translations of Voltaire's " Tancredo e Merope," and of Virgil's works. He published " Eneida Bra- sileira and Virgilio Brasileiro" (1854), and in his will left to his province a manuscript translation of the " Iliad," which has been published by the council of the province.
MENDES, Valentini, clergyman, b. in Caeho-
eira. South America, in 1689; d. in Brazil after
1747. He entered the Society of Jesus at the age
of fourteen, and after his ordination taught classics
in the colleges of the order in Bahia and Parahiba,
and philosophy in Rio Janeiro. He was afterward
professor of theology in Bahia. Besides eight
volumes of sermons (Lisbon, 1734-'47), he published
a volume of poems entitled " Dous Sonetos em
applauso do Desambargador Ignacio Dias Madeira
tomando posse de Ouvidor Geral do Crime era a
Cidade da Bahia" (1742).
MEN DE SAA (men-day-sah'), Brazilian gov-
ernor, b. in Portugal early in the IGth century ; d.
in Bahia in 1572. In his youth he was an officer
in the Portuguese army. In 1558 he was appointed
governor of Brazil, and during his administration
of fifteen years he pacified several tribes of Indians
by his prudent measures. Since 1555 the French
had occupied a large tract of land along the coast
of Brazil, and had built a fort in the place where
the city of Rio Janeiro now stands. The govern-
ment of Portugal gave orders to Men in 1560 to
expel the French from this territory, and with only
120 soldiers and 140 Indian allies he attacked and
defeated them. The war continued till 1566, when
Men received re-enforcements from Portugal, and
conquered the whole territory. In his despatch to
Queen Catharine announcing this event occurs the
celebrated expression : " Eu me puz, logo prestei o
melhor que pude, que foi o peior que um goberna-
dor podia." (" I set immediately about doing the
best I might, which was the worst a governor could
do.") He afterward founded the city of Rio Janei-
ro, and others in that province. In 1572 he left
the government of Brazil to his successor, and re-
tired to private life in Bahia.
MENDEZ Y LA BARTA, Ramon Ignacio (men'-deth), Venezuelan archbishop, b. in Barinas in 1784 ; d. in ViUeta, Colombia, 6 Aug.. 1839. He studied in the Seminary of Caracas and the University of Merida, was graduated at an early age with honors in philosophy, law, and theology, and appointed canon of the cathedral of Merida.
When the revolutionary movement of 19 April,
1810, began, he was at Barinas as vicar-general, and
espoused the cause of independence with enthu-
siasm. He was elected a member of the provis-
ional government, and appointed in 1811 a mem-
ber of congress, signing the act of independence
on 5 July. He also fought in the battles of Guay-
ana, Apure, and New Granady, and was the com-
panion of Paez in Arichuna at the capture of
Achaguas and San Fernando and in tlie brilliant
battle of the Yagual. He occupied a seat in the
Colombian congress at Cucuta in 1821, and was
senator in the same congress from 1823 till 1826.
A dispute with Senator Gomez resulted in a per-
sonal attack by Mendez, for which he was expelled
from the senate. He then went to Venezuela,
where he was warmly welcomed, and elected arch-
deacon of the cathedral of Caracas, and in 1828
he became archbishop of Venezuela. Refusing to
take the oath of allegiance to the constitution of
Venezuela, as he thought it incompatible with
the rights and immunities of the church, he was
compelled to leave the country and went to Cu-
razao. 21 Nov., 1830. In 1832 he returned, but in
November, 1836, on account of his refusal to in-
vest the prebendaries that had been appointed by
the government, he was again compelled to leave
the country. After residing nearly three years in
Curazao, he sought an asylum in New Granada,
but died on his way to Bogota.
MENDIVE, Rafael Maria de (men-dee'-veh),
Cuban author, b. in Havana in 1821 ; d. in 1886.
He was educated in his native city, and began to
cultivate literature from early youth. In 1845 he
published a literary newspaper named " Flores del
Siglo," and in 1847 a collection of his poems with
the title of " Pasionarias." They were of a ro-
mantic character, and obtained wide recognition.
From 1848 till 1852 he travelled in Europe, and,
after returning to Cuba, founded the " Revista de
la Habana," one of the best reviews in Spanish
America. In 1869 he was banished from Cuba on
account of his liberal opinions. He resided alter-
nately in New York and Nassau, New Providence,
where he wrote several legends and tales in verse,
but in 1878 he returned to Cuba. Mendive is con-
sidered one of the best of Spanish-American poets,
and many of his poems have been translated into
English, French, and Italian. He has published,
associated with three other writers, a book of poems
called "Cuatro Laudes" (1856). A new edition of
his poems was published by the Spanish critic Don
Manuel Canete (Madrid, 1860), and other editions
have appeared (Havana, 1861 and 1884). He trans-
lated Moore's "Irish Melodies" in verse (1863).
MENDONA, Angusto Netto de (men-dong'-
sah), Brazilian naval officer, b. in Pernambuco,
4 Aug., 1834; d. in Paraguay, 9 Dec, 1868. After
studying in the naval academy of Rio Janeiro, he
became a midshipman, and in 1855 served in the
bombardment and capture of the fortifications of
Paysandu in Uruguay. In February, 1865, he
was praised by the commander-in chief of the na-
val forces at Montevideo for his valor in the attack
on that city, and for his defence against a mob of
the prisoners that were taken there. He com-
manded a gun-boat in Uruguay in 1865, and after-
ward the gun-boat " Greenhalgh " in the passage
of the army to the Paraguayan bank of the Parana
on 16 April, 1866, engaging a battery on the 17th.
He took part in the bombardment of Curuzu and
Curupaity, and in the iron-clad " Mariz e Barros "
led the fleet when a reconnoissance was made off
Angostura, in which his skull was fractured by a
fragment of a shell.
MENDOZA, Antonio de. Count of Tendilla,
Viceroy of Mexico and Peru, b. in Granada, Spain,
about 1480; d. in Lima. 21 July, 1552. In conse-
quence of the troubles between the nobles of New
Spain and the audiencia the Emperor Charles V.
resolved to create a viceroyalty, and appointed
Mendoza viceroy on 17 April, 1535. To strengthen
his authority he was also made president of the
Royal audiencia. He introduced in Mexico and in
the New World the first printing-press, and in 1536
the first book, " La Escala de S. Juan Climaco," was
printed in Mexico. Of this book no copy now re-
mains. In 1537 he founded the Imperial college of
Santa Cruz de Tlaltelolco and established the bish-
opric of Michoacan. Believing in the existence of
a rich country called Quivira, situated toward the
northeast, according to the relations of Cabeza de
Vaca and Marcos de Niza {q. v.), Mendoza resolved
to send an exploring expedition thither. Cortes, who
was still in Mexico, claimed the right of new con-
quests for himself, but he was forced to submit to
the viceroy and left in disgust for Spain. Mendoza
sent in 1540 an expedition overland under Vas-
quez de Coronado {q. v.), and another by sea under
Hernando Alareon, but both failed to discover the
