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riah Cox, Esq. Captain of 23d Lancers, to Louisa Frances, youngest daughter of the late Tho. Waleston, Esq. of Walton-hall, co. York.-22. Thomas Stamford Raffles, Esq. of Berner's-street, to Sophia, daughter of James Watson Hull, Esq. late of Great Baddow.-27. George Ulric Barlow, Esq. eldest son of Sir George Barlow, Bart. G.C.B. to Hilare, third daughter of Sir R. Barlow. March 5.-At Albury-vale, Surrey, Jas. Simpson, Esq. advocate, to Eliza, second daughter of the late Jonas Maldin, Esq. of Putney.

DEATHS.

Jan. 1.-At Berlin, the celebrated chemist Klaproth, in the 71st year of his age. -2. At Foveran-house, Andrew Robertson, Esq. of Foveran, aged 86.-In his 66th year, Sir Martin Stapylton, Bart. of Mytonhall, county of York.-4. In the 77th year of his age, Sir Arthur Owen, Bart. He is succeeded in his title by his nephew, William Owen, of the Temple, barrister-at-law. -8. At Hainfield, in Styria, Godfrey Winceslaus, Count of Purgstall, &c. only son of the late Winceslaus, Count of Purgstall, &c. and of Jane Anne, second daughter of the late Hon. George Cranston.-9. At Wells, Tho. Clark, Esq. of Westholme-house. He was descended from a branch of the ancient and well-known family of his name of Pennicuick, near Edinburgh.-10. At West Ham, Essex, George Anderson, Esq. F.L.S. son of the late Dr James Anderson, author of Essays on Agriculture, The Bee, and other works. At St Andrews, Rev. Dr Robertson, professor of oriental languages. -11. At Edinburgh, Mr Moss, long the dramatic favourite of the Edinburgh public, and well known for the excellence with which he pourtrayed Lingo, and many other characters of the same stamp.-14. At Clifton, Lady Miller, widow of the late Sir Thomas Miller of Glenlee, Bart.-15. At Dundee, Charles Craig, weaver, at the advanced age of 108.-20. At Edinburgh, General Drummond of Strathallan.-21. At Johannisberg, aged 76, the Prince Hohenloe-Waldenberg-Bartenstein, Bishop of Breslau.-23. At Turin, the Count de Barruel-Bauvert. He was one of the hostages for Louis XVI.-24. At Warsaw, General Bronickowski, who commanded the Polish legion of the Vistula, in France.-26. In Grosvenor-place, Caroline, Dowager Countess of Buckinghamshire.-28. Lieut.-Col. Norris, of the engineers in the East India Company's service.-Lieut.-Col. Finlayson. -Lately at Aron, Galway, in his 120th year, Mr Dirrane. He retained his faculties to the last, could read without spectacles, and till within the last three or four years, would walk some miles a-day.

Feb. 2.-At Seagrove, near Leith, Dame Jane Hunter Blair, widow of the late Sir James Hunter Blair of Dunskey and Robertland, Bart.-Aged 85, General Carleton,

colonel of the 2d battalion 60th foot, and great uncle to the present Lord Dorchester. -3. Sir Isaac Pennington, Knt. M.D. Regius professor of physic, Cambridge.-4. Mrs Christiana Howell, in her 107th year. She was sister to the late Colonel Monro of the royal marines.-6. The Right Hon. Lady Glenbervie.-7. At the Jews' Hospital, Mile-end, aged 104, Henry Cohen. He was taken ill in the morning, and expired in the evening, retaining his faculties to the last.8. At Pisa, Francis Horner, Esq. M.P. (See our first article.)-In her 89th year, the Dowager Lady Carew.-11. Aged 82, Sir John Palmer, Bart.-14. At Marseilles, Lieut.-Gen. the Hon. Sir John Abercromby, G.C.B. and Member of Parliament for the county of Clackmannan.-At her hotel, in Paris, aged 85, the Countess of Coislin, formerly one of the attendants on the Queen of Louis XV. and grand-aunt of the duchess of Pia of Bavaria.-15. At Edinburgh, Lady Miller, wife of Sir William Miller of Glenlee, Bart.-17. Aged 80, Rear-Admiral Alexander Edgar. He was the last male descendant of the Edgars of Wedderlie, in Berwickshire, one of the oldest families in Scotland, as appears by deeds as far back as 1170.

