XEERXAN, GERARD. 



MKIIEMET ALL 



1M 



and of his ebanerllor Moron*, who employed him to murder A.torre 

 Ykwoati. a descendant of the former dynaity of the dukes of Milan, 

 who fare umbrae* to the actual occupant of the ducal throne. 

 Medici, bavin* committed the deed, WM sent to Msist in recovering 

 MM CMtle of Miuso, situated in the mountain* above the lake of Como, 

 which WM still held by the French. He succeeded in taking poese*- 

 ion of H. and he kept it for himself for yean after, defying from his 

 tronghold the duke'* authority, and making predatory incursions 

 tmouf hi* neighbour*. When Francis I. again invaded Lombard}-, in 

 ISSMIedid made an Incursion into the Valtollina which belonged to 

 the Orisons, and took poMMsion of Chiavenna. The Orisons, alarmed 

 for then- own country, recalled their troops which were serving M 

 auxiliaries in the French camp, and this defection is said to have con- 

 tributed to th* defeat of King Francis at Pavis, In consequence of 

 toil servic*. Medid WM acknowledged by the duke M feudatory of 

 Moam and other places, with the title of Chatelain. 



In the subsequent quarrel between Duke Sforza and hi* overbearing 

 alb** the Spaniard*, Medici put himself at the head of the disaffected 

 Milan*** emigrant*, and annoyed the Spaniards ; but after a time the 

 Spanish governor of Milan succeeded in conciliating Medici, on whom 

 be conferred the title of Marquis of Musso. The object of Medici WM 

 to carve out a principality for himself at the expense of his neighbours. 

 He again invaded the Taltellina, and took Morbegno. At last, in the 

 year 15S4, Duke Sforza, partly by force and partly by offering him a 

 sum of money with an amnesty for the past, made him give up Muato 

 aad hi* other stronghold*. Medic! then retired to Piedmont, and 

 wlsiiil the lerrice of the Duke of Savoy. Here bis career as an 

 adventurer terminated. Medici afterwards served in the campaign of 

 15S against the French in Piedmont Having returned to Milan after 

 the death of Duke Sforza, he WM made Marquis of Marignano by 

 Cbarle* Y. He then went to Spain, whence he accompanied Charles 

 to his expedition igaintt the revolted Flemings. Thence he went to 

 Hungary to fight for the emperor against the Turks, and afterwards 

 be served to Germany under Charles himself against the Duke of 

 Baxooy. Returning to Italy, Medici was appointed to the command 

 of the expedition against Siena, which city he took after a long siege 

 in the year 1565. On hi* return ho was received by Duke Cosmo I. 

 of Tuscany at Florence with great honour, and on this occasion his 

 rehttionibip to the Medici of Tuscany was acknowledged by Cosmo, 

 notwithstanding *bk-h it is 'till greatly doubted, or rather disbelieved. 

 On hi* return to Milan, Medid fell ill and died in November 1555. 

 The Duke of Alba, .Spanish governor of Milan, attended him in his 

 last momenta. Hi* body WM buried at Marignano with great pomp, 

 but afterward* hi* brother, Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Medici, having 

 become pop* to 1559 by the name of Pius IV., built him a splendid 

 monument in the cathedral of Milan, whither his remains were trans- 

 ferred. Gian Oiaoomo Medici was one of the most able and successful 

 commanders of the age of Charles V., but wag likewise one of the most 

 unprincipled, rapacious, and cruel. 



(Mueagba, Vila di Jo. Jacopo Medici, Marchete di Marignano; 

 Yerri. Aorta di Milano.) 



MEERMAN, OERARD, was bom at Leyden in 1722, and in 1743 

 became pensionary of Rotterdam. He spent the greater port of his 

 We to Irarned research, chiefly relating to law. He died at Aix-la- 

 Chapell*, December 15, 1771. His two great works were bis ' Novus 

 Tbe-aoru* Jnri* Civili*, 1 to.. 7 Tola. foL, 1751-58 (to which hi* son 

 ad.led an eighth volume to 1780), and his ' Origines Typographic^,' 

 S Toll. 4to, HagB, 1765. An analysis of thia lost work WM published 

 to "The Origin of Printing, to two Essay*,' 8vo, London, 1774, by 

 Maim Bowyer and Nichols, the main object of which WM to establish 

 the claim of th* town of Haarlem to the invention of printing a claim 

 DOW quit* abandoned. 



