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MINA'ES GERA'ES, a jurifdiCtion of South America, 
in Brafil, fituated between the 25th and 33d degrees of 
W. ion. and 15th and 22d of S. lat. The inhabitants 
amount to about 35,180 whites, 26,075 Indians, and 
108,400 (laves. The fifth part of the gold found in this 
jurifdi&ion, paid to the king of Portugal, amounts yearly 
to about five millions of livres. Cruttivell's Gaz. 
MINAGNGHIN'IM, j\ [Hebrew.] A pulfative inftru- 
tnent of mufic, among the Hebrews, which was a fquare 
table of wood, fitted with a handle; over this table was 
ftretched an iron chain, or hempen cord, palling through 
balls of wood or brafs, which (truck againft the table, 
•when the inftrument was (haken, and occafioned a clear 
found, which might be heard at a great diftance. Chambers. 
MINA'RES, a river of Spain, which waters the pro¬ 
vince of Arragon. 
MIN'ARET, f. A kind of fpire in Saracen architecture. 
—The mofques and other buildings of the Arabians are 
rounded into domes, and coved roofs, with now and then 
a (lender fquare minaret terminating in a ball or pine-apple. 
Swinburne's Travels throng'll Spain. 
MI'NAS BA'Y, a gulf on the fouth-eaft fide of the bay 
of Fundy. 
MI'NAS HILL', the middlemoft of the three hills, ferv- 
ing as inland marks for Bonaventura Bay and River, on 
the coaft of Peru, in South America ; fouth of Panama 
Bay. Lat. 3.20. N. Ion. 75. 18. W. 
MI'NAS das RIX'AS, a town of Brafil, in the govern¬ 
ment of Goya : eighty-five miles north of Villaboa. 
MINASCOU' BA'Y, a bay in the river St. Mary, be¬ 
tween Lake Superior and Lake Huron. It contains fe- 
reral iflands. Lat. 46. N. Ion. 84. W. 
MINA'TO (Count Nicola), of Bergamo, a dramatic 
poet of great fertility. The reputation which he had ac¬ 
quired in writing for the theatres of Venice, occafioned 
his being engaged at Vienna as imperial poet-laureate. 
He furnilhed the emperor’s lyric theatre with a great 
number of ferious operas, and (till more fmall occafional 
dramas and poems for mufic. Thefe operas palled into 
Italy, where they were newly fet and performed with fnc- 
cefs. This poet poffeffed a perfeCt knowledge of hillory ; 
his fable was generally well-planned, and his characters 
well fultained. He had genius and invention, and gave 
good opportunities for decoration and machinery. He 
fiourilhed from about 1650 to 1683. 
MINA'TOR, f. in old records, a miner; one that digs 
in a mine. 
MI'NATORY, aelj. [minor, Lat. to threaten.] Threat¬ 
ening.—The king made a llatute monitory and minatory } 
towards juftices of peace, that they lliould duly execute 
their office, inviting complaints againft them. Bacon's 
Henry VII.—There is another way of taking the words, 
as plainly minatory, or threatening. Pocucke on Hofea. 
MINAT'TA (Ille la), on the north coaft of Lake Su¬ 
perior, in Upper Canada, near to, and eaft of, the Grand 
Portage, extending to Thunder-bay. 
MINA'YA, a fmall town of Spain, in the province of 
La Mancha, formerly confiderabie, but now almoft re¬ 
duced to the fize of a village. The entrance to the parifn- 
church, which is of a moderate fize, and has three chan¬ 
cels, is through a portico fupported by two pillars of the 
Corinthian order, of white marble ; 2% leagues from Roda. 
MINAZ'ZO (Cape), a cape of Spain, on the weft coaft 
of Galicia. Lat. 42.51. N. Ion. 91.20. W. 
MIN'CA, _/i A name given by the ancients to a very 
coarfe and bad kind of myrrh. 
To MINCE, v. a. [contracted, as it feems, from minijh; 
or from mince, Fr. fmall; or from minha, Icel. to diminilh.] 
To cut into very (mail parts.—With a good chopping- 
knife mince the two capons as fmall as ordinary minced 
meat. Bacon's Nat. HiJ't —What means the fervice of the 
church fo imperfeCtly, and by halves, read over ? What 
makes them mince and mangle that in their practice, 
which they could fwallow whole in their lubfeription ? 
