Part 202

=Lady of Lyons, The.=--A drama, by Lord Lytton, in which Pauline Deschappelles, daughter of a Lyonese merchant, rejects the suits of Beauseant, Glavis, and Claude Melnotte, who therefore combined. Claude, who was a gardener’s son, aided by the other two, passed himself off as Prince Como, married Pauline, and brought her home to his mother’s cottage. The proud beauty was very indignant, and Claude left her to join the French army. He became a colonel, and returned to Lyons. He found his father-in-law on the eve of bankruptcy, and that Beauseant had promised to satisfy the creditors if Pauline would consent to marry him. Pauline was heartbroken; Claude revealed himself, paid the money required, and carried home the bride.

=Lady of Shalott, The.=--A poem by Alfred Tennyson, founded on an incident in _King Arthur_. It is descriptive of “a being whose existence passes without emotion, without changes, without intelligible motive for living on, without hope or fear, here or hereafter.”

=Lady of the Lake, The.=--A poem in six cantos by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1810. “Measured even by the standard of the _Minstrel_ and _Marmion_, the _Lady of the Lake_ possessed,” says Palgrave, “merits of its own, which raised his reputation still higher. Jeffrey’s prediction has been perfectly fulfilled, that the _Lady of the Lake_ would be ‘oftener read than either of the former,’ and it is generally acknowledged to be, in Lockhart’s words, ‘the most interesting, romantic, picturesque, and graceful of his great poems.’” The descriptions of scenery, which form one of the chief charms of the poem, render it, even now, one of the most minute and faithful handbooks to the region in which the drama of Ellen and the Knight of Snowdon is laid.

=Lake Poets, The.=--Wordsworth, Southey, and Coleridge, who lived about the lakes of Cumberland.

=Lalla Rookh= (_lal´ä rök_).--An oriental romance by Thomas Moore, consisting of four tales in verse, entitled _The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan_, _Paradise and the Peri_, _The Fire-Worshipers_, and _The Light of the Harem_, and connected by a short prose narrative, in which it is described how Lalla Rookh, daughter of the Emperor Aurungzebe, journeys toward Bucharia to meet her engaged husband, and how the prince gains her love on the way, in the guise of a Cashmerian minstrel. _Lalla Rookh_ was published in 1817.

=L’Allegro= (_läl-lā´grō_).--A descriptive poem by John Milton, probably written during his college life.

=L’Amour Médecin= (_la-mōōr´ mād-sa_N´) (or, _The Love Doctor_).--A comedy by Molière, written about the year 1665. Lucinde, the daughter of Sganarelle, is in love, and the father calls in four doctors to consult upon the nature of her malady. They see the patient, and retire to consult together, but talk about Paris, about their visits, about the topics of the day; and when the father enters to know what opinion they have formed, they all prescribe different remedies, and pronounce different opinions. Lisette then calls in a “quack” doctor (Clitandre, the lover), who says he must act on the imagination, and proposes a seeming marriage, to which Sganarelle assents. The assistant being a notary, Clitandre and Lucinde are married.

=Lampoon.=--A personal satire, often bitter and malignant. These libels, carried to excess in the reign of Charles II., acquired the name of lampoons from the burden sung to them: “_Lampone, lampone, camerada lampone_.”

=Land of Beulah.=--The paradise in which souls wait before the resurrection. In _Pilgrim’s Progress_ the land from which the pilgrims enter the Celestial City. The name is found in Isaiah lxii., 4.

=Land of Bondage.=--Name given to Egypt in the Bible.

=Land of Cakes.=--A name sometimes given to Scotland, because oatmeal cakes are a common national article of food, particularly among the poorer classes.

=Land of Nod.=--In common speech sleepy-land or land of dreams.

=Land of Promise.=--The land promised to Abraham--Canaan.

=Land of Shadows.=--A place of unreality, sometimes meaning land of ghosts.

=Land o’ the Leal.=--An unknown land of happiness, loyalty, and virtue. Caroline Oliphant, baroness Nairne, meant heaven in her song and this is now its accepted meaning.

=Land of Wisdom.=--A name given to Normandy, in France, because of the wise customs which have prevailed there, and also because of the skill and judgment of the people in making laws.

=Land of Veda= (_vē´dä_).--Name often given to India.

=Landlady’s Daughter.=--She rowed Flemming “over the Rhine-stream, rapid and roaring wide,” and told to him the story of the _Liebenstein_.

