Chapter 21

His works areVoyage en Hongrie, &c. (4 vols., 1837);Voyage en Sicile(1838);Esprit des institutions militaires(1845);César;Xenophon; andMémoires(8 vols., published after his death in 1856). See the long and careful notice by Sainte-Beuve,Causeries du Lundi, vol. vi.

MARMONTEL, JEAN FRANÇOIS(1723-1799), French writer, was born of poor parents at Bort, in Cantal, on the 11th of July 1723. After studying with the Jesuits at Mauriac, he taught in their colleges at Clermont and Toulouse; and in 1745, acting on the advice of Voltaire, he set out for Paris to try for literary honours. From 1748 to 1753 he wrote a succession of tragedies which,1though only moderately successful on the stage, secured the admission of the author to literary and fashionable circles. He wrote for theEncyclopédiea series of articles evincing considerable critical power and insight, which in their collected form, under the titleÉléments de Littérature, still rank among the French classics. He also wrote several comic operas, the two best of which probably areSylvain(1770) andZémire et Azore(1771). In the Gluck-Piccini controversy he was an eager partisan of Piccini with whom he collaborated inDidon(1783) andPénélope(1785). In 1758 he gained the patronage of Madame de Pompadour, who obtained for him a place as a civil servant, and the management of the official journalLe Mercure, in which he had already begun the famous series ofContes moraux. The merit of these tales lies partly in the delicate finish of the style, but mainly in the graphic and charming pictures of French society under Louis XV. The author was elected to the French Academy in 1763. In 1767 he published a romance,Bélisaire, now remarkable only on account of a chapter on religious toleration which incurred the censure of the Sorbonne and the archbishop of Paris. Marmontel retorted inLes Incas(1778) by tracing the cruelties in Spanish America to the religious fanaticism of the invaders.

He was appointed historiographer of France (1771), secretary to the Academy (1783), and professor of history in the Lycée (1786). In his character of historiographer Marmontel wrote a history of the regency (1788) which is of little value. Reduced to poverty by the Revolution, Marmontel in 1792 retired during the Terror to Evreux, and soon after to a cottage at Abloville in the department of Eure. To that retreat we owe hisMémoires d’un père(4 vols., 1804) giving a picturesque review of his whole life, a literary history of two important reigns, a great gallery of portraits extending from the venerable Massillon, whom more than half a century previously he had seen at Clermont, to Mirabeau. The book was nominally written for the instruction of his children. It contains an exquisitely drawn picture of his own childhood in the Limousin; its value for the literary historian is very great. Marmontel lived for some time under the roof of Mme Geoffrin, and was present at her famous dinners given to artists; he was, indeed, anhabituéof most of the houses where the encyclopaedists met. He had thus at his command the best material for his portraits, and made good use of his opportunities. After a short stay in Paris when elected in 1797 to the Conseil des Anciens, he died on the 31st of December 1799 at Abloville.

See Sainte-Beuve,Causeries du lundi, iv.; Morellet,Éloge(1805).

1Denys le Tyran(1748);Aristomène(1749);Cléopâtre(1750);Héraclides(1752);Egyptus(1753).

MARMORA(anc.Proconnesus), an island in the sea of the same name. Originally settled by Greeks from Miletus in the 8th centuryB.C., Proconnesus was annexed by its powerful neighbour Cyzicus in 362. The island has at all times been noted for its quarries of white marble which supplied the material for several famous buildings of antiquity (e.g.the palace of Mausolus at Halicarnassus).

See C. Texier,Asie mineure(Paris, 1839-1849); M. I. Gedeon,Προικόννησος(Constantinople, 1895); an exhaustive monograph by F. W. Hasluek inJourn. Hell. Stud., xxix., 1909.

MARMORA, SEA OF(anc.Propontis; Turk.Mermer Denisi), the small inland sea which (in part) separates the Turkish dominions in Europe from those in Asia, and is connected through the Bosporus with the Black Sea (q.v.) and through the Dardanelles with the Aegean. It is 170 m. long (E. to W.) and nearly 50 m. in extreme width, and has an area of 4500 sq. m. Its greatest depth is about 700 fathoms, the deepest parts (over 500 fathoms) occurring in three depressions in the northern portion—one close under the European shore to the south of Rodosto, another near the centre of the sea, and a third at the mouth of the Gulf of Ismid. There are several considerable islands, of which the largest, Marmora, lies in the west, off the peninsula of Kapu Dagh, along with Afsia, Aloni and smaller islands. In the east, off the Asiatic shore between the Bosporus and the Gulf of Ismid, are the Princes’ Islands.

MARMOSET,a name derived from Fr.marmouset(meaning “of a gross figure”), and used to designate the small tropical American monkeys classed by naturalists in the familyHapalidae(orChrysothricidae). Marmosets are not larger than squirrels, and present great variation in colour; all have long tails, and many have the ears tufted. They differ from the other American monkeys in having one pair less of molar teeth in each jaw. The common marmoset,Hapale(orChrysothrix)jacchus, is locallyknown as theoustiti, while the name piriché is applied to another species (seePrimates).

