84 
/ 
MAE 
upo». in's own invention, were highly approved; and he 
was much employed both publicly and privately, till at 
laft he was appointed to the diltinguifhed Ration of di¬ 
rector of the academy at Antwerp. The time of his death 
is not known. 
MAE'SA, f. in botany. See Bjeobotrys lanceolata. 
MAES'EYK, a town of France, in the department of 
the Lower Meufe, on the Meufe : thirty miles north- 
north-eaft of Liege. Lat. 51.4. N. Ion. 5. 47. E. 
MAF.S'LAND, or Maes'lakd Slu'ys, a town of Hol¬ 
land. fituated on a canal which forms a communication 
between Delft and the MeUl’e. The principal part of the 
inhabitants are engaged in the herring and whale filhery: 
feven miles fouth of Delft, and ten weft of Rotterdam. 
MAs'STLIN (Michael), a celebrated altronomer of 
Germany, was born in the duchy of Wirtemberg ; but 
fpent his youth in Italy, where he made a fpeech in fa¬ 
vour of Copernicus’s fyftem, which brought Galilaeo over 
from Ariffotle and Ptolemy, to whom he had been hi¬ 
therto entirely devoted. He afterwards returned to Ger¬ 
many, and became profefforof mathematics at Tubingen 5 
where, among his other fcholars, he taught the great 
Kepler, who has praifed feveral of his ingenious inventions. 
Though Tycho Brahe did not aflent to Mseltlin’s opi¬ 
nion, yet he allowed him to be an extraordinary perfon, 
deeply fkilled in the fcience of aftronomy. Maeltlin pub- 
liihed many mathematical and aftronomical works; and 
died at Tubingen in 1590. 
MAESTO'SO, adj. in the Italian mufic, majeftic, fpi- 
rited, but not quick. 
MAES'TRICHT, one of the largeft and moft ancient 
towns of the Netherlands, belonged formerly to the duchy 
of Lorraine. In 1530, the emperor Charles V. fecured 
the pofleflion of it at the diet of Augfburg, and united 
it to the duchy of Brabant, although it is infulated in 
the bifhopric of Liege. The magiltracy is compofed of 
two burgomafters, one a catholic, the other a protefiant, 
and twenty echevins, half catholics and half proteftants. 
It was formerly a bilhop’s fee; for, Tongres having been 
deftroyed by the barbarians, St. Servais, who was prefent 
at the council held at Cologne in the year 346, transferred 
the fee to Maeftricht, which continued to the year 710, 
when St. Hubert removed it to Liege, and fixed the ca¬ 
thedral on the fpot where St. Lambert had been martyred. 
There are two collegiate and feveral parifh churches, be- 
fides religious houfes. The town-houfe is a very hand- 
fome building, and has a good library. The city revolted 
from Spain in the year 1570 ; and, in the year 1379, the 
prince of Parma befieged and took it on the 29th ot June, 
by a poft ill-defended, after a liege of four months ; w hen 
it was pillaged and hacked, and above 8000 perfons mi- 
ferably perifhed. January 30, 1673, Louis XIV. king of 
France, inverted it in perfon with a numerous army; and, 
though furnifhed with a garrifon of 6000 foot and 1100 
liorfe, under the command of an officer of great reputa¬ 
tion, it furrendered after a liege of thirteen days. By the 
peace of Nimeguen, Maeftricht was reftored to the Dutch ; 
and they took pofteffion of it the 6th of November, 1678. 
In the year 1748, Maeftricht waG again invelted by the 
French, on the 3d of April. Thele koftilities were fud- 
denly lufpended, in conlequence of the preliminaries 
ligned at Aix-la-Chapelle. The plenipotentiaries agreed, 
that, for the glory of his Chriltian majefty’s arms, the 
town of Maeftricht Ihould be furrendered to his general, 
on condition that it Ihould be reftored, with all the ma¬ 
gazines and artillery. He accordingly took pofleflion of 
ft on the 3d of May, when the garrilon marched out with 
all the honours of war; and a ceffation of arms immedi¬ 
ately enlued. 
