Muntjak (Cervus muntjac).

which also are wanting in the female.-Allied species are found in India and China.

MÜNZER, THOMAS, one of the leaders of the Anabaptists (q. v.), was born at Stolberg, in the Harz, took his degree at Wittenberg as Master of Arts, and for some time preached the doctrines of the Reformation in Zwickau and other places. Ere long, however, he adopted mystic views, and declaimed against what he called the 'servile, literal, and half' measures of the Reformers, requiring a radical reformation both in church and state according to his 'inward light.' He proclaimed an entire community of goods. and incited the populace to plunder the houses of the wealthy. Mühlhausen fell for a time under his sway, and that of another fanatic named Pfeifer, who joined him. He took an active part in the Peasant War, and inflamed the spirits of the insurgents by the wildest speeches and songs; but they were utterly defeated on 15th May 1525, after a severe conflict, at Frankenhausen, by the Elector John and Duke George of Saxony, the Landgrave of Hesse, and the Duke of Brunswick. M. fled, but was taken and carried to Mühlhausen, where he was beheaded along with Pfeifer and a number of others. He shewed no dignity or courage in the closing scenes of his life. See Strobel's Leben Schriften und Lehren Thom. Münzer's (Nürnb. 1795); Seidemann's Thom. Munzer (Dresd. and Leips. 1842); and Heinrich Leo in the Evangelische Kirchenzeitung (Berl. 1856).

MURE'NA, a genus of malacopterous fishes, of those to which the name Eel is commonly given, the whole of the eels being sometimes included in the family Muranida. See EEL. The true Murance have no fins, except the dorsal and anal, which are low and fleshy. They have one row of sharp teeth in each jaw. The head is very large, and the jaws are moved with great power. The M. of the Romans, or MURRY (M. helena), abounds in the Mediterranean, and is sometimes of large size, four feet or more in length, golden yellow in front, and purple towards the tail, beautifully banded and mottled. It is much thicker in proportion to its

Muræna (M. helena).

but can accommodate itself to a fresh-water pond. The ancient Romans kept and fed it in vivaria. The story of Vedius Pollio feeding his murænas with offending slaves is well known. This M. has been caught on the British shores, but very rarely. Allied to the genus M. is the genus Sidera, found in the Pacific.

MURAL CROWN, in Heraldry, a crown in the form of the top of a circular tower, masoned and embattled. It is meant to represent the crown which was given by the Romans as a mark of distinction to the soldier who first mounted the walls of a besieged town, and fixed there the standard of the army. A mural crown supporting the crest, in place of a wreath, occurs in the achievements of several of the English nobility, and in various grants of arms made in the early part of the present century to officers who had distinguished themselves in the war. Viscount Beresford, in consequence of his gallantry at the battle of Albuera, obtained as crest, issuing out of a mural crown, a dragon's head with its neck pierced through by a broken spear, the head of the spear point downwards being held in the mouth of the dragon.

Mural Crown.

MURAT, JOACHIM, king of Naples, was the son of an innkeeper at La Bastide-Fortunière, near Cahors, in France, and was born there 25th March 1767 or 1768. He was at first intended for the priesthood, and actually commenced the study of theology and canon law at Toulouse, but entered the army, and being threatened with punishment for insubordination, deserted, and after spending some time at home, proceeded to Paris, where, it is said, he was for some time a waiter at a café, but soon obtained admission into the Constitutional

Guard of Louis XVL On the outbreak of the Revolution, he was made a sub-lieutenant in a cavalry regiment. His gallantry and extreme republicanism soon won him the rank of colonel. He attached himself closely to Bonaparte, under whom he served in Italy and in Egypt, signalising himself in many battles; rose to the rank of a general of division (1799); returned with Bonaparte to France; and rendered him most important assistance on the 18th Brumaire, by dispersing the Council of Five Hundred at St Cloud. Bonaparte now intrusted him with the command of the Consular Guard, and gave him his youngest sister, Caroline, in marriage. M. commanded the cavalry at Marengo, where he greatly distinguished

himself. On the establishment of the French Empire, he was loaded with honours. He continued to command the cavalry in the armies led by the Emperor, and contributed not a little to the victory at Austerlitz, and to many other victories. In 1806, the newly-erected grand duchy of Berg (q. v.) was bestowed upon him. On 1st August 1808, he was proclaimed king of the Two Sicilies by the style of Joachim I. Napoleon. He took possession of Naples, but the Bourbons, through the support of Britain, retained Sicily.

