Ludovico, a learned Italian, who was born at Lucca, in Tuscany, in 1612. After having finished his juvenile studies, he entered into the Congregation of regular clerks of the Mother of God, and early distinguished himself by his learning and merit. He taught rhetoric for seven years, and passed through several offices of his order. He applied himself principally to the study of languages, and attained, by his own exertions, a knowledge of the Greek, the Hebrew, the Syriac, the Chaldaic, and the Arabic, which last he taught for some time at Rome, by the order of Pope Alexander VII. Pope Innocent XI. chose him as his confessor, placed great confidence in him, and would have advanced him to ecclesiastical dignities if Marracci had not opposed it. Marracci died at Rome in 1700, aged eighty-seven. He was the author of several pieces in Italian; but the great work upon which his reputation chiefly rests, is his edition of the Koran, in the original Arabic, with a Latin version, under the title of Alcorani Textus universus ex correctioribus Arabum exemplariis summa fide atque pulcherrimis characteribus descriptus, Padua, 1698, in two vols. folio; the first of which contains the Prodromus, and the second the Koran, with critical and grammatical notes, which are highly esteemed. This edition is still the best we have of the sacred book of the Moslems. The version of the Koran by Marracci, with notes and observations by himself and others, and a synopsis of the Mahommedan religion, by way of introduction, was published by Heineccius, at Leipzig, 1721, in 8vo. Marracci had also a hand in the Biblia Sacra Arabica sacre Congregationis de Propaganda Fide jussu edita, ad usum Ecclesiarum Orientalium. Rome, 1671, in 3 vols. folio.

MARRIAGE is a contract entered into between two persons of different sexes, with a view to one undivided state or society for life. It has its origin in the constitution, and is nearly coeval with the history, of man; and the first occasion of its occurrence is represented to us in holy writ as having taken place under the immediate direction of the All-wise Creator. It is, therefore, in a peculiar sense, an institution of divine providence; and all the positive laws of man for the regulation of marriage should intend and operate its maintenance and protection.

To constitute a valid marriage with us, it is necessary that the parties should lie under no disability preventing them from entering into the contract; that they should be willing to contract; and that the contract should actually be completed.

Consent is obviously essential to marriage. Those, therefore, who are incapable of consent are of course incapable of marriage; and so idiots are incapable of marriage, and lunatics, except during a lucid interval. With regard to the employment of force to effectuate a union, it is utterly subversive of society, and must be everywhere regarded as a high crime. The language itself bears testimony to the same fact, license and desire being pre-eminently sexual license and sexual desire, as if licentiousness and lust were the parents of all moral and social disorder.

Incapacity to consent may be conceived to include under it another disability, namely, want of age and immaturity of judgment, the usual attendant on early years. But this has another foundation, namely, physical immaturity; and upon these two grounds it has been the policy of most nations to disallow the marriage of infants. Eighteen and twenty were the usual ages of marriage for males with those northern nations amongst whom the Roman laws had not been introduced; but amongst the Lombards the age of marriage was fourteen for males and twelve for females, as in the Roman law; and such is also the law of this country. The framers of the Code Civil, however, justly conceive those ages unsuited to our customs and climate, and accordingly fix the age at eighteen for males and fifteen for females, but with a power in the government to dispense with the age upon cause shown. The canon law, on the other hand, attends only to physical considerations, and allows persons of every age to marry, provided only they are habiles ad matrimoniun. In the Mosaic law there was no restraint on marriage merely in respect of age; but then it is to be remembered here, that amongst the Jews the parental influence and authority were perfectly sufficient to prevent premature marriage; whilst yet, on the other hand, the importance of marriage was, from circumstances peculiar to that people, perfectly sufficient to prevent undue obstruction.

Another disability is a prior marriage subsisting, or the having another husband or wife living at the same time; polygamy, though practised by many nations, both ancient and modern, being expressly condemned by Scripture, and contrary to all sound policy.

