=Marguerite=, French exile and maid-servant lies dying, nursed by a
hard, cold mistress. The son of the house steals into the room and avows
his love for the alien.
“He called back the soul that was passing,
‘Marguerite! do you hear,’”
* * * * *
“With his heart on his lips he kissed her,
But never her cheek grew red,
And the words the living long for
He spake in the ear of the dead.”
John Greenleaf Whittier, _Marguerite_.
=Marhaus= (_Sir_), a knight of the Round Table, a king’s son, and
brother of the queen of Ireland. When Sir Mark, king of Cornwall,
refused to pay truage to Anguish, king of Ireland, Sir Marhaus was sent
to defy Sir Mark and all his knights to single combat. No one durst go
against him; but Tristram said, if Mark would knight him, he would
defend his cause. In the combat, Sir Tristram was victorious. With his
sword he cut through his adversary’s helmet and brain-pan, and his sword
stuck so fast in the bone that he had to pull thrice before he could
extricate it. Sir Marhaus contrived to get back to Ireland, but soon
died.—Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, ii. 7, 8 (1470).
⁂ Sir Marhaus carried a white shield; but as he hated women, twelve
damsels spat thereon, to show how they dishonored him.—Ditto, pt. i. 75.
=Maria=, a lady in attendance on the princess of France. Mongaville, a
young lord in the suite of Ferdinand, king of Navarre, asks her to marry
him, but she defers her answer for twelve months. To this Longaville
replies, “I’ll stay with patience, but the time is long;” and Maria
makes answer, “The liker you; few taller are so young.”—Shakespeare,
_Love’s Labor’s Lost_ (1594).
_Maria_, the waiting-woman of the Countess Olivia.—Shakespeare, _Twelfth
Night_ (1614).
_Maria_, wife of Frederick, the unnatural and licentious brother of
Alphonso, king of Naples. She is a virtuous lady, and appears in strong
contrast to her infamous husband.—Beaumont and Fletcher, _A Wife for a
Month_ (1624).
_Maria_, daughter and only child of Thorowgood, a wealthy London
merchant. She is in love with George Barnwell, her father’s apprentice;
but George is executed for robbery and murder.—George Lillo, _George
Barnwell_ (1732).
A dying man sent for David Ross, the actor [1728-1790], and addressed
him thus: “Some forty years ago, like ‘George Barnwell’ I wronged my
master to supply the unbounded extravagance of a ‘Millwood.’ I took her
to see your performance, which so shocked me that I vowed to break the
connection and return to the path of virtue. I kept my resolution,
replaced the money I had stolen, and found a ‘Maria’ in my master’s
daughter.... I have now left £1000 affixed to your name in my will and
testament.”—Pelham, _Chronicles of Crime_.
_Maria_, the ward of Sir Peter Teazle. She is in love with Charles
Surface, whom she ultimately marries.—Sheridan, _School for Scandal_
(1777).
_Maria_, “The maid of the Oaks,” brought up as the ward of Oldworth, of
Oldworth Oaks, but is in reality his daughter and heiress. Maria is
engaged to Sir Harry Groveby, and Harry says, “She is the most
charmingest, sweetest, delightfulest, mildest, beautifulest, modestest,
genteelest young creature in the world.”—J. Burgoyne, _The Maid of the
Oaks_.
_Maria_, a maiden whose banns were forbidden, “by the curate of the
parish who published them;” in consequence of which, Maria lost her
wits, and used to sit on the roadside near Moulines (2 _syl._), playing
on a pipe vesper hymns to the Virgin. She led by a ribbon a little dog
named Silvio, of which she was very jealous, for at one time she had a
favorite goat that forsook her.—Sterne, _Sentimental Journey_ (1768).
_Maria_, a foundling, discovered by Sulpizio, a sergeant of the 11th
regiment of Napoleon’s Grand Army, and adopted by the regiment as their
daughter. Tonio, a Tyrolese, saved her life and fell in love with her.
But just as they were about to be married the marchioness of Birkenfield
claimed the foundling as her own daughter, and the sutler girl had to
quit the regiment for the castle. After a time, the castle was taken by
the French, and although the marchioness had promised Maria in marriage
to another, she consented to her union with Tonio, who had risen to the
rank of a field-officer.—Donizetti, _La Figlia del Reggimento_ (an
opera, 1840).
=Maria= [=Delaval=], daughter of colonel Delaval. Plighted to Mr.
