[1] [Greek: Sarbeth Sabanaiel] (Sarbeth Sabanaiel). No satisfactory
explanation of this title has yet been given from the Hebrew (see the
commentaries). The book may, however, have been known to Origen only
in an Aramaic translation, in which case, according to the happy
conjecture of Dalman (_Gramm._ 6) the two words may have represented
the Aramaic [Hebrew: sefer beit Hashmonai] ("book of the Hasmonaean
house").
[2] If the book is a unity, ch. xvi. 23 implies that it was written
after the death of Hyrcanus which occurred in 105 B.C. On the other
hand the friendly references to Rome in ch. viii. show that it must
have been written before the siege of Jerusalem by Pompey in 63 B.C.
[3] Cf. ix. 22, xi. 37, xiv. 18, 27.
[4] See especially Geiger, _Urschrift und Uebersetzungen der Bibel_,
206 seq.
[5] Prefixed to the book are two spurious letters from Palestinian
Jews (i., ii. 18), having no real connexion with it, or even with one
another, further than that they both urge Egyptian Jews to observe
the Feast of the Dedication. Between these and the main narrative is
inserted the writer's own preface, in which he explains the source
and aim of his work (ii. 19-32).
[6] iv. 38. 42; v. 9 seq.; ix. 5-18.
[7] The date of composition can be only approximately determined. As
the writer is acquainted with the Greek additions to Daniel (vi. 6),
the first century B.C. forms the superior limit; and as the book
found favour in the Eastern Church, the first century A.D. forms the
inferior limit.
[8] Apart from its abrupt commencement, the references in i. 2 to
"the plot" as something already specified, and in ii. 25 to the
king's "before-mentioned" companions, of whom, however, nothing is
said in the previous section of the book, point to the loss of at
least an introductory chapter.
[9] The statements with reference to the war between Antiochus the
Great and Ptolemy Philopator are in general agreement with those of
the classical historians, and to this extent the tale may be said to
have an historical setting. By Grimm (_Einl._ § 3), the observance of
the two yearly festivals (vi. 26; vii. 19), and the existence of the
synagogue at Ptolemais when the book was written, are viewed as the
witness of tradition to the fact of some great deliverance. Fritzsche
has well pointed out, however (art. "Makkabäer" in Schenkel's
_Bibel-Lexicon_) that in the hands of Jewish writers of the period
nearly every event of consequence has a festival attached to it.
[10] Even if with Freudenthal we regard the work as a homily actually
delivered to a Jewish congregation--and there are difficulties in the
way of this theory, particularly the absence of a Biblical text--it
was clearly intended for publication. It is essentially a book in the
form of a discourse, whether it was ever orally delivered or not. So
Deissmann in Kautzsch, _Die Apok. u. Pseudepigr. des A. T._ ii. 151.
[11] Hence the title sometimes given to it: [Greek: autokratoros
logismou] ("On the supremacy of reason"). It is also styled [Greek:
Makkabaion d', Makkabaikon, eis tous Makkabaious].
MacCARTHY, DENIS FLORENCE (1817-1882), Irish poet, was born in Dublin on
the 26th of May 1817, and educated there and at Maynooth. His earlier
verses appeared in _The Dublin Satirist_, and in 1843 he became a
regular contributor of political verse to the recently founded _Nation_.
He also took an active part in the Irish political associations. In 1846
he edited _The Poets and Dramatists of Ireland_ and the _Book of Irish
Ballads_. His collected _Ballads, Poems and Lyrics_ (1850), including
translations from nearly all the modern languages, took immensely with
his countrymen on account of their patriotic ring. This was followed by
_The Bellfounder_ (1857), _Under-glimpses_ and other poems (1857) and
_The Early Life of Shelley_ (1871). In 1853 he began a number of
translations from the Spanish of Calderon's dramas, which won for him a
medal from the Royal Spanish Academy. He had already been granted a
civil list pension for his literary services. He died in Ireland on the
7th of April 1882.
M'CARTHY, JUSTIN (1830- ), Irish politician, historian and novelist,
was born in Cork on the 22nd of November 1830, and was educated at a
school in that town. He began his career as a journalist, at the age of
eighteen, in Cork. From 1853 to 1859 he was in Liverpool, on the staff
of the _Northern Daily Times_, during which period he married (in March
1855) Miss Charlotte Allman. In 1860 he removed to London, as
parliamentary reporter to the _Morning Star_, of which he became editor
in 1864. He gave up his post in 1868, and, after a lecturing tour in the
United States, joined the staff of the _Daily News_ as leader-writer in
1870. In this capacity he became one of the most useful and respected
upholders of the Liberal politics of the time. He lectured again in
America in 1870-1871, and again in 1886-1887. He represented Co.
Longford in Parliament as a Liberal and Home Ruler from 1879 to 1885;
North Longford, 1885-1886; Londonderry, 1886-1892; and North Longford
from 1892 to 1900. He was chairman of the Anti-Parnellites from the fall
of C. S. Parnell in 1890 until January 1896; but his Nationalism was of
a temperate and orderly kind, and though his personal distinction
singled him out for the chairmanship during the party dissensions of
this period, he was in no active sense the political leader. His real
bent was towards literature. His earliest publications were novels, some
of which, such as _A Fair Saxon_ (1873), _Dear Lady Disdain_ (1875),
_Miss Misanthrope_ (1878), _Donna Quixote_ (1879), attained considerable
popularity. His most important work is his _History of Our Own Times_
(vols. i.-iv., 1879-1880; vol. v., 1897), which treats of the period
between Queen Victoria's accession and her diamond jubilee. Easily and
delightfully written, and on the whole eminently sane and moderate,
these volumes form a brilliant piece of narrative from a Liberal
standpoint. He also began a _History of the Four Georges_ (1884-1901),
of which the latter half was written by his son, Justin Huntly M'Carthy
(b. 1860), himself the author of various clever novels, plays, poetical
pieces and short histories. Justin M'Carthy, amongst other works, wrote
biographies of Sir Robert Peel (1891), Pope Leo XIII. (1896) and W. E.
Gladstone (1898); _Modern England_ (1898); _The Reign of Queen Anne_
(1902) and _Reminiscences_ (2 vols., 1899).
McCHEYNE, ROBERT MURRAY (1813-1843), Scottish divine, was born at
Edinburgh on the 21st of May 1813, was educated at the University and at
the Divinity Hall of his native city, and held pastorates at Larbert,
near Falkirk, and Dundee. A mission of inquiry among the Jews throughout
Europe and in Palestine, and a religious revival at his church in
Dundee, made him feel that he was being called to evangelistic rather
than to pastoral work, but before he could carry out his plans he died,
on the 25th of March 1843. McCheyne, though wielding remarkable
influence in his lifetime, was still more powerful afterwards, through
his _Memoirs and Remains_, edited by Andrew Bonar, which ran into far
over a hundred English editions. Some of his hymns, e.g. "When this
passing world is done," are well known.
See his _Life_, by J. C. Smith (1910).
