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Dictionary of Phrase and Fable

E. Cobham Brewer From The Edition Of 1894

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this letter represents the wavy appearance of water, and is called in Hebrew mem (water).

M

Every word in the Materia more Magistralis begins with the letter m. (See C and P.)

M

(initial of manslaughter). The brand of a person convicted of that offence, and admitted to the benefit of clergy. It was burnt on the brawn of the left thumb.

M

in numerals is the initial of mille, a thousand.

“Whosoever prayeth for the soul of John Gower be shall, so oft as he so doth, have a M and a D days of pardon”— Gower's Tablet.

M

to represent the human face. Add two dots for the eyes, thus, `M'. These dots being equal to O's, we get OMO (homo) Latin for man.

“Who reads the name,

For man upon his forehead, there the M

Had traced most plainly.”

Dante: Purgatory, xxiii.

M

The five M's: Mansa, Matsya, Madya, Maithuna, and Mudra (flesh, fish, wine, women, and gesticulation). The five forms of Hindu asceticism.

M'

i.e. Mac. A Gaelic prefix meaning son. (Gothic, magus, a son; Sanskrit, mah, to grow; Welsh, magu, to breed.) The Welsh ap is Mac changed to Map, and contracted into 'ap or 'p, as Apadam ('Ap Adam), Prichard ('P Richard).

M

or N in the Catechism. M is a contraction of NN (names); N is for name. The respondent is required to give his names if he has more than one, or his name if only one.

In the marriage service, M stands for mas (the man) or maritus (the bridegroom), and N for nupia (the bride).

There are some who think M stands for Mary, the patron saint of girls, and N for Nicholas, the patron saint of boys.

M. B. Waistcoat A clerical cassock waistcoat was so called (about 1830) when first introduced by the High Church party. M. B. means “mark of the beast.”

“He smiled at the folly which stigmatised an M.B. `waistcoat.”'— Mrs. Oliphant: Phoebe Juno, ii. 3.

M.D

The first woman that obtained this degree was Elizabeth Blackwell, of the United States (1849).

M.P

Member of Parliament, but in slang language Member of the Police.

MS.

manuscript; MSS., manuscripts; generally applied to literary works in penmanship. (Latin manuscriptum, that which is written by the hand.)

Mab

The “fairies' midwife”— i.e. employed by the fairies as midwife of dreams (to deliver man's brain of dreams). Thus when Romeo says, “I dreamed a dream to—night,” Mercutio replies, “Oh, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you.” Sir Walter Scott follows in the same track: “I have a friend who is peculiarly favoured with the visits of Queen Mab,” meaning with dreams (The Antiquary). When Mab is called “queen,” it does not mean sovereign, for Titania was Oberon's wife, but simply female; both midwives and monthly nurses were anciently called queens or queans. Quen or cwén in Saxon means neither more nor less than woman; so “elf—queen,” and the Danish ellequinde, mean female elf, and not “queen of the elves.” Excellent descriptions of “Mistress Mab” are given by Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet, i. 4), by Ben Jonson, by Herrick, and by Drayton in Nymphidea. (Mab, Welsh, a baby.)

MacAlpin

It is said that the founder of this famous family was named Halfpenny, and lived in Dublin in the 18th century. Having prospered in business, he called himself Mr. Halpen. The family, still prospering, dropped the H, and added Mac (son of), making MacAlpen; and Kenny MacAlpen called himself Kenneth MacAlpin, the “descendant of a hundred kings.” True or not, the metamorphose is ingenious.

MacFarlane's Geese

The proverb is that “MacFarlane's geese like their play better than their meat.” The wild geese of Inch—Tavoe (Loch Lomond) used to be called MacFarlane's Geese because the MacFarlanes had a house and garden on the island. It is said that these geese never returned after the extinction of that house. One day James VI. visited the chieftain, and was highly amused by the gambols of the geese, but the one served at table was so tough that the king exclaimed, “MacFarlane's geese like their play better than their meat.”

MacFlecknoe

in Dryden's famous satire, is Thomas Shadwell, poet—laureate, whose immortality rests on the not very complimentary line, “Shadwell never deviates into sense.” (1640—1692.)

N.B. Flecknoe was an Irish Roman Catholic priest, doggerel sonneteer, and playwright. Shadwell, according to Dryden, was his double.

“The rest to some slight meaning make pretence,

But Shadwell never deviates into sense.”

Dryden: MacFlecknoe, 19, 20.

MacGirdie's Mare

used by degrees to eat less and less, but just as he had reduced her to a straw a day the poor beast died. This is an old Greek joke, which is well known to schoolboys who have been taught the Analecta Minora. (See Waverley, p. 54.)

MacGregor

The motto of the MacGregors is, “Een do and spair nocht,” said to have been given them in the twelfth century by the king of Scotland. While the king was hunting he was attacked by a wild boar, when Sir Malcolm requested permission to encounter the creature. “Een do,” said the king, “and spair nocht.” Whereupon the strong baronet tore up an oak sapling and despatched the enraged animal. For this defence the

king gave Sir Malcolm permission to use the said motto, and, in place of a Scotch fir, to adopt for crest an oak—tree cradicate, proper.

Another motto of the MacGregors is— “Sriogal mo dhream.”

Rob Roy MacGregor or Robert Campbell, the outlaw. A Highland freebooter, the hero of Sir Walter Scott's Rob Roy. His wife's name is Helen, and their eldest son Hamish. In the Two Drovers MacGregor or MacCombich (Robin Oig) is a Highland drover.

MacIntyre

(Captain Hector). Brother of Maria MacIntyre, the antiquary's niece, in Sir Walter Scott's Antiquary.

MacIvor

(Fergus). Chief of Glennaquoich, and brother of Flora MacIvor, the heroine of Waverley, by Sir W. Scott.

MacPherson

During the reign of David I. of Scotland, a younger brother of the chief of the powerful clan Chattan espoused the clerical life, and in due time became abbot of Kingussie. His elder brother died childless, and the chieftainship devolved on the abbot. He procured the needful dispensation from the Pope, married the daughter of the thane of Calder, and a swarm of little “Kingussies” was the result. The good people of Invernessshire called them the Mac—phersons, i.e. the sons of the parson.

MacTab

The Honourable Miss Lucretia MacTab. A poor Scotch relative of Emily Worthington “on her deceased mother's side, and of the noble blood of the MacTabs.” She lived on the Worthingtons, always snubbing them for not appreciating the honour of such a noble hanger—on, and always committing the most ludicrous mistakes from her extravagant vanity and family pride. (George Colman: The Poor Gentleman.)

MacTurk

(Captain Mungo or Hecter). “The man of peace” at the Spa Hotel, and one of the managing committee. (Sir Walter Scott: St. Ronan's Well.)

Macaber

The dance macaber. The Dance of the dead (q.v.) (French, dance macabre.) A dance over which Death presides, supposed to be executed by the dead of all ages and conditions. It is an allegory of the mortality of man, and was a favourite subject of artists and poets between the 13th and 15th centuries. It was originally written in German, then in Latin, and then in French. Some think Macaber was the name of the author, but others think the word is the Arabic makabir, a cemetery. The best illustrations are those by Minden, Lucerne, Lubeck, Dresden, and Basle. Holbein's painting is very celebrated

“What are these paintings on the wall around us? The dance macaber.” Longfellow: The Golden Legend.

Macadamise

(4 syl.). Using broken stones for road metal, and making the road convex instead of concave; a method introduced by Sir John L. Macadam (1756—1836)

Macaire

(2 syl.). A favourite name in French plays, insomuch that Robert Macaire is sometimes used generically for a Frenchman. It is said that Aubrey de Montdidier was murdered in the forest of Bondy in 1371. His dog conceived such a hatred against Robert Macaire that suspicion was aroused, and it was resolved to pit the man and dog together. The result was fatal to the man, who died confessing his guilt. The story is found in a chanson de geste of the 12th century, called La Reine Sibile.

Macamut Sultan of Cambaya, who lived upon poison, with which he was so saturated that his breath or touch carried instant death. (Purchas.)

Macare

(French). The impersonation of good temper, in Voltaire's allegory of Thelème and Macare.

Macaroni

A coxcomb (Italian, un macceherone). The word is derived from the Macaroni Club, instituted by a set of flashy men who had travelled in Italy, and introduced Italian maccheroni at Almack's subscription table. The Macaronies were the most exquisite fops that ever disgraced the name of man; vicious, insolent, fond of gambling, drinking, and duelling, they were (about 1773) the curse of Vauxhall Gardens.

“We are indebted to the Macaronies for only two things: the one is the introduction of that excellent dish ... macaroni, and the other is the invention of that useful slang word `bore'

(boar), which originally meant any opponent of dandyism.”— Cassell's Magazine: London Legends.

An American regiment raised in Maryland during the War of Independence, was called The Macaronies from its showy uniform.

Macaronic Latin

Dog Latin, or modern words with Latin endings. The law pleadings of G. Steevens, as Daniel v. Dishclout and Bullum v. Boatum, are excellent examples. (See Dog Latin .)

Maearonic Latin is a mixture of Latin and some modern language. In Italy macheroni is a mixture of coarse meal, eggs, and cheese.

Macaronic Verse

Verses in which foreign words are ludicrously distorted and jumbled together, as in Porson's lines on the threatened invasion of England by Napoleon. (Lingo drawn for the Militia.) So called by Teofilo Folengo, a Mantuan monk of noble family, who published a book entitled Liber Macaronicorum, a poetical rhapsody made up of words of different languages, and treating of “pleasant matters” in a comical style (1520). Folengo is generally called Merlinus Coccaius, or Merlino Coccajo. (See preceding.) The Vigonce of Tossa was published in 1494. The following Latin verse is an hexameter;

“Trumpeter unus erat qui coatum scarlet habebat”

A. Cunningham published in 1801 a Delectus masaronicorum carminum, a history of macaronic poetry Cane carmen SIXPENCE, pera plena rye,

De multis atris avibus coctis in a pie:

Simul haec pertest, cantat omnis grex,

Nonne permirabile, quod vidit ille rex?

Dimidium rex esus, misit ad reginam

Quod reliquit illa, sending back catinum

Rex fuit in aerario, multo nummo turmens:

In culina Domina, bread and mel consumens, Ancellin horticulo, hanging out the clothes,

Quum descendens cornix rapuit her nose.

E. C. B.

Macbeth

(Shakespeare). The story is taken from Holinshed, who copied it from the History of Scotland, by Hector Boece or Boyce, in seventeen volumes (1527). The history, written in Latin, was translated by John Bellenden (1531—1535).

“History states that Macbeth slew Duncan at Bothgowan, near Elgin, in 1039, and not as Shakespeare says, at his castle of Inverness: the attack was made because Duncan had

usurped the throne, to which Macbeth had the better claim. As a king Macbeth proved a very just and equitable prince, but the partisans of Malcolm got head, and succeeded in deposing Macbeth, who was slain in 1056, at Lumphanan. He was thane of Cromarty [Glamis], and afterwards of Moray [Cawdor].— Lardner: Cabinet Cyclopoedia

Lady Macbeth. The wife of Macbeth. Ambition is her sin, and to gain the object of her ambition she hesitates at nothing. Her masterful mind sways the weaker Macbeth to “the mood of what she liked or loathed.” She is a Mede'a, or Catherine de' Medici, or Cæsar Borgia in female form. (Shakespeare Macbeth.) The real name of Lady Macbeth was Graoch, and instead of being urged to the murder of Duncan through ambition, she was goaded by deadly injuries. She was, in fact, the granddaughter of Kenneth IV., killed in 1003, fighting against Malcolm II.— Lardner: Cabinet Cyclopoedia, vol. i. 17, etc.

Macbriar

(Ephraim). An enthusiastic preacher in Sir Walter Scott's Old Mortality. This was the young preacher Maccaul so hideously tortured in the reign of Charles II. He died “in a rapture.” (See Cassell's History of England, Charles II., vol. iii. p. 422.)

Maccabzaeus

The Hammerer. A surname given to Judas Asmonaeus; similar to “Martel,” the name given to Charles, son of Pepin He ristel, who beat down the Saracens as with a sledgehammer. Some think the name is a notarica or acrostic: Mi Camokah Baelim J ehovah (Who is like to thee among the gods, O Lord?). (Exodus

xv. 11.) (See Notarica .)

Macdonald

Lord Macdonald's breed. Parasites. Lord Macdonald (son of the Lord of the Isles) once made a raid on the mainland. He and his followers, with other plunder, fell on the clothes of the enemy, and stripping off their own rags, donned the smartest and best they could lay hands on, with the result of being overrun with parasites.

Macduff

The thane of Fife. A Scotch nobleman whose castle of Kennoway was surprised by Macbeth, and his wife and babes “savagely slaughtered.” Macduff vowed vengeance and joined the army of Siward, to dethrone the tyrant. On reaching the royal castle of Dunsinane, they fought, and Macbeth was slain.

