M E S 
•pvefide9, is compofed of four judges, who fuperintend the 
prefervation of the privileges belonging to the mella, 
They levy upon the fhepherds and their flocks, pontage, 
parcage, and other tolls; they fettle the difputcs and 
quarrels among the fhepherds ; direft the route the flocks 
ought to take in their journeys to and from the moun¬ 
tains ; regulate what occurs on their pafljige ; fettle what 
refpedfs their pafturage ; in a word, they adjuft every con¬ 
cern in which the meftacan be fuppofed interefted in the 
flighted: degree. The proprietors of flocks, and even the 
fhepherds, poffefs, to a certain extent, a power of-commit- 
ment, which they very frequently abufe. They have the 
improper privilege of citing all kinds of perfons, of what¬ 
ever age or condition, before the Council of Mefla, under 
a fuppofition, or pretence, that their altercations, or bu- 
finefs, have fome connexion, however diftant, with the 
jurifdiCtion of its court. 
The public opinion throughout Spain is decidedly op- 
pofed to the mefla, againft the vexatious circumftances 
to which it continually gives rife, and the conftant obfta- 
cles it throws in the w'ay of agricultural improvements. 
In faft, the grievances ariiing from its effects are numer¬ 
ous and fevere. 
1. The number of perfons it employs is very great, 
forty or fifty thoufand ; which are fo many fubjefts loft 
to the ftate, as to the purpofes of agriculture and popula¬ 
tion ; and this takes place principally in thofe provinces 
where the ftrength requilite for the cultivation of the foil 
is mod deficient. 
2. An immenfe extent of highly-valuable land is con¬ 
verted into pafturage ; and produces comparatively no¬ 
thing. The confequence is, that the inhabitants of fucli 
places find no employ, nor means of providing for their 
wants ; they are refufed the neceflary articles for the lup- 
port of life, becaufe the lands on which they might be 
grown do not produce them. 
3. The cultivated lands, which lie near the route the 
flocks take in their journeys to and from the mountains, 
are fubjefil to continual trelpafs, which is committed with 
impunity ; for in vain do the owners of thofe lands appeal 
againft fuch abufes and folicit indemnity. The damages 
luftained on thefe occafions is fo much greater, owing to 
the fealons of the year in which the journeyings of the 
flocks are made. The firft is when the corn is generally 
far advanced in its growth ; and the fecond when the vines 
are loaded with grapes. 
4. The commonable paftures alfo, which are in the line 
of the route, are equally devaftated; fo that the flocks 
belonging to places in the vicinity can fcarcely find a bare 
fubfiftence. 
5. The flocks which compofe the mefla are unprofitable 
for agricultural purpofes; for, never being folded upon 
the arable lands, they confequently contribute nothing 
towards their fertilization. 
6. The directors and fhepherds are dreaded in every 
place through which they pafs ; for they exercife a molt 
infufferable defpotifm, the confequence of the improper 
privilege they poifefs of bringing whoml’oever they may 
choofe to infult before the tribunal of the mefla ; whole 
decifions are almoft invariably in favour of its fervants. 
Thefe grievances have for time immemorial excited 
the moft forcible protellations againft them ; the general 
ftates of the realm have inceffantly requefted the fup- 
preffion of the mefla, and the complaints and addreffes of 
the people have been repeatedly prefented at the foot of 
the throne. For a long leries of years all appeals upon the 
fubjeCt were in vain. They at length, however, became 
fo loud and preffing, towards the middle of the eighteenth 
century, that the government found itfelf obliged to pay 
fome attention to the fubjeft. A committee was formed 
to make the requifite inquiry, Whether it were more eli¬ 
gible for public utility to continue or fupprefs the mefla ? 
and, provided the committee fliould determine on the 
former meafure, what modifications might be proper to 
adopt for its better regulation. The perfons interefted 
V.Ot. XV. Mo. 1035. 
M E S 193 
were very powerful, and they made fure of evading this 
wife dilpofition for remedying the evils of the mefla. 
The committee, though permanently eftablifhed, have 
done nothing thefe forty years. Affairs remain in juft 
the fame ftate; and, as it too frequently happens, the 
intereft of a few individuals 'ftill obtains the advantage 
over the public good. Laborde's View of Spain, voi. iv. 
