370 
MAR 
ever, was only read before a private company; and it was 
not till his thirty-fecond year that he ventured to prefent 
upon the theatre his tragedy of “The Death of Hanni¬ 
bal.” Its reception, and his own fober examination, con¬ 
vinced him that his genius was not formed to excel in 
the fublimeft department of the drama ; and he henceforth 
confined himfelf to comedy, in which lie Itruck out a 
new path. This was that of delicate and refined fenti- 
ment, and a kind of metaphysical fubtlety in the deve- 
lopement of pafiion and charafter, which in general fuc- 
ceeded very well with a people who pride themfelves on 
a nice perception of all the fhades and diverfities in the 
human mind. It was, however, on the Italian theatre, 
which is accounted lefs critical than the French theatre, 
that he brought out the greatest number of bis pieces, 
and with the moll uniform applaufe. He was accufed of 
a monotony of fubjeft, almolt all his comedies turning 
upon what were termed furprifes de l''amour, or concealed 
love betraying itfelf involuntarily. His own defence 
again (I the charge of uniformity will give the belt idea of 
the manner in which he played a fingle tune with nice 
variations. “ In my pieces there is fometimes a love of 
which the two lovers are uneonfcious ; fometimes a love 
that they both I eel, but mutually wish to hide from one 
another; fometimes a timid love, not daring to declare it¬ 
felf; fometimes, in fine, an uncertain, and as it were an 
undecided, love, a half-born love, which the parties fuf- 
p,e£I without being fore of it, and which they fecretly 
watch in their own breafts before they foffer it to take 
wing.” Marivaux produced about thirty pieces on the 
two theatres, a great part of which areftill occasionally re¬ 
presented. They are all in prole. 
He has, however, obtained a great reputation, efpeci- 
ally in foreign countries, by his novels. The firSt which 
he compofed, entitled “ Pharfainon, oil !es nouvelles fo- 
lies romanefques,” a kind of imitation of Don Quixote, 
is much lefs known and elfeemed titan his two others, 
“ Marianne” and “ Le Payfan Parvenu.” Of tliefe Ma¬ 
rianne is accounted the principal ; and indeed not many 
works of the clafs in any language rank higher. The 
Payfan Parvenu is preferred by pofleSTing more gaiety and 
variety, and a more direct moral purpofe. It is remarkable 
that all his novels are unfinished; a circumstance which 
cannot be attributed to-mere indolence, fmce he was al¬ 
ways writing, but to an impatience of carrying one plan to 
a termination wljiie new ones were darting up in his mind. 
Another work of Marivaux; deferving of notice is his 
“ Speclateur Francois.” This abounds in acute remarks 
and lively portraitures, and in wit and variety is reckoned 
to furpals all his other pieces; at the fame time it is pe- 
liarly marked with his characteristic faults of language. 
It had but moderate fuccefs, and was abandoned by the 
author after two fmall volumes had been pubiifhed. 
Notwithstanding the celebrity acquired by his produc¬ 
tions, it was not till his fifty-fifth year that he obtained 
admillion into the French academy. One reafon of this 
was, that he never intrigued for that honour, being a 
man without pretenlions, fuperior to all meannefs of S'oli- 
citation, and truiy philofophical in his eftimate of life. 
In his difpofition he was mild and friendly, philanthro- 
pical, and full . f fympathy to the indigent and afflicted, 
towards whom he exercifed a liberality often beyond the 
bounds of prudence. He was upright and difmterefted, 
carelefs of fortune, and- content to live in a kind of ob- 
fcurity with a few intimates. He was fincerely attached 
to religion, as the great refource of the wretched, but 
without any affectation of extraordinary devotion. 
It could not be fuppofed that one who wrote fo much 
about the pailion of love fliould be infenlible to its pow¬ 
er. He married an amiable and virtuous woman, and 
was long inconfolable when he had the misfortune to lofe 
her. Many years afterwards, he formed another attach¬ 
ment, which, without the fervour of love, fined the balm 
of tendernefs over his latter days. He died after a long 
illnefs in 1763, at the age of feventy-five. D'Alembert, 
Bloges Acadcni. 
