pitch of mirth; and most excellent pleasant company he is, and the best mimic that ever I saw; and certainly would have made an excellent actor, and now would be an excellent teacher of actors.’ On 20 Aug. 1666 he was said to be dying, ‘which,’ says Pepys, ‘troubles me mightily, for he is a very good, harmless, honest gentleman, though not fit for business.’ On 6 Oct. 1666 Pepys quotes Sir William Coventry as saying that ‘besides all the shame and trouble he—Mennes—hath brought on the office, the king had better have given 100,000l. than ever have had him there.’ And on 4 Jan. 1668–9 he and Lord Brouncker complained to the Duke of York ‘that it is but to betray the king to have any business of trust committed to his weakness.’ Despite his obvious incapacity, he was still comptroller at the time of his death, 18 Feb. 1670–1. He was buried in the church of St. Olave in the city of London, where there is a mural tablet to his memory. There is also a monument in the parish church of Nonington in Kent (Hasted, iii. 711). There are some ‘foolish verses’ to him in Denham's ‘Poems’ (p. 73).
A portrait by Vandyck is in Lord Clarendon's collection at The Grove, Watford. It is engraved in the 1874 edition of the ‘Musarum Deliciæ.’
Mennes married, apparently in 1640, Jane, daughter of Thomas Liddell of Ravensworth in Durham, and widow of Robert Anderson (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 9 Feb. 1640–1; Collins, Baronetage, ii. 372). She died without issue on 23 July 1662, at the house of John Boys of Fredville (cf. Hasted, iii. 710; Topographer, iii. 154) in Nonington, during the absence of her husband in command of the squadron. She was buried in Nonington Church, where there is a mural tablet to her memory. The expression in Brett's letter, already quoted, as to Mennes's ‘father-in-law, Captain Chester,’ is unexplained.
By his will, dated 16 May 1669, proved on 9 March 1670–1, Mennes left the bulk of his property to his nephew Francis and niece Mary, son and daughter of his sister, Mary Hammond, then deceased. Several members of the Hammond family are buried in Nonington Church (ib. iii. 711). To his niece, Lady Heath, wife of Sir John Heath of Brasted in Kent, he bequeathed ‘my great Portugal jewel containing 180 diamonds set in gold,’ and to his goddaughter Margaret, daughter of Lady Heath, a small gold cross with seven diamonds. Another niece, ‘Mrs. Jane Moyle, wife of Anthony Moyle, Esq.,’ and her son, John Moyle, are also mentioned. The name of Mennes has been spelt in an almost countless number of different ways. The spelling here followed is that of his own signature [cf. Myngs, Sir Christopher].
Mennes's verses, chiefly vers de société, seem to have caught the fancy of the age, and have been since described as the ideal of wit and mirth, but most of the pieces are coarse. It is, however, difficult to apportion his share of praise or blame, for nothing stands published in his name alone. Where his name does appear it is in conjunction with that of Dr. James Smith (1605–1667) [q. v.], who was probably the more fertile writer of the two, and their joint publications mainly consisted of anthologies of verse, to which many other writers besides themselves were contributors.
The works assigned to Mennes and Smith are: ‘Wits Recreations selected from the finest Fancies of Moderne Muses,’ first published in 1640, and in five other editions by 1667, with very considerable variations; ‘Musarum Deliciæ, or the Muses' Recreation,’ 1655 (2nd edit. 1656), and ‘Wit Restored in several select Poems, not formerly published,’ 1658. These three were collected and edited by Thomas Park, under the title of ‘Musarum Deliciæ,’ 2 vols. 8vo, 1817, and reissued, with additional notes, by J. C. Hotten, 2 vols. 8vo, 1874. Besides these Mennes was the author, according to Anthony à Wood, of ‘Merrie Newes from Epsom Wells,’ 4to, 1663, and was one of the writers against Sir William D'Avenant in ‘certain verses written by severall of the Authour's friends, to be reprinted with the second edition of Gondibert,’ 1653; also, says Wood, of ‘divers other poems scattered in other men's works; and he did assist, as I have been credibly informed, Sir John Suckling in the composition of some of his poetry.’
[Memoir by Thomas Park, prefixed to the 1817 edition of Musarum Deliciæ, with some additions in the edition of 1874; Add. MS. 24487, f. 4 (Hunter's Chorus Vatum); Harl. MSS. 818, f. 49, and 1106, f. 118; Charnock's Biog. Nav. i. 61; Duckett's Naval Commissioners, with Historical Notices; Calendars of State Papers, Dom.; Notes and Queries, 1st ser. i. passim; Pepys's Diary, passim; notes kindly furnished by Mr. C. H. Firth.]
MENTEITH, Earls of. [See Comyn, Walter, d. 1258; Graham, William, 1591–1661.]
MENTEITH, Sir JOHN de (d. after 1329), Scottish knight, was the younger son of Walter Stewart, earl of Menteith, and of his wife, the daughter and heiress of William Comyn, earl of Menteith, whose marriage brought the Menteith earldom for a time into the house of Stewart (Douglas, Peerage of
