The Nuttall encyclopædia (part 7 of 10)

The Nuttall encyclopædia (part 7 of 10)

LOUVOIS, MARQUIS OF, War Minister of Louis XIV., born in Paris; was a man of great administrative ability in his department, but for the glory of France and his own was savage for war and relentless in the conduct of it, till one day in his obstinate zeal, as he threatened to lay the cathedral city of Trèves in ashes, the king, seizing the tongs from the chimney, was about to strike him therewith, and would have struck him, had not Madame de Maintenon, his mistress, interfered and stayed his hand; he died suddenly, to the manifest relief of his royal master (1641-1691).

LOUVRE, an open turret or lantern on ancient roofs for the escape of smoke or foul air.

LOUVRE, a great art museum and gallery in Paris, containing Egyptian, Assyrian, classic, mediæval, and modern relics and art treasures of priceless value; here is housed the Venus of Milo.

LOVAT, SIMON FRASER, LORD, a Highland chief connected with Inverness, who, being outlawed, fled to France and got acquainted with the Pretender, in whose interest he returned to Scotland to excite a rising, but betraying the secret to the government was imprisoned in the Bastille on his going back to France; on his release and return he opposed the Pretender in 1715, but in 1745 espoused the cause of Prince Edward; was arrested for treason, convicted, and beheaded on Tower Hill (1667-1747).

LOVEDALE, a mission station in South Africa, 650 m. NE. of Cape Town, founded in 1841, and supported by the Free Church of Scotland.

LOVELACE, one of the principal characters in Richardson's "Clarissa Harlowe"; is the type of a young heartless seducer.

LOVELACE, RICHARD, English cavalier and poet, born at Woolwich, heir of great wealth, but lost his all in supporting the royal cause, and died a ruined man; was the handsomest man of his time, and the author of a collection of poems entitled "Lucasta" (1618-1658).

LOVER, SAMUEL, an Irish novelist and poet, born in Dublin; started as a painter, but soon gave himself to literature; was the author of "Rory O'More" and "Handy Andy," as also of some lyrics and ballads of a stirring character (1797-1868).

LOW CHURCH, that section of the Church of England which, in contrast with the High Church party, is not exclusive in its assertion of Church authority and observances, and in contrast with the Broad Church party is narrowly evangelical in its teaching.

LOW LATIN, Latin as spoken and written in the Middle Ages, being a degeneration of the classical which began as early as the time of Cicero and developed unchecked with the dismemberment of the Roman empire.

LOW MASS, mass performed by a single priest and without musical accompaniment.

LOW SUNDAY, name given in Catholic countries to the next Sunday after Easter, in contrast with the style of the festival just closed.

LOWE, SIR HUDSON, English general, born in Ireland; served with credit in various military enterprises, and was appointed governor of St. Helena in 1815, and held that office during Napoleon's incarceration there; a much abused-man for his treatment of his prisoner, particularly by the French, who dub him "Napoleon's jailer"; died in London in poor circumstances; wrote a defence of his conduct (1770-1844).

LOWELL, JAMES RUSSELL, American essayist, poet, and diplomatist, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, son of a clergyman; graduated at Harvard in 1838, studied law, but acquiring extensive scholarship devoted himself to literature; volumes of poems were published by him in 1840 and 1844, but the Mexican War of 1846 and the Civil War of 1861-65 called forth respectively the first and second series of "Biglow Papers," in rustic dialect, the highest expression of his genius and the finest modern English satire; he was an ardent abolitionist; succeeding Longfellow in the chair of Modern Languages and Literature in Harvard in 1855, he visited Europe to study, returned as U.S. minister to Spain in 1877, was transferred to England 1880-1885; of his prose work "My Study Windows" and "Among my Books" are essays on literary subjects, "Fireside Travels" contain reminiscences, and his last work was a "Life of Hawthorne"; he died at Cambridge in the house of his birth (1818-1891).

LOWER EMPIRE, name given to the Byzantine empire.

LOWESTOFT (23), seaport and watering-place at the mouth of the Waveney, in Suffolk, 120 m. NE. of London, the most easterly town in England; has a good harbour, an old parish church, and a large fish-market; the Dutch were defeated off Lowestoft in 1665.

LOWTH, ROBERT, a distinguished English prelate, born in Hants; was professor of Poetry in Oxford, and bishop in succession of St. Davids, Oxford, and London; wrote "Prelectiones" on the poetry of the Hebrews, a celebrated work, and executed a translation of Isaiah (1710-1787).

LOYOLA, IGNATIUS, the founder of the Order of the Jesuits, born in the castle of Loyola, in the Basque Provinces of Spain, of a noble Spanish family; entered the army, and served with distinction, but being severely wounded at the siege of Pampeluna, he gave himself up to a life of austere religious devotion, and conceived the idea of enlisting and organising a spiritual army for the defence of the Church at home and the propagation of the faith in the realms of heathendom; it seemed to him a time when such an organisation should be formed, and he by-and-by got a number of kindred spirits to join him, with the result that he and his confederates did, on Ascension Day, 1534, solemnly pledge themselves in the subterranean chapel of the Abbey of Montserrat to, through life and death, embark in this great undertaking; the pledge thus given was confirmed by the pope, Pope Pius III., the Order formed, and Ignatius, in 1547, installed as general, with absolute authority subject only to the Pope, to receive canonisation by Gregory XV. in 1622 (1481-1566).

LUBBOCK, SIR JOHN, scientist, born in London; banker by profession; as a member of Parliament has accomplished several economic reforms; is author of "Prehistoric Times," "The Origin of Civilisation and the Primitive Condition of Man," and various books on natural science; his "Pleasures of Life" has been very popular, and gone through between 30 and 40 editions; b. 1834.

LÜBECK (64), a German free city on the Trave, an old-fashioned place, but with wide, open streets, 12 m. from the Baltic, 40 m. NE. of Hamburg; joined the North German Federation in 1866, and the Customs Union in 1868. It has a 12th-century cathedral, some fine old churches, scientific and art collections; with unimportant industries; its Baltic and German transit trade is extensive.

LUCAN, a Latin poet, born at Corduba (Cordova), in Spain; was a nephew of Seneca, and brought early to Rome; gave offence to Nero, and was banished from the city; joined in a conspiracy against the tyrant, and was convicted, whereupon he caused his veins to be opened and bled to death, repeating the while the speech he had composed of a wounded soldier on the battlefield dying a like death; he was the author of a poem entitled "Pharsalia" on the civil war between Cæsar and Pompey (39-65).

LUCARIS, CYRIL, eminent ecclesiastic in the Greek Church, born in Crete, who embraced and propagated Protestantism; became a victim of persecution, and had a mysterious fate (1572-1637).

LUCCA (20), cap. of the Italian prov. of Lucca (309), on the Serchio, 12 m. NE. of Pisa; has an extensive trade in olive-oil, silk, and capers, the specialty of the province. Its cathedral has a very ancient cedar crucifix, fine paintings, and valuable archives. There are other ancient churches, scientific and artistic institutes, and a wonderful aqueduct of 459 arches. The natives are known over Europe as stucco figure-sellers and organ-grinders.

LUCERNE (36), a Swiss canton E. of Berne, mountainous in the S., where cattle are pastured and much cheese made; in the N. and in the valleys fertile with corn and fruit crops; is German speaking, and Roman Catholic; its highest elevation, Mount Pilatus, is 7000 ft. Stretching from the eastern corner is Lake Lucerne, one of the most beautiful in Europe. The cap. Lucerne (20), on the shores of the lake, is a busy tourist centre; outside its walls is the famous Lion of Lucerne, designed by Thorwaldsen, in memory of the Swiss Guard slain while defending the Tuileries in Paris in 1792, and cut out of the solid rock.

LUCIAN, a Greek writer, born in Samosata, in Syria, in the early part of the 2nd century; he travelled much in his youth; acquired a cynical view of the world, and gave himself to ridicule the philosophical sects and the pagan mythology; his principal writings consist of "Dialogues," of which the "Dialogues of the Dead" are the best known, the subject being one affording him scope for exposing the vanity of human pursuits; he was an out and out sceptic, found nothing worthy of reverence in heaven or on earth.

LUCIFER (i. e. light-bringer), name given to Venus as the morning star, and by the Church Fathers to Satan in interpretation of Isaiah xiv. 12.

LÜCKE, FRIEDRICH, German theologian, professor first at Bonn and then at Göttingen; wrote commentaries on John's Gospel and the Apocalypse (1791-1855).

LUCKNOW (273), fourth city in India, cap. of the prov. of Oudh, on the Gumti, a tributary of the Ganges, 200 m. NW. of Benares; is a centre of Indian culture and Mohammedan theology, an industrial and commercial city. It has many magnificent buildings, Canning and Martinière Colleges, various schools and Government offices. It manufactures brocades, shawls, muslins, and embroideries, and trades in country products, European cloth, salt, and leather. Its siege from July 1857 to March 1858, its relief by Havelock and Outram, and final deliverance by Sir Colin Campbell, form the most stirring incidents of the Indian Mutiny.

LUCRETIA, a Roman matron, the wife of Collatinus, whose rape by a son of Tarquinus Superbus led to the dethronement of the tyrant, the expulsion of his family from Rome, and the establishment of the Roman republic.

LUCRETIUS, TITUS CARUS, a Roman poet of whose personal history nothing is known, only that he was the author of a poem entitled "De Rerum Naturâ," a philosophic, didactic composition in six books, in which he expounds the atomic theory of Leucippus, and the philosophy of Epicurus; the philosophy of the work commends itself only to the atheist and the materialist, but the style is the admiration of all scholars, and has ensured its translation into most modern languages (about 95-31 B.C.).

LUCULLUS, LUCIUS, a Roman general, celebrated as conqueror of Mithridates, king of Pontus, and for the luxurious life he afterwards led at Rome on the wealth he had amassed in Asia and brought home with him; one day as he sat down to dine alone, and he observed his servant had provided for him a less sumptuous repast than usual, he took him sharply to task, and haughtily remarked, "Are you not aware, sirrah, that Lucullus dines with Lucullus to-day?"

LUDDISM, fanatical opposition to the introduction of machinery as it originally manifested itself among the hand-loom weavers of the Midlands.

LUDDITES name assumed by the anti-machinery rioters of 1812-1861, after a Leicestershire idiot, Ned Ludd, of 1780; appearing first at Nottingham, the agitation spread through Derby, Leicester, Cheshire, Lancashire, and Yorkshire, finally merging in the wider industrial and political agitations and riots that marked the years that followed the peace after Waterloo.

LUDLOW, EDMUND, a republican leader in the Civil War against Charles I., born in Wiltshire of good family; entered the army of the Parliament, and was present in successive engagements, but opposed Cromwell on his assumption of the Protectorate, and was put under arrest; reasserted his republicanism on Cromwell's death, but died in exile after the Restoration; left "Memoirs" (1630-1693).

LUDOVICUS VIVES, a humourist, born in Valentia, Spain; studied at Paris, wrote against scholasticism, taught at Oxford, was imprisoned for opposing Henry VIII.'s divorce; died at Bruges (1472-1540).

LUGA`NO, a lake partly in the Swiss canton of Ticino and partly in the Italian province of Como, 15 m. by 2 m., in the midst of picturesque grand scenery, with a town of the name on the NW. side amid vineyards and olive plantations.

LUINI, BERNARDINO, a painter of the Lombard school, born at Luino, in the territory of Milan, and a pupil of Leonardo da Vinci, so that some of his works, which though they show a grace and delicacy of their own, pass for those of his master; is famed for his works in oil as well as in fresco; is, in Ruskin's regard, one of the master painters of the world (1460-1540).

LUKE or LUCANUS, author of the third Gospel, as well as the Acts, born in Antioch, a Greek by birth and a physician by profession, probably a convert, as he was a companion, of St. Paul; is said to have suffered martyrdom and been buried at Constantinople; is the patron saint of artists, and represented in Christian art with an ox lying near him, or in the act of painting; his Gospel appears to have been written before the year 63, and shows a Pauline interest in Christ, who is represented as the Saviour of Jew and Gentile alike; it was written for a Gentile Christian and in correspondence with eye-witnesses of Christ's life and death.

LULLI, a composer of operatic music, born in Provence; was director of the French opera in the reign of Louis XIV. (1633-1687).

LULLY, RAYMOND, the Doctor Illuminatus, as he was called, born at Palma, in Majorca, who was early smitten with a zeal for the conversion of the Mohammedans, in the prosecution of which mission he invented a new method of dialectic, called after him Ars Lullia; held public discussions with the Mohammedans, who showed themselves as zealous to convert him as he was to convert them, till he ventured in his over-zeal when in Africa among them to threaten them with divine judgment if they did not abjure their faith, upon which they waxed furious, dragged him out of the city, and stoned him to death in the year 1315; his works, several on alchemy, fill 16 volumes.

LUNAR CYCLE, a period of time at the close of which the new moons return on the same days of the year.

LUNAR MONTH, a month of 29 days, the time of the revolution of the moon, a lunar year consisting of 12 times the number.

LUNAR THEORY, an explanation by mathematical reasoning of perturbations in the movements of the moon founded on the law of gravitation.

LUNAR YEAR, a period of 12 synodic lunar months, being about 354.5 days.

LUND (14), a city in the S. of Sweden, 10 m. NE. of Malmö, once the capital of the Danish kingdom, the seat of an archbishop, with a Romanesque cathedral and a flourishing university.

LUNDY ISLAND, a precipitous rugged island 3 m. long by 1 m. broad, belonging to Devon, with the remains of an old castle, and frequented by myriads of sea-fowl.

LÜNEBURG (21), on the Ilmenau, 30 m. SE. of Hamburg, an ancient German city with old Gothic churches, once the capital of an independent duchy, now in Hanover; has salt and gypsum mines, iron and chemical manufactures; the British royal house is descended from the princes of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

LUPERCALIA, a Roman festival held on Feb. 15 in honour of Lupercus, regarded as the god of fertility, in the celebration of which dogs and goats were sacrificed and their skins cut up into thongs, with which the priests ran through the city striking every one, particularly women, that threw themselves in their way.

LUPERCUS, an ancient Italian god, worshipped by shepherds as the protector of their flocks against wolves.

LUPUS, a chronic disease of the skin, characterised by the tuberculous eruptions which eat into the skin, particularly of the face, and disfigure it.

LUSATIA, a district of Germany, between the Elbe and the Oder, originally divided into Upper and Lower, belongs partly to Saxony and partly to Prussia; it swarmed at one time with Wends.

LUSIAD or LUSIADES, a poem of Camoëns in ten cantos, in celebration of the discoveries of the Portuguese in the East Indies, and in which Vasco da Gama is the principal figure; it is a genuine national epic, in which the poet passes in review all the celebrated exploits and feats that glorify the history of Portugal.

LUSITANIA, the ancient name of Portugal, still used as the name of it in modern poetry.

LUSTRUM, a sacrifice for expiation and purification offered by one of the censors of Rome in name of the Roman people at the close of the taking of the census, and which took place after a period of five years, so that the name came to denote a period of that length.

LUTETIA, the ancient name of Paris, Lutetia Parisiorum, mud-town of the borderers, as Carlyle translates it.

LUTHER, MARTIN, the great Protestant Reformer, born at Eisleben, in Prussian Saxony, the son of a miner, was born poor and brought up poor, familiar from his childhood with hardship; was sent to study law at Erfurt, but was one day at the age of 19 awakened to a sense of higher interests, and in spite of remonstrances became a monk; was for a time in deep spiritual misery, till one day he found a Bible in the convent, which taught him for the first time that "a man was not saved by singing masses, but by the infinite grace of God"; this was his awakening from death to life, and to a sense of his proper mission as a man; at this stage the Elector of Saxony was attracted to him, and he appointed him preacher and professor at Wittenberg; on a visit to Rome his heart sank within him, but he left it to its evil courses to pursue his own way apart; if Rome had let him alone he would have let it, but it would not; monk Tetzel arrived at Wittenberg selling indulgences, and his indignation was roused; remonstrance after remonstrance followed, but the Pope gave no heed, till the agitation being troublesome, he issued his famous "fire-decree," condemning Luther's writings to the flames; this answer fired Luther to the quick, and he "took the indignant step of burning the decree in 1520 at the Elster Gate of Wittenberg, Wittenberg looking on with shoutings, the whole world looking on"; after this Luther was summoned to the Diet of Worms, and he appeared there before the magnates, lay and clerical, of the German empire on April 17, 1521; how he demeaned himself on that high occasion is known to all the world, and his answer as well: "Here stand I; I can do no other; so help me God"; "it was the grandest moment in the modern history of man"; of the awakening this produced Luther was the ruling spirit, as he had been the moving one, and he continued to be so to the end of his life; his writings show the man as well as his deeds, and amid all the turmoil that enveloped him he found leisure to write and leave behind him 25 quarto volumes; it is known the German Bible in use is his work, executed by him in the Castle of Wartburg; it was begun by him with his back to the wall, as it were, and under the protestation, as it seemed to him, of the prince of darkness himself, and finished in this obstructive element pretty much throughout, the New Testament in 1522, the Pentateuch in 1523, and the whole, the Apocrypha included, in 1534; he was fond of music, and uttered many an otherwise unutterable thing in the tones of his flute; "the devils fled from his flute," he says; "death-defiance on the one hand, and such love of music on the other, I could call these," says Carlyle, "the two opposite poles of a great soul, between these two all great things had room.... Luther," he adds, "was a true great man, great in intellect, in courage, in affection, and integrity,... great as an Alpine mountain, but not setting up to be great at all--his, as all greatness is, an unconscious greatness" (1488-1546).

LUTHERANISM, that form of Protestantism which prevails in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Northern Germany. See LUTHERANS.

LUTHERANS, the name given to that school of the Protestant Church which accepted Luther's doctrine, especially that of the Eucharist, in opposition to that of the members of the Reformed Church, who assented to the views in that matter of Zwingli, the Swiss Reformer; the former maintaining the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and that the grace of Christ is communicated in the celebration of it, and the latter maintaining that it is a merely commemorative ordinance, and the means of grace to the believing recipient only.

LUTTERWORTH, a small town in Leicestershire, on the Swift, 8 m. NE. of Rugby, of the church of which Wiclif was rector, and where he was buried, though his bones were afterwards, in 1428, dug up and burned, and the ashes cast into the river.

LÜTZEN, a small town in Prussian Saxony, the vicinity of it the scene of a victory of Gustavus Adolphus in 1632, and of another by Napoleon over the combined forces of Russia and Prussia in 1813.

LUX, the name given to the unit of the intensity of electric light.

LUX, ADAM, a young Parisian; smitten with love for Charlotte Corday, proposed a statue to her with the inscription "Greater than Brutus," which brought him to the guillotine.

LUXEMBURG (211), grand-duchy, a small, independent territory at the corner where Belgium, France, and Rhenish Prussia meet, is a plateau watered by the Moselle on its eastern boundary, and the tributary Sauer; is well wooded and fertile, yielding wheat, flax, hemp, and wine. Iron ore is mined and smelted; leather, pottery, sugar, and spirits manufactured. The population is Low-German and Roman Catholic; the language of the educated, French. The government is in the hands of a grand-duke, the Duke of Nassau, and a house of 42 representatives. For commercial purposes Luxemburg belongs to the German Customs Union. The capital is LUXEMBURG (18). There is a Belgian province of LUXEMBURG (212), until 1839 part of the grand-duchy.

LUZON (3,200), the largest of the Philippines; about one-half larger than Ireland; is the most northerly of the group; is clad with forests, and yields grain, sugar, hemp, and numerous tropical products. The capital is Manila.

LYCAON, a king of Arcadia; changed into a wolf for offering human flesh to Zeus, who came, disguised as mortal, to his palace on the same errand as the angels who visited Lot in Sodom. According to another tradition he was consumed, along with his sons, by fire from heaven.

LYCEUM, a promenade in Athens where Aristotle taught his pupils as he walked to and fro within its precincts.

LYCIAS, an Athenian orator, who flourished in the 4th century B.C.; assisted in the expulsion of the Thirty Tyrants, and distributed among the citizens his large fortune which the Tyrants had confiscated.

LYCIDAS, the name of an exquisite dirge by Milton over the death by drowning of his friend Edward King.

LYCURGUS, the legislator of Sparta, who lived in the 9th century B.C.; in the interest of it as king visited the wise in other lands, and returned with the wise lessons he had learned from them to frame a code of laws for his country, which was fast lapsing into a state of anarchy; when he had finished his work under the sanction of the oracle at Delphi he set put again on a journey to other lands, but previously took oath of the citizens that they would observe his laws till his return; it was his purpose not to return, and he never did, in order to bind his countrymen to maintain the constitution he gave them inviolate for ever.

LYDGATE, JOHN, an early English poet; was a monk of Bury St. Edmunds in the end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th centuries; was a teacher of rhetoric as well as a poet, and a man of some note in his day.

LYDIA, a country of Asia Minor; seat of an early civilisation, and a centre of influences which affected both the religion and culture of Greece; was noted for its music and purple dyes.

LYELL, SIR CHARLES, celebrated English geologist, born at Kinnordy, in Forfarshire; bred for and called to the bar; he left his practice, and gave himself to the study of geology, to which he had been attracted by Alexander Buckland's lectures when he was at Oxford; his great work was his "Principles of Geology," which, published in 1830, created quite a revolution in the science; it was followed by his "Student's Elements of Geology," which was modified by his conversion to Darwin's views, and by "Antiquity of Man," written in defence of Darwin's theory (17971875).

LYLY, JOHN, English dramatist, born in Kent; was the author of nine plays on classical subjects, written for the court, which were preceded in 1579 by his once famous "Euphues, or Anatomy of Wit," followed by a second part next year, and entitled "Euphues and his England," and that from the fantastic, pompous, and affected style in which they were written gave a new word, Euphuism, to the English language (1553-1606).

LYNCH LAW, the name given in America to the trial and punishment of offenders without form of law, or by mob law; derived from the name of a man Lynch, dubbed Judge, who being referred to used to administer justice in the far West in this informal way.

LYNDHURST, JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY, BARON, thrice Lord Chancellor of England, born at Boston, Massachusetts, son of an artist; was brought up in London, educated at Cambridge, and called to the bar in 1804; acquiring fame in the treason trials of the second decade, he entered Parliament in 1808, was Solicitor-General 1819, Attorney-General 1819, Master of the Rolls 1826, and Lord Chancellor in three governments 1827-30; Chief Baron of the Exchequer 1830-34; he was Lord Chancellor in Peel's administrations of 1834-35 and 1841-46; he was great as a debater, and a clear-headed lawyer, but not earnest enough for a statesman (1772-1863).

LYNEDOCH, THOMAS GRAHAM, LORD, soldier, born in Perthshire; raised in 1793 the 90th Regiment of Foot, and served with it at Quibéron and Isle Dieu; thereafter distinguished himself in various ways at Minorca 1798, and Malta 1800, in the Peninsular wars, and in Holland; founded the Senior United Service Club in 1817; was created baron and general 1821, and died in London (1748-1843).

LYON COURT, the Herald's College of Scotland, consisting of three heralds and three pursuivants.

LYON KING OF ARMS, the legal heraldic officer of Scotland, who presides over the Lyon Court.

LYONS (398), the second city of France, at the junction of the Rhône and Saône, 250 m. S. of Paris; has a Roman Catholic university, and valuable museum, library, and art collections, many old churches and buildings, and schools of art and industries; the staple industry is silk, weaving, dyeing, and printing; there are also chemical, machinery, and fancy ware manufactures, and it is an emporium of commerce between Central and Southern Europe; of late years Lyons has been a hot-bed of ultra-republicanism.

LYRIC POETRY, poetry originally accompanied by the lyre, in which the poet sings his own passions, sure of a sympathetic response from others in like circumstances with himself.

LYSANDER, a Spartan general and admiral who put an end to the Peloponnesian War by defeat of the Athenian fleet off Ægospotami, and of whom Plutarch says in characterisation of him, he knew how to sew the skin of the fox on that of the lion; fell in battle in 395 B.C.

LYSIMACHUS, one of the generals of Alexander the Great, who became king of Thrace and afterwards of Macedonia; d. 281 B.C.

LYTTON, EDWARD ROBERT, EARL OF, statesman and novelist, under the nom de plume of Owen Meredith; entered the diplomatic service at an early age, became viceroy of India in 1876, and ambassador at Paris in 1892.

LYTTON, GEORGE EDWARD BULWER, LORD, statesman and novelist, born in London; entered Parliament at the age of 26, began his parliamentary career as a Whig, but became a Conservative and ranked in that party for the greater part of his life; "Pelham," published in 1828, was his first novel, and this was followed by a long list of others of endless variety, all indicative of the conspicuous ability of the author, and to the last giving no sign of decay in power; he was the author of plays as well as novels (1803-1873).

M

MAB, QUEEN, the fairies' midwife that brings dreams to the birth, to be distinguished from Titania, the Queen.

MABILLON, JEAN, a French Benedictine and eminent scholar; wrote a history of his order and edited St. Bernard's works (1632-1707).

MABLY, GABRIEL BONNET DE, French author, was born at Grenoble, brother of Condillac; educated at Lyons, and became secretary to Cardinal Tencin, but most of his life was spent in study, and he died in Paris; his "Romans and the French" is not complimentary to his countrymen; he was a great admirer of the ancients (1709-1785).

MABUSA, JAN, real name Gossaert, Flemish artist, born at Mabuse, lived and died at Antwerp; his work is not great but careful, his figures catch the stiffness of his favourite architectural backgrounds; his early period is strongly national, but a visit to Italy with Philip of Burgundy brought him under southern influences and contributed to intensify his colour (1470-1532).

MACADAM, JOHN LOUDON, Scottish engineer, born at Ayr; inventor of the system of road-making which bears his name; he made his fortune as a merchant in New York, but spent it in road-making (1756-1836).

MACAIRE, ROBERT, a noted criminal and assassin that figures in French plays; was convicted of a murder in trial by combat with a witness in the shape of the dog of the murdered man.

MACAO, small island at the mouth of the Canton River, 100 m. S. of Canton, forming with Colovane and Taipa since 1557 a Portuguese station (50, mostly Chinese); is a very healthy port, though very hot; formerly it was a centre of the Coolie trade, abolished in 1873, but its anchorage is bad, and since the rise of Hong-Kong its commerce has suffered severely; chief import opium, export tea; it is the head-quarters of French missions in China.

MACARIUS, ST., a hermit of the Thebaïd, where he spent 60 years of a life of solitude and austerity (300-390). Festival, January 13.

MACARONI, a fine wheaten paste made into long thin tubes, and manufactured in Italy and the S. of France.

MACASSAR, southern portion and chief town (20) at SW. corner of Celebes; exports coffee, spices, timber, and "Macassar" oil.

MACAULAY, THOMAS BABINGTON, LORD, essayist and historian, born at Rothley Temple, Leicestershire, son of Zachary Macaulay the philanthropist, and so of Scottish descent; graduated at Cambridge 1822, proving a brilliant debater in the Union, and became Fellow of Trinity 1824; called to the bar 1826, he preferred to follow literature, having already gained a footing by some poems in Knight's Quarterly and by his essay on "Milton" in the Edinburgh Review (1825); in 1830 he entered Parliament for a pocket-borough, took an honourable part in the Reform debates, and in the new Parliament sat for Leeds; his family were now in straitened circumstances, and to be able to help them he went out to India as legal adviser to the Supreme Council; to his credit chiefly belongs the Indian Penal Code; returning in 1838, he represented Edinburgh in the Commons with five years' interval till 1856; the "Lays of Ancient Rome" appeared in 1842, his collected "Essays" in 1843, two years later he ceased writing for the Edinburgh; he was now working hard at his "History," of which the first two volumes attained a quite unprecedented success in 1848; next year he was chosen Lord Rector of Glasgow University; 1855 saw the third and fourth volumes of his "History"; in 1857 he was made a peer, and many other honours were showered upon him; with a tendency to too much declamation in style, a point of view not free from bias, and a lack of depth and modesty in his thinking, he yet attained a remarkable amount and variety of knowledge, great intellectual energy, and unrivalled lucidity in narration (1800-1859).

MACBETH, a thane of the north of Scotland who, by assassination of King Duncan, became king; reigned 17 years, but his right was disputed by Malcolm, Duncan's son, and he was defeated by him and fell at Lumphanan, December 5, 1056.

MACCABEES, a body of Jewish patriots, followers of Judas Maccabæus, who in 2nd century B.C. and in the interest of the Jewish faith withstood the oppression of Syria and held their own for a goodly number of years against not only the foreign yoke that oppressed them, but against the Hellenising corruption of their faith at home.

MACCABEES, BOOKS OF, two books of the Apocrypha which give, the first, an account of the heroic struggle which the Maccabees maintained from 175 to 135 B.C. against the kings of Syria, and the second, of an intercalary period of Jewish history from 175 to 160 B.C., much of it of legendary unreliable matter; besides these two a third and a fourth of a still more apocryphal character are extant.

M'CARTHY, JUSTIN, writer and politician, began life as a journalist; is the author of a "History of Our Own Times" and a "History of the Four Georges," as well as a number of novels; represents North Longford in Parliament; b. 1830.

M'CHEYNE, ROBERT MURRAY, the subject of a well-known memoir by Andrew Bonar, was born in Edinburgh, educated at the university there, and was minister of St. Peter's, Dundee, from 1836 till his death; he is esteemed a saint by pious evangelical people, by whom the memoirs of him are much prized (1813-1843).

M'CLELLAN, American general, born in Philadelphia; served in the Mexican War, and in the War of Secession, eventually as commander-in-chief; was author of military engineering works (1826-1882).

MACCLESFIELD (36), Cheshire manufacturing town on the Bollin, 15 m. S. of Manchester; has a 13th-century church, and a grammar-school founded by Edward VI.; its staple industry is silk manufactures; there are breweries, and mining and quarrying near.

MACCLINTOCK, Arctic navigator, born at Dundalk; sent out by Lady Franklin to discover the fate of Sir John and his crew; wrote an account of the voyage (1819-1891).

M'CLURE, Arctic navigator, born in Wexford; went out in search of Franklin, and discovered the North-West Passage in 1850 (1807-1873).

M'CRIE, THOMAS, a Scotch seceder, born in Dunse; was minister in Edinburgh; author of the "Life of John Knox," published in 1812; defended the Covenanters against Scott; he was a man of dignified military presence (1772-1835).

M'CULLOCH, HORATIO, a Scottish landscape-painter, born in Glasgow; was distinguished for his Highland landscapes (1806-1867).

M'CULLOCH, JOHN RAMSEY, political economist, born in Isle of Whithorn; contributed to the Scotsman and Edinburgh Review; wrote "Principles of Political Economy," and edited Dictionaries of Commerce and Geography (1789-1864).

MACCUNN, HAMISH, Scottish composer, born at Greenock; entered the Royal College of Music in 1883, and became junior professor of Harmony at the Royal Academy; his fertility in melody and mastery of the orchestra are devoted to music of strong national characteristics, as his overture "Land of the Mountain and the Flood," and his choral work "The Lay of the Last Minstrel" show; b. 1868.

MACDONALD, marshal of France, born at Sancerre, of Scotch descent, entered the army at the time of the Revolution as a lieutenant, and rapidly rose in rank; served with distinction under Napoleon, especially at Wagram, when he was made Duke of Taranto; supported the Bourbons on their restoration (1765-1840).

MACDONALD, SIR CLAUDE M., British Minister at Peking; served in the army in Egypt in 1882 and 1884, as a diplomatist in Zanzibar in 1887, and on the coast of Africa as commissioner in 1888; was sent to Peking in 1896; b. 1852.

MACDONALD, FLORA, a devoted Jacobite who, at the risk of her own life, screened Prince Charles Edward after his defeat at Culloden from his pursuers, and saw him safe off to France, for which she was afterwards confined for a short time in the Tower (1722-1790).

MACDONALD, GEORGE, novelist, born in Huntly; trained for the ministry, but devoted himself to literature; is the author, among other works, of "Robert Falconer," "David Elginbrod," and "Alec Forbes"; his interests are religious, and his views liberal, particularly on religious matters; b., 1824.

MACE, THE, the symbol of authority in the House of Commons; is placed on the table when the House is sitting, and is under the table as a rule when the Speaker is not in the chair.

MACEDONIA, an ancient kingdom lying between Thrace and Illyria, the Balkans and the Ægean; mostly mountainous, but with some fertile plains; watered by the Strymon, Axius, and Heliacmon Rivers; was noted for its gold and silver, its oil and wine. Founded seven centuries B.C., the monarchy was raised to dignity and power by Archelaus in the 5th century. Philip II. (359 B.C.) established it yet more firmly; and his son, Alexander the Great, extended its sway over half the world. His empire broke up after his death, and the Romans conquered it in 168 B.C. Ægæ and Pella were its ancient capitals, Philippi, Thessalonica, and Amphipolis among its towns. After many vicissitudes during the Middle Ages it is now a province of Turkey.

MACEDONIANS, a sect in the early Church who taught that the Holy Ghost was inferior to the Father and the Son, so called from Macedonius, bishop of Constantinople, their leader.

MACFARREN, SIR GEORGE ALEXANDER, musical author and composer, born in London; studied at the Royal Academy, and became professor there in 1834; in many operatic works he aimed at restoring old English musical characteristics, and wrote also cantatas "Lenore," "May-Day," &c., and oratorios, of which "John the Baptist" (1873) was the first; but his chief merit lies in his writings on theory (1813-1887).

MACHIAVELLI, NICCOLO, statesman and historian, born in Florence, of an ancient family; was secretary of the Florentine Republic from 1498 to 1512, and during that time conducted its diplomatic affairs with a skill which led to his being sent on a number of foreign embassies; he was opposed to the restoration of the Medici family, and on the return of it to power was subjected to imprisonment and torture as a conspirator, but was at last set at liberty; he spent the remainder of his life chiefly in literary labours, producing among other works a treatise on government, entitled "The Prince," the principles of which have established for him a notoriety wide as the civilised world (1469-1530).

MACHIAVELLISM, the doctrine taught by Machiavelli in "The Prince," that to preserve the integrity of a State the ruler should not feel himself bound by any scruple such as may suggest itself by considerations of justice and humanity; the State he regards as too precious an institution to endanger by scruples of that sort.

M'IVOR, FLORA, the heroine in Scott's "Waverley."

MACK, KARL, Austrian general, born in Franconia; notorious for his military incapacity and defeats; confronted by Napoleon at Ulm in 1805, he surrendered with 28,000 men without striking a blow; for this he was tried by court-martial, and sentenced to death, which was commuted to imprisonment for life, from which he was released at the end of a year (1752-1826).

MACKAY, CHARLES, journalist, novelist, and critic; wrote an autobiography entitled, "Forty Years' Recollections of Life, Literature, and Public Affairs"; was the father of Eric Mackay, author of "Love-Letters of a Violinist" (1814-1889).

MACKENZIE, SIR ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, composer, born at Edinburgh; studied in Germany and at the Royal Academy; was teacher and conductor in his native city from 1865 to 1878, lived thereafter in Italy; was made Principal of the Royal Academy of Music in 1887, and knighted in 1895; his opera "Colomba" (1883) first brought him fame; among his works, which are of every kind, his oratorio, "The Rose of Sharon" (1884), is reckoned best; b. 1847.

MACKENZIE, SIR GEORGE, eminent Scottish lawyer, born in Dundee; became King's Advocate for Scotland; wrote on law and on other subjects in a style which commended itself to such a critic as Dryden, though by his severe treatment of the Covenanters he earned in Scotland the opprobrious title of the "bluidy Mackenzie" (1636-1691).

MACKENZIE, HENRY, novelist, born in Edinburgh; bred to law; author of "The Man of Feeling," "The Man of the World," and "Julia de Roubigné," written in a sentimental style; held the office of Controller of Taxes in Scotland by favour of Pitt (1745-1831).

MACKENZIE RIVER, a river in N. America, rises in the Rocky Mountains; is fed by mighty streams in its course, and falls into the Arctic Ocean after a course of over 2000 m. in length.

M'KINLEY, WILLIAM, American statesman, of Scottish parentage; served in the Civil War; born at Niles, Ohio; entered Congress in 1877; made his mark as a zealous Protectionist; passed in 1890 a tariff measure named after him; was elected to Presidency as the champion of a sound currency in opposition to Mr. Bryan in November 1896; b. 1844.

MACKINTOSH, SIR JAMES, philosopher and politician, born in Inverness-shire; took his degree in medicine, but went to the London bar; was a Whig in politics; wrote "Vindiciæ Gallicæ" in reply to Burke's philippic; defended Peltier, Bonaparte's enemy, in a magnificent style, and contributed a masterly preliminary "Dissertation on Ethics" to the "Encyclopædia Britannica" (1763-1832).

MACLAREN, IAN (nom de plume of Rev. John Watson), born in Essex, of Scottish parents; studied in Edinburgh; was minister of the Free Church in Logiealmond and in Glasgow, and translated to Sefton Park Presbyterian Church, Liverpool, In 1880; wrote a series of idylls entitled "Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush," and a second series entitled "The Days of Auld Lang Syne"; both had a large circulation, and a number of other works, religious as well as fictitious; b. 1850.

MACLAURIN, COLIN, mathematician, born in Kilmoden, Argyllshire; was professor of Mathematics in Aberdeen and in Edinburgh; wrote a "Treatise on Fluxions," in defence of Newton against Berkeley, and an "Account of Newton's Discoveries"; did much to give an impetus to mathematical study in Scotland (1698-1746).

MACLEOD, NORMAN, liberal Scottish clergyman, born at Campbeltown, son of the manse; a genial, warm-hearted man; an earnest, powerful, and vigorous preacher, and a humorous writer; a visit to India in connection with missions shortened his days (1817-1872).

MACLISE, DANIEL, painter, born at Cork, of Scottish extraction; among his oil-paintings are "Mokanna Unveiling," "All Hallow Eve," "Bohemian Gipsies," and the "Banquet Scene in Macbeth," his last work being a series of cartoons painted in fresco for the palace of Westminster illustrative of the glories of England (1811-1870).

MACMAHON, DUKE OF MAGENTA, marshal of France, born at Sully, of Irish descent, second President of the third French republic from 1873 to 1879; distinguished himself in Algeria and at the Crimea, and took part in the Franco-German War to his defeat and capture (1808-1893).

MACPHERSON, JAMES, a Gaelic scholar, born in Ruthven, Inverness-shire; identified with the publication of the poems of Ossian, the originals of which he professed to have discovered in the course of a tour through the Highlands, and about the authenticity of which there has been much debate, though they were the making of his fortune; he was buried in Westminster Abbey at his own request and expense (1738-1796).

MACRAMÉ LACE, a coarse lace made of twine, used to decorate furniture generally.

MACREADY, WILLIAM CHARLES, English tragedian, born in London; he began his career as an actor in Birmingham in the character of Romeo, and was enthusiastically received on his first appearance in London; was distinguished for his impersonation of Shakespeare's characters, but suffered a good deal from professional rivalries; leased in succession Covent Garden and Drury Lane theatres with pecuniary loss, and when he took farewell of the stage he was entertained at a banquet, attended by a host of friends eminent in both art and literature (1793-1873).

MACROMETER, an optical instrument to determine the size or distance of inaccessible objects.

MACTURK, CAPTAIN HECTOR, "the man of peace" in "St. Ronan's Well."

MADAGASCAR (3,500), largest island in the world but two, in the Indian Ocean, 300 m. off the Mozambique coast, SE. Africa; is nearly three times the size of Great Britain, a plateau in the centre, with low, fertile, wooded ground round about; has many extinct volcanoes and active hot springs; the highest peak is Ankàratra (9000 ft.), in the centre; the NW. coast has some good harbours; there are 300 m. of lagoons on the E.; the biggest lake is Alaotra, and the rivers flow mostly W.; the climate is hot, with copious rains, except in the S.; rice, coffee, sugar, and vanilla are cultivated; many kinds of valuable timber grow in the forests, and these, with cattle, hides, and india-rubber, constitute the exports; gold, iron, copper, lead, and sulphur are found, and the natives are skilled in working metals; the Malagasys possess civilised institutions; slavery was abolished in 1879; a quarter of the population is Christian; the heathen section, though untruthful and immoral, are affectionate, courageous, and loyal; Antanànarìvo (100), the capital, is situated in the interior, and has many fine buildings; chief ports, Tamatave on the E. and Majunga on the NW. coasts; the island has been under French protection since 1890, and is a French colony since 1896.

MADEIRA (140), the chief of a group of small volcanic islands with precipitous coasts, in the Atlantic, 400 m. off Morocco; has peaks 6000 ft. high and deep picturesque ravines; the island is a favourite resort for consumptives; the climate is very mild and equable, the rainfall moderate, and the soil fertile; crops of cereals and potatoes are raised; oranges, lemons, grapes, figs, and bananas abound; Madeira wine is famous, and the chief export; Funchal (21) is the capital, with an exposed harbour and some good buildings; the islands form a province of Portugal.

MADEIRA RIVER (i. e. river of the wood), formed by the junction of the Mamoré and Beni on the borders of Bolivia and Brazil, flows 900 m. NE., and joins the Amazon, as an affluent its longest and largest, and forms a magnificent navigable waterway.

MADELEINE, CHURCH OF THE, one of the principal and wealthiest churches in Paris, erected in the style of a Greek temple, and the building of which, began in 1764, was not finished till 1842, both the interior and exterior of which has been adorned by the most distinguished artists.

MADGE WILDFIRE, a pretty but giddy girl in the "Heart of Midlothian," whom seduction and the murder of her child drove crazy.

MADISON, JAMES, American statesman and President, born at Port Conway, Virginia, educated at Princeton; devoted himself to politics in 1776; he took part in framing the Virginia constitution, and subsequently secured religious liberty in the State; with Jay and Hamilton he collaborated to establish the federation of the States and to frame the Federal Constitution; the "three-fifths" rule, which won the adhesion of the slave-holding States, was his suggestion; elected to the first Congress, he attached himself to Jefferson's party, and was Secretary of State during Jefferson's Presidency, 1801-1809; he succeeded his former leader and held office for two terms, during which the war of 1812-14 with England was waged; his public life closed with his term of office, 1817 (1751-1836).

MADMAN OF THE NORTH, Charles XII. of Sweden, so called from his temerity and impetuosity.

MADOC, a Welshman who, according to Welsh tradition, discovered America 300 years before Columbus, after staying in which for a time he returned, gave an account of what he had seen and experienced, and went back, but was never heard of more; his story has been amplified by Southey in an epic.

MADONNA is the name given to pictures of the Virgin with the infant Christ, and more generally to all sacred pictures in which the Virgin is a prominent figure; the Virgin has been a favourite subject of art from the earliest times, the first representation of her being, according to legend, by St. Luke; different countries and schools have depicted their Madonnas, each in its own characteristic style; the greatest of all are the Sistine and Della Sedia of Raphael.

MADRAS (35,630), one of the three Indian Presidencies, occupies the S. and E. of the peninsula, and is one-half as large again as Great Britain; the chief mountains are the Ghâts, from which flow SE. the Godavari, Kistna, and Kavari Rivers, which, by means of extensive irrigation works, fertilise the plains; climate is various; on the W. coast very hot and with a rainfall from June to October of 120 inches, producing luxurious vegetation; on the E. the heat is also great, but the rainfall, which comes chiefly between October and December, is only 40 inches; in the hill country, e. g. Ootacamund, the government summer quarters, it is genial and temperate all the year, and but for the monsoons the finest in the world; rice is everywhere the chief crop; cotton is grown in the E., tobacco in the Godavari region, tea, coffee, and cinchona on the hills, and sugar-cane in different districts; gold is found in Mysore (native State), and diamonds in the Karnul; iron abounds, but without coal; the teak forests are of great value; cotton, gunny-bags, sugar, and tiles are the chief manufactures; English settlements date from 1611; the population, chiefly Hindu, includes 2 million Mohammedans and ¾ million Christians; the chief towns are Rujumahendri (28), Vizugapatam (34), Trichinopoli (91), of cheroot fame, and Mangalore (41), on the W. coast, and the capital MADRAS (453), on the E., Coromandel, coast, a straggling city, hot but healthy, with an open roadstead, pier, and harbour exposed to cyclones, a university, examining body only, colleges of science, medicine, art, and agriculture, and a large museum; the chief exports are coffee, tea, cotton, and indigo.

MADRID (522), since 1561 the capital of Spain, on the Manzanares, a mere mountain torrent, on an arid plateau in New Castile, the centre of the peninsula; is an insanitary city, and liable to great extremes of temperature; it is regularly built, sometimes picturesque, with great open spaces, such as the Prado, 3 m. long; fine buildings and handsome streets. It contains the royal palace, parliament and law-court houses, a university, magnificent picture-gallery, many charitable institutions, and a bull-ring. The book-publishing, tapestry weaving, and tobacco industries are the most important. It is a growing and prosperous city.

MADRIGAL, a short lyric containing some pleasant thought or sweet sentiment daintily expressed; applied also to vocal music of a similar character.

MADVIG, JOHAN NICOLAI, Danish scholar and politician, born at Svaneke, Bornholm; studied at Copenhagen, where he became professor of Latin in 1829; his studies of the Latin prose authors brought him world-wide fame, and his Latin Grammar (1841) and Greek Syntax (1846) were invaluable contributions to scholarship; he entered parliament, was repeatedly its president, and was Liberal Minister of Education and Religion 1848 to 1851; he died blind (1804-1886).

MÆANDER, a river in Phrygia, flowing through the Plain of Troy, and noted for its numerous windings.

MÆCENAS, a wealthy Roman statesman, celebrated for his patronage of letters; was the friend and adviser of Augustus Cæsar, and the patron of Virgil and Horace; claimed descent from the ancient Etruscan kings; left the most of his property to Augustus; d. 8 B.C.

MAELSTRÖM. See MALSTRÖM.

MÆNADES, the priestesses of Bacchus, who at the celebration of his festivals gave way to expressions of frenzied enthusiasm, as if they were under the spell of some demonic power.

MÆONIDES, a name given to Homer, either as the son of Mæon, or as born, according to one tradition, in Mæonia.

MAESTRICHT (33), capital of Dutch Limburg, on the Maes, 57 m. E. of Brussels; has manufactures of glass, earthenware, and carpets; near it are the vast subterranean quarries of the Pietersberg, opened by the Romans.

MAETERLINCK, MAURICE, Belgian dramatist, born at Ghent; earned his fame by "La Princesse Maleine," produced in Paris 1890, and followed by "L'Intruse," "Les Aveugles," and several other plays; his essays show religious sympathies; b. 1864.

MAFEKING, a station in NE. of British Bechuanaland, on the Transvaal frontier, on the railway from Cape Town.

MAFFIA, a Sicilian secret society which aims at boycotting the law-courts, superseding the law, and ruling the island; its chief weapon is the boycott; violence is only resorted to for vengeance; funds are raised by blackmail; popular support enables it to control elections, avoid legal proceedings, and influence industrial questions. The Italian government try in vain to put it down.

MAGDALA, an Abyssinian hill fortress on a lofty plateau 300 m. S. of Massowah; captured by Lord Napier, who had been sent in 1868 to rescue certain British subjects held prisoners there, and which he succeeded in doing.

MAGDALENE, MARY, a Galilæan, belonging to Magdala, on the Sea of Galilee, who followed Christ, stood by the cross, prepared spices for His sepulchre, to whom He first appeared after His resurrection, and who is supposed by some recent critics to be the sole voucher for His rising again.

MAGDEBURG (202), on the Elbe, 75 m. SW. of Berlin, is the capital of Prussian Saxony, one of the most important fortresses, the chief sugar market of Germany, and the seat of large iron manufactures; it has also distilleries and cotton mills, and is a busy railway centre; it is a place of ancient date and historical interest.

MAGELLAN, FERDINAND, Portuguese navigator; served his country first in the East Indies and Morocco, but dissatisfied with King Manuel's treatment of him, offered himself to Spain; under Charles V.'s patronage he and Ruy Falero set out to reach the Moluccas by the west in 1519; he reached the Philippines, and died in battle in Matan; on this voyage he discovered the MAGELLAN STRAIT, 375 m. long and 15 m. wide, between the South American mainland and Tierra del Fuego; he gave name to the Pacific from the calm he exceptionally, it appears, experienced on entering it (1470-1521).

MAGELLANIC CLOUDS, two masses of stars and nebulæ seen in the southern hemisphere, not far from the South Pole.

MAGENDIE, FRANÇOIS, a celebrated French physiologist, born at Bordeaux; was the author of several works on physiology, made important discoveries in connection with the animal system, and was an unscrupulous vivisectionist (1783-1855).

MAGENTA (6), Italian town, 15 m. W. of Milan, where Macmahon defeated a superior Austrian force in 1859.

MAGGIORE, LAGO (i. e. the Greater Lake), a large lake in the N. of Italy, partly in Switzerland, 37 m. in length, and 8 m. in greatest breadth, the river Ticino flowing through it. THE BORROMEAN ISLANDS (q. v.) occupy a western arm of the lake.

MAGI, a priestly caste in the East, constituting the "learned" class, as the Druids in the West: the custodiers of religion and the rites connected therewith, and who gave themselves up to the study of sciences of a recondite character, but with a human interest, such as astrology and magic, and who were held in great reverence by, and exercised a great influence over, the people.

MAGI, THE THREE, the "wise men from the East" mentioned in Matt. ii.--Melchior, an old man, who brought gold, the emblem of royalty; Gaspar, a youth, who brought frankincense, the emblem of divinity; Balthazar, a Moor, who brought myrrh, the emblem of humanity--and who were eventually regarded as the patron saints of travellers.

MAGIC, the pretended art to which extraordinary and marvellous effects are ascribed, of evoking and subjecting to the human will supernatural powers, and of producing by means of them apparitions, incantations, cures, &c., and the practice of which we find prevailing in all superstitious ages of the world and among superstitious people. See SUPERSTITION.

MAGINN, WILLIAM, a witty, generous-hearted Irishman, born in Cork; a man of versatile ability, who contributed largely to Blackwood, and became editor of Fraser's Magazine, in the conduct of which latter he gathered round him as contributors a number of the most eminent literary men; the stories and verses he wrote gave signs of something like genius (1793-1842).

MAGLIABECCHI, an inordinate bookworm, born in Florence; became librarian of the Grand-Duke; his book-knowledge was as unbounded as his avidity for knowledge; his memory was extraordinary; he carried in his head the page of a passage in a book as well as the passage itself in the ipsissima verba, (1633-1714).

MAGNA CHARTA, "the great charter," extorted from King John by the barons of England at Runnymede on June 5, 1215, that guaranteed certain rights and privileges to the subjects of the realm, which were pronounced inviolable, and that established the supremacy of the law over the will of the monarch.

MAGNA GRÆCA, the ancient name of the southern part of Italy, so called in early times as it was extensively colonised by Greeks.

MAGNET, the name given to loadstone as first discovered in Magnesia, a town in Asia Minor; also to a piece of iron, nickel, or cobalt having similar properties, notably the power of setting itself in a definite direction; also a coil of wire carrying an electric current, because such a coil really possesses the properties characteristic of an iron magnet.

MAGNETIC INDUCTION, power in a magnet of imparting its qualities to certain other substances.

MAGNETISM, the branch of science devoted to the study of the properties of magnets, and of electric currents in their magnetic relations; sometimes also used to denote the subtle influence supposed to lie at the root of all magnetic phenomena, of the true nature of which nothing is known. See ANIMAL MAGNETISM.

MAGNIFICAT, THE, a musical composition embracing the song of the Virgin Mary in Luke I. 46-55, so called from the first word of the song in the Vulgate; it belongs to, and forms part of, the evening service.

MAGNUSSEN, FINN, a Scandinavian scholar and archæologist, born in Iceland; became professor of Literature at Copenhagen in 1815; distinguished for his translation and exposition of the "Elder Edda" (1781-1847).

MAGYARS, a people of Mongolian origin from the highlands of Central Asia that migrated westward and settled in Hungary and Transylvania, where they now form the dominant race.

MAHÂBHÂRATA, one of the two great epic poems of ancient India, a work of slow growth, extending through ages, and of an essentially encyclopædic character; one of the main sources of our knowledge of the ancient Indian religions and their mythologies; it is said to consist of upwards of 100,000 verses.

MAHÂDÊVA, the great god of the Hindus; an appellation of SIVA (q. v.), as Mahâdêvi is of Durgâ, his wife.

MAHÁNADÉ, a great Indian river which, after flowing eastward for over 500 m., the last 300 of which are navigable, falls into the Bay of Bengal near Cape Palmyras; its volume in flood is enormous, and renders it invaluable for irrigation.

MAHATMA, one who, according to the Theosophists, has passed through the complete cycle of incarnation, has thereby attained perfection of being, and acquired the rank of high priesthood and miraculous powers in the spirit world, one, it would seem, of "the spirits of just men made perfect."

MAHDI (i. e. religious leader), a name given to any Mohammedan fanatic who arises in the interest of the Mohammedan faith, summons the Moslems to war, and leads them to repel the infidel; a kind of Mohammed Messiah armed with the sword for the conquest of the world to the faith.

MAHDI, MOHAMMED AHMED, a Mohammedan fanatic, born in Dongola, and who, at the head of an army of dervishes, raised his standard for the revival of Islam in the Soudan; he was unsuccessfully opposed by the Egyptians, and Khartoum, occupied by them, fell into his hands, to the sacrifice of General Gordon, just as the British relief army under Lord Wolseley approached its walls in 1885, a few months after which he died at Omdurman.

MAHDISM, a hope cherished by devout Moslems of a Mahdi to come who will lead them on to victory against the infidel and to the conquest of the world.

MAHMUD II., Sultan of Turkey; crushed a rebellion on his accession by putting his brother to death, on whose behalf the janissaries had risen, as they afterwards did to their annihilation at his hands by wholesale massacre; by the victory of Navarino in 1827 he lost his hold of Greece, which declared its independence, and was near losing his suzerainty in Egypt when he died; his reign was an eventful one (1785-1839).

MAHOMET. See MOHAMMED.

MAHON, LORD, EARL STANHOPE, statesman and historian; wrote "History of the War of the Succession in Spain," "History of the Reign of Queen Anne," and "History of England from the Peace of Utrecht to the Peace of Versailles" (1805-1875).

MAHONY, FRANCIS, an Irish priest, born in Cork, who took to journalism, and is known by his nom de plume of Father Prout; contributed to Fraser's Magazine, and was foreign correspondent to the Daily News and the Globe; was famous for his elegant translations (1804-1866).

MAHOUN, a contemptuous name for Mahomet, transferred in Scotland to the devil, who was called Old Mahoun.

MAHRATTAS, a warlike Hindu race in Central India, occupying a territory watered by the Nerbudda, Godavari, and Kistna, who at one time kept up a struggle for the supremacy of India with the British, but were finally subdued in 1843.

MAÏ, ANGELO, cardinal, distinguished scholar and editor; became librarian of the Vatican; was distinguished for deciphering PALIMPSESTS (q. v.), and thus disclosing lost classical works or fragments of them; he edited a number of unedited MSS. which he found in the Vatican, and in particular the Vatican codex of the Bible (1782-1854).

MAIA, the daughter of Atlas, the eldest of the seven PLEIADES (q. v.), and the mother by Zeus of Hermes or Mercury.

MAID MARIAN, a man dressed as a woman who grimaced and performed antics in the morris dances.

MAID OF NORWAY, daughter of Eric II., king of Norway, and through her mother heiress to the Scottish crown; died on her passage to Scotland in 1240.

MAID OF ORLEANS, Joan of Arc, so called from her defence of Orleans against the English. See JOAN.

MAIDEN, THE, a sort of guillotine that appears to have been in use in Scotland during the 15th and 16th centuries, of which there is one in the Antiquarian Museum, Edinburgh.

MAIDMENT, JAMES, antiquary and collector, born in London; passed through Edinburgh University to the Scotch bar, and was chief authority on genealogical cases; his hobby was the collection of literary rarities, and he published editions of ancient literary remains; he died at Edinburgh (1794-1879).

MAIDSTONE (32), county town of Kent, on the Medway, 30 m. SE. of London; has several fine old churches and historical buildings, a grammar school and a school of art and music, numerous paper-mills, and breweries, and does a large trade in hops; Woollett the engraver and Hazlitt the essayist were born here.

MAIMON, SOLOMON, philosopher, born, of Jewish parents, in a village of Minsk; came to Berlin, where he studied, lived an eccentric, vagabond life, dependent mostly on his friends; made the acquaintance of Kant and Goethe, and attempted and published an eclectic system of philosophy in 1790, being Kant's system supplemented from Spinoza, Leibnitz, and Locke, and even Hume; his last patron was Count Kalkreuth, at whose house in Siegersdorf he died (1754-1800).

MAIMONIDES, MOSES, a Jewish rabbi, born at Cordova, whom the Jews regarded as their Plato, and called the "Lamp of Israel" and the "Eagle of the doctors"; was a man of immense learning, and was physician to the Sultan of Egypt; in his relation to the Jews he ranks next to Moses, and taught them to interpret their religion in the light of reason; he wrote a "Commentary on the Mishna and the Second Law," but his chief work is the "Moreh Nebochim," or "Guide to the Perplexed" (1135-1204).

