for the pursuit of his favourite studies. During his abode at Rome, besides his professional concerns, he studied classical literature, and the monuments of antiquity, and produced a learned and elegant work, which acquired him much celebrity in the literary world, and which was first published at Venice in 1569, under the title of "De Arte Gymnasticâ Libri sex," 4to. It was many times reprinted, and its merit occasioned his being appointed professor of medicine in the university of Padua. In 1573 he was called to Vienna by the emperor Maximilian II., to consult respecting a severe illness under which that personage laboured; and his treatment was so successful, that he returned loaded with valuable presents, and honoured with the dignities of a knight and count palatine. In 1587 hẹ removed to a professorsip at Bologna, which has been partly attributed to a degree of dissatisfaction or self-accusation, in consequence of an error of judgment, which had been committed by him and Capivaccio, several years before, when they were called to Venice, in order to give their advice respecting a pestilential disorder which prevailed in that city. On this occasion both he and his colleague seem to have fallen into the mistake of several medical theorists, of denying the reality of contagion; and their counsels were said to have been productive of extensive mischief. Nevertheless his reputation appears to have suffered little from this error; for he was invited by Ferdinand, the grand duke of Tuscany, to settle at Pisa in 1599, where he was ordered a stipend of eighteen hundred golden crowns, which was ultimately raised to two thousand. Here he died Nov. 9, 1606, and was interred, with great honours, in a chapel, which he had himself erected at Forli. He left a large property in money and effects, among which was a valuable collection of pictures; and he made a great number of charitable bequests.

Mercuriali was a voluminous writer, as the following catalogue of his works will evince. He was a learned commentator on Hippocrates, and edited a classified collection of his works. Like the learned of his age, however, he was bigotted to the doctrines of the ancients, and fond of hypothetical reasoning, to the disparagement of sound observation; and he strongly imbued his pupils with the same erroneous principles. His first publication was a tract entitled "Nomothesaurus, seu Ratio lactandi Infantes." His second, the work " De Arte Gymnastica," be

1584.

fore-mentioned. 3. "Variarum Lectionum in Medicine Scriptoribus et aliis, Libri iv." Venice, 1571. 4. "De Morbis Cutaneis, et omnibus corporis humani Excrementis," ib. 1572. 5. "Tractatus de Maculis pestiferis et Hydrophobia," Basle, 1577. 6. "De Pestilentia in universum, præsertim verò de Veneta et Patavina," Venice 1577. 7. "Hippocratis Opera Græcè et Latinè," ibid. 1578. 8. "De Morbis Muliebribus Prælectiones," Basle, 1582. 9. "De Morbis puerorum Tractatus locupletissimi," Venice, 1583. 10. "De Venenis et Morbis venenosis," ibid. 11. "De Decoratione liber," ib. 1585. 12. "Consultationes et Responsa Medicinalia." Four volumes were successively published in 1587, 1590, and 1597; and were republished together after his death. 13. "Tractatus de Compositione Medicamentorum, De Morbis oculorum et aurium," ibid. 1590. 14. "De Hominis Generatione," 1597. 15. "Commentarii in Hippoc. Coi Prognostica, Prorrhetica," &c. ibid. 1597. 16. Medicina Practica, seu, de cognoscendis, discernendis, et curandis omnibus humani corporis affectibus," Francfort, 1602, folio. All these works have been several times reprinted, and some of them were selected after his death, and printed together, under the title of "Opuscula aurea et selectiora," Venice, 1644, folio.1

MERIAN (JOHN BERNARD), perpetual secretary of the academy of sciences at Berlin, was born at Leichstal, near Basil, Sept. 27, 1723, of a reputable family, and received a learned education, with the particulars of which, however, we are unacquainted. In 1750 he was invited from Holland to Berlin, on the recommendation of Maupertuis, and died in that city Feb. 12, 1807, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. The best known of his works were French translations of Claudian, and of Hume's Essays, the latter, published at Amsterdam, 1759-1764, 5 vols. 12mo, enriched with commentaries and refutations of the most objectionable principles. He translated also some of Michaelis's works. The Memoirs of the Academy of Berlin contain several of his pieces on philosophical subjects and on geometry. One of the best is a parallel between the philosophy of Leibnitz and Kant, which was much noticed on its first appearance. Merian bore an estimable private

1 Niceron, vol. XXVI.-Eloy, Dict. Hist. de Medicine.-Moreri.-Rees's Cyclopædia.

character, and preserved all the activity and vigour of youth to a very advanced age. A few days before his death he officiated as secretary at a sitting of the academy, to celebrate, according to custom, the memory of the -Great Frederic. 1

MERIAN (MARIA SIBYLLA), a lady much and justly celebrated for her skill in drawing insects, flowers, and other subjects of natural history, was born at Francfort on the Maine, in 1647; being the grand-daughter and daughter of Dutch engravers of some celebrity, whose talents were continued and improved in her. She was instructed by Abraham Mignon. She married John Andriez Graff, a skilful painter and architect of Nuremberg, but the fame she had previously attached to her own name, has prevented that of her husband from being adopted. They had two children, both daughters, who were also skilful in drawing. By liberal offers from Holland, this ingenious couple were induced to settle there; but Sibylla, whose great object was the study of nature, had the courage to travel in various parts, for the sake of delineating the insects, and several other productions peculiar to each country. She ventured to take the voyage to Surinam, where she remained two years, for the express purpose of making the drawings which have since added so considerably to her fame; and, though it does not appear that there was any kind of disagreement between her and her husband, she went, if we mistake not, without him. His own occupations, probably, precluded such a journey. Madame Merian died at Amsterdam in 1717, at the age of seventy.

