ANGEL, who revealed the _Koran_ to Mahomet: Gabriel.
BANNER: Sanjak-sherif, kept in the Eyab mosque at Constantinople.
BIRTHPLACE: Mecca, A.D. 570.
BOW: Al Catûm (“the strong”), confiscated from the Jews. In his first
battle he drew it with such force that it snapped in two.
CAMEL: Al Adha (“the slit-eared”) the swiftest of his camels. One of the
ten dumb animals admitted into paradise.
CONCUBINES: Marīyeh, mother of Ibrahim, his son, was his favorite; but
he had fourteen others.
COUSINS: Ali, his best friend: Abû Sofiân ebn al Hareth.
CUIRASS: Al Fadha. It was of silver, and was confiscated from the Jews.
DAUGHTERS BY KADIJAH; Zainab, Rukaijah, Umm Kulthûm, and Fâtima, his
favorite (called one of the “three perfect women”).
DEFEAT: At Ohud, where it was reported that he was slain (A.D. 623).
DIED at Medīna, on the lap of Ayishah, his favorite wife, 11 Hedjrah
(June 8, 632).
FATHER: Abdallah, of the family of Hâshim and tribe of Koreish. Abdallah
was a small merchant, who died when his son was five years old. At the
death of his father, his grandfather took charge of him; but he also
died within two years. He then lived with his uncle Abu Taleb (from the
age of 7 to 14). (See ZESBET).
FATHER-IN-LAW: Abû Bekr, father of his favorite wife, Ayishah.
FLIGHT: Hedjrah or Heg´ira, July 16, 622.
FOLLOWERS: called Moslem or Mussulmans.
GRANDSON: Abd-el-Motalleb.
HORSE: Al Borak (“the lightning”), brought to him by Gabriel, to carry
him to the seventh heaven. It had the wings of an eagle, the face of a
man, with the cheeks of a horse, and spoke Arabic.
JOURNEY TO HEAVEN (_The_), on Al Borak, is called Isra.
MOTHER: Amina or Aminta, of the family of Zuhra, and tribe of Koreish.
(See ZESBET).
NICKNAME IN BOYHOOD: El Amin (“the safe man”).
PERSONAL APPEARANCE: Middle height, rather lean, broad shoulders,
strongly built, abundance of black curly hair, coal-black eyes with
thick lashes, nose large and slightly bent, beard long. He had between
his shoulders a black mole, “the seal of prophecy.”
POISONED by Zainab, a Jewess, who placed before him poisoned meat, in
624. He tasted it, and ever after suffered from its effects, but
survived eight years.
SCRIPTURE: _Al Korân_ (“the reading”). It is divided into 114 chapters.
SONS BY KADIJAH: Al Kâsim and Abd Manâf; both died in childhood. By
Mariyeh (Mary) his concubine: Ibrahim, who died when 15 months old.
Adopted son: Usma, the child of his freedman, Zaid. (See “ZAINAB”).
STANDARD: Bajura.
SUCCESSOR, Abû Bekr, his father-in-law (father of Ayishah).
SWORDS: Dhu´l Fakâr (“the trenchant”); Al Batter (“the striker”); Hatel
(“the deadly”); Medham (“the keen”).
TRIBE: that of the Koraichites or Koraich or Koreish, on both sides.
UNCLES: Abu Taleb, a prince of Mecca, but poor; he took charge of the
boy between the ages of 7 and 14, and was always his friend. Abû Laheb,
who called him “a fool,” and was always his bitter enemy; in the
_Korân_, exi., “the prophet” denounces him. Hamza, a third head of
Islam.
VICTORIES: Bedr (624); Muta (629); Taïf (630); Honein (630 or 8
Hedjrah).
WHITE MULE: Fedda.
WIVES: Ten, and fifteen concubines.
(1) Kadijah, a rich widow of his own tribe. She had been twice married,
and was 40 years of age (Mahomet being 15). Kadijah was his sole wife
for twenty-five years, and brought him two sons and four daughters.
(Fâtima was her youngest child).
(2) Souda, widow of Sokran, nurse of his daughter Fâtima. He married her
in 621, soon after the death of his first wife. The following were
simultaneous with Souda.
(3) Ayishah, daughter of Abû Bekr. She was only nine years old on her
wedding day. This was his favorite wife, on whose lap he died. He called
her one of the “three perfect women.”
(4) Hend, a widow, 28 years old. She had a son when she married. Her
father was Omeya.
(5) Zainab, divorced wife of Zaid, his freed slave. Married 627 (5
Hedjrah).
(6) Barra, a captive, widow of a young Arab chief, slain in battle.
(7) Rehana, a Jewish captive. Her father was Simeon.
(8) Safīya, the espoused wife of Kenāna. This wife outlived the prophet
for forty years. Mahomet put Kenana to death in order to marry her.
(9) Umm Habība (mother of Habiba), widow of Abû Sofian.
(10) Maimuna, who was 51 when he married her, and a widow. She survived
all his ten wives.
⁂ It will be observed that most of Mahomet’s wives were widows.
_Mahomet._ Voltaire wrote a drama so entitled in 1738; and James Miller,
in 1740, produced an English version of the same, called _Mahomet the
Impostor_. The scheme of the play is this: Mahomet is laying siege to
Mecca, and has in his camp Zaphna and Palmira, taken captives in
childhood and brought up by him. They are really the children of
Alcanor, the chief of Mecca, but know it not, and love each other.
Mahomet is in love with Palmira, and sets Zaphna to murder Alcanor,
pretending that it is God’s will. Zaphna obeys the behest, is told that
Alcanor is his father, and is poisoned. Mahomet asks Palmira in
marriage, and she stabs herself.
=Mahomet’s Coffin= is said to be suspended in mid-air. The wise ones
affirm that the coffin is of iron, and is suspended by the means of
loadstones. The faithful assert it is held up by four angels. Burckhardt
says it is not suspended at all. A marabout told Labat:
Que le tombeau de Mahomet étoit porté en l’air par le moyen de certains
Anges qui se relayent d’heure en heures pour soutenir ce fardeau.—Labat,
_Afrique Occidentale_, ii. 143 (1728).
The balance always would hang even.
Like Mah’met’s tomb ’twixt earth and heaven.
Prior, _Alma_, ii. 199 (1717).
=Mahomet’s Dove=, a dove which. Mahomet taught to pick seed placed in
his ear. The bird would perch on the prophet’s shoulder and thrust its
bill into his ear to find its food; but Mahomet gave out that it was the
Holy Ghost, in the form of a dove, sent to impart to him the counsels of
God.—Dr. Prideaux, _Life of Mahomet_ (1697); Sir W. Raleigh, _History of
the World_, I. i. 6 (1614).
Instance proud Mahomet ...
The sacred dove whispering into his ear,
That what his will imposed, the world must fear.
Lord Brooke, _Declination of Monarchie_, etc.
(1554-1628).
Was Mahomet inspirêd with a dove?
Thou with an eagle art inspirêd [_Joan of Arc_].
Shakespeare, _I Henry VI._, act i. sc. 3 (1589).
=Mahomet’s Knowledge of Events.= Mahomet, in his coffin, is informed by
an angel of every event which occurs respecting the faithful.
Il est vivant dans son tombeau. Il fait la prière dans ce tombeau à
chaque fois que le crieur en fait la proclamation, et au même tems qu’on
la recite. Il y a un ange posté sur son tombeau qui a le soin de lui
donner avis des prières que les fidèles font pour lui.—Gagnier, _Vie de
Mahomet_, vii. 18 (1723).
=Mahomet of the North=, Odin, both legislator and supreme deity.
=Mahoud=, son of a rich jeweller of Delhi, who ran through a large
fortune in riotous living, and then bound himself in service to
Bennaskar, who proved to be a magician. Mahoud impeached Bennaskar to
the cadi, who sent officers to seize him; but, lo! Mahoud had been
metamorphosed into the likeness of Bennaskar, and was condemned to be
burnt alive. When the pile was set on fire, Mahoud became a toad, and in
this form met the Sultan Misnar, his vizier, Horam, and the Princess
Hemju´nah, of Cassimir, who had been changed into toads also.—Sir C.
Morell [J. Ridley], _Tales of the Genii_ (“The Enchanter’s Tale,” vi.,
1751).
=Mahound or Mahoun=, a name of contempt for Mahomet or any pagan god.
Hence Ariosto makes Ferrau “blaspheme his Mahoun and Termagant”
(_Orlando Furioso_, xii. 59).
Fitter for a turban for Mahound or Termagant, than the head-gear of a
reasonable creature.—Sir W. Scott.
=Mahu=, the fiend-prince that urges to theft.
Five fiends have been in poor Tom at once; of lust, as Obidicut;
Hobididance, prince of dumbness; Mahu, of stealing; Modo, of murder; and
Flibbertigibbet, of mopping and mowing.—Shakespeare, _King Lear_, act
iv. sc. 1 (1605).
=Maid Ma´rian=, a name assumed by Matilda, daughter of Robert, Lord
Fitz-walter, while Robin Hood remained in a state of outlawry. She was
poisoned with a poached egg at Dunmow Priory, by a messenger of King
John sent for the purpose. This was because Marian was loved by the
king, but rejected him. Drayton has written her legend.
He to his mistress dear, his lovëd Marian,
Was ever constant known; which wheresoe’er she came,
Was sovereign of the woods, chief lady of the game.
Her clothes tucked to the knee, and dainty braided hair,
With bow and quiver armed, she wandered here and there
Amongst the forest wild. Diana never knew
Such pleasures, nor such harts as Marian slew.
_Polyolbion_, xxvi. (1622).
_Maid Marian_, introduced into the May-day morris-dance, was a boy
dressed in girl’s clothes. She was queen of the May and used to wear a
tinsel crown, and carry in her left hand a flower. Her coif was purple,
her surcoat blue, her cuffs white, the skirts of her robe yellow, the
sleeves carnation, and the stomacher red with yellow cross bars. (See
MORRIS-DANCE.)
