Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/646

MINtrCIUS FELIX. 574 MINUTE MEN. He was a licallieu by birth and fullowed his profession of lawyer at Konie. His woik entitled Oclaiius is in the form of a dialogue between a Christian called Oclavius and a heathen called Csecilius. Octavius defends the Christians from the calumnies which were circulated against them, charging theui with crimes in their secret religious meetings, and exposes the licentious practices of the heathen. The style of the work is argumentative and pure, and nnuh informa- tion is given concerning the manners, customs, and opinions of the jjcriod. As an apolog}' of Ciiristianity it compares favorably with those of .Justin, Tertullian, and other early advocates of the Christian faith, and with those of Lactan- tins, Ambrose, and Kusebius of the fourth cen- tury. Its date has been disputed, but the best opinion now places it in the age of the Antonincs, between 150 and 180. The text is in Jligne, Patiul. LtiL. iii., and, edited by Halm, in the Corpus Hvriptorum Ecc!f<aiusticorum Lalinorum (Vienna, 1SU7): Eng. trans, in the Axtf-Siccnc Fathers, vol. iv. Consult: Kiihn, Der Octavitis de» Miniicixs Felix (Leipzig, 1882) ; Bahlen, Qiiestiones Miniicianw (Berlin, 1894). MIN'XJET (Fr., small, diminutive of menu, from Lut. minutes, small, p.p. of minuere, to diminish, from wijnof.less; connected with Gk.ytuwj, miiiys, small, Skt. mi, to make small. Goth, miii- niza, OHG. «iiii»iro, Ger. minder, AS., archaic Eng. min, less; so called because of the small steps taken in the dance). A graceful and state- ly dance of French' origin. It is supposed to have originated in Poitou, and was introduced into Paris in lOoO. The first known minuet tunes were written by Lully (q.v. ) in 165."?. The minuet was a favorite at the Court of Louis XIV. and was carried over into England in the reign of Charles II., where it continued popular until the time of George 11. In Russia it llour- ished during the reigns of Peter the Great and Catharine II. At first the minuet was in three- quarter time and onnsistcd of two eight-bar phrases, each of which was repeated, ilozart's minuet in Dnn (iiornnni shows the form of the early dance. It was soon, however, extended by the addition of a second movement (written in three-part harmony and hence called Trio) and by increasing the number of bars. Bach and Handel often introduced the minuet into their suites. Those of the former are especially fa- mous, and Handel also used it as a concluding movement for operatic and oratorio overtures. The minuet is of particular imiiortnnce because of the position it still occupies in the symphony, which is an evolution of the suite. Haydn was the first to employ it in the symphony. l>ut be changed its character by quickening the time and making it vivacious rather than stately. Mozart used Haydn's form, retaining the rapid tempo, hut gave it a tender, graceful significance. With Beethoven its history- practically ceases, for he transformed it into the scherzo, thtis making it an integrnl pari of the symphony. Its use hv later composers. Schumann. Mendelssohn, and others, is comparatively rare. See Dancing: Siitf: Svmi'Iionv. MINTJIT, min'rtlt. MINTTTTS, or MINNE- WIT, Pf-tkr (l.l.sn.lfi41 ). An early Govirnor of New Nelherland. He was born in Wesel. im thi- Rhine: was a deacon for n time in the Protestant or Walloon Church there, removed to Hol- land early in the seventeenth century, and in December, 1025, received from the Dutdi West India Company the appointment ol Governor and Director-General of Xew Xether- land. He reached Manhattan Island May 4. 1020, and soon afterwards purchased the island from the Indians, obtaining it for the sum of sixty guilders (about twenty-four dollars). He built Fort Amsterdam, defended with great cour- age and determination the claim of the Dutch to rightful posse>.>ion of the ishiud. and adminis- tered the atiairs of his ollice judiciously and to the general satisfaction of the colony. The fact that the patroons were successful in establisliing titles to enormous tracts of land became ubjec- tiouable to the Dutch West India Company, who plnced the responsil)ility on the shoulders of Minuit. In 1 031 he was accordingly recalled by the company, and sailed for Holland in the fol- lowing spring, but was driven into Plymoutli. England, by a gale. Here he was chargid with having prosecuted illegal trading within Englisli dominions, and his vessel was attached on com- plaint made by the Council for Xew Eng- land. In May, however, his vessel was re- leased. !Minuit made every effort to reestablisli himself in the favor of the Dutch West India Company, but without success, and finally ottered his services to the Government of Sweden. Through the inlluence of Oxenstiern, then Clian- cellor. a Swedish West India Company was or- ganized, and ^linuit was commissioned to estab- lish a Swedish colony in America. He accordingly gathered together a siiffieicnl number of Swede- and Finns for this purpose, sailed from the port of Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1G.37. and, early in 1038 built Fort Christiana, near where the city of Wilmington, Del., now stands. The Swedisli colonization scheme was bitterly opposed by the Dutch, who threw every obstacle in the way of its success, and eventually captured the enlony and annexed it to tb<ir possessions in 1655. Kor a biographical sketch consult Kapp, "Peter .Min ncwet aus Wesel." in llistorische Zeitschrift, vol. XV. (186C) : and Micklcy, "Some Account of Wil- liam L'sselinx and Peter Minuit," in the Peln- irnre Hislorienl Soeictii Papers, Xo. vi. ( Wil- mington. 18S0). MINTTLITAN, me'noo-loo'an. A town of Xegros, Philip|>ines, in the Province of Western Xcgros. It is situated on the northwest coast of the island, live miles north of Bacolod (Map: Philippine Islands, H 9). Population, 11,340. MINUSINSK, m6'nu-s,M)sk'. A town of Southern Sibiria. in the Government of Yenise- isk, sitmited on the 'Menisci, 300 miles south- east of Tomsk. It has a high school for girls. a pood museinn and library, and considerable trade in grain and eattle. Population, in 1897, 10.255. MINUTE (OF.. Fr. minute, from Lat. minii- turn, -mall portion, from minuere. to make small). A term applied to the 60th part of an hour and to the fiOth part of a degree of a circle. In architecture the term minute is applied to the 60th part of the diameter of the shaft of n classic column, measured at the base: it is used as a measure to determine the proportions of the order. MINUTE MEN. Tn American history. those civilians, in Massachusetts and several other col- onies, who, on the approach of the Revolutionary