Versatile, but just previous to the marriage Mr. Versatile, by the death
of his father, came into a large fortune and baronetcy. The marriage was
deferred; Mr. (now Sir George) Versatile went abroad, and became a man
of fashion. They met, the attachment was renewed, and the marriage
consummated.
=Maria= [=Latham.=] “An elderly woman with a plain, honest face, as
kindly in expression as she can be perfectly sure she feels, and no
more;” aunt to Lydia Blood. When she hears that the stewardess on the
_Aroostook_ is a boy, and the cook not a woman, she is slightly
confounded, but rallies under the conviction that “Lyddy’ll know how to
conduct herself wherever she is.”—W. D. Howells, _The Lady of the
Aroostook_ (1879).
=Maria= [WILDING], daughter of Sir Jasper Wilding. She is in love with
Beaufort; and, being promised in marriage against her will to George
Philpot, disgusts him purposely by her silliness. George refuses to
marry her, and she gives her hand to Beaufort.—Murphy, _The Citizen_
(1757).
=Maria Theresa Panza=, wife of Sancho Panza. She is sometimes called
Maria, and sometimes Theresa.—Cervantes, _Don Quixote_ (1605).
=Mariage Forcé= (_Le_). Sganarelle, a rich man of 64, promises marriage
to Dorimène (3 _syl._), a girl under 20, but, having scruples about the
matter, consults his friend, two philosophers, and the gypsies, from
none of whom can he obtain any practical advice. At length, he overhears
Dorimène telling a young lover that she only marries the old man for his
money, and that he cannot live above a few months; so the old man goes
to the father and declines the alliance. On this, the father sends his
son to Sganarelle. The young man takes with him two swords, and with the
utmost politeness and _sang-froid_ requests Mons. to choose one. When
the old man declines to do so, the young man gives him a thorough
drubbing, and again with the utmost politeness requests the old man to
make his choice. On his again declining to do so, he is again beaten,
and at last consents to ratify the marriage.—Molière, _Le Mariage Forcé_
(1664).
=Mariamne=, (4 _syl._), a Jewish princess, daughter of Alexander and
wife of Herod, “the Great.” Mariamnê was the mother of Alexander and
Aristobu´lus, both of whom Herod put to death in a fit of jealousy, and
then fell into a state of morbid madness, in which he fancied he saw
Mariamnê and heard her asking for her sons.
⁂ This has been made the subject of several tragedies: _e.g._ A. Harley,
_Mariamne_ (1622); Pierre Tristan l’Ermite, _Mariamne_ (1640); Voltaire,
_Mariamne_ (1724).
=Marian=, “the Muses’ only darling,” is Margaret, countess of
Cumberland, sister of Anne, countess of Warwick.
Fair Marian, the Muses’ only darling,
Whose beauty shineth as the morning clear,
With silver dew upon the roses pearling.
Spenser, _Colin Clout’s Come Home Again_ (1595).
_Marian_, “the parson’s maid,” in love with Colin Clout, who loves
Cicely. Marian sings a ditty of dole, in which she laments for Colin,
and says how he gave her once a knife, but “Woe is me! for knives, they
tell me, always sever love.”—Gay, _Pastorals_, ii. (1714).
_Marian_, “the daughter” of Robert, a wrecker, and betrothed to Edward,
a young sailor. She was fair in person, loving, and holy. During the
absence of Edward at sea, a storm arose, and Robert went to the coast to
look for plunder. Marian followed him, and in the dusk saw some one stab
another. She thought it was her father, but it was Black Norris. Her
father being taken up, Marian gave evidence against him, and the old man
was condemned to death. Norris now told Marian he would save her father
if she would become his wife. She made the promise, but was saved the
misery of the marriage by the arrest of Norris for murder.—S. Knowles,
_The Daughter_ (1836).
=Marian´a=, a lovely and loveable lady, betrothed to Angelo, who, during
the absence of Vincentio, the duke of Vienna, acted as his lord deputy.
Her pleadings to the duke for Angelo are wholly unrivalled.—Shakespeare,
_Measure for Measure_ (1603).
Timid and shrinking before, she does not now wait to be encouraged in
her suit. She is instant and importunate. She does not reason with the
duke; she begs; she implores.—R. G. White.
_Mariana_, sister of Lodovi´co Sforza, duke of Milan, and wife of
Francesco, his chief minister of state.—Massinger, _The Duke of Milan_
(1622).
