Locke. Upon the whole matter, it is absurd to think that conscience can be kept in order without frequent examination. South. Some young female seems to have carried matters so far, that she is ripe for asking advice. Spectator. If chance herself should vary, Observe how matters would miscarry. Prior. If Petrarch's muse did Laura's wit rehearse; And Cowley flattered dear Orinda's verse; She hopes from you-Pox take her hopes and fears, I plead her sex's claim: what matters hers? Id. It seems probable to me, that God in the beginning formed matter in solid, massy, hard, impenetrable moveable particles, of such sizes and figures, and with such other properties, and in such proportion to space as most conduced to the end for which he formed them and that those primitive particles being solids, are incomparably harder than any porous body compounded of them, even so very hard as never to wear or break in pieces, no ordinary power being able to divide what God himself made one in the first creation. Newton. MATTHÆI (Christian Frederick), a learned Greek scholar, born at Grost, in Thuringia, in 1744. Having studied under Ernesti, he was invited by the empress of Russia to become professor of belles lettres in the university of Moscow. In 1785 he returned to Germany to search for ancient MSS.; and in 1789 accepted the professorship of philosophy at Wittemberg; but having completed his researches he returned to Russia. In 1805 he became aulic counsellor, and professor of classical literature at Moscow, where he died September 1811. He is distinguished by the discovery of Homer's Hymn to Ceres; and part of the alleged Clytemnestra of Sophocles. Matthæi published an edition of the New Testament in Greek and Latin, 12 vols. 8vo. 1788, and a vast number of editions of ancient authors. Here MATTHEW, or Levi, the apostle and evangelist, the son of Alpheus, was of Jewish original, and probably a Galilean. Before his call to the apostleship he was a publican or tax gatherer to the Romans. His office particularly consisted in gathering the customs of all merchandise that came by the sea of Galilee, and the tribute payable by passengers who went by water. he sat at the receipt of custom, when our Saviour called him. It is probable that, living at Capernaum, the place of Christ's usual residence, he might have some previous knowledge of him. He continued with the rest of the apostles till after our Lord's ascension. For the first eight years afterwards he preached in Judea. Then he went to propagate the gospel among the Gentiles, and chose Ethiopia as the scene of his apostolical ministry; where it is said he suffered martyrdom, though others say he suffered in Parthia or Persia. Baronius tells us, the body of St. Matthew was transported from Ethiopia to Bithynia, and thence to Salernum in Naples, A. D. 954, where it was found in 1080, and where duke Robert built a church bearing his name. Matthew wrote his gospel in Judea, at the request of those he had converted; and it is thought he began it in the year 41, eight years after Christ's resurrection. MATTHEW OF WESTMINSTER, a Benedictine monk and accomplished scholar, who wrote a history from the beginning of the world to the end of the reign of Edward I., under the title of Flores Historiarum, which was afterwards continued by other hands. He died in 1380. MATTHEW PARIS. See PARIS. MATTHIAS (St.), an apostle, chosen to fill up the place of Judas. (See Acts i). He was qualified for the apostleship, by having been a constant attendant upon our Saviour all the time of his ministry. He is supposed to have been one of the seventy disciples. After our Lord's resurrection he preached the gospel first in Judea, and afterwards in Ethiopia, where he suffered martyrdom. They pretend to show the relics of St. Matthias at Rome; and at the famous abbey of St. Matthias near Treves. A gospel and some traditions were ascribed to St. Matthias; but are universally rejected as spurious. MATTHIEU (Peter), a French historian, 2 Y born in 1583. He attended Louis XIII. to the siege of Montauban, where he fell sick, and died at Thoulouse in 1621. He wrote, 1 A History of memorable Events in the reign of Henry the Great; 2. History of the death of Henry IV.; 3. The History of St. Louis; and, 4. History of France from Francis I. to Louis XIII., in 2 vols. folio. MATTOCK, n.s. Sax. mattuc; Wel. matog; The Turks laboured with mattocks and pickaxes to dig up the foundation of the wall. Knolles. Give me that mattock, and the wrenching iron. You must dig with mattock and with spade, And pierce the inmost centre of the earth. Id. To destroy mountains was more to be expected from earthquakes than corrosive waters, and condemneth the judgment of Xerxes, that wrought through mount Athos with mattocks. Browne. This night his weekly moil is at an end, MATTRESS, n. s. French matelas; Belg. and Wel. mattras; Ital. matrizze; Lat. matta. Heb. no, lectus, a couch. A species of couch or quilted bed. Nor will the raging fever's fire abate, With golden