety.
De iovplved himself in the conspiracy of Capponi and Bos-
coli, in consequence of which he was put to the torture,
fcufepdured it without uttering any confession, and was
set qt liberty by Leo X. against whose house that conspi-
racy had been formed. Immediately after the death of
Leo, be entered into another plot to expel the 'cardinal de
J^edici from Florence- Afterwards, however, he was raised,
to high honours in the state, and became secretary to the
republic of Florence, the duties of which office be per*
formed with great fidelity. He was likewise employed in
embassies to king Lewis XII. of France ; to the emperor
Afa*imilian ; to the college of cardinals; to the pope,
Julius IL, and to other Italian princes. Notwithstanding
the revenues which mint have accrued to him in these im-t
portant situations, it would appear that the love of money
fcad no influence. on his mind, as he died in extreme f>o»
-**rty in June 1527. Besides his plays, his chief works
*re, h "The Golden Ass," in imitation of Lucian an4
1 Mpreri.— Diet. Bi&U-^Lp Lgpf BibL Hptqriqae.
NACHUVEL 17
Aptdeiuj ; 2. " ^Discourses on the fcnt Decade of hmy ?*.
3, « A History of Florence ;" 4. u The life of Castruccie ,
Gaatracani ;" *< " A Treatise on the Military Art >" *. " A
Treatise on the Emigration of the Northern Nations ;n
7. Another entitled » Del Principe^," die Prince. Tbia
famous treatise, which was first published in 15 i 5, audio*
leaded as a sequel to hi*, discourses on the, first decad*
pf Livy, ha* created very discordant opinions between
critics of apparently equal skill and judgment, some her*
iag considered bkn as the friend of truth, liberty, and *ir>
tuet »d others as the Jfedrocat* of fraud and. tyranny.
Moat generally "the Prince'' has been viewed in the
fetter light, ail its maxims and counsels being directed to
the maintenance of power, however acquired, and by any
wean*; and one .reason for. this opinion is perhaps natural
enough, namely, its being dedicated to a nephew of pope
Leo X, printed at Rome, re-paUisbed in, other Italian
pities* and long read with attention, and even applause*
without censure or reply. On the other, hand it has been
thought impossible that Nechiavel, who was bom under a
republic* who was employed aa one of its. sateetaries, who
performed so many important embassies, and who in bit
pepversatiee always dwelt en the gloinoos actions ef Sratns
and Cassiua, should have foamed sneb a system against the
liberty and happiness, of .mankind. Hence it has frequently
^een urged on his behalf, that it was not .his intention ttf
•Uggest wise and faithful counsels, ibut to represent in. the
darkest oolouis the schemes of. a tyrant, and thereby ea~
oitfe odium against biro. Even lord Bacon seems .to be ef
this opinion. The historian of ■ Leo , constdem bis conv
duot in a different point, of view; and indeed all idea
of his being ironical in this work k dissipated by thf
feet, mentioned by Mr. Rpaooe, that ? many of the most
exceptionable doctrines in M The Prince, M are also to be
found in bis "Discourses," where it cannot ba. pretended
that be had any- indicect pqcpeae in -view ; and in the .latter
fett baa in .some iastannes referred fca the former for the
fartber elucidation of bis opinions* In popular opiate*
11 The JPrincen has. affixed ta bis naoae a lasting stigma^
ajtd Maohiaaeltsm haa long been a received appellation
for perfidious and • infamous, politics. Of the biatowcai
writings of Machiavel, the " Life of Castmccio Castracani"
is considered as partaking too much of the character off
romance » but his " History of Florence/' comprising the
5S MACHIAVEL.
events of that republic, between 1205 and 1494, Which
was written while the author sustained the office of- histo-
riographer of the republic, although, not always accurate
in point of fact, may upon the whole be reaa with both
pleasure and advantage. It has been of late years disco-
vered that the diary of the most important events in Italy
from 1492 to 1512, published by the Giunti in 1568,
under the name of Biagio Buonaccorsi, is in fact a part of
the notes of Machiavel, which he had intended for a con-
tinuation, of his history; but which, after his death, re-
mained io the bands of his friend Buonaccorsi. > This is a
circumstance of which we were not aware when we drew
up the account of this author under the name EsPERiENTfe.
In English we have a translation of the whole of Ma*
chiavel's works by Farneworth, and editions of them are
common in almost every language.1
MACKENZIE (Sir George), an ingenious and learned
writer, and eminent lawyer of Scotland, was descended
from an ancient and noble family, his father Simon, Mac*
kenzie being brother to the earl of Seaforth. He was
born at Dundee, in the county of Angus, in 1636, and
gave early proofs of an extraordinary genius, having gone
through the usual classic authors, at ten years of age. He
was then sent to the universities of Aberdeen and St. An<*
drew's, where he finished. his studies in logic and philoso-
phy before he had attained his sixteenth year. After this,
he turned his thoughts to the civil law, and to increase his
knowledge of it, travelled into France, and became a close
student in the university of Bourges, for about three years.
On his return home, he was called to the bar, became an
advocate in 1656, and gained the character of an eminent
pleader in a few years.
While he made the law his profession and chief study,
he cultivated a taste for polite literature ; and produced
some works which added not a little to his reputation. In
U560, came out his "Aretino, or serious Romance," in
which he shewed a gay and exuberant fancy. In 1663, he
published his " Religio Stoici;" or a short discourse upon
several divine and moral subjects, with a friendly -address
to the fanatics of all sects and sorts. This was followed,
in 1665, by " A Moral Essay," preferring solitude to pub^
i.
i Tiraboschi.— . Moreri.— Gioguent Hist. Litt, D'lulic— Roscoe's Leo.— Suit
OnomasticoD.
MACKENZIE. 59
tie employment, and all its advantages; such as fame,
command, riches, pleasures, conversation, &c. This was
answered by John Evelyn, esq. in another essay, in which
the preference was given to public employment. Irfl667,
he printed his w Moral gallantry ;" a discourse, in which
he endeavours to prove, that the point of honour, setting
afcide all other ties, obliges men to be virtuous ; and that
there is nothing so mean and unworthy of a gentleman, as
vice : to which is added, a consolation against calumnies,
shewing how to bear them with chearfulness and patience.
Afterwards be published "The moral history of frugality,"
with its opposite vices, covetousness, niggardliness, pro-
digality, and luxury, dedicated to the university of Ox-
ford; and M Reason," an essay, dedicated to the hon.
Robert Boyte, .esq. All these works, except "Aretino,"
were collected and printed together at London, in 1713,
Svo, under the title of " Essays upon several moral sub-
jects:"'and have been ^regarded as abounding in good
sense and wit, although upon the whole the reasoning is
rather superficial/ Besides these essays, which were the
production of such hours as could be spared from his pro-
fession, be was the author of a play and a poem. The
poem is entitled " Caelia's country-house and closet;'*
and in it are the following lines upon the earl of Montrose:
€< Montrose, his country's glory, and its shame,
Ctesar in all things equall'd, but his fame, &C."
Which our predecessor quoted principally to shew, that
Pope himself, infinitely superior as his talents in poetry
were, did not disdain to imitate this author, in his " Essay
on Criticism :"
" At length Erasmus, that great injur'd name,
The glory of the priesthood, and the shame, &c.'
--• Soon after Mr. Mackenzie had been employed as coun-
sel for the marquis of Argyle, he was promoted to the
office of a judge in the criminal court', which he discharged
with so much credit and reputation, that he was made
king's advocate in 1674, and one of the lords of the privy,
council in Scotland. He was also knighted by bis majesty.
In these offices he met with a great deal of trouble on ac-
count of the rebellions whichftiappened in his time ; and
' his office of advocate requiring him to act with severity,
he did not escape being censured for having, in the deaths
of some particular persons who were executed, stretched
$9 M A C K E N Z I &
t
tbe tows too (p. Tbi* alludes to t^e tutted trials of B^illie
of Jerviswoo^ that of the $arl of Argyle, and the prcffeptH
tipns Against MitcheJ and Learmonth, events winch make
a great figure in the history of that unhappy period ; but
in the opinion of the late lord Woodhoaselet, " hi* own
defence will fully justify bis conduct io the breast of every
man whose judgment is not perverted by tbe same preju-
dices, hostile to all good government, which led those uh
fatuated offenders to the doom they merited/' . (See
Mackenzie's Works, Vindication of the government of
Charles II.)
Opon tbe abrogation of tbe penal laws by James II. sir
George, though he had always been remarkable for bis
loyalty, and censured for bis zeal, thought himself obliged
to resign bis post ; being convinced that be could -not dis-
charge the duties of it at ttoat .crisis with a good conscience*
Be wfis succeeded by sir John Dalrymple, who, however,
did not long continue in it ; fqt that unfortunate prince
being convinced of bis error, restored sir George to bis
post, in which he continued until tbe revolution, and then
resigned it He could no*; agree to tbe measures and terms
pf the revolution ; be hoped that the prince of Orange
would have returned to bis own country* when matters were
adjusted between the king and bis subjects; but finding
that the event proved otherwise, he cjuitted all bis em-
ployments in Scotland, and retired to England, revolving
to spend the remainder of bis days in the university of Ox-
ford. He accordingly arrived there in September 1689,
and prosecuted his studies in the Bodleian library, being
admitted a student there by a grace passed in the congre-
gation June 2, 1690. In tbe spring following he went to
London, where he contracted a dtsbfder, of which be died
May 2, lfcfrl. His bodyHvas conveyed by land to Scot-
)and, and interred with great pomp a«d solemnity at Edin-
burgh, his fuueraLbeing attended by aH tbe council, no*
bility, college, of justice, eotlegeof physicians* university*
cte*$y* g^Hry* end a jpeater concourse of people than
e*er was w^n on any -similar o ocas ion. •
Besides the moral piece* me*uioaed above, be wtotese*
feral works to illustrate the laws aed customs of his eount
try, to vindicate tbe monarchy from tbe restless centri*
*ances and attacks of those whoas be esteemed its enemies,
%nd to maintain tbe honour and glory of Scotteadi To tl»
lustrate the laws and wttpma of his country, be pabsiafaed
MACKENZIE. rfi
•V A Discourse upon the laws and customs of $c$*l*fltt iri;
raattcm erimittaV* 1GT4, *to. •• Ide* ekquenti* fertensi*
hodterose, una cum actione forensi e* maqtraque jari*
parte," 1681) dvo. " Invitations of Che Itotf** of Scot*
land," 1684, 8vo. " Observations upon the WW of par*
liaikieiit," 1 086, folio. Besides these, several other ttigak
use* of law are inserted in his works, printed <tt Edinburgh;
1716, in 9 vol* folio. In Vindication <rf nrtmttrchyj hef
wrote his " Jtis regiurto ; or the just arid solid> fouridatldrt*
of monarchy in general, and* more* especially- of the mo-
narohy of Scotland ; maintained agaitot Btichanan, Naph-
tfarii, l>oieman, Milton, &c.,v Land. 16S4; 8*o.- Thif
book being dedicated and presented by tlieaiicfafor to the
university of Oxford* he received a1 letter of thanks from
the convocation. With the same view he puMifehetf hi*
* Discovery of the fanatic plot," printed' at Edinburgh; in
1684, folio J and his «< Vindication of the government *f
Scotland during the reign of Charles- II.'9 AUothe w Me-
thod of Proceeding against Criminals and Fariatieal Cove*
nanters," 1694, 4to. The piece* which he pubfahed in
honour of Ms nation, were as follow i w OttteiHtttioh* oft
the Lawsand Customs of Nations as to Precedency, with the
Science of heraldry, treated as a part' df the divillkw of
nations ; wherein reason* are given for its principles, and
etymologies for its harder terms," 1680, folio. " A De*
fence of the Antiquity of the' Royal Line of Scotland-, with
a trtre account when the' Scots were governed by the kings
in the Isle of Britain," 1685, 8vo. This was Written in
answer to " An historical Account of Churcb-Gorernment
as it was in Great Britain and Ireland, when they Art t re-
ceived the Christian religion, " by Lloyd, bisbdjp of : Sfc
Asapto Str George's defence was published in Jwife 1888;
but before it came out it was. animadverted tfpon; by 0ft
Stillmgfleet, who had seen it in maflqtfertyt in the* preface
to his "'Origines Britannic*." Sir George refilled the
year following, in a1 piece entitled "The Anti^rtty of the
Royal Line of Scotland farther delved And defended
against the exceptions lately offered by Dt. StiHingfleet,
in his Vindication of the Bishop of St. Afcafph;** and here
the controversy appears to 'have ended.1 Itr is rerriatkaMe;
however, that sir George> books were translated into Latin,
printed at Utrecht in 1689, and then presented to W\U
liam-Henry prince of Orange, who wrote twtyir^ry polite
letters of thanks to him for his perfortunartce.
t»* MACKENZIE.
Among the instances of this author's zeal for his Country,*
it is necessary to mention his founding of the lawyer's li--
brary at Edinburgh} an 1689. This, which is now known:
by the name of the advocate's library, was afterwards stored- -
with variety of manuscripts, relating particularly to the
antiquities of Scotland, and with a fine collection of books/
in all sciences, classed in that excellent order, which he-
prescribed in an. elegant Latin oration, pronounced upqn
the opening of it, and printed apiong bis works.
. Judging, says a late, elegant and judicious writer, from
the writings of sir .George Mackenzie, his talents appear
to have, been rather splendid than solid. He certainly
possessed uncommon assiduity and activity of mind, as the
number and variety of his compositions testify ; and per-
haps the superficial manner in which be has treated many
of those subjects foreign to his profession, is the less to
^e wondered at, in a man whose thne was so occupied in
professional duties. The obscurity and confusion that are
discernible in some of his juridical discussibns, may- have
arisen in a great measure from the rude, unmethodized,
and almost chaotic state of the law of Scotland, both civil
and criminal, in his days. On one account alone, although
every other merit were forgotten, sir George Mackenzie
is entitled to respect as a lawyer. Re was the first who
exploded from the practice of the crimiual courts of Scot-
land that most absurd and iniquitous doctrine, that no de-
fence was to be admitted in exculpation from a criminal
indictment which was contrary to the libel (indictment) ; as,
if John were accused of having murdered James, by giving
him a mortal wound with a sword, it was not allowable for*
John to prove in his defence, that the wound was not given
in any vital part, and that James died of a fever caught
afterwards by contagion*
As an. elegant scholar, lord Woodhouselee ranks sir
George among the ornaments of his country. His Latin
compositions are correct and ornate in no common degree.
His style is evidently formed on the writings of Cicero,
and the young Pliny ; and though a little tinctured with
the more florid eloquence of Quinctilian, is entirely free
from the false embellishments and barbarisms of the writers
of the lower ages. His " Idea Eloquentiae forensis," is a
masterly tractate, which enumerates and eloquently de-
scribes all the important requisites of a pleader, and gives
the most judicious precepts for the cultivation of the
M A C K E N Z I E. ■„. 65
various excellencies and the avoiding of theordtnary defects
of forensic eloquence. His " Cbaracteres quorundam apud
Scotos Advocatorum," evince a happy talent of painting,
not only the groat and prominent differences of ndanaer in
ttje pleaders of his age, but of discriminating, with sin*
gular nicety, and in tbe most appropriate terms, the more
minute and delicate shades of distinction, which a critical
judgment alone could perceive, and which could be de-
lineated only by a master's band. It is, adds lord Wood-
houselee, < highly to the honour of this eminent man,, that
he appears to have possessed a true sense of the dignity of
his profession ; and that he perpetually endeavoured, as
much by bis example as by bis precepts, to mark the con-
trast between tbe prosecution of the law, as a liberal and
ingenuous occupation, and its exercise (too common) as a
mercenary trust.1
.MACKENZIE (George), viscount Tarbat, and first
earl* of Cromerty, a person eminent for bis learning and
for his abilities as a statesman, was descended from a branch
of the family of Seaforth. He succeeded to the family
esbpe on the death of his father sir John Mackenzie, and
also to. his unshaken^ fealty for Charles II. during whose
exile he had a commission to levy what forces be could
procure, to promote the restoration. After that event, heA
was made one of the senators of the college of justice, clerk
register of the privy council, and justice-general, an office
which had been hereditary in the family of Argyle, till it
was surrendered in the preceding reign. James II. made
him a baron and viscount, but on the abdication of that
monarch, whom it would appear he had favoured too much,
he lost his office of lord-register for some time* until king
William III. was pleased to restore it in 1692, being no
stranger to his abilities. In queen Anne's reign, 1702, he
was constituted secretary of state, and the following year
was advanced to the dignity of earl of Cromerty. He died
in 1714, at the age of eighty-three, or, according to ano-
ther account, eighty-eight.
Douglas describes him as a man of singular endowment*}
great learning, well versed in the laws and antiquities of
his country, and an able statesman. Macky, or- rather
Davis, adds, that " he had a gjteat deal of wit, and was the
1 Life prefixed to his Works, fol.— - Lord Woodhouselee's Life of Lord Karnes.
*— Laing^ History of ScoUaud.— -Burnet's Own Timet. —Gent. Mas* toLLXM.
p. 519.
44 M A C K £ tt t I t.
pieasaiitett coiftpanion in- the work! ; had been very Hand*
iotoe ill his perto* ; was tall and ftur complexioned ; rtmch
esteemed fey die rOyal SOtoiety, & great rta^te* in philoso-
phy* and weH revived as a writer try men of lettefs:'*
Bishop Nicoldon notices a copy of the Continuation of
Fonkm's " Seotichronicob" in the band- Writing 6f tbii
faobleman, whom he terms "a judicious preserver of the
antiquities of bis* Country*' He wfote, I. " A Vindica-*
tion of Robert, the third king of Scotland, from the! impu-
tation of bastardy, &c." Edit). 1695, 4to. 2. " Synopsis
Apocaty ptica ; or a short and plain Explication and Appfi*
cation of DaftiePs Prophecy, and St. John's Revelation, irt
convent with it, and consequential to it; by 6. E. of C.
tracing in the steps of the admirable lord Napier of Mer^
chttton," Edin. 1 708. 3. « An historical Account of tb*
Conspiracies, by the earls of Gourie, and Robert Logan
*>f Beatalrig, against king James VI. of glorious memory,
&*." Edin. 1713, Svo. Mr.GdUgh has pointed out ttire*
papers on natural curiosities, by . lord Cromerty, in the
* Philosophical Transactions ;" and" A Vindication,^ bf
him, of the reformation of the church of Scotland, #itH
•ofitto accoont of the Records, was printed in the Scoti*
Magazine, for A tigtitt 1802, front a MS. in the possession
*tf Mr. Constable, bookseller, of Edinburgh.1
■' MACKLIN (Charles), the oldest actor, and perhaps
the oldest man of his time, is entitled to some notice in
this woric, although his fame seems to have been derived
principally from his longevity. He is said to have been
born in the county of West Meath in Ireland, May 1,
1690. His family name was Mac-Laughlin, which, on his
coming to London, he changed to Mackliti. He was em-
ployed in early- life, as badgeman in Trinity college, Dub-
lin, until his twenty-first year, when he came to England,
wid associated With' some strolling comedians, after which
he werit back to his situation in Trinity college. In 1716
be again came to England, and appeared as an actor in the
theatre, Lincoln's-inn-fields, where, in Feb. 1741, he esta-
blished his fame by his performance of Shy lock in the
u Merchant of Venice,'* in which he followed nature, truth,
and propriety, with such effect, as to distance all other
performers through the whole course of his long life. It
1 Park's edition of lord Orford's Royal and Noble Author*. — EJougUs'i Pair*
M A C K L 1 N. 65
ftas* however), the only character in which be was pre-emi-*
Dent, and jail bis subsequent* attempts in characters of im-
portance, particularly in tragedy, were unsuccessful, or; at
least, displayed, no exclusive merit The remainder of his
life consists of a series of tragi-comic adventures, involving1
the history of the stage for a considerable period* of Which
it would be impossible to give a satisfactory abridgment;
We therefore refer to our authorities, where his life is de^
tailed- with great minuteness, and In a manner highly in-
teresting to those, to whom the vicissitudes of the theatres/
and the wit of the greenroom, are matters of importance.
He continued on the stage until 1789, when a decay of
memory obliged him to take a last leave of it. In 1791, a
sum of money Was collected by public subscription for thg
purchase of an annuity, which rendered his circumstances
easy. During the last years of his life, his understanding
became more and more impaired, and in this state be died
July 1 1, 1797, at the very great age of lot, if the date
usually given of his birth be correct. As a dramatic writer*
he appears to much advantage in his " Man of the World'*
and " Love Alaitfode," which still retain their popularity*
He was a man of goopV understanding, which he had im-
proved by a course of reading, perhaps desultory, but suffi-
cient to enable him to bear his part in conversation very satis-
factorily. While his memory remained, his fund of anecdote
was immense* and rendered bis company highly agreeable.
His age* however, had in his opinion, conferred a dictatorial
power, and it was not easy to argue with him, without ex-
citing his irascible temper, which shewed itself in much
coarseness of expression. He is said to have been in his
better days, a tender husband, a good father, and a steady
friend. . By his firmness and resolution in supporting the
rights of his theatrical brethren, they were long relieved
from^a species of oppression to which they bad been igno-
miniously subjected for many years, whenever the caprice
or malice of their enemies chose to exert itself. We al-»
lude, says one of his biographers, "to the prosecution!
which be commenced and carried on against a certain! set
of insignificant beings, who, calling themselves The Towtf,
used frequently to disturb the entertainments of the theatre,
to the terror of the actors, as well as to the annoyance and
disgrace of the publick." It is almost needless to add that
this advantage has been again lost to his brethren, by the
loieration recently granted to scenes #f brutality in the
Vol, XXL F
66 M A C K L I N.
theatres both of London and Dublin, and which has placed
them at the mercy of the lowest and most unprincipled of
the populace.1
MAC KNIGHT (James), a learned Scotch clergyman,
was born at Irvine, in Argyleshire, in 1721, educated at
the university of Glasgow, and afterwards, as was the cus- »
torn at that time, heard a course of lectures at Leyden.
After his return he was admitted into the church, and in v
May 1753, was ordained minister of Maybole, on which
living he continued during sixteen years. Here he com-
4 posed his two celebrated works, the " Harmony of the Gos-
pels,9' and his " New Translation of the Epistles," both
which were very favourably received, and greatly advanced
his reputation in the theological world. In 1763 he pub-
lished a second edition of the " Harmony," with the addi-
tion of six discourses on Jewish antiquities ; and a third
appeared in 1804, in 2 vols, 8vo. In 1763 also be pub- %
lished another work of great merit, entitled " The Truth
of the Gospel History." On account of these publications,
the university of Edinburgh conferred upon him the de-
gree of D.J). In 1769 he was translated to the living of
Jedburgh, and after three years, became one of the mi*
nisters of Edinburgh, which situation he retained during
the remainder of his useful life. He was particularly ac-
tive and zealous in promoting charitable institutions, es-
pecially the fund established by act of parliament, for a
provision to the widows and fatherless children of ministers
in the church of Scotland. As an author, Dr. Macknight
occupied a considerable portion of his time in the execu-
tion of his last and greatest work on the apostolical epistles.
This was the result of an almost unremitting labour during
thirty years : he is said to have studied eleven hours in
each day, and before the work was sent to the press, the
whole MS. had been written five times with his own hand.
A specimen was puhlished in 1787, containing his version
of the epistles to tbeThessalonians; and in 1795 the whole
appeared in four vols. 4to, under the title of " A New Li-
teral Translation from the original Greek of all the Apos-
tolical Epistles ; with a commentary, and notes, philoso-
phical, critical, explanatory, and practical,"- with esjsays on
several important subjects, and a life of the apostle Paul,
which includes a compendium of the apostolical history.
\ Bfof«r.J)rama!ica.— Mfe, by Kirkman — and C<wk«.
MACKNIGHT. t 67
•
Having finished this great1 work, he was desirous of enjoy*
ing the remainder of his days free from laborious pursuits,
and refused, though earnestly solicited, to undertake a
similar work with regard to the Acts of the apostles. In a
rery short time after, the decline of his faculties became
manifest, and about the close of 1799 be caught a violent
cold, the forerunner of other complaints that put an end
to his life in January 1800. . Having early acquired a taste
for classical literature, he studied the writers of antiquity
with critical skill, and was well acquainted with metaphy-
sical, moral, and mathematical science. As a preacher,
without possessing the graces of elocution, he was much
admired for his earnestness of manner, which rendered his
discourses highly interesting and useful.1
MACLAINE (Archibald), a pious and learned clergy-
man, and for fifty years minister of the English church at
the Hague, was born at Monachan in Ireland, in 1722,
and educated at Glasgow under the celebrated Mr. Hutcbe-
son, for the presbyterian ministry. His youth was spent
in Belfast, where he was long remembered with delight
by a numerous circle of friends, now nearly extinct. About
the time of the rebellion in. 1745, when in his twenty-
second year, he was invited to Holland, and succeeded
his venerable uncle Dr. Milling, as pastor of the English
church at the Hague, and remained in that situation until
the invasion of the country by the French, io 179-4, com-
pelled him to take refuge in England. He had not been
here long when an only sister, whom he had not seen for
fifty years, joined him>in consequence of the rebellion in
Ireland. During his residence at the Hague he was known
and highly respected by all English travellers, and not
unfrequently consulted, on account of his extensive eru-
dition and knowledge of political history, by official men
of the highest rank. On his arrival in England he fixed his
residence at Bath, as affording the best opportunities of
union with many of those numerous friends he had known
on the continent, and here he died, Nov. 25, 1804, aged
eighty-two.
During this long course, Dr. Maclaine's superior endow-
ments of mind and heart, his genius, learning, and indus-
try, constantly directed by a love of virtue and truth, by
piety and charity, diffused a beneficial influence over the
1 Life by bis Son, prefixed to the " Epistles."
F 2
68 MACLAINE.
whole of his professional and domestic sphere. As a scho*
lar, a gentleman, and a divine, uniformly displaying a
judicious taste, an amiable deportment, and instructive
example, be was admired and loved by all who courted
and enjoyed his society ; especially those of whom he was
a distinguished archetype — the man of education, the
polished companion, the benevolent friend, and pious
Christian.
Dr. Maclaine published in 1752 a sermon on the death
of the prince of Orange. In 1765 his masterly translation
of Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History made its first appear-
ance, in 2 vols. 4to, dedicated to William Prince of Orange*.
It experienced a most favourable reception, and was re-
printed, 1758, in six vols. 8vo, in which form it has had
several subsequent editions, particularly one published in
1811, with valuable additions by Dr. Coote, the editor;
and the Rev. Dr. Gleig, of Stirling. Few publications,
on their first appearance, having been more generally read
than Mr. Soame Jenyns's '« View of the internal Evidence
of the Christian Religion," Dr. Maclaine addressed to that
gentleman a series of letters, 1777, in 12 mo, written to
serve the best purposes of Christianity, on a due conside-
ration of the distinguished eminence of Mr. Jenyns as a
writer, of the singular mixture of piety, wit, error, wis*
dom, and paradox, exhibited in his publication, and of his
defence of Christianity on principles which would lead
men to enthusiasm or; to scepticism, according to their dif-
ferent dispositions. His only publications since were two
fast sermons, 1793 and 1797, anti a volume of setmons
preached at the Hague. He was interred in the abbey
church of Bath, where a monument has been since erected
to his memory by his friend Henry Hope, esq. *
MACLAURIN (Colin), an, eminent mathematician and
philosopher, was the son of a clergyman, and born at Kil*
modan, near Inverary, in Scotland, Feb. 1698. His fa-
mily was originally from Tirey, one of the western islands.
He was sent to the university of Glasgow in 1709, where
he continued five years, and applied himself to study in t
most intense manner, particularly to the mathematics. His
great genius for this science discovered itself so early as at
• For this work, by which thousands have been realized, Dr. Maclaine re-
ceived only the small sum of 130/.
i From materials obligingly furnished by his son, a merchant in Load**.?—
Funeral Sermon, by Dr. Gardiner, Bath, 1805, 8vo.
MACLAUEIN. 69
twelve years of age ; when, having accidentally met with
a copy of Euclid* s Elements in a friend's chamber, he
became in a few days master of the first six books without
any assistance: and it is„certai«, that in his sixteenth year
he had invented many of the propositions, which were
afterwards published as part of his work entitled " Geo-
metria Organica." In his .fifteenth year, he took the de-
. gree of master of arts ; on which occasion be composed
and publicly defended a thesis " On the power of gravity,"
with great applause. After this he quitted the university,
and retired to a country-seat of bis uncle, who had the care
of bis education, his parents, being dead some time. Here
he spent two or three years in pursuing his favourite studies ;
and such was his acknowledged merit, that having in 1717
offered himself a candidate for the professorship of mathe-
matics in the Marischal college of Aberdeen, he obtained
it after a ten days trial against a very able competitor. In
1719 he went to London, where be left his " Geometria
Organica" in the press, and where he became acquainted
with Dr.-Hoadly, bishop of Bangor, Dr. Clarke, sir Isaac
Newton, and other eminent men. At the same time he was
admitted a member of the royal society ; and in another
journey in 1721, he contracted an intimacy with Martin
Folkes, esq. the president of it, which lasted to his death.
In 1722, lord Polwartb, plenipotentiary of the king of
Great Britain at the congress of Cambray, engaged him to
go as tutor and companion to bis eldest son, who was then
to set out on bis travels. After a short stay at Paris, and
visiting other cities in* France, they fixed in Lorrain ; where
Madaurin wrote his treatise "On the percussion of
Bodies," which gained the prize of the royal academy of
sciences, for 1 724 ; but his pupil dying soon after at Mont-
pelidr, he returned immediately to bis professorship at
Aberdeen. He was hardly settled here when he received
an invitation to Edinburgh ; the patrons of that university
being desirous that he should , supply the place of Mr.
James Gregory, whose great age and infirmities had ren-
dered him incapable of teaching. On this occasion he had
some difficulties to encounter, arising from competitors,
who bad great interest with the patrons of the university,
and also from the want of an additional fund for the new
professor; all which, however, at length were surmounted,
id consequence of two letters from sir Isaac Newton. In
one, addressed, to himself, with allowance, to shew it to
Td MACLAURIN.
the patrons of the university, sir Isaac expresses himself
thus: "I am very glad to hear that you: have a prospect
of being joined to Mr. James Gregory, -in the professorship
of the mathematics at Edinburgh, not only because you
are my friend, but principally because of your abilities ;
you being acquainted as well with the new improvements,
of mathematics, as with the former state of those sciences.
I heartily wish you good success, and shall be very glad to
hear of your being elected." In a second letter to the lord
provost of Edinburgh, he writes thus : " I am glad to un-
derstand that Mr. Maclaurin is in good repute amongst you
for his skill in mathematics, for I think he deserves it very
well ; and to satisfy you that I do not flatter him, and also
to encourage him to accept the place of assisting Mr.
Gregory, in order to succeed him, I am ready, if you
please to give me leaver to contribute 20/. per annum
towards a provision for him, till Mr. Gregory's place be-
comes void, if I live so long, and I will pay it to his order
in London."
In Nov. 1725, he was introduced into the university at
the same time with his learned colleague and intimate
friend, Dr. Alexander Monro, professor of anatomy. After
this, the mathematical classes soon became very numerous,
there being generally upwards of 100 students attending
his lectures every year. These being of different standing
and proficiency, he was obliged to divide them into four
or five classes, in each of which he employed a full hour
every day, from the first of Nov. to the first of June. In
the first class he taught the first sixjbooks of " Euclid's
Elements,'* plain trigonometry, practical geometry, the
elements of fortification, and an introduction to algebra.
The second studied algebra, the 11th and 12th books of
Euclid, spherical trigonometry, conic sections, and the
general principles of astronomy. The third went on in
astronomy and perspective, read a part of sir Isaac New-
ton's " Frincipia," and saw a course of experiments for
illustrating: them performed : he afterwards read and de-
monstrated the elements of fluxions. Those in tmr fourth
class read a system of fluxions, the doctrine of chances,
and the rest of NewXon's " Principia." Besides these la-
bours belonging to his professorship, he had frequently
other employments and avocations. If an uncommon ex-
periment was said to have been made any where, the
curious were desirous of having it repeated by him ; and if
MACLAURIN. 71
an eclipse or comet was to be observed, his telescopes were
always in readiness.
He lived a bachelor to the year 1733 ; but being formed
for society, as well as contemplation, he then married
Anne, the daughter of Mr. Walter Stewart, solicitor-gene-
ral to his late majesty for Scotland. By this lady be had
seven children, of which, two sons and three daughters,
together with his wife, survived him. In 1734, Berkeley,
bishop of Cloyne, published a piece called " The Ana-
lyst ;" in which be took occasion, from some disputes that
had arisen concerning the grounds of the fluxionary me-
thod, to explode the method itself, and also to charge
mathematicians in general with infidelity in religion. Mac-
laurin thought hifmself included in this charge, and began
an answer to Berkeley's book : but, as he proceeded, so
many discoveries, so many new theories and problems oc-
curred to him, that, instead of a vindicatory pamphlet, it '
increased to " A complete system of Fluxions, with their
application to the most considerable problems in geome-
try and natural philosophy.9' This work, which was pub-^
lished at Edinburgh in 1742, 2 vols* 4to, cost him infinite
pains, and will do him immortal honour, being indeed the
most complete treatise on that science that has yet ap'-
peared *. In the mean time, be was continually gratifying
the public with 6ome performance or observation of his own,
many of which were published in the fifth and sixth vo-
lumes of the " Medical Essays," at Edinburgh. Some of
them appeared likewise in " The Philosophical Transac-
tions;" as the following: 1. "Of the construction and
measure of Curves." 2. " A new method of describing all
kinds of Curves." 3. " A letter to Martin Folkes, esq. on
Equations with impossible Roots, May 1726." 4. " Con-
tinuation of the same, March 1729." 5. " December the
21st, 1732, On the description of Curves ; with an account
of farther improvements, and a paper dated at Nancy,
4
* Dr. Thomson, however*, remarks acknowledged by every person wbo
that hje demonstrations are often so peruses the book, that all the ebjec-
long and complicated, and require tions of Dr. Berkeley against the doc-
such severe attention to follow them, trine of fluxions are completely refuted,
that he believes they are seldom perused and whatever doubts the most captious
by the 'mathematicians of the present metaphysicians may think proper here-
day, who, having turned almost the after to start about the nature of infi-
whole of their attention to the analyti- nities, the mathematician has no more
cal method, are not so capable as their concern with them than with the famous,
predecessors of following long synthe- sophisms about space and motion,
tieal demonstrations. But it will be Thomson's Hist, of the Royal Society.
« M A C L A U R I N.
JJor. 27, 1722." 6. " An account of the treatise of Flux-
ions, Jan 27, 1742." 7. " The same continued, March
10, 1742 " 8. " A Rule for finding the meridional parts
of a Spheroid with, the same exactness as of a* Sphere, Aug.
1741." 9. " Of the Basis of the Cells wherein the Bees de-
posit their honey, Nov. 3, 1734."
'. In the midst of these studies he was always ready to
promote any scheme which might contribute to the service
of his country. When the earl of Morton set ctat, in 1739,
for Orkney and Shetland, to visit his estates there, he de-
sired Mr. Maclaurjn to assist him in settling the geography
of those countries, which is very erroneous in all oar maps,
to examine their natural history, to survey the coasts, and
to talfe the measure of a degree of the meridian. Maclau-
rin's family affairs, and other connections, however, not
allowing of his absence, he drew up a memorial of what
he thought necessary to be observed, furnished the proper
instruments, and recommended Mr. Short, the famous op-
tician, as a fit operator for the management of thefo; He
had still another scheme for the improvement of geography
and navigation, of a more extensive nature; which was,
the opening a passage from Greenland to the South Sea
by the North pole; That such a passage might be fouttd,
he was so fully persuaded, that he has been heard to say, if
his situation could admit of such adventures, he would un-
dertake the voyage, even at his own charge. But when
schemes for finding it were laid before the parliament in
1744, and himself consulted by several persons of high
rank concerning them, before he could finish the memorial?
Jie proposed to send, the premium was limited to the
discovery of a North- West passage : and he used to re-
gret, that the word West was inserted, because he thought
that passage, if at all to be found, must lie not far from
the pole.
In 1745, having been yery active in fortifying the city
of Edinburgh against the rebel army, he was obliged to fly
to the north of England ; where he was invited by Her-
ring, then archbishop of York, to reside with him during
his stay in this country. " Here," says he, in a letter to
one of his friends, " I live as happy as a man can do, who
is ignorant of the state of bis family, and who sees the ruin
cif his country.'* We regret to add, that in this expedition
being exposed to cold and hardships, and naturally of a
.weak and tender constitution, be laid the foundation of a
M A C L A U R I N. 7S
dropsfcal disorder, which pot an end to his life Jane 14,
1746, aged 48. There is a circumstance recorded of him
during his last moments, which shows that he was the in-
quiring philosopher to the last : He desired his friend Dr.
Monro to account for a phenomenon he then observed in
himself, viz. flashes of fire seeming to dart from his eyes,
while in the mean time his sight was failing, so that he could
scarcely distinguish one object from another."
BJr. Maclaurin is said to have been a very good, as well
as a very great man, and worthy of affection as well as ad-
miration. His peculiar merit as a philosopher was, that all
his studies were accommodated to general utility; and we
find, in many places of bis works, an application even of
the most abstruse theories, to the perfection of mechanical
arts. He had resolved, for the same purpose, to compose
a course of practical mathematics, .and to rescue several
useful branches of the science from the bad treatment they
often meet with in less skilful bands. But all this his death
prevented ; unless, we should reckon, as a part of his in-
tended work, the translation of Dr. David Gregory's "Prac-
tical Geometry,9* which he revised, and published with
additions, 1745. He had, however, frequent opportuni-
ties of serving his friends and his country by his great skill.
Whatever difficulty occurred concerning the constructing
or perfecting of machines, the working of mines, the im-
proving of manufactures, the conveying of water, or the
execution of any other public work, he was at band to re-
solve it. He was likewise employed to terminate some dis-
putes of consequence that bad arisen at Glasgow concern-
ing the gauging of vessels; and for that purpose presented
to the commissioners of excise two elaborate memorials,
with their demonstrations, containing rules by which the
officers now act. He made also calculations relating to the
provision, now established by law, for the children and wi-
dows of the Scotch clergy, and of the professors in the
universities, entitling them to certain annuities and sums,
upon the voluntary annual payment of a certain sum by
the incumbent. In contriving and adjusting this wise
and useful scheme, he bestowed a great deal of labour, and
contributed, not a little, towards bringing it to perfection.
Among his works, we have mentioned his " Geometria
Organica," in which he treats of the description of curve
lines by continued motion : and that which gained the
prize of the royal academy of sciences in 1724. In 1740,
74 MACLAURIN.
he likewise shared the prize of the same academy, with the
celebrated Bernouilli and Euler, for resolving the motion
of the tides from the theory of gravity ; a question which
had been given out the former year, without receiving any
solution. He had only ten days for composing this paper,
and could not find leisure to transcribe a fair copy ; so that
the Paris edition of it is incorrect. He afterwards revised the
whole, and inserted it in his "Treatise of Fluxions," as he
did also the substance of the former piece. These, with the
" Treatise of Fhixions," and the pieces printed in the "Phi-
losophical Transactions," of which we have given a fist, are
all the writings which he lived to publish. Since his death,
two volumes more have appeared ; his "Algebra," and his
'* Account of sir Isaac Newton's Philosophical discoveries.**
His "Algebra," though not finished by himself, is yet
allowed to be excellent in its kind ; containing, in no large
volume, a complete elementary treatise of that science, as
far as it has hitherto been carried ; besides some neat analy-
tical papers on curve lines. His " Account of sir Isaac New-
ton's Philosophy" was occasioned by the following circum-
stances : sir Isaac dying in the beginning of 1728, his
nephew, Mr. Conduitt, proposed to publish an account of
his life, and desired Mr. Maclaurin's assistance. The lat-
ter, out of gratitude to his great benefactor, chearfully
undertook, and soon finished, the history of the progress
which philosophy had made before sir Isaac's time: and
this was the first draught of the work in hand, which not
going forward, on account of Mr. Conduitt's death, was
returned to Mr. Maclaurin. To this he afterwards made
great additions, and left it in the state in which it now ap-
pears. His main design seems to have been, to ex pram
only those parts of sir Isaac's philosophy which have been,
and still are, controverted : and this is supposed to be the
reason, why his grand discoveries concerning light and
colours are but transiently and generally touched. For it is
known, that ever since the experiments on which his doc-
trine of light and colours is founded, have been repeated
with due care, this doctrine had not been contested ; whereas
his theory of celestial phenomena, founded on gravitation,
had been misunderstood, and even ridiculed. The weak
charge of introducing occult qualities has been frequently
repeated ; foreign professors still amuse themselves with
imaginary triumphs; and even the polite and ingenious
MACLAURIN. 75
cardinal de Polignac has been seduced to lend them the
harmony of his numbers.
To the last mentioned of his works is prefixed "An Ac-
count of the Life and Writings of Mr. Maclaurin :" from
which we have taken the substance of the present memoir.1
MACLAURIN (John, Lord Dreghorn), son of the
preceding, was born at Edinburgh in December 1734,
and educated at the grammar-school and university of
Edinburgh. Having applied to the study of the law, he
was admitted a member of the faculty of advocates at
Edinburgh in 1756. In 1782, a royal society was esta-
blished in Edinburgh, of which Mr. Maclaurin was one of
the original constituent members, and at an early period
of the institution he read an essay to prove that Troy was
not taken by the Greeks. In 1787 he was raised from the
Scottish bar, at which he had practised long and success-
fully, to the bench, by the title of lord Dreghorn. He
died in 1796. . As an author we have " An Essay on Literary
Property ;" " A Collection of Criminal Cases ;" " An
Essay on * Patronage ;" and some poetical pieces, with
three dramas, entitled "Hampden," "The Public," and
"The Philosopher's Opera." During the years 179&, 3,
4, and 5, lord Dreghorn kept a journal, or diary, in which
he recorded the various events that happened in Europe
during those years. From this journal he made a selection
for publication : and in 1799 a selection of his lordship's
works was printed in tivo vols. Svo, containing most of the
pieces mentioned above. It has, however, been generally
thought that these added very little to his reputation, the
character of his poetry being that of mediocrity, and his
prose neither very lively nor profound, though he occasion-
ally exhibits learning and acuteness, and always an ardent
love of liberty."1
MACPHEKSON (James), an author whose fame rests
chiefly on his being the editor of Ossian's poems, was de-
scended from one of the most ancient families in the North
of Scotland, being cousin-german to the chief of the clan
of the Macphersons, who deduce their origin from the an-
cient Catti of Germany. His father, however, was a farmer
of no great affluence. He was born in the parish of King*
cusie, Inverness-shire, in the latter end of 1738, and re*
1 Life as above. — Ty tier's Life of Kames. — Biog. Brit.
* Lift prefixed to bis Works.
76 MA CPHERSON.
ceived the first rudiments of bis education at one of the
parish schools in the district called Badenoch, from which,
in 1752, he entered King's college, Aberdeen, where he
displayed , more genius than learning, entertaining the
society of which he was a member, and diverting the
younger part of it from their studies by his humorous and
doggrel rhimes. About two months after his .admission
into the university, the.King's college added two months
totbe length, of its amaual session or term, which induced
Macpherson, with nany other young men, to remove to
Marisobal college, where the session continued short : and
this circumstance has led the biographer, from whom we
borrow it, <o .suppose that his father was not opulent.
Soon after he left college, or perhaps before, he was
schoolmaster of Ruthven or Riven, of Badenoch, and after-
wards is said to have delighted as little as his antagonist
Johnson, in the recollection of that period, when he was
compelled, by the narrowness of his fortune, to teach boys
in an obscure school.
It was here, however, about 1758, that he published
the " Highlander,9' an heroic poem in six cantos, 12mo.
Of this poem, which has not fallen in our way, we have
seen two opinions, the one, that it indicated considerable
genius in so young an author ; the other that it is a tissue
of fustian, and absurdity, feeble, and in some parts ridicu-
lous, and shews little or no talent in the art. of versification.
This last we take to be the opinion of the late Isaac Reed,
who had a copy of the poem, which was purchased at his
sale, by: George Chalmers, esq. Mr. Reed adds, that in a
short time the author became sensible of its faults, and
-endeavoured to suppress it. About the same time he
jwrote an " Ode on the arrival of the Earl Marischal in
Scotland," which he called an attempt in the manner of
Pindar, how justly, the reader may determine, as it was
published in the European Magazine for 1796.
. It was intended that he should enter into the service of
(the church, but whether be ever took orders is uncertain.
Mr., Gray speaks of him as a young clergyman ; but David
Home probably more truly describes him as " a modest
-sensible young man, not settled in any living, but em-
ployed as a private tutor in Mr. Graham of Balgowan's
family, a way of life which he is not fond of:" This was
in 1760, when he surprized the world by the publication
of " Fragments of Ancient Poetry, collected in the High-
MACPHERSON. 77
lands of Scotland, and translated from the Galic or. Erse
language," 8vo. These fragments, which were declared
to be genuine remains of ancient Scottish* poetry, at their
first appearance delighted every reader; and some: very
good judges, and amongst the rest Mr. Gray, werfe ex-
tremely warm in their praises. Macpberson had intended
to bury them in a Scotch magazine, but- was prevented
from so injudicious a step by the advice of his friend, Mr.
Home, the auther of " Douglas." As other specimens
were said to be recoverable, a subscription was set on foot
to enable our author to quit the family he was theq in, and
undertake a mission into the Highlands, to secure them.
He engaged in the undertaking, and soon after produced
the works whose authenticity has since occasioned so much
controversy.
In 1762 he published " Fingal, an aucient epic poem,
in six books," together with several other poems, corn*-
posed by 'Ossian, the son of Fingal, translated from the
Galic language, 4to. The subject of this epic poem is an
invasion of Ireland by Swaran, king of Lochlm. CuchuU
lin, general of the Irish tribes during the minority of Cor*
mac king of Ireland, upon intelligence of the invasion,
assembled his forces near Tura, a castle on the coast of
Ulster. The poem opens with the landing of Swmran;
councils are held, battles fought, and Cuebullin is at last
totally defeated. In the mean time Fingal, king of the
Highlands of Scotland, whose aid had been solicited before
the enemy landed, arrived, and expelled them from the
country. This war, which continued but six days and as
many nights, is, including the episodes, the story of the
poem: the scene, the heath of Lena, near a mountain
called Cromleach in Ulster. This poem also was received
with equal applause as the preceding fragments.
The next year he produced " Temora," an ancient epic
poem, in eight books : together with several other poems
composed by Ossian, son of Fingal, 4to, which, though
well received, found the public somewhat less disposed to
bestow the same measure of applause. Though these
poems had been examined by Dr. Blair and others, and
tbeir authenticity asserted, there were not wanting some of
equal reputation for critical abilities, who either doubted
or declared their disbelief of the genuineness of them.
After their publication, by which he is said to have gained
twelve hundred pounds, Mr. Macpberson was called to
*'»
78 MACPHERSON.
an employment which withdrew him for some time from
the muses and his country. In 1764, governor Johns tpne
was appointed chief of Pensacola, and Mr. Macpherson
accompanied him as his secretary; but some difference
having arisen between them, they parted before their re-
turn to England. Having contributed his aid to the set-
tlement of the civil government of that colony, he visited
several of the West- India islands, and some of the pro-
vinces of North America, and returned to England in 1766.
He now resumed bis studies, and in 1771 produced
" An Introduction to the History of Great Britain and Ire-
land," 4to, a work which, be says, " without any of the
ordinary incitements to literary labour, he was induced to
proceed in by the sole motive of private amusement.19
This work is not inelegantly written, but his hypotheses on
Celtic origin brought upon him the resentment of some
critics, who preserved, very little decency on a subject that
might certainly have been discussed in an amicable man-
ner. His next performance was more justly entitled to
contempt, as it showed him to be utterly destitute of taste,
and consequently produced him neither reputation nor
profit. This was " The Iliad of Homer" translated, in two
volumes 4to, 1773, a work fraught with vanity and self-
consequence, and which met with the most mortifying re-
ception from the public. It was condemned by the critics,
ridiculed by the wits, and neglected by the world. Some
of his friends, and particularly sir John Elliott, endea-
voured to rescue it from contempt, and force it into notice,
but their success was not equal to their efforts. After a
very acute, learned, and witty critique, inserted in the
Critical Review, the new translation was confessed to
possess no merit, and ever since has been consigned to
oblivion.
About this time seems to be the period of Mr. Macpher-
son's literary mortifications. In. 1773, Dr. Johnson and
Mr. Boswell made the tour to the Hebrides; and in the
course of it, the former took some pains to examine into
the proofs of the authenticity of Ossian. The result of his
inquiries he gave to the public in 1775, in his narrative of
the tour, and his opinion was unfavourable. " I believe
they (i. e. the poems, says he) never existed in any other
form than that which we have seen. The editor or author
never could shew the original ; nor can it be shewn by any
other. To revenge reasonable incredulity by refusing
MACPHERSON. 79
evidence is a degree of insolence with which the world is
not yet acquainted ; and stubborn audacity is the last re-
fuge of guilt. It would be easy to shew it if he 'had it ;
but whence could it be had ? It is too long to be remem-
bered, and the language had formerly nothing written. He
has doubtless inserted names that circulate in popular
stories, and may have translated some wandering ballads, '
if any can be found ; and the names and some of the
images being recollected, make an inaccurate auditor
imagine, by the help of Caledonian bigotry, that he has
formerly heard the whole." Again, " I have yet supposed
no imposture but in the publisher, yet 1 am far from cer-
tainty, that some translations have not been lately made,
that may now be obtruded as parts of the original work.
Credulity on one part is a strong temptation to deceit on
the other, especially to deceit of which no personal injury
is the consequence, and which flatters the author with his
own ingenuity. The Scots have something to plead for
their easy reception of an improbable fiction : they are
seduced by their fondness for their supposed ancestors. A
Scotchman must be a sturdy moralist who does not love
Scotland better than truth ; he will always love it better
than inquiry, and, if falsehood flatters his vanity, will not
be very diligent to detect it Neither ought the English
to be much influenced by Scotch authority ; for of the
past and present state of the whole Erse nation, the Low*
landers are at least as ignorant as ourselves. To be igno-
rant is painful ; but it is dangerous to quiet our uneasiness
by the delusive opiate of hasty persuasion."
The opinions above declared by Dr. Johnson incensed
our author so much, that he was prompted by his evil
genius to send a menaeing letter to his antagonist, which
produced the most severe, spirited, and sarcastic reply
ever written *.
• " Mr. James M acpherson, I re- opinion I have given my reasons to the
ceived your foolish and impudent let- public, which I here dare you to re-
ter. Any violenee offered to me, I fate. Your rage I defy. Your abili-
shall do my best .to repel ; and what I ties, since your Homer, are npt so
cannot do for myself, the law shall do formidable; and what I hear of your
for me. I hope I shall never be de- morals, inclines me to pay regard not
terred from detecting what 1 think a to what you shall say, but to wbat you
cheat, by the menaces of a ruffian. shall prove. You may print this if
" What would you have me retract ? you will. S. J."
1 thought your book an impostor* ; I lit* we)i'* Lfe of Johnson.
think it an imposture still. For this
80 MACPrlERSOtt
Whether his warmth abated, or whether he had beeft
made sensible of his folly by the interposition of friends,
we know not ; but certain it is, we hear no more after*
wards of this ridiculous affair, except that our author is
supposed to have assisted Mr. Mac Nictalki an Answer to
Dr. Johnson's Tour, printed in 1779. Tnis supposition,
says one of his biographers, we are inclined to consider as
well founded, because we have been told by a gentleman of
veracity, that Mr; Mac Nicol affirms, that the scurrility of
bis book, which constitutes a great part, of it, was inserted*
unknown to bi«v after the manuscript was sent for publi*
cation to London.
In 1775 Mr; Macpherson published "The History of
Great Britain, from the restoration to the accession of
the House of Hanover," in 2 vols. 4to, a work which has
been decried with much clamour, but without much argu-
ment or proof; The author may perhaps Jiave been in*
fluenced by his prejudices in favour of the tory party; but
he certainly acted with great fairness, as along with it he
published the proofs upon which bis facts. were founded,
in two quarto volumes, entitled " Original Papers, con*
taining the secret History of Great Britain, from the resto-
ration to the accession of the House of Hanover. To which
are prefixed, extracts from the life of James II. as written
by himself." These papers were chiefly collected by Mr.
Carte, but are not of equal authority. They, however,
clear up many obscurities, and set the characters of many
persons in past times in a different light from that in which
they have been usually viewed.
Soon after this period, the tide of fortune flowed very
rapidly in Mr. Macpherson V favour, and his talents and
industry were amply sufficient to avail himself of every
favourable circumstance which arose. The resistance of
the Colonies called for the aid of a ready writer to com-
bat the arguments of the Americans, and to give force t<*
the reasons which influenced the conductof government,
and he was selected for the purpose. Among other things
he wrote a pamphlet, which was circulated with much
industry, entitled " The Rights of Great Britain, asserted
against the Claims of the Colonies; being an answer to
' the declaration of the general congress," 1776, 8vo, arid of
which ntany editions were published. He also was the
author of " A short History of the Opposition during the
last session of parliament," 1779, 8 vo, a pamphlet, which,
MACPHERSO^, 81
on account of its merit, was by many ascribed to Mr*
Gibbon.
*
But a more lucrative employment was conferred on hhn
about this time* He was appointed agent to the nabob of
Arcot, and in that capacity exerted bis talents in several
appeals to the public in behalf of his client. Among others
he published " Letters from Mahommed Ali Chan, nabob
frf Arcot, to the Court of Directors. To which is annexed,
a state of facts relative to Tanjore, with an appendix of ori-
ginal papers/' 1777, 4 to ; and he was supposed to be the
author of " The History and Management of the East
India Company, from its origin in 1600 to the present
times, vol. I. containing the affairs of the Carnatic ; in
which the rights of the nabob are explained, and the injus-
tice ojf the company proved," 1779, 4to.
In his capacity of agent to the nabob, it was probably
thought requisite that he should have a seat in the British
parliament. He was accordingly in 17 80 chosen member
for Camelford, but we do not recollect that he ever at-
tempted to speak in the house. He was also re-cbosen in
1784 and 1790. He had purchased, before this last men-
tioned year, an estate in the parish in which he was born ;
and changing its name from Rets to Belville, built on it a
large and elegant mansion, commanding a very romantic
and picturesque view; and thither he retired when his
health began to fail, in expectation of receiving benefit
from the change of air. He continued, however, to de-»
cline; and after lingering some time, died at bis seat at
Belville, in Inverness, Feb. 17, 1796.
In Mrs. Grant's " Letters from the Mountains" we have
some affecting particulars of bis death. u Finding some,
inward symptoms of his approaching dissolution, he sent
for a. consultation, the result of which arrived the day after
bis confinement Be was perfectly sensible and collected,
yet refused to take any thing prescribed to him to the last,
and. that on this principle, that bis4ime was come, audit
did not aiqul He felt the approaches of death, and hoped
no relief/ from medicine, though bis life was not such aa-s
owe should like to look back on at that awful period. H
Indeed, whose is ? It pleased the Almighty to render bis'
last scene most affecting and exemplary. He died last
Tuesday evening; and from the minute he was confined
tilla very little before he expired, never ceased imploring
the divine mercy in the most earnest and pathetic manner.
Vol. XXI. G
82 HA CPHERSON.
People about him were overawed and melted by the fervour
and bitterness of his penitence. He frequently and
earnestly entreated the prayers of good serious people of
the lower class who were admitted. He was a very good-
natured man ; and now that he had got all his schemes of
interest and ambition fulfilled, he seemed ta reflect and
grow domestic, and shewed of late a great inclination to
be an indulgent landlord, and very liberal to the poor, of
which I could relate various instances, more tender and
interesting than flashy or ostentatious. His heart - and
temper were originally good. His religious principles
were, I fear, unfixed and fluctuating; but the primary
cause that so much genius, taste, benevolence, and pros-
perity, did not produce or diffuse more happiness, was his
living a stranger to the comforts of domestic life, from
which unhappy connexions excluded him, &c."
He appears to have died in very opulent circumstances,
and by his will, dated June 1793, gave various annuities
and legacies to several persons to a great amount. He
also bequeathed 1000/. to Mr. John Mackensie, of Figtree
court, in the Temple, to defray the expence of printing
and publishing Ossian in the original. He directed 300/.
to be laid out iu. electing a monument to his. memory, in
some conspicuous situation at Belville, and ordered that
his body should be carried from Scotland, and interred in
the Abbey-church of Westminster, the city in which he
had passed the greatest and best part of his life. He was
accordingly brought from the place where he died, and
- buried in the Poets-corner of the church.
On the subject of that dispute to which Mr. Macpherson
gave rise, and which is not yet, and probably never will
be, finally adjusted, it is not our purpose to enter. rthe
general opinion, however,- we may just mention, is un-
favourable to his veracity ; but Mr. Laing's dissertation,
which has greatly contributed to this effect, when com-
pared with the " Report of the Highland Society," will
afford the reader as much light as has yet been thrown
upotf the question. l
MACQ.UER (Philip), a French lawyer, chiefly cele-
brated for his chronological abridgments after the manner
■t
} European Magazine for 1 796 — Report of the Highland Society.— -rLaingfe
Hist6ry of Scotland, and his edition of Ossian.— Fofbes's Life of'Beattie.—
. Warburton's Letters, p. 244, 346, 246.— Sheffield's Life pf Gibbon, vol* I. p.
544.— Pr* Gleig?f Supplement to the Bocyci. Bntannica. , . , .
MACQUER. 83
of Henault, was born at Paris, Feb. 15, 1720, and edu-
cated at the university of that city. Here he gave the most
promising hopes of success in any of the learned profes-
sions, and had in particular attached himself to the law ;
but weak lungs preventing him from entering into the
active occupations of a pleader,- he devoted himself to ge-
neral literature, and produced the following works : 1.
" Abr£gg Chronoiogique de THistoire Ecclesiastique,"
a chronological abridgment of Ecclesiastical History, in
three volumes, octavo, written more drily and less ele-
gantly than that of Henault, whom the author followed.
2. " Lea Annales Romaines," 1756, one volume octavo, in
which the author has taken advantage of the most valuable
remarks of St. Evremond, the abbe St. R£al, Montesquieu,
Mably, and several others, respecting the Romans; and
the work is consequently not so dry as the former. In
style, however, he is still inferior to his model. Of this
we have an English translation by Nugent, 1759, 8vo. 3.
"Abr6g6 Chronoiogique de PHistoire d'Espagne et de
Portugal," 2 vols. 8vo, 1759—1765. This work, which
was actually begun by Henault, is worthy of him in point
of exactness; but neither affords such striking portraits,
nor such profound remarks. Lacomb^^nother author
celebrated for this kind of compilation, assisted also in this.
Macquer bad some share in writing the " Dictionaire des
Arts et Metiers," 2 vols. 8vo. He was industrious, gentle,
modest, sincere, and a decided enemy to all quackery and
ostentation. He had little imagination, but a sound judg-
ment ; and had collected a great abundance and variety of
useful knowledge. He died the 27th of January, 1770. '
MACQUER (Joseph), brother to the preceding, an
eminent physician and chemist, was born at Paris, Oct. 9,
17J8, and became a doctor of the faculty of medicine in
the university of that metropolis, professor of pharmacy,
and censor-royal. He was, likewise, a member of the
academies of sciences of Turin, Stockholm, and Paris, and
conducted the medical and chemical departments of the
Journal des Sgavans. He bad the merit of pursuing che-
mistry as a department of natural philosophy, and was
one of the most successful cultivators of the science, uptm
rational principles, previous to the new modelling which it
has received within the last twenty-five years* He died
1 Necrelogie des Homme* CelebreS) ann6e 1771.— Diet H&L
G 2
84 MACQUER.
Feb. 15, 1784, after having suffered much by an internal
complaint, which appeared beyond the reach of skilL On
this aecount he desired that bis body might be opened,
when it was discovered that hfc disorder was an ossification
of the aorta, with strong concretions formed in the cavity
of the heart. Mr. Macquer's private character appears to
have been truly amiable in every relation, and few men
were more respected by his contemporaries. He published,
1. " Elemens de Chymie Theorique," 1749 — 1753, 12mo.
2. " Elemens de Chymie Pratique," 2 vols. 12mo. 3. " Plan
d'un Cours de Chymie experimentale et raisonn£e," 1757,
- 12 mo. This was composed in conjunction with M. Baum£,
who was associated with him in his lectures. 4. '* Die-
tionnaire de Chymie," 1766, 2 vols. 8vo. These works
have all been translated into English and German ; the
Dictionary particularly, by Mr. Keir, with great additions
and improvements. 5. " Formulae Medicamentorum Ma-
gistral ium," 1763 ; and he had also a share in the compo-
position of the " Pharmacopeia Parisiensis," of 1758. *
MACRINUS (Salmoneus), was a name assumed by a
modern poet, whose true name was John Salmon ; or, as
some say, given to him on account of his excessive thinness,
from the LatuygQjective macer. It became, however, the
current appellation of him&elf and Charles, his brother,
who was also a writer of some celebrity, preceptor to Ca-
therine of Navarre, sister of Henry IV, and who perished
in the massacre of St. Bartholomew. Some have called
Macrinus the French Horace, on account of his talents for
poetry, particularly the lyric kind. He was born at Lou-
don, where he died in 1557, at an advanced age. He
wrote hymns, naeniae, and other works, which appeared .
from 1522 to 1550 : and was onejof those who principally
contributed to restore the taste for Latin poetry. Van 1 has
relates a story of his drowning himself in a well, in despair, '
on being suspected of Lutheranism. Bikt this, like ihost
anecdotes of the same writer, is a matter of invention rather
than fact. *
MACROBIUS (Ambrosius AureuusTheodosiits), was
an ancient Latin writer, who flourished towards the latter
part of the fourth century. What countryman he was, is
not clear : Erasmus, in his Ciceronianus, seems to think hfe
, * Eloges des Academfciens, vol. IV. — Rees's Cyclopaedia from £ioy»
5 Gen, Diet.— Moreri.— Diet. Hist.
MACROBIUS. 85
was a Greek ; and he himself tells us, in the preface to his
'* Saturnalia," that be was not a Roman, but laboured under
the inconveniences of writing in a language which was not
.native to him. Of what religion he was, Christian or pa-
?an, is also uncertain. Barthius ranks him among the
Christians ; but Spanheim and Fabricius suppose him to
have been a heathen. It seems, however, agreed that he
was a man of consular dignity, and on£ of the chamber*
lains, or masters of the wardrobe to Theodosius ; as appears
from a rescript directed to Florentius, concerning those
who were to obtain that office. He wrote " A Commentary
upon Cicero's Somnium Scipionis," full of Platonic notions,
and seven books of " Saturnalia ;" which resemble in plan
the " Noctes Atticae" of Aulus Gellius. He termed them
" Saturnalia," because, during the vacation observed on
these feasts of Saturn, he collected the principal literati of
Rome, in his house, and conversed with them on all kinds
of subjects, and afterwards set down what appeared to him
most interesting in their discourses. His Latinity is far
from being pure, but as a collector of facts, opinions, and
criticism, his works are valuable. The " Somnium Sci-
pipnis," and "Saturnalia," have been often printed; to
which has been added, in the later editions, a piece en-
titled " De differentiis & societatibus Crfaeci Latinique
verbi." The best editions are those of the Variorum ; of
Gronovius in 1670, and Leipsic in 1777. There is a spe-
cimen ef an English translation of the " Saturnalia" in the
Gent. Mag. for 1760, but it does not appear to have been
completed.1
MA DAN (Martin), a celebrated preacher and writer,
was the son of Martin Madan, esq. of Hertingfordbury near
Hertford, member of parliament for Wootton Basset, and
groom of the bedchamber to Frederick prince of Wales.
His mother was daughter of Spencer Cowper, esq. and
niece of the lord chancellor Cowper, an accomplished
lady, and author of several poems of considerable merit*
He was born in 1726, and was bred originally to the law,
and had been called to the bar; but being fond of die
study of theology, well versed in Hebrew, and becoming in-
timate with Mr, Jones and Mr. Romaine, two clergymen of
great popularity at that time, by their advice he left th^
law for the pulpit, and was admitted into orders. His first
sermon is said to have been preached in the church of All-
* Care, vol. I.— Moreri.— Sa*ii Oaomast. — Clarke's Bibliogr. Diet. ,
66 MADAN.
hallows, Lombard -street, and to have attracted immediate
attention and applause. Being appointed chaplain to the
Lock-hospital, his zeal led him to attend diligently, and
to preach to the unfortunate patients assembled in the par-
lour : his fame also brought many others thither, till the
rooms and avenues were crowded. This led to a proposal
for & chapel, which was finished in 1761, and opened with
a sermon from the chaplain. He subjected himself to much
obloquy, abbut the year 1767, by the advice he gave to his
friend Mr. Havveis, to retain the rectory of Aldwincle, and
several pamphlets were written on the subject; but lord
Apsley (afterwards Bathurst) did not seem to consider the
affair in an unfavourable light, as he afterwards appointed
him his chaplain. Mr. Madan became an author in 1761,
when he published, 1. *' A sermon on Justification by
Works.9' 2. "A small treatise on the Christian Faith/' 1761 ,
12mo. 3. " Sermon at the opening of the Lock Hospital,
1762.'* 4. « Answer to the capital errors of W. Law," 1 7 63,
6vo. 5. " Answer to the narrative of facts respecting the
rectory of Aldwinckle," 1767, 8vo. 6. " A comment on the
Thirty-nine Articles," 1772,8vo. 7."Thelyphthora," 1780»
2 vols. £vo. In this book the aijthor justifies polygamy,
upon the notion that the first cohabitation with a woman is
a virtual marriage ; and supports his doctrine by many
acute arguments. The intention of the work was to lessen,
or remove the causes of seduction ; but it met with much
opposition, many very severe animadversions, and cost the
author his reputation among the religious world. He,
however, was not discouraged; and in 1781, published a
third volume, after which the work sunk into oblivion, a
fate to which the masterly criticism on it in the Monthly
Review, by the rev. Mr. Bad cock, very greatly contributed*
It is somewhat remarkable that Mrs. Manley in the " Ata-
lantis" speaks of lord chancellor Cowper, as maintaining
the same tenets on polygamy. Mr. Madan next produced;
8. " Letters to Dr. Priestley," 1787, l£mo. 9. A literal
version of " Juvenal and Persius," with notes, 1789* 2
vols. Svo : and some controversial tracts on the subject of
his Theiyphthora. Mr. Madan died at Epsom in May,
1790, at the "age of 64, after a short illness, and was
buried at Kensington. The late Or. Spencer Madan, bi-
shop of Peterborough, was brother to our author.1
1 Preceding edit, of this Diet.— Lysons's Environs, vol. HI.— Month. Rer.
MADDEN. *1
MADDEN (Samuel), D. D. (" a name," saya Dr. Jdkn~
son, " which Ireland ought to honour,") was born in 1687,
and received his education, at Dublin. He appears, how-
ever, to have been in England in 1729; and having. writ-
ten a tragedy called " Themistocles, or the. Lover of his
country," was, as he himself says, tempted to. let it appear,
by the offer of a noble study of books from the profits of it.
In 172* 1, he projected a scheme for promoting learning in
the college of Dublin by premiums, at the quarterly ex->
animations, which has proved highly beneficial. . In 1732,
he published his " Memoirs of the Twentieth Century ;
being original Letters of State under George the Sixth,
relating to, the most, important events in Great- Britain,
apd Europe, as to church and state, arts- and sciences,
trade, taxes, and treaties, peace and war, and characters
of the greatest persons of those times, from the middle of
the eighteenth to the end of the twentieth century, and the
world. Received and revealed in the year 1728 ; and now
published, for the instruction of all eminent statesmen,
churchmen,. patriots, politicians, projectors, papists, and
protestauts." In 6 vols. Land. 1733, 8vo. * In 1740, we
find him in his native country, and in that year setting
apart the annual sum of one hundred pounds, to be distri-
buted, by way of premium, to the inhabitants of Ireland
only; namely, 50/. to the author of the best invention for
improving any useful art or manufacture ; 25/. to the per?
son who should execute the best statue or piece of sculp-
ture ; and 25/. to the person who should finish the best
piece of painting, either- in history or landscape ; the pre-
miums to be decided by the Dublin society, of which Dr.
Madden was the institutor. The good effects of these well
applied benefactions have not only been felt to advantage
in the kingdom where they were given, but have even
* There is something mysterious in business was transacted by Mr. Bow-
the history of this work, of which only yer, without either of the other prin-
oue volume na* appeared, and whether ters ever seeing the author ; a number
any more were really intended is un- of them was delivered to the several
certain. A thousand copies were print- booksellers mentioned in the title-page;
ed with such Very great ditpatcb, that and in four days after, all that were
three printers were employed on it unsold were recalled, and 890 of then)
(Bowyer, Woodfall, and Roberts); and . were given up to Dr. Maddeu% to be
the names of an uncommon number of destroyed. Mr. Tutet, who had a copy
tep*jfe&>le booksellers in the title-page- of this curiosity, never beard but of one
The current report is, that the edition other, though he frequently inquired
was suppressed on the day of publica- after it. Mr. Bindley, however, has
Hon ; and that it is pow exceedingly a copy,
scaipe, itf certain. The whole of the '
SS MADDEN.
extended their influence to it* sister country, having given
rise to the society for tfat encouragement of arts and
sciences in London. In 1743 or 4, he published- a long
poem, called '< Boulter's Monument ;" which was corrected
for the press by Dr. Johnson ; and an epistle of about 20O
lines by him is prefixed to the second edition of Leland's
"Life of Philip of Macedon." In an oration spoken at
Dublin, Dec. 6, 1757, by Mr. Sheridan, that gentlemau
took occasion to mention* Dr. Madden's bounty, and yw
tended to have proceeded in the following manner, but
was prevented by observing the doctor to be then present.
Speaking of the admirable institutions of premiums, he
went on, " Whose author, bad be never contributed any
thing farther to the good of his country, would have de-
serted immortal honour, and toust have been held in re-
Terence by the latest posterity. But the unwearied and
disinterested endeavours, during a long course of years,
of this truly good man, in a variety of branches, to promote
industry, and consequently the welfare of this kingdom,
and the mighty benefits which have tbence resulted to the
community, have made many of the good people of Ire-
land sorry, that a long-talked of scheme has not hitherto
been put in execution : that we might not appear inferior
in point of gratitude to the citifceos of London, with re-
spect to a fellow-citizen [sir John Barnard], (surely not
with more reason,) and that like them we might be able
to address our patriot, Praesenti tibi matures iargimur
honores*"
Dr. Madden had some gobd church preferment in Ire*
land, particularly a deanery, we know not which, and the
living of Drumtoully, worth about 400/. a year, tile right
of presentation to which was divided between his own
fgnuiy, and another. As his family had presented on the
last vacancy, the other of course had a right to present
now ; but the Maddens offering .to give up all right of
presentation in future, if allowed to present on the present
occasion, this was agreed, to, and thus the Doctor got the
living. At what time this occurred we are not told, but
he was then a colonel of militia, and was in Dublin dressed
an scarlet. Besides this living, he had a very good estate;
but as he was almost entirely devoted to books, or acts of
charity and public good, be left the- management of his
income, both ecclesiastical and temporal, to his wife, a
lady of a somewhat different turn of m'rnd. They lived '*t.
MADDEN. 49
Manor- water*hoa?e, three miles from Newtown -Butler; ,
and the celebrated rev. Philip Skelton lived with them for
tome time, as tutor to the children. Dr. Madden also
gave him the curacy of Newtow&~Butler.
Dt Madden died Dec. 30, 1765. There is a fine mez«
zotinto of him, a whole length by J. Brooks, and a later,
by Richard Purcell, from a painting by Robert Hunter.
Mom. Grosley, a lively French traveller, speaking of a
elty in the centre of France, " which at the beginning of
the fifteenth century served as a theatre to the grandest
scene that England ever acted in that kingdom," mentions
'several English families as lately extinct, or still subsisting
there. " This city," he adds, " in return, has given the
British dominions an illustrious personage, to whom they
are indebted for the first prizes which have been there
distributed for die encouragement of agriculture and arts.
His name was Madain : being thrown upon the coast of
Ireland by events of which I could never hear any satis*
factory account, be settled in Dublin by the name of
Madden, there made a fortune, dedicated part of his estate,
which amounted to four or five thousand pounds a year, to
the prizes which I have spoken of, and left a rich succession t
part of this succession went over to France to the Madain*
his relations, who commenced a law-suit for the recovery
of it, and caused ecclesiastical censures to be published
against a merchant, to whom they had sent a letter of at*
torney to act for them, and whom they accused of having
appropriated to himself a share of their inheritance." '
MADOX (Isaac), a famous English prelate, born at
London, July 27, 1 697, of obscure parents, whom he lost
while he was young, was taken care of by an aunt, who
placed him in * charity-school, and afterwards put jbim on
trial to a pastry-cook ; but, before he was bound appren-
tice, the master told her that the boy was not fit for trade;
that he was continually reading books of learning above bis
(the master's) comprehension, and therefore advised that
she should take him away, and send him back to school, to
follow the bent of his inclination. He was On this sent, by
*n exhibition of some dissenting friends, to, one of the
universities of Scotland, Cole says, that of Aberdeen ; but,
not caring to take orders in that church, was afterwards,
through the patronage of bishop Gibson, admitted to
* Nichols's Bowyer.— BpswetV* Life of Johnf<m.-<-Burdy?s Life of Skelton,
K>. 28, 32—39:
90 M A D O X.
QueenVcollege, Cambridge, and was favoured with a
doctor's degree at Lambeth. After entering into orders,,
he first was curate of St. Bride's, then domestic chaplain
to Dr. Waddington, bishop of Chichester, whose niece he
married, and was afterwards promoted to the rectory of St.
Vedast, in Foster-lane, London. In 1729, he. was ap-
pointed .clerk of the closet to queen Caroline. In 1733,
he became dean of Wells, and was consecrated bishop of
St. Asaph, in 1736. He was translated to the see of Wor-
cester, in 1743. In 1733 he published the first part of
the * Review of Neal's History of the Puritans," under
the title of, " A Vindication of the Government, Doctrine,
and Worship of the Church of England, established in the
reign of queen Elizabeth :" of which the late bishop Hal-
ifax said, " a better vindication of the reformed church
of England, I never read." He was a great benefactor to
the London hospitals, and the first promoter of the Wor-
cester Infirmary in 1745, which has proved of singular
benefit to the poor, and a great advantage to medical and
surgical knowledge in that neighbourhood. He was also a
great encourager of trade, engaging in the British fishery,
by which he lost some money. He likewise was a strong
advocate for the act against vending spirituous liquor*
He piarried Elizabeth daughter of Richard Price, esq. of
Hayes in Middlesex, in 1 73 1 ; and had two daughters and
a son, of whom only one daughter survived him, and was
afterwards married to the hon. James Yorke, bishop of
Gloucester, and late bishop of Ely. He died Sept. 27,
1739. Bishop Madox published fourteen occasional ser-
mons preached between the years 1734 and 1752. Among
other instances of his benevolence, we may mention his as-
signing 2QQLperann. during his life, for the augmentation of
the smaller benefices of his diocese. He corresponded with
Dr. Doddridge with affectionate familiarity, and visited him
when at Bristol, offering in the most obliging manner to coo*
yey him to the Wells in bis chariot, at the stated times of
drinking. He used to anticipate any hints respecting his
origin by a joke which he was fond of repeating. When
tarts were on his table, he pressed the company to partake,
saying " that he believed they were very good, but that they
were not of his own making" This he varied, when John
Whiston dined with him, into, " some people reckon me a.
good judge of that article !" Upon the whole he appears
to have been an amiable and benevolent man, and to have
M A D O X. 91,
employed' his wealth as. wclL as his talents to the best, pur*
poses. His widow survived him thirty years, dying Feb.
19, 1789,1
MADOX (Thomas), the learned exchequer antiquary,
and historiographer royal, of whose personal history we
have no information, is well known among antiquaries and
lawyers for his valuable collection of records relating to the
ancient laws and constitution of this country ; the know-
ledge of which tends greatly to the illustration of English
history. In 1702, under the patronage of the learned
lord Somers, he published the first fruits of his researches,
under the title of " A Collection of antique Charters and
Instruments of divers kinds taken from the originals, placed
under several heads, and deduced (in a series according to
the order of time) from the Norman conquest, to the end
of the reign of king Henry VIIL" This is known by the
name of the " Formulare Anglicanuni." To it is prefixed
a dissertation concerning " Ancient Charters and Instru-
ments," replete with useful learning upon that subject.
He was prompted to this work, by considering that there
was no methodical history or system of ancient charters
and instruments of this nation then extant ; and that it
would be acceptable to curious persons, and useful to the
public, if something were done for supplying that defect
Having entertained such a design, and being furnished
with proper materials from the archives of the late court of
augmentations, he was encouraged to proceed in it, espe-
cially by lord Somers.; and prosecuted it with so much ap-
plication, that out of an immense heap of original charters
and writhigs, remaining in that, repository, he selected
and digested the chief substance of this volume. In 171 J,
he proceeded to a work of still greater importance than the
foregoing, " The History and Antiquities of the Exche-
quer of the Kings of England, in two periods, viz. from
the Norman conquest, to the end of tbe reign of king
John; and from the end of the reign of king John, to
the end of the reign of king Edward II. Taken from,
records. Together with a correct copy of the ancient
dialogue concerning the Exchequer, generally ascribed
to Gervasius Tilburiensis ; and a Dissertation concern*
ipg the most ancient great roil of the exchequer, com-
monly styled the roll of Quinto Regis Stephani," folio;
} Nichols's Bowyer.— Orton's Life of Doddridge, p. 328.— Doddridge's Let-
tors., p. 452— 454.— -MS notss by John Whiston iu his copy of the first eJitiou
of this Dictionary.
m u A d a x.
reprinted in If 69, in 4ta This was dedicated to oui
Anne ; but; there is likewise prefixed to it a long prefatory
epistle to the lord Somers, in which he gives that illustrious
patroq some account of this unprecedented undertaking.
He observes, thai though some treatises bad been written
concerning the exchequer, yet no history [of it had been
yet attempted by any man ; that he had pursued his sub-
ject to those ancient times, to which, he thinks, the ori-
ginal of the exchequer in England may properly be as-
signed ; and thence had drawn down an .orderly account of
H through a long course of years ; and, having consulted,
as well the books necessary to be perused upon this occa-
sion, as a very great number of records and manuscripts,
he had endeavoured all along to confirm what he offered
by proper vouchers, which are subjoined column-wise in
each page, except where their extraordinary length made
it impracticable. The records which he here attests were,
as he adds, taken by his own pen from the authentic
parchments, unless where it appears by his references to
be otherwise. He has contrived throughout the whole (as
far as the subject-matter would permit) to make use of
such memorials as serve either to make ,known or fo ex-
plain the ancient laws and usages of this kingdom. For
which reason, as he notes, this work may be deemed, not
merely a history of the exchequer, but likewise a promp-
tuary towards a history of the ancient law of England. . He
afterwards acquaints his lordship in what method he began
and proceeded in compiling thjs work. First, he made as
full a collection from records as he could, of materials re-
lating to the subject. Those materials being regularly
arranged in several books of collectanea, he reviewed them,
and, weighing what they imported, and how they might
be applied, he drew from thence a general scheme of his
design. When he had pitched upon the heads of his dis-
course, he took materials for them out of the aforesaid:
fund, and digested them into their proper rank and order. '
In doing this, it was his practice for the most part to write "
down, in the draught of his book, the respective records
or testimonies first of all ; i. e. before he wrote his own
text or composition ; and from them formed his history or
account of things; connecting and applying them -after-
wards, as the case would admit. At the <end of this his-
tory (as we have expressed it in the title) Mr. Maddox has
published a copy of. the treatise concerning the exchequer,
M A D O X. *3
written in the way of dialogue, and generally ascribed to '
Genrasius Tilburiensis* This treatise is certainly vety
ancient, and intrinsically valuable. Our author introduces
it by an epistolary dissertation, in Latin, to the then lord.
Halifax. The dialogue is followed by another epistolary
dissertation, in the same language, addressed to She lord
Somerc, relating to the great roll of the exchequer* com-
monly styled the " Roll of Qttinto Regis Stephatti." No
historical account has been given; in thib volume, of the
records reposited in the exchequer. Mr. Madox thought
that it might be more properly done if there was occasion
for it, hereafter, in a continuation of this work ; tohieh he
seems to have had some intention of performing himself
when he published this part ; or hoped some other hand
would supply, if he did not*. The concluding chapter
of the history is a list of the barons of this court from the
first year ef William the Conqueror to the 20th of Edward
II. The last work this laborious historiographer published
himself, was the " Ffrma Burgi, or historical essay con-
cerning the cities* towns, And boroughs of England. Taken
from records/* This treatise was inscribed to king George
I. The author warns his readers against expecting to find
any curious or refined learning in it ; in regard the matter
of it is low. It is only one part of a subject, which, how-
ever, is extensive and difltotilt, concerning which, he tells
us, much has been skid by English writers to very littU
purpose, serving rather to entangle than to clear it When
he first entered upon the discussion of it, be found himself
encompassed with doubts, which it hath been his endea-
vour, as he says, to remove or lessen as he went along.
~ He has throughout mixed history and dissertation together,
making these two strengthen and diversify each other.
However modestly Mr. Madox might express himself con-
cerning the learning of this work, it is in reality both cu-
rious and profound) and bis inquiries very useful. The
civil antiquities of this country would, in all probability,
have been further obliged than they are to this industrious
pef*bn, if his life had been of a somewhat longer con-
tinuances fof it May be presumed, from two or three .
passages in the prefaces of th&se books he published him-
_ m a letter from him to Dr. Char- sold, he would be but just able to pay
leit, we find that the printing and paper the charges with a trilling overplus.1' —
of this work cost him 400/. and when Letters by eminent Persons, J813,
the whole impression of 480 should be 3 vols. 4*>*
84 M A D O X.
*
self, that he meditated and intended some others to follow
them, different from this posthumous History of Baronies^
which his advertisement of it apparently suggests to be
the only manuscript left finished by the. author. This is
compiled much. in the manner of his other writings. In
the first book he discourses largely of land baronies; in
the second book he treats briefly of titular baronies ; and
in the third' of feudal tenure in capite.
Mr. Madox's large and valuable collection of transcripts,
in ninety -four volumes in folio and quarto, consisting chiefly
. of extracts from records in the exchequer, the patent and
clause rolls in the Tower, the Cotton library, the archives
of Canterbury and Westminster, the collections ol Christ's
College, Cambridge, &c. made by him, and intended as
materials for a feudal history of England from the earliest
times, were presented by his widow to the British museum,
where they are now preserved. They were the labour of
thirty years; and Mr. Madox frequently declared, that
when young he would have given 1500 guineas; for them.
Fifty-nine volumes of Rymer's Collection of Public Acts
relating to the history and government of England from
1115 to 1698 (not printed in his Foadera, but of which
there is a catalogue in vol. XVII.) are also deposited in the
Museum by an order of the House of Lords; 1 ■
MAECENAS (Caius Cilmus), the great friend and
« counsellor of Augustus Caesar, was himself a polite scholar,
but is chiefly memorable for having been the patron and
protector of men of letters. He was descended -from a
most ancient and illustrious origin, even from the kings of
Hetruria, as Horace often tells us ; but his immediate fore-
fathers were only of the equestrian order. He is supposed
to have been born at Rome, because his. family lived there ;
but in what year antiquity does not tell us. His educa-
tion is supposed to have been of the most liberal kind, and
agreeable to the dignity and splendour of his birth, as he
excelled in every thing that related to arms, politics, and
letters. How he spent his younger years is. also unknown,
there being no mention made of him, by ttfiy writer, before
the death of Julius Caesar, which happened in the year of
Rome 709. Then Octavius Caesar, who was afterwards
called Augustus, went to Rome to take possession of his
uncle's inheritance ; and, at the same time, ^Maecenas l>e-
* Nichols** Bowyer. ,_ '.
M JE C E N A S. 95
Came first publicly known ; though he appear* to have been
Augustus's friend, and, as it should seem, guardian, from
bis childhood. From that time he accompanied him
through all his fortunes, and was his counsellor and ad-
viser upon all occasions ; so that Pedo Albinovanus, or
rather the unknown author whose elegy has been ascribed
to him, justly calls him " Caesaris dextram," Caesar's right
hand.
A. U. C. 710, the year that Cicero was killed, and Ovid
born, Maecenas distinguished himself by his courage and
military skill at the battle of Modena, Where the consuls
Hirtius and Pansa were killed in fighting against Antony ;
as he did afterwards at Philippi. After this last battle,
began the memorable friendship between him and Horace.
Horace, as Suetonius relates, was a trib&ne in the army of
Brutus and Cassius, and, upon the defeat of those generals,
made a prisoner of war. Maecenas, finding him an accom-
plished man, became immediately his friend and protector,
and afterwards recommended him to Augustus, who re-
stored him to his estate, with no small additions. In the
mean time, though Maecenas behaved himself well as a
soldier in these and other * battles, yet his principal pro-
vince was that of a minister and counsellor. He was the
adviser, • the manager, the negotiator, in every thing that
related to civil affairs. When the league was made at
Brundusium betwen Antony and Augustus, he was sent to
act: on the part of Augustus, and afterwards, when this
league was about to be broken, through the suspicions of
each party, he was sent to Antony to ratify it anew.
U. C. 717, when Augustus and Agrippa went to Sicily,
to fight Sextus Pompeius by sea, Maecenas went with
them ; but soon after returned, to appease some commo-
tions which were rising at Rome : for though he usually
attended Augustus in all his military expeditions, yet
whenever there was any thing to be done at Rome, either
with the senate or people, he was also dispatched thither
for that. purpose. He was indeed invested with the go-
vernment while Augustus and Agrippa were employed in
the wars. Thus Dion Cassius, speaking of the year 718,
says. that. Maecenas " had then, and some time after, the
administration of civil affairs, not only at Rome, but
throughout all Italy," .and V. Paterculus relates, that after
then battle of Actium, which happened in the year 724;
">fcfae government of the city was committed to Maecenas, a
man of equestrian rank, but of an illustrious family."
96 M M C E N A S*
Upon the total defeat of Antony at Actium, he returned
to Rome, to take the government into his hands, till Au-
gustus could settle some necessary affairs in Greece and
Asia. Agrippa soon followed Maecenas ; and, when Au-
gustus arrived, he placed these two great men and faithful
adherents, the one over his civil, the other over his military
concerns. While Augustus was extinguishing the remains
of the civil war in Asia and Egypt, young Lepidus, the
son of the triumvir, was forming a scheme to assassinate
him at his return to Rome. This conspiracy was discovered
at Once by the extraordinary vigilance of Maecenas ; who,
as Paterculus says, "observing the rash councils of the
headstrong youth* with the same tranquillity and calratiesa
as if uothing at all had been doing, instantly pat him to
death, without the least noise and tumult, and by that
means extinguished another civil war in its very beginning."
The civil wars being now at an end, Augustus returned
to Rome ; and after he had triumphed according to cus-
tom, he began to talk of restoring the commonwealth.
Whether he was in earnest, or did it only to try the judg-
ment pf his friends, we do not presume to determine :
however he consulted Maecenas and Agrippa about it*
Agrippa advised him to it ; but Maecenas dissuaded him,
saying, that it was not only impossible for him to live in
safety as a private man, after what had passed, but that
the government would be better administered, and flou-
rish more in his hands than if he was to deliver it. up to
the senate and people. The author of the "Life of
Virgil" says that Augustus, " wavering what he should do,
consulted that poet upon the occasion." But this life is
not of sufficient authority ; for, though it has usually beeli
ascribed to Servius or Donatus* yet the critics agree, that
it was not written by either of them. Augustus, in the
mean time, followed Maecenas's advice, and retained the
government : and from this time Maecenas indulged him-
self, at vacant hours, in literary alnusemtnts, and the con-
versation of the men of letters. In the year 734 Virgil
died, and left Augustus and Maecenas heirs to his posses*
sious. Maecenas was excessively fond of this poet, who,
of ell the wits of the Augustan age, stood highest in his
esteem ; and, if the " Georgics" and the " JEtaeid" be
owing to the good taste and encouragement of this patron,
as there is some reason to think, posterity eaimot'comussv
morate htm. with too much gratitude. ■ The anther of khe
• -*♦
M M C E N A S. 97
* < Life of Virgil*' tells us that the poet " published the
Georgics in honour of Maecenas, to whom they are ad-
dressed ;M and adds, that " they were recited to Augustus
four days together at Atella, where he rested himself for
some time, in his return from Actium, Maecenas taking
upon him the office of reciting, as oft as Virgil's voice
failed him." Horace may be ranked next to Virgil in
Maecenas's good graces : we have already mentioned how
and. what time their friendship commenced. Propertius
also acknowledges Maecenas for his favourer and protector :
nor must Varins be forgot, though we have nothing of his
remaining; since we find him highly praised by both Vir-
gil and Horace. He was a writer of tragedies: and Quin-
tilian thinks he may be compared with any of the ancients.
In a word, Maecenas's house was a place of refuge and
welcome to all the learned of his time ■, not only to Virgil,
Horace, Propertius, and Varius, but to Fundanius, whom
Horace extols as an admirable writer of comedies ; to Fus-
cus Aristius, a noble grammarian, and Horace's intimate
friencV; to Plotius Tueca, who assisted Varius in correcting
the " ^Eneid" after the death of Virgil ; to Valgius, a poet
and very learned man, who, as Pliny tells us, dedicated a
took to Augustus " De usu Herbarum ;" to Asinius Pollio,
an excellent tragic writer, and to several others, whom it
would be tedious to mention. All these dedicated their
works, or some part of them at least, to Maecenas, and
repeatedly celebrated his praises in them; and we may
observe further, what Plutarch tells us, that even Au-
gustus himself inscribed his " Commentaries" to him and
to Agrippa.
Maecenas continued in Augustus's favour to the end of
his life, but not uninterruptedly. Augustus had an intrigue
with Maecenas's wife ; and though the minister bore this
liberty of his master's very patiently, yet there wag once a
coldness on the part of Augustus, although not of long
continuance. Maecenas died in the year 745, as is sup-
posed, at an advanced age. He must have been older than
Augustus, because he was a kind of tutor to him in his
youth. Horace did not probably long survive liim, as
there is no elegy of his upon Maecenas extant, nor any
account of one having ever been written, which would
probably have been the case, had Horace survived him any
time. Sanadon, -the French editor of Horace, insists that
the poet died before his patron ; and that the recommen-
Voj.. XXL H
98 M JE C E N A 8.
i
dation of him to Augustus was found only ia Maecenas's
will, which had not been altered.
Maecenas is said never to have enjoyed a good state of
health in any part of his life ; and many singularities are
related of his bodily constitution. Thus Pliny tells us,
that he was always in a fever; and that, for three years
before his death, he had not a moment's sleep. Though he
was certainly an extraordinary man, and possessed many
admirable virtues and qualities, yet it is agreed on all
bands that he was very luxurious and effeminate. Seneca
has allowed him to have been a great man, yet censures
him very severely on this head, and thinks that his effemi-
nacy has infected even his style. " Every body knows,"
says he, " how Maecenas lived, nor is there any occasion
for me to describe it : the effeminacy of his walk, the de-
licacy of his manner, and the pride he took in shewing
himself publicly, are things too notorious for me to insist
on. But what ! Is not his style as effeminate as l\imself }
Are not his words as soft and affected as his dress, his
Suipage, the furniture of his house, and his wife ?" Then,
;er quoting some of his poetry, " who does not perceive,"
says he, " that the author of these verses must have been
the man, who was perpetually walking about the city with
his tunic loose, and all the other symptoms of the most
effeminate mind ?" V. Paterculus does not represent
him as less effeminate than Seneca, but dwells more on
his good qualities. " Maecenas," says he, " was of the
equestrian order, but sprung from a most illustrious origin.
He was a man, who, when business required, was able to
undergo any fatigue and watching; who consulted pro-
perly upon all occasions, and knew as well how to execute
what he had consulted ; yet a man, who in seasons of lei*
sure was luxurious, soft, and effeminate, almost beyond a
woman. He was no less dear to Caesar than to Agrippa,
but distinguished by him with fewer honours ; for he al-
ways continued of the equestrian rank, in which he was
born ; not that he could not have been advanced upon the
least intimation, but be never solicited it." His patronage
of men of letters is, after all, the foundation of his fame ;
and having by general consent given a name to the patron$
of literature, bis own can never be forgotten. *
1 Maecenas Meib6mii. — Life, by Schomberg, compiled from Meibouius and
the abbe Richer.— Gent Mag. vol. LXXVL— Saarii Onomast.
MiESTLINUS. W
MjESTLINUS (Michael), a celebrated astronomer of
Germany, whose name deserves to be preserved, was born
about 1542, in the dutchy of Wirtemberg, and spent his
youth in Italy, where he made a public speech in favour of
Copernicus, which served to wean Galileo from Aristotle and
Ptolemy, to whom he had been hitherto entirely devoted.
He returned afterwards to Germany, and became professor
of mathematics at Tubingen ; where he had among bis
scholars the great Kepler. Tycho Brahe, though be did not
assent to Msestlin, has yet allowed him to be an extra-
ordinary person, and well acquainted with the science of
astronomy. Kepler has praised several ingenious inven-
tions of Msestlin's, in his " Astronomia Optica." He died
in 1 590, after having published many works in mathema-
tics and astronomy, among which were his treatises " De
Stella nova Cassiopeia ;" " Ephemerides," according to the
Prutenic Tables, which were first published by Erasmus
Reinoldus in 1551. He published likewise "Thesis d§
Eclipsibus ;v and an " Epitome of Astronomy," &c. *
MAFFEIVEGIO. SeeVEGIO.
MAFFEI (Francis Scipio), a celebrated Italian writer,
and a marquis, was born of an illustrious family at Verona,
in 1675, and was very early associated to the academy of
the Arcadi at Rome. At the age of twenty -seven, he dis-
tinguished himself at Verona, by supporting publicly a thesis
on love, in which the ladies were the judges and assessors;
and displayed at once his talents for gallantry, eloquence,
and poetry. Anxious for glory of all kinds, he made his
next effort in the army, and served as a volunteer at the
battle of Donawert, in 1704; but the love of letters pre*
vailed, and he returned into Italy. There his first literary
enterprise, occasioned by an affair of honour, in which his
elder brother was involved, was an earnest attack upon the
practise of duelling. He brought against it all the argu-
ments to which it is so evidently exposed ; the opposite
practice of the ancients, the suggestions of good sense, the
interests of social life, and the injunctions of religion. He
proceeded then to the drama, and produced his "Merope,"
which was acted with the most brilliant success. Having
thus purified tragedy, he proceeded to render the same
service to comedy, and wrote one entitled " La Ceremo-
nia," which was much applauded. Jn 1732, he visited
\ Martini Bio;. Philos.— Diet, Hist.
H 2
*<to M A F F EI.
France, where be passed four years, caressed itr thfc gwfct-.
est degree for bis talents and learning ; and then Wettt
into England, where he was much esteemed, to Hoi*
fend, and finally td Vienna, and was most hotiourabry *fe-*
eeived by the emperor Charles VI. After setferal ye*t*
thus employed, he returned into Italy, and in litertrry ac*
tivity, extended his attention to altoost every subject of btr-«
than knowledge. He died in 1755, at the age of eighty.
He was gifted with a cornprehensiVe genius, a lively wit,
and a penetrating mind, eaget for discoveries, and Well
dalcolated for miking them. His disposition was cheerful,
sincere, and disinterested, full of zeal for religion, and
&tthftfi in performing its duties. The people of Verona
almost idolized him. During bis last illness they offered
public prayers for his recovery, and the council of state
decreed solemn obsequies after his death, with th£ cere-
mony of a funeral oration ht the cathedral of Verona.
: Lady Mary Wortley Montague, in her letters lately pub-
lished, has given a very lively description of Maffei's em-
ployments: "After having made the tour of Europe in
search 6f antiquities, he fixed his residence in his native
t&toti of Verona, where he erected himself a little empire,
from the general esteem, and a conversation (so they Call
an assembly) which he established in his palace, one of
the largest in that place, and so lu'ckily situated, that it
is between the theatre and the ancient amphitheatre. He
made piazzas heading to each of them, filled with shops,
frfrere were sold coffee, tea, chocolate, all sorts of street-
meats, and in the midst, a court well kept, and sartded,
for the use of those young gentlemen who would exercise
tfaeir managed horses, or show their mistresses their sftfll in
fiding. His gallery was open every evening at five o'clock,
inhere he had a fine collection of antiquities, and two large
cabinets of medals, intaglios, and cameos, arranged ift
exact order. His library joined to it : and on the other sidfe
a suite of five rooms, the first of which was destined to
dancing, the second to cards (but all games of hazard ex-
cluded), and the others (where he himself presided in an
easy chair), sacred to conversation, which always turned
upon some point of learning, either historical or poetical.
Controversy and politics being utterly prohibited, he ge-
nerally proposed the subject, and took great delight in in-
structing the young people, who were obliged to seek the
MAFFEI. JOT
•medal, or explain the inspription that iHustjpteel any fact
they discoursed of. Those who chose the diversion Df the
public walks, or theatre, went thither, but never failed '
returning to give an account of the drama, which produced
a critical dissertation on that st*bject^ the marquis having
given shining proofs of his skill in that art. His tragedy
of " Merope," which is much injured by Voltaire's trans-
lation*, being esteemed a master -piece ; and his <con»edy of
*he " Ceremonies," being a just ridicule of those formal
fopperies* it has gone a great way in helping to banish
them out of Italy. The walkers contributed to the enteiv
taiMaeAt by an account of some herb, or Bower, which led
the tray to a botanical conversation *, or, if they were such
inaccurate observers as to have nothing of that kind to
offer, they repeated some pastoral description. One day
in the week was set apart for music, vocal and instrument-
tal, but no mercenaries were admitted to the concert.
Thus, at a very little expence (his fortune not permitting a
-large one), he had the' happiness of giving his countrymen
a taste of polite pleasure, and shewing the youth how to
pass their time agreeably without debauchery."
The complete catalogue of his works would resemble
•that of a library ; the chief of them are these: 1. " Rime
e prose," Venice, 1719, 4to. 2. "La scienza Cavalle-
resca," Rome, 1710, 4to. This is against duelling, and
has passed through six editions. 3. " Merope," of which
there have been many more editions, and several foreign
versions. 4. " Traduttori Italiani," &c. Venice, 1720,
Svg9 contains an account of the Italian translations from
£he classics. 5. " Theatre Italiano," a selection of Ita-
lian tragedies, in 3 vols. 8vo. 6. " Cassiodori complexi-
ties, in Epistplas <et Acta Apostolorum," &c. Flor. 1721.
ff. *' Istoria Diploipatica," or a critical introduction to
djpknaaus knowledge. 8. w Degli Anfoeatri," on amphi-
theatres, particularly that of Verona, 1723, 9. "Sup-
ptefigHHum Acaciarum," Venice, 1728. 10. " Museum
Vejronense," 1789, folio. Ih «' Verona 11 lustrata," 17 $2,
folio. 12. An Italian translation of the first book of
Homer, in blank verse, printed at London, in 1737.
1& <(La fteligione di Gentili Del morire," 1736, 4to.
.14. " Osservationi Letterarie," intended to serve as a conti-
nuation of the Giornale de' Leterati d' Italia. He published
tdse a work on grace, some editions of the fathers, apd
102 MA FFEt.
other matters. A complete edition of his works was pub5*
lished at' Venice in 1790, in 18 vols. 8vo. l
MAFFEI, or MAFFjEUS (John Peter), a learned Je-
suit, was born at Bergamo in 1536, and was instructed by
his uncles Basil and Chrysostom Zanchi, canons regular
of that city, in Greek, Latin, philosophy and theology.
His studies being finished he went to Rome, where his
talents became so well known that several princes invited
him to settle in their dominions, but he gave the prefer-
ence to Genoa, where in 1563 he was appointed professor
of eloquence, with an ample salary. He continued in that
office two years, and was chosen to the office, of secretary
of state; but iix 1565, he returned to Rome, where he
entered into the society of Jesuits. He spent six years as
professor of eloquence in the Roman college, during which
he translated, into the Latin language, the history of the
Indies by Acosta, which was published in 1570. He then
went to Lisbon at the request of cardinal Henry, and com-
piled from papers and other documents with which he was
'to be furnished, a complete history of 'the Portuguese con-
quests in the Indies, and of the progress of the Christian
religion in that quarter. He returned to Italy in 1581,
and some years after was placed, by Clement VIII. in the
Vatican, for the purpose of continuing, in the Latin lan-
guage, the annals of Gregory XIII. begun by him in the
Italian ; of this he had finished three books at the time of
his death, which happened at Tivoli Oct. 20, 1603. Soon
after he entered among the Jesuits he wrote the life of
Ignatius Loyola; but his principal work is entitled '* Histo-
riarum Indicarum," lib. XVI. written in a very pure style,
which has been frequently reprinted. The best edition is
in two volumes 4to, printed at Bergamo in 1747. The
purity of his style was the effect of great labour. Few
men ever wrote so slowly ; nothing seemed to please him,
and he used to pass whole hours in polishing his periods ;
but we cannot readily credit all that has been reported on
this subject, as that be never could finish above twelve or
fifteen lines in a day; that he was twelve years in writing
his history of the Indies, and that, to prevent his mind
being tainted with bad Latin, he read his bretiiary in Greek.
There are, however, some other particulars of his personal
1 Fabreni Vitae Italorum.— Moreri,— .Diet, Hist,— Lady. M. W. Mootqgne'ft
Works, vol. IV. p. 266, edit. 1803.
M A F F E'L IDS
history which correspond a little with all this. He disliked
the ordinary commons of the Jesuits9 college, and had al-
ways something very nice and delicate provided for hitri,
considering more substantial and gross food as incompati-
ble with elegant writing ; yet with all this care, he was of
such an irascible temper as to be perpetually giving offence,
and perpetually asking pardon.1
MAGALHAENS (Ferdinand de), better known by the
name of Magellan, an eminent navigator, was by birth a
Portuguese. He served with much reputatiou during five
years under Albuquerque, in the East Indies, particularly
at the conquest of Malacca in 1510, but as his services
were not well repaid, he accepted from Charles V. king of
Spain, the command of a fleet, with which, in 1519, he
discovered the straits called after himself at the extremity
of South America. Soon after this he took possession of
the Ladrone and Philippine islands in the name of Charles
V. ; and had be acted with prudence, might have had the
honour of being accounted the first circumnavigator of the
globe. His severities, however, towards the natives of
Matan, compelled them to resist ; aqd in the contest Ma-
galhaens received a wound from an arrow in the leg, and
being ill supported by his men, he was killed by a lance, in
1521.*
MAGALHAENS (John Hyacinth de), said to be a
lineal descendant (Mr. Nichols says great-grandson) of the
preceding, was born in 1723, and became an Augustine
monk at Lisbon, but, having renounced the Roman Catho-
lic religion, came to reside in England, about 1764. He
was an able linguist, and well versed in chemistry and
other branches of natural philosophy. He published seve-
ral treatises in that science, particularly a work on mine-
ralogy,' taken principally from Cronstadt ; an account of
various philosophical instruments ; and a narrative of the
last days of Rousseau, to which his name is not affixed.
He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1774, and
was a member of. several foreign academies. He died at
his lodgings at Islington, Feb. 7, 1790. 3
MAGALOTTI (Laurence), a celebrated philosopher
and mathematician, Waft born at Rome October 23, 1637.
1 Niceron, vol. V.— Moreri. — BibK Do Maine et Du Verdier, vol. IT;
* Jtallart's Academic des Sciences, vol. II.— Rees's Cyclopaedia. — Buroey's
Ifrooveries in the South Safe
* Nichols's fiowyer, vol. Vill.^Lvioos'a Eotfroas, toJ. {11.
104 MAG A L O TT L
After studying jurisprudence, in which he made a great
and very rapid progress at Pisa, be begail to devote bis
main attention to mathematics and natural philosophy,
which he cultivated at Florence, during three years, under
the celebrated Vincent Viviani, and was made secretary to
the academy del Cimento, the duties of which office be
discharged with the utmost assiduity and care. Being di-
rected by the prince to draw up an account of the experi-
ments made there, he published it in 1666, when it was
received with universal applause by men of science. While
engaged on this work, he obtained leave from Leopold to
pay a visit to his father at Rome, and with a view to obtain
some ecclesiastical promotion. Having failed in this ob-
ject, he returned to Florence, and obtained a place at the
court of the grand duke Ferdinand II. ; and shortly after a
pension was given him by pope Alexander VII. About
1666 he drew up and published a small volume relative to
the history of China, which was received with great ap-
plause ; and at the same time he published a small, but
elegant compendium of the Moral Doctrine of Confucius.
Having considerable poetical talents, he was the first per-
son who published a good translation of the Odes of Ana -
creon in Italian verse. He was very conversant in many
of the modern languages, and could write and speak
French, Spanish, and English, with the correctness and
ease of the natives of those countries. When in England
he became the intimate friend of the illustrious Mr. Robert
Boyle, whom he vainly attempted to convert from the
errors of the protestant faith. After being employed in
several missions to foreign princes, he was in 1674 ap-
pointed ambassador to the imperial court, where he ac-
quired the particular favour of the emperor, and formed
connections with the men most eminent for science and
literature ; but, finding a very inconvenient delay of the
necessary pecuniary remittances from his court, he deter-
mined to return to Florence without waiting the permission
of the duke Shortly after, that prince recalled him, and
gave him apartments in his palace, with a considerable
pension, but Magalotti preferred retirement, and the c^tttet
prosecution of his studies. I» 1684 he c composed fifteen
Italian odes, in which he has drawn the picture of a wq-
man of noble .birth and exqpisite . beauty, distinguished
not only by every personal, but by every mental charm,
and yet rendering herself chiefly the object of admiration
M A G A L O T T I. 101
and delight by her manners and conduct, whom, with no
great gallantly, he entitled " The Imaginary Lady." His
next work consisted of Letters against Atheists, in which
bis learning and philosophy appear to great advantage. la
1689 be was appointed a counsellor of state to the grand
duke, who sent him "his ambassador into Spain to nego-
tiate a marriage between one of his daughters and king
Charles II. ; but soon after be had accomplished the object
of this mission, he sunk into a temporary melancholy. Afteif
recovering in about a year, he resumed his literary labours,
and published works upon various subjects, and left others
which were given to the world after his decease, which
happened in 1712, when he had attained the age of 75.
Magalotti was as eminent for his piety as he was for his
literary talents ; unimpeachable in his mprela, liberal, be-
neficent, friendly, polite, and a lively and cheerful, as
well as very instructive companion. His house was the
constant resort of men of letters from all countries, whom
he treated with elegant hospitality. He was deeply con-
versant with the writings of the ancient philosophers, and
was a follower of the Platonic doctrine in his poems. In bis
natural and philosophical investigations he discarded all
authority, and submitted to no other guide but experiment.
Among the moderns he was particularly attached to Gali-
leo. After his death a medal was struck in honour of his
memory, with the figure of Apollo raised on the reverse,
and the inscription Omkia Lustrat.
His principal works are, 1. " Saggi di naturali^sperienne
fatte nel academia de Cimento," &c. 1666, fol. reprinted
in 1691. 2. " Lettera proemiale per la traduzione della
ooncordia dei quattro 'Evangeliste di Giansenio,,t &c. 1680,
with various other translations, the titles of which may be
seen in Fabroni. 3. " Lettere familiare,** Venice, 1761,
4te, written against the Atheists. A second volume ap-
peared in 1 768. 4: M Lettere scientificfee," Florence, 1721,
4to. 6. ,c danzonette AnacreoMichfcdi Lindoro Eleato"
(his academical name), Florence, 1723, &c. A long list is
given fey Fabroni of hw unpublished #<jrk«;' but neither
these no* his printed works ate much known in England or
Fifctfee.*
MAGGI, or MAGIUS {tft/ROfttE), an ingenious an*
learned tottta bf^ttte sixteentffr<eentury, was born at Anghi-
106 M A G G I.
ari in Tuscany. He was educated in the Italian universi-
ties, where his genius' and application carried him almost
through the whole circle of sciences ; for, besides the belies
lettres and law, he applied to the study of war, and even
wrote books upon the subject. In this also he afterwards
distinguished himself: for he was sent by the Venetians to
the isle of Cyprus, with the commission of judge-martial ;
.and when the Turks besieged Famagosta, he performed all
the services to the place that could have been expected
from a skilful engineer. He contrived a kind of mine and
fire-engines, by which he laid the labours of the Turks in
ruins : and he destroyed in a moment works which had
Cost them no small time and pains. But they had too
good an opportunity of revenging themselves on him ; for
the city falling at last into their hands, in 1571, Magius
became their slave, and was used very barbarously. His
comfort lay altogether, in the stock of learning with which
he was provided ; and so prodigious was his memory, that
he did not think himself unqualified, though deprived en-
tirely of books, to compose. treatises full of quotations* As
he was obliged all the day to do the drudgery of the
meanest slave, he spent a great part of the night in writ-
ing. He wrote in prison a treatise upon bells, " De tin-
tinnabulis," and another upon the wooden horse, " De
equuleo," He was determined to the first of these sub-
jects by observing, that the Turks had no bells ; and to,
the second, by ruminating upon the various kinds of tor-
ture to which his dismal situation exposed him, which
brought to his reflection, that the equukus had never been
thoroughly explained. He dedicated the first of these
treatises to the emperor's ambassador at Constantinople, and
the other to the French ambassador -at the same place.
He conjured these ambassadors to use their interest for his
liberty ; which while they attempted to procure him, they
only hastened bis death : for the bashaw Mahoiqet, whQ
had not forgot the mischief* which Magius had done the
Tyrks at the siege of Famagosta, being informed that he
had been at the Imperial ambassador's house, wbitber they
had indiscreetly carried him, caused him to. be seized
again, and strangled that night in prison. This happened
in 1572, or 1573, it is not certain which.
The books which he published before he went to Cyprus,
are, 1. " De mundi exitio per exustionem libri quinque,"
Basil, 1562, folio. 2. " Vitee Hltmrium virorum, auctore
M A G G I. 107
&milio Probo, cum commentariis," Basil, folio. 3. ".Corti-
mentaria in quatuor institutionum civilium libros," Lugd.
8vo. 4. " Miscellanea, sive varice lectiones," Venet. 1564,
8to. He also published some books in Italian ; the most
celebrated of which is his " Delia forttficatione delle
citta," which contains an account of his machines and in-
struments.
There were other men of considerable eminence in Italy
of the same name, among whom we may enumerate, a
brother of the preceding, Bartholomew Maqqi, a phy-
sician at Bologna, who wrote a treatise in Latin, " On the
Cure of Gun-shot Wounds/' Bologna, 1552, 4to; Vin-
cent Mag«i, a native of Brescia, and celebrated professor
of ethics at Ferrara and Padua, author of several works ;
Francis Maria Maggi, who published " Syntagmata lin-
guarum Georgia," Romae, 1670, folio; and lastly, Charles
Maria Maggi, an Italian poet of the seventeenth century,
and one of the restorers of good taste in Italy, after the
barbarous ravages of the school of Marini. He was born '
at Milan in 1630, and was secretary to the senate of that
city. He died in 1690, and his works were published in
the following year by Muratorf, at Milan, in 4 vols. 12mo.
This poet is Mentioned with very high encomiums in the
letters between Mrs. Carter and Miss Talbot. The dow-
ager lady Spencer also, when resident at Pisa, published
a " Scelta" of his works ; and in 1811, " The Beauties" of
C. M. Maggi, " paraphrased,'9 were published by Mariane
Starke. *
MAGINI (John -Anthony), or Maginus, professor of
mathematics in the university of Bologna, was born at
Padua in 1536. . He was remarkable for his great assi-
duity in acquiring and improving the knowledge of the
mathematical sciences, with several new inventions for these
purposes, and for the extraordinary favour he obtained
from most princes of his time. This doubtless arose partly
from the celebrity he had in matters of astrology, to which
he was greatly addicted, making horoscopes, and foretell-
ing events both relating to persons and things. He was
invited by the emperor Rodolphus to come to Vienna,
where he promised him a professor's chair, about 1597;
but not being able to prevail on him to settle there, he
nevertheless gave him a handsome pension.
»G«n, Dict—Nictron, vol. XY1H— Fabrooi, vol. XVIL— Brit»h Critic,
vol. XXXVII.
toy M A G I N I.
*
i
It is said, be was so mych addicted to astrological pre*
dictions, that be not only foretold many good and evil
events relative to others with success, but even foretold his
own death, which came to pass the same year : all which
he represented as under the influence of the scars. Tama*
sini says, that Magini, being advanced to his 6 1st y4ar,
was struck with an apoplexy, which ended his days ; and
that a long while before, he had told him and others, that
be was afraid of thai year. And Hoffeni, his pupil, says,
that Magtni died under an aspect of the planets, which,
according to bis own prediction, would prove fatal to him ;
and he mentions Riccioli as affirming that he said, the
figure of his nativity, and his climacteric year, doomed
him to die about that time; which happened in 1616, in
the 6£d year of his age.
His writings do honour to his memory, as they were
very considerable, and upon learned subjects. The prin-
cipal were die following: 4. His £pheuieris, in 3 volumes,
from the year 1580 to 1630. 2. Tables of Secondary Mo*
tions. 3. Astronomical, Gnomonical, and Geographical Pro-
blems. 4. Theory of the Planets, according to Coperni-
cus. 5. A Confutation of Scaliger's Dissertation concern-
ing the Precession of the Equinox. 6. A Primum Mobile,
in 12 books. 7. A Treatise of Plane and Spherical Trigo-
nometry. 8. A Commentary on Ptolomy's Geography.
9. A Cborographical Description of the Regions and Cities
of Italy, illustrated with 60 maps ; with some other papers
on astrological subjects.1
MAGLIABECHI (Anthony), one of the most cele-
brated, and certainly one of the most extraordinary men
of bis time, was born at Florence, Oct. 28 or 29, 163 3.
His parents, who were of low rank, are said to have been
satisfied when they got him into the service of a man who
sold fruit and herbs. He had never learned to read, and
yet was perpetually poring over the leaves of old books,
that were used as waste paper in his master's shop. A
bookseller who lived in the neighbourhood, and who bad
often observed this, and knew the boy could not read,
asked him one day, " what he meant by staring so much
on printed paper 1" He said, " chat he did not know how
it was, but that be loved it ; that he was very uneasy in
the business he *as in, and should be the happiest creature
;v*l. XKVL~4Hitk»'« Bpct— Martin* *feg> Pfck*.— Go*. Diet.
M A C L I A B £ C H L 100
in the wbrid, If he could life vrith him, who had always §6
jfrany books abtut him/' The bookseller, pleated with
his answer, consented to take him, if taskmaster was willing
to part with him. Young Magliabechi thanked htm with
tears in his eyes, and having obtained bis master's Wave,
went directly to bis new employment, which be had not
followed long before be eoiiM find any book that was asked
for, as ready as the bookseller himself. This account of
bis early life, which Mr. Spenee received from a gentle-
man of Florence, who was well acquainted with Magliabe-
chi and his family, differs considerably from that given by
Niceron, Tiraboscbi, ami Fabroni. From the latter, in*
deed, we learn that he was placed as an apprentice to a
goldsmith, after he had been taught the principles of
drawing, and he had a brother that was educated to the
law, and made a considerable figure in that profession.
His father died while he was an infant, but Fabroni makes
no mention of his poverty. It seems agreed, however, that
after he had learned to read, that became his sole employ-
ment, but he never applied himself to any particular study.
He read every book almost indifferently, as tbey happened
to come into his hands, with a surprizing quickness; and
yet such was his prodigious memory, that be not only de-
tained the sense of what he read, but often all the words,
and the very manner of spelling them, if there was any
thing peculiar of that kind in any author.
This extraordinary application, and talents, soon recom-
mended him to Ermini, librarian to the cardinal de Me-
dic is, and to Marmi, the grand duke's librarian, who in-
troduced him into the company of the literati, and made
him known at court. Every where be began to be looked
upon as a prodigy, particularly for his vast and unbounded
memory, of which many remarkable anecdotes have been
given. A gentleman at Florence, who had written a piece
that was to be printed, lent the manuscript to Magliabechi;
and some time after it had been returned with thanks, •
came to him again with the story of a pretended accident
by which he had lost his manuscript. The author seemed
inconsolable, and intreated Magliabechi, whose character
for remembering what he read was already very great,
to try to recollect as much of it as he possibly could, and
Write it down for him against his next visit. Magliabechi
assured him he would, and wrote down the whole MS.
without' missing a word, or even varying any where from
110 MAGLIABECrfL
the spelling. Whatever qur readers may think of this trial
of his memory, it is certain that by treasuring up at least
the subject and the principal parts of all the books he ran
over, his head became at last, as one of his acquaintances
expressed it to Mr. Spence, " An universal index both of
titles and matter.9'
By this time Magliabechi was become so famous for the
vast extent of his reading, and his amazing retention of
what he had read, that he was frequently consulted by the
learned, when meditating a work on any subject For ex-
ample, and a curious example it is, if a priest was going to
compose a panegyric on any saint, and came to consult
Magliabechi, he would immediately tell him, who had said
any thing of that saint, and in what part of their works,
and that sometimes to the number of above an hundred
authors. He would tell not only who had treated of the
subject designedly, but point out such as bad touched upon
it only incidentally ; both which he did with the greatest
exactness, naming the author, the book, the words, and
often the very number of the page ih which they were in-
serted. All this he did so often, so readily, and 60 exactly^
that he came at last to be looked upon as an oraple, on ac-
count of the ready and full answers that he gave to all
questions, that were proposed to him in any faculty or
science whatever. The same talent induced the grand
duke Cosmo III. to appoint him his librarian, and no man
perhaps was ever better qualified for the situation, or more
happy to accept it. He was also very conversant with
the books in the Laureutian library, and the keeping of
those of Leopold and Francis Maria, the two cardinals of
Tuscany. Yet all this, it is said, did not appease his vo-
racious appetite ; he was thought to have read all the books
printed before his time, and all in it. Doubtless this
range, although v^ry extensive, must be understood of
Italian literature only or principally. Crescembini paid
him the highest compliment on this. Speaking of a dis-
pute whether a certain poem had ever been printed or not,
he concluded it had not, " because Magliabechi had never
seen it." We learn farther that it was a general custom
for authors and printers to present him with a copy of
whatever they printed, which must have been a consider*
able help towards the very large collection of books which
he himself made.
MAGLIABECHL 111
His mode of reading in his latter days is said to have
been this.. When a book first came into his hands, he
would look over the title-page, then dip here and there in
the preface, dedication and advertisements, if there were
any ; ajid then cast his eyes on each of the divisions, the
different sections, or chapters, and then he would be able
to retain the contents of that volume in his memory, and
produce them if wanted. Soon after he had adopted this
method of what Mr. Spence* calls " fore-shortening his
reading," a priest who had composed a panegyric on one
of his favourite saints, brought it to Magliabechi as a
present. He read it over in his new way, the title-page
and heads of the chapters, &c. and then thanked the priest
very kindly " for his excellent treatise." The author, in
some pain, asked him, " whether that was all that he
intended to read of his book?" Magliabechi coolly an-
swered, " Yes, for I know very well every thing that is
in it." This anecdote, however, may be explained other-
wise than upon the principles of memory. Magliabechi
knew all that the writers before had said of this saint, and
be knew this priest's turn and character, and thence judged
what he would chuse out of them and what he would omit.
Magliabechi had even a local memory of the place where
every book stood, as in his master's shop at first, and in
the Pitti, and several other libraries afterwards ; and seems
to have carried this •farther than only in relation to the
collections of books with which he was personally ac-
quainted. One day the grand duke sent for him after he
was his librarian, to ask him whether he . could get him a
book that was particularly scarce. " No, sir," answered
Magliabechi ; " for there is but one in the world ; that is
in the grand signior's library at Constantinople, and is the
seventh book on the second shelf on the right hand as you
go in." Though this extraordinary man must have lived a
sedentary life, with the most intense and almost perpetual
application to books, yet he arrived to a good old age.
He died in his eighty-first year, July 14, 1714. By his
will he left a very fine library of his own collection for the
use of the public, with a fund to maintain it ; and what-
ever should remain over to the poor. By the funds which
he left, by the addition of several other collections, and
the bounty- of some of the grand dukes, his library was
so much augmented as to vie with some of the most cor**
jiderable in Europe. Of this collection, a catalogue and
lit M A Gil A B E C H 1.
description of the works primed in the fifteenth century
was published by Fossi, under the title " Catalogus codi-
cum seeculo XV impressorum in Bibliotheca Magliabe-
chiana, Florentise adservantur," Florence, 3 vols. foK 1735
—1795.
r Of the domestic habits of Magliabechi, we have many
accounts that represent him as an incorrigible sloven. His
Attention was so entirely absorbed by his books and studies,
that he totally neglected all the decencies of form and
ceremony, and often forgot the most urgent wants of hu-
man nature. His employment under the grand duke did
not at all change his manner of life : the philosopher still
continued negligent in his dress, and simple in his man-
ners. An old cloak served him for a gown in the day, and
for bed-clothes at night. He had one straw chair for his
table, and another for his bed ; in which he generally con-
tinued fixed among bis books till he was overpowered by
aleep< The duke provided a commodious apartment for
him in his palace ; of wbich Magliabechi was with much
difficulty persuaded to take possession ; and which he
quitted in four months, returning to his house on various
pretences, against all the remonstrances of his friends.
He was, however, characterized by an extraordinary mo*
desty, and by a sincere and beneficent disposition, which his
friends often experienced in their wants. He was a great
patron of men of learning, and had the highest pleasure in
assisting them with his advice and information, in furnish-
ing, them with all necessary books and manuscripts. Car-
dinal Noris used to call 'him his Maecenas; and, writing to
him one day, he told him he thought himself more obliged
to him for direction in his studies, than to the pope for
raisingr him to the purple. He had the utmost aversion
to any thing that looked like constraint. The grand duke
knew his disposition, and therefore always dispensed with
his personal attendance upon him ;. and, when he had
any orders to give him, sent him them in writing. The
pope and the emperor would gladly have drawn him into
their service, but he constantly refused their most ho-
nourable and advantageous offers. The regimen he ob-
served contributed not a little to preserve his health to old
age. He always kept his head warmly covered, and took
at certain times treacle, which he esteemed an excellent
preservative against noxious vapours. . He loved strong
wine, bfit drank it in small quantities. He lived Upon the
MAGLIABECHI. 113
plainest and roost ordinary food. Three hard eggs and a
dranrght of water was his usual repast. He took tobacco,
to which he was a slave, to excess ; but was absolute mas-
ter of himself in every other article.
He died in the midst of the public applause, after en-
joying, during all the latter part of his life, such an
affluence as very few persons have ever procured by their
knowledge or learning, and which, as he had acquired
honourably, he bestowed liberally.
Though he oever composed any work himself, yet the
commonwealth of learning are greatly obliged to hira for
several, the publication of which was owing to him; such
as the Latin poems of Henry de Settimello, the " Hodoe-
poricon" of Ambrose Carnal du la, the " Dialogue" of Be-
nedict Aretin, and many others. A collection of letters
addressed to him by literary men was printed at Florence
in 1745, but is said to be incomplete. *
MAGNI, or MAGNUS (Valerian), a celebrated Ca-
puchin, born at Milan in 1586, descended from the earls
of Magni, acquired great reputation in the seventeenth
century by his controversial writings against the protestants,
and philosophical ones in favour of Descartes against
Aristotle. He passed through the highest offices in his
Order, and was apostolical missionary to the northern king<-
doms. It was by his advice that pope Urban VIII. abo*
lished the Jesuitesses in 1631. Uladislaus king of Poland,
solicited a cardinal's hat for Magni; but the Jesuits arc
said to have opposed it. They certainly informed against
him as a heretic, because he had said that the pope's primacy
and infallibility were not founded on scripture, and he was
imprisoned at Vienna ; but regained his liberty by favour
of the emperor Ferdinand III. after having written very
warmly against the Jesuits in his defence, tie retired at
last to Saltzburg, and died there, 1661, aged seventy-
five. Mention is made of Magni in the sixteenth Pro-
vincial Letter ; and one of his Apotogetical Letters may be
found in the collection entitled " Tuba magna, n torn. II.*
MAGNOL (Peter), a celebrated botanist of Mont-
pellier, was born in 1638. He Was bredTfo physic, but,
being a protestaut, could not take his degree there. He
appears, however, afterwards to have obtained i't elsewhere,
i •
i Tirnboeehi^-Fabroni Vit® Jjtalprum, fql. ^VIJ.— f*ic^on,.r*1. iV«-^
Spence's Paralfel.
* Gen. Diet.— Mors*.— L'AvocaV Diet. Hist. '
Vol. XXI. I
*14 MAGNOL
and practised physic ajt Montpeilier for a long course of
.years, and at the same time very assiduously cultivated
botany, with the most enlarged views to its advancement
as a science. He was beloved for his urbanity, and esteemed
for his knowledge. Numerous botanists flocked at this
time to Montpeilier, that neighbourhood being famous for
its vegetable riches ; and these were all eager to enjoy the
society, and to benefit by the guidance and instructions of
so able a man. Among the pupils of Magnol were Fagoo
and the illustrious Tournefort, who regularly studied under
him, and on many subsequent occasions gratefully acknow-
ledged their obligations to him. He was not chosen pub-
lic professor till 1694, when he assumed the guise at least
of Catholicism.
In 1676 our author published at Lyons his first work,
the " Botanicum Monspeliense," republished at Montpei-
lier in 1688, with a new title-page and appendix. In this1
book all the plants enumerated are found wild about Mont-
peilier, and almost entirely gathered there by the author
himself. It is, in fact, one of the most original. and au-
thentic works of its kind, being to the Montpeilier bo-
tanists what Ray's Synopsis is to those of Britain, the basis
of all their knowledge. In 1689 Magnol published an
octavo volume entitled " Prodromus Historic Generalis
Plantarum," in which he undertook a scheme of natural
arrangement, according to the method of Ray, deduced
from all the parts of a plant; and the vegetable kingdom
is. disposed into 76 families,, subdivided into genera. In
1607 appeared the " Horfcus Regius Monspeliensis," 8vo,
an alphabetical catalogue of the garden, in which several
new or rare species are described as well as figured. In
their generic distribution the author conforms to Tourne-
fort principally, and his preface shews how much he bad
contemplated this subject and its difficulties. When we
consider that Magnol had had the care of the garden only
three years previous to the publication of this rich cata-
logue, and that he found the collection in a very poor
state, the book is an honourable monument of his in-
dustry as well as knowledge.
In 1708 Magool was admitted a member of the 'academie
des sciences of Paris, in the place of his distinguished
friend Tournefort, and contributed some papers to their
memoirs. He died in 1715, at the age of seventy-seven.
