Chancellor of France, was born in 1714, and died on the 29th July, 1792. In 1743 he was vice-president of the parliament of Paris, in 1763 first president, and in 1768 chancellor. For some reason not very apparent Maupeou appears to have entertained bitter enmity towards the parliament, and to have conceived the project of its abolition. Personal interest could scarcely have been his motive; on the contrary, he seems to have been actuated by the native malignity of a bilious temperament. In 1770 an edict was published by Louis XV., imposing restrictions on the parliament of Paris. The members, thinking that they would evade the royal authority, declared themselves no longer free, and refused to act. On the 20th January, 1771, they were visited by musketeers, whose duty was to demand a definite "Yes" or "No," as to whether they would resume duty. Those who refused were exiled, and their property declared confiscated. On the 13th April, 1771, the parliament was virtually suppressed at the instigation of Maupeou. Elated with his apparent success, he wished to become prime minister; but the death of Louis XV. changed the current of affairs, and Maupeou was disgraced. He was the last chancellor of the old French monarchy.—P. E. D.
MAUPERTUIS, Pierre-Louis Moreau de, a celebrated French man of science, was born at St. Malo on the 17th of July, 1698, and died at Basle on the 27th of July, 1759. In his youth he served for some time in the army, which he quitted in order to apply himself to the study of physical and mathematical science. In 1713 he was appointed a member of the Academy of Sciences. He had the high honour of being the first scientific man in France who publicly maintained the mechanical philosophy of Newton, and in this he was joined by Voltaire, then his intitimate friend. In 1727 he visited London, and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. Soon afterwards, he passed some time at Basle, learning from John Bernoulli the use of the differential calculus. Reference has been made in preceding articles (see Bouguer, Godin, La Condamine) to the expedition which was despatched from France, 1735, to measure an arc of the meridian near the equator, in order to test the theoretical conclusion of Newton that the earth was flattened towards the poles. To make the comparison complete, another expedition was despatched in the spring of 1736, under the direction of Clairaut, Camus, Lemonnier, Outhier, and Maupertuis, to measure an arc of the meridian as near as possible to the pole. The expedition accomplished its object in spite of great difficulties and hardships, and returned to France in August, 1737. Accounts of its progress and results were published by Maupertuis and by Outhier. In 1745, on the invitation of Frederick the Great, Maupertuis went to Berlin to become president of the Academy of Sciences there. Although possessed of remarkable talent and extensive information, Maupertuis was deficient in sound knowledge and judgment, and given to theorize on insufficient grounds. Of this he gave an example in a work called an "Essay on Cosmology," published in 1758, by attempting to deduce the whole science of mechanics from a somewhat abstruse consequence of the laws of motion, called (but incorrectly) the "principle of the least action;" this principle he professed to prove independently of experience, by a sort of teleological argument. Another of his failings was a degree of pretension by which he gave offence to acquaintance, and amongst others to Voltaire, by whom he was tormented with merciless ridicule, and driven to fury. His last days were spent at Basle, in the society of the children of his old master, John Bernoulli.—W. J. M. R.
MAUR (Saint), a disciple of St. Benedict, mentioned in St. Gregory's Dialogues, remarkable for his piety, and said to have possessed the power of working miracles. He died in 584. According to some accounts he founded the great abbey of Glanfueil; but others assert it was founded by St. Maur, a monk of the order of St. Colomban, who lived till 640.—D. W. R.
MAUREPAS, Jean Frederic Phelypeaux, Count of, a French statesman, born on the 9th July, 1701, and died on the 21st November, 1781. From his father he inherited an office as secretary of state for the navy; but on account of his extreme youth the duties were at first performed by the Marquis La Villière. He afterwards originated many useful improvements in his department, especially by the employment of men of science and the construction of charts. He was disgraced for twenty-five years for a satire on Madame de Pompadour, but on the accession of Louis XVI., was reinstated.—P. E. D.
