of the population are Buddhists. The headquarters town, Meiktila, stands on the banks of the lake, which supplies good drinking water. Pop. (1901), 7203. A wing of a British regiment is stationed here. A branch railway connects it at Thazi station with the Rangoon-Mandalay line, and continues westward to its terminus on the Irrawaddy at Myingyan.
The division includes the districts of Meiktila, Kyauksē, Yamēthin and Myingyan, with a total area of 10,852 sq. m., and a population (1901) of 992,807, showing an increase of 10·2% in the preceding decade, and giving a density of 91 inhabitants to the square mile. All but a small portion of the division lies in the dry zone, and cultivation is mainly dependent on irrigation.
MEILHAC, HENRI (1831–1897), French dramatist, was
born in Paris on the 21st of February 1831, and while a young man began writing fanciful articles for the newspapers and vaudevilles for the theatres, in a vivacious boulevardier spirit which brought him to the front. About 1860 he met Ludovic Halévy, and the two began a collaboration in writing for the stage which lasted for twenty years. An account of their work is given under Halévy. Meilhac wrote a few pieces with lesser collaborators. In 1888 he was elected to the Academy. He died at Paris in 1897.
MEINBERG, a village and watering-place of Germany, in the principality of Lippe Detmold, situated in a pleasant valley under the Teutoburger Wald, 12 m. S.E. from Detmold by the railway to Altenbeken. Pop. (1905), 1300. The waters of
Meinberg, which attract annually about 1200 visitors, are sulphur springs, and are used for drinking, bathing and inhalation. They became known in the 18th century.
See Gilbert and Meissner, Bad Meinberg und seine Kurmittel (Berlin, 1902).
MEINEKE, JOHANN ALBRECHT FRIEDRICH AUGUST
(1790–1870), German classical scholar, was born at Soest in
Westphalia on the 8th of December 1790. After holding
educational posts at Jenkau and Danzig, he was director of
the Joachimsthal gymnasium in Berlin from 1826 to 1856.
He died at Berlin on the 12th of December 1870. He was
distinguished in conjectural criticism, the comic writers and
Alexandrine poets being his favourite authors.
His most important works are: Graecorum comicorum fragmenta (1839–1857, the first volume of which contains an essay on the development of Greek comedy and an account of its chief representatives); Aristophanes (1860); Analecta alexandrina (1843, containing the fragments of Rhianus, Euphorion, Alexander of Aetolia, and Parthenius); Callimachus (1861); Theocritus, Bion, Moschus (3rd ed., 1856); Alciphron (1853); Strabo (2nd ed.,1866) and Vindiciae strabonianae (1852); Stobaeus (1855–1863); Athenaeus (1858–1867). See monographs by F. Ranke (1871), H. Sauppe (1872), and E. Förstemann in Allgemeine deutsche Biographie, XXI. (1885); also Sandys, Hist. Class. Schol. (1908), iii. 117.
MEININGEN, a town of Germany, capital of the duchy of Saxe-Meiningen, romantically situated in forests on the right bank of the Werra, 40 m. S. of Eisenach by rail. Pop. (1905), 15,989. It consists of an old town and several handsome suburbs, but much of the former has been rebuilt since a fire in 1874. The chief building is the Elisabethenburg, or the old ducal palace, containing several collections; it was built mainly about 1680, although part of it is much older. Other buildings are the Henneberger Haus with a collection of antiquities, and the town church, with twin towers, built by the emperor Henry II. in the 11th century. The theatre enjoyed for many years (1875–1890) a European reputation for its actors and scenic effects. The English garden, a beautiful public park, contains the ducal mortuary chapel and several monuments, including busts of Brahms and Jean Paul Richter.
Meiningen, which was subject to the bishops of Würzburg (1000–1542), came into the possession of the duke of Saxony in 1583, having in the meantime belonged to the counts of Henneberg. At the partition of 1660 it fell to the share of Saxe-Altenburg, and in 1680 became the capital of Saxe-Meiningen.
