MICHAEL gig 
holy geefe at the public expenfe, in honour of thole which 
faved the capitol. According to Lampridius, Geta gave 
orders to his cook to ferve his dinners in alphabetical or¬ 
der. To-day every dilh was to begin with an a, and to¬ 
morrow with a b ; and thus the tinfer (the goofe) under 
him had the honour of ulhering in every cyclus of re pa its. 
Alexander Severus commonly dined on chickens; but he 
added a goofe on folemn occafions, fuch as the birth-day 
of thofe worthies whom he honoured with a feleft vene¬ 
ration. Horace praifes the liver of a goofe that has fed 
on figs; and Pliny defcribes a method of fwelling it, 
which he liefitates whether to attribute to Scipio Metellus 
or to Marcus Seius ; but he awards to Mefialinus Cotta 
the indifputable honour of inventing a difii confifting of 
goofe’s feet grilled. The words of Pliny are remarkable. 
“ Nec fine caufa in quteftione elf, quis primus tantum bo- 
nam invenerit, Scipio ne Metullus, vif confularis, an 
Marcus Seius, eadem astate eques Romanus. Sed quod 
conftat, Mefialinus Cotta, Mefialae oratoris filius, palmas 
pedum ex his torrere, atque patinis cum gallinaceorum 
criftis condire reperit.” Hift. Nat. x. 22. 
Charlemagne was fond of geefe, and contributed to 
give them a vogue; and they formed at one time fo im¬ 
portant an objeft of rural economy, that the firft poul¬ 
terers were called oyers. Geefe are rarely boiled, but ufu- 
ally roafted; and they were fluffed by the Romans with 
white meats, as by the Germans with chefnuts. The 
legs are fometime feparated, and falted apart for hams. 
In England, according to the Laureat’s l'onnet, which 
lias efcaped the notice of M. Millin, a goofe is reckoned 
-very fine, 
Seafoned with fage and onions and port-wine. 
MI'CHAEL, the name of feveral Emperors of the Eaft. 
See the article Rome. 
MI'CHAEL (Mount), formerly one of the moft cele¬ 
brated ftate-prifons of France, lies about twenty miles 
from Granville. It is a rock fituated in the middle of 
the bay of Avranches ; and is only accefllble at low wa¬ 
ter. Nature has completely fortified one fide, by its 
craggy and almoft perpendicular defcent. The other 
parts are furrounded by walls fenced with femilunar 
towers after the Gothic manner; but fufficiently ftrong, 
together with the advantage of its fituation, to render it 
Impregnable. At the foot of the mountain begins a ftreet, 
or town, which winds round its bafe to a confiderable 
height. Above are chambers where ftate-prifoners are 
kept, and where there are other buildings intended for 
refidence. On'the fummit is eredled the abbey itfelf, oc¬ 
cupying a prodigious fpace of ground, and of a ftrength 
and folidity equal to its enormous fize ; fince it has for 
many centuries witliftood all the injuries of the weather, 
to which it is fo much expofed. In an apartment, called 
the Sale de Chevalerie, the knights of St. Michael ufed 
to meet in folemn convocation. They were the defenders 
and guardians of this mountain and abbey, as thofe of 
the Temple, and of St.John of Jerufalem, were of the 
holy fepulchre. The hall in which they met is very fpa- 
cious, but rude and barbarous. At one end is a paint¬ 
ing of the archangel, the patron of their order; and in 
this hall Louis XI. firft inftituted and invefted with the 
infignia the chevaliers of the order of St. Michael. See 
the article Knighthood, vol. xi. p. 814. 
