Part 19

MAIDSTONE, a market town and municipal and parliamentary borough, and the county town of Kent, England, 41 m. E.S.E. of London by the South Eastern & Chatham railway. Pop. (1901), 33,516; area, 4008 acres. It lies principally on the eastern bank of the river Medway, the modern part spreading over the western slopes of a picturesque valley, which is intersected and environed by orchards and hop gardens, this being the richest agricultural district of Kent. The hop grounds form the so-called middle growth of Kent, and the town has the principal grain market in the county. Archbishop Boniface in 1260 established a hospital here (Newark hospital) for poor pilgrims, the chapel of which, with modern additions, is now St Peter's Church. The parish church of St Mary, which had existed from Norman times, was demolished in 1395 by Archbishop Courtenay, who erected on the site the present church of All Saints. This fine Perpendicular building contains, besides many excellent monuments, the richly carved sedilia and the twenty-eight oak seats used by the collegiate priests. Courtenay also founded a college of secular canons, the ruins of which are an interesting specimen of 14th-century architecture. From the reign of John until the Reformation the archbishops had a residence here, at which Stafford and Courtenay died. This Perpendicular building, with its Elizabethan east front, was acquired by the corporation as a memorial of Queen Victoria's Jubilee in 1887, and houses the school of science and art. The rectory, with the manor, passed into lay hands at the Reformation; and, having been a perpetual curacy for three hundred and twenty years, the living became a vicarage in 1866. The grammar school was founded in 1549, and endowed with the estates of the local Corpus Christi fraternity, then dissolved; the hall in which the gild assembled remains, but the school is established in modern buildings on a new site. There are oil-mills, rope, sacking and twine factories, and cement, lime, and brick works. There is a considerable carrying trade on the Medway. A museum, with public library, was opened in 1858, in an interesting building of the early part of the 16th century. This is the headquarters of the Kent Archaeological Society, founded by the Rev. L. B. Larking in 1858. In 1890 an art gallery was added. The West Kent and General hospital, the county ophthalmic hospital, county gaol and barracks may be mentioned among other institutions. From Saxon times down to 1830 condemned malefactors were executed, and all the great county meetings were held, on Penenden Heath, a common situated about a mile north-east of the town, and enclosed by the corporation as a public recreation ground. The parliamentary borough of Maidstone returns one member. The town is governed by a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors.

There is evidence of a Roman settlement at Maidstone. The name Maidstone (Medwegestun, Meddestane, Maydestan), probably meaning Medway Town, is presumably of Saxon origin. At the time of the Domesday Survey it belonged to the archbishop of Canterbury, and from the reign of John the archbishops had a residence there. Its position in the centre of Kent gave it an early importance; the shire-moot was held on Penenden Heath in the 11th century, and Maidstone was an assize town in the reign of Edward I. In 1537 Cranmer exchanged the manor of Maidstone with the king, and it was granted by Edward VI. to Sir Thomas Wyatt. Edward also incorporated the town by the title of the mayor, jurats and commonalty; it had formerly been governed by a portreve and 12 "brethren." This charter was forfeited through Wyatt's rebellion; a second charter was granted by Elizabeth in 1559 and confirmed by subsequent sovereigns. A new charter constituting a governing body of a mayor, 12 jurats and 40 common councilmen was given at the petition of the inhabitants by George II. in 1747, and remained the governing charter until 1835. Four fairs were granted by the charter of 1559; these are now held on the 13th of February, the 12th of May, the 20th of June and the 17th of October. A Thursday market was granted by Henry III. to Archbishop Boniface, and a market every second Tuesday in the month by charter of George II. A corn market on Tuesday and a cattle market on Thursday are still held. The manufacture of linen and woollen goods was introduced by Walloons, who settled here in 1567. This was succeeded by paper-making, now the chief industry of the town. The cultivation of hops has been carried on since the 17th century.

Maidstone has been associated with various incidents of general history. Wat Tyler broke into the prison, liberated John Ball the rebel preacher, and committed various depredations. Several of the leading inhabitants joined Jack Cade's rising. The rising of the Kentish Royalists in 1648 collapsed at Maidstone, where on the 1st of June Fairfax, after five hours' obstinate fighting, captured the town at midnight.

