M T X 
Committed to two confebles, who are cho/fen annually nt 
the court-leet of the lord of the manor. The arms of 
the town are a fiiip under fail and a wool-pack; emble¬ 
matical of its priftine trade. 
Minehead is divided into three parts: the Upper Town, 
Confilling of feveral irregular ftreets, meanly built, and 
fending on the ealtern (lope of a'vaft; hill, called Greena- 
Jaigh, or Minehead Pointy the Lower Town, fituated half a 
mile from the beach to the fouth-eaft; and the Quay Town, 
placed under the brow of a lofty eminence clofe to the 
lhore. The church, which is a large handfome ftruCture, 
Hands in the Upper Town, and is diftinguifhed by a very 
elegant alabafter fetue of queen Anne, on a pedellal four 
feet high. It was the gift of fir Jacob Banks, as appears 
from an infcription upon it, bearing the date 1719. At 
the entrance of the quay, in Quay Town, fends the cuf- 
tom-lioufe, which Hill continues furnilhed with a regular 
eltablilhment of officers. A market continues to be held 
here every Wednesday; and there is a Imall manufacture 
of woollen cloths, which conllitutes the chief lupport of 
the inhabitants. Fronting the market place is an alms- 
houfe, built and endowed by Robert Quirk, in 1630, 
Two members are lent from this borough to parlia¬ 
ment, who are elected by the “ parilhioners of Dunlter 
and Minehead, being houfekeepers and not receiving 
alms.” This was fettled by a relblution of the houle of 
commons Dec. 3, 1717. The number of voters is 260; 
and the conftables are the returning officers. 
This borough was originally a feudal tenure annexed 
to the callle of Dunlter, which was given by William the 
Conqueror to William de Mohun, in whofe family it con¬ 
tinued till lir John de Mohun, one of the firll knights of 
the garter, having no male iflue, conveyed it to trullees 
for the ufe of his wife, who, after his deceafe, fold it, in 
the reign of Edward 111 . to lady Elizabeth Luttrell, daugh¬ 
ter of Hugh Courtney earl of Devonlhire, and widow of 
fir Andrew Luttrell. Her fon, Henry Luttrell, who was 
lieutenant of Harlieur, and Iteward of the houfehold to 
Henry the Fifth’s queen, added feveral buildings, now 
Handing, and left the caflle an honour to his polterity, 
by whom it is Hill poireffed, and who is the prefent owner 
and patron of this borough, and at whole court-leet the 
returning offices are chofen. This, therefore, being a 
proprietary borough, and having been as anciently fo as 
any we meet with, prefents nothing remarkable, but that 
cf a conteH which arofe in oppoiition to the proprietor, 
at the general election of 1796, when the late John Lang- 
Hon, elq. the banker, purclialed a piece of land, and 
ereCted feveral new houfes in the borough. He was re¬ 
turned to that parliament, but was unfuccefsful at the 
following election in 1802. In 1807 there was another 
conteH, the Hon. T. Bowes oppofed the proprietor, but 
without luccefs ; and, fince that period, Mr. Luttrell has 
bad the quiet nomination of the members; which mem¬ 
bers are himfelf and Ion. 
The country around Minehead is pleafing and beauti¬ 
ful, prefenting to the view a feries of lofty hills inter- 
fperfed with rich and luxuriant valleys. The climate is fo 
mild, that vegetation is a month earlier here than in fome 
parts of England. This circumHance has of Jate years 
anduced many perlons to relort hither during the bathing- 
feafon, to the great benefit of the town. A peculiar fpe- 
eies of limpet, found on the rocks here at low water, af¬ 
fords a very curious liquor ufed in marking linen, which, 
when firlt applied, exhibits a variety of changes in its co¬ 
lour, and ultimately, after walhing, afl'umes a bright crim- 
fon hue, which no l'ubfequent efforts will alter or eradi¬ 
cate. About fix miles to the fouth of the town is the 
lofty mountain of Dunkerry, which riles 1770 feet above 
the level of the lea, and is twelve miles in circumference 
at the bafe. From the collections of Hones bearing the 
marks of fire, which appear on different parts of it, it is 
conjectured to have been uled as a beacon to alarm the 
country in the event of invafion, Collinjbn's Hifi. and 
Anfiq. of SomerJ'etJhire, vol. ii, Oldfield JieprefenUtiive Hifi, 
Vofi. XV. No. jo s§. 