MEERMAN, JOHN, ton of th* preceding, was born in 1753. His 



rtl**l literary effort WM made at the age of ten yean, to a translation 



into Dutch of the 'Marine Force" ' of Moliere. He commenced his 



regular .todies at Leyden, and afterwards prosecuted them at Leipzig 



under Knweti, and at Gottingen under Heyne, At different times in 



hi* life he viaiud nearly tnn country of Europe. Hia supplement 



(in an eighth volume) to hi* fathers Thesaurus J uri* Civili* ' has been 



already m*otioo*d. Tb mon important of his other work* were 



'npioimn Juris Publid de Solutione Vtocull quod olim fuit inter 



sacrum Romannm Imperium et Fojdcrati Belgil re* publicM,' 4to, 



Uydn, 1774 ; A Hi.tory of William, Count of Holland, King of the 



BoBMisVto Dutch, 5 Tola, Cvo. 1788-97 ; Remarks during a Tour in 



Orat Britain and Ireland,' 8vo, Hague, 1787 ; 'An Historical Account 



of th* Proteian, Austrian, and Sicilian Monarchies,' 4 vols. 8vo Hague, 



i 7 *** 4 I ' Htotorical Account of th* North and North-East of Europe,' 



I Tot*. Bro, Ham*, 1804-6; 'A Narrative of the Siege and Conquest 



f VS!?* ty John. Duke of Bavaria, in 1420,' 8vo, Leyden, 1806 ; all 



He abo published Hugonh Qrotii Parallelon rerum 



MB, liber tertiui de moribus ingenioque populorum, Athenlen- 



rom, Remaoorum, Batavornm,' with a translation Into Dutch, 3 vola, 



f f j * <0roU1 Epfctoto tnedlta..' 8vo, 1806. In 1818 he 



wd, to Dutch aad French, a poem entitled 'Montmartre; 1 and 



!* ? 1 'P' ooor "> ** Sfr* TraTels of Peter the Great, 



MMmMIy to Holland,' hvo. Hi* hut publication WM a translation 



to Dutch of Kloprtork * Meeeiah.' 



Uod*r Louis BoMport*, a* king of Holland, he WM made Director 



of the Kins Art* and Minuter of Public Instruction, and WM entitled 

 to the gratitude of his country for the zeal and success with which be 

 prosecuted his function*. Afterwards, when Holland became united 

 to France, he was made a count of the empire and senator by Napoleon. 

 He died August 15, 1815. The Meermau Library was sold by auction, 

 in 1824, and produced no leas a sum than 131,000 florins. 



MKUA'STIIKXKS lived in the time of Seleucus Nicator, king of 

 Syria, who sent him on an embassy to Palibothra, the capital of 

 Sandracottus, king of the Prasii. The territories of Sandracottu* 

 were on the Ganges and the Jumna. Megasthene* stayed in India 

 several years, and on his return recorded his observations in a work 

 entitled ' Indies.' Of this work, which is unfortunately lost, there are 

 extracts in Strabo, Arrian, and ..Elian. Though Strabo has on several 

 occasions expressed an unfavourable opinion of the trustworthiness 

 of the author, it is quite certain that the work contained much valuable 

 information which was then entirely new to the Greeks. Megastheues 

 gave the first account of Taprobane, or Ceylon. 



