_Paradise Lost_, vi. 44 (1665).
⁂ Longfellow, in his _Golden Legend_, says that Michael is the presiding
spirit of the planet Mercury, and brings to man the gift of prudence
(“The Miracle-Play,” iii., 1851).
_Michael_, the “trencher favorite” of Arden of Feversham, in love with
Maria, sister of Mosby. A weak man, who both loves and honors Arden, but
is inveigled by Mosby to admit ruffians into Arden’s house to murder
him.--Geo. Lillo, _Arden of Feversham_ (1592).
=Michael, God of Wind= (_St._). At the promontory of Malea is a chapel
built to St. Michael, and the sailors say when the wind blows from that
quarter it is occasioned by the violent motion of St. Michael’s wings.
Whenever they sail by that promontory, they pray St. Michael to keep his
wings still.
_St. Michael’s Chair._ It is said that any woman who has sat on
Michael’s chair (on St. Michael’s Mount, in Cornwall), will rule her
husband ever after.
=Michael Angelo of Battle-Scenes= (_The_), Michael Angelo Cerquozzi, of
Rome (1600-1660).
=Michael Angelo of France= (_The_), Jean Cousin (1500-1590).
=Michael Angelo des Kermesses=, Peter van Laar, called _Le Bamboche_, born
at Laaren (1613-1673).
Or _Michel-Ange des Bamboches_.
=Michael Angelo of Music= (_The_), Johann Christoph von Glück (1714-1787).
=Michael Angelo of Sculptors= (_The_), Pierre Puget (1623-1694).
Réné Michael Slodtz is also called the same (1705-1764).
=Michael Angelo Titmarsh=, one of the pseudonyms under which Thackeray
contributed to _Frazer’s Magazine_ (1811-1863).
=Michael Armstrong=, “the factory boy.” The hero and title of a novel by
Mrs. Trollope (1839). The object of this novel is to expose what the
authoress considered to be the evils of the factory system.
=Michael Perez=, the copper captain. (See PEREZ.)
=Michael, the Stammerer=, born at Armorium, in Phrygia, mounted the throne
as emperor of Greece in A.D. 820. He used all his efforts to introduce
the Jewish Sabbath and sacrifice.
I think I have proved ...
The error of all those doctrines so vicious ...
That are making such terrible work in the Churches
By Michael the Stammerer.
Longfellow, _The Golden Legend_ (1851).
=Michal=, in the satire of _Absalom and Achitophel_, by Dryden and Tate,
is meant for Catharine, the wife of Charles II.--Pt. ii. (1682).
=Michelot=, an unprincipled, cowardly, greedy man, who tries to discover
the secret of “the gold-mine.” Being procurator of the president of
Lyons, his office was “to capture and arrest” those charged with civil
or criminal offences.--E. Stirling, _The Gold-Mine, or Miller of
Grenoble_ (1854).
=Micomico´na=, the pretended queen of Micomicon. Don Quixote’s adventure
to Micomiconnia came to nothing, for he was taken home in a cage, almost
as soon as he was told of the wonderful enchantments.--Cervantes, _Don
Quixote_, I. iv. 2 (1605.)
=Mi´das= (_Justice_), appointed to adjudge a musical contest between Pol
and Pan. He decides in favor of Pan, whereupon Pol throws off his
disguise, appears as the god Apollo, and, being indignant at the
decision, gives Midas “the ears of an ass.”--Kane O’Hara, _Midas_
(1764).
Edward Shuter (1728-1776) was pronounced by Garrick “the greatest comic
actor;” and C. Dibdin says: “Nothing on earth could have been superior
to his ‘Midas.’”
_Midas’s Ears._ The servant who used to cut the king’s hair, discovering
the deformity, was afraid to whisper the secret to any one, but, being
unable to contain himself, he dug a hole in the earth, and, putting his
mouth into it, cried out, “King Midas has ass’s ears!” He then filled up
the hole and felt relieved.
Tennyson makes the barber a woman:
No livelier than the dame
That whispered “Asses’ ears” among the sedge.
Tennyson, _The Princess_.
=Middleburgh= (_Mr. James_), an Edinburgh magistrate.--Sir W. Scott,
_Heart of Midlothian_ (time, George II.).
=Middlemas= (_Mr. Matthew_), a name assumed by General Witherington.
_Mrs. Middlemas_, wife of the general (born Zelia de Monçada).
_Richard Middlemas_, alias _Richard Tresham_, a foundling, apprenticed
to Dr Gray. He discovers that he is the son of General Witherington, and
goes to India, where he assumes the character of Sadoc, a black slave in
the service of Mde. Montreville. He delivers Menie Gray by treachery to
Tippoo Saib, and Hyder Ali gives him up to be crushed to death by an
elephant.--Sir W. Scott, _The Surgeon’s Daughter_ (time, George II.).
=Middlewick= (_Mr. Perkyn_), a retired butterman, the neighbor of Sir
Geoffrey Champneys, and the father of Charles. The butterman is innately
vulgar, drops his _h’s_ and inserts them out of place, makes the
greatest geographical and historical blunders, has a tyrannical temper,
but a tender heart. He turns his son adrift for marrying Violet Melrose,
an heiress, who snubbed the plebeian father. When reduced to great
distress, the old butterman goes to his son’s squalid lodgings and
relents. So all ends happily.
_Charles Middlewick_, son of the retired butterman, well educated, and a
gentleman. His father wanted him to marry Mary Melrose, a girl without
a penny, but he preferred Violet, an heiress.--H. J. Byron, _Our Boys_
(1875).
=Midge=, the miller’s son, one of the companions of Robin Hood. (See
MUCH.)
_Midge_ (_The_), a well-born but friendless waif, thrown at the age of
thirteen upon the charity of Dr. Peters, an eccentric bachelor. She
cares for his house and for him in quaint, womanly fashion, very
bewitching, until she is grown. The suit of another and a younger man,
makes the doctor know, to his cost, how well he loves her. He holds his
peace, and marries Midge to her lover.
“Then he went into the big pantry. In the corner on the shelf,
still lay the crock in which the Midge had hidden her head, heavy
with childish grief, years before. The old stool stood before it.
He sat down on it and rested his hot forehead on the cool rim of
the jar.
“And that’s the end of the story.”--H. C. Bunner, _The Midge_
(1886).
=Midian Mara=, the Celtic mermaid.
=Midlo´thian= (_The Heart of_), a tale of the Porteous riot, in which the
incidents of Effie and Jeanie Deans are of absorbing interest. Effie was
seduced by Geordie Robertson (_alias_ George Staunton), while in the
service of Mrs. Saddletree. She murdered her infant, and was condemned
to death; but her half-sister, Jeanie, went to London, pleaded her cause
before the queen, and obtained her pardon. Jeanie, on her return to
Scotland, married Reuben Butler; and Geordie Robertson (then Sir George
Staunton) married Effie. Sir George being shot by a gypsy boy, Effie
(_i.e._ Lady Staunton), retired to a convent on the Continent.--Sir W.
Scott, _Heart of Midlothian_ (time, George II.).
=Midshipman Easy.= (See EASY.)
=Midsummer Night’s Dream.= Shakespeare says there was a law in Athens,
that if a daughter refused to marry the husband selected for her by her
father, she might be put to death. Egēus (3 _syl._), an Athenian,
promised to give his daughter, Hermia, in marriage to Demētrius; but, as
the lady loved Lysander, she refused to marry the man selected by her
father, and fled from Athens with her lover. Demetrius went in pursuit
of her, followed by Helĕna, who doted on him. All four came to a forest,
and fell asleep. In their dreams a vision of fairies passed before them,
and on awaking, Demetrius resolved to forego Hermia, who disliked him,
and to take to wife Helena, who sincerely loved him. When Egeus was
informed thereof, he readily agreed to give his daughter to Lysander,
and the force of the law was not called into action (1592).
⁂ Several of the incidents of this comedy are borrowed from the _Diana_
of Montemayor, a Spaniard (sixteenth century).
=Midwinter= (_Ozias_), the _alias_ of another Allan Armadale. His father
has murdered the father of the real Allan, and the son of the homicide
resolves to keep his own identity a secret, while trying to atone to
Allan for the wrong done him. He loves and marries the perfidious
governess of Allan’s betrothed.--Wilkie Collins, _Armadale_.
=Miggs= (_Miss_), the handmaiden and “comforter” of Mrs. Varden. A tall,
gaunt young woman, addicted to pattens; slender and shrewish, of a sharp
and acid visage. She held the male sex in utter contempt, but had a
secret exception in favor of Sim Tappertit, who irreverently called her
“scraggy.” Miss Miggs always sided with madam against master, and made
out that she was a suffering martyr, and he an inhuman Nero. She called
ma’am “mim;” said her sister lived at “twenty-sivin;” Simon she called
“Simmun.” She said Mrs. Varden was “the mildest, amiablest,
forgivingest-sperited, longest-sufferingest female in existence.”
