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MONK

1252

MONOCOTYLEDONS

Improvements were made from time to time, until the greater part of naval vessels are now made upon this principle and known as monitors or ironclads. See NAVY and TIMBY, T. T.

Monk (miink) or Monck, George, Duke of Albemarle, an English general, was born in Devonshire, Dec. 6, 1608. His first military services, at Cadiz and the Isle of Rhe, consisted of nine years in Holland and in wars against the Scotch and the Irish. This period ended in 1644, when he was taken prisoner by Fairfax and kept in the Tower of London for two years. He was freed by agreeing to the Covenant. He was major-general at Ulster, and Cromwell left him to finish the conquest of Scotland, and in 1654 he was appointed governor of the country, a position he filled well for five years. At the death of Cromwell, while everything was in confusion, he marched to London with 6,000 men, and entered the city without opposition in February, 1660, Every party wanted him, and felt that the fate of the country lay with "Old George." His own wish was to bring back the Stuarts, and he found the nation with him. He brought about the election of a new parliament; and on May 23, 1660, he welcomed Charles II at Dover. He was rewarded with high offices and made duke, but soon retired from political life. See the Life by Guizot and that by Corbett.

Monkey (mun'k$), a word looseh applied to apes, baboons, Old and New World monkeys, marmosets and lemurs. Here it is, for convenience, restricted to the smaller forms living on trees and usually having long tails. This separates them from the baboons and higher apes on the one hand and the lower lemurs on the other, all of which are noticed alphabetically. The New World monkeys have nostrils wide apart (Platyr-rhini), and most of them have long tails for grasping. They inhabit the forests traversed by the Amazon and the Orinoco, and extend north to Panama. Ten species live north of this in Central America, and one — the spider monkey — extends its range into Mexico. The howling monkeys have a resonance chamber at the top of the windpipe, and night and morning they make the forests resound with their hideous howling. They cannot be tamed. The monkeys usually seen in captivity, from [South America are marmosets and monkeys of the genus Cebus. The marmosets are the smallest monkeys, not much larger than squirrels, and usually are made a separate group. The spider monkeys have slender bodies, long, angular limbs and very long tails, which are used as a fifth hand. The Old World monkeys are entirely distinct. Their nostrils are close together (Catarrhini) and the tail, when present, is not used for grasping. The macques, inhabiting India, Tibet, the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines, are often seen in menageries. Throughout Africa are found numer-

ous troops of monkeys with slender bodies like the green monkey. They live on trees, and have long tails. The Catarrhini include baboons and higher apes, but these are treated separately. See APE, BABOON, LEMUR and MARMOSET.

Monks'hood or Aconite, a flower whose calyx is shaped strangely like a monk's hood, color of flower a blue-purple. It is a member of the crowfoot family. The flowers hang from the top of slender, bending stems, these sometimes climbing. The leaves have three to five-lobed petioles, and are coarsely toothed. The plant seeks the banks of small streams, is a native of Virginia, is found as far northward as New Jersey, and blooms all summer, sometimes into September. It is known also as wolf's bane, the root containing a virulent poison.

Mon'mouth, Battle of, an engagement between the English forces under Clinton and the American forces under Washington at Freehold, Monmouth County, N. J. It was Washington's first battle after the terrible winter at Valley Forge. It was fought on June 29, 1778. General Charles Lee was in charge of the advance, which was thrown into confusion and began a retreat. Washington hurried to the front, reproving Lee sharply, and rallied the fugitives. Tradition says that this was the only time that Washington was known to swear. The Americans held their ground, and Clinton retreated in the night. Lee was deprived of his command for a year by court-martial.

Mon'mouth, James, Duke of, was born at Rotterdam, Holland, April 9, 1649. He was thought to be a son of Charles II, and as such was made duke of Monmouth and wedded to a rich heiress. In spite of his profligacy he became the idol of the people, thanks to his beauty and winning manners, his royal tours through the country and his humanity toward the Scotch Covenanters at Bothwell Bridge in 1679. His share in what is known as the Rye House Plot in 1683 was discovered, and he fled to Holland. After the death of Charles he returned to England on June n, 1685. He claimed the throne, attacked the king as a murderer and Catholic, and had himself proclaimed as James II. Gathering about 3,000 men, mostly peasants and miners, he risked a battl with the king's troops at Sedgemoor in Somerset. He was de-fe*ated, losing nearly half his army, and was captured when fleeing, disguised as a shepherd. His tears and pleadings and even the promise to change his religion were of no avail with the king, and he was beheaded at London, July 15, 1685, See Life bjr Roberts.

M onocoty ledons (monfo-kotfi-lerdti,nz), plants forming one of the two great groups of angiosperms, containing about 25,000 recognized species. The name comes from the fact that the embryo develops a single cotyledon. The other features which distinguish the group in general are the structure of th<*