Honore D Urfe

URFE, HONORE D', MARQUIS DE VALBROMEY, COMTE DE CILITEAUNEUF (1568-1625), French novelist and miscellaneous writer, was born at Marseilles on Feb. II, 1568, and was educated at the College de Tsarnon. A partisan of the League, he was taken prisoner in 1595, and, though soon set at liberty, he was again captured and imprisoned. During his imprisonment he read Ronsard, Petrarch and above all the Diana enamorada of George de Montemayor and Tasso's Aminta. Here, too, he wrote the Epitres morales (1598). Honore's brother Anne, comte D'Urfe, had married in 1571 the beautiful Diane de Chaleaumorand, but the marriage was annulled in 1598 by Clement VIII. Anne D'Urfe was ordained to the priesthood in 1603, and died in 1621 dean of Montbrison. Diane had a great fortune, and to avoid the aliena tion of the money from the D'Urfe family, Honore married her in 160o. This marriage also proved unhappy; D'Urfe spent most of his time separated from his wife at the court of Savoy.

In Savoy he conceived the plan of his novel Astree, the scene of which is laid on the banks of the Lignon in his native province of Forez. It is a leisurely romance in which the loves of Celadon and Astree are told with digressions. Some episodes suggest the adventures of Henry IV. The shepherds and shepherdesses of the story are of the conventional type usual to the pastoral, and they discourse of love with a casuistry and elaborate delicacy that are by no means rustic. The two first parts of Astree ap peared in 161o, the third in 1619, and in 1627 the fourth part was edited and a fifth added by D'Urfe's secretary Balthazar Baro. Astree set the fashion temporarily in the drama as in romance, and no tragedy was complete without elaborate discussions on love in the manner of Celadon and Astree. D'Urfe also wrote two poems, La Sireine (1611) and Sylvanire (1625). He died from injuries received by a• fall from his horse at Villafranca on June 1, 1625, during a campaign against the Spaniards.

E. Rostand, Deux Romanciers de Provence, H. d'Urfe et E. Zola (1921), p. 73.

URGA

(the Russian form of the Mongol Orgo =palace of a high official), a city of Mongolia, on an affluent of the Tola river. It is the holy city of the Mongols and the residence of the "living Buddha," metropolitan of the Kalka tribes, who ranks third in degree of veneration among the dignitaries of the Lamaist Church.

The lama acts as the spiritual colleague of the Chinese amban, who controls all temporal matters.

Hurae, as the Mongols call Urga (Chinese name K'ulun) stands on the high road from Peking to Kyakhta (Kiachta), about 700 m. N.W. of Peking and 165 m. S. of Kyakhta. There are three dis tinct quarters : the kuren or monastery, the residence of the "living Buddha"; the Mongol city proper (in which live some 13,000 monks) ; and the Chinese town, 2 or 3 m. from the Mongol quarter. Besides the monks, the inhabitants number about 85,000. Within living memory bricks of tea formed the only circulating medium for the retail trade at Urga, but Chinese brass cash then became current. There is a considerable trade in cattle, camels, horses, sheep, piece-goods and milk.

URI,

an ancient canton, south of central Switzerland. The name is popularly derived from Urochs and Auerochs (wild bull), two bull's horns, the cantonal symbol still being borne aloft at the head of the annual Landsgemeinde processions. (See below.) The total area (1923-24 determinations) is 414.7 sq.m., of which only 52.7% (the lowest figure in the confederation) are reckoned as "productive" (forests covering 48 sq.m.), while 71 sq.m. are occupied by a part of the Lake of Lucerne and more than 22% of the unproductive area is covered with glaciers. The highest summit in the Uri is the Dammastock (11,929 ft.), north of the Furka pass; the lowest commune is Fluelen (1,437 ft.) on the Lake of Lucerne. Little of the land is capable of further cultiva tion, for Uri is composed of the torrent section of the Upper Reuss, draining, with its tributaries, steep-sided valleys. The chief, and practically the only, railway is the main St. Gotthard line. Near Wassen are the very remarkable looped and spiral tunnels. An electric railway connects Gi5schenen with Andermatt, and another one connects Altdorf with its port, FlUelen. Com munication is largely by the excellently planned roads which lead to the mountain passes; these give access to the cantons lying east and south, e.g., Glarus (the Klausen pass, 6,404 ft.), the Grisons (Oberalp pass, 6,733 ft.), Ticino (St. Gotthard pass, 6,935 ft.), the Valais (Furka pass, 7,992 ft.).