accomplish; for he died the same year of a burning fever, in the seventy-first year of his age, and thirty-sixth of his reign.

On the death of Tamerlane, his empire fell immediately into great disorder, and the civil wars continued for five or six years; but at last peace was restored, by the settlement of Shah Rukh, Timur's son, on the throne. He did not, however, enjoy the empire in its full extent, or indeed much above one-half of it; having only Karazm, Khorassan, Kandahar, Persia, and part of Hindostan. Neither was he able, though a brave and warlike prince, to extend his dominions, though he transmitted them to his son Ulag Beg. He proved a wise and learned monarch; and is famous for the astronomical tables which he caused to be composed. He was killed in 1448 by his son Abdollatiff, who six months after was put to death by his own soldiers. After the death of Abdollah, a grandson of Shah Rukh, seized the throne; but after reigning one year, was expelled by Abusaid Mirza, the grandson of Miran Shah, the son of Timur. His reign was one continued scene of wars and tumults; till at last he was defeated and taken prisoner by one Hassan Beg, who put him to death in 1468. From this time we may consider the empire of Timur as dissolvéd, though his descendants still reigned in Persia and Hindostan. On the death of the above mentioned monarch, his son Baber succeeded him, but was soon driven out by the Usbeck Tartars; after which he resided some time in Gazna, when he made incursions into Hindostan, and at length became master of the whole empire, excepting the kingdoms of Dekan, Guzerat, and Bengal. For the transactions subsequent to this period, see HINDOSTAN and INDIA.

MO'HAIR, n. s. Fr. mohere, moire; Belg. and Teut. moor. Stuff made of camels' or other hair.

She, while her lover pants upon her breast,
Can mark the figures on an Indian chest,
And when she sees her friend in deep despair,
Observes how much a chintz exceeds mohair.

Pope.

MOHAIR, in commerce, is the hair of a kind of goat frequent about Angora in Turkey; the inhabitants of which city are all employed in the manufacture of camblets made of this hair. Some give the name mohair to the camblets or stuffs made of this hair: of these there are two kinds: the one smooth and plain, the other watered like tabbies. The difference between the two only consists in this, that the latter is calendered, the other not. There are also mohairs, both plain and watered, whose woof is of wool, cotton, or thread.

MOHAMMED (Sheick), the founder of the sect of the Wahebites, who derive their appellation from Abd el Waheb, the father of Mohammed, was born in Arabia, about the commencement of the eighteenth century, and claimed to be descended from the prophet of his religion. At an early age he formed the project of founding a new sect; and carefully studied the laws and traditions of the moslems. Ill-treated by his father, he at first fled and took refuge at Bassora;

afterwards he travelled through Syria and Arabia. Mohammed Ibn Seoud, governor of one of the provinces of Arabia, at length gave him an asylum, and permitted him freely to propagate his opinions. From this chief he obtained a detachment of troops to assist his missionary labors; and, like his great namesake and predecessor, he offered to the choice of his hearers the alternative of conversion or death. On the death of his protector, he found the same favor with his successor, Abd el Aziz, who, at the head of his troops, converted to Wahebism all the tribes of the province of Nejd. An ineffectual attempt, made by the pacha of Bagdad, to crush this sect in 1798, added to their power; and in 1800 they made themselves for some time masters of Mecca. In the course of the expedition, however, Mohammed died at an advanced age; and Ebd el Aziz, who survived him a few years, was assassinated in 1803. The sect thus founded receive the Koran as of divine authority, but reject the traditions of the doctors; and their profession of faith is confined to the words, There is no other God but God,' without the addition, that Mahomet is the prophet of God.'

