Part 4

... various measured verse, Æolian charms and Dorian lyric odes, And his who gave them breath, but higher sung, Blind Melesigēnês, thence Homer called, Whose poem Phœbus challenged for his own.

Milton, _Paradise Regained_ (1671).

=Melema= (_Tito_). Beautiful accomplished Greek adventurer who marries and is unfaithful to Romola. He dies by the hand of an old man who had been the benefactor of his infancy and youth, and whom he had basely deserted and ignored.--George Eliot, _Romola_.

=Me´li= (_Giovanni_), a Sicilian, born at Palermo; immortalized by his eclogues and idylls. Meli is called “The Sicilian Theocritus” (1740-1815).

Much it pleased him to peruse The songs of the Sicilian Muse-- Bucolic songs by Meli sung.

Longfellow, _The Wayside Inn_ (prelude, 1863).

=Meliadus=, father of Sir Tristan; prince of Lyonnesse, and one of the heroes of Arthurian romance.--_Tristan de Leonois_ (1489).

⁂ Tristan, in the _History of Prince Arthur_, compiled by Sir T. Malory (1470), is called “Tristram;” but the old minnesingers of Germany (twelfth century) called the name “Tristan.”

=Mel´ibe= (3 _syl._), a rich young man married to Prudens. One day, when Melibê was in the fields, some enemies broke into his house, beat his wife, and wounded his daughter Sophie in her feet, hands, ears, nose and mouth. Melibê was furious and vowed vengeance, but Prudens persuaded him “to forgive his enemies, and to do good to those who despitefully used him.” So he called together his enemies, and forgave them, to the end that “God of His endeles mercie wole at the tyme of oure deyinge forgive us oure giltes that we have trespased to Him in this wreeched world.”--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ (1388).

⁂ This prose tale is a liberal translation of a French story.--See _MS. Reg._, xix. 7; and _MS. Reg._, xix. 11, British Museum.

=Melibee=, a shepherd, and the reputed father of Pastorella. Pastorella married Sir Calidore.--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, vi. 9 (1596).

“Melibee” is Sir Francis Walsingham. In the _Ruins of Time_, Spenser calls him “Melibœ.” Sir Philip Sidney (the “Sir Calidore” of the _Faëry Queen_) married his daughter Frances. Sir Francis Walsingham died in 1590, so poor that he did not leave enough to defray his funeral expenses.

=Melibœus=, one of the shepherds in _Eclogue_ i. of Virgil.

Spenser, in the _Ruins of Time_ (1591), calls Sir Francis Walsingham “the good Melibœ;” and in the last book of the _Faëry Queen_ he calls him “Melibee.”

=Melin´da=, cousin of Sylvia. She loves Worthy, whom she pretends to dislike, and coquets with him for twelve months. Having driven her modest lover to the verge of distraction, she relents, and consents to marry him.--G. Farquhar, _The Recruiting Officer_ (1705).

=Mel´ior=, a lovely fairy, who carried off, in her magic bark, Parthen´opex, of Blois, to her secret island.--_Parthenopex de Blois_ (a French romance, twelfth century).

=Melisen´dra= (_The princess_), natural daughter of Marsilio, and the “supposed daughter of Charlemagne.” She eloped with Don Gayferos. The king, Marsilio, sent his troops in pursuit of the fugitive. Having made Melisendra his wife, Don Gayferos delivered her up captive to the Moors at Saragossa. This was the story of the puppet-show of Master Peter, exhibited to Don Quixote and his squire at “the inn beyond the hermitage.”--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, II. ii. 7 (1615).

=Melissa=, a prophetess who lived in Merlin’s cave. Bradamant gave her the enchanted ring to take to Roge´ro; so, under the form of Atlantês, she went to Alcīna’s isle, delivered Rogēro, and disenchanted all the captives in the island.

In bk. xix. Melissa, under the form of Rodŏmont, persuaded Agramant to break the league which was to settle the contest by single combat, and a general battle ensued.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).

