various that no correct average can be given, and that, including its islands, it is estimated to cover an area of nearly seven hundred and forty thousand square miles. It communicates with the Atlantic on the west, the Adriatic on the north, and the Sea of Marmora and Black Sea on the east. Of the various rivers that flow into it, the Nile is at once the largest, and the one with which most Scriptural recollections are associated. culty in identifying this island. The name, and general suitableness of the situation, however, seem to verify the concurrent testimony for centuries, that Malta, in the Mediterranean, answers to the Melita of the Scriptures. This, however, is not universally conceded. It has been suggested on high authority, that a small island in the Adriatic Sea, on the Illyrian coast, now called Meleda, was the Melita of the Acts. The most plausible arguments in behalf of this opinion are derived from its situation being decidedly in the Adriatic, which cannot properly be said of Malta, from its exact position in reference to a storm from the S.E., the island lying N.W. by N. of the S.W. promontory of Crete,-from the wildness of the island, and the barbarous character of its inhabitants, and from the low, damp, marshy nature of the country, favourable for reptiles and fevers. MEGIDDO, 17 Sept. Mayedde, or Maryeddw, (Josh. 17. 11,) was a fortified town of the tribe of Manasseh, in the territory of Issachar; it was once a royal eity of the Canaanites, and was one of the places fortified by Solomon. (1Kings 9. 15.) Near to it Jabin's army was routed by Deborah and Barak. (Judges 1. 27; 5. 19.) Ahaziah fled to it when pursued by Jehu's orders, and died there. (2Kings 9. 27.) It was a place of great mourning to the Canaanites when Jabin's army was destroyed; and to the Jews when Josiah was slain. (Zech. 12. 11.) It has long altogether disappeared, but its site is fixed by some geographers fifteen miles south-falling upon the Syrtis,—that it does not appear that the west of Mount Tabor, and double that distance southeast of Mount Carmel. "The waters of Megiddo," mentioned in Judges 5. 19, Professor Gesenius conjectures to be the river Kishon. (Comp. Judges 5. 21 and 4. 13.) MEGILLOTH, nihan is the name of a division of the Hebrew Scriptures adopted by the Jews, nearly equivalent to the “Book” of our version, but only applied to Solomon's Song, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther, which collectively are called nihan hhamish megilloth, or five rolls or volumes. There is a Targum extant on the Megilloth; but the barbarism of its style, and the numerous idle legends which are inserted, concur to prove it to be of a late date, probably not earlier than the sixth century; its author is unknown. The paraphrase on the Book of Ruth and the Lamentations of Jeremiah is the best executed portion. See TARGUM. MELCHISEDEK, PT Melchi Tsedek; Sept. MerXivedex, (Gen. 14. 18; Heb. 7.1-3, king of Salem, afterwards called Jerusalem, was a contemporary of the patriarch Abraham, whom he met with refreshments on his return from the pursuit of Chedorlaomer and his allies. In accordance with the manners of the patriarchal ages, he appears, as the head of his tribe or family, to have discharged the functions of priest, and to have offered sacrifices to the true God, a fact which Abraham acknowledged by paying him tithes. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, (ch. 7,) St. Paul exhibits the resemblance between Melchisedek as the type, and Jesus Christ the antitype. The expression of the Apostle, "without descent," explains what is intended by "without father, without mother;" that is, no mention is made nor any record left of his descent, or even of the names of his father or mother. The Jews, like the Arabs of the present day, were accustomed to mention the name of a man's father along with his own, or instead of his "David the son of Jesse," or 66 the son of Jesse" own, as only; and to be unable to do this, from ignorance of the father of a person of eminence, could not but strike them as a singularity under any circumstances. MELITA, MEXIτn. The island in the Mediterranean Sea on which St. Paul and his companions were wrecked, (Acts 28. 1,) was doubtless the modern Malta, but this fact has sometimes been disputed. La Trobe, in his Scriptural Illustrations, says, "There is some diffi "On the other side it is argued that tradition has ever assigned the locality to Malta,-that the winds S.E. E.S.E. and E. were equally calculated to drive a ship to Malta in a direct course from Crete,—that had the vessel taken the course of Meleda, there had been no danger of Romans had ever such an establishment in Meleda, as to require the residence of a pro-prætor,-that it is not probable that a ship of Alexandria would choose such an island to winter in, which implies the arrival before the stormy season, that in the event of a ship making the western coast of Italy from Meleda, there would have been no need to touch at Syracuse before it could arrive at