ei 



MAITTAIRE, MICHAEL. 



MALACHI. 



62 



and keeper of the manuscripts at Lambeth an office for which he was 

 eminently qualified by his very unusual acquaintance with early and 

 mediaeval literature, and with general bibliography. This office he 

 held till the Archbishop's death in 1S4S, and besides his service in 

 rendering the collection of books more complete and available, he ren 

 dered a special service to literary men and students of early English 

 literature by preparing and publishing a valuable ' Index of 'such 

 English Books printed before the year 1600 as are now in the Archi- 

 episcopal Library at Lambeth ; ' and a ' List of some of the Early 

 Printed Books in the Archiepiscopal Library at Lambeth which was 

 printed (8vo, 1843) but not published. 



But it is as an essay writer and controversialist that Dr. Maitland 

 has chiefly distinguished himself. His writings all turn more or lea? 

 directly on theology and theological history and literature ; and upon 

 every subject he has treated he has brought to bear extensive erudi- 

 tion much of it of a kind little cultivated a shrewd appreciation of 

 the exact point for investigation, great power of reasoning, and precision 

 and perspicuity of statement, and a style which, though thoroughly 

 original, in its directness of purpose, masculine strength and sim- 

 plicity, wit and polish, and occasionally trenchant treatment of an oppo- 

 nent, not seldom reminds the reader of Robert South. Dr. Maitland's 

 works may be perhaps arranged conveniently for the purpose of this 

 notice under three or four classes. First, there are those of which 

 the type is his best known work' The Dark Ages : being a series of 

 Kssays intended to illustrate the state of Religion and Literature in 

 the 9th, 10th, llth, and 12th centuries,' 1 vol. 8vo, 1844, of which a 

 third edition has recently appeared. Of this work the purpose is " to 

 famish some materials towards forming a right judgment of the real 

 rtate of learning, knowledge, and literature during the dark ages " 

 in other words, to show that the darkness has been very much ex- 

 aggerated ; and in the course of the argument Robertson, Henry, 

 Warton, and some other popular historians are subjected to a some- 

 what severe trial. ' Facts and Documents illustrative of the History, 

 Doctrines, and Rites of the Ancient Albigenses and Waldenses,' 1 vol. 

 8vo, and ' Essays on Subjects connected with the Reformation in 

 England,' 1 vol. 8vo, do for those particular people and periods of 

 ecclesiastical history pretty much what the ' Dark Ages ' were intended 

 to accomplish for the more general theme : to point out, that is, the 

 way in which the ordinary historians have, without fresh inquiry, 

 followed each other in the recital of circumstances and assumptions 

 which will not bear the test of comparison with the original contem- 

 porary evidence, and the conclusions of legitimate reasoning. These 

 last two works gave rise to much angry controversy, but Dr. Mait- 

 land supported hia own views, and assaulted those of his adversaries in 

 several pungent ' Letters,' ' Notes,' and ' Reviews,' some of which 

 eventually grew into volumes. Of these it will be enough to name 

 bis ' Twelve Essays on Fox's Acts and Monuments,' ' Review of Fox's 

 HUtory of the Waldeuses," ' Some Strictures on Mr. Faber's recent 

 work, entitled " The Ancient Vallenses and Albigenses," ' ' Notes on 

 the Contributions of the Rev. George Townsend, M.A., to the New 

 Edition of Fox's Martyrology,' ' Strictures on Milner's " Church 

 History," ' tc. These various publications contain a vast amount of 

 mediaeval lore, and exhibit a singularly intimate acquaintance with 

 the period of the Reformation, and that immediately preceding and 

 following it, and they are everywhere full of matter and animated 

 with humour and sarcasm. In many instances Dr. Maitland will 

 probably fail in convincing his readers that he is right, and the 

 ordinary historian wrong in opinion; but many new readings of events 

 which are now quietly accepted and repeated by popular writers 

 often without a hint of whence they were obtained were first started 

 in the Essays or Letters of Dr. Maitland. 



