MURANO 



MURCHISON 



347 



little dLstance from the picture. It is also possible 

 to employ a medium made of a mixture of turpentine 

 and beeswax sufficiently plastic to be worked like 

 oil. A modification of the system was also devised 

 by Mr Gambier- Parry, and is known as Spirit 

 Fresco. By his method the walls are coated with 

 wax and gum compounded with spirit of lavender. 

 The colours are ground with the same medium. 



lliirano. famous as the seat of the Venetian 

 glass manufacture, is an island and town a little 

 more than a mile north of Venice, with 3600 inhabit- 

 ants. It possesses a fine 12th-century cathedral, 

 and another church with some valuable pictures, in- 

 cluding Paul Veronese's 'St Jerome in the Desert.' 

 But the chief interest centres in the glass-factories 

 an industry established in the 13th century, and 

 revived in 1860 by Antonio Salviati ( 1816-90). 



Murat. JOACHIM, king of Naples, was the son 

 of an innkeeper At La Bastide-Fortuniere, near 

 Cahors, in France, and was born 25th March 1771. 

 He was at first intended for the priesthood, but the 

 outbreak of the Revolution tired his enthusiasm ; 

 he entered the army, and soon rose to the rank of 

 colonel. Attaching himself closely to Bonaparte, he 

 served under him in Italy and in Egypt, distinguish- 

 ing himself in many battles ; rose to the rank of 

 a general of division (1799); returned with Bona- 

 parte to France, apd rendered him most important 

 assistance on the 18th Bmmaire, by dispersing the 

 Council of Five Hundred at St Cloud. Bonaparte 

 now entrusted him with the command of the Con- 

 sular Guard, and gave him his youngest sister, 

 Caroline, in marriage. Murat held his usual post, 

 the command of the cavalry, at Marengo, where 

 he covered himself witli glory, and in 1801 was 

 nominated governor of the Cisalpine Republic. On 

 the establishment of the French empire he was 

 loaded with honours. He continue' 1 to command 

 the cavalry in the armies led by the emperor, and 

 contributed not a little to the victory at Austerlitz 

 (1805), at Jena, at Eylan, and to many other 

 victories. In 1806 the newly-erected grand-duchy 

 of Berg (q.v.) was bestowed upon him, and on 1st 

 August 1808 he was proclaimed king of the Two 

 Sicilies by the style of Joachim I. Napoleon. He 

 took possession of Naples, but the Bum-Imps, sup- 

 ported by the Meet of Britain, retained Sicily. By 

 the moderation of hU government he won the 

 hearts of his subjects. In the expedition against 

 Russia he commanded the cavalry, and indeed the 

 army after Napoleon left it. After crushing the 

 Austrian* at Dresden (1813), and helping to fight 

 the disastrous battle of Leip/ig, he concluded 

 a treaty with Austria, and a truce with the British 

 admiral, and promised the allies an auxiliary corps; 

 but, as soon as he learned of Napoleon's escape 

 from Elba and return to France, he commenced a 

 hasty war against Austria. He was, however, de- 

 feated at Ferrara (12th April 1815), and again at 

 Tolentino (2d May). With a few horsemen he fled 

 to Naples, where all was insurrection and com- 

 motion ; thence he found his way to France. After 

 Napoleon's final overthrow, he took refuge in 

 Corsica, from which he proceeded with a few fol- 

 lowers to the coast of Calabria, and proclaimed him- 

 self king and liberator, but, being presently taken 

 prisoner, was tried by court-martial, and shot at 

 Pizzo, on 13th October 1815. See biographical 

 accounts by Galloia (Paris, 1828), Coletta (Paris, 

 1H21), and Helfert (Vienna, 1878). His widow 

 ( 1782-1839 ) assumed the title of Countess of Lipona, 

 and resided in the neighbourhood of Trieste till her 

 death. His two sons went to the United States, 

 where the elder, NAPOLEON ACHILLE (1801^7), 

 settled in Florida, married a niece of Washington, 

 and published Exposition det Principes du Gouverne- 

 merit Republicain en A mfrique ( 1833 ). The younger, 



NAPOLEON LUCIEN CHARLES (1803-78), suffered 

 reverses in fortune ; but, returning to France after 

 the revolution of 1848, he attached himself 

 closely to Louis Napoleon, who in 1849 sent him 

 as ambassador extra-ordinary to Turin, and in 1852 

 made him a senator. 



