MKSDOZA. IN 100 LOPEZ. 



MKNKLAUS. 



IN 



by 

 and 



work. The poem. In which the principal event* In tha life of the 

 H.bmr Prophet an related in the language of tha Bible, wu con 

 Meodelseobn himself; and tha English version wu 

 adapted to tha miuio with admirable skill by Mr. 

 The fint performance took place on the 26th of August 

 1844, tha performance being conducted by the author. The enthu- 

 asMtn it excittd cannot be described. It wu pronounced by the 

 ml voice to be not only tha masterpiece of the composer, but the 

 , oratorio given to tha world since 'The Messiah:' and this 

 need ten years ago, hu ever since been strengthened 

 ( merely by tha opinions of connoisseurs and critics, 

 bat by tha united voice of tha British nation. 



The production of this immortal work wu the crowning glory of 

 MssMlesssohn'a csrasr He wu again in London, in 1647, to super- 

 Unufl its performance at Exeter Hall by the Sacred Harmonic Society. 

 It wu four times performed there, and afterward*, under his own 

 at Birmingham and Manchester. Soon afterwards he left 

 never to return. His health had for some time been 

 _, Shortly after hit arrival at home, be received a shook 

 IB tha sudden death of his sister, who strongly resembled him in 

 character and telente, and to whom he wu fondly attached. From 

 this blow ha never recovered. He wu persuaded to visit Switzerland, 

 where, living qulstly in tha bosom of his family, he regained his 

 strength and returned home to Leipzig, seemingly convalescent. But 

 ha soon relapsed, and at length sank under his malady, an aflectiou of 

 tha brain, and expired November 4th, 1847, before he hod com- 

 ylslrl bis thirty-ninth year. He left many manuscript compositions, 

 which, it is) understood, ware placed in the bauds of several eminent 



. friends of hi* family, with a view to selection and pub- 

 lication ; but none of them hare been given to the world except a 

 fragment of an Oratorio, entitled 'Christun,' and some scenes of 

 Lortly,' a romantic opera. The suppression of all the others, some 

 of which were known to be works of magnitude and importance, has. 

 excited much surprise and dissatisfaction. 



In a sketch like this, it is impossible to speak in detail of Men- 

 delssohn's works. They are very numerous and embrace ever; branch 

 of bis art ; but it wu in sacred music that his highest powers were 

 displayed; and 'St. Paul' and -Elijah' will descend to posterity 

 long with ' The Messiah ' and ' Israel in Egypt.' 



Mendelssohn was exposed to none of the careg, struggles, and vicis- 

 situdes which genius is too often heir to. Happy in all his domestic 

 relations, in the enjoyments and triumphs of hit art, and above all, 

 happy in a pure mind and blameless life, few men have had a more 

 enviable lot than Felix Mendelssohn. 



MKMMJ/.A. INIOO LOPEZ, better known u the MARQCIS DK 

 SirriLLAXi (Sancta Juliana), wu born in 1 393, at Carrion de loa 

 Condee.and died in 1 458. He wu grandson of the poet Pero Gonzalez 

 Mendoza, and a descendant of that Mendoza who, in the battle of 

 AIjut*rroU, saved the life of Juan I. at the expense of his own. 

 (Komane de Hurtado de Velarte, ' El Caballo vos ban muerto.') He 

 was aUo the father of the fint duke of Infantado, who secured the 

 preservation of his valuable library, and directed it to be kept at his 

 palace of Guadalajara, 



Santillsna wu the most elegant scholar at the court of Juan II., 

 then the most brilliant in Europe. Much of his poetry is still in 

 , and U partly lost or lying in dust. Several of his pieces 

 devotional and amatory, are contained in the older 

 i the compositions of I). Juan Manuel, the Marquis 

 KoriqM do Villena, and many others, they exhibit a singular contrast 

 with the BsrocMSB of that period. They throw a false shade, perhaps 

 a decent veil, over realities too disgraceful and disgusting, from which 

 the) gifted few sought mental relief in subtlety and imaginary affection ; 

 but uch |etry can never touch the heart nor even be forcibly 

 expressed when it is not genuine, that U to say, when it is not deeply 

 felt, lly introducing the sonnet Sautillana (Quintana, Poes. Encog.') 

 tussmi a forerunner of the bold innovator lioscan. But he did more, 

 byendcavouni 



-,; , ,,.,, 



ring to impart a moral tendency to the national poetry, 

 ig it by allegorical invention, and embellishing i 

 Inning. His efforts in that respect are apparent in his Kl 

 Us tutor and friend VilUna,' and l.is 'Doctrinal de Provados,' 

 show that be wu no adherent of Alvaro de Luna. All pertie 



Elegy to 

 which 

 I parties were 



Xto obtain the powerful assistance of Santil Una's military, politi- 

 d moral character. HU ' Kefranes ' (Traditional Proverbs) were 

 raorioted by tha learned Mayans ('Origanes da U Lengua Cutellana,. 



TOt. IB p. l|s?') 



Pars***! W Polgar, Sanniento (' Obru Poetnmu '), Nioo. Antonio, 

 s ('Colee. da Poes.'), give much curious information on this 



MKHDO'ZA, DIE'OO HTJRTATX). a scholar, statesman, and 



lateral under Charles V.. wu grandson of Lopes Meadoza (noticed 



above), and younger son of the fint marqui* of Mondejar, who was 



ato seaood count of TendiUa. 1-iego Mendoza wu born in 1603, at 



Granada, and not at Toledo, u wu supposed by Tamayo Vargas. He 



rweivad bis nrly education at home from Peter Martyr d'Angleria, 



wi.o bad beta bnngbt to Spain by the first count of TendiUa to teach 



4) youth of the nobility. After learning Arabic at Granada, he 



idled Lathi, Greek, Hebrew, divinity, and civil and canon law at 



FfjlMMS*a, where by way of relaxation be produced the first specimen 



of the comic romance in his ' Lazarillo de Tormes,' a work which hat 

 bean improperly ascribed by Siguenza to the Jeronymite Juan Ortega. 

