213 



METZ, DE. 



MEYER, FELIX. 



214 



Poland, Spain, Holland, Prussia, and in the Germanic states, the 

 Austrian minister used all the influence which he could command for 

 the purpose of crushing the movement in favour of popular govern 

 ment. By these means Prince Metternich was enabled to preserve the 

 position of Austria down to the period of the outbreak of the revolu- 

 tion at Paris in 1848. A strange sympathy unites the continental 

 thrones and people : no sooner bad the monarchy of France fallen than 

 Austria was shaken to its base. The revolutionists rallied in the streets 

 of Vienna, overthrew the government, and compelled Prince Metternich 

 to resign his office. He retired, together with his sovereign and the 

 court, and after seeking an asylum in vain in Moravia and at Leipsig 

 he came to England, where he remained until a reaction took place. 

 In 1851 he returned to Vienna, but has taken little or no share in 

 public affairs since that time. (Les Diplomats Europfens, par 

 M. Capefigue.) 



METZ DE, or as he writes it himself, DEMETZ, FREDERIC 

 AUGUSTE, was born about 1796. He was educated for the law, and 

 became Conseiller Honoraire a la Cour Royale and Membre da Conseil 

 General de Seine-et-1'OUe. As a judge of the Court of Appeal in 

 Paris, his attention had been strongly drawn to the subject of criminal 

 jurisprudence and the best means of effecting the reformation of crimi- 

 nals, particularly of the juvenile class. Demetz joined and became an 

 active member of the Socie'te' de Patronage, instituted at Paris for the 

 purpose of effecting the reformation of young criminals, the growing 

 depravity of which class threatened the most serious consequences. 

 Thi society soon arrived at the conclusion that the establishment of 

 agricultural schools or colonies would be the most effectual means of 

 attaining their object, and Demetz and the late Le'on Faucher were 

 deputed to proceed to Belgium and Holland, there to examine the 

 industrial establishments for paupers. They formed the opinion that 

 it was a mistake to make such establishments on sterile soil ; they 

 did not pay, though the discipline was severe, and the food of the 

 coarsest (and scantiest description. M. Faucher returned to Paris, 

 while M. Demetz proceeded to Hamburg and other places. M. Demetz 

 at Hamburg carefully examined the Rauhe Hans, in which consider- 

 able progress had been made in the reformation of criminals. 



With his acquired experience M. Demetz returned to France, and 

 in 1839 the establishment at Mettray, near Tours, iu the department 

 of Indre-et-Loire was commenced. The Viscount de Courteilles, a 

 most energetic assistant in this good work, had the establishment 

 formed on his property, and in July twenty-three youths of respec- 

 table connexions were settled there to be trained as teachers by the 

 two principals. In six months they were fitted for their duties, and 

 early in 1840 twelve young criminals were admitted, a number which 

 was gradually increased. The first principles of the institution are 

 the inculcation of religion, the formation of the culprits into a family 

 union, compelling them to habits of continued and useful industry, 

 and a strict military discipline. In consequence of the well-directed 

 effort* of the founders, the system baa produced much good. The 

 exertions of M. Demetz are incessant. He begins work at four in the 

 morning, and continues his work all the day. He appeals to all the 

 better feelings of the lads under his care, encouraging the good by 

 rewards r aud praise, and mildly remonstrating with the unruly and 

 idle. The institution still flourishes, but in 1852 a great loss was 

 sustained in the death of M. de Courteilles, who died at the age of 

 fifty-five : he was buried at Mettray, and his funeral was attended by 

 the whole of the persons at Mettray, who mourned for him as for a 

 father. The establishment had attracted the attention of many bene- 

 volent individuals interested in the reformation of youth, some of 

 whom visited it, among them may be named M. D. Hill, the recorder 

 of Birmingham. They endeavoured to introduce similar establishments 

 into England, and the prison at Parkhill in the Isle of Wight, and the 

 Reformatory School and Farm of the Philanthropic Society, London, 

 at Redhill, near Reigate, were the result of their exertions. In 1855 

 M. Demetz came to England, visited those establishments, and was 

 entertained at a public dinner at Birmingham in October. The success 

 of the system at Mettray has had great influence in the legislative 

 establishment of reformatory schools in Great Britain, as well as on 

 the exertions of private individuals who have devoted themselves to 

 the rescue of youthful offenders from tlie dangers to which they were 

 further exposed from association in prisons with older criminals more 

 deeply steeped in vice, and from want of employment and want of 

 skill in applying themselves to labour. The only works M. Demetz 

 has published on the subject are a ' Re'sumc' aur le Systeme Pdniten- 

 tiaire," in 1844 ; and the annual reports of the progress of the estab- 

 n t at Mettray, under the titles of 'Rapport de M. Demetz a 

 la Socie'te' Paternelle,' ' Rapport sur les Colonies Agricoles," &c. 



MKTZ, CONRAD MARTIN, a celebrated German engraver of 

 Bonn, where he was born in 1755. He studied under Bartolozzi, 

 in London, and remained altogether about twenty years in England. 

 He published in 1790 a set of thirty-three engraving.-, including the 

 title, after Of orge the Third's collection of drawings by Parmegiano ; 

 and in 1791 a set of sixty-three plates in a similar style, after the 

 designs by Polidoro da Caravaggio, in the possession of Sir A. Hume, 

 Bart. He engraved many other imitations of drawings by the old 

 masters. In 1801 Metz went to Rome, and commenced a series of 

 engravings after the ' Last Judgment ' in the Sietine Chapel, by Michel 

 Angelo. It is engraved in chalk manner in fifteen separate sheets, 



with an outline of the whole. Metz died at Rome in 1827, aged 

 seventy-two. Dr. Nagler enumerates upwards of two hundred of his 

 engravings in his ' KUnstler-Lexicon.' 