Rhegium." and Mr. Bryant, Dr. Hales, and others, have strenuously endeavoured to show that Melita was in the Adriatic Sea, on the coast of Illyricum. Dr. Hales thus states his argument: "That this island was Meleda near the Illyrian coast, not Malta on the southern coast of Italy, may appear from the following considerations: (1.) It lies confessedly in the Adriatic Sea, but Malta a considerable distance from it. (2.) It lies nearer the mouth of the Adriatic than any other island of that sea; and would, of course, be more likely to receive the wreck of any vessel driven by tempests towards that quarter. And it lies north-west by north of the south-west promontory of Crete; and came nearly in the direction of a storm from the south-east quarter. (3.) An obscure island called Melita whose inhabitants were 'barbarous,' was not applicable to the celebrity of Malta at that time, which Cicero represents as abounding in curiosities and riches, and possessing a remarkable manufacture of the finest linen; and Diodorus Siculus more fully: 'Malta is furnished with many very good harbours, and the inhabitants are very rich; for it is full of all sorts of artificers, among whom there are excellent weavers of fine linen. Their houses are very stately and beautiful, adorned with graceful eaves and pargetted The inhabitants are a colony of with white plaster. Phoenicians, who trading as merchants, as far as the Western Ocean, resorted to this place on account of its commodious ports and convenient situation for maritime commerce; and by the advantages of this place, the inhabitants subsequently became famous both for their wealth and their merchandise.' (4.) The circumstance of the viper or venomous snake which fastened on St. Paul's hand agrees with the damp and woody island of Meleda affording shelter and proper nourishment for such, but not with the dry and rocky island of Malta, in which there are no serpents now, and were none in the time of Pliny. (5.) The disease with which the father of Publius was affected, dysentery combined with fever, probably intermittent, might well suit a country woody and damp, and probably for want of draining, exposed to the putrid effluvia of confined moisture; but was not MELITA. likely to affect a dry, rocky, and remarkably healthy island like Malta." Dr. Falconer likewise is of opinion that the Adria mentioned in Acts 27. 27, can only mean the Gulf of Venice, the admission of which would certainly exclude Malta, but on the other hand it has been clearly shown by Beza, Bochart, Grotius, Wetstein, and others, from Ptolemy, Strabo, and other writers, that, at the time in question, the term Adriatic Sea was used to comprehend the whole of the sea between Greece, Italy, and Africa; so that it comprised the Ionian, Cretan, and Sicilian Seas. In 1730, Padre Ignazio Giorgi published, at Venice, his Ispezioni Anticritiche, in which he laid great stress on the restriction of the name Adria to the Gulf of Venice, as establishing the preferable claims of Meleda. Dr. Falconer appears to have seen this work, and we therefore regret that he did not also refer to the large body of counter-evidence brought together in the Malla Illustrata, published at Malta in 1772. Fra Abela, in the original work, published in 1647, had considered the relative claims of Malta and Meleda somewhat largely; and in putting forth a new edition, the Count Giovannantonia Ciantar applied himself to enlarge the evidence in favour of Malta, by opposing the main argument of Father Giorgi; which he did by adducing multitude of citations from ancient historians, geographers, and poets, to show the large extent which they assigned to the Adriatic Sea. All the other objections to Malta are met, and the arguments in its favour stated, in the Malta Illustrata, at considerable length. That Malta is the island intended by St. Luke will be evident from the following considerations:-The Apostle left the island in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered there, on her voyage to Italy; and after touching at Syracuse and Rhegium, landed at Puteoli, thus sailing in a direct course. The other Melita would be far out of the usual track from Alexandria to Italy, and in sailing from it to Rhegium, Syracuse also would be out of the direct course. The fact that the ship was tossed all night before the shipwreck in the Adriatic Sea, does not lessen the probability of its being afterwards driven upon Malta; because the name Adria was applied to the whole Ionian Sea, which lay between Sicily and Greece. The island of Melita, or Malta, was successively subject to the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and Romans; it was originally colonized by the Phoenicians, from whom it was taken about 736 B.C., by the Greek colonists in Sicily, from whom the island gained the name of Melita, probably on account of the excellent honey for which it has been at all times noted. An island of such importance as a maritime and commercial station was not overlooked by the Carthaginians, who