MAAS.TBICTIT, or MAESTRICRT (called by the Romans Trajectum ad lliosam, to dis tinguish it front Trf4jectum ad Rhenum, now Utrecht), is a very old and important forti fled town, capital of the province of Limburg, kingdom of the Netherlands. Pop. '74, 28,650. 3Iaastricht is on the left bank of the river MUSS, which separates it from the town of Wijk, the connection being maintained by a stone bridge, 500 ft. in length, ariting on nine arches, and defended by small fortified islands. The town was founded in the 5th c., the seat of the bishop being transferred thither after Attila had plundered Tongres, in 451. It is 15 m. it. of Liege, 18 w. of Aix-la-Chapelle (Aken), and pleasantiv situated in a hilly district. The streets are blond, dud the houses regularly and weil built, giving an air of beauty and respectability to the town. There are many paintings and a select public library in the town-house, a large square stone building, ornamented with a tower, and standing on the grea market. Maastricht has one Lutheran, one Dutch Reformed, one French Reformed. and four Roman Catholic churches; also a Jewish synagogue; three hospitals, two orphan-houses, an athenreum, and other public buildings. The plains are shaded with trees and refreshed by fountains. There is rail way communication with all parts of the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and other countries of the continent. Maastricht has a very considerable trade with 1301s-1e-due and other places. Leather, woolen stuffs, stockings, blankets, flannels, starch, madder, pins, etc., are manufactured; soap-boiling, gin-distilling, brewing, sugar-refining, and
iron-founding add to the prosperity of the town.
Maastricht has often felt the scourge of war, and the evils incident to a frontier fortified town. It is surrounded by broad and deep canals, which contribute to its defensive strength. It is commanded by the hill of St. Pierre, formerly called Hannoram, a soft, calcareous mountain, which has been very extensively mined, form ing a cavernous labyrinth of several leagues in length. Among other fossils, have been found in these workings two heads of the gigantic naosasaurus.
MAB, in northern mythology, the queen of tile fairies; though some authorities have it tltat queen, in this use, should be quean, signifying female, as adapted from the Saxon cwe' n. In opposition to this is the Welsh meaning of the word, " a boy," but the fre quent use of it by poets in its significance of fairy-queen has caused it to be popularly accepted in that sense. The speciality of Mab, as attributed in English poetry, is to act as the " fairies' midwife," who delivers the brain of dreams. Thus when Romeo says: " I dreamed a dream to-night," Mereutio replies, " 0 then, I see queen Mab hath been with you." Mab appears in the poems of Ben Jonsou, Herrick, and Drayton: Shake speare's description of her, placed in the mouth of Mercutio, is well known: