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MENDENHALL. 311 MENDICANCY. president of the Ro.-* rulyU't-linic Institute, Teire Haute, Iiui.; in 1S80 lie became superin- tenUeiil of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey; and in 1894 became president of the Polyteelmic Institute at Worcester, Mass. He has made s<neral important contributions to physical science, and is the autlior of .1 Century of 'I'Jcct licit ;i (1887). MENDERES, men'der-6z. The modern name of tile Maaiuler (q.v.), a river of Asia Jlinor. MENDES, maN'das', Catulle (1841 — ), A French ])oet and novelist, born in Bordeaux, May 22, 1841. He founded (1849) the Revue Fanlaisisle, devoted to the interests of the 'Par- nassian' poetic group and to "art for art's sake.' His verses, dramas, novels, and short stories are beautiful in form, but often ba.se in morals. Noteworthy among many volumes are: Poesies (1878); the dramas Le ctipitaine Fracasse (1870), Le chiitiment (1887), and Fiiimmette (1889) : the novel La femme-enfant (1891) ; and the short Folies amoureuses ( 1877), all of which show morbidity and most of them eroticism. MENDES LEAL, man'dush la-iil', Josfi da SiLVA (1818-8U). A Portuguese dramatist and diplomat, born at Lisbon. He produced a num- ber of plays which have been veiy successful. The following are the best: Os dous reneyados (1839); Eyus iloniz (1801); iladre Hilva (1847) ; A pohre das ruinus (1846) ; Os homens de marmore ( 18.54) ; Os homens de vidro { 1855) ; Pedro (1857); A escala social (1858); and especially the comedies tio Andre que rem do Brazil (1855), and Receita para eurar saudades (1857). He was a member of the Portuguese Academy (1840) and director of the National Library. MENDES-PINTO, maN'desh-peN'tu. Fernao. See PiXTo. Ferxao Mexde.s. MENDIBUE.TT, men'de-BoT/roo, Manuel de (1805-S.ii. A Peruvian historian, born at Lima. He studied at the Universitj- of San Marcos; entered public life in 1819 as a clerk; and at the outbreak of the Revolution of 1821 joined the patriot forces. He was captured by the Spanisli troops, but was released at the end of the war. and held various posts under the Peruvian Oovcrnment. His great collection of materials for a history of Peru was published as a Diccionario histdrico-biorrrdfico del Peru (1874 sqq.), which, although complete only for the early and colonial [lericKl, is a most valuable work. MENDICANCY (from mendicant, from Lat. mendicnns, pres. part, of mcndicare, to beg, from mendicus. poor). The practice of begging. A beggar is one who seeks to get his living, in whole or in part, by soliciting alms. The word lieggar is probably derived from the Beghards. a religions order of the Miildlc Ages corresponding to a similar order among women, the Beguines (q.v.). Small communities of the Bfig^iines still exist in Belgium. In primitive societies beggars have little chance for existence. Whenever and wherever a sur- plus results from labor, there appears a class of the economically unfit ready and anxious to live as parasites on the labor of others. If, through the influence of religion or other causes, almsgiving comes to be looked upon as a virtue, mendicants will rapidly increase. Such a condi- tion existed in ICuropc in the iliJdle Ages, and beggars became so numerous that they threatened to overrun the Continent. The Ciiurcli inculcated almsgiving ami emphasized it as a means of obtaining future liappiness. The great success of the orders of the 'liegging friars,' the Francis- cans, Dominicans, Carmelites, and Augustinians encouraged begging among the laity. Meantime there was a gradual development of monasteries, hospitals, guilds, and private benevolence, entirely independent of each other, yet all giving alms, and this without any thought of investigation as to the worthiness of the recipient. In l.'i49 England began to forbid begging. France followed in 1350, and later some of the German towns, as Esslingen (1384) and Bruns- wick (1400). Such legislation was of little effect. During the fifteentli century the idea gradually gained ground that the able-bodied poor must be set at work. The adoption of this view in- volved the overthrow of the old theory of alms- giving, and it was steadily opposed by the Church. The si.xteenth century marks a great change. Luther said that one of the most crying needs of Christian countries was the prohibition of begging, and measures to this efl'ect introduced in the 'Regulation of a Common Chest' became the basis for subsequent reforms. Under the in- fluence of Zwingli, Zurich prohibited begging in 1525. The Catholic Vives wrote Ue Suhcentione Pauperum (Bruges, 1520), which led to the breakdown of the old system in Catholic Eviro])e, in the North at least, for in Spain, through the inlljience of the Dominican monk Soto, the pro- hibition was not decreed, and Italy has only partially forbidden the custom. Germany after the Thirty Years' War made more stringent regulations, but the various States were not in harmony, and the root of the evil was not reached. Frankfort (1020), Anhalt 1770), Hesse (1777). forbade begging entirely. Hamburg followed in 1788 and forbade also gifts to beggars. Here was introduced more efl'ective investigation of the individual cases, and other cities copied the plan. By 1791 it is re- ported that open begging had been stopped. The general German law is that vagabonds (Land- streicher, best translated tramps) may be im- prisoned. Beggars, those who ask alms either in person or through letters, may be put to hard work. In some of the States appeals for assist- ance may not be published in the papers without special permission. Bavaria made a statistical investigation of mendicancy between 1870 and 1880 which showed that some 20,000 persons were convicteil each year. In Saxony between 1880 and 1887 of those convicted 47 per cent, were Saxons. 42.7 from other German States, and 10.3 foreigners. In many towns there is a Verein gegen Verarmung und Bettelei. France forbade mendicancy in 1500, but the efforts made to enforce the law were inelTective. In 1027 it was ordered that beggars be impressed into the nax-y. Later, beggars were commanded to leave Paris under penalty of being sent to the galleys. After the Revolution, however, penal colonies, depots de mendicite, were established. Italy prohibited begging in 1805. but local authorities may issue permits (permissi di men- dicare). and begging, licensed or not. abounds, particularly in the southern provinces. The practice has also been prohibited in other countries—Denmark (1789, 1803, 1800), Nonvay