and neglected. San Antonio, a suburb of Cuernavaca, is noted for its pottery, which is highly attractive in form and colour, and finds a ready market among the visitors to that city. Morelos is traversed by two railway lines—the Interoceanic from N.E. to S.W., and the Mexican Central almost N. and S., the latter affording direct communication between the national and state capitals.
The capital, Cuernavaca (pop. 9584 in 1900), 47 m. S. of the city of Mexico on the Mexican Central railway, is one of the most picturesque towns in Mexico. It dates from the time of Cortés, who built for himself a residence there, and had the town included in the royal grant to himself in 1529. Maximilian had a villa there, and many of the public men of Mexico, natives of the lowlands, have made their homes there rather than in the national capital. The palace of Cortés is now occupied by the state legislature and by various public offices, and Maximilian’s villa by a school.
After the capital the largest city in the state is Cuautla Morelos, or Ciudad Morelos (pop. 6269 in 1900), 27 m. east by south of Cuernavaca, on the Interoceanic railway, and in a rich sugar-producing district. Some of the largest and most modern sugar-mills of Mexico are in the Cuautla district. There are hot sulphur springs here. The town is celebrated in Mexican history for the intrepid defence of the place by José Maria Morelos (1765–1815), the patriot leader, against a greatly superior royalist force, from the 19th of February to the 2nd of May 1812, when he cut his way through the attacking army and escaped. Other important towns are Yautepec (6139 in 1900), 16 m. east of Cuernavaca, on the Interoceanic line; Tetecala, 13 m. south-west of the capital, a characteristic Indian town near the pyramid of Xochicalco, and Jojutla, 21 m. south of the capital, on the Interoceanic railway near the southern boundary of the state. An interesting local phenomenon is that of lake Tequesquiten, which was formed by the subsidence of a large area of ground about the middle of the 19th century, carrying with it an old town of the same name. The hollow filled with water, and the spire of the old church is still to be seen in the middle of the lake.
MORESNET, a small neutral state lying on the borders of
Prussia and Belgium, 4 m. S.W. of Aix-la-Chapelle, and embracing
an area of nearly 1400 acres. Its only village is that
of Neutral Moresnet, also called Kelmis or Kalmis, with 2800
inhabitants. just over the Prussian frontier is Prussian
Moresnet, with 650 inhabitants, and in Belgium is Belgian
Moresnet, with about 1200. Moresnet, strictly Montzen-Moresnet,
is, as its name implies, a mountain, under which is
the extremely valuable zinc mine owned by the “Vieille
Montague Company,” which is a Belgian undertaking. The
profit of the customs is divided between the two states,
but a tendency has been observed to convert it gradually into
a German possession. The state of Moresnet owes its origin
to the general European settlement of 1815. No agreement
could be reached about the ownership of this small district,
and it was made a neutral state under the joint government of
Prussia and Belgium. This arrangement lasted until 1841,
when Moresnet was given an administration of its own, this
being composed of a burgomaster and a council of ten members.
The inhabitants decide individually whether they will perform
military service for Prussia or for Belgium, and also whether
they will accept the jurisdiction of the Prussian or of the Belgian
courts.
See Hoch, Un Territoire oublié au centre de l’Europe (Bern, 1881); Schroder, Das grenzstreitige Gebiet von Moresnet (Aix-la-Chapelle, 1902); and Spandau, Zur Geschichte von Neutral-Moresnet (Aix-la-Chapelle, 1904).
MORETON BAY CHESTNUT, a tall tree known botanically
as Castanospermum australe (natural order Leguminosae), native
of Queensland and New South Wales. The pods are almost
cylindrical, about 9 in. long and 2 in. broad, and are divided
interiorly by a spongy substance into three to five cells, each
of which contains a large chestnut-like seed. The seeds are
roasted and eaten by the natives; the timber, which somewhat
resembles walnut, is soft, fine-grained, and takes a good polish,
but is not durable.