MARMOT,the vernacular name of a large, thickly built, burrowing Alpine rodent mammal, allied to the squirrels, and typifying the genusArctomys, of which there are numerous species ranging from the Alps through Asia north of (but including the inner ranges of) the Himalaya, and recurring in North America. All these may be included under the name marmot. In addition to their stout build and long thickly haired tails, marmots are characterized by the absence of cheek-pouches, and the rudimentary first front-toe, which is furnished with a flat nail, as well as by certain features of the skull and cheek-teeth. Europe possesses two species, the Alpine or true marmot (A. marmotta), and the more eastern bobac (A. bobac); and there are numerous kinds in Central Asia, one of which, the red marmot (A. caudata), is a much larger animal, with a longer tail. Marmots inhabit open country, either among mountains, or, more to the north, in the plains; and associate in large colonies, forming burrows, each tenanted by a single family. During the daytime the hillock at the entrance to the burrow is frequently occupied by one or more members of the family, which at the approach of strangers sit up on their hind-legs in order to get a better view. If alarmed they utter a shrill loud whistle, and rush down the burrow, but reappear after a few minutes to see if the danger is past. In the winter when the ground is deep in snow, marmots retire to the depths of their burrows, where as many as ten or fifteen may occupy the same chamber. No store of food is accumulated, and the winter sleep is probably unbroken. From two to four is the usual number of young in a litter. In America marmots are known as “wood-chucks” (q.v.), the commonest species beingA. monax. The so-called prairie-dogs, which are smaller and more slender North American rodents with small cheek-pouches, form a separate genus,Cynomys; while the term pouched-marmots denotes the various species of souslik (q.v.),Spermophilus(orCitillus), which are common to both hemispheres, and distinguished by the presence of large cheek-pouches (seeRodentia).

(R. L.*)

MARNE,a river of northern France, rising on the Plateau of Langres, 3 m. S. by E. of Langres, and uniting with the Seine at Charenton, an eastern suburb of Paris. Leaving Langres on the left the river flows northward, passing Chaumont, as far as a point a little above St Dizier. Here it turns west and enters the department of Marne, where it waters the Perthois and the wide plain of Champagne-Pouilleuse. Soon after its entrance into this department it receives the Blaise; and turning north-west passes Vitry-le-François where it receives the Saulx, Châlons, below which it resumes a westerly course, and Epernay, where it enters picturesque and undulating country. Its subsequent course lies through the departments of Aisne, where it flows through Chateau-Thierry; Seine-et-Marne, where it drives the picturesque mills of Meaux; Seine-et-Oise and Seine. Its chief tributaries in those departments are the Petit-Morin, the Ourcq and the Grand-Morin. The length of the Marne is 328 m., the area of its basin 4894 sq. m. It is joined a mile from its source of the Marne-Saône canal which is continued at Rouvroy by the Haute-Marne canal as far as Vitry-le-François. From that town, which is the starting-point of the canal between the Marne and the Rhine, it is accompanied by the lateral canal of the Marne to Dizy where its own channel is canalized. At Condé, above Epernay, the river is joined by the canal connecting it with the Aisne. From Lizy, above Meaux, it is accompanied on the right bank, though at some distance, by the Ourcq canal.

MARNE,a department of north-eastern France, made up from Champagne-Pouilleuse, Rémois, Haute-Champagne, Perthois, Tardenois, Bocage and Brie-Pouilleuse, districts formerly belonging to Champagne, and bounded W. by Seine-et-Marne and Aisne, N. by Aisne and Ardennes, E. by Meuse, and S. by Haute-Marne and Aube. Pop. (1906), 434,157. Area 3167 sq. m.

About one-half consists of Champagne-Pouilleuse, a monotonous and barren plain covering a bed of chalk 1300 ft. in thickness. On the west and on the east it is commanded by two ranges of hills. The highest point in the department (920 ft.) is in the hill district of Reims, which rises to the south-west of the town of the same name, between the Vesle and the Marne. The lowest level (164 ft.) where the Aisne leaves the department, is not far distant. To the south of the Marne the hills of Reims are continued by the heights of Brie (700 to 800 ft.). All these belong geologically to the basin of Paris. They slope gently towards the west, but command the plain of Champagne-Pouilleuse by a steep descent on the east. On the farther side of the plain are the heights of Argonne (860 ft.) formed of beds of the Lower Chalk, and covered by forests; they unite the calcareous formations of Langres to the schists of Ardennes, and a continuation of them stretches southward into Perthois and the marshy Bocage. The department belongs entirely to the Seine basin, but includes only 13 miles of that river, in the south-west; it there receives the Aube, which flows for 10 miles within the department. The principal river is the Marne, which runs through the department for 105 miles in a great sweep concave to the south-west. The Aisne enters the department at a point 12 miles from its source, and traverses it for 37 miles. Two of its affluents on the left, the Suippes and the Vesle, on which stands Reims, have a longer course from south-east to north-west across the department.