=Last Days of Pompeii= (_pom-pā´yē_), =The.=--A novel by Bulwer Lytton, Edward George, Baron Lytton, which was published in 1834. The interest of the book is one of situation and of action rather than of character. The scenes which linger on our memories longest are the noonday excursion on the Campanian seas, the temple of Isis, with its hidden machinery; the funeral pomp and dirge of the murdered Apæcides, Lydon perishing in the unequal struggle; the price which was to have been paid for a father’s liberty; and lastly, the grand catastrophe, a subject which called forth all Lord Lytton’s brilliant powers.

=Last of the Mohicans.=--The Indian chief Uncas is so called by Cooper in his novel of that title.

=Launfal= (_län´fal_), =Sir.=--Steward of King Arthur. James Russell Lowell has a poem entitled _The Vision of Sir Launfal_.

=Lavaine.=--Son of the lord of Astolat, who accompanied Sir Lancelot when he went to tilt for the ninth diamond. Lavaine is described as young, brave, and a true knight. He was brother to Elaine.

=Lavinia= (_la-vin´i-ä_) =and Palemon.=--Lavinia was the daughter of Acasto, patron of Palemon. Through Acasto Palemon gained a fortune and wandered away from his friend. Acasto lost his property, and dying, left a widow and daughter in poverty. Palemon often sought them, but could never find them. One day, a lovely modest maiden came to glean in Palemon’s fields. The young squire was greatly struck with her exceeding beauty and modesty, but she was known as a pauper and he dared not give her more than a passing glance. Upon inquiry he found that the beautiful gleaner was the daughter of Acasto; he proposed marriage, and Lavinia was restored to her rightful place.

=Leonato= (_lē-ō-nä´tō_).--Governor of Missina in Shakespeare’s _Much Ado About Nothing_. He prematurely accredited the accusations against his daughter, Hero.

=Leonine= (_lē´ō-nīn_).--In Shakespeare’s _Pericles_. Servant to Dionyza. The latter conspired with him to murder Marina, and was saved from the crime only by the intervention of pirates.

=Léonore= (_lā-ō-nōr´_).--In Molière’s _L’ecole des Maris_, sister of Isabelle, an orphan; brought up by Ariste according to his notions of training a girl to make him a good wife. He put her on her honor, tried to win her confidence and love, gave her all the liberty consistent with propriety and social etiquette, and found that she loved him, and made a fond and faithful wife.

=Leviathan= (_lē-vi´a-than_) (or, the _Matter, Form, and Power of a Commonwealth, Ecclesiastical and Civil_).--A work by Thomas Hobbes, published in 1651. In _Leviathan_, Hobbes’ peculiar theories in politics received their fullest and ablest expression. They found an illustrious opponent in Lord Clarendon, who, in 1676, published _A Brief View and Survey of the Dangerous and Pernicious Errors to Church and State in Mr. Hobbes’ book Entitled Leviathan_.

=Little Dorrit.=--The heroine and title of a novel by Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit was born and brought up in the Marshalsea prison, Bermondsey, where her father was confined for debt; and when about fourteen years of age she used to do needlework, to earn a subsistence for herself and her father. The child had a pale, transparent face; was quick in expression, though not beautiful in feature. Her eyes were a soft hazel, and her figure slight. The little dove of the prison was idolized by the prisoners, and when she walked out, every man in Bermondsey who passed her, touched or took off his hat out of respect to her good works and active benevolence. Her father, coming into a property, was set free at length, and Little Dorrit married Arthur Clennam, the marriage service being celebrated in the Marshalsea, by the prison chaplain.

=Little John.=--A big, stalwart fellow, named John Little, who encountered Robin Hood, and gave him a sound thrashing, after which he was rechristened, and Robin stood godfather. Little John is introduced by Sir Walter Scott in _The Talisman_.

=Little Nell.=--_Old Curiosity Shop_, Dickens. The prominent character of the story, pure and true, though living in the midst of selfishness and crime. She was brought up by her grandfather, who was in his dotage, and who tried to eke out a narrow living by selling curiosities. At length, through terror of Quilp, the old man and his grandchild stole away, and led a vagrant life.

=Lochinvar= (_lock´in-var_).--A young highlander, in the poem of _Marmion_, was much in love with a lady whose fate was decreed that she should marry a “laggard.” Young Lochinvar persuaded the too-willing lassie to be his partner in a dance; and, while the guests were intent on their amusements, swung her into his saddle and made off with her before the bridegroom could recover from his amazement.

