Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama Part 2

=Marthon=, an old cook at Arnheim Castle.--Sir W. Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).

_Marthon, alias_ RIZPAH, a Bohemian woman, attendant on the Countess Hameline of Croye.--Sir W. Scott, _Quentin Durward_ (time, Edward IV.).

=Martian Laws= (not _Mercian_ as Wharton gives it in his _Law Dictionary_) are the laws collected by Martia, the wife of Guithelin, great grand-son of Mulmutius, who established in Britain the "Mulmutian Laws" (_q.v._).

Alfred translated both these codes into Saxon-English, and called the Martian code _Pa Marchitle Lage_. These laws have no connection with the kingdom of Mercia.--Geoffrey, _British History_, iii. 13 (1142).

Guynteline, ... whose queen, ... to show her upright mind, To wise Mulmutius' laws her Martian first did frame.

Drayton, _Polyolbion_, viii. (1612).

=Martigny= (_Marie le comptesse de_), wife of the earl of Etherington.--Sir W. Scott, _St. Ronan's Well_ (time, George III.).

=Martin=, in Swift's _Tale of the Tub_, is Martin Luther; "John" is Calvin; and "Peter" the pope of Rome (1704).

In Dryden's _Hind and Panther_, "Martin" means the Lutheran party (1687).

_Martin_, the old verdurer near Sir Henry Lee's lodge.--Sir W. Scott, _Woodstock_ (time, Commonwealth).

_Martin_, the old shepherd in the service of the lady of Avenel.--Sir W.

Scott, _The Monastery_ (time, Elizabeth).

_Martin_, the ape in the beast-epic of _Reynard the Fox_ (1498).

_Martin_ (_Dame_), partner of Darsie Latimer at the fishers'

dance.--Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.).

_Martin_ (_Sarah_), the prison reformer of Great Yarmouth. This young woman, though but a poor dressmaker, conceived a device for the reformation of prisoners in her native town, and continued for twenty-four years her earnest and useful labor of love, acting as schoolmistress, chaplain and industrial superintendent. In 1835, Captain Williams, inspector of prisons, brought her plans before the Government, under the conviction that the nation at large might be benefitted by their practical good sense (1791-1843).

=Martin Weldeck=, the miner. His story is read by Lovel to a picnic party at St. Ruth's ruins.--Sir W. Scott, _The Antiquary_ (time, George III.).

=Martine= (3 _syl._), wife of Sganarelle. She has a furious quarrel with her husband, who beats her, and she screams. M. Robert, a neighbor, interferes, says to Sganarelle, "Quelle infamie! Peste soit le coquin, de battre ainsi sa femme." The woman snubs him for his impertinence, and says, "Je veux qu'il me battre, moi;" and Sganarelle beats him soundly for meddling with what does not concern him.--Moliere, _Le Medecin Malgre Lui_ (1666).

=Martival= (_Stephen de_), a steward of the field at the tournament.--Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).

=Martivalle= (_Martius Galeotti_), astrologer to Louis XI. of France.--Sir W. Scott, _Quentin Durward_ (time, Edward IV.).

=Martyr King= (_The_), Henry VI., buried at Windsor beside Edward IV.

Here o'er the Martyr King [_Henry VI._] the marble weeps.

And fast beside him once-feared Edward [_IV._] sleeps; The grave unites where e'en the grave finds rest, And mingled lie the oppressor and th'opprest.

Pope.

_Martyr King_ (_The_), Charles I. of England (1600, 1625-1649).

Louis XVI. of France is also called Louis "the Martyr" (1754, 1774-1793).

=Martyrs to Science.=

Claude Louis, Count Berthollet, who tested on himself the effects of carbonic acid on the human frame, and died under the experiment (1748-1822).

Giordano Bruno, who was burnt alive for maintaining that matter is the mother of all things (1550-1600).

Galileo, who was imprisoned twice by the Inquisition for maintaining that the earth moved round the sun, and not the sun round the earth (1564-1642).

And scores of others.

=Marvellous Boy= (_The_), Thomas Chatterton (1752-1770).

I thought of Chatterton, the marvellous boy, The sleepless soul that perished in his pride.

Wordsworth.

=Marwood= (_Alice_), daughter of an old woman who called herself Mrs.

Brown. When a mere girl she was concerned in a burglary and was transported. Carker, manager in the firm of Dombey and Son, seduced her, and both she and her mother determined on revenge. Alice bore a striking resemblance to Edith (Mr. Dombey's second wife), and in fact they were cousins, for Mrs. Brown was "wife" of the brother-in-law of the Hon.

Mrs. Skewton (Edith's mother).--C. d.i.c.kens, _Dombey and Son_ (1846).

_Marwood_ (_Mistress_), jilted by Fainall, and soured against the whole male s.e.x. She says, "I have done hating those vipers--men, and am now come to despise them;" but she thinks of marrying to keep her husband "on the rack of fear and jealousy."--W. Congreve, _The Way of the World_ (1700).

=Mary=, the pretty housemaid of the wors.h.i.+pful, the mayor of Ipswich (_Nupkins_). When Arabella Allen marries Mr. Winkle, Mary enters her service; but eventually marries Sam Weller, and lives at Dulwich, as Mr.

Pickwick's housekeeper.--C. d.i.c.kens, _The Pickwick Papers_ (1836).

_Mary_, niece of Valentine, and his sister Alice. In love with Mons.

Thomas.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _Mons. Thomas_ (1619).

_Mary. The queen's Marys_, four young ladies of quality, of the same age as Mary, afterwards "queen of Scots." They embarked with her in 1548, on board the French galleys, and were destined to be her playmates in childhood, and her companions when she grew up. Their names were Mary Beaton (or _Bethune_), Mary Livingston (or _Leuison_), Mary Fleming (or _Flemyng_), and Mary Seaton (_Seton_ or _Seyton_).

? Mary Carmichael has no place in authentic history, although an old ballad says:

Yestrien the queen had four Marys; This night she'll hae but three: There was Mary Beaton, and Mary Seaton, And Mary Carmichael, and me.

? One of Whyte Melville's novels is called _The Queen's Marys_.

=Mary Anne=, a slang name for the guillotine; also called _L'abbaye de monte-a-regret_ ("the mountain of mournful ascent"). (See MARIANNE.)