MARYLAND MASIIAM. 



707 



but its quality is not good. The principal rivers are 

 the Potomac, which divides this state from Virginia; 

 Susquehanna, Patapsco, Elk, Sassafras, Chester, 

 Choptank, Nanticoke, and Pocomoke. The most 

 considerable export from this state is that of flour; 

 next to this is that of tobacco. The other exports 

 are principally of iron, Indian corn, pork, flax-seed 

 and beans. The trade of Maryland is principally 

 carried on from Baltimore with the other states, the 

 West Indies, and various parts of Europe. The 

 value of exports of domestic produce during the year 

 ending Sept., 1829, was 3,662,273 dollars. The 

 tonnage of vessels owned December 31, 1828, was 

 170.948. The tonnage of steam-boats, in 1827, was 

 2207. The most numerous denomination of Chris- 

 tians in Maryland is the Roman Catholic. There 

 are also many Presbyterians, Methodists, Episcopa- 

 lians, Baptists, and Friends, and several denomina- 

 tions having less numbers. The legislative power is 

 vested in a senate of fifteen members, and a house of 

 delegates, consisting of eighty members ; and these 

 two branches are styled the general assembly of 

 Maryland. The members of the house of delegates, 

 four from each county, are elected annually by the 

 people, on the first Monday in October ; and the 

 members of the senate are elected every fifth year, 

 on the third Monday in September at Annapolis, by 

 electors who are chosen by the people on the first 

 Monday of the same month. These electors choose 

 by ballot nine senators from the western shore, and 

 six from the Eastern, who hold their office for five 

 years. The executive power is vested in a governor, 

 who is elected annually on the first Monday in Jan- 

 uary, by a joint ballot of both houses of the general 

 assembly. No one can hold the office of governor 

 more than three years successively, nor be eligible 

 as governor until the expiration of four years after 

 he has been thrice elected. The governor is assisted 

 by a council of five members, who are chosen an- 

 nually by a joint ballot of the Senate and house of 

 delegates. The general assembly meets annually at 

 Annapolis, on the last Monday in December. The 

 council of the governor is elected on the first Tues- 

 day in January; the governor nominates to office, 

 and the council appoints. The constitution grants 

 the right of suffrage to every free white male citizen, 

 above twenty-one years of age, having resided twelve 

 months within the state, and six months in the county, 

 or in the city of Annapolis, or of Baltimore, next 

 preceding the election at which he offers to vote. 

 The state is divided into six judicial districts, for 

 each of which there are three judges. Each court is 

 constituted of one of the judges of the court of 

 appeals, and two associates. The chancellor and 

 judges are nominated by the governor, and appointed 

 by the council ; and they hold their offices during 

 good behaviour. The principal literary seminaries 

 of Maryland are the university of Maryland, St 

 Mary's college, Mt. St Mary's college and Balti- 

 more college in Baltimore, and St John's college at 

 Annapolis. There are several academies, which 

 receive 800 dollars a year from the state treasury. 

 A law in favour of primary schools was passed in 

 1825, and has been partially carried into effect in 

 two or three counties. The state has a school 

 fund of 75,000 dollars, together with a tax for the 

 same purpose on bank capital, of twenty cents on 

 every 100 dollars. 



Maryland was granted, in 1632, by Charles I. of 

 England, to Sir George Calvert, lord Baltimore, a 

 Roman Catholic, and an eminent statesman, who had 

 been secretary to James I.; but, before the patent 

 was completed, lord Baltimore died, and the patent 

 dated June 20, 1632, was given to his eldest son, 

 Cecilius, who succeeded to his titles, and who, for 



upwards of forty years, directed, tis proprietor, the 

 affairs of the colony. Leonard Calvert, brother of 

 Cecilius, lord Baltimore, was appointed the first 

 governor; and he, together with about 200 persons, 

 commenced the settlement of the town of St Mary's, 

 in 1634. A free toleration of religions was estab- 

 lished, and a system of equity and humanity was 

 practised with regard to the Indian tribes. The 

 state was named for Henrietta Maria, queen of 

 Charles I. After the colony of Maryland had estab- 

 lished its general assembly, even to the time of the 

 revolution, the right of appointing the governor, and 

 of approving or disapproving the acts of the assembly, 

 was retained by the family of lord Baltimore. The 

 constitution of Maryland was formed in 1776, but 

 many amendments have since been made. For fur- 

 ther information, see An Historical View of the 

 (Government of Maryland, from its Colonization to 

 the present Day (Baltimore, 1831). 



MASACCIO (properly Tommaso Guide); one of 

 the oldest painters of the Florentine school, to whom 

 the art of painting owes very much, is said to have 

 been born about 1402, at St Giovanni, in the Val 

 d'Arno. In the church del Carmine, at Florence, are 

 some excellent paintings of his, also at St Clemente, 

 in Rome, but in a bad state. Baldinucci has de- 

 scribed his life accurately, and corrected Vasari. 

 Both place Masaccio among the first painters, by 

 whom the harshness and difficulty of the art was 

 diminished, and life and expression given to it. 

 Annibal Caro composed an epitaph for him, in which 

 he says Buonarotti taught all other painters, and 

 learned from Masaccio alone. 



MASANIELLO. See Massaniello. 



MASCARET; the swell occasioned near the 

 mouth of a river by the influx of the tide from the 

 sea, counteracting its current, and thus forcing back 

 its waters. In large rivers, where the latter part of 

 their course is but little if at all above the level of 

 the ocean, the collision is sometimes tremendous, 

 and is attended with loud roarings, as is the case at 

 the mouth of the Amazons. It has been poetically 

 said that the genius of the river and the god of the 

 ocean contend for the empire of the waters. The 

 Indians in South America call it pororoca. The 

 reader will recollect the lines in Rokeby: 



Where Orinoco, in his pride, 

 Holla to the main no tribute tide, 

 But 'gainst broad ocean urges far 

 A rival sea of roaring war. 



MASERES, FRANCIS, cursitor baron of the ex- 

 chequer, was born in 1731, of a French refugee 

 family, studied law, was made attorney-general of 

 Quebec, and some years after, on his return to Bri- 

 tain, cursitor baron of the exchequer. He was an 

 excellent mathematician, and published, in 1759, a 

 treatise on the negative sign, in which he argues 

 against the doctrine of negative quantities. He also 

 printed a collection of Scriptores Logarithmici, a 

 work in 6 vols. 4to; a Treatise on Life Annuities, 

 with several Historical Tracts ; and by his liberality, 

 induced the reverend Mr Hellins to undertake his 

 edition of Colson's translation of Agnesi's Istituzioni 

 Analytiche, He died in May, 1824, aged ninety- 

 three. 



MASHAM, ABIGAIL, the favourite of queen Anne, 

 noted in English history for her political intrigues, 

 was the daughter of Mr Hill, a rich merchant of 

 London, who married the sister of Mr Jennings, the 

 father of the duchess of Marlborough. The bank- 

 ruptcy of her father obliged her to become the 

 attendant of a baronet's lady, whence she removed 

 into the service of her relative, then lady Churchill, 

 who procured her the place of waiting-maid to the 

 princess Anne. She retained her situation after her 

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