Mardin

Mardin, a town of Asiatic Turkey, in the vilayet of Diarbekir, 350 m. N W. of Bagdad; pop. about 12,000. It is situated on a rocky eminence, more than 2,000 ft. above the level of the sea. Near it is a Jacobite monastery, said to have a large library, containing works in 12 different languages. The town is the seat of a United Syrian and a Chaldean bishop, and of a flourishing Protestant mission. It has several mosques and churches, and manufactories of linen, cotton, and leather.

Mardonics

See Greece, vol. viii., pp. 189, 190.

Marengo

Marengo, a W. county of Alabama, bounded W. by the Tombigbee river, which unites with the Black Warrior-on the N. AY.; area, 075 I sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 20,151, of whom 20,058 were colored. It has a nearly level surface; the soil is very fertile, and a tract known as the "Canebrake " is among the most productive cotton land in the south. The chief productions in 1870 were 598,938 bushels of Indian corn, 38,691 of sweet potatoes, 164,931 lbs. of butter, and 23,614 bales of cotton. There were 1,377 horses, 3,629 mules and asses, 4,116 milch cows, 8,315 other cattle, 1,763 sheep, and 16,531 swine. Capital, Linden.

Maresch J. A

Maresch J. A, a Russian horn player, born in Bohemia in 17o9. died in St. Petersburg in 1794. In 1744 he entered the Russian imperial service, where his talent was noticed by Prince Narishkin. under whose direction he set about the improvement of the Russian horns. The instruments of this class then in use were very inferior in construction, giving but one tone. He made 37 of these, giving all the tones and semi-tones comprised within three octaves. The horn producing the lowest tone was 7 ft. in length, that producing the highest, one foot. He distributed these 37 horns to as many men. and by severe drilling enabled them to execute the most difficult and Each performer waited for the proper instant for him to sound his particular note with the necessary degree of force. The first trial of this singular music was made in 1755 in presence of the imperial court at Ismailov, near Moscow. Maresch was municicently recompensed for the astonishing resuls which he obtained.

Margai

See Ocelot.

Margaret Oliphant

Margaret Oliphant (Wilson), an English authoress, born in Liverpool about 1820. Her mother was Scotch, and most of Mrs. Oli-phant's tales relate to Scottish life. Her first novel, " Passages in the Life of Mrs. Margaret Maitland of Sunny side" (1849), was imme-diately successful, and since then she has published" "Merkland" (1851), "Adam Graemie of Mossgray" (1852), "Harry Muir" (1853), "Magdalen Hepburn" (1854), "Liliesleaf" (1855), "Zaidee" (1856), "The Life of Edward Irving "(2 vols., 1862), "Chronicles of Carlingford " (1803), " The Perpetual Curate " (1864), "A Son of the Soil" (1805), "Miss Majoribanks" (1800), "The Minister's Wife" (1800), "Historical Sketches of the Reign of George II." (2 vols., 1869), " Three Brothers " (1870), " A Pose in June " (1874), etc.