37 



M'CRIE, THOMAa 



MADDEN, SIR FREDERICK. 



S8 



completed the representation of all his principal characters, and took a 

 final farewell of the stage. A complimentary dinner was given to him 

 on this occasion at the Hall of Commerce in London, with Sir E. 

 Bulwer Ljtton in the chair, which was attended by nearly all the most 

 eminent men connected with literature and art. Since his retirement 

 Mr. Macready has lived at Sherbourne House, Sherbourne, Dorset- 

 shire. His active mind and cultivated taste have been there employed 

 for the promotion of the moral and intellectual advancement of his 

 neighbours, and the Mechanics' Institute and other literary institutions 

 have derived an inestimable benefit from his own lectures, and from 

 other modes in which he has given his support to popular education. 



M'CRIE, THOMAS, a writer on ecclesiastical history and polemics, 

 was born at Dunse in Berwickshire, in November 1772. His father 

 was a petty manufacturer and trader, who had by his industry and 

 economy been enabled to purchase a small estate, and spend his old 

 age in quiet independence. " Dr. M'Crie's parents," says his biographer, 

 " being connected with that branch of the secession usually termed 

 Anti-Burghers, he was brought up under the ministry of the Rev. Mr. 

 Whyte, at a period when the primitive strictness of that communion 

 was retained in a measure which is now wholly unknown. In these 

 circumstances he received that thoroughly religious education, of the 

 importance of which he was ever afterwards so strenuous an advocate, 

 and of the success of which he was himself a striking example." 

 Having received the rudiments of education at the parish school of his 

 native place, he afterwards studied at the University of Edinburgh, 

 which he entered in 1788. Contemporaneously with his academical 

 studies, he occupied himself in teaching younger lads, an employment 

 for which he seems to have been well qualified. In 1791 he commenced 

 his peculiarly theological studies. In 1795 he was licensed as a clergy- 

 man by the Associate presbytery of Kelso, and he was immediately 

 afterwards chosen pastor of a congregation of the same body in Edin- 

 burgh. In the earlier period of his ministry he entered warmly into 

 those discussions naturally prevalent among bodies who have BO many 

 points of repulsion from each other as the small Presbyterian sects 

 which had sprung from the Church of Scotland. He soou commenced 

 however the important task of studying, for the purpose of some 

 undefined literary projects, the early history of the Presbyterian Church 

 in its connection with its most remarkable champions. The body to 

 which he belonged followed a rule of Presbyterian discipline, from the 

 strict tenor of which they maintained that the established church had 

 diverged ; and, recurring perpetually to the conduct of the fathers of 

 Presbyterianism, it was likely that any member of this body with 

 sufficient talent would be the most zealous biographer of these primi- 

 tive worthies. In 1812 he published 'The Life of John Knox.' 

 Scholarship or literary ability were qualities which the clergy of Ms 

 sect, consisting almost entirely of the humbler members of society, 

 were not expected to display ; and this first attempt, which showed 

 both qualities in an eminent degree, accompanied by much patient 

 research, was looked on as a literary phenomenon. In 1813 he received 

 the degree of D.D. from the University of Edinburgh, previous to the 

 appearance of the second edition of his work. It has since passed 

 through several editions, and, while it is very popular with the 

 uneducated classes in Scotland, is highly esteemed by historical 

 students. In 1819 he published a work of still more extensive and 

 curious research, ' The Life of Andrew Melville,' a celebrated champion 

 of Presbyterianism in the reign of James VI. of Scotland. The indefa- 

 tigable minuteness of the researches connected witu this volume had 

 the effect of resuscitating from the most obscure materials records of 

 births, marriages, and deaths, ecclesiastical and proprietary registers, 

 and like sources the circumstances connected with the lives-of some 

 interesting men who in the stir and bustle of their own active age had 

 f:ul>-'l to find commentators. The partisan zeal with which these 

 works were undertaken is not their least remarkable feature, and 

 obtained from Mr. Hallam the apt designation of ' Presbyterian Hil- 

 debrandism.' There is no doubt of the accuracy with which Dr. 

 M'Crie stated facts and cited authorities, and that he was thoroughly 

 hoi. cat; but from the beginning to the end each work is a piece of 

 industrious and acute special pleading, and the reader whose position 

 enables him to take an impartial view of the characters discussed in 

 them sees plainly that he knows what portions may be favourably 

 dwelt upon, and what should bu hastily passed over, if not omitted, 

 llii palliations and vindications are singularly ingenious; and amid all 

 the rude morality and savage acts of the turbulent periods of which 

 he gives the history, he vindicates his own heroes from all follies as 

 wejl as from all vices; even the destruction of the Scottish ecclesiastical 

 buildings has its meed of praise. Written in such a spirit, and being 

 works of genuine learning and research, they are very popular with 

 the ultra-Presbyterian party in Scotland. In a similar spirit he wrote 

 a review of ' UM Mortality' in the ' Edinburgh Christian Instructor,' 

 to controvert Sir W. Scott's representation of the character of the 

 Covenant- rs, tlic ability of which was acknowledged by Scott himself. 

 Ti.e author led a blameless simple life, on a small salary, which, with 

 the free use of the valuable public libraries in Edinburgh, content -d 

 U< unmerccnary disposition. He died on the 5th of August 1835, 

 deeply lamented by the members of his congregation and a wide circle 

 of private friends. (Life of Thomat U'Crie, D.D., by his son, the iiev. 

 Tuoinas M'Crie, 1S4U.) 



