﻿TTI 



HBSSIKGHAIL 



UEimTHE. 



m 



of Fvn, here about Tour milai wUt. Tha town of llMsioa U built 

 nutly oo the ilope of n aUcp bill. Mid putlj along the laa-ahor* at the 

 foot of Um hill. Tha port i« formed by a itripofMndy beach projacUug 

 into Um ••• at the aouth aide of the city, and (weeping round in tha 

 Conn of a aemicirdc. Froni the ideUe-Uko form of thif rtrip of land 

 the town received from it« fint Oraek inhabitant* the name of Zankle, 

 or Dankle, which in the Sicilian dialect meant a acythe. The name, 

 aa atated in the article Mnuaia, waa afterwarda cha^od into Xeaiene. 

 On thia narrow tract of land are the citadel, the laauetto, the light- 

 konaa, and the caatle of Salvatore at the entrance of the harbour, which 

 froaa the north. The harbour, which ia more than two milea in cir- 

 eomfarance, ii one of the beat in the Mediterranean. The ligbthouae 

 •t the (Otrasoe of the harbour of Heaaina atanda in 38* 11' 10' X. Ut, 

 W Si' 7' K. lone. The Urger part of the town riaea in the form of 

 • «r«M*Dt on tha weat aide of the harbour, along which ia a hand- 

 ■ooia quay backed by a row of &oa buildinga (sailed La Palassata : this 

 quay oooititntM the faahionable promenade of the town. 



Maaaina haa many ramarkable boildlngs ; the cathedral, the church 

 of La Candelara, and that of the Capachina, contain aome fine paint- 

 inga. The royal paUor, tiie arohieDiaoopal palace, that of the oenate, 

 the aeminary, tha great hospital, the arsenal, the loggia or exchange, 

 the granaries, the royal collfge, the bank, nod tbe two tlieatrea, are 

 ■n worthy of notice. The public library, founded by Conatantine 

 Lasoaria, is rich in Qreek manuscripts. Messina is an archbishop's 

 ■ee, haa a oourt of appeal for the province, a commercial tribunal, a 

 lojal college called Aocademia Carolina for the study of law and 

 medioiBa, and about 60,000 inbabitonta. 



M aa ain a is tbe most trading town of Sicily ; lat|^ veaaela load and 

 diaahatge oloae to the quays. It exports oil, currants, orangea, raisins, 

 wjne, brandy, almonds, lemons, sumach, lambskins and kid-skins, 

 liqnciriee, silk, Unseed, salt-fish, and other produce of the island. The 

 importa comprise cotton and woollen manufacturea, oofiee, sugar, and 

 other ooloninl produce, hardware, &c The spinning and weaving of 

 ailk, and tlie manufncture of 'i»«"««v and satin, employ several thousand 

 banda. Tbe tunny and other fisheries are actively plied. Messina 

 took part in the abortive attempt made by the Sicilutns in 1848 to 

 diake off the yoke of Naples ; and it was the first place upon which 

 retribution fell, being taken 1^ Qeneral Filangieri, in September of 

 that year, after an obstinate reaistanoe, during which the town suffered 

 aeverely. 



The Faro, or Siraii of If anna, which here separates Sicily from 

 Italy, is about 22 miles long from north to soutli : its breadth varies 

 from 10 milea to about 24 mileK at its northern extremity between the 

 Faro tower and the rock of Scylla. Tlie whirlpool of Cliarybdis, so 

 eelefaratad in ancient times, is fixed by some opposite to ScylU, by 

 other* opposite the harbour of Meaaina. [Caijuiiua.] Tlie depth of 

 the (trait ia very great, and a strong current runs through it. 



Coin of Daakle (Measlns). BtltUh Masmm. 



HS88INOHAX. [LiscoLxsniBB.] 



MBSintAOO. CAPE. [LiBmiA.] 



MRTHKRINOHAM. [WcoLHsntRl.] 



MKTHWOLO. [Norfolk.] 



METHYHNA. [LiaiBoa.] 