6

MOHAWK, a river of New York, North America, which rises about twenty miles north of Rome. It passes by Rome, Utica, Schenectady, &c., and flows into the Hudson by three mouths between Waterford and Troy. Its length from Rome to the Hudson is about 117 miles. It is connected with Wood Creek by a canal one mile and a half long. There are also canals at German Flats and Herkimer. A boat navigation has been opened for several years from Schenectady through the Mohawk, Wood Creek, Oneida Lake, and Oswego River, to the Lake Ontario. This river, about two miles west of the Hudson, has remarkable falls, called Cahoes or Cohoes. The river, just above the falls, is between 300 or 400 feet wide, and descends at high water in one sheet nearly seventy feet. About three quarters of a mile below, a bridge is erected across the river, from which there is a most sublime and beautiful view of the cataract.

MOHAWK, a river in Delaware county, New York, which unites with the Popachton and forms the Delaware.

MOHAWKS, a nation of North American Indians, acknowledged by the other tribes of the six nations to be the true old head of the confederacy. They were formerly very powerful, and inhabited the above country. Being strongly attached to the family of Sir William Johnston, a part of them emigrated with Sir John Johnston to Canada in 1776. About 300 of these reside in Upper Canada. The rest left their settlement at Hunter Fort in spring 1780, and settled on the Grand River. They had made great advances in civilisation; most of them could speak English, and many of them professed their faith in the Christian religion.

MOHILEV, a considerable government of West European Russia, to the east of the government of Minsk, lying between 28° 50′, and 32° 40′ of E. long., and 53° 5′ and 55° 10′ of N. lat. Its area is 18,500 square miles, and its population about 800,000, of whom the majority are l'oles. Here are likewise great numbers of

Jews. It has an immense extent of forests, and marshes, which, however, contain iron ore that might be turned to good account. The soil is also in general fertile, and produces rye, barley, oats, maize, hemp, and flax, in abundance. The principal rivers are the Drieper, the Druz, and the Sosha: the largest lake the Sennoje. Timber is conveyed to Riga and the ports of the Black Sea: the other exports are corn, cattle, leather,

glass, and paper. The manufactures are confined to a few tanneries, paper mills, and glass and iron works. The other trade is not considerable. It is divided into twelve circles.

MOHILEV, a town of European Russia, the capital of the above government, is situated on the right bank of the Dnieper, and divided into four quarters, of which the castle, surrounded by an earthen mound, is the most conspicuous. It stands on a rising ground. In the centre of the town is an octagonal area, surrounded with neat stone buildings. The government offices, and archbishop's palace, are also handsome edifices. Here is a Greek and a Latin archbishop: the latter being the superior of all the Catholics in Russia and Poland. The Jesuits, on the suppression of their order, found an asylum here, and still retain their college. The population is about 12,500, part of whom manufacture leather, while others trade with Riga, Memel, and Dantzic, to which they export the country produce, and receive in return foreign goods; particularly thrown silk. The number of Jews is nearly 2000. It consists chiefly of one long street. The church is a very handsome building, of the architecture of Henry VII. On the Bailey Hill, on the north of the town, are some towers of its strong and ancient castle. In the vicinity of the town are large cotton mills. Market on Saturday. Population 5083.

MO'HOCK, n. s. The name of a nation of American Indians, given to ruffians who infested, or rather were imagined to infest, the streets of London.-Johnson.

Dennis.

Thou hast fallen upon me with the rage of a mad dog, or a mohock. MOIDOR', n. s. A Portuguese coin, rated at one pound seven shillings. See COINS. MOIETY, n. s. Fr. moitié, from moien the middle; or Lat. medietas. Half; one of two equal parts.

This company being divided into two equal moieties, the one before, the other since the coming of Christ; that part which, since the coming of Christ, partly hath embraced, and partly shall embrace, the Christian religion, we term, as by a more proper name, the church of Christ. Hooker.

The death of Antony
Is not a single doom; in that name lay
A moiety of the world.

Shakspeare. Antony and Cleopatra. As this is likely to produce a cessation of arms among one half of our island, it is reasonable that the more beautiful moiety of his majesty's subjects should establish a truce. Addison.

The militia was settled, a moiety of which should be nominated by the king, and the other moiety by the parliament.

Clarendon.