He left a son, named Anthony, who was professor of phy-
M A G N O" L/ US
sic at Montpellier, but not of Botany. To this ton we are'
indebted for the publication of the " Novus Character
Plantarum," on which the fame of Magnol as a systematic
botanist chiefly rests. This posthumous work appeared ia
1720, making a quarto volume of 341 pages. The system
therein taught is much celebrated by Linnaeus, who in his
Classes Plantarum, 375— -403, gives a general view of it,
expressing his wonder that so new and singular a system
had not made more proselytes. That noble genus of trees
or shrubs, called the Magnolia, received that name from
Plumier, in honour of our author. l
MAGNON (John), a French poet of the seventeenth
century, was bred up as an advocate, and for some time
followed that profession at Lyons. He then became a
dramatic writer, and produced several pieces, of which
the least bad is a tragedy called Artaxerxes ; this has some
plot, good sentiments, and characters tolerably supported.
He then conceived the extraordinary project of writing an
encyclopaedia in verse, which was to consist of ten volumes,
each containing twenty thousand verses. Being asked,
after some time, when this work would be finished ? ^ Very
Soon," said he, " I have now only a hundred thousand
verses to write." His project, however, was cutoff, not-
withstanding this near approach to its conclusion, as he
was murdered by thieves at Paris, in 1662. His verses
were bad enough to account for bis facility in producing
them, yet he was a friend of Moliere. A part of his great
work appeared in folio in 1663, with the magnificent title
of " Science Universelle ." The preface was still mo?£
pompous : " Libraries," says he, " will hereafter be for
ornament only, not use." Yet how few contain this won-
derful work ! 2
MAGNUS (John), archbishop of Upsal, in Sweden, was
born at Lincopingin 1488; was a violent oppdser of the
pro test ant religion, and laboured much, though in vain,
to prevent the king, Gustavus, from introducing it into
his kingdom, Magnus, being persecuted on this account,
retired to Rome, where he was received with great marks
of regard, and died therein 1544. He was author of, t.
" A History of Sweden," in twenty-four books, published
in 1554, in folio. 2." A History of the Archbishops of
1 From an interesting article in Reea's Cyclopedia, by tir J. E. Smith.
* Moreri.— Diet. Hist-— A copy of t his " Science UnirerseUe" is in the British.
Museum.
I 2
UB MAGNUS.
UpsaV' which he carried down aa low as 1544. This was
aisc in folkv and, appeared in \$S7 and 1560. *
MAGNUS (Olaus), brother of the former, and his sue-
oesfor in the archbishopric of Upsal, distinguished himself
at the council of Trent, and buffered in Sweden, as his
brother also had done, many vexations from his attach-
ment to the Roman catholic persuasion. His work, by
which ha is very generally known, is " A History of the
manners, customs, and war* of the People of the North."
This contains many curious particulars, but many also tfhat
are minute, and several that are doubtful ; nor does the
author ever fail to display his animosity against the pro-
testants. He died at Rome in \555.1
MAHOMET, or MOHAMMED, founder of the system
of religious imposture called Mahometanism, was born in
the year 569, at Mecca, a city of Arabia, of the tribe of the
Komhites, which was reckoned the noblest in all that
country ; and was descended in a direct line from Pher
Koraish, the founder of it. Yet in the beginning of his
Ufe he #as in a very poor condition ; for his father dying
before be was two years old, and while his grandfather was
Mill living, all the power and wealth of his family devolved
to his uncles, especially Abu Taleb. Abu Tafeb, after
the death of his father, bore the chief sway in Mecca du-
ring the whole of a very long life ; and it was under his
protection chiefly, that Mahomet, when he first began to
propagate his imposture, was sufficiently supported against
&U Opposers, so as to be able, after his death, to establish
it through all Arabia by his own power.
Aftef his father's death he continued under the tuition
x)f his mot-feet, till the eighth year of his age ; when she also
dying, he was taken home to his grandfather, who at his
death, which happened the year after, committed him to
the care of bis uncle Abu Taleb, to be educated by him.
Abii Taleb, being a merchant,* taught him his business*
and, as soon as he was of sufficient age, sent him with his
camels into Syria ; in which employment he continued
♦mftter his ttnele till the 25th year of his age. One of the
chief flfren of the city then dying, and his widow, whose
name was Cadiga, wanting a factor to manage her stock,
/she invited Mahomet into her service. He accepted her
i Chaufepie.— Nrceron, vol. XXXV.
< « Nk*Ton, roi. XXXV.— Bibl. du Verdi* r, toU III. p. 135.
MAHOMET. 417
terms, traded three years for her at Damascus and otbfr
places, and acquitted himself in this charge so .much to
her satisfaction, that, about the twenty-eighth year of hip
age, she gave herself to him in marriage, although sbeiwajs
twelve years older. From being her servant he was now
advanced to be master of both her person and fortune;
and, finding himself equal in wealth to the best men of
the city, he began to entertain ambitious thoughts of posr
sessing the sovereignty over it. , -i
- Among the various means to effect this, none $eetm$4
to him more eligible than that imposture which he after-
wards published with so much success, and so much mis?
xhief to thexworld. The extensive trade which he carried
on in Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, having made him w$tjl
acquainted with both Christians and Jews, and given bioa
an opportunity of observing with what eagerness they an 4
the several sects into which the Christians of the Eastwer*
then miserably divided, engaged against each other, h?
concluded that nothing would be more likely to gain 9
party firm to him for the attaining the ends at which bj
aimed, than the invention of a new religion. In thjs>
however, he proceeded lejsu rely ; for it was not till hi?
thirty-eighth year that he began to prepare his design*
,He then withdrew himself from his former way of livings
which is said to have been very licentious and wicked ;
and, affecting an hermit's life, used every morning tq
retire into a solitary cave near Mecca, called the Cave of
Rira ; and there continued all day, exercising himself, a$
he pretended, in prayers, fastings, and holy meditations.
Thus he went on for two years, during which time h§
gained over his wife Cadiga, who was his first proselyte,
oy pretending visions which be had seen, and voices which
he had heard, in* his retirement. It is to be observed,
says Dr. Prideaux, that Mahomet began this imposture
about the same time that the bishop of Rome, by virtue,
of a grant from the tyrant Ph ocas, first assumed the title
of universal pastor. Phocas made this grant in the year
606, and Mahomet in the same year retired to his cave to
contrive that deception which be beg^n in the year 608
to propagate at Mecca.
In his fortieth year, Mahomet h§gan to t^ke upon him,
the style of the Apostle pf God, ami under that character
to ca,rry on the plan which h$ bfl|d now contrived ; but for
four years bf confiue4 &*> ^QCtrins? f# such as be either
118 MAHOMET.
bad most confidence in, or thought himself most likely to
'gain. When he had gained a few disciples, some of whom,
however, were the principal men of the city, he began to
publish it to the people at Mecca, in his forty-fourth year,
and openly to declare himself a prophet sent by God, to
convert them from the error of paganism, and to teach
them the true religion. On his first appearance, he was
treated with derision and contempt, and called by the peo-
ple a sorcerer, magician, liar, impostor, and teller of fables;
of which he frequently complains in the Koran ; so that
for the first year he made little or no progress. But per-
severing in his design, which he managed with great ad-
dress, he afterwards gained so many proselytes, that in the
fifth year of his pretended mission, he had increased his
party to the number of thirty-nine, himself making the
fortieth. People now b^gan to be alarmed at the progress
he made. Those who were addicted to the idolatry of
their forefathers, stood up to oppose him as an enemy of
their gods, and a dangerous innovator in their religion.
Others, who saw further into his designs, thought it time
to put a stop to them, for the sake of preserving the
government, at which they thought he aimed : and there-
fore they combined together against him, and intended to
have cut him off with the sword. But Abu Taleb, his uncle,
defeated their design ; and by his power, as being chief
of the tribe, preserved him from many other attempts of
the same nature ; for though Abu Taleb himself persisted
in the paganism of bis ancestors, yet he had so much
affection for the impostor, as being his kinsman, and one
that was bred up in his house, and under his care, that he
extended his full protection to Mahomet as long«as he lived. ,
The principal arguments, which Mahomet employed to
delude men into a belief of this imposture, were promises
and threats, both well calculated to influence the affections
of the vulgar. His promises were chiefly of Paradise,
which with great art he framed agreeably to the taste of
the Arabians t for they, lying within the torrid zone, were,
through the nature of their climate, as well as the corrup-
tion of their manners, exceedingly given to the love of
women ; and the scorching heat and dryness of the coun-
try, making rivers of water, cooling drinks, shaded gar-
dens, and pleasant fruits, most refreshing and delightful
unto them, they were from hence apt to place their
highest enjoyment in things of this nature. For this rea-
MAHOMET. 11*
son, be made the joys of hU Paradise to consist totally in
these particulars ; which he promises them abundantly in
many places of the Koran. On the contrary, he described
the punishments of hell, which he threatened to all who
would not believe in him, to consist of such torments as
would appear to them the most afflicting and grievous to
be borne ; as, " that they should drink nothing but boil-
ing and stinting water, nor breathe any thing but exceed-
ing hot winds, things most terrible in Arabia;, that they
should dwell for ever in continual fire, excessively burning,
and be surrounded with a black hot salt smoke, us with a
coverlid, &c." and, that he might omit nothing which could
work on their fears, he terrified them with the threats of.
grievous punishments in this life. To which purpose be
expatiated, upon all occasions, on the terrible calamities
which had befallen such as would not be instructed by the
prophets who were sent before him; how the old world
was destroyed by water, for not being reformed at the
preaching of Noah; how Sodom was consumed by fire
from heaven, for not hearkening to Lot when sent unto
them ; and how the Egyptians were plagued for despising
Moses : for he allowed the divinity of both the Old and
New Testament, and that Moses and Jesus Christ were
prophets sent from God ; but alledged that the Jews and
Christians -had corrupted those sacred books, and that he
was sent to purge them from those corruptions, and to
restore the law of God to that original purity in which it
was firsb delivered. And this is the reason, that most of
the passages which he takes out of the Old and New Tes-
taments, appear different in the Koran from what we find
tbem in those sacred books.
Mahomet pretended to receive all his revelations from
the angel Gabriel, who, he said, was sent from God, on
purpose to deliver them unto him. He was subject, it is
said, to the falling-sickness, and whenever the fit was upon
him, be pretended it to be a trance, and that then the
angel -Gabriel was come from God with some new revela-
tions. These revelations lie arranged in several chapters ;
which make -up the Koran, the Bible of the Mahometans.
The original of this book was laid up, as he taught his fol-
lowers, in the archives of heaven ; and the angel Gabriel
brought him the copy of it, chapter by chapter, as occa-
sion required that they should be published to the people ;
that is, as often -as any new measure w?s to be pursued,
13* MAHOMET.
any objection against him or bis religion to be answered,
any difficulty to be solved, any discontent among bis peo-
ple to be quieted, any offence to be removed, or any
thing else, done for the furtherance of his grand scheme,
his constant recourse was to the angel Gabriel for a new
revelation ; and then appeared some addition to the Ko-
ran, to serve bis purpose. But what perplexed him most
was, that his opposers demanded to see a miracle from
him ; " for," said they, " Moses, and Jesus, and the rest
of the prophets, according to thy own doctrine, worked
miracles to prove their mission from God ; and therefore,
if thou be a prophet, and greater than any that were sent
before thee* as thou boastest thyself to be, do thou work
the like miracles to manifest it onto us." This objection
he endeavoured to evade bv several answers : all of which
amount only to this, " that God had sent Moses and Jesus
with miracles, and yet men would not be obedient to their
word ; and therefore he had now sent him in the last place
without miracles, to force them by the power of the sword
to do his will." Hence it has become the universal doc-
trine of the Mahometans, that their religion is to be pro-
pagated by the sword, and that all true mussulmen are
bound to tight for it. It has even been said to be a cus-
tom among tjiem for their preachers, while they deliver
their sermons, to have a drawn sword placed by them, to
denote, that the doctrines they teach are to be defended
and propagated by the sword. Some miracles, at the
same time, Mahomet is said to have wrought ; as, " That
he clave the moon in two ; that trees went forth to meet
him, &c. &c." but those who relate them are only such as
are ranked among their fabulous and legendary writers :
their learned doctors renounce them ail ; and when they
are questioned, how without miracles they can prove his
mission, their common answer is, that the Koran itself is
the greatest of all miracles; for that Mahomet, who was
an illiterate person, who could neither write nor read, or
that any man else, by human wisdom alone, should be able to
compose such a book, is, they think, impossible. On this
Mahomet himself also frequently insists, challenging in
several places of the Koran, both men and devils, by their*
united skill, to compose any thing equal to it, or to any
part of it From all which they conclude, and as they
think, infallibly, that this book could come from none other
but God himself ; and that Mahomet, from whom they re-
ceived it, was his messenger to bring it unto them.
MAHOMET. 12.I
That the Koran, as to style and language, is tbe.stan-
dard of elegance in the Arabian tongue, and that Maho-
met was in truth what they affirm him to have been, a rude
and illiterate man* are points agreed on all sides. A ques-
tion therefore will arise among those who are not so sure
that this book was brought by the angel Gabrtel from hea-
ven, by whose help it was compiled, and the imposture
framed ? There is the more reason to ask this, because
this. book itself contains so many particulars of the Jewish
and Christian religions, as necessarily suppose the authors
of it to have been well skilled in both; which Mahomet,
who was bred an idolater, and lived so for the first forty
years of his life, among a people totally illiterate, for such
his tribe was by principle and profession, cannot be sup-
posed to have been : but this is a question not so easily to
be answered, because the nature of the thing required it to
have been transacted very secretly. Besides this, the
scene of this imposture being at least six hundred mites
within the country of Arabia, amidst those barbarous na-
tions, who all immediately embraced it, and would not
permit any of another religion to live among them, it could
not at that distance be so well investigated by those who
were most concerned to discover the fraud. That Maho-
met composed the Koran by the help of others, was a thing
well known at Mecca, when he first published his impos-
ture there ; and be was often reproached on that account
by his opposers, as he himself more than once complains.
In the twenty-fifth chapter of the Koran, his words are :
" They say, that the Koran is nothing but a lie of thy own
invention, and others have been assisting to thee herein.*1
A passage in the sixteenth chapter also, particularly points
at one of those who was then looked upon to have had a
principal hand in this matter: " I know they will say, that
a man hath taught him the Koran ; but he whom they pre-
sume to have taught him is a Persian by nation, and
apeaketb the Persian language. But the Koran is in the
Arabic tongue, full of instruction and eloquence/' • The
person here pointed at, was one Abdia Ben Salon, a Per-
sian Jew, whose name he afterwards changed into Ab-
dullah Ebn Salem, to make it correspond with the Arabic
dialect ; and almost aH who have written of this imposture
have mentioned him tas ihe chief architect used by Aiabo*
met in the framing of it : for he was an artfol man, tfeo-i
roughly skilled in all the learning of the Jews; aud there*
122 M A H O M E T.
j
fore Mahomet seems to have received from him whatsoever
of the rites and customs of the Jews he has ingrafted into
his religion. Besides this Jew, the impostor derived some
aid from a Christian monk : and the many particulars in
the Koran, relating to the Christian religion, plainly prove
him to have had such an helper. He was a monk of Syria,
of the sect of the Nestorians. The name which he had in
his monastery, and which he has since retained among the
western writers, is Sergius, though Bahira was that which
he afterwards assumed in Arabia, and by which he has ever
since been mentioned in the East, by all that write or speak
of him. Mahomet, as it is related, became acquainted
with this Bahira, in one of his journeys into Syria, either at
Bostra or at Jerusalem : and receiving great satisfaction
from him in many of those points in which he had desired
to be informed, contracted a particular friendship with
him i so that Bahira being not long after excommunicated
for some great crime, and expelled his monastery, fled to
Mecca to him, was entertained in his house, and became
his assistant in the framing of his imposture, and continued
with him ever after ; till Mahomet having, as it is reported,
po farther occasion for him, to secure the secret, put him
to death.
Many other particulars are recorded by some ancient
writers, both as to the composition of the Koran, and also
as to the manner of its first propagation ; as, that the im-
postor taught a bull to bring it him on his horns in a pub-
lic assembly, as if it had been this way sent to him from
God ; that he bred up pigeons to come to his ears, to
make it appear as if the Holy Ghost conversed with him ;
stories which have no foundation at all in truth, although
they have been credited by great and learned men. Gro-
tius in particular, in that part of his book " De veritate,
&c." which contains a refutation of Mahometanism, relates
the story of the pigeon ; on which our celebrated orien-
talist Pococke, who undertook an Arabic version of that
performance, asked Grotius, " Where he had picked up
this story, whether among the Arabians, or the Christians ?"
To which Grotius replied, that " he had not indeed met.
with it in any Arabian author, but depended entirely upon
the authority of the Christian writers for the truth of it."
Pococke .thought fit, therefore, to omit it in his version,
lest we should expose ourselves to the contempt of the
Arabians, by. not. being able to distinguish the religion o£
M A H O M £ T. 18*
Mahomet from the tale* and fictions which its enemies
have invented concerning it; and by pretending to con*
fate the Koran, without knowing the foundation on which
its authority stands.
In the eighth year of bis pretended mission, his party
growing formidable at Mecca, the city passed a decree, by
which they forbade any more to join themselves with him.
This, however, did not much affect him, while his uncle
Abu Taleb lived to protect him : but he dying two years
after, and the government of the city then falling iiuo the
hands of his enemies, the opposition was renewed against
him, and a stop soon put to the further progress of his de-
sighs at Mecca. Mahomet, therefore, seeing all bis hopes
crushed here, began to think of settling elsewhere; and as
his uncle Abbas lived for the most part at Tayif, a town
sixty miles distant from Mecca towards the East, and was
a man of power and interest, he took a journey thither,
tinder his protection, in order to propagate his imposture
there. But, after a month's stay, finding himself unable
to gain even one proselyte, he returned to Mecca, with a
resolution to wait for such further advantages as time and
opportunity might offer.. His wife Cadiga being now dead,
after living with him twenty-two years, he took two other
wives in her stead, Ayesha the daughter of Abubeker, and
Lewda the daughter of Zama ; adding a while after to
them a third, named Haphsa the daughter of Omar ; and
by thus making himself son-in-law to three of the princi-
pal men of his party, he strengthened his interest consi-
derably.
In the twelfth year of his pretended mission is placed
the mesra, that is, his famous night-journey from Mecca
to Jerusalem, and thence to heaven ; of which he tells us
in the seventeenth chapter of the Koran ; for the people
calling on him for miracles to prove his mission, and find-
ing himself unable to feign any, to solve the matter, he
invented this story of his journey to heaven. The stpry,
as related in the Koran, and believed by the Mahometans,
is this. At night, as he lay in his bed with his best be*
loved wife Ayesha, be heard a knocking at his door; upon
which, arising, he found there the angel Gabriel, with
seventy pair of wings expanded from his sides, whiter thaa
snow, and clearer than crystal, and the beast Alboruk
standing by him ; which, they say, is the beast on which
the prophets used to ride when they were carried from one
124 MAHOMET.
place to another, upon the execution of any divine com*
inand. Mahomet describes it to be a beast as white as
milk, and of a mixt nature, between an ass and a mule,
and of a size between both, but of such extraordinary swift-
ness as to equal even lightning itself.
As/ soon as Mahomet appeared at the door, the angel
Gabriel kindly embraced him, saluted him in the name of
God, and told him that he was sent to bring him unto God
into heaven ; where he should see strange mysteries, which
were not lawful to be seen by any other man. He prayed
him then to get upon Alborak ; but the beast having lain
idle and unemployed from the time of Christ to Mahomet,
was grown so mettlesome and skittish, that he would not
stand still for Mahomet to mount him, till at length he was
forced to bribe him to it, by promising him a place in Pa-
radise. When he was firmly seated on him, the angel
Gabriel led the way, with the bridle of the beast in his
hand, and carried the prophet from Mecca to Jerusalem
in the twinkling of an eye. On his coming thither, all the
departed prophets and saints appeared at the gate of the
temple, to salute him ; and thence, attending him into
the chief oratory, desired him to pray for them, and then,
withdrew. After this, Mahomet went out of the temple
• with the angel Gabriel, and found a ladder of light ready
fixed for them, which they immediately ascended, leaving
Alborak tied to a rock till their return.
On their arrival at the first heaven, the angel knocked
at the gate ; and informing the porter who he was, and
that he had brought Mahomet the friend of God, he was
immediately admitted. This first heaven, be tells us, was
all of pure silver ; from whence he saw the stars hanging
from it by chains of gold, each as big as mount Noho,
near Mecca,, in Arabia. On his entrance, he met a de*
crepid old man, who, it 6eems, was our first father, Adam ;
and as he advanced, he saw a multitude of angels in all
manner of shapes ; in the shape of birds, beasts, and men.
We must not forget; to observe, (hat Adam had the piety
immediately to, embrace the , prophet, giving God thauks
for so great a son ; and then recommended himself to his
prayers. .Frpjm this first heaver)) the impostor tells us* he
ascended. into the secwd, whiph was, at tft$ (jUstance.pf five,
hundred ye%rs journey above it ; aj)d,th.is be makes to be
the distance of every one of the/seven heaven,?, each above
ib^Qtfaer*:, Jiejte the gatsfr being opepedto him as before,
MAHOMET. 12*
at his entrance he met Noah, who, rejoicing much at the
sight of him, recommended himself to his prayers. Thi»
heaven wis all of pure gold, and there were twice as many
angels in it as in the former ; for he tells us that the num-
ber of angels in every heaven increased as he advanced.
From this second heaven he ascended into the third, which
was made of precious stones, where ,he met Abraham, who
also recommended himself to his prayers ; Joseph the son
of Jacob, did the same in the fourth heaven, which was
all of emerald ; Moses in the fifth, which was all of ada-
mant ; and John the Baptist in the sixth, which was all of
carbuncle : whence he ascended into the seventh, which
was all of divine light, and here he found Jesus Christ.
However, it is observed, that here he alters his style ; for
he does not say that Jesus Christ recommended himself to
his prayers, but that he recommended himself to the
prayers of Jesua Christ.
The angel Gabriel having brought him thus far, told
him that he was not permitted to attend him any further;
and therefore directed him to ascend the rest of the way to
the throne of God by himself. This he performed with
great difficulty, passing through rough and dangerous
places, till he came where he heard a voice, saying unto
hicn, ** O Mahomet, salute thy Creator ;" whence, as-
cending higher, be came into a place where he saw a vast
expansion of light, so exceedingly bright, that his eyes
could not bear it. This, it seems, was the habitation of
the Almighty, where his throne was placed ; on the right
side of which, he says, God's name and his own were writ-
ten in these Arabic words : " La ellah ellallah Mohammed
resul ollah ;" that is, " There is no God but God, and
Mahomet is his prophet," which is at this day the creed of
the Mahometans. Being approached to the divine pre-
sence, he tells us that God entered into a familiar converse
with him, revealed to him many hidden mysteries, made
- him understand the whole of his law, gave him many things
in charge concerning his instructing men in the knowledge
of it; and in conclusion, bestowed on him several privi-
leges above the rest of mankind. He then returned, and
found the angel Gabriel waiting for him in the place where
he left him. The angel led him back along the seven
heavens, through which he had brought him, and set him
again upon the beast Alborak, which stood tied at the rock
pear Jerusalem. Then he conducted him back to Mecca,
126 MAHOMET.
in tbe same manner as he brought him thence.; and aH thf*
within the space of the tenth part of one night.
On his relating this extravagant fiction to the people the
next morning after he pretended the thing to have hap-
pened, it was received by them, as it deserved, with a ge-
neral outcry ; and the imposture was never in greater
danger of being totally blasted, than by this ridiculous
fable. But, how ridiculous soever the story may appear,
Mahomet had a further design in it than barely telling such
a miraculous adventure of himself to the people. Hitherto
he had only given them the Koran, which was his. written
law ; and had pretended to be nothing more than barely
the messenger of God in publishing it, as it was delivered
to him by the angel Gabriel. But now, learning from his
friend Abdalla, that the Jews, besides the written law dic-
tated by God himself, bad also another law, called the
oral law, given with it, as they pretend, to Moses himself
while in the mount ; and understanding that this law,
which had its whole foundation in the sayings and dictates
of Moses, was in as great veneration with them as the
other ; he had a mind for the future to advance his autho-
rity to tbe same pitch, and to make all his sayings and
dictates pass for oracles among the mussulmen, as those
which were pretended to proceed from Moses did among
the Jews ; and for this end chiefly it was, that he invented
this story of his journey to heaven.
The story, however, whatever advantages he might gain
by it when the imposture became more firmly established,
was deemed at present so grossly ridiculous, that it occa-
sioned the revolt of many of his disciples,' and made his
stay at Mecca no longer practicable. But what he lost at
Mecca he gained at Medina, then called Yathreb, a city ly-
ing 270 miles north-west from Mecca ; which was inhabited,
the one part by Jews, and the other by heretical Christians.
These two parties not agreeing, feuds and factions rose at
length so high among them, that one party, exasperated
against the other, went over to Mahomet. Thus we are
told, that in the thirteenth year of his pretended mission,
there came to him from thence seventy-three men and two
women. Twelve of these he retained awhile with him at
Mecca, to instruct them in his n£w religion ; then sent
them back to Yathreb, as his twelve apostles, to propagate
it in that town. In this they laboured abundantly, and
with such success, that, in a short time they drew over, the
MAHOMET. 1527
greatest part of the inhabitants; of which Mahomet re-
ceiving an account, resolved to go thither immediately,
fading it unsafe to continue any longer at Mecca.
On the 12th day of the month, which the Arabs call the
Former Rabia, that is, on the 24th of our September, he
came to Yathreb, and was received with great acclamations
by the party which called him thither. This party is sup*'
posed to have been the Christians, and this supposition is
con6rmed by what he says of each of them in the fifth
chapter of the Koran, which is one of the first he published
after his coming to Yathreb. His words are these: " Thou
shalt find the Jews to be very great enemies to the true
believers, and the Christians to have great inclination and
amity towards them." By which we may see into what a
deplorable decay the many divisions and distractions which
then reigned in the eastern church had brought the Chris-
tian religion, when its professors could so easily desert it
for that gross imposture which an illiterate barbarian
proposed to them. On his first coming to Yathreb, he
lodged in the bouse of Chalid Abu Job, one of the chief
men of the party that called him thither, till be had built
a house for himself. This he immediately undertook, and
erected a mosque at the same time, for the exercise of his
new-invented religion ; and having thus settled himself in
this town, he continued there to the time of his death.
From this flight of Mahomet, the Hegira, which is the aera
of the Mahometans, begins its computation : Hegira, in
the Arabic language, signifying flight. It was first ap-
pointed by Omar, the third emperor of the Saracens, and
takes its beginning from the 16th of July, in the year 622*
Indeed the day that Mahomet left Mecca was on the first
of the Former Rabia ; and he came to Medina on the 12th
of the same month, that is on the 24th of our September ;
but the Hegira begins two months before, from the first
of Mobarram : for, that being the first month of the Ara-
bian year, Omar would make no alteration as to that, but
anticipated the computation fifty-nine days, that he might
commence his sera from the beginning of that year, in
which the flight of the impostor happened, from which it
took its name.
The first thing that Mahomet did after he had settled
himself at Medina, was to marry his daughter Fatima to
his cousin Ali. She was the only child then living of six
which were born to him of Cadiga his first wife ; and
128 MAHOMET.
indeed the only one which h4 had, notwithstanding the mill*
titude of his wives who survived hihn. Having now ob-
tained the end at which he had long been aiming, that is,
that of having a town &t his command, he entered upon a
scheme entirely new. Hitherto he Bad been only preach-
ing his religion for thirteen years together ; for the re-
maining ten years of his life he took the sword, and fought
for it He had long been teazed and perplexed at Mecca
with questions, and objections, and disputes about what he
had preached, by which he was often put to silence ; but
henceforth he forbad all manner of disputing, telling his
disciples that his religion was to be propagated not by dis-
puting, but by fighting. He commanded them therefore
to arm themselves, and slay with the sword all that would
not embrace it, unless they submitted to pay a yearly tri-
bute for the redemption of their lives : and according to
' this injunction, even to this day, all who live under any
Mahometan government, and are not of their religion, pay
an annual tax for a mulct of their infidelity; and are pu-
nished with death if they contradict or oppose any doc-
trine taught by Mahomet. After he had sufficiently in-
fused this doctrine into his disciples, he next proceeded
to put it in practice ; and having erected his standard, called
them all to come armed to it. His first expeditions were
against the trading caravans, in their journeys between
Mecca and Syria, which he attacked with various success ;
and if we except the establishing and adjusting a few par-
ticulars relating to his grand scheme, as occasion required^
his time, for the two first years after his flight, was wholly
spent in predatory excursions upon his neighbours, in
robbing, plundering}, and destroying all those that lived
near Medina, who would not embrace his religion.
In the third year of the Hegira, A. D.^624, he made,
war upon those tribes of the Arabs which were of the Jew-
ish religion near him ; and having taken their castles, and
reduced them under his power, he sold them all for slaves,
and divided their goods among his followers. But the.
battle of Ohud, which happened towards the end of this
year, had like to have proved fatal to him ; for his uncle
Hamza, who bore the standard, was killed, himself grie-
vously wounded, and escaped only by one of his compa-
nions coming to his assistance. This defeat gave rise to.
many objections against bim ; some asked, How a prophet
of God could be overthrown in a battle by the infidels r
MAHOMET. 119
and others murmured as much for the loss of their frienchr
and relations who were slain. To satisfy the former, he
laid the cause of the overthrow on the sins of some that
followed him ; and said, that for this reason God suffered
them to be overthrown, that so the good might be distin-
guished from the bad, and that those who were true be-
lievers might on this occasion be discerned from those who
were not. To quiet the complaints of the latter, he in*
vented his doctrine of fate and predestination ; telling them
that those who were slain in the battle, though they bad
tarried at home in their houses, must nevertheless have
died at that moment, the time of every man's life being
predetermined by God ; but as they died fighting for the
faith, they gained the advantage of the crown of martyr-
dom, and the rewards which were due to it in Paradise $
both which doctrines served his purpose so well, that he
propagated them afterwards on all occasions. They have
also been the favourite notidns of the Mahometans ever
since, and enforced especially in their wars ; where, it must
be owned, nothing can be more conducive to make them
fight valiantly, than a settled opinion, that to whatever
dangers they expose themselves, they cannot die either
sooner or later than is predestinated by God ; and that, in
case this predestined time be come, they shall, by dying
martyrs for their religion, immediately enter into Paradise
as the reward of it.
In the fourth year of the Hegira, A. D. 625, he waged
war with the Nadirites, a tribe of the Jewish Arabs in thef
neighbourhood ; and the same year fought the battle of
Beder, and had many other skirmishes with those who re-
fused to submit : in all Which he had sometimes prosperous
and sometimes dubious success. But while his army was
abroad on these expeditions, some of his principal men
engaging in play and drinking, quarrelled, and raised
such a disturbance among the rest, that they had like to
have endangered his whole scheme ; and, therefore, to
prevent any mischief of this kind for the future, he forbade
the use of wine, and all games of chance. In the fifth and
sixth years, he was engaged in various wars, and subdued
several tribes of the Arabs. After so many advantages ob-
tained, being much increased in strength, he marched his
army against Mecca, and fought a battle near it ; the con-
sequence of which was, that, neither side gaining any vie*
tory, they agreed on a truce for ten years. The condition^
Vol. XXI. K
1.10 MAHOMET.
of it were, that all within Mecca, who were for Mahomet,
might have liberty to join themselves to him ; and on the
other side, those with Mahomet, who had a mind to leave
him, might haye the liberty to return to Mecca. By this
truce, Mahomet, being very much confirmed in his power,
took on him. thenceforth the authority of a king, and was
inaugurated as such by the chief men of his army.
Having thus made a truce with the men of Mecca, and
thereby obtained free access* for any of his party to go into
that city, he ordained them to make pilgrimages thither,
which have ever since been observed, with much super-
stition, by all his followers, once every year ; and now
being thus established in the sovereignty, at which he had
long been aiming, he assumed ail the insignia belonging
to it; still retaining the sacred character of chief pontiff of
his religion, as well as the royal., with which he was in-
vested. He transmitted both to his successors, who, by
the title of Caliphs, reigned after him : so that, like the
' Jewish princes of the race of Maccabees, they were kings
and chief-priests of their people at the same time. Their
pontifical authority consisted chiefly in giving the inter-
pretation of the Mahometan law, in ordering all matters
of religion, and in praying and preaching in their public
mosques : and this at length was all the authority the ca-
liphs had left ; as they were totally stripped of the rest,
first by the governors of the provinces, who, about the
325th year of the Hegira, assumed the regal authority to
themselves, and afterwards by others, who gradually
usurped upon them ; till at length, after a succession of
ages, the Tartars came in, and, in that deluge of destruc-
tion with which they over-ran all the East, put a total end
not only to their authority, but to their very name and
being. Ever since that time, most Mahometan princes
have a particular officer appointed in their respective do-
minions, who sustains this sacred authority, formerly in-
vested in their caliphs ; who in Turkey is called the Mufti,
and in Persia the Sadre. But they, being under the power
of the princes that appoint them, are in reality the mere
creatures of state, who make the law of Mahomet speak
just such language as is .necessary to support the measures
of the government, however unjust or tyrannical.
In the seventh year of the Hegira, A. D. 628, the im-
postor led forth his army against Caibar, a city inhabited
fcy Ar^hs of the Jewish religion ; and, after routing them
MAHOMET*. 131
ift battle, he besieged their city, and took it by storm.
Having entered the town, he took up his quarters in the
house of Hareth, one of the principal inhabitants of the
place, whose daughter Zainoh, preparing a shoulder of
mutton -for his supper, poisoned it. Here those who would
ascribe miracles to Mahomet, tell us, that the shoulder of
mutton spake to him, and discovered that it was poisoned ;
but, if it did so, it was, it seems, too late to do him any
good ; for Basher, one of his companions, beginning too
greedily to eat of it, fell down dead on the place ; and al-
though Mahomet had not immediately the same fate, be-
cause, not liking the taste, he spit out again what he had
taken into his mouth, yet he took enough to have a fatal
effect ; for he never recovered, and, at the end of three
years, died of this meal. The maid being asked why she
did this, answered, that " she had a mind to make trial,
whether he Were a prophet or not : for, were he a prophet,"
said she, " he would certainly know that the meat was
poisoned, and therefore would receive no harm from it;
but, if he were not a prophet, she thought she should do
the world good service in ridding it of so wicked a ty-
rant." - '
After this, he reduced under his subjection other towns
belonging to the Jewish Arabs, and having increased his
strength by these acquisitions to an army of 10,000 men, he
resolved to make himself master of Mecca. For this pur-
pose, pretending that the people of Mecca had broken the
truce, he marched suddenly upon them, before they were
aware of his design : when, being utterly incapable of
putting themselves into any posture of defence against
him, they found themselves necessitated to surrender im-
mediately. As soon as it was heard among the neighbour*
ing Arabs, that Mahomet had made himself master of
Mecca, several other tribes made head against him, and
in the first encounter routed his army, though greatly su-
perior to theirs in number : but the impostor, having ga-
thered up his scattered forces, and rallied them again into
a body, acted more cautiously in the second conflict, and
gave his enemies a total defeat, and took from them their
baggage, with their wives and children, and all their sub-
stance. After this, his power being much increased, the
fame of it so terrified the rest of the Arabs, who had not
yet felt his arms, that they ail submitted to him. So that*
in this year,, which is the tenth of the Hegira, and the
K2
133 • MAHOMET.
63ist of our Lord, his empire and bis religion became
established together through all Arabia.
Jfe spent t£e remainder of the year in sending lieute-
nant* into all his provinces, to govern in bis name, to de-
stroy the heathen temples, and all the other retrains of the
Arabian idolatry, and establish his religion in its stead.
Towards the end of it, he took a journey in pilgrimage to
itlecca, where a great concourse of people resorted to him
from all parts of Arabfa, whom be instructed in bis law,
and then returned to Medina. This pilgrimage is called,
by his followers, the pilgrimage of valediction, because it
was the last he made : for, after his return to Medina, he
began daily ' to decline, through the force of that poisoi*
which he had taken three years before at Caibar. It had
never been removed from his constitution, and at length,
brought him so low, that he was forced, on the 28th day
of Saphar, the second month of their year, to take to hi*
bed; and? on the 12th day of the following month, he
died, after a sickness of thirteen days. During his sicknesa
he much complained of the meat which he had taken at
Caibar ; telling those who came to visit him, that he had
felt the torments of it in his body ever since : so that, not-
withstanding the intimacy he pretended with the angel
Gabriel, and the continual revelations be received from
him, he could not be preserved from perishing by the snares
of a girl.
He was buried in the place where he died, which wag
in the chamber of his best-beloved wife, at Medina. The
story that Mahomet's tomb, being of iron, is suspended in
the air, under a vault of loadstones, i? a mere fable ; and
the Mahometans laugh, when they know that the Chris-
tians relate it, as they do other stories of him, for a cer-
tain matter of fact. A king of Egypt, indeed,, formerly
attempted to do this, when he had a mind tp procure the
same advantage to a statue of bis wife. " Dinocrates the
architect," says Pliny, "had begun to roof the temple
of Arsinoe, at Alexandria, with load-stone, that her
image, made of iron, might seem to hang there in the
air." But no such attempt was ever made in regard to
Mahomet ; whose body continued in the place where he
was buried, without having been moved or disturbed*
They have, it is said, built over it a small chapel, joining
to one of the corners of the chief mosque of that city i
the first mosque which was erected to that impious super*
MAHOMET. 1S$
stition, Mahomet himself being, as hath been related
above, the founder of it.
Thus ended the life of this famous impostor, who was
sixty-three years old on the day he died, according to the
Arabian calculation, which makes only sixty-one of out
years. For twenty-three years he had taken upon him to
be a prophet ; of which he lived thirteen at Mecca, and
ten at Medina, during which time, by his great address
and management, he rose from the meanest beginnings to
such a height of power as to be able to make one of the
greatest revolutions that ever happened in the world. This
revolution immediately gave birth to an empire, which, in
eighty years, extended its dominion over more kingdoms
and countries than the Roman empire cpuld subdue in
eight hundred : and, although it continued in its flourish-*
ing condition not much above three hundred years, yet
out of its ashes have sprung up many other kingdoms and
empires, of which there are three at this day, the largest,
if not the most potent upon the face of the earth ; namely;
the empire of Turkey, the empire of Persia, and the em-
pire of the Mogul in India. Mahomet was a man of a
good stature and a comely aspect, and affected much to be
thought like Abraham. He had a piercing and sagacious
wit, and was extremely wcjl versed in all those arts which
are necessary to lead mankind. In the first part of his
life, be was wicked and licentious, much delighted in ra-
pine, plunder, and bloodshed, according to the usage of
the Arabs, who have generally followed this kind of life,
The Mahometans, however, would persuade us, that he
was a saint from the fourth year of his age : for then, they
say, the angel Gabriel separated him from his fellows, white
he was at play with them ; and, carrying him aside, cut open
his breast, took out his heart, and wrung out of it that black
drop of blood, in which they imagined was contained the fames
peccati\ so that he had none of it ever after. This is contra*
dieted, however, by two predominant passions, ambition
and lust. The coqrse which he took to gain empire abun-
dantly shews the former ; and the multitude of women with
whom he was connected, proves the latter. While Cadiga
lived, which was till his fiftieth year, it does not appear that
he had any other wife : for, she being the origin and foun-
dation of all his fortunes and grandeur, it is probable be
durst not displease her, by bringing in another wife. But
she waa no soonei' dead, th^n he multiplied them to a great
134 MAHOMET. 0
number, besides which he had several concubines. They
thai reckon the fewest, allow him to have married fifteen ;
but others reckon them to have been one and twenty, of
which five died before him, six he divorced, and ten were
alive at his death.
But of ail his wives, Ayesha, the daughter of that Abu-*
beker who succeeded him, was by far his best beloved.
He married her very young, and took care to have her
bred up in all the learning of Arabia, especially in the ele-
gance of their language, and the knowledge of their anti-
quities ; so that she became at length one of the most ac-
complished ladies of her time. She was a bitter enemy to
Ali, he being the person who discovered her incontinence
to Mahomet, and therefore employed all her interest, upon
every vacancy, to binder him from being chosen Caliph,
althouga, as son-in-law to the impostor, he had the fairest
pretence to it ; and when at last, after having been thrice
put by, he attained that dignity, she appeared in arms
against him ; and although she did hot prevail, caused
such a defection from hiip, as ended in his ruin. She lived
forty-eight years after the death of Mahomet, and was in
great reputation with her sect, being called by them the
Prophetess, and the mother of the faithful/ One of the
principal arguments which, the followers of Mahomet used,
to excuse his having so many wives, is, that he might be-
get young prophets : he left, however, neither prophet
nor prophetess long behind him of all his wives. The six
children which he had by Cadiga, his first wife, all died
before him, except Fatima, the wife of Ali, who only sur-
vived him sixty days ; and he had no child by any of the
rest.
As the impostor allowed the divinity of the Old and
New Testament, it is natural to suppose that he would at-
tempt to prove his own mission from both ; and the texts
used for this purpose by those who defend his cause, are
these following. In Deuteronomy it is said, " The Lord
came down from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them :
he shined forth from mount Pharan, and he came with ten
thousand of saints: from his right-hand went a fiery law
for them.9' By these words, according to the Mahometans,
are meant the delivery of the law to Moses, on mount Si-
nai ; of the gospel to Jesus, at Jerusalem ; and of the
Koran to Mahomet, at Mecca : for, say they, Seir are the
mountains of Jerusalem, where Jesus appeared $ .and Pha*
MAHOMET. 135
ran the mountains of Mecca, where Mahomet appeared.
But they are here mistaken in their geography ; for Pha-
ran is a city of Arabia Petreea, near the Red Sea, towards
the bottom of the gulph, not far from the confines of Egypt
and Palestine, and above 500 miles distant from Mecca.
It was formerly an episcopal see, under the patriarchs of
Jerusalem, and famous for Theodorus, once bishop of it?
who was the first that published to the world the opinion of
the Monothelites. It is at this day called Fara : and hence
the deserts, lying from this city to the borders of Pales-*
tine, are called the deserts or wilderness of Pharan, and
the mountains lying in it, the mountains of Pbaran, in holy,
scripture; near which Moses first began to repeat, and
more clearly to explain the law to the children of Israel,
before his death : and it is to that; to which the text
above mentioned refers.
The Psalmist has written, u Out of Sion, the perfecr
tion of beauty, God hathshined ;" which the Syriac version
reads thus, "Out of Sion God bath shewed a glorious
crown." From this some Arabic translation having ex-
pressed the two last words by " eclilan mahmudan," that
is, " an honourable crown," the Mahometans have under-
stood the name Mahomet; and so read the word thus,
" Out of Sion hath God shewed the crown of Mahomet."
In Isaiah we read, " And he saw a chariot, with a couple4
of horsemen, a chariot of asses and a chariot of camels.1'
But the old Latin version hath it, " Et vidit currum duo-
rum equitum, ascensorein asini, & ascensorem cameli ;"
that is, " And he saw a chariot of two horsemen, a rider
upon an ass, and a rider uppn a camel." Here, by the
rider upon an ass, they understand Jesus Christ, because
he so rode to Jerusalem ; and by the rider upon a camel
Mahomet, because he was of the Arabians, who used to
ride upon camels. Our Saviour, in St. John, tells his dis-
ciples, " If I go not away, the Comforter will not come
unto you : but if I depart, I will send him unto you." By
the Comforter, the Mahometans will have their prophet
Mahomet to be meant : and therefore, among other titles,
they gave him that of Paraclet, which is the Greek word
used in this text for the Comforter, made Arabic. They
also say, that the very name of Mahomet, both here and in
other places of the gospel, was expressly mentioned ; but*'
that the Christians have, through malice, blotted it out,
and shamefully corrupted those holy writings ; nay, they
U6 MAHOMET.
insist, that at Paris there is a copy of the Gospels without
those, corruptions, in which the coming of Mahomet is
foretold in several places, with his name expressly men-
tioned in them. Such a copy, it must be owned, would
be highly convenient, and to the purpose : for then it would
be no easy matter to refute this text in the 61st chapter of
the Koran \ " Remember, that Jesus, the son of Mary, said
to the children of Israel, i am the messenger of God : he
hath sent me to confirm the Old Testament, and to declare
unto you, that there shall come a prophet after me, whose
name shall be Mahomet."
It is not our business to confute these glosses ; and if it
was, the absurdity of them is sufficiently exposed by barely
relating them. Upon the whole, since the Mahometans
can find nothing else in all the books of the Old and New
Testament to wrest to their purpose, but the texts above-
mentioned, it appears to us, that their religion, as well as
its founder, is likely to receive but little sanction from the
Bible.
~ Mahomet was succeeded by Abubeker, agreeably to the
wishes of the deceased prophet ; who, after a reign of two
years, was followed by Omar ; and in the twelfth year of
his government he received a mortal wound from the hand
of an assassin, and made way for the succession of Oth«
4nan, the secretary of Mahomet. After the third caliph,
twenty-four years after the death of the prophet, Ali was
invested, by the popular choice, with the regal and sacer-
dotal office. Among the numerous biographers of Maho-
met, we may reckon Abulfeda, Maracci, Savary, Sale,
Prideaux, Boulainvilliers, D'Herbelot, Gagnier, Gibbon,
9nd the author of the article in the Modern Universal His-
tory. *
MAHOMET II. the eleventh sultan of the Turks, born
at Adrianople, the 24th of March, 1430, is to be remem-
bered chiefly by us, for taking Constantinople in 1453,
and thereby driving many learned Greeks into the West,
which was a great cause of the restoration of learning in
Europe, as the Greek literature was then introduced here.
He was on£ of the greatest men upon record, with regard
to the qualities necessary to a conqueror : and he conquered
two empires, twelve kingdoms, and two hundred consider-
able cities. He was very ambitious of the title of Great,
1 Prideayx has been chiefly followed in the preceding account
MAHOMET. 137
which the Turks gave him, and even the Christians haye
not disputed it with him ; for he was the first of the Otto-
man emperors, whom the Western nations dignified with
the title of- Grand Seignior, or Great Turk, which pos-
terity has preserved to his descendants. Italy had suffered
greater calamities, but she had never felt a terror equal to
that which this sultan's victories imprinted. The inhabit*
ants seemed already condemned to wear the turban ; it is
pertain that pope Sixtus IV. represented to himself Rome
as already involved in the dreadful fate of Constantinople ;
and thought of nothing but escaping into Provence, and
once more transferring the holy see to Avignon. Ac-
cordingly, the news of Mahomet's death, which happened
the 3d of May, 1481, was received at Rome with the
greatest joy that ev?r was beheld there. Sixtus caused
all the churches to be thrown open, made the trades-people
leave off their work, ordered a feast of three days, with
public prayers and processions, commanded a discharge
of the whole artillery of the castle of St. Aqgelo all that
time, and put a stop to his journey to Avignon. Some
authors have written that this sultan was an atheist, and
derided all religions, without excepting that of his pro-
phet, whom he treated as no better than a leader of ban-
ditti. This is possible enongh ; and there are many cir-
cumstances which make it credible. It is certain he en<*
gaged in war, not to promote Mahometism, bur to gratify
his own ambition : be preferred his own interest to that of
the faith he professed ; and to this it was owing that he
tolerated the Greek church, and even shewed wonderful
civility to the patriarch of Constantinople. His epitaph
deserves to be noted ; the inscription consisted only of nine
or ten Turkish words, thus translated : " I proposed to
myself the conquest of Rhodes and proud Italy."
He appears to be the first sultan who was a lover of arts
and sciences ; and even cultivated polite letters. He often
rfead the History of Augustus, and the other Ceesars ; and
be perused those of Alexander, Constantine, and Theodo-
aius, with more than ordinary pleasure, because thete had
reigned in the same country with himself. He was fond
of painting, music, and sculpture ; and he applied himself
to the study of agriculture. He was much addicted to •
astrology, and used to encourage his troops by giving out
that the motion and influence of the heavenly bodies pro-
mised him the empire of the world. Contrary to the genius
13S MAHOME t.
of his country, he delighted so much in the knowledge
of foreign languages, that he not only spoke the Arabian,
to which the Turkish laws, and the religion of their legis-
lator Mahomet are appropriated, but also the Persian, the
Greek, and the French, that is, the corrupted Italian.
Landin, a knight of Rhodes, collected several letters
which this sultan wrote in the Syriac, Greek, and Turkish
languages, and translated them into Latin. Where the
originals are is not known ; but the translation has been
published several times; as at Lyons, 1520, in 4 to; at
Basil, 1554, 12 mo, in a collection published by Opori-
nus; at Marpurgh,' 1604, in 8vo, and at Leipsic, 1690,
in 12mo. Melchior Junius, professor of eloquence at
Strasburg, published at Montbeliard, 1595, a collection
of letters, in which there are three written by Mahomet II.
to Scanderbeg. One cannot discover the least air of
Turkish ferocity in these letters : they are written in as
civil terms as the most polite prince in Christendom could
have used.1
MAIER (Michael), a celebrated German alchymist and
rosicrucian of the seventeenth century, who sacrificed his
health, his fortune, his time, and his understanding, to
those ruinous follies, wrote many works, all having re-
ference, more or less, to the principles or rather absurdi-
ties of his favourite study. The following are mentioned
as the chief of these publications. 1. " Atalanta fugiens,"
1618, 4to, the most rare and curious of his works. 2.
u Septimana philosophica," 1620, 4to. In both these
works he has given abundance of his reveries. 3. " Si-
lentium post clamores, seu tractatus Revelationum fratrum
rose® Crucis," 1617, 8vo. 4* " De fraternitate rosea&
Crucis," 1618, 8vo. 5. " Jocus severus," 1617, 4to.
6. " De rosea C nice," 1618, 4to. 7. " Apologeticus re*<
velationum fratrum rosea? Crucis,*' 1617, 8vo. 8. "Canti-
lenee intellectuales," Rome, 1624. 9. " Museum Chy-
micum," 1708, 4to. 10. " De Chrculo physico-quadrato,"
1616, 4to.s
MAIGNAN (Emanuel), a religious minim, and one of
the greatest philosophers of his age, was born at Toulouse,
of an ancient and noble family, July 17, 1601. While he
was a child, he discovered an inclination to letters and the
sciences, and nothing is said to have had so great an effect
i Guillet Hist, de Mahomet II,— Universal Hist,— -Gibbon, * Diet. Hist, .
M A I G N A N 130
in quieting his infant clamours, as putting some tittle book
into his hands. He went through his course in the college
of Jesuits, and acquitted himself with great diligence in
every part of scholarship, both with respect to literary and
religious exercises. He was determined to a religious life,
by a check given to his vanity when he was learning rhe-
toric. He had written a poem, in order to dispute the
prize of eloquence, and believed the victory was unjustly
adjudged to another. This made him resolve to ask the
minim's habit, and having acquitted himself satisfactorily
in the trials of hi3 probation-time, he was received upon
his taking the vow in 1619, when he was eighteen. He
went through his course of philosophy under a professor
who was very much attached to the doctrine of Aristotle ;
and he omitted no opportunity of disputing loudly against
all the parts of that philosopher's scheme, which be sus-
pected of heterodoxy. His preceptor considered this as a
good presage ; and in a short time discovered, to his great
astonishment, that his pupil was very well versed in ma-
thematics, without having had the help of a teacher. In
this, like Pascal, he had been his own master ; but what
he says of himself upon this point must be understood with
some limitation ; namely, that " in his leisure hours of one
year from the duties of the choir and school, he discovered
of himself as many geometrical theorems and problems, as
were to be found in the first six books of Euclid's Ele-
ments."
However freely he examined the opinions of philosophy,
instead of shewing himself incredulous in matters of di-
vinity, he implicitly submitted to all the tenets of bis1
church. But, as the arguments of the Peripatetics were
commonly applied to illustrate and confirm those tenets,
where he did not upon examination find them well-
grounded, he made no scruple to prefer the assistance of
Plato to that of Aristotle. His reputation was so great,
that it spread beyond the Alps and Pyrenees ; and the ge-
neral of the minims ordered him to Rome, in 1636, to fill
a professor's chair. His capacity in mathematical disco-
veries and physical experiments soon became known ;
especially from a dispute which arose between him and
father Kircher, about the invention of a catoptrical work*
In 1648 his book " De perspectiva horaria" was printed
at Rome, at the expence of cardinal Spada, to whom it
was dedicated, and greatly esteemed by all the curious.
140 M A I G N A N.
Erom 'Borne he returned to Toulouse, in 1650, and was so
well received by bis countrymen, that they created him
provincial tbe same year ; though he was greatly averse to
having bis studies interrupted by the cares of any office,
and he even refused an invitation from the king in 1660,
to settle in Paris, as it was his only wish to pass the re-
mainder of his days in the obscurity of the cloister, where
he bad put on the habit of the order. Before this, in 1652,
he published bis " Course of Philosophy," at Toulouse,
in 4 vols. 8vo, in which work, if he did not invent the ex-
planation of physics by the four elements, which some
have given to Empedocles, yet he restored it, as Gassen*-
dus did the doctrine of the atomists. He published a se-
cond edition of it in folio, 1673, and added two treatises
to it ; the one against tbe vortices of Des Cartes, the other
upon the speaking-trumpet invented by our countryman
sir Samuel Morland. He also formed a machine, which
shewed by its movements that Des Cartes's supposition
concerning the manner in which the universe was formed,
or might have been formed, and concerning the centri-
fugal force, was entirely without foundation.
Thus this great philosopher and divine passed a life of
tranquillity in writing books, making experiments, and
reading lectures. He was perpetually consulted by the
most eminent philosophers, and was obliged to carry on a
very extensive correspondence. Such was the activity of
his mind that he is said to have studied even in his sleep j
for his very dreams employed him in theorems, and he
was frequently awaked by the exquisite pleasure which he
felt upon the discovery of a demonstration. The excellence
of bis manners, and his unspotted virtues, rendered him
, qo less worthy of esteem than bis genius and learning. He
died at Toulouse Oct. 29, 1676, aged seventy-five. It is
said of him, that he composed with great ease, and with-
out any alterations at all. See a book entitled " De vita,
moribus, & scriptis R. patris Emanuelis Maignani Tolosa*
tis, ordinis Minimorum, philosophi atqiie mathematici prae-
stantissimi, elogium," written by F. Saguens, and printed
at Toulouse in 1697, a work in which are some curiotis
facts, not, however, unmixed with declamatory pueri-
lities. '
, i life as abofc— Niceron, yoK XXXL— -0en. Dict.-~A$Qreri.
M A I L L A. 141
MAILLA (Josbph-Anns-Marie de Moyrjac de), a
learned Jesuit, was liorn in the French province of Bogey
on the borders of Savoy, in 1§70.. From the age of twen*
ty -eight be had made himself - so completely master of
Chinese learning of all kinds, that he was considered as a
prodigy, and in 1703, was sent as a missionary into that
country, where he was highly esteemed by the emperor
Kam-Hi, who died in 1722. By that prince he was em*
ployed, with other missionaries, to construct a chart of
China, and Chinese Tartary, which was engraved in
France in 1732. He made also some separate maps of par-
ticular provinces in that vast empire, and the emperor was
so pleased with these performances, that he fixed the au-
thor at bis court. Maiila likewise translated the " Great
Annals" of China into French, and transmitted his manu-
script to France in 1737, comprising the complete history
of tbe Chinese empire. Tbe first volumes appeared id
1777, under the care of the abb£ Grosier, and tbe whole
was completed by him in 1785, making thirteen volumes
4to. Tbe style of tbe original is heavy, and contains many
long and tedious harangues, whicb the editor has sup*
pressed : it gives many lively and characteristic traits of
men and manners. Maiila died at Pekin June 28, 1748,
having lived forty -five years in China, and attained bis
seventy-ninth year. He was a man of a lively but placid
character, of an active and persevering spirit, whicb no
labours repressed. The late emperor Kien Long paid the
expences of his funeral, which was attended by a proces-
sion of seven hundred persons. 1
MAILLARD (Oliver), a famous preacher, and a cor-
delier, was a native of Paris, where he rose to the dignity
of doctor in divinity. He was entrusted with honourable
employments by Innocent VIII. and Charles V III, of France,
by Ferdinand of Arragon, &c. and is said to have served
the latter prince, even at the expence of his master. He
died at Toulouse June 13, 1502. His sermons, whioh re-
mained in manuscript, are full of irreverent familiarities,
and in tbe coarsest style of his times. His Latin sermons
were printed at Paris, in seven parts, forming three vo-
lumes inSvo; tbe publication commenced in 1711, and
was continued to 1730. In one of bis sermons for Lent,
the words hem ! hem ! are written in the margin to n>ark
i T)ict. Hist.
142 M A I L L A R D.
the places«where, according to the custom of those cfayfl*
the preacher was to stop to cough/ Niceron has giveri
some amusing extracts fsom others of them, which, amidst
' all their quatntnesses, 9how him to have been a zealous re-
prover of the vices of the times, and never to have spared
persons of rank, especially profligate churchmen. He even
took liberties with Louis XI. of France to his face, and
when one of the courtiers told him that the king had
threatened to throw him into the river, " The king is my
master," said our hardy priest, " but you may tell him,
that I shall get sooner to heaven by water, than he will
with his post-horses." Louis XI. was the first who estab-
lished posting on the roads of France, and when this bon
mot was repeated to him, he was wise enough to allow
Maillard to preach what he would and where he would.
The bon mot, by the way, appears id the " Navis Stulti-
fera," by Jodocus Badius, and was probably a current jest
among the wits of the time. 1
MAILLEBOIS (John-Baptist Demarets, marquis of),
was the son of Nicolas Desmarets, controller-general of
the finances towards the end of Louis XIV.'s reign, and
was born in 1682. He first signalized himself in the- war
on the Spanish succession, and completed his reputation
by two brilliant campaigns in Italy. He was afterwards
sent against Corsica, which he reduced, but it threw off
subjection immediately on his departure. This expedition
obtained him the staff of mareschal of France. In the war
of 1741, he gained new laurels in Germany and Italy: but
in 1746, he was defeated by the famous count Brown, in
the battle of Placentia. He died in February 1762, in
the 80th year of his age. The account of his campaigns
in Italy was published in 1775, in three volumes quarto,
accompanied with a volume of maps. The author of this
work was the marquis of Pezay, who executed it with great
judgment.9
MAILLET (Benedict de), a French theorist of some
note, was born in 1659, of a noble family in Lorraine. At
the age of thirty-three he was appointed consul-general of
Egypt, and held that situation with great credit for six-
teen years. Having strenuously supported the interests of
his sovereign, he was at length rewarded by being removed
to Leghorn, which was esteemed the chief of the French
i Niceroq, vol. XXIIJ.— Bib!. Croix du Maine— Moreri. * Diet. Hist
t
M A I L L E T. 14*3
consulships. In 1715 he was employed to visit and inspect
the other consulships of Barbary and the Levant, and ful-
filled this commission so much to the satisfaction of his
court, that he obtained leave to retire, with a considerable
pension, to Marseilles, where be died in 1738, at the age
of seventy-nine. De Maillot did not publish anything
himself, but left behind him papers and memoirs, from
which some publications were formed. The first of these
was published in 8vo, by the abb6 Mascrier, under the
feigned name of Telliamed, which is De Maillet reversed.
The subject is the origin of our globe, and the editor has
thrown the sentiments of his author into the form of dia-
logues between an Indian philosopher and a French mis-
sionary. The philosopher maintained that all the land of
this earth, and its vegetable and animal inhabitants, rose
from the bosom of the sea, on the successive contrac-
tions of the waters : that men had originally been tritons
with tails ; and that they, as well as other animals, had
lost their marine, and acquired terrestrial forms }>y their
agitations when left on dry ground. This extravagance
had its day in France. The same editor also drew from
the papers of this author, a description of Egypt, published
in 1743, in 4 to, and afterwards in two volumes 12mo. '
MAIMBOURG (Louis), a man celebrated in the re*
public of letters, was born at Nancy, in Lorrain, in 1610.
He was very* well descended, and his parents were people
of considerable rank and fortune. He was admitted into
the society of the Jesuits in 1626 ; but obliged afterwards
to quit it by the order of pope Innocent XI. in 1682, for
having asserted too boldly the authority of the Gallican
church against the court of Rome. Louis XIV. however,
made him sufficient amends for this disgrace by settling
on him a very honourable pension, with which he retired
into the abbey of St. Victor at Paris. Here he died in
1686, after having made a will by which it appears that
he was extremely dissatisfied with the Jesuits. Bayle has
given, the substance of it, as far as relates to them, and
calls it a kind of a declaration of wan It sets forth, " That
a gentleman of Nancy, in Lorrain, had been educated and
settled in France from twelve years of age, and by that
means was become a very faithful and loyal subject of that
1 Diet. Hist. — Journal du Nil, par P. Chateauneuf, Hamburgh, 1799. — Major
Kennel's Geography of Herodotus.— Diet; Hist.
144 HAIMBO U-R'6.
ting; that he was no* almost seventy-six years *1d; that
bis father and mother being very rich had founded ft col*
lege for the Jesuits at Nancy, fifty years ago ; and that for ten
years before this foundation they had supplied those fathers
with every thing they wanted. He declares, that they did
all this in consideration of bis being admitted into that
order; and yet that now he was forcibly turned out of it.
He wills, therefore, by this testament, that all the lands,
possessions, &c. which the Jesuits received of his father
and mother, do devolve, at his decease, to the Carthusian
monastery near Nancy ; affirming, that his parents would
never have conferred such large donations upon them,
but upon condition, that they would not banish their son
from the society, after they had once admitted him ; and
that, therefore, since these conditions had been violated
on the part of the Jesuits, the possessions of his family
ought to return to him."
Maimbourg had a great reputation as a preacher, and
published' two volumes of sermons. But what have made
him most known were the several histories he published.
He wrote the History of Arianism, of the Iconoclasts, of
the Croisades, of the Schism of the West, of the Schism
of the Greeks, of the Decay of the Empire, of the League,
of Lutheranism, of Calvinism, the Pontificate of St. Leo;
and he was composing the " History of the Schism of Eng-
land" when he died. These histories form 14 vols. 4to,
or 26 in 12mo. . Protestant authors have charged him with
insincerity, have convicted him of great errors and misre-
presentations, in their refutations of his " History of Lu-
theranism and Calvinism.1' The Jansenists criticized his
*' History of Arianism,'* and that of the u Iconoclasts,"
leaving all the rest untouched. The " History of Cal*
vinism," which he published in 1681, stirred up a violent
war against him ; the operations whereof he left entirely
to his enemies, without ever troubling himself in the least
about it, or acting either offensively or defensively. The
abb6 L' Avocat says that his historical works were admired at
first, on account of a kind pf romantic style which prevails
in them ; but this false taste did not continue long, and
the greatest part of them were exploded while their author
was yet living. It is asserted that P. Maimbourg never
took up his pen till he had heated his imagination by wine,
nor ever attempted to describe a battle till he had drank
two bottles; making use of this precaution, as he said
M A I M B O U R a 145
jestingly, lest the horrors of the combat should enfeeble
his sty U*. The same biographer adds, that Theodore Maim-
bourg, his cousin, turned Calvinigt, then went back to the
.catholic church, then changed afresh to " what is called
the reformed religion," and died a Socinian at London*
abeut 1693. This last left an answer to <c M. BoSsuet'fr
Exposition of the Catholic Faith ;" and other works. r
.MAIMONIDES (Moses), or Moses the son of Maimon,
a eel ebrated rabbi, called by the Jews " The eagle of the
doctors," was born of an illustrious family at Cordova in
Spain, 1 13 U He is commonly named Moses Egyptius,
because he retired early, as it is supposed, into Egypt,
where be spent his whole life in quality of physician to the
Soldan. As soon as he arrived there he opened a school,
which was presently filled with pupils from all parts, espe-
cially from Alexandria and Damascus ; who did such cre-
dit to t'heir master by the progress they made under him,
that they spread his name throughout the world. Maimo-
nides was, indeed, according to all accounts of him, a jmost
uncommon and extraordinary man, skilled in all lan-
guages, and versed in all arts and sciences. As to lan-
guages, the Hebrew and Arabic were the first he acquired,
and what he understood in the most perfect manner ; but
perceiving that the knowledge of these would distinguish
him only among his own people, the Jews, he applied him-
self also to the Chaldee, Turkish, &c. &c. of all which he
became a master in a very few years. It is probable also,
that he was not ignorant of the Greek, since in his writings
he . often quotes Aristotle, Plato, Galen, Themistius, and
others; unless we can suppose him to have quoted those
.authors from Hebrew and Arabic versions, for which, how-
ever, as far as we can find, there is no sufficient reason.
.. He was famous for arts as well as language. In all
IttfftnGhgs of philosophy, particularly mathematics, he was
extremely well skilled ; and his experience in the art of
healing was so very great, that as we have already intimated,
he was called to be physician in ordinary to the king*
,Tbet*e is a letter of his extant, to rabbi Samuel Aben
Tybbon, in which he has described the nature of this
o£ce, and related also what vast incumbrances and labours
the pfactice of physic brought upon him. Of this we shall
give a short extract, because nothing can convey a clearer
* Gen. Diet,— Morwri.T-L'AYOcat'i Diet. HUt
V<H-XXI. L
146 M A I M O N I D E S,
or a juster idea of the man, and of the esteem and venera-
tion in which he was held in Egypt. Tybbon had con-
sulted him by a letter upon some difficult points, and bad
told him in the conclusion of it, that as soon as he could
find leisure he would wait upon him in person, that they
.might canvas them more fully in the freedom of conversa-
tion. Maimonides replied, that he should be extremely
glad to see him, and that nothing could give him higher
pleasure than the thoughts of conversing with him ; but
yet. that he must frankly confess to him that he durst not
encourage him to undertake so long a voyage, or to think
of visiting him with any such views. " 1 am," says he,
"so perpetually engaged, that it will be impossible for you
to reap any advantage from me, or even to obtain a single
hour's private conversation with me in any part of the
four-and-twenty. I live in Egypt, the king in Alkaira ;
which places lie two sabbath-days journey asunder. My
common attendance upon the king is once every morning ;
but when his majesty, his concubines, or any of the royal
family, are the least indisposed, I am not suffered to stir a
foot from them; so that my whole time, you see, is
almost spent at court. In short, I go to Alkaira every
morning early, and, if all be well there, return home
about noon ; where, however, I no sooner arrive, than I
.find my house surrounded with many different sorts of
people, Jews and Gentiles, rich men and poor, magistrates
and mechanics, friends as well as enemies, who have all
been waiting impatiently for me. As I am generally half
famished upon my return from Alkaira, I prevail with this ~
multitude, as well as I can, to suffer me to regale myself .
with a bit of dinner ; and as soon as I have done, attend
this crowd of patients, with whom, what with examining
into their particular maladies, and what with prescribing
for them, I am often detained till it is night, and am al-
ways so fatigued at last, that I can scarcely speak, or
even keep myself awake. And this is my constant way
of life," &c.
But however eminent Maimonides was as a physician,
he was not Less so as a divine. The Jews have this saying
of him, " A Mose ad Mosen non surrexit sicut Moses ;,f
by which they would insinuate, that of all their nation
none, ever so nearly approached to the wisdom and learn-
ing of their great founder and lawgiver, as Moses, the son
of Maimon. He' was, says Isaac Casaubon, " a man of
M A I M O N I D E S, 147
great parts and sound learning ; of whom, I think, we
may truly say, as Pliny said of old of Diodorus Siculus,
that he was the first of his tribe who ceased to be a trifler."
He was so far from paying an undue regard to absurd
fables and traditions, as his nation had always been accus-
tomed to do, that he dissuaded others from it in the most
express terms. " Take heed,'9 says he, " and do not waste
your time in attempting to draw sense or meaning out of
that which has no meaning in it; I myself have spent a
great deal of time fn commenting upon, and explaining the
Gemara, from which I have reaped nothing but my labour
for my pains."
The works of Maimonides are very numerous. Some of
them were written in Arabic originally, but are now extant
in Hebrew translations only. The most considerable are
his Jad, which is likewise called " Mischne Terah," his
"More Nevochim," and his "Peruschim, or Commen-
taries upon the Misna." His " Commentaries upon the
Misna" he began at the age of three-and-twenty, and
finished in Egypt, when he was about thirty. They wer6
translated from the Arabic by rabbi Samuel Aben Tybbon.
His " Jad" was published about twelve years after, written
in Hebrew, in a very plain and easy style. This has always
been esteemed a great and useful work, being a complete
code, or pandect of Jewish law, digested into a clear and
regular form, and illustrated throughout with an intel-
ligible commentary of his own. " Those," says Collier,
" that desire to learn the doctrine and the canon law con-
tained in the Talmud, may read Maimonides's compendium
of it in good Hebrew, in his book entitled Jad ; wherein
they will find a great part of the fables and impertinences
in the Talmud entirely discarded." But of all his produc-
tions, the " More Nevochim" has been thought the most
important, and valued the most, not only by others, but
also by himself. This was written by him in Arabic, when
he was about fifty years old ; and afterwards translated into
Hebrew, under his own inspection, by rabbi Samuel Aben
Tybbon. The design of it was to explain the meaning of
several difficult and obscure words, phrases, metaphors,
parables, allegories, &c. in scripture ; which, when inter-
preted literally, seemed to have no meaning at all, or at
least a very absurd and irrational one. Hence the work,
as.Buxtorf says, took its title of " More Nevochim," that
is, " l>octor perplexorum ;" as being written for the use
L 2
14S MAIMONIDES.
and benefit of those who were in doubt whether they
should interpret such passages according to the letter, or
rather figuratively and metaphorically. It was asserted by
many at that time, but very rashly, that the Mosaic rites
and statutes had no foundation in reason, but were the
effects of mere will,, and ordained by God upon a principle
purely arbitrary. Against these Maimonides argues, shews
the dispensation in general to be instituted with a wisdom
worthy of its divine author, and explains the causes and
reasons of each particular branch of it. This procedure,
however, gave offence to many of the Jews ; those espe-
cially who had long been attached to the fables of the
Talmud. They could not conceive that the revelations of
God were to be explained upon the principles of reason; but
thought that every institution must cease to be divine the
moment it was discovered to have any thing in it rational.
Hence, when the " More Nevocbim" was translated into
Hebrew, and dispersed among the Jews of every country,
great outcries were raised, and great disturbances occa-
sioned about it. They reputed the author to be a heretic
of the worst, kind, one who had contaminated the religion
of the Bible, or rather the religion of the Talmud, with
the vile allay of human reason ; and would gladly have
burnt both him and his book. In the mean time, the wiser
part of both Jews and Christians have always considered
the work in a very different light, as formed upon a most
excellent and noble plan, and calculated in the best man*
ner to procure the revereuce due to the Bible, by shewing
the dispensation it sets forth to be perfectly conformable
to all our notions of the greatest wisdom, justice, and
goodness : for, as the learned Spencer, who has pursued
the same plan, and executed it happily, observes very
truly, " nothing contributes more to make men atheists,
and unbelievers of the Bible, than their considering th$
rites and ceremonies of the law as the effects only of ca-
price and arbitrary humour in the Deity : yet thus they will
always be apt to consider them while they remain iguorant
of th<e causes and reasons of their institution."
Besides these three works of Maimonides, a great many
pieces are said to have been written by him upon theology,
philosophy, logic, medicine, &c. and in various languages,
as Arabic, Chaldee, and Greek. It may easily indeed bp
conceived, that a man of his uncommon abilities might be
^ qualified to write upon almost every subject, as there was
MAIM0NIDE8. 149
hardly any thing to be found in the republic of letters,
which he had not read. He had turned over not only all
the Hebrew, but all the Arabian, Turkish, Greek, Egyp-
tian, and Taltnudic writers, as appears by the use he has
made of them in his works. He tells us in more places
than one, that he had perused with great attention, all the
ancient authors updn the rise and progress of idolatry,
with a view of explaining the reasons of those rites and or-
dinances in the law, which were instituted to abolish it :
and, in the preface to his " Commentary upon the Misna,"
he expressly says, that there was no book written in any lan-
guage, upon the subject of philosophy, which he had not
read entirely through.
This wonderful rabbi died in Egypt, in 1204, when he
was seventy years of age, and was buried with his nation
in the land of Upper Galilee. The Jews and Egyptians
bewailed his death for three whole days, and called the
year in which he died " Lamentum lamentabile," as the
•highest honour they could confer upon his name., See the
preface of John Buxtorf the son, to his Latin translation
of the " More Nevochim," whence this account of the
author is chiefly taken.1
MAINE DU. See CROIX.
*
MAINTENON . (Madam de), a very extraordinary
French lady, who, from a low condition and many misfor-
tunes, was raised at last to be the wife of Louis XIV. was
descended from the ancient family of d'Aubign£ ; her pro-
per name being Frances d'Artbigng. M. d'Aubigue, her
grandfather, was born in 1550, and died in 1630, in his
80th year. He was a man of great merit, a man also of
rank, a leading man among the Protestants in France, and
much courted to go over to the opposite party. When he
perceived that there was no safety for him any. longer in
his own country, be fled for refuge to Geneva, about 1619.
The magistrates, and the clergy there, received him with
great marks of honour and distinction ; and he passed the
remainder of his life among them in great esteem. Meze-
ray says, that " he was a man of great courage and bold* ~
m»ss, of a ready wit, and of a fine taste in polite learning,
as well as of good experience in matters of wan"
The son of this d'Aubign£ was the father of madam de
Maintenon ; her mother the daughter of Feter de Cardillac,
) Preface as above.-*Wolfii Bibl. Hebrsea.— Saxii Onomasticop.
150 MAINTENON.
lord of Lane; and of Louisa de Montalembert They
were married at Bourdeaux, Dec. 27, 1627, not without
some apprehensions, it is said, on the part of the lady,
upon her being united, we know not how, to a man of a
most infamous character, and who had actually murdered
his first wife : for such was Constance d'Aubign£. Going
to Paris soon after his marriage, he was for some very gross
offence cast into prison ; upon which madam d'Aubign£
followed to solicit his pardon ; but in vain: cardinal Riche-
lieu was indexible, and told her, that " to take such a
husband from her, was to do her a friendly office*" Ma-
dam d'Aubign6, more attached to her husband in propor-
tion as he became more miserable, obtained leave to shut
herself up in prison with him. Here she had two sons, and
becoming pregnant a third time, obtained leave from court
to have her husband removed to the prison of Niort, that
they might be nearer the assistance which they derived
from their relations.
In this prison madam de Maintenon was born, Nov. 27,
1635; from which miserable situation, however, she was
taken a few days after by madafri Villette, her aunt by her
father's side, who, out of compassion to the child, gave
her to the care of her daughter's nurse, with whom she
was bred for some time as a foster-sister. Madam Villette
also sent the prisoners several necessaries, of which they
were in extreme waht. Madam d'Aubign6 at length ob-
tained her husband's enlargement ; but it was upon con*
dition that he should turn Roman Catholic. D'Aubigne*
promised all ; but, forgetting his promises, and fearing to
be involved again in trouble, he was determined to seek
his fortune abroad. Accordingly in 1639, he embarked
for America with his wife and family ; and arriving safely
there, settled in Martinico, where he acquired considera-
ble plantations. Madam d'Aubigng returned in a little
time with her children to France, to carry on some law-
suits, and recover some debts; but madam Villette per-
suading her to desist from her pretensions, she returned to
America, where she found her husband ruined by gaming.
In 1646, he died, when madam d'Aubigne* was left, in the
utmost distress, to support herself, and manage the edu-
cation of her children, as she could. She returned to
France, leaving her debts unpaid, and her daughter as a
pledge in the hands of one of her principal creditors ; who,
however, soon sent her into France after her mother,
MAINTENON, 151
Here neglected by her mother, who was indeed little able
'to support her, she fpll into the hands of madam Villette
at Poictou, who received her with great marks of affection ;
ijmd told her, that she should be welcome, if she thought
fit, to live with her, where at least she should never be
reduced to want a subsistence. The niece accepted the
offer which her aunt made her, and studied to render her-
self necessary and agreeable to a person, upon whom she
saw she must depend for every thing. She particularly
laboured to insinuate herself into the. affections of her cou-
sin, with whom she had one common nurse : and to omit
nothing that might please them, she expressed a great de-
sire to he instructed in the religion of her ancestors. She
was impatient to have some conversation with ministers,
and to frequent their sermons, and in a short time became
firmly attached to the Protestant religion. In the mean
time madam de Neuillant, a relation by her mother's side,
and a Roman catholic, had been busy in advertising some
considerable persons of the danger she was in, as to her
salvation ;.,and bad solicited an order, which was granted,
from the court, to take her out of the hands of madam
Villette, and to have her instructed in the Roman Catholic
religion. . She accordingly took her to herself, and made
a convert of her : which however was not effected without
many threats, artifices, and hardships, which drove her at
length to a compliance with the solicitations of madam de
Neuillant.
In 1651, she was married .to the abbe" Scarron. Madam
de Neuillant, being obliged to go to Paris, took her along
with her; and there becoming known to this old famous
buffoon, who admired her for her wit, she preferred mar-
rying him to the dependent state she was in. Scarron was
of an ancient and distinguished family, but deformed, in-
firm, and in no very advantageous circumstances; as he
subsisted only on a pension, which was allowed him by the
court, in consideration of his wit and parts. She lived
with him, however, many years ; and Voltaire says that this
part of her life was undoubtedly the happiest. Her beauty,
but still more her wit, for she was never reckoned a complete
beauty, distinguished her greatly ; and her conversation
was eagerly sought by all the best company in Paris. Upon
the death of her husband, which happened in 1660, she
was reduced to the same indigent condition she was in be-
' fore her marriage ; but her friends did all they could to
152 MAINTENON.
prevail upon the court to continue to her the pension which
Scarron had enjoyed : in order to which, petitions were
frequently given in, beginning always with, "The widow
Scarron most humbly prays your majesty," &c. For a
time all these petitions signified nothing ; and the king was
so weary of them, that he has been heard to say, " Must
I always be pestered with the widow Scarron ?" At
length, madam de Montespan, his mistress, undertook to
present one to him : " How V7 cried the king, " the
widow Scarron again ! Shall 1 never hear of any thing
else ?" *' Indeed, Sire," replied madam de Montespan,
" you ought to have ceased hearing of it long ago." The
pension was granted, and madam Scarron went to thank
madam de Montespan, who was so struck with the charms
of her conversation, that she presented her to the king,
who is reported to have said : " Madam, I have made you
wait a long time; but your* friends are so numerous, that
I was desirous of your owing this to me alone." Voltaire
tells us,, he had this fact from cardinal Fleury, who took a
pleasure in often repeating it, because he said Louis XIV.
had made him the same compliment when he gave him the
bishopric of Frejus.
Some time after, madam de Montespan, wishing to
conceal the birth of the children she had by the king, cast
her eyes on madam Scarron, as the mo&t likely person to
keep the secret, and educate them properly ; and madam
Scarron undertook this charge by his majesty's order, and
became their gov ernante. She then led a hard, unplea-
sant, and retired life, with only her pension of 2000 livres,
and had the mortification of knowing that she was disagree-*
able to the king. His majesty had indeed a degree of
dislike to her : he looked upon her as a wit ; and though
he possessed much wit himself, he could not bear those
who made a display of it, He never mentioned her to
madam de Montespan, but by the name of " your bel-
esprit." When the children grew older, they were sent
for to court, which occasioned the king to converse some-*
times with. madam Scarron, in whom he found so much
sense, sweetness, and elegance of manners, that he not
only lost by degrees his dislike to her, but gave her a par*
tic qiar proof of his esteem: looking over the state of the
pensions, and seeing " two thousand francs for madam
Scarron," he erased the sum, and wrote **two thousand
prQWUs/' .The young duke pf Maine also contributed not
MAIKTENON. 153
a little to remove his majesty's prejudices. The king fre-
quently played with him, and being much pleased with the
sense that appeared even in his eyes, and with the manner
in which he answered his questions, said to him one day,
" You are very wise ;" " I may well be so," replied the
child, " for I have a governess who is wisdom itself/*
" Go," said his majesty, " go, tell her you bring her a
hundred thousand franks for your sugar plumbs." Madam
Searron attended this young prince sometime after to the
waters of Barege, from whence she wrote to the king him-
self, to inform him of all that passed. He was much
pleased with her letters, and said, " I had no idea that a
bel-esprit could write so well." This circumstance pro-
bably gave rise to the report that Louis XIV. was first cap-
tivated by a letter she wrote in madam de Montespan's
name; but it is a mere story. Madam de Montespau
wrote at least as good letters as madam Scarrort, and even
as madam de Sevign6.
In 1679, the king bought her the lands of Main tenon,
worth 250,000 iivres, which was the only estate she ever
had, though afterwards in a height of favour that afforded
her the means of purchasing immense property. Here she
had a magnificent castle, in a most beautiful country, not
more than fourteen leagues from Paris, and ten from Ver-
sailles. The king, seeing her extremely pleased with the
acquisition of her estate, called her publicly madam de
Mam tenon ; which change of name was of greater use to
her than she heroelf could have foreseen. She could not
well be raised to the rank in which she was- afterwards seen,
with the name of Scarron, which must always have been
accompanied with a mean and burlesque ideai * A woman,
whose very name was a jest, must have detracted from the
respect and veneration which was paid to the great and
pompous Louis ; cior could ail the reserve and dignity of
the widow efface dhe impression made by the remembrance
of her buffoonish husband. It was necessery, therefore,
that madam de Maintenon should obliterate madam
Scarron.
In the mean tint e, her elevation was to ber only a retreat.
Shut up in her apartment, which was on the same floor
with the king's, st) e confined herself to the society of two
or three ladies, as retired as herself; and even these she
saw but seldom. The king came to her apartment every
(Jay after dinner, \ >efore and after supper, and continued
154 maintenon;
there till midnight. Here he did business with his mini-
sters, while madam de Maintenon employed herself in
reading or needle-work, never shewing any eagerness to
talk of state affairs, often seeming wholly ignorant of them,
and carefully avoiding whatever had the least appearance
of cabal and intrigue. She studied more to please him
who governed, than to govern ; and preserved her credit,
by employing it with the utmost circumspection. She did
not make use of her power,; to give the greatest dignities
and employments among her own relations. Her brother
count d'Aubign6, a lieutenant-general of long standing,
was not even made a marshal of France ; a blue ribbon,
and some appropriations in the farms of the revenue, were
all his fortune : which made him once say to the marshal
de Vivone, the brother of madam de Montespan, that
" he had received the staff of marshal in ready money." It
was rather high fortune for the daughter of this count, to
marry the duke de Noailles, than an advantage to the
duke. Two more nieces of madam de Maintenon, the
one married to the marquis de Caylus, the other to the
marquis de Villette, had scarcely any thing. A moderate
pension, which Louis XIV. gave to madam de Caylus,
was almost all her fortune ; and madam de Villette had
nothing but expectations. This lady, who was afterwards
married to the celebrated lord Bolingbroke, often re-
proached her aunt for doing so little for her family ; and
once told her in some anger, that " she took a pleasure in
ber moderation, and in seeing her family the victim of it."
This Voltaire relates as a fact, which he bad from M. de
Villette herself. It is certain, that M. de Maintenon sub-
mitted every thing- to her fears of doing what might be
contrary to the king's sentiments. She did not even dare
to support her relation the cardinal de Noailles, against
father le Tellier. She bad a great friendship for the poet
Racine, yet did not venture to protect him against a slight
resentment of the king's. One day, moved with the elo-
quence with which he had described to ber the people's
miseries in 1698, she engaged him to draw up a. memorial,
which might at once shew the evil and the remedy. The
king read it ; and, upon his expressing some displeasure at
it, she had the weakness to tell the author, and not the
courage to defend him. Racine, still weaker, says Vol-
taire, was so hurt, that it was supposed tx> have occasioned
bis death. The same natural disposition, which made, her
M A I N T E N O N. 155
incapable of conferring benefits, made her also incapable
of doing injuries. When the minister Louvois threw him-
self at the feet of Louis XIV. to hinder his marriage with
the widow Scarron, she not only forgave him, but fre-
quently pacified the king, whom the rough temper of this
minister as frequently angered.
About the end of 168,5, Louis married madam de Main-
tenon ; and certainly acquired an agreeable and submissive
companion. He was then in his forty-eighth year, she in
her fiftieth. The only public distinction which made her
sensible of her secret elevation (for nothing could be con-
ducted more secretly then, or kept a greater secret after-
wards, than this marriage) was, that at mass she sat in one
of the two little galleries, or gilt doors, which appeared
only to be designed for the king and. queen : besides this,
she had not any exterior appearance of grandeur. That
piety and devotion, with which she had inspired the king,
and which she had applied very successfully to make her-
self a wife, instead of a mistress, became by degrees a
settled disposition of mind, which age and affliction con-
firmed. She had already, with the king and the whole
court, given herself the merit of a foundress, by assent-*
bling at Noisy a great number of women of quality ; and
(he king had already destined the revenues of tne abbey of
St. Denis, for the maintenance of this rising community.
St. Cyr was built at the end of the park at Versailles, in
1686. She then gave the form to this establishment ; anfl,
together with Desmarets, bishop of Cbartres, made the
rules, and was herself superior of the convent. Thither
she often went to pass away some hours ; and, as we learn
from herself, melancholy determined her to this employ-
ment. " Why cannot I," says she in a letter to madam
de la Maisonfort, " why cannot I give you my experience ?
Why cannot I make you sensible of that uneasiness, which
wears out the great, and of the difficulties they labour
under to employ their time ? Do not you see that I am
dying with melancholy, in a height of fortune, which once
my imagination could scarcely have conceived ? I have'
been young and beautiful, have had a relish for pleasures,
and have been the universal object of love. In a more
advanced age, 1 have spent my time in intellectual amuse-
ments. I have at last risen to favour; but I protest to
you, my dear girl$ that every one of these conditions
leaves in the mind a dismal vacuity." If any thing, says
156 M A I N T E N O N.
Voltaire, could shew the vanity of ambition, it would cer-
tainly be this letter. She could have no other uneasiness
than the uniformity of her manner of living with a great
king ; and this made her say once to the count d'Aubign6,
her brother, " I can hold it no louger ; I wish I was dead.**
The court grew now every day less gaj' and more serious,
after the king began to live a retired life with madam de
Maintenon. It was the convent of St. Cyr which revived
the taste for works of geniusi Madam de Maintenon in-
treated Racine, who had renounced the theatre for Jan-
senism and the court, to compose a tragedy, and to take
the subject from the Bible. Racine composed "Esther :**
and this piece having been first represented at th<* u~
of St. Cyr, was afterwards acted several times at V
before the king, in the winter of 1689. At the c
the king, which happened Sept. 2, 1715, madam d
tenon retired wholly to St. Cyr, where she spent
nfainder of her days in acts of devotion. What .
surprising is, that Louis XIV. made no certain p
for her, but only recommended her to the duke of (
She would accept of no m.ore than an annual pei
80,000 livres; and this was punctually paid her '
death, which happened the 15th of April, 1719.
la Beaumeile published in 1755, " M. de Maintenor
ters," 9 vols. 12mb; and " Memoirs" for her 1
&c. the whole reprinted in 12 vols, small 12mo.
u Letters'* are curious and interesting, but there i
veral trifling ones among them. The " Memoirs,'
contain some remarkable anecdotes, are not alway:
depended on as to facts, and are frequently censura
indelicacy.1
MAJOR, or MAIR (John), a scholastic diviue ai
torian, was born, not at Haddington, as is usual]
but at Gleghorn, a village near North Berwick, in
From some passages in his writings, it appears that
sided for a time both at Oxford and at Cambridge
the former particularly, we learn from the dedica
one of his works to cardinal Wolsey, he resided, not
months, as Wood says, but a year. The cardinal,
he styles " your majesty," received him " after th
manner of Christian hospitality, and invited him
splendid salary to Oxford, where he had lately found
* Marerl.— Siecle de ^ouis XIV— -Pict, Hist
MAJOR. 15T
college, which Major did not accept, on account of the love
he bore to his mother university of Paris." It appears
that he went in 1493 to Paris, and studied in the college
of St. Barbe, under the famous John Boulac. Thence he
removed to the college of Montacute, where be began the
study of divinity, under the celebrated Standouk. In 1498
he was entered of the college of Navarre ; in 1505 he was
created D. D. returned to Scotland in 1519, and taught
theology for several years in the university of St: Andrew's.
At length, disgusted with the quarrels of his countrymen,
be returned to Paris, and resumed his lectures in the col-
lege of Montacute, where he had several pupils, afterwards
men of eminence. About 1530, he removed once more
land, was chosen professor of divinity at St. An-
and afterwards became provost It is usually sup-
that he died' in 1547, but it is certain that he was
1549; for in that year he subscribed (by proxy,
>unt of his great age) the national constitutions of
.rch of Scotland. He died soon after, probably in
vvhich must have been in his eighty-second year.
. says, that of all the divines who had written on the
f the Master of Sentences (Peter Lombard), Major
most learned and comprehensive. His History of
d is written with much commendable freedom ; but
barous style, and not always correct as to facts,
the instructor, but not, as some have said, the pa-
the famous George Buchanan. He also had the
ted John Knox as one of his pupils. Baker in a
e on the " Athenae," adds to the mention of this
hat " a man would hardly believe be had been
by him." Baker, however, was not sufficiently ac-
d. with Major's character to be able to solve this
Major, according to the very acute biographer of
Dr. M'Crie) had acquired a habit of thinking and
ing himself on Certain subjects, more liberal than
opted in his native country and other parts of Eu-
He had imbibed the sentiments concerning eccle-
l polity, maintained by John Gerson, Peter D'Ailly,
ers, who defended the decrees, of the council of
tee, and liberties of the Galiican church, against
ho asserted the incontrouiable authority of the so-
pontiff. He thought that a general council was
r to the pope, might judge, rebuke, restrain, and
eve. ;pose him from his dignity ; denied the temporal
158 MA J O R.
supremacy of the bishop of Rome, and his right to inau-
gurate or dethrone princes; maintained that ecclesiastical
censures and even papal excommunications had no force,
if pronounced on invalid or irrelevant grounds ; he held
that tithes were merely of human appointment, not divine
right; censured the avarice, ambition, and secular pomp
of the court of Rome and the episcopal order ; was no
warm friend of the regular clergy, and advised the reduc-
tion of monasteries and holidays. His opinions respecting
civil government were analogous to those which he held as
to ecclesiastical policy. He taught that the authority of
kings and princes was originally derived from the people ;
that the former are not superior to the latter, collectively
considered ; that if rulers become tyrannical, or employ
their power for the destruction of their subjects, they may
lawfully be controuled by them ; and proving incorrigible,
may be deposed by the community as the superior power ;
and that tyrants may be judicially proceeded against, even
to capital punishment. The affinity between these and
the political principles afterwards avowed by Knox, and
defended by the classic pen of Buchanan, is too striking to
require illustration. But although Major had ventured to
think for himself on these topics, in all other respects be
was completely subservient to the opinions of his age; and
with a mind deeply tinctured with superstition, defended
some of the absurdest tenets of popery by the most ridicu-
lous and puerile arguments.. We .cannot, therefore, greatly
blame Buchanan, who called him in ridicule, what he af-
fected t*> call himself in humility, "Joannes, solo cogno-
mine, Major." His works are, I. " Libri duo fallacia-
rum," Lugd. 1516, comprising his " Opera Logica^a."
2. " In quatuor sententiarum commentarius," Paris, 1516.
S. w Commentarius in physica Aristotelis," Paris, 1526.
4. " In primum et secundum sententiarum commentarii/*
Paris, J 5 10. 5. u Commentarius in tertium sententia-
rum," Paris, 1517. 6. " Literalis in Matthaeum expo-
sition" Paris, 1518. From these two last may be collected
Jiis sentiments on ecclesiastical polity, mentioned above.
7, " De historia gentis Scotorum, sen historia majoris
Britanniae," Paris, 1521, 4to. Of this a new edition was
printed at Edinburgh, 1740, 4to. 8. " Luculenta in 4
Evangelia expositiones," &c. Paris, 1529, folio. 9. "Pla-
cita theological* 10. " Catalogue episcoporum Lucio*
i
MAJORAGIUS. 159
nensium." He also translated Caxtoh's Chronicle into
Latin.1
MAJORAGIUS (Mark Antony), so named from a vil-
lage in the territory of Milan, where he was born in 1514,
applied himself to the study of belles lettres, and afterwards
taught them at Milan, with very great reputation. He
introduced into the schools of that place the mode of
writing declamations which had been practised by the an*
cients, and was found to be an useful method of exer-
cising the genius of young men. His success attracted
much envy, and his enemies are said to have instituted a
law-suit against him for taking the name of Marcus Anto-
nius Mdjorianus, instead of Antonius Maria, which was his
proper name. He founded his defence on the more clas-
sical sound of the name, and his plea was considered as
valid. He died in 1555, at the early age of forty-one.
Of his works are extant, 1. " Commentaries on the Rhe-
toric of Aristotle, on the Oratory of Cicero, and on Vir-
gil," all in folio. 2. Several Tracts, and among others,
" De senatu Romano/9 in 4to. " De risu Oratorio et
urbano." " De nominibus propriis veterum Romanorum*"
3. " A Collection of Latin Speeches," Leipsic, 1628, 8vo.
These works are all replete with learning.9
MAIRAN (Jqhn James D'Ortous de), a French phi-
losopher, whose works do credit to his country, was born
at Beziers, in 1678. He was early admitted into the aca-
demy of sciences, and the 'French academy; and in the
.former, in 1741, succeeded Fontenelle in the office of
perpetual secretary. This place he filled with great repu-
tation for three years, and displayed, like his predecessor,
the talent of placing the most abstruse questions in a clear
and intelligible light. He died at Paris, Feb. 20, 1771.
-His works are, L. " Dissertation sur les variations du Ba-
rom£tre," 1715, 12mo. 2. " Dissertation sur la cause de
la lumiere des Phosphgres, et des noctiluques," 1717, 1 2mo.
3. " Dissertation sur la Glace," 1719, 12mo. 4. " Lettre
a M. Pabbe Bignon, sur la nature des Vaisseaux," 1728,
;4to. 5. " Trait6 physique et historique de l*Aurore Bo-
reale,1'. 1733, 4to. 6. " Dissertation, sur les forces mo-
trices des corps," 1741, -12 mo. 7. " Lettre a Madame
du Chatelet, sur la question des forces vives," 1741, 12 mo*
1 Mackenzie's Scotch Writers.— Ath. Ox. vol. 1.— Dodd'sCh. Hist— M«Crie's
life of Knox,— Inrja'i Lift of Buchanan. » Geo. Diet.— Moqexk— Tiraboschi*
Uo M A 1 R A N.
8. " Eloges des Acad£miciens de l'aeademie des. sciences,
morts en 1741, 1743, and 1747," 12mo. In these com-
positions, without imitating Fonteneile, he is thought
nearly to equal him, in the talent of characterizing the
persons he describes, and appreciating their merits justly.
9. " Lettre au Pere Parent) in, contenanr diverses ques-
tions, sur la Chine," 12mo. This is a curious work, and
strongly displays the philosophical mind of the author.
10. Many memoirs inserted in the volumes of the academy
of sciences, and some other compositions of no great bulk.
Mairan was much admired in society as an intelligent,
agreeable, and lively companion. It is of him that ma-
dame Pompadour relates the following anecdote, which,
if we mistake not, has been attributed to Others : " His
house had by chance taken fire, which was just getting into
the second floor, where he was plodding calmly over his .
circles and triangles. He is summoned to fly without de-
lay : * Talk to my. wife,* says he, ' I meddle with none of
these matters ;' and sat down again contentedly to muse
on the moon, until he was forced out of the house." *
MAIRE (John le), an early French poet, was born at
Bavai, in Hainault, in 1473, and died, according to some
authors, in 1524, according to others, towards 1548. He
is the author of an allegorical poem entitled " Les trois
Comes de Cupidon et d'Atropos, dont le premier fut in-
vent6 par Seraphin, Poete Italien ; le 2« et le*3 de Maitre
Jean lfe Maire," Paris, 1525, 8vo. Several other poems
by him are extant, all indicating a lively imagination, wit,
and facility of writing, but with little correctness, taste,
or delicacy. Some of his productions are not even de-
cent. He wrote also, " Les Illustrations des Gaules,
et singularites de Troyes," 1512, folio. And a pane-
gyric on Margaret of. Austria, entitled " La Couronne
Marguaritique," printed at Lyons, in 1546, in which be
reports some curious traits of the wit and repartee of that
princess.8
MA I BET (John), a French poet of later times, was
born at Besan^on, in 1604, and was gentleman in waiting
to the duke of Montmorency, under whom he signalized
himself in two battles against the Hugonots. His patron
settled upon him a pension of 15,000 livres ; but, not con-
1 Diet. Hist Necrologie, toI. IV — Madame Pompadour's Lett****' \
9 Diet. Hist.— Morcrj.— Croix da Maine.
M A I R £ T» 161
tented with that, he complained heavily that the poets of
his time received praises and incense, like the deities of
antiquity, but nothing that could support life. He was
in truth a lover of good cheer, and would have been more
pleased with presents oft wine, or delicacies for. the table,
than crowns of laurel, or any unsubstantial honour. His
remonstrances were not ineffectual. He received many
presents from the duke de Longueville, and favours in
great number from cardinal Richelieu, the count of Sois-
$ons, and cardinal la Valette. He married in 1648, and
retired to Besan$on, where be principally resided from
that time, though be lost his wife in about ten years. He
bad some talent for negotiation, and conducted the busi-
ness of a suspension of arms for Francbe Comt£ with such
success, that the emperor rewarded him in 1668, by re-
establishing an ancient claim to nobility that had been in
his family. He died in 1686, at the age of eighty- four,
Mairet was never rich, yet led a life of ease and gratifica-
tion. He very early began to write. His first tragedy of
" Chryseide," was written at sixteen ; " Sylvia," at se-
venteen ; " Sylvianire," at twenty-one ; " The Duke de
Ossane," at twenty-three ; u Virginia," at twenty-four ;
and u Sophonisba," at twenty- five. He wrote in all, 1.
Tvtelve tragedies, which, though they have some fine pas-
sages, abound in faults, and are written in a feeble style
of versification. Corneille had not yet established the
style of the French drama. On the Sophonisba of Mairet,
Voltaire has formed another tragedy of the same name*
;2. A poem, entitled " Le Courtisan solitaire,49 a perform-
ance of some merit 3. Miscellaneous poems, in general
moderate enough. 4, Some criticisms against Corneille,
which were more disgraceful to the author than to the per-
son attacked. His Sophonisba, however, was preferred
to that of Corneille, but then that drama is by no means
esteemed one of the happiest efforts of the great tragic poet.1
MAISTRE (Antoine le). France has produced se-
veral great men of the name of Maistre, and among them
Giles le Maistre, celebrated as an incorruptible magistrate
in the corrupt times of Francis I. and Henry II. Anton}'
le Maistre seems to have been of a different family, being
the son of Isaac le Maistre, master of the accounts, and
Catherine Arnaold, sister of the celebrated M. Arnauid, doc -
• Nictron. vol XXV.-HDict. Hist.— Moreri.
Vol. XXI. M
162 M A I S T R E.
tor of the Sorbonne. He was born at Paris, May 2, 160$.
He appeared very early as a pleader, and with uncommon
success, but.from religious feelings gave up his pursuits,,
and retired to the society of Port-Royal, where his
piety and mortification became conspicuous. " I have been
busy," said he, " in pleading the causes of others, I am
now studying to plead my own." He died Nov. 4, 1658,
aged fifty-one. Of his works, there have been published,
1. "Pleadings;" of the elegant style of which, Perrault
speaks in the highest terms of approbation. 2. " A Trans-
lation of Cbrysostom de Sacerdotio," with an elegant pre*
face, 12mo. 3. " A life of St. Bernard, under the name
of the sieur Lancy, 4to and 8vo. 4. Translations of se-
veral writings of St. Bernard. 5. Several publications in
favour of the Society of Port-Royal. 6. " The Life of
Don Barth61emi des Martyrs," in 8vo, esteemed a very
well-written composition ; but some biographers have at-
tributed this to his brother, the subject of our next ar-
ticle.!
MAISTRE (Louis Isaac le), more known under the
name of Sacy4* (Isaac inverted), was brother of the former,
and was bom at Paris, in 1613, where he was also edu-
cated. After pursuing his studies with the greatest success
under Du Verger, the abbe* of St. Cyrao, and other emi-
nent teachers, he was admitted to the priesthood in 1648. v
His reputation gained him the office of confessor to the
society of Port Royal ; but that house being accused of
Jansenism, he was involved in the persecution; was obliged
to conceal himself in 1661 ; and in 1666 was confined in
the Bastille. In that prison he composed some important
works, particularly a translation of the whole Bible, which
was finished on the eve of All- saints, 1668; and on the
same day he obtained bis liberty, after being confined two
years and a half. When this work was presented to the
king and his4 minister, le Maistre desired no other reward
than that of being allowed frequently to visit the Bastille,
to inspect the state of the prisoners. Some writers assert
that during his confinement, he composed a history of thtf
Old and New Testament, in one volume, under the name
of Royaumont, a work known in this country by a transla-
tion In 4to, published about the beginning of the last cen-
tury, with nearly 300 plates; but others ascribe it f
* Moreri.— Diet. Hist.-rFerranlt's Hooimes IHartrrs.
is. A I S T R & 16$
Nicholas Fontaine. Le Maistre remained at Paris till 1 675,
when be retired to Port-Royal ; but was obliged in 1679
to quit it, and retired to Pompona, where be died, at the
age of. seventy-one, in 1684. His works are, 1. His
translation of the Bible, with explanations of the literal
and spiritual sense taken from the fathers ; in which part
he was assisted by du Fosse, Hur£, and le Tourne&ux.
This work was published at Paris, in 1682* and several
subsequent years, in 32 vols. 8vo\ Several other editions
have been printed, but this is on the whole esteemed the
best. 2. A translation of the Psalms, from the Hebrew
and the Vulgate together. 3. A translation of the Ho-
milies of St. Chrysostom on St. Matthew, in 3 vols. 8vo.
4. A translation of Kempis on the Imitation of Christ, un-
der the name of de Beuil, prior of S. Val, Paris, 1663,
8vo. 5. A translation of Phsedrus, under the name of St
Aubin, 12mo. 6. Three comedies of Terence, 1 2mo. 7.
The Letters of Bongprs, published under the name of
Brianviile. 8. The poem of St. Prosper, on ingratitude,
rendered in verse and prose. 9. " Les enluminures de
I'Alaianach des Jesuites," 1654, 12mo; an attack upon
the Jesuits, which was so far relished as to be reprinted in
1733. 10. " Heures de Port-Royal," called by the Jesuits
Hours of Jansenism, 12mo. 11. " Letters of Piety," in
2 vols. 8vo, published at Paris in 1690. The merits of
this author are fully displayed in the memoirs of Port-
Royal, written by Nicholas Fontaine, and published at
Cologne, in 1738, in 2 vols. 12ID0.1
MAITLAND (Sir Richard), a cultivator and preserver
of Scotch poetry, the son of William Maitland of Lething-
ton, and of Martha, daughter of George lord Seaton, was
born in 1496. Having finished his course of literature and
philosophy in the university of St. Andrews, he visited
France in order to prosecute the study of the law. In
1 554 he appears to have been one of the extraordinary
lords of session. About 1561 he was deprived of his sight,
a misfortune which, however, did not prevent his being
admitted in that year to the office of an ordinary lord of
session, by the title of lord Lethington; and in 1562, he
was appointed lord privy-seal, and a member of the privy-
council. His office as keeper of the privy seal he resigned
in 1567, in favour of his second son, the subject of our
J Morcji. — Diet. Hist — - Duptt>.
M 2
164 MA I T LA N'D.
next article. In 1583 be was excused from attendance at
a judge, unless when it suited his convenience ; but from
a sense of the importance of the duties of that office, he
resigned it in favour of sir Lewis Ballenden. Sir Richard
died March 20, 1586. His eldest son, air William Mak*
land, secretary to queen Mary, makes a considerable figure,
in the history of that princess.
Sir Richard Maitladd is celebrated as a man of learning,
talents, and virtue. His compositions breathe the genuine
spirit of piety and benevolence* The chearfulness of hi*
natural disposition, and his affiance in divine aid, seem to
have supported him with singular equanimity under the
pressure of blindness and old age. His poem " On the
Creation and Paradyce Lost" is printed in Allan RdttiiayV
" Ever-Green." A considerable number of his produc-
tions are to be found among Mr. Pinfcerton's "Ancient
Scotish Poetry," 1786, 2 vols. 8vo; two are in the Bib-
liographer, vol. III. p. 114, and many more remain un-
published. A MS. containing " The Selected Poemes of
Sir Richard Metellan" was presented by Drumoiond to the
university of Edinburgh ; but it seems merely to consist of
gleanings from the two volumes deposited in the library of
Magdalen-college, Cambridge* Two of his unpublished
tHrorks, a genealogical history of the family of Seaton, and
decisions of the court of session from 1550 to 1565, are
preserved in the Advocates' library, Edinburgh. It is sop-
posed that he did hot write his poems before he bad nearly
attained his sixtieth year. On that and other account!
they afford some gratification to curiosity, bat little to
taste. The Maitland Collection of Poems in the Pepysian
' library has served to connect his name with the history of
early Scotish poetry.1
. MAITLAN D (John), lord of Thirlstorte, and afterward*
chancellor of Scotland, one- of the Latin poets of that
country,, the second son of the preceding, was born about
1537. He was educated in Scotland, and afterwards sent
to France to study the law. On hisret(irn\ to his native
country, he practised that profession with great success.
In 1567, as already noticed, his father resigned the privy-
seal in his favour; but in 1570 he was deprived of that
office, from his attachment to queen Mary. In 1581 he
was made a senator of the college of justice. In 1 584 be
"* Irvine's Live* of the Scotish Poets. — Mackenzie's Scotch Writers, toJ> 1IL
M A I T L A N D. \6S
became tecretary of state to king James VI. and the year
following, on the death of the earl of Arrau, was created
lord chancellor of Scotland. The power and influence of
the chancellor created him many enemies among the
Scotch nobility, who made several unsuccessful attempts
to destroy him. Id J 589 he attended the king on his
voyage to Norway, where his royal bride, the princess of
Denmark, was detained by contrary jpnds. The marriage
was there completed, and they passed the winter at Co-
penhagen* During this residence in Denmark, Maitland
became intimately acquainted with Tycbo Brahe. In 1590
he was created lord Maitland of Thirlstone. Towards the
end of 1592, the chancellor incurred the queen's dis-
pleasure for refusing to relinquish his lordship of Mussel-
burgh, which she claimed as part of Dumferling. He ab-
sented himself from court for some time, but was at length
restored to favour. He died of a lingering illness Oct. 4,
1595, and was much regretted by the king. He is spoken
of by Spotiswood and Johnston as a man of great learning,
and eminent political abilities. Of his works, we have
" Johannis Metellani, Thirlstoni domini, epigram ma ta
Latina," published in the second volume of the " DelicitB
Foetarum Scotorum," Amst. 1637 ; a satire in the Scotch
language " aganist sklanderous toungis," and an " admo-
nitioun" to the regent Mar, published in Mr. Pinkerton's
collection of "Ancient Scotish Poems." l
MAITLAND (John), duke of Lauderdale, grandson of
the preceding, was a statesman of great power and autho~
rity, bat of most inconsistent character. On the breaking
out of the wars in Scotland in the reign of Charles I. he
was a zealous covenanter; and in Jan. 1644-5, one of the
commissioners at the treaty of Uxbridge, during which,
upon the death of his father the earl of Lauderdale, be,
succeeded to his titles and estate. He took an active but
not very useful part in the above treaty ; " being," says
lord Clarendon, " a young man, not accustomed to an or-
derly and decent way of speaking, and having no gracious
pronunciation, and full of passion, he made every thing
much more difficult than it was before." In April 1647,
be came with the earl of Dumfermling to London, with a
commission to join with the parliament commissioners in
\ Mackenzie's Scotch Writers, vol. Ill — Park's edition of the Royal and
Noble Authon.
\66 MAITLAND,
persuading the king to sign the covenant and proposition*
offered to him ; and in the latter end of the same year, he,
in conjunction with the earl of Loudon, chancellor of Scot-*
land, and the earl of Lanerick, conducted a private treaty
with his majesty at Hampton court, which was renewed
and signed by him on Dec. 26 at Carisbrook castle. By
this, among other very remarkable concessions, the king
engaged himself to employ the Scots equally with the
English in all foreign employments and negociations ; and
that a third part of all the offices and places about the
king, queen, and prince, should be conferred upon per-
sons of that. nation ; and that the king and prince, or one
of them, should frequently reside in Scotland. In August
the year following, the earl of Lauderdale was sent by the
committee of estates of Scotland to the prince of Wales,
with a letter, in which, next to his father's restraint, they
bewailed his highness' s long absence from that kingdom ;
and since their forces were again marched into England,
they desired his presence to countenance their endeavours
for religion and his father's. re-establishment. In 1649, he
opposed with great vehemence the propositions made by
the marquis of Montrose to king Charles II. ; and in 1651
attended his majesty in his expedition into England, but
was taken prisoner after the battle of Worcester in Sep*
tember the same year, and confined in the Tower of Lon-
don, Portland-castle, and other prisons, till the 3d of
March, 1659-60, when he was released from his imprison*
*ment in Windsor- castle.
Upon the Restoration he was made secretary of state for
Scotland, and persuaded the king to demolish the forts
and citadels built by Cromwell in Scotland; by which
means he became very popular. He was likewise very
importunate with his majesty for his supporting presbytery
in that kingdom ; though his zeal, in that respect, did not
continue long: In 1669, he was appointed lord commis-
sioner for the king in Scotland, whither he was sent with
great pomp and splendour to bring about some extraordi-
nary points, and particularly the union of the two king-
doms. . For this purpose he made a speech at the opening
of the parliament at Edinburgh on the 19th of October
that year, in which he likewise recommended the preser-
vation of the church as established by law, and expressed
a vast zeal for episcopal government. And- now the ex-
tending of the king's power and grandeur in that kingdom
* *
M A I T L A N D, 167
was greatly owing to the management of bis lordship
although he had formerly been as much for depressing the
prerogative ; and from the time of his commission the Scots v
had reason to date all the mischiefs and internal commo-
tions of that and the succeeding reign. Having under-
taken to make his majesty absolute and arbitrary, be
stretched the power of the crown to every kind of excess,
and assumed to himself a sort of lawless administration,
the exercise of which was supposed to be granted to him
in consequence of the large promises he had made. In
the prosecution of this design, being more apprehensive of
other men's officious interfering, than distrustful of his own
abilities, he took care to make himself his majesty's sole
informer, as well as his sole secretary ; and by this means,
not only the affairs of Scotland were determined in the
court of England, without any notice taken of the king's
council in Scotland, but a strict watch was kept on all
Scotchmen, who came to the English court; and to at-
tempt any acqess to his majesty, otherwise than by his
lordship's mediation, was to hazard his perpetual resent-
ment. By these arrogant measures, he gradually made
himself almost the. only important person of the whole
Scotch nation ; and iu Scotland itself assumed so much
sovereign authority, as to name the privy-counsellors, to
place and remove the lords of the session and exchequer,
to grant gifts and pensions, to levy and disband forces, to
appoint general officers, and to transact all matters belong-
ing to the, prerogative. Besides which, he was one of the
five lords, who had the management of affairs in England,
and were styled the Cabal, and in 167&, was made mar-
quis of March, duke of Lauderdale, and knight of the
garter. But these honours did not protect him from the
indignation of the House of Commons.; by whom, in No-
vember the year following, he was voted a " grievance,
and not fit to be trusted. or employed in any office or place
of trust." And though his majesty, thought proper on
the 25th of June, 1674, to create him a baron of England
by the title of Baron of Petersham in Surrey, and earl of
Guildford, yet the House of Commons the next year pre-
sented an address to the king to remove him from all his
employments, and from his majesty's presence and coun-
sels for ever ; which address was followed by another of
the same kind in May 1678, and by a third in May the
year'following.
16$
MAITLAMB.
- i
He died at Tunbridge Wells, August 34, 1 682, leaving
a character which no historian has been hardy enough to
Tindicaie. In Clarendon, Burnet, Kennet, Hurne, Smoh
let, &c. we find a near conformity of sentiment respecting
his inconsistency, his ambition, and his tyranny *. Mr. •
Laing observes, that " during a long imprisonment, his
mind had been carefully improved by study, and impressed
with a sense of religion, which was soon effaced on his
return to the world. His learning was extensive and ac-
curate ; in public affairs his experience wan considerable,
and his elocution copious, though unpolished and indis-
tinct. But his temper was dark and vindictive, incapable
of friendship, mean and abject to his superiors* haughty
and tyrannical to his inferiors; and his judgment* seldom
correct or just, was obstinate in error, and irreclaimable
by advice. His passions were furious and ungovernable,
unless when his interest of ambition interposed ; his vio-
lence was ever prepared to suggest or to execute the most
desperate counsels ; and his ready compliance preserved
his credit with the king, till his faculties were visibly im-
paired with age." — The duke died without male issue, but
his brother succeeded to the title of Earl, whose son
Richard was the author of a translation of Virgil, which is
rather literal than poetical, yet Dryden adopted many of
the lines into his own translation.1
.MAITLAND ( WilltaM), an antiquary of some note,
was born, according to the best accounts we can obtain, at
Brechin in Forfarshire in Scotland, about 1693. What
education he had is uncertain, but his original employment
was that of a hair-merchant ; in the prosecution of which
business he travelled into Sweden, and Denmark, to Ham*
burgh, and other places. M length he settled in London,
and applied himself to the study of English and Scottish
antiquities, and must have acquired some literary reputa*
tation, as in 1733 he was elected a fellow of the royal so-
ciety, and in 1735 a fellow of the society of antiquaries,
* What no historian, no relater of;
facts could do, was accomplished by
the rev. Johu Gascarth, fellow of Pem-
broke-ball in Cambridge, in a funeral
sermon for the duke. In this he clothes
him with every virtue that ever adorned
the best, -most pious, apd wisest of hu-
man beings. After reading bis grace's
history, one would suppose all this
ironical ; bnt the author, whatever bis
motives, appears to be serious. This
sermon was published at London in
1 683, 4to. It is, we believe, scarce, but
the reader will find the substance of
it in that very useful collection, " Wil -
ford's Memorials."
1 Laing'9 Hist, of Scotland,— Clarendon.—Burnet, kc— Birch's Lives.
MAI T L AND. 169
^vhtoh lit Msigned in 1740, on going to reside ia the coun-
try. His fast publication was bis History of London, pub-
lished ia folio, in 1739; a work compiled from Stow, and
afterwards, ia 1765, enlarged by Entick to 2 vols, folio,
with a great many views, plans, &c. ther plates of which
are now in Mr. Nichols's possession. In 1740, as just
mentioned, he retired into hi*, native country, and in 1753T,
published a history of Edinburgh, comprised also in one
folio volume. In 1757, appeared his work on the history
and antiquities of Scotland, in 2 vols, folio ; a performance
not in general so highly esteemed as the two former, al-
though he appears to have taken considerable pains to
acquire information, by a set of printed queries which he
sent to every clergyman in Scotland, and himself tra-
velled over it for the same pqrpose. On July the 16th of
-the same year, he died, at Montrose, according to our
account at the age of 64 ; the papers of the time say, at
an advanced age, by which possibly it may be meant that
be was still older ; but this is matter of doubt. He was
said, in the accounts of his death, to hare died worth more
than 10,000/. Mv. Maitland was rather a compiler from
printed or written authorities, than an original collector of
antiquary knowledge. Mr. Gough, a very competent judge,
pronounces him, even in this respect, " self-conceited
and credulous,91 and adds that be " knew little, and wrote
worse." The merit of his history of London was chiefly in
supplying the place of Stowe, which was become scarce,
and in modernizing the style. His " History of Edin-
burgh" is the BpLost useful of his works.1
MAITTAIRE (Michael), an eminent classical editor,
of a foreign family, was born in 1668. He was educated
at Westminster school, under Dr. Busby, who kept him
to the study of Greek and Latin some years longer than
usual. He then gained another powerful friend in Dr.
South, for whom he compiled a list of the Greek words
falsely accented in Dr. Sherlock's books. This so pleased
Dr. South, who was then a canon of Christ church, Oxford,
that he made htm a canoneer student (i.e. one introduced
by a canon, and not elected from Westminster school),
where he took the degree of M. A. March 23, 1696. From
1695 till 1699, he was second master of Westminster-
school ; which was afterwards indebted to him for " Graecae
1 Nichols's B««y«r.
170 M A I T T A 1 R E.
Linguae Dialecti, in usum Scholse Westmohasieriensis,"
1706, 8vo*, (a work recommended in the warmest terms
by Dr. Knipe to the school over which he presided, " cui
se sua omnia debere fatetur sedulus Author") and for
" The English Grammar, applied to, and exemplified in,
the English tongue," 1712, 8vo. In "Catalogue Librorum
Manuscriptorum Angliee & Hiberniae," Oxon. 1697, t. ii.
p. 27, is inserted " Librorum Manuscriptorum Ecclesiag
Westmonasteriensis Catalogus. Accurante viro erudito
Michaele Mattaerio." But before the volume was pub*
lished, the whole collection, amounting* to 230, given by
bishop Williams, except one, was destroyed, by an acci-
dental fire in 1694. In 1699 he resigned his situation at
Westminster-school ; and devoted his time solely to lite*
rary pursuits. In 1711, he published " Remarks on Mr*
Wbisi on's Account of the Convocation's proceedings! with
relation to himself : in a Letter to the right reverend Fa-
ther in God, George, Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells,"
8vo ; and also " An Essay against Arianism, and some
other Heresies ; or a Reply to Mr. William Whiston's His*
torical Preface and Appendix to bis Primitive Christianity
revived," 8vo. In 1709, he gave the first specimen of his
great skill in typographical antiquities, by publishing
" Stephanorum Historia, vitas ipsorum ac libros complec-
tens," 8vo; which was followed in J 717, by " Historia
Typographorum aliquot Parisiensium, vitas & libros com*
plectens," 8vo. In 1719, " Annales T-ypographici ab artis
invents origine ad annum md. Hagse Com." 4to. Tp this
volume is prefixed, " Epistolaris de antiquis Quintiliani
editionibus Dissertatio, clarissimo viro D.'Jobanni Clericp."
The second volume, divided into two parts, and continued
to 1536, was published at the Hague in 1702 ; introduced
by a letter of John Toland, under the title of " Conjectura
verosimilis de prima Typographic Inventione." The third
volume, from the same press, in two parts, continued to
1557, and, by an Appendix, to 1564, in 1725, In 1733
was published at Amsterdam what is usually considered as
tlie fourth volume, under the title of " Annales Typogra-
phic! ab artis invents origine, ad annum 1564, oper&Mich.
Maittaire, A. M. Editio nova, auctior & emendatior, tomi
*
. * Of this work Reitz published an edition at the Hague, 1738, 8vo, and
a much mor* improved edition by Sturtz appeared at f^eipsic, in 1807.
M A I T T A I R E. 171
jprioii pars posterior* " In 1741 the work was closed at
London, by " Annatium Typographicoruni Tomus Quintus
Jk ultinuis ; indicem in tomos quatupr prseeumes complec-
ten3 ;" divided (like the two preceding volumes) into two
parts.
- In the intermediate years, Mr. Maittaire was diligently
employed on various works of value. In 1 7 1 3 he published
by subscription, u Opera & Fragmenta Veterum Poeta-
?om/' 1713, two handsome volumes, in folio, dedicated to
prince Eugene ; the title of some copies is dated 1721. In
1714, he was the editor of the " Greek Testament,'* in 2
Vote. The Latin writers, which he published separately,
most of them with good indexes, came out. in the follow*
itogor&r: In 1713, u Christus Patiens;" an heroic poem
by Rene Rapin, first printed in 1674; " Paterculus ;"
" Justin ;" " Lucretius ;" « Phasdrus ;"■ " Sallust ;" " Te-
lence." In 1715, " Catullus, Tibullus, and Propertius ;"
«< Cornelius Nepos ;" " Florus ;" " Horace ;" " Ovid," 3
vols.; "Virgil." In 1716, "Caesar's Commentaries;'*
" Martial;" "Juvenal and Persius ;" " Quintus Curtius."
In 1719, "Lucan." In 1720, " Bonefonii Carolina."
Here he appears to have stopped ; all the other classics
which are ascribed to him having been disclaimed, by a
jHemorandum which Mr. Nichols has preserved under Mait-
taire's own hand, in the latter part of his lifef. In 1721
he published " Batrachomyopachia Graece ad veterum
exemplarium fidem recusa : glossa Greca, variantibus lee-
tionibus, versionibus Latinis, commentariis & indicibus
illustrata," 8vo. At the end of this volume he added pro-
posals for printing by subscription, " Musaeus," in Greek
and Latin, for half a guinea ; and " Rapin's Latin works,"
for a guinea, both in 4to : " Musa?us," to be comprised in
* The aukwardness of this title has imperfection of those editions, without
induced many collectors to dispose of being charged with the odium of claim-
thehr first volume, as thinking it super- ing what has been pat out by editors
seded by the second edition; but this much abler than himself; he therefore
is by no means the case; the volume would acquaint the. public, that he
of 1719 being no less necessary to com- had no hand in publishing the follow,
plete tbe set' than that of 1733, which ing books, which in some newspapers
is a revision of all the former volumes, have been advertised under his uame ;
The whole work, when properly bound, viz. " Sophoclis Tragcadia?;" ** Ho-
consists, ad libitum, either of five vo- meri Ilias ;" " Mu?arum Atigticana-
lumes, or of nine, rum Analects;;" 4* Livii His tori a;"
f " As the editor of several classics, *' Plinii Epi?tol«B et Panejryricus 5
some years ago printed in 12mo, at " Conciones & Orationes ex Historicis
Mess. Tonson and Watt's press, thinks Latin is." M. M."
it sufficient to be answerable for the
17* M A I T T A I R ¥.
twelve sheets, " lUpin" in fifty. Bat neither of these
were ever committed to the press, from want probably of
sufficient encouragement. In 1122, " Miscellanea Grce»
corum aliquot Scriptoruqi Carmine, cum vprsione L?tina
& Notis," 4to. In 1724, he compiled, at the request of
Dr. John Freind (at whose expence it was printed) an in-
dex to the works of Aret&us," to accompany the splendid
folio edition of that author in 1723. In 172$ he published
an exoellent edition of " Auacreon," in 4to, of which no
more than 100 copies were printed, and the few errata in
each copy corrected by his own hand, A second edition
of the like number was printed in 1741, with six copies on
fine writing paper. In 1726 he published, " Petri Petiti
Medici Parisiensis in tres priores Aretei Cstppadocitiibro*
Commentarii, nunc primqm editi," 4to. This learned
Commentary was found among the papers of Graeviui.
From 1728 to 1732 he was employed in publishing,
u Marmorum Arundellianorum, Seldenianorum, aliorumque
Academies Oxoniensi donatorum, una cum Commentariis
& Indice, editio secunda," folio ; to which an " Appendix19
was printed in 1733. " Epistola D. Mich. Maittaire ad
D. P. Des Maizeaux, in qua Indicia in Annates Typogra-
phies methodus explicatur," &c, is printed in " The Pre-
sent State of the Republic of Letters," in August 1733,
p. 142. The life of Robert Stephens, in Latin, revised
and corrected by the author, with a new and complete list
of his works, is prefixed to the improved edition of R.
Stephens's Thesaurus, 4 vols, in folio, in 1734. In 1736
appeared, "Antiquae Inscriptiones dqse," folio; being a
commentary on two large copper tables discovered near
Heraclea, in the bay of Tarentum. In 1738 were printed
at the Hague, " Graecre Linguae Dialecti in Scbolae Regis
Westmonasteriensis usum recogniti opera Mich. Maittaire.
Prafationem & Appendiceal ex Apollonii Discoli fragmento
inedito addidit J. F. Reitzius." Maittaire prefixed a dedi-
cation of this volume to the marquis of Granby, and the
lords Robert and George Manners, his brothers ; and a
new preface, dated 3 Cal. Octob. 1737. This was again
printed at London in 1742. In 1739, he addressed to the
empress of Russia a small Latin poem, under the title of
" Carmen Epinicium Augustissimse Russorum Imperatrici
sacrum." His, name not having been printed in the title-
page, it is not so generally known that he was editor of
Plutarch's "Apophthegmata," 1741, 4to. The last pub-
M A I T T A I R E. 173
ligation of Mr. Mflkuire was a volume of poems in 4to,
1742, under the title of " Senilia, give Pogtica aliquot in
arguments varii generis tentamioa." It may be worth
mentioning, that Baxter's dedication to bis " Glossariam
Antiquitatum Britannicarum," was much altered by Mait*
taire ; who died August 7, 1747, aged seventy-nine. There
is a good mezzotinto print of him by Faber, from a paint*
ing by B. Dandridge, inscribed, ',' Michael Maittaire, A. M.
Ataicorum jussu." His valuable library, which be had
been collecting fifty years, was sold by auction, by Messrs.
Ceck and Langford, at the close of the same year, and the
beginning of the following, taking up in all forty-four
nights. Mr. Cock, in his prefatory advertisement, tells
tw, " In exhibiting thus to the public the entire library of
1M*. Maittaire, I comply with the will of my deceased
friend ; and in printing the catalogue from his own copy
just as he left it (though, by so doing, it is the more vo-
luminous), I bad an opportunity not only of doing the
justice I owe to his memory, but also of gratifying the cu-
rious *." Maittaire, it fiiay be added, was patronized by
the first eart of Offfefd, both before and after that gentle*
toan's elevation to the peerage, and continued a favourite
with his son the second earl. He was also Latin tutor to
Mr. Stanhope, the fcarl of Chesterfield's favourite son, and
was esteemed by so many persons of eminence that we
Cannot wonder at his portrait being engraven jusmi amico-
t*um. He possessed many amiable qualities ; in religion
was orthodox and zealous t ; in temper modest and unas-
* Mr. Nichols has here taken so op*> whose works are promiscuously intro-
port unity of observing, that " the pre- duced in tbe course of the sale. With
sent mode of compiling catalogues of this improvement, Dr. Mead's Cttta*
celebrdted libraries for sale, so moch togue, which at' present is confused
more laconic than that which obtained and almost useless, would have been
about forty years ago, except when as valuable, in proportion to its extent,
Mr. Samuel Patersan exerts that talent as the ' Biblkrtheca Menckeniaiia,'
•f cataloguing for which he is particu- ' Bultelliana,' or any other publica-
larly distinguished, cannot possibly do tion of the same kind. The auctioneer
equal justice with the ancient mode, would derive sufficient advantage from
either in a literary or pecuniary view." such catalogues.'*
This remark is quoted in the " Critical f There is a passage in one of his
Review," with an additional observa- Letters to Dr. Charlett, dated 1718
tion ; " that, as the catalogues of large (published in " Letters written by Emi-
libraries sold by auction are generally nent Persons," 1813, in 3 vols. 8vo),
preserved by men of learning, for the which implies that he had been under
sake of ascertaining the dates or titles some restraint, on account of his priu-
of books, they might be rendered infi- ciples. " The friendly turn," he says,
nitely more useful, in saving expence, " which you gave to the leisure govern-
by subjoining an alphabetical iadex, ment has granted me, cannot entirely
containing the names of tbe authors reconcile me to the hardships the laws
174 MAITTAIR
sunning; despising the pride of learning, ' yet fond of
friendly intercourse.
