M E Z 
upon religious topics; but in his laft illnefs his early im- 
preffions recurred, and he defined his friends to forget his 
impieties, and to recollect “ that Mezerai dying was more 
to be believed than Mezerai in health.” 
There are many miftak.es in his hiftories, which have 
been partly corrected in fucceftive editions. Of the Hif- 
toire de France, the fecond edition, in 3 vols. fob 1685, is 
more correCt and ample than the firft ; but feveral of the 
freeft paflages have been fupprelled. Of the Abrege, the 
lateft edition is of 1755, in 14 vols. nmo: in this, the 
fuppreffed paflages are reftored. Mezerai alfo wrote, 3. 
Traite de l’Origine des Francois, a work much valued for 
its erudition. 4. L’Hiftoire-' des Turcs, depuis 1612 
jufqu’en 1649, fol. 4. A tranflation of John of Salilbury 
De Nngis Curialium ; and of Grotius De Veritate Relig. 
Chrift. A number of fatirical pieces againft the govern¬ 
ment, publiflied under the name of Sandricourt, are alfo 
attributed to him. 
MEZE'REON, f. A fpecies of fpurge laurel. See 
Daphne. — -Mezereon is common in our gardens, and on 
the Alps and Pyrenean mountains; every part of this 
ftirub is acrid and pungent, and inflames the mouth and 
throat. Hill. 
MEZ'IDON, a town of France, in the department of 
the Calvados: eleven miles weft-fouth-weft of Lifleux, 
and thirteen fouth-eaft of Caen. 
MEZIE'RES, a town of France, in the department of 
the Ardennes. It is a ftrong town, iituated on an ifland 
formed by the river Meul’e, over which it has tw'o bridges 
with a citadel: two miles fouth of Charleville. Lat. 49. 
46. N. Ion. 4. 47. E. 
MEZIE'RES, a town of France, in the department of 
the Mofelle: five miles north of Metz, and nine fouth of 
Thionville. 
MEZIE'RES, a town of France, in the department of 
the Upper Vienne, and chief place of a canton, in the dif- 
trifit of Bellac. The place contains 1313, and the canton 
9107, inhabitants. 
MEZIE'RES EN BREN'NE, a town of France, in the 
department of the Indre, and chief place of a canton, in 
the diftrift of Le Blanc. The place contains 1338, and 
the canton 7084, inhabitants, in nine communes. 
MEZIL'LE, a town of France, which runs into the 
Loir near Montargis. 
MEZIL'LES, a town of France, in the department of 
the Yonne :• fix miles north-eaft of St. Fargeau. 
MEZIN', a town of France, in the department of the 
Lot and Garonne : fix miles fouth-fouth-weft of Nerac, 
and feven north-weft of Condom. Lat. 44. 3. N. Ion. 
o. 20. E. 
MEZIRIAC' (Claude-Gafpard Bachet de), was born 
in 1581, of a noble family at Bourg-en-Brefle. He en¬ 
tered among the Jefuits, and at the age of twenty was 
profeflor of rhetoric at their houfe in Milan. Want of 
health induced him to quit the fociety ; and he palled 
much of his time at Paris and Rome in literary purfuits. 
His reputation caufed him to be mentioned for preceptor 
of Louis XIII. but his apprehenlion of fucli a burthen- 
fome office induced him to quit Paris, and retire to his 
native place. The French Academy nominated him a 
member during his abfence, and he lent his acknowledg¬ 
ment in a difcourfe read to the alfembly by Vaugelas. He 
married, and had feveral children ; and died at Bourg-en- 
Brefle in 1638. Meiziriac was a man of great and various 
erudition. He wrote verfes in French, Latin, and Ita¬ 
lian; was a profound Greek fcholar, an excellent gram¬ 
marian and critic, a philolopher, theologian, and mathe¬ 
matician. He publiflied, 1. Problemes plaifans et delec- 
tables qui fe font par les Nombres, 1613; of which an 
augmented edition was printed in 1624. 2. Diophanti 
Alexandrini Arithmeticorum Lib. VI. & de Numeris mul- 
tangulis Lib. I. 1621, folio; tranflated from the Greek, 
with commentaries : of this work a new edition was given 
by Fermat in 1670. 3. La Vie d’Efope, 1632. In this he 
refutes the fables of Planudes concerning Efop, and en- 
M HA 315 
deavours to prove that he was in no refpeCt deformed ’ 
4. Eight of Ovid’s Heroic Epiftles tranflated into French 
Verfe, with Commentaries. The notes are more valued 
than the verfion. 5. A Treatife on Tribulation, tranflated 
from the Italian of Cacciaguerra. 6 . Epiltolae et Poemata 
varia. Bayle. 
