made in Latin verse of the poem of Museus, and adds, that he translated the Argonautics attributed to Orpheus, and Lucian's Tragopodagra. He was likewise a great collector of medals. Tiraboschi. Halleri Bibl. Med. Eloy Dict. Hist. Med.-A. MONTE, GUIDUBALDE, MARQUIS DEL, a Venetian nobleman, and able mathematician in the 16th and at the commencement of the 17th century, the dates of whose birth and death are unknown; and concerning whose personal history we have no other information, than that he spent almost his whole life in retirement, passionately devoted to abstruse and difficult mathematical studies. It is certain that he was living in 1600, since his "Treatise on Perspective," published in that year, was edited by himself; but that he was dead in 1608, appears from an edition of his " Astronomical Problems," published under the inspection of his son the marquis HORACE, who dedicated it to the doge Leonard Donati. The Treatise on Perspective is the first, according to Montucla, in which that science was completely eftablished upon mathematical demonstrations. The Marquis del Monte also published "A Theory of Planispheres," and drew up "A Reformed Calendar." To his skill as an astronomer, his problems above mentioned bear sufficient testimony. He likewise directed his attention to the study of statics, and mechanics; and in publications that appeared in 1577, corrected the errors of his predecessors relative to the inclination of the balance, and threw new light on the science of statics in general, by establishing it upon certain principles. Besides what has been already mentioned, he wrote commentaries upon the two treatises of Archimedes "On Equiponderants," or centres of gravity, and " On the Cochleon," or screwpump for drawing of water. Such were the occupations and labours of this learned nobleman. Landi's Hist. de la Lit. de l'Italie, vol. IV. liv. xi. art. ii. sest. 68.—M. MONTECATINUS, ANTHONY, an Italian professor of philosophy who flourished in the 16th century, was a native of Ferrara, where he was born in the year 1536. After reading different public lectures in that city, he was appointed first professor of philosophy there. He became a particular favourite of Alphonso II. duke of Ferrara, who deputed him on concerns of state to the courts of France and Rome. He was also appointed governor of the city of Regio; created chief magistrate of Ferrara; and frequently was entrusted with the whole ma nagement of affairs under the duke. He died at Ferrara in 1599, at the age of 63. He wrote "A Commentary on the First Book of Aris-` totle's Politics," published in 1587, in folio, with twenty-two tables prefixed to it, containing an analysis of Aristotle's entire work; and a commentary on the second book of the same work, with this title "Aristotelis Politicorum, hoc est, civilium Librorum Liber secundus, ab Ant. Mont. in Latinam Linguam conversus, et partitionibus, resolutionibus, Scholiis illustratus," 1594, folio; to which he added, in the same volume, the three following treatises: "Platonis Lib. x. de Republica, et Ant. Mont. in eos partitiones, et quasi Paraphrasis quædam;" "Platonis Lib. xii. de Legibus, vel de Legumlatione et Epinomis, et Legasquæ in Libris illis, sparsim sunt diffusæ," &c.; and "Quinque veterum Republicarum Hippodamie, Laconica, Cretice, Carthaginiensis, Atheniensis, contra quas Aristoteles in posteriori Parte secundi politici disputavit, antiqua Fragmenta." In 1591, he published his "Commentary on the Eighth Book of Aristotle's Physis," in folio; in 1597, his "Commentary on the Third Book of Aritotle's Politics," in folio; and at some other period his "Commentary on the first Part of the third Book of Aristotle de Anima." On these works the learned father Naudé remarks, that the author, "by endeavouring to explain the books of Plato's and Aristotle's republic, with large notes, tables, and divisions, could never satisfy himself nor his reader." Bayle.-M. MONTECUCCOLI or MONTECUCULI, Raymond, prince of the holy Roman empire, and a celebrated general in the service of the house of Austria, was born in 1608 at Montecuccoli, the seat of his family in the Modenese. After receiving a liberal education at the schools of Modena, Perugia, and Rome, he took arms at an early age under his uncle Ernest Montecuccoli, general of artillery in the imperial service. He entered as a private volunteer, and served in that capacity both in the infantry and cavalry, as well as in the various gradations of military command. The wars in Flanders were his first scene of action, and in that school he acquired the skill and experience which raised him into notice. In the Swedish war he commanded as a captain in the van-guard at the assault of New Brandenburg. under count Tilly, and obtained great applause. for his valour from that general. In 1644, being at the head of 2000 cavalry, he surprised a body of Swedes besieging Nemeslau, im Silesia, and defeated