Part 14 (1/2)

The error of all those doctrines so vicious ...

That are making such terrible work in the Churches By Michael the Stammerer.

Longfellow, _The Golden Legend_ (1851).

=Michal=, in the satire of _Absalom and Achitophel_, by Dryden and Tate, is meant for Catharine, the wife of Charles II.--Pt. ii. (1682).

=Michelot=, an unprincipled, cowardly, greedy man, who tries to discover the secret of ”the gold-mine.” Being procurator of the president of Lyons, his office was ”to capture and arrest” those charged with civil or criminal offences.--E. Stirling, _The Gold-Mine, or Miller of Gren.o.ble_ (1854).

=Micomico'na=, the pretended queen of Micomicon. Don Quixote's adventure to Micomiconnia came to nothing, for he was taken home in a cage, almost as soon as he was told of the wonderful enchantments.--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, I. iv. 2 (1605.)

=Mi'das= (_Justice_), appointed to adjudge a musical contest between Pol and Pan. He decides in favor of Pan, whereupon Pol throws off his disguise, appears as the G.o.d Apollo, and, being indignant at the decision, gives Midas ”the ears of an a.s.s.”--Kane O'Hara, _Midas_ (1764).

Edward Shuter (1728-1776) was p.r.o.nounced by Garrick ”the greatest comic actor;” and C. Dibdin says: ”Nothing on earth could have been superior to his 'Midas.'”

_Midas's Ears._ The servant who used to cut the king's hair, discovering the deformity, was afraid to whisper the secret to any one, but, being unable to contain himself, he dug a hole in the earth, and, putting his mouth into it, cried out, ”King Midas has a.s.s's ears!” He then filled up the hole and felt relieved.

Tennyson makes the barber a woman:

No livelier than the dame That whispered ”a.s.ses' ears” among the sedge.

Tennyson, _The Princess_.

=Middleburgh= (_Mr. James_), an Edinburgh magistrate.--Sir W. Scott, _Heart of Midlothian_ (time, George II.).

=Middlemas= (_Mr. Matthew_), a name a.s.sumed by General Witherington.

_Mrs. Middlemas_, wife of the general (born Zelia de Moncada).

_Richard Middlemas_, alias _Richard Tresham_, a foundling, apprenticed to Dr Gray. He discovers that he is the son of General Witherington, and goes to India, where he a.s.sumes the character of Sadoc, a black slave in the service of Mde. Montreville. He delivers Menie Gray by treachery to Tippoo Saib, and Hyder Ali gives him up to be crushed to death by an elephant.--Sir W. Scott, _The Surgeon's Daughter_ (time, George II.).

=Middlewick= (_Mr. Perkyn_), a retired b.u.t.terman, the neighbor of Sir Geoffrey Champneys, and the father of Charles. The b.u.t.terman is innately vulgar, drops his _h's_ and inserts them out of place, makes the greatest geographical and historical blunders, has a tyrannical temper, but a tender heart. He turns his son adrift for marrying Violet Melrose, an heiress, who snubbed the plebeian father. When reduced to great distress, the old b.u.t.terman goes to his son's squalid lodgings and relents. So all ends happily.

_Charles Middlewick_, son of the retired b.u.t.terman, well educated, and a gentleman. His father wanted him to marry Mary Melrose, a girl without a penny, but he preferred Violet, an heiress.--H. J. Byron, _Our Boys_ (1875).

=Midge=, the miller's son, one of the companions of Robin Hood. (See MUCH.)

_Midge_ (_The_), a well-born but friendless waif, thrown at the age of thirteen upon the charity of Dr. Peters, an eccentric bachelor. She cares for his house and for him in quaint, womanly fas.h.i.+on, very bewitching, until she is grown. The suit of another and a younger man, makes the doctor know, to his cost, how well he loves her. He holds his peace, and marries Midge to her lover.

”Then he went into the big pantry. In the corner on the shelf, still lay the crock in which the Midge had hidden her head, heavy with childish grief, years before. The old stool stood before it.

He sat down on it and rested his hot forehead on the cool rim of the jar.