Marne has the temperate climate of the region of the Seine; the annual mean temperature is 50° F., the rainfall about 24 in. Oats, wheat, rye and barley among the cereals, lucerne, sainfoin and clover, and potatoes, mangold-wurzels and sugar-beet are the principal agricultural crops. The raising of sheep of a mixed merino breed and of other stock together with bee-farming are profitable. The vineyards, concentrated chiefly round Reims and Épernay, are of high value; the manufacture of the sparkling Champagne wines being a highly important industry, of which Épernay, Reims and Châlons are the chief centres. Several communes supply the more valuable vegetables, such as asparagus, onions, &c. The principal orchard fruits are the apple, plum and cherry. Pine woods are largely planted in Champagne-Pouilleuse. The department produces peat, millstones and chalk.

The woollen industry has brought together in the neighbourhood of Reims establishments for spinning, carding, dyeing and weaving. The materials wrought are flannels, merinoes, tartans, shawls, rugs and fancy articles; the manufacture of woollen and cotton hosiery must also be mentioned. The manufacture of wine-cases, corks, casks and other goods for the wine trade is actively carried on. Marne contains blast-furnaces, iron and copper foundries, and manufactories of agricultural implements. Besides these there are tan-yards, currying and leather-dressing establishments and glassworks, which, with sugar, chemical, whiting and oil works, potteries, flour-mills and breweries, complete the list of the most important industries. Biscuits and gingerbread are a speciality of Reims. The chief imports are wool and coal; the exports are wine, grain, live-stock, stone, whiting, pit-props and woollen stuffs. Communication is afforded chiefly by the river Marne with its canal connexions, and by the Eastern railway. There are five arrondissements—those of Châlons (the capital), Épernay,Reims, Ste Ménehould and Vitry-le-François—with 33 cantons and 662 communes. The department belongs partly to the archbishopric of Reims and partly to the see of Châlons. Châlons is the headquarters of the VI. army corps. Its educational centre and court of appeal are at Paris. The principal towns—Châlons-sur-Marne, Reims, Épernay and Vitry-le-François—are separately treated. The towns next in population are Ay (4994) and Sézanne (4504). Other places of interest are Ste Ménehould (3348), formerly an important fortress and capital of the Argonne; Montmort with a Renaissance château once the property of Sully; Trois-Fontaines with a ruined church of the 12th century and the remains of a Cistercian abbey founded in 1115; and Orbais with an abbey church dating from about 1200.

MARNIAN EPOCH,the name given by G. de Mortillet to the period usually called in France the Gallic, which extends from about five centuries before the Christian era to the conquest of Gaul by Caesar. M. de Mortillet objects to the term “Gallic,” as the civilization characteristic of the epoch was not peculiar to the ancient Gauls, but was common to nearly all Europe at the same date. The name is derived from the fact that the French department of Marne has afforded the richest “finds.”

MAROCHETTI, CARLO,Baron(1805-1867), Italian sculptor, was born at Turin. Most of his early life was spent in France, his first systematic instruction being given him by Bosio and Gros in Paris. Here his statue of “A Young Girl playing with a Dog” won a medal in 1829. But between 1822 and 1830 he studied chiefly in Rome. From 1832 to 1848 he lived in France. His “Fallen Angel” was exhibited in 1831. In 1848 Marochetti removed to London, and there he lived for the greater part of his time till his death in 1867. Among his chief works were statues of Queen Victoria, Lord Clyde (the obelisk in Waterloo Place), Richard Cœur-de-Lion (Westminster), Emmanuel Philibert (1833, Turin), the tomb of Bellini (Père-la-Chaise), and the altar in the Madeleine. His style was vigorous and effective, but rather popular than artistic. Marochetti, who was created a baron by the king of Sardinia, was also a chevalier of the Legion of Honour.

MARONITES(Arab.Mawarina), a Christian people of the Ottoman Empire in communion with the Papal Church, but forming a distinct denomination. The original seat and present home of the nucleus of the Maronites is Mt Lebanon; but they are also to be found in considerable force in Anti-Lebanon and Hermon, and more sporadically in and near Antioch, in Galilee, and on the Syrian coast. Colonies exist in Cyprus (with a large convent near Cape Kormakiti), in Alexandria, and in the United States of America. These began to be formed during the troubles of 1860. The Lebanon community numbers about 300,000, and the total of the whole denomination cannot be much under half a million.