Oh the endless misery of the life I lead! cries the moiling husband; to spend all my days in ploughing. L'Estrange.

With thee 'twas Marian's dear delight To moil all day, and merry-make at night. Gay. MOINE (Peter le), a French poet, born at Chaumont in Bassigni, A D. 1602. He joined the society of Jesuits, and enjoyed several offices among them. He is chiefly known by his verses, which were collected into one vol. folio in 1671. They show genius and fancy, but are very extravagant and bombastic. Among his prose works are, 1. La Devotion aiseé, Paris, 1652, 8vo; 2. Pensées Morales; 3. A short Treatise on History, in 12mo. He died at Paris, August 22nd, 1672, aged seventy.

MOINE (Stephen le), a learned French protestant minister, born at Caen 1624. He was well skilled in the Greek, Latin, and oriental tongues, and professed divinity with high reputation at Leyden; where he died in 1689. Several dissertations of his are printed together, entitled Varia Sacra, in 2 vols. 4to. He also wrote other works.

MOISSAC, an ancient town and chief place of a subprefecture in the department of the Tarn-etGaronne, France. It is a post town with an inferior court and a chamber of commerce, and contains 9000 inhabitants. This place is very advantageously situated on the right bank of the Tarn, which is here navigable, and favors a brisk trade that is carried on with Bourdeaux. It stands in a fruitful vale, surrounded by hills covered with vineyards and orchards, producing abundance of excellent fruit. Its manufactures consist of minots, a name given to a certain sort of meal for the supply of the colonies, in which the inhabitants trade, as also in corn, wine, Among the oil, saffron, fish, salt, wool, &c. objects worthy of note may be mentioned the bridge lately built over the Tarn, and the fountain. It is twenty-one miles north-west of Montauban, thirty-six E.S. E. of Agen, and 504 south of Paris.

Many who live well in a dry air, fall into all the diseases that depend upon a relaxation in a moist one. Arbuthnot.

Nor yet, when moist Arcturus clouds the sky, The woods and fields their pleasing toils deny.

Pope. The rose had been washed, just washed in a shower

Which Mary to Anna conveyed,

The plentiful moisture encumbered the flower, And weighed down its beautiful head. Cowper. MOIVRE (Abraham), F. R. S., an eminent mathematician, born at Vitri in Champagne in 1667. On the revocation of the edict of Nantes, he determined to fly into England rather than abandon the Protestant religion. Before he left France, he had begun to study mathematics; and, having perfected himself in that science in London, he resolved to teach it. Newton's Principia showed him how little progress he had made in a science of which he thought himself master. From this work he acquired a knowledge of the geometry of infinites with as great facility as he had learned the elementary geometry. His success in these studies procured him a seat in the Royal Society of London, and in the Academy of Sciences at Paris. His merit was so much esteemed that he was called in to decide the famous dispute between Leibnitz and Newton, concerning the differential calculus. He published a Treatise on Chances in 1738, and another on At.nuities in 1752; both extremely accurate. The Philosophical Transactions contain many interesting memoirs of his compo

sition, some on the method of fluxions; others on the lunula of Hippocrates; others on physical astronomy, in which he resolved many important problems; and others on the analysis of the games of chance. He died in London in 1754, aged eighty-seven. He was intimately acquainted with the best authors of antiquity; and was often consulted about difficult passages in their works.

MOKDASI, a title among the oriental Christians, similar to that of hadsji among the Turks, given to those pilgrims who have not only performed the journey to Jerusalem, but kept the passover in it, and assisted at all the ceremonies of the holy weeks.

of Hindostan, in the province of Agra, is situated MOKONTPORE, or MUKKUNPORE, a town on the bank of the Issah River, and contains the mausoleum of the celebrated Mahometan saint Syed Bedia Addeen, or Shah Mudar. Immense numbers of pilgrims resort to this tomb in the Jummad al Avul of every year, and remain here a fortnight. From all the large towns they go in bodies, distinguished by flags, and accompanied by drums and music. The town is chiefly occupied by attendants on the tomb, clothed in black, who lay the pilgrims under heavy contributions. Long. 80° 20′ E., lat. 26° 45′ N.

