Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama Part 17

=Mintz=, _alias_ Araminta Sophronia--the best cook and housemaid in town--rules the Stackpole family with a rod of red-hot steel until the son of the house defies her by marrying the head scholar in the Boston Cooking School.--Augusta Larned, _Village Photographs_ (1887).

=Miol'ner= (3 _syl._), Thor's hammer.

This is my hammer, Miolner the mighty; Giants and sorcerers cannot withstand it.

Saemund Sigfusson, _Edda_ (1130).

=Miquelets= (_Les_), soldiers of the Pyrenees, sent to co-operate with the dragoons of the _Grand Monarque_ against the Camisards of the Cevennes.

=Mir'abel=, the "wild goose," a travelled Monsieur, who loves women in a loose way, but abhors matrimony, and especially dislikes Oria'na; but Oriana "chases" the "wild goose" with her woman's wiles, and catches him.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Wild-goose Chase_ (1652).

_Mirabel_ (_Old_). He adores his son, and wishes him to marry Oria'na.

As the young man s.h.i.+lly-shallies, the father enters into several schemes to entrap him into a declaration of love; but all his schemes are abortive.

_Young Mirabel_, the son, called "the inconstant." A handsome, das.h.i.+ng young rake, who loves Oriana, but does not wish to marry. Whenever Oriana seems lost to him the ardor of his love revives; but immediately his path is made plain, he holds off. However, he ultimately marries her.--G. Farquhar, _The Inconstant_ (1702).

=Mirabell= (_Edward_), in love with Millamant. He liked her, "with all her faults; nay, liked her for her faults, ... which were so natural that (in his opinion) they became her."--W. Congreve, _The Way of the World_ (1700).

Not all that Drury Lane affords Can paint the rakish "Charles" so well, Or give such life to "Mirabell"

[_As Montague Talbot_, 1778-1831].

Crofton Croker.

=Mirabella=, "a maiden fair, clad in mourning weeds, upon a mangy jade unmeetly set, with a lewd fool called Disdain" (canto 6). Timias and Serena, after quitting the hermit's cell, meet her. Though so sorely clad and mounted, the maiden was "a lady of great dignity and honor, but scornful and proud." Many a wretch did languish for her through a long life. Being summoned to Cupid's judgment hall, the sentence pa.s.sed on her was that she should "ride on a mangy jade, accompanied by a fool, till she had saved as many lovers as she had slain" (canto 7). Mirabella was also doomed to carry a leaky bottle, which she was to fill with tears, and a torn wallet, which she was to fill with repentance: but her tears and her repentance dropped out as fast as they were put in, and were trampled under foot by Scorn (canto 8).--Spenser, _Faery Queen_, vi. 6-8 (1596).

? "Mirabella" is supposed to be meant for Rosalind, who jilted Spenser, and who is called by the poet "a widow's daughter of the glen, and poor."

=Mir'amont=, brother of Justice Brisac, and uncle of the two brothers, Charles (the scholar) and Eustace (the courtier). Miramont is an ignorant, testy old man, but a great admirer of learning and scholars.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Elder Brother_ (1637).

=Miran'da=, daughter of Prospero, the exiled duke of Milan, and niece of Antonio, the usurping duke. She is brought up on a desert island, with Ariel, the fairy spirit, and Cal'iban, the monster, as her only companions. Ferdinand, son of the king of Naples, being s.h.i.+pwrecked on the island, falls in love with her, and marries her.--Shakespeare, _The Tempest_ (1609).

Identifying herself with the simple yet n.o.ble-minded Miranda in the isle of wonder and enchantment.--Sir W. Scott.

_Miranda_, an heiress, the ward of Sir Francis Gripe. As she must obtain his consent to her marriage before she could obtain possession of her fortune, she pretended to love him, although he was 64 years old; and the old fool believed it. When, therefore, Miranda asked his consent to marry, he readily gave it, thinking himself to be the man of her choice; but the sly little hussy laughed at her old guardian, and plighted her troth to Sir George Airy, a man of 24.--Mrs. Centlivre, _The Busy Body_ (1709).

