420 MAR 
pleaded the caufe of the univerfity of Paris againft: the 
jefuits, and pronounced a mod bitter philippic on the 
Society, embellifhed with all the flowers of rhetoric then 
in vogue. His harangue was greatly admired when de¬ 
livered, and not lefs Co when printed in the following 
year. It was feveral times reprinted ; and was replied to 
on the part of the fociety. Martelliere was afterwards 
created a counfellor of Hate. He died in 1631. His epi¬ 
taph made by Tarin, profeflor of eloquence in the uni¬ 
verfity of Paris, ftyles him “ Princeps Patronorum & Pa¬ 
tron 11s Principum.” Moreri. 
MARTEL'LO, or Mortello, Tower, [from mar- 
tello, Ital. a hammer: thus fonare le campana a martello, 
“to found the alarm-bell;” which in parts of Italy is 
ftruck by hammers. In old French alfo, the word for 
the fame thing (now martcau) was inartel ; and martcl en 
tele, is the old adage for a rumour of annoyance and 
alarm. According to captain Grofe, the word is derived 
from morta , from whence mote, or moat, which anciently 
fignified a cafile. Thus morta de IVind/or is ufed for 
Wiitdfor cattle, in the agreement between king Stephen 
and Henry duke of Normandy. So that mortella may 
readily be confidered as the diminutive of morta.\ A 
fmall caftle ereCted for the defence of a coalt. 
We may give as an inflance the martello tower 
adapted to the defence of the ifland of Jerfey. This 
tower is quite round, of a conical form, being fomething 
broader at the bafe than the top, and about forty feet 
high. It is built of the hard grif-lton.es of the country 
(which in general are very large), clofely cemented to¬ 
gether, and the furfaces rendered quite fmooth by the 
hammer ; the mafon-work is admirable. The only en¬ 
trance is by a door 7§ feet from the ground ; you afcend 
to this by a ladder, which is pulled up into the tower 
every night. The door is arched, anti is 5J feet high, 
and wide in proportion; the wall in this part is 5A feet 
thick. Having quitted the ladder, you mount a ftep two 
feet high, and then you are on the firft floor of the tower. 
This room is round, and thirteen feet diameter in the 
clear. Underneath it is the magazine, to which there is 
no way of getting, except through a trap-door that is in 
the middle of the floor. Round this room are eleven 
loop-holes, for the men to fire through, and benches to 
Hand on during this operation. On thefe benches their 
beds are placed at night; this is in fait their guard-room, 
for here is the fire-place, &c. &c. To the next floor you 
afcend by a ladder alfo, through a trap-door; the ladder 
then may be pulled up, the trap clofed, and all commu¬ 
nication between the two ftories completely cut off. In 
this room are four fmall windows; there are the fame 
number of loop-holes, benches, &c. for the fame pur- 
Jiofes as the room below, but no fire-place. The loop- 
Jioles are not placed exactly over each other, but in quin¬ 
cunx order. This room is covered with a ftrong arch, 
in the centre of which is a round hole thirty inches dia¬ 
meter. When you get through this hole, which you do 
by means of a ladder, you are then on the top of the 
tower. At the fides of this hole are firmly fixed three 
very ftrong iron hoops or bars, which form an arch over 
it, on the top of which is a mafly iron pin. On this pin, 
or pivot, refts the centre of a large beam of wood, on one 
end of which is placed an iron thirteen-pound carronade, 
on a fort of frame, conftrufted like thofe ufed on-board 
/hips, where the gun Aides back in the recoil. This end 
of the beam is fupported by two pieces of timber, each 
refting on a fmall block-wheel; the other end of the beam 
is fupported by a fmaller beam, refting on a large biock- 
wheel. All thefe wheels run in a wooden groove that 
goes round the infide of the parapet. The hole is fo 
well contrived and balanced, that the beam is eafily 
turned round, fo that the gun may be fired over any part 
of the parapet. The parapet is built of brick, and is 
4« feet high, with a dope of four feet, forming an angle 
of about zz\ degrees, with the top of the parapet. When 
the men proceed tp load, they ftand on a bench 3 and, 
i 
MAR 
when loaded, ftep down, and are (beltered from the ene¬ 
my’s (hot by the parapet; there are places, alfo on the 
top, for three wall-pieces. The ordinary guard confifts 
of a ferjeant or corporal, and from fix to twelve men. 