MOKSCHAN, a town of the government of Penza, European Russia. It has five churches, a monastery, and 4100 inhabitants, chiefly employed in agriculture. It stands near the river Moksha, thirty-six miles W. N. W. of Penza. Long. 44° 50′ E., lat. 58° 40′ N.

MOLA, a considerable but decayed town of Italy, in the south-east part of the kingdom of Naples, on the Adriatic, and in the province of Bari. It has a good harbour, but the streets are irregular and gloomy. The chief trade is in the products of the adjacent soil. Twelve miles south-east of Bari.

MOLA, or MOLA DI GAETA, a town of Italy, situated on the Via Appia, and around which are seen ruins of tombs and other structures. It is in the north-west part of the kingdom of Naples, in the Terra di Lavoro, and is a long straggling place, but has a pleasant neighbourhood, and a fort. The inhabitants, about 2000, live in great poverty, bearing the appearance of, and being in reality little better than banditti. The most remarkable ruins are those of the Villa Ciceronis, in the neighbourhood of Formiæ. Three miles north of Gaeta, and thirty-seven north-west of Naples.

MOLA SALSA, salt cake, in antiquity, was barley parched, and afterwards ground to meal or flour, then mixed with salt and frankincense, with the addition of a little water. Thus prepared, it was sprinkled between the horns of the victim before it was killed in sacrifice. This act was called immolatio, and was common to the Greeks and Romans; with this difference, that the mola of the Romans was of wheat. The Greeks called it sλη or ελουχτη.

MOLAI (James de), the last grand master of the Knights Templars, was admitted into the order about 1265. On the death of William de Beaujeu, he was unanimously elected to the office of grand master. The great wealth and power

of the order, with their pride and dissolute manners, had at this time created them a multitude of enemies. In 1307 an order was issued for the general arrest of the knights throughout France. They were accused of heresy, impiety, and hideous crimes. Fifty-seven were burnt in the year 1311, and the order was abolished the following year by the council of Vienne. Molai was detained in prison at Paris till 1313, when his trial took place before commissioners appointed by the pope, and confessing the crimes alleged against him, he was condemned to perpetual seclusion. Having subsequently retracted his confession, he was executed as a relapsed heretic, and perished in the flames at Paris, March 18th, 1314.

MOLARES, or dentes molares, in anatomy, the large teeth, called in English the grinders. See ANATOMY.

MOLDAU, a large, rapid river of Bohemia, rising near the mountains that separate it from Bavaria, to the south-west of Prachatitz. It passes by Budweis, Teyn, and Prague, and joins the Elbe above Melnik. In its course it receives the Malsch, Buschnitz, Woltawa, Sasawa, and Miess, and is navigable as far as Hohenfurt.

MOLDAU, OF MOLDAVA, a considerable river of Germany, rises in the Carpathian Mountains, traverses the Austrian province of the Bukowine, after which it enters the Turkish province of Moldavia, to which it gives name, and joins the Sereth at the town of Roman.

MOLDAVIA, a north-eastern province of European Turkey, situated between long. 26° 16′ 45′′ and 28° 30′ 15′′ E., and lat. 45° 25′ and 48° 13′ N., bounded on the east by Russia, on the west by Transylvania, on the north by Austrian Poland, and on the south by Wallachia and Bulgaria. Its length from north to south is nearly 200 miles; its breadth about 120, and its superficial extent since 1812, when its eastern division was ceded to Russia, not above 17,000 square miles. It is divided into Upper Moldavia, or Zara de Suss, and Lower Moldavia, or Zara de Schass; the first containing four, and the last nine minor districts. The surface of the country is one vast undulating plain, generally covered with grass, and without hedges or landmarks. The great Carpathian chain separates it from Transylvania; and various small lakes diversify the landscape. The principal rivers are the Danube, the Pruth, and the Sereth. The larger lakes those of Bratetsch and Dorohoe. The climate, though warm in summer, is severe in winter; and in the neighbourhood of marshes unhealthy in the warm season. Its chief products are wheat, barley, maize, and millet, wine, and tobacco. Large quantities of wine are exported to Poland and Russia. Some qualities bear a considerable resemblance to Champagne, and all the white wines of the mountains are fine. It has been estimated that more than a fortieth part of the arable land is in a state of tillage: the far greater part being in pasture, and supporting large numbers of cattle, beautiful horses, and sheep. The inhabitants are careful, likewise, of their breed of cattle, of which the annual export (chiefly to Silesia and Bohemia) is computed at 40,000: the export of horses is about 10,000;