MEHEMET ALI, Pasha of Egypt, was born in the town of Cavalla, 

 in Hoiiiu ill, about the year 1769. lie began life as the keeper of a 

 small shop in his native town ; but having volunteered into the army, 

 he gained the good opinion of the governor of Candia by bis zeal in 

 suppressing a rebellion of the pirates of that island. In 1799 he 

 headed a contingent of 300 Candian soldiers in an expedition to 

 Egypt, where he co-operated with the British forces for the expulsion 

 of the French. Here he hud the foundation of his military renown 

 and of his political ascendancy. On the evacuation of Egypt by the 

 troop* of the Emperor Napoleon I., the Sultan nominated, as viceroy 

 of Egypt, Mohammed Khosrew ; but the Mamelukes, having risen to 

 assert their ancient rank and influence, of which they had been 

 deprived during the occupation of their country by the French, chose 

 Mehemct Ali as their viceroy. In 1806 he was made Pasha of Cairo, 

 to which in the following year was added the Pashalic of Alexandria, 

 as a reward for his services rendered to the Ottoman Empire. No 

 sooner however had he gained this pitch of power than he turned 

 against his old confederates the Mamelukes 470 of whom he murdered 

 in tlie citadel of Cairo, while the rest, to the number of 1200, were 

 massacred through the country : an end was thus put to a turbulent 

 and formidable race which had kept Egypt in a state of anarchy and 

 warfare for upwards of 400 years. After the destruction of the Mame- 

 lukes, Mehemet Ali made himself master of Upper Egypt. He 

 obtained from the Sultan the government of that part of the country, 

 the revenue of which he considerably increased by raising the laud- 

 tax and the custom duties on its internal trade. In 1811 lie was sent 

 against the Wahabis, a fanatical sect of the Moslems, who had pillaged 

 the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, and whom he subdued after six 

 years of constant warfare, and at a vast sacrifice of men and money. 

 When the Greek insurrection against the Porte broke out, he offered 

 to take port in the reduction of that country : his fleet accordingly 

 sailed for the Morea in the summer of 1824, under Ibrahim Pasha, 

 who however was obliged to retire after the buttle of Navarino in 

 1827. In 1830 the administration of the island of Candia was confided 

 to Mehemet Ali ; but he bad greater schemes in his view. He aimed 

 at obtaining posseesion of Syria ; and pleading as an excuse his desire 

 to recover possession of some Egyptians who had settled in that 

 country, he invaded Syria, with a large army under Ibrahim Pasha, 

 and soon reduced it to submission. Syria M well as Egypt was an 

 integral part of the Ottoman Empire ; but the Viceroy of Egypt could 

 not remain content with his own vice-regal territory ; and peace was 

 only made between the viceroy and the sultan [MAUMUD II.] by the 

 interference of the European powers in 1 833. Syria wa* ceded to Mehe- 

 met Ali on his acknowledging himself a vassal of the Porte, He 

 remained in quiet possession of Syria a* well a* Egypt until 1839, when 

 his nominal master, the Sultan, jealous and weary of the sway of so 

 formidable a rival, sent an army and fleet to expel him from Syria ; and 

 when he found that this was impossible, he sought and obtained the 

 co-operation of England and the other European power*. In the 

 summer of 1840 the combined fleet* appeared before the coast of 

 Syria ; in the autumn of the same year the Egyptian army was defeated 

 near Beyrut, and both that city and Acre were captured, and Alex- 

 andria itself blockaded. Mehemet Ali WM obliged to come to term*, 

 and abandoned hi* claim to Syria, on condition of the Pashulic of 

 Egypt being made hereditary in hi* family. He continued to 

 administer the affairs of the country until September 1848, when he 

 resigned the reins of government into the bands of his son Ibrahim 

 Pasha, on whose death they passed to Abba* Pasha his grandson. 

 Mehemet Ali himself lived only a few months after these changes, M 

 he died August 2, 1849, at the age of about eighty years. By hi* 

 wive* and concubines he had sixteen children; two of his sons he 

 sent to Paris for the sake of education. He WM buried at Cairo with 

 great pomp and splendour. 



Mehemet Ali was tolerant in matters of religion to an extent rarely 

 known among Mohammedans. His constitution was strong, his stature 

 short ; hi* feature*, though dark and stern, were animated and expres- 

 sive. He WM very ambitious, yet particularly sensitive to the opinions 

 formed by others as to his public policy. His government has been extra- 

 vagantly praised by some writers ; but it certainly was more rational, 

 orderly, and enlightened than that of most of the dominions of the 

 Porte. He administered justice without partiality, established police 



