Meynell
ALICE (THOMPSON) (mā'nel), an English author; born in London, England, about 1853. She spent much of her childhood in Italy, and married (1877) Wilfrid Meynell, editor of "Merry England." She wrote "Preludes" (1875; 2d ed. 1893), illustrated by her sister, Lady (Elizabeth) Butler; "Rhythm of Life" (1893); "The Children" (1896); "The Spirit of Place" (1898); "Collected Poems" (1913); "Essays" (1914); etc. MEZEREON (-zē're-on), Daphne Mezereum, a small shrub with deciduous obovate or spatulate lanceolate leaves; flowers generally in threes; silky-pink, or white; very fragrant. Berries red, ovoid.
Acrid and poisonous; the berries are cathartic; the leaves used as a vesicant.
MÉZIÈRES (mā-zyar'), the capital of the French department of Ardennes, on a bend of the Meuse, opposite Charleville, and 155 miles N. E. of Paris; principal building the flamboyant church, restored in 1884, in which Charles IX. was married in 1570.
Strongly fortified by Vauban, and protected by a citadel, in 1521 it was successfully defended by the Chevalier Bayard, with 2,000 men, against 40,000 Spaniards under Charles V.; in 1815 held out for two months against the Allies, who besieged it after the battle of Waterloo; and in the Franco-German war of 1870-1871 capitulated after a frightful bombardment. Again, during the World War, the town and its vicinity was the scene of much and heavy fighting. Pop. about 11,000.