MAG 
MAG 
MAGNIFICENT, adj. Grand in appearance; fplen- 
did ; pompous.—It is fuitable to the magnificent harmony 
of the uni'verfe, that the fpecies of creatures fhould, by 
gentle degrees, afcend upward from us toward his perfec¬ 
tion, as we fee they gradually defcend from us down¬ 
wards. Locke. 
Immortal glories in my mind revive, 
When Rome’s exalted beauties I delcry 
Magnificent in piles of ruin lie. Addifon. 
Fond of fplendour; fetting greatnefs to (how.—If he were 
magnificent, he fpent with an afpiring intent: if he fpared, 
he heaped with an afpiring intent. Sidney. 
MAGNIFICENTLY, adv. Potnpoufly ; fplendidly. 
—We can never conceive too highly of God ; fo neither 
too magnificently of nature, his handy work. Crew's Cofmol. 
Beauty a monarch is, 
Which kingly power magnificently proves, 
By crowds of (laves and peopled empires loves. Drydtn. 
M AGNIF'ICENTNESS, f Magnificence. Scott . 
MAGNIF'ICO, /. [Italian.] A grandee of Venice : 
The duke liimfelf and the magnificces 
Of greateft port, have all proceeded with him. Shakefpeare. 
MAG'NIFIER,/ One that praifes; an encomialf ; an 
extoller.—-The primitive magnifiers of this (far were the 
Egyptians, who not vithffanding chiefly regarded it in 
relation to their river Nilus. Brown. —A glafs that in- 
creates the bulk of any objeft.—The imagination is a 
greater magnifier than a microlcopic glafs. Skerflone. 
To MAG'NIFY, v.a. [magnifico, Lat.] To make great; 
to exaggerate ; to amplify; to extol.—The ambaflador, 
making his oration, did fo magnify the king and queen, 
as was enough to glut the hearers. Bacon. —To exalt; to 
elevate; to raife in eftimation : 
Greater now in thy return. 
Than from the giant-angels: thee that day 
Thy thunders magnify'd\ but to create 
Is greater than created to deflroy. Milton. 
To raife in pride or pretenfion.—He (hall exalt and mag¬ 
nify himfelf above every god. Daniel. —-To increafe the 
bulk of any objeft to the eye.—The greateft magnifying 
glades in the world are a man’s eyes, when they look upon 
his own perfon. Pope. 
By true reflection I would fee my face : 
Why brings the fool a magnifying glafs ? Granville. 
A cant word for to have cffeB. —My governefs allured my 
father I had wanted for nothing ; that I wasalmoft eaten 
up with the green ficknefs : but this magnified but little 
with my father. SpeBator. 
To MAG'NIFY, or rather magnefy, v.a. [from mag¬ 
net .] To impart magnetic power.—A magnet lofes no¬ 
thing of its power by magnifying other bodies, but an elec¬ 
trified body lofes part of its electricity by eleftrifying 
other bodies. Enfield. 
MAG'NIFYING, f. The aft of making great, or of 
extolling. 
MAG'NIFYING-GLASS, f A glafs that magnifies 
©bjefts.—Malice is a greater magnifying glafs than kind- 
nefs. Marq. of Halifax. 
MAGN IL'OQUY, / [from the Lat. magnus, great, and 
toqnor, to (peak.] A high ltyle; a lofty way of (peaking. 
MAGNIL'OQUOUS, adj. Speaking in a high ftyle ; 
fpeaking of great things. Scott. 
MAG'NIN, a town of Egypt, on the left bank of the 
Nile: twelve miles fouth oi Shabur. 
MAGNI'S A, anciently Magnefa, a town of Afiatic 
Turkey, in the province of Natclia, fituated at the foot 
of the ancient Mount Sipulus, whofe top is always covered 
with fnow. This town was by the Perfian monarch given 
to Themiftocles to find him bread. Under John Ducas, 
it was made the capital of the Greek empire. Amu- 
vath II. refided here, as likewife did feveral of his fuccef- 
jfors. Timur Bee pillaged it after the battle of Angora. 
Vot. NIV. No. 961. 
