Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 37.djvu/262

 journey through New Castile with erysipelas, and Mendes was sent to her assistance. He gained such favour with the princess that she made him a member of her household, and desired him to accompany her to England and settle there. Mendes reached this country on 25 Oct. 1669, and was appointed physician in ordinary to the queen. He was one of the many physicians in regular attendance on Charles II in his last illness. By the charter of James II he was created a fellow of the College of Physicians, and was admitted on 12 April 1687, but at the accession of William and Mary his name was removed from the roll. Mendes died in London on 15 Nov. 1724 (Hist. Reg. vol. ix., Chron. Diary, p. 48). By his wife, Miss Marques, he had a son James (d. 1739), and a daughter Catherine (named after the queen, who acted as godmother), born about 1678 in the royal palace of Somerset House (Gent. Mag. 1812, pt. i. p. 22). Moses Mendes [q. v.], the dramatist, was his grandson.

Mendes's only published work was his thesis for the degree of M.D., entitled ‘Stadium Apollinare, sive Progymnasmata medica, ad Monspeliensis Apollinis Laurum consequendam,’ 4to, Lyons, 1668. Prefixed is his portrait engraved by N. Regnesson. A letter in Portuguese from him to John Mendes da Costa, dated 1663, is among the Additional MSS. in the British Museum (No. 29868, f. i.) 

MENDES, MOSES (d. 1758), poet and dramatist, was only son of James Mendes (d. 1739), stockbroker, of Mitcham, Surrey, and grandson of Fernando Mendes, M.D. [q. v.] He is said to have received part of his education under Dr. William King at St. Mary Hall, Oxford. Though he once intended to become an advocate in Doctors' Commons, he ultimately saw fit to follow his father's business of stockbroking, by which he made a large fortune, and he acquired a fine estate called St. Andrews at Old Buckenham, Norfolk. He passed for a bon-vivant and a wit, was ‘of an agreeable behaviour, entertaining in conversation, and had a very pretty turn for poetry.’ The poet James Thomson was a frequent visitor at his pleasant house at Mitcham (, Environs, i. 356). In 1744 he made a journey to Ireland, of which he gave a humorous account in a rhymed epistle addressed to a brother-poet, John Ellis. On 19 June 1750 he was created M.A. at Oxford (, Alumni Oxon. 1714–1886, iii. 942). He died at Old Buckenham on 4 Feb. 1758 (Probate Act Book, P. C. C. 1758), and was buried there on 8 Feb. By his marriage to Anne Gabrielle, daughter and coheiress of Sir Francis Head, bart., he had two sons, Francis and James Roper, who were authorised to take the surname of Head in lieu of Mendes by royal license dated 11 May 1770, and his grandson, Francis Bond Head [q. v.], was created a baronet on 14 July 1838. Mrs. Mendes married secondly, on 21 March 1760, Captain the Hon. John Roper (1734–1780), and died on 11 Dec. 1771 (, Peerage, 1812, vii. 86–7; will of Moses Mendes registered in P. C. C. 47, Hutton).

Mendes wrote verse with facility, and some of his songs are not wanting in grace. His dramatic pieces are: 1. ‘The Double Disappointment,’ a ballad opera, first performed at Drury Lane on 18 March 1746, and at Covent Garden on 22 March 1759 (, Hist. of the Stage, iv. 181). It owed its success to the cleverly drawn characters of two rival lovers, a fortune-hunting Irishman and Frenchman, and was printed in 1755, 12mo, and 1760, 8vo. 2. ‘The Chaplet,’ a musical entertainment, brought out on 2 Dec. 1749 at Drury Lane, where, thanks to the music by Boyce and the charming acting of Mrs. Clive as Pastora, it had a considerable run (ib. iv. 291). It was printed in 8vo in 1749, 1753, 1756, 1759, 1761, and about 1777. 3. ‘Robin Hood,’ a musical entertainment, which though set to music by Boyce was not so successful. It was produced at Drury Lane on 13 Dec. 1750 (ib. iv. 320), and printed in 8vo in 1751. 4. ‘The Shepherd's Lottery,’ a musical entertainment, acted at Drury Lane on 19 Nov. 1751 without much success, Burney supplying the music (printed in 8vo in 1751 and about 1781). With Paul Whitehead and Dr. Schomberg Mendes produced ‘The Battiad,’ in two cantos, fol. 1751 (reprinted in Dilly's ‘Repository’), a satire on William Battie, M.D. [q. v.] (, Lit. Anecd. iv. 606). The same year he published ‘The Seasons, a Poem in imitation of Spenser,’ fol. 1751 (reprinted in Richardson and Urquhart's ‘Collection’ and in Pearch's ‘Collection’). In the opening lines he mourns the death of James Thomson. Another imitation of Spenser by Mendes, called ‘The Squire of Dames,’ appeared in vol. iv. of Dodsley's ‘Collection of Poems.’ He has also a few miscellaneous pieces in Richardson and Urquhart's ‘Collection,’ 1767 and 1770; while his translation of Maphæus's