M I N 485 
_ MPNEHEAD, a town of the Hate of Vermont, on th« 
river Connecticut. 
MI'NEHEAD, a cape of Ireland, on the fouth-eaft 
coalt of the county of Waterford : four miles fouth-fouth* 
welt of Helwick Head. Lat. 51. 58. N. Ion. 7. 36. W. 
MINE'IDES. See Minyas. 
MINEL'LI (Andrea), a Venetian opera-poet, and au- 
thor of many dramas that were much applauded : Rich as, 
Orfeo, 1702; Finezze d’Amore, et la-Eorza vinta dall’ 
Onore, 1703 ; Rodoguna, at Milan the fame year; and 
II Trofeo dell’ Innocenza, at Venice, 1704. 
MINEL'LIUS (John), an ufeful critic, was born at 
Rotterdam about 1625, and paffed his life as a teacher of 
the learned languages. He died about 1683. He pub- 
lillied Ihort but clear notes/ principally of the grammati¬ 
cal kind, upon Terence, Sallull, Virgil, Horace, Floras, 
Valerius Maximus, and Ovid’s Triltia, which have proved 
very lerviceable to youngTludents, and have been freely 
tranfcribed by later editors and commentators. Moreri. 
MI'NEO, a town of Sicily, in the valley of Noto, near 
a lake of the fame name : nine miles eaft-north-eall of 1 
Calatagirone, twenty-four miles fouth-weft of Catania, 
MI'NER, f. One that digs for metals : 
By me kings’ palaces are pufh’d to ground. 
And miners crulh’d beneath their mines are found. Dryd, 
One who makes military mines.—As the bombardeer le¬ 
vels bis mifchief at cities, the miner bulies himfelf in ruin¬ 
ing private houfes. Tatler. 
MIN'ERA, f. in pathology, the feat, or rather matter, 
of a difeale. The term is applied by fome authors to 
thofe parts of the body wherein there are collections and 
coacervations of humours made ; which, hardening, form 
obltruCtions, and produce difeafes. In this lenfe we fay, 
the miner a morbi, See. 
MIN'ERAL, J\ [from mine.'] Afofiilbody; matter dug 
out of mines. All metals are minerals, but all minerals are. 
not metals. Minerals, in the reftrained fenfe, are bodies 
that may be melted, but not inalleated.—The minerals of 
the kingdom, of lead, iron, copper, and tin, are of great 
value, liacons Adv. to Villiers.—Minerals ; nitre with vi¬ 
triol; common fait with alum ; and fulphur with vitriol* 
Woodward's Nat. Hifi. 
She did confefs, ffie had 
For yon a mortal mineral; which, beingtook. 
Should by the minute feed on life, and ling’ring 
By inches wafte you. Sha/tejpeare's Cymbelim, 
Part hidden veins digg’d up, nor hath this earth 
Entrails unlike, of mineral and Hone. Milton's P. L. 
MIN'ERAL, adj. Confining of foffil bodies.—By expe¬ 
rience upon bodies in any mine, a man may conjecture at 
the metallic or mineral ingredients of any mafs found 
there. Woodward. 
Mineral Waters, are thofe which, at their fp ring¬ 
ing forth from under-ground, are found impregnated 
with fome mineral matter; as lalt, fulphur, vitriol, &c. 
Such are hot baths, purging, fprings, See. Indeed, almoft 
all the waters that How within or upon the furface of the 
earth contain fome earthy or faline matter. But, ItriClly 
fpeaking, thole waters only which hold in folution luch a 
quantity ot foreign ingredients as to give them proper¬ 
ties which are ealily recognized by the talte or fmell come 
under the denomination of mineral waters. See Water; 
and, for the methods of analyfing and preparing mineral 
waters, fee the article Chemistry, vol. iv. p. 210 and 283, 
MINERA'LIA, f. Minerals. Phillips. 
MIN'ERALIST, f. One fkilled or employed in mine¬ 
rals.—The metals and minerals which are lodged in the 
perpendicular intervals do Hill grow, to fpeak in the mine- 
ruUji's phrafe, or receive additional increafe. Woodward. 
MINERAL'OGIST, f. [from mineral, and Aoy©-, Gr. 
a difeourfe.] One who diltourfes, or writes, on minerals.-— 
Many authors deny it, and the exaCteH mineralogifis have 
rejected it. Brovin's Yulg. Errours. 
MINE-RAL'OGYa 
