MERIXO 



paralysing distrust of himself and of others and 

 from the constitutional melancholy of the sceptic 

 to whom the world , only a series of incompre- 

 hensible and footing images, and who mistrusts 

 life and death alike. He was one of the few 

 men who have drawn their unbelief from mother 

 and father alike. No great writer has left a 

 more remarkable monument than the famous 



------ ,__ u . v .menu i n.ui tiie la.) 11 OILS 



Lettres Annelnconnuc (1873; Eng. trans., edited 



b\ R. H. Stoddard in Scribner's ' Bric-a-Brac' 



series), the revelation of a heart throughout an 



acquaintance, first of love, then of friendship 



extending over thirty years. Here we find no 



selhsli cynic, but a man gracious, affectionate, 



delicate, touched with poetry despite his scepti' 



cism, faithful and loyal unto death his last words 



were written but two hours before the end The 



unknown lady's actual existence has been ques- 



.ned and she has been doubtfully identified 



wrth the Countess Lise Przedrzerska, sister of the 



.larquis de Noailles. What professed to 1* her 



letters in reply were published m 1888, but without 



any explanation being offered; an English trans- 



lation of these followed in two volumes in 1&S9 



Only less interesting than the first series are the 



Lettresa MM avtn /,, ( 1875), and the Letters 



to Panizzi (edit.-d by Louis Pagan, 2 vols. 1881), 



lull of lively gossip and clever criticism. 



^Il th fl^? ie8 . hy ami8ier < Mars - 1875) and Haus- 

 888) ; also Tourneaux, Protper Mirimee, ,a 

 Portrait!, set Detriiw, kc. (1879). 



Merino (Span.), an important breed of Sheep 

 (<].v.). bee also WOOL. 



Merion'eth, a triangular county of Wales 



ha maximum length and breadth of 45 milts! 



eaboard of 38 miles, and an area of 602 



s.|. m., nr.{s.-,.-_>l9 acres, is bounded on the N bv the 



eotmtiecd Carnarvon and Denbigh, E. an.l S bv 



ntgoineryslnrc and the river Dovey and W bv 



riyqfio .*d Y ' rr'- ' T > 27l30a ; ( 1841 > 39 ' 332 ' = 

 91) 49,iOt. Chtls alternating with low-lvii," 



sands skirt the coast, which at some distance font 



-o sea is fringed by dangerous sandbanks. Inland 



the surface, although nowhere attaining such an 



altitude as that of Carnarvonshire, is rued and 



mountainous in the extreme, interspersed In places 



with picturesque valleys, lakes, and waterfalls 



Aran Mowddy 1*170 feet), Cador Idris (q.v., 2914)' 



and Aran Benllvn (2902) are the highest peaks; 



*ala the largest lake; whilst of rivers the principal 



are the Dee, which Hows north-east, and the 



UOTjjr an.l Mawddach, which reach the sea after a 



south-west course. The soil generally is poor, and 



". tracts are unfit for profitable cultivation, the 



nJMV-'"' aml , in cro '' in I8S9 onl y amounting 

 60,81, acres, of which 128,021 acres were in 

 srinanent pasture. Great niiniliera of sheep are 

 4, and flannels and woollens to some extent 

 manufactured but the principal wealth of the 

 mnty arises from its mineral products. Slate and 

 imestone are largely qtttnfaj, much manganese 

 y .-is produced, and from mines in the vicinity of 

 -'- - 1 -"'' IM *. 3>an '" " { K" 1 ' 1 of value 



- - - . ___ 

 cells. Meristem forms the tissue of embryo plants 

 and of apexes of stems and roots. 



Merivale, JOHN HERMAN, an English scholar 

 and translator, was born at Exeter In 1779 the 

 grandson of Samuel Merivale (1715-71 ), a worthy 

 V ' 



, T-- -- . '" " K"' o value 



~i,- J ' ' - Vcru '" 1889 obtained. Merioneth, 

 i contains no municipal Imroughs, is divided 

 rHv Ve 'I'," 1 ' 1 ,"" 1 "' '"" /In, ty-three civil parishes, 

 v in the diocese of Bangor, and partly in that 

 *L \ w 1 ! : r J'" 1 " 1 ' 111 lr|K*es it is in the 

 Horth \\ales circuit, I),,lg,|| v heing the assize 

 n, an.l it sen, s one representative to the House 

 Commons. rhe County Coum-il numl^rs fifty. 

 x memlwra, and the principal towns, other than 

 ie foregoing, are Bala, Barmouth, Oorwen 

 Fetim<,g, Harlech, and Towyn. 



