of
spirit, resolves everything within the sphere of being into matter, or
into the operation and the effect of the operation of forces latent in
it, or into the negative and positive interaction of mere material
forces, to the exclusion of intelligent purpose and design.

MATHER, COTTON, an American divine, born in Boston; notorious for
his belief in witchcraft, and for the persecution he provoked against
those charged with it by his zeal in spreading the delusion (1663-1728).

MATHEW, THEOBALD, or FATHER MATHEW, apostle of temperance, born
in Tipperary; studied for the Catholic priesthood, but joined the
Capuchin Minorites; was in 1814 ordained a priest, and located in Cork,
where at sight of the cruel effects of drunkenness on the mass of the
people his heart was moved, and he resolved on a crusade against it to
stamp it out; he started on this enterprise in 1827, but it took a year
and a half before his mission bore any fruit, and then it was accompanied
with marvellous success wherever he went, even as far as the New World
itself (1790-1856).

MATHEWS, CHARLES, comedian, born in London; abandoned his father's
trade of bookseller for the stage in 1794; appeared in Dublin and York,
and from 1803 till 1818 played in Drury Lane, Covent Garden, and the
Lyceum; the rest of his life he spent as a single-handed entertainer,
charming countless audiences in Britain and America with his good singing
and incomparable mimicry; he died at Plymouth (1776-1835).

MATHEWS, CHARLES JAMES, light comedian, son of the preceding;
married Madame Vestris; was a charming actor, acted with a great grace
and delicacy of feeling (1803-1878).

MATLOCK, a watering-place in Derbyshire, on a slope overlooking the
Derwent, 15 m. NW. of Derby.

MATILDA, the "Great Countess" of Tuscany, celebrated for her zeal on
behalf of the Popes against the Emperor Henry IV., and for the donation
of her possessions to the Church, which gave rise to a contest after her
death (1046-1115).

MATILDA or MAUD, daughter of Henry I. of England and wife of
the Emperor Henry V., on whose decease she was married to Geoffrey
Plantagenet of Anjou and became mother of Henry II.; on the death of her
father succeeded to the English throne, but was supplanted by Stephen,
whom she defeated and who finally defeated her (1103-1167).

MATADORE, the athlete who kills the bull in a bull-fight.

MATSYS, QUENTIN, a Flemish painter, originally a blacksmith, di