Page images
PDF
EPUB

ritory for their support. In consequence of this treaty the peishwa was in the month of May 1803 reinstated at Poonah. Lord Lake's defeat of Scindia, the overthrow of Holkar, and the peace concluded with the Mahratta chiefs in 1805, are detailed in the article INDIA. It will be seen that in 1817 the peishwa made a fresh attempt at independence: a circumstance which may be said to have annihilated his authority; as the descendant of Ram Rajah has been since brought out from his confinement, and placed on the throne of his ancestors under British pro

tection.

The Mahrattas are not very scrupulous Hindoos, all of them but the Brahmins being careless of what they eat except beef. They are fond of horses, and their army was almost entirely composed of cavalry, the celerity of whose motions

and sudden incursions alone rendered them formidable their arms were a sword and spear, and their only camp equipage blankets or horse cloths. They would march at the rate of fifty miles a day; and not content with plunder often carried away children into slavery, and used the female sex barbarously. Their Brahmins are many of them polished and insidious merchants.

MAIA, in fabulous history, the daughter of Atlas and Pleione. She was the mother of Mercury by Jupiter. She was one of the Pleiades, and the most luminous of the seven sisters.

MAIA, a surname of Cybele. MAID, or Sax. may, mæden, MAID'EN, n. s. magden; Goth may, MAID'ENHAIR, n. s. mejd; Belg. magd, meid; MAIDENHEAD, or Teut. magd, the femiMAID'ENHOOD, n. s. nine of mag, mac, a son. MAID'ENLY, adj. A girl; an unmarried MAID'HOOD, n.s. woman; a virgin; a feMAIDMA'RIAN, male; a female servant: MAID-PALE, adj. maidenhair is a plant, MAID-SERVANT, n.s.) the ADIANTHUM, which see: maidenhead, maidenhood, or maidhood, virginity; purity; and, in an obsolete sense, newness; freshness: maidenly, like or becoming a maid; gentle; timid; delicate: maidmarian, a species of buffoon-dance: maid-pale, pale with sickness, or a trifling complaint: maid-servant, a female servant.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

MAIDA, a town of Calabria Ultra, Naples, nine miles W. S. W. of Squillace, chiefly remarkable as the scene of a gallant action between the British and French, 4th of July 1806; in which the latter were defeated. Population 3000. MAIDEN. See MAID.

MAIDEN, or MAYDEN, an instrument anciently used in Scotland for beheading criminals, similar to the GUILLOTINE, which see.

MAIDEN is also the name of a machine first used in Yorkshire, and since introduced into other places, for washing linen; consisting of a tub nineteen inches high, and twenty-seven in diameter at the top, in which the linen is put, with hot water and soap, to which is adapted a cover, fitting it very closely, and fastened to the tub by two wedges; through a hole in the middle of the cover passes an upright piece of wood, kept at a proper height by a peg above, and furnished with two handles, by which it is turned backward and forward to the lower end of this upright piece

is fastened a round piece of wood, in which are fixed several pieces, like cogs of a wheel. The operation of this machine makes the linen pass and repass quickly through the water.

MAIDEN-RENTS, in old English writers, a noble paid by the tenants of some manors on their marriage. This was said to be given to the lord for his omitting the custom of marcheta, whereby he was to have the first night's lodging with his tenant's wife; but it seems more probably to have been a fine for a license to marry a daughter.

MAIDENHAIR. See ADIANTHUM.

MAIDENHAIR, GOLDEN. See POLYTRICHUM. MAIDENHEAD, a town of Berkshire, twentysix miles from London, with a stone bridge over the Thames. It is governed by a high steward, a mayor, a steward, and ten aldermen, two of whom are appointed bridgemasters every year. The mayor is justice of the peace, coroner, and clerk of the market: he is also judge of a court which he must hold once in three weeks, exclusive of two sessions in the year. The town stands partly in the parish of Bray and partly in that of Cookham, and has a chapel belonging to the corporation, the minister of which is chosen hy the inhabitants and not obliged to attend the bishop's visitation. It has a gaol, with several almshouses and charities. The barge-pier bridge is maintained by the corporation, for which they are allowed the tolls over and under it. This town has a great trade in malt, meal, and timber, which are brought in barges to London. As this is the great thoroughfare from London to Bath, Bristol, &c., the adjacent wood has been noted for robberies. There is a market on Wednesday, three fairs, and horse-races.