Another clan of Dr. Maitland's works refers to the explanations 

 published of the Apocalyptic and prophetic millenium : such are 

 An Enquiry into the Grounds on which the Prophetic Period of 

 Daniel and St. John has been supposed to consist of 1260 Years ;' ' A 

 Second Enquiry,' &c. While another larger and more miscellaneous 

 clam is devoted to the investigation of various current opinions in 

 theology and morals ; and some of these volumes and essays are among 

 the most learned and elaborate which have fallen from his pen the 

 learning being quite out of the common course, and handled by a writer 

 who is free from any appearance of pedantry : ' Eruvin, or Miscel- 

 laneous Essays on Subjects connected with the Nature, History, and 

 Destiny of Man,' sm. Svo, 1 860 (some of the subjects being ' The Nature 

 and Objects of Revelation,' ' Man before the Fall,' ' Satan,' ' Modern 

 Miracles,' &c.) ; ' Eight Essays on Various Subjects,' Svo, 1852 (inclu'l 

 ing the 'Mystical Interpretation of Scripture,' 'Sacred Art,' 'Realism 

 in Modern Art,' &c.) ; 'Illustrations and Enquiries relating to Mes- 

 merism;' 'Superstition and Science: an Essay,' sm. Svo; 'The Voluntary 

 System,' >m. Svo, a work which has gone through several editions ; 

 'False Worship : an Essay,' sm. Svo; and several pamphlets on ' The 

 Translation of Bishops," ' Convocation," 'Tract No. 89 ; ' &c. 



MAITTAIKK, MICHAEL, was born in France, 1683, of Protestant 

 parent, who settled in England at the revocation of the Edict of 

 Nantes. Maittaire was educated at Westminster School under Dr. 

 Bunby, and obtained at Oxford, whither he afterwards went, a warm 

 friend and patron in Dr. South. He took his degree of M.A. in 1696, 

 and from 1695 to 1699 discharged the duties of second master in 

 Westminster School In 1699 he resigned that appointment, and 



devoted the remainder of his life to literary pursuits. He died on the 

 4th of August 1747. 



Maittaire was a learned and laborious scholar. He edited many of 

 the classical authors, with useful indexes, and also wrote several works, 

 of which the most important are ' De Grseese Linguie Dialectis," 

 London, 1706, 1742 (the best edition is by Sturz, Leip., 1807) ; 

 ' Stephanorum Historia vitas ipsorum ac libros complectens,' Lend., 

 1709; 'Historia Typographorum aliquot Parisiemium vitas et libros 

 complectens,' Lond., 1717; 'Anuales Typographic! ab artis invents 

 origine ad annum 1557 (cum Appendice ad annum 1664 ),' Amst. and 

 Lond., 1719-1741 ; ' Marmora Oxoniensa," Lond., 1732. 



MAJOR, or MAIR, JOHN, was born at the village of Cleghorn, 

 near North Berwick, in East Lothian, about the year 1470. He 

 appears to have studied for a short time both at Oxford and Cam- 

 bridge, but he always regarded the University of Paris as his true 

 alma mater, whither he proceeded in 1493, and where he attached 

 himself successively to the colleges of St. Barbe, of Montaigu, and of 

 Navarre. Having been made a doctor of the Sorbonne in 1505, he 

 betook himself to the teaching of the scholastic philosophy, or divinity, 

 in the college of Montaigu, and in this department soon came to be 

 reputed one of the most distinguished ornaments of the university. 

 Major's scholastic writings indeed have been rated by Dupin and others 

 in later times as the ablest that have come down to us from that age. 

 In 1519 he returned to his native country, and officiated for some 

 time as one of the regents or masters in St. Salvator's College, St. 

 Andrews; but a dispute with some of his colleagues soon induced 

 him to go back to Paria, and there he remained till 1530, when he was 

 induced once more to transfer himself to St. Andrews, which ho 

 never afterwards left. He became eventually provost or principal 

 of St. Salvator's College, and appears to have died in that office 

 about 1550. 



