MEUNIER, CONSTANTIN (1831–1905), Belgian painter and sculptor, was born at Etterbeek, Brussels. His first exhibit was a plaster sketch, “The Garland,” at the Brussels Salon in 1851. Soon afterwards, on the advice of the painter Charles de Groux he abandoned the chisel for the brush. His first important, painting, “The Salle St Roch” (1857), was followed by a series of paintings including “A Trappist Funeral” (1860), “Trappists Ploughing” (1863), in collaboration with Alfred Verwée “Divine Service at the Monastery of La Trappe” (1871) and episodes of the Peasants' War (1878). About 1880 he was commissioned to illustrate those parts of Camille Lemonnier’s description of Belgium in Le Tour du monde which referred to miners and factory-workers, and produced “In the Factory,” “Smithery at Cockerill’s” “Melting Steel at the Factory at Seraing" (1882) “Returning from the Pit” and “The Broken Crucible” (1884). In 1882 he was employed by the government to copy Pedro Campana’s “Descent from the Cross” at Seville, and in Spain he painted such characteristic pictures as “The Café Concert,” “Procession on Good Friday,” and “The Tobacco Factory at Seville” (Brussels Gallery). On his return to Belgium he was appointed professor at the Louvain Academy of Fine Arts. In 1885 he returned to statuary and produced “The Puddler,” “The Hammerer” (1886), “Firedamp” (1889, Brussels Gallery), “Ecce Homo” (1891), “The Old Mine-Horse” (1891), “The Mower” (1892}; “The Glebe" (1892), the monument to Father Damien at Louvain (1893), “Puddler at the Furnace” (1893), the scheme of decoration for the Botanic Garden at Brussels in collaboration with the sculptor Charles van der Stappen (1893) “The Horse at the Pond,” in the square in the north-east quarter of Brussels, and two unfinished works the “Monument to Labour” and the Zola monument, in collaboration with the French sculptor Charpentier. The “Monument to Labour,” which was acquired by the State for the Brussels Gallery, comprises four stone bas-reliefs, “Industry,” “The Mine,” “Harvest,” and the “Harbour”; four bronze statues, “The Sower,” “The Smith,” “The Miner," and the “Ancestor”; and a bronze group “Maternity,” Meunier died at Brussels on the 4th of April 1905.
MEURICE, FRANÇOIS PAUL (1818–1905), French dramatist, was born in Paris on the 7th of February 1818. In 1848 he became the editor of the Evénement, founded by Victor Hugo, and in 1869 he was one of the promoters of the Rappel, a journal on similar lines. He was the literary executor of Victor Hugo, and edited his works (1880–1885). In collaboration with Auguste Vacquerie and Théophile Gautier, he produced Falstaff (1842), a play in imitation of Shakespeare, and in 1843 an imitation of the Antigone; and with Alexandre Dumas a Hamlet (1847). He also wrote Benvenuto Cellini (1852), Schamyl
(1854), Struensée (1893), and dramatic versions of Les Misérables (1878), Notre Dame de Paris (1876), Quatre-vingt-treize (1881). He died on the 12th of December 1905.
MEURSIUS [Johannes van Meurs] (1579–1639), Dutch classical scholar and antiquary, was born at Loosduinen, near the Hague. He was extremely precocious, and at the age of sixteen produced a commentary on the Cassandra of Lycophron. In 1610 he was appointed professor of Greek and history at Leiden, and in the following year historiographer to the states-general. In consequence of the disturbed state of his country he welcomed the offer (1625) of Christian IV. of Denmark to become professor of history and politics at Sorb, in Zealand, combined with the office of historiographer royal. He died at Sorb on the 10th of September 1639. Meursius was the author of classical editions and treatises, many of which are printed in J. F. Gronovius’s Thesaurus antiquitatum graecarum. Their lack of arrangement detracts from their value, but they are a storehouse of information, and Meursius does not deserve the epithets of “pedant” and “ignoramus” which Scaliger applied to him. Meursius also wrote on the troubles in the Netherlands and the history of Denmark.
Complete edition of his works by J. Lami (1741–1763). See Van der Aa’s Biographisch Woordenboek der Nederlanden (1869), and J. E. Sandys, Hist. of Class. Scholarship (1908), ii. 311.