See _Victoria County History, Kent_; I. M. Russell, _History of Maidstone_ (1881).

MAIHAR, a native state of Central India, in the Baghelkhand agency. Area, 407 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 63,702; estimated revenue, £4700. The state, which is watered by the Tons river, consists mainly of alluvial soil covering sandstone, and is fertile except in the hilly district of the south. A large area is under forest, the produce of which provides a small export trade. The chief, whose title is raja, claims descent from the Kachwaha Rajput clan. The state suffered severely from famine in 1896-1897. The town of Maihar (pop. 6802) is on the East Indian railway, 97 m. N. of Jubbulpore. Extensive ruins of shrines and other buildings in its neighbourhood indicate a former much greater extent of the place.

MAIL. (1) (Through Fr. _maille_, from Lat. _macula_, a spot or hole, the mesh of a net), properly a metal ring or link which, joined closely with other links, formed the fabric of body and other armour in the middle ages, till it was superseded by plate-armour. The word "mail," properly applied to this form of chain-armour, is also used of armour generally, whether plate or chain, and is also transferred to the horny defensive coverings of animals, such as the tortoise, crab, &c. (see ARMS AND ARMOUR). (2) (O. Eng. _mál_, speech; probably the same as O. Saxon _mahal_, assembly; in meaning connected with O. Norse _mále_, stipulation), a Scots law term meaning rent, tax. "Mails and duties" are the rents, whether in kind or money, of an estate. In English the word only survives in "blackmail" (q.v.). (3) (Through O. Fr. _male_, mod. _malle_, a Teutonic word surviving in Dutch _maal_), properly a bag, especially one used in travelling; this word, which appears in Chaucer, is now applied chiefly to the despatch and delivery of postal matter. In this sense "mail" is properly the bag in which such matter is conveyed, and hence is applied to the contents of the mail, postal matter collectively, and to the train, carts, or other means used in the despatch and delivery of the same. In general usage "mail" is confined to the "foreign" as opposed to the "inland" despatch of letters, &c., and to which the word "post" is chiefly applied; in official language, the word refers to the inland despatch. The word appears also in "mail-coach," a coach used for conveying the mails, and in "mail-cart," a cart similarly employed. This word is also applied to a light low vehicle propelled or drawn by hand, suitable for young children. The "mail phaeton" is a type of phaeton with high seat for two persons and drawn by a pair of horses.

MAILLY, LOUISE JULIE, COMTESSE DE (1710-1751), mistress of Louis XV. of France, was the daughter of Louis, marquis de Nesle. She was the eldest of three sisters who succeeded one another as favourites of the king. In 1726 she married her cousin, Louis Alexandre de Mailly. Although Louis XV. had paid her attentions from 1732, she did not become titular mistress until 1738. She did not use her position either to enrich herself or to interfere in politics. She was supplanted by her sister, the duchess of Châteauroux, and obliged to leave court in 1742.

See E. and J. de Goncourt, _La Duchesse de Châteauroux et ses soeurs_ (1879); Toussaint, _Anecdotes curieuses de ... Louis XV._ (2 vols., 1905); J. B. H. R. Capefigue, _Mesdemoiselles de Nesle et la jeunesse de Louis XV._ (1864).

MAIMANA, a town and khanate of Afghan Turkestan. The town is situated 100 m. S.W. of Balkh, and only some 25 m. from the frontier of Russian Turkestan. It is about two-thirds the size of Herat, square built and surrounded by a ruined wall and moat. The khanate was for long in dispute between Bokhara and Kabul, but in 1868 Abdur Rahman laid siege to the town, and it was compelled to come to terms. Its political status as an Afghan province was definitely fixed by the Russo-Afghan boundary commission of 1885. The inhabitants are chiefly Uzbegs.

MAIMAND, a town in the province of Fars, Persia, a few miles east of Firuzabad and about 70 m. from Shiraz. It has a population of about 5000, almost wholly occupied with the manufacture and sale of rose-water, which is largely exported to many parts of Persia as well as to Arabia, India and Java. The district also produces great quantities of almonds. The rose gardens cover several square miles. In 1349 a great part of Maimand and of three little villages belonging to it became _wakf_ (pious endowment) of the shrine at Shiraz of Mïr Ahmed, surnamed Shah Chiragh, a son of Musa Kazim, the seventh imam of the Shiahs, and the remainder of the Maimand grounds was given to the shrine by Mir Habbib Ullah Sharifi and by Shah Ismail in 1504; the administration of the Maimand property as well as the guardianship of the shrine is still with the descendants of Mir Habbib Ullah.

