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MOBILE-MOCKING BIRD.

it contained 3194.-Mobile is situated considerably above the overflow of the river, in a dry and pleasant place; but access to the city is rendered somewhat difficult by a swampy island opposite. It has, moreover, swampy lands and stagnant waters back of it; and near it is a sterile country of pine woods. The city has several times been ravaged by the yellow fever, and has once been almost wholly destroyed by fire. Advantage was taken of the sickliness of Mobile, a few years since, to establish the town of Blakely, on the eastern and opposite side of the bay, and ten miles distant from Mobile. Besides being healthy, this site has many very important advantages over Mobile; but the project of establishing it as a substitute for Mobile, entirely failed. Only New Orleans and Charleston are before Mobile in the cotton trade, and Charleston is declining, while Mobile is rapidly increasing. The value of exports of domestic produce from Alabama in 1829, was $1,679,385; and nearly the whole of this must have been shipped at Mobile. This city has a regular steam-boat communication with New Orleans through lake Ponchartrain. During most of the year, steam-boats are constantly plying between this place and the towns on the river, and many vessels are loading at the wharves for distant ports. MOBILE; a river of Alabama, formed by the union of the Alabama and the Tombeckbee. It takes the name of Mobile where these two rivers unite at fort Mimms. It enters Mobile bay by two mouths. The Alabama is the eastern branch, and rises in the Alleghany ridges of Georgia. It receives a number of small streams, and becomes navigable for small sea vessels at fort Claiborne. Similar vessels ascend the Tombeckbee to the mouth of the Black Warrior, 80 miles above St. Stephens. At moderate stages of water it affords steam-boat navigation to Tuscaloosa, 320 miles from Mobile. Both these rivers are very favorable to boat navigation. The lands on their borders are excellent, and produce great quantities of cotton.

MOBILITY; a contingent property of bodies, but most essential to their constitution. Every body at rest can be put in motion, and if no impediment intervenes, this change may be effected by the slightest external impression. Thus the largest cannon ball, suspended freely by a rod or chain from a lofty ceiling, is visibly agitated by the horizontal stroke of a swan shot which has gained some velocity in its descent through the arc of a pen

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dulum. In like manner, a ship of any burden is, in calm weather and smooth water, gradually pulled along even by the exertions of a boy. A certain measure of force, indeed, is often required to commence or to maintain the motion; but this consideration is wholly extrinsic, and depends on the obstacles at first to be overcome, and on the resistance which is afterwards encountered. If the adhesion and intervention of other bodies were absolutely precluded, motion would be generated by the smallest pressure, and would continue with undiminished energy.

MOCHA, or MOKKA; a town on the Arabian sea, in the province of Yemen, with a commodious harbor, and about 6000 inhabitants, including several hundred Jews and about 500 Banians. It is frequented by merchants from the Barbary States, Egypt, Turkey and India, and by English, French and North American ships. The coffee which bears the name of the town, is brought down from the interior of the country by caravans. Gum Arabic, copal, mastich, myrrh, frankincense, indigo, senna, and other articles, are exported. The imports are chiefly Indian commodities. The trade is most active between May and August, in which period about 100 ships enter the port. There are several mosques, caravansaries and European factories here. Lon. 43° 10 E.; lat. 13° 16′ N.

MOCKING BIRD (turdus polyglottos). This capricious little mimic is of a cinereous color; paler beneath. It inhabits America from New England to Brazil, but is rare and migratory in the Northern States, whilst it is common and resident in the Southern. This bird, although it cannot vie with most of the American species in brilliancy of plumage, is much sought for on account of its wonderful faculty of imitating the tone of every inhabitant of the woods, from the twitter of the humming-bird to the scream of the eagle. But its notes are not entirely imitative; its own song is bold, full, and exceedingly varied, during the utterance of which it appears in an ecstasy of delight. In confinement, it loses little of its power or energy. To use the words of Wilson, "He whistles for the dog; Cæsar starts up, wags his tail, and runs to meet his master. He squeaks out like a hurt chicken, and the hen hurries about, with hanging wings and bristled feathers, clucking, to protect her injured brood. The barking of the dog, the mewing of the cat, the creaking of the passing wheel-barrow, follow with great truth and rapidity. He repeats the