With respect to his talents, he may be characterized as
a sound scholar, and a careful editor ; and, although his
genius was confined, and his taste questionable, his la-
bours have been truly useful, and entitle him to the grate-
ful remembrance of the classical student. He has the
glory, says Mr. Dibdin, of being the first who established
in. this country, on a solid basis,, the study of bibliography.1
MAIUS, or MAY (John Henry), a Lutheran divine,
was born Feb. 5, 1653, at Pfortzheim, in the marquisate
of Baden-Dourlach. He was profoundly skilled in Hebrew
literature, and taught the oriental languages in several
universities, with great reputation. His last employments
of this kind were at Giessen, where he was pastor, and
where he died Sept. 3, 1719. He was well acquainted
with antiquities, sacred and profane, but his works are less
known in other parts of Europe than in Germany. The
following are some of them : 1. " Historiaanimalium Scrip-
turae sacrse," 8vo. 2. " Vita Johannis Reuchlini," 1 687,
Svo. 3. " Examen histories criticoe Ricardi Simon is," 4to>
4. " Synopsis Theologiae symbolicre," 4to. 5. " Synopsis
Moralis," 4to. 6. " Synopsis Judaica," 4to. 7. " In-
troductio ad studium Philologicum, criticum, et exegeti-
cum," 4to. 8. " Paraph rasis Epistolae ad Hebrseos," 4to.
9. " Tbeologia Evangelica," 1701, and 1719, 4 parts 4to.
10. " Animadversiones et Supplementa ad Coccei Lexicon
Hebrseum," 1703, fol. 11. " CEconomia temporum ve*
teris et Novi Test. 4to. 12. " Synopsis Theologiae Chris-
tiana," 4to. 13. " Theologia Lutheri," 4to. 14. " Theo-
logia Prophetica," 4to. 1 5. " Harmonia Evangelica," 4to.
16. " Historia Refoirmationis Lutheri," 4to. 17. M Disser-
tationes philologies et exegeticse," Francfort, 171 1, 2 vols.
4to, &c. He also published a very good edition of the He-
brew Bible, 4to. His son, of the same'name, was eminent
for his knowledge of Greek and the oriental languages.1
have put me to. I thank God, I want tongue or pen." To render this intel-
no courage to go through, but courage ligibie, the reader must be told that
does not exclude feeling. One thing I Mr. Maittaire, on the accession of
can boast of, that the cruelty never George 1. turned non-juror, and was
yet soured my looks, nor extorted any probably included in the disabilities to
low i e vengeful expressions from my which Abat sect was exposed.
1 Nichols's Bowyer — Dibdin's Classics and B blicmania.
9 Nicer on, vol. XXIX. — Diet. Hist.— *axii Onomast.
MALA6RIDA. 175
- MALAGRIDA (Gabriel), an Italian Jesuit, sent by his
superiors as a missionary to Portugal, was a man of an ar-
dent zeal, wkh that faoility of elocution which enthusiasm
generally confers. He soon became the fashionable con-*
fessor, and people of all ranks put themselves under his
direction. He was regarded as a saint, and consulted as
an oracle. When the duke d'Aveiro formed his conspiracy
against the king of Portugal, be is said by the enemies of
the Jesuits to have consulted with three of that order, one
of whom was Malagrida. The king, when he thought
proper to. banish the Jesuits from his kingdom, suffered
Malagrida, Alexander, and Mathos, to remain there ; and
these are the very three who are supposed to have assisted
the conspiracy* by telling the conspirators that it was not
even a venial sin to kill a monarch who persecuted the
saints, L e. the Jesuits. Malagrida was some time after
sent to the inquisition, for teaching heretical doctrines ;
an accusation which is said to have been not altogether
without foundation. He appears, however, to have been
an enthusiast of so extravagant a kind, that no singulari-
ties id his writings can be thought extraordinary. He con*
ceived himself to possess the power of working miracles ;
and declared to the inquisitors, that God himself bad ap-
pointed him his ambassador, appstle, and prophet. This,
and many other very wild declarations, would not, perhaps,
hare occasioned his condemnation, had he not unfortu-
nately pretended to have had the death of the king re-
vealed to him. The marquis of Tancors, general of the
province of. Estremadura, happening to die, the castle of
Lisbon, and all the fortresses of the Tagus* discharged
their cannon in honour of him. Malagrida, hearing this
unusual sound in the night, concluded that the king was
dead, and desired that the inquisitors would grant him an
audience. When he came before them, he said, in order to
establish the credit of his predictions, that the death of the
king bad been revealed to him ; and that he also had a vision,
which informed him what punishment that monarch was to
undergo in the other world for having persecuted the Jesuits.
This declaration hastened his condemnation. He was burnt
alive on Sept. 21, 1761, at the age of 75, not as a conspi-
rator, but as a false prophet. His true character, perhaps,
was that of a lunatic. The works in which his heretical ex-
travagancies are to be found, are entitled " Tractatus de
vita et imperio Antichrist! -," and (written in the Portuguese
176 MALAGRIDA.
language) " The Life of St. Anne, composed with the at*
sistance of the blessed Virgin Mary and her most holy Son." '
MALAPERT (Chaeles), a poet and nsatheraaticiao,
- but less known in the latter character, was bof n at Mont
in Hainault, in 1681, and entered into Ithe otder of the
Jesuits. He taught philosophy at Pont-a*Motsson, whence
he went to Poland, where he was appointed professor of
mathematics, and afterwards filled the sane office at
Doway. His reputation induced Philip IV. to give him
an invitation to Madrid, as professor of mathematics iii his
newly-founded college, which he accepted, but died on
has way to Vittoria, Nov. 5, 1630* His Latin patois were
printed at Antwerp in 1634, and have been praised for pu-
rity of style, and imagery. Of his mathematical wink*
one is entitled " Oratio de Laudibus » Matbematick," in
which he treats jof the phenomena of the newly •discovered
Dutch telescope. The others are, " Institutions of Prac*
tical Arithmetic ;'* the " Elements of Geometry ;" " A Pa-
raphrase on the Dialectics of Aristotle ;" and u Commen-
taries oti the first six Books of Euclid."8
MALDONAT (John), a very learned Spanish Jesuit,
was born at Fuente del Maestro, a small village in the pro*
vince of Estra'madura, in 1534. He studied under Domi-
nious Asoto, a Dominican, and also under Francis Tolety a
jesuit, who was afterwards a cardinal, and there was no better
scholar in the university of Salamanca in his time* than
Maldonat. He there taught philosophy, divinity, and
the Greek language. He entered into the society of
the Jesuits, but did not put on the habit 6f his order tiH
1562, when he was at Rome. In 1563, he was sent by
his superiors to Paris, to teach philosophy in the college
which the Jesuits had just established in that city ;. where,
as the historians of his society tell us, he was so crowded
with hearers, that he was frequently obliged to read bis
lectures in the court or the street, the hail not being suf-
ficient to contain them. He was sent, with nine- other
Jesuits, to Poictiers, in 1 570, where he read lectures in
Latin, and preached in French. Afterwards he returned
to Paris, where he was not only accused of heresy, but
likewise of procuring a fraudulent will from the president
de St. Andr£, by which the president was made te leave his
1 Diet Hist de L'Avocat.— The Proceedings and Sentence of the Inquisition,
Ice. against Gabriel Malagrida, 1761, 8vo»— -Gent, Mag. for that v*ar.
* MorerJ.— Diet. Hilt.
MA LDONAT. Hi
estate to the Jertrlt?. But the parliament declared him
innocent of the forgery, and Gond?, bishop of Paris, entirely
acquitted him of the charge of hetesy. He afterwards
thought ptoper to retire to Bourges, * where the Jesuits had
a college, and continued there about a year And a half.
Then he went to Rome, by the order4 of pope Gregory
XlII. to superintend the publication of the " Septuagint :,#
and after finishing his " Commentary upon the Gospels,"
in 1582, he died there, in the beginning of 1583.
He composed several wotks, which shew great parts and
learning ; but published nothing in his life-lime. The fifrt
of his performances which came abroad after his death,
was his " Comment upon the Four Gospels ;" of which
father Simon says : u Among all the commentators which
tye hdve mentioned hitherto, there are few who have so.
happily explained the literal sense of the Gospels as John
ftaldon&t the Spanish Jesuit. After his death, whfch hap-
pened at Rome before he had reached his fiftieth year,
Claudius Aquaviva, to whom he presented his " Com-
ntetit" while he vtfes dying, gave orders to the Jesuits of
Pont a Mottfcson to cause it to hie printed frorti a copy
which Was sent them. The Jesuits, in the preface to that
work, declare that they had inserted something of their
own, according to their manner ; and that they had been
obliged to Correct the manuscript copy, which was defec-
tive in some places, because they had no access to the
original, which was at Rome. Besides, as the atfthor had
neglected to mark, upon the margin* of his copy, the
books and places from whence he had taken a great part of
his quotations, they supplied that defect. It even ap-
peared, that Maldonat had not read at first hand all that
great number of writers which he quotes ; but that lie had
made use of the labours of former writers. Thus he is not
quite so exact, as if he had put the last hand to his Com-
ment. Notwithstanding these imperfections, and softte
others, which are easily corrected, it appears plainly, fbat
this Jesuit had bestowed abundance of pains upon thaferf-*
c'elleftt work. He does not allow one difficulty to pass
without examining it to the bottom. When, a grear num-
ber of literal interpretations present themselves upoh the
sAme passage, he usually fixes upon the* Best, without
playing too great a deference to the ancient commentators,
or even to the majority, regarding nothing but truth alone,
ttript of all authorities but her own.n Cardinal Perron
Vol. XXL N
178 MALDONAT.
said, that he "was a very great man, and a true divine;,
that be had an excellent elocution as a speaker, understood
the learned languages well, was deeply versed in scholas-
tic divinity and theology, and that he had thoroughly
read the fathers." His character has been as high among
the Protestants, for an interpreter of Scripture, as it was
among the Papists. Matthew Pole, in the preface to the
fourth volume of his " Synopsis Criticorum,*' calls him a
writer of great parts and learning. " He was/' says Dr.
Jackson, " the most judicious expositor among the Jesuits.
-His skill in expounding the Scriptures, save only where
doting love unto their church had made him blind, none
of theirs, few of our church, have surpassed." His "Com-
mentaries upon Jeremiah, Baruch, Ezekiel, and Daniel,".
were printed at Lyons in 1609, and at Cologne ip 1611.
To these were added, his " Exposition of the cixth Psalm,'*
and " A letter concerning a celebrated dispute which he
had with above twenty Protestant ministers at Sedan." His
treatise "Defide," was printed at Maienne in 1600; and
that upon "Angels and Demons" at Paris, in 1605. In
1677, they published at Paris some pieces which bad never
appeared before ; namely, his treatise. "Of Grace," that
upon " Original Sin," upon " Providence," upon €t Jus-
tice," upon "Justification," and that upon "The Merit
of Werks ;" besides " Prefaces, Harangues, an<j Letters*"
one volume, folio.
We will conclude our account of this celebrated Jesuit, %
with mentioning an high eulogium of him, given by the im-.
partial and excellent Thuanus; who, after observing, that
he "joined a singular piety and purity of manners, and an
exquisite judgment, to an exact knowledge of philosophy
and divinity," adds, " that it was owing to him alone, that
the parliament of Paris, when they had the Jesuits under
their consideration, did not pronounce any sentence to
their disadvantage, though they were become suspected
by the wisest heads, and greatly hated by' the university."
Nothing can set the importance of Maldonat in a stronger
light, or better shew the high opinion that was had of his
merit1
MALEBRANCHE (Nicolas), a French philosopher*;
was born at Paris, Aug. 6, 1638, and was first placed under
a domestic tutor, who taught hin» Greek and Latin. He
Vfic& Dick— Jficerw, fpU2^J.-^©reri.~i)Bpin«^-S«aii0ii9ma*^
MALEBRANCHE. 179
afterwards went through a course of philosophy at the col-
lege of la Marche, and that of divinity in the Sorbonne;
and was admitted into the congregation of the Oratory at
Paris, in 1660. After he had spent some time there, he
consulted father le Cointe, in what manner he should pur*
sue his studies ; who advised him to apply himself to eccle-
siastical history. Upon this be began to read Eusebius,
Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret ; but soon grew weary
of this study, and next applied himself to father Simon,
who recommended Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, rabbinical
learning, and critical inquiries into the sense of the Scrip-
tures. But this kind of study was not at all more suitable
to his genius, than the former. At last, in 1664, he met
with Des Cartes' s " Treatise upon Man," which he read
over with great satisfaction, and devoted himself imme-
diately to the study of his philosophy ; of which, in a few
years, he became as perfect a master as Des Cartes him-
self. In 1699, he was admitted an honorary member of
the royal academy of sciences. He died Oct. 13, 1715,
being then seventy-seven years of age. From the time
that he began to read Des Cartes, he studied only to en-
lighten his mind, and not to furhish his memory ; so that
he knew a great deal, though he read but little. He
avoided every thing that was mere erudition ; an insect
pleased him much more than air the Greek and Roman
history. He despised likewise that kind of learning, which
consists only in knowing the opinions of different philoso-
phers ; since it was his opinion that a person may easily
know the history of other men's thoughts, withqut ever
thinking at all himself. Such was his aversion to poetry,
that he could never read ten verses together without dis-
gust He meditated with his windows shut, in order to
keep out the light, which he found to be a disturbance to
him. His conversation turned upon the same subjects as
his books, but was mixed with so much modesty and de-
ference to the judgment of others, that it was much
courted. Few foreigners, who were men of learning, neg-
lected to visit him when they came to Paris : and it is said,
that an English officer, who was taken prisoner during the
war between William III. and the king of France, was
content with his lot, when he was brought to Paris, be-,
cause it gave him an opportunity to see Louis XIV. and
father Malebranche.
He wrote several works. The first and principal, as
■ n i
180 MALEBRANCHE.
iifdeed' it gave rise to almost all that followed, was his
V De la Recherche de la Verittf,". or his " Search after
Truth," printed at Paris in 1674, and afterwards aug-
mented in several successive editions. His design in this
boo^ is to point out the errors into which we are daily led
hy our senses, imagination, and passions ; and to prescribe
4 method for discovering the truth, which he does, by
starting the notion of seeing all things in God. Hence he
is led to think and speak meanly of human knowledge,
either as it lies in written books, or in the book of nature,
compared with that light which displays itself from the
ideal world ; and by attending to which, with pure and de-
fecated minds, he supposes knowledge to be most easily
had. These sentiments, recommended by various beau-
ties of style, made many admire his genius who could not
understand, or agree to his principles. Locke, in bia.
" Examination of Malebranche's opinion of seeing all things,
in God," styles him an <f acute and ingenious author ;"
and tells us, that there are "a great many very fine
thoughts, judicious reasonings, and uncommon reflections
in his Recherche :" but in that piece, endeavours to re-
fute the chief principles of his system. Brucker is of opi-
nion that the doctrine of his- " Search after Troth,"' though
in many respects original, is raised upon Cartesian prin-
ciples, and is, in some particulars, Platonic. The author
represents, in streng colours, the causes of error, arising
from the disorders of the imagination and passions, the
abuse .of liberty, and* an implicit confidence in the senses.
He. explains the action of. the animal spirits, the nature of
memory ; the connection of the brain with other parts of
the body, and their influence upon the understanding and
will. On the subject of intellect, he maintains, that
thought alone is essential to mind, aud deduces the im-
perfect state of science from the imperfection of the hu-
man understanding, as well as from the inconstancy of the
will ia inquiring after truth. Rejecting the ancient doc-
trine of species sent forth from material objects, and deny-
ing the power of the mind to produce ideas, he ascribes
their production immediately to God ; and asserts, that
the human mind immediately perceives God, and sees all
things in him. As he derives 'the imperfection of the
human mind from its dependence upon the body, so he
places its perfection in union with God, by means of the
knowledge of truth and the love of virtOe.
MALEBRANCHE. 181
Singular and paradoxical, Brucker adds, as the notion
of " seeing all things in God/' and some other dogihas of
this writer, miist have appeared, the work was written with
such elegance and splendour of diction, and its tenfets were
supported by such ingenious reasonings, that it obtained
general applause, and procured the author a distinguished
.name among philosophers, and a numerous train of fol-
lowers. Its popularity might, perhaps, be in part owing to
the appeal which the author makes to the authority of St
.Augustine, from whom he professes to have borrowed his
hypothesis concerning the origin of ideas. The immediate
intercourse which this doctrine supposes, between the hu-
man and the divine mind, has led some to remark a strong
resemblance between the notions of Malebranche, and
those of the sect called Quakers.
Dr. Reid, on the other hand, does not allow, that either
Plato or the latter Platonists, or St. Augustine, or the
Mystics, thought, that wte perceive the cfbjects of sense in
the divine ideas. This theory of our pereeiving the objects
of sense in the ideas of the Deity, he considers as the in*
vention of father Malebranche himself. Although St. Au-
J'ustine speaks in a very high strain of God's being thfe
igbt of our minds, of our being illuminated immediately by
.the eternal light, and uses other similar expressions ; yet
he seems to apply those expressions onty-to our ilhmtirta-
tion in moral and divine things, and not to thfe pgrcfeptioh
of objects by the senses. Mr. Bayle imagines that somfe
traces of this opinion of Malebranche 'are to be fourid in
Amelius the Platonist, and even in Democritus ; but his
authorities seem, as Dr. Reid conceive*, to be strained.
Malebranche, with a very penetrating genius, ehtered intb
a more minute examination of the powers of the human
jnind than. any one before hita; aftd h6 availed himself of
the previous discoveries made by Des Cartes, without sef-
yile attachment. He lays it down as a principle admitted
by all philosophers, and in itself tinquestionable, that wfe
do not perceive external objects immediately, but by means
of images or ideas of them present to the mind. " The
things which the soul perceives," says Malebranche, •' are
df two kinds. They are either in the tfool, of without the
adul: those that are in the soul are its owft thoughts, thatt
is to say, all its different modifications. The soul has ho
need of ideas for perceiving thestf things. Biit with regard
to things withom the soul, we cannot perceive them but
182 MALEBRANCHE.
by means of ideas." He then proceeds to enumerate all
the possible ways by which the ideas of sensible objects
may be presented to the mind : either, 1st, they come from
the bodies, which we perceive ; or, 2dly, the soul has the
power of producing them in itself; or, 3dly, they are pro-
duced by the Deity in our. creation, or occasionally as
there is use for them ; or, 4thly, the soul has in itself vir-
tually and eminently, as the schools speak, all the perfec-
tions which it perceives in bodies: or, 5thly, the soul is
united with a Being possessed of all perfection, who has
in himself the ideas of all created things. The last mode
is that which he adopts, and which he endeavours to con-
firm by various arguments. The Deity, being always pre-
sent to our minds in a more intimate manner than any
other being, may, upon occasion of the impressions made
on our bodies, discover to us, as far as he thinks proper,
and according to fixed laws, his own ideas of the object ;
and thus we see all things in God, or in the divine ideas.
However visionary this system may appear on a super-
ficial view, yet when we consider, says Dr. Reid, that .he
agreed with the whole tribe of philosophers in conceiving
ideas to be the immediate objects of perception, and, that
he found insuperable difficulties, and even absurdities, in
every other hypothesis concerning them, it- will not seem
so wonderful that a man of very great genius should fall
into this ; and probably it pleased so devout a man the
more, that it sets in the most striking light our dependence
upon God, and his continual presence with us. He dis-
tinguished more accurately than any philosopher bad done
before, the objects which we perceive from the sensations in
our own minds, which, by the laws of nature, always accom-
- pany the perception of the object : and in this respect, as
well as in many others, he had great merit. For this, as
Dr. Reid apprehends, is a key that opens the way to a
right understanding, both of our external senses, and of
other powers of the mind.
The next piece which Malebranche published, was bis
" Conversations Cbretiennes, dan* lesquelles sont justified
la veritl de la religion & de la morale de J. C." Paris,
1.676. He Was moved^ it is said, to write this piece, at
the desire of the duke de Chevreuse, to shew the consis-
tency and agreement between his philosophy and religion.
His " Traite* de la nature & de la grace," 1680, was occa-
sioned by a conference he had with M. Arnaud, about those
MALEBRANCHE. 183
peculiar notions of grace into which Malebranche's system
had led that divine. This was followed by other pieces,
which were all the result of the' philosophical and theolo-
gical dispute our author had with M. Arnaud. In 1688,
he published his"*' Entretien sur la metaphysique & la re-
ligion :" in which work he collected what he hod written
against M. Arnaod, hut disengaged it from that air of dis-
pute which is not agreeable to every reader. In 1697, he
published his " TraitS de Papaour de Dieu." When the
doctrine of the new mystics began to be much talked of in
France, father Lamy, a Benedictine, ii\ bis book " De la
connoissance de soim6me," cited some passages out of
this author's " Recherche de la verity," as favourable to that
party ; upon this, Malebranche thought' proper to defend
himself in this book, by shewing in what sense it may be
said, without clashing with the authority of the church or
reason, that the love of God is disinterested. In 1708, he
published his " Entretiens d'un philosophe Chretien, &
d'un philosophe Chinois sur Pexistence & la nature de
Dieu :" or, " Dialogues between a Christian philosopher
and a Chinese philosopher, upon the' existence and nature
of God." The bishop of Rozalie having remarked some
conformity between the opinions of the Chinese, and the
notions laid down in the " Recherche de la Verit6," men-
tioned k to the author, who on that account thought him-
self obliged to write this tract. Malebranche wrote many
other pieces besides what we have mentioned, all tending
some way or other to conBrm his main system established
in the u Recherche," and to clear it from the objections
which were brought against it, or from the consequences
which were deduced from it : and, if he has not attained
what he aimed at in these several productions, he has cer-
tainly shewn great ingenuity and abilities.1
MALELAS, orMALALAS (John), of Antioch, a so-
phistf who was a teacher of rhetoric, and a member pf the
church of Antioch, is supposed to have lived about the
year 900, though some authors have been inclined to place
him earlier. He is a writer of little value, and abounds in
words of a barbarous Greek. He must not be confounded
with John of Antioch, another historian of the same place,
who was a monk. We have a chronicle written by Malehts,
" l Geo. Diet— Niceroo, vol. IL— Brucker.— Reid's Essays,—- Keel's Cyclo-
juedia. '
it* M A L E L A S.
which expends from the creation to the reign of Justinian*
but is imperfect. His history was published by Edward
Chilmead at Oxford, in 1691, in 8vo» from a manuscript
in the Bodleian library ; and republished among the By«-
zantine historians, as a kind pf appendix, at Venice, 19
1733. The Oxford edition contains an interpretation and
notep by Cbiliqead, with three indexes, one of events, a
second of authors, a third of barbarous words. Prefixed is
a discourse concerning thfe author, by Humphrey Hody;
and an epistle is subjoined from Benttey to jkfill, with an
index of author? who are there amended.1
MALEbHERBES (Chkistian-Wiluam j>b Lahqjwi-
KON), born a*. Paris, Dec. 16, 1721, was son of the tita*-
cellor of France, William de Lamoignpn, a descendant of
mi illustrious family. He received his early education, at
the Jesuits' college, and having studied law and political
economy, he was appointed a counsellor in {he parlia-
ment of Paris, and in December 1750 be succeeded bid
father as president of the "court of aids/' the duties of
which w^re to regulate the public taxes. The soperkv
tendance of the press bad been conferred upon Mftlesherbea
J>y bis' father, at the same time that he received the presi-
dentship of the court of aids; ai>d tt^is function be exer*
cise4 with unusual lenity, promoting rather tb^u, cheeking
those waitings to which the subsequent iqiseciet of hip
ponntry have been attributed. His biographer clashes it
MWfig bis great merits that " to his care. an4. befiewlent
$xertion.s France is indebted for the Encyclopedia, the
york? of Rousseau, and many other productions, which
he sheltered from proscription ;". and both Vpl$aire and
P'Alembeft acknowledged the obligation, and seem, in
.their letters to hint that his partiality was entirely on their
side In this view of the subject, Ma|qsherbea must he
considered as in some degree instrumental in preparing
the way for tha£ revolution which bus been the pregnant
§ource of so many calamities. " • »
In 1771, when the government had dissolved the whole
legal constitution, and banished the parliaments, Males*
herbes was banished to his country-seat by a; " Lettrq de
cqpbet," and the duke de Richelieu, at tbe head of a#
. armed force, abolished the court of aids. During his, re-
tirement, Malesherbes's time was occupied with bis family
1 Morerb— Gen. Diet— Saxii Ooonuurt.
\
».■ 1
MALESHERBES. 185
and his books, and the cultivation of big grounds. His
expenditure in public objects was large: he drained
marshes, cut canals, constructed roads, built bridges,
planted walks, and carried his attention to the comfort of
the lower, classes so far as to raise sheds on the sides of the
river for the shelter of the women at their domestic labours.
He was thus benevolently and usefully employed when
the accession of Lewis XVI* recalled him to a public sta-
tion, and in 1774 Malesherbes received an order to resume
the presidentship of the court of aids, on which occasion
he pronounced a very affecting and patriotic harangue,
£pd afterwards addressed the king in an eloquent speech of
thanks. His majesty was so well pleased with him, and
with the freedom of bis sentiments, that be appointed him
painister of state in June 1775, an office which gave Males*
herbes an opportunity of extending his sphere of useful-
ness. One of his first concerto was to visit the prisons,
apd restore to liberty the innocent victims of former tyran-
ny, and his praises were carried throughout France by per-
sons of all descriptions returning to the bosoms of their
fsunilies from the gloom of dungeons. Although he failed
in his attempt to abolish the arbitrary power of issuing
lettres de cachet, he procured the appointment of a com*-
tRJjssion* composed of upright and enlightened magistrates^
to which every application for such letters should be sub*-
mitted, and whose unanimous decision should be requisite
for their validity. Malesherbes was also a great encoura*
ger of commerce and agriculture, in which he bad the car-
dial co-operation of the illustrious Turgot, at that period
the comptroller of the revenue^ but, owing to the rejection
of some important measures which his zeal for the public
good led him to propose, Malesherbes resigned in the
monjth of May 1776. To obtain an accurate view of the
manners and policy of other countries and foreign states*
he set out on his travels* and visited Switzerland ind HoL»
lap<}, and in the course of his journey he noted, down every
. pcc^rrence worthy of observation, and that might, here*
after* possibly be useful to himself, and promote the me»
Jiioration of his country. On his return, at the end of a
few years, he found his native country so much advanced
in what he thought philosophical principles, that be was
encouraged to present to the king two elaborate me*
moirs, one on the condition of the protestants, the other
ja %ot*r of the principles, of civil liberty, and tolera-
/
186 M A L ESHERBES,
tion in general. Difficulties, however, were now accu-
mutating in the management of the government, and
the king, in 1786, called Malesherbes to his councils, but
without appointing him to any particular post in the ad-
ministration. He soon found it impossible td act with the
men already possessed of the powers of government, and
expressed bis opinion in two energetic memoirs " On
the Calamities of France, and the means of repairing
them ;" but it does not appear that these ever reached
his majesty, nor could Malesherbes obtain a private inter-
view ; he therefore took his final leave of the court, and
retreated to his country residence, determined to consult
the best means of serving his country by agricultural pur-
suits. In 1790 he published " An Essay on the means of
accelerating the progress of Rural Economy in France,'* in
which he proposed an establishment to facilitate the na-
tional improvement in this important point. In this tran-
quil state he was passing the evening of his days when the
horrors of the* revolution brought him again to Paris.
During the whole of its progress, he had his eyes con-
stantly fixed on his unhappy sovereign; and, subduing his
natural fondness for retirement, went regularly to court
every Sunday, to give him proofs of his respect and attach*
ment. He imposed it as a duty on himself to give the
ministers regular information of the designs of the regicide
. faction ; and when it was determined to bring the king to
trial, he voluntarily offered to be the defender of his master,
in his memorable letter of Dec. 11, 1792, that etefnal
monument of his loyalty and affection. Three counsel
had already been appointed, but one having from pruden-
tial motives, declined the office, the king, »ho wept at
this proof of attachment from his old servant, immediately
■ominated Malesherbes in his stead. Their interview was
extremely affecting, and his majesty, during the short in-
terval before his death, shewed every mark of affection
for, and confidence in, his generous advocate. Males-
herbes was the person who announced to him his cruel
doom, and was one of the last who took leave of him pre-
viously to his execution. After that catastrophe he again
withdrew to his retreat, and with a deeply- wounded heart,
refused to hear any thing of what was acting among the
blood-thirsty Parisians. As he was one morning working
in his garden, be observed four savage-looking wretches
directing their course to his house, and hastening home,
MALESHERBES. 187
be found tbem to be officers from the revolutionary tribu-
nal come to arrest his daughter and her husband, who had
formerly been president erf the parliament pf Paris. The
separation of these persons from his family was deeply af-
flicting to his heart, and it is probable that his own arrest
shortly after was a relief to his feelings. He had long been
esteemed as father of the village in which he lived, and
the rustic inhabitants crowded round to take leave of their
ancient benefactor with tears and benedictions. Four of
the municipality accompanied him to Paris, that he might
not be escorted by soldiers like a criminal. He was shut
up in prison with bis unfortunate. family ; and in a few days
the guillotine separated his son-in-law Lepelletier from his
wife ; and the accusation of Malesherbes with his daughter
and grand-daughter, " for a conspiracy against the liberties
of the people," was followed, as a matter of course, by a.
sentence of death. The real erime, as it was basely deno-
minated, of this excellent man and worthy patriot, and
which the convention never pardoned, was his defence of
the king, an act in which he gloried to the latest hour of
his existence. He probably thought it an honour to die
by the same ruffian hands that had spilt the blood of his
.master. The condemnation of the females almost over-
came the manly fortitude which he displayed in every per-
sonal suffering; bis courage, however, returned at the
prison, and tbey prepared for the death which was the last
and only important event that they had to encounter. His
daughter had exhibited the noble spirit with which she was
inspired, for upon taking leave of mademoiselle Sombreuii,
who had saved her father's life on the second of Septem-
ber, she said to her, u You have had the happiness to pre-
serve your father, I shall have the consolation of dying
with mine" On the fatal day Malesherbes left the prison
with a serene countenance, and happening to stumble
against a stone, he said with much pleasantry, " a Roman
would have thought this an unlucky omen, and walked back
again.99 Thus perished the venerable Malesherbes in April
1794, when he had attained to the age of seventy-two years
four months and fifteen days. His character may be in
part deduced from the. preceding narrative, but is more
fully displayed in his life translated by Mr. Man gin. The
subsequent government has since made some reparation for
-the injustice done him, by ordering bis bust to be placed
18* MALEZIEU. .
among those of the great na£n who haVe reflected honour
upon their country. * ■ .,
MALEZIEU (Nicolas de), a French author, a man df
extensive and almost universal learning, was born at Parts
in 1650. By. Bossuet, and the duke of Montausier, who
knew his merit, he was appointed preceptor to the duke of
Maine ; and the public in general approved the choice. In
1696 Malezieu was chosen to instruct the duke of Bur-
gundy in mathematics. In 1699 he became a member of
the academy of sciences, and in two years after of the
French academy. The duke of Maine rewarded his cans
of him by appointing bim the chief of his council, and
chancellor of Dombes. Under the regency of the duke of
Orleaus he was involved in the disgrace which fell upon
the duke his pupil, and was imprisoned for two years*
He had an excellent constitution, which, aided by regu-
larity, conducted him nearly to the close of life without
any indisposition. He died of an apoplexy on March
4,1727, at the age of seventy-seven. Notwithstanding
the vast extent of bis learning, and many occupations
which required great attention, he bad an easy and un-
embarrassed air ; his conversation was lively and agreeabW,
and his ntanners polite and attentive. He published, t.
" Elements of Geometry, for the duke of Burgundy/' 17 L5*
8vo, being the substance of the instructions delivered by
him to that prince. 2. Several pieces in verse, songs, &o.
published at Trevoux about 1712. 3. There has also been
attributed to him a farce in one act, entitled, " Policb*-
nelle demandant une place a l'Academie." He had, among
other talents, that of translating the Greek authors into
French, particularly the tragic writers, in a style of har-
mony and energy of verse, wbieh approached as nearly,
perhaps, as any thing in his language could do* to the
excellence of the originals. *
MALHERBE (Francis de), a celebrated French poet,
has always been considered by his countrymen as the father
of their poetry; since, upon his appearance, all their
former poets fell into disgrace. Bayle looks upon btifras
one of the first and greatest masters, who formed the taste
and judgment of that nation in matters relating to polite
literature. Balzac says, that the French poetry before
l Life translated by Mr. Mangin.— Gleig^s Supplement to the Encyctoo. Bfk.
-*Reetb Cyclopedia; » Mdreri.— Diet. Hist.
. *■
MALHERBE. 189
Malherbe was perfectly gothic; but Boilean, a better
judge, ha» pronounced that be was the first in France who
taught tbe muse harmonious numbers, a just cadence,
purity of language, regularity of composition, and order ;
in short, who laid down all those rules for writing which
future poets were to follow, if they hoped to succeed.
The poetical works of Malherbe, though divided into six
books, yet make but a small volume. They consist of
paraphrases upon the Psalms, odes, sonnets, and epigrams :
and they were published in several forms, to 1666, when
a very complete edition of them came out at Paris, with
tbe notes and observation? of Menage. Malherbe was
certainly the first who gave his countrymen any idea of a
legitimate ode, though his own have hardly any thing but
harmony to recommend them. He also translated some
works of Seneca, and some books of Li vy ; and if be was
not successful in translation, yet he had the happiness to
be very well satisfied with his labour. His principal busi-
ness was to criticize upon the French language ; in which
be was so well skilled, that some of his friends desired him
one day to make a grammar for the tongue. Malherbe
•replied, u that there was no occasion for him to take that
pains, for they might read bis translation of the thirty-
third* book of Livy, and he would have them write after
* that manner.'*
' Malherbe was born at Caen, about 1555, of an ancient
a«d illustrious family, who had formerly borne arms in
England, under Robert duke of Normandy. He lived to
be old ; and, about 1601, be became known to Henry the
Great, firom a very advantageous mention of him to that-
prince by cardinal du Perron. The king asked the car-
dinal2 one day, ""if he had made any more verses ?" To
which the cardinal replied, that " he had totally laid aside
ail such amusements since his majesty bad done him the
honour to take him into his service ; and added, that every
body must now throw away their pens for ever, since a
gentleman of Normandy, named Malherbe, had carried
the French poetry to such a height, as none could hope to
. reach." About four years after, he was called to court, and
enrolled among the pensioners of that monarch. After
the death of Henry, queen Mary of Medicis became his
patroness, and settled upon him a -very handsome pension.
This he enjoyed to the time of his death, which happened
at Paris in 1628. It was the misfortune of this poet, that
l«o MALHERBE,
be had no great share in the affection of cardinal Richelieu*
It was discovered, that, instead of taking more than or-
dinary pains/ as he shonld have done, to celebrate the
glory of that great minister, he bad only patched together
old soraps, which he bad found among his papers. This
was not the way to please a person of so haughty a spirit ;
and therefore be received this homage from Malfaerbe very
coldly, and not without disgust " I learned from M, Ra-
can," says Menage, " that Malberbe wrote those two
stanzas above thirty years before Richelieu, to whom he
addressed them, was made a cardinal ; and that be changed:
only the four first verses of the first stanza, to accommo-
date them to his subject. I learned also from the same
Racan, that cardinal Richelieu knew that these verses had
nqt been made for him." His apparent indolence upon such
an occasion was probably owing to that extreme difficulty
with which he always wrote. Ail writers speak of the time
and labour it cost Malberbe to produce his poems*
This poet was a man of a very singular humour ; and many
anecdotes are related of his peculiarities, by Racan, his
friend and the writer of his life. A gentleman of the law,
and of some distinction, brought him one day some indif-
ferent commendatory verses on a lady ; telling him at the
same time, that some very particular considerations had in*
duced him to compose them. Malberbe having run them over
with a supercilious air, asked the gentleman bluntly, as
his manner was, " whether he had been sentenced to be
hanged, or to make those verses ?" His manner of punish-
ing his servant was likewise characteristic, and partook
not a little of the caprice of Swift. Besides twenty crowns
a year, he allowed this servant ten-pence a day board
wages, which in those times was very considerable ; when,
therefore he had done any thing amiss, Malherbe would
very gravely say : " My friend, an offence against your
master is an offence against God, and must ■ be expiated
by prayer, fasting, and giving of alms ; wherefore I shall
i\ow retrench five-pence out of your allowance, and give
them to the poor on your account." From other accounts,
it may be inferred that his impiety was at least equal to bis
wit. When the poor used to promise him that they would
pray to God for him, he answered them, that " he did not
believe they could have any great interest in heaven, since
they were left in so bad a condition upon earth ; and that
be should be better pleased if the duke de JLuyne, or some
MALHERBE. 191
other favourite, had made him the same promise.'9 He
would often say, that " the religion of gentlemen was that
of their prince.'* During his test sickness he was with
great difficulty persuaded to confess to a priest ; for which
he gave this reason, that " he never used to confess but at
Easter." And some few moments before his death, when,
he had been in a lethargy two hours, he awaked on a sud-
den to reprove his landlady, who waited on him, for using
a word that was not good French ; saying to his confessor,
who reprimanded him for it, that " he could not help it,
and that he would defend the purity of the French language
to tbe last moment of his life." '
MALINGRE (Claude), Sieur of St. Lazaje, a French
historian, more known for the number, than esteemed for
the value of his books, was a native of Sens. In spite of
every artifice to sell his histories, publishing the same un-
der different titles, filling them with flatteries to the reign-
ing princes, and other arts, it was with great difficulty
that he could force any of them into circulation. It was
not only that his style was low and flat, but that his repre-
sentation of facts was equally incorrect. Latterly his name
was sufficient to condemn a book, and he only put bis ini-
tials, and those transposed. He died in lf>55. His best
work is said to be, " Histoire des dignit6s honoraires de
France," 8vo, on which some dependence is placed, be-
cause there he cites his authorities. He wrote also, 2.
" L'histoire generate des derniers troubles ;" comprising
the times of Henry III. and Louis XIII. in 4to. 3. " His-
toire d$ Louis XIII." 4to, a miserable collection of facts
disguised by flattery, and . extending only from 1610 to
1614. 4. " Histoire de la naissance et des progres de
l'Heresie de oe siecle," 3 vols. 4to, the first of which is
by father Richeomd. 5. " A Continuation of the Roman
History, from Constantine to Ferdinand the Third," 2 vols,
folio ; a compilation which ought to contain the substance
of Gibbon's History, but offers little that is worthy of at-
tention.- 6. " The Annals and Antiquities of Paris," 2
vols, folio. . There is another work of this kind by a P. du «
BreuU which is much more esteemed ; this, however, is
consulted sometimes as a testimony of the state of Paris in
the time of the author/ ,
1 Gteo. Diet. — Niceron, vol, VI L— Afore*?.— Bullart's Academie des Sciences, '
vol. II.
» Niceroii, vol. XXJCJV^Moreri.-^Dict Hist.
192 MALLET.
MALLET (David), a poet and miscellaneous writer, it
said to bare descended from the Macgregors, a clan wbicfer
became in the early part of the last century, under the
conduct of one Robin Roy, so formidable for violence and
robbery, that the name was annulled by a legal prohibit
tion ; and when they were all to denominate themselves*
anew, the father, as is supposed, of our author called him-
self Ma! loch. This father, James Mai loch, kept a public-
house at Crieff, co. Perth, in Seotland, where David was
born, probably about 1700. Of his early years we have
but scanty and discordant memorials, some accounts placing
him at first in a menial situation in the university of Edin-
burgh; others informing us that he was educated at the
university of Aberdeen. The latter seems most probable,
as he wrote and even printed some lines on the repairfe of
that university, in which he could not have been interested*
had he not studied there for some time. That he after-
wards went to Edinburgh is not improbable, and it is al-
most certain that be had in some way distinguished himself
at that university, for when the duke of Montrose applied
to the professors for a tutor to educate his sons, they re-
commended Malloch ; a mark of their high opinion of
him ; and the office was of importance enongh to have ex-
cited the wishes of many candidates, there being no surer
step to future advancement.
After making the usual tour of Europe with the duke's
sons, be returned with them to London, and by the influ-
ence of the family, in which he resided, easily gained ad*
mission to many persons of the highest rank, to wits,
nobles, and statesmen. '< By degrees,99 says Dr. Johnson,
" having cleared his tongue from his native pronunciation,
so as to be no longer distinguished as a Scot, be seems in-
clined to disencumber himself from all adherences of his
original, and took upon him to change his name from
Scotch Malloch to English Mallet, without any imaginable
reason of preference which the eye or ear can discover:
What other proofs he gave of disrespect to bis native"
country, I know not; but it was remarked of bim that be
was the only Scot whom Scotchmen did not commend."
It seems unreasonable, however, to impute this change! of
name to disrespect for his country ; with his countrymen
many of his most intimate connections were formed, and
his friendship for Thomson is one of the most agreeable
parts of bis history ; and almost the last character he
MALLET. 193
sustained was that of an intrepid advocate for lord Bute, and
what were then called the Scotch junto who ruled the king
and kingdom. As to Scotchmen not commending him, he
had at least one adherent in Smollet, who engaged him to
write in the Critical Review, where all Mallet's works am
highly praised, particularly his " Elvira." The late com*
mentator, George Steevens, esq. bit upon the truth more
exactly, when he wrote in a copy of Gascoigne's Works,
purchased in 1766, at Mallet's sale, " that be was the only
Scotchman who died, in his memory, unlamented by an
individual of bis own nation." Steevens probably made
this remark to Johnson, who forgot the precise terms. The
first time we meet with the name of David Mallet is in
1726, in a list of the subscribers to Savage's Miscellanies.
Mallet's first production in England was the celebrated
and affecting ballad of " William and Margaret," which
was printed in. Aaron Hill's " Plain Dealer," No. 36, July
14, 1724, and which in its original state was very different
from what it is in the last editions of his works. Of this,
says Dr. Johnson, he has been envied the reputation ; and
plagiarism has been boldly charged, but never proved.
In 1728 he published " The Excursion," a poem in two
cantos, containing a desultory view of such scenes of na«
ture as his fancy or his knowledge led him to describe, and
which is not devoid of poetical spirit, and in respect to
diction is a close imitation of Thomson, whose " Seasons*'
were then in their full blossom of reputation.
in 1731 his first tragedy,* called " Eurydice*" was per*
forafed at Drury-lane, and very unfavourably received;
nor. when revived thirty years after, and supported by Gar-*
rick and Mrs. Cibber, could the town endure it with pa*
tience. On ibis last occasion Davies informs us that the
author would not take the blame upon himself; " he sat
in the orchestra, and bestowed bis execrations plentifully
upon the players, to whom he attributed the cold recep*
turn of his tragedy." About this time we find him an in*
mate in Mr. Knight's family at Gosfield, probably as tutor
to Mn Newsham, Mrs. Knight's son by her first husband*
Her third was the late earl Nugent. We shall soon have
occasion to quote a very remarkable passage from a letter
of Pope's to this lady, respecting Mallet
Soon after the exhibition of " Eurydice," Mr. Mallet
published his poem on " Verbal Criticism," a subject
which he either did not understand, or willingly misrepre*
Vol. XXI. O
194 MALLET.
sented *. "There is in this poem," says Dr. Johnson, " more
pertness than wit, and more confidence than knowledge*
The versification is tolerable, nor can criticism allow it »
higher praise." It was written to pay court to Pope, who'
soon after introduced him, we may add, " in an evil hour"
to lord Bolingbroke. The ruin of Pope's reputation might
have been dated from this hour, if the joint malignity of
Bolingbroke and Mallet could have effected it. Mallet
was now in the way to promotion. When the prince of
Wales, at variance with his father, placed himself at the
head of the opposition, and kept a separate court, he en-
deavoured to increase his popularity by the patronage of
literature; and Mallet being recommended to him, his royal
highness appointed him his under-secretary, with a salary
of 200/. a year.
While in this employment, he published in 1739, " Mus*
taphfe" a tragedy, dedicated to his royal patron. Thom-
son's " Edward and Eleonora" had been excluded the
*
stage, because the licenser discovered in it a formidable
attack on the minister, yet Mallet's " Mustapha," which
was thought, and was no doubt intended, to glance both
at the king and sir Robert Walpole, in the characters of
Solyman the Magnificent, and Rustan his visier, was al-
lowed to be acted, and was acted with great applause.
•The language of this tragedy is more easy and natural than
that of " Eurydice," but its success was much owing to
its political allusions. On the first night of its exhibition*
, the heads of the opposition were all assembled, and many
speeches were applied by the audience to the supposed
grievances of the times, and to persons and characters.
In the following year, Thomson and Mallet were com-
manded by the prince of Wales to write the masque of
V Alfred," in honour of the birth-day of lady Augusta, bis
eldest daughter (the late duchess of Brunswick), which was
twice acted in the gardens of Clifden by some of the Lon-
don performers. After the death of Thomson in 1748,
Mallet re-wrote the Masque of Alfred, under the influence
and by the encouragement of, lord Bolingbroke; and with
* Wart on says he wrote this poem names as the Scaligers, Salmasinses,
to gratify Pope, by abusing Bentley, Heiiwiuses, Burmans, Gronoviuses*
which, he adds, " is stuffed with i Hi be- Retskiuses, Marklands, Gesners, and
rat cant about pedantry, and- collators Heynes."— Essay on Pope, vol* II. p.
of manuscripts. Real scholars will 231, edit. 1806.
always speak with due regard of such
MALLET. 19*
the assistance of music and gorgeous scenery, it was acted
with some, but no great success.
In 1747 Mallet published his "Hermit, or Amyntor
and Theodora,9' a poem in which Dr. Johnson allows that
there is copiousness and elegance of language (which in-
deed appear in most of Mallet's works), vigour of sentiment,
and imagery well adapted to take possession of the fancy.
It abounds also with many excellent moral precepts, which
receive weight and energy from the sanction of religion, a
foundation on which Mallet did not always build. Drr
Warton was much censured for saying in his " Essay on
the Life and Writings of Pope," that " the nauseous affec-
tation of expressing every thing pompously and poetically,
is nowhere more visible than in a poem lately published,
called Amyntor and Theodora;" but Warton was not a
rash critic, and retained the sentence in the subsequent
editions of his " Essay."
Not long after this, Mallet was employed by lord Bo*
lingbroke in an office which he executed with all the malig-
nity that bis employer could wish. This was no other than
to defame the character of Pope*— Pope, who by leaving
the whole of his MSS to lord Bolingbroke, had made him
in some respect the guardian of his character — Pope, on
whose death -bed lord Bolingbroke looking earnestly down,
repeated several times, interrupted with sobs, " O great
God, what is man? I never knew a person that had so
tender a heart for his particular friends, or a warmer be-
nevolence for all mankind !" who certainly had idolized this
nobleman throughout his whole life, and who adhered to
his lordship's cause through all the vicissitudes of popular
odium and exile. What could have induced Bolingbroke
to the gpplice of degrading Pope's character, and the cow-
ardice of employing a hireling to do it ? T|ie simple fact
is, that after Pope's death it was thought to be discovered
that be had privately printed 1500 copies of one of lord
Bolingbroke's works, "The Patriot King," the perusal of
which his lordship wished to be confined to a select few.
This offence, which Mallet only could have traced to a bkd
motive, if fairly examined, will probably seem dispropor-
tioned to the rage and resentment of Bolingbroke. A very
acute examiner of evidence (Mr. D' Israeli) has therefore
imputed that to the preference with which Pope had dis-
tinguished Warburton, and is of opinion that Warburton,
much more than Pope, was the real object. Between
o 2
196 MALLET.
Bolingbroke and Warburton there was, it is well known,
a secret jealousy, which at length appeared in mutual and
undisguised contempt But much of this narrative belongs
rather to them than to Mallet, who could feel no resent-
ment, could plead no provocation. On the contrary, he
had every inducement to reflect with tenderness on the
memory and friendship of Pope, who speaks of him, in a
letter we have already alluded to, in the following terms :
'< To prove to you how little essential to friendship I hold
letter-writing — I have not yet written to Mr. Mallet, whom
I love and esteem greatly, nay whom / knew to have as
tender a heart) and tYnx feels a friendly remembrance as long
as any man" Such was the man who gladly undertook
what Bolingbroke was ashamed to perform, and in a pre*
face to the " Patriot King" misrepresented the conduct of
Pope in language the most malignant and contemptuous**
That he had an eye to his own interest in all this, it
would be a miserable affectation of liberality to doubt. No
other motive can account for his conduct, and this conduct
will be foi/nd to correspond with *his general character.
Bolingbroke accordingly rewarded him by bequeathing to
him all his writings published and unpublished, and Mallet
immediately began to prepare them for the press. His
conduct at the very outset of this business affords another
illustration of bis character, franc kl in, the printer, to
whom many of the political pieces written during the op-
position to Walpole, had been given, as he supposed, in
perpetuity, laid claim to some compensation for those.
Mallet allowed his claim, and the question was referred to
arbitrators, who were empowered to decide upon it, by
an instrument signed by the parties ; but when they de-
cided unfavourably to Mr. Mallet, he refused to yield to
the decision, and the printer was thus deprived of the be-
nefit of the award, by not having insisted upon bonds of
arbitration, to which Mallet bad objected as degrading to
a man of honour/ He then proceeded, with the help of
Millar, the bookseller, to publish all be could find ; and
so sanguine was he in his expectations, that he rejected
the offer of 3000/. which Millar offered him for the copy*
right, although he was at this time so distressed for money
that he was forced to borrow some of Millar to pay the sta-
■ ¥
* After all that has been said on this of the "Patriot King," as we shall
subject, Ralph AUeu, and not Pope, have occasion to notice hereafter*
Has the person who pirated the edition
MALLET. 197
tioner and printer. Tbe work at last appeared, in 5 vols.
4to, and Mallet had soon reason to repent bis refusal of
tbe bookseller's offer, as this edition was not sold off in
twenty years. As these volumes contained many bold at-
tacks on revealed religion, they brought much obloquy on
the editor, and even a presentment was made of them by
tbe grand-jury of Westminster. His memory, however,
will be thought to suffer yet more by his next appearance
in print ' When the nation was exasperated by the ill suc-
cess of the war, and the ministry wished to divert public
indignation from themselves, Mallet was employed to turn
it upon admiral Byng< In this be entered as heartily as,
into the defamation of Pope, and wrote a letter of accusa-
tion under the character of a " Plain Man," a large sheet,
which was circulated with great industry, and probably
was found to answer its purpose. The price of blood, on
this occasion, was a pensiou which he retained till his
death.
From this time (1757) until 1763, we hear nothing of
Mr. Mallet, except a dedication of his poems to tbe late
duke of Marlborough, in which he promises himself
speedily tbe honour of dedicating to him the life of his
illustrious predecessor. The cause of this promise is ano-
ther of those charges which have been brought against
Mallet, and which it will be difficult to repelL When the
celebrated John duke of Marlborough died, it was deter*
mined, that the history of his life should be transmitted to
posterity, and the papers supposed to contain the neces-
sary information were delivered to lord Molesworth, who
had been his favourite in Flanders. When Molesworth
died, the same papers were transferred with the same de-
sign to sir Richard Steele, who in some of his exigences
put them to pawn. They then remained with the old
doofaessf who in her will assigned tbe task to Mr, Glover,
the author of " Leonidas," and Mr. Mallet, with a reward
of 1000/. and a curious prohibition against inserting any
verses. There were other prohibitions and conditions,
however, which induced Glover, a man of spirit and vir-
tue, to decline the legacy. Mallet had no such scruples,
and besides the legacy, bad a pension from the late duke
of Marlborough to quicken his industry. He then began,
and continued to talk much and often of the progress he
had made, but on bis death, not a scrap could be disco-
vered of the history.
198 MALLET.
In the political disputes which commenced at the be-
ginning of the present reign, Mallet espoused the cause
of his countryman lord Bute, and is said to have written
his tragedy of " Elvira," with a view to serve his lordship.
This play was performed at Drury-lane in 1763 ; its ob-
ject was to recommend pacific sentiments, but the public
was dissatisfied with the late peace, and " Elvira,9' though
well performed, was easily rendered unpopular by the op*
ponents of the ministry. Dayies gives us an amusing
anecdote of his tricking Garrick into the performance of
this piece, by making him believe that he had introduced
the mention of him in his life of Marlborough, a bait
which Mallet's principles suggested, and which Garrick's
vanity readily swallowed. Garrick got little by the play,
but Mallet was rewarded with the office of keeping the
book of entries for ships in the port of London.
Towards the end of his life, Mallet went with his wife
to France, but after a while finding his health declining,
returned alone to'England, and died April 21, 1765. He
was twice married. Of his first wife we find no mention,
but by her he had several children. One daughter, who
married an Italian of rank, named Cilesia, wrote a tragedy
called " Almida," which was acted at Drury-lane. This
lady died at Genoa in 1790. His second wife, whom he
married in October 1742, was miss Lucy Elstob, daughter
to lord Carlisle's steward. She had a fortune of 10,000/.
all of which she took care to settle upon herself; but she
was equally careful that Mallet should appear like a gen*
tleman of distinction, and from her great kindness, always
chose herself to purchase every thing that be wore, and to
let her friends know that she did so. This lady's senti-
ments were congenial to those of her husband, who was
a professed free-thinker. Tbey kept a good table (at
which Gibbon appears to have been frequently a guest),
and the lady, proud of her opinions, would often, we are
told, in the warmth of argument, say, " Sir, wc deists" .
Mr. Mallet's stature, says Dr. Johnson, " was diminutive,
but he was regularly formed. His appearance, till he
grew corpulent, was agreeable, and he suffered it to want
no recommendation that dress could give it„ His conver-
sation was elegant, and easy." Of his character in other
respects, it would be unnecessary to add any thing to the
preceding facts. As- a writer he cannot be placed in any
high class, nor is there any species of composition in whicj}
MALLET. 19§
lie is eminent ; yet his poetry surely entitles him to a place
in every collection of English bards. In his poems as well
as his prose compositions, elegance of style predominates,
and he appears to have written with ease. His " Life of
Lord Bacon/' prefixed to an edition of that illustrious phi-
losopher's works in 1740, has been censured as touching
too little on the philosophical part of the character. The
writing it, however, was probably a matter of necessity
rather than choice, and while be could not afford to refuse
the employment, he was too conscious of bis inability to
attempt any other than what he has accomplished, an ele-
gant narrative of the events of lord Bacon's life. Of Mal-
let's works, prose and verse, aa edition was published in
1769, 3 vols, small 8vo.*
MALLET (Edmund), was one of the writers iu the
French Encyclopedie, and one of those whose articles are
the most valuable in that work. They are chiefly on the
subjects of divinity and belles lettres, and if only men as
sound and judicious as the abb6 Mallet had been employed,
that publication would have proved as useful as it has been
found pernicious. He was born at Melun in 1713, and
educated at the college of the Barnabites' at Montargis.
He was afterwards engaged as tutor in the family of a far-
mer general. In 1742 he was admitted into the faculty of
theology at Paris, and was employed on a cure near his
native town till 1751, when he was invited to be professor
of divinity in the college of Navarre. The more he was
known, the more his merits were perceived; and the charge
of Jansenism, which had been circulated against him, was
gradually cleared away. Boyer, then bishop of Mirepoix,
as a testimony of his regard, presented him to a canonry
of Verdun. He died at Paris in 1755. Besides his share
in the Encyclopedic, he wrote several works on the prin-
ciples of poetry and eloquence. His style is neat, easy,
and unaffected ; and he has great skill in developing the
merits of good writers, and illustrating his precepts by the
most apposite examples from their works. He published
also a history of the civil wars of France, under the reigns
1 Johnson's Poets. — Davies's Life of Garrick, vol. II. p. 27 — 60, 280.—
Bowles's edition of Pope.— Ruffhead's Life of Pope, 4to edit. p. 414. — Swift's'
Works, rol. XIX.— Boswell's Tour and Life of Johnson. — Sheffield's Life of
Gibson, vol. I. p. 111. 422. — D'Israeli's Quarrels of Authors, vol. I.-— Genlle-
saafi's Magazine ; see Index.
SO* MALLET.
of Fnuigois II. Charles IX. &c. translated from the Italian
of D'Avila, and published at Amsterdam in 3 vols. 4to.1
MALLET (James). See DU PAN.
MALLET (Paul Henry), a learned historian and anti-
quary, first professor of history in his native city, was born
at Geneva in 1730, became afterwards professor royal of
the belies lettres at Copenhagen, a member of the acade-
mies of Upsal, Lyons, Cassel, and of the Celtique aca-
demy of Paris. Of his life no account has yet appeared.
He joined an extensive acquaintance with history and ge-
neral literature to great natural talents. The amenity of
his disposition caused his company to be much sought,
while his solid qualities procured him friends who deeply
regretted his loss. The troubles of Geneva during the first
revolutionary war deprived him of the greatest part of his
fortune; and he was indebted, for the moderate compe-
tence he retained, to pensions from the duke of Brunswick
and the landgrave of Hesse ; but the events of the late war
deprived him of both those pennons. The French govern*
ment is said to have designed him a recompense, but this
was prevented by his death, at Geneva, Feb. 8, 1807. His
works were: 1. " Histoire de Danemarck," to the eigh-
teenth century, the best edition of which is that of 1787.
2. A translation of Coxe's " Travels," with remarks and
addition*, and a relation of bis own Travels in Sweden, 2
vols. 4 to. 3. Translation of the Acta and form of the
Swedish government, 12mo. 4. "Histoire de Hesse/' to
the seventeenth century, 3 vols. 8vo. 5. " Histoire de la
maisoti de Brunswick," to its accession to the throne of
Great Britain, 3 vols. 8vo. 6. " Histoire des Suisses,"
from the earliest times to the commencement of the late
revolution, Geneva, 1803, 4 vols. 8vo. 7. " Histoire de la
Ligne Anseatique," from its origin to its decline, 1 305, 2
vols. 8vo. He had discovered at Rome the chronological
series of Icelandic bishops, which bad been lost in Den-
mark. It is published in the third volume of Langebeck's
collection of Danish writers. The late Dr. Percy, bishop
of Dromore, has made us acquainted with professor Mal-
let's merit as an antiquary by his excellent translation en-
titled " Northern Antiquities; or a Description of the
manners, customs, religion, aud laws, of the ancient
Danes, and other northern nations ; including those of our
v.
-i Moreri,— -Diet Hist.— Preface to the Sixth Vol. of the Eftcyclopedie.
MALLET.
201
own Saxon ancestors. With a translation of the Edda, or
system of Runic mythology, and other pieces from the
ancient Islandic Tongue. Translated from M. Mallet's
Introduction k l'Histoire de Danemarck," &c. 1770, 2 vols.
$vo. To this Dr. Percy has added many valuable and cu-
rious notes, and Goranson's Latin version of the " Edda."
It was very justly said, at the time, by the Monthly Re-
viewer, that Or. Percy bad, in this instance, given a trans*
latioa more valuable than the original.1
MALLINKROTT (Bernard), dean of the cathedral of
Munster, and celebrated for his inquiries into typographi-
cal antiquities, was certainly a learned man, but very tur-
bulent and ambitious. Hence it happened that he was
named to two bishoprics without taking possession of either,
and that he died in prison for his opposition to another
prelate. The emperor Ferdinand I. appointed him to the
bishopric of Ratzebourg, and he was, a few days after,
elected to the see of Minden. But his ambition was to be
bishop of Munster, and not succeeding, in 1650, he in-
trigued and raised seditions against the bishop who had
succeeded, till in 1655, he was degraded from his dignity
of dean. Nor yet warned, he continued his machinations,
and in 1657, the bishop bad bim arrested and confined in
the castle of Otteinzheim. Here he continued till his
death, which happened suddenly, March 7, 1664. He
wrote in Latin, 1. "De nAtura et nsu Literarum," Mun-
ster, 1638, 4to, 2. " De ortu et progressu artis Typogra-
phies," Cologne, 1639, 4to, and since reprinted in Wolfs
collection of " Monumenta Typographical' vol. I. 1740.
3. " De Archicancellariis S. R. imperii," Munster, 1640,
4to. 4. " Paralipomenon de Historicis Gracis," Cologne,
1656, 4to.«
MALMSBURY (William of), an ancient English his-
torian, who flourished in the twelfth century, was born in
Somersetshire, and, on that account, as Bale and Pits in-*
.form us, was called Somersetanus. When a child, he him-
self says, he discovered a fondness for learning, which was
encouraged by his parents, and increased with his years.
Some have supposed Oxford to have been the place of his
ediication* He became, however, a monk of Malmsbury,
and it reflects no small honour on his fraternity, that they
» Diet Hwt— AthtMeum, vol. II.
* Niceron, roi. XXX— Lif« by Stnmat, prafiied to kit editioa of the " Dt
Arohicancellariif, &c."
f 02 M A L M S B U R Y.
elected him their librarian. He had studied several
sciences, as they could then be acquired, logic, physic,
and ethics, but history appears to have been his favourite
pursuit. After studying that of countries abroad, he be-
gan to inquire into the memorable transactions of his own
nation ; but not finding any satisfactory history already
written, he resolved, as he says, to write one, not to dis-
play his learning, " which is no great matter, but to bring
to light things that are covered with the rubbish of anti-
quity." This resolution produced his valuable work " De
regibus Anglorum," a general history of England in five
books, from the arrival of the Saxons, in the year 449 to
the 26 Henry I. in 1126; and a modern history, in two
books, from that year to the escape of the empress Maud
out of Oxford in 1143; with a church history of England
iu four books, published in sir H. Savile's collection, 1596.
His merits as a historian have been justly displayed and
recommended by lord Lyttelton in his " History of Henry
II." In all his works (the Latin style of which is more
pure than that of any of his contemporaries), he discovers
great diligence, much good sense, and a sacred regard to
truth, accompanied with uncommon modesty. He says
that he can scarcely expect the applause of his contempo-
raries, but he hopes that when both favour and malevo-
lence are dead, he shall obtain from posterity the charac-
ter of an industrious, though not of an eloquent historian.
Besides what we have mentioned, Gale has printed his
" Antiquities of Glastonbury,9* aud Wharton his " Life of
St Adhelm." But his abilities were not confined to prose.
He wrote many pieces of Latin poetry ; and it is remark-
able, says Warton, that almost all the professed prose
writers of this age made experiments in verse. William of
Malmsbufy died in that abbey in 1143.1
MA LONE (Edmond), a gentleman of great literary
research, and one of the ablest commentators on Shaks-
peare, was descended from an Irish family of the highest
antiquity, an account of which may be found in the se-
venth volume of ArcbdalPs Peerage of Ireland, which, it
is believed, was drawn up by Mr. Malone himself. All his
immediate predecessors were distinguished men. His
grandfather) while only a student at the Temple, was en-
i Nicolson's Enelish Hist. Library.— Henry's Hist of Gr. Britain, vol. VI. p.
136 .— Leland. — Bale, and Pits.— Wharton's Aoglia Sacra.— Warton' s History
of Poetry.
MALONE. . SOS
i
v *
trusted with a negotiation in Holland ; and so successfully
acquitted himself, that be was honoured and rewarded by
king William for his services. Having been called to the
Irish bar about 1 700, he became one of the most Eminent
barristers that have ever appeared in that country. His
professional fame has only been eclipsed by that of his
eldest son, the still more celebrated Anthony Malone, who
as a lawyer, an orator, and an able and upright statesman,
was confessedly one of the most illustrious men that his
country has produced. Edmond, the second son of Richard,
and the father of the late Mr. Malone, was born on the
16th of April, 170*. He was called to the English bar in
1730, where he continued for ten years to practise; and,
in 1740, removed to the Irish bar. After having sat in
several parliaments, and gone through the usual gradation*
of professional rank, he was raised, in 1766, to the dig-
nity of one of the judges of the court of common pleas in
Ireland, an office which he filled till his death in 1774.
He married, in 1736, Catherine, only daughter and heir
of Benjamin Collier, esq. of Ruckholts, in the county of
Essex, by whom he had four sons, Richard, now lord Sun*
derlin ; Edmond, the subject of our present memoir ; An-
thony and Benjamin, who died in their infancy ; and two
daughters, Henrietta and Catherine.
Edmond Malone was born at his father's house in Dub-
lin, on the 4th of October, 1741. He was educated at
the school of Dr. Ford, in Molesworth-street ; and went
from thence, in 1756, to the university of Dublin, where
he took the degree of batchelor of arts. Here his talents
very early displayed themselves ; and he was distinguished
by a successful competition for academical honours with
several young men, who afterwards became the ornaments
of the Irish senate and bar. It appears that at his outset
he had laid down to himself those rules of study to which
he ever afterwards steadily adhered. When sitting down
to the perusal of any work, either ancient or modern, his
attention was drawn to its chronology, the history and cha-
racter of its author, the feelings and prejudices of the times
in which he lived ; and any other collateral information
which might tend to illustrate his writings, or acquaint us
with his probable views, and cast of thinking. In later
years he was more particularly engrossed by the literature
of his own country ; but the knowledge he had acquired in
(lis youth had been too assiduously Collected, and to*
*Q# HALONE.
firmly fixed in his mind, not to retain possession of his
memory, and preserve that purity and elegance of taste
which is rarely to be met with but in those who have early
derived it from the models of classical antiquity. He ap-
pears frequently at this period, in common with some of
his accomplished contemporaries, to hate amused himself
with slight poetical compositions ; and on the marriage of
their present majesties contributed an ode to the collection
of congratulatory verses which issued on that event from
the university of Dublin. In 1763 he became a student in
the Inner Temple ; and in 1767 was called to the Irish bar,
and, at his first appearance in the courts, he gave every
promise of future eminence. But an independent fortune
having soon after devolved upon him, he felt himself at
liberty to retire from the bar, and devote his whole atten-
tion in future to literary pursuits, for which purpose be
soon after settled in London, and resided there with very
little intermission for the remainder of his life. Among
the many eminent men with whom he became early ac-
quainted, he was naturally drawn by the enthusiastic ad-
miration which he felt for Shakspeare, and the attention
which he bad already paid to the elucidation of his works,
into a particularly intimate intercourse with Mr. Steevenst
The just views which he himself had formed led him to
recognize in the system of criticism and illustration which
that gentleman then adopted, the only means by which a
correct exhibition of our great poet could be obtained.
Mr. Steevens was gratified to find {hat one so well ac-
quainted with the subject entertained that high estimation
of his labours which Mr. Malone expressed; and very soon
discovered the advantage he might derive from the com*
munications of a mind so richly stored. Mr. Malone was
ready and liberal in imparting his knowledge, which, on
the other part, was most gratefully received.
Mr. Steevens having published a second edition' of bis
Shakspeare, in 177S, Mr. Malone, in 1780, added two
supplementary volumes, which contained some addi-
tional notes, Shakspeare's poems, and seven plays which
have been ascribed to him. There appears up to this
time to have been no interruption to their friendship ; but*
on the contrary, Mr. Steevens, having formed a design of
relinquishing all future editorial labours, most liberally
made a present to Mr. Malone of bis valuable collection of
old plays, declaring that he himself was now become " a-
M A L O N E. 20S
dowager commentator." It is painful to think that this
harmony should ever have been disturbed, or that any thing
should have created any variance between two such men,
who were so well qualified to co-operate for the benefit of
the literary world. Mr. Malone,, having continued his re-
searches into all the topics which might serve to illustrate
our great dramatist, discovered, that although much had
been done, yet that much still remained for critical indus-
try ; and that a still more accurate collation of the early
copies than had hitherto taken place was necessary towards
a correct and faithful exhibition of the author's text. His
materials accumulated so fast, that he determined to ap-
pear before the world as an editor in form. From that mo-
ment he seepis to have been regarded with jealousy by the
elder commentator, who appears to have sought an oppor-
tunity for a rupture, which be soon afterwards found, or
rather created. But it is necessary to go back for a mo-
ment, to point out another of Mr. Malone* s productions.
There are few events in literary history more extraordinary
in all its circumstances than the publication of the poems
attributed to Rowley. Mr. Malone was firmly convinced
that the whole was a fabrication by Cbatterton ; and, to
support his opinion, published one of the earliest pam-
phlets which appeared in the course of this singular con-
troversy. By exhibiting a series of specimens from early
English writers, both prior and posterior to the period in
which this .supposed poet was represented to have lived, he
proved that his style bore no resemblance to genuine an-
tiquity; and by stripping Rowley of his antique garb,
which was easily done by the substitution of modern syno-
nymous .words in the places of those obsolete expressions
which are sprinkled throughout these compositions, and al
the same time intermingling some archaeological phrases in
the acknowledged productions of Cbatterton, he clearly
showed that they were all of the same character, and
equally bore evident marks of modern versification, and a
modern structure of language. He was followed by Mr.
Warton and Mr. Tyrwhitt, in his second Appendix ; and
the controversy was soon at an end. While Mn Malone
was engaged in his Shakspeare, he received from Mr.
Steevens a request of a most extraordinary nature* In a
third edition of Johnson and Steevena's Shakspeare, which
had been published under, the superintendance of Mr.
Reed, in 1785, Mr. Malone had contributed some notes
*0G MALONE.
in which Mr. Steevens' s opinions were occasionally con*
troverted. These he was now desired to retain in his new
.edition, exactly as they stood before, in order that Mr. S,
might answer them. Mr. Malone replied, that he could
make no such promise ; thatbe must feel himself at liberty
to correct his observations, where they were erroneous ;
to enlarge them, where they were defective ; and even to
expunge them altogether, where, upon further considera-
tion, he was convinced they were wrong ; in short, he was
bound to present his work to the public as perfect a& he
could make it. But he added, that he was willing to trans-
mit every note of that description in its last state to Mr.
Steevens, before it went to press ; that he might auswer it
if he pleased; and that Mr. Malone would even preclude
himself from the privilege of replying. Mr. Steevens per-
sisted in requiring that they should appear with all their im-
perfections on their head ; and on this being refused, de-
clared that all communication on the subject of Shakspeare
was at an end between them*. In 1790, Mr. Malone' s
edition at last appeared ; and was sought after and read
with the greatest avidity. It is unnecessary to point out
its merits ; the public opinion upon it has been long pro-
nounced. It cannot indeed be strictly said that it met
with universal approbation. Mr. Ritson appeared against
it in an angry and scurrilous pamphlet, replete with mis-
representations so gross, and so easy of detection, though
calculated to mislead a careless reader, that Mr. Malone
thought it worth his while to point them out in, a letter
which he published, addressed to his friend Dr. Farmer.
Poor Ritson, however, has not been the only one who has
attempted to persuade the world that they have been mis-
taken in Mr. Malone's character as a critic. Mr. Home
Tooke in particular, who, whatever were his talents as a
grammarian, or his knowledge as an Anglo-Saxon, had by
no means an extensive acquaintance with the literature of
Shakspeare's age, has mentioned Mr. Malone and Dr.
Johnson with equal contempt, and immediately after pro-
ceeds to sneer at Mr. Tyrwhitt. It may readily be sup-
pqsed that Mr. Malone would not feel very acutely the
satire which associated hjm with such companions. But,
to counterbalance these puny hostilities, his work gained
* These particulars are collected from the correspondence which pissed
between them, which Mr. Malone preserved.
M A L O N E. 20?
i
the highest testimonies of applause from all who were besl
qualified to judge upon the subject, and from men whose
approbation any one would be proud to obtain. Dr. J.
Warton, in a most friendly letter, which accompanied a cu-
rious volume of old English poetry which had belonged to
his brother Thomas, and which he presented to Mr. Ma-
lone as the person for whom its former possessor felt the
highest esteem and the most cordial regard, observes to
him that his edition is by far, very far, the best that had
ever appeared. Professor Porson, who, as every one who
knew him can testify, was by no means in the habit of be-
stowing hasty or thoughtless praise, declared to Mr. Ma*
lone's biographer, that he considered the Essay on the
three parts of Henry the Sixth as one of the most convin-
cing pieces of criticism that he bad ever read ; nor was
Mr. Burke less liberal in his praises.
Having concluded his laborious work, Mr. Malone paid
a visit to his friends in Ireland ; but soon after returned to
his usual occupations in London. Amidst his own numer-
ous and pressing avocations be was not inattentive to the
calls of friendship. In 1791 appeared Mr. BoswelPs Life
of Dr. Johnson, a work in which Mr. Malone felt at all
times a very lively interest, and gave every assistance to
its author during its progress which it was in his power to
bestow. . His acquaintance with this gentleman commenced
in 17,85, when, happening accidentally at Mr. Baldwin's
printing-house to be shewn a sheet of the Tour to the He-
brides, which contained Johnson's character, he was so
much struck with the spirit and fidelity of the portrait,
that, he requested to be introduced to its writer. From
this period a friendship took place between them, which
ripened into the strictest and most cordial intimacy, and
lasted without interruption as long as Mr. Boswell lived.
After his death, in 1795, Mr. Malone continued to -show
every mark of affectionate attention towards his family ;
and in every successive edition of Johnson's Life took
the most unwearied pains to render it as much as possible
correct and perfect. He illustrated it with many notes
of his own, and procured many valuable communica-
tions from his friends, among whom its readers will readily
distinguish Mr. Bindley. Any account of Mr. Malone
would be imperfect which omitted to mention his long in-
timacy with that gentleman, who. is not so remarkable as
the possessor of one of the most valuable libraries in this
SOS MALONE.
country, as he is for the accurate and extensive informa-
tion which enables him to use it, and the benevolent po-
liteness with which be is always willing to impart his know-
ledge to others. There was no one whom Mr. Malone
more cordially loved.
In 1795 he was again called forth to display his zeal in
defence of Shakspeare, against the contemptible fabrica-
tions with which the Irelands endeavoured to delude the
public. Although this imposture, unlike the Rowleian
poems, which were performances of extraordinary genius,
exhibited about the same proportion of talent as it did of
honesty, yet some persons of no small name were hastily
led into a belief of its authenticity. Mr. Malone saw '
through the falsehood of the whole from its commence-
ment; and laid bare the fraud, in a pamphlet, which was
written in the form of a letter to his friend lord Cbarle-
inont, a nobleman with whom he lived on the most intimate
footing, and maintained a constant correspondence. It
has been thought by some that the labour which he be*
stowed upon this performance was more than commensurate
with the importance of the subject ; and it is true that a
slighter effort would have been sufficient to have over-*
thrown this wretched fabrication; but we have reason to
rejoice that Mr. Malone was led into a fuller discussion
than was bis intention at the outset ; we owe to it a work
which, for acute ness of reasoning, and the curious and in*
teresting view which it presents of English literature, will
retain its value long after the trash which it was designed
to expose shall have been consigned to oblivion. Mr. Ma-
lone, in 1792, had the misfortune to lose his admirable
friend sir Joshua Reynolds, and bis executors, of whom
Mr. Malone had the honour to be one, having determined
in 1797 to give the world a complete collection of his
works, he superintended the publication, and prefixed to
ip a very pleasing biographical sketch of their author. Al-
though his attention was still principally directed to Shak-
speare, and be was gradually accumulating a most valuable
mass of materials for a new edition of that poet, he found
time to do justice to another. He drew together, from
various sources, the prose works of Pryden, which, as
they had lain scattered about, and some of thorn appended
to works which were little known, had never impressed
the general reader with that opinion of their excellence
which they deserved; and published them in 1800. The
MALONE. 20*
narrative which he prefixed is a most important accession
to biography. By active inquiry, and industrious and
acute research, he ascertained many particulars of his life
and character that had been supposed to be irrecoverably
lost, and detected the falsehood of many a traditionary tale
that bad been carelessly repeated by former writers. In
1808 he prepared for the press a few productions of his
friend, the celebrated William Gerard Hamilton, with
which he had been entrusted by his executors ; and pre-
fixed to this also a brief but elegant sketch of his life. In
1811 his country was deprived of Mr. Windham. Mr.
Malone, who equally admired and loved him, drew up a
short memorial of his amiable and illustrious friend, which
originally appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine; and
was afterwards, in an enlarged <and corrected state, printed
in a small pamphlet, and privately distributed. But the
kind biographer was too soon to want " the generous tear
he paid." A gradual decay appears to have undermined
his constitution ; and when he was just on the point of
going to the press with his new edition of Shakspeare, he
was interrupted by an illness, which proved fatal ; and, to
the irreparable loss of all who knew him, he died on the
25th of May, 1812, in the 70th year of his age. In his
last illness he was soothed by the tender and unremitting
attentions of his brother, lord Sunderiin, and his youngest
sister ; the eldest, from her own weak state of health, was
debarred from this melancholy consolation. He left no
directions about his funeral; but his brother, who was
anxious, with affectionate solicitude, to execute every wish
he had formed, having inferred from something that dropt
from him, that it was his desire to be buried among his
ancestors in Ireland, his remains were conveyed to that
country, and interred at the family seat of Baronston, in
the county of Wiestmeath.
Mr. Malone, in his person, was rather under the middle
size. The urbanity of his temper, and the kindness of his
disposition, were depictured in his mild and placid coun-
tenance. His manners were peculiarly engaging. Accus-
tomed from his earliest years to the society of those who
were distinguished for their rank or talent, he was at all
times and in all companies easy, unembarrassed, and un-
assuming. It was impossible to meet him, even in the
most casual intercourse, without recognizing the genuine
Vol. XXL. P
210 M A L O N E.
and unaffected politeness of the gentleman born and bred*
His conversation was in a high degree entertaining and in-
structive; his knowledge was various and accurate* and
his mode of displaying it void of all vanity or pretension.
Though he had little relish. for noisy convivial merriment,
his habits were social, and his cheerfulness uniform and
unclouded. As a scholar, he was liberally communicative.
Attached, from principle and conviction, to the constitu-
tion of his country in church and state, which his intimate
acquaintance with its history taught him how to value, he
was a loyal subject, a sincere Christian, and a true son of
the Church of England. His heart was warm, and his
benevolence active. His charity was prompt, but judicious
and discriminating ; not carried away by every idle or fic-
titious tale of distress, but anxious to ascertain the nature
and source of real calamity, and indefatigable in his efforts
to relieve it. His purse and his time were at all times
ready to remove the sufferings, and promote the welfare of
others, and as a friend he was warm and steady in his at-
tachments. l
MALOUIN (Paul James), an eminent French chemist
and physician, was born at Caen in 1701, and was the son
of a counsellor, who sent him, when of a proper age, to
study law at Paris. Young Malouin, however, as soon as
he arrived there, without ever informing bis father, began
the study of medicine, and pursued it with such success
as well as secrecy, that on his return home in 1730, his
father, whom he had always satisfied in every respect as
to moral conduct, expenses, &c. and who expected to see
him return as a licentiate in law, was astonished to find
him a doctor of medicine, but was obliged at the. same
time to yield to a choice which indicated so much zeal
and decision. Nor was this a new profession in the family,
his uncle and grandfather having both been physicians,.
After remaining at home about three years, he went again
to Paris, and assisted Geoffroi in his chemical lectures,
and would probably have succeeded him had he been on
the spot when he died; but it was not until 1767 that he
was appointed in the room of Astruc, who was the imme-
1 From a " Biographical Memoir of the late Edmond M alone, esq." written
by James Boswelf, esq, of ihe Middle Temple, originally for the Gentleman'*
Magazine, but afterwards enlarged and reprinted for private distribution among
the friends of Mr. Malone. To Mr. Boswell we acknowledge our obligations
for a copy of this last edition of a vtry interesting and affectionate biographical
tribute, - - '
9
M A L O U I N.
211
diate successor of Geoffiroi. At Paris, where be got into
practice, it lay much among literary men, whom he found
generally very incredulous in the virtues of medicine.
Malouin, who was a perfect enthusiast in his art, had
many contests with them on this account. When a certain
great philosopher had been cured by taking Malouin's pre-
scriptions for a considerable time, and came to acknow-
ledge the obligation, Malouin embraced him and ex-*
claimed, " you deserve to be sick." (Vous etes digne d'etre
maladej. He could not, however, bear those who, after
being cured, indulged their pleasantries at the expence of
the faculty, and he broke off his acquaintance with an
eminent writer, who had been his patient, on this account.
On another occasion, when one of these wits with whom
he had had a warm dispute about his favourite art, and
had quarrelled, fell ill, Malouin sought hinf out, and
his first address was, " I know you are ill, and, that your
case has been improperly treated ; I am now come to visit
you, although I hate you ; but I Will cure you, and after
that never see your face more,'* and he kept his word in aUL
these points. This was, however, in him pure enthusiasm,
without any mixture of quackery. His liberal conduct and
talents were universally acknowledged, and he filled with
great reputation the honourable offices of professor of me-
dicine in the college of Paris, and physician in ordinary to
the queen. He was also a member of the academy of
sciences, and of our royal society. His love of medicine
did not binder him from paying equal attention to preven-
tatives, and he was distinguished for a habit of strict tem-
perance, which preserved his health and spirits to the ad-
vanced age of seventy-seven, without any of its infirmities.
His death was at last occasioned by a stroke of apoplexy,
which happened Dec. 31, 1777. He left a legacy to the
faculty on condition of their assembling once a year, and
giving an account of their labours and discoveries. His
principal works were, 1. "Traite* de Chimie," 1734, 12mo.
2. " Chimie medicinale," 1755, 2 vols. 12 mo, a work in
a very elegant style, and including many valuable obser- .
vations. He wrote also several articles in the dictionary
" Des arts et metiers," published by the academy of
sciences, and the chemical part of the u Encyclopedic" [
1 Eloges d«s Academiciens, ro\* II.— Diet. Hist.
P 2
212 M-ALPIGHI.
MALPIGHI (Marcellus), an Italian physician and
anatomist, was born March 10, 162$, at Crevalcuore, near
Bologna, in Italy, where he was taught Latin and studied
philosophy. In 1649, losing his parents, and being obliged
to choose his own method of life, he determined to apply
himself to physic. The university of Bologna was then
supplied with very learned professors in that science, par-
ticularly Bartholomew Massari, and Andrew Mariano, under
whose instructions Malpighi in a short time made great
progress in physic and anatomy. 'After he had finished
the usual course, he wasadmitted doctor of physic, April 6,
1653. In 1655 Massari died, a loss which Malpighi
severely felt, as independent of his esteem for him as a
master, he had become more nearly related to him by mar-
rying his sifter. In 1656, the senate of Bologna gave him
a professorship, which he did not long hold ; for the same
year the grand duke of Tuscany invited him to Pisa, to be
professor of physic there. Here he contracted a strict
friendship with Borelli, whom he subsequently owned for
his master in philosophy, and to whom he ascribed all the
discoveries which he afterwards made. They dissected
animals together, and it was in this employment that ha
found the heart to consist of spiral fibres; a discovery,
which has been ascribed to Borelli in his posthumous works.
The air of Pisa not agreeing with Malpighi, he continued
there but three years: and, in 1659, returned to Bologna
to resume his former posts, notwithstanding the advan-
tageous offers which were made him to stay at Pisa. In
1662 he was sent for to Messina, in order to succeed Peter
Castello, first professor of physic, who was just dead. It
was with reluctance that he went thither, though the sti-
pend was great ; and although he was prevailed on at last
by his friend Borelli, to accept it; yet in 1666 he returned
to Bologna. In 1669 he was elected a member of the
royal society of London, with which he ever after kept a
correspondence by letters, and communicated his disco-
veries in anatomy. Cardinal Pignatelli, who had known
him while he was legate at Bologna, being chosen pope in
1691, under the name of Innocent XII. immediately sent
for him to Rome, and appointed him his physician. In
1694 he was admitted into the academy of the Arcadians
3t Rome. July the 25th, of the same year, he had a fit, which
struck half his body with a paralysis ; and, November the
29th following, he had another, of which he died the same
\
M A L P I G H I. 21S
day, iu bis 67 th y$*r« His remains were embalmed, and
conveyed to Bologna, where they were interred with great
funeral honours in the church of St. Gregory, and a statuq
was erected to bis memory. Malpighi is described as a
man of a serious au4 melancholy temperament, which is
confirmed by his portrait in the meeting-room of the royal
society at Somerset-hovise. He was indefatigable in the
pursuit of knowledge, on the sure ground of experience
and observation, ever candid in his acknowledgments tp
those who bad given him any information, and devoid of.
all ostentation or pretension on the score of his own merits.
He ranks very high amoqg the philosophers of the physio-
logical age in which he lived, when nature began to be
studied instead of books, and the dreams of the schools.
Hence arose the discoveries of the circulation of the blood,
the absorbent system of the animal body, and the true
theory of generation. To spch improvements the investi-
gations of Malpighi, relative to the anatomy and trans-
formation of insects, particularly the silk- worm, and the
developetnent of the chick in the egg, lent no small aid.
From these inquiries he wps led to the anatomy and physio-
logy of plants, in which he is altogether an original, as
well as a very profound, observer* His line of study was
the sarpe as that of Grew, but these philosophers laboured
independent of each other, and their frequent coincidence
evinces the accuracy of both.
The first work which he published in 1661, and which
was afterwards frequently reprinted, comprised his micro-
scopical observations relative to the intimate structure of
the lungs, and was entitled " Observations Anatomicae de
Pulmooibus," fol. He published separate tracts concerning
the brain, the tongue, the external organ of touch, the
omentum, throat, and the adipose ducts, between the years
1661 and 1665 ; and subsequently, other tracts, respecting
the structure of the viscera, the kidneys, spleen, liver,
membranes of the brain, &c.
In 1669, when he became a fellow of our royal society,
his essay " de formatione pulli in ovo" was first printed, in
London, in quarto, as well as his remarks on the " Bombyx"
or silk-worm, and " De Glandulis conglobatis," forming his
three " Dissertationes Epistolicae." His " Anatome Plan-
terum," addressed to the royal society, accompanied by
observations on the incubation of the egg, was published
by that learned body in folio, with »any plates, in 1675
tU M A L P I G H I.
and 1 679. His works were republished at London in 1 686,
making two folio volumes; and more correctly at Amster-
dam, in 1687, 4to, and a posthumous volume appeared
here, accompanied with an account of his life, in 1697, of
which a re-impression was given at Venice, and another at
Leyden, the ensuing year. Some other dissertations are
to be found in the " Bibliotheca Anatomica," published by
Le Clerc and Manget at Geneva in 1685; especially MDe
Cornuum Vegetatione," " DeUtero et Viviparorum Avis;"
and " Epistol© quaedam circa illam de ovo dissertatio-
nem." His only medical work, " Consultationum Medi-
cinalium Centuria prima," was edited by Gaspari, in
1713, 4to, Patau. He is not, indeed, distinguished as a
practitioner, but he deserves praise for pointing out the
mischiefs of blood-letting, in the malignant epidemics
prevalent in Italy in his time. Aft edition of the whole of
his works was printed at Venice, in 1733, in folio, by
Gavinelli. l
1VJALUS (Stephen Louis), a distinguished mathema-
tician, philosopher, and military engineer, was born at
Paris July 23, 1775. His first education was principally
directed to classical and polite literature, pnd at seventeen
years of age he composed a tragedy in five acts, called
" The Death of Cato." These pursuits, however, did not
prevent him from a study apparently not very compatible,
that of the mathematics ; for at the above age he passed an
examination which gained him admittance into the school
of engineers. After having distinguished himself there by
his genius for analysis, he was about to leave it in quality
of officer of military engineers, but was rejected on politi-
cal grounds, and as this repulse deprived him of all hope
of promotion there, he repaired to the army in the north,
where he was incorporated in the 1 5th battalion of Paris,
and was employed as a common soldier in the fortifications
of Dunkirk. The officer of engineers, who superintended
those works, perceiving that Mai us was deserving of a
better station, represented his merits to the government,
and he was recalled and sent to the Polytechnic school,
where he was soon appointed to the analytic course in the
absence of M. Monge. Being now re-established in his
1 Life prefixed to his "Opera Postharoa," Lond. 1 697.— Reel's Cyclopaedia,
t— Fabroni Vitae Italorura, vol. III. — Niceron, vol. IV. — Ward's Gresham Pro-
fessor*, p. 320.— Thomson's Hist of the Royal Society.— Eloy, Diet. Hist, de fa
M4dj«inq,
/
M A L U S, 215
former rank at the date of his first nomination, he suc-
ceeded almost immediately to that of captain, and was em-
ployed at the school at Metz as professor of mathematics.
It was at this period (1797), that his military career
commenced, and in the army of the Sambre and Meuse
be was present at the passage of the Rhine. The same
year he formed an attachment to the lady who afterwards
became his wife. She was the daughter of the chancellor
of the university of Giessen ; but honour and duty pre-
vented him from then realising bis wishes. He was ob-
liged to embark for Egypt, and assisted at the battles of
Chebreis, and of the Pyramid?. He was chosen member
of the Institute of Cairo, but his life was too active and
busy to allow him to indulge his taste for , the sciences.
One only occasion presented itself, of which be knew how
to take advantage. In a reconnoitre on which he was or-
dered along, with M. Lef£vre, engineer of bridges and
causeways, he had the satisfaction to discover £ branch of
the Nile, hitherto unknown to travellers, and to draw a
description and map of a country wh/ere no Frenchman had
penetrated since the crusades; and the memoir which he
wrote on this subject forms part of the first volume of " La,
Decade Egyptienne." But it was as a military engineer
that he principally distinguished himself during this me?
morable expedition, particularly during the dangers of all
kinds which attended him in Syria, and at the siege of
Ei-Harisch, and Jaffa, where he filled the office of en-
gineer* After the capture of this town, he received or-
ders to repair the fortifications, and to establish military
hospitals- Here he was attacked by the plague, of which
he had the good fortune to cure himself without any fo-
reign assistance. Scarcely recovered, he hastened to Da-
mietta on business, and from thence marched against the
Turks who had landed at Lisbech ; and was present at the
battle of Heliopolis and Coraim, and at the siege of Cairo.
After other movements, which will be found in the history
of that expedition, he embarked at Aboukir, and arrived
in France in Oct. 1801.
; Although exhausted by so many fatigues, and by the
dreadftj diseases which had undermined his constitution,
he did not neglect his promise to his mistress, but married
her soon after his arrival, and their union, though short,
was happy. About the time of his marriage, Mai us gained
new celebrity by a work in which he treated all the opti-i
216 M A L U S.
cal questions which depend on geometry, and in which he
expounded and calculated all the phenomena of reflection
and refraction, and followed the ray of light through all its
various courses. This production called the attention of
the learned to the phenomenon of double refraction^ which
had occupied Huygens and Newton ; atod hopes were en-
tertained of obtaining an explanation of a fact which had
defied the penetration of the greatest geniuses. The In-
stitute of France made it the subject of a prize, which
Malus gained, and shewed that to the analytical knowledge
of which he bad given proofs in his first work, he coukl
unite the patience, the skill, and the sagacity, which con-*
stitute a great philosopher* By very nice experiments he
discovered a remarkable and totally unknown property of
light, that is, the resemblance between the loadstone and
a particle of light, the latter of which he found to acquire
polarity and a determined direction. This success opened
the doors of the Institute to him, where be supplied the
place of a philosopher whose name had been immortalized
by a brilliant discovery (Montgolfier).
Malus was a member of the legion of honour, and under
director of the fortifications at Antwerp in 1 804 ; under-
director of the barracks in the department of the 'Seine, in
1809 ; member of the committee of fortifications, and ma-
jor of engineers, in 1810. In 1811 he was second in com-
mand, director of the studies of the Polytechnic school, in
which he performed for several years, to the satisfaction of
the directors and pupils, the arduous duties of examiner.
These various occupations did not prevent him from conti-
nuing the ingenious experiments on which his fame was to
be chiefly founded, and which procured him the Copley
medal from our royal society.
The activity of Malus was equal to so many different
pursuits. Though he carried in his habit the seeds of that
severe illness which was so soon to terminate his life,
scarcely a week elapsed without his submitting to the Insti-
tute new fruits of his researches -, and his name being at-
tached to the phenomenon of polarised light, which he
discovered, all future discoveries of this kind must recall
the remembrance of the philosopher who first opened this
hew road, and who, if he had lived, would have probably
completed the theory of light. He died February 24th,
1812, in the thirty-seventh year of his age, a loss which
cannot be sufficiently deplored, as his learning, his genius,
MALUS, J17
and indefatigable industry, afforded every hope that
length of years would have added to his discoveries, and
extended the boundaries of science. His discovery of the
polarisation of light by oblique reflection is perhaps the
most important that optics has received since the discovery
of the achromatic telescope.1
MALVENDA (Thomas), a learned Dominican, born
hi 1566, at Xativa, taught philosophy and divinity with
great reputation in his order. Baronius, hearing of his
abilities, persuaded his general to send for him to Rome,
that he might have the benefit of his advice. Malvenda
accordingly gbve Baronius great assistance, and was em-
ployed, at the same time, to correct all the ecclesiastical
books of his order, which he did with much accuracy. He
died May 7, 1628, at Valencia in Spain, aged sixty-three.
His most esteemed works are, a treatise " De Anti-Christo,"
the best edition of which is that of Valencia, 1621, folio ;
*' A new Version of the Hebrew Text of the Bible, with
Notes," Lyons, 1650, 5 vols, folio; "Annales Ordinis
Praedicatorum," Naples, 1627, folio.*
MALVEZZI (Virgil), commonly called the marquis
Malvezzi, an Italian writer of eminence, was bom of a
noble family at Bologna, in 1599. After having finished
his classical and philosophical studies, he applied to the
law, and became a doctor in that faculty in 1616, although
not quite seventeen years of age. After this he cultivated
other sciences, and spent some time and pains upon phy-
sic, mathematics, and divinity. He even did not neglect
astrology ; in favour of which he always entertained high
prejudices, although he affected- outwardly to despise it.
Music and painting were also among the arts in which he
exercised himself for his amusement. He afterwards be-
came a soldier, and served under the duke Feria, governor
of the Milanese. Philip the Fourth of Spain employed
him in several affairs, and admitted him into his council
of war. Letters, however, occupied a good part of his
time, -and he was membqjr of the academy of the G^lati at
Bologna. He was the author of several works in Spanish
and Italian : among the latter were, i6 Discourses upon
the first book of Tacitus's Annals," which he composed at
the age of twenty-three, and dedicated to Ferdinand II.
1 Notice historique par M. le Chevalier Delambre, read at the Institute of
France, Jan. 3, 1814 ', and obligingly communicated by Dr. Kelly of Fiusbury-
Square. 2 Dupiu.— -Moreri.
**
u.
* &r*~
M A N A R A. M\
as presents to his friends ; but in poetry be reached the
highest degree of merit, and seemed to have well availed
himself of those favourable circumstances which the spirit
of the age had introduced. The abb£ Frugoni was then
ene of the most conspicuous leaders of the new poetical
band ; and having fixed his residence at Parma, he natu-
rally became, in that small metropolis, the head of a school,
in which, by exploding the' frequent antitheses, the infla-
tion of style, the wantonness of conceits, and the gigantic
strains of imagination, he introduced an easy, regular,
descriptive, vsentimental, and elegant poesy, and what was
more remarkable, gave to blank verse a strength and har-
mony till then unknown. Mr. Manara, although a pro-
fessed admirer of Frugoni and his disciples, did not choose
to be of their number as far as regarded their enthusiasm,
imagery, rapidity of thoughts, and luxury of versification.
He was conscious that his own poetical fire was like his
temper, endowed with gentleness and sensibility ; and with
this spirit wrote those elegant eclogues, which soon proved
rivals to the pastoral songs of the celebrated Pompei ; and
in the opinion of the best judges, united the flowing style
of Virgil with the graces of Anacrfcon. His sonnets, too,
though not numerous, might be put in competition with
those of Petrarch.
During his retreat also, he wrote his very excellent trans-
lation of the Bucolics of Virgil, which was thought to dis-
play taste, elocution, harmony, and such an happy sub-
stitution of the Italian for the Latin graces, as to give it
the double appearance of a faithful translation and an ori-
ginal composition. It rapidly went through several editions,
and raised the name of the author to the firtt rank among
his contemporaries in the art of poetry.
In 1749, and the thirty- fifth year of his age, Manara
was called to town by his sovereign, and the place to which
he was appointed, the first he bad filled at court, was ad-
mirably adapted to his temper. No sooner had the high-
Spirited Infant Don Philip become the pacific possessor of
that principality, than he thought of reviving the languid
progress of scientific and literary pursuits ; and instituted
that famous academy of arts, which,, except those of Rome
and Bologna, was soofi accounted the best in Italy. He
bitaself was appointed academician and counsellor, invested
with a vote; and he greatly distinguished himself, as might
be expected, in the sessions -of the society, and in the
S29 M A N A R A«
annual speeches on the solemn distribution of its premiums
The first minister of state, marquis of Felin, a man of
great discernment and sagacity, was not long in perceiving
that Manara, by his uncommon abilities, was entitled to
higher honours and employments at court. Accordingly,
in 1760 be appointed him a chamberlain of the royal house,
and soon after, superintendant of the newly-projected high
road, through that lofty branch of the Apennines which
connects the Ligurian with the Parmesan dominions ; and
from that time be was gradually promoted to more con-
spicuous and important places. He succeeded the abb6
de Condillac in the education of the young Infant (bis late
royal highness) Ferdinand, and acquitted himself of this
task to the complete satisfaction of his friends and coun-
trymen. The amiable prince himself was so duly sensible
of his services in this respect that he rewarded him with
ah extraordinary pension for life, and with the eminent
dignity of first chamberlain of his royal family.
From 1767 to 1781 his farther advancements were so
rapid, that, we can only slightly glance at them. The ce-
lebrated Theatin Paciaudi being directed to new model the
university of Parma, he established it on the same plan as
that of Turin : he invested a committee of secular clergy*
men with the power of directing all moral and religious
concerns in it, and another committee of lay noblemen,
under the name of magistracy of reform, with that of su-
perintending all its temporal and economical transactions.
Manara was appointed one of these magistrates, with the
additional prerogative of being the exclusive director of
that branch of the establishment which was called the
royal college of noblemen, and in this double capacity he
answered the most sanguine expectations. In 1771 he
was appointed counsellor of state to his royal highness,
and in 1773 was sent ambassador to the court of Turin, for
the purpose of felicitating his late Sardinian majesty on
his accession to the crown.
It reflects no small honour on him, that during these
numerous occupations in the court and in the state, from
1749 to 1773, he wrote his masterly translation of the
Georgics of his favourite Latin poet. The great success
of bis former essays on the Bucolics, inspired him with the
design of some farther similar exertions of his powers ; but
he had no sooner written the first two books, than he was
trusted with a charge utterly incompatible with his literary
M A N A R A. MS
avocations, as it deprived him of any tolerable degree of
leisure; being in 1779 appointed tutor to the infant here-
ditary prince, don Luigi, the late king of Etruria. He
was not, however, suffered to remain long in this employ*
meat, being before the expiration of three years, appointed
minister of state, to which he acceded with great reluc-
tance, and at length bis age being too much advanced to
suffer him to continue, he solicited, and obtained from bis
sovereign permission to retire. His retreat was attended
by the warmest mark of good- will from the court, by all
the honours suitable to his station, and by an additional
pension.
Soon after his retreat from the ministry, v though he had
already reached the sixty-ninth year of his age, he thought
of bestowing his now uninterrupted leisure on the transla-
tion of the other two books of the Georgics, a performance
for which, owing to his past occupations, no hopes perhaps
were entertained by the public. This task he actually
performed with so much care, attention, and zeal, that
these last two books were decidedly better translated than
the two former ; a truth of which the respectable writer
himself was so convinced, that he carefully, revised, and
almost totally altered the preceding part of his work. This
uncommon zeal, however, was attended by a fatal conse-
quence; for being determined to copy, as he did, the
whole manuscript with his own hand, he fell into a giddi-
ness which prevented him from any literary labour during
the last days of his life, and scarcely left him the power of
perusing historical books and periodical works for the sake
.of amusement.
Although Manara never wrote any large work in prose,
his letters to his friends and relatives were considered as a
model of epistolary style. He must have kept up indeed
a large correspondence with his poetical contemporaries of
Italy, as it was his custom to shew his compositions previous
to publication, to the most intelligent persons, and to
listen with docility to their respective opinions. Canonici,
Mazza, Pagnini, and many others were of the number.
To the last mentioned poet, already celebrated as the
translator of Theocritus and Anacreon, he was indebted
for some valuable hints when about to publish his transla-
tion of the Georgics. The marquis Prosper Manara died
Oct. 13, 1800. All his poetical works, with his life by
Mr. Cerati, (from which the preceding account is abridged)
12* MANBY.
were published in the following year* 1801, in 4 elegant
little volumes, by the celebrated Bodoni.1
. MANBY (Peter), a Roman catholic writer, was the son
of lieutenant-colonel Manby, and after being educated at
the university of Dublin, became chaplain to Dr. Michael
Boyle, archbishop of Dublin, and at length dean of Derry.
During the reign of James II. in 1686, being disappointed
of a bishopric, which he had hopes of obtaining by means
of the lord primate, he attempted to rise by popish interest,
and publicly embraced that religion, in vindication of
which he wrote several books. But the revolution pre-
venting the accomplishment of his wishes, he removed to
France, and thence to England, and died at London in
1697. He wrote " A Letter to a Nonconformist minister,"
Lond. 1677, 4to. 2. " A brief and practical Discourse on
Abstinence in Lent," Dublin, 1682, 4to. 3. " Of Con-
fession to a lawful Priest/' &c. Lond. 1686, 4to. 4. "The
Considerations which obliged Peter Manby, Dean of Derry,
to embrace the Catholic religion. Dedicated to the Lord
Primate of Ireland," Dublin, 1687. This was ably an-
swered by Mr. William King, afterwards archbishop of
Dublin, and by. Dr. Clagett in England. Manby replied
to Mr. King, in "A reformed Catechism in two Dialogues,"
the first only of which appeared in 1687, and was answered
Jby King.*
MANCINELLI (Antonio), an Italian grammarian, poet,
and orator, was born atVelitri, in 1452. He taught clas-
sical learning in different parts of Italy with considerable
( success. He published in 1492 a poem ^entitled " Silva
vitae suae," or an account of his own life, which Meusche-
nius reprinted, in 1735, in the first volume of his collection,
entitled " Vitae summorum dignitate et eruditione viro-
rum." He was distinguished also by some other poems,
as "de Floribus, de Figuris, de Poetica virtute." 2. " Epi-
grams," published at Venice in 1 500, in 4to. 3. Notes upon
some of the classic authors. He died some time after
1506 ; but the story of his having his hands cut off, and
his tongue cut out, by order of the pope Alexander VI.
for having made -an insolent speech to him, and which was
related by Flaccius Illyricus, appears to be without foun-
dation. 3
1 Baldwin's Literary Journal, vol. II. * Harris's, edition of Ware.
3 Moreri.— Gen. Diet.— Niceron, vol. XXXVLH.
MANDEVILE. 823
MANDEVILE (Sir John), a celebrated English tra*
veller, was born at St. A 1 ban's, in the beginning of the
fourteenth century, of a family whose ancestor is said to
have come into England with William the Conqueror*
Leland, who calls this knight Magdovillanusy affirms that
he was a proficient in theology, natural philosophy, and
physic, before he left England, in 1322, to visit foreign
countries. He returned, after having been long reputed
dead, at the end of thirty-four years, when very few
people knew him ; and went afterwards to Liege, where
it seems he passed under the name of Joannes de Barbant,
and where he died, according to Vossius, who has recorded
the inscription on his tomb, Nov. 17, 1372. His design
seems to have been to commit to writing whatever he had
read, or heard, Or knew, concerning the places which he saw,
or has mentioned in his book. Agreeably to this plan, he
has described monsters from Pliny, copied miracles from le-
gends, and related, without quotation, stories from authors
who are now ranked among writers of romances and apo-
cryphal history, so that many or most of the falsehoods in
his work properly belong to antecedent relators, but who
were certainly considered as creditable authors at the time
he wrote.
Sir John Mandevile visited Tartary about half a century
after Marco Polo, who was there in 1272. In this interval
a true or fabulous account of that country, collected by a
cordelier, one Oderic D'Udin, who set out in 1318, and
returned in 1330, was published in Italian, by Guillaume
de Salanga, in the second volume of Ramusio, and in
Latin and English by Hakluyt. It is suspected that sir
John made too much use of this traveller's papers ; and it
is certain that the compilers of the " Histoire Generate
des Voyages" did not think our English knight's book so
original, or so worthy of credit, as to give any account of
it in their excellent collection. Sir John indeed honestly
acknowledges that his book was made partly of hearsay,
and partly of his own knowledge ; and he prefaces his most
improbable relations with some such words as these, thei
seyne, or men seyn9 but I have not sene it. His book, how-
ever, was submitted to the examination of the pope's
council, and it was published after that examination, with
the approbation of the pope, as Leland thinks, of Urban V,
Leland also affirms that sir John Mandevile had the repu-
tation of being a conscientious man, and that he had
Vol. XXI. Q
526 MAK BE V ILE.
religiously declined an honourable alliance to the Sol dan of
Egypt, whose daughter he might have espoused, if he
would have abjured Christianity, It is likewise very cer*
tain that many things in his book, which were looked upon
ds fabulous for a long time, have been since verified be-*
yond all doubt. We give up his m$n of 6 fry feet high,
but his hens that bore wool are at this day very well known,
under the name of Japan and silky fowls, &c. Upon the
whole, there does not appear to be any very good reason
why sir John Mandevile should not be believed in any
thing that he relates on his own observation. He was* as
may be easily credited, an extraordinary linguist, and
wrote his book in Latin, from which he translated it into
French, and from French into English, and into Italian ;
and Vossius says that he knows it to be in Belgic and Ger-
man. The English edition has the title of " The Voiyage
and Travaile of Sir John Maundevile, knight, which treateth
4>f the. way to Hierusalem, and marvayles of-Iude," &c
Lond. 1569, 4to, reprinted in 1684, same form, and again iu
1727, 8vo« AH these are in the British Museum, together
with, copies of the French, Spanish, Latin, and Italian.
Of the last there are two editions, printed at Venice in
1537 and 1567, both in 8vo. The original English MS,
is in the Cotton library. The English editions are the
most valuable to us, as written in the very language used
by our countrymen three hqndred years ago, at a time
when the orthography of the English language was so little
fixed, that it seems to have been the fashionable affecta-
tion of writers, to shew their wit and scholarship by spelling
the same words in the greatest variety of ways imaginable.
The reader will be amused by Addison's pretended disco-
very of sir John Mandevile's MSS. and the pleasant fiction
vof" the freezing and thawing of several short speeches
which sir John made in the territories of Nova. Zembla."
This occurs in the Tatler, No. 254, the note upon which
, has principally furnished us with the above account1
MANDEVILLE (Bernard de), an author of temporary
. celebrity ia: the last century for his writings, was born
about 1670, in Holland, where be studied physic, and
took the degree of doctor in that faculty. He .afterwards
. came over into . England, and wrote several books, not
i Tatter, with Annotations, vol. IV. edit, 1806.— Vossius de Hilt, I*U«-
. Leland.— Bale.— Tanner.
MANDEVILLE. 227
Without ingenuity, but some of them were justly con-
sidered as likely to produce a bad effect upon society. In
1709 he published his " Virgin Unmasked, or A dialogue
. between an old maiden aunt and her niece, upon love,
marriage,1' &c. a piece not very likely to increase virtue
and innocence among his female readers. In 1711 came
out his " Treatise of the hypocondriac and hysteric pas-
sions, vulgarly called the hyppo in men, and the vapours
in women." This work, which is divided into three dia-
logues, may be read with amusement at least, and contains
some shrewd remarks on- the art of physic and the modern
practice of physicians and apothecaries, among whom he
probably did not enjoy much reputation. In 17 14 he pub-
lished a poem entitled " The grumbling hive, or knaves
turned honest;" on which he afterwards wrote remarks,
and enlarged the whole into bis celebrated publication,
which was printed at London in 1723, under the title of
" The Fable of the Bees, or private vices made public be-
nefits ; with an Essay on charity and charity-schools, and
a search into the nature of society.91 In the preface to
this book he observes, that since the first publication of
his poem he had met with several, who, either wilfully or
ignorantly mistaking the design, affirmed that the scope of
it was a satire upon virtue and morality, and the whole
written for the encouragement of vice. This made him
resolve, whenever it should be reprinted, some way. or
other to inform the reader of the real intent with, which
that little poem was written. In this, however, be was so
unfortunate,* that the book was presented by the grand
jury of Middlesex in July the same year, and severely
animadverted upon in " A Letter to the Right Honourable
Lord C." printed in the London Journal of July the 27th,
1723. The author wrote a vindication of his book from
the imputations cast upon it in that Letter, and in the pre-
sentment of the fgrand jury, which he published in the
" London Journal" of August the 10th, 1723. It was at-
tacked, however, by various writers, to whom Mandeville
made no reply until 1728, when he published, in another
8vo volume, a second part of " The Fable of the Bees," in
order to illustrate the scheme and design of the first. In
1720, he published " Free thoughts on Religion," built
upon the system called rational; an arrogant epithet, which
geperaUy excludes from. the province of reason a belief
in the truths of revelation. In 1732 he' published " An
q 2
-S2& MANDEVILLE.
inquiry into the origin of honour, and usefulness of
Christianity in war;" a work which abounds in paradoxi-
cal ppinions.
Mandeville died Jan. 21, 1733, in his sixty-third year.
He is said to have been patronized by the first earl of Mac-
clesfield, at whose table he was a frequent guest, and had
an unlimited licence to indulge his wit as w^Jil as his appetite.
He lived in obscure lodgings, in London, and never had
much practice as a physician. Besides the writings already
enumerated, which came spontaneously from his pen, we are
told by sir John Hawkins that he sometimes employed his
talents for hire, and in particular wrote letters in the
" London Journal" in favour of spirituous liquors, for which
he was paid. by the distillers. Sir John adds, that " he was
said to be coarse and overbearing in his manners, where
he durst be so, yet a great flatterer of some vulgar Dutch
merchants, who allowed him a pension." The principles
indeed, inculcated in some of his works, although there
are many ingenious and many just remarks in them, forbid
us to entertain any very high opinion of his morals ; and
among all his faults, we do not bear that he ever acted the
hypocrite, or was ashamed of what he had written.
The " Fable of the Bees," as we have observed, was
attacked by Several writers ; particularly by Dr. Fiddes, in
the preface to his " General treatise of morality formed
upon the principles of natural religion only," printed in
1724 ; by Mr. John Dennis, in a piece entitled «" Vice
and luxury public mischiefs," in 1724; by Mr. William
Law, in a book entitled " Remarks upon the Fable of the
Bees," in 1724; by Mr. Bluet, in his " Enquiry, whether
the general practice of virtue tends to the wealth or po-
verty, benefit or disadvantage, of a people ? In which the
pleas offered by the author of The Fable of the Bees, for
the usefulness of vice and roguery, are considered ; with
some thoughts concerning a toleration of public stews," in
1725; by Mr. Hutcheson, author of the " Inquiry into
the original of our ideas of beauty and virtue, in several
papers published at Dublin, and reprinted in the first vo-
lume of Hibernicus's Letters ;" and lastly, by Mr. Archi-
bald Campbell, in his " Apdntoyto," fif8t published by Alex-
ander Innis, D. D. in his own name, but claimed afterwards
by the true author. Mandeville's notions were likewii
animadverted upon by Berkeley, bishop of Cloy ne in ~
MANDEVILLE. 222
land, in his " Alciphron, or the Minute Philosopher/9
printed in 1732; in answer to which Mandeville published ,
the same year, " A Letter to Dion, occasioned by his
book called Alciphron.9' In this year also a pamphlet ap-
peared, entitled " Some remarks on the Minute Philoso-
pher, in a letter from a country clergyman to his friend in
London ;" the anopymous author of which, supposed to
have been John lord Harvey, interferes in the controversy
betweeu Mandeville and Berkeley with an apparent im-
partiality. It would be very unnecessary now, however,
to enter minutely into tue merits of a work no longer read.
The prevailing error in the " Fable of the Bees" appears
to us to be, that the author did not sufficiently distinguish
between what existed, and what ought to be ; that while
he could incontestibly prove " private vices" to be in some
degree " public benefits," that is, useful to the grandeur
and financial prosperity of a state, he did not distinguish
between vices properly so called, and superfluities, or ar-
ticles of luxury, which are the accompaniments, and the
useful accompaniments too, of certain ranks of life. As
to his tracing good actions to bad motives, and the general
disposition he has to dwell on the unfavourable side of
appearances in human nature and conduct, no apology can
be offered, and none can be wanted for the contempt into
which his writings have fallen.1
MANES, MANI, or MANICHMEUS, the founder of a
remarkable sect of heretics, flourished towards the conclu-
sion of the third century, and began about the year 267
to propagate bis doctrines, which he bad taken from the
books of one Scythianus. Scythianus was an Arabian,
educated upon the borders of Palestine, and extremely
well skilled in all the learning of the Greeks. Afterwards
he went to Alexandria, where he studied philosophy, and
acquainted himself also with the leaf ning of the Egyptians.
Here he espoused the opinion of Empedocles, concerning
two co-eternal principles, one good and the other bad ;
the former of which he called God and light, the latter
matter and darkness ; to which he joined many dogmas of
the Pythagorean school. These he formed into a system,
comprised in four books ; one of which was called " Evan-
gelium," another " Capita," a third " Mysteria," and a,
* Gen. Diet.— Life by Dr. Birth — Biog. Brit. Supplement, vol. VII.— Haw--
kias's Life of Johnson.— Lounger's Common-place Book, vol. II.
230 MANES.
fourth " Thesauri." After this he went to Jerusaletrt,
where he disputed with the Jews, and taught openly his
opinions. Upon the death of Scythianus, his books and
effects devolved by will to Terebinthus his disciple, who,
however, soon quitted Palestine, and fled into Persia,
where, to avoid the persecutions to which his doctrines
exposed him, he took up his abode with a certain rich
widow. Here he died, by a sudden and violent death, as
it is commonly related. When, according to his usual
way, he had ascended to the top of the house, in order to
invoke the demons of the air, which custom the Manichees
afterwards practised in their ceremonies, he was in a mo-
ment struck with a blow from heaven, which threw him
headlong down and fractured his skull. St. Epiphanius
says, that Scythianus had also met with the same fate be*
fore him. Here, however, it was that Manes became ac«
quain ted with the writings of Scythianus ; for, having a hand-
some person and a ready wit, this widow, who had bought
him, adopted him for her son, and took care to have him
instructed by the magi in the discipline and philosophy of
the Persians, in which he made so considerable a progress
that he acquired the reputation of a very subtile and learned
philosopher. When this lady died, the writings of Tere-,
binthus, to whom she had been heir, or rather of Scythianus,
from whom Terebinthus had received them, fell of CQurse
into the hands of Manes.
Manes now began to think of founding his system. He
made what use he could of the writings of Scythianus ; he
selected from the heathen philosophy whatever was for his
purpose, and he wrought it all up together with some in-
stitutes of Christianity ; which made Socrates call his he-
resy a motley mixture of Christianity and Paganism. Al-
though Manes wrote a great many pieces himself, we have
nothing remaining, except a few fragments preserved in
the writings of Epiphanius. Manes became famous all
over Persia, engaged the attention of the court, and as he
pretended to the gift of working miracles, he was called
by king Sapor to cure his son, who was dangerously ill,
This he undertook at the hazard of his life, and the under-
taking in the end proved fatal to him. This bold impostor
was no sooner called than he dismissed all the physicians
who were about the young prince; and promised the king
that he would recover him presently by the help of a fety
medicines, accompanied with his prayers : but the chiU
MANES. 231 :
4ying in his arms, the king, enraged to .the last degree, -.
caused him to be thrown into prison ; whence by the force z
of bribes he made his escape, and fled into Mesopotamia. -
There he was taken again by persons sent in quest of him, )
and carried to Sapor, who caused him to be flead alive, ^
and after that his body to be given to the dogs, and bis *
skin to be stuffed with chaff, and hung before the city
gates, where, Epiphanius tells us, it was remaining torf
his time. His death is supposed to have happened about 4
the year 2 7 8. „
Manicheism, as we have seen, is a great deal older than.;
Manes. The Gnostics, the Cordonians, the Marcionites, f
and several other sectaries, who introduced this doctrine >
into Christianity before Manes occasioned any contest: f
about it, were by no means its inventors, but found it iris
the books of the heathen philosophers. In truth, th$i
Manicheau doctrine was a system of philosophy rather thatvf
of religion. They made use of amulets, in imitation <rft
the Basilidians ; and are said to have made profession q£t
astronomy^and astrology. They denied that Jesus Christy
who was only God, assumed a true human body, and mairvr^
tained it was only imaginary ; and, therefore, they denied!)
his incarnation, death, &c. They pretended that the law->
of Moses did not come from God, or the good principle,^
but from the evil one ; and that for this reason it was abro^,
gated, They rejected almost all the sacred books, if*,
which Christians look for the sublime truths of their hojjh
religion. They affirmed that the Old Testament was not*
the work of God, but of the prince of darkness, who was*
substituted by the Jews in the place of the. true God. ThpyT
abstained entirely from eating the flesh of any anima)j<
following herein the doctrine of the ancient Pythagoreans,^
they also condemned marriage. The rest of their error*;
may be seen in St. Epiphanius and St. Augustin; which*
last, having been of their sect, may be presumed, to h^ye;
been thoroughly acquainted with them.
Though the Manichees professed to receive the books, of ^
the New Testament, yet, in effect, they only took so mqchj
of them as suited with their own opinions. They first,
formed to themselves a certain idea or scheme of Chris-
t&ruty* and to this adjusted the writings of the apostles y
pretending that whatever was inconsistent with this, badt
been foisted into the New Testament by later writers, who
were half Jews. On the other hand, they made fables and
23* MANES.
apocryphal bobks pass for apostolical writings ; and even
are Suspected to have forged several others, the better to
maintain their errors. St. Epiphanius gives a catalogue
of several pieces published by Manes, and adds extracts out
of some of them. These are the Mysteries, Chapters, Gos-
pel, and Treasury.
The rule of life andtnanners which Manes prescribed to
his followers, was most extravagantly rigorous and severe.
However, he divided his disciples into two classes; one of
which comprehended the perfect Christians, under the
name of the elect ; and the other, the imperfect and feeble,
under the title of auditors or hearers. The elect- were
obliged to a rigorous and entire abstinence from flesh, eggs,
milk, fish, wine, all intoxicating drink, wedlock, and all
amorous gratifications ; and to live in a state of the severest
penury, nourishing their emaciated bodies with bread,
herbs, pulse, and melons, and depriving themselves of &1I
the comforts that arise from the moderate indulgence of
natural passions, and also from a variety of innocent and
agreeable pursuits. The auditors were allowed to possess
-Rouses, lands, and wealth, to feed on flesh, to enter into
the bonds of conjugal tenderness ; but this liberty was
granted thdm with many limitations, and under the strictest
conditions of moderation and temperance. The general
assembly of the Manicheans was headed by a president,
who represented Jesus Christ. There was joined to him
twelve rulers or masters, who were designed to represent
the twelve apostles, and these were followed by seventy-
two bishops, the images of the seventy-two disciples of our
Lord. These bishops had presbyters or deacons under
them, and all the members of these religious orders were
chosen out of the class of the elect. Their worship
was simple and plain ; and consisted of prayers, reading
the scriptures, and hearing public discourses, at which
both the auditors and elect were allowed to be present.
They also observed the Christian appointments of baptism
of infants and the eucharist, communicating frequently in
both kinds. They kept the Lord's day, observing it as a
fast ; and they likewise kept Easter and Pentecost. \
MANETHOS was an ancient Egyptian historian, who
pretends to take all his accounts from the sacred inscrip*
tions on the pillars of Hermes Trismegistus, to whom the
i Geo. Diet.— Cave. — D'Herbelot^-Ltidner. — Motheim.
MANETHOS. 833
Egyptians ascribed tbe 6rst invention of their learning, and
all excellent arts, and from whom they derived their his-
tory. Manethos, as Eusebius tells us, translated the whole
Egyptian history into Greek, beginning from their gods,
and continuing his history down to near the time of Darius
Codomannus, whom Alexander conquered ; for in Euse*
bius's " Chronica,'9 mention is made of Manethos' s history,
ending in the sixteenth year of Artaxerxe9 Ochus, which,
says Vossius, was in the second year of the third olympiad*
Manethos, called from his country Sebennyta, was high-*
priest of Heliopolis in tbe time of Ptolemy Philadelphus,
at whose request he wrote his history, and digested it into
three tomes ; the first containing the eleven dynasties of
tbe >*ods and heroes, the second eight dynasties, tbe third
twelve, and altogether, aecording to his fabulous compu-
tation, the sum of .53,535 years. These dynasties are yet
preserved, being first epitomized by Julius African us, from
him transcribed by Eusebius, and inserted iu his " Chro-
nica ;" from Eusebius by Georgius Syncellus, out of whom
they are produced by Joseph Scaliger, and may be seen
both in his Eusebius and his " Canones Isagogici." Ma*
nethos, as appears by Eusebius, vouches this as the priti*
cipal testimony of the credibility of his history, that he
took bis relations " from some pillars in the land of Seriad,
on which they were inscribed in the sacred dialect by the
first Mercury Thotb, and after the flood were translated out
of the sacred dialect into the Greek tongue in hieroglyphic
characters, and are laid up in books among the reveries
of the Egyptian temples by Agathodemon, the second
Mercury, die father of Tat" " Certainly," says bishop
Stillingfleet, in his " Origines Sacra," " this fabulous au-
thor could not in fewer words have more manifested his
own impostures, or blasted bis own credit, than he hath
4ene in these." i
MANETTI (Giannozzo, or Janutibb), a very learned
scholar, was born at Florence, June 5, 1396, of an illus-
trious family that had fallen into decay. After a course of
philosophical, theological and mathematical studies, he
became, in the Greek language, the pupil of Camaldoli,
who then taught that lariguage at Florence, and not of
Chrysoloras, as Vossius, and Hody, if we mistake not,
have reported. Manetti then lectured on philosophy in
* Vossius Hist. Graec— StilliDgfleet't Origines Saorst , book I. o. II. §• 2.-«
Moreri.— ' Saxii Ooomast,
M4 MA N E T T I.
that city to a numerous auditory. He was afterwards em*
ployed by the state in various negociations ; and became
successively governor of Pescia, Pistoria, and Scarperia,
and commissary of the army along with Bernardetto de
Medicis. He filled also several offices in the government
of Florence, and rendered his own country many im-
portant services. When at Rome in 1452, at the corona-
tion of the emperor Frederick, pope Nicholas V. bestowed
on him the honour of knighthood. His talents and services,
however, excited the envy of some of the families of Flo-
rence, and even the favour he acquired with the princes
at whose courts he had been employed as ambassador, was
considered as a crime ; and a heavy fine being imposed on
him, he found it necessary to leave his country, and take
refuge in Rotae, where pope Nicholas V. made him one of
his secretaries, with a handsome salary, besides the per-
quisites of his place. He remained in the same office
under the succeeding popes Calixtus HI. and Pius II.
which last made him librarian of the Vatican. Manetti at
length left Rome to reside with Alphonsus, king of Naples,
who had a great esteem for him, and gave him an annuity
4>f. 900 golden crowns. He did not, however, enjoy this
-situation long,; dying Oct. 26, 1459, in his sixty- third year.
He was an excellent scholar in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew,
which at that time was little known in Italy, and employed
twenty- two years on those languages. He kept three
domestics, two of whom were Greeks, and the third a
Syrian, who knew Hebrew, and whom he ordered : always
to. speak to him in their respective languages. He was the
.author of a great many works, most of which remain in
.manuscript in the Laurentian Library. Those published
were, 1. " De dignitate et exceilentia hominis," Basle,
1532, 8vo. 2. " Vita Petrarch®." This life of Petrarch
is inserted in Tomtiiasini's " Petrarcha redivivus." 3w
" Oratio ad regem Alphonsum in nuptiis filii sui." This,
which was spoken in 1445, was printed by Marquard Freher,
in 1611, 4to, along with three other orations, addressed to
Alphonsus on the peace, to the emperor Frederic on his
coronation, and to pope Nicholas V. Other ujorks have
been attributed to him, as a " History of Pistoria," and
the lives of Dante, Boccacio, and .Nicholas V.; but we find
no particular account of them. '
> Cfraufepie,— £Iiceron, vol. XXXVI.—Tiraboschv >
M A N F R E D I. 235
MANFREDI (Eustachio), a celebrated astronomer and*
mathematician, was born at Bologna in 1674, and soon
displayed a genius above his age. He wrote ingenious
verses while he was but a child, and while very young
formed in his father's house an academy of youth of his
own age, which in time became the Academy of Sciences,
or the Institute, there. He was appointed professor of ma-
thematics at Bologna in 1693, and superintendant of the
waters there in 1704. The same year he was placed at the
head of the college of Montaho, founded at Bologna for
young men intended for the church. In 171 1 he obtained
the office of astronomer to the institute of Bologna. He
became member of the Academy of Sciences of Paris in
1726, arid of the Royal Society of London in 1729; and
died on the 15th of February 1739. His works are:
1. "Ephemerides Motuum Coelestium ab anno 1715 ad
annum 1750;" 4 vols. 4to. The first volume is an excel-
lent introduction to astronomy ; and the other three con-
tain numerous calculations. His two sisters were greatly
assisting to him in composing this work. 2. " De Transitu
Mercurii per Solem, anno 1723," Bologna, 1724, 4to.
S. "Deannuk Inerrantium Stellarum aberrationibus," Bo*
logna, 1729, in 4to; besides a number of papers in the
Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences, and in other places,
which are enumerated by Fabroni. The best edition of his
Poems, which are still in repute, is that by Bodoni, in 1793,
8vo, with a life of the author. l
MANFREDI (Gabriel), brother to the preceding, was
born at Bologna, March 25, 1681, and having devoted
himself to mathematical studies acquired the reputation of
the best algebraist in Italy. At the age of twenty he com*
posed a work on the equations of the first degree, which
obtained the praises of the learned world. In. 1708, the
senate of Bologna appointed him one of their secretaries ;
and in 1720 he was made professor of mathematics in the
university of that city, of which, in 1726, he became
chancellor. He was much employed in hydrostatic* la-
bours, and with great success : nor did he shew less skill
in the science of geography. He died in 176 1. He pub-
lished " De oonstructione aequationum differentfialium pri-
ori gradus," Bonon. 1 707. This procured him a letter of
congratulation from the celebrated Leibnitz. His other
1 Fabroni Vit« Italorum, vol, V.— • Moreri.— Hutton'f Diet.
236 MANGEART.
works are principally among the memoirs of the institute of
Bologna. *
MANGEART {Thomas), called, like other Benedic-
tines, Dom Thomas, did considerable honour to his order
by the extent of his learning, which obtained him the placet
of antiquary, librarian, and counsellor to Charles duke of
Lorraine. He died in 1763, when he was preparing a
work, which was published in the course of the same year,
by the abb6 Jacquin. The title is, " Introduction i la
science des Medailles pour servir a la connoissance des
Dieux, et de la Religion, des Sciences, des Arts, et do
tout ce qui appartient a PHistoire ancienne, avec lea
preuves tir£s des Medailles,'1 folio. Mangeart is here said
to hare comprised, in a single volume, the elementary
knowledge of medals which had before been treated but
too slightly ; and the most valuable information which is
scattered through many prolix dissertations on particular
parts of the subject. Mr. Pinkerton, however, pronounces
it to be a dry compilation concerning antiquities found on
medals, in which the author shews no knowledge of the
medals themselves. It is a kind of supplement to Mont*
faucdn's antiquities, Mangeart published also, 2. Eight
sermons, with a treatise on Purgatory, at Nancy, 1739, in
2 vols. 12 mo. *
MAN GET (John-James), a learned physician and la-
borious historian of that science, was born June 19, 1652,
at Geneva, where his father was an eminent merchant. His
father's brother, author of a work 6n fevers, was physician
to the king of Poland. Manget, having finished his clas-
sical studies at the age of fourteen, bestowed two years on
philosophy, and then studied theology for five years, when,
changing his destination, he entered on a course of medi-
cal reading (for he says he had no teacher but bis books),
and made such proficiency, that in 1678, he received his
doctor's degree at Valence, along with the celebrated
Hartman. On his return home he entered upon practice,
to which he joined the laborious perusal of many medical
works, which served as the foundation of his own publi-
cations. In 1699, the elector of Brandenburgh appointed
him, by letters patent, his first physician, and the kings
of Prussia continued this title to him during his life. He
was dean of the faculty at Geneva at the time of his death,
» Fabroni, Vol. V.
