vii. Christ is brought before Pilate; Judas hangs himself; Pilate sends

Jesus to Herod, but Herod sends Him again to Pilate, who delivers Him to the Jews. Bk. viii. Christ nailed to the cross. Bk. ix. Christ on the cross. Bk. x. The Death of Christ. Bk. xi. The vail[TN-10] of the Temple rent, and the resurrection of many from their graves. Bk. xii. The burial of the body, and death of Mary, the sister of Lazarus. Bk. xiii. The resurrection and suicide of Philo. Bk. xiv. Jesus shows Himself to His disciples. Bk. xv. Many of those who had risen from their graves show themselves to others. Conclusion.

_Messiah_, an oratorio by Handel (1749). The liberetto was by Charles Jennens, nicknamed “Soliman the Magnificent.”

=Metanoi´a=, Repentance personified, by William Browne, in _Britannia’s Pastorals_, v. (Greek, _mĕtanoia_, “repentance”.)

Faire Metanoia is attending To croune thee with those joys that know no ending.

_Pastorals_, v. 1 (1613).

=Metasta´sio.= The real name of this Italian poet was Trapassi (_death_). He was brought up by Gravina, who Grecized the name (1698-1782).

⁂ So “Melancthon” is the Greek form of _Schwarzerdê_ (“black earth”); “Œcolampadius” is the Greek form of the German name _Hausschein_; “Desiderius Erasmus” is _Gheraerd Gheraerd_ (the first “Gheraerd” is Latinized into _Desiderius_, and the latter is Grecized into _Erasmus_).

=Meth´os=, drunkenness personified. He is twin-brother of Gluttony, their mother being Caro (_fleshly lust_). In the battle of Mansoul, Methos is slain by Agnei´a (_wifely chastity_) spouse of Eucra´tês (_temperance_), and sister of Parthen´ia (_maiden chastity_). (Greek, _methê_ or _methŭs_ is “drunkenness.”)--Phineas Fletcher, _The Purple Island_, vii., xi. (1633).

=Met´ophis=, the corrupt chief minister of Sesostris.

Il avait l’ame aussi corrumpue et aussi artificieuse que Sesostris était sincère et généreux.--Fénelon, _Télémaque_ (1700).

=Mexit´li=, chief god and idol of the Az´tecas. He leaped full-grown into life, and with a spear slew those who mocked his mother, Coatlan´tona (4 _syl._).

Already at [_his mother’s breast_] the blow was aimed, When forth Mexitli leapt, and in his hand The angry spear.

Southey, _Madoc_, ii. 21 (1805).

⁂ Of course, it will be remembered that Minerva, like Mexitli, was born full-grown and fully armed.

=Mezen´tius=, king of the Tyrrhenians, who put criminals to death by tying them face to face with dead bodies.--Virgil, _Æneid_, viii. 485.

=Mezzora´mia=, an earthly paradise in Africa, accessible by only one road. Gaudentio di Lucca discovered the road, and lived at Mezzoramia for twenty-five years.--Simon Berington, _Gaudentio di Lucca_.

=M. F. H.=, Master [_of the_] Fox-hounds.

=Micaw´ber= (_Mr. Wilkins_), a most unpractical, half-clever man, a great speechifier, letter writer, projector of bubble schemes, and, though confident of success, never succeeding. Having failed in everything in the old country, he migrated to Australia, and became a magistrate at Middlebay.--C. Dickens, _David Copperfield_ (1849).

⁂ This truly amiable, erratic genius is a portrait of Dickens’s own father, “David Copperfield” being Dickens, and “Mrs. Nickleby” (one can hardly believe it) is said to be Dickens’s mother.

=Mi´chael= (2 _syl._), the special protector and guardian of the Jews. This archangel is messenger of peace and plenty.--Sale’s _Korân_, ii. notes.

⁂ That Michael was really the protector and guardian angel of the Jews we know from _Dan._ x. 13, 21; xii. 1.

Milton makes Michael the leader of the heavenly host in the war in heaven. The word means “God’s power.” Gabriel was next in command to the archangel Michael.

Go, Michael, of celestial armies prince

_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.