the Mitteilungen of the Historical Society of Schwyz. See also the
careful study in K. Bürkli’s Ein Denkmal am Morgarten wo ist sein
Platz? (Zug, 1895).
MORGEN, a unit of measurement of land in Holland and the Dutch colonies, and hence still current in South Africa, equivalent to about 2 acres. It is also used in Prussia, Norway and Denmark, where it equals about two-thirds of an acre. The word is usually taken to be the same as the German and Dutch word for “morning,” the area of a “morgen” being equal, to that covered by a morning’s ploughing.
MORGHEN, RAFFAELLO SANZIO (1758–1833), Italian engraver, was born at Naples on the 19th of June 1758. He received his earliest instructions from his father, himself an engraver; but, in order to be initiated more fully in the art, he was afterwards placed as a pupil under the celebrated Volpato. He assisted this master in engraving the famous pictures of Raphael in the Vatican, and the print which represents the miracle of Bolsena is inscribed with his name. He married Volpato’s daughter, and, being invited to Florence to engrave the masterpieces of the Florentine Gallery, he removed thither with his wife in 1782. His reputation now became so great as to induce the artists of Florence to recommend him to the grand duke as a fit person to engrave the “Last Supper” of Leonardo da Vinci; apart, however, from the dilapidated state of the picture itself, the drawing made for Morghen was unworthy of the original, and the print, in consequence, although an admirable production, fails to convey a correct idea of the style and merit of Leonardo. Morghen’s fame, however, soon extended over Europe; and the Institute of France, as a mark of their admiration of his talents, elected him an associate in 1803. In 1812 Napoleon invited him to Paris and paid him the most flattering attentions. He died at Florence on the 8th of April 1833.
A list of the artist’s works, published at Florence in 1810, comprised 200 compositions; the number was afterwards considerably increased. Amongst the most remarkable, besides those already mentioned, may be noticed the Transfiguration from Raphael, a Magdalen from Murillo, a Head of the Saviour from da Vinci, the Car of Aurora from Guido, the Hours and the Repose in Egypt from Poussin, the Prize of Diana from Domenichino, the Monument of Clement XIII. from Canova, Theseus vanquishing the Minotaur, Francesco Moncado after Van Dyck, portraits of Dante, Petrarch, Ariosto, Tasso, and a number of other eminent men. His prints have hardly maintained the reputation which they enjoyed during the artist’s lifetime. Though carefully and delicately executed, they are somewhat mechanical and wanting in force and spirit.
MORHIER, SIMON (d. c. 1450), provost of Paris during the English occupation in the 15th century, was seigneur of Gilles, near Nogent-le-Roi, in the Chartrain country. Being a member of the duke of Burgundy’s party, he was appointed provost at Paris by John, duke of Bedford, on the 1st of December 1422. He was taken prisoner at the siege of Montargis in 1427, and again at the battle of Rouvrai in 1429, but in September of the latter year he repulsed Joan of Arc’s attack upon Paris. After a campaign in Cotentin in 1435, he was once more taken prisoner at the bridge of Charenton in 1436. Remaining faithful to the English party, he became captain of Dreux, a. councillor of Henry VI., and treasurer of France and Normandy. He assisted in the defence of Meaux (1439), of Creil and of Pontoise (1441), and must have died between 1450 and 1456.
See the Nouvelle biographie générale, vol. xxxvi.; and a note on Simon Morhier in the memoirs of the Antiquarian Society of France, vol. xxv.
MORHOF, DANIEL GEORG (1639–1691), German man of letters, was born at Wismar on the 6th of February 1639. He first studied jurisprudence and then literae humaniores at the university of Rostock, where his elegant Latin versification procured for him in 1660 the chair of poetry. In 1665 he went to the new university of Kiel as professor of eloquence and poetry; this chair he exchanged for that of history in 1673. He died at Lübeck on the 30th of July 1691. Of his numerous writings the most important are Unterricht von der deutschen Sprache und Poesie (1682, 3rd ed., 1718), the first attempt in Germany at a systematic survey of European literature, and Polyhistor, sive de auctorum notitia et rerum commentarii (Lübeck, 1688, not completed till 1707; 4th ed., 1747), a kind of encyclopaedia of the knowledge and learning of his time.