MAIMBOURG, LOUIS (1610-1686), French Jesuit and historian, was born at Nancy. He entered the Society of Jesus at the age of sixteen, and after studying at Rome became a classical master in the Jesuit college at Rouen. He afterwards devoted himself to preaching, but with only moderate success. After having taken some part in minor controversies he threw himself with energy into the dispute which had arisen as to the Gallican liberties; for his _Traité historique sur les prérogatives de l'Église de Rome_ (1682) he was by command of Innocent XI. expelled from the Society, but rewarded by Louis XIV. with a residence at the abbey of St Victor, Paris, and a pension. He died on the 13th of August 1686. His numerous works include histories of Arianism, the iconoclastic controversy, the Greek schism, Lutheranism, Calvinism, and of the pontificates of Leo I. and Gregory I.; they are mere compilations, written indeed in a very lively and attractive style, but inaccurate and untrustworthy.

_The History of Arianism_ was published in English (1728-1729) by William Webster, with an appendix on the English writers in the Socinian and Arian controversies.

MAIMING, mutilation, a physical injury which involves the loss of, or incapacity to use, a bodily member. The verb "to maim," in M. E. _maynhe_, _mahayme_, _mayme_, &c. was adopted from O. Fr. _mahaignier_: cf. It. _magagnars_, Med. Lat. _mahemiare_, _mahennare_, &c. (see Du Cange, _Gloss._, _s.v._ "Mahamium"). Maiming or mutilation is and has been practised by many races with various ethnical and religious significances, and was a customary form of punishment on the principle of an "eye for an eye" (see MUTILATION). In law "maiming" is a criminal offence; the old law term for a special case of maiming of persons was "mayhem" (q.v.), an Anglo-French variant form of the word. Maiming of animals by others than their owners is a particular form of the offences generally grouped as "malicious damage." For the purpose of the law as to this offence animals are divided into cattle, which includes horses, pigs and asses, and other animals which are either subjects of larceny at common law or are usually kept in confinement or for domestic purposes. The punishment for maiming of cattle is three to fourteen years' penal servitude. Malicious injury to other animals is a misdemeanour punishable on summary conviction. For a second offence the penalty is imprisonment with hard labour for over twelve months. (Malicious Damage Act 1861.) Maiming of animals by their owner falls under the Cruelty to Animals Acts.

MAIMON, SALOMON (1754-1800), German philosopher, was born of Jewish parentage in Polish Lithuania, and died at Nieder-Siegersdorf on the 22nd of November 1800. He married at the age of twelve, and studied medicine in Berlin. In 1770 he severed his connexion with his orthodox co-religionists by his critical commentary on the _Moreh Nebuhim_ of Maimonides, and devoted himself to the study of philosophy on the lines of Wolff and Moses Mendelssohn. After many vicissitudes he found a peaceful residence in the house of Count Kalkreuth at Nieder-Siegersdorf in 1790. During the ensuing ten years he published the works which have made his reputation as a critical philosopher. Hitherto his life had been a long struggle against difficulties of all kinds. From his autobiography, it is clear that his keen critical faculty was developed in great measure by the slender means of culture at his disposal. It was not till 1788 that he made the acquaintance of the Kantian philosophy, which was to form the basis of his lifework, and as early as 1790 he published the _Versuch über die Transcendentalphilosophie_, in which he formulates his objections to the system. He seizes upon the fundamental incompatibility of a consciousness which can apprehend, and yet is separated from, the "thing-in-itself." That which is object of thought cannot be outside consciousness; just as in mathematics [root](-1) is an unreal quantity, so "things-in-themselves" are _ex hypothesi_ outside consciousness, i.e. are unthinkable. The Kantian paradox he explains as the result of an attempt to explain the origin of the "given" in consciousness. The _form_ of things is admittedly subjective; the mind endeavours to explain the _material_ of the given in the same terms, an attempt which is not only impossible but involves a denial of the elementary laws of thought. Knowledge of the given is, therefore, essentially incomplete. Complete or perfect knowledge is confined to the domain of pure thought, to logic and mathematics. Thus the problem of the "thing-in-itself" is dismissed from the inquiry, and philosophy is limited to the sphere of pure thought. The Kantian categories are, indeed, demonstrable and true, but their application to the given is meaningless and unthinkable. By this critical scepticism Maimon takes up a position intermediate between Kant and Hume. Hume's attitude to the empirical is entirely supported by Maimon. The casual concept, as given by experience, expresses not a necessary objective order of things, but an ordered scheme of perception; it is subjective and cannot be postulated as a concrete law apart from consciousness. The main argument of the _Transcendentalphilosophie_ not only drew from Kant, who saw it in MS., the remark that Maimon alone of his all critics had mastered the true meaning of his philosophy, but also directed the path of most subsequent criticism.