MAIDSTONE, the county town of Kent, is advantageously situated on the eastern bank of the Medway, over which is an ancient stone bridge of seven arches, which has been lately widened and improved. Some antiquaries have considered it as the Vagniacæ of Antoninus. The Saxons termed it Medwegestun, from its situation on the Medwedge, or Medway. In the record of Domesday the name is written Meddestane. The town is pleasant, large, and populous, consisting of four principal streets, which intersect each other near the site of the ancient market cross. This fabric was taken down about twenty years ago, and in its place a commodious fish-market was erected, where is an ample reservoir of spring water, conducted from the opposite side of the river.

The town was governed by a portreve and twelve brethren, till Edward VI., in his third year, newly incorporated it by the style and title of the mayor, jurats, and commonalty, of Maidstone. Their privileges were soon afterwards, however, forfeited by rebellion in the first year of queen Mary. But queen Elizabeth, in her second year, re-incorporated it, as before; and granted some additional privileges. A third charter of incorporation, with new privileges, was granted in 1604 by James I.; and a fourth in 1619. King Charles II., in his thirty-fourth year, incorporated it anew by the above style and title; which charter was in force until the revolution in 1688, after which it was laid aside.

In 1748, the corporation being dissolved by judgment of ouster against its principal members, a new charter was granted by king George II., in which it is stated, that the inhabitants shall be one body politic and corporate, by the name of the mayor, jurats, and commonalty, of the king's town and parish of Maidstone, in the county of Kent,' and by that name have perpetual succession, and acquire and hold lands, &c., and alien the same; that by the aforementioned name they are to plead and be impleaded, &c.; under a common seal, and might break, change, and new make the same at their liking; that there should be thirteen inhabitants of the town and parish, who should be chosen jurats of the same, one of whom should be mayor; and that there should be forty of the remaining principal inhabitants chosen common council-men, all of whom, viz. mayor, jurats, and common councilmen, duly assembled, should have power upon public summons to make bye laws. By the above charter the corporation at present act. Queen Elizabeth, in her second year, granted to the mayor, &c., a market on a Thursday weekly, with all tolls, customs, and other profits, and also four fairs. King James regranted and confirmed the fairs and markets, and other liberties and privileges; and further granted that it should be lawful for the mayor to extend the market beyond the market-place, or to hold it in any other place within the town.

Queen Elizabeth also granted the mayor, jurats, and commonalty, full power to hold a court in the town, from fourteen days to fourteen days, on a Tuesday, 'for pleas, as well of assize of novel disseisin, as other pleas, actions, and suits, concerning lands, &c., in the town and parish, although they should or should not exceed the sum of 40s' And the mayor, jurats, and recorder, as steward, annually hold a court leet, or law day, formerly called the portmote, at which among other business the peace officers are chosen, viz. a high constable for the town and parish, and a borsolder for each of the three boroughs of Week, West Street, and Stone, into which the town and parish are divided.

This town and parish, with others in the neighbourhood, were formerly bound to contribute to the repair of the fifth pier of Rochester Bridge.

The chief source of the wealth of this town has arisen from the cultivation of hops, in which pursuit the principal inhabitants are engaged: but no species of natural produce is subject to such abrupt and decisive vicissitudes.-The manufacture of linen thread was introduced here from Flanders, in the reign of Elizabeth, and is still continued. Within the last fifty years also it has been famous for the distillation of a spirit termed Maidstone Geneva: but this is now discontinued.

This town derives great advantage from the navigation of the river Medway, as a considerable traffic is carried on by it from hence to Rochester, Chatham, and London; and, from the many large corn mills, abundance of meal and flour is shipped off to the above towns, as well as to London. The paper-mills, in and near this town, are also considerable. Great quantities of

timber brought hither from the Weald of Kent, and its neighbourhood, by land carriage, are conveyed by the navigation of the Medway to the dock at Chatham, and more distant parts. Besides which there are several large hoys which sail to and from London weekly. The Medway is navigable as far as Tonbridge.

