MEKCEBIZED COTTON. 332 MERCHANTS' COURTS. silk possesses. In fact, the artilkial process is exactly similar to that involved in the produc- tion of silk, for it is the clonr;atioii of the plastic glutinous thread from the silkworm that gives lustre to the silk. MER'CERSBURG. A borough in Franklin County. J'a., ~'.i miles southeast of llarrisburg; at the terminus of a branch of the Cumberland Aalley Railroad (.Map: Pennsylvania, D 4). It was formerly a noted educational centre as the seat of institutions under the control of the Re- formed Church in the United States (German). It now has the well-known Jlercersbnrg .cadeniy. The principal interests are agricultural. Jlercers- burg. originally called Ulack Town, was settled about 1730 and was incorporated first in 1831. It was the home of President .Tames Buchanan. In IflOl the limits of the borough were extended, consideraldv increasing the population. Popula- tion, in ISi'lO, 907; in^lHOO, 9o(J. MERCERSBURG THEOLOGY. The name of a system of views emanating from the the- ological seminary of the German Reformed Church formerly located at Mercersburg. Pa. (now at Lancaster), and chiefly defended by Prof. J. V. Xevin (q.v. ). He insisted upon the true unity of the person of Christ, and the gen- uinely human character of His life. The person of Christ was made central in the system. Christ is united with generic humanity, which develops itself by an inward force in the Church. Thus the Church has a true tlu-anthropic char- acter. Kniphasis was also laid upon the objec- tive operation of the sacraments. Consult Xevin's principal work. Miixtinil I'resciicc (Philadelpliia, 184(11. and his Life by Theodore Appel (Phila- deljihia, 1889). MERCER UNIVERSITY. A Baptist insti- tution of learning at Maccm. Ga.. founded in 1838. In 1902 it ha<l a faculty of 1.5. and a student enrollment of 222 in the College of Lib- eral Arts, and oO in the Law Department. The library contained 1.5.000 volumes. Its endow- ment was .$203,000. and its income .$20,000. The grountls and buildings were valued at $200,000. MERCHANTABLE ARTICLE. One that is salable in the market under the name which it boars in the contract relating to it. Frequently a contract of sale expressly provides that the article to be delivered shall be merchantable: but even in the absence of such a statement, a contract for the sale of goods by description, as for the sale of sugar, or wheat, or coal, imi)lies an undertaking by the seller to supply a mer- chantable article. The buyer is not entitled to a perfect article, but he is entitled to one that is salalile under its contract name. If the contract; is for a quantity of Manila sugar, the buyer can- not insist upiMi absolutely pure sugar, but he can reject sugsir that is adulterated to sich an extent as not to pass in market as salable ^Manila .sugar. Where the term 'merchantable' is iised in the contract, either parly may show that it bears a peculiar meaning in that locality. Con- Hult the authoritii's referred to under Sale, sec- tion Sair of I'rrsiinal I'lii/Krli/. MERCHANT OF VENICE, The. A com- edy by Shakespeare. lundnied probably in 1.507. printed in 1000. The earliest versirm was proba- bly that by ITenslowe. in 1.594. mder the title "The Venesyon Comedy." The incidents of tho play are drawn from many sources. The story of the pound of ilesh is very ancient : Shake- speare took the story of Bassanio no doubt from the counterpart in the "Adventures of Gianetto" in Fiorentino's "II Pecorone," written in 1378, but jirinted in 1558: and possibly from a similar tale in the "Gesta Romanorum," which contained as well the story of the choice of three caskets, a ])opular mediaval tale. He may have been indebted to the lost play "'The Jew."' mentioned by S. Gosson in his "School of Abuse," 1579; but certainly was influenced by Marlowe's "Jew of Malta." The character of Shylock was drawn in part at least from "The Orator" by Silvayn; while the story of Antonio and Sliylock was fore- shailowcd in "Three Ladies of London," by Robert Wilson, 1584. MERCHANTS, Custom of. See Law JIeb- CIIA.NT. MERCHANTS ADVENTURERS. .
Eng-
lish company organized in late mediicval times for carrying on foreign trade. Its constitution was that of a regulated company (q.v.), any one having a right to join in the trade upon payment of a fine and agreement to submit to the regula- tions of the company. The date of its incorpora- tion is not known, but ])rivileges were granted to it by the Count of Flanders as early as the fourteenth centuiy. The principal business of the C(imi)any was the export of cloth ; and it exacted regular contributions from all persons who exported cloth to covnitrics covered by its privileges. In the sixteenth century the chief work in extending English foreign trade was per- formed by this company. When the Portuguese made Antwerp the depot for Oriental wares, the ilerchants Adventurers grew rapidly in wealth, since their goods could find a ready sale for the Eastern trade. In the same centui-y the eom- ]):uiy began a long war with the traders of the Hanseatic League (q.v.), who were infringing upon their monopoly of the export of woolen goods. The Hanseatic traders were at first pro- tected by the Crown, but finally were driven from England by a decree of Queen Elizabeth. With the siege and capture of Antwerp by the Spaniards ( 1584-85), the Merchants Adventurers had to find new centres for carrying on their for- eign trade, and finally settled in Handmrg. be- coming known as the Hamburg Company. Much of the historical importance of the Merchant* -Adventurers lies in the fact that their organiita- ti(m served as a model for the great foreign trad ing companies of the sixteenth and seventceuUl centuries. See Reoilated Co.mi'ame.s. Bim.ior.RAPiiY. For a brief account of the Merchants Adventurers, see article "Adventn rers, Jlerchants," in Palgrave, Diclioiinrji of P" liliriil Lcnnomri (London, 1894K . more ex tended discussion will be found in Lingelbacli Thr Mcrrhiint Adventurers of England (Philn- ilelphia. 1903). MERCHANTS' COURTS. Certain court- which aru-c mil of the giilil merchant, by tli' practice of the guild brethren assuming to d" , justice at their "morning speeches.' or periodical meetings of the society. They first assumed to decide cases of inheritance and succession, the right of a mcnd>er of a guild being treated as an object of ownership. Then, besides these matters, they assinned jurisdiction over actions of debt, covenant, and trespass, and such other matters
