MOSQUE MOSSOP. 



75 



Caluga, from the confluence of that river with the 

 Moskwa to the wood through which the Kaluga road 

 passes: their right wing was covered by the village 

 of Borodino, situated on a height on the left bank of 

 the Kaluga : 2000 paces to the left, in the rear, was 

 a large redoubt. The left rested on a wood at the 

 village of Seminovska, and was covered by works 

 thrown up in front, and connected with the centre by 

 a redoubt. The centre was covered by a ruined 

 village. Works were also thrown up to cover dif- 

 ferent parts of the position. Barclay de Tolly com- 

 manded on the right, Beunigsen in the centre, and 

 Bagration on the left. On the fifth, Napoleon, hav- 

 ing reconnoitred the Russian position, took posses- 

 sion of the redoubt in front of the left wing, previous 

 to a general attack. The attack .began early in the 

 morning of the seventh. The French, after making 

 an impression with their artillery and musketry, 

 marched forward to a simultaneous attack on parti- 

 cular points. Success was most doubtful in the 

 centre, where the Russians at one time recovered the 

 great battery, after it had fallen into the hands of the 

 French, and drove them back with great slaughter ; : 

 but the failure of the Russian left enabled the enemy ! 

 to throw a mass of force upon the point, which could 

 not be withstood. The French had first got posses- 

 sion of the batteries by eight o'clock, but the fighting 

 continued till late in the afternoon. The Russians 

 retreated in good order, and without loss, no pursuit 

 taking place. The French force amounted to about 

 150,000 men ; the Russian was somewhat less ; 50,000, 

 dead and dying, covered the field. The Russians 

 acknowledged a loss of 25,000 men, among whom 

 was Bagration. Murat, Ney, and Eugene Beauhar- 

 nais, distinguished themselves. See Russian- German 

 /Far, and Ney. 



MOSQUE (medsched] ; a Mohammedan house of 

 prayer. These buildings are constructed in the 

 Moresque or Saracenic style of architecture (see 

 Architecture, vol. i., p. 234), and display, in unceas- 

 ing variety, all the peculiarities, both ornamental 

 and unornameiital, of that rich and superb style. 

 The mosques of the .Arabs often include, in a quad- 

 rangular area, an immense quantity of columns 

 ranged in files, the multiplicity and extent of which 

 impress the mind of the beholder with surprise and 

 admiration. These columns are, in numerous in- 

 stances, the rich spoils of antique monuments. Upon 

 the site (it is said) where formerly stood the famous 

 temple of Solomon, a superb mosque has been erected 

 at Jerusalem. If the Arab temples astonish by their 

 huge extent and prodigious colonnades supporting 

 their arches and vaults, those of the Turks possess 

 another kind of claim to notice and admiration in the 

 grandeur and height of their various cupolas. Every 

 province of Turkey has its own particular style and 

 taste with regard to these religious structures ; and, 

 as the Moresque architecture possesses no fixed 

 rules, deeming lightness and elegance alone to be 

 the fundamental laws of the art, the architect is 

 allowed to follow the bent of his own fancy freely. 

 In these Mohammedan churches we find neither 

 altars, nor paintings, nor images, but a great quan- 

 tity of lamps, of various kinds, which form the prin- 

 cipal interior ornament, and some -sentences from 

 the Koran written on the white walls. Every mosque 

 has its minaret or minarets (q. v.). The mosques 

 are quadrangular, and have fountains in the court for 

 ablutions. The entrances are hung with chains in 

 such a manner that no one can enter without stoop- 

 ing. The floor is generally covered with carpets, 

 but there are no seats. In a corner on the south- 

 eastern side is a cliair, on which the iman is seated 

 when he reads the prayer. In the direction towards 

 Mecca is a tablet, or recess in the wall, in which nre 



usuJilly some copies of the Koran, to direct the wor- 

 shippers where to turn their eyes : this is called the 

 kebla. The dshamis differ from the mosques. In 

 the former, the divine service on Friday, as well as 

 the prayer for the emperor (kutba), is held. The 

 finest of the mosques in Constantinople is that of St 

 Sophia. Usually none but Mohammedans are per- 

 mitted to enter a mosque; but to this there are 

 exceptions. Thus the mosque of St Sophia, by an 

 ancient custom, was open to every Venetian am- 

 bassador for a fee of some ducats, and also to 

 others. The imperial mosques have frequently public 

 schools (madras), hospitals (imarets), and also kit- 

 chens for cooking food for the poor. Their income 

 is derived from certain districts and estates, whose 

 inhabitants enjoy great privileges. 



MOSQUITO. See Gnat. 



MOSSES (musci); a natural family belonging to 

 the cryptogamia of Linnaeus, consisting of little her- 

 baceous plants, having simple or branching stems, 

 which are furnished with very numerous and more 

 or less imbricated leaves ; the roots are capillary, 

 annual, or perennial ; the leaves are small, simple, 

 sessile, embracing the stem, and entirely or minutely 

 serrated on the margin : they are always continuous 

 with the stem, and never fall off. Water is absorbed 

 by the leaves very rapidly, and when a dried moss is 

 dipt in water, it very soon resumes the freshness 

 and appearance of life. It is to be observed, how- 

 ever, that those parts only which are moistened resume 

 their wonted vigour, while the remainder continues 

 dry, as before. The internal structure of mosses is 

 entirely cellular, and they are destitute of stomata. 

 Their parts of fructification are double, terminal or 

 axillary, on the same or on different stems. The 

 female flower consists of a sort of urn, situated upon 

 a long pedicel, closed above with a lid, and covered 

 with a sort of hood or veil: the lid is usually 

 deciduous; and when it has fallen, the internal 

 border of the urn is seen to be provided with one or 

 two membranes, which terminate in regular teeth, 

 the whole appearing like a fringe. In one genus 

 the teeth are wanting ; but when present, they are 

 always in number four, or one of its multiples. In 

 some instances, the teeth are divided half way by a 

 fissure. The seeds are very small, globular, exceed- 

 ingly numerous, and reddish or brown at maturity : 

 according to Hedwig, they are attached to the sides 

 of the urn. Mosses are found in cool, airy, and moist 

 situations, in woods, upon the trunks of trees, on old 

 walls, the roofs of houses, &c. They grow in tufts, 

 forming carpets which often cover a considerable 

 extent of ground. Some of them are entirely aqua- 

 tic. About 800 species are known, which are now 

 distributed into several genera. They are most 

 numerous in the temperate parts of the earth, and 

 especially in mountainous regions. From the situa- 

 tions in which they are found, they are frequently 

 exposed to be dried up during the summer ; but a 

 slight rain quickly restores their usual freshness. 

 The term moss is often, but improperly, applied to 

 lichens. 



MOSSOP, HENRY ; an eminent tragic actor, born 

 in Ireland, in 1729. He was the son of a clergyman 

 who held a rectory in the province of Cormaught,and 

 was educated at Trinity college, Dublin, where he 

 took a degree. He made his first appearance on the 

 stage at Dublin. He afterwards removed to London, 

 where, next to Garrick and Barry, he was esteemed 

 the principal tragedian of his time. In 1761, he be- 

 came manager of one of the Dublin theatres, in op- 

 position to Barry and Woodward ; and the rivalry 

 proved ruinous to all parties, and especially so to 

 Mossop, whose vanity and intemperate conduct hav- 

 ing at length excluded him from the exertion of his 