The church stands at the western part of the town, and is a spacious and handsome structure, formerly collegiate; consisting of a nave, chancel, and two side aisles, with a handsome wellbuilt tower at the west end. It is one of the largest parochial churches in the kingdom, and was chiefly erected in the reign of Richard II., by archbishop Courteney. The stalls for the warden and fellows of the college are still remaining. In the middle of the great chancel there is a tomb-stone, raised a little, above the pavement, with the marks of the portraiture of a bishop in his mitre and robes, and an inscription round it; but the brass of the whole is torn away. This is supposed to be the cenotaph of archbishop Courteney. The college founded by this prelate was an extensive pile of stone, and most of the buildings, with the great gate, are standing, on the south side of the church, but are now occupied by an agriculturist, who uses some of the apartments as an oasting house. There are, also, many other vestiges of ancient religious buildings in this town and its vicinity. A stock market is held on the second Tuesday in each month in a place called the Meadow, close to the Medway: the fairs are also held in this place on the 13th of February, 12th of May, 20th of June, and 17th of October.

In the year 1648 the town held out some time for Charles I., but at last general Fairfax took it by storm.

Amongst the public buildings of Maidstone, its gaol stands pre-eminent. This ponderous and extensive fabric was commenced in the year 1811, and completed in 1818. It is intended as a prison for the use both of the county and town. The ground comprised within the walls is between thirteen and fourteen acres, and the building is capable of holding 450 prisoners. The structure of brick is faced with rag stone chiefly dug from the site which it occupies. The plan on which it is arranged would appear to be extremely judicious. Each class of prisoners has a distinct airing-yard, and each prisoner a separate sleeping cell. The expense of the erection was about £180,000. In front has been added a handsome sessions house of Portland stone, with a spacious area, surrounded by iron railing. The whole cost the county, it is said, upwards of £30,000. In the vicinity is also an extensive depôt, in which are trained the cavalry destined for the East India service.

The chief part of this town has been greatly improved since the year 1791, at which time an act was obtained for lighting and newly paving the principal streets: gas lights are now introduced. Among the many charitable institutions, for the benefit of the poor, are a grammar school, five charity schools, and a savings bank.

Maidstone sends two members to parliament, who are elected by all freemen not receiving alms or charity; of these there are about 800.

:

The newly erected Kent fire office forms a very prominent feature in the High Street opposite the town hall it is an extensive building fronted with Portland stone; a uniform frontage is continued beyond the office, the upper part of which forms a part of a new tavern, and the lower part is used as a corn market. Behind stand the poultry, meat, fish, and vegetable markets, lately erected at a great expense, and extending into East Street. The different market buildings which before stood in the High Street are now all taken down.

About a mile south-east of the town is a seat termed the Mote, belonging to the earl of Romney. The ancient house on this estate was taken down some few years back, and the present structure erected on a knoll commanding some fine views. The park is extensive, and is enriched by much venerable timber. On the 1st of August 1799 the late lord Romney (then lord lieutenant of the county) entertained his majesty George III., several other branches of the royal family, many of the cabinet ministers, a numerous company of the principal noblemen and gentlemen of the kingdom, and the whole of the volunteers of the county. A stone building is erected on the spot where the king's marquee stood. MAJESTIC, or Lat. majestas; Gr. MAJESTICAL, adj. μɛyas, great. August; MAJESTICALLY, adv. (grand; sublime; imMAJESTY, n. s. perial; regal: majesty is dignity; grandeur; regal or imperial sway; a title of those who bear such sway; great or awful appearance, or effect.

In lyk maner also these that defoulen the fleasche, and dispisen lordschip, and blasfemen maiestee. Wiclif. Jud. 1.

Thine, O Lord, is the power and majesty. 1 Chron. xxix.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Girt with many a baron bold, Sublime their starry fronts they rear; And gorgeous dames, and statesmen old, In bearded majesty appear.

