MRTHODIUS. 



MKTTERNICH, PRINCE. 



Ill 



METHODIUS A0 CYRILLUS, two brothers, the apostlea of 

 Christainitv amonc the Slavonian* in the 8th ori.tury, and the inventors 

 of the Slavonian l[-htt, were unlive, of Salonica or Theasalonica in 

 Greece. Methodius brl.l high command In the Greek army under 

 the Eaaperor Michael III. Constantino, or (ocording to the monastic 

 MM be afterward* aswnned, Oyrillu*, who had been educated at the 

 eourt of Constantinople, wae in holy orders, and waa keeper of the 

 library of S.nU Sophia. He waa firat eent by the emperor aa a mia- 

 ioaary to convert the Saracen* inhabiting the banks of the Euphrates ; 

 and about the year 863 he and hia brother Methodiua proceeded on a 

 reiifioua mission to the Slavonian*, at the request of the prinoa 

 Rotatlav, Swiatopolk. an.l Hotel, who had made application to the 

 owtrt of CooeUntinopU for in.truetors in the Christian faith. The 

 choice both of the emperor and the clergy fell upon Methodius and 

 Cynllus, the 6nt being selected on account of hia knowledge of the 

 Slavonian, and the other beonuM be waa well skilled in many Oriental 

 language*. Whether both brothers had a share in the formation of 

 the Slavonian alphabet is doubtful, some writer* attributing it to both 

 of them, others to only one, and of there latter some to Metbodiu>, 

 others again to Cyrillus. They translated the Psalter, the Gospels, and 

 many other parts of the Scriptures into SlaTonic. Cyrillus however 

 did not continue there aboTe four yt are and a half, after which he 

 Tisited Bulgaria, and next proceeded to Rome, where he died, according 

 to Scbloarr in f?71 ; according to others, in 873. Methodius, on the 

 contrary, remained, and continued his labours for about thirty y-ura, 

 in the course of which time he is said to have translated all the Scrip- 

 tuna, None of the original manuscripts are extant, but it is supposed 

 that the Slavonic version adopted by the Greek Church is derived 

 immediately front that of Methodiua and Cyrillus. 



METIl 8, ADRIAN, waa born at Alkuiaar, a town of North 

 Holland, 9th of December 1671. Hia father, whore name, according 

 to Lalande, waa likewise Adrian, although Hontucla calls him Peter, 

 waa a military engineer of considerable reputation. His skill contri- 

 buted greatly to the luoceasful defence of Alkmaar, when besieged by 

 the Spaniard* in 1S7S. It was he also, and not bis son, who first 

 e 265 : 113 as the ratio of the circumference of the circle to it* 



From his father young Adrian soon acquired a practical knowledge 

 of the mathematics, which his natural inclination towards such pur- 

 suita enabled him greatly to improve. After studying law and 

 medicine at the University of Franeker, he pasted into Germany and 

 Denmark, where he became a pupil of Tycho Brahc, Upon hia return 

 to Holland he assisted his father in his professional avocations, until 

 the yrar 1698, when he waa appointed professor of mathematics in 

 the University of Franeker. He retained this appointment until hia 

 death, which took place at Franeker, 26th of September 1636. A 

 considerable part of hi* fortune waa expended in the study of alchemy, 

 bat be either ridiculed or disregarded the speculations of astrologers. 

 Tb* following list of hi* works i* given by bis friend P. Win&em, in hi* 

 ' Klogium Adrian! Metii,' printed in the ' Memoir* of the Academy of 

 Franeker f ' Doctrina Sphssrica,' Francq., 1598, 8vo ; ' Institutionum 

 Attrooomicarum Libri ill.' Ibid.. 1606, 1608, 8vo; 'Arithmetics, et 

 Oeometria Practica,' Ibid., 1611, 4to; 'De Gemino Usu utriusque 

 Olobi,' Amtt, 1611, 4to ; ' Praxis nova Geomctrica per usurn circini et 

 recuha proportionalis,' Franco., 1623, 4to; ' Calendarium perpetuum 

 artieolia Dixitorum cotnputandum,' Roterod., 1627, 8vo ; ' Aitrolabium,' 

 Fraocq., 1627, 4 to ; ' Optra omnia Astronomies,' Amst., 1633, 4to. 