METZ0, GABRIEL, one of the most celebrated of the Dutch 

 painters, was born at Leyden in 1615. It is not known under what 

 master he studied, but he obtained a great reputation at Amsterdam 

 while still young. Like Mieris and Terburg, Metzu belongs to the 

 higher class of genre painters. He painted what are called con- 

 versation pieces; and often a lady at her toilet, or in her boudoir, with 

 all the usual accessories; his scenes are occasionally taken from 

 humble life, but generally from the middle classes of society. He 

 excelled in light and shade, drawing, and colour, and his execution is 

 always extremely careful ; his pictures, though very Email, are always 

 finished with the minutest attention to detail. Metzu perhaps attained 

 perfection in his style, and carried painting as a mere imitative art to 

 its highest degree of excellence : the tone of his pictures is complete 

 nature, every tint is perfectly true, and every object is accordingly in 

 its proper place, for his drawing and linear perspective were equal to 

 his light and shade, and colour. Beyond this he did not go ; bis 

 works exhibit nothing choice or extraordinary either in subject or 

 arrangement ; and the faithful representation of familiar life appears 

 to have been the end of his art, not for the sake of the scenes, but for 

 the imitation's sake. He was essentially a materialist iu art, and this 

 is the distinguishing characteristic of the Dutch painters generally. 

 He painted a few portraits ; there is one of Admiral van Tromp in the 

 Louvre. Some of his works realise very high prices ; many of them 

 have been engraved. Metzu died, according to D'Argenville, in 1658, 

 in consequence of undergoing an operation for the stone; but as 

 there is a picture of a poulterer in the gallery of Dresden, by him, 

 dated 1662, his death could not have occurred before the latter date. 



MEULEN, ANTHONY FRANCIS VAN DER, born at Brussels 

 in 1634, was a disciple of Peter Sneyers, an eminent battle-painter, 

 under whom he improved with extraordinary rapidity. While he was 

 pursuing his profession at Brussels, it happened that some of his 

 works were taken to Paris, and shown to the minister Colbert, who 

 was so pleased with them that he invited him to Paris on very honour- 

 able and advantageous conditions. His talents as a battle-painter 

 recommended him to Louis XIV., whom he always accompanied in 

 his campaigns. He designed on the spot the most remarkable events, 

 and the views of the cities and fortresses which had been the scene 

 of the most memorable victories, and from these sketches he composed 

 the paintings which were to perpetuate the remembrance of the 

 king's successes. Such opportunities enabled him to attain that unusual 

 skill in his line of art, of which bis numerous works give such evi- 

 dence. They are distinguished by truth to nature, excellent colouring, 

 freedom of touch, and the happiest distribution of light and shade. 

 No painter excelled him in designing the motions and attitudes of 

 horses ; and this induced his friend Le Brun, whose niece he married, 

 to give to him the execution of the hones iu his celebrated paintings 

 of the battles of Alexander the Great. Van der Meulen painted also 

 landscapes, and other subjects, with almost equal excellence. Hia 

 principal works are at Paris; but many of his easel pictures are 

 preserved in England, France, and Flanders. In the 16th and 18th 

 vols. of the 'Cabinet du Roi,' there are 152 engravings after his 

 works. He was chosen member of the French Academy of Painting 

 in 1673. He died in 1690, at the age of 56 years. His most 

 celebrated scholar was I. van Hutchenburgb, battle-painter to Prince 

 Eugene. 



MEURSIUS, JOHN (the Latinised form of his real name, which 

 was De Meurs), was born near the Hague, in 1579. He was educated 

 at the University of Leyden ; and after he bad completed his studies, 

 was entrusted with the education of the children of Barneyeldt. 

 [BABNEVBLDT.] In 1610, Meursius was appointed professor of history 

 at Leyden, and in the year following professor of Greek. After the 

 execution of Barneveldt, on the 14th of May 1619, Meursius was 

 exposed to great annoyance and persecution from the enemies of his 

 illustrious patron ; and it was therefore with great pleasure that he 

 accepted an invitation from the king of Denmark, in 1625, to settle in 

 his dominions. Meursius died on the 20th of September 1639. 



Meursius was a diligent and laborious scholar. He edited several 

 Latin and Greek writers, and wrote many works on historical and 

 archaeological subjects, which were collected and published by Lami, 

 Florence, 12 vols. folio, 1741-63. The following are a few of his 

 principal works : 1. 'Glosaarium Grseco-barbarum,' Leyd., 1614. 



2. Various treatises on different branches of Greek and Roman anti- 

 quities, most of which are reprinted in the ' Thesaurus ' of Gramus. 



3. 'Rerum Belgicarum Liber Primus," Leyden, 1612. 4. 'Historia 

 Danica,' Copenhagen, 1630. 



MEYER, FELIX, was born at Winterthur in the canton of Zurich, 

 in the year 1653. He studied first under an artist at Nurnberg, and 

 afterwards under Ermels, a good landscape painter, whose manner lie 

 adopted. He went to Italy for improvement, but the climate not 

 suiting his constitution, he returned to Switzerland. The beautiful 

 and sublime scenery of thatcountry supplied him with ample materials 

 for numerous designs which deservedly gained him a high reputation 

 and also fortune. To a lively and fertile imagination he added great 

 facility of execution, of which he gave a remarkable proof at the 

 abbey of St. Florian, iu Upper Austria, where he happened to stop on 



