MACAW. Macaulay's writings, are displayed in his ballads with Kngular success, so that in English literature, and in their own peculiar line, they are unrivalled. They have called Artha bost of imitations, but none have even approached twir excellence. It must not, however, be supposed that Macaulay was a poet in the higher sense of the word, but be possessed the poetic faculty, and it is this which enLaces the rare and surpassing merits of his prose. In 1857 he was raised to the peerage, a tribute, it has bera said, to his high and blameless character and literary stinction, and an act of royal favour quite unexpected, Er highly approved by all whose approbation was of real vale. Though he took his seat in the House of Peers, Lever spoke in that "august assembly." Macaulay was never married. Yet was he a man of strong domestic affections, and he lavished a wealth of ve on the children of his sister, Lady Trevelyan. He was a warm friend and a generous opponent, and it may te truthfully said of him that in all his political life he ested no lasting enmity. His last years were harassed by the distressing sympes of pulmonary disease, and his friends and admirers w with deep regret that there was little chance of his ing to complete the colossal work on which, as on a zarment more enduring than brass-monumentum ære persing-he had hoped to establish the superstructure 15 enduring fame. Yet his end, when it came, came ly and unexpectedly. He fell asleep, as tranquilly e had lived, on the 28th of December, 1859, in the tth year of his age. On the 9th of the following y his remains were honoured with interment in Westminster Abbey. There is a common impression that in society Macaulay grossing and overpowering. Every one has heard the tty saying of his old friend Sydney Smith (no two men appreciate each other more highly or more justly) Bashes of silence." But in the quiet intercourse it a single friend, no great talker was more free, easy, ad genial than Macaulay. There was the most equable mhange of thought; he listened with as much courtesy be spoke with gentle and pleasant persuasiveness. In 4arger circle, such as he delighted to meet and assemble sad him to the close of his life, a few chosen intimates, accomplished ladies, foreigners of the highest distincwho were eager to make his acquaintance, his manwere frank and open. In conversation in such a circle, anding voice, high animal spirits, unrivalled quickof apprehension, a flow of language as rapid as inextable, gave him perhaps a larger share, but a share a few were not delighted to yield up to him. His hts were like lightning, and clothed themselves at is words. While other men were thinking what they dsay, and how they should say it, Macaulay had said ta, and a great deal more. And the stores upon which Tory could draw seemed inexhaustible. A wide of Greek and Latin history and literature, English, Italian, Spanish; of German he had not so full a k. bat he knew the best works of the best authors; be learned for the purpose of his History. With came anecdote, touches of character, drollery, fun, 1 tent stories excellently told. The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay" (London, 1970, by his nephew, George Otto Trevelyan, M.P., is one mist fascinating biographies of our time. MACAW (Macrocercus) is a genus of birds belonging the der PSITTACI, which contains the parrots and Sales. The macaws are confined to tropical America, from Paraguay to Mexico, and only one species at present day is found in the West Indies. The macaws abr the most part big showy birds with large bills and tals; the upper mandible is much curved, and the which covers the cheeks is nearly naked, being clothed TOL IX. with only a few scattered minute hairs. From their size, brilliant plumage, and good temper these birds are favourite pets. The natives of South America give the general name of Ara or Araraca to the macaws, a denomination which is evidently in imitation of their note. Hence some ornithologists prefer the generic name Ara, while others use a third generic title, Sittace. The Scarlet or Red and Blue Macaw (Macrocercus macao) is the largest of the group, measuring sometimes as much as 3 feet from the bill to the tip of the long tail. It also surpasses the rest in magnificence of plumage. The principal portion of the plumage is of a bright scarlet colour; the quill-feathers of the wings are of a fine blue; the greater wing-coverts are yellow, tinged with green; the upper and under tail-coverts are blue, the two middle feathers of the tail crimson, and the remainder of the tailfeathers, which gradually decrease in length towards the sides, are partly red and partly blue. The feet are dusky black, the naked skin of the cheeks wrinkled and white, the upper mandible whitish, and the lower one black or dusky. This splendid bird inhabits Central and South America as far as Bolivia. It