The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 310

MICHAEL ANGELO BUONAROTTI, painter, sculptor, architect, and poet, born at Caprese, in Tuscany, one of the greatest artists that ever lived; studied art as apprentice for three years under Domenico Ghirlandajo, and at seventeen his talents attracted the notice of Lorenzo de' Medici, who received him into his palace at Florence, and employed as well as encouraged him; on the death of his patron he left for Bologna, and afterwards, in 1496, went to Rome, whither his renown as a sculptor had gone before him, and there he executed his antiques "Bacchus" and "Cupid," followed by his "Pieta," or Virgin weeping over the dead Christ; from 1503 to 1513 he was engaged on the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel; in 1530 we find him at Florence dividing his time between work as an engineer in the defence of the city and his art as a sculptor; three years after this he was back in Rome, and by-and-by _busy painting_ his great fresco in the Sistine Chapel, the "Last Judgment," which occupied him eight years; in 1542 he was appointed architect of St. Peter's, and he planned and built the dome; sculpture was his great forte, but his genius was equal to any task imposed on him, and he has left poems to show what he might have done in the domain of letters as he has done in those of arts, with which his fame is more intimately a.s.sociated (1474-1564).

MICHAELIS, JOHANN DAVID, an Orientalist and Biblical scholar, born at Halle; was a man of vast learning; professor of Philosophy as well as of Oriental Languages at Gottingen; wrote an "Introduction to the New Testament," and "Commentaries on the Legislation of Moses"; was one of the first to correlate the history of the Jews with that of the other Oriental nations of antiquity (1717-1791).

MICHAELMAS is the festival in honour of St. Michael and the angels, held on the 20th September, the day being one of the quarter days on which rents are levied.

MICHEL, FRANCESQUE, French antiquary, born at Lyons; was commissioned by the French Government in 1835 to visit the libraries of England in the interest of the history and literature of France; was a most erudite man, and edited a great many works belonging to the Middle Ages; wrote even on the Scottish language and Scottish civilisation (1809-1887).

MICHELET, JULES, French historian, born in Paris; was the author among other works of a "History of France" in 18 vols., and a "History of the Revolution" in 7 vols.; he cherished a great animosity against the priests, and especially the Jesuits, whom he a.s.sailed with remorseless invective; he was from 1838, for 13 years, professor of History in the College of France, but he lost the appointment because he refused to take the oath of allegiance to Louis Napoleon; from this date he abandoned all interest in public affairs, and gave himself to the quiet study of nature and animal life; wrote on birds and insects, on the sea, on women, on love, on witchcraft, and the Bible and humanity; as a writer of history he gave his imagination free scope, and he painted it less as it was than as he regarded it from his own personal likes and dislikes (1798-1874).

MICHIGAN (2,094), a State of the American Union, larger than England and Wales, is broken in two by Lake Michigan; the western portion has Wisconsin on its S. border, the eastern portion has Indiana and Ohio on the S.; the rest of the State is surrounded by Lakes Superior, Huron, and Erie. The western section is mountainous, with great forests of pine, little agriculture, rich mines of copper and iron, and some gold; the eastern section is much larger, very flat and low, has coal, gypsum, and marble quarries, but is chiefly a wheat-growing area; in the Saginaw Valley are great salt wells; the climate is modified by the lakes. At first a French colony, the country was handed over to England in 1760, and to the United States in 1776; it was organised as a territory in 1805, and admitted a State in 1837; the chief commercial city is DETROIT (206), on Detroit River, in the E., has manufactures of machinery and railway plant, leather, and beer, and a large shipping trade. GRAND RAPIDS (60), on the Grand River, has furniture works, and makes stucco-plaster and white bricks. LANSING (13) is the State capital, and an important railway centre.

MICHIGAN, LAKE, in the N. of the United States, between Michigan and Wisconsin, is the third largest of the fresh-water seas, its surface being three-fourths that of Scotland; it is 335 m. long and 50 to 80 broad, bears much commerce, has low sandy sh.o.r.es and no islands; the chief ports are Chicago, Milwaukee, and Racine.

MICKIEWICZ, ADAM, Polish poet, born in Lithuania, of a n.o.ble family; in 1822 published at Kovno a collection of poems instinct with patriotic feeling; was exiled into the interior of Russia, in 1824, for secret intrigues in the interest of his nation; while there published three epics, conceived in the same patriotic spirit; left Russia in 1829 for Italy by way of Germany; was warmly welcomed by Goethe in pa.s.sing; in 1834 published his great poem "Sir Thaddeus," and in 1840 was appointed to a professorship of Polish Literature in Paris, where to the last he laboured for his country; died at Constantinople, whence his bones were transferred to lie beside those of Kosciusko at Cracow (1798-1855).

MICKLE, WILLIAM JULIUS, translator of the "Lusiad" (q. v.), born at Langholm, in Dumfriesshire, author of "There's nae Luck aboot the Hoose" (1734-1788).

MICROBE, a minute organism found in the blood of animals, especially when suffering from disease. See BACTERIA.

MICROCOSM, name given by the Middle Age philosophers to man as representing the macrocosm or universe in miniature.

MICROPHONE, an instrument invented in 1878 by Professor Hughes, and consisting of charcoal tempered in mercury, which intensifies and renders audible the faintest possible sound.

MICROZYME, a minute organism which acts as a ferment when it enters the blood and produces zymotic diseases.

