A NEW GENERAL BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY, PROJECTED AND PARTLY ARRANGED BY THE LATE REV. HUGH JAMES ROSE, B.D. PRINCIPAL OF KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON. IN TWELVE VOLUMES. VOL. X. LONDON: T. FELLOWES, LUDGATE STREET; F. & J. RIVINGTON; E HODGSON; RICHARDSON, BROTHERS; J. BAIN; G. GREENLAND; A. GREENLAND H. WASHBOURNE; WILLIS & SOTHERAN; J. DALE; DEIGHTON, BELL & CO. CAMBRIDGE; AND J. H. PARKER, OXFORD. A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. MAR MARTIN, (Thomas,) an English antiquary, was born at Thetford, in Norfolk, in 1697, and became clerk to his brother, an attorney at Thetford. About 1723 he settled at Palgrave, where he died in 1771. By his second wife, Frances, the widow of Peter le Neve, Norroy king at arms, he came into possession of a very valuable collection of English antiquities, pictures, &c. He was familiarly known by the name of "Honest Tom Martin of Palgrave." He was a contributor to Le Neve's Monumenta Anglicana, printed in 1719; and he devoted the latter part of his life to the composition of The History of Thetford, which appeared in 1779, 4to. MARTIN, (Benjamin,) an eminent optician, was born at Worplesdon, in Surrey, in 1704, and began life as a plough-boy at Broad-street, a hamlet belonging to that parish. He contrived to learn reading, writing, and arithmetic, so as to be soon enabled to teach others; and having a strong inclination to the mathematics and philosophical speculations, he entered upon such a course of reading and study as in some measure supplied the want of a learned education. The historian of Surrey says that he first taught reading and writing at Guildford. In 1735 he settled at Chichester, where he taught the mathematics, and delivered a course of lectures on experimental philosophy. At this time he published his first work, The Philosophical Grammar; being a View of the present State of Experimental Physiology, or Natural Philosophy, &c. London, 8vo. He then repaired to London, where he read lectures on experimental philosophy for many years, and carried on a very extensive trade as an optician and globe-maker in Fleet-street. At last, owing to the misconduct of his son, he became involved in pecuniary difficulties, and was made a bankrupt, which had such an effect upon VOL. X. 1 MAR his spirits that he attempted to destroy himself; and though the wound did not prove immediately mortal, it hastened his death, which took place on the 9th of February, 1782. His principal publications were, A new, complete, and universal System or Body of Decimal Arithmetic; Description and Use of both the Globes, the Armillary Sphere and Orrery; Elements of Geometry; Memoirs of the Academy of Paris; Panegyric of the Newtonian Philosophy; New Elements of Optics; Mathematical Institutions, viz. Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, and Fluxions; Natural History of England, with a map of each county; Philosophy and Philosophical Geography; Biographia Philosophica, or Lives of Philosophers; Philosophia Britannica; and, The Philosophical Magazine; this was carried on to the 14th volume, when it was discontinued for want of encourage ment. He was MARTIN, (Claude,) a native of Lyons, of mean parentage. He had happily the advantage of a good mathematical education, and at the age of twenty he embraced the profession of arms, and embarked for India, with his brother, under general Lally. In the war of 1756 he conducted himself with great valour; but ill treatment disgusted him with the service, and at the siege of Pondicherry he deserted to the English, in whose forces he obtained the rank of colonel. employed to make a map of the territories of the Nabob of Oude, under whose patronage he introduced the arts and commercial institutions of Europe, and opened a bank, which proved highly productive. He afterwards settled at Lucknow, where he built a magnificent edifice for his residence: he built another on the banks of the Ganges; and then, devoting his time to the natural productions of the country, he formed in his museum a very curious and valuable collection. His B garden was also enriched with all the beautiful productions and varieties of the climate; his observatory was provided with the best and most useful instruments for making astronomical observations; and he exhibited the first balloon that