MURE 



MURILLO 



349 



by circulating water through pipes ; a method 

 of sending messages through an exhausted air 

 tube ; and many other inventions. His investiga- 

 tions in the distillation of coal-gas Itegan at 

 Kedruth in 1792, when he lighted liis offices and 

 cottages by its agency. He publicly showed the 

 results in 1797 and in 1798, the premises at Soho 

 being lighted with gas. But he did not reap due 

 profit from this useful invention. He died 15th 

 November 1839. See a life of him by his kinsman 

 Alexander Murdoch (1892). 



Mure, SIR WILLIAM, of Rowallan in Ayrshire, 

 Scottish poet, was born in 1594, a nephew of the 

 author of The Cherrie and the Slue. He was 

 wounded at Marston Moor, and died about the 

 end of 1657. He translated into English sapphics 

 Boyd of Trochri^'s Latin poem, Htcatom.be Chris- 

 tiana, but his principal work is his Trite Cntcifixe 

 for True Catholikes i. Edin. 1629). His fine version 

 of the Psalms dates from 1639. See the Scottish 

 Text Society's edition of his poems (2 vols. 1898). 



Mure, WILLIAM, was born at Caldwell in Ayr- 

 shire in 1799, educated at Westminster and the 

 universities of Edinburgh and Bonn, represented 

 Renfrewshire 1846-55, was Lord Rector of Glasgow 

 University 1847-48, and died in London, 1st April 

 1860. Colonel Mure was for many years com- 

 mandant of the Renfrewshire militia. He was the 

 author of A Critical Account of the Language and 

 Literature of Ancient Greece (5 vols. 1850-57), a 

 work of sound scholarship and great learning ; he 

 maintains the unity of the Homeric poems. Mure 

 also wrote Journal of a Tour in Greece ( 1842) and 

 a couple of treatises on Egyptian chronology. 



Muret (MuRETus), MARC AXTOINE, a cele- 

 brated humanist, was born at Muret, near Limoges, 

 12th April 1526. In early life in France he read 

 lectures on civil law with great success, but subse- 

 quently in Italy he seems to have devoted himself 

 entirely to literature till 1576, when he took orders. 

 He afterwards resided in Rome till his death, 4th 

 June 1585. His well-known Orations, though 

 shallow, are remarkable examples of elocution in 

 the style of Cicero. His jmems, Latin and French, 

 though graceful and fluent, are now considered 

 worthless ; but his learned criticisms and com- 

 mentaries, Variee Lectiones, in 5 lx>ok, are held in 

 great estimation. There are editions of his works 

 by Ruhnken (1789) and Frotecher (1834-41), and 

 2 vols. df Scripta Selecta (1871-73) by Frey. See 

 also the monograph by Dejob ( Paris, 1881 ). 



.Mil rex, a genus of marine Gasteropods in the 

 same set as buckies, cone-shells, and cowries. The 

 members prey upon other molluscs, boring by 

 means of the usual rasper. The shells are fringed 



Woodcock -shell (iftirtx. tfnuispina). 



with numerous spines in a very quaint and beau- 

 tiful fashion, to which some names, as 'Venus 

 Comb," obviously refer. Several species, especially 

 M. trunriilits and M. brandaris, used to 1* crushed 

 to furnish the famous dye of Tyrian purple. A few 

 species occur on British coasts. For Murexule 

 (Purpurate of Ammonia, or Roman Purple), see 

 DYEING, VoL IV. p. 139. 



MlirfreesborOUgll, capital of Rutherford 

 county, Tennessee, and from 1819 to 1826 capital 

 of the state, is 33 miles by rail SE. of Nashville, 

 and has several mills and factories. Close by the 

 bloody battle of Stone River was fought, 31st 

 December 1862 and 2d January 1863, ltween 

 Generals Rosecrans and Bragg ; the Confederate 

 army was compelled to retreat, but the losses on 

 both sides were nearly equal National forces, 

 951 1 ; Confederates, 9236. Pop 3800. 



Mtlrger, HENRI, novelist and poet, was born 

 in Paris on March 24, 1822. He l>egan life as a 

 notary's clerk, and afterwards acted as secretary to 

 Count Tolstoi, at a salary of about a pound a 

 week. He gave himself to literature, and for 

 several years led the life of privation and adventure 

 which he has described in his Scenes de la Vie de 

 Boheme ( 1845). At last his genius was recognised 

 by Arsene Houssaye, the editor of the Artiste, and 

 during his later years his popularity was secure. 

 Every journal was open to him, but he wrote 

 slowly and fitfully in the intervals of dissipation, 

 and was never in easy circumstances. He died in 

 the hospital in Paris on January 28, 1861. His 

 first and l>est novel, Scenes de la Vie de Boheme, is, 

 says Mr Saintsbury, a work final and perfect, which 

 deserves a place in the literature of humanity. A 

 vivid transcript from the scenes, alternately sombre 

 and jovial, of the writer's years of struggle, it is in 

 parts infinitely pathetic, in parts irresistibly amus- 

 ing. Miirger had a rich gift of humour, "but his 

 predominant tone is one of poignant melancholy. 

 Le Manchon de Francine is one of the saddest, as ib 

 is one of the most beautiful, short stories ever 

 penned. He had uncommon literary skill, and 

 could portray certain types of character admirably. 

 But he had only one subject which he could handle 

 successfully the Bohemia of literary Paris. Next 

 to the Scenes de la Vie de Boheme, his best prose 

 works are Scenes de la Vie de Jetinesse, Les Buveurs 

 d'Eau, and the short tales included in the volume 

 entitled Madame Olympe. His poems, Les Niti/x 

 d"Hiver, are graceful, sincere, and often deeply 

 pathetic, tearing strong traces of the influence of 

 Musset. One of them, La Chanson de Afnsette, is 

 a lyric masterpiece 'a tear,' said Gautier, ' which 

 has Itecome a pearl of poetry." Several of Miirger's 

 pieces have l>een translated with rare felicity by 

 Mr Andrew Lang in his Lays of Old France. 

 Miirger was likewise the author of Le Dernier 

 Rendezvous, Scenes de Campayne, Le Pays Latin, 

 Le Sabot Rouge, Les Vacances de Camille, &c. 



See the notices of Murger by Gautier, Himssaye, Janin, 

 and Saint-Victor in Lei Nuitt if Hirer ( 1862). 



Mlirghab, a river that rises in the mountains 

 north-east of Herat in Afghanistan, Hows north- 

 west, and loses itself in the desert of Turkestan 

 beyond Merv. 



Muriatic Acid, See HYDROCHLORIC ACID. 



MliridiC, a family of rodent quadrupeds, con- 

 taining many genera and a very large number of 

 species, distributed over all parts of the world, and 

 of which rats and mice may I* regarded as typical 

 examples. To this family belong also voles, lem- 

 mings, dormice, jerboas, marmots, &c. 



Alnrillo, BARTOLOM ESTEBAN, was born of 

 humble parentage at Seville, and baptised January 

 1, 1618; and, after receiving some education, was 

 placed with his relative, Jnan del Castillo, to 

 study painting. Having saved a little money, 

 which he made by painting somewhat stiff and 

 rough religious pictures for the fairs of Seville and 

 for exportation to South America, he went to 

 Madrid in 1641, being then in his twenty-fourth 

 year ; was favourably noticed by his celebrated 

 townsman Velasquez ; and through his influence 

 was enabled to study the chefs-d'oeuvre of Italian 



