MARCANTONIO, or, to give him his full name, Marcantonio Raimondi, is celebrated as the chief Italian master of the art of engraving in the age of the Renaissance. The date of his birth is uncertain, nor is there any good authority for assigning it, as is commonly done, approximately to the year 1488. He was probably born some years at least earlier than this, inasmuch as he is mentioned by a contemporary writer, Acbillini, as being an artist of repute in 1504. His earliest dated plate, illustrating the story of Pyramus and Thisbe, belongs to the following year, 1505. Marcantonio received his training in the workshop of the famous goldsmith and painter of Bologna, Francesco Raibolini, usually called Francia. “Having more aptitude in design,” says Vasari, “than his master, and managing the graver with facility and grace, he made waist-buckles and many other things in niello, such being then greatly in fashion, and made them most beautifully, as being in truth most excellent in that craft.” The real fame, however, of Marcantonio was destined to be founded on his attainments, not in the goldsmith’s art generally, but in that particular development of it which consists of engraving designs on metal plates for the purpose of reproduction by the printing press. This art was not new in Italy in the days of Marcantonio’s apprenticeship. It had been practised, in a more or less elementary form, for not less than forty or fifty years in the workshops of both Tuscany and Lombardy. A school of engravers had formed itself at Florence under the inspiration, as it appears, chiefly of Sandro Botticelli; in Lombardy the prevailing influence upon the nascent art had been that of Andrea Mantegna. But hitherto neither the engravers of Florence nor those of the Lombard cities had ...

MARCASITE. Modern mineralogists, following Haidinger, have restricted this name to those forms of native bisulphide of iron which crystallize in the orthorhombic system, and are sometimes known as “prismatic iron-pyrites.” By the older mineralogists the word was used with less definite meaning, being applied to all crystallized and radiated pyrites, whether rhombic or cubic. In the last century both minerals were extensively used as ornamental stones. The marcasites were generally of small size, faceted like rose diamonds, and brilliantly polished, in which form they were mounted in pins, brooches, shoebuckles, watch-cases, and other ornamental objects. The lustre of the polished surface was so brilliant that the stone, although opaque, formed a rough substitute for diamond; and this lustre was not readily impaired by atmospheric influences. Much of the old marcasite jewellery is of so pale a colour as almost to resemble burnished steel; such kinds generally belong to the true modern marcasite, sometimes called “white pyrites ”; while the specimens which possess a brassy yellow colour are mostly referable to the cubic species, which is distinctively termed pyrite. Some of the finest pyrites suitable for the jeweller is found in Elba and in Brazil; but the mineral enjoys ä very wide geographical distribution, and is common in England, especially in Cornwall, where it is known to the miners as “mundic.” By the ancient Peruvians the mineral was extensively used for amulets, while the larger pieces were polished as mirrors; hence marcasite is sometimes called pierre des Incas. The word marcasite, variously written marchasite, marchesite, marque site, &c., appears to have been introduced from Spain, and is supposed to be of Arabic origin. It is notable that the ...

MARCELLINUS, St, according to the Liberian catalogue, became bishop of Rome on June 30, 296; his predecessor was Caius or Gaius. Of his pontificate virtually nothing is known. In the Concilia of Mansi and Hardouin there is an account of a synod alleged to have been held in 303 at Sinuessa (between Rome and Capua), at which Marcellinus was accused by three of his priests and two of his deacons of having accompanied Diocletian into the temple of Vesta and Isis, and there burnt incense. The narrative goes on to say that ultimately he confessed his guilt in the presence of the three hundred assembled bishops, but that his condemnation was left to himself, for “prima sedes non judicatur a quoquam.” It is further stated in the same account that he and many of the other bishops were put to death by Diocletian on August 23, 303. The story of the synod of Sinuessa was current at an early date, but was condemned by Augustine and Theodoret as a mere invention of the Donatists. Its fabulous character is maintained by Döllinger {Papstfabeln} and by Hefele {Conciliengesclιichtef even against the weighty authority of the Breviary, where it constitutes a lesson in one of the nocturns for April 26, the commemoration day of Marcellinus. Marcellinus died, according to the Liberian catalogue, in 304, after a pontificate of eight years three months and twenty-five days; after a considerable interval he was succeeded by Marcellus, who has sometimes been identified with him.