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MOCKING BIRD-MODEL.

tune taught him by his master, though of considerable length, fully and faithfully. He runs over the quiverings of the canary, or the clear whistlings of the Virginia nightingale or red-bird, with such superior execution and effect, that the mortified songsters feel their own inferiority, and become altogether silent; while he seems to triumph in their defeat, by redoubling his exertions."-The female lays from four to five eggs, of an ash-blue color, marked with patches of brown; she incubates fourteen days, and is extremely jealous of her nest, being very apt to desert it if much disturbed. During the period when the young are in the nest, neither cat, dog or man can approach it without being attacked. When intended for the cage, they are either taken from the nest when they are very young, or at a later period by trap-cages.

MODALITY. Kant uses this word for that category (see Kant) which determines the relation of all the ideas of the judgment to our understanding. The logical modality of Kant is, therefore, the manner in which the understanding conceives the connexion and relation of ideas in a judgment; whether we leave something undecided, as in problematical judgments, or give the thing as true, as in assertory judgments, or are obliged to consider a certain connexion of ideas to be true, as in apodictical judgments. (For further information, see the article Kant.)

MODE; a particular system, or constitution of sounds, by which the octave is divided into certain intervals according to the genus. The doctrine of the ancients respecting modes is rendered somewhat obscure, by the difference among their authors as to the definitions, divisions and names of their modes. Some place the specific variations of tones, or modes, in the manner of division, or order of the concinnous parts; and others merely in the different tension of the whole; that is, as the whole series of notes are more acute or grave, or as they stand higher or lower in the great scale of sounds. While the ancient music was confined within the narrow bounds of the tetrachord, the heptachord, and octachord, there were only three modes admitted, whose fundamentals were one tone distant from each other. The gravest of these was called the Dorian; the Phrygian was in the middle, and the acutest was the Lydian. In dividing each of these tones into two intervals, place was given to two other modes, the Ionian and the Eolian; the first of which was inserted between the

Dorian and Phrygian, and the second between the Phrygian and Lydian. The system being at length extended both upward and downward, new modes were established, taking their denomination from the five first, by joining the preposition hyper (over or above) for those added at the acute extremity, and the preposition hypo (under) for those below. Thus the Lydian mode was followed by the Hyper-Dorian, the Hyper-Ionian, the Hyper-Phrygian, the Hyper-Æolian, and the Hyper-Lydian, in ascending; and the Dorian mode was succeeded by the Hypo-Lydian, Hypo-Eolian, Hypo-Phrygian, Hypo-Ionian, and the Hypo-Dorian, in descending. The moderns, however, only reckon two modes, the major and the minor. The major mode is that division of the octave by which the intervals between the third and fourth, and seventh and eighth, become half tones, and all the other intervals whole tones. The minor mode is that division by which the intervals between the second and third, and fifth and sixth, become half tones, and all the others whole tones. Another distinction also exists between the major and minor modes; the major mode is the same, both ascending and descending; but the minor mode in ascending sharpens the sixth and seventh, thereby removing the half tone from between the fifth and sixth to the seventh and eighth.

MODEL; an original of any kind proposed for copy or imitation. It is used, in building, for an artificial pattern formed in stone or wood, or, as is most commonly the case, in plaster, with all due parts and proportions, for the more correct execution of some great work, and to afford an idea of the effect to be produced. Models in imitation of any natural or artificial substance are usually made by means of moulds of plaster of Paris. In painting, this is the name given to a man or woman who is procured to exhibit him or herself, in a state of nudity, for the advantage of the students. These models are provided in all academies and schools for painting, and the students who have acquired a tolerable use of the pencil are introduced to this kind of study. By this means, the details and proportions of the human shape, the play of the muscles, the varieties of expression, &c., are displayed and inculcated far better than by any course of lectures or any study of former works. It is desirable that the living models used in an academy, or even in a private paint、 ing room, should be changed as frequently as possible, or the student is in danger

MODEL-MODENA.