canopies and beds of state; But the poor patient will as soon be found On the hard mattrass, or the mother ground. Dryden. Their mattresses were made of feathers and straw, and sometimes of furs from Gaul. Arbuthnot. MATURE' v. a. & adv. Fr. maturité; Ital. and Latin maturo; Span. and Port. maduro; Heb. 2, rain. Minsheu. To ripen, or promote ripeness or perfection: as an adjective, ripe; perfect; or advancing near to perfection or ripeness: hence well-meditated or concocted; well-disposed. Maturation is the state or act of ripening; and, in surgery, the act or state of approaching towards suppuration. Maturative, conducing to a state of suppuration or ripeness. Maturely is used by Bentley, after the Latin manner, for early, soon. Maturity is ripeness; fitness, completion. When once he was mature for man: That could stand up his parallel, Id. Coriolanus. There is the maturation of fruits, the maturation of drinks, and the maturation of imposthumes, as also other maturations of metals. Bacon's Natural History. Their prince is a man of learning and virtue, Mature the virgin was of Egypt's race, Various mortifications must be undergone, many difficulties and obstructions conquered, before we can arrive at a just maturity in religion. Rogers. Butter is maturative, and is profitably mixed with anodynes and suppuratives. Wiseman's Surgery. We have no heat to spare in summer; it is very well if it be sufficient for the maturation of fruits. Bentley. We are so far from repining at God, that he hath not extended the period of our lives to the longevity of the antediluvians; that we give him thanks for contracting the days of our trial, and receiving us more maturely into those everlasting habitations above. How shall I meet, or how accost the sage, Id. Pope. Love indulged my labours past, Id. A prince ought maturely to consider, when he enters on a war, whether his coffers be full, and his revenues clear of debt. Swift. The fruits of age, less fair, are yet more sound MATURIN (Charles), an ingenious clergyman, curate of St. Peter's Dublin, was the author of several popular romances, &c., some of which, as his Family of Montorio, exhibit corsiderable powers of imagination, with a happy command of language. His tragedy of Bertram, performed at Drury Lane theatre, with Mr. Kean as the principal character, first brought him into notice, and is said to have produced him £1000. In some subsequent dramatic attempts he not only failed but involved himself in embarrassments, from which he was only set free by his death in October 1825. In 1821 he published The Universe, a poem in blank verse, which brought him more profit; and in 1824 appeared six Controversial Sermons, preached at St. Pe ter's during Lent. These exhibit him as an able scholar, and reasoner, and he is said to have been remarkably felicitous in their delivery. MATY (Matthew), M. D. and F. R. S., an eminent physician, born in Holland in 1718. He was the son of a clergyman, and originally intended for the church; but in consequence of some mortifications his father met with, on account of his particular sentiments about the Trinity, turned his attention to physic. He took his degree at Leyden; and in 1740 settled in England. In 1749 he began to publish in French an account of the productions of the English press, printed at the Hague under the name of the Journal Britannique. This journal, which is still esteemed one of the best that have appeared since the time of Bayle, introduced him to some of the most respectable literary characters of the country. To their active friendship Between the tropicks and the equator their second he owed the places he afterwards possessed In Prick an apple with a pin full of holes, not deep, and smear it a little with sack, to see if the virtual heat of the wine will not mature it. Id. It may not be unfit to call some of young years to train up for those weighty affairs, against the time of greater maturity. Impatient nature had taught motion To start from time, and chearfully to fly Before, and seize upon maturity. Bacon. Crashaw. 1758 he was chosen F.R.S., and in 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 in 1753, and became principal librarian at the death of Dr. Knight in 1772. In 1776 a languishing disorder put an end to a life uniformly devoted to science and humanity. He was an early and active advocate for inoculation; and tried it upon himself. He was a member of the medical club, which met every fortnight in St. Paul's church-yard. He had nearly finished the Memoirs of the Earl of Chesterfield; which were completed by his son-in-law Mr. Justamond, and prefixed to that nobleman's Miscellaneous works published in 1777, in 2 vols. 4to. I also like to dine on becaficas, The flowers of the maudlin are digested into loose umbels. Miller. MATY (Paul Henry), M. A. and F. R. S., son of the Dr., was educated at Westminster and Trinity College Cambridge, and had a travelling fellowship for three years. He was afterwards chaplain to lord Stormont at