Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/237

Rh M E Z M I A known. In 1854 he brought out L tftoile du Nord at the Opdra Comique, and in 1859 Le Pardon de Ploermel (Dinorafi). His last great work, L Africaine, was in active preparation at the Acad^mie when, on the 23d of April 1863, he was seized with a sudden illness, of which he died on the 2d of May. L Africaine was produced with pious attention to the composer s minutest wishes, on April 28, 1865, and fully justified the expectation which had been raised by his long and painstaking consideration of its details. Upon this, in conjunction with Robert le Diable, Les Huguenots, and Le Prophete, his fame now almost entirely rests. Meyerbeer s genius has been criticized with widely different re sults. Mendelssohn thought his style exaggerated ; Fetis thought him one of the most original geniuses of the age; Wagner calls him &quot;a miserable music-maker,&quot; and &quot;a Jewish banker to whom it occurred to compose operas.&quot; But the reality of his talent has been recognized throughout all Europe ; and, in spite of the acknowledged crudity of his system of phrasing, and the inequality of merit too plainly observable even in his greatest works, his name will live so long as intensity of passion and power of dramatic treatment are regarded as indispensable characteristics of dramatic music. (W. S. R.) MEZIERES, a fortress of the first class, and the capital of the department of Ardennes, France, is 161 miles to the north-east of Paris by railway, on a peninsula of the Meuse, which almost entirely surrounds the town, and separates it from its more important suburb, Charleville. The fortifications, which, as well as the citadel, are the work of Vauban, are pierced by four gates, giving access to the town, the streets of which are narrow and winding. The parish church, erected in the 16th century, contains two inscriptions in commemoration respectively of the raising of the siege of Me zieres in 1521 and the marriage of Charles IX. with the daughter of the emperor Maximilian II., which was celebrated at Mezieres in 1570. The north and south portals, the glass of the windows, and the lofty vaultings of the church are worthy of remark. The hotel de ville contains several interesting pictures relating to the history of the town. The iron industry, the only one of any importance, is being gradually transferred to Charle ville. The population in 1881 was 6120. Founded in the 9th century, Mezieres was at first only a strong hold belonging to the bishops of Rheims, which afterwards became the property of the counts of Rethel. The town was increased by successive immigrations of the people of Liege, flying first from the emperor Otho, and afterwards from Charles the Bold ; and also by concessions from the counts of Rethel. Its walls were built in the 13th century, and in 1521 it was successfully defended by Bayard against the imperialists. The anniversary of the deliverance of the town is still observed yearly on the 27th of September. The school of military engineering, since transferred successively to Metz and Fontainebleau, was originally founded at Mezieres. MEZO-TUR, 1 a corporate town in the Cis-Tisian county of Jasz-Nagy-Kun-Szolnok, Hungary, situated on the right bank of the Berettyd, and on the railway from Arad to Szolnok, in 47 1 N. lat., 20 39 E. long. It has Roman Catholic and Calvinist churches and schools, a judicial court for the circuit, and the usual Government offices, but can boast of few buildings of special interest. Horses, oxen, and sheep are reared in great numbers on the wide- spreading communal lands, which are productive also of cereals, and especially wheat, rape-seed, and maize. On the 31st December 1880 the population amounted to 20,649 (10,265 males, 10,384 females), mostly Magyars by nationality. MEZZOFANTI, GIUSEPPE (1774-1849), cardinal, whose colloquial linguistic acquirements have become proverbial, was born, September 17, 1774, at Bologna, where his father followed the occupation of a carpenter. Educated first at one of the &quot;scuole pie,&quot; and afterwards at the 1 Mezii is a Magyar word, signifying Field, prefixed to many agri cultural localities in Hungary. episcopal seminary of his native city, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1797, and in the same year became pro fessor of Arabic in the university, but shortly afterwards was deprived on account of his refusal to take the oath of allegiance to the Government of the Cisalpine Republic. In 1 803, however, he was appointed assistant librarian of the institute of Bologna, and soon afterwards was reinstated as professor of Oriental languages and of Greek. The chair was suppressed by the viceroy in 1808, but again rehabilitated on the restoration of Pius VII. in 1814, and continued to be held by Mezzofanti until his removal from Bologna to Rome in 1831, when he received certain ecclesi astical appointments and the rank of monsignore. Mean while his progress in the acquirement of languages had been rapid and untiring, and in 1833 he was appointed to succeed Mai as chief keeper of the Vatican Library. His promotion to the cardinalate, and the duties of director of studies in the Congregation of the Propaganda, followed in 1838. He died at Rome, during the absence of the pontifical court at Gaeta, on March 15, 1849. Mezzofanti s peculiar talent, comparable in many respects to that of the numerous &quot; calculating boys &quot; who have been the wonder of their contemporaries, was not combined with any exceptional measure of intellectual power, and accordingly produced nothing that has not perished with him. It seems to be well established, however, that he spoke with considerable fluency, and in some cases even with attention to dialectic peculiarities, some fifty or sixty languages of the most widely separated families, besides having a less perfect acquaintance with many others. See Manavit, Esquissc historique sur le Cardinal Mezzofanti, Paris, 1854 = and Russell, Life of the Cardinal Mezzofanti, London, 1857. MEZZOTINT. See ENGRAVING. MIAUTSE. The Miautse or Meaou-tsze of southern China are one of the aboriginal tribes of the country. At one time they occupied a considerable portion of the rich and fertile lands which now form the central province of the empire, but as the Chinese advanced southwards they were driven, like the Ainos in Japan and the Welsh in Britain, into the more inaccessible districts until they were compelled to seek refuge from the invaders in the mountain ranges, in the provinces of Yunnan, Kwei-chow, Kwang-se, and Kwang-tung, where they are found at the present day. This line of mountains extends for about 400 miles, and, being in many parts high, steep, and rugged, it forms a convenient shelter for them. As early as the reign of king Seuen (about 800 B.C.) we read of an expedi tion having been sent to drive them out of Hoo-nan, and since that time they have been periodically attacked either to punish them for misdeeds or to make them yield up vineyards coveted by Chinese Ahabs. The last important campaign against them was undertaken by the emperor K een-lung, who, having completely subjugated the Eleuths, was desirous of bringing under his yoke these mountain tribesmen. But the same success which had attended his arms in the north did not follow them to the south. The first expedition was utterly defeated, and the general in command paid the penalty of discomfiture with his head. The leader of a second expedition, having learned wisdom by the fate of his predecessor, purchased the submission of the Miautse by a large bribe. As soon as the unsuspecting savages had been thus lulled into security a third army was set in motion against them. This time, being unpre pared, they suffered a crushing defeat, and were compelled to purchase peace by swearing allegiance to their conquerors. But, though the Chinese thus gained sovereignty over them, they have since deemed it wise to content themselves with but the shadow of authority. No real jurisdiction is ever exercised over these hardy mountaineers. They are allowed to govern themselves on their own patriarchal system. The old men of each tribe manage the affairs of their juniors, and command an obedience which would be utterly refused to the mandate of any mandarin. In figure the Miautse,