556 M A U 
quitted the court of Prnflia in difgrace, Maupertuis is 
laid to have fent him a letter, threatening to take on him 
a perfonal revenge 5 to which Voltaire replied only by rei¬ 
terating tlie ftrokes of the mod ludicrous fatire. 
Our philofopher's conftitution had long been confider- 
ably impaired by the great fatigues of various kinds in 
which his active mind had involved him, and particularly 
by the hardfliips which he had undergone in his northern 
expedition. Yet dill his intellectTeemed to pofl'efs the 
g reate It vigour ; for fome of the bed of his writings were 
produced, as well as the mod fuhlime of his ideas deve¬ 
loped, during the time when from his confinement by 
illnefs he was incapable of taking the chair of the Aca¬ 
demy. During the lad years of his life he paid feverai 
vifits to his native country for the benefit of his health ; 
and, though he always received relief from them, yet, 
upon his return to Berlin, his complaints likewife re¬ 
turned, and with increafing violence. In 1757, he (pent 
fome months in the fouth of France, and had thoughts of 
going to Italy, in hopes that a milder climate would re- 
fiore him to health ; but, finding himfelf growing worie, 
in 1758, after making fome day at Neufchatel, he went 
to Bali], where he was received by his friend Bernouilli 
and his family with the utmod tendernefs and affection. 
Here he flattered himfelf that he was growing better j but 
his amendment was of firort duration ; for, as the winter 
approached, his diforder returned, accompanied by new 
and more alarming fymptoms. After languilhing many 
months, he died in 1759, "hen about fixty-one years of 
age. He was unquedionably a man of very confiderable 
abilities as a mathematician and philofopher ; but his ac¬ 
quaintance with literature in general was far from exten¬ 
sive. In converfation, his head and his eyes were always 
in motion ; and, as his phyfiognomy was very indifferent, 
and he affefted a peculiarity and negligence in his drefs 
and manners, to (Dangers he appeared a Angular perfonage. 
The marquis de Villete fays, that “Maupertuis was a 
fiery but gloomy genius ; overbearing in company; one 
of the mod amiable men alive when all attention was paid 
to him, and every preference flioivn him ; but, as foon as 
his vanity was hurt, the auderity and melancholy of his 
countenance fuddenly betrayed the haughtinefs of his dif- 
pofition. It was nearly with this kind of expreflion that 
he had his picture drawn ; the head ereft; a dern coun¬ 
tenance, with one hand flattening the poles of the earth, 
and by this attitude afl'uming the honour of a difeovery 
which belonged to Newton. He appears to have been a 
i>.an of probity, and of regular and virtuous manners ; 
but his ideas of human life were very gloomy.” Lord 
Chefterfield had a high opinion of him. In one of his 
Let ters to his fon, who was about to make a journey to 
Berlin, he fays, “ I would have you endeavour to get ac¬ 
quainted with naonfieur de Maupertuis, who is (o emi¬ 
nently didinguiflted by all kind of learning and merit, 
that one fliould be both forry and afhamed of having been 
even a day in the fame place with him, and not to have 
feen him.” And in another Letter, he fays, “ Monfieur 
de Maupertuis is, what one rarely meets with, deep in 
philofophy and mathematics, and yet an honrJte et aimablt 
komme." 
Maupertuis was the author of, 1. An Effay on Cofmo- 
iogy. 2. A Difcourfe on the different Figures of the 
Stars. 3. An Effay on Moral Philofophy. 4. Philofo- 
phical Reflections upon the Origin of Languages, and 
the Signification of Words. 5. Animal Phyfics, con¬ 
cerning Generation, See. 6. A Syftem of Nature ; or, the 
Formation of Bodies, See. 7. Letters on various Subjects. 
8. A Treatife on the Progrefs of the Sciences. 9. Ele¬ 
ments of Geography. 10. Account of the Expedition 
to the Polar Circle, for determining the Figure of the 
Earth ; or, the Meafure of the Earth at the Polar Circle. 