McCLELLAN, GEORGE BRINTON (1826-1885), American soldier, was born in
Philadelphia on the 3rd of December 1826. After passing two years
(1840-1842) in the university of Pennsylvania, he entered the United
States military academy, from which he graduated with high honours in
July 1846. Sent as a lieutenant of engineers to the Mexican War, he took
part in the battles under General Scott, and by his gallantry won the
brevets of first-lieutenant at Contreras-Churubusco and captain at
Chapultepec; he was afterwards detailed as assistant-instructor at West
Point, and employed in explorations in the South-West and in Oregon.
Promoted in 1855 captain of cavalry, he served on a military commission
sent to Europe to study European armies and especially the war in the
Crimea. On his return he furnished an able and interesting report,
republished (1861) under the title of _Armies of Europe_. In 1856 he
designed a saddle, which was afterwards well known as the McClellan.
Resigning his commission in 1857, McClellan became successively chief
engineer and vice-president of the Illinois Central railroad
(1857-1860), general superintendent of the Mississippi & Ohio railroad,
and, a little later, president of the eastern branch of the same, with
his residence in Cincinnati. When the Civil War broke out he was, in
April 1861, made major-general of three months' militia by the governor
of Ohio; but General Scott's favour at Washington promoted him rapidly
(May 14) to the rank of major-general, U.S.A., in command of the
department of the Ohio. Pursuant to orders, on the 26th of May,
McClellan sent a small force across the Ohio river to Philippi,
dispersed the Confederates there early in June, and immensely aided the
Union cause in that region by rapid and brilliant military successes,
gained in the short space of eight days. These operations, though
comparatively trivial as the Civil War developed, brought great results,
in permanently dividing old Virginia by the creation of the state of
West Virginia, and in presenting the first sharp, short and wholly
successful campaign of the war.
Soon after the first Bull Run disaster he was summoned to Washington,
and the Union hailed him as chieftain and preserver. Only thirty-four
years old, and with military fame and promotion premature and quite in
excess of positive experience, he reached the capital late in July and
assumed command there. At first all was deference and compliance with
his wishes. In November Scott retired that the young general might
control the operations of the whole Union army. McClellan proved himself
extraordinarily able as an organizer and trainer of soldiers. During the
autumn, winter and spring he created the famous Army of the Potomac,
which in victory and defeat retained to the end the impress of
McClellan's work. But he soon showed petulance towards the civil
authorities, from whom he came to differ concerning the political ends
in view; and he now found severe critics, who doubted his capacity for
directing an offensive war; but the government yielded to his plans for
an oblique, instead of a direct, movement upon Richmond and the opposing
army. At the moment of starting he was relieved as general-in-chief. By
the 5th of April a great army was safely transported to Fortress Monroe,
and other troops were sent later, though a large force was (much against
his will) retained to cover Washington. McClellan laid slow siege to
Yorktown, not breaking the thin line first opposed to him, but giving
Johnston full time to reinforce and then evacuate the position.
McClellan followed up the Confederate rearguard and approached Richmond,
using White House on the Pamunkey as a base of supplies; this entailed a
division of his forces on either bank of the Chickahominy. At Fair Oaks
(Seven Pines) was fought on the 31st of May a bloody battle, ending the
following day in a Confederate repulse. Johnston being severely wounded,
Lee came to command on the Southern side. After a pause in the
operations McClellan felt himself ready to attack at the moment when
Lee, leaving a bare handful of men in the Richmond lines, despatched
two-thirds of his entire force to the north of the Chickahominy to
strike McClellan's isolated right wing. McClellan himself made little
progress, and the troops beyond the Chickahominy were defeated after a
strenuous defence; whereupon McClellan planned, and during the
celebrated Seven Days' Battle triumphantly executed, a change of base to
the James river. But the result was strategically a failure, and General
Halleck, who was now general-in-chief, ordered the army to reinforce
General Pope in central Virginia. The order was obeyed reluctantly.
Pope's disastrous defeats brought McClellan a new opportunity to
retrieve his fame. Again in command of the Army of the Potomac, he was
sent with all available forces to oppose Lee, who had crossed the
Potomac into Maryland early in September. McClellan advanced slowly and
carefully, reorganizing his army as he went. The battle of South
Mountain placed him in a position to attack Lee, and a few days later
was fought the great battle of Antietam, in which Lee was worsted. But
the Confederates safely recrossed the Potomac, and McClellan showed his
former faults in a tardy pursuit. On the eve of an aggressive movement,
which he was at last about to make, he was superseded by Burnside (Nov.
7). McClellan was never again ordered to active command, and the
political elements opposed to the general policy of Lincoln's
administration chose him as presidential candidate in 1864, on a
platform which denounced the war as a failure and proposed negotiating
with the South for peace. McClellan, while accepting his candidacy,
repudiated the platform, like a soldier and patriot. At the polls on the
8th of November Lincoln was triumphantly re-elected president. McClellan
had previously resigned his commission in the army, and soon afterwards
went to Europe, where he remained until 1868. Upon his return he took up
his residence in New York City, where (1868-1869) he was engaged in
superintending the construction of an experimental floating battery. In
1870-1872 he was engineer-in-chief of the city's department of docks.
With Orange, N.J., as his next principal residence, he became governor
of New Jersey (1878-1881). During his term he effected great reforms in
the administration of the state and in the militia. He was offered, but
declined, a second nomination. During his last years he made several
tours of Europe, visited the East, and wrote much for the magazines. He
also prepared monographs upon the Civil War, defending his own action.
He died suddenly of heart-disease on the 29th of October 1885 at Orange.
McClellan was a clear and able writer and effective speaker; and his
_Own Story_, edited by a friend and published soon after his death,
discloses an honourable character, sensitive to reproach, and
conscientious, even morbidly so, in his patriotism. He carried himself
well in civil life and was of irreproachable private conduct. During the
Civil War, however, he was promoted too early and rapidly for his own
good, and the strong personal magnetism he inspired while so young
developed qualities injurious to a full measure of success and
usefulness, despite his great opportunities. The reasons for his final
displacement in 1862 were both civil and military, and the president had
been forbearing with him. As a soldier he possessed to an extraordinary
degree the enthusiastic affection of his men. With the army that he had
created the mere rumour of his presence was often a spur to the greatest
exertions. That he was slow, and perhaps too tender-hearted, in handling
armed masses for action may be admitted, and though admirable for
defensive war and a safe strategist, he showed himself unfitted to take
the highly essential initiative, both because of temperament and his
habitual exaggeration of obstacles and opposing numbers. But he met and
checked the armies of the Confederacy when they were at their best and
strongest, and his work laid the foundations of ultimate success.
His son, GEORGE BRINTON MCCLELLAN (b. 1865), graduated in 1886 at
Princeton (from which he received the degree of LL.D. in 1905), and
became a newspaper reporter and editor in New York City. He identified
himself with the Tammany Hall organization, and in 1889-1892 was
treasurer of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge under the city government.
