in 



MAZZOLINL, LODOVICO. 



MECH1TAR. 



in 



paei Hi* i'leaa are to be red in detail in hii numerous writings 

 and proclamations, A collection of his chief writings, politics! and 

 literary ha* been, published in Italian, and MlectioDB from them have 



MAZZuU'M, LODOVI'CO, a celebrated painter of Ferraro, some- 

 tioMeotlM Ludovico Ferrareee, was born about 1481. Moxzolini, 

 like several other distinguished painters not Florentine*, owing to the 

 Otooe of Yasari regarding tUcm, has only recently received hU due 

 Bred of praW. HU ninie is sometimes confounded with Maszolino, 

 (inn b.r tomaxzo to Parmigiano, as the diminutive of Ma/- 

 ._! Vasari hat notiood him sliglitlj under the name of Malini, 



t M j t^^ t be ha* beu divided into two Malini and Moz- 



tolini, and treated a* two distinct scholars of Lorenzo Cost*, in- 

 stead of on* and the same: an error which' is not corrected by 

 BaruSaldi, the historian of the Femreae painters, who appears to have 

 had very Imperfect knowledge of him. Mazzolitii was nevertheless, 

 in pictures t.f mall dim> nsions and small figures, one of the most 

 soeeeasful of all the early Italian painters. His works ore miniature altar- 

 piece*, and are excellent in colour, light and shade, and expression ; 

 and even In composition they are equal to the beet works of their style, 

 the symmetrical. They are on the whole little inferior to the small 

 works by Garofalo. Maz/olini generally pointed architectural back- 

 grounds, and these are remarkable for the beautiful detail of the 

 ornament* and figures in basso-rilieTO which ore introduced into 

 them. He died at Ferrsra in 1530. 



The works of Maxxolini are not numerous. There are several in 

 the Capitol and in the Doria Gallery at Koine ; four in the Gallery of 

 Berlin, among which is a valuable large picture on wood, of ' Christ 

 dkputing with the Doctors.' There ore two very characteristic 

 work* both Holy Families by this master in the National Gallery, 

 in London ; and two in the Gallery of Bologna. Besides these, there 

 are very few authenticated works by this painter, many being, no 

 doubt ascribed to other masters, especially to Gaudeuzio Ferrari, as is 

 the case with a beautiful Nativity, in the Florentine Gallery. 



MAZZUOLI. FRANCESCO. [PARMIOIASO.] 



MKAO. RICHAKD, M.D., was born near London in 1075, and 

 after studying in tome of the most celebrated of tho continental 

 schools, took the degree of Doctor of .Medicine at Padua in 1695. 

 On his return to England, obtaining coneiderable reputation in hit 

 practice, be was appointed in 1703 physician to St. Thomas's 

 Hospital, and in 1711 anatomical lecturer to Surgeons' Hall. Ue 

 was also elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and 

 was physician to George II. On the death of his chief patron, the 

 oclel rated Dr. Raddine, Mead became the most renowned physician 

 of tl.e day, and was obliged to relinquish all his public offices. He 

 employed the greater part of the wealth which he obtained from 

 hie pnctice, in the patronage of science and literature, and in col- 

 lecting pictures, and a very valuable library, of which he bequeathed 

 th greater part to the College of Physicians. He died in 1754. 



Mead's principal works are, ' A Mechanical account of Poisons,' 

 London, 1702 ; Do imperio solis et lunto in corpora humana, et niorbis 

 iude oriundi*,' 1704; 'A short Discourse concerning Pestilential Con- 

 tagion,' 1720, which was written at the request of the secretary of 

 state, in reference to the contagious nature of tho plague then raging 

 at Marseille, for the prevention of which Mead recommended the most 

 llguiuus uieeturni of quarantine and disinfection ; some papers on 

 Grecian coins struck in honour of physicians, from which he inferred 

 many interesting facts in the history of medicine, and on which he had 

 a long dltfotrinn with Dr. Conyers Middleton ; 'On the Scurvy,' 

 1749; this was published as an appendix to the account of the method 

 of ventilating the holds of ships then lately invented by Sutton ; 'On 

 Small-pox and Measles,' 1748 ; containing a full account of inoculation, 

 of which be bad witnessed the first experiments in this country on 

 *otne condemned prisoner! ; ' Medlcina Sacra, seu de Morbis iniigni- 

 oribut qul in Bibliis memorantur,' 1748 ; ' Monita et Pnccepta Medico,' 

 1751, containing a general summary of his medical experience. All 

 these works, both individually and collectively, pasted through 

 cvtral editions in this country, as well as in Germany, France, and 

 Italy. 



(AuAtxtic Mtmoirt of ike Life of Richard Mead, by Matthew 

 Maty. M.I*.. Svo, London, 1755.) 



MK'< HAIN, I'lKKUK 1 1!A NDRfc, was born on the 16th 



of Aofust 1774 at Laon, a town of France, in the present department 

 of Abac. After quitting the school 'Des Ponte et Chauttoes/ where 

 tiw limited meant of bis parent had enabled him to pursue his studies 

 cedy far a short time, be engaged himself as mathematical tutor, and 

 Uvuted bis leisure to the cultivation of astronomy. Shortly after 

 this an accident brought him under the notice and patronage of 

 Laleade. The neeeeaity of affording some pecuniary assistance to his 

 father obliged Mechain to dispose of an astronomical iustruuu nt which 

 by rigid economy be bad recently been able to purchase. Lalanda 

 became the purchaser, and, after acquainting himself with the post 

 history of Heehain, procured for him a government appointment u 

 bydragrapher, in which be was engaged in the construction of ID .irinn 

 eharte, and, jointly with M. Itratonnicre, in the urv. y of the French 

 coast between Nwu|-ort and bu Malo. His attention however appears 

 lo bar* been chiefly directed to the theory of eclipses, and of comet*, 

 of which he discovered eleven, and computed the orbits of twenty- 



four. To his memoir on the comet of 1532, which it was expected 

 would re-appear in 1789 or 1790, the priz* of the Academy of Sciences 

 was awarded, and the same y-ar (1782) he was n linitted a member of 

 that society. lu 1791, the National Convention having deter: 