of falling into mannerism. Millin speaks of a model, of the name of Deschamps, who did duty in this way upwards of 40 years in the academy at Paris, and comments on the facility with which this person's form and features might be recognised, in every variety of subject or of expression, in the paintings of the students of that period. In sculpture a model implies a figure made of wax or terra cotta, or any other malleable substance, which the artist moulds to guide him in fashioning his work, as the painter first makes a sketch, or the architect a design. When a model of any existing object is to be taken, the original is first to be greased, in order to prevent the plaster from sticking to it, and then to be placed on a smooth table, previously greased, or covered with a cloth, to guard against the same accident; then surround the original with a frame or ridge of glazier's putty, at such a distance as will admit of the plaster resting upon the table, on every side of the subject, for about an inch, or as much as may be thought sufficient to give the proper degree of strength to the mould. An adequate quantity of plaster is then to be poured as uniformly as possible over the whole substance, until it is every where covered to such a thickness as to give a proper substance to the mould, which may vary in proportion to the size. The whole must then be allowed to continue in this way till the plaster shall have attained its firmness; when, the frame being removed, the mould may be inverted, and the subject aken from it; and when the plaster is thoroughly dry, it should be well seasoned. MODENA; a sovereign duchy of Italy, lying in a fruitful plain of Lombardy, watered by the Panaro, and bordering on Tuscany, Lucca, Bologna, Mantua and Parma. By an act of the congress of Vienna, Reggio, Mirandola, Correggio (birth-place of the celebrated painter), Carpoli and Rivoli, together with Massa and Carrara, and the former Imperial Fiefs, are united with the duchy of Modena proper to constitute one government; superficial extent of the whole, 2000 square miles; population, 375,000. The territory is fertile and well cultivated, the climate, in general, temperate and healthy, and the principal productions corn, rice, fruits, wine, oil, silk, honey, iron, marble, &c. The income of the state is about 1,500,000 florins; the armed force 2080 men. The ruling house is of the Austrian line of the house of Este (see Este); the government is absolute, and the administration is conducted by one minister and two secreta

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ries; the Austrian civil code is in force. The present ducal house is descended from Cæsar of Este, a cousin (by a morganatic marriage) of the last duke of the former line of Este, which became extinct in 1598. The pope Clement VIII then took possession of Ferrara, which had previously formed a part of the Modenese territories, as a reverted fief of the papal see. In 1653, Correggio was added to the duchy by grant of the emperor of Germany, Mirandola, in 1710, and Novellara, in 1737. Hercules III (died in 1803) married the heiress of the duchy of Massa-Carrara, and left an only daughter, who was married to Ferdinand, archduke of Austria, brother of Leopold II. In 1796, the French took possession of the country, and it was included in the Cisalpine republic, and afterwards in the kingdom of Italy. The present duke Francis IV, the son of the arch-duke Ferdinand, is prince of Hungary and Bohemia, and arch-duke of Austria. He was born in 1779, and, in 1812, married a daughter of the king of Sardinia. In 1814, he entered into possession of the estates of his grandfather, by virtue of a reversionary investment conferred on his father by the emperor, and his claims were confirmed by the congress of Vienna. He assumed the name of Este, and thus became the founder of the Austrian line of Este. His mother also entered upon the government of the duchy of Massa-Carrara, which she inherited from her mother, and to which the congress annexed the fiefs in the Lunigiana: on her death, in 1829, these passed to her son. The house of Modena-Este also holds the rich fideicommissa(see Fideicommissum) of the house of Obizzi, in Treviso. The present duke has a son, born in 1819, and two brothers. In consequence of the arbitrary character of the duke's government, an insurrection was organized, and the citizens of Modena, Reggio, Massa-Carrara and other places took arms, with the purpose of extorting from their rulers a more liberal form of government, in February, 1831. duke was obliged to flee; but in March the Austrian troops entered Modena, at the request of the duke, and restored the authority of the government.