MAINE (662), the most north-easterly State in the American Union, lies between Quebec and New Hampshire on the W. and New Brunswick and the Atlantic on the E., and is a little larger than Ireland, a picturesque State with high mountains in the W., Katahdin (5000 ft), many large lakes like Moosehead, numerous rivers, and a much indented rocky coast; the climate is severe but healthy, the soil only in some places fertile, the rainfall is abundant; dense forests cover the north; hay, potatoes, apples, and sweet corn are chief crops; cotton, woollen, leather manufactures, lumber working, and fruit canning are principal industries; the fisheries are valuable; timber, building stone, cattle, wool, and in winter ice are exported; early Dutch, English, and French settlements were unsuccessful till 1630; from 1651 Maine was part of Massachusetts, till made a separate State in 1820; the population is English-Puritan and French-Canadian in origin; education is advancing; the State's Liquor Law of 1851 was among the first of the kind: the capital is Augusta (11); Portland (36) is the largest city and chief seaport; Lewiston (22) has cotton manufactures.

MAINE, SIR HENRY, English jurist, legal member of the Council in India, and professor of Jurisprudence at Oxford; wrote on "Ancient Law," and important works on ancient institutions generally; regarded the social system as a development of the patriarchal system (1822-1888).

MAINTENANCE, CAP OF, an ermine-lined, crimson velvet cap, the wearing of which was a distinction granted first to dukes but subsequently to various other families.

MAINTENON, FRANÇOISE D'AUBIGNÉ, MARQUISE DE, born in the prison of Niort, where her father was incarcerated as a Protestant; though well inoculated with Protestant principles she turned a Catholic, married the poet Scarron in 1652, became a widow in 1660; was entrusted with the education of the children of Louis XIV. and Madame de Montespan; supplanted the latter in the king's affections, and was secretly married to him in 1684; she exercised a great influence over him, not always for good, and on his death in 1715 retired into the Convent of St. Cyr, which she had herself founded for young ladies of noble birth but in humble circumstances (1635-1719).

MAINZ or MAYENCE (72), in Hesse-Darmstadt, on the Rhine, opposite the mouth of the Main, is an important German fortress and one of the oldest cities in Germany; it has a magnificent cathedral, restored in 1878, and is a stronghold of Catholicism; a large transit trade is done, and the making of furniture, leather goods, and machinery are important industries; Gutenberg was a native.

MAISTRE, COUNT, JOSEPH DE, a keen and extreme Ultramontanist, born at Chambéry, of a noble French family; accompanied the king of Sardinia in his retreat while the French occupied Savoy in 1792; was ambassador at St. Petersburg from 1803 to 1817, when he was recalled to the home government at Turin; wrote numerous works, the chief "Du Pape" and "Soirées de St. Petersbourg" (1753-1821).

MAITLAND, WILLIAM, Scottish politician and reformer, the Secretary Lethington of Queen Mary's reign; played a prominent part in the various movements of his time, but gained the confidence of no party; he adhered to the party of Moray as against the extreme measures of Knox, and proved a highly astute ambassador at the English Court; he connived at Rizzio's murder, but regained Mary's favour, and when she fled to England he, though joining with the new government, acted in her interest and formed a party to restore her to power; he and Kirkcaldy of Grange were forced to surrender, however, at Edinburgh in 1573, and Maitland afterwards died in Leith prison (1525-1573).

MAJOLICA, a kind of enamelled pottery imported into Italy from Majorca, known also as faience from its manufacture at Faenza, and applied also to vessels made of coloured clay in imitation.

MAJORCA (234), the largest of the Balearic Isles, is 130 m. NE. of Cape San Antonio, in Spain; mountains in the N. rise to 5000 ft., their slopes covered with olives, oranges, and vines; the plains are extremely fertile, and the climate mild and equable; manufactures of cotton, silk, and shoes are the industries; the capital, PALMA (61), is on the S. coast, at the head of a large bay of the same name.

MAJUSCULE, a capital letter found in old Latin MSS. in and before the 6th century.

MAKRIZI, TAKI-ED-DIN AHMED EL-, greatest Arabic historian of Egypt, born at Cairo; studied philosophy and theology, and in 1385 won the green turban; occupied several political and ecclesiastical offices; went to Damascus in 1408, but returning to Cairo devoted himself to history, and published among other works an important "History of Egypt and Cairo" (1364-1442).

MALABAR (2,653), a district in the W. of Madras, sloping from the Ghâts down to the Indian Ocean, very rainy, covered with vast forests of teak; produces rice, coffee, and pepper.

MALACCA is a name given to the whole Malay Peninsula, that remarkable tongue of land 44 to 210 m. wide, stretching 800 m. SE. from Burma between the Strait of Malacca and the Gulf of Siam; mountain ranges 7000 ft. high from the backbone; along the coast are deep mangrove swamps; the plains between yield rice, sugar-cane, cotton, and tobacco; there are forests of teak, camphor, ebony, and sandal-wood, and the richest tin mines in the world; the climate is unhealthy; the northern portion is Siamese, the southern constitutes the British Straits Settlements, of which one, on the W. coast, is specifically called MALACCA (92); it exports tin and tapioca; the capital, MALACCA (20), 120 m. NW. of Singapore, was the scene of Francis Xavier's labours.

MALACHI, a prophetic book of the Old Testament, the author of which is otherwise unknown, as the name, which means the "Messenger of Jehovah," occurs nowhere else in the Bible, and it is a question whether the name is that of a person or a mere appellative; the prophecy it contains appears to have been uttered 420 B.C., and refers to abuses which came to a head between the first and second visits of Nehemiah to Jerusalem; it lacks the old prophetic fire, and gives the impression that the prophetic office is ended.

MALACHY, ST., archbishop of Armagh in the 12th century; was a friend of St. Bernard's, who wrote his Life and in whose arms he died at Clairvaux; was renowned for his sanctity as well as learning; a book of prophecies ascribed to him bearing on the Roman pontiffs is a forgery.

MALADETTA, MOUNT (i. e. the accursed), the name of the highest summit of the Pyrenees, 11,168 ft. high, in NE. of Zaragoza.

MALAGA (132), Spanish seaport, 65 m. NE. of Gibraltar, an ancient Phoenician town, is now an important but declining centre of commerce; it exports olive-oil, wine, raisins, lead, &c., and manufactures cotton, linen, machinery, fine-art pottery, &c.; its magnificent climate makes it an excellent health resort.

MALAGROWTHER, an old courtier in the "Fortunes of Nigel" soured by misfortune, and who would have every one be as discontented as himself.

MALAISE, an uneasy feeling which often precedes a serious attack of some disease.

MALAPROP, MRS., a character in Sheridan's "Rivals," noted for her blunders in the use of fine or learned words, as in the use of "allegory" for "alligator."

MÄLAR LAKE, large and beautiful Swedish lake, stretching 80 m. westward from Stockholm; its shores are deeply indented with bays, and the surrounding hills as well as the thousand islands it contains are well wooded.

MALAY ARCHIPELAGO or INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO is that group of many hundred islands stretching from the Malay Peninsula SE. to Australia between the North Pacific and the Indian Ocean, of which Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and Celebes are the largest.

MALAYS, a branch of the human family now classed among the Mongols, and which inhabit the Malay Peninsula, the islands of the Indian Archipelago, as well as Madagascar, and many of the islands in the Pacific; they are of a dark-brown or tawny complexion, short of stature, have flat faces, black coarse hair, and high cheek-bones; there are three classes of them, distinguished from each other in character and habits of life; the more civilised of them are Mohammedans.

MALCOLM, SIR JOHN, Indian soldier and statesman, born in Dumfriesshire; went as cadet to the Madras army in 1785, and for over 30 years was an important figure in Eastern affairs; he was ambassador to Persia 1800, governor of Mysore 1803, again in Persia as plenipotentiary in 1807 and 1810, political agent in the Deccan 1817, and governor of Bombay 1827-30; he distinguished himself also in several wars; wrote "A History of Persia" and other historical works, and returning to England entered Parliament in 1831, opposed to the Reform Bill; two years later he died in London (1769-1833).

MALCOLM CANMORE, son of Duncan, whom Macbeth slew, succeeded his father in 1040 as king of Cumbria and Lothian, and in 1057, on Macbeth's death, became king of all Scotland; till 1066 his reign was peaceful, but thereafter it was one long conflict with the Normans in England; raids and counter-raids succeeded each other till, in 1091, Malcolm was forced to do homage to William Rufus; next year he lost his possessions S. of the Solway, and in 1093 he was slain in battle at Alnwick; the influence of his second wife, the saintly Margaret, did much to promote the civilisation of Scotland and to bring the Scottish Church into harmony with the rest of Christendom.

MALDIVE ISLANDS (20), a chain of several hundred tiny coral islands in the Indian Ocean stretching 550 m. southward from a point 300 m. SW. of Cape Comorin, 200 of which are inhabited; Malé is the residence of the sultan, who is a tributary of the governor of Ceylon; the natives are akin to the Singhalese, and occupy themselves gathering cowries, cocoa-nuts, and tortoise-shell for exportation.

MALEBOLGE, the name given to the eighth circle in Dante's "Inferno," as consisting of "evil pits," which the name means, 10 in number, for those guilty of frauds: contains (1) seducers, (2) flatterers, (3) simonists, (4) soothsayers, (5) bribers and receivers of bribes, (6) hypocrites, (7) robbers, (8) evil advisers, (9) slanderers, (10) forgers.

MALEBRANCHE, NICHOLAS, a French metaphysician, born in Paris; determined to embrace a monastic life, entered the congregation of the Oratory at the age of 22, and devoted himself to theological study, till the treatise of Descartes on "Man" falling into his hands, he gave himself up to philosophy; his famous work "De la Recherche de la Vérité" was published in 1673, the main object of which was to bridge over the gulf which separates mind from matter by the establishment of the thesis that the mind immediately perceives God, and sees all things in God, who in Himself includes the presumed irreconcilable antithesis (1638-1715).

MALESHERBES, LAMOIGNON DE, French statesman, born in Paris; a good and upright man; was twice over called to be one of Louis XVI.'s advisers, but his advice was not taken and he retired; defended Louis at his trial; pled for him "with eloquent want of eloquence, in broken sentences, in embarrassment and sobs," and was guillotined for it; he had been censor of the press, and to his liberal-minded censorship the world owes the publication of the "Encyclopédie" (1721-1794).

MALHERBE, FRANÇOIS DE, a French lyric poet and miscellaneous writer of great industry, born at Caen, is, from his correct though affected style, regarded as one of the reformers of the French language (1555-1628).

MALIGNANTS, the advisers of Charles I., chief among whom were Strafford and Laud; were so called by the Parliamentarians, who blamed them for the evils of the country; the name was afterwards applied to the whole Royalist party.

MALINES or MECHLIN (52), a Belgian city on the Dyle, 14 m. S. of Antwerp; has lost its old commercial activity, and is now the quiet ecclesiastical capital; masterpieces of Van Dyck and Rubens adorn its churches.

MALINGERING, a name given in the army to the crime of feigning illness to evade duty or obtain a discharge.

MALLET, DAVID, originally MALLOCH, Scottish littérateur, born in Crieff; wrote several plays, and is remembered for his ballad entitled "William and Margaret"; he was a friend of Thomson, and divided with him the honour of the authorship of "Rule Britannia," the merit of which, however, is more in the music than in the poetry, about which they contested (1702-1765).

MALLOCK, WILLIAM HURRELL, author, born in Devonshire, educated at Oxford; published "The New Republic," 1876, a masterly satire on prominent contemporaries, which none of his subsequent work has excelled; b. 1849.

MALMAISON, a historical château 10 m. W. of Paris; belonged originally to Richelieu; saw the last days of Joséphine, whose favourite residence it was, and was the scene of the repulse of Ducrot's sortie in October 1870.

MALMESBURY, WILLIAM OF, an English chronicler of the 12th century; his chief work "Gesta Regum Anglorum" and "Gesta Pontificum Anglorum," followed by his "Historia Novella."

MALMÖ (50), important seaport and third town of Sweden, opposite Copenhagen; ships farm produce, cement, and timber; imports machinery, textile fabrics, and coffee; has cigar and sugar factories, and some shipbuilding.

MALONE, EDMUND, a Shakespearian critic and editor, born in Dublin, was a stickler for literary accuracy and honesty (1741-1812).

MALORY, SIR THOMAS, flourished in the 15th century; was the author of "Morte d'Arthur," being a translation in prose of a labyrinthine selection of Arthurian legends, which was finished in the ninth year of Edward IV., and printed fifteen years after by Caxton "with all care."

MALPIGHI, MARCELLO, Italian anatomist and professor of Medicine; noted for his discovery of the corpuscles of the kidney and the spleen, named after him (1628-1694).

MALSTRÖM, or MAELSTRÖM, a dangerous whirlpool off the coast of Norway, caused by the rushing of the currents of the ocean in a channel between two of the Loffoden Islands, and intensified at times by contrary winds, to the destruction often of particularly small craft caught in the eddies of it, and sometimes of whales attempting to pass through it.

MALTA (with Gozo) (177), a small British island in the Mediterranean, 80 m. S. of Sicily; is a strongly fortified and a most important naval station, head-quarters of the British Mediterranean fleet, and coaling-station for naval and mercantile marine; with a history of great interest, Malta was annexed to Britain in 1814. The island is treeless, and with few streams, but fertile, and has many wells. Wheat, potatoes, and fruit are largely cultivated, and filigree work and cotton manufactured. The people are industrious and thrifty; population is the densest in Europe. The Roman Catholic Church is very powerful. There is a university at Valetta, and since 1887 Malta has been self-governing.

MALTEBRUN, CONRAD, geographer, born in Denmark; studied in Copenhagen, but banished for his revolutionary sympathies; settled in Paris; was the author of several geographical works, his "Geographic Universelle" the chief (1775-1826).

MALTHUS, THOMAS R., an English economist, born near Dorking, in Surrey; is famous as the author of an "Essay on the Principle of Population," of which the first edition appeared in 1798, and the final, greatly enlarged, in 1803; the publication provoked much hostile criticism, as it propounded a doctrine which was disastrous to the accepted theory of perfectibility, and which aimed at showing how the progress of the race was held in check by the limited supply of the means of subsistence, a doctrine that admittedly anticipated that struggle for life on a larger scale which the Darwinian hypothesis requires for its "survival of the fittest" (1766-1834).

MALVERN, GREAT (6), a watering-place in Worcestershire, on the side of the Malvern Hills, with a clear and bracing air, a plentiful supply of water, and much frequented by invalids.

MAMBRINO, a Moorish king, celebrated in the romances of chivalry, who possessed a helmet of pure gold which rendered the wearer of it invulnerable, the possession of which was the ambition of all the paladins of Charlemagne, and which was carried off by Rinaldo, who slew the original owner; Cervantes makes his hero persuade himself that he has found it in a barber's brass basin.

MAMELUKES, originally slaves from the regions of the Caucasus, captured in war or bought in the market-place, who became the bodyguard of the Sultan in Egypt, and by-and-by his master to the extent of ruling the country and supplying a long line of Sultans of their own election from themselves, many of them enlightened rulers, governing the country well, but their supremacy was crushed by the Sultan of Turkey in 1517; after this, however, they retained much of their power, and they offered a brilliant resistance to Bonaparte at the battle of the Pyramids in 1798, who defeated them; but recovering their power after his withdrawal and proving troublesome, they were by two treacherous massacres annihilated in 1811 by Mehemet Ali, who became Viceroy of Egypt under the Porte.

MAMMON, the Syrian god of riches, which has given name to the modern passion for material wealth, specially conceived of as an abnegation of Christianity, the profession of which is in flat antagonism to it.

MAMMOTH, an extinct species of elephant of enormous size found fossilised in Northern Europe and Asia in deposits alongside of human remains, and yielding a supply of fossil ivory.

MAMMOTH CAVE, a cave in Kentucky, U.S., about 10 m., the largest in the world, and rising at one point to 300 ft. in height, with numerous side branches leading into grottoes traversed by rivers, which here and there collect into lakes; name also of another of smaller dimensions in California.

MAN, ISLE OF (56), a small island in the Irish Sea, 35 m. W. of Cumberland and about the same distance E. of Co. Down; from its equable climate and picturesque scenery is a favourite holiday resort; it has important lead mines at Laxey and Foxdale; fishing and cattle-grazing are profitable industries; the people are Keltic, with a language and government of their own; the island is a bishopric, with the title Sodor and Man.

MAN OF DESTINY, name given to Napoleon Bonaparte as reflecting his own belief, for he was a fatalist.

MAN OF FEELING, the title of a novel by Henry Mackenzie, frequently applied to himself as well as his hero.

MAN OF ROSS, John Kyrle, a public-spirited gentleman, immortalised by Pope from the name of his parish in Hereford. See KYRLE.

MAN OF SIN, name given in 2 Thess. ii. 3 to the incarnation at the height of its pride of the spirit of Antichrist, synchronous with the day of its fall.

MANASSEH-BEN-ISRAEL, a Jewish rabbi, born at Lisbon; settled at Amsterdam; wrote several works in the interest of Judaism (1604-1659).

MANBY, CAPTAIN, a militia officer, born in Norfolk; was inventor of the apparatus for saving shipwrecked persons, and by means of which he saved the lives of nearly a thousand persons himself (1765-1854).

MANCHA, LA, an ancient province of Spain, afterwards included in New Castile, the greater part of which is occupied by Ciudad-Real; it is memorable as the scene of Don Quixote's adventures.

MANCHE, LA, the French name for the English Channel, so called from its resemblance to a sleeve, which the word in French means.

MANCHESTER (505), on the Irwell, in the SE. of Lancashire, 30 m. E. of Liverpool, the centre of the English cotton manufacturing district, with many other textile and related industries, is an ancient, rich, and prosperous city; it has many fine buildings, including a Gothic Town Hall and Assize Court-House by Waterhouse; there is a picture-gallery, philosophic and other institutions, and technical school; Owens College is the nucleus of Victoria University; the substitution of steam for hand power began here about 1750; the industrial struggles in the beginning of the 19th century were severe, and included the famous "Peterloo massacre"; the Anti-Corn-Law League originated in Manchester, and Manchester has given its name to a school of Liberal politicians identified with the advocacy of peace abroad, free trade, no government interference with industry, and laissez-faire principles at home; the Bridgewater Canal 1762, the railway 1830, and the Ship Canal to the mouth of the Mersey 1894, mark steps in the city's progress; since 1888 Manchester with Salford (198), on the opposite bank of the Irwell, have formed a county.

MANCHESTER, EDWARD MONTAGU, EARL OF, English statesman and general, eldest son of the first earl; sided with the Parliament in the Civil War, and commanded in the army, but was censured by Cromwell for his slackness at Newbury, which he afterwards resented by opposing the policy of the Protector; he contributed to the restoration of Charles II., and was in consequence made Lord Chamberlain (1602-1671).

MANCHURIA (21,000), a Chinese province lying between Mongolia and Corea, with the Amur River on the N. and the Yellow Sea on the S., is five times the size of England and Wales; the northern, central, and eastern parts are mountainous; the Sungari is the largest river; the soil is fertile, producing large crops of millet, maize, hemp, &c., but the climate in winter is severe; pine forests abound; the country is rich in gold, silver, coal, and iron, but they are little wrought; beans, silk, skins and furs are exported; the imports include textiles, metals, paper, and opium; the Manchus are the aristocracy of the province; Chinese settlers are industrious and prosperous; the chief towns are Moukden (250) in the S., Kirin (75) on the Sungari, and New-Chwang (60) on the Liao River, a treaty-port since 1858; Russian influence predominates in the province since 1890.

MANDÆANS, a community found working as skilled artisans in the Persian province of Khuzistan, and in Basra on the Euphrates; are a religious sect; called also Sabians, and holding tenets gathered from Christian, Jewish, and heathen sources, resembling those of the ancient Gnostics; their priesthood admits women; their chief rite is baptism, and hence their old name, Christians of St. John the Baptist.

MANDALAY (189), capital of Upper Burma, on the Irawadi, in the centre of the country, 360 m. N. of Rangoon; was seized by the British in 1885. The Aracan Pagoda, with a brazen image of the Buddha, attracts many pilgrims, and Buddhist monasteries cluster outside the town. There are silk-weaving, gold, silver, ivory, and wood work, gong-casting and sword-making industries. Great fires raged in it in 1886 and 1892.

MANDARIN, the name given by foreigners, derived from the Portuguese, signifying to "command," to Chinese official functionaries, of which there are some nine orders, distinguished by the buttons on their caps, and they are appointed chiefly for their possession of the requisite qualifications for the office they aspire to.

MANDEVILLE, BERNARD DE, a cynical writer, born at Dordrecht, Holland; bred to medicine; came to London to practise; wrote in racy English the "Fable of the Bees," intended to show, as Stopford Brooke says, how the "vices of society are the foundation of civilisation," or as Professor Saintsbury says, how "vice makes some bees happy, and virtue makes them miserable"; the latter calls him "The Diogenes of English Philosophy"; he affirmed that "private vices are public benefits," and reduced virtue into a form of selfishness; his satire is directed against the ethics of SHAFTESBURY (q. v.) (1670-1733).

MANDEVILLE, SIR JOHN, English adventurer, named of St. Albans, who from his own account travelled over thirty years in the East, and wrote a narrative of the marvels he experienced in a book of voyages and travels published in 1356; the authorship of this book has been questioned, but on this point there is no doubt that, as Professor Saintsbury says, "it is the first book of belles-lottres in English prose."

MANDINGOES, a negro race in Senegambia, and farther inland around the Quorra; are numerous and powerful, and arranged in separate nationalities so to speak.

MANES, the general name given by the Romans to the departed spirits of good men, who are conceived of as dwelling in the nether world, and as now and again ascending to the upper.

MANES, MANI, or MANICHÆANS, the founder of the MANICHÆANS (q. v.), a native of Persia, and who died A.D. 274.

MANETHO, an Egyptian priest and historian, of the 3rd century B.C.; wrote a history of Egypt in Greek, derived from study of sacred monumental inscriptions, which is extant only in fragments.

MANFRED, king of the Two Sicilies, son of the Emperor Frederick II., who had to struggle for his birthright with three Popes, Innocent IV., Alexander IV., and Urban IV., the last of whom having excommunicated him, as his predecessors had done, and bestowed his dominions on Charles of Anjou, in conflict with whom at Benevento he fell, and who denied him Christian burial, though his nobles pled with him to grant it (1231-1266).

MANFRED, COUNT, hero of a poem of Byron's; sold himself to the Prince of Darkness; lived in solitude on the Alps, estranged from all sympathy with others, and was carried off in the end by the master whom he had served.

MANHATTAN, a long island at the mouth of the Hudson, on which a great part of New York stands.

MANICHÆISM, the creed which ascribes the created universe to two antagonistic principles, the one essentially good--God, spirit, light; the other essentially evil--the devil, matter, darkness; and this name is applied to every system founded on the like dualism. Mani, the founder of it, appears to have borrowed his system in great part from Zoroaster.

MANILA (270), capital of the Philippine Islands; at the head of a great bay on the W. coast of Luzon; is hot, but not unhealthy; suffers severely from storms and earthquakes, and is largely built of wood. It has a cathedral, university, and observatory. Its only industry is cigar-making, but the exports include also manila hemp, sugar, and coffee. The population, chiefly Tagals, includes 25,000 Chinese, many Spaniards and Europeans. In the Spanish-American War of 1898 Admiral Dewey captured the city.

MANIN, DANIEL, an illustrious Italian patriot, born at Venice, of Jewish birth; bred for the bar, and practised at it; became President of the Venetian Republic in 1848, and was one of the most distinguished opponents of the domination of Austria; died at Paris, a teacher of Italian (1804-1857).

MANITO`BA (193), a partially developed inland province of Canada, somewhat larger than England and Wales; is square in shape, with the United States on its S. border, Assiniboia on the W., Saskatchewan and Keewatin on the N., and Ontario on the E.; a level prairie and arable country, scantily wooded but well watered, having three large lakes, Winnipeg, Winnipegosis, and Manitoba, and three large rivers, Assiniboine, Souris, and Red River. The climate is dry and healthy, though subject to great extremes of temperature; comparatively little snow falls; the soil is very fertile; mixed farming, dairy, cattle, and sheep farming are carried on successfully. Land is cheap, and the government still makes free grants of 160-acre lots. There is no mineral wealth; coal is found in the S.; fishing is pursued on the lakes and rivers. Constituted a province in 1870, Manitoba was the scene of the Riel rebellion, quelled that same year. The government is vested in a lieutenant-governor, an executive council, and a single chamber of 40 members. In the Dominion Government the province is represented by four members of Senate and five members of the Commons. The capital is Winnipeg (26), the seat of a university and of extensive flour-mills. The other chief towns are Brandon (4), a market town, and Portage-la-Prairie (4), with a brewery, flour, and paper mills.

MANITOU, among the North American Indians an animal revealed to the head of a tribe as the guardian spirit of it, and an object of sacred regard. See TOTEMISM.

MANLIUS, CAPITOLINUS, a Roman hero who, in 390 B.C., saved Rome from an attack of the Gauls, and who was afterwards for treason thrown down the Tarpeian Rock.

MANN, HORACE, American educationist, born in Massachusetts; was devoted to the cause of education as well as that of anti-slavery (1790-1859).

MANNA, the food with which the Israelites were miraculously fed in the wilderness, a term which means "What is this?" being the expression of surprise of the Israelites on first seeing it.

MANNHEIM (79), on the right bank of the Rhine, 55 m. above Mainz; the chief commercial centre of Baden; has manufactures of tobacco, india-rubber, and iron goods, and a growing river trade. An old historical city, it was formerly capital of the Rhenish Palatinate, and a resort of Protestant refugees.

MANNING, HENRY EDWARD, cardinal, born in Hertfordshire; Fellow of Merton, Oxford, and a leader in the Tractarian Movement there; became rector in Sussex; married, and became Archdeacon of Chichester; his wife being dead, and dissatisfied with the state of matters in the Church of England, in 1851 joined the Church of Rome, became Archbishop of Westminster in 1865, and Cardinal in 1875; took interest in social matters as well as the Catholic propaganda; a too candid "Life" has been written of him since his decease, which has created much controversy (1808-1892).

MANS, LE (53), capital of French department of Sarthe, on the river Sarthe, 170 m. SW. of Paris; has a magnificent cathedral; is an important railway centre, and has textile and hosiery factories. It was the scene of a great French defeat in January 1871.

MANSARD, the name of two French architects, born in Paris--FRANÇOIS, who constructed the Bank of France (1598-1666), and JULES HARDOUN, his grand-nephew, architect of the dome of the Invalides and of the palace and chapel of Versailles (1645-1708).

MANSEL, HENRY LONGUEVILLE, dean of St. Paul's, born in Northamptonshire; wrote admirably on philosophical and religious subjects, and was a doughty adversary in controversy both with Mill and Maurice; he was a follower in philosophy of SIR WILLIAM HAMILTON (q. v.) (1820-1871).

MANSFIELD (16), market-town of Notts, 14 m. N. of Nottingham, in the centre of a mining district, with iron and lace-thread manufactures.

MANSFIELD, WILLIAM MURRAY, EARL OF, Lord Chief-Justice of England, born in Perth, called to the bar in 1730; distinguished himself as a lawyer, entered Parliament in 1743, and became Solicitor-General, accepted the chief-justiceship in 1756; was impartial as a judge, but unpopular; raised to the peerage in 1776, and resigned his judgeship in 1789 (1704-1793).

MANSFIELD COLLEGE, Oxford, a theological college established there for the education of students intended for the Nonconformist ministry, though open to other classes; the buildings were opened in 1889.

MANSION HOUSE, the official residence of the Lord Mayor of London, erected in 1739 at a cost of £42,638, with a banqueting-room capable of accommodating 400 guests.

MANTEGNA, ANDREA, an Italian painter and engraver, born at Padua; his works were numerous, did atlas pieces and frescoes, his greatest "The Triumph of Cæsar"; he was a man of versatile genius, was sculptor and poet as well as painter, and his influence on Italian art was great (1430-1504).

MANTELL, GIDEON, an eminent English geologist and palæontologist, born at Lewes, in Sussex; wrote "The Wonders of Geology," "Thoughts on a Pebble," &c.; he was a voluminous author, and distinguished for his study of fossils (1790-1852).

MANTEUFFEL, BARON VON, field-marshal of Germany, born in Dresden; entered the Prussian army in 1827, rose rapidly, and took part in all the wars from 1866 to 1872, and was appointed viceroy at the close of the last in Alsace-Lorraine, a rather unhappy appointment, as it proved (1809-1885).

MANTRA, the name given to hymns from the Veda, the repetition of which are supposed to have the effect of a charm.

MANTUA (28), the strongest fortress in Italy, in SE. Lombardy, on two islands in the river Mincio, 83 m. E. of Milan, is a somewhat gloomy and unhealthy town, with many heavy mediæval buildings; there are saltpetre refineries, weaving and tanning industries. Virgil was born here in 70 B.C. The town was Austrian in the 18th century, but ceded to Italy 1866.

MANTUAN SWAN, a name given to the Roman poet Virgil, from his having been a native of Mantua, in N. Italy.

MANU, CODE OF, one of the sacred books of the Hindus, in which is expounded the doctrine of Brahminism, inculcating "sound, solid, and practical morality," and containing evidence of the progress of civilisation among the Aryans from their first establishment in the valley of the Ganges. Manu, the alleged author, appears to have been a primitive mythological personage, conceived of as the ancestor and legislator of the human race, and as having manifested himself through long ages in a series of incarnations.

MANZONI, ALESSANDRO, Italian poet and novelist, born at Milan; began a sceptic, but became a devout Catholic; wrote a volume of hymns, entitled "Inni Sacri," and a tragedy, "Adelchi," his masterpiece, and admired by Goethe, as also a prose fiction, "I Promessi Sposi," which spread his name over Europe; in 1860 was made a senator of the kingdom of Italy, and was visited by Garibaldi in 1862; he was no less distinguished as a man than as an author (1780-1875).

MAORIS, the natives of New Zealand, a Polynesian race numbering 40,000, who probably displaced an aboriginal; are distinguished for their bravery; are governed by chiefs, and speak a rich sonorous language; they are the most vigorous and energetic of all the South Sea islanders.

MAR, a district in S. Aberdeenshire, between the Don and the Dee, has given a title to many earls; one was regent of Scotland in 1572, another, nicknamed "Bobbing Joan," led the Jacobite rising of 1715; on the death without issue of the earl in 1866 the question of succession was at issue; the Committee of Privileges granted it to his cousin, the Earl of Kellie, thereafter Mar and Kellie, and a Bill in Parliament awarding it to his nephew, who is thus Earl of Mar.

MARABOUTS, a sect of religious devotees of a priestly order much venerated in North Africa, believed to possess supernatural power, particularly in curing diseases, and exercising at times considerable political influence; their supernatural power appears to come to them by inheritance.

MARACAYBO (34), a Venezuelan town and fortress on the W. shore of the outlet of Lake Maracaybo; has handsome streets and buildings, and exports coffee and valuable woods; the lake of Maracaybo is a large fresh-water lake in the W. of Venezuela, connected with the Gulf of Maracaybo by a wide strait, across which stretches an effective bar.

MARANATHA (lit. the Lord cometh to judge), a form of anathema in use among the Jews.

MARAÑON, one of the head-waters of the Amazon, rising in Lake Lauricocha, Peru, and flowing N. and E. till it joins the Ucayali and forms the Amazon; the name is sometimes given to the whole river.

MARAT, JEAN PAUL, a fanatical democrat, born in Neuchâtel, his father an Italian, his mother a Genevese; studied and practised medicine, came to Paris as horse-leech to Count d'Artois; became infected with the revolutionary fever, and had one fixed idea: "Give me," he said, "two hundred Naples bravoes, armed each with a good dirk, and a muff on his left arm by way of shield, and with them I will traverse France and accomplish the Revolution," that is, by wholesale massacre of the aristocrats; he had more than once to flee for his life, and one time found shelter in the sewers of Paris, contracting thereby a loathsome skin disease; he was assassinated one evening as he sat in his bath by CHARLOTTE CORDAY (q. v.), but his body was buried with honours in the Pantheon by a patriot people, "that of Mirabeau flung out to make room for him," to be some few months after himself cast out with execration (1743-1793).

MARATHON, a village, 22 m. NE. of Athens, on the sea border of a plain where the Greeks under Miltiades on a world-famous occasion defeated the Persians under Darius in 480 B.C.; the plain on which the battle was fought extends between mountains on the W. and the sea on the E.

MARBURG (13), quaint university town of Hesse-Nassau, on the Lahn, 40 m. NE. of Limburg; has many old buildings; its Gothic church contains St. Elizabeth's tomb; Luther and Zwingli held a conference in the castle, 1529; William Tyndale and Patrick Hamilton were students at its university, which has now 97 teachers, 1000 students, and a fine library.

MARCEAU, French general, born at Chartres; distinguished himself in the Republican army in La Vendée and Fleurus, and was killed at Altenkirchen when covering a retreat of the French army (1760-1796).

MARCELLO, BENEDETTO, an Italian musical composer; composed music for an Italian version of the Psalms (1686-1739).

MARCELLUS, CLAUDIUS, Roman general; in a war with the Gauls killed their chief Viridomarus with his own hands, whose spoils he dedicated as SPOLIA OPIMA (q. v.) to Jupiter; took Syracuse, which long baffled him through the skill of Archimedes, and fell fighting against Hannibal 208 B.C.; he was five times consul though but of plebeian birth.

MARCELLUS, MARCUS, son of Octavia, the sister of Augustus, who had named him his heir; his decease at 20 was mourned as a public calamity, and inspired Virgil to pen his well-known lament over his death in the sixth book of the "Æneid."

MARCET, MRS. JANE, authoress, born at Geneva; married a Swiss doctor settled in London; wrote elementary text-books on chemistry (from which Faraday gained his first knowledge), political economy, natural philosophy, &c., under the title "Conversations," and her best work, "Stories for very Little Children" (1769-1858).

MARCH, the third month of our year; was before 1752 reckoned first month as in the Roman calendar, the legal year beginning on the 25th; it is proverbially dusty and stormy, and is the season of the spring equinox; it was dedicated to the Roman god Mars, whence the name.

MARCHAND, MAJOR, a French emissary in Africa; was sent in 1890 to explore the sources of the Niger and other districts, and was afterwards appointed to push on to the Nile, where he arrived in 1898, hoisting the French flag by the way, and finally at Fashoda, from which he was recalled; with extreme disgust he was obliged to retire and find his way back to France; b. 1863.

MARCION, a heretic of the 2nd century, born at Sinope, in Pontus, who, convinced that the traditional records of Christianity had been tampered with, sought to restore Christianity to its original purity, taking his stand on the words of Christ and the interpretation of St. Paul as the only true apostle; he held that an ascetic life was of the essence of Christianity, and he had a following called Marcionites.

MARCUS AURELIUS. See ANTONINUS.

MAREMMA, a malarial coast district of Italy, N. of the Campagna, stretching from Orbitello to Guardistallo, with few villages or roads. Part of it was improved by draining and planting (1824-44), and the inhabitants come down from the neighbouring Apennine slopes in summer to cultivate it; healthier in winter, it affords good pasturage.

MARENGO, a village of N. Italy, SE. of Alessandria, where Napoleon defeated the Austrians on 14th June 1800.

MAREOTIS, LAKE, a lagune in the N. of Egypt, 40 m. long by 18 m. broad, separated from the Mediterranean by a tongue of land on which part of Alexandria is situated.

MARGARET, queen of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, was the daughter of Waldemar IV. of Denmark, whose crown, on his death in 1375, she received in trust for her son Olaf; her husband, Hacon VIII. of Norway, died in 1380, and left her queen; Olaf died 1387, when she named her grand-nephew, Eric of Pomerania, her heir; the Swedes deposed their king next year, and offered Margaret the throne; she accepted it, put down all resistance, and ultimately brought about the Union of Calmar (1397), which provided for the perpetual union of the three crowns; her energy and force of character won for her the title of "Semiramis of the North" (1353-1412).

MARGARET, a simple, innocent girl in Goethe's "Faust," who is the victim of a tragic fatality; Faust meets her as she comes from church, falls in love with her, and seduces her; she slays the infant born, is convicted and condemned to death, and loses her reason; Faust would fain save her, but he is hurried away by Mephistopheles, and she is left to her fate.

MARGARET, ST., the type of female innocence, represented as a beautiful young maiden bearing the palm and crown of a martyr and attended by a dragon; is patron saint against the pains of childbirth. Festival, July 20.

MARGARET, ST., queen of Scotland, wife of Malcolm Canmore, and sister of Edgar Atheling, born in Hungary; brought up at the court of Edward the Confessor; after the conquest sought refuge in Scotland, and winning the heart of the Scotch king, was married to him at Dunfermline; was a woman of beautiful character and great piety, and did much to civilise the country by her devotion and example; she died in Edinburgh Castle, and was in 1250 canonised by Innocent IV.; Lanfranc had been her spiritual instructor (1047-1093).

MARGARET OF ANGOULÊME, queen of Navarre, Sister of Francis I., married in 1527 Henri d'Albret, king of Navarre, by whom she became the mother of JEANNE D'ALBRET (q. v.); protected the Protestants, and encouraged learning and the arts; she left a collection of novels, under the name of "Heptameron," and a number of interesting letters, as well as some poems (1492-1549).

MARGARET OF ANJOU, queen of Henry VI. of England, and daughter of the good King René of Anjou; was distinguished for the courage she displayed during the Wars of the Roses, though, after a struggle of nearly twenty years, she was defeated at Tewkesbury and committed to the Tower, from which, after four years of incarceration, she was afterwards released by ransom (1429-1482).

MARGARET OF VALOIS, third daughter of Henry II. of France and Catherine de' Medicis; married Henry IV., by whom she was divorced for her immoral conduct (1552-1615).

MARGATE (18), seaport and watering-place, 3 m. W. of the North Foreland, Kent, is with its firm sands, bathing facilities, and various attractions a favourite resort of London holiday-makers. Its church-tower, 135 ft., is a prominent landmark. There are large almshouses and orphanages, and other charitable institutions; J. M. W. Turner was at school here.

MARHEINECKE, a German theologian, born at Hildesheim; professor successively at Erlangen, Heidelberg, and Berlin; was a Hegelian in philosophy; his chief works, a "System of Catholicism" and a "History of the German Reformation" (1780-1846).

MARIA LOUISA, empress of France, daughter of Francis I., Emperor of Austria; was married to Napoleon in 1810 after the divorce of Joséphine, and bore him a son, who was called King of Rome; after Napoleon's death she became the wife of Count von Neipperg (1791-1847).

MARIA THERESA, empress of Austria, daughter of the Emperor Charles VI., a queenly woman; was in 1736 married to Francis of Lorraine; ascended the throne in 1740 on the death of her father, associating her husband with her in the government under the title of Francis I.; no sooner had she done so than, despite the PRAGMATIC SANCTION (q. v.), which assured her of her dominions in their integrity, she was assailed by claimants one for this and one for another portion of them, in particular by Frederick the Great, who by force of arms wrenched Silesia from her and kept it fast; the war thus occasioned is known as the war of the Austrian Succession, which lasted seven years, and was concluded by the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748; this peace, however, was soon broken, and Maria, backed by France and counselled by Kaunitz, renewed hostilities in the hope of compelling Frederick to restore what he had taken; all in vain, for the end of this war, known as the Seven Years' War, was to leave Frederick still in possession of the territory which he had sliced from her empire as in the former; in the interim of these wars Maria devoted her attention to the welfare of her subjects, who were conspicuously loyal to her, and before the end of her reign she saw what she had lost made up to her in a measure by the partition of Poland, in which she took part (1717-1780).

MARIAMNE, the wife of Herod the Great, whom he put to death on suspicion of her unfaithfulness.

MARIANA, JUAN, Spanish historian and political philosopher, born at Talavera; joined the Jesuits in 1554, and taught in their colleges in Rome, Sicily, and Paris; returning to Toledo he gave himself to literature; his "History of Spain" appeared in 1592 and 1605, theological writings incurred persecution, and his greatest work, "De Rege et Regis Institutione," in which he defended the right of the people to cast out a tyrant, was condemned by the general of his order (1536-1624).

MARIE ANTOINETTE, queen of France, fourth daughter of Maria Theresa; was married in 1770 to the dauphin of France, who in 1774 succeeded to the throne as Louis XVI.; was a beautiful woman, but indiscreet in her behaviour; had made herself unpopular and impotent for good when the Revolution broke out; when matters became serious the queenliness of her nature revealed itself, but it was in haughty defiance of the million-headed monster that was bellowing at her feet; the heroism she showed at this crisis the general mass of the people could not appreciate, though it won the homage of such men as Mirabeau and Barnave; all she wanted was a wise adviser, for she had courage to follow any course which she could be persuaded to see was right; in Mirabeau she had one who could have guided her, but by his death in 1791 she was left to herself, and the course she took was fatal to all the interests she had at heart; fatality followed fatality: first she saw her husband hurried off to the guillotine, and then she followed herself; hers, if any, was the most tragic of fates, and any one who has read that heart-moving apostrophe to her by Carlyle on the way to her doom must know and feel that it was her fate; she and her husband suffered as the representatives of the misgovernment of France for centuries before they were born, and were left a burden on their shoulders which they could not bear and under which they were crushed to death (1756-1793).

MARIE DE FRANCE, a poetess and fabulist of Henry III.'s time; her fables are translations into French from an English version of old Greek tales; a greater work was her "Laïs," consisting of 12 or 14 beautiful narratives in French verse.

MARIE DE' MEDICI, daughter of the Grand-Duke of Tuscany, born at Florence; was married to Henry IV. of France in 1600, with whom she lived unhappily till his murder in 1610; she was then regent for seven years; in 1617 her son assumed power as Louis XIII.; she was for two years banished from the court, and on her return so intrigued as to bring about her imprisonment in 1631; though a lover of art she was neither good wife nor good queen, and escaping from confinement she died in destitution at Cologne (1573-1642).

MARIENBAD, a high-lying Bohemian watering-place, 18 m. S. of Carlsbad; it is much frequented for its saline springs.

MARIETTE PASHA, FRANÇOIS AUGUSTE FERDINAND, Egyptologist, born at Boulogne; became professor in the college there in 1841, entered the Egyptian department of the Louvre in 1849, and next year set out for Egypt; eight years later he was made keeper of the monuments to the Egyptian government, and in 1879 was made a pasha; he died at Cairo; he made many valuable discoveries and excavations, among which were the burial-place of the Apis bulls, the Sphinx monument, and many temples (1821-1881).

MARIO, GIUSEPPE, a celebrated tenor, born in Cagliari; acquired a large fortune as a professional singer, but lost it through unsuccessful speculations; in the circumstances a concert was given in London for his benefit which realised £1000; he was a handsome man and of charming manners (1808-1883).

MARIOTTE, EDME, a French physicist, born at Dijon; discoverer of the law named after him, that the volume of a gas is inversely as the pressure; called also Boyle's; it bears the name of Mariotte's law on the Continent, and Boyle's in England (1620-1684).

MARIUS, CAIUS, a celebrated Roman general, born near Arpinum, uncle by marriage to Julius Cæsar and head of the popular party, and the rival of Sulla; conquered the Teutons and the Cimbri in Gaul, and made a triumphal entry into Rome; having obtained command of the war against Mithridates, Sulla marched upon the city and drove his rival beyond the walls; having fled the city, he was discovered hiding in a marsh, cast into prison, and condemned to die; to the slave sent to execute the sentence he drew himself haughtily up and exclaimed, "Caitiff, dare you slay Caius Marius?" and the executioner fled in terror of his life and left his sword behind him; Marius was allowed to escape; finding his way to Africa, he took up his quarters at Carthage, but the Roman prætor ordered him off; "Go tell the prætor," he said to the messenger sent, "you saw Caius Marius sitting a fugitive on the ruins of Carthage"; upon this he took courage and returned to Rome, and along with Cinna made the streets of the city run with the blood of the partisans of Sulla; died suddenly (156-88 B.C.).

MARIVAUX, a French dramatist and novelist, born in Paris; was a man of subtle wit, and his writings reveal it as well as an affectation of style named Marivaudage after him; his fame rests on his novels rather than his dramas (1688-1763).

MARK, GOSPEL ACCORDING TO, is mainly a narrative of the doings of Christ and of the events of His life in their historical sequence; moves on at an even pace, abounds in graphic touches, and adds minute traits as if by an eye-witness; it represents Christ as the Son of man, but manifesting Himself by such signs and wonders as to show that He was also the Son of God; it is written for Gentile Christians and not for Jewish, and hence little stress is laid on Old Testament fulfilments or reference made to those antagonisms to Christianity which had a merely Jewish root.

MARK, JOHN, the author of the second Gospel, the son of Mary, Barnabas' sister, who ministered to Christ, and whose house in Jerusalem was a place of resort for the disciples of Christ after the resurrection; accompanied Paul and his uncle on their first missionary journey, afterwards accompanied Peter, who calls him "my son," and to him it is thought he is indebted for his Gospel narrative; he is regarded as the founder of the Coptic Church, and his body is said to have been buried in Venice, of which he is the patron saint, and the cathedral of which is named St. Mark's after him; he is represented in Christian art as a man in the prime of life accompanied by a winged lion, with his Gospel in his left hand and a pen in his right.

MARK ANTONY. See ANTONIUS, MARCUS.

MARK TWAIN. See CLEMENS.

MARKHAM, CLEMENTS ROBERT, traveller and author, born near York, son of a clergyman; served in the navy from 1844 to 1851, taking part in the Franklin search expedition; 1852-1854 he spent exploring Peru; he introduced the cinchona plant to India 1860, became secretary to the Royal Geographical Society 1863, served as geographer to the Abyssinian Expedition of 1867-68, and was then put at the head of the Geographical department of the India Office; among many books of travels may be named "The Threshold of the Unknown Region" 1874, and among biographies "Columbus," 1892; b. 1830.

MARLBOROUGH (9), on the Kennet, 38 m. E. of Bristol, a Wiltshire market-town, with sack and rope making, brewing, and tanning industries; has an old Norman church, the remains of an old royal residence, and a college, chiefly for sons of clergymen, founded in 1845.

MARLBOROUGH, JOHN CHURCHILL, DUKE OF, soldier and statesman, born in Devonshire; joined the Guards as ensign, and served in Tangiers in 1667; sent in command of a company to help Louis XIV. in his Dutch wars, his courage and ability won him a colonelcy; he married Sarah Jennings in 1678, and seven years later became Baron Churchill on James II.'s succession; as general he was employed in putting down Monmouth's rebellion; he seceded to William of Orange in 1688, and received from him the earldom of Marlborough; he was in disfavour from 1694 till the outbreak of the Spanish Succession War, in which he gained his great renown; beginning by driving the Spaniards from the Netherlands in 1702, he won a series of important victories--Blenheim 1704, Ramillies 1706, Oudenard 1708, and Malplaquet 1709, contributed to enhance the military glory of England; Queen Anne loaded him with honours; large sums of money, Woodstock estate, Blenheim Palace, and a dukedom were bestowed on him; his wife was the Queen's closest friend, and the duke and duchess virtually governed the country, till in 1711 the Queen threw off their influence, and charges of misappropriation of funds forced him into retirement; he was restored to many of his offices by George I. in 1714, but for the last six years of his life he sank into imbecility; one of England's greatest generals, he was also one of her meanest men (1650-1722).

MARLOWE, CHRISTOPHER, English dramatist and poet, precursor of Shakespeare; son of a shoemaker at Canterbury; besides a love poem entitled "Hero and Leander," he was the author of seven plays, "Tamburlaine," in two parts, "Doctor Faustus," "The Jew of Malta," "Edward the Second," "The Massacre of Paris," and "Dido," the first four being romantic plays, the fifth a chronicle play, and the last two offering no particular talent; he dealt solely in tragedy, and was too devoid of humour to attempt comedy; "In Marlowe," says Prof. Saintsbury, "two things never fail him long--a strange, not by any means impotent, reach after the infinite, and the command of magnificent verse"; his life was a short one (1564-1593).

MARMONT, Duke of Ragusa and marshal of France, served under Napoleon, and distinguished himself on many a battlefield; received the title of duke for his successful defence of Ragusa against the Russians; was present at Wagram, Lützen, Bautzen, and Dresden, but came to terms with the allies after the taking of Paris, which led to Napoleon's abdication in 1814; obliged to flee on Napoleon's return, he came back to France and gave his support to the Bourbons; left Memoirs (1774-1852).

MARMONTEL, JEAN FRANÇOIS, French writer, born at Bort; author of "Les Incas," "Bélesaire," and "Contes Moraux;" "was," says Ruskin, "a peasant's son, who made his way into Parisian society by gentleness, wit, and a dainty and candid literary power; he became one of the humblest yet honestest, placed scholars at the court of Louis XV., and wrote pretty, yet wise, sentimental stories in finished French, the sayings and thoughts in them, in their fine tremulous way, perfect like the blossoming heads of grass in May" (1723-1799).

MARMORA, SEA OF, 175 m. long and 50 broad, lies between Europe and Asia Minor, opening into the Ægean through the Dardanelles and into the Baltic through the Bosphorus; the Gulf of Ismid indents the eastern coasts; Marmora, the largest island, has marble and alabaster quarries.

MARNE (435) and HAUTE-MARNE (244), contiguous departments in the N.E. of France, in the upper basin of the Marne River; in both cereals, potatoes, and wine are the chief products, the best champagne coming from the N. In the former, capital Châlons-sur-Marne, building stone is quarried; there are metal works and tanneries; in the latter, capital Chaumont, are valuable iron mines and manufactures of cutlery and gloves.

MAROCHETTI, BARON, Italian sculptor, born in Turin; after working in Paris, came to this country in 1848, and executed several public statues, one of the Queen among others (1805-1867).

MARONITES, a sect of Syrian Christians, numbering 200,000, dwelling on the eastern slopes of Lebanon, where they settled in the 7th century, and who joined the Roman Catholic Church in 1445, while they retain much of their primitive character; they maintained a long sanguinary rivalry with their neighbours the DRUSES (q. v.).

MAROONS, the name given to wild negro bands in Jamaica and Guiana; those in Jamaica left behind by the Spaniards on the conquest of the island by the English, 1655, escaped to the hills, and continued unsubdued till 1795; in Guiana they still maintain independent communities. To MAROON a seaman is to leave him alone on an uninhabited island, or adrift in a boat.

MAROT, CLEMENT, French poet, born at Cahors; was valet-de-chambre of Margaret of Valois; was a man of ready wit and a satirical writer, the exercise of which often brought him into trouble; his poems, which consist of elegies, epistles, rondeaux, madrigals, and ballads, have left their impress on both the language and the literature of France (1495-1544).

MARPRELATE TRACTS, a series of clever but scurrilous tracts published under the name of Martin Marprelate, but which are the work of different writers in the time of Elizabeth against prelacy, and which gave rise to great excitement and some inquisition as to their authorship.

MARQUE. See LETTER OF MARQUE.

MARQUESAS ISLANDS (5), a group of 13 small volcanic mountainous islands in the S. Pacific, 3600 m. W. of Peru, under French protection since 1842, are peopled by a handsome but savage race, which is rapidly dying out; Chinese immigrants grow cotton; the more southerly were discovered by Mendaña in 1595, the more northerly by Ingraham, an American, in 1791.

MARROW CONTROVERSY, a theological controversy which arose in Scotland in the 18th century over the teaching of a book entitled "The Marrow of Modern Divinity," and which led to a secession from the Established Church on the part of the "Marrow men," as the supporters of the doctrine of the book were called. It contained an assertion of the evangelical doctrine of free grace, which was condemned by the Assembly, and for maintaining which the "Marrow men," headed by the Erskines, were deposed in 1733, to the formation of the Secession Church.

MARRYAT, FREDERICK, novelist, born at Westminster; after service in the royal navy, which he entered in 1806, and in which he attained the rank of commandant, he retired in 1830, and commenced a series of novels; "Frank Mildmay," the first, proving a success, he resolved to devote the rest of his life to literature; his novels were numerous, all of interest for their character sketches and adventures, and "Peter Simple" and "Midshipman Easy" are reckoned the best; it was by recourse to Marryat's stories of sea life that Carlyle solaced himself after the burning of the MS. volume of his "French Revolution," and that he put himself in tune to repair the loss (1792-1848).

MARS, the exterior planet of the Solar system, nearest the earth, of one-half its diameter, with a mean distance from the sun of 141,000,000 m., round which it takes 686 days to revolve, in a somewhat centric orbit, and 24½ hours to revolve on its own axis, which inclines to its equator at an angle of 29°; examination of it shows that there is four times as much land as water in it; it is accompanied by two moons, an outer making a revolution round it in 30 hours 18 minutes, and an inner in 7 hours and 38 minutes; they are the smallest heavenly bodies known to science.

MARS, the Roman god of war, the reputed father of Romulus, and the recognised protector of the Roman State, identified at length with the Greek Ares.

MARSEILLAISE, THE, the hymn or march of the French republicans, composed, both words and music, at Strasburg by Rouget de Lisle one night in April 1792, and singing which the 600 volunteers from Marseilles entered Paris on the 30th July thereafter. "Luckiest musicial composition," says Carlyle, "ever promulgated. The sound of which will make the blood tingle in men's veins, and whole armies and assemblages will sing it, with eyes weeping and burning, with hearts defiant of death, despot, and devil."

MARSEILLES (321), third city and first seaport of France, on the shore of the Gulf of Lyons, 27 m. E. of the mouth of the Rhône; has extensive dock accommodation; does great trade in wheat, oil, wine, sugar, textiles, and coal, and manufactures soap, soda, macaroni, and iron; there is a cathedral, picture-gallery, museum, and library, schools of science and art; founded by colonists from Asia Minor in 600 B.C., it was a Greek city till 300 B.C.; after the days of Rome it had many vicissitudes, falling finally to France in 1575, and losing its privilege as a free port in 1660; always a Radical city, it proclaimed the Commune in 1871; a cholera plague devastated it in 1885; six years later great sanitary improvements were begun; Thiers and Puget were born here.

MARSHAL FORWARDS, a name given to BLÜCHER (q. v.) for the celerity of his movements and the dash of his attack.

MARSHALL, JOHN, an American judge; served in the army during the first years of the American War; afterwards entered the legal profession and became Chief-Justice of the United States; was an authority on constitutional law (1755-1835).

MARSTON, JOHN, English dramatist, so called, was more of a poet than a dramatist, and his dramas are remembered chiefly for the poetic passages they contain; his masterpiece is a comedy entitled "What You Will" (1575-1634).

MARSTON, JOHN WESTLAND, dramatist, born at Boston, Lincolnshire; wrote several dramas, "Strathmore" and "Marie de Méranie" among the number (1819-1890).

MARSTON, PHILIP BOURKE, poet, son of preceding; wrote three volumes of verse, admired by Rossetti and Swinburne; was blind from boyhood (1850-1887).

MARSTON MOOR, 7 m. W. of York; here Cromwell and Fairfax defeated the Royalists under Prince Rupert, July 2, 1644, and so won the north of England for the Parliament.

MARSYAS, a Phrygian peasant, who, having found a flute which Athena had thrown away because playing on it disfigured her face, and which, as still inspired by the breath of the goddess, yielded sweet tones when he put his lips to it, one day challenged Apollo to a contest, the condition being that the vanquished should pay whatever penalty the victor might impose on him; Apollo played on the lyre and the boor on the flute, when the Muses, who were umpires, assigned the palm to the former; upon this Apollo caught his rival up, bound him to a tree, and flayed him alive for his temerity.

MARTELLO TOWERS, round towers of strong build, erected as a defence at one time off the low shores of Sussex and Kent; they are of Italian origin; there is one off the harbour of Leith.

MARTENS, FREDERICK DE, German diplomatist and publicist, born at Hamburg; author of a "Précis du Droit des Gens" (1756-1821).

MARTENSEN, HANS LASSEN, bishop of Copenhagen, a distinguished theologian; author of "Meister Eckhart," a study of mediæval mysticism, "Christliche Dogmatic" and "Christliche Ethic"; was a Hegelian of a conservative type (1808-1884).

MARTHA, ST., the sister of Mary and Lazarus, the patron saint of good housewives, is represented, in homely costume, with a bunch of keys at her girdle, and a pot in her hand. Festival, July 20.

MARTIAL, a Latin poet, born at Bilbilis, in Spain; went to Rome, stayed there, favoured of the emperors Titus and Domitian, for 35 years, and then returned to his native city, where he wrote his Epigrammata, a collection of short poems over 1500 in number, divided into 14 books, books xiii. and xiv. being entitled respectively Xenia and Apophoreta; these epigrams are distinguished for their wit, diction, and indecency, but are valuable for the light they shed on the manners of Rome at the period (43-104).

MARTIAL LAW, law administered by military force, to which civilians are amenable during an insurrection or riot.

MARTIN, the name of five popes: M. I., ST., Pope from 649 to 655; M. II., pope from 882 to 884; M. III., Pope from 942 to 946; M. IV., pope from 1281 to 1285; M. V., Pope from 1417 to 1431, distinguished for having condemned Huss to be burned.

MARTIN, AIMÉ, a French writer, born at Lyons, repaired to Paris, became the pupil and friend of Bernardin de St. Pierre; collected his works and married his widow; his letters to Sophia on "Natural History," &c., highly popular (1781-1844).

MARTIN, HENRI, celebrated French historian, born at Saint-Quentin; devoted his life to the study of the history of France; wrote an account of it, entitled "Histoire de France," a magnificent work in 19 volumes; brought the history down to 1789, and received from the Institute 20,000 francs as a prize (1810-1885).