Some of the towers are guarded by the veteran battalion, 
and others by the militia of the ifland, who mount in 
their common working clothes. The towers were built 
about twenty years ago,' and were thought, until the 
middle of the year 1800, to be perfeCily complete for what 
they were defigned, as well as the fquare towers in the 
forts; when machicoulis were added to all, and a carro¬ 
nade'mounted, en barbette, on the top of each. Shot fired 
from fo high an elevation is, in the opinion of engineers, 
of little uf'e. The men infide the towers are quite fafe 
from mulketry ; but thofe who are to load and fire the 
carronade, muft be expofed, as on a barbette battery. In 
cafe of attack, the guns on all thefe towers are manned 
by the militia of the ifland ; they are exercifed at them 
every Sundaj r morning. 
The martello towers which have been erefiled at Ha¬ 
lifax in Nova Scotia, are, in the opinion of a very intel¬ 
ligent engineer, preferable to thofe at Romney Marfli, 
which are twenty-feven in number, and about a quarter 
of a mile dillant from one another. Each of them was 
originally intended to carry a large gun againft fhipping, 
and a howitzer for a reciprocal, or mutual, flanking-de- 
fence. But, after feveral of them had been erected, it 
was found they would not anfwer the intended purpofe, 
and could carry only one gun each. James's Military 
Dictionary. 
MARTEN, or Martern, / \_marte, martre, Fr. from 
martes, Lat.] A kind of weafel ; the Mustala foina. 
MARTEN'NE (Edmund), a very learned French Be¬ 
nedictine monk of the congregation of St. Maur, was 
born at St. John de Lofne, a fmall town in the diocefe of 
Langres, in the year 1654. After having received a libe¬ 
ral education, he determined to embrace the ecclefiaftical 
life; and at the age of eighteen took the vows in the ab¬ 
bey of St. Retni at Rheims. Here he eminently diftin- 
guifhed himfelf among the many learned members of his 
order, by the diligence of his application, and his profound 
laborious refearches, of which he afforded fufficient evi¬ 
dence in the numerous works which he prefented to the 
public. His firlt produftion made its appearance in 
1690, and is entitled, “ Cornmentarius in Regulam Sanfti 
Benedidti literalis, moralis, hiftoricus,” 4to. which is a 
compilation of what the belt writers have faid on the 
fubjeft, and contains diftertations on different queftions, 
which difplay the erudition of the author. In the fame 
year he publiftied De antiquis Monachorum Ritibus, z 
vols. 4to. which is not confined to monaftic ufages, but 
furnifhes much curious matter illuftrative of ancient ec¬ 
clefiaftical and profane hiftory, His next productions, 
confifting of “ The Life of Dom Claude Martin,’’ 1697, 
8vo. and “The Spiritual Maxims” of the fame member 
of his congregation, publiftied in the following year, in 
i2tno. might fink into oblivion without any injury to 
the author's reputation. In the year 1700 he piiblifhed, 
“De antiquis Ecclefias Ritibus circa Sacramenta,” 2 vols. 
4to. to which a third was added in 1702; and in 1706 he 
publiftied his treatife “De antiqua Ecclefiae Difciplina in 
celebrandis divinis Officiis,” 4to. Thefe works were af¬ 
terwards confiderably enlarged, and reprinted, the former 
in 1736 in 3 vols. folio, and the latter in one volume fo¬ 
lio. But the author’s fame with pofterity is chiefly fa- 
cured by the very laborious works which employed 
his pen in tlie following years of his life. At a chapter 
of the congregation of St. Maur held in 1708, father 
Dennis de Saint-Marthe having procured a refolution 
that the works of his illuftrious relation, entitled “Gal¬ 
lia Chriftiana,” fhould be new-modelled, father Martenne 
was fixed upon for this undertaking; and it was deter¬ 
mined that he fhould vifit the public archives, and the 
libraries of the churches and monuments throughout the 
kingdom, to fearch for fuch documents as had efcaped 