=Locksley.=--So Robin Hood is sometimes called, from the village in which he was born.

=Locksley Hall.=--A poem by Tennyson, in which the hero, the lord of Locksley Hall, having been jilted by his cousin Amy for a rich boor, pours forth his feelings in a flood of scorn and indignation. The poem is understood to have been occasioned by a similar incident in the poet’s own life, but this has been questioned.

=Lohengrin= (_lō´hen-grin_).--The Knight of the Swan; the hero of a romance by Wolfram von Eschenbach, a German minnesinger of the thirteenth century, and also of a modern musical drama by Richard Wagner. He was the son of Parsival, and came to Brabant in a ship drawn by a white swan, which took him away again when his bride, disobeying his injunction, pressed him to discover his name and parentage.

=Lorelei=, or =Loreley= (_lō´re-li_).--In German poetry and romance, a siren supposed to haunt the Lurlenberg rock on the Rhine, and lure sailors and fisherman to destruction. She is the subject of a beautiful ballad by Heine.

=Lorna Doone.=--A novel by R. D. Blackmore, published in 1869, the scene of which is laid in Exmoor. The Doones are a family of robbers and freebooters from which Lorna, otherwise Lady Lorna Dugal, is rescued by John Ridd, a young man. Ridd finally broke up the band, drove them from Doone valley, and married Lorna.

=Love’s Labor’s Lost.=--A comedy by Shakespeare. Ferdinand, king of Navarre, with three lords named Biron, Dumain, and Longaville, agree to spend three years in study, during which time no woman was to approach the court. The compact signed, all went well until the princess of France, attended by Rosaline, Maria, and Katharine, besought an interview respecting certain debts said to be due from the king of France to the king of Navarre. The four gentleman fell in love with the four ladies. The love of the king sought the princess, by right, Biron loved Rosaline, Longaville admired Maria, and Dumain adored Katharine. In order to carry their suits, the four gentlemen, disguised as Muscovites, presented themselves before the ladies; but the ladies, being warned of the masquerade, disguised themselves also, so that the gentlemen in every case addressed the wrong lady. A mutual arrangement was made that the suits should be deferred for twelve months and a day; and if, at the expiration of that time, they remained of the same mind, the matter should be taken into serious consideration.

=Lusiad= (_lū´si-ad_), =The.=--A Portuguese poem by Luiz Camoëns, in 1572. _The Lusiad_ celebrates the chief events in the history of Portugal, and is remarkable as the only modern epic poem which is pervaded by anything approaching the national and popular spirit of ancient epic poems. Bacchus was the guardian power of the Mohammedans, and Venus, or Divine Love, of the Lusians. The fleet first sailed to Mozambique, then to Melinda (in Africa), where the adventurers were hospitably received and provided with a pilot to conduct them to India. In the Indian Ocean, Bacchus tried to destroy the fleet; Venus, however, calmed the sea, and Gama arrived in India in safety. Having accomplished his object, he returned to Lisbon. Among the most famous passages are the tragical story of Inez de Castro, and the apparition of the giant Adamastor, who appears as the spirit of the storm to Vasco da Gama, when crossing the cape. The versification of _The Lusiad_ is extremely charming.

=M=

=Mab.=--The queen of the fairies, famous in English literature if only on account of the exquisite description of her put into the mouth of Mercutio, in _Romeo and Juliet_, beginning “O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you.”

=Macbeth.=--One of Shakespeare’s most celebrated tragedies, whose chief characters are Macbeth, king of Scotland, and Lady Macbeth, his murderously ambitious wife. Urged by the latter he kills Duncan, the rightful king, and in turn is himself slain by Macduff. The tale of Macbeth and Banquo was borrowed from the legendary history of Scotland, but the interest of the play is not historical. It is a tragedy of human life, intensely real, the soul, with all its powers for good or evil, deliberately choosing evil. The three witches in the desert place, in thunder, lightning, storm, strike the keynote of evil suggestion. The awfulness of soul destruction is felt in Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as in no other of Shakespeare’s dramas.

=Macheath, Captain.=--A highwayman who is the hero of Gay’s _Beggar’s Opera_.

=Mac-Ivor= (_mak-ē´vor_), =Fergus.=--_Waverley_, Scott, Fergus Mac-Ivor is a prominent character in the novel, and his sister, Flora Mac-Ivor, the heroine. They are of the family of a Scottish chieftain.

