144 



MKIII.IV 



IfERSEY 



Edinburgh. ninl one in IJishop IVicy's fulin MS. 

 (printed in ls<;7). The 

 iinil more im|Hirtant than 



(printed in ls<;7). The prose romance is 1 

 iinil more im|Hirtant than ti 

 Komiin en Pru*e iln .\'ff/' 



in- metrical HIM-. Mrr/ 



, , w:is published by 

 tin- Socictc iK-!. Ancicns Textes Francais in |s>n. 

 ninl the Early English Text Society published 

 under the cilitoiship of tin- PM-IT' \\nii-i in 

 IS.IM (XI Merlin, nr tlif Kurly lli.ilnry uf Kimj 

 Arthur ii/Kint lj.~, < > I;H, printed Imni the MS. in 

 the Guibfidga rniversity Library. Merlin is 

 tiei|iiently alluded tn hy our older poets, cs|>ccially 

 liy Spenser, ami his storv occupies ft prominent 

 |Hisiti<in in Tennyson's Iili/lls uf the Kimj. A 

 collection of prophecies attributed in Merlin ap- 

 )H-:ui.,l jn French i Patis, ll'.iS), in English i l.oml. 

 l.VJ!( mill 1. ">:{.'<), anil in Latin (Venice. I.V.I i ; mul 

 their existen-e is tnicealile ai least ID, far I pack as 

 the middle of the 14th century. The Strathclyde, 

 or if we IIIHV !K> allowed an expression which 

 anticipates history the S<-nttisli Merlin, cnlleil 

 Merlin the \V\llt. or Merlin ( 'aleiloniiis. is placed 

 in thclith century. mnl appears as a contemporary 

 of St Kcntigcrn, Itishop ol (Ila.sgow. His grave is 

 siill shown at Driimmelzier on the Tweed, where, 

 in attempting to esca|ie across the river from a, 

 Ixind of hostile in-tics. he was impaled on a hidden 

 make. A metrical life of him in Latin, extending 

 to more than 15(10 lines, professedly based on 

 Armoric materials, and incorrectly ascribed to 

 (Jeoll'rey of Moninoiitli, was published by the 

 lioxhiirglie Club in l.x.'Ct. His prophecies pub- 

 lished at Edinburgh in 1015 contain those asciilnil 

 to the \VeWi Merlin. 



.Merlin. See PALO IN. 



Merm:ii<ls and .Mermen, in the popular 



folklore of Knro|H>, a class of being-, more m less 

 like men, living in the sea, but in some eircum 

 stances capable of social relationshipM with men 

 and women. The typical mermaid has the head 

 and Ixxly of a lovely woman to the waist, ending 

 in the tail of a lish with tins and scalea. She lias 

 long and U-autiful hair, and is often seen aliove 

 the surface of the water, combing it with one hand 

 while in the other she holds a mirror. She 

 often disclose* what is alsiut to happen, ami not 

 seldom gives supernatural knowledge and |HIWI>IS 

 to a favoiireil mortal -a thing in |>erfect keeping 

 with primitive notions of sorcery, which easily 

 attributed exceptional iiowers to U-antiful womeii. 

 as Lilith and Circe. Again. she someiimes cxer- 

 i special giiaidianshiii over an individual, and 

 avenges bis wrongs; but her relation toman most 

 : biings with it disaster. There are many 

 Millies of inerniaids who have fallen in love wit.li 

 men, or IM-CII detained through the possession of 

 the skin which they had strip|H-d to dance on 

 the shore, and who have liecn faithful wives anil 

 mothers until they found an opportunity to return 



to the sea. And tllele me evatll pies of the coil Vi -I *< 



if a meinmid falling in love with a man and 

 enticing him to pi and li\e with her under the sea, 

 a* well as of a merman bewitching and carrying oil' 

 a mortal maiden. 