MORETO Y CAVANA, AGUSTIN (1618–1661), Spanish
dramatist and playwright, was baptized at Madrid on the 9th
of April 1618. He graduated at Alcalá in December 1639, and
resided in Madrid till 1654, when he removed to Toledo, took
orders, and became chaplain to the primate Baltasar de Moscoso
y Sandoval. He died at Toledo on the 28th of October 1661,
while engaged on Santa Rosa, a play which was completed by
Pedro Francisco Lanini. The first volume of his dramas was
published in 1654; the second and third volumes appeared in
1676. The most celebrated of his pieces is El Desdén con el
Desdén, imitated by Molière in La Princesse d’Élide, by Gozzi
in La Principessa filosofa, and by Schreyvogel in Donna Diana.
It is characteristic that four episodes in El Desdén con el Desdén
are taken from four separate plays of Lope de Vega’s (La
Vengadora de las mujeres, Las Milagros del desprecia, De Corsario
à corsario, and La Hermosa fea). Moreto borrows from
Castro, Tirso de Molina and others to an extent which is indicated
at length in Fitzmaurice-Kelley’s Littérature espagnole (Paris,
1904), but his adaptation shows great dexterity and charm.
MORETTO, IL (“The Blackamoor,” a term which has not
been particularly accounted for), the name currently bestowed
upon Alessandro Bonvicino (1498–1554), a celebrated painter
of Brescia, Venetian school. He was born at Rovato, in the
Brescian territory, in 1498, and studied, first under Fioravante
Ferramola of Brescia, afterwards, still youthful, with Titian in
Venice. His own earlier method, specially distinguished by
excellent portrait-painting, was naturally modelled on that
of Titian. Afterwards he conceived a great enthusiasm for
Raphael (though he does not appear to have ever gone to
Rome), and his style became partially Raphaelesque. It was,
however, novel in its combination of diverse elements, and
highly attractive—with fine pencilling, a rich yet not lavish use
of perspective and decorative effects, and an elegant opposition
of light and shade. The human figure is somewhat slender in
Bonvicino’s paintings, the expression earnestly religious, the
flesh-tints varied, more so than was common in the Venetian
school. The backgrounds are generally luminous, and the
draperies well modified in red and yellow tints with little intermixture of blue. The depth of Bonvicino’s talent, however, was hardly in proportion to its vigour and vivacity; and he excelled more in sedate altarpieces than in subjects of action, and more in oil-painting than in fresco, although some fine series of his frescoes remain, especially that in the villa Martinengo at Novarino, near Brescia. Among his celebrated works in the city are—in the church of S. Clemente, the “Five Virgin Martyrs,” and the “Assumption of the Madonna” (this latter may count as his masterpiece); in S. Nazaro e Celso, the “Coronation of the Madonna”; in S. Maria della Grazie, “St Joseph”; in S. Maria de’ Miracoli, “St Nicholas of Bari.” In the Vienna Gallery is a “St Justina” (once ascribed to Pordenone); in the Stadel Institute, Frankfort, the “Madonna enthroned between Sts Anthony and Sebastian”; in the Berlin Museum, a colossal “Adoration of the Shepherds,” and a large votive picture (one of the master’s best) of the “Madonna and Child,” with infant angels and other figures above the clouds, and below, amid a rich landscape, two priests; in the National Gallery, London, St Bernardin and other saints and two impressive portraits. Il Moretto is stated to have been a man of child-like personal piety, preparing himself by prayer and fasting for any great act of sacred art, such as the painting of the Virgin-mother. His dated works extend from 1524 to 1554, and he was the master of the pre-eminent portrait-painter Moroni. He died on the 22nd of December 1554.
MORGAGNI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA (1682–1771), Italian anatomist, was born on the 25th of February 1682 at Forlì.[1] His parents were in comfortable circumstances, but not of the nobility; it appears from his letters to G. M. Lancisi that Morgagni was ambitious of gaining admission into that rank, and it may
- ↑ His statue was erected at Forlì in 1875, and the town library preserves fourteen manuscript volumes of his writings.
