The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 318

MuNICH (351), capital of Bavaria, on the Isar, 440 m. by rail SW. of Berlin; is a city of magnificent buildings and rare art treasures; palaces, public buildings, cathedral, churches, &c., are all on an elaborate scale, and adorned with works of art; there are galleries of sculpture, and ancient and modern painting, a university, colleges, and libraries; the industries include stained gla.s.s, lithographing, bell-founding, and scientific instrument-making; and there are enormous breweries. Munich has been the centre of artistic life and culture in the 19th century, and a.s.sociated with it are Cornelius, Kaulbach, and many famous names.

MuNSTER (49), capital of Westphalia, a mediaeval-looking town, 100 m.

by rail N. of Cologne; has textile, paper, and printing industries; there is an old cathedral of 12th century, a town-hall, castle, and 16th-century wine-cellar; the place of the Catholic university has been taken by an academy with Catholic theological and philosophical faculties; here took place the Anabaptist movement of 1535; the bishops retained their secular jurisdiction till 1803.

MuNZER, THOMAS, Anabaptist leader, born at s...o...b..rg, and began to preach at Zwickau 1520; he came into collision both with the civil authorities and the Reformed Church; for several years he travelled through Bohemia and South Germany, and in 1525 settled at Muhlhausen; here his communistic doctrines obtained popularity and kindled an insurrection; the rebels were routed at Frankenhansen, and Munzer was captured and executed (1489-1525).

MURAT, JOACHIM, king of Naples, born near Cahors, the son of an innkeeper; entered the army, attracted the notice of Bonaparte, and became his aide-de-camp; distinguished himself in many engagements, received Bonaparte's sister to wife, and was loaded with honours on the establishment of the Empire, and for his services under it as a dashing cavalry officer was rewarded with the crown of Naples in 1808, but to the last allied in arms with his brother-in-law; he had to fight in the end on his own behalf in defence of his crown, and was defeated, taken prisoner, and shot (1771-1815).

MURATORI, LUDOVICO ANTONIO, Italian antiquary and historian, horn in Vignola, Modena; became librarian in Milan 1695, and of the D'Este library, Modena, in 1700, in which city he died; he edited the Italian chronicles of the 5th-16th centuries, with many essays and dissertations, and many other historical and antiquarian works; but his name is chiefly a.s.sociated with the "Muratorian Fragment," which dates from the 2nd century, and contains a list of the then canonical scriptures, and which he published 1840 (1672-1750).

MURAVIEFF, COUNT, Russian statesman, born of a distinguished family; entered the diplomatic service in connection with the Russian emba.s.sies at Berlin, Stockholm, The Hague, and Paris, and became Minister to Denmark in 1893; in 1897 he was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs in succession to Lobanoff; _b_. 1845.

MURCHISON, SIR RODERICK IMPEY, geologist, born in Ross-shire; entered the army and served in the Peninsular War, but retiring in 1816 gave himself to science; he explored many parts of Europe, predicted the discovery of gold in Australia, was President of the British a.s.sociation, and knighted in 1846, and subsequently received many other scientific appointments and honours; he founded the Chair of Geology in Edinburgh University in 1870; but his fame rests on his discovery and establishment of the Silurian system; his book on "The Silurian System" is the chief of several works (1792-1871).

MURDOCH, WILLIAM, engineer, born at Auchinleck, Ayrshire; was a manager of the Soho Works under Boulton and Watt, where he distinguished himself by his inventive ingenuity, and where on his suggestion coal-gas was first employed for lighting purposes (1754-1830).

MURE, COLONEL, Greek scholar, born at Caldwell, Ayrshire; wrote a scholarly work, "A Critical Account of the Language and Literature of Ancient Greece" (1799-1860).

MuRGER, HENRI, French novelist and poet, born at Paris; is chiefly distinguished as the author of "Scenes de la Vie de Boheme," from his own experiences, and instinct with pathos and humour, sadness his predominant tone; wrote lyrics as well as novels and stories, the chief "La Chanson de Musette," "a tear," says Gautier, "which has become a pearl of poetry"

(1822-1861).

MURILLO, a celebrated Spanish painter, born at Seville; his subjects were drawn partly from low life and partly from religious or scripture themes, such as the Immaculate Conception and the a.s.sumption of the Virgin, as well as "Moses Smiting the Rock," the "Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes," &c.; died from a fall from a scaffold while painting an altar-piece at Cadiz (1618-1682).

MURRAY, JOHN, London publisher, a successful business man; was on intimate terms with the celebrated men, such as Byron and Scott, whose works he published (1778-1843).

MURRAY, LINDLEY, grammarian, born in Pennsylvania, of Quaker parents; having realised a competency in business came to England and settled near York, where he produced his "Grammar of the English Language" in 1795 (1745-1826).

MURRAY, WILLIAM, Scottish actor, lessee of Edinburgh theatre for 42 years; enjoyed the friendship of the Edinburgh literary celebrities of the time, and was an excellent actor, did Falstaff to perfection (1791-1852).

MURRAY RIVER, the chief river of Australia, 1120 m. long, rises at the foot of Mount Kosciusko, in New South Wales, flows NW. between New South Wales and Victoria; receives the Lachlan and Darling on the right, and entering South Australia turns southward and reaches the sea at Encounter Bay.

