Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/572

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
ABC—XYZ

M A R M A R Marignolli to Ireland in connexion with matters then in debate. The wrath of Fitz Ralph is sorely stirred at this, and he brandishes the shillelah in a style of energetic metaphor very like what we have been used to from like quarters in later days. Fitz Ralph s contemptuous language had probably a good deal of foundation. The fragmentary notes of Marignolli s Eastern travels often contain most vivid remembrance and graphic description, but combined with an incontinent vanity, and an incoherent lapse from one thing to another, matched by nothing in literature but the conversation of Mrs Nickleby. They have no claim to be called a narrative, and it is with no small pains that anything like a narrative can be pieced out of them. Indeed the mode in which they were elicited curiously illustrates how little mediaeval travellers thought of publication. The emperor Charles, instead of urging his chaplain to write a history of his vast journeys, set him to the repugnant task of recasting the annals of Bohemia ; and he con soled himself by salting the insipid stuff by interpolations, a2)t oj)os <le bottcs, of his recollections of Asiatic travel. Nobody seems to have noticed the work till 1768, when the chronicle was published in vol. ii. of the Monumenta Hist. Bolicmite, nusquam antchac cdita by Father Gelasius Dobner. But, though Marignolli was thus at last in type, no one seems to have read him till 1820, when an interesting paper on his travels was pub lished by J. G. Meinert. The late Professor Kunstmann of Munich also devoted to the subject one of a series of very intelli gent papers on the ecclesiastical travellers of the Middle Ages. And the whole of the passages bearing on the journey were ex cerpted, translated, and commented on by Col. H. Yule in a col lection printed in 1866. Monumenta HistoHca, itc., collegit, &f., P. Gelasius Dobner a S. Catherina, torn, ii., Prague, 1768; Jleinert, in Abhaitdl. der K. liijhm.. Gesellsch. tier Wissen- ffhaften, vii. ; Kunstmann, in Illstorische fo/itische Bliitlern von Phillips und Gijrref, Bd. xxxviii. pp. 70i,793, Munich, 1859 ; Wadding, Aiinales Minorum, vii.; Sbaralea, Supplem. et Castigatio ad Scriptoret Triuin Ordd. S. Francisci a Wad- dingo, Rome, 1800 ; Cathay and the Way Thither, Hak. Soc., 18(>C. (H. V.) MARIGOLD. This name has been given to several plants, of which the following are the best known : Calendula officinalis, L., the pot-marigold ; Tagetes erecta, L., the African marigold; T. patula, L., the French marigold ; and Chrysanthemum segetum, the corn marigold. All these belong to the order Composite; but C alt ha palustris, L., the marsh marigold, is a ranunculaceous plant. The first-mentioned is the familiar garden plant with larga orange-coloured blossoms, and is a native of the meadows of southern Europe (DC., Prod., vi. p. 451). It is unisexual, the " ray " florets being female, the " disk " florets male. This and the double variety have been in cultivation for at least three hundred years, as well as a proliferous form, C. prolifera, or the "fruitful marigolde " of Gerard (Herball, p. 602), in which small flower-heads proceed from beneath the circumference of the flower. The figure of " the greatest double marigold," C. multiflora maxima, given by Gerard (I.e., p. 600) is larger than most specimens now seen, being, 3 inches in diameter. He remarks of " the marigolde " that it is called Calendula "as it is to be seene to flower in the calends -of almost euerie moneth." It was supposed to have several specific virtues, but they are now discredited. " The marigold, that goes to bed wi the sun," is mentioned by Shakespeare, Winter s Tale, iv. 3. Tagetes patula, L., and T. erecta, L. (DC., Prod., v. p. G43), the French and African marigolds, are natives of Mexico, and are equally familiar garden plants, having been long in cultivation. Gerard figures four varieties of Flos africanus, of the single and double kinds (I.e., p. 609) ; but they do not appear to be specifically distinct; indeed Parkinson (Par., p. 303, 1629) regarded them as one. Besides the above species the following have been intro duced later, T. lucida, Cav., T. signata, also from Mexico, and T. tenui folia, Cav., from Peru (Hemsley s Handbook of Hardy Trees, &c., p. 247). Chrysanthemum segetum, L., the yellow corn marigold, is indigenous to Great Britain, and is frequent in corn-fields in most parts of England. A decoction of the fresh plant gathered before flowering is acrid, and is said to be useful medicinally. When dried it has been employed as hay It is also used in Germany for dyeing yellow (Baxter, Brit. Gen. of PL, vol. iv. 306). Gerard observes that in his day " the stalke and leaues of Come Marigolde, as Dioscorides saith, are eaten as other potherbes are." Caltha palustris, L., the marsh marigold, the " winking Mary-buds "of Shakespeare (Cijmb., ii. 3), is a common British plant in marshy meadows and beside water. It bears cordate leaves, the flowers having a golden yellow calyx but no corolla, and blossoming in March and April. The flower-buds preserved in salted vinegar are a good substitute for capers. A double-flowered variety is often cultivated, and is occasionally found wild (Baxter, I.e., vol. ii. 153). MARINES. With all maritime nations, especially if they be insular and capable of taking the offensive in war, there must frequently be cases in which naval operations can be supplemented by the landing of a force. The armament, equipment, and discipline of the armies and navies of such nations were in early days practically alike. But with the introduction of more regular levies and better organization arose the necessity for having on board ships-of-war an armed body organized to meet the altered condition of things. Sailors were but engaged for periods during which ships were commissioned ; and their previous history and training did not tend to furnish the material required. Regular armies on shore called for disciplined forces afloat, that is to say, for marines, or sea soldiers, who should have the steadiness of the troops of the line, be accustomed to the peculiar duties of ship life, and be subordinate to the naval authorities. Previous to 1664 the British navy had been manned chiefly by "impress"; but in that year an order in council appeared, authorizing the formation of a force of 1200 soldiers, in six companies, to be raised for sea service during the Dutch War. Probably it was recruited from the London Trained Bands, as the Royal Marines, with the 3d battalion of the Grenadier Guards, the East Kent Regiment, and the Royal London Militia, alone possess the privilege of marching through the city with colours flying and bayonets fixed. Recruits were also obtained from the foot guards; and in 1672 companies of the guards were employed on shipboard. The Army List of 1684 shows for the first time the organized battalion of marines, in H. R.H. the duke of York and Albany s maritime regiment of foot or "Admiral s Regiment," which, in that year, mustered on Putney Heath twelve companies, with a full proportion of officers. This stood third in seniority in the line, and eventually became the Coldstream Guards ; the 4th, or " Holland Regiment," which also sent companies to sea, and had like the above regiment been raised by the City of London, taking its place as 3d or " Old Buffs." Several other maritime regiments were successively formed and disbanded, until, in 1702, Queen Anne directed the addition to the army of six regiments as a marine corps, while six existing regiments were also appointed "for sea service." These were done away with in 1714, three only being retained, as the 30th, 31st, and 32d of the line. Independent companies, for service in the West Indies, were also formed, becoming in 1742 the 49th foot. In 1739 six fresh regiments were levied, and augmented in 1742 to ten, of 1000 men in ten companies each ; while three others were collected in America for colonial duty. Though commanded by generals and colonels of the army, they were to be quartered in the neighbourhood of the dockyards at Portsmouth, Sheerness, Chatham, Deptford, Woolwich, and Plymouth ; and the proportion of officers, viz., 100 men with a captain to twenty with a subaltern, was fixed for the different classes of vessels. No field

officer was embarked unless a full battalion were sent. In