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 808 MACROBIUS McWHORTER tianus, the favorite of Septimius Severus, and received successive appointments in the impe- rial household, until he became prefect of the praetorians under Caracalla. On the death of the latter, whose assassination he plotted, he was proclaimed emperor, gaining the favor of the prsBtorians by a liberal donative and of the senate by repealing some obnoxious taxes. He immediately marched against the Parthians under Artabanus, and was signally defeated by them near Nisibis. His enforcement of disci- pline caused disaffection among his troops, a portion of whom renounced their allegiance to him in favor of the pretender Elagabalus. He marched against the latter, was defeated at Antioch, fled in disguise to Chalcedon, was be- trayed, and was put to death in Oappadocia. MACROBIUS, Ambrosias Aarelias Theodosins, known as the grammarian, a Latin author of the 5th century. Little is known of his life, but the frequent Hellenisms in his wri- tings indicate that he was a Greek ; and though he mentions the massacre of the innocents by Herod, he appears to have been a heathen, following the Neo-Platonist philosophy of his time. Three of his works are extant: Satur- naliorum Gonmmorum Libri VII., a series of dissertations, in the manner of the dialogues of Plato, discussing the attributes and festivals of Saturn and Janus and the Roman calendar, commenting on the works of Virgil, and treat- ing various other subjects; Commentarius ex Cicerone in Somnium Scipionis, a work great- ly admired during the middle ages, which dis- courses of the constitution of the universe according to the views of the Neo-Platonists ; and De Differentiis et Societatibus Greed La- tinique Verli, a grammatical treatise, abridged in the time of Charles the Bald from the ori- ginal work, which is now lost. The best edi- tion of his works is that of Gronovius (Leyden, 1670), but it does not contain the De Diffe- rentiis, which was published in Paris in 1533. His works have been twice translated into French (Paris, 1826, and 3 vols., 1845-7), but not into English. McTYEIRE, Holland Nimmons, an American clergyman, born in Barnwell district, S. 0., July 28, 1824. He graduated at Randolph Macon college in 1844, and was appointed professor of ancient languages and mathematics there. After a year he entered the Virginia conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and was stationed at Williamsburg, Va., whence he was transferred in 1846 to Mobile, Ala. He preached in New Orleans two years (1849-'51), after which he became editor of the New Orleans "Christian Advocate." In 1858 he was elected by the general conference editor of the " Christian Advocate " at Nash- ville, Tenn. In 1866 he was elected a bishop, and in 1873 president of the board of trust of Vanderbilt university, Nashville, Tenn. He is the author of a prize essay on " The Duties of Christian Masters," and a "Manual of the Discipline " (1870). He received the degree of D. D. in 1858 both from the Wesleyan univer- sity, Alabama, and Emory college, Georgia. McYICKAR, John, an American clergyman, born in New York, Aug. 10, 1787, died there, Oct. 29, 1868. He graduated at Columbia college in 1804, and spent some time in Eng- land with his father. He entered the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal church in 1811, and became rector of St. James's church, Hyde Park, on the Hudson. In 1817 he was ap- pointed professor of moral philosophy, rheto- ric, and belles-lettres (to which was afterward added the evidences of Christianity) in Co- lumbia college, which office he occupied for nearly half a century. In 1830 he made a visit to England and the continent. From 1844 to 1862 he was also chaplain at Fort Columbus, Governor's Island. In 1864 he re- tired from active duty in the college, but was made emeritus professor. He was also for many years actively engaged in the guidance and direction of Episcopal church work in the state of New York. Besides a number of occasional pamphlets and essays, he published " Narrative of the Life of Dr. Samuel Bard " (1822) ; " Outlines of Political Economy " (1825); "Memoir of the Rev. Edmund D. Griffin" (1831); "Early Years of Bishop Ho- bart " (1834) ; and " Professional Years of Bish- op Hobart " (1836). His life has been written by his son, W. A. McVickar, D. D. (1873). MeWHORTER, Alexander, an American clergy- man, born in Newcastle co., Del., July 15, 1734, died in Newark, N. J., July 20, 1807. In 1756 he entered the junior class in the col- lege of New Jersey, then at Newark, but re- moved the next year to Princeton, 'where he graduated shortly after. He studied theology with William Tennent, was licensed to preach by the presbytery of New Brunswick in 1758, and in the following year was installed pastor of the church in Newark, which office he re- tained with some interruption for nearly half a century. In 1764 he was appointed by the synod of New York and Philadelphia to a mis- sion in North Carolina, where his friends were settled, and where he was invited to settle, but declined ; and after visiting Boston, he returned to Newark in 1766. In 1775 he was sent by congress to western North Carolina to persuade the numerous royalists there to adopt the pa- triot cause. In 1776 he' visited the army en- camped opposite Trenton, and was present at the passage of the Delaware and the surprise of the Hessians. In 1778 he became chap- lain of Knox's artillery brigade. In 1779 he accepted a pastorate and the presidency of Charlotte academy, in Mecklenburg co., N. C. ; but the place being captured by Cornwallis, he lost his library and furniture, and was recalled and in 1781 reinstalled at Newark. In 1788 he was prominent in forming the constitution of the Presbyterian church of the United States. Dr. McWhorter was for 35 years a trustee of the college of New Jersey ; and after the burn- ing of the college buildings in 1802, the collec-