Page:Imperialdictiona03eadi Brandeis Vol3a.pdf/306

MAC during the war of independence. In 1787 he went with his regiment to India, and remained upon that station for seventeen years, in the course of which he was an actor in many a brilliant scene, having marched with General Baird's army to Alexandria in 1801, and been present at the storming of Seringapatam in 1799. After a second short stay in India, his regiment, the 73rd Highlanders, was ordered in 1809 to New South Wales, and he himself received the appointment of governor of that colony. He occupied this important post during twelve years, until superseded by Sir Thomas Brisbane in 1822. His administration was on the whole vigorous and beneficial; he encouraged the exploration of the interior, which led in his time to the discovery of the valuable country west of the Blue Mountains, and embellished Sydney with many fine public buildings. He died in 1824. Much information with reference to his system of government, particularly in dealing with the convicts, may be gathered from two amusing articles by Sydney Smith in the Edinburgh Review, vols., xxxii. and xxxviii.—T. A.  MACQUER,, a French phlogistian chemist, said to be of Scottish extraction, was born at Paris in 1718. He studied medicine, but devoted himself chiefly to chemistry. He became a member of the Academy of Sciences in 1745, and died in 1784 after a tranquil career, spent almost entirely in the laboratory. His "Elements of Chemistry," the first clear and methodical handbook of the science, was translated into several languages, and long remained in use at the universities throughout Europe. His "Dictionary of Chemistry" was also very successful. He wrote many papers, especially on arsenic acid and the alkaline arseniates; on Prussian blue, the colouring matter of which he supposed to be phlogiston; and on crude platinum.—J. W. S.  * MACREADY,, actor and manager, was born in London on the 3rd March, 1793. He was intended by his father, a provincial manager, for one of the learned professions, and was educated at Rugby. As in the case of Fanny Kemble, filial duty led Mr. Macready to go upon the stage in the hope of diminishing a father's pecuniary embarrassments. His first appearance was as Romeo at the Birmingham theatre in the June of 1810. Successful at the outset, after a provincial career of six years he appeared for the first time before a metropolitan audience at Covent Garden, on the 16th of September, 1816, as Orestes in the Distressed Mother. After eleven more years of labour he had come to be considered the first English tragedian of his age, uniting the fire of the elder Kean to the dignity and good taste of John Kemble. In October, 1837, he became lessee of Covent Garden, and added to his own noble personations a splendour and accuracy in the mise en scène, till then unknown on the British stage. It was to aid Mr. Macready's efforts for the elevation of theatrical entertainments that his friend. Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton wrote for him at this period Richelieu and the Lady of Lyons; and as the great French cardinal of the former drama, he achieved one of his most striking histrionic triumphs. His enterprise was not financially successful. At the close of the second season he retired from it, and a testimonial was presented to him in recognition of his efforts. In a similar spirit, and with a similar result, he undertook in 1842 the management of Drury Lane for two seasons. On February 26, 1851, he took leave of the stage; and at the farewell banquet afterwards given to him, Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton in the chair, the attendance and proceedings exhibited the high regard felt for the actor, the manager, and the man. Mr. Macready occasionally emerges from his retirement at Sherborne, Dorsetshire, to lecture or give readings for the benefit of popular educational institutions. In 1849 he published an edition of the poetical works of Pope, originally prepared and privately printed for the use of his own children to whom it is inscribed.—F. E.  MACRINUS, M., Emperor of Rome, was born of very humble parents at Cæsarea, in Mauritania, in 164. Having obtained admission to the service of Plautianus, he gradually rose to an influential position, and at length was appointed by Caracalla to be prefect of the praetorian guard. A prophecy having gone abroad that he was to succeed his master, Macrinus, dreading his resentment, procured his death on the 8th of April, 217. Three days after he was proclaimed emperor by the army, and the title of Cæsar was conferred on his son. But the disgraceful defeat he received at Nisibis, and the reforms he was obliged to introduce, soon brought him into disfavour. Advantage of this was taken by Julia Maesa, who contrived to induce the legions quartered near Emesa, where she lived, to believe that her grandson, Elagabalus, was a natural child of the Emperor Caracalla. An insurrection was made in his favour, and at a battle fought on the 8th of June, 218, Macrinus was defeated and had to fly for his life. Soon after he was captured at Chalcedon and was put to death after a reign of fourteen months.