MELLITUS: First bishop of London and third archbishop of Canterbury; d. at Canterbury Apr. 24, 624. Pope Gregory the Great sent him with Justus, Paulinus, and Rufinia,nua to join Augustine (q.v.) at Canterbury in 601. Augustine consecrated him bishop of the East Saxons in 604. Ethelbert, king of Kent, with his uncle Sabert, the East Saxon king, built for Mellitus the Church of St. Paul at London, where he established his episcopal see. Mellitus went to Rome in 608 to consult Boniface IV., was present at a synod there, Feb. 27, 610, and brought its decrees, with letters from the pope, to England. Eadbald, son and successor (616) of Ethelbert, as well as the sons of Sabert, adhered to the heathen religion, and Mellitus was driven from London and went to Gaul. After a year, however, he was able to return to Kent (see Laurence of Canterbury), but not to his bishopric. He suoseeded Laurence as archbishop in 619, but never received the gallium.

Bibliography: Bede, Hist. eccl., i. 29, 30, ii. 3-7; Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, iii. b-38, 71; DOB, iii. 900-901; DNB, azavii. 221-222.

MELVILL, HENRY: Church of England; b. at Pendennis Castle (2 m. s.w. of Falmouth), Cornwall, Eng., Sept. 14, 1798; d. in London Feb. 9, 1871. He was graduated from the University of Cambridge (B.A., 1821; M.A., 1824; B.D., 1836); was minister of Camden Chapel, Camberwell, London, 1829-43; was appointed chaplain to the Tower of London, 1840; was principal of the East India College, at Haileybury, 1843-59; and held the Golden Lectureship, St. Margaret's Lothbury, 1850-56. In 1853 he was appointed one of her Majesty's chaplains; in 1856 a canon of St. Paul's; in 1863 he was made rector of Barnes, Surrey, and rural dean. He enjoyed a high reputation for pulpit oratory; his style was florid, and his delivery impassioned. Of the twelve volumes published by him, some of them in several editions, all were the results of his pulpit activities. His Lectures on Practical Subjects was reprinted in Philadelphia, 1864; and two volumes of his Sermons, ed. Bishop McIlvaine, appeared New York, 1870.

Bibliography: J. Grant, Metropolitan Pulpit, ii. 1 21, London, 1839; The Lamps of the Temple, pp. 210-241, ib. 1858; J. E. Ritchie, London Pulpit, pp. 60-88, ib. 1858; DNB, aaxvii. 229-230.