=Mir'ja=, one of the six Wise Men of the East, led by the guiding star to Jesus. Mirja had five sons, who followed his holy life.--Klopstock, _The Messiah_, v. (1771).

=Mirror= (_Alasnam's_), a mirror which showed Alasnam if "a beautiful girl was also chaste and virtuous." The mirror was called "the touchstone of virtue."--_Arabian Nights_ ("Prince Zeyn Alasnam").

_Mirror_ (_Cambuscan's_), a mirror sent to Cambuscan', king of Tartary, by the king of Araby and Ind. It showed those who consulted it if any adversity were about to befall them; if any one they loved were friend or foe.--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ ("The Squire's Tale," unfinished.)

"Or call up him who left half-told, The story of Cambuscan bold.

That owned the virtuous ring and gla.s.s."

Milton, _Il Penseroso_.

_Mirror_ (_Kelly's_), Dr. Dee's speculum. Kelly was the doctor's speculator or seer. The speculum resembled a "piece of polished cannel coal."

Kelly did all his feats upon The devil's looking-gla.s.s, a stone.

S. Butler, _Hudibras_ (1663-78).

_Mirror_ (_Lao's_), a looking-gla.s.s which reflected the mind as well as the outward form.--Goldsmith, _Citizen of the World_, xlv. (1759).

_Mirror_ (_Merlin's Magic_) or Venus's looking-gla.s.s, fabricated in South Wales, in the days of King Ryence. It would show to those that looked therein anything which pertained to them, anything that a friend or foe was doing. It was round like a sphere, and was given by Merlin to King Ryence.

That never foe his kingdom might invade But he it knew at home before he heard Tidings thereof.

Britomart, who was King Ryence's daughter and heiress, saw in the mirror her future husband and also his name, which was Sir Artegal.--Spenser, _Faery Queen_, iii. 2 (1590).

_Mirror_ (_Prester John's_), a mirror which possessed similar virtues to that made by Merlin. Prester John could see therein whatever was taking place in any part of his dominions.

? Dr. Dee's speculum was also spherical, and possessed a similar reputed virtue.

_Mirror_ (_Reynard's Wonderful_). This mirror existed only in the brain of Master Fox. He told the queen lion that whoever looked therein could see what was being done a mile off. The wood of the frame was part of the same block out of which Crampart's magic horse was made.--_Reynard the Fox_, xii. (1498).

_Mirror_ (_Venus's_), generally called "Venus's looking-gla.s.s," the same as Merlin's magic mirror (_q.v._).[TN-13]

_Mirror_ (_Vulcan's_). Vulcan made a mirror which showed those who looked into it the past, present, and future. Sir John Davies says that Cupid handed this mirror to Antin'ous, when he was in the court of Ulysses, and Antinous gave it to Penel'ope, who beheld therein the court of Queen Elizabeth and all its grandeur.

Vulcan, the king of fire, that mirror wrought ...

As there did represent in lively show Our glorious English court's divine image As it should be in this our golden age.

Sir John Davies, _Orchestra_ (1615).

=Mirror of King Ryence=, a mirror made by Merlin. It showed those who looked into it whatever they wished to see.--Spenser, _Faery Queen_, iii. (1590).

=Mirror of Knighthood=, a romance of chivalry. It was one of the books in Don Quixote's library, and the cure said to the barber:

"In this same _Mirror of Knighthood_ we meet with Rinaldo de Montalban and his companions, with the twelve peers of France, and Turpin, the historian. These gentlemen we will condemn only to perpetual exile, as they contain something of the famous Bojardo's invention, whence the Christian poet Arios...o...b..rrowed the groundwork of his ingenious compositions; to whom I should pay little regard if he had not written in his own language [_Italian_]."--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, I. i. 6 (1605).

=Mirror of all Martial Men=, Thomas, earl of Salisbury (died 1428).