METZ, capital of the French department of Moselle, is bnilt on 

 the Moaelle at the point where that river is joined by the Scille, in 

 4»* 7' U" N. lai, 6* 10' ««■ K. long., 680 feet above the level of the 

 ■(•, 170 milea in a straight line, 245 miles by railway through Kaucy, 

 K. br M. from Paris, and has 48,484 inhnbitanta in tha oommnne, 

 hsaidea the garrison, which nnmbera 10,000 men. The town ia waahed 

 < "» th e west \n ttie Moeelle, which makea a bend and traverses the 

 town; tha Seille enters the dty on the (onth, dividing into two 

 j *— I* **! one of which flows betwaan the ramparta, the other runs 

 Ih ww u l i t ha to wn and drivea asraral mQls : tbaaatwo rhran ata oraasad 

 vylTMdgaa. Mats is, afler Strasbourg, the strongest fortress in 

 VraiMA It ia girt by a regular syatem of fortificatione, and antered 

 hf tia» gstas furnished with drawbridges. Tha defences ware con- 

 afc™ct«d by Marshals Vauban and Belle-Iale ; amongst the most im- 

 portant of tha works erected by them arc— the fort of Belle^^roix, 

 wUah ia boilt on a bill, and commanda all tha east of the town from 

 tha gate Dea-ADaaMiids to the Moaelle; and the fort of La-Double- 

 OMDoana, which defends the aouthera part of tbe city. 



Thia alt J asistad hi the time of the Romans, to whom it was known 

 by tha aaaa Dindmruwt, which waa the chief town of the Medio- 

 matrid. Ata btar data it took the name of the nation, Mediomatrici, 

 for which, early in the fith century, waa subsUtuted the shorter 

 d sa jm a tiB n of Mattia, or Malia, wbenaa the modem Met& In the 



atrfl it lM W i lnM wU«b Colloirad tha death of Naro, a.d. 70, Divodurum 

 waa vmAj d sa twy a d i by • Nddan ontbraak of tha troops of Vitellius. 



(Tacitus, ' Histor.,' i. C8.) Divodurum was ruined in the invaaion of 

 the Huns under Attila, 452 ; but afterwarda became the capital of 

 Austrasia, which waa aometimea termed the kingdom of Meti. In tho 

 division of tho Carlovingian empire, Meta waa comprehended in the 

 kingdom of Lotharingia, or Lorraine. 



Metx is in gaoaral a well-built town ; tho houaes are mostly of cut 

 stone; the quarter that lies on the right bank of the Moaelle standa 

 high, and contains many staep streets ; on the left bank the aita ia 

 level. The streets however are in moat instances narrow, crooked, and 

 ill laid out ; many of the houses are adomad with baa-relieft. In the 

 centre of the town is the esplanade, which stands on high ground, and 

 is one of the finest promenades in Europe, formed by numeroos avannaa 

 of trees, and commanding a fine view over the rich valley of the Moaalla ; 

 near it ia a vastapaoe on which the troops in garriaon are exerdaed. 

 Among tha many remarkable structures of Mete must be mentioned — 

 the arsenal, which ia of vast extent, and amongst other stores containa 

 80,000 mudiets ; the cathedral, founded in 1014, but not finished till 

 1546 ; the elegance, delicacy, and boldness of this structure have been 

 alwaya much admired ; of its lightness some idea may be formed from 

 the circumstance that tha total area of ita windows (many of them of 

 the best age of gloKS-painting) amounts to no less than 4869 square 

 yards ; the church of N otre-Damc-de-la-Uoude and that of the abbey 

 of St-Vincent, both of which ore ancient and remarkable structures; 

 the college buildings, formerly the abbey of St-Vinoent ; the military 

 hospital, a vast building contiguotu to the barracks and doae to the 

 Moaelle; and the palais^e-Justice, in which the courts are held and 

 the public library of 30,000 volumes is kept Next to these the 

 prefects residence, the town-house, the mint, the churches of St,- 

 Martin, St-Nioolas, and Sainta-Segoldne, and another library of 10,000 

 volumes of select worics, and rich in manuscripts by Vauban, Monge, 

 and other writers on fortification and the art of war, are the most 

 notable objects in the town. 