(Shakespeare: Macbeth.)

History states that Macbeth was defeated at Dunsinane, but escaped from the battle and was slain at Lumphanan in 1056.— Lardner: Cabinet Cyclopoedia, i. p. 17. etc.

Macheath

(Captain). A highwayman, hero of The Beggar's Opera, by Gay. A fine, gay, bold—faced ruffian, game to the very last.

Machiavelli

The Imperial Machiavelli. Tiberius, the Roman emperor. (B.C. 42 to A.D. 37.) His political axiom was— “He who knows not how to dissemble knows not how to reign.” It was also the axiom of Louis XI. of France

Machiavellism

Political cunning and overreaching by diplomacy, according to the pernicious political principles of Niccolo del Machiavelli, of Florence, set forth in his work called The Prince. The general scope of this book is to show that rulers may resort to any treachery and artifice to uphold their arbitrary power, and whatever dishonourable acts princes may indulge in are fully set off by the insubordination of their subjects.

(1469—1527.)

Mackintosh

or Macintosh. Cloth waterproofed with caoutchouc, patented by Mr. Macintosh.

Macklin

The real name of this great actor was Charles M'Laughlin, but he changed it on coming to England. (1690—1797.)

Macmillanites

(4 syl.). A religious sect of Scotland, who succeeded the Covenanters; so named from John Macmillan, their leader. They called themselves the “Reformed Presbytery.”

Macsycophant

(Sir Pertinax). In The Man of the World, by Charles Macklin, Sir Pertinax “bowed, and bowed, and bowed,” and cringed, and fawned, to obtain the object of his ambition.

Mace

Originally a club armed with iron, and used in war. Both sword and mace are ensigns of dignity, suited to the times when men went about in armour, and sovereigns needed champions to vindicate their rights.

Macedon is not Worthy of Thee

is what Philip said to his son Alexander, after his achievement with the horse Bucephalos, which he subdued to his will, though only eighteen years of age.

Edward III., after the battle of Crecy, in which the Black Prince behaved very valiantly, exclaimed, “My brave boy, on as you have begun, and you will be worthy of England's crown.”

Macedonian

(The). Julius Polyaenus, author of Stratagemata, in the second century.

Macedonian Madman

(The). (See Madman .)

Macedonians

A religious sect, so named from Macedonius, Patriarch of Constantinople, in the fourth century. They denied the divinity of the Holy Ghost, and that the essence of the Son is the same in kind with that of the Father.

Macedonicus

Æmilius Paulus, conqueror of Perseus. (230—160 B.C.)

Mackerel Sky

(A). A sky spotted like a mackerel. (Mackerel from the Latin, macula, a spot whence the French maquereau. German mackrele, Welsh macrell, etc.)

Macon

Mahomet, Mahoun, or Mahound.

“Praised (quoth he) be Macon whom we serve.”

Fairfax: Tasso, xii. 10.

Macon. A poetical and romance name of Mecca, the birthplace of Mahomet.

Macreons

The island of the Macreons. Great Britain. The word is Greek, and means long—lived. Rabelais describes the persecutions of the reformers as a terrible storm at sea, in which Pantagruel and his fleet were

tempest—tossed, but contrived to enter one of the harbours of Great Britain, an island called “Long life,” because no one was put to death there for his religious opinions. This island was full of antique ruins, relics of decayed popery and ancient superstitions.

Macrocosm

(Greek, the great world), in opposition to the microcosm (the little world). The ancients looked upon the universe as a living creature, and the followers of Paracelsus considered man a miniature representation of the universe. The one was termed the Macrocosm, the other the Microcosm (q.v.)

Mad as a March Hare

(See Hare .) The French say, “Il est fou comme un jeune chien. “

Mad Cavalier

(The). Prince Rupert, noted for his rash courage and impatience of control. (1619—1682.)

Mad Parliament

(The). The Parliament which assembled at Oxford in 1258, and broke out into open rebellion against Henry III. The king was declared deposed, and the government was vested in the hands of twenty—four councillors, with Simon de Montfort at their head.

Mad Poet

(The). Nathaniel Lee, who was confined for four years in Bedlam. (1657—1690.)

Mad as a Hatter

By some said to be a corruption of “Mad as an atter” (adder); but evidence is wanting. The word adder is atter in Saxon, natter in German.

Madame

So the wife of Phillipe, Duc d'Orléans was styled in the reign of Louis XIV.; other ladies were only Madame This or That.

Madame la Duchessc. Wife of Henri—Jules de Bourbon, eldest son of Prince de Condé Madame la Princesse. Wife of the Prince de Conde, and natural daughter of Louis XIV. (See Monsieur.)

Mademoiselle

(4 syl.). The daughter of Philippe, Duc de Chartres, grandson of Philippe, Duc d'Orléans, brother of Louis XIV.

La Grande Mademoiselle. The Duchesse de Montpensier, cousin to Louis XIV., and daughter of Gaston. Duc d'Orléns.

Madge

An owl.

Madge Wildfire

The nickname of Margaret Murdochson, a beautiful but giddy girl, whose brain was crazed by seduction and the murder of her infant. (Sir Walter Scott: Heart of Midlothian.)

Madman

Macedonia's madman. Alexander the Great. (B.C. 356, 336—323.)

The brilliant madman or Madman of the North. Charles XII. of Sweden. (1682, 1697—1718.)

“Heroes are much the same, the point's agreed,

From Macedonia's madman to the Swede

[Charles XII.].” Pope: Essay on Man, iv.

Madness

In Perthshire there are several wells and springs dedicated to St. Fillan, which are still places of pilgrimage. These wells are held to be efficacious in cases of madness. Even recently lunatics have been bound to the holy stone at night, under the expectation that St. Fillan would release them before dawn, and send them home in their right minds.

Madoc

The youngest son of Owain Gwyneth, King of North Wales, who died in 1169. According to tradition he sailed away to America, and established a colony on the southern branches of the Missouri. About the same time the Aztecas forsook Aztlan, under the guidance of Yuhidthiton, and founded the empire called Mexico,

in honour of Mexitli, their tutelary god. Southey has a poem in two parts called Madoc, in which these two events are made to harmonise with each other.

Madonna

(Italian, my lady.) Specially applied to representations of the Virgin Mary.

Mador

(Sir). The Scotch knight slain in single combat by Sir Launcelot of the Lake, who volunteered to defend the innocence of Queen Guinever.

Madras System of Education

A system of mutual instruction, introduced by Dr. Andrew Bell into the institution at Madras for the education of the orphan children of the European military. Bell lived 1753—1832.

Mæander

To wind like the river Mæander, in Phrygia. The “Greek pattern" of embroidery is so called.

Mæcenas

A patron of letters; so called from C. Cilnius Mæcenas, a Roman statesman in the reign of Augustus, who kept open house for all men of letters, and was the special friend and patron of Horace and Virgil. Nicholas Rowe so called the Earl of Halifax on his installation to the Order of the Garter (1714).

The last English Maecenas. Samuel Rogers, poet and banker. (1763—1855.)

Maelstrom

(Norwegian, whirling stream). There are about fifty maelströms off the coast of Norway, but the one Englishmen delight to tremble at is at the foot of the Lofoten Islands, between the islands of Moskenes and Mosken, where the water is pushed and jostled a good deal, and when the wind and tide are contrary it is not safe for small boats to venture near.

It was anciently thought that the Maelström was a subterranean abyss, penetrating the globe, and communicating with the Gulf of Bothnia.

Mæonides

(4 syl.) or Mæonian Poet. Homer, either because he was the son of Mæon, or because he was born in Mæonia (Asia Minor). (See Homer .)

Mæviad

A merciless satire by Gifford on the Della Cruscan school of poetry. Published 1796. The word is in Virgil's Eclogue, iii. 90. (See Baviad .)

Mag

What a mag you are! jabberer, hence to chatter like a magpie. Mag is a contraction of magpie. The French have a famous word, “caguet—bon—bec.” We call a prating man or woman “a mag.” (See Magpie .)

Not a mag to bless myself with — not a halfpenny.

Mag'a

Blackwood's Magazine. A mere contraction of the word magazine.

Magalona

(See Maguelone .)

Magazine

(3 syl.). A place for stores. (Arabic, makhzan, gazana, a place where articles are preserved.)

Magdalene

(3 syl.). An asylum for the reclaiming of prostitutes; so called from Mary Magdalene or Mary of Magdala, “out of whom Jesus cast seven devils.” A great profligate till she met with the Lord and Saviour.

Magdeburg Centuries

The first great work of Protestant divines on the history of the Christian Church. It was begun at Magdeburg by Matthias Flacius, in 1552; and, as each century occupies a volume, the thirteen volumes complete the history to 1300.

Magellan

Straits of Magellan. So called after Magellan or Magalhaens, the Portuguese navigator, who discovered them in 1520.

Magenta A brilliant red colour derived from coal—tar, named in commemoration of the battle of Magenta, which was fought in 1859.

Maggot

Maggoty. Whimsical, full of whims and fancies. Fancy tunes used to be called maggots, hence we have “Barker's maggots,” “Cary's maggots,” “Draper's maggots,” etc. (Dancing Master, 1721.)

When the maggot bites. When the fancy takes us. Swift tells us that it was the opinion of certain virtuosi that the brain is filled with little worms or maggots, and that thought is produced by these worms biting the nerves. “If the bite is hexagonal it produces poetry; if circular, eloquence; if conical, politics, etc. (Mechanical Operation of the Spirit.)

Instead of maggots the Scotch say, “His head is full of bees;” the French, “Il a des rats dans la tête;” and in Holland, “He has a mouse's nest in his head.” (See Bee.)

Magi

(The), according to one tradition, were Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthazar, three kings of the East. The first offered gold, the emblem of royalty, to the infant Jesus; the second, frankincense, in token of divinity; and the third, myrrh, in prophetic allusion to the persecution unto death which awaited the “Man of Sorrows.” MELCHIOR means “king of light.” GASPAR, or CASPAR, means “the white one.” BALTHAZAR means “the lord of treasures.” (Klopstock, in his Messíah, book v., gives these five names: Hadad, Selima, Zimri, Beled, and Sunith.)

Magi, in Camoens' Lusiad, means the Indian “Brahmins.” Ammianus Marcellinus says that the Persian magi derived their knowledge from the Brahmins of India (i. 23); and Arianus expressly calls the Brahmins “magi" (i. 7.).

Magic Garters

Made of the strips of a young hare's skin saturated with motherwort. Those who wear these garters excel in speed.

“Were it not for my magic garters ...

I should not continue the business long.”

Longfellow: The Golden Legend.

Magic Rings

This superstition arose from the belief that magicians had the power of imprisoning demons in rings. The power was supposed to prevail in Asia, and subsequently in Salamanca, Toledo, and Italy.

Magic circles (like magic squares) are mathematical puzzles.

Corcud's ring. This magic ring was composed of six metals, and insured the wearer success in any undertaking in which he chose to embark. (Chinese Tales; Corcud and his Four Sons.)

Dame Liones's ring, given by her to Sir Gareth during a tournament. It insured the wearer from losing blood when wounded.

“ `This ring,' said Dame Liones, `increaseth my beauty ... That which is green it turns red, and that which is red it turns green. That which is blue it turns white, and that which is white it

turns blue. Whoever beareth this ring can never lose blood, however wounded.' ”— History of Prince Arthur, i. 146.

Fairy ring (A). Whoever lives in a house built over a fairy ring will wondrously prosper in everything. (Athenian Oracle, i. 307.)

Gyges' ring. (See Gyges.)

Luned's ring rendered the wearer invisible. Luned or Lynet gave the ring to Owain, one of King Arthur's knights.

“Take this ring, and put it on thy finger, with the stone inside thy hand, and close thy hand upon it. As long as thou concealest the stone, the stone will conceal thee.”— The Mabinogion (Lady of the Fountain).

Reynard's ring. The ring which Reynard pretended he had sent to King Lion. It had three gems: one red, which gave light in darkness; one white, which cured all blains and sprains; and one green, which would guard the wearer from all ills, both in peace and war. (Henrik von Alkmaar Reynard the Fox.

The steel ring, made by Seidel—Beckit. It enabled the wearer to read the secrets of another's heart. (Oriental Tales; The Four Talismans.

The talking ring given by Tartaro, the Basque Cyclops, to a girl whom he wished to marry. Immediately she put it on, it kept incessantly saying “You there, and I here.” In order to get rid of the nuisance, the girl cut off her finger, and threw both finger and ring into a pond. (Basque legends.

This tale appears in Campbell's Popular Tales of the West Highlands (i. to iii.), and in Grimm's Tales (The Robber and his Sons).

