Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/257

Rh M I C M I C 241 Annual Report of tht Superintendent of Public Instruction of the State of Michigan for the year 1881 ; R ports of the Geological Surrey of the State of Michigan, 18C9-80, 4 vols. ; Special Report of Commissioner of Mineral Statistics, March 1883 ; Forestry Bulletins for 1881. (C. K. A.) MICHIGAN, LAKE. See ST LAWRENCE. MICHIGAN CITY, a town of the United States, in Laporte county, Indiana, on the south-east shore of Lake Michigan, 40 miles east-south-east of Chicago. As a lake-port and a junction for several railroads, it is a place of considerable prosperity. It is the largest lumber- market in the State, and one of the largest in the west, and has numerous manufacturing establishments. The northern State prison (with 577 convicts at the close of 1880) is one of the principal buildings. The population increased from 3985 in 1870 to over 10,000 in 1883. MICHMASH (Btop, D0?0), the scene of one of the most striking episodes in Old Testament history (1 Sam. xiv., comp. vol. xii. p. 403), was a place in Benjamin, about 9 Roman miles north of Jerusalem (Onom., ed. Lag., p. 280). Though it did not rank as a city (Josh, xviii. 21 sq.), Michmash was recolonized after the exile (Neh. xi. 31), and, favoured by the possession of excellent wheat- land (Mishna, Men. viii. 1), was still a very large village (Ma^ucis) in the time of Eusebius. The modern Makhmas is quite a small place. The historical interest of Michmash is connected with the strategical importance of the position, commanding the north side of the Pass of Michmash, which made it the headquarters of the Philistines and the centre of their forays in their attempt to quell the first rising under Saul, as it was also at a later date the head quarters of Jonathan the Hasmonaean (1 Mac. ix. 73). From Jerusalem to Mount Ephraim there are two main routes. The pre sent caravan road keeps the high ground to the west near the water shed, and avoids the Pass of Michmash altogether. But another route, the importance of which in antiquity may be judged of from Isa. x. 28 sq., led southwards fromAi over an undulating plateau to Michmash. Thus far the road is easy, but at Michmash it descends into a very steep and rough valley, which has to be crossed before reascending to Geba. 1 At the bottom of the valley is the Pass of Michmash, a noble gorge with precipitous craggy sides. On the north the crag is crowned by a sort of plateau sloping backwards into a round-topped hill. This little plateau, about a mile east of the present village of Makhmas, seems to have been the post of the Philistines, lying close to the centre of the insurrection, yet possessing unusually good communication with their establishments on Mount Ephraim by way of Ai and Bethel, and at the same time commanding the routes leading down to the Jordan from Ai and from Michmash itself. MICKIEWICZ, ADAM (1798-1855), Polish poet, was born in 1798, near Nowogrodek, in the present government of Minsk, where his father, who belonged to the schlachta or lesser nobility, had a small property. The poet was educated at the university of Vilna ; but, becoming involved in some political troubles there, he was forced to terminate his studies abruptly, and was ordered to live for a time in Russia. He had already published two small volumes of miscellaneous poetry at Vilna, which had been favourably received by the Slavonic public, and on his arrival at St Petersburg he found himself admitted to the leading literary circles, where he was a great favourite both from his agreeable manners and his extraordinary talent of improvisation. In 1825 he visited the Crimea, which inspired a collection of sonnets in which we may admire both the elegance of the rhythm and the rich Oriental colouring. The most beautiful are The Storm, Bakchi- serai, and Grave of the Countess Potocka. In 1828 appeared his Konrad Wallenrod, a narrative poem describing the battles of knights of the Teutonic order with the heathen Lithuanians. Here, under a thin veil, Mickiewicz represented the sanguinary passages of arms and burning hatred which had characterized the long feuds of the Russians and Poles. The objects of the poem, although evident to many, escaped the Russian censors, 1 So Isa. x. 28 describes the invader as leaving his heavy baggage at Michmash before pushing on through the pass. and it was suffered to appear, although the very motto, taken from Machiavelli, was significant : &quot; Dovete adunque sapere come sono duo generazioni da combattere. . . bisogna essere volpe e leone.&quot; After a five years exile in Russia the poet obtained leave to travel ; he had secretly made up his mind never to return to that country or Poland so long as it remained under the government of the Muscovites. Wending his way to Weimar, he there made the acquaintance of Goethe, who received him cordially, and, pursuing his journey through Germany, he entered Italy by the Spliigen, visited Milan, Venice, and Florence, and finally took up his abode at Rome. There he wrote the third part of his poem Dziady, the subject of which is the religious commemoration of their ancestors practised among Slavonic nations, and Pan Tadeusz, his longest poem, by many considered his masterpiece. A graphic picture is drawn of Lithuania on the eve of Napoleon s expedition to Russia in 1812. In 1832 Mickiewicz left Rome for Paris, where his life was for some time spent in poverty and unhappiness. He had married a Polish lady, Selina Szymanowska, who became insane. In 1840 he was appointed to the newly founded chair of Slavonic languages and literature in the College de France, a post which he was especially qualified to fill, as he was now the chief representative of Slavonic literature, Poushkin having died in 1837. He was, however, only destined to hold it for a little more than three years, his last lecture having been given on the 28th of May 1844. His mind had become more and more disordered under the influence of religious mysticism. His lectures became a medley of religion and politics, and thus brought him under the censure of the Government. A selection of them has been published in four volumes. They contain some good sound criticism, but the philological part is very defective, for Mickiewicz was no scholar, and he is obviously only well acquainted with two of the literatures, viz., Polish and Russian, the latter only till the year 1830. A very sad picture of the declining days of Mickiewicz is given in the memoirs of Herzen. At a comparatively early period the unfortunate poet exhibited all the signs of premature old age ; poverty, despair, and domestic affliction had wrought their work upon him. In 1849 he founded a French newspaper, La Tribune des Peuples, but it only existed a year. The restoration of the French empire seemed to kindle his hopes afresh ; his last composition is said to have been a Latin ode in honour of Napoleon III. On the outbreak of the Crimean War he was sent to Constantinople to assist in raising a regiment of Poles to take service against the Russians. He died suddenly there in 1855, and his body was removed to France and buried at Montmorency. Mickiewicz is held to have been the greatest Slavonic poet, with the exception of Poushkin. Unfortunately in other parts of Europe he is but little known; he writes in a very difficult language, and one which it is not the fashion to learn. There were both pathos and irony in the expression used by a Polish lady to a foreigner. &quot; Nous avons notre Mickiewicz a nous.&quot; He is one of the best pro ducts of the so-called romantic school. The Poles had long groaned under the yoke of the classicists, and the country was full of legends and picturesque stories which only awaited the coming poet to put them into shape. Hence the great popularity among his countrymen of his ballads, each of them being connected with some national tradition. Besides Konrad Wallcnrod and Pan Tadeusz, attention may be called to the poem Oraayna, which describes the adventures of a Lithuanian chief tainess against the Teutonic knights. It is said by Ostrowski to have inspired the brave Emilia Plater, who was the heroine of the rebellion of 1830, and after having fought in the ranks of the insurgents, found a grave in the forests of Lithuania. A fine vigorous Oriental piece is Farys. Very good too are the odes to Youth and to the his torian Lelewel ; the former did much to stimulate the efforts of the Poles to shake off their Russian conquerors. It is enough to say of Mickiewicz that he has obtained the proud position of the repre sentative poet of his country ; her customs, her superstitious, her history, her struggles are reflected in his works. XVI. -- 31