of account, and in some other countries for a coin. The English mark is two thirds of a pound sterling, or thirteen shillings and four-pence, and the Scotch mark is of equal value in Scotch money of account. The mark-lubs, or Lubeck-mark, used at Hamburgh, is also a money of account, equal to one-third of the rix-dollar, or to the French livre: each mark is divided into sixteen sols-lubs. Mark-lubs is also a Danish coin equal to sixteen sols-lubs. Mark is also a copper and silver coin in Sweden.

MARKET, the establishment of public marts or places of buying and selling, with the tolls belonging to it, is enumerated as one of the King's prerogatives, and markets can only be set up by virtue of the King's grant, or by immemorial usage.

All sales and contracts, of any thing saleable in markets overt, will not only be good as between the parties, but binding also upon all persons having any property therein.

in London, every shop in which goods are exposed publicly to sale, is market overt for such things only as the owner professes to trade in; though if the sale be in a warehouse, and not publicly in the shop, the property is not altered; but if goods are stolen from one, and sold out of the market overt, the property is not altered, and the owner may take them wherever he finds them. If a man buy his own goods in a market, the contract shall not bind him, unless the property had been previously altered by a former sale.

MARLE, in mineralogy, is divided into two sub-species, viz. the earthy marle, and the indurated marle: the former is of a yellowish grey colonr, principally employed for improving bad land. It is found in Thuringia. The latter is grey; it occurs massive, the lustre is dull; it is opaque, soft so as to yield to the nail, easily frangi ble, and not very heavy; it melts before the blow-pipe into a blackish kind of glass; it effervesces with acids; it occurs in beds in the floetz lime-stone, and independent coal formations; in the first it alternates with beds of lime-stone, and sometimes occurs in nests of it. It is found in the coal works near Dresden, and is employed in improving bad land; as also mortar, and where lime-stone is not easily had, in the smelting of ores of iron. In the business of agriculture, marle is distinguished into the common, which includes the earthy marle, and some varieties of potters' clay; stone

marle, which is the earthy indurated; slate marle, which is the slaty indurated; shellmarle, which is either the earthy or indurated, abounding with shells. Mr. Jame son says, it passes into lime-stone and indurated clay, and according as alumina or silica preponderates, it receives the name of clay or lime marle.

MARQUE, or Letters of Marque, in military affairs, are letters of reprisal, granting the subjects of one prince or state liberty to make reprisals on those of another. Letters of marque among us, are extraordinary commissions granted by authority, for reparation to merchants, taken and despoiled by strangers at sea; and reprisals is only the retaking, or taking of one thing for another. In the prosecution of these letters there must be, 1. The oath of the person injured, or other sufficient proof, touching the injury sustained. 2. A proof of due prosecution for satisfaction in a legal way. 3. The deferring or denial of justice. 4. A complaint to his own prince or state. 5. A requisition of justice made to the supreme head of the state. After all which, letters of reprisal, under certain restrictions, are issued; but if the supreme power think these letters of reprisal may affect the peace of the state, they are put off till a more convenient time.

MARQUETRY, or INLAID work, is a curious work composed of several fine hard pieces of wood, of various colours, fastened in thin slices on a ground, and sometimes enriched with other matters, as silver, brass, tortoise-shell, and ivory; with these assistances the art is now capable of imitating any thing; whence it is by some called the art of painting in wood.

The ground on which the pieces are to be arranged and glued, is usually of well dried oak or deal, and is composed of seve ral pieces glued together, to prevent its warping. The wood to be used in marquetry is reduced into leaves, of the thickness of a line, or the twelfth part of an inch, and is either of its natural colour, or stained, or made black to form the shades by other methods: this some perform by putting it in sand heated very hot over the fire: others by steeping it in lime water and sublimate; and others in oil of sulphur. The wood being of the proper colours, the contours of the pieces are formed according to the parts of the design they are to represent: this is the most difficult part of marquetry, and that which requires the most patience and attention.

The leaves to be formed, of which there are frequently three, four, or more joined together, are, after they have been glued on the outermost part of the design, whose profile they are to follow, put within the chaps of the vice; then the workman pressing the treddle, and thus holding fast the piece, with his saw runs over all the ontlines of his design. By thus joining or forming three or four pieces together, not only time is saved, but also the matter is the better enabled to sustain the effort of the saw, which, how fine soever it may be, and how slightly soever it may be conducted by the workman, except this precaution were taken, would be apt to raise splinters, and ruin the beauty of the work. All the pieces having been thus formed by the saw, and marked, in order to their being known again, each is veneered, or fastened in its place, on the common ground, with the best English glue; and this being done, the whole is set in a press to dry, planed over, and polished with the skin of the sea-dog, wax, and shave-grass, as in simple veneering, and the fine branches and more delicate parts of the figures are touched up and finished with a graver.