See Eymer, Morhof und sein Polyhistor (in the Xenia Austriaca, Vienna, 1893); and biography by R. v. Liliencron in Allgem. Deutsche Biographie (1885).
MORIAH, an obscure place-name of ancient Palestine with apparently two distinct connotations. (1) A land entirely unknown, on a mountain in which Abraham offered Isaac (Gen. xxii. 2). The text is probably corrupt: some have suggested “land of the Amorites,” others “land of Midian.” The etymology of the word is equally obscure. Traditionally, of course, “the land of Moriah” is identified with the site of the Temple at Jerusalem,[1] except by the Samaritans and a few western scholars (such as Dean Stanley) who accept their belief that the mountain was Gerizim. (2) The upper part of the hill of Ophel, the threshing floor of Araunah, upon which Solomon erected the Temple, is once called Mount Moriah (2 Chron. iii. 1). Whether this name be derived from the corruption in Genesis or not cannot be definitely decided; it very likely is. The testimony of Josephus, who often names the temple hill “Moriah,” is of course not original, and of no weight. (R. A. S. M.)
MORIER, JAMES (1780–1849), English traveller and author,
was born in 1780. Through the influence of his uncle, Admiral
William Waldegrave, Baron Radstock, he entered the diplomatic
service, and as secretary to Lord Elgin followed the grand vizier
in the Egyptian campaign. An account of his Eastern experiences
was published in 1812, under the title A Journey through
Persia, Armenia and Asia Minor to Constantinople in 1808–9.
From 1810 to 1816 he was the British representative at the court
of Persia, and after his return he published A Second Journey
through Persia to Constantinople between the years 1810 and 1816.
His knowledge of Eastern life and manners he also turned to
account in the composition of several entertaining romances.
The most popular of these were The Adventures of Hajji Baba
of Ispahan (1824), The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan in
England (1828), Zohrab the Hostage (1832), and Ayesha the Maid of
Kars (1834). Morier died at Brighton on the 23rd of March
1849.
MORIER, SIR ROBERT BURNETT DAVID (1826–1893), British diplomatist, was born at Paris on the 31st of March 1826. He was descended from a family of diplomatists of Huguenot origin, the best known of whom were his father David, consul-general for France and minister at Bern, and his uncle James, the author of The Adventures of Hajji Baba. After a somewhat defective private education he came up to Balliol College, Oxford. Here he attracted the notice of Jowett, under whose influence his brilliant but wayward mind obtained the discipline of which it stood in need. The relation of tutor and pupil developed into a friendship of rare warmth. Writing towards the close of his life, Jowett, who inspired more devoted friendships than any man of his time, spoke of Morier as his kindest and best friend for forty-five years. On leaving Oxford, Morier at first obtained an appointment in the Education Department, but resigned in 1852, and in the following year became attaché at Vienna. In the succeeding years he was attached in turn to almost every court in Germany. Restless in temperament and unconventional in method, he plunged into the vortex of German politics to a degree that did not always accord with the traditions of diplomacy. The most important years of his career in Germany were from 1866 to 1871, when he was secretary of legation at Darmstadt. Here he became a trusted adviser of the crown princess, and through her acquired an intimate friendship with the crown prince (afterwards the emperor Frederick III.), whose antagonism to Bismarck’s reactionary policy met with cordial support from Morier’s sturdy Liberalism. Bismarck, already jealous of British influence at court, honoured Morier with a hatred not lessened by the fact that Morier’s knowledge of German politics was unrivalled outside Germany. On leaving Darmstadt, Morier became chargé d’affaires, first at Stuttgart
- ↑ Some of the sects transfer the scene of the sacrifice to the “Chapel of Abraham” in the precincts of the Holy Sepulchre Church.
