542 M I N 
The monaftery of Cordeliers has a handfome church. 
Here are alfo an hofpital, and a barrack capable of accom¬ 
modating 250 men. The to\yn is well provided with cif- 
terns, and the water is frelli and falubrious. About one 
league from Alayor is Mercadal. The moll remarkable 
ports of this ifland, befides thofe of Mahon and Citta- 
della, are Fornella and Adaya. Port Fornella is about 
fix miles from Mount Toro, of a circular form, with a 
narrow entrance, and facing the north. The bay is ca¬ 
pable of containing the largeft fleet, perfectly flieltered, 
and defended at the entrance by a fmall fquare fort, with 
baftions and fofles. The eftablilhment is capable of con¬ 
taining 300 men. The entrance to the port of Adaya is 
concealed by eminences towards the north; it is only 
ufed for fifhing. 
Monte Toro is at a little diftance from Mercadal, and 
by its elevation commands the whole ifland: at its bafe 
it is fome miles in circumference, and its form is that 
of the fruftum of a cone. Mount St. Agatha is fituated 
north-weft of Mercadal, and rifes above feveral mountains 
that furround it. Upon the fummit is a chapel, held in 
great veneration. The whole of this canton is inhabited 
by (hepherds, wdrofe flocks fubflft upon a part of the moun¬ 
tains, and the valley beneath is abundantly fertile. 
Minorca is not flieltered from the north winds, which 
check vegetation; neverthelefs fnow is feldom (een here 
in winter, and in the fpring the air is always temperate 
and pure ; the heat of the fummeris 120 0 , and the drought 
is produdtive of inconvenience. In the autumn there is 
much rain. The foil of the plains is lefs fertile than that 
of the coaft; and the earth upon the mountains, though 
thinly fpread over the rocks, is rich and fertile. In the 
valleys and plain, the foil is argillaceous and thin, but it 
is fertilized with that which is waflied down from the 
mountains. Upon the whole, the ifland is, in many parts 
of it, rich in vegetation. The principal grains cultivated 
in the ifland are wheat, barley, and a fmall quantity of 
maize. Red and white wines are exported; olive-trees 
are numerous, and here is abundance of every kind of 
fruit, fuch as oranges, pomegranates, lemons, figs, &c. 
and the ifland furnilhes great variety of garden and culi¬ 
nary vegetables. The water-melons are very fine; and 
the honey of the ifland, fome of which is exported, is 
reckoned very good. The liorfes, mules, and afles, are 
eftimated at about 2000 ; the horned cattle at 7000; the 
flieep, goats, and fmall animals, at about 45,000; the 
pigs at nearly 10,000. Poultry is fcarce, but birds of dif¬ 
ferent fpecies are very numerous. The fifli all round the 
ifland is abundant at all feafons, and very good. The 
inhabitants have no manufacture or fabric for furnifliing 
articles of exchange in commerce. Their export-trade 
confifts of a fmall quantity of cheefe lent into Italy, and 
,a fmall furplus of wool, which produce about 2500I. fter- 
ling; fait, wine, honey, and wax, produce about 17,000k 
The ifland receives from abroad corn, brandy, rice, fugar, 
coffee, tobacco, fpices, linen, fine cloths, boards, pitch, 
cordage, &c. 
The natural hiftory of this ifland prefents to us a na¬ 
tural and very interefting grotto, called La Cava Perella, 
two miles to the fouth of Cittadella; and alfo a fubter- 
ranean lake; a quantity of coral is found near the fea- 
fhore, and a fmall variety of ftfells. In many parts of the 
ifland are mines of iron and lead, and quarries of done' 
and marble. The inhabitants are a quiet peaceable people, 
attached to their own cuftoms, and little difpofed to 
change. They regard with reverence the ceremonies of 
religion. The fame language is fpoken in Minorca and 
Majorca. In this ifland, and particularly in the territory 
of Alayor, they have fome altars of ancient date. It has 
aifo furnifhed Phoenician, Macedonian, Carthaginian, Cel- 
tiberian, Grecian, Roman, and Spanifh, medals, in gold, 
filver, and large and fmall bronze. In this ifland, alfo, a 
fpiall Gothic bronze coin has been difeovered, the im- 
preiTion on which is a crowned head in the centre of a 
.circle, with thefe words, “ Alphonfus Rex luppofed to 
M I N 
belong to the end of the 13th century. The ifland has 
likewife preferred to the antiquarian ancient fepulchres, 
vafes, lamps, urns, lacrymatories, compofed of a reddifh 
earth, and marked with illegible inferiptions. 