MARTIN, JOHN, English painter, born near Hexham; was an artist of an ardent temperament and extraordinary imaginative power; his paintings, the first "Sadak in Search of the Waters of Oblivion," characterised as "sublime" and "gorgeous," were 16 in number, and made a great impression when produced; engravings of some of them are familiar, such as the "Fall of Babylon" and "Belshazzar's Feast" (1789-1854).

MARTIN, LADY. See FAUCIT, HELEN.

MARTIN, ST., bishop of Tours, was in early life a soldier, and meeting with a naked beggar one cold day in winter divided his military cloak in two, and gave him the half of it; was conspicuous both as a monk and bishop for his compassion on the poor; seated at a banquet on one occasion between the king and queen, hobnobbed with a poor beggar looking on, and extended his goblet of wine to him; he is the patron saint of topers; d. 397. Festival, November 11.

MARTIN, SARAH, a philanthropist, born at Great Yarmouth; lived by dressmaking, and devoted much of her time among criminals in the jails (1791-1843).

MARTIN, SIR THEODORE, man of letters, born in Edinburgh; acquired his first fame under the pseudonym of Bon Gaultier; is author of the "Life of the late Prince Consort"; wrote along with Aytouna "Book of Ballads," and translated the Odes of Horace, Dante's "Vita Nuova" and Goethe's "Faust"; b. 1816.

MARTINEAU, HARRIET, English authoress, born at Norwich; a lady with little or no genius but with considerable intellectual ability, and not without an honest zeal for the "progress of the species"; she was what is called an "advanced" thinker, and was a disciple of Auguste Comte; wrote a number of stories bearing on social questions, and had that courage of her opinions which commanded respect; it was she who persuaded Carlyle to try lecturing when his finances were low, and she had a real pride at the success of the scheme (1802-1876).

MARTINEAU, JAMES, rationalistic theologian, born in Norwich, brother of the preceding; began life as an engineer, took to theology, and became a Unitarian minister; was at first a follower of Bentham and then a disciple of Kant; at one time a materialist he became a theist, and a most zealous advocate of theistic beliefs from the Unitarian standpoint; he is a thinker of great power, and has done much both to elevate and liberate the philosophy of religion; his views are liberal as well as profound, and he is extensively known as the author of the "Endeavours after the Christian Life" and "Hours of Thought on Sacred Things"; b. 1805.

MARTINIQUE (176, of which a few are white), a West Indian French possession, one of the Lesser Antilles; has a much-indented precipitous coast; a mountain range in the centre is densely wooded; the plains are fertile, and produce sugar, coffee, and cotton, which with fruit are the exports; the climate is hot and not salubrious; the island has been French, with three short intervals, since 1635.

MARTYN, HENRY, a Christian missionary, born at Truro, in Cornwall; was a Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge; went to India as a chaplain, settled in various stations and in Persia; translated the New Testament into Hindi and Persian, as well as the Prayer-book; fell into broken health; did more than he was able for, caught fever and died (1781-1812).

MARVELL, ANDREW, poet and politician, born at Worcester; was first a lyric poet, and in politics much of a Royalist, at last a violent politician on the Puritan side, having become connected with Milton and Cromwell; he wrote a tract "On the Growth of Popery and Arbitrary Government in England" after the Restoration, which brought him into trouble; being a favourite with the king, the king sought to bribe him, but he could not be caught; he died suddenly, and an unfounded rumour was circulated that he had been poisoned (1621-1678).

MARX, KARL, a German Socialist, born at Trèves, of Jewish descent; was at first a student of philosophy and a disciple of Hegel, but soon abandoned philosophy for social economy on a democratic basis and in a materialistic interest, early adopted socialistic opinions, for his zeal in which he was driven from Germany, France, and finally Belgium, to settle in London, where he spent the last 30 years of his life; founded the "INTERNATIONAL" (q. v.), and wrote a work "Das Kapital," which has become the text-book of Socialism, a remarkable book, and one that has materially promoted the cause it advocates (1818-1866).

MARY, THE VIRGIN. Of her we know nothing for certain except what is contained in the Gospel history, and that almost exclusively in her relation to her Son, in connection with whom, and as His mother, she has become an object of worship in the Roman Catholic and Greek Churches.

MARY I., queen of England, was born at Greenwich, daughter of Henry VIII. and Catharine of Aragon; at first the king's favourite, on her mother's divorce she was treated with aversion; during her brother Edward VI.'s reign she lived in retirement, clinging to her Catholic faith; on her accession in 1553 a Protestant plot to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne failed; she began cautiously to restore Catholicism, imprisoning Reformers and reinstating the old bishops; on her choosing Philip of Spain for her husband a revolt broke out under Sir Thomas Wyatt, and though easily put down was the occasion for the execution of Lady Jane Grey and the imprisonment of Elizabeth; after her marriage in 1554 the religious reaction gained strength, submission was made to Rome, and a persecution began in which 300 persons, including Latimer, Ridley, and Cranmer, perished in three years; ill-health, Philip's cruelty, and her childlessness drove her to melancholy; a war with France led to the loss of Calais in 1558, and she died broken-hearted, a virtuous and pious, but bigoted and relentless woman (1516-1558).

MARY II., queen of England, daughter of the Duke of York (afterwards James II.) and Anne Hyde; was married to her cousin William of Orange in 1677, ascended the English throne along with him on her father's abdication in 1688, and till her death was his much loved, good, and gentle queen; Greenwich Hospital for disabled sailors, which she built, is her memorial (1662-1694).

MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, daughter of James V. and Mary of Lorraine, born at Linlithgow, became by her father's death queen ere she was a week old; her early childhood was spent on an island in the Lake of Menteith; she was sent to France in 1548, brought up at court with the royal princes, and married to the dauphin in 1558, who for a year, 1559-60, was King Francis II.; on his death she had to leave France; she returned to assume the government in Scotland, now in the throes of the Reformation; refraining from interference with the Protestant movement she retained her own Catholic faith, but chose Protestant advisers; out of many proposed alliances she elected, against all advice, to be married to her cousin Darnley 1565, and easily quelled the insurrection that broke out under Moray; Darnley, granted the title king, tried to force her to settle the succession in the event of her dying childless on him and his heirs; deeming her favourite Rizzio to stand in the way, he plotted with the Protestant Lords to have him murdered, and Mary was reduced to agree to his demands; the murder was done; the queen was for a time a prisoner in Holyrood, but she succeeded in detaching Darnley, and the scheme fell through; her only son, afterwards James VI., was born three months later in 1566; the murder of Darnley took place in February 1567, being accomplished by Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, almost certainly with Mary's connivance; her marriage with Bothwell in May alienated the nobles; they rose, took the queen prisoner at Carberry, carried her to Edinburgh, then to Loch Leven, where they forced her to abdicate in July; next year, escaping, she fled to England, and was there for many years a prisoner; Catholic plots were formed to liberate her and put her in place of Elizabeth on the English throne (she was next in order of succession, being great-granddaughter of Henry VII.); at last she was accused of complicity in Babbington's conspiracy, tried, found guilty, and executed in Fotheringhay Castle, February 8, 1587; faithful to her religion to the end; she was a woman of great beauty and charm, courage and ability, warm affection and generous temper (1542-1587).

MARYLAND (1,042), a State of the American Union, occupying the basin of the Potomac and of Chesapeake Bay, with Pennsylvania on the N., Delaware on the E., and the Virginias on the W. and S.; has a much indented coast-line affording great facilities for navigation; the soil is throughout fertile; on the level coast plains tobacco and fruit, chiefly peaches, are grown; in the undulating central land wheat; the mountains in the W. are well wooded with pine; there are coal-mines in the W., copper and chrome in the midland, and extensive marble quarries; the shad and herring fisheries are valuable; the manufactures of clothing stuffs, flour, tobacco, and beer are extensive; the climate of Maryland is temperate and genial; education is free, and advanced; the John Hopkins University is in Baltimore; there is a State college in every county, and schools for blind, deaf, and feeble-minded children; colonisation began in 1634, and a policy of religious toleration and peace with the Indians led to prosperity; the State was active in the War of Independence, and remained with the North in the Civil War; the capital is Annapolis (8), but the largest city is Baltimore (434), a great wheat-shipping port and centre of industry; Cumberland (13) has brick and cement works, and Hagerstown (10) has machine, farm implement, and furniture factories.

MASACCIO, an Italian painter, born in Florence; went when very young to Rome, where he painted in the church of St. Clement a series of frescoes, his greatest work being the frescoes in the Brancacci chapel of the Carmine church; he was a great master of perspective and colour (1402-1443).

MASAI, a warlike tribe in Africa, between the coast of Zanzibar and Victoria Nyanza, of the race of the Gallas, men of powerful physique, though far from prepossessing in appearance; when their warlike spirit and prowess are spent they settle down to cattle-breeding.

MASANIELLO, a fisherman of Amalfi, who headed a revolt against the Spanish viceroy in Naples, which proved successful, but turned his head and led to his assassination (1623-1647).

MASHONALAND, a plateau 4000 ft. high crossed by the Umvukwe Mountains, lying to the NE. of Matabeleland and S. of the Zambesi River, of which its streams are tributaries; is a fertile country, and being traversed continually by cold SE. winds is healthy and bracing; the natives, of Bantu stock, are peaceful and industrious, growing rice, maize, tobacco, and cotton, which they also weave, and working with skill in iron; they live in dread of the fierce Matabele tribes; the country is very rich in iron, copper, and gold, and has traces of ancient scientific gold-mining; it has been under British protection since 1888.

MASK, IRON. See IRON MASK.

MASKELYNE, NEVIL, astronomer-royal, born in London; determined the method of finding longitude at sea, and the density of the earth by experiments at Schiehallion, and commenced the "National Almanack," and produced the first volume of "Astronomical Observations at Greenwich" (1732-1811).

MASON, SIR JOSIAH, Birmingham manufacturer and philanthropist, born at Kidderminster; made his fortune by split rings, steel pens, electro-plating; founded an orphanage at Erdington at the cost of nearly £300,000, and the college at Birmingham which bears his name (1795-1881).

MASON, WILLIAM, a minor poet, a friend of poet Gray; the author of two tragedies, "Elfrida" and "Caractacus" (1724-1797).

MASON AND DIXON'S LINE, so called after English engineers who surveyed it 1764-67; is the boundary separating Maryland from Pennsylvania and Delaware; during the Civil War it was inaccurately regarded as dividing the slave-holding from the free States, Maryland and Delaware both recognising slavery.

MASPERO, GASTON CAMILLE CHARLES, French Egyptologist, born at Paris; made extensive explorations and important discoveries in Egypt; has written, among works bearing on Egypt, "Histoire Ancienne des Peuples d'Orient"; b. 1846.

MASSACHUSETTS (2,239), a New England State of the American Union, lies on the Atlantic seaboard between New Hampshire and Vermont on the N. and Rhode Island and Connecticut on the S., with New York on its western border; has a long irregular coast-line and an uneven surface, rising to the Green Mountains in the W.; the scenery is of great beauty, but the soil is in many places poor, the farms raising chiefly hay and dairy produce; the winters are severe; Massachusetts is the third manufacturing State of the Union; its industries include cotton, woollen, worsted, clothing, leather and leather goods, iron and iron goods; school education throughout the State is free and of a high standard; there are several universities and colleges, including Harvard, Boston, Williams, and Amherst; founded in 1620 by the Pilgrim Fathers, Massachusetts had many hardships in early days, and was long the scene of religious intolerance and persecution; the War of Independence began at Bunker's Hill and Lexington in 1776; the capital and chief seaport is Boston (448); Worcester (85) has machinery factories, Springfield (44) paper, and Lowell (78) cotton mills; Concord was for long a literary centre.

MASSAGE, in medicine a process of kneading, stroking, and rubbing, with the fingers and palms of the hands, applied to the body as a whole or to locally affected parts, to allay pain, promote circulation, and restore nervous and vital energy; it was practised in very early times in China and India; was known to the Greeks and Romans, and was revived by Dr. Mezger of Amsterdam in 1853.

MASSAGETÆ, a Scythian people on the NE. of the Caspian Sea, who used to kill and eat the aged among them, in an expedition against whom, it is said, Cyrus the Great lost his life.

MASSENA, Duc de Rivoli, Prince of Essling, one of the most illustrious marshals of France, born at Nice; he distinguished himself at Rivoli in 1796, at Zurich in 1799, at the siege of Genoa in 1800, at Eckmühl and at Wagram in 1809, and was named by Napoleon L'enfant chéri de la Victoire, i. e. the favoured child of victory; he was recalled from the Peninsula by Napoleon for failing to expel Wellington, and it appears he never forgot the affront (1758-1817).

MASSEY, GERALD, English democratic poet, born in Hertfordshire; wrote "Poems and Charms," "Voices of Freedom and Lyrics of Love"; has written for the reviews, and taken a great interest in spiritualism; b. 1828.

MASSILLON, JEAN BAPTISTE, celebrated French pulpit orator, born at Hières, in Provence; entered the congregation of the Oratory, and became so celebrated for his eloquence that he was called to Paris, where he gathered round him hearers in crowds; Bourdaloue, when he heard him, said, "He must increase, but I must decrease," and Louis XIV. said to him, "When I hear others preach I go away much pleased with them, but when I hear you I feel displeased with myself"; he was made bishop of Clermont, and next year preached before Louis XV., now king, his famous "Petit Carême," a series of ten sermons for Lent; he was a devoted bishop, and the idol of his flock; his style was perfect, and his eloquence was winning, and went home to the heart (1663-1742).

MASSINGER, PHILIP, English dramatist; little is known of his personal history except that he studied at Oxford without taking a degree, that he lived in London, and was buried as "a stranger" in St. Saviour's, Southwark; of his 37 plays only 18 remain, and of these the most famous is the comedy entitled "New Way to Pay Old Debts," the chief character in which is Sir Giles Overreach, and the representation of which still holds its place on the stage (1583-1640).

MASSON, DAVID, man of letters, born in Aberdeen; elected literature as his profession in preference to theology, with the study of which he commenced; joined the staff of the Messrs. Chambers; settled in London, and became professor of English Literature in University College, from the chair of which he removed to the corresponding one in Edinburgh in 1865; edited Macmillan's Magazine from 1859 to 1868; his great work, the "Life of Milton," in 6 vols., a thorough book, and of great historical value; has written on "British Novelists and their Styles," "Life of Drummond of Hawthornden," &c.; became in 1893 Historiographer-Royal of Scotland; b. 1822.

MASSO`RAH, a body of Biblical references, chiefly handed down by tradition, and calculated to be of great service in verifying the original text of the Hebrew Scriptures.

MASSORETIC POINTS, the vowel points and accents in Hebrew; invented by the Massorites, or authors of the Massorah.

MASTER HUMPHREY, a character in Dickens's "Old Curiosity Shop."

MASTER OF SENTENCES, PETER LOMBARD (q. v.).

MASTODON, one of an extinct species of mammals akin to the elephant.

MASULIPATAM (38), chief seaport in the district of Kistna, Madras Presidency, India, 215 m. N. of Madras, with a large coasting trade.

MATABELELAND, a country stretching northward from the Transvaal, 180 m. by 150 m., towards the Zambesi River; formerly occupied by peaceful Mashona and Makalaka tribes, but conquered by the Matabele in 1840, and since held by them. They are warlike, and have no industries. The women grow mealies, the men make continual forays on their neighbours. Gold exists in various parts, and the country was declared British territory in 1890. It is developed by the British South African Company, whose chief stations are Buluwayo in the SW. and Fort Salisbury in the NE.

MATANZA (50), a fortified town in Cuba, 32 m. E. of Havana.

MATERIALISM, the theory which, denying the independent existence of spirit, resolves everything within the sphere of being into matter, or into the operation and the effect of the operation of forces latent in it, or into the negative and positive interaction of mere material forces, to the exclusion of intelligent purpose and design.

MATHER, COTTON, an American divine, born in Boston; notorious for his belief in witchcraft, and for the persecution he provoked against those charged with it by his zeal in spreading the delusion (1663-1728).

MATHEW, THEOBALD, or FATHER MATHEW, apostle of temperance, born in Tipperary; studied for the Catholic priesthood, but joined the Capuchin Minorites; was in 1814 ordained a priest, and located in Cork, where at sight of the cruel effects of drunkenness on the mass of the people his heart was moved, and he resolved on a crusade against it to stamp it out; he started on this enterprise in 1827, but it took a year and a half before his mission bore any fruit, and then it was accompanied with marvellous success wherever he went, even as far as the New World itself (1790-1856).

MATHEWS, CHARLES, comedian, born in London; abandoned his father's trade of bookseller for the stage in 1794; appeared in Dublin and York, and from 1803 till 1818 played in Drury Lane, Covent Garden, and the Lyceum; the rest of his life he spent as a single-handed entertainer, charming countless audiences in Britain and America with his good singing and incomparable mimicry; he died at Plymouth (1776-1835).

MATHEWS, CHARLES JAMES, light comedian, son of the preceding; married Madame Vestris; was a charming actor, acted with a great grace and delicacy of feeling (1803-1878).

MATLOCK, a watering-place in Derbyshire, on a slope overlooking the Derwent, 15 m. NW. of Derby.

MATILDA, the "Great Countess" of Tuscany, celebrated for her zeal on behalf of the Popes against the Emperor Henry IV., and for the donation of her possessions to the Church, which gave rise to a contest after her death (1046-1115).

MATILDA or MAUD, daughter of Henry I. of England and wife of the Emperor Henry V., on whose decease she was married to Geoffrey Plantagenet of Anjou and became mother of Henry II.; on the death of her father succeeded to the English throne, but was supplanted by Stephen, whom she defeated and who finally defeated her (1103-1167).

MATADORE, the athlete who kills the bull in a bull-fight.

MATSYS, QUENTIN, a Flemish painter, originally a blacksmith, did altar-pieces and genre paintings (1466-1530).

MATTATHIAS, a Jewish priest, the father of the Maccabees, who in 170 B.C., when asked by a Syrian embassy to offer sacrifice to the Syrian gods, not only refused to do so, but slew with his own hand the Jew that stepped forward to do it for him, and then fell upon the embassy that required the act; upon which he rushed with his five sons into the wilderness of Judea and called upon all to follow him who had any regard for the Lord; this was the first step in the war of the Maccabees, the immediate issue of which was to the Jew the achievement of an independence which he had not enjoyed for 400 years.

MATTERHORN, a sharp Alpine peak 14,700 ft., on the Swiss-Italian border, difficult of ascent; first scaled by Whymper 1865.

MATTHEW, a publican, by the Sea of Tiberias, who being called became a disciple and eventually an apostle of Christ; generally represented in Christian art as an old man with a large flowing beard, often occupied in writing his gospel, with an angel standing by.

MATTHEW, GOSPEL ACCORDING TO, written not later than 62 A.D., is the earliest record we possess of the ministry and teaching of Christ, and is believed to have been originally a mere collection of His sayings and parables; was written in Aramaic, the spoken language of the Jews at the period, of which the version we have in Greek is a translation, as some think by Matthew himself; its aim is to show that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah promised in the Old Testament, in a form, however, which led to His rejection by the Jews, and their consequent rejection by Him, to the proclamation of His gospel among the Gentiles (chap. xxviii. 19, 20).

MATTHIAS CORVINUS, conqueror and patron of learning, born at Klausenburg; was elected King of Hungary 1458; though arbitrary in his measures, he promoted commerce, dispensed justice, fostered culture, and observed sound finance; he founded the University of Buda-Pesth, an observatory, and great library, but his reign was full of wars; for nine years he fought the Turks and took from them Bosnia, Moldavia, and Wallachia; from 1470 till 1478 the struggle was with Bohemia, from which he wrested Moravia, Silesia, and Lusatia; then followed war with Frederick III., the capture of Vienna 1485, and a large part of Austria 1487; he made Vienna his capital, and died there (1443-1490).

MATURIN, CHARLES ROBERT, novelist, a poor curate in Dublin, where he died; wrote "The Fatal Revenge" and other extravagant tales, and produced one successful tragedy, "Bertram," 1816 (1782-1824).

MAUDSLEY, HENRY, specialist in mental diseases, born near Giggleswick; was educated at University College, London, and graduated M.D. 1857; after being physician in Manchester Asylum, he returned to London 1862, and was professor of Medical Jurisprudence at his own college 1869-79; he is the author of several works on mental pathology; b. 1835.

MAUNDAY-THURSDAY, the Thursday before Good Friday, on which day it was customary for high people to wash the feet of a number of poor people, and on which Royal alms are bestowed by the Royal Almoner to the poor.

MAUPASSANT, GUY DE, a clever French romancer, born at Fécamp; served in the Franco-German War, and afterwards gave himself to letters, producing novels, stories, lyrics, and plays; died insane (1850-1893).

MAUPEOU, chancellor of France, whose ministry was signalised by the banishment of the Parlement of Paris, and the institution of Conseils du roi; the Parlement Maupeou became a laughing-stock under Louis XV., and Louis XVI. recalled the old Parlement on his accession (1714-1792).

MAUPERTUIS, PIERRE LOUIS MOREAU DE, French mathematician and astronomer, born at St. Malo; went to Lapland to measure a degree of longitude, to ascertain the figure of the earth; wrote a book "On the Figure of the Earth"; was invited to Berlin by Frederick the Great, and made President of the Academy of Science there; was satirised by Voltaire much to the annoyance of the king, who patronised him and prided himself in the institution of which he was the head (1698-1759).

MAUR, ST., a disciple of St. Benedict in the 6th century; the congregation of Saint-Maur, founded in 1613, was a perfect nursery of scholarly men, known as Maurists.

MAUREPAS, French statesman, born at Versailles; was minister of France under Louis XV. and again under Louis XVI., an easy-going, careless minister, "adjusted his cloak well to the wind, if so be he might have pleased all parties" (1701-1784).

MAURICE, FREDERICK DENISON, a liberal theologian and social reformer, born at Normanstone, near Lowestoft, the son of a Unitarian minister; started as a literary man, and for a time edited the Athenæum, and took orders in the English Church in 1834; was chaplain to Guy's Hospital and afterwards to Lincoln's Inn, and incumbent of Vere Street Chapel; held professorships in Literature, in Theology, and Moral Philosophy; was a disciple of Coleridge and a Broad Churchman, who "promoted the charities of his faith, and parried its discussion"; one of the originators of Christian Socialism along with Kingsley, and the founder of the Working-Man's College; his writings were numerous though somewhat vague in their teachings, and had many admirers (1805-1872).

MAURICE OF NASSAU, Prince of Orange; one of the most famous generals of modern times, son of William the Silent, on whose assassination he was elected Stadtholder, and became by his prowess the liberator of the United Provinces from the yoke of Spain; his name is stained by his treatment of Barneveldt, who saw and opposed his selfish designs (1567-1625).

MAURISTS, a congregation of reformed Benedictines, with head-quarters in Paris, disbanded in 1792; were through the 17th and 18th centuries noted for their services to learning; they published many historical and ecclesiastical works, including a "History of the Literature of France," and boasted in their number Montfauçon, Mabillon, and other scholars. See MAUR, ST.

MAURITANIA, was the old name of the African country W. of the Muluya River and N. of the Atlas Mountains, from which supplies of corn and timber were obtained.

MAURITIUS, or ISLE OF FRANCE (372), a volcanic island in the Indian Ocean, 550 m. E. of Madagascar, as large as Caithness, with mountains 3000 feet high, a tableland in the centre, and many short streams; the climate is cool in winter, hot in the rainy season, and subject to cyclones; formerly well wooded, the forests have been cut down to make room for sugar, coffee, maize, and rice plantations; sugar is the main export; the population is very mixed; African and Eastern races predominate; descendants of French settlers and Europeans number 110,000; discovered by the Portuguese in 1510, they abandoned it 90 years later; the Dutch held it for 112 years, and abandoned it in turn; occupied by the French in 1721, it was captured by Britain in 1810, and is now, with some other islands, a crown colony, under a governor and council. PORT LOUIS (62), on the NW., is the capital, and a British naval coaling station.

MAURY, ABBÉ, born in Vaucluse, son of a shoemaker; came to Paris, and became celebrated as a preacher; "skilfulest vamper of old rotten leather to make it look like new," was made member of the Constituent Assembly, "fought Jesuistico-rhetorically, with toughest lungs and heart, for throne, specially for altar and tithes"; his efforts, though fruitless for throne, gained in the end the "red cardinal plush," and Count d'Artois and he embraced each other "with a kiss" (1740-1817).

MAURY, MATTHEW FONTAINE, American hydrographer, born in Virginia; entered the United States navy in 1825, became lieutenant in 1837, studied the Gulf Stream, oceanic currents, and great circle sailing, and in 1856 published his "Physical Geography of the Sea"; took the side of the Confederates in the Civil War, and was afterwards appointed professor in the Military College at Lexington, in Virginia (1806-1873).

MAUSOLE`UM, a building more or less elaborate, used as a tomb. See MAUSOLUS.

MAUSOLUS, a king of Caria, husband of Artemisia, who in 353 raised a monument to his memory, called the Mausoleum, and reckoned one of the Seven Wonders of the world.

MAX MÜLLER, FRIEDRICH, philologist, born at Dessau, son of a German poet, Wilhelm Müller; educated at Leipzig; studied at Paris, and came to England in 1846; was appointed Taylorian Professor at Oxford in 1854, and in 1868 professor of Comparative Philology there, a science to which he has made large contributions; besides editing the "Rig-Veda," he has published "Lectures on the Science of Language" and "Chips from a German Workshop," dealing therein not merely with the origin of languages, but that of the early religious and social systems of the East; b. 1823.

MAXIM, HIRAM S., American inventor, born at Tangerville, Maine, U.S.; showed early a decided mechanical talent, and is best known in connection with the invention of the gun named after him, but among his other inventions are the smokeless powder, the incandescent lamp carbons, and search-lights; B. 1840.

MAXIM GUN, an automatic machine-gun invented by Hiram S. Maxim, an American, in 1884, capable of discharging 620 rifle cartridges per minute; the first shot is fired by hand, and the recoil is utilised to reload and fire the next, and so on. A cylinder of water keeps the barrel from heating.

MAXIMILIAN, FERDINAND JOSEPH, archduke of Austria, younger brother of Francis Joseph, born at Schönbrunn; became emperor of Mexico; issued an edict threatening death to any Mexican who took up arms against the empire, roused the Liberal party against him, and was at the head of 8000 men defeated at Querétaro, taken prisoner, tried by court-martial, and shot (1832-1867).

MAXIMILIAN I., emperor of Germany, son of Frederick III., acquired Burgundy and Flanders by marriage, which involved him in a war with France; became emperor on the death of his father in 1493; became by marriage Duke of Milan, and brought Spain under the power of his dynasty by the marriage of his son Philip to the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella; it was he who assembled the Diet of Augsburg at which Luther made appeal to the Pope (1459-1519).

MAXWELL, JAMES CLERK, eminent physicist, born in Edinburgh, son of John Clerk Maxwell of Middlebie; attained the rank of senior wrangler at Cambridge; became professor in Aberdeen in 1856, in London in 1860, and of Experimental Physics in Cambridge in 1871; in this year appeared the first of his works, "The Theory of Heat," which was followed by "Electricity and Magnetism" and "Matter and Motion," the second being his greatest; he was as sincere a Christian as he was a zealous scientist (1831-1879).

MAXWELL, SIR WILLIAM STIRLING, of Keir, Perthshire, a man of refined scholarship; travelled in Italy and Spain; wrote on subjects connected with the history and the artists of Spain (1818-1878).

MAY, the fifth month of the year, so called from a Sanskrit word signifying to grow, as being the shooting or growing month.

MAY, ISLE OF, island at the mouth of the Firth of Forth, 5½ m. SE. of Crail on the Fife coast; has a lighthouse with an electric light, flashing out at intervals to a distance of 22 nautical miles.

MAY, SIR THOMAS ERSKINE, English barrister; became Clerk of the House of Commons in 1871; wrote a parliamentary text-book, "Democracy in Europe," and a "Constitutional History of England since the Accession of George III.," in continuation of the works of Hallam and Stubbs (1815-1886).

MAYER, JULIUS ROBERT VON, German physicist, born in Heilbronn; made a special study of the phenomena of heat, established the numerical relation between heat and work, and propounded the theory of the production and maintenance of the sun's temperature; he had a controversy as to the priority of his discoveries with Joule, who claimed to have anticipated them (1814-1878).

MAYHEW, HENRY, littérateur and first editor of Punch, born in London, and articled to his father, a solicitor; chose journalism as a profession, and in conjunction with Gilbert à Beckett started The Thief in 1832, the first of the "Bits" type of papers; he joined the first Punch staff in 1841, in which year his farce "The Wandering Minstrel" was produced; collaborating with his brother Augustus, he wrote "Whom to Marry" and many other novels between 1847 and 1855, thereafter works on various subjects; his principal book, "London Labour and the London Poor," appeared in 1851 (1812-1887).

MAYNOOTH, village in co. Kildare, 15 m. W. of Dublin; is the seat of a Roman Catholic seminary founded by the Irish Parliament in 1795 on the abolition of the French colleges during the Revolution; an annual grant of £9000 was made, increased to £26,000 in 1846, but commuted in 1869 for a sum of £1,100,000, when State connection ceased; the college trains 500 students for the priesthood.

MAYO (245), maritime county in Counaught, west of Ireland, between Sligo and Galway; has many indentations, the largest Broadhaven, Blacksod, and Clew Bays, and islands Achil and Clare, with a remarkable peninsula The Mullet; mountainous in the W., the E. is more level, and has Lough Conn and the Moy River; much of the county is barren and bog, but crops of cereals and potatoes are raised; cattle are reared on pasture lands; there are valuable slate quarries and manganese mines; Castlebar (4), in the centre, is the county town; Westport (4), on Clew Bay, has some shipping.

MAYO, RICHARD SOUTHWARK BOURKE, EARL OF, statesman, born and educated in Dublin; entered Parliament 1847, and was Chief Secretary for Ireland in Conservative Governments 1852, 1858, and 1866, opposing Gladstone's Irish Church resolutions; in 1868 he succeeded Lord Lawrence as Viceroy of India, in which office he proved himself a prudent statesman, a sound financier, and a just and wise administrator; he was murdered by a fanatic in the Andaman Islands, and universally mourned (1822-1872).

MAZARIN, JULES, cardinal, born at Piscina, Abruzzi; having been sent by the Pope one of an embassy to France, he gained the favour of Richelieu, who recommended him to Louis XIII. as his successor, and whose successor, being naturalised as a Frenchman, he became in 1642, an office which he retained under the queen-regent on Louis' death; he brought the Thirty Years' War to an end by the peace of Westphalia, crushed the revolt of the FRONDE (q. v.), and imposed on Spain the treaty of the Pyrenees; at first a popular minister, he began to lose favour when cabals were formed against him, and he was dismissed, but he contrived to allay the storm, regained his power, and held it till his death; he died immensely rich, and bequeathed his library, which was a large one, to the College Mazarin (1602-1661).

MAZARIN BIBLE, the first book printed by movable metal types, a copy of which is in the Mazarin library, and bears the date 1456.

MAZEPPA, IVAN, hetman of the Cossacks, born in Podolia; became page to John Casimir, king of Poland; was taken by a Polish nobleman, who surprised him with his wife, and tied by him to the back of a wild horse, which galloped off with him to the Ukraine, where it had been bred, and where some peasants released him half-dead; life among those people suited his taste, he stayed among them, became secretary to their hetman, and finally hetman himself; he won the confidence of Peter the Great, who made him a prince under his suzerainty, but in an evil hour he allied himself with Charles XII. of Sweden, and lost it; fled to Bender on the defeat of the Swedish king at Pultowa in 1709 (1644-1709).

MAZURKA, a lively Polish dance, danced by four or eight couples, and much practised in the N. of Germany as well as in Poland.

MAZZINI, JOSEPH, Italian patriot, born at Genoa; consecrated his life to political revolution and the regeneration of his country on a democratic basis by political agitation; was arrested by the Sardinian government in 1831 and expelled from Italy; organised at Marseilles the secret society of Young Italy, whose motto was "God and the People"; driven from Marseilles to Switzerland and from Switzerland to London, he never ceased to agitate and conspire for this object; on the outbreak of the Revolution in 1848 at Paris he hastened thither to join the movement, which had spread into Italy, and where in 1849 he was installed one of a triumvirate in Rome and conducted the defence of the city against the arms of France, but refusing to join in the capitulation he returned to London, where he still continued to agitate till, his health failing, he retired to Geneva and died (1805-1872).

MEAD, a brisk liquor made by fermenting honey, and used in civilised and barbarous Europe from very early times.

MEADE, GEORGE GORDON, American general, born at Cadiz, son of an American merchant; he passed through West Point and joined the engineers; he served in the Mexican War, became captain and major, and was employed surveying and lighthouse building till the Civil War; in it, first in command of volunteers and afterwards as general in the regular army, he distinguished himself chiefly by frustrating Lee in 1863; after the war he continued in the service till his death at Philadelphia (1815-1872).

MEANDER. See MÆANDER.

MEATH (77), a county in Leinster, Ireland, touching the Irish Sea between Louth and Dublin, is watered by the Boyne River and its tributary the Blackwater; the surface is undulating, the soil fertile; some oats and potatoes are grown, but most of the county is under pasture; there is a little linen and coarse woollen industry; the chief towns are Navan (4), Kells (2), and the county town Trim (1).

MEAUX (13), on the Marne, 28 m. NE. of Paris, a well-built town, with Gothic cathedral; has a large corn and provision trade, and some copper and cotton industries; Bossuet was bishop here, and it contains his grave.

MECCA, the birthplace of Mahomet, the Holy City and Keblah of the Moslems, the capital of Hedjaz and the true capital of Arabia; in the midst of sandy valleys, and 60 m. distant from Jeddah, its port; a city to which every true Mussulman must make a pilgrimage once in his life; has a population which varies from 30,000 to 60,000. See CAABA.

MECHANICAL POWERS, the lever, inclined plane, wheel and axle, screw, pulley, and wedge, the elementary contrivances of which all machines are composed.

MECHANICS' INSTITUTES, associations of working-men which aim at providing a general education for artisans, and particularly instruction in the fundamental principles of their own trades; are managed by committees of their own election, usually have a reading-room and library, and provide classes and lectures; Dr. Birkbeck started a journeymen's class in Glasgow 1800, and in 1824 in London organised the first Mechanics' Institute.

MECKLENBURG-SCHWERIN (578), a German grand-duchy, on the shores of the Baltic, between Schleswig-Holstein and Pomerania; is mostly a level, fertile plain, with numerous small rivers and many lakes; agriculture is the chief industry; merino sheep are renowned; there are iron-founding, sugar-refining, and tanning works, and amber is found on the coasts; social institutions are very backward; still largely feudal; serfdom was abolished in 1824 only. SCHWERIN (34), on Lake Schwerin, is the capital. ROSTOCK (44), has a university; is a busy Baltic port, from which grain, wool, and cattle are shipped; has important wool and cattle fairs, shipbuilding, and other industries. MECKLENBURG-STRELITZ (98), adjacent to the foregoing on the SE., presents similar characteristics, and is united to it in government; the capital is Neustrelitz (9).

MEDEA, a famous sorceress of Greek legend, daughter of Æëtes, king of Colchis, by whose aid JASON (q. v.) accomplished the object of his expedition, and acquired the Golden Fleece, and who accompanied him back to Greece as his wife; by her art she restored the youth of Eson, the father of her husband, but the latter having abandoned her she avenged herself on him by putting the children she had by him to death; the art she possessed was that of making old people young again by first chopping them in pieces and then boiling them in a caldron.

MEDIA, a country on the SW. of the Caspian Sea, originally a province of the Assyrian empire, from which it revolted; was after 150 years of independence annexed to Persia by Cyrus, of which it had formed the NW. portion.

MEDIÆVALISM, a tendency in literature and art to conform in spirit or otherwise to mediæval models.

MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE OR FORENSIC MEDICINE, is the branch of medical study which bears on legal questions, the detection of crime or the determination of civil rights.

MEDICI, an illustrious family who attained sovereign power in Florence in the 15th century, the most celebrated members of which were: COSMO DE, surnamed the "Father of his Country," was exiled for ten years but recalled, and had afterwards a peaceful and prosperous reign; was a student of philosophy, and much interested in literature (1389-1464). LORENZO DE, the Magnificent, did much to demoralise Florence, but patronised literature and the arts (1448-1492). Other celebrated members of the family were POPES LEO X., CLEMENT VII., and CATHERINE AND MARY DE MEDICI (q. v.).

MEDICINE-MAN, one among the American Indians who professes to cure diseases or exorcise evil spirits by magic.

MEDINA (lit. the city) (76), called also Medina-en-Nabi, 210 m. N. of Mecca, the City of the Prophet, as the place in which he found refuge after his "flight" from Mecca in 632; it was here he from that date lived, where he died, and where his tomb is, in a beautiful and rich mosque called El Haram (i. e. the inviolate), erected on the site of the prophet's house. See HEGIRA.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA, so called by the ancients as lying in the presumed middle of the earth surrounded by Europe, Asia, and Africa; the largest enclosed sea in the world; its communication with the Atlantic is Gibraltar Strait, 9 m. wide; it communicates with the Black Sea through the Dardanelles, and in 1869 a canal through the isthmus of Suez connected it with the Red Sea, 2200 m. long by 100 to 600 m. broad; its S. shores are regular; the N. has many gulfs, and two great inlets, the Ægean and Adriatic Seas; the Balearic Isles, Corsica, and Sardinia, Sicily, Malta, Cyprus, and Crete, the Ionian Isles, and the Archipelago are the chief islands; the Rhône, Po, and Nile the chief rivers that discharge into it; a ridge between Sicily and Cape Bon divides it into two great basins; it is practically tideless, and salter than the Atlantic; its waters too are warm; northerly winds prevail in the E. with certain regular variations; the surrounding territories are the richest in the world, and the greatest movements in civilisation and art have taken place around it in Africa, Phoenicia, Carthage, Greece, and Rome.

MEDIUM, in modern spiritualism a person susceptible to communication with the spirit-world.

MEDJIDIE, an Ottoman order of knighthood instituted in 1852 by the Sultan Abd-ul-Medjid, as a reward of merit in civil or military service.

MÉDOC, a district in the dep. of the Gironde, on the left of the estuary, in the S. of France, famous for its wines.

MEDUSA, one of the THREE GORGONS (q. v.), is fabled to have been originally a woman of rare beauty, with a magnificent head of hair, but having offended Athena, that goddess changed her hair into hideous serpents, and gave to her eyes the power of turning any one into stone who looked into them; PERSEUS (q. v.) cut off her head by the help of Athena, who afterwards wore it on the middle of her breastplate or shield.

MEDWAY, a river in Kent, which rises in Surrey and Sussex, and which after a NE. course of 58 m. falls into an estuary at Sheerness.

MEEANEE, a village in Sind, 6 m. N. of Hyderabad, where Sir Charles Napier defeated an army of the Ameer of Sind in 1843.

MEERSCHAUM (lit. sea-foam), a fine white clay, a hydrate-silicate of magnesia, supposed, as found on the sea-shore in some places, to have been sea-foam petrified.

MEERUT (119), an Indian town in the North-West Provinces, on the Nuddi, 40 m. NE. of Delhi; is capital of a district of the same name, and an Important military station; it is noted as the scene of the outbreak of the Mutiny in 1857.

MEGARIS, a small but populous State of ancient Greece, S. of Attica, whose inhabitants were adventurous seafarers, credited with deceitful propensities. The capital, Megara, famous for white marble and fine clay, was the birthplace of Euclid.

MEGATHERIUM, an extinct genus of mammalia allied to the sloth, some 18 or 20 ft. in length and 8 ft. in height, with an elephantine skeleton.

MEHEMET ALI, pasha of Egypt, born in Albania; entered the Turkish army, and rose into favour, so that he was able to seize the pashalic, the Sultan compromising matters by exaction of an annual tribute in acknowledgment of his suzerainty; the Mamelukes, however, proved unruly, and he could not otherwise get rid of them but by luring them into his coils, and slaughtering them wholesale in 1811; he maintained two wars with the Sultan for the possession of Syria, and had Ibrahim Pasha, his son, for lieutenant; compelled to give up the struggle, he instituted a series of reforms in Egypt, and prosecuted them with such vigour that the Sultan decreed the pashalic to remain hereditary in his family (1769-1849).

MEISSEN (15), a town of Saxony, on the Upper Elbe, 15 m. NW. of Dresden; has a very fine Gothic cathedral and an old castle. Gellert and Lessing were educated here. There is a large porcelain factory, where Dresden china is made, besides manufactures of iron.

MEISSONIER, JEAN LOUIS ERNEST, French painter, born at Lyons; began as a book illustrator of "Paul and Virginia" amongst other works, practising the while and perfecting his art as a figure painter, in which he achieved signal success, from his "Chess-player" series to his designs for the decoration of the Pantheon, "The Apotheosis of France," in 1889 (1811-1891).

MEISTER, WILHELM, a great work of Goethe's, fraught with world-wisdom, the hero of which of the name represents a man who is led, in these very days, by a higher hand than he is aware of to his appointed destiny.

MEISTERSÄNGERS or SINGERS, a guild founded in Germany in the 15th century or earlier for the cultivation of poetry, of which HANS SACHS (q. v.) was the most famous member.

MEKHONG, is the great river of Siam. Its source In the mountains of Chiamdo is unexplored. Its course, 3000 m., is southerly to the China Sea; the last 500 m. are navigable. It carries great quantities of silt which goes to form and augment the delta through which it issues.

MELANCHTHON, PHILIP, Protestant Reformer, born in the Palatinate of the Rhine; was the scholar of the German Reformation, and a wise friend of Luther's, having come into contact with him at Wittenberg, where he happened to be professor of Greek; he wrote the first Protestant work in dogmatic theology, entitled "Loci Communes," and drew up the "Augsburg Confession"; the sweetness of temper for which he was distinguished, together with his soberness as a thinker, had a moderating influence on the vehemence of Luther, and contributed much to the progress of the Reformation; he was the Erasmus of that movement, and combined the humanist with the Reformer, as George Buchanan did in Scotland (1497-1560).

MELANESIA, eleven archipelagoes of crystalline, coralline, and volcanic islands in the W. of Polynesia, all S. of the equator, and inhabited by the Melanesian or dark oceanic race; includes the Fiji, Solomon, Bismarck, and New Hebrides islands.

MELBA, NELLIE, a celebrated operatic singer, born in Australia; made her first appearance when she was only six; has often appeared in opera in London; her private name is Mrs. Armstrong, and she resides in Paris; b. 1865.

MELBOURNE (491), the capital of Victoria, at the head of Port Phillip Bay; is the largest and most important city in Australia; built in broad regular streets, with much architectural beauty, and containing, besides the Government buildings, a Roman and an Anglican cathedral, a mint and a university, numerous colleges, hospitals, and other institutions. Its shipping interests are very large; a ship canal enables the largest ships to reach the quays; exports of gold and wool are extensive. Melbourne is the railway centre of the continent. It has manufactures of boots and clothing, foundries and flour-mills. It has a hot climate. Its water supply is abundant, but defective drainage impairs its healthfulness. First settled in 1835, it was incorporated in 1842, and nine years later was made capital of the newly constituted colony. It was the scene of an exhibition in 1888, of a great industrial struggle in 1890, and of a very severe financial crisis in 1893.

MELBOURNE, WILLIAM LAMB, VISCOUNT, English statesman, born in London; educated at Cambridge and Glasgow Universities; entered Parliament as a Whig in 1805, but was Chief Secretary for Ireland in the Governments of Canning, Goderich, and Wellington; succeeding to the title in 1828, he reverted to his old party; was Home Secretary under Earl Grey in 1830, and was himself Prime Minister for four months in 1834, and then from 1835 till 1841, when he retired from public life; he was a man of sound sense, and showed admirable tact in introducing the young queen to her various duties in 1837 (1779-1848).

MELCHIZEDEK (i. e. king of righteousness or justice), a priest-king of Canaan, to whom, though of no lineage as a priest, but as a minister of God's justice, Abraham did homage and paid tithes; a true type of priest as ordained of God, and one in that capacity "without father and without mother."

MELEAGER, a Greek mythic hero, distinguished for throwing the javelin, and by his skill in it slaying a wild boar which devastated his country, and whose life depended on the burning down of a brand that was blazing on the hearth at the time of his birth, but which his mother at once snatched from the flames. But a quarrel having arisen between him and his uncles over the head of the boar, in which they met their death, the mother to be avenged on him for slaying her brothers threw back into the fire the brand on the preservation of which his life depended, and on the instant he breathed his last.

MELIORISM, the theory that there is in nature a tendency to better and better development.

MELODRAMA, a play consisting of sensational incidents, and arranged to produce striking effects.

MELPOMENË, the one of the nine muses which presides over tragedy.

MELROSE, a small town in Roxburghshire, at the foot of the Eildons, on the S. bank of the Tweed, famed for its abbey, founded by David I. in 1136; it is celebrated by Sir Walter Scott in his "Lay of the Last Minstrel."

MELTON-MOWBRAY (6), a town 15 m. NE. of Leicester, the centre of the great hunting district; celebrated for its pork pies.

MELUSINA, a fairy of French legend, who married Raymond, a knight, on condition that on a particular day of the week he would not visit her, a stipulation which he was tempted to break, so that on a day of her seclusion he broke into her chamber, and found the lower part of her body from the waist downwards transformed into that of a serpent, upon which she straightway flew out at the window, to hover henceforth round the castle of her lord and only appear again on the occasion of the death of any of the inmates.

MELVILLE, ANDREW, Scottish Presbyterian ecclesiastic, born near Montrose; of good and even wide repute as a scholar; became Principal first of Glasgow College and then of St. Mary's College, St. Andrews; was zealous for the headship of Christ over the Church, in opposition to the claim of the king, James, and spoke his mind freely both to the king and the bishops, for which he was sent to the Tower; on his release, after four years, he retired to a professorship at Sedan, in France, having been forbidden to return to Scotland (1545-1622).

MELVILLE, WHYTE-, novelist; his novels were chiefly of the hunting field, such as "Katerfelto" and "Black, but Comely," though he wrote historical ones also, such as "The Queen's Maries" (1821-1878).

MEMEL (19), Baltic seaport at the mouth of the Kurisches Haff, in the extreme NE. of Prussia; ships great quantities of Russian and Lithuanian timber, and has some chemical works and shipbuilding yards.

MEMNON, a son of Tithonus and Aurora, who was sent by his father, king of Egypt and Ethiopia, to the assistance of Troy on the death of Hector, and who slew Antilochus, the son of Nestor, and was himself slain by Achilles, whereupon Aurora, all tears, besought Zeus to immortalise his memory, which, however, did not calm her sorrow, for ever since the earth bears witness to her weeping in the dews of the morning; a statue, presumed to be to his memory, was erected near Thebes, in Egypt, which was fabled to emit a musical sound every time the first ray fell on it from the rosy fingers of Aurora.

MEMPHIS, an ancient city of Egypt, of which it was the capital; it was founded by Menes at the apex of the delta of the Nile, and contained 700,000 inhabitants.

MEMPHIS (102), a Tennessee port on the Mississippi, 826 m. above New Orleans, accessible to the largest vessels, is also a great railway centre, and therefore a place of great commercial importance; has many industries, and a great cotton market.

MENADO (549), a Dutch colony in the N. of Celebes.

MENAI STRAIT, a picturesque channel separating Anglesey from Carnarvonshire, 14 m. long and at its narrowest 200 yards wide; is crossed by a suspension bridge (1825) and the Britannia Tubular Bridge for railway (1850).

MENANDER, a Greek comic poet, born at Athens; was the pupil of Theophrastus and a friend of Epicurus; of his works, which were numerous, we have only some fragments, but we can judge of them from his imitator TERENCE (q. v.) (342-291 B.C.).

MENCIUS or MENG-TZE, a celebrated Chinese sage, a disciple, some say a grandson, of Confucius (q. v.); went up and down with his disciples from court to court in the country to persuade, particularly the ruling classes, to give heed to the words of wisdom, though in vain; after which, on his death, his followers collected his teachings in a book entitled the "Book of Meng-tze," which is full of practical instruction (372-289 B.C.).

MENDICANT ORDER, a religious fraternity, the members of which denude themselves of all private property and live on alms.

MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY, FELIX, celebrated German composer, grandson of the succeeding, born in Hamburg; he began to compose early in life, and his compositions consisted of symphonies, operas, oratorios, and church music; his oratorios of "St. Paul" and "Elijah" are well known, and are enduring monuments of his genius; he was a man universally loved and esteemed, and had the good fortune to live amidst the happiest surroundings (1809-1847).

MENDELSSOHN, MOSES, a German philosopher, born at Dessau, of Jewish descent, a zealous monotheist, and wrote against Spinoza; was author of the "Phædon, a Discourse on the Immortality of the Soul," and did a great deal in his day to do away with the prejudices of the Jews and the prejudices against them; he was the friend of Lessing, and is the prototype of his "Nathan" (1720-1786).

MENDOZA (137), province in the extreme W. of Argentina; has the Andes in the W., Aconcagua (23,500 ft.), the highest peak in the New World, otherwise is chiefly worthless pampa, fertile only where irrigated from the small Mendoza River; there vines flourish; copper is plentiful, coal and oil are found. MENDOZA (20), the capital, 640 m. W. of Buenos Ayres by rail, is on the Trans-Andine route to Chili, with which it trades largely; suffers frequently from earthquakes.

MENELAUS, king of Sparta, the brother of Agamemnon and the husband of Helen, the carrying away of whom by Paris led to the Trojan War.

MENHIR, a kind of rude obelisk understood to be a sepulchral monument.

MENINGES, the name of three membranes that invest the brain and spinal cord, and the inflammation of which is called meningitis.

MENNONITES, a Protestant sect founded at Zurich with a creed that combines the tenets of the Baptists with those of the Quakers; have an episcopal form of government, and maintain a rigorous church discipline.

MENSCHIKOFF, ALEXANDER DANILOVITCH, Russian soldier and statesman, born in humble life at Moscow; became servant to Lefort, on whose death he succeeded him as favourite of Peter the Great, whom he accompanied to Holland and England; in the Swedish War (1702-1713) he won renown, and was created field-marshal on the field of Pultowa; he introduced to the Czar Catharine, afterwards czarina, whom he captured at Marienburg, and when Peter died secured the throne for her; during her reign and her successor's he governed Russia, but his ambition led the nobles to banish him to Siberia 1727 (1672-1729).

MENSCHIKOFF, ALEXANDER SERGEIEVITCH, general, great-grandson of the former, served in the wars of 1812-15, in the Turkish campaign of 1828, was ambassador to the Porte in 1853, and largely responsible for the Crimean War, in which he commanded at Alma, Inkermann, and Sebastopol (1789-1869).

MENTEITH, LAKE OF, a small beautiful loch in Perthshire, 13 m. W. of Stirling, with three islets, on one of which stood a priory where, as a child, Mary Stuart spent 1547-48; on another stood the stronghold of the earls.

MENTHOL, a crystalline substance obtained from the oil of peppermint, used in nervous affections, such as neuralgia, as a counter-irritant.

MENTONE (8), town and seaport in France, on the Mediterranean, 1½ m. from the Italian border; was under the princes of Monaco till 1848, when it subjected itself to Sardinia, which afterwards handed it over to France; protected by the Alps, the climate is delightful, and renders it a favourite health resort in winter and spring; it exports olive-oil and fruit.

MENTOR, a friend of Ulysses, and the tutor of his son Telemachus, whose form and voice Athena assumed in order to persuade his pupil to retain and maintain the courage and astuteness of his father.

MENZEL, ADOLF, German painter, born at Breslau, professor at Berlin; best known for his historical pictures and drawings; b. 1815.

MENZEL, WOLFGANG, German author and critic, born in Silesia; wrote on German history, literature, and poetry, as well as general history, and maintained a vigorous polemic against all who by their writings or their politics sought to subvert the Christian religion or the orthodox policy of the German monarchies (1789-1873).

MEPHISTOPHELES, the impersonation in Goethe's "Faust" of the modern devil, the incarnation of the spirit of universal scepticism and scoffing, who can see not only no beauty in goodness but no deforming in iniquity, alike without reverence for God and fear of his adversary, blind as a mole to all worth and all unworth throughout the universe, yet knowing and boastful of knowledge, by means of which he sees only "the ridiculous, the unsuitable, the bad, but for the solemn, the noble, the worthy is blind as his ancient mother."

MERCATOR, a celebrated Dutch geographer who has given name to a projection of the earth's surface on a plane (1512-1592).

MERCENARIES, originally hired soldiers as distinguished from feudal levies, now bodies of foreign troops in the service of the State; the Scots Guards in France from the 15th to 18th centuries were famous, and Swiss auxiliaries once belonged to most European armies; William III. had Dutch mercenaries in England; under the Georges, German were hired and were used in the American War, the Irish rebellion, and the Napoleonic struggle; in the Crimean War German, Swiss, and Italian were enrolled.

MERCIA, one of the three chief kingdoms of early England; founded by Anglian settlers in the Upper Trent Valley (now South Staffordshire) In the 6th century; it rose to greatness under Penda 626-655, subsequently succeeded Northumberland in the supremacy, but after the death of Cenwulf 819, waned in turn before Wessex and the Danes.

MERCURY, the Roman name for the Greek Hermes, the son of Jupiter and Maia, the messenger of the gods, the patron of merchants and travellers, and the conductor of the souls of the dead to the nether world.

MERCURY, an interior planet of the Solar system, whose orbit is nearest the sun, the greatest distance being nearly 43,000,000 m. and the least over 28,000,000, is one-seventeenth the size of the earth, but is of greater density, and accomplishes its revolution in about 84 days; it is visible just before the sun rises and after it sets, but that very seldom owing to the sun's neighbourhood.

MER-DE-GLACE, the great glacier of the Alps near Chamouni, was the subject of the experiments of Professor J. D. Forbes of Edinburgh about 1843, and on which the movement of the glaciers was first observed.

MEREDITH, GEORGE, poet and novelist, born in Hampshire; began his literary career 1851 as a poet, in which capacity he has since distinguished himself and given expression to his deepest personal convictions, but it is chiefly as a novelist he is most widely known and is generally judged of; as a novel-writer he occupies a supreme place, and is reckoned superior in that department to all his contemporaries in the same line by the unanimous consent of one and all of them; his novels, however, appeal only to a select few, but by them they are regarded with unbounded admiration, some giving preference to this and others to that of the series; "The Ordeal of Richard Feveril," published in 1859, is by many considered his best, though it is over "The Egoist" that Louis Stevenson breaks out into raptures; Meredith has most sympathetic insights into nature and life, has a marvellous power in analysing and construing character, and shows himself alive to all the great immediate interests of humanity; b. 1828.

MEREDITH, OWEN, the nom de plume assumed by Edward Robert Bulwer Lytton, from his descent from a Welsh noble of the name.

MERGUI, a small seaport near the mouth of the Tenasserim, British Burma, which exports birds' nests to China.

MERIDIAN, an imaginary great circle passing through the poles at right angles to the equator.

MÈRIMÈE, PROSPER, a great French writer, born in Paris; abandoned law, to which he was bred, for literature; became under Louis Philippe inspector-general of historical documents, and travelled in that capacity in the S. and W. of France, publishing from time to time the fruits of his researches; he wrote in exquisite style stories, historical dissertations, and travels, among other works "Guzla," "Chronicles of Charles IX.," the "History of Don Pedro, King of Castile," "Letters to an Unknown"; he was a man of singularly enigmatic character (1802-1870).

MERIO`NETH (49), a mountainous county of North Wales, abutting on Cardigan Bay, between Carnarvon and Cardigan; lofty peaks, Aran Mowddy, Cader Idris, and Aran Benllyn; rivers, Dee and Dovey, and Lake Bala afford picturesque scenery; the soil is fit only for sheep-grazing; but there are slate and limestone quarries, manganese and gold mines; the county town, Dolgelly (2), on the Wnion, has woollen and tweed manufactures.

MERIVALE, CHARLES, dean of Ely, born at Exeter; held a succession of appointments as lecturer; wrote a history of Rome from its foundation in 753 to the fall of Augustus in 476, but his chief work is the "History of the Romans under the Empire," indispensable as an Introduction to Gibbon (1808-1893).

MERLE D'AUBIGNÉ, JEAN-HENRI. See D'AUBIGNÉ, MERLE.

MERLIN, a legendary Welsh prophet and magician, child of a wizard and a princess, who lived in the 5th century, and was subsequently a prominent personage at King Arthur's' court; prophecies attributed to him existed as far back as the 14th century; Tennyson represents him as bewitched by Vivian; legend also tells of a Clydesdale Merlin of the 6th century; his prophecies, published in 1615, include the former; both legends are based on Armorican materials.

MERMAIDS and MERMEN (i. e. sea-maids and sea-men), a class of beings fabled to inhabit the sea, with a human body as far as the waist, ending in the tail of a fish; the females of them represented above the surface of the sea combing their long hair with one hand and holding a mirror with the other; they are supposed to be endowed with the gift of prophecy, and are of an amorous temper.

MEROVINGIANS, a name given to the first dynasty that ruled over France, and which derives its name from Merovig, the founder of the family.

MERRILEES, MEG, a half-crazy Border gipsy; one of the characters in Scott's "Guy Mannering."

MERRY MONARCH, a title by which Charles II. of England was at one time familiarly known.

MERSEY, river rising in NW. Derbyshire, flows westward 70 m. between Lancashire and Cheshire to the Irish Sea; is of great commercial importance, having Liverpool on its estuary; its chief tributary is the Irwell, on which stands Manchester.