that of sheep 220,000. The total number of sheep and goats in the country has been estimated at more than 3,000,000. Hogs are also largely fed in the forests, and bees are abundant: their honey is sent to Constantinople; their wax to Venice. The mineral productions are considerable, but few of the mines are wrought. Several of the rivers bring down small particles of gold. The trade of Moldavia is small, and it has no manufactures but for home consumption. The chief commerce, especially that of woollens and silks, is managed by Greek merchants. The Jews settled here deal chiefly in jewellery; the Russians in leather and tobacco; the Turks in Morocco leather, groceries, and perfumes.

Moldavia composed part of the ancient kingdom of Dacia, finally conquered by Trajan. The present inhabitants are the descendants of Goths, Huns, Tartars, and other barbarous tribes. They are governed by princes, called hospodars, who are always Greeks, and appointed by the sultan. Most of the inhabitants profess Christianity; but both boyars (nobles) and peasants are free from the capitation tax paid by other rayahs, or tributary Christians.

Mr. Wilkinson gives the following account of the present state of the common people :-The boyars resemble the barons in the feudal times of Europe. 'Their religious notions, grounded upon the most ridiculous superstitions, are extremely singular. They firmly believe in all sorts of witchcraft, in apparitions of the dead, in ghosts, and in all kinds of miracles performed by the images of saints, and by the virtues of the holy water. In illness, they place an image near them, and when they recover, though it were through the assistance of the ablest physician, they attribute their return to health to the good offices of the image alone. Their observance of Lent days is so strict, that the threats of instant death would hardly prevail upon any one to taste the aliments specified in the endless catalogue of forbidden food. Their other christian duties, although similar to those of the superior classes of their countrymen, are carried to greater excess. Invoking the holy Virgin, or any saint, is always substituted for regular prayer. Divine providence is never directly addressed. The villages throughout the country are principally composed of peasants' huts, all built in the same style and of the same size. The walls are of clay, and the roofs thatched with straw, neither of which are calculated to protect the lodgers from the inclemency of the bad season. The ground floors are, however, occupied as long as the weather will permit, and in winter they retire to cells under ground, easily kept warm by means of a little fire made of dried dung and some branches of trees; which at the same time serves to cook their scanty food. Each family, however numerous, sleep in one of these subterraneous habitations, men, women, and children, all heaped up together; and their respective beds consist of one piece of coarse woollen-cloth, which serves in the double capacity of mattrass and covering.

Their ordinary food is composed of a kind of dough, to which they give the name of mam malinga, made of the flour of Indian wheat, sometimes mixed with milk. The first two or

three days after a long Lent they sparingly indulge themselves in meat; but the greater part cannot afford even so great a treat, and content themselves with eggs fried with butter, and milk to their mammalinga. They continue the whole day out of doors at work, and they bear with indifference all the extremes of the weather. Their industry, however, is not of a very active kind, and they take frequent rest.