In 1892 he was admitted to the bar, and was elected to the board of
aldermen, of which he was president in 1893 and 1894. In 1895-1903 he
was a Democratic representative in Congress; in 1903 he was elected
mayor of New York City on the Tammany ticket, defeating mayor Seth Low,
the "Fusion" candidate; and in 1905 he was re-elected for a four-year
term, defeating William M. Ivins (Republican) and William R. Hearst
(Independence League). He published _The Oligarchy of Venice_ (1904).
Besides the report mentioned above, General McClellan wrote a _Bayonet
Exercise_ (1852); _Report on Pacific Railroad Surveys_ (1854); _Report
on the Organization, &c., of the Army of the Potomac_ (1864), a
government publication which he himself republished with the addition
of a memoir of the West Virginian campaign. He also wrote a series of
articles on the Russo-Turkish War for _The North American Review_. See
memoir prefaced to _McClellan's Own Story_, and Michie, _General
McClellan_ ("Great Commanders" series).
McCLERNAND, JOHN ALEXANDER (1812-1900), American soldier and lawyer, was
born in Breckinridge county, Kentucky, on the 30th of May 1812. He was
admitted to the bar in Shawneetown, Illinois, in 1832; in the same year
served as a volunteer in the Black Hawk War, and in 1835 founded the
_Shawneetown Democrat_, which he thereafter edited. As a Democrat he
served in 1836 and in 1840-1843 in the Illinois House of
Representatives, and in 1843-1851 and in 1859-1861 was a representative
in Congress, where in his first term he vigorously opposed the Wilmot
proviso, but in his second term was a strong Unionist and introduced the
resolution of the 15th of July 1861, pledging money and men to the
national government. He resigned from congress, raised in Illinois the
"McClernand Brigade," and was commissioned (May 17, 1861)
brigadier-general of volunteers. He was second in command at the battle
of Belmont (Missouri) in November 1861, and commanded the right wing at
Fort Donelson. On the 21st of March he became a major-general of
volunteers. At Shiloh he commanded a division, which was practically a
reserve to Sherman's. In October 1861 Stanton, secretary of war,
ordered him north to raise troops for the expedition against Vicksburg;
and early in January 1864, at Milliken's Bend, McClernand, who had been
placed in command of one of the four corps of Grant's army, superseded
Sherman as the leader of the force that was to move down the
Mississippi. On the 11th of January he took Arkansas Post. On the 17th,
Grant, after receiving the opinion of Admiral Foote and General Sherman
that McClernand was unfit, united a part of his own troops with those of
McClernand and assumed command in person, and three days later ordered
McClernand back to Milliken's Bend. During the rest of this Vicksburg
campaign there was much friction between McClernand and his colleagues;
he undoubtedly intrigued for the removal of Grant; it was Grant's
opinion that at Champion's Hill (May 16) he was dilatory; and because a
congratulatory order to his corps was published in the press (contrary
to an order of the department and another of Grant) he was relieved of
his command on the 18th of June, and was replaced by General E. O. C.
Ord. President Lincoln, who saw the importance of conciliating a leader
of the Illinois War-Democrats, restored him to his command in 1864, but
McClernand resigned in November of that year. He was district judge of
the Sangamon (Illinois) District in 1870-1873, and was president of the
National Democratic Convention in 1876. He died in Springfield,
Illinois, on the 20th of September 1900.
His son, EDWARD JOHN MCCLERNAND (b. 1848), graduated at the U.S.
Military Academy in 1870. He served on the frontier against the Indians,
notably in the capture of Chief Joseph in October 1877, became
lieutenant-colonel and assistant adjutant-general of volunteers in 1898,
and served in Cuba in 1898-99. He was then ordered to the Philippines,
where he commanded various districts, and from April 1900 to May 1901,
when he was mustered out of the volunteer service, was acting military
governor.
MACCLESFIELD, CHARLES GERARD, 1ST EARL OF (c. 1618-1694), eldest son
of Sir Charles Gerard, was a member of an old Lancashire family, his
great-grandfather having been Sir Gilbert Gerard (d. 1593) of Ince, in
that county, one of the most distinguished judges in the reign of
Elizabeth. His mother was Penelope Fitton of Gawsworth, Cheshire.
Charles Gerard was educated abroad, and in the Low Countries learnt
soldiering, in which he showed himself proficient when on the outbreak
of the Civil War in England he raised a troop of horse for the king's
service. Gerard commanded a brigade with distinction at Edgehill, and
gained further honours at the first battle of Newbury and at Newark in
1644, for which service he was appointed to the chief command in South
Wales. Here his operations in 1644 and 1645 were completely successful
in reducing the Parliamentarians to subjection; but the severity with
which he ravaged the country made him personally so unpopular that when,
after the defeat at Naseby in June 1645, the king endeavoured to raise
fresh forces in Wales, he was compelled to remove Gerard from the local
command. Gerard was, however, retained in command of the king's guard
during Charles's march from Wales to Oxford, and thence to Hereford and
Chester in August 1645; and having been severely wounded at Rowton Heath
on the 23rd of September, he reached Newark with Charles on the 4th of
October. On the 8th of November 1645 he was created Baron Gerard of
Brandon in the county of Suffolk; but about the same time he appears to
have forfeited Charles's favour by having attached himself to the party
of Prince Rupert, with whom after the surrender of Oxford Gerard
probably went abroad. He remained on the Continent throughout the whole
period of the Commonwealth, sometimes in personal attendance on Charles
II., at others serving in the wars under Turenne, and constantly engaged
in plots and intrigues. For one of these, an alleged design on the life
of Cromwell, his cousin Colonel John Gerard was executed in the Tower in
July 1654. At the Restoration Gerard rode at the head of the king's
life-guards in his triumphal entry into London; his forfeited estates
were restored, and he received lucrative offices and pensions. In 1668
he retired from the command of the king's guard to make room for the
duke of Monmouth, receiving, according to Pepys, the sum of £12,000 as
solatium. On the 23rd of July 1679 Gerard was created earl of
Macclesfield and Viscount Brandon. A few months later he entered into
relations with Monmouth, and co-operated with Shaftesbury in protesting
against the rejection of the Exclusion Bill. In September 1685, a
proclamation having been issued for his arrest, Macclesfield escaped
abroad, and was outlawed. He returned with William of Orange in 1688,
and commanded his body-guard in the march from Devonshire to London. By
William he was made a privy councillor, and lord lieutenant of Wales and
three western counties. Macclesfield died on the 7th of January 1694. By
his French wife he left two sons and two daughters.
His eldest son CHARLES, 2nd earl of Macclesfield (c. 1659-1701), was
born in France and was naturalized in England by act of parliament in
1677. Like his father he was concerned in the intrigues of the duke of
Monmouth; in 1685 he was sentenced to death for being a party to the Rye
House plot, but was pardoned by the king. In 1689 he was elected member
of parliament for Lancashire, which he represented till 1694, when he
succeeded to his father's peerage. Having become a major-general in the
same year, Macclesfield saw some service abroad; and in 1701 he was
selected first commissioner for the investiture of the elector of
Hanover (afterwards King George I.) with the order of the Garter, on
which occasion he also was charged to present a copy of the Act of
Settlement to the dowager electress Sophia. He died on the 5th of
November 1701, leaving no legitimate children.
