541 
MAT 
yered, and afterwards becomes pregnant again, flie (hall 
not be entitled to the benefit of farther refpite for that 
caufe; for (he (hall not, by her own incontinence, evade 
the fentence of jultice. 
If a widow feigns herfelf with child, in order to exclude 
the next heir, and a fuppofititious birth is fiifpeft'ed to be 
intended, then, upon the writ de ventre infp’ciendo, a jury of 
women is to be impanelled to try the queltion; Whether 
with child or not ? 
MATRO'NA, a river of Gaul, now called the Marne, 
falling into he Seine. 
MATRO NAL, adj. Suitable to a matron ; conttitut- 
ing a matron.— He had heard of the beauty and virtuous 
behaviour of the queen of Naples, the widow of Ferdi- 
nando the younger, being then of matronal years of feven- 
and-twenty. Bacon. 
MATRONA'LIA, featts of the Roman ladies, or ra¬ 
ther matrons, celebrated on the calends of March, in ho¬ 
nour of the god Mars. Ovid mentions many reafons for 
the inftitution of this tealt; but the principal feems to 
have been the peace concluded between the Romans and 
Sabines by the mediation of the women. The women 
granted to their fervants on this occafion the fame privi¬ 
leges which were granted to the (laves by their mafters in 
the Saturnalia. No men living in celibacy were allowed 
to afiiit at the fealt. 
MA'TRONLY, adj. Elderly; ancient.—The matronly 
wife plucked out all the brown hairs, and the younger the 
white. L'EJlrangt. 
MATROSS'ES, f. Military afiifiants, being foldiers 
in the royal regiment of artillery, and next to the gunner; 
they afiiit in loading, firing, and fpunging, the great guns. 
They carry firelocks, and march along with the guns and 
ftort-waggons, both as a guard and to give their afiiltance 
on every emergency. This defeription of men are now 
called gunners ; the term matrofs being oblolete in the fer- 
yice. James's Military Did. 
MATRUN'GA, a town of Hindoofian : thirty-feven 
miles north-ealt ot Ruttunpour. 
MATS'CHACH, a town of the duchy of Carinthia s 
ten miles fouth of Saxenburg. 
M AT'SCHEN, a town of Saxony, in the circle of Leip- 
fic : fix miles north of Leiffnich. 
MATSCHEVIZ', a town of the duchy of Warfaw, me¬ 
morable fora battle fought in 1794., between the confede¬ 
rate Poles under Kofciufko, and the Ruffians under general 
Ferfan, in which the latter were victorious; 600 Poles fell, 
and 16,000 were made prifoners. All the artillery fell 
into the hands of the Rulfians, and only 1 500 men efcaped. 
Kofciufko, who was taken prifoner, was leverely wounded, 
and very nearly loll his life. It is thirty-two miles ealt of 
Warfaw. 
MATSI'MA, or Schtl'pads, an ifland of Japan, eaft 
of Niphon. Lat. 38. 12. N. 
MATSIN'GLO, a_town on the weft coaft of the ifland 
of Lutjon. Lat. 15. 38. N. Ion. 120. 12. E, 
MATSU'AH. See Massuah, p. 516. 
MATSUMA'Y, a feaport of the ifland of Jedfo, tribu¬ 
tary to Japan. Lat. 40. 40. N. Ion. 138. 44. E. 
MAT'SY-AVA TA'R A, in Hindoo mythology, is the, 
firft of the ten chief incarnations of the god Vilhnu. 
(See the article Hindoostan, vol. x. p. 117, 118.) This 
avatara was in the form of a JiJh, which is the meaning of 
the word ; and it has been proved to have immediate re¬ 
ference to the deluge, and to be the fame hiftory, difguifed 
in oriental fiction, as related in our feriptures. Sir W. 
Jones (Afiatic Refearches, voh i. N° ix.) aflents to the 
opinion of Bochart, that the fable of Saturn was railed 
On the true hiftory of Noah ; he (hows that the feventh 
Menu of the Hindoos, named Satyavrata, in whofe days 
this avatara is related to have taken place, correlponds in 
Ration and character with our patriarch. In his reign the 
Hindoos believe the whole earth to have been deltroyed 
by a flood, including all mankind, who had become cor¬ 
rupt, except the pious prince himfdf, the feven Rifiiis, and 
Vob. XIV. No. 993. 
