pnugues/EB7 huggingface dataset:
MAY, the fifth month in the year, reckoning from January; and the third, supposing the year to begin with March, as the Romans anciently did. It was called Maius by Romulus, in respect to the senators and nobles of his city, who were named majores; as the following month was called Junius, in honour of the youth of Rome, (in honorum juniorum,) who served him in the war; though some are of opinion that it was thus called from Maia, the mother of Mercury, to whom they offered sacrifice on the first day of the month; and Papius derives it from Madius, co quod tunc terra madeat. In this month the sun enters Gemini, and the plants of the earth in general begin to flower.

May, Isle of, a small island at the mouth of the Frith of Forth, in Scotland, about a mile and a half in circumference, and seven miles from the coast of Fife, almost opposite to the rock called the Bass. It formerly belonged to the priory of Pittenweem, and was dedicated to St. Adrian, supposed to have been martyred in this place by the Danes; and hither, in ancient times, barren women used to come and worship at his shrine, in hopes of being cured of their sterility. It was here that the French squadron, having the Chevalier de St. George on board, anchored in the year 1708, when the vigilance of Sir George Byng obliged him to relinquish his design, and bear away for Dunkirk. The shores all round the island abound with fish, and the cliffs with water fowl.

May, Thomas, an eminent English poet and historian of the seventeenth century, was descended of an ancient but decayed family in Sussex, and received his education at Cambridge, whence he afterwards removed to London. Whilsthe resided at court, he wrote the five plays now extant under his name. In 1622, he published a translation of Virgil’s Georgies, with annotations; and in 1635 a poem on Edward HL, and a translation of Lucan’s Pharsalia, which he continued down to the death of Julius Caesar, both in Latin and in English verse. Upon the breaking out of the civil wars he adhered to the parliament, and in 1647, published the History of the Parliament of England, which began November the third, 1640, with a short and accessory view of some precedent years. In 1649, he published in three parts, Historice Parliamenti Angliae Breviarium, which he afterwards translated into English. He also wrote the history of Henry II. in English verse. His death occurred in 1650. Having gone to rest after a cheerful bottle as usual, he died in his sleep before morning. Soon after the Restoration, his body, with those of several others, was dug up, and buried in a pit in St Margaret’s churchyard; and his monument, which was erected by the appointment of parliament, was taken down and thrown aside.
MAYAHOON, a town of the Burman empire, situated on the western bank of the Irrawaddy river, and carrying on a considerable traffic. The adjoining country produces great quantities of rice which are stowed up in this place.
MAYERNE, SirTheodore de, baron of Aulbone, was the son of Louis de Mayerne, the celebrated author of the General History of Spain, and of the Monarchie Aristo-Democratiqυe, dedicated to the States-General. He was born in 1573, and had for his god-father, Theodore Beza. He studied physic at Montpellier, and was made physician in ordinary to Henry IV. who promised to do great things for him, provided he would change his religion. He declined the offer, and James I. of England having invited him to that country, made him first physician to the household, an office in which he served the royal family till the time of his death in 1655. His works were printed at London in 1700, and occupy a large folio, divided into two books; the first containing his Consilia·, Epistolae, et Observationes ; the second his Pharmacopoeia variceque Medicamentorum forrnulae.
MAYNOOTH, or Manootii, a post town in the county of Kildare and province of Leinster* in Ireland, about fifteen miles W. by N. from Dublin.

Before the establishment of Maynooth College, the Roman Catholics of Ireland were under the necessity of sending the young men intended for the priesthood to be educated at foreign universities. It was supposed that this might have a tendency to attach the priests to the interests of the foreign powers at whose expense they were educated; and to obviate such an inconvenient and unseemly state of things, the royal college of St. Patrick for the education of persons professing the Roman Catholic religion, was instituted by act of Parliament in 1795.