19. At Edinburgh, the Lady of Sir Alexander Don of Newton-Don, Bart. M.P.21. At Stirling, the Rev. John Russel, one of the ministers of that town, in the 44th year of his ministry.-At Little Dunkeld, Perthshire, aged 102, Mr J. Borrie.-23. The Right Hon. Lady Amelia Leslie, second daughter of the late Earl of Rothes.-24. Lady Henrietta Cecilia Johnstone.-Lately, at Rudding Park, in her 83d year, the Dow ager Countess of Aberdeen.-At Cammaes, in the parish of Llanhadrick, Anglesea, aged 105, Mary Zebulon.-At Trawnstynydd, county of Merioneth, aged 110, Edmund Morgan, being, as it is believed, the oldest inhabitant of Wales. He retained his faculties to the hour of his death.-At Eglinton Castle, aged 74, Eleonora, Countess of Eglinton. The ci-devant Prince Primate of the Rhine, and Grand-duke of Frankfort.

March 2.-At Brighton, in her 74th year, Theodosia, Countess of Clanwilliam. Her ladyship was lineally descended from the illustrious Earl of Clarendon.-3. At Edinburgh, Major-Gen. William Lockhart, late of the 30th regiment.-5. At Gilcomston, Aberdeenshire, aged 101, John MacBain. He was present at the battle of Culloden, and was attached to the corps brought into the field by Lady M'Intosh.-9. In Bolton-row, in her 75th year, Jane, Coun tess of Uxbridge, mother of the present Marquis of Anglesea.-12. In his 84th year, G. P. Towry, Esq. commissioner of the Victualling-office, father of Lady Ellenborough.13. Sir William Innes, Bart. of Balvenie, at the age of about 100 years. The title is now extinct.-15. At the encampment at Honniton, Mrs Boswill, sister to the Queen of the Gypsies. She was interred with great pomp.

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Oliver & Boyd, Printers, Edinburgh.

2

EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.

No II.]

MAY 1817.

[VOL. I.

3

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

ON THE NATURE OF THE OFFICE OF MARESCHAL.

THE learned Selden has traced the etymology of MARSHAL under all its variations of Mariscaldus, Marscaldus, and Marscalcus, from the Teutonic "schalk," a servant, and "maere," a horse, or rather a mare-the mare, it seems, being always the better horse*, and therefore very properly used generically to designate the speciesadding, that the term strictly describes a person who busied himself about horses and the manege.

This popular derivation is, in some degree, countenanced by the epithet having been applied to innkeepers, grooms, farriers, and horse-doctors, as is proved by sundry passages from Becanust, the capitularies of Charlemagne, and other authorities. It is, however, at the same time, evinced to have very early received other significations, having no reference either to the above quadrupeds or to their at

tendants.

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There was also an old English office, of a singular import to modern ears, held heritably by grand sergeantry, and attached to a manor,— callus de meretricibus in hospitio regis.”

mares

An ancient roll of Edward the Third

indicates, that "Johannes de Warblynton, filius et hæres Thomæ de Warblyntone, fecit finem cum rege, &c. quod dictus Thomas tenuit ma

* Quoted by Dr Jamieson under this word. Vid. also Du Cange, voce Marescallus.

+"Rex concessit valetto Galfrido de Mildenhall, marescallo aule regis, unum (17 Ed. II. messuagium-in Bredon." Abbreviat. Rot. Orig. Scaccar.) lus Abbatis," with their explanations. Du "Marescallus Episcopi," "MarescalCange.

S" "Marescallus Banci Regis," in statuto Edwardi III. ar. 5, c. 8. Cui pottissimum incarceratorum incumbebat. Inde " Mareschalcia," dictus ipse carcer Londoniensis. Ib.

"Marescallus Curiæ," in Bulla Aurea Caroli IV. Imper. cap. 27. Ib. Q 3

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Such an establishment was then an ordinary appendage of court etiquette; it was as indispensable as a foreign orchestra, or a regiment of grenadiers, to any German prince and their imitators in our own times.