dwells in pairs or in small family parties in the depths of the forests, generally taking up its abode about the palm-trees, upon the fruits of which it to a great extent subsists. The nest of this species is made in a hollow tree, and the bottom is lined with feathers. It has two broods in a year, and lays two eggs at each time; these are white in colour and about the size of pigeons' eggs. The young birds are tolerably easily tamed, although they do not exhibit the docility of many other parrots, and rarely learn to speak, even indistinctly. The great beauty of their plumage, however, causes them to be highly valued, notwithstanding the excessive harshness of their cry; and in former times a specimen of this bird was not an unacceptable present even to royalty itself. The Blue and Yellow Macaw (Macrocercus ararauna) is another large and beautiful species. The upper surface is of a rich blue, and the lower yellow; the long graduated tail is blue above and yellow beneath; there is a large black patch on the throat, and the bill is of the same colour. Artificial flies for salmon fishes are largely made of the feathers of the tail. It is more docile than the scarlet macaw. Another species, somewhat rarer in collections, is the Red and Yellow Macaw (Macrocercus chloroptera), which ranges from Panama to Brazil. The Red and Green Macaw (Macrocercus militaris) is remarkable for extending as far north as Mexico. It is smaller than the last species. The general colour of the plumage is a fine green, changing into blue on the upper surface; the forehead bears a crimson band; the wings, rump, and upper tail-coverts are bright blue; and the tail-feathers are scarlet. Some ten or twelve other species are known, all comparatively rare in captivity: one of these (Macrocercus tricolor) is peculiar to Cuba. So far as is known the habits of all the macaws are similar to those described for the scarlet macaw. MACAW-PALM. See ACROCOMIA. MACBETH' or MACBEATHAD MACFINLEGH, as the chroniclers call him, whose name is immortalized by Shakspeare's tragedy, was at first maormor or ruler of the province of Moray, and by marriage with the granddaughter of King Kenneth Macduff became allied to the older royal family. He took up arms against King Duncan M'Crinan, grandson of Malcolm II., who had killed King Kenneth and usurped his throne. Macbeth succeeded the " gracious Duncan" as king of Scotland, on Duncan's defeat and death in battle, near Elgin, in 1039. In his administration he displayed great energy, no ordinary ability, and a fervent love of justice; but the partisans of the Duncan dynasty rose against him, and, assisted by Siward, the Danish earl of Northumbria, and Macduff, the maormor of Fife, defeated him at Dunsinane Hill in 3 Perthshire, in 1054. It was not on this occasion, however, I Romans, and who ruled the land with much justice, mildnor by the hand of Macduff, the man not of woman born,”, ness, and wisdom for over seven years. The quiet prosthat Macbeth fell. He was defeated and slain in fair fight, perity of these years caused the reign of Simon to be at Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire, in 1056, after a reign of long remembered as a bright spot in the later history of seventeen years, and Maicoim Canmore, son of Duncan, the Jews, the periods before and after being marked with succeeded, after a brief attempt to retain the crown on the much turbulence and bloodshed. Simon was treacherously part of Macbeth's nephew. murdered along with two of his sons (B.C. 135) by his son-in-law Ptolemy, and was succeeded by his son John Hyrcanus, who renewed the alliance with Rome, and captured and destroyed (B.c. 109) the fortified city of Samaria. After his death (B.C. 106) his eldest son Aristobulus I. reigned for one year, and he was followed by Alexander Jannæus (B.C. 105-78), a vindictive and bloodthirsty warrior; the wife of the latter, Alexan ira (B.C 78-69), who ruled according to the counsels of the Pharisees; Aristobulus II., who had to contend for the throne against his brother Hyrcanus, and who, after being sent a prisoner to Rome, was poisoned on his way back (B.C. 46); and Hyrcanus II. (B.C. 46-30). Mariamne, the proud and beautiful wife of Herod, may be called the last of the Maccabean family. She became the wife of Herod, B.C.3", and was put to death by his orders, B.C. 26. The legend of the murder of King Duff by his vassal Donwald and his wife when on a visit to them at Forres, which Shakspeare found in Hollinshed's "Chronicle History of Scotland," he skilfully interwove with the account of Duncan's assassination by Macbeth, which Holinshed substitutes for the king's death in battle. The witches' prophecy, the murder of Banquo, and the other main incidents of the tragedy are all to be found in the pages of the old chronicler, who had in his turn copied it from the still earlier work of Boece (1527). Gruach, Lady