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 MACREADY spread over this plain, and long after the exis- tence of recent shells, which, according to Dar- win, are among the most common now liv- ing on the coast. The M. PatacJionica (Owen) was as large as the present hippopotamus and rhinoceros. The cervical vertebra were very much like those of the llama, forming a long and slender neck, bearing probably a compara- tively small head without a proboscis; as in the llama, these have no canal for the verte- bral artery in their transverse processes, this vessel passing for a considerable part of its course in the spinal canal itself ; their form is also elongated, with a slight anterior convexity and posterior concavity on their articulating surfaces, indicating a less freedom of motion in the neck. The lumbar vertebra?, though seven in number as in the llama, in their form and the structure of their articulating surfaces resemble those of pachyderms, and indicate a slight concavity in the region of the loins. The union of the radius to the ulna, and of the fibula to the tibia, approximates it to the ruminants ; but the feet resemble those of pa- chyderms (like the tapir) in having separated metacarpals, and three almost equal fingers terminating each in a small rounded hoof. Ac- cording to Pictet, the molar teeth resemble those of the palaBotherium, the last lower one having no third lobe, and the premolars being more simple. For details see Owen's descrip- tion of the fossil mammals in the " Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle" (1840). BIACREADY, William Charles, an English actor, born in London, March 3, 1793, died at Wes- ton-super-Mare, Somersetshire, April 29, 1873. His father, the lessee and manager of several provincial theatres, having designed him for one of the learned professions, he was placed at 10 years of age at Rugby school, where he attained considerable reputation as a classical scholar ; but about 1810 he was induced by his father's pecuniary embarrassment to go upon the stage. He made his d6but at the Birmingham theatre in June of that year as Romeo, and soon acquired a respectable posi- tion upon the provincial boards. He made his first appearance in London at Covent Garden theatre, Sept. 16, 1816, as Orestes in Phillips's tragedy of " The Distressed Mother," and was pronounced by Hazlitt " by far the best actor that had come out in his remembrance, with the exception of Mr. Kean." From that time forward he continued to rise steadily in the public estimation, until he was generally recog- nized as the first of English tragedians. Among his most successful personations aside from the Shakespearian plays were Virginius, Oaius Gracchus, and William Tell in Knowles's dra- mas, Melantius in "The Bridal," Rob Roy, Gambia, Werner, and Richelieu. As a deline- ator of Shakespeare's heroes he attempted a wide range of characters, but was most success- ful in Macbeth, Hamlet, Othello, Ooriolanus, and Leontes. In 1826 he made a successful tour through the United States, and in 1828 visited MACRINUS 807 Paris, where he was received with great favor. In 1837 he undertook the management of Co- vent Garden theatre, but retired at the end of the second season, and for two seasons com- mencing with 1840 he had charge of Drury Lane. As a manager he did much to elevate the standard of dramatic representations, and to relieve the theatre of its reputation for immorality and profligacy. The enterprise nevertheless was pecuniarily unsuccessful. In 1843-'4 he played a series of engagements in the United States, which he again revisited in 1848. In consequence of a misunderstanding of some years' existence between Edwin For- rest and himself, the friends of Forrest threat- ened to prevent the appearance of Macready in New York. He nevertheless played for a number of nights at the Astor Place opera house in October, 1848; but upon commencing a farewell engagement there in the succeeding May he was menaced by serious opposition. On Monday, May 7, when he appeared as Mac- beth, such was the confusion that the manager was obliged to order the curtain to fall before the termination of the performance. Mac- ready was thereupon inclined to resign his engagement ; but upon the publication in the newspapers of a card signed by many citizens, requesting him to remain, and promising to protect him in the discharge of his professional duties, he consented to reappear on the follow- ing Thursday. On that evening, owing to the precautions taken to preserve order in the house, he succeeded in performing his part. Outside of the theatre the friends of Forrest, after vainly endeavoring to effect an entrance, commenced an attack upon the building with stones and other missiles. The police being unable to restrain the mob, the military were called out, and after several volleys of mus- ketry, by which 22 persons were killed and 36 wounded, the riot was quelled. Though assured of ample protection, Macready deter- mined to make no further attempt to act in New York, and soon after left the country. In 1850-'51 he performed a series of farewell engagements in England, and on Feb. 26, 1851, took a formal leave of the stage at Drury Lane theatre. On March 1 a complimentary dinner was given to him in London, which was numer- ously attended. His rank as an actor was due principally to intelligent study, his genius being the reverse of impulsive, and his imagination not of that plastic nature which can instantly seize and embody impressions. Many excellent plays of Bulwer, Talfourd, Knowles, Brown- ing, Marston, White, Taylor, and others, were brought out under his auspices ; and his exer- tions to elevate his art, and to suppress the vi- cious tendencies connected with it, had a bene- ficial effect. See his "Reminiscences and Dia- ries," edited by Sir Frederick Pollock (1875). MACRIMS, Roman emperor from April, A. D. 217, to June, 218, born in Csosarea, Mauri- tania, in 164. Of the humblest parentage, he was admitted into the employment of Plau-