* Diet. Hilt— Piokerton's Essay oa Medals, Pref. p.ix.
MAN«ET. 23T
Aug. 15, 1742, in the ninetieth year of bis age. His works
are: l."Messii,Medico-8pagyrica, &c." Geneva, 1683, folio,
which contains a most abundant collection of pharmaceu-
tical preparations, arranged in a very complex order. 2. In
the same year he edited, " Pauli Barbetti Opera omnia
Medica et Chirurgica," with additional cases and illustra-
tions. 3. " Bibliotbeca Anatoroica," 1685, two vols, folio ;
a work which was executed in conjunction with Daniel le
Clerc. He afterwards edited, 4. The " Compendium
Medicinse Practicum," of J. And. Schmitz. 5. The
" Phprmcopeia Schrodero-Hoffmanniana." 6. The "Trac-
tates de Febribus," of Franc. Pieus ; and, 7. The " Se-
phlchretum" of Bonetus, to which be added several re-
marks and histories* 8. In 1695, he published his " Bib*
liotheca Medico-Practica," four vqls- folio; a vast col-
lection of practical matter relative to all the diseases -of the
human body, arranged in alphabetical order. 9. " Bib-
liotbeca Chemica curiosa," 1702, two vols, folio. 10. Bib-
liotbeca Pharmaceutico-Medica," 1703, two vols, folio;
and, 11. n Bibliotheca Chirurgica," 1721, four vols,, in
two, folio. 19. " Theatrmn Anatomicum, cum Eustachii
Tabulis Anatomicis," 1716, two vols, folio, a description
of all the parts of the body, abridged from various authors.
On the appearance of the plague at Marseilles, he pub-
lished a collection of facts and opinions on that disease,
under the title of " Trait6 de la Peste recueilli des meil-
leurs Auteurs," 1731, two vols. 12mo; and in the follow-
ing year, 14. " Nouvelles Reflexions sur l'Origine, la
Cause, la Propagation, les Preservatifs, et la Cure de la
Peste," 12 mo. 15. His " Observations sur la Maladie qui
a coirtmencl depuis quelques amines a attaquer le gros
Betail," was a collection of the opinions of the Genevese
physicians concerning the distemper of horned cattle. The
last work of Man get was his " Bibliotheca Scriptorum Me-
dicorum veterum et recentiorum," at which he laboured
when at least eighty years of age, and published it in 1731,
in four vols, folio. It is the most important of his pro-
ductions, being an useful collection of medical lives, and
catalogues of writings. It has not been so much thought
of since the appearance of Haller's Bibliotheca, and par-
ticularly of Eloy's ; but the plans are different, and Man-
get's, as welt as the rest of his voluminous compilations,
may be yet consulted with advantage. Although he was so
. \
53$ MARGE T.
intent on accumulating information, and reprinting scarce
works and tracts, that he did not employ- his judgment al-
ways, either in selection or arrangement, yet those, who,
like himself, wish to trace the progress of medical know-
ledge, will find his works of great use. They contain, in-
deed, the substance of many libraries, and a variety of
treatises which it would not be easy to procure in. their se-
parate form. '
MANGEY (Thomas), a learned English divine, was
born at Leeds in 1684, and was educated at St. JohnVcot-
Jege, Cambridge, where be was admitted to his degree,
that of B. A. in 1 707, M. A. 1711, LL.D. 1719, and D.D.
1725. He was also a fellow of the society of antiquaries,
and rector of St. Mildred, Bread-street, London. He was
early distinguished by his " Practical Discourses upon the
, Lord's Prayer, preached before the Honourable Society of
Lincoln's Inn ; published by the special order of the Bench,"
1716, 8vo. These discourses were again printed in 1717,
and in 1721; and in 1718 he published " Remarks upon
Nazarenns; wherein the falsity of Mr. Toland'* Mahome-
tan Gospel, and his misrepresentations of. Mahometan
sentiments in respect of Christianity, are set forth; the
history of the old Nazaraeans cleared up, and the whole
conduct of the first Christians, in respect to the Jewish
laws, explained and described." The author then stiled
himself " Rector of St. Nicholas's in Guilford," to which,
be was instituted in 1717, and resigned in 1719*20. la
January 1719, he published "Plain Notions of our Lord's
Divinity," a sermon preached on Christmas«day ; in June
1719, "The eternal Existence of our Lord Jesus Christ,"
a Visitation-sermon ; iitt'October that year, " The Holiness
of Christian-churches," a sermon preached at Sunderland,
on' consecrating a new church there; aud in 1720, "The
providential Sufferings of good men," a 30th 4)f January
sermon before the House of Commons, In 1 7 1 9, Dr. Man-
gey wrote "A Defence of the Bishop of London's Letter,**
8vo; and, besides the sermons already mentioned, pub-
lished five single ones, in 1716, 1726, 1729, 1731, and
1733. On May 11, 1721, he was presented to a prebend,
the fifth stall in the cathedral church of Durham, being at
that time chaplain to Dr. Robinson bishop of London, and
vicar of Yealing, or Ealing, in the county of Middlesex*
*
1 Life by himself in his Bibl. Script. Med.— Moreri. — Efoy Diet de Medicine,
r
MANGEY, i 239
He was advanced to the first stall of Durham, Dec. 22,
1722; and, when treasurer of the chapter, greatly ad*
vanced the fines upon the tenants, and improved the rents
of his prebendal lands nearly a hundred pounds a year*
He was one of the seven doctors in divinity created July 6,
172$, when Dr. fientley delivered the famous oration pre-,
fixed to his Terence ^ and at the end of 1726 he circulated
proposals for an edition of " Philo Judseus," which he com-
pleted in 1742, under the title of " Philonis Judsei Opera
omnia quae reperiri potuerunt," 2 vols, folio. He died
March 6, 1755, and was interred in the cathedr&l of Dur-
ham, where is an elegant Latin inscription to his memory,
composed by Dr. Sharp, then a prebendary and archdeacon
of Northumberland. His manuscript remarks on the New
Testament came into the possession of Mr. Bowyer, who
extracted from them many short notes, which are printed
in his " Conjectures." A very elegant inscription to Dr.
Mangey by Dr. Taylor is prefixed to " Lysiae Fragmenta."
Dr. Mangey married Dorothy, daughter of archbishop
Sharp, by whom he had one son, John, vicar of Dunmow
in Essex, and a prebendary of St. Paul's. He died in 1782.
Mrs. Mangey, widow of the doctor, died in 17 SO. l
MANI, See MANES.
MAN1LIUS (Marcus), was a Latin poet, who lay bu-
ried in the German libraries, and never was beard of in
the modern world, till Poggius published him from some,
old manuscripts found there about two centuries ago. He
is mentioned by no ancient writer, and the moderns are so
little able to fix the time when he lived, that while some
place him as high as the age of Augustus, others bring,
him dowh to the reign of Theodo.;us the Great. Indeed,
the only account to be had of him must be drawn from his
poem ; and from this, his translator Creech thinks that he
was born a Roman, and lived in Rome, when Rome was
in her glory, as he says appears from several passages ia
the poem. In the beginning of it he invokes the emperor;
who from the description must be Augustus Caesar. Creech
•likewise infers that he was of illustrious extraction, and a
branch of that noble family the Manilii, who so often filled
the consul's chair, and supplied the greatest offices in the
commonwealth. Some, indeed, have thought that he was
1 Nichols's Bowyer, —Manning's Surrey, vol. I. — Hutchinson7* Durham,
tol. XL p. 173.
«0 MANItlUB.
a Tyrian slave,- and that being made free, he took, ac-
eording to custom, the name of his patron. But this seems
very improbable ; and he almost, says Creech, expressly
declares the contrary in the fortieth verse of his fourth
book, where he shews a concern for the interest of the Ro*
man commonwealth, as far back as the age of Hannibal :
" Speratum Hannibalem nostris cecidbse catenis :
fiannibal then destined to our chains :"
Which he could not have done with propriety, had bis re*
lation to that state commenced so lately, or had his ances-
tors had no interest in the losses and victories of Rome in
that age. But this verse, as well as the 776th line of the
tame book, Bentley proves to be spurious, and overthrows
the whole of Creech's conjectures. It may, however, still
be allowed that he was conversant at court, and acquainted
with the modish Battery of the palace, and that he made
his compliments in the same phrase that w?ls used by the
most finished courtiers of his time, which renders it not
improbable that he was of a good family.
The " Astronomicon" of Maniljus contains a system of
the ancient astronomy and astrology, together with the
philosophy of the Stoics. It consists of five books, and he
also wrote a sixth, which has not been recovered. That
he was young when he composed this work, his translator
thinks demonstrable from almost every page of it ; and had
he lived to revise the whole composition, as he seems
to have done the first book, we should perhaps have
had a more correct performance. He had a genius equal
to his undertaking; his fancy was bold and daring; his
skill in mathematics great enough for his design ; and bis
knowledge of the history and mythology of* the ancients
general. As he is now, some critics have placed him
among the judicious and elegant writers ; and all allow him
to be useful, instructive, and entertaining. He hints at
some opinions, in which later ages have been ready t9
glory as their own discoveries. Thus he defends fcbe
fluidity of the heavens against the hypothesis of Aristotle;
he asserts that the fixed stars are not all in the same conr
cave superficies of the heavens, and equally distant from
the centre of the world : he maintains, that they are aU of
the same nature and substance with the sun, and that each
of them hath a particular vortex of its own ; and lastly, he
says that the milky way is only the undistinguished lustre
M A N I L I U 8. 241
off a great many stnall stars, which the modems now see to
be such, through their telescopes. So that perhaps, upon
the whole, ana notwithstanding all bis defects, one may
▼emtdfe to say that he is one of the most discerning philo-
sophers antiquity can shew. The first edition of Manilius,
with ar date, is that of Bologna, by Rugerius arid Bertho-
cns> 1474. The best editions since, are thfet of Joseph
ScaJiger, printed at Leyden, 1 600, 4to ; that of Bentley,
at London, 1738, 4to ; that of Edmund Burton, esq. "cum
nods Variorum," London, 1783, 8vo; and that of Stceber,
publish*! ait Sttftftburg, in 1767, 8vo.1
MAN LEY (De la Riviere), an English lady, authoress
of ai rioted piece of scandal called " The Atalantis," was
born in Guernsey, or one of those small islands, of which
her father, sir Roger Manley, was governor. He was the
secortd sttfl of an ancient family, and had been a great suf-
ferer for his loyalty in the reign of Charles I. without re*
ccrttirig either preferment or recompense in that of Charles
II. Re waii a man of considerable literary talents, which
appeared in several publications, particularly his Latin
cotm&efttariee ori the rebellion, under the title of " Com-
m«ntafte de Rebellione Anglicana, abanno 1640 ad annum
16^85^ Lond: 1086, 8v6, and of which an English trans-
lation wiff published in 1691 ; and his " History of the late
wars of Dtenmark," 1670. He is also said to have been
the author Of thesfirst volume of the " Turkish Spy," which
Waa found Among his papers, ancl continued to its present
n timber of voltimes by Dr. Midgley, a physician, who had
thr Cafe Of his papers ; but this has been justly doubted
(See MaRA^A). fits daughter, the subject of this article,
jrWfeived ah education suitable to her birth, and gave indi-
cations of genius above her years, arid, as her biographer
sAyft, #r rhUth superior to What is usually to be found
amongst bfer sex/9 The loss of her parents before she
wto settled in life, stems' to have been peculiarly unfortu-
nate, far her father confided the care of her to his nephew,
a iflfcrried rriafc, who first pretended that his wife was dead,
then by a series of seductive manoeuvres cheated her into
»' marriage. When he could no longer conceal his infamy,
be deserted her, and the world turned its back upon her.
in this situation, she accidentally acquired thfefpa-
* Greectt'* Pfrefiute ta hi* Tfeufcfetton, bat especially Beotiey>s |Mfftee,.
SazQ Onomaftt— Huttoa'* Dictionary.
Vol. XXL &
Ui MANLEY.
tronage of the duchess of Cleveland! one of Charles ILV*
mistresses, having been introduced to her by an acquaint-
ance to whom she was paying a visit ; but the duchess, a •
woman of a very fickle temper, grew tired of Mrs. Manley
in six months, and discharged her upon, a pretence that •
she intrigued with hef son. When this lady was thus dis-
missed, she was solicited by general Tidcomb to pass
some time with him at his country-seat'; but she excused
herself by saying, " that her love of solitude was improved
by her disgust of the world ; and since it was impossible
for her to be in public with reputation, she was resolved
to remain concealed." In this solitude she wrote her first
tragedy, called " The Royal Mischief," which was acted
at the theatre in Lincoln's-inn-fields, in 1696. This play
succeeded, and she received such unbounded incense from
admirers, that her apartment was crowded with men. of wit
and gaiety,, which proved in the end very fatal to, her
virtue, and she afterwards engaged in various intrigues.
In her retired hours she wrote h§r four volumes of the
" Memoirs of the New Atalantis," in whic^ she was y**ry
free with her own sex, in her wanton description of love-
adventures, and with the characters of many high and dis-
tinguished personages. Her father had always b^en at-
tached to the cause of Charles I. and she herself having a
confirmed aversion to the Whig ministry, took this method
of satirising those who had brought about the revolution. .
Upon this a warrant was granted from the secretary of state's* .
office, to seize the printer and publisher of those volumes*
Mrs. Manley had too much generosity to let innocent per*
sons suffer on her account ; and therefor^ voluntarily pre-
sented herself before the court of King's4)encb, as. the
author of the " Atalantis." When she was examined be-
fore lord Sunderland, then the secretary, he was curious
to know from whom she got information of some particulars
which they imagined to be above her own intelligence.
She p}eaded that her only design in writing was her own »
amusement and diversion in the country, without intending
particular reflections and characters; and assured them ~
that nobody was concerned with her. When this was not
believed, and the contrary urged against her by several
circumstances, she said, " then it must be hy inspiration,
becaiise, knowing her own innocence, she could account
for it no 6ther way." The secretary replied, that " inspi-
ration used to be upon a good account ; but that her writings:
M A N L E T. r 24S
were stark naught," . 8he acknowledged, that u his lord-
ship's observation might be true $ but, as there were evil
apgefs as well as good, that what she had wrote ipight still
be by inspiration.9' . The consequence of this examination
was, that Mrs. Manley was close shut up hi a messenger's
house, without being allowed pen, ink, and paper. Her
counsel, however, sued out her habeas' corpus at the
- King's-bench bar, and she was admitted to bail. Whether
those in power were ashamed to bring a woman to a trial '
for this book, or whether the laws could not reach her,
because she had disguised her satire under romantic names, •
and a feigned jgene of action, she. was discharged, after
several tiipes exposing herself in person, to oppose the -
court before the bench of judges, with her three attend-*
ants, the printer, and two publishers. Not long after, a
total change of the ministry ensued, when she lived in high
reputation* and gaiety, and amused herself in writing poems
and letters, and conversing with wits. To her dramatic
pieces she now added " Lucius," the first Christian king
of Britain, a tragedy, acted in Drury-lane, in 1717. She
dedicated it to sir Richard Steele, whom she had abused
in her " New Atalantis," but was now upon such friendly
terms. with. him, that he wrote the prologue to this play,
as Mr. Prior did the epilogue. This was followed by her
comedy called the " Lost Lover, or the Jealous Husband,"
acted. in 1696. She wasfelso employed in writing for queen
Anne's ministry, certainly with the consent and privity, if
not under the direction, of Dr. Swift,- and was the author
of " The Vindication of the Duke of Marlborough/' and
other pamphfets, some of which would not disgrace the best
pen then engaged in. the defence of government. After
dean Swift relinqqished " The Examiner," she continued
it with great spirit for a considerable time, and frequently
finished pieces begun by that excellent writer, who also
oftetj used to furnish her with bints for those of her own
composition* At this season she formed a connection with
Mr. John Barber, alderman of London, with whom she
lived in a state of concubinage, as is supposed, aifd at whose
hoqse she died July 1 1, 1724.
. The superior accomplishments of her sex in our days
must now place her yery low in the scale of female authors;
and she seems to have owed her fame in a great measure
ta-hfer turn .for intrigue and for recording intrigues. This
will probably be the opinion of those whp will take the
R2
244 MA II LEY.
trouble to peruse any. of the works Already mentioned, 6f
the following : 1. "Letters, one from a supposed n mi in
Portugal/' Lond. 1696, 8vo. 2. " Memoirs of Europe
towards the close of the eighth century/' 1710, 2 vols.
8vo. 3. " Court Intrigues/' 17 U, fcvo, 4. "Adven-
tures of Rivelle," 1714, 8vo. 5. "The Power of Love,
in seven novels," 1120, 8vo. 6. " A Stage-coach Journey
to Exeter," 1725, 8v* 7. " Bath Intrigues," 1725, 8 vo.
7. " Secret History of Queen Zarah," 1745, 8vo. The
two last, from the dates, must be postburitous, or second
editions.1
MANNERS (John),- marquis of Gmnby, was son of
John duke of Rutland, and grandson of John the first duke,
and was born in January 1721. He wad bred to the army,
and in the rebellion of 1745 raised a regiment of foot at
his own expence, for the defence of the country agfeinsf
the rebels. In 1755 he was advanced Co the ifenk of rtiajor-'
general, and in 1758 was appointed lieutenant-general and
colonel of the bines; With this fank he went into Ger-
many with the British forces, which were sent to serve
under prince Ferdinand of Brunswick; and in 1759 was
promoted to the general command of the British troop*,
an appointment which gave much satisfaction, arid for
which he appears to have been well qualified. If he had
not the great abilities requisite to a commander in chief,
he had all the qualifications for an admirable second irt com-
mand. With a competent share of military skill, he pbfr*'
sessed that pereonal valour and ardour in the service, Which
inspired his soldiers with confidence; and that htiitoane*
and generous attention to their comfort and welfare* joined
with affability and open-hearted cheerfulness, which
strongly attached them to his person. In 1760 be justified
the high opinion which prince Ferdinand had etrpresaed of
him after the battle of Minden, by his gbdd conduct at'
Warburg, where the British cavalry Were particularly sig-
nalized. In the beginning of the ensttthy caifepfcigri} be
commanded under the hereditary prince, in his attack on
the frontier towns of Hesse ; and at the battle of Kirk-
Denkern, bore the first and most violent onset of the ene-
my, and by the firmness of his troops contributed much to
that vietory .« He maintained the same character at Graebc-
» Cibbei^s Lires of tfae Poeti— NoU* to Taller sad Sasidias, edit lSOeW
NfchoU'i Poems, vol. VII.
M A N N E ft 3. 245
»
iteein and Homburgb, in 1763. tie died at Scarborough,
Qftu 19, 1770. He had been made a member of the privy-
council in 17*0, qpd resigning the office of lieutenant-
general of the ordnance, was in May 1763" constituted
ma»t*r«genarel of that department. In Feb. 1764, be was
• declared lord-lieutenant and custos totulorura of Derby-
shire. In 1766 he was constituted commander iji chief of
bis majesty's land forces in Great Britain ; which he re*
signed a little before bis death. He married Sept. 3,
1750, lady Frances Seymour, eldest daughter of Charles
4ukeof Somerset, by whom, among other issue, he had
Cbarlet, the late duke of Rutland, who died lord«-lieute-
aant of Ireland* in 17*7; and lord Robert Manners, a gal-
lant officer of the navy, who died Jan. £3, 17&2, of the
wounds be received in an engagement, Sept. 1, 1781,
in the West Indies, - on board tys majesty's ship the
Resolution, of which he was captain, A monument in ho-
jfconr of his memory was ordered at the national expence
for him, capt Blair, and capt Bayne, which ia now in St.
Paul's cathedral.1
M ANNI (Dominic Mama), an eminent Italian writer,
was born at Florence, April 8, 1690. He was early dis-
tinguished by great powers of retention, and a strong
% passion for research into facts, two attributes for which he
was celebrated during the whole of his life. He was regu-
larly instituted in every class of literature, but his par-
ticular bias was to history, in which be began his career
by inquiries into the modern history of his native city.
Tins produced in 1722 his " Series of Florentine Sena-
tors,'9 2 vols. fol. a work which, under the modest garb of
-a collection of notices on private individuals, exhibited the
naost original, authentic, and curious information respect-
' ing the public law and government of Tuscany, from the
extinction of the line of the marquises, to the creation of
the gftand dukes in 1332. In 1731 he published a work of
yet greater interest, " De Florentinis inventis Commen-
tarium," in which he gave the most satisfactory account
of the manufactures which either originated or were im-
proved in Florence ; he showed how the art of banking
was there, first invented ; how, in the subsequent times,
.the art of engraving also originated there, fcc. Among
the discoveries made at Florence in the middle ages, there.
* CwJi^ffi ?•«*&, by Sir B. Brydgrs.— Sjnollett'* IJist. of England.
24« K A N N I.
. was one so highly beneficial as to demand a methodical
disquisition for itself alone ; this was the invention of spec-
tacles, which in 1738 Manni illustrated by his " Historical
Treatise on Spectacles." In this, after a careful exami*
nation of evidence, be is inclined to attribute the invention
to ftalvino Armati.
In 1742 he published " Historical Illustrations of the
Decamerone of Boccaccio,1' 4to, in which he proves that
the greatest part of Boccaccio's tales were real facts, which
occurred in his life. A work of this kind could nor fail to
-be amusing, nor in that country, instructing ; and indeed
this has been thought one of the best of Manni's publica-
tions. His more elaborate work, connected with the hist*
tory of Florence and Tuscany, is his " Historical Obser-
vations on the Seals of the lower age." " Osservazioni
istoriche sopra isigilli antichi de' secoli bassi," published *
in 1749, and originally consisting of 18 vols. 4to, but after-
. wards extended to thirty. It exhibits the most valuable
records of all the illustrious persons who acted a conspicu-
ous part in the vicissitudes of Florence and other great
cities of Tuscany. It also elucidates the origin and pro-
gress of all the mints of those cities. In 1755 he published
his " Method of studying the History of Florence," which
is an account of all the authorities and sources of Floren J #
tine history, both printed and manuscript, in whioh he
affirms that the best limited .history of Florence is that yet
unpublished of the .chevalier Francis Settimanni, who wrote
on jthe period which intervened between the accession of
th& house of Medici, in 1532, and its extinction,. in E737.
The only other works he published respecting Florence
and its antiquities, were, his " Historical notices con-
cerning the amphitheatre at Florence," published in 1746;
and his " Inquiries into the ancient Thermae of Florence,"
published hi 1751.
Of the historical works of Manni relative to other places,
and more general subjects, we shall only mention his
" History of the Jubilees," published in I75<\in which
be did justice to his subject in a philosophical and political
light, by shewing who were the most distinguished persons
who had ever visited Rome on those occasions, and how
far, on thei( return to their native countries, they grafted
on those countries the manner* and practices of Italy. He
also illustrated every particular by curious anecdotes, .
medals, fa c- similes, Ice. In biography, Manni wrote a
M A N N I. 247
¥ • * *
singular work, but perhaps of local interest, entitled " Le
Veglie Piacevoli," &c. or " Agreeable Evenings," being
the lives of the roost jocose and eccentric Tuscans. This
was published in 1757, in 4 vols. 4 to., He wrote also tbe
" Life of the well-deserving prelate, Nicholas Steno, of
Denmark," published in 1775. Manni's publications, not
of the historical or biographical kind, were few, and none
of them added much toxhis fame, except his " Lectures on
Italian Eloquence," 1758, 2 vols. 4to.
- He died at Florence, Nov. 30, 1788, in his ninety-ninth
year. He left behind him the fame not only of one of the-
most laborious and deserving writers of his time, but of a
most exemplary moral character. He was particularly dis-
tinguished for his zeal and kindness in assisting with his
superior knowledge, younger writers who wished, to treat
on any subject connected with his inquiries. A catalogue
of all his works, amounting to 104, was published in 1789,
by his friend count Tomitaho, a patrician of Feltri.1
MANNING (Owen), an excellent antiquary and topo-
grapher, the son of Mr. Owen Manning, of Orlingbury,
co. Northampton, was born there Aug. 11, 1721. He was
* admitted of Queen's-college, Cambridge, where he pro-
ceeded B. A. in 1740; and about this time met with two
extraordinary instances of preservation from untimely death.
Having been seized with the small pox, be was attended
by Dr. Heberden, who thinking he could not survive, de-
sired that his father might be sent for. On his arrival he
found the young man to all appearance dying, and next
day he was supposed to have expired, and was laid out,
as a corpse, in the usual manner. An undertaker was sent
for, and every preparation made for his funeral. His
father, however, who had not left the house, could not
help frequently viewing the seemingly lifeless body ; and'
in one of his visits, without seeing any cause for hope,
said, " 1 will give my poor boy another chance," and at
the same time raised him up, which almost immediately
produced signs of life. Dr. Heberden was then sent for,
and by the use of proper means, the young man recovered.
As it was customary for the scholars of every college to
make verses on the death of any one of their own college,
which are pinned to the pall at the funeral, like so many
escutcheons, this tribute or respect was prepared for Mr.
1 Atbeiitttiinj ▼•!. IV.— Diet. Hi»t
tit
24* MANNING.
Maiming, who was muchbelovedbybis fellow students; anclit
is said that the verses were presented to hifn,aftejpiprds»aqd
that he kept them for many years as memoranda ,<*f hi?
youthful friendships. Scarcely bad be met with this nar-
row escape, when, his disorder having made him fors0me
time subject to epileptic fits, he was seized with one of
these while walking by the rivet, intojwhich befell, AOfI
remained so long that be was thought to .fye drowned, an£
laid out on the grass, until lie could be conveyed to the
college, where Dr. Heberden being again called in, the
.proper means of recovery weife used with success.
In 1741 he was elected to a fellowship of hit college, in
right of which he had the living of St. Botolph, in Cam*
bridge, which he held until his marriage, in 1755. He
took the degree of M. A* in 1744, and that of B. D. in
1753. In 1760, Dr. Thomas, bishop of Lincoln, to. whom
he was chaplain, gave him the prebend of Milton Ecclesia,
in the church of Lincoln, consisting of the impropriation
and advowson of the parish of Milton, co. Oxford. In
1763 he was presented by Dr. Greene, dean of Salisbury,
to the vicarage of Godalming, in Surrey, and was insti-
tuted Dec. 22, he preferring the situation to that of St.
Nicholas in Guildford (though a better lhftng) which w*s
offered to him by jthe same patron. Here he constantly
resided till the time of his de^tb, beloved and jre^pected
by his parishioners, and discharging his professional duty
in the most punctual and conscientious manner. In 1769
he was presented to the rectory of Pe,pperharrc^v, an ad-
joining parish, by viscount Middleton. He was elected
F. R. S. in 1767, and F. S.A. in 1770. To the sincexe
regret of his parishioners, and of all who knew him, Mr.
Manning died Sept. 9, 1801, after a short attack of pleu-
risy, having entered his eighty-first year. By Catherine,
his wife, daughter of Mr. Reade Peacock, a quaker, met-
cer, of Huntingdon, he had tl^ree sons and five daughters,
all of whom survived him, except his eldest son, -George
Owen, and one of the daughters.
To the literary world Mr. Manning performed a most
;acceptable service in taking up, and by unwearied appli-
cation completing! the Saxon Dictionary begun by his
friend the rev. Edward Lye (see Lye), a work which for
copiousness and authorities will stand the test of the strictest
examination. Mr. Lye had the patronage of a very band-
some subscription, and left that, and the completion of bis
VANNING a&
work, to his friend $**• Maaaing, iwhwe/jfeliti^ he well
knew. After four yqgjrs ,?f close application, be printed it
jo 177$f .in 2 vc*s. folio, in an elegant maimer, at tbepovs
.Of ,tb* Jate Mr. ,Mlen, of Bolt-foui*, Fle*t-#r*et« Be-
mid^s.tbe 4W%ce jand the grammar, he wad* large Addi-
tions to tUe sbepts before composed, and io ao ajppendi**
^subjoined Augments «f UpbiWs version pf the jEpiatlqs
.to the sRppn^s j sundry §axon+Cjbarter# ; 4 Sermon j*n
4i*ti- Christ; * fragment of the $***n Chronicle, and
father instruments. Mr. Manning also published illustra-
tions of tkiog Alfred'* Will. His only other publications
were two occasional Sermons.
From his fir^t settlement in Purvey, ,be had employed him-
self in collecting materials for a history and antiquities of
.that opopty ; aadby the rapport of men of the 'first talents,
possessed himself of a mass of information whioh fells to
the lot of few ^persons engaged in jftch pursuits. His com-
prehensive mind and exquisite penmanship had brought
jhem to a perfection which justly made every lover of our
national antiquities deeply regret that his modesty ,couid
paver be persuaded to think 4bepi sufficiently complete for
publication, although he had more than once printed spe-
cimens of his intended work, and solicited assistance. At
length, a total loss of sight rendered it impossible for him
to execute his intention ; but Jaia previous labours we*e not
doomed to perish. His papers being confided to the care
of William Bray, esq. the present worthy treasurer of the
society of antiquaries, he produced the first .volume of
" The HUtpry and Antiquities erf Surrey," in 1804, a large
and aplepdid folio, which he has since completed in two
-.more volumes. Of the whole, it may be sufficient to say,
upon no slight examination of this elaborate and valuable
addition to the topographical history of our country, that
Mr. Bray has in every jreapect removed -the regret which
he and, other* ielt op Mr. Manning's being disabled front
completing his nwn undertaking.1
MANNOZZI (JoHN),(cailed Giovanni da san Giovanni,
tfrpik a village near Florence, where be was born, was a
^lfthflsced painter of the Florentine school, where he shone
Jbya natural superiority of genius. He perfectly under-
#lOPd jthe poetical part of his art, and excelled, therefore,
• Life of Mr. Manning prefixed to vol. I. of the History of Surrey. —Nichols*!
$9wyer, vol. IX,— Coles MS Athens, ia Brit. Mus,
250 II AN NO Z Z I.
m
in the ingenuity of those designs by which he at once of«
namented the' palace, and illastrated the beneficence and
taste of Lorenzo de Medicis. He was particularly suc-
cessful in painting in fiasco, and his colours remain unin-
jured to the present day : m the imitation fctf bas-relief be
•was so. skilful, that the touch only could distinguish his
paintings t>f that kind from sculpture. He had profound
skill also in ^perspective end optics. With all thelfe excel-
lencies in his art, he was capricious, envious, and male-
volent, and consequently raised himself enemies who were
not a little inveterate. He died aft the age of forty-six, in
1636.1 . * • * "
MANNYNO. See ROBERT DE 3RUNNE.
MANSARD (Francis), a very celebrated French archi- '
, tect, was born in 1598, and died in 1660. The magni-
wficent edifices raised by him at Paris and elsewhere, are so
many monuments of his genius arid skill *in his art. His
ideas of general design were esteemed noble, and his taste
in ornamenting the 'inferior parts delicate. The principal
buildings of which he was the author, are the gate of the
church of the Feu i Hans, in the street St. Honor6 ; the
• church' of les filles St. Marie, in the street of S. Antoine;
the gate of the Minims in the Place Royale ; a part of the
Hdtel de Conti ; the H6tels de Bouillon, Toulouse, and
Jars; besides several buildings in the provinces, whteh were
formed on his designs. Much as he was approved by the
public, he was not ' equally able to satisfy himself. CoK
bert having inspected his plans for th$ facades of the
Louvre, was so pleased with them, that he wished to en-
gage him in a promise not to make any subsequent altera-
tions. Mansard refused to undertake the work on those
conditions,, being determined, *s he said, to preserve the
right of doing better than he bad undertaken to do. . Hfe
nephew, Jules- Hardouin Mansard, had the office of fifst
architect, and conductor of the royal buildings, and was
the designer also of many very celebrated structures.*
MANfH (John Dominique), a very learned Italian pre*
late, and voluminous editor, was born at Lucca, Feb* 1 6,
1 692. At school and college he made rapid progress in
evqpy branch of study, but became particularly attached
to ecclesiastical history and biogsapby. He was for some
t
. * Pilkington, by Fuiel!» when a somewhat different character if gifcn.—
Moreri.— Diet. Hist.
? Arfenville.^-Perrault Lei Hommei IUustres.*— Diet Hist.
#-
' *
to A N 8 I. > ' 25t
»
years professor of theology at Naples ; but the greater part
of bis life w*s spent in reading, and carefully exploring
the contents of the Italian libraries, particularly the manu-
scripts, frtat all which lie amassed a fundvef information
en subjects connected with ecclesiastical, history, of vast
extent and importance. Hie first station in the church was
that of a clerk- regular in the; congregation of the Mother
of God; and from tfcis, in t765,~ at the age. of seventy-two,
he wap promoted to the archbishopric of Lucca, by pope
Clement X1H. who had a high esteem for him. He died
Sepfc j279 1*69. Hia life, in our authority, it little more
than an account of his works, which, indeed must hare oc-
cupied the whole of his time. His 6rst publication was
» entitled "Tractatus* de casibu% et. excommtuitcationibua
-episcopis reserved?, eonfeetus aa nofmam tabeHs»i»ucanst,"
Lucca, 1724, He then published a translation into Lath*
ef Calmetfs " Dictionary of the Bible,'* with additions ; an
edition of Thomasini " De^veteri et nova ecclet is* disc*
plina," 3 vols, folio; a Latin translation <|f Calrtiet's "Com-
mentaries on the Bible," 17*31, &c.,7 vols, i an edition of
Baron ius's annals, with great additions, in 30 vols, folio ;
a new edition of the Councila, including Labbe, Cossart,
&c. 1759, &c. 30 vols, folio; a new edition of uEneas Syl-
vius (pope Pius II.) orations, with many hitherta unpub-
lished, 1755, 2 Vols. 4to. He was the editor of some other
ecclesiastical collections and theological pieces of inferior
.note; but we must not omit the. work by which he is per-
haps best known in this country, his excellent edition of
Fabrjcius's "Bibliotheca Latina mediae et infinite aetatis}11
6 vols. 4to, generally bound in three, printed at Padua, in
1754. This alone is sufficient to place him in the first
tank of literary antiquaries^.
MANSTEIN (Christqpher Herman de), a celebrated
Russian officer and wrtfer, was born et Petersburgh in
1711. He was first a lieutenant in the Prussian service,
-and afterwards a captain of genadiers in the Russian regi-
ment of Petersburgh. At die death of the czarina Anne,
he was employed to arrest the fiirons, who were then the
regents and the tyrants of the young prince I wan III. whft
Rewarded his services by the rank of colonel, and sone
estates im Ingria. But when the throne of that prince was
Seized by the czarina Elizabeth, Manstein lost at once his
1 £«broni Vita hatorm. .
002 MAWSTEIN.
mgwutiit ftnd bis lands. Sane tupe after, ha entered again
into the Prussian senace, where be acted as a volunteer in
1 745 ; and baring sufficiently signalized his abilities and
courage, was appointed major-general *rt infantry in 1754.
In the war of 1766, he fell the very eecond year by a shot ;
leaving ,two .sons and four daughter*. Hi* '* Memoirs of
Russia," printed at Lyons in 1772, in 2 vols. 8vo, ace at
once historical, political, and military. They contain the
priqcipaL revolutions of that empire, and the wars, pi the
Russians against the Turks and. Tartars ; besides a short
sketch of we military and marine establishments, and also
of the commence of. bis country. These memoirs com-
iBoence in 1727, with the reign of Peter II. and close with
the first year of the empress Elizabeth. They are consi-
dered as deserving of much reliance from the truth of the
facts, and the sincerity of the author.1
. MANTEGNA (Ajtdrea), an eminent Italian painter,
-was bom in 143 1, at Padua or in its district. His parents
•were poor, but Squarcione, whose pupil he became, was
•so deeply stnjck with his talents, that be adopted him for
;his son, and repented of it when Andrea married a daugh~
ter of Jacopo Bellini, his eompetitor. But the censure
which now took place of the praise he bad before lavished
on jbis pupil, only added to bis improvement. Certain
basso-relievos of the ancient Greek style, possessed by the
academy in which Andrea studied, captivated his taste by
-the correctness of their outline, the simplicity of the forms,
the parallelism of <the attitudes, and strictness of the dra-
'flery .: .the dry servility with which he .copied these* suf-
fered him not to pqrtetve-that he had lost the great preixn
•garive of die originals, the soul that animates them. The
sarcasms of Squarcione on his picture of S. Jacopo, made
ihim seusible of the necessity of expression and character ;
the gave more life- to the figures in the story of S. Cristo-
phoro ; and in the face of St. Marc, in the church of S.
Giusttna, united the attention of a philosopher .with the
enthusiasm of a prophet. While the criticisms of Square
cione improved Mantegna in expression, the friendly ad-
Vice of the Bellini directed his method, and -fixed bis prin-
ciples of oqIout. During his short stay at Venice, he made
himself master of every advantage of that school; and ki
some of his pictures there are tones and tints in flesh and
i Diet Hist.
MANTE6 N A. 25?
laridscape, of a richiie** and zest equal to'thd best Vene-
tians of his day. Wbetber he taught Bellini perspective is
uncertain ; Lomazzo affirms * that Mantegna was the first -
who opened the eyes of artists in that branch."
The chief abode and the school of Mantegna were at
Mantua, where under the auspices of Marchess Lodovico
Gonzaga, he established himself with his family, but be
continued to work in other places, and particularly at Ropae,
where the chapel which he had painted for Innocenzio
VIII. in the. Vatican existed, though injured by age, at
the accession of Pius VI. The style of those frescoes
proved that he continued steady in his attachment to the
antique, but that from a copyist he was become an imitator.
Of his wor^s in oil Mantua possesses several; but the prin-
cipal one, the master-piece of the artist, and the assem-
blage of his powers, the picture 4ella Vittoria, afterwards
in the Oratorio de Padri di S. Filippo, is now at Paris. It
is a votive picture dedicated, for a victory obtained, to die
Madonna seated on her throne with the infant standing on
her lap, and giving benediction to the kneeling marquis in
arms before her. At one side of the throne stands the
archangel Michael, holding the mantle of the Madonna; at
the other are S. George, S. Maurice, John the Baptist,
and S. Elizabeth on her knees. The socle of the throne is
ornamented with figures relitive to the fall of Adam-: the
scene is a leafy bower peopled by birds, and here and
there open to a lucid sky. No known work of Mantegna
equals in design the style of this picture : they generally
shew him dry and emaciated, here he appears in all the
beaaty of select forms : the two infants and St. Elizabeth
are figures of dignity, so the archangel who seems to have
been, by the conceit of his attitude and the care bestowed
on him, the painter's favourite object. The head has thjt
beauty and the blootn of youth, the round fleshy neck and
tbte breast, to where it confines with the armour, are treated
with great art, the expression is to a high degree spirited,
and as characteristic. The countenance of the Madonna is
mild and benign, that of Christ humane. The future pro-
phet is announced in the uplifted area of St. John. The
guardian angel kindly contemplates the suppliant, who
prays with devout simplicity: The whole has art air of life.
-All the draperies, especially that of St. Elizabeth, are
elegant, and correctly folded; with more mass and less
intersection of surfaces, they would be perfect* Tba
»
X
«4^ MANTEGNA.
extreme finish of execution, as it has net here tfcat dryness '
which disfigures most other works of this master, does not
impair the brilliancy of colour. The head of the Ma- "
donna, of the infant, of St Michael, have a genial bloom
of tints* The lights are everywhere true, the shades alone
are sometimes too grey or too impure. The general scale
of light has more serenity than splendour, more the air<>f
nature than of art, but the reflexes are often cut off too
glaringly from the opaque parts. The whole of the picture
has preserved its tone to this day, is little damaged, and
in no place retouched.
Of the remainder of Mautegna's works, besides some
frescoes of considerable merit, but much injured, in a sa- >
loon of the castle of Mantua, and the well known triumph
of Caesar in various compartments at Hampton court, little
now remains. His name is more frequent in galleries and
collections, than his hand ; lanknesp of form, rectilinear
folds, yellow landscape, and qpinute polished pebbles, are
less genuine signs of originals than correctness of design .
and delicacy of pencil* It is not probable that a man so
occupied by large works, and so much engraving, should
have had time to finish many cabinet-pictures : the series .
of his plates consist of upwards of fifty pieces, executed
by his own hand ; tod though he was not the inventdr of
the art, he was certainly the first engraver of bis time.
Andrea had great influence on the style of his age, nor
was the imitation of bis style confined to his own school ;
Frantesco, and another of bis sons, finished some, of the
frescoes which he had begun in the castle, and added the
beautiful ceiling which shews that. the science of fore*
shortening, and what the Italians call " del sotto in su,"
though Melozio be its reputed author,, was carried much
farther by MantegM and his followers. Mantegna died in
1505. Besides his talents for painting, Mantegna was one
of the earliest engravers on metal, some, indeed, say the
very first, but this does not appear to have been the case.
Strutt, who gives a list of his principal engravings, has .
also exhibited a specimen in his Dictionary.1
^M ANTON (Thomas), one of the .most learned and emi-
nent nonconformists of the seventeenth century, was bora
at Lawrence Lydiard, ift Somersetshire, in 1620. Hia
*
i By Puseli in tbe last edition of Pilkington. Mr* P. has bestowed more thaa
usual pains on this article.— See also ^ullait's Acadeaieties Sciences.— Roscoe'fc '
Lsjcaso and Leo.— Strutt. *
MANTQN. 355
father and grandfather were both clergymen, byt of them
we have no account, except that his father was settled at
Whimpole in Devonshire, and sent has sou. to th£ free*
school at Tiverton: . Here his progress was such that; he
wa? thought qualified to begin his academical studies a(
the age of fourteen, and about a year after, in 1635, he
was entered of Wadham college, Oxford. From thence,
in 1639, he removed to Hart-hall, where he took his
bachelor's degree in arts. Wood says, he was accounted
in his college, " a hot-beaded person,"— a character very •
remote fronj .that which he sustained throughout .life,- apd
when all eyes, were upon bioi. After studying divinity, be
was admitted to deacon's orders by the celebrated Dr. Hall,
bishop of Exeter, and although this. wa% sooner than Mr.
Man ton approved upon maturer thought, bishop Hall ap-
pears to. have thought him duly qualified, and predicted
that " he would prove an extraordinary person.91 As he
Came into public life when principles of disaffection to the
church were generally prevalent, it appears that he en-
tered so far into the spirit of the times, as to be content
with deacon's orders, and to deny the necessity of those
of the priest -
His ministerial functions were exercised in various
places* first at Sowton near Exeter, and then at Colyton
ill Devonshire, where he. was much respected. Removing,
to London, he became more admired for his talents in the
pulpit, and about 1643 was presented to the living of Stoke
Newington, by colonel Popham, and here preached those
lectures on the. epistles of St. James and St. Jude, which be
afterwards published in 1651 and 1662, 4to. During his
residence at Newington, he often pieachad in London,
a,nd is said to have preached the second sermon before .the
sons of the clergy, an institution then set on foot, chiefly
through the influence o£ Dr. Hall, son to the bishop, who
pleached the first. He was also, one of, those who were,
called occasionally to preach before the parliament, but
being a decided enemy to the m$rd£r of the king, he gave
great ofienot by a sermon in which he touched on that
subject. In 1651 he shewed equal contempt for the ty-
*ai\ny of the. usurpers, by preaching a funeral sermon for
Mr. Love (see Christopher Lose), and in neither case
allowed the fears of his friends to prevent what be thought
bis duty. . ,
.«* M ANT ON.
In 1656 Ke removed frdm Stoke-Newington> oif beings
presented to the living of Covent garden by the earl, after-
wards duke of Bedford, wbo bad a high respect for bin*.
At this church he bed a numerous auditory. Arafcbtsbop
Usher, who was one of his hearers, used to say that he
was one of the best preachers in England, and had the grt
of reducing the substance of whole volumes into a narrbtr
oonipass, and representing it to great' advantage. Although
He bad already, by the two sermons above noticed, shewn
that he was far from courting the favours of government,
Cromwell, wbo well knew how to avail himself of religions
influence ahd popular talents, sent for him in 1953, when
he assumed the protectorate j and desired- him tb pray at
Whitehall on the morning of bis installation ; and aboot
the same time made hkti one of bis chaplains* He was
dominated also by parliament one of a committee of divines
to draw tip a scheme of fundamental doctrines. In the
same year he was1 appointed one' of tbe committee for the*'
trial and approbation of ministers, and appears to have
acted in this troublesome office with considerable' modera-
tion. What influence he had with Cromwell, he employed
for the benefit of others, and particularly solicited him to
spare the life of Dr. Hewit, a loyalist, whom Cromwtell
executed for being concerned in a plot to restore^Cbariefc II.
In 1 660, when the days of usurpation were over, Mr. Maim
, fon co-operated openly in the restoration of Charles, was
one of tbe ministers appointed to wait upon bis majesty af
' Breda, and was afterwards sworn dad of his majesty's chap*
lains. In tbev same year he wasj by mandamus^ ' created*
doctor of divinity at Oxford.
He was then one of the ministers who waited upoti the?
king after his arrival, to beg his majesty's interposition for"
reconciling the differences in the church ; and afterwards
joined several of bis brethren, in~a conference with the'
episcopal clergy, at the lord chancellor's bouse ; prepara-
tory to the declaration of his majesty, vrbo waft likewise
present. Being satisfied with this declaration, Dr. Matiton
continued in his living of Covent-gardeny and received
episcopal institution from Dn Sheldon, bishop of London,
Jan. 16, 1 66 1, after having first subscribed tbe doctrinal
articles aniyt>f the church of England, arid taken the oaths
of allegiance and supremacy, and of canonical obedience
in all Slings lawful and honest. He also allowed that tbe
common-prayer should be read in his church. Soon after.
M A N T 0 N. **7
be w*$ &tf#ted the deanery pf Rochester, which be "might
have held until 1662, and enriched himself by letting
leases * but, either dissatisfied with the advances he bad
Already made towards conformity, or foreseeing that greater
would soon be expected, be honourably refused to enrioh
hi&aelf by accepting a dignity, the very existence of which
be and bis brethren were prepared to oppose. In 1 66 i he
was one of the commissioners at the* Savoy conference,
and continued preaching until St. Bartholomew's day in
J6GJ2, when he was obliged to resign bis livings After
this he preached occasionally, either in private or public*
a* be found it convenient, particularly during the indul-
gence granted to the nonconformists from 1668 to .1670;
but was imprisoned for continuing the practice when it be-
came illegal. From this time bis history is too generally
involved with that of his brethren to admit of being sepa-
rated. He preserved, amidst all. vicissitudes* the friends-
ship of the duke of Bedford, the duke of Richmond, lord
.Wharton, and many other persons of rank. * To this they
were probably induced by a congeniality of principle; but
independent of this* Dr. Manton was a man of great learn-
ing and extensive reading, and his conversation aa much
recommended him to men of the world, as to those who
admired his pious services. Waller, the poet, said " that
he never discoursed with such a man as Dr. Manton in alt
bis life." He was also a person of extraordinary charity,
and supplicated the assistance of his great friends more for
the poor than for himself, being perfectly disinterested.
Wood has misrepresented his character in all these respects.
His constitution, although a man of great temperance,
early gave way \ and his complaints terminating in a
lethargy, he died Oct. 18, 1677, in the fifty-seventh year
of his age. He was buried in the chancel of the church at
Stoke Newington, where his intimate friend Dr. Bates
prea'ehed his funeral sermon, which includes a. very copious
character of him.
He published in his lifetime only some occasional ser-
mons, and the Commentaries on St Jude and St. James,
already mentioned, except a controversial work, entitled
" Smectymnuus Redivivus, being an answer to a book enr
titled An humble remonstrance." After his death, va-
rious treatises and collections of sermons were printed se-
parately, all of which, if we are not mistaken, were aft^r-
Vou XXI. S
25* M A N T O N.
wards incorporated in an edition of his " Works" in five
large volumes, 1681—1691, Folio.1
MANTUAN (Baptist), an Italian poet of great tem-
porary fame, was born at Mantua, whence he took his
name, in 1448, and not in 1444, as Cardan and others
have said ; for Mantuan himself relates, in a short account
#f bis own life, that he was born under the pontificate of
Nicholas V. and Nicholas was only made pope in March
1447. He was of the illustrious family of the Spagnoli,
being a natural son of Peter Spagnolo, as we learn from
Paul Jovius, who was his countryman, and thirty-three
years old when Mantuan died, and therefore must have
known the fact. Mantuan too speaks frequently and highly,
in his works, of his father Peter Spagnolo, to whom he
ascribes the care of his education. In his youth, he ap-
plied himself ardently to books, and began early with Latin
poetry, which he cultivated all his life ; for it does not ap-
pear.that he wrote any thing in Italian. He entered him-
self, we do hot know exactly when, among the Carmelites,
and came at length to be general of his order ; which dig-
nity, upon some disgust or other, he quitted in 1515, and
devoted himself entirely to the pursuit of the belles-lettres.
He did not enjoy his retirement long, for he died in March
1516; upwards of eighty years of age. The duke of Man-
tua, some years after, erected to his memory a marble
statue crowned with laurel, and placed it next to that of
Virgil ;. and even Erasmus went so far as to say that a
time would come, when Baptist Mantuan would not be
placed much below his illustrious countryman. In this
opinion few critics will now join. If he had possessed the
talents of Virgil, he had not his taste, and knew not how
to regulate them. Yet allowance -is to be made, when we
consider that, in the age in which he lived, good taste had
not. yet emerged. Lilius Gyraldns, in his " Dialogues
upon the poets of his own times," says, "that the verses
which Mantuan wrote in his youth are very well ; but that*
his imagination afterwards growing colder, his latter pro-
. ductions have uot the force or vigour of his earlier.'* *Vt5
may add, that Mantuan was more solicitous about the
number than the goodness of his poems ; yet, considering
that be lived when letters were but just reviving, it must
be owned, that he was a very extraordinary person.
1 Memoirs of Dr. Manton by Win. Harris, 1725, 8vo. — Calamy. — NeaVsPu-
ritaflft.-— Ath. Ox. vol. U. — Wilson's Hist, of Dissenting churches and mettiags*
M A N T U A N. /• 2S9
t
His poetical works were first printed, in a folio volume
without a date, consisting of his eclogues, written chiefly in:
bis youth ; seven pieces in honour of the virgins inscribed on
the kalendar, beginning with the virgin Mary; .these he calls
"Parthenissal." "ParthenissaII."&c; four books of Silv®
or poems on different subjects ; elegies, epistles, and, in
shorty poems of every description. This was followed by
an edition at Bologna, 1502, folio, and by another at Paris
in 1513, with the commentaries of Murrho, Brant, and
Ascensius, 3 vols. fol. but usually bound in one. A more
complete, but now more rare, edition of them was pub-
lished at. Antwerp, 1576, in four vols. 8vo, under this
title, " J.. Baptists Mantuani, Carmelits, theologi, philo-
sophi, po£t8B, & oratoris clarissimi, opera omnia, pluribus
libris aucta & restituta." The Commentaries of the Paris
edition are omitted in this; but the editors have added, it
does not appear on what account, the name of John, to
Baptist Man tuan.'
MANUTIUS (Aldus), the elder of three justly cele-
braj^d printers, was born about 1447, at Bassiano, a small
town in the ,duchy of Sermonetta. He was educated at
Rome, under Gaspar of Verona and Domitius Calderinus,
hpthof whom he has mentioned in several of his prefaces,
aaip?n of talents and erudition. Having acquired a know-
1^4g? ofthe Latin language from them, he went to Ferrara
to study Greek under Baptist Guarini, and, probably
after his own studies were completed, became the pre-
ceptor of the prince of Carpi, a nephew of the .celebrated
Picus of Mirandula. In 1482, Ferrara being closely be-
sieged by a Venetian army, he retired to Mirandula, and
spent some time in the society of Picus, who, though not
quite twenty years of age, was already a consummate
master of almost $11 learning. From Mirandula, Aldus
went, some time after, to reside with his pupil, who*
though, only twelve years of age, had made such advances
in learning, that he was already qualified to take a part in
the serious conversations, and the designs of his uncle and
hjs preceptor; and it is believed to have been, at this time,
that^ 4'dos conceived the project of bis subsequent printing
establishment at Venice, to the expences of which, Piod$
and his pupil probably contributed. He began, however,
to print, '^t Venice, in 1488, with an edition of the small
l Niceron, xoh XXVII— (Slinguene Hirt. J, it, D'ltalie.— Rwcoe'i Lco.#
S 2
MO MAN U T I V &
Greek poem of Mtistfus, in quarto, with a Latin transla-
tion, but without date. In 1 494 be published the Greek
grammar of Lascaris, and in 14*95, in one collection, the
gracftmatical treatises of Theodore Gaza, Apollonius, and
Herodian.
He had already begun to prepare for the press the ma-
nuscripts of the then unprinted originals of the works of
Ari6tofle, which, in number and extent, were sufficient to
fill five volumes in folio. Although the state of these MSB.
required almost incredible efforts of diligence and erudition,
Aldus brought out a first volume in 1495, and the edition
was completed in 1498. Aldus was from that time con-
fessed, without dispute, to stand as an editor in the very
first rank among his contemporaries. He was not, how*
ever, the very first that printed an entire Greek book.
The Greek grammar of Lascaris had been printed in folio,
at Milan, in 1476. The works of Homer were printed at
Florence in i 488 ; and several other Greek works hkd also
appeared in print, when Aldus began his establishment j
yet he must be allowed the praise of having first used ele-
gant Greek types, and printed from thfc most corrfect' and
authentic manuscripts*
In imitation, it is said, of the hand-writing of the cele*
brated Petrarch, Aldus procured the first examples of thtft
which is called, in printing, the Italic character, to be cut
and cast for him by Francesco of Bologna, about 150O.
An edition of the works of Virgil, in octavo, was the first
book he printed in this type, which was long known among
printers by the name of Aldine. The inventor obtained
a patent from the Senate of Venice, for its exclusive use
for ten years, from the 13th of November, 1502; and
another similar patent from pope Alexander the Sixth,
from the 17th of November, 1502. The last of these was
renewed for fifteen years more, by Julius the Second, on
the 27th of January, 1513; and again by Leo the Tenth,
on the 28th of the following November.
From 1 502, the different works printed by Aldus, were
reprinted at Lyons, with a close imitation of the Aldine
type and edition. The very prefaces of Aldus and his as-
sistants, were copied in the editions of Lyons. But the
imitation was disgraced by many typographical errors.
'Aldus, observing and noting these, publishe^Mfethe 16th
of March, 1503, a list in which they were particularly
enumerated, arid which he appears to have distributed to
M&R.U-JT.IHA 281
the purchasers of copies of bis own genuine editions, Thte
canning tnd industrious Lyonne§e took this list of their
erroirs, corrected them in new editions of the same books ;
and thus still divided the market with Aldus, and uow
Wore successfully than at the first. .
In 151)1, 1502, 1503, 1504, and 1505, Aldus printed ia
folio, of in octavo, a considerable number of the best au*
thors^ Greek, Roman, and Italian* such ,as Demosthenes*
Lucian, Dante, Horace, Petrarch, Cicero's epistles to bis
familiar friends, Juvenal, Lucan, Homer* Sophqples, £u«
ripjdps, &c. &c. He published, at the least, a, Volume
every mon.th. Theae publications were in all respects m*
celleitf. .Tbjey.wer^af wo*k$ the most valuable in aJLl lite-
ratyre* anpienjt or. modem. The composition of. the types
WPtijnely regular and .uniform; .the pres£»werk was admire
abljf; executed ; and the ink sQ truly good, that it retains
to this day all its beauty. and lustre of cqIquc . ,
Iq the necessary pains upon these work^ Aldus bad the
assistance of some of the best and most learned among his
contemporaries. His house became a sort of new academy.
The learned in Venice began, about J 500, to. assemble
there pn 6xed days of frequent recurrence, for conyersa*
lion on interesting literary, topics : and their meetings were
continued for several years subsequent. The topics on
which they conversed were, usually, what books were
fittest to be printed, what manuscripts might be consulted
with the greatest advantage, what readings, out of a diver-
sity, for any one passage, ought to be preferred. Among
those who attended these -conversations, were, besides
Aldus himself, the famous A. Navagerus, P. Bembo the
celebrated cardinal, Erasmus, when he was at Venice,
P. Alcionius, M. Musurus, Marc-Ant. Cocch. Sabellicus,
Albertus Pius, prince of Carpi, and others, whose names,
though they were then eminent, are not now equally in
remembrance,/ Among those who assisted Aldus in the
correction of the press, were men not less eminent than
Demetrius Cbalcondylas, Aleander, afterwards famous as
a cardinal, and even Erasmus.
There are some curious circumstances in the history of
the acquaintance and connexion between Erasmus and
Aldus, : The " Adagia" of Polydore Vergil bad been
printed at* Venice, and well received in the world. Eras-
jftus, aware of ■, this fact, wrote from Bologna, to request
that Aldus would undertake the printing of his " Adagia."
1
362 M A N U T I U S.
i
Aldus readily agreed to tbe proposal, and invited Erasmus
upon it to Venice. When Erasmus came, it was not till
after some delay that be obtained admittance to tbe print-
er's closet, whose servants were not aware of the stranger's
literary consequence. But Aldus no sooner knew that it
was Erasmus who waited for him, than be hastened to re-
ceive his visitor with open arms. He did more: he stop-
ped the progress of several important Greek and Latin
works, which he had then in the press, to make room for
the printing of the great collection of Erasmus with the
desired expedition. Erasmus was, in the meaft time, en-
tertained in the house of Andrew d' A sola, father-in-law to
Aldus, with whom Aldus and his wife appear, by Erasmus**
account, to have lived. D1 Asola was rich ; yet his table
was, even for that of an Italian family, parsimoniously
served : and Erasmus loved good cheer. The Dutchman
made frequent remonstrances to bis friend Aldus, against
tbe thinness of the soups, the absence of solid animal food,
the weakness and sourness of the wine, the general scanti-
ness of the whole provisions. ♦ The Italians* whose, climate
and natural habits had taught them to KveJ much nffiore
sparingly than was usual for the Dut£h and (iertnadk; 'wete
astonished and offended by bis complaints. Stone sittall
additions, such as a fowl or two, and. perhaps half a dozen
eggs a week, were made on his account to the commons of
the family. But these dainties were sometimes intercepted
by the women in the kitchen, on their way to tbe table.
On the table, they were devoured by tbe rest who sat at it
still more eagerly than by Erasmus. And if he was not
absolutely starved, he was assuredly a good deal mortified
in his appetite for a glass of good wine and a mess of deli-
cate and savoury meat, before he could see the printing
of his " Adagia" entirely at an end. His humours and
complaints made him at length a very unpleasant inmate
to the family ; while he was, on the other hand, dissatis-
fied still more, that his murmurs were not more complai-
santly, attended to. They parted with mutual dislike.
Erasmus wrote afterwards his dialogue, which has the title
of " Opulentia Sordida," in ridicule of the parsimonious
spirit, and the scantily-served table of Andrea D'Asola.
Aldus and bis successors, whenever they, after this time,
reprinted any work by Erasmus, avoided to mention his
name, and gave him tiimply tbe appellation of " Transal-
pine quidam homo.''
M AN U T I U S. 263
Aldus, not thinking that he did enough for the interests
of literature, in printing, for the first time, so many ex-
cellent books in. the Latin, Greek, and Italian languages,
gave, in his. Latin grammar, in 1501, a short introduction
to the knowledge of the Hebrew tongue ; and even propo**
sed to give a beautiful edition of the original Hebrew of
the sacred Scriptures, with the Septuagint and the Vulgate
Latin versions. Of this, however, be was diverted from
printing more than a specimen sheet. That sheet, now in
the royal library at Paris, exhibits the text in the three
different languages, each occupying one of three parallel
. columns on the same page. It is to be regretted that
Aldus should have been hindered from completing a design
so noble.
In 1500, Aldus, married the daughter of the above-men-
tioned Andrew of Asola, who had been a printer of some
reputation at Venice, and who soon after became his son-
in-law's partner. The "Letters of Pliny," 1508, is the
first book which marks this partnership, " in eedibus Aldi
et Andre© Asulani soceri." In 1 506 Aldus was a great
sufferer by the war which then raged in Italy, and his
printing was so much interrupted, that he was not able to
resume it until 1512. From that to 1515, he executed
several works, and was proceeding with others when he
died, nearly seventy years of age, in the last-mentioned
year.
The character of Aldus as a printer is so well known to
every scholar, and to such only it can be interesting, that
it is unnecessary to enlarge upon it here. But he may be
considered also as an original benefactor to the literature
of the age. He published a Latin grammar of his own
composition; and in 1515, after his death, was published
by bis friend Marcus Musurus, a Greek grammar, which
Aldus had compiled with great research and industry. He
wrote likewise a treatise " de metris Horatianis," which is
reprinted in Dr. Combe's edition of that poet. He pro*
duced a Greek dictionary, printed by himself, in folio,
1497, and reprinted by Francis D' Asola in 1524. He was
likewise the author of many of the Latin translations of the
classics, wrote many letters, some of which have been
published, and for some years after be settled at Venice,
gave a course of lectures on the best Greek and Roman
authors, which was attended by a great number of students.
Aldus, however, has not escaped the censures of criticism.
•M M A K U T I U fc
Urceus Godru4> the learned professor of Bologna, Mm-
plained, that be suffered many errofs to escape imtof-
reoted, in bis editions of the Greek authors ; that be s©14
bis copies too dear ; and printed them with an useless and
unsuitable width of margin. Later critics have ndt beetl
sparing of remarks somewhat similar. Ernesti, in bis notM
on the Letters of pliny, blames Aldus for excessive bold-
cess of conjectural criticism. In the preface to his Taoittte*
the same critic remarks, that Aldus rarely made on the
second and subsequent editions of the works he printed,
any alterations but such as consisted in negleeted errors
of the press. It is indeed true, that the editions of Greek
works printed by Aldus, are not always so correct *s his
Latin and Italian editions. But their defects are owing
to the disadvantages of Aldus's situation,, much rather than
to negligence, or inability in himself, as a printer and a
man of letters. He had not always a sufficient dumber of
manuscripts to collate : and sonietjmea he could not bate
the benefit of the judgment of a sufficient number of the
learned upon the difficulties which occurred to him. After
beginning to print any particular work* he often had not
leisure to pause for a sufficient length of time* over the
difficulties occurring in the progress of the edition. He
might, in some instances, also, print a manuscript which
he did not approve, lest it should otherwise have btiee lost
to posterity. l
MANtJTIUS (Paul), the son of the preceding, was
born at Venice in 1 512. After his father's death, he lived
with bis mother and her other children at Asqla, at some
distance from Venice, while the business of the printing
esabjishment at Venice was carried on, for the general
benefit of the family* by his grandfather, Andrea D* Asolrf,
and the Torresaiii, his maternal uncles. At A so la Paul
fftad$ but small progress in letters ; he was, however, re-
moved when very young to Vehioe, where be bad every
advantage of instruction and encouragement to study;
Bembo, Sadolet, BonarrUcus, Reginald Pole, and espe-
cially Rambertus and Gasp. Contarinus, who had been
bis father's friends, todk a pleasure to excite and direct
him in his literary pursuits* Under their tuition he ap-
plied to his studies wich such zeal and assiduity as even to
i Renouard's " Annates de I'lmprimem des Aides ou Hittoire des trois Ma-
nuce," 1803, 2 vols. 8vo, translated and abridged in the Month. Mag.
M AN U T I U S, 26*
injure his health, bat he suffered more from the depute*
that took place respecting tbe partition of the estates of
bis father and hie maternal grandfather, between himself
And the other heirs. His uncles *ad himself could net
agree in the management of the printing«bou8e, and in
l§29 it was shot up; but in 1533, hating arrived at the
age of twenty-one, he again opened it, and renewed tbe
business in tbd names, mod for the common benefit, of the
heirs of Aldus, and Andrea D'Asola. In 1540, however,
fthie partnership was dissolved ; and from tbis period, the
business was continued in tbe name! of the sons of Aldus
only.
Paul became now indefatigable in tbe management of
the printing establishment; and as tbe most valuable re-*
Bains of Grecian literature were already in print, deter-
mined to give new editions of the best Latin authors. As
bis admiration had been principally directed to the style
.and eloquence of Cicero,, the first work be printed was that
author's Weitises on Oratory, which appeared from bis press
in 1533, and the same year he published Cicero's Familiar
Letters. He printed also at this time the fifth Decade of
Livy, 11 Cortegiano, by Castiglione, II Petrarca, and Pon*
tani Carmioa, torn* I. la the following year the number
of Italiaii and Latin books which he published was very
considerable, His first Greek publication Was Themistius*
wbicb was speedily followed by Isocrates and Aetius Ami*
denug. In these publications he availed himself of the
literary assistance of various learned friends, whose atten-
tion and corrections gave that decided superiority to the
Akrtne editions which his father bad endeavoured to esta-
blish.
In 1535 he accepted at* invitation to Rome, upon the
promise of an opolent and eligible situation; but, not being
received with vespett or attention, he returned to Venice,
.and resumed his studies and employment. Having, howv
ever, attained no degree of opulence, ho engaged in the
business of education, took twelve young men of family
into his hoose, *nd superintended their education for three
years. Of these, two were Mattb. Senarega, who trans**
lated Cicero's Letters to Atticus into Italian, and Paul
Coutarinu*. 'trr l£fe8 he went on an excursion to erfajmne
the Hfiann#crif)ts m certain old 'libraries, particularly tbe
library of the Franoiscaos in Cfesena," which contained
some M8S. left to their convent by Malbtesta Novellas ;
866 M A N U T I U S.
and such was bis reputation at this time, that he was in-
cited to fill the chair of the professor of eloquence at
Venice, and had the offer of a similar situation at Padua,
vacant by the death of fionamicus. But his ill health, and
bis predilection for his business, induced him to devote his
whole time to the printing-house,; from wtrick & great num-
ber of the classics issued.
After; a second journey to Rome, in 1546, he married
Margarita, the daughter of Jerome Odonys. His* eldest
son, Aldus, the subject of our next article, was the first-
fruit of this marriage : he had also twb other sons, who died
young, and a daughter, who is often mentioned in his let*
ten* and was married in* 1573.. In 1556 an acadtnsy was
established at Veuice, , in the house of Frederick Badoarns,
one of the principal senators: of the republic, . which was
composed of about an hundred members, who endeavoured
to unite every species of literary and, scientific excellence.
Belonging to this afcademy was a printing-.bouse, in which
it w*s . proposed to print good editions , of all books and
nttkieacfipts already known to exist, as well as the original
Stings of the academicians. Over, this establishment,
Paul was appointed to preside, and, it was completely fur-
nished with, new founts of his own *yp£s, and he had under
him several other skilful printers, particularly Dominick
Jftevilacqua. In 1558 and 1559, fifteen different books
were printed in this hopse, none very large, but intended
as a prelude to greater undertakings, of which a catalogue
was published both in Italian and Latin, and may be seen
ip tttnouard's " Annates de rimprimerie des Aides,"
vol. I. , The books printed in this academy were all exe-
cuted with admirable correctness and beauty, and are be*
rcome exceeding scarce, and valuable* Paul was farther
honoured with: the professorship of eloquence in this aca-
demy, which, however, did not exist long. It was pro*
hably thought to have been an engine in Badoarus's hands,
bji which he might have become dangerous to the state j
or perhaps its expences might exceed his resources, and
drive him to pecuniary shifts of the discreditable kind. In
: August 1562, however, the academy was dissolved by a
public decree.
In 1561 Paul had been invited by Pius IV. upon terms
of great honour and ath^ntage, to repair to Rome, and
engage in printing the Hply Scriptures and the works of
the father* of the churchy He accordingly undertook this
MANUTIUS. 267
journey, of which his holiness bore the expences, as weH
as of the removal of bis printing-materials and of his family ;
and conditioned to allow him, from the time of his arrival,
a yearly salary of at least 500 crowns.- From this time,
till the death of Pius, be continued to exercise bis. profes-
sion as a printer -with griat .reputation at Rome, while he
also kept open his printmg*house at Venice. But at
length dissatisfied with his situation, and in ill health,, he
•left ifloihe in September 1570, and after visiting several
distinguished places in Italy^ returned to Venice in May
1572. From Venice, after a very short stay, he went
back again to Rome, where he was cheered <by the season-
able liberality of the pope, Which was made more agree-
able by being bestowed without any exaction *>f personal
labour or attendance. '• ■.;-.;.•::.
■r Much of his life appears to have been embittered by
sickness, and in September 1573 his health began to. de-
cline very rapidly. Three months after, he thought. him-
self better, but he had still an extreme weakness! in his
•loins, < with frequent and; severe head-ach£s, 'tad -he. re-
'deifeedftb' benefit frorti medicines. On the 6th. ofrApril,
1574, he expired in the arms of his son, who, had just ar-
rived from Venice to (attend him: in . his sickness, \ He.* had
lived in general 4steem;> and his death was universally, re-
gretted. He left a variety of writings, . which distinguish
him as one of the most judicious critics, and' one of the
most elegaut Latin writers that/ modern > times i have pro-
duced. Of these, the principal are his. letters in Latin
and Italian, his Commentaries on the works of his favourite
•Cicero, and his treatise " De Curia Romana." . The pro*
ductiens of *his presses are all of the highest value, for both
acquracy and beauty.1 . m.:. ... ». ,
. MANUTIUS (Aldus), the younger, son of the pre-
ceding,^ was born m 1547. His father paid the utmost
attention to bis ^education ; and so extraordinary was the
progress of the youth in learning, that he Was enabled to
give the world " A collection of elegant * phrases in the
Tuscan and Latin language*;" when .he was only eleven
years of age. Other juvenile works at, different periods
marked his advances in classical literature, and he soon
became his father's assistant in. bis labours. When very
young, he conducted the printing-business at Venice while
•**>•.
1 Renouard, fcc.
ft*S MANUTI.UA
father was engaged at Rome. In » 1 572 he married *
,ledy of the Giunti family, so well known ia (he annuls of
.typography; and oa the death of his father in 1574, all the
eMCeree of the Aldine prats devolved upon hifia. He waa,
however, less calculated for the business. of a (printer than
for the profession of an author. In 1$7T he was appointed
professor of the belies lettres in the school of the Venetian
chancery, in which young men designed for public em-
ploy ments. were educated. This Office be held till 1 585,
when he was made professor of rhetoric at Bologna.. In
the. same year lie published the. " .Life rf Cpam* dc Ma-
-dici/' whkb wtas.sowell received* that he! was [almost int*-
mediately invited to undertake the professorship <rf .polite
Ikeratujre. at Piaey which he accepted, aitbeftgh he received
an invitation at the same time to a professorship at Rome*
Which bad been lately held; by Muratus* During his stay
-el Pisa he jr*oeived the degree of doctor of laws, and was
admitted a. member of the Florentine academy, on which
eeoasion he delivered an eloquent oration " On the nature
of Petetiy." He now paid a visit to Lucca in order to ob-
tain materials for * " History of Castruccio Castraoani,"
-which he afterwards published* and which is much ap-
plauded by Thuanus. The Roman; professorship: being
reserved for him, he removed thither in 1*588, and <iatead«»
ing to spend bis life there, he caused hia whojt library to
be brought to Rome from Venice, at a very greet expenoe.
He was in high favour with Sixtus V. who gave him an
apartment in the Vatican, and a table, at the public- est*
pence. He was also patronized in various. ways by Cle*
snent VIII. He difed' in the fifty-firstyear of his age, in
October, 1667/. He left no posterity, and with him ended
the glory of the A 1 dine press. His1 library » consisting of
80,000 volumes, collected by himself and bis predecessors,
was sold to pay his debts,. He . was author of many per-
formances besides those already mentioned, but the moat
celebrated of his works were his " Commentaries on all
the Works of Cicero/' in ten volumes/ His "Familiar
Letters/' published in 1592, were highly esteemed ; but
M« Itenouard confesses, that were it not from fats inheriting
the Aldine offices, it might not have been remembered be
bad ever been a printer ; yet, though difference of taste
gave hia studies a different bent, his numerous writings,
notwithstanding they were inferior to bis father's and grand-
father's, sufficiently prove his industry and learning, and
MA PES. *e»
jtistify, to a certain point, the eommefidatkms besttfwed eh
htm by ma»y to wham bistfcerit* were known. * ' ' )
MAPES (Walter), mt pfcet of some celebrity fbrkltf
time* which was that - of • Heeiry II. of England, whose
chaplain he was about 1190. After the death of that
mouarch he held the same odice under prince John, and
kred familiarly with him. He was then made a canon of
Salisbury, afterwards precentor of Lincoln, and in the
eighth year of Richard I. archdeacon of Oxford. He wrote
in Latin; and some of hi* verses, which are in a light and
satirical style; are still extant. There is in the Bodleian a
work of his under the assumed name of Valerius, entitled
" Valerias ad Jlufinum de oott ducenda uxore," with a
large glpssj He perhaps adopted this name because one
Vjderias had written * treatise on the same subject in St.
Jerom't works. Wartofi thinks it probfeble that he trans-
lated from Latin into French the popular romance of Saint
Gnaal, at the instance of Henry II. He was* also cele-
brated fpr his wit and facetiousness in conversation. When
M heard a natural son of Hetiry II. swear by his father9*
royalty, be told him to remember also hid mother's honesty.
Be wrote a *' Compendium Topograph!^ and " Epi-
tome Cambria* ;*' and is* thought to hare written a " De-
scriptio Norfolciffi," which, says Mr. Gough, if we could
find it, would be a rateable curiosity. Mapes was often
confounded with a contemporary poet, Golias, of a similar
genius ; and some have supposed that Golias was a name
- assumed by Mapes. But according to Warton's informa-
tion^ they were different persons. *
MAPHAEUS. SeeVEGIUS.
. MAPLET (John), a physician and scholar, was the son
of * father of both his names, whom Wood calls M a suf-
Aciertf: shoemaker," and was born in 1616 in St. Martin's*
ie-graad-, London, and educated' at Westminster-school.
He wjis thence elected a student of Christ Church, Ox-
ford, in 1630, wbete he took his degrees in arts. Wood
ogives it as a report that he \yas first admitted to holy orders,
hothrsjnore certain that be was made M. D. in 1647, and
principal of Gloucester Hall. He then travelled on the
continent with his pupil, Lucius, lord Falkland, for two
. l Ifcnouartl. — Dibdiu's Classics.— and Bibl. Spenceriana passion, for notipes
•fallthe Aldi.
* Leland.— Tanner.— Warton's Hist, of Poetry.— Cave, vol. IX.-*Fabricii
Bibl. Lat. Med.
tW MA.P.LE T.
yean9 and wtotys an account of his travels in Latin, which
Guidot promised to publish. He then travelled with Hen-
ry, brother to Lucius lord Falkland, and on his return
settled .^s a physician at Bath in summer, and at Bristol
in wiqtprf . and had great practice. During the usurpation
he had been ejected from his office of principal of Glou-
cester Hall, but was restored in 1660, and soon after re-
signed it. He died at Bath, Aug. 4, 1670, and was buried
in the cathedral, with a monument and inscription cele-
brating his learning and skill as a physician. Wood speaks
of his Consultations with certain physicians, his cosmetics,
and his, poems, and epitaphs, but does not say where these
are to be found, or whether printed. He has not escaped
the diligence of Eloy, who, however, merely copies from
the Ath. Ox. The only publication printed appears to have
been a collection of letters on the efficacy of the Bath
waters, , published by Guidot under the title " Epistolangfri
Medicariyn specimen de Thermarum Batboniensiunnef-
fectis, ad clariss. medicos D. Bate Eraser, Wedderbourne,
&c." Lond. 1694, 4to. He appears to have been a dif-
ferent person from the J. Maplet who wrote " A Discourse
of metals, stones, herbs, &c." printed in 8vcr. This is
mentioned by Dr. Pulteney, who says the author was of
Cambridge.1 **'.•<;'
MAPLETOFT (John), a very learned. Englishman, was
descended , from a good family in Huntingdonshire, and
born at Margaret-Inge, in June 1631. He was educated
under the famous Busby at Westminster-school, .and being
king's scholar, was elected thence to Trinity college,; Cam*
bridge, in 1648. He took his .degrees in arts' at the re-
gular time, and was njade fellow of his .college Jn 1653.
In 1658 he left the college in order to be tutor to Joseelin,
son of Algernon, the last earl of Northumberland, with
whom he continued till 1660, and then travelled at his own
expence, to qualify himself for, the -profession of physic,
into which he had resolved to enter some years before.
He passed through France to Home, where he lived near
a year iu the bouse of the hoti. Algernon Sidney, to whom
he was recommended by his uncle the earl of Northumber-
land. In 1663 he returned to England, and to that earl's
family ; and, taking his doctor of physic's degree at Cam-
bridge in 1667, he practised in London. Here he cqbl-
1 Ath. Ox. vo!. If,— Pultncy's Sketches.— E!oy Diet. Hist, de MWipjne. ;
MAPLETOFT. ill
tracted an acquaintance- with many eminent persons in bis*
own faculty, as< Willis, Sydenham, Locke; and with se-
veral of the most distinguished divines, as Whichcote,
Tilloteon, Patrick, Sherlock, Stillingfleet, Sharp, and Clag-
get. hi I670he attended lord Essex in his embassy to
Denmark; and, in 1672, waited on the lady dowager
Northumberland into France. In March 1675, he was
chosen professor of physic in Gresham college, London;
and, in 1676, attended the lord ambassador Montague,
and lady Northumberland, to France. The same year
Dr. Sydenham published ihis " Observations medicae circa
inorborum acutorum historiahi et curatjonem," which he
dedicated to Dr.Mapletoft; who, at the desire of the
author, had translated theta into. Latin. • He held has pro-
fessorship at Gresham till October 1679, and married the
month following. ■' >
Soon after his marriage he relinquished the practice of
physic, and retired, in order to turn bis* studies to divinity.
In March 1689, be took both deacon's and priest's orders,
andi was. soon * after presented to the rectory of Braybrooke
in Northamptonshire, by lord Griffin. In 16S4 he was
chosen lecturer of Ipswich, and a year after, vicar of St.
Lawrence Jewry, and lecturer of St. Christopher's in Lon-
don. In 1689 he accumulated bis doctor's degree in di-
vinity, while king William was at Cambridge. In 1707
be was chosen president of Sion college, having been a
benefactor to their building and library. He continued to
preach in his church of St; Lawrence Jewry till he was
turned of eighty ; and, when he vyks thinking of retiring,
he printed a book entitled " The prineiples and duties of
the Christian religion," &c. 1710, 8vo, a copy of which
he sent to every house in his parish. He lived the last ten
years of his life with his only/daughter Elizabeth, the wife
of Dr. Gastrell, bishop of Chester, sometimes at Oxford;
and in the winter at Westminster, where he died in 1721,
in his ninety-first year. He was a very polite scholar,
wrote Latin elegantly, was a great master of the Greek,
and understood well the French, Spanish, and Italian
languages.
Besides his Latin translation of Sydenham's " Observa-
tiones medicae," and " The principles and duties of the
Christian religion," he published other tracts upon moral
and theological subjects; and, in the appendix to " Ward's
Lives of the professors of Gresham college/' from which
%n MAPLETGFT.
this account is extracted, there are insetted three Latitf
lectures of his, read at Gresfaam in 167S, upon the origin
of the art of medicine, and the history of its invention. '
MAPLfiTOFT (Robert), an English divine, was born
at North Tboresby in the county of Lincoln, in the be*
ginning of 1610, of which place his father, Henry Maple-*
toft, was many years rector. He was educated at the free
grammar school of Louth, and admitted of Queen's college
in -Cambridge* When he had taken the degree of B. A.
he removed to Pembroke hall, and was there made fel-
low January 6, 1630; and in or about 163$ was appointed
tbaplain to bishop Wren. He was one of the university
preachers in 1641, and was some time after one of the
proctors of the university. In 1644 (being then bachelor
io divinity) he was ejected from his fellowship for not taking
the covenant. After this he retired, and lived privately
among bis friends, and particularly with sir Robert Shirley
in Leicestershire, where he became acquainted with Dr«
Sheldon, who became archbishop of Canterbury. He had
afterwards a private congregation in Lincoln, where he used
to officiate according to the Liturgy of the church of
England : this had like to have produced him much trouble;
but it being found that he had refused a considerable sum
of money offered him by his congregation, he escaped pro*
sectuion. Oil the restoration he returned to Cambridge,
and was re-instated in his fellowship, and was presented by
the Crown, August 1, 1660, on the death of Dr. Newell, t*
the prebend of Clifton in Lincoln cathedral, to which he
was installed August 23, 1660: and then resigning it, he
was ,alsQ on the same day installed to the sab-deanery of
the same church, which he resigned in 1671 ; and about
the same time he became rector of Clay worth in Notting-
hamshire, which living he afterwards exchanged for the
vicarage of Sobam, in Cambridgeshire. In 1661 he re-
signed his fellowship, and about that time was invited by
archbishop Sheldon to be chaplain to the duchess of York,
then supposed to be inclining to popery, and in want of a
person of Dr. Mapletoft's primitive stamp to keep her
steady to her religion ; but he could not be prevailed upon
to accept the appointment. In 1664 he was elected mas-
ter of Pembroke hall, and became doctor in divinity, and
was by the king, August 7, 1667, promoted to the deanery
* Ward's prcibaia Profewrs.— Biof. Brit. Supplement, vol. VII.
MAPLETOFT. 27S
of Ely. He served the office of vice-chancellor of the
university of Cambridge in 1671, and died at Pembroke
hall, August 20, 1677. His remains, according to his own
desire, were deposited in a vault in the chapel of that
college, near the body of bishop Wren, the founder of it,
his honoured friend and patron, without any memorial.
Dr. Mapletoft lived very hospitably at Ely, and wherever
be resided, and was esteemed for the many pious and
charitable acts in his life-time; and, at bis death, after
many gifts, legacies, and charitable donations, he be-
queathed to the university 100/. towards purchasing Go-
lius's library of Oriental books for the university library ;
and in case that design was not executed, then to some
permanent university use, at the discretion of the vice-
chancellor and the two professors of divinity ; 100/. to poor
widows, chiefly clergymen's. His benefactions to the
church of Ely were, to the dean and chapter for ever, all
his close called hundred acres in the Wash in the town of
Coveney, for the increase of the singing men's stipends,
and on condition that they should frequent early prayers
in the cathedral. He also bequeathed to the same church
his library of books, and 100/. toward fitting up a place to
receive them, and furnishing it with more books; to each
of the prebendaries a ring of 20s. to each* minor canon and
schoolmaster 205. to each singing-man and verger 10s. and
to the choristers 5s. each.
In a codicil to his last will, signed 17th day of August,
1677, he gives to the use of the town of North Thoresby,
in the county of Lincoln, bis two cottages and one mes-
suage, vfrith all his lands in the same town and fields of the
same for ever, to be settled upon trustees, for and towards
the maintenance of one fit person to teach the scholars
there to read, to learn them their catechism, and instruct
them in it, to write, to cast accounts, and to teach them
their accidence, and to make them fit for the grammar
school, according, to the rules and orders which he or his ex-
ecutors should prescribe ; and also gives all those his lands,
meadow, and pasture in Saltfleetby to the use of the town
of Louth for ever, for and towards the maintenance of one
fit person to teach the children there in like manner as in
his gift to North Thoresby, per omnia. He gives likewise
to the master, fellows, and scholars of Pembroke Hal},
lands in Coveney for ever, on condition that they pay
yearly for ever to two poor scholars to be called his exhi-
Vou XXI. T
374 MAPLETOFT.
bitioners, 4l. each, and that they lay out yearly 40*. in
good books for the library 6f the said college. '
MARACCI (Louis), t learned author, born at Lucca
in 1612, became a member of the congregation of regular
derks, " de la Mere <fe Dieu." He obtained a name in
, tlfe literary world by an edition of the Koran, published at
Padua in 1698, in 2 vols, folio, and entitled " Alcorani
Textus universes, Arabice et Latine," to which he sub*
.,, joined notes, with a refutation, and a life of Mahomet*
The argumentative part, however, is not always solid; the
w cjrftjfcs in Arabic have found several faults in the printing
of that language ; and the editor appears to be. more versed
_.'. in the Mussulman authors thai), in philosppby or theology,
Maracci had a large shar^in. the edition of th§ Arabic
Bible printed at Rome iu 1671, in 3 vols, folio; and. was
certainly very successful as a professor of Arabic, in the
s college delja Sapienza. Innocent Xl. respected his vir-r
tues and knpwledge, chose him for bis confessor, and
would have raised him to the purple, had not his great
• modesty declined that honour. He died in 1700. Niceron
-> recounts a long list of his works. *
MARALD1 (James Philip), a learned astronomer and
mathematician, was born in 1665 at Perinaldo in the county
of Nice, a place already honoured by the birth of his ma<*
terual uncle, the celebrated Cassini. Having made a cob-
siderable progress in mathematics, at the age of twenty-
two his uncle, who had been a long time settled in France,
invited him there, that he might himself cultivate the
promising genius of his nephew. Maraldi np sooner ap-
plied himself to the contemplation of the heavens, than
be conceived the design of forming a catalogue of the
fixed stars, the foundation of the whole astronomical edi-
fice. In consequence of this design, . he applied himself to
observe them with the most constant attention ; and he
became by this means so intimate with them, that on being
shown any one of them, however small, he could imme-
diately tell what constellation it belonged to, and its place
in that constellation* He has been known to discover
those small comets, which astronomers pften takg for the
stars of the constellation in which they are seen, for want
of knowing precisely what stars the constellation consists
•
) Ward's Gresham Professors; — but chiefly his life in the Gent. Mag. vol.
LXXVII. • Niceron, vol. XLI.— DicL Hist.
MAR 4 I; D:l. 275
of, when others, on the $pot, and with $yes directed
equally to the. sate e part of the heavens, cbuld. not for it
long time see any thing of them.
. In l TOO he was employed under Cassini in prolonging
the, French meridian to the northern extremity pf France*
and had no small share in completing it, He next set ,ont
for Italy, where Clement the Xlth invited him to assist a£
the assemblies of the congregation then pitting in Rome, to
reform the calendar. Bianchini also availed himself. pfhis
assistance to construct the great meridian pf tbe Cartbu>-
sian church in that city. In 1718 Maraldi, with three
other academicians, prolonged the French meridian to the
southern extremity of that country.. He was admitted a
mepiber of the academy of sciences of Paris in 1699, in
the department of astronomy, and communicated a great
multitude of papers, which are printed in their memoirs, in
almost every year from 1699 to 1729, and usually several
paper* in each of the years ; for he was indefatigable in his
observation of every thing that was curious and useful in
the motions and phenomena of the heavenly bodies..^ As
to the catalogue of the fixed stars, it was not quite com*
pleted: just as be had placed a mural quadrant on the
terras of the observatory, to observe some stars towards
the north and the zenith, he fell sick, and died the 1st of
December 1729. 1
. MARANA (John Paol), the author of the Turkish Spy*
a book cried up far beyond its merits, for a long time,
both in France and England, was born about 1642, at or
near Genoa. When he was only twenty-seven or twenty-
eight, be was involved in the conspiracy of Raphael de la
Torre, who was desirous to give up Genoa to the duke of
Savoy. After being imprisoned four years, he retired to
Monaco, where he wrote the history of that plot, printed
at Lyons, jn 1632, in Italian. It contains some curious
particulars. ,
Marana, who had always wished to visit Paris, in 1682
went to settle there; and his merit being distinguished,
be found patronage from several people of consequence*
He there wrote his " Turkish Spy," in 6 vols, duodecimo,
to which a seventh was added in 1742, when the last edi-
tion appeared. Though the style of this work was neither
* Hottoa'8 Diet.— Martin's Biog. Phitoi.— Fabroni Vita Italorum, vol. VIII.
— Moreri.
T 2
276 M A K A N A.
precise, correct, nor elegant, it was greatly relished by the
public. The author had the art to interest curiosity by an
amusing mixture of adventures, half true and half ficti-
tious, but all received at the time as authentic, by persons
of confined information. Few supposed the author to be
a real Turk, but credit was given to the unknown Euro-
pean, who, under a slight fiction, thus delivered opinions
and anecdotes, which it might not have been safe to pub-
lish in a more open manner. The first three volumes were
most approved ; the next three, which are in reality much
inferior, were received with a proportionable degree of
attention. The whole are now the amusement of few ex-
cept very idle readers. Many other spies of a similar kind
have been formed upon this plan. Marana lived at Paris,
rather in a retired manner, which suited his taste, to 1689,
when the desire of solitude led him to retire into Italy,
where he died in 1693.1
MARAT (John-Paul), a prominent actor in the French
revolution, was born of protestant parents, in Neufehatel,
in 1744. In early life he went to Paris to study physic,
and appears to have made very great proficiency in it;
but probably from not having patience to pursue the pro-
fession in a regular course, he became an empyric, selling
his medicines at an extravagant price. On the breaking
out of the revolution, he took the lead among the most
violent and savage of all the factions that disgraced the ca-
pital ; and had endeavoured to preach murder and rob-
bery long before it appeared probable that such crimes
could have been practised with impunity. His first publi-
cation was a periodical paper, entitled the "Publiciste
Parisien," in wliich he, without scruple, and without any
regard to decency and truth, attacked Neckar, and other
men eminent for their integrity and public talents. His
next paper was entitled " The Friend of the People," in
which he more openly excited the troops to use their arms
against their generals, the poor to plunder the rich, and
the people at large to rise against the king. Afte/ the de-
position of Louis XVI. he was named a deputy of the de-
partment of Paris to the convention, in which assembly be
appeared armed with pistols. In April 1793, he publicly
denounced the leaders of the Brissotine party, accusing
them of treason against the state : he was supported by
«
1 Moreri, — Diet. Hist.
MARAT. 277
Robespierre ; a.violent tumult ensued, but Marat and his
friends were subdued, and himself impeached and prose*
.cuted; in a few days, being brought to trial, he was acquit-
ted. The triumph of his party was now unbounded, and
they soon gained such an ascendancy over their enemies,
that they murdered or banished all that attempted to obstruct
the progress of their nefarious projects ; till at length their
ieader Marat fell a victim to the enthusiastic rage of a fe-
male, Charlotte Cord6, who had travelled from Caen, in
Normandy, with a determination of rescuing, as she hoped,
her country from the hands of barbarians, by the assassi-
nation of one of the chief among them. He died unpitied
by every human being, who was not of the atrocious fac-
tion which he led, having, for some weeks, acted the most
savage parts, and been the means of involving many of the
most virtuous characters in France in almost indiscriminate
slaughter. Previously to joining in revolutionary politics,
he was Ifiiown as an author, and published a work *' On
Man, or Principles of the reciprocal Influence of the Soul
and Body," in two volumes, 12mo: also some tracts on
Electriqity and'Light, in which he attacked the Newtoniaci
System. These works had been forgot long before he
began to make a figure in the political world ; but it \i
remarkable that bis death occasioned a fresh demand for
them. They are now, however, again sunk into oblivion,
and his name is never mentioned but with contempt and
horror.*
MARATTI (Carlo), one of the most admired painters
of the Italian school, was born in 1625, at Camerino in the
march of, A neon a. When quite a child he is said to have*
pressed out the juices of flowers, which he used for colours
in drawing on the walls of his father's house. This pro-
pensity most probably induced his parents to send him to
Rome a^ eleven years old; where, by his manner of copy-
ing the designs of Raphael in the Vatican, he obtained
the favour of Andrea Sacchi, and became his pupil. From
the grace and beauty of his ideas he was generally em-
ployed in painting Madonnas and female saints; on which
account he was, by Salvator Rosa, satirically called
Carluccio delta Madonna. He was far from being ashamed
of this name, and in the inscription placed by himself on
his monument (nine years before his death), he calls it
1 JBiog. Modefne —Dick Hist.— Rees's Cyclopaedia.
9
/
278 M A R A T t I.
§
gloriosum cognomen? and professes his particular devotion
to the Virgin Mary. The pope, Clement XI. gave him a
pension, and the title of Caoatiero ii Cristo ; and he wats
appointed painter in ordinary to Lours XIV. He died at
Rome, loaded with honours, in IT IS, at the advanced! age
of eighty-eight Extreme modesty and gentleness were
the characteristics of bis disposition ; and his admiration
of the great models he had studied was such, that not
content with having contributed to preserve the works of
Raphael and the Car*ccis in die Farnese gallery, he erected
monuments to them in the Pantheon, at his own expehce.
Sfveral plates are extant, etched by him in aquafortis, in
which he has displayed abundant taste and genius.
Of this artist Mr. Fuseli says, that although " he enjoyed
in his life the reputation of one of the first painters of
Europe, his talent seldom rose above mediocrity ; he de-
lighted in easel-pictures or altar-pieces, though not unac-
9uaihted with fresco. He is celebrated for the lovely, mo-
est, and yet dignified air of bis* Madonnas, the grace of his
angels, the devout character of his saints, and their festive
dresses. His best pictures are in the style of Sacchi: those
ior bis second manner are more elaborate, more ankibusly
Studied, but, with less freedom, have less grandeur; The
masses of his draperies are too much intersected, shew the
naked too little, and sometimes make his figures appear too
heavy or too short, He certainly aimed at fixing Ips prin-
cipal light to the most important spot of his picture; bur,
being unacquainted with the nature and the gradations
of shade, involved its general tone in a certain mistiness,
which was carried to excess by his pupils, and became a
characteristic mark of his school; He studied in his youtfk
the style and works of Raphael with the, most sedulous
attention, and strove to imitate him at every peridd of ftis
practice ; but it does not appear that he ever discriminated
his principles of design or composition, notwithstanding
the subsequent minute and laborious employment of re-
storing his frescoes. , * ' ♦
"The churches and palaces of Rome, filled with th*
pictures of Maratti, bear witness of his popularity *' bti$
perhaps,, no work of his can impress us with a more *Jj|*
Vfmtageous opinion of bis powers, than the fifathsftebti
viewed by David ; a work, of which it is easier to feel ; than
to describe the charmsfr which has no rival, and seems to
preclude all hope of equal success in any future repetition
M A ft A T T I. X?9
of the subject*' Maratti had a, daughter, Marijjtfaratti,
whom he instructed himself in the art ; hexportrait, exe-
cuted by herself, in a painting att^iide, is in the gallery
Corsini at Rome. '
MARC A (Peter de), one of the greatest ornaments of
the Gallican church, but a man of great inconsistency of
character, was born in 1594, at Gam, in Beam, of a very
ancient family in that principality. He went through his
course of philosophy among Jthe Jesuits, and theti studied '
the law for three years; after which he was received a
counsellor in 1615, in the supreme council at Pail. In
1621 hie was made president of the parliament of Beam f
and going to Paris in 1639, about the affairs of his pro-
vides, was made a counsellor of state. In 1640 he pub-
lished " "the History of Beaih," which confirmed the good
opinion that was conceived of his knowledge and parts.
fee was thought, therefore, a very proper person to under-
take a delicate and important subject, which offered itself
about that time. The bourt of France was then it variance
witb tile court of Ronie, and the book which Peter de Puy
published, concerning the liberties of the Gallican church,
greatly alarmed the pahffians of the court of Rome ; sotoe
3f whom endeavoured to pefsuade^he world that they were >
the preliminaries of a schism (GonMvAl by cardinal* Riche*
lieu ; as if his emihency had it in his head to erect a patri-
archate in that kingdom, in order "to render the Gallican
cdtarch independent bf the pope. A French divide, M.
hersent (see Hersen*), who took the name of Optatus
Gallus, addtessed -A book" to the clergy upon the subject;
and insinuated that the cardinal had brought over to bis
party a great persotlage, who was 'ready to defend this
conduct of the cardinal; and this grfeat personage was
Pete'r deMa^rca. But an insinuation of this nature tending
Mb ihfeke the cardinal odious, as it occasioned a rumour
that 'bfe aspired to the patriarchate, the king laid his com-
tfjjftftb dn'tfe Marca to refute Hersent's work, and at the
same time to preserve the liberties of the Gallican church
6n the one hand, and to make it appear on the other that ,
flfttee liberties did not in the least diminish the reverence
dtt&td^he holy see. . He accepted of this commission, ami
executed it by his book "De Concordia sacerdotii & iifiperii,
- Jr A^uvm^, to!. I.-iPMttgtoa by Fuieli.r4ir J. Rejrnold^ WotU;itl
280 MARC A.
sive, de libertatibus ecclesiae Gallicae," which be published
in 1641. He declared in his preface, that he did not enter
upon the discussion of right, but confined himself to the
settling of facts : that is, he only attempted to shew what
deference the Western churches had always paid to the
bishop of Rome on the one side; and on the other, what
rights and privileges the Gallican church had always pos-
sessed. But though he. had collected an infinite number
of testimonies in favour of the pope's power, the work was
of too liberal a cast not to give offence : perhaps even the
very attempt to throw the subject open to discussion was not
very agreeable ; and accordingly, the court of Rome made
a great many difficulties in dispatching the bulls which
were demanded in favour of de Marca, who bad, in the
end of 1641, been presented to the bishopric of Conserans.
That court gave him to understand that it was necessary
he should soften some things he had advanced ; and caused
his book to pass a very strict examination. After the
death of Urban VlII. cardinal Bichi warmly solicited Juno-
cent X. to grant the bulls in favour of the bishop of Con-
serans ; but the assessor of the holy office recalled the
remembrance of the complaints which had been made
against his book " De Concordia," which occasioned this
pope to order the examination of it anew. De Marca,
despairing of success unless he gave satisfaction to the
court of Rome, published a book in 1646, in which he
Explained the design of his " De Concordia," &c. sub-
mitted himself to the censure of the apostolic see, and
shewed that kings were not the authors, but the guardians
of the canon laws. ".I own," says he, " that I favoured the
side of my prince too much, and acted the part of a president
rather than that of a bishop. I renounce my errors, and pro-
mise for the future to be a strenuous advocate for the au-
thority of the holy see." Accordingly, in 1647, he wrote
a book entitled " De singqlari primatu Petri," in which he
proved that St, Peter was the only head of the church;
and this he sent to the pope, who was so pleased with it,
that he immediately granted his bulls, and be was. made
bishop of Conserans in 1648. This conduct of de Marca
has been noticed by lord Bolingbroke, in his posthumous
work's* wit^ .becoming indignation. Recalls him "a time-*
serving priest, interested, and a great flatterer, if ever
there was one;" an 4 adds, that, " when he could not get
his bulls dispatched, he made no scruple to explain awfcjr
M A R C A. 281
all that "he had said in favour of the state, and to limit the
papal power."
In 1644, de Marca was sent into Catalonia, to perform
the office of visitor -general, and counsellor of the viceroy,
which he executed to the year 1651, and so gained the;
affections of the Catalonians, that in 1647, when he was
dangerously ill, they put up public prayers, and vows for
his recovery. Th/e city of Barcelona, in particular, made a
vow to our lady of Montserrat, and sent thither in their name
twelve capuchins and twelve nuns, who performed their
journey with their hair hanging loose, and bare-footed.
De Marca was persuaded, or rather seemed to be per-
suaded, that his recovery was entirely owing to so many
vows and prayers ; and would not leave Catalonia without
going to pay bis devotions at Montserrat, in the beginning
of 1651, and there wrote a small treatise, " De origine &
progressu cult&s beatse Marise Virginis in Mftnteserato,"
which he left in the archives of the monastery ; so little
did he really possess of that liberality and firmness of mind
which is abovje vulgar prejudice and superstition. In Au-
gust of. the same year, he went to take possession of his
bishopric ; and &e year after was nominated to the arch*
bishopric of Toulouse, but did not take possession till.
1655. In 1656 he assisted at the general assembly of the
French clergy, and appeared in opposition to the Jan-
senists, that be might wip&off all suspicion of his not being
an, adherent of the court of Rome, for he knew that his
being suspected of Jansenism had for a long time retarded
the bull which was necessary to establish him in the arch-
bishopric of Toulouse. He was made a minister of state
in 1658, and went to Toulouse in 1659. In the following*
year he went to Roussillon, thereto determine die marches
with the commissaries of the king of Spain. In these con-
ferences be had occasion to display his learning, as they
involved points of criticism respecting the language of Pom-}
ponius Mela and Strabo. It was said in the Pyren&u
treaty, that the limits of France and Spain were the same,
with those which anciently separated the Gauls from Spain*
This obliged th$m to examine whereabouts, according to
the ancient geographers, the Gauls terminated here ; and'
d$ Marca' s knowledge was of great use at this juncture.
He took a journey to Paris the same .year, and obtained
the appointment of archbishop of Paris ; but died there
J»ne 29, 1662, the very day that the bulls for his promo*
1282 to A H C A.
tian arrived. Hi^su&ten death, at thi* time, occasioned
the following jocular epitaph :
■ " Ci git monseigneur de Marca*
Que le Roi sagement marqua,
• Four le prelat de son e£li*e 3
.Majs la mort qui le remarqua/
Et qui se plait a lq. surprise,
Tout aussitdt le demarqua."
He left the cafe of his manuscripts to Mr. Baluze, *wbb
had lived with him ever since June, 1656, and who htfe
written bis life, whence this account is taken. Baluze*
also published an edition of his work " De Concordia," in
1704, as originally written: The only other works he
wrote of any note are his " Hrstoire de Beam," Paris,
J640,4bL and his H Marca Hispanica* sive Limfcs His*-
paoicus," Paris, 16S8, fol. edited by Baluze. Le Clerc
Very justly thinks Baluze's account of De Marca, a pane*-
gyric'or an apology rather than a life* The most favour-
able trait in De Marca' s character Was bit ambition to rise by
learning, which certainly first brought him Into notice. H6
is said to have renounced all the pleasures of yduth, while he
was at school, for the Ibve of books ; and tti have foretold t6
his school-fellows, who spent their tune in vain amusements,
the difference which would one day app'ear between *heir
glory and his. It was at Toulouse that he laid the ground*
work of his great learning; auti he did not neglect td
make himself a complete master of the Greek tongue,
which greatly distinguished him from other learned men.
He was early mdrried to a young lady of the ancient
fatmMy of the viscounts of Lavedan, who bore him several
children ;-. but she dying in 1632, he went into orders.1
. M ARC-ANTONIO. See RAIMONbl.
MARCELLINUS. See AMMIANU8.
MARCELLO (Benedetto), fet nobleman celebrated for
musical knowledge, was born July 24, 16^80, at Venice,1
and was the descendant of one of the most illustrious faU
milies of that republic. He had cultivated music so seitf-
ously.aud successfully under the guidance of the celebrated
Gasparini, that no contemporary professor was more re^
iterenced for musical science, or half ^o* much praisgd fb^
his abilities as a compose^ Us MftrCello ; arid BeslSfefe Hrf
musical productions, consisting of psfela&, oneHM^madri-
. , ♦""!
J Dupin.— pen. pfet«— Nieeri*, Tol,^U,-rP«raaltS| ^i^S^fee^Wtai
MARC t 1 1 & 2M
gats, songs, and cantata*, he was frequently his own poet,
and sometimes assumed the character of lyric bard for
other musicians. It is probable that Marc el I o had received
some disgust in his early attempts at dramatic music ; for,
in 1720, he published a furious satire upon composers,
/Singing-masters, and singers in general, under the title
of " Teatro alia Moda," or " An easy and certain Method
of composing and performing Italian Operas in the modern
'manner.19 But his great musical work, to which the late
Mr. Avison's encomiums and Mr. Garth's publication to
'English words, have given celebrity in our own country,
was first printed at Venice, in 8 vols, folio, under the fof-
lowing title: " Estro poetico-armonico, Parafrasi sopra
1 primi 50 S&lmi, Poesia di Girolamo Ascanio Giustiuiani,
Musica di Benedetto Marcello, Patrizj Veneti, 1724 and
1725." Dr. Burney, after a careful examination of thia
'elaborate work, is of opinion, that though it has Consider-
able merit, the author has been over-praised ; as the sub-
jects of many of his fugues end airs are not only common
&nd old-fashioned at present, but were far from new. at
the time these psalms were composed. But, adds Dr. Bur-
ney, Marcello was a Venetian nobtoman, as Vftnosa was a
Neapolitan prince ; both did honour to music. by cultivating
it; and both expected and received a greater return in
fame than, the legal interest of the art would allow. , Mar-
cello died at Brescia, June 25, 1739, ot, according to our
principal authority, in 1741. He was author of a drama
called a Arato in Bparta," which was' set by fiuggieri, and
performed at Venice in 1704 ; and in1 mo he produced
both the words and the music of an oratorio called rt Giu-
dittd." He set. the " Psyche1' dT!ta,ssini about the same
time; ind in 1718 he published " Sonnets** Of his own
writing, Without music.1 ' > - »
MARCHAND (Prosper), art author to whom the cu-
rious in literary Aistory are greatly indebtefl, was probably
a native of Paris, and born towards the conclusion of the
seventeenth century. He Was bred op as a bookseller itl
that city, a business which always requires some knowledge
of books, but which he carried to an extent very unusual,
and for forty years employed ^lrttost the whole of his time
$ti inspecting the works oi eminent authors, inquiring iritii
{heir history, their editions, differences, and every species
i r *
- * By Dr. Burtxy iikHfrt., tf.Mt*ic-*4udJtqj*fl C^clop^Ui.— IJpC HJiW * j
284 MARCHAND.
of information which fonps the accurate bibliographer*
During the time that Mr. Bernard published the " Nou-
velles de la Republiques des Lettres," Marchand was his
constant correspondent, and contributed all the literary
anecdotes from Paris, which appeared in that journal.
Being, however, a conscientious protestant, and suspect-
ing that in consequence of the repeal of the edict of Nantz,
he might be interrupted in tbe exercise of his religion, he
went to reside in Holland, and carried on the bookselling
trade, there for some time, until meeting with some lack ot"
honesty among his brethren (peu dc bonne-foil qu'.il avoit
trouvetj, be relinquished business, and devoted bis jtime en-
tirely to literary history and biography. In both his know-
ledge was so conspicuous, that the booksellers were always
happy to avail themselves of his opinion respecting intend-
ed publications, and more happy when they could engage
his assistance as an editor. In the latter character, we
find that he superintended an edition* 1. of Ba}'le's " Dic-
tionary /'and " Letters," both which he illustrated with notes.
2. " Satyre Menippge," RatisUonne, (Brussels), 1714, 3
vols. 8vo. 3. " Cymbalum mundi," by Bonaventure de
Perrieres, Amst. 1732, 12mo. 4. Fenelon's " Direction pour
Ja conscience d'un roi," Hague, 1747^ 8vo and 12mo. 5.
The abbe .Brenner's " Histoire des Revolutions de Hon-
grie," ibid., 1739, 2 vols. 4to, and 6 vols. l2mo. 6. " Let-
tres, . Memgires, et Negociations du comte d'Estrades,"
London (Hague), 1743, 9 vols. 12mo. 7. " Histpire de
Fenelon," Hague, 1747, 12mq. 8, " Qeuvres de Bran-
tome," ibid. 1740, 15 vols. l2mo. 9. " Oeuvres de Villon,'*
ibid. 1742, 8vo, &c. &c. \\ -
Marcband was also one of the principal, writers in the
" Journal Litteraire," which was reckoned one of the best
of the kind, and he contributed occasionally to other pe-
riodical ?vorks. He maintained at the same time a regular
and extensive correspondence with the most learned men
in different parts of Europe ; to whom he Communicated,
and from whom he' received communications,: and often:
had it in his power to assist them from the stores of his own
curious and well-chosen library.
Besides the " Anti-Cotton, ou Refutation de Ja lettre de-
claratoire du P. Cotton* avec un dissertation," printed a(
the Hague in 1738, at the end of the history of Don lnigo
de Guipuscoa, and the " Chef-d'oeuvre d'un inconnu,'*
$ften reprinted, he published in 1740 " Histoire de Pirn-
MARCHAND. 285
primerie," Hague, 4to, a work of great research, and often
consulted by* typographical antiquaries, but deficient in
perspicuity of arrangement. A valuable supplement t) it
iMs published by Mercier, the abb6 of St. Leger, 1775,
2 vols. 4to, ' which French bibliographers say is better exe-
cuted than Marchand' s work, and certainly is more correct.
But the work which best preserves the name of Marchand,
was one to which we have taken many opportunities to own
our obligations, his " Dictionnaire Historique, ou Memoires
Critiques et Litteraires, concernant la vie et les ouvrages
de divers person n ages distingue^, particulierement dans la
republique des lettresy" 1758 — 9, 2 vols, folio. This has
1>een by his editor and others called a Supplement to Bayle;
but, although Marchand has touched upon a few of the
authors in Bayle's series, and has made useful corrections -
and valuable additions to them, yet in general the mate-
rials are entirely his own, and the information of bis own
discovering: The articles are partly biographical, and
partly historical ; but his main object being the history of
-books, he sometimes enlarges to a degree of minuteness,
which bibliographers only can pardon, and it must be owned
sometimes brings forward inquiries into the history of
authors and works which his utmost care can scarcely rescue
from the oblivion in which he found them. With this ob-
jection, which by no means affects the totality of the work,
we. know few volumes that afford more satisfaction or in-
formation on the subjects introduced. His accuracy is in
general precise, but there are many errors of the press,
and the work laboured under the disadvantage of not
being handed to the press by the author. He often in-
tended this, and as often deferred it, because his mate-
rials increased so that he never could say when his design
was accomplished ; and at length, when he had nearly over-
come all his scruples, and was about to print, a stroke of
palsy deprived him of the use of his right hand, and un-
fitted him for every business but that of prepariug to die,
and the settlement of his affairs. This last took up little
time. He was a man of frugal habits, content with the
decent necessaries of life, and laid out what remained of
his money in books. The items of his will, therefore, were
few, but liberal. He left his personal property to a society
established at the Hague for the education of the poor;
and his library and MSS. to the university of Leyden. He
died, at an advanced age, June 14, 1756.
*« M A ft C H A W D
His ?' Dictionnaire" he consigned to the care bf a friend,
jWho has given us only the initials of his name (J* N. S. A->)
tjo whpm be likewise intrusted a new edition of bis C4 Hi**-
tory of Printing/* which has never appeared. This friend
undertook to publish the J)ictiopary with the greater aU*
crity, as Marchand assured him that the many script was
ready. Ready it certainly watf, but in such a state as
frightened the editor, being all written upon little pieces
of paper of different sizes, some not bigger than one's
thumb-nail, and written in a character so exceeding small,
that it was not legible to the naked eye. The editor, therer
fore, said perhaps truly, that this was the first book ever
printed by the help of a microscope. These circum-
stances, however, may afford a sufficient apology for the
errors of the press, already noticed ; and the editor cerr
tainly deserves praise for having so well accomplished hit
.undertaking amidst so many difficulties.1
MARC HE (Oliver de la), a French courtier and au-
thor, of the fifteenth century, was the son of a Burgqn*
dian gentleman. He was first page, and afterwards gentle-
man to Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, who so highly
esteemed his fidelity, that be refused to give him up at
the demand of Louis XI. La Marche served afterwards
with zeal under Charles the Rash, who was slain ait the
battle of Nancy, in 1477. After this, he bad the office of
grand maitre d'hotel to Maximilian of Austria, who bad
married the heiress >of Burgundy; and, maintaining the
same post under the archduke Philip, was sent oh an em*
bassy to France after the death of Louis XL He died at
JB^ussels Feb. 1, 1501. His works are, 1. "Memoirs, of
JChronicles," printed at Lyons in 1 562, and at Brussels i»
1616, 4to. They are reckoned inferior to the Memoirs of
Comines, as to their style, but perhaps superior as to their
sincerity. The author relates several curious anecdotes in
a manner which, though flat, is rendered pleasing by its
frankness. 2. " A Treatise on Duels," &c. 8vo. 3. "Trif
oraphe des Dames. d'Honoeur," 1520, 8vo; the Triumph
of virtuous Women. This is a work of dull and trivial
jnorality, full of quaint allusions and metaphors. Several
other performances are said to be extant in print, and in
manuscript, but from the account given of them there is
1 Preface to the Dictionnaire. — Diet Hist.
* . -4 • w
M A R C H R. ' 287
little motive for making tbyem the object of any further
• inquiry.1
MARCHETTI (Alexander), a physician, mathemati- (
cian, and poet of. Pisa, was born at Pontormo, between
JPisa and Tlorence, March 17, 1633. His talents were
early developed, and he became the pupil and intimate
friend of the learned Berelli, whom be succeeded in 1679,
as professor of mathematics at Pisa. He was a man above
prejudices, free to declare his sentiments, preferring expe-
riment to authority, and rqason to Aristotle. He produced
several excellent disciples, and died at Pontormo, Sept*
,6, 1714, aged eighty-one. There are extant by him. 1.
"Poems," 1704, in 4tp. 2. Several treatises on; philoso-
phical subjects, among which that on the resistance of
fluids, is particularly valued, 1-669^ 4to. After his death
appeared, 3. A translation of Lucretius, in Italian verse,
much esteemed for its fidelity, ease, and harmony ; yet,
says Baretti, " the versification, in my opinion, is but in-
different1' It was not allowed to be published in Italy,
but was published in .London, 1717, in 4to, by Paulo Rollt,
the translator of Milton into blank verse* 4. His free trans-
lation of Anacreon is less esteemed ; it was published at
Venice in 1736. There is an edition of his poems, printed
at Venice in 1755, 4to, to which his life is prefixed.1
MARCHETTI, or MARCHETTIS (Peter de), a phy-
sician, was professor of anatomy at Padua, where he was
born, and where be continued to teach that art from 1652
until 1669, when he was allowed to resign his fchair to his
son Anthony. In 1661, he also obtained the appointment
to the first professorship of surgery, which he held along
with that of anatonpy. His merit, in both procured him the
honour of knighthood of the order of Sl Mark. At the
age of eighty years, he retired altogether from the univer-
sity ; and, after having enjoy ed a short period of repose, he
died in April 1673. He left the following works : " Ana-
tomia," Venice, 1654, 4to. " Sylloge Observationum Me-
dico-chirurgk^rum rarjoruoV' Padua* 1664, several times
reprinted, and translated into German. It contained fifty-
three Cjtses of some interest, and three tracts on ulcers, on
fittulse of the urethra, and on spina ventosa.
1 Gen. Diet.— Moreri. — Bullart't Academic des Sciences.— Du Verdier,
vol. HI.
* Fabrooi Vita Italorum, vol. II.— Niceron, vol. VI.— £l*y D'jct Hiak. da la
Medicine.
-2»3 M'ARCHETTI,
His two sons, Dominic and Anthony de Marchetti,
were likewise both professors in their native university of
Padua. The former was author of a good compendium of
anatomy, according to the judgment of Haller, which
passed through several editions, under the title of " Ana-
tomia, cui Kesponsiones ad Riolanum, Anatomicum Pa-
risiensem, in ipsius animadversionibus contra Veslingium,
additae sunt,*' Padua, J 652, &C.1
MARCHMONT (Hugh Hume, Campbell, third earl
of), a nobleman of great learning and accomplishments,
was born in 170S. He was the third in succession to, and
the last inheritor of, that title ; there being no male de-
scendants of his grandfather, sir Patrick Hume, tDe ^rst
earl, and his lordship having survived his only son, Alex-
ander lord Polwarth, who had been created an English
peer, but died without issue of his marriage with the lady
Isabella Grey, daughter of the earl of Hardwicke, and
heiress of the last duke of Kent ; a peeress in her own
right, under a limitation by Charles II. of the barony of
Lucas of Crudwell.
Sir Patrick Hume, the first earl, was raised to the
peerage by king William III, for having taken a very
leading and active part to counteract the arbitrary proceed-
ings of Charles II. ; and afterwards the more dangerous
measures of James II. which threatened the annihilation oi
the liberties of the country, as well as the complete sub-'
version of its religion ; for which attempts he was long
imprisoned in the former reign ; and persecuted with a
most unrelenting spirit in the latter, for having joined in
the unsuccessful attempt of the earl of Argyle in 1685.
King William's private regard for sir Patrick was marked
by his majesty's granting an addition to his arms of an
orange, ensigned with an imperial crown; and by giving
him an original portrait of himself.
Concerning the danger to which sir Patrick was exposed
in the last of the two reigns above-mentioned, we have
the following very interesting narrative in a work recently
published *, for extracting which it is needless to make
any apology. „
When a near relatibn, very dear to sir Patrick, was again
imprisoned, he thought it adviseable to keep himself con-
* Mr, Rose's Observations on Mr. Fox's Historical Work, Appendix No. I. p. V
1 Eloy Diet. Hist, de la Medicine.— Haller. — ReiVs Cyclopaedia.
MARCHMONT. 330
cealed. The following account of his concealment is taken
from the MS* preserved in the family by his grand-daughter.
— *-" After persecution began afresh, and my grandfather
Baillie again in prison, sir Patrick thought it necessary to
keep concealed ; and soon found he had too good reason for
so doing, parties being continually sent out in search of
him, and often to his own house, to the terror of all in it,
though not from any fear for his safety, whom they imagined
at a great distance from home, for no soul knew where he
was but my grandmother, and my mother, except one man,
a carpenter, called Jamie Winter, who used to work in the
house, and lived a mile off, on whose fidelity they thought
they could depend ; and were not deceived. The frequent
examinations and oaths put to servants in order to make dis-
coveries wereso strict, they durst not run the risk of trusting
any of them. By the assistance of this man they got a bed
and bed-clothes carried in the night to the burying-place, a
vault underground at Polwarth church, a mile from the
house, where he was concealed a month; and had only for
-light an open slit at the one end, through which nobody
could see what was below ; she (his daughter) went every
night by herself at midnight, to carry him victuals and
drink, and staid with him as long as she could to get home
.before day. In all this time my grandfather shewed the
same constant composure and cheerfulness of mind that he
continued to possess to his death, which was at the age of
eighty -four ; all which good qualities she inherited from
him in a high degree ; often did they laugh heartily in
that doleful habitation, at different accidents that hap-
• pened. She at that time had a terror for a church-yard,
especially in the dark, as it is not uncommon at her age,
* by. idle nursery stories ; but when engaged by concern for
her father, she stumbled over the graves everyj night alone,
without fear of any kind entering her thoughts, but for
. soldiers and parties in search of him, which the, least noise
or motion of a leaf put her in terror for. The minister's
house was near the church ; the first night she went, his
dogs kept such a barking as put her in the utmost fear of a'
discovery ; my grandmother sent for the minister next day,
< and upon pretence. of a mad dog, got him to hang all his
. dogs. There was also difficulty of getting victuals to
.carry .him without the servants suspecting; the only way it
was done, was, by stealing it off her plate at dinner into
her lap ; many a diverting story she has told about this,
>ojl. XXI. U
-*j
290 MARCHMOtfT.
and other things of alike nature. Her father liked sheep**
head, and while the children were eating their broth, she
had conveyed most of one into her lap ; when her brother
Sandy (the second lord Marchmont) had done, he looked
up with astonishment, and said, " Mother, will ye look at*
Grizzel ; while we have been eating our broth, she has eat
up the whole sheep's head.*' This occasioned so much
mirth among them, that her father at night was greatly en-
tertained by it ; and desired Sandy might have a share in
the next. I need not multiply stories of this kind, of
which I know many. His great comfort and constant en-
tertainment (for he had no light to read by) was repeating
Buchanan's Psalms, which he had by heart from -beginning
to end; and retained them to his dying^day ; two years
before he died, which was in 1724, 1 was witness to hts
desiring my mother to take up that work, which, amongst
others, always lay upon his table, and bid her try if he had
forgot his psalms, by naming any one she would have him
repeat ; and by casting her eye over it she would know if
he was right, though she did not understand it ; and he
missed not a word in any place she named to him, and said
they had been the great comfort of his life, by night and
day, on all occasions. As the gloomy habitation my father
was in, was not to be long endured but from necessity,,
they were contriving other places of safety for him;,
amongst others, particularly one under a bed which drew
out, on a ground floor, in a room of which my mother kept
the key ; she and the same man worked in the night, mak-
ing a hole in the earth after lifting the boards, which they
did by scratching it up with their hands not to make any
noise, till she left not a nail upon her fingers, she helping
the man to carry the earth as they dug it, in a sheet, on
his back, out at the window into the garden ; he then made
a box at his own house, large enough for her father to lie
in, with bed and bed-clothes, and bored holes in the boards
for air ; when all this was finished, for it was long about,
. she thought herself the most secure happy creature alive.
When it had stood the trial for a month of no water coming
into it, which was feared from being so low, and every
day examined by my mother, and the holes for air made
clear, and kept clean-picked, her father ventured homey
having that to trust to. After being at home a week or
two, the bed daily examined as usual, one day in lifting
the boards, the bed bounced to the top, the box beiug
MARCHMONT, 291
full of water : in her life she was never so struck, and had
gear dropped down, it being at that time their only refuge;
her father, with great composure, said to his wife and her,
he saw they must tempt Providence no longer, and that it
was now fit and necessary for him to go off, and leave
them; in which he was confirmed by the carrier telling
for news he had brought from Edinburgh, that the day
before, Mr. Baillie of Jerviswoode bad his life taken from
him at the Cross, and that every body was sorry, though
they durst not shew it ; as all intercourse by letters was
dangerous, it was the first notice they bad of it ; and the
more shocking, that it was not expected. They imme-
diately set about preparing for my grandfather's going
away. My mother worked night and day in making some
alterations in his clothes for disguise; they were then
obliged to trust John Allen, their grieve, who fainted away
wheq he was told his master was in the house, and that he
was to set out with him on horseback before day, and pre-
tend to the rest of the servants that he bad orders to sell
some horses at Morpeth fair. Accordingly, my grand-
father getting out at a window in the stables, they set out in
the dark ; though with good reason it was a sorrowful
parting, yet after he was fairly gone they rejoiced, and
thought themselves happy that he was in a way of being
safe, though they were deprived of him, and little knew
what was to be either his fate or their own."
Sir Patrick, having by such means eluded all the exer-
tions of government to have bim seized, after the failure
of the duke of Argyle's attempt, escaped to France, and
travelled through that country, as a physician, to Bour-
deaux, from whence he embarked for Holland, where be
attached himself to the prince of Orange, looking up to
him, as many others both at home and in Holland did,
as the best resource against the threatened destruction of
every thing most dear to British subjects.
When his serene highness came over, and happily ef-
fected the bloodless revolution, sir Patrick Hume was one
of those who accompanied him, and was by him created
lord Polwarthof Pol warth, and afterwards earl of Marchcnont.
He was also made lord high chancellor of Scotland by king
William; an office in that country, before the Union, of the
highest rank, as it is here.
Alexander, the second earl, second son of the pre*
ceding, was ambassador to Denmark and Prussia in 1715 j
u 2
*»2
ft! A R C H M 6 N T.
in 1716 was appointed lord register of Scotland; and
in 1721 was named first ambassador in the congress at
Cam bray *.
Hugh, of whom we now speak, the third earl, was the
third son of the above-mentioned Alexander, and twin-
brother f of Mr. Hume Campbell, who was in the first
practice at the English bar, but retired from it on being
appointed lord register of Scotland. The subject of our
present article having finished his studies in the learned
languages, in which at an early period of his life he was
a most distinguished scholar, he was sent to Utrecht to
complete his education. Here, under the instruction of
one of the most eminent civilians of modern times, he
succeeded in the attainment of a knowledge of the civil
law to an extent seldom acquired, even by those who were
to follow it as a profession ; and at the same time became
master of several modern languages, which he read and
wrote with great facility.
These qualifications, with an unwearied industry to reach
the bottom of every subject of discussion, and a habit of
speaking, attracted great attention to him, very soon after
his coming into parliament for the town of Berwick, in
1734. He was one of the most active members of the
opposition of that period ; and on the secession of Mr.
Pulteney, afterwards earl of Bath, in 1739, he took the
decided lead in it; but his career in the House of Com-
mons was stopped by his succession to the peerage, on
the death of his father, in 1740. On which occasion sir
ftobert Walpole said to an intimate and confidential friend,
that an event had occurred which had rid him of the op-
ponent by far the most troublesome to him in the House.
When the circumstances here alluded to are considered,
• In the Gent Mag. for 1741 are
some lines addressed by lord Chester-
field to the late earl of Marcbmont or
the death of. his father the preceding
wear.
. f The resemblance between these
brothers was so strong that they were
frequently mistaken for each other by
intimate friends : a remarkable in-
stance of this occurred when the che-
valier.&arjisay was soliciting subscript,
tions for his Travels of Cyrus ; he had
sent a certain number of proposals to
both brothers to get off for him. Lord
Marchmont disposed of all his Tory soon*
Mr. Hume Campbell, in the midst of
business*, forgot those sent to him; and
walking one day in the court of re-
quests with a gentleman who was talk-
ing with him on a cause in which Mr.
Hume Campbell was employed, the
chevalier came to him with expressions
of warm gratitude for his attention,
in so immediately getting off his sub-
scriptions ; on • which the gentleman
who bad been talking with him made
apologies to him for having troubled
him about his cause, assuring him that
he took him for bis brother, Mr. Hum*
Campbell.
MARCHM.ONT. 293
it will not be tbgught surprising that the society of his
lordship, fend his correspondence, should have been sought
by some of the most distinguished characters of the time ;
he lived in close intimacy with lord Cob ham, who placed
his bust among the worthies at Stowe ; lord Cornbury, sir
William Wyndham, lord Chesterfield, and Mr. Pope*;
and notwithstanding an essential difference of opinion from
lord Bolingbroke on some very important points, he was
so attracted by. his most extraordinary talents, as to form
an intimate friendship with him, which continued to the
death of the viscount, although with a short temporary
interruption to it, owing to the part which lord Marchmont
took in vindicating, rather or extenuating, the conduct of
Pope, respecting the printing of lord Bolingbroke' s « Pa-
triot King." Of this affair we have taken some notice ip
our account of Mallet ; and shall be able to throw additional
light on it when we come to the article of Pope, from lord
Marchmont' s account, with which we have been favoured.
The points on which lord Marchmont and lord Boling-
broke differed, were occasionally .the subject of conversa-
tion between them ; respecting which there was certainly
some change in the mind of lord Bolingbroke, towards t\\e
close of his life. This is proved beyond the possibility of
contradiction by the author of a recent publication, of
which we have already availed ourselves f. The evidence
* The earl was one of the executors Pope entertained of his lordship's me-
of Pope, who left his MSS. to lord Bo- rits may be judged of by the following
lingbrok, and lord Marchmont, and lines in the inscription on his grotto at
the survivor of them. The opinion Twickenham:
" Approach : But awful • Lo I the iEgerian grot,
Where,- nobly -pensive, St. John sate and thought:
Where British sighs from dying Wyndham stole,
And the bright flame was shot through Marchment's soul.