See the article Ovis. 
MKS'TERO, a cape on the north coal! of Egypt: ten 
miles north-eaft of Rofetta. Lat. 31.25. N. Ion. 30. 54. E. 
MES'TI, a town of Auftrian Poland, in Galicia: fix 
miles eaft-fouth-eaft of Belcz. 
MESTINEK', a town of Brandenburg, in the. Middle 
Mark : five miles fouth of Brandenburg. 
MESTI'ZOS, f. The breed of the Spaniards with the 
native Americans. 
MES'TO. See KaRASix, vol. xi. p. 632. 
MES'TR A, a town in the Trevifan: fifteen miles north- 
eaft of Padua, and eight north-weft of Venice. 
MES'TRE (Little), a bay on the north-eaft part of 
Newfoundland Ifland, fouth of St. Julian, and north-by- 
welt of the iflands Gros and Belle. 
MESTREZAT' (John), a celebrated minifler among 
the Proteftants in France, was defcended from a refpeft- 
able family, and born at Geneva in the year 159a. He 
was fent when very young to the academy of Saumur, 
where he afforded luch evidence of his abilities and profi¬ 
ciency, that he was offered a profeifiorfhip in philofbphy 
when he was only eighteen years of age. When he was 
about twenty-two, he prefented himfelf to the fynod atr 
Charenton as a candidate for the miniftry, and difplayed 
fo much learning and ingenuity in his exercifes on that 
occafion, that the church of Charenton chofe to retain 
him in their fervice. The wifdom of this choice was af¬ 
terwards fufficiently manifefted, by the fuperior fkill 
which he difcovered in defending the proteflant caufe 
againft the catholic clergy, his fpirit and addrefs in dif¬ 
ferent deputations to which he was nominated, and the 
great excellence of his pulpit compofitions, and other 
writings. Bayle fays, that there are no fermons which 
contain a more fublime theology than thofe which he 
preached upon the Epiftle of St. Paul to the Hebrews. 
He conducted the controverfy concerning the authority 
of the fcripture, and the authority of the church, with 
peculiarly-forcible reafoning, and completely refuted all 
the fubtilties of father Regourd and cardinal Perron on 
thofe important fubjefits. M. Meftrezat died in 1657, 
when about fixty-five years of age. He was. the author 
of, 1. A Treatife on the Holy Scripture, in which is fhown 
the Certainty and Fulnefs of the Faith, and its Independ¬ 
ence on the Authority of the Church, 1632, 8vo. 2. A 
Treatife on the Church, 1649, 4to. 3. An Expofition on 
the Firft Epiftle of St. John, infi Courfe of Sermons, 1651, 
2 vols. 8vo. 4. An Expoiitioa on the Epiftle to the He¬ 
brews, in a Courfe of Sermons, 1655, 5 vols. 8vo. 5. Ser¬ 
mons preached on different Subjefts, 1625, 1636, 8vo. 6. 
On Communion with Jefus Chriftin the Sacrament of the 
Eucharilt, 1625, 8vo. 
He had a nephew, named Philip Mestrezat, who 
was a minifler, and a celebrated profelfor of divinity at 
Geneva; but he left no productions behind him, except¬ 
ing fome controveriial pieces againft Socinus and the Ca¬ 
tholics. Bai/le. 
MESXU'RA, a town of Africa, in the kingdom of Tunis. 
MES'UA, a town of Arabia, in the province of Yemen : 
forty miles north of Chamir, 
MES'lJA, f. [faid to be named by Linnams, in honour 
of Mcfuer -the father and fon, two celebrated Arabian 
phyficians and botanifts, who refided at Damafcus, and 
who flouriflied in the eighth and ninth centuries. The 
works of the younger Mefiie, medical and botanical, were 
publiihed in folio, with annotations, at Venice, in 1581.] 
In botany, a genus of the clafs monadelphia, order poly- 
andria, natural order guttiferae, Julf. Generic characters 
—Calyx: perianthium inferior, of four, ovate, concave, 
l D obtule a 