11. Account of a Journey into the Heart of Lapland, in 
fearch of an ancient Monument. 12. Obfervations on 
the Comet of 1742. 13. Academical Difcourfes, pro¬ 
nounced in the French and Pruflian Academies. 14. A 
M A U 
Differtation upon Languages. 15. The Agreement of 
the different Laws of Nature, which have hitherto ap- 
peared incompatible. 16. A Treatife upon the Laws of 
Motion, and a Treatife upon the Laws of Reft. 17. Nau¬ 
tical Aftronomy. 18. A Treatife on the Parallax of the 
Moon. 19. Operations for determining the Figure of 
the Earth, and the Variations of Gravity. 20. The Mea¬ 
fure of a Degree of the Meridian at the Polar Circle, &c. 
He was alfo the author of a great multitude of interefling 
papers, which are inferted in theMemoirsof the Academy 
of Sciences at Paris from 172410 1749, and thofe of the 
Academy at Berlin from the year 1746 to 1756. Hutton's 
Math. Did. Gen. Bio*. 
M AUPHA'ZE BU’N'DER, a town of Hindooftan, in the 
circar of Cicacole : four miles fouth-eaft of Cicacole. 
MAUR, a town of Auftria: feven miles fouth of 
Mauttern. 
MAUR (St.), a town of France, in the department of 
the Indre and Loire, and chief place of a canton, in the 
diftridt of the Chinon: fifteen miles fouth-eaft of Chinon. 
The place contains 2271, and the canton 8357, inhabi¬ 
tants. 
MAUR (St.), a town of France, in the department of 
Paris: fix miles fouth-eaft of Paris. 
MAUR (Congregation of St.), a famous fociety of 
Benedidlines, which was founded in the year 1620, by the 
exprefs order of Gregory XV. and enriched by Urban VIII. 
in 1627, with feverai donations and privileges. This fo¬ 
ciety has been dittinguiflied by a great number of excellent 
rules and inftitutions,and by the regular lives and learned 
labours of its members. Thofe who have any acquaint¬ 
ance with the hiflory and progrefs of learning in Europe 
well know what fignai advantages the republic of letters 
has derived from the eftablilhment of this famous 
congregation, whofe numerous and admirable produc¬ 
tions have caft a great light upon all the various branches 
of philology and belles lettres, and whofe refearches 
have taken in the whole circle of fciences. The 
moft diftingui&ed perfons which this fociety has pro¬ 
duced are, the fathers Menard, d’Acheri, Mabillon, Rui- 
nart, Germain, Lami, Montfaucon, Martin, Vaiflette, le 
Nourri, Martianay, Martenne, Maffuet,&c. Sec. L'Hijloire 
Litteraire de la Congregation de St. Maur was publifhed at 
Paris, under the title of Brujels , in 4to. 1770, by Dorn. 
Taffm. 
MAU'RAjTI in botany. See Antholyza, vol. i. 
MAU'RA (St.), or Leuca'dia, an ifland in the Medi¬ 
terranean Sea, about fifty miles in circumference. This 
ifland wa$ anciently a peninfula, connected with the con¬ 
tinent of Acarnama; but the Carthaginians, or, accord¬ 
ing to others, the Corinthians, levered it, infomuch that 
at prefent betwixt the ifland and the continent there is a 
channel about fifty paces broad. It produces great plenty 
of game, wine, oil, citrons, pomegranates, almonds, and 
other fruits, with fine paftures. The inhabitants are 
Greeks, fubjedl to a bilhop. In this ifland were formerly 
three confiderable towns, with a moft magnificent temple 
of Venus.' 
The town of St. Maura, which gives name to the ifland, 
contains about 6000 inhabitants ; and, being fituated in 
the water, and defended by walls and towers, is fo forti¬ 
fied, that there is no convenient approach to it, either by 
land or water. Beyond its works, in a morals,-are two 
well-inhabited iflands, or fuburbs. The little iflands be¬ 
twixt this and the continent communicate by bridges. 
In 1473, the Turks difpoffefled the Grecian emperor of 
the town and ifland. In 1502, the Venetians made them- 
felves mailers of it, but afterwards furrendered it to the 
Turks, and in 1684 recovered it from them. In 1715, the 
town and ifland fell a fecond time into the hands of the 
Turks ; but the following year the Venetians drove them 
out. In 1796, by the treaty of Campo Formio, it was 
ceded to France; in 1799, it was declared one of the Seven 
Iflands formed into a Republic ; and, at length, after 
partaking in all the fuccellive fortunes of the other Ionian 
Illes, 
