performance of it; he practised the harpsichord at his own apartments, and on that instrument, if not on the organ, was unquestionably one of the first performers of the time. He wrote and translated books to an incredible number, and this without an exclusive attachment to any particular object; and the versatility of his temper cannot be more strongly marked than by observing, that he composed church music and operas, wrote treatises on music and on the longitude. His writings in general abound with intelligence, communicated in a desultory manner, and are an evidence that the author possessed more learning than judgment. This industrious man died April 17, 1764. He left a legacy of forty-four thousand marks to build an organ for the cathedral of Hamburg, which was accomplished, after his own design, by the celebrated Hildebrand.—E. F. R.
MATTHEW of Westminster is the name of the supposed compiler and author of the "Flores Historiarum," a chronicle which commences with the creation of the world, after the fashion of our mediæval monkish annalists, and closes with the death of Edward I. According to the received account of him he was a monk of the abbey of Westminster; but it is disputed whether he died soon after the beginning or towards the close of the fourteenth century. The continuation of Matthew Paris stops at 1273, while the work of the so-called Matthew of Westminster comes down to 1307. It is for the intervening period that the "Flores Historiarum," with its often spirited narrative of Edward's wars, is most to be valued, though in the case of Scotland even more than the usual animus of the old English annalists is discernible, and Sir William Wallace is styled a "son of Belial." It must be added that, in an article on Anglo-Saxon history in No. 67 of the Quarterly Review, and from the pen, we believe, of the late Sir Francis Palgrave, Matthew of Westminster, so often and so gravely cited by historians, is styled "a phantom who never existed." "The choice of the name," the reviewer continues, "seems to have arisen from a confused lemma or colophon relating to the well-known Matthew Paris, of whose chronicle the latter part of the work now under consideration is an abridgment." But this last assertion of the Quarterly Review is itself obviously incorrect; Matthew Paris, as already remarked, closing with the year 1273, while Matthew of Westminster pursues his narrative to 1307. The "Flores Historiarum" was first published at London in 1567, and again at Frankfort in 1601, with a continuation to the year 1377. As the "Flowers of History," an English translation of it was published in 1853 in Bohn's Antiquarian Library.—F. E.
MATTHEW CANTACUZENUS. See Cantacuzene.
MATTHEW PARIS. See Paris, Matthew.
MATTHEW, Tobias, D.D., Archbishop of York, was born in 1546 in Bristol, and studied at Christ church, Oxford, where he afterwards held the presidency of St. John's college, and the vice-chancellorship of the university. His piety and active benevolence, combined with his theological acquirements and popularity as a preacher, gave him a long and varied course of ecclesiastical preferment, which issued in his translation in 1606 from the bishopric of Durham to the see of York. The only work published by him was a controversial oration against the jesuit Campian. He died at Cawood in 1628.—W. B.
MATTHEW, Tobias, eldest son of the preceding, born at Oxford in 1578, and educated at Christ church; was converted to popery in 1605 during a visit to Italy, and after his return to London was imprisoned for refusing to take the oath of allegiance. That punishment being afterwards commuted into exile during the king's pleasure, the influence of the duke of Buckingham enabled him to revisit England; and he ultimately enjoyed the favour of James I., by whom he was knighted in 1623. In the following reign he accompanied Strafford to Ireland, and thence retired to Ghent, where he died in 1655. He wrote a life of St. Theresa; a translation of Augustine's Confessions; and a few other works.—W. B.
MATTHEWS, Alexander, an active botanical collector, died at Chachapoyas, on the Andes in Peru, on the 24th November, 1841. For many years he was engaged collecting Peruvian and Chilian plants, which were transmitted to Britain. He discovered many new and rare species, which have been described and figured in various botanical periodicals.—J. H. B.