Itlliratori, LpDOVICO ANTONIO, Italian anti- 

 quary and historian, was born at Vignola, in the 

 duchy of Modena, 21st October 1672. His life was 

 devoted mainly to researches in history, especially 

 the history of his native country. In 1695 he was 

 appointed a librarian of the Ambrosian Library at 

 Milan. His first work was to issue collections 08 

 inedited Latin fragments, Anecdota Latinct, fol- 

 lowed later by Anecdota Grteca. In 1700 he was 

 recalled by the Duke of Modena to take charge of 

 the D'Este Library and the ducal archives at 

 Modena. In 1723 the first folio volume of his 

 great collection, Rerum Italicantm Scriptorcs, was 

 published, and between that date and 1751 twenty- 

 eight more. This work contains all the chronicles 

 of Italy from the 5th to the 16th century, illus- 

 trated with commentaries and critical notices. It 

 was accompanied by a collection of dissertations 

 illustrative of the religious, literary, social, political, 

 military, and commercial relations of the several 

 states of Italy during the same period, in 6 vols. 

 folio, 1738-42, a work which, although far from 

 being free from errors, is still regarded as a 

 treasure-house of mediaeval antiquities. Muratori 

 likewise undertook a general history of Italy 

 (Annali d' Italia, 12 vols. 4to, 1744-49); compiled 

 in two vols. Antichitd. Estoisi (1717); and pub- 

 lished Antiqmtates Italicce Medii ;Evi (6 vols. 

 1738-42), and a collection of Ancient Inscriptions (6 

 vols. 1739-42). In his later years he was attacked 

 by the Jesuits on the gronnil of teaching heresies ; 

 but he found a protector in Pope Benedict XIV. 

 He died at Modena, 23d January 1750. The Anti- 

 quitates Italicte (vol. Hi. ) contains a catalogue or 

 canon of the New Testament Scriptures, a frag- 

 ment (the Miii-iit ori.-in Fragment'), apparently 

 drawn up by a contemporary of Irena-us ; see 

 BIBLE, V ol. II. p. 126. Lightfoot assigned it to 

 Hippolytus ; see his Clement of Rome ( vol. ii. 1890). 

 Muratori's Collected Works fill 36 volumes (Arezzo, 

 1767-80 ), and 48 volumes in another edition ( Venice, 

 1790-1810). See the Life by his nephew ( 1756). 



Iliirrliison, SIR RODERICK IMPEY, geologist 

 and geographer, was liorn at Tarradale, Ross-shire, 

 19th February 1792. He was educated at the 

 grammar-school of Durham and the Military 

 College, Great Marlow. He entered the army 

 at an early age, served as an officer in Spain and 

 Portugal, and was present at Vimiero and the 

 retreat to Corunna. Quitting the army in 1816, he 

 devoted himself to science, especially geology, and 

 travelled in various parts of the globe. He found 

 the same sedimentary strata lying in the earth's 

 crust beneath the old red sandstone in the moun- 

 tainous regions of Norway and Sweden, in the vast 

 and distant provinces of the Russian empire, and 

 also in America. The result of his investigations 

 was the discovery and establishment of the Silurian 

 system, which won for him the Copley Medal of 

 the Royal Society, and European reputation as 

 a geologist. His subsequent exposition of tho 

 Devonian, Permian, and Laurentian systems in- 

 creased and confirmed his reputation. He explored 

 several parts of Germany, Poland, and the Car- 

 pathians ; and in 1840-45, with De Verneuil and 

 others, carried out a geological survey of the 

 Russian empire. Struck with the resemblance in 

 geological structure between the Ural Mountains 

 and the Australian chain, Murchison in 1844 first 

 predicted the discovery of gold in Australia. He 

 was president of the British Association in 1846, 



