Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/308

Rh 290 M I G M I L grown as a p&amp;gt;t plant, and for market purposes with this object it is sown in pots in the autumn, and thinned out to give the plants requisite space, since it does not transplant well, and it is thereafter specially grown in pits protected from frosts, and marketed when just arriving at the blooming stage. In this way hundreds of thousands, probably, of pots of blooming mignonette are raised and disposed of year by year. In classifying the odours given off by plants Rimmel ranks the mignonette in the class of which he makes the violet the type ; and Fee adopts the same view, referring it to his class of &quot;iosmoids&quot; along with the violet and wallflower. The name is sometimes, but it would appear less correctly, written mignionette. The genus Reseda contains some other interesting and useful species, among them the Reseda Luteola, which is commonly called dyer s-weed and weld, and yields a valuable yellow dye. MIGUEL, MARIA EVARIST (1802-1866), usually known as DON MIGUEL, whose name is chiefly associated with his pretensions to the throne of Portugal, was the third son of King John VI. of Portugal, and of Carlotta Joachima, one of the Spanish Bourbons ; he was born at Lisbon on October 26, 1802. In 1807 he accompanied his parents in their flight to Brazil, where he was permitted to grow up a spoiled child and a worthless youth ; in 1821, on his return to Europe, it is said that he had not yet learned to read. In 1822 his father swore fidelity to the new Portuguese constitution which had been proclaimed in his absence ; and this led Carlotta Joachima, who was an absolutist of the extremest Bourbon type, and otherwise hated her husband, to resolve to seek his dethronement in favour of Miguel her favourite son. The insurrections which ensued (see PORTUGAL) resulted in her relegation to the castle of Queluz and the exile of Miguel (1824), who spent a short time in Paris and afterwards lived in Vienna, where he came under the teaching of Metternich. On the sudden death of John VI. in May 1826, Pedro of Brazil, his eldest son, renounced the crown in favour of his daughter Maria da Gloria, on the understanding that she should become the wife of Miguel. The last-named accordingly swore allegiance to Pedro, to Maria, and to the constitution which Pedro had introduced, and on this footing was appointed regent in July 1827. He arrived in Lisbon in February 1828, and, regardless of his promises, dissolved the new Cortes in March; having called together the old Cortes, with the support of the reactionary party of which his mother was the ruling spirit, he got himself proclaimed sole legitimate king of Portugal in July. The power which he now enjoyed he wielded in the most tyrannical manner for the repression of all liberalism, and his private life was characterized by the wildest excesses. The public opinion of Europe became more and more actively hostile to his reign, and after the occupation of Oporto by Don Pedro in 1832, the destruction of Miguel s fleet by Captain (afterwards Sir Charles) Napier off Cape St Vincent in 1833, and the victory of Saldanha at Santarem in 1834, Queen Christina of Spain recognized the legitimate sovereignty of Maria, and in this was followed by France and England. Don Miguel capitulated at Evora on May 29, 1834, renouncing all pretensions to the Portuguese throne, and solemnly promising never thenceforward to meddle in Peninsular affairs. He lived for some time at Rome, where he en joyed papal recognition, but afterwards retired to Bronn- bach, in Baden, where he died on November 14, 1866. MIGULINSKAYA, a Cossack village (stanitsa) of Russia, in the government of the Don Cossacks, and in the district of Ust-Medvyeditsa, 79 miles to the west of that town, on the left bank of the Don. It is one of the largest and wealthiest stanitsas of the government, and has 20,600 inhabitants, who are engaged in agriculture and stock- breeding, and in the export of agricultural produce. MIKHAILOVSKAYA, a Cossack village (stanitsa) of Russia, in the government of the Don Cossacks, and in the district of Khopersk, 14 miles to the north-west of Uryupino, on the low left bank of the Khoper, which is inundated when the river is full. It has an important fair, where Tartars from Astrakhan exchange furs and cottons for manufactured and grocery wares imported from central Russia ; the inhabitants of the district also sell corn, cattle, and plain woollen stuffs. Population, 18,000. MILAN (the Latin Mediolamim, Italian Milano, and German Mailand), a city of Italy, situated near the middle of the Lombard plain, on the small river Olona, in 45 27 35&quot; N. lat. and 9 5 45&quot; E. long. It is 390 feet above the sea-level, and lies 25 miles south of the Alps at Como, 30 miles north of the Apennines, 20 miles east of the Ticino, and 15 miles west of the Adda. The plain around Milan is extremely fertile, owing at once to the richness of the alluvial soil deposited by the Po, Ticino, Olona, and Adda, and to the excellent system of irrigation. Seen from the top of the cathedral, the plain presents the appearance of a vast garden divided into square plots by rows of mulberry or poplar trees. To the east this plain stretches in an unbroken level, as far as the eye can follow it, towards Venice and the Adriatic ; on the southern side the line of the Apennines from Bologna to Genoa closes the view; to the west rise the Maritime, Cottian, and Graian Alps, with Monte Viso as their central point ; while northward are the Pennine, Helvetic, and Rhuitian Alps, of which Monte Rosa, the Saasgrat, and Monte Leone are the most conspicuous features. In the plain itself lie many small villages ; and here and there a larger town like Monza or Saronno, or a great building as the Certosa of Pavia, makes a white point upon the greenery. The commune of Milan consists since 1873 of the city within the walls (area 1513 acres) and the so-called Corpi Santi 1 without the walls (area 15,415 acres). The popu lation of the whole area increased from 134,528 in 1800 to 242,457 in 1861, 261,985 in 1871, and 321,839 in 1881, the city within the walls contributing 110,884 in 1801, 196,109 in 1861, 199,009 in 1871, and 214,004 in 1881. The climate is very variable ; there is a difference of 41 Fahr. between the extreme summer heat and winter cold. The average number of wet days is 72, and of snowy days 10 per annum. Milan is built in a circle, the cathedral being the central point. The city is surrounded by a wall 7 miles in circumference, and immediately outside the wall a fine broad thoroughfare makes the circuit of the city. The streets inside are for the most part narrow and crooked ; the main streets are the Corso Vittorio Emanuele, the Strada S. Margherita, the Via Manzoni, the Corso Porta Ticinese, and the Corso Porta Romana. There are few piazzas of any size ; the largest is the Piazza del Duomo. which has recently been extended, and the houses around it modernized. To the west of the city is the open space of the Foro Bonaparte and the Piazza d Armi, with the square keep of the Visconti castle, flanked by two granite towers, between them. The castle was partly destroyed in 1447 by the Ambrosian republic, rebuilt by Francesco Sforza, enlarged by the Spanish governors, and taken by Napoleon in 1 800, when the outer fortifications were razed to the ground, and the walls left as they now are. North of the Piazza d Armi is the modern cemetery, with a special building and apparatus for cremation, erected in 1876. Among the buildings of Milan the most important is the cathedral, begun under Gian Galeazzo Visconti, in 1386. It is built of brick cased in marble from the quarries which Visconti gave in perpetuity to the cathedral chapter. The 1 The name Corpi Sauti (of doubtful origin) is also applied to ttu v extra-mural portions of Cremona and Pavia.