Baffled in all her matrimonial hopes, she was at last appointed female
turnkey to a county Bridewell, which office she held for thirty years,
when she died.
Miss Miggs, baffled in all her schemes ... and cast upon a
thankless, undeserving world, turned very sharp and sour ... but
the justices of the peace for Middlesex ... selected her from 124
competitors to the office of turnkey for a county Bridewell, which
she held till her decease, more than thirty years afterwards,
remaining single all that time.--C. Dickens, _Barnaby Rudge_
(1841).
=Mign´on=, a beautiful, dwarfish, fairy-like Italian girl, in love with
Wilhelm, her protector. She glides before us in the mazy dance, or
whirls her tambourine like an Ariel. Full of fervor, full of love, full
of rapture, she is overwhelmed with the torrent of despair at finding
her love is not returned, becomes insane, and dies.--Goethe, _Wilhelm
Meister’s Apprenticeship_ (1794-6).
Sir W. Scott drew his “Fenella,” in _Peveril of the Peak_, from this
character; and Victor Hugo has reproduced her in his _Notre Dame_, under
the name of “Esmeralda.”
=Mignonette:=
“A pitcher of mignonette
In a tenement’s highest casement
Queer sort of flower-pot--yet
That pitcher of mignonette
Is a garden in heaven set
To the little sick child in the basement,
The pitcher of mignonette.
In the tenement’s highest casement.”
Henry Cuyler Bunner, _Airs from Arcady and Elsewhere_ (1884).
=Migonnet=, a fairy king, who wished to marry the princess brought up by
Violenta, the fairy mother.
Of all dwarfs he was the smallest. His feet were like an eagle’s,
and close to the knees, for legs he had none. His royal robes were
not above half a yard long, and trailed one-third part upon the
ground. His head was as big as a peck, and his nose long enough for
twelve birds to perch on. His beard was bushy enough for a canary’s
nest, and his ears reached a foot above his head.--Comtesse
D’Aulnoy, _Fairy Tales_ (“The White Cat,” 1682).
=Mikado= (_of Japan_), the hero of Gilbert and Sullivan’s opera “The
Mikado.” The plot turns upon the complications brought about [TN-11] the
Mikado’s severe laws against flirting:
“So he decreed in words succint,
That all who flirted, leered or winked,
Unless connubially linked,
Should forthwith be beheaded.”
=Mi´lan= (_The duke of_), an Italian prince, an ally of the
Lancastrians.--Sir W. Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).
=Milan Decree=, a decree of Napoleon Bonaparte, dated Milan, December 27,
1807, declaring “the whole British empire to be in a state of blockade,
and prohibiting all countries from trading with Great Britain, or using
any article made therein.”
⁂ As Britain was the best customer of the very nations forbidden to deal
with her, this very absurd decree was a two-edged sword, cutting both
ways.
=Mildred=, the bride, “fresh and fair as May,” whom Philip, the pastor,
installs as _Mistress of the Manse_, in Josiah Gilbert Holland’s poem of
that name (1874).
=Mildmay= (_Frank_), hero of sea-story bearing his name.--Frederick
Marryatt.
=Mile´sian Fables= (_Milesiæ Fabulæ_), very wanton and ludicrous tales.
Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton (Lord Lytton) published six of the _Lost Tales
of Milētus_ in rhymeless verse. He pretends he borrowed them from the
scattered remnants preserved by Apollodo´rus and Conon, contained in the
pages of Pausa´nias and Athenæus, or dispersed throughout the
Scholiasts. The Milesian tales were, for the most part, in prose; but
Ovid tells us that Aristi´dês rendered some of them into verse, and
Sisenna into Latin.
Junxit Aristides Milesia carmina secum
Pulsus Aristides nec tamen urba sua est.
The original tales by Antonius Diog´enês are described by Photius. It
appears that they were great favorites with the luxurious Sybarites. A
compilation was made by Aristīdês, by whom (according to Ovid) some were
versified also. The Latin translation by Sisenna was made about the time
of the civil wars of Ma´rius and Sylla. Parthen´ius Nice´nus, who taught
Virgil Greek, borrowed thirty-six of the tales, which he dedicated to
Cornelius Gallus, and entitled _Erôtikôn Pathêmatôn_ (“love stories”).
_Milesia Crimina_, amatory offences. Venus was worshipped at Milētus,
and hence the loose amatory tales of Antonius Diogenês were entitled
_Milesiæ Fabulæ_.
=Mile´sians=, the “ancient” Irish. The legend is that Ireland was once
peopled by the Fir-bolg or Belgæ from Britain, who were subdued by
Milesians from Asia Minor, called the Gaels of Ireland.
=Miles= (_Throckmorton_), harum-scarum, brave, indiscreet, over-generous
hero of Constance Cary Harrison’s story, _Flower de Hundred_ (1890).
=Milford= (_Colonel_), a friend of Sir Geoffrey Peveril.--Sir W. Scott,
_Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).
_Milford_ (_Jack_), a natural son of Widow Warren’s late husband. He was
the crony of Harry Dornton, with whom he ran “the road to ruin.” Jack
had a fortune left him, but he soon scattered it by his extravagant
living, and was imprisoned for debt. Harry then promised to marry Widow
Warren if she would advance him £6,000 to pay off his friend’s debts
with. When Harry’s father heard of this bargain, he was so moved that he
advanced the money himself; and Harry, being set free from his bargain,
married the widow’s daughter instead of the widow. Thus all were rescued
from “the road to ruin.”--Holcroft, _The Road to Ruin_ (1792).
=Milinowski=, a portly, imposing American widow, who, after twenty years
spent under the marital rule of a Prussian army officer, “takes kindly
to the prose of life.” She is the exemplary and not unkindly chaperone
of _Miss Caroline Lester_, heroine of Charlotte Dunning’s book _Upon a
Cast_ (1885).
=Milk-Pail= (_The_), which was to gain a fortune, (See PERRETTE.)
=Millamant=, the _prétendue_ of Edward Mirabell. She is a most brilliant
girl, who says she “loves to give pain, because cruelty is a proof of
power; and when one parts with one’s cruelty, one parts with one’s
power.” Millamant is far gone in poetry, and her heart is not in her own
keeping. Sir Wilful Witwould makes love to her, but she detests “the
superannuated lubber.”--W. Congreve, _The Way of the World_ (1700).
=Miller= (_James_), the “tiger” of the Hon. Mr. Flammer. James was brought
up in the stable, educated on the turf and _pavé_, polished and
completed in the fives-court. He was engaged to Mary Chintz, the maid
of Miss Bloomfield.--C. Selby, _The Unfinished Gentleman_.
_Miller_, (_Joe_), James Ballantyne, author of _Old Joe Miller, by the
Editor of New J. M._, three vols. (1801).
⁂ Mottley compiled a jest-book in the reign of James II., entitled _Joe
Miller’s Jests_. The phrase, “That’s a Joe Miller,” means “that’s a jest
from Mottley’s book.”
_Miller_ (_Maximilian Christopher_), the Saxon giant; height eight feet.
His hand measured a foot; his second finger was nine inches long; his
head unusually large. He wore a rich Hungarian jacket and a huge plumed
cap. This giant was exhibited in London in the year 1733. He died aged
60; was born at Leipsic (1674-1734).
=Miller= (_Draxy_), bonny daughter of a thriftless, honest man, whose
energy in the effort to recover some hundreds of acres of woodland
deeded to her in jest, and supposed to be unprofitable, leads to comfort
for her father, and a happy marriage for herself.--_Saxe Holm Stories_
(1886).
=Miller of Mansfield= (_The_), John Cockle, a miller and keeper of
Sherwood Forest. Hearing the report of a gun, John Cockle went into the
forest at night to find poachers, and came upon the king (Henry VIII.),
who had been hunting, and had got separated from his courtiers. The
miller collared him; but, being told he was a wayfarer, who had lost
himself in the forest, he took him home with him for the night. Next
day, the courtiers were brought to the same house, having been seized as
poachers by the under-keepers. It was then discovered that the miller’s
guest was the king, who knighted the miller, and settled on him 1000
marks a year.--R. Dodsley, _The King and the Miller of Mansfield_
(1737).
=Miller of Trompington= (_The_), Simon Simkin, an arrant thief. Two
scholars undertook to see that a sack of corn was ground for “Solar Hill
College,” without being tampered with; so one stood at the hopper, and
the other at the trough below. In the mean time, Simon Simkin let loose
the scholars’ horse; and while they went to catch it, he purloined half
a bushel of the flour, which was made into cakes, and substituted meal
in its stead. But the young men had their revenge; they not only made
off with the flour, meal, and cakes without payment, but left the miller
well trounced also.--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ (“The Reeve’s Tale,”
1388).
A trick something like that played off on the Miller of
Trompington.--_Review of Kirkton_, xix. 253.
=Miller on the Dee.= “There was a Jolly Miller once lived on the River
Dee,” is a song by Isaac Bickerstaff, introduced in _Love in a Village_,
i. 1 (1763).
