MONTEFIORE 



MONTENEGRO 



285 



a campaign against the Turks (1664), and against 

 the French under Turenne on the Rhine ( 1672-75). 

 He was made a Prince of the Empire and Duke of 

 Melli, and died at Linn, 16tli October 1681. A 

 second edition of his Ojiere Complete appeared in 

 1823 ; there is a Life by Campori ( 1876). 



Montefiore, SIR MOSES, a Jewish philanthro- 

 pist, descendant of a wealthy family of bankers, 

 was born in Leghorn, Octobe'r 24, 1784, where his 

 Parents happened to be sojourning. His grand- 

 parents had emigrated from Leghorn to London in 

 1750. In 1812 he married Judith Cohen (1784- 

 1862), a lady who went hand in hand with him in 

 all his many schemes of philanthropy. As a stock- 

 broker he soon achieved great success. In 1818 he 

 was elected president of the Spanish and Portuguese 

 community. From 1829 onwards he took a promi- 

 nent part in the struggle for removing the civil dis- 

 abilities of English Jews (see JEWS). In 1835 he 

 was one of the parties to the contract for the 

 15,000,000 given as compensation to the slave- 

 owners. He was for a time High Sheriff of Kent, 

 and, after long exclusion and repeated re-election, 

 was legally admitted as Sheriff of London in 1837. 

 In that year he was knighted, and in 1846 was 

 rai-ed to a baronetcy in recognition of his meri- 

 torious public services. He distinguished himself 

 by his practical sympathy with his oppressed 

 countrymen in various parts of the East, chiefly in 

 Poland, Russia, Roumania, ami Damascus. He 

 made seven journeys to the East, the Krst l>eing 

 in 1827 and the latest in 1874, chiefly for the 

 amelioration of the condition of his countrymen. 

 At Hucharest, during an anti-Jewish ferment, he 

 boldly faced the mob at the risk of his life. He was 

 prwentod with the freedom of the City of London 

 in 1873, and an address in 1883. In memory of his 

 wife he endowed a Jewish college at Ramsgate in 

 IHO"). In his hundredth year he was still hale and 

 well, but died 29th July 1885. See Diaries of 

 ,SY/ .!/.,, ,/ Lai.li/ Moniefiore (2 vols. 1890). 



Montego Kay, a port on the north coast of 

 Jamaica (q.v.). 



>l"iil< ; uiit. EMILE, a clever French critic, was 

 born at Limoges, June 24, 1826, and early made a 

 reputation by a series of brilliant studies on Eng- 

 lish literature. He contributed to the Revue det 

 Deux Moiides and other journals, and published 

 IxM.ks of travel, a study of Marshal Davoftt, and 

 translations of Shakespeare, Macaulay, and Emer- 

 Bon, and a work on the Duke and Duchess of New- 

 castle. He died 18th December 1895. Books of 

 exceptional value are Poeles et Artistes de I'ltulie 

 ( 1881 ) ; Types Litteraires, et Fantaisies Esthetiques 

 ( 1882) ; Essais sur la Litlerature Anglaise ( 1883) ; 



Nos Marts contemporairu ; Les tenoatut modernes 

 de t'Anyleterre (2 vols.) ; Ltvres et Ames des Pays 

 <f Orient : tftltmgu critiques; and Dramaturges et 

 Romaiicieri ( 1890). 



Montclimar. a town in the French depart- 

 ment of Dr&me, near the Rhone, 85 miles S. of 

 Lyons by rail, with some manufactures of silk, hats, 

 and morocco leather. Pop. ( 1891 ) 9183. 



Montem. See ETON. 