MERTHYR-TYDVIL (58), industrial town in Glamorganshire, on the Taff, 15 m. NW. of Cardiff; is the centre of great coal-fields and of enormous iron and steel works, which constitute the only industry.

MERV (500), an oasis in Turkestan, belonging to Russia, being conquered in 1883, 60 m. long by 40 broad, producing cereals, cotton, silk, &c.; breeds horses, camels, sheep, with a capital of the same name, on the Transcaspian railway.

MERYON, CHARLES, etcher of street scenes, born at Paris; son of English doctor; died insane (18211868).

MESMER, FRIEDRICH ANTON, a German physician, born near Constance; bred for the Church, but took to medicine; was the founder of animal magnetism, called mesmerism after him, his experiments in connection with which created a great sensation, particularly in Paris, until the quackery of it was discovered by scientific investigation, upon which he retired into obscurity, "to walk silent on the shore of the Bodensee, meditating on much" (1733-1815).

MESMERISM, animal magnetism so called, or the alleged power which, by operating on the nervous system, one person obtains control over the thoughts and actions of another.

MESOPOTAMIA, the name given after Alexander the Great's time to the territory "between the rivers" Euphrates and Tigris, stretching from Babylonia NW. to the Armenian mountains; under irrigation it was very fertile, but is now little cultivated; once the scene of high civilisation when Nineveh ruled it; it passed from Assyrian hands successively to Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman, and Arab; now, after many vicissitudes, it is in the deathly grasp of Turkish rule.

MESSENIA, a province of Greece, mainly the fertile peninsula between the Gulfs of Arcadia and Coron; in ancient times the Messenians were prosperous, excited Spartan envy, and after two long wars were conquered in 668 B.C. and fled to Sicily.

MESSIAH (i. e. the Anointed one), one consecrated of God, who the Jewish prophets predicted would one day appear to emancipate the Jewish people from bondage and exalt them in the eyes of all the other nations of the earth as His elect nation, and for the glory of His name.

MESSINA (78), on a bay at the NE. corner of Sicily; is a very ancient city, but rebuilt after the earthquake of 1783; has a 12th-century cathedral, two old castles, and a university, founded 1549; it manufactures light textiles, coral ornaments, and fruit essences; its excellent harbour encourages a good trade.

MESSINA, STRAIT OF, 24 m. long, and at its narrowest 2½ broad; separates Sicily from the Italian mainland; here were the Scylla and Charybdis of the ancients.

MESSUAGE, a dwelling-house with buildings and land attached for the use of the household.

METABOLISM, name given to a chemical change in the cells or tissues of living matter.

METAMORPHOSIS is a classical name for the changing of a human being into a beast, an inanimate object, or an element, stories of which are common in all folk-lore.

METAPHYSICS, the science of being as being in contradistinction from a science of a particular species of being, the science of sciences, or the science of the ultimate grounds of all these, and presupposed by them, called by Plato dialectics, or the logic of being.

METASTASIO, an Italian poet, born at Rome, the son of a common soldier named Trapassi; his power of improvising verse attracted the attention of one Gravina, a lawyer, who educated him and left him his fortune; he wrote opera librettoes, which were set to music by the most eminent composers, was court poet at Vienna, and died there 40 years after his active powers were spent (1698-1782).

METEORS or SHOOTING STARS are small bodies consisting of iron, stone, and certain other familiar elements which are scattered in immense numbers through planetary space; they revolve round the sun in clouds or in long strings, and when the earth gets close to them numbers are drawn down to its surface, friction with the atmosphere rendering them luminous and grinding them usually to fine dust; larger meteors are known as fireballs and aërolites, many of which have reached the earth; comets are masses of meteors.

METHODISTS, a body of Christians founded by John Wesley in the interests of personal religion, ecclesiastically governed by a Conference with subordinate district synods, and holding and professing evangelical principles, which they teach agreeably to the theology of Arminius; the name is also given to the followers of Whitefield, who are Calvinists in certain respects.

METHYLATED SPIRIT, is alcohol adulterated with 10 per cent. of wood-spirit.

METIS (i. e. wise counsel), in the Greek mythology the daughter of Oceanos and Tethys, and the first wife of Zeus; afraid lest she should give birth to a child wiser and more powerful than himself, he devoured her on the first month of her pregnancy, and some time afterwards being seized with pains, he gave birth to ATHENA (q. v.) from his head.

MÈTRE, the name given to the unit of length in the metric or decimal system, and equal to 39.37 English inches, the tenths, the hundreds, and the thousands of which are called from the Latin respectively decimetres, centimetres, and millimetres, and ten times, a hundred times, and a thousand times, which are called from the Greek respectively decamètres, hectomètres, and kilomètres.

METTERNICH, CLEMENT, PRINCE VON, Austrian diplomatist, born at Coblenz; served as ambassador successively at the courts of Dresden, Berlin, and Paris, and became first Minister of State in 1809, exercising for 40 years from that date the supreme control of affairs in Austria; one of his first acts as such was to effectuate a marriage between Napoleon and the Archduchess Maria Theresa, himself escorting her to Paris; he presided at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, and from that date dominated in foreign affairs in the interest of the rights of kings and the repression of popular insurrection; he had to flee from Vienna in 1848, but returned in 1851, after which, though not called back to office, he continued to influence affairs by his advice (1773-1859).

METZ (60), strongest fortress in Lorraine, on the Moselle, 105 m. SW. of Coblenz, captured in 1870 from the French, who had held it since 1552; has a cathedral, library, museum, and school of music; industries are unimportant; the trade is in liquor, leather, and preserved fruits.

MEUNG, JEAN DE, mediæval French satirist; continued the unfinished "Roman de la Rose," in which he embodied a vivid satiric portraiture of contemporary life (1250-1305 ?).

MEUSE, river, 500 m. long, rises in Haute-Marne, France, and becoming navigable flows N. through Belgium, turns E. at Namur, where the Sambre enters from the left, N. again at Liège, where it receives the Ourthe from the right; enters Holland at Maastricht, is for a time the boundary, finally trends westward, and joins the Rhine at the delta.

MEXICO (12,050), a federal republic of 27 States, a district, and two territories, lying S. of the United States, between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific, and including the peninsulas of Lower California in the W. and Yucatan in the E.; is nearly half as large as Europe without Russia; it consists of an immense plateau 3000 to 8000 ft. high, from which rises the Sierra Nevada, 10,000 ft., running N. and S., and other parallel ranges, as also single peaks. Toluca (19,340 ft.), Orizaba (18,000), and Popocatapetl (17,000); the largest lake is Chapala, in the centre; the rivers are mostly rapid and unnavigable; the chief seaports are Vera Cruz (29) and Tampico (5) on the E. and Acapulco on the W., but the coast-line is little indented and affords no good harbours; along the eastern seaboard runs a strip of low-lying unhealthy country, 60 m. broad; on the Pacific side the coast land is sometimes broader; these coast-lines are well watered, with tropical vegetation, tropical and sub-tropical fruits; the higher ground has a varied climate; in the N. are great cattle ranches; all over the country the mineral wealth is enormous, gold, silver, copper, iron, sulphur, zinc, quicksilver, and platinum are wrought; coal also exists; the bulk of Mexican exports is of precious metals and ores; there are cotton, paper, glass, and pottery manufactures; trade is chiefly with the United States and Britain; imports being textile fabrics, hardware, machinery, and coal; one-fifth of the population is white, the rest Indian and half-caste; education is backward, though there are free schools in every town; the religion is Roman Catholic, the language Spanish; conquered by Cortez in 1519, the country was ruled by Spain and spoiled for 300 years; a rebellion established its independence in 1821, but the first 50 years saw perpetual civil strife, and wars with the United States in 1848 and France in 1862; since 1867, however, when the constitution was modelled on that of the United States, there has been peace and progress, Ponfirio Diaz, President since 1876, having proved a masterly ruler. MEXICO (327), the capital of the republic, 7000 ft. above the level of the sea, in the centre of the country, is a handsome though unhealthy city, with many fine buildings, a cathedral, a picture-gallery, schools of law, mining, and engineering, a conservatory of music, and an academy of art; there are few manufactures; the trade is chiefly transit.

MEXICO, GULF OF, a large basin between United States and Mexican territory; is shut in by the peninsulas of Florida and Yucatan, 500 m. apart, and the western extremity of Cuba, which lies between them; it receives the Mississippi, Rio Grande, and many other rivers; the coasts are low, with many lagoons; ports like New Orleans, Havana, and Vera Cruz make it a highway for ships; north-easterly hurricanes blow in March and October.

MEYER, CONRAD FERDINAND, Swiss poet and novelist, native of Zurich; has written "Der Heilige" and many other novels; b. 1825.

MEYERBEER, illustrious musical composer, born at Berlin, of Jewish birth; composer of operatic music, and for over 30 years supreme in French opera; produced "Robert le Diable" in 1831, the "Huguenots" in 1833, "Le Prophète" in 1844, "L'Étoile du Nord" in 1854, the "Dinorah" in 1859 (1791-1864).

MEZZOFANTI, GIUSEPPE, cardinal and linguist, born at Bologna; celebrated for the number of languages he knew, some 58 in all; lived chiefly in Rome, and was keeper of the Vatican library; Byron called him "a walking polyglot" (1771-1848).

MEZZOTINT, a mode of engraving on steel or copper in imitation of Indian ink drawings, the lights and shades of the picture being produced by scraping on a black ground.

MIALL, EDWARD, journalist, English apostle of disestablishment, founder of the Liberation Society; sat for Rochdale and Bradford; was presented on his retirement with a sum of ten thousand guineas for his services (1809-1881).

MICAH, one of the minor prophets of the Old Testament, a contemporary of Isaiah, Hosea, and Amos; his prophecies are in the same strain as those of Isaiah, and numerous are the coincidences traceable between them; though a great sternness of temper and severity of tone appears in his prophecies, a deep tenderness of heart from time to time reveals itself, and a winning persuasiveness (chap. vi. 8); chap. vii. 8-20 has been quoted as one of the sweetest passages of prophetic writing; his prophecies predict the destruction both of Samaria and Jerusalem, the captivity and the return, with the re-establishment of the theocracy, and the advent of the Messiah.

MICAWBER, a character in "David Copperfield," a schemer whose schemes regularly came to grief, yet who always wakes up after his depression, and hopes something will turn up to his advantage.

MICHAEL, an archangel, the leader of the heavenly host, at never-ending war with the devil and his angels in their arrogance of claim; is represented in art as clad in armour, with a sword in one hand and a pair of scales in the other to weigh the souls of men at the judgment. Festival, September 20.

MICHAEL, the name of a succession of eight emperors who, at different periods, occupied the throne of the East from 811 to 1282, the last being Michael VIII., the founder of the Palæologic dynasty.

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 associated (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 Göttingen; 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 assailed 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 shores and no islands; the chief ports are Chicago, Milwaukee, and Racine.

MICKIEWICZ, ADAM, Polish poet, born in Lithuania, of a noble 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 passing; 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 lust 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 god 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 ass-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 passed 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 PASSAGE, 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.

MIDDLESEX (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 assistance 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 gods and UTGARD OF THE JÖTUNS (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 ABBÉ, French Catholic theologian, born at St. Flour; edited a great many works on theology, such as "Patrologiæ Cursus Completus," and "Orateurs Sacrés," and founded L'Univers journal (1800-1875).

MIGNET, FRANÇOIS 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 documents; wrote a number of historical works, among others a "History of the French Revolution," and "History of Marie Stuart" (1796-1884).

MIGNON, an impassioned 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 title 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 Japan, regarded as the head of both Church and State in his dominions.

MIKLOSICH, FRANZ VON, philologist, born at Luttenberg, studied at Grätz; 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.

MILETUS, the foremost Ionian city of ancient Asia Minor, at the mouth of the Mæander, was the mother of many colonies, and the port from which vessels traded to all the Mediterranean countries and to the Atlantic; its carpets and cloth were far-famed; its first greatness passed away when Darius stormed it in 494 B.C., and it was finally ruined by the Turks; Thales the philosopher and Cadmus the historian were among its famous sons.

MILITARY ORDERS were in crusading times associations of knights sworn to chastity and devoted to religious service; the Hospitallers, the earliest, tended sick pilgrims at Jerusalem; the Templars protected pilgrims and guarded the Temple; the Knights of St. John were also celibate, but the orders of Alcantara and others in Spain, of St. Bennet in Portugal, and others elsewhere, with different objects, were permitted to marry.

MILITIA, a body of troops in the British service for home defence, the members of which have as a rule never served in the regular army, nor have, except for a short period each year, any proper military training.

MILKY WAY. See GALAXY.

MILL, JAMES, economist, born in Logie Pert, near Montrose, the son of a shoemaker, bred for the Church; was a disciple of Locke and Jeremy Bentham; wrote a "History of British India," "Elements of Political Economy," and an "Analysis of the Human Mind"; held an important lucrative post in the East India Company's service (1773-1836).

MILL, JOHN STUART, logician and economist, born in London, son of the preceding; was educated pedantically by his father; began to learn Greek at 3, could read it and Latin at 14, "never was a boy," he says, and was debarred from all imaginative literature, so that in after years the poetry of Wordsworth came to him as a revelation; entered the service of the East India Company in 1823, but devoted himself to philosophic discussion; contributed to the Westminster Review, of which he was for some time editor; published his "System of Logic" in 1843, and in 1848 his "Political Economy"; entered Parliament in 1865, but lost his seat in 1868, on which he retired to Avignon, where he died; he wrote a book on "Liberty" in 1859, on "Utilitarianism" in 1863, on "Comte" in 1865, and on "Sir William Hamilton's Philosophy" the same year, and left an "Autobiography"; he was a calm thinker and an impartial critic; he befriended Carlyle when he went to London, and Carlyle rather took to him, but divergences soon appeared, which, as it could not fail, ended in total estrangement; he had an Egeria in a Mrs. Taylor, whom he married when she became a widow; it was she, it would almost seem, who was responsible for the fate of Carlyle's MS. (1806-1873).

MILLAIS, SIR JOHN EVERETT, painter, born of Jersey parentage, at Southampton; studied at the Royal Academy, and at 17 exhibited a notable historical work; early associated with Rossetti and Holman Hunt, he remained for over 20 years under their influence; to this period belong "The Carpenter's Shop," 1851, "Autumn Leaves," 1856, and "The Minuet," 1866; "The Gambler's Wife" marks the transition from Pre-Raphaelitism; his chief subsequent work, in which technical interest predominates, was portraiture, including Gladstone and Beaconsfield; he was a profuse illustrator, and wrought some etchings; he was made R.A. 1864, a baronet in 1885, and P.R.A. February 1896 (1829-1896).

MILLBANK PRISON, Westminster, constructed 1812-21 on the plans of Howard and Bentham, so that each of its 1100 cells were visible from the governor's room, was used for solitary confinement preparatory to penal servitude, and as a convict prison until 1886, and demolished 1890.

MILLER, HUGH, journalist and geologist, self-taught, born in Cromarty, of sailor ancestry; began life as a stone-mason; editor of the Witness newspaper from 1839 till his death; wrote the "Old Red Sandstone," "Footprints of the Creator," and the "Testimony of the Rocks," books which awakened an interest in geological subjects, besides being the author of an account of his life, "My Schools and Schoolmasters"; died by his own hand at Portobello; he was a writer of considerable literary ability, and "nothing," says Prof. Saintsbury, "can be more hopelessly unliterary than to undervalue Hugh Miller" (1802-1856).

MILLER, WILLIAM, line-engraver, lived at Millerfield, Edinburgh; famed for his engravings of Turner; was a member of the Society of Friends, and stood high in his art as an engraver (1797-1882).

MILLET, JEAN FRANÇOIS, French painter of French peasant life, born near Greville, of a peasant family; sent to Paris, studied under Paul Delaroche, withdrew into rustic life, and took up his abode at the village of Barbizon, near the Forest of Fontainebleau, where he spent as a peasant the rest of his life, honoured though poor by all his neighbours, and produced inimitable pictures of French country life, completing his famous "Sower," and treating such subjects as the "Gleaners," the "Sheep-Shearers," "Shepherdess and Flock," &c., with an evident appreciation on his part of the life they depicted so faithfully (1814-1875).

MILMAN, HENRY HART, dean of St. Paul's, ecclesiastical historian, born in London; edited Gibbon's "Decline and Fall," wrote "History of the Jews," "History of Christianity to the Abolition of Paganism under the Empire," and "History of Latin Christianity," all learned works, particularly the last in 9 vols., described by Dean Stanley as "a complete epic and philosophy of mediæval Christianity"; was professor of Poetry at Oxford (1791-1865).

MILNE-EDWARDS, HENRI, eminent naturalist, born at Bruges, of English parentage; wrote extensively and learnedly on natural history subjects, dissented from Darwin, and held to the theory of different centres of creation, and to this he stoutly adhered to the last (1800-1885).

MILNER, VISCOUNT, High Commissioner of South Africa since 1897, and Governor of the Transvaal and Orange River Colonies since 1901; a student of Balliol (graduating with a first class in classics), and a Fellow of New College, Oxford; called to the bar in 1881; Private Secretary to Mr. Goschen (1887-1889); Under-Secretary for Finance in Egypt (1889-1892); Chairman of the Inland Revenue Board, from 1892 to 1897, when he succeeded Lord Rosmead at the Cape; represented the Mother Country with great ability before and during the Boer War; visited England and raised to the peerage in 1901; declined the Colonial Secretaryship in 1903; resigned in 1905; b. 1854.

MILNER, JOSEPH, Church historian; master of the Grammar School, Hull; his "History of the Church" reaches down to the 16th century (1744-1797).

MILO, a celebrated athlete, born at Crotona, of extraordinary strength, said to have one day carried a live bullock 120 paces along the Olympic course, killed it with his fist, and eaten it up entire at one repast; in old age he attempted to split a tree, but it closed upon his arm, and the wolves devoured him.

MILTIADES, an Athenian general, famous for his decisive defeat of the Persians at Marathon, 490 B.C.; failing in a naval attack on Paros, and fined to indemnify the cost of the expedition, but unable to pay, was cast into prison, where he died of his wounds inflicted in the attempt.

MILTON, JOHN, poet, born in London, son of a scrivener; graduated at Cambridge, and settled to study and write poetry in his father's house at Horton, 1632; in 1638 he visited Italy, being already known at home as the author of the "Hymn on the Nativity," "Allegro," "Penseroso," "Comus," a mask, and "Lycidas," an elegy on his friend King, who was drowned in the Irish Sea in 1637, besides much excellent Latin verse; the outbreak of the Civil War recalled him, and silenced his muse for many years; settling in London he took pupils, married in 1643 Mary Powell, and became active as a writer of pamphlets on public questions; his first topic was Church Government, then his wife's desertion of him for two years called forth his tracts on Divorce, a threatened prosecution for which elicited in turn the "Areopagitica, a Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing"; his father died in 1647, his wife in 1652; under the Common wealth he was "Secretary of Foreign Tongues," and successfully defended the execution of Charles I. in his Latin "Defence of the English People," and other bitter controversial works; he married in 1656 his second wife, who died two years later; the Restoration gave him back to leisure and poetry; his greatest work, "Paradise Lost," was composed rapidly, dictated to his daughters, and completed in 1663, but not published till 1667; 1671 saw "Paradise Regained" and "Samson Agonistes"; he had been blind since 1652; he married Elizabeth Minshull in 1663, who comforted him in his closing years; a man of fervent, impulsive temperament, and a lover of music, he was sincere in controversy, magnanimous in character, and of deep religious faith; the richness, melody, and simplicity of his poetry, the sublimity of his great theme, and the adequacy of its treatment, place him among the greatest poets of the world; in later years he leaned to Arianism, and broke away from the restraints of outward religious practice; his last prose work, a Latin treatise on "Christian Doctrines," was lost at the time of his death, and only recovered 150 years later (1608-1674).

MILWAÜKEE (285), chief city of Wisconsin, U.S., on W. shore of Lake Michigan, 80 miles N. by W. of Chicago. Exports grain, iron ore, &c.; manufactures flour, machinery, and pig-iron.

MIMES, dramatic performances among the Greeks and Romans, in comic representation of scenes in ordinary life, often in extempore dialogue.

MIMIR, in the Norse mythology the god of wisdom, guardian of the sacred well which nourished the roots of the TREE IGGDRASIL (q. v.), and a draught of whose waters imparted divine wisdom.

MINARETS, a salient feature of Mohammedan architecture, are tall slim towers, in several storeys with balconies, from which the muezzin calls the people to prayer, and terminated by a spire or finial.

MINERVA, the Roman virgin goddess of wisdom and the arts, identified with the GREEK ATHENA (q. v.); born full-armed from the brain of Jupiter, and representing his thinking, calculating, inventive power, and third in rank to him.

MINERVA PRESS, a printing establishment in Leadenhall Street, London, which about a century ago issued a set of trashy, extremely sentimental novels with complicated plots, in which hero and heroine were involved before they could get married.

MINGHETTI, MARCO, Italian patriot and statesman, born at Bologna; a man of liberal views; a friend and associate of Cavour; held office under him as Minister of the Interior in 1862; was ambassador to the Court of St. James's in 1868, and Prime Minister at Rome from 1873 to 1876 (1818-1886)

MINIMS, an order of monks founded by St. Francis of Paula in 1453, a name which signifies "the least" to express super-humility.

MINNEAPOLIS (203), city of U.S., Minnesota, on both sides of the Mississippi, the greatest centre of the wheat and flour trade in U.S.

MINNESINGERS (i. e. love-singers), a name given to the lyric poets of Germany during the latter part of the 12th and the first half of the 13th centuries.

MINNESOTA (1,302), one of the United States of America; lies between the Dakotas on the W. and Wisconsin on the E., Canada on the N., and Iowa on the S., round the upper waters of the Mississippi, the St. Lawrence, and the Red River of the North; the State is largely prairie, with hundreds of lakes, the largest Red Lake, and is chiefly a wheat-producing area; there are pine forests in the N., iron mines, slate and granite quarries; the climate is dry, equable, and bracing; education is good; the State university is at Minneapolis; the capital is ST. PAUL (133), where the Mississippi is still navigable, a fine city, founded in 1840, the centre of the grocery and dry-goods trade; the largest city is Minneapolis (203), which has great lumber and flour mills; Duluth (33) has a magnificent harbour and good shipping trade.

MINORCA (34), the second of the Balearic Isles, hilly, with stalactite caves and rocky coast; is less fertile than Majorca, from which it is 25 m. distant NE.; it produces oil, wine, and fruits, and makes boots and shoes, but under Spanish misrule is not prosperous; the capital Mahon (17), in the SE., is strongly fortified, and has a good harbour.

MINOS, an ancient king of Crete, celebrated for his administration of justice; was fabled to have been appointed, along with Æacus and Rhadamanthus, one of the judges of the dead on their descent into the nether world.

MINOTAUR, in the Greek mythology a monster, half-man half-bull with a bull's head, confined in the Labyrinth of Crete, fed by the annual tribute of seven youths and seven maidens of Athenian birth, till he was slain by Theseus with the help of ARIADNE (q. v.).

MINSTRELS, a body of men who during the Middle Ages wandered from place to place, especially from court to court, singing their own compositions to the harp for accompaniment.

MINTO, EARL OF, Governor-General of India; was bred to the bar, served in Parliament and as ambassador, went out to India in 1806, consolidated the British power, captured Java, and opened diplomatic relations with powers around (17501814).

MIRABEAU, GABRIEL HONORÉ RIQUETTI, COMTE DE, son of the succeeding, born at the mansion-house of Bignon; was a man of massive intellect and strong physical frame, who came to the front in the French Revolution; being expelled from his order by the noblesse of Provence, he ingratiated himself with the Third Estate, and was elected commons-deputy of Aix to the States-General in 1789, where he became, as the incarnation of the whole movement, the ruling spirit of the hour, and gave proof, if he had lived, of being able to change the whole course of the Revolution, for he was already in communication with the court and in hopes of gaining it over to accept the inevitable, when he sickened and died, to the consternation of the entire people, whose affection and confidence he had won (1749-1791). See CARLYLE'S "FRENCH REVOLUTION" and his Essay in his "MISCELLANIES."

MIRABEAU, VICTOR RIQUETTI, MARQUIS DE, "crabbed old friend of men," born at Pertuis, in Provence, claimed to be of Florentine descent; "could never make the world go to his mind," and set about reforming it by coercing a family as self-willed as himself, to the driving of his celebrated son to desperate courses and reckless excesses; advocated the doctrines of the French economists in a series of writings instinct with a certain theoretical philanthropy (1716-1783).

MIRACLE PLAYS were strictly speaking dramas founded on legends of the saints, as distinct from mysteries founded on scriptural subjects, but the name came to cover all those religious representations for the instruction of the people fostered by the Church of the Middle Ages, performed first in churches, afterwards in public places; they were common in England from the 12th century, but latterly became corrupt through the introduction of grotesque indecorous comicalities; the rise of the drama led to their abandonment; on the Continent ecclesiastical action was taken against them, not by the Reformers, but by the Church itself in the 18th century, and everywhere they have all but disappeared; the Passion Play acted every 10 years at Oberammergau, Bavaria, is the only important survival.

MIRANDA, the beautiful daughter of the magician Prospero in Shakespeare's "Tempest."

MIRANDA, FRANCESCO DE, a Portuguese poet; wrote sonnets and epistles in verse; was predecessor of Camoëns (1495-1558).

MISERERE, a carved bracket on the under side of the stall seats in mediæval churches, which, when the seat was turned up during the standing portion of the service, afforded support to the older clergy. Miserere, the Catholic name for the 51st Psalm.

MISHNA, the oral law of the Jews, which is divided into six parts, and constitutes the text of the Talmud, of which the Gemara is the commentary.

MISPRISION, a high offence under, but close upon, the degree of a capital one; misprision of treason being a concealment of a felony without consenting to it.

MISSAL, a book containing the service of the mass for the entire year, such as is now in almost universal use throughout the Catholic world.

MISSISSIPPI (1,290), an American State on the E. bank of the Lower Mississippi, abutting on the Gulf of Mexico, between Louisiana and Alabama; has a hilly surface, traversed by numerous rivers, the Yazoo, a tributary of the Mississippi, forming a great fertile delta; the climate is free from extremes; the chief industry is agriculture; the best crops are grown in the N., and on the alluvial bottom lands; in the centre and NE. are good grazing farms; cotton, corn, oats, and fruits are the chief crops; virgin forests of hardwood cover much of the delta; valuable deposits of pipe and ochre clays and of lignite are found; cotton is manufactured, and there is trade in lumber; more than half the population is coloured, and the races are kept distinct in the State schools; the State university is at Oxford, and there are many other colleges; Jackson (6), the capital, is the chief railway centre, Meridian (10) has iron manufactures, Vicksburg (13) and Natchez (10) are the chief riverports; Mississippi was colonised by the French in 1699, ceded to Britain 1763, admitted to the Union 1817, joined the South in 1861, but was readmitted to the Union in 1869.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER rises in Lake Itaska, Minnesota, and flowing S. for 2800 m., enters the Gulf of Mexico by a large delta; its earlier course is through picturesque country, often in gorges, with rapids such as the St. Anthony Falls, the Des Moines and Rock Island Rapids. After receiving the Missouri, 3000 m. long, from the Rocky Mountains, it flows 2½ m. per hour through great alluvial plains, which are protected from its overflows by hundreds of miles of earth embankments, and is joined by the Ohio from the E., the Red and Arkansas Rivers from the W., and many other navigable streams. The Mississippi is navigable by large steamers for 2000 m.; St. Louis, Memphis, Vicksburg, Natchez, and New Orleans are among the chief ports on its banks.

MISSISSIPPI SCHEME was started in France 1717 by John Law and the Government, ostensibly to develop the Mississippi basin, but really to ease the pressure on the exchequer; a company was formed and empowered to monopolise almost all the foreign trade; 624,000 shares were issued; depreciated paper currency was accepted in payment, and the national bank issued notes without stint; in 1719 the demand for shares was enormous; the nation was completely carried away; next year the crash came; the Government made every effort to save the position, but in vain; the distress was extreme, and Law had to leave the country.

MISSOLONGHI (6), Greek seaport and fishing town, on the Gulf of Patras, chiefly noted for heroic defences in the War of Independence 1821-1826, and as the place of Byron's death 1824.

MISSOURI (2,679), an American State on the right bank of the Mississippi, between Iowa and Arkansas, is half the size of the British Isles, and is traversed by the Missouri River; N. of that river the country is level, S. of it there rise the Ozark tablelands; the soil is very fertile, and the State principally agricultural; immense crops of maize, oats, potatoes, cotton, and tobacco are raised; there are large cattle ranches, and dressed beef and pork are largely exported; the climate is subject to extremes; coal, iron, lead, zinc, and other minerals abound, while marble, granite, and limestone are quarried; the rivers afford excellent transport facilities; the educational system is very complete; admitted to the Union in 1821, Missouri was divided in the Civil War, and suffered terribly, but since then has been very prosperous; the capital, St. Louis (452), is one of the greatest commercial and manufacturing towns in the Union, does a vast trade in grain and cotton, and has hardware, leather goods, and tobacco factories; Kansas City (133), has great pork-packing establishments and railroad iron-works.

MISTRAL, FREDERICK, poet of Southern France, born near Maillaune, was a peasant's son, and himself a peasant; his fame rose on the publication of the epic, "Mirèio," in Provençal dialect, 1859; in 1867 he published "Calendou," and in 1876 a volume of songs, and in 1884 "Nerto," a novel; b. 1830.

MITFORD, MARY RUSSELL, authoress, born at Alresford, Hants, lived with her father, an extravagant physician, at Lyme Regis and London; she published poems in 1810-11-12, but, forced to earn a living, took to dramatic work; "Julian," "The Foscari," and "Rienzi" were successful if ephemeral tragedies; her best work was "Our Village," sketches of homely English life written with much care, and after appearing in the London Magazine, published in 5 vols., 1824-32 (1786-1855).

MITFORD, WILLIAM, English author; wrote a "History of Greece" and on the "English Metre, or the Harmony of Language" (1744-1827).

MITHRAS (i. e. the Friend), the highest of the second order of deities in the ancient Persian religion, the friend of man in this life and his protector against evil in the world to come, sided with Ormuzd against Ahriman, incarnated in the sun, and represented as a youth kneeling on a bull and plunging a dagger into his neck, while he is at the same time attacked by a dog, a serpent, and a scorpion.

MITHRIDATES THE GREAT, surnamed Eupator, king of Pontus from 123 to 63 B.C.; an implacable enemy of the Romans, between whom and him there raged from 90 to 63 a succession of wars, till he was defeated by Pompey near the Euphrates, when, being superseded by his son, he put an end to his life; he was a great man and conqueror, subdued many surrounding nations, and was a collector of works of art; he made a special study of poisons, and familiarised himself with all their antidotes, in view of possible attempts by means of them to take away his life.

MITRAILLEUSE, a gun consisting of several, as many as 25, barrels, from which a number of shots may be fired simultaneously or in rapid succession, used by the French in the Franco-German War.

MIVART, ST. GEORGE, naturalist, a Roman Catholic professor at Louvain, distinguished for his opposition to Darwinianism; b. 1827.

MNEMOSYNË in the Greek mythology the daughter of Uranos, the goddess of memory, and the mother of the Muses by Zeus.

MOA, the name of several species of New Zealand and Australian birds, from 2 to 14 ft. high, and quite wingless; almost extinct since the 17th century; two living specimens were captured in 1876.

MOAB, a pastoral region extending along the E. of lower parts of the Jordan and the Dead Sea, and inhabited by the descendants of Lot, now extinct, or merged among the Arabs.

MOABITE STONE, a stone 4 ft. high and 2 ft. broad found by Dr. Klein in 1868 among the ruins of Dhiban, a town in Moab, now in the Louvre at Paris, describing a victory of the Moabites over the Israelites; it was broken by the Arabs, but the fragments have been collected and put into their proper places.

MOBILE (31), a city and port of Alabama, U.S., 30 m. N. of the Gulf of Mexico; a thriving place; exports cotton, lumber, &c.

MOBILIER CRÉDIT, a banking and financial company founded in Paris in 1852; lends money on security of property other than real, and takes shares in public schemes, such as railways.

MODENA (31), Italian town, 62 m. N. of Florence; has a cathedral, with noted campanile, university, library, and art collections, and manufactures silk and leather; capital of a duchy (303); incorporated in the kingdom of Italy 1860.

MODERN ATHENS, Edinburgh, from its resemblance to Athens and its repute for literary culture; applied also to Boston, in America.

MODERN BABYLON, London, from its huge extent and the miscellaneous character of its inhabitants.

MODJESKA, HELENA, actress, born in Cracow; went on the stage after her first marriage in 1861, and from 1868 to 1876 was the favourite of Warsaw; retired to California on her second marriage, but returned to the stage, having learned English in seven months in California 1877, and till her final retirement in 1895, was eminently successful in America and Britain in such parts as Rosalind, Beatrice, &c.

MODRED, SIR, a treacherous knight, the rebellious nephew of King Arthur, whose wife he seduced; was slain in battle, and buried in Avalon.

MOFFAT, ROBERT, African missionary, born at Ormiston, Haddingtonshire; the scene of his nearly lifelong labours was among the Bechuanas in South Africa, whom he raised from a savage to a civilised state; he was sent out in 1816 by the London Missionary Society. He married (1819) Mary Smith, a daughter of his former employer at Dunkinfield.

MOHAMMED, great prophet of the Arabs, and founder of Islamism, born at Mecca, the son of Abdallah, of the tribe of the Koreish; left an orphan, brought up by his uncle Abu Taleb; became steward to a rich WIDOW KADIJAH (q. v.) whom he married; was given to serious meditation, would retire into solitude and pray, and one day, by the favour of Heaven, got answer which left him "in doubt and darkness no longer, but saw it all," saw into the vanity of all that was not God, that He alone was great, inconceivably great; that it was with Him alone we had to do, we must all submit to Him; this revelation made to him he imparted to Kadijah, and after a time she assented, and his heart leaped for joy; he spoke or his doctrine to this man and that, but made slow progress in persuading others to believe it; made only 13 converts in 3 years; his preaching gave offence to the chief people, and his relatives tried hard to persuade him to hold his peace, but he would not; after 13 years a conspiracy was formed to take his life, and he fled, through peril after peril, to Medina, in his fifty-third year, and in 622 of our era; his enemies had taken up the sword against him, and he now replied with the same weapon, and in 10 years he prevailed; it was a war against idolatry in all its forms, and idolatry was driven to the wall, the motto on his banner "God is Great," a motto with a depth of meaning greater than the Mohammedan world, and perhaps the Christian, has yet realised; it is for one thing a protest on the part of Mohammed, in which the Hebrew prophets forestalled him, against all attempts to understand the Deity and fathom "His ways, which are ever in the deep, and whose footsteps are not known" (571-631).

MOHAMMEDANISM, the religion of MOHAMMED, or ISLAM, (q. v.), is essentially much the same as the religion of the Jews with some elements borrowed from the Christian religion, and is defined by Carlyle as a bastard Christianity; originating in Arabia it spread rapidly over the W. of Asia, the N. of Africa, and threatened at one time to overrun Europe itself; it is the religion to-day of two hundred millions of the human race, and the profession of it extends over a wide area in western and southern Asia as also in northern Africa, though its limits in Europe do not extend beyond the bounds of Turkey.

MOHAWK, a tribe of American Indians, gave name to a band or club of ruffians who infested the streets of London in 1711-12.

MOHIC`ANS, an American Indian tribe, took sides with the English settlers against the French and with the former against England.

MOHL, JULIUS, Orientalist, born in Stuttgart; edited the "Shah Nameh" of Firdushi, a monumental work (1800-1876).

MÖHLER, JOHANN ADAM, a Roman Catholic theologian, born at Würtemberg, author of "Symbolik," a work which discusses the differences between the doctrines of Catholics and Protestants, as evidenced in their respective symbolical books, a work which created no small stir in the theological world (1796-1838).

MOIR, DAVID MACBETH, the "Delta" of Blackwood, born in Musselburgh, where he practised as a physician; was author of "Mansie Waugh" (1798-1851).

MOIRA, FRANCIS RAWDON-HASTINGS, EARL OF, son of the Earl of Moira; entered the army 1771, and served against the Americans in the War of Independence; created Baron Rawdon in 1783; succeeded to his father's title 1793; entered political life under Fox, and was Governor-General of India 1813-23, in which period fell the Goorkha War, for the successful negotiations subsequent on which he was created Marquis of Hastings; his administration encouraged native education and freedom of the press; from 1824 he was Governor of Malta till his death at Naples (1754-1826).

MOKANNA, AL, "the veiled one," a name given to Hakim ben Allah, who wore a veil to hide the loss of an eye; he professed to be an incarnation of the Deity and to work miracles; found followers; founded a sect at Khorassan; seized some fortresses, but was overthrown at Kash A.D. 780, whereupon he took poison.

MOLDAU, largest river in Bohemia, rises on the N. of the Böhmerwald Mountains, flows SE. along their base, then turns northward through Bohemia, passes Budweis, becomes navigable, is 100 yards broad at Prague, and joins the Elbe at Melnik after flowing 278 m.

MOLDAVIA, once independent, now the northern division of Roumania, lies between the Carpathians and the Pruth River, and is well watered by the Sereth; its chief town is Jassy, in the NE.

MOLÉ, LOUIS MATTHIEU, COMTE, French statesman, born in Paris; published in 1805 an essay on politics which, defending Napoleon, won for its author a series of minor offices, and in 1813 a peerage and a seat in the Cabinet; retaining power under Louis XVIII. and Louis Philippe, he was Minister of Marine 1817, Foreign Minister 1830, and Premier 1837, but retired from politics two years later (1781-1855).

MOLECULE, the smallest particle of which an element or a compound body is composed, and that retains all the properties in a free state.

MOLESWORTH, SIR WILLIAM, British statesman, born in London; was an advanced Liberal; editor and proprietor of the Westminster Review; edited the works of Hobbes (1810-1855).

MOLIÈRE, JEAN BAPTISTE POQUELIN, great French comic dramatist, born in Paris; studied law and passed for the bar, but evinced from the first a proclivity for the theatre, and soon associated with actors, and found his vocation as a writer of plays, which procured him the friendship of Lafontaine, Boileau, and other distinguished men, though he incurred the animosity of many classes of society by the ridicule which he heaped on their weaknesses and their pretensions, the more that in his satires his characters are rather abstract types of men than concrete individualities; his principal pieces are, "Les Précieuses Ridicules," "L'École des Femmes," "Le Tartuffe," "Le Misanthrope," "George Dandin," "L'Avare," "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme," "Les Fourberies de Scapin," "Le Malade malgré Lui," "Les Femmes Savantes," and "Le Malade Imaginaire"; though seriously ill, he took part in the performance of this last, but the effort was too much for him, and he died that night; from the grudge which the priests bore him for his satires on them he was buried without a religious service (1622-1673).

MOLINA, LUIS, a Spanish Jesuit and theologian, author of a theory called Molinism, which resolves the doctrine of predestination into a mere foreknowledge of those who would accept and those who would reject the grace of God in salvation.

MOLINOS, MIGUEL DE, a Spanish theologian, born at Saragossa; published a book called the "Spiritual Guide," which, as containing the germ of Quietism, was condemned by the Inquisition, and its author sentenced to imprisonment for life (1627-1696).

MOLLAH, a judge of the highest rank among the Turks on matters of law, both civil and sacred.

MOLLWITZ, a village in Silesia, 20 m. SE. of Breslau, where Frederick the Great defeated the Austrians 1741.

MOLOCH or MOLECH, the chief god of the Ammonites, the worship of whom, which prevailed among all the Canaanites, was accompanied with cruelties, human sacrifices among others, revolting to the humane spirit of the Jewish religion; originally it appears to have been the worship of fire, through which the innocent as well as the guilty have often to pass for the achievement of the noblest enterprises, which degenerated at length into selfish sacrifices of others for interests of one's own, into the substitution of the innocent for the guilty by way of atonement to the Deity!

MOLTKE, COUNT VON, surnamed the Silent, great German field marshal, born in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, of an old family; was pre-eminent as a military strategist, planned and conducted the Prussian campaign against Austria in 1866, and the German campaign against France in 1870-72; was in the service of Denmark before he entered the Prussian (1800-1891).

MOLUCCAS or SPICE ISLANDS (400), an archipelago of mountainous islands, mostly volcanic, between Celebes and New Guinea, is in two main groups; in the N. the largest island is Jilolo, but the most important Tidor and Ternate, which export spices, tortoise-shell, and bees-wax; in the S. Buru and Ceram are largest, most important, Amboyna, from which come cloves; the people are civilised Malays; the islands are equatorial, but tempered by sea-breezes, and healthy; discovered by the Portuguese in 1521, they have been in Dutch possession since 1607, except when held by Britain 1810-1814.

MOMBASA (Africans and Arabs 20), capital of British East Africa, on a rocky islet, close inshore, 50 m. N. of Pemba; was ceded with a tract of country six times the size of the British Isles, and rich in gold, copper, plumbago, and india-rubber, to the British East African Company by the Sultan of Zanzibar in 1888, since when it has been rebuilt, and the harbour, one of the best and healthiest on the coast, made a naval coaling-station and head-quarters.

MOMMSEN, THEODOR, historian, born in Schleswig, a man of immense historical knowledge; his greatest work the "History of Rome"; was professor of Ancient History at Berlin; his forte was his learning more than his critical capacity; b. 1817.

MOMUS, the god of raillery, the son of Night, a kind of ancient MEPHISTOPHELES (q. v.).

MONACHISM, or MONASTICISM, is an institution in which individuals devote themselves, apart from others, to the cultivation of spiritual contemplation and religious duties, and which has constituted a marked feature in Pre-Christian Jewish asceticism, and in Buddhism as well as in Christianity; in the Church it developed from the practice of living in solitude in the 2nd century, and received its distinctive note when the vow of obedience to a superior was added to the hermit's personal vows of poverty and chastity; the movement of St. Benedict in the 6th century stamped its permanent form on Western Monasticism, and that of St. Francis in the 12th gave it a more comprehensive range, entrusting the care of the poor, the sick, the ignorant, &c., to the hitherto self-centred monks and nuns; during the Middle Ages the monasteries were centres of learning, and their work in copying and preserving both sacred and secular literature has been invaluable; English Monachism was swept away at the Reformation; in France at the Revolution; and later in Spain, Portugal, and Italy it has been suppressed; brotherhoods and sisterhoods have sprung up in the Protestant churches of Germany and England, but in all of them the vows taken are revocable.

MONACO (13), a small principality 9 m. E. of Nice, on the Mediterranean shore, surrounded by French territory and under French protection; has a mild salubrious climate, and is a favourite winter resort. The capital, MONACO, is built on a picturesque promontory, and 1 m. NE. stands Monte Carlo.

MONAD, the name given by Leibnitz to one of the active simple elementary substances, the plurality of which in their combinations or combined activities constitutes in his regard the universe both spiritual and physical; it denotes in biology an elementary organism.

MONAGHAN (82), an inland Ulster county, Ireland, surrounded by Louth, Armagh, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Cavan, and Meath; is undulating, with many small lakes and streams; grows flax and manufactures linen, and has limestone and slate quarries. The chief towns are CLONES (2), and the county-town MONAGHAN (3), which has a produce market.

MONBODDO, JAMES BURNETT, LORD, a Scottish judge, born in Kincardineshire, an eccentric writer, author of a "Dissertation on the Origin of Language" and of "Ancient Metaphysics"; had original fancies on the origin, particularly of the human race from the monkey, conceived not so foolish to-day as they were then (1714-1799).

MONCREIFF, SIR HENRY WELLWOOD, Scottish clergyman, born at Blackford; from 1775 to 1827 minister of St. Cuthbert's, Edinburgh, and leader of the evangelical party of the Scottish Church.

MONCREIFF, JAMES W., LORD, second son of preceding, eminent Scottish judge; was the author of the Veto Act which led to the Disruption of 1843 (1776-1851).

MONCREIFF, SIR HENRY W., son of preceding, became a Free Church minister, and was Principal Clerk of the General Assembly of the Free Church; an authority on Church law (1809-1885).

MONCREIFF, JAMES, brother of preceding, bred for the Scottish bar; was Lord Advocate of Scotland under four administrations; was appointed Lord Justice-Clerk in 1860; was raised to the peerage in 1874 (1811-1895).

MOND, LUDWIG, distinguished technical chemist and inventor, born at Cassel, in Germany; was a pupil of Kolbe and Bunsen, and has made important additions to chemical-industrial processes and products; b. 1839.

MONEY, defined by Ruskin to be "a documentary claim to wealth, and correspondent in its nature to the title-deed of an estate."

MONGE, GASPARD, celebrated French mathematician, born at Beaune; one of the founders of the Polytechnic School in Paris (1746-1818).

MONGOLS, a great Asiatic people having their original home on the plains E. of Lake Baikal, Siberia, who first rose into prominence under their ruler Genghis Khan in the 12th century; he, uniting the three branches of Mongols, commenced a career of conquest which made him master of all Central Asia; his sons divided his empire, and pursued his conquests; a Mongol emperor seized the throne of China in 1234, and from this branch sprang the great Kublai Khan, whose house ruled an immense territory 1294-1368. Another section pushed westwards as far as Moravia and Hungary, taking Pesth in 1241, and founded the immense empire over which Tamerlane held sway. A third but later movement, springing from the ruins of these earlier empires, was that of Baber, who conquered India, and founded the Great Mogul line, 1519. Now Mongols are constituent elements in the populations of China, Russian, and Turkish Asia.

MONICA, ST., the mother of St. Augustine, who became to him the symbol of "the highest he knew on earth, bowing before a Higher in heaven."

MONISM, the name given to the principle of any system of philosophy which resolves the manifold of the universe into the evolution of some unity in opposition to DUALISM (q. v.).

MONK, GEORGE, DUKE OF ALBEMARLE, general and admiral, was a Devonshire man, who spent his youth in the Dutch wars, and returned to England just in time to side with Charles I. against the Parliament; after leading a regiment in Ireland, he was captured at Nantwich in 1644, and spent two years in the Tower; obtaining his release by changing sides, he won commendation from Cromwell at Dunbar in 1650, and was entrusted with the command of operations in Scotland afterwards; in 1653 he beat Van Tromp at sea, twice; from 1654 till 1660 he was Governor of Scotland; on the death of Cromwell he saw the confusion, marched with 6000 troops to London, and after cautious negotiations, brought Charles II. to England and set him on the throne, receiving a peerage and many honours for reward; he behaved well as Governor of London in the plague year, and was again admiral in the Dutch wars of 1666 (1608-1670).

MONMOUTH, GEOFFREY, a Welsh priest of the 12th century, compiler of what he called a "History of the Early Kings of Britain," from that of Brut, through the story of King Arthur and others, such as King Lear, down to that of Cadwallo, a Welsh king, who died in 689.

MONMOUTH, JAMES, DUKE OF, illegitimate son of Charles II., born at Rotterdam; was admitted to Court after the Restoration, and received his title in 1663; his manners and his Protestantism brought him popular favour in spite of his morals, and by-and-by plots were formed to secure the succession for him; forced to fly to Holland in 1683, he waited till his father's death, then planned a rebellion with Argyll; Argyll failed in Scotland; Monmouth, landing in Dorsetshire 1685, was soon overthrown at Sedgemoor, taken prisoner, and executed (1649-1685).

MONMOUTHSHIRE (252), a west of England county lying N. of the Severn estuary, between Glamorgan and Gloucestershire; is low and flat in the S., but otherwise hilly, and is traversed by the Usk River; more than half the surface is under permanent pasture; the wealth of Monmouthshire consists of coal and iron-stone; Monmouth (5), the county town, is the centre of beautiful scenery, and has some fine buildings.

MONOPHYSITES, a body of heretics who arose in the 5th century and maintained that the divine and human natures in Christ were united in one divine-human nature, so that He was neither wholly divine nor wholly human, but in part both.

MONOTHEISM, belief in the existence of one God, or the divine unity, or that the Divine Being, whether twofold, as in dualism, threefold, as in Trinitarianism, is in essence and in manifestation one.

MONOTHELISM, a heresy which arose in the 7th century, in which it was maintained that, though in Christ there were two natures, there was but One Will, viz., the Divine.

MONRO, ALEXANDER, founder of Edinburgh Medical School, born of Scotch parentage in London; studied there, and at Paris and Leyden, and was appointed lecturer on Anatomy by the Surgeons' Company at Edinburgh in 1719; two years later he became professor, and in 1725 was admitted to the University; he was a principal promoter and early clinical lecturer in the Royal Infirmary, and continued his clinical work after resigning his chair to his son Alexander; he wrote several medical works, and was a Fellow of the Royal Society; he was called primus, to distinguish him from his son and grandson, who were called respectively secundus and tertius, and were professors of Anatomy in Edinburgh like himself (1697-1767).

MONROE, JAMES, American President, born in Virginia, of Scottish descent; left college to join Washington's army; was wounded in the war, and studying law, entered Congress in 1783; he assisted in framing the Constitution, and sat in the Senate 1790-1794; his diplomatic career in France was marked by the purchase of Louisiana from that country in 1803; he was governor of Virginia thrice over, and Secretary of State till 1817; then followed two terms of the Presidency, during which Florida was acquired from Spain 1819, the delimitation of the slave limit by the Missouri compromise, the recognition of the South American Republics, and the statement of the "MONROE DOCTRINE" (q. v.); in his later years his generosity led him into debt, and he spent his closing days with relations in New York (1758-1831).

MONROE DOCTRINE, the doctrine of James Monroe, twice over President of the United States, that the United States should hold aloof from all interference with the affairs of the Old World, and should not suffer the Powers of the Old World to interfere with theirs.

MONSON, SIR EDWARD, English diplomatist; entered the diplomatic service in 1856, and after service at various courts, became ambassador at Paris in 1896; b. 1834.

MONSOON originally denoted a periodical wind in the Indian Ocean, which blows from SW. from April to October, and from NE. from October to April; now denotes any wind connected with a continent regularly recurring with the seasons.

MONSTRANCE, a transparent pyx on which the Host is exhibited on the altar to the people, or conveyed in public procession.

MONT BLANC, in the Graian Alps, on the French-Italian frontier, the highest mountain in Europe, 15,782 ft., the upper half under perpetual snow; has 56 magnificent glaciers, including the Mer-de-Glace; it was first climbed by Balmat and Paccard in 1786, and since then has been many times ascended, now by 50 parties every year.

MONT CENIS, an Alpine peak (12,000 ft.) on the Savoy-Piedmont frontier and the adjacent pass, over which a road was constructed 1802-1810, and near which a railway tunnel was pierced (1857-70) at a cost of £3,000,000.

MONT DE PIÉTÉ, an institution to lend money to the poor at little or no interest, first established in the 15th century, a time when lending to the poor was as much a work of mercy as giving to them; a public pawnbroking establishment, so called in France.

MONTAGNARDS. See MOUNTAIN, THE.

MONTAGU, LADY MARY WORTLEY, an English lady, born in Nottinghamshire, celebrated for her wit and beauty, and for her "Letters on the Manners of the East" (1690-1762).

MONTAIGNE, MICHEL DE, a sceptico-speculative thinker and moralist, born in the Château of Montaigne, Périgord; an easy-going mortal, but a keen observer of the ways and manners of other people, which some experience in travel gave him opportunities to do, as well as the study of the old classic Latin authors; his fame rests on his "Essays," in which he records his observations of mankind, but in which, from a decided descendental twist he had, he betrays a rather low idea of the morale of the race; the book, however, is a favourite with all observant people of education, and a translation of it by Florio is the one book we know for certain to have been in the library of Shakespeare; bred as he was by his father's arrangement among the common people, he always retained a friendly feeling towards his neighbours, and they cherished towards him feelings of very high regard; he was a quiet, tolerant man, and his writings reveal a character which commands the respect of men who affect a much higher level of thinking than that occupied by himself (1533-1592).

MONTALEMBERT, COMTE DE, a French politician, born in London, son of a French emigrant; was associated with Lamennais and Lacordaire in the conduct of the Avenir, an Ultramontane Liberal organ, and spent his life in advocating the cause of a free unfettered system of national education; wrote the "Monks of the West," his chief work (1810-1870).

MONTANA (132), a State of the American Union, in the NW., lies along the Canadian border between Idaho and the Dakotas, with Wyoming on the S.; has a mild climate, and a soil which, with irrigation, produces fine crops of grain and vegetables. Cattle-raising is profitable, but the chief industry is mining, in the Rocky Mountains, which occupy a fifth of the State. There gold, silver, copper, and lead abound. The Missouri and the Columbia Rivers rise in Montana, and the Yellowstone traverses the whole State. The State was admitted to the Union in 1889, with Helena (9) as capital.

MONTANISM, a heresy which arose in the 2nd century; derived its name from an enthusiast in Phrygia named Montanus, who insisted on the permanency of the spiritual gifts vouchsafed to the primitive Church, and a return to the severe discipline of life and character prevailing in it.

MONTCALM DE SAINT VÉRAN, LOUIS JOSEPH, MARQUIS DE, born near Nîmes; entered the army early, and at forty-four was field-marshal and commander of the forces in Quebec against the English; the capture of Forts Oswego and William Henry and the defence of Ticonderoga were followed by the loss of Louisburg and Fort Duquesne and the retreat on Quebec, where, surprised by Wolfe in 1759, he was totally defeated, and Canada lost to France; both generals fell (1712-1759).

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 emancipation not only of the oppressed among his own race, but of the slave in all lands; lived to a great age (1784-1885).

MONTÉGUT, ÉMILE, 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.); passed her last days in religious retirement (1641-1707).

MONTESQUIEU, BARON DE, illustrious French publicist, born in the Château La Brède, 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. shore 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 passed 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 constitution 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 ÉTIENNE (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 assured 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; passed 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 illustrious family; served in arms under Francis I.; was associated with Condé 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 Hérault, France, on the Lez, 6 m. from the Gulf of Lyons, 30 m. SW. of Nîmes, is a picturesque town, containing a cathedral, a university, picture-gallery, libraries, and other institutions, 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 principal shipment is grain; it is the chief banking centre, has the greatest universities (M'Gill and a branch of Laval), hospitals, and religious institutions, 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 passed 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 Massachusetts; settled in Chicago, where he began his career as an evangelist, associated 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).

MOORE, SIR JOHN, general, eldest son of above, born at Glasgow; served in Corsica, the West Indies, Ireland, Holland, Egypt, Sicily, and Sweden; his famous and last expedition was to Spain in 1808, when with 10,000 men he was sent to co-operate in expelling the French; Spanish apathy and other causes weakened his hands, and in December he found himself with 25,000 men at Astorga, a French force of 70,000 advancing against him; retreat was necessary, but disastrous; he was overtaken by Soult at Coruña in the act of embarking; the victory lay with the English, but Moore was killed (1761-1808).

MOORE, THOMAS, the Bard of Erin, born in Dublin, the son of a grocer, studied at Trinity College; went to London with a translation of "Anacreon," which gained him favour and a valuable appointment in the Bermudas in 1803; fought a duel with Jeffrey in 1806, began his "Irish Melodies" in 1807, and published "The Twopenny Postbag" in 1812; in 1817 appeared "Lalla Rookh," a collection of Oriental tales, and in 1818 a satiric piece "The Fudge Family," and published a Life of Byron in 1830; Moore's songs were written to Irish airs, and they contributed much to ensure Catholic emancipation (1779-1852).

MOORS, a general term for tribes in North Africa descended from Arab and Berber stock; they were Christians for several centuries, but on their conquest by Arabs in 647 embraced Mohammedanism; the town Moors do not hold before European settlers, but the nomad tribes show more vitality; Moorish peoples seized and settled in Spain early in the 8th century, and, introducing a civilisation further advanced than that in Europe generally with respect to science, art, and industry alike, maintained a strong rule till the 11th century; then the Spaniards gradually recovered the peninsula; Toledo was taken in 1085, Saragossa in 1118, Valencia in 1238, Seville in 1248, Murcia in 1260, and Granada in 1492; Turkish successes in the East came too late to save the Moors, and the last were banished from the country in 1609.

MORAINES, masses of rock which become detached from the hill-side and find lodgment on a glacier are so called, and are further described as lateral, medial, terminal, or ground moraines, according as they lie along its edges, its middle, are piled up in mounds at its end, or falling down crevasses, are ground against the rock underneath.

MORALITIES, didactic dramas, following in order of time the miracle plays and mysteries, in which the places of saints and biblical personages in them were taken by characters representing different virtues and vices, and the story was of an allegorical nature; were the immediate precursors of the secular drama.

MORAVIA (2,277), a crownland in the N. of Austria, lying between the Moravian and the Carpathian Mountains, with Silesia on the N., Hungary on the E., Lower Austria on the S., and Bohemia on the W.; is mountainous, with lofty plains in the S., and is watered by the March, a tributary of the Danube; the valleys and plains are fertile; grain, beetroot, flax, hemp, and vines are grown; cattle and poultry rearing and bee-keeping occupy the peasantry; sugar, textiles, and tobacco are the chief manufactures; there are coal and iron mines, graphite and meerschaum are found; the capital is Brünn (94), which has woollen and leather industries; associated with Bohemia in 1029, Moravia passed with that country to Austria in 1526, its association with Bohemia terminating in 1849; the inhabitants are two-thirds Slavs and one-third German, and are mostly Roman Catholic.

MORAVIANS, a sect of Protestant Christians who, followers of John Huss, formed themselves into a separate community in Bohemia in 1467 on the model of the primitive Church, in which the members regarded each other as brethren, and were hence called the United Brethren; like other heretics they suffered much persecution at the hands of the orthodox Church; they are known also as Herrnhuters.