MARQUIS, a title of honour, next in dignity to that of duke, first given to those who commanded the marches, that is, the borders and frontiers of countries. Marquisses were not known in England till King Richard II. in the year 1357, created his great favourite, Robert Vere, the Earl of Oxford, Marquis of Dublin; since which time there have been many creations of this sort, though at present there are twelve English, two Scotch, and nine Irish marquisses. The manner of creating a marquis differs in nothing from that of a duke, except the difference of the titles, and the marquis's being conducted by a marquis and an earl, while a duke is led by a duke and a marquis: he is also girt with a sword, has a gold verge put into his hand, and his robe or mantle is the same as those of a duke, with only this difference, that a duke's mantle has four guards of ermine, and a marquis's only three and a half. The title given him, in the style of the heralds, is most noble and potent prince. His cap is the same as a duke's, and the difference between their coronets consists in the duke's being adorned with only flowers or leaves, while the marquis's has flowers and pyramids with pearls on them intermixed, to show that he is a degree between a duke

and an earl.

MARRIAGE is the lawful conjunction of man and wife; it was also anciently used to denote the interest of bestowing a ward or a widow in marriage.

Taking marriage in the light of a civil contract, the law treats it as it does all other contracts: allowing it to be good and valid in all cases where the parties, at the time of making it, were in the first place willing to contract; secondly, able to contract; and lastly, actually did contract, in the proper forms and solemnities required by law.

By several statutes, a penalty of 100l. is inflicted for marrying any persons without banns or licence; but by 26 George II. c. 33, if any person shall solemnize matri. mony without banns or licence, obtained from some persons having authority to grant the same, or in any other place than a church or chapel where banns have been usually published, unless by special licence from the Archbishop of Canterbury, he shall be guilty of felony, and transported for fourteen years, and the marriage shall be void. Marriages according to the laws of any other country are valid in England, if duly solemnized in another country, as marriages in Scotland are; but by 26 George II. c. 33, s. 11, marriages by licence, where the parties are not twenty-one, must not be without consent of the father or guardian of the party. If the guardian or mother is beyond sea, or insane, the Chancellor will proceed upon relation in their stead. Questions have lately arisen, whether this act applies to illegitimate children, and the civilians have held that it does. Marriages` cannot be solemnized between persons within the Levitical degrees, but if solemnized, they are not void till after sentence of the proper court. Promises of marriage, and pre-contracts, do not prevent the parties from lawfully marrying other persons; but an action lies for a breach of the contract. Marriage brokage bonds are void in equity, and all contracts in restraint of marriage generally are void; but contracts and legacies, upon condition not to marry any particular person, or without proper consent, are allowed, though if there is not a devise over the legacy is vested ne. vertheless. To marry a woman an heiress forcibly, is a capital felony by 3 Henry VII. c. 2, and 39 Elizabeth, c. 9.

A wife cannot leave her husband. If she elope from him, she loses her dower, unless she returns and is reconciled. An action of trespass lies for taking away wife, with the goods of her husband, and

also for criminal conversation with the wife of any one.

If a man ill-use and turn his wife away, she has credit for necessaries wherever she goes, and he is obliged to pay her debts; but it is otherwise if she elopes or commits adultery. A married woman cannot be sued for her own debts, although she has a separate maintenance.

Divorces are of two kinds, absolute, and from bed and board. The former can only be by act of Parliament, unless it is for some original defect in the marriage; the latter is allowed on account of ill-treatment, &c., and then the wife has alimony or maintenance allowed her.

MARRIAGE, in political economy. The reader may find many curious calculations and remarks relating to this subject in Dr. Price's "Observations on Reversionary Payments." From a variety of facts it appears, that marriages, one with another, do each produce about four births, both in England and other parts of Europe. Dr. Price observes, that the births at Paris are above four times the weddings; and therefore it may seem, that in the most healthy country situations, every wedding produces above four children; and though this be the case in Paris, for reasons which he has given, he has observed nothing like it in any other great town. He adds, that from comparing the births and weddings in countries and towns where registers of them have been kept, it appears, that in the former, marriages one with another seldom produce less than four children each; generally between four and five, and sometimes above five; but in towns seldom above four, generally between three and four, and sometimes under three. It is necessary to be observed here, that though the proportion of annual births to weddings has been considered as giving the true number of children derived from each marriage, taking all marriages one with another: yet this is only true, when, for many years, the births and burials have kept nearly equal. Where there is an excess of the births, occasioning an increase, the proportion of annual births to weddings must be less than the proportion of children derived from each mar

riage; and the contrary must take place where there is a decrease: and by Mr. King's computation, about one in a hundred and four persons marry; the number of people in England being estimated at five millions and a half, whereof about fortyone thousand aunually marry. In the dis

trict of Vand in Switzerland, the married are very nearly a third part of the inhabitants. Major Graunt and Mr. King disagree in the proportions between males and females, the latter making ten males to thirteen females in London; in other cities and towns, and in the villages and hamlets, one hundred males to ninety-nine females; but Major Graunt, both from the London and country bills, computes that there are in England fourteen males to thirteen females; whence he justly infers, that the Christian religion, prohibiting polygamy, is more agreeable to the law of nature than Mahometanism, and others that allow it. This proportion of males to females Mr. Derham thinks pretty just, being agreeable to what he had observed himself. In the hundred years, for instance, of his own parish register of Upminster, though the burials of males and females were nearly equal, being 633 males, and 623 females in all that time; yet there were baptized 709 males, and but 675 females, which is 13 females to 13.7 males. From a register kept at Northampton for 28 years, from 1741 to 1770, it appears that the proportion of males to females, that were born in that period, is 2,361 to 2,288, or nearly 13.4

to 13.