_Mariana_, daughter of Lord Charney; taken prisoner by the English, and
in love with Arnold (friend of the Black Prince). Just before the battle
of Poitiers, thinking the English cause hopeless, Mariana induces Arnold
to desert; but Lord Charney will not receive him. Arnold returns to the
English camp, and dies in battle. Lord Charney is also slain, and
Mariana dies distracted.—Shirley, _Edward, the Black Prince_ (1640).
_Mariana_, the young lady that Lovegold, the miser, wished to marry. As
Mariana was in love with the miser’s son, Frederick, she pretended to be
extravagant and deeply in debt, which so affected the old hunks, that he
gave her £2000 to be let off the bargain. Of course she assented and
married Frederick.—H. Fielding, _The Miser_.
_Mariana_, the daughter of a Swiss burgher, “the most beautiful of
women.” “Her gentleness a smile without a smile, a sweetness of look,
speech, act.” Leonardo being crushed by an avalanche, she nursed him
through his illness, and they fell in love with each other. He started
for Mantua, but was detained for two years captive by a gang of thieves;
and Mariana followed him, being unable to support life where he was not.
In Mantua, Count Florio fell in love with her, and obtained her
guardian’s consent to their union; but Mariana refused, was summoned
before the duke (Ferrado), and judgment was given against her. Leonardo,
being present at the trial, now threw off his disguise, and was
acknowledged to be the real duke. He assumed his rank, married Mariana;
but being called to the camp, left Ferrado regent. Ferrado, being a
villain, laid a cunning scheme to prove Mariana guilty of adultery with
Julian St. Pierre, a countryman; but Leonardo refused to believe the
charge. Julian, who turned out to be Mariana’s brother, exposed the
whole plot of Ferrado, and amply cleared his sister of the slightest
taint or thought of a revolt.—S. Knowles, _The Wife_ (1833).
_Mariana_, daughter of the king of Thessaly. She was beloved by Sir
Alexander, one of the three sons of St. George, the patron saint of
England. Sir Alexander married her, and became king of Thessaly.—R.
Johnson, _The Seven Champions of Christendom_, iii. 2, 3, 11 (1617).
=Mariana in the Moated Grange=, a young damsel who sits in the moated
grange, looking out for her lover, who never comes; and the burden of
her life-song is, My life is dreary, for he cometh not; I am aweary, and
would that I were dead.
The sequel is called _Mariana in the South_, in which the love-lorn
maiden looks forward to her death, when she will cease to be alone, to
live forgotten, and to love forlorn.—Tennyson, _Mariana_ (in two parts).
⁂ Mariana, the lady betrothed to Angelo, passed her sorrowful hours “at
the Moated Grange.” Thus the duke says to Isabella:
Haste you speedily to Angelo ... I will presently to St. Luke’s. There,
at the moated grange, resides the dejected Mariana.—Shakespeare.
_Measure for Measure_, act iii. sc. 1 (1603).
=Marianne= (3 _syl._), a statuette to which the red republicans of
France pay homage. It symbolizes the republic, and is arrayed in a red
Phrygian cap. This statuette is sold at earthenware shops, and in
republican clubs, enthroned in glory, and sometimes it is carried in
procession to the tune of the _Marseillaise_. (See MARY ANNE.)
The reason seems to be this: Ravaillac, the assassin of Henri IV. (the
Harmodius or Aristogīton of France), was honored by the red republicans
as “patriot, deliverer, and martyr.” This regicide was incited to his
deed of blood by reading the celebrated treatise _De Rege et Regio
Institutione_, by Mariana the Jesuit, published 1599 (about ten years
previously). As Mariana inspired Ravaillac “to deliver France from her
tyrant” (Henri IV.), the name was attached to the statuette of liberty,
and the republican party generally.
The association of the name with the _guillotine_ favors this
suggestion.
_Marianne_ (3 _syl._), the heroine of a French novel so called by
Marivaux (1688-1763).
(This novel terminates abruptly, with a conclusion like that of _Zadig_,
“where nothing is concluded.”)
=Marianne= [=Franval=], sister of Franval the advocate. She is a
beautiful, loving, gentle creature, full of the deeds of kindness, and
brimming over with charity. Marianne loves Captain St. Alme, a
merchant’s son, and though her mother opposes the match as beneath the
rank of the family, the advocate pleads for his sister, and the lovers
are duly betrothed to each other.—T. Holcroft, _The Deaf and Dumb_
(1785).
=Marie Antoinette.= Beautiful Austrian Queen of Louis XVI. of France.
Dethroned and guillotined in the French Revolution of 1793.