MACUI'S US, OPl'LIUS, a native of Mauritania, was prtcfect of the 



prsetorium under Antoninus Caracalla, whom he accompanied in his 

 expedition against the Parthians, and caused to be murdered on the 

 march. [CARACALLA.] Macrinus was immediately proclaimed emperor 

 by the army,A.D. 217, and his son Diadumenianus, who was at Antioch, 

 was proclaimed Caoaar ; both elections were confirmed by the senate. 

 Macrinus, after a battle with the Parthians near Nisibis, concluded 

 peace with them. On his return to Antioch, he reformed many abuses 

 introduced by Caracalla. But his excessive severity displeased the 

 soldiers, and an insurrection, excited by Mcesa, the aunt of Caracalla, 

 broke out against Macrinus, who, being defeated near Antioch, fled as 

 far as Calchedon, where he was arrested and put to death in 218, after 

 a reign of about fourteen months. He was succeeded by Elegabalus. 



MACRO'BIUS, AMBRO'SIUS AURE'LIUS THEODO'SIUS, pro- 

 bably lived about the middle of the 5th century of the Christian era. 

 We possess hardly any particulars of his life ; he is generally supposed 

 to be the person who is mentioned in the 'Cod. Theod.,' vi. 8, as 

 " chamberlain of the royal bed-chamber " (" sacri cubiculi prsofectus "), 

 during the reigns of Honorius and Theodosius the younger, but this 

 does not appear certain. It has also been disputed whether he was a 

 Christian or a pagan ; it has been supposed, from his occupying so 

 high a rank at the court of a Christian emperor, that he must have 

 belonged to the Christian religion ; but this opinion seems quite at 

 variance with the whole scope and tenor of his writings. The place of 

 his birth is uncertain ; but he informs us himself, in his preface to the 

 ' Saturnalia,' that the Latin language was not his mother-tongue. 



Three works of Macrobius have come down to us ; a commentary on 

 the ' Somnium Scipionis ' in the sixth book of Cicero's ' Republic ;' 

 'Dialogues' which were supposed to have taken place during the 

 Saturnalia at the house of Vettius ; and a ' Treatise on the Latin and 

 Greek Verb,' which however is imperfect. 



The commentary on the ' Somnium Scipionis,' which is divided into 

 two books, is addressed to his son Eustathius. It is principally 

 occupied with the opinions of the later Platouists respecting the laws 

 which govern the earth and the universe. There is a Greek version of 

 this commentary by Maximus Planudes, in the king's library at Paris. 



The 'Saturnalia* is however the most important and interesting of 

 the works of Macrobius. Although written in very bad Latin, and 

 full of trifling absurdities, it contains much valuable information on 

 many subjects relating to antiquity. It is divided into seven books ; 

 the first contains a discussion on the origin of the Saturnalia and the 

 principal Roman festivals, and on the character and history of several 

 of the Roman deities : the second is of a more discursive nature ; it 

 unfolds at great length the whole art and mystery of joking according 

 to the Roman notions, and relates some of the best jests of Cicero, 

 Augustus, and other celebrated Romans, which however would scarcely 

 excite a smile in modern society ; it also gives a long account, among 

 other things, of the luxury of the Romans, and contains a particular 

 description of their favourite dishes. The third, fourth, fifth, and 

 sixth books are occupied with an examination of Virgil's poems, in 

 in which a list is given of the principal passages which he imitated or 

 copied from the Greek or preceding Latin poets ; and the seventh is 

 principally occupied with a discussion respecting the different kinda of 

 food, and their effect on the human system. 



MADDEN, SIR FREDERICK, an eminent antiquarian writer 

 and one of the principal officers of the British Museum, is the seventh 

 son of Captain Madden of the Rojal Marines, and was born at Ports- 

 mouth in 1801. About 1825 he was engaged to assist Mr. Roscoe, 

 then past his seventieth year, in the compilation of the catalogue of 

 manuscripts at Holkham, which had descended to the late Earl of 

 Leicester from a more literary predecessor in the title. He not only 

 described the works in the collection which had not been examined 

 by Mr. Roscoe, but added so many notes to the portion of the 

 catalogue already made by that gentleman, that the whole work 

 would, if printed, have occupied five or six quarto volumes, and the 

 intention of printing it was therefore, at Mr. Roscoe's suggestion, 

 relinquished. In 1826 Mr. Madden entered the service of the British 

 Museum, to assist in the compilation of the classed catalogue of the 

 printed books which was then in progress; in 182S he was made 

 assistant-keeper of the department of manuscripts ; and, in 1837, on 

 the appointment of the Rev. Joaiah Forshall, then keeper of the 

 department, to the post of secretary, he succeeded to the keeperahip. 

 In his evidence before the Royal Commission to enquire into the 

 Museum in 1848, Sir Frederick stated that in January 1S37 the 

 number of manuscripts in the Museum, exclusive of charters and 

 other similar documents, was 23,900, and that in May 1848, the time 

 at which he spoke, it was 32,000. " The number of manuscripts 

 acquired since 1827 is very great," says Dr. Pertz, the head of the 

 Berliu Royal Library (in Pertz's 'Archiv,' voL ix.), " the establishment 

 obtains information of every important sale on the Continent, and it is 

 easy to foresee that if affairs continue in their present course every im- 

 portant manuscript in Europe, that is not already locked up in fixed 

 collections or does not become so, will in the course of another 

 century become the property of the British Museum." The date 

 which Dr. Pertz assigns for the commencement of this remarkable 

 activity in the progress of the collection, is, it will be observed, 1827, 

 which is that of the appointment to the keepership of Mr. Forshall, 

 Sir Frederick's predecessor. Sir Frederick was made a knight of the 

 Hanoverian order by King Williaai IV. in 1832. He has been twico 