=Maid of Athens=, There´sa Macri, rendered famous by Byron’s song, “Maid
of Athens, fare thee well!” Twenty-four years after this song was
written, an Englishman sought out “the Athenian maid,” and found a
beggar, without a single vestige of beauty. She was married and had a
large family; but the struggle of her life was to find bread to keep
herself and family from positive starvation. She lived to be over eighty
years of age.
=Maid of Bath= (_The_), Miss Linley, who married R.B. Sheridan. Samuel
Foote wrote a farce entitled _The Maid of Bath_, in which he gibbets Mr.
Walter Long under the name of “Flint.”
=Maid of Honor= (_The_), by P. Massinger (1637). Cami´ola, a very
wealthy, high-minded lady, was in love with Prince Bertoldo, brother of
Roberto, king of the Two Sicilies; but Bertoldo, being a knight of
Malta, could not marry without a dispensation from the pope. While
matters were in this state Bertoldo led an army against Aurelia, duchess
of Sienna, and was taken prisoner. Camiŏla paid his ransom, and Aurelia
commanded the prisoner to be brought before her. Bertoldo came; the
duchess fell in love with him and offered marriage, and Bertoldo,
forgetful of Camiola, accepted the offer. The betrothed then presented
themselves to the king, when Camiola exposed the conduct of Bertoldo.
The king was indignant at the baseness, Aurelia rejected Bertoldo with
scorn, and Camiola took the veil.
=Maid of Mariendorpt= (_The_), a drama by S. Knowles, based on Miss
Porter’s novel of _The Village of Mariendorpt_ (1838). The “maid” is
Meeta, daughter of Mahldenau, minister of Mariendorpt, and betrothed to
Major Rupert Roselheim. The plot is this; Mahldenau starts for Prague in
search of Meeta’s sister, who fell into some soldiers’ hands in infancy
during the siege of Magdeburg. On entering Prague, he is seized as a
spy, and condemned to death. Meeta, hearing of his capture, walks to
Prague to plead for his life, and finds that the governor’s “daughter”
is her lost sister. Rupert storms the prison and releases Mahldenau.
=Maid of Norway=, Margaret, daughter of Eric II. and Margaret of Norway.
She was betrothed to Edward, son of Edward I., of England, but died on
her passage (1290).
=Maid of Orleans=, Jeanne d’Arc, famous for having raised the siege of
Orleans, held by the English. The general tradition is that she was
burnt alive as a witch, but this is doubted (1412-1431).
=Maid of Perth= (_Fair_), Catharine Glover, daughter of Simon Glover,
the old glover of Perth. She kisses Henry Smith while asleep on St.
Valentine’s morning, and ultimately marries him.—Sir W. Scott, _Fair
Maid of Perth_ (time, Henry IV.).
=Maid of Saragoza=, Augustina, noted for her heroism at the siege of
Saragoza, 1808-9.—See Southey’s _History of the Peninsular War_.
Her lover sinks—she sheds no ill-timed tear;
Her chief is slain—she fills his fatal post;
Her fellows flee—she checks their base career;
The foe retires—she heads the sallying host.
... the flying Gaul.
Foiled by a woman’s hand, before a battered wall.
Byron, _Childe Harold_, i. 56, (1809).
=Maid of the Mill= (_The_), an opera by Isaac Bickerstaff. Patty, the
daughter of Fairfield, the miller, was brought up by Lord Aimworth’s
mother. At the death of Lady Aimworth, Patty returned to the mill, and
her father promised her in marriage to Farmer Giles; but Patty refused
to marry him. Lord Aimworth about the same time betrothed himself to
Theodosia, the daughter of Sir Harry Sycamore; but the young lady loved
Mr. Mervin. When Lord Aimworth knew of this attachment, he readily
yielded up his betrothed to the man of her choice, and selected for his
bride, Patty, “the maid of the mill” (1765).
=Maid of the Oaks= (_The_), a two-act drama by J. Burgoyne. Maria, “the
maid of the Oaks,” is brought up by Oldworth, of Oldworth Oaks, as his
ward, but is informed on the eve of her marriage with Sir Harry Groveby
that she is Oldworth’s daughter. The under-plot is between Sir Charles
Dupely and Lady Bab Lardoon. Dupely professed to despise all women, and
Lady Lardoon was “the princess of dissipation;” but after they fell in
with each other, Dupely confessed that he would abjure his creed, and
Lady Lardoon avowed that henceforth she renounced the world of fashion
and its follies.
=Maid’s Tragedy= (_The_). The “maid” is Aspa´tia, the troth-plight wife
of Amintor, who, at the king’s command, is made to marry Evad´ne (3
_syl._). Her death forms the tragical event which gives name to the
drama.—Beaumont and Fletcher (1610).
(The scene between Antony and Ventidius, in Dryden’s tragedy of _All for
Love_, is copied from _The Maid’s Tragedy_, where “Melantius” answers to
Ventidius).
=Maiden= (_The_), a kind of guillotine, introduced into Scotland by the
Regent Morton, who was afterwards beheaded by it. The “maiden” resembled
in form a painter’s easel about ten feet high. The victim placed his
head on a cross-bar some four feet from the bottom, kept in its place by
another bar. In the inner edges of the frame were grooves, in which slid
a sharp axe weighted with lead and supported by a long cord. When all
was ready, the cord was cut, and down fell the axe with a thud.—Pennant,
_Tour in Scotland_, iii. 365 (1771).
The unfortunate earl [_Argyll_] was appointed to be beheaded by the
“maiden.”—Sir W. Scott. _Tales of a Grandfather_, ii. 53.
The Italian instrument of execution was called the _mannaïa._ The
apparatus was erected on a scaffold; the axe was placed between two
perpendiculars. ... In Scotland the instrument of execution was an
inferior variety of the _mannaïa_.—_Memoirs of the Sansons_, i. 257.
It seems pretty clear that the “maiden” ... is merely a corruption of
the Italian _mannaïa_.—A.G. Reid.
=Maiden King= (_The_), Malcolm IV., of Scotland (1141, 1153-1165).
Malcolm, ... son of the brave and generous Prince Henry, ... was so kind
and gentle in his disposition that he was usually called Malcolm “the
Maiden.”—Sir W. Scott, _Tales of a Grandfather_, iv.
=Maiden Queen= (_The_), Elizabeth of England (1583, 1558-1603).
=Maiden of the Mist= (_The_), Anne of Geierstein, daughter of Count
Albert of Geierstein. She is the baroness of Arnheim.—Sir W. Scott,
_Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).
=Maidens’ Castle= (_The_), on the Severn. It was taken from a duke by
seven knights, and held by them till Sir Galahad expelled them. It was
called “The Maidens’ Castle,” because these knights made a vow that
every maiden who passed it should be made a captive. This is an
allegory.
=Mailsetter= (_Mrs._), keeper of the Fairport post-office.
_Davie Mailsetter_, her son.—Sir W. Scott, _The Antiquary_ (time, George
III.).
=Maimou´ne= (_3 syl._), a fairy, daughter of Damriat, “king of a legion
of genii.” When the Princess Badoura, in her sleep, was carried to the
bed of Prince Camaral´zaman, to be shown to him, Maimounê changed
herself into a flea, and bit the prince’s neck to wake him. Whereupon he
sees the sleeping princess by his side, falls in love with her, and
afterwards marries her.—_Arabian Nights_ (“Camaralzaman and Badoura”).
=Mai´muna= or =Maimu´na=, one of the sorceresses of Dom-Daniel, who
repents and turns to Allah. Thal´aba first encounters her, disguised as
an old woman spinning the finest thread. He greatly marvels at its
extreme fineness, but she tells him he cannot snap it; whereupon he
winds it round his two wrists, and becomes powerless. Maimuna, with her
sister-sorceress, Khwala, then carry him to the island of Moha´reb,
where he is held in durance; but Maimuna releases him, repents, and
dies.—Southey, _Thalaba, the Destroyer_, ix. (1797).
=Mainote= (_2 syl._), a pirate who infests the coast of Attica.
... boat
Of island-pirate of Mainote.
Byron, _The Giaour_ (1813).
=Mainy= (_Richard_), out of whom the Jesuits cast the seven deadly sins,
each in the form of some representative animal. As each devil came
forth, Mainy indicated the special sin by some trick or gesture. Thus,
for _pride_, he pretended to curl his hair, for _gluttony_, to vomit,
for _sloth_, to gape, and so on.—Bishop Harsnett, _Declaration of Popish
Impostures_, 279, 280.
=Maitland= (_Thomas_), the pseudonym of Robert Buchanan, in _The
Contemporary Review_, when he attacked the “Fleshly school.”
=Maitre des Forges.= By Georges Ohnet. A wealthy ironmaster, Phillippe
Derblay, who loves Clarie de Beaulieu. In pique at her desertion by her
high-born love, Gaston de Bligny, Clarie accepts and marries Phillippe.
She eventually learns to love him.
=Malachi=, the canting, preaching assistant of Thomas Turnbull, a
smuggler and schoolmaster.—Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time, George
III.).
=Malacoda=, the fiend sent as an envoy to Virgil, when he conducted
Dantê through hell.—Dantè, _Hell_, xxi. (1300).
=Malade Imaginaire= (_Le_), Mons. Argan, who took seven mixtures and
twelve lavements in one month instead of twelve mixtures with twenty
lavements, as he had hitherto done. “No wonder,” he says, “he is not so
well.” He fancies his wife loves him dearly, and that his daughter is
undutiful, because she declines to marry a young medical prig instead of
Cléante (_2 syl._) whom she loves. His brother persuades “the malade” to
counterfeit death, in order to test the sincerity of his wife and
daughter. The wife rejoices greatly at his death, and proceeds to filch
his property, when Argan starts up and puts an end to her pillage. Next
comes the daughter’s turn. When she hears of her father’s death, she
bewails him with great grief, says she has lost her best friend, and
that she will devote her whole life in prayer for the repose of his
soul. Argan is delighted, starts up in a frenzy of joy, declares she is
a darling, and shall marry the man of her choice freely, and receive a
father’s blessing.—Molière, _Le Malade Imaginaire_ (1673).