A further disability is relationship by birth or by affinity. Amongst the Athenians, no other relationship but that of parent and child formed a bar to marriage, with the exception of brothers and sisters, the intermarriage of whom was forbidden, in order to prevent the union of inheritances. But in this the Athenians were singular; and in the law of Scotland, where the Levitical law of marriage is adopted, the intermarriage of ascendants and descendants is forbidden to the remotest degree, as is likewise that of collaterals or loco parentis, and also of the whole or half blood who are within the second degree, thus allowing cousins-german, and all of more remote degree, to intermarry. In the case of affinity or of relationship by marriage, the husband and wife being in law but one person, the blood relations of either are held as related by affinity in the same degree to the one spouse as by consanguinity to the other. With regard to illegitimate kindred, it is held that the impediments of consanguinity and affinity apply no less to such persons than to those lawfully related; on this principle, that the state and condition of bastardy, or rather the forms of marriage, are but of civil institution only.

There is a still further disability, the disability, before alluded to, namely, physical incapacity; but this is only a ground on which a marriage may be declared void at the instance of either of the parties, and not itself a nullity pleadable by others.

By an act of the parliament of Scotland, 1600, c. 20, it was further declared that all marriages contracted by persons divorced for adultery, with the person with whom they had been judicially found to have committed the crime, should be null and unlawful, and the issue born thereof be incapable to succeed as heirs to their parents. But it does not appear that this statute has ever been acted on by the courts.

The next particular we noticed as requisite to marriage was, that the parties should be willing to contract; on which particular we need not dwell, the will of the parties being clearly from what we have already stated, of the essence of the contract. Indeed we have adopted, from the civil law, the maxim, *Consensus non conubibus facit nuptias*.

The last requisite on this head is, that the parties do actually contract, or that effect be given to their declared intentions.

To give a distinct origin to the important relation of husband and wife, and also solemnity to the engagement, it has been the practice of most countries to enter on marriage with a ceremony in which the ministers of religion have commonly assisted. In Scotland, as early as the middle of the thirteenth century, we find it enacted by one of the canons of a provincial council held at Perth, that no faith should be given to any one regarding a marriage not celebrated before a priest, and three or four witnesses specially called for the occasion. Whether these canons were ever ratified by the civil power is not clear; but a distinction exists, and has long done so, between marriages celebrated in *facie ecclesiae*, and what are called clandestine marriages. Both kinds, however (as came also to be the doctrine of the canon law), are valid; and, moreover, the deliberate consent of parties entering into a present agreement to take each other for husband and wife, or their solemn acknowledgment, written or verbal, of their having done so, constitutes a marriage in law, whether proof of formal celebration be offered or not. By a statute of the Scottish parliament, also, passed upwards of fifty years before the Reformation, 1503, c. 77, it was enacted, that where a marriage has not been disputed in the lifetime of the parties, the widow, being reputed and holden the lawful wife of the deceased in her lifetime, shall have the dower, or *tierce* as it is called, and enjoy the same without hindrance, "aye and quhill it be clearly decreed, and sentence given, that she was not his lawful wife." The law of England is altogether different; the mode of contracting marriage having been regulated there by special statute since the middle of the last century, previous to which time, however, the marriage law of both countries appears to have been, generally speaking, the same. But in Scotland there is this remarkable peculiarity, that, in the absence of a special provision to the contrary, marriage is held incomplete to many purposes, till it has subsisted for a year and day, or living issue be born thereof. This is said by Lord Stair to have been derived from the Roman law; and certainly we find there, that if a woman who had no parent, by the consent of her guardians, after espousal, lived with a man as his wife for one year, without being absent for three nights, she became the lawful wife of such man by what was termed *usurpation*. But this is plainly different from the custom of Scotland, which we rather think had its origin in the practice of *hand-fastening*, once prevalent in that country. (See Lindsay's *Chronicles of Scotland*, p. 66; Martin's *Western Isles*, p. 114; Forsyth's *Scotland*, vol. ii. p. 284.) According to the law as it now stands, if a marriage have not subsisted for year and day, or produced a living child, all rights granted in consideration of the marriage become void, and things return to the same condition in which they stood before the marriage, unless special stipulation be made to the contrary. The husband has no right to courtesy, nor the widow to her dower; the tocher is paid back; and the moveable funds still extant are restored to the party to whom they originally belonged.