⁂ This incident of bk. xix. is similar to that in Homer’s _Iliad_, iii. iv., where Paris and Menelāos agree to settle the contest by single combat; but Minerva persuades Pandăros to break the truce, and a general battle ensues.

=Me´lita= (now _Malta_). The point to which the vessel that carried St. Paul was driven was the “Porto de San Paolo,” and according to tradition, the cathedral of Citta Vecchia stands on the site of the house of Publius, the Roman governor. St. Paul’s grotto, a cave in the vicinity, is so named in honor of this great apostle.

=Meli´tus=, a gentleman of Cyprus, in the drama called _The Laws of Candy_, by Beaumont and Fletcher (1647).

=Melizyus=, king of Thessaly, in the golden era of Saturn. He was the first to tame horses for the use of man.

_Melizyus_ (_King_) held his court in the Tower of Chivalry, and there knighted Graunde Amoure, after giving him the following advice:

And first _Good Hope_ his legge harneyes should be; His habergion, of _Perfect Ryhteousnes_, Gird first with the girdle of _Chastitie_; His rich placarde should be good busines, Brodred with _Alms_ ... The helmet _Mekenes_, and the shelde _Good Fayeth_, His swerde _God’s Word_, as St. Paule sayeth.

Stephen Hawes, _The Passe-tyme of Plesure_, xxviii. (1515).

=Mell= (_Mr._), the poor, down-trodden second master at Salem House, the school of Mr. Creakles. Mr. Mell played the flute. His mother lived in an almshouse, and Steerforth used to taunt Mell with this “degradation,” and indeed caused him to be discharged. Mell emigrated to Australia, and succeeded well in the new country.--C. Dickens, _David Copperfield_ (1849).

=Melle´font= (2 _syl._), in love with Cynthia, daughter of Sir Paul Pliant. His aunt, Lady Touchwood, had a criminal fondness for him, and, because he repelled her advances, she vowed his ruin. After passing several hair-breadth escapes from the “double dealing” of his aunt and his “friend,” Maskwell, he succeeded in winning and marrying the lady of his attachment.--W. Congreve, _The Double Dealer_ (1700).

=Mellifluous Doctor= (_The_), St. Bernard, whose writings were called “a river of paradise” (1091-1153).

=Melnotte= (_Claude_), a gardener’s son, in love with Pauline, “the Beauty of Lyons,” but treated by her with contempt. Beauseant and Glavis, two other rejected suitors, conspired with him to humble the proud fair one. To this end, Claude assumed to be the prince of Como, and Pauline married him, but was indignant when she discovered how she had been duped. Claude left her to join the French army, and, under the name of Morier, rose in two years and a half to the rank of colonel. He then returned to Lyons, and found his father-in-law on the eve of bankruptcy, and Pauline about to be sold to Beauseant to pay the creditors. Claude paid the money required, and claimed Pauline as his loving and truthful wife.--Lord L. B. Lytton, _Lady of Lyons_ (1838).

=Melo= (_Juan de_), born at Castile in the fifteenth century. A dispute having arisen at Esalo´na upon the question whether Achillês or Hector were the braver warrior, the Marquis de Ville´na called out, “Let us see if the advocates of Achillês can fight as well as prate.” At the word, there appeared in the assembly a gigantic fire-breathing monster, which repeated the same challenge. Every one shrank back except Juan de Melo, who drew his sword and placed himself before King Juan II. to protect him, “tide life, tide death.” The king appointed him alcaydê of Alcala la Real, in Grana´da, for his loyalty.--_Chronica de Don Alvaro de Luna._

=Melrose= (_Violet_), an heiress, who marries Charles Middlewick. This was against the consent of his father, because Violet had the bad taste to snub the retired tradesman, and considered vulgarity as the “unpardonable sin.”

_Mary Melrose_, Violet’s cousin, but without a penny. She marries Talbot Champneys; but his father, Sir Geoffrey, wanted him to marry Violet, the heiress.--H. J. Byron, _Our Boys_ (a comedy, 1875).