about 528 B.C. began to dispute its possession with the Greeks, and after dividing it with them for a time, at length made themselves entire masters of it. The inhabitants of Greek descent remained, and the Punic or Phoenician and the Greek languages were equally spoken. Malta flourished greatly under the dominion of Carthage; but ultimately partook of the disasters which befel that power. In the first Punic war it was seized by the Romans, who however lost it again, and only became masters of it under the treaty which placed in their hands all the islands between Italy and Africa, (B.C. 242.) The Romans made Melita a municipium, allowing the people to be governed by their own laws. The government was administered by a pro-prætor, dependant on the prætor of Sicily, and this office appears to have been held by Publius at the time of St. Paul's shipwreck. When the Roman empire was divided, Malta fell to the lot of Honorius. About the middle of the fifth century it 847 was seized by the Vandals, and ten years after by the Goths, who had obtained possession of Sicily, and in the seventh century it was occupied by the Saracens. Malta was taken from the Arabs by the Normans in the year 1090, and remained for ages an appendage of the kingdom of Sicily. In 1530, the emperor Charles V., who had annexed it to his empire, transferred it to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, whom the Turks had recently dispossessed of Rhodes. In 1563 Malta was besieged by Solyman, the Turkish emperor, but he was obliged to retire after losing 30,000 men in the attempt. It remained nearly three centuries in the hands of the Knights, and was the post from whence they waged an unceasing warfare against the Mohammedan states of the Mediterranean, the stupendous fortifications which now excite the admiration of the beholder, being the work of several successive grand-masters. At last, in 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte took possession of the island on his way to Egypt, but after a blockade of two years the French garrison surrendered in 1800 to an English force; the island has been ever since a dependency of the British crown, and a large naval and military force is usually stationed there. The island being situated midway as it were between the continents of Europe and Africa, has been sometimes considered as belonging to the one and sometimes to the other. It is, however, rather nearer to Europe than to Africa, being 190 miles from Cape Spartivento in Calabria, the nearest point on the continent of Europe; and 200 miles from Calipia, the nearest part of Africa. The island is sixty miles in circumference, twenty long, and twelve broad. Near it on the west, is another and smaller island, called Gozo, about thirty miles in circumference. Malta has no mountains nor any very high hills; and it therefore makes no very striking appearance from the sea. There are no ports or bays on the African side of the island; but several very deep ones on the coast facing Sicily. The chief of these are the Calla della Melleha, the Porto di S. Paolo, and the two which are separated by the tongue of land on which stands the modern capital, Citta Valetta. The more ancient capital, in which, as appears from his intercourse with the governor, St. Paul remained during his stay, is situated about the centre of the island, upon a hill of moderate elevation, between which and the bay of St. Paul the ground is more low and level than in most other parts of the island. The cathedral church of St. Paul, upon the top of the hill, is supposed by the inhabitants, from old traditions, to occupy the site on which the palace of Publius, the governor, stood at the time of St. Paul's visit. Malta is naturally a barren rock; but where some soil has been found, or has been artificially laid, the productive power is very great, and the produce of a very superior description. The island does not, however, produce nearly sufficient corn for the sustenance of its inhabitants, who are obliged to import from abroad the greater part of that which they consume. But this may be in some measure ascribed to the extreme populousness of the island, which, in proportion to its extent, contains more inhabitants than any other country in Europe. The Maltese are bigoted Romanists, but they are an industrious and active, though by no means a fine race of men; the poverty of their living superinduces numerous diseases, among which ophthalmic complaints are the most prevailing. The streets of Valetta, the capital, are thronged with a squalid set of the most persecuting beggars, whose supplications for "carita" are as incessant, and more annoying to the ear than even the neverceasing ringing of the bells. Malta is very subject to 66 the enervating "sirocco" or south-east wind; but the gregali" or north-east wind, is that which blows with the greatest fury, and blowing directly into the harbour, causes a sea across the entrance that would be dangerous to small vessels, and cuts off the communication across from