MATTHIÆ, August Heinrich, a distinguished German philologist, was born at Göttingen, 25th December, 1769, and after a careful education, devoted himself to classical learning in the university of his native town. In 1789 he became private tutor at Amsterdam, and in 1801 was appointed headmaster of the Altenburg gymnasium, the duties of which office he most honourably discharged till his death on the 5th January, 1835. He is particularly known for his excellent Greek grammar and other school-books, but has left also a number of valuable editions (especially Euripides, nine volumes) and learned treatises, and other works of a miscellaneous character.—K. E.
MATTHIAS, Emperor of Germany, was born on the 24th February, 1557, and died on the 20th March, 1619. He was the son of Maximilian II., and had for preceptor Busbeek, who introduced him to letters. In 1578 the catholics of the Netherlands called him as their governor, to counterbalance the prince of Orange, an office he accepted, but did not retain. After this he commanded a corps against the Turks; and on the death of Ernest, which made him heir-apparent, he was named governor of Austria. In September, 1608, he was crowned king of Hungary, and swore to observe the constitution. On the death of his brother Rodolph II., in 1612, Matthias was elected emperor. In 1617 he attempted, but in vain, to dissolve the hostile confederations, which, under the names of catholic league and protestant union, were dividing Germany; and preventing all possibility of unity. Unfortunately he appointed two men, Slawata and Martinitz, to the regency of Bohemia, where they were detested by the protestant party. The protestants held a meeting at Prague, and apparently instigated by Count Thurn, repaired to the palace of the regency to demand explanations. Fierce passions were excited, and the result was that the two members of regency with their secretary were thrown out of the window. This unhappy conclusion was the origin of the famous Thirty Years' war. Nothing but the sword would satisfy either party. Matthias died shortly after, and then came the tempest which deluged Germany with blood and crime.—P. E. D.
MATTHIAS CORVINUS, King of Hungary, one of the ablest and most accomplished princes of his time, was born at Klausemburg on the 27th March, 1443. He was the son of the celebrated General John Huniades, whose eminent services to King Ladislaus were ill requited by the imprisonment of Matthias, and the execution of his brother Ladislaus Corvinus. Matthias was committed to the care of the king of Bohemia, in whose custody he remained until he was elected king of Hungary in 1457. King George Podiebrad then set him free, and gave him his daughter Catherine in marriage. Further efforts were necessary to seat him firmly on the throne. Factions opposed to the family of Hunyiadi proceeded to elect the Emperor Frederic III. their king; and a war ensued between Matthias and Frederic, which, commencing in 1459, ended in a treaty of peace that was signed in 1464. At his coronation, which immediately followed, Matthias confirmed to his subjects the privileges conferred on them by the charter of Andrew II. As the defenders of Christian Europe against the invading Turks, Matthias, his generals, and his people greatly distinguished themselves; yet when he had to choose between fighting Mahometans and leading a crusade against Bohemian heretics, he chose the latter course in 1467, being tempted by the pope's offer of the crown of Bohemia. The war with Bohemia was prolonged until 1478, when Moravia and Silesia were ceded by treaty to Matthias. The previous year was rendered memorable in Hungarian history by a short and decisive war with the Emperor Frederic. Matthias drove that monarch out of his hereditary dominions. By the mediation of Venice and of the pope a treaty was signed on the 1st of December, 1477, by which Frederic agreed to pay one hundred thousand florins and to invest his formidable antagonist with the sovereignty of Bohemia. The money not being paid, hostilities broke out again, and Matthias, after a long siege, took Vienna on the 22nd January, 1485. For the five remaining years of his life he exercised sovereignty over the Austrian states, and died at Vienna of an apoplectic stroke on the 7th April, 1490. Matthias had many great qualities. Numerous anecdotes of his skill, courage, and learning are extant; but he excited frequent murmurs among his people by the taxation arising out of his continual wars.—(See Mailath's Hungary.) He delighted in pomp and magnificence, was a genuine lover of learning, and encouraged the arts and sciences. He founded an academy at Presburg, and formed at Buda a celebrated library, containing more than fifty thousand manuscripts, which was destroyed by the Turks in 1526.—R. H.
MATTHIEU, Pierre, a French historian, born in Franche-Comté in 1563, was educated among the jesuits, and settled as