In March 1698 Macclesfield was divorced from his wife Anna, daughter of
Sir Richard Mason of Sutton, by act of parliament, the first occasion on
which a divorce was so granted without a previous decree of an
ecclesiastical court. The countess was the mother of two children, who
were known by the name of Savage, and whose reputed father was Richard
Savage, 4th Earl Rivers (d. 1712). The poet Richard Savage (q.v.)
claimed that he was the younger of these children. The divorced countess
married Colonel Henry Brett about the year 1700, and died at the age of
eighty-five in 1753. Her daughter Anna Margaretta Brett was a mistress
of George I. The 2nd earl of Macclesfield was succeeded by his brother
Fitton Gerard, 3rd earl (c. 1665-1702), on whose death without heirs
the title became extinct in December 1702.
In 1721 the title of earl of Macclesfield was revived in favour of
THOMAS PARKER (c. 1666-1732). The son of Thomas Parker, an attorney at
Leek, young Parker was a student at Trinity College, Cambridge, and
became a barrister in 1691. In 1705 he was elected member of parliament
for Derby, and having gained some reputation in his profession, he took
a leading part in the proceedings against Sacheverell in 1710. In the
same year he was appointed lord chief justice of the queen's bench, but
he refused to become lord chancellor in the following year; however he
accepted this office in 1718, two years after he had been made Baron
Parker of Macclesfield by George I., who held him in high esteem. In
1721 he was created Viscount Parker and earl of Macclesfield, but when
serious charges of corruption were brought against him he resigned his
position as lord chancellor in 1725. In the same year Macclesfield was
impeached, and although he made a very able defence he was found guilty
by the House of Lords. His sentence was a fine of £30,000 and
imprisonment until this was paid. He was confined in the Tower of London
for six weeks, and after his release he took no further part in public
affairs. The earl, who built a grammar school at Leek, died in London on
the 28th of April 1732.
Macclesfield's only son, GEORGE, (c. 1697-1764) 2nd earl of Macclesfield
of this line, was celebrated as an astronomer. As Viscount Parker he was
member of parliament for Wallingford from 1722 to 1727, but his
interests were not in politics. In 1722 he became a fellow of the Royal
Society, and he spent most of his time in astronomical observations at
his Oxfordshire seat, Shirburn Castle, which had been bought by his
father in 1716; here he built an observatory and a chemical laboratory.
The earl was very prominent in effecting the change from the old to the
new style of dates, which came into operation in 1752. His action in
this matter, however, was somewhat unpopular, as the opinion was fairly
general that he had robbed the people of eleven days. From 1752 until
his death on the 17th of March 1764 Macclesfield was president of the
Royal Society, and he made some observations on the great earthquake of
1755. His successor was his son Thomas (1723-1795), from whom the
present earl is descended.
For the earls of the Gerard family see Lord Clarendon, _History of the
Rebellion_, ed. by W. D. Macray; E. B. G. Warburton, _Memoirs of
Prince Rupert and the Cavaliers_ (3 vols., 1849); _State Papers of
John Thurloe_ (7 vols., 1742); J. R. Phillips, _Memoirs of the Civil
War in Wales and the Marches, 1642-49_ (2 vols., 1874); and the duke
of Manchester, _Court and Society from Elizabeth to Anne_ (2 vols.,
1864). For Lord Chancellor Macclesfield, see Lord Campbell, _Lives of
the Lord Chancellors and Keepers of the Great Seal_ (1845-1869).
MACCLESFIELD, a market town and municipal borough in the Macclesfield
parliamentary division of Cheshire, England, 166 m. N.W. by N. of
London, on the London & North-Western, North Staffordshire and Great
Central railways. Pop. (1901), 34,624. It lies on and above the small
river Bollin, the valley of which is flanked by high ground to east and
west, the eastern hills rising sharply to heights above 1000 ft. The
bleak upland country retains its ancient name of Macclesfield Forest.
The church of St Michael, standing high, was founded by Eleanor, queen
of Edward I., in 1278, and in 1740 was partly rebuilt and greatly
enlarged. The lofty steeple by which its massive tower was formerly
surmounted was battered down by the Parliamentary forces during the
Civil War. Connected with the Church there are two chapels, one of
which, Rivers Chapel, belonged to a college of secular priests founded
in 1501 by Thomas Savage, afterwards archbishop of York. Both the church
and chapels contain several ancient monuments. The free grammar school,
originally founded in 1502 by Sir John Percival, was refounded in 1552
by Edward VI., and a commercial school was erected in 1840 out of its
funds. The county lunatic asylum is situated here. The town-hall is a
handsome modern building with a Grecian frontage on two sides.
Originally the trade of Macclesfield was principally in twist and silk
buttons, but this has developed into the manufacture of all kinds of
silk. Besides this staple trade, there are various textile manufactures
and extensive breweries; while stone and slate quarries, as well as
coal-mines, are worked in the neighbourhood. Recreation grounds include
Victoria Park and Peel Park, in which are preserved the old market cross
and stocks. Water communication is provided by the Macclesfield canal.
The borough is under a mayor, 12 aldermen and 36 councillors. Area, 3214
acres. The populous suburb of SUTTON, extending S.S.E. of the town, is
partly included in the borough.
Previous to the Conquest, Macclesfield (Makesfeld, Mackerfeld,
Macclesfeld, Meulefeld, Maxfield) was held by Edwin, earl of Mercia, and
at the time of the Domesday Survey it formed a part of the lands of the
earl of Chester. The entry speaks of seven hedged enclosures, and there
is evidence of fortification in the 13th century, to which the names
Jordangate, Chestergate and Wallgate still bear witness. In the 15th
century Henry Stafford, duke of Buckingham, had a fortified manor-house
here, traces of which remain. There is a tradition, supported by a
reference on a plea roll, that Randle, earl of Chester (1181-1232) made
Macclesfield a free borough, but the earliest charter extant is that
granted by Edward, prince of Wales and earl of Chester, in 1261,
constituting Macclesfield a free borough with a merchant gild, and
according certain privileges in the royal forest of Macclesfield to the
burgesses. This charter was confirmed by Edward III. in 1334, by Richard
II. in 1389, by Edward IV. in 1466 and by Elizabeth in 1564. In 1595
Elizabeth issued a new charter to the town, confirmed by James I. in
1605 and Charles II. in 1666, laying down a formal borough constitution
under a mayor, 2 aldermen, 24 capital burgesses and a high steward. In
1684 Charles II. issued a new charter, under which the borough was
governed until the Municipal Reform Act 1835. The earliest mention of a
market is in a grant by James I. to Charles, prince of Wales and earl of
Chester, in 1617. In the charter of 1666 a market is included among the
privileges confirmed to the borough as those which had been granted in
1605, or by any previous kings and queens of England. The charter of
Elizabeth in 1595 granted an annual fair in June, and this was
supplemented by Charles II. in 1684 by a grant of fairs in April and
September. Except during the three winter months fairs are now held
monthly, the chief being "Barnaby" in June, when the town keeps a week's
holiday. Macclesfield borough sent two members to parliament in 1832 for
the first time. In 1880 it was disfranchised for bribery, and in 1885
the borough was merged in the county division of Macclesfield. The
manufacture of silk-covered buttons began in the 16th century, and
flourished until the early 18th. The first silk mill was erected about
1755, and silk manufacture on a large scale was introduced about 1790.
