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ances. Berar, the chief province, is 200 miles long, and 170 broad. Rajoojee, some years after his expeditions with the peishwah against Bengal, wrested the best part of Orissa from Aliverdy, the usurper of Bengal. A shallow stream only separated the Berar Mahrattas from Bengal, and they often made incursions into the frontier provinces of that beautiful region. These devastations were not checked until after Chossim Aly, nabob of Bengal, had ceded (1761) Burdwan and Midnapour to the English. Rajoojee, the first Berar rajah, after a long reign, left four sons. The eldest succeeded his father, but died without children. The two next, Sebagee and Modagee engaged in a war for the succession, in which the former fell, and the latter became rajah. He also assisted the Poonah Mahrattas in the war against the British (in 1817), at first privately, but afterwards openly, and was obliged to submit, and to cede to the English his fortresses. Of the remaining Mahratta princes, the most important were Sindia and Holkar. The former was rajah of Oojein, and had become very powerful. To limit his growing power, war was declared against him by the British, in 1802, and he was defeated by the duke of Wellington (then marquis Wellesley), Sept. 23, 1803. He was obliged to consent to a disadvantageous peace, which was afterwards often violated. He died in 1827. Holkar, sovereign of Indore, whose revenue was estimated at £4,500,000 sterling, was alternately the friend and enemy of the English. In the war of 1805, he was compelled to submit to disadvantageous terms. In 1817, he again took arms, but was defeated and obliged to submit, and deprived of two thirds of his territories. He died in 1825. The Mahrattas profess the religion of Brama; they are strong and firmly built, and vary in their complexion from black to a light brown; their manner of living is simple; they have few wants; they are educated for war; in battle, they intoxicate themselves with a sort of opium or wild hemp, which they smoke, like tobacco. In the last war, their artillery exhibited as much skill as courage. The subjugation of the Mahratta states was facilitated by the circumstance that the military caste of the rajahs was universally hated, because they treated the other castes as slaves. The property and rights of the latter found protection only under the British dominion. The caste of warriors left the British provinces in consequence, formed banditti (pindarees) on the Ner

budda, and sought protection from the small Mahratta princes, who were jealous of the British. Thus arose the last general contest of the Europeans with the ancient and proud caste of warriors, which ended with the total dissolution of their order, and the overthrow of the independence of their princely families, in 1818.-See Duff's History of the Mahrattas (3 vols., 1826.)

MAIA; the eldest daughter of Atlas and Pleione, the mother of Mercury by an amour with Jupiter, in a grotto of the mountain Cyllene, in Arcadia. She was placed, with her six sisters, among the stars, where they have the common name of Pleiades. The Romans also worshipped a Maia, who, however, was the mother Earth (Cybele). The Tusculans called their principal deity Majus, so that here the two highest deities or principles of nature appear in a male and female form. The month of May is said to have received its name from them. (See Magic.)

MAID OF ORLEANS. (See Jeanne d'Arc.) MAIDEN is the name of an instrument of capital punishment, formerly used at Halifax, in Yorkshire, and in Scotland, which is the prototype of the French guillotine. The maiden is a broad piece of iron, a foot square, sharp on the lower part, and loaded above with lead. At the time of execution, it was pulled up to the top of a frame ten feet high, with a groove on each side, for the maiden to slide in. The prisoner's neck being fastened to a bar underneath, on a sign given the maiden was let loose, and the head instantly severed from the body.

MAIL, COAT OF; also called habergeon. There are two sorts-chain and plate mail.—Chain mail is formed by a number of iron rings, each ring having four others inserted into it, the whole exhibiting a kind of net-work, with circular meshes, every ring separately riveted. This kind of mail answers to that worn on the ancient breast-plates, whence they were denominated lorica hammatæ, from the rings being hooked together. The habergeon, or hauberk, resembled a shirt in make, and was thrown over the upper part of the body above the clothing; a collar was applied round the neck; and there was a hood, or net helmet, to cover the head. Sometimes the crown consisted of plates of iron, instead of rings; and iron plates, in like manner, were sometimes clasped around the breast and back. In addition to these parts, there were trowsers of similar construction, and it is probable, that the feet were defended by a guard of the

