770 



MEMPHISMENDELSSOHN. 



see the popular treatises on intellectual philosophy. 

 Locke's chapter on Retention is not very satisfac- 

 tory. Dugalil Stewart's treatise is principally val- 

 uable as a practical elucidation of its operations. For 

 instances of persons distinguished for memory, see 

 Mnemonics. 



MEMPHIS ; an ancient city of Egypt, whose very 

 situation lias been a subject of learned dispute. 

 According to Herodotus, its foundation was ascribed 

 to M eiies, the first king of Egypt, It was a large, 

 rich, and splendid city, and the second capital of 

 Egypt. Among its buildings, several temples (for 

 instance, those of Phtha, Osiris, Serapis, &c.) and 

 palaces were remarkable. In Strabo's time (A. D. 

 20) it was, in population and size, next to Alexan- 

 dria. Edrisi, in the twelfth century, describes its 

 remains as extant in his time. " Notwithstanding 

 the vast extent of this city," says he, " the remote 

 period at which it was built, the attempts made by 

 various nations to destroy it, and to obliterate every 

 trace of it, by removing the materials of which it was 

 built, combined with the decay of 4000 years, there 

 are yet found in it works so wonderful as to confound 

 the reflecting, and such as the most eloquent could 

 not describe." Among the works specified by him, 

 are a monolithic temple of granite thirteen and a half 

 feet high, twelve long, and seven broad, entirely 

 covered within and without with inscriptions, and 

 statues of great beauty and dimensions, one of which 

 was forty-five feet high, of a single block of red 

 granite. These ruins then extended about nine 

 miles in every direction, but the destruction has since 

 been so great, that, although Pococke and Bruce fixed 

 upon thevillageof Metrahenny (Moniet-Rahinet) as the 

 site, it was not accurately ascertained until the French 

 expedition to Egypt, when the discoveries of numer- 

 ous heaps of rubbish, of blocks of granite covered 

 with hieroglyphics and sculpture, and of colossal 

 fragments scattered over a space three leagues in 

 circumference, seem to have decided the point. See 

 Jacotin's account of the ruins in the Description de 

 VEgypte. 



MEMPHIS ; a town in the north-west angle of 

 Mississippi, upon a high bluft', which used to be cal- 

 led Fort Pickering. This bluff is a fine, commanding 

 elevation, rising more than 100 feet above the level 

 of the river. At the lowest stages of the water, 

 strata of stone coal are disclosed in the bank. The 

 situation of Memphis seems very favourable to the 

 growth of a town, and is now rapidly increasing. 

 Opposite, in Arkansas, is the uncommonly high, rich, 

 and extensive bottom land of Wappanocka. Back of 

 the town, is a fertile, rolling country, heavily timbered, 

 and abounding in springs. The bluffs extend three or 

 four leagues above and below the town. Here is the 

 great road for crossing from Tennessee and Alabama 

 to Arkansas. These facts indicate that the local 

 situation of Memphis is peculiarly favourable to health, 

 and to extensive commerce. 



MEMPHREMAGOG ; a lake in North America ; 

 the greater part of it lies in Canada, and the rest in 

 Vermont. It is thirty-five miles long and three miles 

 wide, and communicates with the river St Lawrence 

 by the St Francis. It receives the rivers Black, 

 Barton, and Clyde from Vermont. Lat. 45 N.; ion. 

 12 8' W. 



MEN.; an abbreviation of the Italian meno, less, 

 used in music,as men. presto, less rapid ; men. allegro, 

 less lively. 



MENACHANITE. See Titanium. 



MENAGE, GILLES, a distinguished man of letters 

 of the seventeenth century, was born at Angers, 

 1 61 3, in which city his father was king's advocate. 

