MONTHOLON 



MONTPELIER 



291 



The Jews, Arabians, and Turks still reckon by the 

 lunar months of 29 and 30 days, and are therefore 

 compelled, like the ancient Greeks, to insert an 

 intercalary or ' einbolisniic ' month. The French 

 republicans in 1793 divided the year into twelve 

 months of 30 days, with five odd days (six in leap 

 year) to be utilised as national festivals, each month 

 being subdivided into three decades of 10 days each, 

 as with the ancient Greeks. Another distribution 

 of the months has since been suggested, should 

 such opportunity again occur viz. : 1st, 3d, 5th, 

 7th, 9th, llth months, each 30 days; 2d, 4th, 6th, 

 8th, 10th months, each 31 days ; and the remain- 

 ing month 30 days in the onlinary year anil 31 

 in leap year. Tlie existing 'calendar' or 'civil' 

 months are as irregular in length as they were 

 left by the Romans: the 4th, 6th, 9th, and llth 

 having 30 days, the second 28 days (or 29 in IMB 

 year), and the seven others 31 days. To compli- 

 cate this disorder, a month in English law is ' a 

 lunar month or 28 days unless otherwise expressed ; ' 

 ' a lease for twelve months is only for 48 weeks ' 

 (Blackstone, ii. 141 ). Besides the archaic division 

 of the month into four, as already mentioned, the 

 early Creeks of Homer's time ami previously seem 

 to liave had only two parts, the earlier half and 

 the 'waning half;' and a trace of that pro4vl>ly 

 remained in the Roman Ides, the middle or dividing 

 day of each month. 



Montliolon. CHARLES TRISTAN DE, Count of 

 Lee, was born at Paris, 1782. Having served in 

 the navy, he entered the army, and was severely 

 WOtmded at \Vagram. Napoleon made him his 

 chamberlain in 1809. During the Hundred Days 

 Montliolon was Napoleon's adjutant-general. He 

 accompanied his master to St Helena, and along 

 with Courgaud published Mfmoirei pour tervir 

 A rHistoire de France tous Napoleon (8 vols. 

 1822-i")). As chief of the staff to Louis Napoleon 

 in 1840, he was condemned to twenty years' im- 

 prisonment ; he regained his freedom in 1848, 

 having published in 1846 Recits de la Captivite de 

 \ ',,,/,<, (2 vols.). He died 24th August 1853. 

 Moiithyon. See MONTYON. 

 Monti, VINCENZO (1753-1828), an Italian poet 

 of the classical school, politically anti-French, 

 Napoleonist, pro-Austrian in turn. He was pro- 

 fessor at Pavia, and, under Napoleon, state historio- 

 grapher. 



Monticelli, ADOLPHE (1831-85), a noteworthy 

 in' 1. 1. -i n painter, ' creator of the phantom genre,' wa> 

 Wii at Marseilles, studied at Paris, where he livec 

 mainly till 1870. He subsequently settled in 

 Marseilles, and died there in poverty. His paintings 

 fall into three periods, of which the last and mosl 

 characteristic is notable for masses of warm ant 

 gorgeous colouring, with vague almost invisible 

 Mgures nymphs dimly discernible in luxuriant 

 green meadows against a background of glorious 

 cloud masses. 



Montilla, a town of Spain, 23 miles SSE. of 

 Cordova by rail. Pop. 13,207. 



Mont joi- St Denis, the French war-cry, oh 

 at least as Wace's day (12th century), from tin 

 hill near Paris on which St Denis (q.v.) underwent 

 the joy of martyrdom. See HERALD. 



Montlu<;on. a tow M in the French department 

 of Allier, on a castle-crowned hill whose base i 

 wasln-,1 by the Cher, 202 miles S. of Paris. I 

 owes its 'rapid development to the opening ii] 

 of the Coiiimi-iitry coalfield, and has large iron 

 works and plate-glass manufactories. Pop. (1872 

 -i>.i->| ; (1891) 28,019. Neris-l.-s-PmiMc, 18 mile 

 SK., is the Neritmuinus of the Romans of whom 

 many traces are left and since 1821 has agaii 

 riser, into repine through its warm alkaline minera 

 waters ( I'.'U !'.). Pop. 1675. 