His most Christian Majesty, however, was not so very Turkish as to permit the superintendence to one of his own sex, as we find from the royal expenditure of his household at the commencement of the sixteenth century.t

"A Olive Sainte, dame des filles de joye suivant la cour du royt, 90 livres par lettres données a Watteville le 12. May 1535, pour lui aider, et auxdites filles a vivre et supporter les depenses qu'il leur convient faire a suivre ordinairement la cour. Alius, an. 1539.A Cecile Viefville, dame des filles de joye suivant la cour, 90 livres, par lettres du 6. Janv. 1538, tant pour elle, que pour les autres femmes, et filles de sa vacation, a departir entr'elles pour leur droit, du 1. jour de May dernier passé, qui etoit dû a cause du bouquet qu'elles presenterent au roy ledit jour, que pour leurs estrains, du 1. Janvier; ainsi qu'il est accoustume de faire de tout temps. Eadem occurrunt annis

1540, 41, 42, 44, 46."

The old adage in papal times, "Judæi vel meretrices," was not always equally vilifying. Carpentier remarks, "Que (sc. meretrices) hic uti infames habentur, de comitatu regio fuerunt, pensionibus etiam donisque dotatæ."§

It is noticed in Borthwick's Remarks on British Antiquities, but more fully in Madoxe's Baronia Anglica, p. 242, note, where the office is proved to have existed as far back as the time of Henry II.

+ Comput. ærarii Reg. ap. Carpentier, voce. Meretricialis, Vestis.

Hence the origin of courtezan, now only used in a restricted and bad sense.

§ Selden, quoth Lord Lyttelton, (Life of Henry II. vol. iv. p. 50), would not have admitted among the grand sergeantries Warblington's office," of the meanest and most dishonourable nature; and he is angry with Madox for having so classed it!This is a good illustration of Chalmer's remark, (Cal. vol. i. 626), that this lord's "notions and language are altogether modern." Independently of other considerations, it may be stated, that Blount, in his Tenures, has quoted an old deed, where it is expressly said to be held by "grand serjeantry."

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The etymology, then, of the excellent Selden would appear not to be altogether conclusive; and Wachtert would seem to be more fortunate, in seducing the term from " mer, mar, major vel princeps, and schalk, as before, a servant, i. e. officer of any kind-thus making it to signify any considerable officer or superintendent, or, according to Jameson (who seems rather to incline to this deduction), upper servant, or steward-not neces sarily of the crown alone; a much more extended signification, and one which accounts for the term having characterised so many various and he terogeneous employments.

I have forgot to allude to the more ordinary sense, indicative of high military command, either as exercised by the marshal of Scotland over the royal guards, previous to the union, or by field marshals, or marshals of armies, personages familiar to all. An office of a similar nature,-to compare small things with great,-would appear formerly to have been common in the Highlands of Scotland, as we learn from the following amusing des cription in an ancient MS. History of the Name of Mackenzie, composed before the year 1667, by John Mackenzie of Applecross, extant in the Advocates' Library.

"Alexander M'Kenzie of Coull was a natural son of Collin, the 12 laird of Kintail, gotten wyt Marie M'Ken

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"Johannes de Warblington, coronator mariscalciæ ac clericus mercati hospitii regis ad placitum.

"Idem tenet in feodo serjantiam essendi marescalli meretricum in hospitio, et dismembrandi malefactores adjudicatos, et mensurandi galones et bussellos." Rot. Pat. 22, Ed. III.

+

+ Wachter, Glossar. voc. Marescallus. "Marescalli-postea dicti, qui exerci tibus, et copiis militaribus præerant." Du Cange.

zie, daughter to Rorie M'Kenzie of Davoch-maluack. His first patrimonie was his sword and bow, quherewith he did such worthie service, that he conqueist first the love of his chieffe and broyer, the lard of Kintail, wyt the love of all his countreymen, so as his broyer made choise of him to be his mareschall of all his armie in all ye wares he had wyt Glengarrie and M'Leod of the Lewis. He commanded sexscore of the prettiest men that ware in his broyer's armie, and especiallie the Clanwurchie were under his command, quho served him as under officers to discharge the dutie of marischall. His dutie wes, that in ye armies marching to ye enemies land, he should still guard the riar; and as the armie rested in ther camp, he still went in expeditiones to bring them hership* and provision, quhilk herschips were distributed as he liked, with the consent of the superior. His own pert of the hership was ilk cow quhose ear wes longer then hir horn, ilk black cow that Tad not a white spott in her bodie, ilk white cow that had not a black spott in her bodie, and ilk horse that wes wyt in three years; and his under officers had all the hedes of all the cowes that were killed in the camp. But sometimes he destributed his part of the herships amongst the best deshervin of the shouldiers, quhilk made the shouldiers so desperat quich were under his command, that they resolved ayer to die or be victorious quhenever they ingadged. He had power to fine all the shouldiers that did not goe right in their cloathes and armes, and wytall to decern all the contravershies; quhilk place he managed so fortunatlie, that he was sent in all expeditiounes, and in everie expeditioune he was victorious. His good service gott him the reall affectioune of his broyer, so that his broyer, in his death-bed, left him his own sword, quhilk was the gretest merit a kinsman could haive, to haive the sword of such a brave conqueror, as a testimonie of faithfull service."

