121 



MARSTON, JOHN. 



MARTIN, JOHN. 



132 



his death. Ho afterwards served in Hungary as a volunteer in the 

 imperial army against the Turks, was raised to the rank of captain, 

 and was wounded and taken prisoner at the battle of Raab, in 1683. 

 He was sold as a {slave, and, after suffering considerable hardships, 

 was ransomed by his family. He was then employed by the Emperor 

 Leopold I. as an engineer, to settle the boundary-line of the Austrian 

 dominions on the side of Turkey, agreeably to the treaty of peace 

 between the two empires. When the war of the Spanish succession 

 broke out, Marsigli, who was already a general, was actively employed, 

 and he found himself in command of the garrison of Brisach, of 

 which town the Count d'Arco was political governor. Brisach sur- 

 rendered to the French thirteen days after they had opened the 

 trenches. The aulic council of Vienna highly disapproved of the 

 surrender, and Maraigli was publicly sentenced to be cashiered. He 

 tried every means to have the sentence revoked, but in vain. He 

 wrote and published a memoir in his defence, which is said to have 

 appeared perfectly fatisfactory to competent judges, and among others 

 to Marshal Vauban. From that time he devoted himself to study ; 

 he travelled in France, was numbered among the members of the 

 Academy of Sciences at Paris, and at last returned to his native town, 

 Bologna, to which in 1712 he made a donation of his scientific collec- 

 tions, which were placed by the senate of Bologna in a building allotted 

 for the purpose, and called the Institute of Sciences and Arts. In 

 1726 Marsigli published his great work on the Danube, ' Danubius 

 Pannonico-Mysicus, Observationibus Geographicis, Astronomicis, Hy- 

 drographicis, Historicis, Physicis, perlustratus ab Aloysio Ferdinando 

 Coruite Marsili, socio R. Societatum Parisiensis, Londinensis,' etc. 

 (Amsterdam, 7 vols. folio, with handsome plates). The first volume 

 treats of the geography of Hungary, Servia, and other countries border- 

 ing on the central Danube ; the second, of the ancient monuments in 

 the same; the third, of the geology; the fourth, fifth, and sixth, of 

 the ichthyology, zoology, and ornithology; and the last contains a 

 catalogue of the plants, and treats of the nature and properties of 

 the waters of the Danube and its great affluent the Thciss. 



MARSTON, JOHN, a dramatist in the reigns of Elizabeth and 

 James I., the particulars of whose life, and even the exact times of 

 whose birth and death, are, like those of many of his contemporary 

 poets, very uncertain. On the testimony of Wood, he seems to have 

 been a student at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. At one time ho 

 appears to have been intimate with Ben Jouson, if we may judge 

 from his dedication to that poet of the ' Malecontent ; ' but from the 

 epistle to the reader, prefixed to his ' Sophouisba,' it seems that his 

 friendship subsequently ceased, as that epistle contains severe stric- 

 tures on Jouson for his use of passages from classical authors in his 

 tragedies of ' Sejanus ' and ' Catiline.' 



Marstou left several plays, of which the following have been printed 

 separately : ' Antonio and Mellido,' ' Antonio's Revenge,' ' Dutch 

 Courtezan,' ' lusatiate Countess,' 'Malecontent,' ' Parasitaster,' 'Sopho- 

 niaba,' ' Tamerlane the Great,' and ' What you Will.' Of these the 

 4 Maleconteut,' an excellent play, abounding in causticity, and embel- 

 lished with the most forcible poetic expressions, is printed iu 

 Dodsley's Collection. It appears however from the title-page of the 

 first edition (1604) that this piece was written by Webster, and only 

 altered by Marstou. He also left some miscellaneous poetical works, 

 collected and edited by Mr. Bowie in 1764; and ho assisted Ben 

 Jonaou and Chapman in the composition of ' Eastward Hoe,' a play 

 which is iu Dodsley's Collection. 



MARTEL, CHARLES. [CHABLES MAKTEL.] 



MARTIA'LIS, MARCUS VALE'RIUS, was a native of Bilbilis in 

 Spain, where he wag born on the Caleuds of March, about the year 

 40. Very few particulars of his life are ascertained, and even these 

 are principally collected from his own writings. He went to Rome 

 at an early age, and passed about thirty-five years of hia life in that 

 city. He left Rome probably about the commencement of Trajan's 

 reign, and retired to his native town. The emperor Titus appears to 

 have been his first imperial patron. Domitian, the successor of Titus, 

 gave him the 'jus triuiu liberorum," and conferred on him the dignity 

 of tribune (' Epig.,' ii. 91 ; iii. 95), for which and other favours the 

 grateful poet made a most abundant return of flattery. Some critics 

 have supposed that the author was married, and had a wife Marcella 

 (xii. 21, 31) ; but the conclusion to bo drawn from his writings is on 

 tbo whole the other way. . Martial was acquainted with most of his 

 literary contemporaries, Juvenal, Quintilian, Pliny the younger, and 

 othen, as appears from his awn writings (ii. 90; xii. 18, &c.) 



There arc extant of Martial fourteen books, entitled, ' Epigrammata,' 

 of which ttie thirteenth also bears the particular name of Xeniii, and 

 the fourteenth that of Apophorctn. A book called ' Spcctaculorum 

 Liber,' which is prefixed to the ' Epigrams,' contains a number of 

 >mall poems on the shows of Titus and Domitian, and, as some critics 

 suppose, may not be altogether the work of Martial. Tho whole 

 collection contains above 1500 epigrams. 



