(Paris, 2nd ed., 1879). The bibliography of Montesquieu was dealt with by L. Dangeau in 1874. There is known to exist at La Brède a great mass of MS. materials for the Esprit des lois, additional Lettres persanes, essays, and fragments of all kinds, diaries, letters, notebooks and so forth. The present possessors, however, who represent Montesquieu, long refused permission to examine these to all editors and critics, and they were chiefly known by a paper contributed in 1834 to the, Transactions of the Academy of Agen. At last in 1891 Baron Charles de Montesquieu published Deux opuscules of his ancestors, and in 1899 Baron Gaston de Montesquieu added Pensées, &c. Nothing, however, of much interest has yet appeared. For a thorough student L’Esprit de Montesquieu by A. Charaux (1885) has value, for it is written, with some ability, from a point of view now very uncommon, that of a convinced Roman Catholic, anti-parliamentarian and anglophobe critic, who regards Montesquieu as an “evangelist of social atheism” and the like. The view is quite untenable but useful as a corrective. An article by Churton Collins on “Montesquieu in England” (Quarterly Review, No. 394, April 1903) may be also consulted.)
(G. Sa.)
MONTESQUIOU-FÉZENSAC, ANNE PIERRE, Marquis de (1739–1798), French general and writer, was born in Paris on the 17th of October 1739, of an ancient family of Armagnac. He was brought up with the children of the king of France, and showed some taste for letters. He entered the army in 1754, was successively colonel of the Grenadiers and the Royal-Vaissaux regiment, and in 1780 was made maréchal-de-camp. Some pieces of verse and several comedies gained him admission to the French Academy in 1784. He was elected deputy to the states general of 1789 by the nobles of Paris, and, animated by Liberal ideas, he soon joined the Third Estate, and seconded Necker’s financial schemes. He served on the committee charged with the issue of assignats, and was named president of the Constituent Assembly on the 14th of March 1791. In May 1791 he was promoted lieutenant-general, served under Lafayette, and in February 1792 was given the command of the Army of the South. In September of the same year he completed the conquest of Savoy, but in November 1792 he was accused of royalist leanings, and had to take refuge in Switzerland. In 1795 his name was erased from the list of émigrés and he returned to Paris, where he died on the 30th of December 1798.
See P. L. Roederer, Éloge de Montesquiou, reprinted in Roederer’s Works (1853–1859).
MONTESSON, CHARLOTTE JEANNE BÉRAUD DE LA HAYE DE RIOU, Marquise de (1737–1805), was born in Paris of an old Breton family. About 1754 she married Jean Baptiste, marquis de Montesson, who died in 1769. Her beauty and intelligence attracted the attention of Louis Philippe, duke of Orleans, whom she secretly married in 1773 with the authorization of the king. For her husband’s amusement she set up a little theatre and wrote several plays, in the acting of which she herself took part. She was imprisoned for some time during the Terror, but was released after the fall of Robespierre, became the friend of the empress Josephine, and was a prominent figure at the beginning of the empire.
The best edition of her works appeared under the title of Œuvres anonymes in 1782–1785. See Charles Collé, Journal (1868); the Memoirs of St Simon, Madame de Genlis, the duchesse d’Abrantès and Mme de Levis; G. Strenger, “La Société de la marquise de Montesson,” in the Nouvelle revue (1902); J. Turquan, Madame de Montesson douairière d’Orléans (Paris, 1904); and G. Capon and R. Ive-Plessis, Les Théâtres clandestins du xviiiᵉ siècle (1904).
