Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 39.djvu/451

 MYERS, THOMAS (1774–1834), mathematician and geographer, was born 13 Feb. 1774, at Hovingham, near York, of a family long settled in the county. In 1806 he was appointed professor of mathematics at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He died 21 April 1834, at his residence in Lee Park, Blackheath. In 1807 he married Anna Maria, youngest daughter of John Hale, esq., by whom he had issue. His son Frederic Myers is separately noticed.

Myers wrote: 1. 'A Compendious System of Modern Geography, with Maps,' 1812, London, 8vo; re-edited ten years later in 2 vols. 4to. 2. 'A Statistical Chart of Europe,' 1813. 3. 'An Essay on Improving the Condition of the Poor,. . . with Hints on the Means of Employing those who are now Discharged from His Majesty's Service,' 1814. 4. 'A Practical Treatise on finding the Latitude and Longitude at Sea, with Tables, &c., translated from the French of M. de Rossel' [1815]. 5. 'Remarks on a Course of Education designed to prepare the Youthful Mind for a career of Honour, Patriotism, and Philanthropy,' 1818. In this the author, described as honorary member of the London Philosophical Society, recommends the study of mathematics, and especially of geometry, 'not only for checking the wanderings of a volatile disposition,. . . but for inspiring the mind with a love of truth.' The work was reprinted in the twelfth volume of the 'Pamphleteer.' Myers also wrote essays, chiefly on astronomical subjects, in various of the annual numbers of 'Time's Telescope' from 1811 onwards. The memoir of Captain Parry, introduced in one of these, and an 'Essay on Man' are highly praised in the 'Gentleman's Magazine,' 1823 p. 524, 1825 p. 541.

 MYKELFELD, MAKELSFELD, MACLESFELD, or MASSET, WILLIAM (d. 1304), cardinal, was born, according to the 'Dictionnaire des Cardinaux,' at Coventry, during the pontificate of Innocent IV, that is to say, between 1243 and 1254. He is said by some to have been born at Canterbury; there is no evidence to show that he belonged either to the family of Macclesfield of Macclesfield in Cheshire (cf. Ancient Parish of Prestbury, Chetham Society, pp. 168 sq.), or to that of Watford (cf. Gesta Abbatum Monasterii Sancti Albani, Rolls Ser. i. 480). He became a friar-preacher at Coventry and completed his education in the 'gymnasium sanjacobeum' at Paris, where he proceeded B.D. Returning to England he was elected fellow of Merton College, Oxford, in 1291, and proceeded D.D. He lectured in Oxford and was a great authority on the Bible; mingling also in the controversies of the time and confuting the heresies of William Delamere. In clerical politics he was a disciplinarian, and probably was no friend to the laxity which prevailed under Boniface VIII. In 1303 he represented his order on the nomination, it is supposed, of Edward I, at the synod of Besançon. Benedict XI nominated him cardinal priest with the title of St. Sabina on 18 Dec. 1303, but it is doubtful whether the news reached him, as he died while on his way to England early in 1304 (Migne cannot be right in dating the appointment of his successor 1303). Walter Winterburn (d. 1305), confessor to the king and also a friar-preacher, was at once made cardinal of St. Sabina in his stead. The following works are attributed to Mykelfeld by Echard: 1. 'Postillæ in sacra Biblia.' 2. 'In Evangelium de decem Virginibus.' 3. 'Questiones de Angelis.' 4. 'Questiones Ordinariæ.' 5. 'Contra Henricum de Gandavo, in quibus impugnat S. Thomam de Aquino.' 6. 'Contra Corruptorem S.Thomseæ.' 7. 'De Unitate Formarum.' 8. ' De Comparatione Statuum.' 9. 'Orationes ad Clerum.' 10. 'Varia Problemata.'

 MYLES or MILES, JOHN (1621–1684), founder of Welsh baptist churches, son of Walter Myles of Newton-Welsh, Herefordshire, was born in 1621. On 11 March 1636 he matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford; nothing further is known of his university career. He seems to have begun to preach in Wales in 1644 or 1645, probably as an independent. In the spring of 1649 he went to London with Thomas Proud; they joined a baptist church at the Glasshouse, Broad Street, under William Consett and Edward Draper. Returning to Wales, Myles and Proud formed on 1 Oct. 1649 the first baptist church in Wales, at Ilston, Glamorganshire. The rector of Ilston, William Houghton, was sequestered, and Myles obtained the rectory. His name appears in the act (22 Feb. 1650) ‘for the better propagation and preaching of the Gospel in Wales’ among the twenty-five ministers on whose recommendation and approval the seventy-one lay commissioners were to act [see ]. He soon found him-