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MARIETTA

II7I

MARION

to Louis XVI, then the dauphin, in 1770. A mere child in years, neglected by her young husband and bored by the stiff etiquette of the court, she spent money recklessly, went on night drives to Paris, appeared at masked balls and became passionately fond of the card-table. When she became queen (1774), her open favoring of Austrian interests and her enmity to Turgot and Necker and their measures for stopping the distress of the country made her distrusted and disliked. The people came to think that their miseries were wholly caused by the extravagance of The Austrian, as she was called. She was also attacked in pamphlets under the names of Madame Deficit and Madame Veto. The joyous girl had become a courageous and obstinate woman, who forced the king into a backward policy, to his undoing. As Mirabeau said, the only man the king had about him wa? his wife* Amid the horrors of the march of women to Versailles she alone did not lose heart, and she showed herself on the balcony to the raging mob with a cool bravery that for a moment overawed the fiercest into respect. But she was a Royalist to the core, disliked liberal noblemen like Lafayette and Mirabeau, and utterly failed to understand the troublous times into which she was flung. The death of Mirabeau (1791) took away the last hope of saving the monarchy, and less than three months later took place the fatal flight to the frontier which was stopped at Varennes. Quickly followed the storming of the Tuil-eries. the transference to the Temple and the trial and execution of the king. Then Marie's son was torn from her arms, and she herself sent to the Conciergerie like a common criminal. After eight weeks more of insult and brutality, Widow Capet, as she was styled, was herself tried in her ragged dress and gray hair before the revolutionary tribunal. With calmness she went through the two days and nights of questioning, was sentenced, and on the same day at Paris on Oct. 16, 1793, perished under the ax of the guifotine, just 23 years after she had left Vienna, a beautiful girl. See the histories of the French Revolution by Thiers, Mignet, Michelet, Louis Blanc, Carlyle and Von Sybel; and Lord Ronald Gower's Last Days of Marie Antoinette.

Ma'riet'ta, a city of Ohio, capital of Washington County, on the Ohio River, at the mouth of the Muskingum, 95 miles southeast of Columbus. Founded in 1788, largely by officers of the Revolutionary War, it is the oldest town in the state and the first settlement in the Northwest Territory. Remarkable ^ traces of the Dearly moundbuilders are visible here. It is the seat of Marietta College, founded in 1835, and having 33 professors and instructors, 258 students and a library of 60,000 volumes. Its manufactures include the largest

chair-factory in the state. The discovery and development of rich deposits of petroleum In the surrounding region have greatly stimulated the growth of the city in recent years. Population 12,923.

Marigold (mar't-gold), a name given to certain plants of the same order as the chrysanthemum and dandelion. Pot marigold, Calendula officinalis, the common garden flower, is a native of France and southern Europe. It grows on an upright stem from one to two feet in height, the flowers, of orange and of lemon yellow, being of purest color. The plant blooms very freely; if the blossoms are kept plucked, it will flower from June to November. Seeds germinate quickly. The flowers are sometimes used in flavoring soup and in coloring cheese. Corn marigold is a chrysanthemum. The marigold is the floral emblem of constancy.

Marine' Corps or marines, troops serving in the navy, whether at naval stations or on_ board ships, are chiefly of value when it is desired to land a fighting force, without weakening the strength of a ship's company by depriving her of part or whole of her crew, In ancient times such troops by their mere presence transformed a merchant-vessel into a warship. But as cannon came to be used, men-at-arms were no longer of such value on board ships, as the defeat of the Spanish Armada did much to show. Modern marines, to use small arms, were perhaps first employed in 1653 ^7 Admiral Blake of England against the Dutch. The American marine corps was authorized by Congress in 1775, when it was voted that two battalions of marines should be enlisted. This was actually done in 1776. Among the ordinary duties which fall to the lot of the marine guard, the most important is naval police-duty. The United States at the present time has some 8,000 enlisted marines. The marine corps is essentially "amphibious;" but it is governed by the navy regulations, except when detached by order of the president to serve with the army.

Marinette (mar't-net'}, a town in Wisconsin at the mouth of the Menominee. It contain^ iron-foundries, sawmills and plan-jng-mills, and its chief industry is lumbering. Population 14*610.

Mario (mafre-6}, Giuseppe, a famous Italian opera-singer, was born at Cagliari in 1812, and was the son of General di Candia. In 1838 he made his first appearance in opera as Robert in Robert le Diable. In this he achieved the first of many successes in Paris, London, St. Petersburg and America. He was generous and always ready to help struggling artists. Mario married Giulia Grisi, the famous singer, and retired from the stage in 1867. He died on Dec. u, 1883. See Engel's Musical Celebrities.

Mar'ion, Francis, was born at Winyaw, S. C., in 1732. Marion came of a Huguenot