The

MODENA (Mutina); capital of the duchy of the same name, situated in a fertile plain, on the canal of Modena, which unites the Secchia and the Panaro, 23 leagues from Florence, 36 from Milan; lat. 44° 38′ N.; lon. 10° 54' E. It is the see of a bishop, and contains an old cathedral, at the foot of the tower of which hangs the bucket

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which was the subject of war between the Bolognese and Modenese, and of a mock heroic poem, by Tassoni, entitled La Secchia Rapita (the Rape of the Bucket), with a large number of churches. The ducal palace has a fine collection of pictures, and a good library of 80,000 volumes. There are also a university and other institutions, literary and charitable. The fortifications are inconsiderable; the population about 25,000. Natives, Sigonius, Muratori, Tassoni, Fallopius.

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MODERN; that which belongs to recent times. The term modern history is used in different senses. The Germans often date the end of modern history with the French revolution, and call the rest the most recent history. In the history of art, literature, customs, &c., modern is frequently used in contradistinction to ancient or classical. (q. v.) "Modern civilization," says A. W. Schlegel, “ arose from the blending together of the elements of Northern origin and the fragments of antiquity." (See Romantic.) In science, modern is also used in contradistinction to ancient; thus we speak of modern philosophy. MODILLION; an ornament resembling a bracket, in the Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite cornices. In Grecian architecture, however, the Ionic order is without modillions in the cornice, as are also the Roman examples of the same order, with the exception of the temple of Concord, at Rome, which has both modillions and dentils.

MODON (Mothone); a strong city and port of the Morea, on the Mediterranean; lat. 36° 51' N.; lon. 21° 40′ E. It is entirely surrounded by the sea, and connected with the main land by a wooden bridge. The port is unsafe, but important on account of its road and its proximity to the gulf of Coron. The city is small and badly built; the streets narrow and dirty. The Greeks became masters of it in the war of Grecian independence, and, in 1825, Miaulis burnt a Turkish fleet in the road. Ibráhim Pacha took possession of Modon soon after his arrival in the Morea, but was compelled by the French to evacuate it in 1828. Previously to the war, the inhabitants amounted to about 7000. (See Morea.) In 1829, they did not exceed 500. MODULATION, in music, is, in its most extensive meaning, the diversified and proper change of tones in conducting the melody, or the progression of tones in general, and the sequences of concords. In its narrower sense, modulation signifies that succession of tones by which a musical passage proceeds from one key into

another. In quite short pieces, also in long compositions, in which the composition remains for some time in the principal tone before it passes to another, good modulation consists only in continuing for some time melody and harmony in the assumed tone, with proper changes and variety, and at last concluding in that tone. For this it is requisite that, at the very beginning, the concord should become distinctly perceptible by the sound of its essential tones, the octave, fifth and third; and further, that the melody, as well as harmony, should be carried through the tones of the assumed scale, and that no tones foreign to it should be heard, either in the melody or in the harmony. A variety of concords, nevertheless, is necessary, that the ear may enjoy the necessary variety. The composer ought not, after the fashion of some contracted harmonists, to dwell always on two or three concords, or repeat them in transpositions, much less to return and conclude in the principal tone before the piece or the first strain is finished. The rule to let only those tones be heard which belong to the assumed scale is to be understood thus, that a tone foreign to the scale ought to be used merely in passing, and to be left again immediately; thus, for instance, in the scale C sharp, one could certainly go through G sharp into A flat, and through F sharp to the dominant, and from this back again to the principal tone, without violating, by these two tones, foreign to the fundamental tone, C sharp, the effect of this scale, or destroying it. It is only necessary to avoid tones totally foreign to the scale of C sharp; as, for instance, C sharp or D sharp. The second kind of modulation, or that which is so called, in a more restricted sense, requires more knowledge of harmony, and is subject to greater difficulty. It consists in the art of giving to longer pieces the necessary variety, by more frequent change of tones, and requires a knowledge of the relation among the various keys, and of the tones connecting them. As it is indispensable, in longer pieces, to carry melody and harmony through several keys, and to return at last to the fundamental, it is necessary, in respect to such modulation, duly to consider the character of the composition, and, in general, whether the modulation has merely in view a pleasing variety, or whether it is intended to serve as the support of a grand and bold expression. Considerations of this kind give to the composer the rules for particular cases, and show where he may