—D. W. R.  MACRO,, a man of obscure birth, rose into favour with Tiberius during the latter years of that emperor, and became a chief officer of his body-guard. He was a principal actor in the overthrow of Sejanus,. 31, upon whose fall he became præfectus prætorio. Tiberius found him a ready instrument for his cruelties; but Macro took part in placing Caligula on the throne, and is even accused of hastening the death of Tiberius,. 37. He had previously promoted an intrigue between his wife Ennia and Caligula, in the hope of strengthening his influence over the young prince; and he was at first treated with distinction by the new emperor. In a few months, however, he was put to death by Caligula, along with his wife and children.—G.  MACROBIUS,, flourished under the Emperor Honorius, at the beginning of the fifth century after Christ. It is probable that he was by birth a Greek, and that he had not embraced christianity. Of his life nothing is known. His extant works are—1. A tract on Greek and Latin grammar, of no great value. 2. A commentary on the Dream of Scipio, as given by Cicero in his De Republica; the sixth book of that treatise in which this passage occurred being now lost, the extract given by Macrobius is of much interest. This commentary also throws some light on the cosmogony of the neoplatonists, to whose opinions Macrobius seems to have inclined. 3. The "Saturnalia," in seven books, a celebrated work, and that by which Macrobius is generally known. It is written in the form of dialogues in imitation of Plato, which are supposed to take place during the festival of the Saturnalia at the house of a senator at Rome. The subjects treated are various, comprising mythology, history, antiquities, criticism, and physiology. Four of the seven books are devoted to criticisms on Virgil, and much light is thus thrown on the composition of the Æneid. Macrobius was a man of great learning and research, and is considered one of the most valuable of the Latin antiquarians.—G.  * MACVICAR, G., D.D., a zealous naturalist and a clergyman of the Church of Scotland, was born in 1801 in Dundee, where his father, also a doctor in divinity, was a parish minister. he commenced his academic studies at the university of St. Andrews, and further prosecuted them at Edinburgh, where a passion for natural history arose under the teaching, and friendship of Professor Jameson. He also had a taste tor natural philosophy, which had been fostered by Professor Jackson of St. Andrews. He afterwards went to Copenhagen, and studied under Oersted; and then to Paris, where he attended the prelections of Dumas, De Blainville, and Geoffrey St. Hilaire. In 1827 he was appointed lecturer on natural history in St. Andrews. After a short lectureship he went abroad for several years, and he also visited America. In 1839 he returned to Edinburgh, with the view of devoting himself to the ministry. He soon after undertook the establishment and superintendence of a branch of the Church of Scotland in Ceylon, where he remained for twelve years. He was secretary of the educational board there, and exerted himself in the cause of native education. In 1852 he returned to Scotland on medical leave, and on the restoration of his health he entered on the charge of the parish of Moffat, where he has laboured ever since. Dr. Macvicar has contributed many natural history articles to the Transactions of the Asiatic Society, the Calcutta Review, the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, Transactions of the Royal, Wernerian, and Botanical societies of Edinburgh. Among his papers may be noticed—"Observations on the Germination of Ferns," in which the first account is given of the development of the prothallus; "Remarks on the forces which determine the crystalline state of bodies;" "The General Principles of Vegetable Morphology;" "The Theory of the Terminal Fructification of the simple plant, of ovules, pollen, and spores;" "First Lines of Morphology and organic development geometrically considered." He has also published several works on religion and philosophy. Among the former we may mention a volume entitled "The Catholic Spirit of True Religion;" and among the 