"Notwithstanding this mode of life, and the supposed influence of an ungenial climate, the generality of the peasants are a fine race of people. They have no peculiar turn of features which may be called characteristic; from long intercourse with foreign nations, their blood seems to have become a mixture of many. The Eastern black eye and dark hair, the Russian blue eye and light hair, the Greek and Roman nose, and those features which distinguish the Tartars, are equally common amongst all the orders of these two nations. The dress of the male pea

sants bears some resemblance to that of the Dacians, as represented in the figures on Trajan's pillar at Rome. Their feet are covered with sandals made of goat skin. They wear a kind of loose pantaloon, which is fastened to the waist by a tight leather belt, and closes from the knee downwards. The upper part of the garment is composed of a tight waistcoat, and a short jacket over it, of coarse cotton stuff; and in winter is added a white sheep-skin, which is hung over the shoulders in the manner of a hussar's pelisse. The head is not deprived of any part of its hair, which is twisted round behind, and a cap is used to cover it, also made of sheep-skin, but which in summer is exchanged for a large round hat. The beard is shaved, and the whiskers alone are left to their natural growth. The women are clothed from the neck to the ancles with a long gown of thick cotton stuff, of a light color, made tight at the waist in such a manner as to render the whole shape visible. They generally go barefooted, and they cover their heads with a common handkerchief, merely meant to keep up the hair. On holidays they add to their common shift a colored gown of a better sort; they button it up from the waist to the neck, round which they wear, as an ornament, one or more strings of beads or paras, pierced through for the purpose.' Moldavia also contains a considerable number of gypsies.

Moldavia has few towns, its thinly scattered population not exceeding altogether 300,000.

Situated between Russia, Austria, and Turkey, this province often becomes the scene of hostile operations, and for the last century the inhabitants have hardly had time to breathe after one disastrous war, before another commenced. The administration of justice is in a very imperfect state; the frequent change of rulers, and the right which they have of a nulling all the decrees of their predecessors, preventing all improvement education is neglected the revenue consists chiefly in a sort of capitation tax, collected in small monthly payments, and imposts on cattle and different sorts of provisions, affording a total of nearly £200,000. The direct tribute to the Porte is about £15,000; the presents to the sultan, his mother, and ministers, are said to amount to about an equal sum.

MOLE, n. s. Fr. mole; Lat. moles. A mound; or dyke.

Sion is streightened on the north side by the searuined wall of the mole. Sandys. They fastened; and the mole immense wrought on With asphaltic slime the gathered beech Over the foaming deep high-arched; a bridge, Of length prodigious. Milton's Paradise Lost.

The great quantities of stones dug out of the rock could not easily conceal themselves, had they not been consumed in the moles and buildings of Naples. Addison on Italy.

Bid the broad arch the dangerous flood contain, The mole projected break the roaring main. Pope.

MOLE, n. s. Belg. mol. An animal. MOLE CAST, The TALPA, which see: a MOLE CATCHER, molecast and molehill are MOLE HILL, the hillock thrown up by MOLE TRACK, the mole molecatcher, one MOLE WARP, who lives by catching and destroying these animals: moletrack, their course under ground: molewarp, another name for them. Get moulecatcher cunningly moule for to kill, And harrow and cast abroad every hill. Tusser. poets, whose liberal pens can as easily travel over You fill your solitariness with the conceits of the mountains as molehills.

Sidney.

Tread softly, that the blind mole may not Hear a foot fall; we now are near his cell. Shakspeare.

The molewarp's brains mixt therewithal, And with the same the pismire's gall. Drayton. The rocks, on which the salt-sea billows beat, And Atlas tops, the clouds in height that pass, Compared to his huge person molehills be. Fairfax.

A churchwarden, to express Saint Martin's in the Fields, caused to be engraved a martin sitting upon

a molehill between two trees.

Peacham.

Strange ignorance! that the same man who knows How far yond' mount above this molehill shows, Should not perceive a difference as great Between small incomes and a vast estate! Dryden. In Spring let the molecasts be spread, because they hinder the mowers. Mortimer's Husbandry.

The pot-trap is a deep earthen vessel set in he ground, with the brim even with the bottom of the

moletracks. Mortimer. Moles have perfect eyes, and holes for them through the skin, not much bigger than a pin's head.

Ray on the Creation.