MOZART, WOLFGANG AMADEUS CHRYSOSTOM, eminent musical composer, born at Salzburg; was distinguished for his musical genius as a boy, and produced over 600 musical compositions, but his principal works were his operas, the “Marriage of Figaro,” “Don Giovanni,” and the “Magic Flute”; his fate was an unhappy one; he suffered much from poverty and neglect; the last piece he wrote was a Requiem Mass, which he felt, he said, as if he were writing for himself, and he died at Prague on the evening of its rehearsal (1756-1791).
MUCKLEBACKIT, SAUNDERS, an old fisherman in Scott’s “Antiquary.”
MUCKLEWRATH, a fanatic preacher in Scott’s “Old Mortality.”
MUCOUS MEMBRANE, a delicate membrane which lines the cavities and the canals of the human body.
MUEZZIN, an official, usually blind, attached to a Mohammedan mosque, summons the faithful to prayers with a chant from a minaret.
MUFTI, a doctor and interpreter of Mohammedan law.
MUFTI, THE GRAND, is head of the Ulema, or interpreters of the Koran; holds his appointment from the Sultan, and exercises great influence at the Porte; legal advisers to local and general councils in the Turkish empire are also styled Mufti.
MUGGLETON, founder of the Muggletonians, a tailor who, along with one Reeve, at the time of the Commonwealth, pretended to be the two witnesses of the Revelation and the last of God’s prophets, invested with power to save and to damn; individuals of the sect founded by him existed so recently as the beginning of this century.
MUIR, JOHN, a Sanskrit scholar, born in Glasgow; was of the Indian Civil Service; was a man of liberal views, particularly in religion, and a patron of learning; endowed the Chair of Sanskrit in Edinburgh University (1810-1882).
MUIR, SIR WILLIAM, an Arabic scholar, brother of the preceding; Principal of Edinburgh University; was in the Indian Civil Service; wrote a “Life of Mahomet,” on the rise of Mohammedanism, and on the Koran; b. 1819.
MUKDEN (250), in Chinese Shing-king, the capital of Manchuria, on a tributary of the Liao, in the S. of the province; is a city of considerable commercial importance, and has good coal-mines in the neighbourhood; there are a great palace, and numerous temples; Irish and Scotch Presbyterian and Roman Catholic missions have a centre here; the Japanese invasion of 1894-98 was directed towards it.
MULL (5), large island in the NW. of Argyllshire, third of the Hebrides; is mountainous and picturesque, with greatly indented coast-line; the highest peak is Ben More, 3185 ft., the largest inlet Loch-na-Keal; the soil is best adapted for grazing. TOBERMORY (1), in the N., is the only town.
MUeLLER, GEORGE, founder of the Orphan Homes near Bristol; born in Prussia; founded the Orphan Home, in 1836, on voluntary subscriptions, in answer to prayer, to the support one year of more than 2000 orphans (1805-1898).