Значение слова MELVILLE в Литературной энциклопедии

1) HERMAN (1819-1891).-Novelist, _b._ in New York, and took to the sea, which led to strange adventures, including an imprisonment of some months in the hands of cannibals in the Marquesas Islands. His first novel, _Typee_ (1846), is based upon this experience. _Omoo_ followed in 1847, _Moby Dick, or the White Whale_, a powerful sea story, in 1852, and _Israel Potter_ in 1855. He was a very unequal writer, but occasionally showed considerable power and originality. 2) MELVILLE, JAMES (1556-1614).-Scottish divine and reformer, _s._ of the laird of Baldovie, in Forfarshire, and nephew of the great reformer and scholar, Andrew M., by whom, when Principal of the Univ. of Glasgow, he was chosen to assist him as a regent or professor. When, in 1580, Andrew became Principal of St. Mary's Coll., St. Andrews, James accompanied him, and acted as Prof. of Hebrew and Oriental Languages. He wrote many poems, but his chief work was his _Diary_, an original authority for the period, written with much naivete, and revealing a singularly attractive personality. M., who for his part in Church matters, had been banished to England, _d._ at Berwick on his way back to Scotland. 3) MELVILLE, SIR JAMES (1535-1617).-Historian, _s._ of Sir John M., of Hallhill, was a page to Mary Queen of Scots at the French Court, and afterwards one of her Privy Council. He also acted as her envoy to Queen Elizabeth and the Elector Palatine. He was the author of an autobiography which is one of the original authorities for the period. The MS., which lay for long hidden in Edin. Castle, was discovered in 1660, and _pub._ 1683. A later ed. was brought out in 1827 by the Bannatyne Club. The work is written in a lively style, but is not always to be implicitly relied upon in regard either to facts or the characters attributed to individuals.