Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/33

M U N M U N 23 tenderness in other glands, such as the testicles in males, and the mammae or ovaries in females, but these are of short duration and of no serious significance. That this com plaint is highly contagious is shown by the readiness with which it spreads among children in schools, &c. The nature of the infecting agent is unknown, but the medium of communication is most probably the breath or secre tions of the mouth. Mumps is in general a mild disease, and requires but little treatment beyond a gentle laxative, the application of warm fomentations to the swollen and painful parts, and the use of soft food. MUNCHAUSEN, BAKON, the modern Philopseudes, " of whom Ferdinand Mendez Pinto was but a type," is commonly identified with Hieronymus Karl Friedrich von Miinchausen, of Bodenswerder in Hanover, who, having entered the Russian service and served in several campaigns against the Turks, amused himself in his retirement by relating extraordinary instances of his prowess as soldier and sportsman. He died in 1797. In 1785 a little book of 48 pages, Baron Munchausen s Narrative of his Marvel lous Travels and Campaigns in Russia, was published in London. A second edition was printed at Oxford next year ; an enlarged London edition speedily followed, and the book had gone through five editions before, in 1787, it was introduced to the German public in a translation, with a preface by the poet Burger. Burger very naturally passed in Germany for the writer ; and it was not until 1824 that a communication from his editor Karl von Reinhard to the Gesellschafter fixed the authorship upon Rudolf Erich Raspe. Raspe, a man of versatile talent, the author of some works on natural history and painting and of a poem entitled Hermin and Gunilde, was born at Hanover in 1737, and had been professor of archaeology and curator of the museum at Cassel, which appointments he lost upon a charge of stealing medals. He fled to England, where he had already been elected an honorary fellow of the Royal Society, though his name was sub sequently expunged. From 1782 to about 1788 he was assay-master and storekeeper at Dolcoath mine in Corn wall, where his ingenuity was still remembered in the middle of the present century. In 1794 he accepted a similar situation at Muckross in Ireland, but died there before entering upon his post. His authorship of Miin chausen rests entirely upon the testimony of Von Reinhard, but the fact was in all probability communicated to the latter by Biirger ; it has never been disputed, and is con firmed by the appearance of the book in London during Raspe s residence in England. The father of Adolf Ellisen, a recent German editor, visited Baron Miinchausen himself in 1795, two years before his death, and found him very uncommunicative. He was convinced, however, by the evidence of acquaintances that the baron had in his younger days fully entitled himself to the distinction thrust upon him by Herr Raspe. It would be superfluous to descant on the qualities of a work so universally known, whose name has become a house hold word. It is to be observed, however, that the typical Munchausen is chiefly to be encountered in the 48 pages originally published by Raspe, and that the subsequent accessions, while quadrupling the dimensions of the book, are far from adding proportionably to its merit. There is hardly such another instance in literature of eleven buckram-men growing out of two. The most important of these additions is entitled "A Journey to the Moon and Dog Star," and is mainly borrowed from Lucian s True History. A very inferior appendix, published in 1793, represents the baron in conflict with the French revolutionists and Tippoo Saib ; and there are several un disguised imitations. The family likeness of the stories published by Raspe himself renders it probable that they were actually derived by him from Munchausen, of whom he speaks respectfully in his preface, attributing to his inventions the moral purpose of " awakening and shaming the common sense of those who have lost it by prejudice or habit." It is nevertheless likely that Miinchausen shone rather as a narrator than an inventor, some of his marvels having been traced to Bebel s Facetiae, to Lange s Mendocia Ridicula, to Castiglione s Cortegiano, and even to a Portuguese magazine. The best English edition is that by Teignmouth Shore (1872), with illustrations by Gustave Dore and additions by Theophile Gautier ; the best German edition that by Ellisen (1849), to which is prefixed a valuable essay upon the literature of pseudology in general. The English edition of 1809 has plates by Kowlandson. MUNCIE, a city of the United States, county seat of Delaware county, Indiana, 54 miles north-east of Indian apolis. It is a flourishing pleasant-looking place of 5219 inhabitants (census 1880), with city-hall, court-house, public library, and considerable industrial activity. MUNDAY, ANTHONY (1553-1633), was one of the most versatile miscellaneous writers of the Shakespearean age. In the introduction to his comedy John a Green and John a Cumber, reprinted for the Shakespeare Society, Collier enumerates 47 works of which Munday was whole or part author, the subjects being very various pastoral poems, journalistic tracts and pamphlets, translations of romances, plays, pageants. The most interesting remnant of this miscellaneous work is a pamphlet reprinted in the Harleian Miscellany, the English Romayne Life, a lively account of adventures among Roman Catholic refugees in France and Italy. Munday s experiences were the result of a youthful escapade. Born in 1553, and the son of a London citizen of the Drapers Company, he had early shown a restless dis position : he took to the stage for some time, tried steady business for a year or two as apprentice to a stationer, tired of it, put all his wealth in his purse, and set out with a companion for the Continent, moved by "a desire to see strange countries as also affection to learn the languages." According to his own account, he was robbed on the way to Amiens, drifted into the company of Popish refugees, and was by them forwarded to Rome, where he obtained admission as a pope s scholar to the English seminary. Returning to England about 1581, and using the knowledge thus gained of designs against the English Government, he was a prominent witness in the trials of Campion and other English Jesuits ; and, probably as a reward, was appointed one of the " Messengers of Her Majesty s Chamber." Thereafter he wrote steadily for the booksellers and the theatres, compiling religious publica tions, putting words to popular airs, translating French romances, and so forth. Webbe in 1586 praised him for his pastorals only the title is now extant, Sweet Sobs and Amorous Complaints of Shepherds and Nymphs ; and in 1598 Meres mentioned him honourably among dramatic writers as " our best plotter." Critical Ben Jonson was less complimentary, and in The Case is altered ridiculed Munday severely as "Antonio Balladino, pageant poet." Judging from the plays on the subject of Robin Hood reprinted in Collier s Supplement to Dodsley s Old Plays, the joint work of Munday and Chettle, his jiterary faculty was of a very commonplace description, and deserved Jonson s taunts about "stale stuff" and want of character. Still Munday seems to have been in great request as a collaborator in the last years of Elizabeth s reign, and afterwards he wrote many of the city " pageants." He obtained repute also as an antiquary, and published an enlarged edition of Stow s Survey of London in 1618. Thi.s last work was the only literary achievement inscribed on his monument in St Stephen s church. He died 10th August 1633. MUNGO, ST. See KENTIGERN, vol. xiv. p. 40.