M E S 
M E S 
In a word. That this glorious perfon fliould-be regarded 
by all who believed in him as a divine teacher, an atoning 
facririce, and a royal governor : by means of whom God 
would make a covenant with his people, very different 
from that made with Ifrael of old ; in confequence of 
which they fhould be reftored to, and eftabliflred in, the 
divine favour, and fixed in a ftate of perpetual happinefs. 
See Christ and Christianity, vol. iv. 
The Jews, as was already ©bferved, ftill wait for the 
coming of the Meffiah, being impreffed with the notion 
of a temporal Melliah, who is to be a mighty conqueror, 
and to lubdue ail the world. Mod of the modern rabbins, 
according to Buxtorf, believe that the Meffiah is already 
come, but that he keeps liimfelf concealed, and will not 
manifeff liimfelf becaufe of the fins of the Jews. Some of 
the Jews, however, in order to reconcile thole prophecies 
that feem to contradict each other as to the character 
and condition of the Meffiah, have had recourfe to the 
hypothefis of two Meffiahs, who are yet to fucceed each 
other; one in a ftate of humiliation and buffering ; the 
other of glory, lplendor, and power. The firft,'.they fay, 
is to proceed from the tribe of Ephraim, who is to fight 
againft Gog, and to be llain by Annilius, (Zech. xii. io.) 
The iecond is to be of the tribe of Judah, and lineage 
of David, who is to conquer and kill Annilius, and reftore 
the kingdom of Ifrael, reigning over it in the liigheft 
glory and felicity. 
Jefus Chrift aiferts himfelf to be the Meffiah. In St. John 
iv. 25. the Samaritan woman fays to Jefus, 1 know that 
when Mefiias comes, which is called Chrijl, he will tell us 
all things. Jefus anfwered her, I that/peak to thee am he. 
There are feveral impoftors, who have endeavoured to 
pafs for Meffiahs, as Chrift himfelf predicted; Matth. 
xxiv. 24. J. Lent, a Dutchman, has written a hiftory 
De PJ'eudo Mcjfiis, “ Of Falfe Meffiahs.” The firft he 
mentions was one Barcocmeah, who appeared under the 
empire of Adrian. The laft was Rabbi Mordecai, who 
began to be talked of in 1682. A little before him, viz. 
in 1666, appeared Sabatei Sevi, who was taken by the 
Turks, and turned Mahometan. See thof'e articles. 
MESS'JEURS, f. [Fr. plural of vionjieur .] Sirs; gen¬ 
tlemen. 
MESSIGNY', a town of France, in the department of 
the Cote d’Or: fix miles north of Dijon. 
MESSILO'NES. See Muscle Bay. 
MESSI'NA, a city and feaport of Sicily, in the valley 
of Demona, the fee of an archbifliop, fituated on the ealt 
coaft towards the narrow lea, called The Straits of Mef- 
fina. This city was formerly called Zaticle, which appel¬ 
lation fome derive from the old Sicilian word zanclos, 
fignifying a hook ; the fhore on which it was built being 
of that fhape s others think it was fo called from one 
Zanclus, who reigned in that part of the ifland. But 
however that be, this city, according to the chronolo- 
gifts, was founded 530 years before the fiege of Troy ; 
and 964 before Romulus laid the foundation of Rome. 
The inhabitants of this city, being greatly haraffed by the 
pirates of Cuma, had recourfe to the Meffenians, a people 
of Greece; who, haliening to the afliltance of the Zan- 
cleans, cleared their coalts, entered into an alliance with 
the citizens, and fettled in their city, which was from 
them called by the Greeks MeJJ'ene , and by the Latins 
Mejfana. Pauianias tells us, that Anaxilas, tyrant of 
Rhegium, having entered into an alliance with the Mef¬ 
fenians of Greece againft the Zancieans, overthrew their 
forces, and, with the afiiftance of his allies, poffeffed him¬ 
felf of their city, which, in compliment to the Meffe¬ 
nians who had alii fled him in this expedition, he called 
Meffene. See the article Greece, vol. viii. p. 846. This 
event is mentioned alfo by Herodotus, who. afcribes all 
the glory of it to the Samians, the allies of Anaxilas, or, 
as he calls him, Anaiiilaus. This city was afterwards 
feized by the Mamertini, and made their capital; by 
which means it became one of the moll wealthy and 
powerful cities of Sicily, it was the firft town which 
, Vol. XV. No. 1034. 
