M E T 
In this parifh flood Stevelbolm or Shifliam priory, which 
was given by William earl of Warren, in the reign of 
king Stephen, as a cell to the priory of Caftle Acre. At 
the difl'olution it was granted to the family of Munde- 
ford, and was afterwards conveyed to that of Seabright. 
Beauties of England, vol. xi. 
METH'YE LA'KE, a lake of North America. Lat. 
63. 30. N. Ion. 110. W. 
METHYM'NA (now Porto Pctero), a town of the 
ifland of Le'fbos, which received its name from a daugh¬ 
ter of Macareus. it was the fecond city of the illand in 
greatnels, population, and opulence ; its territory was 
fruitful, and its wines excellent. It was the native place 
of Arion, and of Theophraftus. When the whole ifland 
of Lefbos revolted from the power of the Athenians, 
Methymna alone remained firm to its ancient allies. 
ME'TI, a town of AbyfTmia, near the coaft of the Red 
Sea, Lat. 13.30. N. Ion. 42. 30. E. 
ME'TI. See Meth) p. 255. 
METIADU'SA, a daughter of Eupalamus, who mar¬ 
ried Cecrops, by whom fire had Pandion. Apollodorus. 
METICULOSTTY, f. [from meticulous.] Timorouf- 
nefs. Not ufed. 
METIC'ULOUS, udj. [mcticulofus , Lat.] Timorous; 
fearful. Cole. 
ME'TIENT, udj. [from the Lat. metior, to meafure.] 
Meafuring. Cole. 
METJM'CUS, two iflands of United America, near 
the coaft of Main. Lat. 43.50. N. Ion. 68. ij.W. 
MET'IMIN, a town of Ruflia, near the Pacific Ocean. 
Lat. 64. 55. N. Ion. 186. 34. E. 
ME'TING, f. The aft of meafuring. 
ME'TION, a foil of Erechtheus king of Athens. He 
married Alcippe, daughter of Mars and Agraulos. His 
Tons drove Pandion from the throne of Athens, and 
were afterwards expelled by Pandion’s children. Apollo¬ 
dorus. 
ME'TIS, in fabulous hiflory, one of the Oceanides. 
She was Jupiter’s firft wife, celebrated for her great pru¬ 
dence and fagacity above the reft of the gods. Jupiter, 
who was afraid left fhe fliould bring forth into the world 
a child greater than himfelf, devoured her in the firft 
month of her pregnancy. Some time after this, the god 
had his head opened, from which illued Minerva armed 
from head to foot. 
METITCHE', or Mettiji'ah, a plain in the territory 
of Algiers, which commences about half a mile north-eafl 
of the city, and ftretches fifty Englifh miles in length, 
and twenty in breadth, as far as the branch of Mount 
Atlas, at the foot of which lies the town of Belida. This 
plain is well cultivated and well watered, and is in this 
refpeft fuperior to the other diftribts of the kingdom. It 
is juflly reckoned, as Shaw fays, the garden of the whole 
‘ kingdom. 
ME'TIUS, the name of feveral Romans. 
ME'TIUS (Adrian), a celebrated Dutch mathematical 
profeffor at the clofe of the iixteenth and in the early part 
of the feventeenth century, was a native of Alkmaer; 
but of the date either of his birth or death we have no 
account. He purfued his ftudies at fome German uni- 
verfity; and, after teaching the mathematics there for 
feveral years with great reputation, became profeifor of 
thofe’fciences at the univerlity of Franeker. He was the 
author of, 1. DoCtrinse Sphsericse Lib. V. 1591, 8vo. 2. 
Altronomiae univerfae Inititutio Lib. III. 1605, 8vo. 3. 
Arithmetics et Geometries pra&ica, &c. 1611, 4to. 
4. Geometrices per ufum Circini nova Praxis, 1623, 8vo. 
5. De gemino Ufu utriufque Globi, 1611, 4to. 6. Primum 
Mobile, aftronomice, fciagraphice, geometrice, et hydro- 
graphice, explicatum, 1611, 4to. 
He had a brother, named James Marius, for whom 
he claimed the honour of having been the firft inventor 
of the telelcope ; in which he is miftakenly followed by 
Des Cartes. However, Borelli’s account of the dilcovery 
of that inftrument is fo circumftantial, and fo well au- 
Vol. XV. No. 1041. 