Macbeth, the | princess of history, not of poetry, was, as is shown above, the representative of the true line, Duncan of the usurping family. The historical (not Shakspeare's) Macbeth had thus a warrant for rebellion. MACCABEES, the name given to a Jewish family celebrated for their heroic resistance to the oppression of the Greek kings of Syria in the second century before the Christian era. The original of the term has been variously derived, one account finding it in the combination of the initial letters of the Hebrew sentence, "Who among the gods is like unto thee, Jehovah?" (Exod. xv. 11), and another in the cognomen of Makkabis (hammer) assumed by a prominent member of the family. MAC CABEES, THE BOOKS OF THE. Five books have come down to us under this title, of which three are still reckoned among the canonical Scriptures by the Eastern Church, and two by the Roman Cathie Church, but which are all rejected as apocryphal by the Protestant churches. The First Book of the Maccabees contains the history of the Jews during forty years, from the accession of Antiochus Epiphanes, B.C. 175, to the death of Simon, B.C. 135. The original, according to the unanimous testimony of the fathers, was written in Hebrew, but this version has long been lost, and the book has been preserved by means of the Greek translation From internal evidence the book is ascribed to a Palestinian Jew, and though its date is uncertain it is generally placed by scholars between B.C. 120-100. The writer appears to have had access to official records and the narratives of eye-witnesses, and his history bears throughout the marks of honesty and candour. The Second Book of the Macrabees is avowedly the abridgment of an earlier work in tive books, by one Jason of Cyrene, which had been complet from various sources. It begins with two epistles supposed to be addressed by the Palestinian Jews to thir brethren in Egypt, inviting them to celebrate the feast of the reinauguration of the temple. These are certainly spurious and of late date, and the history, though it be s a few years earlier than the first book, is mainly a repetition of the latter, mingled with observations of a moral and religious character. It is less trustworthy than the first book, and it plainly bears the stamp of being written for a religious purpose. It appears to be the work of an Alexandrian Jew, and to have been originally written ia Greek. The Third Book of the Maccabees records a persecution of the Alexandrian Jews by Ptolemy IV. Philopator, and of their deliverance by Divine interposition and the ultimate repentance of the tyrant. It is quite unhistorical in its character, and the events it records refer to a time earlier than that of the Maccabees, but it is stil When by the efforts of Antiochus IV., and the indifference of the mass of the Jews, the worship of Jehovah seemed about to give way to the adoration of the deities of the Greeks, Mattathias, a priest who had withdrawn in sorrow from the desecrated temple and city of Jerusalem to the small town of Modin, gave the signal for revolt (B.C. 167) by killing with his own hand a renegade Jew who was about to offer idolatrous sacrifice. In the tumult occasioned by this act the Syrian officials were also slain, and Mattathias with his five sons, John, Simon, Judas, Eleazar, and Jonathan, took refuge in the desert country of Judea. Here they were joined by many courageous and resolute adherents of the old faith, and an irregular warfare was commenced against the Syrians. Well acquainted with the country, and assisted by their friends in the towns and villages, they were able to surprise and destroy several of the small armies sent against them, and wherever they obtained the upper hand they threw down the heathen altars and temples, circumcised the children, and reinstituted the worship of Jehovah. On the death of Mattathias (B.c. 166) the command of the insurgents was assumed by his son Judas, whose victories over the superior numbers of the enemy were so striking and effectual that he was enabled to take possession of Jerusalem (B.C. 164), purify the temple, and reconsecrate it to the service of Jehovah. In commemoration of this act a feast, the feast of the Dedication of the Temple, was afterwards annually observed by the Jews. Judas was subsequently besieged in Jerusalem, but was saved by the withdrawal of the Syrian general, and later he endeavoured to obtain the pro-read in the Eastern Church. The Fourth Book of the tection of Rome for the new Jewish state. His embassy was favourably received, but before it returned Judas fell in battle, fighting to the last against overwhelming numbers of the Syrians. The command then devolved upon Jonathan, who renewed the treaty with Rome, took an important part in the dispute between the rival claimants for the Syrian throne, and obtained from one of them the appointment of high priest. He