189 
the Romans ..poffeffed in the ifland, being put into their 
hands by the Mamertini. In the firft Punic war it was 
taken by the Carthaginians. Under the Romans, Mef- 
lina long enjoyed peace, and was fpared by the rapacious 
Verres. In the civil wars it took part with Sextus P.o.m- 
peius. It was about two years in pofleffion of the Sara¬ 
cens; and, in 1060, was taken by Roger count of Gala-; 
bria, who called himfelf alfo Count of Sicily. After the 
maffacre of the French, it Hood a liege againft that peo¬ 
ple, and held out till relieved by Peter of Arragon. In 
1139, Richard I. king of England, in his way to the Holy 
Land, being infulted by the inhabitants, took the city by 
affault. In 1674, it was betrayed to Louis XIV. king of 
France, by whom, however, it could not be maintained. 
In the 17th century, the number of inhabitants at Mef- 
fina was ellimated at 100,000. In 1741, it fullered by 
the plague, which was followed by the lmall-pox; and 
by thefe two dileafes the population is faid to have been 
reduced to 30,000. In 1780, it buffered much by an 
earthquake ; and, in 1783, was half deftroyed by the 
fame calamity ; lince which it has been rebuilt, and the 
llreets made more fpacious and handfome •• the houfes 
are like palaces, but they have wifely built them only 
two ftories high for fear of future fliocks, learning from 
experience that the upper ftories only are in general de- 
fl/oyed. The Palazzata, a row of magnificent buildings, 
following the gentle bendings of the lhore, was thrown 
down by the earthquake, and is hardly yet rebuilt. The 
churches and convents are numerous, and generally ele¬ 
gant, with conliderable incomes. The archbifliop’s pa¬ 
lace is large and well built. The general hofpital, called 
La Loggia, is one of the moll beautiful public buildings 
in the city ; befides which there is alfo a large and rich 
hofpital, and near it is a fpacious well-built Lombard- 
houfe, under good regulations. The haven which Charles 
VI. made a free-port, is certainly one of the finelt in Eu¬ 
rope. The citadel is built at the extremity of a grove 
of elms and poplars. In the middle of a haven are the 
light-houfe and lazaretto, where the feamen from the 
Levant perform quarantine. The population is at pre- 
fent ellimated at 36,000. The air is healthy, and, com¬ 
pared with the reft of Sicily, is reckoned cool. The 
trade of the city has declined very much, yet is ftill con- 
fiderable, efpecially fince the year 1728, when it was 
declared a free port. An annual fair is held here in Au- 
gult, at which great quantities of foreign goods are ex- 
pofed to fale. 
Lieutenant-general Cockburne, in his “ Voyage to Sicily 
and Malta,” 1815, fpeaks in animated terms of the view 
of Meffina from the lea .—“ I cannot too often repeat the 
beauty of the country round Meffina, which is never 
better enjoyed than on-board a man-of-war one mile 
from fhore. To behold this city from the lea, its beau¬ 
tiful harbour, the winding ftreights extending for miles 
from the Faro to St. Placido, its feveral capes and pro- 
montaries, the chains of mountains behind Meffina of 
moil irregular forms, forts Gonzago and Caftellacia, with 
Antena Mara, next in height to Etna, crowning the 
whole ; in lhort, an affemblage of. mountains, water, and 
orange-groves, with a fine city, convents, and villages, 
all comprifed in one view that cannot be furpaffed. But, 
as the fun declines, and llrikes on Calabria, new and rich 
tints with, different lhades appear. The wild fublimity of 
thefe mountains, the lights which at this time difplay, the 
diftant foreils, with range behind range of all forms and 
fliapes, conftitute a feene at once magnificent, beautiful, 
and fublime.” 
Meffina claims the prerogative of being ftyled the ca¬ 
pital of the kingdom, but Palermo diiputes this point of 
precedency with it. In the trealury of the cathedral 
is preferved the palladium of Meffina, a letter from the. 
Virgin Mary to its citizens. This is the title upon which 
the Meffinefe build their preteniions to pre-eminence 
over the whole ifland, nay over the whole world ; to its 
virtues and patronage they attribute every piece of good 
3 C fortune. 
4 
