MONTE SAINT' ANGELO 291 MONTEZ MONTE SANT' ANGELO (sant an'- je-lo), a city of southern Italy, 28 miles N. E. of Foggia. It stands 2,790 feet above sea-level, on one of the Gargano hills, and is famed for its exquisite honey. Pop. about 15,000. MONTE SILVIO. See Matterhorn. MONTESPAN, (m&ng-tuh-spcmg') , FRANQOISE ATHENAIS, MABQUISE DE, mistress of Louis XIV.; born in 1641. She was the daughter of Gabriel de Rochechouart, Due de Mortemart, married in 1663 the Marquis de Montes- pan, and became attached to the house- hold of the queen. Her beauty and wit captivated the heart of the king, and about 1668 she became his mistress, with- out, however, as yet supplanting La Valliere. Montespan reigned till 1682, and bore the king eight children, which were legitimized, but at last her influence paled before the rising star of Madame de Maintenon, governess to her children. In 1687 she left the court, in 1691 Paris itself and died in Bourbon-l'Archambault, May 27, 1707. MONTESQUIEU (monflf-tuh-skyuh'), CHARLES DE SECONDAT, BARON DE, a famous French writer; born in the castle of La Brede, near Bordeaux, France, Jan. 18, 1689. In 1716 he became president of the Parliament of Bordeaux. The publication of the "Persian Letters" first made him famous as an author. In 1728 he was admitted to the French Academy. Having given up his civil em- ployment he began to travel through Eu- rope, to collect materials for his long meditated work on politics and juris- prudence. "On the Causes of the Gran- deur and Declension of the Romans," published in 1734. His greatest work, is the "Spirit of Laws," which occupied him 20 years, and was published in 1748. His other works are, the "Temple of Gnide," "Lysimachus," and an "Essay on Tdste." He died in Paris, Feb. 10, 1755. MONTESSORI, MARIA, an Italian doctor and educator; born in 1870, she received the degree of doctor of medicine when she was twenty-four years old, being the first woman in Italy to secure that degree. By her work as a doctor among feeble-minded children she became interested in the subject of their edu- cation. Her success in this field turned her attention to the education of normal children. In 1907 the House of Child- hood was founded under her direction, and since that time others have followed. MONTESSORI SYSTEM, a method of instruction used by Dr. Maria Montes- sori and, as yet, used only in the branches of elementary education and with chil- dren between the ages of 3 and 10 years. It is largely the development of the ideas of Froe'tel, and more especially of Seguin and Itard. The chief principle is that of "self-education" — allowing the child to learn ideas by its own activity and by following its own inclinations and not by being dictated to or disciplined by the teacher. In the Montessori system there are no classes, no lessons. There are no rewards or punishment, the only incentive used is the desire on the child's part to do things well in which he or she is interested. When the child enters the school he sees groups of children playing games and joins the group which is doing the things he likes best. The games are ones involving the senses of touch, sight, and hearing, and are so arranged and conducted that these senses are soon developed without the child being conscious of learning a task. "Touch," for example, is practiced by playing games blindfolded, hearing by playing games in the dark. The interest and attention of the child never wavers as in the conventional school system, since he is always doing what he likes. Writing comes before reading in the Montessori system and is learned by means of playing with letters, and imi- tating their shape. It usually takes a child of four years about two months to learn to write. "Reading" is learned by the application of similar methods. The role of the teacher in all this work is radically different from that under the old system. The material itself does the teaching, for it contains the control of errors. The teacher does not impart information; she is a "passive force, a silent presence." MONTEVIDEO (mon-ta-ve-tfea'o), capital of Uruguay, on a small penin- sula on the N. coast of the estuary of the La Plata, 130 miles E. S. E. of Buenos Ayres. It is one of the best built towns in South America. The chief exports are wool, hides, tallow, dried beef, and extracts of flesh. Montevideo sends out above half the whole exports of Uruguay, and receives all but a small fraction of the imports. Pop. (1918) 378,993. MONTEZ, LOLA, the stage name of Marie Dolores Eliza Rosanna Gilbert, an Irish adventuress; born in Limerick, Ireland, in 1818. Her father was an Ensign Gilbert, her mother of Spanish descent. Taken out to India, she lost her father, and, her mother having remar- ried, "Lola" was sent home in 1826 to Europe, and brought up at Montrose, in Paris, and at Bath. To escape the match.