Maimon's chief works, in addition to the above quoted, are _Philos. Wörterbuch_ (1791); _Streifereien im Gebiete der Philos._(1793); _Über die Progresse der Philos._ (1793); _Die Kategorien des Aristoteles mit Anmerkungen erläutert_ (1794); _Versuch einer neuen Logik_ (1794 and 1798); _Kritische Untersuchungen über den menschl. Geist_ (1797). See _S. Maimons Lebensgeschichte von ihm selbst beschrieben_ (1792, ed. K. P. Moritz; Eng. trans. by J. C. Murray, 1888); Wolff, _Maimoniana_ (1813); Witte, _S. Maimon_ (1876).

MAIMONIDES, the common name of RABBI MOSES BEN MAIMON (1135-1204), also known from the initials of these last words as RAMBAM, Jewish philosopher. His life falls into three epochs, which may be typified by the towns in which they were passed, viz. Cordova, Fez and Cairo. He was born in Cordova on the 20th of March 1135, the eve of Passover; he had a brother, David, and one sister. His early years were spent in his native town, which had then just passed the zenith of its glory. The Arab rulers had fostered the development of science, art, medicine, philosophy, literature and learning. All these influences played their part in the education of Maimonides, whose father, besides training him in all branches of Hebrew and Jewish scholarship, implanted in the youth a sound knowledge of these secular studies as well. In 1148 Cordova was taken from the last Fatimite caliph by the victorious Almohades, who had spread over Spain from N. Africa. These militant revivalists strove to re-establish Islam in what they considered its primitive simplicity. They laid great stress on the unity of God, and tolerated neither schism within the faith nor dissent without. The position of the orthodox Spanish Jews became intolerable, and Maimon, after ten years of hardships, wanderings and escapes, decided to take his family out of the country. He settled in Fez. The years which Maimonides spent there (1160-1165) were memorable for his friendship with Abdul Arab Ibn Muisha--a Moslem poet and theologian--and for the commencement of his literary activity. His energies were diverted towards stimulating the religious feelings of his brethren and combating assimilation. In consequence he became alarmed for his own safety, and in 1165 left for Egypt, where he settled after a passing visit to the Holy Land. Cordova taught him the humanities; Fez humanity. Cairo, besides giving him prominence at court and in the Jewish community, was the centre of the almost world-wide influence which he exercised over Jewry by his monumental writings and dominant personality. By 1177 Maimonides was the recognized chief of the Cairene congregation and consulted on important matters by communities far and wide. Here he was joined by his most famous disciple, Joseph Aknin. But his early life in Egypt was fraught with deep sorrow. His father died soon after their arrival, and Maimonides himself suffered severely from prostration and sickness. His brother David, jointly with whom he carried on a trade in gems, was shipwrecked in the Indian Ocean. With him perished the entire fortune of the family. Forced to earn a livelihood, Maimonides turned to medicine. The fame of his skill eventually brought him the appointment of body physician to Saladin, to whom, it is said, he was so attached that when Richard I. wrote from Ascalon, offering him a similar post at the English court, Maimonides refused. He married the sister of Ibn al Mali, one of the royal secretaries. In 1186, his son Abraham was born. His remaining years were spent in ceaseless activity and in controversy, which he sought to avoid. He died amidst universal sorrow and veneration.