MORAY, JAMES STUART, EARL OF, illegitimate son of James V. of Scotland, and so half-brother of Mary, Queen of Scots; was from 1556 the leader of the Reformation party, and on Mary's arrival in her kingdom in 1561 became her chief adviser; on her marriage with Darnley he made an unsuccessful attempt to raise a Protestant rebellion, and had to escape to England 1565, and after a visit to Edinburgh, when he connived at Rizzio's murder, to France in 1567; he was almost immediately recalled by the nobles, who had imprisoned Mary in Lochleven, and appointed regent; next year he defeated at Langside the forces which, on her escape, had rallied round her, and in the subsequent management of the kingdom secured both civil and ecclesiastical peace, and earned the title of "the Good Regent"; he was shot by a partisan of the queen's, James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, when riding through Linlithgow (1531-1570).

MORE, HANNAH, English authoress, born near Bristol; wrote dramas, a novel entitled "Coelebs in Search of a Wife," and a tract "The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain" (1745-1833).

MORE, HENRY, a Platonist, born at Grantham, a Fellow of Christ College, Cambridge, and author of a poem "Song of the Soul"; he was a mystic who exercised a great influence among the young men of Cambridge (1614-1687).

MORE, SIR THOMAS, Chancellor of England, born in London; was the lifelong friend of Erasmus, and the author of "Utopia," an imaginary commonwealth; succeeded Wolsey as Chancellor, but resigned the seals of office because he could not sanction the king's action in the matter of the divorce, and was committed to the Tower for refusing to take the oath of supremacy, whence after 12 months he was brought to trial and sentenced to be beheaded; he ascended the scaffold, and laid his head on the block in the spirit of a philosopher; was one of the wisest and best of men (1478-1535).

MOREA is the modern name of the ancient Peloponnesus, that remarkable peninsula, larger than Wales, which constitutes the southern half of Greece, and is joined to the mainland by the Isthmus of Corinth, less than 4 m. broad.

MOREAU, JEAN VICTOR, French general, born at Morlaix; served with distinction under the Republic and the Empire; was suspected of plotting against the latter with George Cadoudal, and banished on conviction; went to America, but returning to Europe, joined the ranks of the Russians against his country, and was mortally wounded by a cannon ball at Dresden (1763-1813).

MORGANATIC MARRIAGE, is a union permitted to German princes who, forbidden to marry except with one of equal rank, may ally themselves with a woman of inferior status, their children being legitimate but not eligible for the succession; the marriages of British princes contracted before the age of 25 without consent of the sovereign, or after that age without consent of Parliament, are of a morganatic nature.

MORGARTEN, a mountain slope in the canton of Zug, Switzerland, where 1400 Swiss, on Nov. 15, 1315, in assertion of their independence, defeated an Austrian army of 15,000.

MORGHEN, RAPHAEL SANZIO CAVALIERE, engraver, born in Naples, of German parentage; studied in Rome, and by genius and industry became one of the foremost engravers; his works include engravings of Raphael's "Transfiguration," the result of 16 years' labour, and Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper," his masterpiece (1758-1833).

MORGUE, a house in which bodies found dead are placed for identification.

MORISONIANISM, the principles of the Evangelical Union, a Scottish denomination founded by the Rev. James Morison of Kilmarnock on his expulsion from the United Secession Church in 1843, and united with the Scottish Congregational Union in 1897; differed from the older Presbyterianism in affirming the freedom of the human will to accept or reject salvation, and the universal scope of the offer of salvation as made by God to all men; in polity the Morisonians observed a modified independency.

MORLEY, JOHN, politician and man of letters, born in Blackburn; is an advanced Liberal in both capacities; besides essays and journalistic work, has written biographies, particularly on men associated with politics and social movements, such as Voltaire, Rousseau, and Diderot, as well as Burke, and is editor of "English Men of Letters"; in politics he was a staunch supporter of Mr. Gladstone, though he could have little sympathy with him as a High Churchman; b. 1838.

MORMON, BOOK OF, a book which in 1827 fell into the hands of Joseph Smith, the son of a farmer, alleged by him to have been written by a Hebrew prophet who emigrated to America 600 years before Christ, and to have been recorded by him as a direct revelation to himself from heaven, by means of which the interrupted communication between heaven and earth was to be restored.

MORMONISM, the creed of the Mormons, or Latter-day Saints as they are called, who have settlements of their own in the valley of the Salt Lake, generally called Utah, U.S.; they conceive, according to Hepworth Dixon, of God as a flesh and blood man, of man as of the divine substance, as existing from, and to exist to, all eternity, and without inherited sin, of the earth as only one of many inhabited worlds, of the spirit world as consisting of beings awaiting incarnation, of polygamy as of divine ordination and the relationship eternal, and of their social system as the kingdom of God on earth.

MORNY, DUC DE, French politician, born in Paris; played a conspicuous part in the coup d'état of December 1851, and was President of the Corps Législatif; was believed to have been the son of Queen Hortense, and consequently Louis Napoleon's half-brother (1811-1865).

MOROCCO (4,000), an empire in the NW. corner of Africa, three times the size of Great Britain, its coast-line stretching from Algeria to Cape Nun, and its inland confines being vaguely determined by the French hinterlands. Two-thirds of the country is desert; much of the remainder is poor pasture land; the Atlas Mountains stretch from SW. to NE., but there are some expanses of level fertile country; on the seaboard the climate is delightful, with abundance of rain in the season; among the mountains extremes prevail; south of the Atlas it is hot and almost rainless; the mineral wealth is probably great; gold, silver, copper, and iron are known to be plentiful, but bad government hinders development; the exports are maize, pulse, oil, wool, fruit, and cattle; cloth, tea, coffee, and hardware are imported; the chief industries are the making of leather, "Fez" caps, carpets, and the breeding of horses; government is extremely despotic and corrupt, and the Sultan's authority over many of the tribes is merely nominal; there is no education; the religion is Mohammedanism, and slavery prevails; there are no roads, and the country is imperfectly known; telegraph, telephone, and postal service are in European hands; the country was taken from the Romans by the Arabs in the 7th century, and has ever since been in their hands, but Berbers, Spaniards, Moors, Jews, and negroes also go to make up the population. The chief towns are Fez (25), in the N., a sacred Moslem city, squalid and dirty, but with good European trade, and a depôt for the caravans from the interior; and Morocco (60), in the S., near the Tensift River, 240 m. SW. of Fez, well situated for local and transit trade, but a dilapidated city.

MOROCCO, a fine-grained leather of the skin of a goat or sheep, first prepared in Morocco.

MORPHEUS (i. e. the Moulder), the god of dreams, the son of Night and Sleep.

MORRIS-DANCE, a rustic merrymaking common in England after 1350, and still extant; is of disputed origin; the chief characters, Maid Marian, Robin Hood, the hobby-horse, and the fool, execute fantastic movements and Jingle bells fastened to their feet and dress.

MORRIS, SIR LEWIS, a poet, born in Carmarthen, Wales; the author of "Songs of Two Worlds," "The Epic of Hades," "A Vision of Saints," &c.; often confounded with the succeeding, with whom he has next to nothing in common; b. 1833.

MORRIS, WILLIAM, poet, art-worker, and Socialist, born in Walthamstow, near London, son and heir of a wealthy merchant; studied at Oxford, where he became the lifelong bosom friend of Burne-Jones; of an artistic temperament, he devoted his working hours to decorative art, in particular designing wall-papers; produced in 1858 "The Defence of Guenevere and other Poems," in 1867 "The Life and Death of Jason," and from 1868 to 1870 his masterpiece, "THE EARTHLY PARADISE" (q. v.); among other works he translated the "Æneid" and the "Odyssey," and gave a splendid rendering of some of the Norse legends (1834-1896).

MORRISON, ROBERT, first missionary to China, and Chinese scholar, born of Scottish parentage at Morpeth; entered the Independent ministry, and was sent to Macao and Canton by the London Missionary Society in 1807; in 1814 he published a Chinese version of the New Testament, and in 1819 of the Old Testament; in 1823 his great Chinese Dictionary was published at the expense of the East India Company; returning to England in 1824, he went out again 10 years later as interpreter to Lord Napier, and died at Canton (1782-1834).

MORSE, SAMUEL FINLEY BREESE, inventor, born at Charlestown, Massachusetts, graduated at Yale in 1810 and adopted art as a profession; he gained some distinction as a sculptor, and in 1835 was appointed professor of Design in New York; electrical studies were his hobby; between 1832 and 1837 he worked out the idea of an electric telegraph--simultaneously conceived by Wheatstone in England--and in 1843 Congress granted funds for an experimental line between Washington and Baltimore; honour and fortune crowded on him, his invention was adopted all over the world, and he received an international grant of £16,000; he died in New York (1791-1872).

MORTGAGE, a deed conveying property to a creditor as security for the payment of a debt, the person to whom it is given being called the Mortgagee.

MORTON, JAMES DOUGLAS, EARL OF, regent of Scotland; joined the Reforming party, was made Chancellor, took part in the murder of Rizzio, and was privy to the plot against Darnley, joined the confederacy of the nobles against Mary, fought against her at Langside, and became regent in 1572; became unpopular, was charged with being accessory to Darnley's murder, and beheaded in 1581.

MOSAYLIMA, a rival of Mohammed, posed as equally a prophet, and entitled to share with Mohammed the sovereignty of the world; two battles followed, in the second of which Mosaylima was killed, to the dispersion of his followers.

MOSCHUS, a Greek pastoral poet, author of lyrics which have been translated by Andrew Lang; lived 150 B.C.

MOSCOW (799), on the Moskwa River, in the centre of European Russia, 370 m. SE. of St. Petersburg; was before 1713 the capital, and is still a great industrial and commercial centre; its manufactures include textiles, leather, chemicals, and machinery; it does a great trade in grain, timber, metals from the Urals, and furs, hides, &c., from Asia; besides the great cathedral there are many churches, palaces, and museums, a university, library, picture-gallery, and observatory; the enclosure called the Kremlin or citadel is the most sacred spot in Russia; thrice in the 18th century the city was devastated by fire, and again in 1812 to compel Napoleon to retire.

MOSELLE, river, rising W. of the Vosges Mountains, flows NW. through French and German Lorraine, then NE. through Rhenish Prussia to join the Rhine at Coblenz, 315 m. long, two-thirds of it navigable; it passes in its tortuous course Metz, Thionville, and Trèves.

MOSES, the great Hebrew law-giver, under whose leadership the Jews achieved their emancipation from the bondage of Egypt, and began to assert themselves as an independent people among the nations of the earth; in requiring of the people the fear of God and the observance of His commandments, he laid the national life on a sure basis, and he was succeeded by a race of prophets who from age to age reminded the people that in regard or disregard for what he required of them depended their prosperity or their ruin as a nation, of which from their extreme obduracy they had again and again to be admonished.

MOSHEIM, a Protestant Church historian, born at Lübeck, was professor at Göttingen; his principal work a History of the Church, written in Latin, and translated into English and other languages (1694-1755).

MOSS-TROOPERS, maurauders who formerly raided the moss-grown borderland of England and Scotland.

MOTHERWELL, WILLIAM, Scottish poet, born in Glasgow, educated in Edinburgh; entered a lawyer's office in Paisley in 1811 and became Sheriff-Clerk Depute of Renfrewshire 1818; he was editor of the Paisley Advertiser in 1828, and of the Glasgow Courier in 1830; he wrote biographical notices of local poets, and edited "Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern," in 1827; but his own fame was established by "Poems, Narrative and Lyrical," 1832, the gem of the collection being "Jeanie Morison"; he died in Glasgow (1797-1835).

MOTLEY, JOHN LOTHROP, historian and diplomatist, born in Massachusetts; commenced his literary career as a novelist, but soon turned all his thoughts to the study of history; spent years in the study of Dutch history; wrote the "History of the Dutch Republic," which was published in 1856, the "History of the United Netherlands," publishing the first part in 1860 and the second in 1868, and the "Life and Death of John Barnevelde" in 1874; was appointed the United States minister at Vienna in 1861, and at St. James's in 1869; he ranks high as a historian, being both faithful and graphic (1814-1877).

MOTOR CAR, a vehicle propelled by petroleum, electricity, &c.

MOUNTAIN, THE, the name given to the Jacobins, or the extreme democratic party, at the French Revolution, from their occupying the highest benches in the hall of the National Convention, and included such men as Marat, Danton, Robespierre, and the men of the Reign of Terror.

MOVABLE FEASTS, festivals of the Church, the date of which varies with the date of Easter.

MOZAMBIQUE (1,000), the general name for Portuguese East Africa, lies between Cape Delgado and Delagoa Bay on the mainland, opposite Madagascar; the Rovuma River separates it from German territory in the N.; in the S. it touches British Maputaland, while inland it borders on British Central and South Africa and the Transvaal; the Zambesi divides it into two; the coast is low and wet, inland are richly wooded plateaux; the soil is fertile, and minerals abound, but the government is bad, and industry does not develop; 52 miles of railway connect Lorenzo Marques with the Transvaal; other chief towns are Quilimane (6), and the capital MOZAMBIQUE (7), on an island.

MOZART, WOLFGANG AMADEUS CHRYSOSTOM, eminent musical composer, born at Salzburg; was distinguished for his musical genius as a boy, and produced over 600 musical compositions, but his principal works were his operas, the "Marriage of Figaro," "Don Giovanni," and the "Magic Flute"; his fate was an unhappy one; he suffered much from poverty and neglect; the last piece he wrote was a Requiem Mass, which he felt, he said, as if he were writing for himself, and he died at Prague on the evening of its rehearsal (1756-1791).

MUCKLEBACKIT, SAUNDERS, an old fisherman in Scott's "Antiquary."

MUCKLEWRATH, a fanatic preacher in Scott's "Old Mortality."

MUCOUS MEMBRANE, a delicate membrane which lines the cavities and the canals of the human body.

MUEZZIN, an official, usually blind, attached to a Mohammedan mosque, summons the faithful to prayers with a chant from a minaret.

MUFTI, a doctor and interpreter of Mohammedan law.

MUFTI, THE GRAND, is head of the Ulema, or interpreters of the Korân; holds his appointment from the Sultan, and exercises great influence at the Porte; legal advisers to local and general councils in the Turkish empire are also styled Mufti.

MUGGLETON, founder of the Muggletonians, a tailor who, along with one Reeve, at the time of the Commonwealth, pretended to be the two witnesses of the Revelation and the last of God's prophets, invested with power to save and to damn; individuals of the sect founded by him existed so recently as the beginning of this century.

MUIR, JOHN, a Sanskrit scholar, born in Glasgow; was of the Indian Civil Service; was a man of liberal views, particularly in religion, and a patron of learning; endowed the Chair of Sanskrit in Edinburgh University (1810-1882).

MUIR, SIR WILLIAM, an Arabic scholar, brother of the preceding; Principal of Edinburgh University; was in the Indian Civil Service; wrote a "Life of Mahomet," on the rise of Mohammedanism, and on the Korân; b. 1819.

MUKDEN (250), in Chinese Shing-king, the capital of Manchuria, on a tributary of the Liao, in the S. of the province; is a city of considerable commercial importance, and has good coal-mines in the neighbourhood; there are a great palace, and numerous temples; Irish and Scotch Presbyterian and Roman Catholic missions have a centre here; the Japanese invasion of 1894-98 was directed towards it.

MULL (5), large island in the NW. of Argyllshire, third of the Hebrides; is mountainous and picturesque, with greatly indented coast-line; the highest peak is Ben More, 3185 ft., the largest inlet Loch-na-Keal; the soil is best adapted for grazing. TOBERMORY (1), in the N., is the only town.

MÜLLER, GEORGE, founder of the Orphan Homes near Bristol; born in Prussia; founded the Orphan Home, in 1836, on voluntary subscriptions, in answer to prayer, to the support one year of more than 2000 orphans (1805-1898).

MÜLLER, JOHANNES, eminent German physiologist, born at Coblenz; professor at Berlin; ranks as the founder of modern physiology, and famed as author of a text-book on the science, entitled "Handbuch der Physiologie des Menschen" (1801-1858).

MÜLLER, JOHANNES VON, celebrated historian, born at Schaffhausen, the "History of Switzerland" his principal work (1752-1809).

MÜLLER, JULIUS, a German theologian, born at Brieg; professor at Halle; his great work, the "Christian Doctrine of Sin"; he collaborated on theological subjects with Neander and Nitzsch (1801-1878).

MÜLLER, KARL OTFRIED, archæologist and philologist, born at Brieg, brother of the preceding; was professor at Göttingen, and distinguished for his researches in Grecian antiquities and his endeavour to construe all that concerns the history and life of ancient Greece, including mythology, literature, and art (1797-1840).

MULOCK, DINAH MARIA (Mrs. Craik), English novelist, born in Stock-upon-Trent, authoress of "John Halifax, Gentleman," and other novels (1820-1887).

MULREADY, WILLIAM, genre painter, born at Ennis, Ireland, illustrated the "Vicar of Wakefield" and other works (1786-1863).

MULTAN (75), a Punjab city near the Chenab River, 200 m. SW. of Lahore; has many mosques and temples; manufactures of silks, carpets, pottery, and enamel ware, and considerable trade.

MÜNCHHAUSEN, BARON VON, a cavalry officer in the service of Hanover famed for the extravagant stories he used to relate of his adventures and exploits which, with exaggerations, were collected by one Raspe, and published in 1785 under Münchhausen's name (1720-1797).

MÜNICH (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 glass, lithographing, bell-founding, and scientific instrument-making; and there are enormous breweries. Münich has been the centre of artistic life and culture in the 19th century, and associated with it are Cornelius, Kaulbach, and many famous names.

MÜNSTER (49), capital of Westphalia, a mediæval-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.

MÜNZER, THOMAS, Anabaptist leader, born at Stolberg, 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 Mühlhausen; here his communistic doctrines obtained popularity and kindled an insurrection; the rebels were routed at Frankenhansen, and Münzer 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 associated 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 embassies 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 Association, 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).

MÜRGER, HENRI, French novelist and poet, born at Paris; is chiefly distinguished as the author of "Scènes de la Vie de Bohême," 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 Assumption 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.

MUSÆUS, JOHN AUGUST, German author, born at Jena, famous as the author of German Volksmärchen, 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 Mnemosynë, presided over the liberal arts particularly, were nine in number, and dwelt along with Apollo near Parnassus, Pieria, and Helicon; Clio presided over history, Euterpë over music, Thalia over comedy, Melpomenë over tragedy, Terpsichorë over choral dance and song, Erato over erotic poetry and elegy, Polyhymnia over lyric poetry, Urania over astronomy, and Calliopë 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 "André 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 passed to another, seeking in vain a solace for his restless spirit, but reaping an experience which enriched his writings; "Confessions d'un Enfant du Siècle" 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 Titien," "Mademoiselle Mimi Pinson," and the "Confessions" are his best; he was a handsome man, with fascinating manners (1810-1857).

MUTSU HITO, the Mikado of Japan, 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 assassination in 1896, on the 1st of May; b. 1853.

MYCENÆ, 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 Ægina, 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 associating 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.

N

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.

NACHTIGAL, GUSTAV, German traveller and explorer; visited (1869-1874), the first European to do so, at the instance of Prussia, by way of Tripoli, the heart of Africa, and returned by way of Cairo, and wrote an account of his journey, "Sahara and Sudan"; in 1884 annexed to Germany territory in West Africa; died on his return journey, and was buried at Cape Palmas (1834-1885).

NADIR, name given to the part of the heavens directly under our feet, as zenith to that directly over our head.

NADIR SHAH, king of Persia, born in Khorassan of low origin; began his career as a brigand; set himself at the head of 3000 brigands to deliver Persia from the yoke of the Afghans, and expelled them, rising by degrees to the sovereignty of Persia himself; made war on the Afghans, invaded Hindustan, and took and plundered Delhi, restoring its former dominion to the Persian monarchy; became subject to suspicion of plots against him, had recourse to violence, and was assassinated (1688-1747).

NÆVIUS, CNEIUS, one of the earliest Roman poets, born in Campania; wrote dramas, and an epic poem on the first Punic War, in which he had served; satirised the aristocracy, and was obliged to leave Rome, where he had spent thirty years of his life; died at Utica (265-204 B.C.).

NAGARI, the name given to the characters In Sanskrit and Hindi alphabets.

NÂGAS, in the Hindu mythology "deified serpents," sons of Kadru, a personification of darkness, are represented as more or less invested with a human form, and endowed with knowledge, strength, and beauty; live in the depths of the ocean, and their capital city exposes to the vision a display of the most dazzling riches. They are not always represented as harmful; though armed with poison they possess the elixir of strength and immortality, and form the supports of the universe. They are a reflection of the belief that the deadly powers as well as the regenerative centre in one and the same deity, in his wisdom killing that he may make alive. Also the name of a race of aborigines in North-East India.

NAGASAKI (61), one of the six treaty ports of Japan, on the NW. of the island Kiushiu; has a beautiful and extensive harbour, within which lies the island of Deshima; manufactures "egg-shell" china, exports coal, tea, &c., and possesses an excellent dockyard; American and English missions are carried on.

NAGPUR or NAGPORE (117), capital of the Central Provinces of British India, and of a district and division of the same name; an important railway terminus, 450 m. NE. of Bombay; is noted for the manufacture of fine cloth, and carries on a brisk trade in wheat, salt, spices, &c.

NAHUM, one of the minor prophets of the Old Testament; appears to have been a contemporary of Isaiah, and to have prophesied after the destruction of Samaria and the defeat of Sennacherib before Jerusalem in the reign of Hezekiah. His mission as a prophet was to console the people in the presence of the formidable power of Assyria, and to predict its downfall, and especially that of its capital city Nineveh, an event which happened under Cyaxares the Mede 603 B.C. His thought is forcible, his expression clear, and his diction pure, all three worthy of the classical age of Hebrew literature.

NAIADS, nymphs of the fresh-water fountains and streams, and as such endowed with prophetic power, and associated with other deities in the sphere of nature gifted with the same power; are represented as lovely maidens in a nude or semi-nude state.

NAIRN (4), chief town of its county, prettily situated at the entrance of the Nairn into the Moray Firth, 16 m. NE. of Inverness; is frequented by summer visitors, and has a harbour and golf links.

NAIRNE, BARONESS, Scottish poetess, born at Gask, Perthshire, third daughter of Laurence Oliphant of that Ilk, of Jacobite proclivities; known for her beauty as the Flower of Strathearn; was married to the sixth Lord Nairne, whom she survived; wrote 78 songs, the most famous among them being "The Land o' the Leal," "The Laird o' Cockpen," "Bonnie Charlie's noo awa," "Caller Herrin'," and "The Auld Hoose"; died at Gask (1766-1845).

NAIRNSHIRE (9), a northern county of Scotland, fronts the Moray Firth, wedged in between Elgin on the N. and Inverness on the W. and S.; the surface rugged and mountainous in the S. and E., slopes towards the Firth, and is traversed by the rivers Nairn and Findhorn; Loch Loy is the largest of several small lochs; scarcely one-fifth of the soil is devoted to the raising of cereals, but more attention is given to stock-raising; Cawdor and Auldearn are places in it of historic and antiquarian interest.

NAIRS, Hindus of high caste, claiming to rank next the Brahmans, who lived on the Malabar coast of India; among them polyandry prevailed, and the royal power descended through the female line.

NAMAQUAS, a pastoral people of South Africa; one of the principal branches of the Hottentot race, and inhabiting Great Namaqualand.

NAMUR (31), capital of a province of the same name in Belgium, is situated at the junction of the Meuse and the Sambre, 35 m. SE. of Brussels. The town is strongly fortified, but only a few of its fine old buildings have escaped the ravages of war. The citadel still stands, the cathedral, and the Jesuit church of St. Loup. Cutlery, firearms, &c., are manufactured. THE PROVINCE (339) skirts the NE. border of France between Hainault and Luxembourg.

NANA SAHIB, a Hindu traitor, his real name Dundhu Panth, of Brahman descent, adopted son of the ex-Peshwa of the Mahrattas, whose pension from the British Government was not continued to Nana on his death, and which rendered the latter the deadly foe to British rule in India, and the instigator, on the outbreak of the Mutiny in 1857, of the massacre of Cawnpore; he had on the outbreak of the Mutiny in question offered his services to a British general, and placed himself at the head of the mutineers; the miscreant escaped, and his fate was never known; b. 1820. See CAWNPORE.

NANCY (87), capital of the department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, North-East France, is prettily situated amid woodland scenery on the river Meurthe, 220 m. E. of Paris; the new town is spaciously laid out, while the old town, narrowed in its streets, has many interesting old buildings, e. g. the cathedral, the 16th-century palace; there is a university, and an active trade in embroidered cambric and muslin, besides cotton and woollen goods, &c.

NANKING (150), an ancient city, and up to the 15th century the capital of China, is situated on the Yangtse River, 130 m. from its mouth; between 1853 and 1864 its finest buildings were destroyed by the Taiping rebels; its manufactures of nankeen and satin and of its once famous pottery and artificial flowers have fallen off, but it still continues the chief seat of letters and learning in China.

NANNA, in the Norse mythology the wife of Balder, the sun-god; distinguished for her conjugal fidelity, threw herself on the funeral pyre of her husband, and descended to the shades along with him; when the pair were entreated to return, he sent his ring to Odin and she her thimble to Frigga.

NANSEN, FRIDTJOF, Arctic explorer, born at Froen, near Christiania, son of a Norwegian advocate; explored the seas in a scientific interest round Spitzbergen in 1882, and crossed Greenland in 1888, conceived the idea of reaching the Polar regions by following the Polar ocean currents; sailed in the Fram, a ship specially constructed for a Polar voyage, in 1893, and on his return wrote an account of his expedition in "Farthest North" in 1897; b. 1861.

NANTES (116), capital of the department of Loire-Inférieure, North-West France, on the Loire, 35 m. from the sea; its fine streets, handsome buildings, and historical associations make it one of the most interesting cities in France; the cathedral and the ducal castle date from the 15th century; shipbuilding, sugar-refining, and hardware are the staple industries, while an active shipping trade is kept up with the colonies.

NANTES, EDICT OF, edict granted by Henry IV. 1598, allowing to Protestants religious liberty and political enfranchisement, and confirmed by Louis XIII. in 1614, but revoked, after frequent infringements, in the shape of dragonnades and otherwise, by Louis XIV., Oct. 23, 1685, at the instance of Madame Maintenon and Père la Chaise.

NAPHTHA, a liquid hydro-carbon of an inflammable nature that exudes from the earth or is distilled from coal-tar, &c.

NAPIER, SIR CHARLES, the conqueror of Sinde, born at Westminster, descendant of Napier of Merchiston; entered the army, was present at Coruña, served in the Peninsular War, was in 1841 made commander-in-chief of the Bombay army, defeated the Sikhs at Meeanee in 1848 in a brilliant engagement; became governor of Sinde, returned to England, and was welcomed with enthusiasm; went to India again on the outbreak of a second Sikh War, to find it suppressed; quarrelled with the Governor-General and came home; was a brave, upright, and humane man, and a great favourite with the army (1782-1853).

NAPIER, SIR CHARLES, admiral, cousin of preceding, born near Falkirk; entered the navy as a volunteer in 1799, assisted in two naval engagements, and for a time served as a volunteer in the Peninsular army; joined the Portuguese navy, defeated the fleet of Dom Miguel, tried to reform the navy of Portugal but failed, assisted by land and sea in driving Mehemet Ali out of Syria, and held the command of the Baltic fleet during the Crimean War, but disappointed expectations and was deprived of command (1786-1860).

NAPIER, JOHN, laird of Merchiston, mathematician, born in Merchiston Castle, near Edinburgh; famed over the world as the inventor of logarithms; wrote a book on the Apocalypse, which contains some plain-spoken counsel to King James; believed in astrology, and was addicted to divination as well as mechanical invention (1550-1617).

NAPIER, SIR WILLIAM, brother of the conqueror of Sinde; entered the army at the age of 15, served all through the Peninsular War, and wrote, besides the "Conquest of Sinde," the "History of the Peninsular War," a celebrated work, written from intimate knowledge of the events and with matchless graphic power (1785-1860).

NAPIER OF MAGDALA, Lord, military engineer officer, born in Ceylon; distinguished himself at the sieges of Multan, Delhi, and Lucknow; commanded an expedition in Abyssinia, stormed and took Magdala in 1868, for which he was rewarded with high honours (1810-1890).

NAPLES (536), the largest and richest city of Italy; has a lovely situation within the bend of Naples Bay, spreading from the foreshore back upon wooded hills and rising terraces, behind which lie the snow-clad Apennines; to the E. lies the old town with its historic Via di Roma and narrow crowded thoroughfares; the newer portion on the W. is more spaciously laid out, and much has been done in recent years over the whole city to improve the sanitation and water supply; the national museum, rich in Pompeii relics, the university (4150 students), the national library (275,000 vols.), the archiepiscopal cathedral, and the four mediæval gateways are the chief architectural features; large quantities of wine, olive-oil, chemicals, perfumery, &c., are exported, while woollen, silk, linen, glove, and other factories carry on a good home trade; Naples became incorporated in the kingdom of Italy in 1861 after the Bourbon dynasty had been swept away by Garibaldi.

NAPOLEON I., emperor of the French, born at Ajaccio, Corsica, the second son of Charles Bonaparte and Lætitia Ramolino; trained at the military schools of Brienne and Paris; distinguished first as a captain of artillery at the siege of Toulon in 1793; elected general of brigade in the Italian campaign of 1794; he fell under suspicion, but was soon after invested with the supreme command of the army there and the conduct of the war, which was rendered memorable by the victories of Montenotte, Lodi, Rivoli, Arcole, &c.; on his return to Paris he was received with an enthusiasm which excited in him the ambition to render himself indispensable to the country; to utilise his services in their own interest the Directory determined to strike a blow at England, and Egypt being the point of attack selected, he sailed in command of an expedition for that destination in 1797, and conducted it with successes and reverses till, in 1799, the unpopularity and threatened fall of the Directory called him back; it was the occasion for a coup d'état which he had meditated, and which he accomplished on the henceforward celebrated 18th Brumaire (9th Nov. 1799), when a consulship of three was established, himself First Consul, and eventually in 1802 Consul for life; his administration in this capacity, while disgraced by several despotic acts, was in the main of a nature for the public benefit, and distinguished by its regard for the interest of law and good order, but his personal ambition the while was not asleep, for, by a Concordat with the Pope he so attached the Catholic Church to the state as to secure the clerical support to his ambitious projects, and was able on the 18th May 1804, to get himself invested with the imperial dignity, only Carnot in the Tribunate and Grégoire in the Senate protesting against the step as a violation of liberty; Napoleon owed it to his victories in the field that he attained this elevation, and the sword must maintain what the sword had won; from this date accordingly began that long array of wars against the rest of Europe, distinguished by the victories of Austerlitz, and Jena, and Eylau, and Friedland, and Eckmühl, and Wagram, and which contributed to inspire all the nations around with a sense of the terror of his name; but with the unfortunate expedition into Russia, in 1812, Napoleon's glory began to wane and the tide to turn; after the battles of Lützen and Bautzen, he might perhaps have signed an honourable peace, but he declined the terms offered, and was defeated at Lützen by the Allies, who invaded France, and entered Paris in 1814 in spite of all his efforts to keep them at bay, upon which he was compelled to abdicate at Fontainebleau and retire to Elba, 20th April 1814; it was in vain for him to return from his retreat and re-enter Paris on the 20th March following, for the Powers, with England and Prussia at their head, leagued against him and crushed him at Waterloo; by this defeat he had forfeited the throne, and was compelled to abdicate, but unable to escape from France, delivered himself up to Captain Maitland of the Bellerophon, and was shipped off to St. Helena, where, after some six years of misery, he died 5th May 1821, whence his body was disinterred and buried with great pomp under the dome of the church of St. Louis, 15th December 1840; "he believed," says Carlyle, "too much in the dupeability of men, saw no fact deeper in man than hunger and thirst; he was mistaken; like a man that should build upon clouds, his house and he fell down a confused wreck, and departed out of the world"; the one article of his faith being "the tools to him that can handle them" (1769-1821).

NAPOLEON, LOUIS. See LOUIS NAPOLEON, also BONAPARTE.

NAPOLEON, VICTOR, son of Prince Napoleon; claimed to be head of the house of Bonaparte in 1891, though his younger brother, Prince Louis, a colonel in the Russian Imperial Guard, is preferred to him by many Bonapartists; b. 1862.

NAPOLEON D'OR, a French gold coin worth 20 francs, named after the Emperor Napoleon I.

NARAKA, among the Hindus and the Buddhists the place of penal suffering after death.

NARCISSUS, a self-satisfied youth who disdained the addresses of Echo, in consequence of which she pined away and died, and who, by way of penalty, was doomed to fall in love with his own image, which he kept beholding in the mirror of a fountain till he too pined away and died, his corpse being metamorphosed into the flower that bears his name.

NARROWS, THE, name given to the section of the St. Lawrence River which extends between Lake Superior and Lake Huron.

NARSES, a statesman and general of the old Roman empire, rose from being a slave to be keeper of the imperial privy-purse; was successful against the Goths, whom he drove out of Rome; d. 573.

NARTHEX, a space in early churches railed off from the rest for catechumens and penitents.

NASEBY, a village in Northampton, where the Royalists under Charles I. and Prince Rupert were defeated, "shivered utterly to ruin," by the Parliamentary forces under Fairfax and Cromwell in June 1645, the "Ironsides" bearing the brunt of the battle and winning the honours of the day.

NASH, JOHN, English architect, born in London; besides designing plans for some of the chief streets in the city and the buildings in them, was the architect of Buckingham Palace and the Pavilion at Brighton (1752-1835).

NASH, RICHARD, known as "Beau Nash," born at Swansea; installed himself as master of the ceremonies at Bath, and ruler of the assemblies of fashion in that resort; was a charitable man as well as gay; died in poverty, but was honoured with a public funeral (1674-1761).

NASH, THOMAS, English satirist, born at Lowestoft, a Cambridge University wit; wrote plays, as well as pamphlets, bearing on the MARPRELATE CONTROVERSY (q. v.) (1567-1601).

NASHVILLE (81), capital of Tennessee, U.S., on the Cumberland River, 185 m. SW. of Louisville; a suspension bridge and railway drawbridge joins it with Edgefield suburb; it is an important railway and educational centre, the seat of the Fisk, Vanderbilt, and Nashville universities, and is actively engaged in the manufacture of cotton, tobacco, flour, paper, oil, &c.

NASMITH, ALEXANDER, Scottish landscape painter, born in Edinburgh; did portraits also, and one of Burns in particular, deemed the best likeness we have of the poet (1757-1843).

NASMITH, JAMES, mechanician, son of the preceding, born in Edinburgh; invented the steam-hammer and a steam pile-driver (1808-1890).

NASSAU, till 1866 a duchy of Germany, now included in the Prussian province of HESSE-NASSAU (q. v.).

NATAL (544, of which 47 are whites), British colony in SE. Africa, somewhat larger than Denmark, fronts the Indian Ocean on the E., having a foreshore of 180 m., between Zululand on the N. and Kaffraria on the S.; the Dragensberg Mountains form its western boundary; enjoys a fine salubrious climate, and possesses abundance of fertile land, watered by some 140 inches of rainfall; along the coast the sugar-cane is largely cultivated, as also some tea, coffee, tobacco, &c., while all kinds of fruits flourish in its sub-tropical climate; the rising ground inland produces good cereals, and large numbers of sheep and cattle find excellent pasturage on the plains and mountain slopes on the W.; excellent coal is mined in large quantities, and iron and copper promise well; wool, sugar, hides, feathers, and ivory are the chief exports, and are shipped mainly at Durban, the chief port; the colony now enjoys the advantages of good railways, schools, representative government, and a legal code based on old Dutch law; PIETERMARITZBURG (q. v.) is the capital; Natal was discovered in 1497 by Vasco da Gama, and after being annexed to Cape Colony in 1844, was declared, 11 years later, a separate colony.

NATHAN, a Jewish prophet who had the courage to charge King David to his face with a heinous crime he had committed and convict him of his guilt, to his humiliation in the dust.

NATION OF SHOPKEEPERS, Napoleon Bonaparte's contemptuous name for the English.

NATIONAL ANTHEM, its authorship has been long matter of controversy, and it is uncertain to this day; it has been ascribed to H. Carey and to Dr. John Bull.

NATIONAL CONVENTION, the revolutionary assembly of France, consisting of 749 members chosen by universal suffrage, which on 22nd September 1792 supplanted the Legislative Assembly, proclaimed the Republic, and condemned Louis XVI. to the guillotine; in spite of its perplexities and internal discords, it was successful in suppressing the Royalists in La Vendée and the south, and repelling the rest of Europe leagued against it, not only in arms, but in the field of diplomacy; it laid the foundation of several of the academic institutions of the country, which have since contributed to its glory as well as welfare, and collected them together in the world-famous Institute; its work done, "weary of its own existence, and all men sensibly weary of it," it willingly deceased in an act of self-dissolution in favour of a Directory of Five on 20th October 1795.

NATIONAL COVENANT. See COVENANT.

NATIONAL GUARD, THE, a militia of citizens organised in the municipality of Paris in 1790, with Lafayette as commandant, but suppressed in 1827, and again suppressed in 1872, after two revivals, in consequence of their taking part with the Commune of the latter date.

NATURAL SELECTION, name given by Darwin to the survival of certain plants and animals that are fitted, and the decease contemporaneously of certain others that are not fitted, to a new environment.

NATURAL SUPERNATURALISM, Carlyle's name in "Sartor" for the supernatural found latent in the natural, and manifesting itself in it, or of the miraculous in the common and everyday course of things; name of a chapter which, says Dr. Stirling, "contains the very first word of a higher philosophy as yet spoken in Great Britain, the very first English word towards the restoration and rehabilitation of the dethroned Upper Powers"; recognition at bottom, as the Hegelian philosophy teaches, and the life of Christ certifies, of the finiting of the infinite in the transitory forms of space and time.

NATURALISM, a philosophical term used to denote the resolution of the supernatural into the natural, and its obliteration; the reference of everything to merely natural laws, and the denial of all supernatural interference with them.

NATURE WORSHIP, the worship of the forces of nature conceived of as personal deities.

NAUSICAA, the daughter of Alcinous, king of the Phæacians, who gave welcome to Ulysses when shipwrecked on the shore, and whom Homer represents as, along with her maidens, washing the clothes of the hero and his companions.

NAUVOO, a village in Illinois, on the Mississippi, where the Mormons first settled in 1840, and from which they were expelled in 1846.

NAVARINO, a bay on the SW. coast of the Morea, the scene of the naval victory of the Athenians over the Spartans 425 B.C., and of the annihilation of the Turkish and Egyptian navies by the combined fleets of England, France, and Russia, under Codrington, 20th October 1827.

NAVARRE (304), one of the 49 provinces of Spain, comprising by far the greater portion of the old kingdom of Navarre, which lasted up to 1512, the other part of which now forms French Basses-Pyrénées; the Spanish province lies on the SW. border of France, is very varied in surface and climate; in the N. the people are chiefly Basques, and are much more energetic than the southern Spaniards; maize, wheat, and red wine are the chief products.

NAWAB, a viceroy of a province in the Mogul empire, applied also to a Mohammedan chief in India, and, spelt Nabob, to a man who has made his wealth in India.

NAXOS (14), an island of the Cyclades, in the Ægean Sea, famed for its marble, and exports salt and emery powder.

NAYLER, JAMES, a fanatical Quaker in the time of the Commonwealth, with a following as fanatical as himself, who escorted him through Bristol on his release from prison after the manner of Christ's entry into Jerusalem; was very cruelly punished for blasphemy in fancying or seeming to fancy himself a new incarnation of Christ.

NAZARETH (7), a town in a hollow of the hills on the N. of the Plain of Esdraëlon, 67 m. N. of Jerusalem and 11 m. W. of the Sea of Galilee, celebrated over Christendom as the home of the Holy Family.

NAZARITES, among the Jews people consecrated by a vow to some special religious service, generally for a definite period, but sometimes for life; during its continuance they were bound to abstain not merely from strong drink, but from all fruit of the vine, to wear their hair uncut, and forbidden to approach a dead body, long hair being the symbol of their consecration; the vow was sometimes made by their parents for them before their birth; the said vow is the symbolic assertion of the right of any and every man to consecrate himself, in disregard of every other claim, to any service which God may require of him.

NEAGH, LOUGH, the largest lake in the British Isles, lies in the NE. of Ireland, touching the borders of five counties, is 16 m. long, and has an average breadth of 10 m. and a greatest depth of 102 ft.

NEAL, DANIEL, Nonconformist divine, born in London, and minister there; wrote a "History of the Puritans" and a "History of New England" (1678-1743).

NEAL, JOHN MASON, hynmologist, born in London; was a zealous and advanced High Churchman, wrote a "History of the Holy Eastern Church"; is best known for his hymns, translated and original (1818-1866).

NEANDER, JOHANN AUGUST WILHELM, eminent Church historian, born at Göttingen, of Jewish parents, his father's name Mendel, which he changed into Neander (new man) on his baptism at the age of 17; studied theology under Schleiermacher at Halle, commenced his work as a teacher of theology in Heidelberg in 1811, but was two years after called to the chair of Church History in Berlin, a post he occupied with signal distinction till his death, his fame all along attracting to him students from every quarter of Christendom; he was a devout believer in historical Christianity, and had the profoundest insight into the Christian faith, both in the root of it and the development of it in the life of the Church; besides several monographs, he wrote the history of the Church from its first starting through its after expansion, and a "Life of Christ" in answer to Strauss, which for its apprehension of the spirit of Christ and His teaching has never been surpassed, while in Christian character he was, if ever man was, "without spot and blameless" (1789-1850).

NEATH (11), a borough and river port of Glamorganshire, on the navigable Neath, 6 m. NE. of Swansea; is an old town, and has interesting ruins of an abbey and of a castle (burned 1231); has prosperous copper, tin, iron, and chemical works.

NEBIIM, the prophets of Israel as an organised class, who first figure as guardians of the spiritual interests of the nation to the time of Samuel, when it was threatened with extinction piecemeal at the hands of the Philistines, and whose mission it was to recall the divided tribes to a sense of their unity as the chosen of Jehovah, and to see that they were welded into one under a single king; they lived together in communities, appeared in companies, wore a distinctive dress, and were called the sons of the prophets; while they were performing and discharging their offices they were true to their calling, but when order was established they, as is usual in such cases, became more and more lax, until first Elijah, and then another and another who were for most part not of the order, had, if they would be true to their own souls, to remind the nation of what its authorised teachers, in their unfaithfulness, were failing to do, and in consequence suffering God's cause to go to wreck.

NEBRASKA (1,058), one of the west central States of the American Union, has Dakota on its N. and Kansas and Colorado on the S., is 1½ times the size of England; in the E. stretches of fertile land yield abundant crops of grain (maize chiefly), hemp, flax, sugar-beet, and tobacco, while in the W. rich prairie pastures favour a prosperous stock-raising; the Platte, Niobrarah, and Republican Rivers follow the eastward slope of the land; Omaha and Lincoln (capital) are the chief centres of the manufacturing industries; climate is dry and bracing; wolves, foxes, skunks, &c., abound, chiefly in the "Bad Lands" of the N.; Nebraska was incorporated in the American Union in 1867.

NEBULÆ, name given to masses larger or smaller of misty light in the heavens caused by a group of stars too remote to be severally visible to the naked eye.

NEBULAR HYPOTHESIS, the theory that the sun and planets with their satellites in the solar system were originally one mass of nebulous matter which, gradually cooling and contracting, under violent revolution resolved itself into separate revolving orbs.

NECKER, JACQUES, celebrated financier, born at Geneva, banker in Paris; married the accomplished Susanne Curchod, the rejected of Gibbon, and became by her the father of Mme. de Staël; was a man of high repute for probity and business capacity; became in 1777 Director-General of Finance in France, tried hard and honestly, by borrowing and retrenchment, to restore the fallen public credit, but was after five years dismissed; was recalled in 1788, but though the funds rose, and he contributed to their relief two million livres of his own money, was again dismissed, to be once more recalled, only to expose his inability to cope with the crisis and to be forced to retire (1732-1804).

NECTAR, in the regard of the Greeks the drink of the gods, which, along with ambrosia, their food, nourished the ichor, their blood, and kept them ever in the bloom of immortal youth; it was not permitted to mortals to drink of it.

NEEDLE-GUN, a breech-loading gun, the cartridge of which is exploded by a needle.

NEGATIVE, in photography a picture of an object in which the lights and shadows are reversed, so that the shady part appears white and the light in it appears dark.

NEGATIVITY, the name given in philosophy to the negative element determinative or definitive of things and all ideas of things, whereby a thing is this because it is not that, and is seen to be this because it is seen not to be that, an antagonism essential to all forms of being, spiritual as well as material, and to all definite and distinct thought.

NEGRITOES, Spanish name for certain distinctive tribes of a diminutive race resembling negroes, occupying the central portions of some of the Philippine Islands, also known as Aëtas or Itas; sometimes loosely used to designate Papuans and all the Melanesian peoples of Polynesia.

NEGROES, the dark race of tropical Africa, distinguished by their dark woolly hair, their black eyes, their flat noses, and their thick lips; they occupy rather a low level in the scale of humanity, and are lacking in those mental and moral qualities which have impressed the stamp of greatness on the other races that have distinguished themselves in the history of the world.

NEHEMIAH, a Jew of the captivity, of royal degree and in high favour, being king's cup-bearer at the court of Artaxerxes, the Persian king; received a commission from the king to repair to Jerusalem and restore the Jewish worship, and ruled over it for 12 years, till he saw the walls of the city amid much opposition restored; returned afterwards to superintend the reform of the worship, of which the book of the Old Testament named after him relates the story.

NEHUSHTAN (a piece of brass), the name given in contempt to what was alleged to be the "Serpent in the Wilderness," which had become an object of worship among the Jews, and was destroyed by King Hezekiah among other idolatrous relics (2 Kings xviii. 4).

NEILGHERRY HILLS, a bracing mountain district in South India, forming a triangular-shaped and somewhat isolated mass of elevated country, peaks of which attain an altitude of close upon 9000 ft.; grassy slopes alternate with thick masses of forest, amid which several small native wild tribes still dwell; Ootacamund is the chief station of the many Europeans who frequent the district as a health resort.

NELSON, 1, a Prosperous manufacturing borough of Lancashire (23), 3½ m. NE. of Burnley. 2, Capital of a district in the N. end of South Island, New Zealand (11); has a busy harbour in Blind Bay, and manufactures cloth, leather, soap, &c.

NELSON, HORATIO, LORD, great English admiral, born at Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk; entered the navy as a midshipman in 1770, and after voyages to the West Indies, the Arctic regions, and the East Indies, was promoted to a lieutenancy in 1777; three years later he headed the expedition against San Juan, was invalided home, and in 1781 acted under Lord Hood in American waters; in command of the Boreas on the Leeward Islands station, here he involved himself in trouble through his severe and arbitrary enforcement of the Navigation Act against American traders, and there also he met and married in 1787 the widow of Dr. Nesbit; returning home he lived for five years in retirement, but on the eve of the French Revolutionary war he was again summoned to active service, and in command of the Agamemnon, advanced his reputation by gallant conduct in the Mediterranean operations of Lord Hood, losing his right eye during the storming of Calvi, in Corsica; conspicuous bravery at the engagement with the Spaniards off Cape St. Vincent (1797) brought him promotion to the rank of rear-admiral; in the same year he lost his right arm at Santa Cruz, and in the following year, with an inferior force, annihilated the French fleet in the Bay of Aboukir, for which he was raised to the peerage as Baron Nelson, and created Duke of Bronte by the King of Naples; at this time began his lifelong liaison with LADY HAMILTON (q. v.); involving himself in Neapolitan affairs, he went beyond his commission in suppressing the rebel Jacobins, and especially in executing their leader Caracciolo; in 1800 he returned home, his never robust strength considerably impaired; as vice-admiral nominally under Sir Hugh Parker, he in 1801 sailed for the Baltic and inflicted a signal defeat on the Danish fleet off Copenhagen; for this he was made Viscount and commander-in-chief; during the scare of a Napoleonic invasion he kept a vigilant watch in the Channel, and on the resumption of war he on October 21, 1805, crowned his great career by a memorable victory off Trafalgar over the French fleet commanded by Villeneuve, but was himself mortally wounded at the very height of the battle (1758-1805).

NEMEAN GAMES, one of the four great national festivals of Greece, and celebrated every other year.

NEMEAN LION, a monstrous lion in Nemea, a valley of Argolis, which Hercules slew by throttling it with his hands, clothing himself ever after with its skin.

NEMESIS, in the Greek imagination, the executioner of divine vengeance on evil-doers, conceived of as incarnated in the fear which precedes and the remorse which accompanies a guilty action.

NENNIUS, the reputed author of a chronicle of early British history, who appears to have lived not later perhaps than the 9th century.

NEOLOGY, the name given to the rationalist theology of Germany or the rationalisation of the Christian religion.

NEO-PLATONISM, a system of philosophy that originated in Alexandria at the beginning of the 3rd century, which resolved the absolute, or God, into the incarnation thereof in the Logos, or reason of man, and which aimed at "demonstrating the graduated transition from the absolute object to the personality of man"; it was a concretion of European thought and Oriental.

NEPAL (about 2,500), an independent native State in North India, occupying a narrow mountainous territory along and including the southern slopes of the Himalayas, which separate it from Thibet; consists mainly of valleys and intervening mountain ridges, among which dwell various hill tribes, the dominant race being the hardy GOORKHAS (q. v.).

NEPENTHE, an imaginary goddess, the allayer of pain and the soother of sorrows, or the impersonation of stern retributive justice.

NEPOS, CORNELIUS, Roman historian, born at Pavia; was a contemporary and friend of Cicero; was the author of several historical works, no longer extant, and the one still extant ascribed to him, entitled "De Viris Illustribus," is believed to be an abridgment of an earlier work by him.

NEPTUNE, the chief marine deity of the Romans, and identified with the Poseidon of the Greeks, is represented with a trident in his hand as his sceptre.

NEPTUNE, the remotest planet of the solar system at present known; it is twice as far distant from the sun as URANUS (q. v.) is, deemed before its discovery the remotest; its diameter is four times greater than that of the earth, and it takes 60,126 days to revolve round the sun, accompanied by a solitary satellite; it was discovered in 1846 by ADAMS (q. v.) and LEVERRIER (q. v.), who were guided to the spot where they found it from the effect of its neighbourhood on the movements of Uranus.

NERBUDDA, or NARBADA, a sacred river of India; has its source in the Amarkantak plateau of the Deccan, and flows westward, a rapid body of greenish-blue water, through the great valley between the Vindhya and Satpura Mountains, reaching the Gulf of Cambay after a course of 800 m., the last 30 of which are navigable.

NEREIDES, nymphs of the Mediterranean Sea, daughters of Nereus, 60 in number, and attendant on Poseidon.

NEREUS, the god of the Mediterranean Sea, the son of Pontus and Gaia, the husband of Doris, and father of the Nereides, represented as a sage, venerable old man.

NERI, ST. PHILIPPO DI, Italian priest, born at Florence, of noble family; founder of the Congregation of the Oratory; was known from his boyhood as the Good Pippo, and he spent his life in acts of devotion and charity (1515-1592). Festival, May 26.

NERO, Roman emperor from A.D. 54 to 68, born at Antium, son of Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus and of Agrippina, daughter of Germanicus; after the murder of Claudius, instigated by Agrippina, who 4 years previously had become the emperor's wife, Nero seized the throne, excluding Britannicus, the rightful heir; during the first 5 years of his reign his old tutors, Seneca and Burrus, were his advisers in a wise and temperate policy, but gradually his innate tendency to vice broke through all restraint, and hurried him into a course of profligacy and crime; Britannicus was put to death, his mother and wife, Octavia, were subsequent victims, and in 64 numbers of Christians suffered death, with every refinement of torture, on a trumped-up charge of having caused the great burning of Rome, suspicion of which rested on Nero himself; a year later Seneca and the poet Lucan were executed as conspirators, and, having kicked to death his wife Poppæa, then far advanced in pregnancy, he offered his hand to Octavia, daughter of Claudius, and because she declined his suit ordered her death; these and many other similar crimes brought on inevitable rebellion; Spain and Gaul declared in favour of Galba; the Prætorian Guards followed suit; Nero fled from Rome, and sought refuge in suicide (37-68).

NERVA, Roman emperor from 96 to 98, elected by the Senate; ruled with moderation and justice; resigned in favour of Trajan, as from age unable to cope with the turbulence of the Prætorian Guards.

NESS, LOCH, the second largest loch in Scotland, stretches along the valley of Glenmore, in Inverness-shire, is 22½ m. long, and has an average breadth of 1 m. and an extreme depth of 280 ft.: its main feeders are the Morriston, Oich, and Foyers; the Ness is its chief outlet.

NESSELRODE, COUNT VON, celebrated Russian diplomatist, born at Lisbon, where his father was Russian ambassador; represented Russia at a succession of congresses, played a prominent part at them, and directed the foreign policy of the empire under Alexander I. and Nicholas I., from 1816 to 1856, though he strove to avoid the war which broke out in 1853 (1780-1862).

NESSUS, a Centaur who, for attempting to carry off Dejanira, Hercules' wife, was shot by Hercules with an arrow dipped in the blood of the HYDRA (q. v.), and who in dying handed to Dejanira his mantle, dipped in his poisoned blood, as a charm to regain her husband's affections should he at any time prove unfaithful. See HERCULES.

NESSUS' SHIRT, the poisoned robe which Nessus gave Dejanira, and which in a moment of distrust she gave to Hercules. See NESSUS.

NESTOR, king of Pylos, a protégé and worshipper of Poseidon, the oldest, most experienced, and wisest of the Greek heroes at the siege of Troy; belonged to the generation of the grandfathers of the rest of them.

NESTORIUS, a celebrated heresiarch, born in Syria; was made patriarch of Constantinople in 428, deposed for heresy by the Council of Ephesus 431, and banished to the Lybian Desert, where he died; the heresy he taught, called after him Nestorianism, was that the two natures, the divine and the human, coexist in Christ, but are not united, and he would not allow to the Virgin Mary the title that had been given to her as the "Mother of God"; the orthodoxy of the Church as against the doctrine was championed by Cyril of Alexandria.

NETHERLANDS, a term formerly applied to the whole NW. corner of Europe, occupied by BELGIUM (q. v.) and Holland, but now an official designation only of HOLLAND (q. v.).

NETLEY, the site of the handsome Royal Victoria Hospital, on the shore of Southampton Water, 3 m. SE. of Southampton, and connected by a direct line with Portsmouth; founded in 1856 as an asylum for invalided soldiers, also the head-quarters of the female nurses of the army; in the vicinity also are interesting remains of a Cistercian abbey.

NETTLERASH or URTICARIA, an irritating eruption in the skin causing a sensation like the stinging of nettles. It may be acute or chronic, frequently caused by errors of diet.

NEUCHÂTEL (109), a western canton of Switzerland, lying between Lake Neuchâtel and France; the surface is diversified by the Jura Mountains, and plentifully supplied with small streams; the greater part of the inhabitants are French Protestants; coal and iron are found, stock-raising and agriculture are engaged in, but the great specialty of the canton is watchmaking, which is chiefly carried on at La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle; Neuchâtel was incorporated in the Swiss Confederation in 1815. NEUCHÂTEL (17), capital of the canton, has a fine situation on the NW. shore of the lake, 86 m. NE. of Geneva; has many educational, art, and charitable institutions, and is chiefly engaged in the manufacture of watches, jewellery, &c. LAKE OF NEUCHÂTEL is a beautiful sheet of water, 25 m. in length, and from 3 to 6 in breadth.

NEUSTRIA, western portion of the kingdom of the Franks in the time of the Merovingian and Carlovingian dynasties, and in constant rivalry with AUSTRASIA (q. v.), the kingdom of the East; it extended from the Scheldt to the Loire and Soissons; Paris, Orleans, and Tours were the chief towns.

NEUVILLE, ALPHONSE DE, French painter of battle-scenes, born at St. Omer; he was an illustrator of books, among others Guizot's "Histoire de France" (1836-1885).

NEVA, a river of Russia issuing from the SW. corner of Lake Ladoga, flows westward in a broad rapid current past St. Petersburg, and discharges its great volume of water into the Bay of Cronstadt, in the Gulf of Finland, after a winding course of 40 miles.

NEVADA (46), one of the western States of the American Union, occupying a wide stretch of territory on the Great Plateau or Basin, between the Rocky Mountains on the E. and the Cascades and the Sierra Nevada on the W., has Oregon and Idaho on the N., and California on the S. and W.; elevated, cold, dry, and barren, it offers little inducement to settlers, and is in consequence the least in population of the American States; the great silver discoveries of 1859 brought it first into notice, and mining still remains the chief industry; Virginia City and Carson (capital) are the chief towns; was admitted to the Union in 1864.

NEVILLE'S CROSS, BATTLE OF, battle fought near Durham between the Scots and English in 1346, in which the former were defeated and King David taken prisoner.

NEVIS, BEN. See BEN NEVIS.

NEW BRITAIN or NEU-POMMERN, a large island in the German Bismarck Archipelago, West Pacific, lying off the NE. coast of New Guinea, from which it is separated by Dampier Strait; is 300 m. long, with an average breadth of 40 m.; is mountainous and volcanic in the interior, and thickly clad with forest trees; fruits of various kinds are the chief product; is inhabited by Melanesian savages.