=Melusi´na=, the most famous of the _fées_ of France. Having enclosed her father in a mountain for offending her mother, she was condemned to become a serpent every Saturday. When she married the count of Lusignan, she made her husband vow never to visit her on that day, but the jealousy of the count made him break his vow. Melusina was, in consequence, obliged to leave her mortal husband, and roam about the world as a ghost till the day of doom. Some say the count immured her in the dungeon wall of his castle.--_Jean d’Arras_ (fourteenth century).

⁂ The cry of despair given by the _fée_ when she discovered the indiscreet visit of her husband, is the origin of the phrase, _Un cri de Mélusine_ (“A shriek of despair”).

=Melvil= (_Sir John_), a young baronet, engaged to be married to Miss Sterling, the elder daughter of a City merchant, who promises to settle on her £800,000. A little before the marriage, Sir John finds that he has no regard for Miss Sterling, but a great love for her younger sister, Fanny, to whom he makes a proposal of marriage. His proposal is rejected; and it is soon brought to light that Miss Fanny had been clandestinely married to Lovewell for four months.--Colman and Garrick, _The Clandestine Marriage_ (1766).

=Melville= (_Major_), a magistrate at Cairnvreckan village.--Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time, George II.).

_Melville_ (_Sir Robert_), one of the embassy from the privy council to Mary queen of Scots.--Sir W. Scott, _The Abbot_ (time, Elizabeth).

_Melville_, the father of Constantia.--C. Macklin, _The Man of the World_ (1764).

_Melville_ (_Julia_), a truly noble girl, in love with Faulkland, who is always jealous of her without a shadow of cause. She receives his innuendos without resentment, and treats him with sincerity and forbearance (see act i. 2).--Sheridan, _The Rivals_ (1775).

=Melyhalt= (_The Lady_), a powerful subject of King Arthur, whose domains Sir Galiot invaded; notwithstanding which the lady chose Sir Galiot as her fancy knight and chevalier.

=Memnon=, king of the Ethiopians. He went to the assistance of his uncle, Priam, and was slain by Achillês. His mother, Eos, inconsolable at his death, weeps for him every morning, and her tears constitute what we call dew.

_Memnon_, the black statue of King Amen´ophis III., at Thebes, in Egypt, which, being struck with the rays of the morning sun, gives out musical sounds. Kircher says these sounds are due to a sort of clavecin or Æolian harp enclosed in the statue, the cords of which are acted upon by the warmth of the sun. Cambyses, resolved to learn the secret, cleft the statue from head to waist; but it continued to utter its morning melody notwithstanding.

_Memnon_, “the mad lover,” general of As´torax, king of Paphos.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Mad Lover_ (1617).

_Memnon_, the title of a novel by Voltaire, the object of which is to show the folly of aspiring to too much wisdom.

=Memnon’s Sister.= He´mera, mentioned by Dictys Cretensis.

Black, but such as in esteem Prince Memnon’s sister might beseem.

Milton, _Il Penseroso_ (1638).

=Memorable= (_The Ever-_), John Hales, of Eton (1584-1656).

=Memory.= The persons most noted for their memory are:

Magliabecchi, of Florence, called “The Universal Index and Living Cyclopædia” (1633-1714).

P. J. Beronicius, the Greek and Latin improvisator, who knew by heart Horace, Virgil, Cicero, Juvenal, both the Plinys, Homer, and Aristophănês. He died at Middleburgh, in 1676.

Andrew Fuller, after hearing 500 lines twice, could repeat them without a mistake. He could also repeat verbatim a sermon or speech; could tell either backwards or forwards every shop sign from the Temple to the extreme end of Cheapside, and the articles displayed in each of the shops.

“Memory” Woodfall could carry in his head a debate, and repeat it a fortnight afterwards.

“Memory” Thompson could repeat the names, trades, and particulars of every shop from Ludgate Hill to Piccadilly.

William Ratcliff, the husband of the novelist, could repeat a debate the next morning.

_Memory_ (_The Bard of_), Samuel Rogers, author of the _Pleasures of Memory_ (1762-1855).

