72 
MEL 
MEM 
who diftinguiftied himfelf, about the middle of the haft 
century, by his eccentric leCtures. See Henley, vol. ix. 
P- 393 . 4 - 
Previous to the laft vifitation by the bilhop of Lincoln, 
the chancel having been new paved, and the old pew-feats 
repaired, a grave-ftone was difcovered, which could not 
have been feen by the hiitorian of the county, and which 
therefore is here tranfcribed : “ Here lies the body of 
Thomas Daffy, A. M. and Mafter of the High School in 
this Town about 40 years. He died May 12, 1716, aged 
67 years. He was a man that did juftice, loved mercy, 
and walked humbly with his God. Micali. vi. 8.” This 
good i'choolmafter was prefented, in 1647, by John earl of 
Rutland, to the rectory of Harby in Leicefterlhire, and af¬ 
terwards by the fame patron, to Redmile in that county. 
The following advertilement, tranfcribed from the Poft- 
boy of Jan. 1, 1707-8, will ihow that he was the inventor 
of a celebrated medicine : “ Daffye’s famous Elixir Sa- 
ljitis, prepared by Catharine Daftye, daughter of Mr. Tho¬ 
mas Daftye, late reCtor of Redmile in the Vale of Belvoir, 
who imparted it to his kinfman, Mr. Anthony Daftye, 
who publifhed the fame to the benefit of the community 
and his own great advantage. The original receipt is now 
in my polfefiion, left to me by my father. My own bro¬ 
ther, Mr. Daniel Daftye, apothecary in Nottingham, made 
this elixir from the fame receipt, and fold it there during 
his life. Thofe who know it will believe what I declare ; 
and thofe who do not, may be convinced that I am no 
counterfeit, by the colour, tafte, fmell, and operation, of 
my elixir. To be had at the Hand and Pen, Maiden-lane, 
Covent-garden.” 
At Burton-Lazars, a hamlet to Melton, about two miles 
from the town, an hofpital, for leprous brethren of the 
Order of St. Auguftine, was founded in the reign of king 
Stephen, by a general collection throughout England, but 
chiefly by the afliftance of Roger de Mowbray. In adopt¬ 
ing this Situation, the founders were probably influenced 
by a bath or fpring, the waters of which were formerly in 
high eftimation for the dilorder called leprofy, and are ftill 
laid to afford conliderable benefit to perfons in lcorbutic 
complaints, A bathing-room and drinking-room were 
built here about the year 1760, for the accommodation of 
vifitors. ISichols's HiJ't. Leicejlerjhire; and Gent. Mag. 
Dec. 1815. 
MELTZ, a town of Bavaria : ten miles north of Bam¬ 
berg. 
MEL'VIL (Sir James), a ftatefman and hiftorian, de¬ 
fended from an honourable family in Scotland, was born 
at Hall-hill, Fifelhire, in 1530. At the age of fourteen, he 
was recommended by the queen-regent to be page to her 
daughter Mary, then wife to the dauphin of France. Af¬ 
ter pafiing fome time in her fervice, Ihe permitted him to 
enter into that of the conftable Montmorenci, who con¬ 
fided fo much in his difcretion, that he fent him over to 
Scotland in 1559, in order to bring back a faithful report 
of the ftate of parties in that kingdom. He remained nine 
years in the employment of that nobleman, and was then 
allowed to travel. He vifited the court of the eleCtor Pa¬ 
latine, who detained him three years, during which he 
was employed in various negotiations with the German 
princes. He then travelled through Italy and Swifferland, 
and returned to the elector’s court, where he found a 
liimmons from Mary, who had now returned to take pof- 
leflion of the crown pf her native country. He followed 
her to Scotland in 1561, was made privy-counfellor, and 
employed confidentially in various important affairs. 