The situation appears to have been lucrative; for he adds, "Ane estate from his broyer he needed not; ffor befor his broyer's death, by his oune prudent managment of ye benefit of

"Herschip, Heirschip, Heiriscip, the act of plundering, devastation.-Booty, prey, &c." Jamieson.

ye impleyment he had, and of quhatever fell to his hand, he conqueist to himself a resonable estate, quhilk he dailie augmented during the rest of his worthie dayes. He married to his first wife Annabel M'Kenzie, daughter to Murdo M'Kenzie of Fairburn, and relich," &c. &c. &c.

The place was not hereditary; at least the historian, himself a male descendant and grandson of the marshal, does not affirm that it was ever again held by any of his kindred.

(To be continued.)

ACCOUNT OF MR RUTHVEN'S IMPROV ED PRINTING PRESS.

As one of the objects of this Magazine is to disseminate useful knowledge, we cannot attain the end in view with better effect than by giving some account of a most important improvement in the mechanical part of printing, by Mr John Ruthven, printer, of this place. This very ingenious mechanician, having diligently studied his profession for upwards of twenty years, observed that there were numerous defects in the construction of the printing presses commonly employed, the principle of which is unaltered from the time of the invention of printing. The excessive and dangerous labour occasioned to the workmen, and the very imperfect adaptation of the press to many purposes, were the most obvious defects; to remedy which, by any improvement of the original machine, Mr Ruthven found, after diligent study, to be quite impracticable;

he therefore resolved on attempting something new; and, after much labour, he has succeeded in producing not only a highly useful press, but in giving a most beautiful application of a combination of levers, for the production of parallel motion, with a degree of power hitherto unequalled.

For the better understanding of the account we propose to give, it will be well to premise a few observations on the printing-press commonly used.

The screw has hitherto been the power employed to produce pressure, while the types were placed on a moveable carriage, which was moved, after the ink had been applied, under the surface for pressing. In consequence of this, the power has always been limited-the radius of the lever which moves the screw being confined. It is also a consequence, that not more

i

than one half of a large sheet could be printed at one descent of the screw. A most serious evil results from this, especially in printing duodecimo, be cause the pressure necessarily is applied twice to the centre pages of each sheet, while it is applied only once to the other pages. To these disadvantages may be added, the difficulty of ascertaining and regulating the degree of pressure; the irregularity of the motion of the lever; the severe labour, and excessive exertion of the work man; the nice accuracy in placing the types under the centre;-there being no difference, in point of trouble and labour, in printing a card and a folio; -and the necessity for placing small work always in the same spot, which necessarily wears out one part sooner than the others. In obviating these defects, Mr Ruthven has completely succeeded;-and after giving some account of the construction of the new printing press, we shall point out the superior excellencies of it as briefly as possible.

The general appearance of the large press is well represented in fig. 1.; of which fig. 2. is a complete section. In this press the types are placed on a stationary coffin or tablet, P; the paper is

put on in the usual manner on the tympan, a,(fig. 1.) and secured by the frisket, b. On turning over the tympans thus arranged, the platen, N (fig. 2.)-supported by the wheels, QQ,-is drawn over the coffin by the handle, U, till the lower parts of the screw bolts, MM, be fully secured in the clutches, LL (fig. 2.); the lever or handle, A, is then turn ed over in the front of the press till stopped, when it will be nearly in a horizontal position. It is then restored to its original situation, the platen pushed back, the tympans raised, and the printing is completed. The mode in which this movement is produced is concealed by the check, R.

The action which takes place in the above-described process will be best understood by a reference to, and examination of, the section, fig. 2. The platen is in this represented in its proper situation over the types. The parts of the external structure have been already sufficiently explained; it only remains to point out those which are exposed in the section. Beneath the tablet, P, and immediately behind the check, R, are the levers, I I, hav ing their fulcra at K K.; to which are attached the clutches, LL, communicating as above mentioned with MM;

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