=Men of Prester John’s Country.= Prester John, in his letter to Manuel Comnēnus, says his land is the home of men with horns; of one-eyed men (the eye being in some cases before the head, and in some cases behind it); of giants, forty ells in height (_i.e._ 120 feet); of the phœnix, etc.; and of ghouls who feed on premature children. He gives the names of fifteen different tributary states, amongst which are those of Gog and Magog (now shut in behind lofty mountains); but at the end of the world these fifteen states will overrun the whole earth.

=Menalcas=, any shepherd or rustic. The name occurs in the _Idylls_ of Theoc´ritos, the _Eclogues_ of Virgil, and the _Shepheardes Calendar_ of Spenser.

=Men´cia of Mosquera= (_Donna_) married Don Alvaro de Mello. A few days after the marriage, Alvaro happened to quarrel with Don An´drea de Baesa and kill him. He was obliged to flee from Spain, leaving his bride behind, and his property was confiscated. For seven years she received no intelligence of his whereabouts (for he was a slave most of the time), but when seven years had elapsed the report of his death in Fez reached her. The young widow now married the marquis of Guardia, who lived in a grand castle near Burgos, but walking in the grounds one morning she was struck with the earnestness with which one of the under-gardeners looked at her. This man proved to be her first husband, Don Alvaro, with whom she now fled from the castle; but on the road a gang of robbers fell upon them. Alvaro was killed, and the lady taken to the robbers’ cave, where Gil Blas saw her and heard her sad tale. The lady was soon released, and sent to the castle of the marquis of Guardia. She found the marquis dying from grief, and indeed he died the day following, and Mencia retired to a convent.--Lesage, _Gil Blas_, i. 11-14 (1715).

=Mendo´za=, a Jew prize-fighter, who held the belt at the close of the last century, and in 1791 opened the Lyceum in the Strand, to teach “the noble art of self-defence.”

I would have dealt the fellow that abused you such a recompense in the fifth button, that my friend Mendoza could not have placed it better.--R. Cumberland, _Shiva, the Jew_, iv. 2 (1776).

There is a print often seen in old picture shops, of Humphreys and Mendoza sparring, and a queer angular exhibition it is. What that is to the modern art of boxing, Quick’s style of acting was to Dowton’s.--_Records of a Stage Veteran._

_Mendoza_ (_Isaac_), a rich Jew, who thinks himself monstrously wise, but is duped by every one. (See under ISAAC.)--Sheridan, _The Duenna_ (1775).

=Menech´mians=, persons exactly like each other, as the brothers Dromio. So called from the Mencœchmi of Plautus.

=Menec´rates= (4 _syl._), a physician of Syracuse, of unbounded vanity and arrogance. He assumed to himself the title of Jupiter, and in a letter to Philip, king of Macedon, began thus: “Menecratês Jupiter to King Philip, greeting.” Being asked by Philip to a banquet, the physician was served only with frankincense, like the gods; but Menecratês was greatly offended, and hurried home.

=Mengs= (_John_), the surly innkeeper at Kirchhoff village.--Sir W. Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).

=Menippee= (_Satyre_), a famous political satire, written during the time of what is called in French History the Holy League, the objects of which were to exterminate the Huguenots, to confine the king (Henri III.) in a monastery, and to crown the duc de Guise. The satire is

## partly in verse, and partly in prose, and its object is to expose the

perfidious intentions of Philip of Spain and the culpable ambition of the Guises.

It is divided into two parts, the first of which is entitled _Catholicon d’Espagne_, by Pierre Leroy (1593), exposing those who had been corrupted by the gold of Spain; the second part is entitled _Abrégé des Etats de la Ligue_, by Gillot, Pithou, Rapin and Passerat, published 1594.

⁂ Menippus was a cynic philosopher and poet of Gadara, in Phœnicia, who wrote twelve books of satires in prose and verse.

Varro wrote in Latin a work called _The Satires of Menippus_ (_Satyræ Menippeæ_).

=Mennibojou=, a North American Indian deity.

=Mentz= (_Baron von_), a Heidelberg bully, whose humiliation at the hands of the fellow-student he has insulted is the theme of an exciting

## chapter in Theodore S. Fay’s novel, _Norman Leslie_ (1835).

=Menteith= (_the earl of_), a kinsman of the earl of Montrose.--Sir W. Scott, _Legend of Montrose_ (time, Charles I.).