MUSaeUS, JOHN AUGUST, German author, born at Jena, famous as the author of German _Volksmarchen_, three of which, "Dumb Love," "Libussa,"

and "Melechsala," were translated in the volumes of "German Romance" by Thomas Carlyle; he parodied Richardson's "Sir Charles Grandison" and satirised Lavater's "Physiognomical Travels" (1735-1787).

MUSCAT (20), capital of Oman, in Eastern Arabia, on the Gulf of Oman; is an ill-built, unhealthy city, but does an important transit trade between Arabia, Persia, India, and East Africa; it was in Portuguese possession from 1508 to 1658, but has been independent since.

MUSES, THE, daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, presided over the liberal arts particularly, were nine in number, and dwelt along with Apollo near Parna.s.sus, Pieria, and Helicon; Clio presided over history, Euterpe over music, Thalia over comedy, Melpomene over tragedy, Terpsich.o.r.e over choral dance and song, Erato over erotic poetry and elegy, Polyhymnia over lyric poetry, Urania over astronomy, and Calliope over eloquence and epic poetry.

MUSPELHEIM. See NIFLHEIM.

MUSSELBURGH (9), an old-fashioned Midlothian fishing town on the coast, 6 m. E. of Edinburgh, with golf links, paper, nets, and tanning industries, and Loretto school.

MUSSET, ALFRED DE, the premier poet of modern French literature, born in Paris of good parentage; wayward and impulsive in youth, he would settle to no occupation, till his already awakened taste for poetry receiving a powerful stimulus through contact with Victor Hugo, led him to embrace the profession of letters; two volumes of poetry were published before he achieved, in 1833, his first signal success with the dramas "Andre del Sarto" and "Les Caprices de Marianne"; in the same year began his famous _liaison_ with GEORGE SAND (q. v.), involving him in the ill-fated expedition to Venice, whence he returned in the spring of 1834 shattered in health and disillusioned; from one unhappy love intrigue he pa.s.sed to another, seeking in vain a solace for his restless spirit, but reaping an experience which enriched his writings; "Confessions d'un Enfant du Siecle" appeared in 1836, and is a significant confession of his life at this time; two years later he was appointed librarian at the Home Office, and in 1847 his charming comedy, "Un Caprice," was received with enthusiasm; in 1852 he was elected to the Academy, but his work was done, and already an ill-controlled indulgence in alcohol had fatally undermined his never robust strength; his writings, besides possessing the charm of an exquisite style, heightened by an undertone of true tenderness, are chiefly remarkable for the intense sincerity of feeling, albeit of a limited range, which animates them, and which finds its highest expression in his four great lyrical pieces, "Les Nuits"; his fine instinct for dramatic situation and gift of witty dialogue are manifest in the dramas already mentioned, as also in many others; of his prose works, "Le Fils du t.i.tien," "Mademoiselle Mimi Pinson," and the "Confessions" are his best; he was a handsome man, with fascinating manners (1810-1857).

MUTSU HITO, the Mikado of j.a.pan, ascended the throne in 1867, married in 1869; has one son, Prince Yoshihito, and three daughters; his reign has been marked by great reforms, and especially the abolition of the feudal system which till then prevailed, to the great and increasing prosperity of the country, and the opening of it to the ideas and arts of Western civilisation; _b_. 1852.

MUZAFFER-ED-DIN, Shah of Persia, second son of Nasr-ed-Din, who nominated him to succeed him; succeeded his father on his death by a.s.sa.s.sination in 1896, on the 1st of May; _b_. 1853.

MYCENae, capital of Agamemnon's kingdom, in the NE. of the Peloponnesus, was in very ancient days a great city, but never recovered the invasion of the people of Argos in 468 B.C.; excavations point to its civilisation being more akin to Phoenician than Greek.

MYRMIDONS, "ant-men," so-called because Zeus was said to have peopled Thessaly, from which originally they came, by transforming ants into men; they were the people of aegina, whose warriors followed Achilles to the siege of Troy.

MYSORE (4,900), a native State, half the size of England, embedded in the Madras Presidency, occupies a lofty, broken, but fertile tableland; the upper waters of the Kistna and Kaveri are used for irrigation purposes; betel-nut, coffee, cotton, rice, and silk are exported; cloth, wheat, and precious metals are imported; the climate is healthy and pleasant; under British government from 1831, it was restored to its prince in 1881, under British protection; the capital is MYSORE (74), a prosperous, well-built town.

MYSTAGOGUE, in Greece, was the priest who instructed candidates and prepared them for initiation into the various religious mysteries; in the Christian Church it denoted the catechist who prepared catechumens previous to their admission to the sacraments.

MYSTERIES, sacred rites and ceremonies of stated observance among the Greeks and Romans in connection with the worship of particular divinities, to which only the initiated were admitted, and in which, by a.s.sociating together, they quickened and confirmed each other in their faith and hope, and in which it would seem they made solemn avowal of these; the name is also applied to the MIRACLE PLAYS (q. v.) of the Middle Ages.

MYSTICISM, a state of mind and feeling induced by direct communion with the unseen, and by indulging in which the subject of it estranges himself more and more from those who live wholly in the outside world, so that he cannot communicate with them and they cannot understand him.

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NABOB. See NAWAB.

NABOTH, a Jew, who was stoned by order of Ahab, king of Israel, because he refused to sell him his vineyard, an outrage for which Ahab was visited by Divine judgment; is symbol, in the regard of the Jews, of the punishment sure to overtake all rich oppressors of the poor.