Paris, and soon MAUDUIT (Israel), F. A. S., a celebrated Engafter vacated his fellowship by marrying a sister lish political writer, born in 1708, and educated at of captain Clark, the coadjutor of captain Cook. On his father's death, in 1776, he succeeded him Taunton, in the Academy of Dissenters, as a disas secretary to the Royal Society, and as a libra-senting clergyman. He preached at the Hague, rian of the British Museum; and was afterwards promoted to the care of the antiquities, for which he was eminently qualified. In the disputes in the Royal Society in 1784, respecting the reinstatement of Dr. Hutton in the department of secretary for foreign correspondence, Mr. Maty took a warm and distinguished part, and resigned the office of secretary; after which he became a tutor in the Greek, Latin, French, and Italian classics. Having conceived some doubts about the articles he had subscribed in early life, he never placed himself in the way of ecclesiastical preferment, though his connexions were such as could have assisted him in this manner; and soon after his father's death he withdrew from the established church, and published his reasons in the Gentleman's Magazine. His whole life was thenceforwards taken up in literary pursuits. He received £100 from the duke of Marlborough, with a copy of the Gemmæ Marlburienses, of which only 100 copies were printed for presents; and of which Mr. Maty wrote the French account, as Mr. Bryant did the Latin. In January 1782 he set on foot a Review of publications, principally foreign, which he carried on with great credit to himself, and satisfaction to the public, for nearly five years; when he was obliged to discontinue it from ill health. He had long labored under an asthmatic complaint, which at last put a period to his life in January 1787, at the age of forty-two, leaving one son. MAUBEUGE, a town in the north-east of France, department of the north, situated on the Sambre. It is well built; and has a manufacture of arms employing from 400 to 500 workmen. Woollen stuffs likewise are made here, stoneware, and hard-ware. In October, 1793, this fortress sustained a blockade from the allies, who were, however, obliged to retreat suddenly across the Sambre; and this was one of the strong places occupied by the allied troops from 1815 menced merchant in company with his brother. and afterwards in England; but afterwards comIn 1760 he published Considerations on the present German War, which had a great and rapid sale; and, in 1761, Occasional Thoughts on the agent for Massachusetts; and, in 1769, published same subject. He was soon after appointed A Short History of the New England Colonies. In 1774 he published The Case of the Dissenting Ministers, addressed to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal. He afterwards wrote several severe pamphlets against the ministry during the American war. He died in 1787, unmarried, leaving a fortune. born at Vere, in Normandy. He published, 1. Ob MAUL, v. a. & n.s. Lat. malleus. See MALL. To bruise or beat with a heavy weapon, or in a coarse manner; a heavy hammer. A man that beareth false witness is a mail, a sword, and sharp arrow. Prov. xxv. 18. Will he who saw the soldier's mutton fist, And saw thee mauled, appear within the list, To witness truth? Dryden's Juvenal. Excess is not the only thing by which sin mauls and breaks men in their health, and the comfortable enjoyment of themselves thereby, but many are also brought to a very ill and languishing habit of body, by mere idleness; and idleness is itself both a great sin, and the cause of many more. South. But fate with butchers placed thy priestly stall, Meek modern faith to murder, hack, and maul. MAULE, a province of Chili, bounded on the north by Calchagua, on the east by the Andes, on the south-east by Chilan, on the south-west by Itata, and on the west by the sea. It is 138 miles from north to south, and ninety from east to west; and is watered by numerous rivers. On its east border is the volcano Peteroa. It abounds in cattle and goats. MAUND, n. s. Saxon maud. A MAUNDAY-THURSDAY. hand-basket. Maunday Thursday is so called, according to Spelman, because the king then gives alms (in a basket) to the poor; according to others, from dies mandati, the day on which our Saviour gave his mandate, That we should love one another. The Thursday before Good-Friday. MAUN'DER, n. s. Į Fr. maudire, of Goth. MAUN'DERER. and Teut. mund, the mouth. To grumble; a grumbler. He made me many visits, maundering as if I had done him a discourtesy in leaving such an opening. Wiseman's Surgery. MAUPERTUIS (Peter Louis Moreau de), a celebrated French academician, born at St. Malo in 1698. He was privately educated at St. Malo till he was in his sixteenth year, when he was placed under the celebrated M. le Blond, in the college of la Marche, at Paris. He soon discovered a taste for mathematical studies, particularly geometry; and at the age of twenty entered into the army. He first served in the Grey musqueteers; but