an 



MONTEN, DIETRICH. 



MONTESQUIEU, BAROX DK LA, RREDE ET PE. SIS 



csJetwmUd tUnnicr, new !'iju. He U said to hare beguiled the two 

 of hi* cavfcvity in cultivating Uie taste for letters whici ho 

 evinced : an.!. ft-r bu release, be resumed his MrviML 

 rM reputation, in UM defence of Silesia and Bavaria, and 

 fal UM defeat of it. Swedes under Wwngel at Triebel, iu 1647 ; until 

 UM 1-nninat on of hostilities by UM peace of Westphalia, in the 

 following jmr, enabled lain to revi.il In. native duchy. There, at 

 the roarriaifo fabritie* of UM duke Francesco I., ho bad the mis- 

 fortune to kill one of hu deareet friend.. Count Mutant, in a tourna- 

 ment; perbape tbe latcet recorded caUatropba which attended the 

 dangerous trme of chivalry. 



In 1867 MonUcuculi was tent by the emperor to assist John Cotiiuir, 

 king of Poland, against liagotski. prince of Transylvania, aud the 

 Stredee, whom be drove out of Poland, and compelUil to conclude a 

 nnenn He was subsequently employed in Hungary in the war 

 between th- Imperialita and the Turkx. of which he has himself 

 given a relation in hii memoir*; and in 1664 he gained BO decisive a 

 victory orer tbe latter at St. Qotbard u to compel them to sue for a 

 trace of twenty yean. 



ID 1073 be reached the climax of hii fame by bem? opposed to the 

 illustrious Turenne, in the w*r between the empire and France on the 

 Kbeui<h frontier. The nicely bulaoced operation* of there two great 

 generals, who, without committing the event to a battle, displayed 

 nil re acience in marches an<l encampments than other commanders 

 have exhibited in a whole set ie of victories, were the admiration of 

 their contemporaries; and when the fall of Turenne by a chance shot, 

 in 1675, gave free Mope to the genius of his opponent, Louis XIV. 

 could finu no one but the great Condo competent to arrest the pro- 

 grrM of MontccuculL Another most able though undecisive campaign 

 closed tbe lerrices both of Condi- and Montecuculi : the latter of 

 whom, claiming no victory, deemed it his highest honour to have 

 encountered without defeat the two greatest French generals of their 

 century. The remaining few years of hii life were passed in peace at 

 tbe imperial court, and ho died in 16SO. 



As a general, Mout -rucnli waa accused of excessive caution and 

 want of enterprise, qualities which he himself held to be no reproach. 

 He bad profoundly itudied the art of war ; and the memoirs which 

 be composed upon its general principles and practice, as well as upon 

 tbe peculiarities of warfare against tbe Turks, and on the operations 

 nf tn- Turkish war of 1G61-64, still retain their value, not only as the 

 inoat interesting and instructive records of tbe martial establishments 

 and ferviee of bis time*, but for the soundness of the maxima which 

 they contain, applicable to all ages of the military art. He waa a 

 zealous and generous patron of letters, as well as a great strategist ; 

 and to him principally the Academy of Naturalists at Vienna owes 

 iu establishment. 



A good Fivnch translation of the ' Memoirs of Montecuculi ' was 

 published at Amsterdam, in 1752, with a 'Life of the Author' 

 prefixed. 



MuNTEX, DIETRICH, an eminent German battle painter, was 

 bora at Duawldorf in 1799. He showed from his earliest youth a 

 great love for accounts of wars and battles ; and Homer, Tasso, and 

 Ariosto were his favourite authors, from which he used to sketch the 

 mo*t striking scene* of arms. In order that he might have some 

 practical knowledge in military matters he enlintvd into tbe Prussian 

 army as a volunteer in 1818. and served accordingly for twelve months. 

 At the expiration of his term of military service, he entered the Academy 

 of Arts of Uu-eeldorf, and after studying two years in that institution 

 be removed to Munich, in onler to benefit himself by the study of the 

 works of I'eter Hes>, who almost rivals Horace Veruet as a battle 

 painter, and U still resident in Munich. 