[ocr errors]

Gray. MAJESTY is derived from major, Lat. greater, and status, state. The emperor of Austria is called his imperial apostolic majesty. The king of Spain, his most Catholic majesty; and the king of Portugal, his most Faithful majesty. The king of France is called his most Christian majesty. As to other kings, the name of the kingdom is prefixed; as his Britannic majesty, his Sardinian majesty, &c.; before the reign of Charles V. the king of Spain had only the title of highness; and before that of Henry VIII. the kings of England were only addressed under the titles of grace and highness. Under the Roman republic, the title majesty (majestas) belonged to the whole body of the people, and to the principal magistrates: so that to diminish or wound the majesty of the commonwealth was, to be wanting in respect to the state or to its ministers. But, the power afterwards passing into the hands of a single person, the appellation of majesty was transferred to the emperor and the imperial family. Pliny compliments Trajan on his being contented with the title of greatness; and speaks very invidiously of those who affectea that of majesty.

MAIGNAN (Emanual), a religious minim, and one of the greatest philosophers of his age, was born of an ancient and noble family at Thoulouse in 1601. Like the famous Pascal, he became a mathematician without a teacher; and filled the professor's chair at Rome in 1636, where, at the expense of cardinal Spada, he published his book De Perspectivà Horariâ. He returned to Thoulouse in 1650, and was created provincial and the king, who in 1660 often entertained himself with the machines and curiosities in his cell, made him offers through cardinal Mazarine, to induce him to fix his residence in Paris; but he preferred his cloister. He pub.

lished A Course of Philosophy, 4 vols. 8vo., at Thoulouse; to the second edition of which he added two treatises, one against the vortices of Descartes; and the other on the speaking trumpet invented by Sir Samuel Morland. He is said to have studied even in his sleep, his very dreams being employed in theorems, the demonstrations of which would awaken him with joy!' He died in 1676.

MAIHIDPORE, a town of Hindostan, in the province of Malwah, situated on the banks of the Soprah. In the vicinity was fought on the 21st of December 1817 a severe battle between the troops of Holkar and the British, in which the former was defeated with the loss of all his artillery. It is twenty miles north of the city of Oojain, the capital of Scindia.

MAII INDUCTIO, an ancient custom for the priest and people of country villages to go in procession to some adjoining wood on a May day morning; and return in a kind of triumph, with a May pole, boughs, flowers, garlands, and other tokens of the spring. This May game, or rejoicing at the coming of the spring, was long observed, and is so still in some parts of England; but bishop Grosthead thought there was so much 'heathen vanity' in it, that it was condemned and prohibited within the diocese of Lincoln.

MAIL, n. s. & v. a. Fr. maille; Ital. maglia; Belg. maelis; Span. malla. Skinner derives our word from the Ital. málle, the mesh of a net: but the Goth. mal (Swed. malja) a link or division, is more probably suggested by Mr. Thomson. A coat of armour; to cover with armour; or as in defence.

I am thy married wife,
And thou a prince, protector of this land;
Methinks I should not thus be led along,
Mailed
up in shame, with papers on my back.
Shakspeare.

The mailed Mars shall on his altar sit
Up to the ears in blood. Id. Henry IV
Some shirts of mail, some coats of plate put on,
Some donned a curace, some a corslet bright.

Fairfax.

Being advised to wear a privy coat, the duke gave this answer, That against any popular fury, a shirt of mail would be but a silly defence. Wotton.

Some wore a coat-armour, imitating scale, And next their skin were stubborn shirts of mail; Some wore a breast-plate. Dryden's Knight's Tale. We strip the lobster of his scarlet mail. Gay. At full my huge Leviathan shall rise, Who great in arms, e'er stripped his shining mail, Boast all his strength, and spread his wondrous size : Or crowned his triumph with a single scale.

Young,

[blocks in formation]

Id.

But, sires, o word forgate I in my 'ale; I have reliques and pardon in my male As faire as any man in Englelond, Which were me yeven by the pope's hond. The same prince erected a letter-office for England and Scotland, under the direction of the same Thomas Witherings, and settled certain rules of postage: but this extended only to a few of the principal roads, the times of carriage were uncertain, and the postmasters on each road were required to furnish the mail with horses at the rate of 24d. a mile.

aries were employed by that prince to draw a chart of China and Chinese Tartary, which was engraved in France in 1732. He likewise drew charts of some of the Chinese provinces; with which the emperor was so pleased, that he settled the author at his court. The annals of China were also translated into French by Mailla, and his MS. was transmitted to France in 1737. This work was published in 12 vols. 4to., under the inspection of M. Grosier, and is the first complete history of that extensive empire. F. Mailla, after having resided forty-five years in China, died at Pekin on the 28th of June 1748, in the seventy-ninth year of his age. Kien Long, the emperor, paid the expenses of his funeral.