The inhabitants live moftly on vegetables, love dancing,, 
and have fuch a turn for poetry, that the very peafants 
challenge each other to trials of genius that way. They 
are alfo very dexterous with their flings, as their anceftora 
were of old, and whence they had the name of Baleares, 
or (lingers; however, they want induftry, whence they 
negledt many profitable occupations in farming and trade. 
The houfes on the ifland are computed at 3089, and the 
inhabitants at 27,000. The Englifh. took it from the Spa¬ 
niards in the year 1708, and kept it till 1756 ; when, after 
a very brave refiftance under Gen. Blakeney, they furren- 
dered it to the French, who had invefted Fort St. Philip 
with an army of 15,000 men, w’ell provided with all mili¬ 
tary (tores. In 1798, this ifland furrendered to the Bri- 
ti(h, under Gen. Stuart and Adm. Duckworth, without 
the lofs of a man. It was again given up at the treaty of 
Amiens. Lat. 39. 59. Ion. 3. 45. E. 
MPNORESS, f. A female under age; a female that 
undermines. Chaucer. 
MINO'RI, a town of Naples, in Principato Citra, the 
fee of a bifliop, fnffragan of Amalfi, fituated near the fea : 
feven miles fouth-weft of Salerno, and three north-eaft of 
Amalfi. Lat.40. 37. N. Ion. 14. 26. E. 
MINOR'ITY, f. [minorite, Fr. from minor, Lat.] The 
ftate of being under age.—If there be evidence that it is 
not many ages fince nature was in her minority, this may 
be taken for a good proof that (he is not eternal. Burnet's 
Theory of the Earth. —It is a maxim in the common lav/, 
that in the king there is no minority, and therefore he 
hath no legal guardian; and his royal aflents and grants 
to afts of parliament are good, though he has not in his 
natural capacityattained the legal age of twenty-one. The 
minority of the kings of Sweden, Denmark, and the pro¬ 
vinces of the empire, terminates at eighteen years ; and 
that of the kings of France at fourteen, by an ordonnance 
of Charles V. in 1374. Chambers. 
He is young, and his minority 
Is put into the trull of Richard Glofter. Shdkefpeare. 
The ftate of being lefs.—From this narrow time of gefta- 
tion may enfue a minority, or fmallnefs in the exclufion. 
Brown's Vulgar Errors. —The lmaller number: as, The 
minority held for that queltion in oppofition to the 
majority. 
MI'NOS, in mythology, one of the three judges of hell, 
of rank fuperior to the other two, (viz. ^Eacus, who, ac¬ 
cording to Plato, judged the Europeans ; and Rhadaman- 
thus, who, having left Crete, and fixed his refidence in 
Afia, had the Afiatics and Africans for his,lot;) and, as 
chief prelident of the infernal court, decided the diffe¬ 
rences that arofe between the two other judges. All the 
poets are agreed in afligning to him the fuperiority over 
his colleagues. Homer reprefents him as fitting with a 
feeptre in his hand, in the midft of the ghofts of departed 
mortals, who plead their re(pe£live caufes in his prefence. 
Virgil (ASn. vi.) places an urn by him, containing the 
feveral lots of mankind; while the ftern Rhadamanthus 
fees to the execution of the fentences which his brother 
pronounces. The particular diftriil of Hades, over which 
he was fuppofed to prefide, was Erebus: and it was his 
office to determine the charafter and final condition of 
the fpirits cited to his tribunal. Minos, it is faid, was 
the firft king of Crete, and considered as the wifeft legif- 
lator of antiquity ; on which account he obtained the ho¬ 
nour of being judge in the in.vifible world. This Minos, 
whole inftitutes are laid to have ferved as a model for 
thofe of Lycurgus, flouriftied, according to Selden, and 
others, who refer for authority to the Anindelian mar¬ 
bles, 1462 years, but, according to the abhe Banier, only 
1340 years, B. C. The laws of Minos remained in full force 
in the time of Plato, B.C. 430. Lernpricre's Clajficul Dift . 
Minos, 