them with the loss of their artillery and baggage. He was after wards himself defeated and made prisoner by the Swedish general Bannier, and was kept in captivity for two years. This time, however, was by no means lost, since he employed it in literary and scientific pursuits, and stored his mind with various acquisitions which he could not have obtained in the hurry of warfare. After his release he was for a time engaged in the service of his native sovereign, the duke of Modena, and rescued Novantola, besieged by the papal troops. Resuming his command in the imperial army, he shared with John de Wert in defeating general Wrangel, who lost his life in the action; and he afterwards saved Augsburg from the Swedes and French, who had defeated the imperial general Holzapfel. When peace was restored by the treaty of Westphalia in 1649, Montecuccoli visited Flanders and Holland, and thence went to Stockholm, probably in a diplomatic capacity. He was honourably received by queen Christina, who afterwards admitted him to her correspondence, and imparted to him her intention of abdicating the throne. Returning to his native country, he assisted at a magnificent carousal given by the duke of Modena at his marriage. It was, however, attended with a tragical event which deeply afflicted him; for he had the misfortune in tilting with his intimate friend Molza, a Modenese cavalier, to wound him mortally in the throat with his lance. Having inherited the property of his uncle Ernest, he married, in 1657, MariaJosepha Dietrichstein, daughter to the prince of that name, great steward of the household to the emperor, a lady distinguished for her lady distinguished for her beauty and accomplishments. In the same year he was sent by the emperor, with the rank of field-marshal-general, to the assistance of John Casimir king of Poland, against Ragotski prince of Transylvania, supported by the Swedes. He defeated Ragotski, and recovered Cracow from the Swedes; and when CharlesGustavus afterwards turned his arms against the king of Denmark, Montecuccoli marched to his relief, drove the Swedes from Jutland, and rescued Copenhagen. Peace was restored in the north; but troubles arose on the side of Hungary which soon after involved the emperor Leopold in a war with the Turks. Montecuccoli was sent to command in that quarter, and by his skilful and prudent conduct baffled the attempts of the Turks, who invaded Hungary with a vastly superior force. At length, the imperial army being reinforced by succours from France and other parts of Europe, Montecuccoli resolved to give battle to the grand vizier, who was advancing towards Vienna; and in 1664 he gave the Turks a total and bloody defeat at St. Gothard, after a long and well-disputed action. A peace was the immediate consequence of this victory, and the successful general was recompensed, on his return to Vienna, with the post of president of the council of war. In 1666 he was deputed as ambassador to receive at Genoa the infanta of Spain, espoused to Leopold, on which occasion he was decorated by the king of Spain with the order of the golden fleece. In 1670 he conducted to Poland the sister of the emperor, destined to be the spouse of king Michael. These pacific employments were exchanged for a renewal of military service, on occasion of the war between the empire and France in 1673. Montecuccoli was chosen to oppose the famous Turenne. After a variety of marches and. counter-marches he succeeded in forming a junction with the prince of Orange and taking Bonn; but the shackles imposed upon him by the imperial councils having prevented him from doing so much as was expected from him, he incurred the displeasure of the allies, and was obliged to quit the command. The superiority which the French assumed caused him, however, to be recalled in 1675, as the only general capable of being matched with Turenne; and the campaign which ensued between these two masters exhausted every stratagem of war. The exquisite nicety of the movements on both sides may be estimated from the circumstance, that two large armies were perpetually moving in a space ten or twelve leagues in length, and four or five in breadth. While the game was yet in balance, it was brought to a conclusion by the death of Turenne from a cannon-shot, as he was reconnoitring with a design to attack. His rival had the generosity to lament his fate, and bestow the highest praises on his memory. The match was no longer equal, and the retreat of the French gave Montecuccoli the opportunity of penetrating into Alsace, and it was necessary to summon Condé from Flanders to stop his progress. After having thus been opposed to the two most illustrious generals in Europe, he declined contending with inferior antagonists, and retired to a repose so well merited by his age and services. At Vienna. he presided over the council of war, and em ployed his influence at court in the protection of science