M. possessed the qualities requisite for a general of cavalry rather than those of a king. He was very deficient in political skill and energy; but by the moderation of his government, he won the hearts of his subjects. Even his love of pomp and show, and the theatrical splendour of his equip ment, which were a subject of mirth in France and Germany, rather gratified the Neapolitans. He endured with difficulty the yoke of Napoleon, which left him little but the outward show of royalty. In the expedition against Russia, he commanded the whole cavalry, but on its failure, he returned to Naples, anxious and discontented. He joined the French army again in 1813, but after the battle of Leipzig, withdrew to his own dominions, determined on breaking the French fetters with which he was bound. He concluded a treaty with Austria, and a truce with the British admiral, and promised | the allies an auxiliary corps. He hesitated, however, even after his new course seemed to have been decisively adopted; and finding his position insecure after Napoleon's overthrow, he entered into private communications with him at Elba. On the Emperor's return to France, M. placed himself at the head of an army of 40,000 men, and commenced a hasty war against Austria. He was defeated at Ferrara, 12th April 1815, and again at Tolentino, 2d May. With a few horsemen he fled to Naples, where all was insurrection and commotion; thence to the island of Ischia, and found his way to France, whilst his wife and children took refuge in the British fleet. After Napoleon's final overthrow, he found refuge in Corsica, from which he proceeded in a foolhardy manner with a few followers to the coast of Naples, and proclaimed himself king and liberator, but was presently taken prisoner, and after trial by a courtmartial, was shot in a hall of the castle of Pizzo, on 13th October 1815. See Léonard Gallais, Histoire de Joachim Murat (Paris, 1828), and Coletta, Histoire des Six derniers mois de la Vie de Joachim Murat (Paris, 1821). His widow assumed the title of Countess of Lipona, and resided in the neighbourhood of Trieste, where she died in 1839. His two sons went to the United States, where the elder, NAPOLÉON ACHILLE MURAT, settled in Florida, and published a number of works on the constitution and politics of his adopted country. He died 15th April 1847. The younger, NAPOLEON LUCIEN CHARLES, married an American lady in 1827, but suffered several reverses in fortune, and Madame Murat was obliged to open a boarding-school for the support of herself and her husband. Twice he attempted to return to France secretly (in 1837 and 1844), but failed on both occasions. The Revolution of 1848, however, opened the country to him. He attached himself closely to Prince Louis Napoleon; and was in 1849 French Ambassador Extraordinary to the court of Turin. In 1852 he was made a senator; and in 1853 he received the title of prince. The Italian revolution appeared to present some chances for him, but nothing came of these.

MURATORI, LUDOVICO ANTONIO, a celebrated antiquary and historian, was born at Vignola, in