=Mentor=, a wise and faithful adviser or guide. So called from Mentor, a friend of Ulyssês, whose form Minerva assumed when she accompanied Telemachus in his search for his father.--Fénelon, _Télémaque_ (1700).

=Mephistoph´eles= (5 _syl._), the sneering, jeering, leering attendant demon of Faust in Goethe’s drama of _Faust_, and Gounod’s opera of the same name. Marlowe calls the name “Mephostophilis” in his drama entitled _Dr. Faustus_. Shakespeare, in his _Merry Wives of Windsor_ writes the name “Mephostophilus;” and in the opera he is called “Mefistofele” (5 _syl._). In the old demonology, Mephistophelês was one of the seven chief devils, and second of the fallen archangels.

=Mephostophilis=, the attendant demon of Faustus, in Marlowe’s tragedy of _Dr. Faustus_ (1589).

There is an awful melancholy about Marlowe’s “Mephostophilis,” perhaps more expressive than the malignant mirth of that fiend in the renowned work of Goethe.--Hallam.

=Mephostophilus=, the spirit or familiar of Sir John Faustus or [Dr.] John Faust (Shakespeare, _Merry Wives of Windsor_, 1596). Subsequently it became a term of reproach, about equal to “imp of the devil.”

=Mercedes=, Spanish woman, who, to disarm suspicion, drinks the wine poisoned for the French soldiery who have invaded the town. She is forced to let her baby drink it, also, and gives no sign of perturbation until the invaders, twenty in number, have partaken of the wine, and the baby grows livid and expires before their eyes.--Thomas Bailey Aldrich, _Mercedes_ (drama, 1883).

=Mercer= (_Major_), at the presidency of Madras.--Sir W. Scott, _The Surgeon’s Daughter_ (time, George II.).

=Merchant of Venice= (_The_), Antonio, who borrowed 3000 ducats for three months of Shylock, a Jew. The money was borrowed to lend to a friend named Bassanio, and the Jew, “in merry sport,” instead of interest, agreed to lend the money on these conditions: If Antonio paid it within three months, he should pay only the principal; if he did not pay it back within that time, the merchant should forfeit a pound of his own flesh, from any part of his body the Jew might choose to cut it off. As Antonio’s ships were delayed by contrary winds, he could not pay the money, and the Jew demanded the forfeiture. On the trial which ensued, Portia, in the dress of a law doctor, conducted the case, and, when the Jew was going to take the forfeiture, stopped him by saying that the bond stated “a pound of flesh,” and that, therefore, he was to shed no drop of blood, and he must cut neither more nor less than an exact pound, on forfeit of his life. As these conditions were practically impossible, the Jew was nonsuited and fined for seeking the life of a citizen.--Shakespeare, _Merchant of Venice_ (1598).

The story is in the _Gesta Romanorum_, the tale of the bond being ch. xlviii., and that of the caskets ch. xcix.; but Shakespeare took his plot from a Florentine novelette called _Il Pecorone_, written in the fourteenth century, but not published till the sixteenth.

There is a ballad on the subject, the date of which has not been determined. The bargain runs thus:

“No penny for the loan of it, For one year shall you pay-- You may do me a good turn Before my dying day; But we will have a merry jest, For to be talkêd long; You shall make me a bond,” quoth he, “That shall be large or strong.”

=Merchant’s Tale= (_The_), in Chaucer, is substantially the same as the first Latin metrical tale of Adolphus, and is not unlike a Latin prose tale given in the appendix of T. Wright’s edition of Æsop’s fables. The tale is this:

A girl named May married January, an old Lombard baron, 60 years of age, but entertained the love of Damyan, a young squire. She was detected in familiar intercourse with Damyan, but persuaded her husband that his eyes had deceived him, and he believed her.--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ (1388).

=Mercian Laws.= (See MARTIAN.)

