MED 
averfion to being placed in a fituation which would force 
him from his beloved (tudies to mix in the hurtle of the 
world, led him to decline ; as he did alfo when it was of¬ 
fered him a fecond time, jn the year 1630. Though pof- 
feffing only the narrow income ariiing from his fellowlhip 
and college-leisure, Mr. Mede was uncommonly generous 
and charitable, invariably devoting a tenth part of it to 
pious and benevolent purpofes. That he might be en¬ 
abled to do fo, he conftanily exercifed the utmoft fru¬ 
gality and temperance. The generous defign of bring¬ 
ing about a union among all Proteftants, was a fubjefl 
which frequently employed his thoughts, as appears from 
'Setters which parted between him and the celebrated John 
Dury and others; and, though he was fenfible that it had 
great difficulties to furmount, yet he thought it feafible. 
He was not fo extravagant as to imagine, that it would 
c< ever be brought to pals by a full decifion of thecontro- 
verfies ; but only by abating of that vaft dilfance which 
contention hath made, and approaching the differences 
fo near, as that either party may be induced to tolerate 
the other, and acknowledge them for brethren and mem¬ 
bers of the fame body.” With thefe fentiments and dif- 
pofitions, he mud have viewed with concern and abhor¬ 
rence the tyrannical and perfecuting proceedings of Laud 
againft the Puritans; and his mind appears to have been 
imprefied with a melancholy foreboding of the dreadful 
calamities in which they greatly contributed foon afterwards 
to involve his country. But he did not live to fee thefe 
evils, as he died on the firftof October, 1638, when in the 
fifty-fecond year of his age, having fpent more than two 
thirds of his days in ftudious retirement at his college. 
In perfon, Mr. Mede was middle-fized, and well- 
proportioned. His eye was full, lively, and fparkling. 
His countenance was grave and fedate, and fuch as com¬ 
manded reverence; but at the fame time tempered with 
an engaging fweetnefs. He was free from pride, anger, 
and feltiflinefs; and as eminent for meeknefs, patience, 
and every other virtue. As a companion, he was friend¬ 
ly, affable, and cheerful; and he would frequently in¬ 
termix with his converfation much inoffenfive pleafan- 
try. Among the inftances of his pointed or lively fay- 
ings, and of his facetioufnefs, the following is recorded 
by the author of the appendix to his life. Soon after he 
had taken the degree of M. A. being invited in the vaca¬ 
tion into the country, to the houfe of a relation, his cu- 
riofity led him to obferve the falconer, while he was feed¬ 
ing his hawk ; and he began to praife the bird, by faying, 
“ What a brave ffiarp bill (lie has !” “ Bill ?” faid the fal¬ 
coner; “ it is a beak, fir.” By and by he added, “What 
noble claws (lie has! “Claws, fir?” faid he, “ they are 
pounces." Afterwards he commended her fine feathers: 
“ Feathers, fir ? they are plumes." Laflly, he praifed her 
beautiful tail. “Tail, fir? it is a train." Mr. Mede felt 
a little mortified at being thus fchooled on account of his 
mifiakes about the terms of art; and, believing that the 
falconer would expofe him for his ignorance, contrived 
the plan of a good-humoured retort upon him. The fal¬ 
coner, he obferved, was accufiomed to wait at table; and 
therefore, taking his opportunity three or four days after¬ 
wards, when he thought that the lefturing which he had 
received was quite forgotten, he engaged the company in 
propofing and folving riddles. While they were exer¬ 
ting their ingenuity, turning fuddenly round to the fal¬ 
coner, he afked him, “Friend, what kind of bird is that 
which has neither bill, nor claws, nor feathers, nor tail ?” 
Perceiving that the man was puzzled, and incapable of 
giving an anfwer ; “ Why then,” faid Mr. Mede, “ I will 
tell you. It is your hawk; that hath no bill, but a beah j 
no claws, h\xt pounces •, no feathers, but plumes-, no tail, but 
a train." 