The works of Maimonides fall into three periods: (a) To the Spanish period belong his commentary on the whole Talmud (not fully carried out), a treatise on the calendar (_Maamar ha-ibbur_), a treatise on logic (_Milloth Higgayon_), and his commentary on the _Mishnah_ (this was called _Siraj_ or _Maor_, i.e. "Light": begun 1158, completed 1168 in Egypt). (b) While he was in Fez, he wrote an essay on the Sanctification of the Name of God (_Maamar Kiddush Hashem_, _Iggereth Hashemad_). (c) The works written in Egypt were: Letter to the Yemenites (_Iggereth Teman_ or _Pethah Tiqvah_); _Responsa_ on questions of law; Biblical and Rabbinical Code (_Misnheh Torah_ or _Yad Hahazaka_, completed 1180); _Sepher hamitzvoth_, an abbreviated handbook of the preceding; and his great philosophical work _Moreh Nebuhim_ or "the guide of the perplexed" (1190). To these must be added certain portions of the _Mishnah_ commentary, such as the "Eight Chapters," the discussion on reward and punishment and immortality, the Jewish Creed, which have acquired fame as independent works.

The influence of Moses ben Maimon is incalculable. "From Moses unto Moses there arose not one like Moses," is the verdict of posterity. Maimonides was the great exponent of reason in faith and toleration in theology. One of the main services to European thought of the "Guide" was its independent criticism of some of Aristotle's principles. His codification of the Talmud was equally appreciated in the study of the scholar and in practical life. Christian Europe owed much to Maimonides. Not only did his "Guide" influence scholasticism in general, but it was from his Code that the Church derived its medieval knowledge of the Synagogue.

A complete bibliography will be found in _Maimonides_, by David Yellin and Israel Abrahams (London, 1903); the final chapter of that work gives a summary of the influence of Maimonides on Christian philosophers such as Aquinas, and Jewish such as Spinoza. The "Guide" has been translated into English by M. Friedlander (1881-1885; new ed., 1905). See also _Jewish Encyclopedia_, articles _s.v._, and the volumes edited by Guttmann, _Moses ben Maimon_ (Leipzig, 1908, &c.). (H. Le.)

MAIN (Lat. _Moenus_), a river of Germany, and the most important right-bank tributary of the Rhine. It has two sources, the Weisse Main (White Main), which rises in the Fichtelgebirge on the east side of the Ochsenkopf, and the Rote Main (Red Main), which, rising on the eastern slope of the Frankish Jura, flows past Bayreuth. They unite 3 m. below Kulmbach, 920 ft. above the sea. Hence the river, already of considerable size, pursues a north-westerly direction, skirting the spurs of the Frankish Jura in a pleasant valley. At Lichtenfels the river takes a south-westerly course, which it retains until entering the fertile basin of Bamberg. Here it receives from the south-east the waters of its chief tributary, the Regnitz, and enters upon its middle course. Its direction is now again north-west, and meandering through pleasant vales and pastures it passes Hassfurt and reaches Schweinfurt. Its course is now almost due south to Ochsenfurt, when it again proceeds north-west. Continuing in this direction amid vine-clad hills, it washes the walls of the university city of Würzburg, and thence, dividing the forest-clad ranges of the Spessart and the Odenwald, reaches Gemünden. Here it is joined from the right by the Frankish Saale and, turning abruptly south, receives at Wertheim the beautiful Tauber. Feudal castles and medieval towns now crown its banks, notably, Freudenberg and Miltenberg. From the latter it proceeds due north to Aschaffenburg, whence passing Frankfort it pours its yellow waters into the green waters of the Rhine just above Mainz. The Main has a total length of 310 m. and drains a basin of approximately 11,000 sq. m. It is navigable from the confluence of the Regnitz, 240 m. from its mouth, for barges and other small craft, and through the Ludwig Canal is connected with the Danube.

See Ulrici, _Das Maingebiet in seiner natürlichen Beschaffenheit_ (Kassel, 1885); E. Faber, _Zur Hydrographie des Maingebiets_ (Munich, 1895), and Lill, _Mainthal, Main und Mainschiffahrt_ (Berlin, 1904).