Magic Wand

In Jerusalem Delivered the Hermit gives Charles the Dane and Ubaldo a wand which, being shaken, infused terror into all who saw it.

In the Faërie Queene, the palmer who accompanies Sir Guyon has a staff of like virtue, made of the same wood as Mercury's caduceus.

Magician

The Great Magician or Wizard of the North. Professor Wilson calls Sir Walter Scott the Great Magician, from the wonderful fascination of his writings.

Magician of the North. The title assumed by Johann Georg Hamann, of Prussia (1730—1788).

Magliabecchi

The greatest bookworm that ever lived. He never forgot what he had once read, and could even turn at once to the exact page of any reference. He was the librarian of the Great Duke Cosmo III.

(1633—1714).

Magna Charta

The Great Charter of English liberty extorted from King John, 1215; called by Spelman—

“Augustissimum Anglicarum, liberta tum diploma et sacra anchora.”

Magnalia Christi

Cotton Mathers's book, mentioned in Longfellow's May—flower.

Magnanimous

(The).

Alfonso V. of Aragon (1385, 1416—58).

Chosroes or Khosru, twenty—first of the Sassanides, surnamed Noushirwan (the Magnanimous) (531—579).

Magnano

One of the leaders of the rabble that attacked Hudibras at a bear—baiting. The character is a satire on Simeon Wait, a tinker and Independent preacher. (Hudibras, pt. i. 2.) He calls Cromwell the “archangel who did battle with the devil.”

Magnet The loadstone; so called from Magnesia, in Lydia, where the ore was said to abound. The Greeks called it magnes. Milton uses the adjective for the substantive in the line “As the magnetic hardest iron draws.”

Magnetic Mountain

A mountain which drew out all the nails of any ship that approached within its magnetic influence. The ship in which Prince Agib sailed fell to pieces when wind—driven towards it. (Arabian Nights; The Third Calendar.)

Magneuse

(French). An anonyma or fille de joie; so called from the nunery founded at Rheims in 1654, by Jeanne Canart, daughter of Nicolas Colbert, seigneur de Magneux. The word is sometimes jocosely perverted into Magni—magno.

Magnificat

To sing the Magnificat at matins. To do things at the wrong time, or out of place. The Magnificat does not belong to the morning service, but to vespers. The Magnificat is Luke i. 46—55 in Latin.

Magnificent

(The). Khosru or Chosroes I. of Persia (*, 531—579). The golden period of Persian history was 550—628. Lorenzo de Medici (1448—1492).

Robert, Duc de Normandie, also called Le Diable (*, 1028—1035). Soliman I., greatest of the Turkish sultans (1493, 1520—1566).

Magnifique ... Guerre

“Cest magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre.” Admirable, but not according to rule. The comment of Marshal Canrobert on the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava.

“It is because the clergy, as a class, are animated by a high ideal ... that they, as a class, are incomparably better than they need be ... C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre.”— Nineteenth Century, April, 1866.

Magnolia

A flower so called from Pierre Magnol, professor of medicine at Montpelier. (1638—1715.)

Magnum Opus

Chief or most important of a person's works. A literary man says of his most renowned book it is his magnum opus.

Magnum of Port

(A), or other wine, a double bottle.

Magnus Apollo

(My), or Meus Magnus Apollo. My leader, authority, and oracle.

Mago the Carthaginian

says Aristotle, crossed the Great Desert twice without having anything to drink.

Magophonia

A festival observed by the Persians to commemorate the massacre of the Magi. Smerdis usurped the throne on the death of Cambyses; but seven Persians, conspiring together, slew Smerdis and his brother; whereupon the people put all the Magi to the sword, and elected Darius, son of Hystaspes, to the throne. (Greek, magosphonos, the magi—slaughter.)

Magot

(French). Money, or rather a mass of secreted money; a corruption of imago, the “image and superscription” of coined money.

“Là il vola de même, revint à Paris avec un bon magot.”— La Gazette Noire, 1784, p. 270.

Magpie

A contraction of magotpie, or magata—pie. “Mag” is generally thought to be a contraction of Margaret; thus we have Robin red—breast, Tom—tit, Philip— i.e. a sparrow, etc.

“Augurs and understood relations have (By magotpies, and choughs, and rooks) brought forth The secretst man of blood.”

Shakespeare: Macbeth, iii. 4.

Magpie. Here is an old Scotch rhyme:

“One's sorrow, two's mirth,

Three's a wedding, four's a birth

Five's a christening, six a death

Seven's heaven, eight is hell,

And nine's the devil his ane sel'.”

Magricio

The champion of Isabella of Portugal, who refused to do homage to France. The brave champion vanquished the French chevalier, and thus vindicated the liberty of his country.

Maguelone

or Magalo'na (the fair). Heroine of the romance called The History of the Fair Magalona, Daughter of the King of Naples, etc. Originally written in French. Cervantes alludes to it in Don Quixote. (See Peter Of Provence .)

Magus

Simon Magus: Isidore tells us that Simon Magus died in the reign of Nero, and adds that he (Simon) had proposed a dispute with Peter and Paul, and had promised to fly up to heaven. He succeeded in rising high into the air, but at the prayers of the two apostles he was cast down to earth by the evil spirits who had enabled him to rise into the air. Milman, in his History of Christianity, vol. ii. p. 51, tells another story. He says that Simon offered to be buried alive, and declared that he would reappear on the third day. He was actually buried in a deep trench, “but to this day,” says Hippolytus, “his disciples have failed to witness his resurrection.”

Mah—abadean Dynasty

(The). The first dynasty of Persian mythological history. Mah Abad (the great Abad) and his wife were the only persons left on the earth after the great cycle, and from them the world was peopled. Azer Abad, the fourteenth and last of this dynasty, left the earth because “all flesh had corrupted itself,” and a period of anarchy ensued.

Mahabharata

One of the two great epic poems of ancient India. Its story is the contests between descendants of Kuru and Pandu. (See Kuru .)

Mahadi

or Hakem. The Kalif who reigned about 400 years after Mahomet. In one pilgrimage to Mecca he expended six million gold dinars.

Mahatmas

Initiates who have proved their courage and purity by passing through sundry tests and trials. It is a Hindu word applied to certain Buddhists. They are also called “Masters.” According to Theosophists, man has a physical, an intellectual, and a spiritual nature, and a Mahâtma is a person who has reached perfection in each of these three natures. As his knowledge is perfect, he can produce effects which, to the less learned, appear miraculous. Thus, before the telegraph and telephone were invented it would have appeared miraculous to possess such powers; no supernatural power, however, is required, but only a more extensive knowledge.

“Mahâtma is a well—known Sanskrit word applied to men who have retired from the world, who by means of a long ascetic discipline, have subdued the passions of the flesh, and gained a reputation for sanctity and knowledge. That these men are able to perform most startling feats, and to suffer the most terrible tortures, is perfectly true.”— Max Muller: Nineteenth Century, May, 1893, p. 775.

Mahdi

(The). The supreme pontiff of the Shiites (2 syl.) Only twelve of these imaums have really appeared— viz. Ali, Hassan, Hosein, and the nine lineal descendants of Hosein. Mohammed, the last Mahdi, we are told, is not really dead, but sleeps in a cavern near Bagdad, and will return to life in the fulness of time to overthrow Dejal (anti—Christ).

The Mahdi which has of late been disturbing Egypt is hated by the Persians, who are Sunnites (2 syl.); but

even the Turks and Persians are looking out for a Mahdi who will stamp out the “infldels.”

Mahmoud of Ghizni

the conqueror of India in the 11th century, kept 400 greyhounds and bloodhounds, each of which wore a jewelled collar taken from the necks of captive sultanas.

Mahmut

The name of the famous Turkish spy (q.v.).

Mahomet

or Mohammed, according to Deutsch, means the Predicted Messiah. (Hag. ii. 7.) It is the titular name taken by Halabi, founder of Islam. (570—632.)

Angel of. When Mahomet was transported to heaven, he says: “I saw there an angel, the most gigantic of all created beings. It had 70,000 heads, each had 70,000 faces, each face had 70,000 mouths, each mouth had 70,000 tongues, and each tongue spoke 70,000 languages; all were employed in singing God's praises.”

This would make more than 31,000 trillion languages, and nearly five billion mouths.

Banner of. Sanjaksherif, kept in the Eyab mosque, at Constantinople. Bible of. The Koran.

Born at Mecca, A.D. 570.

Bow. Catum (q.v.).

Camel (Swiftest). Adha (q.v.).

Cave. The cave in which Gabriel appeared to Mahomet was Hoiâ Coffin. It is said that Mahomet's coffin, in the Hadgira of Medina, is suspended in mid—air without any support. Many explanations have been given of this phenomenon, the one most generally received being that the coffin is of iron, placed midway between two magnets. Burckhardt visited the sacred enclosure, and found the ingenuity of science useless in this case, as the coffin is not suspended at all.

Cuirass. FADHA (q.v.).

Daughter (His favourite). Fatima.

Died at Medina, Monday, June 8th, 632, age of seventy—two. The 10th of the Hedjrah. Dove. Mahomet had a dove which he used to feed with wheat out of his ear. When the dove was hungry it used to light on the prophet's shoulder, and thrust its bill into his ear to find its meal. Mahomet thus induced the Arabs to believe that he was inspired by the Holy Ghost in the semblance of a dove. (Sir Walter Raleigh: History of the World, bk. 1. pt. i. chap. vi. (See also Prideaux Life of Mahomet.

“Was Mahomet inspired with a dove?”

Shakespeare: 1 Henry VI., i. 2.

Father. Abdall, of the tribe of Koreish. He died a little before or little after the birth of Mahomet. Father—in—law (father of Ayesha). Abu—Bekr. He succeeded Mahomet and was the first calif. Flight from Mecca (called the Hedjrah), A.D. 622. He retired to Medina.

Grandfather (paternal). Abd—el—Mutallib, who adopted the orphan boy, but died in two years. Hedjrah. (See above, Flight.

Heir (adopted). Said or Zaid. Horse. Al Borak [The Lightning ]. It conveyed the prophet to the seventh heaven. (See Borak.)

“Borak was a fine—limbed, high—standing horse, strong in frame, and with a coat as glossy as marble. His colour was saffron, with one harr of gold for every three of tawny; his ears were restless and pointed like a reed; his eyes large and full of fire; his nostrils wide and steaming; he had a white star on his forehead, a neck gracefully arched, a mane soft and silky, and a thick tail that swept the ground.”— Croquemitaine, ii. 9.

Miracles. Chadin mentions several, but some say he performed no miracle. The miracle of the moon is best known.

Moon (The). Habib the Wise told Mahomet to prove his mission by cleaving the moon in two. Mahomet raised his hands towards heaven, and in a loud voice summoned the moon to do Habib's bidding. Accordingly, it descended to the top of the Caaba (q.v.), made seven circuits, and, coming to the `prophet,' entered his right sleeve and came out of the left. It then entered the collar of his robe, and descended to the skirt, clove itself into two plaits, one of which appeared in the east of the skies and the other in the west; and the two parts ultimately reunited and resumed their usual form.

Mother of. Amina, of the tribe of Koreish. She died when Mahomet was six years old. Mule. Fadda (q.v.).

Pond. Just inside the gates of Paradise. It was white as milk, and he who drank thereof would never thirst again. (Al Koran.

Revelation made when he was forty years old by Gabriel, on Mount Hora, in Mecca. Standard. Bajura.

Stepping—stone. The stone upon which the prophet placed his foot when he mounted the beast Al Borak on his ascent to heaven. It rose as the beast rose, but Mahomet, putting his hand upon it, forbade it to follow him, whereupon it remained suspended in mid—air, where the true believer, if he has faith enough, may still behold it.

Swords. Dhu'l Fakar (the trenchant), Al Battar (the beater), Medham (the keen), and Hatef (the deadly). (See Swords.)

Successor. (See above, Father—in—law.

Tribe. On both sides, the Koreish.

Uncle, who took charge of Mahomet at the death of his grandfather, Abu Taleb'. Wives. Ten in number, viz. (1) Kadidja, a rich widow of the tribe of Koreish, who had been twice married already, and was forty years of age. For twenty—five years she was his only wife, but at her death he married nine others, all of whom survived him.

Mahomet loved Mary, a Coptic girl, and in order to justify the amour, added a new chapter to the Koran, which may be found in Gagnier's Notes upon Abulfeda, p. 151.

The nine wives. (1) Ayesha, daughter of Abu Bekr, only nine years old on her wedding—day. This was his youngest and favourite wife.

(2) Sauda, widow of Sokran, and nurse to his daughter Fatima.

(3) Hafsa, a widow twenty—eight years old, who also had a son. She was daughter of Omeya.

(4) Zeinab, wife of Zaid, but divorced in order that the prophet might take her to wife.