=Mercilla=, a “maiden queen of great power and majesty, famous through all the world, and honored far and nigh.” Her kingdom was disturbed by a soldan, her powerful neighbor, stirred up by his wife Adicĭa. The “maiden queen” is Elizabeth; the “soldan,” Philip of Spain, and “Adicia” is injustice, presumption, or the bigotry of popery.--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, v. (1596).

=Mercu´tio=, kinsman of Prince Escalus, and Romeo’s friend. An airy, sprightly, elegant young nobleman, so full of wit and fancy that Dryden says Shakespeare was obliged to kill him in the third act, lest the poet himself should have been killed by Mercutio.--Shakespeare, _Romeo and Juliet_ (1598).

=Mercutio of Actors= (_The_), William Lewis (1748-1811).

=Mercy=, a young pilgrim, who accompanied Christiana in her walk to Zion. When Mercy got to the Wicket Gate, she swooned from fear of being refused admittance. Mr. Brisk proposed to her, but being told that she was poor, left her, and she was afterwards married to Matthew, the eldest son of Christian.--Bunyan, _Pilgrim’s Progress_, ii. (1684).

=Merdle= (_Mr._), banker, a skit on the directors of the Royal British bank, and on Mr. Hudson, “the railway king.” Mr. Merdle, of Harley Street, was called the “Master Mind of the Age.” He became insolvent, and committed suicide. Mr. Merdle was a heavily made man, with an obtuse head, and coarse, mean, common features. His chief butler said of him, “Mr. Merdle never was a gentleman, and no ungentlemanly act on Mr. Merdle’s part would surprise me.” The great banker was “the greatest forger and greatest thief that ever cheated the gallows.”

Lord Decimus [_Barnacle_] began waving Mr. Merdle about ... as Gigantic Enterprise. The wealth of England, Credit, Capital, Prosperity, and all manner of blessings.--Bk. ii. 24.

_Mrs. Merdle_, wife of the bank swindler. After the death of her husband, society decreed that Mrs. Merdle should still be admitted among the sacred few; so Mrs. Merdle was still received and patted on the back by the upper ten.--C. Dickens, _Little Dorrit_ (1857).

=Meredith= (_Mr._), one of the conspirators with Redgauntlet.--Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.).

_Meredith_ (_Mr. Michael_), “the man of mirth,” in the managing committee of the Spa hotel.--Sir. W. Scott, _St. Ronan’s Well_. (time, George III.).

_Meredith_ (_Sir_), a Welsh knight.--Sir W. Scott, _Castle Dangerous_ (time, Henry I.).

_Meredith_ (_Owen_), pseudonym of the Hon. Edward Robert Bulwer Lytton (Lord Lytton), author of _The Wanderer_ (1859), etc. This son of Lord Bulwer Lytton, poet and novelist, succeeded to the peerage in 1873.

=Me´rida= (_Marchioness_), betrothed to Count Valantia.--Mrs. Inchbald, _Child of Nature_.

=Meridarpax=, the pride of mice.

Now nobly towering o’er the rest, appears A gallant prince that far transcends his years; Pride of his sire, and glory of his house, And more a Mars in combat than a mouse; His action bold, robust his ample frame, And Meridarpax his resounding name.

Parnell, _The Battle of the Frogs and Mice_, iii. (about 1712).

=Merid´ies= or “Noonday Sun,” one of the four brothers who kept the passages of Castle Perilous. So Tennyson has named him; but in the _History of Prince Arthur_, he is called “Sir Permōnês, the Red Knight.”--Tennyson, _Idylls_ (“Gareth and Lynette”); Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 129 (1470).

=Merion= (_James_), New York lawyer, who plays the lover to three women, honestly believing himself enamoured of each.--Ellen Olney Kirke, _A Daughter of Eve_ (1889).

=Merle= (_Madame_), a plausible woman with an ambition to be thought the incarnation of propriety, who carries with her the knowledge that she is the mistress of a man who has a wife, and that Madame Merle’s illegitimate daughter is brought up by the step-mother, who knows nothing of the shameful story.--Henry James, _The Portrait of a Lady_ (1881).