M E S 
184 
the medlar-tree. In the middle of the fruit is a fubftance 
in the form of a heart, white, fprinkled with black feeds ; 
this the inhabitants eat: underneath are two thick leaves, 
as red as blood ; and, beneath thefe, five other leaves of 
a greenifh colour; having together a very pretty effedf. 
The leaves of the tree are very much like thofe of the 
Mefpilus Americana, alni vel coryli foliis frudtu muca- 
ginofo albo, of the Hort. Amft. Part I. but the defcription 
in that work is fo fhort, that I cannot decide.” We do 
not find that this fpecies has been referred to in any 
of our fyftematical works on botany; but we think there 
can be little doubt of its being rightly placed here. Mad. 
Merian found on this tree the caterpillar of the Papilio 
Menelaus, which fhe carried home, and kept it till it 
palled through its transformations, and became an ele¬ 
gant butterfly, as reprelented, together with this fpecies 
of Mefpilus,' on the annexed Plate. 
Propagation ancl Culture. All thefe forts are hardy 
enough to thrive in the open air in England, and fome 
of them are very ornamental plants for gardens, where, 
during the fealon of their flowering, they will make a 
fine appearance; and again, in autumn, when their fruit 
is ripe, they will afford an agreeable variety, and their 
fruit will be food for the deer and birds; if clumps of 
each fort are planted in different parts of the garden, 
nothing can be more ornamental. 
The American kinds are ufually propagated in the 
' nurferies, by grafting or budding them upon the com¬ 
mon white thorn ; but the plants fo propagated will never 
grow to half the fize of thofe which are propagated by 
feeds; fo that thofe plants fhould always be cholen which 
have not been grafted or budded, but are upon their 
own roots. 
But there are many who objeft to railing the plants 
from feeds, on account of their feeds not growing the firft 
year, as alfo from the tedioufnefs of the plant’s growth 
after; but, where a perfion can furnifh himfelf with the 
fruit in autumn, and take out their feeds loon after they 
are ripe, putting them into the ground immediately, the 
plants will come up the following lpring; if they are 
kept clean from weeds, and in very dry weather fupplied 
with water, they will make good progrefs; but, if they 
are planted in the places where they are to remain alter 
two years growth from feeds, they will lucceed much 
better than when the plants are of greater age; the 
ground fhould be well trenched, and cleanfed from the 
roots of all bad weeds. The befc time to tranlplant them 
is in autumn, when their leaves fall off; they fhould be 
conftantiy kept clean from weeds, and, if the ground 
between the plants is dug every winter, it will greatly 
encourage the growth of the plants, fb that, if they are 
cleaned three or four times in the fummer, it'will be 
fufficient. 
All the forts of Mefpilus and Cratsegus will take, by 
budding or grafting upon each other; they will alio take 
upon the quince or pear flocks, and both thele will take 
upon the medlars; fo that thefe have great affinity with 
each other. See Crattegus and Ehretia. 
MESPRI'SE,_/! [mejprijhr, Fr.] Contemptuous flight: 
Then, if all fayle, we will by force it win, 
And eke reward the wretch for his mejprij’e , 
As may be worthy of his hainous lin. Spenfer. 
And Ate eke provokt him privily 
With love of her, and lhame of fuch mefprize. Spenfer. 
MESS, f. [mejfo, Ital. mijjus, Lat. mepe, Sax. a dilh.] A 
dilh; a quantity of food lent to table together.—I had as 
lief you fhould tell me of a mej's of porridge. ShakeJ'pearc. 
Herbs and other country mefies, 
Which the neat-handed Pluiiis drefles. Milton. 
A particular company of the officers or crew of a fliip, 
who eat, drink, and affociate, together; whence niejs- 
vuite, denoting one of thefe with refpebl to another. 
M E S 
To MESS, v.n. To eat; to feed. 
