MAI

373

M A J

key, in the Morea.

\va« .L ne - H 'vas divided into Upper and Lower Maine. MansM he ‘■■apltal. H

' ; ’'e'ih INE ’ 01 Cayenne, a department of France , which includesthy e province ; so n:iiner.l from the river, L is bounded on■tments of the Chaimel and Orne ; E. hy thatlife ai (T*, 1 :' t ,S. by that of Maine and Loire ; and W. by that ofthirty j! ro . '| alne - It is forty-five miles long from N. to a. and

' 0! - Hi.-—x 0 . i3i

MAJESTY, [from major, Lat. greater, and status, state,] atitle given to emperors ami kings, as a term of distinction.

MAIL, orMAILL, on ship-board, a square machine compos 1 -e< l of a number of rings interwoven net-wise, and used for rubbing,°ff the loose hemp which remains on lines or white cordage afterR is made.

Mail, or Maille, in old English writers, a small kind of mo-" e J : ; Silver-halfpence were likewise termed mailles, 9 Hen. V.■by indenture in the mint, a pound weight of old sterling silver' v as to be coined into 360 sterlings or pennies, or 720 mails orhalfpennies, or 1440 farthings. Hence the word mail was derived,"'nich is still used in Scots law for an annual rent.

Mail, or Mall, also signifies a round ring of iron; whence theP'ay.of pall-mall, from palla, a ball, and maille, the round ringthrough which it is to pass.

Mail-Coaches. See Coach.

, T MAILLEZAIS, a town of France , in the department of the’cndee, twenty-two miles N. E. of Rochelle. Lon. 0.40. W.bat. 4(j. 27. N.

Maim, MAIHEM, or MAYHEM, in law, a wound byMiich a person loses the use of a member that might have been adefence to him; as when a bone is broken, afoot, hand, or otherMember, cut off, or an ey 7 e put out; though the cutting off an ear° r nose, or breaking the binder-teeth, was formerly held to be nojdaim. A maim Hy castration was anciently punished with death,«nd other maims with loss of member for member; hut afterwards''ey were only punished by fine and imprisonment. It is nowe nacted by the statute 22 and 23 Car. II. that if any person, fromjdalice aforethought, shall disable any limb or member of any of, e king’s subjects, with an intent to disfigure him, the offender,V| tli his aiders anil abettors, shall be guilty of felony without be-■'efit 0 f clergy, but shall not corrupt the "blood, or occasion for-ei bire of lands, &c.

MAIMONIDES , Moses, Moses the Son of Maimon, ae lebrated rabbi, called by the Jews the eagle of the doctors, was0r n of an illustrious family at Cordova in Spain , in 1131. He is^ s o called Moses JEgyptius, because he settled in Egypt , wheree spent his life as physician to the sultan. Fie also opened ahool, which was soon tilled with pupils from Alexandria, Da-^ascus, &c. who spread his fame all over the world. He was no{ p Ss . ^tninent in philosophy, mathematics, and divinity', than in me-w| Cl,le ' Casaubon says of him, that “he was the first of his tribeceased to be a triiler.” It would be tedious to enumerate alle . Wor ks; some were written originally in Arabic , but are nowd' e a *■ or dv in Hebrew translations. “Those (says Collier) who, j>/'j' r e to learn the doctrine and the canon law contained in thee J u d, may read Maimonides ’s compendium of it in his bookr p I e d Jad; wherein they will find great part of the fables in theof *7’’^ discarded. But the More Nevochim is the most valued1T ^ a P kis works; designed to explain the obscure words, phrases,ai jPl'ors, &c. in Scripture.” lie died in Egypt , aged seventy,was buried in Upper Galilee.

pal *. N, a term usually applied by sailors to whatever is princi-(j as opposed to whatever is secondary. Thus the main land isjj, 1 111 contradistinction to an island or peninsula; and the inain-disy ’ main-wale, the main-keel, and the main-hatchway, aret» u “ h ed from the fore and mizen-masts, the channel-wales,jyj^'keel, the fore and after-hatchways, &c.

- AINA, a country of European Turkey , iny,'V NA > Hie capital of the above territory.