=Mills= (_Miss_), the bosom friend of Dora. Supposed to have been blighted
in early life in some love affair, and hence she looks on the happiness
of others with a calm, supercilious benignity, and talks of herself as
being “in the desert of Sahara.”--C. Dickens, _David Copperfield_
(1849).
=Millwood= (_Sarah_), the courtezan who enticed George Barnwell to rob his
master and murder his uncle. Sarah Millwood spent all the money that
George Barnwell obtained by these crimes, then turned him out of doors,
and informed against him. Both were hanged.--George Lillo, _George
Barnwell_ (1732).
=Milly=, the wife of William Swidger. She is the good angel of the
tale.--C. Dickens, _The Haunted Man_ (1848).
=Milo=, an athlete of Croto´na, noted for his amazing strength. He could
carry on his shoulders a four-year-old heifer. When old, Milo attempted
to tear in twain an oak tree, but the parts, closing on his hands, held
him fast, till he was devoured by wolves.
_Milo_ (_The English_), Thomas Topham, of London (1710-1752).
=Milton=, introduced by Sir Walter Scott in _Woodstock_ (time,
Commonwealth).
=Milton of Germany=, Frederick Gottlieb Klopstock, author of _The
Messiah_, an epic poem (1724-1803).
A very German Milton indeed.
Coleridge.
=Milton’s Monument=, in Westminster Abbey, was by Rysbrack.
=Milvey= (_The Rev. Frank_), a “young man expensively educated and
wretchedly paid, with quite a young wife and half a dozen young
children. He was under the necessity of teaching ... to eke out his
scanty means, yet was generally expected to have more time to spare than
the idlest person in the parish, and more money than the richest.”
_Mrs. Milvey_ (_Margaretta_), a pretty, bright little woman, emphatic
and impulsive, but “something worn by anxiety. She had repressed many
pretty tastes and bright fancies, and substituted instead schools, soup,
flannel, coals, and all the week-day cares and Sunday coughs of a large
population, young and old.”--C. Dickens, _Our Mutual Friend_ (1864).
=Minagro´bis=, admiral of the cats in the great sea-fight of the cats and
rats. Minagrobis won the victory by devouring the admiral of the rats,
who had made three voyages round the world in very excellent ships, in
which he was neither one of the officers nor one of the crew, but a kind
of interloper.--Comtesse D’Aulnoy, _Fairy Tales_ (“The White Cat,”
1682).
=Min´cing=, lady’s-maid to Millamant. She says _mem_ for ma’am, _fit_ for
fought, _la’ship_ for ladyship, etc.--W. Congreve, _The Way of the
World_ (1700).
=Minikin= (_Lord_), married to a cousin of Sir John Trotley, but,
according to _bon ton_, he flirts with Miss Tittup; and Miss Tittup, who
is engaged to Colonel Tivy, flirts with a married man.
_Lady Minikin_, wife of Lord Minikin. According to _bon ton_, she hates
her husband, and flirts with Colonel Tivy; and Colonel Tivy, who is
engaged to Miss Tittup, flirts with a married woman. It is _bon ton_ to
do so.--Garrick, _Bon Ton_ (1760).
=Minjekah´wun=, Hiawatha’s mittens, made of deer-skin. When Hiawatha had
his mittens on, he could smite the hardest rocks asunder.
He [_Hiawatha_] had mittens, Minjekahwun,
Magic mittens made of deer-skin;
When upon his hands he wore them,
He could smite the rocks asunder.
Longfellow, _Hiawatha_, iv. (1855).
=Minna and Brenda=, two beautiful girls, the daughters of Magnus Troil,
the old udaller of Zetland. Minna was stately in form, with dark eyes
and raven locks; credulous and vain, but not giddy; enthusiastic,
talented and warm-hearted. She loved Captain Clement Cleveland; but
Cleveland was killed in an encounter on the Spanish main. Brenda had
golden hair, a bloom on her cheeks, a fairy form, and a serene, cheerful
disposition. She was less the heroine than her sister, but more the
loving and confiding woman. She married Mordaunt Mertoun (ch. iii).--Sir
W. Scott, _The Pirate_ (time, William III.).
=Minna von Barnhelm.= A wealthy girl who is engaged to Major von Tellheim,
a Prussian soldier. He loses his fortune, is wounded and suspected of
dishonor, and from regard for Minna strives to break the engagement.
Everything is righted, and they marry.--G. E. Lessing.
=Minneha´ha= (“_the laughing water_”), daughter of the arrow-maker of
Daco´tah, and wife of Hiawatha. She was called Minnehaha from the
waterfall of that name between St. Anthony and Fort Snelling.
From the waterfall, he named her
Minnehaha, Laughing Water.
Longfellow, _Hiawatha_, iv. (1855).
=Minnesingers=, the Troubadours of Germany during the Hohenstaufen period
(1138-1294), minstrels who composed and sung short lyrical
poems--usually in praise of women or in celebration of the beauties of
nature--called _Minne_, or love songs. The names of nearly three hundred
of these poets have come down to us, including all classes of society,
the most famous being Dietmar von Aist, Ulrich von Lichenstein, Heinrich
von Frauenlob, and above all Walther von der Vogelweid (1168-1230).
Wolfram von Eschenbach, Gottfried von Strasburg, and Hartmann von der
Aue are also classed among the Minnesingers, but their principal fame
was won in the field of metrical romance.
⁂ The story runs that Vogelweid bequeathed his worldly all to a
Wurtzburg monastery upon condition that they should feed the doves at
noon every day upon his grave. The multiplying birds aroused the
avaricious alarm of the abbot, who forbade the daily distribution.
“Time has long effaced the inscriptions
On the cloister’s funeral stones,
And tradition only tells us
Where repose the poet’s bones.
But around the vast cathedral
By sweet echoes mutiplied[TN-12]
Still the birds repeat the legend
And the name of Vogelweid.”
H. W. Longfellow, _Walter von der Vogelweid_ 186-.
=Mino´na=, “the soft blushing daughter of Torman,” a Gaelic bard in the
_Songs of Selma_, one of the most famous portions of Macpherson’s
_Ossian_.
=Minor= (_The_), a comedy by Samuel Foote (1760). Sir George Wealthy, “the
minor,” was the son of Sir William Wealthy, a retired merchant. He was
educated at a public school, sent to college, and finished his training
in Paris. His father, hearing of his extravagant habits, pretended to be
dead, and, assuming the guise of a German baron, employed several
persons to dodge the lad, some to be winners in his gambling, some to
lend money, some to cater to other follies, till he was apparently on
the brink of ruin. His uncle, Mr. Richard Wealthy, a City merchant,
wanted his daughter, Lucy, to marry a wealthy trader, and as she refused
to do so, he turned her out of doors. This young lady was brought to Sir
George as a _fille de joie_, but she touched his heart by her manifest
innocence, and he not only relieved her present necessities, but
removed her to an asylum where her “innocent beauty would be guarded
from temptation, and her deluded innocence would be rescued from
infamy.” The whole scheme now burst as a bubble. Sir George’s father,
proud of his son, told him he was his father, and that his losses were
only fictitious; and the uncle, melted into a better mood, gave his
daughter to his nephew, and blessed the boy for rescuing his discarded
child.
=Minotti=, governor of Corinth, then under the power of the doge. In 1715
the city was stormed by the Turks; and during the siege one of the
magazines in the Turkish camp blew up, killing 600 men. Byron says it
was Minotti himself who fired the train, and that he perished in the
explosion.--Byron, _Siege of Corinth_ (1816).
=Minstrel= (_The_), an unfinished poem, in Spenserian metre, by James
Beattie. Its design was to trace the progress of a poetic genius, born
in a rude age, from the first dawn of fancy to the fullness of poetic
rapture. The first canto is descriptive of Edwin, the minstrel; canto
ii. is dull philosophy, and there, happily, the poem ends. It is a pity
it did not end with the first canto (1773-4).
And yet poor Edwin was no vulgar boy,
Deep thought oft seemed to fix his infant eye.
Dainties he heeded not, nor gaude, nor toy,
Save one short pipe of rudest minstrelsy;
Silent when sad, affectionate, tho’ shy;
And now his look was most demurely sad;
And now he laughed aloud, though none knew why.
The neighbors stared and sighed, yet blessed the lad;
Some deemed him wondrous wise, and some believed him mad.
Canto i. 16.
_Minstrel_ (_Lay of the Last_). Ladye Margaret, “the flower of Teviot,”
was the daughter of Lord Walter Scott, of Branksome Hall. She loved
Baron Henry, of Cranstown; but between the two families a deadly feud
existed. One day the elfin page of Lord Cranstown inveigled the heir of
Branksome Hall (then a lad) into the woods, where he fell into the hands
of the English, who marched with 3000 men to Branksome Hall; but, being
told that Douglas was coming to the rescue with 10,000 men, the two
armies agreed to settle by single combat whether the lad should be given
up to the mother or be made King Edward’s page. The two champions were
Sir Richard Musgrave (_English_) and Sir William Deloraine (_Scotch_).