ever floated in the atmosphere of Asia. He died in 1799, having bequeathed his immense property to his children, and to charitable purposes in the towns of Lyons, Calcutta, and Lucknow. MARTIN, (William,) a naturalist, born in 1767 at Marsfield, in Nottinghamshire. In 1793 he published the first number of Figures and Descriptions of Petrifactions in Derbyshire, the figures of which were all drawn, etched, and coloured by himself; but the work was never completed. In 1796 he sent to the Linnæan Society, An Account of some Species of Fossil Anomaliæ found in Derbyshire, which paper led to his being elected a member of that society. In 1809 he published, Outlines of an Attempt to establish a Knowledge of Extraneous Fossils on Scientific Principles. He was subsequently chosen a member of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester, and of the Geological Society of London. He soon after published, Petrificata Derbiensia; or, Figures and Descriptions of Petrifactions collected in Derbyshire. His last production was a paper entitled, Cursory Remarks on the Mineral Substance, called in Derbyshire Rotten Stone; this paper was printed in the Manchester Transactions after his death, which took place in 1810. His father, who deserted his family, acquired a fortune by his invention of polygraphic painting, and of a new mode of manufacturing cloth. MARTIN, (David,) an artist, was born in Scotland, and studied under Allan Ramsay, with whom he went to Italy. On his return he attended the Drawing Academy in St. Martin's-lane, in London. He afterwards practised both as a painter and engraver in mezzotinto. In the latter department he executed a portrait of Roubilliac; a whole length of lord Bath; and another of lord Mansfield. He died at Edinburgh in 1797. His best picture was a half-length of Dr. Franklin. MARTINE, (George,) a physician, was born in Scotland in 1702, and entered upon the study of medicine at Edinburgh in 1720, whence he went to Leyden; and, after prosecuting the same study there for some time, was admitted to his degree of M.D. in 1725. He then returned to Scotland, and practised at St. Andrew's. In 1740 he accompanied lord Cathcart as physician to the forces under his command on the American expedition. Soon after the death of that nobleman he was seized with a bilious fever, which proved fatal in 1743. He wrote, Tractatus de Similibus Animalibus, et Animalium Calore ; Essays Medical and Philosophical; papers in the Edinburgh Medical Essays, and in the Philosophical Transactions. His able Commentaries on Eustachius's Tables were published after his death by Dr. Munro, of Edinburgh, under the title of Georgii Martinii, M.D. in Bartholomæi Eustachii Tabulas anatomicas Commentaria, Svo, 1755. MARTINI, (Martin,) a Jesuit, was born at Trent in 1614, and resided for many years as a missionary in China, where he compiled several curious works on the history and geography of that country. He returned to Europe in 1651, and published a description of China, with an exact map of that empire, and fifteen separate maps of the fifteen provinces; to which he added two others, of Corea and Japan. It is said that he returned to China, and died at Hangchew in 1661. He wrote, Sinicæ Historiæ Decas prima, a Gentis Origine ad Christum natum, 4to and 8vo; this has been translated into French by Le Pelletier, 1692, in 2 vols, 12mo; China Illustrata, Amsterdam, 1649, fol.—this was the best account of China before that of Du Halde; De Bello inter Tartaros et Sinenses; and, An Account of the Number and Quality of the Christians in China. MARTINI, (Giuseppe San,) a native of Milan, was a performer on the hautboy, an instrument invented by the French, and of small account till Martini, by his exquisite performance, and a tone which he had the art of giving it, brought it into reputation. He arrived in England in the year 1723, and was favoured by Buononcini, Greene, and others of that party, as also by Frederic prince of Wales, who was his patron. He was an admirable composer, and, for instrumental music, may be classed with Corelli and Geminiani. His first compositions were sonatas for two flutes, and others for German flutes: these are scarcely known; but the greatness of his talents is manifested in six concertos, and twelve sonatas, published by himself. The first of these works was published in 1738. He died in 1750. |