same description.—Plate mail consisted of small lamina or plates, usually of tempered iron, laid over each other like the scales of a fish, and sewed to a strong linen or leather jacket. The plates were in general very numerous, small, and united so as to move freely without impeding the motion of the wearer. The plate mail was much more cumbrous than the chain mail, a complete suit of ring mail, still in existence, weighing 39 pounds, while one of plate weighs between 70 and 80, and, in many cases, much more. (For a more particular account of the body armor, see Cuirass.) The hands were defended by gauntlets, sometimes of chain mail, but more frequently of small plates of iron riveted together, so as to yield to every motion of the hand. Some gauntlets enclosed the whole hand as in a box or case: others were divided into fingers, each finger consisting of eight or ten separate pieces, the inside being gloved with buffleather: some of these reached no higher than the wrist, others to the elbow. The thighs of the cavalry were defended by small strips of iron plate laid horizontally over each other, and riveted together, forming what were called cuissarts, or thigh-pieces. Of these, some entirely enclosed the thighs; others only covered the front of them, the inside, next the horse, being unarmed. They were made flexible at the knees by joints, like those in the tail of a lobster. Tassets or shirts, hooked on to the front of the cuirass, were used by the infantry. For the defence of the legs, there were a sort of iron boots, called greaves. Plates of iron, covering the front of the leg, were also frequently worn over the stockings of mail. The greaves commonly covered the leg all round; with these they had broad-toed iron shoes, with joints at the ankle. Boots of jackleather, called curbouly (cuir bouillé), were also worn by horsemen. The different pieces of armor covering the body were called, collectively, a coat of mail. Complete coats of mail continued to be used through the seventeenth, and even in the beginning of the eighteenth century. Armor gradually continued decreasing, both from innovations and from its utility being diminished, and, in 1690, most of the defensive armor throughout Great Britain was returned to the Tower, whence it had been issued.

MAIL, and MAIL COACHES. (See Posts.) MAIMBOURG, Louis, a celebrated French ecclesiastical historian, was born at Nancy in 1620, entered into the society of Jesuits at sixteen years of age, and, when

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he had finished the usual course of study, became classical teacher for six years. Having written a treatise in defence of the rights of the Gallican church against the pretensions of the see of Rome, he was expelled from the society of Jesus (1682), by order of pope Innocent XI; for which disgrace he was compensated by a pension from Louis XIV. He died in 1686. As a historian, he is partial and inexact. His complete historical works (26 vols., 12mo., 1686) contain Histories of the Crusades; of the League; of the Decline of the Empire after Charlemagne ; of the Pontiticates of St. Gregory and St. Leo; of the Schism of the Greeks; of the Grand Schism in the East; of Arianism; of the Iconoclasts; of Lutheranism, and of Calvinism.

MAIMON, Moses Ben, or MAIMONIDES, one of the most distinguished Jewish scholars, was born at Cordova, in Spain, in 1139. With the lessons of the Arabian Thophail and Averroes in medicine and philosophy, he united the study of the ancient philosophers, particularly of Aristotle, and thus rendered himself an object of suspicion to his Jewish brethren. To escape their persecutions, he went to Egypt, and became physician to the sultan Saladin, under whose protection he established a celebrated seminary in Alexandria. The intrigues of his enemies scon obliged him to leave that city, and the remainder of his life, which he closed in Cairo or in Palestine, in 1205, was passed in continual wanderings. Among his writings, the most celebrated is his Morek Nevochim (the Teacher of the Perplexed), an attempt to reconcile the doctrines of the Old Testament with reason, or a sort of religious philosophy, which bears strong testimony to his acuteness and clear understanding. It was written originally in Arabic, and translated by some Jews into Hebrew, and by Buxtorf into Latin (1629). Among his other works, his excellent Commentary on the Mischna, in Hebrew and Latin (Amsterdam, 6 vols., fol.) ; his Jad Chazakha (Strong Hand), an abridgment of the Talmud (Venice, 4 vols., fol.); his Sepher Hammisoth, or Book of Precepts, Hebrew and Latin (Amsterdam, 1640), an exposition of 613 affirmative and negative precepts of the law,-deserve mention. He was also author of a book on Idolatry, translated by Vossius; one on Christ, translated by Genebrard; several medical and other works, letters and essays. The Jews call him the doctor, the great eagle, the glory of the West, the light of the East, and consider him inferior only to Moses. They often designate