=Malagi´gi=, son of Buovo, brother of Aldĭger and Vivian (of Clarmont’s
race), one of Charlemagne’s paladins, and cousin of Rinaldo. Being
brought up by the fairy Orianda, he became a great enchanter.—Oriosto,
_Orlando Furioso_ (1516).
=Malagri´da= (_Gabriel_), an Italian Jesuit and missionary to Brazil,
who was accused of conspiring against the king of Portugal (1689-1761).
Lord Shelburne was nicknamed “Malagrida.” He was a zealous oppositionist
during Lord North’s administration (1737-1805).
=Malagrowther= (_Sir Mungo_), a crabbed old courtier, soured by
misfortune, and peevish from infirmities. He tries to make every one as
sour and discontented as himself.—Sir W. Scott, _Fortunes of Nigel_
(time, James I.).
_Malagrowther (Malachi)_, Sir W. Scott, “On the proposed change of
currency, etc.” (1826).
Lockhart says that these “diatribes produced in Scotland a sensation not
inferior to that of the Drapier’s letters in Ireland.” They came out in
the _Edinburgh Weekly Journal_.
=Malambru´no=, a giant, first cousin to Queen Maguncia, of Candaya.
“Exclusive of his natural barbarity, Malambruno was also a wizard,” who
enchanted Don Calvijo and the Princess Antonomasia—the former into a
crocodile of some unknown metal, and the latter into a monkey of brass.
The giant sent Don Quixote the wooden horse, and was appeased “by the
simple attempt of the knight to disenchant the victims of his
displeasure.”—Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, II. iii. 4, 5, (1615).
=Malaprop= (_Mrs._), aunt and guardian to Lydia Languish, the heiress.
Mrs. Malaprop sets her cap at Sir Lucius O’Trigger, “a tall Irish
baronet,” and corresponds with him under the name of Delia. Sir Lucius
fancies it is the niece, and, when he discovers his mistake, declines
the honor of marriage with the aunt. Mrs. Malaprop is a synonym for
those who misapply words without mispronouncing them. Thus Mrs. Malaprop
talks of a _Darbyshire putrefaction_, an _allegory on the banks of the
Nile_, a _barbarous Vandyke_, she requests that _no delusions to the
past_ be made, and talks of flying with the _utmost felicity_.—Sheridan,
_The Rivals_ (1775).
(Mrs. Malaprop’s name is itself a clever invention; by no means _mal à
propos_.)
=Malbecco=, “a cankered, crabbed carl,” very wealthy and very miserly,
husband of a young wife named Hel´inore (_3 syl._), of whom he is very
jealous, and not without cause. Helinore, falling in love with Sir
Paridel, her guest, sets fire to the closet where her husband keeps his
treasures, and elopes with Paridel, while Malbecco stops to put out the
flames. This done, Malbecco starts in pursuit, and finds that Paridel
has tired of the dame, who has become the satyr’s dairy-maid. He soon
finds her out, but she declines to return with him; and he, in
desperation, throws himself from a rock, but receives no injury.
Malbecco then creeps into a cave, feeds on toads and frogs, and lives in
terror lest the rock should crush him or the sea overwhelm him. “Dying,
he lives on, and can never die,” for he is no longer Malbecco, “but
JEALOUSY is hight.”—Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, iii. 9, 10 (1590).
=Malbrough´=, corrupted in English into _Malbrook_, the hero of a
popular French song. Generally thought to refer to John Churchill, duke
of Marlborough, so famous for his victories over the French in the reign
of Louis XIV.; but no incident of the one corresponds with the life of
the other. The Malbrough of the song was evidently a crusader or ancient
baron, who died in battle; and his lady, climbing the castle tower and
looking out for her lord, reminds one of the mother of Sisera, who
“looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, ‘Why is his
chariot so long in coming? Why tarry the wheels of his chariots? ...
Have they not sped? Have they not divided the spoil?’” (_Judges_, v.
28-30). The following are the words of the song:—
“Malbrough is gone to the wars. Ah! when will he return?” “He will come
back by Easter, lady, or at latest by Trinity.” “No, no! Easter is past,
and Trinity is past; but Malbrough has not returned.” Then did she climb
the castle tower, to look out for his coming. She saw his page, but he
was clad in black. “My page, my bonnie page,” cried the lady, “what
tidings bring you—what tidings of my lord?” “The news I bring,” said the
page, “is very sad, and will make you weep. Lay aside your gay attire,
lady, your ornaments of gold and silver, for my lord is dead. He is
dead, lady, and laid in earth. I saw him borne to his last home by four
officers; one carried his cuirass, one his shield, one his sword, and
the fourth walked beside the bier, but bore nothing. They laid him in
earth. I saw his spirit rise through the laurels. They planted his grave
with rosemary. The nightingale sang his dirge. The mourners fell to the
earth; and when they rose up again, they chanted his victories. Then
retired they all to rest.”
This song used to be sung as a lullaby to the infant son of Louis XVI.;
and Napoleon I. never mounted his charger for battle without humming the
air of _Malbrough s’en va-t-en guerre_. Mon. de Las Casas says he heard
him hum the same air a little before his death.
=Malbrouk=, of Basque legend, is a child brought up by his godfather of
the same name. At the age of seven he is a tall, full-grown man, and,
like Proteus, can assume any form by simply naming the form he wishes to
assume. Thus, by saying “Jesus, ant,” he becomes an ant; and “Jesus,
pigeon,” he becomes a pigeon. After performing most wonderful prodigies,
and releasing the king’s three daughters who had been stolen by his
godfather, he marries the youngest of the princesses, and succeeds the
king on his throne.
⁂ The name Malbrouk occurs in the _Chanson de Gestes_, and in the Basque
_Pastorales_. (See above MALBROUGH.)
=Malcolm=, surnamed “Can More” (“great head”), eldest son of Duncan,
“the Meek,” king of Scotland. He, with his father and younger brother,
was a guest of Macbeth at Inverness Castle, when Duncan was murdered.
The two young princes fled—Malcolm to the English court, and his brother
Donalbain to Ireland. When Macduff slew Macbeth in the battle of
Dunsin´ane, the son of Duncan was set on the throne of Scotland, under
the name and title of Malcolm III.—Shakespeare, _Macbeth_ (1606).
=Mal´ecasta=, the mistress of Castle Joyous, and the impersonation of
lust. Britomart (the heroine of chastity) entered her bower, after
overthrowing four of the six knights that guarded it; and Malecasta
sought to win the stranger to wantonness, not knowing her sex. Of
course, Britomart resisted all her wiles, and left the castle next
morning.—Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, iii. 1 (1590).
=Maledisaunt=, a damsel who threw discredit on her knightly lover to
prevent his encountering the danger of the battlefield. Sir Launcelot
condoned her offense, and gave her the name of Bienpensaunt.
The Cape of Good Hope was called the “Cape of Storms” (_Cabo
Tormentoso_) by Bartholomew Diaz, when discovered in 1493; but the king
of Portugal (John II.) changed the name to “Good Hope.”
So the Euxine (that is, “the hospitable”) Sea was originally called “The
Axine” (or “the inhospitable”) Sea.
=Maleffort=, seneschal of Lady Bria´na; a man of “mickle might,” slain
by Sir Calidore.—Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, vi. 1 (1596).
=Male´ger=, (_3 syl._), captain of the host which besieged Body Castle,
of which Alma was queen. Prince Arthur found that his sword was
powerless to wound him, so he took him up in his arms and tried to crush
him, but without effect. At length the prince remembered that the earth
was the carl’s mother, and supplied him with new strength and vigor as
often as he went to her for it; so he carried the body, and flung it
into a lake. (See ANTÆOS.)—Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, ii. 11 (1590).
=Malen´gin=, Guile personified. When attacked by Talus, he changed
himself into a fox, a bush, a bird, a hedgehog, and a snake; but Talus,
with his iron flail, beat him to powder, and so “deceit did the deceiver
fail.” On his back Malengin carried a net “to catch fools”
with.—Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, v. 9 (1596).
=Malepardus=, the castle of Master Reynard, the fox, in the beast epic
of _Reynard the Fox_ (1498).
=Males and Females.= The proportion in England is 104.5 males to 100
females; in Russia it is 108.9; and the Jews in Livonia give the ratio
of 120 males born to every 100 females. The mortality of males in
infancy exceeds that of females, and war greatly disturbs the balance.
=Mal-Fet= (_The chevalier_), the name assumed by Sir Launcelot in Joyous
Isle, during his fit of madness, which lasted two years.—Sir T. Malory,
_History of Prince Arthur_, iii. (1470).
=Malfort= (_Mr._), a young man who has ruined himself by speculation.
_Mrs. Malfort_, the wife of the speculator, “houseless, friendless,
defenceless, and forlorn.” The wants of Malfort are temporarily relieved
by the bounty of Frank Heartall and the kindness of Mrs. Cheerly “the
soldier’s daughter.” The return of Malfort, senior, from India, restores
his son to ease and affluence.—Cherry, _The Soldier’s Daughter_ (1804).
=Malfy= (_Duchess of_), twin-sister of Ferdinand, duke of Calabria. She
fell in love with Antonio, her steward, and gave thereby mortal offense
to her twin-brother, Ferdinand, and to her brother, the cardinal, who
employed Bosola to strangle her.—John Webster, _Duchess of Malfy_
(1618).