MARCELLUS, Marcus Claudius, Roman warrior, was born about 268 b,c., and served first in Sicily against Hamilcar. In his first consulship (222) he was engaged in the war against the Insubres, and won the spolia opima by slaying their chief Viridomarus. In 216 he was to have gone as praetor to Sicily with a fleet, but was detained on the news of the defeat at Cannae. He went to Canusium and took command of the fragments of the army. He tried without success to prevent Capua going over to Hannibal, but saved Nola. In 214 he was in Sicily as consul at the time of the revolt of Syracuse; he stormed Leontini and besieged Syracuse, but the engineering skill of Archimedes repelled his attacks and compelled him to content himself with a blockade. Himilco landed with a Carthaginian army, and Marcellus failed to prevent their occupying Agrigentum. Taking the opportunity of a feast of Artemis, Marcellus stormed Epipolae; but the old town and the island remained untaken, as also the fort of Euryalus, which was, however, cut off and soon fell. Meanwhile pestilence raged among the Carthaginian army encamped outside. After several months, during which disorder reigned in the town, he gained a lodgment by the aid of a Spanish officer, and Syracuse was surrendered (212). Marcellus spared the lives of the Syracusans, but carried off their art treasures to Rome. Consul again in 210, he took Salapia by help of the Roman party there, and put to death the Numidian garrison. Proconsul in 209, he attacked Hannibal near Venusia, and after a desperate battle retired to that town; he was accused of bad generalship, and had to leave the army to defend himself in Rome. In his last consulship (208), while both consuls were reconnoitring near Venusia, they were unexpectedly attacked, and Marcellus was ...

MARCELLUS I., pope, succeeded Marcellinus, after a considerable interval, most probably in May 307; under Maxentius he was banished from Rome in 309 on account of the tumult caused by the severity of the penances be had imposed on Christians who had lapsed under the recent persecution. He died the same year, being succeeded by Eusebius.

MARCELLUS II., Marcellus Cervini, cardinal of Santa Croce, a native of the Mark of Ancona, was elected pope iu the room of Julius III. on April 9, 1555, but his feeble constitution succumbed to the fatigues of the conclave, the exhausting ceremonies connected with his accession, and the anxieties arising from his high office, on the twenty-first day after his election. He had a high reputation for integrity, tact, and ability. His successor was Paul IV.

MARCH, the third month of our modern year, contains thirty-one days. As in the Roman year so in the English ecclesiastical calendar used till 1752 this was the first month, and the legal year commenced on the 25th of March. The Romans called this month Martius, from the god Mars; and it received the name Illyd Monath, i.e., loud or stormy month, from the Anglo-Saxons. In France March was also generally reckoned the first month of the year until 1564, when, by an edict of Charles IX., January was decreed to be thenceforth the first month. Scotland followed the example of France in 1599; but in England the change did not take place before 1752. There is an old saying, common to both England and Scotland, which represents March as borrowing three days from April; thus the last three days of March are called the “borrowing” or the “borrowed days.” In the Complaynt of Scotland we find “the borial blastis of the thre borouing dais of Marche bed chaisset the fragrant Anreise of evyrie fruit-tree far athourt the feildis.” An ancient popular rhyme says

“March borrowit from Averill Three days, aud they were ill;” anl then there is another rhyme which graphically characterizes those three “ill” days in detail :—

“The first, it sail be wind and weet, The next, it sail be snaw and sleet; The third, it sail be sic a freeze, Sall gar the birds stick to the trees.”

There is an old proverb, “A bushel of March dust is worth a king’s ransom.” Dry weather in March is generally favourable to the production of grain on clay lands; and hence a “dusty March” portended a plenteous season; while, on the contrary, a “wet March” frequently proved destructive of both wheat and rye....

MARCHE, a former province of central France, was bounded on the N. by Berri, on the N. E. by Bourbonnais, on the E. by Auvergne, on the S. by Limousin, and on the W. by Angoumois aud Poitou, embracing the greater part of the modern department of Creuse, a considerable portion of Haute-Vienne, and fragments of Charente and Indre. It derived its name from the circumstance of its being the “mark” or boundary between Poitou and Berri; it is sometimes referred to as Marche Limousine. It is first mentioned in history as a separate fief about the middle of the 10th century, when the countship of Marche was committed by Duke William III. of Aquitania to Boso I., count of Limoges and Charroux.