Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/381

 MELBOURNE 2 m. across, but this is occupied by foul ground on either side, which leaves a channel little more than a mile broad. Through this narrow passage the ebb and flood tides sweep over the uneven bottom with great force, and raise a sea which, when there is a strong wind from the opposite direction, is often fatal to small craft. Strong fortifications occupy the points of land at either side of the entrance. The rise and fall of the tide is about 3 ft. Melbourne has steam flour mills, tallow-boiling and meat-preserving establishments, brass and iron founderies, breweries, distilleries, and manufactories of clothing and woollen blankets. The site of Melbourne was selected and oc- cupied by a small colonizing party from Tasma- nia in 1835. Two years afterward the town was officially recognized and named in honor of Lord Melbourne, the British prime minister, by the government of New South Wales, to which Melbourne, together with the surround- ing country, then called the Port Phillip dis- trict, belonged until the formation of a separate colony in 1851 under the name of Victoria. MELBOURNE. I. William Lamb, viscount, a British statesman, born in London in 1779, died there, Nov. 24, 1848. He was the eldest son of the first Viscount Melbourne, and after an education at Trinity college, Cambridge, and the university of Glasgow, was in 1804 called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn. In 1805 he entered parliament as a supporter of Fox and the whigs, but later he served under Canning as secretary for Ireland. In 1828 he succeed- ed to his title, and two years later he entered the cabinet of Earl Grey as home secretary. Upon the retirement of the latter in 1834 he became first lord of the treasury and prime minister, in which office he remained, with the exception of a brief period in 1834-'5, when Sir Robert Peel temporarily assumed the premiership, till 1841, when he was again succeeded by Peel. His administration was distinguished by no important political event, but was rendered popular by the tact and per- sonal qualities of the premier. II. Caroline (PONSONBY), known as Lady Caroline Lamb, wife of the preceding, born Nov. 13, 1785, died in London, Jan. 26, 1828. She was the only daughter of the third earl of Bessbor- ough, and at 20 years of age was married to the future premier. Having tastes congenial with those of her husband, she shared with him the classical studies in which they were both proficient, and also made herself mistress of several of the modern languages. In 1816 she published " Glenarvon," a novel of which the hero was supposed to shadow forth the character and sentiments of Lord Byron, for whom about 1813 she had conceived a roman- tic attachment. Byron severed his relations with her in the well known lines to her writ- ten a short time before his departure from England ; notwithstanding which she still cherished a regard for him, and it is related that, coming suddenly upon the hearse which MELEAGER 369 was conveying the remains of Byron to the grave, she fainted and was for some time pros- trated by a severe illness. For many years she lived in seclusion in Brocket hall, and three years before her death was separated from her husband. She published two other novels, "Graham Hamilton" and "Ada Reis." MELCHIZEDEK, or Melchisedee ("king of righteousness"), according to Gen. xiv. 18, a "priest of the most high God" and "king of Salem," who went forth to meet Abraham on his return from the pursuit of King Chedorla- omer, brought bread and wine for the war- riors, and blessed Abraham, who in return gave him a tenth of the spoils. One of the Psalms (ex. 4) contains the words, " a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek ;" and the Epistle to the Hebrews (vi. 20, vii. 1-21) represents him as a type of Christ, and his office as superior to the Aaronic priesthood. The opinions of theologians as to the person of Melchizedek and the nature of his priest- hood have at all times greatly varied. With regard to his residence, they are now gener- ally agreed that Salem was a poetical name for Jerusalem. In the ancient church, a sect, called Melchizedekites, regarded Melchizedek as an incarnation of a divine power, and as superior to Christ. MELCHTHAL, Arnold Tom, a Swiss patriot, born in Unterwalden in the latter part of the 13th century. His real name was Arnold von der Halden, but he assumed the name of his native village. The Austrian bailiff Landen- berg having ordered the seizure of a yoke of oxen belonging to Arnold's father, the young man knocked down the menial and fled. His father refused to disclose his place of refuge, and was blinded by order of the bailiff. This cruel deed, which has been dram- atized in Schiller's "William Tell," became the signal of revolution. Young Melchthal, in his retreat on the Grtitli, was joined by Fiirst and Stauffacher, with whom and 30 other .patriots, one night in November, 1307, he took "an oath to devote his life to Swiss indepen- dence. This was achieved in January, 1308, by the expulsion of the Austrians from the cantons of Unterwalden, Uri, and Schwytz, and the destruction of their castles, without bloodshed. The authenticity of the whole story, however, which is given in the Chroni- con Helveticum of ^Egidius Tschudi (died in 1572), has been questioned in more recent times, as well as the story of William Tell. MELCOMBE, Lord. See DODINGTON. MELEAGER. I. A mythical hero of Greece. The legends respecting him are discordant. According to one, he was the son of Mars and Althaea, and to others, of (Eneus and Al- throa. The prevailing legend is, that while Meleager was at Calydon, in JEtolia, the king once neglected to offer up a sacrifice to Diana, whereupon the angry goddess sent a mon- strous boar to ravage the fields. Finally Me- leager, with several companions, went out to