The drawings of this lady have a delicacy and a beauty of colour, which have seldom been equalled, and her designs are still in high estimation, notwithstanding the great attention which has since been paid to the accurate execution of such works. She published, 1. "The origin of Caterpillars, their nourishment and changes;" written in Dutch; Nuremberg, 1679-1688, in 2 vols. 4to. This was afterwards translated into Latin, and published at Amsterdam, in 1717, 4to. This work, much augmented by herself and daughters, with thirty-six additional plates and notes, was published in French by John Marret, Amsterdam, 1730, folio, under the title of, "Histoire des

1 Biog. Dict.-Athenæum, vol. II.

Insectes d'Europe." 2. "Dissertatio de Generatione et Metamorphosibus insectorum Surinamensium," Amst. 1705, folio. This contains only sixty plates. To some of the later editions twelve plates were annexed, by her daughters Dorothea and Helena. There is an edition of this in folio, French and Dutch, printed at Amsterdam, in 1719. Another in French and Latin, 1726; and another in Dutch, in 1730. There have been also editions of the two works united, under the title of "Histoire des Insectes de l'Europe et de l'Amerique," Amst. 1730; Paris, 1768—1771. Many of the original drawings of this artist are in the British Museum, in two large volumes, which were purchased by sir Hans Sloane, at a large price. The current opinion is, that he gave five guineas for each drawing; but this is not sufficiently authenticated. Of these volumes, one contains the insects of Surinam, the other those of Europe, and among them are many designs which have never been engraved. Among those of the Surinam insects are several, which, though very elegantly finished, appear evidently, on examination, to be painted on impressions taken from the wet proofs of the engravings. Those of Europe are, perhaps, entirely original drawings. In the engraved works, much less justice has been done to the European insects than to those of America. Matthew Merian, the father of this lady, published many volumes of topographical engravings and collections of plates in sacred history.1

MERLIN (AMBROSE), a British writer, who flourished towards the latter end of the fifth century, but of whom little memorial remains, except such as is wholly disfigured by fiction, was reputed to be both an enchanter and a prophet, and to have been begotten by an incubus. For want of more authentic materials, we may be allowed to give the account of Spenser, in his Faery Queen, b. iii. canto 3. where, after speaking of his supposed magical powers, he thus tells his progeny:

And sooth men say that he was not the sonne
Of mortal syre, or other living wight,

But wondrously begotten and begonne
By false illusion of a guileful spright

On a faire lady nonne, that whilome hight
Matilda, daughter to Pubiclius,
Who was the lord of Mathtraval by right,

1 Moreri.-Strutt's Dict. of Engravers.—Dict. Hist.

And coosin unto king Ambrosius,

Whence he indued was with skill so marvelous.

Merlin is said to have foretold the arrival and conquests of the Saxons, to which allusion is made by Andrew of Wyntown, in his fifth book, ch. 12.

The Saxonys of Duche-land
Arrywyde that tyme in Ingland,
Merlyne alsuá mystyly

That tyme made his prophecy,

How Vortygerne wyth hys falsheede

Of Brettane made the kyngis dede, &c.

It was supposed that Merlin did not die, but was laid asleep by magic, and was, after a long period, to awake and live again. Spenser alludes to this fable also. Extravagant prophecies, and other ridiculous works are ascribed to Merlin, and some authors have written Commentaries on them, as ridiculous as the text. In the British Museum is "Le compte de la vie de Merlin et de ses faiz, et compte de ses prophecies," 2 vols. fol. on vellum, without date or place. There is a French edition, 3 vols. small folio, black letter, dated 1498. There are also other French and Italian editions. In English we have "The Life of Merlin, surnamed Ambrosius. His prophesies and predictions interpreted: and their truth made good by our English annals, published by T. Heywood," Lond. 1641, 4to. This was Heywood the actor, of whom some notice is taken in our seventeenth volume.1

MERLIN (JAMES), a learned doctor of the Sorbonne, born in the diocese of Limoges, was curate of Montmartre, and afterwards canon and grand penitentiary of Paris. Having preached against some persons belonging to the court, who were supposed to be favourable to the reformed religion, he was confined in the castle at the Louvre, 1527, by order of Francis I. and then banished to Nantes, from whence he returned to Paris, 1530. Merlin was appointed grand vicar of Paris, and curate of la Magdelaine. He died September 26, 1541. He was the first who published a "Collection of Councils;" of which there are three editions. It is said to be a compilation of great accuracy and impartiality. Merlin also published editions of "Richard de St. Victor, Peter de Blois, Durand de St. Pourçain, and

1 Spenser's Faery Queen.-Warton's Hist, of Poetry.-Macpherson's Andrew of Wyntown, vol. I. p. 118.-Tanner.