Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/806

Rh 774 M E C M E C MECHITHARISTS, a congregation of Armenian monks, in communion with the church of Rome, which has enjoyed papal recognition since 1712. Its founder Mechithar, or Mechitar da Pietro, a native of Sebaste (Sivas) in Armenia, was born on February 7, 1676; his original name was Manuk, which he exchanged for that by which he was subsequently known (&quot; Comforter &quot;) when he entered the cloister of the Holy Cross in his native town. In the pursuit of knowledge he visited various seats of learning in Armenia, and in the years 1691, 1696, and 1699 respectively he attained the office of deacon, priest, and vartabed or doctor in theology. Having removed to Constantinople, he founded there in 1701 a religious institute for the intellectual, moral, and spiritual elevation of his countrymen, and for the cultivation of their language and literature. In 1703 sectarian jealousy obliged him to retire to the Morea, where he ultimately found a settlement at Modon, and built a cloister and church (1706-8). The outbreak of hostilities between the Turks and Venetians in 1715 compelled him to take refuge in Venice, where in 1717 he received from the senate the island of San Lazzaro, which ever since has been the home of his order. Mechithar, who died on April 27, 1749, was the author of a Grammatica Armena, printed in 1770, of an Armenian Lexicon, printed in 1744, of an Armenian translation of the Bible, printed in 1734, and of several commentaries on Biblical books. The order of Mechi- tharists, which, as already mentioned, received formal recognition (from Clement XL) in 1712, uses the Armenian language and the Syrian rite&quot;; its rule resembles the Benedictine, prominent among the duties of its members being the proclamation of the gospel and the diffusion of good literature. They have accumulated at San Lazzaro a large library, specially rich in Armenian MSS. ; and their linguistic attainments are considerable. Among their services to the cause of learning may be mentioned, in addition to the preparation of critical texts of the Armenian classics and of the Armenian version of the Bible, the publication in old translations of various works of Ephraem Syrus, Philo, and Eusebius, of which the originals have been lost. There are establishments belonging to the order elsewhere in Italy (Padua), as well as in Russia and Turkey, in Paris, in Austria-Hungary, and in Germany. Of these the most important is that of Vienna, which has existed since 1810, and has become a sort of learned &quot; academy,&quot; receiving honorary members even from beyond the pale of the Roman Catholic Church. MECHLIN, or MALINES, a city of Belgium, in the pro vince of Antwerp, on the river Dyle, about 14 miles north of Brussels. The general aspect of the town, belted by a fine avenue of trees, with well-built houses, extensive gardens, and broad airy streets and squares of proverbial cleanliness, is pleasing to the eye; there is, however, a lack of life and motion, a repose bordering on stagnation; and the area occupied by the town is much too extensive for the population. Mechlin was for many centuries, and is to this day, the religious metropolis of Flanders, and its monuments and curiosities are in general of a sacred description. Among the most remarkable is the cathedral church of St Rombold or Rombaut, mainly built in the latter half of the 14th century ; the square massive tower, rising 300 feet high and bearing four dials, each 48 feet in diameter, is visible from all the country round. The interior proportions of the edifice are grand, and it contains some fine works of art statues of the apostles, standing against the pillars of the nave, Vandyck s picture of the Crucifixion, the Adoration of the Shepherds, by Erasmus Quellin, and others. The church of St John possesses ft celebrated triptych of Rubens, and another by the same master is to be seen at Notre Dame. The &quot; Halle &quot; or market still retains some vestiges of the splendid palace raised on the site by Charles V. in 1530, and on the chief market-place is a monument erected to Margaret of Austria, daughter of the emperor Maximilian. Mechlin is an archiepiscopal see, occupied by a cardinal, primate of Belgium, deriving his spiritual power from Rome, and quite independent of (at times even openly opposed to) the civil Government. His palace is the headquarters of the Catholic party, and the seat of considerable moral and political influence extending over every parish in the land ; the university of Louvain, the Catholic schools, more than four thousand in number, and the great seminary of Mechlin, the nursery of the Belgian priesthood, are entirely under the direction of the archbishop. The industrial activity of the town, formerly very great, has constantly decreased in the present century, and is now almost extinct. The important corporation of weavers was scattered by the political troubles of the 15th and 16th centuries; and the lace trade has gradually been transferred to Brussels and other towns. There still exist a few special manu factures, those of carved oak furniture, straw chairs, and wool and linen tissues being among the foremost ; some tanyards and breweries are also to be found, and the means of communication furnished by the Dyle supply a tolerably brisk market in corn, oils, flax, hemp, and hops. As a railway station Mechlin possesses peculiar importance, being a junction of the chief Belgian Government lines and the great central workshop for constructing and repairing the rolling-stock. The population of Mechlin in 1880 was 42,381. Mechlin appears to have been about the 8th century a mere group of cabins surrounding a noted monastery where St Rombaut, now the patron saint of the town, suffered martyrdom on the 24th of June 775. After having belonged to the first Prankish monarchs, it was given by Pippin the Little to his relative Adon, and passed, at the commencement of the 10th century, under the dominion of the bishops of Liege, in whose name it was governed by the powerful house of Berthold until the year 1333. When this family became extinct, Mechlin and the surrounding district were divided in two portions and sold by the bishops to the duke of Brabant and the count of Flanders, the former of whom, ten years later, once more united the whole territory under his own sway. By the marriage of Margaret of Brabant with Philip the Bold, Mechlin was brought under the sceptre of the house of Burgundy, whose fate it shared from that time. Stormed by the French in 1572, by the prince of Orange in 1578, by the English in 1580, the town suffered much during the wars of the 17th and 18th centuries. Napoleon I. had its fortifications razed in 1804, and made it the capital of the French &quot; Departement des deux Nethes &quot; until 1814, when it was comprised in the kingdom of the Netherlands, and it finally became part of Belgium in 1830. MECKLENBURG, a territory in North Germany, on the Baltic Sea, extending from 53 4 to 54 24 N. lat., and from 10 35 to 13 57 E. long., corresponds with tolerable closeness to the old lower Saxon province of the same name, and is now unequally divided into the two grand- duchies of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz. These are so closely related in history, political organiza tion, natural features, and general development that it is convenient to treat them in a single article. MECKLENBURG-SCHWERIN, the seventh state of the German empire in size and the eighth in population, is bounded on the N. by the Baltic Sea, on the W. by the principality of Ratzeburg and Lauenburg, on the S. by Brandenburg and Hanover, and on the E. by Pomerania and Mecklenburg-Strelitz. It embraces the duchies of Schwerin and Giistrow, the district of Rostock, the prin cipality of Schwerin, and the barony of Wismar, besides several small &quot;enclaves&quot; in the adjacent territories. Its total area is about 5117 square miles. MECKLENBURG-STRELITZ, the eleventh state of the German empire in area and the nineteenth in population, consists of two detached parts, the duchy of Strelitz on the east of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and the principality of