The Scotch champion slew Sir Richard, and the boy was delivered to his
mother. It now turned out that Sir William Deloraine was Lord Cranstown,
who claimed and received the hand of Ladye Margaret as his reward.--Sir
W. Scott (1805).
=Minstrel of the Border=, Sir W. Scott; also called “The Border Minstrel”
(1771-1832).
My steps the Border Minstrel led.
Wordsworth, _Yarrow Revisited_.
Great Minstrel of the Border.
Wordsworth.
=Minstrel of the English Stage= (_The Last_), James Shirley, last of the
Shakespeare school (1594-1666).
⁂ Then followed the licentious French school, headed by John Dryden.
=Minstrels= (_Royal Domestic_).
Of William I., Berdie, called _Regis Jocula´tor_.
Of Henry I., Galfrid and Royer, or Raher.
Of Richard I., Blondel.
=Mint Julep=, a Virginian beverage, celebrated in song by Charles Fenno
Hoffman (185-). A favorite variety of this drink is compounded of
brandy, water, sugar, mint-leaves and pounded ice, and is called a
“hail-storm.”
“The draught was delicious, and loud the acclaim,
’Though something seemed wanting for all to bewail;
But JULEPS the drink of immortals became
When Jove himself added a handful of hail.”
Charles Fenno Hoffman, _Poems_ (1846).
=Mintz=, _alias_ Araminta Sophronia--the best cook and housemaid in
town--rules the Stackpole family with a rod of red-hot steel until the
son of the house defies her by marrying the head scholar in the Boston
Cooking School.--Augusta Larned, _Village Photographs_ (1887).
=Miol´ner= (3 _syl._), Thor’s hammer.
This is my hammer, Miölner the mighty;
Giants and sorcerers cannot withstand it.
Sæmund Sigfusson, _Edda_ (1130).
=Miquelets= (_Les_), soldiers of the Pyrenees, sent to co-operate with the
dragoons of the _Grand Monarque_ against the Camisards of the Cevennes.
=Mir´abel=, the “wild goose,” a travelled Monsieur, who loves women in a
loose way, but abhors matrimony, and especially dislikes Oria´na; but
Oriana “chases” the “wild goose” with her woman’s wiles, and catches
him.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Wild-goose Chase_ (1652).
_Mirabel_ (_Old_). He adores his son, and wishes him to marry Oria´na.
As the young man shilly-shallies, the father enters into several schemes
to entrap him into a declaration of love; but all his schemes are
abortive.
_Young Mirabel_, the son, called “the inconstant.” A handsome, dashing
young rake, who loves Oriana, but does not wish to marry. Whenever
Oriana seems lost to him the ardor of his love revives; but immediately
his path is made plain, he holds off. However, he ultimately marries
her.--G. Farquhar, _The Inconstant_ (1702).
=Mirabell= (_Edward_), in love with Millamant. He liked her, “with all her
faults; nay, liked her for her faults, ... which were so natural that
(in his opinion) they became her.”--W. Congreve, _The Way of the World_
(1700).
Not all that Drury Lane affords
Can paint the rakish “Charles” so well,
Or give such life to “Mirabell”
[_As Montague Talbot_, 1778-1831].
Crofton Croker.
=Mirabella=, “a maiden fair, clad in mourning weeds, upon a mangy jade
unmeetly set, with a lewd fool called Disdain” (canto 6). Timias and
Serena, after quitting the hermit’s cell, meet her. Though so sorely
clad and mounted, the maiden was “a lady of great dignity and honor, but
scornful and proud.” Many a wretch did languish for her through a long
life. Being summoned to Cupid’s judgment hall, the sentence passed on
her was that she should “ride on a mangy jade, accompanied by a fool,
till she had saved as many lovers as she had slain” (canto 7). Mirabella
was also doomed to carry a leaky bottle, which she was to fill with
tears, and a torn wallet, which she was to fill with repentance: but her
tears and her repentance dropped out as fast as they were put in, and
were trampled under foot by Scorn (canto 8).--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_,
vi. 6-8 (1596).
⁂ “Mirabella” is supposed to be meant for Rosalind, who jilted Spenser,
and who is called by the poet “a widow’s daughter of the glen, and
poor.”
=Mir´amont=, brother of Justice Brisac, and uncle of the two brothers,
Charles (the scholar) and Eustace (the courtier). Miramont is an
ignorant, testy old man, but a great admirer of learning and
scholars.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Elder Brother_ (1637).
=Miran´da=, daughter of Prospero, the exiled duke of Milan, and niece of
Antonio, the usurping duke. She is brought up on a desert island, with
Ariel, the fairy spirit, and Cal´iban, the monster, as her only
companions. Ferdinand, son of the king of Naples, being shipwrecked on
the island, falls in love with her, and marries her.--Shakespeare, _The
Tempest_ (1609).
Identifying herself with the simple yet noble-minded Miranda in the
isle of wonder and enchantment.--Sir W. Scott.
_Miranda_, an heiress, the ward of Sir Francis Gripe. As she must obtain
his consent to her marriage before she could obtain possession of her
fortune, she pretended to love him, although he was 64 years old; and
the old fool believed it. When, therefore, Miranda asked his consent to
marry, he readily gave it, thinking himself to be the man of her choice;
but the sly little hussy laughed at her old guardian, and plighted her
troth to Sir George Airy, a man of 24.--Mrs. Centlivre, _The Busy Body_
(1709).
=Mir´ja=, one of the six Wise Men of the East, led by the guiding star to
Jesus. Mirja had five sons, who followed his holy life.--Klopstock, _The
Messiah_, v. (1771).
=Mirror= (_Alasnam’s_), a mirror which showed Alasnam if “a beautiful girl
was also chaste and virtuous.” The mirror was called “the touchstone of
virtue.”--_Arabian Nights_ (“Prince Zeyn Alasnam”).
_Mirror_ (_Cambuscan’s_), a mirror sent to Cambuscan´, king of Tartary,
by the king of Araby and Ind. It showed those who consulted it if any
adversity were about to befall them; if any one they loved were friend
or foe.--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ (“The Squire’s Tale,” unfinished.)
“Or call up him who left half-told,
The story of Cambuscan bold.
* * * * *
That owned the virtuous ring and glass.”
Milton, _Il Penseroso_.
_Mirror_ (_Kelly’s_), Dr. Dee’s speculum. Kelly was the doctor’s
speculator or seer. The speculum resembled a “piece of polished cannel
coal.”
Kelly did all his feats upon
The devil’s looking-glass, a stone.
S. Butler, _Hudibras_ (1663-78).
_Mirror_ (_Lao’s_), a looking-glass which reflected the mind as well as
the outward form.--Goldsmith, _Citizen of the World_, xlv. (1759).
_Mirror_ (_Merlin’s Magic_) or Venus’s looking-glass, fabricated in
South Wales, in the days of King Ryence. It would show to those that
looked therein anything which pertained to them, anything that a friend
or foe was doing. It was round like a sphere, and was given by Merlin to
King Ryence.
That never foe his kingdom might invade
But he it knew at home before he heard
Tidings thereof.
Britomart, who was King Ryence’s daughter and heiress, saw in the mirror
her future husband and also his name, which was Sir Artegal.--Spenser,
_Faëry Queen_, iii. 2 (1590).
_Mirror_ (_Prester John’s_), a mirror which possessed similar virtues to
that made by Merlin. Prester John could see therein whatever was taking
place in any part of his dominions.
⁂ Dr. Dee’s speculum was also spherical, and possessed a similar reputed
virtue.
_Mirror_ (_Reynard’s Wonderful_). This mirror existed only in the brain
of Master Fox. He told the queen lion that whoever looked therein could
see what was being done a mile off. The wood of the frame was part of
the same block out of which Crampart’s magic horse was made.--_Reynard
the Fox_, xii. (1498).
_Mirror_ (_Venus’s_), generally called “Venus’s looking-glass,” the same
as Merlin’s magic mirror (_q.v._).[TN-13]
_Mirror_ (_Vulcan’s_). Vulcan made a mirror which showed those who
looked into it the past, present, and future. Sir John Davies says that
Cupid handed this mirror to Antin´ous, when he was in the court of
Ulysses, and Antinous gave it to Penel´opê, who beheld therein the court
of Queen Elizabeth and all its grandeur.
Vulcan, the king of fire, that mirror wrought ...
As there did represent in lively show
Our glorious English court’s divine image
As it should be in this our golden age.
Sir John Davies, _Orchestra_ (1615).
=Mirror of King Ryence=, a mirror made by Merlin. It showed those who
looked into it whatever they wished to see.--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_,
iii. (1590).