South. 
Vol. XV. No. 1054. 
M I N 
Revive the wits; 
But murder firft, and mince them all to bits. 
Pope's Dnnciad. 
To mention any thing fcrupuloully, by a little at a time ; 
to palliate to extenuate.—-I know no ways to mince it in 
love, but direCtly to lay I love you. Shahejpeare's Hen. V. 
Thy honefty and love doth mince this matter. 
Making it light to Caffio. Shake/pcare's Othello. 
To fpeak with affeCted foftnefs ; to clip the words : 
Behold yon fimpering dame. 
Whole face between her forks prefageth fnow ; 
That minces virtue, and does drake the head 
To hear of pleafure’s name. Shakefpeare's King Lear. 
To MINCE, v, n. To walk nicely by ffiort fteps ; to aCt 
with appearance of fcrupuloufnefs and delicacy; to affeCfc 
nicety. 1 he daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk 
with ftretched-forth necks, and wanton eyes, walkinv 
and mincing [in the margin, tripping nicely] as they go! 
Ijhiahin. 16. u 
Fait by her fide did fit the bold Sandoy, 
Fit mate for fuch a mincing minion, 
Who in her loofenefs took exceeding joy. Spenjer. 
To fpeak fmall and imperfeCtly.—The reeve, miller, and 
cook, are as much diilinguidied from each other, as the 
mincing lady priorefs and ihe broad-fpeaking wife of Bath. 
Drydcn. 
MINCE-PI'E, or Minced-Pie, / A pie made of meat 
minced or cut into very fmall pieces, with other ingredi¬ 
ents ; called alfo a chriftmas-pie, as being rnoftly m ufe 
about the time of Chriftmas.—Plum-puddings and mince- 
pies (in token of the offerings of the wife men from the 
eaft, of which their ingredients were coniidered to be 
types; and the latter made long, with pieces of pafte over 
them in the form of a cratch or hay-rack, in remembrance 
of the manger in which our Saviour was firft laid) were 
fure to be prepared in liberal profufion. Brady's Glacis 
Calendaria. 
MINCH, a channel of the North Sea, between the He¬ 
brides and the main land of Scotland. 
MIN'CHA, f. in the Jewilli cuftoms, offerings of meal, 
cakes, or bifcuits, made in the temple of the Lord. The 
Seventy have fometimes preferved this word in their tranf- 
lation ; but inftead of mincha they read manaa, which 
doubtlefs was the received pronunciation in their time. 
We find manaa in thelame lenfe, in Baruch i. 10. Levit. ii. 
3. &c. See the Greek of Jerem. xvii. 26. Dan. ii. 46. 
2 Kings viii. 5, 9, xvii. 7. xx. 12. 2 Chron. vii. 7. Nehem! 
xiii. 5, 9, Sec. Calmet. 
MIN'CKBACH, a river of Germany, which runs int® 
the Eger two miles eaft of Nordlingen. 
MIN'CHIN-HAM'P EON, a market-town in the county 
of Gloucefter, is fituated on the declivity of a gentle emi¬ 
nence, and con lifts of four irregular ftreets, interfeCting 
each other at right angles. In this parjlh a manufacture 
of cloths is carried on to a confiderabie extent, the many 
brooks and rivulets in the vicinity being extremely fa¬ 
vourable for the purpofe; but the town itlelf is fmall, 
with little trade. The church, which is built in the form 
of a crofs, was founded by the nuns of Caen, in the reign 
of Henry III. Numerous monuments and fepulchral in- 
feriptions diverlify the interior of this fabric ; and in the 
church-yard appears a brafs plate, in honour of Mr. James 
Bradley, the celebrated aftronomer, who was a native of 
Glouceften'hire, and died in 1762. Here are three mar- 
ket-houfes, two of which were erected by P. Sheppard, elq. 
in the year 1700, with the view of ellablilhing a wool- 
market, but the delign failed of fuccefs. Here is like- 
wife a relpectable free-lchool. Leland fays “ there were 
.nunnes” in this town ; and Camden and Speed hence af¬ 
firm it contained a nunnery. Bilhop Tanner, however, 
confidered this ftatement as erroneous ; and lays, “ this 
place was called Minchin-Hampton, only becaule *thc 
manor was given to the nuns, or minchins , of the Holy 
S R Trinity, 