in 1720 his father purchased a commission for him in the regiment of La Rocheguyon. He remained only five years in the army, during which time he pursued his mathematical studies with great vigor. In 1723 he was received into the Royal Academy of Sciences, and read a memoir upon the construction and form of musical instruments, November 15th, 1724. He also discovered great knowledge and dexterity in observations and experiments upon animals. He visited London, where he became a zealous admirer and follower of Sir Isaac Newton. He next went to Basil in Switzerland, where he formed a friendship with the famos John Bernouilli, which continued till his death. On his return to Paris he applied himself to s favorite studies with greater zeal than ever. By the Memoirs of the Academy, from 1724 to 173, it appears that the most abstruse questions in geometry, and the relative sciences, were treated by him with that elegance, clearness, and pire cision, so remarkable in all his writings. In 1736 he was sent by Louis XV. to the polar c cle, to measure a degree, in order to ascertain figure of the earth, accompanied by Messn Clairault, Camus, Le Monnier, abbé Outher, and professor Celsius at Upsal. This rendered him so famous, that, after his return, he was a mitted a member of almost every academy n Europe. In 1740 he was invited by the king e Prussia to Berlin. He accepted Frederix's invitation the more readily, that his studies had a not wholly effaced his love for arms. He followes the king into the field, and was a witness of t dispositions and operations that preceded the battle of Molwitz; but was deprived of the glory of being present, when victory declared in fre of his royal patron, by his horse, during the active, running away with him. He thus fell into the hands of the enemy, and was but roughly treated by the Austrian soldiers; but, being carried prisoner to Vienna, he received the highes honors from their imperial majesties. Fr Vienna he returned to Berlin; but, as the reform of the academy which the king of Prussia thet meditated was not yet mature, he went again Paris, and was chosen in 1742 director of the Academy of Sciences. In 1743 he was received into the French Academy; and was the first per son who was a member of both the academies & the same time. M. de Maupertuis again & sumed the military character at the siege of En bourg, and was chosen by marshal Cogny and count Argenson to carry the news to the Frend king of the surrender of that citadel. He returned to Berlin in 1744, when he married Madame Borck, a lady of great beauty and merit, near related to de Borck, then minister of state. T determined him to settle at Berlin, as he was es tremely attached to his lady, and regarded the alliance as the most fortunate circumstance his life. In 1746 he was declared by the kin: president of the Royal Academy of Sciences Berlin, and soon after was honored with the order of Merit. These accumulated honors of increased his ardor for the sciences. Nor did be confine himself to mathematical studies; me physics, chemistry, botany, literature, all shared his attention, and contributed to his fame. Be he had a dark atrabilious humor, which dered him miserable amidst all his honors and pleasures. This temperament contributed to engage him in several quarrels ; particularly wa professor Koenig at Franeker, and with Voltare Maupertuis had inserted in the Memoirs of the Academy of Berlin, for 1746, a discourse upon the laws of motion; which Koenig not only tacked, but attributed to Leibnitz. Maupertuis, enraged at the imputation of plagiarism, engaged the academy of Berlin to call upon him for his proof; which Koenig failing to produce, he was struck out of the academy, of which he was a member. Several pamphlets were the consequence of this; and Voltaire, to the surprise of the public, engaged against Maupertuis. The constitution of the latter had long been impaired by the great fatigues in which his active mind had involved him, as well as by the amazing hardships he had undergone in his northern expedition. These had brought on a spitting of blood, which began at least twelve years before he died. He took several journeys to St. Malo, for the recovery of his health; and, though he always received benefit from his native air, yet, upon his return to Berlin, his disorder returned. His last journey to France was undertaken in 1757; when he was obliged, soon after his arrival, to quit his favorite retreat at St. Malo, on account of the danger and confusion which that town was thrown into by the arrival of the British. He went thence to Bourdeaux, and then to Toulouse, where he remained seven months. He then went to Neufchatel, and at length arrived at Basil, in 1758, where he was received by his friend Bernouilli with the utmost affection. But, as the winter approached, his disorder returned; and, after languishing several months, he died in 1759. He wrote in French, 1. The Figure of the Earth determined; 2. The Measure of a Degree of