NEW BRUNSWICK (321), a SE. province of Canada, presents a long foreshore to the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the NE. and to the Bay of Fundy on the SE., while directly E. lies Nova Scotia, to which it is joined by the isthmus of Chignecto; the surface is diversified by numerous lakes, magnificent forests of pine and other woods, and the fertile valleys of the Rivers St. John, Restigouche, and Miramichi; timber is the chief export, but only less valuable are its fisheries, while shipbuilding is also an important and growing industry; coal is mined in good quantities, and the chief towns, St. John, Portland, and Fredericton (capital) are busy centres of iron, textile, and other factories; the climate is subject to extremes of heat and cold, but is healthy; many of the inhabitants are of French origin, for New Brunswick formed part of the old French colony of Acadia.

NEW CALEDONIA (63), an island of the South Pacific belonging to France, the most southerly of the Melanesian group, lying about 800 m. E. of Australia and nearly 1000 m. N. of New Zealand; is mountainous, produces the usual tropical fruits, and exports some nickel, cobalt, coffee, &c.; is used by the French as a convict station; discovered by Captain Cook in 1774 and annexed by France in 1853; Noumea (5), on the SW., is the capital.

NEW ENGLAND, a name given in 1704 by Captain John Smith to the eastern and most densely populated portion of the United States, which now comprises Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut; was first colonised under the name of North Virginia by the Plymouth Company in 1606; the inhabitants, known distinctively as Yankees, are mostly of Puritan and Scotch descent, and are noted for their shrewdness and industry.

NEW FOREST, a district in the SW. of Hampshire, 14 m. from N. to S. and 16 m. wide, and consisting of 92,000 acres, of which 62,000 belong to the crown demesnes; one-fourth of the area consists of enclosed plantations, chiefly of oak and beech, the rest being open woodland, bog, and heath; Lyndhurst is the principal town.

NEW GUINEA, the largest island in the world (excluding the island continents of Australia and Greenland), lies N. of Australia, from which it is divided by Torres Strait (90 m. wide); is an irregular, mountainous, well-rivered territory, 10 times the size of Scotland, and is held by three European powers--the Dutch (200) in the western and least developed half; the German (100); in the NE., Kaiser Wilhelm's Land, administered by the German New Guinea Company, who export tobacco, areca, bamboo, ebony, &c.; and the British (135), in the SE., administered by the Commonwealth of Australia. Successful encouragement has been given to colonisation, and good exports of gold pearl-shells, copra, &c., are made. Much of the interior is still to explore, and is inhabited by Papuans, Negritoes, and other Melanesian tribes, many of which are still in the cannibal stage, although others are peaceful and industrious. A hot moist climate gives rise to much endemic fever, but encourages a wonderful profusion of tropical growth, giving place in the highlands to the hardier oak and pine, and still higher to a purely alpine flora; as in Australia, the animals are chiefly marsupials; the mountain ranges, which stretch in a more or less continuous line throughout the island, have peaks that touch an altitude of 20,000 ft. and send down many navigable streams. Port Moresby is the capital of the British portion.

NEW HAMPSHIRE (377), the second most northerly of the NEW ENGLAND STATES (q. v.), and from the beauty of its lake and mountain scenery called the "Switzerland of America," lies N. and S. between Quebec province and Massachusetts, while the Atlantic washes part of its eastern borders; is more engaged in manufactures than in agriculture, and obtains valuable water-power and waterway from its rivers, the Piscataqua, Merrimac, and Connecticut; Manchester, on the Merrimac, is the largest city.

NEW HAVEN (108), capital of New Haven county, Connecticut, and chief city and seaport of the State, at the head of New Haven Bay, 4 m. from Long Island Sound, and 73 m. NE. of New York; is a finely built city, and, since 1718, has been the seat of Yale College; is an important manufacturing centre, producing rifles, iron-ware of all kinds, carriages, clocks, &c., was up till 1873 joint capital of the State with Harford.

NEW HEBRIDES (70), a group of some 30 volcanic Islands (20 inhabited) in the Western Pacific, lying W. of the Fiji Islands and NE. of New Caledonia; is nominally a possession of Britain, and inhabited by cannibals of the Melanesian race. Missionary enterprise has had some effect in the southern islands; Espiritu Santo (70 m. by 40) is the largest.

NEW HOLLAND. See AUSTRALIA.

NEW JERSEY (1,444), one of the 13 original States of the American Union, faces the Atlantic between New York State on the N. and Delaware Bay on the S., with Pennsylvania on its western border; the well-watered and fertile central plains favour a prosperous fruit and agricultural industry, tracts of pine and cedar wood cover the sandy S., while the N., traversed by ranges of the Appalachians, abounds in valuable forests of oak, hickory, chestnut, sassafras, &c.; minerals are plentiful, especially iron ores. New Jersey is thickly populated, well provided with railway and water transit, and busily engaged in manufactures--e. g. glass, machinery, silk, sugar. Newark (capital) and Jersey City are by far the largest cities; was sold to Penn in 1682, and settled chiefly by immigrant Quakers.

NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH, a church consisting of the disciples of Emanuel Swedenborg, formed into a separate organisation for worship about 1788. See SWEDENBORGIANISM.

NEW MEXICO (154), an extensive territory embracing the SW. end of North America and the larger part of the great isthmus which unites the two Americas; was in 1848 detached from MEXICO (q. v.), and constituted a part of the American Union; consists mainly of elevated plateau, sloping to the S., and traversed by ranges of the Rocky Mountains; the precious metals are widely distributed, especially silver; good deposits of coal and copper are also found. In the broad river valleys excellent crops are raised, and stock-raising is an important industry. The territory is divided into 14 counties; Santa Fé is the capital; a State university exists at Albuquerque.

NEW ORLEANS (287), the capital and largest city of Louisiana, is beautifully situated on both sides of the Mississippi, 107 m. from its mouth, with a curved river-frontage of 10 m.; is the second cotton port of the world, and the greatest sugar-market in the United States; is the chief trade emporium of the surrounding States, and the main outlet for the produce of the Mississippi Valley, which includes cotton, sugar, tobacco, wheat, and salt.

NEW SOUTH WALES (1,132), the "mother colony" of Australia, fronts the Pacific for 700 m. on the E. between Queensland (N.) and Victoria (S.), is 2½ times the size of Great Britain and Ireland; mountain ranges (including the Australian Alps) running parallel with, and from 20 to 100 m. distant from, the coast, divide the narrow littoral plains from the great plains of the W. and the interior, and are the source of many large rivers (e. g. the Darling) flowing E. and W.; the climate is warm and everywhere healthy; rain falls plentifully on the coast lands and mountains, but is scarce in the W. The mineral wealth of the colony is very great--gold and silver are found in large quantities, as also copper, tin, iron, &c., but coal is the most abundant and valuable mineral product. Cereals, fruits, sugar, tobacco, &c., are cultivated, but in small quantities compared with the immense output of wool, the chief product of the country. SYDNEY (q. v.) is the capital and chief port of the colony. Government is vested in a Crown appointed Governor and two Houses of Parliament (triennial and paid). Education is free and compulsory. Established in 1788, the colony was, up to 1840, used as a settlement for transported criminals. In 1851 the great gold discoveries started the colony on its prosperous career.

NEW YORK (5,997), the foremost State in the American Union in population, wealth, commerce, and manufactures, the twenty-fifth in area, and is about the size of England; is triangular in shape, with a north-western base on Lakes Erie and Ontario, and an eastern apex reaching the Atlantic between Connecticut (N.) and New Jersey (S.). Manhattan, Staten, and Long Island are the most important of many islands belonging to the State. The land slopes from the mountainous E. to the shores of the great western lakes, and is pleasantly diversified with mountain, valley and plain, forest and river. The Hudson, Oswego, Genesee, and Niagara (with its famous waterfall) are the principal rivers, while the St. Lawrence forms part of the northern boundary. One-half of the area is under cultivation; the vine flourishes, hops and tobacco are grown, and market-gardening prospers near the large cities; but manufacturing is the chief industry, and the transit of goods is greatly facilitated by the many waterways and network of railways. Was finally occupied by the English in 1664, after the expulsion of the Dutch.

NEW YORK CITY (3,437), but including Brooklyn, Jersey City, and other suburban places, nearly three millions, the premier city of the American continent, and third wealthiest in the world; occupies Manhattan Island (13½ m. long) and several smaller islands at the terminal confluence of the Hudson with East River, which opens into Long Island Sound; 18 m. S. of the city is Sandy Hook, where two ship channels cross the bar, and lead into the outer or lower bay, which in turn is joined by a strait to the magnificent harbour or inner bay; all approaches are strongly fortified; a suspension bridge spans East River, uniting the city with Brooklyn; the rivers and the many wharves are crowded with shipping. The old town is a busy hive of industry, with its great centres of banking and mercantile enterprise--Wall, New, and Broad Streets. The modern part of the city is a model of regularity, is traversed by great avenues 8 m. in length and 100 ft. wide, the finest being Fifth Avenue. The City Hall and the Court House are of white marble; the hotels are the largest in the world; Astor library (250,000 vols.), academy of design, university, museums, art-galleries, and many other handsome buildings adorn the streets; carries on industries of almost every description.

NEW ZEALAND (669, of which 42 are Maories), a British island colony in the South Pacific, lying wholly within the temperate zone, 1200 m. E. of Australia; comprises North Island (45,000 sq. m.), South or Middle Island (58,000 sq. m.), Stewart Island (much smaller), and a number of islets; total area considerably more than that of Great Britain. The two main islands, separated by Cook Strait, are in no part broader than 150 m., and are traversed from end to end by a great and partly volcanic mountain chain, the range in South Island being known as the Southern Alps (highest peak Mount Cook, 12,350 ft), and that in North Island as the Ruahine Range and the Tararua Mountains; everywhere rivers abound, Waikato (North Island) and Clutha (South Island) being the largest; numerous lakes (Lake Taupo, six times the size of Loch Lomond), fertile valleys, and well-grassed plains, together with the mountains, make up a beautiful and diversified surface, which much resembles that of Scotland, while the climate, temperate and healthy, is warmer and more equable than in Great Britain; almost all the animals have been imported, as well as the grains and fruits; great forests of indigenous kauri pines, however, exist; sheep-farming, agriculture, and mining (gold and coal) are the chief industries, wool being the chief export; Auckland, the largest, and Wellington, the capital, in North Island, and Dunedin and Christchurch in South Island, are the chief towns; Government is vested in a Crown-appointed Governor, an Executive Ministry, and a Parliament of two Chambers; education is free, secular, and compulsory, but no State aid is given to any form of religion; discovered in 1642 by Tasman, the islands were first surveyed by Cook in 1769; their formal cession to the British crown took place in 1840.

NEWARK (246), city of U.S., New Jersey, 7 miles W. by New Jersey City. It has extensive tanneries, and manufactories of hats, thread, and celluloid.

NEWCASTLE-UNDER-LYME (18), a borough and old market-town of Staffordshire, 40 m. S. of Manchester; is a well-built town, actively engaged in brewing, malting, and paper-making.

NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE (186), a city and county of itself, and chief town of Northumberland; situated on the N. bank, and 10 m. from the mouth, of the Tyne, 275 m. N. of London. The old town extends some two miles along the river bank, and with its crowded quays, narrow winding streets, and dingy warehouses, presents a striking contrast to the handsome modern portion, which stretches back on gently rising ground. The cathedral is an imposing and interesting architectural structure, while the public buildings are more than usually ornate. The Colleges of Medicine and of Science are affiliated to Durham University. There are several fine libraries, theatres, hospitals, and charitable institutions, and the city is especially well off in the matter of public parks and pleasure grounds. Three bridges (including Robert Stephenson's famous High Level Bridge) span the river and connect Newcastle with Gateshead. It is the chief centre of the English coal trade, and is a busy hive of all kinds of metallic, chemical, machinery, and kindred works, which give rise to an immense and ever-increasing shipping trade. As a centre of shipbuilding the Tyne is second only to the Clyde.

NEWCOMEN, THOMAS, blacksmith, born at Dartmouth; invented a steam-engine in which the piston was raised by steam and driven down by the atmosphere after the injection into the cylinder of a squirt of cold water, which cooled it, so that the steam when injected did not raise the piston at once up. By James Watt's invention of a separate condenser it was superseded, and employed afterwards principally for pumping water. The interruption in the movement between the descent and ascent of the piston made it worthless for such purposes as Watt's invention is applied to; d. 1729.

NEWDIGATE, SIR ROGER, born in Warwickshire; represented Oxford in Parliament, and founded the Newdigate Prize for the best English poem by an undergraduate; the winners of it have since distinguished themselves, chiefly in letters (1719-1806).

NEWFOUNDLAND (198), the oldest island colony of Britain, situated at the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, North America; is about one-eighth larger than Ireland, and triangular in shape, the northern apex running close in to the coast of Labrador; inland the country is bleak, sparsely populated, and ill cultivated; lakes and rivers abound; the deeply indented coast provides excellent harbourage for the large fishing fleets that frequent it; minerals are found, including coal, iron, lead, and copper; agriculture and timber-felling are on the increase, but the fisheries--cod, salmon, herring, and seal--form the staple industry; the climate is more temperate than in Canada, although, subject to fogs; ST. JOHNS (q. v.) is the capital; discovered in 1497 by John Cabot, seized by the English in 1583, and finally ceded to Britain by the French (who retained certain fishing rights) in 1713; Newfoundland possesses a responsible government, consisting of a popularly elected Assembly and a Crown-appointed Governor, and exercises political rights over the adjoining coast territory of Labrador.

NEWGATE, a dark, gloomy prison in London, the original of which dates as far back as 1218; was two centuries afterwards rebuilt, and destroyed in the great fire of 1666; rebuilt in 1780; is now used only for prisoners awaiting trial during Sessions, and as a place of execution.

NEWMAN, JOHN HENRY, cardinal, born in London, son of a banker; educated at Ealing, studied at Trinity College, Oxford, and obtained a Fellowship in Oriel College in 1823; trained in evangelical beliefs, he gradually drifted into High-Church notions, and becoming vicar of St. Mary's, the university church of Oxford, in 1826, started the Tractarian Movement in 1833, and, busy with his pen, wrote no fewer than 24 of the celebrated "Tracts for the Times" in advocacy of High-Church teaching, till Tract XC., which he composed, overshot the mark, and he resigned his connection with the Church of England, and was received into the Catholic Church on the 28th October 1845; shortly after this he visited Rome, was ordained a priest, and after some stay there on his return became head of the Birmingham Oratory in 1849, where he spent over 40 of the years that remained of his life; the influence on Church matters which he exercised as university preacher at Oxford was very great, and made itself felt through the voluminous writings over the length and breadth of the Church; on his secession he continued to employ his pen in defence of his position, particularly in one work, now widely known, entitled "Apologia pro Vita Sua"; what he wrote was for the time he lived in, and none of it, except certain of his hymns, is likely to endure; the religion he fought for and vindicated was an externally authenticated one, whereas all true religion derives itself and its evidences solely and wholly from within, and is powerless and virtually nothing except in so far as it roots itself there (1801-1890).

NEWMAN, FRANCIS WILLIAM, born in London, brother of the preceding, with whom he was wholly out of sympathy, and at the opposite pole; he was a theist in his religious opinions, and wrote in defence of them his principal works, "The Soul: Her Sorrows and Aspirations," and "Phases of Faith" (1805-1897).

NEWPORT, 1, capital of the Isle of Wight (10), and near its centre; in its vicinity is Carisbrooke Castle, where Charles I. was imprisoned. 2, The largest town in Monmouth (54), at the mouth of the Usk, engaged in manufacture of various kinds, but chiefly as a port for the export of minerals, which is very large. 3, A town in Rhode Island, U.S., (19), a fashionable watering-place, as well as a manufacturing; was for a time the residence of Bishop Berkeley.

NEWSTEAD ABBEY, an abbey near Nottingham, founded by Henry II. by way of atonement for the murder of Thomas à Becket, which was given at the dissolution of the monasteries to an ancestor of Lord Byron, who lived in it and sold it, since which it has been restored.

NEWTON, SIR ISAAC, illustrious natural philosopher, born in Woolsthorpe, near Grantham, in Lincolnshire; entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1661, where he applied himself specially to the study of mathematics, invented the method of FLUXIONS (q. v.), and began to theorise on gravitation, graduating in 1667, and becoming professor of Mathematics in 1669; failing at first, from a mistaken measurement given of the earth's diameter, in his attempts to establish the theory referred to, he set himself to the construction of telescopes, and discovered the composition of light; shortly after this, hearing of a correction of the measurement required, he renewed his study of gravitation, and made his theory good in a series of papers communicated to the Royal Society, though it was not till 1687, encouraged by Halley, he gave the complete demonstration in his "Principia" to the world; in 1695 he was made Warden of the Mint, and afterwards Master, a post he held till his death; his works were numerous, and he wrote on prophecy as well as treatises on science (1642-1727).

NEWTON, JOHN, English clergyman, born in London; after a wild youth was converted, entered the Church, and became curate of Olney, where he became acquainted with Cowper, and had, owing to his severe Calvinism, an influence over him not altogether for good, and was associated with the production of the "Olney Hymns"; wrote "Cardiphonia" (1725-1807).

NEWTON, THOMAS, English divine; edited Milton's "Paradise Lost" and "Paradise Regained," and notes, and wrote "Dissertations on the Prophecies" (1704-1782).

NEY, MICHEL, peer and marshal of France, born at Sarrelouis, son of a cooper; entered the army as a private hussar in 1797; distinguished himself by his bravery in the wars of the Revolution and the Empire, and earned for himself from the army under Napoleon, and from Napoleon himself, the title of the "Brave of the braves"; on Napoleon's abdication in 1814 he attached himself to Louis XVIII., but on his return from Elba he joined Ins old master, and stood by him during the hundred days; on the second Restoration he was arrested, tried by his peers, and shot (1769-1815).

NGAMI, LAKE, a shallow sheet of water 50 m. long in S. Africa, on the borders of the Kalahari Desert, which is always changing its margin, is at one time, from the rains, sweet and drinkable, and at another time, from drought, saline; it is infested with crocodiles, and swarms with fish.

NIAGARA, a section of the St. Lawrence River, in N. America, extending between Lakes Erie and Ontario, having a descent throughout its course of 36 m. of 326 ft., the Falls, preceded and succeeded by rapids, being the largest in the world, the Canadian or Horse Shoe Fall being 2640 ft. wide, with a descent of 158 ft., and the American Fall being one-third of the width of the Canadian, and with a descent of over 162 ft.

NIAM-NIAM, a people of the E. Soudan, SE. of Darfur, occupying territory between the basins of the Nile and the Congo.

NIBELUNG, king of the Nibelungen, a mythical Burgundian tribe, the fabulous possessor of a hoard of wealth so inexhaustible that "twelve waggons in twelve days, at the rate of three journeys a day, could not carry it off," and which he bequeathed to his two sons on his deathbed, by the vanquishing of whom the hoard fell into the hands of the redoubtable hero Siegfried.

NIBELUNGEN LIED (i. e. Lay of the Nibelungen), an old German epic, of date, it is presumed, earlier than the 12th century; it consists of two parts, the first ending with the murder of Siegfried by Hagen, his wresting of the hoard (see SUPRA) from his widow, Kriemhild, and burying it at the bottom of the Rhine, and the second relating the vengeance of Kriemhild and the annihilation of the whole Burgundian race, Kriemhild included, to whom the treasure had originally belonged; to the latter part the name of the Nibelungen Not (or Distress) has been given.

NICARAGUA (313, mostly mulattoes and negroes), the largest and richest of five republics occupying Central America, stretches across the isthmus from the Pacific to the Caribbean Sea, between Honduras (N.) and Costa Rica (S.); the Cordilleras traverse the heart of the country, and the immense valleys of the W. are remarkable for the two great southern lakes, Nicaragua and Managua, which are studded with volcanic islands; rich in gold, silver, copper, and coal, with vast forests of mahogany, rosewood, &c., splendid pastures and a fertile soil; the country has through misgovernment and a bad climate remained in a backward state; in recent times more has been done; hides, bananas, coffee, and india-rubber are the chief exports, and a considerable deal of mining goes on; the great ship-canal from the Pacific to the Caribbean, begun in 1889 by a U.S. company, is not yet completed; Managua (18) is the capital; asserted its independence from Spain in 1821, and has since been rent by countless revolutions; a president and a congress of 48 administer its affairs.

NICE or NICÆA, an ancient city of Bithynia, in Asia Minor, celebrated as the seat of two oecumenical councils of the Church, the first, presided over by Constantine in 325, which condemned Arianism, and the second, under the Empress Irene in 787, which deliberated on image-worship.

NICE (74), capital of the department Alpes-Maritimes, France, charmingly situated on the Mediterranean coast near the Italian border, terraced hills shelter it on the N., and its genial and equable climate make it a favourite winter resort for invalids; the Paglione, a small stream, divides the old and modern portion; Castle Hill, with ruins and pleasure gardens, the cathedral, art-gallery, &c., are features of interest; olive-oil is the chief export, and artistic pottery, perfumery, &c., are manufactured.

NICENE CREED, a creed established as orthodox at NICE (q. v.), which affirmed as against Arianism that Christ as Son of God was not merely of like substance, but of the same substance with the Father.

NICHOLAS, the name of five popes: N. I., ST., surnamed the Great, Pope from 858 to 867, asserted the supremacy of the papal see, Festival, Nov. 13; N. II., pope from 1058 to 1061; N. III., Pope from 1277 to 1280; N. IV., pope from 1288 to 1292; N. V., Pope from 1447 to 1456, after the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, took the exiled Greek scholars under his protection, fostered the learning of the East, and laid the foundation of the Vatican Library by the collection of over 5000 Greek and Latin MSS.

NICHOLAS, ST., the patron saint of boys, of sailors, of Russia and Aberdeen, as well as other towns; was bishop of Myra, persecuted under Diocletian; is generally represented in bishop's robes, and has either three purses or three children as his attributes; the three children and the three purses refer to one and the same story: St. Nicholas, on learning that a father who had three daughters was tempted by extreme poverty to expose them to a life of dishonour, went by night and threw into the window of the house three bags of money which served as a marriage portion for each, and thus rescued them from a life of shame.

NICHOLAS I., czar of Russia, born at St. Petersburg, third son of Paul I., ascended the throne in 1825 in succession to Alexander I., his eldest brother; suppressed with rigour and not a little severity a formidable conspiracy which took form on his accession; took up arms against Persia and wrested Erivan from its sway, struggled against both the Poles and the Turks till his overbearing policy against the latter provoked a coalition of France, England, and Sardinia to their defence in the Crimean War, which was still going on when he died; in 1848 he aided Austria in the suppression of the Hungarian insurrection (1796-1855).

NICHOLAS II., czar of Russia, born in St. Petersburg, son of Alexander III., and his successor in Nov. 1894; was married on the month of his accession to Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt and granddaughter of Queen Victoria through the Princess Alice, while his mother is a sister of the Princess of Wales; his education under his father was conducted expressly with a view to what might be required of him on his accession to the throne; his ministers are in sympathy with himself, and he has already (1899) distinguished himself by putting his finger on the sore which is festering at the heart and is sucking up as a vampire the life's blood of Europe; b. May 18, 1868.

NICHOLSON, JOHN, an Indian officer, born in Dublin, son of a physician; served in the Sikh Wars, and at the outbreak of the Mutiny in 1857 in the Punjab crushed it in the bud; led the attack at the siege of Delhi, Sept. 14, but fell mortally wounded as the storming party were entering the Cabul Gate (1821-1857).

NICOBAR ISLANDS (7), a group of picturesque islands in the Indian Ocean, S. of the Andaman Islands and midway between Ceylon and the Malay Peninsula; 14 of the 20 islands are inhabited, chiefly by indigenous Indians and Malays; after being in the hands of Denmark for upwards of 100 years, they were annexed by Britain in 1869; trade is carried on with India in cocoa-nuts, ambergris, tortoise-shell, &c.

NICOLAITANS, a sect of heretics that arose in the Apostolic Church, presumed to have been a party of professing Christians of Gentile descent, who, after their profession, continued to take part in the heathen festivals, and to have contributed to break down the distinction between the Church and the world, so essential to the very existence of the faith they professed, founded, as it is, no less absolutely on No to the world than on Yea to God. See EVERLASTING NO and EVERLASTING YEA.

NICOLE, PIERRE, French divine and moralist, born at Chartres, a PORT-ROYALIST (q. v.), friend of Arnauld and Pascal; was along with the former author of the famous "Port Royal Logic" (1625-1695).

NICOTINE, a poisonous alkaloid extracted from the leaves of the tobacco plant, is a colourless, oily liquid, readily soluble in water, and has a pungent odour.

NIEBUHR, BARTHOLD GEORG, distinguished historian, born at Copenhagen, son of the succeeding; studied at Kiel, and for a time at London and Edinburgh; after various civil appointments in Denmark, entered the civil service of Prussia in 1806; on the establishment of the university of Berlin in 1810 gave in connection with it a course of lectures on Roman history, by which he established his reputation as a historian, several of the conclusions of which he afterwards confirmed during his residence as ambassador at the Papal Court at Rome from 1816 to 1823; the revolution of the three days of July 1830 in Paris threatening, as he thought, a recurrence of the horrors of the first, gave him such a shock that he sickened of it and died; by his treatment of the history of Rome he introduced a new era in the treatment of history generally, which consisted in expiscating all the fabulous from the story and working on the residuum of authenticated fact, without, however, as would appear, taking due account of the influence of the faith of the people on the fable, and the effect of the latter on the life and destiny of the nation whose history it was his purpose to relate (1776-1830).

NIEBUHR, KARSTEN, a celebrated traveller, born in Hanover; joined a Danish expedition in exploration of Arabia, and alone of the members of it returned home, which he did by way of Persia, Palestine, and Cyprus, and wrote an account of the results of his researches (1733-1815).

NIEL, ADOLPHE, French marshal, born at Muret; entered the Engineers 1825, served in the Algerine War in 1835, before Rome in 1849, at Bomarsund in 1854, at Sebastopol in 1856, as well as at Magenta and Solferino, and finally became Minister of War (1802-1869).

NIEPEE, JOSEPH NICÉPHORE, French chemist, born at Châlons-sur-Saône; inventor of photography, the method of effecting which he achieved after long brooding in 1824, and afterwards communicated to Daguerre, with whom he entered into partnership, and who made it known after his death (1765-1833).

NIFLHEIM or MISTHOME, in the Norse mythology the primeval northern region of cold and darkness, in contrast with Muspelheim, or Brighthome, the primeval southern region of warmth and light, the two poles, as it were, of the Norse world.

NIGER, a great river of Western Africa, whose head-waters rise amid the Kong Mountains behind Sierra Leone; flowing NE. as far as Timbuctoo (2 m. from the river), it there bends gradually southward, receives from the E. its great affluent the Benuë, and about 100 m. from the coast begins to form a wide forest and jungle-covered delta (larger than that of the Nile), and finally flows into the Gulf of Guinea by 22 mouths after a course of some 2600 m. Forms, with the Benuë, an invaluable highway into the heart of the country; its upper and middle parts, under the names Joliba, &c., are within the French sphere, and the lower portion below Say is under English authority.

NIGHTINGALE, FLORENCE, a famous philanthropic nurse, born at Florence, of wealthy English parentage; at the age of 22 entered the institution of Protestant Deaconesses at Kaiserswerth to be trained as a nurse, and afterwards studied the methods of nursing and hospital management with the Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul, Paris; after thoroughly reorganising Harley Street Hospital, London, she in 1854 volunteered to organise a staff of nurses to tend the wounded soldiers in the Crimea; arriving at Scutari on the eve of Inkermann she, during the terrible winter of 1854-55, ministered with unwearied devotion to the suffering soldiers; on her return in 1856 she, with public support, established a training college for nurses at St. Thomas's and at King's College Hospital; she is author of "Notes on Nursing," "Notes on Hospitals," &c.; b. in 1820.

NIHILISM, the principles of a movement on the part of the educated classes in Russia which repudiates the existing creed and organisation of society, and insists on a root and branch wholesale abolition of them and a reconstruction of them on communistic principles, and for the purely secular and everyday ends of common life, subordinating everything in the first place to the feeding, clothing, and lodging of human beings in a manner worthy of their rank in the scale of being. The term Nihilism is also applied to those philosophical systems which sweep the course clear of all incredibilities and irrationalities, but leave us bare of all our inherited spiritual possessions.

NIJNI-NOVGOROD (73), capital of a Russian government of the same name, situated at the confluence of the Oka with the Volga, 274 m. E. of Moscow, is the seat of Peter-Paul's Fair, the greatest in the world, which lasts from July to September, attracting merchants from Asia and Europe, and during which the population of the town swells to six or seven times its normal dimensions; as much as £20,000,000 worth of goods are said to be sold during the fair.

NILE, the longest river of Africa, and one of the most noted in the world's history; the Shimiyu, Isanga, and other streams which flow into Victoria Nyanza from the S. are regarded as its ultimate head-waters; from Victoria Nyanza, the Victoria Nile or Somerset River holds a north-westerly course to Albert Nyanza, whence it issues under the name of the Bahr-el-Jebel, swelled by the waters of the Semliki from Albert Edward Nyanza; about 650 m. N. it is joined by the Bahr-el-Ghazal from the W., and bending to the E., now under the name White Nile, receives on that side the Sobat, and as a sluggish navigable stream flows past Fashoda on to Khartoum, where it is met by the Bahr-al-Azrak or Blue Nile; 200 m. lower it receives the Atbara or Black Nile. Through Egypt the river's course is confined to a valley some 10 m. broad, which owes its great fertility to the alluvial deposits left by the river during it annual overflow (July to October, caused by seasonal rains in Abyssinia, &c.). From Khartoum to Assouan occur the cataracts; below this the stream is navigable. A few miles N. of Cairo begins the delta which lies within the Rosetta and Damietta--two main branches of the divided river--and is some 150 m. broad at its base. From Victoria Nyanza to the coast the river measures about 3400 m.

NILSSON, CHRISTINE, an operatic singer, born in Sweden, daughter of a peasant, and one of the foremost sopranos of her day; distinguished for her dramatic talent no less than by her powers as a vocalist (1843-1882).

NIMEGUEN (34), an interesting old Dutch town in Guelderland, on the Waal, 73 m. E. of Rotterdam; has a fine 13th-century Gothic church and other notable buildings; its prosperous manufactures include tobacco, perfume, beer, &c.; here, in 1678-79, France effected famous peace treaties with Holland, Spain, and Austria.

NÎMES or NISMES (68), capital of the department of Gard, S. of France, lies surrounded by the Cévennes in the fertile valley of the Vistre, 31 m. E. of Montpellier; has unique Roman remains, including an imposing amphitheatre, now used as a bull-arena, the noble Corinthian "Maison Carrée," a mausoleum, baths, &c.; textiles (silk, cotton, &c.), wines, and brandy are the chief articles of manufacture; it declared for the Reformation in 1559, and suffered cruelly on the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

NIMROD, an early king of Assyria or Babylonia, characterised in Scripture (Gen. x. 9) as "a mighty hunter before the Lord"; a name now applied to a distinguished hunter.

NINEVEH, an exceeding great city, capital of ancient Assyria, which stood on the left bank of the Tigris, opposite the modern town of Mosul, said to have been included within a wall 60 m. long, 100 ft. high, the breadth of three chariots in width, and defended by 1500 towers each 200 ft. in height.

NINIAN ST., early apostle of Christianity to the southern Picts of Scotland, born on the shores of the Solway, of noble descent; went to Rome, was consecrated by the Pope, visited St. Martin at Tours on his way back; had founded a church at Whithorn, Wigtownshire, which he dedicated to the latter on his return, where he died, "perfect in life and full of years," in 432.

NINUS, a legendary king of Assyria, a celebrated conqueror, to whom tradition assigns the founding of Nineveh.

NIOBE, in the Greek mythology the daughter of Tantalus, and wife of Amphion, king of Thebes, to whom she bore six sons and six daughters, in her pride of whom she rated herself above Leto, who had given birth to only two children, Apollo and Artemis, whereupon they, indignant at this insult to their mother, gave themselves for nine days to the slaughter of Niobe's offspring, and on the tenth the gods buried them; Niobe, in her grief, retired to Mount Sipylos, in Lydia, where her body became cold and rigid as stone, but not her tears, which, ever as the summer months returned, burst forth anew.

NIRVÂNA, the name given to the consummation of bliss in the Hindu, but especially the Buddhist, religions, synonymous with extinction, which in the Hindu creed means the extinction of individuality by absorption in the Divine Being, and in Buddhism, not, as some presume, the extinction of existence, but the extinction of agitation of mind through the crucifixion of all passion and desire, the attainment of self-centred, self-sufficient quiescence of being, or rest and peace of soul.

NISUS, a Trojan youth who accompanied Æneas into Italy, and whose friendship for Euryulus is so pathetically immortalised by Virgil in the ninth book of the "Æneid."

NITHSDALE, WILLIAM MAXWELL, EARL OF, a noted Catholic, who took part in the Jacobite rising of 1715, was captured at Preston, found guilty of treason, and sentenced to death; the night before the day appointed for his execution (24th February 1786) he effected an escape from the Tower by exchanging clothes with his daring and devoted countess, who had been admitted to his room; he fled to Rome, where he lived in happiness with his wife until her death (1676-1744).

NITROGEN, a gaseous element which constitutes one-fourth in volume of the atmosphere, is the basis of nitric acid, and is an essential constituent of proteids, alkaloids, and albuminoids.

NITZSCH, KARL LUDWIG, German theologian, born at Borna; became professor at Bonn, Saxony, in 1822, whence in 1847 he was removed to succeed Marheineke at Berlin; was of the Schleiermacher school of theologians, and author, among other works, of a "System der Christlichen Lehre" and "Practische Theologie," the former an able work, but most vilely translated into English, and the latter in evidence of the importance the author attached to the ethical element in the Christian religion (1787-1860).

NIXIE, in German folk-lore a water-sprite of a mischievous disposition, believed to have been suggested to the imagination by the reflection of the stars in the water.

NIZAM, the name given to a viceroy or administrator of justice in the Mogul Empire of India.

NIZAM'S DOMINIONS, THE, or HYDERABAD (11,537), in the heart of the Deccan, situated between the Central Provinces and the Presidency of Madras; it is highly fertile, and the largest of the native States in India. See HYDERABAD.

NOAH, the patriarch of Scripture antiquity who, by the command of God, constructed an ark for the preservation of the human race and the dry-land animals during the prevalence of the deluge that would otherwise have swept all these forms of life away.

NOAILLES, the name of an old French family, several members of which distinguished themselves in the service of both Church and State: ANNE JULES N., marshal of France, celebrated for his cruelties against the Huguenots (1650-1708); LOUIS ANTOINE DE, his brother, archbishop of Paris, who was made cardinal (1651-1729); LOUIS MARIE, VICOMTE DE, deputy to the States-General, who took part for a time in the Revolution (1756-1804).

NOAKES, JOHN O', a fictitious name for a litigious person, used by lawyers in actions of ejectment.

NOBLE, a gold coin first minted by Edward III., formerly current in the country; worth 6s. 8d., and ultimately 10s., when the value of the gold increased.

NOCTURNE, picture of a night scene; also a musical piece appropriate to the night.

NODES, name given to the two points in the orbit of a planet where it crosses or intersects the ecliptic, called ascending when it goes N., and descending when it goes S.

NODIER, CHARLES, able French littérateur, born at Besançon; a man of great literary activity and some considerable literary influence; author of charming stories and fairy tales; "did everything well," says Professor Saintsbury, "but perhaps nothing supremely well" (1780-1844).

NOLLEKENS, JOSEPH, sculptor, born in London, son of an Antwerp painter; studied in Rome; his forte lay in busts, of which he modelled a great many, including busts of Garrick, Sterne, Dr. Johnson, Pitt, and Fox, and realised thereby a large fortune; he was a man of no education; his principal work is "Venus with the Sandal" (1737-1813).

NOMINALISM, the name given to the theory of those among the Scholastics who maintained that general notions, which we denote by general terms, are only names, empty conceptions without reality, that there was no such thing as pure thought, only conception and sensuous perception, whereas realists, after Plato, held by the objective reality of universals. And, indeed, it is not as modern philosophy affirms, in the particular or the individual, in which alone, according to the Nominalists, reality resides, but in the universal, in regard to which the particular is nothing if it does not refer.

NONCONFORMISTS, a name originally applied to the clergy of the Established Church of England, some two thousand, who in 1662 resigned their livings rather than submit to the terms of the Act of Uniformity passed on the 24th of August that year, and now applied to the whole Dissenting body in England.

NONES, in the Roman calendar the ninth day before the IDES (q. v.), being the 7th of March, May, July, and October, and the 5th of the rest.

NONJURORS, a name given to that section of the Episcopal party in England who, having sworn fealty to James II., refused to take the oath of allegiance to William III., six of whom among the bishops for their obstinacy were deprived of their sees.

NO-POPERY RIOTS, name given principally to riots in London in June 1780, due to the zeal of LORD GEORGE GORDON (q. v.), ending in the death of near 300 persons.

NORDENSKIÖLD, ERIK, a Swedish naturalist, born in Helsingfors; after several successive voyages and explorations in the Arctic Sea, in which he paid frequent visits to Spitzbergen, where he measured an arc of the meridian, in 1878-79 discovered the North-East Passage by traversing, along the N. shores of Europe and Asia, the whole Arctic Sea from the Atlantic to the Pacific; has written accounts of his expeditions; b. 1832.

NORDKYN (i. e. north chin), the most northerly point in Norway, and of the continent of Europe generally.

NORE, MUTINY AT THE, a mutiny in the fleet stationed at the Nore, an anchorage off Sheerness, in the Thames, which broke out on May 20, 1797, and was not suppressed till June 15, for which the ringleaders were tried and hanged.

NORFOLK (455), an eastern maritime county of England, lies N. of Suffolk, and presents a long eastern and northern foreshore (90 m.) to the German Ocean; the Wash lies on the NW. border; light fertile soils, and an undulating, well-watered surface favour an extensive and highly developed agriculture, of which fruit-growing and market-gardening are special features; rabbits and game abound in the great woods and sand-dunes; the chief rivers are the Ouse, Bure, and Yare, and these and other streams form in their courses a remarkable series of inland lakes known as the BROADS (q. v.); its antiquities of Roman and Saxon times are many and peculiarly interesting.

NORFOLK ISLAND, a small precipitous island in the Western Pacific, midway between New Caledonia and New Zealand, 400 m. NW. of the latter; its inhabitants, many of whom came from Pitcairn Island, and now less than 1000, govern themselves under the superintendence of New South Wales.

NORMAN, HENRY, journalist and traveller, born at Leicester; travelled extensively in the East; has written on "The Peoples and Politics of the Far East," and "Round the Near East"; has since 1892 been on the staff of the Daily Chronicle.

NORMAN ARCHITECTURE, a massive architecture introduced into England, particularly in the construction of churches, abbeys, &c., by the Normans even before the Conquest, which was in vogue in the country till the end of Henry II.'s reign, and which is characterised by the prevalence of the rounded arch.

NORMANDY, an ancient province of France, fronting the English Channel, NE. of Brittany; received its name from the Northmen who, under Rollo, established themselves there in the 10th century; was for a long time an appanage of the English crown after the Norman Conquest; after being taken and retaken, was finally lost to England in 1450; it became practically a part of France when it was taken by Philip Augustus in 1204; it is now represented by the five departments Seine-Inférieure, Eure, Orne, Calvados, and Manche.

NORNAS, in the Norse mythology the three Fates--the Past, the Present, and the Future; maidens or dames who water the roots of IGGDRASIL (q. v.), the ash-tree of existence, and determine the destinies of both gods and men.

NORRKÖPING (36) (north market), a town in Sweden, called the "Scandinavian Manchester," 113 m. SW. of Stockholm, with cotton and woollen factories worked by the water-power of the river Motala, that in falls and rapids rushes through the town.

NORROY KING OF ARMS, a name given to the third king-of-arms, whose province is on the N. side of the Trent, the one on the S. side being called Clarencieux.

NORTH, CHRISTOPHER, a pseudonym of Prof. John Wilson in the "Noctes Ambrosianæ" in Blackwood's Magazine.

NORTH, FREDERICK, LORD, English statesman; entered Parliament in 1754, became Tory leader in the House of Commons in 1767, and Prime Minister in 1770; was entirely subservient to the will of the king, George III., and was responsible in that relation for the loss of the American colonies; a coalition was effected in 1783 between him and Fox, to the disgrace of the latter, but it terminated in a few months; he died, Earl of Guildford, blind (1732-1792).

NORTH BERWICK. See BERWICK, NORTH.

NORTH CAPE, the most northerly point in Europe, in the island of Magerö, in 71° N. latitude.

NORTH CAROLINA. See CAROLINA, NORTH.

NORTH SEA or GERMAN OCEAN, between the E. coast of Britain and the Continent, spreads out into the Arctic Ocean, is shallow, is crossed by many sandbanks, and is subject to frequent violent storms; the Dogger Bank, between England and Denmark, 8 to 16 fathoms deep, is rich in fish, especially cod.

NORTH-EAST and NORTH-WEST PASSAGES, the name given to the sea-routes through the Arctic Ocean, the former by the N. of Europe and Asia and the latter by the N. of North America, which the northern nations were ambitious to open up into the Pacific, the access to which by the Capes in the S. was in possession of the fleets of Spain and Portugal; the attempts to achieve it cost much money and much life, and realised no permanent material advantage.

NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. See NORTH-EAST.

NORTH-WEST PROVINCES (46,905), a province and lieutenant-governorship of British India, embraces the upper portion of the Ganges Valley and Doab, and reaches from Bengal to the Punjab, enclosing Oudh on all sides but the N.; area twice that of England, is the chief wheat province, and also raises opium, cotton, tea, and sugar; was separated from Bengal in 1835, and with it in 1877 was conjoined Oudh; Allahabad is the capital.

NORTHALLERTON (4), a market-town and capital of the North Riding of Yorkshire, 30 m. NW. of York; in the vicinity was fought the famous Battle of the Standard, in which David I. of Scotland was routed by the English, August 22, 1138.

NORTHAMPTON (70), capital of Northamptonshire, on the Nen, 66 m. NW. of London; has two fine old Norman churches, is the centre of the boot and shoe manufacture, and is actively engaged in brewing, lace-making, &c.; in the outskirts is a popular racecourse; was the scene of Henry VI.'s defeat by the Yorkists on July 10, 1460.

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE or NORTHANTS (302), a midland county of England, bordering upon nine others; has an undulating fertile surface, and is distinguished from the surrounding counties by extensive woods and plantations; is chiefly engaged in agriculture and stock-raising; the Nen and the Welland are the principal rivers; among its antiquities are Fotheringay Castle, where Mary Stuart was beheaded, and Burleigh House; the battles of Edgecote (1469) and Naseby (1645) were fought within its borders.

NORTHCOTE, JAMES, English portrait-painter; studied under Sir Joshua Reynolds, whose Life he wrote as well as Titian's; wrote also "Fables" and "Conversations."

NORTHCOTE, SIR STAFFORD HENRY. See IDDESLEIGH, LORD.

NORTHMEN or NORSEMEN, the name given in the Middle Ages to the sea-roving, adventure-loving inhabitants of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark; in their sea-rovings they were little better than pirates, but they had this excuse, their home was narrow and their lands barren, and it was a necessity for them to sally forth and see what they could plunder and carry away in richer lands; they were men of great daring, their early religion definable as the consecration of valour, and they were the terror of the quieter nations whose lands they invaded; at first their invasions were mere raids for plunder, but at length they were satisfied with no less than conquest and the permanent occupancy of the lands they subdued, settling some of them on the shores of England and France, and even in the S. of Italy; these invasions were common and frequent during the whole of the 9th and the early part of the 10th centuries.

NORTHUMBERLAND (506), the most northerly county of England, lies on the border of Scotland, from which it is separated by the Cheviots and the Tweed; its eastern shore, off which lie the Farne Islands, Lindisfarne, and Coquet Isle, N. of Durham, fronts the North Sea; is fifth in size of the English counties; in the N. the Cheviot slopes form excellent pasturage, but the Pennine Range towards the W. presents dreary and less valuable moorland; on the W. are arable lowlands; Tweed, Tyne, Till, Alne, Wansbeck, are the chief rivers. Its great coal-field in the S.E. is the most celebrated in the world, and is the county's greatest source of wealth, and includes upwards of 100 collieries; Newcastle, Alnwick (county town), Hexham, and North Shields are the principal towns. Within its borders were fought the battles of Otterburn, Homildon Hill, and Flodden.

NORTHUMBRIA, one of the ancient English kingdoms; comprised the eastern half of the island from the Humber to the Firth of Forth, and was divided into the Northern Bernicia and the southern Deira; was founded in 547 by Ida the Angle.

NORTHWICH (14), a town in Cheshire, with springs in and around of brine, from which salt has been procured for centuries.

NORTON, CHARLES EDWARD, American littérateur, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts; has travelled a good deal in Europe; edited, with Lowell, the North American Review and the early Letters of Carlyle, as well as the "Reminiscences," which had been too carelessly edited by Froude; b. 1827.

NORTON, MRS., English novelist and poet, née Sheridan, granddaughter of Sheridan, authoress of "Stuart of Dunleath," "Lost and Saved," &c., described by Lockhart as "the Byron of poetesses," figures in Meredith's "Diana of the Crossways" (1808-1877).

NORWAY (2,000), a kingdom of North Europe, comprising the western side of the Scandinavian peninsula, and separated from Sweden on the E. by the Kjölen Mountains; the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans beat upon its long and serrated western seaboard, forcing a way up the many narrow and sinuous fiords; Sogne Fiord, the longest, runs into the heart of the country 100 m.; off the northern coast lie the Loffodens, while the Skerries skirt the E. The country forms a strip of irregular and mountainous coast-land 1160 m. long, which narrows down at its least breadth to 25 m.; 70 per cent, of the surface is uncultivable, and 24 per cent, is forest; the lakes number 30,000, of which Lake Wenner (2136 sq. m.) is the largest; immense glaciers are found in the great mountain barrier, and innumerable rivers run short and rapid courses to the Atlantic and to the Skager-Rak in the S.; the Glommen, flowing into Christiania Fiord, is the largest (400 m.). The climate of the W. coast districts is tempered by the Gulf Stream; inland there is a great decrease in the rainfall, but much intenser cold is experienced. The wealth of the country lies in its forests and fisheries, mines and shipping; only 2 per cent, of the land-surface is under cultivation, and 2.8 per cent is utilised for grazing; the copper, iron, and silver mines are declining. Christiania (the capital) is the centre of the industrial area; the shipping almost equals that of the United States, and ranks third in the world. The Norwegians are intensely democratic (titles and nobility were abolished in 1821), and although under a king, who also includes Sweden in his dominions, they enjoy democratic home rule, no members of the Storthing (Parliament) being paid. Education is free and compulsory, and the bulk of the people are Lutherans. The monetary unit is the Krone (= 1/1½). Norway, originally inhabited by Lapps and Gothic tribes, was first unified by Harold Haarfager (A.D. 863-930), and subsequently welded into a Christian kingdom by his descendant St. Olaf (1015). From 1536 it was held as a conquered province by Denmark up to 1814; in that year it was ceded to Sweden, and received national rights and a free constitution.

NORWICH, 1, an ancient cathedral city and capital of Norfolk (101), situated on the Wensum, immediately above its junction with the Yare, 114 m. NE. of London; its beautiful woodland surroundings have won it the name of "the city in an orchard"; chief of its many fine buildings is the cathedral, a handsome Norman structure, founded in 1096; of the old Norman castle only the keep now stands, crowning a central hill; its celebrated triennial musical festivals began in 1824; textile fabrics are still an important manufacture, but have been superseded in importance by mustard, starch, and iron-ware factories; has been a bishopric since 1094. 2, Capital of New London County (16), Connecticut, on the Thames River, 36 m. SE. of Hartford.

NORWOOD (24), a healthy southern suburban district of London, at one time the locality of a gypsy encampment.

NOSTRADAMUS, a celebrated astrologer, the assumed name of Michel de Notredame, born at St. Remi, Provence; was a medical man by profession, but gave himself to divination, uttered in rhymes in a series of published predictions called "Centuries" (1503-1566).

NOTABLES, THE, name given to certain actual or virtual rulers of the different districts of France, consisting of men of different ranks, summoned together in a time of civic perplexity and trouble to advise the king, and especially the convocation of them summoned at the instance of Controller Colonne, and that assembled at the Château of Versailles on 22nd February 1787 to the number of a "round gross," including seven princes of the blood, and who were "organed out" nine weeks after, their debates proving ineffectual, to be recalled on the 6th November the year following, to "vanish ineffectual again on 12th December, and return no more."

NOTARY PUBLIC, a professional person appointed to certify to a formality required by law as observed in his presence.

NOTRE DAME, celebrated metropolitan church of Paris, situated on the "Ile de la Cité"; it was begun to be erected in 1163 on the site of a prior Merovingian cathedral, which itself had superseded a pagan temple on the spot, and completed, at least the general ensemble of it, in 1230.

NOTTINGHAM (214), capital of Nottinghamshire, on the Trent, 126 m. NW. of London; is a spacious and well-built town, with an arboretum, castle (now an art gallery), two theatres, university college, free library, old grammar-school, racecourse, &c.; is the centre of lace-making and hosiery in England, and manufactures cottons, silks, bicycles, cigars, needles, beer, &c.; a fine granite and iron bridge spans the river.

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE (446), a north-midland county of England, lies wedged in between Lincoln (E.) and Derby (N.), and touches York on the N.; embraces the broad, level, and fruitful valley of the Trent, Sherwood Forest, and Wolds in the S.; excepting the Vale of Belvoir in the E., part of the Wolds and the Valley of the Trent, the land is not specially productive; coal and iron ore are found. The principal towns, Nottingham, Newark, Mansfield, &c., are busily engaged in the manufacture of all kinds of lace, hosiery, and various woollen goods; iron-founding and cotton mills are also numerous.

NOUMENA, the philosophical name for realities as distinct from phenomena, which are regarded as but the appearances of reality.

NOVA SCOTIA (450), a province of Canada, lies E. of New Brunswick, facing the Atlantic, which, with its extensions, Bay of Fundy and Gulf of St. Lawrence, all but surrounds it; consists of a peninsula (joined to New Brunswick by Chignecto Isthmus) and the island of Cape Breton, separated by the Gut of Canso; area equals two-thirds of Scotland, short rivers and lakes abound; all kinds of cereals (except wheat and root-crops) are grown in abundance, and much attention is given to the valuable crops of apples, pears, plums, and other fruits; gold, coal, iron, &c., are wrought extensively, manufactures are increasing; the fisheries (mackerel, cod, herring, salmon, &c.), and timber forests are the chief sources of wealth; the province is well opened up by railways, education is free, government is in the hands of a lieutenant-governor, an executive council (9), and a legislative assembly (38); HALIFAX (q. v.) is the capital; climate varies in temperature from 20° below zero to 98° in the shade, fogs prevail in the coast-land; was discovered in 1497 by Cabot, formed a portion of French ACADIE, and finally became British in 1713.

NOVA ZEMBLA, a long and narrow island (sometimes classified as two islands) in the Arctic Ocean, between the Kara Sea and Barentz Sea, 600 m. by 60 m.; the Matochkin Shar, a narrow winding strait, cuts the island into two halves; belongs to Russia, but is not permanently inhabited; is visited by seamen and hunters.

NOVALIS, the nom de plume of Friedrich von Hardenberg, a German author, born at Wiederstädt, near Mansfeld, one of the most prominent representatives of the Romantic school of poets, author of two unfinished romances entitled "Heinrich von Ofterdingen" and "Lehrlinge zu Sais," together with "Geistliche Lieder" and "Hymnen an die Nacht"; was an ardent student of JACOB BOEHME (q. v.), and wrote in a mystical vein, and was at heart a mystic of deep true feeling; pronounced by Carlyle "an anti-mechanist--a deep man, the most perfect of modern spirit seers"; regarded, he says, "religion as a social thing, and as impossible without a church" (1772-1801). See Carlyle's "Miscellanies."

NOVATIAN, a priest of the Church in Rome, a convert from paganism, who in the third century took a severe view of the conduct of those who had lapsed under persecution, particularly the Decian, and insisted that the Church, having no power to absolve them, could not, even on penitence, readmit them, in which protest he was joined by a considerable party named after him Novatians, and who continued to trouble the Church for centuries after his death, assuming the name of Cathari or purists.

NOVEMBER, the eleventh month of the year, so called by the Romans, in whose calendar it was the ninth.

NOVGOROD (21), a noted Russian city, and capital of a government of the same name, is situated on the Volkhof, 110 m. SE. of St. Petersburg; is divided into two parts by the bridged river, contains the cathedral of St. Sophia (11th century); with its foundation in 864 by Rurik, a Scandinavian prince, Russian history begins; was by the 12th century a free State, but in 1471 was put down by the Muscovite Czar Ivan III.; the government of Novgorod (1,290) lies E. of St. Petersburg, embraces the Valdai plateau and hills, is chiefly forest land, and includes some 3000 lakes.

NOX, the Latin for "night," and the name of the "goddess of night." See NYX.

NOYADES, drownages superintended during the Reign of Terror at Nantes by the attorney Carrier, and effected by cramming some 90 priests in a flat-bottomed craft under hatches, and drowning them in mid-stream after scuttling the boat at a signal given, followed by another in which some 138 persons suffered like "sentence of deportation"; of these drownages there are said to have been no fewer first and last than 25.

NUBIA, a large and ill-defined region of North-East Africa, lies between Egypt (N.) and Abyssinia (S.), and stretches from the Red Sea (E.) to the desert (W.); is divided into Lower and Upper Nubia, Dongola being the dividing point; Nubia has in recent times rather fallen under the wider designation of Egyptian Soudan; except by the banks of the Nile the country is bare and arid desert; climate is hot and dry, but quite healthy.

NUMA POMPILIUS, the second king of Rome and the successor of Romulus, its founder, born at Cures, in the Sabine country, and devoted himself to the establishment of religion and laws among his subjects and the training of them in the arts of peace, in which, according to the legend, he was assisted by a nymph EGERIA (q. v.), who lived close by in a grotto, and to whom he had ever and anon recourse for consultation; he was long revered in the Roman memory as the organiser of the State and its civil and sacred institutions, and his reign was long and peaceful.

NUMANTIA, an ancient Spanish town on a steep height on the Douro, celebrated for the heroic defence maintained by its inhabitants against the Romans, till from the thinning of its defenders by starvation and the sword it was taken and destroyed by Scipio Africanus in 134 B.C.

NUMBERS, BOOK OF, the fourth book of the Pentateuch, and so called from the two numberings of the people, one at the beginning and the other at the close of the period it embraces; it embraces a period of 38 years, and continues the narrative from the departure of the camp of Israel out of the wilderness of Sinai to its arrival on the borders of Canaan, and relates an account of the preparations for the march, of the march itself, and of the preparations for the conquest.

NUMIDIA (i. e. land of Nomads), ancient country in North Africa, nearly co-extensive with Algiers, the inhabitants of which were of the Berber race, were brave but treacherous, and excelled in horsemanship; sided at first with the Carthaginians in the PUNIC WARS (q. v.), and finally with Rome, till the country itself was reduced by Cæsar to a Roman province.

NUMISMATICS, the name given to the study and science of coins and medals.

NUMITOR, a legendary king of Alba Longa, in Italy, and the grandfather of Romulus and Remus.

NUNEATON (12), a thriving market-town of Warwickshire, on the river Anker and the Coventry Canal, 22 m. E. of Birmingham; has a Gothic church; cotton, woollen, and worsted spinning is the chief industry; was the scene of George Eliot's education.

NUR ED-DIN, MAHMOUD, sultan of Syria, born at Damascus; the extension of his empire over Syria led to the Second Crusade, preached by St. Bernard; compelled the Crusaders to raise the siege of Damascus, which he made his capital; called to interfere in the affairs of Egypt, he conquered it, and made it his own, a sovereignty which SALADIN (q. v.) disputed, and which Nur ed-Din was preparing to reassert when he died (1117-1178).

NÜREMBERG (143), an interesting old Bavarian town on the Pegnitz, 95 m. N. of Münich, is full of quaint and picturesque mediæval architecture in fine preservation; has valuable art collections, a fine library, and a museum; is noted for the production of watches, toys, wood, metal, bone carvings, beer, and chemicals, and exports large quantities of hops; was made a free imperial city in 1219, and retained independence up to 1806.

NUTATION, name given to a slight oscillatory movement noticeable in the celestial pole of the earth, due to the latter not being a perfect sphere.

NYANZA, ALBERT. See ALBERT NYANZA.

NYANZA, VICTORIA, a large lake of Central Africa, in the Nile basin, at the sources of the river, and S. of the preceding, equal in extent to the area of Scotland, at an elevation of 3890 ft.; discovered by Captain Speke in 1858, and sailed round by Stanley in 1875.

NYASSA, LAKE, lake in East Africa, feeds the Zambesi; is 350 m. long by 40 broad, at an elevation of 1570 ft., and was discovered by Livingstone in 1859; the waters are sweet, and abound with fish; the regions bordering it on the S. and W. are called Nyassaland.

