MISENO 



MISSAL 



229 



Miseno, a promontory forming tlie western 

 side of the Bay of Pozzuoli (Cumce), 10 miles SW. 

 of Naples. On it are ruins of the ancient city of 

 Misenum, which Augustus made one of the princi- 

 pal stations of the Roman fleet. 



Miserere!, the name by which, in Catholic 

 usage, the 50th Psalm of the Vulgate (51st in 

 Authorised Version) is commonly known. It is 

 one of the so-called ' Penitential Psalms,' which 

 are said after Lauds on the Fridays in Lent, except 

 Good Friday. It has been commonly understood to 

 have l>een composed by David in the deptli of his 

 .remorse for the double crime which the prophet 

 Nathan rebuked in the well-known parable 

 (2 Sam. xii.). Another opinion, however plainly 

 stated by Theodore of Mopsuestia (died 428), and 

 adopted by many moderns attributes this psalm 

 to some of the psalm-writers of the Captivity ; 

 whilst others, again, hold that the last two 

 verses only were added after the return from the 

 Exile. 



Miserere, a projection on the under side of 

 the seats of the stalls of mediaeval churches and 

 chapels, &c. They are usually ornamented with 



Miserere. 



carved work, and are so shaped that when the 

 Beats-pro|)er are folded up they form a small seat 

 at a higher level, sufficient to afford some support 

 to a person resting upon it. Aged and infirm 

 ecclesiastics were allowed to 

 use these during long services. 



Misericordla, or MISERI- 

 CORDE ('mercy'), a narrow- 

 bladed dagger used by a 

 knight in giving the coup de 

 grdce or finishing stroke to a 

 wounded foe. Misericord ia is 

 also the name of a society (of 

 laymen) in Florence, founded 

 in the 13th century, who tend 

 the poor sick, carry victims 

 of accident or disease to the 

 hospitals, and the dead to their 

 burial. Members of all elates 

 of the community, including 

 the highest, are enrolled in 

 this charitable association ; and 

 their sombre nnd forbidding 



A Frate della Miferi- costume a dark monastic 



cordia. dress, with the cowl pulled 



down over the face so that 



the eyes merely peep through little holes is not 



assumed because the Frati della Misericordia are 

 penitents, but to check demonstrations of gratitude 

 to the individual brethren. 



Misliinee Bitter. See COPTIS. 



Mishna (from Heb. shana, 'to learn ;' errone- 

 ously held to designate Repetition) comprises the 

 body of the 'Oral Law,' or the juridico-political, 

 civil, and religious code of the Jews ; and forms, 

 as such, a kind of complement to the Mosaic or 

 Written Law, which it explains, amplifies, 'and 

 immutably fixes. It was not, however, on the 

 authority of the schools and the masters alone 

 that these explanations, and the new ordinances 

 to which they gave rise, depended, but rather on 

 certain distinct and well-authenticated traditions, 

 traced to Mount Sinai itself. The Mishna ( to which 

 the Toseftas and Boraithas form supplements) was 

 finally redacted, after some earlier incomplete col- 

 lections, by J rlmd ah Hanassi, in 220 A.D., at 

 Tiberias. It is mostly written in New Hebrew, 

 and is divided into six portions ( Sedarim ): 1. Zeraim 

 (Seeds), on Agriculture; 2. Moed (Feast), on the 

 Sabbath, Festivals, and Fasts ; 3. Nashim ( Women ), 

 on Marriage, Divorce, &c. (embracing also the laws 

 on the Nazirship and Vows ) ; 4. Nezikim ( Dam- 

 ages), chiefly civil and penal law (also containing 

 the ethical treatise Aboth ) ; 5. Kadashim ( Sacred 

 Things), Sacrifices, &c. ; description of the Temple 

 of Jerusalem, &c. ; 6. Taharoth (Purifications), 

 on pure and impure things and persons. See also 

 EXEGESIS, Vol. IV. p. 497 ; TALMUD. 



MisioneS, an Argentinian territory, lies between 

 the Uruguay and the Parand, and is bounded on all 

 sides but the SW. by Brazil and Paraguay. Area, 

 20,823 sq. m. ; pop. 30,000 though before the ex- 

 pulsion of the Jesuits (1767) it exceeded 100,000. 

 There are three low mountain-chains radiating from 

 the centre. The greater portion of the surface is 

 covered with forest, producing building and dye- 

 woods, oranges, medicinal herbs, and the yerba 

 matt. Maize is largely grown, and sugar-cane to 

 some extent; of late years several sugar-houses 

 have been erected. Capital, Posadas (pop. 3000), 

 on the Parand. 



Miskolcz, a town of Hungary, 113 miles by 

 rail NE. of Pesth. Pop. 30,408. 



Ilisprision. See TREASON. 



Misrepresentation, a false statement affect- 

 ing the validity of a contract or transfer of pro- 

 perty. Wilful misrepresentation is the same as 

 Fraud (q.v.). Innocent misrepresentation atl'ects 

 the formation of a contract in cases where one 

 party has to rely on statements made by the other. 

 An insurance company grants a policy in reliance 

 on the statements made by the insured ; a pur- 

 chaser of land must rely on statements made by 

 the vendor ; an applicant for shares in a company 

 relies on the truth of the prospectus. In these 

 cases even unintentional misrepresentation will 

 prevent the party responsible for it from enforcing 

 the agreement against the party who has been mis- 

 led. There are also cases in which a party is taken 

 to warrant the truth of his statement ; in these 

 cases even an innocent misstatement may give the 

 other party a right to be discharged altogether, or 

 a right to claim damages for breach of warranty. 



Missal, the volume containing the prayers used 

 in the celebration of the Mass. Anciently, con- 

 siderable variety in minor details prevailed among 

 the books in use in different countries, and even in 

 different churches of the same country. With the 

 view of restoring uniformity, the pope, in virtue of 

 a decree of the Council of Trent, in 1570 ordered 

 that all churches which had not, for a clearly ascer- 

 tained period of 200 years, enjoyed an uninterrupted 

 use of a peculiar service-book of their own, should 