=Mirror of Knighthood=, a romance of chivalry. It was one of the books in
Don Quixote’s library, and the curé said to the barber:
“In this same _Mirror of Knighthood_ we meet with Rinaldo de
Montalban and his companions, with the twelve peers of France, and
Turpin, the historian. These gentlemen we will condemn only to
perpetual exile, as they contain something of the famous Bojardo’s
invention, whence the Christian poet Ariosto borrowed the
groundwork of his ingenious compositions; to whom I should pay
little regard if he had not written in his own language
[_Italian_].”--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, I. i. 6 (1605).
=Mirror of all Martial Men=, Thomas, earl of Salisbury (died 1428).
=Mirrour for Magistraytes=, begun by Thomas Sackville, and intended to be
a poetical biography of remarkable Englishmen. Sackville wrote the
“Induction,” and furnished one of the sketches, that of Henry Stafford,
duke of Buckingham (the tool of Richard III.). Baldwynne, Ferrers,
Churchyard, Phair, etc., added others. Subsequently, John Higgins,
Richard Nichols, Thomas Blenerhasset, etc., supplied additional
characters; but Sackville alone stands out pre-eminent in merit. In the
“Induction,” Sackville tells us he was conducted by Sorrowe into the
infernal regions. At the porch sat Remorse and Dread, and within the
porch were Revenge, Miserie, Care, and Slepe. Passing on, he beheld Old
Age, Maladie, Famine, and Warre. Sorrowe then took him to Achĕron, and
ordered Charon to ferry them across. They passed the three-headed
Cerbĕrus and came to Pluto, where the poet saw several ghosts, the last
of all being the duke of Buckingham, whose “_complaynt_” finishes the
part written by Thomas Sackville (1557). (See BUCKINGHAM.)
⁂ Henry Stafford, duke of Buckingham, must not be mistaken for George
Villiers, duke of Buckingham 150 years later.
=Mirza= (_The Vision of_). Mirza, being at Grand Cairo on the fifth day of
the moon, which he always kept holy, ascended a high hill, and, falling
into a trance, beheld a vision of human life. First he saw a prodigious
tide of water rolling through a valley with a thick mist at each
end--this was the river of time. Over the river was a bridge of a
thousand arches, but only three score and ten were unbroken. By these,
men were crossing, the arches representing the number of years the
traveller lived before he tumbled into the river. Lastly, he saw the
happy valley, but when he asked to see the secrets hidden under the dark
clouds on the other side, the vision was ended, and he only beheld the
valley of Bagdad, with its oxen, sheep, and camels grazing on its
sides.--Addison, _Vision of Mirza_ (_Spectator_, 159).
=Misbegot= (_Malcolm_), natural son of Sybil Knockwinnock, and an ancestor
of Sir Arthur Wardour.--Sir W. Scott, _The Antiquary_ (time, George
III.).
=Miser= (_The_), a comedy by H. Fielding, a _réchauffé_ of Molière’s
comedy _L’Avare_. Lovegold is “Harpagon,” Frederick is “Cléante,”
Mariana is “Mariane,” and Ramilie is “La Fléche.” Lovegold, a man of 60,
and his son Frederick, both wish to marry Mariana, and, in order to
divert the old miser from his foolish passion, Mariana pretends to be
most extravagant. She orders a necklace and ear-rings of the value of
£3000, a petticoat and gown from a fabric which is £12 a yard, and
besets the house with duns. Lovegold gives £2000 to break off the
bargain, and Frederick becomes the bridegroom of Mariana.
=Misers.=--See _Dictionary of Phrase and Fable_.
=Misere´re= (_The_), sung on Good Fridays in Catholic churches, is the
composition of Gregorio Allegri, who died in 1640.
=Mishe-Mok´wa=, the great bear slain by Mudjekeewis.--Longfellow,
_Hiawatha_, ii. (1855).
=Mishe-Nah´ma=, the great sturgeon, “king of fishes,” subdued by Hiawatha.
With this labor, the “great teacher” taught the Indians how to make oil
for winter. When Hiawatha threw his line for the sturgeon, that king of
fishes first persuaded a pike to swallow the bait and try to break the
line, but Hiawatha threw it back into the water. Next, a sun-fish was
persuaded to try the bait, with the same result. Then the sturgeon, in
anger, swallowed Hiawatha and canoe also; but Hiawatha smote the heart
of the sturgeon with his fist, and the king of fishes swam to the shore
and died. Then the sea-gulls opened a rift in the dead body, out of
which Hiawatha made his escape.
“I have slain the Mishê-Nahma,
Slain the king of fishes” said he.
Longfellow, _Hiawatha_, vii. (1855).
=Misnar=, sultan of India, transformed by Ulin into a toad. “He[TN-14] was
disenchanted by the dervise Shemshel´nar, the most “pious worshipper of
Alla amongst all the sons of Asia.” By prudence and piety, Misnar and
his vizier, Horam, destroyed all the enchanters who filled India with
rebellion, and, having secured peace, married Hem´junah, daughter of
Zebenezer, sultan of Cassimir, to whom he had been betrothed when he was
known only as the prince of Georgia.--James Ridley, _Tales of the
Genii_, vi., vii. (1751).
=Misog´onus=, by Thomas Rychardes, the third English comedy (1560). It is
written in rhyming quatrains, and not in couplets like _Ralph Roister
Doister_ and _Gammer Gurton’s Needle_.
=Miss in Her Teens=, a farce by David Garrick (1753). Miss Biddy Bellair
is in love with Captain Loveit, who is known to her only by the name of
Rhodophil; but she coquets with Captain Flash and Mr. Fribble, while her
aunt wants her to marry an elderly man by the name of Stephen Loveit,
whom she detests. When the Captain returns from the wars, she sets
Captain Flash and Mr. Fribble together by the ears; and while they stand
fronting each other, but afraid to fight, Captain Loveit enters,
recognizes Flash as a deserter, takes away his sword, and dismisses
Fribble as beneath contempt.
=Mississippi Bubble=, the “South Sea scheme” of France, projected by John
Law, a Scotchman. So called because the projector was to have the
exclusive trade of Louisiana, on the banks of the Mississippi, on
condition of his taking on himself the National Debt (incorporated 1717,
failed 1720).
The debt was 208 millions sterling. Law made himself sole creditor of
this debt, and was allowed to issue ten times the amount in paper money,
and to open “the Royal Bank of France,” empowered to issue this paper
currency. So long as a 20-franc note was worth 20 francs, the scheme was
a prodigious success, but immediately the paper money was at a discount,
a run on the bank set in, and the whole scheme burst.
=Miss Ludington.= A beautiful girl changed by illness into “a sad and
faded woman.” She had a portrait painted from an ivory miniature of
herself, taken before the change, and conceives the idea that _what she
was once_ must still exist somewhere. The phantasy is played upon by
impostors, who undertake to materialize the fancied creature and
introduce her as the soul-sister of the credulous spinster. The
instrument of the audacious fraud becomes conscience stricken and
reveals it.--Edward Bellamy, _Miss Ludington’s Sister_ (1884).
=Mistletoe Bough= (_The_). The song so called is by Thomas Haynes Bayley,
who died 1839. The tale is this: Lord Lovel married a young lady, a
baron’s daughter, and on the wedding night the bride proposed that the
guest should play “hide-and-seek.” The bride hid in an old oak chest,
and the lid, falling down, shut her in, for it went with a spring-lock.
Lord Lovel sought her that night and sought next day, and so on for a
week, but nowhere could he find her. Some years later, the old chest was
sold, and, on being opened, was found to contain the skeleton of the
bride.
Rogers, in his _Italy_, gives the same story, and calls the lady
“Ginevra” of Modĕna.
Collet, in his _Relics of Literature_, has a similar story.
Another is inserted in the _Causes Célèbres_.
Marwell Old Hall (near Winchester), once the residence of the Seymours,
and afterwards of the Dacre family, has a similar tradition attached to
it, and “the very chest is said to be now the property of the Rev. J.
Haygarth, rector of Upham.”
Bramshall, Hampshire, has a similar tale and chest.
The great house at Malsanger, near Basingstoke, also in Hampshire, has a
similar tradition connected with it.
=Mi´ta=, sister of Aude. She married Sir Miton de Rennes, and became the
mother of Mitaine. (See next art.)--_Croquemitaine_, xv.
=Mitaine=, daughter of Mita and Miton, and godchild of Charlemagne. She
went in search of Fear Fortress, and found that it existed only in the
imagination, for as she boldly advanced towards it, the castle gradually
faded into thin air. Charlemagne made Mitaine, for this achievement,
Roland’s squire, and she fell with him in the memorable attack at
Roncesvallês. (See previous art.)--_Croquemitaine_, iii.
=Mite= (_Sir Matthew_), a returned East Indian merchant, dissolute,
dogmatical, ashamed of his former acquaintances, hating the aristocracy,
yet longing to be acknowledged by them. He squanders his wealth on
toadies, dresses his livery servants most gorgeously, and gives his
chairmen the most costly exotics to wear in their coats. Sir Matthew is
forever astonishing weak minds with his talk about rupees, lacs,
jaghires, and so on.--S. Foote, _The Nabob_.