MAURER, Christoph, Swiss painter and engraver, was born at Zurich in 1558. The son of a painter, Josiah Manrer, he was early instructed in the principles of design by his father, but later studied under Tobias Stimmer of Schafhausen, whose manner he adopted. He painted in distemper and on glass, etched on copper, and engraved on wood. His best prints are a set of hunting scenes from the drawings of Stimmer, published in 1605, a series of wood-cuts of scriptural designs, and forty etchings of Miscellaneous Emblems, published in 1622 by J. H. Bordorf. Maurer died in 1614.—J. T—e.
MAURER, Hubert, German painter, was born in 1738 at Rötchen, near Bonn, and studied first in the Munich art-academy, and afterwards in that of Vienna. In 1772 he went to Rome, where he remained four years. He settled in Vienna, occupying a high place among the artists of that city, till his death in 1818. Hubert Maurer's more important pictures were the altar-pieces which he painted for the chapel-royal and other churches of Vienna and elsewhere, and which in manner approximated to that of Overbeck and his early associates. But he also painted various cabinet pictures from sacred and secular history, and many portraits, including those of the Empress Maria Theresa, and the Emperors Francis I. and Joseph II.—J. T—e.
* MAURER, Ludwig Wilhelm, a violinist and composer, was born at Potsdam, February 8, 1789. He was a pupil of Haak, concertmeister to Frederick the Great, who brought him out at a concert of Mad. Mara, in Berlin, in 1802. Maurer's success led to his engagement in the private band of the king, which beheld until the troubles of 1806 compelled the dismemberment of this body. Furnished by Queen Louise with introductory letters, he set off for Petersburg, but rested some time at Riga, where he met Baillot and Rode; from whose instruction, especially that of the latter, he derived great advantage. After gaining renown and emolument by playing at all the principal cities, he once more met Baillot at Moscow, where at his recommendation he was engaged as musical director and solo violinist by a nobleman named Wsewologski, who retained a complete orchestra in his service. Maurer kept this appointment until 1817, when political circumstances forced his patron to break up his establishment; and he then made an artistic tour through Germany and visited Paris with great success. In 1819 he accepted the office of concertmeister to the king of Hanover, which he held until 1832, taking advantage of his vacations to travel for the display of his talent. His Russian patron having then reorganized his household, again offered Maurer his former appointment, which he accepted, and in fulfilment of which he still resides at Petersburg. His numerous compositions for his instrument are skilful and effective. Several of his concertos have been played in England; but the best known of all his works is the concertante for four violins, which was originally performed by himself, with Spohr, Müller, and Wiele; and was first played in this country at a concert of the Royal Academy of Music in 1834, by Blagrove and three other students. Maurer has also produced three operas, one of which "Der neue Paris," was given in London under the title of "The new Apple of Discord," in 1828. He has two sons—a violinist and violoncellist—both born at Hanover, and both talented.—G. A. M.
MAURICE, Elector of Saxony, a protestant prince, who did more to humble, and more also to save and exalt the interest of protestantism, than any German prince of his age, was born on the 21st March, 1521, at Freiberg, where his father, Duke Henry of Saxony, ruled over a petty principality. His mother, a daughter of Duke Magnus of Mecklenburg, did more to form his character than all his tutors, and awakened in him, while still a boy, an ardent ambition, which became the mainspring of his life. He was soon weary of Freiberg, and repaired to the court of his uncle Duke George at Dresden, with whom he became a great favourite for his love of the chase, his skill and courage in all knightly exercises, and the keen interest which he displayed in public business and affairs. The duke, however, was not prepared to gratify all the wishes of his precocious ambition. "Moritz, Moritz," said he to him one day when he was pleading hard for the grafshaft of Leissnig, which was expected soon to be in the duke's gift, "you are too ambitious, the whole of Saxony will hardly be big enough for you." The disappointment wounded him deeply, and he withdrew from Dresden to Mainz, where he was admitted to the court of the Elector Albert of Brandenburg. Here he remained for some time, taking full advantage of the favourable opportunities which such a residence afforded him, for acquainting himself with the secular and eccle-
