498

MEN

TVI E N

or duo; b for 1, as bdhig the first consonant, and l for 5, being theRoman letter for 50, than any others that could have been put intheir places. It is farther to be observed, that z and y being madeuse of to represent the cypher, where many cyphers meet toge-ther, as 1000, 1000000, & c. instead of a repetition of azyzy zy,&c. let g stand for 100, tli for a thousand, and wz fora million.Thus ivg-wiil he 100, ?g300; oug9 00, &c. ath 1000, am 1000000,loam 59000000, &c. f ractions may be set down in the followingmanner: let r signify the line separating the numerator and deno-minator, the (ir>t coining Indore , the other after it; as iro 3 , urp■f, pourag -?£$, &c. When the numerator is 1 or unit, it need notbe expressed, but begin the fraction with r ; as re 7 'i f, ro -\,Ac. So in decimals, rag -rath This is the principal

part of the method, which consists in expressing numbers by arti-Jicial words. The application to history and chronology is alsoperformed by artificial words. The art herein consists in makingsuch a change in the ending of the name of a place, person, pla-net, coin, &c. without altering the beginning of it, as shall readilysuggest the thing sought, at the same time that the beginning ofthe word, being preserved, shall be a leading or prompting sylla-ble to the ending of it so changed. Thus, 111 order to rememberthe years in which Cyrus, Alexander, and Julius Cxsar, foundedtheir respective monarchies, the following words may be formed;for Cyrus, Cvrefs; for Alexander, Alextfa; for Julius Cxsar,Julies'. Uts signifies, according to the powers assigned to the let-ters before-mentioned, 536; ita is 331, and o.s is 46. Hence itwill he easy to remember, that the empire of Cyrus was founded530 years before Christ, that of Alexander, 331, and that of JuliusCxsar, 46. This account is taken from a treatise, intituled, “ AKetv Method of Artificial Memory ;” where the reader will findseveral examples in chronology, geography, See. of such artificialwords disposed in verses, which must be allowed to contributemuch to the assistance of the memory, since, being once learned,they are seldom or never forgot. However, the author adviseshis reader to form the words and verses himself, in the manner de-scribed above, as he will probably remember these better thanthose formed by another. We shall here give his (able of thekings of England since the Conquest; where one thousand beingadded to the italics in each word, expresses the year when theybegan their reigns. Thus,vVill-coniatt, RufAoz, Henrng.

StephM/and Hens ecbuf, Ricbiozn, hum, HethAzs, and \L 1 \J 0 id.Edsc-ty/z, Edter/ef, R hetnip, H cfotoun, llefifadqite.flensjyi’d, Edquar/zzzzz, Eli RoAf, Ht-nsep/ezV, Henoc/yzi.Edsex/ov, Mary/uf, ElsZaA, Jam syd, Caroprim.se/.

CarsecsjoA, Jamie;/) WiliezA, An pyb, Geo- bo-doi-sy.MEMPHIS , an ancient city, and the royal residence of thekings in Upper Egypt; fifteen miles from Delta to the S. accord-ing to Pliny : called also Mophnnd Noph, in scripture.

MEMPLJREMAGOG, a large lake of North America , partlyin Vermont, but chiefly in Canada ; forty miles long from N. toS. and from two to three broad.

MENACH1NITE, in mineralogy, a species of the titaniumgenus, is of a greyish-black colour, inclining to iron-black ; it oc-curs only in very small flattish angular grains, with a rough glim-mering surface; internally it is glistening; specific gravity 4.2 to4.5. It is attractable by the magnet. Without addition, it is in-fusible before the blow-pipe ; it tinges borax of a greenish colour,which inclines to brown: according to Klaproth it is composed of

Magnetic oxide of iron.51

Oxide of menaehine.45.25

Oxide ol manganese. 0.25

Silica. 3.50

100.00

MENAGE, the government of a horse. See Manege.

MENAIS, in botany, a genus of the pentandria monogyniaclass and order. Calyx three-leaved ; corolla salver-shaped ;berry four-celled; seeds solitary. There is but one species, M.topiaria, a native of South America .