Major's works are all in Latin, and the principal are Commentaries 

 on the Four Books of Sentences, some theological expositions and 

 commentaries on parts of the Scripture, and his History of Scotland, 

 entitled ' De Historia Gentis Scotorum, seu Historia Majoris Britannia;,' 

 first printed in 4to, at Paris, in 1521. The style of all his writings is 

 careless and inelegant to barbarism ; but his ' History ' appears to have 

 the merit of being a faithful chronicle of events, so far as he knew 

 them. It is however as little marked by any spirit of critical or pro- 

 found research as by classical purity of diction. Both this and some 

 of his philosophical writings are remarkable for a freedom of senti- 

 ment upon points both of civil and ecclesiastical government, which 

 he is believed to have derived from his teachers Jean Gerson and 

 Pierre d'Ailly, and to have communicated to his famous pupils 

 Buchanan and Knox. Dr. M'Crie, in his ' Life of Knox,' Edinb., 

 1813 (vol. i., p. 345), has given some extracts from Major's works, 

 which evince the liberal complexion of his opinions. The well-known 

 epigram of Buchanan however, in which he designates him "Solo 

 cognomine Major," testifies that the great scholar and wit had no very 

 high opinion of the intellectual endowments of his old master. 



MAKKIZI (or, with his full name, TAKKI-EDDIN ABU-MOHAMMED 

 ABCL-ABBAS AHMED ALHAKRIZI), a celebrated Arabic writer, was born 

 at Cairo between 1358 and 1368. His family originally lived in one 

 of the suburbs of Baalbec, called Makriz, whence he derived the sur- 

 name by which he is usually known. We have very few particulars 

 of his life ; but it appears that he resided at Cairo during the greater 

 part if not the whole of his life, that he discharged at different times 

 the duties of several public offices, and that he died at an advanced 

 age in 1442. 



Makrizi wrote several historical works, of which copious extracts are 

 given in De Sacy's Arabic Chrestomathy. Tha most important of 

 these works is his ' Description of Egypt,' which gives an account of 

 the history of the country from its conquest by the Mohammedans, as 

 well as a description of its natural history and antiquities, and of the 

 manners and customs of the inhabitants. De Sacy, in his notes added 

 to his translation of Abd-Allatif, published under the title of ' Relation 

 de 1'Egypte,' Paris, 1810, has made many interesting quotations from 

 the work of Makrizi. 



The only works of Makrizi which have been printed are, as far as 

 we are aware ' Historia Monetso Arabicie,' in Arabic and Latin, by 

 Tychsen, Rostock, 1797, of which a French translation, much superior 

 to the Latin one by Tychsen, was published by De Sacy, under the 

 title of 'Traite' des Monnoies Musulmanea,' Paris, 1797 ; ' An Account 

 of the Mohammedan Princes in Abyssinia," by Rink, Leyd., 1797; 

 'Narratio de Expeditionibus a Qrsecis Francisque adversus Dimya- 

 tham ab A.c. 708 ad 1221 susceptis," in Arabic and Latin, by Hamakor, 

 Amst., 1824; 'Historia Coptorum Christianorum in yEgypto,' Arabic 

 and Latin, by Wetzer, 1823, and with notes by F. Wustenfeld, Gb'tt., 

 1845; 'Histoire des Sultans Mamlouks de 1'Egypte: Traduite en 

 Fran^ais par M. Quatremere," torn. i. and ii., 4to, 1837 ; ' Ueb r die 

 in -lEgypten eingewanderten arabischen Stiimme," Arabic and German, 

 by F. Wuitenfeld, Svo, Gb'tt. 1848. 



MA'LACHI, the last of the twelve minor Hebrew prophets. So 

 completely are we ignorant of the personal history of this prophet, 

 that it has been doubted whether Mulachi is the name of a person, 

 or only a title (' my messenger ') descriptive of the prophetic office. 

 In the absence of any positive proof of the latter supposition, the 

 former must be adopted as the more natural. Many of those who 