Upon the manifeftation of her unhappy partiality for 
Bothwell after her hulband’s murder, he with true fidelity 
put into her hands a letter from England exprefling the 
unfavourable fentiments there entertained of her condufit, 
and fupported it with his own ftrong-remonftrances. She 
not only difregarded thefe admonitions, but communi¬ 
cated them to Bothwell, in confequence of which Melvil 
was obliged to abfent himfelf from court till the favourite’s 
rage was mollified. When Mary was detained a prifoner 
in England, (lie recommended her faithful fervant to her 
fon James VI. who made ufe of his counfel and fervices 
till he afcended to the throne of England. He w f as always 
the advifer of prudent and moderate mealures, and re¬ 
tained the efteem of his fickle, mafter, who was deiirous of 
taking him to England as one of his minifters ; but Melvil, 
now advanced in years, and void of ambition, preferred a 
retreat to his family feat of Hall-hill, where he died about 
the year 1606. He left in manufcript an hiftorical work, 
which after lying long unknown in the caftle of Edin¬ 
burgh, came into the poffeffion of his grandfon, and was 
publifhed in 1683 in folio, by Geo. Scot, gent, under the 
title of “ Memoirs of Sir James Melvil of Hall-lii!l, con¬ 
taining an impartial Account of the molt remarkable Af¬ 
fairs of State during the laft Age not mentioned by other 
Hiftorians, more particularly relating to the Kingdoms of 
England and Scotland, under the Reigns of Queen Eliza¬ 
beth, Mary queen of Scots, and King James ; in all which 
TranfaCtions the Author was perl’onally and publickly 
concerned.” To this work the reader is referred for more 
information relating to the author ; and alfo to the article 
Scotland. —A brother of fir James was alfo in the fervice 
of Mary, and is probably the fir Andrew Melvil who was 
prelent at her death. 
MELVIN-LOU'GH, a confiderable lake of Ireland, be¬ 
tween the counties of Fermanagh and Leitrim, from 
which a (mail river flows to the Bay of Donegal. 
MELU'ING, a town of Norway, in the diocefe of 
Drontheim: thirty-two miles weft-north-weft of Romfdal. 
MELUN', a city of France, and capital of the depart¬ 
ment of the Seine and Marne, on the Seine; before the 
revolution it contained one collegiate and three parilh 
churches, two convents, two abbeys. It carries on a 
trade with Paris in corn, meal, wine, and cheefe. It is 
five and a quarter polls fouth-eaft of Paris. Lat. 48. 32. N. 
Ion. 2.44. E. 
MEL'YKUT, a town of Hungary : fixteen miles eaft 
of Baja. 
MELY'RIS, /. in entomology, a genus of infeCts of 
the order coleoptera. Generic characters—Antennas en¬ 
tirely perfoliate 5 head infleCted under the thorax ; thorax 
margined; lip clavate, emarginate; jaw one-toothed, 
pointed. This genus was adopted by Gmelin from Fa- 
bricius, who delcribed two fpecies, to which Dr. Turton 
has added a third. 
1. Melyris viridis : green ; Ihells with three raifed lines. 
The antennas are black ; the thorax reflected at the edge, 
and grooved on the back ; the fcutel fmall and round. 
This is fliown on the preceding Plate, at fig. 21. 
2. Melyris niger: black ; Ihells with three raifed lines. 
A fpecimen of this fpecies is in fir Jofeph Banks’s mufeum. 
It is about one-third the fize of the laft. 
3. Melyris lineatus: green; Ihell with three lines, 
and one on each fide the thorax. About half the fize of 
the viridis. 
MEL'ZAR, [Hebrew.] A man’s name. 
MEL'ZEN, or Melt'zen, a town of Saxony, in Thu¬ 
ringia : fix miles fouth of Weiffenfels. 
MEL'ZO, a town of Italy: fourteen miles north-eaft of 
Milan. 
MEM, f. The thirteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. 
MEMAU'N, a town of Perfia, in Choralan : eighteen 
miles eaft-fouth-eaft of Velazgherd. 
MEM'BER, j! [mernbre, Fr. inembrum, Lat.] A limb; 
a part appendant to the body.—It is profitable for thee 
that one of thy members Ihould perilh, and not that thy 
whole body fliould be call into hell. Matthew. 
If lhape it might be call’d, that lhape had none, 
Diftinguifliable in member, joint, or limb. Milton. 
A part of a difeourfe or period ; a head 5 a claufe.—Where 
the refpondent limits or diftinguilhes any propofition, the 
opponent mult prove his own propofition according to that 
member of the diftinCtion in which the refpondent denied 
it. Watts. —Any part of an integral.—In poetry, as in ar¬ 
chitecture., 
