Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 37.djvu/229

  Maxims,’ which was reprinted, Edinburgh, 1805, 1807. He left behind him a large number of religious meditations in prose and verse, a selection from which was published by subscription for the benefit of his widow, with the title, ‘The Select Remains … or Extracts … entitled: I. The Monthly Memorial, or a Periodical Interview with the King of Terrors. II. A Secret Survey into the State of the Soul. III. The House of Mourning, or Poems on Melancholy Subjects. IV. The Tomb,’ Edinburgh, 1803; 2nd edit., enlarged, 1804. This volume was so well received that it was followed in the same year by 2. ‘Solitude Sweetened, or Miscellaneous Meditations on various Religious Subjects,’ of which a 7th edit. was published, Edinburgh, 1823. He also wrote: 3. ‘The Traveller, or Meditations on various Subjects … to which is added, Converse with the World Unseen,’ with a life of the author by James Peddie, Edinburgh, 1805; 4th edit. Edinburgh, 1816; reprinted, Aberdeen, 1844; and 4. ‘Miscellaneous Works … containing all his remaining Pieces in Prose intended for Publication,’ Edinburgh, 1807. The verses (which he himself preferred to his prose meditations) have little apart from their religious sentiments to recommend them.

 MEILAN, MARK ANTHONY (fl. 1812), miscellaneous writer, born about 1743, held at one time a situation in the post-office, which he resigned in order to become ‘instructor’ in private families in English, bookkeeping, and shorthand, of languages, arts, and sciences. In 1776 he was keeping an academy in Charles Square, Hoxton, but is subsequently found residing at Westminster, St. George's Fields, and Kennington. He took orders, and for some time served the curacy of St. John, Wapping. He submitted tragedies to Garrick and Colman, who declined them on the ground that they contained rather too many reminiscences of Shakespeare and Rowe. At the suggestion of some kind-hearted ladies he printed his dramas by subscription, and prefixed a diverting preface, in which he gives a detailed account of his interviews and correspondence with the ‘despots of the drama’ (i.e. the managers). He had intended to inflict a second volume upon his subscribers, but found their patience exhausted. In 1809 he was assistant minister of St. Mary, Newington, Surrey, and was apparently alive in 1816 (Dict. of Living Authors, 1816). He was married and had a family.

Meilan published: 1. ‘Stenography, or Shorthand improved,’ 8vo, London, 1764, which professes to be an ‘improvement’ on Gurney's system. 2. ‘Northumberland, a Tragedy,’ 8vo, London, 1771. 3. ‘The Adventures of Telemachus, an epic poem from the French of Fénelon, with alterations,’ in heroic couplets, 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1776; 2nd edit. with plates, 2 vols. 4to, 1792–4. 4. ‘Dramatic Works (tragedies entitled “Emilia,” “Northumberland,” and “The Friends”), published by way of an appeal from the arbitrary decisions of the despots of the drama,’ 8vo, London, 1780. 5. ‘The Children's Friend,’ translated from the French of A. Berquin, 24mo, London, 1786. 6. ‘The Friend of Youth … consisting of … stories, … dialogues, and moral dramas,’ partly translated from Berquin and other writers, and partly original, 12 vols. 12mo, London, 1788. 7. ‘Sermons for Children,’ 3 vols. 12mo, London, 1789. 8. ‘The Book of Righteousness, or an Elucidation of the … Gospel … with … the Acts,’ 12mo, London (1790?). 9. ‘Holy Writ familiarized to Juvenile Conceptions,’ 4 vols. 12mo, London, 1791. 10. ‘An Introduction to the English Language,’ 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1803. A portrait of Meilan, surrounded by his ‘Works,’ is prefixed to the second edition of his ‘Telemachus.’

 MEILYR BRYDDYDD (i.e. ) (d. 1140?), Welsh bard, was the son of Mabon ab Iarddur ap Mor, and dwelt at Trefeilyr, in the parish of Trefdraeth, Anglesey, a township which doubtless took its name from him (, Heraldic Visitations of Wales, ii. 128, 139, 266). Three of his poems are preserved in the ‘Myvyrian Archaiology’ (2nd edit. pp. 140–2), namely: (1) an elegy on Gruffydd ap Cynan (d. 1137) [q. v.]; (2) a short poem on the battle of Mynydd Carn (1081), said to have been written in the army of Trahaiarn ap Caradog, there defeated; (3) the poet's death-lay, in which he prays that his bones may be laid in Enlli (Bardsey Island). Meilyr is the first of the ‘Gogynfeirdd,’ the mediæval bards whose poems can be approximately dated, as distinguished from the ‘Cynfeirdd,’ the half-mythical poets of the sixth century, of whose genuine work very little can have come down to us. He is the herald of the poetic revival which contact with Norman civilisation and success in arms brought