A rising in Paris in 1382, against a tax on the sale of provisions and merchandise. The name is derived from the heavy iron maces with which the majority of the insurgents were armed. Main Plot. _See_ Bye-Plot. Maine Liquor Law. A law passed in the State of Maine, U.S.A., in 1851, prohibiting the trade in intoxicants. It has since been incorporated in the constitution of the State, rendering repeal impossible without previous recourse to a popular vote. Maintainers. Bodies of retainers in the service of the great feudal lords. It was to check the abuses arising from the system of maintenance that the Star Chamber was originally established. Maire du Palais. The prime ministers of the later Merovingian Kings, and the _de facto_ rulers, as these monarchs took no part in the Government. The last Maire du Palais was Charles Martel, the father of Pepin, and founder of the Carlovingian dynasty. Maison du Roi. The military household of Louis XIV of France. It consisted of the Gardes du Corps and the Mousquetaires du Roi, all gentlemen by birth, numbering twelve thousand. Majestäts Brief. An edict issued by the Emperor Rudolph II in 1609 granting to all Bohemians of certain recognized religions freedom of conscience, admission to the University of Prague, and the right to build churches on Crown lands. The edict further declared that any subsequent ordinances issued in contravention of this charter were null and void. Major-Generals, Cromwell’s. Twelve officers, commanding the twelve military districts into which Cromwell divided England in 1655. They were given command of the militia, and their functions were to suppress any Royalist rising, and to supervise the collection of the 10 per cent. tax levied from Royalists. The plan was abandoned in 1651, Parliament refusing to vote the money for the militia. Majuba Hill. The scene of the defeat of General Colley’s force by the Boers on February 27, 1881, which virtually closed the Boer War of that year. The surrender of the British Government to the Boer demands is generally known as the “Majuba Surrender,” and the bitter feeling thereby aroused caused “Remember Majuba” to be a sort of war-cry at the outbreak of the war of 1899-1902. The Paardeberg surrender on the anniversary of Majuba in 1900 was hailed as in some degree wiping out the disgrace attached to the word. Malcontents. In 1578 the Walloon troops of the Netherlands, being irritated by the promulgation of the Religious Peace, and by their pay being in arrear, mutinied under the leadership of the Seigneur de Montigny. Attempts to appease them were fruitless, and eventually, with the support of the nobles of Hainault and Artois, the mutiny ended in the formation of a confederacy of the Walloon provinces, pledged to support the Pacification of Ghent, and owning allegiance to Philip II. Malet’s Plot.