Major, in Law, a person who is of an age to manage his own affairs. By the civil law a man is not a major till the age of twenty-five years; but in England he is a major at twenty-one.

Major, in Logic, is understood of the first proposition. Major of a regular syllogism. It is called major because it has a more extensive sense than the minor proposition, as containing the principal term. See Logic.

Major and Minor, in Music, are applied to concords which differ from each other by a semi-tone. See Music.

Major tone is the difference between the fifth and fourth, and major semi-tone is the difference between the major fourth and the third. The major tone surpasses the minor by a comma.

Major-Domo, an Italian term frequently used to signify a steward or master of the household. The title of major-domo was formerly given in the courts of princes to three different kinds of officers; first, to him who took care of what related to the prince's table; secondly, to the steward of the household; and, thirdly, to the chief minister, or person to whom the prince deputed the administration of his affairs, foreign and domestic.

Major or Math, John, a scholastic divine and historian, was born at Haddington, in the province of East Lothian, in Scotland. It appears, from some passages in his writings, that he resided both at Oxford and Cambridge. He went to Paris in 1493, and studied in the college of St Barbe under the celebrated Boulae, after which he removed to that of Montacute, where he began to study divinity under Standouk. In the year 1498, he was entered of the college of Navarre. In 1505, he was created doctor in divinity; in 1519, he returned to Scotland, and taught theology during several years in the university of St Andrews. But, becoming disgusted with the quarrels of his countrymen, he went back to Paris, and resumed his lectures in the college of Montacute, where he had several pupils who afterwards became men of great eminence. About the year 1530, he once more returned to Scotland, and was chosen professor of theology at St Andrews, of which he afterwards became provost, and died there in 1547, aged seventy-eight. His logical treatises form one immense folio, and his commentaries on Aristotle's physics another; whilst his theological works amount to several volumes of the same size. These masses of crude and useless disquisition were the admiration of his contemporaries. A work, less prized in his own age, namely, his book De Gestis Scotorum, first published at Paris by Badius Ascensius, in the year 1521, has alone made him known to posterity. He rejects in it some of the fictions of former historians, and his merit would have been greater if he had rejected more of them. He intermingles the history of England with that of Scotland, and has incurred the censure of some partial writers, for giving an authority to the authors of the former nation, which he refuses to those of his own. Bede, Caxton, and Froissart, were exceedingly useful to him. The style in which he wrote does not deserve commendation. Bishop Spottiswood calls it "Sorbonnic" and "barbarous."

Majorca, or, as called by the Spaniards, Mallorca, an island in the Mediterranean Sea, of the group anciently distinguished by the name of the Baleares, on account of the great reputation of the inhabitants as slingers. According to D'Anville, these islands were first settled by a colony of Phoenicians, who transferred them to the Carthaginians, and, after that republic had been conquered, they were subdued by the Romans, under whose dominion they continued till the dissolution of that empire. When the Moors overran Spain, the island came into the possession of that race under one of their chiefs, who assumed the title of king; but afterwards, upon the conquest of Granada by Ferdinand, it formed a province of the kingdom of Spain.

Majorca, the largest island of the group, is situated in north latitude between 39° 15' and 39° 57', and in east longitude between 2° 9' and 3° 20'. It is about 100 miles from the nearest coast of Spain, and 130 from Algiers on the African shore. Its figure is an irregular rhomboid, and its area, according to Toffino, is 1360 square miles. The island is Majorca, in general lofty, with high ranges of mountains covering the whole from the middle to the northern coast, and so closely connected as to leave only a number of deep valleys and gullies between them, bordered by precipices. Of these mountains the most westerly and most remarkable is a high peak, called by the natives Puig de Galatzo, 2000 feet above the level of the sea, which stands in latitude 39° 36'. The highest mountains, however, are those on the northern side, called the Silla de Torrellas, and the Puig Major, or Great Peak. There are several others, but they are less elevated.

From the middle of the island to the south coast, the surface is much lower than on the north; but it presents several hills and agreeable prospects. The land is finely variegated by corn fields, vineyards, olive woods, orchards, and meadows. The soil on the hills and mountains is rich and fertile, in the valleys moist and even marshy, and on the shore are tracts of sand and of morasses. There are no very extensive woods, but sufficient, consisting chiefly of dwarf trees, to supply fuel. There are no considerable rivers, but many small brooks, and a great abundance of springs; so that there is no scarcity of good water. A large lake, or rather a marsh, is formed by two small rivers, called Albufera, on the north coast, near the Bay of Alcudia. It is separated from the sea by a narrow tongue of land; but in summer the heat nearly exhales the water, when the environs are thereby rendered very unhealthy. The climate is mild, agreeable, and healthy in general. The heat of summer is rarely excessive, being cooled by the sea breezes. The winter is temperate, and not excessive in its variations. The thermometer of Reaumur usually stands from 10° to 14°. Snow and ice are almost unknown.

The island has no other division than into communes or parishes; but it contains one city, thirty-four towns, and twenty-six villages, besides many hamlets. The inhabitants are 164,500, all rigidly adhering to the Roman Catholic church, under a bishop, with a cathedral or palma, and eighty churches in various parts of the island, and many monasteries and nunneries. By the accounts of 1797, it appears there were no less than 1326 regular clergy, 1002 members of monastic orders, and 529 females in nunneries; but they are said to have diminished since that period.

The inhabitants resemble the Spaniards of Catalonia, both in their complexion and features. In the towns the Castilian language is generally spoken; but the common people use a tongue which is a medley compounded of Limosin, Greek, Latin, Spanish, and Arabic.

The chief, indeed almost the exclusive occupation, of the inhabitants is agriculture. According to the statistics of Argüelles, the condition of the population is given, viz. 513 nobles, 3826 labouring proprietors, 2283 tenants cultivators, 14,738 agricultural labourers, 3175 artisans and poor labourers, 155 merchants and traders, 413 officers of government, and 2270 domestic and other servants. The value of the whole wealth of the island, by the same minister, is stated to be L.1,664,636, distributed thus: Value of the land and crops, L.1,375,600; of the animals, L.180,844; of the product of those manufactures made of vegetable substances, L.53,884; of those made of animal substances, L.20,965; of those made of mineral substances, L.28,340; and of the products of the arts and of commerce, L.5000.

The produce of corn is barely sufficient for the food of the inhabitants. The average growth of wheat is about 100,000 quarters, of barley 356,000, of oats 25,000, and of pulse 21,000; but neither rye nor maize is cultivated. In wet seasons, the corn harvest sometimes nearly fails, when the scarcity of grain is severely felt. The produce of culinary vegetables is most abundant, consisting of beans, peas, melons, pumpkins, onions, garlic, and the va- MAKARIEV, a circle of the Russian province of Nishegorod, extending from 44. 43. to 45. 40. east longitude, and from 55. 30. to 56. 49. north latitude. It is a woody district, but produces some good flax. The inhabitants amount to 82,500, of whom 25,000 are slaves. The capital, a city of the same name, stands on the river Wolga, 840 miles from St Petersburg. It was once a place of more importance than at present, having declined, from losing a great fair held at