The origin of Maronism has been much obscured by the efforts of learned Maronites like Yusuf as-Simani (Assemanus), Vatican librarian under Clement XII., Faustus Nairon, Gabriel Sionita and Abraham Ecchellensis to clear its history from all taint of heresy. We are told of an early Antiochene, Mar Marun or Maro, who died aboutA.D.400 in the odour of sanctity in a convent at Ribla on the Orontes, whence orthodoxy spread over mid-Syria. But nothing sure is known of him, and not much more about a more historical personage, Yuhanna Marun (John Sirimensis of Suedia), said to have been patriarch of Antioch, to have converted Lebanon from Monothelism, and to have died inA.D.707. It is, however, certain that the Lebanon Christians as a whole were not orthodox in the time of Justinian II., against whose supporters, the Melkites, they ranged themselves after having co-operated awhile with the emperor against the Moslems. They were then called Mardaites or rebels, and were mainly Monothelite in the 12th century, and remained largely so even a century later. The last two facts are attested by William of Tyre and Barhebraeus. It seems most probable that the Lebanon offered refuge to Antiochene Monothelites flying from the ban of the Constantinopolitan Council ofA.D.680; that these converted part of the old mountain folk, who already held some kind of Incarnationist creed; and that their first patriarch and his successors, for about 500 years at any rate, were Monothelite, and perhaps also Monophysite. It is worth noting that even as late as the close of the 16th century the Maronite patriarch found it necessary to protest by anathema against imputations of heresy. In 1182 it is said that Amaury, patriarch of Antioch, induced some Maronite bishops, who had fallen under crusading influences, to rally to Rome; and a definite acceptance of the Maronite Church into the Roman communion took place at the Council of Florence in 1445. But it is evident that the local particularism of the Lebanon was adverse to this union, and that even Gregory XIII., who sent thepalliumto the patriarch Michael, and Clement VII. who in 1596 dispatched a mission to a synod convoked at Kannobin, the old patriarchal residence, did not prevail on the lower clergy or the mass of the Maronites. A century and a half later Clement XII. was more successful. He sent to Syria, Assemanus, a Maronite educated at the Roman college of Gregory XIII.; and at last, at a council held at the monastery of Lowaizi on the 30th of September 1736, the Maronite Church accepted from Rome a constitution which is still in force, and agreed to abandon some of its more incongruous usages such as mixed convents of monks and nuns. It retained, however, its Syriac liturgy and a non-celibate priesthood. The former still persists unchanged, while the Bible is read and exhortations are given in Arabic; and priests may still be ordained after marriage. But marriage is not permitted subsequent to ordination, nor does it any longer usually precede it. The tendency to a celibate clergy increases, together with other romanizing usages, promoted by the papal legate in Beirut, the Catholic missioners, and the higher native clergy who are usually educated in Rome or at St Sulpice. The legate exercises growing influence on patriarchal and other elections, and on Church government and discipline. The patriarch receives confirmation from Rome, and the political representation of the Maronites at Constantinople is in the hands of the vicar apostolic. Rome has incorporated most of the Maronite saints in her calendar, while refusing (despite their apologists) to canonize either of the reputed eponymous founders of Maronism.

While retaining many local usages, the Maronite Church does not differ now in anything essential from the Papal, either in dogma or practice. It has, like the Greek Church, two kinds of clergy—parochial and monastic. The former are supported by their parishes; the latter by the revenues of the monasteries, which own about one-sixth of the Lebanon lands. There are some 1400 monks in about 120 monastic establishments (many of these being mere farms in charge of one or two monks). All are of the order of St Anthony, but divided into three congregations, the Ishaya, the Halebiyeh (Aleppine) and the Beladiyeh or Libnaniyeh (local). The distinction of the last named dates only from the early 18th century. The lower clergy are educated at the theological college of Ain Warka. There are five archbishoprics and five bishoprics under the patriarch, who alone can consecrate. The sees are Aleppo, Baalbek, Tripoli, Ehden, Damascus, Beirut, Tyre, Cyprus and Jebeil (held by the patriarch himselfex officio). There are also four prelatesin partibus.

The Maronites are most numerous and unmixed in the north of Lebanon (districts of Bsherreh and Kesrawan). Formerly they were wholly organized on a clan system under feudal chiefs, of whom those of the house of Khazin were the most powerful; and these fought among themselves rather than with the Druses or other denominations down to the 18th century, when the Arab family of Shehab for its own purposes began to stir up strife between Maronites and Druses (seeDruses). Feudalism died hard, but since 1860 has been practically extinct; and so far as the Maronites own a chief of their own people it is the “Patriarch of Antioch and the whole East,” who resides at Bkerkeh near Beirut in winter, and at a hill station (Bdiman or Raifun) in summer. The latter, however, has no recognized jurisdiction except over his clergy. The Maronites have four members on the provincial council, two of whom are the sole representatives of the twomudiratsof Kesrawan; and they have derived benefit from the fact that so far the governor of the privileged province has always been a Catholic (seeLebanon). The French protection of them, which datesfrom Louis XIV., is no longer operative but to French official representatives is still accorded a courteous precedence. The Maronite population has greatly increased at the expense of the Druses, and is now obliged to emigrate in considerable numbers. Increase of wealth and the influence of returned emigrants tend to soften Maronite character, and the last remnants of the barbarous state of the community—even the obstinate blood-feud—are disappearing.See C. F. Schnurrer,De ecclesia Maronitica(1810); F. J. Bliss inPal. Expl. Fund Quarterly Statement(1892); and authorities forDrusesandLebanon.

See C. F. Schnurrer,De ecclesia Maronitica(1810); F. J. Bliss inPal. Expl. Fund Quarterly Statement(1892); and authorities forDrusesandLebanon.

(D. G. H.)

