Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama Part 18

=Mirrour for Magistraytes=, begun by Thomas Sackville, and intended to be a poetical biography of remarkable Englishmen. Sackville wrote the "Induction," and furnished one of the sketches, that of Henry Stafford, duke of Buckingham (the tool of Richard III.). Baldwynne, Ferrers, Churchyard, Phair, etc., added others. Subsequently, John Higgins, Richard Nichols, Thomas Blenerha.s.set, etc., supplied additional characters; but Sackville alone stands out pre-eminent in merit. In the "Induction," Sackville tells us he was conducted by Sorrowe into the infernal regions. At the porch sat Remorse and Dread, and within the porch were Revenge, Miserie, Care, and Slepe. Pa.s.sing on, he beheld Old Age, Maladie, Famine, and Warre. Sorrowe then took him to Acheron, and ordered Charon to ferry them across. They pa.s.sed the three-headed Cerberus and came to Pluto, where the poet saw several ghosts, the last of all being the duke of Buckingham, whose "_complaynt_" finishes the part written by Thomas Sackville (1557). (See BUCKINGHAM.)

? Henry Stafford, duke of Buckingham, must not be mistaken for George Villiers, duke of Buckingham 150 years later.

=Mirza= (_The Vision of_). Mirza, being at Grand Cairo on the fifth day of the moon, which he always kept holy, ascended a high hill, and, falling into a trance, beheld a vision of human life. First he saw a prodigious tide of water rolling through a valley with a thick mist at each end--this was the river of time. Over the river was a bridge of a thousand arches, but only three score and ten were unbroken. By these, men were crossing, the arches representing the number of years the traveller lived before he tumbled into the river. Lastly, he saw the happy valley, but when he asked to see the secrets hidden under the dark clouds on the other side, the vision was ended, and he only beheld the valley of Bagdad, with its oxen, sheep, and camels grazing on its sides.--Addison, _Vision of Mirza_ (_Spectator_, 159).

=Misbegot= (_Malcolm_), natural son of Sybil Knockwinnock, and an ancestor of Sir Arthur Wardour.--Sir W. Scott, _The Antiquary_ (time, George III.).

=Miser= (_The_), a comedy by H. Fielding, a _rechauffe_ of Moliere's comedy _L'Avare_. Lovegold is "Harpagon," Frederick is "Cleante,"

Mariana is "Mariane," and Ramilie is "La Fleche." Lovegold, a man of 60, and his son Frederick, both wish to marry Mariana, and, in order to divert the old miser from his foolish pa.s.sion, Mariana pretends to be most extravagant. She orders a necklace and ear-rings of the value of 3000, a petticoat and gown from a fabric which is 12 a yard, and besets the house with duns. Lovegold gives 2000 to break off the bargain, and Frederick becomes the bridegroom of Mariana.

=Misers.=--See _Dictionary of Phrase and Fable_.

=Misere're= (_The_), sung on Good Fridays in Catholic churches, is the composition of Gregorio Allegri, who died in 1640.

=Mishe-Mok'wa=, the great bear slain by Mudjekeewis.--Longfellow, _Hiawatha_, ii. (1855).

=Mishe-Nah'ma=, the great sturgeon, "king of fishes," subdued by Hiawatha.

With this labor, the "great teacher" taught the Indians how to make oil for winter. When Hiawatha threw his line for the sturgeon, that king of fishes first persuaded a pike to swallow the bait and try to break the line, but Hiawatha threw it back into the water. Next, a sun-fish was persuaded to try the bait, with the same result. Then the sturgeon, in anger, swallowed Hiawatha and canoe also; but Hiawatha smote the heart of the sturgeon with his fist, and the king of fishes swam to the sh.o.r.e and died. Then the sea-gulls opened a rift in the dead body, out of which Hiawatha made his escape.

"I have slain the Mishe-Nahma, Slain the king of fishes" said he.

Longfellow, _Hiawatha_, vii. (1855).

=Misnar=, sultan of India, transformed by Ulin into a toad. "He[TN-14] was disenchanted by the dervise Shemshel'nar, the most "pious wors.h.i.+pper of Alla amongst all the sons of Asia." By prudence and piety, Misnar and his vizier, Horam, destroyed all the enchanters who filled India with rebellion, and, having secured peace, married Hem'junah, daughter of Zebenezer, sultan of Ca.s.simir, to whom he had been betrothed when he was known only as the prince of Georgia.--James Ridley, _Tales of the Genii_, vi., vii. (1751).

=Misog'onus=, by Thomas Rychardes, the third English comedy (1560). It is written in rhyming quatrains, and not in couplets like _Ralph Roister Doister_ and _Gammer Gurton's Needle_.

=Miss in Her Teens=, a farce by David Garrick (1753). Miss Biddy Bellair is in love with Captain Loveit, who is known to her only by the name of Rhodophil; but she coquets with Captain Flash and Mr. Fribble, while her aunt wants her to marry an elderly man by the name of Stephen Loveit, whom she detests. When the Captain returns from the wars, she sets Captain Flash and Mr. Fribble together by the ears; and while they stand fronting each other, but afraid to fight, Captain Loveit enters, recognizes Flash as a deserter, takes away his sword, and dismisses Fribble as beneath contempt.