Moouo was not long in attracting the attention of Cornoliu", then 

 UM bead of tbe Munich school of painter*, and tbe notice of the late 

 kins of Bavaria, Ludwig I. He was intrusted by Cornelius, in 1827, 

 itb UM execution of three of the frescoes of the arcade of the Hof- 

 garUn the storming of a Turkish entrenchment by the Bavarians at 

 tklgnde) It) 1717, under tbe elector Carl Albrecht and his brother 

 Ferdinand ; the battle of Arcis sur Aube, in which tbe Bavarians under 

 Wrrde were engaged ; and the granting of tho Bavarian constitution 

 by Maximilian Jo*eph L in 1818. Theso works, though hard and 

 much too positive in colour, have great merit, and allowance trust be 

 made for the comparative infancy of the then only reviving art of 

 frw*c palullin in Munich. After the-e works Monten painted for the 

 kiof picture of tbe battle of Saarbruck, 1815, for the Hall of Victory 

 ( gimil) in tbe state apartments of the new palace; and for tbe 

 mo patron of tbe art*. UM departure of the Pota from their father- 

 land to 1831. These were followed, in ISSti, by the death of OusUvus 

 Adolphoa in tbe bmtUe of i.utc n. now in ti.e King of Hanover's col- 

 lection ; in 1823, by Oeorge I. in tbe battle of Neerwinden ; aud in 

 839, by UM nttt oauip in 1888 at Aucsburg, for ti.o Emperor 

 Kkobolae, at which that emperor was present. He painted Iwides 

 tbcee principal works many .mailer piece*, which are all conspicuous 

 f<>r extraordinary pirit in the iuddeota and in the execution, and 

 di.pl.j much fine drawing and good colouring, though in many parts 

 too sk.uiby and undefined ; be wanted tbe necessary patience for 

 ebborat* modelling and uniform fini-h. Hut when tbe exact degree 

 of thi. technical excellence i rnioevl, its absence U more agreeable 

 than its excess ; and all Monteus wrk* have a very agrc, able fleet : 



their greatest defect is an ocoa*ional extravagance of action. I In 

 horses are always very spirited. He diod aft r a hhort but seven 

 illness, iu December 1843, in the prime of life, lu-itu; iu his forty fittu 

 year only, universally regretted by all who knew him. Several of hi* 

 works have been lithographed by Bodmer, Hatifsbingel, and others. 



(Kuiutblalt, 1836-1844 ; Von Hormayr, OacJuchUiche* Prakt* in dot 

 Arkadtn den Ilofyartetu su Munchen.) 



MONTESQUIEU. CHARLES DB SECONDAT, BARON DE LA 

 imkDE ET DE, was born on tbe 18th of January 16SH,at the Chateau 

 de la Itrede, in the immediate neighbourhood of Bordeaux. He was 

 descended from a noble and otherwise distinguished family of the 

 province of Quieune. His grandfather had filled the poet of ' pic-ident 

 a mortier' in the parliament of Bordeaux, a post which Montesquieu 

 himself afterwards filled. His father entered tbe same service, but 

 quitted it early. The nobility which Montesquieu inherited was con- 

 ferred upou bis great grandfather by Henri IV. 



.Mnnto'quii'u gava in youth the proaiiie of his future fame. HU 

 habits wire uio.il studious, and his desire for learning was encouraged 

 in every way by a fond and judicious father. At the time that be waa 

 engaged in a most laborious study of the civil law, with a view to the 

 profession for which he was destined, he was also preparing a work on 

 n theological subject, namely, " Whether the idolatry which prevailed 

 among the heathen deserved eternal damnation ?" He attained the 

 rank of ' couseiller' in the parliament of Bordeaux in 1714, and three 

 years afterwards, on the death of a paternal uncle, he succeeded at the 

 same time to his fortune and to his post of ' president a morlR-r ' iu 

 the same parliament With tbe most assiduous and conscientious 

 discharge of hU duties as a judge, be united the pursuit of literature. 

