178 



MECKENEN, ISRAEL VAN. 



MEDE, JOSEPH. 



174 



of the Morea by the Turks drove Mechitar to Venice, where he exerted 

 his remarkable persuasive powers, and on the 8th of September 1717 

 the senate presented him with the little island of San Lazzaro, near 

 the Lido, on which the convent was built from his designs which still 

 attracts the attention of every visitor ta Venice. From that time till 

 hia death on the 27th of April 1749 he was left in quiet to develope 

 his plans, which have had up to our own times a widely beneficial 

 influence on the literary state of the Armenian nation. In early life 

 Mechitar was noted for never parting with any book that came to his 

 hands till he had perused it. When attacked by a disorder of the 

 eyes that prevented him from reading, he caused some poetry to be 

 read aloud to him, and committed it to memory. He was himself a 

 somewhat voluminous author ; he composed several hymns which are 

 still sung in the Armenian churches, some poems, a few of which 

 relate to hia own adventures, a translation of Thomas ;i Kerupis's 

 ' Imitation of Christ,' and of St. Thomas Aquinas's ' Theology,' and 

 above all, a Grammar aud Dictionary of the Armenian language. The 

 first volume of the dictionary appeared in 1749 the year of his death, 

 the second in 1769, aud the two contain more than three thousand 

 quarto pages. The grammar, which is entirely in Armenian, was 

 published in 1770. By these latter works he greatly contributed to 

 improve the study of the literal Armenian, the ancient language of 

 the country, which differs as much from the modern, or as it is called 

 the vulgar Armenian usually spoken, as the ancient from the ordinary 

 modern Greek. 



Mechitar is acknowledged even by his opponents of the Armenian 

 Church to have revived the literature of his country from a state of 

 lethargy. He not only contributed to this by his writings, but in a 

 still more important degree by the establishment of a printing-press in 

 his convent, for which he imported three different founts of Armenian 

 types from Amsterdam, previously the most distinguished seat of 

 Armenian typography in Europe. From the presses of San Lazzaro 

 have issued a whole Armenian library, extending to some hundreds 

 of volumes the theological portion of which has a Koman Catholic 

 circulation only, but the other portions have found a welcome from 

 all cliisses in Armenia. A periodical, in imitation of the 'Penny 

 Magazine ' of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, is 

 one of their publications which has had a marked success, and 

 numerous translations from the European languages appear in the 

 long catalogue of their stock. Among those from the English are to 

 be found the ' Paradise Lost,' Young's ' Night Thoughts,' ' Kobinson 

 Crusoe,' and the ubiquitous ' Uncle Tom's Cabin.' Recently another 

 (society of Meohitarists, also distinguished for literary activity, has been 

 founded at Vienna, and a third at Parin the brethren of the convent 

 at Venice having, it is said, felt themselves cramped in tlieir move- 

 ment-i by a discordance of opinion with the congregation of the 

 Propaganda. A branch is also in course of formation at Constan- 

 tinople. The Armenian missionaries, who compose books in the 

 so-called vulgar Armenian, appear however to have made an impres- 

 sion on the Armenian population, eveu more favourable than that 

 produced by the Mechitaribts. The fullest account of Mechitar and 

 his institution, in English, is to be found in ' A brief Account of the 

 Mechitaristican Society, founded on the island of St. Lazzaro, by 

 Alexander Goode, Venice, printed at the press of the same Armenian 

 Academy, 1835.' It is dedicated to Pascal Aucher, tho instructor of 

 Lord Byron in Armenian. 



MKCKENEX, MEKESEN, or MECHELN, ISRAEL VAN, a 

 c -1,-brated old goldsmith, engraver, and painter of the 15th century, 

 born probably at Meekenen near Bocholt, in the bishopric of Munoter, 

 though this is a matter of speculation. His name is written in a 

 great variety of way, but the above form has met with most sup- 

 porters, la it is found written in full on his tombstone and upon two 

 of his prints: some however have supposed that the engraver and 

 painter were two distinct artists, or that Israel van Meckenen is not 

 Mei<ter Israel tho painter mentioned by several old writer*. There 

 are eighteen beautiful old oil-paintings in the 1'inakothek at Munich, 

 and some in other collections, which are attributed to Meister Israel ; 

 they are of the Van Ejck school, but most of them have been found 

 in the neighbourhood of Cologne and Cobleuz, which is one of the 

 reasons for concluding that Meckenen in Westphalia was the artist's 

 birthplace, notwithstanding iieckenhcim near Bonn is in the district 

 in which these works have been collected. There is good evidence in 

 favonr,of Meckenen, as Israel was bui led at Bocholt, and he appears 

 to have resided there. In 'Ottley's 'Early History of Engraving.' 

 there is a print from a drawing in the British Museum, which was 

 made from Israel's tombstone (since lost), which contains an inscription 

 in the old Gothic character to the following purport : " In the \ear 

 of our Lord 1603, died Master Israel van ileckueu; his soul rest in 

 peace." 



