nominated military secretary to the government of Bombay in 1861, and political agent at Aden in 1865. In the last post he undertook active operations against the Fudhli Arabs, who sought to intercept the supplies of grain and food provided for the garrison by the inhabitants of the interior. These operations, though subsequently approved by government, were, owing to the urgency of the case, carried out by Merewether on his own personal responsibility. It afterwards fell to his lot to negotiate with King Theodore of Abyssinia; and on the outbreak of war with that potentate he took command of the pioneer force despatched from Bombay in September 1867, and rendered other valuable assistance to General Lord Napier, commander-in-chief of the expedition. For these services he was made K.C.S.I., and received the thanks of parliament (1868). Appointed chief commissioner in Sind in June 1867, it was not until July in the following year that he could be spared to take up the appointment. In 1876 he returned home to take his seat in the council of India. He died on 4 Oct. 1880. A generous, open-hearted companion and sincere friend, Merewether was universally popular, and was generally acknowledged to be a true soldier, a shrewd politician, and an enlightened administrator. In 1854 he married Harriett, youngest daughter of J. Dale, esq., of Coleshill, Warwickshire. He left a widow and three sons.
[Annual Register, 1880; Proc. Roy. Geogr. Soc. 1880; Bombay Government Gazette, 1847; private information.]
MERFYN Frych, i.e. Freckled (d. 844), Welsh prince, succeeded to the lordship of Anglesey (with, possibly, other adjacent districts), on the failure of the male line of Maelgwn Gwynedd with the death of Hywel, in 825. He was the son of Gwriad ab Elidyr, a descendant of Llywarch Hên [q. v.] According to the twelfth-century poem entitled ‘Cyfoesi Myrddin a Gwenddydd ei Chwaer,’ he came ‘from the land of Manaw’ (Myvyrian Archaiology, 2nd edit. p. 110), which Skene conjectures to be Manaw Gododin, on the banks of the Forth (Four Ancient Books of Wales, i. 94). According to the modern authorities (Gwentian Brut; Powel; Warrington; Cambrian Biography; Carnhuanawc) he became prince in right of his wife, Esyllt, daughter of Cynan Tindaethwy. But older and better accounts speak of him as the son of Cynan's daughter, who is termed Ethil or Ethellt (Harl. MS. 3859, as given in Cymmrodor, ix. 169; Jesus Coll. MS. 20, as given in Cymmrodor, viii. 87). This is more consistent with the Welsh law of inheritance, which in certain cases recognised a claim through a mother, but never one derived from a wife (see the sections treating of ‘mamwys’ (maternity) in the Record edition of the ‘Welsh Laws’). The same authorities which speak of Esyllt as Merfyn's wife call him the son of Nest, daughter of Cadell, the last but one of the princes of Powys of the older line. Jesus Coll. MS. 20 is probably right in making Nest Merfyn's wife and the mother of Rhodri the Great. Many modern writers style Merfyn king of Man, but this is merely an ill-grounded inference from the passage in the ‘Cyfoesi’ quoted above, which speaks, it should be noted, not of ‘ynys,’ but of ‘tir Manaw.’
Of Merfyn's reign nothing is known. The traditional name ‘Camwri’ (‘Injustice’) given him in one manuscript of the Welsh Laws (Ancient Laws of Wales, edit. 1841, i. 342) shows that his rule was not accepted without demur; nevertheless, he founded a family which supplied both North and South Wales with princes until the conquest of Edward I.
[Annales Cambriæ, Rolls ed.; pedigrees in Harl. MS. 3859 and Jesus Coll. MS. 20.]
MERICK. [See Merrick and Meyrick.]
MERITON or MERYTON, GEORGE, D.D. (d. 1624), dean of York, was born in Hertfordshire, probably at Braughing. His father was a tenant of Thomas Howard, first earl of Suffolk (1561-1626) [q. v.], who inherited estates in Hertfordshire from his mother, and he himself was born under the earl's roof (Meriton, Epistle to Sermon of Nobilitie). He was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, graduated B.A. in 1584-5, M.A. in 1588, and was on 4 July 1589 elected fellow of Queen's College. There he filled the post of junior bursar, 1595-6, senior bursar 1596-7, and proceeded B.D. in 1596, and D.D. in 1601. During his residence at Cambridge he made known his adherence to church establishment by frequent discussions on ceremonies which he held with Thomas Brightman [q. v.] in the chapel of Queen's College. He was collated to the rectory of Hadleigh in Suffolk by Archbishop Whitgift in 1599, and was appointed to the deanery of Bocking (usually held in conjunction with the rectory) on 24 May 1599. He was made dean of Peterborough on 12 June 1612, was chaplain to Anne of Denmark, wife of James I, dean of York on 27 March 1617, and prebendary of Tockerington in the cathedral church of York on 5 March 1617. He re-
