The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 315

MONTE CARLO (4), a great gambling centre in Monaco, 1 m. NE. of the capital; visited by 400,000 persons annually. The Casino is held by a company, and stands on ground leased from the prince.

MONTEFIORE, SIR MOSES, a philanthropic Jewish banker, born in Leghorn; a friend to the emanc.i.p.ation not only of the oppressed among his own race, but of the slave in all lands; lived to a great age (1784-1885).

MONTeGUT, eMILE, French critic, born at Limoges; is noted for books of travel, studies in French and English literature, and for translations of Shakespeare, Macaulay's "History," and Emerson's "Essays."

MONTENEGRO (236), a Balkan State, less than half the size of Wales, lying in a wild mountainous region between Herzegovina and Albania, and touching the Adriatic Sea with its SW. corner only. The climate is severe in winter, mild in summer. The soil is sterile, but is industriously tilled, and patches of arable land on the mountain sides and in the valleys yield maize, oats, potatoes, and tobacco. Cattle and sheep are reared in large numbers; vines and mulberries are cultivated round the lake, whose waters abound in fish. Cattle, hides, and cheese are the exports. The Montenegrins are a primitive people; the men hunt and fight, the women work. They are mostly of the Greek Church, and noted for their morality. The government is patriarchal, with a prince at the head.

Education and road-making have recently advanced. The towns are mere villages. Cetinje (1) is the capital; Antivari and Dulcigno, the Adriatic ports.

MONTESPAN, MARQUISE DE, mistress of Louis XIV.; a woman noted for her wit and beauty; bore the king eight children; was supplanted by MADAME DE MAINTENON (q. v.); pa.s.sed her last days in religious retirement (1641-1707).

MONTESQUIEU, BARON DE, ill.u.s.trious French publicist, born in the Chateau La Brede, near Bordeaux; his greatest work, and an able, "Esprit des Lois," though rated in "Sartor" as at best the work of "a clever infant spelling letters from a hieroglyphic prophetic book, the lexicon of which lies in eternity, in heaven"; was author of an able work "On the Causes of the Grandeur of the Romans and their Declension" (1689-1755).

MONTEVIDEO (215), on the N. sh.o.r.e of the Rio de la Plata, 130 m. E.

of Buenos Ayres; is the capital of Uruguay; a well-built town, with a cathedral, university, school of arts, and museum. The chief industries are beef-salting and shipping, though there is practically no harbour.

Nearly half the population are foreigners.

MONTEZ, LOLA, an adventuress of Spanish descent, born at Limerick; contracted no end of marriages, which were broken off one after another; took to the stage; took to lecturing, and ended in trying to reclaim fallen women (1818-1861).

MONTEZUMA II., the last of the Mexican emperors; submitted to Cortez when he landed; died in 1520 of a wound he received as he pled with his subjects to submit to the conqueror, aggravated by grief over the failure of his efforts in bringing about a reconciliation.

MONTFORT, SIMON DE, son of a French count; came to England in 1230, where he inherited from his grandmother the earldom of Leicester; attached to Henry III., and married to the king's sister, he was sent to govern Gascony in 1248; returned in 1253, and pa.s.sed over to the side of the barons, whom he ultimately led in the struggle against the king; after repeated unsuccessful attempts to make Henry observe the Provisions of Oxford, Simon took arms against him in 1263; the war was indecisive, and appeal being made to the arbitration of Louis the Good, Simon, dissatisfied with his award, renewed hostilities, defeated the king at Lewes, and taking him and his son prisoner, governed England for a year (1264-65); he sketched a const.i.tution for the country, and summoned the most representative parliament that had yet met, but as he aimed at the welfare of not the barons only, but the common people as well, the barons began to distrust him, when Prince Edward, having escaped from captivity, joined them, and overthrew Simon at Evesham, where he was slain (1206?-1265).

MONTGOLFIER BROTHERS, inventors of the balloon, who made their first ascent in Paris in 1783 in "their paper dome, filled with smoke of burnt wood, amid the shouts of congregated men"; JOSEPH (1740-1810), and eTIENNE (1745-1799).

MONTGOMERIE, ALEXANDER, Scottish poet, born, it is alleged, in Ayrshire, from a branch of the Eglinton family; wrote sonnets and some short poems, but his best-known piece is an allegorical poem, "The Cherry and the Slae" (1556-1610).

MONTGOMERY, COMTE DE, a French knight of Scottish descent, captain of the Scottish Guard under Henry II. of France; having in 1559 mortally wounded the king in a tourney, he fled to England, but returned to fight in the ranks of the Huguenots, and having had to surrender, he was taken to Paris and beheaded, in violation of the terms of surrender, which a.s.sured him of his life (1530-1574).

MONTGOMERY, JAMES, poet and hymn-writer, born at Irvine, son of a Moravian minister; studied for the same profession, but was not licensed; after some years of various occupation he started journalism, and eventually produced a journal of his own, _Sheffield Iris_, 1794-1825; he was twice fined and imprisoned for seditious publications, but became a Conservative in 1832, a pensioner 1835, and died at Sheffield; of his poetry most is forgotten, but "For ever with the Lord," and some dozen other hymns are still remembered (1771-1854).

MONTGOMERY, ROBERT, author of "The Omnipresence of Deity" and "Satan," born at Bath, son of a clown; pa.s.sed undistinguished through Oxford, and was minister of Percy Street Chapel, London; all his many works are forgotten save the above, which lives in Macaulay's famous review (1807-1855).