Let such, such only, tread this sacred floor,
Who dare to love their country and be poor."
To lord . Marchmont also he be- pressing my deep regret, that soma
queathed the picture of lord Boling- essays written by him in the latter end
broke by Ricbardsoo, and his large of his life are not to be fouod among
paper edition of Thuanus. Among his his works : because they would have
lordship's papers found at his death, illustrated many interesting occurren-
are a great number of Mr. Pope's let- ces in his own time, and would hfve
ters, in many of which he expresses shown his mind in a different state from
the highest esteem ami regard for him. that to which it has been sometimes
These are now in the possession of l> is supposed to be subject. How it bap-
lordship's sole executor, the right hon. pened that they were not published by
George Rose. Mr. Mallet, it is not necessary to state
f «• Having" (says Mr. Rose, In- here; they were certaiuly written j for
traduction, p. xxxi, note C.) •• been in a letter to lord Marchmont from
led by Mr. Fox's observation to men- Argevitle, August 8, 1740, (in my pos-
tioii this nobleman, I cannot resist ex- session) on the occasion of the dearth
294 M A fe C tl M O N T.
is clear as to the a Essays" having been written and ad-
dressed to lord Marchmont ; and it is equally certain, they
are not among the works of his lordship, as edited by Mr.
Mallet, to whose care the whole was intrusted, in conse-
quence of a decided influence he acquired over his lord-
ship, not long previous to his death. How little either of
fame or fortune accrued to Mallet from this advantage, we
bave already noticed in our account of him.
' Lord Marchmont was also distinguished by Sarah duchess
of Marlborough, in a very remarkable manner*, with
whom he lived in the most friendly habits, and was ap-
pointed by her grace one of her executors, with a large
legacy, and named in the succession to a part of her great
estate, on failure of certain heirs of her body (excluding
the duke of Marlborough) on whom she entailed the whole;
the discharge of which trust fell principally on the earl.
After his lordship's accession to the peerage in 1740, he
did not mix in public business till 1747, when he was ap-
pointed first lord commissioner of police in Scotland ; and
had no opportunity of tendering himself conspicuous in poli-
tical life until 1750, when he was elected one of the six-
teen peers, in the room of the earl of Crawford. From this
time he took a very active share in most of the important de-
bates that occurred, which led to his being appointed keeper
of the great seal of Scotland in 1764 (on the death of the
of sir William Wyndbam, lord Boling- ship, and to put together many memo-
broke fays, after mentioning some ei- rials, anecdotes, and other miscellane*
says he was writing, * This puts me in oos pieces which 1 have in my power,
mind of some miscellaneous writings or the materials of which are so ; they
that 1 shall leave behind me, if 1 live shall be addressed to your lordship
a little longer and enjoy a little health ; most certainly ; the subject of a great
the principal parts of them will be his- part will probably carry the whole
torical j and these I intended to address down to posterity ; and there is nothing
to Wyndham ; permit me to address can flatter me more agreeably than to
the whole to you. I shall finish them have future generations know, that I
up with more spirit, and with greater lived and died your lordship's friend.'
pleasure, when I think that if they In which letter, lord B. says be has
carry to posterity any memorial of my tent one of these productions to Pope,
weakness, as an actor or a writer, they * that may not only stay, but atop
will carry thither a character of me, his longing for the rest'."
that I prefer to both, the character of • The duchess in her life-time gave
Wyndham's aud Marchmont's friend.' the earl a remarkably fine portrait of
His lordship certainly fulfilled his in- herself, when in the prime of her
teotions, which is proved net only by beauty, by sir Godfrey Kneller, ia-
what be said to lord Marchmont, but tended by her grace for the duke, her
in a subsequent letter of October 1742 grandson, till she quarrelled with him
(also in my possession), be alludes to decidedly, for bis political conduct
closer retirement m France, and says Pope also gave lord Marchmont the
to the earl, ' it is there 1 propose to original portrait of | himself by Rfcb-
discharge my promise to your lord- ardson.
MARCH MQNT. 295
duke of Athol), the office substituted for that, of lord chan-
cellor. The last political act of his life, was the vote he
gave on Mr. Fox's India bill ; on which occasion he was
the first peer who went below the bar as a non-content.
In the new parliament which met in the spring of 1784,
after the dissolution subsequent to the rejection of that fa*
raous measure, he was not included in, the list of the six-
teen representative peers of Scotland. He then Sold his
house in London, and retired to a small place in Hertfqrd-
shire, that had belonged to the father of the countess,
where he continued to reside during the remainder of his
life, never having quitted it for a single day* He read in-
cessantly in the library which he built for the reception of
his books from London, and for the most valuable qf those
from Marchmont house in Berwickshire, except during a
few hours that he allotted for his daily exercise on horse-
back, and for making improvements that were constantly
?>ing on in his small dpmain near Hemel Hempstead,
he visits he made were almost exclusively in a morning,
and to his nearest neighbours only.
It may be truly said, that there have been few; men in
any age, who read more deeply than this . distinguished
nobleman. The notes he left behind Him on almost every
eminent author of antiquity, and on %he most useful pub-
lications in modem times, afford ao unequivocal proof of
this. He was never himself an author; but it Is to Him
the public are indebted for the publication of the re-
cords of parliament, from very nearly the earliest period
of that assembly meeting, which have thrown most useful
light on our constitutional history. The famous survey of
all the counties in England made under the authority of
William the Conqueror, called Domesday Book *, was
printed at the same time. The earl died at his house m
Hertfordshire, January 10, 1794. !
* This, hook, which is perhaps the oor courts of law, some aiearly at the
oldest authentic record in Europe, it reigns- of king John and Henry the 3d,
as perfectly legible now as it was in under the authority and direction of
1086, when it was written 3 it was in commissioners appointed by his Ma-
ine custody of the chamberlain* of the jesty for that purpose ; for the exeou*
exchequer, till early in the last ceo- tion of which trust, in a manner de-
tury, when* with a great variety of serving the highest commendation, the
other records, it was (on the report of present Speakeil of the House of Coro-
a Committee of the House of Lords) mons (the right honourable Charles
transferred to a separate custody. Abbot) has a very large share of the
Xhe publishing these valuable mum* merit ; in truth, it has* been executed,
ments has. been followed by a very in a great degree, under his immediate
extensive publication of the records of iu&pectioB.
I From private communication, the source of which is perfectly authentic^
296 M A R C I L I U S.
MARCILIUS (Theodore), a learned. German critic,
was born at Arnheim, a town of Gueldres, in 1548. His
father, who was a man of rank and learning, observing in.
him a more than ordinary inclination for books, took parti-
cular care of his education. He had him taught at home
the elements of the Latin tongue, and then sent him to
school at Deventer, where he learned the Greek under
Noviomagus. Marcilius, having made a great progress in
both languages, was removed thence to the university of
Lou vain, where he applied himself to philosophy and civil
law; and, having finished his studies, went to Paris, aud
thence to Toulouse, where he taught polite literature many
years. Returning to Paris, he taught rhetoric in 1578, in
the college of Grassins, and afterwards read lectures in se-
veral other colleges successively. In 1602, he was made
royal professor of the Latin tongue, and the belles lettres ;
and died March 15, 1617. Though he was not a critic of
the first rank, yet he did not deserve the contemptuous
treatment which Scaliger has given him. He published an
edition in Greek and Latin of " Pythagoras's Golden
Verses," at Paris, 1585, with commentaries, which John
Albert Fabricius has called learned ; and notes upon many
of the ancient authors, Persius, Horace, Martial, Catullus,
Suetonius, Aulus Gellius, &c. which are to be found in
several editions of their works. He was also the author of
some Latin works, as, " Historia Strenarura," 1596, 3vo ;
" Lusus de Nemine," &c. and some poems and orations.1
MARC ION, a heretic, who lived in the second century
of the church, was boru at Sinope, a city of Paphlagonia,
upon the Euxine sea, and had for his father the bishop or
that city. Eusebius calls him i foams, the mariner ; and
Tertullian, more than once, Ponticus Nauclerus. Whe-
ther he acquired this name from having learned the art of
sailing in his youth, or from being born in a sea-port town,
ecclesiastical antiquity has not told us. At first he pro-
fessed continency, and betook himself to an ascetic life ;
but, having so far forgotten himself as to debauch a young
lady, he was excommunicated by his father, who was so
rigid an observer of the discipline of the church, that he
could never be induced, by all his prayers and vows of
repentance, to re-admit ;him into the communion of the
faithful. This exposed him so much to the scoffs and
I Niceron, vol Xjfol.— Mortri.— Diet. Hist*
MARCION. 29T
insults of His countrymen, that he privily withdrew himself,
and went to Rome, hoping to gain admittance there. But
his case being known, he was again unsuccessful, which sa
irritated him, that he became a disciple of Cerdo, and es-
poused the opinions of that famous heretic. The most
accurate cbronologers have not agreed as to the precise
time when Marcion went to Rome ; but the learned Cave,
after considering their reasons, determines it, and with the
greatest appearance of probability, to the year 127 ; and
supposes further, that he began to appear at the head of
his sect, and to propagate his doctrines publicly, about the
year 130. Indeed it could not well be later, because his
opinions were dispersed far and wide in the reign of Adrian;
and Clemens Alexandrinus, speaking of the heretics who
lived under that emperor, mentions Basilides, Valentinus,
and Marcion, who, he says, '*' conversed along with them,
as a junior among seniors:" and Basilides died in the
year 134.
The doctrines .of this heretic were, many of them, the
same with those which were afterwards adopted by Manes
and his followers ; that, for instance, of two co-eternal,
and independent principles, one 'the* author of all good,
the other of all evil. In other to support and propagate
this principle more successfully, he is said to have applied
himself to the study of philosophy, that of the stoics espe-
cially. Marcion likewise taught, as Manes did after him, that
the God of the Old Testament was the evil principle ; that
he was an imperious tyrannical being, who imposed the
hardest laws upon the Jews, and injuriously restrained
Adam from touching the best tree in Paradise ; and that
the serpent was a nobler being than he, for encouraging
him to eat of its fruit : on which account, as Theodoret
tells us upon his own knowledge, the Marcionites wor-
shipped a brazen serpent, which they always kept shut up in
an ark. He taught, that Christ came down from heaven to
free us from the yoke, which this being had put upon us;
that Christ, however, was not clothed with real flesh and
. blood, but only appeared to the senses to be so, and that
his sufferings were nothing more than appearance; that
when Christ descended into hell, and preached the Gos-
pel there, he brought the followers of Cain, the inha-
bitants of Sodom, and other wicked people, who were con-
verted from the error of their ways, back with him to hea-
ven ; but that he left Noah, Abraham, and the other
«98 M A R C I O N.
patriarchs, who would not listen to bis preaching, bat trusted
too much to their own righteousness, fast bound in that
horrible dungeon ; that there would be no resurrection of
the body, but only of the soul, &c. &c. He rejected the
N law and the prophets, as being written under the inspira-
tion of the evil god. He rejected also four epistles of St.
Paul, together with all the gospels,' except that of St Luke ;
out of which, and the rest of St. Paul's epistles, he com-
posed, for the use of his. followers, two books, which he
persuaded them were of divine authority ; calling one
" Evangelium," and the other " Apostolicon." Such is
•the account given in Irenseus, in Tertullian's five books
against Marcion, and in Epiphanius.
While Marcion was at Rome, he happened to meet
Polycarp of Smyrna: and upon asking that bishop, " whe-
ther he acknowledged him for a brother ?" " I acknow-
ledge you," says Polycarp, " for the first-born of Satan/*
Tertullian relates that Marcion at length repented of all
his errors, and would have testified bis repentance in pub-
lic, provided they would have admitted him again into the
church. This was agreed to, upon condition that he would
bring back all those whom he had seduced from it ; which
before he could effect, be died. The precise time of his
death cannot be collected from antiquity, any more than
that of his going to Rome. It is certain, that he lived after
Antoninus Pius began to reign ; for, although his heresy
bad spread a great way under Adrian, yet, by his extraor-
dinary vigilance and activity, it spread much further under
Antoninus Pius. His first apology for the Christians was
presented to Antoninus Pius about the year 140; and Jus-
tin Martyr tells us there, in express terms, that " Marcion
of Pontus was then living, and taught his disciples at
Rome." ■
MARCK, or MARCKIUS (John de), au eminent pro-
testaut divine, was born at Sneck in Friesland, in 1655,
and became professor of divinity at Franeker, and professor
of divinity and ecclesiastical history at Groningen, whence
in 16S9 he was removed to the same office at Ley den, and
died there, Jan. SO, 173,1. His first publication was an
inaugural dissertation in 1676, " De augmento scientist
theologies." He afterwards derived great reputatiop from
his " Disputationes duodecim de Sibyllinis caroiinibus,"
1 Cave, toI. I.— Mosbekn and Miioer's.Cb, Hist. — Lardner.
M A R C K. 39*
Franeker, 1682, 8 vo, written in opposition to the senti-
ments of Crasset. 2. xi Compendium theologize," Amst,
1712, 4 to. 3. " Exercitationes Biblicss," published at
different times, amounting to eight volumes. 4. " Exer-
citationes miscellanea." These turn on various disputed
passages in the holy Scriptures, concerning which be com-
bats the opinions of the Roman catholics, Socinians, &c
A selection from his 'works was published at Groningen in
1748, 2 vols. 4to. In the Museum library are two of hit
orations, one on the agreement between the old and new
errors of popery, Groningen, 1683 ; the other on the re-
verence due to the sacred Scriptures, Ley den, 1639* both
in 4to.*
MARE (Nicolas be la), was a principal magistrate of
the Ch&telet under Louis XIV. who reposed great confi-
dence in him, and gave him a considerable pension. He
was employed in several important affairs, particularly
during the scarcity of corn in 1693, 1700, 1709, and 1710.
■He received a free gift of 300,000 livres, arising from the
ninth part of the increased prices of admission to the pub-
lic amusements, exhibited at the Hotel Dieu in Paris; but
this sum did not increase his fortune, for he liberally em-
ployed it all in the expences attendant on the gratuitous
functions of his office, the commissions with which he was
entrusted, and the completion of his great work. He died
April 15, 1723, aged near 82. This worthy magistrate
established his fame by a most laborious treatise on the
police, in 3 vols, folio, to which another author, M, le
Clerc du Briilet, has since added a fourth. Tbey contain a
history of the French police, the privileges of the magis-
trates, the laws on that subject, &c. The two first vo-
lumes had supplements, which, in the edition of 1722,
were thrown into the body of the work. The third yolume
was printed in 1719, and the fourth in 1738, and not re-
printed. There is a valuable plate of the water-conduits
of Paris, which is wanting in some copies.*
MARE (Philibbrt de la), was a counsellor in the par-
liament of Dijon, deeply versed in literature and history,
and esteemed almost as elegant a writer in Latin as the
president de Thou, whom he had made his model. He
died May 16, 1687, after having published several works,
*>f which the most known is, his " Commentarius de Bello
>
> Diet. Hist.— Saxii OftooMt. * Moreri.— Diet Hist.
300 MARE.
Burgundico." This makes a part of bis " Historicorum
Burgundise conspectus/' published in 4to, in 1689* He
wrote also " Huberti Langueti vita," published by J. P.
Ludvvig, at Halle, 1700, 12H10.1
MARECHAL • (Peter Sylvanus), a miscellaneous
French writer, was bom at Paris, Aug. 15, 1750, and was
bred up to the bar, which he quitted for the more general
pursuits of literature. He became librarian to the Maza-
rine college, and from time to time published a great many
works; on various subjects of polite literature, criticism,
manners, poetry, &c. most of which shew considerable ge-
nius and learning, and all were well received by the pub-
lic. His very amiable private character appears to have
procured him many friends and much respect, although his
principles were not always sound, his person had little to
recommend it, and an impediment in his speech rendered
his conversation somewhat painful. He retired to the
country about the close of his life, as he said, " that he
might enjoy the^sun more at his ease." He died at Mont-
rouge, Jan. 18, 1805. His principal works are : 1. "-De
Bergeries," 1770, 12nfo. 2. " Le Temple de Hymen,"
1771, 12mo. 3. " Bibtiotheque des Amans," 1777, 16mo.
4. "Tombeau de J. J. Rousseau," 1779, 8vo. 5. " Le
Livre de tou&les ages," 1779, 12 mo. 6. u Fragmens d'un
poeme moral sur Dieu, ou, Nouvelle Lucrece," 1781, a
poem which the Diet. Hist, says is neither moral nor reli-
gious. 7. " L'age d'or,V 1782, 12mo, an agreeable col-
lection of anecdotes. 8. " Prophetie d'Arlainek," 12 mo.
9. " Livre echappe* au deluge," 1784, 12mo, a collection
of psalms in the oriental style, of which the moral is pure;
but we are told it afforded his enemies a pretence to get
him dismissed from his office of librarian to the Mazarine
college. . 10. u Recueil des poetes moralistes Francais,"
1784, 2 vols. 18mo. 11." Costumes civils actuels de tous
les peuples," 1784, 4to. 12. "Tableau de la fable,"
1787. 13. " Paris et la Province, ou Choix des plus beaux
monumens d'architecture en France," 1787. 14. " Cate-
chisme de cure* Meslier,"' 1789, 8vo. 15. " Dictionnaire
d'amour," 1789, 16mo. 16. " Le Pantheon, ou les figures
de la fable, avec leurs histoires," 1791, 8vo. 17. " Alma-
nec des honnetes gens," 1788, a publication containing
some impieties, for which he suffered imprisonment. 18.
* Moreri.— Diet. Hi*. < - *
MXR'ECHAL SOI
«(
Decades du cultivate™*," 2 vols. 18mo. 19; " Voyage de
Pythagore," 1798, 16 vols. 8vo, in imitation of the Anachar-
sis of Barthelemi, but greatly interior. 20. " Dictionnaire
des ath^es," 18(K). He was also the author .of prefaces
and introductions to various collections or engravings,, as
the history of Greece, 1795, 5 vols. 4to, the fiorence Mu-
seum, 6 vols. 4to, &c.2
MARETS (John des), de Saint Sorlin, was a man of
genius, and a favourite of cardinal Richelieu, who used to
receive him at his retired hours, an (J unbend his mind by
conversing with him upon gay and delicate subjects. On
this account, and because he assisted the cardinal in th6
tragedies he composed, Bayle used to say, that " he pos-
sessed an employment of genius under his eminence;"
which in French is a pun, as genie means* g*mW and en-
gineer ship. He was born at Paris in 1595. He has left
us himself a picture of his morals, which is by no means
advantageous; for he owns that, in order to triumph over
the virtue of such women as objected to him the interest
of their salvation, he made no scruple to lead them into
atheistical principles, "I ought," says he, " to weep tears
of blood, considering the bad use I have made of my ad-
dress among the ladies; for I have used nothing but spe-
cious falsehoods, malicious subtleties, and infamous trea-
cheries, endeavouring to ruin the souls of those I pre-
tended to Jove. I studied. artful speeches to shake, blind,
and seduce them ; and strove to persuade then), that vice
was virtue, or at least a thing natural and indifferent. '•
Marets at -length, became a visionary and fanatic; dealt in
nothing but inward • lights and revelations; and promised
the king of France, upon the strength of some prophecies,
whose meaning he tells us was imparted to him from above,
that he should have the honour of overthrowing the Maho-
metan empire*. " This valiant prince," says he, ." shall
destroy and expel from their dominions impiety and heresy,
and reform the ecclesiastics, the courts of justice, and the
finances. After this, in common agreement with the king
of Spain, he shall summon together all the princes of
Europe, with the pope, in order to~re-umte all-the Chris-
tians to the true and only, catholic religion. After all the
Jjeretics are re-united, to the holy see, the king, as eldest
«on of the church, shall be declared generalissimo of all
.VDict, Hist, ♦
302 M A R E T 3,
•
the Christians and, with the joint forces of Christendom,
shall destroy by sea and land the Turkish empire, and la*
of Mahomet, and propagate the faith and dominion of Je-
sus Christ oyer the whole earth :" that is to say, over Persia,
the eqapire of the great mogul, Tartary, and China,
These absurdities do not appear to have lessened bis
reputation among his countrymen, as the charge of inqui*
sitor was bestowed upon him : and he showed himself very
active in bringing about the extirpation of Jansenism. He
bad been a member of tbe French academy from it* first
establishment, and was always esteemed one of its prin*
cipal ornaments. He wrote several dramatic pieces, which
were received with great applause, especially that entitled
" Les Visionaires." He attempted an epic poem, entitled
" Clovis," which cost him several years9 labour; and he
was of opinion, that it would have cost him a good many
more to have finished it, if Providence bad not destined
his pen for works of devotion, and on that account afforded
him supernatural assistance. This we learn from the pre*
face of his " Delices de F Esprit," in which he professes
that he dare not say in how short a time he bad finished
the nine remaining books of that poem, and retouched the
rest He also very seriously boasts, that "God, in his
infinite goodness, had sent him the key of the treasure,
contained in tbe Apocalypse, which was known but to few
before bim ;" and that, " by the command of God, he was
to levy an army of 144,000 men, part of which he had
already enlisted, to make war upon the impious and the
Jansenists." He died in 1676, aged eighty-one.
His works are thus enumerated : 1. " A Paraphrase off
tbe Psalms of David." 2. " The Tomb of Card. Riche-
lieu," an ode. 3. "The Service to the Virgin," turned
into verse. 4. " The Christian Virtues," a poem in eight
cantos. 5. The four books, " On the Imitation of Jesus
Christ," 1654, 12 mo, very badly translated into Frenck
verse. 6. " Clovis," or France converted, an epic poem
in twenty-six books, 1657. This poem, though the author
thought so highly of it, as we have already seen, is wholly
destitute of genius, and its memory is preserved more by
a severe epigram of Boileau against it, than by any other
circumstance. He wrote also, 7. <' The Conquest of
Franche Comte," and some other poems not worth emir
merating. Besides these works in verse, he published in
'prose, 8. " l^es Delices de V Esprit," a fanatical and incom-
M A R E f S, 305
prehensible work above-mentioned, which was best criti-
cized by a person who said, that at the head of the Errata,
should be put, " for Del ices, read Delires ;" instead of
delights of the mind, ravings of it. 9. " Avis du St. Es-
prit au Roi," still more extravagant if possible than the
former. 10. " Several Romances, and among them one
entitled " Ariane," or Ariadne, at once dull and indecent.
11. " La Veritg des Fables/' 1648, 2 vols. 8vo. 12. A
dissertation on Poets, in which the* author ventures to at-
tack the maxims of Aristotle and Horace. Some writing*
against the satires of Boileau, and several against the Jan-
senists, complete the list. His countrymen now consider
the verses of Des Marets as low, drawling, and incorrect ;
his prose, as disgraced by a species of bombast which ren-
tiers it more intolerable than his poetry.
His niece, Mary Dupre', was born at Paris, and edu-
cated by her uncle. She was endowed with a happy ge-
nius and a retentive memory. After reading most of the
principal French authors, she learnt Latin, and went
through Cicero, Ovid, Quintus Curtius, and Justin. With
'these books she made herself so familiarly acquainted, that
tier uncle proceeded to teach her the Greek language, the
arts of rhetoric and versification, and philosophy ; not that
scholastic philosbphy which is made up of sophistry and
-ridiculous subtleties, but a system drawn from the purer
sources of sense and nature. She studied Descartes with
such application, that she got the surname of la Cart6-
sienue. She likewise made very agreeable verses in her
own language, and acquired a thorough knowledge of the
Italian. She held a friendly and literary correspondence
with several of the learned her contemporaries, as ako
with the mademoiselles de Scuderi and de la Vigne. The
answers of Isis to Climene, that is to mademoiselle de la
Vigne, in the select pieces of poetry published by father
Bouhours, are by this ingenious and learned lady.1
MARETS (Samuel des), a celebrated divine of the re-
formed church, was born at Oisemond in Picardy, in 1599-
At thirteen he was sent to Paris, where he made great
advances in the belles lettres and philosophy ; and three
* years after to Saumur, where he studied divinity under
Qomarus, and Hebrew under Ludovicus Capellus. He
returned to his father in 1618, and afterwards' went to
1 Gen. Diet— Nictron, vol. XXX V.— Moreri.
304 M A R E T S.
Geneva, to finish bis course of divinity. The year follow-
ing be went to Paris, and, by the advice of M. Durand,
applied immediately for admission to the holy ministry, to
the synod of Charenton, in March 1620, who received
him, and settled him in the church of Laon. But bis minis-
terial functions here were soon disturbed; for, the governor
of La Fere's wife having changed her religion, wrote him
a letter in vindication of her conduct, and sent him a
pamphlet containing the history of her conversion. His
answer to this lady's letter provoked his adversaries to such
a degree, that a Jesuit was supposed to have suborned an
assassin, who stabbed him deeply, but, as it happened,
not mortally, with a knife into his breast. Thisjnduced
Des Marets to leave Laon, and go to Falaise in 1624: He
afterwards accepted a call to the church of Sedan ; and
soon after took the degree of doctor in divinity at Leyden,
in July 1625. Having made a short visit to England, he
returned to Sedan. In 1640, he had an invitation to a
professorship at Fraueker ; and to another at Groningen,
•in 1642. This last he accepted; and from that time to
his death, rendered such services to that university, that it
was reckoned one of the most flourishing in the Nether-
lands. The magistrates of Berne, well informed of his
abilities and learning, offered him, in 1661, the professor
of divinity's chair at Lausanne; and, in 1663, the univer-
sity of Leyden invited htm to a like professorship there.
He accepted of this last, but died before he could take
possession of it, at Groningen, May 1 8, the same year.
A chronological table of the works of this celebrated
divine may be found at the end of his " System of Divi-
nity." They are mostly of the controversial kind, and
now seldom inquired after. , He designed to collect all his
works into a body, as well those which had been already
published, as those which were in manuscript. He revised
and augmented them for that purpose, and had materials
for four volumes in folio ; but his death prevented the exe-
cution of that project. The first volume was to. have con-
tained all those works which he had published before bis
being settled at Groningen.^ The second, bis •' Opera the-
ologica didactrca." The third, his " Opera theologica po-
lemica." The title of the fourth was to have, been uIm-
pietas triumphata." Its contents were to have been the
" Hydra Socinianismi expugnata," the " Biga fanaticorum
e versa/* and the " Fabula P>«adamitaruoi refutata ;" three
M A R E T S. 305
works which had been printed at different times. Marets's
system of divinity was found to be so methodical, that they
made use of it at other academies ; and indeed this author's
reputation procured him so much authority in foreign
countries as well as his own, that a person in Germany,
who published some reflections on him, received orders to
suppress his book.1 - - .
MARGARET, Countess of Richmond, &c. See BEAU-
FORT.
MARGARET, Duchess of Newcastle. See CAVEN-
DISH,
MARGARET of Valois, queen of Navarre, and sister
to Francis I. of France, celebrated as an author yet more
than for her rank, was born at Angoul6me, April 1 1, 1492;
being the daughter of Charles of Orleans, duke of Angou-
l£me, and Louisa of Savoy. In 1 509 she married Charles
the last duke of Alencon, who died at Lyons, after the
battle of Pavia, in 1525. The widow, inconsolable at once
for the loss of her husband, and the captivity of her be-
loved brother, removed to Madrid, to attend the latter
durjmg his illness. - She was there of. the greatest service
to her brother, by her firmness obliging Charles and his
ministers to treat him as his rank demanded. His love and
gratitude were equal to her merits, and he warmly pro-
moted her marriage with Henry d'Albret, king of Navarre.
The offspring of this marriage was Joan d'Albret, mother
of Henry IV. Margaret filled the character of a queen
with exemplary goodness ; encouraging arts, agriculture,
and learning, and advancing ,by every means the prosperity
of the. kingdom. She died at the castle of Odos, in Bi-
gorre, Dec. 2, 1549. She had conversed with protestant
ministers, and had the sagacity to perceive the justness of
their reasonings ; and their opinions were countenanced
by he* in a little work entitled " Le Miroir de l'Ame pe-
cheresse," published in 1533, and condemned by the Sorr-
bpqne as heretical * but on her complaining to the king,
these pliant doctors withdrew their censure.. The Roman
catholic writers say, that she was. completely re-cdn verted
before she died. The positive , absolution of the Rotaistb
priests is certainly a great temptation to pious minds in the
hour of weakness and decline. Margaret is described as
an assemblage of virtues and perfections, among . which,
i Geu. Diet.— Niceron, vol XXVIIJ. — Mooeri. — Saxii Onomast.
Vol. XXI. X
306 MA R G A RET.
that of chastity was by no means the least complete, not-
withstanding the freedom, and, to our ideas, licence of
some of her tales. Such is the difference of manners. She
wrote well both in verse and prose, and was celebrated in
both. She was called the tenth muse ; ana the Margaret,
or pearl, surpassing all the pearls of the east. Of her
works, we have now extant, 1. her " Heptameron," or,
Novels of the queen of Navarre, 1559, and 1560, in 4to,
and several times re-published. They are tales in the
style of Bqccace, and are told with a spirit, genius, and
simplicity, which have been often serviceable to Fontaine
in his tales. Several editions have been printed' with cuts,
of which the most valued are that of Amsterdam, in 1698,
in 2 vols. Svo, with cuts by Romain de Hooge ;. the re-
prints of this edition in 1700 and 1 70S, are not quite so
much valued, yet are expensive, as are the editions with
Chodoviechi's cuts, Berne, 1780 — 1, 3 vols. 8vo ; Paris,
1784, and 1790. 2. " Les Marguerites de la Marguerite
des Princesses ;" a collection of her productions, formed
by John de la Haye, her valet de chambre, and published
at Lyons, in 1547, Svo; a very rare edition, as is that of
1 554. In this collection there are four mysteries, or sacred
comedies, and two farces, according to the taste of the
times. A long poem entitled " The Triumph of the
Lamb," and "The Complaints of a Prisoner," apparently
intended for Francis I. l
M ARGON (William Plantavit de la Pause, de), a
French author and journalist, was born in Languedoc, in
the diocese of Bezieres. He appeared at Paris about
171 5j and espoused the cause of the Jesuits against the
Jansenists ; in which business he wrote with so much acri-
mony, that the court thought themselves obliged to banish
him* He was sent to the isles of Larins, in the Mediter-
ranean, and when these were taken by the Austrians in
1746, his. liberty was granted on condition that he would
retire into some religious house. He chose a monastery
of Bernardines, where he died in 1760. His caustic and
satirical disposition rendered him un pleasing in society at
well as in his writings ; and it is thought that his banish-
ment and solitude much increased the acrimony of his cha-
racter. He was concerned in several works, as, l." Memoirs
of Marshal Vi liars/' 3 vols. 12 mo, the two first of which
* Gen. Diet.— Diet. Hist.
MARGON, 307
arc written by Villars himself. 2. €i The Memoirs of the
Duke of Berwick," 2 vols. 12mo. $. " Memoirs of Tour-
ville," 3 vols. 12mo, not much esteemed. 4. "Letters
of Fitz-Moritz." * $. Several <small tracts, and some pieces
of poetry of no great value.1
MARGRAF (Andrew Sigismond), a celebrated che-
mist, was born at Berlin, March 3, 1709. His father was
apothecary to the court, and assessor of the college of
medicine, and under his care his attention was naturally
turned to the pursuits of chemistry and pharmacy. To
pursue these, his father sent him to study under the cele-
brated professor Neumann, for five years, and subsequently
under professor Spielmann, at Strasburg. In 1733 he
went to the university of Halle, where he became a pupil
of Hoffmann in the study of medicine, and continued his
chemical pursuits under the direction of Juncker, to which
last science be ultimately devoted his sole attention. He
also studied mineralogy, under Henckel, and the art of
assaying under Susmilch. In the following year he visited
the' Hurtz mines, and then returned to Berlin, where his
incessant application to chemical labours so materially in-
jured his health, that it was never afterward* vigorous.
In 1738 he was received into the society of sciences, and
furnished some memoirs for the " Miscellanea Berolinen-
sia ;** and when this society was renovated in 1744, as the
royal academy of sciences and belles lettres, he was placed
in the class of experimental philosophy, of which he was
chosen director in 1760. He had also the high gratifica-
tion of being entrusted with the laboratory of the academy
in 1754, in which he almost lived, absorbed in the study
or practice of bis favourite art. He was, nevertheless, "k
man of great amenity of temper, and fconsiderable; con-
viviality, when mixing in the society of his friends. He
had been for some years liable to spasmodic affections, and
in 1774, was attacked with apoplexy, which left a paralysis
behind it. He continued, however, to attend the meet-
ings of the academy till the autumn of 1776 ; after which
his mental and bodily powers gradually declined, and he
<Jied in August, 1782.
Margraf was held in considerable estimation as a chemist,
throughout Europe, and bad the honour of being elected
a member of several learned bodies. All the writings
i Diet. Hiit.
» *
X 2
508 M A R G R A F.
which he produced were published in the Memoirs of the
Literary Society of Berlin, before and after it» renovation ;
but they have been collected and published both in Ger-
man and French. Tbey contain the detail* of a great
number of processes and analyses, described in clear and
simple language. Seme of the most important of his dis-
coveries relate to phosphorus and its acid ; to the reduction
of zinc from calamine ; to the fixed and volatile alkalies ;
to manganese, the Bolognian stone, platina, and the acid
of sugar. In short, he is entitled to rank among the more
accurate experimentalists who contributed to the advance-
ment of the science of chemistry, before the recent limit*
nous improvements which it has gained.1
M ARIALES (Xantes), a laborious Dominican, was bpra
about 1580, at Venice, of the noble family of Pinardii
He taught philosophy and theology for some time, but
afterwards refused all offices in his order, that he might be
more at liberty to study. He died 1660, at Venice, aged
eighty, leaving several large tbeok>gie4l works, the moat
curious among which is entitled " Bibliotheca Interpretum
ad universam summam D. Thomie," 1669, 4 vols, folio;
and several " Declamations," in Italian, against the liber-
ties of the Galhcan church, which involved the writer in
great troubles, and occasioned him to be twice driven from
Venice.1 •
MARIANA (John), a Spanish historian, was born at
Talavera, in Castille, in 1337 \ and entered into the order
of Jesuits when he was seventeen, He was one of the
■
most learned men of bis age, an able divine, a consider-
able master of polite literature, admirably skilled in sacred
and profane history, and a good linguist. In 1561 be was
sent by his superiors to Rome, where he taught divinity,
and received the order of priesthood ; and at the end of
four years went to Sicily, where ne continued the same
profession two years more. He came to Paris ui 1569,
and read lectures publicly upon Thomas Aqtrina* for five
years ; then returned into Spain, and passed the remainder
of his life at Toledo. He wrote many books in Latin.
His piece " De monetae mutatione," gave great offence to
the court of Spain ; for Philip III* haviqg altered and em-
based the coin by the advice of the duke of Lerma, Mart-
* Eloget des Acad«miewnft vol III.— Reei'i Cyclopsclis.
» Moreri.— Diet Hist.
MARIANA. 30*
Ma shewed, with great freedom, the injustice and disad-
vantage of this project ; for which, he was put into prison*
*»d kept there about a year by that minister. But what
made more noise stiH, was his tract " De rege & regis
institutione," consisting of three books, which he published
to justify James Clement, a young monk, for assassinating
Henry III. of France. In this he argues against passive
obedience and non-resistance , asserts the lawfulness of
resisting " the powers that be/' where -the administration
is tyrannical; and founds his whole argument upon this
principle, " that the authority of the people is superior to
that of kings." This' book *f Mariana, though it passed
without censure in Spain and Italy, was burnt at Paris, by
?narr£t of parliament.
: But the most considerable by far of all his performances,
is bis " History of Spain,'* divided into thirty books. This
be wrote at first in Latin ; but, fearing lest some unskilful
pen should sully the reputation of his work lay a bad trans*
Ration of it into Spanish, he undertook that task himself*
not as a translator, but as an author, who might assume the
liberty of adding and altering, as he found it requisite,
upon further inquiry into records, and ancient writers.
Yet neither the Latin nor the Spanish <came lower down
than the end of the reigh of king Ferdinand, grandfather
to the emperor Charles V. where Mariana concluded his
thirty books ; . not caring to venture nearer his own times,
because he* could not speak with the freedom and impar-
tiality of a just historian, of persons who were either alive
themselves, or whose immediate descendants were. 4*
the instigation *of friends, however, he afterwards drew up
a short supplement, in which he brought his history down
to 1621, when king Philip HI. died, and Philip IV. came
to the crown. . After his death, F. Ferdinand Gamargory
Salcedo, of the order of St, Augustin, carried on another
supplement from 1621, where Mariana left off, to 1649,
inclusive ; where F. Basil Voren de Soto, of the regular
clergy took it up, and went on to 1669, being the fifth
year of the reign of Charles II. king of Spain. Gibbon
says that' in this work he almost forgets that he is a Jesuit,
to assume the style and spirit of a Roman classic. It is a
work of great research and spirit, although not free from
the prejudices which may be supposed to arise from his
education and profession. The first edition was entitled
" Historic de rebus Hispaniee, lib. viginti," Toleti, I5$t,
310 MAR I A N A.
folio. To some copies were afterwards added five more
books, and a new title, with the date 1595, or in some
1592. The remaining five books were printed as " Historic
Hispanic® Appendix, libri scilicet XXI — XXX, cum in-
dice," Francfort, 1616, fol. There is an edition printed
at the Hague,' with the continuations, 1733, 4 vols, in 2,
fol. The best editions in the Spanish are, that of Madrid,
1780, 2 vols, folio, and that with Mariana's continuation,
ibid. 1794, 10'vols. 8vo. The French have various trans-
lations, and the English an indifferent one by capt. Ste-
vens, 1699, fol.
Mariana's history did not pass without animadversions in
his own time. A secretary of the constable of Castile,
who calls himself Pedro Mantuana, published " Critical
Remarks" upon it ats Milan, in 16 1 1, which were answered,
by Thomas Tamaius de Vorgas.' The latter informs us,
" that Mariana would never cast his eyes upon the work of
bis censurer, or on that of his apologist ; though this latter
offered him his manuscript before he gave it to the printer,
and desired him to correct it." -
Besides those already mentioned, he published several
other pieces in Latin, theological and historical ; among
the rest, one entitled " Notes upon the Old Testament ;"
which father Simon, in his " Critical History," says^
and Dupin agrees with him, are very useful for under-
standing the literal sense of the Scripture, because he
chiefly applies himself to find out the proper signification
of the Hebrew words. It is, however, as the historian of
Spain only that he now deserves to be remembered. He
^ied, at Toledo, in 1624, .aged eighty-seven. After his
(Jeath, was published in Italian, Latin, and French, another
treatise of his, wherein he discovers the faults in the go-
vernment of his society ; but the Jesuits have thrown doubts
on the authenticity of this work, which have not been alto-
gether removed.1.
, MARIN (Michael Angelo), a writer of several ro-
mances or novels much esteemed in France, was born at
Marseilles in 1697, bis family having been originally of
Genoa. He was early in orders, >and settled at Avignon,
where, as a minim, he was much employed in all the offices
pf his order, and preached against the Jews with no little
success. He published some works oc* pious discipline,
i Antonio Bibl. Hisp.— Gen. Diet.— Dupin.— Marchand Diet. Hist.-— B run et
Mamwl du Librajjo*
MA R I N. 311
which were much esteemed, and gained him the favour
of pope Clement XIII.. From this pontiff he received se-
veral marks of honour, and was employed by him to collect
the " Acts of the Martyrs." He had composed only two
volumes in 12mo of this work, when he was seized with a
dropsy in the heart, and died April 3, 1767, in his seven-
tieth year. He was much esteemed by all worthy men ;
and his novels, as well as his other writings, were calcu-
lated to serve the cause of virtue and religion. The prin-
cipal of his works are : 1. " Conduct of Sister Violet, who
died in odour of sanctity, at Avignon," I2mo: 2. "Ade-
laide de Vitzburg, or the pious pensioner/9 12mo. 3.
" The perfect Nun," 12mo. 4. "Virginia, or the Christ
tian Virgin," 2 vols. 12 mo. 5. " The Lives of the Soli-
taries of the East," 9 vols. 12mo. 6. " Baron Van- Hes-
den, or the Republic of Unbelievers," 5 vols. 12 mo. 7.
" Tbeodule, or the Child of Blessing," 16mo. 8, " Far-
fal la, or the converted Actress," 12mo. 9. " Retreat for
a Day in each Month," 2 vols. 12 mo. 10. " Spiritual
Letters," 1769, 2 vols. 12mo ; and a few more of less con*
sequence.1
MARINI (John Baptist), a pnce celebrated Italian,
poet, was born at Naples in 1569; and made so great a
progress in his juvenile studies, that he was thought quali-
fied for that of the civil law at thirteen. His father, who
was a lawyer, intended him for that profession, as the pro-
perest means of advancing him ; but Marin i had already
contracted a taste for poetry, and was so far from relishing
the science to which he was (tat, that he sold his law-books,
in order to purchase books of polite literature. This so
much irritated his father, that he turned him out of doors,
and obliged him to seek for protectors and supporters
abroad. Having acquired a reputation for poetry, he hap-
pily found in Inico de Guevara, duke of Bovino, a friend
who conceived an affection for him, and supported him
for three years in his house. The prince of Conca, grand
admiral of the kibgdom of Naples, next took him into
bis service, in quality of secretary; and in this situation
he continued five or six years ; but having assisted a friend
ip a very delicate intrigue, he was thrown into prison, and
very hardly escaped with his life. Thence he retired to
Rome, where, after some time spent in suspense and po-
verty, he became known to Melchipr Crescentio, a pre-*
* Diet Hist,
512 . M A R I N I.
late of great distinction, who patronized him, and pro-
vided him with every thing he wanted.
In 1601, he went to Venice, to print some poems which
be dedicated to Crescentio ; and after making the tour of
that part of Italy, returned to Rome. His reputation in*
creased greatly, so as to engage the attention of the car*
dinal Peter Aldobrandini, who made him his gentleman,
and settled on him a considerable pension. After the
election of pope Paul V. which was in 1605, he accom-
panied this cardinal to Ravenna, his archbishopric, and
lived with him several years. He then attended him to
Turin, at wtlich court he ingratiated himself by a panegyric
upon the duke Charles Emmanuel ; for which this prince
recompensed him with honours, and retained him, when
bis patron the cardinal left Piedmont. During his resi-
dence here he had a violent dispute, both poetical and
personal, with Gasper Murtola,' the duke's secretary.
Murtola was, or fancied himself* as good a poet as Marini,
and was jealous of Marini's h^igh favour with the duke, and
therefore took every opportunity toispeak ill of him. Ma*
rini, by way of revenge, published a sharp sonnet upon
him at Venice, in 1608, under the title of " II nuovo
mondo;" to which Murtola opposed a satire, containing
an abridged life of Marini. Marini answered in eighty-one
sonnets, named the " Murtoleide :" to which Murtola re-
plied in a " Marineide," consisting of thirty sonnets.
But the latter, perceiving that his poems were inferior in
force as well as number to those of his adversary, resolved
to put an end to the quarrel, by destroying him ; and ac-
cordingly fired a pistol, the ball of which luckily missed
him. Murtola was cast into prison, but saved from punish-
ment at the intercession of Marini, who, nevertheless, soon
found it expedient to quit his- present station.
He went afterwards to France, where be found a pa-
troness in Mary de Medicis^ who settled a handsome pen-
sion upon him. ' In 1'62 1 he sent a nephew whom be had
with him at Paris,' to Rome, about business, and conveyed by
him h& compliments to cardinal Louis Ludovisio, nephew to
Gregory XV: then the reigning pope; which compliments
were so well received by the cardinal, tfiat he wrote to
him immediately to return to Rome. Marini complied,
and quitted France about the end of 1622 ; and on bis
arrival at Rome, was made president of the academy of
the Umoristi. Upon the advancement of Urban VIII. td
M A R I N I. 313
the pontificate, in 1623, be went to Naples, and was
chosen president of one of the academies in that city, but
soon after conceived an inclination to return to Rome,
which he was about to indulge,' when he was seized with a
oomplaint which carried him off, in 1625.
Marini had a very lively imagination, but little judgment,
and abandoned himself to the way of writing fashionable
in those times, which consisted in points and conceits ; so
that he may be justly reckoned among the corrupters of
taste in Italy, a& his name and fame, which were very con-
siderable, produced a number of imitators. His works are
numerous, and have been often printed. The principal
of them are, 1. " Strage degli Innocenti," a poem on the
slaughter of the Innocents, Venice, 1633. 2. "Rime,**
or miscellaneous poems, in three parts. 3. " La Sam-
pogna," or the flageolet ; 1620. 4. " La Murtoleide,"
1626,. 4to, the occasion of which has been already no-
ticed. 5. « Letters," 1627, 8vo. 6. " Adone ;" an he-
roic poem. This was one of the most popular poems in
the Italian language, little less so than the Aminta of
Tasso, and the Pastor Fido of Guarini ; and, says Baretti,
w would cope with any one in our Italian, if Marini had
not run away with his overflowing imagination, and if his
language was more correct." It has been frequently printed
in Italy, France, and other parts of Europe. >:One of th«
most valued editions is the Elzevir, printed' at' Amsterdam,
in 1678, in 4 vols. 16mo.!
MARIOTTE (Edmund), an eminent French philoso-
pher and mathematician, was born at Dijon, and admitted
a member of the academy of sciences of Paris in 1666. His
works, however, are better known than his life. He was
a good mathematician, and the first French philosopher
who applied much to experimental physics. The law of
the- shock or collision of bodies, the theory of the pressure
and motion of fluid s, the nature of vision, and of the air,
particularly engaged bis attention. He carried into his
philosophical researches that spirit of scrutiny and investi-
gation so necessary to those who would make any consi-
derable progress in it. He died May 12, 1684t He com-
municated a number of curious and valuable papers to the
academy of sciences, which were printed in the collection
of their Memoirs dated 1666, viz. from volume 1 to volume
1 Njc«rOD, vol.XXXII.— Tiraboschi.*— Moreri. ,
314 M A R I O T T E.
10. And all bis works were collected into 2 volumes in
4to, and printed at Leyden in 1717. 1
MARIVAUX (Peter Carlet de Chamblaw de), a ce-
lebrated French writer of the drama and of romance, was
born at Paris in 1688. His father was of a good family in
Normandy ; his fortune was considerable, and he spared
nothing in the education of his son, who discovered un-
common talents, and a most amiable disposition. His first
object was the theatre, where he met with the highest
success in comic productions; and these, with the merit of
his other works, procured him a place in the French aca-
demy. The great object of both his comedies and ro-
mances was, to convey an useful moral under the veil of
wit and sentiment : " my only object," says he, " is to
make men more just and more humane;" and he was as
amiable in his life and conversation as in bis writings.
He was compassionate and humane, and a strenuous ad-
vocate for morality and religion. To relieve the indigent,
to console the unfortunate, and to succour the oppressed^
were duties which he not only recommeuded by his writ-
ings, but by his own practice and example. He would
frequently ridicule the excessive credulity of infidels iiv
matters of trivial importance ; and once said to lord Bo*
lingbroke, who was of that character, " If you cannot be-
lieve, it is not for want of faith."
Marivaux had the misfortune, or rather the imprudence,
to join the party of M. de la Motte, in the famous dispute
concerning the superiority of the ancients to the moderns.
His attachment to the latter produced bis travesty of Ho-
mer, which contributed but little to his literary fame. His
prose works, while they display great fertility of invention,
and a happy disposition of incidents to excite attention,
and to interest the affections, have been censured for af-
fectation of style, and a refinement that is sometimes too
metaphysical. His " Vie de Marianne," and his " Paysaa
Parvenu," hold the first rank among French romances;
yet, by a fickleness which was natural to him, he left one
of them incomplete to begin the other, and finished neither.
He died at Paris, Feb. 11, 17C3, aged seventy-five. His
works consist of, 1. " Pieces de Theatre," 5 vols. 12 mo.
2. " Homere travesti," 12mo. 3. " Le Spectateur Fran§ois,"
2 vols. 12mo ; rather affected in style, but containing many
* Eloge des Acafaimcien?, vol. !. — Diet. Hist.— Hutton's Dictionary.
M A R I V A. U X. 315
fine .thoughts. 4. "Le Philosophe indigent/' l2mo, lively
and instructive. 5. " Vie 4de Marianne/' 4 vols. 12 mo;
one of the best. romances in the French language. 6. " Le
Paysan Parvenu," 1 2 mo; more ingenious, perhaps, than
Marianne, but less instructive, and. containing some scenes
that ought to have, been omitted. 7. " Pharsamon ; ou
les nouvelles follies romanesques ;" inferior to the former.
This was republished under the name of " Nouveau Dom
Quicbotte." The chief objection made to this, and in-
deed many .other writings of Marivaux, is a mixture of me-
taphysical style, sometimes too refined to be intelligible;
but amends are generally made for this fault, by correct
pictures of the human heart, and sentiments of great truth
and beauty. ' „
MARK, or MARCUS, the founder of the sect of the
Marcosians, is said to have, appeared about the year 160,
or, according to some, about the year 127. Many learned
moderns are of opinion that Mark belonged to the Valen-
tinian school, but Rh en ford and Beausobre say that the
^Marcosians were Jews, or judaizing Christians; andGrabe *
likewise owns that. they were of Jewish extract. Irenaeus
leads us to imagine that Mark, who was an Asiatic, had
come into Gaul and made many converts there. Never-
theless, learned moderns think that they were only dis-
ciples of Mark, who came into that country, where Irenaeus
resided, of whom, in one place, he makes particular men-
tion.. Irenaeus represents him as exceedingly skilful in all
magical arts, . by means of which he had great success*
Tertullian and Theodoret concur in calling Mark a magi-
cian. Irenaeus, after giving an account of the magical arts .
of Mark, adds, that he had, probably, an assisting daemon,
by which he himself appears .to prophesy, and which en-
abled others, especially women, to prophesy likewise : this
practice favoured his seduction of many, females, both in
body and mind, which gained him much wealth. . He is
also said to have made use of philters and love-potions, in
order to gain the affections of women ; and his disciples
are charged with doing the same. Dr. Lardner suggests
some doubts as to the justice of these accusations ; and
jndeed there is considerable obscurity in every particular
of his personal history. His followers, called Marcosians,
* D'Alembert'j Eloges. — Necrologie. — L'Esprit dc Marivaux, 17(59, 8vo.— -
Diet. Hist
W6 MAR K,
are said to have placed a great deal of mystery in the
letters of the alphabet, and thought that they were very
useful in trading out the truth. They are charged un-
justly with holding two principles, and as if they were
Doceta&y and denied the resurrection of the dead; for
which there w no sufficient evidence. They persisted in the
practice of baptism and the eucharist. As to their opinion
concerning Jestts Christ, they seem to have had a notion
of the great dignity and excellence of his person, or bis
ineffable generation : and, according to them, he was born
of Mary, • a virgin, and the word was in him. When be
tame to the water, the supreme power descended upon
him; and. .he had in him all fulness; for in him was the
word, the father, truth, the church, and life. They said
that the Christ, or the Spirit, came down Upon the man
Jesus. He made known the Father, and destroyed death,
and called himself the Son of Man; for it was the good
pleasure of the Father of all that he should banish igno-
rance and destroy death : and the acknowledgment of him
is the overthrow of ignorance. From the account of Ire*
naerus, we may infer that the Marcosians believed, the facts
recorded in the gospels ; and that they received most, or
all the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament. Irenseus
also says that they had an innumerable multitude of apo-
cryphal and spurious writings, which they had forged : and
that they made use of that fiction concerning the child
Jesus, that when his master bade him say, alpha, the Lord
did so ; but when the master called him to say beta, he
answered, " Do you first tell me what is alpha, and then
I will tell you what beta is/9 As this story concerning
alpha and beta is found in the gospel of the infancy of Jesus
Christ, still in being, some are of opinion that this gospel
was! composed by the Marcosians. l
MARKHAM (Gervase), an English author, who lived
in the reigns of James I. and Charles I. but whose private
history is involved in much obscurity, was son of Robert
Markham, esq. of Gotham, in the county of Nottingham.
He bore a captain's commission under Charles I. in the
civil wars, and was accounted a good soldier, as well as a
good scholar. One piece of dramatic poetry which he has
published will shew, says Langbaine, that he sacrificed to
Apollo and the muses, as well as to Mars and Pallas. This
> Lardner't Worlw.— Rees't Cyclopaedia* .
M A R K H A M, 317
play is extant under under the title of " Herod and Anti*
pat£r," a tragedy, printed in 1622. Markham published
a great many volumes upon husbandry and horsemanship ;
one upon the latter, printed in qttarto, without date* he
dedicated to prince Henry, eldest son to James I, In
husbandry be published " Liebault's La Maison rustique,
or the country- farm," in 1616. This treatise, which was
at first translated by Mr. Richard Surfleit, a physician*
Markham, enlarged, with several additions from the French
books of Serris and Vinet, the Spanish of Albiterio, and
the Italian of Grilli. He published other books of Jams-*
baodry, particularly " The English Husbandman, in two
parts," Lond, 16 13-— 1635, with the " Pleasures of Princes
in the Art of Angling." Granger mentions " The whole
Art of Angling," 1656, 4to, in which he says Markham,
very gravely tells us that ao angler should " be a general
scholar, and seen in all the liberal sciences ; as a grant*
marian, to know how to write or discourse of bis art in
true ^ and fitting tern)s. He should have sweetness in. speech
to entice others to delight in an exercise so muqh laudable.
fie should have strength of argument to defend and main-
tain his profession against envy and slauder," &c, Markhacq
also wrote a tract entitled " Hunger's prevention^, or the
whole Art of Fowling*'' 162 1, 8vo* In military discipline
he published " The Soldier's- Accidence and Grammar," m
1635. But he appears to have been earliest distinguished
by bis talents for poetry. In 1597 be published " De-
vereti? Yertues tears fort^e loss of the most .Ghristiaa
king Henry, third of that name king of France, and. the
untimely death of the most ivafele and heroical Walter
Devereux, who was slain before Roan, in Fraunce," a trans-
lation from the French, 4to. He was the author also of
" England's Arcadia, alluding his beginning from sir Philip
Sydney's ending," 1607, 4to. The extracts from Mark-
ham in " England's Parnassus/' are more numerous than
from any other minor poet. The . most remarkable of his
poetical attempts appears to have been entitled " The
Poem of Poems, or Sioii's Muse, contaynyng the diuine
Song of king Salomon, deuided into eight eclogues," 1596,
16mo. This is dedicated to "the sacred virgin, divine
qsistress Elizabeth Sydney, sole daughter of the ever*
admired sir Philip Sydney." Bishop Hall, who was justly
dissatisfied with much of the spiritual poetry with which his
age was overwhelmed, alludes to this piece in his " Satires**
818 MARKHAM.
(B. L Sat. VIII.) ; and says that in Markham's verses So-
lomon assumes the character of a modern sonneteer, ahd
celebrates the sacred-spouse of Christ with the levities and
in the language of a lover singing the praises of his mis-
tress. For this censure, Marston in his " Certayne Satires"
(Sat. IV.) endeavours to retort ttpon Hall.
Langbaine is very lavish of his praise of Markham ; but
he does not appear to have known much of his poetry, or
of his real character. In the works referred to below are
some conjectures, and some information respecting Mark-
ham, which place his character rather in an equivocal
light. It appears, however, that his works on husbandry,
agriculture, &c. were once held in great esteem, and
often reprinted. On the records of the stationers' com-
pany is a very extraordinary agreement signed by this
author, which probably arose from the booksellers* know,
ledge of the value of Markham9 s work,' and their appre-
hensions that a new performance' on the same subject
might be hurtful to the treatises then Circulating. It is as
follows :
" Md. That I Gervase Markham, of London, gent, do
promise hereafter never to write any more book or books
to be printed of the diseases or cures of any cattle, as horse,
oxe, co we, sheepe, swine, and goates, &c. In witnes
whereof I have hereunto sett my hand the 24th day of
Julie, *l 6 17. Gervis Markham."
This likewise seems to confirm the opinion of some that
he was an author by profession, and one of the earliest on
record. Numerous, however, as were this writer's works,
bis memory has not had the fate of being transmitted with
any clearness to posterity. The time of his birth, death,
and all other particulars regarding him, are utterly unknown.1
MARKLAND (Jeremiah), M. A. one of the most learned
critics of the eighteenth century, was descended from an
ancient family of that name, seated near Wigan, in Lan-
cashire. He was one of the twelve children of the rev.
Ralph Markland, M. A. vicar of Child wall, in that county,
whose unblemished life and character gave efficacy to the
doctrines he preached, and rendered him an ornament to
the church of which he was' a member. He was not, how-
ever, the author of a poem, frequently attributed to hit
1 Langbaine. — Biog. Dram.— Warton's Hist, of Poetry.— Phillips's Theatrunt
by sir Edward Brydges.— Censura JCiteraria, rols. II and III.-— Granger, vol. If-
MARKLAND. 319
T>en, entitled * Pteryplegia, or the art of Shooting Fly-
ing/4 as it was one of the juvenile productions of his rela-
tive, Dr. Abraham^ Markland, fellow of St. John's college,
Oxford, and above thirty years master of St. Cross, near
Winchester, of whose Ufe and more important writings
• Wood has made some mention.
Jeremiah was born Oct. 29, 1693, and in 1704 was ad-
mitted upon the foundation of Christ's Hospital, London,
whence, in 1710, he was sent to the university of Cam-
bridge, with the usual exhibition of 30/. per annum for
seven years, and admitted of St. Peter's college. Here
be took the degree of B. A. in 1713, and the following
year appears among the poetical contributors to the " Cam-
bridge Gratulations." In 1 7 17 he took his master's degree,
and about the same time ably vindicated the character of
Addison against the satire of Pope, in some verses ad-
dressed to the countess, of Warwick. He was the author
also of a translation of " The Friar's Tale," frorrf Chaucer,
which is printed in Ogle's edition of 1741. Curll, the
bookseller, in some of his publications, includes poems by
a Mr. John Markland of St. Peter's college. If this is not
a blunder for Jeremiah, these might be the production of
Mr. Markland's brpther John, who was also educated at
Christ's Hospital ; but this is doubtful, and not very im-
portant.
In 1717 Mr. Markland was chosen fellow of his college,
and probably intended to have taken orders ; but it soon
appeared that from extreme weakness of lungs he could
never have performed the duties of a clergyman, and even
at this time reading a lecture for only one hour in a day
•disordered him greatly. He continued, however, for se-
veral years as a tutor in St. Peter's college. He became
first distinguished in the learned world by his " Epistola
Critica ad eruditissimum virum Franciscum Harer S. T. P.
decanum Vigorniensenr, in qua Horatii loca aliquot et alio-
rum veterum emendantur, Camb. 1723, 8vo. In this,
which at once decided the course of his studies, he gave
many proofs of- extensive erudition and critical sagacity.
He appears to have been also at this time employed on
notes and emendations on Propertius, and promised a new
edition of the Thebaid and Achillaid of Statius, but he
published only an edition of the " Sylvae," in 1728, 4to,
printed by Mr. Bowyer. In this, probably his first con-
nexion with that learned printer,* he gavfc a proof of the
330 MARKLAND.
>
scrupulous integrity which was conspicuous throughout his
whole life; for, it not beiog convenient for him to pay Mr.
Bowyer as soon as he wished and intended, he insisted on
adding the interest.
Mr. Markland found the " Syjvae" of Statius in a very
corrupt state, obscure in itself, and mangled by its editor*;
yet, notwithstanding the want of MS copies, of which there
were none in England, he appears to have accomplished
bis task by uncoiqmoi) felicity of judgment and conjecture.
It is not very easy to comprehend Ernesti's objection, that
he " sometimes rather indulged bis ingenuity and exquisite
learning against the expressed authority of books," since
bis object was to prove how much those books had failed
in exhibiting a pure text. Of the ancient editious, Mr.
Markland owns his obligations \o that of Venice, 1 472,
which he found in the duke of Devonshire's library, and
which is also in lord Spencer's; and that of Parma, 1473,
belonging to the earl of Sunderland. The " Statius," as
well as the "Epistola Critica," was dedicated to bis friend
bishop Hare.
It appears that he had begun an edition of " Apuleius"
at Cambridge, of which seven sheets were printed off,
from Morell's French edition ; but on Dr. Bentley's send-
ing him a rude message concerning "his. having left out a
line that was extant in one of the MSS. he .went no farther.
Bowyer, who knew the value of Mr. Markland's labours,
would have carried on, this work, but n$$er could obtain a
copy of the printed sheets, which remained formany years
in Mr. Benthapd's warehouse at Cambridge.
After several years residence at St. Peter's college, he
undertook in 1728 the education of William Strode, esq,
of Punsborn in Herts, with whom be continued above two
years at his bouse, and as long abroad in France, Flanders,
and Holland. Some time ?ftejr their return, Mr. Strode
married, and when his eldest son was about six years old,
Mr. Markland undertook the care of his education, and
was with him seven years. This pupil, who was afterwards
a gentleman of the bed-chamber to his majesty, a man of
extensive benevolence and generosity, and always very
attentive to Mr. Markland, died in 1809.
After his return from France, Mr. Markland again took
up his residence at college, and resumed his learned la-
bours. In 1739 we find Mr. Taylor acknowledging his
obligations to Mr. Markland for the " Conjecture" an-
M A R K L A N D. 3£1
nexed to bis " Orationes et Fragmenta JLysiee," an in*
comparable edition, on which Taylor's fame may securely
rest. In 1740 Mr. Markland "contributed annotations to
Dr. Davies's second edition of Maxim us Tyrius. This vo-
lume was printed by Mr. Bowyer, under the sanction of
the society for the encouragement of learning ; and such
was Mr. Markland's care, that this society, although on
their part not very consistently, complained of the ex-
pence which Mr. Markland occasioned by his extreme
nicety in correcting the proof-sheets. In an address to the
reader, prefixed to his annotations, Mr. Markland brought
forward a very singular discovery, that Maxim us had him-
self published two editions of his work. It is very sur-
prizing, therefore, that at this time, when Markland was
receiving the thanks and praises of his learned contem-
poraries, Warburton only should under-irate his labours,
and say in a letter to Dr. Birch, " I have a poor opinion
both of Markland's and Taylor's critical abilities." Whe-
ther this " poor opinion" proceeded from temper or taste,
we find that it was afterwards adopted by Warbur ton's
friend Dr. Hurd, who went a little farther in compliment
to his correspondent, and, somewhat luckily for Mr. Mark-
land, involves himself in a direct contradiction, calling Mr.
Markland, in the same sentence, a " learned man," and a
man of " slender parts and sense." It cannot be too
much regretted that bishop Hurd should have left bis
Warburtonian correspondence to be printed, after he had,
in the republication of his own works, professed to recant
many of the harsh opinions of his early days.
In 1743, we find Mr. Markland residing at Twyford,
where, in June of that year, he talks of the gout as an
old companion : and at this period of life, it appears that
he was twice encouraged to offer himself a candidate for
the Greek professorship ; but had either not ambition enough
to aspire to this honour, or had some dislike to the office,
to which, however, abilities like his must have done cre-
dit. From 1744 to 1752, his residence was at Uckfield
in Sussex, where he boarded in the house of the school-
master under whose care young Mr. Strode had been
placed, and where he first formed an intimacy with the
rev. William Clarke, whose son Edward was placed under
his private tuition. In 1745, he published " Remarks on
the Epistles of Cicero to Brutus, and of Brutus to Cicero,
in a letter to a friend. With a dissertation upon four ora-
Vol. XXL Y
S22 MARKLAND.
tions ascribed to Cicero; viz. 1. Ad Quirites post redi-
tum : 2. Post reditum in senatu : 3- Pro domo sua, ad
pontifices : 4. De baruspicum responsis : To which are
added, some extracts out of the notes of learned men upon
those orations, and observations on them, attempting to
prove them all spurious, and the works of some sophist,'*
8vo. These remarks, which were addressed to Mr. Bowyer,
although very ingenious, brought on the first controversy in
which Mr. Markland was concerned ; but in which he was
unwilling to exert himself. He seems to have contented
himself with his own conviction upon the subject, and with
shewing only some contempt of what was offered. " I be-
lie ve," says he, in a letter to Mr. Bowyer, u I shall drop
the affair of these spurious letters, and the orations I men-
tioned ; for, though I am as certain that Cicero was riot
the author of them, as I am that you were not, yet I con-
sider that it must be judged of by those who are already
prejudiced on the other side. And how far prejudice will
go, is evident from the subject itself; for nothing else
could have suffered such silly and barbarous stuff as these
Epistles and Orations to pass so long, and through so many
learned men's hands, for the writings of Cicero ; in which
view, I confess, I cannot read them without astonishment
and indignation."
- A little farther account, however, of this controversy,
and its rise, may yet be interesting. In 1741, Mr. Tun-
stall, public orator of Cambridge, published his doubts on
the authenticity of the letters between Cicero and Brutus
(which Middleton, in his Life of Cicero, had considered
as genuine), in a Latin dissertation. This Middleton called
%i a frivolous, captious, disingenuous piece of criticism,*
answered it in English, and published the disputed epis-
tles with a translation. Oh this, Tunstall, in 1744, pub-
lished his " Observations on the Epistles, representing se-
veral evident marks of forgery in them, in answer to the
late pretences of the Rev. Dr. Conyers Middleton." Mark-
land, the following year, published his arguments on the
same side of the question, which called forth a pamphlet,
tvritten by Mr. Ross, afterwards bishop of Exeter, en-
titled " A Dissertation in which the defence of P. Sylla,
ascribed to M. Tullius Cicero, is * clearly proved to be
spurious, after the manner of Mr. Markland; with some in-
troductory Remarks on other writings of the Ancients,
never before suspected." It is written in a sarcastic style,
M A R K L A N D. 323
but with a display of learning very inferior to that of the
excellent scholar against whom it was directed, and in a
disposition very dissimilar to the candour and fairness which
accompanied the writings of Markland. It has lately beer*
discovered that Gray, the celebrated poet, assisted Ross in
his pamphlet, but at the same time does not seem to have
entertained a very high opinion of Ross's wit» In a manu-
script note in the first leaf of his copy of Markland, he
writes : " This book is answered in an ingenious way, but
the irony is not quite transparent." Gray's copy of Mark-
land is now in the possession of his late excellent biogra-
pher, the rev. John Mitford, to whom we are indebted fot
these particulars. Mr. Mitford adds, that the notes which
Gray has written in this copy u display a familiar knowledge
of the structure of the Latin language, and answer some of
the objections of Markland, " who had not then learnt the
caution, in verbal criticism and conjectural emendation,
which he well knew how to value when an editor of Euri-
pides."— The only other pamphlet which this controversy
produced was entitled "A Dissertation in which the obser-
vations of a late pamphlet on the writings of the Ancients,
after the manner of Mr. Markland, are clearly answered ;
those passages in Tully corrected, on which some of the
objections are founded : with Amendments of a few pieces
of criticism in Mr. Markland's Epistola Critica," Lond.
1746, 8vo. At length Gesner defended the genuineness
of the orations in question, and they were reprinted by Er-
nest, and are still believed to be part of Cicero's works.
In 1743, Mr. Markland contributed some notes to Ar-
nald's " Commentary on the book of Wisdom/9 which are
noticed at the end of the author's preface, in the second
edition, 1760. In 1750, he communicated some very ju-
dicious remarks on an edition, .then printing by Bowyer,
of " Kuster de Verbo medio." He was also at this time
employed on his Euripides. In 1752, having completed the
education of his amiable pupil Mr. Strode, he first began
to seclude himself from the world. " By this time,9' he says,
" being grown old, and having moreover long and painful
annual fits of the gout, he was glad to find, what his in-
clination and infirmities, which made him unfit for the
world and for company, had for a long time led him to, a
very private place of retirement near Dorking in Surrey."
In this pleasant and sequestered' spot, in the hamlet of
Milton, he saw little company : his walks were almost eon*
Y 2
324 MARKLAND.
■
fined to the narrow limits of his garden : and he described
himself, in 1755, to be as much out of the way of hear*
ing, as of getting. " Of this last," he adds, ^ I have now
no desire :« the other I should be glad of." What first in*
duced him to retire from the world is not known. It has
been supposed to have proceeded from disappointment :
but of what nature is matter of conjecture.' There is a
traditionary report, that he once received a munificent pro*
{>osal from Dr. Mead, to enable him to travel, on a most
iberal plan, in pursuit of such literary matters as should
appear eligible to himself; and that his retirement arose
from a disgust his extreme delicacy occasioned him to take
during the negociation. He was certainly disinterested to
an extreme : and money was never considered by him as a
good, any farther than it enabled him to relieve the ne-
cessitous.
In 1756 appeared an edition by Musgrave of the Hip-
polytus of Euripides, under the title of " Euripidis Hip*
polytus, ex MSS. Bibliothecee regis Parisiensis enienda-
tus. Variis lectionibus et notis editoris accessere viri
clarissimi Jeremiae Markland emendationes," a title which
was printed without Mr. Markland's knowledge, and very
Contrary to his inclination, as he has written on the margin
of his own copy, now in Dr. Burney's possession ; and it
is said that bis notes were obtained by a friend, and did
not pass directly from Mr. Markland to Mr. Musgrave. In
1758, he contributed some notes to an edition of seven
plays of Sophocles printed by Mr. Bowyer.
In 1760, Mr. Markland printed in quarto, at the ex-
pence of his friend William Hall, esq. of the Temple, an
excellent little treatise, under the title of " De Graeco-
rum quinta declinatione imparisyllabic&, et inde formats
Xatinorum tertia, quasstio Grammatica," 4to. No more
than forty copies having been printed, which were all given
away, it was annexed, in 1763, to an edition of Euripi-
des's " Supplices Mulieres," 4to. This book was pub*
lished without the editor's name; perhaps owing to the
discouragement shewn to critical learning, as appears from
a memorandum of his own hand-writing in a copy of it, in
which he says, "There were only 250 copies printed, thia
kind of study being at that time greatly neglected in Eng-
land. The writer of the notes was then old and infirm;
and, having by him several things of the same sprt, writ*
ten many-years before, he did not think it worth while to
MARKLAND.
its
revise them ; and was unwilling to leave them behind him
as they were, in many places not legible to any body but
himself; for which reason he destroyed them. Probably
it will be a long time, if ever, before this sorj of learning
will revive in England ; in which it is easy to foresee, that
there must be a disturbance in a few years, and all public
disorders are enemies to this sort of literature" In the
same dejected tone he speaks, in 1772, of the edition of
Euripides lately published : " The Oxonians, I hear, are
about to publish Euripides in quarto ; two volumes, I sup-
pose. Dr. Musgrave helps them with his collections, and
perhaps conjectures. In my opinion, this is no time for
such works; I mean for the undertakers."
These, melancholy views of literary patronage and sup*
port did not binder Mr. Markland from hazarding his little
property on the more uncertain issue of a law-suit, into
which be was drawn by the benevolence of his disposition*
His primary object in this affair, which occurred in 1765,
was to support the widow with whom he lodged against
the injustice and oppression of her son, who, taking ad-
vantage of maternal weakness, persuaded her to assign
over to him the whole of her property. The consequence
was a law-suit *,' which, after an enormous expenoe to Mr.
Markland, was decided against the widow ; and his whole
fortune, after this event, was expended in relieving the
distresses of the family. Some assistance he appears to h$ve
derived from his friends ; but such was his dislike, of this
kind of aid, that he could rarely be prevailed upon to ac-
cept it Yet at this time his whole property, exclusive of
his fellowship (about seventy pounds a-year), consisted of
* " My engaging in a law-matter
was much contrary to my nature and
inclination, and owing to nothing but
compassion (you give it a suspicious
name when you call it tenderness, the
being in her 63d year, and I in my
74th) to see a very worthy woman op-
pressed and deprived by her own ion
of every farthing ihe had in the world,
and nothing left to subsist herself and
two children, but what she received
from me for board and lodging ; and
this too endeavoured by several bad
and ridiculous methods to be taken
from her, and myself forced hence,
that they might compel her into their
unjust measures; not to mention the
injuries, indignities, and inso-
lences, which were used towards her.
Could I run away, and leave an af-
flicted goad woman and her children
to starve, without the greatest base*
ness, dishonour, and inhumanity ? Poor
as I am, I would rather have pawned
the coat on my back than have done it.
I speak this in {he presence of God t
and I appeal to Him, before whom f
most soon appear, that this is the truer
and only reason of my acting in this
matter ; and though I know that the
consequences of it wiM incommode mo
greatly, and almost ruin me, yet I an
sure I shall never repent of it."
Letter from Mr. Markland,
in Nichols's BowyeK
i2& MARKLAND.
five hundred pounds three per cent, reduced annuities; and
part .of the latter we find him cheerfully selling out for
the support of his poor friends, rather than accept any
loan or gift from his friends. He appears indeed about this
time to have been weaning himself from friendly connec-
tions, as well as his customary pursuits. In October of
this year he even declined entering into a correspondence
with his old acquaintance bishop Law, who wished to servo,
him, and desires Mr. Bowyer to write to the bishop, that
"Mr.* Markland is very old, being within a few days of
seventy-three, with weak eyes and a shaking hand, so
that he can neither read nor write without trouble : that he
has scarce looked into a Greek or Latin book for above
these three years, having given over all literary concerns ;
and therefore it is your (Mr. Bowyer' s) opinion that he
(the bishop) had much better not write to Mr. Markland,
which will only distress him ; but that you are very sure
that he; will not now enter into any correspondence of
learning." At length, in 1768, after much negotiation,
and every delicate attention to his feelings, his pupil,
Mr. Strode, prevailed on him to accept an annuity of one
hundred pounds, which, with the dividends arising from
bis fellowship, was, from that time, the whole of his in-
come.
Fortunately for the world of letters, tbe notes on the
two " Iphigenias," which Mr. Markland at one time in-
tended to destroy, from despair of public encouragement,
were preserved and given by him to Dr. Heberden, with
permission to burn or print them as he pleased; but if the
latter, then they should be introduced by st short Latin
dedication to Dr. Heberden, as a testimony of his gratitude
for the many favours he had received from that gentleman.
Dr. Heberden, whose generosity was unbounded, readily
accepted the gift on Mr. Markland' s own conditions, paid
the whole expence of printing, as he had before done that
of the " Supplices Mulieres," and in 1770 had secured a
copy of it corrected for a second edition, though at that
time it was intended that the first should not be published
till after Mr. Maryland's death. He had then burnt all his
notes, except those on the New Testament ; and the dis-
posal of his books became how to him a matter of serious
concern. He wished them to be in the hands of J)r. He-
berden, to whom he presented the greater part of them in
his ]|fe*time, and the remainder at his death. These notes
MARKLA N D. 327
qn the New Testament had often made part of Mr. Mark-
land's stady, and many of tbem have since appeared in
Bowyer's " Conjectures on the New Testament." They
were written in Kuster's edition.
Contrary to the original intention, his edition of the
"Two Iphigeniae," which bad been printed in 1768, 8vo,
with a view to posthumous publication, was given to the
world in 1771, under the title of li Euripidis Dramata,
Iphigenia in Aulide, et Ipbigenia in Tauris; ad codd. MSS.
recensuit, et notulas adjecit, Jer. Markland, Coll. D.
Petri Cant. Socius." Of this, the " SuppliCes Mulieres,"
and the " Queestio grammatica de Graecorum quinta de-
clinatione imparisyilabica," &c. an elegant and correct edi-
tion has just been published at Oxford, in 8vo and 4to,.
under the superintendance of one of the most profound
Greek scholars of the age, Mr. Gaisford of Christ- church.
Repeated attacks of the gout, and an accumulation of
infirmities, at length put an end to Mr. Markland's life, at
Milton-court, July 7, 1776, in the 'eighty-third year of
bis age. His will was short. He bequeathed his books
and papers to Dr. Heberden, and every thing else to Mrs.
Martha Rose, the widow with whom he lived, and \\hom
he made sole executrix, although he had a sister, Cathe*
rine, then living, and not in good circumstances. This is
the more remarkable, as we find in his letters, expressions*
of affectionate anxiety for this sister ; but be delayed mak-
ing his will until the year before his death, when his me-
mory and faculties were probably in some degree impaired.
fie had formerly entertained hopes of being able to make
some acknowledgment to Christ's-hospital for his educa-
tion, and to Peterhouse, from which he had for so many
years received the chief part of his maintenance ; but, to
use his own words, " as the providence of God saw fit th^t
it should be otherwise, he was perfectly satisfied that it
waa better it should be as it was." Immediately on his
death, his friend Mr. Strode and Mr. Nichols went to Mil-
ton-court, to give directions for the funeral, which was
performed, strictly agreeable to his own request, in the
church of Dorking, where a brass plate commemorates his
learning and virtues. Several of his books, with a few
MS notes in them, after the death of Dr. Heberden, were
sold to Mr. Payne ; and some of them were purchased by
Mr. Gough, and others are now in the possession of Dr.
Ikirney, Mr. Heber, Mr. Hibbert, &c. &c.
388 MARKLAND.
Such are the outlines of the history of this excellent
Scholar and critic, concerning whom many additional par-
ticulars may be found in our authority. The most con-
spicuous trait in his character was his singular and un-
wearied industry. The scholar, who secludes himself from
the world for the purposes of study, frequently abandon*
himself to desultory reading, or at least is Occupied at in-
tervals only, in deep and laborious research. This, how-
ever, was not the case with Markland. The years that
successively rolled over his head, in the course of a long
life, constantly found him engaged in his favourite pur-
suits, collating the classic authors of antiquity, or illustrat-
ing the book of Revelation. Of the truth of this remark,
which we borrow from his amiable relative, liis correspond-
ence affords sufficient testimony ; and the proofs which he
there displays, even after he had passed his eighty-first
year, of vigour and clearness of intellect, are perfectly
astonishing. To this we may add what has recently been
said of Mr. Markland, that "for modesty, candour, literary
honesty, ami courteousness to other scholars, he has been
considered as the model which ought to be proposed for the
imitation of every critic." With exception to the opinions of
Warburtdn and Hurd, which were concealed when they
might have been answered, and published when they were
hot worth answering, his deep aod extensive learning appears,
from the concurrent testimony of his contemporaries and
survivors, to have been at all times most justly appreciated;
and a tribute, of great value, has lately been paid to his
memory by Dr. Burney in the preface to his " Tentameir
de Metrk ab -Eschylo in Choricis Cantibus adhibitis,"
where he places him among the " magnanimi heroes" of
the eighteenth century, Bentley, Dawes, Taylor, Toup,
Tyrwhitt, and Porson.
It is to be regretted, however, that the splendour of bis
abilities was obscured by the extreme privacy of his life,
and the many' peculiarities of his disposition. The latter
indeed seem to have been produced by the former, and
that by some circumstances in his early life, which pre-
vented him from making a choice among the learned pro-
fessions. It is well known that bishop Hare would have
provided for him, if he would have taken orders ; but what
his reasons were for declining them, we are not told. It
ttiay be inferred from his correspondence that in maturer
age he had some scruples of the religious kind, but these
MARKLAND, 3^9
♦Jo not appear inconsistent with the liberty which many
great and good men have thought consistent with subscrip-
tion to the formularies of the church. By whatever means
he was prevented from taking orders, it appears to have
been a misfortune to him, as the patrons who were the
best judges of his merit had no means of providing for him
in any other direction. If he ever fancied that he could
make his way through the world by the talents of a mere
scholar employed in writing, we have evidence in his let-
ters that he soon found his mistake, and that in his time
classical criticism was not an* article in great demand.
Another reason for his frequent despondency, arid love of
retirement, appears to have been his interesting himself too
much in the politics of the time, which he always viewed
through a gloomy medium. We may, however, conclude
this article with the striking and just observation made by
his pupil Mr. Strode, in a letter to Mr. Nichols, that " no
friend of Mr. Markland can reflect on his life without great
satisfaction, although, for the further benefit of society,
one might be led to wish some few circumstances of it had
been otherwise."1
MARLOE, or MARLOW (Christopher), whom Phil-
lips calls " a kind of second Shakspeare," was born, as
Mr. Ellis conjectures with great probability, about 1562.
There is no account extant of his family, but it is welt
known, says Baker, that he was of Bene't college, in the
university of Cambridge, where he took the degree of B. A.
1583, and M. A. 15S7; he, however, quitted the academic
life, and went on the stage, where he became one of the
most distinguished tragic poets of the age. Thomas Hey-
wood styles him the " best of poets;" and Drayton also haa
bestowed a high panegyric on him, in the " Censure of
the Poets/' in these lines z
" Next Marloe bathed in Thespian springs,
Had in him those brave translunary things,
That your first poets had ; his raptures were
All air and fire, which made his verses clear:
For that fine madness still he did retain,
Which rightly should possess a poet's brain/*
1 Nichols's Bowyer— with the addition of tome MS particulars and judicitu*
remarks by James H. Markland, esq. F.S.A. of the Temple, a relation of the
Critic, obligingly communicated to the Editor. A large proportion of the ori-
ginal letters of Mr. Markland is in thii gentleman's possession, and Or. Buraey
hat likewise a considerable number.
330 MARLOE.
In 1 5S7 he translated Coluthus's " Rape of Helen" into
English rhyme. He also translated the elegies of Ovid,
which book was ordered to be burnt at Stationers'-hall,
1 599, by command of the archbishop of Canterbury and
the bishop pf London. Before 1598 appeared his transla-
tion of the " Loves of Hero and Leander," the elegant
prolusion of an unknown sophist of Alexandria, but com-
monly ascribed to the ancient Musaeus. It was left un-
finished by Marlow's death ; but what was called a second
part, which is nothing more than a continuation from the
Italian, appeared by one Henry Petowe, in 1598. Another
edition was published, with the first book of Lucan, trans-
lated also by Marlow, and in blank verse, in 1600. At
length Chapman, the translator of Homer, completed, but
with a striking inequality, Marlow's unfinished version,
and printed if at London in 1606, 4to. His plays were,
1. " Tamerlane the great Scythian emperor, two parts,"
ascribed by Phillips erroneously to Newton. 2. ""The
rich Jew of Maltha." 3. " Thex Tragical History of the
Life and Death of Dr. John Faustus." 4. " Lust's Do-
minion," Lond. 1661, 8vo, from which was stolen the
greater part of Aphra Behu's " Abdelazer, or the More's
Revenge," Lond. 1677. 5. "The Tragedy of King Ed-
ward II." 6. " The Tragedy of Dido, queen of Carthage,"
ill the composition of which he was assisted by Thomas
Nash, who published it in 1594.
His tragedies, says Warton, manifest traces of a just
dramatic conception, but they abound with tedious and
uninteresting scenes, or with such extravagancies as pro-
ceeded from a want of judgment, and those barbarous
ideas of the times, over which it was the peculiar gift of
Shakspeare's genius alone to triumph and predominate.
As a poet, there is one composition preserved in the col-
lection called " England's Helicon," and often reprinted,
which entitles him to the highest praise. It is that entitled
" The Passionate Shepherd to his Love," beginning
i€ Come live with me, and be my love." We can remem-
ber the revival of this beautiful pastoral about forty years
ago, with some pleasing music, which made it the fashion
of every theatre, concert, and private party. Sir Walter
Raleigh wrote a reply to this piece.
Marloe's tragical 'death is thus related by Wood : " This
Marloe, we are told, presuming upon his own little wit,
thought proper to practise the most Epicurean indulgence,
MARLOE. 331
and openly professed Atheism. He denied God our Sa-
viour ; he blasphemed the adorable Trinity ; and, as it
was reported, wrote several discourses against it, affirming
our Saviour to be a deceiver, the sacred Scriptures to con-
tain nothing but idle stories, and all religion to be a de-
vice of policy and priestcraft. But Marloe came to a very
untimely end, as some have remarked, in consequence of
bis execrable blasphemies. It happened, that be fell
deeply in love with a low girl, and had for his rival a fel-
low in livery, who looked more like a pimp than a lover.
Marloe, fired with jealousy, and having some reason to
believe that bis mistress granted the fellow favours, rushed
upon him to stab him with his dagger : but the footman
being quick, avoided the stroke, and catching hold of Mar r
loe's wrist, stabbed him with bis own weapon ; and not*
withstanding all the assistance of the surgery, be soon after
died of the wound, before the year 1593."
Marloe has found an apologist in Warton*, who can
seldom conceal his abhorrence of the puritans. "Marlowe's
wit and sprightliness of conversation had often the unhappy
effect of tempting him to sport with sacred subjects ; more
perhaps from the preposterous ambition of courting the
casual applause of profligate and unprincipled companions,
than from any systematic disbelief of religion. His scepti-
cism, whatever it might be, was construed by the pre-
judiced and peevish puritans into absolute atheism, and
they look pains to represent the unfortunate catastrophe of
his untimely death, as an immediate judgment from heaven
upon his execrable impiety.1' The story was certainly
current at the time. It occurs not only in Beard's " The-
atre of God's Judgments," but in a work which if we
mistake not preceded it, Vaughan's " Golden Grove."
Vaughan gives the place where the catastrophe happened,
Deptford, and his antagonist's name, Ingram f, and adds,
• Warton is often led to remarks of Moses a conjuror, were dreadful crimes
the above kind from bis dislike of the in tbe eyes of Anthony Wood, who was
puritans ; but Marloe has found an himself no conjuror, and on whose au-
apologist in Dr. Berkenhout of a more thority bishop Tanner calls poor Mar-
congenial kind. " Marloe," says this loe atheista et blasphemies horrendus."
unprejudiced biographer, " seems to Berkenhout's u Biographia Literaria,"
have dared to reason on matters of re- which is disgraced by many such sea-
ligion ; than which nothing could be a timents as these,
greater crime, in the opinion of those f Aubrey says that his antagonist
who did not dare to think for them- was Ben Jonsoft. Surely more au-
selves. Posterity will hardly believe thority is necessary for such aii asser-
that there ever was a time when free- tion. See, however, our account of
thinking was deemed criminal. His Jonson, vol. X,IX. p. 142.
blaspbem'iDg the Trinity, and calling
832 M A R L O E.
that Marloe « wrote a book against the Trinitie.,, There
is also in the British Museum (MSS. Harl. 6853/ 8vo. foL
320) " An Account of the blasphemous and damnable
opinions of Christ. Marley and three others who came to a
sudden and fearful end of this life." *
MARLORAT (August ink), an eminent protestant di-
vine of the sixteenth century, and classed among the re-
formers, was born in the dukedom of Lorrain in 1506.
He was educated in a monastery of the Augustine friars,
where he made great proficiency in his studies, and ap-
pears to have conceived, from the licentious morals of the
friars, a dislike to their religion, which be afterwards
abandoned. Leaving the monastery he pursued his studies
in France, and afterwards at Lausanne, where he made
open profession of the protestant religion, and was admitted
into orders. He was chosen pastor at Vevey, and then at
Rouen in Normandy, where he contributed to the diffusion
of the principles of the reformation. In 1561 he was pre-
sent at the memorable conference held at Poissy between
Beza and the cardinal of Lorrain, in which he distin-
guished himself by his ability and zeal in defence of the
protestant cause. The year following the civil wars broke
out in France, and Rouen being besieged and taken,
Montmorency, constable of France, threw Marlorat into
prison, as a- seducer of the people. On this charge, of
which no proofs were brought, he was condemned to be
hanged, his heafl then to be set on a pole on the bridge of
the city, and his goods and inheritance to be confiscated.
He accordingly suffered this punishment Oct 30, 1562, in
the fifty-sixth year of his age. His works were chiefly
commentaries on the Holy Scriptures: 1. " Genesis, cum
catholica expositione," 1562, fol. 2. " Liber Psalmorum*
et Cantica, &c." 1562, fol. 3. " Jesaiae Prophetia," 1564,
folio. 4. " Novum Testamentum," 1605, 2 vols, folio, and
a book of Common Places. Translations from most of
these were published in England during the Elizabethan'
period. *
MARMION (Shakerley), a dramatic writer, was born
of an ancient family at Aynboe in Northamptonshire* about
the beginning of January, 16Q2. He went to school at
Thame in Oxfordshire, and was thence removed to Wad-
» Warton's Hist of Poetry.— Biog. Dram.— -Phillips's Tbeatrum, by lir £•
Brydges.— -Bibliographer, volt. II. and III.— Ellis's Specimen!.
* Melchior Adam.— Croix da Maine fc da Verdiar,— 8e*» Iconei. "
M A R M 1 O N. 3SS
ham-college, Oxford, as a gentleman-commoner, and took
his master of arts9 degree in 1624. Wood says, that " he
was a goodly proper gentleman, and had once in his pos-
session seven hundred pounds per annum at least." The
whole of this he dissipated, and afterwards went to serve
in the Low Countries. Not being promoted there, after
three campaigns, he returned to England, and was admit-
ted in 1639, by sir John Suckling, into a troop raised for
Charles I. in his expedition against Scotland, but at York
he fell sick, and was obliged to return to London, where
he died the same year. Marmion, although not a volu-
minous writer, for he produced only four dramas, is Con-
sidered by the author of the Biographia Dramatica as one
of the best among the dramatic writers of his time. " Hit
plots are ingenious," says that author, " his characters
well drawn, and his larfguage not only easy and dramatic,
but full of lively wit and solid understanding/' His plays
are, 1. " Holland's Leaguer, an excellent comedy, as it
hath bin lately and often acted with great applause, by
the high and mighty prince Charles his servants, at the
private house in Salisbury court," 1632, 4to. According
to Oldys, in his MS notes on Langbaine, there was a tract
in prose, published under the same title of " Holland's
Leaguer," in the same year, from which this drama might
possibly be taken. 2. " A fine Companion, acted before
the King and Queen at Whitehall, and sundrie times with
great applause at the private house in Salisbury-court, by
the Prince his servants," 1633, 4to. 3. " The Antiquary,
a comedy, acted by her Majesty's servants at the Cockpit,"
1641, 4to. This is also printed in Dodsley's Collection of
Old Plays, vol. X. second edition. The Biographia Dra-
matica, and other books, add to these, 4. " The Crafty
Merchant, or the Souldier'd Citizen ;" which, as well
as the rest, was a comedy ; but they all state that it was
never printed, and neglect to tell where it is extant iti
manuscript. He also published, 5. " Cupid and Psiche ;
or an epic poem of Cupid and his Mistress, as it was lately
presented to the Prince Elector." Prefixed to this are
complimentary verses, by Richard Brome, Francis Tuckyr,
Thomas N abbes, and Thomas Heywood. He wrote, be-
sides these, several poems, which are scattered in differ-
ent publications ; and Wood says that he left some things
in MS. ready for the press, but what became of them is
not known.1
1 Biog. Diam.— Ath. Ox. I. and II.
334 MARMONTEL
MARMONTEL (John Francis), one of the most dis-
tinguished French writers of the eighteenth century, was
born in 1723, at Bort, a small town in Limosin. His fa-
ther, who was in very moderate circumstances, and had a
very large family, bestowed great pains on this, bis eldest
son, and was ably assisted in the cultivation of his talents,
by his wife, who appears to have been a woman of superior
sense and information. Young Marmontel first studied the
classics and rhetoric in the Jesuits' college of Mauriac, and
at fifteen was placed by his father with a merchant at Cler-
mont. As this, however, was very little to his taste, be
applied for admission into the college of Clermont, and
having been received into the philosophical class, main-
tained himself by teaching some of the junior scholars*
He afterwards went to Toulouse, and became teacher of
philosophy in a seminary of the Bernard ines, where his
abilities acquired considerable distinction.
Encouraged by this, he was a candidate for- one of the
prizes given by the academy of Floreal games at Toulouse ;
but the ode which he wrote on this occasion being, rejected,
he sent a copy of it to Voltaire, who not only returned it
with high praise, but sent him a copy of his works. To a ,
young man like Marmontel, nothing could be more grati-
fying than the praise and kindness of a man of such high
rank in the literary world ; and eager to justify Voltaire**
good opinion, he applied more closely to his studies, and
obtained the prizes of several succeeding years. It is much
to- his honour, that while his reputation increased, and his
income became considerable, he devoted the latter to the
maintenance of his father's family.
By Voltaire's advice, be repaired to Paris in 1745 to
try his fortune as a man of letters. His first attempts were
©f the dramatic kind, which had various success, bat never
enough to render him independent of other employment.
His first tragedy, " Denys le Tiran," indeed, succeeded so
well, as to give him a name, and introduce him into the
higher circles, but this led him at the same time into a
course of dissipation of which he afterwards repented, and
which he relinquished, upon being promoted to the place
of secretary to the royal buildings, by the interest of ma-
dame Pompadour.
We find him afterwards connected with D'Alembert and
^Diderot, in the compilation of the Encyclopedic, which is
supposed to have had no small share in producing the
MARMONTEL. 335
French revolution. Of this, too, however, he lived to re-
pent, as his attachments were to the royal cause, although
he held that changes to a certain degree were necessary.
He afterwards became a contributor to the u Mercure
Francois," and it was in this publication that he wrote his
"Tales." In 1758 he became sole editor of the " Mer-
cure/' which he very greatly improved ; but having in a
gay party repeated a satire on the duke D'Aumont, which
was not his own writing, and having refused to give up th$
author, he was sent to the Bastille, and lost his situation
in the Mercure. His confinement, however, was short, and
the reputation his "Tales" acquired in every part of Eu-
rope, procured him riches -atid distinction. After gaining
the pri^e of the French academy, by his " Epitre aux
Poetes," though Thomas and Delille were his competitors,
be was admitted into that academy in 1763, as successor
to Marivaux, and his fame was afterwards completely esta-
blished by his " Belisarius," and his " Les Incas," both
which acquired an uncommon degree of popularity.
After the death of D'Alembert in 1783, he was elected
perpetual secretary to the French academy, where his em-
ployment was to compose eloges on the deceased mem-
bers, and other pieces to be read in the academy, both
in prose and verse. N Under the ministry of Lainoignon,
keeper of the seals, he was solicited to draw up a memoir
on national education, which was a very elaborate compo-
sition ;Jbut the commencement of the revolution prevented
the progress of this undertaking.
As the revolution advanced, be withdrew himself from
all share in those proceedings which ended in scenes of
blood and violence, and retired to a distant part, where he
employed his time in the education of his children, and in
the composition of some works which have added consider-
ably to his reputation. In 1797 he was once more called
into public life, by being elected a representative in the
national assembly ; but, after this assembly was dissolved, he
again retired to his cottage, where he died of an apoplexy,
Dec. 1799, in the seventy-seventh year of his age;
He was fifty-four before he married ; but this step,
there is every reason to think, added much to his felicity,
and secured the regular habits of his life. His reputation
as a writer, although it was gradually augmented by his
various publications, his plays, operas, poems, eloges, ,and
other compositions on miscellaneous subjects, rests now
336 MAiMONTEL
principally on his u Tales," in this country, and on bis
Belisarius and Incas on the continent. His " Tales" have
never been surpassed for lively and characteristic dialogue
and sentiment, and have been such universal favourites,
that there is no European language into which they have
not been translated. They speak, indeed, to the passions
of general nature, but the author's imagination is not always
under the strictest guidance of his judgment, and they are
not among the books which we should recommend to young
* readers. Of this the French themselves appear sensible,
and they are of opinion that the <c New Tales," which be
wrote at a more advanced period of life, better deserve
the epithet " Moral." So valuable, however, have they
appeared to dramatic writers, that they have formed not
only the plot, but much of the dialogue of some very fa-
vourite pieces, both on the English and French stage.
Since his decease, his " Life" written by himself has been
published and translated into English. Of his former works,
the best French edition is that of 1787, 32 vols. 8vo.*
MARNIX (Philip de), seigneur du Mont, sainte Alde-
gonde, by which last name he is recorded by some bio-
graphers, was born in 1538, at Brussels, of noble parents,
who were originally of Savoy. He was Calvin's disciple at
Geneva, and appointed ecclesiastical counsellor to Charles
Louis, elector palatine; but William, prince of Orange,
invited him back again some time after, and employed him
usefully in affairs of the utmost importance. Sainte Aide-
gonde was afterwards consul at Antwerp, which city he
defended against the duke of Parma, in 1584, and died at
Leyden, December 15, 1598, aged sixty, while he was em-
ployed in a Flemish version of the Bible. He left " Con-
troversial Theses," Antwerp, 1580, 8vo ; " Circular Epis-
tles to the Protestants ;" *' Apologies;" a " Portrait of dif-
ferent Religions," in which he ridicules the church of
Rome, Leyden, 1603, and 1605, 2 vols. 8vo ; and other
works. Sainte Aldegonde drew up the form of the cele-
brated confederacy, by which several lords of the Nether-
lands engaged to oppose the odious tribunal of the inquisi-
tion, in 1566.f /
MAROLLES (Michel de), an industrious French trans-
lator, was born in 1600. He was the son of Claude de
1 Life aa above.—- Diet. Hist. — Biograpbie Moderne.
S Gen. Diet, in art. Aldegonde.— Moreri.
MAROLLES. 337
Marolles, a military hero, but entered early into the ec-
clesiastical state, and by the interest «f his father, obtained
uyo abbeys. He early conceived an extreme ardour for
study, which never abated ; for from 1610, when he pub-
lished a translation of Lucan, to 1681, the year of his
death, he was constantly employed in writing and printing.
He attached himself, unfortunately, to the translating of
ancient Latin writers; but, being devoid of all classical
.taste and spirit, they sunk miserably under his hands, and
especially the poets. If, however, he was not the most
elegant, or even the most faithful of translators, he. ap-
pears to, have been a man of considerable learning, and
discovered all his life a love for the arts. He was one of
the first who paid any attention to the collection of prints,
and formed a series amounting to about an hundred thou-
sand, which made afterwards one of the ornaments of
the king's cabinet. There are by him translations of
" Plautus," "Terence," "Lucretius," "Catullus," "Vir-
gil," "Horace,'' V Juvenal," " Persius," "Martial" (at
the head of which Menage wrote " Epigrammeg- contre
Martial"); also "Statius," "Aurelius Victor," "Ammianus
Marcellinus," " AthenaBus," &c He composed " Me-
moirs of bis own Life," which were published by the abb6
Goujet, in 1775, in 3 vols. 12mo. They contain, like
such publications in general, some interesting facts, but
many more which are trifling. His poetry was never much
esteemed. He said once to Liniere, " My verses cost me
very little," meaning little trouble. " They cost you quite
as much as they are worth," replied Liniere.1
MAROT (John), a French poet, was born near Caen,
in Normandy, in 1463, with a strong inclination to the
belles lettres and poetry, which he happily cultivated, al-
though his education was* much neglected. He was but in
low circumstances, when his abilities and good behaviour
recommended him to Anne of Bretagne, afterwards queen
of France; a princess who greatly encouraged and patro-
nized letters. She shewed a particular regard to Marot,
by making him her poet ; and by commanding him to at-
tend Louis XII. to Genoa and Venice, that he might draw
up a relation of those travels. He was afterwards in the
service of Francis I. and died in 1523. He was a tolerable
poet, but infinitely exceeded by his son Clement. His
1 Niceron, vol. XXXIII.— Moreri.—Biog, Gall ica,— Diet. Hist.
Vol. XXI. Z
338 M A R O T.
poems are to be found iu the later editions of the works of
Clement Marot.1
MAROT (Clement), son of the preceding, was born
at Cahors, in Querrf, about 1496. In his youth he was
page to seigneur Nicholas de Neusville, secretary of state ;
and afterwards to princess Margaret, the king's sister,
and the duke of Alen$on's wife. He followed the duke to
the army in 1521, and was wounded and taken prisoner at
the battle of Pavia. While Francis I. was Charles the Fifth's
prisoner in Spain, Marot was imprisoned at the instigation
of Dr. Bouchard, who accused him of being a protestant ;
but in an epistle to that doctor, he assured him that be
was orthodox, and a very good catholic. After his release
he retired to his old mistress, the duchess of Aiengon, who
was then become queen of Navarre, by her marriage with
John d'Albret. In 1536 he obtained leave of Francis I. to
return j but, being suspected for a follower of the new opi-
nions, he was obliged to make his escape to Geneva, where,
whatever his religious principles might be, his moral con-
duct was highly exceptionable. After remaining here some
years, he went into Piedmont, where he died at Turin, in
1544,' in his forty-ninth year; and as some say, very poor.
Marot, according to an expression of the sieur de.Vau-
privas, was the poet of the princes, and the prince of poets,
during his time in France. It is agreed on all hands, not
only that the French poetry had never before appeared
with the charms and beauties with which he adorned it, but
that, even during the sixteenth century, there appeared
nothing that' .could be compared with. the happy turn, the
native graces, and the wit, that was every-where scattered
through his works, and which compose wbat is called the
Marotic style. This has had many imitators, particularly La
Fontaine and Rousseau. We find, by the judgments which
have been collected upon Marot, that the French poets
are obliged to him for the rondeau ; and that to him they
likewise owe, in seme measure, the modern form of the
sonnet and madrigal, and of some other of the smaller
forms of poetry. His works, however, are highly censure-
able on the score of indecency: The wonder is, that, with
such libertine propensities, he should employ his genius
on a translation of the Psalms. Of these he first trans-
lated thirty, which he. obtained a privilege to publish,
1 Niceron, vol. XVI. — MbreNt
. M A R Q T. - 339
•bout 1540, and dedicated them to Francis I. His trans-
lation was censured by the faculty of divinity at Paris, who
carried matters so far as to make remonstrances and com-
plaints to that monarch. The king, who had a great value
for Marot on account of his genius, put them off with de-
lays, testifying how acceptable this specimen was to him,
and desiring to see the whole finished. However, after
several remonstrances had been made to the king, the pub-
lication of them was prohibited ; which, as usually happens
in such cases, made them sell faster than the printers could
work them off. After he had retired to Geneva, he translated
twenty more Psalms, which in 1543 were printed there
with the other thirty;, together with a preface written by
Calvin. Marot's works have been collected and printed
several times, and in various beautiful forms. Two of the
best editions are those of the Hague, 1700, 2 vols. 12mo;
and 1731, 4 vols. 4to.!
MARSAIS (C^sar Chesneau du), a French gramma-
rian of high reputation, was born at Marseilles, July 17,
1676, and entered into the congregation of the oratory,
but disgusted at the too great confinement of that institu-
tion, soon quitted it, and went to Paris. There he mar-
ried in 1704, and practised for a time with some success
as an advocate. Ere long, however, we find him quitting
that profession, as not continuing to be advantageous, and
separated from his wife, on finding her temper intolerable.
He then undertook the care of educating pupils in several
great families; among others, that of the president des Mai-
sons, of the Scottish adventurer Law, and the marquis de
Beau Fremont. Some of these pupils did great honour to
his, care of their principles and learning. Still he was not
fortunate enough to obtain any permanent provision ; and
undertook a kind of academy, which did not succeed; and
he was for a considerable time reduced to go about giving
lessons at private houses, and subsisting in a very straitened
and precarious manner. At length, the persons who con*
ducted the Encyclopedia, engaged him to bear a part in
that great work, to which the articles on the subject of
grammar, furnished by him, proved a most important ac-
cession.. They are distinguished by a sound and luminous
philosophy, an extent of learning by no means common,
great precision in the rules, and no less accuracy in the
application of them.
1 Niceron, vol. XVI. — Gen. Diet— Moreri.
Z 2
3*a MAR8AIS,
He had now struggled for the chief part of his life with
adverse circumstances; when the count de Lauragais,
struck with his merit, and affected by his situation, settled
upon him an annuity of a thousand livres. He died June
II, 1756, at the age of eighty* Du Marsais had been
considered during his life as sceptical, but is said to have
returned to a tense of religion before his death. Several
anecdotes were circulated respecting his indifference to
religion, which materially injured his fortune. It was even
said, that being called upon to educate three brothers in a
great family, he asked the parents in what religion they
would have them brought up ? A story of little probability,
but which passed sufficiently current to injure him in the
minds of many respectable persons. His disposition was
mild and equal, his understanding clear and precise ; and
his manners had a kind of simplicity which occasioned him
to be called the Fontaine of philosophers. Fontenelle said
of him, " C'est le nigaud le plus spiritual, & l'homme
d'esprit le plus nigaud que je connoisse," that is, " He is
for a simpleton" the most ingenious, and for a man of ge-
nius the most of a simpleton of any one I know." As his
own character was so natural, so also was he an ardent ad-
mirer of nature, and an enemy to all affectation ; and his
precepts are said to have had great effect in teaching the
celebrated actress le Couvreur, that simple and natural
style of declamation which made her performance so pa-
thetic, and raised, her reputation to so great a height.
The principal works of du Marsais are, 1. " An Expla-
nation of the Doctrine of the Gallican church, with respect
to the pretensions of the court of Rome," 1 2mo. This
esteemed work was undertaken by the desire of the presi-
dent des Maisons, and was not published till after the death
of the author. 2. " Explanation of a reasonable Method
of learning the Latin language," 1722, 12mo. This work,
which was most highly commended by d'Alembert and
others, was long very scarce, even in France. 3. " A
treatise on Tropes," 1730, 8vo, and 1731, 12mo; a tract
much and justly admired for its original conceptions and
logical precision. 4. " Les veritables Principes de la
Grammaire," &c. 1729, 4to ; only the preface to an in-
tended Latin grammar. 5. " The Abridgment of Father
Jouvenci's Mythology ," disposed according to his method,
1731, 12mo. 6. "Logic," or reflections on the opera-
tions of the mind ; a very short work, in which is 90m-
M A R S A I S. $41
*
pressed almost the whole art of reasoning. It was re-
printed at Paris, in 1762, in 12 mo, with the articles which
he furnished for the Encyclppedia. At length, his whole
irorks were collected by Duchoaal and Millon, and pub-
lished at Paris, 1797, 7 vols. 8vo. In 1804 the institute
of France proposed his eloge as a prize essay, and the
prize was gained by Degerando, who published it in 1805.
That prefixed to his works was by D'Alembert, with whoip,
as well as with Voltaire, he was at one time too much con-
nected for his reputation. *
MARSH (Narcissus), an exemplary Irish prelate, was
descended from a Saxon family, formerly seated in Kent,
whence his great-grandfather removed ; and was bprn at
Hannington, in Wiltshire, Dec. 20, 1.638. He received
the first rudiments of learning in bis native place ; and
being there well fitted for the university, wps admitted of
Magdalen-hall, in Oxford, in 1654. He became B. A, <in
1657,masterin 1 6 60, bachelor of divinity in 1667, and doctor
in 1671. In the mean time he was made fellow of Exeter-
college, in 1658; afterwards chaplain to Dr. Seth Ward,
bishop of Exeter, and then to chancellor Hyde, earl of
Clarendon. In 1673, he was appointed principal of
Alban-hall, Oxford, by the duke of Ormond, chancellor
of that university ; and executed the duties of his office
with such zeal and judgment, that, according to Wood*
" he made it flourish more than it had done many years
before, or hath since his departure." In 1678 he was re-
moved by the interest of Dr. John Fell, together with that
of the duke of Ormond, then lord-lieutenant of Ireland,
to the dignity of provost of Dublin-college. He was
promoted to the bishopric of Leighlin and Ferns in 1633,
translated to the archbishopric of Cashell in 1690, thence
to Dublin in 1699, and then to Armagh in 1703. After
haying lived with honour and reputation to himself, and
benefit to mankind in general, he died Nov. 2, 1713, aged
seventy- five, and was buried in a vault in St. Patrick's
church-yard.
Dr. Marsh appears to have employed the greater part of
his life and income in acts of benevolence and utility.
While he presided over the see of Dublin, he built a noble
library, and filled it with a choice collection of books;
having for that purpose bought the library of Dr. Stilling*
1 Diet* Hilt— Bioj. Uuiversellt hi Dumartaii**— Moreri.
542 "M A RSR.
fleet, late bishop of Worcester,* to which he added his owft.
collection ; and to make it the more useful to the public,
he settled a handsome provision on a librarian and sub-
librarian, to attend it at certain hours. This prelate also
endowed an alms-house at Drogheda, for the reception of
twelve poor clergymen's widows, to each of whom he as-
signed a lodging, and 20/. per* annum. He likewise re-
paired, at his own expence, many decayed churches within
his diocese, and bought-in several impropriations, which
he restored to the church. Nor did he confine his good
actions to Ireland only ; for he gave a great number of
manuscripts in the oriental languages, chiefly purchased
out of Golius's collection, to the Bodleian library. He
was a very learned and accomplished man. Besides sacred
and .profane literature, he had applied - himself to mathe-
matics and natural philosophy : he was deep in the know-
ledge of languages, especially the oriental ; he was also
skilled in music, the theory as well as the practice ; and
he frequently, in the earlier part of his life, had concerts
of vocal and instrumental music for his own amusement,
both at Exeter-college and Alban-hali. Dean Swift must
have been under the influence of the most virulent spleen,
when be wrote of such a man as Dr. Marsh, the gross cari-
cature published in his works. As an antidote, we would
recommend a letter from this excellent prelate, published
in " Letters written by eminent persons," &c. 1813, 3
V0I9. 8vo.
The few things he published were, 1. " Manuductio ad
Logicam," written by Philip de Trieu : to which he added
the Greek text of Aristotle, and some tables and schemes.
With it he printed Gassendus's small tract " De demon-
stratione," and illustrated with notes, Oxon. 1678. 2.
" Institutiones logicce, in usum juventutis academics,
Dublin, 1681." 3. " An introductory essay to the doc-
trine of sounds, containing some proposals for the improve-
ment of acoustics." Presented to the royal society in
Dublin, March 12, 1683, and published in the Philoso-
phical Transactions of the royal society of London. 4. ** A
Charge to his clergy of the diocese of Dublin, 169*, 4to.*
MARSHAL (Andrew), a late eminent anatomist and
physician, was born in Fifeshire, in 1742, at Park-hill, a
large farm on the side of the Tay, neat* Newburgh, held
1 J Biog. Brit.— Ware's Ireland, by Harris, '
MARSHAL. 343
l>y his father, Mr. John Marshal, of the earl of Rothes.
His father bad received a classical education himself; and
being desirous that his son should enjoy a similar advan-
tage, sent him first to the grammar-school at Newburgb,
and afterwards to that of Abernetby, then the most cele-
brated place of education among the Seceders, of which
religious sect he was a most zealous member. Here he
was regarded as a quick and apt scholar. From his child-
hood he had taken great delight in rural scenery. One
day, while under the influence of feelings of this kind,
being then about fourteen years old, he told his father that
he wished to leave school, and be a farmer, but he soon
shewed that it had not arisen from any fondness for ordi-
nary country labours. In the following harvest-time, for
instance, having been appointed to follow the reapers, and
bind up the cut corn into sheaves, he would frequently lay
himself down in some shady part of the field, and taking
a book from his pocket, begin to read, utterly forgetful of
his task. About two years after, however, he resumed his
{studies, with the intention of becoming a minister; and
soon after, be was admitted a student of philosophy at
Abernethy; and next became a student of divinity, In
his nineteenth year he went to Glasgow, and divided his
time between teaching a school, and attending lectures in
the university. The branches of learning which he chiefly
cultivated were Greek and morals. At the* end of two
years passed in this way, he became (through the interest
of the celebrated Dr. Reid, to whom his talents and dili-
gence had recommended him), tutor in a gentleman's fa-
mily, of the. name of Campbell, in the Island of Islay.
He remained here four years, and removed to the univer-
sity of Edinburgh, with Mr. Campbell's son, whom the
following year he carried back to his father. Having
surrendered his charge, he returned to Edinburgh, where
he subsisted himself by reading Greek and Latin privately
with students of the university ; in the mean time taking
no recreation, but giving up all his leisure to the acqui-
sition of knowledge. He still considered himself a student
of divinity, in which capacity he delivered two discourses
in the divinity-hall ; and from motives of curiosity began in
1769 to attend lectures on medicine. While thus em-
ployed, be was chosen a member of the Speculative society,
where, in the beginning, of 1772, he became acquainted
with lord Balgonie, who was so much pleased with the dig-
ZU . MARSHAL.
play which he made of genius and learning id that society,
that he requested they should read together; and in the
autumn of the following year made a proposal for their
going to the Continent, which was readily accepted.
They travelled slowly through Flanders to Paris, where
they stayed a month, and then proceeded to Tours, where
they resided eight months, in the house of a man of letters,
under whose tuition they strove to acquire a correct know-
ledge of the French, language and government They be-
came acquainted here with several persons of rank, among
Whom were a prince of Rohan, and the dukes of Choiseul
and Aguiloti, at whose seats in the neighbourhood they
were sometimes received as guests. An acquaintance with
such people would make Marshal feel pain on account of
his want of external accomplishments ; and this, probably,
was the reason of his labouring' to learn to dance and to
fence while he was at Tours, though he was then more
than thirty years old. He returned to England in the
summer of 1774 ; and proceeded soon after to Edinburgh,
where he resumed the employment of reading Latin and
Greek with young men. Hitherto he seems to have formed
no settled plan of life, but to have bounded his views
almost entirely to the acquisition of knowledge, and a pre-
sent subsistence. His friends, however, had tyeen induced
to hope that he would at some time be advanced to a profes-
sor's chair ; and it is possible that he entertained the sam£
hope himself. In the spring of 1775, this hope appeared
to be, strengthened by his being requested by Mr. Stewart^
the professor of humanity at Edinburgh, to officiate for
him, as he was then unwell : Marshal complied, but soon
after appears to have given up all hopes of a professorship,
and studied medicine with a determination to practise it.
In the spring of 1777, he was enabled by the assistance of
a friend, Mr. John Campbell of Edinburgh, to come to
London for professional improvement; and studied ana-
tomy under Dr. W. Hunter, and surgery under Mr. J.
Hunter. After he had been here a twelvemonth, he was
appointed surgeon to the 83rd, or Glasgow regiment,
through the interest of the earl of Leven, the father of his
late pupil, lord Balgonie. The first year after was passed
with his regiment, in Scotland. In the following he ac-
companied it to Jersey, where be remained with it almost
constantly till the conclusion of the war in the beginning
of 1783, when it was disbanded. In this situation he
MARSHAL. 345
*
tenjoyed, almost for the first time, the pleasures best suited,
to a man of independent mind. His income was more than
sufficient. for his support; his industry and knowledge ren-
dered him useful ; and Jiis character for integrity and ho-
nour procured him general esteem. From Jersey he came
to London, seeking for a settlement, and was advised by
Dr. D. Pitcairn (with whom he had formed a friendship
while a student at Glasgow) to practise surgery here,
though he had taken the degree of doctor of physic the
preceding year at Edinburgh ; and to teach anatomy at St.
^Bartholomew's hospital, it being at the same time pro-
?osed, that the physicians to that hospital (of whom Dr.
itcairn was one) should lecture on other branches of me-
dical learning. He took a house, in consequence, in the
neighbourhood of the hospital ; and proceeded to prepare
for the execution of his part of the scheme. This proving
abortive, he began to teach anatomy, the following year,
at his own house ; and at length succeeded in procuring
annually a considerable number of pupils, attracted to him
solely by the reputation of his being a most diligent and
able teacher. In 1788 he quitted the practice of surgery,
and commenced that of medicine, having previously be-
come a member of the London college of physicians. In
the ensuing year a dispute arose between John Hunter
and him, which it is proper to relate, as it had influence
on his after-life. When Marshal returned to London, he
renewed his acquaintance with Mr. Hunter, who thought
so well of him, that he requested his attendance at a com-
mittee of his friends, to whose correction he submitted his
work on the venereal disease, before it Was published. He
became also a member of a small society, instituted by Dr.
Fordyce and Mr. Hunter, for the improvement of medical
and surgical knowledge. Having mentioned at a meeting
of this society, that, in the dissection of those who had
died insane, he had always found marks of disease in the
head, Mr. Hunter denied the truth of this in very coarse
language. The other members interfering, Mr. Hunter
agreed to say, that his expressions did not refer to Dr.
Marshal's veracity, but to the accuracy of his observation*
Marsha), not being satisfied with this declaration, at the
next meeting of the society demanded an ample apology ;
but Mr. Hunter, instead of making one, repeated the offen-
sive expressions; op which Marshal poured some water
oter his head out of a bottle which had stood near them.
546 MARSHAL.
A scuffle ensued, which was immediately stopped by the
other members, and no father personal contention between*
, them ever occurred. But Marshal, conceiving that their
common friends in the society had, from the superior rank
of Mr. Uunter, favoured him more in this matter than jus-
tice permitted, soon after estranged himself from them.
He continued the teaching of anatomy till 1800, in which
year, during a tedious illness, the favourable termination
of which appeared doubtful to him, he resolved, rather
suddenly, to give it up. While he taught anatomy, almost
the whole of the fore-part of the day, during eight months
in the year, was spent by him in his dissecting and lecture
rooms. He had, therefore, but little time for seeing sick
persons, except at hpurs frequently inconvenient to them;
and was by this means prevented from enjoying much me-
dical practice ; but as soon as he had recovered his health,
after ceasing to lecture, his practice began to increase*
The following year it was so far increased as to render it
proper that he should keep a carriage. From this time to
within a few months of his death, an interval of twelve
years, his life flowed on in nearly an equable stream. He
had business enough in the way he conducted it to give
him employment during the greater part of the day; and
his professional profits were sufficient to enable him to live
in the manner he chose, and provide fur the wants of sick-
ness and old age. After having appeared somewhat feeble
for two or three years, he made known, for the first time,
in the beginning of last November, that he laboured under
a disease of bis bladder, though he must then have been
several years affected with it.k His ailment was incurable,
and scarcely admitted of palliation. For several months he
was almost constantly in great pain, which he bore man-
fully. At length, exhausted by his sufferings, be died on
the 2nd of April, 1813, at his house in BartlettV buildings,
Holborn, being then in the seventy-first year of bis age.
Agreeably to his own desire, his body was interred in the
church -yard of the parish of St. Pancras. His* fortune,
amounting to about 80001. was, for the most part, be-
queathed to sisters and nephews.
Though' Dr. Marshal's genius, with the assistance of
great industry, enabled him to attain a very consider-
able proficiency in many different parts of learning, it was
not equally well adapted for every purpose of a literary
M A'R S H A L. 347
man. It was better fitted to acquire than digest, to heap
tip than arrange/ to make a scholar than render its posses-
sor a philosopher; and hence he often appeared to less
advantage in conversation than other* persons of much in-
ferior possessions. The successful exertion of his talents
had given him a confidence in them, which otherwise would
have been justly regarded as presumptuous. At the age
of forty-one, with little previous knowledge of the subject,
he began to prepare for being a teacher of anatomy in
London, and, in the following year, actually gave a course
of lectures upon it. These lectures were not superficial :
they were, on the contrary, remarkable for minuteness of
description and copiousness of illustration. When he
could derive assistance from his other studies, as while
speaking of the uses of the bones and muscles, he was par-
ticularly full and instructive. In his lectures, however,
his want of a methodical mind would not unfrequently ap-
pear ; for he often seemed to be seeking for a thought
which was not readily to be found, and sometimes con-
fessed that what he said was not so clear, from want of
proper words, as he wished it to be. Though he began
thus late to cultivate anatomy, it was ever after a favourite
pursuit with him, particularly that part which relates to the
ascertaining the seats of diseases. He kept in his house,
for many years after ceasing to lecture, at no inconsider-
able expense, a person for the purpose of assisting him in
anatomical inquiries.
' He had probably never, without aid, conducted a pa-
tient through an acute and dangerous disorder, before he
was appointed surgeon to the Glasgow regiment, at which
time he was nearly thirty-six years of age, He must, there-
fore,, have less readily acquired the faculty of distinguish-
ing diseases as they occur in nature, than if he had entered
upon the exercise of medicine at an earlier period of life ;
and it was probably, in part, owing to this circumstance,
that, even in his later years, he was slower in the exami-
nation of the sick, and more distrustful of his opinion re-
specting their ailments, than many physicians of much
less talent and experience. A strong conscientiousness,
however, contributed greatly to the production of these
effects. That he might be the less liable to err, he took
upon the spot short notes of the states of his patients; these
formed the bases of entries which he afterwards made in
bis Case Book, an employment which for many years oc~
54S MARSHAL.
cupied nearly three hours every evening. His practice ill
the army is said to have been bold ; that it was successful,
is evident from a fact related in his inaugural dissertation,
but modestly ascribed by him to the excellent regulations
established by bis colonel, that, in the regiment in which
he served, consisting of about 1000 men, and, from being
hastily formed, containing more than the usual proportion
of persons unfit for a military life, only sixteen died of
disease in the course of nearly four years, and of these,
four were not under the management of their own officers
at the time of their decease. In London, from having
patients to operate upon for the most part originally less
strong than soldiers, and afterwards rendered still weaker
by long residence in impure air, his mode of treating dis-
eases was necessarily different, and during the last eight
years of his life, it was somewhat too inert.
Dr. Marshal's many amiable qualities placed him high
in the estimation of those who knew him well ; but unfor-
tunately the alloy mixed with them way considerable. His
temper was extremely irritable ; and, when be had once
taken offence, he seldom returned to his former state with
respect to the person who Jiad given it, if an equal or su-
perior, though he might afterwards discover that his re-
sentment was without sufficient cause. He seemed to be
afraid, in this case, that a confession of error would be
attributed to some base motive : for when he found that
he bad taken offence improperly with persons beneath him,
with his servants for instance, he was very ready to avow
bis fault, and atone for it He was, besides, of a melan-
choly disposition ; and, < like other men of this tempera-
ment, frequently believed, that persons of the most ho-
nourable conduct were conspiring to betray and to ruin him.
From the nature of his early pursuits, these parts of his
character seem not to have exhibited themselves very
strongly before he returned to London in 1783 ; but when
he came to mix and jostle in this great city with a crowd
of persons intent on their own concerns, and little regard-
ful of those of others, when he found himself neglected by
some on whom he fancied he had claims for assistance, and
experienced unexpected opposition from others, tbey be-
came very conspicuous, and often rendered him miserable*
The causes of irritation, indeed, ceased in a great mea-
sure with his lecturing, and, the remainder of his life was
passed with comparative tranquillity; but he was now
MARSHAL. 34*
almost without a friend to whom he could freely communi-
cate his. thoughts, and, from long disuse, with little relish
or fitness for the pleasures of society. In this desolate state
his chief amusement consisted in reading the ancient clas-
sics, after he had closed his professional labours for the
day. He generally carried one of these to bed, and read
it there till he composed himself for sleep. The Greek
authors were more frequently used by him in this way than
the Latin; and of the former, Plato more frequently than
any other.
It is not known that he ever published any literary works
besides an " Essay on Composition," when at Edinburgh ;
an " Essay on Ambition," written also very early in life ; a
translation of the three first books of Simson's " Conic Sec-
tions," apparently undertaken at the suggestion of a book-
seller ; and a treatise on the " Preservation of the Health
of Soldiers." He had, indeed, meditated a variety of
•ther publications, principally on physiology and patho-
logy ; but, hiving pursued a subject with great keenness
till be had gained what he wanted, he could not bring him-
self to be at the trouble of preparing for the eye of the
world what he had acquired, more especially as new objects
of research presented themselves in quick succession. A
paper upon Hernia, illustrated by drawings taken nearly
20 years ago, and another upon the appearances of the
brain in mania, drawn up from dissections made more thau
20 years ago, were left in a state fit for publication; and
the latter has just been published under the title of " The
Morbid Anatomy of the Brain, in Mania and Hydrophobia,"
by Mr. Sawrey, formerly assistant-lecturer to Dr. Marshal.
To this volume, in 8vo, is prefixed a life of Dr. Marshal,
/rom which the above particulars are taken, but to which
we may refer as containing many more of considerable in-
terest.1
MARSHALL (Nathanael), a celebrated preacher at
the beginning of the last century, was of Emanuel college,
Cambridge, where he took his degree of D. D. in 1717.
He was . lecturer at Aldermanbury church, and curate of
Kentish-town, in Jan; 1715, when, at the recommendation
of the princess of Wales, who was pleased with his man-
ner of preaching, he was appointed one of the king's chap-
* Life at above, the tubstance of which was origioally published in the Gent,
Mag>. vol. LXXXIfl.
350 MARSHALL.
lains ; in 1717, he was rector of the united parishes of St.
Vedast and St. Michael-le-Querne, London ; and, in Feb.
1731, rector of St. Vedast, lecturer of St. Lawrence Jewry,
and St. Martin Ironmonger-lane, prebendary of Windsor,
and king's chaplain. These dates and preferments are
collected from his title-pages. He died Feb. 4, 1729. His
principal publications are, " The genuine Works of St.
Cyprian," 1717, folio; " A Defence of our Constitution in
Church and State," &c. 1717, 3vo, (on which Dr. Sykes
published some " Remarks ;" and which was also replied to
by Matt. Earbury in a tract added to his " Serious Admo-
nition to Dr. Kennett." Dr. Marshall's " Sermons on se-
veral occasions" appeared in 1730, 3 vols. 8vo, to which
another was added in 1750. These were posthumous, and
inscribed to queen Caroline by the author's widow, who
was left with eight children, the eldest of whom was
preacher at St. John's chapel, Bedford-row* which he
opened Feb* 10, 1722. He died Aug. 23, 1731. Bishop
Clayton, in his " Letters to his Nephew," recommends
Dr. Marshall's Sermons, as preferable to Sherlock's and
Atterbury's for pathos, and for lively and warm applica-
tions. l
MARSHALL (Thomas), an English divine, was born
at Barkby in Leicestershire, about 1621, and educated
there in grammar learning, under the vicar of that town.
He was entered of Lincoln college, Oxford, in 1640 ; and,
about the same time, being a constant hearer of archbishop
Usher's sermons in All-hallows church in that university,
he conceived such a high opinion of that prelate, as to wish
to make him the pattern of bis life. Soon after, Oxford
being garrisoned upon the breaking out of ttie civil wars, he
bore arms for the king at his own charge ; and therefore,
in 1645, when he was a candidate for the degree of bache-
lor of arts, he was admitted to it without paying fees.
Upon the approach, of the parliamentary visitors, who
usurped the whole power of the university, he went abroad,
and became preacher to the company of English merchants
at Rotterdaih and Dort. In 1661, he was created bachelor
of divinity; and, in 1668, chosen fellow of his college,
without his solicitation pr knowledge. In 1669, while be
was at Dort in Holland/-he was made doctor of divinity at
Oxford; and, in 1672, elected rector of his college, in
1 Nichols's Bowyer. — Cole's MS Athene in Brie. Mus.
MARSHALL. 351
the room of Dr. Crew, promoted to the bishopric of Ox-
ford. He was afterwards appointed chaplain in ordinary
to his majesty, rector of Bladon near Woodstock in Ox-
fordshire, in May 1680, and was installed dean of Glou-
cester on April 30, 1681. He resigned Bladon in the year
1682. He died at Lincoln-college in 1685. By his will
he gave to the public library at Oxford all such of his
books, whether manuscript or printed, as were not then
it) the library, excepting such only as he had not other-
wise disposed of, and the remaining part to Lincoln-college
library ; in which college also he fitted up the common.
room, and built the garden -wall.
He produced some writings; as, 1. u Observationes in
Evangeliorum versiones perantiquas duas, Gothicas scilicet
& Anglo- Saxonicas," &c. Dordrecht, 1665. 2. " The Ca-
techism set forth in the book of Common Prayer, briefly
explained by short notes, grounded upon Holy Scripture,'"
Oxf. 1679. These short notes were drawn up by him at
the desire of Dr. John Fell, bishop of Oxford, to be used
by the ministers of his diocese in catechising their children.