NYASSALAND, a region in Central Africa under British protection, lying round the shores of Lake Nyassa, the chief town of which is Blantyre; it is known also as the British Central Africa Protectorate, the administration being in the hands of a commissioner acting under the Foreign Office; the Europeans number some 300, and the natives 850,000, while the forces defending it consist of 200 Sikhs and 300 negroes; there are plantations of sugar, coffee, tobacco, &c., and almost the entire trade is with Britain.

NYÂYA, the name of one of the six principal systems of Hindu philosophy, and devoted to the dialectics or metaphysics of philosophy.

NYMPHS, in the Greek mythology maiden divinities of inferior rank, inhabiting mountains, groves, seas, fountains, rivers, valleys, grottoes, &c., under the several names of OCEANIDES (q. v.), NEREIDS (q. v.), NAIADS (q. v.), OREADS (q. v.), DRYADS (q. v.), &c.; they are distinguished by their grace and fascinating charms.

NYNEE TAL, a place of resort in the summer season and a sanatorium in the North-West Provinces of India, 22 m. S. of Almora, 6521 ft. above sea-level.

NYX (i. e. Night), in the Greek mythology the goddess of night, the daughter of CHAOS (q. v.), and the sister of EREBOS (q. v.), one of the very first of created beings, the terror of gods, and by Erebos became the mother of Æther, pure light, and Hemera, daylight, as well as other entities of note.

O

OAKHAM (4), county town of Rutland, 17 m. E. of Leicester, in the centre of a fine wheat country; has an old church, a grammar-school founded in 1581, and a castle mostly in ruins; manufactures of boots and hosiery, and carries on malting.

OAKLAND (67), on the E. coast of the Bay of San Francisco, 4½ m. across from San Francisco city, is the capital of Alameda County, California, a beautiful city with tree-lined streets, surrounded by vineyards and orchards; it has a home of the adult blind of the State, manufactures of textile and iron goods, and fruit-canning industries, and is the terminus of the Southern Pacific Railroad.

OAKS, THE, one of the three great classic races in England, run at Epsom; established by the 12th Earl of Derby in 1779 for fillies of 3 years old.

OAKUM, name given to fibres of old tarry ropes sundered by teasing, and employed in caulking the seams between planks in ships; the teasing of oakum is an occupation for prisoners in jails.

OASES, fertile spots in a desert due to the presence of springs or water near at hand underground; met with in the deserts of North Africa, Arabia, and Gobi.

OATES, TITUS, fabricator of a Popish plot for the overthrow of the Protestant faith in England, the allegation of which brought to the block several innocent men; rewarded at first with a pension and safe lodgment in Westminster Hall, was afterwards convicted of perjury, flogged, and imprisoned for Life, but at the revolution was set at liberty and granted a pension of £300 (1650-1705).

OBADIAH, a Hebrew prophet who appears to have lived about 588 B.C., shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem, at which the Edomites had assisted, and whose prophecy was written to assure the exiles in Babylon that the judgment of God had gone forth against Edom, and that with the execution of it Israel would be restored.

OBAN (5), a modern town situated in the W. of Argyllshire, on a land-locked bay opening off the Firth of Lorne, is the capital, sometimes called the "Queen," of the Western Highlands, and a fashionable tourist resort; it has excellent railway and steamboat communications, 30 hotels, and has near it two ruined castles, an ancient cave dwelling, and much beautiful scenery; Dunstaffnage Castle is 4 m. to the N. of it, where the early Scottish kings used to be crowned.

OBEID (35), in the Eastern Soudan, 220 m. SW. of Khartoum, is the capital of Kordofan; was the scene in November 1883 of the annihilation by the forces of the Mahdi, after three days' fighting, of an Egyptian army under Hicks Pasha and other English officers; its trade consists of ivory, gold, feathers, and gum.

OBELISK, a tall four-sided pillar, generally monolithic, tapering to a pyramidal pointed top, erected in connection with temples in Egypt, and inscribed all over with hieroglyphs, and in memorial, as is likely, of some historical personage or event; they are of ancient date.

OBER-AMMERGAU, a small village in Bavaria, 45 m. SW. of Münich; famed for the Passion Play performed there by the peasants, some 500 in number, every ten years, which attracts a great many spectators to the spot; the play was instituted in 1634 in token of gratitude for the abatement of a plague.

OBERLIN, JEAN FRIEDRICH, a benevolent Protestant pastor, born at Strasburg; laboured all his life at Ban de la Roche, a wild mountain district of Alsace, and devoted himself with untiring zeal to the spiritual and material welfare of the people, which they rewarded with their pious gratitude and warmest affection.

OBERON, the king of the fairies, and the husband of Titania.

OBI, a river and, with its tributaries, great water highway of West Siberia, which rises in the Altai Mountains, and after a course of 2120 m. falls into the Arctic Ocean.

OBJECTIVE, a philosophical term used to denote that which is true universally apart from all merely private sense or judgment, and finds response in the universal reason, the reason that is common to all rational beings; it is opposed to subjective, or agreeable to one's mere feelings or fancy.

OBLATES, the name given to an organisation of secular priests living in community, founded by St. Charles Borromeo at the end of the 16th century, and who are ready to render any services the bishop may require of them.

OBOE, a treble-sounding musical instrument of the reed class, to which the bassoon is reckoned the bass.

OBELUS, a small coin worth about a penny, according to a custom among the Greeks placed in the mouth of a corpse at burial to pay to Charon to ferry the ghost of it over the Styx.

O'BRIEN, WILLIAM, journalist, and a Nationalist ex-M.P. for Cork; was twice over imprisoned for political offences; had to retire in 1895; b. 1852.

O'BRIEN, WILLIAM SMITH, Irish patriot; entered Parliament in 1826; sat for Limerick from 1835 to 1843, when he joined the Repeal Association under O'Connell, but separated from it; joined the physical force Young Ireland party, and became the head; attempted an insurrection, which failed, and involved him in prosecution for treason and banishment for life; a free pardon was afterwards granted on promise of abstaining from all further disloyalty; he died at Bangor, in North Wales (1803-1864).

OBSCURANTIST, name given to an opponent to modern enlightenment as professed by the devotees of modern science and philosophy.

OBSIDIAN, a hard, dark-coloured rock of a glassy structure found in lava, which breaks with conchoidal fracture.

OCCAM or OAKHAM, WILLIAM OF, an English Scholastic philosopher, born at Oakham, Surrey, surnamed Doctor Invincibilis; was a monk of the order of St. Francis; studied under DUNS SCOTUS (q. v.), and became his rival, and a reviver of NOMINALISM (q. v.) in opposition to him, by his insistence on which he undermined the whole structure of Scholastic dogmatism, that is, its objective validity, and plunged it in hopeless ruin, but cleared the way for modern speculation, and its grounding of the OBJECTIVE (q. v.) on a surer basis (1280-1347).

OCCASIONALISM, the doctrine that the action of the spiritual organisation on the material, and of the material on the spiritual, or of the inner on the outer, and the outer on the inner, is due to the divine interposition taking occasion of the effort of mind, or of the inner, on the one hand, and the effort of matter, or the outer, on the other, to work the effect or result; or that the link connecting cause and effect in both cases, that is, the acion of the outer world on the inner, and vice versa, is God.

OCEANIA, an imaginary commonwealth described by James Harrington (1611-1697) in which the project of a doctrinaire republic is worked out; also a book of Froude's on the English colonies.

OCEANIA, the name given to the clusters of islands, consisting of Australasia in the S., Malaysia in the E. Indian Archipelago, and Polynesia in the N. and E. of the Pacific.

OCEANIDES, the nymphs of the Ocean, all daughters of Oceanus, some 3000 in number.

OCEANUS or OKEANOS, in the Greek mythology the great world-stream which surrounds the whole earth, and is the parent source of all seas and streams, presided over by a Titan, the husband of Tethys, and the father of all river-gods and water-nymphs. He is the all-father of the world, as his wife is the all-mother, and the pair occupy a palace apart on the extreme verge of the world.

OCHILS (i. e. the heights), a range of hills lying NE. and SW. between the valleys of the Forth and Tay; reach their highest point in Ben Cleugh (2363 ft.), near Stirling; the range is 24 m. long by 12 broad, and affords pasture for black-faced sheep; of the peaks of the range Dunmyat is the most striking, as Ben Cleuch is the highest.

OCHILTREE, EDIE, a talkative, kind-hearted gaberlunzie who figures a good deal in Scott's "Antiquary."

OCHINO, BERNARDINO, an Italian monk, born in Sienna; after 40 years' zeal in the service of the Church embraced the Reformed doctrine; fled from the power of the Inquisition to Geneva; took refuge in England; ministered here and there to Italian refugees, but was hunted from place to place; died at last of the plague in Moravia (1487-1564).

OCHTERLONY, SIR DAVID, British general, born at Boston, U.S., of Scottish descent; entered the Indian army; distinguished himself in the war against the Goorkhas; was made a baronet, and received a pension of £1000 for his services; a monument to his memory stands in the Maidan Park, Calcutta (1758-1825).

OCKLEY, SIMON, Orientalist, became professor of Arabic; wrote a "History of the Saracens," part of it in a debtors' prison; died in indigence (1678-1720).

O'CONNELL, DANIEL, Irish patriot, known as the "Liberator," born near Cahirciveen, co. Kerry; educated at St. Omer, Douay, and Lincoln's Inn; was called to the Irish bar in 1798, and was for twenty-two years a famous and prosperous practitioner on the Munster circuit; turning to politics he became leader of the Catholics in 1811, his object being the removal of the Catholic disabilities; the Catholic Association of 1823 was organised by him, which he induced the priesthood to join, and awakened irresistible enthusiasm throughout the country; the electors now began to vote independently, and O'Connell was returned for Clare in 1828; the House refused to admit him; but so strong, and at the same time so orderly, was the agitation in Ireland, that in 1829 the Catholic disabilities were removed, and O'Connell, returned again for Clare, took his seat in the House of Commons; next year he represented Waterford in the new Parliament, and subsequently Kerry, Dublin, Kilkenny, and Cork; he now formed a society for promoting the repeal of the Union, which survived several suppressions, and reappeared under different names; but in spite of his exertions in the House and in the country the cause languished, till, in 1843, as Lord Mayor of Dublin, he carried a resolution in its favour in the City Council; but now under the pressure of less experienced agitators, his monster meetings and other proceedings began to overstep legal limits, and in 1844 he, with six of his supporters, was indicted for raising sedition; he was sentenced to a year's imprisonment and a fine of £2000, but the sentence was set aside in 14 weeks; by this time the Young Ireland party had broken away from him, the potato famine came, he was conscious of failure, and his health was broken; he died on his way to Rome, at Genoa; a man of great physical strength and energy, and a master of oratory, he gave himself unselfishly to serve his country, sacrificing a legal practice worth £7000 a year, honestly administering the immense sums contributed, and spending his private means for his cause; with an undeniable taint of coarseness, violence, and scurrility in his nature, he was yet a man of independent and liberal mind, an opponent of rebellion, loyal to his sovereign, a great and sincere patriot (1775-1847).

OCTAVIA, the sister of Augustus, a woman distinguished for her beauty and her virtue; was married first to Marcellus, and on his death to Mark Antony, who forsook her for Cleopatra, but to whom she remained true, even, on his miserable end, nursing his children by Cleopatra along with her own; one other grief she had to endure in the death of her son MARCELLUS (q. v.) by her former husband, and the destined successor of Augustus on the throne.

OCTOBER, the tenth month of the year so called (i. e. the eighth) by the Romans, whose year began on March.

OD, name given to a physical force recently surmised and believed to pervade all nature, and as manifesting itself chiefly in connection with mesmeric phenomena.

ODDFELLOWS, the name of several friendly societies. The Independent Order of Oddfellows, Manchester Unity, is the largest and most important of the number, its membership is over 665,000, and its funds amount to £8,000,000. It has been the pioneer in many important movements of the kind, several of the provisions now compulsory on all societies it observed of its own accord, prior to their enactment; the actuarial tables compiled from its statistics in 1845 by its secretary, Henry Radcliffe, are still a standard work. The Grand United Order of Oddfellows has a membership of 241,000, and funds amounting to £882,000; the National Independent Order of Oddfellows embraces 58,000 members, and has £242,000.

ODER, an important German river, rises in Moravia, and crossing the frontier flows NW. through Silesia, and N. through Brandenburg and Pomerania 550 m. into the Stettiner Haff and so to the Baltic. On its banks stand Ratibor, where navigation ends, Breslau, Frankfort, and Stettin; it receives its chief tributary, the navigable Warthe, on the right, and has canal communication with the Spree and the Elbe.

ODESSA (298), on the Black Sea, 25 m. NE. of the mouth of the Dniester, is the fourth largest city of Russia, and the chief southern port and emporium of commerce. It exports large shipments of wheat, sugar, and wool; imports cotton, groceries, iron, and coal, and manufactures flour, tobacco, machinery, and leather. It is well fortified, and though many of the poor live in subterraneous caverns, is a fine city, with a university, a cathedral, and a public library. It was a free port from 1817 till 1857. The population includes many Greeks and Jews.

ODIN or WODIN, the chief god of the ancient Scandinavians, combined in one the powers of Zeus and Ares among the Greeks, and was attended by two black ravens--Hugin, mind, and Munin, memory, the bearers of tidings between him and the people of his subject-world. His council chamber is in ASGARD (q. v.), and he holds court with his warriors in VALHALLA (q. v.). He is the source of all wisdom as well as all power, and is supposed by Carlyle to have been the deification of some one who incarnated in himself all the characteristic wisdom and valour of the Scandinavian race; Frigga was his wife, and Balder and Thor his sons. See CARLYLE'S "HEROES."

ODO, bishop of Bayeux, brother of William the Conqueror, fought by his side at Hastings; after blessing the troops, was made Earl of Kent, and appointed governor of kingdom during William's absence in Normandy; had great influence in State affairs all along, and set out for the Holy Land, but died at Palermo (1032-1096).

ODOACER, a Hun, son of one of Attila's officers, who entered the Imperial Guards, dethroned Augustulus, and became emperor himself; Zeno, the emperor of the East, enlisted Theodoric of the Ostrogoths against him, who made a treaty with him to be joint ruler of the kingdom of Italy, and assassinated him in 493.

O'DONNELL, LEOPOLD, Spanish soldier and politician, born, of Irish descent, at Santa Cruz, in Teneriffe; entered the army, and attached himself to the cause of Queen Isabella, on whose emergence from her minority in 1843 he was made Governor of Cuba; there he enriched himself by trading in slaves, and returning to Spain threw himself into politics; he joined Espartero's cabinet in 1854, and two years later supplanted him as chief minister; he commanded in the Moorish war of 1858, and was created Duke of Tetuan after the capture of that city; he was again Prime Minister till 1866, and died in exile at Bayonne (1809-1867).

ODYSSEY, an epic poem by Homer relating the ten years' wanderings of Ulysses (Odysseus) after the fall of Troy, and his return at the end of them to his native kingdom of Ithaca. See ULYSSES.

OECOLAMPADIUS, JOANNES, one of the leaders of the Reformation, born at Weinsberg, in Würtemberg; became preacher at Basel, assisted Erasmus in his edition of the New Testament, entered a convent at Augsburg, came under Luther's influence and adopted the reformed doctrine, of which he became a preacher and professor, embraced in particular the views of Zwingli (1482-1531).

OEDIPUS, a mythological king of Thebes, son of Laius and Jocasta, and fated to kill his father and marry his mother; unwittingly slew his father in a quarrel; for answering the riddle of the SPHINX (q. v.) was made king in his stead, and wedded his widow, by whom he became the father of four children; on discovery of the incest Jocasta hanged herself, and Oedipus went mad and put out his eyes.

OEHLENSCHLÄGER, ADAM GOTTLOB, great Danish poet, born at Copenhagen; his poems first brought him into notice and secured him a travelling pension, which he made use of to form acquaintanceship with such men as Goethe and his literary confrères in Germany, during which time he commenced that series of tragedies on northern subjects on which his fame chiefly rests, which include "Hakon Jarl," "Correggio," "Palnatoke," &c.; his fame, which is greatest in the North, has spread, for he ranks among the Danes as Goethe among the Germans, and his death was felt by the whole nation (1779-1850).

OEHLER, GUSTAV, learned German theologian, professor at Tübingen, eminent for his studies and writings on the Old Testament (1812-1872).

OEIL-DE-BOEUF, a large reception-room in the palace of Versailles, lighted by a window so called (ox-eye it means), and is the name given in French history to the French Court, particularly during the Revolution period.

OELAND (37), an island off the SE. coast of Sweden, 55 m. long and about 10 m. broad; has good pasture ground, and yields alum; the fisheries good.

OENONË, a nymph of Mount Ida, near Troy, beloved by and married to Paris, but whom he forsook for Helen; is the subject of one of Tennyson's poems.

OERSTED, HANS CHRISTIAN, a Danish physicist; was professor of Physics in Copenhagen, the discoverer of electro-magnetism, of the compressibility of water, and the metal aluminium; did much to popularise science in a volume entitled "The Soul in Nature" (1777-1851).

OESEL (51), a marshy, well-wooded island at the mouth of the Gulf of Riga, in the Baltic, 45 m. long and 25 m. of average breadth; has some low hills and precipitous coasts; Arensburg (4), on the SE. shore, is the only town; Danish from 1559, the island passed to Sweden in 1645 and to Russia in 1721; the wealthier classes are of German descent.

OFFA'S DYKE, an entrenchment and rampart between England and Wales, 100 m. long, extending from Flintshire as far as the mouth of the Wye; said to have been thrown up by Offa, king of Mercia, about the year 780, to confine the marauding Welsh within their own territory.

OFFENBACH, JACQUES, a musical composer, born at Cologne, of Jewish parents, creator of the opera bouffe; was the author of "La Belle Hélène," "Orphée aux Enfers," "La Grande Duchesse," "Madame Favart," &c. (1810-1880)

OFFERTORY, in the Roman Catholic Church a portion of the liturgy chanted at the commencement of the eucharistic service, also in the English the part of the service read during the collection of the alms at communion.

OFTERDINGEN, HEINRICH VON, a famous MINNESINGER (q. v.) of the 15th century.

OGHAM or OGAM, an alphabet of 20 letters in use among the ancient Irish and Celts, found carved on monumental stones in Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, and the North of Scotland.

OGLETHORPE, JAMES EDWARD, English general, born in London; served in the Marlborough wars, sat in Parliament for several years, conceived the founding of a colony for debtors in prison, and founded Georgia; returning to England, fought against the Pretender, and died in Essex (1696-1785).

OGOWE`, a West African river, 500 m. long, rises in the Akukuja plateau, and following a semicircular course northward and westward enters the Atlantic by a delta at Cape Lopez, its course lying wholly within French Congo territory; in the dry season its volume is much diminished, and its many sandbanks prevent its navigation except by small boats.

O'GROAT'S HOUSE, JOHN. See JOHN O' GROAT'S HOUSE.

OGYGES, a Boeotian autochthon, the legendary first king of Thebes, which is called at times Ogygia, in whose reign a flood, called the Ogygian after him, inundated the land, though some accounts make it occur in Attica.

OGYGIA, a mythological island of Homeric legend, situated far off in the sea, and the home of the sorceress CALYPSO (q. v.).

OHIO (3,672), a State of the American Union, a third larger than Scotland, stretches northward from the Ohio River to Lake Erie, between Pennsylvania and Indiana. It consists of level and undulating plains, on which are raised enormous crops of wheat and maize. Sheep-grazing and cattle-rearing are very extensive; its wool-clip is the largest in America. There are valuable deposits of limestone and freestone, and in output of coal Ohio ranks third of the States. The manufactures are very important; it ranks first in farm implements, and produces also wagons, textile fabrics, and liquors. In the N. excellent fruit is grown. The capital is Columbus (88), the largest city is Cincinnati (297). Admitted to the Union in 1803, it boasts among its sons four Presidents--Grant, Hayes, Garfield, and Benjamin Harrison.

OHIO RIVER, formed by the confluence of the Alleghany and the Monongahela, pursues a westward course of 1000 m., separating Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois from West Virginia and Kentucky, and after receiving sundry tributaries joins the Mississippi, being the largest and, next to the Missouri, the longest of its affluents; it is navigable for the whole of its course; on its banks stand Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Louisville, and Madison.

OHM, GEORG SIMON, a German physicist, born at Erlangen; discovered the mathematical theory of the electric current, known as Ohm's Law, a law based on experiment, that the strength of the electric current is equal to the electro-motive force divided by the resistance of the wire (1787-1854).

OHNET, GEORGES, French novelist, born in Paris; author of a series of novels in a social interest, entitled "Les Batailles de la Vie;" b. 1848.

OIL CITY (11), on the Alleghany River, Pennsylvania, by rail 130 m. N. of Pittsburg, is the centre of a great oil-trade and oil-refining industry; there are also engineer and boiler works; it suffered severely from floods in 1892.

OKA, a river of Central Russia, which rises in Orel and flows N., then E., then N. again, joining the Volga at Nijni-Novgorod after a course of over 700 m., navigable nearly all the way; on its banks are Orel, Kaluga, and Riazan, while Moscow stands on an affluent.

OKEN, LORENZ, German naturalist; was professor first at Jena, then at Münich, and finally at Zurich, his settlement in the latter being due to the disfavour with which his political opinions, published in a journal of his called the Iris, were received in Germany; much of his scientific doctrine was deduced from a transcendental standpoint or by a priori reasonings; is mentioned in "Sartor" as one with whom Teufelsdröck in his early speculations had some affinity (1779-1851).

OKHOTSK, SEA OF, an immense sheet of water in Eastern Siberia, lying between the peninsula of Kamchatka and the mainland, with the Kurile Islands stretched across its mouth; is scarcely navigable, being infested by fogs.

OKLAHOMA (62), a United States territory, stretching southward from Kansas to the Red River, with Texas on the W. and Indian Territory on the E., is a third larger than Scotland, and presents a prairie surface crossed by the Arkansas, Cimarron, and Canadian Rivers, and rising to the Wichita Mountains in the S. There are many brackish streams; the rainfall is light, hence the soil can be cultivated only in parts. Ceded to the United States under restrictions by the tribes of the Indian Territory in 1866, there were various attempts by immigrants from neighbouring States to effect settlements in Oklahoma, which the Government frustrated by military interference, maintaining the treaty with the Indians till 1889, when it finally purchased from them their claim. At noon on April 22, 1889, the area was opened for settlement, and by twilight 50,000 had entered and taken possession of claims. The territory was organised in 1890; embedded in it lies the Cherokee Outlet, still held by the Indians, but on the extinction of their interests to revert to Oklahoma. The chief town is Oklahoma (5).

OKUMA, COUNT, a Japanese, rose into office from the part he took in the Japanese Revolution of 1868, held in succession but resigned the offices of Minister of Finance and of Foreign Affairs, organised the Progressive Party in 1881, and entered office again in 1896; organised in 1898 the first government for a time in Japan on a party basis agreeably to his idea.

OLAF, ST., a Norwegian king; wrested the throne from Eric, and set himself to propagate Christianity by fire and sword, excited disaffection among his people, who rebelled and overpowered him with the assistance of Cnut of Denmark, so that he fled to his brother-in-law, Jaroslav of Russia; by his help he tried to recover the throne, put was defeated and slain, his body being buried in Trondhjem; he was canonised in 1164, and is patron saint of Norway.

OLAÜS, the name of three early kings of Sweden and of five of Norway, who figured more or less in the history of their respective countries.

OLBERS, HEINRICH, German astronomer, born near Bremen; discovered five of the comets and the two planetoids Pallas and Vesta (1758-1840).

OLD BAILEY, a Court or Sessions house adjoining NEWGATE (q. v.), in London, for the trial of offences committed within a certain radius round the city, and practically presided over by the Recorder and the Common Serjeant of London, though theoretically by the Lord Mayor, Lord Chancellor, and others.

OLD CATHOLICS, a section of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany and Switzerland that first announced itself in Münich on the declaration in 1870 of the dogma of the infallibility of the Pope, the prime movers in the formation of the protestation against which were Dr. Döllinger and Professor Friedrich, backed by 44 professors of the university; the movement thus begun has not extended itself to any considerable extent.

OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN, a name given to Hassan ben Sabbah, the founder in the 11th century and his successors of a formidable Mohammedan dynasty in Syria, whose residence was in the mountain fastnesses of the country, and whose following was known by the name of ASSASSINS (q. v.).

OLD MAN OF THE SEA, a monster Sindbad the Sailor encountered on his fifth voyage, who fastened on his back and so clung to him that he could not shake him off till he made him drunk.

OLD MORTALITY, a character in Scott's novel of the name, the original of which was one Robert Paterson, who, as related of him, went about the country visiting the churchyards, and renewing the moss-covered tombs of the COVENANTERS (q. v.).

OLD NOLL, an epithet applied by his Royalist contemporaries to Oliver Cromwell.

OLDBUCK, JONATHAN, the antiquary in Scott's novel of the name, devoted to the study and collection of old coins, a man with an irritable temper, due to disappointment in a love affair.

OLDBURY (20), a busy manufacturing town in Worcestershire, 3 m. E. of Dudley, has chemical, iron, and steel works, and factories of various kinds.

OLDCASTLE, SIR JOHN, Lord Cobham, distinguished himself in arms under Henry IV. in 1411, embraced Lollardism, which he could not be prevailed on to renounce, though remonstrated with by Henry V.; was tried for heresies and committed to the Tower, but escaped to Wales; charged with abetting insurrection on religious grounds, and convicted, his body was hung in chains as a traitor, and in this attitude, as a heretic, burned to death in 1417; he was a zealous disciple of Wiclif, and did much to disseminate his principles.

OLDENBURG (355), a German grand-duchy, embracing these three territories: 1, Oldenburg proper, the largest, is let into Hanover with its northern limit on the North Sea; it is a tract of moorland, sand-down, and fen, watered by the Weser, Hunte and tributaries of the Ems; here is the capital, Oldenburg (22), on the Hunte, 30 m. NW. of Bremen, in the midst of meadows, where a famous breed of horses is raised. 2, Lübeck, lying in Holstein, N. of but not including the city of Lübeck. 3, Birkenfeldt, lying among the Hundsrück Mountains, in the S. of Rhenish Prussia; independent since 1180, Danish 1667-1773, Oldenburg acquired Lübeck in 1803, and Birkenfeldt in 1815, when it was raised to the rank of grand-duchy.

OLDHAM (184), on the Medlock, 7 m. NE. of Manchester, is the largest of the cotton manufacturing towns round that centre; it has 300 cotton mills, and manufactures besides silks, velvets, hats, and machinery; there is a lyceum, and a school of science and art.

OLDYS, WILLIAM, bibliographer, was a man of dissolute life, the illegitimate son of a chancellor of Lincoln; he was librarian to the Earl of Oxford for 10 years, and afterwards received the appointment of Norroy king-of-arms; besides many bibliographical and literary articles, he wrote a "Life of Raleigh" and "The Harleian Miscellany" (1696-1761).

OLÉRON (17), an island of France, in the Bay of Biscay, at the mouth of the Charente, 11½ m. long and from 3 to 7 broad, is separated from the mainland by a shallow, narrow channel.

OLGA, ST., a Scandinavian pagan prince, converted to Christianity and baptized as Helena; laboured for the propagation of the Christian faith among his subjects, was canonised after in 905, and is one of the saints of the Russian Church. Festival, July 21.

OLIFAUNT, NIGEL, the hero in Scott's "Fortunes of Nigel."

OLIPHANT, LAURENCE, religious enthusiast and mystic, born in Perthshire; spent his boyhood in Ceylon, where his father was chief-justice; early conceived a fondness for adventure, accompanied Lord Elgin to Washington as his secretary, and afterwards to China and Japan; became M.P. for the Stirling Burghs, mingled much in London society, contributed to Blackwood, and wrote "Piccadilly," pronounced by Mrs. Oliphant "one of the most brilliant satires on society ever published"; parliamentary people and parliamentary life being nowise to his liking he soon threw both up for life in a community with Harris at Lake Erie, U.S., whence, after two years' probation, he returned to resume life in the wide world; while in France during the Franco-German War, he married one Alice l'Estrange, an alliance which grew into one of the most intimate character; with her he went to Palestine, pitched his tent under the shadow of Mount Carmel, and wrote two mystical books under her inspiration, which abode with him after she was dead; after her decease he married a Miss Owen, that she might help him in his work, but all she had opportunity to do was to minister to him on his deathbed (1829-1888).

OLIPHANT, MRS. MARGARET (née Wilson), authoress, born at Wallyford, near Musselburgh, a lady of varied abilities and accomplishments, and distinguished in various departments of literature, began her literary career as a novelist and a contributor to Blackwood, with which she kept up a lifelong connection; her first work which attracted attention was "Passages in the Life of Mrs. Margaret Maitland," and her first success as a novelist was the "Chronicles of Carlingford"; she wrote on history, biography, and criticism, the "Makers of Florence, of Venice, of Modern Rome," "Lives of Dante, Cervantes, and Edward Irving," among other works, and was engaged on a narrative of the publishing-house of Blackwood when she died; she might have distinguished herself more had she kept within a more limited range; her last days were days of sorrow under heavy bereavement (1828-1897).

OLIVAREZ, COUNT D', a Spanish statesman, born at Rome, where his father was ambassador; was the confidant and minister of Philip IV., and the political adversary of Richelieu; was one of the ablest statesmen Spain ever had, but was unfortunate in his conduct of foreign affairs (1587-1645).

OLIVER, a favourite paladin of Charlemagne's, who, along with Roland, rode by his side, and whose name, along with Roland's, has passed into the phrase, a "Roland for an Oliver," meaning one good masterstroke for another, such as both these knights never failed to deliver.

OLIVES, MOUNT OF, or MOUNT OLIVET, a ridge with three summits, stretching N. and S., E. of Jerusalem, in height 150 ft. above the city, 400 ft. above the intervening valley of Kedron, and 2682 ft. above the sea-level; so called as at one time studded with olive-trees; is celebrated as the scene of some of the most sacred events in the life of Christ.

OLLIVIER, ÉMILE, French statesman, born at Marseilles; bred for the bar, and eminent at it; became Prime Minister under Louis Napoleon in 1870; precipitated "with a light heart" the country into a war with Germany, to his own overthrow; retired thereafter to Italy, but returned in 1872, and devoted himself to literature; died at Geneva (1825-1876).

OLMÜTZ (20), a strongly fortified city in Moravia, and an important centre of trade, and the former capital of the country; suffered severely in the Thirty and the Seven Years' Wars.

OLYMPIA, a plain in a valley in Elis, on the Peloponnesus, traversed by the river Alpheus, and in which the Olympic Games were celebrated every fifth year in honour of Zeus, and adorned with temples (one to Zeus and another to Hera), statues, and public buildings.

OLYMPIAD, a name given to the period of four years between one celebration of the Olympic Games and another, the first recorded dating from July 776 B.C.

OLYMPIAS, the wife of Philip II. of Macedonia, and mother of Alexander the Great; divorced by Philip, who married another, she fled to Epirus, and instigated the assassination of Philip and the execution of her rival; returned to Macedonia on the accession of her son, who always treated her with respect, but allowed her no part in public affairs; on his death she dethroned his successor, but driven to bay in her defence afterwards, she was compelled to surrender the power she had assumed, and was put to death 316 B.C.

OLYMPIC GAMES, were originally open only to competitors of pure Hellenic descent, and the reward of the victors was but a wreath of wild olive, though to this their fellow-citizens added more substantial honours; they consisted of foot and chariot races, and feats of strength as well as dexterity. See OLYMPIA.

OLYMPUS, a mountain range in Greece, between Thessaly and Macedonia, the highest peak of which is 9750 ft.; the summit of it was the fabled abode of the Greek gods; it is clothed with forests of pine and other trees.

OLNEY, a little town in Buckinghamshire, associated with the life of Cowper, and where he wrote, along with John Newton, the "Olney Hymns."

OM, a mystic word among the Hindus and Buddhists; presumed to be latent with some magic virtue, and used on solemn occasions as a sort of spiritual charm efficacious with the upper powers, and potent to draw down divine assistance in an hour of need.

OMAGH (4), on the Strule, 34 m. S. of Londonderry; is the county town of Tyrone; though a very ancient town it has been rebuilt since 1743, when it was destroyed by fire; it is the head-quarters of the NW. military district.

OMAHA (102), chief city of Nebraska, on the W. bank of the Missouri, 20 m. above the confluence of the Platte; is connected by a bridge with Council Bluffs on the opposite shore; it has many fine buildings, including colleges and schools; its silver-smelting works are the largest in the world; it ranks third in the pork-packing industry, and has besides manufactures of linseed oil, boilers, and safes; an important railway centre, it lies midway between the termini of the Union Pacific Railroad; near it are the military head-quarters of the Platte department.

OMAN, a territory of Arabia, lying along the shores of the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea, round the south-eastern nob of the peninsula; has some stretches of very fertile country where there happens to be water for irrigation, but the coast is very hot and not healthy. The region is subject to the Sultan of Muscat, who is in turn a pensioner of the Anglo-Indian Government.

OMAR, the successor of Abu-Bekr, and the second Caliph from 634 to 644; was at first a persecutor of the Faithful, but underwent in 615 a sudden conversion like Said, with a like result; was vizier of Abu-Bekr before he succeeded him; swept and subdued Syria, Persia, and Egypt with the sword in the name of Allah, but is accused of having burned the rich library of Alexandria on the plea that it contained books hostile to the faith of Islam; he was an austere man, and was assassinated by a Persian slave whose wrongs he refused to redress.

OMAR KHAYYÁM, astronomer-poet of Persia, born at Naishapur, in Khorassan; lived in the later half of the 11th century, and died in the first quarter of the 12th; wrote a collection of poems which breathe an Epicurean spirit, and while they occupy themselves with serious problems of life, do so with careless sportiveness, intent he on the enjoyment of the sensuous pleasures of life, like an easy-going Epicurean. The great problems of destiny don't trouble the author, they are no concern of his, and the burden of his songs assuredly is, as his translator says, "If not 'let us eat, let us drink, for to-morrow we die.'"

OMAR PASHA, general in the Turkish army, was born an Austrian, his proper name Michael Lattas, and educated at the military school of Thurn; guilty of a breach of discipline, he ran away to Bosnia, turned Mohammedan, and henceforth threw in his lot with the Turks; he became writing-master to the Ottoman heir, Abdul-Medjid, and on the succession of the latter in 1839 was made a colonel; he was military governor of Lebanon in 1842, won distinction in suppressing rebellions in Albania, Bosnia, and Kurdistan, but his chief services were rendered in the Russian War; he successfully defended Kalafat in 1853, entered Bucharest in 1854, and defeated 40,000 Russians next year at Eupatoria in the Crimea; his capture of Cetinje, Montenegro, in 1862 was a difficult feat (1806-1871).

O'MEARA, BARRY EDWARD, a surgeon, born in Ireland, who accompanied Napoleon to St. Helena, and became his physician, having been surgeon on board the Bellerophon when the emperor surrendered himself; is remembered as the author of "A Voice from St. Helena; or, Napoleon in Exile," a book which from its charges against Sir Hudson Lowe created no small sensation on its appearance (1786-1836).

OMMIADES, an Arab dynasty of 14 caliphs which reigned at Damascus from 661 to 720; dethroned by the Abassides, they were under Abder-Rahman I. welcomed in Spain, and they established themselves in Cordova, where they ruled from 756 to 1031.

OMNIPRESENCE, an attribute of the Divine Being as all-present in every section of space and moment of time throughout the universe.

OMPHALË, a queen of Lydia, to whom Hercules was sold for three years for murdering Iphitus, and who so won his affection that he married her, and was content to spin her wool for her and wear the garments of a woman while she donned and wore his lion's skin.

OMSK (32), capital of Western Siberia, on the Om, at its confluence with the Irtish, 1800 m. E. of Moscow; is within the area of Russian colonisation, and has a military academy, Greek and Roman Catholic cathedrals, and large cattle trade; a number of its inhabitants are political exiles from Europe.

ONEGA, LAKE, in the NW. of Russia, next to Ladoga the largest in Europe, nearly three times the size of Norfolkshire, being 140 m. long and 59 broad; has an irregular shore, deeply indented in the W., many inflowing rivers, but is drained only by the Swir; ice-bound for four months, there is busy traffic the rest of the year; navigation is promoted by canals, but hindered by many reefs; fish abound in the waters.

ONOMATOPOEIA, formations of words resembling in sound that of the things denoted by them.

ONTARIO (2,114), third largest, most populous, richest, and most important province of Canada, lies N. of the great lakes between Quebec and Manitoba, and is thrice the size of Great Britain; the surface is mostly undulating; there are many small lakes, the chief rivers flow eastward to join the Ottawa; agriculture is the chief industry, enormous crops of wheat, maize, and other cereals are raised; stock-rearing and dairy-farming are important; the climate is subject to less extremes than that of Quebec, but the winter is still severe; there are rich mineral deposits, especially of iron, copper, lead, and silver, petroleum and salt; manufactures of agricultural implements, hardware, textiles, and leather are carried on; Toronto (181) is the largest town, Ottawa (44) is the capital of the Dominion, Hamilton (49) an important railway centre; the prosperity of the province is largely promoted by the magnificent waterways, lakes, rivers, and canals with which it is furnished. Founded by loyalists from the United States after the Declaration of Independence, the province was constituted in 1791 as Upper Canada, united to Quebec or Lower Canada in 1840, it received its present name on the federation of Canada in 1867; education in it is free and well conducted; there are many colleges and universities; municipal and provincial government is enlightened and well organised; the prevalent religious faith is Protestant.

ONTARIO, LAKE, in area almost equal to Wales, is the smallest and easternmost of the five great lakes of the St. Lawrence Basin, North America; it lies between the province of Ontario, Canada, and New York State; receives the Niagara River in the SW., several streams on both sides, and issues in the St. Lawrence in the NE.; on its shores stand Hamilton, Toronto, and Kingston on the N., and Oswego on the S.; canals connect it with Lake Erie and the Hudson River, and it is a busy and always open highway of commerce.

ONTOLOGY, another name for METAPHYSICS (q. v.) or the science of pure being, being at its living source in spirit or God, or Nature viewed as divine, especially as the ground of the spiritual in man and giving substantive being to him.

ONYX, a variety of agate or chalcedony, in which occur even layers of white and black or white and brown, sharply defined in good specimens; they come from India, and are highly valued for cameo-cutting.

OOSTERZEE, JAN JAKOB VAN, a theologian of the Dutch Church, born at Rotterdam; became professor at Utrecht, wrote several theological and exegetical works on evangelical lines (1817-1882).

OPAL, a variety of quartz, of which the finest kind, precious opal, is translucent, with blue or yellow tint, and when polished with a convex surface shows an admirable play of colours; it is found chiefly at Cerwenitza, Austria.

OPEN SECRET, THE, the secret that lies open to all, but is seen into and understood by only few, applied especially to the mystery of the life, the spiritual life, which is the possession of all.

OPEN, SESAMË, the magic formula the pronunciation of which opened the robbers' stronghold in the "Arabian Nights."

OPERA, a drama set to music and acted and sung to the accompaniment of a full orchestra, of which there are several kinds according as they are grave, comic, or romantic.

OPERA BOUFFE, an opera in an extravagant burlesque style, with characters, music, and other accompaniments to match; is the creation of OFFENBACH (q. v.), his more distinguished successors in the production of which have been Lecocq, Hervé, and Strauss.

OPHELIA, the daughter of Polonius in "Hamlet" and in love with the lord, but whose heart, from the succession of shocks it receives, is shattered and broken.

OPHICLEIDE, a keyed brass wind instrument of recent invention, of great compass and power, and of which there are two kinds in use.

OPHIR, a region in the East of uncertain situation, frequently referred to in Scripture as a region from which gold and precious stones were imported.

OPHITES, a sect of Gnostics who regarded the serpent as a benefactor of the race in having persuaded Eve to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in disregard, or rather in defiance, of the warning of the God of the Jews.

OPIE, JOHN, English artist, born near Truro, Cornwall; began to learn his father's trade of carpenter, but turning to art went with Dr. Wolcott to London in 1780; for a year he had phenomenal success as a portrait-painter; on the wane of his popularity he turned to scriptural and historical painting and to illustration; after being Associate for a year he was elected Academician in 1787; besides some lectures on art, he wrote a Life of Reynolds and other works (1761-1807).

OPINICUS, a fabulous winged creature with the head of a griffin, the body of a lion, and the tail of a camel; a heraldic symbol.

OPITZ, MARTIN VON, a German poet, born in Silesia; was much patronised by the princes of Germany; was crowned with laurel, and ennobled by Ferdinand II.; his poetry was agreeable to classic models, but at the expense of soul, though, to his credit it must be said, the German language and German poetry owe him a deep debt (1597-1639).

OPORTO (140), at the mouth of the Douro, 200 m. N. of Lisbon, the chief manufacturing city of Portugal, and second in commercial importance; is the head-quarters of the trade in port wine; the industries include cloth, silk, hat, and porcelain manufacture, tobacco, metal-casting, and tanning; besides wine it exports cattle, fruit, cork, and copper. There are many old churches, schools, a library, and two picture-galleries.

OPPORTUNIST, name given to a politician whose policy it is to take advantage of, or be guided by, circumstances.

OPTIMISM, the doctrine or belief that in the system of things all that happens, the undesirable no less than the desirable, is for the best.

OPUS OPERATUM (i. e. the work wrought), a Latin phrase used to denote the spiritual effect in the performance of a religious rite which accrues from the virtue inherent in it, or by grace imparted to it, irrespectively of the administrator.

ORAN (74), the busiest port in Algeria, is 260 m. W. of Algiers; it has a Roman Catholic cathedral, a mosque, a school, a college, and two castles, and exports esparto grass, iron ore, and cereals.

ORANGE RIVER or GARIEP, chief river of South Africa, rises in the eastern highlands of Basutoland, and flows 100 m. westward to the Atlantic, receiving the Vaal and the Caledon as tributaries, and having Cape Colony on the S. bank and the Orange Free State, Griqualand West, Bechuanaland, and German Namaqualand on the N.; a bar at the mouth and the aridity of its lower course make it unfit for navigation.

ORANGE RIVER COLONY, formerly Orange Free State (380), lying between the Vaal and the Orange Rivers, Griqualand West, and the Drakenberg Mountains; has an area nearly the size of England, with a healthy, temperate climate; undulating plains slope northward and southward, from which rise isolated hills called kopjes. The chief industries are the rearing of sheep, cattle, horses, and ostriches; coal-mining in the N. and diamond-seeking in the SW.; the exports comprise wool, hides, and diamonds. Founded by Dutch Boers from Natal, it was annexed by Britain in 1848, but granted independence in 1854. The capital, Bloemfontein (3), is connected by a railway with Johannesberg and with the Cape. Having made common cause with the South African Republic in the Boer War, it was annexed by Great Britain in 1900. At present (1905) it is under the supreme authority of the Governor of Orange River and the Transvaal Colonies, assisted by a Lieutenant-Governor and an Executive Council.

ORANGEMEN, a name given to an association of Protestants in Ireland instituted to uphold the Protestant succession to the crown, and the Protestant religion as settled at the Revolution of 1688, and which derives this name from William, the Prince of Orange, on whose accession to the throne Protestantism was established; it became dormant for a time after its institution, but it has shown very decided signs of life at political crises when Protestantism seemed in danger, such as often to call for some firm handling.

ORATORIO, a musical composition on a sacred theme, dramatic in form and associated with orchestral accompaniments, but without scenic accessories; it derives its name from the oratory of St. Philip Neri at Rome, in which a composition of the kind was first performed, and was a musical development of the MIRACLE PLAYS (q. v.).

ORATORY, CONGREGATION OF THE, community of secular priests formed by St. Philip of Neri (q. v.), and bound by no religious vow, each one of which is independent of the others; it consists of novices, triennial fathers, decennial fathers, and a superior, their functions being to preach and hear confession.

ORCAGNA, a Florentine painter, sculptor, and architect, did several frescoes; was architect of the cathedral of Orviëto; his masterpiece an absolutely unique marble tabernacle in the church of Or San Michele, Florence (1329-1389).

ORCHARDSON, WILLIAM QUILLER, English genre-painter, born in Edinburgh; his pictures are numerous, and among the best and most popular, "The Challenge," "The Queen of the Woods," "On Board the Bellerophon," "The Mariage de Convenance"; b. 1835.

ORCUS (i. e. place of confinement), another name for Hades, or the "World of the Dead"; also of the god of the nether world.

ORDEAL, a test by fire, water, poison, wager of battle, or the like, of the innocence or guilt of persons in appeal thereby to the judgment of God in default of other evidence, on the superstitious belief that by means of it God would interfere to acquit the innocent and condemn the guilty, a test very often had recourse to among savage or half-civilised nations.

ORDERICUS VITALIS, a mediæval chronicler, born near Shrewsbury; was a monk of the Abbey of St. Evreul, in Normandy; wrote an ecclesiastical history of Normandy and England--a veracious document, though an incondite; d. 1143.

ORDERS IN COUNCIL are issued by the British Sovereign, with the advice of the Privy Council, and within limits defined by Parliament. In cases of emergency these limits have been disregarded, and Parliament subsequently asked to homologate the action by granting an indemnity to those concerned.

OREADES in the Greek mythology nymphs of the mountains, with special names appropriate to the district they severally inhabit.

OREGON (314), one of the United States, on the Pacific seaboard, with Washington, Idaho, Nevada, and California on its inland borders, nearly twice the size of England, has the Coast Mountains along the W., the Cascade range parallel 60 m. E., and 70 farther E. the Blue Mountains. The centre and E. is hilly, and affords excellent grazing and dairy-farming ground; the western or Willamette Valley is arable, producing cereals, potatoes, tobacco, hops, and fruit. Between the Coast Mountains and the sea excessive rains fall. The State is rich in timber, coal, iron, gold, and silver; and the rivers (of which the Columbia on the N. border is the chief) abound in salmon. Owing to the mountain shelter and the Japanese ocean currents the climate is mild. The capital is Salem (4), the largest city Portland (46), both on the Willamette River. The State offers excellent educational facilities; it has 17 libraries, many schools and colleges, and the Blue Mountain University. The State (constituted in 1859) forms part of the territory long in dispute between Great Britain and the United States. It was occupied jointly from 1818 to 1846, when a compromise fixed the present boundary of British Columbia.

ORELLI, CONRAD VON, theologian, born at Zurich; professor at Basel; has written commentaries on Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the minor prophets; b. 1846.

ORELLI, JOHANN KASPAR VON, a Swiss scholar, born at Zurich, where he was professor of Classical Philology; edited editions of the classics, particularly Horace, Tacitus, and Cicero, highly esteemed for the scholarship they show and the critical judgment (1787-1849).

ORESTES, the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, and brother of Electra and Iphigenia, who killed his mother to avenge the murder by her of his father and went mad afterwards, but was acquitted by the Areopagus and became king of Argos and Lacedæmon; his friendship for Pylades, who married his sister Electra, has passed into a proverb; the tragic story is a favourite theme of the Greek tragedians.

ORFILA, M. J. BONAVENTURE, French chemist and physician, born in Minorca; mainly distinguished for his works on toxicology (1787-1853).

ORGANISM, a structure instinct with life, and possessed of organs that discharge functions subordinate and ministrative to the life of the whole.

ORGANON, a term adopted by Bacon to denote a system of rules for the regulation of scientific inquiry.

ORGIES, festivals among the Greeks and Orientals generally connected with the worship of nature divinities, in particular DEMETER (q. v.), DIONYSOS (q. v.), and the Cabiri, celebrated with mystic rites and much licentious behaviour.

ORIFLAMME (i. e. flame of gold), the ancient banner of the kings of France, borne before them as they marched to war; it was a red flag mounted on a gilded staff, was originally the banner of the abbey of St. Denis, and first assumed as the royal standard by Louis VI. as he marched at the head of his army against the Emperor Henry V. in 1124, but one hears no more of it after the battle of Agincourt in 1415, much as it was at one time regarded as the banner of the very Lord of Hosts.

ORIGEN, one of the most eminent of the Fathers of the Church, born at Alexandria it is presumed, the son of a Christian who suffered martyrdom under Severus, whom he honoured and ever reverenced for his faith in Christ; studied the Greek philosophers that he might familiarise himself with their standpoint in contrast with that of the Christian; taught in Alexandria and elsewhere the religion he had inherited from his father, but was not sufficiently regardful of episcopal authority, and after being ordained by another bishop than that of his own diocese was deposed and banished; after this he settled in Cæsarea, set up a celebrated school, and had Gregory Thaumaturgus for a pupil, whence he made journeys to other parts but under much persecution, and died at Tyre; he wrote numerous works, apologetical and exegetical as well as doctrinal, besides a "Hexapla," a great source of textual criticism, being a work in which the Hebrew Scriptures and five Greek versions of them are arranged side by side; in his exegesis he had a fancy for allegorical interpretation, in which he frequently indulged, but in doing so he was entitled to some license, seeing he was a man who constantly lived in close communion with the Unseen Author of all truth (185-253).

ORIGINAL SIN, the name given by the theologians to the inherent tendency to sin on the part of all mankind, due, as alleged, to their descent from Adam and the imputation of Adam's guilt to them as sinning in him.

ORINOCO RIVER, a great river in the NE. of South America, rises in the Parimé Mountains, and flowing westward bifurcates, the Cassiquiare channel going southward and joining the Rio Negro, the Orinoco proper continuing westward, north and east through Venezuela, and reaching the Atlantic after a course of 1500 m. by an enormous delta; it receives thousands of tributaries, but cascades half-way up stop navigation.

ORION, in the Greek mythology a handsome giant and hunter, was struck blind by Dionysos for attempting an outrage on Merope, but recovered his eyesight on exposing his eyeballs to the arrowy rays of Aurora, and became afterwards the companion of Artemis on the hunting-field, but he fell a victim to the jealousy of Apollo, the brother of Artemis, and was transformed by the latter into a constellation in the sky, where he figures as a giant wearing a lion's skin and a girdle or belt and wielding a club.

ORISSA (4,047), the name of an ancient Indian kingdom, independent till 1568, and falling into British possession in 1803, is now restricted to the most south-easterly province of Bengal. It is larger than Wales, and comprises a hilly inland tract and an alluvial plain formed by the deltas of the Mahanadi, Brahmani, and Baitarani Rivers, well irrigated, and producing great crops of rice, wheat, pulse, and cotton. It has no railways, and poor roads; transport is by canal and river. Chief towns Cuttack, Balasor, and Puri.

ORKNEY ISLANDS (30), an archipelago of 90 islands, Pomona the largest, lying north of the Scottish mainland, from which they are separated by the Pentland Firth, 7 m. broad. The scenery is tame, the climate is mild and moist; there are no trees, crops are poor; the chief industries are fishing and stock-raising; Kirkwall, with a cathedral, and Stromness are the chief towns. Seized from the Picts by Norse vikings, they passed to James III. as security for the dowry of Margaret of Denmark and were never redeemed. The natives show their Scandinavian ancestry in their features, and the nomenclature is largely Scandinavian.

ORLANDO, a hero who figures in the romantic tales connected with the adventures of Charlemagne and his paladins, a knight of pure and true blood; had a magical horn called Olivant, with which he wrought wonders.

ORLEANS (61), on the Loire, 75 m. by rail SW. of Paris, is the capital of the province of Loiret, a trading rather than an industrial town, commerce being fostered by excellent railway, canal, and river communications; the town is of ancient date, and its streets are full of quaint wooden houses; there is an old cathedral and museum; many historic associations include the raising of the siege in 1429 by Joan of Arc, whose house is still shown, and two captures by the Germans, 1870

ORLEANS, DUKES OF, the name of four distinct branches of the royal family of France, the first commencing with PHILIPPE, fifth son of Philippe of Valois, in 1344; the second with LOUIS, brother of Charles VI. (1371-1407); the third with JEAN BAPTISTE GASCON, brother of Louis XIII., who took part in the plots against Richelieu, and was appointed lieutenant-general on the death of his brother (1608-1660); the fourth with PHILIPPE I., brother of Louis XIV. (1640-1701); PHILIPPE II., son of the preceding, governed France during the minority of Louis XV.; involved his finances by his connection with Louis, and did injury to the public morals by the depravity of his life (1674-1723); LOUIS-PHILIPPE, his grandson, lieutenant-general and governor of Dauphiné (1725-1785); LOUIS-PHILIPPE JOSEPH, son of preceding, surnamed Philippe-Egalité, played a conspicuous part in the Revolution, and perished on the scaffold (1747-1793); and LOUIS-PHILIPPE, his son (q. v.); PRINCE LOUIS ROBERT, eldest son of Comte de Paris, claimant to the throne, b. 1869.

ORLOFF, the name of two brothers, Russians: GREGORY, the favourite of Catherine II. (1734-1783), and ALEXIS, a man remarkable for his stature and strength, who murdered Peter III. and was banished by Paul I. (1737-1809).

ORME, ROBERT, historian, born in Travancore; entered the East India Company's service, in which he was appointed historiographer; wrote the history of its military transactions from 1745 to 1763 (1728-1801).

ORMOLU, a name given to bronze or brass of a golden-yellow colour, and resembling gold.

ORMONDE, JAMES BUTLER, DUKE OF, supporter of the cause of Charles I. in Ireland during the war between the king and the Parliament, on the ruin of which he repaired to the Continent to promote the restoration of the dynasty; was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland after the Restoration, and escaped from a party of ruffians headed by Colonel Blood, who dragged him from his carriage with intent to hang him; he was a brave man, and much esteemed by his friends (1610-1688).

ORMUZ, an island at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, once the head-quarters of the Persian trade with India.

ORMUZD, the good deity of the Zoroastrian religion, the embodiment of the principle of good as Ahriman is of the principle of evil, the creator of light and order as the other of darkness and disorder. See DUALISM.

ORONTES, the principal river of Syria, rises in the western slopes of Anti-Lebanon, and flows northward through Syria, turning at last SW. to the Mediterranean; its course of 150 m. is through country in many parts well cultivated, past the towns of Hems and Hamah, and latterly through a woody ravine of great beauty.

OROSIUS, PAULUS, Spanish Christian apologist of the 5th century, born at Terragona, a disciple of Augustine; wrote at his suggestion against the pagans a history of the world used as a text-book in the Middle Ages.

ORPHEUS, in the Greek mythology son of Apollo and the Muse Calliopë, famed for his skill on the lyre, from which the strains were such as not only calmed and swayed the rude soul of nature, but persuaded even the inexorable Pluto to relent; for one day when his wife Eurydice was taken away from him, he descended with his lyre to the lower world and prevailed on the nether king by the spell he wielded to allow her to accompany him back, but on the condition that he must not, as she followed him, turn round and look; this condition he failed to fulfil, and he lost her again, but this time for ever; whereupon, as the story goes, he gave himself up to unappeasable lamentings, which attracted round him a crowd of upbraiding Mænades, who in their indignation took up stones to stone him and mangled him to death, only his lyre as it floated down the river seaward kept sounding "Eurydice! Eurydice!" till it was caught up by Zeus and placed in memorial of him among the stars of the sky.

ORRERY is a mechanical toy which exhibits, by an arrangement of rods, balls, and toothed wheels, the sun, the planets, and their moons, all performing their respective motions; so named after the Earl of Orrery, for whom Charles Boyle made the first one in 1715.

ORSINI, FELICE, Italian conspirator, born of a noble family, but bred in the atmosphere of revolution and secret plotting; with three others attempted the life of Louis Napoleon; was defended by Jules Favre, but condemned to death and guillotined (1819-1858).

ORSOVA, two fortified towns on opposite banks of the Danube, at the Iron Gates: Old Orsova (3), in Hungary, is a trading and shipping centre; New Orsova, in Servia, was repeatedly taken and retaken in the wars of the 18th century.

ORVIËTO (7), an Italian city in Perugia, 78 m. by rail N. of Rome, is noted for its wines; it dates from Roman times, and in the Middle Ages was a frequent refuge of the Popes.

OSCANS, a primitive people of Italy occupying Campania; were subjugated in the 5th century B.C. by the Samnites, who amalgamated with them and were subsequently incorporated with the Romans; the Oscan tongue, a cruder form of Latin, may have had its own literature, and is still extant on coins and in inscriptions.

OSCAR I., king of Sweden and Norway, son of Bernadotte, born at Paris, reigned from 1844 to 1857 (1799-1858); OSCAR II., king of Sweden and Norway, son of preceding, succeeded his brother Charles XV. in 1872, has distinguished himself in literature by translating Goethe's "Faust" into Swedish, and by a volume of minor poems under his nom de plume Oscar Frederick; b. 1829.

OSCOTT, a village in Staffordshire, 4 m. N. of Birmingham, the site of the Roman Catholic College of St. Mary's, which claims to be the centre of Catholicism in England; founded in 1752, it was housed in magnificent buildings in 1835, and became exclusively a training-school for the priesthood in 1889, though it originally had laymen among its students.

O'SHAUGHNESSY, ARTHUR, poet, born in London; held a post in the natural history department of the British Museum; wrote, among other works, three notable volumes of poems, "The Epic of Women," "Lays of France," and "Music and Moonlight" (1844-1881).

OSIANDER, ANDREAS, a German Reformer, born near Nüremberg, and attaching himself to Luther, became preacher there, and eventually professor of Theology at Königsberg; involved himself in a bitter controversy with Chemnitz on justification, ascribing it not to imputation, but the germination of divine grace in the heart, or the mystical union of the soul with God, a controversy which was kept up by his followers after his death (1498-1552).