him, according to their usual custom, by the four letters R. M. B. M. (Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon), whence the name Rambm. MAIMON, Solomon, a distinguished Jewish philosopher, born in Lithuania, 1753, was the son of a poor rabbi, who directed his studies to the Talmud. After having lived in extreme poverty, his thirst for knowledge carried him to Germany, where he became known to Mendelssohn, in Berlin, and obtained assistance from him. He pursued his studies, particularly in philosophy, with great zeal, turned his attention for some time to pharmacy, travelled to Hamburg, Amsterdam, Breslau, returned to Berlin, and died in Silesia, in 1800. He wrote Memoirs of his own Life (Berlin, 1792–93, 2 vols.). Maimoniana, illustrative of his character, were published by S. J. Wolff (Berlin, 1813). He was the author of Essays on the Transcendental Philosophy (Berlin, 1790); Essay toward a New Logic, with letters to Ænesidemus (Berlin, 1794), in which he attempts to correct and define more accurately Kant's transcendental logic; a work On the Categories of Aristotle (1794); and Critical Inquiries into the Human Mind (Leipsic, 1797). In these writings he developes the doctrines of the critical philosophy with great ingenuity.

MAINA; a small village of the Morea, which gives its name to a district situated in a bay of the Mediterranean; lon. 22° 22 E.; lat. 36° 42′ N. The district is mountainous, the least fertile part of the peninsula comprising the south-east part of ancient Laconia, and at present is included in the provinces of Laconia and Lower Messenia. (See Mainots.)

MAIN DE JUSTICE (French, hand of justice) is a staff, at the upper end of which a raised hand is fastened. It is one of the French insignia of royalty. Napoleon had it among the imperial insignia.

MAIN-MAST; the chief or middle mast of a ship. It is divided into four unequal sections, viz. the main-mast, properly so called, which first rises from the deck; the main-top-mast, immediately rising from the main-mast; the main-top-gallant-mast, just above the main-top-mast; and the main-royal-mast, which crowns the whole. The form of the main-mast, like that of other masts, is taper. Each division of the mast has its particular sail, to which it gives name, as the main-sail, main-topsail, &c.; and its particular yard, as the main-yard, main-top-sail-yard, main-topgallant-sail-yard, &c.; besides its separate head or top, as the main-top, main-topmast-head, &c. The ropes, tackling, &c.,

of each section are named in a similar

manner.

MAINE, MAYNE, or MAIN (anciently Manus); a river of Germany, which rises on the confines of Bohemia. It is formed of two streams, the one called the Weisser, or White, the other, Rother, or Red; both these join near Cumbach. It receives the Regnitz, the Franconian Saal, the Tauber, the Kinzig and the Nidda, and flows through Bavaria, Baden, Hesse-Cassel, Hesse-Darmstadt, the territory of Frankfort, and the duchy of Nassau, and joins the Rhine near Mentz. It affords a navigation as far as Bamberg. Length, about 300 miles.

MAINE; formerly a province of the western part of France, bounded by Normandy on the north, the Orléannais on the east, Anjou and Touraine on the south, and Brittany on the west. It now constitutes the departments of the Sarthe and the Mayenne. It derives its name from the Cenomanni, an ancient Gallic people. It was part of the French dominions of Henry II of England, and was conquered by Philip Augustus.

MAINE ET LOIRE, a department of France. (See Department.)

The

MAINE; one of the U. States, bounded N. W. and N. by Lower Canada, E. by New Brunswick, S. E. and S. by the Atlantic, and W. by New Hampshire; lon. 66° 49′ to 70° 55′ W.; lat. 43° 5′ to 48° 12′ N. Its length, on the northern frontier, is 280 miles, on the eastern, 210; greatest length from north to south, 225, and greatest breadth from east to west, 195; square miles, 32,628: population in 1790, 96,540; in 1800, 151,719; in 1810, 228,705; in 1820, 298,335; in 1830, 399,462. principal rivers are the Penobscot, Kennebec, Androscoggin, Saco, St. Croix and St. John's. The principal bays are Casco, Penobscot, Frenchman's, Englishman's, Machias and Passamaquoddy. The chief lakes are Moosehead, Umbagog, Sebago, Schoodic, and several others farther in the interior. Maine is rather an elevated country, having generally a diversified surface. A tract commencing on the west side of the district, east of the White mountains in New Hampshire, and holding a north-east direction as far as the heads of the Aroostic, about 160 miles in length, and 60 in its greatest breadth, is mountainous. Katahdin mountain is the most elevated summit in this range. There is also a small mountainous tract in the northern extremity. The remainder of the state may be considered, generally, as a moderately hilly country. The tract of country along the sea-coast from 10 to 20