MES'SA, a town of Morocco, fituated on the river Sus, 
not far from the Atlantic, at the foot of the Atlas. It is 
lai-ge, and divided into three parts, and furrounded with 
walls. Near it is a mofque, in which are the bones of a 
whale, which the inhabitants confider as thofe of the 
whale which fwallowed Jonah. It is 165 miles fouth-wefl 
of Morocco. Lat. 29. 56. N. 
MESSAC', a town of France, in the department of the 
Ille and Vilaine: four miles weft of Bain, and fifteen 
north-north-eafl of Redon. 
MESS'AGE, f. [French.] An errand ; any thing com¬ 
mitted to another to be told to a third.—Let the minifler 
be low, his intereft inconfiderable, the world will fuffer 
for his fake; the mcjj'age will ftill find reception according- 
to the dignity of the meflenger. South. 
The welcome mejfage made, was foon receiv’d ; 
’Twas to be wifh’d and hop’d, but fcarce believ'd. Dnjclen, 
MESSA'LA (Marcus Valerius Corvinus), an illuftrious 
Roman, of an ancient and noble family. The wife laws 
enabled by the patriotic Publius Valerius Poplicola, in 
the year of Rome 244.; the fuccefs which Marcus Vale¬ 
rius had in a Angle combat with a Gaul of gigantic fta- 
ture in the year 404, by the afliftance of a raven called 
Corvus ; and the capture of Me/Jana, under the conduit 
of Valerius Flaccus the conful," are known to the molt 
fuperficial readers of Roman hiitory. The two laft cir- 
cumltances gave to the Valerian family the honourable 
names of Corvinus and Mejjala. From the earlielt period 
of Rome, the Valerian family poflefied and adorned the 
higheft honours of the ftate. The fubjeft of this article 
diltinguilhed himfelf in youth by his eloquence and pa- 
triotilin, and joined the republican army under Brutus 
and Calfius againft the triumvirs. He is deferibed in very 
high terms by Cicero, in a letter to Brutus, as being al- 
moft unequalled for integrity, conftancy, and the affection 
which he difplayed for the commonwealth. Of his elo¬ 
quence, Quintilian lays, “ it is l’plendid, fair, and bearing 
the llamp of his nobility.” At the battle of Philippi he 
had a diltinguilhed command, and with his legion was the 
firft that turned the left wing commanded by Oblavianus 
Csefar. After the death of the two republican chiefs, he 
made his peace with the vibtor, and, according to one of 
the hiltorians of Rome, there was no circumftance of the 
viblory more pleafing to Auguftus than the prefervation 
of Meifala, nor did any man ever give proof of greater 
attachment and gratitude than Meifala. Yet, to his ho¬ 
nour, it is afierted, that he never, and on no occaiion, 
was backward in lhowing his regard to the memory of 
his earlier friends, and his decided preference of their 
caufe. When he recommended Strato to Auguftus, he 
faid, with tears flowing from his eyes, “ This, fir, is the 
man who performed the laft kind office for my beloved 
friend Brutus;” and at another time, when C as far re¬ 
manded him that he had been no lei’s zealous for him at 
Actium, than againji him at Philippi, he anfwered, “ I 
always efpoufed the moil juft fide of every queftion.” In 
the year 31 B.C. lie was the emperor’s colleague in the 
confulate, and was fent as his legate into Afia a year or 
two afterwards. I11 37 he obtained a triumph over the 
Aquitanians : after this, he for a Ihort time held the of¬ 
fice of prefebl, which he reiigned, finding it ill adapted 
to his habits. He was addicted to literary purfuits, and 
was a patron of literary perfons, particularly of Tibullus, 
who commemorates him in his elegies, and lias left an 
exprels panegyric upon him. In old age he compofed 
a work De Familiis Romanis , cited by Pliny. At the age 
of leventy-five, about two years prior to his deceafe, the 
faculties of his mind underwent a total decay, and his 
memory fb completely failed him, that he forgot his own 
name. This condition, fo humiliating to human nature, 
though it has never been latisfaftorily fiolved, may afford 
a ufetul leffon to mankind, and teach them not to be too 
proud of their fo-much boalted reafon, when they call to 
mind 