MAROONS.Anègre marronis defined by Littré as a fugitive slave who betakes himself to the woods; a similar definition ofcimarron(apparently fromcima, a mountain top) is given in theDictionaryof the Spanish Academy. The old English form of the word issymaron(see Hawkins’sVoyage, § 68). The term “Maroons” is applied almost as a proper name to the descendants of those negroes in Jamaica who at the first English occupation in the 17th century fled to the mountains. (SeeJamaica.)

MAROS-VÁSÁRHELY,a town of Hungary in Transylvania, capital of the county of Maros-Torda, 79 m. E. of Kolozsvár by rail. Pop. (1900), 19,522. It is situated on the left bank of the Maros, and is a well-built town; once the capital of the territory of the Szeklers. On a hill dominating the town stands the old fortress, which contains a beautiful church in Gothic style built about 1446, where in 1571 the diet was held which proclaimed the equality of the Unitarian Church with the Roman Catholic, the Lutheran, and Calvinistic Churches. The Teleki palace contains the Teleki collections, which include a library of 70,000 volumes and several valuable manuscripts (e.g.the Teleki Codex), a collection of old Hungarian poems, and a manuscript of Tacitus, besides a collection of antiquities and another of minerals. Maros-Vásárhely has also an interesting Szekler industrial museum. The trade is chiefly in timber, grain, wine, tobacco, fruit and other products of the neighbourhood. There are manufactures of sugar, spirits and beer.

MAROT, CLÉMENT(1496-1544), French poet, was born at Cahors, the capital of the province of Quercy, some time during the winter of the year 1496-1497. His father, Jean Marot (c.1463-1523), whose more correct name appears to have been des Mares, Marais or Marets, was a Norman of the neighbourhood of Caen. Jean was himself a poet of considerable merit, and held the post ofescripvain(apparently uniting the duties of poet laureate and historiographer) to Anne of Brittany. He had however resided in Cahors for a considerable time, and was twice married there, his second wife being the mother of Clément. The boy was “brought into France”—it is his own expression, and is not unnoteworthy as showing the strict sense in which that term was still used at the beginning of the 16th century—in 1506, and he appears to have been educated at the university of Paris, and to have then begun the study of law. But, whereas most other poets have had to cultivate poetry against their father’s will, Jean Marot took great pains to instruct his son in the fashionable forms of verse-making, which indeed required not a little instruction. It was the palmy time of therhétoriqueurs, poets who combined stilted and pedantic language with an obstinate adherence to the allegorical manner of the 15th century and to the most complicated and artificial forms of theballadeand therondeau. Clément himself practised with diligence this poetry (which he was to do more than any other man to overthrow), and he has left panegyrics of its coryphaeus Guillaume Crétin, the supposed original of the Raminagrobis of Rabelais, while he translated Virgil’s first eclogue in 1512. Nor did he long continue even a nominal devotion to law. He became page to Nicolas de Neuville, seigneur de Villeroy, and this opened to him the way to court life. Besides this, his father’s interest must have been not inconsiderable, and the house of Valois, which was about to hold the throne of France for the greater part of a century, was devoted to letters.

As early as 1514, before the accession of Francis I., Clément presented to him hisJudgment of Minos, and shortly afterwards he was either styled or styled himselffacteur(poet)de la reineto Queen Claude. In 1519 he was attached to the suite of Marguerite d’Angoulême, the king’s sister, who was for many years to be the mainstay not only of him but of almost all French men of letters. He was also a great favourite of Francis himself, attended the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520, and duly celebrated it in verse. Next year he was at the camp in Flanders, and writes of the horrors of war. It is certain that Marot, like most of Marguerite’s literary court, and perhaps more than most of them, was greatly attracted by her gracious ways, her unfailing kindness, and her admirable intellectual accomplishments, but there is not the slightest ground for thinking that his attachment was other than platonic. It is, however, evident that at this time either sentiment or matured critical judgment effected a great change in his style, a change which was wholly for the better. At the same time he celebrates a certain Diane, whom it has been sought to identify with Diane de Poitiers. There is nothing to support this idea and much against it, for it was an almost invariable habit of the poets of the 16th century, when the mistresses whom they celebrated were flesh and blood at all (which was not always the case), to celebrate them under pseudonyms. In the same year, 1524, Marot accompanied Francis on his disastrous Italian campaign. He was wounded and taken at Pavia, but soon released, and he was back again at Paris by the beginning of 1525. His luck had, however, turned. Marguerite for intellectual reasons, and her brother for political, had hitherto favoured the double movement ofAufklärung, partly humanist, partly Reforming, which distinguished the beginning of the century. Formidable opposition to both forms of innovation, however, now began to be manifested, and Marot, who was at no time particularly prudent, was arrested on a charge of heresy and lodged in the Châtelet, February 1526. But this was only a foretaste of the coming trouble, and a friendly prelate, acting for Marguerite, extricated him from his durance before Easter. The imprisonment gave him occasion to write a vigorous poem on it entitledEnfer, which was afterwards imitated by his luckless friend Étienne Dolet. His father died about this time, and Marot seems to have been appointed to the place which Jean had latterly enjoyed, that of valet de chambre to the king. He was certainly a member of the royal household in 1528 with a stipend of 250 livres, besides which he had inherited property in Quercy. In 1530, probably, he married. Next year he was again in trouble, not it is said for heresy, but for attempting to rescue a prisoner, and was again delivered; this time the king and queen of Navarre seem to have bailed him themselves.

