M O U N T. 
hewn ftone, which, in fnch a defcrt, muft have been con- 
ftrufted with great labour and expenfe. Within the walls 
is a fmall molque for the convenience of the Arabs. This 
monaftery belongs to Greek monks, who had in former 
times only a tower erefted near the burning bufti of 
Mofes ; but, being molefted by the infults and depreda¬ 
tions of the Arabs, they petitioned the emperor Juilinian 
to build for them a ftrong monaftery for their future fe- 
curity ; and the emperor is faid to have complied with 
their requeft. Before the convent is a large garden, 
planted with excellent fruit-trees. According to the ac¬ 
count of the Arabs, the monks enter it by a fubterrane- 
ous palfage. Thefe Greek ecclefiaftics are not allowed to 
receive any European vifitor, without an order from the 
bifliop of Mount Sinai, who refules ordinarily at Cairo. 
When the bifliop happens to be prefent, the gate is opened, 
and the convent mull entertain all the Arabs who come 
in there ; and this is a grievous charge on the poor monks, 
who live merely on alms, and whofe provifions, which 
they are obliged to bring from Cairo, are often ftolen by 
the way. The Arabs are, in general, very dangerous 
neighbours, as they often fire on the convent from the 
adjacent rocks ; and feize the monks whenever they find 
them without the walls of the monaftery, and refufe to 
releafe them without a confiderable ranfom. Five hun¬ 
dred fteps above the convent is an excellent fpring, which 
fuperftitious perfons have counted miraculous, as the 
mountain is fo high and fo barren. A thoufand fteps 
higher Hands a chapel dedicated to the Blefled Virgin j 
and five hundred above this, are two other chapels, 
lituated in a plain, which the traveller enters by two fmall 
gates of mafon-work. Upon this plain are two trees, un¬ 
der which, at high feftivals, the Arabs are regaled at the 
«xpenfe of the Greeks. 
Mount Sinai is held in great veneration, on account of 
the law which God gave on this mountain. The whole 
mountain is a very remarkable rock of red granite, in- 
terfperfed with fpots, to which foil has been brought by 
human labour, or wafhed down by rain, and in which 
grow almond-trees, figs, and vines. Mount Horeb ftands 
weft of Sinai, fo that at fun-rife the fhadow of Sinai covers 
Horeb. Befides the little fountain at the top of Sinai, 
there is another at the foot of Horeb, which fupplies the 
monaftery of St. Catharine. At a fmall diftance is fliown 
a ftone, four or five feet high, and three broad, from 
which, it is pretended, Mofes caufed the water to gufli 
out. Its colour is of a fpotted grey, and it is as it were 
fet in a kind of earth, where no other rock appears. This 
ftone has twelve holes, or channels, which are about a 
foot wide, whence it is thought the water came forth for 
the Ifraelites to drink. 
Much has been faid of the writings to be feen at Mount 
Sinai and in the plain about it; and fuch were the hopes 
of difcoveries reipefting the wanderings of the Ifraelites 
from thefe writings, that Dr. Clayton bifliop of Clogher 
offered 500!. fterlingto defray the expenfes of the journey 
to any man of letters who would undertake to copy them. 
No man, we believe, undertook this talk ; and the accurate 
Danilh traveller Niebuhr found no writings there, but the 
names of perfons who had vifited the place from curiofity, 
and of Egyptians, who had chofen to be buried in that 
region. 
Knights of St. ■Catharine of Mount Sinai. See the 
article Knighthood, vol. xi. 792. 
MOUNT SI'ON, or ZrON, a mountain of Paleftine, on 
which the chief part of ancient Jerusalem was built. 
See that article. 
Sion was alfo one of the names of Mount Hermon, or 
rather of a chain of mountains, called Mountains of 
Hermon, from Mount Hermon, the principal of them. 
MOUNT SOR'REL, or Mount Soar-hill, a fmall 
market-town in the hundred of Weft Gofcote, Leicefter- 
fliire, England, is fituated, as its name imports, on an 
eminence near the banks of the Soar, on the great turn¬ 
pike-road from Leicefter to Derby, at the diftance of ft: yen 
185 
miles from the former, and 104. from London. On the 
weftern fide is the termination of a ridge of high hills, 
which extend through Charnwood foreft into Derbyfliire. 
