Part 6

=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.