=Malgo,= a mythical king of Britain, noted for his beauty and his vices,
his munificence and his strength. Malgo added Ireland, Iceland,
Gothland, the Orkneys, Norway, and Dacia to his dominions. Geoffrey,
_British History_, xi. 7 (1142).
Next Malgo ... first Orkney overran.
Proud Denmark then subdued, and spacious Norway wan.
Seized Iceland for his own, and Gothland to each shore.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xix. (1622).
=Malesherbes= (2 _syl._). If anyone asked Malesherbes his opinion about
any French words, he always sent him to the street porters at the Port
au Foin, saying that they were his “masters in language.”—Racan, _Vie de
Malesherbes_ (1830).
It is said that Shakespeare read his plays to an oyster-woman when he
wished to know if they would suit the popular taste.
=Mal´inal=, brother of Yuhid´thiton. When the Aztecas declared war
against Madoc and his colony, Malinal cast in his lot with the white
strangers. He was a noble youth, who received two arrow-wounds in his
leg while defending the white women; and being unable to stand, fought
in their defense on his knees. When Malinal was disabled, Amal´ahta
caught up the princess, and ran off with her; but Mervyn the “young
page” (in fact a girl) struck him on the hamstrings with a bill-hook,
and Malinal, crawling to the spot, thrust his sword in the villain’s
groin and killed him.—Southey, _Madoc_, ii. 16 (1805).
=Mal´iom.= Mahomet is so called in some of the old romances.
“Send five, send six against me! By Maliom! I swear I’ll take them
all.”—_Fierabras_.
=Malkin.= The maid Marian of the morris-dance is so called by Beaumont
and Fletcher:
Put on the shape of order and humanity,
Or you must marry Malkin, the May-Lady.
_Monsieur Thomas_ (1619).
=Mall Cutpurse=, Mary Frith, a thief and receiver of stolen goods. John
Day, in 1610, wrote “a booke called _The Madde Prancks of Merry Mall of
the Bankside, with her Walks in Man’s Apparel, and to what Purpose_.” It
is said that she was an androgyne (1584-1659).
=Malluch=, merchant of Antioch, who befriends Ben-Hur when he most needs
substantial aid.—Lew Wallace, _Ben-Hur; A Tale of the Christ_ (1880).
=Mal-Orchol=, king of Fuär´fed (an island of Scandinavia). Being asked
by Ton-Thormod to give him his daughter in marriage, he refused, and the
rejected suitor made war on him. Fingal sent his son Ossian to assist
Mal-Orchol, and on the very day of his arrival he took Ton-Thormod
prisoner. Mal-Orchol, in gratitude, now offered Ossian his daughter in
marriage; but Ossian pleaded for Ton-Thormod, and the marriage of the
lady with her original suitor was duly solemnized. (The daughter’s name
was Oina-Moral).—Ossian, _Oina-Morul_.
=Malony= (_Kitty_), a much maltreated cook, to whom her mistress
introduced a “hay-thun Chineser” as an assistant. His imitation, in good
faith, of her practice of taking toll of groceries brought into the
kitchen awakens her employer’s suspicions.
“She give me such sass as I cudn’t take from no lady, an’ I give her
warnin’, an’ left that instant, an’ she a-pointin’ to the door.”—Mary
Mapes Dodge, _Thophilus and Others_ (1876).
=Maltworm=, a tippler. Similarly, bookworm means a student.
=Mal´venu=, Lucif´ĕra’s porter.—Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, i. 4 (1590).
=Malvina=, daughter of Toscar. She was betrothed to Oscar, son of
Ossian; but he was slain in Ulster by Cairbar, before the day of
marriage arrived.—_Temora_, i.
I was a lovely tree in thy presence, Oscar, with all my branches round
me; but thy death came like a blast from the desert, and laid my green
head low. The spring returned with its showers; no leaf of mine
arose.... The tear was on the cheek of Malvina.—Ossian, _Croma_.
=Malvoisin= (_Sir Albert de_), a preceptor of the Knights Templars.
_Sir Philip de Malvoisin_, one of the knights challengers at the
tournament.—Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).
=Malvo´lio=, Olivia’s steward. When he reproves Sir Toby Belch for
riotous living, the knight says to him, “Dost thou think, because thou
art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?” Sir Toby and Sir
Andrew Ague-cheek join Maria in a trick against the steward. Maria
forges a letter in the handwriting of Olivia, leading Malvolio to
suppose that his mistress is in love with him, telling him to dress in
yellow stockings, and to smile on the lady. Malvolio falls into the
trap; and when Olivia shows astonishment at his absurd conduct, he keeps
quoting parts of the letter he has received, and is shut up in a dark
room as a lunatic.—Shakespeare, _Twelfth Night_ (1614).
=Mamamouchi,= an imaginary order of knighthood. M. Jourdain, the
_parvenu_, is persuaded that the grand seignior of the order has
made him a member, and he submits to the ceremony of a mock
installation.—Molière, _Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme_ (1670).
All the women most devoutly swear,
Each would be rather a poor actress here
Than to be made a Mamamouchi there.
Dryden.
=Mambrino’s Helmet=, a helmet of pure gold, which rendered the wearer
invisible. It was taken possession of by Rinaldo, and stolen by
Scaripantê.
Cervantes tells us of a barber who was caught in a shower of rain, and
who, to protect his hat, clapped his brazen basin on his head. Don
Quixote insisted that this basin was the helmet of the Moorish king;
and, taking possession of it, wore it as such.
⁂ When the knight set the galley-slaves free, the rascals “snatched the
basin from his head, and _broke it to pieces_” (pt. I. iii. 8); but we
find it sound and complete in the next book (ch. 15), when the gentlemen
at the inn sit in judgment on it, to decide whether it is really a
“helmet or a basin.” The judges, of course, humor the don, and declare
the basin to be an undoubted helmet.—Cervantes, _Don Quixote_ (1605).
“I will lead the life I have mentioned, till, by the force and terror of
my arm, I take a helmet from the head of some other knight.” ... The
same thing happened about Mambrino’s helmet, which cost Scaripante so
dear.—Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, I. ii. 2 (1605).
=Mamillius=, a young prince of Sicilia.—Shakespeare, _Winter’s Tale_
(1604).
=Mammon=, the personification of earthly ambition, be it wealth, honors,
sensuality, or what not. “Ye cannot serve God and Mammon” (_Matt_. vi.
24). Milton makes Mammon one of the rebellious angels:
Mammon, the least-erected spirit that fell
From heaven; for e’en in heaven his looks and thoughts
Were always downward bent, admiring more
The riches of heaven’s pavement, trodden gold,
Than aught, divine or holy, else enjoyed.
_Paradise Lost_, i. 679, etc. (1665).
_Mammon_ tells Sir Guyon, if he will serve him, he shall be the richest
man in the world; but the knight replies that money has no charm in his
sight. The god then takes him into his smithy, and tells him to give any
order he likes; but Sir Gruyon declines the invitation. Mammon next
offers to give the knight Philotine to wife; but Sir Gruyon still
declines. Lastly, the knight is led to Proserpine’s bower, and told to
pluck some of the golden fruit, and to rest him awhile on the silver
stool; but Sir Gruyon resists the temptation. After three day’s sojourn
in the infernal regions, the knight is led back to earth, and
swoons.—Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, ii. 7 (1590).
_Mammon_ (_Sir Epicure_), the rich dupe who supplies Subtle, “the
alchemist,” with money to carry on his artifices, under pretence of
transmuting base metals into gold. Sir Epicure believes in the
possibility, and glories in the mighty things he will do when the secret
is discovered.—Ben Jonson, _The Alchemist_ (1610).
=Mammoth= (_The_), or big buffalo, is an emblem of terror and
destruction among the American Indians. Hence, when Brandt, at the head
of a party of Mohawks and other savages, was laying waste Pennsylvania,
and approached Wyo´ming, Outalissi exclaims:
The mammoth comes—the foe—the monster Brandt,
With all his howling, desolating band ...
Red is the cup they drink, but not of wine!
Campbell, _Gertrude of Wyoming_, iii. 16 (1809).
=Mammoun=, eldest of the four sons of Corcud. One day he showed kindness
to a mutilated serpent, which proved to be the fairy Gialout, who gave
him for his humanity the power of joining and mending whatever was
broken. He mended a pie’s egg which was smashed into twenty pieces, and
so perfectly that the egg was hatched. He also mended in a moment a ship
which had been wrecked and broken in a violent storm.—T.S. Gueulette,
_Chinese Tales_ (“Corcud and His four Sons,” 1723).
=Man.= His descent according to the Darwinian theory: (1) The larvæ of
ascidians, a marine mollusc; (2) fish lowly organized, as the lancelet;
(3) ganoids, lepidosiren, and other fish; (4) amphibians; (5) birds and
reptiles; (6) from reptiles we get the monotremata, which connects
reptiles with the mammalia; (7) the marsupials; (8) placental mammals;
(9) lemurĭdæ; (10) simiădæ; (11) the New World monkeys called
platyrhines, and the Old World monkeys called catarrhines; (12) between
the catarrhines and the race of men the “missing link” is placed by
some; but others think between the highest organized ape and the lowest
organized man the gradation is simple and easy.
_Man_ (_Races of_). According to the Bible, the whole human race sprang
from one individual, Adam. Virey affirms there were two original pairs.
Jacquinot and Latham divide the race into three primordial stocks; Kent
into four; Blumenbach into five; Buff on into six; Hunter into seven;
Agassiz into eight; Pickering into eleven; Bory St. Vincent into
fourteen; Desmoulins into sixteen; Morton into twenty-two; Crawfurd into
sixty; and Burke into sixty-three.
=Man in Black= (_The_), said to be meant for Goldsmith’s father. A true
oddity, with the tongue of a Timon and the heart of an Uncle Toby. He
declaims against beggars, but relieves every one he meets; he ridicules
generosity, but would share his last cloak with the needy.—Goldsmith,
_Citizen of the World_ (1759).
