Page:Imperialdictiona03eadi Brandeis Vol3a.pdf/403

MEH which it played in the Greek revolution, to repress which Mehemet was once more appealed to by the sultan, has been described in our memoir of Ibrahim Pacha. Meanwhile, Mehemet Ali was creating a new Egypt, and carrying out with more success, because his power to crush opposition was greater, the reforms which his suzerain, Sultan Mahmud, struggled to effect in Turkey proper. He not only organized an army, but built and manned a considerable fleet. He introduced the political and social regulations and appliances of christian Europe—police, systematic taxation, education, hospitals, telegraphs; and he gave toleration to his christian subjects. He sent his own sons and the elite of the Egyptian youth of the higher ranks to be educated in France, whence he drew skilful officers and civilians, on some of whom he conferred the rank of Bey, to aid him in carrying out his measures. Taking into his hands the whole industry, commercial and agricultural, of Egypt, and executing his industrial schemes by a system of forced labour, he established manufactories, compelled the culture of cotton, planted the olive and the mulberry tree, and improved the breed of useful animals. Terrible as was the tyranny of Mehemet, its results were at least better than those of the stereotyped Turkish pacha. "Order reigned" in Egypt, and through its length and breadth life and property were secure from every attack, save that of the viceroy himself. The resources which this policy placed at his command were such, that after the war in Greece which wasted his army, and the battle of Navarino which shattered his fleet, he created new and formidable forces, military and naval, and began to think of asserting his independence of the Porte. Up to the period of the battle of Navarino, Mehemet had not only been an obedient subject, but a powerful ally of his suzerain, to whom he had rendered the most essential services in the subjugation of the Wahabees, and in the war of the Greek revolution. But when, after the close of the war, Mahmud, jealous of the influence of his powerful feudatory, refused to bestow on Ibrahim the pashalik of Damascus, claimed by Mehemet as a reward for his services, the viceroy resolved on revolt. Demanding and refused the restitution of some of his subjects, who had fled from the system of forced labour in Egypt and taken refuge in Syria, Mehemet sent his son to invade Syria in 1831, with the results detailed in the memoir of Ibrahim. The war closed with the convention of Kutayah, May, 1833, by which the government of Syria was ceded to the viceroy of Egypt, who intrusted it to the victorious Ibrahim. Mahmud bided his time, and when he both thought himself strong enough and had an excuse for the act, he sent against Ibrahim in Syria the army which was completely defeated at Nezib, while the Turkish fleet, destined to operate against Mehemet, was quietly placed in the possession of the viceroy by the Capitan Pacha. Then came the celebrated intervention of the great powers, which left Mehemet Ali shorn of his triumphs, and which in its course nearly produced a war between France and England.—(See .) Deprived of the government of Syria, Mehemet Ali was left hereditary viceroy of Egypt, with a number of conditions, among which was a limitation of his military force. The viceroy was now seventy-two, and this humiliation struck him a blow from the effects of which he never recovered. When he paid in 1846 a visit to his new sovereign, Abd-ul-Medjid, at Constantinople, the once formidable foe of the Porte was a broken-down old man. On his return to Egypt he seemed to be failing fast, and by the advice of his physicians, proceeded in 1848 to Malta, and thence to Naples. He died at Cairo on the 2d August, 1849.—F. E.  MEHUL,, a musician, was born at Givet in Belgium, on the 24th June, 1763. He was indebted for his musical predilections to the organ of the cathedral, seconded by the organist, whose good graces he was so fortunate as to obtain. He afterwards enjoyed the instructions of a more skilful master, the learned German, Henser, under whose auspices Mehul devoted himself during three years to the practice of the organ and the study of counterpoint. So rapid was the progress he made, that at this period he was able to replace his master at the organ; and he would have become his successor had not the desire of glory led him to seek a more worthy field for the exercise of his talents. He went to Paris at the age of sixteen, where he received instructions from the celebrated Edelmann, by whom he was initiated into all the higher mysteries of composition. The young Mehul first became known to the public by a set of sonatas, which manifested a very decided genius for instrumental music, and met with a most encouraging reception. By