(5) Barra, wife of a young Arab and daughter of Al Hareth, chief of an Arab tribe. Both father and husband were slain in a battle with Mahomet. She was a captive.

(6) Rehana, daughter of Simeon, and a Jewish captive.

(7) Safiya, the espoused wife of Kenana. Kenana was put to death. Safiya outlived the prophet forty years.

(8) Omm Habiba— i.e. mother of Habiba; the widow of Abu Sofian.

(9) Maimuna, fifty—one years old, and a widow, who survived all his other wives.

Also ten or fifteen concubines, chief of whom was Mariyeh, mother of Ibrahim, the prophet's son, who died when fifteen months old.

Year of Deputations. A.D. 630, the 8th of the Hedjrah.

Mahoun'

(2 syl.). Name of contempt for Mahomet, a Moslem, a Moor. In Scotland it used to mean devil.

“There's the son of the renegade— spawn of Mahoun (son of the Moorish princess).”— Vengeance of Mudarra.

Mahound

(2 syl.). Mahomet. (See Macon .)

“Ofttimes by Termagant and Mahound swore.”

Spenser: Faerrie Queene, vii. 47.

Mahu

The fiend—prince that urges to theft.

“Five flends have been in poor Tom at once: of lust, as Obidicut; Hobbididance, prince of dumbness; Mahu, of stealing; Modo, of murder; Flibbertigibbet, of mopping and mowing.”— Shakespeare: King Lear, iv. 1.

Maid Marian

A morris dance, or the boy in the morris dance, called Mad Morion, from the “morion” which he wore on his head. (See Morris Dance .) Maid Marian is a corruption first of the words, and then of the sex. Having got the words Maid Marian, etymologists have puzzled out a suitable character in Matilda, the daughter of Fitz—Walter, baron of Bayard and Dunmow, who eloped with Robert Fitz—Ooth, the outlaw, and lived with him in Sherwood Forest. Some refine upon this tale, and affirm that Matilda was married to the outlaw (commonly called Robin Hood) by Friar Tuck.

“A set of morrice dancers danced a maidmarian with a tabor and pipe.”— Temple. “Next 'tis agreed

That fair Matilda henceforth change her name,

And while [she lives] in Shirewodde ...

She by maid Marian's name be only called.”

Downfall of Robert; Earl of Huntingdon.

Maid of Athens

immortalised by Byron, was Theresa Macri. Some twentyfour years after this poem was written the maid was in dire poverty, without a single vestige of beauty. She had a large family, and lived in a hovel.

Maid of Norway

Margaret, daughter of Eric II. and Margaret of Norway. On the death of Alexander III. she was acknowledged Queen of Scotland, and was oetrothed to Edward, son of Edward I. of England, but she died on her passage to Scotland.

Maid of Orleans

Jeanne d'Arc (1412—1431).

Maid of Perth (Fair). Catherine Glover, daughter of Simon Glover, the old glover of Perth. She kisses Smith while asleep on St. Valentine's morning, and ultimately marries him. (See Smith .) (Scott: Fair Maid of Perth.)

Maid of Saragossa

Augustina Zaragoza, distinguished for her heroism when Saragossa was besieged in 1808 and 1809. Byron refers to her in his Childe Harold.

Maiden

A machine resembling the guillotine for beheading criminals in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; brought to Scotland by the Regent Morton from Halifax, in Yorkshire, for the purpose of beheading the laird of Pennycuick. It was also called “the widow.”

He who invented the maiden first hanselled it. Referring to Regent Morton, who introduced this sort of guillotine into Scotland, erroneously said to have been the first to suffer by it. Thomas Scott, one of the murderers of Rizzio, was beheaded by it in 1566, fifteen years before Morton's execution.

Maiden Assize

(A). One in which there is no person to be brought to trial. We have also the expressions maiden tree, one never lopped; maiden fortress, one never taken; maiden speech; etc. In a maiden assize, the sheriff of the county presents the judge with a pair of white gloves. White gloves symbolise innocence. Maiden primarily means unspotted, unpolluted, innocent; thus Hubert says to the king—

“This hand of mine

Is yet a maiden and an innocent hand,

Not painted with the crimson spots of blood.” Shakespeare: King John, iv. 2.

Maiden King

(The). Malcolm IV. of Scotland. (1141, 1153—1165.)

“Malcolm ... son of the brave and generous Prince Henry ... was so kind and gentle in his disposition, that he was usually called Malcolm the Maiden.”— Scott: Tales of a Grandfather, iv.

Maiden Lane

(London). So called from an image of the Maiden or Virgin Mary, which stood there before the Reformation.

Maiden

or Virgin Queen. Elizabeth, Queen of England, who never married. (1533, 1558—1603.)

Maiden Town

i.e. a town never taken by the enemy. Edinburgh. The tradition is that the maiden daughters of a Pictish king were sent there for protection during an intestine war.

Maiden of the Mist

Anne of Geierstein, in Sir Walter Scott's novel called Anne of Geierstein.

Maidenhair

(a fern, so—called from its hair—like stalks) never takes wet or moisture.

“His skin is like the herb called true Maiden's hair, which never takes wet or moisture, but still keeps dry, though laid at the bottom of a river as long as you please. For this reason it is called Adiantos.”— Rabelais: Pantagruel, iv. 24

Main—brace

Splice the main—brace, in sea language, means to take a draught of strong drink to keep the spirits up, and give strength for extra exertion. The main—brace is the rope by which the mainyard of a ship is set in position, and to splice it, in a literal sense, when the rope is broken or injured, is to join the two ends together again.

Main Chance (The). Profit or money, probably from the game called hazard.

To have an eye to the main chance, means to keep in view the money to be made out of an enterprise. In the game of “hazard,” the first throw of the dice is called the main, which must be between four and nine, the player then throws his chance, which determines the main.

Mainote

(2 syl.). A pirate that infests the coast of Attica.

“Like boat

Of island—pirate or Mainote.”

Byron The Giaour

Maintain

is to hold in the hand; hence, to keep; hence, to clothe and feed. (French, main tenir; Latin, manus tenco.)

Maitland Club

(The) of literary antiquities, instituted at Glasgow in 1828. It published a number of works.

Maize

(1 syl.). According to American superstition, if a damsel finds a blood—red ear of maize, she will have a suitor before the year is over.

“Even the blood—red ear to Evangeline brought not her lover.”

Longfellow: Evangeline.

Majesty

Henry VIII. was the first English sovereign who was styled “His Majesty.” Henry IV. was “His Grace;” Henry VI, “His Excellent Grace;" Edward IV., “High and Mighty Prince;” Henry VII., “His Grace,” and “His Highness;” Henry VIII., in the earlier part of his reign, was styled “His Highness.” “His Sacred Majesty” was a title assumed by subsequent sovereigns, but was afterwards changed to “Most Excellent Majesty.”

Majesty

in heraldry. An eagle crowned and holding a sceptre is “an eagle in his majesty.”

Majolica Ware

A pottery originally made in the island of Majorca or Majolica, and lately revived by Mr. Minton.

Majority

He has joined the majority. He is dead. Blair says, in his Grave, ” 'tis long since Death had the majority.” “Abiit ad plures;” “Quin prius me ad plures penetravi” (Plautus; Trinummus, line 14). “Beatos eos fore, quando cum pluribus habitarint.” (See Polybius, viii. xxx. 7.)

Make

What make you here? What do you want? What are you come here for? A French phrase: “Que faites—vous ici?”

“Now, sir, what make you here?”— Shakespeare: As You Like It, i. 1.

Make a hand of

or on (To). To slay, destroy, waste, or spoil.

“So when I came to myself again, I' cried him mercy: but he said, `I know not to show mercy;' and with that knockt me down again. He had, doubtless, made a hand of me, but that one came by, and bid him forbear.”— Bunyan: Pilgrim's Progress, p. 93 (first edition).

Make a Hit

(To). To succeed unexpectedly in an adventure or speculation. (See Hit .)

Make a Virtue of Necessity (To). See Chaucer's poem of the Knightes Tale, line 3,044; also The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Dryden's poem of Palamon and Arcite.

Make away with

(To). To squander; to put out of the way; to murder. The French verb défaire is used sometimes in a similar way; as, “Il tâcha de se défaire secrètement de ses pariers.”

Make away with Oneself

(To) To commit suicide.

Make Bricks without Straw

(To). To attempt to do something without having the necessary material supplied. The allusion is to the Israelites in Egypt, who were commanded by their taskmasters so to do. (Exodus v. 7.)

Make Eyes at

(To). To flirt with the eyes. “Oculis venari” (See Cast .)

Make Mountains of Molehills

(To). To make a difficulty of trifles. “Arcem ex cloaca facare.” The corresponding French proverb is, “Faire d'un mouche un éléphant.”

Make one's Bread

(To). To earn one's living

Make the Door

(To). To make it fast by shutting and bolting it. We still say, “Have you made my room?”—

i.e. made it tidy. Similarly, to “make the bed” is to arrange it fit for use.

“Why at this time the doors are made against you.” Shakespeare: Comedy of Errors, iii. 1.

“Make the door upon a woman's wit, and it will out at the casement.”— Shakespeare: As You Like It, iv. 1.

Make the Ice

(To). To near the whale—fishing ground. To make for the ice is to steer in that direction.

“About the end of April we neared the fishing ground, or, to be more technical, `made the ice.” C. Thomson: Autobiography, p. 128.

Make—wage

Wages supplemented by grants or rates. Similarly, a make—weight [loaf] is a small loaf added to make up the proper weight.

Make—weight

A bit [of meat, cheese, bread, or other article] thrown into the scale to make the weight correct.

Makeshift

(A). A temporary arrangement during an emergency; a device. (The Anglo—Saxon seyft means a division, hence a device.)

Malabar

the Malabar Coast includes the whole southwest corner of India as far back as the ghaut line. The ancient form of the name was Male, "where the pepper grows", whence the name Malayalam for the prevailing language.

Malagigi

(in Orlando Furioso). Son of Buovo, and brother of Aldiger and Vivian, of Clarmont's race; a wizard knight, cousin of Rinaldo. (See Maugis .)

Malagrowther

(Malachi). The signature of Sir Walter Scott to a series of letters in 1822 contributed to the Edinburgh Review upon the lowest limitation of paper money to 5. They caused immense sensation, not inferior to that produced by Drapier's Letters (q.v.) in Ireland. No political tract, since Burke's Reflections on the French Revolution, ever excited such a stir in Great Britain.

Malagrowther

(Sir Mungo). An old courtier soured by misfortune, who tries to make everyone as discontented as himself. (Scott: Fortunes of Nigel.)

Malakoff

(in the Crime'a). In 1831 a sailor and ropemaker, named Alexander Ivanovitch Malakoff, celebrated for his wit and conviviality, lived at Sebastopol. He had many friends and admirers, but, being engaged in a riot, was dismissed the dockyards in which he had been employed. He then opened a

liquor—shop on the hill outside the town. His old friends gathered round him, and his shop was called the Malakoff. In time other houses were built around, and the Malakoff became a town, which ultimately was fortified. This was the origin of the famous Malakoff Tower, which caused so much trouble to the allied army in the Crimean War. (Gazette de France.)

Malambruno

The giant, first cousin of Queen Maguncia, of Canday'a, who enchanted Antonomasia and her husband, and shut them up in the tomb of the deceased queen. The infanta he transformed into a monkey of brass, and the knight into a crocodile. Don Quixote achieved their disenchantment by mounting the wooden horse called Clavileno. (Cervantes: Don Quixote, part ii. book iii. chap. xlv.)

Malaprop

(Mrs.), in The Rivals, by Sheridan. (French, mal à propos.) Noted for her blunders in the use of words. “As headstrong as an allegory on the banks of the Nile” is one of her famous similes. (See Partington .)

Malbecco

A “cankered, crabbed earl,” very wealthy, but miserly and mean. He seems to be the impersonation of self—inflicted torments. He married a young wife named Helenore, who set fire to his house, and eloped

with Sir Paridel. Malbecco cast himself over a high rock, and all his flesh vanished into thin air, leaving behind nothing but his ghost, which was metamorphosed into Jealousy. (Spenser: Faërie Queene, book iii.)

Malbrouk

or Marlbrough (Marlbro'), does not date from the battle of Malplaquet (1709), but from the time of the Crusades, 600 years before. According to a tradition discovered by M. de Châteaubriand, the air came from the Arabs, and the tale is a legend of Mambron, a crusader. It was brought into fashion during the Revolution by Mme. Poitrine, who used to sing it to her royal foster—child, the son of Louis XVI. M. Arago tells us that when M. Monge, at Cairo, sang this air to an Egyptian audience, they all knew it, and joined in it. Certainly the song has nothing to do with the Duke of Marlborough, as it is all about feudal castles and Eastern wars. We are told also that the band of Captain Cook, in 1770, was playing the air one day on the east coast of Australia, when the natives evidently recognised it, and seemed enchanted. (Moniteur de l'Armée.)