The manufacture of cotton began in Macclesfield about 1785.
See J. Corry, _History of Macclesfield_ (1817).
M'CLINTOCK, SIR FRANCIS LEOPOLD (1819-1907), British naval officer and
Arctic explorer, was born at Dundalk, Ireland, on the 8th of July 1819,
of a family of Scottish origin. In 1831 he entered the royal navy,
joining the "Samarang" frigate, Captain Charles Paget. In 1843 he passed
his examination for lieutenancy and joined the "Gorgon" steamship,
Captain Charles Hotham, which was driven ashore at Montevideo and
salved, a feat of seamanship on the part of her captain and officers
which attracted much attention. Hitherto, and until 1847, M'Clintock's
service was almost wholly on the American coasts, but in 1848 he joined
the Arctic expedition under Sir James Ross in search of Sir John
Franklin's ships, as second lieutenant of the "Enterprise." In the
second search expedition (1850) he was first lieutenant of the
"Assistance," and in the third (1854) he commanded the "Intrepid." On
all these expeditions M'Clintock carried out brilliant sleigh journeys,
and gained recognition as one of the highest authorities on Arctic
travel. The direction which the search should follow had at last been
learnt from the Eskimo, and M'Clintock accepted the command of the
expedition on board the "Fox," fitted out by Lady Franklin in 1857,
which succeeded in its object in 1859 (see FRANKLIN, SIR JOHN). For this
expedition M'Clintock had obtained leave of absence, but the time
occupied was afterwards counted in his service. He was knighted and
received many other honours on his return. Active service now occupied
him in various tasks, including the important one of sounding in the
north Atlantic, in connexion with a scheme for a north Atlantic cable
route, until 1868. In that year he became naval aide-de-camp to Queen
Victoria. In 1865 he had been elected a fellow of the Royal Society. He
unsuccessfully contested a seat in parliament for the borough of
Drogheda, where he made the acquaintance of Annette Elizabeth, daughter
of R. F. Dunlop of Monasterboice; he married her in 1870. He became
vice-admiral in 1877, and commander-in-chief on the West Indian and
North American station in 1879. In 1882 he was elected an Elder Brother
of Trinity House, and served actively in that capacity. In 1891 he was
created K.C.B. He was one of the principal advisers in the preparations
for the Antarctic voyage of the "Discovery" under Captain Scott. His
book, _The Voyage of the "Fox" in the Arctic Seas_, was first published
in 1859, and passed through several editions. He died on the 17th of
November 1907.
See Sir C. R. Markham, _Life of Admiral Sir Leopold M'Clintock_
(1909).
McCLINTOCK, JOHN (1814-1870), American Methodist Episcopal theologian
and educationalist, was born in Philadelphia on the 27th of October
1814. He graduated at the university of Pennsylvania in 1835, and was
assistant professor of mathematics (1836-1837), professor of mathematics
(1837-1840), and professor of Latin and Greek (1840-1848) in Dickinson
College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He opposed the Mexican War and slavery,
and in 1847 was arrested on the charge of instigating a riot, which
resulted in the rescue of several fugitive slaves; his trial, in which
he was acquitted, attracted wide attention. In 1848-1856 he edited _The
Methodist Quarterly Review_ (after 1885 _The Methodist Review_); from
1857 to 1860 he was pastor of St Paul's (Methodist Episcopal) Church,
New York City; and in 1860-1864 he had charge of the American chapel in
Paris, and there and in London did much to turn public opinion in favour
of the Northern States. In 1865-1866 he was chairman of the central
committee for the celebration of the centenary of American Methodism. He
retired from the regular ministry in 1865, but preached in New
Brunswick, New Jersey, until the spring of 1867, and in that year, at
the wish of its founder, Daniel Drew, became president of the newly
established Drew theological seminary at Madison, New Jersey, where he
died on the 4th of March 1870. A great preacher, orator and teacher, and
a remarkably versatile scholar, McClintock by his editorial and
educational work probably did more than any other man to raise the
intellectual tone of American Methodism, and, particularly, of the
American Methodist clergy. He introduced to his denomination the
scholarly methods of the new German theology of the day--not alone by
his translation with Charles E. Blumenthal of Neander's _Life of Christ_
(1847), and of Bungener's _History of the Council of Trent_ (1855), but
by his great project, McClintock and Strong's _Cyclopaedia of Biblical,
Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature_ (10 vols., 1867-1881;
Supplement, 2 vols., 1885-1887), in the editing of which he was
associated with Dr James Strong (1822-1894), professor of exegetical
theology in the Drew Theological Seminary from 1868 to 1893, and the
sole editor of the last six volumes of the _Cyclopaedia_ and of the
supplement. With George Richard Crooks (1822-1897), his colleague at
Dickinson College and in 1880-1897 professor of historical theology at
Drew Seminary, McClintock edited several elementary textbooks in Latin
and Greek (of which some were republished in Spanish), based on the
pedagogical principle of "imitation and constant repetition." Among
McClintock's other publications are: _Sketches of Eminent Methodist
Ministers_ (1863); an edition of Richard Watson's _Theological
Institutes_ (1851); and _The Life and Letters of Rev. Stephen Olin_
(1854).
See G. R. Crooks, _Life and Letters of the Rev. Dr John McClintock_
(New York, 1876).
McCLOSKEY, JOHN (1810-1885), American cardinal, was born in Brooklyn,
New York, on the 20th of March 1810. He graduated at Mt St Mary's
College, Emmitsburg, Maryland, in 1827, studied theology there, was
ordained a priest in 1834, and in 1837, after two years in the college
of the Propaganda at Rome, became rector of St Joseph's, New York City,
a charge to which he returned in 1842 after one year's presidency of St
John's College (afterwards Fordham University), Fordham, New York, then
just opened. In 1844 he was consecrated bishop of Axieren _in partibus_,
and was made coadjutor to Bishop Hughes of New York with the right of
succession; in 1847 he became bishop of the newly created see of Albany;
and in 1864 he succeeded to the archdiocese of New York, then including
New York, New Jersey, and New England. In April 1875 he was invested as
a cardinal, with the title of Sancta Maria supra Minervam, being the
first American citizen to receive this dignity. He attended the conclave
of 1878, but was too late to vote for the new pope. In May 1879 he
dedicated St Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, whose corner-stone
had been laid by Archbishop Hughes in 1858. Archbishop Corrigan became
his coadjutor in 1880 because of the failure of McCloskey's always
delicate health. The fiftieth anniversary of his ordination to the
priesthood was celebrated in 1884. He died in New York City on the 10th
of October 1885. He was a scholar, a preacher, and a man of affairs,
temperamentally quiet and dignified; and his administration differed
radically from that of Archbishop Hughes; he was conciliatory rather
than polemic and controversial, and not only built up the Roman Catholic
Church materially, but greatly changed the tone of public opinion in his
diocese toward the Church.