This establishment is under the inspection of the chancellor and chief judges; anditconsists of two departments, lay and ecclesiastical, the latter supported by an annual public grant of L.8928. The lay college depends upon voluntary subscription, and was opened in 1802. The building, which is extensive and convenient, was erected at an expense of L.32,000. The principal officers are the president, vice-president, dean, bursar, sub-dean, eleven professors, three lecturers, and a treasurer. The number of students amounts to about 330. The town has also a charter school for fifty girls. The population is 1364.
MAYNWARING, Arthur, an eminent political writer in the beginning of the eighteenth century. He resided for several years at Oxford, and went to Cheshire, where he lived for some time with} his uncle Mr. Francis Cholmon-dely, a very worthy gentleman, but extremely averse to the government of William III. to which he refused to take the oaths. Here he prosecuted with great vigour his studies in polite literature; and coming up to London, applied himself to the study of the law. He had hitherto shewn great zeal in asserting anti-revolutionary principles, and written several pieces in favour of James II.; but upon being introduced to the Duke of Somerset and the Earls of Dorset and Burlington, he began to entertain very different notions in politics. His father left him an estate of nearly L.800 a-year, but so encumbered, that the interest-money amounted to almost as much as the income. Upon the conclusion of the peace he went to Paris, where he became acquainted with Boileau. After his return he was made one of the commissioners of the customs, in which situation he distinguished himself by his skill and industry. He was a member of the Kit-cat club, and from his pleasantry and wit was looked upon as one of its principal supporters. In the beginning of Queen Anne’s reign, the lord treasurer Godolphin engaged Mr. Donne to quit the office of auditor of the imprests, and made Maynwaring a present of a patent for that office worth about L.2000 a-year, in time of business. He had a considerable share in the Medley, and was author of several other pieces. The Examiner, his antagonist in politics, allowed that he wrote with tolerable spirit, and in a masterly style. Sir Richard Steele dedicated to him the first volume of the Tatler.
MAYOR, the chief magistrate of a city or town, chosen annually from amongst the aldermen. The word anciently written meyr, comes from the British miret, meaning custodire, or from the old English maier, signifyingj9o⅛^αs, and not from the Latin major.
MAYORGA, a cluster of three or four small islands, the largest about sixty miles in circuit, in the South Pacific Ocean. They were discovered in 1780 by a Spanish frigate. Long. 179∙ 52. E. Lat. 18. 38. S.

ΜΑΖΑ, amongst the Athenians, was a sort of cake made of flour boiled with water and oil, and set as the common fare before those who were entertained at the public expense in the common hall or Prytaneum.
MAZAGAN, a strong place of Africa in the kingdom of Morocco, and on the frontiers of the province of Dugue-la. It was fortified by the Portuguese, and besieged by the king of Morocco with 200,000 men in 1562, but to no purpose. It is situated near the sea. W. lon. 8.15. N. lat. 33.12.
MAZAGONG, a Portuguese village situated on the island of Bombay. It has a good dock for small ships, and two tolerably handsome Roman Catholic churches.
ΜAZAMET, a city of France in the department of the Torn and arrondissement of the Castres. It is a hilly district on the river Molle, and contains a Catholic and a reformed church, 1050 houses, and 6150 inhabitants, who are extensive manufacturers of flannels, cassimeres, bags, serges, and other woollen goods.
MAZEIRA, a considerable island near the eastern coast of Arabia, about sixty miles long and eight broad. The passage between it and the mainland admits large vessels. There is a village on the eastern shore, which is seldom visited by Europeans. Long, of the north-east part 59. 40. E. Lat. 20. 35. N.
MAZULAR, a small island on the west coast of Sumatra, opposite to Tappanooly harbour, which is remarkable for a perpendicular fall of water 300 or 400 feet in height.
MAZZARA, a parliamentary city in the island of Sicily, in the kingdom of Naples, 60 miles from Palermo. It is the capital of the province of that name, the seat of a bishop, and stands on a fine plain upon the sea shore, but without a harbour. It is all built with narrow streets, but contains many churches and convents, and 1873 houses, with 8335 inhabitants, who cultivate much cotton wool. Latitude 37° 39' 56"; longitude 12° 33' 59" east.
MEACO, formerly the metropolis of the whole empire of Japan, and still a great city of Nephon. Its situation is in a spacious plain, hemmed in by high mountains, and almost entirely consisting of fine gardens, interspersed with temples, monasteries, mausoleums, and numerous rivulets. At the time when it flourished in its greatest prosperity, it was twenty miles in length, and nine in breadth. But a great part of this space is now unoccupied, and converted into gardens and cultivated fields. The streets are long and narrow, and consist of poor and ill-constructed houses. But a prodigious expense has been lavished on the temples, which are extravagantly magnificent; and the imperial palace forms a city by itself. Meaco is the seat of literature and science as well as of religion. It is here that the imperial almanac is printed, as well as most of the books which circulate through Japan. It is famed for the finer manufactures, particularly for Japan work, painting, carving, &c. The inhabitants are estimated at 477,000 by the last enumeration, which is probably an exaggeration, exclusive of the retainers of the court, namely, the monks and nuns, who cannot be 52,000. It is still the spiritual capital of the empire, being the residence of the dairo or head of the church, to whom the highest honours are paid. Long. 153.30. Lat. 35. 24. N.
MEADOW, in its general signification, means pasture or grass lands, annually mown for hay; but β the term is more particularly applied to lands which are so low as to be too moist for cattle to graze upon them in winter without spoiling the sward. For the management and watering of meadows see Agriculture.
MEAHIMGE, a town of Hindostan, in the province of Oude, surrounded by a double wall, which encloses several large clumps of mango trees, and spots of cultivated ground. It carries on a considerable trade in grain.
MEAL, the flour of grain. The colour and the weight are the two things which denote the value of meal or flour; the whiter and the heavier it is, other things being alike, the better it will always be found. Pliny mentions these two characters as the marks of good flour; and tells us, that Italy in his time produced the finest in the world. This country, indeed was, before his time, famous for flour; the Greeks have celebrated it, and Sophocles in particular says, that no flour is so white or so good as that of Italy. The corn of this country has, however, lost much of its reputation since that time.
MEAN, in general, denotes the middle between two extremes. Thus we say the mean distance, mean proportion, and the like.