RVril m'MAIN, one of the seventeen United States of

r at V' America; bounded on the N. by mountains which sepa-U ■ 1 Lower Canada ; E. by the river St. Croix, and New

Pi s '7 V1C ^> S. E. and S. bv the Atlantic Ocean ; andW. by theLm, ami New Hampshire , ft lies between 68° and 72°

M V ;u 'd Eat. from 43° to 48° N.of G, IN ’ E > a kde province of France , now forming the department

Maine, Maienne, or Mayenne , the capital of the above de-partment. Lon. 0. 35. W. Lat. 48. 18. N.

Maine, or Mayenne, a river of France , which rises near Li-nieres, in the department of Charente .

Maine, a river of Germany, which rises in the circle of Fran-conia, runs by Bamberg, Wurtzburg , Ascliallenburg, Hanna, and .Frankfort, ami falls into the Rhine at Mentz.

Maine and Loire, a department of France on the N. ofMaine .

MAINLAND, or POMONA, the largest of the OrkneyIslands, twenty-four miles long, and nine broad. Kirkwall is thecapital .

Main-land, the largest of the Shetland, or Zetland Islands . Itis about sixty miles long from N. to S. and in some places twentybroad, but in others not much above two.

MAIN PERNOR, surety. It differs from bail, in that a man’sbail may imprison, or surrender him up before the appointed dayof appearance; mainpernors can do neither, but are barely sure-ties for his appearance at the clay: bail means only sureties, thatthe parties be answerable for the special matter for which they sti-pulate; mainpernors are hound to produce him to answer allcharges whatever.

MAINPRISE, or MAINPRIZE. The writ of mainprize,manucaptio, is a writ directed to the sheriff (either generally,when any man is imprisoned for a bailable offence, and bail hathbeen refused; or specially, when the offence or cause of commentis not properly bailable below), commanding him to take suretiesfor the prisoner’s appearance, usually called mainpernors, and toset him at large.

MAINTENANCE, inlaw, bears a near relation to baratry ;being an officious intermeddling in a suit that does not belong toone, by maintaining or assisting either party with money or other-wise, to prosecute or defend it: a practice greatly encouraged bythe first introduction of uses. This is an offence against publicjustice, as it keeps alive strife and contention, and perverts the re-medial process of the law into an engine of oppression. By theRoman law, it was a species of the crimen falsi, to enter into anyconfederacy, or do any act to support another’s law-suit, by mo-ney, witnesses, or patronage. A man may lawfully, however,maintain the suit of his near kinsman, servant, or poor neighbour,out of charity and compassion. Otherwise the punishment bycommon law is fine and imprisonment; and by stat. 32 Hen.VIII. c. 9, a forfeiture of 10/. Bee Baratry.

MAINTENON, a town of France , in the department of Eureand Loire, nine miles N. of Chartres .

MAJOR, in law, a person who is of age to manage his ownaffairs. By the civil law a man is not a major till the age oftwenty-five years; in England he is a major at twenty-one; inNormandy at twenty, &c.

Major, in logic, is understood of the first proposition of a re-gular syllogism. It is called major, because it has a more exten-sive sense than the minor proposition, as containing the principalterm. See Logic.

MaIor and Minor, in music, are applied to concords whichdiffer from each other by a semi-tone. Major-tone iS the differ-ence between the tilth and fourth; and major semi-tone the differ-ence between the major fourth and the third. The major-tonesurpasses the minor by a comma.

Major, in the art of war, is the title ©f several officers of verydifferent ranks and functions: as,

Major, Aid, an officer on sundry occasions appointed to act a*major, who has a pre-eminence above others of the same denomi-nation. Our horse and fool-guards have their guidons, or secondand third majors.

Major, Drum, the person who instructs the drummers in theirdifferent heats; is daily at orders with the serjeants, to know thenumber of drummers tor duty ; and marches at their head whenthey beat in a body.

Major, Fife, he that plays best on the fife. He has the sameauthority over the filers as the drum-major lias over the drummers.He teaches them their duty, appoints them tor guards, &c.

Major, Town , the third officer in order in a garrison, and nextto the deputy-governor. He should understand fortification, andhas a particular charge of the guards, round', patroles, and cen-tinels.

5 C Major-