a department of France, lying between 48° 54' and 49° 34' N. Lat., and 5° 25' and 7° 40' E. Long. It is bounded on the N. by Belgium, Dutch Luxembourg, and Rhenish Prussia, E. by the palatinate and the department of Lower Rhine, S. by that of Meurthe, and W. by that of Meuse. Its length is 102 miles; its breadth, which varies very much, is on an average about 25 miles; and its area is 2350 square miles. The surface of the department is in general undulating, with a gradual slope towards the N.; while the eastern part is occupied by branches of the Vosges Mountains, and the western part by those of the Ardennes. None of the hills, however, rise above 650 feet in height; and they are well wooded on the top with timber, which is used for ship-building, and on the sides with fruit trees. The country is watered by the Moselle, from which it derives its name, and by its affluents, flowing generally towards the north. The Moselle is navigable in this department for 49 miles, and the Sarre for 23. The Chiers, a tributary of the Meuse, also traverses the N.W. corner of Moselle. The climate is for the most part mild, but colder and more severe in the hilly regions. The mineral resources of the department are considerable, consisting of iron, which is found in great abundance, building stone, sandstone, potter's clay, marl, and plaster of Paris. The soil of the valleys and slopes of the hills is very rich, and well cultivated; and improvements are being gradually introduced in the implements and methods of agriculture used in the department. Of its whole extent it has been calculated that there are 741,343 acres of arable land, 111,200 of meadows, 222,402 of wood, and 14,826 of waste land. Corn is raised in sufficient quantities to leave a considerable amount for exportation; and the principal kinds are oats, rye, and wheat; the two former of which are more suitable to the soil than the last. Besides these, peas, beans, millet, vetches, lentils, potatoes, beet-root, rape, turnips, hemp, flax, &c., are grown; but although the vine is cultivated in the department, the wines of Moselle are of inferior quality, and are chiefly used for the manufacture of what is called champagne, for sale in Germany and Russia. Gardens are extensively and well cultivated, and many kinds of fruit are raised of an excellent quality. The horses of the department, amounting in number to 65,000, are of small size; the horned cattle, about 110,000, of an inferior breed; the sheep, about 180,000, yield bad wool; and the only animals of good breed are the pigs, amounting to 108,000, to the rearing of which considerable attention is paid. There are also many bees, which produce a large supply of honey. Game of various kinds is plentiful in the forests, and fish in the rivers. The manufactures of Moselle are numerous, consisting principally of iron-works, in which sheet iron, nails, cutlery, &c., are fabricated. Next in extent and importance to these are the glass-works and potteries. There are also manufactures of linen, paper, beer, tobacco, beet-root sugar, leather, hosiery, &c. A considerable trade is carried on in the exportation of the produce of the manufacturing and agricultural industry of the department. The capital is Metz, where there is a court of appeal for the department. Moselle also contains 4 civil tribunals, an academy, 2 grammar schools, a normal school for the department, and 900 elementary schools; besides other educational institutions. It is divided into 4 arrondissements, as follows:

| Canton | Communes | Pop. (1831) | |--------|----------|-------------| | Metz | 9 | 223 | 169,472 | | Thionville | 5 | 118 | 91,708 | | Briey | 5 | 132 | 67,481 | | Sarreguemines | 8 | 155 | 131,923 | | Total | 27 | 628 | 459,684 |

The population of the department in 1856, however, was only 451,152.

**Moselle** (Germ. Mosel, Dutch Moezel, anc. Mosella), a river of Europe, rises in France, in the Vosges Mountains, at the S.E. corner of the department of Vosges, and flows in an irregular course for some distance N.W., and then nearly N., through the departments of Vosges, Meurthe, and Moselle. It then separates Dutch Luxembourg from Rhenish Prussia for a short distance; and finally, after crossing the latter country in a very winding course, generally N.E., it falls into the Rhine at Coblenz. For the greater part of its course this river flows in a narrow valley, bounded in some places by rocky mountains; but in the department of Moselle, from Metz as far as Sierck, the hills recede to some distance from the river, and inclose a wider plain. The largest of the tributaries of the Moselle enter it from the right,—namely, the Mosellette, the Vologne, the Meurthe, the Seille, and the Sarre. Its tributaries from the left are the Madon, the Math, the Orne, the Sure, the Kyll, and the Elz; the first three being in France, and the others in Prussia. The Moselle occasionally overflows its banks, and causes great injury to the surrounding country. Its whole length is 320 miles, of which 182 are in France; and it is navigable as far as its confluence with the Meurthe, 210 miles from Coblenz. Above this point, however, it may be traversed by small boats for some distance; and timber is floated down the stream from very near its source. The soil through which it flows is very fertile, and the scenery on its banks is in many places of great beauty.