=Mississippi Bubble=, the "South Sea scheme" of France, projected by John Law, a Scotchman. So called because the projector was to have the exclusive trade of Louisiana, on the banks of the Mississippi, on condition of his taking on himself the National Debt (incorporated 1717, failed 1720).

The debt was 208 millions sterling. Law made himself sole creditor of this debt, and was allowed to issue ten times the amount in paper money, and to open "the Royal Bank of France," empowered to issue this paper currency. So long as a 20-franc note was worth 20 francs, the scheme was a prodigious success, but immediately the paper money was at a discount, a run on the bank set in, and the whole scheme burst.

=Miss Ludington.= A beautiful girl changed by illness into "a sad and faded woman." She had a portrait painted from an ivory miniature of herself, taken before the change, and conceives the idea that _what she was once_ must still exist somewhere. The phantasy is played upon by impostors, who undertake to materialize the fancied creature and introduce her as the soul-sister of the credulous spinster. The instrument of the audacious fraud becomes conscience stricken and reveals it.--Edward Bellamy, _Miss Ludington's Sister_ (1884).

=Mistletoe Bough= (_The_). The song so called is by Thomas Haynes Bayley, who died 1839. The tale is this: Lord Lovel married a young lady, a baron's daughter, and on the wedding night the bride proposed that the guest should play "hide-and-seek." The bride hid in an old oak chest, and the lid, falling down, shut her in, for it went with a spring-lock.

Lord Lovel sought her that night and sought next day, and so on for a week, but nowhere could he find her. Some years later, the old chest was sold, and, on being opened, was found to contain the skeleton of the bride.

Rogers, in his _Italy_, gives the same story, and calls the lady "Ginevra" of Modena.

Collet, in his _Relics of Literature_, has a similar story.

Another is inserted in the _Causes Celebres_.

Marwell Old Hall (near Winchester), once the residence of the Seymours, and afterwards of the Dacre family, has a similar tradition attached to it, and "the very chest is said to be now the property of the Rev. J.

Haygarth, rector of Upham."

Bramshall, Hamps.h.i.+re, has a similar tale and chest.

The great house at Malsanger, near Basingstoke, also in Hamps.h.i.+re, has a similar tradition connected with it.

=Mi'ta=, sister of Aude. She married Sir Miton de Rennes, and became the mother of Mitaine. (See next art.)--_Croquemitaine_, xv.

=Mitaine=, daughter of Mita and Miton, and G.o.dchild of Charlemagne. She went in search of Fear Fortress, and found that it existed only in the imagination, for as she boldly advanced towards it, the castle gradually faded into thin air. Charlemagne made Mitaine, for this achievement, Roland's squire, and she fell with him in the memorable attack at Roncesvalles. (See previous art.)--_Croquemitaine_, iii.

=Mite= (_Sir Matthew_), a returned East Indian merchant, dissolute, dogmatical, ashamed of his former acquaintances, hating the aristocracy, yet longing to be acknowledged by them. He squanders his wealth on toadies, dresses his livery servants most gorgeously, and gives his chairmen the most costly exotics to wear in their coats. Sir Matthew is forever astonis.h.i.+ng weak minds with his talk about rupees, lacs, jaghires, and so on.--S. Foote, _The Nabob_.

=Mithra= or =Mithras=, a supreme divinity of the ancient Persians, confounded by the Greeks and Romans with the _sun_. He is the personification of Ormuzd, representing fecundity and perpetual renovation. Mithra is represented as a young man with a Phrygian cap, a tunic, a mantle on his left shoulder, and plunging a sword into the neck of a bull. Scaliger says the word means "greatest" or "supreme." Mithra is the middle of the triplasian deity: the Mediator, Eternal Intellect, and Architect of the world.

Her towers, where Mithra once had burned, To Moslem shrines--oh shame!--were turned; Where slaves, converted by the sword, Their mean apostate wors.h.i.+p poured, And cursed the faith their sires adored.

Moore, _Lalla Rookh_ ("The Fire-Wors.h.i.+ppers," 1817).

=Mithridate= (3 _syl._), a medicinal confection, invented by Damoc'rates, physician to Mithrida'tes, king of Pontus, and supposed to be an antidote to all poisons and contagion. It contained seventy-two ingredients. Any panacea is called a "mithridate."

Their kinsman garlic bring, the poor man's mithridate.

Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xx. (1622).

_Mithridate_ (3 _syl._), a tragedy by Racine, (1673). "Monime" (2 _syl._), in this drama, was one of Mdlle. Rachel's great characters.

=Mithrida'tes= (4 _syl._), surnamed "the Great." Being conquered by the Romans, he tried to poison himself, but poison had no effect on him, and he was slain by a Gaul. Mithridates was active, intrepid, indefatigable, and fruitful in resources; but he had to oppose such generals as Sulla, Lucullus, and Pompey. His ferocity was unbounded, his perfidy was even grand.

? Racine has written a French tragedy on the subject, called _Mithridate_ (1673); and N. Lee brought out his _Mithridates_ in English about the same time.

=Mixit= (_Dr._), the apothecary at the Black Bear inn at Darlington.--Sir W. Scott, _Rob Roy_ (time, George I.).