METZ. 397 MEURSIUS. haniled over to Hciirv II. of Fiancp, together with Toul and Verdun, by the Protestant lords in order to gain French aid against Charles V. (See Maurice of Saxony.) The latter be- sieged the city in vain, and the Peace of West- phalia (1648) continued France in possession of the city. Metz was henceforth chieliy inijiortant as a strong fortress, and played a prominent role in the campaigns of 1814 and ISl.'i against Na|)oleon and again in the Franco-Oernian War. As a result of tlie battles of Colombey-Nouilly, Slars-la-Tour, and Gravelotte (see Franco-Ger- man War), the German army occupied the city on October 29, 1870, and the Peace of Frankfort gave Metz to Germany. Consult: Klipfl'el, Metz, cite &piscopuJe et imp^riale (Brussels, 1867); Westphale, Geschichte der Stadt iletz (3 vols., Metz. 1875-78). METZU. See :Metsu. MEUDON, me'doN'. A town in the Depart- ment of. Seine-et-Oise, France, in the southwest- ern outskirts of Paris ( Map : France, A 7 ) . Its ch.'iteau, fitted up by Napoleon for Maria Louisa in ISI'2, was almost destroyed during the bom- bardment by the Germans in 1871; it has been partly restored. The church contains a statue of Kabelais, who was cure of Jleudon. A chapel commemorates a railway accident in 1842, in which over 100 persons, including the celebrated traveler Dumont d'Urville, were burned alive. The forest near by is a favorite holiday resort. Mendon's manufactures comprise glass, chalk, linen, whiting, buttons, and ammunition. Popu- lation, in 1001, 9702. METJLEW, me'len, Adam Frans van der ( lt).'?2-00l . A Flemish painter, born at Brussels and the pupil of Peter Snayers, He afterwards went to France on the invitation of Lebriin. and was made Louis XIV.'s Court painter (1666) and counselor of the Academy (1681). During the war in Flanders he accompanied the King and painted pictures of the battles in which he was engaged. These are remarkable for the care bestowed upon historical detail and the fine grouping of horses. There are several of thera in the Louvre and at Versailles. He also de- signed some cartoons for the Gobelin.s. MEUNG, meN, Jean de (c.12.50- ?) . A French poet, also called .Jean Clopinel. He was born at Meung-sur-Loire, and died at the beginning of the fourteenth century. Not much is known about his early life, but it is assumed that he studied at the L'niversity of Paris. His literary fame rests chiefly on his addition to the Roman de In rose (q.v. ) of Guillaume de Lorris (q.v. ). The poem, as Guillaume de Lorris left it, com- prised about 4000 verses. Jean de Meung added alinut 18,000. of which 12,000 can be found in the authors of whom he was especially fond — notalily 2000 from Ovid alone. Ostensibly continuing the allegory of his predecessor, who intended to make it a jKiem of chivalry, .lean de Meung in reality introduced quite a different spirit, and made the allegory a mere cloak for telling stories and in- dulging in political and moral satire. At the re- I quest of King Philippe, he translated the Coimo-
- Intio of Bocthius into prose and verse. Toward
I the end of his life he wrote his Tattnmcnt. in ' which, although praising sincere piety, he pours hitter sarcasm on monks. Consult : Paris. 'Mean , de Meung." in the Hisfoire Uttfrnire dc hv France, I Vol. xxviii. (Paris, 1840) ; Quicherat, "Jean de Meung et sa niaisou a Paris," in the Uibliotheque de I'Ecole des Chartren (ib., 1880) ; and Langlois, Origincs et sources du lioinuii de la rose (ib., 1890). METJNIER, me'nya', Constantin (1831—). A Belgian historical and genre painter and sculp- tor, born in Brussels, lie was for a while pro- fessor at the Academy of Louvain, and he s))ont some time in Madrid, copying the old mas- ters. Afterwards he settled at Louvain and de- voted himself principally to painting. Both as a painter and as a sculptor he belongs to the naUnalistic school. His subjects usually are chosen from scenes in the colliery district in which he lived — episodes of the foumlry and the pit; or else rather brutally painted martyrdoms. But his treatment of any theme is powerful and sincere. His sculptures include "The Lost Son" (in the Berlin National (Jallery) ; and there are also other bronzes by him in the Alber- tinum at Dresden. Among his paintings are: "The Peasants' Rebellion" ( in the Brussels Mu- seum) ; "The Martyrdom of Saint Stephen" (in the Cihent Museum) ; and "The Burial of a Trap- pist" ( in the Courtrai Museum ) . He received a gold medal in Brussels in 1807 and the Order of Leopold in 1873. MEITRICE, nie'res', Francois Paul(1820— ). A French dramatist, born in Paris and educated at the Collfege Charlemagne. In 1842 he pre- pared a version of Falstaff for the Odeon with Vacquerie, presented at the same theatre in 1843. With the same collaborator he produced Lc ca- pitainc Paroles and an imitation of Antigone (1844), and he assisted Dumas in a metrical translation of Hamlet, which was given at the Theatre Historique in 1847, The following year he became chief editor of Victor Hugo's L Evcne- nieitt, to whose cause ^Meurice was so devoted that he suffered nine months' imprisonment (1851), but in 18G9 he aided in starting a new journal with the same motive, Lc Rappcl, and he Avas intrusted by Hugo himself with the publica- tion of his complete works (46 vols., 1880-85), Meurice dramatized several of them, as well as a number of George Sand's novels, and his other plays include: Benrenuto Cellini (1852); tichainyl (1854); L'avocat des pauvres (1856); Fanfan la tulipe (1858); La, ine nourelle (1807) ; Cadio (1868) ; and an adaptation of the Midsummer Xight's Dream (1886), Meurice also wrote romances such as La famille Aiibri/ ( 1854), Ccsara (1869), and Le songe de I'amour (1869). MEirRSITJS, mer'si-is (de Meurs), Jo- hannes (1579-1639). A Dutch classicist and hi.storian, born at Loozduincn. near The llagie. At the age of sixteen he finished a commentary on Lycophron. He traveled much, and in 1610 was appointed professor of history at Leyden. Later the political disturbances in his country an<l the execution of Jan Barnevcldt, to whose sons he had once been tutor, e.xposed him to considerable persecution and cost him the high favor which he had once enjoyed. He left Holland, and in 1625 accepted n position at the Academy of Soro in Denmark, where he spent the remainder of his life. His published works include many editions of the Greek authors Lycophron, Apollonius Dyscolos, Philostratus, Procopius, and others. His numerous treatises on Greek literature are mostly reprinted in Gro-