In 1532 he published (it had perhaps appeared three years earlier), under the title ofAdolescence Clémentine, a title the characteristic grace of which excuses its slight savour of affectation, the first printed collection of his works, which was very popular and was frequently reprinted with additions. Dolet’s edition of 1538 is believed to be the most authoritative. Unfortunately, however, the poet’s enemies were by no means discouraged by their previous ill-success, and the political situation was very unfavourable to the Reforming party. In 1535 Marot was implicated in the affair of “The Placards,”1and this time he was advised or thought it best to fly. He passed through Béarn, and then made his way to Renée, duchess of Ferrara, a supporter of the French reformers as steadfast as her aunt Marguerite, and even more efficacious, because her dominions were out of France. At Ferrara he wrote a good deal, his work there including his celebratedBlasons(a descriptive poem, improved upon medieval models2), which set all the verse-writers of France imitating them. But the duchess Renée was not able to persuade her husband, Ercole d’Este, to share her views, and Marot had to quit the city.He then went to Venice, but before very long the pope Paul III. remonstrated with Francis I. on the severity with which the Protestants were treated, and they were allowed to return to Paris on condition of recanting their errors. Marot returned with the rest, and abjured his heresy at Lyons. In 1539 Francis gave him a house and grounds in the suburbs.

It was at this time that his famous translations of the Psalms appeared. The merit of these has been sometimes denied, it is, however, considerable, and the powerful influence which the book exercised on contemporaries is not denied by anyone. The great persons of the court chose different pieces, each as his or her favourite. They were sung in court and city, and they are said, with exaggeration doubtless, but still with a basis of truth, to have done more than anything else to advance the cause of the Reformation in France. Indeed, the vernacular prose translations of the Scriptures were in that country of little merit or power, and the form of poetry was still preferred to prose, even for the most incongruous subjects. At the same time Marot engaged in a curious literary quarrel characteristic of the time, with a bad poet named Sagon, who represented the reactionary Sorbonne. Half the verse-writers of France ranged themselves among the Marotiques or the Sagontiques, and a great deal of versified abuse was exchanged. The victory, as far as wit was concerned, naturally rested with Marot, but his biographers are probably not fanciful in supposing that a certain amount of odium was created against him by the squabble, and that, as in Dolet’s case, his subsequent misfortunes were not altogether unconnected with a too little governed tongue and pen.

The publication of the Psalms gave the Sorbonne a handle, and the book was condemned by that body. In 1543 it was evident that he could not rely on the protection of Francis. Marot accordingly fled to Geneva; but the stars were now decidedly against him. He had, like most of his friends, been at least as much of a freethinker as of a Protestant, and this was fatal to his reputation in the austere city of Calvin. He had again to fly, and made his way into Piedmont, and he died at Turin in the autumn of 1544.

In character Marot seems to have been a typical Frenchman of the old stamp, cheerful, good-humoured and amiable enough, but probably not very much disposed to elaborately moral life and conversation or to serious reflection. He has sometimes been charged with a want of independence of character; but it is fair to remember that in the middle ages men of letters naturally attached themselves as dependants to the great. Such scanty knowledge as we have of his relations with his equals is favourable to him. He certainly at one time quarrelled with Dolet, or at least wrote a violent epigram against him, for which there is no known cause. But, as Dolet quarrelled with almost every friend he ever had, and in two or three cases played them the shabbiest of tricks, the presumption is not against Marot in this matter. With other poets like Mellin de Saint Gelais and Brodeau, with prose writers like Rabelais and Bonaventure Desperiers, he was always on excellent terms. And whatever may have been his personal weaknesses, his importance in the history of French literature is very great, and was long rather under than over-valued. Coming immediately before a great literary reform—that of the Pléiade—Marot suffered the drawbacks of his position; he was both eclipsed and decried by the partakers in that reform. In the reaction against the Pléiade he recovered honour; but its restoration to virtual favour, a perfectly just restoration, again unjustly depressed him. Yet Marot is in no sense one of those writers of transition who are rightly obscured by those who come after them. He himself was a reformer, and a reformer on perfectly independent lines, and he carried his own reform as far as it would go. His early work was couched in therhétoriqueurstyle, the distinguishing characteristics of which are elaborate metre and rhyme, allegoric matter and pedantic language. In his second stage he entirely emancipated himself from this, and became one of the easiest, least affected and most vernacular poets of France. In these points indeed he has, with the exception of La Fontaine, no rival, and the lighter verse-writers ever since have taken one or the other or both as model. In his third period he lost a little of this flowing grace and ease, but acquired something in stateliness, while he certainly lost nothing in wit. Marot is the first poet who strikes readers of French as being distinctively modern. He is not so great a poet as Villon nor as some of his successors of the Pléiade, but he is much less antiquated than the first (whose works, as well as theRoman de la rose, it may be well to mention that he edited) and not so elaborately artificial as the second. Indeed if there be a fault to find with Marot, it is undoubtedly that in his gallant and successful effort to break up, supple, and liquefy the stiff forms and stiffer language of the 15th century, he made his poetry almost too vernacular and pedestrian. Hehaspassion, and picturesqueness, but rarely; in his hands, and while thestyle Marotiquewas supreme, French poetry ran some risk of finding itself unequal to anything but gracefulvers de société. But it is only fair to remember that for a century and more its best achievements, with rare exceptions, had beenvers de sociétéwhich were not graceful.The most important early editions of Marot’sŒuvresare those published at Lyons in 1538 and 1544. In the second of these the arrangement of his poems which has been accepted in later issues was first adopted. In 1596 an enlarged edition was edited by François Mizière. Others of later date are those of N. Lenglet du Fresnoy (the Hague, 1731) and P. Jannet (1868-1872; new ed., 1873-1876), on the whole the best, but there is a very good selection with a still better introduction by Charles d’Héricault, the joint editor of the Jannet edition in the largerCollection Garnier(no date). An elaborate edition by G. Guiffrey remained incomplete, only vols. ii. and iii. (1875-1881) having been issued. For information about Marot himself seeNotices biographiques des trois Marot, edited from the MS. of Guillaume Colletet by G. Guiffrey (1871); H. Morley,Clément Marot, a study of Marot as a reformer; O. Douen,Clément Marot et le psautier huguenot; the section concerning him in G. SaintsburysThe Early Renaissance(1901); and A. Tilley,Literature of the French Renaissance, vol. i., ch. iv. (1904).