was murdered by the orders of Tryphon, the guardian of the young prince Antiochus Theos (B.c. 143), and was succeeded by his brother Simon, who in his capacity of high priest and chief ruler of the Jews obtained recognition both from the Syrians and Maccabees, also known by the title, On the Supreme Sovereignty of Reason, contains chiefly a fuller history of the martyrdom of Eleazar, of the seven brothers, and of their mother, which forms the subject of 2 Mace. vi. vii, and the author uses these incidents to illustrate the sovereignty of pious reason over the passions. The authorship of this book was ascribed by Eusebius and Jerome to Josephus, but modern scholars reject this theory, and nothing certain is known as to its origin. The Fi Book of the Maccabees only exists in Arabic and Syria Its history extends from the attempt of Heliodorus t plunder the temple to within a few years of the birth of MACCLESFIELD. Christ. The writer has made use of the two books of the Maccabees and of Josephus, and has no claim to be condered an independent authority. MACCLESFIELD, a municipal borough of England, in Cheshire, 171 miles from London by the North-western Ra way, and 17 miles S.S. E. of Manchester, is situated on the west side and at the base of a range of high land which CL the borders of Cheshire and Derbyshire, and is a part of the mountain region of the latter county. The Bollin, at anent of the Mersey, runs through the town. A canal, which arites the Grand Trunk and Peak Forest canals, passes close to Macclesfield, and thus opens a water comarication with most parts of England. The town has also good railway accommodation. There are four principal streets, diverging from the market-place in various directs, and a large number of smaller ones. Considerable provements have been carried out in various parts of the twa during recent times. The guildhall is a modern Grk edifice, of graceful design, and the public room is adapted for concerts and meetings. A subscription brary contains about 20,000 volumes, and in 1876 a fine ary, comprising a building and 10,000 volumes, was ted to the town by Mr. Chadwick, M.P. The town A contains a large hospital and infirmary, built in 1871, wich a new ward was added in 1884, a free grammarsh, founded in 1502, and rebuilt in 1866. A public park of 16 acres has been laid out, and a cemetery was pened in 1866. The sanitary condition of the town is arent, and the death-rate usually low. Michael's Church was founded by Eleanor, queen of Etxed L, in 1278. There are several other churches in the town, and in each of the suburbs, Sutton and Hurdsfield. There are also various places of worship belonging to differ classes of dissenters. Macclesfield is one of the chief seats of the silk-throwing e, which is not so flourishing as formerly, but still upwards of seventy mills. Every variety of silk es produced here, from the narrowest ribbons to the <frent kinds of sarsnets, plain and figured gros de Naples, suk vestings, and velvets. It is likewise the chief for the manufacture of silk handkerchiefs of every tion. The factories are situated on the Bollin, and gral very large and fitted with power-looms, but 3 few hand-looms are still employed. In addition to the manufactories there are also some cotton factories in thew. The town has two weekly markets, and five Macclesfield was incorporated by a charter of Prince Levard, son of Henry III., in 1261, and subsequently by taras sovereigns of England. It is divided into six wards, governed by twelve aldermen and thirty-six councillors. The population in 1881 was 37,514. Macclesfield was ya parliamentary borough, but was disfranchised Pamation in 1880. MACDUFF', a burgh of barony and seaport of Scotland, eaty of Banff, situated a mile from Banff, and 49 X.N.W. of Aberdeen, on the Moray Frith. The town is ground rising from the sea-shore, and is a favourite resort. The harbour is suitable for small vessels, ach improved in 1877. It is the private proof the Earl of Fife, whose residence is in the vicinity. export trade is carried on in grain and cured herrings; cal and ranures are imported. The principal buildeth Established church, Free church, Congregareb, and a town-house. Previously to 1783 the was caked Downe or Doune, but it was then changed Lari of Fife to the family name Macduff, and its prosperity has been attained by the aid of his sucThe population in 1881 was 3641. MACE, a short staff with a large heavy head (the Frich masse, derived from the Latin word for a bectie or mallet), a weapon of war in the dark 35 MACEDONIA. ages, especially favoured by knights in armour, as more effective against armour than the sword, and less cumbersome than the lance. Hence it grew to be a symbol of command, being the appropriate weapon for a commander (as for instance, William the Conqueror at the battle of Senlac or Hastings); and for state purposes it still serves in