=Macreons, The Island of.=--_Pantagruel_, Rabelais. The title is given to Great Britain, derived from a Greek word meaning long-lived, “because no one is put to death there for his religious opinions.” Rabelais says the island “is full of antique ruins and relics of popery and ancient superstitions.”

=Madasima, Queen.=--An important character in the old romance called _Amadis de Gaul_; her constant attendant was Elisabat, a famous surgeon with whom she roamed in solitary retreats.

=Madoc= (_mad´ok_).--A poem by Southey, founded on one of the legends connected with the early history of America. Madoc, a Welsh prince of the twelfth century, is represented as making the discovery of the western world. His contests with the Mexicans form the subject.

=Maidens’ Castle.=--An allegorical castle mentioned in Malory’s _History of Prince Arthur_. It was taken from a duke by seven knights, and held by them till Sir Galahad expelled them. It was called The Maidens’ Castle because these knights made a vow that every maiden who passed it should be made a captive.

=Maid Marian.=--A half mythical character, but the name is said to have been assumed by Matilda, daughter of Robert, Lord Fitzwalter, while Robin Hood remained in a state of outlawry. The name is considered the foundation of the word marionettes, from Maid Marian’s connection with the morris dance, or May-day dance, at which she was said to appear.

=Maid of Athens.=--Made famous by Lord Byron’s song of this title. Twenty-four years after this song was written an Englishman sought out “the Athenian maid,” and found a beggar without a vestige of beauty.

=Maid of Saragossa.=--_Childe Harold_, Byron. A young Spanish woman distinguished for her heroism during the defense of Saragossa in 1808-1809. She first attracted notice by mounting a battery where her lover had fallen, and working a gun in his place.

=Malade Imaginaire, Le= (or, _The Imaginary Invalid_).--A comedy by Molière. Mons. Argan, who took seven mixtures and twelve lavements in one month instead of twelve mixtures with twenty lavements, as he had hitherto done. “No wonder,” he says, “I am not so well.” He fancies his wife loves him dearly, and that his daughter is undutiful, because she declines to marry a young medical prig instead of Cleante, whom she loves. His brother persuades “the malade” to counterfeit death, in order to test the sincerity of his wife and daughter. The wife rejoices greatly at his death, and proceeds to filch his property, when Argan starts up and puts an end to her pillage. Next comes the daughter’s turn. When she hears of her father’s death, she bewails him with great grief, says she has lost her best friend, and that she will devote her whole life in prayer for the repose of his soul. Argan is delighted, starts up in a frenzy of joy, declares she is a darling, and shall marry the man of her choice freely, and receive a father’s blessing.

=Malaprop= (_mal´a-prop_), =Mrs.=--A character in Sheridan’s _Rivals_, noted for her blundering use of words.

=Malbecco.=--_Faërie Queene_, Spenser. The husband of a young wife, Helinore, and himself a crabbed, jealous old fellow.

=Malengrin.=--A character in Spenser’s _Faërie Queene_, who carried a net on his back “to catch fools with.” The name has grown to mean the personification of guile or flattery.

=Malepardus.=--The castle of Master Reynard, the Fox, in the beast epic of _Reynard the Fox_.

=Malvoisin.=--_Ivanhoe_, Scott. One of the challenging knights at the tournament (Sir Philip de Malvoisin). Sir Albert de Malvoisin was a preceptor of the Knights Templar.

=Mambrino= (_mäm-brē´nō_).--_Poems_, Ariosto, etc. A king of the Moors, who was the possessor of an enchanted golden helmet, which rendered the wearer invulnerable and which was the object of eager quest to the paladins of Charlemagne. This helmet was borne away by the knight Rinaldo. In _Don Quixote_ we are told of a barber who was caught in a shower of rain, and who, to protect his hat, clapped his brazen basin on his head. Don Quixote insisted that this basin was the helmet of the Moorish king; and, taking possession of it, wore it as such.

=Managarm.=--_Prose Edda._ The largest and most formidable of the race of giants. He dwells in the Iron-wood, Jamvid. Managarm will first fill himself with the blood of man, and then he will swallow up the moon. This giant symbolizes war, and the iron wood in which he dwells is the wood of spears.

=Manfred.=--A poem by Byron. Manfred sold himself to the prince of darkness, and received from him seven spirits to do his bidding. They were the spirits of “earth, ocean, air, night, mountains, winds, and the star of his own destiny.” Wholly without human sympathies, the count dwelt in splendid solitude among the Alpine mountains. He loved Astarte, and was visited by her spirit after her death. In spirit form she told Manfred that he would die the following day; and, when asked if she loved him, she signed “Manfred,” and vanished.