I'nirtrttUt ; Montucla, Jfiitotrt dciMatktm.; Button, 



(Bioyrajkic 



METIU8, JAMES, was a younger brother of the preceding, and the 

 repuud invtntor of the refracting teleacope. On this point Montucla 

 quote* th following |<aaasge from the 'Dioptric*' of Descartes, wherein 

 the latter says, " It is now about thirty years since this admirable 

 invention waa first ascribed to James Metius, a man who hod never 

 rodied the mathematics, notwithstanding that both his father and 

 br- ther bad mad* them their profession. This individual, while one 

 day amusing himself with a few bnrning-glaase*, after looking through 

 them singly, began to look through them by pairs, placing one at each 

 extremity of a abort tube. In this way a convex and concave lens 

 happtaiag to be employed together, the first refracting teleacope is said 

 to have bren constructed.* (Hontucla, torn, ii, p. 230.) The reputed 

 date at this discovery la the beginning of the 1 7th century. 



A somewhat .imiUr story i* related of the children of a spectacle- 

 maker of Midilelburg, in Zeelsnd. There Is however much or more 

 reason to suppose that the discovery took place in Kngland, more 

 particularly when it i* mncmUred that the satellite* of Jupiter were 

 observed in Kagland by Harriot in 1C10. (See the ' History of Optics,' 

 by Mr. Bariow, in the ' Encyclopedia Metropolitana.') Wei** adda 

 ( Biog. Universal that Matin* guarded hi* aacret with such extreme 

 caution, that, even wl.eu about to die, the priest who attended him 

 could not induce him to divulge it ; another story In that he confided 

 the secret reluctantly t I'unrx Msnrioe, on an occasion when that 

 prioe. booonred htm with a visit for that especial purpose. We have 

 not been able to And the year in which James Metiim waa born, or 

 that in which bo died. 



METON. The astronomer Meton was living at Athens at the 

 becfataiog of the 87th Olympiad, c. 432. He was, according to tome, 

 I4tf1*m0kn (AW), but the best authorities call him a Leuconisn 



<AuoK.i:.). All we know which is worth recording here in, that the 

 rflstiff-t which he observed with Euctemon are preserved by Ptolemagus, 

 and that be waa the founder of the celebrated lunar cycle which is still 

 preserved by the Weatern churches in their computation of Easter. 



The Mrroxic CTCLB take* it* rite aa follows : 235 revolution* of the 

 moon are very nearly 19 revolution* of the sun, and one complete 

 revolution of the uioou's node. If thcae approximations were exact, 

 all the relative phenomena of the auu and moon, particularly those 

 of eclipses, would recommence in the same order, at the end of every 

 nineteen years. There U however an error of some hour* in every 



rx >!- 



The first year of the firat Motonio period commenced with the 

 summer solstice of the year ac. 432 ; and if the reckoning bad been 

 continuous, what U now called the ' golden number ' of any year would 

 have denoted the year of the Metouic cycle, if the summer uoUtioo had 

 continued to be the commencement of the year. On reckoning how- 

 ever it will be found that A.D. 1, which la made the first year of a 

 period of 19 years, would have been part of the fourteenth and part 

 of the fifteenth of a Metouic cycle. 



METRODO'RUS, a distinguished ancient paiuter and philosopher 

 of Athens, born about two centuries before the Christian era. After 

 the defeat of Perseus by Paulus .Emilioa, in Greece, B.C. 168, the 

 Roman general ordered the Athenian* to send their most able painter 

 to perpetuate hi* triumph, and their most distinguished philosopher 

 to educate his son*. The Athenian* paid Metrodorus the extra- 

 ordinary honour of declaring to 1'aulua ^Cmilius that he waa both 

 their greatest painter and their moat distinguished philosopher ; and 

 the Roman general ia said to have been perfectly satisfied with their 

 choice. 