Befides the Clavis and Commentarius already noticed, 
Mr. Mede publiflied only a treatife, entitled, “ Churches ; 
or, appropriate Places for God’s Worfhip ever fince the 
Apoftles’ Time,” 1638,410. and another, entitled, “The 
You XIV. No. J017. E 
MED 837 
Name-Altar, or ©YSIASTHPION, anciently given to 
the holy Table,” 1637, 4(0. After his death, feveral 
pieces were feparately publilhed from his manufcripts.; 
and a colleftion of the wdiole of his works was given 
by Dr. Worthington, in 1677, in a vols. folio, with a 
general preface, and the author’s life, with an ap¬ 
pendix. This collection is divided into five books: the 
firft containing fifty difcOurfes on various texts of fcrip- 
ture ; and the fecond feveral difcourfes and treatifes of 
churches, and the worfhip of God therein. The third 
contains his Clavis et Commentationes Apocalyptic®; 
Opufcula nonuila ad rem apocalypticum fpectantia ; a pa- 
raphrafe and expofition of Peter, chap. iii. the apofiacy of 
the latter times; and Daniel’s weeks, with two other 
trails upon Daniel. The fourth book conlifis of Epif- 
tles, being anfwers to divers letters of learned men ; and 
the fifth contains Fragmcnta Sacra, or mifcellanies of divi¬ 
nity. In his obfervations on demons and demoniacs, Mr. 
Mede will be found to have led the way to the fenti¬ 
ments advanced by Lardner, Sykes, and Farmer, on thofe 
fubjecfs. Life prefixed, to the Author's Works. 
MEDE'A, in fabulous hiltory, a celebrated forcerefs, 
daughter of JEstes king of Colchis. Her mother's name, 
according to the more received opinion of Hefiod and Hy- 
ginus, was Idyia; according to others, Ephyre, Hecate, 
Afterodia, Antiope, or Neaera. She was the niece of 
Circe. When Jafon came to Colchis in queft of the 
golden fleece, Medea became enamoured of him, and it 
was to her well-direCted labours that the Argonauts owed 
their prefervation. See Jason, vol. x. p. 706. After the 
divorce, as there related, Medea revenged the infidelity of 
Jafon, by caufing the death of Glauce, and the deftruririon 
of her family. She alfo killed two of her children in their 
father’s prefence; and, when Jafon attempted to punifh 
the barbarity of the mother, (lie fled through the air upon 
a chariot drawn by winged dragons. From Corinth, Me¬ 
dea came to Athens, where, after (he had undergone the 
necefl'ary purification of her murder, (he married king 
^Sgeus, or (according to others) lived in an adulterous 
manner with him. From her connexion with .ALgeus, 
Medea had afon who was called Medus. Soon lifter, when 
Thefeus vvilhed to make himfelf known to his father, Medea, 
jealous of his fame and fearful of his powdV, attempted to 
poifon him at a feaff. Her attempts failed of iuccefs, 
and the fight of the fword which Thefeus wore by his fide 
convinced aEgeus that the ftranger againft whole life he 
had fo bafely confpired was his own fon. (See the article 
Attica, vol. ii. p. 498, 9.) The father and the fon were 
reconciled ; and Medea, to avoid the punifhment which 
her wickednefs deferved, mounted her fiery chariot, and 
difappeared through the air. She came to Colchis; where, 
according to fome, (lie was reconciled to Jafon, who had 
fought her in her native country after her fudden depar¬ 
ture from Corinth. She died at Colchis, as Juftin men¬ 
tions, when fhe had been reftored to the confidence of her 
family. After death file married Achilles in the Elyfiati 
fields, according to the tradition mentioned by Simonides. 
The murder of Mermerus and Pheres, the youngelt of 
Jafon’s children by Medea, is not to be attributed to the 
mother, according to Elian ; but to the Corinthians, who 
affaffinated them in the temple of Juno Acraea. To avoid 
the refentment of the gods, and to deliver themfelves from 
the peftilence which vilited their country after fo horrid a 
maffacre, they engaged the poet Euripides for five talents 
to write a tragedy, which cleared them of the murder, and 
reprefented Medea as the cruel affaffin of her own children. 
And befides, that this opinion might be the better cre¬ 
dited, feftivals were appointed, in which the mother was 
reprefented with all the barbarity of a fury murdering her 
own fons. 
MEDE'A, a town of Algiers, in the province of Tit- 
terie, furrounded with mud walls; anciently Lamida : fif¬ 
teen miles eaft of Mereega, and thirty-two fouth-weft of 
Algiers. Lat. 16. 5.N. Ion. z. 50 E. 
toD MEDE'A. 