Mean, Arithmetical, is half the sum of the two extremes, as four is the arithmetical mean between two and six; for ⅛±β- 4

2

Mean, Geometrical, is the square root of the rectangle, or product of the two extremes. Thus,

√ Γ×9= 2 √9 =3.

To find two mean proportionals between two extremes, multiply each extreme by the square of the other, then extract the cube root out of each product, and the two roots will be the mean proportionals required.

Required two proportionals between 2 and 16,

2 × 2 × 16=64, and 3 √ ’ 64=4. Again, a∕ 3 2 × 16 2 = 3 √512=8. Therefore, 4 and 8 are the two proportionals sought.
MEANGIS Isles, a cluster of small isles in the eastern seas, situated about the 5th degree of N. lat., and the !27th of E. long. The inhabitants of one of the largest, Nannsa, are chiefly employed in boat-building.
MEANMA, a town of Persia, in the province of Azarbi-jan, on the route from Tabrez to Tehran. It is about five or six miles from the foot of the mountain of Capitan Koh, and is the capital of a powerful chief. It is supposed by D’Anville to be the ancient Atropatene, sixty miles N.W. of Sultania.
MEAN REE, a fishing town or village in the province of Sinde, and district of Tatta, about four miles east from the town of Tatta. It is situated on the Indus, which, opposite to this place, is about a mile wide.
MEANY, a town of Hindostan, in the province of Lahore, 128 miles WNW. from the city of Lahore. Long. 72. 16. E. Lat. 32. 10. N.
MEARNSSHIRE, a county of Scotland. Sec Kincardineshire.
MEASURING, or Mensuration, is the using a certain known measure, for determining thereby the precise extent, quantity, or capacity of any thing.

Measuring, in general, includes the practical part of geometry. From the various subjects on which it is employed, it acquires various names, and constitutes various arts. See Geometry, Levelling, Mensuration, Trigonometry.
MEAT. See Dietetics.
MEAUX, an ancient town of France, in the department of the Seine and Marne, with a bishop’s see, seated in a place abounding in corn and cattle, on the river Marne, which divides it into two parts; and its trade consists in corn, wool, and cheese. It sustained a siege of three months against the English in 1421. Long. 2.58. E. Lat. 48.58. N.
MECCA. See Mekka.
MECHANICAL, an epithet applied to whatever relates to mechanics.