 It is written in that yiuto picoreico, which was much in fashion in the 

 17th century. 



Being sent from the university to the imperial army in Italy 

 to show his talents in a now capacity, he still found time occa- 

 sionally to visit the universities of that country, and to hear tha 

 eminent lecturers, such as Niphus of Naples and Montesdoca of 

 Seville. In his capacity of ambassador at Venice and at Trent, where 

 political Interests were at stake at Rome, the centra of intrigue 

 and u general in Tuscany, which wu threatened by the Turk* and 

 their ally Francis I., ha always defeated tha treachery of the French 

 king, and baffled the designs of all parties. He faced every danger, 

 and commanded the respect and admiration even of those whom ha 

 could not please. (Paul Mann., 'Cic. de Pbiloso.,' Lauro Bonamioo.) 

 Nor could he conceal that spirit of freedom which Charles had 

 destroyed in Spain. He strongly reprobated his sale of the Tuscan 

 fortresses to Cosmo de' Medici, and by his opposition prevented I. in 

 transfer of Milan and Siena to Paul III., who wanted to buy them fur 

 Octavio Farnesio. In a letter to Zuniga, alluding to ambassadors, he 

 boldly says, " When kings wish to cheat, they begin by us." 'J he 

 republicans or burgesses indeed looked on Mendoza as the greatest 

 enemy of Italy. That country however wu indebted to him fur 

 having introduced into it the writings of Basil the Great, Gregory of 

 Nazianzus, Cyril of Alexandria, Archimedes, Appian, and others. 

 Not satisfied with employing Arnoldus Ardenius in transcribing the 

 Greek manuscripts of different libraries, especially those which 

 Cardinal Bcssarion had bequeathed to Venice, Mendoza sent Nico. 

 Sophianua of Corcyra to Thessaly and Mount Athos in search of 

 manuscripts. He also paid a heavy ransom for a Turkish prisoner 

 who wu a favourite of Solyman tbo Magnificent. As a return for 

 this service he only asked for ancient works from the sultan, to whom 

 they were useless, and begged him to permit the Venetians, then iu 

 great want of corn, to import it from Turkey. I1U request was 

 granted, with a present of several chests of literary treasures. In 

 1555 Mendoza was superseded at Home, iu order to propitiate 

 Julius III. 



Subsequently Mendoza fell under the displeasure of Philip II., who 

 banished from his court this old servant, then sixty-four years of 

 age. This act of royal severity proved however beneficial both to 

 the illustrious veteran and to posterity. In his retirement at Grauada, 

 Mendoza prosecuted those studies which were congenial to his taste : 

 he investigated antiquities, collected above 400 Arabic manuscripts, 

 and crowned his literary fame by his ' Guerra contra los Moriscos,' the 

 publication of which, even with omissions, the government did not 

 permit till the year 1610. The true text wu restored in 1776, at 

 Valencia, by Portalegre, who prefixed to it the author's life, which, 

 although ill written, is highly interesting. In this work, the iiuu.it 

 specimen of the historical style in the Spanish language, Mendoza bos 

 left the beat example of an imitation of the Latin historians that 

 modern European literature possesses. The rich and florid diction of 

 this history forms a contrast with the conciseness and rigidity of 

 Sallust, with whom however Meudoza hu generally been compared. 

 The modern historian is a model of impartiality : he does not even 

 spare his own brother. Having been an eye-witness of most of the 

 events which he has so admirably recorded, he has happily combined 

 in the same work the strictest accuracy with integrity and the 

 ability of a great writer. 



In 1S75 Mendoza obtained permission to return to Madrid on 

 business, but he died shortly after his arrival there. He bequeathed 

 his valuable library to the king. Ambrosio Morales, Nico. Antonio, 

 Uouterwek, and many other?, are profuse in their eulogiums of Men- 

 doza. Juan Diaz published his poems in 1610 at Madrid, but without 

 the numerous comic and satiric pieces. Other more important works 

 of his have never yet been published : among them are his political 

 commentaries. 



MENELA'US (called also MILLEUO by Apian and Mersenne, but 

 on what authority in not known; in a copy of \\Vidler which belonged 

 toMontucla we find the latter, in a manuscript note, describing Mil- 

 ieus u " Menelaus ddfigurd par lee Arabes ") was an A lexandrian, who 

 observed the stars for a long while at Home, and was living th 

 the time of Trajan. He is mentioned by Proclus and Pappus, and 

 probably is the person intended by Plutarch, who mentions a mathe- 

 matician of that name. Pappus gives the titles, or other mention, of 

 at least two works of Menelaus which have not come down to us. 

 Ptolemrcus, in the Syntaxis, compares some of bis own observations with 

 those of Menelaus. 



The only writing of Monelaus which has come down to us is the 

 Latin treatise on spherical geometry, translated from the Arabic ; the 

 Greek is probably lost. This work, in three books, was published 

 (Lalande) in a collection of Greek geometers made at Paris, in 1 <i; ; 

 and afterwards (Lalando, Heilbronner) by Mersenne, in his ' Universal 

 Ueornetriio Synopsis,' Paris, 1644 ; also (Ueilbronuer and Weidler) by 

 Hegiomontanus. Another work on chords is said by Heilbronner to 

 be contained in Merscnne's Synopsis : this in a mistake, since the work 

 is entirely lost. 



The books of Menelaus on spherical geometry have been much 

 used by rtolemccus in the Syntaxis, and the latter bad for a long time 