“Malbrouk s'en va—t—en guerre,

Mironton, mironton, mirontaine;

Malbrouk s'en va—t—en guerre.

Nul sait quand reviendra.

Il reviendra z'a pâques—

Mironton, mironton, mirontaine ...

Ou à la Trinité.”

The name Malbrouk occurs in the Chansons de Gestes, and also in the Basque Pastorales.

Malcolm

Eldest son of Duncan, King of Scotland. He was called Can—More (Great—head), and succeeded Macbeth (1056). (Shakespeare: Macbeth. )

Maldine

(French). School. So called because at school “on dine assez mal.”

Male

Gender—words:

Billy, nanny; boar, sow; buck, doe; bull, cow; cock, hen; dog, bitch; ewe, tup; groom = man; he, she; Jack, Jenny; male, female; man, maid; man, woman; master, mistress; Tom; tup, dam; and several

“Christian” names; as in the following examples: —

Ape: Dog ape, bitch ape. Ass: Jack ass and Jenuy; he ass, she ass. Bear: He bear, she bear.

Bird: Male bird, female bird; cock bird, hen bird.

Blackcock (grouse); moorcock and hen (red grouse). Bridegroom, bride.

Calf: Bull calf, cow calf.

Cat: Tom cat, lady cat, he and she cat. Gib cat (q.v.). Charwoman.

Child: Male child, female child; man child, woman child (child is either male or female, except when sex is referred to).

Devil: He and she devil (if sex is referred to). Donkey: Male and female donkey. (See Ass.) Elephant: Bull and cow elephant; male and female elephant. Fox: Dog and bitch fox; the bitch is also called a vixen.

Game cock.

Gentleman, gentlewoman or lady.

Goat: Billy and Nanny goat; he and she goat; buck goat. Hare: Buck and doe hare.

Heir: Heir male, heir female

Kinsman, kinswoman.

Lamb: ewe lamb, tup lamb.

Mankind, womankind.

Merman, mermaid.

Milkman, milkmaid or milk—woman.

Moorcock, moorhen

Otter: Dog and bitch otter.

Partridge: Cock and hen partridge.

Peacock, peahen.

Pheasant: Cock and hen pheasant. Pig: Boar and sow pig.

Rabbit: Buck and doe rabbit. Rat: A Jack rat.

Schoolmaster, schoolmistress.

Seal: Bull and cow. The bull of fur seals under six years of age is called a “Bachelor.” Servant: Male and female servant; man and maid servant.

Singer, songstress; man and woman singer.

Sir [John], Lady [Mary].

Sparrow: Cock and hen sparrow.

Swan: A cob or cock swan, pen—swan.

Turkey cock and hen.

Wash or washer—woman.

Whale: Bull or Unicorn, and cow.

Wren: Jenny; cock Robin; Tom tit; etc. Wolf: Dog wolf, bitch or she—wolf.

Generally the name of the animal stands last; in the following instances, however, it stands before the genderword: —

Blackcock; bridegroom; charwoman; gamecock; gentleman and gentlewoman; heir male and female; kinsman and woman; mankind, womankind; milkman, milkmaid or —woman; moorcock and hen; peacock and hen; servant man and maid; turkey cock and hen; wash or washer—woman.

In a few instances the gender—word does not express gender, as jackdaw, jack pike, roebuck, etc. (2) The following require no genderword: —

Bachelor, spinster or maid.

Beau, belle.

Boar, sow (pig).

Boy, girl (both child).

Brother, sister.

Buck, doe (stag or deer).

Bull, cow (black cattle).

Cock, hen (barndoor fowls).

Cockerel, pullet.

Colt, filly (both foal).

Dad, father.

Dog, bitch (both dog, if sex is not referred to).

Drake, duck (both duck, if sex is not referred to). Drone, bee.

Earl, countess.

Father, mother (both parents).

Friar, nun.

Gaffer, gammer.

Gander, goose (both geese, if sex is not referred to). Gentleman, lady (both gentlefolk).

Hart, roe (both deer).

Husband, wife.

Kipper, shedder or baggit (spent salmon).

King, queen (both monarch or sovereign). Lad, lass.

Mallard, wild—duck (both wild fowl).

Man, maid.

Man, woman.

Master, mistress.

Milter, spawner (fish).

Monk, nun.

Nephew, niece.

Papa, mamma.

Ram, ewe (sheep).

Ruff, reeve.

Sir, ma'am.

Sir [John], Lady [Mary].

Sire, dam.

Sloven, slut.

Son, daughter.

Stag, hind (both stag, if sex is not referred to). Stallion, mare (both horse).

Steer, heifer.

Tup, dam (sheep).

Uncle, aunt.

Widow, widower.

Wizard, witch.

The females of other animals are made by adding a suffix to the male (—ess, —ina, —ine, —ix, —a, —ee, etc.); as, lion, lioness; czar, czarina; hero, heroine; testator, testatrix, etc.

Male Sapphires

Deep indigo—coloured sapphires. The pale blue are the female sapphires. (Emmanuel: `Diamonds and Precious Stones [1867].)

Male suada Fames

Hunger is a bad counsellor. The French say, “Vilain affamé, demi enragé.”

Malebolge

(4 syl.). The eighth circle of Dante's Inferno, which contained in all ten bolgi or pits.

“There is a place within the depths of hell

Called Malebolge.” Dante: Inferno, xviii.

Malecasta

The impersonation of lust. (Spenser: Faërie Queene, ii. 1.)

Maleger

[wretchedly thin]. Captain of the rabble rout which attack the castle of Temperance. He was “thin as a rake,” and cold as a serpent. Prince Arthur attacks him and flings him to the ground, but Maleger springs up with renewed vigour. Arthur now stabs him through and through, but it is like stabbling a shadow; he then takes him in his arms and squeezes him as in a vice, but it is like squeezing a piece of sponge; he then remembers that every time the carl touches the earth his strength is renewed, so he squeezes all his breath out, and tosses the body into a lake. (See Antaeos .) (Spenser: Faërie Queene, book ii. 11.)

Malengin

[guile]. On his back he carried a net “to catch fools.” Being attacked by Sir Artegal and his iron man, he turned himself first into a fox, then to a bush, then to a bird, then to a hedgehog, then to a snake; but Talus was a match for all his deceits, and killed him. (Spenser: Faërie Queene, v. 9.)

Malepardus The castle of Master Reynard the Fox, in the tale so called.

Malherbe's Canons of French Poetry

(1) Poetry is to contain only such words as are in common use by well—educated Parisians. (2) A word ending with a vowel must in no case be followed by a word beginning with a vowel. (3) One line in no wise is to run into another.

(4) The caesura must always be most strictly observed.

(5) Every alternate rhyme must be feminine.

Maliom

Mahomet is so called in some of the old romances.

“Send five, send six against me. By Maliom I swear, I'll take them all.”— Fierabras.

Malkin

The nickname of Mary, now called Molly. Hence the Maid Marian is so termed.

Malkin. A kitchen wench, now called a Molly, is by Shakespeare termed “the kitchen Malkin. (Coriolanus, ii. 1.)

Malkin. A scarecrow or figure dressed like a scullion; hence, anything made of rags, as a mop. Malkin. A Moll or female cat, the male being a “Tom.” When the cat mews, the witch in Macbeth calls out, “I come, Grimalkin” (i. 1).

Mall

or Pall Mall (London). From the Latin pellere mallco (to strike with a mallet or bat; so called because it was where the ancient game of pell—mall used to be played. Cotgrave says:—

“Pale malle is a game wherein a round boxball is struck with a mallet through a high arch of iron. He that can do this most frequently wins.”

It was a fashionable game in the reign of Charles II., and the walk called the Mall was appropriated to it for the king and his court.

Mall Supper

(A). A harvest feast (North of England). A mal is a feast, our word meal (Anglo—Saxon, mæl).

Mallows

Abstain from mallows. This is the thirty—eighth symbol in the Protreptics. Pythagoras tells us that mallow was the first messenger sent by the gods to earth to indicate to man that they sympathised with them and had pity on them. To make food of mallows would be to dishonour the gods. Mallows are cathartic.

Malmesbury

(William of). Eleventh century; author of numerous chronicles. His Gesta Regum Anglorum is a resumé of English history from the arrival of the English in 440 to the year 1120. His Historia Novella gives a retrospect of the reign of Henry I., and terminates abruptly with the year 1143. His third work is called Gesta Pontificum. All the three are included in the Scriptores post Bedam.

Malmesbury Monastery

Founded by Maildulf, Meildulf, or Meldun, an Irishman.

Malmsey Wine

is the wine of Malvasia, in Candia.

“Thane spyces unsparyly thay spendyde thereaftyre,

Malvesye and muskadelle, thase mervelyous drynkes.” Morte d'Arthure. ,

(See Drowned In A Butt Of ...).

Malt

The Sermon on Malt was by John Dod, rector of Fawsley, Northants, called the decalogist, from his famous exposition of the Ten Commandments. A Puritan divine. (1547—1645.)

This was not Dr. William Dodd, who was executed for forgery (1729—1777).

Malt ... Meal

When the malt gets aboon the meal. When persons, after dinner, get more or less fuddled.

“When the malt begins to get aboon the meal, they'll begin to speak about government in kirk and state.”— Sir W. Scott: Old Mortality, chap. iv

Maltese Cross

Made thus:

Malthusian

(A). A disciple of Malthus, whose political doctrines are laid down in his Essay on the Principles of Population.

Malthusian Doctrine

That population increases more than the means of increasing subsistence does, so that in time, if no check is put upon the increase of population, many must starve or all be ill—fed. Applied to individual nations, like Britain, it intimated that something must be done to check the increase of population, as all the land would not suffice to feed its inhabitants.

Malum

in Latin, means an apple; and “malus, mala, malum” means evil. Southey, in his Commonplace Book, quotes a witty etymon given by Nicolson and Burn, making the noun derived from the adjective, in allusion, I suppose, to the apple eaten by Eve. Of course, malum (an apple) is the Greek melon or malon (an apple—tree).

Malum in Se

(Latin). What is of itself wrong, and would be so even if no law existed against its commission, as lying, murder, theft.

Malum Prohibitum

(Latin). What is wrong merely because it is forbidden, as eating a particular fruit was wrong in Adam and Eve, because they were commanded not to do so. Doing secular work on the Sabbath.

Malvolio

Steward to Olivia, in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.

Mamamouchi

A mock honour. Better be a country gentleman in England than a foreign Mamamouchi. The honour is conferred on M. Jourdain. (Molière: Bourgeois Gentilhomme.)

Mambrino's Helmet

was of pure gold, and rendered the wearer invulnerable. It was taken possession of by Rinaldo (Orlando Furioso). Cervantes tells us of a barber who was caught in a shower, and to protect his hat clapped his brazen basin on his head. Don Quixote insisted that this basin was the enchanted helmet of the Moorish king.

Mamelon

(2 syl., French). A mound in the shape of a woman's breast. These artificial mounds were common in the siege of Sebastopol. (Latin, mamma, a breast.)

Mamelukes (2 syl.) or Mamalukes (Arabic, mamluc, a slave). A name given in Egypt to the slaves of the beys brought from the Caucasus, and formed into a standing army. In 1254 these military “slaves” raised one of their body to the supreme power, and Noureddin Ali, the founder of the Baharites, gave twenty—three sultans; in 1832 the dynasty of the Borjites, also Mamlues, succeeded, and was followed by twenty—one successors. Selim I., Sultan of Turkey, overthrew the Mamluc kingdom in 1517, but allowed the twenty—four beys to be elected from their body. In 1811, Mohammed Ali by a wholesale massacre annihilated the Mamelukes, and became viceroy of Egypt.

Mamma, Mother

The former is Norman—French, and the latter Anglo—Saxon. (See Papa .)

Mammet

A puppet, a favourite, an idol. A corruption of Mahomet. Mahometanism being the most prominent form of false religion with which Christendom was acquainted before the Reformation, it became a generic word to designate any false faith; even idolatry is called mammetry.

Mammon

The god of this world. The word in Syriac means riches. (See Milton: Paradise Lost, bk. i. 678.) His speech in the council is book ii. 229, etc.

Mammon. In Spenser's Faërie Queene, Mammon says if Sir Guyon will serve him he shall be the richest man in the world; but the knight says money has no charm for him. Mammon then takes him to his smithy, and tells him he may make what orders he likes, but Guyon declines to make any. The god then offers to give him Philotine to wife, but Guyon will not accept the honour. Lastly, he takes him to Proserpine's bower, and tells him to pluck the golden fruit, and rest on the silver stool; Sir Guyon again refuses, and after three days' sojourn in the infernal regions is led back to earth. (ii. 7.)

