MON 
MON 
though announced with much parade, was but indiffer¬ 
ently received. 
The following chara&er of this great man is drawn by 
lord Chelterfield: “ His virtues did honour to human 
nature, his writings juftice. A friend to mankind, he 
afferted their undoubted and unalienable rights with free¬ 
dom, even in his own country; whofe prejudices in mat¬ 
ters of religion and government he had long lamented, 
and endeavoured, not without fome fuccefs, to remove. 
He W'ell knew, and juftly admired, the happy conftitution 
of this country, where fixed and known laws equally 
reftrain monarchy from tyranny, and liberty from licen- 
tioulnefs. His works will illuftrate his name, and furvive 
him, as long as right reafon, moral obligation, and the 
tru cfpirit of laws, fhall be underltgod, refpedfed, and main¬ 
tained.” As to his perfonal qualities, we are told by his 
eulogift, M. d’Alembert, that “ he was of a fweet, gay, 
and even, temper. His converfation was fpirited, agree¬ 
able, and inftruftive. Nobody told a ftory in a more 
lively manner, or with more grace and lefs affectation. 
He had frequent abfence of mind; but always awaked 
from it by tome unexpected ftroke that re-animated the 
langunliing converfation. Though he lived with the 
great, he retired whenever he could to his eftate in the 
country, and there met his books, his philofophy, and 
his repofe. Surrounded at his leifure hours with peafants, 
after having ftudied man in the commerce of the world, 
he ftudied him in thofe fimple people fiolely inftruCted by 
nature. With them he cheerfully converfed ; he endea¬ 
voured, like Socrates, to find out their genius, and ap¬ 
peared as happy with them as in the molt brilliant affem- 
blies ; efpecially when he reconciled their differences, and 
by his beneficence relieved them from their diftreffes.” 
The ornament beneath the annexed portrait is intended 
to illuftrate his three principal works : the yoke alludes 
to the Spirit of Laws, the turban to the Perfian Letters, 
and Cupid’s bow to the Temple of Gnidus. 
Montesouieu had a fon, John Buptijl de Secondat, 
counfellor of the parliament of Bourdeaux, who died in 
that city in 1796, at the age of feventy-nine. Under an 
unfavourable exterior, he pofleffed talents, knowledge, 
and mor^il worth. He wrote, 1. Obfervations de Phyfique 
et d’Hiftoire Naturelle fur les Eaux Minerales des Pyre¬ 
nees, 1750. z. Confiderations furla Commerce et la Na¬ 
vigation de la Grande Bretagne, 1740. 3. Confiderations 
fur la Marine Militaire de France, 1756. The latter work 
he printed at London, where he then refided, and where 
he was made a member of the Royal Society. 
MONTESQUIEU', a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment of the Upper Garonne : four miles north-weft of 
Viilefranche, and fifteen fouth-fouth-eaft of Touloufe. 
MONTESQUIEU' de VOLVES'TRE, a town of France, 
in the department of the Upper Garonne : twenty-five 
miles fouth of Touloufe, and four fouth-fouth-eaft of 
Rieux. 
MONTESQUIOU', a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment of the Gers: four miles north-north-weft of Mi- 
rande, and eleven weft-fouth-weft of Auch. 
MONTET' aux MOI'NES, a town of France, in the 
department of the Allier: fix miles north-weft of Mont- 
marault, and thirteen fouth of Cerilly. 
MONTETH', f. [from the name of the inventor.] A 
velTel in which glafles are walhed: 
New things produce new words, and thus Monteth 
Has by one veflel fav’d his name from death. King. 
MONTEVER'DE (Claudio), a native of Cremona, was 
one of the moll eminent compofers of the 17th century. 
He firft diftinguiflied himfelf as a performer on the tenor 
viol; and, being taken into the fervice of the duke of 
Mantua, applied himfelf to the ftudy of compofition under 
the dire&ion of Marcantonio Ingegneri, of Cremona, 
maeftro di capella of that court, and a confiderable com- 
pofer for the church. Soon after, he went to Venice, 
where the republic appointed him maeftro of St. Mark’s 
You. XV. No. 1079. 