Mechanical, in mathematics, denotes a construction of some problem, by the assistance of instruments, as the duplication of the cube and quadrature of the circle, in contradistinction to that which is done in an accurate and geometrical manner.

Mechanical Curve, is a curve, according to Descartes, which cannot be defined by any algebraical equation, and thus is contradistinguished from algebraic or geometrical curves. Leibnitz and others call these mechanical curves transcendental, and dissent from Descartes, in excluding them from geometry.

Mechanical Solution of a problem is either when the thing is done by repeated trials, or when lines used in the solution are not truly geometrical, or of organical construction.

Mechanical Powers, are certain simple machines, which are used for raising greater weights, or overcoming greater resistances than could be effected by the natural strength without them. See Mechanics.
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MECHLIN or Malines, a circle of the province of Antwerp, in the Netherlands, divided into five cantons and thirty-eight communes, containing 87,800 inhabitants. The capital is the city of the same name, situated in a fertile plain, watered by the river Dyle, and connected by a canal with Louvain. It is the seat of an archbishop, for whom there is a magnificent palace, and a cathedra], with a tower 350 feet in length. Some of the other public edifices are on an extended scale. There is an ecclesiastical seminary, and a convent of Beguines, wherein formerly were 800 professed females; and though the number is now reduced, it is both respectable and useful, as it affords visitors to the poor and the sick, and relief to the distressed, in an extensive and gratuitous way. It contains 3000 houses, and about 20,000 inhabitants, who are very industrious. There are numerous hat-makers, and weavers of woollen cloths and blankets. The most distinguished of the fabrics is that of thread lace of the finest description, which bears the name of the city, and is highly esteemed in every part of the world where it is known. Lat. 51. 15. 2. N. Long. 4. 23. 39∙ E.
MECHOACAN, a province of Mexico or New Spain, in America, bounded on the north by Panuco and Guadalajara, on the south by the Pacific Ocean, and on the west by Guadalajara and the South Sea. It is about 200 miles in circumference, and its population in 1793, amounted to 289,314. The soil is exceedingly fertile, and the climate so wholesome, that the Spaniards imagine it possessed of some peculiarly restorative quality, for which reason the sick and infirm flock to it from all quarters. The commodities are sulphur, indigo, sarsaparilla, sassafras, cacao, vanelloes, ambergris, hides, wool, cotton, silk, sugar, the root mechoacan or white jalap, and silver. This province formed an independent kingdom at the time when Mexico was reduced by Cortez. The sovereign had long been the inveterate enemy of the Mexicans, and was considered next to the republic of Elascala, as the most formidable barrier against the extension of the imperial frontier. However, he submitted to Cortez without striking a blow, being intimidated by the wonders he had performed with a handful of men; and thus Mechoacan became a province of the Spanish empire, and a valuable addition to Mexico The country at that time was exceedingly populous, but the natives are now much thinned. The capital of the province, called Mechoacan by the natives, but Valladolid by the Spaniards, contained 17,093 inhabitants in 1793.
MEDALLION, or Medalion, a medal of an extraordinary size, supposed to be anciently struck by the emperors for their friends, and for foreign princes and ambassadors. But, that the smallness of their number might not endanger the loss of the devices they bore, the Romans generally took care to stamp the subject of them upon their ordinary coins. Medallions, in respect of the other coins, were the same as modern medals in respect of modern money; they were exempted from all commerce, and had no other value than what was set upon them by the fancy of the owner. Medallions are so scarce that a set cannot be made of them, even though the metals and sizes should be mixed promiscuously.
MEDIASCH, a city of Hungary, in the province of the Siebenbergen, in that part distinguished as the conntry of the Saxons. It is the capital of a circle extending over 268 square miles, and containing about 50,000 inhabitants. The city stands upon the river Great Kokel, is surrounded with walls, and has a Greek, a Lutheran, and a Calvinist church, a Franciscan convent, and 440 houses, with 4235 inhabitants. Long. 24. 16. 55. E. Lat. 46. 8. 31. N.
MEDIATOR, a person who manages or transacts between two parties at variance, in order to reconcile them. The word, in Scripture, is applied, first, to Jesus Christ, who is the only intercessor and peace-maker between God and man (1 Tim. ii. 5); and, secondly, to Moses, who interposed between the Lord and his people, to declare unto them his word (Deut. v. 5, iii. 19).
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MEDINE, an Egyptian piece of money of iron silvered over, and about the size of a silver threepenny piece.
MEDIOLANUM, now Milan, an ancient city, the capital of the Insubres, built by the Gauls, on their settlement in that part of Italy; it was a municipium, a place of great strength, and also a seat of the liberal arts, whence it had the name of Novae Athenae.
MEDITATION, an act by which we consider any thing closely, or in which the soul is employed in the search or consideration of any truth. In religion it is used to signify a consideration of the objects and grand truths of the Christian faith. Mystic divines make a great difference between meditation and contemplation. The former consists in discursive acts of the soul, considering methodically and with attention the mysteries of faith and the precepts of morality, and is performed by reflections and reasonings, which leave behind them manifest impressions on the brain. But the [7:14:532]purely contemplative have no need of meditation, as they see all things in God at a glance, and without any reflection. WIιen a man, therefore, has once quitted meditation, and arrived at contemplation, he returns no more; and, according to Alvarez, never resumes the oar of meditation, except when the wind of contemplation is too weak to fill his sails.
MEDITERRANEAN, something enclosed within land, or that is remote from the ocean, properly so called.

