I Osi?: p. 8 ; Perizon, Orirj. yEf/ypt. c. 5 ; Shuckford's Con- nection, bk. iv; Bunsen, A-lfiypU-ns Sielle in der Wellge- schichte, ii, 38-45. — Smith, Diet, of Class. Biog. s. v. See Egypt ; Me.mi'His.
Meneses, Aleixio uk, a Portuguese prelate and statesman, was born Jan. 2.5, 1559. His father had directed the education of king Sebastian. Brought up in the palace, he entered, contrary- to his parent's wishes, the convent of the Augustines at Lisbon, Feb. 24, 1574, and finished his studies at Coimbra. He was appointed archbishop of Goa by Philip II, and took possession of his see in September, 1595, He convened a provincial synod, in which useful reforms were established; he organized many missions, and evangelized, among others, the sav- age inhabitants of the island of Socotra, He devoted himself also to the Christians of Abyssinia, and, above all, to those schismatic Nestorians known under the name of "Christians of St, Thomas," who have taken refuge for centuries in the mountains of Malabar, That in which the bishop of Cochin, the Jesuits, the Dominicans, and even the disciples of St, Francis were unsuccessful, he was enabled to accomiilish, and after many centuries of division the Koman Church received into its bosom the greater p.art of this branch of the Christian f.iniily. Pope Clement testified to Meneses his satisfaction by a brief April 1, 1599. Meneses was subsecjuently ajipointed to the government of the Indies, and performed the duties of viceroy i'roni jMay 3, ItJOG, to Jlay 28, 1G09. He showed himself stern and severe towards some of the Jlohammedan princes, but tranquillity at least was preserved in the Indies during his administration. He died May 3, 1GI7. His memorable journey in the mountains is published under this title : Jornadado Arcebispo de (Joa D. Alei.ro de Menezes quandofoi a serrus do Malavar, cm que mordo os untignos Cliri.itaos de S.-Tome porFr. Antonio de Gonvea (Coimbra, 1C06, fol,). There is added generally to this curious narration : Sinodo diocesano de igreja e Ifkpado de antiguos C/iris- taos de S.-Tome das serras de Malarar ceUbrado por D. Fr. Aleia-o de Menezes (ibid. IGOG; translated into Spanish in 1G08 by Francis ^lufios). He also wrote His- toire Orientate dts grands progres de VEglise cat/iolique en la reduction des anciens ('///-eliens dits de St. Thomas, arec la tuesse des ancitns Chretiens en Tervche d'Angamale (Bruxelles, IGOO, 8vo: the translator, J, B, de (ilen, has
I unfortunately left many blanks in his version). See
MENESTHEUS
91
MENI
Ba.Thosa.Machado, Bibliotheca Lusitana; Temaux-Com- pans, Biblioih. Asiatique et Africaine; Veyssiere la Croze, Hist, du Christianisme des Indes ; Pedro Barreto de liegende, Tratado dos Vizos-Reis da India, in IMS. in the Biblioth. imp. de Paris.— Hoefer, A'^oui'. i)W«7. Gene- rale, xxxiv, 973.
Menes'theus {Mtvta^tvQ v. r. Mfi/f'(T^f(nc,Vulg. Mnestheus), the father of ApoUonius (q. v.), the ambas- sador of Antiochus Epiphanes to Ptolemy Philometor (2 Mace, iv, 21).
Meng. See Mexcius.
Mengs, Anton Rafael, a distinguished artist of the 18th century, was born at Aussig, in Bohemia, in 1728. His father, also a painter, adopted a very cruel course of treatment to his son, forcing him, at the age of six years, to draw the entire day witliout other nour- ishment than a crust of bread and a bottle of water, and chastising him severely if the task given was unfinished in the allotted time. In 1741, at the age of thirteen, he was taken to Rome, where he was employed in copying the works of Raphael in miniature for Augustus III, elector of Saxony and king of Poland. In 17-14 he re- turned to Dresden, and was appointed court-painter by Augustus, with permission to return to Rome to con- tinue his studies. He there painted several original pict- ures, among which was a lovely Virgin and Child, in which the Virgin was painted from a beautiful peasant- girl, of whom he became so enamoured that- he turned Roman Catholic for her sake and married her. Soon after this he again returned to Dresden, where he remained three years, when the tyranny of his father became so oppressive that he received permission from his royal patron to visit Rome again, in order to execute his com- mission for an altar-piece for the royal chapel. Shortly after his arrival he was deprived of his pension, the king's finances having suffered by the Seven -Years' War; and thus suddenly thrown upon his own resources, Mengs painted at low prices for the support of his fam- ily. In 1751 he received an appointment as director of the new academy at Rome, and in 1757 was employed by the Celestines to paint the ceilings of the Church of St. Eusebio. In 1761 the king of Spain invited JNIengs to his court at Madrid, and granted him a liberal pen- sion. Here he executed, among other works, a Descent from the Cross and the Council of the Gods. The air of Spain proved detrimental to his health, and he re- turned to Rome, and was there engaged, immediately upon his arrival, by Clement XIY, to paint in the Yati- cau a picture of Janus dictating to Ilistorg, and one of the Holy Family. One of his finest productions is the Nativity, painted for the royal collection of the king of Spain. He died in 1779. See Giobals, Eloge historique de Mengs (1781) ; Bianconi, Elogio storico di fi. Mengs (1780) ; Spooner, Biograj)hical History of the Fine Arts (N. Y. 1865, 2 vols. 8vo), vol. ii ; Chev. Don -Joseph Nich- olas d'Azara, The Works of Anthony Raphael Mengs (Lond. 1796, 2 vols. 12mo) ; Kugler's Hand-hook of Paint- ing (transl. by Waagen, Lond. 1860, 2 vols. 12mo), ii, 519, 521.