MEHEMET AL1 



MELA 



123 



plate or pipe-collar, so as to prevent, as much as 

 possible, pressure on the veins carrying the blood 

 from the head ; they should be moderately and 

 carefully fed, and during hot weather have an 

 occasional laxative. 



Mehemet All, better MOHAMMED 'ALI, 

 Viceroy of Egypt ( 1805-49), was born in Albania 

 in 1769, and was sent to Egypt with a Turkish force 

 in 1799. See EGYPT, Vol. IV. p. 242. 



Mrlilll. ETIENNE NICOLAS, operatic composer, 

 was born at Givet, 22d June 1763, studied in Paris, 

 and in 1795 became professor at the Conservatoire. 

 He died 18th October 1817. Among his best-known 

 works are the operas Une Foiie ( 1801 ), Les Aveugles 

 de Tuleile (1806), and Joseph (1807); and the 

 patriotic songs Cluint tin Depart, Chant de Victoire, 

 Cliuitson de Roland. See Life by Pougin ( 1889). 



MHIhac. French playwright, born in 1832 in 

 Paris, was trained as an artist and published his 

 first dramatic work in 1855. He has subsequently 

 produced a long series of light comedies some in 

 conjunction with Halevy. Some are well known 

 through Offenliach's music. His chef-d'oeuvre is 

 t'rnn /'/ (1869). 



Meinam. See SIAM. 



Meinhold, JOHANN WILHELM (1797-1851), a 

 native of the island of Usedom, and Lutheran pastor 

 at Usedom, Krummin, an<l Rehwinkel, published 

 l>'">ni- and dramas, but is best known as author of 

 The Amber Witch (trans, by Lady Duff Gordon, 

 1844) and Sidonui the Sorceress (trans. 1893). 



llriiiin^ril. the capital of the German duchy 

 of ,Sxe Mi-iniiigeii, lies in a narrow valley on the 

 banks of the \Verra, 43 miles by rail N\V. DC Cobra, 

 The ducal castle (1682), the most prominent build- 

 ing in the town, contains libraries, a picture-gallery, 

 collection of coins, &c. There is a fine 'English 

 garden' here. The town has been in great part 

 rebuilt since 1874, when a lire destroyed the old 

 streets. It was an appendage of the see of Wiir/.- 

 burg from 1008 to 1542, and in 1583 came into the 

 hands of the Saxon ducal family. Pop. (1875) 

 9521 ; (1890) 12,029. 



The Meiningen Court Company of Actors gained 

 the highest reputation in Germany about 1874, 

 appeared at Drury Lane, London, in 1881, but 

 was dissolved in 1890. 



.HHss-||, a town in the kingdom of Saxony, is 

 situated in a lieautiful district on the left bank of 

 the Ell*, 14 miles by rail X\V. of Dresden. Its chief 

 building H the cathedral (c. 1266-1479), one of the 

 finest Gothic churches in Germany, surmounted by 

 an exquisite spire (263 feet; of open work, and con- 

 taining many fine brasses. The castle was built in 

 1471-83, and in 1710 was converted into the porce- 

 lain factory over which Bottger presided (see 

 POTTERY). In 1863 the castle was restored, its 

 walls being adorned with frescoes by modern 

 painters, the porcelain factory having lieen re- 

 moved in I860 to other premises; 800 men are em- 

 ployed. Other manufactures are iron, machinery, 

 jute, and cigars. Hen; is the celebrated school of 

 St Afra, where Gellert and Lessing were educated. 

 It was founded by Duke Maurice in 1. "43, and until 

 1879 occupied the former Afra monastery (built in 

 1 tf>.">). Meissen was founded in !*M by Henry I. 

 of Germany, as a stronghold against the Slavonian*, 

 and was long the capital of the margraviate ami 

 Inirgraviate of Mei-.-cn. which was giilmeqiipiitly 

 merged in the durhy of Saxony. The town was 

 burned down by the Swedes under Baner in l<):!7. 

 fOf. (IH75) 13,002; (1885) 15,474; (1890) 17,875. 



NHssonicr, JKAX Louis ERNEST, figure- 

 painter, was born at Lyons, 21st February 181.'!. 