MEZOU'R, a town of Afia, in the country of Canda- 
har: lixty-three miles north-eaft of Candahar. 
MEZTIT'LAN, a town of Mexico : twenty-five mile* 
north of Mexico. 
MEZ'UZOTH, /! Certain pieces of parchment which 
the jews fix to the door-pofts of their houfes, taking that 
literally which Mofes commands them, Dent. vi. “ Thou 
(halt never forget the laws of thy God, but thoujhalt write 
them upon the pojls. of thy houfe, and on thy gates.'' This 
expreffion probably means, “ Thou lhalt always remem¬ 
ber them, whether thou comeft into thy houle or goeft 
out.” But the Hebrew dofitors imagined, that the law¬ 
giver meant fomething more than this ; and they pre¬ 
tended that, to avoid making themfelves ridiculous, by 
writing the commandments of God without their doors, 
or rather to avoid expofing themfelves to the profana¬ 
tion of the wicked, they ought at le^ft to write them on 
a parchment, and to enclofe it in fomething. Therefore 
they wrote thefe words upon a lquare piece of parchment 
prepared on purpofe, with a particular ink, and a fquare 
kind of character: Hear, O IJrael ; the Lord our God is one 
Lord, See. Deut. vi. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Then they left a little 
fpace, and afterwards went on, And itjhall come to pa/’s, if 
thoujhalt hearken diligently to my commandments.. See. as far 
as, 'Fhoujhalt write them upon the door-pojis of thy houfe, See. 
Deut. xi. 13. After this they rolled up the parchment, 
and put it into a cafe of reeds or other matter; they wrote 
on the end of the cafe the word Shaddai, which is one 
of the names of God; and they put it at the doors of 
their houfes, chambers, and all places moll frequented ; 
they fixed it to the knocker of the door, on the right 
fide; and, as often as they entered in or went out, they 
touched it in this place, with the end of the finger, which 
they afterwards killed out of devotion. The Hebrew word 
mezuza properly lignifies “ the door-pofts of a houfe;” but 
it is alio given to this roll of parchment now mentioned. 
MEZZA'B. See Beni Mezzab, vol. ii. 
MEZZA'NA, a town of the ifland of Corfica: twelve 
miles weft of Corte. 
MEZZANI'NE, f. in architecture, an attic, or little 
llory, contrived occalionally over the firft ftory, for the 
conveniency of a wardrobe, or the like. The w'ord is 
borrowed from the Italians, who call rnezzanini thofe 
little windows, lefs in height than breadth, which ferv® 
to illuminate an attic, or entrefole. 
MTZZARO'LA, )’. A liquid meafure of Genoa, con¬ 
taining about 39 Englifti gallons. 
MEZZERAB', an ifland in the Red Sea. Lat. 27.43.N. 
MEZ'ZO, an Italian adjeCtive, which means half; as, 
mezzo forte, mezzo piano, mezzo voce, which imply nearly 
the fame thing, i. e. a middle degree of piano, or loft. 
MezzoJoprano, a pitch of voice between the foprano, or 
treble, and counter-tenor. It is uled in 'compofition in 
other arts befides mufic ; as, 
MEZZO-RELIE'VO, f. A projection of figures b«. 
tween the proportion of thofe in alto and buffo relievo ; 
called alio demi-relievo. —We faw antique figures of men, 
carved in the natural rock, in mezzo-relievo, and in bm-- 
nefs equal to the life. Maundrell. 
MEZZO-TIN'TO, f. A kind of engraving fo named 
as nearly refembling paint, the word importing half- 
painted. See the article Engraving, vol. vi. p. 812. 
MEZZO'VO. See Metzovo, p. 275. 
MGLIN, a town of Rulfia, in the government of Nov¬ 
gorod Sieverlkoi, on the Iput: leventy-fix miles north- 
north-weft of Novgorod Sieverlkoi. Lat. 53. 12. N. Ion. 
32. 34. E. 
MHA'RAS, a mountain of Arabia, in the province of 
Yemen : fixteen miles weft of Kataba. 
3 MI, 
