156 M O Z 
and bore honourable teftimony to the liberal expenfe 
which the proprietor had bellowed upon this opera. The 
moonlight view of a cemetery, with the equeftrian figure 
of Don Pedro, was the fineft thing ever feen upon the 
ftage. The drefles, decorations, &c. were all in the fame 
good ftyle, altogether rendering this the moll complete 
opera ever produced at the King’s Theatre. 
For the firft reprefentation of this opera at Prague, the 
overture, which is on all hands admitted to be a mailer- 
piece of genius and fcience, was begun and finilhed in 
one night. The fongs, finales, in Ihort all the vocal pieces 
of the work, had been finilhed, lludied by the fingers, and 
rehearled ; nay, the lall grand rehearfal took place, with¬ 
out the overture being even begun by the compofer, al¬ 
though the public performance was fixed for the next day. 
Mozart’s friends, his wdfe,- and above all the manager, 
were in a Hate of alarm eafily to be conceived; they re- 
prelented to him the ruinous confequences, to the theatre 
as well as to himfelf, which mull refult from an eventual 
difappointment, and conjured him not to blall his greatell 
work by fo wanton a procrallination. “ I lhall write the 
overture this afternoon ; I have it all in my head ;” was 
the anfwer. The afternoon came j but Mozart, leduced 
by the finenefs of the weather, took a trip into the coun¬ 
try, and made merry, returned in the evening, and fat 
down to a bowd of punch with fome friends, who trembled 
at the idea of his fituation. It was midnight before he 
left this jovial party, in a Hate fo little calculated for 
mental exertion, that he determined to lie down for an 
hour, at the fame time charging Mrs. Mozart to call him 
at the expiration of that time. The fond wife, feeing him 
in the fweetelt Humber, and confcious of his pow’ers, fuf- 
fered him to lie tw'o hours, called him up, made a bowl 
of punch, his favourite beverage, put pen, ink, and mufic- 
paper, before him, fat down by his fide, and, while filling 
the glafs, entertained the compofer with a number of 
laughable fiories, in the telling of which Ihe polfelfed a 
peculiar talent. Mozart lifiened with the greatefi glee. 
All at once the divine fpark within him brightened into 
radiant flame ; he exclaimed, “ Now is the time, Conftan- 
tia; now we are in trim for it.” Showers of crotchets 
and quavers then guffied from the rapid pen. At times, 
however, and in the midfl of writing, nature would afiert 
her fway, and caufe the compofer to nod. The fomnolent 
fits, however, foon gave way to the cheerful converfe of 
Conftantia, and the excellent punch which formed its ac¬ 
companiment. The overture was completed before break - 
fafl, and the copyifis fcarcely had time to write out the 
fcore. A rehearfal being thus out of the queflion, the 
orcheflra played it at the public reprefentation in the 
evening without previous trial; and it is no fmall eulo- 
gium on their talents to add, that the execution eleflri- 
fied the audience, who with thunders of applaufe called 
for a repetition. 
MOZ'DOK, a town of Rulfia, in the government of 
Caucafus, on the Malka: eight miles eafl of Ekateri- 
nograd. 
MOZE', a town of France, in the department of the 
Mayne and Loire: fifteen miles weH-fouth-well of Angers, 
and ten eafl of Ancenis. 
MOZUN', a town of France, in the department of the 
Puy de Dome : four miles eafl-fouth-eafl of Biilom. 
MOZY'R, a town of Lithuania, in the palatinate of 
* Minfk : 112 miles fouth-fouth-eafl of Minlk, and 196 
fouth-fouth-eafl of Wilna. 
MOZZANI'CA, a town of Italy: twelve miles'north- 
north-eaft of Lodi, and twenty-two eafl of Milan. 
MOZZOLI'NO (Silvefler), a celebrated Italian domi- 
nican monk, better known by the name of Silvijicr de 
Prierio, a village in the territory of Afli, where he was 
born, about the year 1460. He entered the order when 
he was fifteen years of age, and became one of its greatefl 
ornaments. He filled the chair of theological profeffor 
in the principal univerfities of Italy; was frequently 
-defiled prior; and was once appointed vicar-general of 
M S II 
the congregation of Lombardy. Afterwards he was called 
to Rome, where he was promoted to the high pofl of 
mafler of the facred palace, and made general of his order. 