Before this town revolted, in 1570, from the Spaniards, 
it was only environed with a Angle wall, and fome old- 
fafhioned towers. When the Spaniards recovered it, they 
made feme additions to the fortifications; the Dutch af¬ 
terwards, upon their re-pofleiling it, fortified it in a regu¬ 
lar manner; and the French, while they were mailers of 
MAP 
it, added fome improvements to the works. The ram¬ 
parts of Maeftricht confift of the old inclofure, flanked 
with fmall towers and ancient baftions. But the princi¬ 
pal ftrength of the place lies in feveral detached baftions, 
fome great, fome fmall, in feveral horn-w'orks, and a co¬ 
vered place, in fome places double, and in others treble, 
the whole fupported by a vaft number of mines. They 
can form two inundations round the town, to prevent its 
being approached, one above and the other below the 
city ; belides, on the fouth fide of the town towards Liege, 
there is a very ltrong entrenchment on the declivity ot a 
hill, called Fort St. Pierre, able to hold 13,000 or 14,000 
men, which, with the help of feveral redoubts well planted 
with artillery, are capable of being a great obftruffion to 
an army that would undertake the tiege of the town. 
This fort confifls of a large baflion with a very good cafe- 
mate, a counterfcarp, and two covert-ways; "the whole 
fupported with entrenchments which extend right and 
left to rhe inundation formed by the little river Jeker. 
The fuburb of Wyck has a rampart a quarter of a league 
in circumference, flanked with three large baftions, join¬ 
ing to the body of the place. It has likewife another in- 
clofure of earth, flanked with feveral baftions, ravelins, 
and a good covert-way. There are likewife two ides, one 
above and the other below the bridge, which are ltrongly 
entrenched,and defended with redoubts and other works. 
In ftiort, Maeftricht is juftly looked upon as one of the 
ftrongelt places in Europe. Near it are large (tone quar¬ 
ries, in which are fubterraneous paflages of great extent, 
where the farmers frequently (tore hay, corn, and other- 
articles. On the 23d of February, 1793, this city was 
bombarded by the French, under general Miranda ; bur, 
being attacked by general Clairfayt on the ift of March, 
the republicans loft 2000 men, and nine pieces of artil¬ 
lery, and were compelled to raife the fiege. They were 
more fuccefsful on the 4th of November, when the city 
was taken, and the garrilon, between 7000 and 8000 men, 
furrendered prifoners of war. The number of inhabitants 
is eftimated at 18,000. It is fifteen miles north of Liege, 
and forty-fix ealt of Brufiels. Lat. 50. 48. N. Ion. 5. 43. E. 
MAES'TRO, a town of Italy, in the Paduan: eight 
miles north-weft of Venice. 
MAE'VA, a town of Rufiia, in the government of 
Irkutfk, on the Lena: twenty 'miles north-north-weft of 
Vercholenfk. 
MaT'VIUS, a poet of inferior note in the Auguftan age, 
who made himfelf known by his illiberal attacks on the 
character of the firft writers of his time, as well as by his 
affeCted compofitions. His name would have funk in ob¬ 
livion if Virgil had not ridiculed him in Iris third Eclogue, 
and Horace in his tenth Epode. 
MAFAME'DE, a fmall ifland in the Indian Sea, near 
the coalt of Africa. Lat. 16. 20. S. 
MAF'ARECK, a town of Egypt: thirty miles north- 
eaft of Kous. , 
MAFFACU', a town of France, in the department of 
the Lower Pyrenees : four miles fouth-eaft of Orthez, and 
flxteen north-welt of Pan. 
MAFFAi'US (Vegio), a Latin poet, was born at Lodi, 
in the Milanefe, in the year 1407. He was educated for 
the law, but foon (bowed an attachment to the belles let- 
tres, and in future life had the happy art of blending the 
charms of poetry w-ith the gravity of jurifprudence. He 
obtained the profeflorlhip ot the law at Pavia, from whence 
he was called to Rome, where he held fome confiderable, 
offices at the church of St. John de Lateran. In high re¬ 
putation for learning and genius, and for the lanChty of 
his life, he died in 1458, and was interred in the church 
of St. Auguftin, and chapel of St. Monica, for both of 
whom he had a Angular devotion. Vegio was celebrated 
for his Latin poetry, which he compofed with great faci¬ 
lity, but with no extraordinary elegance or purity. Among 
his productions of this clals was an additional book to 
Virgil’s Aineid (an adventurous undertaking ;) a Poem 
on the Death of Altyanax j four books on the Argonaufic 
3 Expedition; 