Mammon of Unrighteousness

(The). Money. A Scripture phrase (Luke xvi. 9). Mammon was the Syrian god of wealth, similar to Plutus of Greek and Roman mythology.

Mammon's Cave

The abode of the Money—god. Sir Guyon visited this cave, and Spenser gives a very full description of it. (Faërie Queéne, ii. 7.)

Sir Epicure Mammon. A worldly sensualist. (Ben Jonson: Alchemist.)

Mammoth Cave

(The). In Edmonson county, Kentucky, the largest in the world.

Man

(Isle of), called by the ancient Britons main—au (little island), Latinised into Menav —ia. Caesar calls it Mona (i.e. Mon—ah), the Scotch pronunciation of Manau. Mona and Pliny's Monabia are varieties of “Menavia.”

Man

Emblematic of St. Matthew, because he begins his gospel by tracing the manhood of Jesus back to David. Mark is symbolised by a lion, because he begins his gospel with John the Baptist and Jesus in the wilderness. Luke is symbolised by a calf, because he begins his gospel with the Temple sacrifices.And John as a eagle, because he looks right into heaven and begins his gospel with Jesus the divine logos. The four are indicated in Ezekiel's cherub (i. 10.)

Man. Average weight 150 lbs.; height, 69 inches; strength, 420 lbs.

Man Friday

(A). A useful and faithful servant, like the Man Friday in Robinson Crusoe.

“Count von Rechberg ... was Prince Bismarck's `Man Friday.' ”— Athenoeum, 1881.

Man—jack

Every man—jack of you. Everyone of you. (See under Jack.)

Man Monkey

The Bodouins affirm that the monkeys of Mount Kara were once human beings, thus transformed for disobedience to their prophet. The Arabs have a similar tradition, that the monkey (Nasnâs) and the ape (Wabâr.) were once human beings.

Man—Mountain

or Quinbus Flestrin. So Gulliver was called Lilliput.

Man Proposes

but God disposes: So we read in the Imitatio Christi; Herbert (Jacula Prudentum) has nearly the same identical words.

Man Threefold

According to Diogenes Laertius, the body was composed of (1) a mortal part; (2) a divine and ethereal part, called the phren; and (3) an aërial and vaporous part, called the thumos.

According to the Romans, man has a threefold soul, which at the dissolution of the body resolves itself into

(1) the Manes; (2) the Anima or Spirit; (3) the Umbra. The Manes went either to Elysium or Tartarus; the Anima returned to the gods; but the Umbra hovered about the body as unwilling to quit it.

According to the Jews, man consists of body, soul, and spirit.

Man in Black

(The). Supposed to be Goldsmith's father. (Citizen of the World.) Washington Irving has a tale with the same title.

Man in the Iron Mask

The man in the iron mask (called Lestang) was Count Ercolo Antonio Matthioli, a senator of Mantua, and private agent of Ferdinand Charles, Duke of Mantua. He suffered imprisonment of twenty—four years for having deceived Louis XIV. in a secret treaty for the purchase of the fortress of Casale, the key of Italy. The agents of Spain and Austria bribed him by out—bidding the Grande Monarque. The secrecy observed by all parties was inviolate, because the infamy of the transaction would not bear daylight. (H. G. A. Ellis: True History of the Iron Mask.)

M. Loiseleur utterly denies that Matthioli (sometimes called Giacomo) was the real homme du masque de fer (See Temple Bar, May, 1872, pp. 182—184); but Marius Topin, in The Man in the Iron Mask, maintains it as an indubitable fact. There is an English translation of Topin's book by Vizetelli, published by Smith and Elder.

There are several others “identified” as the veritable Iron Mask, e.g. emdash (1) Louis, Due de Vermandois, natural son of Louis XIV. by De la Vallière, who was imprisoned for life because he gave the Dauphin a box on the ears. (Mèmoires Secrets pour servir à l'Histoire de Perse. This cannot be, as the duke died in camp, 1683.

(2) A young foreign nobleman, chamberlain of Queen Anne, and real father of Louis XIV. (A Dutch story. (3) Due de Beaufort, King of the Markets. (Legrange—Chancel: L'Annéc Littéraire, 1759.) This supposition is worthless, as the duke was slain by the Turks at the siege of Candia (1669). (4) An elder brother of Louis

XIV., some say by the Duke of Buckingham, others by Cardinal Mazarin. (See Voltaire: Dictionnaire Philosophique [Anna], and Linguet: Bastile Dévoilec.

(5) Abbé Soulavie asserts it was a twin brother of Louis XIV., Maréchal Richelieu. This tale forms the basis of Zschokke's German tragedy, and Fournier's drama.

(6) Some maintain that it was Fouquet, the disgraced Minister of Finance to Louis XIV.

(7) Some that it was the Arminian Patriarch, Avedik.

(8) Some that it was the Duke of Monmouth; but he was executed on Tower Hill in 1685.

(9) In the Western Morning News (Plymouth, October 21st, 1893) we are told that Le Commandant Bazeries has deciphered a letter in cipher written by Louvois, Minister of War, to Catinat (Lieutenant—General in command of the army at Piedmont), desiring him to arrest M. de Bulonde for raising the siege of Conti; and to send him to the citadel of Pignerol.

“He was to be allowed to walk on the ramparts wearing a mask.”

Whatever the real name of this mysterious prisoner, he was interred in 1703 under the name of Marchiali, aged about forty—five. And the name is so registered in St. Paul's register, Paris; witnessed by M. de Rosarge (mayor of the Bastile) and M. Reilh (surgeon).

“The mask was made of black velvet on steel springs.”

Man in the Moon

(The). Some say it is a man leaning on a fork, on which he is carrying a bundle of sticks picked up on a Sunday. The origin of this fable is from Num. xv. 32—36. Some add a dog also; thus the prologue in Midsummer Night's Dream says, “This man with lantern, dog, and bush of thorns presenteth moonshine;” Chaucer says “he stole the bush” (Test. of cresseid). Another tradition says that the man is Cain, with his dog and thorn—bush; the thorn—bush being emblimantical of the thorns and briars of the fall, and the dog being the “foul fiend.” Some poets make out the “man” to be Endymion, taken to the moon by Diana.

Man in the moon. The nameless person at one time employed in elections to negotiate bribes. Thus the rumour was set flying among the electors that “the Man in the Moon had arrived.”

I know no more about it than the man in the moon. I know nothing at all about the matter.

Man of Belial

Any wicked man. Shimei so called David (2 Sam. xvi. 7). The ungodly are called “children of Belial,” or “sons of Belial.” The word Belial means worthlessness.

Man of Blood

David is so called (2 Sam. xvi. 7).

The Puritans applied the term to Charles because he made war against his Parliament. Any man of violence.

Man of Blood and Iron

(The). Otto von Bismarck (Prince Bismarck), called “man of blood” from his great war policy, and “iron” from his indomitable will. Many years Chancellor of Prussia and Germany. (Born September 1st, 1815.)

Man of Brass

(The). Talos, the work of Hephæstos (Vulcan). He traversed Crete to prevent strangers from setting foot on the island, and threw rocks at the Argonauts to prevent their landing. Talos used to make himself red—hot, and hug intruders to death.

“That portentous Man of Brass

Hephæstos made in days of yore,

Who stalked about the Cretan shore ...

And threw stones at the Argonauts

Longfellow: The Wayside Inn.

Man of December

Napoleon III. He was made President of the French Republic December 11, 1848; made his coup d'état December 2, 1851; and was made Emperor December 2, 1852.

Man of Destiny

(The). Napoleon I. (1761, 1804—1814, died 1821). He looked on himself as an instrument in the hands of destiny.

“The Man of Destiny ... had power for a time to bind kings with chains, and nobles with fetters of iron.”— Sir Walter Scott.

Man of Feeling

The title of a novel by Henry Mackenzie. His “man of feeling” is named Harley— a sensitive, bashful, kind—hearted, sentimental hero.

Man of Letters

(A). An author.

Man of Remnants

(A). A tailor.

Man of Ross

John Kyrle, of Ross, in Herefordshire, immortalised by Pope in his epistle On the Use of Riches.

Man of Salt

A man like Æneas, always “melting into salt tears,” called “drops of salt.”

“This would make a man a man of salt,

To use his eyes for garden waterpots.”

Shakespeare: King Lear, iv. 6.

Man of Sedan

Napoleon III. was so called, because he surrendered his sword to William, King of Prussia, after the battle of Sedan (September 2, 1870).

Man of Silence

(The). Napoleon III. (1808, 1852—70, died 1873.)

“France? You must know better than I you position with the Man of Silence.”— For Sceptre and Crown, chap. i.

Man of Sin

(The). (2 Thess. ii. 3). The Roman Catholics say the Man of Sin is Antichrist. The Puritans applied the term to the Pope of Rome; the Fifth—Monarchy men to Cromwell; many modern theologians apply it to that “wicked one” (identical with the “last horn” of Dan. vii.) who is to immediately precede the second advent.

Man of Straw (A). A person without capital. It used to be customary for a number of worthless fellows to loiter about our law—courts to become false witness or surety for anyone who would buy their services; their badge was a straw in their shoes.

Man of the Hill

(The). A tedious “hermit of the vale,” which encumbers the story of Tom Jones, by Fielding.

Man of the Sea

(See Old , etc.)

Man of the Third Republic

(The). Napoleon III. (1802, reigned 1852—70, died 1873). (M. Gambetta, 1838—1882.)

Man of the World

(A). One “knowing” in world—craft; no greenhorn. Charles Macklin brought out a comedy (1704), and Henry Mackenzie a novel (1773) with the same title.

Man of Three Letters

"He chose three letters from among the elementals, in the mystery of the three mothers Aleph-Mem-Shin, and He set them in His Great Name and with them, He sealed six extremities. Five: He sealed "above" and faced upward and sealed it with Yud-Hey-Vav. Six: He sealed "below" and faced downward and sealed it with Yud-Vav-Hey. Seven: He sealed "east" and faced straight ahead and sealed it with Hey-Yud-Vav. Eight: He sealed "west" and faced backward and sealed it with Hey-Vav-Yud. Nine: He sealed "south" and faced to the right and sealed it with Vav-Yud-Hey. Ten: He sealed "north" and faced to the left and sealed it with Vav-Hey-Yud."

Man—of—War

(A). A Government fighting—ship. The term is not now often used.

Man—of—war, or, Portuguese man—of—war. The nautilus.

“Frank went to the captain and told him that Tom had given him leave to have the

man—of—war if he could get it.”— Goulding: Adventures of the Young Marooners, 17.

Man—of—war bird. The frigate—bird.

Man of Wax

A model man; like one fashioned in wax. Horace speaks of the “waxen arms of Telephus,” meaning model arms, or of perfect shape and colour; and the nurse says of Romeo, “Why, he's a man of wax"

(i. 3), which she explains by saying, “Nay, he's a flower, i' faith a very flower.”

Man of Whipcord

(A). A coachman. The reference is to his whip.

“He would not have suffered the coachman to proceed while the horses were unfit for service.

... Yet the man of whipcord escaped some severe ... reproach.”— Sir W. Scott: The Antiquary, i.

Manche

(French). Aimer mieux la manche que le bras. Cupboard love. Manche is a slang word; a gratuity given to a cicerone cabman, or porter. It is the Italian buona mancia.

Jeter le manche apres la cognée. To throw the helve after the hatchet. To abandon what may be useful, out of caprice, because a part of what you expected has not been realised. A horse is stolen, and the man, in ill—temper, throws away saddle and bridle.

Manchester

The first syllable is the Friesic man (a common); and the word means the Roman encampment on the common.

Manchester Poet

Charles Swain (1803—1874).

Manciple

(A). A purveyor of food, a clerk of the kitchen. Chaucer has a “manciple” in his Canterbury Tales. (Latin manceps, mancipis.)

Mandamus

(Latin). A writ of King's Bench, commanding the person named to do what the writ directs. The first word is “Mandamus” (We command ...).

Mandana A stock name in heroic romance, which generally represents the fate of the world turning on the caprice of some beautiful Mandana or Statira.

Mandarin'

is not a Chinese word, but one given by the Portuguese colonists at Maca'o to the officials called by the natives Khiouping (3 syl.) It is from the verb mandar (to command).

The nine ranks of mandarins are distinguished by the button in their cap:— 1, ruby; 2, coral; 3, sapphire; 4, an opaque blue stone; 5, crystal; 6, an opaque white shell; 7, wrought gold; 8, plain gold; and 9, silver.

“The whole body of Chinese mandarins consists of twenty—seven members. They are appointed for (1) imperial birth; (2) long service; (3) illustrious deeds; (4) knowledge; (5) ability; (6) zeal; (7) nobility; and (8) aristocratic birth.”— Gutzlay.

Mandeville

(Bernard de). A licentious Deistical writer, author of The Virgin Unmasked, and Free Thoughts on Religion, in the reign of George II.