**Moser**, Johann Jacob, a German writer on public law, and one of the most voluminous of modern authors, was born at Stuttgart in 1701. At the age of nineteen his acquirements raised him from the rank of a student to the dignity of professor extraordinary at the university of Tübingen. He was appointed a councillor at Stuttgart in 1726; and on the removal of the public administration from that city to Louisburg in the following year, the chair of law at Tübingen was conferred upon him. But the impatient temper of Moser was ever apt to involve him in broils with his acquaintances. In course of time a misunderstanding with his colleagues induced him to resign his professorship. He was prevented by a similar cause from remaining longer than 1739 in the situation of director of the university of Frankfort-on-the-Oder. Then retiring to the small town of Ebersdorf, he devoted his time to the composition of numerous works, and especially of his chief treatise, on the Public Law of Germany. His fastidious disposition, however, had not yet found its proper sphere. He left his retirement in 1747, and after remaining in the service of Hesse-Homburg for two years, he repaired to Hanau, and founded an academy for the instruction of the young nobility in public affairs. In 1751 the office of landschaftsconsulent in Stuttgart was conferred upon him. He was apprehended in 1759 on the suspicion of having written a memorial to the Duke; and he lay for five years in the fortress of Hohentwiel. On his release he abandoned public life, and spent the rest of his days in illustrating and explaining, by means of his writings and compilations, the laws and privileges of Germany. Moser died at Stuttgart in 1785. A list of his works, which amount to about 484, has been published by Meusel.

**Moses**, the son of Amram and Jochebed, was born in the year 1671 before Christ. Pharaoh, King of Egypt, perceiving that the Hebrews had become a formidable nation, issued an edict commanding all the male children to be put to death. To avoid this cruel decree, Jochebed, the mother of Moses, having concealed her son for three months, at length made an ark or basket of bulrushes, daubed it with pitch, laid the child in it, and exposed him on the banks of the Nile. Thermuthis, the King's daughter, who happened to be walking by the river's side, perceived the floating cradle, commanded it to be brought to her, and being struck with the beauty of the child, determined to preserve his life. In three years afterwards the princess adopted him as her own son, called his name Moses, and caused him to be diligently instructed in all the learning of the Egyptians. But his father and mother, to whom he was restored by a fortunate accident, were at still greater pains to teach him the history and religion of his fathers. When in his fortieth year, Moses left the court of Pharaoh, and went to visit his countrymen the Hebrews, who groaned under the tyranny and oppression of their unfeeling masters. Having perceived an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, he killed the Egyptian, and buried him in the sand. But he was obliged, in consequence of this murder, to fly into the land of Midian, where he married Zipporah, daughter of the priest Jethro, by whom he had two sons, Gershom and Eliezer. Here he lived forty years, during which time he employed himself in tending the flocks of his father-in-law. Having one day led his flock towards Mount Horeb, God appeared to him in the midst of a bush, which burned with fire, but was not consumed, and commanded him to go and deliver his brethren from their bondage. Moses at first refused to go, but was at length prevailed on by two miracles, which the Almighty wrought for his conviction. Upon his return to Egypt, he, together with his brother Aaron, went to the court of Pharaoh, and told him that God commanded him to let the Hebrews go to offer sacrifices in the deserts of Arabia. But the impious monarch disregarded this command, and caused the labour of the Israelites to be doubled. The messengers of the Almighty again returned to the King, and wrought a miracle in his sight, that they might move his heart, and induce him to let the people depart. Aaron having cast down his miraculous rod, it was immediately converted into a serpent; but the same thing being performed by the magicians, the King's heart was more and more hardened; and his obstinacy at last drew down the judgments of the Almighty upon his kingdom, which was afflicted with ten dreadful plagues. (See Bryant's Observations on the Plagues inflicted on the Egyptians.) These dreadful calamities at length moved the heart of the hardened Pharaoh, and he consented to allow the people of Israel to depart from his kingdom.

Profane authors who have spoken of Moses appear to have been in part acquainted with these mighty wonders. That he performed miracles has been allowed by many, by whom he was considered as a famous magician; and he could scarcely appear in any other light to men who did not acknowledge him as the messenger of the Almighty. Both Diodorus and Herodotus mention the distressed state to which Egypt was reduced by these terrible calamities. The Hebrews, amounting to the number of 600,000 men, without reckoning women and children, left Egypt on the 15th day of the month Nisan, which, in memory of this deliverance, was thenceforth reckoned the first month of their year. Scarcely had they reached the shore of the Red Sea, when Pharaoh with a powerful army set out in pursuit of them. On this occasion Moses stretched forth his rod upon the sea, and the waters thereof being divided, remained suspended on both sides till the Hebrews passed through dry-footed. The Egyptians determined to follow the same course; but God caused a violent wind to blow, which brought back the waters to their bed, and the whole army of Pharaoh perished. (See Wilkinson's Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, vol. i., c. 2.)

After the miraculous passage of the Red Sea, the army proceeded towards Sinai; and after suffering considerable privation, arrived at the foot of that mountain on the 3d day of the ninth month after their departure from Egypt. Moses having ascended several times into the mount, received the law from God in the midst of thunders and lightnings, and concluded the famous covenant between the Lord and the children of Israel. When he descended from Sinai, he found that the people had fallen into the idolatrous worship of the golden calf. The messenger of God, shocked at such ingratitude, broke in pieces the tables of the law which he carried in his hands, and put 23,000 of the transgressors to the sword. He afterwards re-ascended the mountain, and there obtained new tables of stone, upon which the law was inscribed.