Dr. A. Rees. Mr. Palmer's modern invention of mail-coaches has been found highly convenient and useful, not only for the safe and expeditious conveyance of letters, but also of passengers. Those who have travelled in these vehicles need not be informed of their rapid motion. Id.

MAIL, OF MAILL, on ship-board, a square machine composed of a number of rings interwoven net-wise, and used for rubbing off the loose hemp which remains on white cordage after it is made.

MAIL, or MAILLE, in old English writers, a small kind of money. Silver halfpence were likewise termed mailles, 9 Henry V. By indenture in the mint a pound weight of old sterling silver was to be coined into 360 sterlings or pennies, or 720 mails or half-pennies, or 1440 farthings. Hence the word mail was derived, which is still used in Scotch law for an annual rent.

MAIL, or MALL, also signifies a round ring of iron; whence the play of pall-mall, from palla, a ball, and maille, the round ring through which it is to pass.

See COACH.

MAIL COACHES. MAIL, COAT Of. It is called also an habergeon. Anciently they also wore shirts of mail under the waistcoat, to serve as a defence against swords and poniards. They wore also gloves of mail. See ARMOUR.

MAILAH, a river of the Bled-el-Jereede, which rises to the south of Algiers, and falls into the desert plain called the Shott.

MAILCOTTA, a town of the Mysore, Hindostan, situated on a hill which commands a view of the extensive valley watered by the Cavery. It is a celebrated place of Hindoo worship, and possesses a large temple surrounded by a colonade containing a large reservoir, on the banks of which are numerous buildings for the reception of pilgrims. The idols of this temple are covered with jewels; and such is the veneration in which it is held, that Tippoo Sultan would not venture to plunder it. In the vicinity the Mahrattas gained a complete victory over Hyder Aly in the year 1772; and it was here that the Mahratta chiefs joined lord Cornwallis in 1791. The town consists of about 400 respectable houses occupied by Brahmins. Long. 76° 52′ E., lat. 12° 38′ N.

MAILLA (Joseph-Anne-Marie de Moyriac de), a learned Jesuit, born in the castle of Maissac in Bugey, 1670, and appointed a missionary to China, whither he went in 1703. At the age of twenty-eight he had acquired considerable skill in the characters, arts, sciences, mythology, and ancient books of the Chinese, and was greatly esteemed by the emperor KamIli, who died in 1722. He and other mission

As a

MAILLET (Benedict de), descended from a noble family in Lorraine, was born in 1659, and appointed in 1692 consul-general for Egypt He fulfilled this office for sixteen years with great ability, supported the king's authority against the janizaries, and greatly extended the trade of France into that part of Africa. recompense for his services, Louis XIV. bestowed upon him the consulship of Leghorn. Being appointed in 1715 to visit the sea-ports in the Levant, and on the coast of Barbary, he was so successful, that he was permitted to retire with a considerable pension. He settled at Marseilles; where he died in 1738, in the seventy-ninth year of his age. He was a man of a lively imagination, gentle manners, and the strictest probity. He paid particular attention to natural history, and was anxious to investigate the origin of our globe. On this important subject he left some curious observations, which have been published in 8vo. under the title of Teliiamed. An Indian philosopher is introduced as explaining to a French missionary his opinion concerning the nature of the globe, and the origin of mankind. His great object is to prove that all the strata of which this globe is composed, even to the tops of the highest mountains, arose originally from the bosom of the waters. He dedicated his book to the illustrious Cyrano de Bergerac, author of Travels to the Sun and Moon. A Description of Egypt was collected from his memoirs by Mascrier in 1743, 4to., or in 2 vols. 12mo.

MAIM, n. s. & v. a. Goth. maitan; Ital. maidham; Old Fr. maimis, to mutilate. A mutilation or defect; privation of some essential part; injury: to maim, to inflict such injury.

The multitude wondered when they saw the dumb walk; and they glorified God. to speak, the maimed to be whole, and the lame to Matthew xv. 31.

Surely there is more cause to fear, lest the want thereof be a maim, than the use a blemish.

Hooker.

[blocks in formation]
« PreviousContinue »