Underneath the hall there is a miferable dark apart¬ 
ment, or dungeon, in which many eminent perfons were 
formerly confined. In the middle of it is a cage, com- 
pofed of prodigious bars of wood ; and the wicket which 
gives entrance into it is ten or twelve inches in thick- 
nefs. The infide of it comprifes about twelve or fourteen 
feet fquare, and it is nearly twenty in height. Towards 
the latter end of the feventeenth century, a newfwriter 
in Holland, who had prel’umed to print lome very levere 
and farcaftic refleftions on Mad. de Maintenon, was con¬ 
fined in this place. Some months after his publication, 
he was induced, by a perfon lent exprefsly to entrap him, 
to make a tour into Trench Flanders. The moment he 
had quitted the Dutch territories, he was put under ar- 
reft ; and immediately, by his majefty’s exprefs command, 
conducted to Mount Michael, where he was fiiut up in 
this cage. Here he lived upwards of twenty-three years; 
and here he at length expired. During the long nights 
ol winter, no candle or fire was allowed him. He was 
not permitted to have any book; he law no human face, 
except the gaoler, who came once a-day filently to pre- 
fent him, through a hole in the wicket, with his little 
portion df bread and wine. 
Here alfo is a remarkable chamber, in one corner of 
which is a kind of window : between this and the wall of 
(he building is a very deep fpace, of near 100 feet per¬ 
pendicular, at the bottom of which is another window 
opening to the fea. It is called the Hole of Montgomery, 
and the liiftory of it is as follows: In the year 1559, 
Henry II. king of France was unfortunately killed at 
a tournament by the count de Montgomery. (See the 
article France, vol. vii. p.706.) He was a Huguenot; 
and, having efcaped the maflacre of Paris, made head 
againft the royal forces in Normandy, fupported by 
queen Elizabeth with arms and money. Being driven 
from his fortrefles in thefe parts, he retired to a rock 
called the Toinbelaine. This is another fimilar to Mount 
Michael; only three-quarters of a league from it, and 
of nearly equal dimeniions. At that time there was a 
caftle upon it, which has fince been demoliflied, and of 
which fcarcely any veftiges now' remain. From this for- 
trefs, accefllble only at low water, he continually made ex- 
curfions, and annoyed the enemy, who never dared to at¬ 
tack him. He coined money, laid all the adjacent coun¬ 
try under contribution, and rendered liimfelf univerfally 
dreaded. Defirous, however, to furprife Mount Michael, 
he found means to engage one of the monks refident in 
the abbey; wdio promifed to give him the iignal for his 
enterprile by difplaying a handkerchief. The monk hav¬ 
ing made the fignal, betrayed him, and armed all his 
affociates, wdio waited Montgomery’s arrival. The chief¬ 
tain came, attended by fifty chofen foldiers, all defperate, 
and capable of any attempt. They crolfed the fand ; and, 
having placed their fcaling-ladders, mounted one by one. 
As they came to the top, they were difpatched, each in 
turn, without noife. Montgomery, who followed lafl, 
dilcovered the perfidy, and elcaped with only two of his 
men, with whom he regained the Tombelaine. They 
preferve with great care the ladders and grappling-irons 
ufed on this occalion. The count was at lafl befieged 
and taken priloner, in 1574, at Domfront in Normandy; 
and Catharine de Medicis, who hated him for having 
been, though innocently, the caule of her hufband’s 
death, caufed him to be immediately executed. 
The church of Mount Michael is a great curiofity. It 
ftands on nine pillars of molt enormous dimeniions, built 
on the lolid rock. Each of them appears to be about 
tw'enty-five feet in circumference: belides thele, there are 
two others much inferior in fize, on which the centre of 
of the church refis, and over which is the tower. The 
following is the legendary account of the origin of this 
church : In the reign of Childibert II. there was a bifliop 
of Avranches named St. Aubert. To this holy man the 
archangel Michael was pleafed to appear one night, and 
ordered him to go to this rock to build a church. St. 
Aubert treated this as a dream; upon which the angel 
appeared a fecond time; and, being flill difobeyed, he 
returned a third time, when, by w'ay of imprinting his 
command upon the faint’s memory, he made a hole in 
his Ikull by touching it with his thumb. The ikull is flill 
preferved in the treafury of the church. It is enclofed 
in a little lhrine of gold, and a cryflal which opens over 
the orifice, and admits the gratification of curiofity by the 
minuteft examination of it. The hole is of a fize and 
fhape proportionable to the thumb laid to have produced 
it; but it is impoflible to determine whether it has been 
really made by a knife .or any other way. It is not to 
3 be 