MONTEVERDE, CLAUDIO (1567–1643), Italian priest and musician, was born at Cremona in May 1567; he was engaged at an early age as violist to the duke of Mantua, and studied composition under Ingegneri, the duke’s maestro di Capella. His bold experiments, while bringing upon him the attacks of Artusi and Banchieri (q.v.), led to discoveries which exercised a lasting influence upon the progress of musical art. He was the first to make deliberate use of unprepared dissonances, or what are now known as fundamental discords. These discords constituted a revolution against the laws of 16th century music. He employed them first in his madrigals, where they are a sign of decadence, but afterwards introduced them into music of another kind with such excellent effect that their value was universally recognized. Before 1595 Monteverde was married to the singer Claudia Cattaneo, who died in 1607. In 1602 he succeeded Ingegneri as maestro di capella; and in 1607 he produced, for the marriage of Francesco Gonzaga, his first opera, Ariana, in which he employed the newly-discovered discords with irresistible effect. Though he did not invent the lyric drama—Peri’s Euridice having been produced at Florence in 1600—he raised it to a level which distanced all contemporary competition. His second opera, Orfeo, composed in 1608, was even more successful than Ariana. In 1613 Monteverde was invited to Venice, as maestro di Capella at St Mark’s, with a stipend of 300 ducats, which in 1616 was raised to 400. Here he composed much sacred music, the greater part of which is lost. In 1630 he wrote another grand opera, Proserpina rapita. He did not become a priest until 1632. In 1639 he produced L’Adone, and in 1641 Le Nozze di Enea and Il Ritorno d’Ulisse. He died in Venice on the 29th of November 1643. Monteverde’s harmonic innovations and power of musical rhetoric seemed to put an end to the school of Palestrina, and led the way to modern music. (See Music.)
MONTEVIDEO, SAN FELIPE Y SANTIAGO DE, capital and chief port of Uruguay, and capital of the department of Montevideo, on the northern shore of the Rio de la Plata estuary, 120 m. E.S.E. of Buenos Ayres, in lat. 34° 54′ 33″ S., long. 56° 12′ 18″ W. Pop. (1908, estimate), 312,946. The old city (ciudad viaja) occupies a low rocky headland that projects westward between the estuary and an almost circular bay which forms the harbour; it was once enclosed with walls and defended by small forts, all of which have been removed. The new city (ciudad nueva and ciudad novísima) extends eastward over a beautiful tract of rolling country and is extending northward around the eastern shore of the bay. The site of the old city resembles a whale's back in shape; it slopes gently to its western extremity at Punta Sarandi and to the water's edge on either side. The general plan is that of rectangular squares, except at the western extremity of the old city and its union with the newer or extra-mural city, on the line of the old ramparts, known as Calle de la Ciudadela. The streets are well paved and have sufficient slope at all points to give easy surface drainage; Montevideo has the reputation of being one of the cleanest cities of the world. The rainfall is ample (about 44 in. a year), and the prevailing winds help to clean the streets. The westerly winds, however, sometimes bring across the bay the offensive smells of the great abattoirs and meat-curing establishments (saladeros) at the foot of the Cerro. The mean annual temperature is about 62° F. An abundant water supply is brought from the Santa Lucia River, 32 m. distant, with a receiving reservoir at Piedras, 100 ft. above the level of the Plaza de la Independencia. The ciudad vieja is largely devoted to commercial, shipping and financial interests. The government edifices, large retail shops and most of the fine urban residences are in the ciudad nueva, while most of the urban industries, the railway stations and the dwellings of the poorer classes are in the ciudad novísima. Beyond these is a fringe of suburbs (La Union and Paso Molino), and on the western side of the bay is the straggling suburb of Cerro, largely industrial in character. In 1908 eight tramway lines (all electric but one) extended out to these suburbs, some of the lines extending to the bathing resorts of Ramirez and Pocitos and the Buceo cemeteries on the eastern coast.
The principal street, which is considered one of the finest boulevards in South America, is the Calle 18 de Julio, extending eastward from the Plaza de la Independencia to the suburb of Cordon; one of its features is its Sunday morning market, occupying the whole street from the Plaza de la Independencia to the Plaza Libertad, a distance of half a mile—a survival of the old market that existed here at the fortified entrance to the walled town in the earlier years of its history. There are seven plazas, or squares, within the urban limits: Zabala or Rincon, Constitución or Matriz, Independencia, Libertad or Cagancha, Treinte y Tres, Flores and Frutos; and two suburban parks or public gardens: the Paseo del Prado and Parque