The highelt point, almoft overhanging the town, is called 
Caftle-hill, where was formerly a fortrefs, which is men¬ 
tioned as early as the reign of king Stephen, and w-as of 
diftinguilhed note in the contentions between the barons 
and the crown, in the time of king John and Henry III. 
in the latter reign it was razed to the ground, and has 
never been re-built. The town is partly in the parifti of 
Barrow-upon-Soar, and partly in that of Rothley; and 
the vicars and proprietors of each are allotted their pro¬ 
portionate ftiare of lands and tythes by an aft of parlia¬ 
ment which palled in the year 1781. Mount-Sorrell-hili 
is a rock of reddilh granite, with pieces of which the 
ftreets are paved. They are commonly called Charley- 
foreft ftone, and in many places Hand out bare, and are of 
fuch hardnefs, after being expofed to the air, as to refill 
all tools. Such pieces as can be got from under the 
ground are broken wfith a fledge, and ufed for building 
in the Ihape in which they are broken. Many houfes are 
built with them, and make a very lingular appearance. 
They are often imperfeft cones ; and, being too hard to 
be cut or broken, the fmootheft face is laid outermoft, in 
beds of excellent lime. At the end of Barn-lane, which 
feparates the parilhes of Rothley and Barrow, formerly 
flood a curious crofs, which confifted of a flender ofta- 
gonal lhaft, fluted, and ornamented within the flutes with 
carved heads, quartrefoils, &c. the upper part of the lhaft 
was terminated by a crocketted pediment and niches, lup- 
ported by angels. This relic of monaftic antiquity was 
taken down in 1793, and removed into the grounds of 
fir John Danvers, who caufed a fmall market-houfe, in 
imitation of a pavilion, to be erefted in its Head. In this 
town were formerly two chapels ; but it now has only 
one, which is fubordinate to the church of Barrow. Here 
are alfo three meeting-houfes for Prelbyterians, Baptifts, 
and Methodifts. A weekly market is held on Monday, 
which, with an annual fair, July 10, were firft granted, in 
1292, by Edward I. to Nicholas de Seagrave and his heirs. 
Nichols's Hijl. of Leicejlerjhire. 
Thurcafton is a village to the fouth of Mount Sorrel. 
Here they fliow ahoule in which they fay Bp. Latimer was 
born. It contains alfo a charity-fchool. 
MOUNT STE'PHENS, a mountain on the weft coaft 
of North America : five miles north of Point Philip. 
MOUNT TAL'BOT, a fmall poll-town of Ireland, in 
the county of Rofcommon, fituated on the river Suck, 
and feventy-fix miles weft-by-north from Dublin. 
MOUNT TIR'ZA, a town of North-Carolina: fixty 
miles north-eaft of Salem. 
MOUNT TOM', a mountain of North America, in ths 
Hate of Connefticut, between Lichfield and Walhington. 
-~A mountain of New Hamplhire, on the right bank of 
the Connefticut, near Northampton. 
MOUNT VER'NON, a town of Virginia: ten miles 
fouth of Walhington. Here was the feat of the late ce¬ 
lebrated George Walhington, plealantly fituated on the 
Virginia bank of Patowmac-river, where the river is near¬ 
ly two miles wide ; nine miles below Alexandria, 127 from 
Point Look-out at the mouth of the river, and 280 from 
the fea. The area of the mount is two hundred feet above 
the furface of the river ; and, after furnilhing a lawn of 
five acres in front, and about the fame in rear of the build¬ 
ings, falls oft’ rather abruptly in thofe two quarters. On 
the north end it fubfides gradually into extenlive pafture- 
grounds ; while on the fouth it Hopes more lleeply, in a 
Ihort diftance, and terminates with the coach-houle, fta- 
bles, vineyards, and nurferies. On either w'ing is a thick 
grove of different flowering foreft-trees. Parallel with 
them, on the land fide, are two fpacious gardens, into 
which one is led by two ferpentine gravel-walks, planted 
with weeping willows and fliady lhrubs. The manfion- 
houfe itfelf appears venerable and convenient; and, viewed 
from the land fide, the whole alfeinblage of buildings bears 
a re> 