Montinartre. See PARIS. 



.uoilt MH'1> . a town and fortress in the French 

 lepartment of Meuse, 25 miles N. of Verdun and 

 1 miles by rail SE. of Sedan, consists of two por- 

 ions, the citadel and upper town overlooking the 

 ower town, which lies in the valley of the Chiers, 

 \ tributary of the Meuse. Built and fortified in 

 235, it was taken by the French in 1542, 1555, 

 596, and 1657 ; they, after it was definitely assigned 

 A) them by the peace of the Pyrenees (1659), had 

 t reconstructed and re-fortitied by Vauban. It 

 vas, however, captured by the Germans in 1815 

 ,nd again in 1870. Pop. 2740. 



Moiltmoreiicy, a river of Quebec, a tributary 

 >f the St Lawrence, famous for its lieautiful falls, 8 

 niles NE. of Quebec. Here the stream is 100 feet 

 vide, and the falls have a sheer descent of 250 feet. 



Montmorency. ANNE, first Due DE, Marshal 

 and Constable of France, born 15th March 1492, 

 lelonged to one of the oldest and greatest of the 

 loble families of France. Brought up along with 

 Francis I., he distinguished himself by his gallantry 

 and military skill at Marignano (1515) and in the 

 lefence of Mezieres, and was taken prisoner along 

 with his sovereign in the battle of Pavia (1525). 

 In consequence of his efforts to win his master 

 freedom, and his successful warring against the 

 emperor's armies, he was made Constable in 1538 ; 

 but, being suspected by the king of siding with the 

 Dauphin against him, he was banished from court in 

 1541. On the accession of Henry II. (1547) he 

 was restored to his former position and dignities. 

 In 1557 he commanded the French army which 

 suffered the terrible defeat of St Quentin at the 

 hands of the Spaniards, in which he was again 

 taken prisoner. During the minority of Charles 

 IX. Montmorency, with the Duke of Guise and 

 the Marshal St Andre, composed the triumvirate 

 which opposed the influence of Catharine de' Medici. 

 In 1562 he commanded the royal army against the 

 Huguenots at Dreux, and was taken prisoner a 

 third time. In the following year he drove the 

 English out of Havre. He again engaged Conde 

 at St Denis ( 1567), but received a fatal wound, of 

 which he died at Paris on the following day, llth 

 November 1567. See Life by Decrue (2 vols. Pans, 

 1885-89). 



Montmorency, HENRI, second Due DE, grand- 

 son of the famous Constable de Montmorency, was 

 l>om at Chantilly, 30th April 1595. His godfather 

 was Henry IV., who always called him his 'son. 

 When he was seventeen years of age Louis XIII. 

 made him admiral and viceroy of Canada, and in 

 the following year governor of Languedoc. During 

 the religious wars of 1621 and the following years 

 Montmorency commanded the Catholics in the 

 south against Rohan, was almost captured at the 

 siege of Montpellier ( 1622), took the islands <rf Re 

 and Olerou from the defenders of Rochelle (1625), 

 and penetrated into Piedmont ( 1630). But Riche- 

 lieu, jealous of his popularity, provoked him into 

 rebellion along with the king's brother, Gaston, 

 Duke of Orleans. Marshal Schomberg was sent 

 against him, defeated him at Castelnaudary, and 

 took him prisoner. Montmorency, covered with 

 wounds, was carried to Toulouse, sentenced to 

 death by the parliament, and, notwithstanding the 

 intercession of King Charles I. of England, the 

 pope, the Venetian Republic, and the Duke of 

 Savoy, was beheaded, 30th October 1632. Mont- 

 morency was distinguished for his amiability and 

 the courtesy of his manners, as well as for his 



valour. 



Moil I or . a town of Spain, on the Guadal- 

 quivir, 26 miles ENE. of Cordova. Pop. 13,293. 

 Montpelier, the capital of Vermont since 1805, 



is on the Winooski or Onion River, 206 miles by 