733 
church, a place which has been always filled by profefiors 
of great abilities. Here, in 158a, he publifhed Madrigals 
for Three, Four, and Five, Voices, in the ftyle of the 
times; but, his courage increafing with experience, in his 
fubfequent productions he dared to violate mariy rules 
of counterpoint, which, having been long eftablifhed, 
were held facred by orthodox profeffors. He had, there¬ 
fore, many opponents, who treated him as an ignorant 
corruptor of the art. Among thefe, the principal was 
Gio. Maria Artufi, of Bologna, who, in the firft part of 
his traCt On the Imperfection of Modern Mufic, pub¬ 
lifhed in 1600, as well as in the fecond, which appeared 
in 1603, inveighed with great afperity againft Monte- 
verde. Muficians entered the lifts on both fides, and 
the war became general. Monteverde defended himfelf 
in prefaces and letters, prefixed to his works ; but his beft 
defence was the revolution he brought about in counter¬ 
point ; for his licences, pleafing the public ear, w'ere foon 
adopted, not only by dilettante, but by profefiors. 
Monteverde was the firft who ufed double difcords, 
fuch as the y, and ; as well as the flat fifth, and the 
feventh unprepared; and, as he was pofleffed of genius 
and fcience, his innovations were not merely praifed 
and then avoided, but abuled, and adopted, by other 
compofers. 
He had acquired a high reputation in 1620, and was 
admitted that fame year into the academy at Bologna 
with great folemnity. His Madrigals were printed at 
Venice from 1582 to 1651. Another collection of his 
pieces appeared at Venice in 1640, for one, two, three, 
four, five, fix, feven, and eight, voices. He was one of 
the firft cultivators of recitative, and let the following- 
operas : ProferpinaRapita, 1630 ; Ariadne, 1640 ; Adonis, 
w'ith the title of a Mufical Tragedy, 1642; and L’lncoro- 
nazione di Poppea, all for Venice. With refpeCl to thefe 
operas, the learned Gio. Bat. Doni fays : “ Claudio 
Monteverde, at prefent maeftro di capella to the republic 
of Venice, has received great applaufe at the performance 
of his Ariadne ; he afterwards publifhed the principal 
part of this production, which is the Lamentation of 
Ariadne, and perhaps the molt beautiful compofition of 
the kind which our times have produced.” Burney's 
Hijl. of Mufic, vol. iii. 
MONTEU'X, a town of Trance, in the department of 
the Mouths of the Rhone : nine miles north-eaft of Avig¬ 
non, and three louth-weft of Gurpentras. 
MONTF/Y, a town of Swiflbrland, and feat of a bailiff, 
in the Valais : nine miles north of Martigny. 
MONTE'YO, a town of Portugal, in the province of 
Beira : fifteen miles fouth-weft of Guardia. 
MONTE'ZIA, a town of the ifland of- Cuba : twenty- 
five miles fouth-fouth-eaft of Havannah. 
MONTEZU'MA, or Montezuma, was emperor or 
king of Mexico when Cortez invaded that country in 
1518. See the article Mexico, in this volume, p. 282- 
290.—This unfortunate prince left two fons and three 
daughters, who embraced the Chriftian faith. The eldeft 
received baptifm, and obtained from Charles V. lands, 
revenues, and the title of Count de Montezuma. He 
died in 1608 ; the family ftill fubfifts, and is one of the 
mod powerful in Spain. 
MONTFAU'CHE, a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment of the Nyevre : nine miles north of Chateauchinon. 
MONTFAUCO'N, a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment of the Meufe: ten miles north of Clermont, and 
four north-eaft of Varennes. 
MONTFAUCO'N, a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment of the Upper Loire : nine miles fouth-eaft: of Mo- 
niftrol, and twenty-one north-eaft of Le Puy. 
MONTFAUCO'N, a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment of the Mayne and Loire: nine miles w-eft of Choi- 
let, and fifteen fouth of Amiens. 
MONTFAUCO'N (Bernard de), a very learned and 
induftrious antiquary and philologift, was born in 1655 
at the caftle of Soulage in Languedoc, of the ancient fa- 
9 A miiy 