 In 1716 he hod become a member of the Academy of Bordeaux, and 

 he was very zealous in endeavouring to direct tho attention of this 

 body more to physical science. He seems at this time to have 

 been very much impressed with the importance of physical science, 

 which he afterwards neglected altogether for tho pursuit of moral 

 science. About this time he wrote his ' Physical History of the Ancient 

 and Modern World,' -Inch was published iu 1719. He shortly returned 

 however, and allowed the Academy likewise to return, to literature; 

 and he now wrote several small essays on literary subjects, which were 

 read at meetings of the Academy. In 1721 appeared the work which 

 first brought him fame, the ' Lettres Pcrsanes, which was published 

 anonymously, but the author soon became kuown. The popularity of 

 these letters was so great, that, as Montesquieu says iu a preface to a 

 later edition, " Booksellers used to go about the street, catching every 

 one by the sleeve, and begging, ' Pry'thee, write for me some Persian 

 Letters.' " 



His classical romance, called 'La Temple du Guide,' was published 

 in 1725. In tbe course of the next year Montesquieu formed the reso- 

 lution of retiring from his judicial duties, and of devoting himself 

 entirely to literature. He accordingly sold bis presidentship. A 

 vacancy occurring shortly after in the French Academy, on the death 

 of M. de Sacy, Montesquieu became a candidate for tbe vacant place. 

 His principal claim to the distinction was derived from tbe Lettres 

 Peraancs,' but these seemed likely for a time to ba the chief obstacle 

 to his success. Notwithstanding their general popularity, an outcry 

 had been raised against them by many on the ground of irreligious 

 tendency ; and the Cardinal de Fleury, the chief minister, n >\v wrote 

 to tell tbe president of the Academy that tha king would refuse bis 

 consent to tbe election of tbe author of so irreligious a work as tho 

 ' Letties Persanes.' The course taken by Montesquieu for the purpose 

 of overcoming tho royal opposition does not seem to have been the 

 most straightforward and manly. He immudiat-ly published, accord- 

 ing to Voltaire, a new edition of the ' Lettres,' iu which tho pa-sages 

 objected to were omitted or softened ; and baving carried this edition 

 to tbe minister, and having disavowed all the obnoxio IH passages of 

 the earlier editions, he succeeded in changing the king's resolution. 

 (' Ecrivaius Fraucais du Siecle de Louis XIV.') 



U'Alembert gives a somewhat different account : but inasmuch as 

 this appears in an '<!loge,' it is to be received ith suspicion. There 

 seems indeed to be no authority for the statement which U'Alembert 

 make', and which is indeed unnecessary if tho contents of the book 

 were such as the minister could approve of, that several lette.a by 

 another baud were inserted by tho printer of the book. The result 

 however was that Montesquieu gained the support of the minister, 

 and was elected a member of tbe Academy. He shortly after set out 

 on an extensive course of travels. He went first to Vienna, where he 

 had much intercourse with the celebrated Prince Kng nc; then travelled 

 through Hungary and Italy, staying for some time nt Venice, at Home, 

 and at Genoa. He next travelled through Germany into Holland, and 

 thence, in company with Lord Chesterfield, ho came to England. In 

 England he utayed two years, receiving much attention from the great, 

 whether by rank or by reputation, an I collecting material*, as he had 

 done also in the other countries which be bad visited, for bis great 

 work. 



(>n bis return to France he spent two years in studious retirement 

 in the country. He publi-li, d in 1734 his work ' Considerations sur 

 lee Causes de la grandeur de* Romams i-t de 1-ur Decadence;' and 

 immediately after its publication ho set to work to prepar the 'Esprit 

 des Loir.' He was engaged upon ibis for fourteen years; nnd he tells 

 us that very often, frightened with the greatness of his task, he was 



