Part 18 (1/2)
=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.