Mandousians

Very short swords. So called from a certain Spanish nobleman of the house of Mendosa, who brought them into use. (See Swords.)

Mandrabul

From gold to nothing, like Mandrabul's offering. Mandrabul, having found a gold—mine in Samos, offered to Juno a golden ram for the discovery; next year he gave a silver one, then a brazen one, and in the fourth year nothing. The proverb “to bring a noble to ninepence, and ninepence to nothing,” carries the same meaning.

Mandrake

The root of the mandragora often divides itself in two, and presents a rude appearance of a man. In ancient times human figures were often cut out of the root, and wonderful virtues ascribed to them. It was used to produce fecundity in women (Gen. xxx. 14—16). Some mandrakes cannot be pulled from the earth without producing fatal effects, so a cord used to be fixed to the root, and round a dog's neck, and the dog being chased drew out the mandrake and died. Another superstition is that when the mandrake is uprooted it utters a scream, in explanation of which Thomas Newton, in his Herball to the Bible, says, “It is supposed to be a creature having life, engendered under the earth of the seed of some dead person put to death for murder.”

“Shrieks like mandrakes' torn out of the earth.”

Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, iv. 3.

Mandrakes called love—apples. From the old notion that they excited amorous inclinations; hence Venus is called Mandragoritis, and the Emperor Julian, in his epistles, tells Calixenes that he drank its juice nightly as a love—potion.

He has eaten mandrake. Said of a very indolent and sleepy man, from the narcotic and stupefying properties of the plant, well known to the ancients.

“Give me to drink mandragora ... That I might sleep out this great gap of time My Antony is away.” Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra, i. 5.

Mandrake. Another superstition connected with this plant is that a small dose makes a person vain of his beauty, and conceited; but that a large dose makes him an idiot.

Mandricardo

King of Tartary, or Scythia, son of Agrican. He wore Hector's cuirass, married Doralis, and was slain in single combat by Rogero. (Orlando Innamorato, and Orlando Furioso.)

Manduce

(2 syl.). the idol Gluttony, venerated by the Gastrolaters, people whose god was their belly.

“It is a monstrous ... figure, fit to frighten little children; its eyes are bigger than its belly, and its head larger than all the rest of its body, ... having a goodly pair of wide jaws, lined with two rows of teeth, which, by the magic of a small twine ... are made to clash, chatter, and rattle against the other, as the jaws of St. Clement's dragon (called graulli) on St. Mark's procession at Metz.”— Rabelais Pantagruel, iv. 59.

Manes

To appease his Manes. To do when a person is dead what would have pleased him or was due to him when alive. The spirit or ghost of the dead was by the Romans called his Manes, which never slept quietly in the grave so long as survivors left its wishes unfulfilled. The 19th February was the day when all the living sacrificed to the shades of dead relations and friends.

Manes (2 syl.) from the old word manis, i.e. “bonus,” “quod eos venerantes manes vocarent, ut Græci chrestous.” (See Lucretius, iii. 52.) It cannot come from maneo, to remain (because this part of man remains after the body is dead), because the a is long.

In the Christian Church there is an All Souls' Day.

Manfred

Count Manfred, son of Count Sigismund, sold himself to the Prince of Darkness, and had seven spirits bound to do his bidding, viz. the spirits of “earth, ocean, air, night, mountains, winds,” and the star of his own destiny. He was wholly without human sympathies, and lived in splendid solitude among the Alpine mountains. He once loved the Lady Astarte (2 syl.) who died, but Manfred went to the hall of Arimanes to see and speak to her phantom, and was told that he would die the following day. The next day the Spirit of his Destiny came to summon him; the proud count scornfully dismissed it, and died. (Byron Manfred.

Manger

or Manger le Morceau. To betray, to impeach, to turn king's evidence. The allusion is to the words of Jesus to the beloved disciple— he will be the traitor “to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it,” etc. (John xiii. 26.)

Manheim

in Scandinavian mythology, is the abode of man. Vanirheim is the abode of the Vanir. Jotunheim is the abode of the giants. Gladsheim is the abode of Odin. Helheim is the abode of Hela (goddess of death). Muspellheim is the abode of elemental fire. Niflheim is hell. Svartalheim is the abode of the dwarfs.

Mani

The son of Mundilfori; taken to heaven by the gods to drive the mooncar. He is followed by a wolf, which, when time shall be no more, will devour both Mani and his sister Sol.

Mani, Manes

or Manichæus. The greatest Persian painter, who lived in the reign of Shah—pour (Sapor' I.). It is said his productions rivalled nature. (226—274.)

Manichæ'ans

or Manichees. A religious sect founded by Mani or Manichæus, the Persian painter. It was an amalgamation of the Magian and Christian religions, interlarded with a little Buddhism. In order to enforce his religious system, Mani declared himself to be the Paraclete or Comforter promised by Jesus Christ.

Manitou

The American — Indian fetish.

Manlian Orders

Overstrained severity. Manlius Torquatus, the Roman consul, gave orders in the Latin war that no Roman, on pain of death, should engage in single combat; but one of the Latins provoked young Manlius by repeated insults, and Manlius, slew him. When the young man took the spoils to his father, Torquatus ordered him to be put to death for violating the commands of his superior officer

Manly

in the Plain Dealer, by Wycherly. He is violent and uncouth, but presents an excellent contrast to the hypocritical Olivia (q.v.).

Mr. Manly, in The Provoked Husband, by Vanbrugh and Cibber.

Manna

(Exodus xvi. 15), popularly said to be a corrupt form of man—hu (What is this?) The marginal reading gives— “When the children of Israel saw it [the small round thing like hoarfrost on the ground], they said to one another, What is this? for they wist not what it was.”

“And the house of Israel called the name thereof manna. It was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.” (Verse 31.)

Manna of St. Nicholas of Bari

The name given to a colourless and tasteless poison, sold in phials by a woman of Italy named Tofani, who confessed to having poisoned six hundred persons by this liquid.

Mannering Colonel or Guy Mannering; Mrs. Mannering, née Sophia Wellwood, his wife; Julia Mannering, their daughter, who married Captain Bertram, Sir Paul Mannering, the colonel's uncle. In Sir Walter Scott's novel of Guy Mannering.

Mannington

(George). A criminal executed at Cambridge in 1476. It is said that he could cut off a horse's head at a single blow.

“It is in $$$ of Mannington's— he that was hanged at Cambridge— that cut off the horse's head at a blow.”— Eastward Ho!

Manningtree

(Essex). Noted for its Whitsun fair, where an ox was roasted whole. Shakespeare makes Prince Henry call Falstaff “a roasted Manningtree ox, with the pudding in his belly.” (1 Henry IV. ii. 4.)

“You shall have a slave eat more at a meale than ten of the guard, and drink more in two days than all Manningtree does at a Witsun—ale.”

Mano'a

The fabulous capital of El Dorado, the houses of which city were said to be roofed with gold.

Manon Lescaut

A novel by the Abbé Prevost. It is the history of a young man possessed of many brilliant and some estimable qualities, but, being intoxicated by a fatal attachment, he is hurried into the violation of every rule of conduct, and finally prefers the life of a wretched wanderer, with the worthless object of his affection, to all the advantages presented by nature and fortune.

Manor

Demesne. “Demesne land” is that near the demesne or dwelling (domus) of the lord, and which he kept for his own use. Manor land was all that remained (manco), which was let to tenants for money or service.

In some manors there was common land also, i.e. land belonging in common to two or more persons, to the whole village, or to certain natives of the village.

Mansard Roof

also called the curb roof. A roof in which the rafters, instead of forming a , are broken on each side into an elbow. It was devised by Francois Mansard, the French architect, to give height to attics.

(1598—1666.)

Mansfield

The Miller of Mansfield. Henry II. was one day hunting, and lost his way. He met a miller, who took him home to his cottage, and gave him a bed with his son Richard. Next morning the courtiers tracked the king to the cottage, and the miller discovered the rank of his guest. The king, in merry mood, knighted his host, who thus became Sir John Cockle. On St. George's Day, Henry II. invited the miller, his wife and son to a royal banquet, and after being amused with their rustic ways, made Sir John “overseer of Sherwood Forest, with a salary of 300 a year.” (Percy: Reliques.)

Mansion

The Latin mansio was simply a tent pitched for soldiers on the march; and, hence a “day's journey” (Pliny, xii. 14). Subsequently the word was applied to a roadside house for the accommodation of strangers.

(Suetonius Tit. 10).

Mantaccini

A charlatan who professed to restore the dead to life.

Mantalini

(Madame). A fashionable milliner near Cavendish Square. Her husband, noted for his white teeth, minced oaths, and gorgeous morning gown, is an exquisite man—milliner, who lives on his wife's earnings.

(Dichens Nicholas Nickleby.)

Mantel—piece

(A). A shelf over a fire—place, originally used for drying clothes.

“Around the spacious cupola, over the Italian fire—places, is a ledge to which are affixed pegs, on which postillions hung their wet clothes to dry. We call the shelves over the fire—places

`mantel—pieces,' but we no longer hang our mantles on them to dry.”— Memoirs of Col. Macaroni.

Mantible

(Bridge of) consisted of thirty arches of black marble, and was guarded by “a fearful huge giant,” slain by Sir Fierabras.

Mantiger

An heraldic monster, having a tiger's body, and the head of an old man with long spiral horns.

Mantle of Fidelity

(The). A little boy one day presented himself before King Arthur, and showed him a curious mantle, “which would become no wife that was not leal.” Queen Guinever tried it, but it changed from green to red, and red to black, and seemed rent into shreds. Sir Kay's lady tried it, but fared no better; others followed, but only Sir Cradock's wife could wear it. (Percy: Reliques.) (See Chastity .)

Mantra

or Mintra (Persian mythology). A spell, a talisman, by which a person holds sway over the elements and spirits of all denominations. (Wilford.)

Mantuan Swain, Swan

or Bard (The). Virgil, a native of Mantua, in Italy. Besides his great Latin epic, he wrote pastorals and Georgics.

Manucodiata

(The). An old name for a bird of paradise. It is a corruption of the Malay manute—dewata, the bird of the gods.

“Less pure the footless fowl of heaven, that never

Rests upon earth, but on the wing for ever,

Hovering o'er flowers, their fragrant food inhale. Drink the descending dew upon the way:

And sleep aloft while floating on the gale.”

Southey: Curse of Kehama, xxi. 6.

Manumit

To set free; properly “to send from one's hand” (e manu mittere). One of the Roman ways of freeing a slave was to take him before the chief magistrate and say, “I wish this man to be free.” The lictor or master then turned the slave round in a circle, struck him with a rod across the cheek, and let him go.

Manure

(2 syl.) means hand—work (French, main—oeuvre), tillage by manual labour. It now means the dressing applied to lands. Milton uses it in its original sense in Paradise Lost, iv. 628:—

“Yon flowery arbours, ... with branches overgrown That mock our scant manuring.”

In book xi. 26 he says, the repentant tears of Adam brought forth better fruits than all the trees of Paradise that his hands manured in the days of innocence.

Many

(See Too Many .)

Many a Mickle makes a Muckle

or Many a little makes a mickle. Little and often fills the purse. (See Little .)

French: “Les petits ruisseaux font de grandes rivièes;” “Plusieurs peu font un beaucoup.” Greek:

Many Men, Many Minds

Latin: “Quot homines tot sententiæ” (Terence).

French: “Autant d'hommes, autant d'avis;” “Tant de gens, tant de guises;" “Autant de testes, autant d'opinions.”

Maori

(The). The indigenous inhabitants of New Zealand. It is a New Zealand word, meaning natives. (Plur., Maoris.)

Mara

A goblin that seized upon men asleep in their beds, and took from them all speech and motion.

Marabou Feathers

Feathers of the bird so called, used by ladies for head—gear. There are two species of marabou stork, which have white feathers beneath their wings and tail especially prized. The word “marabou" means “devoted to God,” and the stork is a sacred bird. (See Marabuts .)

Marabout

(in French). A bigbellied kettle; a very large sail; an ugly baboon of a man; also a sort of plume at one time worn by ladies. The “marabout hat” was a hat adorned with a marabou feather.

Marabuts

An Arab tribe which, in 1075, founded a dynasty, put an end to by the Almohads. They form a priestly order greatly venerated by the common people. The Great Marabut ranks next to the king. (Arabic, marabath, devoted to God.)

Maranatha

(Syriac, the Lord will come— i.e. to execute judgment). A form of anathematising among the Jews. The Romans called a curse or imprecation a devotion— i.e. given up to some one of the gods.

Maravedi

(4 syl.). A very small Spanish coin, less than a farthing.