The most important early editions of Marot’sŒuvresare those published at Lyons in 1538 and 1544. In the second of these the arrangement of his poems which has been accepted in later issues was first adopted. In 1596 an enlarged edition was edited by François Mizière. Others of later date are those of N. Lenglet du Fresnoy (the Hague, 1731) and P. Jannet (1868-1872; new ed., 1873-1876), on the whole the best, but there is a very good selection with a still better introduction by Charles d’Héricault, the joint editor of the Jannet edition in the largerCollection Garnier(no date). An elaborate edition by G. Guiffrey remained incomplete, only vols. ii. and iii. (1875-1881) having been issued. For information about Marot himself seeNotices biographiques des trois Marot, edited from the MS. of Guillaume Colletet by G. Guiffrey (1871); H. Morley,Clément Marot, a study of Marot as a reformer; O. Douen,Clément Marot et le psautier huguenot; the section concerning him in G. SaintsburysThe Early Renaissance(1901); and A. Tilley,Literature of the French Renaissance, vol. i., ch. iv. (1904).

(G. Sa.)

1These “placards” were the work of the extreme Protestants. Pasted up in the principal streets of Paris on the night of the 17th of October 1534, they vilified the Mass and its celebrants, and thus led to a renewal of the religious persecution.2Theblasonwas defined by Thomas Sibilet as a perpetual praise or continuous vituperation of its subject. Theblasonsof Marot’s followers were printed in 1543 with the title ofBlasons anatomiques du corps féminin.

2Theblasonwas defined by Thomas Sibilet as a perpetual praise or continuous vituperation of its subject. Theblasonsof Marot’s followers were printed in 1543 with the title ofBlasons anatomiques du corps féminin.

MAROT, DANIEL(seventeenth century), French architect, furniture designer and engraver, and pupil of Jean le Pautre (q.v.), was the son of Jean Marot (1620-1679), who was also an architect and engraver. He was a Huguenot, and was compelled by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 to settle in Holland. His earlier work is characteristic of the second period of Louis XIV., but eventually it became tinged with Dutch influence, and in the end the English style which is loosely called “Queen Anne” owed much to his manner. In Holland he was taken almost immediately into the service of the Stadtholder, who, when he shortly afterwards became William III. of England, appointed him one of his architects and master of the works. Comparatively little is known of his architectural achievements, and his name cannot be attached to any English building, although we know from his own engraving that he designed the great hall of audience for the States-General at the Hague. He also decorated many Dutch country-houses. In England his activities appear to have been concentrated upon the adornment of Hampton Court Palace. Among his plans for gardens is one inscribed: “Parterre d’Amton-court inventé par D. Marot.” Much of the furniture—especially the mirrors, guéridons and beds—at Hampton Court bears unmistakable traces of his authorship; the tall and monumental beds, with their plumes of ostrich feathers, their elaborate valances andchantournesin crimson velvet or other rich stuffs agree very closely with his published designs. As befits an artist of the time of Louis XIV. splendour and elaboration are the outstanding characteristics of Marot’s style, and he appears even to have been responsible for some of the curious and rather barbaric silver furniture which was introduced into England from France in the latter part of the 17th century. At Windsor Castle there is a silver table, attributed to him, supported by caryatid legs and gadrooned feet, with a foot-rail supporting the pine-apple which is so familiar a motive in work of this type. The slab is engraved with the arms of William III. and with the British national emblems with crowns and cherubs. Unquestionably it is an exceedingly fine example of its type. During his life in France Marot made many designs for André Charles Boulle (q.v.), more especially for long case and bracket clocks. The bracket clocks were intended to be mounted in chased and gilded bronze, and with their garlands and masquerons and elegant dials are far superior artistically to those of the “grandfather” variety. It is impossible to examine the designs for Marot’s long clocks without suspecting that Chippendale derived from them some at least of the inspiration which made him a master of that kind of furniture. Marot’s range was extraordinarily wide. He designed practically every detail in the internal ornamentation of the house—carved chimney-pieces, ceilings, panels for walls, girandoles and wall brackets, and even tea urns and cream jugs—he was indeed a prolificdesigner of gold and silver plate. Many of his interiors are very rich and harmonious although commonly over-elaborated. The craze for collecting china which was at its height in his time is illustrated in his lavish designs for receptacles for porcelain—in one of his plates there are more than 300 pieces of china on the chimney-piece alone. Marot was still living in 1718, and the date of his death is unknown.