Such are the principal forms of mermaid stories 

 found everywhere. with more or less artistic elaho 

 ration. Tin- I Vanish llnfmnii,! or Mun-iiiini/. the 

 ln-li mrrriiir or mri-mm-A, the llreton .!/ 



fin. the Knssjan riixnlkn or strcHin fairv and 

 HII or water sprite, some forms of the 

 Teutonic nififn, and the enchanting 1 Sirens of 

 mythology have all close admit ics with 

 othei in the dan^eis they brin^ to men. the 

 licauly and joyousnes of their lives, mid vet the 

 (IIHIIII of MMMH that overlmnes them, fn their 

 BMllgDMlt a|i-ct they touch the eviiernl diH-tiine 

 of Demonology (>\.\.\ mid may I- cxplaimil on an 

 theory of its origin. To the beauty of 



the conception and the elaliorations ,,f which it i- 

 capable in the popular imagination we owe some 

 of the lovelie~t ot our folk tales as well as such 

 delightful artistic tales as I' mini' and many tine 

 poems of the a^'es of literary culture. ( hie of the 

 most detailed stories of this class is that of Melnsine 

 |i|.v. i. The mermaid had a linn hold of the ima^i 

 nation of our fathers, and, ln-sides the \\itness ,,f 

 heraldry, we have stories supported by excellent 

 evidence of their ap|>earance and capture. One 

 caught at Edam in 1403 was carried to Haarlem 

 and kept there many years. She learned to spin 

 and showed a becoming reverence for the cross. 

 See Baring-Gonklll I'n/iHlur Mi/tlts nf thr Mnltlle 

 Age*, and Sebillot's L'uiitt* ties Maria* ( 1882). 



Mermaid's Purse, the popular name of the 

 ejr^' ca.se of the skate (or of some other cartilag- 

 inous lish), which is often cast up empty on the 

 shore . .!/. mimiCs Gloves is a very common liritish 

 spoil;.'!', (.'linlilin l,i-iiliili(. 



Merodncli. See K.MIYLONIA, Vol. I. p. 037. 

 Meroe. See 



Meropidir. See I'.KK KATER. 



Meroyilltfinns. or Mi:i:\\ IM;S, the first dvnasty 

 of Krankish kind's in (iaul. The name is derived 

 from Merwi"; or Merovech, kinj,' of the western or 

 Salian Franks from 448 to 4.~>7. His grandson 

 Clovis (i|.v. i established the fortunes of the d\ i. 

 which xave way to the. Curlovingians (q.v.) in 7 ">-'. 



See l-'l: VMT.. l''l!ASKS. 



Merrimne. a river risinjj among the White 



Mountains of New Hampshire, (low in^' south into 

 Massachusetis. and falling into the Atlantic 

 ( M can near New bury port, after a course of l.)0 

 miles. It lia-s numerous falls, all'ordinj: immense 

 water-power. The principal manufacturing towns 

 on its baiiUs are Manchester, Nashua, and Concoid 

 iii New Hampshire, and Lowell and Lawrence 

 in Massachusetts. It is navigable to Haverhill. 



Mersolllirir. a town of I'mssian Saxony, on 

 the Saale. S miles S. of Halle. Its Domkirche ia 

 a four-towered pile, with l<omancsi|uc choir ( ld4'.M, 

 transept n-iri-ii 1274), and Kith centurv nave- the 

 whole it-stored in KSH4 Sti. The organ ( 1060) has 

 4000 pipes ; and there is a very early bronze elligy 

 in low relief of Kndolph of Swabia. who hen 

 defeated and slain by Henry IV. in luso. Thecastle, 

 apictliresfjiieedilicc, mostly of the loth century, was 

 once the bishop's palace, and afterwards < h 

 17.SS) the residence of the dukes of Sachscn- 

 Merseburg. Beer, iron, paper, dvc. are nianu- 

 faetiiml. Pop. (1S7.M l.'t.(W4; (1890) 17.ti<i!l. 

 Henry the Fowler in !4 gained his great victory- 

 over the Hungarians near Mer-.eliurg. which sut|,-i.-d 

 much in the 1'easants' War and in the Thirty 

 V ears' War. 



Mersenne. MAIIIX, a constant friend of I 

 caites, was horn in I.1SS, and died at Paris in liils. 

 He wiis a fellow student of Descartes al the Jesuit 

 college of La Fleche. and look- the habit of a 

 Minim F'riar in Kill ; his life thereafter was spent 

 in study, teaching in convent schools, and travel. 

 He did valiant battle with numerous clerical con 

 troversialists on behalf of the orthodoxy of the 

 philosophy of Descartes, and wrote vigorously 

 against atheists and other nnlwlievers. His pro- 

 found knowledge of mat hematics is seen in a 

 nurnlier of liooks, and in his Iliinixmir I , 

 ( lOd), an invaluable contribution to the science of 

 music. 



Mersey, an important river of England, separ- 



in ils lower course, the counties of Chester 

 and Lancaster, and has its origin in the junction of 

 the F.therow and Coyt, on the 1-orders of Derby- 

 shire, east of Stockport. It (lows in a we-t- 

 south-west direction, and is joined on the right 



