MEIBOMIUS is the name of several learned men, byh birth Germans, who in their day enjoyed considerable reputation.

Meibomius, John Henry, was born in 1590 at Helmstadt, where he afterwards professed physic, and died at Lubeck in 1655, having been, for sometime, first physician at that place. He was the author of several learned works on medical subjects, particularly, 1. Jusjurandum Hippocratis, Greek and Latin, 1643, in 4to.; and, 2. De Usu Flagrorum in Re Medica, Leyden, 1639∙ In the literary world he is known by a work, entitled Maecenas, sive de C. Cilnii Mae-cenatis Vita, Moribus, et Rebus gestis, Leyden, 1653, in 4to.; in which he has quoted almost every passage in the ancient authors where any thing is said of or allusion is made to Maecenas, but has employed neither method nor criticism, and hence cannot lay claim to any higher merit than that of a mere collector.

Meibomius, Henry, son of the preceding, was born at Lubeck in 1638. After acquiring the elements of literature in his native place, he went, in 1655, to the university of Helmstadt, where he applied himself to philosophy and medicine, and afterwards studied at Groningen, Franeker, and Leyden. On his return to Germany, he undertook a tour through Italy, France, and England; contracted an acquaintance with the learned wherever he went; and took his degree in physic as he passed through Angers, in 1663. In 1664, he obtained a professorship of physic at Helmstadt, to which, in 1678, were joined the professorships of history and poetry, which he held until the time of his death, in March 1700. Besides a number of works relating to his own profession, he published Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum, 1688, in three vols. folio; an useful collection which had been commenced but not completed by his father.

Meibomiüs, Marcus, a learned man of the same family as the two preceding, was born in 1611. He early devoted himself to literature and criticism, particularly the learning of the ancients, and became eminently skilled in archaeology. In 1652he published a collection of seven Greek authors, who had written upon music, to which he added a Latin version by himself. It was entitled Antiquae Musicae Auctores Septem Graece et Patine, Marcus Meibomius restituit et notis explicavit, and forms the most celebrated of all his critical works. From these commentaries on the Greek musical writers, particularly Alypius, we can almost decipher the characters used by the Greeks in their musical notation; characters which, before the time of Meibomius, had been so altered, corrupted, and disfigured, by the ignorance or negligence of the transcribers of ancient manuscripts, that they had become nearly, if not altogether, unintelligible. The Queen of Sweden, to whom this publication was dedicated, invited Meibomius to her court; but his stay there was abridged by an occurrente equally ridiculous and extraordinary. He became the victim of one of those malicious tricks called practical jokes. The queen having imbibed somewhat of his enthusiasm in favour of the music of the ancients, was easily persuaded by Bourdelot, a physician in attendance on her person, to desire Meibomius to sing an ancient Grecian air, whilst an old Frenchman, named Naudet, should dance a la Grec to the sound of his voice. Meibomius of course complied with the royal request; but the performance, instead of exciting admiration, produced loud bursts of laughter, in which her majesty heartily joined. Meibomius, enraged beyond measure at this reception, chanced to espy Bourdelot in the gallery amongst the scoffers, and having no doubt that it was he who had maliciously instigated the queen to desire this performance, immediately flew thither, and unrestrained by the presence of her majesty, floored the luckless physician by a terrible facer, delivered with all the energy of passion. In consequence of this summary proceeding, the expounder of ancient music found it necessary to quit Sweden without the ceremony of asking leave, or waiting to be called to account [7:14:534]for his conduct. He went to Copenhagen, where he was well received, and soon afterwards appointed professor in a college instituted for the instruction of the young Danish nobility. He was also honoured with the title of aulic counsellor, and advanced to the dignity of president of the board of maritime customs at Elsinore; but having neglected his duty, he was dismissed from his office, and obliged to quit Denmark in disgrace. He then proceeded to Amsterdam, where he settled, and became professor of history in the college of that place. But his evil fortune still pursued him; for having refused to give instructions to the son of a burgomaster, upon the ground that he was not accustomed to teach boys the elements of knowledge, but to direct the studies of young men advanced in learning, he was deprived of his situation, and forced to quit Amsterdam. Being again thrown upon the world, he visited France and England; after which he returned to Holland, where he led a private and studious life until 1711, when he died, at a very advanced age, having nearly completed a century. Meibomius pretended that the Hebrew Bible was full of errors, and undertook to correct them by means of a metre which he fancied he had discovered in the books of the Old Testament. But the whole scheme was an illusion, and drew upon the author the unsparing ridicule of the learned. Nevertheless, he was a scholar of no mean order, as is proved by his edition of Diogenes Laertius, Amsterdam, 1692, in two vols. 4to.; his Liber de Fabrica Triremium, 1671, in which he endeavours to explain how the ancients disposed their bancs of oars; his edition of the ancient Greek Mythologists; and his Dialogues on Proportions, in which Euclid, Archimedes, Appollonius, Pappus, Eutocius, Theon, and Hermotinus are the interlocutors. ( a.)