the duchy of Modena, October 21, 1672. From a very early period, his predilection for historical and literary pursuits began to manifest itself; and, having entered into holy orders, without, however, accepting any ecclesiastical office, his life was devoted partly to the literature of his profession, but mainly to researches in history, both sacred and profane, especially the history of his native country. In his 22d year, he was appointed one of the librarians of the Ambrosian Library at Milan, a post which has since received equal celebrity from a successor not unworthy of the fame of M., the illustrious Angelo Mai (q. v.). Here he gave to the world his first publication, a collection of inedited Greek and Latin fragments, under the titles of Anecdota Graca and Anecdota Latina. But his most important labours were reserved for the capital of his native duchy, whither, in 1700, he was recalled by the Duke of Modena, to take charge of the celebrated D'Este Library, and of the ducal archives; his only ecclesiastical preferment being that of provost of the church of St Mary, at Pomposa. From the date of his return to Modena, M. began to devote himself more exclusively to Italian history, especially to the history of medieval Italy; and his labours in this department extended over the greater part of his life. It was not until the year 1723 that the first volume of his great collection, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, appeared, and the work proceeded at regular intervals for nearly thirty years, the last of the twenty-eight folio volumes which compose it bearing the date of 1751. This immense publication, which was produced by the joint contributions of the princes and higher nobility of Italy, embraces a range from the 5th to the 16th c., and contains all the chronicles of Italy during that vast period, illustrated with commentaries and critical notices. It was accompanied by a collection of dissertations illustrative of the religious, literary, social, political, military, and commercial relations of the several states of Italy during the period, in 6 vols. folio, 1738-1742, a work which, although far from being exempt from errors, is still regarded as a treasurehouse of medieval antiquities. While engaged in these prodigious labours, M. carried on an active literary correspondence with the scholars of the various countries of Europe, and contributed essays not unfrequently to the principal historical and literary academies, of most of which he was a member. He was the first, moreover, to undertake a general History of Italy from the commencement of the vulgar era down to his own time. It is in 12 vols. 4to, and still retains its value as a book of reference, having been continued by Coppi down to the year 1819. In his capacity of archivist of the Duke of Modena, he compiled, in two vols. folio, the Antiquities of the d'Este Family (1710--1740), as well as a series of historical and polemical treatises on certain territorial questions in dispute between the House of Modena and the court of Rome. To the department of classical scholarship, M.'s collection of Inscriptions (6 vols. folio, 1739— 1743), which, in this point of view, was a necessary supplement to the collection of Gruter and the other antiquaries who had preceded him, is still acknowledged as a most important contribution; and he has also left works of standard merit in the departments of jurisprudence, of literary criticism, of poetry, of biography, and even of the history of medical science. In the studies of his own profession, as well liturgical and historical, as dogmatical and even ascetical, M., although he did not follow the method of the schools, was hardly less distinguished than if he had made these the pursuit of his life. Some of his opinions were regarded with disfavour, if not directly condemned; but his

vindication of himself, addressed to the learned Pope Benedict XIV., drew forth a warm and honourable testimony to the uprightness of his motives, which, without approving of the opinions to which exception had been taken, declared them free from the imputation of being contrary either to the doctrine or to the discipline of the church. Although M.'s life was essentially that of a scholar, yet his exactness in discharging the duties of a parish priest was beyond all praise, and several of the existing charitable institutions of Pomposa were founded by him. He died at Modena, January 28, 1750, in his 78th year. His works, which it would be tedious to enumerate in full detail, fill 46 volumes in folio, 34 in 4to, 13 in 8vo, and many more in 12mo. Some of these are posthumous, and were published by his nephew, G. F. Muratori, from whom we also have a life of his distinguished uncle, in 4to, printed at Omer, 1758. MURCHISON, SIR RODERICK IMPEY, geologist and geographer, was born at Tarradale, Ross-shire, in 1792. He was educated at the Grammar-school, Durham, and having a bias for military life, next studied at the Military College, Marlow. He entered the army at an early age, and served as an officer in the 36th Regiment in Spain and Portugal. He was placed on the staff of his uncle, General Sir Alexander Mackenzie, and then obtained a captaincy in the 6th Dragoons. Quitting the army in 1816, he devoted himself to science-more especially to geology. After five years' investigation, he established what he called the Silurian system (q. v.). He found the same sedimentary strata lying in the earth's crust beneath the old red sandstone in the mountainous regions of Norway and Sweden, in the vast and distant provinces of the Russian empire, and also in North and South America. He explored also several parts of Germany, Poland, and the Carpathians; and in 1846 he commenced a geological survey of the Russian empire, under the countenance of the imperial government. M. de Verneuil was associated with him in this great work. Upon the presentation of his first report, the Emperor Nicholas gave him a decoration and a colossal vase of Siberian aventurine, mounted on a column of porphyry, with a suitable inscription. After three years' additional labour, he completed his survey of Russia, which obtained for him the grand cross of the order of St Stanislaus, and the honour of British knighthood. He has frequently held the office of President of the Geological Society, and in his anniversary address in 1844, first predicted the discovery of gold in Australia. in 1846, six years before that metal was practically worked, he addressed a letter to the President of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, inciting the unemployed Cornish tin-miners to emigrate and dig for gold in Australia. In 1846, he was elected President of the British Association for the Advance ment of Science, and in this year received the Copley medal of the Royal Society of London. He was elected President of the Royal Geographical Society in 1844 and 1845, was re-elected in 1857, and still holds this distinguished post. His anniversary addresses to the geographers are of great interest and value. Perhaps no man living has done more to promote geographical science at home, and kindle the spirit of adventure among the explorers of distant lands. In 1855, he succeeded Sir H. De la Beche in the office of Director of the Museum of Practical Geology. In 1857, he presided over the banquet to Dr Livingstone. He presents an annual report to parliament as Directorgeneral of the Geological Survey and Government School of Mines. So laborious has been his