miles wide, embraces all the varieties of sandy, gravely, clayey and loamy soils, frequently interspersed at short distances; seldom very rich; in many places tolerably fertile, but generally poor. Of this section, Indian corn, rye, barley, grass, &c., are the principal productions. In the tract lying north of this, and extending 50 miles from the sea in the western, 80 in the central, and 90 in the eastern part, the same kinds of soil are found, but they are less frequently diversified, and generally more fertile. The surface rises into large swells of generally good soil, between which, on the margin of the streams, are frequently rich intervals, and in other places sandy or gravely pine plains, or spruce and cedar swamps. Of this section, the principal productions are grass, Indian corn, wheat, barley, rye, flax, &c. The country beyond the limits above specified, is but little settled. It exhibits great diversities in the appearance of its soil, growth of timber, and also in climate. The land on the Kennebec, and between this river and the Penobscot, is accounted the best in the state. It is well adapted to the various purposes of agriculture, and, as a grazing country, it is one of the finest in New England. Though the climate of Maine is subject to great extremes of heat and cold, yet the air, in all parts of the country, is pure and salubrious. The summers, in most parts, are favorable to the growth of all the vegetable productions of the Northern States. In some parts, however, Indian corn, and some other plants of a more tender kind, are frequently injured, and sometimes destroyed, by frosts late in the spring and early in the autumn. The cold of winter is severe, yet the serenity of the sky, and the invigorating influence of the atmosphere, during the same season, make amends, in some degree, for the severity of the weather. Maine enjoys great facilities for commerce. The coast is indented with bays, abounding in excellent harbors. All the settled parts of the country lie near a market, and the produce of the farmer is readily exchanged for money, at a good price. The principal article of export is timber. Vast quantities of boards, shingles, clapboards, masts, spars, &c. are transported to the neighboring states, to the West Indies and to Europe. Much of the fire-wood consumed in Boston, Salem, &c. is brought from Maine. Dried fish and pickled salmon are considerable articles of export. Beef, pork, butter, pot and pearl ashes, and some grain, are also among the exports. Great quantities of

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lime are annually exported from Thomastown. The value of the imports for 1829, was $742,781; of the exports, $737,832, of which $729,106 was of domestic produce. The tonnage in the beginning of that year was 232,939. Cumberland and Oxford canal extends from Portland to Sebago pond. (See Inland Navigation.) The principal literary institutions are Bowdoin college at Brunswick (students in 1830, 112); Waterville college at Waterville; the Bangor theological seminary; the Gardiner lyceum at Gardiner, founded in 1821, for the purpose of affording a useful education to the operative and productive classes; the Wesleyan seminary at Readfield; and 29 academies, with funds of the value of $170,000. Each town is required by law to raise a sum equal to 40 cents for each inhabitant, for the support of free schools. In 1826, there were in the state 2499 school districts, and 137,930 scholars. The sum required to be raised was $119,334, but the actual expenditure was $137,878. Some voyages of discovery were made by the English to that portion of the country since called Maine, as early as 1602 and 1603, and it is described under the name of Mavoosheen. It was visited by French navigators, as De Monts and Champlain, a few years later, but the first permanent settlements were made in 1630. The government was at first proprietary, but in 1652, the province of Massachusetts bay claimed this territory as included within the limits of their charter. In 1820, it was separated from that state, and received into the Union as an independent state. (See Massachusetts.) [land Isles.)

MAINLAND OF SHETLAND. (See ShetMAINOTS; the inhabitants of the mountainous district of the Morea, called Maina, in the ancient Laconia. According to Leake, Maina is the Italian corruption for the Greek name Mani, and the proper name of the people is Maniati. They have been supposed to be the descendants of the ancient Spartans, but probably are composed of fugitives from all parts of Greece, who found safety in this remote corner, protected by the rocks and the sea. Their number is about 60,000, of whom 15,000 are capable of bearing arms. They are Christians of the Greek church, and never submitted to the Turkish yoke. They are hardy, brave, and skilful in the use of arms, and, with the barbarous practice of robbery, unite the virtue of hospitality. Their hatred against the Turks is implacable, and they were among the first to distinguish themselves in the

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Greek revolution. Previous to that period, Maina was divided into a number of districts, each under a capitano, over whom was a beg, or head chief, residing at Kitriai. Public affairs were discussed in assemblies called synods, in which every Mainot had a voice. (See Greece, and Maina.)

