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posing the degradation of the national language, when Frederic ordered all literary compositions to be written in the French idiom, If, therefore, by taking up the challeng, he hshould subject himself to a prosecution, the king might leave him at the mercy of his enemies. For these reasons he would not venture to reply to Bonnet; but to suffer so public a challenge to pass by unnoticed, might have the appearance of giving up his cause. He, therefore, published "A Letter" to Lavater, remarkable for its pathetic remonstrance, and calm dispassionate reasoning. On this occasion M. Bonnet himself corresponded with our philosopher, in the benevolent character of a pacificator between him and the Swiss divine; and the latter was so liberal as to acknowledge, that his zeal had misled him, and that his challenge was inconsiderate.

Scarcely had our philosopher seen this controversy closed, before his quiet was disturbed by another, which produced an agitation of mind that hastened his death. Having lost his beloved associate Lessing, M. Jacobi, a German writer, informed him in a private letter that his friend, with whom he had passed some days before his death, declared to him that he had completely adopted the principles of Spinoza. This Jacobi concluded, that therefore all philosophy terminates in the grossest spinozism; and that we can only extricate ourselves from the labyrinth of metaphysics, by submitting our reason to implicit faith. To the letter of Jacobi Mendelsohn wrote a private reply, in tended to explain and exculpate the sentiments of his departed friend. A correspondence on the subject was industriously kept up by Jacobi, who, without the consent of Mendelsohn, took the unwarrantable liberty of publishing the private letters which had passed between them. This base conduct excited in Mendelsohn agonies of sensibility. He was again menaced by a theological controversy; and the reputation of Lessing was cherished by him as At length, he roused all his powers, and produced a piece which is said to contain, a masterly refutation of Jacobi, and a satis factory defence of the character and principles of his deceased friend; but with this effort his faculties expired. The agitation of mind occasioned by this controversy, exhausted his feeble and too sensitive frame. Zimmerman, who knew him well, informs us, that his whole nervous system was deranged in an almost inconceivable manner. Resignation and docility tempered his infirmities. He was

his own.

placid in pain; but whenever he protracted his studies to an unusual hour, or when deeply engaged in a profound discussion, a strong fainting fit was the consequence of his intellectual exertion. He would sometimes retire suddenly from such conversations, to avoid the danger, of fainting. "In these moments," says Zimmerman, "it was his custom to neglect all study, to banish thought entirely from his mind!" A physician asked him how he employed his time if he did not think? "I retire," said Mendelsohn, "to the window of my chamber, and count the tiles upon the roof of my neighbour's house." He died in 1785, when about fifty-seven years of age, esteemed by persons of the most opposite opinions, on account of the excellence of his character, and his mild, modest, obliging disposition. When his remains were consigned to the grave, he received those honours from his nation which are commonly paid to their first rabbis; and, contrary to an imprudent custom prevalent among the Jews, of burying their dead before sunset, his interment was delayed till twenty-four hours after he expired. In the preceding sketch we have given the titles of all his productions which we have seen particularly mentioned, excepting the first part of his "Morning Hours, or, Dis-> courses on the Existence of God," published a little before his death; and his German translation of "The Psalms of David," published in 1783. Monthly Magazine for July 1798. Gent. Mag. for Jan. 1788. English Encyc.-M.

MENDOZA, DON INIGO LOPEZ DE, Senor de Hita y Buytrago, first marques de Santillana, and Conde del Real de Manzanares.

This distinguished ornament of a distinguished family was born in Carrion de los Condes, a town of his mother's patrimony, August nineteenth, 1398: in 1418 he married Dona Catalina de Figueroa, and died in 1458. During the factious and disgraceful reign of Juan II. his courage was conspicuous, and his prudence still more so, as he aggrandized himself without injuring his reputation. The political events of his life are, however, too unim-. portant and too uninteresting to require or justify narration here.

He is here mentioned as an early patron and contributor to the literature of his own country.

His works are, 1. Los Proverbios de Inigo Lopez de Mendoza, con su glosa, maxims of morality in verse, written by desire of Juan II. for the instruction of his son prince Henrique.