=Manon l’Escaut= (_mä-non´ les-kō_).--A French novel by A. F. Prévost. Manon is the “fair mischief” of the story. Her charms seduce and ruin the chevalier des Grieux, who marries her. After marriage, the selfish mistress becomes converted into the faithful wife, who follows her husband into disgrace and banishment, and dies by his side in the wilds of America. The object of this novel, like that of _La Dame aux Camélias_, by Dumas _fils_, is to show how true hearted, how self-sacrificing, how attractive, a _fille de joie_ may be.

=Mantalini= (_man-ta-lē´nē_).--_Nicholas Nickleby_, Dickens. The husband of madame; he is a man doll, noted for his white teeth, his oaths, and his gorgeous morning gown. This “exquisite” lives on his wife’s earnings, and thinks he confers a favor on her by spending. Madame Mantalini is represented as a fashionable dressmaker near Cavendish Square, London.

=Marble Faun, The.=--A romance by Hawthorne, published in 1860. The English edition, published in the same year, is called _Transformation, or the Romance of Monte Beni_. See _Donatello_. The sole idea of the _Marble Faun_ is to illustrate the intellectually and morally awakening power of a sudden impulsive sin, committed by a simple, joyous, instinctive, “natural” man. The whole group of characters is imagined solely with a view to the development of this idea.

=Marcellus= (_mär-sel´us_).--_Hamlet_, Shakespeare. An officer of Denmark, to whom the ghost of the murdered king appeared before it presented itself to Prince Hamlet.

=Marchioness, The.=--_Old Curiosity Shop_, Dickens. A half-starved maid-of-all-work, in the service of Sampson Brass and his sister Sally. She was so lonesome and dull that it afforded her relief to peep at Mr. Swiveller even through the keyhole of his door. Mr. Swiveller called her the “marchioness,” when she played cards with him, “because it seemed more real and pleasant” to play with a marchioness than with a domestic. While enjoying these games they made the well known “orange peel wine.”

=Mariana= (_mä-rē-ä´nä_).--In Tennyson’s poem _The Moated Grange_, a young damsel, who sits in the moated grange, looking out for her lover, who never comes. (2) In Shakespeare’s _Measure for Measure_ Mariana is a lovely and lovable lady, betrothed to Angelo, who, during the absence of Vincentio, the duke of Vienna, acted as his lord deputy. Her pleadings to the duke for Angelo are wholly unrivaled.

=Martin’s Summer, St.=--Halcyon days; a time of prosperity; fine weather. Mentioned by Shakespeare in _Henry VI._, etc.

=Masora.=--A critical work or canon, whereby is fixed and ascertained the reading of the text of the Hebrew version of the Bible.

=Mauth Dog.=--_Lay of the Last Minstrel_, Scott. A black specter spaniel that haunted the guard room of Peeltown in the Isle of Man. A drunken trooper entered the guard room while the dog was there, but lost his speech, and died within three days.

=Mazeppa= (_mä-zep´ä_).--A poem by Byron. Mazeppa was a Cossack of noble family who became a page in the court of the king of Poland, and while in this capacity intrigued with Theresia, the young wife of a count, who discovered the amour, and had the young page lashed to a wild horse, and turned adrift.

=McFingal.=--The hero of Trumbull’s political poem of the same name; represented as a burly New England squire, enlisted on the side of the Tory part of the American revolution, and constantly engaged in controversy with Honorius, the champion of the Whigs.

=Measure for Measure.=--A comedy by Shakespeare. There was a law in Vienna that made it death for a man to live with a woman not his wife; but the law was so little enforced that the mothers of Vienna complained to the duke of its neglect. So the duke deputed Angelo to enforce it; and, assuming the dress of a friar, absented himself awhile, to watch the result. Scarcely was the duke gone, when Claudio was sentenced to death for violating the law. His sister Isabel went to intercede on his behalf, and Angelo told her he would spare her brother if she would become his Phryne. Isabel told her brother he must prepare to die, as the conditions proposed by Angelo were out of the question. The duke, disguised as a friar, heard the whole story, and persuaded Isabel to “assent in words,” but to send Mariana (the divorced wife of Angelo) to take her place. This was done; but Angelo sent the provost to behead Claudio, a crime which “the friar” contrived to avert. Next day the duke returned to the city, and Isabel told her tale. Finally the duke married Isabel, Angelo took back his wife, and Claudio married Juliet.