 upon employing the length of tho arc of the meridian comprised 

 between Dunkirk and Barcelona at the basis of their new measures, 

 the measurement of the southern portion of this arc, between HoJez 

 and Barcelona, was, at the recommendation of the Academy, confided 

 to Mechain. The northern portion, was allotted to M. Delambrc, to 

 whose account of the entire survey (' SystAme Mutrique,' 3 vols. 4to, 

 ParU, 1806,1607,1810), containing many interesting particular* relative 

 to Mechain, we refer the reader. It wiU be sufficient here to state th* 

 Mecbaia experienced his share of the difficulties and annoyancee 

 which have usually attended such operation*, and that the brooking 

 out of the French revolution, which prevents 1 h!s return from Spain, 

 nnd the consequent anxiety for his family whom he had left behind, 

 brought upon him a melancholy state of mind from which he never 

 wholly recovered. Hit skill aa an observer is particularly mentioned 

 by Delambre, and also the accuracy of all his calculations connected 

 with the survey. Of this Mechaiu himself was unconscious. He hod 

 employed the repeating circle, an instrument which be regarded at 

 absolutely infallible; and finding a difference of three seconds between 

 his observations at Barcelona and Moutjouy, he attributed it wholly 

 to his own incapacity. Upon his return to Paris, which be reached 

 with much personal risk, fearing to divulge this discrepance, he refused 

 to deliver his papers to the Academy. The subject continuing to prey 

 upon his mind, he applied, after several years, to the French board of 

 longitude, and urged them to prolong the measurement of tho arc 

 from Barcelona to the Balearic Islands. To this the board consented ; 

 but being unwilling to dispense with his services at the Paris Obser- 

 vatory, they suggested that Mechaiu should not be tho conductor of 

 the survey. This however would have been to relinquish the chief 

 object of his application. He obtained permission to depart, bu: 

 after his arrival in Spain he was attacked by an epidemic disorder, of 

 which he died on the 20th of September 1805 at Castellou, a towu of 

 Catalonia. 



Before Medium's departure, he entrusted all the manuscripts refer- 

 ring to his previous expedition to M. Delambre. They have since been 

 arranged and deposited in the ParU Observatory, together with no 

 much of his correspondence as related in any way to tUo survey. 



Mechain's published works are few. They consist of papers printed 

 in the ' Conuoissonce des Temps,' subsequently to 1785, in which year 

 he succeeded Jeaurat as editor of that epheuieris, and several memoir* 

 in the ' Transactions ' of the French Institute, commencing with tho 

 year 17S2. These memoirs refer chiefly to the couietary theory and 

 eclipses. 



(Delambre, Notice of the Life of Mechain, in the Siog. Univen. ; 

 Hutton, Mathematical Dictionary, lie.) 



MUCHITAR, or MEKHITAK, the founder of the order of Mechi- 

 tarists, and by that means the reviver of Armenian literature, was 

 born at Seboste, a town of Armenia Minor, in 1676. His original 

 name was Maiiug, which he changed to that of Mechitar, or 'Consoler,' 

 on entering into ecclesiastical orders. At the age of fifteen he became 

 an inmate of the convent of the Holy Cross, nuar Scbaste ; and a few 

 years after, being made the secretory of the Archbishop Michael, who 

 took him to Krzerum, he became acquainted with a fellow-country- 

 man who had travelled in Europe, who lent him an Armenian work by 

 Galanus, an Italian missionary ' On the Reconciliation of the 

 Armenian Church with that of Home,' published at Home in 1650. 

 Though Mechitar still continued professedly a member of the Arme- 

 nian priesthood, he appears from thin time to have become in secret a 

 proselyte to the Church of Homo ; but the exact date of his pawing 

 over seems to have been unknown to all his biographers. He was 

 anxious to make himself acquainted with the civilisation of th> 

 and, though dissuaded by his friend Boouvilliers, a French Jesuit, set 

 out for Italy, but, attacked by severe illness in the island of Cyprus, 

 was compelled to return, begging his way as he went. In 1700, when 

 a preacher at Constantinople, some dissensions between the partisans 

 of two rival patriarchs divided the Armenian community into two 

 hostile parties. Mechitar at first advised reconciliation, and afterwards, 

 to their surprise, preached submission to tho Church of Home, which 

 roused such a storm against himself that he was obliged to claim tho 

 protection of the French ambassador, which was readily afforded. 



From this time ho appeared openly as a Houiau Catholic. To escape 

 from the animosity of his countrymen he htill found it necessary to 

 remove in disguise to Smyrna, and finally he settled at Modon in tho 

 Mores, under the protection of the Venetian government, to whom it 

 then belonged. Already on the bth of September 1701 he hod founded 

 at Constantinople a new religious community, in which ten other 

 persons joined with him ; at Modon on the 8th of September J , 

 took possession of an estate giveu him by the Venetians, to build a 

 convent of tho now order, which was called after his own name. 

 Tho rules of tho Meehitarists are modelled alter those of the Bene- 

 dictini *, but every member must be of the Armenian nation, and bo 

 actively devoted to the cultivation of the Armenian language and 

 literature. The result, it has been said, has been the formation not 

 only of a convent but of an academy, and in fact the best schools for 

 the study of Armenian are in the houses of the order. The conquest 