that capacity. The mace of the city of London (Sir William Walworth struck down Wat Tyler with his mace before despatching him with his dagger) and that of the House of Commons (“this bauble," as Cromwell called it when dismissing the Rump) are the two most celebrated state maces. MACE, a Chinese coin, is the tenth of a Chinese tael, and is worth about 7d. English. MACE is the crimson covering of the nutmeg, the whole being inclosed in a fleshy fruit. When the fleshy part is removed the mace is stripped from the nutmeg and dried, in this state constituting the well-known spice. The mace is botanically considered as the ARIL, while the nutmeg is the seed. See NUTMEG. MACEDO ́NIA, an ancient country lying to the north of Thessaly. In the days of Strabo the boundaries included a considerable part of Illyria and Thrace; but Macedonia Proper was separated from Thessaly on the south by the Cambunian Mountains; from Illyria on the west by the great mountain chain called Scardus and Bernus, and which, under the name of Pindus, also separates Thessaly from Epirus; from Mæsia on the north by the mountains called Orbelus and Scomius, which run at right angles to Scardus; and from Thrace on the east by the river Strymon. The Macedonia of Herodotus was still more limited. Macedonia Proper, as defined above, is watered by three large rivers, the Axius (Vardar), the Lydias, and the Haliacmon, which flow into the Thermaic Gulf (the modern Gulf of Saloniki). The whole of the district on the sea-coast, and to a considerable distance in the interior, between the Axius and the Haliacmon, is low and marshy. The only other rivers of any importance were the Strymon and the Angites, whose valleys were separated from that of the Axius by a range of mountains which run from Orbelus on the north towards the peninsula of Chalcidice. The Strymon (Struma) rises in Mount Scomius, and flows into the Strymonic Gulf (Gulf of Orphano). Not far from the sea it forms a lake, called Cercinitis (Kerkine), into which the Angites flows from the eastward. The Macedonians were probably an Illyrian people, though it appears that their princes were an Hellenic race, and parts of the country were inhabited by Hellenic tribes from an early period. Perdiccas is usually regarded as the founder of the kingdom, the limits of which were confined to the country in the neighbourhood of Edessa, between the Lydias and the Haliacmon. Very little is known of its history till the reign of Amyntas I., who was king at the time of the expulsion of the Pisistratidai from Athens, B.C. 560. Amyntas was succeeded by his son Alexander I., who was obliged to accompany the Persian army into Greece, but was able to render important services to the Grecian cause. The time of Alexander's death is uncertain, but he lived at least to B.C. 463. He was succeeded by Perdiccas II., who took an active part in the Peloponnesian War, and alternately assisted Athens and Sparta. His successor Archelaos, Lat. ARCHELAUS (B.C. 413) was the wisest king that had till then sat upon the throne of Macedonia. On the assassination of Archelaos, 399 B.C., confusion prevailed for many years; and it was not till the accession of Amyntas II. (393 B.C.) that order was restored. Amyntas was succeeded by his eldest son Alexander II., who was assassinated at the end of the first year of his reign by Ptolemy Alorites, who was regent for three years during the minority of Perdiccas; but in consequence of abusing his trust he was cut off by Perdiccas, 364 B.C. Perdiccas, after a reign of five years, fell in battle against the Illyrians, 359 B.C., and was succeeded by his a family of Champagne, became chamberlain to Philip younger brother, the celebrated PHILIP. Philip was suc- the Fair (Philip IV.) and afterwards to John, king of ceeded by ALEXANDER THE GREAT. In the disturbances Bohemia, he who died at Crécy and gave our princes of which followed the death of Alexander the royal family Wales their three feathers and their motto Ich Dien. De was destroyed, and Cassander obtained at first the power, Machault returned to French service after Crécy, and was and eventually the title, of king of Macedon. Cassander also connected with Pierre de Lusignan, king of Cyprus. was succeeded by his son Philip, 296 B.C., who reigned two His works were very numerous, amounting to over 80,000 years; and on his death. in 294 B.C., his two younger lines, but until lately not much has been printed. There brothers, Antipater and Alexander, having quarrelled re- is a rhymed chronicle of the deeds of Lusignan, a long love specting the succession, the throne was seized by Deme- poem ("Voir dit "), and countless ballades and balladtrios, the son of Antigonos, who reigned seven years. He poems in the curiously high-wrought and artificial versiwas driven from his kingdom 287 B.C., by Pyrrhus, king fication of the period. Probably De Machault may be of