See E. Döbner, Bausteine zu einer Geschichte der Stadt Meiningen (Meiningen, 1902).
MEÏR, Jewish rabbi of the 2nd century, was born in Asia Minor and according to legend was a descendant of the family of Nero. He was the most notable of the disciples of Aqiba (q.v.), and after the Hadrianic repressions of A.D. 135 was instrumental in refounding the Palestinian schools at Usha. Among his teachers was also Elisha ben Abuyah (q.v.), and Meïr continued his devotion to Elisha after the latter’s apostasy, He is said to have visited Rome to rescue his wife’s sister. His wife, Beruriah, is often cited in the Talmud as an exemplar of generosity and faith. She was a daughter of the martyr Hananiah ben Teradion. On one occasion Meïr, who had been frequently troubled by his ungodly neighbours, uttered a prayer for their extinction. “Nay,” said Beruriah, “it is written (Ps. civ. 35) let sins be blotted out, not sinners”; whereupon Meïr prayed for the evildoers' conversion. But she is best known for her conduct at the sudden death of her two sons. It was the Sabbath, and Meïr returned home towards sunset. He repeatedly asked for the children, and Beruriah, after parrying his question, said: “Some time ago a precious thing was left with me on trust, and now the owner demands its return. Must I give it back?” “How can you question it?” rejoined her husband. Beruriah then led him to the bed whereon were stretched the bodies of the children. Meïr burst into tears. But the wife explained that this was the treasure of which she had spoken, adding the text from Job: “The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Meïr himself was the author of many famous sayings: “Look not to the flask, but to its contents. Many a new vessel contains old wine, but there are old casks which do not contain even new wine.” “Condole not with a mourner while his dead is laid out before him.” “Man cometh into the world with closed hands as though claiming the ownership of all things; but he departeth hence with hands open and limp, as if to show that he taketh naught with him.” “What God does is well done.” “The tree itself supplies the handle of the axe which cuts it down.” His wisdom was proverbial, and to him was in particular assigned an intimate acquaintance with fables, and he is reported to have known 300 Fox-Fables. “With the death of Rabbi Meïr,” says the Mishnah (Sota ix. 15), “Fabulists ceased to be.”
Meïr’s wide sympathies were shown in his inclusion of all mankind in the hopes of salvation (Sifra to Leviticus xviii. 5). He was certainly on friendly terms with heathen scholars. Meïr contributed largely to the material from which finally emerged the Mishnah. His dialectic skill was excessive, and it was said jestingly of him that he could give 150 reasons to prove a thing clean, and as many more to prove it unclean. His balanced judgment fitted him to carry on Aqiba’s work, sifting and arranging the oral traditions, and thus preparing the ground for the Mishnaic Code.
Meïr left Palestine some time before his death, owing to disagreements between him and the Patriarch. He died in Asia Minor, but his love for the Holy Land remained dominant to the last. “Bury me,” he said, “by the shore, so that the sea which washes the land of my fathers may touch also my bones.” The tomb shown as that of Meïr at Tiberias is inauthentic.
See Bacher, Agada der Tannaiten, vol. 11. ch. i.; Graetz, History of the Jews (Eng. trans.), vol. 11. ch. xvi.; Jewish Encyclopedia (whence some of the above cited sayings are quoted), viii. 432–435. On Meïr’s place in the history of the fable, see J. Jacobs, The Fables of Aesop, i. 111, &c. (see Index s.v.). (I. A.)
MEIR OF ROTHENBURG (c. 1215–1293), German rabbi and poet, was born in Worms c. 1215. He played a great part in organizing the Jewish communal life of the middle ages. In 1286 for some unknown reason he was thrown into prison in Alsace, where he remained until his death in 1293. His friends offered to find a ransom, but he declined the suggestion, fearing that the precedent would lead to extortion in other cases. He wrote glosses to the Talmud (tosaphot) and many Responsa of the utmost value for historical research. Through his disciples Asher ben Yeḥiel and Mordecai ben Hillel, Meir exercised much