MEN AGOG UE, fj.-.tivi; and a medicine that promotes theflux of the menses,

MENANDER , an ancient Greek poet, born at Athens in thethird year of the 109tl: Olympiad, Iiis introducing the new co-

medy, and refining an art which had been so gross and licentiousin former times, quickly spread his name over the world. Pliny says that the kings of Egypt and Maeedon sent ambassadors andfleets to bring him to their courts, but without success. Of hisworks, which amounted to above 100 comedies, only nine are left,besides the four which Terence borrowed from him, and bath pre-served in the Roman habit. It is chiefly from Terence that mostpeople form their judgement of Menander , the fragments that re-main of him not being sufficient to enable them to do it. The an-cients have said high things of Menander. Quintilian , and otherold masters of rhetoric, recommend his works as true patterns ofevery beauty and grace in public speaking. But Cxsar has leftthe loftiest praise of Menander , when lie calls Terence only aHalf-Menander. Menander died in the third year of the 122 dOlympiad. Quintilian censures Menander ’s morals as much a 3he commends his writings.

Menander, the founder of the heresy of (lie Menandrians.Some say lie was a disciple of Simon Magus . He taught that noperson could be saved unless lie were baptised in bis name; andiie conferred a peculiar sort of baptism, which would render thosewho received it immortal in the next world: exhibiting himself tothe world, with the phrenzy of a lunatic, as a promised saviour*[mucus, Justin, and Tcrtullian, say, that he pretended to be oneof the icons sent from the pleroma, or ecclesiastical regions, tosuccour the souls that lay groaning under bodily oppression ; andto maintain them against the violence and stratagems of the dae-mons that hold the icins of empire in this sublunary world; *doctrine built upon thtf same foundation with that of SimonMagus .

M ENANDRIANS, the most ancient branch of Gnostics ; thuscalled from Menander their chief.

MENDE, a city of France , capital of the department of L°*zero, and late province of Gevaudan, thirty-live miles S. W.Puv. Lon. 3. 35. E. Lat. 44. 31. N.

SiENDICANTS, or BEGGING FRIARS, several orders ofreligions in Popish countries, who having no settled revenues, ar°supported by the charitable contributions they receive from others*.This sort of society began in the thirteenth century, under InnO'cent HI. who encouraged them, as well as his successors. 'J l> emembers, by the tenor of their institution, were to remain entirelydestitute of all fixed revenues and possessions. But tiiey at la 5 *increased to such an enormous multitude, that they became a bur'den not only to the people, hut to the church itseff. In a generalcouncil, therefore, assembled by Gregory X. at Lyons, in 127 2 >the mendicants were reduced to a smaller number, and confined t°the four following societies, viz. the Dominicans, the Franc 15 'cans, the Carmelites , and the Augustin es. See these article*-.As the pontiffs allowed these four mendicant orders the liberty 0travelling wherever they thought proper, of conversing with p 01 ")sons of every rank, of instructing the people wherever they went’and as those monks exhibited, in their manner of life, more striK'ing marks of gravity and holiness than the other monastic socie lie *’they arose to the summit of fame, and were regarded with the ut-most veneration through all Europe . They were employed, J'°.only in spiritual matters, but also in temporal and political alla | Pof the greatest consequence, in composing the differences®princes, concluding treaties of peace, concerting alliances, nrcs'®'ing in cabinet-councils, governing courts, levying taxes, and oth eoccupations, absolutely inconsistent with the monastic charac |eand profession.

MEND1P HILLS, a range of hills in Somersetshire , nei>Wells, abounding in lead, coals, calamine, copper, manga 110 *'’’ochre, &c. On their summits are large swampy flats danger 011to cross.

MENDLESI1AM, a market-town of Suffolk, twenty'"'miles N. of Sudbury, and eighty-two N. E. of London . Lon-12 . E. Lat. 52. 24. N. ...

MENDOZA, a town and territory of South America in CI'U ’on the E. side of the Cordilleras. Lon. 44. 7. W. Lat. 33. 25- '

MENDRISIO, ahailiwic of Italy , now included in the dep< ,!ment of the Lario, and district of Varese. .. }

Mkndrisio, the capital of the above territory, lies seven m 1W. of Como. Lon. 9. 0. E. Lat. 25. 45. N. . . »

MENECRATES, a physician of Syracuse , who flouris* 1 ^about B. G. 360, famous lor his skill in his profession, but 1,111