Valetta to Vittorioso. The surf there beats against the walls of the fortifications with impetuous violence; it has even at times removed the guns from the embrasures of Fort Ricasoli, and the spray has been carried over the top of the palace. The island produces some excellent fruits, among which are the oranges and melons for which it is particularly celebrated, but the market is chiefly supplied from Sicily, a number of large boats called speroneras being constantly employed running to and fro. Provisions are cheap and abundant, but butchers' meat is indifferent. The streets of Valetta are at right angles to each other; and the town being built on an elevation inclining on either side, most of the transverse streets are necessarily constructed with flights of steps. The houses are low, never exceeding a second story, built of the stone of the island, and are provided with balconies to most of the windows, and flat terraced roofs, which in commanding situations furnish an agreeable resort in the cool of the day. Before the palace of the governor is an open space called Piazza St. Giorgio, used as a military parade, and enlivened in the evening by one of the regimental bands. Near this is the cathedral of St. John, the tutelar saint of the Order of the Knights of Maltaa vast, though externally a remarkably pln and unostentatious edifice; within is a spacious oblong area, and on each side are aisles, with particular altars or chapels for the different nations composing the Order, adorned with paintings and sculpture. The whole pavement is richly emblazoned with the armorial bearings of the Knights, in mosaic. The appointments of this cathedral suffered greatly during the temporary possession of the island by the French; but a handsome silver railing round one of the altars escaped their sacrilegious rapacity by being painted. Besides St. John, Valetta abounds in churches, the incessant ringing of whose bells, at some of the innumerable offices of the Romish faith, is among the greatest nuisances of the place. Although the island had been in the possession of the English nearly forty years, no Protestant church had been built until the visit of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen Dowager in 1839, who gave the munificent sum of 8000l. towards this object. Valetta has its banks and exchanges, and there are also public hospitals, a theatre, and coffee-houses fitted up with marble, where the visitor may enjoy that luxury in a hot climate, ice, brought over from Etna. There are two libraries, one which belonged to the Knights, comprising about 40,000 volumes of Greek, Latin, French, and Italian literature; the other a subscription library, established by the English residents. MELODY. See MUSIC. The Harbour of Malta. MELONS, ON abattechim; Sept. TETOVES. (Numb. 11. 5.) Among the articles of food of Egypt which the Israelites in the wilderness desired, were melons, many different kinds of which fruit are still cultivated in that country. The kind referred to in the text was most probably the water-melon, (Cucurbita citrullus;) the fruit is about the size of the common pumpkin, which it very much resembles. The interior is a pulp of a blooming red, abounding with a pellucid juice; and thus it becomes both meat and drink at the same time. "It is cultivated," says Hasselquist, on the banks of the Nile, in the rich clayey earth which subsides during the inundation. This serves the Egyptians for meat, drink, and physic. It is eaten in abundance during the season, even by the richer sort of 66 people; but the common people scarcely eat anything but these, and account this the best time of the year, as they are obliged to put up with worse fare at other seasons. This fruit likewise serves them for drink, the juice refreshing these poor creatures; and they have less occasion for water than if they were to live on more substantial food in this burning climate." The Arabians call the water-melon, batech. Melons become ripe and fit for use in the valley of the Jordan about the latter end of June, particularly on the borders of the lake Tiberias. Burckhardt being there on the 23d of the month, writes:-"The heat of the climate would enable them to grow almost any tropical product; but the only produce of their fields are wheat, barley, dhourra, tobacco, melons, grapes, and a few vegetables. The melons are of the finest quality, and are in great demand at Akka (Acre), and Damascus, where MELONS that fruit is a month later in ripening." The muskmelon (Cucumis melo,) is here probably intended, as it appears about a month earlier than the water-melon. The Egyptian Water-melon. Sir John Gardner Wilkinson remarks that "the watermelon appears from good authority to have been grown by the ancient Egyptians. It is cultivated during the rise of the Nile, and in March on the sand banks of the river." MEM, is the thirteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and, as a numeral, is equivalent to forty. The signification of the name is doubtful. MEMPHIS. The Egyptian city Memphis is styled Moph, in Hosea 9. 