=Mithra= or =Mithras=, a supreme divinity of the ancient Persians,
confounded by the Greeks and Romans with the _sun_. He is the
personification of Ormuzd, representing fecundity and perpetual
renovation. Mithra is represented as a young man with a Phrygian cap, a
tunic, a mantle on his left shoulder, and plunging a sword into the neck
of a bull. Scaliger says the word means “greatest” or “supreme.” Mithra
is the middle of the triplasian deity: the Mediator, Eternal Intellect,
and Architect of the world.
Her towers, where Mithra once had burned,
To Moslem shrines--oh shame!--were turned;
Where slaves, converted by the sword,
Their mean apostate worship poured,
And cursed the faith their sires adored.
Moore, _Lalla Rookh_ (“The Fire-Worshippers,” 1817).
=Mithridate= (3 _syl._), a medicinal confection, invented by Damoc´ratês,
physician to Mithrida´tês, king of Pontus, and supposed to be an
antidote to all poisons and contagion. It contained seventy-two
ingredients. Any panacea is called a “mithridate.”
Their kinsman garlic bring, the poor man’s mithridate.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xx. (1622).
_Mithridate_ (3 _syl._), a tragedy by Racine, (1673). “Monime” (2
_syl._), in this drama, was one of Mdlle. Rachel’s great characters.
=Mithrida´tes= (4 _syl._), surnamed “the Great.” Being conquered by the
Romans, he tried to poison himself, but poison had no effect on him, and
he was slain by a Gaul. Mithridatês was active, intrepid, indefatigable,
and fruitful in resources; but he had to oppose such generals as Sulla,
Lucullus, and Pompey. His ferocity was unbounded, his perfidy was even
grand.
⁂ Racine has written a French tragedy on the subject, called _Mithridate_
(1673); and N. Lee brought out his _Mithridatês_ in English about the
same time.
=Mixit= (_Dr._), the apothecary at the Black Bear inn at Darlington.--Sir
W. Scott, _Rob Roy_ (time, George I.).
=M’liss=, brave, arch, and loving girl of the Wild West; the heroine of
one of Bret Harte’s most popular sketches.
=M. M. Sketch= (_An_), a memorandum sketch.
=Mne´me= (2 _syl._), a well-spring of Bœo´tia, which quickens the memory.
The other well-spring in the same vicinity, called _Lê´thê_, has the
opposite effect, causing blank forgetfulness.--Pliny.
Dantê calls this river Eu´noê. It had the power of calling to the memory
all the good acts done, all the graces bestowed, all the mercies
received, but no evil.--Dantê, _Purgatory_, xxxiii. (1308).
=Mo´ath=, a well-to-do Bedouin, father of Onei´za (3 _syl._), the beloved
of Thalaba. Oneiza, having married Thalaba, died on the bridal night,
and Moath arrived just in time to witness the mad grief of his
son-in-law.--Southey, _Thalaba, the Destroyer_, ii., viii. (1798).
=Mocca´sins=, an Indian buskin.
He laced his moccasins [_sic_] in act to go.
Campbell, _Gertrude of Wyoming_, i. 24 (1809).
=Mochingo=, an ignorant servant of the Princess Ero´ta.--Beaumont and
Fletcher, _The Laws of Candy_ (1647).
=Mock Doctor= (_The_), a farce by H. Fielding (1733), epitomized from _Le
Médecin Malgré Lui_, of Molière (1666). Sir Jasper wants to make his
daughter marry a Mr. Dapper; but she is in love with Leander and
pretends to be dumb. Sir Jasper hears of a dumb doctor, and sends his
two flunkies to fetch him. They ask one Dorcas to direct them to him,
and she points them to her husband, Gregory, a faggot-maker; but tells
them he is very eccentric, and must be well beaten, or he will deny
being a physician. The faggot-maker is accordingly beaten into
compliance, and taken to the patient. He soon learns the facts of the
case, and employs Leander as apothecary. Leander makes the lady speak,
and completes his cure with “pills matrimoniac.” Sir Jasper takes the
joke in good part, and becomes reconciled to the alliance.
=Mocking-Bird.= “During the space of a minute, I have heard it imitate the
woodlark, chaffinch, blackbird, thrush, and sparrow.... Their few
natural notes resemble those of the nightingale, but their song is of
greater compass and more varied.”--Ashe, _Travels in America_, ii. 73.
=Moclas=, a famous Arabian robber, whose name is synonymous with “thief.”
(See ALMANZOR, the caliph.)
=Mode= (_Sir William_), in Mrs. Centlivre’s drama, _The Beaux’ Duel_
(1703).
=Mode´love= (_Sir Philip_), one of the four guardians of Anne Lovely, the
heiress. Sir Philip is an “old beau, that has May in his fancy and
dress, but December in his face and his heels. He admires all new
fashions ... loves operas, balls, and masquerades” (act i. 1). Colonel
Freeman personates a French fop, and obtains his consent to marry his
ward, the heiress.--Mrs. Centlivre, _A Bold Stroke for a Wife_ (1717).
=Modely=, a man of the world, gay, fashionable, and a libertine. He had
scores of “lovers,” but never loved till he saw the little rustic lass
named Aura Freehold, a farmer’s daughter, to whom he proposed
matrimony.--John Philip Kemble, _The Farm-house_.
=Modish= (_Lady Betty_), really in love with Lord Morelove, but treats him
with assumed scorn or indifference, because her pride prefers “power to
ease.” Hence she coquets with Lord Foppington (a married man), to
mortify Morelove and arouse his jealousy. By the advice of Sir Charles
Easy, Lord Morelove pays her out in her own coin, by flirting with Lady
Graveairs, and assuming an air of indifference. Ultimately, Lady Betty
is reduced to common sense, and gives her heart and hand to Lord
Morelove.--Colley Cibber, _The Careless Husband_ (1704).
=Modo=, the fiend that urges to murder, and one of the five that possessed
“poor Tom.”--Shakespeare, _King Lear_, act iv. sc. 1 (1605).
=Modred=, son of Lot, king of Norway, and Anne, own sister of King Arthur
(pt. viii. 21; ix. 9). He is always called “the traitor.” While King
Arthur was absent, warring with the Romans, Modred was left regent, but
usurped the crown, and married his aunt, the queen (pt. x. 13). When
Arthur heard thereof, he returned, and attacked the usurper, who fled to
Winchester (pt. xi. 1). The king followed him, and Modred drew up his
army at Cambula, in Cornwall, where another battle was fought. In this
engagement Modred was slain, and Arthur also received his death-wound
(pt. xi. 2). The queen, called Guanhuma´ra (but better known as
Guen´evere), retired to a convent in the City of Legions, and entered
the order of Julius the Martyr (pt. xi. 1).--Geoffrey, _British History_
(1142).
⁂ This is so very different from the accounts given in Arthurian romance
of Mordred, that it is better to give the two names as if they were
different individuals.
_Modred_ (_Sir_), nephew of King Arthur. He hated Sir Lancelot, and
sowed discord among the knights of the Round Table. Tennyson says that
Modred “tampered with the lords of the White Horse,” the brood that
Hengist left. Geoffrey of Monmouth says, he made a league with Cheldric,
the Saxon leader in Germany, and promised to give him all that part of
England which lies between the Humber and Scotland, together with all
that Hengist and Horsa held in Kent, if he would aid him against King
Arthur. Accordingly, Cheldric came over with 800 ships, filled “with
pagan soldiers” (_British History_, xi. 1).
When the king was in Brittany, whither he had gone to chastise Sir
Lancelot for adultery with the queen, he left Sir Modred regent, and Sir
Modred raised a revolt. The king returned, drew up his army against the
traitor, and in this “great battle of the West” Modred was slain and
Arthur received his death-wound.--Tennyson, _Idylls of the King_
(“Guinevere,” 1858).
⁂ This version is in accordance neither with Geoffrey of Monmouth (see
previous art.), nor with Arthurian romance (see MORDRED), and is,
therefore, given separately.
=Modu=, the prince of all devils that take possession of a human being.
_Mado_ was the chief devil that had possession of Sarah Williams;
but ... Richard Mainy was molested by a still more considerable
fiend called _Modu_, ... the prince of all other devils.--Harsnett;
_Declaration of Popish Impostures_, 268.
=Modus=, cousin of Helen; a “musty library, who loved Greek and Latin;”
but cousin Helen loved the bookworm, and taught him how to love far
better than Ovid could with his _Art of Love_. Having so good a teacher,
Modus became an apt scholar, and eloped with Cousin Helen.--S. Knowles,
_The Hunchback_ (1831).
=Mϫchus=, adultery personified; one of four sons of Caro (_fleshly
lust_). His brothers were Pornei´us (_fornication_), Acath´arus and
Asel´gês (_lasciviousness_). In the battle of Mansoul, Mœchus is slain
by Agnei´a (_wifely chastity_), the spouse of Encra´tês (_temperance_)
and sister of Parthen´ia (_maidenly chastity_). (Greek, _moichos_ “an
adulterer.”)--Phineas Fletcher, _The Purple Island_, xi. (1633).
