Page:Cousins's Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature.djvu/287

 Dictionary of English Literature 275

which appeared at considerable intervals between 1784 and 1810, was long a standard one, though it is now largely superseded by the histories of Thirwall and Grote. M. wrote with strong pre judices against democracy, and in defence of tyrants, but his style is forcible and agreeable, and he brought learning and research to bear on his subject. He sat for many years in Parliament.

MOIR, DAVID MACBETH (1798-1851). Poet and miscel laneous writer, was a doctor at Musselburgh, near Edin., and a fre quent contributor, under the signature of A, to Blackwood's Magazine in which appeared Mansie Waitch, a humorous Scottish tale. He also wrote The Legend of Genevieve (1824), Domestic Verses (1843), and sketches of the poetry of the earlier half of the i gth century. His poetry was generally grave and tender, but occasionally humorous.

MONBODDO, JAMES BURNETT, LORD (1714-1799). Philo sopher and philologist, b. at the family seat in Kincardineshire, was ed. at the Univ. of Aberdeen, Edin., and Groningen, and called to the Scottish Bar in 1737. Thirty years later he became a judge with the title of Lord Monboddo. He was a man of great learning and acuteness, but eccentric and fond of paradox. He was the author of two large works alike learned and whimsical, An Essay on the Origin and Progress of Language (6 vols. 1773-92), and Ancient Meta physics (6 vols. 1779-99). He mooted and supported the theory that men were originally monkeys, and gradually attained to reason, language, and civilisation by the pressure of necessity. His doc trines do not sound so absurd now as they did in his own day. He was visited by Dr. Johnson at Monboddo.

MONTAGU, ELIZABETH (ROBINSON) (1720-1800). Critic,

dau, of a gentleman of Yorkshire, m. a grandson of Lord Sandwich- She was one of the original " blue-stockings," and her house was a literary centre. She wrote an Essay on the Writings and Genius of Shakespeare (1769), in which she compared him with the classical and French dramatists, and defended him against the strictures of Voltaire. It had great fame in its day, but has long been superseded.

MONTAGU, LADY MARY WORTLEY (PIERREPONT) (1690-

1762). Letter-writer, was the eldest dau. of the ist Duke of King ston. In her youth she combined the attractions of a reigning beauty and a wit. Her early studies were encouraged and assisted by Bishop Burnet, and she was the friend of Pope, Addison, and Swift. In 1712 she m., against the wishes of her family, Edward Wortley -Montagu, a cousin of the celebrated Charles Montagu, afterwards Earl of Halifax. Her husband having been appointed Ambassador to the Porte, she accompanied him, and wrote the sparkling Letters from the East which have given her a place high among the great letter-writers of the world. While in Turkey she became acquainted with the practice of inoculation against small pox, which she did much to introduce into western countries. After ! her return to England she settled at Twickenham, and renewed her friendship with Pope, which, however, ended in a violent quarrel, arising out of her publication of Town Eclogues. She was furiously attacked by both Pope and Swift, and was not slow to defend her- i self. In 1737, for reasons which have never been explained, she left