Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/802

Rh 772 M O N M N followed the coup d etat disgusted him, though he still sat in the chamber. A defeat in 1857 put an end to his parliamentary appearances. He was still, however, recog nized as one of the most formidable of the moderate opponents of the empire, and he was repeatedly prosecuted for anti-imperialist letters and pamphlets. In the ten years between 1840 and 1850 he had written little but political pamphlets, but after the establishment of the empire, and especially after he lost his seat in the chamber, he became more prominent as an author. Even before this he had produced a volume on the Avenir Politique de I Angleterre (1855), and another on Pie IX. et Lord Palmer- -ston (1856), besides numerous articles and pamphlets, the chief of which were perhaps Une Nation [Poland] en Deuil, and L figlise Libre dans rfitat Libre. His great work, the fruit of many years labour, did not appear till he was fifty years old, and ten years before his death, which occurred before its completion. Les Moines d Occident depuis St Benoit jusqu a St Bernard has some of the peculiar drawbacks which have characterized almost all historical work of any literary pretensions during the present generation. It is planned on too large a scale, and executed with too much regard to profusion of pictur esque detail and abundance of fluent argument on points which the writer has at heart. Its best passages are inferior to the best of a younger writer of very different opinions though not dissimilar style and temperament M. Ernest Renan ; but it is a work of great interest and value. Montalembert, who had married Mademoiselle de Merode, sister of one of Pius IX. s ministers, but who had no male offspring, died in March 1870, the year so fatal to France. His health had long been very bad, and was understood to have suffered from the chagrins attending his exclusion from political life and the defeat of most of his plans. Since his death his works have appeared in a complete edition. They have, regarded from the literary point of view, many of the faults of their time. A voluminous and vigorous writer, Montalembert was more of a journalist, a pamphleteer, and an orator than of a man of letters properly so called. His talents were diffused rather than concen trated, and they were much occupied on merely ephemeral topics. But of picturesque eloquence in a fluent and rather facile kind he was no inconsiderable representative. MONTALVAN, JUAN PEKEZ DE (1602-1638), Spanish dramatist and writer of fiction, was the son of the king s bookseller, and was born at Madrid in 1602. At the early age of seventeen he became a licentiate in theology, and in 1626, after entering the priesthood, he received a notarial appointment in connexion with the Inquisition. His overtasked brain succumbed under the numerous literary labours he imposed on it, and he died when only thirty- six years old (25th June 1638). In 1624 lie published eight prose tales (Sucesos y prodigios en amor, en ocho novelets ejemplarcs), one of which, &quot;The Disastrous Friendship,&quot; has been characterized by Ticknor as one of the best in the language. This, as well as a subsequent volume of stories (Para todos : Exemplos morales, humanos y divinos, 1633), was fre quently reprinted. His last prose writing was a popular panegyric on his lately deceased friend and master Lope de Vega (famapds- tuma de Lope dc Vega, 1638), whom he almost rivalled in dramatic productiveness, and whose conventional manner, fiimsiness in con struction, and carelessness in execution he too closely followed. The first volume of his collected Comcdias appeared in 1638, the second in 1639. On the Spanish stage they were in great request, and Montal van s repute led inferior writers in some cases to borrow his name. His dramas are distinctly superior to his &quot;Autos sacra- men tales,&quot; but even of the former the tragedy Los Amantes de Terucl is the only one that has enjoyed permanent popularity. See Ticknor, Hist, of Span. Lit., vol. ii. (1863). MONTANA, one of the north-western Territories of the United States, is limited on the N. by British Columbia, on the E. by Dakota, on the & by Wyoming and Idaho, and on the W. by Idaho. Its boundaries, as established by statute, are as follows : on the N., the 49th parallel ; on the E., the 27th meridian west of Washington, or the 104th west of Greenwich; on the S. and W. the boun dary follows the 45th parallel from the 27th meridian west to the 34th meridian west, then turns south along the latter meridian to its point of intersection with the conti nental watershed, thence along the crest-line of this water shed westward and north-westward until it reaches the Bitter-root Mountains; it then follows the crest of this range north-westward to the point where it is crossed by the 39th meridian west, which it follows north to the line of British Columbia. The total area is about 146,080 square miles an approximate estimate, as the boundary along the continental watershed and the Bitter-root Mountains has not been exactly surveyed. The average elevation above sea-level has been estimated at 3900 feet. Topographically, Montana may be separated into two great divisions that of the plains comprising the eastern two-thirds, and that of the mountains comprising the western portion. The former, a monotonous rolling ex panse, broken only by the beds of the few streams which traverse it, and by a few small groups of hills, extends over nine degrees of longitude in a gentle uniform slope, rising from 2000 feet above the sea at the eastern boundary to 4000 at the base of the Rocky Mountains. Except along the streams and upon the scattered groups of hills, this section is entirely devoid of forest-growth of any kind. Vegetation is limited to the bunch grasses, artemisia, and cacti. The grasses are the most abundant and luxuriant near the mountains, where the rainfall is greatest. The mountain section, comprising the western third of the Territory, is composed, in general terms, of a succession of ranges and valleys running very uniformly somewhat in a north-west and south-east direction. The mountains vary in height from 8000 to 10,000, even in isolated cases reaching 11,000 feet, with mountain-passes 6000 to 8000 feet above the sea. Towards the north the ranges become almost continuous, forcing the streams into long and circuitous courses in order to disentangle themselves from the maze of mountains, while, on the other hand, the ranges of the south-western part of the Territory are much broken, afford ing numerous low passes and water-gaps. In the mountainous part of the Territory are the head waters of the Missouri (Atlantic basin) and Clark s Fork of the Columbia (Pacific basin). The former rises in the south-west of the territory in three large branches, the Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin, which meet at the foot of the Gallatin valley at a point known as the &quot;Three Forks of the Missouri.&quot; Here the Missouri is a good-sized stream, fordable with difficulty even when the current is lowest. From this point to its mouth navigation is pos sible when the stream is not below its mean height; it is interrupted only at the Great Falls of the Missouri, near Fort Benton, above which, however, it is practically little used for navigation. Its other principal tributaries in its upper course are the Sun, Teton, Marias, Musselshell, and Milk rivers, all of which vary much in size with the season, the last two being nearly or quite dry near their ihouths in the fall of the year. The Yellowstone, one of the most important tributaries of the Missouri, has nearly all its course in Montana, and is navigable for small steamers as far as the Crow Agency, except when the water is low. Clark s Fork of the Columbia is formed by the junction of the Flathead and the Missoula or Hellgate river. The former rises in the mountains of British Columbia and flows nearly south through Flathead Lake to its point of junction with the Missoula. The latter rises opposite the Jefferson river and flows north-westward, receiving on its way several large affluents. Below the point of junction of these streams, Clark s Fork flows north-west along the