Epirus, who was deposed, after a reign of seven months, taken as the chief of this school. by Lysimachus, king of Thrace. On the death of Lysimachos, 281 B.C., the country remained in a state of anarchy for many years, during the invasion of the Gauls from 280 to 278 B.C., and the contests between the numerous pretenders to the throne. Eventually Antigonos (surnamed Gonatas), the son of Demetrios, was proclaimed king, but was dethroned by Pyrrhus, who again obtained the kingdom on his return from Italy. After the death of Pyrrhus, Antigonos regained possession of the throne, which he retained till his death 239 B.C. The two following kings, Demetrios II. (239-229 B.C.) and Antigonos II. (229-220 B.C.), were principally occupied in the Grecian wars which followed the formation of the Achæan League. Philip V., who succeeded Amyntas, alarmed at the increasing power of the Romans, entered into an alliance with Hannibal. On the conclusion of the war with Carthage he was unable to cope with the Roman power, and after continuing the contest for a few years, was obliged to sue for peace. Philip was succeeded by Perseus, 178 B.C., who carried on war against the Romans, and was finally conquered, 168 B.C. Macedonia was divided into four districts, which were considered independent, and governed by their own laws, and of which the capitals were respectively-Amphipolis, Thessalonica, Pella, and Pelagonia. Macedonia was reduced to the form of a Roman province, 142 B.C. It is very difficult to determine its boundaries at this date. According to the "Epitomizer" of Strabo (vii.), it was bounded by the Adriatic on the west; on the north by the mountains of Scardus, Orbelus, Rhodope, and Hæmus; on the south by the Via Egnatia; and on the east it extended as far as Cypsela and the mouth of the Hebrus. The term Macedonia is still applied to the southern portion of Rumelia and part of Selanik, or Saloniki. MACHIAVELLI, NICCOLO DI BERNARDO DEI, was born at Florence in 1469, of an old though not wealthy family of that republic. When twenty-nine years of age he was made secretary of the "Ten," a board which had the management of war and foreign affairs. His abilities and penetration being soon perceived by his superiors, he was successively employed on many and some very important missions. In the year 1500 he was sent as a commissioner to the Florentine camp before Pisa, and subsequently to Paris to conciliate the king towards the Florentines. On both occasions his labours were crowned with success. In 1502 he married; and in this same year Piers Soderini was elected gonfalonier for life, on the model of the Doge of Venice. Machiavelli was despatched as ambassador to the Duke of Valentinois, the formidable Cesare Borgia (son of Pope Alexander VI.), who was then at Imola in Romagna, to make professions of friendship en the part of the Florentines. His account of this mission is extremely curious. Borgia's object was to obtain the command of the Florentine forces; that of Machiavel to refuse it without offending the tyrant. In 1503 the Florentines sent Machiavelli to Rome, where he was pre sent at the election of Julius II., and soon after witnessed the fall of Cesare Borgia. In 1506 he carried through a scheme for a kind of conscription over the whole of the territory subject to Florence; was appointed secretary of the commission, and spent about two years forming this new militia. After visiting France, Rome, and some other places, on various missions, Machiavelli was sent in 1507 to the Emperor Maximilian in Germany, On his return he wrote several reports on the affairs of Germany Rapporto sulle Cose di Lamagna;" "Discorso sopra le Cose dell' Alemagna; "Ritratti dela Magna," &c. Machiavelli was sent to France, and returned to Florence in September, 1510, having consolidated the alliance of Florence with France in one of the most important of his twenty-two missions. 11 MACERA'TA, a city of Italy and capital of a province of the same name, stands on a hill in a fine country watered by the Chienti, and is a well-built town, inclosed by walls, with 20,000 inhabitants, several churches and convents When in 1512 the Medici possessed themselves of with good paintings, a cathedral, theatre, college, and a Florence, Machiavelli, with others of the popular governuniversity with a library containing 20,000 volumes, a ment, was banished, and subsequently imprisoned and handsome town-house, and several fine private palaces, put to the torture on suspicion of being implicated in a among which the Palazzo Compagnoni is the most remark-conspiracy against the Medici. He persisted in declaring able. Macerata is a bishop's see. siderable trade in corn, silk, and cattle. MACERATION is the steeping of substances in cold liquids, either merely to soften the parts of the substance operated on, or to dissolve the aromatic parts of a substance when digestion would not merely