Israel van Meckenen was evidently an engraver, from the signatures 



on hia numerous prints, and we know him to have been a goldsmith, 



from accounts in the old Bocholt records in which his name occur.', 



from 1482 to 1498 inclusive; but he is on no occasion mentioned as 



a painter. Y> t a printer of the name of Israel is mentioned by 



nevcral writers, find among them by Jacob Wympfeling, in his 



'Kcrum 'jcrmanicarum Epitome,' c. 67, "de pictura et plastice;" 



>om this circumstance it is argued that the goldsmith and 



. er Inracl Van Meckenen cannot have been the painter Israel 



Alemannus mentioned by this writer, as engraving was not known 

 until the latter part of the 15th century, and subsequent to the time 

 that Wympfeliug appears to indicate. Wyrapfeling however does not 

 say 'pictura' or 'tabulae depictse,' but 'icones' Israelis Alemanni, 

 which may mean prints as well as pictures, and he certainly speaks 

 of Israel as of his own time and contemporary with Albert Diirer, 

 while he notices Martin Schoen, or Schongauer, an excellent engraver, 

 as already dead, of whom he says, " qui fuit tarn eximius." He there- 

 fore clearly writes at a time when engravings were not only known, 

 but very generally spread over Europe : his book appeared first iu 

 1505, at Strasbourg, only two years after the death of Israel van 

 Meckeuen : it is evident therefore that as far as Wympf fling is 

 concerned, there are no grounds for disputing the identity of Israel 

 Van Meckenen the engraver, and Israel Alemannus the painter. 



Lomazzo, in his ' Trattato della Pittura,' which was published in 

 15S4, also notices a German engraver of the name of Israel. He calls 

 him Israel Metro (Meken ?), and says he was the master of Martin 

 Sehon ; but if we substitute pupil for master we shall probably have 

 tho truth, for Israel studied the engravings of Martin, and there are 

 still extant forty copies by him of Martin's prints. It is remarkable 

 that out of three hundred prints and upwards, attributed with and 

 without certainty to Israel, one only has the date fixed to it, and that 

 is the Virgin Mary crowned by two angels and standing upon tho halt- 

 moon, with the infant Christ on her left arm, aud iu her right hand a 

 crucifix ; the whole surrounded by a glory of angels. On the margin 

 of this print is ' Dills maculavit Adam propter me et matrem meam,' 

 &c., with the following signature and date ' Israhel V. M. A. 1502,' 

 the 5 being reversed. It is No. 44 in Heineken's li.it. His prints are 

 generally signed Israhel V. M. ; I. V. M. ; I. M. ; and sometimes Isi'ahel 

 alone. He has engraved his own portrait twice : in one his name is 

 signed in full ' Israhel Van Meckeneu, goldsmit ; ' the other, in which 

 his wife is also engraved, is marked ' Figuracio Facierum Israhelis et 

 Ide ejus uxoris I. V. M.' The pictures attributed to Israhel van 

 Meekenen, perhaps upon insufficient authority, are all upon gold 

 grounds and upon pauel. They are some of them on a large scale, 

 many of the figures being about half the size of life, aud in execution 

 are equal to any works of their style extant; their expression is 

 often excellent, and the colouring very clear, forcible, aud effective. 

 The Ascension and Coronation of the Virgin, Joachim and Anne at 

 the golden gate, and several pictures of Apostles, in the Pinakothek 

 at Munich, are very beautiful works, and if by Van Meckenen, he 

 is evidently entitled to rank with the Van Eycks, Wilheltn von Koln, 

 Hans Burgkmair, Hans Memling, Lucas van Leyden, and other 

 distinguished masters of that time and school. Some of these 

 pictures were drawn in lithography, in 1822, by N. Strixner. The 

 supposed signature of Van Meckeuen, with date on a picture in the 

 gallery of Vienna, mentioned in the catalogue of Von Mechel, is 

 according to Bartsch an error. 



MEDE, JOSEPH, was born at Berdeu in Essex, in the year 1586. 

 When only ten years old he lost his father, but his education was well 

 provided for by his relations. While a boy at school he met acci- 

 dentally with a copy of Bellarmiue's Hebrew grammar, and soon 

 gained a considerable acquaintance with that language. In 1602 he 

 entered Christ's College, Cambridge, and took his degree of master 

 of arts in 1610. At this time his learning is spoken of as extra- 

 ordinary. During the earlier part of his residence at college he is 

 said to have been troubled with sceptical opinions, which however he 

 soon shook off. His first work was a treatise, ' De Sanctitate Relativa,' 

 addressed to Dr. Andrews, bishop of Ely, which procured for him the 

 patronage of that prelate, who requested him to become his domestic 

 chaplain. This offer Mr. Mede declined, and was soon after made a 

 fellow of his ^college and reader of the Greek lecture of Sir Walter 

 Mildmay's foundation. He appears to have been remarkably skilful 

 and successful as a tutor. In 1618 he took hia degree of B.D. He 

 refused the provostship of Trinity College, Dublin, which was twice 

 offered him, in 1627 and 1630, through the influence of archbishop 

 Usher. The extent of his ambition seeuis to have been to pursue his 

 studies without interruption in the retirement of his college. There 

 he spent the remainder of his life, and died in 1638, in his tifty-second 

 year. 



Mr. Mede was distinguished for his meekness, modesty, and pru- 

 dence, and his liberality was such that he devoted the tenth of his 

 scanty income to charitable, uses. His learning was diversified and 

 profound. In his younger years he studied astrology, but afterwards 

 abandoned the pursuit. He was well acquainted with mathematics, 

 medicine, and the various branches of philosophy, and was deeply 

 versed in history and antiquities, and in the literature and sciences of 

 the East, into the abetrusest parts of which he searched for illustra- 

 tions of the prophecies of Scripture. 



His chief work is the ' Clavis Apocalyptica,' containing a system 

 for explaining the Apocalypse, which has been followed more or less 

 by nearly all subsequent writers on the prophecies, and is recom- 

 mended by Bishop Hurd iu his tenth sermon on the study of the 

 prophecies, as being the first rational attempt to explain the Apoca- 

 lypse. This work was translated by Mr. T. Bransby Cooper, 8vo, 

 Land., 1833. Mode's whole works were collected after his death by 

 Dr. Worthington, in one vol. fol., Lond., 1672, with R life of the 

 author prefixed. 