M'CLURE, SIR ROBERT JOHN LE MESURIER (1807-1873), English Arctic
explorer, born at Wexford, in Ireland, on the 28th of January 1807, was
the posthumous son of one of Abercrombie's captains and spent his
childhood under the care of his godfather, General Le Mesurier, governor
of Alderney, by whom he was educated for the army. He entered the navy,
however, in 1824, and twelve years later gained his first experience of
Arctic exploration as mate of the "Terror" in the expedition (1836-1837)
commanded by Captain (afterwards Sir) George Back. On his return he
obtained his commission as lieutenant, and from 1838 to 1839 served on
the Canadian lakes, being subsequently attached to the North American
and West Indian naval stations, where he remained till 1846. Two years
later he joined the Franklin search expedition (1848-1849) under Sir J.
C. Ross as first lieutenant of the "Enterprise," and on the return of
this expedition was given the command of the "Investigator" in the new
search expedition (1850-1854) which was sent out by way of Bering Strait
to co-operate with another from the north-west. In the course of this
voyage he achieved the distinction of completing (1830) the work
connected with the discovery of a North-West Passage (see Polar
Regions). On his return to England, M'Clure was awarded gold medals by
the English and French geographical societies, was knighted and promoted
to post-rank, his commission being dated back four years in recognition
of his special services. From 1856 to 1861 he served in Eastern waters,
commanding the division of the naval brigade before Canton in 1858, for
which he received a C.B. in the following year. His latter years were
spent in a quiet country life; he attained the rank of rear-admiral in
1867, and of vice-admiral in 1873.
See Admiral Sherard Osborn, _The Discovery of a North-West Passage_
(1856).
MacCOLL, MALCOLM (c. 1838-1907), British clergyman and publicist, was
the son of a Scottish farmer. He was educated at Trinity College,
Glenalmond, for the Scotch Episcopal ministry, and after further study
at the university of Naples was ordained in 1859, and entered on a
succession of curacies in the Church of England, in London and at
Addington, Bucks. He quickly became known as a political and
ecclesiastical controversialist, wielding an active pen in support of W.
E. Gladstone, who rewarded him with the living of St George's, Botolph
Lane, in 1871, and with a canonry of Ripon in 1884. The living was
practically a sinecure, and he devoted himself to political
pamphleteering and newspaper correspondence, the result of extensive
European travel, a wide acquaintance with the leading personages of the
day, strong views on ecclesiastical subjects from a high-church
standpoint, and particularly on the politics of the Eastern Question and
Mahommedanism. He took a leading part in ventilating the Bulgarian and
Armenian "atrocities," and his combative personality was constantly to
the fore in support of the campaigns of Gladstonian Liberalism. He died
in London on the 5th of April 1907.
McCOMBIE, WILLIAM (1805-1880), Scottish agriculturist, was born at
Tillyfour, Aberdeenshire, where he founded the herd of black-polled
cattle with which his name is associated. He was the first tenant farmer
to represent a Scottish constituency, and was returned to parliament,
unopposed, as Liberal member for the western division of Aberdeen in
1868. He died unmarried in February 1880. His work _Cattle and
Cattle-breeders_ (1867) passed into a fourth edition in 1886.
McCOOK, ALEXANDER McDOWELL (1831-1903), American soldier, was born in
Columbiana county, Ohio, on the 22nd of April 1831. He graduated at the
U. S. military academy in 1852, served against the Apaches and Utes in
New Mexico in 1853-57, was assistant instructor of infantry tactics at
the military academy in 1858-1861, and in April 1861 became colonel of
the 1st Ohio Volunteers. He served in the first battle of Bull Run;
commanded a brigade in Kentucky in the winter of 1861, a division in
Tennessee and Mississippi early in 1862, and the 1st Corps in Kentucky
in October of the same year; was in command of Nashville in November and
December of that year; and was then engaged in Tennessee until after the
battle of Chickamauga, after which he saw no active service at the front
during the Civil War. He was promoted to be brigadier-general of
volunteers in September 1861, and to be major-general of volunteers in
July 1862, earned the brevet of lieutenant-colonel in the regular army
at the capture of Nashville, Tennessee, that of colonel at Shiloh, and
that of brigadier-general at Perryville, and in March 1865 was breveted
major-general for his services during the war. In February-May 1865 he
commanded the district of Eastern Arkansas. He resigned from the
volunteer service in October 1865, was commissioned lieutenant-colonel
of the 26th Infantry in March 1867, served in Texas, mostly in garrison
duty, until 1874, and in 1886-1890 (except for brief terms of absence)
commanded Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and the infantry and cavalry school
there. He became a brigadier-general in 1890, and a major-general in
1894; retired in 1895; and in 1898-1899 served on a commission to
investigate the United States department of war as administered during
the war with Spain.
His father, DANIEL MCCOOK (1798-1863), killed at Buffington's Island
during General John H. Morgan's raid in Ohio, and seven of his eight
brothers (three of whom were killed in battle) all served in the Civil
War; this family and that of John McCook (1806-1865), Daniel's brother,
a physician, who served as a volunteer surgeon in the Civil War, are
known as the "fighting McCooks"--four of John's sons served in the Union
army and one in the Union navy.
JOHN JAMES MCCOOK (b. 1845), the youngest brother of Alexander McDowell
McCook, served in the West and afterwards in the army of the Potomac,
was wounded at Shady Grove, Virginia, in 1864, and in 1865 was breveted
lieutenant-colonel of volunteers; he graduated at Kenyon College in
1866, subsequently practised law in New York City, where he became head
of the firm Alexander & Green; was a prominent member of the
Presbyterian Church, and was a member of the prosecuting committee in
the Briggs heresy trial in 1892-1893.
His cousin, ANSON GEORGE MCCOOK (b. 1835), a son of John, was admitted
to the Ohio bar in 1861, served throughout the Civil War in the Union
Army, and was breveted brigadier-general of volunteers; he was a
Republican representative in Congress from New York in 1877-1883; and in
1884-1893 was secretary of the United States Senate.
Another son of John McCook, EDWARD MOODY MCCOOK (1833-1909), was an
efficient cavalry officer in the Union army, was breveted
brigadier-general in the regular army and major-general of volunteers in
1865, was United States minister to Hawaii in 1866-1869, and was
governor of Colorado Territory in 1869-1873, and in 1874-1875.
His brother, HENRY CHRISTOPHER MCCOOK (b. 1837), was first lieutenant
and afterwards chaplain of the 41st Illinois, was long pastor of the
Tabernacle Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, and was president of the
American Presbyterian Historical Society, but is best known for his
popular and excellent works on entomology, which include: _The
Mound-making Ants of the Alleghanies_ (1877); _The Natural History of
the Agricultural Ants of Texas_ (1879); _Tenants of an Old Farm_ (1884);
_American Spiders and their Spinning-work_ (3 vols., 1889-1893),
_Nature's Craftsmen_ (1907) and _Ant Communities_ (1909).