and letters. He contributed greatly to the establishment of the academy styled Nature Curiosorum, of which he was president. He himself cultivated literature, and on the death of his wife, in 1676, he expressed his grief in an Italian sonnet. Having accompanied the emperor Leopold to Lintz, he died there in 1681, in the seventy-third year of his age. The title of Montecuccoli to the character of a consummate general has been recognised by the ablest judges, among whom it is sufficient to mention Folard, and the great Frederic of Prussia. He himself, besides his actions, has left a proof of his military skill in his "Memoire sull' Arte della Guerra," which were composed during his campaigns in Hungary, and were presented to the emperor in 1665. They were not printed till after his death, and then incorrectly. The work is the first on the subject composed after the great change which the use of artillery had brought into the art of war. It is divided into three books, 1. Of the art-military in general; 2. Of war with the Turks; 3. A narrative of the campaign of 1664. Though concise, it is accounted a very valuable sketch of the subject on which it treats. It has been translated into French, and diffusely commented upon by count Turpin de Crissè. Mod. Univ. Hist. Elogi Italiani. --A. MONTEMAYOR, GEORGE DE. Few of his countrymen have obtained so diffused a celebrity as this castillianised Portugueze. He was born at Montemor, of obscure parentage, or he would not have thus taken his name from his birth-place. Having a musical talent, he found patronage at the Spanish court, and visited Italy and Flanders in the suite of Philip II., then prince of Spain. In 1561 he perished by a violent death in Piedmont, neither Barbosa nor Nicolas Antonio mention how. There is a most miserable sonnet full of puns upon his connection with mountains in life and death, by Manuel Faria Sousa. George de Montemayor published a cancionero including his own poems, and a translation of Ansis March. But the work which obtained for him his great and transient celebrity is his Diana, a pastoral romance. The romances of chivalry were made up of battles without end, the new species consists wholly of love; they are as inartificial as unnatural, and infinitely more tiresome. The fable of the Diana is the most meagre that can be con ceived. Diana, in the absence of her lover Sireno, marries an old man. Sireno returns in a suitable state of misery, and associates with Syloano, another shepherd, who also loved Diana, and though his love had never been returned, is as miserable as himself. They are joined by a shepherdess and a nymph, who are both unfortunate in love: the latter shoots admirably well with a bow, killing, at different times, three giants and two knights. The good enchantress Felicia invites this disconsolate party to come to her for help, and on the way they find another love-lorn shepherdess to be of the party. Felicia has a wonderful water, which is as specific as the fountain in Arden for the cure of love; with this she effaces the passion of all those whose case is hopeless, and the rest are happily married. Sireno is left a light-hearted bachelor, and Diana, who does not appear till the latter end of the volume, is described as little pleased at the jealousy of her husband, and the loss of both her lovers. A second part is promised, which was to contain the history of what happened to Sireno, and of the loves of two persons who have just made their appearance. Cervantes is merciful to this book; he condemns only the machinery and the longer poems. Some of the poems however are of great merit; one in particular, which Sireno addresses to a lock of Diana's hair, has not often been surpassed in its kind. And the whole has probably some charm of language imperceptible to a foreign reader, or its reputation could never have been so high. A Portugueze admirer of this romance once offered an estate worth two thousand crusades as a prize for any person who should write a better. He had talked over his plan for the second part with his friend Alonso Perez, a physician of Salamanca; his design was to make Sireno marry Diana after the death of her husband, but the ingenious doctor observed, that this would be shutting the door upon himself, and finishing the story too soon; whereas if he were to represent Diana as sued by many lovers at the time when Sireno renewed his love, there would remain agreeable matter for a third part. This advice, which George did not live to fol low, he himself put in practice; but his second part is deemed far inferior to the original. The sum of the story is, that the old husband dies, and Felicia then gives Sireno another glass of water to make him in love again. The romance was finally completed with great success by Gaspar Gil Polo, whose Diana Ena morada was one of the Spanish books printed in England about seventy years ago. It was not likely that the physician