 WJMB lie, was still a child his father established 

 himself as a druggist in Paris ; ami the son, 



having resolved upon art as a profession, studied 

 under Jules Potier and Leon Cogniet. His draw- 

 ings were praised by Johannot, and about 1833-34 

 he was employed by dinner the publisher on 

 designs for the Koyaument Bible and other 

 works. He first made a distinct mark in 1838, 

 by his illustrations to Paul anil Virginia and 

 the Chaumiere Indienne ; many other volumes 

 were enriched by his pencil, and his career as a 

 book-illustrator closes with his spirited designs to 

 the Contra J.'emois of the Conite de Chevigne. 

 Meanwhile, he had been steadily practising paint- 

 ing. In 1834 he began to contribute to the Salon 

 with a water-colour and an oil-picture, the latter 

 strongly suggestive of the work of the figure- 

 painters of Holland, who powerfully influenced 

 Meissonier during his whole career. Two years 

 later he exhibited the first of his various groups of 

 'Chess-players,' and here his accurate precision 

 of draughtsmanship and quietly dramatic truth of 

 attitude and expression first became clearly visible. 

 It was followed by a long series of elaborate and 

 successful genre-pictures, in which, with the most 

 careful and finished if sometimes rather hard and 

 unsympathetic execution, and with the most per- 

 fect verisimilitude of costume and local colouring, 

 the artist depicted the civil and military life of the 

 17th and 18th centuries, passing in such works as 

 the ' Naiioleon I.,' a small single-figure picture 

 which Mr Ruskin sold in 1882 for 6090; the 

 'Campaigne de France, 1814' (1864); 'Solferino' 

 (1866), now in the Luxembourg Gallery ; 'Cuiras- 

 siers or 1805' (1871); and ' Friedland or 1807,' 

 bought by M. Secretan in 1878 for 400,000 francs 

 to subjects of genre or history taken from the 19th 

 century. Among the most celebrated of his other 

 military scenes may be named 'La Rixe' (1854), 

 purchased by Queen Victoria ; and not less fasci- 

 nating are his simpler groups of students, artists, 

 collectors, &c., such as 'La Lecture chez Diderot' 

 ( 1859), ' Les Amateurs de Peinture ' (1860), and ' La 

 Lecture du Manuscrit' (1867). He also executed 

 some striking portraits, including ' Dumas fils ' 

 (1877) and 'M. Victor Lefranc' (1883). The car- 

 toons of his design for the decoration of the Pan- 

 theon ' the apotheosis of France ' were exhibited 

 in 1889. He etched some dozen plates ; and many 

 of his pictures are familiar from engravings. He 

 l>ecarae a Commander of the Legion of Honour in 

 1867, Grand Cross 1889, and a member of the Insti- 

 tute in 1861 ; and he was an honorary member of 

 the Royal Academy. He died 31st January 1891. 

 See works on him by Clarette ( 1881 ) and Larroumet 

 (1893), and the Art Annual for 1893. An exhibi- 

 tion of his works was held at Paris in 1884. His 

 son Jean Charles (born 1848) paints in his father's 

 manner. 



Meistersanger. See GERMANY, Vol. V. p. 187. 



Mckhoni;. or MEKONG (also called Cambodia), 

 the greatest river of the Siam peninsula, since 1894 

 mainly controlled by the French (see SIAM), is 

 usually identified with the Lan-tsan, which rises 

 in the neighbourhood of Chiamdo in Tibet its 

 exact sources are not known. It pursues a gener- 

 ally southerly direction to the China Sea, which 

 it enters by several mouths in Cochin - China. 

 This country indeed is formed by its deltaic depo- 

 sits. The river has a total length of 2800 miles ; 

 but is not navigated higher than 14 N. lat. owing 

 to rapids and cliffs which beset its bed in the 

 mountainous regions. 



.Mokloilii. a town of Siam, near where the 

 VIeklong River runs into the Gulf of Siam. Among 

 its 10,000 inhabitants many are Chinese. 



Mela. POMPONIUS, the first Latin writer who 



oinposed a strictly geographical work, was born 



at Tingentera in the south of Spain, and lived in 