M A R 
MARIVE'LAS, one of the fmaller Philippine iflands, 
with a village, the houfes of which are built of bamboos, 
to which they aicend by a ladder; one of tliefe houfes, 
roof and frame included, M. Peroufe fuppofes will hardly 
weigh two hundred weight. The habitation of the cu¬ 
rate or reCtor was of Stone. In the year 1780, the Moors 
from the iflands fonth of the Philippines invaded the 
island, burned the village, destroyed the fort, the church, 
and the reCtor’s houfe, and made Slaves of all the Indians 
they could lay hold of. 
MARIVE'LAS BA'Y, a bay on the weft coaft of the 
ifiandof Lu9on, well Sheltered from all winds except from 
fonth to fouth-eaft; the bottom is clean, ftiff mud or clay, 
with fufficient depth of water for veflels of any fize. It 
takes its name from the above ifland. Lat. 14. 30. N. Ion. 
120. 24. E. 
MA'RIUM, in ancient geography, a town of the island 
of Cyprus, upon the Southern coalt, very near the lea, 
between Amathus to the welt and Citium to the north- 
eaft. 
MARIUPOL', a town of Rufiia, in the government of 
Ekaterinoflav, on the fea of Azoph, a little to the welt of 
the river Kalinins; built for the Greeks who emigrated 
from the Crimea : 128 miles fouth-eaft of Ekaterinoflav. 
Lat. 47. N. Ion. 37. 44. E. 
MA'RIUS, a famous Roman general, and feven times 
conful, who fullied his great military reputation by favage 
barbarities. See the article Rome, and for fome traits of 
bis character, fee Ambition, vol. i. p.403. 
Marius (Cains), the fon of the great Marius, was as 
cruel as his father, and Shared his good and his adverse 
fortune. He made, himfelf conful in the 25th year of his 
age, and murdered all the fenators who oppofed his am¬ 
bitious views. He was defeated by Sylla, and fled to 
Pnenelte, where he killed himfelf. 
Marius (M. Aurelius), a native of Gaul; who, from 
the mean employment of a blackfinith, became one of the 
generals of Gailienus, and at last caufed himfelf to be 
ialuted emperor. Three days after this elevation, a man 
who had (hared his poverty without partaking of his more 
profperous fortune, publicly alfafiinated him ; and he was 
killed by a fword which lie himfelf had made in the time 
of his obfeurity. Marius has been often celebrated for 
bis great Strength; and it is confidently reported, that he 
could flop, with one of his fingers only, the wheel of a 
chariot in its moll rapid courfe. 
Marius (Maximus), a Latin writer, who published an 
account of the Roman emperors from Trajan to Alexan¬ 
der, now loft. 
MA'RIUS (Leonard), a learned Dutch catholic divine 
and profeflor of divinity, who flourished in the Seven¬ 
teenth century, was born at Goes in Zealand, but in what 
year is not known. He was created doctor of divinity at 
Cologne, and filled the chair of theological profeflor in 
that university wifh great reputation. According to 
Moreri, he was made principal or prelident of the Dutch 
college in that city. Afterwards he was appointed vicar- 
general of the chapter of Haarlem, and paltor of Amster¬ 
dam. He died in the year 1628. Belides being distin¬ 
guished for his intimate acquaintance with polite litera¬ 
ture, he was profoundly Skilled in the Greek and Hebrew 
languages, and in the knowledge of the facred Scriptures. 
He was the author of Comjnentarius in Pentateuchum, 
1621, folio, which is Said to be a work of great merit; 
Hierarchiae EccleSiaSticae Catholica aflertio, 1619, intended 
as a refutation of Mark Anthony de Domims’s famous 
treatise De Republica EcclefiaStica; and a variety of con- 
troverfial pieces againft the Proteftants, in the Dutch lan¬ 
guage, and under borrowed names. Valerii An dr a Bibl. 
Belgic. Moreri. 
MARI'ZA, a river of European Turkey, which rifes 
near Bagni, pafles by Filopopoh, and rims into the gulf 
of Saros, fix miles fouth-South-welt of Eno, in Ro¬ 
mania. 
MARK, /. [ marc , Welfli j meajvc, Sax. mercke, Dut. 
marque, 