3. " An Epistle for the English reader, prefixed to Dr.
Thomas Hyde's, translation into the Malayan language of
the four Gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles," Oxf. 1677,
>. He took a great deal of pains in completing " The Life
of Archbishop 'Usher," published by Dr. Richard Parr,
sometime fellow of Exeter college, Lond. 1686. Wood
tells us, " that he was a person very well versed in books,
a noted critic, especially in the Gothic and English-Saxon
tongues, a painful preacher, a good man and governor,
and one every way worthy of his station in the church ;
and that he was always taken to be an honest and conscien-
tious puritan." Dr. Hickes, in " The Life of Mr. John
Kettlewell," p. 3, styles him " a very eminent person in
the learned world ; and observes, that what he has pub-
lished shewed him to be a great man." Dr. Thomas Smith
styles him also a most excellent man, " vir prastantissi-
rnus," and adds, that he was extremely; well skilled in the
Saxon, and in the Eastern tongues, especially the Coptic ;
and eminent for his strict piety, profound learning, and
other valuable qualifications.1
MARSHAM (Sir John), a very learned English writer,
was the second son of Thom&s Marsham, esq. alderman of
1 A«h. Ox. vol. If.— Geo. Diet.— Bicg. Brit, vol. VI. p. 4076, note N. N.
352 M A R S H A M.
London, and born in the parish of St. Bartholomew's, Aug.
23, 1602. He was brought up at Westminster school, and
sent thence, in 1619, to St. John's college in Oxford, where
betook, in due time, bis degrees in arts. In 1625, he
went to France, and spent the winter at Paris; in 1626
and 1627, he visited most parts of that kingdom, and of
Italy, and some parts of Germany, and then returned to
London. In 1629, he went through Holland and Guelder-
land, to the siege of Boisleduc ; and thence by Flushing to
Boulogne and Paris, in the retinue of sir Thomas Ed-
mondes, ambassador extraordinary, who was sent to take
the oath of Louis XIII. to the peace' newly concluded be-
tween England and France. During his residence in Lon-
don, he studied the law in the Middle Temple ; and, in
1638, was sworn one of the six clerks in chancery. Upon
the breaking out of the civil wars, be followed the king and
the great seal to Oxford; for which he was deprived of
his place by the parliamentarians, and suffered a vast loss
by the plundering of bis estate. After the surrender of
the garrison at Oxford, and the ruin of the king's affairs,
he returned to London ; and, having compounded for his
estate, he betook himself wholly to retirement and study.
In the beginning of 1660, he served as a burgess for the
city of Rochester,- in the parliament which recalled Charles
the Second ; about which time, being restored to his place
in chancery, he had the honour of knighthood conferred
upon him, and three years after was created a baronet.
He died at Bushy-hall in Hertfordshire, in May 1685 ; and
his body was interred at Cuckstone near Rochester, where
he had an estate. By Elizabeth his wife, daughter, of sir
William Hammond of St. Alban's, in East Kent, he left
two sons ; sir John Marsham, of Cuckstone, bart. and sir
Robert Marsham, of Bushy-hall, knt. both of them studious
and learned men, and the ancestors of the Romney family.
Sir John Marsham was a very accomplished gentleman,
and had acquired a critical knowledge of history, chrono-
logy, and languages. He published in 1649, 4to, " Dia-
triba chronologica ;" in which he examines succinctly the
principal difficulties which occur in the chronology of the
Old Testament* The greatest part of this was afterwards
inserted in another work, entitled " Canon chronicus,
jEgyptiacus, Ebraicus, Graecus, & disquisition es," Lond.
1672, folio. The principal object of this is to reconcile
MARSHAM. 353
»
the Egyptian dynasties. The Egyptians, as is well known,
pretended to excessive antiquity, and had framed a list of
thirty successive dynasties, which amounted to a number
of years (36,525) greatly exceeding the age of the world.
These were rejected as fabulous by some of the ablest chro-
nologers ; but sir John Marsham first conjectured that
these dynasties were not successive, but collateral ; and
therefore without rejecting any, be endeavoured to recon-
cile the entire series in this manner, to the scripture chro-
nology. The attempt, which was highly ingenious, gained
him great reputation, and many contemporary as well as
succeeding authors, have been liberal in their praises. Mr.
Wotton represents him as the first " who has made the
Egyptian antiquities intelligible : that most learned gentle*
man," says he, " has reduced the wild heap of Egyptian
dynasties into as narrow a compass as the history of Moses
according to the Hebrew account, by the help of a table
of the Theban kings, which he found under Eratosthenes's
name in the Chronography of Syncellus. For, by that ta-
ble, he, I. Distinguished the fabulous and mystical part of
the Egyptian history, from that which seems to look like
matter of fact. 2. He reduced the dynasties into colla-
teral families, reigning at the same time in several parts of
the country ; which, as some learned men saw before, was
the only way to make those antiquities consistent with
themselves, which, till then, were confused and incoherent."
Dr. ShU ck ford, after having represented the foundation of
sir John Marsham' s Canon with regard to Egypt, says that,
" upon these hints and observations, be has opened to us
a prospect of coming at an history of the succession of the
kings of Egypt, and that in a method so natural and easy,
that it must approve itself to any person who enters truly
into the design and conduct of it." Afterwards, having
given a view of sir John's scheme, from the beginning of
the reigns of the Egyptian kings down to his Sesostris, or
Sesac, be observes, that, "if the reader will take the
pains thoroughly to examine it, if he will take it in pieces
into all its parts, review the materials of which it is formed,
consider how they lie in the authors from whom they are
taken, and what manner of collecting and disposing them
is made use of, he will find that however in some lesser
points a variation from our very learned author may be de-
fensible, yet no tolerable scheme can be formed of the
Vol. XXI. A a
A
354 MARS HA TV*.
ancient Egyptian history, that is not in the main agreeing
with him. Sir John Marsham has led us to a clear and
natural place for the name of every Egyptian king, and
time of his reign," &c. But although sir John Marsham' s
system has been followed by some, it has been strenuously
opposed by other writers, who have represented it as not
only false, but even prejudicial to revelation.
The " Canon Chronicus" was reprinted at Leipsic, in
1676, in 4to, and at Franeker, 1696, in 4to, with a pre-
face before each edition, in which the editor, Menckenius,
endeavours to confute his author ; who thought, as Spen-
cer and others have done, that the Jews derived part of
their ceremonies from the Egyptians. The edition of
Leipsic pretends, in the title-page, to be much more cor-
rect than that of London, which is infinitely more beauti-
ful ; but its only merit is, that it is more correct than that
of Franeker. Sir John Marsham wrote the preface to the
first volume of Dugdale's " Monasticon Anglicanum,'*
which was printed at London, 1655, in folio. He left be-
hind him at his death unfinished, 1. " Canonis chronici
liber quintus : sive, Imperium Persicum." 2. " De pro-
vinciis & legionihus Romania." 3. " De re numeraria,"
&c. We are likewise in some measure obliged to him for
the "History of Philosophy," by his very learned n&- m
phew, Thomas Stanley ^ esq. which excellent work was un-
dertaken chiefly at his instigation, as we are told by Mr.*
Stanley himself, in the dedication of it, " to his honoured
uncle sir John Marsham."1
MARSIGLI (Lewis Ferdinand), an Italian, famous for
letters as well as arms, was descended from an ancient and
noble family, and born at Bologna in 1658. He was edu-
cated with great care, and instructed in all the arts and
sciences by the best masters in Italy ; learning mathematics
of Borelli, anatomy of Malpighi, &c. He went to Con-
stantinople in 1679; and, as he had destined himself for
the military profession, he contrived to take a view of the
Ottoman forces, and made other observations of a like
nature. He examined at the same time, as a philosopher,
the Thracian Bosphorus, and its currents. He returned to.
Italy in 1680; and, the Turks soon after threatening an
* Gen. Diet. — Biog. Brit. — Ath. Ox. vol. II.— Wotton'g Reflections upon an-
cient and modern Learning, chap. IX. — Shuckford's Sacred and Profane HisU
vol. HI. Book 2.
MARSIGLX. 3*J
irruption into Hungary, he went to Vienna, to offer bis
service to the emperor Leopold II. which was readily ac-
cepted. Discovering great knowledge in fortifications and
in the science of war, be had. the pommand of a company
conferred on him, in 1683 ; and the same year, after
a very sharp action, fell unfortunately into the hands of
the Tartars. He was sold by them- to two Turks, with
whom he suffered great hardships ; but at length, convey-
ing intelligence of his situation to his friends, who bad
believed him dead, be was redeemed, and returned to
Bologna towards the latter end of 1684. He went again
into Germany, was employed by the emperor in several
military expeditions, and made a colonel in 1689. A re-
verse of fortune afterwards overtook him. In the general
war which broke out in 1701, on account of the Spanish
succession, the important fortress of Brisac surrendered to
the duke of Burgundy, Sept. 6, 1703, thirteen days after
the trenches were open : and it being judged that the
place was capable of holding out much longer, the conse-
quence was, that count d'Arco, who commanded, lost his
head ;' and Marsigli, who was then advanced to be a mar-
shal, was stripped of all his honours and commissions, and
had his sword broken over him. This sentence was exe-
cuted on Feb. 1 8 following.' He afterwards attempted to
justify the -surrender before the emperor; but, not being
able to get admittance, he published a memorial, the pur-
port of which was to shew, that long before the siege of
Brisac, it had been represented and proved, that the place
could not be defended for any long time. It was in fact
the general opinion that d'Arco and he had been sacrificed,
to exculpate the prince of Baden, who had posted a nu-
merous artillery in a bad situation, and with a very weak
garrison. When Marsigli went afterwards into France,
and appeared at court without a sword, the king presented
him with that which he himself wore, and assured him of
his favour.
Released now from public concerns, he returned to his
studies ; and it was his peculiar good fortune, that amidst
the hurry , and noise, and fatigue of war, he had made all
the- advantages which the most philosophic man could have
made, who had travelled purely in quest of knowledge;'
had determined the situation of places by astronomical
methods, measured the course and swiftness of rivers,
A 4 % .
356 M A R S I G LI
studied the fossils, the vegetables, the animals of each
country, made anatomical and chemical experiments, and
done, in short, every thing which a man of science could
do, and with such a fund of knowledge, knew how to fill
up his time in the most agreeable as well as honourable
manner. While at Marseilles, he was called by pope Cle-
ment XL in 1709, and invested with a military commission.
Returning soon after to Bologna, he began to execute a
design which he had long been meditating. He had a
rich collection of every thing that might contribute to the
advancement of natural knowledge : instruments proper
for astronomical and chemical experiments, plans for for-
tifications, models of machines, &c. &c. All these he
presented to the senate of Bologna, by an authentic act,
dated Jan. II, 1712; forming, at the same time, a body
out of them, which he called " The institute of the arts
and sciences at Bologna." He afterwards founded a print-
ing-house, and furnished it with the .best types for Latin,
Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic. He presented this to the
Dominicans at Bologna, in 1728, on condition that all the
writings5 of the " Institute, &c." should be printed there at
prime cost.* It was called "The printing-house of St.
Thomas of Aquinas."
Having executed these munificent designs, he returned
to Marseilles in 1728, for the sake of finishing some philo-
sophical observation^ upon the sea, which he had formerly
begqn there : but was interrupted by the stroke of an
apoplexy in 1729, which occasioned the physicians to send
him back to his native air, where he died Nov. I, 1730.
He was a member of the academy of sciences at Paris, of
the royal society at London, and of that of Montpelier.
IJis writings are numerous and valuable, in French, Italian,
and Latin, and upon philosophical subjects. The princi-
pal are, 1 . " Observations concerning the Thracian Bospho-
rus," Rome, 1681, 4to. 2. " Histoire Physique de la Mer,"
Amst. 1725, fol. 3. " Danubius Pannonico-roysicus," a
description of the Danube in its Hungarian and Turkish
course, 1726, 6 vols, atlas folio. It commences with geo-
graphical and hydrographical observations ; from thence it
proceeds to the history and antiquities of all the places
washed by its stream; to the mineralogy, zoology, and
botany of its borders, and concludes with meteorological
and physical remarks. He published also " A Dissertation
•n the Bologtiian Phosphorus " " Memoir concerning the
MARSIGLI. 357
Flowers of Coral ;" <c Dissertation an the Generation of
Fungi ;'■ " On Trajan's Bridge." l
MARSOLLIER (James), a French historian of some
credit, was born at Paris in 1647. He took the habit of a
canon regular of St. G6nevieve, and was sent to regulate the
chapter of Usez, where he was made provost. This office
he resigned in favour of the abbe* Poncet, who was after-
wards bishop of Angers. Some time after, he was made
archdeacon of Usez, and died in that city Aug. 30, 1724,
At the age of 78. Marsollier published several histories,
which are still read by his countrymen with some pleasure :
the style, though occasionally debased by low and familiar
expressions, being in general rather lively and flowing.
There are extant by him, 1. "A History of Cardinal Xi-
menes," in 1693, 2 vols. 12mo, and since frequently re-
printed. The only fault found with this work is, that the
author gives up his attention to the public man so much,
as almost to forget his private character. 2. " A History
of Henry VII. King of England;" reprinted in 1727, in
2 vols. 12 mo. Some consider this as the master- piece of
the author. 3. " The History of the Inquisition and its
origin," 1693, 12 mo. A curious work, and in some re-
spects a bold one. 4. " Life of St. Francis de Sales,'1 2
vols. 12 mo. 5. " The Life of Madame de Chantal," 2 vols,
12mo. 6. " The Life of Dom Ranc6, abbe* and reformer
of La Trappe," 1703, 2 vols. 12mo. Some objections have
been made to the veracity of this history, but the jour-
nalists de Trevoux seem disposed to prefer it upon the
whole to Maupeoii's life of Ranc6. 7. " Dialogues on
many Duties of Life," 1715, 12mo. This is rather ver-
bose than instructive, and is copied in a great degree from
Erasmus. 8. " The History of Henry de la Tour d'Au-
vergne, duke of Bouillon," 3 vols. 12 mo. Not much
esteemed. 9. " An Apology for Erasmus," 12mo; whose
catholic orthodoxy the author undertakes to prove from
passages* in his works. 10. "A History of Tenths, and
other temporal Goods of the Church," Paris, 1689, 12mo.
This is the most scarce, and at the same time the most
curious, of all the works of Marsollier.9
* MARSTON (John), an English dramatic author, who
lived in the time of James I. and wrote eight plays. Wood
« 1 Fabroni Vitae Italorum, vol. V. — Eloge by FonteneMe. — Moreri. — Niceron,
Vol. XXVI.j—Memoirs of Literature, vol*. VII. and tX. — Republic of Letters,
vols. IV. andX. 2 Niceron, vol. VII. — Diet. Hist. — Moreri.
11
99
358 MARSTON,
says, " that he was a student in Corpus-Christi college,
Oxford ; but where he was born, or from what family de-
scended, is not known." When he left Oxford, he was
entered of the Middle Temple, of which society he was
chosen lecturer in the 34th of Elizabeth; but much more
of his personal history is not known. He lived in friend-
ship with Ben Jonson, as appears by his addressing to him
his " Malecontent," a tragi-comedy, in 1604 ; yet we 6nd
him afterwards glancing with some severity at Jonson, on
account of. his " Catiline and Sejanus," in his " Epistle
prefixed to " Sophonisba," another tragedy. " Know,
says he, " that I have not laboured in this poem, to relate
any thing as an historian, but to enlarge every thing as &
poet. -To transcribe authors, quote authorities, and to
translate Latin prose orations into English blank verse,
hath in this subject been the least aim of my studies.9'
Langbaine observes, and with good reason, " that none,
who are acquainted with the works of Ben Jonson; can
doubt that he is meant here, if they will compare the ora-
tions in Sallust with those in his Cataline." Jonson appears
to have quarrelled with him and Decker, and is supposed
to have ridiculed both in his " Poetaster."
Marston contributed eight plays to the stage, which
were all acted at the Black-Friars with applause ; and one
of them, called '« The Dutch Courtezan," was once re-
vived since the restoration, under the title of " The Re-
venge, or a Match in Newgate." In 1633, six of this au-
thor's plays were collected, and published in one volume,
dedicated to the lady viscountess Falkland. Besides his
dramatic poetry, he wrote three books of satires, en-
titled, '« The Scourge of Villainy," which were printed at
London in 1599, and reprinted in 1764, by the rev. John
Bowie. We have no account when Marston died ; but be
was certainly living in 1 633. As a specimen of his poetry,
Mr. Dodsley has republished the " Malecontent," in his
Collection of Old English Plays, vol. IV. Marston was a
chaste and pure writer, avoiding all that obscenity, ribal-
dry, and scurrility which too many of the play wrighjts of
that time, and much more so in periods since, have made
the basis of tfyeir wit, to the great disgrace of the age. He
abhorred such writers, and their works, and pursued so
opposite a practice in his performances, that " whatsoever
even in the spring of his years, he presented upon the
M A R S T O N. 359
public and private theatre, in his autumn and declining
age he needed not be ashamed of."1
MARSY (Francis Maria de), a Latin poet, and mis-
cellaneous writer, was born at Paris, and entered early
into the society of Jesuits, where he displayed and culti-
vated very excellent literary talents. When he was hardly
twenty, he published some Latin poems which gained him
credit. His religious opinions being soon found too bold
for ihe society to which he belonged, he was obliged to
quit it ; and having published in 1754, an "Analysis of
Bayle," in 4 vols. 1 2 mo, he fell into still greater and per-
haps more merited disgrace. His books were proscribed
by the parliament of Paris, and himself shut up in the
Bastile. This book contaius a compilatipn of tfre most
offensive matter contained in the volumes of Bayle, and
has since been republished in Holland, with four additional
volumes. Having, for a time, regained his liberty, he
was proceeding in his modern history (a work of which he
had already published some volumes), when he died sud-
denly in December 1763. Besides the analysis of Bayle,
already mentioned, he published, 1. " The History of
Mary Stuart," 1742, 3 vols. 12 mo, a correct and elegant
work, in which be was assisted by Fr£ron. 2. " Memoires
de Melvill," translated from the English, 1745, 3 vols.
12mo. 3. "Abridged Dictionary of Painting and Archi-
tecture," 2 vols. 12mo. 4. " Le Rabelais moderne," or
the works of Rabelais made intelligible to readers in gene-
ral, 1752, 8 vols. 12mo. This is by no means executed
in a manner either satisfactory, to the reader, or creditable
to the author. Some of the obscurities are removed or
explained, but all that is offensive to decency is left.
5. "The Prince," translated frpm father Paul, 1751.
6. " The Modern History, intended to serve as a continu-
ation of Rollin's Ancient History," in 26 vols. 12mo.
This is written with regularity, but little elegance. The
abbe* Matsy has since had a continuator in Richer, who has
written with less order, but more profundity of research,
especially respecting America and Russia. 7. " Pictura,'*
in 12mo, 1756. This poem on painting, is considered as less
learned in the art, and in that respect lejss instructive, thaa
that of du Fresnoy ; but he has shown himself a more pure
and original Latin poet. There is also a poem in Latin by
% Langbaine. — Biog. Dram. — PhilHpi's Theatrum by sir £. Brydges.— D»IS.
gaeli's Quarrels, toI. III. — Gibber's Lircs.
860 M A R S Y.
this author, on tragedy. The opinion of his countrymen
is, that his fame rests principally on these Latin poems,
and that there was nothing brilliant in his literary career
afterwards.1
MARTEL (Francis), a French surgeon under Henry
IV*. in whose service he was employed about 1590, attended
that prince in the wars of Dauphiny, Savoy, Languedoc,
and Normandy; and at Mothe-Frielon saved his life by
bleeding him judiciously, in a fever brought on by fatigue.
In consequence of this, he gained the full confidence of
the king, and was made his chief surgeon. He was the
author of a work entitled " L'Apologie pour les Chirur-
giens, contre ceux qui publient qu'ils ne doivent se m£ler
de remettre les os rompus et d£mis." He wrote also,
" Paradoxes on the practice of Surgery," in which some
modern improvements are anticipated. His works are
printed, with the surgery of Philip de Flesselle, at Paris,
in 1635, 12mo.*
MARTELLI (Lewis), a Florentine poet, born about
1500, wrote verses serious and grotesque. The former
were published in 8vo, at Florence, in 1548; the latter
appear in the second volume of "Poesie Bernesche." He
was also a celebrated dramatic writer. He died in 1527,
when he was no more than twenty-eight years old. His
brother Vincent was also a poet, aud left some " Rime,"
or lyrics, which were much esteemed. He died in 1556,
£nd his poems and letters appeared in 1607.*
MARTELLI {Peter James), an eminent Italian poet,
was born at Bologna in 1665, and was educated at the
Jesuits' school, and at the university of his native city,
after which he devoted himself to the study of classical
literature, and having obtained the post of one of the
secretaries to the senate of Bologna, was enabled to follow
his studies without much interruption. After publishing a
serious poem, entitled " Gli Ocche di Gesu," The Eyes of
Jesus, he produced a tragedy called * La Morte di Nerone,"
which with several of his other pieces was acted with
great applause. In 1707 he was appointed professor of the
belles lettres in the university of Bologna, and soon after •
was mAde private secretary to Aldrovandi, who had been
nominated delegate to pope Clement XI. At Rome, where
he contracted an intimacy with many jpen of high literary
. * Necrotic poor an. 1768.— Diet. Hist * Eley, Diet. Hist de Medicine.
* Tiraboschi.— -Gioguene Hist Litt. D'Julie.
MARTELLI. 361
reputation, be published a whimsical dialogue, " Del
Volo," On Flying, in which he endeavoured to prove that
men and heavy bodies might be supported in the air, and
also wrote several discourses in verse concerning the art of
poetry. When he accompanied Aldrovandi, whp was ap-
pointed the pope's legate at tfce courts of France and
Spain, he wrote at Paris his opinions " On "ancient and
modern Tragedy," in the form of dialogues; and on his
return to Rome, he published his tragedies in three vo-
lumes, and was reckoned to have conferred a great benefit
on Italian literature, although his style is often too turgid
and florid for a model. He also began a poem " On the
Arrival of Charlemagne in Italy, and his Accession to the
Western Empire," which he. never finished. He died in
172.7, at the age of sixty-two, leaving the character of a
man of amiable manners and social qualities. His princi-
pal works, " Versi et Prose," were printed at Bologna in
1729, 7 vols. 8vo.!
MARTENNE (Edmund), a benedictine of the congre-
gation of St. Maur, was born in 1654, at St. Jean-de-
Losne, in the diocese of Langres. Among his brethren,
so highly famous for arduous efforts in literature, he was
distinguished for his very laborious researches, no less than
for his eminent virtues. The vast extent of his learning
did not interfere with the simplicity of his manners, any
more than his great attachment to study, with his attention
to monastic duties. He died of an apoplexy in 1739, at
the age of 85. His principal works are, 1. " A Latin
Commentary on the monastic rules of St. Benedict," a
work of curious research on that subject, Paris, 1690, 4to.
2. "Deantiquismonachorum ritibus," Lyons, 1690, 2 vols. .
4to. Many curious points of history, besides the concerns
of the Monks, are illustrated by these volumes. 3. A '
Latin treatise, " on the ancient Ecclesiastical Rites, and
on the Sacraments," Rheims, 1700 and 1701, 3 vols. 4to,
4. A Latin treatise on the Discipline of the Church. 5.
"Thesaurus anecdotorum novus," 1717, 5 vols, folio, a
valuable collection of ecclesiastical documents. 6. " Voy-
age Literaire de deux Benedictins," Paris, 1717, 4to.
7. " Veterum Scriptorum et Mohumentorum Ecclesiasti-
corum, et dogmaticorum, amplissima collectio," 1724, 9
vols, folio. In this he was assisted by Durand. All these
works are full of learned labour; but the author is content
1 Fabroni Vibe Italorum, vol V.
36S M A R T E N N E.
to amass, without giving much grace to the materials he
compiles^1
MARTENS, or MARTINUS (Thierry, or Theodore),
an eminent printer, was born at A lost, in Flanders, in 1454.
He began printing in 1473, and died in 1534. He is ce-
lebrated as the person who first introduced the art of
printing into the Netherlands ; having exercised this useful
and noble art nearly sixty years at Alost, Louvain, and
Antwerp. He was an author as well as a printer ; and
wrote Latin hymns in honour of the saints, a dialogue on
the virtues, and other pieces ; but he is more renowned for
the many beautiful editions of other men's works which issued
from his presses. He was highly esteemed by the learned
men of the period in which he lived, and enjoyed the
friendship of Erasmus, who lodged in his house. He em-
ployed the double anchor as a sigu of the books that were
printed at his office.8
MARTHE. See St. MARTHE.
MART1ALIS (Marcus Valerius), an ancient Latin
poet, and the model of epigrammatists, was born at Bilbi-
lis, now called Bubiera, a town of the ancient Celtiberia
in Spain, which is the kingdom of Arragon. He was born,
as is supposed, in the reign of Claudius, and went to
Home when he was about twenty-one. He was sent thi-
ther with a viev\ of prosecuting the law ; but soon forsook
that study, and applied himself to poetry. He excelled
so much in the epigrammatic style, that he soon acquired
reputation, and was courted by many of the first rank at
Home. Silius Italicus, Stella, and Pliny the younger,
were his friends and patrons. Stertinius, a noble Roman,
had so great an esteem for his compositions, that he placed
bis statue in his library, while he was yet living; and the
emperor Verus, who reigned with Antoninus the philoso-
pher, used to call him his Virgil, which was as high an
honour as could well be paid to him. We learn also from
Pliny and Tacitus, as well as from several passages in his
own writings, that he had honours and dignities bestowed
upon him by some of the emperors. Domitian, whom it
must be confessed he has flattered not a little, made him
a Roman knight, and gave him likewise the " Jus triutn.
liberorum," the privileges of a citizen who had three chil-
dren. He was also advanced to the tribunate. But though
he was so particularly honoured, aaid had so many great and
noble patrons, who admired him for his wit and poetry, it
l Moreri.— Dupin.— Diet Hist. * ftfarcband's Diet Hist,
MARTIALIS. 365
does not appear that he made his fortune among them.
There is reason to think that, after the death of Domitian,
his credit and interest declined at Rome; and if he had
still remaining among the nobles some patrons, such as
Pliny, Cornelius Priscus, &c. yet the emperor Nerva took
but little notice of him, and the emperor Trajan none at
all. Tired of Rome, therefore, aftejr he had lived in that
city about four and thirty years, and grown, as himself
tells us, grey-headed, he returned to his own country
Bilbilis, where he took a wife, and had the happiness to
live with her several years. He admired her much, as
one who alone was sufficient to supply the want of every
thing he enjoyed at Rome. She appears to have brought
him a very large fortune; for, in one of bis epigrams
he extols the magnificence of the house and gardens},
he had received from her, and says, " that she had made
him a little kind of monarch." About three years after he
bad retired into Spain, he inscribed his twelfth book of
Epigrams to Priscus, who had been his friend and bene-
factor; and is supposed to have died about the year 100.
As an epigrammatist, Martial is eminently distinguished,
and has been followed as a model by all succeeding wits.
All his efforts, however, are not equally successful, and
many of his epigrams are perhaps unjustly so called, being
merely thoughts or sentiments without applicable point.
He offends often by gross indelicacy, which was the vice
of the times ; but his style is in general excellent, and his
frequent allusion to persons and customs render his works
very interesting to classical antiquaries.
His works' were first printed at Venice^ as is supposed in
1470, then at Ferrara in 1471, Rome 1473, and Venice
1475. These are the most rare and valuable editions.
The more modern and useful are: thai of Aldus, 1501 ; by
Raderus, 1627, fol.;. by Scriverius, 1619, 12mo; the Vari-
orum of 1670; and the Bipont edition of 1784, 2 vols. 8vo.
A strange absurdity occurs in the Delphin edition, 1680,
4to, where all the indelicate epigrams are omitted in the
body of the work, but carefully collected at the end !
This has, however, been followed and perhaps exceeded
by Smids, in the Amsterdam edition of 1701, who, having
ornamented his edition with engravings, places the more
indelicate ones at the end of the volume. 1
1 CrosiasVi Latin poets. — Vossins.de Poet. Lat. — Dibdia's Classics and Bibl,
$peneeriana. — Saxii Onomasticon.
364 MARTIAL.
*
MARTIAL (D'auvergne), a French poet of the fif-
teenth century, was procurator in parliament, and notary
of the ch&telet at Paris, where also he was born ; and died
in 1508, regarded as one of the most pleasing men and
easy writers of his age. He wrote, 1. " Arrets 1' Amour,"
Love-causes, the thought of which was taken from the
Troubadours of Provence, but handled with great skill
and eloquence. The introduction and the close are in
verse ; the rest in prose. 2. *« Vigiles de lamort du Roi,"
an historical poem on the death of Charles VII.; in which,
in the form of the Romish office, entitled Vigils, he recites
the misfortunes and the glorious acts of his hero ; and
displays his honest love of virtue and hatred of vice. 3*
*' L'Amant rendu Cordelier de Inobservance d'Amour ;" a
noem of 234 stanzas, reviling the extravagances produced
*>y the passion of love. 4. " Devotes louanges a la Vierge
Marie," in 8vo, an historical poem on the life of the vir-
gin Mary ; a legend in bad verse, filled with the fables
which were at that time believed. l
MARTIANAY (John), a Benedictine monk, who dis-
tinguished himself by an edition of St. Jerome, was born
at St. Sever, a village in Gascony, in 1647. He entered
into the congregation of St. Maur at twenty years of age;
and applied himself to the study of the Latin, Greek, and
Hebrew languages. He read lectures upon the holy scrip-
tores in several monasteries, at Aries, at Avignon, at Bour-
deaux : in the last of which places he accidentally met
with father Pezron's book called " The antiquity of time
re-established ;" " L'Antiquit£ du temps fetablie." The
authority of the Hebrew text, and the chronology of the
Vulgate, being attacked in this work, Martianay resolved
to defend them in two or three pieces, published against
Pezron and Isaac Vossius, who maintained the Septuagint
version. This monk died of an apoplexy in 1717, after
having spent fifty years in a scrupulous observance of all
the duties belonging to his order, and in writing more than
twenty works, of which the most distinguished is his edi-
tion of the works of St. Jerome, in 5 vols, folio ; the first
of which .was published at Paris in 1693, the secbnd in
1699. In his notes on these two volumes he criticized
{several learned men, as well papists as protestants,
with much severity, and even contumely; which pro-
* Xiceron, vols. IX. and X. — Diet. HisL
MARTIAN- AY. 365
voked Le Clerc, who was one of them, lo examine the
merits of this edition and of the editor. This he did in a
volume published in 1 2 mo, at Amsterdam, in 1700, with
this title, " Qusstiones Hieronymiauae, in quibus expen-
ditur Hieronymi nupera editio Parisina, &c." in which he
endeavours to shew that Martianay, notwithstanding the
indecent petulances he had exercised towards pther critics,
had none' of the requisites to qualify him for an editor of
St Jerome ; that he had not a competent skill either in
the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, or in the an-
cient interpreters of scripture, or in profane authors, or
in the science of manuscripts, for this work. Martianay
published the third volume in 1704, the fourth in 1705,
and the fifth in 1706; and Le Clerc published, in the
seventeenth tome of his " Bibliotheque choisee," some
copious remarks upon these three last volumes, in order
to confirm the judgment hq had passed on the two first.
Nevertheless, Martianay's edition of Jerome was by many
thought the best, even after the appearance of Vallarsius's
edition. '
MARTIGNAC (Stephen Algai, sieur de), seems to be
one of the first French writers who practised the plan, so
little approved in England, of translating the ancient clas-
sical poets into prose. He gave in this way, versions of,
J. Terence. 2. Horace. 3. Juvenal and Persius. 4. Vir-
gil. 5. Ovid, entire, in 9 vols. 12 mo. These translations
are in general clear and exact, but want elegance, and
purity of style. This laborious writer published also lives
of the archbishops, &c. of Paris, of the seventeenth cen-
tury, in 4to. He died in 1698, at the age of seventy. r
MARTIN (Benjamin), an eminent optician, was born
at Worplesdon, in Surrey, in 1704, and began life as a
plough-boy at Broad-street, a hamlet , belonging to that
parish. By some means, however, he contrived to learn
reading, writing, and arithmetic, so as to be soon enabled
to teach them to others. For some time he continued to
assist in the farming business, but* as our authority states,
" finding that he became a poor husbandman in proportion
as he grew a learned one, he prudently forsook what in-
deed he had no great inclination for," and having a strong
inclination to mathematics and philosophical speculations,
now entered upon such a course of reading and study a$ in
1 Niceron, vol. I. — Moreri. 2 Moreii.— Diet. Hist.
566 MARTIN.
come measure supplied the want of a learned education,
The historian of Surrey says that he first taught reading
and writing at Guildford. It was probably some time after
this that a legacy of five hundred pounds bequeathed to
him by a relation encouraged his laudable ambition, and
after purchasing books, instruments, &c. and acquiring
some knowledge of the languages, we find him, in 1735,
settled at Chichester, where he taught mathematics, and
performed courses of experimental philosophy. At this
time he published his first work, " The Philosophical
Grammar ; being a view of the present state of experi-
mental physiology, or natural philosophy, &c." London,
8vo. When he came up to London we have not* been
able to discover, but after settling there he read lectures
on experimental philosophy for many years, and carried
on a very extensive trade as an optician and globe-maker
in Fleet- street, till the growing infirmities of old age com-
pelled him to withdraw from the active part of business.
Trusting too fatally to what he thought the integrity of
others, he unfortunately, though with a capital more than
sufficient to pay all his debts, became a bankrupt. The
unhappy old man, in a moment of desperation from this
unexpected stroke, attempted to destroy himself; and the
wound, though not immediately mortal, hastened his death,
which happened Feb. 9th, 1782, at seventy-eight years
of age.
He had a valuable collection of fossils and curiosities of
every species, which after his death were almost given v
away by public auction. He was indefatigable as an artist,
and as a writer he had a very happy method of explaining
his subject, and wrote with clearness, and even consi-
derable elegance. He was chiefly eminent in the science
of optics ; but he was well skilled in the whole circle of the
mathematical and philosophical sciences, and wrote useful
books on every one of them ; though he was not distin-
guished by any remarkable inventions or discoveries of his
own. His publications were very numerous, and generally
useful : some of the principal of them were as follow : 1. "The
Philosophical Grammar," already mentioned. 2. "A new,
complete, and universal system or body of Decimal Arith-
metic," 1735, 8vo. 3. " The young student's Memorial
Book, or Patent Library," 1735, 8vo. 4. " Description
and use of both the Globes, the Armillary Sphere and Or-
rery," 1736, 2 vols. 8vo. 5. " Elements of Geometry,"
MARTIN. 361
1739, 8vo. 6. " Memoirs of the Academy of Paris/' 1740,
S vols. 8vo. 7. " Panegyric of the Newtonian Philosophy,**
1754. 8. u On the new construction of the Globes," 1755.
9. " System of the Newtonian Philosophy," 1759, 3 vols;
8vo. 10. " New Elements of Optics," 1759. 1 1. « Ma-
thematical Institutions, viz. arithmetic, algebra, geometry,
and fluxions," 1759. 12. "Natural History of England,
with a map of each county,*' 1759^ 2 vols. 8vo. 13.
" Philology and Philosophical Geography," 1759. 14.
"Mathematical Institutions," 1764, 2 vols. 15. " Bio-
graphia Philosophica, or Lives of Philosophers," 1764,
8vo. 16. " Introduction to the Newtonian Philosophy,"
1765.' 17. " Institutions of Astronomical Calculations,"
two parts, 1765. 18. " Description and use of the Air
Pump," 1766. 19." Description of the Torricellian Ba-
rometer," 1766; 20. " Appendix to the Description and
Use of the Globes," 1766. 21. " Philosophia Britannica,"
1778, 3 vols. 22. " Philosophical Magazine." This when
complete consists of 14 volumes, but there are parts sold
separately, as " The Miscellaneous Correspondence," 4
vols. It was discontinued for want of encouragement,
which, however, it appears to have deserved, as it afforded
a very correct state of scientific knowledge at that time.1
MARTIN (David), a protestant divine, was born at '
Revel, in Languedoc, in 16 39, but settled in Holland
after the revocation of the edict of Nantes. He was at
once a good theologian, and a good philosopher, in both
of which capacities he gave lectures at Utrecht, when he
was settled as a pastor in that city. Though he was much
absent from France, he retained a critical and accurate
knowledge of its language, and when the French academy
announced the second edition of their dictionary, he trans-
mitted to them some remarks which were received with
applause* He died at Utrecht, of a violent fever, in 1721.
He was universally regretted in that place, from his pro-
bity, modesty, and excellence of character ; his heart was
affectionate and compassionate, and he delighted in doing
good offices without being solicited, and without expecting
even gratitude in return. He published, 1. " A History
of the Old and New Testament," in 2 vols, fojio, printed
at Amsterdam in 1707, with 424 fine plates. It is often
called Mortier's Bible, trom the name of the printer; and
1 Manning and BraVs H:st of Surrey.— Gent. Mag. for 1785,where is a very
flno portrait of Mr. Marttu. — Pieseui btale of the Republic of Letters, vol. XVL
pw 164.— HuUoq's Dictionary.
368 MARTIN.
the early impressions are distinguished by the absence of a
little defect in the last plate, which arose from a fracture
of thp plate after a few had been taken. 2. " Eight Ser-
mous," 1708, 8vo. 3. " A treatise on Natural Religion,
1713, 8vo. 4. "An Explanation of the 110th Psalm,
against John Masson; J 715, 8vo. 5. " Two Dissertations,
one in defence of the authenticity of the controverted text,
1 John v. 7. the other in favour of the passage of Josephus,
in which Christ is mentioned, 1722, 8vo. 6. "A Bible
with short notes," Amsterdam, 1707, 2 vols. fol. 7. u A
treatise on Revealed Religion,9' in which he ably supports
the divine inspiration of the sacred books; reprinted at
Amsterdam in 1723, in 2 vols. 8vo. This useful and ju-
dicious work has been translated into English. Martin
wrote with ease, but not with a facility of style ; but his
talents were considerable, his memory good, and his judg-
ment sound. l
MARTIN (Gregory), a learned popish writer, whose
name is so much connected with some protestant writers of
eminence as to deserve a brief notice here, was born at
Max field, near Wiuchelsea, in Sussex, and was admitted
one of the original scholars of St. John's college, Oxford,
in 1557, by sir Thomas White, the founder. In 1564 he
proceeded M. A. and was afterwards taken into the family
of Thomas, duke of Norfolk, as tutor to his children, and
particularly to Philip, earl of Surrey. Such had been
Martin's reputation at college, that when the duke paid a
visit to St. John's, one of the society, in a Latin address to
his grace, introduced his name with this panegyric : " Habes,
illustrissime dux, Hebreum nostrum, Graecum nostrum,
poetam nostrum, decus et gloriam nostrum," implying
that Martin was their best Hebrew and Greek scholar and
poet, and an ornament to their college. Having embraced
the Roman catholic religion, which he chose no longer to
conceal, he went to the English cbllege at Douay in 1570,
where he was ordained priest in 1573, and licentiate in
.divinity in 1575. After a visit in the following year to
Rome, he returned to Doway and taught Hebrew, and
gave lectures on the Scriptures. When the college was
removed to Rbeims, he undertook to translate the Bible
into English from the Vulgate, and Dodd is of opinion
that what is called " The Rheims translation," may be
* Chaufepic— Burman Trajcct ErudiU— NiceroD, voL XXL
I
Jf A R T I N. 369
entirely ascribed to bim. It was not, however, published
at one time. The New Testament appeared first atRheims
and Antwerp, with Bmtow's notes, and the Old Testa*
mem several years afterwards, with the editor, Dr. Worth-
ington's notes. The New Testament, as we have noticed,
under their respective articles, was answered by Fulk and
Cartwright. Martin died Oct. 28, 1582, at Rheims. He
published some other works, a list of which may be seen
in Wood and Dodd, but is scarcely worth transcribing.
Camden says that in 1584 a book of his appeared in which
queen Elizabeth's gentlewomen were exhorted to serve her
as Judith had served Holofernes. The catholic writers,
however, deny this, and apparently with justice. *
MARTIN (James), a learned Benedictine of the con-
gregation of St. Maur, was born at Tanjaux in Upper Lan-
guedoc, in 1694, and became a Benedictine in 1709. After
having taught the learned languages in hifr native province,
he removed to the capital in 1727. He was there re-
garded as a man of a singular and violent temper ; rather
whimsical as a scholar, and not always sufficiently prudent
or modest as a writer ; yet he was one of the ablest au-
thors produced by the congregation of St. Maur, and
would have been excellent had he met with any judicious
friend to correct the sallies of his too active imagination.
His latter years were much embittered by the gravel and
the gout, under the torments of which complaints be suf-
fered, with great piety, a kind of lingering death, which
did not dismiss him from his sufferings till 1751, when he
was in his seventieth year. He wrote, 1. " A treatise on
the Religion of the ancient Gauls," Paris, 1727, 2 vols. 4to*
This book is much esteemed for the curious and learned
researches of the author ; but contains some uncommon
opinions, which have not been generally adopted by his
readers. One point which he particularly labours, is to
derive the religion of the ancient Gauls from that of the
patriarchs. This subject has been more successfully handled
lately by Mr. Maurice, with the aid of oriental knowledge;
2. "History of the Gauls, &,c. from their origin to the
foundation of the French monarchy," 1754, 2 vols. 4to,
continued and published by his nephew de Brezillac, and
much esteemed. 3. ".An Explication of several difficult
Texts of Scripture," Paris, 1730, 2 vols. 4to. The fire*
* Dodd's Church Hist— Ath. Ox. vol I.— Pits and Tanner.
Vol. XXL B b
370 MART I#N.
the ingenuity, and the presumption of the author, are suf-
ficiently manifest in this book ; which would be much more
valuable if deprived of several discussions and citations
about trifles, and some points by no means suited to a
book of divinity. 4. " An Explanation of ancient Monu-
ments, &c. with an examination of an edition of St. Jerom,
and a treatise on Judicial Astrology/' Paris, 1739, 4to.
Besides a vast scope of erudition, this book is adorned by
many lively traits, and a very animated style. 5. " A
Project for an Alphabetical Library/' containing much
learning, and many misplaced witticisms. 6. " A Transla-
tion of the Confessions of St Augustin," which is exact,
and is accompanied with judicious notes. 1
. MARTIN (Thomas), an eminent civilian, the son of
Thomas Martin, was born at Cerne, in Dorsetshire, and '
educated at Winchester school, whence he was admitted
fellow of New college, Oxford, in 1539. He applied him-
self chiefly to the canon and civil law, which he likewise
studied at Bourges, and was admitted doctor. On enter-
ing upon practice in Doctors9 Commons, he resigned his
fellowship; and in 1555, being incorporated LL. D. at
Oxford, he was made chancellor of the diocese of Win-
chester. This he owed to the recommendation of bishop
Gardiner, who had a great opinion of his zeal and abilities,
• and no doubt very justly, as be found him a ready and
useful assistant in the persecution of the protestants in
queen Mary's time. Among other instances, he was joined*
in commissioh with Story in the trial of archbishop Cran-
mer at Oxford. His proceedings on that occasion may be
seen in Fox's " Acts and Monuments" under the years 1555
and 1556. His conduct probably was not very gross or
tyrannical, as, although he was deprived of his offices in
Elizabeth's reign, he was allowed quietly tq retire with
jhis family to Ilfield in Sussex, where he continued . in pri-
vacy until his death in 1584. He wrote two works against
the marriage of priests; but that which chiefly entitles him
to some notice here, was his Latin " Life of William of
Wykehaaa," the munificent founder of New college, the
MS. of which is in the library of that college. It was first
published in 1597, 4to, and reprinted, without any cor-
rection or improvement, by Dr. Nicholas, warden of Win-
chester, in 1690, who does not seem to have been aware
1 Diet. Hist.— Saxii Onoroast.
MARTIN. S71
• • •
how much more might be recovered of Wykeham, as Dr.
Lowth has proved. This excellent biographer says that
Martin seems not so much to have wanted diligence in
collecting proper materials, as care and judgment in di-
gesting and composing them. But it is unnecessary to say
much of what is now rendered useless by Dr. Lowth's work.
Dr. Martin bequeathed, or gave in his life-time, several
valuable books to New college library. '
MARTIN (Thomas), an English antiquary, was born at
Thetford, in the school-house in St. Mary's parish (the
only remaining parish of that town in Suffolk), March 8,
1697. His grandfather, William, was rector of Stanton
St. John, in Suffolk, where he was buried in 1677. His
father William was rector of Great Livermere, and of St.
Mary's in Thetford, both in the same county. He mar-
ried Elizabeth, only daughter of Mr. Thomas Burrougb,
of Bury St. Edmonds, and aunt to the late sir James Bur-
rougb, master of Caius college, Cambridge : he died in
1721, aged seventy-one, and was buried in Livermere
chancel, where his son Thomas, not long before his death,
placed a monument for him, and his mother, and their
children, who were then all dead except himself, " now
by God's permission residing at Pal grave." Thomas was
the seventh of nine children. His school education was
probably at Thetford. In 1715 he had been some time
clerk to his brother Robert, who practised as an attorney
there ; but it appears by some objections to that employ-
ment in his own hand-writing, in that year, that be was
very uneasy and dissatisfied with that way of life. As
these give us the state of his mind, and the bent of his
inclination at that early period, and may perhaps account
for his succeeding unsettled turn and little application to
his business, they may be worth preserving in his own
words.
Objections. — "First, my mind and inclinations are
wholly to Cambridge, having already found by experience
that I can never settle to my present employment 2. t
was always designed for Cambridge by my father, and I
believe am the only instance in the world that ever went
to school so long to be a lawyer's clerk. 3. 1 always wished
that 1 might lead a private retired life, which can never
l Ath. Ox. vol. I. new edit, by Biisi.— Dodd's Ch. Hist —Pits and Bate.—
Strype's Creamer, p. 53, 830, 352, 371— S73, 376.— Strype's Parker, p. 50ft
B Bt
372 MARTIN.
happen if I be an attorney; but on the contrary, I. must
have the care and concern of several people's business
besides mine own, &c. 4. If I be a lawyer, the will of the
dead can never be fulfilled* viz. of uiy sister Elizabeth,
who left 10/. to enter me at college ; and aunt Burrough,
to whom I have promised (at her earnest request) that I
never wquld be a lawyer ; nay, my brother himself had
promised her I never should. 5. It was always counted
ruination for young persons to be brought up at home,
and I'm sure there's no worse town under the sun for breed-
ing: or conversation than this. 6. Though I should serve
my time out with my brother, I should never fancy the
study of the law, having got a taste of a more noble and
pleasant study. Questions. But perhaps these questions
may be asked me, to which I shall answer as follows : Why
I came to my brother at all ? and have absented myself thus
long from school ? Or why I have not spoke my mind be-
fore this time ? Answers. 1. Though I am with my bro-
ther, it was none of my desire (having always confessed an
aversion to his employment), but was almost forced to it by
the persuasion of a great many, ringing it in nay ears that
this was the gain fullest employment, &c. (,ft<* Though I
have lost some time in school learning, I have read a great
deal of history, poetry, &c. which might have taken up
as much time at Cambridge bad I kept at school. 3. I have
staid thus long, thinking continual use might have made it
easy to me ; but the longer I stay, the worse I like it.
" Thomas Martin, 1 7 l 5."
He was, however, by some means or other, kept from
executing his favourite plan of going to Cambridge. In
1722 he still probably resided at Thetford ; for, having
married Sarah the widow of Mr. Thomas Hopley, and
daughter of Mr. John Tyrrel, of Thetford, his first child
was born there that year; in 1723 his second was born at
Palgrave in Suffolk, as were the rest. This wife bore him
eight children, a-nd died Nov. 15, 1731, ten days after she
had been delivered of twins. He very soon, however,
repaired this loss, by marrying Frances, the widow of Peter
le Neve, Norroy king at arms, who had not long been
dead, and to whom he was executor. By this lady be came
into the possession of a very valuable collection of English
antiquities, pictures, &c. She bore him also about as many
children as his former wife (four of whom, as well as five
of the others, arrived at manhood), and died, we believe,
MARTIN,
373
before him. He died March 7, 1771, and was buried,
with others of his family, in Palgrave church-porch, where
no epitaph as yet records the name of that man who has
so industriously preserved those of others *, though Mr.
Ives had promised his friends that he would erect a mo-
nument for him, and had actually drawn up a plain inscrip-
tion for it.
Mr. Martin's desire was not only to be esteemed, but to
be known and distinguished by the name of, w Honest Tom
Martin of Palgrave t," an ambition in which his acquain-
tance saw no reason not to gratify him ; and we have ob-
served, with pleasure, several strokes of moral sentiment
scattered about his rough church notes. These iVere the
genuine effusions of his heart, not designed for the pub«-
lie eye, and therefore mark his real character in that re-
spect. Had he desired the appellation of wise and prudent,
his inattention to his business, his contempt and improper
use of monev, and his fondness for mixed and festive com-
pany, would have debarred him, as the father of a nume-
rous family, of that pretension. As an antiquary, be was
most skilful and indefatigable ; and when he was employed
as an attorney and genealogist, he was in his element. He
had the happiest use of his pen, copying, as well as tra-
cing, with dispatch and exactness, the different writing of
every sera, and tricking arms, seals, &c. with great neat-
ness. His taste for ancient lore seems to have possessed
him from his earliest to his latest days. He dated all the
scraps of paper on which he made his church-notes, &c.
Some of these begin as early as 1721, and end but the
autumn before his death, when he still wrote an excellent
hand ; but he certainly began his collections even before
the first mentioned period ; for he appears among the con-
tributors to Mr. Le Neve's u Monumenta Anglicana,"
printed in 1719. The latter part of his life was be-
stowed on the History of his native town of Thetford. His
* Mr. Martin seems to have pre-
saged that he might want this post-
humous honour, as in a curious manu-
script of church collections made by
him, he had inserted the following
pieces of poetry :
When death shall have his due of me,
This book my monument shall be.
Or,
These tombs by me collected here in
cue,
When dead, shall be my monumental
stone.
Or in the old phrase :
Thus many tombs from different rooms
By me collected into one,
When I am dead, shall be instead
Of my own monumental stone.
f He is thus called among the sub-
senbers to Grey's Hu<jibras, 1744.
374 MARTIN.
abilities, and the opportunities be derived from the eollet-
tions of Peter Le Neve, esq. Norroy king at arms, render
it unnecessary to enlarge on this, which Mr. Blomefield,
thirty years before this publication encouraged the pnblic
to expect from his hands. The materials being left without
the last finishing at Mr. Martin's death, were purchased by
Mr. John Worth, chemist, of Diss, F. S. A. who enters
tained thoughts of giving them to the publick, and circu-
lated proposals, dated July 1, 1774, for printing them by
subscription. Upon the encouragement he received, he
had actually printed five sheets of the work, and engraved
four plates. This second effort was prevented by the im-
mature death of Mr. Worth, in 1775; who dying insol-
vent, his library, including what he had reserved of the
immense collections of Le Neve and Martin at their dis-
persion on the death of the latter, being sold, with his
other effects, for the benefit of his creditors, was purchased
the same year by Mr. Thomas Hunt, bookseller at Harles-
ton. Of him Mr. Gough bought the manuscript, with the
undigested materials, copy -right, and plates. The first of
these required a general revisal, which it received from
the great diligence and abilities of Mr. Gough, who pub-
lished it in 1779, 4to.
Mr. Martin's collection of antiquities, particularly of
such as relate to Suffolk, was very considerable, greater
than probably ever were before, or will be hereafter, in
the possession of an individual ; their fragments have en-
riched several private libraries. His distresses obliged him
to dispose of many of bis books, with his manuscript notes
on them, to Mr. T. Payne, in his life-time, 1769. A cata*-
logue of his library was printed after his death at Lynn,
in 1771, in octavo, in hopes of disposing of the whole at
once. Mr. Worth, above -mentioned, purchased the rest,
with all his other collections, for six hundred pounds. The
printed books he immediately sold to Booth and Berry of
Norwich, who disposed of them by a catalogue, 1773. The
pictures and lesser curiosities Mr. Worth sold by auction
at Diss ; part of his manuscripts in London, in April
1773, by Mr. Samuel Baker) and by a second sale there,
in May 1774, manuscripts, scarce books, deeds, grants,
pedigrees, drawings, prints, coins, and curiosities. '
MARTIN E (George), a physician, appears to have
b?eu a native of Scotland, where he was born in 1702, and
1 Nichols's Bowyer. * *
M A R T I N E. 979
entered upon the study of medicine at Edinburgh in 1720,
whence he went to Leyden ; and, after prosecuting the
same study there for some time, was admitted to his de-
gree of M. D. in 1725. He then returned to Scotland, and'
practised his art at St. Andrew's. In 1740, while about to
publish his Commentaries on Eustachius, he was requested
by lord Cathcart, to accompany him, as physician to the
forces under his command on the American expedition*
The difficulties of the voyage, and the change of climate,
he bore with chearfulness, but the death of that much-
loved commander greatly afflicted him. Soon after he was
seized with a bilious fever, which proved fatal in 1743, in
the forty-first year of his age. His first publication was*
entitled. " Tractatus de similibus animalibus, et animal ium
calore:" after which appeared his " Essays Medical and
Philosophical," 1740,. 8 vo. He contributed also some pa-
pers to the Edinburgh " Medical Essays," and to the
" Philosophical Transactions." We find in Dr.Thomson's
list of the fellows of the royal society the name of George
Martini, M. D. elected in 1740, who was probably our
author. Being possessed, when a student at Edinburgh,
of the earliest edition of " Eustachius's Tables," he ap-
plied himself diligently to correct and enlarge Lancisi's ex-
planation of those tables, and compared the descriptions of
the parts as delivered by authors with these figures, and
carefully registered what he read upon the subject. Being
at length furnished with many rich materials, he considered
of repairing, in sooie measure, the loss of Eustachius's
commentaries " De dissentionibus et controversies anato-
micis," and was, as we have observed, about to publish his
own Commentaries, when he went abroad. It fell at length
into the hands of the first Dr. Monro of Edinburgh, who
published it in 1755, under the title of " Georgii Martinii,
M. D. in Bartholomsei Eustacbii Tabulas anatomicas Com-
mentaria,n 8vo. Notwithstanding Albinus's explanation,
Dr. Monro considers this work as indispensably necessary
to those who are in possession of Eustachius's Tables. '
MARTINI (John-Baptist), known all over Europe by
'the name of Padre Martini, was born at Bologna in
1706, and entered into the order of the friars minor, as
offering him the best opportunities for indulging his taste
t Eloy, Diet. Hist, de Medicine. — Moreri. — Monthly Review, vol. XIV.—
Works tf the Learned for 1741.
376 MARTINI.
for music, which be cultivated with so much success as to
be regarded, during the last fifty years of his life, as the
most profound harmonist, and the best acquainted with
the history and progress of the art and science of music
in Italy. All the great masters of his time were ambitious
of becoming his disciples, and proud of his approbation ;
and young professors within his reach never thought them-
selves, or were thought by others, sufficiently skilled in
counterpoint, till they had received lessons from this deep
' theorist, and most intelligent and communicative in-
structor.
No history of music had been attempted in Italy since*
that of Bontempi appeared in 1695, till Martini, in 1757,
published in 4to, the first volume of his " Storia Musica,"
upon so large a scale, that though the chief part of his life
seems to have been dedicated to it, only three volumes
were published before his decease in 1783, a circumstance
which Dr. Burney thinks is much, to be regretted, as he
had, with incredible pains and considerable ex pence, col-
lected materials sufficient for the completion of his whole
plan.
Between the publication of the second and third volumes
of his " Storia Musica," Martini published a work entitled
" Essemplare o sia Saggio di Contrappunto," Bologna, 1 774,
in two volumes, folio. This excellent treatise, though
written in defence of a method of composing for the church
upon canto- fer mo, now on the decline, yet has given the
learned author an opportunity of writing its history* ex-
plaining its rules, defending the practice, and of inserting
such a number of venerable compositions for the church
by the greatest masters of choral harmony in Italy, from
the beginning of the sixteenth century to the middle of the
last, that we know of uo book so full of information con-
cerning learned counterpoint, so rich in ancient and scarce
compositions/ nor so abundant in instructive and critical
remarks, as this. In 1769 Martini drew up and gave to
his disciples a very short tract, entitled " Compendio della
Theoria de numeri per uso del Musico di F. Giambatista
Martini. Minor Conventuale." In this tract the good fa-
ther defines the three principal calculations, ratios, and
proportions necessary for a musician to know in the division
of the monochord and in temperament.1
*
» Burney's Hist, of Music, Metastasio, rol. Ill, p,i02, and in Rce»'*ty«
MARTINI. 37*
MARTINI (Martin), a Jesuit, born at Trent, whore-
sided many years as a missionary in China, and th$re com-
piled several curious works on the history and geography
of that country, returned to Europe in 1651, and published
a description of China, with an exact map of that empire,
and fifteen separate maps of the fifteen provinces ; to which
he added two others, of Corea aftd Japan. We have met
with an account, though on no warranted authority, that he
returned afterwards to Asia, and died at Hang-chew m
China, at the age of seventy-four. His works consist of,
I. "Sinicae Historian Decas prima, a gentis origine ad
Christum natum," 4to, and 8vo. This has been translated
by le Pelletier, 1692, in 2 vols. 12mo. 2. "China Hhis-
trata," already mentioned, Amsterdam, 1649, in folio. This
was the best account of China, before that of du Halde. 3.
M De Bello inter Tartaros et Sinenses,'* which has also been
translated. 4. "An account of the number and quality of
the Christians in China." Like other missionaries, he is
apt to speak in exaggerated terms of the antiquity, riches,
policy, &c. of the Chinese. '
MARTIN (Raymond), a Dominican friar, and eminent
orientalist, who flourished in the thirteenth century, was
born at Sobiras in Catalonia; and was one of those of his
order who were appointed, at a general chapter held at To-
ledo in 1250, to study Hebrew and Arabic, in order to
confute the Jews and Mahometans. The occasion of it was
this : Raymond de Pennafort, general of the order, having
a strong desire to extirpate Judaism and Mahometanism,
with which Spain was infected, procured an order from this
chapter, that the religious of his society should apply
themselves to the study of Hebrew and Arabic. This task
he imposed on Martin among others ; and he obtained a
pension of the kings of Arragon and Castile, for such as
should study those languages, on purpose that they might
be able to exert themselves in the conversion of infidels.
Martin accordingly applied himself to those studies with
great success ; and, having sufficiently studied the works
of the rabbins, they furnished him with such argu-
ments, as enabled him to combat the Jews very skil-
fully. This appears from his " Pugio fidei," which was
finished, as- we learn from himself, in 1278, though the
first publication of it at Paris was not till 1651. Bosquet,
* Diet, Hist.— Moreri.
375 M A 8 t I N i;
who died bishop of M6ntpelier, met with the manuscript,
while he was with great ardour examining the library of
the college de Foix at Toulouse, about 162&, and, after
copying some things out of it, he gave it to James Spieg-
hel, a learned German, and his preceptor in the Hebrew
tongue. Spieghel advised Maussac to publish it; who,
though very able to do it by himself, had however for an
assistant Mr. de Voisin, son of a counsellor in the parlia-
ment at Bourdeaux, who took upon him the greatest part
of the task. Thomas Turc, another general of the Domi-
nicans, was very earnest in spurring on the promoters of
this edition ; and, not satisfied with soliciting them by let-
ters equally importunate and obliging, he gave orders that
they should be provided with all the manuscripts of the "Pu-
gio fidei" that could be recovered. In short, the Domi-
nican order interested themselves so much in it, that they
bore the charges of the impression. Some assert, that
Martin wrote another book, entitled, " Capistrum Judaeo-
runp," and also " A Confutation of the Alcoran;" and that
a copy of the " Pugio fidei,'' written by his own hand in
Latin and Hebrew, was preserved at Naples in the convent
of St. Dominic. TITe great knowledge which he has dis-
covered of the books and opinions of the Jews, has made
some imagine that he was of that religion ; but this is
thought to be a mistake. The time of Martin's death is
uncertain. l
MARTINIERE (Anthony-Augustin Bruzen de la),
a French author of considerable celebrity about the begin-
ning of the last century, was born in L684 at Dieppe. He
studied at Paris, partly under the instruction of his learned
grand-uncle Richard Simon, who then resided in the col-
lege of Fortet. In 1709, he went to the court of Meck-
lenburgh, and began his researches into the history and
geography of that state; but, on the death of the duke, and
the troubles which followed, and interrupted his labours,
he removed elsewhere, probably to Parma, as we find him,
in 1722, publishing, by order of the duke Philip Farnese,
whom he calls his most serene master, an historical disser-
tation, " Dissertation historique sur les duch£s de Panne
et de Plaisance," 4to. It appears also that the Sicilian
monarch appointed him his secretary, with a salary of
twelve hundred crowns. The marquis de Beretti Landif
* MorerL— Geu. Diet.
MARTINIQUE. S79
the Spanish minister at the Hague, had a high regard for
Martiniere, and advised him to dedicate his geographical
dictionary to the king of Spain, and procured for him,
from bis catholic majesty, the title of royal geographer.
Martiniere passed several years at the Hague, where all
the foreign ministers paid him much attention, receiving
him often at their tables. He died here June 19, 1749.
Moreri makes him eighty-three years of age ; but this is
inconsistent with a date which be gives on the authority of
Martiniere himself, viz. that in 1709 he was twenty-five
years old. His personal character is represented in a very
favourable light by M. Bruys, who lived a long time with^
him at the Hague, and objects nothing to him but a want
of ceconomy in his domestic matters : he was a man of ex-
tensive reading and memory, excelled in conversation,
which abounded in striking and original remarks, and was
generous, liberal, and candid, His favourite studies were
history and geography, which at length produced his well-
known dictionary, "Dictionnaire Geographique, Historique,
et Critique," Hague, 1726 — 1730, 10 vols, folio; re-
printed with corrections and additions at Dijon in 6 vols,
folio; and at Venice, and again at Paris in 1763, 6 vols.
folio. This was the most comprehensive collection of
geographical materials which had then appeared, and al-
though not without the faults inseparable from so vast an
undertaking, was of great importance to the science, and
the foundation of many subsequent works of the kind. He
also published several editions of PuffendorfFs " Introduc-
tion to History ;" a work on which he appears to have be-
stowed more pains than will perhaps be approved, as his
zeal for the Roman catholic religion induced him to omit
PuffendorfFs remarks on the temporal power of the popes.
His other works were, I. " Essais sur Porigine et les pro-
gres de la Geographic,9' with remarks on the principal
Greek and Latin geographers. These two essays were
addressed to the academy of history at Lisbon, and that
of belles lettres at Paris, and are printed in Camusat's
" Memoires Historiques," Amst. 1722. 2. " Trails geo-
graphiques et historiques pour faciliter Pintelligence de
PEcriture Sainte, par divers auteurs celebres, M. M. Huet
et Le Grand, D. Calmet, &c. &c." Hague, 1730, 2 vols.
12mo. 3. " Entretiens des ombres aux Champ3 Elyse6s,"
taken from a German work under that title, 2 vols. 4.
" Essai d'une traduction d* Horace,1' in verse, with some
380 MARTIN1ERE.
poetical pieces of bis own. &. H Nouveau recueil des t.pu
grammatistes Francois aneiens et modernes," Amst. 1720,
3 vols. 12mo. €. "Introduction generate a I* etude des
Sciences et des Belles Lettres, en faveur des personnes qui
ne savent que le Fransots," Hague, 1731, l2mo. 7. "Let*
tres choisies de M. Simon/9 a new edition, with the life of
the author, Amst 1730, 4 vols. 12mo. S. '* Nouvelles
politiques et litteraires," a literary journal which did not
last long. 9. " Vie de Moliere," said to be more correct
and ample than that by Grimarest 9. " Continuation de
PHistoire de France sous )a regne de Louis XIV. com-
menced par M. de Larrey." Some other works have been
improperly attributed to Martiniere, as " Lettres serieuses
et badines," which was by M. Bruys, and " Relation
d'une assemble tenue au bas du Parnasse," a production
of the abb6 D' Artigny. After his death, his name was put
to a species of Ana, entitled, " Nouveau portefeuitle his-
torique et litteraire," an amusing collection ; but probably
not of his forming.1
MARTINIUS (Matthias), a learned German divine of
the Protestant persuasion, was born in 1572, and studied
at Paderbarn, under the celebrated Piscatcrr. In his twen-
ty-third year he was called to officiate as minister in the
Courts of the counts of Nassau Dillembourg; the following
year was appointed professor in the college of Paderborn,
and in 1502 was appointed regent of the schools. He was
afterwards called to be rector of the school at Bremen,
and, in 1618, was deputed by the magistrates of Bremen
to the synod of Dort, where be maintained the opinions
of Cameron, Amyraut, Dai lie, and others; but signed
all the acts of the synod. He died in 1630, leaving behind
him many theological treatises, now forgotten, and a "Lex-
icon philologicum, in quo Latin ae et a Latinis auctoribus
usurpatse turn purae, turn barbarae voces ex origin ibns de-
clarant ur, &c: accedit Cadmus Grasco- Phoenix et Glossa-
ry um Isidori," Utrecht, 1697, 2 vols, folio; reprinted at
Amsterdam, 1701. This work, at one time, enjoyed con- '
siderable reputation, and it is said that some philologists
bave availed themselves of it, without acknowledgment. *
MARTIUS GALEOTTUS. See GALEOTO.
1 Moreri.— Diet. Hist in art. Brazen.
* Chaufepic— Morcri.— Saxii Oxonast.
M A R T Y N. 381
MARTYN (John), professor of botany at Cambridge, *■
was born Sept. 12, 169-9, in Queen-street, London, where
his father Thomas was a merchant His mother, whose
maiden name was Catharine Weedoo, died Nov, l, 1700*
After being educated at a private school in the neighbour-
hood, be was taken, at the age of sixteen, into the count-
ing-house of bis father ; but, without neglecting the du-
ties of this station, he had already so strong a taste for lite-
rature, that he constantly devoted much of the night to
study, allowing himself, for many years, only four hours
for sleep. In ttie summer of 17 IB he first acquired a taste
for botany, in consequence of his acquaintance with Mr*
Wilmer, an apothecary, who afterwards became demon-
strator in the Chelsea-garden, Dr. Patrick Blair, and Dr.
William Sherard, under whose instructions his progress
was rapid. He soon became desirous of commencing au«*
tbor, and began by translating Tournefort's History of the
plants growing about Paris, from French into English, in
1720. This, however, he did not print till 1732, when the
title was "Touroefort's History of Plants growing about
Paris, with their uses in Physic, and a mechanical account
of the operation of medicines. Translated into English,
with many additions. And accommodated to the plants,
growing in Great Britain,1' 2 vols. 8vo. This year he un-
dertook various botanical excursions, which were chiefly
performed on foot, that he might observe plants in their
natural situations, as well as insects, which had now like*
wise excited his attention. The leading character of his
mind seems to have been a taste for inquiry, which prompted
him to examine every thing for himself. His observation
of the works of God directed his thoughts to the divine
origin of all things, and his perusal of the writings of some
of the most famous adversaries of revealed religion, serve4
but to confirm him in its truth. About the year 1721 he
became acquainted with the celebrated Dillenius, and in
conjunction with him and several others, amongst whom we .
find the names of Deering, Thomas Dale, and Philip Mil-
ler, established a botanical society, which met every Satur-
day evening, first at the Rainbow coffee-house in Watling-
street, and afterwards in a private house. Dillenius was
president, and Martyn, who was secretary, read before this
society a course of lectures, upon the technical terms of
the science, the foundation, as it is presumed, of vyhat b$
$82 M A R T Y N.
afterwards published. These meetings were continued for
about five years only.
We are not informed of the period at which Mr. Martyn
changed his mercantile occupation for the medical profes-
sion, to which he was, doubtless, led by the general tenour
of his pursuits. In 1723 he was offered admission into the
royal society, which he declined, as it appears by one of
his letters to Dr. Blair, from pure modesty. His objec-
tions, however, were overcome the next year ; and he soon
proved himself an active and worthy member, by his va-
rious communications, to be found in the* Transactions of
that learned body. In 1726 he published his tables of
Officinal Plants, in twenty pages folio, disposed according
to Ray's system, under the title Tabulae Synoptics,9'
&c. Lond. fol. dedicated to Sir Ha, >ane. He had given
a public course of lectures in BoUn} the preceding year,
and had, with the assistance of Dr. Blair, undertaken to
make a collection of birds. His herborizing, excursions
were from time to time continued, notwithstanding his
various labours and engagements in town* His second
course of lectures there, in -1 726, being much approved,
he was recommended by Dr. Sherard and Sir Hans Sloane
as fit to teach the science in which he excelled, in the
University of Cambridge. Accordingly he gave, in 1727,
the first botanical course ever read in that university ; and
for the use of his pupils reduced the alphabetical catalogue
of Cambridge Plants, printed by Ray, into a systematic
form, according to the principles of its author, and pub-
lished it under the title " Methodus Plantarum circa Can*
tabrigiam nascentium," Lond. 12 mo. As he excelled in
the knowledge of cryptogamous vegetables, he improved
the work in that department ; and he now very judiciously
laid aside the old systematic practice, of separating trees
and shrubs from herbs, in his classification. In 1728 he
published the first Decade of a sumptuous work, entitled
" Historia Plantarum Rariorum," in imperial folio, in which
his merit in description is conspicuous. The plates were
drawn by that great artist Van Huysum, engraved in mez-
zotinto by Kirkall, and printed in colours; but in the lat-
ter part of their execution they fail very much, that; mode
of colouring plates having scarcely ever been found to an-
swer. Four more Decades of this work appeared in the
course of nine years ; after which it ceased, on account of
the great expence of the undertaking. When this publi*
MARTYN.
383
Cation commenced, its author is said to have " sedulously
applied himself to the practice of physic." Sir James Smith
thinks this must have been as an apothecary, for Mr. Mar-
tyn was not, by any medical degree, authorized to practise
as a physician.
In 1729, he had a design of reading botanical lectures at
Oxford, and it is not known what prevented this scheme,
unless that he might, upon reflection, consider it as inter-
fering with the recent establishment of the Sherardian pro-
fessorship there, in favour of his friend Dillenius. In the
following year we find him projecting, irj conjunction with
Dr. Russell, a new edition of Stephens's Latin Thesau-
rus ; but this design was dropped, and he engaged in a
far more easy and pleasant work, along with the same friend,
and some others, entitled the " Grub-street Journal," a
periodical publication, which had a large sale* and contains
a great variety of satirical remarks on, and anecdotes of
living authors, forming indeed a kind of prose and verse
" Dunciad," and, like that celebrated poem, sometimes
takes liberties with characters that ought to. have been no-
ticed with more respect. The best papers were afterwards
collected in 2 vols. 12 mo, 1737, under the title of " Me*
moirs of the Society of Grub-street." Mr. Martyn's pa*
pers are distinguished by the signature B. and Dr. Russel's
by that of M. The poetical part was published in a sepa-
rate volume, with an emblematic frontispiece, and is more
scarce.
On the 26th of May, 1730, Mr. Martyn was admitted
of Emanuel college, Cambridge, with an intention of
taking his degrees in physic ; but after keeping five terms,
his marriage, and the necessary attendance to his profes-
sion, caused him to relinquish this design*. He had re-
sided for three years in Great St. Helen's; but the town
* About this time he was an unsuc-
cessful candidate for the post of secre-
tary to the royal society. His oppo-
nent was Dr. Mortimer, who had the
interest of sir Hans Sloane and of the
court, which, Mr. Martyn's son says,
was " too prevalent for, the literary
part of the society." In 1731 he was
engaged in putting together Churchill's
Collection of Voyages and Travels ;
published proposals for an edition of
Virgil's Georgics, and entered into ar-
ticles for abridging the " Philosophical
Transactions" from 1720 to that time,
in coii) unction with Mr. John Eames*
who, however, abridged only three
chapters, while Mr. Martyn complet-
ed the whole in 9 vols. 4to. 1734, as
a continuation of the previous abridg-
ment in 5 vols, by Lowthorp and
Jones. Among his other literary la-
bours, he was also engaged in the
"General Dictionary, including Bayle/*
10 vols, fol.but his articles appear only
in the first three volumes.
884 MARTYR
air disagreeing with his constitution, which was asthmatic,
he removed to Chelsea, where be married, on the 20th of
August, 1732, Eulalia, youngest daughter of John King,
D. D. rector of Chelsea, and prebendary of York, by
whom he had three sons and five daughters. Four of
the latter died young, but the other children survived
him.
At the close of this year the Professorship of Botany at
Cambridge becoming vacant, by the death of Mr. Bradley,
all eyes were directed towards Mr. Marty n as the properest
person for this situation ; and, after some slight opposition
to him as a nonjuror, which he removed, by taking the
requisite oaths, he was unanimously elected Feb. 6, 1733.
In two or three years, however, after obtaining the ap-
pointment, he finally ceased to lecture, from want of en*
couragement, and especially the want of a botanic gar-
den, at Cambridge. There had been hopes of the latter
being established in 1731, through the liberality and zeal
of a Mr. Brownell of Willingham ; but the scheme fell to
the ground, nor was it revived with effect till many years
afterwards.
Nevertheless, our indefatigable botanist and scholar was
not idle. The work on which his literary fame chiefly and
"firmly rests is bis splendid quarto edition of Virgil's Geor-
gics, which appeared in 1741, dedicated to Dr. Mead.
Here his abilities and bis acquisitions had their full scope.
The text was accompanied by an English translation, and
ample notes in the same language. In these the editor
was enabled, from bis peculiar studies, to throw more light
upon the natural history of his author, than any one before
him had done, nor is it easy to improve upon his perfor-
mance. He was assisted in the astronomical part by his
friend the celebrated Halley, to whose worth he has given
a just and feeling tribute in the preface. In 1749 he pub-
lished the Bucolics on the same plan, and intended to
4*ave gone through the whole of the Roman poet; but grow-
ing infirmities, and the loss of his wife, who died of a can-
cer in the breast this year, for a while damped his ardour.
The labours of his profession, too, were becoming bur-
thensome. He speedily indeed repaired his domestic loss,
marrying, in July 1750, Mary -Anne, daughter of Claude
Fonnereau, esq. of London, merchant. This lady bore him
qne son, and survived him.
.* *
MARTYN. 38S
In the spring of 1752 be retired from practice, and took
a farm in' a most beautiful situation at Streatham, and, but
for occasional attacks of the gout, enjoyed several years of
learned leisure united with scientific experience, in atten- „
tion to the business of bis farm, and the care of bis family.
On the 30th of January, 1761, he resigned his professor-
ship of botany in favour of his son the rev. Thomas Mar-
ty n, who was elected in his stead, and who has ever since
filled that station with honour to himself and to his parent.
In . gratitude for this election, so consonant to bis own ,
wishes, Mr. Martyn, some time afterwards, gave bis bo-
tanical.library, of above 200 volumes, with his drawings,
herbarium, and collections of seeds and materia mtdica, to /
the university, for which the thanks of that body were very
handsomely returned him in 1765.
This worthy man died at Chelsea, to which place frfc
increasing .infirmities had induced him, about a y^ar pre-
vious, to return, Jan. 29, 1768, in the sixty- ninth year of
his age, and was interred in the burying-ground there,
near his first wife.
To the works already noticed, as published by Mr. Mar-
tyn, we may add a translation of Boerhaave's treatise on
the powers of medicine, 1740, 8vo, a translation and -
abridgment of the " Memoirs of the Royal Academy of
Sciences at Paris,'9 in conjunction with Chambers, the
author of the Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, Lond. 1742,
5 vols. 8vo; and a translation pf Dr. Walter Harris's
"Treatise of the acute diseases of Infants," ibid. 1742,
8vo. In 1 743 he resumed his abridgment of the Philoso-
phical Transactions, and published the eighth, ninth, and
tenth volumes, in 1747 and 1756. He left also a .great
many manuscripts on various branches of science and lite-
rature. In 1770, bis son published " Dissertations and
critical Remarks upon the jEneids of Virgil. By the late
John Martyn, &c." 12 mo, with some account of the author
and his writings, from which tile preceding article has been
taken.1
MARTYN (William), recorder of Exeter, was born in
that city in 1562, and educated in the grammar school,
whence he was sent to Broadgates-ball, now Pembroke
college, Oxford, in 1579. Here he is supposed to have
taken one degree in. arts, and then removed to some of the
l Life as above.— Abridged also by Sir J. Smith in Rees's Cyclopedia.
VQL.XXJ. Cc
386 MARTY N.
inns of court in London to study law. In 1605, be was
elected recorder of his native city, where he died April 12,
1617. He is noticed here as the author of a history or
chronicle of the kings of England, entitled "The History
and Lives of the Kings of England, from William the Con-
queror to King Henry VIII." Lond. 1616, folio, reprinted
in 1618, an amusing, and not ill-written work, taken prin-
cipally front the Chronicles. An appendix was published
in 1638, by B. R. M. A. including the history of Edward
VI., Maty, and Elizabeth. It is said that king James took
offence at some passages in Mr. Martyn's work respecting
bis own family or the Scottish nation, and that the author
was brought into some trouble. Of what kind this trouble
was we are not told, but that it preyed on his mind, and
hastened his death. Mr. Martyn also published a book for
the use of one of his sons, entitled " Youth's Instruction,"
Lond. 1612, 4to, which Wood says, shows a great deal of
reading. His family appears to have been somewhat poeti-
cal, as his history was preluded by copies of verses by his
three sons, and his son-in-law.1
MARTYR. JUSTIN. See JUSTIN.
MARTYR, PETER. See ANGHIERA.
MARTYR (Peter), a very distinguished divine, was
born at Florence, Sept 8, 1500. His family name was
Vermilius ; but his parents gave him that of Martyr, from
one Peter a martyr, whose church happened to stand near
their house. The first rudiments of literature he received
from bis mother, who was a very ingenious lady ; and used,
as it is said, to read Terence and other classics to him in
the original. When he was grown up, he became a regu-
lar Augustine in the monastery of Fiesoli ; and, after three
years' stay there, was sent to the university of Padua, to
study philosophy and the Greek language. At twenty-six,
in 1526, he was made a public preacher, and preached
first at Brixia, in the church of Afra, then at Rome, Ve-
nice, Mantua, and other cities of Italy. He read lectures
of philosophy and divinity in his college, and applied him*
self to the study of the Hebrew tongue, the knowledge of
which he attained by the assistance of one Isaac, a Jewish
physician. Such was his fatirte at this time, that tie was
made abbot of Spoletto, in the duchy of Umbria, where
he continued three years. Afterwards, he was made go-
» Prince's WorttiiM of Devon. —Fuller'* Worthies.-*- Ath. Ox. ?ol. t.
M A R T Y K. 387
vernor of the monastery of St. Peter ad aram in Naples.
Here he first became acquainted with the writings of Zuin-
glius and Bucer, which led him to entertain a good opi-
nion of protestantism : and .afterwards his conversation with
Vaides, a Spanish lawyer, so confirmed him in it, that he
made no scruple to preach it at Rome privately to many
persons of quality, and sometimes even publicly. Thus
when he came to 1 Cor. Hi. 13, he boldly affirmed, that
place not to be meant of purgatory ; " because," said he,
" the fire there spoken of is such a fire, as both good and
bad must pass through ; and the fire $hall try every man's
work of what sort it is." " And this," says Fuller, in his
quaint manner, " seeming to shake a main pillar of pur-
gatory, the pope's furnace, the fire whereof, like the phi*
losopber's stone, melteth all his leaden bulls into pure gold ;
some of his under-chemists, like Demetrius and the crafts*
inen, began to bestir themselves, and caused him to be
silenced."
It was not, however, this opposition, but a severe illness,
which obliged him to go from Naples in quest of a more
healthy air; and being chosen general visitor of his order,
that he might be absent from his cure without inconve-
nience, he went to Lucca, where he was made superior of
St. Fridian, a house of his own order ; and tbefe he lived
with Tremellius and Zanchius, whom he is said to have
converted. But, finding himself in more danger here, he
left the city secretly, and travelled to Pisa ; whence, by
letters to cardinal Pole, and to the society of Lucca, he
fully explained the reasons of his departure. Then coming
to Florence, but making no long stay there, he set for-
ward for Germany ; and, passing the Alps, went to Zurich
with Ochinus, who had been one of the most celebrated
preachers of Italy, but had now forsaken his former super-
stitions. From Zurich he went to Basil ; and thence, by
Bucer's means, was brought to Strasburg. Here he mar-
ried a young nun that had left her convent, who live*! with
him eight years, and died at Oxford, as will be noticed
hereafter. After he had spent five years at Strasburg, he
was, through the management of Seymour the protector,
and archbishop Cranmer, sent for to England by Edward
VI. who made him professor of divinity at Oxford in 1 549.
Here be read lectures, to which even the popish party,
from the fame of his learning, resorted : and though they
could not be easily Reconciled to his doctrines, yet they
c c 2
38.8 MARTYR.
bore him with some patience, till he came to handle that
of the Lord's Supper. Then they began to disturb him in
his lectures, to fix up malicious and scandalous libels
against him, and to challenge him to disputes ; which chal-
lenges he did not disdain to accept, but disputed, first pri-
vately in the vice-chancellor's lodge, and afterwards iu
public, before his majesty's commissioners, deputed for
that purpose^ His adversaries, finding do advantage could
be gained by argument, stirred up the multitude so suc-
cessfully, that he was obliged to retire to London till the
tumult was suppressed. In 1550, the king bestowed on
him a canonry of Christ church, on which he returned,
and entered on the lodgings belonging to him, near the
great gate of Christ church leading into Fis|b-street. Here
being still much disturbed by the rabble, who broke his
windows in the night-time, and rendered the situation very
uneasy, he was obliged to exchange his lodgings for those
in the cloister, where he quietly passed the remainder of his
abode in the university. For the more privacy in his stu-
dies, he erected a fabric of stone in bis garden, situated on
the east side of his apartments, in which he partly com-
posed his commentaries on the first epistle to the Corin-
thians, and his epistles to learned men. This fabric, which
contained two stories, remained until 1684, when it was
pulled down by Dr. Aldrich^then canon.
' He continued at Oxford till queen Mary came to the
throne ; when he was suffered to depart the kingdom, and
passed undiscovered through Brabant, and other popish
territories, to Strasburg; though it is said, not without
considerable risk. Thence he went to Zurich, upon an
honourable invitation from the magistrates of that place,
to be their divinity professor; and was accompanied thi-
ther by Jewel, afterwards bishop of Salisbury, who was
then an exile for his religion. At Zurich Martyr lived
seven years in high esteem with the inhabitants of the place,
and in great friendship with Builinger, and other learned
men. He was afterwards invited to Geneva, to be pastor
of the Italian church there; and in queen Elizabeth's reign,
when protestantism was re-established in England, bishop
Jewel endeavoured to prevail ou him to return, but in vain,
be continued at Zurich to the time of his death, Nov, 12,
1562, in his sixty-third year. The year before he died,
however, he was prevailed upon by letters from the queen-
^pother of France, the king of Navarre, the prince of Cond£,
MARTYR. 589
and other peers of that realui, to go over into France to
the solemn conference at Poissy, where he disputed against
the papists, with Beza and others. Not long after his ar-
rival at Zurich, he took a second wife, who was recom-
mended to him from the Italian church at Geneva, where
she lived an exile for religion. He had two children by
her, who both died very young, and before him ; and he
left her with child of a third, which proved a daughter.
Peter Martyr is described to have been a man of an
able, healthy constitution, \arge-boned, well limbed, and
of a countenance which expressed an inwardly grave and
settled turn of mind. His parts and learning were very
uncommon ; as was also his skill in disputation, which made
him as much admired by the p rotes tan ts, as hated by the
papists. He was very sincere and indefatigable in pro*
uioting a reformation in the church ; yet his zeal was
never known to get the better of his judgment. He was
always moderate and prudent in his outward behaviour ;
nor, even in the conflict of a dispute, did he suffer himself
to be transported into intemperate warmth, or unguarded
expressions ever to escape him. But his pains and in-
dustry were not confined to preaching and disputing against
the papists ; he wrote a great many books against them,
none of which raised his reputation higher, than his " De-
fence of the orthodox doctrine of the Lord's Supper,'*
against bishop Gardiner. He wrote also several tracts of
divinity, and commentaries on many books of Scripture ;
for all which he was as much applauded by one party, as
he was condemned by the other. Dupin, however, with
his usual candour, bestows the highest praise on the learn-
ing and critical skill of Martyr as a commentator. It is
easy to conceive, that Peter Martyr would be ranked at
Rome amongst the heretics of the first class ; yet, as bishop
Jewel observes in his " Defence of the Church of England,9*
he " was an illustrious man, and must never be named
without the highest respect and honour.'9
t We have mentioned that Peter Martyr's wife died at
Oxford, in 1551, and was buried in the cathedral of Christ
church. Here her remains quietly reposed until 1556,
when cardinal Pole appointed a set of commissioners to
reform the university of Oxford, from all remains of the
new religion, or heresy, as it was called. In the discharge
of their functions, they were ordered to take into their
consideration the manners and life " of one Catherine
S90 MARTYR.
Cathie, or Dampmartin, the late wife of Dr. Peter Martyr,
who died about four years ago, and was buried, in the ca-
thedral of Christ church, near to the reliques of St. Frides-
wyde." They accordingly summoned several persobs of
ber acquaintance, "to the end that if they could find any
thing of her, favouring of heresy, they might take up her
body and commit it to the fire ;" but, as these witnesses
pretended they did not understand her language, and there-
fore could not tell what religion she professed, they in*
formed the cardinal of their progress, who immediately
wrote to Dr. Marshall, the dean, a letter, which by no
means exhibits Pole as a man possessed of that greatness
of mind which his late biographers have attributed to him.
He tells the dean that " forasmuch as Catherine Cathie, of
detestable memory, who had professed herself the legiti-
mate wife of Peter Martyr, a heretic, though he and she
had before marriage entered into solemn vows' of religion,
and that she had lived with him in Oxford in cursed forni-
IF
cation, when he denied the truth df the Sacrament, and
that also after her death she was buried near the sepulchre
of that religious virgin St. Frideswyde ; he should accord-
ing to bis discretion deal so with her carcass that it should
be far enough cast from ecclesiastical sepulture.9' Mel-
chior Adam imputes this conduct on the part of the car-
dinal, to a motive of resentment, which he had conceived
against Peter Martyr. The cardinal had formerly been
bis most intimate friend, and even continued to appear so,
after Martyr bad expressed his disgust at the errors and
superstitions of Rome ; but when Martyr left Italy, he be-
came his most inveterate enemy, and exercised that indig-
nity, and even cruelty upon the wife, which it was not in
his power to shew to the husband.
The body Was accordingly taken up and buried in the
dunghill near the dean's stable, and remained there, untH
queen Elizabeth was settled on the throne, when a singu-
lar act of retaliation took place/ The archbishop of Can-
terbury, bishop of London, and others, having ordered
some of the society of Christ church to replace the body,
Dr. CaJfhill, the subdean, not content with this, made
search for the relics of St Frideswyde, and having found
them, put them into the coffin along with the remains of
Martyr's wife, that in time they might become undistin-
g'uishable. In this state the coffin was solemnly interred
in Christ church. On this occasion one of the Oxford wits
MARTYR. S9t
proposed by way of epitaph, " Hie jacet religio cum su-
perstitione." Dr. Calfbill published in the following year
(1562), an account of this affair, entitled " Historia de
•xhumattone Katberroa nuper uxor is Petri Martyris,"
in 8V0.1
MARVELL (Andrew), a very ingenious and witty
English writer, was the son of Mr. Andrew Marvell, minis-
ter and schoolmaster of Kingston upon Hull, in Yorkshire,
and was born in tbat town in 1620. His abilities being
very great, his progress in letters was proportionable ; so
that, at thirteen, he was admitted of Trinity-college in
Cambridge. But be bad not been long there, when he
fell into the hapds of the Jesuits ; for those busy agents of
the Romish church, under the connivance of this, as well
as the preceding reign, spared no pains to make prose-
lytes ; for which purpose several of them were planted in
or near the universities, in order to make conquests among
the young scholars. Marvell fell into their snares, as Chil-
lingworth had fallen before him, atid was inveigled up to
London ; but his father being apprised of it soon after,
pursued him, and finding him in a bookseller's shop, pre-
vailed with him to return to college. He • afterwards ap-
plied to his studies with great assiduity, and took a bache-
lor of arts degree in 1639. About this time he lost his
father, who was unfortunately drowned in crossing the
Humber, as he was attending the daughter of an intimate
female friend ; who by this event becoming childless, sent
for young Marvell, and, by way of makitig all the return
in her power, added considerably to bis fortune. Upon
this the plan of his education was enlarged, and be tra-
velled through most of the polite parts of Europe. It ap-
pears that he had been at Rome, from bis poem entitled
" Flccknoe," an English priest at Rome; in which he has
described with great humour that wretched poetaster, Mr.
Richard Flecknoe, from whom Dry den gave the name of
Mac* Flee kuoe to bis satire against Shadwell. During his
traveUt another occasion happened for the exercise of
his wit In France, be found much talk of Lancelot Jo-
seph de Maniban, an abbot ; who pretended to understand
the characters of those he had never seen, and to prognos-
ticate their good or bad fortune, from an inspection of their
1 Melcbior Adam.— Fuller's Abel Redivivtw.—. Wood's ^nnals.— Stryptt^
4ranawr mod Annals, fnusim. — Dupin. — Chaufepie.
S92 M A R V E L L
band-writing. This artist was handsomely lashed by otif
author* in a poem written upon the spot, and addressed to
him. We know no more of Marvell for several years,
only that be spent some time at Constantinople, where he
resided as secretary to the English embassy at that court.
In 1653, we find him returned to .England, and employ-,
ed by Oliver Cromwell as a tutor to a Mr.. Dutton ; as ap-
pears from an Original letter of Marvel 1 to that usurper, still
extant. His first appearance in any public capacity at
home, was his being made assistant to the celebrated Mil-
ton, Latin secretary to the protector, which, according to
his own account, happened in 1657. " I never had," says
he, " any, not the remotest relation to public matters,
fior correspondence with the persons then predominant,
until the year 1657 ; when indeed I entered into an employ-
ment, for which I was not altogether improper, and which
I considered to be the most innocent and inoffensive to-
wards his majesty's affairs, of any in that usurped and irre-
gular government, to. which all men were, then exposed;
And this I accordingly discharged without disobliging any
one person, there having been opportunity and endeavours
since his majesty's happy return to have discovered, had
it been otherwise/9
A little before the Restoration, he was chosen by his
native town, Kingston-upon-HulI, to sit in that parliament
which began at Westminster, April 25, 1660, and after-
wards in that which began May 8, 1661... In this station
•he acquitted himself so much to the satisfaction of his
electors, that they allowed him a handsome pension all the
time be continued to represent them ; which was to the
time of bis death. This was probably the last borough in
England that paid a representative. He seldom^ spoke in
parliament, but had much influence without doors upon
the. members < of both houses* Prince Rupert, particu-
larly, paid the greatest regard to his counsels ; and when*
ever he voted according to the sentiments of Marrell, which
be often did, it used to be said by the opposite party, that
"be had been with hi&tutor." Such certainly wis the inti-
paaoy. between the prince and. Marvell* that when be was
obliged to. abscond, to avoid falling a sacrifice to the indig-
nation of those enemies among the governing party, whom
his satirical pen had irritated, the prince frequently went
to see him, disguised as a private person.
The first attack he made with his pen Was in 1672, upon
M A R V E L L 39S.
ftr; Parkei? a itoan of parts and learning, but a furious
partizan, and virulent writer on the side of arbitrary go-
vernment, who at this time published " Bishop Bramhall's
Vindication of himself, and the rest of the episcopal clergy,
fronr the presbyterian charge of popery, &c." to which he
added a preface of his own. This preface Marvell attacked,
in a' piece called " The Rehearsal transprosed ; or, ani-
madversions on a late book, intituled, A preface, shewing
what grounds there? are of fears and jealousies of Popery, the
second impression, with additions and amendments. Lon-
don, printed by J. D. for the assigns of John Calvin and
Theodore Beza, at the sign of the king's indulgence, on
the south side of the* Ldke Leman ; and sold by N. Ponder
in Chancery-lane,*' 1672," in 8vo. The title of this piece
is taken in part1 from the duke of Buckingham's comedy,
called "The Rehearsal;" and, as Dryden is ridiculed in
that play under the name of Bayes, Marvell borrowed the
same name for Pirker, 'whom he exposed with much
strength of* argument, and force of humour. Parker ans-
wered Marvell in a letter entitled *' A Reproof to the Re-
hearsal transprosed 5" to which Marvell replied in, " The'
Rehearsal transprosed, the second part. Occasioned by
two letters': the first printed by a nameless author, enti-
tled A Reproof, &c. the Second left for me at a friend's
house, dated Nov. 3, 1673, subscribed J. G. and concluding
with 'these words : If thou datrst to print any lie &r libtl
ugainsi Dr. Parker^ by thh eternal God I will cut thy throat.
Answered by Andrew Marvell," Lond. 1673, 8voi Marvell
did not confine himself in these pieces to Parker's princi-
ples, as they appear in the " Preface and the Reproof ;"
but 'he exposed aind confuted likewise various opinions
which the doctor had advanced in his " Ecclesiastical Po-
lity," published in 1670, aad in his " Defence9' of it in
1 §7 1. Parker made no reply to Marvell's last piece : " He
judged it more: prudent," says Wood, " to lay down the
cirdgels, than to enter the lists again with an untowardly
combatant, so hugely well versed arid experienced in the
theft but: newly refined ait, though much in mode and
fiaihion almost ever since, of sporting and buffoonery. It
was generally thought, however, by many of those who
were otherwise favourers of Parker's cause, that the vic-
tory lay on Marvell** side ; and it wrought this good effect
on Parker, that for ever after it took down his high spirit."
Bwnet, speaking of Parker, says that, "after he had for
•M, MARVELL
some years entertained the nation with several vinfleat
books, be was attacked by the liveliest droll of the age*
who wrote in a burlesque strain; but with so peculiar apd
entertaining a conduct, that from the Jung. down to the
tradesman, his books wer$ read with great pleasure. That
not only humbled Parker, but the whole party; for the
author of the Rehearsal transposed had all the men pf wit
on his side/' Swift likewise, spring of the usual fate el
common answerers to books, and how short-lived their
labours are, adds, that " there is indeed an exception*
when, any great genius thinks it worth his while to expose
a foolish piece : so we still read Marvell's answer to Par*
ker with pleasure, though the book it answers be sunk long
ago." Several other writers fell with great fury aud vio-
lence upon Marveli ; but Parker being considered as the
principal, Marveli took but slight notice of the others.
A few yetfrs after, another divine fell uj>der the cogni-
zance of Marvell's pen. In 1675, Dr* Herbert Croft,
bishop of Hereford^ published without hi* statue* a; dis-
course in 4to, entitled, u The Naked Truth ; or the true
state of the Primitive Church. By an bumble Moderator."
This was immediately answered by several persons, and
among the rest by Dr. Turner, master of St* JohnVcol-
lege, Cambridge, in a book called "Animadversions
upon a late pamphlet, entitled, The Naked Truth,99 &c.
This animadrerter being against moderation, which the
author of " Naked Truth" had written his book on purpose
to recommend, provoked Marveli to take him to task, in*
piece entitled " Mr. Smirke, or the divine in mode ; being
certain annotations upon the animadversions on The Naked
Truth, together with a short historical essay concerning
general councils, creeds, and impositions in matters of re*
ligion. By Andreas Rivet us, junior* Atiagramnaatised,
Res nuda Veritas," 1676, 4to. The " Historical Essay"
was afterwards printed by itself in folia The last work of
our author, which was published during bis life, was " Aa
account of the growth of Popery and arbitrary govern-
ment in England ; more particularly, from the long pro*
legation of Nov. 1675, ending the 15th of Feb. 1676, till
the last meeting of parliament the 16th of July, 1677;
167V' folio: and reprinted in State tracts in 1689. la
this the author, having imputed the Dutch war to the coc*
ruption of the court, asserts, that the papists, and parti*
cularly the French, were the true springs of all the canu-
MARVEL L, 395
at this time : and th$*e, and other aspersions upon the
king and ministry, occasioned the following advertisement
to be published in tjie Gazette : " Whereas there have
been lately printed and published, several seditious and
scandalous libels against the proceedings of both houses of
parliament, and other his majesty's courts of justice, to
the dishonour of his majesty's government, and the hazard
of public peace ; these are to give notice, that what per-
son soever shall discover unto one of the secretaries of
state the printer, publisher, author, or bander to the press;
of any of the said libels, so that full evidence may be
made thereof to a jury, without mentioning the informer ;
especially one libel, intituled, An account of the growth of
Popery, &c. and another called, A seasonable argument to
all the grand juries, &c* the discoverer shall be rewarded
as follows : be shall have fifty pounds for such discovery,
as aforesaid, of the printer or publisher of it, from the
press ; and for the bander of it to the press, 100/. &c."
Marvell, as we have already observed, by thus opposing
the ministry aud their measures, created himself many
enemies, and made himself very obnoxious to the govern-
ment : notwithstanding which, Charles II. took great de-
light in bis conversation, and tried all means to win him
over to his side, but in vain ; nothing being ever able to
shake his resolution. There were many instances of his
firmnesi in resisting the offers of the court, in which he
showed himself proof against all temptations. The king,
• having one night entertained htm,, sent the lord treasurer
Danby the next morning to find out his lodgings ; which
were then op' two pair of stairs, in one of the little courts
in the£>trand. He was busily writing, when the treasurer
opened the door abruptly upon him;. upon which, sur-
prised at so unexpected a visitor, Marvell told his lordship,
a he believed he had mistaken his way." Lord Danby re*
plied, " Not now I have found Mr. Marvell ;" telling him,
that he came with a message from his majesty, which was
to know, what bis majesty could do to serve him ? to which
Marvell replied, with his usual facetiousness, that "it was
not in his majesty's power to serve him." Coming to a
< serious explanation, our author told the treasurer, u tba|
he knew full well the nature of courts, having been in
many ; and that whoever is distinguished by the favour of
the prince, is always expected to vote in his interest.?
Lord Danby told him, that bis majesty, from the just sense.
396. M A R V E L L.
•
he bad of his merit alone, desired to know, whether theri
wad any place at court he could be pleased with} To
which Marvel I replied, " that he could not with honour
accept the offer ; since,, if he did, he must either be un-
grateful to the king in voting against him, or false to his
country in giving into the measures of the court. The
only favour therefore which he begged of his majesty was,
that he would esteem him as faithful a subject as any he
had, and more truly in bis interest by refusing his offers,
than he could have been by embracing them." Lord
Danby, finding no arguments would make the .least im-
pression, told him, " that the king had ordered him 1000/.
which he hoped be would receive, till he could think of
something farther to ask bis majesty/9 This last offer be
rejected with the same steadiness as the first ; though, as
soon as the treasurer was gone, he was forced to borrow a
guinea of a friend.
Marvell died in 1678, in bis fifty-eighth year, not with*
out the strongest suspicions of being poisoned; for he was
always very temperate, and of an healthful and strong con-
stitution to the last. He was interred in the church of St
Giles's in the Fields; and ten years after (in 1688), the
town of Kingston upon Hull, to testify her grateful re-
membrance of bis honest services to her, collected a sum
of money to erect a monument over him, and procured an
epitaph to be written by an able hand : but the minister
of the parish forbid both the inscription and monument to
be placed in that church. Wood tells us, that Marvell in
his conversation was very modest, and of few words; and
Cooke, the writer of bis life, observes, that he was very
reserved among those be did not well know, but a most
delightful and improving companion among his. friends *.
After his death were published, " Miscellaneous Poems,!'
in 1681, folio, with this advertisement to the reader pre-
fixed :
" These are to certify every ingenious reader, that all
these poems, as also the other things in this book con-:
tained, are printed according to the exact copies of my
» As even trivial anecdotes of such eyed, brown-haired. He was (the same
a mau are worth preserving, we shall which Wood says) in his conversation,
subjoin the following, taken from a very modest, and of very few words.,
manuscript of Mr. John Aubrey, who He was wont to say, that he would not
personally knew him : " He was of a drink high or freely with any one with
middling stature, pretty strong set, whom he would not trust his life."
lwundish-faced, chtrry -cheeked, hazel-
MARVELL 397
late dear husband, under his own hand-writing, being
found since his death among his other papers. Witness
my hand, this 15th day of October, 1680.
Mary Marvblu"
Bat Cooke says, that " these were published with no other
but a mercenary view, and indeed not at all to the honour
of the deceased, by a woman with whom he lodged, who
hoped by this stratagem to share in what he left behind
him: for that he was never married." This gentleman
gave an edition, corrected from the faults of former edi-
tions, of " The works of Andrew Marvell, esq." Lond. 1726,
in 2 vols. 12mo; in which, however, are contained only
his poems and letters, and not any of the prose pieces
above-mentioned. Cooke prefixed also the life of Marvell,
which has been principally used in drawing up this ac-
count of him. A more complete edition of all his works
was published by captain Thompson, in 1776, 3 vols. 4to ;
but some pieces are here attributed to him which were
written by other authors. Marvell is now little read, but
there are many descriptive touches in bis poems of great
beauty and delicacy. In his controversial works he was
unquestionably the greatest master of ridicule in his time ;
it is only to be regretted, for his fame, that his subjects
were temporary. l
MARVILLE, Vigneul. See ARGONNE.
MARULLUS (Michael Tarchaniota), one of those
learned Greeks who retired into Italy after the Turks had
taken Constantinople, where he was born. It is said that
it was not his zeal for the Christian religion, but the fear
of slavery, which made him abandon his country ; but if,
according to Tiraboschi, he was brought into Italy in his
infancy, this insinuation may be spared. He studied Greek
and Latin at Venice, and philosophy at Padua ; but for a
subsistence was obliged to embrace the profession of arms,
and served in the troop of horse under Nicholas Rhaila,
a Spartan general. He joined the two professions of let-
ters and arms, and would be no less a poet than a soldier :
and, as he suspected that it would not be thought any ex-
traordinary thing in him to be able to write Greek verses,
he applied himself diligently to the study of Latin poetry,
and acquired a good deal of reputation by his success in
1 Life by Cooke— Biog. Brit,—- D'lsraeli's Quarrels of Authors, a very enter-
taining Chapter.
39S MA RULL'US.
it. His Latin poemfe consist of four books of epigrams, and
as many of hymns, which were published at Florence in
1497, 4to. He. bad i^egun a poem on the education of a
prince, which he did not finish: as much of it, nowever,
as was found among bis papers was published along with
his epigrams and nymns; and this whole collection has
passed through several editions. He appears to have had
a poetical. mistress, whom.be frequently courts under the
name of Nerssa ; but be married Alexandra Scab, a Flo-
rentine lady of high accomplishments, and had Politian for
bis rival, which may account for the contempt with which
Politian speaks of his poetry. The critics are divided about
his poems, some praising them highly, while others, as
the two Scaligers, find great fault with them. Erasmus
says, in his " Cicerontanus," that the poems of Marullus
would have been tolerable, if they bad . savoured less of
Paganism: " Marulli pauca legi, tolerabilia si minus ha-
berent paganitatis." He created himself many enemies,
by censuring too freely the ancient Latin authors, for
which he was equally freely censured by Floridus Sabinus
and Politian.' The learned men of that time usually rose
to fame by translation ; but this be despised, either as too
mean or too hazardous a task. Varillas, in bis " Anec-
dotes of Florence,9' asserts, that Lorenzo de Medici con*
jured Marullus, by letters still extant, to translate Plu-
tarch's moral works ; but that Marullus had such an aver-
sion to that kind of drudgery, which obliged him, as he
said, to become a slave to the sentiments of another, that .
it Was impossible for him to get to the end of the 'first
page. He lost his life in 1499, or 1500, as he was at-
tempting to pass the river Csecina, which runs by Vola-*
terra, in Tuscany. Perceiving that his horse had plunged
with his fore feet in such a manner that he. could not dis-
engage them again, he fell into a passion, and gave him
the spur : but both his horse and himself fell ; and, as bis
leg was engaged under the horse's belly, there needed but
little water to stifle him. Pierius Valerianus, who relates
these circumstances, observes, that this poet blasphemed
terribly just before bis death, and immediately upon his
fall discharged a thousand reproaches and curses against
heaven. His impiety seems unquestionable ; and it is. im-
puted to this turn of mind, that he so much admired Lu-
cretius. He gave a new edition of his poem, which is
censured in "Joseph Scaiiger's notes upon Catullus:'9 and
MARULLUS. 399
'he endeavoured to imitate bim. He used to say, that
" the rest of the poets were only to be read, but that Vir«
' git and Lucretius were to be got by heart." Hody, how-
ever, has collected a great many honourable testimonies
to his merit, from the writings of able and learned critics
at or near his time, while be has been equally under-
Valued by more modern writers.1
MARY, queen of England, and eldest daughter of
Henry VIII. by his first wife, Catharine of Arragon, was
born at Greenwich in Kent, Feb. 18, 1517. Her mother
was very careful of her education, and provided her with
tutors to teach her what was fitting. Her first preceptor
was 'the famous Linacer, who drew up for her use " The
rudiments of Grammar,9' and afterwards, " De emendata
structure Latini sermonis-libri sex." Linacer dying when
she was but six years old, Ludovicus Vires, a very learned
man of Valencia in Spain, became her next tutor ; and
composed for her, " De ratione studii puerilis." Under
the direction of these excellent men, she became so great
a mistress of Latin, that Erasmus commends her for her
epistles in that language.
Towards the. end of her father's reign, at the earnest so-
licitation of queen Catharine Parr, she undertook to trans*
late Erasmus's " Paraphrase on the gospel of St. John ;"
but being cast into sickness, as Udall relates, partly by
overmuch study in this work, after she had made some
progress therein, she left the rest to be done by Dr. Mallet,
her chaplain. This translation is printed in the first vo-
lume of " Erasmus's Paraphrase upon the NewTestament,v
London, 1548, folio; and before it is a Preface, written
by Udall, the celebrated master of Eton-school, and ad-
dressed to the queen dowager. This Preface contains some,
remarks illustrative of the history of the times. Among
other things, Udall takes occasion in it to observe to her.
majesty, " the great number of noble women at that time
in England, not only given to the study of hqman sciences
and strange tongues, but also so thoroughly expert in the
Holy Scriptures, that they were able to compare with the
best writers, as well in enditing and penning of godly and
fruitful treatises, to the instruction and edifying of realms
in the knowledge of God, as afso in t ran slating good books
* Hody deGnecisillostribus.— Tirabo«chi.— BuU*rt,i Academtedet Sciences.
— Niceron, vol; XIX.— Q rets well's Politiau.
400 MART.
. out of Latin; or Greek into English, for the use and coot*
modity of such as are rude and ignorant of thesaid Lougues,
It was now," be said, " no news in England, to see young
damsels in tioble houses, and in the courts of princes, in*
. stead. of cards, and other instruments of idle trifling, to
have continually in their hands either Psalms, Homilies*
and other devout meditations, or else Paul's epistles, or
some book of Holy Scripture matters, and as familiarly
both to read or reason thereof in Greek, Latin, French, or '
Italian, as in English. It was now a common thing to see
young virgins so trained in the study of good letters, that
they willingly set all other vain pastimes at nought for
learning's sake. It was now no news at all, to see queens
and ladies of most high estate and progeny, instead of
courtly dalliance, to embrace virtuous exercises of reading
and writing, and with most earnest study, both early and
late, to apply themselves to the acquiring of knowledge,
as well in all other liberal arts and disciplines, as also most
especially of God. and his holy word. And in this behalf,"
says he, " like as to your highness, as well for composing
and setting forth many godly Psalms, and divers other
contemplative meditations, as also for causing these para-
phrases to be translated into our vulgar tongue, England
can never be able to render thanks sufficient; so may it
never be able, as her deserts require, enough to praise
and magnify the most noble, the most virtuous, the most
witty, and the most studious lady Mary's grace, for taking
such pain and travail in translating this paraphrase of Eras-
mus upon the gospel of St. John. — What could be a more
plain declaration of her most constant purpose to promote
God's word, and the free grace of his gospel?" &e.
Udal I, however, was mistaken; as she never entertained
any such purpose; for, soon after her accession to the
throne, a proclamation was issued for calling in and sup-
pressing this very book, and all others that had the least
tendency towards furthering the Reformation. And Wal-
pole is of opinion, that the sickness which came upon her
while she was translating St. John, was all affected ; " for,**
says he, " she would not so easily have been cast into
sickness, had she been employed on the Legends of St.
Teresa, or St. Catharine of Sienna."
King Edward her brother dying the 6th of July, 1553,
she was -proclaimed queen the same month, and crowned
in October, by Stephen Gardiner, bishop of Winchester.
MARY. 401
la July 1754, she was married to Philip prince of Spain,
eldest son of the emperor Charles the fifth; and now
began that persecution against the Protestants, fof which
her rei£n is go justly infamous. Until her marriage with
that tyranl, she appears to have been merciful and humane,
for Holitoshed tells us, that when she appointed sir Richard
Morgan chief justice of the Common Pleas, she .told him,
*' that notwithstanding the old errory which did not admit
any witness to speak, or any other matter to be heard,
(her majesty being party,) her pleasure was, that whatso-
ever could be brought in favour of the subject should be
admitted to be heard; and moreover, that the justices
should not persuade themselves to put in judgment other-
wise for her highness than for her subject" Hence some
hive carried their good opinion of her so far, as to sup-'
pose that most of those: barbarities were transacted by her
bishops, without her knowledge or privity ; but as this was
impossible, it would be a better defence, if she must be
defended^ to plead that a strict adherence to a false reli-
gion, and a conscientious observance of its pernicious and
Gruel dictates, overruled and got the better of that good-
ness of temper, which was natural to her. Yet neither
this can be reasonably admitted when we consider her un-
kind and inhuman treatment of her sister, the lady Eliza-
beth ; her admitting a council for the taking up awd burn-
ing of he* father's body ; her most ungrateful and perfidious
breach of promise with the Suffolk men ; her ungenerous
and barbarous treatment of judge Hales, who had strenu~
ously defended her right of succession to the crown ; and
0f archbishop Cranmer, who in reality had saved her life.
These actions were entirely her own ; her treatment of
Cranmer becomes aggravated by the obligations she had
been under to him. Burnet says, " that her firm adherence
to her mother's cause and interest, and her backwardness in
submitting to the king her father, were thought crimes of
such a nature by his majesty, that he came to a resolution
to put her openly to death; and that, when all others were
unwilling to run any risk in saving her, Cranmer alone
ventured upon it* In his gentle way he told the king,
That' she was young and indiscreet, and therefore it was
no wonder if she obstinately adhered to that which her
mother and all about her had been infusing into her for
many years-; but- that it would appear strange, if he should
for this cause so far forget the father, as to proceed to
402 MARY.
extremities with his own child ; that, if she were separated
from her mother and her people, in a little time there
might be ground gained on her ; but that to take away ber
life, would raise horror through all Europe against him;"
by which means be preserved her. Queen Catharine,
bearing of the king's bloody intention,, wrote a long letter
to ber daughter, in which she encouraged her to suffer
cheerfully, to trust to God, and keep her heart, clean*
She charged her in all things to obey the king's commands,
except in the matters of religion. She sent her two. Latin
books y the one, " De vita Christi, with the Declaration of
the Gospels;" the other, " St. Jerome's Episles to Paula
and Eustochium " This letter of Catharine may be seen
in the Appendix to Burnet's second volume of the " His-
tory of the Reformation." She fell a sacrifice, however, at
last to disappointed expectations, both of a public and
domestic kind, and especially the absence and unkindness
of Philip ; which are supposed, by deeply affecting her
spirits, to have brought on that fever of which she died,
Nov. 7, 155$, after a reign of five years, four months,
and eleven days. "It k not necessary," says Hume*
" to employ many words in drawing the character of this
princess. She possessed few qualities either estimable
or amiable, and her person was as little eagagiag, as her
behaviour and address. Obstinacy, bigotry, violence,
cruelty, malignity, revenge, tyranny -y every circumstance
of her character took a tincture from her bad temper and
narrow understanding. And amidst that complication of
rices, which entered into her composition, we shall scarcely
find any virtue but sincerity ; a quality which she seems
to have maintained throughout her whole life; except
m the beginning of her reign, when the necessity of
her affairs obliged her to make some promises to the
Protestants which she certainly never intended to per*
form. But in these cases a weak bigoted woman, under
the government of priests, easily finds casuistry sufficient
to justify to herself the violation of a promise. She appear*
also, as well as ber father, to have been susceptible o£
some attachments- of friendship ; and even without the ca-
price and inconstancy which were so remarkable in the
coqduct of that monarch. To which we may add, that in-
many circumstances of her life she gave indications of re-
solution and vigour of mind, a quality which seems to have
teen inherent in her family." , .
There are some of her writings still extant. . Strype ha*
MARY. 40*
preserved three prayers or meditations of her composition ;
the first, " Against the assaults of vice ;" the second, " A
Meditation touching adversity ;" the third, " A prater
to be read at the hour cf death.'9 , In Fox's " Acts
and Monuments" ,are printed eight of her letters to king
Edward and the lords of the council, on her nonconformity,
and on the imprisonment of her chaplain Dr. Mallet. In
the " Sylloge epistolarum," are several more of her letters*
extremely curious : one on the subject of her delicacy in
never having written but to three men ; one of affectiou
for her sister ; one after the death of Anne Boleyn ; and
one very remarkable of Cromwell to her. In ' " Haynes's
State papers," are two in Spanish, to the emperor Charles
the Fifth. There is also a French letter, printed by Strype
from the " Cotton library," in answer to a haughty man-
date from Philip, when he had a mind to marry the lady
Elizabeth to the duke of. Savoy, against the queen and
princess's inclination : it is written in a most abject manner;
and a wretched style. Bishop Tanner ascribes to her " A
History of her own life and death," and " An Account of
Martyrs in her reign," dated 1632; but this is manifestly
an er/or. * , .
: MAttY, queen of Scots, celebrated for her beauty, her
wit; her learning, and her misfortunes, was born Dec. 8,
1542, and was .the daughter and sole heiress of James the
Fifth king of Scots, by Mary of Lorrain, his second queen,
and dowager of Longueville. She was not eight days old
when her father died ; and therefore, after great animosi-
ties among the nobility,, it was agreed, that the earl of
Arran, as being by proximity of blood the next heir to the
crown in legitimate descent, and the first peer of Scotland,
should be made governor of the kingdom, and guardian of
the queen : who remained, in the mean time, with her
mother, in the royal palace of Linlithgow. Urgent appli~
cation being made by Henry VIII. in the behalf of his son
Edward, for this princess in her childhood, it was at last
agreed between the chief peers of both kingdoms, that she
should be given in marriage to that, prince ; but this was
afterwards refused by her governor. She was, according
to the custom of the day taught the Latin, French, Spanish,
and Italian tongues ; in which she afterwards arrived at so
* Rapid, Hume, and Smollett's Histories of England, but especially the Ec«
*fo*iaajtical Historian* Fox, Burnet, and Strype.— Walpole's Royal and Nobfci
Auttars, Park's edition; . ~ ■
" PD2 ' •
404 MART.
great perfection, that few were found equal to iter in any
it l!hem, and none superior in them all. -
The queen-mother being inclined to the interest of
Prance, the young queen, by her care, was conveyed
thither when but about fix years old. After staying a
few days with the king and queen at court, she was sent
to a monastery, where the daughters of the chief nobility
of the kingdom were educated. Here she spent her time
in all the offices and duties of a monastic life ; being con-
stant in her devotions, and very observant of die discipline.
She employed much of her study in learning languages;
and she acquired so consummate a skill in Latin, that she
tpoke an otation of her own composing in that language,
in the great guard-room at the Louvre, before the royal
family and nobility of France. She was naturally inclined to
poetry, and made so great a progress in the art, as to be a
writer herself. Her compositions were much esteemed by
Ronsard, who was himself at that time accounted an excel-
lent poet. She had a good taste for music, and played
well upon several instruments.; was a "fine dancer, and sat
a horse gracefully. But these last accomplishment* she
pursued rather out of necessity than choice; and, when
she most followed her own inclinations, was ^employed
among her women in rieedle-work.
All these accomplishments, added to a fine person, ren-
dered her so amiable to Henry II. of France and bis queen,
as to make them desirous of marrying her to the dauphin,
which was accordingly arranged : and the nuptials were
aolemnized the 2 Oth of April, 1 558. But this happy mar-
riage, for such it seems to have been, lasted only a little
while; as Francis II. as he then was, died Dec. 5, 1560.
His disconsolate queen, being left without issue, returned
soon after to Scotland ; where the had not been long, be-
fore Charles archduke of Austria was proposed to her as an
husband, by the cardinal of Lorrain. But queen Elizabeth
interposed, and desired she would not marry with any
foreign prince, but make choice of an husband out of her
own nobility. She recommended to her either the earl of
Leicester, or the lord Darnly ; giving her to understand,
that her succession to the crown of JSngland would be Very
precarieus, if she did hot comply. Being thus overawed
by Elizabeth, and not a little pleased with lord Darnly,
who was extremely -handsome, she consented to many
hyn ; and creating him earl of Ross and duke of Rothesay;
July 28, 1565, he was the same day proclaimed king at
MARY. 405
* *
Edinburgh, and married to the queen the day after. By
this husband she bad one son, bom at Edinburgh, June. 19,
1566, who was afterwards James jhe Sixth of Scotland,
and the First of England. Queen Elizabeth congratulated
her upon this occasion { though, as Camden says, she in-
wardly grieved at being prevented by her rival in thf
honour of being a mother. She openly favoured her title
to the succession ; and the prince was commended to he?
majesty's protection,
In Feb. 1567, the new king of Sqotland was murdered
in a very barbarous manner, by the contrivance of the earl
of Murray, who was the queen's illegitimate brother ; and,
in May following she was married to John Hepburn, earl
of Bothwell, a man of an ambitious temper and dissolute
manners, and whQ in reality had been lordDarnly's.mur*
derer. From this time a series of infelicities attended her
to the end of her life. The different views and interests of
the nobility, clergy, and gentry, in regard to religious
and political afiairs, had so broken the peace of the king*
don?, that all things appeared in the greatest disorder and
confusion. The earl of Bothwell was forced to fly into
Denmark to sav$ his life ; the queen was seized, carried
prisoner to Lochleven, and was treated on the road with
such scorn and contempt, as her own personal dignity
might, one would think, have prevented. She was con?
veyed to the provost's lodgings, and committed to the
care of Murray's mother ; who, " having been James
the Fifth's concubine, insulted much,19 says Camden, " over
the unfortunate and afflicted queen, boasting that she was
the lawful wife of James the Fifth, and that her son Murray
was his lawful issue." What aggravated Mary's misforw
tunes was, that she was believed to have been the cause of
lord Daroly's death, in order to revenge the loss of David
Bizzio, an Italian musician, supposed her gallant, and
whom lord Darnly bad killed on that account. Be this as
it will, when queen Elisabeth heard of this treatment of
the queen of Scots, she seemed fired with indignation at
it ; and sent sir Nicholas Throgmorton into Scotland, to
expostulate with the conspirator^, and to consult by what
means she might be restored to her liberty. But Elizabeth,
as we have noticed in her article, was by no means in
earnest : she was not the friend to the queen of Scots which
she pretended to be ; and, if not in some measure the con-
triver of these troubles, there is great reason to think that
she secretly rejoiced at them. When queen Elisabeth was
406 MARY;
crowned, the queen of Scots had assumed the afms and
title of the kingdom of England, an indignity Elizabeth
could never forget, as <iot thinking herself quite safe while
Mary harboured such pretensions.
Having been detained a prisoner at Lochleven eleven
months, and forced to comply with many demands which
she conceived to be highly detrimental to her honour and
interest, she escaped thence on May1 2, 1568, to Hamilton-
castle. . Here, in an assembly of many of the nobility, a
declaration was drawn up, stating that the grants extorted
from her majesty in prison, among which was a resignation
of the crown, were actually void from the beginning: upon
which such numbers of people came in to her assistance, that,
within two or three days, she acquired an army of at least
€000. On the other side, Murray, with great expedition,'
made preparation to attack the queen's forces before they
became too formidable ; and, when they joined battle, her
majesty's army consisting of raw soldiers, was soon de-
feated, and she obliged to save herself by flight, travelling
in one day sixty miles, to the house of Maxwell lord
Herns. Thence she dispatched a messenger to queen Eli-
zabeth with a diamond, which she bad formerly received
from her, as a pledge of mutual amity ; signifying, that
she would come into England, and beg her assistance, if
her rebellious subjects continued to persecute her any
further. Elizabeth returned her a very kind answer, with
large but not very sincere promises of doing her the most
friendly offices. .Before the messenger came back, she,
rejecting the advice of her friends, found means to convey
herself into England, landing, May 17, at Workington, in
Cumberland ; and on the same day wrote letters in French,
with her own hand, to queen Elizabeth, in which she gave
her a long detail of her misfortunes, desiring her protec-
tion and aid against her rebellious subjects. Elizabeth
affected to comfort her ; promised to protect her according
to the equity of her cause ; and, under pretence of greater
security, commanded that she should be carried to Carlisle.
The unfortunate queen of Scots began now to perceive her
own error, in not following the advice of her friends. Eng-
land, instead of being a sanctuary, was perhaps the worst
place she could have visited : for, being denied access to.
queen Elizabeth from the first, and tossed from one prisort
to another for the space of about eighteen years, in which
she had often struggled for liberty, she was at length
MARY.' 407
brought to trial, condemned, and beheaded, for being
concerned in a conspiracy against the life of queen Eliza-
beth. She professed to die for the Romish religion, and
has since been considered as a saint by that church. She
was executed within the castle of Fotheringay, on Feb.
4, 1587, and interred, some time after, in the cathedral
of Peterborough ; but her remains were taken up after-
wards by her son, and removed to a vault in Henry the
Vllth's chapel in Westminster-abbey, where a most mag-
nificent monument was erected to her metaory.
Authors have always differed, and do still differ, in the
judgments they pass upon the character of this queen ;*and
notwithstanding the mass of evidence produced within the
last half century by Hume, Robertson, Stuart, Whitaker,
and others, a new discussion has been excited by Mr.
Laing's History of Scotland, which perpetuates the original
differences of opinion as to her real character. Connected
likewise as her character is with that of the church esta-
blishment in' Scotland, she has acquired a new race of
defenders in the episcopal clergy of that country, who
will not tamely suffer historical animosities to abate. If
we might, during the raging of this war, presume to offer
an opinion, it would be that the prominent features of
her character, and the great events of her life, cannot be
defended, although many palliating circumstances may
reasonably be advanced.
* But however writers may differ about her moral conduct,
they agree more cordially as to the variety of her accom-
plishments. She wrote poems on various occasions, in the
Latin, Italian, French, • and Scotch languages ; " Royal
advice to her son," in two books, the consolation of her
long imprisonment. A great number of her original letters
are preserved in the king of France's library, in the Royal,
Cottonian, and Ashmolean libraries *. We have in print, .
eleven to earl Bothwell, translated from the French by
Edward Simmonds, of Christ-Church, Oxford, and printed
at Westminster in 1726. There are ten more, with her
answers to the articles against her, in " Haynes's State-
* Many curious papers relative to her history in an unfavourable light
Mary are to be met with in the library without consulting them. Hume, on*
of .the Scots' college at Paris. The being told this, looked over some let-
last time that David Hume was in that ters which the principal put into tus
city, the learned principal of the col- hands, and, though not much used to
lege shewed tbem to .him, and asked the melting mood, hurst into tears.
bun, why be bad pretended to write Seward's Anecdotes.
»
40* MART.
Papers;1* si* taore ift * AndersonV Collections;* another
in the "Appendix" to her life by Dr. Jebb; and some
others dispersed among the works of Pius V. Buchanan,
Camden, Udall, and Sanderson. '
MARY, queen of England, and wife of William IIL
with whom she reigned joitffcly, was born at the rey?d palace
of St James's, Westminster, the 3otb of April, 1662. She
was the daughter of James the Second, by a daughter of
lord Clarendon, whom that prince married .secretly, during
the exile of the royal family. She proved a lady of most
uncommon qualities: she bad beauty, wit, good-nature,
virtue,, and piety, all in an eminent degree ; and she shone
superior to all about her, as well at the ball and the masque,
£s in the presence and the drawing-room. When sfee was
fifteen, William prince of Orange, and afterwards king of
England, made bis addresses to her in person, and married
her. Many suppose that the prince was so sagacious as to
foresee all which afterwards came to pass ; as that Charles
II. would leave no children ; that the duke of York, when
he came to the throne, would, through his bigoted attach-
ment to popery, be unable to keep possession of H ; and
that himself, having married the eldest daughter of Eng*
land, would naturally be recurred to, as its preserver and
deliverer in such a time of danger. If he bad really any
motives of policy, he had art enough to conceal them ;
for, having communicated his intentions to sir William
Temple, then ambassador at the Hague, be frankly ex-
pressed bis whole sentiments of marriage in the following
terms ; namely, that " the greatest things he considered
were the person and disposition of the young lady ; for,
though it would not pass in the world fpr a prince to seem
concerned in those particulars, yet for himself without af-
fectation he declared that he was so, and in such a degree,
that no circumstances of fortune or interest could engage
him, without those of the person, especially those of hu*
motir or disposition : that he might, perhaps, be not very
easy for a wife to live with ; he was sure he should not be
so to such wives as were generally in the courts of this age;
that if he should meet with one to give him trouble at
home, it was what he should not be able to bear, who was
likely to have enough abroad in the course of bis life ; an<}
1 Hume.— Robertson. — Jebb. — Stuart, Laiog, Sec. See Review of the latter
in the British Critic— Wage's Royal and Noble Authors, by Park*
MARY. 409
that, .after the manner he was resolved to live with a wife,
which should be the i>e»t he could, he would have one that
he thought Likely to live well with him, which he thought
chiefly depended upon their disposition and education."
They were married at St, James's, Nov. 4, J 677 ; And,
after receiving the proper congratulations from those who
were concerned to pay them, embarked for Holland about
a fortnight after, and made their entrance itito the Hague
with the utmost pomp and magnificence. Here she lived
with her consort, practising every virtue and every duty ;
till, upon a solemn invitation from the states of/ England*
she followed him thhber, and arrived at Whitehall, Feb,
12, 1689. The prince of Orange had arrived Nov.* 5 pre*
ceding ; and the occasion of their coming was to deliver
the kingdom from that popery and slavery which were just
ready to oppress it. King James abdicated the crown ;
and it was put on their heads, as next heirs, April 1 1 , 1689*
They reigned jointly till Dec. 28, 1694, when the queea
died of the small-pox at her palace of Kensington. It
would lead to an excursion of too much extent, to describe
the many virtues and excellences of this amiable princess ;
a. picture of her, however, may be seen in Burnet's Essay
on her memory, printed in 1695, which contains a de-
lineation of every female virtue, and of every female grace.