⁂ Washington Irving has a tale called _The Man in Black_.
=Man in the Moon= _(The)_. Some say it is the man who picked up a bundle
of sticks on the Sabbath day (_Numb._ xv. 32-36). Dantê says it is Cain,
and that the “bush of thorns” is an emblem of the curse pronounced on
the earth: “Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee”
(_Gen._ iii. 18). Some say it is Endymion, taken there by Diana.
The _curse_ pronounced on the “man” was this: “As you regarded not
‘Sunday’ on earth, you shall keep a perpetual ‘Moon-day’ in heaven.”
This, of course, is a Teutonic tradition.
The _bush of thorns_, in the Schaumburglippê version, is to indicate
that the man strewed thorns in the church path, to hinder people from
attending mass on Sundays.
Now doth Cain with fork of thorns confine
On either hemisphere, touching the wave
Beneath the towers of Seville. Yesternight
The moon was round.
Dantê, _Inferno_, xx (1300).
Her gite was gray and full of spottis black.
And on her brest a chorle painted ful even,
Bering a bush of thornis on his back,
Which for his theft might clime so ner the heven.
Chaucer.
A North Frisian version gives _cabbages_ instead of a faggot of wood.
⁂ There are other traditions, among which may be mentioned “The Story of
the Hare and the Elephant.” In this story “the man in the moon” is a
hare.—_Pantschatantra_ (a collection of Sanskrit fables).
_Man in the Moon_, a man who visits the “inland parts of Africa.”—W.
Thomson, _Mammuth_ or _Human Nature Displayed on a Grand Scale_ (1789).
_Man in the Moon_, the man who, by the aid of a magical glass, shows
Charles Fox (the man of the people), various eminent contemporaries.—W.
Thomson, _The Man in the Moon_ or _Travels into the Lunar Regions_
(1783).
=Man of Blood.= Charles I. was so called by the puritans, because he
made war on his parliament. The allusion is to 2 _Sam._ xvi. 7.
=Man of Brass=, Talos, the work of Hephæstos (_Vulcan_). He traversed
the Isle of Crete thrice a year. Apollo´nius (_Argonautica_, iv.) says
he threw rocks at the Argonauts, to prevent their landing. It is also
said that when a stranger was discovered on the island, Talos made
himself red-hot, and embraced the intruder to death.
That portentous Man of Brass
Hephæstus made in days of yore,
Who stalked about the Cretan shore,
And saw the ships appear and pass,
And threw stones at the Argonauts.
Longfellow, _The Wayside Inn_ (1863).
=Man of December.= Napoleon III. So called because he was made president
December 11, 1848; made the _coup d’état_, December 2, 1851; and was
made emperor December 2, 1852.
(Born in the Rue Lafitte, Paris (_not_ in the Tuileries), April 20,
1808; reigned 1852-1870; died at Chiselhurst, Kent, January 9, 1873).
=Man of Destiny=, Napoleon I., who always looked upon himself as an
instrument in the hands of destiny, and that all his acts were
predestined.
The Man of Destiny ... had power for a time “to bind kings with chains,
and nobles with fetters of iron.”—Sir W. Scott.
=Man of Feeling= (_The_), Harley, a sensitive, bashful, kind-hearted,
sentimental sort of a hero.—H. Mackenzie, _The Man of Feeling_ (1771).
⁂ Sometimes Henry Mackenzie is himself called “The Man of Feeling.”
=Man of Ross=, John Kyrle, of Ross, in Herefordshire, distinguished for
his benevolence and public spirit. “Richer than miser, nobler than king
or king-polluted lord.”—Pope, _Epistle_, iii. (“On the Use of Riches,”
1709).
=Man of Salt= (_A_). Tears are called salt, hence a man of salt is one
who weeps on slight provocation.
This would make a man, a man of salt,
To use his eyes for garden water-pots.
Shakespeare, _King Lear_, act iv. sc. 6 (1605).
=Man of Sedan=, Napoleon III. So called because he surrendered his sword
to William, king of Prussia, after the battle of Sedan in September,
1870.
(Born in the Rue Lafitte, 1808; reigned 1852-1870; died at Chiselhurst,
1873).
=Man of Sin= (_The_), mentioned in _2 Thess._ ii. 3.
Whitby says the “Man of sin” means the Jews as a people.
Grotius says it means Caius Cæsar or else Caligula.
Wetstein says it is Titus.
Olshausen thinks it is typical of some one yet to come.
Roman Catholics say it means Anti-christ.
Protestants think it refers to the pope.
The Fifth-Monarchy men applied it to Cromwell.
=Man of the Hill=, a tedious “hermit of the vale,” introduced by
Fielding in his novel of _Tom Jones_ (1749).
=Man of the Mountain= (_Old_). (See KOPPENBURG.)
=Man of the People,= Charles James Fox (1749-1806).
=Man of the Sea= (_The Old_), the man who got upon the shoulders of
Sindbad, the sailor, and would not get off again, but clung there with
obstinate pertinacity till Sindbad made him drunk, when he was easily
shaken off. Sindbad then crushed him to death with a large stone.
“You had fallen,” said they, “into the hands of the Old Man of the Sea,
and you are the first whom he has not strangled.”—_Arabian Nights_
(“Sindbad,” fifth voyage).
=Man of the World= (_The_), Sir Pertinax McSycophant, who acquires a
fortune by “booing” and fawning on the great and rich. He wants his son
Egerton to marry the daughter of Lord Lumbercourt, but Egerton, to the
disgust of his father, marries Constantia, the _protégée_ of Lady
McSycophant. Sir Pertinax had promised his lordship a good round sum of
money if the marriage was effected; and when this _contretemps_ occurs,
his lordship laments the loss of money, “which will prove his ruin.” Sir
Pertinax tells Lord Lumbercourt that his younger son Sandy will prove
more pliable, and it is agreed that the bargain shall stand good if
Sandy will marry the young lady.—C. Macklin, _The Man of the World_
(1764).
⁂ This comedy is based on Voltaire’s _Nanine_ (1749).
=Man without a Skin.= Richard Cumberland, the dramatist, was so called
by Garrick, because he was so extremely sensitive that he could not bear
“to be touched” by the finger of criticism (1732-1811).
=Managarm=, the most gigantic and formidable of the race of hags. He
dwells in the Iron-wood, Jamvid. Managarm will first fill himself with
the blood of man, and then will he swallow up the moon. This gigantic
hag symbolizes _War_, and the “Iron-wood” in which he dwells is the wood
of spears.—_Prose Edda_.
=Manchester Poet= (_The_), Charles Swain, born 1803.
=Manciple’s Tale.= Phœbus had a crow which he taught to speak; it was
white as down, and as big as a swan. He had also a wife, whom he dearly
loved. One day, when he came home, the crow cried, “Cuckoo, cuckoo,
cuckoo!” and Phœbus asked the bird what it meant; whereupon it told the
god that his wife was unfaithful to him. Phœbus, in his wrath, seized
his bow, and shot his wife through the heart; but to the bird he said,
“Curse on thy tell-tale tongue! never more shall it brew mischief.” So
he deprived it of the power of speech, and changed its plumage from
white to black. Moral—Be no tale-bearer, but keep well thy tongue, and
think upon the crow.
My sone, bewar, and be noon auctour newe,
Of tydyings, whether they ben fals or trewe;
Wherso thou comest, amongst high or lowe,
Kep wel thy tonge, and think upon the crowe.
Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_, 17, 291-4 (1388).
⁂ This is Ovid’s tale of “Coronis” in the _Metamorphoses_, ii. 543, etc.
=Manda´ne= (_3 syl._), wife of Zamti, the Chinese mandarin, and mother
of Hamet. Hamet was sent to Corea to be brought up by Morat, while
Mandanê brought up Zaphimri (under the name of Etan), the orphan prince
and only surviving representative of the royal race of China. Hamet led
a party of insurgents against Ti´murkan´, was seized, and ordered to be
put to death as the supposed prince. Mandanê tried to save him,
confessed he was not the prince; and Etan came forward as the real
“orphan of China.” Timurkan, unable to solve the mystery, ordered both
to death, and Mandanê with her husband to the torture; but Mandanê
stabbed herself.—Murphy, _The Orphan of China_ (1759).
_Mandane_ (2 _syl._), the heroine of Mdlle. Scud´eri’s romance called
_Cyrus the Great_ (1650).
=Manda´ne and Stati´ra=, stock names of melodramatic romance. When a
romance writer hangs the world on the caprice of a woman, he chooses
Mandanê or Statira for his heroine. Mandanê of classic story was the
daughter of King Astyăgês, wife of Cambysês, and mother of Cyrus the
Great. Statīra was daughter of Darius, the Persian, and wife of
Alexander the Great.
=Man´dans=, an Indian tribe of Dakota, in the United States, noted for
their skill in horsemanship.
Marks not the buffalo’s track, nor the Mandans’ dexterous horse-race.
Longfellow, _Evangeline_ (1849).
=Mandeville=, any one who draws the long-bow; a flam. Sir John
Mandeville [_Man’.de.vil_], an English traveller, published a narrative
of his voyages, which abounds in the most extravagant fictions
(1300-1372).
Oh! he is a modern Mandeville. At Oxford he was always distinguished by
the facetious appellation of “The Bouncer.”—Samuel Foote, _The Liar_,
ii. 1 (1761).
_Mandeville_ (_Bernard de_), a licentious, deistical writer, author of
_The Virgin Unmasked_ (1709), _Free Thoughts on Religion_ (1712), _Fable
of the Bees_ (1714), etc. (1670-1733).
=Man´drabul’s Offering=, one that decreases at every repetition.
Mandrabul, of Samos, having discovered a gold-mine, offered a golden ram
to Juno for the discovery. Next year he offered a silver one, the third
year a brazen one, and the fourth year nothing.
