MIDI 



MIGNET 



185 



at the grammar-school (1672). Cowdray House, 

 A mile NE., was built about 1530 by the Earl of 

 Southampton, and for 239 years hail' been the seat 

 of eight Viscounts Montague, when in 1793 it 

 was reduced by fire to a beautiful ruin. Till 1885 

 Midhurst borough (35 sq. m. in area) returned 

 a member to parliament. Pop. of parish (1851) 

 1481 ; (1881) 1615; (1891) 1674. 



Midi. CANAL DU. See GARONNE. 



Midiilllites, an Arab race, descended, accord- 

 ing to Scripture, from Midian, the son of Abraham 

 by Keturah. They occupied great part of the 

 country between the Red Sea and the Plains of 

 Moab, anil had their headquarters east of what is 

 now the Gulf of Akabah. They were at least 

 partly nomadic, but their caravans brought gold 

 and incense from the south to Palestine, and traded 

 between Egypt and Syria. Some of them lived 

 near Sinai ; to them belonged Jethro, priest or 

 sheik of Midian the father-in-law of Moses. The 

 Midianites were very troublesome neighlwmrs to 

 the Israelites till Gideon's victory over them. 

 Their national god was Baal-Peor. In Midian 

 proper, to the east and south-east of the Gulf of 

 Akabah, the Romans had valuable mines. Sir 

 Richard Burton was convinced that gold was still 

 to l>e found there, and as an outcome of visits paid 

 in this interest wrote his Gold Mines and Ruined 

 Cities of Midian (1878), and Midian Revisited 

 (1879). Later travellers have not confirmed his 

 opinion ; but petroleum seems to occur. Midian 

 ceased to be Egyptian and became Turkish again 

 in 1887. 



Midlothian. See EDINBURGHSHIRE. 



MidliaiHir, capital of a district in Bengal, on 

 the K;isai River, 68 miles W. of Calcutta by road 

 and canal. There are iome manufactures, and an 

 American mission to the Santals. Pop. 33,560. 



Midrasll, the Hebrew exposition of the Old 

 Testament. See EXEGESIS. 



Midshipman, the second rank attained by 

 combatant ollicers in the royal navy. As a cadet 

 he remains two years in the Britnunia, the cadet 

 training ship. On passing out, if he obtains a first- 

 class certificate, he is rated midshipman at once ; if 

 he only obtains a second-class certificate, he serves 

 six months at sea as naval cadet and then passes 

 for midshipman ; if he only gets a third-class certi- 

 ficate, he cannot pass for midshipman until he has 

 IxM'ii twelve months at sea. A midshipman has 

 to serve four years and six months in that rank, 

 inclusive of the time allowed him on leaving the 

 Britannia; then if he is nineteen years of age he 

 can pass his examination as acting sub-lieutenant. 

 He next joins the college at Greenwich, where 

 he receives a nine months' course in mathe- 

 matics, navigation, &c., at the end of which time 

 he has to pass his final examination in those sub- 

 jects to qualify him for the rank of lieutenant. 