He died of the plague in 1520, when he was about iixty 
years of age. Notwithflanding his numerous avocations, 
he devoted a confiderable fliare of his time to fludy, and 
produced feveral works which met with a very favourable 
reception from the public. The principal of them are, 
1. Summa, generally called the Sylvejirine, containing a 
collection of cafes of confcience, which was firfl publifned 
in 1516, and afterwards reprinted in a. greatly enlarged 
form in 1519,410. 2. Tlie Golden Rofe; or, an Expoll- 
tion of the Gofpels throughout the Year; which firfl ap- . 
peared in 1503, 4to. and fince that time has undergone 
numerous imprefliorts. 3. De Strigi Magarum Daemo- 
numque Praefligiis, printed after his death in 1521, 4to. 
But he claims our notice more particularly, from the cir- 
cumftance of his having been the firft Italian writer who 
took up his pen againft Luther. When the Thefes of that 
reformer were brought to Rome, he endeavoured to refute 
them in a “ Dialogue,” which appears to have been pub- 
liftied in the year 1517, and dedicated to pope Leo X. 
He alfo publiftied, in 1519, a-treatife entitled, “ Trafilatus 
quidam folemnis de arte et modo inquirendi quofcumque 
Hasreticos,” &c. According to the judgment of catholic 
critics themfelves, his performances rendered no fervice 
to the caufe of which he was the advocate; and pope Lea 
thought it prudent to prohibit him from writing any 
thing more in the Lutheran controverfy. The treatife lall 
mentioned was originally publiflied in the name of a ja¬ 
cobin monk, and dedicated to Sylvefter; but in the year 
1653, it was reprinted by the inquifition at Rome, and 
afcribed to its proper author. Gen. Biog. 
MRAK'OTIN, a town of Moravia, in the circle of 
Iglau : twenty miles fouth-fouth-weft of Iglau. 
MR ATSCH, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of Kaur- 
zim : ten miles fouth-eaft of Sale. 
MRES'NA, a river of Croatia, which runs into the 
ICorona three miles fouth of Carlftadt. 
MR I, a town of Egypt, on the weft branch of the Nile : 
feven miles fouth of Faoua. 
MRI'TU, or Mrityu, in Hindoo mythology, a per- 
fonification of Death, and a name of Yama, the Pluto of 
the Hindoos ; applied alfo to Kal, or Time, and to Siva, 
the deftrufitive power of the deity. 
MRZEC, a river of Poland, which runs into the Nie- 
men four miles north-w'eft of Grodno. 
MSCHNO, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of Boleflaw: 
ten miles weft of Jung Bruntzel. 
MSHET, anciently the capital of Georgia, in Afiatic 
Ruflia, is finely fituated at the confluence of the Kur 
(the Cyprus of the Greeks) and the Aragna. The 
lite was taftefully chofen by Mffiet, one of Noah’s grand- 
fons, who founded this city, which was alfo the favourite 
refidence of Shem, Farfis, Tangamos, and Kartios. This 
feat of the patriarchs has dwindled into a fmallaflemblage 
of mean houfes, inhabited by Georgians and Armenians 
of the pooreft clafs ; and, on viewing it in its prefent con¬ 
dition, it is difficult to believe that it was once thirty 
verfts in circumference, and that it was defended by eighty 
thoufand warriors. Mffiet pofiefles many veftiges of its 
former importance. Near the cathedral are the ruins of 
the palace of the archbifhops of Georgia. This building 
contains the oratory of St. Nono, the flave-girl who con¬ 
verted king Mirian and his fubjefils in the time of Con- 
ftantine the Great. When journeying through Georgia 
on her million, the ufed to bear a crols formed of vine- 
branches which ffie had tied together with locks of her 
own hair. The relic ufed to be carefully preferved in the 
cuftody of the kings; but, when they were out in the wars, 
it was depolited in the cathedral of Mffiet. The crofs of 
vine-branches was carried to the mountains when the 
Turks and Perfians invaded Georgia in 1720, and con¬ 
cealed for fome time in the church of Ananour. After- 
wards it was entrufted to the Czarotvitch Wachtang, who 
1 had 