Another brother, JOHN JAMES MCCOOK (b. 1843), a cousin of the lawyer of
the same name, was a 2nd lieutenant of volunteers in the Union army in
1861; graduated at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, in 1863, and
at the Berkeley divinity school in 1866; entered the Protestant
Episcopal ministry in 1867, and in 1869 became rector of St John's, East
Hartford, Connecticut; became professor of modern languages in Trinity
College, Hartford, in 1883; in 1895-1897 was president of the board of
directors of the Connecticut reformatory; and wrote on prison reform and
kindred topics.
MacCORMAC, SIR WILLIAM, BART. (1836-1901), Irish surgeon, was born at
Belfast on the 17th of January 1836, being the son of Dr Henry
MacCormac. He studied medicine and surgery at Belfast, Dublin and Paris,
and graduated in arts, medicine and surgery at the Queen's University of
Ireland, in which he afterwards became an examiner in surgery. He began
practice in Belfast, where he became surgeon to the General Hospital,
but left it for London on his marriage in 1861 to Miss Katherine M.
Charters. In the Franco-German War of 1870 he was surgeon-in-chief to
the Anglo-American Ambulance, and was present at Sedan; and he also
went through the Turco-Servian War of 1876. He became in this way an
authority on gun-shot wounds, and besides being highly successful as a
surgeon was very popular in society, his magnificent physique and Irish
temperament making him a notable and attractive personality. In 1881 he
was appointed assistant-surgeon at St Thomas's Hospital, London, and for
twenty years continued his work there as surgeon, lecturer and
consulting surgeon. In 1881 he acted as honorary secretary-general of
the International Medical Congress in London, and was knighted for his
services. In 1883 he was elected member of the council of the College of
Surgeons, and in 1887 a member of the court of examiners; in 1893 he
delivered the Bradshaw lecture, and in 1896 was elected president, being
re-elected to this office in 1897, 1898, 1899, and 1900 (the centenary
year of the college), an unprecedented record. In 1897 he was created a
baronet, and appointed surgeon-in-ordinary to the prince of Wales. In
1899 he was Hunterian Orator. In the same year he volunteered to go out
to South Africa as consulting surgeon to the forces, and from November
1899 to April 1900 he saw much active service both in Cape Colony and
Natal, his assistance being cordially acknowledged on his return. In
1901 he was appointed honorary serjeant-surgeon to the king. But during
1898 he had suffered from a prolonged illness, and he had perhaps put
too much strain on his strength, for on the 4th of December 1901 he died
somewhat suddenly at Bath. Besides treatises on _Surgical Operations_
and _Antiseptic Surgery_, and numerous contributions to the medical
journals, MacCormac was the author of _Work under the Red Cross_ and of
an interesting volume commemorating the centenary of the Royal College
of Surgeons in 1900. The latter contains biographical notices of all the
masters and presidents up to that date.
McCORMICK, CYRUS HALL (1809-1884), American inventor of grain-harvesting
machinery, was born at Walnut Grove, in what is now Roane county, W.
Va., U.S.A., on the 15th of February 1809. His father was a farmer who
had invented numerous labour-saving devices for farmwork, but after
repeated efforts had failed in his attempts to construct a successful
grain-cutting machine. In 1831, Cyrus, then twenty-two years old, took
up the problem, and after careful study constructed a machine which was
successfully employed in the late harvest of 1831 and patented in 1834.
The McCormick reaper after further improvements proved a complete
success; and in 1847 the inventor removed to Chicago, where he
established large works for manufacturing his agricultural machines.
William H. Seward has said of McCormick's invention, that owing to it
"the line of civilization moves westward thirty miles each year."
Numerous prizes and medals were awarded for his reaper, and he was
elected a corresponding member of the French Academy of Sciences, "as
having done more for the cause of agriculture than any other living
man." He died in Chicago on the 13th of May 1884.
See Herbert N. Casson, _Cyrus Hall McCormick: his Life and Work_
(Chicago, 1909).
McCOSH, JAMES (1811-1894), Scottish philosophical writer, was born of a
Covenanting family in Ayrshire, on the 1st of April 1811. He studied at
Glasgow and Edinburgh, receiving at the latter university his M.A., at
the suggestion of Sir William Hamilton, for an essay on the Stoic
philosophy. He became a minister of the Established Church of Scotland,
first at Arbroath and then at Brechin, and took part in the Free Church
movement of 1843. In 1852 he was appointed professor of logic and
metaphysics in Queen's College, Belfast; and in 1868 was chosen
president and professor of philosophy of the college of New Jersey, at
Princeton. He resigned the presidency in 1888, but continued as lecturer
on philosophy till his death on the 16th of November 1894. He was most
successful in college administration, a good lecturer and an effective
preacher. His general philosophical attitude and method were
Hamiltonian; he insisted on severing religious and philosophical data
from merely physical, and though he added little to original thought, he
clearly restated and vigorously used the conclusions of others. In his
controversial writings he often failed to understand the real
significance of the views which he attacked, and much of his criticism
is superficial.
His chief works are: _Method of Divine Government, Physical and Moral_
(Edinburgh, 1850, 5th ed., 1856, and frequently republished in New
York); _The Typical Forms and Special Ends in Creation_ (Edinburgh,
1855; new editions, New York, 1867-1880); _Intuitions of the Mind
inductively investigated_ (London and New York, 1860; 3rd rev. ed.,
1872); _An Examination of Mr J. S. Mill's Philosophy_ (London and New
York, 1866; enlarged 1871, several eds.); _Philosophical Papers_
containing (1) "Examination of Sir W. Hamilton's Logic," (2) "Reply to
Mr Mill's third edition," and (3) "Present State of Moral Philosophy
in Britain;" _Religious Aspects of Evolution_ (New York, 1888, 2nd
ed., 1890). For a complete list of his writings see J. H. Dulles,
_McCosh Bibliography_ (Princeton, 1895).
McCOY, SIR FREDERICK (1823-1899), British palaeontologist, the son of Dr
Simon McCoy, was born in Dublin in 1823, and was educated in that city
for the medical profession. His interests, however, became early centred
in natural history, and especially in geology, and at the age of
eighteen he published a _Catalogue of Organic Remains_ compiled from
specimens exhibited in the Rotunda at Dublin (1841). He assisted Sir R.
J. Griffith (q.v.) by studying the fossils of the carboniferous and
silurian rocks of Ireland, and they prepared a joint _Synopsis of the
Silurian Fossils of Ireland_ (1846). In 1846 Sedgwick secured his
services, and for at least four years he devoted himself to the
determination and arrangement of the fossils in the Woodwardian Museum
at Cambridge. Sedgwick wrote of him as "an excellent naturalist, an
incomparable and most philosophical palaeontologist, and one of the
steadiest and quickest workmen that ever undertook the arrangement of a
museum" (_Life and Letters of Sedgwick_, ii. 194). Together they
prepared the important and now classic work entitled _A Synopsis of the
Classification of the British Palaeozoic Rocks, with a Systematic
Description of the British Palaeozoic Fossils in the Geological Museum
of the University of Cambridge_ (1855). Meanwhile McCoy in 1850 had been
appointed professor of geology in Queen's College, Belfast, and in 1854
he accepted the newly founded professorship of natural science in the
university of Melbourne. There he lectured for upwards of thirty years;
he established the National Museum of Natural History and Geology in
Melbourne, of which he was director; and becoming associated with the
geological survey of Victoria as palaeontologist, he issued a series of
decades entitled _Prodromus of the Palaeontology of Victoria_. He also
issued the _Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria_. To local societies he
contributed many papers, and he continued his active scientific work for
fifty-eight years--his last contribution, "Note on a new Australian
Pterygotus," being printed in the _Geological Magazine_ for May 1899. He
was elected F.R.S. in 1880, and was one of the first to receive the Hon.