=Mœli´ades= (4 _syl._). Under this name William Drummond signalized Henry,
prince of Wales, eldest son of James I., in the monody entitled _Tears
on the Death of Mœliadës_. The word is an anagram of _Milês a Deo_. The
prince, in his masquerades and martial sports, used to call himself
“Mœliadês of the Isles.”
Mœliadês, bright day-star of the West.
W. Drummond, _Tears on the Death of Mœliades_ (1612).
The burden of the monody is:
Mœliadês sweet courtly nymphs deplore,
From Thulê to Hydaspês’ pearly shore.
=Moffat= (_Mabel_), domestic of Edward Redgauntlet.--Sir W. Scott,
_Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.).
=Mogg Megone.= Indian sachem who, at the behest of a white girl, kills her
betrayer, and brings his scalp to her. In the storm of anguished remorse
awakened by the sight of the bloody trophy, the woman murders Megone in
his sleep, and is henceforth banned by the church, driven by conscience,
a miserable wanderer upon the earth.--John Greenleaf Whittier, _Mogg
Megone_.
=Moha´di= (_Mahommed_), the twelfth imaum, whom the Orientals believe is
not dead, but is destined to return and combat Antichrist before the
consummation of all things.
⁂ Prince Arthur, Merlin, Charlemagne, Barbarossa, Dom Sebastian, Charles
V., Elijah Mansur, Desmond of Kilmallock, etc., are traditionally not
dead, but only sleeping till the fullness of time, when each will awake
and effect most wondrous restorations.
=Mohair= (_The Men of_), the citizens of France.
The men of mohair, as the citizens were called.--_Asylum Christi_,
viii.
=Moha´reb=, one of the evil spirits of Dom-Daniel, a cave “under the roots
of the ocean.” It was given out that these spirits would be extirpated
by one of the family of Hodei´rah (3 _syl._), so they leagued against
the whole race. First, Okba was sent against the obnoxious race, and
succeeeded[TN-15] in killing eight of them, Thalaba alone having escaped
alive. Next, Abaldar was sent against Thalaba, but was killed by a
simoom. Then Loba´ba was sent to cut him off, but perished in a
whirlwind. Lastly, Mohareb undertook to destroy him. He assumed the
guise of a warrior, and succeeded in alluring the youth to the very
“mouth of hell;” but Thalaba, being alive to the deceit, flung Mohareb
into the abyss.--Southey, _Thalaba, the Destroyer_, v. (1797).
=Mohicans= (_Last of the_), Uncas, the Indian chief, son of Chingachook,
and called “Deerfoot.”--J. F. Cooper, _The Last of the Mohicans_ (a
novel, 1826).
The word ought to be pronounced _Mo.hek´.kanz_, but is usually called
_Mo.hĕ.kanz_.
=Mohocks=, a class of ruffians who at one time infested the streets of
London. So called from the Indian Mohocks. At the Restoration, the
street bullies were called Muns and Tityre Tus; they were next called
Hectors and Scourers; later still, Nickers and Hawcabites; and lastly,
Mohocks.
Now is the time that rakes their revels keep,
Kindlers of riot, enemies of sleep;
His scattered pence the flying Nicker flings,
And with the copper shower the casement rings;
Who has not heard the Scowerer’s midnight fame?
Who has not trembled at the Mohock’s name?
Gay, _Trivia_, iii. 321, etc. (1712).
=Mohun= (_Lord_), the person who joined Captain Hill in a dastardly attack
on the actor, Mountford, on his way to Mrs. Bracegirdle’s house, in
Howard Street. Captain Hill was jealous of Mountford, and induced Lord
Mohun to join him in this “valiant exploit.” Mountford died next day,
Captain Hill fled from the country, and Mohun was tried but acquitted.
The general features of this cowardly attack are very like that of the
Count Koningsmark on Thomas Thynne of Lingleate Hill. Count Koningsmark
was in love with Elizabeth Percy (widow of the earl of Ogle), who was
contracted to Mr. Thynne; but before the wedding day arrived, the count,
with some hired ruffians, assassinated his rival in his carriage as it
was passing down Pall Mall.
⁂ Elizabeth Percy, within three months of the murder, married the duke
of Somerset.
=Moidart= (_John of_), captain of the clan Ronald, and a chief in the army
of Montrose.--Sir W. Scott, _Legend of Montrose_, (time, Charles I.).
=Moi´na= (2 _syl._), daughter of Reutha´mir, the principal man of
Balclu´tha, a town on the Clyde, belonging to the Britons. Moina married
Clessammor (the maternal uncle of Fingal), and died in childbirth of her
son Carthon, during the absence of her husband.--Ossian, _Carthon_.
=Mokanna=, the name given to Hakem ben Haschem, from a silver gauze veil
worn by him “to dim the lustre of his face,” or rather to hide its
extreme ugliness. The history of this impostor is given by D’Herbelot,
_Bibliothèque Orientale_ (1697).
⁂ Mokanna forms the first story of _Lalla Rookh_ (“The Veiled Prophet of
Khorassan”), by Thomas Moore (1817).
=Mokattam= (_Mount_), near Cairo (Egypt), noted for the massacre of the
Caliph Hakem B’amr-ellah, who was given out to be incarnate deity, and
the last prophet who communicated between God and man (eleventh
century). Here, also;[TN-16] fell in the same massacre his chief prophet,
and many of his followers. In consequence of this persecution, Durzi,
one of the “prophet’s” chief apostles, led the survivors into Syria,
where they settled between the Libanus and Anti-Libanus, and took the
name of Durzis, corrupted into Druses.
As the khalif vanished erst,
In what seemed death to uninstructed eyes,
On red Mokattam’s verge.
Robert Browning, _The Return of the Druses_, i.
=Molay= (_Jacques_), grand-master of the Knights Templar, as he was led to
the stake, summoned the pope (Clement V.), within forty days, and the
king (Philippe IV.), within forty weeks, to appear before the throne of
God to answer for his death. They both died within the stated periods.
(See SUMMONS TO DEATH.)
=Molière= (_The Italian_), Charlo Goldoni (1707-1793).
_Molière_ (_The Spanish_), Leandro Fernandez Moratin (1760-1828).
=Moll Cutpurse=, Mary Frith, who once attacked General Fairfax on
Hounslow Heath.
=Moll Flanders=, a woman of great beauty, born in the Old Bailey. She was
twelve years a courtezan, five years a wife, twelve years a thief, eight
years a convict in Virginia; but ultimately grew rich, and died a
penitent in the reign of Charles II.
⁂ Daniel Defoe wrote her life and adventures, which he called _The
Fortunes of Moll Flanders_ (1722).
=Molly=, Jaggers’s housekeeper. A mysterious, scared-looking woman, with a
deep scar across one of her wrists. Her antecedents were full of
mystery, and Pip suspected her of being Estella’s mother.--C. Dickens,
_Great Expectations_ (1860).
=Molly Maggs=, a pert young housemaid, in love with Robin. She hates
Polyglot, the tutor of “Master Charles,” but is very fond of Charles.
Molly tries to get “the tuterer Polypot” into a scrape, but finds, to
her consternation, that Master Charles is in reality the party to be
blamed.--J. Poole, _The Scapegoat_.
=Molly Maguires=, stout, active young men, dressed up in women’s clothes,
with faces blackened, or otherwise disguised. This secret society was
organized in 1843, to terrify the officials employed by Irish landlords
to distrain for rent, either by grippers, (_bumbailiffs_),
process-servers, keepers, or drivers (_persons who impound cattle till
the rent is paid_.[TN-17]--W. S. Trench, _Realities of Irish Life_, 82.
=Molly Mog=, an innkeeper’s daughter at Oakingham, Berks. Molly Mog was
the toast of all the gay sparks in the former half of the eighteenth
century; but died a spinster at the age of 67 (1699-1766).
⁂ Gay has a ballad on this _Fair Maid of the Inn_. Mr. Standen, of
Arborfield, the “enamoured swain,” died in 1730. Molly’s sister was
quite as beautiful as “the fair maid” herself. A portrait of Gay still
hangs in Oakingham Inn.
=Molly Wilder=, New England girl, who shelters and cares for a young
French nobleman wrecked on the Cape Cod coast. A love affair and a
clandestine marriage follow. The marriage is acknowledged when peace is
established between the French and English.--Jane G. Austin, _A Nameless
Nobleman_ (1881).
=Molmu´tius.= (See MULMUTIUS.)
=Moloch= (_ch = k_), the third in rank of the Satanic hierarchy, Satan
being first, and Beëlzebub second. The word means “king.” The rabbins
say the idol was of brass, with the head of a calf. Moloch was the god
of the Am´monites (3 _syl._), and was worshipped in Rabba, their chief
city.
First Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood
Of human sacrifice, and parents’ tears,
Though, for the noise of drums and timbrels loud,
Their children’s cries unheard, that passed thro’ fire
To his grim idol. Him the Ammonite
Worshipped in Rabba.