6; and Noph, by Isaiah 19. 13; and Jeremiah 2. 16. By the Arabian geographers it is called Manuph; and by the Copts Mevo, Μενουφ and Νουφ, whence the two Hebrew forms, as well as the Greek form Μεφι or Μεμφι have been explained. Memphis is the Greek form of the Egyptian name, which, according to Plutarch, signifies "the port of the good," from the Coptic meh, full, and nouphi, good; or Tabov Ooipidis, from the Coptic mhau, a grave, and onphi, a benefactor, as Osiris is called. The situation of Memphis, formerly the capital or Egypt, has been a subject of much dispute, and has afforded materials for long and laborious investigation. Dr. Shaw and others contend strongly that it must be sought at Ghizeh, nearly opposite to Old Cairo, but many of the most eminent travellers and geographers are disposed, from a comparison of the statements in ancient authors with existing appearances and traditions, to fix its position a few miles more to the south, near the village of Metrahenny, on the western bank of the Nile, where there are manifest indications of an ancient city in the form of mounds, channels, and blocks of granite, many of which are covered with sculptures and hieroglyphics, and which are locally considered to form the remains of Memf (Memphis), the royal seat of the Pharaohs. The prophets often mention this city; and predict the calamities which it was to suffer from the kings of Chaldæa and Persia. (Isai. 19. 13; Jerem. 44. 1; Ezek. 30. 13,16; Hosea 9. 6.) Jeremiah foretold ages before the event that Noph should be waste and desolate, without an inhabitant, (Jerem. 46. 19,) and so complete is the desolation that nothing remains like a building of any kind, and not a single human being is to be found dwelling within its precincts. Egypt was formerly divided into three great provinces. Upper Egypt, or the Thebaid, was the southern portion of the valley of the Nile, in which was situated one of the great capitals of the whole empire, Thebes. Middle Egypt, which lies immediately to the north of the Thebaid, was called the Heptanomis, from the seven nomes or counties, into which it was formerly divided. The northern portion was called Lower Egypt; and here once stood the other great capital of the whole empire, Memphis. The first blow to the prosperity of this city was given by Nebuchadnezzar, in that great expedition which was foretold in Scripture, but which the Greek historians omit to notice; it still, however, continued the royal residence till the time of the Ptolemies, but they removed the seat of government to Alexandria. It at last came into the hands of the Saracens, (A.D. 641,) who afterwards founded near it Al Kahira, (the City of Victory, Cairo,) and the ancient city has now for ages disappeared from the earth. The three great pyramids of Ghizeh, however, the colossal Sphinx in their neighbourhood, and the tombs hewn in the rocky platform on which they are erected, still remain to testify of its former greatness. According to the lists of Manetho, the three great pyramids at Memphis were built by the first three monarchs of the fourth dynasty, who exercised the sovereign power at Memphis like their predecessors. The name of the founder of the Great Pyramid has been detected in a small tomb in its immediate vicinity. It is written in Greek by Manetho, Zoupis, which is said by Eratosthenes to mean in Egyptian, κόμαστος, one who has much hair." The hieroglyphic name has also the same meaning as in the Coptic, "much hair.” The name of his son, who founded the second pyramid, has been discovered in a similar situation. His name reads Shefré: he is called Suphis II. by Manetho, and Cephrenes by Herodotus. It is inscribed on a beautiful tablet in the British Museum, which was brought from one of the tombs near Memphis; and was engraved in memory of a personage who acted as superintendent of the building of the Great Pyramid to King Cephrenes. The execution of this tablet is extremely beautiful, perhaps not surpassed by any existing specimens of Egyptian art. The name of the founder of the third pyramid was discovered under very extraordinary circumstances by Colonel Howard Vyse. When he had succeeded, by means of extensive excavations, in discovering the entrance to this pyramid, he found a large chamber in the interior, upon the floor of which some portions of a wooden coffin were disinterred from the rubbish which covered it to a great depth; portions of woollen cloth and bones were also found in the same situation. They occurred near an inclined passage leading down to the sepulchral apartment, where was the sarcophagus that once contained the coffin, which had been forced open. The coffin had evidently been taken from thence to the All upper apartment, where it had been broken up. these remains have been brought to this country, and are now in the British Museum. There is an hieroglyphic inscription very beautifully engraved on the fragment of the coffin, containing a royal name, which reads Men-ka-re. The