 From Greenwich he proceeds to the torpedo school 

 for a three months' course before passing his final 

 examination in that branch ; then to the gunnery 

 school for another nine months' course in gunnery 

 before his final examination. Lastly, he has to go 

 through a three months' course in pilotage. If he 

 is lucky enough to obtain a first-class certificate in 

 all live branches viz. seamanship, mathematics, 

 torpedo, gunnery, and pilotage he obtains his lieu- 

 tenant's com mission at once as his reward ; other- 

 wise he has to wait two or three years, as a rule, as 

 a sub lieutenant before being promoted. A mid- 

 shipman's time is principally devoted to his instruc- 

 tion, and he is undergoing a period of probation for 

 lii future career. He is examined every six months 

 in all subjects to ascertain the progress he is making, 

 and is liable to be summarily dismissed if he is 



found not to be making satisfactory progress or 

 to be not likely to make an efficient officer. There 

 is no open competition for cadetships as for com- 

 missions in thearmv; but cadets are nominated, 

 and there is a limited system of competition, three 

 candidates being allowed to compete for every 

 vacancy. Midshipman is the only naval title 

 peculiarly English ; from what it takes its origin 

 it is difficult to say. He ranks with a second-lieu- 

 tenant in the army. In France he is styled 'enseigne 

 de vaisseau,' and in other navies he remains cadet 

 until he becomes a sub- or under-lieutenant. A 

 midshipman receives only Is. 9d. a day (31, 18s. 

 9d. per annum); he is consequently dependent 

 on his friends for more or less pecuniary assistance 

 until he becomes a sub-lieutenant. 



Midsummer Day 24th June is one of the 

 four English quarter-days. For Midsummer Eve, 

 see JOHN'S (VE OP ST). 



Midwifery. See OBSTETRICS. 



Mieris, FRANS VAN, Dutch painter, born at 

 Leydeii, 16th April 1635, and died there, 12th 

 March 1681, painted genre pictures and portraits, 

 all of small size. He was a pupil of Gerard Dow, 

 but, though a very able painter, scarcely rises to 

 the level of his master. His son, Willem ( 1662- 

 1747), and Willem's son, Frans (1689-1763), fol- 

 lowed closely in hi.s footsteps. 



Miescher's Vesicles. See GREGARINIDA. 



Misine, JACQUES PAUL, to whom Catholic 

 theology owes a great debt of gratitude, was born 

 at St Flour in Cantal, 25th October 1800, and died 

 in Paris on his seventy-fifth birthday. He was 

 educated at the seminary at Orleans, was or- 

 dained priest in 1824, and served some time as 

 curate at Puiseaux in the diocese of Orleans. A 

 difference with his bishop about a book on the 

 lil>erty of the priests drove him to Paris in 1833, 

 where he started L'Univers Religieitx, afterwards 

 called simply L'Univers. In 1836 he sold the paper, 

 and soon after set up a great publishing house 

 at Petit Montrouge, near Paris, which gave to the 

 world, besides numerous other' works of theology, 

 Scriptural sacra; cvrsus completes and Theologies 

 cnrstis (each 28 vols. 1840-45), Collection des 

 Orateurs sacres (100 vols. 1846-48), Patrologice 

 cursns completus (Latin series, 221 vols., 1844 et 

 seq. ; 2d ed. 1878 et seq. ; 1st Greek series, 104 

 vols., 2d series, 58 vols., both since 1857), and 

 the Encyclopedic theolomyue (171 vols. 1844-66). 

 Unfortunately these editions were prepared too 

 hastily, and moreover by superficial scholars, so 

 that they do not possess critical value. The Arch- 

 bishop of Paris, thinking that the Abbe Migne's 

 great undertaking had become a mere commercial 

 speculation, forbade it to be continued, and, when 

 the indefatigable director refused to obey, sus- 

 pended him. A great fire, more powerful than the 

 veto of the archbishop, put an end to the work in 

 February 1868. 



Mignet, FRANCOIS AUOUSTE ALEXIS,- a great 

 French historian, was born 8th May 1796, at Aix 

 in Provence, studied at Avignon, and then law at 

 Aix along with Thiers. Both were admitted to 

 the bar at the same time (1818), but Mignet's true 

 vocation was at once apparent in the no less solid 

 than brilliant prize-essay for the Academy of In- 

 scriptions on the institutions of France in the time 

 of St Louis. In 1821 he went to Paris, and soon 

 l>egan to write for the Coitrrier Frettifnis, and to 

 lecture with applause on Modern History at the 

 Athenee. In the spring of 1824 appeared his 

 Histoire de la Revolution Fran<;aise, a sane and 

 admirable summary the first complete history by 

 one other than an actor in the great drama. 

 Mignet joined the staff of the National, and with 



