Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/636

* MINOT. 568 MTNSTBEL. MINOT, George (1817-56). An American jurist, born in Haverhill. Mass. lie graduated at Harvard iu lS3ti. and at the law department of thai institution in 1838, studied under Kul'us Choate, and was admitted to the bar in 1839. He edited, in association with Kicliard Peter, Jr., eight volumes of the U. .S". >Slatutes at Laiqe, and was sole editor of that work from 1848 to 1856. He published A IJiycst of the De- cisions of the .S'H/vrfmc Court of Massachusetts (45 vols, with su])plement, 1844-52) ; and edited English Admiralty liepurts (9 vols., 1853-54). MINOT, George Richards (1758-1802). An American jurist. He was born iu Boston, grad- uated at Harvard in 1778, and soon afterwards was admitted to the bar. From 1781 to 1791 he was clerk of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, lie was secretary of the con- vention called to ratify the Federal Constitution. In 1792 he was appointed judge of probate for Suffolk County; in 1799 lie was made Chief .Jus- tice of the Cuuit of Common Pleas, and from 1800 until his death was judge of the Municipal Court of Boston. He published a History of the Insurrection in Massachusetts in 1786 (1786); and a History of Massachusetts Bay (1798- 1803). The latter work is in continuation of Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts Bay. MINOT, Laurence (1300?-52?). An English lyric poet, born and bred probably in the north- east midlands of England. He was no doubt a layman. Professor Herford agrees with other scholars in thinking that Minot was ]U'obably a soldierly minstrel, who sang also at Court. Minot wrote in haste, with the warlike or iwlitical events that he describes still fresh in his mind. His style is rough. He is preeminently a war poet and a patriot, full of love for a united Eng- land, though he was himself in all likelihood of Norman origin. He wrote eleven spirited political songs (in the Northern dialect) celebrating the militarv events of the time. They begin with the Battle of Halidon Hill ( 1.333) and clos,. with the Capture of Guisnes (1352). Among the best is How Kdicard Came to Brabant { 1339). They ex- ist in only one manuscript (British Museum), discovered by Tyrwhitt. The best editions arc Laurence Minot's Lieder, ed. by William Scholle in Quellen und Forschungcn (Strassburg, 1884), and The Poems of Laurence Minot, ed. bv Hall (Oxford, 1887). MIN'OTAtrR (Gk. Mii-iiroepot, Min<itnuros). The bull of Minos. According to the Greek legend, son of the wife of Minos, Pasiphae, and a bull sent by Poseidon. For it she conceived a pas- sion which the skill of Dirdalus enabled her to gratify. Her offspring, a human body with a bull's head, was shut uj) by Minos in the myste- rious Labyrinth at Cnosus, where he was fed on human victims. Yearly (or every three or nine years, according to other versions of the story) the -Athenians, who had been eonrpiered by Alinos, were compelled to send seven youths and seven maid<'ns for this monster, till Theseus (q.v.) slew him. The origin and nature of this story have as yet received no adcpiate explanation, biit the fri'seoes of the palace at Cnosus showing men and girls perfmining gymnastic feats upon wild bulls suggest that the origin of the legend is to be sought in dim reminiscences of the Myceniean bullring. See Minos. MINOT'S LEDGE. .See Lighthouse. MINSK, minsk. A government of West Rus- sia, iu Lithuania, bounded by the Government of Vitebsk on the north, ilohilev and Tchernigov on the east, Kiev and Volhynia on the south, and Grodno and Vilna on the west (Map: Russia, C 4). Area, 35.293 square miles. The northwestern part, about one-fifth of the entire area, is some- what elevated. It forms the watershed between the Dnieper and the Niemcn. Tlic remainder of the government is low, marshy, thickly wooded, and very sparsely inhabited, forming the larger l)0rtion of Poliessie (q.v, ). ilinsk is watered ehietly by the Beresina, the Pripet, and the Xiemen ; lakes abound in the southern part, and the climate is unhealthful. By the nature of its surface Jlinsk is not well fitted for agriculture, and the industry is in a priinitive state. Stock- raising is favored by the abundance of pasture land. The forests, mostly pine, occupy over one- third of the total area and fonu one of the chief natural resources of the region. Large quanti- ties of timber are floated to Prussia by the Beresina, the Pripet. and the canal which con- nects the Dnieper with the Bug. a tributary of the Vistula. Considerable quantities of wood for fuel are also exported to Kiev and used on the local railroads. The extent of this industry may be judged from the fact that about 70.000 jieople arc emplnytd aniuially in the transporta- tion of the timber down the rivers. Spirits, yeast, flour, and wooden products of all kinds are the chief manufactures. The shipbuilding industry deserves special mention. The govern- ment is traversed by two important railways, one connecting Warsaw with Moscow, and the other running from the Baltic Provinces to Southern Russia. Population, in 1S97. 2.156.123, composed chiefly of White Russians. Poles, .Jews, and Lithuanians, Over 70 per cent, of the popu- lation belong to the Greek Orthodox Church. Capital, Minsk. MINSK. The capital of the Government of ilinsk, Itussia, situated in a hilly region on the Svislotch. a tributary of the Beresina, 468 miles by rail southwest of Moscow (ilap; Russia, C4). It is an old and irregularly built town with two cathedrals, (>f which that of .Saint Catharine ( 1611 ) is especially worthy of mention. Among its educa- tional institutions are two classical gymnasia and one real gymnasium, a theological sen)inary, a museum, and a theatre. Jlinsk manufactures leather, agiicultural implements, soap, spirits, tobacco products, etc. The commerce is mostly in agricultural and forest products and leather, Minsk is the seat of a Greek Orthodox and of a Roman Catholic bishop. The mmiicipality maintains a pawn shop. Population, in 1897, 91,494, of whom about 50.000 were Jews, 21,000 Greek Orthodox, 15.000 Roman Catholics, and over 1700 Mnhanunedans. The town is first men- tioned in 1066 as a dependency of the princ(* of Podolsk. -After a short existence as the capital of a separate princi|>ality, it fell at the end of the twelfth century into the hands of Lithu- ania. In 1499 it obtained Magdeburg rights, and in 1793 passed to Russia. During the Polish upri-*ing in 1831 several engagements took place in the ii iiiity of the town. MINSTREL (OF. menestrel. meneslrrcl. nien- eslrnl. Fr. meneatrnl. It. ministrelln. mrnestrello, from ML. minislrnlis. ministrel. retainer. Lat. minister, attendant, retainer, minister from