Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/783

Rh M O N M O N 753 ment, in accordance with his desire, had arranged for its dispersion that he would enter with his troops. Even now his intentions were strictly concealed ; the spies set upon him by the various anxious parties were baffled by his impenetrable reserve. He was careful to appear only as the servant of parliament, but when he was desired to take the oath of abjuration he skilfully evaded the request. The city, always jealous of the Rump, now refused to pay taxes except at the orders of a free parliament. Monk, in consequence, was ordered to march his troops into the city, take down the chains and posts, and unhinge the gates. He obeyed these unpleasant orders to the letter on 10th February, thus permitting the hatred against the Rump to rise to the height, while he showed how unwilling an instrument of its will he was. On the llth, however, he threw off the mask, and wrote to the Rump, peremp torily ordering them to admit the secluded members, and to arrange for the dissolution of parliament by 6th May. On 21st February he conducted the secluded members to their seats. At the same time he refused to restore the Lords, and issued an order disowning Charles Stuart to all officers commanding garrisons. Every day brought him fresh opportunities for tact or evasion. His partisans urged him to take the protectorate himself ; another party pressed upon him to accomplish the restoration by the army alone ; a body of his officers sent him a declaration expressing their fears that his action would lead to the restoration of monarchy ; the parliament tried to make him their own by the offer of Hampton Court. His trained habits of dissimulation and evasion, assisted now and again by downright lying, carried him triumphantly through all these dangers, and at length the dissolution of parliament on 17th March removed his greatest difficulties. It was now that, with the utmost secrecy, he gave an interview for the first time to the king s agent Grenvil, and by him sent to Charles the conditions of his restoration, afterwards embodied in the Declaration of Breda. For himself at present he would accept nothing but a royal commission as captain-general, which he carefully kept to himself. All parties were anxious to gain the credit of the now certain restoration. The Presbyterians in parti cular, fearful of the king being restored without terms, did their best to discredit Monk and to impose the old Isle of Wight conditions ; but in vain. The new parliament was elected, and the House of Lords restored ; an insurrection by Lambert, who had escaped from the Tower, was quelled by Monk s prompt measures, and on the 25th of April he received the solemn thanks of both Houses, and the title of captain-general of the land forces. Even yet the farce was kept up. Monk received with feigned surprise the king s official letter from Grenvil, denied all knowledge of its contents, and handed it over sealed to the council, who decided to defer opening it until the meeting of parliament on the 1st of May. With the Restoration the historic interest of Monk s career ceases. The rude soldier of fortune had played the game with incomparable dexterity, and had won the stakes. He was made gentleman of the bedchamber, knight of the Garter, master of the horse, commander-in-chief, and duke of Albemarle, and had a pension of .7000 a year allotted him. His utmost desires were satisfied, and he made no attempt to compete further in a society in which neither he nor his vulgar wife could ever be at home, and which he heartily despised. As long as the army existed of which he was the idol, and of which the last service was to suppress Venner s revolt, he was a person not to be displeased. But he entirely concurred in the measure for disbanding it, and thenceforward his influence was small, though men s eyes turned naturally to him in emergency. In the trial of the regicides he was on the side of moderation, and liis interposition saved Hazelrig s life ; but his action at the time of Argyll s trial will always be regarded as the most dishonourable episode in his career. In 1664 he had charge of the admiralty when James was in command of the fleet, and when in 1665 London was deserted on account of the plague, Monk, with all the readiness of a man accustomed to obey without thinking of risk, remained in charge of the government of the city. Once more, at the end of this year, he was called upon to fight, having a joint commission with Prince Rupert against the Dutch. The whole burden of the preparations fell upon him. On 23d April 1666 the admirals joined the fleet, and on the 1st of June began a battle near Dunkirk which lasted four days, followed by another on 23d July, in which Monk showed all his old coolness and skill, and a reckless daring which had seemed hitherto foreign to his character. His last service was in 1667, when the Dutch fleet sailed up the Thames, and Monk, ill as he was, hastened to Chatham to oppose their further progress. From that time he lived much in privacy, and died of dropsy on the 3d of December 1669. See the Lives of Monk by Dr Gumble, his chaplain (London, 1671), and Dr Skinner (London, 1724), and Guizot s Essay, which contain all necessary information concerning his life up to the Restoration. The numerous and amusing notices of him in the court of Charles in Pepys s Diary should on no account be omitted. (0. A. ) MONKEY. See APE. MONMOUTH, a maritime county of England, is bounded Plate IX. E. by Gloucester, N.E. by Hereford, N.W. by Brecknock, W. and S.W. by Glamorgan, and S. by the Bristol Channel. Its greatest length from north to south is about 35 miles, and its greatest breadth about 28 miles. The area is 368,399 acres, or about 572 square miles. The surface of Monmouth is very varied, and in many districts picturesque, especially along the valley of the Wye, and between that river and the Usk. In the west and north the hills rise to a considerable height, and this mountain region encircles a finely undulating country. The highest summits are Sugar Loaf (1954 feet), Blorenge (1908), and Skyridd Vawr (1601). Along the shore on both sides of the Usk are two extensive tracts of marsh land, called the Caldicot and Wentllooge levels, stretching from Cardiff to Portskewett, and protected from inunda tions by strong embankments. The principal rivers are : the Wye, which forms the eastern boundary of the county with Gloucester, and falls into the Severn ; the Monnow, which forms a portion of its boundary with Hereford, and falls into the Wye at the town of Monmouth ; the Usk, which rises in Brecknock, and flows southward through the centre of the county to the Bristol Channel ; the Ebbw, which rises in the north-west, and enters the estuary of the Usk at Newport; and the Rumney, which rises in Brecknock, and, after forming the boundary between Monmouth and Glamorgan, enters the Bristol Channel a little to the east of Cardiff. Salmon abound especially in the Wye and the Usk, and trout are plentiful in all the streams. The Monmouthshire canal extends from Newport to Pontypool, where it is joined by the Brecknockshire canal, which enters the county near Abergavenny. The Crumlin canal also joins it a little north of Newport. Geology and Minerals. The geological formation is principally Old Red Sandstone and Carboniferous, the Old Red forming the larger and eastern half of the county, from a line drawn between Abergavenny and Newport, and varying in thickness from between 8000 and 10,000 feet in the north to about 4000 feet in the south. In the centre of the county adjoining the Usk there is an outcrop of Silurian rocks, extending to a distance of about 8 miles north and south and 4 miles east and west, with a thickness of 1500 feet. Towards the east the Old Sandstone rocks dip beneath the Moun tain Limestone, which enters the county from the Forest of Dean coal-field, and gives its peculiar character to the fine scenery along the banks of the Wye. The formation varies in thickness from XVI. 95