12 $ 
The greateft ornament of the ancient town was a temple 
of Diana, called Leucophryenc, or the White-browed. It 
is now large and populous, with but few Chriftians. The 
environs were formerly celebrated for the production of 
loadftone, and it is fuppofed the word magnet is derived 
from it : twenty miles north-north-eaft of Smyrna. Lat. 
38.44.N. Ion. 27. 18. E. 
MAGNI'SI, a peninfula of Sicily, on the eaft coaft, in 
the valley of Noto : fix miles north of Siracufa. 
MAGNITNAI'A, a fort of Ruflia, in the government 
of Upha, on the Ural: forty-foup«miles fouth of Verchou- 
ralfk. 
MAG'NITUDE, f. [magnitude, Lat.] Greatnefs; gran¬ 
deur : 
He with heroic magnitude ol mind, 
And with celeftial vigour arm’d, 
Their armories and magazines contemns. Milton. 
Comparative bulk.—Conceive thefe particles of bodies to 
be fo difpofed amongft themfelves, that the intervals of. 
empty (paces between them may be equal in magnitude to 
them all; and that thefe particles may be compofed of 
other particles much fmaller, which have as much empty 
fpace between them as equals all the magnitudes of thefe 
fmaller particles. Newton. 
When I behold this goodly frame, this world. 
Of heav’n and earth confiding; and compute 
Their magnitudes, this earth, a (pot, a grain, 
An atom, with the firmament compar’d. Milton. 
MAG'NOL (Peter), a celebrated botanift of Montpel¬ 
lier, was born in 1638. He was bred to phyfic ; but, 
being a pioteftant, could not take bis degree there. He 
was therefore obliged to have recourfe to fome univerlity 
where fuch exclufive laws were unknown. Wherever 
Magnol graduated, he praftifed phyfic at Montpellier for 
a long courfe of years, and at the fame time very aflidu- 
oufly cultivated botany, not only as an auxiliary to me¬ 
dicine, but with the molt enlarged views to its advance¬ 
ment as a fcience of itfelf. He was beloved for his ur¬ 
banity, and efteemed for his knowledge. Numerous bo- 
tanifts flocked at this time to Montpellier, that neigh¬ 
bourhood being famous for its vegetable riches; and thefe 
were all eager to enjoy the fociety, and to benefit by the 
guidance and inftruftions, of fo able a man. Hence the 
herborizations around Montpellier have become cele¬ 
brated in fo many books; and the fituations of the Hortus 
Dei at l’Efperou, the Mons Ceti, Caftelnau, wood of Gra- 
mont, See. have become claflic fpots. Among the pupils 
of Magnol were Fagon and the illuftrious Tournefort, 
who regularly ftudied under him, and on many fubfe- 
quent occafions gratefully acknowledged their obligations 
to him. He was not chofen public profeflor till long af¬ 
ter the years 1678 and 1681, when Tournefort was at 
Montpellier. He had indeed been one of four perfons 
nominated, and recommended to the king for the vacant 
profeflbrfliip, in 1667 ; but his religion was an infuperable 
obftacle to liisappointment. This difficulty was removed, 
by his afluming the guife at lealt of catholicifm, before 
the year 1694, when he at length obtained the profeflbrial 
chair. 
In 1676, our author publifhed at Lyons his firft work, 
the Botanicum Monfptlienfe, an oftavo volume of 287 pages, 
with 22 plates. This fame edition was republiihed at 
Montpellier in 1688, with a new title-page, and 20 pages 
of appendix. In this book Linnaeus reckons that 1366 
plants are enumerated ; all found wild about Montpellier, 
and almoft entirely gathered there by the author himfelf. 
The arrangement of the work is alphabetical. The choice 
of the names is very feleft, and various criticifins or de- 
feriptions are fuhjoined, with the particular places of 
growth and medical virtues of each plant. The plates are 
rude, but original and charafteriftic. This is in faft one 
of the moft original and authentic works of its •kind, be¬ 
ing to the Montpellier hotaniffs what Ray’s Synopfis is to 
thote of Britain, the bafis of all their knowledge. 