MEURTHE-ET-MOSELLE, a department of north-eastern
France, formed in 1871 out of those parts of the old departments of Meurthe and Moselle which continued French. Before 1790
it belonged to Lorraine, or to one or other of the bishoprics
of Toul, Metz and Verdun. Pop. (1906), 517,508. Area 2038
sq. m. It is bounded E. by Lorraine, N. by Belgium and the
grand-duchy of Luxemburg, W. by the department of Meuse,
and S. by that of Vosges. Meurthe-et-Moselle is of a hilly
character, the highest elevation, the Grand Rougimont (2041 ft.),
being in the Vosges. The valley of the Moselle runs through
it from south to north. Extensive forests, the chief of which
is the Forest of Haye, are found in the south-western region.
Only a small part of the drainage of Meurthe-et-Moselle flows
into the Meuse, by far the greater part reaching the Rhine
by way of the Moselle. The principal affluents of the Moselle
are the Madon and the Orne on the left, and on the right, besides
the Meurthe, the Seille, which in one part of its course forms
the boundary of Alsace-Lorraine. The principal tributary
of the Meuse within the department is the Chiers. Climatologically
Meurthe-et-Moselle belongs to the Vosgian region, and
has hot summers and severe winters. Its mean annual temperature
is between 48° and 49° F., being 2° lower than that of
Paris (which has the same latitude). The annual rainfall
averages between 28 and 32 in. The department possesses
much fertile land, the chief crops being cereals and potatoes,
together with clover, mangel-wurzels, tobacco, hops and beetroot.
The vine is also cultivated, its best products being those
of the Toul district. The most common fruit trees are the pear,
the apple, the walnut, the cherry and the plum. Of forest
trees the oak and the wych-elm are most frequent in the west
of the department, the beech and the fir in the Vosges. The
French school of forestry has its seat at Nancy. The salt-workings
(the chief of which lie between Nancy and St Nicolas,)
and the iron-mines (round Nancy and Longwy) of Meurthe-et-Moselle
are the most productive in France. Other important
industries are the manufacture of boots and shoes, straw and
felt hats, pottery, and tanning and brewing (at Tantonville).
Cotton and wool spinning, and the manufacture of cotton goods,
hosiery, embroidery, chemicals (at Dombasle, close to Nancy),
soap, tobacco, matches, crystal (at Baccarat, which has a population
of 5617), mirrors (Cirey), glass, army clothing and paper
may also be mentioned. The department is served by the
Eastern railway, the chief line being that from Paris to Strassburg
through Nancy. The main waterway is formed by the
canal between the Marne and the Rhine. This canal communicates
with the Moselle, which is navigable from Frouard downwards,
and with the Eastern canal, which unites the Meuse
and the Moselle with the Saône and the Rhone. The department
constitutes the diocese of Nancy, has its court of appeal at
Nancy, and forms a part of the district of the VI. army corps
(Châlons-sur-Marne), and of the académie (educational division)
of Nancy. There are 4 arrondissements (Nancy, Briey, Lunéville
and Toul), 29 cantons and 598 communes. The principal
towns of the department are Nancy, the capital, Lunéville,
Toul, Longwy, Pont-à-Mousson and St Nicolas. Other places
of interest are Prény, with ruins of an important stronghold
(12th and 13th centuries) of the dukes of Lorraine; and Vaudémont,
seat of a famous countship, with ruins of a stronghold
of the 12th and 14th centuries.
MEUSE (Flem. Maes, Du. Maas), a river rising at Pouilly, in the department of Haute Marne, France. After passing through a great part of Belgium and Holland it flows into the Waal channel of the Rhine at Fort Loevenstein. A few miles below Gorinchem the Meuse, or Waal as it is then called, divides into two branches. The northern flows almost due west, and joins the Lek (Rhine) above Rotterdam, and enters the North Sea at the Hook of Holland. Ocean-going steamers for Rotterdam use, however, the New Waterway (Nieuwe Waterweg), a little north of the Meuse. The southern branch turns south, crosses the marsh of Biesbosch by the canalized channel of New Merwede, enters the Hollandsch Diep, and reaches the sea by the arms called Haringvliet and Krammer.