M E T 2G9 
thenticated, as to render it very probable that Zacharias 
Janfen, a fpeCtacl e-maker at Middleburg in Zealand, was 
the original inventor; and he adds, that James Metius 
came with Urebel to Middleburg, and there purchafed 
telefcopes of Janfen’s children, who had made them pub¬ 
lic. Ilut.ton's Math. Did-. 
MET'KERKE, or Mee'tkercke (Adolphus), a juriffc 
and man of letters, was born of a good family at Bruges 
in 1528. He was of the protefrant perfuafion, and fpent 
the greateft part of his life in the fervice of the revolted 
ftates of the Low-Countries, in the quality of counfellor 
of flate, and envoy to foreign potentates. He was in the 
latter ftation at the court of queen Elizabeth, when he 
died at London in 1591, of grief, it was fuppofed, on ac¬ 
count of the lofs of his fon Nicholas, an aCtive com¬ 
mander, before Deventer. Adolphus was a man of ac¬ 
curate and extenfive learning, and the author of the fol¬ 
lowing works : 1. A Tranflation, with Annotations, of 
fome Pieces of Theocritus, Bion, and Molchus. 2. Latin 
Poems. 3. A Treatife in Latin on the true Pronuncia¬ 
tion of the Greek Language. 4. A Collection of the 
Proceedings at the Peace concluded at Cologne in 1579. 
He alfo afiilted in the Lives of the Caefars ; the Medals of 
Magna Grsecia ; and the Fafti Confulares; publiihed by 
Goltziusi 
He appears to have been an ornament and delight of 
the age in which he lived, fecond to none in literary ac- 
complifhments, and polfefling one of the molt amiable and 
benevolent of hearts. His clomeftic name was Adolphus 
a Meetkercke,. i. e. of Meetkercke. Foppens, in his Bi¬ 
bliotheca Belgica, 1739, has preferved a portrait of this 
illullrious Flemilh fcholar, engraved by Larmeflin, from 
which our plate has been copied; and from his account 
of him, it fliould leem, that his being appointed ambaf- 
fador to the court of England mult have been particu¬ 
larly pleafing to him, lince he had chofen before to make 
this country his refidence, to avoid the troubles of his 
own. The family, as it appears, is Itill fubfilting in Eng¬ 
land ; for the author of a work entitled Metronari/ioii, 
(1797,) who ftyles himfelf a difciple of Mekerchus, lays, 
“ I have, by the mediation of a friend, had the pleafure 
of a communication with Adolphus Meetkerke, efq. of 
Julians, near B.untingford, in Hertfordlhire, the fixth of 
the name, and fifth defeendant in a direct line from his 
great progenitor, fir Adolphus Meetkerke, the ambaifador 
of Flanders; and who has been pleafed to enable me to 
correCt an error I was led into by one of the books I con- 
fulted. Sir Adolphus was not buried in St. Paul’s, as 
fome accounts Hate, but in the church of St. Botolph, 
Alderlgate ; and, at the re-building of that church, his 
monument, which had on it a very long Latin infeription, 
was conveyed to the family-feat at Julians, but too much 
damaged, in the taking down and the removal, to be again 
ereCted. Mr. Meetkerke is in polfefiion of, among others, 
a very valuable relic of his anceltors in a folio manulcript 
of Greek and Latin poetry by fir Adolphus ; with addi¬ 
tions by his foil Adolphus, who died without iflue, and 
by his fon Edward, D. D. of Clirill-church college, Ox¬ 
ford, profeffor of Hebrew in that univerlity, and preben¬ 
dary of Winchelter: which manulcript the polfeffor of it 
may, perhaps, at a future day permit to be publiihed; 
lhould prejudice be now more inclined than it was two 
centuries ago to give way to the recommended prolodic 
doctrine, and to let the character of its author, as a reftorer 
of the Greek language, rife to the level due to it in the 
republic of letters.” Gent. Mag. April 1797. 
MET'LA, J'. An American plant: 
He that has the metla, may fuppiy 
Himfelf with almolt all things he can want 
From met la's almolt all-fulficient plant. Tate's Cowley. 
MET'NITZ, a river of the duchy of Carinthia, which 
runs into the Gurck four miles ealt of Stralburg. 
MET'LING. SeeMoDLiNG. 
MET'OCFIE, in ancient architecture, a term ufed by 
3 Z Vitruvius, 