Ten editions of this book have been printed, if not more, and still it is one of the rarest in the language. 2. Refranes que dicen las viejas tras el buego, proverbs which old women repeat by the fire-side: an alphabetical collection made also at the king's request, and supposed to be the oldest collection in any modern language. They have been republished by D. Gregorio Mayans y Siscar, in the first volume of the Origenes de la lengua Castellana, 3. Proemio al Condestable de Portugal, sobre las Obras. This is a letter addressed to D. Pedro, son to the Infante D. Pedro of Portugal, and a son not unworthy of so excellent a father. The Catalonians when in rebellion against Juan II. of Aragon, if that word may be applied to men engaged in the best of all causes, invited D. Pedro to be their king; and Juan, who had not spared even his own children, got rid of him by poison. In the happier years of his family he had applied himself to poetry, as his father had done before him, and this letter which the marques sent with a collection of his own poems, as requested by Pedro, is one of the most valuable documents for the literary history of Spain, as it contains an account of all the Spanish poets whose works the writer had either seen or heard of. It is inserted with copious notes and a life of the marques in the first volume of the Coleccion de Poesias Anteriores al Siglo XV. by Sanchez.

Many of the marques's poems are in the Cancionero General; others exist in manuscript; among them is a poem upon the creation consisting of 333 stanzas, in the same metre as the Trezientas of his friend Juan de Mena. He first introduced the sonnet into Spanish poetry, an honour claimed either falsely or ignorantly by Boscan; to whom, however, and to his friend Garcilaso, the triumph of the Italian over the vernacular metres is certainly to be attributed.-R. S.

MENDOZA, D. DIEGO HURTADO DE, a younger son of D. Inigo Lopez de Mendoza, second count of Tendilla and first marques de Mondejar, was born in the city of Granada about the year 1503; and there, during his childhood, he acquired a practical knowledge of Arabic, which he afterwards perfected by study, and continued to cultivate through life. At Salamanca he went through the usual course of studies and became a good Greck scholar; then served in the Italian wars. But in the winters, and during every cessation of arms, he went to Rome or Padua, or some other Italian university, where he could enjoy and profit by the

Charles V. employed

society of learned men. him as embassador in the most important and most difficult transaction of his reign, at Venice, at the council of Trent, and at the papal court. At Venice he exerted himself to recover Greek MSS.: for this purpose he sent Nicolaus Sophianus into Greece; and when some person for whom Solyman was particularly interested had been taken prisoner, ransomed him at a great price, and set him free, and asked in return only that the Venetians might freely import grain from the Turkish dominions, and that he himself might be permitted to search for manuscripts. Solyman, more in the spirit of the Abbassides or the Spanish Ommiades, than of the Ottomans, sent him six chests full; and thus D. Diego was the means of recovering some of the writings of St. Basil the Great, and of Gregory Nazianzen, the worthless works of Cyril of Alexandria, and the more valuable remains of Archimedes, of Hero, and of Appian; all these, with copies also of cardinal Besarion's and of other collections,he left to the Escurial library.

D. Diego was superseded at Rome in 1551, for some political reasons, to satisfy the papal court. He did not return to his own country till three years afterwards. He continued some years one of Philip's counsellors, but in little favour; and when in the sixty-fourth year of his age, was banished from the court. We may wish, and it is probable he himself wished, that he had been banished sooner; for he was a learned man, a good man, and a wise man; and state affairs in which wisdom and goodness were so little concerned had too long detained him from those higher and better employments for which Heaven had qualified him. He retired to Granada,and there, upon the spot, composed his history of the war against the Moriscos; there also he amused himself with literature during the remainder of his life. In 1574 he obtained leave to return to Madrid, and died in a few days after his arrival there.

