MEISTER, WILHELM, a great work of Goethe’s, fraught with world-wisdom, the hero of which of the name represents a man who is led, in these very days, by a higher hand than he is aware of to his appointed destiny.

MEISTERSAeNGERS or SINGERS, a guild founded in Germany in the 15th century or earlier for the cultivation of poetry, of which HANS SACHS (q. v.) was the most famous member.

MEKHONG, is the great river of Siam.  Its source In the mountains of Chiamdo is unexplored.  Its course, 3000 m., is southerly to the China Sea; the last 500 m. are navigable.  It carries great quantities of silt which goes to form and augment the delta through which it issues.

MELANCHTHON, PHILIP, Protestant Reformer, born in the Palatinate of the Rhine; was the scholar of the German Reformation, and a wise friend of Luther’s, having come into contact with him at Wittenberg, where he happened to be professor of Greek; he wrote the first Protestant work in dogmatic theology, entitled “Loci Communes,” and drew up the “Augsburg Confession”; the sweetness of temper for which he was distinguished, together with his soberness as a thinker, had a moderating influence on the vehemence of Luther, and contributed much to the progress of the Reformation; he was the Erasmus of that movement, and combined the humanist with the Reformer, as George Buchanan did in Scotland (1497-1560).

MELANESIA, eleven archipelagoes of crystalline, coralline, and volcanic islands in the W. of Polynesia, all S. of the equator, and inhabited by the Melanesian or dark oceanic race; includes the Fiji, Solomon, Bismarck, and New Hebrides islands.

MELBA, NELLIE, a celebrated operatic singer, born in Australia; made her first appearance when she was only six; has often appeared in opera in London; her private name is Mrs. Armstrong, and she resides in Paris; b. 1865.

MELBOURNE (491), the capital of Victoria, at the head of Port Phillip Bay; is the largest and most important city in Australia; built in broad regular streets, with much architectural beauty, and containing, besides the Government buildings, a Roman and an Anglican cathedral, a mint and a university, numerous colleges, hospitals, and other institutions.  Its shipping interests are very large; a ship canal enables the largest ships to reach the quays; exports of gold and wool are extensive.  Melbourne is the railway centre of the continent.  It has manufactures of boots and clothing, foundries and flour-mills.  It has a hot climate.  Its water supply is abundant, but defective drainage impairs its healthfulness.  First settled in 1835, it was incorporated in 1842, and nine years later was made capital of the newly constituted colony.  It was the scene of an exhibition in 1888, of a great industrial struggle in 1890, and of a very severe financial crisis in 1893.