Mete gives title to a bishop, whose see is the department of Moselle ; 

 it is the seat of a high court of justice for the department of Ardennes 

 and Moeella Besides a tribunal of first instance^ a tribunal and 

 chamber of commerce, the city possesses an exchange, an artillery and 

 engineering school, an endowed college, aeveral literary and scientific 

 societies, a diocesan school, an eocleaiastical collage, and several other 

 schools, in which lectures are delivered gratuitously on midwifery, 

 botany, drawing, painting, and music. 



Among the iudustrial products of the town are broad-cloth, flannel, 

 and other woollen stuffs, honiery, plush, small wares, muslin embroid- 

 ery, room-paper, glue, ground chicory, cotton-twist, excellent beer, nails, 

 tilea, and leather. The commerce is composed of these articles, and 

 of wine, brandy, confectionery, groceries, furniture, hides, iron, tua. 

 A railroad, 25 miles in length, joms Metz to Nancy on the Paris-Straa- 

 bourg line, and is continued eastward to the Russian frontier at For- 

 bach, whence it runs to Mannheim and Spires on the Rhine. The 

 Calrinists have a consistorial church at Metz, the Jews a consistorial 

 synagogue and a central rabbinical school. 



(Dictutmtaire de la ProMct.) 



MEUDON. [Situn-Kr-OiSK.] 



MEULAN. [SuNB-BT-Oiss.] 



MEUNY. [LoiRET.] 



MEURTUE, a department in the north-east of France, bounded 

 N. by that of Moselle, £. by that of Bos-Rhin, S. by that of Vosges, 

 and W. by that of Meuse. It lies between 48° 22' and 49° 2' N. fat, 

 6° 42' and 7° 16' E. long. Its form is compact; the greatest length 

 from east to west is 70 miles ; ita greatest breadth, at right angles to 

 the length, is 46 miles. The area ia 2353 square miles. The popula- 

 tion in 1841 was 444,603; in 1851 it amounted to 450,423, giving 

 191'42 inhabitanta to the square mile, or 16'84 above the average per 

 square mile for tho whole of Franco. The department is formed out 

 of the old duchies of Lorraine and Bar, and a part of the territory 

 called the Trmt-Mrichei. This last comprised the territories of the 

 throe cities of MatE,,Toul, and Verdun, which for a long time were 

 imperial towns, and as such subject to the bishops who resided in 

 them. In 1552 these districts were united to France by Henri II. 



The department is remarkable for the beauty of its scenery, the 

 fertility of its soil, and the variety of its productiona The principal 

 chain of the Vosges Mountains runs along the eastern boundary, 

 reaching in one of its summits to tbe height of 1148 feet above the 

 plain. The rest of Uic department presents a pleasing variety of bills, 

 dales, and well-watered valleys— tho hills, which branch off from the 

 Vosges, nowhere exceeding 650 feet in height, and nearly all nmuing 

 in a north-westam direction. The hill slopes and a considerable 

 portion of the plains are covered with dense forests. 



The department takes ita name from the river Mtarthe, which rises 

 in the K. of the department of Vosges, and running first north and 

 then northwest, past St-Di<i and Raon-l'Stape, enten the department 

 of Meurthe, below this last town : here it flows through a fine valley, 

 fertilised by the deposits of its frequent inundations, in a general 

 north-west direction past Lun<$ville, Rosi6res, and Nanc^, a little beluw 

 which last-named city it falls into tho Moselle, on the right bank, after 

 a course of 100 miles. Qreat quantities of fir planks for HoUaud, 

 rough timber, and fire-wood, are floated down this river, which is 

 navigable for only 6 miles above its junction with the Moselle. Its 

 principal feeders on the right bank are — the Plaine, which forms part 