name of the builder of the third pyramid was, according to Manetho, Mencheres. The whole inscription has been translated by Mr. Birch, and repeats exactly the mythological notions which were inscribed on mummy cases in all ages; thus proving the high antiquity of the religion as well as of the written system of ancient Egypt. The picture of a pyramid forms a part of the hieroglyphic name of Memphis and the immutability of most things in Egypt leads us to infer, from this circumstance, that the foundation of the pyramids was coeval with that of the city. It is probable that the title of being the builders of them, and the honour of being buried in them, were given to the monarchs by whom they were finished. If the question of the superior antiquity of Thebes or Memphis is to be referred to the monuments which exist in the ruins of each, instead of the Greek historians, it will soon be decided in favour of the latter. In Manetho's account of the invasion of the Shepherds, he describes it as very sudden and successful, and he proceeds to inform us that having obtained possession of Memphis, they chose one of themselves, named Salathis, whom they made king. The Egyptian priests complain of the cruelty and barbarity of the Shepherds, stating that they oppressed the chiefs of Egypt, reduced the inhabitants to slavery, burned the cities, and overthrew the temples of the gods. It is by no means certain, however, that such was the fact; there being monumental indications which support, on this point, the Scripture account of Egypt in Joseph's days. A further testimony to the truth of the Scripture account of these Shepherds is afforded by the existence at Memphis of the majority of the remaining monuments of their predecessors. Had they been thus bent upon destruction, it is not likely that a single tablet would have escaped them during the two hundred and sixty years in which they reigned there. The native Egyptians in considerable numbers followed their king, who fled into Upper Egypt from this invasion of the Shepherds. There they penetrated, according to Manetho, beyond the bounds of Egypt Proper, southward into Nubia, and eastward to the shores of the Red Sea; founding another empire, which was governed by the dynasty of kings, called in the lists the seventeenth. In these events the future greatness of Thebes originated, and this will account for the peculiarity of two capitals in Egypt. The prophet Ezekiel says, (30. 13,) "Thus saith the Lord God: I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause their images to cease out of Noph;" whence it would appear that this city was famous for its idolatries, and we know from other sources that it had magnificent temples dedicated to Apis and Vulcan. Sir John Gardner Wilkinson says, "Memphis was the place where Apis was kept, and where his worship was particularly observed. He was not merely looked upon as an emblem, but, as Pliny and Cicero say, was deemed 'a god by the Egyptians;' and Strabo calls Apis, 'the same as Osiris." Psammeticus there erected a grand court, ornamented with figures in lieu of columns, twelve cubits in height, forming a peristyle around it, in which he was kept when exhibited in public. Attached to it were probably the two stables, delubra,' or 'thalami, mentioned by Pliny; and Strabo says, 'Before the inclosure where Apis is kept, is a vestibule, in which also the mother of the sacred bull is fed; and into this vestibule Apis is sometimes introduced, in order to be shown to strangers. After being brought out for a little while he is again taken back. At other times he is only seen through a window.'. . . . 'The temple of Apis is close to that of Vulcan; which last is remarkable for its architectural beauty, its extent, and the richness of its decoration.' "The festival in honour of Apis lasted seven days: on which occasion a large concourse of people assembled at Memphis. The priests then led the sacred bull in solemn procession, every one coming forward from their houses to welcome him as he passed; and Pliny and Solinus affirm that children who smelt his breath were thought to be thereby gifted with the power of predicting future events. Diodorus derives the worship of Apis from the belief of 'the soul of Osiris having migrated into this animal, who was thus supposed to manifest himself to man through successive ages; though some report that the members of Osiris, when killed by Typho, having been deposited in a wooden ox, enveloped in byssine cloths, gave the name to the city of Busiris, and established its worship there. When the Apis died, certain priests chosen for this duty went in quest of another, who was known from the signs mentioned in the sacred books. As soon as he was found, they took him to the City of the Nile preparatory to his removal to Memphis, where he was kept forty days; during which period women alone were permitted to see him. The forty days being completed, he was placed in a boat, with a golden cabin prepared to receive him, and he was conducted in state |