should write well, as he makes it his boast that there is scarcely a passage in his volume, either in prose or verse, which is not imitated from the Latin or Italian writers. Speaking of his predecessor, he says, let him undeceive himself who shall think to equal him in facility of composition, or in sweetness of verse,-had he but understood Latin, had he not disdained to consult with men learned in that language and well read in poetry, he would have left all our authors far behind them. The meaning of this seems to be, that George de Montemayor did not attend to his friend the doctor's critical prescriptions. This preface also affords one proof of the high estimation in which the Diana was held. Alonso Perez says, he would have kept his book by him ten years, had he not been afraid that another second part would come out first, because it was a thing so much desired by all. The Diana has been translated into many languages. The French translator mentions it as a current opinion in Spain, that the story related to the private history of the duke of Alva, in whose service the author at one time was. Such an opinion is not likely to prevail any where else. It will not be easy to persuade any person acquainted with history that the duke of Alva has ever been represented as a shepherd in love! Nic. Antonio. Barbosa. D. Francisco Manuel. Le Diana 172. parte.R. S. MONTEREUL, or MONTEREUIL, BERNARDIN DE, a learned French Jesuit in the seventeenth century, was born at Paris in the year 1596. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1624, and after having gone through his course of academic studies, filled the chair of philosophy for four years, and afterwards that of moral theology, during an equal term, with no little reputation. He was also greatly admired as a preacher, and much resorted to in the capacity of director of consciences. He died at Paris in 1646, when about fifty years of age. He was the author of " A Life of Jesus Christ," 1637, in two volumes, quarto, which was afterwards enlarged into four volumes, quarto, and underwent numerous impressions. It was revised and retouched by father Brignon, and re-printed in its amended state in 1741, in three volumes, 12mo. It has the character of being an excellent performance, and is said to be a good substitute for a har mony of the Evangelists. The author also published "A History of the early State of the Church, comprising the Acts of the Apostles," 1640, 12mo.; and "The last Conflicts of the Church, as explained in the Apocalypse," 1649, quarto, and 12mo. Satvelli Bibl. Scrip. Soc. Jesu. Nouv. Dict. Hist.-M. MONTESQUIEU, CHARLES DE SECONDAT, baron de, an eminent magistrate and writer, descended from a distiguished family in Guienne, was born at the castle of Brede near Bordeaux, in 1689. From an early age he manifested a propensity to deep and solid disquisition, and in his 20th year began to make those methodical extracts from the ample body of civil law, which were the materials of his most celebrated work. He was the son of a younger brother; but a paternal uncle at his death left him his property, together with his office of president a mortier to the parliament of Bordeaux, to which he was admitted in 1716. Being deputed by that body, in 1722, to make remonstrances on account of a new impost, he employed his eloquence with so much force as to obtain its suppression. He had published, a year before, his "Persian Letters," one of those works which gives a satirical representation of the manners and sentiments of the country of the writer, under the assumed character of a foreigner to whom every thing appears as a novelty. In these letters there was much wit and pleasantry, serving as the vehicle of free sentiments concerning politics and religion, which this author was one of the first to render popular in France. They were also tainted with that licentiousness, which has been too common among the philosophical writers of his country. They gave him a degree of literary reputation which induced him to become a candidate for a place in the French Academy; but at the same time the liberties he had taken with the church and state were represented in so serious a light to the minister, cardinal Fleury, that he had reason to fear exclusion through the interference of authority. By some dextrous management he overcame this obstacle, and was admitted into the academy in January, 1728. Having now resolved to devote his time and talents to the instruction of mankind as a writer, and especially as a speculator on the variety of laws and constitutions which prevail in different parts of the world, he thought it necessary to study national characters upon the spot, and accordingly set out on his travels. He visited Germany, Hungary, Italy, Switzerland and-Holland, and finished with a residence of nearly two years in England. This country he found, as he said, "the best to think in" and being honoured with the regard