Mar´onites (3 syl.), a religious semi-Catholic sect of Syria, constantly at war with their near neighbors, the Druses, a semi-Mohammedan sect. Both are now tributaries of the sultan, but enjoy their own laws. The Maronites number about 400,000, and the Druses about half that number. The Maronites owe their name to J. Maron, their founder; the Druses to Durzi, who led them out of Egypt into Syria. The patriarch of the Maronites resides at Kanobin; the hakem of the Druses at Deir-el-kamar. The Maronites, or “Catholics of Lebanon,” differ from the Roman Catholics in several points, and have a pope or patriarch of their own. In 1860 the Druses made on them a horrible onslaught, which called forth the intervention of Europe.
Marotte (2 syl.), a footman of Gorgibus; a plain bourgeois, who hates affectation. When the fine ladies of the house try to convert him into a fashionable flunky, and teach him a little grandiloquence, he bluntly tells them he does not understand Latin.
Marotte. Voilà un laquais qui demande si vous êtes au logis, et dit que son maître, vous venir voir.
Madelon. Apprenez, sotte, à vous énoncer moins vulgaiment. Dites: Voilà un nécessaire que demande si vous êtes en commodité d’etre visibles.
Marotte. Je n’entends point le Latin.—Molière, Les Précieuses Ridicules, vii. (1659).
Marphi´sa, sister of Roge´ro, and a female knight of amazing prowess. She was brought up by a magician, but being stolen at the age of seven, was sold to the king of Persia. When she was 18, her royal master assailed her honor; but she slew him, and usurped the crown. Marphisa went to Gaul to join the army of Agramant, but subsequently entered the camp of Charlemagne, and was baptized.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Marphu´rius, a doctor of the Pyrrhonian school. Sganarelle consults him about his marriage; but the philosopher replies, “Perhaps; it is possible; it may be so; everything is doubtful;” till at last Sganarelle beats him, and Marphurius says he shall bring an action against him for battery. “Perhaps,” replies Sganarelle; “it is possible; it may be so,” etc., using the very words of the philosopher (sc. ix.).—Molière, Le Mariage Forcé (1664).
Marplot, “the busy body.” A blundering, good-natured, meddlesome young man, very inquisitive, too officious by half, and always bungling whatever he interferes in. Marplot is introduced by Mrs. Centlivre in two comedies, The Busy Body and Marplot in Lisbon.
That unlucky dog Marplot ... is ever doing mischief, and yet (to give him his due) he never designs it. This is some blundering adventure, wherein he thought to show his friendship, as he calls it.—Mrs. Centlivre, The Busy Body, iii. 5 (1709).
*** This was Henry Woodward’s great part (1717-1777). His unappeasable curiosity, his slow comprehension, his annihilation under the sense of his dilemmas, were so diverting, that even Garrick confessed him the decided “Marplot” of the stage.—Boaden, Life of Siddons.