Mediterranean is more particularly used to signify that large sea which flows between the continents of Europe and Africa, entering by the straits of Gibraltar, and reaching into Asia, as far as the Euxine or Black Sea and the Palus Maeotis.

The Mediterranean was anciently called the Grecian Sea and the Great Sea. It is now cantoned out into several divisions, which bear several names. To the west of Italy it is called the Ligurian or Tuscan Sea; near Venice, the Adriatic; towards Greece, the Ionian and Aegean; between the Hellespont and the Bosphorus, the White Sea; and beyond the Bosphorus the Black Sea.
MEDITRINALIA, a Roman festival in honour of the goddess Meditrina, observed on the 30th of September. Both the deity and the festival were so called a medendo, because on this day they began to drink new wine mixed with old by way of medicine. The mixture of wines, on this festival, was drunk with much form and solemn ceremony.
MEDIUM, in Logic, the mean or middle term of a syllogism, being an argument, reason, or consideration, concerning which we affirm or deny any thing; or, it is the cause why the greater extreme is affirmed or denied of the less in the conclusion.

Medium, ivι Arithmetic, or arithmetical medium or mean, called in the schools medium rei, is that which is equally distant from each extreme, or which exceeds the lesser extreme as much as it is exceeded by the greater, in respect of quantity, not of proportion. Thus 9 is a medium between 6 and 12.

Geometrical Medium, called in the schools medium personne, is that where the same ratio is preserved between the first and second as between the second and third terms, or that which exceeds in the same ratio or quota of itself, as it is exceeded. Thus 6 is a geometrical medium between 4 and 9∙

Medium, in Philosophy, that space or region throughout which a body in motion passes to any point. Thus aether is supposed to be the medium through which the heavenly bodies move; air, the medium in which bodies move near our earth; water, the medium in which fishes live and move; and glass is also a medium of light, as it affords it a free passage. That density or consistency in the parts of the medium, by which the motion of bodies in it becomes retarded, is called the resistance of the medium, which, together with the force of gravity, is the cause of the cessation of the motion of projectiles. Sir Isaac Newton considers it probable that, besides the particular aerial medium in which we live and breathe, there is another more universal one, which he calls an aethereal medium; vastly more rare, subtle, elastic, and active, than air, and freely permeating the pores and interstices of all other mediums, and diffusing itself throughout the whole of creation, and by the intervention of which it is that, according to him, most of the great phenomena of nature are produced.

Medium, in Optics, signifies any substance through which light is transmitted.
MEDUCK, a town of Hindustan, and chief town of a district of the same name, which is situated about the 18th degree of north lat. The town is fifty miles NNW. from the city of Hyderabad. Long. 78. 20. E. Lat. 17. 50. N.