Montenegro (the Italian translation of the 

 native name C'zrnnr/itm , ' Black Mountain"), an 

 inde|>endent state in the Balkan Peninsula, ltween 

 HwzegoriiM arid Albania, about 80 miles long by 

 70 broad. Its area was extended in 1878 by the 

 a'Mition of a large district on the north, a long 

 narrow strip rigiit down its east side to Lake 

 Scutari, and the port and district of Antivari on 

 the south, on the Adriatic, and again in 1880 by the 

 addition of the port and district of Dulcigno, also 

 on the Adriatic. The area, thus extended, is oflici- 

 ally quoted as 3255 gq. m. a private estimate is 



3486 sq. m. considerably less than half the size of 

 Wales. Beyond the low coastal fringe, which has 

 a climate like that of the south of France, comes a 

 nigged mountain-region ranging up to 6500-8000 

 feet, not in a series of chains, but in a confusing 

 maze of peaks and gigantic crags and blocks, wild 

 ravines and gorges, fissures and natural caves, the 

 bare gray crystalline rock being everywhere visible. 

 In this region the streams in some cases have 

 underground channels, and even pass for miles 

 beneath the mountains. The centre of the country 

 is occupied by the branching valleys of the rivers 

 Zeta and Moratcha, which flow south into Lake 

 Scutari. East and north of them the mountains 

 are well wooded, principally with beech and pine, 

 and afford good pasturage to the sheep, goats, and 

 cattle of the people. The climate in these moun- 

 tainous regions is characterised by temperate heat 

 in summer and a rigid winter. Comparatively 

 little of the surface is cultivated, except in the 

 coast region ; it is too sterile. Yet agriculture is 

 the principal occupation of the people ; of industry 

 there is virtually none. All the farms are small, 

 the fields often patches of soil a few square yards in 

 extent clinging to the mountain-side. The laud in 

 most cases belongs to the family, not to the indi- 

 vidual, and woods and pastures are common to the 

 clan. Mai/c, rye, oats, barley, potatoes, capsicums, 

 tobacco, with fruits in the" south, are the more 

 Important products. Wine for home consumption 

 is grown on the shores of Lake Scutari ; and the 

 mullierry is cultivated for silkworms. The same 

 lake, and some of the rivers Mowing into it, yield 

 an abundance of tish, especially of scorantza or 

 bleak. The exports, consisting chiefly of cattle, 

 goats, hides, smoked fish and mutton, cheese, 

 sumach, fruits, and wine, reach the annual value of 

 200,000. The imports, for the most part wheat, 

 gunpowder, hardware, groceries, cloth, and glass, 

 average in value about one-tenth of the exports. 

 Nearly all the trade is in the hands of the Austrians, 

 and passes through their port of Cattaro. Good 

 roads connect the chief towns or villages in the 

 south ; bridle-paths and footpaths only exist in the 

 rest of the country. 



The Montenegrins, a race of primitive moun- 

 taineers, whose principal business in life has for 

 generations been to fight the Turks, are a brave, 

 warlike, and simple people, noted for their honesty 

 and their chastity. The men are stalwart and 

 handsome, but the women, who until recent years 

 did all the hard work whilst the men fought, 

 or idled, or hunted, soon grow old and lose 

 their good looks. The people live in small stone 

 houses, in small villages there is not a town, 

 strictly so called, in all Montenegro. They belong 

 to the Servian branch of the Slavs, number ( 1890) 

 236,000, and l>elong, except about 10,000 Moham- 

 medans and 4000 Roman Catholics, to the Greek 

 Orthodox Church, the head of which is the emperor 

 of Russia. The native head of the church is the 

 ArclibUhop of Cetinje. The monastery of Ostrog is 

 visited by large numbers of pilgrims every year. 

 There is a Roman Catholic archbishop at Antivari. 

 In the 14th century the country, known as the 

 principality of Zeta, was tributary to the Servian 

 empire ; but, when the latter was subjugated by 

 the Turks ( 1389 ), Zeta, assisted by fugitive Servians, 

 successfully maintained its independence. From 

 that time down to 1880 the Montenegrins have 

 waged almost incessant war against their hereditary 

 foes, the Turks. In 1516, when the last prince of 

 the second native dynasty abdicated his throne, the 

 people elected their bishop to be ruler over them ; 

 and the little state was governed by ecclesiastical 

 prince* (vlailikas) down to 1851, when Danilo I. of 

 the Nyegush clan, ami nephew of the last vladika, 

 persuaded the people to separate the civil from the 