=Marie= (_Countess_), the mother of Ul´rica (a love-daughter), the
father of Ulrica being Ernest de Fridberg, “the prisoner of State.”
Marie married Count D’Osborn, on condition of his obtaining the
acquittal of her lover, Ernest de Fridberg; but the count broke his
promise, and even attempted to get the prisoner smothered in his
dungeon. His villainy being made known, the king ordered him to be
executed, and Ernest, being set at liberty, duly married the Countess
Marie.—E. Stirling, _The Prisoner of State_ (1847).
=Marie de Brabant=, daughter of Henri III, duc de Brabant. She married
Philippe _le Hardi_, king of France, and was accused by Labrosse of
having poisoned Philippe’s son by his former wife. Jean de Brabant
defended the queen’s innocence by combat, and being the victor, Labrosse
was hung (1260-1321).
Ancelot has made this the subject of an historical poem called _Marie de
Brabant_, in six chants (1825).
=Marie Kirikitoun=, a witch who promised to do a certain task for a
lassie, in order that she might win a husband, provided the lassie
either remembered the witch’s name for a year and a day, or submitted to
any punishment she might choose to inflict. The lassie was married, and
forgot the witch’s name; but the fay was heard singing, “Houpa, houpa,
Marie Kirikitoun! Nobody will remember my name,” The lassie, being able
to tell the witch’s name, was no more troubled.—_Basque Legend._
Grimm has a similar tale, but the name is Rumpel-stilzchen, and the song
was:
Little dreams my dainty dame,
Rumplestilzchen is my name.
=Marie Rogret= (_The Mystery of_). The mysterious murder of a _grisette_
in New York City supplied material for _The Mystery of Marie Roget_, in
which Poe, with marvellous skill, “works up a case” which subsequent
events proved to have been the correct theory of the murder in all its
details.—Edgar Allan Poe, _The Mystery of Marie Roget_ (1842).
=Mariette.=
“Too rash is she for cold coquette,—
Love dares not claim her;
I can but say, ‘’Tis Mariette,’
Nor more than name her.
* * * * * * *
And what have I, whom men forget
To offer to her?
A woman’s passion, Mariette,
There is no truer.”
Dora Read Goodale, _Mariette_ (1878).
=Mari´na=, daughter of Per´iclês, prince of Tyre, born at sea, where her
mother, Thais´a, as it was supposed, died in giving her birth. Prince
Periclês entrusted the infant to Cleon (governor of Tarsus) and his
wife, Dionys´ia, who brought her up excellently well, and she became
most highly accomplished; but when grown to budding womanhood, Dionysia,
out of jealousy, employed Le´onine (3 _syl._) to murder her. Leonine
took Marina to the coast with this intent, but the outcast was seized by
pirates, and sold at Metali´nê as a slave. Here Periclês landed on his
voyage from Tarsus to Tyre, and Marina was introduced to him to chase
away his melancholy. She told him the story of her life, and he
perceived at once that she was his daughter. Marina was now betrothed to
Lysimachus, governor of Metalinê; but, before the espousals, went to
visit the shrine of Diana of Ephesus, to return thanks to the goddess,
and the priestess was discovered to be Thaisa, the mother of
Marina.—Shakespeare, _Pericles, Prince of Tyre_ (1608).
_Marina_, wife of Jacopo Fos´cari, the doge’s son.—Byron, _The Two
Foscari_ (1820).
=Marinda= or MARIDAH, the fair concubine of Haroun-al-Raschid.
=Marine= (_The Female_), Hannah Snell, of Worcester. She was present at
the attack of Pondicherry. Ultimately she left the service, and opened a
public-house in Wapping (London), but still retained her male attire
(born 1723).
=Mari´nel=, the beloved of Florimel, “the Fair.” Marinel was the son of
black-browed Cym´oent (daughter of Nereus and Dumarin), and allowed no
one to pass by the rocky cave where he lived without doing battle with
him. When Marinel forbade Britomart to pass, she replied, “I mean not
thee entreat to pass;” and with her spear knocked him “grovelling on the
ground.” His mother, with the sea-nymphs, came to him; and the
“lily-handed Liagore,” who knew leechcraft, feeling his pulse, said life
was not extinct. So he was carried to his mother’s bower, “deep in the
bottom of the sea,” where Tryphon (the sea-gods’ physician), soon
restored him to perfect health. One day, Proteus asked Marinel and his
mother to a banquet, and while the young man was sauntering about, he
heard a female voice lamenting her hard lot, and saying her hardships
were brought about for her love to Marinel. The young man discovered
that the person was Florimel, who had been shut up in a dungeon by
Proteus for rejecting his suit; so he got a warrant of release from
Neptune, and married her.—Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, iii. 8; iv. 11, 12
(1590, 1596).