of queen Caroline, and the friendship of the most eminent characters in literature and science, he passed his time in it with much satisfaction. He particularly studied the English constitution, which was ever after the object of his warmest admiration. On his return he put the last hand to his work "Sur la Cause de la Grandeur et de la Decadence des Romains," published in 1734. In this performance he gave novelty to a trite subject by the energy of his style, the force of his descriptions, and the depth of his remarks. His passion for liberty is the animating spirit of the whole. It was not till 1748 that he published in 2 vols. 4to. his celebrated "Esprit des Lois," the work in preparing which his studies and inquiries had for so many years been occupied. It is said that its title ought rather to have been the Spirit of Nations than the Spirit of Laws; for its principles are founded on the radical diversities of mankind, owing to climate and other causes; and it discusses at large the nature of different forms of government, from which laws emanate, and to which they ought to be adapted. The liberal and enlightened notions, and the philanthropical spirit, which pervade this great work, compensate for many errors in theory, and negligences in point of fact. Upon the whole, however, it has scarcely sustained the reputation which for a considerable time after its appearance it possessed, not only in France, but throughout lettered Europe. Voltaire seems to have estimated this perform ance with judgment and impartiality in his "Siecle de Louis XIV." After having given him due credit for his profound observations supported by historical facts, acknowledging, however, that these facts are often taken from obscure and dubious sources, he thus proceeds: "The continual want of method in this work, the singular affectation of frequently putting only three or four lines into a chapter, and some times only a stroke of pleasantry, have disgusted many readers, who have also complained that these sallies of wit are often given in place of arguments, and doubtful notions for certainties; but if he does not always instruct his reader, he never fails to make him think; which itself is a great merit. His lively and ingenious expressions, in which is displayed the imagination of his countryman Montagne, have particularly contributed to the grea: reputation of the Spirit of Laws. The same things said even by a more learned man would not have been read. In fine, few works are to be met with in which there are more acute and profound ideas, more bold thoughts, more matter for instruction, either in admitting or contraverting his opinions. It has a claim to be ranked among the original publications which have adorned the age of Lewis XIV., and which had no model in antiquity." As in this work Montesquieu made no less free with the established religion than in his Persian Letters, he drew upon himself several censurers, and among the rest, the Sorbonne undertook an examination of it, but the ridicule thrown upon other adversaries deterred this body from making its censure public. A more weighty criticism of its principles was prepared by M. Dupin, farmer-general, a man of reading and information, which the author, by the discreditable method he took of suppressing it, seems much to have dreaded. After only five or six copies of the critique had been distributed, Montesquieu made his complaint to madame Pompadour, who sent for the writer, and told him that she took the Spirit of Laws and its author under her protection: in consequence the whole edition was committed to the flames! It certainly was not in England that the president learned this mode of silencing an adversary. The life he was obliged to lead in Paris was in jurious to his constitution, and brought upon him a pulmonary complaint, under which he sunk in February 1755, in his 66th year, generally regretted by the court and city. His last hours were disturbed by the Jesuits, who were eager to intimidate him into a retraction of his sentiments concerning religion. He complained to his great friend the duchess of Aiguillon of their importunity; and, as Voltaire says, died like a philosopher. A jesuit, however, after his death, published a pretended confession in his name, of which the authority under such circumstances is wholly unimportant. His private character is represented as having been highly amiable and estimable. Though habitually frugal, he could be generous on proper occasions; and an instance of his beneficence in giving his purse to a young boatman at Marseilles, and secretly consigning a sum of money to a banker to redeem the youth's father from slavery in Africa, has been made the subject of a pathetic drama. In temper he was mild, cheerful, and equal, free from ambition, simple and unaffected. He was often seen sitting under a tree at Brede, conversing with the peasants in their provincial dialect, settling their |