132 M A C M A of four principal streets, which, meet in the market-place, and within the last twenty years has undergone great im provements. The old church of St Michael, on the brow of the hill, 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, Kivers Chapel, belonged to a college of secular priests founded in 1501 by Thomas Savage, afterwards arch bishop of York. Both the church and chapels contain several ancient monuments. For the free grammar school, originally founded in 1502 by Sir John Percival, and refounded in 1552 by Edward VI., a new building was erected in 1856 at a cost of X3000. A commercial school was erected in 1840 out of the funds of the grammar school. Among the other public buildings are the town hall in the Grecian style (1823-24), with a new frontage (1869-70), the union workhouse (1843-44), the county lunatic asylum (1868-71), and the infirmary (1872). The neighbouring castle of the duke of Buckingham was the residence of Duke Humphrey in the 15th century. Originally the trade of Macclesfield was principally in twist and silk buttons, but this has been completely superseded by the manufacture of all kinds of silk. The first mill for silk-throwing was opened in 1756, and the manufacture of broad silks was introduced in 1790. Besides this staple trade, there are various textile manu factures and extensive breweries. The population of the municipal borough (3235 acres) in 1871 was 35,540, and of the parliamentary borough (3272 acres) 35,570. In 1881 the numbers were 37,514 and 37,620. Previous to the Conquest, Macclesfield constituted a portion of the royal demesne of the earls of Mercia. At Domesday it was in cluded in the earldom of Chester, and after the abolition of that jurisdiction it relapsed to the crown. In 1261 it was made a borough, and in 1678 it obtained incorporation from Charles II. It has returned two members to parliament since the first Reform Act, and its boundary was enlarged in 1868. M CLURE, SIR ROBERT JOHN LB MESURIER, the discoverer of the North-West Passage, was born at Wexford, January 28, 1807, and died in London, October 17, 1873. He was the posthumous son of one of Abercrombie s captains, and spent his childhood under the care of his godfather, General Le Mesurier, hereditary governor of Alderney. Schooled in Arctic exploration by his service under Captain Back on board the " Terror," he was first lieutenant of the " Enterprise " during the Franklin search expedition (1848-49), and in 1850 was placed in command of the expedition which, battling with the frozen sea for four years, succeeded in passing from ocean to ocean to the north of the American continent. M Clure was knighted on his return, and received gold medals from the English and the French geographical societies. During the Canadian insurrections of 1836-38 he had performed some gallant exploits on the lakes, on one occasion, in the eagerness of pursuit, infringing the territory of the United States; and between 1856 and 1861 he rendered good service in the Chinese war at the storming of Canton, &c. His latter years were spent in a quiet country life. He was appointed Commander of the Bath in 1859, and had attained the rank of vice-admiral on the retired list. See Admiral Sherard Osborn, The Discovery of a North- West Passage. M CRIE, THOMAS (1772-1835), was born at Dunse or Duns in Berwickshire, Scotland, November 1772. He studied in Edinburgh University, and thereafter in the divinity hall at Whitburn. In 1796 he was ordained minister of the Second Associate Congregation, Edinburgh, the place of worship being in the Potterrow. At an early period in its history the Secession Church in Scotland had been divided by a controversy about the burgess oath into Burghers and Antiburghers ; but towards the close of the century the Antiburgher Synod, to which M Crie belonged, showed symptoms of a disposition to qualify adherence to the subordinate standards of the Church of Scotland on such points as the magistrate s power circa sacra and national covenanting, and a new historical manifesto was prepared called The Narrative and Testimony, which was adopted as a term of communion by the general synod in 1804. M Crie was one of those who protested against this departure, as they deemed it, from Secession principles, and, declining to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the synod, constituted themselves into a presbytery under the name of " The Constitutional Associate Presbytery." M Crie was in consequence deposed by the Associate Synod, and his congregation withdrew with him to a place of worship in the south side of the town, in which he officiated to the close of his life. From the time of his settlement in Edinburgh, M Crie devoted himself to historical investigations into the history, constitution, and polity of the churches of the Reforma tion ; and the first ripe fruits of his study were given to the public in November 1811 in the form of 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 his alma mater, an honour con ferred then for the first time upon a Scottish dissenting minister. At the solicitation of his friend Andrew Thomson, M Crie became a contributor to The Edinburgh Christian Instructor, and in three successive numbers for 1817 he subjected Sir W. Scott s Tales of my Landlord 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. Negotiations for union between the Burghers and Antiburghers resulted, in 1820, in the formation of the United Secession Synod, and called forth from Dr M Crie Tivo Discourses on the Unity of the Church, her Divisions, and their Removal, in which what he considered to be the fallacious and unscriptural character of the plan for union adopted by the United Synod is pointed out. Several of his former brethren among the Antiburghers, dissatisfied with the union of 1820, had formed themselves into a separate synod, and between these and the Constitutional Presbytery a union was formed in 1827, the uniting bodies assuming the name of the Associate Synod of Original Seceders, of which branch of the Secession in Scotland M Crie continued through the rest of his life the best known representative. In 1827 he published a History of the Progress and Svj^pression of the Reformation in Italy in the 16th century, and in 1829 a similar History of the Reformation in Spain. Great as was his absorption in historical research, it did not prevent his taking a lively interest in the leading questions of the day ; in pamphlets and on the platform he maintained his convictions, not always popular, on such matters as Greek independence, Catholic emancipation, the " Marrow" and " Voluntary" controversies, Irish education, and church patronage. His evidence on the last-named matter before a committee of the House of Commons is contained in the parliamentary publications of 1834. The latest literary undertaking of M Crie was a life of John Calvin. Although he had been gathering material for this project for several years, it was not till a late period of his life that, stimulated by the assistance of his son John, then in Geneva, he seriously addressed himself to the task. Only three chapters of the work were completed when the writer was struck down by apoplexy. He died
on the 5th of August 1835.