MONTGOMERYSHIRE (58), a North Wales inland county, surrounded by Merioneth, Cardigan, Radnor, Salop, and Denbigh; is chiefly a stretch of mountain pasture land, which rises to 2500 ft. at Plinlimmon, and in which the Severn rises; but in the E. are well wooded and fertile valleys. There are lead and zinc mines, and slate and limestone quarries.

There is some flannel manufacture at Newtown. The county town is Montgomery (1).

MONTHOLON, COMTE DE, French general, born in Paris, served under Napoleon, accompanied him to St. Helena, and left "Memoirs" (1782-1853).

MONTMORENCY, ANNE, DUC DE, marshal and constable of France, born of an old ill.u.s.trious family; served in arms under Francis I.; was a.s.sociated with Conde against the Huguenots, and was mortally wounded at St. Denis fighting against them (1492-1567).

MONTMORENCY, HENRI, SECOND DUC OF, born at Chantilly; distinguished himself in arms under Louis XIII., but provoked along with Gaston, Duke of Orleans, into rebellion, he was taken prisoner and beheaded, notwithstanding intercessions from high quarters on his behalf for the zeal he had shown in defence of the Catholic faith (1596-1632).

MONTPELIER (4), capital of Vermont, 250 m. N. of New York and 120 m.

NW. of Portland, Maine, is on the Onion River, and has some mills and tanneries.

MONTPELLIER (66), capital of Herault, France, on the Lez, 6 m. from the Gulf of Lyons, 30 m. SW. of Nimes, is a picturesque town, containing a cathedral, a university, picture-gallery, libraries, and other inst.i.tutions, and has been a centre of culture and learning since the 16th century; it also manufactures chemicals, corks, and textiles, and does a large trade in brandy and wine.

MONTREAL (217), the greatest commercial city of Canada, on an island in the St. Lawrence, at the confluence of the Ottawa River, 150 m. above Quebec, is the centre of railway communication with the whole Dominion and the States, connected by water with all the shipping ports on the great lakes, and does an enormous import and export trade; its princ.i.p.al shipment is grain; it is the chief banking centre, has the greatest universities (M'Gill and a branch of Laval), hospitals, and religious inst.i.tutions, and pursues boot and shoe, clothing, and tobacco manufactures; more than half the population is French and Roman Catholic, and the education of Protestant and Roman Catholic children is kept distinct; founded in 1642 by the French, Montreal pa.s.sed to Britain in 1760; in 1776 it was occupied by the revolting colonies, but recovered next year, and since then has had a steady career of prosperity and advancement.

MONTROSE (13), an ancient burgh and seaport of Forfarshire, 35 m. S.

of Aberdeen, stands on a tongue of land between the sea and a basin which is almost dry at low water; carries on timber-trade with Baltic and Canadian ports, and spins flax, makes ropes and canvas.

MONTROSE, JAMES GRAHAM, MARQUIS OF, born at Old Montrose, and educated at St. Andrews; travelled in Italy, France, and the Netherlands; returning in 1637 he joined the Covenanters, and we find him at Aberdeen, Stonehaven, and across the English border supporting the Covenant by force of arms; suspected of treachery to the cause he was imprisoned for a year, 1641-42, in Edinburgh Castle, whereupon he joined the side of the king; in 1644-45 he did splendid service for Charles in Scotland, defeating the Covenanters near Aberdeen, at Inverlochy and Kilsyth; but routed by Leslie at Philiphaugh he lost the royal confidence, and next year withdrew to Norway; an unsuccessful invasion in the Stuart cause in 1650 ended in his defeat at Invercarron, capture, and execution; "The Great Marquis," as he is called, was a soldier of genius, and a man of taste, learning, clemency, and courage (1612-1650).

MONTYON PRIZES, four prizes in the gift of the French Academy, so named from their founder, Baron de Montyon (1733-1820), and awarded annually for (1) improvements in medicine and surgery; (2) improvements tending to health in some mechanical process; (3) acts of disinterested goodness; (4) literary works conducive to morality; the last two are usually divided among several recipients.

MOODY, DWIGHT LYMAN, evangelist, born in Ma.s.sachusetts; settled in Chicago, where he began his career as an evangelist, a.s.sociated with Mr.

Sankey; visited great Britain in 1873 and 1883, and produced a wide-spread impression, especially on the first visit; _b_. 1837.

MOON, the satellite of the earth, from which it is distant 238,800 m., and which revolves round it in 27-1/3 days, taking the same time to rotate on its own axis, so that it presents always the same side to us; is a dark body, and shines by reflection of the sun's light, its diameter 2165 m.; it has a rugged surface of mountains and valleys without verdure; has no water, no atmosphere, and consequently no life.

MOON, MOUNTAINS OF THE, a range of mountains supposed by Ptolemy and early geographers to stretch across Africa from Abyssinia to Guinea, now variously identified as the Kenia, Kilimanjaro, Ruwenzori, &c.

MOONSHEE, in India a teacher of languages, especially Hindustani and Persian.

MOORE, FRANK FRANKFORT, novelist and dramatist, born at Limerick, both his novels and his dramas are numerous; commenced his literary career as a journalist in connection with the _Belfast News Letter_ as literary and art editor, a post he relinquished in 1893 to settle in London; _b_. 1855.

MOORE, JOHN, M.D., author and novelist, born at Stirling, studied medicine in Glasgow, and practised there, in Holland, Paris, and London; he published books on the countries of Europe which he visited, an essay on the French Revolution, and among several novels, one of some note, "Zeluco" (1789); he died at Richmond (1730-1802).