MIDAS, a king of Phrygia who, in his l.u.s.t of riches, begged of Bacchus and obtained the power of turning everything he touched into gold, a gift which he prayed him to revoke when he found it affected his very meat and drink, which the G.o.d consented to do, only he must bathe in the waters of the Pactolus, the sands of which ever after were found mixed with gold; appointed umpire at a musical contest between Pan and Apollo, he preferred the pipes of the former to the lyre of the latter, who thereupon awarded him a pair of a.s.s-ears, the which he concealed with a cap, but could not hide them from his barber, who could not retain the secret, but whispered it into a hole in the ground, around which sprang up a forest of reeds, which as the wind pa.s.sed through them told the tale into the general ear, to the owner's discomfiture.

MIDDLE AGES, is a term used in connection with European history to denote the period beginning with the fall of the Roman Empire in 476, and closing with the invention of printing, the discovery of America, and the revival of learning in the 15th century.

MIDDLE ENGLISH, the English in use for two centuries and a half from 1200 to 1460.

MIDDLE Pa.s.sAGE, in the slave-trade the part of the Atlantic stretching between Africa and the West Indies.

MIDDLESBROUGH (99), iron manufacturing and shipping town at the mouth of the Tees, in the N. of Yorkshire, 45 m. N. of York; has also shipbuilding yards and chemical works, and exports coal. It owes its growth to the discovery of one of the largest iron-fields in the country in the Cleveland hills, near at hand, in 1850.

MIDDLEs.e.x (560), a small county on the N. of the Thames, adjacent to and W. of London; has no hills and no rivers, only undulating pasture land and small streams. In 1888 the populous part next the metropolis was detached for the new county of London, leaving no big town but many suburban villages, Brentford, reckoned the county town, Harrow with its school, Highgate, and Hornsey. Hampton Court, Hampstead Heath, and Enfield Chase are in the county. There are many market gardens.

MIDDLETON, CONYERS, a liberal theologian, Fellow of Cambridge; was engaged a good deal in controversy, particularly with Bentley; wrote an able Life of Cicero; is distinguished among English authors for his "absolutely plain style" of writing (1683-1750).

MIDDLETON, THOMAS, dramatist, born in London, where he was afterwards City Chronicler, married Mary Morbeck, and died; was fond of collaboration, and received a.s.sistance in his best work from Drayton, Webster, Dekker, Rowley, and Jonson; his comedies are smart and buoyant, sometimes indecorous; his masques more than usually elaborate and careful; in the comedy of "The Spanish Gypsy," and the tragedies of "The Changeling," and "Women beware Women," is found the best fruit of his genius (1570-1627).

MIDGARD, a name given in the Norse mythology to the earth as intermediate between the ASGARD (q. v.) of the G.o.ds and UTGARD OF THE JoTUNS (q. v.).

MIDIANITES, a race of Arabs descended from Abraham by Keturah, who dwelt to the E. of Akaba; though related, were troublesome to the Hebrews, but were subdued by Gideon.

MIDRASH, the earliest Hebrew exposition of the Old Testament; included the Halacha, or development of the legal system on Pentateuchal lines, and the Hagada, a commentary on the whole Scripture, with ethical, social, and religious applications. The name Midrash came to refer exclusively to the latter, in which much fanciful interpretation was mixed with sound practical sense.

MIGHTS AND RIGHTS, the Carlyle doctrine that Rights are nothing till they have realised and established themselves as Mights; they _are_ rights first only then.

MIGNE, THE ABBe, French Catholic theologian, born at St. Flour; edited a great many works on theology, such as "Patrologiae Cursus Completus," and "Orateurs Sacres," and founded _L'Univers_ journal (1800-1875).

MIGNET, FRANcOIS AUGUST, French historian, born at Aix, settled at Paris; was a friend of Thiers; became keeper of the archives of the Foreign Office, and had thus access to important historical doc.u.ments; wrote a number of historical works, among others a "History of the French Revolution," and "History of Marie Stuart" (1796-1884).

MIGNON, an impa.s.sioned Italian child, a creation of Goethe's in his "Wilhelm Meister," of mysterious origin and history; represented as a compact of vague aspirations and longings under which, as never fulfilled, she at length pines away and dies.

MIGUEL, DON, king of Portugal, born at Lisbon; usurped the throne in defiance of the right of his brother, Don Pedro, emperor of Brazil, who, however, conceded to him the t.i.tle of regent on condition of his marrying Donna Maria, his daughter; on his arrival in Portugal he had himself proclaimed king, but refused to marry Maria, who followed him, and prohibited her landing, which, together with his conduct of affairs, provoked a civil war, in which the party of Don Pedro prevailed, and which ended in the capitulation of the usurper and his withdrawal to Italy (1802-1866).

MIKADO, the emperor of j.a.pan, regarded as the head of both Church and State in his dominions.

MIKLOSICH, FRANZ VON, philologist, born at Luttenberg, studied at Gratz; in 1844 was appointed to an office in the Imperial Library, Vienna, where from 1850 to 1885 he was professor of Slavonic; his works, all philological, are the authority on the Slavonic languages; _b_. 1813.

MILAN (296), the largest city in Italy except Naples, is in Lombardy, 25 m. S. of Lake Como; of old much vexed by war, it is now prosperous, manufacturing silks and velvets, gold, silver, and porcelain ware, and trading in raw silk, grain, and tobacco, with great printing works, and is the chief banking centre of N. Italy; it is rich in architectural treasures, foremost of which is the magnificent Gothic cathedral of white marble; has a splendid picture-gallery, and many rich frescoes; in 1848 it revolted finally from Austrian oppression.

MILAN DECREE, a decree of Napoleon dated Milan, 27th Dec. 1807, declaring the British dominions in a state of blockade, and under penalty prohibiting all trade with them.