Marbles

The Arundelian Marbles. Some thirty—seven statues and 128 busts with inscriptions, collected by W. Petty, in the reign of James I., in the island of Paros, and purchased of him by Lord Arundel, who gave them to the University of Oxford in 1627.

The Elgin marbles. A collection of basso—relievos and fragments of statuary from the Parthenon of Athens (built by Phidias), collected by Thomas, Lord Elgin, during his mission to the Ottoman Porte in 1802. They were purchased from him by the British Government, in 1816, for 35,000, and are now in the British Museum. (The gin of “Elgin” is like the —gin of “begin.”)

Money and marbles. Cash and furniture.

Marcassin

(The Prince). From the Italian fairy—tales by Straparola, called Nights, translated into French in 1585.

Marcella

A fair shepherdess whose story forms an episode in Don Quixote.

Marcellina The daughter of Rocco, jailor of the state prison of Seville. She falls in love with Fidelio, her father's servant, who turns out to be Leonora, the wife of the state prisoner Fernando Florestan. (Beethoven: Fidelio.)

Marcellus

(in Dibdin's bootlegbooks, a romance,) is meant for Edmund Malone, the well—known editor of Shakespeare's works (1811).

March

He may be a rogue, but he's no fool on the march. (French, sur la marche likewise.)

March borrows three days from April. (See Borrowed Days.)

March Dust

A bushel of March dust is worth a king's ransom. According to the Anglo—Saxon laws, the fine of murder was a sliding scale proportioned to the rank of the person killed. The lowest was 10, and the highest 60; the former was the ransom of a churl, and the latter of a king.

March Hare

Mad as a March hare. Hares in March are very wild; it is their rutting time. (See Hare .)

Marches

(boundaries) is the Saxon mearc; but marsh, a meadow, is the Saxon mersc, anciently written marash, the French marais, and our morass. The other march is the origin of our marquis, the lord of the march. The boundaries between England and Wales, and between England and Scotland, were called “marches.”

Riding the marches— i.e. beating the bounds of the parish (Scotch).

Marchaundes Tale

(in Chaucer) is substantially the same as the first Latin metrical tale of Adolfus, and is not unlike a Latin prose tale given in the appendix of T. Wright's edition of Æsop's Fables. (See January and May.)

Marching Watch

A splendid pageant on Midsummer Eve, which Henry VIII. took Jane Seymour to Mercers' Hall to see. In 1547 Sir John Gresham, the Lord Mayor, restored the pageant, which had been discontinued on account of the sweating sickness.

Marchington

(Staffordshire). Famous for a crumbling short cake. Hence the saying that a man or woman of crusty temper is “as short as Marchington wake—cake.”

Marchioness

(The). The half—starved girl—of—all—work in The Old Curiosity Shop, by Charles Dickens.

Marchpane

A confection of pistachio—nuts, almonds, and sugar; a corruption of the French masse—pain. (Italian, marzapan. )

Marcionites

(3 syl.). An ascetic Gnostic sect, founded by Marcion in the second century.

Marck

(William de la), or “The Wild Boar of Ardennes,” A French nobleman, called in French history Sanglier des Ardennes, introduced by Sir Walter Scott in Quentin Durward (1446—1485).

Marcley Hill

(Herefordshire), on February 7th, 1571, at six o'clock in the evening, “roused itself with a roar, and by seven next morning had moved forty paces.” It kept on the move for three days, carrying with it sheep in their cotes, hedge—rows, and trees; overthrew Kinnaston chapel, and diverted two high roads at least 200 yards from their former route. The entire mass thus moved consisted of twenty—six acres of land, and the entire distance moved was 400 yards. (Speed: Herefordshire.)

Marcos de Obregon

The model of Gil Blas, in the Spanish romance entitled Relaciones de la Vida del Escudero Marcos de Obregon.

Marcosians A branch of the Gnostics; so called from the Egyptian Marcus. They are noted for their apocryphal books and religious fables.

Mardi Gras

The last day of the Lent carnival in France, when the prize ox is paraded through the principal streets of Paris, crowned with a fillet, and accompanied with mock priests and a band of tin instruments in imitation of a Roman sacrificial procession.

“Tous les ans on vient de la ville

Les marchands dans nos cantons, $$$ les mener aux Tuileries,

Au Mardi—Gras, devant le roi.

Et puit les vendre aux boucheries,

J'aime Jeanne ma femme, eh, ha! j'aimerais mieux La voir mourir que voir mourir mes boeufs.”

Pierre Dupont: Les Boeufs.

Mardle

To waste time in gossip. (Anglo—Saxon, $$$ to talk; methél, a discourse.)

Mardonius

(Captain), in A King or No King, by Beaumont and Fletcher.

Mare

The Cromlech at Gorwell, Dorsetshire, is called the White Mare; the barrows near Hambleton, the Grey Mare.

Away the mare— i.e. Off with the blue devils, good—bye to care. This mare is the incubus called the nightmare.

To cry the mare (Herefordshire and Shropshire). In harvesting, when the in—gathering is complete, a few blades of corn left for the purpose have their tops tied together. The reapers then place themselves at a certain distance, and fling their sickles at the “mare.” He who succeeds in cutting the knot cries out “I have her!”

“What have you?” “A mare.” “Whose is she?” The name of some farmer whose field has been reaped is here mentioned. “Where will you send her?” The name of some farmer whose corn is not yet harvested is here given, and then all the reapers give a final shout.

To win the mare or lose the haller— i.e. to play double or quits. The grey mare is the better horse. (See Grey Mare.)

The two—legged mare. The gallows. Shanks's mare. One's legs or shanks. Money will make the mare to go.

“ `Will you lend me your mare to go a mile?' `No, she is lame leaping over a stile.'

`But if you will her to me spare,

You shall have money for your mare,'

`Oh, ho! say you so?

Money will make the mare to go.' “

Old Glees and Catches.

Whose mare's dead? What's the matter? Thus, in 2 Henry IV., when Sir John Falstaff sees Mistress Quickly with the sheriff's officers, evidently in a state of great discomposure, he cries,

“How now? Whose mare's dead? What's the matter?”— Act ii. 1.

Mare's Nest

To find a mare's nest is to make what you suppose to be a great discovery, but which turns out to be all moonshine.

“Why dost thou laugh?

What mare's nest hast thou found?”

Beaumont and Fletcher: Bonduca, v. 2.

“Are we to believe that the governor, executive council, the officers, and merchants have been finding mare's nests only?”— The Times.

N.B. In some parts of Scotland they use instead a skate's nest. In Gloucestershire a long—winded tale is called a Horse—nest. In Cornwall they say You have found a wee's nest, and are laughing over the eggs. In Devon, nonsense is called a blind mare's nest. Holinshed calls a gallows a foul's nest (iii.). In French the corresponding phrase is “Nid de lapin; Nid d'une souris dans Voreille d'un chat. ” (See Chat.)

Mareotic Luxury

The Arva Mareotica mentioned by Ovid (Metamorphoses, ix. 73) produced the white grapes, from which was made the favourite beverage of Cleopatra, and mention of which is made both by Horace (Odes, i. 37) and Virgil (Georgics, ii. 91). The Arva Mareotica were the shores of Lake Moeris, and “Mareotic luxury” is about equal to “Sybaritic luxury.'

Marfisa

Name of an Indian queen in Bojardo's Orlando Innamorato, and in Ariosto's Orlando Furioso.

Marforio

A pasquinade (q.v.).

Margan Monastery

(Register of), 1066 to 1232, published in Gale, 1687.

Margaret

Queen of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, called the “Northern Semiramis” (1353, 1387—1412). Margaret. A simple, uncultured girl of wonderful witchery, seduced, at the age of fifteen, by Faust. She drowns in a pool the infant of her shame, was sent to prison, where she lost her reason, and was ultimately condemned to death. Faust (whom she calls Henry) visits her in prison, and urges her to make her escape with him; but she refuses, dies, and is taken to heaven; but Mephistopheles carried off Faust to the Inferno.

(Goethe: Faust.)

Ladye Margaret. “The Flower of Teviot,” daughter of the Duchess Margaret and Lord Walter Scott, of Branksome Hall. She was beloved by Baron Henry of Cranstown, whose family had a deadly feud with that of Scott. 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 Southerners; whereupon 3,000 of the English marched against the castle of the widowed duchess; but, being told by a spy that Douglas with 10,000 men was coming to the rescue, they agreed to decide by single combat whether the boy was to become King Edward's page, or be delivered up to his mother. The champions to decide this question were to be Sir Richard Musgrave on the side of the English, and Sir William Deloraine on the side of the Scotch. In the combat the English champion was slain, and the boy was delivered to the widow; but it then appeared that the antagonist was not William of Deloraine, but Lord Cranstown, who claimed and received the hand of fair Margaret as his reward. (Scott: Lay of the Last Minstrel.

Lady Margaret's preacher. A preacher who has to preach a Concio ad clerum before the University, on the day preceding Easter Term. This preachership was founded in 1503 by Lady Margaret, mother of Henry VII.

Lady Margaret professor. A professor of divinity in the University of Cambridge. This professorship was founded in 1502 by Lady Margaret, mother of Henry VII. These lectures are given for the “voluntary theological examination,” and treat upon the Fathers, the Liturgy, and the priestly duties. (See Norrisian.)

Margaret

(St.). The chosen type of female innocence and meekness. In Christian art she is represented as a young woman of great beauty, bearing the martyr's palm and crown, or with the dragon as an attribute. Sometimes she is delineated as coming from the dragon's mouth, for the legend says that the monster swallowed her, but on making the sign of the cross he suffered her to quit his maw.

St. Margaret and the dragon. Olybius, Governor of Antioch, captivated by the beauty of St. Margaret, wanted to marry her, and, as she rejected him with scorn, threw her into a dungeon, where the devil came to her in the form of a dragon. Margaret held up the cross, and the dragon fled.

St. Margaret is the patron saint of the ancient borough of Lynn Regis, and on the corporation seal she is represented as standing on a dragon and wounding it with the cross. The inscription of the seal is “SVB

MARGARETA TERITUR DBACO STAT CRUCE L&AE;TA.”

Margaret

A magpie.

Margaret

or Marguerite (petite). The daisy; so called from its pearly whiteness, màrguerite being the French for a pearl. (See Marguerite .)

“The daise, a flour white and redde, In French called `la belle Marguerite.' “

Margarine Substitute

(A). A mere imitation. Just as margarine is an imitation and substitute of butter.

“Between a real etching and that margarine substitute a pen—and—ink drawing ... the difference is this: the margarine substitute is essentially flat ... but true etching is in sensible relief.”— Nineteenth Century, May 1891, p. 780.

Margate

(Kent), is the sea—gate or opening. (Latin, mare; Anglo—Saxon, mære, etc.)

Margherit'a di Valois

married Henri the Béarnais, afterwards Henri IV. of France. During the wedding soleminites, Catherine de Medicis devised the massacre of the French Protestants, and Margherita was at a ball during the dreadful enactment of this device. (Meyerbeer: Gli Ugonotti, an opera.)

Margin

In all our ancient English books, the commentary is printed in the margin. Hence Shakespeare:

“His face's own margent did quote such amazes.”

Love's Labour's Lost, ii. 1.

“I knew you must be edifled by the margent.”— Hamlet, v. 2.

“She ... could pick no meaning ...

Writ in the glassy margents of such books.”

Shakespeare: Rape of Lucrece, stanza 15.

Margites

The first dunce whose name has been transmitted to fame. His rivals are Codrus and Flecknoe.

“Margites was the name ... whom Antiquity recordeth to have been dunce the first.”— Pope Dunciad (Martinus Scriblcrus).

Marguerite des Marguerites

[the pearl of pearls ]. So Francois called his sister (Marguerite de Valois), authoress of the Heptameron. She married twice: first, the Duc d'Alencon, and then Henri d'Albret, king of Navarre, and was the mother of Henry IV. of France. Henri [IV.] married a Marguerite, but this Marguerite was the daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de Medicis. The former befriended the Huguenots, the latter was a rigid Catholic, like her mother.

Margutte

(3 syl.). A giant ten feet high, who died of laughter on seeing a monkey pulling on his boots. (Pulci: Morgante Maggiore.) (See Death From Strange Causes.)

Mari'a Heroine of Donizetti's opera La Figlia del Reggimento. She first appears as a vivandière or French sutler—girl, for Sulpizio (the sergeant of the 11th regiment of Napoleon's Grand Army) had found her after a battle, and the regiment adopted her as their daughter. Tonio, a Tyrolese, saved her life and fell in love with her, and the regiment agreed to his marriage provided he joined the regiment. Just at this juncture the marchioness of Berkenfield claims Maria as her daughter; the claim is allowed, and the vivandiere is obliged to leave the regiment for the castle of the marchioness. After a time the French regiment takes possession of Berkenfield Castle, and Tonio has risen to the rank of field officer. He claims Maria as his bride, but is told tha