Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/749

* MAETEBLINCK. 667 MAFIA. They, in trutli, demand no strong portrayal of human character, and their author is free to charm by the simijle and untrammcled utter- ance of his views of life. Le tresor des humbles (1876), La sagesse et la destince (1878), and Maeterlinck's Introduction to his translation of Ruysbroeck's L'ornement des noces spirituellcs express ilaeterlinck's mys- tic; philosophy. La vie des aheilles, translated by ijutro (>>ev York, 1902), is an artist's study of bee life. Here ilaeterlinck's sensuous outlook on life, his painter's vision, has no need of psychol- ogy; for he is dealing with throngs rather than with individuals, yet there is in his setting forth of the bee's activity, intelligence, instinct, and beauty a precision hich shows that he got his knowledge mostly at first hand. This he tells us, though he also acknowledges his debt to honey- gathering and to purely scientific students of the bee. La vie des abtillcs is perhaps ilaeterlinck's soundest creation. His dramas, which were trans- lated by Richard Hovey (New York, 1896). show the influence of the Elizabethan playwrights. Their weird unreality suggests such writers as Yilliers de I'lsle-Adara (whom ilaeterlinck met in Paris in 1896) and De Quincey, Rossetti, and Poe, as well as mystic writers of bygone ages. A collection of ilaeterlinck's dramas appeared in 1901. M.a;VITJS, me'viiis. A Latin poetaster, whose name usually is coupled with another similar writer. Bavins (q.v. ). MAFEKING, mii'fe-king'. A town of British South Africa, the seat of the administration of the Bechuanaland Protectorate, situated near the western frontier of the Transvaal Colony, 96 miles by rail northeast of Vryburg (ilap: Trans- vaal Colonv, B 4 ). It became famous during the Boer-British War of 1899-1902 as the place where the British, under Col. Baden-Powell, were be- sieged by the Boers under Cronje from October 11, 1899. to ilay 18. 1900. They were relieved by a British column under Colonel ilahori. The locality had no strategical importance, except tliat in the first stages of the campaign it was part of the Boer plan of campaign to capture the British force stationed there, or at least to pre- vent them from assuming the offensive in some other part of the theatre of war. MAFFEI, maf-ffi'e. AxDREA (1800-85). An Italian poet, horn at Riva di Trento. He studied German and English, and made himself widely known by his translations from these two lan- guages. Among them are the complete dramatic works of Schiller (1844) and ililton's Paradise Lost (18.57). He also translated several poems of Byron and iloore, some of Goethe's works, and Shakespeare's Macbeth, Othello, and The Tempest (1860). His original volumes are Dal Benaeo (1854), and a larger collection of poetry, Versi editi ed incditi (1858-60). MAFFEI, GiovAN-xi Pieteo (1535-1603). An Italian Jesuit historian, born in Bergamo. He was professor of eloquence at Genoa in 1563. and was made secretary of the Republic in the following year. Later he became a .Jesuit (1565) and taught rhetoric in the .Jesviit college at Rome. He is best known for his monumental Hisforia- riim Indicnrum Libri XVL (1588; best edition Cologne. 1593). a valuable work, which occupied him for twelve years. An edition of his Latin works was published at Bergamo in 1747. Vol. XII.— 43. MAFFEI, SciPio.xE, ilarchese (1675-1755). An Italian dramatist and scholar, born at Vero- na, June 1, 1675. He received his training with the Jesuits at Parma and then spent some time in the army under his brother Alessandro, a gen- eral in the Bavarian service, taking part in the battle of HOchstiidt (1704). Jifter his return to Italy, he published the book, Delia scicnza caval- leresca (Rome, 1710), in which he censured the practice of dueling. With two others he started in 1710 the Giornale dei letlerati. Interested in the older Italian stage, he prepared an edition of some of its best plays and prefixed thereto a dis- sertation of his own. But he did still more for the native theatre by composing his ilerope, the first Italian tragedy of incontestable excellence, which was performed in 1713 and printed for the first time at Venice, 1714. This drama was trans- lated into several foreign languages, and it seems that Voltaire at first meant to translate it into French, and only later decided to write an independent drama. The French writer did, how- ever, imitate some scenes of the Italian work, and a controversy of a bitter nature arose between the two authors, ilaflei's erudition revealed itself in a number of treatises, e.g. in the Istoria diplo- tnatica (ilantua, 1727 1, the ciona illustrata (Verona, 1732), and the Gallia- Antiqttitates, which he published at Paris ( 1733), after a jour- ney of investigation made through Provence. While in France he studied the Jansenistic move- ment, and dealt with it in his Istoria teologica, etc. (Trent, 1742). He attacked current preju- dices in the DeW impiego del dcnaro (1746). in which he demonstrated that loans on interest are not prohibited by moral law or by the Scriptures, and he renewed his attack in the Arte magica (1749-54). Against an enemy of the stage, the cleric Concina, he directed the Trattato de' teatri antichi e moderni, which received the sanction of Pope Benedict XIV. Works on physics, entomology', and other subjects show his scientific attainments. Consult : ilaffei's Opere (21 vols., Venice, 1790) and the selected Oinisculi letterari (Venice, 1829, and ililan. 1S44) ; Pindemonte, "Elogio del marchese Scipi- one ilatiei." in the Elogie di lettcrali italiani (Florence, 1859) : Giuliari, "Bibliografla mafl'ei- ana," in the Propugnatorc for 18S5. MAFFIA. See ilAFiA. MAF'FIT, .John Newland (1819-86). An American naval officer, born at sea in 1819. He entered the L'nited States navy as a midshipman in 1832. and was promoted to a lieutenancy in 1848. In ilay. 1861. he withdrew from" the Federal service and entered that of the Confed- eracy. The next year he took charge at Xassau of the Oreto, a steamer that had been built for the South at Liverpool. He carried the vessel to the island of Green Key, where he renamed her the Florida and took on board guns and am- munition that had been sent from Xassau. After a visit to ilobile he set out in January. 1863. on a long and adventurous cruise, in the course of which he captured a great many prizes, one of them alone being of the value of $1,500,000. Toward the end of the year, however, while his vessel was being repaired in the port of Brest, Maffit's health gave way. and he resigned his command. MAFIA, mit'fe-S. A secret organization, es- pecially prevalent in Sicily, where it frequently