=Mari´ni= (_J.B._), called _Le cavalier Marin_, born at Naples. He was a
poet, and is known by his poem called _Adonis_ or _L’Adone_, in twenty
cantos (1623). The poem is noted for its description of the “Garden of
Venus.”
If the reader will ... read over Ariosto’s picture of the garden of
paradise, Tasso’s garden of Armi´da, and Marini’s garden of Venus, he
will be persuaded that Milton imitates their manner, but ... excels the
originals.—Thyer.
=Mari´no Falie´ro=, the forty-ninth doge of Venice, elected 1354. A
patrician named Michel Steno, having behaved indecently to some of the
ladies at a great civic banquet given by the doge, was turned out of the
house by order of the duke. In revenge, the young man wrote a scurrilous
libel against the dogaressa, which he fastened to the doge’s chair of
state. The insult being referred to “the Forty,” Steno was condemned to
imprisonment for a month. This punishment was thought by the doge to be
so inadequate to the offence that he joined a conspiracy to overthrow
the republic. The conspiracy was betrayed by Bertram, one of the
members, and the doge was beheaded on the “Giant’s Staircase.”—Byron,
_Marino Faliero_ (1819).
⁂ Casimir Delavigne, in 1829, brought out a tragedy on the same subject,
and with the same title.
=Marion de Lorme=, in whose house the conspirators met. She betrayed all
their movements and designs to Richelieu.—Lord Lytton, _Richelieu_
(1839).
=Marion Halcomb=, courageous half-sister of Laura Fairly, admired by
Count Fosco, and hated by her brother-in-law, Percival Glyde. Through
Marion’s acuteness and devotion Laura is rescued from an insane asylum,
her persecutors exposed, and herself cared for tenderly until her
recovery to health and marriage to Walter Hartright.—Wilkie Collins,
_The Woman in White_.
=Maritor´nes= (4 _syl._), an Asturian chamber-maid at the Crescent Moon
tavern, to which Don Quixote was taken by his squire after their
drubbing by the goat-herds. The crazy knight insisted that the tavern
was a castle, and that Maritornes, “the lord’s daughter,” was in love
with him.
She was broad-faced, flat-nosed, blind of one eye, and had a most
delightful squint with the other; the peculiar gentility of her shape,
however, compensated for every defect, she being about three feet in
height, and remarkably hunchbacked.—Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, I. iii. 2
(1605).
=Marius= (_Caïus_), the Roman general, tribune of the people, B.C. 119;
the rival of Sylla.
Antony Vincent Arnault wrote a tragedy in French entitled _Marius à
Minturnes_ (1791). Thomas Lodge, M.D., in 1594, wrote a drama called
_Wounds of Civil War, lively set forth in the True Tragedies of Marius
and Sylla_.
=Mar´ivaux= (_Pierre de Chamblain de_), a French writer of comedies and
romances (1678-1763).
S. Richardson is called “The English Marivaux” (1689-1761).
=Marjory= of Douglas, daughter of Archibald, earl of Douglas, and
duchess of Rothsay.—Sir W. Scott, _Fair Maid of Perth_ (time, Henry
IV.).
=Mark= (_Sir_), king of Cornwall, who held his court at Tintag´il. He
was a wily, treacherous coward, hated and despised by all true knights.
One day, Sir Dinadan, in jest, told him that Sir Launcelot might be
recognized by “his shield, which was silver with a black rim.” This was,
in fact, the cognizance of Sir Mordred; but, to carry out the joke, Sir
Mordred lent it to Dagonet, King Arthur’s fool. Then, mounting the
jester on a large horse, and placing a huge spear in his hand, the
knights sent him to offer battle to King Mark. When Dagonet beheld the
coward king, he cried aloud, “Keep thee, sir knight, for I will slay
thee!” King Mark, thinking it to be Sir Launcelot, spurred his horse to
flight. The fool gave chase, rating King Mark “as a wood man
[_madman_].” All the knights who beheld it roared at the jest, told King
Arthur, and the forest rang with their laughter. The wife of King Mark
was Isond (Ysolde) _the Fair_ of Ireland, whose love for Sir Tristram
was a public scandal.—Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, ii. 96,
97 (1470).
[Illustration]
------------------------------------------------------------------------