MAINTENANCE; an unlawful intermeddling in a suit, by assisting either party with money, or otherwise, to prosecute or defend it. This was prohibited by the Roman as well as by the English law. A man may, however, maintain the suit of his near kinsman, servant, or poor neighbor, with impunity. (See Barratry, Common.) MAINTENON, Françoise d'Aubigné, marchioness of, descended of a noble Protestant family, was born in 1635, in the prison of Niort, where her father was confined. In 1639, M. d'Aubigné, having been released, set sail for Martinique with his daughter. After his death, in 1645, his widow returned to France, totally destitute, and the young Frances was taken into the house of her aunt, a Calvinist, whose creed she soon after adopted. Every means was used by her mother to reclaim her, and she finally yielded to harsh treatment, and, after a long resistauce, abjured that creed. The death of her mother left her solitary and dependent, and, although she was received into the house of madame de Neuillant, her godmother, she was subjected to all kinds of humiliations, and considered herself happy in becoming the wife of the deformed, infirm and impotent Scarron, who, touched with her situation, offered to pay the sum necessary to enable her to enter a convent, or to marry her. Scarron was not rich, but his family was respectable, and his house was frequented by the most distinguished society of the court and the city. His wife conciliated general esteem and affection by her social qualities, her talents, and her modesty. On his death, in 1660, his widow, who was again left destitute, was on the point of embarking for Portugal as a governess, when madame de Montespan, the mistress of Louis XIV, procured her a pension, and afterwards had her appointed governess to the duke of Maine and the count of Toulouse, her sons by Louis. In this post, she became better known to the king, who was, at first, prejudiced against her, but who learned to esteem her for her good sense, and the care which she bestowed on the education of the duke of Maine. He made her a present of 100,000 livres, with which, in 1679, she purchased the estate of Maintenon, and, becoming fond of her

society, gradually passed from intimacy to love. Madame de Montespan herself contributed much to the elevation of De Maintenon, by her capricious and arrogant temper, and, while the latter withdrew the king from his connexion with the former, she supplanted her in his affections. Louis XIV was then at an age when men wish for a wife in whom they may confide their joys and sorrows, and he longed to alleviate the weight of government by the innocent pleasures of domestic life. The yielding temper of madame de Maintenon, who, from youth up, had learned to accommodate herself to the wishes of others, promised him an agreeable companion and a trusty friend. Besides this, she had a leaning towards devotion, and the king had himself manifested a similar inclination, as years came on. Père Lachaise, his father confessor, advised him to sanction his wishes by a secret but formal marriage, which was solemnized in 1685. The archbishop of Paris, Harlay, married them, in presence of the confessor and two witnesses. Louis was then 48, madame de Maintenon 50 years of age. At court, the marriage always appeared doubtful, although a thousand indications betrayed it. Yet the happiness of De Maintenon was not lasting: she herself says, "I was born ambitious: I resisted this inclination. When the wish, which I no longer indulged, was fulfilled, I thought myself happy; but this intoxication lasted only three weeks." After her elevation, she lived in a sort of retirement from the world. Louis XIV visited her several times a day, and transacted business with his ministers in her apartments, while she read or otherwise employed herself. Although, in appearance, she neither knew nor wished to know any thing of state affairs, yet she often had a decisive influence on them. Chamillart was made minister, and Marsin commander of the army in Germany (1703), and Vendôme and Catinat were dismissed, by her influence. The nation accused her of errors, and the excuse of good intentions could not always exculpate her. In all other respects entirely submissive to the will of the king, she was wholly occupied with the means of rendering herself agreeable to him, and this slavery of her age made her more unhappy than the poverty of her youth. "What a martyrdom," said she to lady Bolingbroke, her niece, "to be obliged to amuse a man who is incapable of being amused." The king, who sometimes teased her with his ill-humor, endeavored to atone for this by proofs of es