the Meridian; 3. A Discourse on the Parallax of the Moon; 4. A Discourse on the Figure of the Stars; 5. The Elements of Geography; 6. Nautical Astronomy; 7. Elements of Astronomy; 8. A Physical Dissertation on a White Inhabitant of Africa; 9. An Essay on Cosmography; 10. Reflections on the Origin of Languages; 11. An Essay on Moral Philosophy; 12. A Letter on the Progress of the Sciences; 13. An Essay on the Formation of Bodies; 14. A Eulogium on M. de Montesquieu; 15. Letters, and other works. MAUR (St.), SOCIETY OF, a celebrated society of Benedictines, instituted under the sanction of Gregory XV. in 1621 MAURA, SANTA, anciently Leucadia and Neritus, an island in the Ionian Sea, on the west coast of Greece, nearly opposite the gulf of Arta, and a few miles north of Cephalonia. It is separated from the main land by a shallow strait, in some places not more than eighty or 100 paces wide. It is about fifty miles in circumference; and has a superficial extent of 120 square miles. Its surface is rugged, particularly towards the centre; but the soil, though far from fertile, is not so barren as that of the neighbouring island, Ithaca. The climate is mild, in summer very hot, and earthquakes are very frequent. The corn raised does not exceed half the consumption; but olive-oil, wine, citrons, pomegranates, and other fruits, are produced in abundance; and the pastures feed large numbers of sheep and goats. Game is plentiful, as well as bees, honey, and wax. The most important production of the island, however, is bay or sea-salt, of which between 5000 and 6000 tons annually are made. The inhabitants are of the Greek church. A number of them cross to the neighbouring continent, during a part of the year, in quest of work. The capital of the same name is fortified, and nearly surrounded by the sea, having an aqueduct raised on arches; and the port is pretty good. The population is about 6000. In ancient times, Santa Maura was celebrated for a temple of Apollo, situated in the south part of the island. See LEUCADIA and LEUCATA. It was conquered successively by the Turks and the Venetians. In 1797 it was ceded, by the treaty of Campo Formio, to France; but, in 1799, it was declared one of the Seven Islands composing the Ionian republic, to the assembly of which it sends four deputies. It has several good ports; but no town of consequence except the capital. Population of the island 20,000. Long. 20° 39′ E., lat. 39° 4' N. MAURICE, or MAURITIUS (Tiberius), a native of Arabissus in Cappadocia, born A. D. 539. He was descended from an ancient and honorable Roman family.-After he had filled several offices in the court of Tiberius II. he obtained the command of his armies against the Persians. To reward his bravery, the emperor gave him his daughter Constantina in marriage, and invested him with the purple, 13th August, 582. The Persians still continued to make inroads on the Roman territories, and Maurice sent Philippicus, his brother-in-law, against them. This general at first gained several splendid victories, but did not continue to have a decided superiority. Maurice acquired much glory in restoring Chosroes II., king of Persia, to the throne, after he had been deposed by his subjects. The empire was in his reign harassed by the frequent inroads of the Arabian tribes. He purchased peace from them by a pension nearly equal to 100,000 crowns; but these barbarians took frequent opportunities to renew the war. In different engagements the Romans destroyed 50,000, and took 17,000 prisoners. These were restored, on condition that the king of the Abari should return all the Roman captives in his dominions. Regardless of his promise, he demanded a ransom of 10,000 crown.s. Maurice, full of indignation, refused the sum; and the barbarian put the captives to the sword. While the emperor, to revenge this cruelty, was making preparations against the Abari, Phocas, who from the rank of a centurion had attained the highest military preferments, assumed the purple, and was declared emperor. He pursued Maurice to Chalcedon, took him prisoner, condemned him to die, and massacred his five sons before his eyes. He was beheaded on the 26th November, 602, in his sixty-third year, and twentieth of his reign. Maurice merited a better fate. He restored the military discipline, humbled the pride of his enemies, supported the Christian religion by his laws, and piety by his example. MAURICE, elector of Saxony, son of Henry the Pious, was born A. D. 1521. He was early remarkable for his courage, and during his whole life was engaged in warlike pursuits. He served under Charles V., in 1544, against France; and in 1555 against the league of Smalkalde; with which, although a protestant, he would have no connexion. The emperor, as a reward for his services, in 1547, made him elector of Saxony, having deprived his cousin John Frederick of that electorate. But in 1551 he entered into a league with the elector of Brandenburgh, the count Palatine, the duke of Wirtemburgh, and other |