=Mandricardo=, king of Tartary, son of Agrican. Mandricardo wore
Hector’s cuirass, married Derălis, and was slain by Roge´ro in single
combat.—Bojardo, _Orlando Innamorato_ (1495); Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_
(1516).
=Mandriccardo=, a knight whose adventures are recorded by Barahona
(_Mandriccardo, etc._, i. 70, 71).
=Mandel= (_Mrs._), salaried society “coach” of the Dryfoos family after
their removal to New York.—W.D. Howells, _A Hazard of New Fortunes_
(1889).
=Manduce= (_2 syl._), the idol Gluttony, venerated by the
Grastrol´aters, a people whose god was their belly.
=Maiiette= (_Dr._), of Beauvais. He had been imprisoned eighteen years,
and had gradually lost his memory. After his release he somewhat
recovered it, but any train of thought connected with his prison life
produced a relapse. While in prison, the doctor made shoes, and,
whenever the relapse occurred, his desire for cobbling returned.
_Lucie Manette_, the loving, golden-haired, blue-eyed daughter of Dr.
Manette. She marries Charles Darnay.
Lucie Manette had a forehead with the singular capacity of lifting and
knitting itself into an expression that was not quite one of perplexity,
or wonder, or alarm, or merely of bright, fixed attention, though it
included all the four expressions.—C. Dickens, _A Tale of Two Cities_,
i. 4 (1859).
=Maney= or MANNY (_Sir Walter_), a native of Belgium, who came to
England as page to Philippa, queen of Edward III. When he first began
his career of arms, he and some young companions of his own age put a
black patch over their left eye, and vowed never to remove it till they
had performed some memorable act in the French wars (died 1372).
With whom our Maney here deservedly doth stand,
Which first inventor was of that courageous band
Who closed their left eyes up, as never to be freed,
Till there they had achieved some high adventurous deed.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xviii. (1613).
=Man´fred= (_Count_), son of Sig´ismund. He sells himself to the prince
of darkness, and received from him seven spirits to do his bidding. They
were the spirits of “earth, ocean, air, night, mountains, winds, and the
star of his own destiny.” Wholly without human sympathies, the count
dwelt in splendid solitude among the Alpine Mountains. He once loved the
beautiful As´tarte (_2 syl._), and, after her murder, went to the hall
of Arima´nês to see her. The spirit of Astarte informed him that he
would die the following day; and when asked if she loved him, she sighed
“Manfred,” and vanished.—Byron, _Manfred_ (1817).
⁂ Byron sometimes makes Astarte two syllables, and sometimes three. The
usual pronunciation is _As.tar-te_.
=Mangerton= (_The laird of_), John Armstrong, an old warrior who
witnesses the national combat in Liddesdale valley between his own son
(the Scotch champion), and Foster (the English champion). The laird’s
son is vanquished.—Sir W. Scott, _The Laird’s Jock_ (time, Elizabeth).
=Maniche´an= (_4 syl._), a disciple of Manês or Manichee, the Persian
heresiarch. The Manicheans believe in two opposing principles—one of
good, and the other of evil. Theodora, wishing to extirpate these
heretics, put 100,000 of them to the sword.
Yet would she make full many a Manichean.
Byron, _Don Juan_, vi. 3 (1824).
=Man´ito= or =Mani´tou=, the Great Spirit of the North American Indians.
These Indians acknowledge two supreme spirits—a spirit of good and a
spirit of evil. The former they call _Gitchê-Manĭto_, and the latter
_Mitchê-Manito_. The good spirit is symbolized by an egg, and the evil
one by a serpent.—Longfellow, _Hiawatha_, xiv.
As when the evil Manitou that dries
Th’ Ohio woods, consumes them in his ire.
Campbell, _Gertrude of Wyoming_, i. 17 (1809).
=Manlius=, surnamed _Torquātus_, the Roman consul. In the Latin war, he
gave orders that no Roman, on pain of death, should engage in single
combat. One of the Latins having provoked young Manlius by repeated
insults, he slew him; but when the young man took the spoils to his
father, Manlius ordered him to be put to death for violating the
commands of his superior officer.—_Roman Story_.
=Man´lius Capitoli´nus=, consul of Rome, B.C. 392, then military
tribune. After the battle of Allia (390), seeing Rome in the power of
the Gauls, he threw himself into the capitol with 1000 men, surprised
the Gauls, and put them to the sword. It was for this achievement he was
called _Capitolinus_. Subsequently he was charged with aiming at
sovereignty, and was hurled to death from the Tarpeian Rock.
⁂ Lafosse (1698) has a tragedy called _Manlius Capitolinus_, and
“Manlius” was one of the favorite characters of Talma, the French actor.
Lafosse’s drama is an imitation of Otway’s tragedy of _Venice Preserved_
(1682).
=Manly=, the lover of Lady Grace Townly, sister-in-law of Lord Townly.
Manly is the cousin of Sir Francis Wronghead, whom he saves from utter
ruin. He is noble, judicious, upright, and sets all things right that
are going wrong.—Vanbrugh and Cibber, _The Provoked Husband_ (1728).
The address and manner of Dennis Delane [1700-1753] were easy and
polite; and he excelled in the well-bred man, such as “Manly.”—T.
Davies.
_Manly_, “the plain dealer.” An honest, surly sea-captain, who thinks
every one a rascal, and believes himself no better. Manly forms a good
contrast to Olivia, who is a consummate hypocrite of most unblushing
effrontery.
“Counterfeit honors,” says Manly, “will not be current with me. I weigh
the man, not his titles. ’Tis not the king’s stamp can make the metal
better or heavier.”—Wycherly, _The Plain Dealer_ i. 1 (1677).
⁂ Manly, the plain dealer, is a copy of Molière’s “Misanthrope,” the
prototype of which was the duc de Montausier.
_Manly_ (_Captain_), the _fiancé_ of Arabella, ward of Justice Day, and
an heiress.
_Arabella_. I like him much—he seems plain and honest.
_Ruth_. Plain enough, in all conscience.
T. Knight, _The Honest Thieves_.
_Manly_ (_Colonel_), a bluff, honest soldier, to whom honor is dearer
than life. The hero of the drama.—Mrs. Centlivre, _The Beaux’ Duel_
(1703).
=Mann= (_Mrs._), a dishonest, grasping woman, who kept a branch
workhouse, where children were farmed. Oliver Twist was sent to her
child-farm. Mrs. Mann systematically starved the children placed under
her charge.—C. Dickens, _Oliver Twist_ (1837).
=Mannaia=, goddess of retribution. The word in Italian means “an axe.”
All in a terrible moment came the blow
That beat down Paolo’s ’fence, ended the play
O’ the foil, and brought Mannaia on the stage.
R. Browning, _The Ring and the Book_, iii. (date of the story,
1487).
=Mannering= (_Guy_) or Colonel Mannering.
_Mrs. Mannering_ (_née_ Sophia Wellwood), wife of Guy Mannering.
_Julia Mannering_, daughter of Guy. She marries Captain Bertram. “Rather
a hare-brained girl, but well deserving the kindest regards” (act i. 2
of the dramatized version).
_Sir Paul Mannering_, uncle to Guy Mannering.—Sir. W. Scott, _Guy
Mannering_ (time, George II.).
⁂ Scott’s tale of _Guy Mannering_ has been dramatized by Daniel Terry.
=Manon l’Escaut=, the heroine of a French novel, entitled _Histoire de
Chevalier Desgrieux et de Manon Lescot_, by A. F. Prévost (1733). Manon
is the “fair mischief” of the story. Her charms seduce and ruin the
Chevalier des Grieux, who clings to her through all her career with an
unconquered passion, forgiving and forgetting to the tragic end when she
dies as a convict in the wilds of Louisiana.
=Manri´co=, the supposed son of Azuce´na, the gypsy, but in reality the
son of Garzia (brother of the conte di Luna). Leono´ra is in love with
him, but the count entertains a base passion for her, and, getting
Manrico into his power, condemns him to death. Leonora promises the
count to give herself to him if he will spare the life of Manrico. He
consents, but while he goes to release his “nephew,” Leonora sucks
poison from a ring and dies. Manrico, on perceiving this, dies
also.—Verdi, _Il Trovato´rê_ (an opera, 1853).
_Mans_ (_The Count of_), Roland, nephew of Charlemagne. He is also
called the “knight of Blaives.”
=Mansel= (_Sir Edward_), lieutenant of the Tower of London.
_Lady Mansel_, wife of Sir Edward.—Sir W. Scott, _Fortunes of Nigel_,
(time, James I).
=Mansfield= (_The Miller of_), a humorous, good-natured countryman, who
offered Henry VIII. hospitality when he had lost himself in a hunting
expedition. The miller gave the king half a bed with his son Richard.
Next morning, the courtiers were brought to the cottage by
under-keepers, and Henry, in merry pin, knighted his host, who thus
became Sir John Cockle. He then made him “overseer of Sherwood Forest,”
with a salary of 1000 marks a year.—R. Dodsley, _The King and the Miller
of Mansfield_ (1737).
⁂ In the ballad called _The King and the Miller of Mansfield_, the king
is Henry II., and there are several other points of difference between
the ballad and the play. In the play, Cockle hears a gun fired, and goes
out to look for poachers, when he lays hold of the king, but, being
satisfied that he is no poacher, he takes him home. In the ballad, the
king out-rides his lords, gets lost, and, meeting the miller, asks of
him a night’s lodging. When the miller feels satisfied with the face and
bearing of the stranger, he entertains him right hospitably. He gives
him for supper a venison pasty, but tells him on no account to tell the
king “that they made free with his deer.” Another point of difference is
this: In the play, the courtiers are seized by the under-keepers, and
brought to Cockle’s house; but in the ballad they track the king and
appear before him next morning. In the play, the king settles on Sir
John Cockle 1000 marks; in the ballad, £300 a year.—Percy, _Reliques_,
III. ii. 20.
(Of course, as Dodsley introduced the “firing of a gun,” he was obliged
to bring down his date to more modern times, and none of the Henrys
between Henry II. and Henry VIII. would be the least likely to indulge
in such a prank.)
