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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: MEC-MIC |
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MERLIN, PHILIPPE ANTOINE, COUNT (1754-1838) , French politician and ,lawyer, known as Merlin " of Douai," was born at Arleux (Nord) on the 3oth of October 1154, and was called to the Flemish bar in 1775. An indefatigable student, he collaborated in the Repertoire de jurisprudence published by J. N. Guyot, the later editions of which appeared under Merlin's superintendence, and also contributed to other important legal compilations. Elected to the states-general as deputy for Douai, he was one of the chief
Committee of Public Safety. His efforts were primarily directed to the prevention of any recrudescence of the tyranny exercised by the Jacobin Club, the commune of Paris, and the revolutionary tribunal. He persuaded the Committee of Safety to take upon itself the closing of the Jacobin Club, on the ground that it was an administrative rather than a legislative measure. He recommended the readmission of the survivors of the Girondin party to the Convention, and drew up a law limiting the right of insurrection; he had also a considerable share in the foreign policy of the victorious republic. With Cambaceres he had been commissioned in April 1794 to report on the civil and criminal legislation of France, with the result that after eighteen months' work he produced his Rapport et projet de code des delils et des peines (to Vendemiaire, an. IV.). Merlin's code abolished confiscation, branding and imprisonment for life, and was based chiefly on the penal code drawn
exile were devoted to his Repertoire de jurisprudence (5th ed., 18 vols., Paris, 18271828) and to his Recueil alphabetique des questions de droit (4th ed., 8 vols., Paris, 18271828). At the revolution of 183o he was able to return to France, when he re-entered the Institute of France, of which he had been an original
His son, ANTOINE FRANCOIS EUGENE
See M. Mignet, Portraits et notices historiques (1852), vol. i. MERLIN (Welsh, Myrddhin), the famous bard of Welsh tradition, and enchanter of Arthurian romance. His history as related in this latter may be summarized as follows. The infernal powers, aghast at the blow to their influence dealt by the Incarnation, determine to counteract it, if possible, by the birth of an Antichrist, the offspring of a woman and a devil. As in the book of Job, a special
special
he became president of the Convention and a member of the are fulfilled to their knowledge. Arrived in Vortigern's presence, he at once announces that he is aware alike of the fate destined for him and of the reason, hidden from the magicians, of the fall of the tower. It is built over a lake, and beneath the waters of the lake in a subterranean cavern lie two dragons, a white and a red; when they turn over the tower falls. The lake is drained, the correctness of the statement proved, and Merlin's position as court prophet assured. Henceforward he acts as adviser to Vortigern's successors, the princes' Ambrosius and Uther (subsequently Uther-Pendragon). As a monument to the Britons fallen on Salisbury Plain he brings from Ireland, by magic means, the stones now forming Stonehenge. He aids Uther in his passion for Yguerne, wife to the duke of Cornwall
The curious personality of Merlin is now generally recognized as being very largely due to the prolific invention of Geoffrey of Monmouth. Nennius, upon whose Historia Geoffrey enlarged and " improved," gives indeed the story of Vortigern and the tower, but the boy's name is Ambrosius. Geoffrey calls him Merlin-Ambrosius, a clear proof that he was adapting Nennius' story. He represents the sage in his role of court diviner, his " Prophecies " being incorporated in later manuscripts of the Historia. Subsequently Geoffrey enlarged on the theme, composing a Vita Merlini in which we find the magician in the role of a " possessed " wood-abider, fleeing the haunts of men, and consorting with beasts. This gave rise to the idea that there had originally been two Merlins, Merlin-Ambrosius and Merlin-Sylvester, a view now discarded by the leading scholars. The Vita was so successful that Geoffrey obtained as reward the bishopric of St Asaph. Welsh vernacular literature has preserved a small but interesting group of poems, strongly national and patriotic in character, which are attributed to Merlin (Myrddhin). A few years after Geoffrey's death Merlin's adventures were amplified into a romance, the first draft of which is attributed to Robert de Borron, and which eventually took the form of a lengthy introduction to the prose Lancelot and cyclic redaction of the Arthurian legend. The romantic, as distinguished from legendary or historical Merlin, exists in the following forms: (a) a fragmentary poem pre-served in a unique manuscript of the Bibl. nat. (this gives no more than the introduction to the story) ; (b) a prose rendering of the above, of which a fair number of copies exist, generally found, as in the original
M. La Villemarque's " critical study " (Myrdhinn, ou l'enchanteur Merlin, i86i) cannot be regarded as much more trustworthy than Geoffrey himself. The story of the tower, and the Boy without a Father, has been critically examined by Dr Gaster, in a paper read before the Folk-lore Society and subsequently published in Folk-lore (vol. xvi.). Dr Gaster cites numerous Oriental parallels to the tale, and sees in it the germ of the whole Merlin legend. Alfred Nutt (Revue celtique, vol. xxvii.) has since shown that Aengus, the magician of the Irish Tuatha de Daman, was also of unknown parentage, and it seems more probable that the Boy without a Father theme was generally associated with the Celtic magicians, and is the property of no one in particular. Some years ago the late Mr Ward of the British Museum drew attention to certain passages in the life of St Kentigern, relating his dealings with a " possessed " being, a dweller in the woods, named Lailoken, and pointed out the practical identity of the adventures of that personage and those assigned by Geoffrey to Merlin in the Vita; the text given by Mr Ward states that some people identified Lailoken with Merlin (see Romania, vol. xxvii.). Feed. Lot, in an examination of the sources of the Vita Merlini (Annales de Bretagne, vol. xv.), has pointed out the more original character of the " Lailoken " .fragments, and decides that Geoffrey knew the Scottish tradition and utilized it for his Vita. He also comes to the conclusion that the Welsh Merlin poems, with the possible exception of the Dialogue between Merlin and Taliessin, are posterior to, and inspired by, Geoffrey's work. So far the researches of scholars appear to point to the result that the legend of Merlin, as we know it, is of complex growth, combined from traditions of independent and widely differing origin. Most probably there is a certain substratum of fact beneath all; there may have been, there very probably was, a bard and soothsayer of that name, and it is by no means improbable that curious stories were told of his origin. It is worth noting that Layamon, whose translation of Wace s Brut is of so much interest
drawn
See also G. Paris and Ulrich (Societe des anciens teeter francais, 1886); Merlin, ed. Wheatley (Early English Text Society, 1899); Arthour and Merlin, ed. Kolbing. (J. L. W.) End of Article: MERLIN, PHILIPPE ANTOINE, COUNT (1754-1838) If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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