MA II OONS MARQUESAS. 



(i93 



early as the sixth century. Another monk, John 

 M.iro, or Maruin, also preached Monothelitism there 

 in the seventh century. Regarded as rebels by the 

 Melchites, or Christians who adhered to the opinions 

 of the emperor, they became, in the country of Le- 

 banon, which is now called Kesrttuti, a warlike 

 mountain people, who defended their political as well 

 as their religious independence boldly against the 

 Mohammedans, and who, even now, under the Turk- 

 ish government, resist the payment of a tribute, like 

 the Druses. The political constitution of the Maron- 

 ites is that of a military commonwealth. Governed 

 by their ancient customary rights, defended from ex- 

 ternal attacks, they support themselves, among the 

 mountains, by husbandry and the produce of their 

 vineyards and mulberry-trees. A common spirit 

 unites them. In simplicity of manners, temperance, 

 and hospitality, they resemble the ancient Arabians. 

 Revenge for murder is permitted among them, and, 

 as a sign of nobility, they wear the green turban. 

 Their church constitution resembles very much that 

 of the old Greek church. Since the twelfth century, 

 they have several times submitted to the pope, and 

 joined the Roman Catholic church, without giving 

 up their own peculiarities. At last, Clement XII. 

 induced them to accept the decrees of the council of 

 Trent, at a synod held in 1736, at their convent of 

 Marhanna. Till that time, they had received the 

 sacrament under both forms. After this synod, their 

 priests still retained the right to marry, after the 

 manner of the Greek church. The use of the Arabic 

 language was preserved in the church service. Mass, 

 only, was read in the ancient Syriac. Their head is 

 called the patriarch of Antioch, although his resi- 

 dence is in the monastery of Kanobin, upon mount 

 Lebanon, and he gives an account, every ten years, 

 to the pope, of the condition of the Maronite church. 

 Under him are the bishops and other clergymen, who 

 form seven degrees of rank. ' In Kesruan are over 

 200 Maronite convents and nunneries, which profess 

 the rule of St Antony, and devote themselves to agri- 

 culture and gardening. Since 1548, there has been 

 a Maronite college established at Rome, for the edu- 

 cation of clergymen ; yet neither this establishment, 

 nor the mission of papal nuncios, has effected an en- 

 tire incorporation of this sect with the Romish church; 

 and those in Kesruan, as well as the large numbers 

 in Aleppo, Damascus, Tripoli, and in Cyprus, still 

 retain their ancient habits, and some even their an- 

 cient liturgy. 



MAROONS ; the name given to revolted negroes 

 in the West Indies and in some parts of South Ame- 

 rica. The appellation is supposed to be derived from 

 Marony, a river separating Dutch and French Guiana, 

 where large numbers of these fugitives resided. In 

 many cases, by taking to the forests and mountains, 

 they have rendered themselves formidable to the colo- 

 nies, and sustained a long and brave resistance 

 against the whites. When Jamaica was conquered 

 by the English, in 1655, about 1500 slaves retreated 

 to the mountains, and were called Maroons. They 

 continued to harass the island till the end of the last 

 century, when they were reduced by the aid of blood- 

 hounds. See Dallas's History of the Maroons. 



MAROT, CLEMENT, a French epigrammatist and 

 writer of light lyrical pieces, from whom the French 

 date the beginning of their poetry, born at Cahors, 

 1505, went to Paris as page of Margaret of France, 

 duchess of Alemjon, whose brother Francis I., he 

 afterwards accompanied to the Netherlands. His 

 amour with the beautiful Diana of Poitiers is well 

 known. In 1525, having followed the king to Italy, 

 he was wounded and made prisoner in the battle of 

 Pa via. After his return to Paris, he was suspected 

 of being favourable to Calvinism, and was thrown 



into prison. His time, during his confinement, was 

 spent in preparing a modernized edition of the Ro- 

 mance of the Rose, and the king finally set him at 

 liberty. His connexion with Margaret, now queen 

 of Navarre, with whom he had quarrelled, was re- 

 newed, but could not protect him from new difficul- 

 ties on account of his religious sentiments, and he 

 fled to Italy, and thence to Geneva (1543), where 

 Calvin succeeded in making him a proselyte to the 

 new doctrines. He soon recanted his profession of 

 faith, returned to Paris, and, not long after, again 

 fled to Turin, where he died in 1544. Marot had an 

 agreeable and fertile fancy, a lively wit, with a cer- 

 tain levity of character. All his poems, even his 

 translation of the Psalms, made in conjunction with 

 Beza, and for a long time used in the Protestant 

 churches in France, are in an epigrammatic manner. 

 Nature and naivete are the characteristics of his 

 style, called, by the French, style Marotiqne. His 

 works have been repeatedly printed, with those of his 

 father, John, and his son, Michael. They appeared by 

 themselves (Paris, 1824), with his life and a glossary. 



MARPURG, FREDERIC WILLIAM, a German 

 musician of eminence, born at Seehausen, in the 

 Prussian dominions, in 1718. He passed some por- 

 tion of his youthful years in the French metropolis, 

 and, on his return to his native country, acted in the 

 capacity of secretary to one of the ministers at Ber- 

 lin, in which capital he was afterwards placed by the 

 government at the head of the lottery department. 

 He was the author of many valuable works con- 

 nected with the science of music, especially of a his- 

 tory of the organ from the earliest antiquity, replete 

 with information, but which he unfortunately did not 

 live entirely to complete. Among his numerous 

 writings are the Art of Playing on the Harpsichord ; 

 a Treatise on Fugue (Berlin), considered by K oil- 

 man to be the most profound and masterly work of 

 the kind in the German language ; Historical and 

 Critical Memoirs to promote the Study of Musical 

 History, a periodical work, filling five octavo vol- 

 umes ; a Manuel of Thorough Bass and Composi- 

 tion ; Elements of the Theory of Music ; Introduc- 

 tion to the Art of Singing; Introduction to the 

 History and Principles of Ancient and Modern 

 Music ; Critical Letters on Music (2 vols.) ; Essay 

 on Musical Temperament; besides a vast number 

 of single songs, odes, &c. His death took place at 

 Berlin, from a consumption, in 1795. 



MARQUE, LETTER OF. See Letter of Mart. 



MARQUESAS, MARQUIS OF MENDOZA'S 

 ISLANDS, cr MENDOCA ISLANDS; a cluster 

 of five islands in the South Pacific ocean, first dis- 

 covered by Mendoc, a Spaniard, in 1597, and visited 

 by captain Cook, in 1774. The trees, plants, and 

 other productions of these isles, are nearly the same 

 as at Otaheite .and the Society isles. The refresh- 

 ments to be got are hogs, fowls, plantains, yams, 

 and some other roots ; likewise bread fruit and 

 cocoa-nuts ; but of these not many. The inhabitants 

 are the finest race of people in this sea. The affinity 

 of their language to that spoken in Otaheite and the 

 Society isles, shows that they are of the same 

 nation. The men are punctured or tattooed from 

 head to foot. Lieutenant Paulding, in his account 

 of the cruise of the United States' schooner Dolphin 

 among the islands of the Pacific ocean (New York, 

 1831), says, "The men of the Marquesas were in 

 general quite naked ; but few ornaments were worn 

 by either sex. A few were tattooed all over ; others 

 but slightly. Some had pricked into their flesh, fish, 

 birds, and beasts, of all kinds known to them. 

 Others were tattooed black, even to the inner part 

 of their lips. There are men who pursue tattooing 

 as a regular business. The men are finely formed, 