=Mansur= (_Elijah_), a warrior, prophet, and priest, who taught a more
tolerant form of Islâm, but not being an orthodox Moslem, he was
condemned to imprisonment in the bowels of a mountain. Mansur is to
re-appear and wave his conquering sword, to the terror of the
Muscovite.—Milner, _Gallery of Geography_, 781. (See BARBAROSSA.)
=Mantacci´ni=, a charlatan, who professed to restore the dead to life.
=Mantali´ni= (_Madame_), a fashionable milliner, near Cavendish Square,
London. She dotes upon her husband, and supports him in idleness.
_Mr. Mantalini_, the husband of madame; he is a man-doll and cockney
fop, noted for his white teeth, his minced oaths, and his gorgeous
morning gown. This “exquisite” lives on his wife’s earnings, and thinks
he confers a favor on her by lavishing her money on his selfish
indulgences.—C. Dickens, _Nicholas Nickleby_ (1838).
=Mantle= (_The Boy and the_). One day, a little boy presented himself
before King Arthur, and showed him a curious mantle “which would become
no wife that was not leal” to her true lord. The queen tried it on, but
it changed its color and fell into shreds; Sir Kay’s lady tried it on,
but with no better success; others followed, but only Sir Cradock’s wife
could wear it.—Percy, _Reliques_.
=Mantuan= (_The_) that is, Baptista Spagn´olus, surnamed _Mantua´nus_,
from the place of his birth. He wrote poems and eclogues in Latin. His
works were translated into English by George Tuberville in 1567. He
lived 1443-1516.
Ah, good old Mantuan! I may speak of thee
as the traveller doth of Venice:
Vinegia, Vinegia,
Chi non te vede, ei non te pregia.
Shakespeare, _Love’s Labor’s Lost_, act iv. sc. 2 (1594).
=Mantuan Swan= (_The_), Virgil, a native of Mantua (B. C. 70-19).
Mantua me genuit; Calabri rapuere; tenet nunc
Pathenopè; cecini pascua, rura, duces.
_Virgil’s Epitaph_ (composed by himself).
Ages elapsed ere Homer’s lamp appeared;
And ages ere the Mantua Swan was heard.
Cowper.
=Ma´nucodia´ta=, a bird resembling a swallow, found in the Molucca
Islands. “It has no feet, and though the body is not bigger than that of
a swallow, the span of its wings is equal to that of an eagle. These
birds never approach the earth, but the female lays her eggs on the back
of the male, and hatches them in her own breast. They live on the dew of
heaven, and eat neither animal nor vegetable food.”—Cardan, _De Rerum
Varietate_ (1557).
Less pure the footless fowl of heaven, that never
Rest upon earth, but on the wing forever,
Hovering o’er flowers, their fragrant food inhale,
Drink the descending dew upon the way,
And sleep aloft while floating on the gale.
Southey, _Curse of Kehama_, xxi. 6 (1809).
=Manuel du Sosa=, governor of Lisbon, and brother of Guiomar (mother of
the vainglorious Duarte), (3 _syl._).—Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Custom
of the Country_ (1647).
=Mapp= (_Mrs._), bone-setter. She was born at Epsom, and at one time was
very rich, but she died in great poverty at her lodgings in Seven Dials,
1737.
⁂ Hogarth has introduced her in his heraldic picture, “The Undertakers’
Arms.” She is the middle of the three figures at the top, the other two
being Dr. Ward, on the right hand of the spectator, and Dr. Taylor on
the left.
=Maqueda=, the queen of the South, who visited Solomon, and had by him a
son named Melech.—Zaga Zabo, _Ap. Damian a Goes_.
⁂ Maqueda is generally called Balkîs, queen of Saba or Zaba.
=Mara Lincoln=, orphaned grandchild of Captain and Mrs. Fennell;
betrothed to Moses Fennell. She dies young, and is long and sincerely
mourned.—Harriet Beecher Stowe, _The Pearl of Orr’s Island_.
=Marcassin= (_Prince_). This nursery tale is from the _Nights_, of
Straparola, an Italian (sixteenth century). Translated into French in
1585.
=Marce´lia=, the “Desdemona” of Massinger’s _Duke of Milan_. Sforza,
“the More,” doted on his young bride, and Marcelia returned his love.
During Sforza’s absence at the camp, Francesco, “the lord protector,”
tried to seduce the young bride from her fidelity, and, failing in his
purpose, accused her to the duke of wishing to play the wanton. “I
labored to divert her ... urged your much love ... but hourly she
pursued me.” The duke, in a paroxysm of jealousy, flew on Marcelia and
slew her.—Massinger, _The Duke of Milan_ (1622).
=Marcella=, daughter of William, a farmer. Her father and mother died
while she was young, leaving her in charge of an uncle. She was “the
most beautiful creature ever sent into the world,” and every bachelor
who saw her fell madly in love with her, but she declined their suits.
One of her lovers was Chrysostom, the favorite of the village, who died
of disappointed hope, and the shepherds wrote on his tombstone: “From
Chrysostom’s fate, learn to abhor Marcella, that common enemy of man,
whose beauty and cruelty are both in the extreme.”—Cervantes, _Don
Quixote_, I. ii. 4, 5 (1605).
=Marcellin de Peyras.= The chevalier to whom the Baron de Peyras gave up
his estates when he retired to Grenoble. De Peyras eloped with Lady
Ernestine, but soon tired of her, and fell in love with his cousin
Margaret, the baron’s daughter.—E. Stirling, _The Gold-Mine or The
Miller of Grenoble_ (1854).
=Marcelli´na=, daughter of Rocco, jailer of the State prison of Seville.
She fell in love with Fidelio, her father’s servant; but this Fidelio
turned out to be Leonora, wife of the State prisoner Fernando
Florestan.—Beethoven, _Fidelio_ (an opera, 1791).
=Marcello=, in Meyerbeer’s opera of _Les Huguenots_, unites in marriage
Valenti´na and Raoul (1836).
=Marcellus= (_M. Claudius_), called “The Sword of Rome.” Fabius
“Cunctator” was “The Shield of Rome.”
_Marcellus_, an officer of Denmark, to whom the ghost of the murdered
king appeared before it presented itself to Prince Hamlet.—Shakespeare,
_Hamlet_ (1596).
=Marchioness= (_The_), the half-starved girl-of-all-work, in the service
of Sampson Brass and his sister Sally. She was so lonesome and dull that
it afforded her relief to peep at Mr. Swiveller, even through the
keyhole of his door. Though so dirty and ill-cared for, “the
marchioness” was sharp-witted and cunning. It was Mr. Swiveller who
called her the “marchioness,” when she played cards with him, “because
it seemed more real and pleasant” to play with a marchioness than with a
domestic slavey (ch. lvii.) When Dick Swiveller was turned away and fell
sick, the “marchioness” nursed him carefully, and he afterwards married
her.—C. Dickens, _The Old Curiosity Shop_ (1840).
=Marchmont= (_Miss Matilda_), the _confidante_ of Julia Mannering.—Sir
W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).
=Marcian=, armorer to Count Robert of Paris.—Sir W. Scott, _Count Robert
of Paris_ (time, Rufus).
=Marck= (_William de la_), a French nobleman, called “The Wild Boar of
Ardennes” (_Sanglier des Ardennes_).—Sir W. Scott, _Quentin Durward_
(time, Edward IV.).
=Marcliffe= (_Theophilus_), pseudonym of William Godwin (author of
_Caleb Williams_, 1756-1836).
=Marco Bozzaris.= Leader of the Suliotes in the successful rebellion
against the Turks. A night-attack upon the Turkish camp results in the
victory of the Greeks. Bozzaris is killed as the cry of triumph is
raised by his command.
“His few surviving comrades saw
His smile when rang their proud hurrah,
And the red field was won;
Then saw in death his eyelids close
Calmly, as to a night’s repose
Like flowers at set of sun.”
Fitz-Green Halleck, _Marco Bozzaris_.
=Marcomanic War=, a war carried on by the Marcomanni, under the
leader-ship of Maroboduus, who made himself master of Bohemia, etc.
Maroboduus was defeated by Arminius, and his confederation broken up
(A.D. 20). In the second Christian century a new war broke out between
the Marcomanni and the Romans, which lasted thirteen years. In A.D. 180
peace was purchased by the Romans, and the war for a time ceased.
=Marcos de Obregon=, the hero of a Spanish romance, from which Lesage
has borrowed very freely in his _Gil Blas_.—Vicente Espinel, _Vida del
Escudero Marcos de Obregon_ (1618).
=Marculf=, in the comic poem of _Salomon and Marculf_, a fool who
outwits the sage of Israel by knavery and cunning. The earliest version
of the poem extant is a German one of the twelfth century.
=Marcus,= son of Cato of Utĭca, a warm-hearted, impulsive young man,
passionately in love with Lucia, daughter of Lucius; but Lucia loved the
more temperate brother, Portius. Marcus was slain by Cæsar’s soldiers
when they invaded Utica.
Marcus is furious, wild in his complaints;
I hear with a secret kind of dread,
And tremble at his vehemence of temper.
Addison, _Cato_, i. 1 (1713).
=Mardonius= (_Captain_), in Beaumont and Fletcher’s drama called _A King
or No King_ (1619).
=Mareschal of Mareschal Wells= (_Young_), one of the Jacobite
conspirators, under the leadership of Mr. Richard Vere, laird of
Ellieslaw.—Sir W. Scott, _The Black Dwarf_ (time, Anne).
=Marfi´sa=, an Indian queen.—Bojardo, _Orlando Innamorato_ (1495), and
Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).
=Marforio’s Statue.= This statue lies on the ground in Rome, and was at
one time used for libels, lampoons, and jests, but was never so much
used as Pasquin’s.