fortunate chance he became acquainted with Glück, and to this great musician he was more indebted for the skill in composition which he soon displayed, than to any other school or master. His first work, "Euphrosine et Coradin," proved most successful; and not less so his "Stratonice," which critics consider as his masterpiece. The period of the French revolution compelled him to waste much of his time in writing pieces of temporary interest, but he redeemed himself in his "Jeune Henri," his "Deux Aveugles de Tolede," his music in "La Dansomanie," and more especially by his oratorio of "Joseph," produced in 1816. He died the year after, leaving his "Valentine de Milan" to be finished by his nephew, M. Daussoigne, who brought it out most successfully in 1822. For many interesting anecdotes, and for a complete list of Mehul's works, we must refer our readers to Fetis' Musical Biography.—F. F. R.  MEIBOMIUS,, a well-known philologist and critic, was a native of Toningen in Holland, born in 1626. Having searched deeply into the writings of the Greeks, he contracted an enthusiastic partiality for the music of the ancients; and not only entertained an opinion of its superiority over that of the moderns, but also that he was able to restore and introduce it into practice. Very little is known of his early life. He settled at Stockholm and became a favourite of Christina, queen of Sweden. The queen, who from frequent conversation with him had been induced to entertain the same sentiments on music as himself, was prevailed on to listen to a proposal that he made. This was to exhibit a musical performance that should be strictly conformable to the practice of the ancients; and to crown all, though he had a very bad voice, and had never been taught to exercise it, he engaged to sing the principal parts. Instruments of various kinds were prepared under the direction of Meibomius at the expense of the queen, and a public notice was given of a musical exhibition that should atonish the world, and enchant all who should be happy enough to be present. On the appointed day Meibomius appeared, and beginning to sing was heard for a while with patience; but his performance and that of his assistants soon became past enduring. Neither the chromatic nor the enharmonic genus was suited to the ears of his illiterate audience, and the Lydian mode had lost its power. In short his hearers, unable to resist the impulses of nature, at length expressed their opinions of the performance by a general and long-continued burst of laughter. Whatever might be the feelings of the people, Meibomius was but little disposed to sympathize with them. Their mirth was his disgrace, and he felt it but too sensibly. Seeing in the gallery M. Bourdelot, a court physician and his rival in the queen's favour, he imputed the behaviour of the company to some insinuations of this person. He therefore ran up to him, and struck him a violent blow on the neck. To avoid the consequences of this rashness he quitted the city before he could be called to account for it, and took up his residence at Copenhagen. In this place he was well received, and became a professor at Sora, a college in Denmark for the instruction of the nobility. Here he was honoured with the title of councillor to the king, and was soon afterwards called to Elsinore, and advanced to the dignity of president of the board of maritime taxes or customs; but neglecting his employment he was dismissed from the office, and he soon afterwards quitted Denmark. He now settled at Amsterdam, and became professor of history there; but on refusing to give private instruction to the son of a burgomaster, alleging as his excuse that he was not accustomed to instruct boys, he was dismissed from that station. On this he quitted Amsterdam and visited France and England; but afterwards returning he died at Amsterdam about the year 1710. The great work of Meibomius was his edition of the seven Greek musical writers—Aristoxenus, Euclid, Nichomachus, Alypius, Gaudentius, Bacchius, and Aristides Quintilianus. This was published at Amsterdam in the year 1652, and contains a general preface to the whole; and also a particular preface to each of the treatises as they occur, and a Latin translation of the Greek test, with copious notes, tending to reconcile various readings and to explain the meaning of the several authors.—E. F. R.  MEIER,, was born at Ammendorff, near Halle in Saxony, in the year 1718. He wrote largely on various philosophical subjects. Amongst his writings may be mentioned his "Instruction as to the means of becoming a modern philosopher," of which there is an English translation entitled "The Merry Philosopher, or thoughts on jesting." He died in 1777.—W. J. P.  MEIKLE, the name of a family of Scottish mechanics, distinguished for skill through many generations.—, 