Aa Metrodorus was chosen to paint the triumph of Paulus .Emilius, 

 and to educate his sons, and gave him satisfaction iu both resjwcts, 

 we must infer that he did paint his triumph, though there is no actual 

 mention of the picture. It must have been an undertaking of great 

 magnitude, and indeed, if adequately represented, a very extraordinary 

 performance ; for in the procession of thin triumph, which is partly 

 described by Plutarch, there were 2.'.0 waggons containing Greek 

 works of art. The spectacle lasted the entire day. 



(1'liuy, Hiit. Nat., xxxv. 40 ; Plutarch, Paulus .timilius, 32.) 



MKTTKRN1CH, CLKMENT WKNCESLAS, PHI NCE, was born 

 at Coblenti on the 15th of May 1773. His ancestors had gaim il dis- 

 tinction in the wars of the empire against the Turks. His father, the 

 Count Metternicb, was the associate of the well-known minister 

 Kaunitz, whose name is so much associated with the transactions of 

 the Low Countries [KADKirz], after whom the ion waa named, and 

 who stood aa his godfather. At the age of fifteen the young Metier- 

 uioh entered the University of Strasbourg, and having stayed there 

 about two years, ho went to complete his studies at Mainz. In 1794 

 he made a tour through Holland nnd England, and in the same year 

 he was attached to the Austrian embassy at the Hague. In 1795 he 

 married Mary Eleanora, daughter of Kaunitz. 



Metternich's first appearance as a diplomatist was as deputy from 

 Westphalia at the congress of lUatadt; he afterwards accompanied 

 the Count de Stadion to Berlin and St. Petersburg. In 1801 he waa 

 appointed minister at Dresden. In 1803-4, aa ambassador to Berlin, 

 ho took a leading part in negociating the treaty between his own 

 country and Prussia and liussia. In 1806 he was sent to Paris, and 

 in the following year signed the treaty of Foutainebleau. War bad 

 scarcely broken out between Austria nud France in 1809, when Metter- 

 nich was recalled home to undertake the post of foreign secretary ; 

 and it was during his tenure of office that the emperor Napoleon I. 

 divorced the unhappy Josephine and married the Austrian arch- 

 duchess Marie Louise, whom Metternich conducted to Paris. At the 

 conference* of Dresden and Prague be warmly espoused the cause of 

 his country, and the commencement of the downfal of Napoleon may 

 be dated from this time. In August 1813 war was formally declared 

 by Austria against France, and in the following mouth the Grand 

 Alliance was signed at Toplitz, when Count Metternich was rewarded 

 by being raised to the dignity of a prince of the empire. In the pro- 

 ceedings consequent upon the invasion of France by the allied armies, 

 and the occupation ot' Paris, Prince Metternich took a loading part, 

 and signed the Treaty of Paris on behalf of Austria. Soon after this 

 he visited England, but returned to his country on the renewal of 

 war, and wo* at once the representative of Austria at the congress 

 of Vienna and president of its councils. From this period, down to 

 the death of the Marquis of Londonderry and the accession of Mr. 

 Canning to office in 18*22, Prince Metternich was not only the arbiter 

 of Austrian interests, but bad vast influence over the courts and 

 cabinets of the Continent In the subsequent drama of European 



C'itics Prince Metternich played no undistinguished part; but he 

 been much censured for permitting the Russian emperor during 

 the war of 1828 with Turkey to establish his power in Moldavia and 

 Wallacbli, aud the other provinces which lie near the mouth of the 

 Danube, to the detriment of Austria. In 1830 the revolution of July 

 broke out in Paris, and alarmed the court of Vienna, whose influence 

 wsa thrown into the opposite scale; but, through the instrumentality 

 of Metternicb, friendly relations were established with Lonis-l'hilippe. 

 Austrian troops were sent to occupy Italy and other places, in which 

 it was feared that republican principles would anaert themselves. In 