=Margar´elon= (4 _syl._), a Trojan hero of modern fable, who performed
deeds of marvellous bravery. Lydgate, in his _Boke of Troy_ (1513),
calls him a son of Priam. According to this authority, Margarelon
attacked Achillês, and fell by his hand.
=Margaret=, only child and heiress of Sir Giles Overreach. Her father
set his heart on her marrying Lord Lovel, for the summit of his ambition
was to see her a peeress. But Margaret was modest, and could see no
happiness in ill-assorted marriages; so she remained faithful to Tom
Allworth, the man of her choice.—Massinger, _A New Way to Pay Old Debts_
(1628).
_Margaret_, wife of Vandunke (2 _syl._), the drunken burgomaster of
Bruges.—Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Beggars’ Bush_ (1622).
_Margaret_ (_Ladye_), “the flower of Teviot,” daughter of the Duchess
Margaret and Lord Walter Scott, of Branksome Hall. The Ladye Margaret
was beloved by Henry of Cranstown, whose family had a deadly feud with
that of Scott. One day the elfin page of Lord Cranstown inveigled the
heir of Branksome Hall (then a lad) into the woods, where the boy fell
into the hands of the Southerners. The captors then marched with 3000
men against the castle of the widowed duchess, but being told by a spy
that Douglass, with 10,000 men, was coming to the rescue, an arrangement
was made to decide by single combat whether the boy should become King
Edward’s page, or be delivered up into the hands of his mother. The
English champion (Sir Richard Musgrave) fell by the hand of Sir William
Deloraine, and the boy was delivered to his mother. It was then
discovered that Sir William was in reality Lord Cranstown, who claimed
and received the hand of the fair Margaret as his reward.—Sir W. Scott,
_Lay of the Last Minstrel_ (1805).
_Margaret_, the heroine of Goethe’s _Faust_. Faust first encounters her
on her return from church, falls in love with her, and seduces her.
Overcome with shame, she destroys the infant to which she gives birth,
and is condemned to death. Faust attempts to save her, and, gaining
admission to her cell, finds her huddled up on a bed of straw, singing,
like Ophelia, wild snatches of ancient ballads, her reason faded, and
her death at hand. Faust tries to persuade the mad girl to flee with
him, but in vain. At last the day of execution arrives, and with it
Mephistoph´elês, passionless and grim. Faust is hurried off, and
Margaret is left to her fate. Margaret is often called by the pet
diminutive “Gretchen,” and in the opera “Margheri´ta” (_q.v._).—Goethe,
_Faust_ (1790).
Shakespeare has drawn no such portrait as that of Margaret; no such
peculiar union of passion, simplicity, homeliness, and witchery. The
poverty and inferior social position of Margaret are never lost sight
of—she never becomes an abstraction. It is love alone which exalts her
above her station.—Lewes.
=Margaret Catchpole=, a Suffolk celebrity, born at Nacton, in that
county, in 1773; the title and heroine of a tale by the Rev. R. Cobbold.
She falls in love with a smuggler named Will Laud, and in 1797, in order
to reach him, steals a horse from Mr. J. Cobbold, brewer, of Ipswich, in
whose service she had lived much respected. She dresses herself in the
groom’s clothes, and makes her way to London, where she is detected
while selling the horse, and is put in prison. She is sentenced to death
at the Suffolk assizes—a sentence afterwards commuted to one of seven
years’ transportation. Owing to a difficulty in sending prisoners to New
South Wales, she is confined in Ipswich jail; but from here she makes
her escape, joins Laud, who is shot in her defence. Margaret is
recaptured, and again sentenced to death, which is for the second time
commuted to transportation, this time for life, and she arrives at Port
Jackson in 1801. Here, by her good behavior, she obtains a free pardon,
and ultimately marries a former lover named John Barry, who had
emigrated and risen to a high position in the colony. She died, much
respected, in the year 1841.
=Margaret Debree.= Young girl of noble and beautiful nature whose latent
ambition is aroused by her marriage to the successful speculator, Rodney
Henderson. She becomes a society leader and woman of fashion, and dies
at the height of her popularity.—Charles Dudley Warner, _A Little
Journey in the World_ (1889).
=Margaret Finch=, queen of the gypsies. She was born at Sutton, in Kent
(1631), and finally settled in Norway. From a constant habit of sitting
on the ground, with her chin on her knees, she was unable to stand, and
when dead was buried in a square box; 1740, aged 109 years.
_Margaret._ Bright-faced, sweet-hearted heroine of _The Stillwater
Tragedy_, by T. B. Aldrich (1886).
=Margaret Gibson=, afterwards called _Patten_, a famous Scotch cook, who
was employed in the palace of James I. She was born in the reign of
Queen Elizabeth, and died June 26, 1739, either 136 or 141 years of age.
=Margaret Kent= (See KENT).
=Margaret Lamburn=, one of the servants of Mary, queen of Scots, who
undertook to avenge the death of her royal mistress. For this end, she
dressed in man’s clothes and carried two pistols—one to shoot Queen
Elizabeth and the other herself. She had reached the garden where the
queen was walking, when she accidentally dropped one of the pistols, was
seized, carried before the queen, and frantically told her tale. When
the queen asked how she expected to be treated, Margaret replied, “A
judge would condemn me to death, but it would be more royal to grant me
pardon.” The queen did so, and we hear no more of this fanatic.
=Margaret Simon=, daughter of Martin Simon, the miller of Grenoble; a
brave, beautiful, and noble girl.—E. Stirling, _The Gold-Mine or Miller
of Grenoble_ (1854.)
=Margaret of Anjou=, widow of king Henry VI. of England. She presents
herself, disguised as a mendicant, in Strasburg Cathedral, to Philipson
(_i.e._ the earl of Oxford).—Sir W. Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_ (time,
Edward IV.).
=Margaret’s Ghost=, a ballad by David Mallet (1724). William courted the
fair Margaret, but jilted her; he promised love, but broke his promise;
said her face was fair, her lips sweet, and her eyes bright, but left
the face to pale, the eyes to weep and the maid to languish and die. Her
ghost appeared to him at night to rebuke his heartlessness; and next
morning William left his bed raving mad, hied him to Margaret’s grave,
thrice called her by name, “and never word spake more.”
We shall have ballads made of it within two months, setting forth how a
young squire became a serving-man of low degree, and it will be stuck up
with _Margaret’s Ghost_ against the walls of every cottage in the
country.—I. Bickerstaff, _Love in a Village_ (1763).
=Margaret Regis.= American girl of decided views and strong, sweet
nature, brought up by a step-mother whom she is slow to appreciate, but
in the end loves truly. Margaret outgrows an early fancy, and, when
released from the letter of her engagement, bestows her hand with her
heart upon General Paul Rushleigh.—A. D. T. Whitney, _Sights and
Insights_ (1875).
=Margaretta=, a maiden attached to Robin. Her father wanted her to marry
“a stupid old man, because he was rich;” so she ran away from home and
lived as a ballad-singer. Robin emigrated for three years, and made his
fortune. He was wrecked on the coast of Cornwall, on his return, and met
Margaretta at the house of Farmer Crop, his brother-in-law, when the
acquaintance was renewed. (See NO SONG, etc.)—Hoare, _No Song No Supper_
(1754-1834).
=Margarit´ta= (_Donna_), a Spanish heiress, “fair, young, and wealthy,”
who resolves to marry that she may the more freely indulge her
wantonness. She selects Leon for her husband, because she thinks him a
milksop, whom she can twist round her thumb at pleasure; but no sooner
is Leon married than he shows himself the master. By ruling with great
firmness and affection, he wins the esteem of every one, and the wanton
coquette becomes a modest, devoted, and obedient wife.—Beaumont and
Fletcher, _Rule a Wife and Have a Wife_ (1640).
=Margery= (_Dame_), the old nurse of Lady Eveline Berenger “the
betrothed.”—Sir W. Scott, _The Betrothed_ (time, Henry II.).
=Margheri´ta=, a simple, uncultured girl, of great fascination, seduced
by Faust. Margherita killed the infant of her shame, and was sent to
jail for so doing. In jail she lost her reason, and was condemned to
death. When Faust visited her in prison, and tried to persuade her to
flee with him, she refused. Faust was carried off by demons, and
Margherita was borne by angels up to heaven; the intended moral being,
that the repentant sinner is triumphant.—Gounod, _Faust e Margherita_
(1859).
=Margheri´ta di Valois=, daughter of Catherine de Medicis and Henri II.
of France. She marries Henri _le Bearnais_ (afterwards Henri IV. of
France). It was during the wedding solemnities of Margherita and Henri
that Catherine de Medicis carried out the massacre of the French
Huguenots. The bride was at a ball during this horrible
slaughter.—Meyerbeer, _Les Huguenots_ or _Gli Ugonotti_ (1836).
⁂ François I. used to call her _La Marguerite des Marguerites_ (“The
Pearl of Pearls”).
=Margia´na= (_Queen_), a Mussulman, and mortal enemy of the
fire-worshippers. Prince Assad became her slave, but, being stolen by
the crew of Behram, was carried off. The queen gave chase to the ship;
Assad was thrown overboard, and swam to shore. The queen with an army
demanded back her slave, discovered that Assad was a prince, and that
his half-brother was king of the city to which she had come, whereupon
she married him, and carried him home to her own dominions.—_Arabian
Nights_ (“Amgiad and Assad”).
=Marjorie= (_Pet_), child of singular promise, a great pet with Sir
Walter Scott. She died under the age of ten. Her story is written by Dr.
John Brown, author of _Rab and His Friends_.
=Margutte= (3 _syl._), a low-minded, vulgar giant, ten feet high, with
enormous appetite and of the grossest sensuality. He died of laughter on
seeing a monkey pulling on his boots.—Pulci, _Morgantê Maggiorê_ (1488).