Let us now attend to some of the chief consequences resulting from the matrimonial engagement. By marriage, the husband and wife become one person in law; and on this unity depend almost all the rights and disabilities which either of them acquires or incurs by their intermarriage. This unity, however, does not operate in the same way as in the case of the contract of partnership, where every member of the company represents all, and may bind all, but upon the principle of the subjection of the wife to the husband. Whilst, therefore, the moveable property of the parties is *ipso jure* formed into a common fund, the husband is also *ipso jure* the administrator of that fund. He is the head of the family, and the proper curator of his wife, over whom also he is invested with a large marital authority; and her very management as head of the domestic economy of his house is not in virtue of any inherent or independent power of her own, but of delegation from him. She has, however, her own peculiar property of paraphernalia, customary gifts, and exclusive provisions; the law will protect her against the cruelty of her husband; and without his consent she may execute a testament or dispose of her property by a *mortis causa* conveyance. In the case of donations also between husband and wife, either party may recall their gifts, in as far as they are not reasonable, either tacitly or expressly.

We have already alluded to the dissolution of marriage by death. This is its natural termination; and in England it is the only way in which a valid marriage can end, except by the power of an act of parliament. It is otherwise in Scotland; for here a marriage may be dissolved not only by the death of either party, but also by judicial sentence of divorce for adultery or desertion.

*Jactitation of Marriage*, in English law, one of the first and principal matrimonial causes, when one of the parties gives out that he or she is married to the other, whereby a common reputation of their matrimony may ensue. On this ground the party injured may libel the other in the spiritual court; and unless the defendant undertakes and makes out a proof of the actual marriage, he or she is enjoined perpetual silence on that head; which is the only remedy the ecclesiastical courts can give for this injury.

*MARS*, in *Astronomy*, one of the eleven planets, situated without the earth's orbit, and remarkable for the extent of its atmosphere and the redness of its light. See Astronomy.

*MARS*, in the Pagan mythology, was the god of war. According to some, he was the son of Jupiter and Juno; whilst others say that he was the son of Juno alone, who, being displeased at Jupiter's having produced Minerva from his brain, without female aid, conceived without the assistance of the other sex, by touching a flower shown to her by Flora in the plains of Olenus, and became the mother of this formidable deity. The amours of Mars and Venus, and the manner in which Vulcan caught and exposed them to the laughter of the other gods, have been described by several of the ancient poets. He is represented as having several wives and mistresses, and a considerable number of children. He was held in the highest veneration by the Romans, both from his being the supposed father of Romulus their founder, and from their inclination to conquest; and magnificent temples were erected to him at Rome. Mars is usually represented in a chariot drawn by furious horses. He is completely armed, and extends his spear with the one hand, whilst he grasps a sword, imbrued in blood, with the other. He has a fierce and savage aspect. Discord is represented as preceding his car; Clamour, Fear, and Terror, appear in his train. The victims sacrificed to him were the wolf, the horse, the woodpecker, the vulture, and the cock.

*MARS*, amongst the older chemists, denotes iron, that metal being supposed to be under the influence of the planet Mars.

*MARSAC*, a town of France, in the department of the Puy-de-Dome and arrondissement of Ambert. It stands on the left bank of the river Dore, and contains 620 houses, and 3100 inhabitants. There are carried on here manufactures of thread and silk lace, of ribbons and linen.