D.Sc. from the university of Cambridge. In 1886 he was made C.M.G., and
in 1891 K.C.M.G. He died in Melbourne on the 16th of May 1899.
Obituary (with bibliography) in _Geol. Mag._ 1899, p. 283.
M'CRIE, THOMAS (1772-1835), Scottish historian and divine, was born at
Duns in Berwickshire in November 1772. He studied in Edinburgh
University, and in 1796 he was ordained minister of the Second Associate
Congregation, Edinburgh. In 1806, however, with some others M'Crie
seceded from the "general associate synod," and formed the
"constitutional associate presbytery," afterwards merged in the
"original seceders." He was consequently deposed by the associate synod,
and his congregation withdrew with him and built another place of
worship in which he officiated until his death. M'Crie devoted himself
to investigations into the history, constitution and polity of the
churches of the Reformation; and the first-fruits of his study were
given to the public in November 1811 as _The Life of John Knox,
containing Illustrations of the History of the Reformation in Scotland_,
which procured for the author the degree of D.D. from Edinburgh
University, an honour conferred then for the first time upon a Scottish
dissenting minister. This work, of great learning and value, exercised
an important influence on public opinion at the time. At the
solicitation of his friend Andrew Thomson, M'Crie became a contributor
to _The Edinburgh Christian Instructor_, and in 1817 he subjected some
of Sir W. Scott's works to a criticism which took the form of a
vindication of the Covenanters. Preserving the continuity of his
historical studies, he followed up his first work with _The Life of
Andrew Melville_ (1819). In 1827 he published a _History of the Progress
and Suppression of the Reformation in Italy_, and in 1829 a _History of
the Progress and Suppression of the Reformation in Spain_.
His latest literary undertaking was a life of John Calvin. Only three
chapters were completed when the writer died on the 5th of August 1835,
leaving four sons and one daughter.
See Thomas M'Crie (1797-1875), _Life of T. M'Crie_ (1840), and Hugh
Miller, _My Schools and Schoolmasters_ (1869).
MACCULLAGH, JAMES (1809-1847), Irish mathematician and physicist, was
born in 1809, near Strabane, Ireland. After a brilliant career at
Trinity College, Dublin, he was elected fellow in 1832. From 1832 to
1843 he held the chair of mathematics; and during his tenure of this
post he improved in a most marked manner the position of his university
as a mathematical centre. In 1843 he was transferred to the chair of
natural philosophy. Overwork, mainly on subjects beyond the natural
range of his powers, induced mental disease; and he died by his own hand
in October 1847.
His _Works_ were published in 1880. Their distinguishing feature is
the geometry--which has rarely been applied either to pure space
problems or to known physical questions such as the rotation of a
rigid solid or the properties of Fresnel's wave-surface with such
singular elegance; in this respect his work takes rank with that of
Louis Poinsot. One specially remarkable geometrical discovery of
MacCullagh's is that of the "modular generation of surfaces of the
second degree"; and a noteworthy contribution to physical optics is
his "theorem of the polar plane." But his methods, which, in less
known subjects, were almost entirely tentative, were altogether
inadequate to the solution of the more profound physical problems to
which his attention was mainly devoted, such as the theory of double
refraction, &c. See G. G. Stokes's "Report on Double Refraction" (_B.
A. Report_, 1862).
MACCULLOCH, HORATIO (1805-1867), Scottish landscape painter, was born in
Glasgow. He studied for a year under John Knox, a Glasgow landscapist of
some repute, was then engaged at Cumnock, painting the ornamental lids
of snuff-boxes, and afterwards employed in Edinburgh by Lizars, the
engraver, to colour the illustrations in Selby's _British Birds_ and
similar works. Meanwhile he was working unweariedly from nature, greatly
influenced in his early practice by the watercolours of H. W. Williams.
Returning to Glasgow in some four or five years, he was employed on
several large pictures for the decoration of a public hall in St
George's Place, and he did a little as a theatrical scene-painter. About
this time he was greatly impressed with a picture by Thomson of
Duddingston. Gradually MacCulloch asserted his individuality, and formed
his own style on a close study of nature; his works form an interesting
link between the old world of Scottish landscape and the new. In 1829
MacCulloch first figured in the Royal Scottish Academy's exhibition, and
year by year, till his death on the 24th of June 1867, he was a regular
exhibitor. In 1838 he was elected a member of the Scottish Academy. The
subjects of his numerous landscapes were taken almost exclusively from
Scottish scenery.
Several works by MacCulloch were engraved by William Miller and
William Forrest, and a volume of photographs from his landscapes, with
an excellent biographical notice of the artist by Alexander Fraser,
R.S.A., was published in Edinburgh in 1872.
McCULLOCH, HUGH (1808-1895), American financier, was born at Kennebunk,
Maine, on the 7th of December 1808. He was educated at Bowdoin College,
studied law in Boston, and in 1833 began practice at Fort Wayne,
Indiana. He was cashier and manager of the Fort Wayne branch of the old
state bank of Indiana from 1835 to 1857, and president of the new state
bank from 1857 to 1863. Notwithstanding his opposition to the National
Banking Act of 1862, he was selected by Secretary Chase as comptroller
of the currency in 1863 to put the new system into operation. His work
was so successful that he was appointed secretary of the treasury by
President Lincoln in 1865, and was continued in office by President
Johnson until the close of his administration in 1869. In his first
annual report, issued on the 4th of December 1865, he strongly urged the
retirement of the legal tenders or greenbacks as a preliminary to the
resumption of specie payments. In accordance with this suggestion an act
was passed, on the 12th of March 1866, authorizing the retirement of not
more than $10,000,000 in six months and not more than $4,000,000 per
month thereafter, but it met with strong opposition and was repealed on
the 4th of February 1868, after only $48,000,000 had been retired. He
was much disappointed by the decision of the United States Supreme Court
upholding the constitutionality of the legal tenders (12 Wallace 457).
Soon after the close of his term of office McCulloch went to England,
and spent six years (1870-1876) as a member of the banking firm of Jay
Cooke, McCulloch & Co. From October 1884 until the close of President
Arthur's term of office in March 1885 he was again secretary of the
treasury. He died at his home near Washington, D.C., on the 24th of May
1895.
The chief authority for the life of McCulloch is his own book, _Men
and Measures of Half a Century_ (New York, 1888).