OSIRIS, one of the principal gods of Egypt, the husband of Isis, who was his sister and the father of Horus, who avenged the wrongs he suffered at the hands of the Earth, his mother, in whose womb he was born and in whose womb he was buried; he was the god of all the earth-born, and subject to the like fate.

OSMANLIS, name given to the Ottomans, from that of their founder, Osman or Othman.

OSMOSE. If two liquids be separated from each other only by a skin or parchment, each will percolate through the membrane and diffuse into the other; the process is known as osmose, and is constantly illustrated in the animal and vegetable world.

OSNABRÜCK (35), a town in Hanover, 70 m. W. of Hanover, with a bishopric founded by Charlemagne, which was held by a brother of George I., and was secularised in 1803.

OSSA, a mountain in Thessaly, famous in Greek mythology. See PELION.

OSSIAN, the heroic poet of the Gaels, the son of Fingal and the king of Morven, said to have lived in the 3rd century, the theme of whose verse concerns the exploits of Fingal and his family, the translation of which he brought home from fairyland, to which he had been transported when he was a boy, and from which he returned when he was old and blind; James Macpherson, who was no Gaelic scholar, professed to have translated the legend, as published by him in 1760-62-63.

OSTADE, ADRIAN and ISAAC, two Dutch painters, brothers, born at Haarlem; Adrian (1610-1685), and Isaac (1617-1654).

OSTEND (26), a favourite watering-place on the SW. coast of Belgium, 65 m. due W. of Antwerp; attracts 20,000 visitors every summer; it is an important seaport, having daily mail communication with Dover, and it manufactures linen and sail-cloth; fishing is the chief industry; it is famed for oysters, which are brought over from England and fattened for export.

OSTIA, the seaport of ancient Rome, at the mouth of the Tiber, now in ruins.

OSTRACISM, banishment (lit. by shell) for a term of years by popular vote from Athens of any individual whose political influence seemed to threaten the liberty of the citizens; the vote was given by each citizen writing the name of the individual on a shell and depositing it in some place appointed, and it was only when supported by 6000 citizens that it took effect.

OSTROGOTHS, or the EASTERN GOTHS, a Teutonic people, who, having been induced to settle on the banks of the Danube, in the pay of the Roman emperor, invaded Italy, and founded in the end of the 5th century a kingdom under Theodoric, which fell before the arms of Justinian in 532.

OSWALD, ST., king of Northumbria, where by the aid of AIDAN (q. v.) he established the Christian religion, after his conversion to it himself in exile among the Scots; he died in battle fighting against Penda, king of Mercia; d.642.

OSWEGO (22), principal port on the E. of Lake Ontario, is at the mouth of the Oswego River, in New York State; it has 4 miles of quays, and extensive accommodation for grain, and has a large trade, especially with Canada, in grain and lumber; the falls in the river are utilised for industrial purposes, the manufacture of starch and cornflour being famed.

OSWESTRY (8), a market-town of Shropshire, 20 m. NW. of Shrewsbury; has an old church, castle, and school, railway workshops, and some woollen mills.

OTAGO (153), the southernmost province in the South Island, New Zealand, somewhat less in size than Scotland, is mountainous and inaccessible in the W., but in the E. consists of good arable plains, where British crops and fruits grow well; the climate is temperate; timber abounds; there are gold, coal, iron, and copper mines, manufactures of woollen goods, iron, and soap, and exports wool, gold, cereals, and hides; founded in 1848 by the Otago Association of the Free Church of Scotland, but immigration became general on the discovery of gold in 1861; education is promoted by the Government in a university and many colleges and secondary schools; the capital is Dunedin (23), the chief commercial city of New Zealand, the other principal towns being Invercargill, Port Chalmers, Oamaru, Milton, and Lawrence.

OTHMAN, the third caliph, who ruled from 614 to 636, was assassinated by Mohammed, son of Abu-Bekr.

OTHMAN or OSMAN I., surnamed the Conqueror the founder of the empire of the Ottoman Turks, born in Bithynia (1259-1326).

OTHO, Roman emperor, had been a companion of Nero; was created emperor by the Pretorian Guards in succession to Galba, but being defeated by the German legionaries, stabbed himself to death after a reign of three months (32-69).

OTIS, JAMES, American lawyer, born in Massachusetts, distinguished as a ringleader in the revolution in the colonies against the mother-country that led to American independence, for which he had to pay with his life and the prior loss of his reason (1724-1783).

OTRANTO (2), a decayed seaport and fishing town of SE. Italy, 52 m. S. of Brindisi; founded by Greek colonists, it was in early times the chief port of trade with Greece; there is a cathedral and castle.

OTTAWA (44), capital of the Dominion of Canada, is situated 90 m. up the Ottawa River and its confluence with the St. Lawrence, between the Chaudière and Rideau Falls. Here are the Parliament buildings, the Governor-General's residence, a Roman Catholic cathedral, numerous colleges and schools, and a great library. There is some flour-milling and some iron-working, but the chief industry is lumber felling. Half the people are French Roman Catholics. It became the capital of the Dominion in 1856, and in ten years after the government was installed in its new buildings.

OTTAWA RIVER, the largest tributary of the St. Lawrence, and one of the largest Canadian rivers, is 700 m. long; rising in the W. of Quebec, it flows W., then S., then SE., sometimes in a narrow channel, sometimes broadening even into lakes, receiving many tributaries, and passing down rapids and falls, and joins the St. Lawrence at Montreal; down its waters are floated immense quantities of lumber.

OTTERBURN, a Northumberland village, 16 m. S. of the border, famous as the scene of a struggle on 19th August 1388 between the Douglases and the Percies, at which the Earl of Douglas lost his life, and Hotspur was taken prisoner. See CHEVY CHASE.

OTTO or ATTAR OF ROSES, an essential oil obtained by distilling rose leaves of certain species in water, of very strong odour, pleasant when diluted; is used for perfumery; it is made in India, Persia, Syria, and at Kezanlik, in Roumelia.

OTTOMANS, the name given to the Turks from OTHMAN (q. v.).

OTWAY, THOMAS, English dramatist, born in Sussex, intended for the Church; took to the stage, failed as an actor, and became a playwright, his chief production in that line being "Alcibiades," "Don Carlos," "The Orphan," and "Venice Preserved," the latter two especially; he led a life of dissipation, and died miserably, from choking, it is said, in greedily swallowing a piece of bread when in a state of starvation (1651-1685).

OUBLIETTE, an underground cell, perfectly dark, in which prisoners were subjected to perpetual confinement, was so called as being a "place of forgetfulness," or where one is forgotten; they were often put secretly to death.

OUDENARDE, a town in Belgium, 15 m. S. of Ghent, scene of Marlborough's third victory over the French in 1708; it contains a 16th-century hôtel de ville, with a fine tower, and some interesting churches.

OUDH (12,551), a province in the Bengal Presidency, occupying the basin of the Gumti, Gogra, and Rapti Rivers, and stretching from the N. bank of the Ganges to the lower Himalayas; is a great alluvial plain, through which these rivers flow between natural embankments, affording irrigation by their marshes and overflows. The sole industry is agriculture; the crops are wheat and rice, which are exported by rail and river. The population is one of the densest in the world, the labouring classes being very poor. The only large town is Lucknow (273), on the Gumti. One of the earliest centres of Aryan civilisation, Oudh became subject to the empire of Delhi in the 12th century, but was an independent State for a century prior to its annexation by the British in 1856.

OUDINOT, DUKE OF REGGIO, marshal of France, born at Bar-le-Duc; served with distinction under the Revolution and the Empire; led the retreat from Moscow, and was wounded; joined the Royalists after the fall of Napoleon, and died Governor of the Hôtel des Invalides (1767-1847).

OUIDA, the pseudonym of Louise de la Ramée, English novelist, born at Bury St. Edmunds; resides chiefly at Florence; has written over a score of novels, "Under Two Flags" and "Moths" among the best; b. 1840.

OUSE, the name of several English rivers, of which the chief are (1) the Yorkshire Ouse, flowing through the great Vale of York southwards to the Humber, receiving the Swale, Ure, Nidd, Wharfe, and Aire from the W. and the Derwent from the E., and having in its basin more great towns than any other river in the country; (2) the Great Ouse, rising in the S. of Northamptonshire, pursuing a winding course NE. through the plains of Buckingham, Bedford, Huntingdon, Cambridge, and Norfolk to the Wash; and (3) the Sussex Ouse.

OUTRAM, SIR JAMES, British general, surnamed by Napier the "Bayard of India," born in Derbyshire, began his military career in Bombay, served in the Afghan War and the war with Persia, played an important part in the suppression of the Mutiny, marching to the relief of Lucknow, magnanimously waived his rank in favour of Havelock, and fought under him (1803-1863).

OVERBECK, FRIEDRICH, celebrated German painter, born at Lübeck; was head of the new Romantic or Pre-Raphaelite school of German art; had devoted himself to religious subjects, abjured Lutheranism, and joined the Roman Catholic Church; is famed for his frescoes "Christ's Entry into Jerusalem" and "St. Francis" in particular, still more than his oil-paintings; spent most of his life in Rome (1789-1869).

OVERBURY, SIR THOMAS, English gentleman, remembered chiefly from the circumstances of his death, having been poisoned in the Tower at the instance of Rochester and his wife for dissuading the former from marrying the latter, for which crime the principals were pardoned and the instruments suffered death; he was the author of certain works published after his death, and "The Wife," a poem, his "Characters," and "Crumbs from King James's Table" (1581-1613).

OVERLAND ROUTE, the route to Australia and the East across the European continent instead of round the Cape of Good Hope, was inaugurated by Lieutenant Waghorn in 1845, modified on the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, and is now viâ France, the Mont Cenis tunnel, Brindisi, the Levant, Suez Canal, Red Sea, and Indian Ocean.

OVERREACH, SIR GILES, a character in Massinger's play, "A New Way to Pay Old Debts."

OVERSTONE, BARON, English financier, represented Hythe; was made a peer in 1850; wrote on finances; was opposed to limited liability and the introduction of the decimal system; died immensely rich (1796-1883).

OVID (Publius Ovidius Naso), Roman poet of the Augustan age, born at Salmo, of equestrian rank, bred for the bar, and serving the State in the department of law for a time, threw it up for literature and a life of pleasure; was the author, among other works, of the "Amores," "Fasti," and the "Metamorphoses," the friend of Horace and Virgil, and the favourite of Augustus, but for some unknown reason fell under the displeasure of the latter, and was banished in his fiftieth year, to end his days among the swamps of Scythia, near the Black Sea (B.C. 43-18 A.D.).

OVIEDO (44), capital of the Spanish province of Asturias, near the river Nalon; is the seat of a university, library, and cathedral; it is the centre of the chief coal-field of Spain; in the neighbourhood are a gun-factory and many iron-works.

OWEN, JOHN, Puritan divine, born in Oxfordshire, educated at Oxford; driven from the Church, became first a Presbyterian then an Independent; Cromwell made him chaplain for a sermon he preached the day after Charles I.'s execution, and he was presented in 1651 with the deanery of Christ Church, Oxford, and next year with the Vice-Chancellorship, but on the Restoration was deprived of both, after which, from 1657, he spent his life in retirement; wrote an exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, on the Holy Spirit, and many other works in exposition of the Puritan theology, which at one time were held in greater favour than they are now (1616-1683).

OWEN, SIR RICHARD, celebrated English naturalist and comparative anatomist, born in Lancaster; wrote extensively, especially on comparative anatomy and physiology, in which, as in everything that occupied him, he was an enthusiastic worker, being a disciple of Cuvier; did not oppose, but was careful not to commit himself to, Darwin's evolutionary theories; Carlyle, who had two hours' talk with him once, found him "a man of real ability who could tell him innumerable things" (1804-1892).

OWEN, ROBERT, a Socialist reformer, born in Montgomeryshire; became manager of a cotton mill at New Lanark, which he managed on Socialist principles, according to which all the profits in the business above five per cent, went to the workpeople; in furtherance of his principles he published his "New Views of Society," the "New Moral World," as well as pamphlets, lecturing upon them, moreover, both in England and America, but his schemes issued in practical failures, especially as proving too exclusively secular, and he in his old age turned his mind to spiritualism (1771-1858).

OWENS COLLEGE, Manchester, a non-sectarian university, founded by John Owens, a liberal Churchman, in 1846, and supported as well as extended by subsequent bequests, the medical school of which is one of the finest in the kingdom; of the students attending it in 1897-98, 639 were arts students, 99 women, and 418 medicals.

OXENFORD, JOHN, English man of letters and critic; translated Goethe's "Dichtung und Wahrheit," and "Echermann's Conversations with Goethe"; was dramatic critic for the Times, and wrote plays, as well as an "Illustrated Book of French Songs" (1812-1877).

OXENSTIERN, AXEL, COUNT, Swedish statesman, favourite minister of Gustavus Adolphus; supported him through the Thirty Years' War, though he disapproved of his engaging in it, and managed the affairs of the State with great ability after his death (1583-1654).

OXFORD (46), the county town of Oxfordshire, seat of one of the great English universities and of a bishopric; is on the left bank of the Thames, 52 m. W. of London; it is a city of great beauty, its many collegiate buildings and chapels and other institutions making it the richest of English cities in architectural interest; naturally historical associations abound; here the Mad Parliament met and adopted the Provisions of Oxford in 1258; Latimer and Ridley in 1555, and Cranmer in 1556, were burned in Broad Street; Charles I. made it his head-quarters after the first year of the Civil War; it was the refuge of Parliament during the plague of 1665.

OXFORD SCHOOL, the name given to the leaders of the Tractarian Movement, which originated at Oxford in 1833.

OXFORD UNIVERSITY, Oxford is spoken of as a seat of learning as early as the 11th century. Cloistral schools existed before that. Schools of divinity, law, and topography were founded in the 12th century. In the 13th Dominican and Franciscan scholars raised it to a level only second to Paris, and by the end of the 14th century there were thousands of students in attendance. Oxford responded quickly to the Renaissance, and by the time of the Reformation 13 colleges were founded. Her Protestantism stood firm through Mary's reaction, sank into passive obedience under the Stuarts, but woke up to resist James II.'s Catholic propaganda. Thereafter followed a serious lapse in efficiency, but this century has seen a complete revival. Oxford has now 21 colleges, among which are Balliol, Christ Church, Magdalen, Oriel, Trinity, and University College; 64 professors and teachers, and 3000 students. It is rich in museums and libraries; the Bodleian Library is of great value, the Taylor Library is devoted to modern literature. The Oxford or Tractarian Movement, one of the most remarkable religious impulses of modern times, had its centre in the University between 1834 and 1845. Among distinguished Oxford alumni were Hooker, Jeremy Taylor, Wesley, Newman; Hobbes, Locke, Adam Smith; Johnson, Gibbon, Freeman, Green; Chatham, Gladstone; Ruskin; Shelley, Keble, Arnold, and Clough. Of the colleges of which the University consists, the University was founded in 1249, Balliol in 1269, Merton in 1264, Exeter in 1314, Oriel in 1326, Queen's in 1340, New in 1379, Lincoln in 1427, All Souls' in 1437, Magdalen in 1468, Brasenose in 1509, Corpus in 1516, Christ Church in 1546, Trinity in 1554, St. John's in 1555, Jesus in 1571, Wadham in 1612, Pembroke in 1624, Worcester in 1714, Keble in 1870, and Hertford in 1874.

OXFORDSHIRE (186), a S. midland county of England, stretching on the N. bank of the Thames between Gloucester and Buckingham; is an agricultural district; bleak in the N. and W., it is hilly, well wooded and picturesque in the S., where are the Chiltern Hills; iron-stone is mined near Banbury, blankets made at Witney, and paper at Shiplake and Henley; natives of the county were Edward the Confessor, Leland, Warren Hastings, Maria Edgeworth, and J. R. Green.

OXUS or AMU-DARIA, a great river of Central Asia, rises in the Pamirs, and flows W. between Turkestan and Afghanistan, then N. through Turkestan to the Sea of Aral; it is believed at one time to have flowed into the Caspian, and there is record of two changes of course; half its waters are absorbed in irrigating the plains of Khiva.

OXYGEN, a colourless, inodorous gas which constitutes one-fifth in volume of the atmosphere, and which, in combination with hydrogen, forms water. It is the most widely diffused of all the elementary bodies, and an essential support to everything possessed of life.

OYER AND TERMINER, an English Court Commission to hear and determine special causes.

OZONE, is an allotropic form of oxygen, from which it can be developed by electricity, and into which it can be resolved by heat, present in small quantities in the atmosphere, and possessing strong oxidising properties.

P

PACHE, JEAN, Swiss adventurer, who became Mayor of Paris, and even Minister of War during the French Revolution, "the sleek Tartuffe that he was," is credited with the authorship of the famous revolutionary motto, Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, or Death (1746-1823).

PACHOMIUS, ST., an Egyptian hermit, the founder of conventual monachism, who established the first institution of the kind at Tabenna, an island in the Nile; he also established the first nunnery under his sister (292-348). Festival, May 14.

PACHYDERMATA, hoofed animals with thick skins and non-ruminant, such as the elephant and the hog.

PACIFIC OCEAN, the largest sheet of water on the globe, occupies a third of its whole surface, as much as all the land put together. It is a wide oval in shape, lying between Australia and Asia on the W., and North and South America on the E. Except from Asia it receives no large rivers. On its American shores the Gulf of California is the only considerable indentation; the Okhotsk, Japanese, Yellow, and Chinese Seas, on the Asiatic coast, are rather wide bays shut in by islands than inland seas. Its innumerable islands are the chief feature of the Pacific Ocean. The continental islands include the Aleutian, Kurile, Japan, and Philippine Islands, and the archipelago between the Malay Peninsula and Australia; the Oceanic Islands include countless groups, volcanic and coral, chiefly in the southern hemisphere, between the Sandwich Islands and New Zealand. Commerce on the Pacific Ocean is only beginning, but will increase vastly with the extension of the United States westward, the colonisation of Australia, and the opening of Chinese and Japanese ports. San Francisco and Valparaiso on the E., Hong-Kong and Sydney on the W., are just now the chief centres of trade.

PACKHARD, distinguished American entymologist and naturalist, born in Maine; his classification of insects is accepted; b. 1839.

PACTOLUS, a small river of Lydia, famous for the gold contained in its sand, due, it was alleged, to Midas washing the gold off him in its waters, and the alleged source of the wealth of Croesus; its modern name is Sarabat. See MIDAS.

PACUVIUS, an old Latin dramatist, nephew of ENNIUS (q. v.); wrote dramas after the Greek models (220-130 B.C.).

PADANG (15), a town and free port on the W. coast of Sumatra, the largest town on the island, and the Dutch official capital.

PADEREWSKI, IGNACE JAN, a celebrated pianist, born at Podolia, in Russian Poland; master of his art by incessant practice from early childhood, made his début in 1887 with instant success; his first appearance created quite a furore in Paris and London; has twice visited the United States; is a brilliant composer as well as performer, and has composed numerous pieces both for the voice and the piano; b. 1860.

PADILLA, JUAN LOPEZ DE, a celebrated Castilian noble, who headed a rebellion against Charles V., which he heroically maintained till his defeat at Villalos in 1521, and which his wife, Donna Maria, no less heroically maintained against a strong besieging force after his capture and execution.

PADISHAH, from two Persian words meaning "protector prince," is a title given to the Shah of Persia and the Sultan of Turkey, and at one time applied, among others, to the Emperors of Austria and Russia.

PADUA (79), a walled city of Venetia, 23 m. by rail W. of Venice, has some manufactures of leather and musical-instrument strings, but is chiefly interesting for its artistic treasures; these include the municipal buildings, cathedral, and nearly fifty churches, innumerable pictures and frescoes, and Donatello's famous equestrian statue of Gattamelata; there is also a renowned university, library, museum, and the oldest botanical garden in Europe; after very varied fortunes it was held by Venice 1405-1797, then by Austria till its incorporation in Italy 1866. Livy was a native, as also Andrea Mantegna.

PÆSTUM, an ancient Greek city of Lucania, in South Italy, with remains of Greek architecture second only to those of Athens.

PAGAN, ISABEL, Scotch poetess, authoress of the plaintive song "Ca' the Yowes to the Knowes" (1740-1821).

PAGANINI, NICOLO, a celebrated Italian violinist, born at Genoa of humble origin; widely famous for his astonishing feats on a single-stringed instrument; was a composer of musical pieces for both violin and guitar; died rich (1784-1840).

PAGANISM, HEATHENISM (q. v.), so called as lingering among the "pagani" or country people, after Christianity had taken root in the large towns.

PAGODA, an Indian or Chinese temple, associated chiefly with Buddhism, of a more or less pyramidal form and of several storeys, the most imposing being the Greek Pagoda of Tanjore; the name is applied also to a gold coin worth 7s. 6d. stamped with a pagoda.

PAHLEVI, name given to a translation of the ZENDAVESTA (q. v.) in the Zend dialect for the use of the priesthood.

PAINE, THOMAS, a notorious free-thinker and democrat, born in Thetford; emigrated to America, contributed, as he boasted, by his pamphlet "Common Sense," to "free America," by rousing it to emancipate itself from the mother-country; wrote the "Rights of Man" against Burke's "Reflections"; had to emigrate to France; took part in the Revolution to aid in its emancipation also, offended Robespierre, and was put in prison, where he wrote the first part of his "Age of Reason," a book which offended the Christian world and procured him ignominy and even execration in many quarters; died in New York, but his bones were conveyed to England by Cobbett in 1819 (1737-1809).

PAINTER, WILLIAM, author of "Palace of Pleasure," a collection of tales chiefly from Italian sources, which proved suggestive in furnishing the dramatists with interesting subjects for representation (1540-1594).

PAISIELLO, GIOVANNI, an Italian composer, born at Taranto; his great work, the opera "Il Barbiere di Seviglia"; composed besides other operas, cantatas, requiems, &c.

PAISLEY (66), a Renfrewshire town, 7 m. W. of Glasgow, on the White Cart. It is the chief centre of manufacture of cotton thread in the world, and its other industries include dyeing, bleaching, woollen goods, and engineering. There are several fine buildings, a Baptist Church is said to be the finest modern ecclesiastical building in Scotland. The ornithologist Wilson, Professor Wilson ( Christopher North), and Tannahill were born here.

PALACKY, FRANCIS, distinguished Bohemian historian and politician, born in Moravia, author of a "History of Bohemia," in 5 vols., his chief work and a notable (1798-1876).

PALADIN, the name given to the peers of Charlemagne, such as Roland, and also to knights-errant generally.

PALÆOGRAPHY, the name given to the study and the deciphering of ancient manuscripts.

PALÆOLOGUS, the name of a Byzantine family, several members of which attained imperial dignity, the last of the dynasty dying in 1453; they came into prominence in the 11th century.

PALÆONTOLOGY, the name given to the study of fossil remains, a branch of geology.

PALAFOX, DON JOSEPH, a Spanish soldier, born of a noble Aragonese family, who immortalised himself by his heroic defence of Saragossa against the French in 1808-9; on the fall of the place was taken to France and imprisoned till 1813; on his release was created Duke of Saragossa and promoted to other high honours at home (1780-1847).

PALAIS ROYAL, a pile of buildings in Paris, of which the nucleus was a palace built in 1629 by Lemercier for Richelieu, and known afterwards as the Palais Cardinal, and which at length by gift of Louis XIV. became the town residence of the Orleans family; these buildings suffered much damage in 1848 and in 1871, but have been restored since 1873.

PALAMEDES, one of the chiefs of the Greeks at the siege of Troy, a man of inventive genius; discovered the assumed madness of Ulysses, but incurred his resentment in consequence, which procured his death.

PALANQUIN, in India and China a covered conveyance for one person borne on the shoulders of men.

PALATINATE, the name of two States, originally one, of the old German empire, one called the Lower Palatinate or the Palatinate of the Rhine, partitioned in 1815 among the States of Baden, Bavaria, Prussia, and Hesse-Darmstadt, and the other called the Upper Palatinate, now nearly all included in Bavaria; the former has for principal towns Spires and Landau, and the latter Ratisbon.

PALATINE, one of the seven hills of ancient Rome, and, according to tradition, the first to be occupied, and forming the nucleus of the city; it became one of the most aristocratic quarters of the city, and was chosen by the first emperors for their imperial residence.

PALATINE COUNT, a judicial functionary of high rank under the early Frankish kings over what was called a palatinate.

PALATINE COUNTIES, certain frontier counties in England, such as Chester, Durham, and Lancaster, which possess royal privileges and rights.

PALE, THE, that part of Ireland in which after the invasion of 1172 the supremacy of English rule and law was acknowledged, the limits of which differed at different times, but which generally included all the eastern counties extending 40 or 50 m. inland.

PALENQUE, a town in the State of Chiapas, Mexico, discovered in 1760, buried under a dense forest with extensive structures in ruins.

PALERMO (273), capital of Sicily, picturesquely situated in the midst of a beautiful and fertile valley called the Golden Shell; is a handsome town, with many public buildings and nearly 300 churches in Moorish and Byzantine architecture, a university, art school, museum, and libraries; industries are unimportant, but a busy trade is done with Britain, France, and the United States, exporting fruits, wine, sulphur, &c., and importing textiles, coals, machinery, and grain.

PALES, in Roman mythology the tutelary deity of shepherds and their flocks, the worship of whom was attended with numerous observances, as in the case of the nature divinities generally.

PALESTINE, or the HOLY LAND, a small territory on the SE. corner of the Mediterranean, about the size of Wales, being 140 m. from N. to S., and an average of 70 m. from E. to W., is bounded on the N. by Lebanon, on the E. by the Jordan Valley, on the S. by the Sinaitic Desert, and on the W. by the sea; there is great diversity of climate throughout its extent owing to the great diversity of level, and its flora and fauna are of corresponding range; it suffered much during the wars between the Eastern monarchies and Egypt, and in the wars between the Crescent and the Cross, and is now by a strange fate in the hands of the Turk; it has in recent times been the theatre of extensive exploring operations in the interest of its early history.

PALESTRINA, an Italian town, 22 m. SE. of Rome, on a slope of the Apennines, 2546 ft. above sea-level, on the site of the ancient Præneste, with the remains of Cyclopean walls, with a palace of the BARBERINI (q. v.).

PALESTRINA, GIOVANNI PIERLUIGI DE, celebrated composer of sacred music, surnamed the Prince of Music, born at Palestrina; resided chiefly at Rome, where he wrought a revolution in church music, produced a number of masses which at once raised him to the foremost rank among composers; was the author of a well-known Stabat Mater (1524-1594).

PALEY, FREDERICK ALTHORP, classical scholar, grandson of the succeeding, born near York; became a Roman Catholic, contributed to classical literature by his editions of the classics of both Greece and Rome, remarkable alike for their scholarship and the critical acumen they show (1816-1886).

PALEY, WILLIAM, "one of the most masculine and truly English of thinkers and writers," born at Peterborough; studied at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he was Senior Wrangler, and obtained a Fellowship, held afterwards various Church preferments, and died archdeacon of Carlisle; was a clear writer and cogent reasoner on common-sense lines, and was long famous, if less so now, as the author of "Horæ Paulinæ," "Evidences of Christianity," and "Natural Theology," as well as "Moral and Political Philosophy"; they are genuine products of the time they were written in, but are out of date now (1743-1806).

PALGRAVE, SIR FRANCIS, historian, born in London, of Jewish parents of the name of Cohen; was called to the bar in 1827, and became Deputy-Keeper of Her Majesty's Records in 1838; was the author of a history of the "Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth" and of a "History of England," tracing it back chiefly to the Anglo-Norman period, among other works (1788-1861).

PALGRAVE, FRANCIS TURNER, poet, son of preceding, born in London, professor of Poetry at Oxford, editor of "Golden Treasury of Songs and Lyrics," as well as author of lyrics, rhymes, &c.; b. 1824.

PALGRAVE, WILLIAM GIFFORD, Arabic scholar, born at Westminster, brother of preceding; after a brief term of service in the army joined the Society of Jesus, and served as a member of the order in India, Rome, and in Syria, where he acquired an intimate knowledge of Arabic, by means of which he contributed to our knowledge of both the Arabic language and the Arab race; wrote a narrative of a year's journey through Arabia (1826-1888).

PÂLI, the sacred language of the Buddhists, once a living language, but, like Sanskrit, no longer spoken.

PALIMPSEST, the name given to a parchment manuscript written on the top of another that has been erased, yet often not so thoroughly that it cannot be in a measure restored.

PALINGENESIA, name equivalent to "new birth," and applied both to regeneration and restoration, of which baptism in the former case is the symbol; in the Stoic philosophy it is preceded by dissolution, as in the rejuvenescence process of MEDEA (q. v.).

PALINURUS, the pilot of one of the ships of Æneas, who, sleeping at his post, fell into the sea, and was drowned.

PALISSY, BERNARD, the great French potter and inventor of a new process in the potter's art, born in Périgord, of humble parentage; celebrated for his fine earthenware vases ornamented with figures artistically modelled, but above all for his untiring zeal and patience in the study of his art and mastery in it, making fuel of his very furniture and the beams of his house in the conduct of his experiments; he was a Huguenot, but was specially exempted, by order of Catherine de' Medici, from the massacre of St. Bartholomew in 1672, although he was in 1585, as a Huguenot, imprisoned in the Bastille, where he died (1510-1590).

PALK'S STRAIT, the channel which separates Ceylon from the mainland of India, 100 m. long and 40 m. wide, generally shallow. See ADAM'S BRIDGE.

PALLADIO, ANDREA, an Italian architect, born at Vicenza, of poor parents; was precursor of the modern Italian style of architecture, and author of a treatise on architecture that has borne fruit; his works, which are masterpieces of the Renaissance, consist principally of palaces and churches, and the finest specimens are to be met with in Venice and in his native place (1518-1580).

PALLADIUM, a statue of Pallas in Troy, on the preservation of which depended the safety of the city, and from the date of the abstraction of which by Ulysses and Diomedes the fate of it was doomed; it was fabled to have fallen from heaven upon the plain of Troy, and to have after its abstraction been transferred to Athens and Argos; it is now applied to any safeguard of the liberty of a State.

PALLADIUS, ST., is called the "chief apostle of the Scottish nation," but his connection with Scotland during his lifetime is doubtful; he was sent to Ireland by Pope Celestine in A.D. 430, whence, after his death, his remains were brought by St. Ternan to Fordoun, Kincardineshire.

PALLAS, one of the names of ATHENA (q. v.) considered as the goddess of war; a name of uncertain derivation.

PALLAS, PETER SIMON, a German traveller and naturalist, born in Berlin, professor of Natural History in St. Petersburg; explored Siberia, and contributed to the geographical knowledge of the Russian empire (1741-1811).

PALLAVICINO, FERRANTE, Italian patriot, who gave offence by his pasquinades to the Papal Court and the Barberini; was betrayed and beheaded (1618-1644).

PALLAVICINO, SFORZA, cardinal and historian, born at Rome; was of the Jesuit order, and wrote a "History of the Council of Trent," in correction of the work of Paul Sarpi (1607-1667).

PALLICE, LA, port of La Rochelle, from which it is 3 m. distant, with harbourage for ocean-going steamers.

PALM, JOHANN PHILIPP, a Nürnberg bookseller, tried by court-martial at the instance of Napoleon, and shot, for the publication of a pamphlet reflecting on Napoleon and his troops, an act, from the injustice of it, that aroused the indignation of the whole German people against him; "better," thinks Carlyle, "had he lost his best park of artillery, or his best regiment drowned in the sea, than shot that poor German bookseller" (1768-1806).

PALM SUNDAY, the Sunday before Easter, is so called from its being commemorative of Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem; it is observed by the Greek and Roman Churches; in the latter palm branches are blessed by the priest before mass, carried in procession, distributed to the congregation, carried home by them, and kept throughout the year.

PALMA, 1, capital of the Balearic Islands (61), on the Bay of Palma, SW. coast of Majorca; has a Gothic cathedral, a Moorish palace, and a collection of pictures in the old Town Hall; manufactures silks, woollens, and jewellery, and does a busy trade. 2, One of the Canary Islands (39), 67 m. NW. of Teneriffe; grows sugar, and exports honey, wax, and silk manufactures.

PALMA, JACOPO, or The Old, a celebrated painter of the Venetian school, was a pupil of Titian; painted sacred subjects and portraits, all much esteemed (1480-1548).

PALMA, JACOPO, The Young, nephew of the preceding, also a painter, but of inferior merit, though he aimed to be the rival of Tintoretto and Paul Veronese (1544-1628).

PALMER, the name given to a pilgrim to the Holy Land who had performed his vow, in sign of which he usually bore a palm branch in his hand, which he offered on the altar on his return home.

PALMER, EDWARD HENRY, Oriental scholar, born at Cambridge; had an aptitude for languages, and was especially proficient in those of the East; by his knowledge of Arabic contributed to the success of exploring expeditions to S. Palestine and Sinai; was appointed professor of Arabic at Cambridge in 1871; produced a Persian-English Dictionary, an Arabic Grammar, and a translation of the Korân, and in 1882 undertook two missions to Egypt, in the latter of which he and his party were betrayed and murdered; he was a man of varied gifts and accomplishments, and the loss in scholarship to his country by his fate is incalculable (1840-1882).

PALMER, SAMUEL, English landscape-painter, chiefly in water-colours (1805-1881).

PALMERSTON, HENRY JOHN TEMPLE, VISCOUNT, English statesman, born, of an Irish family, at Broadlands, Hants; was educated at the universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge; succeeded to his father's title, an Irish peerage, in 1802, and entered Parliament in 1807 as member for Newport, Isle of Wight; during his long career he subsequently represented Cambridge University (1811-1831), Bletchingly, South Hampshire, and Tiverton; from 1809 to 1828 under five Premiers he was Junior Lord of the Admiralty and Secretary at War; and separating himself finally from the Tory party, he joined Earl Grey's Cabinet as Foreign Secretary in 1830; contrary to all expectation he kept the country out of war, and during the next 11 years he associated England's influence with that of France in Continental affairs; returning to office in 1846, he remained at his old post till 1851, steering England skilfully through the Spanish troubles and the revolutionary reaction of 1848; a vote of censure on his policy was carried in the Lords in 1850, but, after a five hours' speech from him, the Commons recorded their approval; he resigned owing to differences with the Premier, Lord John Russell; in 1852 joined Lord Aberdeen's coalition ministry, and on its fall became himself Prime Minister in 1855; he prosecuted the Crimean War and the Chinese War of 1857, and suppressed the Great Mutiny in India; defeated in 1858, he returned to office next year with a cabinet of Whigs and Peelites; his second administration furthered the cause of free trade, but made the mistake of allowing the Alabama to leave Birkenhead; he was Prime Minister when he died; a brusque, high-spirited, cheery man, sensible and practical, unpretending as an orator, but a skilful debater, he was a great favourite with the country, whose prosperity and prestige it was his chief desire to promote (1784-1865).

PALMISTRY, the art of reading character from the lines and marks on the palm of the hand, according to which some pretend to read fortunes as well.

PALMY`RA, a ruined city of Asia Minor, 150 m. NE. of Damascus, once situated in an oasis near the Arabian desert; a place of importance, and said to have been founded by Solomon for commercial purposes; of imposing magnificence as it ruins testify, as notably under Zenobia; it was taken by the Romans in 272, and destroyed by Aurelian, after which it gradually fell into utter decay; its ruins were discovered in 1678; it contains the ruins of a temple to Baal, 60 of the 300 columns of which were still standing.

PALO ALTO, 33 m. SE. of San Francisco; is the seat of a remarkable university founded by Senator Stanford, and opened in 1891, to provide instruction, from the Kindergarten stage to the most advanced and varied, to students and pupils boarded on the premises; of these there were 1000 in 1897.

PALUDAN-MÜLLER, FREDERICK, distinguished Danish poet, born in Fünen; his greatest poem, "Adam Homo," a didactico-humorous composition; was an earnest man and a finished literary artist (1809-1876).

PAMELA, a novel of Richardson's, from the name of the heroine, a girl of low degree, who resists temptation and reclaims her would-be seducer.

PAMIRS, THE, or the "Roof of the World," a plateau traversed by mountain ridges and valleys, of the average height of 13,000 ft., NW. of the plateau of Thibet, connecting the mountain system of the Himalayas, Tian-Shan, and the Hindu Kush, and inhabited chiefly by nomad Kirghiz bands; territorial apportionments have for some time past been in the hands of Russian and British diplomatists.

PAMPAS, vast grassy, treeless, nearly level plains in South America, in the Argentine State; they stretch from the lower Paraná to the S. of Buenos Ayres; afford rich pasture for large herds of wild horses and cattle, and are now in certain parts being brought under tillage.

PAMPELUNA or PAMPLONA (31), a fortified city of Northern Spain, is 80 m. due SE. of Bilbao. It has a Gothic cathedral and a surgical college, with manufactures of pottery and leather, and a trade in wine. Formerly capital of Navarre, it has suffered much in war; has this century several times resisted the Carlists.

PAN, in the Greek mythology a goat-man, a personification of rude nature, and the protector of flocks and herds; originally an Arcadian deity, is represented as playing on a flute of reeds joined together of different lengths, called Pan's pipes; and dancing on his cloven hoofs over glades and mountains escorted by a bevy of nymphs side by side, and playing on his pipes. There is a remarkable tradition, that on the night of the Nativity at Bethlehem an astonished voyager heard a voice exclaiming as he passed the promontory of Tarentum, "The great Pan is dead." The modern devil is invested with some of his attributes, such as cloven hoofs, &c.

PANAMA (15), a free port in the State of Colombia, on the Pacific coast of the isthmus of the same name, and an oppressively hot and humid place, is the terminus of the Panama railroad and the seat of a great transit trade. It has a Spanish cathedral. The population, of Indian and negro descent chiefly, is only half what it was when the canal works were in full operation.

PANAMA CANAL Geographers were familiar with the idea of connecting the two oceans by a canal through Central America as early as the beginning of the 16th century, and Dutch plans are said to exist dating from the 17th century. The first practical steps were taken by Ferdinand de Lesseps in 1879; two years later work was begun; the cost was estimated at £24,000,000, but on January 1, 1889, the company was forced into liquidation after spending over £70,000,000, and accomplishing but a fifth of the work. Extravagance and incapacity were alleged among the causes of failure; but the apparently insurmountable difficulties were marshes, quicksands, and the overflow of the Chagres River, the prevalence of earthquakes, the length of the rainy season, the cost of labour and living, and the extreme unhealthiness of the climate.

PANATHENÆA, a festival, or rather two festivals, the Lesser and the Greater, anciently celebrated at Athens in honour of Athena, the patron-goddess of the city.

PANCHATANTRA, an old collection of fables and stories originally in Sanskrit, and versions of which have passed into all the languages of India, have appeared in different forms, and been associated with different names.

PANCRAS, ST., a boy martyr of 16, who suffered under the Diocletian persecution about 304, and is variously represented in mediæval legend as bearing a stone and sword, or a palm branch, and trampling a Saracen under foot, in allusion to his hatred of heathenism.

PANDECTS, the digest of civil law executed at the instance of the Emperor Justinian between the years 530 and 533.

PANDORA (i. e. the All-Gifted) in the Greek mythology a woman of surpassing beauty, fashioned by Hephæstos, and endowed with every gift and all graces by Athena, sent by Zeus to EPIMETHEUS (q. v.) to avenge the wrong done to the gods by his brother Prometheus, bearing with her a box full of all forms of evil, which Epimetheus, though cautioned by his brother, pried into when she left, to the escape of the contents all over the earth in winged flight, Hope alone remaining behind in the casket.

PANDOURS, a name given to a body of light-infantry at one time in the Austrian service, levied among the Slavs on the Turkish frontier, and now incorporated as a division of the regular army.

PANDULF, CARDINAL, was the Pope's legate to King John of England, and to whom, on his submission, John paid homage at Dover; d. 1226.

PANGE LINGUA, a hymn in the Roman Breviary, service of Corpus Christi, part of which is incorporated in every Eucharistic service; was written in rhymed Latin by Thomas Aquinas.

PÁNINI, a celebrated Sanskrit grammarian, whose work is of standard authority among Hindu scholars, and who lived some time between 600 and 300 B.C.

PANIPAT (29), a town in the Punjab, 53 m. N. of Delhi; was the scene of two decisive battles, one in 1526 to the establishment of the Mogul dynasty at Delhi, and another in 1701 to the extinction of the Mahratta supremacy in North-West India.

PANIZZI, ANTONIO, principal librarian of the British Museum from 1850 to 1866, born at Modena; took refuge in England in 1821 as implicated in a Piedmontese revolutionary movement that year; procured the favour of Lord Brougham and a post in the Museum, in which he rose to be one of the chiefs (1797-1879).

PANNONIA, a province of the Roman empire, conquered between 35 B.C. and A.D. 8; occupied a square with the Danube on the N. and E. and the Save almost on the S. border; it passed to the Eastern Empire in the 5th century, fell under Charlemagne's sway, and was conquered by the modern Hungarians shortly before A.D. 1000.

PANOPTICON, a prison so arranged that the warder can see every prisoner in charge without being seen by them.

PANSLAVISM, the name given to a movement for union of all the Slavonic races in one nationality, a project which lags heavily owing to the jealousy on the part of one section or another.

PANTAGRUEL, the principal character of one of the two great works of Rabelais, and named after him; he and his father Gargantua figured as two enormous giants, being personifications of royalty with its insatiable lust of territory and power.

PANTHEISM, the doctrine or creed which affirms the immanency of God in nature, or that God is within nature, but ignores or denies His transcendency, or that He is above nature; distinguished from deism, which denies the former but affirms the latter, from theism, which affirms both, and from atheism, which denies both.

PANTHEON, a temple in Rome, first erected by Agrippa, son-in-law of Augustus, circular in form, 150 ft. in height, with niches all round for statues of the gods, to whom in general it was dedicated; it is now a church, and affords sepulture to illustrious men. Also a building in Paris, originally intended to be a church in honour of the patron saint of Paris, but at the time of the Revolution converted into a receptacle for the ashes of the illustrious dead, Mirabeau being its first occupant, and bearing this inscription, Aux grands hommes la patrie reconnaissant; it was subsequently appropriated to other uses, but under the third republic it became again a resting-place for the ashes of eminent men.

PANTOGRAPH, the name given to a contrivance for copying a drawing or a design on an enlarged or a reduced scale.

PANURGE, one of the principal characters in the "Pantagruel" of Rabelais, an exceedingly crafty knave, a libertine, and a coward.

PANZA, SANCHO, Don Quixote's squire, a squat, paunchy peasant endowed with rude common-sense, but incapable of imagination.

PAOLI, PASQUALE DE, a Corsican patriot; sought to achieve the independence of his country, but was defeated by the Genoese, aided by France, in 1769; took refuge in England, where he was well received and granted a pension; returned to Corsica and became lieutenant-general under the French republic, raised a fresh insurrection, had George III. proclaimed king, but failed to receive the viceroyalty, and returned to England, where he died a disappointed man (1726-1807).

PAPAL STATES, a territory in the N. of Italy extending irregularly from Naples to the Po, at one time subject to the temporal sovereignty of the Pope, originating in a gift to his Holiness of Pepin the Short, and taking shape as such about the 11th century, till in the 16th and 17th centuries the papal power began to assert itself in the general politics of Europe, and after being suppressed for a time by Napoleon it was formally abolished by annexation of the territory to the crown of Sardinia in 1870.

PAPHOS, the name of two ancient cities in the SW. of Cyprus; the older (now Kyklia) was a Phoenician settlement, in which afterwards stood a temple of Venus, who was fabled to have sprung from the sea-foam close by; the other, 8 m. westward, was the scene of Paul's interview with Sergius Paulus and encounter with Elymas.

PAPIAS, bishop of Hierapolis, in Phrygia, who flourished in the middle of the 2nd century, and wrote a book entitled "Exposition of the Lord's Sayings," fragments of which have been preserved by Eusebius and others; he was, it is said, the companion of Polycarp.

PAPIER-MÂCHE is a light, durable substance made from paper pulp or sheets of paper pasted together and variously treated with chemicals, heat, and pressure, largely used for ornamental trays, boxes, light furniture, &c., in which it is varnished and decorated to resemble lacquer-work, and for architectural decoration, in which it is made to imitate plaster moulding; the manufacture was learned from the Eastern nations. Persia, India, and Japan having been long familiar with it; America has adapted it to use for railroad wheels, &c.

PAPIN, DENIS, French physicist, born at Blois, practised medicine at Angers; came to England and assisted Boyle in his experiments, made a special study of the expansive power of steam and its motive power, invented a steam-digester with a safety-valve, since called after him, for cooking purposes at a high temperature; became professor of Mathematics at Marburg (1647-1712).

PAPINIANUS, ÆMILIUS, a celebrated Roman jurist; was put to death by Caracalla for refusing, it is said, when requested, to vindicate his conduct in murdering his brother (142-212).

PAPIRIUS, a Roman pontiff to whom is ascribed a collection of laws constituting the Roman code under the kings.

PAPPENHEIM, COUNT VON, imperial general, born in Bavaria; played a prominent part in the Thirty Years' War; was distinguished for his zeal as well as his successes on the Catholic side; was mortally wounded at Lützen, expressed his gratitude to God when he learned that Gustavas Adolphus, who fell in the same battle, had died before him (1594-1632).

PAPPUS OF ALEXANDRIA, a Greek geometer of the third or fourth century, author of "Mathematical Collections," in eight books, of which the first and second have been lost.

PAPUANS, the name of the members of the negro race inhabiting certain islands of Oceania, including New Guinea, New Hebrides, New Caledonia, Fiji Islands, &c.

PAPY`RUS, the Greek name of the Egyptian papu, is a kind of sedge growing 10 ft. high, with a soft triangular stem, the pith of which is easily split into ribbons, found still in Egypt, Nubia, Abyssinia, &c.; the pith ribbons were the paper of the ancient Egyptians, of the Greeks after Alexander, and of the later Romans; they were used by the Arabs of the 8th century, and in Europe till the 12th; at first long strips were rolled up, but later rectangular pages were cut and bound together book fashion; though age has rendered the soft white pages brown and brittle, much ancient literature is still preserved on papyrus; the use of papyrus was superseded by that of parchment and rag-made paper.

PARÁ (40), a Brazilian port at the mouth of the Guama, on the E. shore of the Pará estuary, is a compact, regularly-built, thriving town, with whitewashed buildings, blue and white tiled roofs, tree-shaded streets, tram-cars, telephones, theatre, and cathedral; it is the emporium of the Amazon trade, exporting india-rubber and cacao, and sending foreign goods into the interior; though hot, it is healthy.

PARABLE, a short allegorical narrative intended to illustrate and convey some spiritual instruction.

PARABOLA, a conic section formed by the intersection of a cone by a plane parallel to one of its sides.

PARACELSUS, a Swiss physician, alchemist, and mystic, whose real name was Theophrastus Bombastus, born at Einsiedeln, in Schwyz; was a violent revolutionary in the medical art, and provoked much hostility, so that he was driven to lead a wandering and unsettled life; notwithstanding, he contributed not a little, by his knowledge and practice, to inaugurate a more scientific study of nature than till his time prevailed (1493-1541).

PARAFFIN, name given by Baron Reichenbach to a transparent crystalline substance obtained by distillation from wood, bituminous coal, shale, &c., and so called because it resists the action of the strongest acids and alkalies.

PARAGUAY (400), except Uruguay the smallest State in South America, is an inland Republic whose territories lie in the fork between the Pilcomayo and Paraguay and the Paraná Rivers, with Argentina on the W. and S., Bolivia on the N., and Brazil on the N. and E.; it is less than half the size of Spain, consists of rich undulating plains, and, in the S., of some of the most fertile land on the continent; the climate is temperate for the latitude; the population, Spanish, Indian, and half-caste, is Roman Catholic; education is free and compulsory; the country is rich in natural products, but without minerals; timber, dye-woods, rubber, Paraguay tea (a kind of holly), gums, fruits, wax, honey, cochineal, and many medicinal herbs are gathered for export; maize, rice, cotton, and tobacco are cultivated; the industries include some tanning, brick-works, and lace-making; founded by Spain in 1535, Paraguay was the scene of an interesting experiment in the 17th century, when the country was governed wholly by the Jesuits, who, excluding all European settlers, built up a fabric of Christian civilisation; they were expelled in 1768; in 1810 the country joined the revolt against Spain, and was the first to establish its independence; for 26 years it was under the government of Dr. Francia; from 1865 to 1870 it maintained a heroic but disastrous war against the Argentine, Brazil, and Uruguay, as a consequence of which the population fell from a million and a half to a quarter of a million; it is again prosperous and progressing. The capital is Asunçion (18), at the confluence of the Pilcomayo and Paraguay.

PARAGUAY RIVER, a South American river 1800 m. long, the chief tributary of the Paraná, rises in some lakes near Matto Grosso, Brazil, and flows southward through marshy country till it forms the boundary between Brazil and Bolivia, then traversing Paraguay, it becomes the boundary between that State and the Argentine Republic, and finally enters the Paraná above Corrientes; it receives many affluents, and is navigable by ocean steamers almost to its source.

PARAKLETE, the Holy Spirit which Christ promised to His disciples would take His place as their teacher and guide after He left them. Also the name of the monastery founded by Abelard near Nogent-sur-Seine, and of which HELOÏSE (q. v.) was abbess.

PARALLAX, an astronomical term to denote an apparent change in the position of a heavenly body due to a change in the position or assumed position of the observer.

PARAMAR`IBO (24), the capital of Dutch Guiana, on the Surinam, 10 m. from the sea, and the centre of the trade of the colony.

PARAMO, the name given to an elevated track of desert on the Andes.

PARANÁ RIVER, a great river of South America, formed by the confluence of the Rio Grande and the Paranahyba, in SE. Brazil, flows SW. through Brazil and round the SE. border of Paraguay, then receiving the Paraguay River, turns S. through the Argentine, then E. till the junction of the Uruguay forms the estuary of the Plate. The river is broad and rapid, 2000 m. long, more than half of it navigable from the sea; at the confluence of the Yguassu it enters a narrow gorge, and for 100 m. forms one of the most remarkable rapids in the world; the chief towns on its banks are in the Argentine, viz. Corrientes, Santa Fé, and Rosario.

PARCÆ, the Roman name of the THREE FATES (q. v.), derived from "pars," a part, as apportioning to every individual his destiny.

PARCHMENT consists of skins specially prepared for writing on, and is so called from a king of Pergamos, who introduced it when the export of papyrus from Egypt was stopped; the skins used are of sheep, for fine parchment or vellum, of calves, goats, and lambs; parchment for drumheads is made from calves' and asses' skins.

PARCS-AUX-CERFS, the French name for clearings to provide hunting fields for the French aristocracy prior to the Revolution.

PARÉ, AMBROISE, great French surgeon, born at Laval; was from the improved methods he introduced in the treatment of surgical cases entitled to be called, as he has been, the father of modern surgery, for his success as an operator, in particular the tying of divided arteries and the treatment of gunshot wounds; he was in the habit of saying of any patient he had successfully operated upon, "I cared for him; God healed him"; his writings exercised a beneficent influence on the treatment of surgical cases in all lands (1517-1590).

PARIAH, a Hindu of the lowest class, and of no caste; of the class they are of various grades, but all are outcast, and treated as such.

PARIS (2,448), the capital of France, in the centre of the northern half of the country, on both banks of the Seine, and on two islands (La Cité and St. Louis) in the middle, 110 m. from the sea; is the largest city on the Continent, and one of the most beautiful in the world. No city has finer or gayer streets, or so many noble buildings. The Hôtel de Cluny and the Hôtel de Sens are rare specimens of 15th-century civic architecture. The Palace of the Tuileries, on the right bank of the Seine, dates from the 16th century, and was the royal residence till the Revolution. Connected with it is the Louvre, a series of galleries of painting, sculpture, and antiquities, whose contents form one of the richest collections existing, and include the peerless "Venus de Milo." The Palais Royal encloses a large public garden, and consists of shops, restaurants, the Théâtre Français, and the Royal Palace of the Orleans family. South of the river is the Luxembourg, where the Senate meets, and on the Ile de la Cité stands the Palais de Justice and the Conciergerie, one of the oldest Paris prisons. St.-Germain-des-Prés is the most ancient church, but the most important is the cathedral of Notre Dame, 12th century, which might tell the whole history of France could it speak. Saint-Chapelle is said to be the finest Gothic masterpiece extant. The Pantheon, originally meant for a church, is the burial-place of the great men of the country, where lie the remains of Voltaire, Rousseau, and Carnot. The oldest hospitals are the Hôtel Dieu, La Charité, and La Pitié. The University Schools in the Quartier Latin attract the youth of all France; the chief are the Schools of Medicine and Law, the Scotch College, the College of France, and the Sorbonne, the seat of the faculties of letters, science, and Protestant theology. Triumphal arches are prominent in the city. There are many museums and charitable institutions; the Bibliothèque Nationale, in the Rue Richelieu, rivals the British Museum in numbers of books and manuscripts. The Palace of Industry and the Eiffel Tower commemorate the exhibitions of 1854 and 1889 respectively. Great market-places stand in various parts of the city. The Rue de Rivoli, Rue de la Paix, Rue du Faubourg St.-Honoré, and the Rue Royale are among the chief streets; beautiful squares are numerous, the most noted being the Place de la Concorde, between the Champs Elysées and the Gardens of the Tuileries, in the centre of which the Obelisk of Luxor stands on the site of the guillotine at which Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette, Philippe Egalité, Danton, and Robespierre died. Boulevards lined with trees run to the outskirts of the city. The many roads, railways, canals, and rivers which converge on Paris have made it the most important trading centre in France, and the concourse of wealthy men of all nations has given it a high place in the financial world. It is a manufacturing city, producing jewellery, ornamental furniture, and all sorts of artistic "articles de Paris." The centre of French, and indeed European, fashion, it is noted for its pleasure and gaiety. The concentration of Government makes it the abode of countless officials. It is strongly fortified, being surrounded by a ring of forts, and a wall 22 m. long, at the 56 gates of which the octroi dues are levied. The Préfect of the Seine, appointed by the Government, and advised by a large council, is the head of the municipality, of the police and fire brigades, cleansing, draining, and water-supply departments. The history of Paris is the history of France, for the national life has been, and is, in an extraordinary degree centred in the capital. It was the scene of the great tragic drama of the Revolution, and of the minor struggles of 1830 and 1849. In recent times its great humiliation was its siege and capture by the Germans in 1870-71.

PARIS, the second son of Priam and Hecuba; was exposed on Mount Ida at his birth; brought up by a shepherd; distinguished himself by his prowess, by which his parentage was revealed; married OENONË (q. v.); appealed to to decide to whom the "apple of discord" belonged, gave it to Aphrodité in preference to her two rivals Hera and Athena; was promised in return that he should receive the most beautiful woman in the world to wife, Helen of Sparta, whom he carried off to Greece, and which led to the TROJAN WAR (q. v.); slew Achilles, and was mortally wounded by the poisoned arrows of Hercules.

PARIS, MATTHEW, English chronicler; a Benedictine monk of St. Albans; author of "Chronica Majora," which contains a history written in Latin of England from the Conquest to the year in which he died (1195-1259).

PARK, MUNGO, African traveller, born at Foulshiels, near Selkirk; was apprenticed to a surgeon, and studied medicine at Edinburgh; 1791-93 he spent in a voyage to Sumatra, and in 1795 went for the first time to Africa under the auspices of the African Association of London; starting from the Gambia he penetrated eastward to the Niger, then westward to Kamalia, where illness seized him; conveyed to his starting-point by a slave-trader, he returned to England and published "Travels in the Interior of Africa," 1799; he married and settled to practice at Peebles, but he was not happy till in 1805 he set out for Africa again at Government expense; starting from Pisania he reached the Niger, and sending back his journals attempted to descend the river in a canoe, but, attacked by natives, the canoe overturned; and he and his companions were drowned (1771-1805).

PARKER, JOHN HENRY, archæologist and writer on architecture; originally a London publisher, his chief work the "Archæology of Rome," in nine vols., a subject to which he devoted much study (1800-1884).

PARKER, JOSEPH, an eminent Nonconformist divine, born in Hexham; minister of the City Temple; a vigorous and popular preacher, and the author of numerous works bearing upon biblical theology and the defence of it; his magnum opus is the "People's Bible," of which 25 vols. are already complete; b. 1830.

PARKER, MATTHEW, archbishop of Canterbury, born at Norwich; was a Fellow of Cambridge; embraced the Protestant doctrines; became Master of Corpus Christi College, Oxford; was chaplain to Anne Boleyn, and made Dean of Ely by Edward VI.; was deprived of his offices under Mary, but made Primate under Elizabeth, and the Bishop's Bible was translated and issued under his auspices (1504-1575).

PARKER, THEODORE, an American preacher and lecturer; adopted and professed the Unitarian creed, but discarded it, like Emerson, for a still more liberal; distinguished himself in the propagation of it by his lectures as well as his writings; was a vigorous anti-slavery agitator, and in general a champion of freedom; died at Florence while on a tour for his health (1810-1860).

PARKMAN, FRANCIS, American historian, born in Boston; his writings valuable, particularly in their bearing on the dominion of the French in America, its rise, decline, and fall (1823-1893).

PARLEMENT, the name given to the local courts of justice in France prior to the Revolution, in which the edicts of the king required to be registered before they became laws; given by pre-eminence to the one in Paris, composed of lawyers, or gentlemen of the long robe, as they were called, whose action the rest uniformly endorsed, and which played an important part on the eve of the Revolution, and contributed to further the outbreak of it, to its own dissolution in the end.

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