MODULATION-MŒRIS.

depart widely from the principal tone, and where he may remain near it; where he may thus depart suddenly, and perhaps with some harshness, and where his departures ought to be slow and gradual; because such departures are the most important means of musical expression. In pieces of a mild and quiet character, it is not permitted to modulate so often as in those which have to express violent and great passions. Where every thing relating to expression is considered, modulation also must be so determined by the expression that each single idea in the melody shall appear in the tone which is most proper for it. Tender and plaintive melodies ought only to dwell on the flat tones, while the lighter sharp tones, which must be touched in the modulation, on account of the connexion, ought to be left immediately afterwards. It is one of the most difficult parts of the art to remain steadily without fault in a modulation. It is therefore to be regretted that those who write on the theory of the art, dwell so little on this important subject, and believe themselves to have done enough, if they show how the composer may gracefully leave the principal tone, pass through the circle of all the twenty-four tones, and return at last to the first tone. Piccini had the best views of modulation. "Modulating," he says, "is to pursue a certain path. The ear will follow you; nay, it wishes to be led by you, yet upon condition that, after you have led it to a certain point, it shall find something to reward it for its journey, and to occupy it for some time. If you do not consider its claims, it suffers you to go on, at last, without regard, and every endeavor to attract it again is but lost labor." To conduct a melody according to a given modulation; never to deviate from it, except for good reason; and in the right time to return to it in the proper way, and without harshness; to make use of changes in the modulation only as means of expression, and, perhaps, for the necessary variety,-such are the real difficulties of the art; while to leave immediately a key which has hardly been perceived, to ramble about without reason or object; to leap about because the composer does not know how to sustain himself; in one word, to modulate in order to modulate, is to miss the true aim of the art, and to affect a richness of invention in order to hide the want of it.

MODULE; an architectural measure; the lower diameter of a column being divided into two parts, one is a module; and each module is divided into thirty minutes;

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thus neither is a determinate, but a proportionate, measure. The term is also sometimes used with reference to the different sizes of medals.

MELLENDORF, Richard Joachim Henry, count von, a Prussian general, born in 1724, was educated at Brandenburg, and, in 1740, admitted among the pages of Frederic II, whom he accompanied in the first Silesian war, and was at the battles of Molwitz and Chotusitz. His behavior procured him promotion, and, in 1746, he obtained a company in the guards. He served at the siege of Prague, in 1757, and at the battle of Rossbach and that of Leuthen; for his conduct on which last occasion, he was rewarded with the order of merit. He was made a colonel in 1761, afterwards lieutenant-general,and, in 1783, governor of Berlin. In the reign of Frederic William II, he was appointed general of infantry, and commanded the Prussian troops employed in 1793, in the disgraceful dismemberment of Poland, on which occasion Möllendorf did every thing in his power to alleviate the misfortunes of the Poles. On his return home, he was created a field-marshal, and, soon after, made governor of South Prussia. He opposed the war with France which followed; but he succeeded the duke of Brunswick in the command of the Prussian army on the Rhine, in 1794, when he gained the victory of Kaiserslautern. He was one of the principal advisers of the treaty of Basle, in 1797, after which he was made grandmarshal. Not being able to prevent, by his advice, hostilities with France, in 1806, though far advanced in years, lic accepted a command, and, joining the army of the duke of Brunswick, was present at Jena and Auerstadt, where he was wounded. He retired to Berlin, and, subsequently, to Havelberg, where, according to an odd Prussian usage, he held a prebend in the ecclesiastical chapter. He died there, Jan. 28, 1816.

MERIS; a lake of Egypt. According to Herodotus, with whose account Diodorus and Mela agree, it was, in his time, 3600 stadia, or 450 miles, in circumference, and about 300 feet deep. He states it to have been entirely the product of human industry. Modern travellers describe it as at present about thirty or forty miles long and six broad, and assert it to be a natural basin. therefore, which Herodotus attributes to king Maris, must have been the canals which connected the lake with the Nile, and the mounds, dams and sluices which rendered it subservient to the purposes of

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