None of his works were published during his life-time; and if it be true that he had paraphrased the whole of Aristotle as is said, though upon doubtful authority, the greater part has never been edited. The mechanics of Aristotle it is certain that he translated. His political commentaries are more to be regretted; unquestionably they must have been of the highest value. A volume of his poems was published at Madrid 1610, by Juan Diaz Hidalgo, the king's chaplain, who suppressed

the comic and satyric pieces, which were numerous. His history was published in the same year by Luis Tribaldos with this title; Guerra de Granada, hecha por El Rey de Espana Don Felipe II. nuestro Senor, contra los Moriscos de aquel Regno sus rebeldes. Part of the third book having been lost, was supplied by the Conde de Portalegre, D. Joam de Silva. It was reprinted at Lisbon 1627, Madrid 1674, and Valencia 1776. This is an admirable work; the best specimen of historical composition in the Spanish language, the best imitation of the Latin historians that has ever been produced. It has also other and greater merits than those of composition. D. Diego was thoroughly acquainted with the events which he recorded, and has related them with the strictest impartiality.

The story of Lazarillo de Tormes, which has been translated into almost every European language, is attributed to this excellent author, as a youthful work, written at Salamanca. Others impute it to Juan de Ortega, a Jeronymite. Nic. Antonio. Capmany.-R. S.

MENEDEMUS, a Greek philosopher of the Eliac school, who flourished towards the close of the fourth century B. C. was a native of Eretria in the island of Euboea. Though a descendant from a noble family, his circumstances were so reduced that he was obliged to support himself by manual labour, either at the occupation of a tent-maker or a mason, it is uncertain which. Among his fellow-labourers was Asclepiades, a Phliasian, with whom he contracted an early intimacy, which grew into an ardent and steady friendship, compared by Diogenes Laertius to that of Pylades and Orestes. These friends possessing congenial minds, formed more for study than mechanical employments, determined to devote themselves to the pursuit of philosophy. With this design they went to Athens, and diligently attended the lectures of Plato in the academy. Not long after their arrival at this city, as they had no visible means of subsistence, in conformity to a law of Solon they were summoned before the court of Areopagus, to give an account of the manner in which they were supported. Upon this, at their request, the keeper of one of the public prisons was sent for, who gave evidence, that every night these youths went among the criminals, and by grinding with them, earned two drachmas, which were sufficient for their frugal maintenance, and enabled them to devote the day to the study of philosophy. Struck with admiration at the ex

traordinary avidity for knowledge which their conduct displayed, the magistrates dismissed them with great commendation, presenting them at the same time with two hundred drachmas. They met also with several other patrons, by whom they were liberally supplied with whatever was necessary to enable them to prosecute their studies. From Athens, Menedemus, most probably accompanied by his friend, went to Megara, where he attended upon the instructions of Stilpo; of whose manner of teaching, free from all scholastic forms and arts, he expressed his approbation by giving him the appellation of the liberal. Quitting Megara, Menedemus repaired to Elis, where he became a disciple of Phædo, who had established a school in that place upon the Socratic model. Upon the death of Phædo he became his successor in that school, which he transferred from Elis to his native city; whence it obtained the name of Eretrian. Here he taught, with high reputation, the simple doctrines and precepts which Phædo had received from Socrates. In his school he observed that freedom of manner which he commended in Stilpo: for his hearers were not, according to the usual practice in such places, formally seated on benches around him; but every one attended in whatever posture he pleased, standing, walking, or sitting. Menedemus was distinguished by great readiness and versatility of genius; was fluent and vehement in dispute; delivered his opinions with the utmost freedom; and inveighed with great severity against the vices of others, while he secured universal respect by the purity of his own

manners.

When Menedemus opened his school at Eretria, his countrymen treated him contemptuously, and, on account of the keenness and ardour with which he disputed, frequently branded him with the appellation of cur, and madman. Afterwards, however, when his character was better known to them, he possessed their esteem and confidence in so high a degree, that they placed the government of the city in his hands, and employed him on seve ral successive embassies, to Ptolemy, Lysymachus, and Demetrius, kings of Macedon.. These trusts he discharged with fidelity, and greatly to his country's advantage, and with such disinterestedness, that he persuaded his constituents to receive back one fourth part of the two hundred talents which were assigned him as an annual stipend. He was greatly respected by Antigonus, king of Macedon,

