M O N 



CGI 



M O N 



Monies- 



affectionateness have been made the subject of a drama, 

 entitled LeBitJifail Annonyme. 



Montesquieu, in 1715, had married Demoiselle Jeanne 

 de Lartigne, whose father, Pierre de Lartigne, was 

 Lieutenant-Colonel in the regiment of Maulevrier. She 

 bore him two daughters and a son. The latter, Jean 

 Baptiste de Secondat, less noted for his respectable ta- 

 lents, than for the abstraction of his manners, wrote se- 

 veral tracts on commerce and natural history. He fre- 

 quently resided in London, where some of his works 

 were published. He died at Bourdeaux in 1796, aged 

 80 years. 



Besides the works above enumerated, Montesquieu 

 is author of the Temple de Gnide, which quickly fol- 

 lowed his Lettres Persanes. The Pensees Diverses, col- 

 lected from his manuscripts, was published in 1758 ; 

 the Leltres Familieres in 1767. None of these produc- 

 tions are destitute of genius, but they cannot add much 

 to the reputation of a man otherwise so distinguished. 

 His works have all been translated into English. The 

 best edition in the original language is thought to be 

 that of Paris, 1796, 5 vols. 4to, or that of Bale, 1799, 

 8 vols. Svo. (T. c.) 



MONTE VIDEO, a town of South America, in the 

 province of Buenos Ayres, situated on a gentle emi- 

 nence on the north side of the river Plata. The town 

 occupies the whole of the promontory that forms the 

 east point of the harbour. The houses, which are ge- 

 nerally only one story high, with flat roofs, are built of 

 stone and brick. The town having an elevated situa- 

 tion, and the houses being interspersed with gardens 

 and trees, has a fine appearance from the harbour. The 

 public buildings are, the cathedra], which is handsome ; 

 the town-house, and the prison, which are situated in 

 the great square. There is a lighthouse on the moun- 

 tain, which overlooks the town, and gives it its name. 

 The town is defended by regular stone fortifications, 

 which enclose the whole peninsula. The trade consists 

 in hides, tallow, and dried beef. Coarse copper from 

 Chili in square cakes is sometimes shipped here. West 

 Long. 56 14' 38", and South Lat. 34 54' 48". For a 

 full account of the history of the place, and of the pro- 

 vince, see BUENOS AYRES. 



MONTFAUCON, BERNARD DK, a celebrated French 

 antiquary, was born at Soulage, in Languedoc, on the 

 17th of January, 1655. His parents, distinguished 

 among the nobility of those parts, usually resided at 

 the chateau of Roquetaillade, where he lived till the 

 age of six years. His education was then entrusted to 

 the Peres de la doctrine Chretienne at Limoux, un- 

 der whose direction his zeal and assiduity were reward- 

 ed by a suitable progress in classical learning. Before 

 leaving the paternal roof, his taste for reading had at- 

 tracted the notice of Pavilion, Bishop of Aleth, who 

 predicted the young man's future eminence ; and in 

 this new seminary, the perusal of Plutarch is said still 

 farther to have excited his enthusiasm. Yet the pro- 

 mises of that early age at first seemed likely to be dis- 

 appointed. Montfaucon adopted the profession of arms, 

 and the contemplation of classical antiquity was ex. 

 changed for active service in the wars of Germany, 

 under Marshal Turenne. But the character originally 

 impressed upon Mountfaucon's genius, though obscured, 

 was not obliterated : the death of his parents, the loss 

 of his superior officer, inspired disgust at the military 

 life; he quitted the regiment of Perpignan in 1675, 

 after serving two campaigns (in which it does not ap- 

 pear that hi conduct was marked by any thing but the 

 fighting of a duel), and entered the congregation of 



St. Maur, where, having spent the necessary period Montfau. 

 of probation, he assumed the habit of a Benedict con- 

 tine. w -Y ' 



In that tranquil scene, his love of study revived in 

 proportion to the abatement of melancholy ; .and his 

 theological pursuits were mingled with the investiga- 

 tion of antiquity. The fruit of these researches was 

 manifested in 1688, by the publication of his first ori- 

 ginal work, La verite de I'Hhloire de Judith, which in- 

 volved an account of the Median and Assyrian em- 

 pires, and a critical dissertation concerning that his- 

 tory of the latter which is commonly attributed to 

 Herodotus. 



The reputation for learning which this treatise ac- 

 quired, enhanced by several compilations, and parti- 

 cularly by his edition of St. Athanasius' works, pub- 

 lished ten years afterwards, procured him a favourable 

 reception in the various parts of Italy, to which his 

 love of antiquarian studies led him, in 1698. At 

 Rome, he officiated as procurator of his order; the 

 Pope and Cardinals were lavish in their attentions; and 

 Montfaucon, during the intervals of his ecclesiastical 

 functions, gave frequent and unequivocal proofs of the 

 learning which he possessed, and was anxious to aug- 

 ment. It is related, that Zacagni, then sub-librarian 

 of the Vatican, feeling his vanity wounded by the 

 praise bestowed on this accomplished foreigner, laid 

 several schemes to lower him in the public estimation. 

 One day whilst Montfaucon, among a crowd of dis- 

 tinguished persons, happened to be sauntering in the 

 library, Zacagni, with affected politeness, requested 

 the antiquary to favour him with the date of a Greek 

 manuscript, which he spread out before him. Mont- 

 faucon replied, that apparently it was written about 

 700 years ago ; his antagonist, with a triumphant sneer, 

 desired him to observe the name of Basil, the Macedo- 

 nian, written at the top ; the Frenchman asked if it 

 was not Basil Perphyrogenitus, later by 150 years; 

 and as this, upon examination, proved to be the case, 

 Zacagni retired with his manuscript, and thenceforth 

 left the stranger at peace. 



On his return from Italy, in 1702, Montfaucon pub- 

 lished the Diarium Italicum, which, besides a learned 

 account of the antiquities he had visited, was farther 

 enriched by some ancient Greek and Latin treatises, 

 now printed for the first time. It deserves to be re- 

 marked, that this work was translated into English 

 about twenty years afterwards, by the noted Orator 

 Henley, whose 'gilt tub,' and wkose labours in it.as 'the 

 Preacher and the Zany of his age/ have been immor- 

 talized in the Dunciad of Pope. 



After the period of his return from Italy, Montfau- 

 con's life was marked by nothing but the successive 

 appearance of his writings. The Paleographia Grieca, 

 exhibiting rules to determine the age of Greek manu- 

 scripts, appeared in 1708 ; and his great work, L'An- 

 tiquite Expliquee, in 10 vols. folio, Latin and French, 

 was published in 1719, and followed by a supplement 

 of 5 vols. in 1724. The book (of which this edition 

 is still reckoned the best) contains above 1200 plates ; 

 and though many of them are only copies of inaccu- 

 rate originals, and though the whole teems to bear evi- 

 dent marks of haste, it was regarded as a very extra- 

 ordinary effort, and continues yet to be a mine from 

 which other less laborious inquirers draw their infor- 

 mation. After the Monument de la Monarchic Fran- 

 foise, 5 vols. folio, came out in 1729, Montfaucon spent 

 the rest of his life chiefly in revising his foregoing pro- 

 ductions. Except the publication of his Bibliothtca 