We owe much of our knowledge of his work to the volume of his designs published at Amsterdam in 1712:Œuvres du Sieur D. Marot, architecte de Guillaume III. Roi de la Grande Bretagne, and toReceuil des planches des sieurs Marot, père et fils. In addition to decorative work these books contain prints of scenes in Dutch history, and engravings of the statues and vases, produced by Marot, at the Palace of Loo.

MARPLE,an urban district in the Hyde parliamentary division of Cheshire, England, 12 m. S.E. of Manchester, served by the Great Central, Midland & Sheffield and Midland railways, and the Cheshire lines. Pop. (1901), 5595. It lies on and above the valley of the Goyt, and its situation has brought the town into favour as a residential centre for those whose business lies in Manchester, Stockport, and the great manufacturing district to the west. Marple Hall, a beautiful Elizabethan mansion, is connected with the youth, and sometimes stated to be the birthplace, of John Bradshaw the regicide (1602-1659).

MARPRELATE CONTROVERSY,a war of pamphlets waged in 1588 and 1589 between a puritan writer who employed the pseudonym “Martin Marprelate” and defenders of the Established Church. Martin’s tracts are characterized by violent and personal invective against the Anglican dignitaries, by the assumption that the writer had numerous and powerful adherents and was able to enforce his demands for reform, and by a plain and homely style combined with pungent wit. While he maintained the puritan doctrines as a whole, the special point of his attack was the Episcopacy. The pamphlets were printed at a secret press established by John Penry, a Welsh puritan, with the help of the printer Robert Waldegrave, about midsummer 1588, for the issue of puritan literature forbidden by the authorities. The first tract by “Martin Marprelate,” known as theEpistle, appeared at Molesey in November 1588. It is in answer toA Defence of the Government established in the Church of Englande, by Dr. John Bridges, dean of Salisbury, itself a reply to earlier puritan works, and besides attacking the episcopal office in general assails certain prelates with much personal abuse. TheEpistleattracted considerable notice, and a reply was written by Thomas Cooper, bishop of Winchester, under the titleAn Admonition to the People of England, but this was too long and too dull to appeal to the same class of readers as the Marprelate pamphlets, and produced little effect. Penry’s press, now removed to Fawsley, near Northampton, produced a second tract by Martin, theEpitome, which contains more serious argument than theEpistlebut is otherwise similar, and shortly afterwards, at Coventry, Martin’s reply to theAdmonition, entitledHay any Worke for Cooper(March 1589). It now appeared to some of the ecclesiastical authorities that the only way to silence Martin was to have him attacked in his own railing style, and accordingly certain writers of ready wit, among them John Lyly, Thomas Nashe and Robert Greene, were secretly commissioned to answer the pamphlets. Among the productions of this group werePappe with an Hatchet(Sept. 1589), probably by Lyly, andAn Almond for a Parrat(1590), which, with certain tracts under the pseudonym of Pasquil, has been attributed to Nashe (q.v.). Some anti-Martinist plays or shows (now lost) performed in 1589 were perhaps also their work. Meanwhile, in July 1589, Penry’s press, now at Wolston, near Coventry, produced two tracts purporting to be by “sons” of Martin, but probably by Martin himself, namely,Theses Martinianaeby Martin Junior, andThe Just Censure of Martin Juniorby Martin Senior. Shortly after this,More Work for Cooper, a sequel toHay any Worke, was begun at Manchester, but while it was in progress the press was seized. Penry however was not found, and in September issued from Wolston or HaseleyThe Protestation of Martin Marprelate, the last work of the series, though several of the anti-Martinist pamphlets appeared after this date. He then fled to Scotland, but was later apprehended in London, charged with inciting rebellion, and hanged (May 1593). The authorship of the tracts has been attributed to several persons: to Penry himself, who however emphatically denied it and whose acknowledged works have little resemblance in style to those of Martin, to Job Throckmorton, and to Henry Barrow.

Back to Index Next