*MARSAIS*, CESAR CHESNEAU DU, an eminent literary Marsais, character, was born at Marseilles in 1676. He attached himself at an early period of life to the order of the Congregation of the Oratory; but the situation was too confined for his genius, and he soon left it. At Paris he married, became advocate, and entered on this new profession with great approbation and success. Disappointed, however, in his expectations of making a speedy fortune, he abandoned the law; and about this time the peevish humour of his wife occasioned a separation. We next find him as governor to the son of the President de Maisons; and when the premature death of the father deprived him of the fruits of his industry, he engaged with the famous John Law in the same capacity. After the fall of this extraordinary projector, he superintended the education of the Marquis de Beaufremont's children, and reared pupils worthy of his genius and industry. Although he was accused of a tendency to Deism, and there seemed good reason for the accusation, yet he never infused into the minds of his scholars any principle inconsistent with sound morality, or with the Christian religion. When he left M. de Beaufremont's family, he took a boarding house, in which, after a method of his own, he educated a certain number of young men. But unexpected circumstances obliged him to abandon this useful undertaking; and he was even constrained to give some occasional lessons for the bare necessaries of life. Without fortune, without hope, and almost without resource, he was reduced to extreme indigence. In this situation he was found by the authors of the Encyclopédie, and admitted a partner in conducting that great work. Amongst many other excellent pieces of his, may be mentioned the article Grammar, which breathes the spirit of sound philosophy. His principles are clear and solid. He discovers an intimate knowledge of the subject, great accuracy in expressing the rules, and perfect propriety in their application. M. le Comte de Lauraguais was so much affected with the distresses, and so much convinced of the merit, of Dumarsais, that he procured him a pension of 1000 livres. Dumarsais died at Paris on the 11th of June 1756, in his eightieth year, after having received the sacrament. The compliment which he paid to the priest on this occasion has been considered by some as rather equivocal. But there is no necessity to deprive religion of the triumph, or philosophy of the honour, which conviction and penitence must confer on it. "The faith of a great genius," says Bayle, who is entitled to credit on this subject, "is not totally extinguished; it is like a spark under the ashes. Reflection and the prospect of danger call forth its exertions. There are certain situations in which philosophers are as full of anxiety and of remorse as other men." Whatever were the last sentiments of Dumarsais, it cannot be denied that in the vigour of health he furnished several examples of irreligion; and to these have been added many absurd stories. The superiority of Dumarsais's talents consisted in exactness and perspicuity. His ignorance of the world, and of the customs of mankind, together with the greatest latitude in expressing whatever he thought, gave him that frank and unguarded simplicity which is often the chief ingredient of genuine humour. Fontenelle used to say of him, "that he was the most lively simpleton, and as a man of wit the most simple, that he ever knew." He was the Fontaine of philosophers. In consequence of this character, he was a nice judge of what was natural in every production, and a great enemy to all kind of affectation. His principal works are, 1. Exposition de la Doctrine de l'Église Gallicane par rapport aux prétentions de la Cour de Rome, 12mo. This accurate work was begun at the desire of the President de Maisons, and did not appear till after the death of the author. 2. Exposition d'une Méthode raisonnée pour apprendre la Langue Latine, 12mo, 1722, rare. This method appears conformable to the natural development of the powers of the mind, and on that account renders the acquisition of the language less difficult; but, Man to vulgar and unenlightened understandings, it was liable to two great objections, namely, its novelty, and the censure which it conveyed of the method formerly in use. 3. Traité des Tropes, 1730, 8vo, reprinted in 1771, 12mo. This work is intended to explain the different significations of the same word. It is a masterpiece of logical accuracy, perspicuity, and precision. The observations and rules are illustrated by striking examples calculated to show both the use and abuse of rhetorical figures. Yet this excellent book had but very little sale, and is scarcely known. 4. Les Véritables Principes de la Grammaire raisonnée pour apprendre la Langue Latine, 1729, 4to. There was only the preface of this work published, in which he introduced the greater part of his Méthode Raisonnée; 5. Abrégé de la Fable du Père Juvénal, arranged after the manner of the original plan, 1731, 12mo; 6. Une Réponse manuscrite à la Critique de l'Histoire des Oracles, par le Père Baltus. There are only imperfect fragments of these papers to be found. 7. Logique, ou Réflexions sur les Opérations de l'Esprit. This is a short tract, which nevertheless contains everything necessary to be known in the art of reasoning. It was reprinted at Paris in two parts, together with the articles which he had furnished for the Encyclopédie, 1762.