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who entertained a personal regard for him, and professed himself one of his disciples. By the honour which he received from his intimacy with this prince, he excited the envy of some of his countrymen, who accused him of a design to betray their city into the hands of Antigonus. To escape the hazards arising from the prejudice which this accusation created against him, Menedemus withdrew to Oropus in Bocotia; and afterwards took refuge with his family under the protection of Antigonus. Here grief, on account of the unjust treatment which he had received, and disappointment at not being able to prevail on that prince to restore the lost liberties of his country, preyed upon his spirits, and induced him to hasten his end by abstaining from food for several days. He died about the 124th Olympiad, or in 284 B. C. in the eighty-fourth year of his age. Menedemus observed the Menedemus observed the strictest moderation in his manner of living; and though he gave frequent entertainments, at which many philosophers and men of distinction were present, their fare was simple and frugal, consisting chiefly of vegetables. The principal treat which he was solicitous to provide, was liberal, improving conversation. He survived his friend Asclepiades; but retained the same regard for his memory, which he had formerly for his person. A favourite servant of his coming late to the house of Menedemus, was refused admittance by the servants; but our philosopher ordered them to admit him, observing, that Asclepiades, though dead, had still the power of opening his doors. Being invited to supper one evening by a person who had covered his table with unlimited profusion, Menedemus silently reproved his folly by only eating olives. Hearing one of his acquaintance observe, that it must be a great happiness to enjoy whatever we desire; he replied, "it is a greater to desire nothing but what is proper for us." The subject of this article is to be distinguished from MENEDEMUS, a Cynic philosopher, who was a native of Lampsacus, and lived under the reign of Antigonus, king of Macedon. The peculiarities of the Cynic sect had at this time been carried to an absurd and ridiculous extreme. At first, its members being no more than severe public monitors, commanded attention and respect; but their freedom of censure having now degenerated into scurrility, the order was gradually sinking into disesteem and contempt. Had any circumstance been wanting to complete its disgrace, the conduct of Me

nedemus was peculiarly adapted to that purpose. In him the spirit of the sect degenerated into what can scarcely be distinguished from downright madness. Dressed in a black cloak, with an Arcadian cap upon his head, on which were drawn the figures of the twelve signs of the Zodiac, with tragic buskins on his legs, with a long beard, and with an ashen staff in his hand, he went about like a maniac, saying, that he was come from the infernal Gods, to take cognizance of the offences of mankind, and to make a report of them. Diogenes Laert. lib. ii. cap. 18. et lib. vi. cap. 9. Stanley's Hist. Phil. part iv. & vii. Enfield's Hit. Phil. vol. I. book ii. chap. 7. & 10.-M.

MENELAUS, king of Sparta, famous in semi-fabulous history for his share in the Trojan war, was the son of Atreus, king of Argos, and brother of Agamemnon. He married the most celebrated beauty of Greece, Helen the daughter of Tyndarus, king of Sparta, and in her right succeeded to the crown of that country. According to the most probable account of the origin of the Trojan war, Paris, the son of king Priam, induced by the fame of Helen's beauty, paid a visit to the court of Menelaus, where he was hospitably received. During his stay, Menelaus was obliged to take a voyage to Crete; and the faithless Trojan made use of the opportunity to carry off Helen, together with all the treasure and rich moveables he could lay his hands upon. This injury was made a common cause by the petty kings of Greece, who, with a powerful army under the command of Agamemnon, laid siege to Troy. Menelaus was present as one of the confederates, and is represented by Homer rather as a subordinate than a leading character among them. On the reduction of Troy, Deiphobus, who had succeeded to Paris in the possession of Helen's person, was made a sacrifice to the husband's resentment, and the nuptial tie was renewed with mutual complacency. Menelaus differed with his brother respecting the plan of their return to Greece; and parting from the fleet, was driven by tempests to the coast of Egypt, where he and Helen were hospitably entertained by the king of the country. a considerable stay there, they got back in safety to Sparta, where Telemachus is represented in the Odyssey as finding them living in peace and prosperity. Menelaus is said to have been succeeded in this kingdom by two illegi timate sons, who were expelled by Orestes, son of Agamemnon. Homer. Univers. Hist.-A.