dissolve but dissipate them. It carries on a con MAC-FLECK'NOE. See SHADWELL. MACGIL LYCUDDY REEKS, the highest mountain ridge in Ireland, extending N.W. to S.E. for 10 miles through the county of Kerry. Carran-Tual, or GurraneTual, the highest peak, is 3414 feet above the sea-level. It is composed of Silurian slate with fossils. MACHAULT, GUILLAUME DE, one of the most famous of the medieval French poets, was born in 1284, and died soon after 1375. He was of noble birth, of himself innocent, and was released by the intervention of Leo X. He then withdrew from public life to a small farm of his own near San Casciano, and wrote his discourses upon Livy, his books on the art of war, and his "Prince." This is the world-famous book which has done more to blacken the character of Machiavelli than all his acts and other writings put together. He finished it and dedicated it to Lorenzo, duke of Urbino, as early as 1513; it was not published, according to the best evidence, till 1532, after the author's death. Viewed dispassionately and as what it professes itself to be, it is a manual of policy for the sovereign of a newly-acquired territory desirous of settling and extending his power. It tells him, from the experience of past history, how this can be most surely done, and asserts, without subterfuge and without revulsion of feeling, that the surest method is one which cannot fail oftentimes to violate moral | (in his Livy and elsewhere) to teach at least some of principle. It cites Cesare Borgia as an example, in some the virtues of paganism, and correct the mere imitation respects, of successful policy. On the whole the book of its vices which prevailed, and left aside the teaching tends to identifying the interests of the prince with those of the higher morality which his life and sacrifices show of the country. It is certainly not a moral book; but him to have been conscious of, as being incompatible is properly to be viewed rather as a disquisition proceed- with the ordinary manners of the period. Yet the ng upon other than moral data, than as a preaching of principle underlying his whole works, that the end justifies mmorality. By some his principles have been stigmatized the means, is, and in its nature must be, deeply immoral. as the most pernicious maxims of government, founded on Machiavelli never says that it is or is not so, he only the vilest policy, and by others as sound doctrines, notwith- asserts that such and such conduct will lead to power, standing the prejudice erroneously raised against him. and that a strong central power will liberate the factionMachiavelli himself said, if he taught princes to be tyrants torn Italy. In this respect he is one of the most fascinatbe also taught the people to destroy tyrants. ing studies history has ever presented to the psychologist. His novel Belfagor" (printed with the "Prince" in a translation, is one of the volumes of Morley's Shilling Library, 1884) is more pleasing than his play in plot, and equally fine in its writing. In 1526 Machiavelli had to report to Pope Clement on the fortifications of Florence, and with this view he visited Guicciardini, the Pope's commissary of war, a visit renewed in 1527. Thus the two greatest historians of Italy passed some time together. Unhappily no record of their conversations was kept by either. After his return to Florence in 1527 Machiavelli fell suddenly ill, and in two days died. He is buried in the Westminster Abbey of Italy, the church of the Santa Croce at Florence, and the proud inscription has been accorded him by an admiring posterity, Tanto nomini nullum par elogium (No praise is worthy enough for so great a name). In 1519 the Medici Pope (Leo X.) was uneasy at the disturbed state of Florence, and consulted the leading men as to what form of constitution would best settle the state. Machiavelli was applied to with the rest, and wrote in reply the "Discorsa sopra il Riformar lo Stato di Firenze." In 1520 he wrote a military treatise and a sort of bycommentary on the "Prince," the "Life of Castruccio;" and began, by command of the Cardinal Giulio de' Medici (afterwards Pope Clement VII.), a history of Florence. He rked at this six years, and dedicated the portion then finished to Pope Clement. He was still at work on it when he died in 1527. In these last years he also turned to dramatic work, and after a few translations from the Latin, &c., he produced his remarkable original drama, Mandragola" (1524), surely the finest and most powerful play in the whole language, though most unpleasing, if not revolting, in plot. In fact Machiavelli seems to have been wilfully or naturally blind to the moral side of life is his writings, though himself an ardent patriot and a man of decent life and of generous impulses. Or we may say, with his defenders, that finding himself in the essentially pagan times of the Renaissance, he set to work |