He represents her saying, that she looked upon idleness at
the great corrupter of human nature, and as believing,
that- if the mind had no employment given it, it would
create some of the worst to itself: and she thought that
any thing which might amuse and divert, without leaving,
a dreg and impression behind it, ought to fill up those
vacant hours that were not claimed by devotion or bu-
siness* When her. eyes, adds the bishop, were endangered
by reading too much, she found out the amusement of
work ; and in all those hours that were not given to better
employments, she wrought with her own bands, and that
sometimes with so constant a diligence, as if she had been
to earn her bread by it. It is said by another writer, that
when reflections were once made before queen Mary of
the sharpness of some historians who had left heavy im-
putations on the memory of certain princes, she answered^
" that if these princes were truly such as the historians
represented them, they had well deserved that treatment j
and others who tread their steps might look for the same j
for truth would he told at last."
410 MAR Y.
This excellent princess was so composed upon her death-
bed, that when archbishop Tillotson, who assisted her in
her last moments, stopped, with tears in his eyes, on
coming to the commendatory prayer in the office for the
sick, she said to him, " My lord, why do you not go on ?
I am not afraid to die."
- King William has been supposed not to have been a
very kind fausband to his consort. He was, however, much
affected by her death, and said she had never once given
him any reason to be displeased with her during the course
of their marriage* After his demise a locket, containing
some hair of queen Mary, was found hapging near his
"heart. *
MASACCIO, or TOMASO DA SAN GIOVANNI,
an eminent artist, was born at St. Giovanni di Valdamo,
in 1401, and was the disciple of Masolino da Panicale ; but
he proved as much superior to his master, as his master
was superior to all his contemporaries : and is accounted
the principal artist of the second or middle age of modern
painting, from its revival under Cimabue. His genius was
very extensive, his invention ready, and his manner of
design had unusual truth and elegance. He considered
painting as the art of representing nature with truth, by
the aid of design and colouring : and therefore he made
nature his most constant study, till he excelled in a perfect
imitation of it. He is accounted the first who, from ju-
dicious observations, removed the difficulties that impeded
die study and the knowledge of the art, by setting the
artists an example in his own works, of that beauty which
arises from a proper and agreeable choice of attitudes and
motions, and likewise from such a spirit, .boldness, and
relief, as appears truly just and natural. He was the first
among the painters who studied to give the draperies of
his figures more dignity, by omitting the multitude of small
folds, so customarily practised by the preceding artists,
and by designing them with greater breadth and fulness.
He was also the first who endeavoured to adapt the colour
of his draperies to the tint of his carnations, so as to make
the one harmonize with the other. He was uncommonly
skilled in perspective, which he had learned from P. Bru-
nelleschi. His works procured him universal approbation :
1 Jbirnei's Essay, and Funeral Sermons by Tenison, Tillotson, Kennet,
Sherlock, Wake, Stanhope, fcc. &c. — Royal and Noble Authors, by Park,-*
Seward's Anecdotes.
M A S A C C I O. 411
but the very same merit which promoted his fame, excited
envy ; and he died, to the regret of every lover of the art/
not without strong suspicions of having been poisoned.
Most writers agree that this event happened in 1443, but'
Sandrart fixes his death in 1446. Fuseli says, " Masaccio
was a genius, and the head of ah epoch in the art. He
may be considered as the precursor of Raphael, who imi-
tated his principles, and sometimes transcribed his figures.
He had seen what could be seen of the antique, at his time
\at Rome: but his most perfect work are the frescoes of S.
Pietro al Carmine at Florence; where vigour of concep-
tion, truth and vivacity of expression, correctness of de-
sign, and breadth of manner, are supported by truth and
surprising harmony of coloun" '
* MASCARDI (Augustin), a distinguished person in the
republic of letters, was born at Sarzana, in the state of
Genoa, in 1591. He spent the early partofhis life among
the Jesuits, and afterwards became chamberlain to pope
Urban VIII. He was naturally so eloquent, that this same
pope, merely to exercise his talent, founded a professor-
ship of rhetoric for him, in the college de la Sapienza, in
1628, and settled upon him for life a pension of 500
crowns. Mascardi fillecLthe chair with great reputation ;
but his Jove of letters made him neglect the management
of his affairs, and he was always poor, and always in debt*
He is described in " Erythrssi Pinacotheca," as never being
able to supply his own wants, but by borrowing from others;
and removing from place to place, without a fixed habi-
tation. He wrote a great many compositions in verse and
prose, the principal of which • is entitled, " Dell9 arte
historica." Of this he printed so large an edition at his
own expence, that he would have been a considerable loser
by it, if a great number of copies had not been sold at Paris
by the influence of cardinal Mazarine. He had some literary
contests with several authors. In his " History of the Con-
spiracy of the Compte de Fiesco" he has very frequently
attacked the religion of Hubert Folietta ; and in his other
tools he used some writers in the same way, which occa-
sioned him to be attacked in his turn. The objections which
were made to him, together with his answers, were added
to the second edition of the history just mentioned. He
died at Sarzana, in 1640, in his forty-ninth year.9
i Pilkington. — Reynolds's Works. — Rees's Cyclopaedia, an elaborate article*
— Bullart'a Academic des Science?.
• Niceroo, vol. XXVIf. — Geu. Diet. — Moreri.— Tiraboschi.
4is M A S C A R 0 N.
MASCARON (Julius), an eminent French preacher,
the son of * celebrated advocate to the. parliament of Aix,
was born, 1634, at Marseilles* He entered early among the
priests of th^ oratory, was employed at the age of twenty-
two to teach, rhetoric at Mans, and preached afterwards.
with such applause at Saumur and Paris, that the court,
engaged him for Advent 1666, and Lent 1667* Mascaron
was so much admired there, that his sermons were said to
be formed for a court; and when some envious persons
would have made a crime of the freedom with which he
announced the truths of Christianity to the king, Louis
XIV. defended him, saying, " He has done his duty, it
remains for us to do our's." P. Mascaron was appointed
to the bishopric of Tulles, 1671, and translated to tbatof
Agen in 1678. He returned to preach before the king in
Advent 1694, and Louis XIV. was so much pleased, that
be said to bim, " Your eloquence alone, neither wears out
nor grows old." On going back to Agen, he founded an
hospital, and died in that city, December 16, 1703, aged
sixty-nine. None of bis compositions have been printed,
but u A collection of bis Funeral Orations," among which,
those on M. deTurenne and the chancellor Seguier, are
particularly admired. It may be proper to mention, that
SI. Mascaron having been ordained priest by M. de La-
vardin, bishop of Mans, who declared on bis deathbed*
that he never intended to ordain any priest, the Sorbonno
was consulted whether this prelate's ordinations were valid.
They decided " That it was sufficient if be bad the exterio*
intention to do what the church does, and that he certainly
bad it, because he did so : therefore it was not needful to
ordain those priests again, which this bishop bad ordained,"
jSot notwithstanding this decision, M. Mascaron chose to
be ordained again ; which proves, says L'Avqcat*. that h0
was a better preacher than casuist, and that his conscience
was more scrupulous than enlightened on this point. ' ,
MASCLEF (Francis), a French theologian, was at first only
a rector in the diocese of Amiens, but afterwards a person
in great confidence with the bishop, and by him placed at
tb? head of the seminary of that district. He was deeply:
skilled in lauguages, particularly the Oriental. The vir*
toous bishop de Brou made bim also a canon of Amiens ;
but when that prelate died, in 4706, he was not equally iu
i $t». Piot— Nicmn, vol*. II. sad X.— Diet Bit*, fe L'Arocsfa
M A S C L E F. 41S
favour with his successor, as they did not agree on the
subject of Jansenism, then an object of great contention.
He was now removed from the seminary, and every other
Eblic function, but consoled himself by his studies, which
(pursued with new ardour. He died in November, I72$f
at the age of sixty-six. His principal works are, i. u A
Hebrew Grammar/9 according to a new method, in which
the points are discarded, printed in 1716 ; improved and
reprinted in 2 vols. 12mo, by M. de la Bletterie, in 1730.
&. " Ecclesiastical Conferences of the diocese of Amiens.**
3. « The Catechism of Amiens," 4to. He left also in
manuscript a system of philosophy and of theology, which
would have been published, bad they not been thought to
-contain some seeds of Jansenism. Masclef was no less
respectable by his character than by his learning. *
MASCR1&R (John Baptist de), a French abbg, ratber
en author by profession than by genius, was born in 1697,
at Caen. His works were chiefly formed upon the labours
of others, either by translating them, or by working up tbi
materials into a new form. He died at Paris in 1760, at
the age of sixty-three. His publications were, 1. "A
Description of Egypt, from the Memoirs of M. Maittet,™
1735, 4to. This work is fundamentally good, aud con-
tains judicious remarks, and curious anecdotes, hut the
style would he iiqproved by the retrenchment of many
affectations and other faults, s. u An Idea of the ancieut
and modern Government of Egypt," 1745, l2mo; a work
of less research than the foregoing* 3. " A translation of
Ceesar's Commentaries," 1755, 12mo. 4. " Christian fte-
-flections on the great truths 6f Faith," 1757, l2mfo. $.
•** History of the last Revolution in the East Indies;" a
Work that is curious, hut not quite exact. 6. w Lotamius's
Table of Diseases," 1760, 12 mo. He was concerned also
in the great work on religious ceremonies, published by
"Picait, and in the translation of de Thou's 'History. 7. A
translation of the Epigrams df Martial, 2 vols. 12mo. He
published besides, editions of several works: — as, of the
'Memoirs of the marquis de Fouquieres ; of Pelisson's His-
tory of Loiiis XIV. and some papers of de Maillet, under
the nafrie of Telliamed, which is de Maillet reversed. He
generally published through necessity, and the subject?
varied According to the probability of advantage.9
! Moreri.— Diet Hift. " ' ' Diet. Hist
414 M A S E N I U &
MASENIUS, or MASEN (James), a Jesuit, and a writer
of Latin poetry, was born at Dalen in the dutchy of Juliers,
in 1606. He professed eloquence and poetry with great*
credit at Cologne ; and wrote, among other things, a iwg
Latin poem entitled " Sarcotis," or " Sarcothea," which
Lauder brought into new celebrity, by .pretending that
Milton had borrowed from it* It was an allegory describ-
ing the fall of man. Masenius wrote good Latin, and good
verses, but full of amplification and declamation. The
tracts occasioned by Lauder's accusation of Milton, were
translated into French, and published collectively by Bar-
bou, in 2 vols. 12 mo, in 1759. Masenius produced also,
1. A kind of art of poetry, under the title of " Palestra
eloquentiae ligatae," in 4 vols. 12mo. 2. Another treatise
entitled. " Palaestra styli Romani." 3. " Anima Historic,
geu vita Caroli V. et Ferdinandi," in 4to. 4. Notes and
additions to the Antiquitates et Annales Trevirensium, by
Brower, 1670, in folio. 5. " Epitome Anualium Treviren-
sium," 1676, 8vo. He died in 1681. * .
MASHAM (lady Damakis), a lady distinguished by her
piety. and extraordinary accomplishments, was the daughter
of Dr. Ralph Cudwortb, and born at Cambridge on the
18th of January, 1658. Her father, perceiving the bent, of
ber genius, took such particular care . of her education,
that she quickly became remarkable for her uncommon
learning and piety. Sbe was the second wife of sir Francis
Masham, of Oates in the county of Essex, bark by whom
she had an only son, the late Francis Cud worth Masham,
esq. one of the masters in chancery, accomptant-general
of that court, and foreign opposer in the court of exche-
quer. She was well skilled in arithmetic, geography, chro-
nology, history, philosophy, and divinity; and owed a
Seat part of her improvement to the care of the famous
r. Locke, who lived many years in her family, and at
length died in her house at Oates ; and whom she treated
with the utmost generosity and respect. She wrote " A
Discourse concerning the Love of God,'9 published at Lon-
don in 1696 ; and " Occasional Thoughts in reference to
a virtuous and Christian Life." This amiable lady died in
1708, and was interred in the cathedral church of Bath,
where a monument is erected to her memory, with the fol-
lowing inscription : " .Near this place lies Dame Daman?
•DiotHiit,
MASHA1L 415
Masharo, daughter of Ralph Cud worth, D. D. and second
wife of sir Francis Mash am, of Oates, in the county of
Essex, bart. who, to the softness and elegancy of her own
sex, added several of the noblest accomplishments and
qualities. of the other, She possessed these advantages iu
a great degree unusual to either, apd tempered .them with
an exactness peculiar to herself Her learning, judg-
ment, sagacity, and penetration,, together with ber caa^
dour. and love of truth, were very observable to all that
conversed with ber, or were acquainted with those small
treatises she published in her life-time) though she indus-
triously concealed her name. Being mother of an only,
son, she applied all her natural and acquired endowments
to the care of his education. She was a strict observer of
all the virtues belonging to eyery station of life, and only-
wanted opportunities to make those talents shine in the
world, which were the admiration of ber friends. She waa
born on the 18th of January, 1668, and died on the 20th
of April, 1708."1
MASIUS (Andrew),, or Dumas, born in 15 16, at Liu-
nich, near Brussels, was one of the most learned men of
the sixteenth century. He was secretary to John de Weze*
bishop of Constance, after whose death he was sent as an,
agent to Rome. He married at Cleves in 1558, and was*
appointed counsellor to William duke of Cleves. He died
in April 1573. He was a master of the ancient and oriental
languages to such a degree, that Sebastian Munster said
be seemed to have been brought up in ancient Rome, or
ancient Jerusalem. He produced, 1. " A Collection of
various pieces, ancient and modern, translated from the
Syriac," Antwerp, 1569. 2. " Syrorum Peculium," 1571,
folio. This is a Syriac lexicon. 8. " Grammatica Linguae
Syricae," 1571, folio. 4. " A Commentary on the Book of
Joshua,'9 Antwerp, 1574, folio, and also in the Critici Sa-
cri. Dr. Henry Owen, who published a " Critical Dis-
quisition" on this work in 1784, observes, that although
Masius's professed design was to correct and restore the
Greek text, yet bis latent intention was merely to confirm
the authority of the Septuagint. 5. " Disputatio de Ccena
Domini," Antwerp, 1575. 6. Commentaries on some chap-*
ters of Deuteronomy. He was in possession of the famous
Syriac MS. written in the year 606, which afterward*
iBalUrd^JHeuwifi.
416 MA8IU1
belonged to D. E. Jablonsky. This manuscript is tbe only
one that preserves tbe readings of Joshua as given by
Origen. *
MASKELYNET (Nevil), an eminent astronomer and
mathematician, tbe son of Edmund A^askelyne, esq. of
Purton, in Wiltshire, was born at Londe* in 1732, and
educated at Westminster school, where he made a dis-
tinguished progress in classical learning; 'Before he left
school hiii studies appear to have been determined to astro-
nomy by his accidentally sefeing the memorable solar eclipse
of 1748, exhibited through a large telescope in a camera
obscurau From this period he applied himself with ardour
to astronomy and optics, and as a necessary preparation,
turned his attention to geometry and algebra, the elements
of which he learned in a few months without tbe help of ai
master. In 1749 he Entered of Catherine hall, Cambridge,
but soon after removed to Trinity college, where he pur*
sued his favourite studies with .increased success ; and oir
taking his degree of B. A. in 1754, received distinguished'
honours from the university. He took his degrees 6f A.M.
in 1757, B. D. in 1768, and D.D. in 1777. Being ad-
mitted into holy orders he officiated for some time as curate
of Barnet ; and in 1756 became a fellow off his eollfege.
In 1758 he was chosen a fellow of the royal society, and
soon after became an important contributor to the Philo-
sophical Transactions. Such was his reputation- already,*
that the society appointed him to go to the island of St.
Helena, to observe the transit of Venus oV6r the sun's
disk, which was to take place June 6, 1761. On this oc-
casion he remained ten months on the island, making
astronomical observations and philosophical experiments ;•
and although his observation of the transit of Venus wa»
not completely successful, owing to the cloudy state of the
weather, his voyage afforded him an opportunity of taking*
lunar observations, which were now for the first time made
with effect. This method of finding the longitude at seal
was long a great desideratum, and plans had been made
by many of his predecessors, but the honour was reserved
for Dr. Maskelyne to reduce their theories to successful
practice. This he was enabled to do by HadleyYs quadrant
recently invented, and also by professor Mayer's lunar
tables, for which a parliamentary reward of 3000/. was
* Mortri— Foppeo, BibL Belg.— Owtn abi supra >~*Dict Hift^-Saaii OfiemaaC.
MA8K.EL.YN E< 417
&ftferw*ards given, on Dr. Maskelyne's report of their cor*
rectness. The results of his other observations and ex-*
periments were inserted in the Philosophical Transactions
Qf the above period. Soon after his return from St. Helena,
he published his well-known work, entitled " The British
Mariner's Guide," which contained, among various n£w,
and practical illustrations and articles in nautical astro*
noray, rules and examples for working the lunar observa*
tions ; but, in order to shorten and simplify these laborious
operations, other tables and calculations were still wanted,
which he afterwards supplied by his "Nautical Almanack,"
and " Requisite Tables."
In 1763 he undertook another scientific voyage by ap-
pointment of the lords of the admiralty and the board of
longitude. He sailed for Barbadoes for the following pur-
poses ; to find the longitude of that island by astronomical
observations; to determine the rate of going of Mr. Har-
rison's new time-keeper ; and to try Mr. Irwin's marine-
chair, which was intended for making steady observations
at sea, but which did not answer. He was besides, in the
course of his voyage, to take lunar observations with a cu-
rious new Hadley's sextant, and to determine the lon-
gitude by the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites, and the oc-
cupations of fixed stars by the moon. Ail these objects of
the expedition he executed to the entire satisfaction of his
employers.
. In 1764, the office of astronomer-royal becoming vacant
by the death of Mr. Blise, Dr. Maskelyne's celebrity im-
mediately pointed him out as the most competent person
to fill the situation, and to carry into effect the purpose for
which the royal observatory had been established, that of
preparing tables for finding the longitude at sea. Accord-
ingly, his appointment to it, which was announced in the
London Gazette, Feb. 16, 1765, gave universal satisfac-
tion. During the long period of Qr. Maskelyne's official
services* his time may be considered as chiefly occupied
either at the observatory, the board of longitude, or. the
royal society ; and bis biography, therefore, like that of
most other scientific men, consists chiefly jn a history of
bis labours.
Soon after bis appointment he laid before the board of
longitude the plan of an annual publication, to be entitled
the " Nautical Almanac, and Astronomical Ephemeris."
The first volume was for 1767 ; and it has been continued,
' Vou XXI. E e
41S MASKELYNi
under his direction, up to the present time, making in the
whole fifty volumes — a lasting monument of labour and
profound learning. It is universally allowed to be the
most useful work on practical astronomy ever published.
In such high estimation has it been held by foreign astro-
nomers, that they have generally and implicitly adopted
its computations, and acknowledged its superior accuracy,
M. Lalande, in giving an account of similar publications,
says, "*Le Nautical Almanac de Londres est PEph£meride
kL plus parfaite qu'il y ait jamais eu."
In 1 767 he published an auxiliary work, entitled " Tables
requisite to be used with the Nautical Almanac, in order
to find the Latitude and Longitude at sea." This per-
formance, well known to seamen by the, name of "The
Requisite Tables/' has passed through several editions,
and has been successively enlarged, particularly by dif-
ferent methods of working the lunar observations, by
Messrs. Lyons, Dunthorne, Witchell, Wales, and by Dr.
Maskelyne himself; and it has been also improved by the
latitudes and longitudes of places supplied by captain Cook,
captain Huddart, Messrs. Bailey, Wales, and other scien-
tific navigators. Some time after this he published Mayer's
Tables, with both Latin and English explanations,, to which
he added several tracts and tables of his own, and prefixed
to the whole a Latin preface, with the title " Tabulae mo-
tuum Soliset Lunae, &c." It was published, like the fore-
going works, by order of the commissioners of longitude ;
and the various other publications issued by that board
during his time were also printed under his inspection, and
are too numerous to be here stated.
Another important and laborious duty that devolved on
him in consequence of his office was, to examine the pre-
tensions of the various candidates who claimed the parlia-
mentary rewards for new or improved methods of finding
the longitude. His appointment took place at a period
peculiarly interesting in the history of astronomy. His
success in introducing and promoting the lunar observa-
tions greatly excited the public attention to the subject of
the longitude, which was rendered still more interesting
by the great rewards held out by parliament for further
improvements in the problem^ whether by astronomical
or mechanical methods. These offers, united with the
powerful motives of honour and emulation, called forth,
during several years, many extraordinary efforts of genius,
MASKELYNE. 419
and produced useful inventions both in arts and sciences,
ahd particularly in the construction of time-keepers* The
parliamentary offers likewise encouraged numerous candi-
dates of very slight pretensions, and even visionaries, whose
applications became very troublesome. The claims of all
were referred by the board of longitude to the astronomer
royal, by whom scientific plans were examined, and the
rates of chronometers ascertained. Thus by his office he
was constituted arbiter of the fame and fortune of a great
number of anxious projectors ; and it is easy to conceive
how arduous as well as unpleasant such a duty must have
been. It was not indeed to be expected that the sanguine
hopes and self-love of such a variety of candidates could be
gratified, with justice to the- high trust and confidence thus
reposed in him ; and hence complaints were frequently
beard, and pamphlets published, expressive of discontent
and disappointment. Appeals even were made to parlia-
ment ; but whatever difference of opinion might have then
existed, time and experience have since fully proved the
truth and impartiality of Dr. Maskelyne?s decisions.
In giving a general view of his labours at the royal ob-
servatory, we shall begin with his publication of the Green-
wich Observations, which were printed in 1774, by com-
mand of his majesty. The first volume began with the
observations of 1765, and they have been, continued an-
nually since. M. Lalande, in mentioning this performance
in 1792, calls it " le recueil le plus prexieux que nous
ayons." Since that period they have been considerably
improved, and are universally allowed to possess an un-
rivalled degree of accuracy. His catalogue of the right
ascensions and declinations of 36 principal fixed stars, with
tables for their correction, is a most useful and important
performance, and is adopted in all observatories. It 19
mostly distinguished by the appellation of " Dr. Maskelyne's
36 Stars." His observations also of the sun, moon, and
planets, are equally esteemed, and have been made the
basis of the solar and lunar tables, lately computed in
France according to the theory of M. Laplace ; and which
are republished in professor Vince's Astronomy, vol. HI.
The solar tables were calculated by M. Delambre, and the
lunar by M. Burg : copies of which have been transmitted
to Dr. Maskelyne, by order of the French board of longi-
tude, with a grateful acknowledgment of the important
assistance derived from his Greenwich Observations. But
E E 2
«d toA&K£LYN&
it would greatly exceed our limits to enumefate all tb#
corrections and improvements effected by Dr. Maskelyne's
observations, many of which will be found in professor
Vince's Astronomy, ancf in the Philosophical Transactions.
His communications to the royal society are distin-
guished, like his other productions, for great attention to
utility as well as accuracy. They consist chiefly of astro-
nomical observations ; improvements of mathematical and
optical instruments ; computations of the eclipses of the
sun, moon, and Jupiter's satellites ; articles on parallaxes,
light, vision, refraction, weights, measures, gravitation,
&c. with calculations and predictions of comets ; making
in the whole above thirty communications. It should be
11 ot iced that, in 1774, he went to Sheballien, in Perth-
shire, in order to ascertain the' lateral attraction of that
hill ; by which the mean density of the earth was com-
puted, and its central attraction according to the New-
tonian theory first demonstrated. For this paper he was
presented by the council of the royal society with sir
George Copley's gold medal.
In the history of science!, few persons can be mentioned
who have contributed more essentially to the diffusion of
astronomical knowledge than Dr. Maskelyne ; and perhaps
no man has been so successful in promoting practical astro-
nomy, both by land and sea. During his time private ob-
servatories became very general, though scarcely known
before ; nor could such be made useful without his " Nau-
tical Almanac," and other tables, except by men of great
science, and by very laborious calculations* Beside the
. assistance thus derived from his publications, he was always
ready to give advice concerning any plans that were likely
to promote the science. Among the observatories that
were erected through his encouragement, may be men-
tioned that of the late Alexander Aubert, esq. whose ex-
cellent collection of instruments has been rarely equalled;
even in national institutions ; and several other instances
might be adduced of observatories which were erected by
the advice or direction of the astronomer roval. He was
besides a great improver of instruments, and the inventor
of some, among which may be noticed the prismatic mi-
crometer; but though profoundly skilled in optics, and
ingenious in mechanical contrivances, he always paid great
deference to the opinions of opticians, and other practical
•mechanists.
MASKELYNE. 4*1
His plans were mostly directed to substantial objects,,
while a steady perseverance gave an efficiency to all his un-
dertakings : and notwithstanding his profound knowledge
of physical astronomy, his attention was chiefly directed
to reduce the scientific theories of his predecessors to the
practical purposes of life. In this he was eminently suc-
cessful, particularly in his labours for the longitude, by
which he essentially contributed to the advancement of
navigation, the prosperity of commerce, and the wealth,
honour, and power of his country.
Dr. Maskelyne's private character was likewise truly es~
timable. He was indeed exemplary in the discharge' of
every duty. In his manners he was modest, simple, and
unaffected. To strangers he appeared distant, or rather
diffident; but among his friends he was cheerful, unre-
served, and occasionally convivial. He was fond of epi-
grammatic thoughts and classical allusions; and even some-
times indulged in playful effusions of this kind, at an ad-
vanced period of life. He maintained a regular correspond*
ence with the principal astronomers of Europe. He was
visited also by many illustrious foreigners, as well as emi-
nent characters of his own country, but his warmest at*
tachments were always manifested to the lovers of astro-
nomy. Among his most intimate friends may be reckoned
Dr. Herschel, Dr. Hutton, Messrs. Wollastons, Mr. Aubert,
bishop Horsley, sir George Shuckburgh, baron Maseres,
professor Robertson; and also professor Vince, whose
publications so ably illustrate Dr. Maskelyne's labours,
and whom hp appointed the depositary of his scientific
papers.
Dr. Maskelynehad good church preferment from his col-
lege ; and his paternal estates (of which he was the last
male heir), were also considerable. He married, when ra-
ther advanced in life, a young lady of large fortune, the
sister and co-heiress of lady Booth of Northamptonshire,
by whom he had one; daughter, whose education he super-
intended with the fondest care. These ladies survive him,
and also his sister Margaret, who was married to Robert,
the late* lord Clive*
Dr. Maskelyne died February 9, 1811, in the 79th year
of his age* His health previously declined for some
months ; and he contemplated his approaching dissolution
with pious resignation, and with a lively hope of being
422 MASKELYNE.
admitted into the presence of that Deity, whose works he
had so long studied and so ardently admired. His favou-
rite science tended the more strongly to confirm his re-
ligious principles, and he died, as he had lived, a sincere
Christian.1
MASON (Francis), an English divine, and able vindi-
cator of his church, was born in 1566, in the county of Dur-
ham, and was educated in grammar learning at home. In
1583, he entered of Merton-college, Oxford, where, after
taking his bachelor's degree, he was chosen probationer-
fellow in 1586. He then received orders, and, besides
being presented to the rectory of Orford, in Suffolk, was
made chaplain to king James I. who, in his punning hu-
mour, usually styled him a "wise builder (Mason) in
God's house." In 1619, be was installed archdeacon
of Norfolk. He died 1621, and was buried in the chancel
of the church of Orford, where is a monument to his
memory; and was lamented as a man of learning and piety.
His writings in defence of the church of England, are, I .
* The authority of the Church in making canons and con-
stitutions concerning things indifferent," a Sermon, Lond.
1607, Oxon. 1634, 4to. 2. " Vindication of the Church
of England concerning the consecration and ordination of
Priests &nd Deacons, in five books,'* Lond. 1613, folio.
This is, among other things, a complete refutation of the
falsehood propagated about that time, respecting archbi-
shop Parker, who, it was said, had been consecrated at the
Nag's- head, a tavern in Cheapside. So successful was he
in this work, that the story Was no more heard of for thirty
years, when it was again revived by some of the Roman
Catholic writers at Do way, but with as little proof as
before. &. Two Sermons preached at court. Lond. 1621,
8vo. — The rev. Henry Mason, rector of St. Andrew Under-
shaft, London, was, according to Walker, a brother of
the preceding, and was chaplain to Dr. King bishop of
London; Having been ejected from his living, or, as
Wood says, vexed out of itj he retired to his native place,
Wigan in Lancashire, where he became a great benefactor
to the poor, and to the school of that place. He died in
1647. Wood gives a list of some pious tracts by him; *
1 Eees's Cyclopaedia, by Br. Kelly, if we mistake not.
* Ath. Ox. vol. I. and II.— Strype's Parker, p. 59, where is a full account
of the above slander.
MASON. 423
MASON (John), a non-conformist divine, chiefly known
for his excellent work entitled w Self-Knowledge," was
descended from ancestors who were for several generations
beneficed clergymen of the established church. His grand-
father was the rev. John Mason, rector of Water-Stratford
in Buckinghamshire, whose " Select Remains9' were pub-
lished by his grandson, the subject of this article : " a lit-
tle work," we are told by his biographer, "highly esteemed
and warmly recommended by Dr. Watts." This little
work we have not seen, but from two accounts of the au-
thor's life, one published anonymously in 1694, 4 to, and
the other by the rev. H. Maurice, rector of Tyringham in
Bucks, in. 1695, 4to, we are justified in ranking him among
those enthusiasts who have done much to bring religion
into disgrace; and our readers will probably be of the same
opinion, when we inform them, that after having discharged
bis pastoral duties for several years, as a pious and useful
clergyman, he propagated the notion that Christ's second
appearance was to be at Water- Stratford, where all his
faithful people were to be collected, and reign with him a
thousand years. This brought a great many persons to re-
side at that place, in hopes of meeting the Saviour, who
were for some time called Mr. Mason's followers ; nor was
it until his death had disappointed their hopes, that this
delusion gradually abated. One of the sons of this en-
thusiast, John, the father of our author, became a dissen-
ter, and, while pastor of* a congregation at Dunmow ia
Essex, his son was born there, in 1705-6. He was edu-
cated at a dissenting academy, and in 1730 accepted an
invitation to the pastoral charge of a congregation at
Dorking in Surrey, where he had a numerous auditory.
His earliest production was a Sermon on " Subjection to
the higher powers," preached Nov. 5, 1740, and published
at the request of the congregation.
In the same spirit he published, in 1743, a tract en-
titled " A plain and modest plea for Christianity : or a
sober and rational appeal to Infidels, occasioned by a per-
usal of some of their late productions, particularly a trea-
tise entitled ' Christianity not founded on argument'."
This was at first published anonymously, but was possessed
of a merit so prominent, that the author was soon inquired
after and discovered, and it procured for him, unsolicited
and without his knowledge, the degree of M. A. from the
university of Edinburgh. His next publication was that
42* MASON,
on which bis. reputation now chiefly rests, entitled " Self*
knowledge : a treatise shewing the nature and benefit of
that important science, and the way to attain it.9' It was
first printed in 1745, and instantly became so popular, that
a new edition was annually demanded for several years,
and it was, and continues to be, reprinted in various forms
in other parts of the three kingdoms. It has also been
translated into various European languages. Without en-
tering minutely into the merits of this excellent practical
manual, we may adopt the words of the editor to whom we
are indebted for this account, that while the language is
rendered purposely as plain a$ ppssible consistent with
common elegance, " it is full of sense and sentiment ; it
comes home to every man's business and bosom : the sen-
tences are short and apotbegmatic : replete with maxims
of the utmost importance, and often rivalling the wisdom
of those sages of antiquity whose valuable precepts and
happy turns of expression are quoted so largely, and with
such exquisite taste and appropriation, in the notes. It
was written chiefly for the improvement of young per-
sons : and a more valuable present cannot easily be made
to thenar
In July 1746, Mr. Mason was induced to quit Dorking
for Chesbunt in Hertfordshire, upon the warm and urgent
invitation of a large congregation of dissenters in that
place. Here his 6rst exertion was to prepare for the press
a volume of *' Sermons for the benefit of young persons,"
preached by his predecessor, a Mr. Oakes, and selected
from his manuscripts. Having complied with this last act
of duty to his friend, we find him progressively engaged
in a multiplicity of original works; some of them of a
smaller extent, as single sermons, but many of a much
wider range, and giving ample scope to his talents. The
largest of his works consists of four 8vq volumes of sermons,
entitled " The Lord's-Bay evening entertainment," in-
tended as " a complete set of practical discourses for the
use of families, recommending and urging the grand and
substantial points of Christianity in ^ plain and striking
manner, and free from all distinguishing peculiarities in
style and sentiments." Of this, which soon became popu-
lar, a second edition was published in 1754. In 1 758, he
published a single octavo volume of " Fifteen Discourses,
devotional and practical, together with an Historical Dis-
sertation on the analogy between the behaviour of God's
MASON. 42*
people towards him in the several periods of the Jewish
and Christian church, and his correspondent dispensations
•towards them in those respective periods." In 1761 he
published another set of sermons, in 2 vols. 8vo, under the
title of " Christian Morals.9' This was followed by a
. * Letter to a Friend upon his entrance to the ministerial
office," and " The Student and Pastor, or Directions how *
to attain to eminence and usefulness in those respective
.characters." These were occasioned by his having become
tutor to several students intended for the miuistry among
'the dissenters. Some parts of his " Theological Lectures,"
which he delivered to them, have been published in the
Protestant Dissenter's Magazine for 1794 — 1796. '
But while thus employed, be found leisure for directing
his taste and acquaintance with classical criticism to all
the elegancies of literature. The result of these less se-
rious pursuits was the three following tracts, all of which
passed through several editioos, and one of them not less
than five or six : " Essay on the power and harmony of
Prosaic numbers ;" " Essay on the power of Numbers, and
the principles of Harmony in Poetical compositions ; and
" Essay on Elocution ;" which last became the most popu*
lar, and was long employed as a text-book in one of the
English universities. Mr. Mason died Feb. 10, 1763, and
was buried in Cheshunt church-yard, leaving an excellent
character for piety, learning, and a conciliatiug and liberal
temper. After his " Self-Knowledge" had been reprinted
a great number of times, often very inaccurately, and,
what is more censurable, once, at least, with such altera-
tions as tended to suppress his opinions, and make him the
follower of a party which he would have despised, bis rela-
tive John' Mason Good, esq. a gentleman well known in
. the learned world, became editor of a very correct edition,
and prefixed a life of the author, of which we have availed
ourselves in this account.1
MASON (William), a distinguished poet and divine of
the last century, was the son of the vicar of St. Trinity-hall
in the East Riding of Yorkshire, and was born in F725.
His education, previously to his going to the university,
was probably superintended by his father, whose indul-
gence in permitting him to follow the bent of his youthful
mind towards poetry and painting, he acknowledges in an
J Life as above, stereotypy adit. 18J1> 8vo.
426 MASON.
epistolary address written in 1746. He went to Cambridge
in 1742-3, and was entered of St. John's college, where
his tutor, Dr. Powell, encouraged him to publish his ex-
cellent monody to the memory of Pope, which appeared
in 1747. He took his bachelor's degree in 1745, and big
master's in 1749, but little else has been recorded of his
academical progress, except that his attachment to the
Muses continued during his residence at the university, of
which he took leave in an ode complimentary to his col-
lege and his tutor.
In 1747, by means of Gray, with whom he had become
acquainted, and who, on account of ill-treatment, had left
Peter-house for Pembroke-hall, he was nominated to a
vacant fellowship in the latter college; but, owing to a
dispute between the fellows and their master, he was not
elected till 1749. His own account of this affair has lately
been published : — " I have had the honour, since I came
here last, to be elected by the fellows of Pembroke into
their society ; but the master, who has the power of a ne-
gative, has ihade use of it on this occasion, because he will
not have an extraneus when they have fit persons in their
own college. The fellows say they have a power from
their statutes indifferenter eligere ex utraque academia3 and
are going to try it with him at common law, or else get
the king to appoint a visitor. If this turns out well, it will
be a very lucky thing for me, and much better than a
Piatt* j which I came hither with an intention to sit for,
for they are reckoned the best fellowships in the univer-
sity" .
His intimacy with Gray was cordial and lasting. Their
correspondence shews the high respect they had for each
other, and their friendship was never interrupted by the
freedom and unfeigned candour with which they criticised
each other's performances. About this time, Gray de-
scribes him as a young man " of much fancy, little judg-
ment, and a good deal of modesty," as " a good and well-
meaning creature, but in simplicity a child : he reads
little or nothing, writes abundance, and that with a design
* The Piatt* fellowships at St. John's, the fellows' table. They were founded
are similar to what are called the bye- by William PiaU, esq. an opulent ci-
feHowships in some other colleges at tizen of London. See Gent. Mag. vol.
Cambridge, and are not on the foun- LXVJ. p. 452, and vol. LXXI. p. 681,
dation. Their original number was in which Mr. Mason's account of this
six, with a stipend of SO/, per annum affair is given,
each, besides rooms and commons at
MASON. 427
to make a fortune by it," which does not, however, appear
to have been the case;— "a little vain, but in so harmless
and comical a way that it does not offend ; a little ambi-
tious, but withal so ignorant of the wtorld and its ways, that
this does not hurt him in one^s opinion ; so sincere and
undisguised, that no mind with a spark of generosity would
ever think of hurting him, he lies so open to injury ; but
so indolent, that if he cannot overcome this habit, all his
good qualities will signify nothing at all." Some of these
characteristics of the poetical temperament adhered to our
author throughout life ; others were effaced by a closer in-
timacy with the world.
He appears to have been early attached to what he con-
sidered as the cause of freedom. Of this he gave proof in
a poem entitled "Isis," which was printed in 1748, di-
rected chiefly against the supposed Jacobitism of Oxford,
"Whatever truth might be in the accusation, it had the happy
effect vof producing "The Triumph of Isis" by Mr. Tho-
mas Warton, which Mason candidly allowed was a superior
poem. Thus early these two writers attracted notice by
the defence of their respective universities ; but their ge-
nerous rivalship did not end in mutual* respect, for which,
perhaps, the difference of political principle may in some
measure account. Mason was now requested to compose
an ode for the installation of the duke of Newcastle as
chancellor of the university of Cambridge, in 1749, to Which
he does not appear to have acceded with much love of the
subject. Gray" thought his production " uncommonly well
for such an occasion," but the author had no pleasure iu
the recollection, and omitted it in his works.
Id 1752, he published " Elfrida," a dramatic poem, con-
structed on the model of the ancients, to which he was en-
thusiastically attached ; and having once formed the opinion
that dramas might be successfully written in this way, he
persisted in it to the last, contrary to argument and expe-
rience. In the present instance he attempted the plan
with certain limitations. He professed that his intention
was only to follow the ancient method as far as it is pro*
bable a Greek poet, were he alive, would now do, in order
to adapt himself to the genius of our times, and the cha-
racter of our tragedy. How far he has executed an inten-
tion, evidently suggested by a series of conjectures, will
hardly now admit of a question. All critics are agreed that
" Elfrida" is neither adapted to the genius of our times,
42S MASON.
nor to the character of our tragedy. The letters, how*
ever, which he published, may yet be perused as inge-
nious apologies for his judgment; and whatever the deci-
sion may be, there can be little difference of opinion re*
specting the merit of " Elfrida" as a poem. In 1772, Mr.
Colman, at that time manager of Covent-garden theatre,
made such alterations as were supposed necessary to its
appearance on the stage, and besides the decoration of
splendid scenery, Dr. Arne contributed some characteristic
music. The author, however, was so much offended at
the alterations, as to have meditated a very angry address
to Colman, who, on his part, threatened him with the in*
troduction of a chorus of Grecian washerwomen in some
future stage entertainment. Mr. Mason afterwards, in
1778 or 1779, made bis own alterations and arrangements,
and bad it performed at the same theatre ; but neither at-
tempt was successful.
His father died in 1753^ and in 1754 he went into orders;
and through the interest' of the earl of Holdemesse, whose
patronage he had obtained, he was preferred to be one of
the king's chaplains, and received about the same time
the living of Aston. The reputation he had acquired by
the odes pf his " Elfrida," encouraged him to publish, in
1756, four compositions of that class on " Memory, Inde-
pendency, Melancholy, and the Fate of Tyranny," which
were not received with favour or kindness. Both ridicule
and legitimate criticism seem to have been employed on
this occasion to expose the wanton profusion of glittering
epithets, and the many instances of studied alliteration
scattered over these odes. Colman and Lloyd, who were
jiow beginning to look for satirical prey, published two ex-
cellent parodies on one of them, and on one of Gray's.
pis praise of Andrew Marvell, and attack on biahop Parker,
produced about the same time a dull letter, of censure,
which probably gave him less uneasiness than the cool re-
ception of bis " Odes," by those who then dispensed the
honours of literary fame.— On the death of Cibber, he was
proposed to succeed him as poet laureat ; but, instead of
an offer of this place, an apology was made to him by lord
John Cavendish, that " being in orders, he was thought
merely on that account, less eligible for the office than a
layman." The notice of- this circumstance in his life of
W. Whitehead is followed by a declaration of his indif-
ference. " A reason so politely put, I was glad to hear
MASON. 429
assigned ; and if I had thought it a weak one, they who know
me, will readily believe that I am the last man in the world
who would have attempted to controvert it." The proba-
bility,, indeed, is that Mr. Mason would not have thought
himself honoured by the situation, if compelled to fulfil its
duties ; for though by his mediation the office was tendered
to Gray, it was " with permission to hold it as a mere sine-
cure."
The severity exercised on his " Odes" deprived him of
no fame but what he amply recovered by the publication of
*' Caractacus" * in 1759, another dramatic poem on the
plan of the ancients, and possessing all the beauties and
defects of the former, with more poetry and passion, yet
with touches of nature, which, although sometimes spoiled
by useless expletives, are in general just, natural, and af-
fecting. Gray bestows high praise on the chorusses of this
drama, particularly that beginning " Hark ! heard ye not
yon footstep dread, &c. ?" Notwithstanding the objections
of the critics, Caractacus continued to be read with inte-
rest, and the author was not the only person who thought
that with some alterations, under the inspection of a con-
noisseur in stage-effect, it might become an acting-play.
Accordingly it was performed on Covent-garden theatre in
1776, and received with considerable applause ; but it ob-
tained no permanent rank on the stage, and it was thought
that the alterations which made it more dramatic, made it
less poetical. Some years after it was again brought into
public notice by a translation into Greek from the pen of
the late unfortunate rev. G. H. Glasse, who proved himself
by this effort one of the first writers of Greek poetry in
England.
In 1762, Mason published " Three Elegies," which are
elegant, tender, and correct beyond the productions of any
of his contemporaries. These, with all his former pieces,
except the " Isis" and the " Installation Ode," were col-
lected into one volume, and published in 1764, with a
beautiful dedicatory sonnet to his patron the earL of Hol-
deraesse. Why he omitted " Isis" from this collection is
not very evident. We have, iffdeed, his own authority
that he never would have published it, if a surreptitious
copy had not found its way to the press; but, although* he
* In a note on bis "Ode to Mr. ear' of Chatham, who honoured it
Pitt," we are informed that Caractacas * " with an approbation- whictrthe author
was read in manuscript by the iaie < was proud to record."
430 M A S O N.
omitted it now, he reprinted it in the third vplume of his
poems, published in 1736, when his sentiments on political
topics were more perfectly in unison with those held at
Oxford. Mr. Mant, in his life of Mr. T. Warton, informs
us that several years after he had written this elegy, he was
coming into Oxford on horseback ; and as he passed over
Magdalen Bridge (it was then evening), he turned to his
. friend, and expressed his satisfaction, that, as it was getting*
dusk, they should enter the place unnoticed. His friend
did not seem aware of the advantage. " What !" rejoined
the poet, " do you not remember my Isis ?" This may be
reckoned an instance of the " harmless and comical vanity"
which Gray attributed to him when at college. But a more
singular omission occurs in this volume, in the " Ode to a
Water Nymph :" this formerly concluded with a handsome
compliment to lord Lyttelton, both as a poet and as a
speaker in the senate, which was now removed, and a fa-
vourite description substituted. In the same year his ma-
jesty presented our author to the canonry and prebend of
Driffield in the cathedral church of York, together with the
precentorship of that church, vacant by the promotion
of Dr. Newton to the bishopric of Bristol.
Mason was probably not enrolled among the friends of
liberty when Churchill wrote. That libeller takes frequent
opportunities to turn his writings into, ridicule, but pays
him> perhaps inconsciously, a well-turned compliment on
his extreme correctness.
" In the small compass of my careless page
Critics may find employment for an age :
Without my blunders they were all undone $
I twenty feed where Mason can feed one.*'
Against the author of these unprovoked attacks, our author
betrayed no immediate resentment; and when he speaks of
Churchill's abuse of his friend Whitehead, disdains to re-
collect that he had been the object of the same malignity.
His principal residence about this time was at Aston,
where he displayed his taste in improving the grounds and
scenery near his parsonage-house, and was yet more assi-
duous in discharging the duties of his clerical function. In
Sept. 1765, he married Miss Sherman, daughter of William
Sherman, esq. of Kingston upon Hull, a very amiable lady
with whom bis happiness was but short. Throughout the
greater part of their connection, he had little intermission
from the misery of watching the progress of consumption,
MASON. 431
.which terminated her life, in 1767, at Bristol, whither he
had been advised to remove her in hopes of recovery. The
lines he wrote on this occasion need no recommendation to
a feeling heart, nor would it be easy to discover a poem,
which conveys more quick sympathy, in the whole range
of elegiac poetry.
In 1772, he published the first book of his " English
Garden," a work in which Mr. Warton says " didactic
poetry is brought to perfection, by the happy combination
of judicious precepts with the most elegant ornaments of
language and imagery." This opinipn is quoted, not only
because it appears to be just, but because it proves that
Mr. Warton entertained a very high opinion of Mason as a
poet, although there did not exist so much cordiality of
friendship as could have been wished between men who
were certainly among the ornaments of literature hi their
day. The usual objections to didactic poetry are undoubt-
edly in force against this specimen ; yet the " English Gar-
den" was read with avidity and approbation. The subject
was more familiar and interesting than those of former
poems of instruction, and it afforded him more frequent
opportunities to introduce rural imagery, and those de-
scriptions which give scope to a poetical imagination. Yet
the approbation of his friends did not flatter him into care-
lessness and precipitation. He appears to have been one
of the few authors who are desirous to retain the fame
they have acquired. The remaining books of the " Eng-
lish Garden" were published at periods sufficiently distant
to admit all the niceties of polish and frequent correction.
Book II. appeared in 1777, book III. in 1779, and book
IV. in 1782.
During some of these intervals he executed a very im-
- portant task, which devolved on him in consequence of the
death of his friend Gray. This justly-celebrated poet gra-
tified him by a visit at Aston in 1770, and after his return
to Pembroke- hall, was seized with the gout in his stomach,
which proved suddenly fatal. Mason hastened to Cam-
bridge to pay the last duties of friendship, but arrived too
late for the funeral, which had been conducted by Dr.
Brown, master of Pembroke-hall, who was appointed joint-
executor. Tb Mason, Gray left the sum of 500/. with all
his books, manuscripts, musical instruments, medals, &c. ;
and Mason undertook to write bis life, and to publish such
of his manuscripts as might appear to be worthy of his high
432 MASON.
character in the literary world. In his biography he chos*
to deviate from the usual plan, by adopting one which
seemed to present more advantages. Objections have been
made to it, because the biographer seldom appears either
as the narrator or the critic, but it must be allowed that
the whole is rendered more interesting, and that the atten-
tion of the reader being constantly fixed on the principal
character, he is enabled to form a more impartial opinion'
than if he had perused no evidence but the assertions of
the biographer. The plan has since been followed in the
cases of Johnson, Cowper, sir William Jones, Mrs. Carter,
and Dr. Beattie ; and where lives of equal importance to
literary curiosity are to be recorded, which cannot be often,
it appears to be not only the most engaging species of mi-
nute biography, but also the most impartial.
The "Memoirs of Gray9' were published in 1775, in an
elegant quarto volume, including an edition of his poems,
' with additions, and a series of his correspondence illustra-
tive of those particulars of education, genibs, opinion, and
temper, which, insignificant as they may often appear, are
all that form the life of a scholar. In executing this task,
Mr. Mason has been accused of partiality ; but his par-
tiality appears to be more in intention than proof. Some
things hex may have omitted, and others are certainly
thrown into shade ; but, by exhibiting so much of his friend^
correspondence, he has laid him more ppen to public in-
spection than could have been done by any species of
narrative. So much may be known of Gray from this vo«
lume, that probably very little is concealed which was ne-
cessary to be told ; and accordingly we find that it has been
appealed to with equal confidence by Gray's enemies and
by his admirers*.
In 1779, he published his political creed in the shape of
an animated " Ode to the Naval Officers of Great Britain,'*
written immediately after the trial of admiral Keppel in
February of that year. Although attached to a retired life,
he became tired of forbearance, when the disappointments
of the American war had incited the whig party to disco-
ver the more distant or latent sources of national misfortune,
and to propose remedies by which Britain should be always
prosperous, and always victorious. He was already one of
* This opinion, written in 1807, Mr. M it ford 'a well-written and correct
roust not be allowed to interfere with *' Life and Poems of Gray."— See the
the praise we have justly bestowed on article Qiay.
MASON. 433
those who thought the decision of parliament on the Mid-
dlesex election, a violation of the rights of the people; and
when the counties began, in-1779> to associate for parlia-
mentary reform, he took an active part in assisting their
deliberations, and wrote several patriotic manifestos, which
raised him as high in the opinion of his own party, as they
degraded him in the eyes of the othfer. He is even said to
have given so much offence at court, that he found it con*
venient to resign his chaplainship. It appears, however,
by the poems he wrote in his latter days, that the fever of
reform had abated, and that his cure, which was begun by
Mr. Fox's India bill, was afterwards completed by the
French revolution. His " Ode to Mr. Pitt," published in
1782, expresses the sanguine hopes he entertained of the
virtues and talents of that young statesman. When he pre-
pared this ode for a new edition, in 1795, he altered the
last line from
" Be thine the Muse's wreath $ be thou the People's friend/*
to
" To cl&im thy sovereign's love, be thou thy Country's friend."
The reason of this alteration he assigns in a note : " a
person (Mr. Fox) had usurped the name of the Friend of
the People, &c." To such vicissitudes are the eager as-
sertors of theoretic liberty exposed.
' Among Mr. Mason's accomplishments, his taste for paint-
ing was perhaps not inferior to that he displayed for poetry ;
and it has been thought that his judgment was more uni-
formly correct in - the former than in the latter. His
" Translation of Du Fresnoy's Art of Painting," which ap-
peared in 1783, was begun, as he informs us, in his early
years, with a double view of implanting in his memory the
principles of a favourite art, and of acquiring a habit of
versification, for which purpose the close and condensed
style of the original seemed peculiarly calculated, espe-
cially when considered as a, sort of school exercise.. The
task, however, proved so difficult, that it was long laid aside
for original composition, and his translation would have
never been made public, if sir Joshua Reynolds had not
requested a sight of it, and offered to illustrate it by a se-
ries of notes. This induced him to revise the whole with
such scrupulous care, that it may be considered, in a great
measure, as the production of his mature talents, and whe-
ther perused as an original or a translation, is certainly not
Vol. XXI. F f
434 MASON.
inferior to his most favourite works. la the poetical ad-
dress, however, to sir Joshua Reynolds, he has not been
thought so happy ; and some inaccuracies of rhyme may be
objected to a translation which is generally elegant and
faithful. How much its value was enhanced to the artist,
and to' the connoisseur, by the annotations of sir Joshua
Hey nolds, is too obvious to be noticed.
His last separate publication of the poetical kind was a
" Secular Ode in Commemoration of the Glorious Revolu-
tion,9' 1688, and appeared when men of all parties joined
in festal meetings to celebrate the restoration and establish-
ment of English liberty. In the same year he condescended
to be the biographer and editor of the poems of his friend
William Whitehead, esq. Of his life of Whitehead some
notice will be taken hereafter. Neither his subject nor bis
materials could furnish such memoirs, as he has given of
Gray, but it is interesting in an inferior degree, and would
riot have detracted much from his fame as a. biographer,
had he suppressed his splenetic notice of Dr. Johnson, a&d
shewn that he had preserved that simplicity of character,
and those generous feelings, which Gray once attributed to
him. He appears to have been equally mistaken in a
pamphlet which he publicl:ed about this time, animadvert-
ing on the government ot the York Lunatic Asylum ; but
the mistake was rather of the head than the heart, for he
Was a cordial and liberal supporter of that institution, and
was betrayed into a degree of intemperance of remark by
excess of zeal for its prosperity. Of his general humanity,
or what he has termed " moral patriotism," he afforded
during this year an eloquent proof in a discourse delivered
in York cathedral on the subject of the African slave trade.
He was one of the first who contributed to expose the in-
famy of that trade, and to invigorate those remonstrances
which have at length been heard with effect.
In 1795, he published a judicious, comprehensive, and
elegent " Essay, historical and critical, on English Church
Music.1' This work embraces so many subjects connected
with the decorous* administration of public worship as to
deserve much more attention than has yet been bestowed
upon it. His answer to Mr. Thomas Warton's objections
to metrical psalmody is not the least valuable part ; and the
spirit and intelligence which he displays on this subject
do credit to him, both as a poet and a divine. His know-
ledge of music was very accurate, and he is said to have
MASON. 435
composed a Te Deum, a hymn, and other pieces for the
choir of York. The improvement, if not the invention of
the piano forte is also attributed to him in an elaborate
article on that subject, inserted in Dr. Gleig's supplement
to the "Encyclopedia Britannica*."
In all the editions of his poems hitherto published, Mr*
Mason omitted some pieces for various reasons ; but, about
1796, he determined to collect the whole into an addi-
tional or third volume, interspersed with some which had
never been printed. This appeared in 1797, immediately
after his death.
His death, although he had reached his seventy-second
jrear, was not the consequence of age. His health was yet
more robust than most men enjoy at that advanced period,
and his faculties had undergone no perceptible alteration,
when he received a hurt in stepping into a carriage, which,
producing a mortification, terminated his life on the 7th of
April, 1797. A monument has been since erected to his
memory in Westminster abbey, adjoining to that fcf Gray,
with a short Latin inscription. The countess Harcourt
also erected an urn to his memory in the flower-garden at
Nuneham, with an inscription celebrating his " simple
manners, piety, and steady friendship." A yet higher
tribute of respect has been paid by his friend Mr. Gisborne
in some elegant verses. The opinion of so good a man as
Mr. Gisborne is entitled to confidence, and there is no rea-
son to doubt that Mason deserved the praise he has given
him ; nor, considering the general and acknowledged frailty
of human nature, will this panegyric suffer by the few
* " Mr, Mason," says Dr. Burney church music, to the most jodiciouj
in the Cyclopaedia, " was not only an accompaniment of a consummate or-
excellent poet and able divine, but a ganist. As precentor of the cathedral
dilettante painter and musician ; and ef York, it is to be feared, he has stript
in these last capacities an acute critic, music of all its ornaments, as Jack
We did not, however, agree with him did religion, in the Tale of a Tub.
in his reforming schemes of church There are, however, many excellent
musie. He had been himself a good reflections in his 'Compendium of the
performer on the harpsichord; had History of our Church Music,' anaV
some knowledge of composition, are- in general, a just and discriminate
fined taste, and was a Very good judge character of our ecclesiastical conapo-
of modern music ; but his ideas of re- sens, in his ' Copious Collection of
'forming cathedial music would reduce those portions of the Psalms of David,
it to Calvinistical psalmody. He Bible, and Liturgy, which have been
wished for nothing but plain counter- set to Music, and sung as Anthems in
point in the services and full anthems, the Cathedral and Collegiate Churches
■And dull and dry harmony in the vo- of England. To which is prefixed a
lontaries, without melody, accent, or critical and historical Essay on Cathe-
measure; and he prefened the me- dral Music' Printed at York in- 1782,"
cnaniqal execution of a barrel organ in
FP2
436 MASON.
«■»
t
i
exceptions which, in truth and justice to the merits of
others, his contemporaries, may be offered.
Mr. Mason's life appears to have been principally de-
voted to the duties of his profession, occasionally relieved
by the cultivation of the fine arts. His associates, at least
in the latter part of his life, were few. He had the mis-
fortune to survive the greater number whose friendship he
had cultivated in his early years, and he was not ambitious
of new connections. This brought on him the imputation
of that pride, or distance of manner, which is ascribed to
men of unsocial habits. But Mason's heart was not inac-
cessible, and his friendships were inviolable. The simpli-
city, however, attributed to him in his young days by Gray,
and the patience with which lord Orford informs us, he
heard his faults, did not accompany him through life. Oa
the publication of Gray's life, he was ready to allow that
" twenty-five years had made a very considerable abate-
ment in his general philanthropy ;" and by philanthropy he
seems here to mean a diffidence of opinion on matters of
literature, and an unwillingness to censure acknowledged
merit. It can have no reference to philanthropy in the
more general acceptation of the word, for he was to the
last, liberal, humane, and charitable. What it really
means, indeed, we find in the work just alluded to. 'The
contemptuous notice of Waterland, Akenside, and Shen-
stone, which he did not suppress in Gray, he employed
himself with more harshness whenever he could find an
opportunity to attack the writings of Dir. Johnson. The
opinion this great critic pronounced on Gray may be pro-
bably quoted as the provocation, and great allowance is to
be made for the warmth and zeal with which he guards the
memory of his departed friend. But surely one of his
notes on Gray's Letters may be here fairly quoted against
him. " Had Mr. Pope disregarded the sarcasms of tbe
many writers that endeavoured to eclipse his poetical fame,
as much as Mr. Gray appears to have done, the world
would not have been possessed of a Dunciad ; but it would
have been impressed with a more amiable idea of its au-
thor's temper.*' Nor was his prosecution of Murray, for
taking about fifty lines from his works of Gray into an edi-
tion which that bookseller published, much to the credit
of his liberality, especially as he refused to drop the pro- .
secution, when requested to name his own terms of com-
pensation. Such littlenesses are to be regretted in a man
M A S O N. 437
who was the friend of genius and literature, whose circum-
stances placed him far above want, and whose regular dis-
charge of the duties of piety and humanity bespoke an
ambition for higher enjoyments than fame and wealth cau
yield. Of his regard for sacred truth, and the respect due
to it, he exhibited a proof in a letter to lord Orford on his
lordship's childish epitaph on tvto piping bullfinches, to
which he received an answer that was probably not very
satisfactory.
As a poet, his name has been so frequently coupled with
that of Gray, and their merits have been supposed to ap-
proach so nearly, that what has been said of the one will
in some degree apply to the other. It is evident that they
studied in the same school, and mutually cultivated those
opinions which aim at restoring a purer species of poetry
than was taught in the school of their predecessor Pope.
Whether we consider Mason as a lyric, dramatic, or di-
dactic writer, we find the same grandeur of outline, the
S£me daring and inventive ambition which carries out of
the common track of versification and sentiment into the
higher regions of imagination. His attachment to the sister
. art, and his frequent contemplation of the more striking
and sublime objects of nature, inclined him to the descrip-
tive; and his landscapes have a warmth and colouring,
often rich and harmonious, but perhaps too frequently
marked with a glare of manner peculiar to the artist.
His' compositions, however, even on the same subject,
have all the variety of a fertile invention. Although we
have Evening, Morning, &c. often depicted, they are to
be distinguished, and the preference we are inclined to
give is regulated by the feeling which the varieties of natu-
ral appearances excite in different minds, and in the same
mind at different times.
Mason's correctness is almost proverbial, and bis ambi-
tion undoubtedly was to be equally correct and elegant :
yet his styJe must often lead the reader to question his
judgment, and to wonder that he could not see what every
one else saw. That a man with so many endowments as a
scholar, a critic, and an admirer of the simplicity of the
ancients, should have fallen so frequently into a style or-
namented with a finical profuseness, wtould be sufficiently
remarkable, if his decorations had readily presented them-
selves ; but, when we see him so frequently pausing for an
epithet that incumbers what it cannot illustrate, wheu w$
438 MASON.
see him more attentive to novelty than strength of imagery,
and above all, taxing his memory to produce repeated alli-
terations, we are forced to conclude that judgment is not
always consistent, or that in some men it occasionally
exists independent of true taste. With these exceptions,
however, few indeed of the modern poets in our collections
deserve a higher rank than Mason, as a lyric and descrip-
tive poet, nor has he given any finished piece to the world
from which examples of excellence 'may not be -quoted.
It is now necessary to advert to a series of poems which
have been added to Mr. Mason's works in the late edition
of the English poets. The author of the Ci Heroic Epistle'*
was long concealed from the world, and for reasons which
are obvious; but the poem had merit enough to be ascribed
to the best living satirists, to Mason, Walpole, Hayley,
Cowper, Anstey, and others. It appears, however, to be
now universally given Jto Mason. Mr. Thomas Warton was
of opinion that "it might have been written by Walpole
and buckrarrCd by Mason." Mr. Malone, in a note on this
opinion, which occurs in Boswell's Life of Johnson, says,
" It is how known that the Heroic Epistle was written by
Mason." Mr. Mant, in his life of Warton, informs us that*
when it was first published, Warton ascribed it to Mason,
and endeavoured to confirm his opinion by internal evi-
dence. Mason heard of this, and sent to him a letter in
1777, published by Mr. Mant, in which he professes to
expostulate with him for raising a report merely from cri-
tical conjecture. — " I have been told that you have pro-
nounced me very frequently in company to be the author
of the Heroic Epistle to sir William Chambers, and I am
told too, that the premier himself suspects that I am so
upon your authority. Surely, sir, mere internal evidence
(and you can possibly have no other) can never be suffi-
cient to ground such a determination upon, when you con-
sider how many persons in this rhyming age of ours are
possessed of that knack of Pope's versification, which con-,
stitutes one part of the merit of that poem, and as to the
wit, humour, or satire, which it contains, no part of my
writings could ever lead you, by their analogy," to form so
peremptory a judgment. I acquit you, however, in this
procedure of every, even the slightest degree of ill nature;
and believe that what you have said was only to show your
critical acumen. I only mention it that you may be more
cautious of speaking of other persons in like manner, who
MASON. 439
may throw such anonymous bantlings of their brain into
the wide world. To some of these it might prove at} es-
sential injury ; for though they might deserve the frown of
power (as the author in question certainly does), yet I an(t
persuaded that your good nature would be hurt if that frown
was either increased or fixed by your ipse dixit.
" To say more on this trivial subject would betray a so-
licitude on my part very foreign from my present feelings
or inclination. My easy and independent circumstances
make such a suspicion sit mighty easy upon me ; and the
minister, nay the whole ministry, are free to think what
they please of a man, who neither aims to solicit, nor wishes
to accept, any favour from them."
What our author has here remarked concerning internal
evidence, has probably occurred to all who fixed their sus-
picions on him. From the works published under his name,
no person could for a moment suppose him to be a man
of humour, or inclined to personal and political satire. He
might even have asked whether it was probable that a man
whose pen had been uniformly devoted to solemn and se-
rious poetry, and who had never brought forward the sha-
dow of a claiqi for the honours of wit, should af an advanced
period of life suddenly eclipse his contemporaries and some
of his predecessors by exhibiting a humour which he had
never been suspected to possess, and a spirit which would
have better become a Paul Whitehead, or a'Cbarles Chur-
chill : and that he should carry this humour and tbU spirit
through six poems of no inconsiderable length, on dissi-
milar subjects. Yet as even this, however remarkable, is
not beyond the reach of. genius, it was surely in his power
to bripg the question to a more prompt issue. But this he
evades, and uses every argument against Mr. Warton's opi-
nion but that which must have at once refuted it, the
plain and fiat denial of a man of honour and principle. On
this account, therefore, the " Heroic Epistle,9' and the
other pieces published under the name of Macgregor, are
now added to Mr. Mason's works, but not without a wish
that they could have been attributed to some writer of less
private and public worth. If they be his, they will add to
his literary reputation, by placing him among the first sa-
tirical poets of his day, if not above the first; but who-
ever contemplates the disaffected spirit in which they are
written, will probably be of opinion that by adopting the
floating invectives and prejudices of a party and of a tur-
440 MASO N.
bulent period, he did not consult the consistency of his
character or the dignity of his Muse.1
MASSAC, or MASSE (John Baptist), an excellent
French miniature painter, was born at Paris in December
1687, and died in September 1767. He preserved his
liveliness and gaiety to his death. His religion was that of
the protestant communion, but so averse was he to the in-
terference of any principle but fair conversion, that he
dismissed a Roman catholic servant who had long served
him faithfully, becausg he wished to change his religion
to please him. Being questioned about his mode of think-
ing, he answered, " I serve God, and I feel myself so free,
as to depend on nothing upon earth except my own exer-
tions.'9 The collection of prints from the great gallery
and other apartments at Versailles, were copied from the
originals of Le Brun, by Massac, and engraved by the best
artists under his inspection.*
MASSANIELLO. See ANELLO.
MASSIEU (William), an ingenious and learned French
writer, was born in 1 665, of a good family at Caen, where
he continued till he had gone through the classics. At
sixteen he went to Paris, and performed a course of phi-
losophy in the college of the Jesuits ; and, after he had
finished his noviciate, was appointed, according to the
usage of the society, to teach polite literature. They sent
him to Rennes to teach rhetoric ; and, after a due time, he
returned to Paris to study theology : for succeeding in
which he seemed so particularly formed, that his superiors
desired him to devote himself wholly to it. This destina-
tion affected him much, his love of the belles lettres far
exceeding his taste for theology ; and therefore he quitted
his society, and re-entered the world. His uncommon
talents soon made him known, and recommended him to
the favour of those who could serve him. M. de Sacy (Le
Maistre) took him into his house, as a preceptor to his
children ; and M. de Tourreil borrowed his assistance in
translating Demosthenes. He became a pensionary of the
* Johnson and Chalmers's English Poets, 1810, 21 vols. 8vo, the editor of
which says that " these memoirs of Mr. Mason are far less complete than could
have been wished. Mason is said to have left his poems, and some unpublished
works, for the benefit of a charitable institution ; but eleven years have elapsed
since his death, and no step has been taken to fulfil his intention, or to honour
his memory. What is now offered has been collected from various sources, and
it is hoped without falling into any very important error."
% Diet. HisU— Sirutt's Dictionary.
I
MASSIEU, ,441
academy of inscriptions in J 705, and was elected professor
royal of the Greek language in 1710, Homer, Pindar,
Theocritus, and Demosthenes, were his favourite authors ;
and his lectures on them were highly admired, and much
attended. Though he had yet given nothing to the pub- '
lie, yet his "merit was so well known, and his connections
with the learned so numerous, that, in 1714, he was chosen
a member of the French academy. Massieu may be ranked
among the unfortunate literati. The circumstances of his
family were extremely narrow, so that he had to struggle
with poverty during his youth. In the family of M. de
Sacy, he saved some money, -but afterwards lost it by
placing it in bad hands. Towards the latter end of his life,
he suffered bodily grievances : he had frequent and severe
attacks of the gout ; and two cataracts deprived him of his
sight. A paralytic disorder seized him in August 1722,
which being followed by an apoplexy, proved fatal Sept. 2$.
Several critical dissertations by Massieu upon ^classical
antiquity are inserted in "The Memoirs of the academy of
inscriptions." His " Oration" at his reception into the
French academy is printed in the collections, of the aca-
demy. He had the care of an edition of the " New Testa-
ment" in Greek, printed at Paris in 1715, in 2 vols. 12 mo.
He had also the care of M. de TourreiPs works, published
at Paris in 1722, in 2 vols. 4to. De Tourreil desired Mas-
sieu, on his death-bed, to give the public his translation ,
of Demosthenes, which that author did very faithfully ;
and added to it some of his " Opuscula," with a preface of
his own.1
MASSILLON (John Baptist), an eminent French
preacher, was born in 1663, the son of a notary at Hieres
in Provence. In 1681, he entered into the congregation
of the Oratory, and wherever he was sent gained all hearts
by the liveliness of his character, the agreeableness of his
wit, and a natural fund. of sensible and captivating polite-
ness. These advantages, united with his great talents,
excited the envy of his brethren, no less than the admira-
tion of others, and, on some ill-founded suspicions of in-
trigue, he was sent by his superiors to one of their houses
in the diocese of Meaux. The first efforts of his eloquence
were made at Vienne, while he was a public teacher of
theology; and his funeral oration ou Henri de Villars,
\ Niceron, vols. XII. and XX— Diet. Hist
442 MASSILLON.
archbishop of that city, was universally admired. The
, lame of this discourse induced father de la Tour, then
general of the congregation of the Oratory, to send for
him to Paris. After some time, being asked his opinion;
ef the principal preachers in that capital, " they display,"
said he, " great genius and abilities; but if I preach, I
shall not preach as they do." He kept his word, and took
up a style of his own, not attempting to imitate any one,
except it was fiourdaloue, whom, at the same time, the
natural difference of his disposition did not suffer him to
follow very closely. A touching and natural simplicity is
the characteristic of his style, and has been thought by
able judges to reach the heart, and produce its due effect,
with much more certainty than all the logic pf the Jesuit
Bourdaloue. His powers were immediately distinguished
when he made his appearance at court; and when he
preached his first advent at Versailles, he received this
compliment from Louis XIV. " My father," said that mo-
narch, "when I bear other preachers, I go away much
pleased with them ; but whenever I hear you, I go away
much displeased with myself." On one occasion, the ef*
feet of a discourse preached by him " on the small number
of the elect," was so extraordinary, that it produced a ge-
neral, though involuntary murmur of appWuse in the con-
gregation. The preacher himself was confused by it ; but
the effect was only increased, and the pathetic was carried
to the greatest height that can be supposed possible. His
mode of delivery contributed not a little to his success.
" We seem to behold him still in imagination," said they
who had been fortunate enough to attend his discourses,
*' with that simple air, that modest carriage, those eyes so
humbly directed downwards, that unstudied gesture, that
touching tone of voice, that look of a man fully impressed
with the truths which he enforced, conveying the most
brilliant instruction to the mind, and the most pathetic
movements to the heart." The famous actor, Baron, after
hearing him, told him to continue as he had begun. " You,"
said he, "have a manner of your own, leave the rules to
others." At another time he said to an actor who was with
him : " My friend, this is the true orator ; we are mere
players." Massillon was not the least inflated by the praises
be received. His modesty continued unaltered ; and the
charms of his society attracted those who were likely to be
alarmed at the strictness of his lessons*
MASSILLON. 443
In 1717, the regent being convinced of his merits by
bis own attendance on his sermons, appointed him bishop
of Clermont. The French academy received him as a
member in 1719. The funeral oration of the duchess of
Orleans in 1723, was the last discourse he pronounced at
Paris. From that time he resided altogether in his diocese,
where the mildness, benevolence, and piety of his charac-
ter, gained all hearts. His love of peace led him to make
many endeavours to conciliate bis brethren of the Oratory
and the Jesuits, but he found at length that be had less*
influence over divines than over the hearts of any other
species of sinners. He died resident on his diocese, Sept.
28, 1742, at the age of 79. His name has since been
almost proverbial in France, where he is considered as a
most consummate master of eloquence. Every imaginable
perfection is attributed by his countrymen to his style*
" What pathos !" says one of them, " what knowledge of
the human heart ! What sincere effusions of conviction !
What a tone of truth, of philosophy, and humanity ! What
an imagination, at once lively and well regulated J
Thoughts just and delicate ; conceptions brilliant and mag-
nificent; expressions elegant, select, sublime, harmonious;
images striking and natural; representations just and forci-
ble ; style clear, neat, full, numerous, equally calculated
to be comprehended by the multitude, and to satisfy the
most cultivated hearer." What can be imagined beyond
these commendations ? Yet they are given by the general
consent of those who are most capable of deciding on the
subject. His works were published complete, by his ne-
phew at Paris, in 1745 and 1746, forming fourteen volumes
of a larger, and twelve of a smaller kind of l2mo. They
contain, 1. A complete set of Sermons for Advent and
Lent. 2. Several Funeral Orations, Panegyrics, &c: 3%
Ten discourses, known by the name of " Le petit Car6me.'*
4. *c Ecclesiastical Conferences." 5. Some excellent pa- ,
raphrases of particular psalms. Massillon once stopped
short in the middle of a sermon, from defect of memory ;
and the same happened from apprehension in different
parts of the same day, to two other preachers whom he
went to hear. The English method of reading their dis-
courses would certainly have been very welcome to all
these persons, but the French conceive that all the fire of
eloquence would be lost by that method : this, however,
seems by no means to be necessafy. The most striking
444 HAS8ILL ON.
passages and beauties of Massillon's sermons were collected
by the abb6 de la Porte, in a volume which is now annexed
as a last volume to the two editions of his works ; and a
few years ago, three volumes of his,u Sermons" were trans-
lated into English by Mr, William Dickson.1
MASSINGKR (Philip), a very eminent dramatic writer,
was born in 1534. His father was Arthur Massinger, a
gentleman attached to the family of Henry second earl of
Pembroke. He was born at Salisbury, and educated,
probably, at Wilton, the seat of the earl of Pembroke.
When he had reached his sixteenth year, he sustained an
irreparable loss in the death of that worthy nobleman, who,
from attachment to the father, would, not improbably,
have extended his powerful patronage to the son. In May
1602 Massinger became a commoner of Alban-Hall, Ox*
ford, but left it soon without taking a degree. Various
reasons have been assigned for this, as the earl of Pern*
broke's withdrawing his support; or the same effect result-
ing from the death of the. poet's father ; but his late ex-
cellent editor, Mr. Gifford, is probably right in attributing
his removal to a change in his principles, to his becoming
6 Roman catholic. Whatever might be the cause, the
period of his misfortunes commenced with his arrival in
London, where he was driven by his necessities to dedicate
himself to the service of the stage. We hear little, how-
ever, of him, from 1606, when he first visited thex metro-
polis, until 1622, when his " Virgin Martyr," the first of
his printed works, was given to the stage. For this hiatus^
his biographer accounts by his having assisted others, par-
ticularly Fletcher, and his having written some plays
.which have perished. He afterwards produced various
plays in succession, of which eighteen only have descended
to us. Massinger died March 17, 1640. He went to bed
in good health, says Langbaine, and was found dead in
his bed in the morning in his own house on the Bahkside.
He was buried in the church-yard of St. Saviour's. It does
not appear from the strictest search, that a stone, or in-
scription of any kind, marked the place where his dust was
deposited : even the memorial of his mortality is given
with a pathetic brevity, Which accords but too well with
the obscure and humble passages of his life : " March 20,
1639-40, buried Philip Massinger, a stranger!"
* D'AIembert's Eloge.— Diet. Hist.
M A S S I N G E R. US
So few particulars are known of bis private history, that
his life is little more than a detailed account of his various
productions, for which we may refer the reader to Mr.
Gifford's edition. But, says this editor, though we are
ignorant of every circumstance respecting Massinger, un-
less that he lived, wrote, and died, we may yet form to
ourselves some idea of his personal character from the in-
cidental hints scattered* through his works. In what light
he was regarded may be collected from the recommenda-
tory poems prefixed to his several plays, in which the
language of his panegyrists, though warm, expresses an '
attachment apparently derived not so much from his talents
as his virtues. All the writers of his life unite in repre-
senting him as a man of singular modesty, gentleness,
candour, and affability ; nor does it appear that he ever
made, or found ail enemy. He speaks indeed of oppo-
nents on the stage ; but the contention of rival candidates
for popular favour must not be confounded with personal
'hostility. With all this, however, he appears to have main-
tained a constant struggle with adversity ; since not only
the stage* from which, perhaps, his natural reserve pre-
vented him from deriving the usual advantages, but even
the bounty of his particular friends, on which he chiefly
relied, left him in a state of absolute dependance. Other
writers for the stage, not superior to him in abilities, had
their periods of good fortune, their bright as well as their
stormy hours; but Massinger seems to have enjoyed no
gleam of sunshine : his life was all one Wintry day, and
u shadows, clouds, and darkness" rested upon it*
His dedications, says Mr. GifFord, are principally cha-
racterised by gratitude and humility, without a single
trait of that gross and servile adulation which distinguishes
and disgraces the addresses of some of his contemporaries.
That he did not conceal his misery, his editors appear in-
clined to reckon among his faults; he bore it, however,
without impatience, and we only hear of it when it is
relieved. Poverty made him no flatterer, and, what is
still more rare, no maligner of the great : nor is one symp-
tom- of envy manifested in any part of his compositions.
His principles of patriotism appear irreprehensible : the
extravagant and slavish doctrines which are found in the
dramas of his great contemporaries make no part of his
creed, in which the warmest loyalty is skilfully combined
with just and rational ideas of political freedom. But the
4
■ »
416 M A S S I N G E R.
grlat distinction of Massinger, is the uniform respect with
which he treats religion and its ministers, in an age when
it was found necessary to add regulation to regulation, to
stop the growth of impiety on the stage. No priests are
introduced by him, " to set on some quantity of barren
spectators9' to laugh, at their licentious follies ; the sacred
name is not lightly invoked, nor daringly sported with;
nor is Scripture profaned by buffoon allusions lavishly put
into the mouths of fools and women. Compared with the
other dramatic writers of his age, he appears more natural
in his characters, and more poetical in his diction, than
Jonson or Cartwright, more elevated and nervous than
Fletcher, the only writers who can be supposed to contest
his pre-eminence. He ranks, therefore, in the opinion of
the ablest recent critics, immediately under Shakspeare.
It must be confessed, says Dr. Ferriar, in his " Essay on
. the Writings of Massinger," that in comedy he falls con-
siderably beneath Shakspeare ; his wit is less brilliant, and
his ridicule less delicate and various ; but be affords a spe-
cimen of elegant comedy (" The Great Duke of Florence"),
of which there is no archetype in his great predecessor.
In tragedy Massinger is rather eloquent than pathetic:
yet he is often as majestic, and generally more elegant,
than his master; he is as powerful a ruler of the under-
standing, as Shakspeare is of the passions ; with the dis-
advantage of succeeding that matchless poet, there is still
much original beauty in his works ; and the most extensive
acquaintance with poetry will hardly diminish the pleasure
of a reader and admirer of Massinger. .
As the editions of Dell in 1761, and Davies in 1779,
* will probably be heard of no more, it is unnecessary to
paint out their many errors and imperfections. Massinger
has at length found in Mr. Gifford an editor, who has
completely revived his fame, in the closet at least, and
whose well-known learning and taste, it has been justly
said, are accompanied, on this occasion, with that genuine
spirit of research, that acuteness and accuracy which hap-
pily detect and rectify many gross mistakes of former edi-
tors, and admirably explain the customs, manners, and
language of the poet's time. This, which is perhaps the
* most correct edition of any of our ancient poets, was pub-
lished in 1805, 4 vols. 8vo, and so completely answered
the public expectation, that a second edition was called
for in 1813*
I Life by Mr. Gifford*
MAS S O N. 4*7
MASSON (Francis), an enterprizing botanist, was born
at Aberdeen, in North-Britain, in 1741, and after coining
to London, probably in pursuit of employment as a gar-
dener, in which capacity he was known to Mr. Aiton, the
superintendant of Kew gardens, he was sent in 1771 or
1772 to the Cape of Good Hope. That country had been,
for near a century, celebrated as a mine of botanical riches,
which had scarcely reached our gardens but through the
medium of those of Holland. This deficiency, however,
in our supply of curious plants, was little felt while Mr.
Masson continued at the Cape, and the Dutch appear not
to have restrained his inquiries or acquisitions. He was
allowed to travel many hundred miles up the country, and
having amply effected the purpose of his mission, he was,
in 1776, ordered to explore the Canary islands, the Azores,
Madeira, and part of the West-Indies, especially the
iskuid of St. Christopher. In this he employed about five
years more, and returned. to England in 1781.
During his stay at the Cape, he entered into a corre-
spondence with Linnaeus. Having discovered a bulbous
plant of a new genus, he was not only laudably ambitious
of botanical commemoration in its name, but he was par-
ticularly anxious, as appears by one of his letters, to re-
ceive this honour from no less a hand than that of his illus-
trious correspondent. This indeed, his learned biographer
remarks, was the unicum pramium, the only reward to
which he aspired for all his labours. That he sought no
pecuniary advancement, the extreme slenderness of the
stipend which could be obtained for him, and his disregard
of such objects at all times, abundantly evinced. He ob-
tained the honour to which he aspired. The specimen of *
Massonia in the herbarium of Linnaeus, named by his own
trembling hand near the close of his life, proves that the
name had his sanction, though it appears to have been
originally suggested by Thunberg, in whose company Mas-
son botanized for two years at the Cape. In 1783, he
visited Portugal and Madeira, and returned to the Cape of
Good Hope in 1786, where, inconsequence of the know-
ledge he had already acquired, it was settled, in consulta-
tion with his able adviser, sir Joseph Banks, that his travels
should now be restrained to within forty miles of the. Cape
town. In 1795, Mr. Masson returned to England, and
: spent two years there among his botanical friends, after
which he was sent to explore such parts of North America,
448 MASSO N.
under the British government, as appeared most likely to
produce new and valuable plants; and his success was
equal to the expectations that had been formed. New
plants, of interesting characters and properties, sprang up
under his steps, and it seemed probable that much prac-
tical knowledge was likely to result from his discoveries,
but< be did not live to reap or to communicate more than a
foretaste of these advantages. He died about Christmas,
1805, in the sixty-fifth year of his age, at Montreal, in
Canada^ He was a man of a mild temper, persevering in
his pursuits, even to a great enthusiasm. Of great indus-
try ; which his specimens and drawings of fish, animals,
insects, plants, and views of the countries he passed
through, evince. And though he passed a solitary life, in
countries distant from society, his love of natural history
never forsook him. In 1796 he published a splendid work
on the genus Stapelia, consisting of a thin folio volume,
with forty-one coloured plates of as many species, almost
entirely non-descript, accompanied by descriptions.1
MASSON (John), a reformed minister, who died in
Holland about 1750, was originally of France, but fled
into England to enjoy that liberty in religion which his
country refused him, and was employed as tutor in bishop
Burnet's family. In 1710 he travelled with his pupils,
through Holland, and thence to France and Italy, accord-
ing to Saxius, though we doubt whether the bishop had at
that time any sons so young as to be only beginning their
education. Be this as it may, he soon became known in
the literary world, and we should suppose must have often
resided in Holland, as most of his publications were printed
there. The first we can trace with certainty is his " Jam
templum Christo nascente reseratum, seu Tractatus Chro-
nologico-historicus vulgarem refellens opinionem existi-
mantium, pacem toto terrarum orbe sub tempus Servatoris
natale stabilitam fuisse," &c. Rotterdam, 1700, 4 to and 8vo.
We, are also indebted to him for, 1. " Histoire critique de
la Republique des Lettres, from 1712 to 1717," in 15 vols.
12 mo. 2. " Vitae Horatii, Ovidii, et Plinii junioris," 3 vols,
small 8vo, and printed abroad, though dedicated to En-
glishmen of rank: the first at Leyden, 1708, to lord
Harvey; the second at Amsterdam, 1708, to sir Justi-
nian Isham ; the third at Amsterdam, 1 709, to the bishop
of Worcester. These lives are drawn up in a chronologi-
•
1 Reel's Cyclopedia, by tbe president of the Linnsan Society.
M A S S O N. 449
Ml order, very learnedly and very critically ; and serve to
illustrate the history, not only of these particular persons,
but of the times also in which they lived. In the "Life
of Horace," Masson found occasion to interfere with M;
Dacier? who, however, defended his own opinions, and
prefixed his defence to the second edition of his Horace. ,
3. " Histoire de Pierre Bayle & de ses ouvrages,'' Am-
sterdam, 1716, 12 mo. This at least is supposed to be his,
though at first it was given to M. la Monnoye. Many
other critical dissertations by Masson are enumerated by
Sax i us.1
MASSON (Papirius, or Papire-Masson), a French his*
tprical and miscellaneous writer, was the son of a rich
merchant, and born at St. Germain-Laval, in the territory
pf Forez, May 16, 1544, He lost his father when a child;
and, though his mother married again, she appears to have
taken great care of his education. At a proper age he was
put und^r the Jesuits at Billon, in Auvergne, with whom
he contiuued four years ; and was then called to Lyons by
an uncle, who intended to send him to Toulouse, to study
the law: but the civil wars rendering this unsafe, he re-
turned to Billon, where he applied himself to the belles
lettres and philosophy. Here contracting an intimacy with
a fellow-student, Anthony Challon, he joined with him in
a resolution of entering into the society of Jesuits ; and
accordingly they went soon after to Rome, where they
took the habit. Masson made a funeral oration at Rome
for some cardinal, in the presence of several others, and
acquired by it great credit and reputation. Afterwards
these two friends went to Naples, where Masson taught
two years in the college of Jesuits. They returned toge-
ther to France, when Challon quitted the society, as did
Masson some time after, and defended this step with so
much moderation and candour that the society were not
displeased at it.
The marriage of Charles IX. of France with Elizabeth,
daughter of the emperor Maximilian, being celebrated in
1570 at Mezieres, Masson, who was present, wrote an ele-
gant description of it, which was published the same year
in 8vo, and was the first thing from which he derived
literary reputation. He then resolved to apply to the law,
and with this view went to Angers to study under thf
1 Diet. Hilt.— Sain OnamasticQR.
Vol. XXI. Q e
450 MASSON,
celebrated Bandouin, or Balduinus. After two years he re*
turned to Paris, and btocame librarian to the chancellor de
Cheverney, a lover of literature, in which place he con-
tinued ten years. In 1576 he was made an advocate of
parliament; yet never pleaded more than one cause, which
however he gained with universal applause. The rest of
his life appears to have been devoted to study, and when
the troubles of France were at an end, he married the
sister of a counsellor in parliament, with whom he lived
thirty-four years, but had no children. The infirmities of
age attacked him some time before his death, which hap-
pened Jan. 9X 1611. He wrote, 1. cc Annals of France,"
a good work, the best edition of which is, 1598, 4to. 2.
" Eulogies on illustrious Men," 1656, 8vo. 3. "A De-
scription of France by its Rivers," 1685, 8vo. 4. " An
Account of the French Bishoprics," 8vo. " De Episcopis
Urbis," 4to, a history of the popes; and several other
works, which discover great genius and learning. " Vita
Jbannis Calvini," 4to, a well-written work, is also ascribed
to him by some, and, by others, to James Gillot. The
Above-mentioned are all in Latin. His friend, M. deThou,
has written his life, which is prefixed to his Eulogies. * _
MASSUET (Rene', or Renatus), a very learned Bene-
dictine, of the congregation of St. Maur, was born at S.
Owen de Macelles, in 1665. He is chiefly known for the
new edition of St. Irenseus, which he published in 1710,
fol/Gr. & Lat. He consulted, for that purpose, several ma-
nuscripts, which had never been examined ; and made new
•notes and learned dissertations, prefixed to the work. The
first of these dissertations is employed upon the person,
character, and condition of Irenseus, and sets forth parti-
cularly the writings and tenets of the heretics he encoun-
tered; the second enlarges further upon the life, actions,
martyrdom, and writings of this saint ; and the third re-
lates his sentiments and doctrine. But, although this edi-
tion is reckoned better and more correct than any which
had appeared before it, Salomon Deyling published a
work at Leipsic in 1721, in order to expose the unfair
representations Massuet had made of the opinions of
Irensus. Massuet 'was afterwards engaged to write a con-
tinuation of the acts and annals of the saints of the order
1 Niceron, vol. V.— Bullart's Xcademie des Sciences, voL I.— Pffrautt lej,
Homines lliuitres. Saxii Onomasticon.
M A S S U E T. 451
. df St. Benedict ; and accordingly he published a fifth vo-
lume. He died, aged 50, Jan. 19, 1716, after having
writteri and published several other works.1
MASTELLATA. See DONDUCCI.
MASTER, or perhaps MASTERS (Thomas), a poet
and historian, was the son of the rev. William Master,
rector of Cote near Cirencester in Gloucestershire. He
was first educated at the grammar-school of Cirencester,
and afterwards at Winchester-school, from which he en-
tered New college, Oxford, as a probationer fellow in
1622, and was admitted perpetual fellow in 1624. He
look his degrees in arts, that of M. A. in 1629, and being
hi orders, was in 1640 admitted to the reading of the sen-
tences. At this time he was considered as a man of great
learning, well-versed in the languages, and a good poet
and preacher. There are no other circumstances recorded
•f his life, except his connection with lord Herbert of
Cherbury, whom he assisted in some of his writings. He
* died of a putrid fe^er in 1643, and was buried in the outer
chapel of New-college. Lord Herbert honoured his me-
mory with a Latin epitaph, which is among his lordship's
poems, but was not inscribed on the place of his burial.
His poems were in Latin and Greek : 1. " Mensa Lubrica,"
Oxon. 1658, 4to, second edition. This is a poem in Lat
and English, describing the game of shovel-board. 2*
" Moroni** u; t>!v TsXftofe alavfuciv" a Greek poem on the
Jassion of Christ, which was translated into Latin by Mr.
i^cob of Merton- college, and into English by Cowley, and
published at Oxford, 1658, 4to. His other Latin produc-
tions were, an oration delivered in New-college ; u Iter
Boreale," *€ Carolus Redux," " Ad regem Carolum," &c.
We have termed, him a historian from his having given
Idrd Herbert great assistance in his " Life of Henry VIII.*'
He also had a share in the Latin translation of his lordship's
book " De Veritate." He had accumulated a great mass
of historical information and authorities from the public
records; Wood speaks of having four thick volumes in
• folio of these, " lying by him," but does not mention whe-
ther his own property or borrowed. Dr. Fiddes, however,
informs us, in the introduction to his " Life of Wolsey,"
that in his time Mr. Master's " diligent and faithful collec-
tions'* were in the library of Jesus-college, Oxford. He
1 Morcri.— Djct. Hist— Saxii Onomasticon.
'662
45* M A S T E R.
adds that " Lprd Herbert appears to be indebted for a
good part of bis history to those collections." ■
MASTERS (Robert), a divine and antiquary, proba-
bly a relative of the preceding, was the great-grandson of
sir William Masters of Cirencester, in Gloucestershire.
His father, William, was a clergyman, who among other
livings, held that of St Vedast, Poster-lane, London,
where the subject of this article was born in 1713. He
was admitted of Corpus-Christi college, Cambridge, in
1731, took bis degree of B.A. in 1734, that of M. A. in
1738, and that of S.T. B. in 1746. He also obtained a
fellowship of the college, and was tutor from 1747 to 1750.
In 1752 he was chosen a fellow of the society of antiqua-
ries, and was presented by Corpus college, in 1756, to the
rectory of Landbeach in Cambridgeshire. He was also
presented to the vicarage of Linton, which he resigned for
that of Waterbeach in 1759; but this last he afterwards,
by leave of the bishop of Ely, resigned tc his son. In
1797 be resigned, by consent of the respective colleges,
the living of Landbeach to one of his sons-in-law, the rev.
T. C. Burroughs, but continued to reside there. He was
in the commission of the peace for the county of Cam-
bridge. He died at Landbeach July 5, 1798, in his eighty-
third year.
As a divine he published only one sermon, ." The Mis-
chiefs of faction and rebellion considered," preached at
Cambridge in 1745. He is chiefly known, as an antiquary,
by his valuable " History of the College of Corpus-Christi,?
&c. 1753, 4to, the most complete account ever published,
of any college in either university, and upon the best
plan, that which includes the lives of the principal mem-
bers, as well as the foundation and progress of the college.
We have been too much indebted to this work not to bear
this testimony to its satisfactory information and accuracy.
Mr. Masters, however, was less fortunate in prefixing to
this publication a plan and elevation of the intended new
building, which he claimed the merit of designing) although
it really belonged to that excellent architect James Essex.
Mr. Masters also published a Section and Ichnograpby of
Pythagoras' s school at Cambridge, with the seal of Merton-
college, Oxford, to which it belongs. To the Archaeolo-
gia he contributed " Remarks on Mr. Walpole's Historic
1 Ath. Ox. vol. II.— Fiddei'i Introduction, pp. xi. xii.
MASTERS. 453
Doubts," who answered them with no small display of
vanity and arrogance ; " An account of stone coffins found
near Cambridge castle ;" and of " an ancient painting on
glass, representing the pedigree of the Stewart family J9
In 1784 he published " Memoirs of the Life and Writings
of the late rev. Thomas Baker, B. D. of St. John's-college,
from the papers of Dr. Zachary Grey, with a Catalogue of
his MS Collections," Cambridge, 8vo; and in 1790 t€ A
Catalogue of the several pictures in the public library and
respective colleges of the university of Cambridge," 12 mo.
His last work was, " A short account of the parish of
Waterbeacb, in the diocese of Ely, by a late Vicar," 1795,
Svo, with a slight sketch of Denny abbey; but of this
only a small number were given as presents. Mr. Masters,
from certain peculiarities of temper, appears to have been
frequently at variance with his literary friends, of which
instances may be found in our authorities.1
MATHER (Richard), the first of a family of noncon-
formist divines, of considerable reputation both in the new
and old world, was born at Lowton, in the parish of Win-
wick, in Lancashire, in 1596. After some education at
Win wick-school, he was, in 1611, at the early age of fif-
teen, appointed master of a public school at Tosteth-park,
near Liverpool, where, as Wood says, " he was converted
to godliness." In 1618, however, he was admitted a stu-
dent of Brazenose college Oxford, where his stay must
baye been short, as the same year we are told he preached
his first sermon at Toxteth, having been ordained by Dr.
Morton, bishop of Chester, and chosen minister of that
place. Here he officiated until 1633, when he was sus-
pended for nonconformity; and although this suspension
was soon taken off, his prejudices against the church esta-
blishment became so strong, that be was again suspended,
and then determined to seek the kind of church-govern-
ment which he fancied the most pure, in New England.
The year after bis arrival there, in 1635, he was chosen
minister of a congregation newly formed at Dorchester,
where be remained until his death April 22, 1669, in the
seventy-third year of his age. He was tBte author of one
or two pious treatises, but of more respecting church go-1
vernment. He had four sons, Samuel, Nathanael, Elea-
1 Nicbob's Bowyer.— Go»gh»f Topography .—Gent. Mag. vol. LIV. p. 154,
454 MATHER.
zer, and Increase, who all imbibed their father's princi-
ples, and became sufferers for nonconformity. Of these,
the eldest and youngest seem entitled to some notice.1
- MATHER (Samuel), eldest son of the preceding, was
born in Lancashire in 1626, and going with his father to
\ New England in 1635, was educated at Harvard-college,
of which he became the first fellow who took a degree
there. In 1650 he returned to England, spent some time
at Oxford, where and at Cambridge he again took his de-
grees, was chaplain of Magdalen-college, and often a
preacher at St. Mary's. He then went with the English
commissioners to Scotland, and preached at Leith for two
years. He returned to England in 1655, and having visited
Ireland with Henry Cromwell, and Drs. Harrison, Winter,
and Charnock, he was made senior fellow of Trinity-col-
lege, and became a favourite preacher. Wood says that
though he was reckoned a congregatipnal man, and a high
nonconformist, yet he was moderate in his behaviour to
the episcopals, when it was in his power to hurt them.
When the lord deputy gave him and others a commission
for displacing the episcopal ministers in Munster, he de-
clined it, as be did afterwards in Dublin, giving as a rea-
son that " he was called into the country to preach the
gospel, and not to hinder others from doing it." Soon
after the restoration, he was suspended for preaching
against the revival of the liturgy, on which he returned to
England ; but when the Bartholomew act took place, re-
moved again to Dublin, where for some time he preached
to a small congregation in his own house, until the laws
against nonconformity obliged him to desist. He died
Oct. 26, 1671. He published various tracts relative to the
controversies of the times ; and after his death appeared a
course of sermons that were very popular, entitled " The
Figures and Types of the Old Testament, explained and
improved," Dublin, 1683, 4to. He also wrote a pamphlet
against Greatrakes, the noted quack; but, says Calamy,
he was not allowed to publish it, such a favourite was
Greatrakes at that time. s
MATHER (Increase), youngest son of the preceding,
was born at Dorchester, in New England* in 1635, and
i Mather's Hist, of New England.— Ath. Ox. toI. II.— Neal's Hist, of New
England* — Life and Death of Richard Mather, by Increase Mather, Cambridge,
(in New England), 1670, 4to.
* Ath. Ox. rol. II.— -Calamy.— Harris's edition of Ware.
MATHER; 455
f
studied at Harvard college, where he took his degree of
B. A. in 1656. In the following year he arrived in England,,
and thence went to Ireland, and joiued his brother. H$.
then entered himself of Trinity college, in which he pro*
ceeded M. A. in 1658, having performed the necessary
exercises with great applause, and was offered a fellowship
in that institution ; but, finding the climate unfavourable to
his health, returned to England, and officiated for some
time as minister, in the place of Mr. Howe, at Great Tor*
rington, in Devonshire. In 1659, be became chaplain to
colonel Bingham, governor of the island of Guernsey, and
preached every Sunday, as well before the garrison, as in
the town of Peter-le Port After the restoration, as he
could not conform, he sailed for New England, where he
was chosen minister to the New church at Boston. Shortly
after this, he married the daughter of Mr. John CottQn,
once a gentleman of considerable eminence in England,
but then an exile on account of his non-conformity, and
minister at Boston. In 1664, Mr. Mather was ordained to
the pastoral office, the duties of which he performed
through life with credit to himself, £nd highly esteemed by
his people. In 1683, when king Charles II. required the
inhabitants of New England to surrender their charter, Mr.
Mather attended at a meeting of the freemen of Boston,
and by his zealous persuasions determined them to reject a .
motion for that purpose unanimously ; and this spirited mea-
sure had considerable influence in prevailing on the couutry
in general to imitate the example set by the Bostonians.
Upon the publication of king James's second declaration
for liberty of conscience, some of the ministers of New
England, and their churches, drew up addresses of thanks
to him for the benefits which they enjoyed in consequence
of it, and Mr. Mather embarked for England April 7, 1688,
for the purpose of presenting them. He was favourably
received at court, and laid before the king the state of the
country* While he continued in England, the revolution
took place, and he was consulted by the new administra-
tion on many political topics, particularly on an attempt to
obtain the resettlement of the Massachusetts colony, upon
their chartered foundation, by an act of parliament, which
was frustrated by its dissolution. He at length obtained
from his majesty a new charter, containing the whole of
the old one, with the addition of new and more ample pri-
vileges. Having rendered this important service to his
4&6 MATH £ R.
fellow citizens, be set sail for America in 1692, and oil
his return he received the public thanks of the bouse of
representatives for his faithful and zealous endeavours to
benefit his country. He now returned to his labours in the
church, and at Harvard college, of which he was chosen
president in 1684, and also created doctor of divinity. He
died in 1723, at the age of 84. He was author of many
theological tracts, of which his biographer gives a list of
above eighty J among which are, " A brief History of the
War with the Indians iu Netir England ;" of " An Essay
for the recording of illustrious Providences, wherein an
account is given of many remarkable and memorable events
which have happened in this last age, especially in New
England ;" of " A Discourse on Comets}" u A Discourse
concerning Earthquakes," &c.!
MATHER (Dr. Cotton), son to the preceding Increase
Mather, and the most eminent of the family, was bora
Feb. 42, 1663, at Boston, where he was educated at
school till be was twelve years old. By this time he had
made an uncommon progress in the Greek and Latin lan-
guages, and even entered on the Hebrew ; so that he was
then, young as be was, admitted into Harvard-college,
where he took his first degree at sixteen, and his second at
mrieteeti. When about seventeen years old, he undertook
the- tuition of several young gentlemen, composed for their
use catechetical systems of the several sciences, and con-
tinued this employment for seven years with great success.
H6 had from infancy an impediment in his speech, which
seeming incurable, he laid aside all thoughts of the mi-
nistry, and applied himself to the study of medicine ; but
having at length, by persevering in a deliberate mode of
speaking, got rid of the impediment, he returned to the
study of divinity. He began to preach in 1680, and in
May 1684, became the minister of fiostoii; in the dili-
gent discharge of which office, and in writing books, he
spent his life. As an instance of his piety and diligence,
his biographer, informs tis that in one year he composed
and published fourteen books* and kept sixty fasts and
twenty-two vigils. He applied himself also to the study
of modern languages, the Frettch and Spanish particularly ;
. and, in his forty-fifth year, made himself so far master of
t\\e Iroquois Indian tongue, that he wrote and published
1 Life, 17S5, $?o.
MATHER. 45V
treatises in it. In short he became so considerable a per-
son in Boston, that he was several times consulted by the
magistrates upon affairs of state; and more than once
quelled riots, merely by the force of his persuasions. For
the public good, he there planned and promoted several
excellent societies, particularly a society for suppressing
disorders ; a society for reforming manners ; and a society'
of peace-makers, whose professed business it was to com*
pose differences, and prevent law-suits. He published
also a proposal for an evangelical treasury, in order to
build churches, distribute books of piety, relieve poor
ministers, &c. His fame was not confined to his own
country; for, in 1710, tbe university of Glasgow in Scot-
land sent him a diploma for the degree of doctor in di-
vinity ; and, in 1714, the royal society of London chose
him one of their fellows. He was farther honoured by an
epistolary correspondence with several persons of emiuent
character for piety and learning ; and, among others, the
lord-chancellor King. After a laborious and well-spent
life, be died on the 13th of Feb. 1728, being the day after
be had completed his 65th year.
He is said to have published during his life 382 pieces,
many of them indeed but small, as single sermons, essays,
&c. yet several of larger size. Among these were " Mag-
nalia Christi Americana,99 or " An Ecclesiastical History
of New- England, from its first planting in A 620 to 1698,'1
folio. " The Christian Philosopher,1' 8vo. " Ratio dis-
cipline fratrum Nov-Anglorum," that is, " The reason of
tbe discipline of the brethren in New-England." " Di-
rections to a candidate for the ministry." " Psalterium
Americanum," or " American psalter,99 &c. But the most
remarkable of all his works was that in which, like Glan-
ville, he defended the reality of witchcraft. This is en-
titled " The wonders of the invisible world ; being an ac-
count of, the trials of several .witches, lately executed in
New-England, and of several remarkable curiosities therein
occurring. Together with, 1. Observations upon the na-
ture, the number, and the operations of the devils. 2. A
short narrative of a late outrage committed by a knot of
witches in Swedeland, very much resembling, and so far
explaining that %nder which New-England has laboured.
3. Some counsels directing a due improvement of the ter-
rible things lately done by the unusual and amazing range
of evil spirits in New-England. 4. A brief discourse upon
«
45* MATHER.
those temptations, which are the more ordinary devices of
Satan. By Cotton Mather. Published by the special
command of his excellency the governor of the province
of Massachusets-Bay in New-England." Printed first at
Boston in New-England, and reprinted at London, in
1693, 4to.
It may perhaps appear surprizing that a man so highly
praised by his biographers for learning, judgment, and
piety, should not only give credit to, but assistance in the
propagation of, such falsehoods and absurdities as were fol-
lowed by the inhuman execution of several innocent per-
sons. But whoever looks into his most useful work, his
" Ecclesiastical History of New England," will discover
what his more recent biographers have suppressed, an un-
common degree of. enthusiasm in his mind, on the most
ordinary occurrences. Neal, only, speaks impartially oti
this shocking subject. He observes that those suspected
*wizzards and witches "were convicted on very slender
evidence," a necessary consequence of their being tried
at all, for what but the most slender evidence could be
expected in the case of a crime which it was impossible to
commit ? Neal also allows, that there is same unfairness
in the report of the trials by Mather : for, when he has
given the depositions of the witnesses against the prison?
ers at large, he passes over their defence in general terms,
and leaves the reader in the dark, and incapable of judg-
ing the merits of the cause. Yet upon such evidence
twenty-eight persons received sentence of death, of whom
nineteen were executed. They all suffered without the least
acknowledgment of their guilt, layiug their blood at the
door of false witnesses. But neither integrity of manners,
nor the strongest protestations of iunocence with their
dying breath, were sufficient to move compassion, or stop
the tide of the people's zeal against those unhappy per-
sons at this time. Nor, says Neal, were tbes6 all who
were in danger of their lives : there were then a hundred
and fifty more in prison, and above two hundred under ac-
cusation. The worst part of this affair, however, as far as
respects the conduct of our author, is, that no stop was
put to these murders until the pretended sufferers, by
witchcraft, began to accuse some of his relations, and the
relations of the governor himself. " It was time then,"
says Neal, " to make a stand," and it is curious to ob-
serve how easily this stand appears to have been made >
MATHER. 4S»
for the very next sessions, out of fifty-six who were ac-
cused, three only were found guilty, whom the governor
pardoned ; and at length both judge and jury publicly ac-
knowledged their error, and a phrenzy abated which had
lasted ahput fifteen months, and struck all Europe wi^h
astonishment. As to Dr. Mather, his apology does little
credit to his understanding ; for the only thing which ap*
pears to have affected him was the great number of the
persons accused, and the quality of some of them. These
circumstances, he says, gave just ground to suspect some
mistake; but he appears to have retained his former be*
lief in the existence and practice of witchcraft, as we may
infer from many parts of his History of. New England. Let
us not, however, press this accusation too far. Let us re-
collect, that it was not until the 1 Oth George II. thai the
laws against witchcraft in this country ceased to be a disgrace
to our statute-book ; and that the rev. John Brown of Had*
dington, the eminent divine among the sect of Seceder?
in Scotland, and their principal tutor, published a very
few years ago, as a ground of lamentation, that the Bri-
tish parliament bad " repealed the penal statutes against
witchcraft!"1
MATSYS, or MESSIS (Quintin), an eminent artist,
was born at Antwerp, in 1460, and for several years fol-
lowed the trade of a blacksmith or farrier, at least till he
was in his twentieth year. Authors vary in tbeir accounts
of the caruse of his quitting his first occupation, and at-
taching himself to the art of painting, some attributing it to
his falling in love with the daughter of a painter ; others
to the accidental sight of a piece of art. Whatever may
have been his motive, it is certain that he appears to have
had an uncommon talent : his manner was singular, not re-
sembling the manner of any other master; and his pictures
were strongly coloured, and carefully finished, though,
somewhat dry and hard. By many competent judges it
was believed, when they observed the strength of expres-
sion in some of his compositions, that if he had been ac-
quainted with the great masters of the Roman school, he
would have proved one of the most eminent painters of
the Low Countries. But he only imitated ordinary life,
and seemed more inclined, or at least more qualified, to
imitate the defects than the beauties of nature. Some his-
►» t
i Biog. Brit.— Life by Jennings.— Neal'g Hist, of New England.
460 MATSYS.
torical compositions of this master deserve commendation;
particularly a Descent from the Cross, which is in the ca-
thedral at Antwerp, justly admired for the spirit, skill, and
delicacy of the whole. Sir Joshua Reynolds says there are
heads in this picture not excelled by Raphael. But the
most remarkable and best known picture of Matsys, is that
of the Two Misers in the gallery at Windsor, which has
been engraved. Of this there is a duplicate at Hagley,
the seat of lord Lyttleton. Matsys died in 1 529, aged six-
ty-nine.— He had a son, John Matsys, who was born at
Antwerp, and became his father's disciple. He painted
in the same style and manner, but not with a reputation
equal to his father; though many of his pictures are sold
to unskilful purchasers, for the paintings of Quintin. His
most frequent subject was the representation of misers
counting their gold, or bankers examining and weighing
it, very common occurrences when Antwerp was in her
glory. *
v MATTHEW of Westminster, an English historian,
who flourished, according to some, in 1377 ; while Nicol-
son thinks be did not outlive 1307, was a Benedictine of
the abbey at Westminster, and thence has taken his namel
From the title of his history, " Flores historiarum," he has
often been called Florilegus. His history commences from
the foundation of the world, but the chief object of whicH
is the English part. It is entitled, " Flores Historiarum,
per Matthaeum Wesmdnasteriensem collecti, precipue de
Rebus Britannicis, ab exordio mundi, usque ad annual
1307," published at London in 1567, and at Franckfort
in 1601, both in folio. It is divided into six ages, butis
comprised in three books. The first extends from the
cfeation to the Christian sera ; the second, from the birth
of Christ to the Norman conquest ; the third, from that
period to the beginning of Edward the Second's reign,
Seventy years more were afterwards added, which carried
it down to the death of Edward HI. in 1377. He formed
his work very much upon the model and plan of Matthew
Paris, whom he imitated with great care. He wrote with
so scrupulous a veracity, that he is never found to wander
a tittle from the truth ; and with such diligence, that he
omitted nothing worthy of remark. He is commended also
1 Descamps, vol, I.— Pilkington.— Sir J. Reynolds's Works.— Bnllart, Aci-
demit des Scieuces, who seems to adopt the love-story.
MATTHEW. 46t
for his acuteness in tracing, and his judgment in selecting
facts, his regularity in the method of his plan, and his
skill in chronological computations. He is, on the whole,
except by bishop Nicolson, very highly esteemed, as one
of the mbst venerable fathers of English history. '
MATTHEW (Tobias), an eminent English prelate, was
the son of John Matthew, a merchant of Bristol, and born
in that part of the city which lies in Somersetshire, in 1546.
He received the first rudiments of learning in the city of
Wells, and at the age of thirteen became a student in the
university of Oxford, in the beginning of 1558-9. In
Christ Church college he took the degree of bachelor of
arts, Feb. 11, 1563, and in June 1566, was made master
pf arts ; about which time he entered into holy orders, and
was greatly respected for his learning, eloquence, conver-
sation, friendly disposition, and the sharpness of his wit.
On the 2nd of November 1569, he was unanimously elected
public orator of the university; which office he filled with
great applause., In 1570, he was made canon of the second
stall in the cathedral of Christ-church, and November 2 8
following was admitted archdeacon of Bath. In 1571, he
petitioned for his degree of bachelor of divinity, but was
hot admitted to it for two years. In 1572, he was made
prebendary of Teynton-Regis with Yalmeton in the church
of Salisbury ; and in July following was elected president
of St. John's college, Oxford : at which time, being ih
high reputation as a preacher, he was appointed one of the
queen's chaplains in ordinary. On December 10th, 1753,
he was admitted bachelor of divinity ; and next year,
May 27, proceeded doctor. On the 14th of June, 1576,
being archdeacon at Bath, he was commissioned by arch-?
bishop Grindal, with some others, to visit the church, city,
and deanry of Bristol. In the same year, he was made dean
of Christ-church ; and then obtained, from the pen of
Camden, the distinguished character of " Theologus pre«
stantissimus." Camden adds, that learning and piety, art
and nature, vied together in his composition. Sir John
Harrington is also full of his praises, and even Campian
the Jesuit speaks highly of his learning and virtues.
In 1579, he served the office of Vice-chancellor of the
university. At a convocation held in 1580, archbishop
Grindal being then under the queen's displeasure, it was
1 Nicolson's English Hist. Library.
46S MATTHEW.
agreed, that oar prelate, then dean of Christ-<churcb,
should, in the name of that assembly, draw up an humble
address to her majesty; for the archbishop's restitution ;
but it was not favourably received. June 22, 1583, he was
collated to the precentorship of Salisbury ; and Sept, &
following, was made dean of Durham, being then thirty-
seven years of age, on which he resigned his precentor-
ship. From this time, says Le Neve, to the twenty-third
Sunday after Trinity in 1622, be kept an account of all the
sermons he preached, the place where, the time when,
the text what, and if any at court, or before any of the
prime nobility; by which it appears, that he preached,
while dean of Durham, seven hundred and twenty-one ;
while bishop of Durham five hundred and fifty ; and while
archbishop of York, to the time above mentioned, seven .
hundred and twenty-one; in all one thousand nine hundred
and ninety -two sermons ; and. among them several extem-
pore. This prelate, adds Le Neve, certainly thought
preaching to be the most indispensible part of his duty;
for in the diary before quoted, wherein, at the end of
each year, he sets down bow many senpons he had preach-
ed ; at the end of 1 6 1 9, " Sum. Ser. 32, eheu ! An, 1 620,
turn, ser. 35, eheu I An. 1621, sore afflicted with a rheume
and coughe diverse months together, so that I never could
preach until Easter-daye. The Lord forgive me !" On
the 28th of May, 1590, h$ was inducted to the rectory of
Bishop wearmouth, co. Durham; and in 1595, April 13,
was- consecrated bishop of Durham, and resigned Bishop*
wearmouth.
Our prelate was much engaged in political matters :
Strype gives a letter of bis, dated April 9, 1594, whilst
dean of Durham, to lord Burleigh, touching Bothwell's
protection ; in which he says, " I pray God the king's pro-
testations be not too well believed, who is a deep dissem-
bler, by all men's judgement that know him best, than is
thought possible for his years." Such was the character
be gave of the prince who was shortly to come to the
throne of England. In 1596, commissioners were ap-
pointed by the queen to treat with Scotland, and redress
grievances on the borders: the English commissioners were
the bishop of Durham, sir William Bowes, Francis Slings-
by, esq. and Clement Colmer, LL.D. The place of
convention was Carlisle, and many months were spent on
that duty ; but the good effect of their assiduous applica-
MATTHEW 463
tion to the work of peace was much retarded, and almost
tendered abortive, by the outrages repeatedly committed on
the eastern and middle marches. The first article of this
treaty, however, says Ridpath, in his "Border History,91
does honour to the character of the prelates of the church,
one of whom stood first in the list of commissioners from
each nation. In this article it was resolved, " that the
Sovereigns of each king should be addressed, to order
the settlement of ministers at every border-church, for the
sake of reforming and civilizing the inhabitants, by their
salutary instructions and discipline : and for this purpose,
the decayed churches should be repaired : and for the safety
of the persons of their pastors, and due respect to be paid
them in the discharge of their offices, the principal in-
habitants of each parish should give security to their
prince."
Notwithstanding the unfavourable opinion he had form-
ed of king James VI. when that monarch was on his jour-
ney to take possession of the throne of England, our pre-
late met him at Berwick, and preached a congratulatory
sermon before him. He was also at the Hampton-court
conference, in January 1603, of which he gave an account
at large to archbishop Hutton. On the 26th of July, 1606,
he was translated to York, and enjoyed that dignity till
March 29, 1628, on which day he died, at Cawood, and
was buried in our lady's chapel, at the east of York cathe-
dral, with a very prolix Latin epitaph inscribed on his
tomb. He married Frances Barlow, daughter of Barlow
bishop of Chichester, who was first married to Matt. Par-
ker, son of Matthew Parker, archbishop of Canterbury.
She has also a monument in York cathedral, the inscrip-
tion upon which is too remarkable to be omitted. " Fran-
ces Matthew, first married to Matt. Parker, &c. after-
wards to Tobie Matthew, that famous archb. of this see.
She was a woman of exemplary wisdom, gravity, piety,
beauty, and indeed all other virtues, not only above her
sex, but the times. One exemplary act of hers, first de-
vised upon this church, and through it flowing upon the
country, deserves to live as long as the church itself. The
library of the deceased archbishop, consisting of about
3000 books, she gave entirely to the public use of this
church :— a rare example that so great care to advance
learning should lodge in a woman's breast; but it was the
less wonder in her, because herself was of kin to so much
464 MATTHEW*
learning. She was the daughter of Will. Barlow, bp. of
Chichester, and in k. Henry VIIL's time ambassador into
Scotland, of the ancient family of the Barlows in Wales.
She had four sisters married to four bishops, one to Will.
Whickham, bishop of Winchester, another to Overton bp.
of Coventry and Litchf. a third to Westphaling bp. of
Hereford, and a fourth to Day, that succeeded Whickham
in Winchester ; so that a bishop was her father, an arch*
bishop h?r father-in-law; she had four bishops her bre-
thren, and an archbishop her husband." She died May 10,
1629, in the seventy-sixth year of her age.
By this lady he bad three sons, Tobias, John, and Sa-
muel ; of whom he once said to lord Fairfax, who inquired
why he appeared so pensive : " My lord," said the arch-
bishop, " I have great reason of sorrow with respect to my
sons. One of them has wit and no grace, the other grace
but no wit, and the third neither grace nor wit.'9 Lord
Fairfax replied, " Your grace's case is sad, but not singu-
lar : I am also disappointed in my sons. One I sent into
the Netherlands, to train him up as a soldier, and he makes
a tolerable country-justice, but is a mere coward at 6ght-
ing : my next I sent to Cambridge ; and he proves a good
lawyer, but is a mere dunce at divinity ; and my youngest I
sent to the inns of court; and he's good at divinity, but no*
body in the law."
Archbishop Matthew appears to have been a man of
great wit (including perhaps the punning rage of the time),
of a sweet disposition, very bountiful and learned, and as
a divine, most exemplarily conscientious and indefatigable
both in preaching, and other duties. Preferment never
once induced him to desist froip preaching, and there was
scarcely a pulpit in the dioceses of Durham or York, ii)
which he had not appeared. No imputation, says Mr.
Lodge^ remains on his memory, except the alienation of
VqA house in the Strand to the duke of Buckingham, for
which he is said to have accepted lands in Yorkshire of iu-
ferior value.
Notwithstanding Dr. Matthew was so industrious a
preacher, it is rather singular that we have nothing of his
in print, except Jm " Concio apologetica contra Campia-
num," 1581 and 1638, 8vo. Fuller has since- printed a
long letter, which was written. by him in the name of the
convocation, respecting archbishop Grindal's suspension ;
pnd Dr. Parr another to Usher* Dr. Smith has also printed
MATTHEW. 465
■
a letter of his to Camden, and Strype a remarkable one
• concerning the Hampton-court conference. In Mr. Lodge's
** Illustrations," are a few of his letters; and. probably many
more, as well as MSS. of other kinds, are among the ar-
chives of the cathedral at York* to which, as already men-
tioned, his widow gave his library.1
MATTHEW (Tobias), eldest son of the preceding, and
a very singular character, was born at Oxford; in 1578,
while his father was dean of Christ church ; and matricu-
lated in 1589, when only eleven years of age. . He was
the year after admitted student, and by the advantage of •
quick parts, and a good tutor, he soon acquired consider-
able distinction as ah orator and disputant. After taking
his degrees in arts, he left England in 1605, for such im-
provement as travelling could confer, and made himself a
roaster of some foreign languages. This journey, however,
. was much against his father's inplination, who expressly
,. forbade his going to Italy, suspecting probably what hap-
. pened when he broke his word and went to that country,
where he was converted to popery by the celebrated Jesuit
. Parsons, to the great grief of his father, who was then in
so distinguished a station in the church. He himself in-
forms us that the first impressions made upon him arose
from the devout behaviour of the rustics in the churches
abroad, and from being convinced of the reality of the
liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius at Naples; but
that his complete conversion was reserved for father Par-
sons, who gave him to read Mr. Wijliam Reynolds's " Re-
prehension of Dr. Whitaker," which he esteemed the most
. valuable work on wit and humour he had ever seen. It
, affords, however, no very favourable idea of Mr. Matthew's
, conversion, that it was begun by an imposture, and per-
fected by wit and humour.
In 1606 he returned to London, and wrofe to sir Fran -
r cis Bacon, a kinsman, friend, and servant of secretary
Cecil, desiring him to acquaint the secretary of his con-
. version', and to assure him at the same time of his loyalty
to the king. v This intelligence, he tells us, was graciously
accepted by the secretary, and no harm threatened him
1 Ath. Ox., vol. I.— Harrington's Brief View. — Le Neve, vol. II. p. 94.—
Strype's Parker, p. 376, 517. — Strype'g Annals. — Strype's Whitgift* p. 574 — 5.
Hutchinson's Durham, vol. I. and vol. II. p. 152.— Lodge's Illustrations.—
Birch MS. 4461, in the British Museum contains extracts from his Diary.—
; Fuller's Worthies.
Vol. XXI. H h
466 MATTHEW.
from that quarter. He then waited on archbishop Ban-
croft, to make his apology for changing his religion, and
to request his grace's interference with bis. friends. The
archbishop received him courteously, but blamed hint for
so sudden a change without hearing both sides, and ap-
pointed certain days when he should come to Lambeth and
canvass the matter. Several interviews accordingly took
place, in all which Mr. Matthew, would have us believe he
held the better argument. At length the .archbishop, by
the king's order, tendered him the oath of allegiance ; and,
upon Matthew's refusal, committed him to the Fleet pri-
son. Here he remained six months, visited by several
people of rank : bishop Morton, sir Maurice Berkeley, sir
Edwin Sandys, sir Henry Goodyear, &c. &c Some of
these endeavoured to argue with him, but, according to
bis own account, he was able to answer them. The plague
raging in London, his friend sir Francis Bacon procured
him a temporary release ; and some time after he was
finally released, on condition of going abroad, and not re-
turning without the king's leave. Such, is his own account.
Mr. Lodge adds another circumstance, that he was a mem-
ber of parliament, and that the House of Commons silently
acquiesced in a precedent (his banishment) so dangerous to
their privileges. Be this as it may, he went abroad, and
remained on the continent about twelve years. When in
France he became acquainted with Villiers, afterwards duke
of Buckingham, who, when he came into favour with kiBg
James, obtained leave for IV r. Matthew to return to Eng-
land, which he did in .1617; and in 1622, by the king's
command, followed prince Charles into Spain. On their
return, he was received into full favour with the king, who,
he adds, " managed his parents also to forgive him, and
to take proper notice of him. They rather chose," he says,
" to attack me with sighs and short wishes, and by putting
now and then some books into my hands, rather than by
long discourses." Yet these efforts of paternal affection
appear to have had no effect on him.
In 1623, the king conferred. the honour of knighthood
upon him, and he was frequently and always favourably
received at court. In Charles I.'s reign he was invited by
the earl of Strafford, when appointed lord lieutenant of
Ireland, to accompany him thither, which gave just alarm
to some of the council, who probably suspected that liis
MATTHEW. 467
insinuating manners were a cloak to hide his zeal for the
advancement of the Romish church in England. W<?od,
who speaks more favourably of him than he deserves, doubts
his being in holy orders ; but Dodd, an unquestionable au-
thority in this point, mentions the attestations of various
persons who had heard him say mass; and there seems every
reason to suppose that he was a spy from the church of
Rome. His character being probably understood in this
light, when the rebellion broke out he left his country,
and joined the Jesuits at Ghent, where he died Oct. 13,
1G55.
Although politics were his favourite pursuit in England,
he affected the reputation of a man of universal genius,
and certainly possessed many accomplishments. In his
lighter hours he was a poet, a painter, and a man of gal*
lantry. Lord Orford informs us that be made a portrait
of the Infanta ; and the famous character of Lucy Percy,
countess of Carlisle, inserted by Fenton in his notes on
Waller, was the production of his pen, and printed first:
in his volume of " Letters.'* His excellent constitution
required but few hours sleep, which he frequently took in
a great chair, and rising by break of day, he used to dip
his head in cold water. He was then fresh as the morning,
and in spirits to write panegyrics upon lady Carlisle, or to
pursue whatever else was started by his volatile genius.
He was often, adds Granger, a spy upon such companies
as he was admitted into upon the footing of an agreeable
companion ; and with the most vacant countenance would
watch for intelligence to send to Rome. He affected much
to whisper in public, and often pretended to disclose, when
he was only attempting to obtain secret intelligence.
His published works are, 1. " The Life of St. Teresa^*
1623, 8vo. 2. " St. Augustine*s Confessions," translated,
1624, 8vo. 3. " The Penitent Banditto, or the History of:
the Conversion and Death of the most illustrious Lord Sig-
nor Troilo. Savelli, a baron of Rome," 1625, 1663, 8vo.'
4. <c A collection of Letters made by sir Tobie Matthews,'
kt. with a character of Lucy, countess of Carlisle," Load*
1660, 8vo. These were properly made by sir Tolue, ,aj|
many of them appear fictions ; but others are real and cu-
rious. There are also some of his letters in the " Cabala'*
and the " Scrinia Sacra." The following are attributed to
bim, but probably not printed : "A Cabinet of Rich Jewels j,f
h h 2
468 MATTHEW.
u The Benefit of Washing the Head every Morning >*
" The History of the Times," left imperfect.1
MATTHIEU (Peter), a French historian, was born at
Porenjtrui, in the diocese of Basle, Dec. lO, 1583, and
was first principal of the college of Verceil, and afterwards
an advocate at Lyons. He was a zealous partizan of the
league, and much attached to the Guises. When he went
to Paris, he quitted poetry, which he bad followed hitherto*
for history, to which he attached himself from that time.
He acquired the esteem of Henry IV. who manifested it by
giving him the title of historiographer of France, and fur-
nishing him with all the memoirs necessary to make him so
effectually. He attended Louis XIII. to the siege of Mont-
auhan ; but, falling sick, was removed to Toblouse> where
he died October 12, 1621, at the age of fifty-eight. Mat-
thieu was only a moderate author: he wrote easily, but in
an undignified style. He produced, l."A History of the
memorable ;E vents which happened in the reign of Henry
the Great,9' 1624, Svo. This contains some curious anec-
dotes communicated to the author by Henry himself ; but
the flatness of the style destroys, in a great measure, the
interest of the work. 2. " The History of the deplorable
Peath of Henry the Great," 1611, folio; 1612, 8vo. 3.
«The .History of St. Louis," 1618, 8vo. 4. "The His-
tory of Louis XI." in folio. This work is esteemed. 5.
" The History of France," from Francis 1. to Louis XIII.
inclusive, Paris, 1631, 2 vols, folio, published by his son,
who added the reign of Louis XIII. 6. " Quatrains dn
Life and Death ;" very languid and fatiguing, but often
printed after those of Pibrac. 7. " La Guisiade,,r the
Guisiad, a tragedy, was published at Lyons, 1589, in 8vo.
He was also the writer of some other tragedies, published
in the same year in 2 vols. 12mo ; and of some other histo-
rical pieces of less note than what we have mentioned.3
MATTHIOLUS, or MATTIOLI (Peter Andrew), an
eminent physician, and medical botanist, and the son. of a
physi^o* was born at Sienna, in Tuscany, in 1501 ; and
educated first at Venice ; and afterwards at Padua. The
law was his original destination, which he exchanged for
the study of medicine, and having obtained his degree at
* Atb. Ox. toI. II. — DoidcPs Cb. Hisfc— Granger.— Lodge's Illustrations. —
"MS account of his conversion, written by- himself, from * which- Dr. Lott* made
tome extracts, now in the editor's possession.
I Mowi.— Dkfc Hisi,— Niceren, vol. XXyk
# A T. T H I O L U S. 409
Padua, returned to Sienna, where he speedily acquired
extensive practice. For some reasons, however, he varied
his places of abode, and practised at Rome, at Anania, and
at Gorizia, where, as well as at Anania, he was extremely
beloved, of which he had here a singular proof: a fire hav-
ing consumed all his furniture, the people flocked to him
the nc&t day, with presents of goods and money, that made
him richer than before, and the magistrates advanced him
a year's salary. After a residence of twelve years at Go-
rizia, he accepted an invitation from Ferdinand, king of
the Romans, to take the office of physician to his son, the
archduke Ferdinand. He was greatly honoured at the imr
perial court, and in 1562 was cr$atfed aulic-counsellor to
the emperor Ferdinand. Afterwards Maximilian II. pre-
vailed upon his brother to part with him, and made him
his first physician. Finding, however, the weight of age
pressing upon him, Maithiolus took leave of the court, and
retired to a life of repose at Trent, where he soon after
died of the plague, in 1577.
He left several works: 1. ^Dialogus de Morbi Gallici
curatione," printed in the collection of Luisinus. 2. "Apo-
logia versus Amatum Lusitanum," Venice, in 1558. 3.