MTist'in, the formative tissue of plants, is 



tmguislied from the permanent tissues by the 



power its cells have of dividing a ,,,i 



to St' ol r oc ' was * 



tt John s College, Cambridge, and was called 



Rl.fr ^A", 1805 ' , He ent"ribted largely to 

 Bland s Collections from the Greek Anthology 



off in itS2 ^!!!?*.^1* a Secon<1 edition hi ' 

 he M tl ffl tro '. 1831 to his death in 1844 he 



Works f ffice v?/, C """'^""^ of Bankruptcy. 

 \\orks of no little merit were his Poems, Orig- 



ofSr^L 1 , r %? ted r (lm )' aml Minor' PoeL 

 of ixhiller (1844). CHARLES, son of the preced- 

 '". < b ' . 1S 8, -I. 1893), was educated at Harrow 

 Ja.leybury and St John's College, Cambridge' 

 where he took his degree in 1830, e and becameln 

 e course fellow and tutor. He was successively 

 select preacher at Cambridge (1838-40) and at 

 Whitehall (1839-41), Hulsean lecturer ( 1861 ), and 

 Boyle lecturer (1864-65). From 1848 to 1869 

 rector of Lawford in Essex, he was chaplain to the 

 ?Sfl! f , r ? m , 186 ? tu 1869 - He wasdean of Ely from 

 1869 tiK his death, 26th December 1893. His Fall 

 of the Roman Republic ( 1853) is a brilliant sketch 

 marred by its over-indulgence to imperialism, the 

 sole fault of his admirably learned and eloquent 

 ' r ! h * <?|' under the Empire (7 vols. 

 Later books are a serviceable General 

 f A K ^ e ( ! 875) ' Earl >J Chl >h. History 

 n o d .*** Contrast between Par,,,,, and 

 Society (1880 (.-Another son, HKKMAN, 

 born in 1806 was educated at Harrow and Trinity 

 I ollege Oxford, elected Fellow of Balliol, called 



"i , !e i U J l " 1832> and a l>P"inted professor of 

 Political Economy at Oxfor.1 in 1837, and, later, 

 permanent L nder-secretary of State first for the 

 colonies^ next for India. In 1859 he was made 

 He died on February 8, 1874. His son, 

 5RMAN CHARLES, born in 1839, has written a 



A"/ rAB 8 , U / CCeS * f ' 1 ' 1 J. )lays ' lncl < li '> Forget-Me- 

 Not, The Bntler and the Don, and The Master of 

 Itai-cnswo.Hl. Besides a novel, Faucit of lialhol 

 .' ", s ., 8t age form, The Cynic), he has pub- 

 lished The White Pilgrim ami other Poems ( 1883) 

 and other works. See the privately printed Family 

 Memorials, compiled by Anna W. IVferivale (1884). 

 Merle D'Anbigne'. See D'AUBICNE. 

 Merlin, the name of an ancient British prophet 

 and magician, who is supposed to have flourished 

 during the decline of the native British power in 

 its contest with the Saxon invaders. The prophetic 

 child Ambrosius first mentioned by Nennius in his 

 BiOona Britonian was confounded with Ambrosius 

 Aurelianns, the conqueror of Vortigern, and sul>se- 

 quently the resulting Merlin Emerys or Ambrosius 

 was confounded with the Merlin called Silvestris 

 Caledomus. It is as the subject of one of the 

 cycle of Arthurian romances that Merlin's name 

 has survived. The Cambrian Merlin is said by 

 Ueotlrey of Monmouth, in his Historia Britonmn and 

 Vita Merhni, to have lived in the 5th century to 

 have sprung from the intercourse of a demon with 

 a \\elsn princess, to have been rescued from his 

 ahgnant destiny by baptism, and to have dis- 

 played the possession of miraculous powers from 

 infancy. The adventures of Merlin were taken, 

 with additions from Armorican and other sources, 

 from the Latin of Geoffrey, and made popular in 

 the French language by Robert Wace and Robert 

 ile Horron. Henry Lonelich's English verse trans- 

 lation is m the library of Corpus Christi College, 

 Cambridge. The analysis of the romance of Mer- 

 lin in Ellis s Specimen* of Earl,/ Ennlish Metrical 

 limmmces was made from the MS. in Lincoln's Inn 

 Library. There is a MS. in the Advocates' Library, 