MAT 
their feveral wives, who, by command of Vilhnu. entered 
a fpacious veilel, accompanied by pairs of all animals. 
Vilhnu, affuming the form cf a fifli, commanded the ark 
to be fattened by a cable, formed of a vaft ferpent, to his 
ftupendous horn ; fecured thereby till the flood fubfided ; 
when he and Brahma flew a monfter named Hyagriva, or 
the horfe-necked, who, while Brahma was repofing at the 
end of a kalpa, ttole the Vedas, and mankind had confe- 
quenrly fallen into the depths of ignorance and impiety. 
The Vedas having been recovered, the world was progrel- 
fively re-peopled with pious inhabitants, defeendants of 
the devout Satyavrata and his favoured companions. A3 
Nit/i, the true name of our patriarch Noah, may be eafily 
deduced from Menu, fo Adam may from aditn, meaning, ia 
the Sanlkrit language, “ firft ;” tending, as is evidently 
fir W. Jones’s opinion, to the conclufion, that the firft and 
laft of the feven Menus can be no other than the great 
progenitor and reftorerof ourfpecies. The hiftory of the 
avatara under difeuffion is the fubjeCf of the firft Purana, 
or lacred poem, confifting of 14,000 lianzas; and is con- 
cifely told in the eighth book of the Sri Bhagavata, or 
Life of Krifhna. See thofe articles ; alfo Kurmavatara, 
vol. xi. p. 886. for a brief account of the (econd incarna¬ 
tion of Vifhnu. 
MAT'SYS (Quintin), a painter, ufually called The 
Blackfmith of Antwerp, was born in that city in 1460, and 
in his youth followed the trade whence he has derived his 
appellation. Different accounts are given of the occafion 
of his quitting the forge for the pencil. One afferts.that 
during a lingering illnels into which the fatigue of his 
labour had thrown him, a friend (bowed him a print, 
which pleafed him fo much that he attempted to copy it; 
and his luccefs animated him with the resolution of pro¬ 
ceeding in the practice of the arts of defign. By others 
it is faid, that he fell in love with the daughter of a painter, 
whole hand was to be obtained only by a matter of the 
fame profeffion ; and this motive urged him to the rapid 
progrefs which he made, and which has conferred diftinc- 
tion on his name. By the more Centimentai biographers, 
the whole change is reprefented as one of the miracles of 
love ; which is the notion inculcated by the line in his 
epitaph, Connubialis amor ex Mulcibre fecit Appellum. What¬ 
ever were the caufes that awakened his genius, it is cer¬ 
tain that he difplayed great talents for the art of paint¬ 
ing, in which he adopted a manner of his own, not copied 
from any other matter. It was marked by truth of imita¬ 
tion, and ftrong and natural expreftion, with a degree of 
drynefs and hardnefs which might be expected from one 
who had not acquired freedom of pencil by early practice, 
and tbe ftudy of good models. He ufually painted por¬ 
traits and half-figures in common life, but (ometimes rofe 
to great works, of which, a defeent from the crofs in the 
cathedral of Antwerp is the molt remarkable : it has fome 
heads equal in force to thofe of Raphael. The belt in- 
ftance ot his (kill we have in this country is his excellent 
pifture of the Two Mifers in Windfor-caltle, of which 
there is a duplicate by him in poffeflion of lord Lyttleton 
at Hagley in Worcefterlhire. He died in 1529, aged 69. 
Pilkington and De Piles. 
MAT'SYS, or Meten'sis (Cornelius), an engraver of 
fome merit, was born about the year 1500, and we believe 
in the Low Countries, though he appears to have rdided 
much in Italy ; and it is not improbable that he was the 
difciple of George Peins. We have a great number of en¬ 
gravings by him, both from his own compolitions and 
thofe of the Italian painters. His ftyle of engraving bears 
a great refemblance to that of Babylone (lee p. 522.) in 
neatnefs and delicacy of execution 5 but his figures are 
much more in the Italian tatte, and are 
not deftitute of elegance and proportion. 
Strutt fuppofed there were two artilts of 
thefe names, but foreign writers mention 
only one. His prints are known by the monogram annexed. 
MATT SEE', a lake in the archbilhopric of Salzburg: 
twelve miles in circumference. 
6 Y 
MATT 