Milton, _Paradise Lost_, i. 392, etc. (1665).
=Mo´ly= (Greek, _môlu_), mentioned in Homer’s _Odyssey_. An herb with a
black root and white blossom, given by Hermês to Ulysses, to counteract
the spells of Circê, (See HÆMONY.)
... that Mō´ly
That Hermês once to wise Ulysses gave.
Milton, _Comus_ (1634).
The root was black,
Milk-white the blossom; Môly is its name
In heaven.
Homer, _Odyssey_, x. (Cowper’s trans.).
=Momus’s Lattice.= Momus, son of Nox, blamed Vulcan, because, in making
the human form, he had not placed a window in the breast for the
discerning of secret thoughts.
Were Momus’ lattice in our breasts,
My soul might brook to open it more widely
Than theirs [i. e. _the nobles_].
Byron, _Werner_, iii., 1 (1822).
=Mon= or =Mona=, Anglesia, the residence of the Druids. Suetonius
Paulīnus, who had the command of Britain in the reign of Nero (from A.D.
59 to 62), attacked Mona, because it gave succor to the rebellious. The
frantic inhabitants ran about with fire-brands, their long hair
streaming to the wind, and the Druids invoked vengeance on the Roman
army.--See Drayton, _Polyolbion_, viii. (1612).
=Mon´aco= (_The king of_), noted because whatever he did was never right
in the opinion of his people, especially in that of Rabagas, the
demagogue: If he went out, he was “given to pleasure;” if he stayed at
home, he was “given to idleness;” if he declared war, he was “wasteful
of the public money;” if he did not, he was “pusillanimous;” if he ate,
he was “self-indulgent;” if he abstained, he was “priest-ridden.”--M.
Sardou, _Rabagas_ (1872).
_Monaco._ _Proud as a Monegasque._ A French phrase. The tradition is
that Charles Quint ennobled every one of the inhabitants of Monaco.
=Monaldini= (_Signor_), rich, _bourgeois_ citizen of Rome, who purchases,
fits up and lets to desirable tenants an old palace.--Mary Agnes
Tincker, _Signor Monaldini’s Niece_ (1879).
=Monarch of Mont Blanc=, Albert Smith; so-called, because for many years
he amused a large London audience, night after night, by relating “his
ascent of Mont Blanc” (1816-1860).
=Monarque= (_Le Grand_), Louis XIV., of France (1638, 1643-1715).
=Monastery= (_The_), a novel by Sir W. Scott (1820). _The Abbot_ appeared
the same year. These two stories are tame and very defective in plot;
but the character of Mary queen of Scots, in _The Abbot_, is a correct
and beautiful historical portrait. The portrait of Queen Elizabeth is in
_Kenilworth_.
=Monçada= (_Matthias de_), a merchant, stern and relentless. He arrests
his daughter the day after her confinement of a natural son.
_Zilia de Monçada_, daughter of Matthias, and wife of General
Witherington.--Sir W. Scott, _The Surgeon’s Daughter_, (time, George
II.).
=Monda´min=, maize or Indian corn (_mon-da-min_, “the Spirit’s grain”).
Sing the mysteries of mondamin,
Sing the blessing of the corn-fields.
Longfellow, _Hiawatha_, xiii. (1855).
=Mone´ses= (3 _syl._), a Greek prince, betrothed to Arpasia, whom for the
nonce he called his sister. Both were taken captive by Baj´azet. Bajazet
fell in love with Arpasia, and gave Monēsês a command in his army. When
Tamerlane overthrew Bajazet, Monēsês explained to the Tartar king how it
was that he was found in arms against him, and said his best wish was to
serve Tamerlane. Bajazet now hated the Greek, and, as Arpasia proved
obdurate, thought to frighten her into compliance by having Monēsês
bow-strung in her presence; but the sight was so terrible that it killed
her.--N. Rowe, _Tamerlane_ (1702).
=Money=, a drama by Lord E. L. B. Lytton (1840). Alfred Evelyn, a poor
scholar, was secretary and factotum of Sir John Vesey, but received no
wages. He loved Clara Douglas, a poor dependent of Lady Franklin;
proposed to her, but was not accepted, “because both were too poor to
keep house.” A large fortune being left to the poor scholar, he proposed
to Georgina, the daughter of Sir John Vesey; but Georgina loved Sir
Frederick Blount, and married him. Evelyn, who loved Clara, pretended to
have lost his fortune, and, being satisfied that she really loved him,
proposed a second time, and was accepted.
=Moneytrap=, husband of Araminta, but with a _tendresse_ for Clarissa, the
wife of his friend Gripe.--Sir John Vanbrugh, _The Confederacy_ (1695).
=Monflathers= (_Miss_), mistress of a boarding and day establishment, to
whom Mrs. Jarley sent little Nell, to ask her to patronize the wax-work
collection. Miss Monflathers received the child with frigid virtue, and
said to her, “Don’t you think you must be very wicked to be a wax-work
child? Don’t you know it is very naughty to be a wax child when you
might have the proud consciousness of assisting, to the extent of your
infant powers, the noble manufacturers of your country?” One of the
teachers here chimed in with “How doth the little--;” but Miss
Monflathers remarked, with an indignant frown, that “the little busy
bee” applied only to genteel children, and the “works of labor and of
skill” to painting and embroidery, not to vulgar children and wax-work
shows.”[TN-18]--Charles Dickens, _The Old Curiosity Shop_, xxxi. (1840).
=Monford=, the lover of Charlotte Whimsey. He plans various devices to
hoodwink her old father, in order to elope with the daughter.--James
Cobb, _The First Floor_ (1756-1818).
=Monime= (2 _syl._), in Racine’s tragedy of _Mithridate_. This was one of
Mdlle. Rachel’s great characters, first preformed[TN-19] by her in 1838.
=Monim´ia=, “the orphan,” sister of Chamont, and ward of Lord Acasto.
Monimia was in love with Acasto’s son, Castalio, and privately married
him. Polydore (the brother of Castalio) also loved her, but his love was
dishonorable love. By treachery, Polydore obtained admission to
Monimia’s chamber, and passed the bridal night with her, Monimia
supposing him to be her husband; but when the next day she discovered
the deceit, she poisoned herself; and Polydore, being apprised that
Monimia was his brother’s wife, provoked a quarrel with him, ran on his
brother’s sword, and died.--Otway, _The Orphan_ (1680).
More tears have been shed for the sorrows of “Belvidēra” and
“Monimia,” than for those of “Juliet” and “Desdemona.”--Sir W.
Scott, _The Drama_.
_Monimia_, in Smollett’s novel of _Count Fathom_ (1754).
=Moniplies= (_Richie_), the honest, self-willed Scotch servant of Lord
Nigel Olifaunt, of Glenverloch.--Sir W. Scott, _Fortunes of Nigel_
(time, James I.).
=Monk= (_General_), introduced by Sir Walter Scott in _Woodstock_ (time,
Commonwealth.[TN-20]
_Monk_ (_The Bird Singing to a_). The monk is Felix, who listened to a
bird for a hundred years, and thought the time only an hour.--Longfellow,
_The Golden Legend_, ii. (1851).
_Monk_ (_The_), a novel, by Sir Matthew G. Lewis (1794).
=Monk Lewis.= Matthew Gregory Lewis; so called from his novel (1773-1818).
=Monk of Bury=, John Lydgate, poet, who wrote the _Siege of Troy_, the
_Story of Thebes_, and the _Fall of Princes_ (1375-1460).
Nothynge I am experte in poetry,
As the monke of Bury, floure of eloquence.
Stephen Hawes, _The Passe-Tyme[TN-21] of Plesure_ (1515).
=Monk of Westminister=, Richard, of Cirencester, the chronicler
(fourteenth century).
This chronicle, _On the Ancient State of Britain_, was first brought to
light in 1747, by Dr. Charles Julius Bertram, professor of English at
Copenhagen; but the original being no better known than that of Thomas
Rowley’s poems, published by Chatterton, grave suspicions exist that Dr.
Bertram was himself the author of the chronicles.
=Monks= (_The Father of_), Ethelwold, of Winchester (*-984).
_Monks_, _alias_ Edward Leeford, a violent man, subject to fits. Edward
Leeford, though half-brother to Oliver Twist, was in collusion with Bill
Sykes, to ruin him. Failing in this, he retired to America, and died in
jail.--C. Dickens, _Oliver Twist_ (1837).
=Monkbarns= (_Laird of_), Mr Jonathan Oldbuck, the antiquary.--Sir W.
Scott, _The Antiquary_ (time, George III.).
=Mon´ker and Nakir= [_Na.keer´_], the two examiners of the dead, who put
questions to departed spirits respecting their belief in God and
Mahomet, and award their state in after-life according to their
answers.--_Al Korân._
“Do you not see those spectres that are stirring the burning coals?
Are they Monker and Nakir come to throw us into them?”--W.
Beckford, _Vathek_ (1786).