** Epistolarum Medicinalium, Libri V." Prague, 1561. 4.
" Disputatio adversus viginti Problemata Melchioris Gui-
landi," Ven. 1563. 5. " Opuscula de Simplicium Medi-
camentorum Facultatibus secundum genera et loca," ibid.
1 569 ; which is a compendium of vegetable materia medica.
His " Epistolae" also relate chiefly to the virtues of plants,
and their mode of exhibition.
The great work, however, by which this physician ac-
quired his fame and honour, was his commentary on the
writings of Dioscorides, printed at Venice in 1548, in the
Italian language/and soon twice reprinted. He afterwards
published it in the Latin language, and with the addition
of small cuts, in 1554, with the title of " Commentarii in
sex Libros P. Dioscoridis," &c. Numerous editions, in
Latin, enlarged and improved, were afterwards given ; and
the work was also many times reprinted in Italian, and ia
French and German translations by different persons. The
best edition is that of Venice, 1565, folio, with large plates*
This work, with all its imperfections, must be allowed to
have contributed much to lay the foundation of botanical
science; but, as Eloy remarks, the multitude of editions
and versions of it ef iuces the penury of the age in botani-
470 MATTHIOLUS,
cal books. An edition of all his works was published by
Caspar Bauhin, with the addition of more than three hun-
dred figures, at Basle, in 1598, folio, which was reprinted
in 1674.1
MATTI (Don Emmanuel), a Spanish poet, was born at
Oropesa in New Castile, in 1663. His poetical essays
were published in 1682, in one volume, 4to. This fortu-.
Date commencement encouraged the young poet ; but it
gained him involuntarily, as he was an ecclesiastic, the af-
fections of a lady of great beauty and high rank. In order
to retire from this temptation, he went to Rome, where he
was received a member of the Arcadi ; and Innocent XII.
delighted with his talents, appointed him dean of Alicant*
At that place he died, Dec. 18, 1737, being then 74 years
old. His letters and Latin poetry, published at Madrid in
1735, in 2 vols. 12 mo, prove that he was gifted both with
facility of writing and with imagination.*
MATY (Matthew), M.D. an eminent physician apd
polite .writer,, was born in Holland in 1718. He was the
von of Paul Maty, a protestant clergyman, and was origi-
nally intended for the church ; but, in consequence of some;
mortifications his father received from the synod, on ac*
count of particular sentiments which he entertained about
the doctrine of the Trinity, he turned his thoughts to phy-
sic*. He took his degree at Leyden, and in 1740, came
to settle in England, bis father having determined to quit;
Holland for ever.
In order to make himself known, in 1750 he began to
publish, in French, an account of the productions of the
English press, printed at the Hague, under the name of
* Mosheim has accounted for Mr. tare, which is united to the divine na,
Maty's "mortidcations" very satis- ture in the same manner in which the
factorily. Jt appears that Maty pub- orthodox say, that Jesus Christ is God
li shed at the Hague in 1729, a work and Man. The publication of this hy-
entitled " Leftre d'un Theologien a un pothesis, says Mosheim's translator,
autre Theologien sur le mystere de la was unnecessary, as it was destitute
Trinite," in which his doctrine is, that even of the merit of novelty, being
*' The Father is the pure Deity j and very little more than a* repetition of
that the- Son and the Holy Ghost are what Dr. Thomas Burnet, prebendary
two other persons, in each of whom of Sarum, (see his article, vol. VII*
there are two natures $ one divine, p. 393) had said, about ten years be^
which is the same in all the three per- fort, which nothing but 'presumption
sons, and with respect to which tjbey can, make any man attempt to render
are one and the same God, having the intelligible. Mosheim, vol. VI. p. 37,
same numerical divine essence; and edit, 1811,
the other a finite and dependent na-
» Eloy, Diet. Hist, de HJedicine,-=rRees,3 Cyclopedia.— Haller Bibl, Bot«
piCt. ftist, , * Pict. Eist,
MATY.
47ix
the "Journal Britannique*." This humble, though use-
fid labmir, says Gibbon, " which had once been dignified
by the genius of Bayle, and the learning of Le Clere, was
not disgraced by the taste, the knowledge, and the judge-
ment of Maty ; he exhibits a candid and pleasing view of
the state of literature in England during a period of six
years (Jan. 1750 — December 1755) ; and, fat different from
hi* angry son, he handles the rod of criticism with the
tenderness and reluctance of a parent. The author of the
* Journal Britannique' sotaetimes aspires to the character
of a poet and philosopher : his style is pure and elegant;
and in his virtues, or even in his defects, be may be ranked
as one of the last disciples of the school of Fontenelle."
This Journal* whatever its merits, answered, the chief end
he intended by it, and introduced him to the acquaintance
of some 6f the most eminent literary characters in the
country he had made his own ; and it was to their active
and uninterrupted friendship, that he owed the places he
afterwards possessed. In 1758f, he was , chosen fellow,
and, irt 1765, on the resignation of Dr. Birch (who died a
few months after, and made him his executor),, secretary
to the Royal -Society. He had been appointed one of the
under-librarians of the British Museum at its first institu*
tioti in 1753, and became principal librarian at the death
of Dr. Knight' in 1772. Useful in all these posts, he
promised to bfe eminently so in the last, when he was seiz-
ed with a languishing disorder, which, in 1776, put an end
to a life uniformly devoted to the pursuit of science, and
the offices of humanity. His body being opened,* the ap-
pearances which presented themselves were thought so sin-
gular as to be described before the Royal Society by Dr.
Hunter, whose account is inserted in vol. LXVI1. of the
Philosophical Transactions.
• ' He was an early and active advocate for inoculation;
and when there was a doubt entertained >>that one might
have the small-po* after inoculation a second time, tri$d
* Mr. Buncombe, in a letter to arch-
bishop Herring, Nov. 16, 1754, says,
f< I have lately commenced an ac-
quaintance with a fellow, of the Royal
Society, Dr. Maty, a man of learning
and geniu*. He published every two
months at the Hague,, unefetdih t»*
fcai«,(as the French phrase jt), enti-
tled * Journal Britannique.' He has
continued it five years* . In his last
number there is an ingenious eulogium
on Dr. Mead. The memoirs were
communicated to him by Dr. Birch.
The doctor is in- easy oircumstancet,
and knows nothing; of my mentioning
his name here."
f Some French verses by Dr. Mdty>,
on the death of the coupt de Gtsors,
were printed* in *' The Gentleman's
Magazine," 17.58, p 435,
473 MATY.
it upon himself, unknown to bis family. He was a mem-
ber of the medical club (with the doctors Parsons, Temple*
nian, Fothergill, Watson, and others), whicb met every
fortnight in St. P^ul*s church-yard. He' was twice mar-
ried, viz. the first time to JN^rs. Elizabeth Boisragon ; and
the second to Mrs. Mary Deners. He left a sou and three
daughters. A portrait of Dr. Maty, by his own order, was
engraved after his death by Bartolozzi, to be given to his
friends; of which no more than 100 copies were taken off,
and the plate destroyed. He had nearly finished the
" Memoirs of the Earl of Chesterfield ;" which were com-
pleted by his son-in-law Mr. Justartiond, and prefixed, to
that nobleman's Miscellaneous Works, 1777, 2 vols. 4to.*
MATY (Paul HenIry), son of the former, was born in
1745. He was educated at Westminster-school, whence,
in 1763, he was elected to Trinity college, Cambridge.
After a time, he obtained a travelling fellowship of that
college, which enabled him to pass three years on the con-
tinent; and in 1774, he was appointed chaplain to. lord
Stormont, then ambassador at the court of France. Soon
after this, he married one of the daughters of Joseph Clark,
esq. of Weatherfield in Essex ; whose brother, captain
Charles Clark, afterwards became famous, as being suc-
cessor in command to the celebrated Cook, in that unfor-
tunate voyage which proved fatal to both those officers;
By this lady he had one son, who survived his father, but
died while yet at school. Mr. Maty, much respected for
his abilities, acquirements, and character, by persons able
to contribute to his advancement, would have been very
likely to gain preferment in the church, after his return to
England, had not some scruples arisen in his mind on the
subject of those articles of faith which formerly he had
subscribed. From that time he determined^ from the most
conscientious motives, never to accept of any ecclesiastical
appointment ; and, after the death of his father in 1776, he
withdrew himself entirely from the functions of the ministry
in the established church- His reasons for this step, dated
Oct. 22, 1777, were printed at his own request in the Gent*
Mag. for that year. They are chiefly the doctrines of the
Trinity, of original sin, and of absolute predestination ;
which last he finds in the seventeenth article. His own
inclination is to the Arian hypothesis, and to a liturgy
* Nichols's Bowyer.— Gibbon's Memoirs, vo). I. p. 87, 4to edit
MATY. 473
somewhat like Dr. Clarke's ; and be says, although he has
left the church, he has no objection to preach to a congre-
gation holding the same opinions. His life was thencefor-
ward more particularly devoted to literary pursuits, which
were highly favoured by the appointment he obtained, at
the same time, of an assistant librarian in the British Mu-
seum. He was afterwards advanced to be one of the under-
librarions of the same establishment, in the department of
Natural History and Antiquities. In November 1778, on
the resignation .of Dr. Horsley, he was appointed one of
the secretaries to the Royal Society. In January 17S2, he
began a review of publications, principally foreign, which
he continued with considerable success, though with little
assistance, till September 1786, when Jie was compelled
by ill health to discontinue it. The motto which he took
for this work was modest, and well appropriated : " Se-
quhur patrem non passibus eequis ;" alluding to his father's
"Journal Britannique ;" and the truth appears to be, that,
though be was far from being deficient either in learning
or critical abilities, he was inferior in both to his father;
and being the avowed author of this review, is thought to
have created at least as many enemies as admirers.. In the
disputes which arose in the Royal Society, in 1784, respect-
ing the re-instatement of Dr. Hutton, as secretary for fo-
reign correspondence, he took so warm a part, that be-
coming very angry, he resigned his office of secretary. In
this, as in other instances in his life, his vivacity outran his
judgment. As a secretary, an officer of the society, he?
was not called upon to take any active part ; and the advan-
tages he derived from the situation were such as he could
ill afford to relinquish. In preferring always his conscience
to his interest, he certainly was highly commendable ; but
in this question his conscience had no occasion to involve
itself. To make himself amends for this diminution of his
income, Mr. Maty undertook, on moderate terms, to read
the Greek, Latin, French, or Italian classics, with such
persons as might be desirous of completing their know*
ledge of those languages : but it does not appear that this
employment. turned out very profitable. In 1787, an asth-
matic complaint, under which he long had laboured, com-
pleted the subversion of his constitution, and he died on the
J 6th of January in that year, at the early age of forty-two.
Besides his review, he published a translation of the tra-
vels of Rtesbeck through Germany ; and translated into
474 MAT Y.
French, the accounts of the gems, in that magnificent
work, the i€ Gemmae Marlburienses," which Mr. Bryant
bad first written in Latin. For this he received 100/. from
the duke of Marlborough^ and a copy of the book. After
his death, a volume of his sermons was published by sab.
scription, in which, by an oversight, that has sometimes
happened in other cases, two or three which he had tran-
scribed from other authors were reprinted. Notwithstand-
ing much irritability of temper, he was of a warm and
friendly disposition, which often manifests itself in his Re-
view.1
; MAUBERT (de Gouvest, John Henry), a noted po-
litical adventurer, and well known about sixty years ago,
as the editor of the Brussels Gazette, was born at Rouen
in 1721. He took the habit of a capuchin in 1740, but
broke through his religious engagements as soon as he
fdund them incompatible with his inclinations, and deter-
mined to seek that fortune in foreign countries which he
tfould no longer hope for in France. Of' his future pro-:
ceedings we have two accounts; the one, that he eloped
with a nun, pfofessed himself a protestant, and came to
Brussels, where he obtained the protection of M.Kinschot,
resident of the States, by whose means he got safe to Hol-
land. Here a Saxon count railing in love with his nun,
carried her with him to Dresden, and, at the same time
recommended Maubert to a Saxon nobleman in that city,
is preceptor to his sons. The other account, not the more
frue for being his own, conducts him in a more honourable
manner, to the office of tutor to the young count de Ru-
towski, while he had also obtained an introduction to count
Bruhl. The father of his pupil being an inveterate enemy
of count Bruhl, had engaged with some friends to rain
him, and found Maubert by no means reluctant to assist iri
the plot. He accordingly drew up a deduction of griev-
ances, which gained him the applause and confidence of the
party ^ and greatly flattered bis ambition. The plot being
discovered, however, Maubert was arrested at the hotel de
Rutowski, and in a few weeks was sent to the fortress of
Konigstein, where, he says, he was treated handsomely,
flowed even luxuries, provided with4 books, and the liberty ,
of walking and visiting in the fortress, with no other. guard
* Life in preceding edition of this Diet.— Geat, Mag. vol, I«VII.~*NichoIs*&
*»wyer. • .. r; <-.,-. c
M A U B U T. 475
than a subaltern officer. Of bis release we have also two
accounts ; the otie, that it was accomplished by interest,
the other by Fraud. This was not the only prison, how-*
ever, which he had occasion to visit and escape from ; the
rest of his life forms a series of adventures, more fit for a
romance than any other species of narrative, and consists
of the vicissitudes to which he was exposed by selling his
talents, such as they were, to the best bidder, and writing
on the side of that nation or government which paid him
best.
The first publication that made him noticed, was his
€i Testament politique du Cardinal Alberoni," one of those
fictions that were verv common in France and Holland on
the death of any minister of state of great eminence. Of
this kind were the Testaments of Richelieu, Mazarin, Col-
bert, Louvois, &c. vehicles for political sentiment, but of
Ho authority us to the parties whose names are assumed.
The reputation he acquired by this work, which was well
enough written to deceive Voltaire into the opinion that it
was the production of one long acquainted with the courts
and politics of Europe, encouraged Maubert to publish
(C Histoire politique de siecle," 1757, 2 vols. 4to. About
this time, or soon after, we find him in England, where he
boasts of the patronage of lord Bolingbroke, and his friend
Mr. Henry Furnese, one of the lords of the admiralty, who
endeavoured to procure him a place in that office at the
head of which the duke of Newcastle then was, but that
the death of his protector put an end to his hopes. In this
account are some of those blunders which French writers
seem to delight to commit, in speaking of the affairs, of
England. Mr. Furnese was a commissioner of the treasuty
for a year, and the duke of Newcastle first lord ; but, what-
ever truth or falsehood there may be in his account of his
connexions here, Maubert was at last obliged to make a
precipitate retreat, being taken for a spy, and once more
landed in Holland, where he published several political
pamphlets, for which, such was his tergiversation, he was
paid by that very count Bruhl who had prosecuted him
some years before. At length he became obnoxious* here
too, and was obliged to go to Brussels, where he became
editor of the Brussels Gazette, a paper, that under hist
management was for some time proverbial for want of ve-
racity, marked hostility to the principles of liberty, and
Ignorance of the real state of the political affairs it professed
476 fa A U B E R T.
to discuss or narrate. ' This character applied also with
peculiar justice to Maubert's " Historical and Political
Mercury," two numbers of which were translated and pub-
lished in English in 1760, and to his other political pari) ph-*
lets, "Testament politique de Walpole;" " Ephraim jus-
tified &c. As to the conclusion of his life, there are many
reports, but they all agree that he died at Altona in 1767.1
MAUCROIX (Francis de), a French translator, and in
some degree a poet, was born at Noyon, in 1619, and for
a time followed the profession of an advocate ; but being
disgusted with the law, went into the church, where he
became an abbe* and canon of the cathedral of Rheims,
In that city he died in 1708, at the age of ninety. His
works consist chiefly of translations, which are written in
a pure, but not an animated style. The principal of them
are these : 1. " The Philippics of Demosthenes.** 2. " The
Euthydemus, and the greater Hippias of Plato/1 3. Some
Orations of Cicero. 4. " The Rationarium Temporum of
father Petau,1* 1683, 3 vols. 12mo. 5. " Sanderus's His-
tory of the English Schism,** 1678, 2 vols. 12mo. 6. " The
Lives of cardinal Pole and, Campeggio." 7. " The Ho-
milies of St. Chrysostom, addressed to the people of An-
tioch." Maucroix was intimately connected with Boileau*
Racine, and particularly with La Fontaine ; in conjunc-
tion with whom, he published in 1685, a collection of their
miscellaneous works, in 2 vols. 12mo, In 1726 were pub-
lished, " Les nouvelles Oeuvres de Maucroix," among
which are some poems, more remarkable for a certain na-
tural style, than for brilliancy of imagination* *
MAUDUIT (Michael), a divine of some eminence in
France, was born at Vir6 in Normandy, in 1634. He at
first taught the learned languages in the society to which
he belonged, and afterwards was employed entirely in
preaching, and in missions. He produced als<* several
useful works, and died at Paris, Jan. 19, 1709. His prin-
cipal productions are, 1. " A Treatise on Religion, against
the Atheists, the Deists, and the new Pyrrhonians,'* writteft
in French ; the best edition is that of 1698. 2. " A trans-
lation of the Psalms, in French verse," of no great excel-
lence. 3. " Miscellanies," among which is some poetry,
of various merit. 4. Excellent analyses Of most of the
* Necrologue des homines celebres, anoee 1768.— Diet Hist— Annual Re*
fitter for 1759.
* Niceroirj vol* XXXII.— Moreri.— Diet. Hist,
MAUDUIT. 477
books, of the New Testament, in 8 vols, 12-mo. -These
\ still maintain their character. 5. " Meditations for an ec-
clesiastical retreat of ten days," 12mo. 6. u A Disserta-
tion on the Gout," 12mo, 1689. Father Mauduit was
candid as a scholar, and exemplary as a minister. l
MAUDUIT (Israel), a person of some celebrity in his
• time, as a writer of political pamphlets, was the son of
Isaac Mauduit, a dissenting minister at Bermondsey, and
was born there in 1708, and was himself educated for the
ministry among the dissenters. After some tim^, how-
ever, he quitted bis clerical employment, and became a
partner with his brother Jasper Mauduit, as a merchant;
and, when that brother died, carried on the business with
equal credit and advantage. His first appearance as an
author was in 1760, when he published anonymously a»
pamphlet entitled " Considerations on the present Ger-
man war." It was intended to shew the impropriety of
involving this nation in continental wars, and obtained
some attention from the public ; which the author sup-
ported by publishing soon after, " Occasional thoughts on
the present German War." When Mr. Wilkes published
in 1762, " Observations on the Spanish Paper," the credit
of Mr. Mauduit was so far established by the former pamph-
lets, that many persons ascribed this also to him. In 1763
, he was appointed customer of Southampton, and some time
after agentfor the province of Massachusetts, which led
him to take an active part in the disputes between the
American colonies and the mother country. In conse-
quence of this he published, in 1769, his " Short view of
the History of the New-England Colonies." In 1774, he
voluntarily took up the cause of the dissenting clergy, in a
pamphlet entitled "The Case of the Dissenting Ministers;
addressed to the lords spiritual and temporal." In the
same year he published " Letters of governor Hutchinson,"
&c. In 1778 and 1779, he produced several severe tracts
against sir William and lord Howe ; as, " Remarks upou
general Howe's Account of his Proceedings on Long
Island," &c. Also " Strictures on the Philadelphia Mis~
chianza," &c. And, " Observations upon the conduct of
"sir William Howe at the White Plains," &c. In 1781 he
again attacked the same brothers, in u Three Letters ad-
dressed to lieut-gen. sir William Howe," &c. and " Three
? Moreri,— Diet. Hist.
478 M A U D U I T.
•
Letters to lord viscount Howe." Io May 1737, he was
appointed governor of the society among the dissenters for
propagating the gospel in foreign parts, but died on the
14th of the ensuing month, at the age of seventy-nine, in
Clement's-lane, Lombard-street, a bachelor, and possessed
of an ample fortune. He is said by some to have been the
author df a letter to lord Blakeney, on the defence of
Minorca in 1757 ; and some other tracts on political and
temporary subjects, which," whatever effect they might
have produced at the time, are now sinking fast into
oblivion. The historian of Surrey says of him, that " his
love of liberty, civil and religious, was tempered with that
moderation which Christianity inculcates in every branch
of conduct. His acquaintance with mankind taught him
that impartiality was the best rule of conduct. In the
contests for civil liberty he distinguished the iptemperate
zeal of the Americans, and soon saw the propriety of with-
drawing from such as had separated themselves from their
allegiance to Great Britain a fund for propagating the
gospel among the subjects of this crown, in which he was
supported by the opinions of no less lawyers than Scott
and Hill. In like manner he tempered the application of
his brethren in England for toleration." *
MAUPERTUIS (Peter Louis Morceau de), a cele-
brated French mathematician and philosopher, was born at
St. Malo in 1698, and at first educated there. In 1714
he studied in the college of La Marche, at Paris, where he
discovered a strong inclination for mathematics. He fixed,
however, on no profession until he arrived at his twentieth
year, when he entered into the army, and during the space
of five years in which he remained in it, pursued his ma-
thematical studies with great vigour. In 1723 he was
received into the royal academy of sciences, and read his
first performance, a memoir upon the construction and
form of musical instruments. When he commenced his
travels, his first visit was to England, and during his resi-
dence at London he became a zealous admirer .and fol-
lower of Newton. His next excursion was to Basil in
Switzerland, where he formed a friendship with the cele-
brated John Bernoulli and his family, which continued till
his death. At his return to Paris he applied himself to his
favourite studies with greater zeal than ever. And how
1 European and Gent; Magazines for 1787,— Manning and Bray's
Surrey, vol. I.
MAUPERTUIS. 479
.well be fulfilled the duties of an academician, may be seen
in the Memoirs of the academy from 1724 to 1744 ; wbe/re
the most sublime questions in the mathematical scienc.es,
received from bis band that elegance, clearness, and pre-
cision, sq.. remarkable in all his writings. In 1736 he was
sent to the polar circle to measure a degree of the me-
ridian, in order to ascertain the figure of the earth ; in
which expedition he was accompanied by Messrs. Clairault,
-Camus, Moonier, Outhier, and Celsus, the celebrated pro-
fessor of astronomy at Upsal. This business rendered him
so famous, that on his return he was admitted a member of
almost every academy in Europe.
In 1740 Maupertuis had an invitation from the king of
Prussia to go to Berlin ; which was too flattering to be re-
fused. His rank among men of letters had not wholly
effaced his love for his first profession, that of arms. He
followed the king to the field, but at the battle of Mol-
witz was deprived of the pleasure of being present when
victory declared in favour of his royal patron, by a singular
kind of adventure. His horse, during the heat of the
action, running away with him, he fell into the hands of
the enemy; and was at first but roughly treated by the
Austrian hussars, to whom he could not make himself
known for want of language ; but, being carried prisoner to
Vienna, he received such honours from the emperor as
;never were effaced from his memory. Maupertuis la-
mented very much the loss of a watch of Mr. Graham's,
. the celebrated English artist, which they had taken from
: him; the emperor, .who happened to have another by the
same artist, but enriched, with diamonds, presented it to
him, saying, " the hussars meant only to jest with you :
.they have sent me your watch, and I return it to you."
.. He went soon after to Berlin ; but as the reform of the
academy which the king of Prussia then meditated was not
yet mature, he repaired to Paris, where his^ affairs called
him, and was chosen in ,1742 director of the academy .of
sciences. In 1743 he was received into the French aca.-
denty; which, was the first instance of the same person
being a member of both the academies at Paris at the same
time. Maupertuis again assumed the soldier at the siege
of Fribourg, and was pitched upon by marshal Coigny and
the count d'Argenson to carry the news to the French king
of the surrender of that citadel.' Maupertuis returned to
Berlin in 1744, when a marriage was negociated and
^ i
480 MAUPERTUIS.
brought about by the good offices of the queen mother,
between our .author and mademoiselle de Borck, a lady of
great beauty and merit, and nearly related to M . de Borck, at
that time minister of state* This determined him to settle
at Berlin, as he was extremely attached to his new spouse,
and regarded this alliance as the most fortunate circum-
stance of his life.
In 1746 Maupertuis was declared, by the king of Prussia,
president of the royal academy of sciences at Berlin, and
soon after by the same prince was honoured with the order
of merit. However, alt these accumulated honours and ad*
vantages, so far from lessening his ardour for the sciences,
seemed to furnish new allurements to labour and applica-
tion. Not a day passed but he producedsome new pro-
ject or essay for the advancement of knowledge. Nor did
he confine himself to mathematical studies only : meta«
physics, chemistry, botany, polite literature, all shared his
* attention, and contributed to his fame. At the same time
he bad, it seems, a strange inquietude of spirit, with a
dark atrabilious humour, which rendered him miserable
amidst honours and pleasures. Such a temperament did
not promise a pacific life ; and he was in fact engaged in
several quarrels. One of these was with Koenig the pro-
fesspr of philosophy at Franeker, and another more terrible
with Voltaire. Maupertuis had inserted in the vohimcof
Memoirs of the Academy of Berlin for 1746, a discourse
upon the laws of motion ; which Koenig was not content
-with attacking, but attributed to Leibnitz. Maupertuis,
stung with the imputation of plagiarism, engaged the aca-
demy of Berlin to call upon him for his proof; which
Koenig failing to produce, his name was struck out of the
academy, of which he was a member. Several pamphlets
were the consequence of this measure ; and Voltaire, for
some reason or other*, engaged in the quarrel against Mau-
pertuis, although they had been apparently upon the most
amicable terms. Voltaire upon this occasion exerted all
his wit and satire against him ; and upon the whole was
.so much transported beyond what was thought right, that
he found it expedient in 1753 to quit the court of Prussia.
Our philosopher's constitution had long been, consi-
derably impaired by the great fatigues of various kinds in
* See the reason amply explained in Toiebauk's " Original. Anecdotes of
Frederic II," vol. I L p. 459, &c.
s .
MAUPERTUIS. 481
which his active mind had involved him ; though, from the
amazing' hardships he had undergone in his northern ex-
pedition, most of his bodily sufferings may be traced. The
intense sharpness of the air could only be supported by
means of strong liquors; which helped but to lacerate his
lungs, and bring on a spitting of blood, which began at
least twelve years before he died. Yet still his mind
seemed to enjoy the greatest vigour ; for the best of his
writings were produced, and most sublime ideas developed,
during the time of his confinement by sickness, when he
was unable to occupy, his presidial chair at the academy.
He took several journeys to St. Malo during, the last years
of his life, for the recovery of his health : and though
he always received benefit by breathing his native air, yet
still, upon his return to Berlin, his disorder likewise re-
turned with greater violence. His last journey into France
was undertaken in 1757 ; when he was obliged, soon after
his arrival there, to quit his favourite retreat at St. Malo,
on account of the danger and confusion which that town
was thrown into by the arrival of the English in its neigh-
bourhood. From thence he went to Bourdeaux, hoping
there to meet with a neutral ship to carry him to Ham-"
burgh, in his way back to Berlin ; but, being disappointed
in that hope, he went to Toulouse, where he remained
seven months. He had then thoughts of going to Italy, in
hopes a milder climate would restore him to health ; but
finding himself grow worse, he rather inclined towards
Germany, and went to Neufchatel, where for three months
he enjoyed the conversation of lord Martschal, with whom
he had formerly been much connected. At length he
ajrriyed at Basil, October 16, 1758, where he was received
by his friend Bernoulli and his family with the utmost ten-
derness and affection. He at first found himself much bet-
ter here than he had been at Neufchatel : but this amend-
ment was of short duration ; for as the winter approached,
his disorder returned, accompanied by new and more
alarming symptoms. He languished here many months*
during which he was attended by M. de la Condamine ;
and died in 1759, at sixty-one years of age.
The works which he published were collected iuto 4
volumes, 8vo, published at Lyons in 1756, where also a
new and elegant edition was printed in 1768. These con-
tain the following, works : 1. Essay on Cosmology. 2.
Discourse on the different Figures of the Stars. 3. Essay
Vol, XXL 1 1
482 . MAUPERTUI&
on Moral Philosophy. 4. Philosophical reflections upon
the Origin of Languages, and the signification of words.
5. Animal Physics, concerning Generation, &c. 6. Sys-
tem of Nature, or the formation of bodies. 7. Letters on
various subjects. * 8. On the progress of the Sciences.
9. Elements of Geography. 10. Account of the expe-
dition to the Polar Circle, for determining the figure of
the Earth ; or the measure of the Earth at the Polar Circle.
II. Account of a Journey into the heart of Lapland, to
search for an ancient Monument. . 12. On the Comet of
1742. 13. Various Academical Discourses, pronounced in
the French and Prussian academies. 14. Dissertation upon
Languages. 15. Agreement of the different Laws of Na-
ture, which have hitherto appeared incompatible. 16.
Upon the Laws of Motion. 17. Upon the Laws of Rest
18. Nautical Astronomy. 19. On the Parallax of the Moon.
20. Operations for determining the figure of the Earth,
and the variations of Gravity. 21. Measure of a Degree
of the meridian at the Polar Circle.
Beside these works, Maupertuis was author of a great
multitude of interesting papers, particularly those printed
in the Memoirs of the Paris and Berlin academies, far too
numerous here to mention ; viz. in the Memoirs of' the
academy at Paris, from 1724 to 1749; and in those of
the academy of Berlin, from 1746 to 1756. l
MAUREPAS (John Frederic Phelypeaux, count of),
grandson of the count de Pontchartrain, who was minister
under Louis XIV. was bom in 1701, and obtained an ap-
pointment of secretary at court so early as 171 5. He was
superintendaht of the king's household in 1718, and of the
marine in 1723. In 1738 be was appointed minister of
state, and was in all situations full of genius, activity, and
sagacity. Being exiled to Bourges in 1-749, by the in-
trigues of a lady very powerful at court, he made no secret
of the manner in which he felt that change. " The first
day," said he, " I was piqued, the second I was contented.
When he arrived at the place of his exile, he talked in a
lively manner of the dedications he should lose, and of the
disappointments of the authors who had wasted their fine
phrases upon. him. He continued to amuse himself with
the pleasures of society, and enjoyed the invariable esteem
*f many valuable friends, and of the public. Being re-
\ Button's Math. Dictionary.
»>-
MAUREPAS 483
called to the ministry in 1774, by Louis XVI. who treated
him with, unbounded confidence, he disdained to revenge
any former neglect or ill offices, and lived rather with the
ease of a rich private gentleman, than with the ostentation
of a minister. His views of objects were rapid, yet were
generally considered as profound; though in recommend-
ing the conduct which France pursued with respect to
America, at the time of the revolt of that country, he cer-
tainly laid the foundation for the destruction of the French
monarchy. He was, however, a man of much public spirit,
and one who contributed not a little to the improvement of
the French marine. His correspondence was a model of
precision, expressing much meaning* in very few words.
He died at the age of eighty, Nov. 21, 178]. He left
some curious "Memoirs," of which there are three editions,
published in 1790 and 1792, 4 vols. 8vo, by the editor
Soulaire. *
MAURICEAU (Francis), an eminent French accou-
cheur, was born at Paris, where he applied with great
industry to the study and practice of surgery, for many
years, especially in the great hospital, the H6tel-Dieu.
He had already acquired there so much experience in
the obstetrical department before he commenced public
practice, that he rose almost at once to the head of his
profession* His reputation was farther increased by his
writings, and maintained by his prudent conduct and ac-
knowledged skill during a series of years ; after which he
quitted practice entirely, and retired into the country,
where he died Oct. 17, 1709, at an advanced age. His
works, which are more useful for the facts than the rea-
soning they contain, are, 1. " Trait6 des Maladies des
Femmes grosses, et de celles qui sont accouch6es," Paris,
1688, 4to, which has been often reprinted, and translated
into Latin, as well as into most of the modern European
languages. 2. " Aphorismes touchant 1' Accouchement, la
Grossesse, et les Maladies des Femmes," ibid. 1694, a
summary of the preceding. 3. " Observations sur la Gros-
sesse et V Accouchement des Femmes, et sur leurs Maladies,
et celles des Enfans nouveaux n6s," ibid. 1695, 4to. This
may be considered as a second volume of the first treatise.
4. " Dernieres Observations sur les Maladies des Femmes
i Eloges des Acackmicient, vol. II.— Diet, Hiit.— Menaoires de Maurepat
par Soulaire.
112
43* MAURICKAtl.
* i
grosses et accouch£es»" 1708, ibid. 4to; which contain*'
mi additional collection of cases. The whole of these
works were collected and reprinted together after his death,
in 1712, and subsequently, with figures. l
MAUROLICO, or MAUROLICUS (Francis), a cele-
brated Italian mathematician, was born in 1494 at Messina,
where he afterwards taught mathematics with great success.
In that employment he was particularly admired, for the
astonishing clearness with which he expressed himself,,
making the most difficult questions easy, by the manner
in which he explained them. He had a penetrating ihind,
and a prodigious memory. He was abbe* of Santa MaFia
del Porto, in Sicily ; but, as mathematicians in his time
were generally supposed to be able to read the stars, he
could not resist the temptation of assuming to himself such
powers ; and delivered some predictions to don Juan of
Austria, for which, as he happened to guess rightly, he
obtained the credit of being a prophet, besides considerable
rewards. He died July 2 J, 1575, at the age of eighty-
one. His principal works are, 1. An edition of the " Sphe-
rics of Theodosius," 1558, folio. 2. " Emendatio et re-
stitutio Conicorum Apollonii Pergaei," 1654, folio. 3.
u Archimedis monumenta omnia,** 1685, folio. 4. "Eu-
clidis phenomena," Rome, 1591, 4to. 5. " Martyfologium,.
1566, 4to. 6."Sinicarum rerum Compendium." 7. Also, in
1552, "Rimes," in 8vo. He published also, 8. "Opuscula
Mathematical' 1575, 4to. 9. " Arithmetiborum libri duo,'r
1575. These, with a few mare, form the list of his works,
most of which are upon subjects of a sitnilaf nature.8
MAURUS, TERENTIANUS. See TERENTIANtTS.
MAUSSAC (Philip James), a counsellor in the parlia-
ment of Toulouse, where he was born iii 1580, attd after-*
wards president of the court of aids at Montpelier, died in
1650, at the age of seventy, with the reputation of beitig
one of the best Greek scholars of bis time. We have by
him some notefc on Harpdcratiori, Paris, 1614, 4to. 2,
Some remarks on a treatise on mountains and rivers, at-
tributed to Plutarch. 3. And some " Opuscitia," whfch
display him in the light of a judicious critic. *
MAUTOUR (Philibert Bernard MoREaU tfE), tiorn
at Beaune in 1654, became: auditor of the chamber 6/
y Kloy Bict. Hist, de Medicine.— Rees's Cyclopaedia,— MorerL
| Chatfepw.— Hiccros, tqJ.;XXXVU^ PicU HisL } Diet »t»
W A U T O U ». 48*
accounts at Paris, and member of tjbe academy of inscrip-
tion?. He was beloved as a man, and esteemed as a scho-
lar, and even as a poet ranks among tJiQse writer of me-
diocrity who occasionally produce some happy effusions.
His poems are scattered in the " Mercure," and various
other collections. He published also a translation of Pe-
tals " Eatiojfiarium Temporum," in 4 vols. 12mo; and
was author of many learned and acute dissertations in the
Memoirs of the academy of belles lettres. JHe died in 1737,
at the age of eighty-three. l
MAXIM US (St.) There are two saints of this name, of
whom some notice may be taken ; the oldest Maximps, of
Turin, so called because he was bishop of that city in the
fifth century, was eminent, for bis learning and piety;
Many of his " Homilie*" remain, some of which bear the
name of St. Ambrose, St. Augustin, and Eusebius of
JEmessa, in the Library of the fathers. The other St. Max*
imus was an abbot,, and confessor in the seventh century,
born Qf an ancient and noble family at .Constantinople.
He warmly opposed the heresy of the M.P.nothelites, and
died in prison, Augusjt 13, 66%, in consequence of what he
had suffered on that occasion. We have £ commentary of
his on the books attributed to St Dignysius the Areopagite,
and several other works, which father Copibesis published,
1615, 2 vols, folio; and they are also in the Library of the
fathers.9
MAXIMIJS of Tyre, usually called Masioous Tyrius,
to distinguish him from several pther Ma?imuses of anti-
quity, though chiefly distinguished by bis eloquence, ha$
obtained some degree of celebrity as a philosopher. Ac-
cording to Suidas, he lived under Commodus ; according to
Eusebius and SyqceUu?, under Antoninus Pius, in the
second century ; perhaps be flourished under Antoniuus,
and reached the time pf Commodus, in both whose reigns
he is said to have made a journey to Rome, but spent his
life chiefly in Greece. We have extent of Maximus Ty-
rius forty-one " dissertations, upon various arguments ;"
a manuscript copy of which was first brought out of Greece
into Italy by Janus Lascaris, and presented to Lorenzo
de Medici. From, this copy a Latin translation was made,
and published by jCosmus Paccius, archbishop of Florence,
in 15 1 9. The work was then published in Greek by Henry
1 Diet Hist. « Cave, vol I.— Moreri.
486 M A X I M U S.
Stephens, in 1557 ; in Greek and Latin by Daniel Hein-
6ius, in 1607 ; by J. Davies, of Cambridge, in 170S; by
Markland in 1740, 4to; and by Reiske, in 1774, 8vo. The
French have two good translations by Formey, 1764, and
by Dounous, 1802. Isaac Casaubon, in the epistle dedi-
catory of his " Commentaries upon Persius," calls Maxi-
mus Tyrius " mellitissimus Platonicorum ;'* and Peter Pe-
tit (in his " Misc. Observat." lib. L c. 20.) represents him as
"auctorem imprimis elegantem in Philosophia, ac diser-
tum." He has spoken a good deal of himself in his thirty-
seventh dissertation, and seemingly in a style of panegyric.
Upon this account his editor Davies has accused him of
vanity, but Fabricius has defended him by observing, that
Davies did not sufficiently attend to Maximus' s purpose in
speaking thus of himself ; " which was," he says, " not at
all with a view of praising himself, but to encourage and
promote the practice of those lessons in philosophy, which
they heard from him with so much applause." These dis-
sertations are for the most part written upon Platonic prin-
ciples, but sometimes lean towards scepticism*
Some have confounded Maximus Tyrius with Maximus
Ephesus, the preceptor of Julian the apostate, who wrote
a poem upon astrology entitled " Ilefi xorofxav;" which is
published, with a Latin version by another hand, by Fa-
bricius, in the twenty-fifth chapter of the fifth book of his
" Bibliotheca Graeca." It is imperfect at the beginning.1
MAY (Louis du), a French historian of the seventeenth
century, was a protestant, and passed the chief part of
his life in the courts of Germany. He died September 22,
1 68 1. He calls himself in the titles of his works Seigneur
de Sallettes, chevalier of the order of St. Michael, coun-
sellor secretary to the elector of Mentz, and counsellor to
the duke of Wirtemberg, titles which, Marchand remarks,
do not very well agree with that of " teacher of the French
language in the college of Tubingen." His writings are
now considered as feebly written, and are little known or
consulted, but they had a degree of reputation in tbeir
day. The principal of them are, 1. " Etat de PEmpire,"
State of the Empire, or an abridgment of the public law
of Germany, 12mo. 2. " Science des Princes," which is
an edition of the political considerations of Gabriel Nan*
1 Fabric. Bibl. Gr«c.— Brucker.— Saxii Oaomast.
MAY. 437
d£e ; with reflections added by do May, 1683, 8vo. 3.
" The prudent Voyager," 1681, 1 2mo. *
MAY (Thomas), esq. an English poet and historian,
was descended of an ancient, but somewhat declining fa-
mily, in Sussex ; and bom at May field in that county, as
it is supposed, in 1594. His father purchased Mayfield in
1597, and was knighted at Whitehall, July 3, 1603. His
son Thomas was instructed in classical literature in the
neighbourhood, and Sept. 1 1, 1609, entered a fellow-com-
moner of Sidney college, in Cambridge, where, in 1612,
he took a bachelor of arts degree, but never proceeded
farther in academical advancement. He removed after-
wards to London, and was admitted a member of Gray's
Inn, Aug. 6, 1615 ; but his genius leading him to pursue
the belles-lettres, and especially the muses, he concerned
hitnself very little with the law. In 1616 he succeeded to
the estate of Mayfield, which he sold next year. He
gained an acquaintance with several eminent courtiers and
wits of those times, as sir Kenelm Digby, sir Richard
Fanshaw, sir John Suckling, sir Ashton Cockaine, Thomas
Carew, Endymion Porter, Ben Jonson, and others : and
his reputation was such, that be obtained the countenance
of Charles L and his royal consort ; at whose particular
recommendation and desire he undertook and published
several of bis poetical works. In particular, while he
resided at court, he wrote the five following plays : 1 . " The
Heir, a comedy, acted in 1620," and printed in 1633.
2. "Cleopatra, a tragedy ," acted in 1626, printed in
1639. 3. "Antigone, the Theban princess, a tragedy/'
printed in 1631. 4. " Agrippina, empress of Rome, a
tragedy," printed in 1639. 5. "The Old Couple, a co-
medy," 1651. The second and last of these are reprinted
in Dodsley's Collection. Two other plays have been as-
cribed to May, namely, " The old Wives Tale," and " Or-
lando Furioso ;" but Langbaine says be " never saw the
first ;" and for the latter he assures the reader, " it was
printed long before Mr. May was born, at least before be
was able to guide a pen."
Besides these plays, we have several translations of his
from some Latin authors, and other original compositions
also in verse. Among the former are, " Virgil's Georgics,"
1 Diet. Hift— Maichand, who it abundantly prolix in hit account of May's
works.
48$ M A Y.
\
t
with annotations, published in 1622; to which are sub-
joined, selected epigrams from Martial; butheacquired moat
reputation by his translation of " Lucan's Pharsalia," and
tiis own continuation of that poem to the death of Julius
Caesar, both in Latin and English. The translation of the
Pharsalia was first printed in 1627, and the continuation of
it in English in 1630. The Latin continuation of it was
printed at Leydenin 1640, 12mo, under this title, " Sup-
plementum Lucani, libri viii. Authore Thoma Maio, An-
glo :" to which edition are prefixed Latin commendatory
poems to him by .Boxhomius, Nicholas Heinsius, sir Ri-
chard Fanshaw, and others. It is certainly much to this
author's honour, that his Latin " Supplement'* was re-
printed several times after with some good editions of
Lucan abroad; and, it is probable, that his character would
not have stood so low with posterity as it does at present,
if certain political deviations afterwards. had hot made him
obnoxious to the party which at length prevailed. Pr.
Johnson preferred the Latin poetry of May to that of Cow-
ey and Milton; an opinion which' Mr/ Thomas Warton
controverts*. He was concerned also in the translation of
two books written by ihe celebrated Scotch wit John
Barclay, namely, his " Argenis," and " Icon animorum."
Among his original compositions are, " The reign of king
Henry II. written in seven books, by his majesty's com-
mand, a poem : to which is added, in prose, The descrip-
tion of Henry II. with a short survey of the changes of his
reign ; also, The single and comparative characters of Henry
and Richard, his sons," 1633, Svo. In 1635 he published,
by the king's special command also, an historical poem in
seven books, entitled *f The victorious reign of Edward
111." On these compositions some recent critics, espe-
cially Mr. Headley, have bestowed high praise; but we
cannot think their merit very conspicuous, unless in de-
tached parts.
Some of his works, we see, were written at the com-
mand of Charles I. and almost air of them were dedicated
to his majesty, which seems to indicate rather a close con-
nection between the king and the poet : yet May, on the
* " May is certainly a sonorous dac- confined to the peculiarities of an
ty list,' and was sufficiently accom- archetype, which, it may he presumed,
plished in poetical declamation for the he thought excellent."
continuation of Lucan's Pharsalia. But Milton's Poems, by Warton,
May i» scarcely an author in point. jprsf. p. xv, ediu 1784.
His skill is in parody; and he was
MAY. 48?
breaking out of the civil wars, joined himself very heartily
to the parliament. Fuller gives a reason for this when he
says that " some disgust at court was given to, or taken
by him, as some would have it, because his bays were nqt
gilded richly enough, and his verses rewarded by king
vJharles according to expectation." Others, as Phillips
and Wihstanley, say more particularly, " that his deser-
tion from the court was owing to his being disappointed of
the place of queen's poet, to which sir William Davenant,
his competitor, was preferred before him ;" and Clarendon
seems to have suggested this opinion *. Whatever was
the cause, it is certain that he threw himself under the
protection, and into the service of the parliament ; and
recommended himself so effectually to them, as to be ap-
pointed their secretary and historiographer. Agreeably
to the duties of this last office, he published, in 1647,
€t The History of the Parliament of England, wnich began
Nov. 3, 1640; with a short and necessary view of some
precedent years," folio. The first book of this history
begins with short characters of queen Elizabeth and king
James, passing through the former part of king Charles's
reign, to 1641 ; and the last ends with a narrative of the
first battle of Newbury, in 1643. He afterwards made an
abstract of this history, and a continuation of it to the
(death of king Charles I. in Latin, in 1649; and then
an English translation of it, entitled " A Breviary of this
* Lord Clarendon, with whom he able pieces of the reign of some of our
was intimately acquainted, says, " That kings. He was cherished by many
his father spent the fortune which he persons of honour, and very acceptable
was' born to, so that he had only an in all places ; yet (to shew that pride
annuity left him not proportionable to and envy have their influence upon
a liberal education ; yet, since bis for- the narrowest minds, and which hate
tune could not raise his mind, he the greatest semblance of humility)
brought bis mind down to his fortune, though he had received much couu<-
by a' great modesty and humility in tenaoce, and a very considerable do-
his nature, which was not affected, native from the king, upon his mat
but very well became' an imperfection jesty's refusing to give him a small
in his speech, which was a great mor- pension, which he had designed and
tification to him, and kept him from promised to- another very ingenious
entering upou any discourse but in the person, whose qualities he thought in-
company of his very friends. His parts ferlor to his own, he fell from his daty
tof nature and art were very good, as and all his former friends, and pro-
appears by his translation of Lucan siituted himself to the vile office
{none of the easiest work of that kind), of celebrating the infamous acts of
and more by his Supplement to Lucan, those who were in rebellion against
which, being entirely his own, for the the king; which he did so meanly,
learning, the wit, and the language, that he seemed to all men to have lost
may be well looked upon as one of the his wits wjien be left his honesty ; and
best epic poems in the English Ian- shortly after died miserable and neg-
guage. JHe writ some other commend- lected, and deserves to be forgotten."
490 MAY.
History of the Parliament of England/9 1650, 8vo. Echard
calls this history, " one of the genteele&t and handsomest
libels of those times/* Granger is of opinion that there is
more candour in this history than the royalists were will-
ing to allow him, but less elegance than might have been
expected from the pen of so polite and classical a scholar.
Warburton*s praise of this work is perhaps of more value.
In a letter to Dr. Hurd he says, " May's History of the
Parliament is a just composition, according to the rules of
history. It is written with much judgment, penetration,
manliness, and spirit. And with a candour that will greatly
increase your esteem, when you understand that he wrote
by order of his masters the parliament. It breaks off (much
to the loss of the history of that time) just when their armies
were new modelled by the self-denying ordinance"
A few months after the publication of " The Breviary,"
the 13th of Nov. 1650, May died, at the age of fifty-five
years. He went well to rest over night, after a chearful
bottle as usual, and died in his sleep before morning : upon
which his death was imputed to bis tying his night-cap too
close under his cheeks and chin, which caused his suffoca-
tion ; but the facetious Andrew Marvell has written a long
poem of an hundred lines, to make him a martyr of Bac-
chus, and die by the force of good wine. He was interred
near Camden, in Westminster-abbey, which caused Fuller
to say that " if he were a biassed and partial writer, yet
be lieth buried near a good and true historian indeed.'*
Soon after the restoration, his body, with those of several
others, was dug up, and buried in a pit in St. Margaret's
church-yard ; and his monument, which was erected by
the appointment of parliament, was taken down and
thrown aside. '
MAYER (John Frederic), a Lutheran divine, was born
at Leipsic in 1650. He was deeply skilled in the Hebrew,
Greek, and Latin languages, and was a professor, first at
Wittemburg, then at Hamburgh, and afterwards at Stetin
in Pomerania, where he became the general superintend-
ent of the churches of that province. Fabricius dedicated
the first edition of his " Bibliotheca Latina" to him at
Hamburgh in 1696; which Saxius says is the only thing
.he knows to his honour; but why Saxius speaks thus
1 Ath. Ox. vol. II. — Biog. Brit.— Cibber's Lives.— Biog. Dram.— Warburton's
Letters to Hurd,4to edit. p. 103, 108. — Headley's Beauties, vol. I. p. lviii.—
Cens. Lit* vol. X. — Bibliographer, vol. I.
MAYER. 491
slightingly of him does pot appear. He himself published,
1. in 1697, " De fide Baronii <et Bellarmiui, ipsis Ponti-
ficiis ambigua," " on the faith of Baronius and Bellarmin,
which is suspicious even to the Papists/' printed at Am-
sterdam, in 8vo. 2. A " Bibliotheca Biblica," in which
he examines the characters of the various authors, Jewish,
Roman Catholic, and Protestant, who have commented
upon the Bible. The best edition of this work was printed
at Rostock, in 1713, 4to. 3. A treatise on the manner of
studying the Scripture, 4to. 4. A treatise " de Osculo
pedum Pontificis Romani ;" on kissing the Pope's foot,
now become scarce, Leipsic, 1714, 4to. 5. Many disser-
tations on important passages in the Bible. Mayer died in
1712. His learning was undoubtedly great, but is not
thought to be set off to advantage by his style, which is
dry and harsh.1
MAYER (Tobias), one of the greatest astronomers and
.mechanics of the last century, was born at Maspach in the
duchy of Wirtemberg, in 1 723. He taught himself ma-
thematics, and at the age of fourteen designed machines
and instruments, which was his father's profession, with
the greatest dexterity and justness. These pursuits did
not hinder him from cultivating the belles lettres : he ac-
quired the Latin tongue, and wrote it with elegance. la
1750, the university of Gottingen chose him for their ma-
thematical professor ; and every year of his short, but glo-
rious life, henceforward was marked with some consider-
able discoveries in geometry and astronomy. He pub-
lished several works on those sciences, that are all reckoned
excellent ; and some are inserted in the second volume of
the " Memoirs of the University of Gottingen." His la-
bours seem to have exhausted him ; for he died worn out
in 1762.
His table of refractions, deduced from his astronomical
observations, very nicely agrees with that of Doctor Brad-
ley ; and his theory of the moon, and astronomical tables
and precepts, were so well esteemed, that they were re-
warded by the English Board of longitude, with the pre-
mium of three thousand pounds, which sum was paid to
his widow after his death. These tables and precepts were
published by the Board of longitude in 1770. Besides
these, he published, I. "A new and general method of
1 Moreri.— Diet. Hist.— Saxii Onomasticon,
494 MAYERNE
slow, which, says Granger, the weakness of old age ren-
dered a quick poison. He foretold the time of his death to
his friends, with whom he had been moderately drinking at
a tavern in the Strand; and it happened according to his pre-
diction. He was buried at St. Martin's-in -the- fields. He
left behind him one only daughter, who brought her great
fortune in marriage to the marquis de Montpouvillan,
grandson of the marshal duke de la Force ; but she died
in childbed at the Hague, in 1661.
His works, which contain some valuable facts and obser-
vations, not, however, unmixed with erroneous doctrines
and superstitions, were published by Dr. Joseph Brown,
at London, in 1701, fol. divided into two books. The first
contains his " Consilia, epistolse, & observationes ;M the
second his " Pharmacopoeia, variaeque medicamentorum
formulae." , At the beginning of the book is placed the
author's portrait, such as it was in his S2d year, and under
the print are words to this purpose : " Tbeo. Turquet. de
Mayerne, knight, by birth a Frenchman, by religion a.
Protestant, and by dignity a baron ; in his profession, a
second Hippocrates : and, what has very seldom happened .
to any but himself, first physician to three kings ; in eru-
dition unequalled; in experience second to none; and,
as the 'result of all these advantages, celebrated far and
near."
The library at the college of physicians was partly given
to that society by sir Theodore Mayerne. Granger says,
that some valuable papers by him, written in elegant Latin,
are in Ashmole's Museum, and that they were read by Dr.
Smyth, an eminent physician of Oxford, who informed
him that they contain many curious particulars, show ,
the state of physic in the reign of Charles I. and the first
invention of several medicines. Lord Orford, in his " Anec-
dotes of Painting," says that the famous Petitot owed the
perfection of his colouring in enamel to some chemical
secrets, communicated to him by sir Theodore Mayerne.1
MAYNARD (Francis), a French poet, and one of the
forty of the French academy, was the son of a counsellor
of the parliament of Toulouse, and born in 1582. He was
secretary to queen Margaret, and pleased the court of .
that princess by his wit and gaiety. Noailles, the anabas-
is Gen. Diet.— Biog. Brit. Supplement. — Moreri.— Aikin's Biog\ Memoirs of
Medicine.— Peck'i Desiderata,— -Wood's Fasti, vol, L
M A Y N A R D. 495
sador to Rome, took him with him in 1634; and pope
Urban VIII. was very much pleased with him. Returning
to France, he made his court to the great, but was too.
sanguine in the expectations he formed from them ; which
lead in general to disappointment. This was his case. He
commended cardinal Richelieu, in order to obtain some-
thing; and abused him for giving him nothing. He had
the same success at the court of Anne of Austria ; and,
after a variety of disappointments, he retired to his pro-
vince, where he died in 1646. He wrote songs, odes,
epigrams, some of them rather licentious, and a poem,
entitled, " Philander," &c. Malherbe says of him, and
it has generally been allowed, that his verses were well
turned, but wanted force.1
MAYNARD (Sir John), a learned English lawyer, the
eldest son of Alexander Maynard, esq. of Tavistock, in
Devonshire, was born there about 1 602. In 1618 he en-
tered as a commoner of Exeter college, Oxford, where,
as we have often seen in the case of gentlemen of the law,
he took only one degree in arts, and then went to the
Middle Temple. After the usual routine of study he was
called to the bar, and in 1640 obtained a seat in parlia-
ment for Totness. The part he took in the political con-
tests of the day, procured him to be appointed one of the
managers of the evidence against the earl of Strafford, and
that against* archbishop Laud. Yet in 1644 he was ap-
pointed, with Bulstrode Whitlocke, at the particular desire
of the lord chancellor of Scotland, and other commissioners
from that kingdom, to consult with them and general Fair-
fax concerning the best method of proceeding against
Cromwell as an incendiary between the two kingdoms.
He was also one of the laymen nominated in the ordinance
of the Lords and Commons to sit with the assembly of
Divines, whose object was to establish the presbyterian
form of church government in England. Notwithstanding
this, we find him in 1647 opposing the violence of the par-
liament-army, for which he and serjeant Glynn were sent
to the Tower ; and when the parliament voted .that no more
addresses should be sent to the king, he told them that by
such a vote they dissolved themselves. He even went far-
ther, and after being secluded from his seat in the House
•f Commons for two months, he broke in among them, and
1 Moreri.— Diet, Hist.
496 M AYNAR f>. ♦
♦ ,
pleaded for the life of the king with such strength of rea-
soning, that Cromwell several times demanded that he
should be brought to the bar of the House.
Sis abilities, or that charm with which an independent
mind never fails to conciliate its enemies, seem to have
preserved him while thus apparently " serving two masters;"
for in 1653, he was by writ called to the rank of serjeant
at law ; and in May of the same year was made, by patent/
Crom well's serjeant. Here, .too, his love of justice pre-
dominated, and he zealously pleaded the cause of a mer-
chant of London, who had the boldness to oppose paying
a, tax imposed by Oliver without the consent of parliament,
for this Oliver sent serjeant Maynard, serjeant Twysden,
and counsellor Wadham Wyndham, to the Tower; nor were
they released without making submission in some form or
other. Maynard was afterwards continued serjeant to Ri-
chard Cromwell during his short period of usurpation.
Notwithstanding these many compliances with the par-
liamentary and Oliverian interest, his conduct must, upqn
the whole, have appeared in a favourable light to Charles II.
as, immediately after the restoration, he was called again
to be serjeant at law, in June l660a and made the king's
serjeant Nov. 9 following, to which his majesty added the
honour of knighthood. He was also nominated to be one
of the judges, but did not chuse to give up his practice,
which is said to have been very lucrative, for an office
which at that time depended on the king's pleasure.
Whitlocke tells us that as far back as 1647 he got in one
circuit seven hundred pounds, which was thought to be a
larger sum than any of the profession had ever got before.
Whitlocke indeed gives this as a report, but there is no
doubt that his practice was most extensive, and his know-
ledge in law universally acknowledged.
In 1661 he was chosen member of parliament for Befal-*
st on in Devonshire, and soon after, disliking the measures
of the king's ministers, engaged in opposition to them. He
appears also to have sat, either for Beralston or Plymouth,
in every parliament until the revolution. In* 1679-80, he
was one of the committee appointed to manage the evi-
dence against William Viscount Stafford, impeachecl of
high treason for being concerned in the popish plot . He
was afterwards a member of the convention which brought
about the revolution, and was active in promoting that
event, ably supporting the parliamentary vote that the
MAYNARIX 497
"king had abdicated, and that the throne was thereby
vacant." He was now about eighty-seven years old,
yet possessed his original vigour of understanding. Bur-
net has recorded a bon Knot of his, on his first waiting '
on the prince of Orange, afterwards William III. which
has been often repeated to his praise. On the prince
noticing his great age, and that he had outlived all the men
of the law of his time, Sir4 John Maynard replied, that
" he had like to have out-lived the law itself, if his high-
ness had not come over.9' The old serjeant had forgot
that he had once seen the law as near its dissolution as
ever it was in king James's time.
In March 1689, sir John was appointed one 6f the lords
commissioners of the great seal of England, and next year
was chosen member of parliament for Plymouth ; but being
now very infirm, he resigned his commissioner's place, and
returned to his house at Gunnersbury, near Ealing, where
he died Oct. .9, 1690. He was thrice married. Elizabeth,
his first wife, was buried at Ealing in 1654-5. Jane, his
second wife (daughter of Cheney Selherst, esq. and re-
lict of Edward A listen, esq.) was buried there in 1668.
His last wife, who Was daughter of Ambrose Upton, canon
of Christ-church, Oxford, and relict of • sir Charles Ver-
muydeu, survived him many years, and died in 1721,
being then the widow of Henry earl of Suffolk.
Serjeant Maynard was esteemed a very able advocate,
and has been called the best old book lawyer of his time.
All parties, says Mr. Lysons, seem to have been willing to
employ him, and he seems to have been equally willing to
be employed by all. Some of his reports and speeches
have been printed. There is also a report of his of a very
singular case of murder, in " The Works of the Learned,"
for August 1739, communicated by Dr. Rawlinson. Bi-
shop Warburton has not inaptly characterised serjeant
Maynard by a comparison with Whitlocke. They were1
both lawyers of family, and in the long parliament \ both'
of the presbyterian faction ; both learned and eminent in
their profession ; moderate, sage, and steady. So far they
agreed. In this they differed : Maynard had strong parts
with a serious modesty ; Whitlocke was weak and vain :
and by these defects only, more self-interested. A sense'
of honour made Maynard stick to the presbyterian factipq,
and 'to fall with them ; but, as he had much phlegm and
caution, not, like HoHis and Stapleton, to fall for them.
Vol. XXI. K k
40S MAYNARD.
So that he was never marked oat by the independents for *
their first sacrifices. On the contrary, Whitlocke forsook .
his party in. distress ; but as he had the other's moderation,
it was by slow and gentle degrees ; and so, as it happened,
decently. Maynard, by adhering steadily, but not violently,
to the party be set out with, was reverenced by all; and
had he not been more intent on the affairs of his profession,
tban on public business, might have become considerable
by station. " He went/' adds Warburton, « through the
whole reign of Charles and James II. with the same steady
pace, and the same adherence to his .party ; but by his
party, 1 rather mean presbytery for the sake of civil
liberty, than to civil liberty for the sake of presbytery ." '
...MAYNE (Jasper), an English poet and divine, was
born at Hatherlagh in Devonshire, in 1604. He received
his education at Westminster-school; and was afterwards
removed to Christ-church in Oxford, when he was about
twenty. He took his bachelor and master of arts de-
grees in the regular way; and then, entering into holy
orders, was presented by his college to the vicarages of
Cassington, near Woodstock, and of Pyrton, near Watling-
tpn in Oxfordshire. He became, says Wood, " a quaint
preacher, and a noted poet ;" and, in the latter capacity,
distinguished himself by the production of two plays, en*
titled " The City Match," a comedy ; and " The Amorous
War,** a tragi -comedy. When the rebellion broke out,
and Qharles I. was obliged to keep his court at Oxford, to
avoid being exposed to the resentment of the populace iu
London, where tumults then prevailed, Dr. Mayne was
one of those divines who were appointed to preach before
his majesty. lq 1646, he was created a doctor of divinity;
and the year after, printed a sermon at Oxford, " Against
false prophets," upon E?ek. xxii. 26. which occasioned a
dispute between him and the memorable antagonist of
ChillingwcMrthj Mr. Cbeynell. Cheynell had attacked his
sermon from the pulpit at St. Mary's in Oxford ; and
several letters passed between them, which were published
by Dr. Mayne the same year, in a piece entitled " A
late printed seropon against . false prophets vindicated by
letter from the causeless aspersions of Mr. Francis Chey-
nell; by Jasper Mayne, D.D. the misunderstood author
* Atb. Ox. tol. II.— British Biog.— Burnet's Own Timet.— Noble's Memoirs of
Cromwell, toI. I. p. 435.— -Lysons's Environs, vol. H. where i* a fine portrait
•f sir John.— Warhorton's Letters, 4to edit, p. 154.
MAYNE. 499
of it." Mayne having said, in one of bis letters to Chey-
nell, that " God, upon a true repentance, is not so fatally
tied to the spindle of absolute reprobation, as not to keep
his. promise, and seal merciful pardons ;" Cheynell ani-
madverted upon him in the following terms : " Sir, Re-
probatio est tremendum mysterium. How dare you jest
upon such a subject, at the thought of which each Chris-
tian trembles ? Can any man repent, that is given up to
a reprobate mind and impenitent heart ? And is not every
man finally impenitent, save those few to whom God gives
repentance freely, powerfully, effectually? See what it
is for a man to come from Ben Jonson or Lucian, to treat
immediately of the high and stupendous mysteries of reli-
gion. The Lord God pardon this wicked thought of your
heatt, that you may not perish in the bond of iniquity and'
gall of bitterness. Be pleased to study the ixth chapter
to the Romans." The same year Mayne published also
another piece, entitled, "OXAOMAXIA; or, the people's
war examined according to the principles of scripture and
reason, in two of the most plausible pretences of it. In
answer to a letter sent by a person of quality, who desired
satisfaction." In this piece he examines, first, how far the
power of a king, who is truly a king, not one only in name,
extends itself over subjects; secondly,' whether any such
power belongs to the king of England; and, thirdly, if'
there does, how far it is to be obeyed, and not resisted.
The conclusion he draws is, that the parliamentary resist- <
ance to the king was rebellion. We cannot be surprized
if a man of such principles was deprived of his studentship
at Christ-church, in 1648, and soon after of both his liv-
ings. During the time of the usurpation, he was chap-
lain to the earl of Devonshire, and consequently became
the companion of . the celebrated Hobbes, who then at-
tended his lordship ; but, as Wood informs us, Mayne and
he did not agree well together. At the restoration he
not only recovered both his livings, but, for his services
and attachment to the royal cause, was promoted to a
canonry of Christ-church, and made archdeacon of Chi-
chester, and chaplain in ordinary to bis majesty, which
preferments he held to the time of his death, Dec. 6, 1672.
He was interred in the choir at Christ-church, where a
monument was erected for him, at the charge of his exe-
cutors, Dr. Robert South, and Dr. John Lamphire. By
his will he left 500/, towards the re-building of St. Paul's
KK2
500 M A Y N E.
cathedral, and 100/. each to both of his living*. Though
very orthodox in his opinions, and severe in his manners,
he is said to have been a most facetious, and pleasant com*
panioQ, and a great joker. Of this last, Langbaine gives an
instance which affords no very pleasing specimen of Mayne,
either as a serious or a jocular man* Langbaine says that
he had a servant* who had long lived with him ; to whom he
bequeathed a trunk, " with something in it," as he said,
" which would make him drink after his death." The
doctor dying, the servant immediately paid a visit to the
trunk; but instead of a treasure, or at least a valuable
legacy, which he expected, be found only a red herring.
. Besides the writings above-mentioned, Mayne published
'* A Poem upon the Naval Victory over the Dutch by. the
duke of York," and four sermons ; one " Concerning unity
and agreement, preached at Oxford in 1646;" another
'f Against schism, or the separations of these times, preached
in the church of Watlington in Oxfordshire, in 1 652," at
a public dispute held there, between himself and an emi-
nent Anabaptist preacher, the same year; a " Concio ad
academiam Oxoniensem, in 1662," and "A Sermon at
the consecration of Herbert lord bishop of Hereford, in
1.662," He translated some of " Lucian's Dialogues," in
162$ > and also " Donne's Latin epigrams*" in 1652,
which he entitled " A sheaf of miscellany, epigrams." l
MAYNWARING (Arthur), esq. a political and mis-
cellaneous writer, descended from an ancient family in
Shropshire, was born at Ightfield in that county in 1668.
He. was instructed in grammar learning at Shrewsbury,
and thence removed, at seventeen, to Christ-church, Ox-
ford; where he was placed under the care of Smalridge,
afterwards bishop of Bristol. He staid several years at
Oxford, and then went into the country, where he prose*- •
cuted his studies in polite literature with great vigour;
and afterwards, coming to London, applied himself to the
law. During his residence in the country, he had con*
tracted from an uncle, with whom he lived, an extreme-
aversion to the government of king William, which he dis- *
played in a satire against king William and queen Mary,
entitled *l Tarquin and Tullia," printed in the " State
Poems," vol. III. p. 319. He also wrote several pieees in*
favour of James the Second's party : but, upon being in-
* liiog. Brit.— Ath. Ox. rol. I L— Prince's Worthies of Dtr«m.
AYNWARING, SOI
troduced to the acquaintance of the duke of Somerset, and
the earls of Dorset and Burlington, he began to Entertain.
very different notions in politics. He studied the law1 till
be was five-and-twenty ; and, upon the conclusion of thfe
peace of Ryswick, went to Paris, where he became ac-
quainted with Boileau. That poet invited him to his
country-house, gave him a very handsome entertainment,
and spoke much to him of the English poetry ; but all bjr
way of inquiry : for he affected to be as ignorant of the
English Muse, as if the English were as barbarous as Lap*
landers. Thus a gentleman, a friend of Maynwaring's,
visiting him some time after, upon the death of Drydeii,
Boileau said that he wad wonderfully pleased to see, by
the public papers, that the English nation had paid such
extraordinary honours to a poet in England, burying him
at the public charge ; and then asked the gentleman who
that poet was, with as much indifference as if he had
never heard of Dry den's name.
After his return from France, he was made one of the
commissioners of the customs, in which office he distin-
guished himself by his skill and fidelity. Of the latter,
Oldmixon gives a remarkable instance, in his treatment of
a person who solicited to be a tide-waiter. This mart,
understanding that Mr. May n waring had the best interest
at the board of any. 6f the commissioners, with the lords of
the treasury, left a letter for him with a purse of fifty
guineas, desiring his favour towards obtaining the place
for which he applied. After that, he delivered a petition
to the board, which was read, and several of the commis*
sioners spoke on the subject; upon which Mr. Maynwaring.
took 'Out the purse of fifty guineas, and the letter, and
told (hem, that, " as long as he could, help it, that mail
should never have this nor any other place." In the be-»
ginning of queen Anne's f4ign, he was rnade auditor of the
imprests,* by the lord-treasurer Godolphin, an office worth
2000/. per annum in a time of business. In the parlia-
ment which met in 1705, he was chosen a burgess for,
Preston in Lancashire. He died at St. A 1 ban's, Nov. 13,
1712, leaving Mrs. Oldfield, the celebrated actress, hii
executrix. This lady had lived with him as his mistress,
and by ber he had a son, narn^d Arthur Maynwarirtg. He
divided his estate, which did not amount to much more
than 3000/. equally between that child, Mrs. Oldfield, and.
his sister. He published a great number of compositions
SOt M A Y N W A R I N G.
in verse and prose, which gained him credit and reputa-
tion. Sir Richard Steele dedicated to him the first volume
of the Tatler. Even his adversaries could not deny him
merit. Thus the Examiner, his antagonist in politics,
.allowed that he wrote with " a tolerable spirit, and in a
masterly style." He was severely reflected upon for his
will, particularly by the " Examiner;" in answer to which,
there came out a paper, two months after his death, in
.defence of him ; and this defence was in a few days foi-
Jowed by another, in a letter to a friend, supposed to be
written by Robert Walpole,- esq. In 1715 Mr. Oldmixon
, published " The Life and Posthumous Works of Arthur
Maynwaring, esq. containing several original pieces and
translations, in prose and verse, never before published,99
Svo, dedicated to sir Robert Walpole, of whom Mr. Mayo*
waring was a firm adherent, and, according to Mr. Coxe^
the first who predicted the figure that statesman would one
day make. This volume contains many curious particulars
of the political history *of the times ; but, like all Old-
jnixon's writings, must be read with caution. l
MAYOW (John), a very learned and ingenious physi-
cian of the seventeenth century, appears to have been bom
in Cornwall, in 1645, was a scholar of Wadham college,
Oxford, and a probationary fellow of All Souls* college.
He took his degrees in civil law, but studied and practised
physic ; and principally at Bath, in the summer. He died
at the house of an apothecary in York-street, Covent-gar-
den, in September 1679, and wa* buried in the church of
that parish. He published, " Tractatus quinque medico-
physici, 1. de sale nitro, et spiritu nitro-aerio; 2. de re-
spiratione ; 3. de respiratione foetus in utero, et ovo ; 4.
de motu mnsculari et spiritibus animalibus ; 5. de Rachi*
tide." These were published together at Oxford, in 1674,
8vo ; but there is an edition of two of them, " de respira-
tione," and " de Rachitide," published together at, Leyden,
in 1671. The fame of this author has been lately renewed
and extended by Dr. Beddoes, who published in 1790,
" Chemical Experiments and Opinions, extracted from a
work published in the last century,9* 8vo, in which he gives
to Mayow the highest credit as a chemist, and ascribes to
him some of the greatest modern discoveries respecting air;
giving many extracts from the three first of bis treatises*
1 Life prefixed to his Works*— Biog. BfiL
MAYOW. SOS
His chief discovery was, that dephlogisticated air (or as. he
called it, with Scheele) fire-air, exists in the nitrous acid,
and in the atmosphere ; which be proved by such decisive
experiments, as to render it impossible to explain how
Boyle and Hales could avoid availing themselves, in their
researches into air, of* so capital a discovery. Mayow also
relates his manner of passing aeriform fluids under water,
from vessel to vessel, which is generally believed to be a
new art He did not collect dephlogisticated air in vessels,
and transfer it from one jar to another, but he proved its
existence by finding substances that would burn in vacuo,
and in water when mixed with nitre ; and after animals
had breathed and died in vessels filled with atmospheric
air, or after fire had been extinguished in them, there was
a residuum, which was the part of the air unfit for respira-
tion, and for supporting fire; and he further shewed, that ni-
trous acid cannot be formed, but by exposing the substances
that generate it to the atmosphere. Mayow was undoubt-
edly no common man, especially since, if the above dates
are right, he was only thirty- four at the time of his death.
But he was not so unknown* as Dr. Beddoes supposed, for,
since the repetition of the same discovery by Priestley and
Scheele, reference has frequently been made by chemists
to Mayow, as the original inventor; though no other per-
son appears so closely to have examined his work as that
writer. At the same time it appears, that with the par-
tiality of a commentator, he has exalted his author unwar-
rantably at the expence of other chemists, and to a height,
which, without the aid of strained interpretations, cannot
be justified by the text.1
MAZARIN (Julius), cardinal, and first minister of state
in France, was born at Piscina, in the province of Abruzzo,
in Italy, on July 14, 1602. His abilities enabled him to
make a considerable figure, even in bis early years, whilst
he was studying the belles lettres, in which he had the hap-
piness of being instructed by the abbg Jerome of Colon n a,
*
• Dr. John Andreas Scberer. a Ger- theory in chemistry. More recently
man physician, published a dissert a- Dr. Yeates hat re-asserted the claims
tion, nearly about the same" time, iu of Dr. Mayow, in his "Observations
which, without knowing that Dr. Bed- on the claims of the moderns to some
does had made the same assertion, he discoveries in chemistry and physio-
demonstratod that Dr. Mayow had logy," 1798, 8vo.
laid the foundation of the antiphlogistic
i Ath. Ox. vol. II.— Month. Iter. vol. II. and vol. XIII. N. S.— British Critic,
TOl. XII. p. 345.
504 MAZAR I N.
who, afterwards became a cardinal. This illustrious person
went to reside in the university of Alcala in Spain, whither
be was followed by Mazarin, who applied himself to the
Jaw, and at his return to Italy, took his doctor's degree.
He went afterwards to the court of Rome, where he became
acquainted with cardinal Sapchetti, whom Urban VIII. sent
into Lombardy. It was through bis means, that Mazarin
was instructed in every particular relating to the interest of
the -different princes who were then at war respecting Cas-
sel and Montserratv Soon after this, the cardinal Antonio
Barberini, nephew to the pope, came into the Milanese
and Piedmont, in the character of legate, to conclude a
peace. Mazarin embraced bis cause so warmly, that he
was ordered to remain upon the spot with the nuncio James
Pancirole, add to assist him in his endeavours to conclude
this great affair. He here scrutinized closely the designs
of the French, the imperialists, the Spaniards, the duke
of Mantua, and the duke of Savoy ; and took such mea-
sures as might best reconcile and. strengthen their various
interests. When it happened that peace bad been conr
. eluded at Ratisbon on the 3d of October, but the French
and Spaniards refused to accept it in Italy, Mazarin, who
perceived that by such an opposition his care would have
proved nugatory, sought for new expedients to render the
peace general, and to prevent these two armies from
coming to an engagement The Spaniards, who were be-
sieging Cassel, had made entrenchments for six miles
round, and were determined vigorously to defend them-
selves against the French, who approached extremely near*
with an intention to force their lines. On Oct. 26, 1630,
the Spaniards waited only for the signal to fire, and the
forlorn hope of the French army had been. drawooptto
force their lines; when Mazarin, aftejr. offering. an accom*
paodation in many forms, quitted the Spanish trenches,
and, riding on a full gallop towards the French, waved his
hat to them, crying out, " Peace 1 peace !" He then ad-
dressed himself to the commander in chief, the marshal
duke de Schomberg, and gave in such proposals as were
accepted by the generals, and followed by the peace con-
cluded in the April following. The nuncio Pancirole and
Mazarin were joint agents for the pope; but all the credit,
of the negociation was given to the latter.
The cardinal de Richelieu was induced from these ser-
vices to conceive an esteem for him, while Barberini was
M A Z A R I N. 60S
equally attached to him, and prevailed upon Urban* VIII.
to make him keeper of the seals. He went in 1 634 to Avig-
non, in quality of vice-legate, and to France in that of
nuncio extraordinary, where he acquired a profound know-
ledge of state affairs, and with much art cultivated at the
same time, the friendship of Richelieu, nnd the good-will
of Louis XIII. In compliment to the nomination of this
monarch, the pope added him to the number of cardinals
in 1641. When Richelieu died, the same king made Ma-
zarin his minister of state, and one of the executors to his
will. In these departments, he took upon him the admi-
nistration'of affairs, during the minority of Louis XIV. and
the regency of the queen Anne of Austria. The dawnings
of bis power were attended with the happiest success ; and
the good fortune of the king's armies was to our cardinal a
source of much national applause. But these advantages
were very soon succeeded by the murmurs of an oppressed
people, and the envious combination of the great nobles,
who were jealous of his high advancements Hence arose
the civil wars in 1649, and the three following years; and
the dissatisfaction becoming more general, it was iusisted
upon, that he should be dismissed from the royal presence.
Mazarin, who knew bow necessary it was for him to retire,
demanded that he might take bis leave ; and immediately
departed from the kingdom. He was still so conscious of
fortune's always attending him, that he mentioned even
this event as one of the chief incidents contributing to
his greatness; and although decrees were issued out against
him, his fine library was sold, and a price was fixed upon
his head, he contrived to quell this fury with most astonish*
ing dexterity. He even was enabled to return to court,
and with a double share of power; and so mutable is po-
pular opinion, that many who once bad been his bitterest
enemies, were now become his warmest friends. After this,
be continued to render the state many important services,
the chief cf which was the obtaining of peace between
France and Spain : for this purpose, he went in person to
hold a conference with the Spanish minister, don Louis de
Haro, in 1659. The successful termination of thia affair,
was followed by the king's marriage with ,the Infanta. The
continual application of Mazarin to business brought on a
very dangerous illness : he was at that time at the Louvre,
but gave orders to be carried to Vincennes, where he died
March 9, 1661, aged 59. When seusible of hU danger,
50* MAZAE I Nl
he began to feel scruples concerning the wealth which he
bad heaped together, and his confessor plainly told him
that restitution was necessary for his salvation. He gave
the whole to the king, in the hope that, as was the case,
bis majesty would restore it to him. His wealth is said to
have amounted to eight millions sterling, all collected in a
time of war, or national commotion. The king paid the
highest honours to his memory. His body was magnifi-
cently entombed *in the college usually called after his
name, but sometimes by that of " the four nations," hav-
ing been designed as a place of education for the youth of
the four conquered nations..
Mazarin had a brother and two sisters. His letters have
been published; thirty-six of them made their appearance
at Paris in 1691 ; and, in 1693, a second volume came out,
containing seventy-seven more : the whole was reprinted
in two parts in 1694. These letters are not arranged in
the order of their dates ; but this error was amended in a
later edition, published (as the title-page informs us) at
Amsterdam, by Zachary Chatelain, in 1745, in 2 vols. 12mo.
For this we are# indebted to the care of the abb6 d'Alain-
val ; but this edition is rendered more valuable than the
others, being augmented by more than fifty letters, which
had never before appeared, and which are all placed in
their just order* The title of this' work is, "Letters of
cardinal Mazarin, containing the Secrets of the Negotia-
tions concerning the Pyrenean Peace, and the Confer-
ences which he had on that subject with Don Louis de
Haro, the Spanish minister ; the whole enriched with his-
torical Notes.** The character of Mazarin has been com-
pared with that of Richelieu, but unjustly. In Mazarin's
there was nothing amiable or great, and his ambition was
too nearly allied to avarice to command respect1
MAZOCHI (Alexius Symmachus), an Italian philo*
loger and antiquary, was born in 1684, at Santa Maria, a
village near Capua. He Was ordained priest in 1709, and
became professor of the Greek and Hebrew languages in
the arcbiepiscopal seminary at Naples. In 1711 he was
made a canon of Capua: and successively theological pro-
fessor at Naples, and royal interpreter of the Holy Scrip-
tures. He is said through humility to have refused the
archbishopric of Rossano, which was offered to him by the
. ' History of France.— Anquetii'a Court of Louis XIV.
M A Z O C H I. BVt
king. He died in 1771. Mazochi wrote many works,
particularly on the subjects of ancient inscriptions, and of
medals. He published, 1* " Commentarium in mutilum
Campanile Amphitheatri titulum, aliasque nonnullas In-
scriptiones," Neapoli, 1727, 4to. This was afterwards in-
serted into Poleni's New Thesaurus of Greek and Roman
antiquities. 2. " Ad Bernardum Tanuccium Epistola — de
dedicatione sub ascia," Neap. 1739, 8vo. 3. " Com men -
tarium in vetus marmoreum S. Neap. Eccles. Calendarium,"
Neap. 1 744, 4to, and several other detached dissertations
of this kind ; besides one in Italian, on the origin of the
Tyrrhenians, published in the third volume of the academy
of Cortona. Also, 4. " Notes on the New Testament."
<5. " Dissertations on the Poetry of the Hebrews.91 6.
'< Antiquities of the Campagna of Rome." He left besides
in manuscript, a book on the origin of the city of Capua.1
MAZZUCHELLI (John Maria), a nobleman of Bres-
cia, in the territory of Venice, s and celebrated as a philo-
loger and historian, was born in 1707, and educated prin-
cipally at Bononia; but after his marriage, he appears
to have devoted himself to his private ^studies, which
turned chiefly on subjects of antiquity and biography.
He accumulated a very curious collection of medals of
learned men, an account of which was published in Latin
and Italian by a writer who styles himself Petrus An-
tonius de Comttibus Gaetanis, Brixianus Presbyter, & Pa-
tricias Romanus. This work is in 2 vols, folio, printed in
1761 and 1763. Mazzuchelli died in November 1765. His
principal writings are, 1. " Notizie Historiche e Critiche,
intorno alia vita} alle inventione, ed agli Scritti di Archi-
mede Siracusano," Brescia, 1737, 4to; that is, Historical
and critical notices of the life, inventions, and writings of
Archimedes. 2. " La vita di Pietro Aretinfo," Padua, 1741,
Svo. He published also separately the lives of Abano,
Arisio, Alamanni, Bonfadius, &c. and began a vast bio-
graphical work on all the writers of Italy, which he car-
ried no further than to four parts of the second volume ;
being then in the letter B. The title was " Gli Scrittori
d'ltalia, cioe Notitie Storiche e Critiche intorno alle vite,
e agli Scritti dei Letterati Italiani," 1753 — 1763, 6 vols,
folio. The continuation of this work was promised by a
* Fabroni Vite Icalorum, vol VIU.— Saxii Onomast. ' ,
50* MAZZUCHELLI.
writer named Giambattista Rodella, but no part of it has
appeared.1 •
MAZZUOLI. See PARMEGIANO.
. MEAD (Matthew), -a nonconformist divine of the se-
venteenth century, was descended, from a reputable fa-
mily in Buckinghamshire) where be was born in 1629. Of
his early life no. account has been preserved, and the first
notice we have of bimf is as possessing the living of Great
Briqkhill in his native county. In Jan. 1658 he was ap-
pointed by Oliver Cromwell, to the cure of the new cha-
pel at Shadwell, from which he was ejected for non-con-
formity in 1662. In 1663 he resided in Worcester-house,
at Stepney, where he brought up a family of thirteen
children, one of whom was the illustrious subject of our
next article, and alone sufficient to give celebrity to the
name of Mead. When a temporary liberty was granted to
the dissenters, Mr. Mead Returned from Holland, where he
had resided some time; and in 1674 the spacious meeting-
house at Stepney was erected for him, the four large pi-
lars of which were presented to him by the States of Hol-
land, as was frequently related by one of his successors.
In 1683, he was accused of being concerned in the Rye-
house plot, for which lord Russet and others were exe-
cuted ; but after an examination before the privy council,
in the presence of Charles II. he vindicated his innocence
in a manner so satisfactory, that his majesty himself or-
dered him to be discharged. He died at Stepney, Oct. 16,
1699, aged seventy. He published some sermons and
pious tracts, the most popular of which are his, 1. "Almost
Christian." 2. " The good of early obedience.^ 3. « The
Young Man's Remembrancer," &c*
MEAD (Richard), a most distinguished physician, whose
abilities and eminence in his profession, united with bis
learning and fine taste for those arts which embellish and
improve human life, long rendered him an ornament, not
only to his own profession, but to the nation and age id
which he lived, was born at Stepney, Aug. 11, 1673, and
received the early part of his education under his father,
the subject of the preceding article, who, with the assist*
ance of Mr. John Nesbitt, superintended the education ef
* Fabroni Vita Italorom, to?. XIV.— Saxii Onomait
* Calamy,— Funeral Sermon for, by Howe.
MEAD; 509
hi* large family*. In 168$, be was placed under the care
of Mr. Thomas Singleton ; and in 1689 under Grsevius, at
Utrecht. His eldest brother had been a pupil of this' pro*
feasor, and recommended Richard to him as a modest
young man, who had made some progress in good litera-
ture. Id 1692 he removed to Leyden, where be attended
for three years the lectures of Herman and Pitcairn, and
applied himself most successfully to the study of physic.
This last named professsor was seldom very communicative
out of college, yet Mr. Mead found the art of recommend-
ing himself so far to his good graces, that he drew from him
several observations, which he afterwards introduced in his
writings, but never without acknowledging to whom he
was indebted for them. He there also formed! an intimacy
with Boerbaave, with whom be afterwards maintained the
roost friendly intercourse through life. Mr. Mead's eldest
brother, Samuel, having projected a visit to Italy, in com-
pany with David Polhill, esq. and Dr. Thomas Pellet, after-
wards president of the college of physicians, invited our
student to make a fourth, which was indeed the summit of
his wishes, for be had already contracted that taste which
distinguished him in after-life, and which he hoped to gra-
tify in a country abounding with objects of the first curio-
sity. Nor was he unprepared to make the necessary in-
quiries. At Florence he asked to see the Mensa Isiaca,
but not being able to obtain any information about it, he
desired leave to search for it in a lumber-room over the
gallery ; where he found this valuable piece of antiquity,
buried in rubbish, and for many years given over as lost.
He took his degree of doctor of philosophy and physic at
Padua* Aug. 16, 1695; and passed some time afterwards
at Naples and Rome. On his return, about Midsummer
1696, he settled in the very bouse where he was boxn ;
married Ruth, the daughter of Mr. John Marsh, merchant
of London ; and practised in his profession there for seven
years with great success. In 1702 he published bis "Me-
chanical Account of Poisons." These ' essays, however
* Sir John Hawkins has made some and they generally Succeeded. The
singular' remarks on Mr. Mead's e J a- hospital of St. Thomas and that of
eating his son to be a physician. fie Guy, in Southwark, were both under
says that " his example was an induce- the government ofdissculers and whigs ;
ment with other dissenting ministers to and as soon as any one becam * phy-
make physicians of their sons. Old- sician of either, his fortune was looked
field, Clark, Nesbit, Lobb, and M uncle- upon as made." — Hawkins's Life of
lejr, were, the sous of dissenting teachers, Johnson,
510 M E A D.
justly esteemed on their first appearance, did their author*
still more honour in the edition he published of them more
thai! forty years afterwards, as he then had the candour to
retract some opinions too hastily advanced. In 1703 he
communicated to the Royal Society, an analysis of Dr. .
Bonomo's discoveries, relative to the cutaneous worms that
generate the itch, which was inserted in the Philosophical
Transactions of that year. The original letter of Bonomo
to Redi was published in Italian, in 1687 ; and Dr. Mead
met with it in his travels in Italy. This, with bis " Account
of Poisons," produced him a place in the Royal Society in
1704; and in 1706, he was chosen one of their council,
and in 1717 a vice-president. He was also chosen phy-
sician to St. Thomas's hospital, May 5, 1703, when here-
moved from Stepney to Crutched Friars; where having
resided seven years, he removed into Austin Friars; and
about the same time was appointed by the company of sur-
geons to read the anatomical lectures in their hall.
In 1 704, appeared his treatise " De imperio solis aa
lunas in corpore bumano, et morbis inde oriundis." The
influence of the sun and moon upon human bodies, which
had been admitted by all antiquity, and seemed founded
upon incontestible phenomena, appeared to him to be de-
ducible from the theory of attraction, lately established by
sir Isaac Newton. Dr. Mead therefore attempted to show,
that periodical influences were produced on the living body,
as upon the tides of the sea and the atmosphere. Of this
work he published an enlarged edition in 1748 ; and what-
ever may be thought of the system, it contains many ob-
servations of importance in medical practice.
Dr. Mead's. reputation now greatly increased his busi-
ness, and recommended him to the patronage of the most
eminent of the faculty. In 1707 he had the degree of
M. D. conferred on him by the university of Oxford, by
diploma. On the last illness of queen Anne, he was called
in consultation, two days before her death. Cautious and
reserved as physicians usually are on such occasions, Dr.
Mead, either more discerning or more bold,, no sooner saw
the queen than he declared her in immediate danger ; and
when he found his brethren deihur on this opinion, he said
it would be sufficient, to send to Hanover an account of
the 'present symptoms, by which the physicians of that
court would immediately perceive that, before the account
<;ame to them, the queen would be no more. Having
MEAD. 511
*•
opened bis mind freely on this subject to his friend and
protector Dr. Radcliffe, the latter made use of that friend-
ship to excuse his own attendance. Radcliffe surviving
the queen but three months, Mead removed to his house,
and resigned his office in St. Thomas's hospital.
Dr. Mead was not more to be admired for the qualities
of his head than to be loved for those of his heart. Though
he was himself a zealous whig, yet party principles did
not prevent his attachment to men of merit, by whatever
denomination they might happen to be distinguished. Thus
he was intimate with Garth, with Arbuthnot, and with
Freind. Of his connexion with, and liberal conduct to,
the latter, we have already given an account (vol. XV. p.
112, 113). Dr. Mead, however, amidst so many excel-
lent qualities, was not without resentments equally steady.
That against Woodward was certainly carried to a length
highly exceptionable ; as we find by Mead's preface to his
treatise on the small pox, it had not subsided twenty years
after Woodward's death. The first quarrel between Mead
and Woodward was of a personal kind, but in what it ori-
ginated we know not. Mead felt it, however, in such a
manner, that he went to Woodward's lodgings to demand
satisfaction ; and meeting him at Gresham college, under
the arch in the way from the outer court to the green court,
he drew his sword, and bid Woodward defend himself, or
beg pardon, which, it is supposed, he did. This rencontre
is recorded in the view of the college, prefixed to Ward's
€t Lives of the Gresham Professors," in which Woodward,
is represented kneeling, and laying his sword at the feet
of his antagonist. Mead was the friend and patron of
Ward, which may account, although it cannot well ex-
cuse, his introducing and perpetuating a foolish circum-
stance so foreign to the nature of his work.
Dr. Mead was admitted fellow of the aollege of phy-
sicians, April 9, 1716 ; and executed the office of censor
in 1716, 1719, and 1724. In 1719, on an alarm confirmed
by the fatal plague at Marseilles, the lords of the regency
directed Mr. Craggs, then secretary of state, to apply to
Dr. Mead, to give the best directions for preventing the
importation of the plague, or stopping its progress. His
opinion was approved ; and quarantine directed to be per-
formed. Of his " Discourse concerning Pestilential Con-
tagion,'9 no less than seven editions were printed in 1720;
the eighth, which appeared in 1722, and again in 1743,
L
51* MEAD.
was enlarged with many pew observations, and translated
into Latin by professor Ward, as tbe first edition had been
by Mr.Maittaire. Tbis discourse is said to have greatly hurt
his practice, for a time at least, not for medical, but poli-
tical reasons, as it was suspected to be intended to prepare
the way for barracks, &c. at a time when the nation was
extrfemely jealous of a standing army. By order of the
prince of Wales, Dr. Mead assisted, Aug. 10, 1721, at the
inoculation of some condemned criminals; and the experi-
ment succeeding, the two young princesses, Amelia and
Caroline, were inoculated April 17, 1722, and had tbe
distemper favourably.
As Dr. Mead was ever anxious to support tbe honour of
his profession by his liberal conduct, and by associating
with it tbe character of a friend and patron of learning,
be took an opportunity to assert its dignity in his " Har-
veian Oration,'* read before the college in October 1723,
and afterwards published. In this oration be endeavoured
to shew, that the profession was exercised by several fa*
milies of distinction among the Romans; and he annexed
to it a dissertation on some coins, which had been struck
at Smyrna, in honour of physicians. This publication
was the origin of a controversy, which was begun by Dr.
Conyers Middleton, and in which Mead was supported by
his friend professor Ward, of the Gresham college. Dr.
Middleton, with much erudition, undertook to prove the
servile condition of the Roman physicians. The contro-
versy was carried on in a manner honourable to both par-
ties ; and Dr. Middleton, in a subsequent work on Greek
and Egyptian antiquities, spoke of Dr. Mead in terms of
great respect.
On the accession of George II. to the throne in 1727,
Dr. Mead was appointed physician in ordinary to his ma-
jesty,, and had afterwards the satisfaction of seeing his two
sons-in-law (Dr. Wilmot and Dr. Nicholls) his associates in
the same station.
Busied as Dr. Mead was in the duties of his profession,
he never lost sight of the interests of literature, and was
most liberal in the promotion of it. Mr. Carte, the histo-
rian, who, on account of political suspicions, had retired
to France in 1722, having employed himself there in col-
lecting materials for an English translation of Thuanus,
Dr. Mead quickly perceived that this plan might be en-
larged. He looked on this country as too disinterested to
MEAD: 613
desire to possess this foreign treasure alone, and was wilU
ing England might do for Thuanus more than France itself*
-by procuring for all Europe the first complete edition . of
this excellent history. He therefore remunerated Carte
for the pains be had taken, and employed Mr. Buckley,
as an editor equal to- the task, whose three letters written
in English to Dr. Mead, contain many curious particulars
concerning the history itself, and the plan of this new edi-
tion. These letters were translated into Latin by professor
Ward, and prefixed to the splendid edition of Thuanus,
published irf 1733, in 7 vols, folio.
Without the interposition of Dr. Mead, Mr. Sutton's in-
vention, to draw foul and corrupted air from ships and
other close places, by the means of fire, would have probably
been neglected and lost ; but, being thoroughly convinced
of the advantages of this method, he determined to support
it, and accordingly engaged the lords of the admiralty to
order a trial of the new machine to be made, at which he
and several members of the Royal Society attended. He
also not only presented a memorial to that learned body,
in which he demonstrated its simplicity and utility, but at
the expence of 200/. caused, a model of it to be made in
copper, which he deposited in their museum* At length,
after ten years9 solicitation, he obtained of the lords of the
admiralty an order to Mr, Sutton, to provide all the ships in
his majesty's navy with this useful machine; and a drawing,
with a description, being published in 1749, Dr. Mead
added his " Treatise on the Scurvy," in which he ascribed
that fatal disease to moisture combined with putridity.
Being arrived at the time of life when retirement be-
comes necessary, he declined the presidentship of the col-
lege of physicians, which was offered him in October 1744,.
and now employed his leisure in revising his former, and
composing net? works. He had, so early as 1712, com-
municated to Dr. Freind his opinions respecting the import-
ance of purgatives in. the secondary fever of small-pox,
upon which subject Dr. Freind published a letter in 1719.
But it was not till 1747, that Dr. Mead printed his treatise
41 De Variolis et Morbillis," which contains many valuable
observations on both these diseases, and also strong re-,
commendations of the practice of inoculation. To this
treatise, which was written in a pure Latin style, be sub-
joined a translation of Rhazes's commentary on the small-
>.pox, into the same language, a copy of which he had
Vol. XXI. Lt
514 M E A D.
obtained from Leyden, through the assistance of his fellow-
atudeot Boerbaave, with whom he had maintained a con-
stant correspondence. In 1749 he published his " Medi-
cina Sacra, seu^de Morbis insignioribus qui in Bibliis me-
inorantur," 8vo. The object of this work was to shew that
the diseasesf mentioned in the Bible, were explicable on
natural grounds ; and in this he particularly attempted tp
prove that the daemoniacs mentioned in the gospel were only
insane, or epileptic persons. His last work, a summary of
.the experience of his professional life, was published in
1751, under the title of " Monita et Pracepta Medica,"
8vo. This little volume was almost purely practical, con-
sisting of detached observations on a variety of diseases
and medicines, many of which have stood the test of sub-
sequent experience : it was frequently reprinted, and was
translated into English, under his inspection, by Dr. Stack*
This was the last, and perhaps the most useful, of all
his works, which have been since collected and published
in 1762, 4to. He died on Feb. 16, 1754 ; and on the 23d
he was buried in the Temple church, near bis elder bro-
ther Samuel, whose property he had inherited, and to whose
tnemory the doctor bad caused an elegant monument to be
placed, with his bust, and a suitable inscription, by Dr.
Ward. To Dr. Mead there is no monument in the Tem-
ple ; but an honorary one was placed by his son in the
north aile of Westminster-abbey. Over the tomb is the
doctor's bust; at his right hand a wreathed serpent, dart-
ing its tongue, and on his left several books. Below the
bust are his arms and crest. The inscription to this was
also written by Dr. Ward.
Dr. Mead was twice married. By his first lady, whom
we have mentioned, he had ten children (of whom three
.survived him,. two daughters married to Dr. Wilmot and
Dr. NicholU, and his son Richard, heir tc^bis father's.^nd
uncle's fortunes) : by the second lady, Mils Anne Ah&tn.
sister to s> {lowland Alston of Odell in Bedfordshire
(whom he married in 1724), he had no issue. Dr. Mead
raised the medical character to a higher dignity than ever
was known in this or. any other, country. During alipost
.half a century be was at the head of bis profession, which
is said to have brought him in one year upwards of seven
thousand pounds, and between five and six for several
years* The clergy, and in general all men of learning,
were, welcome to his advice^ and his doors were open every
«r
HEAD, sis
morning to the most indigent* whom he frequently assisted
with money; so that, notwithstanding his great income, he
did not die very rich. He was a most generous patron of
learning and learned men, in all sciences, and in every
country ; by the peculiar munificence of his disposition,
making the private gains of his profession answer the end
of a princely fortune, and valuing them only as they ena-
bled him to become more extensively useful, and thereby
to satisfy that greatness of mind which will transmit his
name to posterity with a lustre not inferior to that of the>
most distinguished characters of antiquity. To him the
several counties of England, and our colonies abroad, ap-
plied for the choice of their physicians. No foreigner of
any learning, taste, or even curiosity, ever came to Eng-
land without being introduced to Dr. Mead ; and he was
continually consulted by the physicians of the continent.
His large and spacious house in Great Ormond street be-
came a repository of all that was curious in nature or in
art, to which his extensive correspondence with the learned
in all parts of Europe not a little contributed. The king
of Naples sent to request a collection of all his works ; pre-
sented him with the two first volumes of signor • Bajardi,
and invited him to his own palace : and, through the hands
of M. de Boze, he frequently had the honour of exchang-
ing presents with the king of France. He built a gallery
for his favourite furniture, his pictures, and his antiqui-
ties. His library, as appear* by the printed catalogue of
it, consisted of 6592 numbers, containing upwards of
10,000 volumes, in which he had spared ne ex^pence for
scarce and ancient editions. It was at that time men-
tioned as remarkable, although it will not be thought so
now, that many of his books sold for much more than they
had cost him. The sale of the whole amounted to 5500/. -
His pictures also were chosen with So much judgment, that
they produced 3417/. lis. about six or seven hundred
pounds more than he gave for them ; and the total amount
'of his books, pictures, coins, &c. &c. was 16,06$/. Ss. lid*
Nor did he make this great collection for his own use only,
but freely opened it to public inspection. Ingenious men
were sure of finding at Dr. Mead's the best helps in all
their undertakings; and scarcely any thing curious ap-
peared in England but under his patronage. By his sin-
gular humanity and goodness, "he conquered even Envy
itself;9' a compliment which was justly paid Mm in a dedi-
ll 2
516 MEAD.
cation, by the editor of lord Bacon's Works, in 1730. But
the most elegant compliment he received, or could receive,
was in the dedication written by Dr. Johnson for Dr James,
which we have inserted in vol. XVIII. art. James. Dr.
Johnson once said of Dr. Mead, that " he lived more in
the broad sunshine of lite than almost any man." He con-
stantly kept in pay a great number of scholars and artists of
all kinds, who were at work for him or for the public. He
was the friend of Pope, of Halley, and of 'Newton ; and
•placed their portraits in his house, with those of Shaks-
peare and Milton, near the busts of their great masters, the
ancient Greeks and Romans. A marble bust of Dr. Har-
vey, the work of tin excellent artist, from ah original pic*
ture in his possession, was given by him to the college of
physicians : and one of Dr. Mead, by Roubillac, was pre-
sented to the college in 1756, by the late Dr. Askew. A ,
portrait of him was etched by Pond, another by Richard-
son ; a mezzotinto by Houston, from a painting of Ramsay;-
and an engraved portrait by Baron. There was also a me-
dal of him struck in 1773, long after his decease, by Lewis
Pingo.
Among the many characteristic anecdotes of Dr. Mead,
which have been published, one is, that he never took a
fee of any clergyman, excepi of Mr. Robert Leake, fellow
of St. John's college, Cambridge ; who, falling into a vale4*
tudinarian state, dabbled rather too much with the writings,
and followed too closely some of the prescriptions, of the
celebrated Dr. Cheyne. Being greatly emaciated in a
course of time, by keeping too strictly to that gentleman's
regimen, misapplying perhaps his rules, where the case
required a different treatment, his friends advised him to
apply to Dr. Mead ; which he did, going directly to Lon-
don to wait on the doctor, and telling him that "he had
hitherto observed Cheyne's directions, as laid down in his
printed books.9' Mead (a proud man and passionate), spoke
with contempt of Cheyne and his regimen. " Follow my
prescriptions," said he, "and I will set you up again."
Mr. Leake submitted ; and beginning to find some benefit,
he asked the doctor every now and then, whether it might
not be proper for him to follow at the same time such and
such a prescription of Cheyne; which Mead took ill.
When the well-meaning patient was got pretty well again,
he asked the doctor what fees he desired or expected from
him. " Sir," said the physician, " I have never yet, in the
MEAI), 517
whole course of my practice, taken or demanded any the
least fee from any clergyman. But since you have been
pleased, contrary to what I have met with in any other
gentleman of your profession, to prescribe to me, rather
than to follow my prescriptions, when you had committed
the care of your recovery to my skill and trust, you must
not take it amiss, nor will, I hope, think it unfair, if I
demand ten guineas of you." The money, though not
perhaps without some little reluctance, was paid down.
The doctor at the same time told Leake, " You may come
to me again, before you quit London." He did so ; and
Mead returned to him six guineas out of the ten which he
had received.1
MEADOWCOURT (Richard), an English critic, was
born in Staffordshire in 1697, and was educated at Merton-
college in Oxford, of which he became a fellow. In 1732,
lie published notes on Milton's Paradise Regained, and in
the following year was promoted to a canonry in the church
of Worcester. He was author of several small tracts, con*
taining critical remarks on the English poets ; and his
notes were not neglected by the late bishop Newton, ib
publishing his edition, of Milton. He was greatly esteemed
by the learned in general, and died at Worcester in 176£,
aged 72. Dr. Newton thus speaks of him in bis preface
to the Paradise Regained. After enumerating the assistance
given by friends, he adds, " I had the honour of all these
for my associates and assistants before, but I have been
farther strengthened by some new recruits, which were
the more unexpected, as they were sent me by gentlemen
with whom I never had the pleasure qf a personal acquaint*
ance. The Rev. Mr. Meadowcourt, canon of Worcester,
in 1732 published a critical dissertation, with notes, upon
the Paradise Regained, a second edition of which was pub-
lished in 1748 ; and he likewise transmitted to me a sheet
of Jus manuscript remarks, wherein he hath happily ex*-
plained a most difficult passage in Lycidas, better than any
man had done before him." The passage alluded to is
the 160th line of that poem, in which Mr. Meadowcourt
explained the words " Bellerus," and " Bay o mi's bold." He
was author also of eleven printed sermons, which are enu-
merated in Cooke's Preacher's Assistant;*
1 Life by Dr. Maty, 1755, 8vo, aod thai prefixed to h'19 works.— Biog. Brit.
— -Hawkins's Life of Johnson. — Nichols's Rowyer, vol. I. p. ^66,— and voJ. VI.
p. 812. — Drbdia'e Bibliomania, p. 485.
* Nichols's Poems.
4
Sit „ M EAR A.
MEARA (Dermod O, or Dermitius), an Irish physician
aud poet, was born at Ormond, about the close of the six-
teenth century, in the county of Tipperary, and educated
at Oxford. 'Wood doubts this, because he could find no
record of bis matriculation or degrees ; but in one of his
writings he styles himself " lately a member of the univer-
sity of Oxford,'9 and it is probable that he took his medical
degrees there, as immediately on his leaving Oxford, he
settled in his own country, and soon attained the highest
eminence in his profession. He was living in 1620, but
the time of his death is not speciBed in our authorities.
He wrote a heroic poem, in Latin, on the earl of Ormond
and Ossory, entitled " Ormonius, sive illust herois et Do-
mini D. Thome Butler, &c. prosapia, &c." printed at
London in 1615, 8vo, with an English version by William
Roberts, Ulster king at arms. He wrote also some medical
treatises, of which one only was published, on hereditary
disorders, " Pathologia hereditaria generalis, &c." Qublin,
1619, 12mo. It was afterwards reprinted with the works
of his son Edmund Meara, London, 1665, and Amsterdam,
16(56, 12 mo. This son, a graduate of Oxford, practised
both in Ireland and England, was a member of the college
of physicians of London, and resided for some time at
Bristol. He died about 1680, and had a short controversy
with Dr. Lower, occasioned by Meara's publishing an
" Examen Diatribse Thomas Willisii, de Febribus," Lon-
don, 1665, Svo. Lower answered it by a " Vindicatio
Diatribe Wiilisii," written with much controversial bit-
terness.1
MECHAIN (Peter Francis Andrew), a very able
French mathematician and astronomer, was born at Laon
in 1744, where his father was an architect, and at one time
a man of considerable property. At an early age be dis-
covered a strong inclination* for mathematical pursuits,
and while he was under the instruction of his tutors, cor-
responded with Lalande, whom he was desirous of assisting
in his labours. In 1772, Mechain was invited to Paris,
where he was employed at the dep6t of the marine, and
assisted M. Darquier in correcting his observations. Here
his merit brought him acquainted with M. Doisy, director
of the dep6t, who gave him a more advantageous situation
at Versailles. At this place he diligently observed t}ie
} Bftrris'i Ware's IreUod.—Ath. Ox. rol. I.— Eloy, Diet Hist de
MECHAIN. *1»
heavens, and, in 1774, tent to the Royal Academy of
Sciences " A Memoir relative to an Eclipse t>f Aldebaran,"
observed by him on the 15th of April. He calculated the
orbit of the comet of 1774, and discovered that of 1781.
In 1732, be gained the prise of the academy on the subject
of the comet of 1661, the return of which was eagerly ex-
pected in 1790; and in the same year he was admitted a
member of the academy, and soon selected for the super-
intendance of the Connoissance des Terns. In 1790, M«
Mechain discovered his eighth comet, and communicated
to the academy his observations on it, together with his
calculations of its orbit. In 1792 he undertook, conjointly
with M. Delambre, the labour of measuring the degrees of
the meridian, for the purpose of more accurately deter-
mining the magnitude of the earth and the length of a
metre. In the month of June 1792, M. Mechain set out
to measure the triangles between Perpignan and Barcelona;
and notwithstanding that the war occasioned a temporary
suspension of bis labours, he was enabled to resume and
complete them during the following year. He died on the
20th of September 1805, at Castellon de la Plana, in the
sixty-second year of his age. Lalande deplores his loss as
that of not only one of the best French astronomers, but
one of the most laborious, the most courageous, and the
most robust. His last observations and calculations of the
eclipse of the sun on the 11th of February, are inserted in
the Connoissance des Terns for the year 15 ; and be also
published a great many in the Ephemerides of M. Bode,
of Berlin, which he preferred to a former work after La-
lande became its editor. A more extensive memoir of his
labours may be seen in Baron von Zach's Journal for July
1800, and Lalande's History of Astronomy for 1804.1
JMLEDE, or MEAD (Joseph), a learned English divine,
was born in 1586, of a good family, atBerden, in Essex.
When he was about ten years old, both he and his father
fell sick of the small pox ; which proving mortal to the
father, the son fell under the care of a Mr. Gower, to whom
his mother was soon after married. He was sent to school
first, to Hoddesdon, in Hertfordshire, and then to Wethers-
field, in Essex. While, he was at this last school, going to
London upon some occasion, he bought " Bellarmine's
Hebrew Grammar ;" and though his master, who had do
* lUes's Cyclopedia.
• »
5$>0: * M E I) £. - '
skfll Jtf that lan£uagey JtdM MM ir wife a book not fit for
him, yet he studied it wifli && mtteh eagerness, that in £
lfttli tittie fte attained consider able srkill in Henrew. In
1002, 'fag ttas sent to ChtistVtoHege,- iri Cambridge ; where,
although he had an uncommon impact? men t in his speech,
WhieK would not suffer him to sfhew hkmetf to advantage,
he waft socto distinguished fof his abilities and teafuing.
Not long after hi* entrance nport philosophical studies, he
became disquieted with scepticism : for, meeting with a
book in a feUdw-studentV chamber, either " 8e*tos Em-
pmcus," or some othet of the Pyrrhonie schcjol; he began,
upon! the perusal of it, to mc^ve strange questions to him-
self, and even to doubt- whether the to Ila*, the whole
frame 6f things, as it appearsftti us, tfere any thing more
than a mere phantasm, or imagination; and, till his prin-
ciples were settled,* his life1, ' a$' he professed, Was utterly
without comfort. lu
-By the time he had taken the- degree of master of arts,
which was in 1610, he had made such progress' in all kinds
of academical itudy, that he #as universally esteemed an
accomplished scholar*. He whs an acute logician, an ac-
curate philosopher, a skilfiil mathematician, an excellent
anatomist, a great phildlbger, a master of many languages,
and a good proficient in history and chronology. His first
public effort was kh address that he made to bishop An-
drews, in a Latin tract " De sanctitate relativa ;" which, in
hi$ maturer years, he censured as a 'juvenile performance,
and therefore never published it. That great prelate, how-
ever, who was a good judge and patron of learning, liked
it so. well, that he not only w'as the author's firm friend
upon an occasion that dffered soon after, but *lsd then de-
sired him to be his domestic chaplain. Thia Mede Very
% civilly refused ; valuing the liberty of his studies above
any hopes of preferment, and esteeming that freedom
which he enjoyed in his cell, so he used to call it, as thd
haven of all his wishes. These thoughts, indeed; had pos-
sessed him betimes : for, when he was a school-boy, he
was* invited by his uncle, Mr. Richard Mede, a merchant,
vvho, being, thfcn without children, offered to adopt him for
hijs son, if he would live with him : but he refused the
offer, preferring, as it should seem, a life of study to a
life of gain. ' * -
He was not chosen fellow of his college till after he was
master of arts, and then not without the assistance of his
m &'& E.f m
friend bishop Andrews : for he had been passed over at
several elections, on account of a groundless suspicion
which Dr. Cary, then master of tfie college, afterwards
bishop of Exeter, had conceived of him, that c< he looked
too much towards Geneva ;" that is, was inclined to the
tenets of that church. Being made fellow, he became an
eminent and faithful tutor. After he had well grounded
bis pupil's in classics, logicj and philosophy, his custom*
was to set every one his daily task ; which he rather chose,
than to confine himself and them to precise hours for lee*
tures. In the evening they all came to his chamber; and
the first question he put to each was, u Quid dubttas?
What doubts have you met with in your studies to-day ?"
For he supposed, that to doubt nothing and to understand
nothing was the same thing. . By this method he taught
the young men to exercise their reasoning powers, and not
acquiesce in what they learn mechanically, with an indo-
lence of spirit, which prepares them to receive implicitly
whatever is offered them. In the mean time he was ap-
pointed reader of the Greek lecture of Sir Walter Mild-
may's foundation ; an office which he held during the re-
mainder of his life. While at college, he was so entirely
devoted to study that he made even the time he spent in
his amusements serviceable to his purpose. He allowed
himself little or no exercise but walking ; and often, in
the fields or college garden, would take occasion to speak
of the beauty, distinctions, virtues, or properties, of the
plants then in view: for he was a curious florist,, an accu-
rate herbalist, and thoroughly versed in the boojc of nature.
The chief delight he took in company was to discourse with
learned friends; and he used to spend much time with his
worthy friend Mr. William Chappel, afterwards provost of
Trinity-college, Dublin, and bishop pf Cork and Ross, a
man of great learning, and who had a high regard for Mr.
Mede.
He was a curious inquirer into the most abstruse parts of
learning, and earnestly pursued the knowledge of those
things which are most remote from the vulgar track. Among
other things, he spent no small pains and time in sounding
the depths of astrology, and consumed much paper in cal-
culating the* nativities of his near relations and fellow-stu*
dents: but 'this was in bis juvenile years, and he after-
wards discovered the absurdity of such employment He
applied himself to the more useful study of history and
*3S MEDE.
antiquities, particularly to those difficult sciences which
made the ancient Chaldeans, Egyptians, and other nations
so famous ; tracing them, as far as he could have any light
to guide him, in their oriental schemes and figurative ex-
pressions, as likewise in their hieroglyphics ; not forgetting
to inquire also into the oneirocritics of the ancients, because
of the affinity which he conceived they might have with
the language of the prophets. He was a curious and la*
borious searcher into antiquities relating to religion, Pagan,
Jewish, Christian, and Mahometan : to which he added
other attendants, necessary for understanding the more
difficult parts of Scripture.
In 1618 he took the degree of bachelor in divinity, but
bis modesty restrained him from proceeding to that of
doctor. In 1627, a similar motive induced him to refuse
the provostship of Trinity-college, Dublin, into which he
had been elected at the recommendation o£> archbishop
Usher, who was his particular friend ; as be did also when
it was offered him a second time, in 1630. The height of
his ambition was, only to have bad some, small donative
sinecure added to his fellowship, or to have been preferred
to some place of quiet, where, retired from the noise and
tumults of the world, and possessed of a competency,
he might be entirely at leisure for study and acts of piety.
When, therefore, a report was spread that he was made
chaplain to the archbishop of Canterbury, he thus expressed
himself in a letter to a friend : that " he had lived, till the
best of his time was spent, in tranquillitate et secessu ; and
now, that there is but a little left, should I," said be, " be
so unwise, suppose there was nothing else, as to enter iuto
a tumultuous life, where I should not have time to think
my own thoughts, and must of necessity displease others
or myself? Those who think so, know not my disposition
in this kind to be as averse, as some perhaps would be
ambitious.19 In the mean time, though his circumstances
were scanty, for he had nothing but his fellowship and the
Greek lecture, his charity was diffusive and uncommon ;
and, extraordinary as it may now seem, he devoted the
tenth of his income to pious and charitable uses. But his
frugality and temperance always afforded him plenty. His
prudence or moderation, either in declaring or defending
his private opinions, was very remarkable ; as was also his
freedom from partiality, prejudice, or prepossession, pride,
anger, selfishness, flattery, and ambition. He died Oct. 1,
M'EDE. 52%
1638, in Us 52d year, having spent above two-thirds of
his time in college, to which he bequeathed the residue of
bis property, after some small legacies. He was buried
next day in the college chapel. As to his person, he was
of a comely proportion, and rather tall than otherwise. His
eye was full, quick, and sparkling; his whole countenance
sedate and grave ; awful, but at the same time tempered
with an inviting sweetness: and his behaviour was friendly,
affable, cheerful, and upon occasion intermixed with plea-
santry. Some of his sayings and bon mots are recorded
by the author of his life ; one of which was, his calling
such fellow-commoners as came to the university only to
see it, or to be seen in it, " the university tulips'," that
made a gaudy shew for a while ; but, upon the whole, his
biographers have made a better estimate of his learning
than of his wit. In his life-time he produced three trea-
tises only : the first entitled " Clavis Apocalyptica ex in-
natis & insitis vision urn characteribus eruta et demon-
strata,9' Cant. 1627, 4to; of which he printed only a few
copies, at his own expence, and for the use of friends. To
this he added, in 1632, " In sancti Joannis Apocalypsin
commentarius, ad amussim Clavis Apocalyptic®;" This is
the largest and the most elaborate of any of his writings.
The other two were but short tracts : namely, " About the
name (dvo-iarhfiov, auciently given to the holy table, and
about churches in the apostles9 times." The rest of his
works were printed after his decease; and, in the best edi-
tion published by Dr. Worthington, in 1672, folio, the
whole are divided into five books, and disposed in the fol-
lowing order. The first book contains fifty-three "Dis-
courses on several texts of Scripture :" the second, such
" Tracts and discourses as are of the like argument and
design :" the third, his " Treatises upon some of the pro-
phetical Scriptures, namely, The Apocalypse, St. Peter's
prophecy concerning the day of Christ's second coming,
St. Paul's prophecy touching the apostacy of the latter
times, and three Treatises upon some obscure passages in
Daniel ;" the fourth, his " Letters to several learned men,
with their letters also to him*:" the fifth, " Fragmenta
Sacra, or such miscellanies of divinity, as could not well
come under any of the aforementioned heads.7'
* A vast collection of bit letters is in the British Museum, Harl. MS. No. 389,
390. Sec a notice of them by Or. Birch in Maty's Review, vol, V. p, 126, &c.
524 MEDE.
These are the works of this pious and profoundly learned
man, as not only his editor calls him in the title-page, but
the best divines have allowed him to be. His comments
on the book of Revelation, are still considered as con-
taining the most satisfactory explanation of those obscure
prophecies, so far as they have been yet fulfilled : and, in
every other part of his works, the talents of a sound and
learned divine are eminently conspicuous. It is by no
means the least considerable testimony to his merit, that
he has.been highly and frequently commended by Jortin ;
but the writer of our times who has bestowed most pains on
the character and writings of Mr Mede, and who has done
the most honour to both, is the late learned bishop Hurd.
This prelate has devoted the greater part of his tenth ser-
mon-" On the Study of the Prophecies" to the considera-
tion of the " Clavis Apocalyptical ' It would be super-
fluous to extract at, much length from a work so well
known ; but we may be permitted to conclude with Dr.
Kurd's manner of introducing Mr. Mede to his hearers.
Speaking of the many attempts to explain the Apocalypse,
in the infancy of the reformed church, he says, " The
issue of much elaborate enquiry was, that the book itself
was disgraced by the fruitless efforts of its commentators,
and on the point of being given up, as utterly impene-
trable, when a sublime genius arose, io the beginning of
the last century, and surprized the learned world with that
great desideratum, a ' Key to the Revelations'." [
1 Life prefixed to bis works.— Biog. Brit.
INDEX
TO THE
TWENTY-FIRST VOLUME.
Those marked thus * are new.
Those marked f are re-written, with additions.
Page
Ijuxbmbourg, F. H. de
Montmorenci 1
Lycophron . 2
Lycurgus 3
— - orator .....;.... 4
f Lydgate, John .\ . . 5
Lydiat, Thomas 6
Lye, Edward 9
♦Lyford, William 11
*Lynar, R. F. Count ....... 19
Lynde, Sir Humphrey 14
♦Lyonet, Peter 15
Lyons, Israel 16
♦Lyra, Nich. de * 18
Lyserus, Pol ib.
~ John 19
fLysias 20
Lysippus 21
• Lyttelton, Lord ib.
Charles 34
Mabillon, John 36
fMably, Gabriel Bonnot ... 40
fMabuse, John de, 43
Macarius, St, the elder .... 44
the younger 44
fMacaulay, Catherine 45
*Macbride, David 46.
*MaoCaghwell, Hugh 48
*M&cdiarmid, John ....... 48
Pagt
*Macdonald, Andrew 49
fMace, Francis 50
, Thomas .51
Macedo, Francis ib,
Macedonius, 52 . k 52
Macer, yEmilius 53
*M acfarlane, Rob 54
fMachault, John de 55
fMachiavel, Nich 56
Mackenzie, Sir George 58
* George Earl of
Cromerty -63
*Macklin, Charles 64*
*Macknight, James -66
*Maclaine, Arch 67
Maclaurin, Colin 68
* John 7i>
fMacpherson, James ib.
Macquer, Philip 82
* Joseph 83
Macrinus .84
Macrobius, A. A. T ib.
Madan, Martin 85
Madden, Samuel 87
Madox, Isaac 89
Thomas 91
Maecenas, C. C. ~»p4
Msestlinus, Michael ...... 99
Mallei, Francis Scipio . . . . ib
*26
INDEX.
Page
fMafiei, John Peter 102
fMagalhaens, or Magellan, F. 108
* J. Hyacinth dc ib.
♦Magalotti, Lawrence ib.
Maggi, or Magius, Jerome 105
■ others of the name 107
Magini, John Anthony . . . . ib.
fMagliabechi; Anthony. . . . 108
♦Magni, Valerian 1 IS
♦Magnol, Peter ib.
Magnon, John 115
Magnus, John ib.
Olaua 116
Mahomet ib.
Mahomet II ' 136
Maier, Michael 133
Maignan, Emauuel ib.
Mailla, J. A. M ,. . . 141
Maillard, Oliver ib.
Maillebois, J. B. D 142
Maillet, Benedict de ib.
Maimbourg, Louis 143
Maimonides, Moses 145
Maintenon, Madam de ... 149
Major, John 156
Majoragius, M. A 159
Mairan, J. J. D'Ortous de . . ib.
Maire, John le 160
Mairet, John ib.
Maiatre, Antoine le 161
Louis Isaac le . . . . 162
♦Maitland, Sir Richard 163
— — John 164
— John, duke of
Lauderdale 165
- William ....... 163
Maittaire, Michael 169
Maius, John Henry 174
Malagrida, Gabriel 175
♦Malapert, Charles 176
Maldonat, John ib.
Malebranche, Nic 1?3
Malelas, John 133
♦Malesherbes, C. W.de La-
moignon 184
Malezieu, Nic. de 183
Malherbe, Francis de ib.
Malingre, Claude 191
f Mallet, David 192
■ ■ Edmund 199
•» Paul Henry 300
Mallinkrott, Bernard .... 901
♦Malmsbury, William of . . . ib.
*Malone, Edmond 90S
♦Malouin, Paul James .... 910
Malpighi, Marcellus 213
♦Malus, Stephen Louis .... 214
♦Malvenda, Thomas .217
Malvezzi, Virgil , ib.
Mambrun, Peter 218
♦Man, James ib.
♦Manara, Prosper . . * 220
♦Maoby, Peter 224
Mancinelli, Antonio ib.
fMandevile, Sir John 225
Mandeville, Bernard de . . 226
Manes 229
Manethos „ . 232
♦Manetti, Janutius 233
fManfredi, Eustachio. ..... 235
* Gabriel ib.
Mangeart, Thomas 236
fManget, John James ib.
Mangey, Thomas. . « 238
Manilius, Marcus 239
Manley, De la Ri? iere .... 241
Manners, John, Marquis of
Granby 244
♦Manni, Dom, Maria 245
♦Manning, Owen 247
Mannozzi, John 249
Mansard, Francis 250
♦Mansi, John Dominique . . . ib.
Manstein, Chr. H.'de .... 251
fMantegna, Andrea ...... 252
♦Manton, Thomas, 254
Mantuan, Baptist 258
fManutius, Aldus ....... .259
t TPaui 264
•j. Aldus, jun. .-,. . . 267
Mapes, Walter 269
♦Maplet, John ib.
Mapletoft, John 270
♦ Robert . : . . 272
Maracci, Louis 274
fMaraldi, James Philip . . . , . ib.
Marana, John Paul 275
♦Marat, John Paul 276
Maratti, Carlo ........... 277
Marca, Peter de 279
♦Marcello, Benedetto 282
fMarchand, Prosper 283
INDEX
«r
Pace
Marcbe, Oliver de k ....*&
Marchetti, Alexander .... 287
* 1— Peter de ib.
♦Marchuumt, Earl of 288
Marcilius, Theodore .... 296
Marcion ib.
♦Marck, John de . . • 298
Mare, Nkh. de la 299
Phiiibert de la ib.
♦Marechal, P. SvL 300
Marets, John des ........ . 301
— — Samuel dee 303
Margaret of Vakris 305
Margon, W.P. ..;..?.. 306
♦Margraf, And. Sigfe 307
♦Mariales, Xantes 306
Mariana, John ib.
Marin, Mich. Ang 310
Marini, John Bapt 311
♦Mariotte, Edmund 313
Marivaux, P. C. de Cham-
blain die 314
♦Mark 315
Markham, Gervase 316
f Markland, Jeremiah 318
fMarloe, Christopher 329
♦Marlorat, Aug 332
Marmion, Shakerley ib.
*Marmontel, J. F 334
Marnix, Philip de 336
MaroUes, Michel de ib.
Marot, John 337
Clement 338
Marsais, Caesar du 339
March, Narcissus 341
•Marshal, And. 342
Marshall, Nath 349
* - Thomas 350
Marsham, Sir John 351
Marsigli, Lewis Ferd 354
Marsollier, James 357
Marston, John ib.
Marsy, F. M. de . . . 359
Mattel, Francis 360
Martelli, Lewis ib.
t Peter James ib.
Martenne, Edmund 361
•Martens, Thierry 362
Martialis, M. V ib.
Martial, D' Auvergne 364
Martianay/John ib.
- Pkft
> Martignac, S. A. de 365
fMartin, Beni *..ib.
Martin, David 367
♦■ Gregory . * 368
James 369
* Thomas 370
Thos. of Palgrare 371
♦Marline, George 374
"Martini, John Bapt 375
Martin 377
■ . " - Raymond ib.
fMartiniere, A. A. Brazen
dela 378
♦Martinius, Matthias 380
♦Martyn, John 381
* William 385
Martyr, Peter 386
Marvell, And 391
Marullus, M.T. 397
Mary I. of England 398
Mary Queen of Scots 403
Mary II. (Queen of England408
♦Masaccio 410
Mascardi, Aug 411
fMascaron, Julius 412
MascleC Francis ib.
Mascrier, John Bapt. de . . 413
Masenius, James 414
Masham, Lady D ib.
Masius, Andrew 415
♦Maskelyne, Nevil 416
♦Mason, Francis 422
*— - John 423
* William 425
Massac, John Bapt 440
Mas3ieu, William ib.
Massillon, John Bapt. ..... 441
fMassinger, Philip 444
♦Masson, Francis 447
f- John 448
Papirius 449
Massuet, Rene* 450
♦Master, Thomas 451
♦Masters, Robert 452
♦Mather, Richard 453
♦ Samuel . ; 454
♦ Increase, ib.
■ Cotton .' 456
fMatsys, Quintin 459
Matthew of Westminster 460
♦Matthew, Tobias 461
7
Page
♦Matthew, Sir Tobias 465
Matthieu, Peter 468
fMatthiolus, PA 468
Matti, Don Emanuel .... 470
Maty, Matthew ib.
.— -*- Paul Henry....... ,472
*Maubert, John Henry . . . . 474
Maucroix, Francis de . . . . 476
Mauduit, Michael ib.
■ ■ ■ i ■ - Israel 477
fMaupertuis, RL.M-.de.. 478
Maurepas, J. F. P. count of 482
fMauriceau, Francis 483
Maurolico, Francis 484
Maussac, Philip James ... . . ib.
Mautour, P. B. Moreau de ib.
*>Iaximu8, St 485
— . ■ . — of Tyre * ib.
May, Louis du 486
IX.
Page
May, Thomas 487
Mayer, John Frederic 490
-rrrr- Tobias 491
• Mayeroe, Sir Theodore . . 492
Mayuard, Francis 494
*-t Sir John 495
Mayne, Jasper 498
Mayawaring, Arthur 600
Mayow, John 502
Mazarin, Julius 503
Mazochi, A. Sym 506
Mazzuchelli, John Mar. . . 507
*Mead, Matthew 508
—rr*- Bichard ib.
Meadowcourt, Richard . . 517
*Meara, DermodO 5t8
*Mecbain, P. F. And ib.
Mfide, Joseph 519
END OF THE TWENTY-FIRST VOLUME.
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