life, and so various have been his labours, that a mere list of his essays on geology, &c., would fill three or four pages. M. has also prepared and published sixteen geological maps. The greater portion of his contributions to science have been published in the Transactions of the Geological Society, Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine, &c. He has also published volumes on the Tertiary Deposits of Lower Styria, Austria, and Bavaria (1830), the Geology of Cheltenham (1834), &c.

MURCHISO'NIA, a genus of fossil gasteropodous mollusca belonging to the family Haliotide, and so named in honour of Sir R. I. Murchison. The genus consists of at least 50 species, all which are charac teristic of the Paleozoic rocks, occurring in the series from the Lower Silurian up to the Permian. The shell differs from the large genus Pleurotomaria only in being very much elongated. Like it, the whorls are sculptured and zoned, the aperture is channelled in front, and the outer lip is deeply notched.

The coast com

MU'RCIA, a former province of Spain, now subdivided into the smaller provinces of Albacete and Murcia, is situated in the south-east of the peninsula. It is bounded on the N. by New Castile, on the E. by Valencia, on the S. by the Mediterranean, and on the W. by Granada, Andalusia, and New Castile. Area, 10,311 square miles. Pop. 582,087. In the north-east, the province is partly level; but in the south-west, it is composed of great valleys, high plateaus, and mountain ranges. prises stretches of desert. The principal river is the Segura, which flows through the middle of On the whole, the province from west to east. M. is not very productive, and never will be, on account of the failure of water, partly caused by the destruction of the forests. The only fertile districts are the valleys of the Segura, and the sidevalleys of Lorca, Albacete, Chinchilla, and Almansa. The Esparto wastes have remained uncultivated since the banishment of the Moriscoes in 1610; and

the canal of M., which is intended to irrigate the arid Campo de Cartagena, is not yet finished. M. is one of the most thinly peopled districts of Spain. The north yields wheat and barley; the south, Goats, maize, fruits, wine, oil, silk, and hemp. sheep, and swine are reared in great numbers. metals, salt, and mineral springs, M. is abundant; it has also many smelting-works for iron, lead, and copper ores, brimstone and alum. The roads, how

ever,

M. was

In

con

are in the most wretched condition, and industry in general is still in a backward state. The province was frightfully devastated by a great earthquake, 18-21 March 1829. quered by the Arabs in 711; after the fall of the califate of Cordova, it became an independent Arab kingdom, but, six years afterwards, was subjugated by King Ferdinand III. of Castile in 1241.

MURCIA (the Roman Murgi), a large, important, and ancient town of Spain, capital of the province of the same name, on the left bank of the Segura, and near the junction of that river with the Sangonera, 50 miles south-west of Alicante. It stands in the midst of a beautiful and luxuriantly productive huerta or garden, 16 miles in length, and from 7 to 8 miles wide. This huerta forms a portion of what is called the vale of M.; is well watered, has a bright green appearance even in winter; produces wheat, flax, pulse, and vegetables, and grows innumerable mulberry, orange, fig, and palm trees. The streets of M. are narrow but clean, and the houses are gaudily painted in pink and yellow. Its. squares are filled with cypress, orange, lemon, and other southern trees. It is the see of a bishop.