 A tier finishing his early studies with great reputation, 

 he was admitted an advocate, and pursued his occu- 



pation for some time at Paris ; but, disgusted with 

 that profession, he adopted the ecclesiastical charac- 

 ter, so far ns to be able [ohold some benefices, with- 

 out cure of souls. From this time, he dedicated him- 

 self solely to literary pursuits; and, being received 

 into the house of cardinal de lletz, soon made him- 

 self known by his wit am! erudition. He subsequently 

 took apartments in the cloister of Notre Dame, and 

 held weekly assemblies (Mercuriales) of the learned, 

 where a prodigious memory rendered his conversa- 

 tion entertaining, although pedantic. He was, how- 

 ever, overbearing and opinionative, and passed his 

 life in the midst of petty hostilities, fie precluded 

 himself from being chosen to the French academy, 

 by a witty satire, entitled Requete lies Dictionnaires, di- 

 rected against the Dictionary of the academy. He 

 died in Paris, 1692, at the age of seventy-nine. His 

 principal works are Dictionnaire etymologique, ou 

 Origines dc la Langue Fran^-aise ; Origines de la 

 Langue Italienne; Miscellanea, a collection of pieces 

 in prose and verse ; an edition of Diogenes Laertius, 

 with valuable notes ; Remarques sur la Langue 

 Fran^aise ; Anti-Baillet, a satirical critique; His- 

 toria Mulierum Philosophorum ; Poesies Latines, 

 Italiennes, Grecques, et Francaises. After his death, 

 a Menagiana was compiled from notes of his conver- 

 sation, anecdotes, remarks, &c., which is one of the 

 most lively works of the kind. 



MENAI STRAIT, and BRIDGE. Menai strait 

 is a strait about half a mile across, between the 

 island of Anglesea and the coast of Wales. For an 

 account of the celebrated bridge over this strait, see 

 Bridge. 



MENANDER, the most celebrated of the Greek 

 writers of the new comedy, born at Athens, 342 B. C., 

 is said to have drowned himself on account of the 

 success of his rival Philemon (q. v.), at the age of 

 fifty-two years, though some accounts attribute his 

 death to accident. The superior excellence of his 

 comedies, the number of which exceeded 100, 

 acquired him the title of prince of the new comedy. 

 We have, unfortunately, nothing but a few fragments 

 remaining of them. Leclerc collected them (Menan- 

 dri et Phileemonis Reliquiae, Amsterdam, 1709). 

 They are also contained in Brunck's Poetce Gnomici. 

 Terence imitated and translated him, and, from his 

 comedies, we may form some idea of the character of 

 those of Menander. See Drama, and Greek Litera- 

 ture. 



MENASSEH BEN ISRAEL, a celebrated rabbi, 

 was born in Portugal, about 1604. His father was a 

 rich merchant, who, suffering greatly, both in property 

 and person, from the inquisition, fled into Holland 

 At the age of eighteen, the son was made preacher 

 and expounder of the Talmud, at Amsterdam. In 

 1632, he published, in the Spanish language, the first 

 part of his work entitled Conciliador, &.C., of which, 

 the next year, a Latin version was printed by Dion- 

 ysius Vossius, entitled Conciliator, sive de Convenien- 

 tia Locorum S. Scriptures quae pugnare inter se vid- 

 entur, Opus ex vetustis et recentioribus omnibus Rab- 

 binis magna Industria ac Fide congestum. He also 

 published three editions of the Hebrew Bible. In the 

 time of Cromwell, he went to England, and obtained 

 for his nation more privileges than they ever before 

 enjoyed there. He died at Amsterdam in 1659. His 

 other works are the Talmud Corrected, with Notes ; 

 De Resurrectione Mortuorum ; Esperanza de Israel, 

 dedicated to the parliament of England, in 1650, one 

 object of which is to prove that the ten tribes are 

 settled in America ; and an Apology for the Jews, 

 in the English language, reprinted in vol. ii. of the 

 Phoenix. 



MENDELSSOHN, MOSES, a celebrated Jewish 

 philosopher, was bora Sept. 12, 1729, at Dessau, 