Many of the epigrams of Martial belong to that class of composi- 

 tions which are now known by the name of epigrams, and may be 

 considered as, the prototype of that species of composition : they are 

 short pieces, varying iu length from two lines to four, six, or more, 

 tho point of which is generally contained in the last line. Like 

 modern compositions of the kind, the thought is often forced and 

 laboured, ami tho whole meaning sometimes obscure. Other of his 



compositions belong to that class more properly called epigrams, accord- 

 ing to the original signification of the word, and are often characterised 

 by great felicity of expression : they are on a great variety of subjects, 

 and contain much matter that needs and requires comment. There 

 ia perhaps no Roman writer extant whose works, if well studied, 

 would be so useful as Martial in illustrating the period in which he 

 lived. Martial's description of hia native Bilbilis and the river Salo 

 (Xalon) which flows by it, and several other pieces, show a taste for a 

 country life, and a poetic vein hardly inferior to that of Horace 

 (i. 50, &c.). The twelfth book of hia ' Epigrams ' was published after 

 his return to Bilbilis (xii. 3). Many of the epigrams of Martial are 

 as gross and obscene aa thought and expression can rnako them ; as 

 to which it may be sufficient to remark that the manners of his age 

 did not forbid the publication of obscene poetry, and that in thia 

 respect Martial was no worse than many of his contemporaries. In 

 the Delphin edition the most obscene epigrams have been carefully 

 selected and placed together at the end of the work, for reasons 

 which, as there given, do not appear very satisfactory. 



The editions and translations of Martial are very numerous : the 

 beat recent edition is perhaps that of Schneidewinn, Grem., 1342. 

 There are several English translations of selections from Martial ; the 

 latest complete version, so far as we know, is that by James Elphiu- 

 stone, London, 1782. 



MARTI N I., a Tuscan by birth, succeeded Theodore I. in the see of 

 Rome in 649. He held a council of Italian bishops in the Lateraa 

 church, in which the Monothelites were condemned. The Emperor 

 Constans II., who favoured the Monothelites, gave orders to the exarch 

 of Ravenna to seize the person of the pope. Martin was taken to 

 Constantinople, where a judicial inquiry was instituted against him 

 for disobedience to the emperor, and he was banished to the Thracian 

 Chersonesus, where he died in 655. He was succeeded by Eugenius I. 



MARTIN II., called by some Mariuus I., succeeded John VIII. iu 

 882, and died in 884. He was succeeded by Adrian III. 



MARTIN III., called by some Marinus II., a Roman by birth, suc- 

 ceeded Stephen VIII. iu 942. He died in 946, and was succeeded by 

 Agapitus II. 



MARTIN IV., CARDINAL SIMON DE BRIE, a native of France, suc- 

 ceeded Nicholas III. in the papal chair in 1281, through the influence 

 of Charles of Anjou, king of Sicily and Naples. The Sicilian Vespers 

 in 1282 having deprived Charles of Sicily, Martin excommunicated 

 Peter of Aragon, whom the Sicilians had elected king ; but his excom- 

 munication was of no more avail than the arms of tho Augeviua, for 

 the Sicilians stood firm against both. Martin excommunicated the 

 Byzantine emperor Michael, by which he widened the breach between 

 the Greek and Latin churches. He died in 1285, and was succeeded 

 by Houorius IV. 



MARTI N V., CARDINAL OTHO COLONNA, of an illustrious Roman 

 family, was chosen by the Council of Constance, after the deposition 

 of John XXIII. and of tho two anttpopes Gregory and Benedict. 

 Martin closed the Council of Constance in April 14 17 without its having 

 effected the reforms in the Church which were expected from it by 

 Europe in general. Martin however promised to call together a new 

 council for the purpose, which after much delay met first at Siena and 

 afterwards at Basel in Switzerland, whither tho pope sent his legato, 

 Cardinal Julian Ceaarini, in 1431. But Martin died Boon after, and 

 was succeeded by Eugenius IV. 



MARTIN, JOHN, was born at a house called the Eastland Ends, 

 Haydou Bridge, near Hexham, Northumberland, on tho 19th of July 

 1789. Hia early ambition being to become a painter, his father, as 

 the best way of turning his desire to profitable account, apprenticed 

 him to a coach-maker at Newcastle (where the family had removed) 

 to learn herald-painting. Here however he only remained a few 

 months; and, his indentures having been cancelled, he was then 

 placed with an Italian painter named Bonifacio Musso, the father of 

 Charles Muss, who acquired some distinction as an enamel paiutur. 

 With him young Martin removed to London in September 1806, and 

 soon after, not getting on very pleasantly in his master's family, took 

 lodgings for himself; and, as he relates in some autobiographical notes 

 contributed to the ' Atheuojum' (see 'Ath.' for 1854, p. 246, to which 

 we are indebted for the leading facts contained iu thia notice), "at this 

 time, by close application till two or three o'clock in the morning, 

 in the depth of winter, I obtained that knowledge of perspective and 

 architecture which has since been BO valuable to ine. I was, at 

 this time, during the day employed by Mr. C. Muss's firm painting on 

 china and glass, by which, and making water-colour drawings and 

 teaching, I supported myself : in fact, mine was a struggling artist's 

 life when I married, which I did at nineteen." 



His marriage stimulated him to a bolder course. He determined to 

 paint a large picture, and by a mouth's application produced in 

 1812 his first work, 'Sadak in search of the Waters of Oblivion.' 

 Before it left his hands his hopes received a severe blow : he " over- 

 heard the men who were to place it in the frame disputing aa to 

 which was the top of the picture." It was a mistake easy enough to 

 make; but once in the frame the top of the picture would not b:> 

 again in danger of being taken for the bottom. It found a pl;ice iu 

 the Royal Academy Exhibition, and, what was better, a purchaser for 

 60 guineas, in Mr. Manning, a bank director. He followed up his 

 success by sending to the British Institution an 'Expulsion from 