After

MENELAUS, a celebrated mathematician who flourished under the reign of the emperor Trajan, was of Grecian extraction, and a native of Alexandria. He is called a geometrician by Ptolemy, who informs us, in the sixth book of his "Almagest," that he made astronomical observations at Rome in the first year of Trajan, corresponding with the year ninety-eight of the Christian era. He is thought to be the Menelaus whom Plutarch has made an interlocutor in his dialogue "De Facie quæ in Orbe Lunæ apparet." He was the author of three books "On Spherics," or spherical Figures, which has descended to modern times through the medium of the Arabic language. Of this work father Mersonne edited the first Latin version at Paris, in 1664, in quarto, from a corrupt copy, with the requisite corrections, restorations, and additional illustrative propositions. This treatise in Arabic is inserted by father Labbé in the first volume of his "Nov. Catal. Manuscriptorum." Fabricii Bibl. Græc. vol. II. lib. iii. cap. v. sect. 17.-M.

MENESTRIER, JOHN BAPTIST LE, an able antiquary, was born at Dijon in 1564. He was king's counsellor, secretary of the chamber, and provincial comptroller of the artillery for the duchy of Burgundy. He rendered himself famous in his time for his acquaintance with the remains of antiquity, of which he gave a proof by his work entitled " Medailles, Monnoies, et Monumens antiques d'Imperatrices -Romaines," 1625, folio. After his death, which happened in 1634, there was published "Medailles illustres des anciens Empereurs et Imperatrices de Rome," 1642, quarto, by the same author. Neither of these works are in much esteem among the modern students of the numismatic science. A Claude le Menestrier, also of Dijon, and a contemporary of the former, was likewise attached to the study of antiquity, and became keeper of the Barberini museum. He wrote "Symbolica Dianæ Ephesia Statua explicata," 1657, quarto. Moreri.-A. MENESTRIER, CLAUDE FRANCIS, a Jesuit, distinguished by his various works on heraldry, decorations, public ceremonials, &c. was born at Lyons in 1631. He entered at an He entered at an early age into the society of Jesuits, where he acquired a great knowledge of languages and polite literature. His particular turn was to the study of history, with all that relates to family distinctions, and the monuments of antiquity in earlier and later periods. He was assisted in his pursuits by an uncommon strength of memory; concerning which it is related, that

VOL. VII.

when queen Christina passed through Lyons, she tried him with causing to be read before him three hundred words, the strangest and most unconnected that could be found, which he repeated without missing in the same order. He travelled into most of the countries of Europe, every where augmenting his stores of knowledge: nor did he confine himself to secular studies, but rendered himself a master of the scholastic theology taught in his church, by which he was enabled to make a figure in disputations with the Protestants, and in pulpit harangues. He was, however, most famous for his talents in planning and arranging all kinds of festive exhibitions, sacred and profane, from the entry of a prince to the canonisation of a saint. His invention in these matters was inexhaustible; and he enriched all his designs with such an abundance of devices and inscriptions as amply proved the ex-tent of his reading. He was likewise very happy in decyphering old mutilated inscriptions, blazoning coats of arms, explaining allegorical paintings and sculptures, and in all the operations of antiquarian science. On all the points above mentioned he was frequently consulted, and obtained great honour by his success. He died in 1705, at the age of seventyfour.

The principal works of father Menestrier were "Histoire Civile ou Consulaire de la Ville de Lyon," 1693, folio: "Eloge historique de la meme Ville," quarto:" L'Histoire du Regne de Louis le Grand par les Medailles, Emblemes, Devises, &c. :" "Methode du Blason:" "La Philosophie des Images:" besides a great number of tracts on devices, medals, tournaments, carousals, decorations, ballets, &c. Moreri.—A.

MENEZES. Some needless repetition may be avoided by classing all the authors of this family under their common name. It is the name of the Condes de la Ericeira, a noble house in Portugal, in which the love of literature united with literary talents continued to be hereditary for many generations, and longer, perhaps, than in any other instance upon record. At the end of one of their works the Bibliotheca Ericeriana is published, not the catalogue of the library, but of works written by themselves. They amount to one hundred and forty-five; the greater part have never been published, and though of this number many are of little or no importance, enough of real value remains to entitle them to a high rank in literature. We notice only the most important of the printed works.

Vida de D. Henrique de Menezes, Governa

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