However, though more males are born than females, Dr. Price has sufficiently shown, that there is a considerable difference between the probabilities of life among males and females in favour of the latter; so that males are more short-lived than females; and as the greater mortality of males takes place among children, as well as among males at all ages, the fact cannot be accounted for merely by their being more subject to untimely deaths by various accidents, and by their being addicted to the excesses and irregularities which shorten life. M. Kerseboom informs us, that during the course of 125 years in Holland, females have in all accidents of age, lived about three or four years longer than the same number of males. In several towns of Germany, &c. it appears, that of 7,270 married persons who had died, the proportion of married men who died, to the married women, was three to two; and in Breslaw for eight years, as five to three. In all Pomerania, during nine years, from 1748 to 1756, this proportion was nearly 15 to 11. Among the ministers and professors in Scotland, 20 married men die to 12 married women, at a medium of 27 years, or in the proportion

of five to three; so that there is the chance of three to two, and in some circumstances even a greater chance, that the woman shall be the survivor of a marriage, and not the man; and this difference cannot be accounted for merely by the difference of age between husbands and their wives, without admitting the greater mortality of males. In the district of Vaud in Switzerland, it appears, that half the females do not die till the age of 46 and upwards, though balf the males die under 36. It is likewise an indisputable fact, that in the beginning of life, the rate of mortality among males is much greater than among females. From a table formed by Dr. Price, from a register kept for 20 years at Gainsborough, it appears, that of those who lived to 80, the major part, in the proportion of 49 to 32, are females. M. Deparcieux at Paris, and M. Wargentin in Sweden, have further observed, that not only women live longer than men, but that married women live longer than single women. From some registers examined by M. Muret in Switzerland, it appears, that of equal numbers of single and married women, between 15 and 25, more of the former died than of the latter, in the proportion of two With respect to the difference between the mortality of males and females, it is found to be much less in country parishes and villages than in towns; and hence it is inferred, that human life in males is more brittle than in females, only in consequence of adventitious causes, or of some particular debility that takes place in polished and luxurious societies, and especially in great towns. From the inequality above-stated, between the males and females that are born, it is reasonable to infer, that one man ought to have but one wife; and yet that every woman, without polygamy, may have a husband: this surplus of males above females being spent in the supplies of war, the seas, &c. from which the women are exempt. Perhaps, says Dr. Price, it might have been observed with more reason, that this provision had in view that particular weakness or delicacy in the constitution of males, which makes them more subject to mortality; and which consequently renders it necessary that more of them should be produced, in order to preserve in the world a due pro portion between the two sexes. That this is a work of Providence, is well made out by the very laws of chance, by Dr. Arbuthnot, who supposes Thomas to lay against

to one.

John, that for 82 years running more males shall be born than females; and giving all allowances in the computation to Thomas's side, he makes the odds against Thomas, that it does not so happen, to be near five millions of millions of millions of millions to one; but for ages of ages, according to the world's age, to be near an infinite number to one. According to M. Kerseboom's observations, there are about 325 children born from 100 marriages. M. Kerseboom, from his observations, estimates the duration of marriages, one with another, as in the following table. Those whose ages, taken together, make

40, live together between 24 and 25 years. 50....... 22......23

"Phil. Trans." No. 468.

Dr. Price has shown, that on De Moivre's hypothesis, or that the probabilities of life decrease uniformly, the duration of survivorship is equal to the duration of marriage, when the ages are equal; or, in other words, that the expectation of two joint lives, the ages being equal, is the same with the expectation of survivorship; and, consequently, the number of survivors, or (which is the same, supposing no second marriages) of widows and widowers, alive together, which will arise from any given set of such marriages constantly kept up, will be equal to the whole number of marriages, or half of them (the number of wi dows in particular) equal to half the number of marriages. Thus, the expectation of two joint lives, both 40, is the third of 46 years, or their complement, i. e. 15 years and four months; and this is also the expectation of the survivor. That is, supposing a set of marriages between persons all 40, they will, one with another, last just this time, and the survivors will last the same time. In adding together the years which any great number of such marriages, and their survivorships, have lasted, the sums would be found to be equal. It is observed further, that if the number expressing the expectation of single or joint lives, multiplied by the number of single or joint lives whose expectation it is, be added an. nually to a society or town, the sum gives the whole number living together, to which such an annual addition would in time