MONMOUTII MONNIER. 



35 



nil misch'.evous, filthy, lascivious, and thievish. They 

 all employ their fore-feet as hands. When injured 

 or offended they use threatening gestures, chatter 

 their teeth; and when pleased, appear to laugh. 

 The dispositions of many of the species are extremely 

 perverse, whilst others are so mild and tractable as 

 to be readily tamed and taught a variety of tricks. 

 They are all fond of hunting for vermin, both in 

 their own fur, and in that of their companions, pos- 

 sess a very delicate sense of feeling, and are able to 

 leap with surprising agility from tree to tree. Most 

 of the species are gregarious, associating in large 

 troops ; but each troop is invariably formed of the 

 same species. The monkeys proper are the most 

 lively and active, their prehensile tail answering the 

 purpose of an additional hand. In many parts of 

 India, monkeys were made objects of worship, and 

 magnificent temples erected to their honour. When 

 the Portuguese plundered the island of Ceylon, they 

 found, in one of the temples dedicated to these ani- 

 mals, a small golden casket, containing the tooth of 

 a monkey. This was held in such estimation by the 

 natives, that they offered 700,000 ducats to redeem 

 it. The viceroy, however, ordered it to be burned. 

 Some years afterwards, however, a Portuguese hav- 

 ing obtained a similar tooth, pretended that he had 

 recovered the old one, which so rejoiced the priests, 

 that they purchased it from him for a sum exceeding 

 50*000 dollars. See Ape, Baboon, Orang Otatig. 



MONMOUTH, JAMES, duke of, the son of Lucy 

 Walters, one of the mistresses of Charles II., as is 

 generally reported by that prince, although some cir- 

 cumstances render it highly probable that one of her 

 former lovers was the father of the duke. He was 

 born at Rotterdam, in 1649, and was always acknow- 

 ledged by Charles, who had him carefully educated 

 in France, as his natural son. After the restoration, 

 he was sent home, and created earl of Orkney and 

 duke of Monmouth, and received the garter. " He 

 possessed," says Hume, "all the qualities which 

 could engage the affections of the populace a dis- 

 tinguished valour, an affable address, a thoughtless 

 generosity, a graceful person. He rose still higher 

 in the public favour by reason of the universal hatred 

 to which the duke (of York), on account of his reli- 

 gion, was exposed. M onmouth's capacity was mean ; 

 his temper pliant ; so that, notwithstanding his great 

 popularity, he had never been dangerous, had he not 

 implicitly resigned himself to the guidance of Shaftes- 

 bury, a man of such a restless temper, such subtle 

 wit, and such abandoned principles. That daring 

 politician had flattered Monmouth with the hopes of 

 succeeding to the crown." This character explains 

 his whole life. In 1679, he received the command 

 against the Scotch covenanters, whom he defeated at 

 the battle of Bothwell bridge, but was deprived of 

 his command, and sent out of the kingdom, the same 

 year, to quiet the fears of the duke of York. He 

 soon after returned, and engaged in several conspira- 

 cies with Sidney, Shaftesbury, and other leaders, some 

 of whom were desirous of establishing a republic ; 

 others merely wished to exclude the duke of York, 

 while Monmouth entertained secret hopes of acquir- 

 ing the crown. One of these plots, some of the 

 parties to which were also concerned in the rye house 

 plot, being discovered in 1683, Monmouth concealed 

 himself for some time, but was afterwards pardoned 

 on expressing his penitence. No sooner had he ob- 

 tained his pardon than he disavowed having made 

 any concessions to the court, and was, in consequence, 

 ordered by Charles to depart from the kingdom. On 

 the accession of James II., Monmouth, finding him- 

 self pursued by the king's severity, was induced, 

 contrary to his judgment and inclination, by the im- 

 patience of some of his partisans, to attempt an 



invasion of England. He arrived at Lime with hardl> 

 a hundred followers (June, 1685); but his numbers 

 were soon increased, and he assumed the title of king, 

 and asserted the legitimacy of his birth. His forces 

 were defeated at Sedgemore Bridgewater,and the duke 

 himself was made prisoner, having been found in the 

 disguise of a peasant, lying at the bottom of a ditch, 

 overcome with hunger, fatigue, and anxiety. He 

 refused to betray his accomplices, and conducted him- 

 self with much firmness on the scaffold, where his 

 head was severed from his body, after four unsuccess- 

 ful blows. The people, of whom he was still the 

 favourite, believed that the person executed was not 

 Monmouth, but one of his friends, who resembled 

 him so nearly as to pass himself oft' for the duke, and 

 suffer in his stead. It was probably this belief which 

 has led some to conjecture that the famous Iron Mask 

 was the duke of Monmouth. 



MONMOUTHSHIRE ; a county of England, ori- 

 ginally included in Wales, but annexed to England 

 by Henry VIII. It is bounded on the north by the 

 counties of Brecknock and Hereford ; on the east 

 by Gloucestershire ; on the south by the Bristol 

 channel ; and on the west by the counties of Glamor- 

 gan and Brecknock. Its extreme length, from north 

 to south, is thirty-three miles, and its breadth twenty- 

 six miles; its superficial contents being 31 6,800 acres. 

 This county displays abundant traces of its occupa- 

 tion by the Romans, in the vestiges of their military 

 roads, camps, and villas, with the tessellated pave- 

 ments, coins, urns, and inscribed stones, which have 

 been discovered at different periods. It exhibits still 

 more permanent indications of the ascendency of its 

 British population, in the names of the towns and 

 villages, almost all of which are derived from the 

 Cimbro-Celtic dialects; and Welsh is yet the general 

 language of the lower classes of the inhabitants and 

 the country people. The scenery in most parts is 

 beautiful and picturesque, presenting a luxuriant 

 diversity of hill and dale. The western portion is 

 mountainous, and the eastern well furnished with 

 wood ; and between both are tracts of fine arable 

 land, rich and fertile meadows and pastures, watered 

 by numerous streams, and interspersed with towns, 

 villages, country seats, and dilapidated remains of 

 monastic or baronial establishments. 



The principal rivers are the Wye, the Munnow, or 

 Mynnow, the Usk, the Ebvvy, and the Rumney. The 

 Wye enters this county a little to the north-east of 

 Monmouth, where it joins the Munnow, which rises 

 in Brecknockshire, and then forms the boundary be- 

 tween the counties of Hereford and Monmouth : the 

 united stream then passes to the border, and flows 

 southward to its confluence with the Severn, below 

 Chepstow. The Usk has its origin in Brecknock- 

 shire, and entering this county eastward of Crick- 

 howell, takes a tortuous course towards its termination 

 in the Bristol Channel, below Newport. The Ebwy 

 also rises in Brecknockshire, and flowing westward of 

 the Beacon Mountain, and through the romantic val- 

 ley of Ebwy, falls into the estuary of the Usk. The 

 Rumney, which divides this county from Glamorgan- 

 shire, enters the Bristol Channel below Rumney 

 Bridge. The long narrow valleys in different parts 

 of Monmouthshire are watered by numerous streams 

 of minor importance, several of which fall into the 

 Bristol Channel. All the rivers abound with fish ; 

 and on the Wye and Usk are salmon-fisheries. The 

 county town, Monmouth, situated at the conflux of 

 the Munnow and the Wye, twenty-five miles west of 

 Gloucester, is the only borough; and the market- 

 towns are Abergavenny, Caerleon, Chepstow, New- 

 port, Pontypool, and LJsk. Population, in 1831, 

 98,130. 



MONNIER, PIERRE CHARLES LK ; astronomer, 

 c 2 



