MINOTAUR MIQtJELETS. 



History of Massachusetts. He died in January, 

 1802. A full account of his labours and character 

 is contained in the eighth volume of the Collections 

 of the Massachusetts Historical Society. 



MINOTAUR. Fable makes this being the son 

 of Pasiphaeand a bull, and ascribes to him the body 

 of a man with the head of a bull. He ate human 

 flesh, on which account Minos confined him in the 

 labyrinth built by Dasdalus, and at first exposed to 

 him criminals, but afterwards the youths and maidens 

 yearly sent from Athens as a tribute, until at length 

 Theseus, who was comprehended among the youths, 

 and was instructed and armed by Ariadne, the 

 daughter of Minos, killed him, and freed the Athen- 

 ians from this tribute. 



MINSTER (Anglo-Saxon, Mynster, from monas- 

 terium) anciently signified the church of a monastery 

 or convent, afterwards a cathedral. In German, the 

 word is written MUnster. Both in German and 

 English, this title is given to several large cathedrals, 

 as, York minster, the minster of Strasburg, &c. It 

 is also found in the names of several places, which 

 owe their origin or celebrity to a monastery, as, 

 Westminster, Leominster, &c. 



MINSTREL (French, menestrier, from ministeri- 

 alis); a name introduced into England by the Nor- 

 mans, and which comprehended singers and per- 

 formers of instrumental music, together with jug- 

 glers, dancers, sleight-of-hand performers, and other 

 similar persons, whose trade it was to amuse the 

 great. The character of the minstrels differed much 

 at different periods ; and while we find them, at one 

 time, the friends and favourites of princes, we see 

 them again, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, classed 

 with beggars and vagabonds, and forbidden to exer- 

 cise their trade. The minstrels often sang the com- 

 positions of others, but they were often the authors 

 of the poems which they recited. See Percy's and 

 Ritson's works on minstrelsy ; see, also, the articles 

 Minnesingers, and Troubadours. 



MINT (mentha) ; a genus of labiate plants, dis- 

 tinguished, however, by having the corolla divided 

 into four nearly equal lobes. The stamens are four, 

 two of them longer than the others. The species 

 are herbaceous, nearly all perennial, having square 

 stems, which bear opposite and simple leaves ; the 

 flowers are small, verticillate, collected into bunches 

 in the axils of the leaves. Sixty species are 

 known, all growing in temperate climates, and most of 

 them European. They abound in resinous dots, which 

 contain an essential oil. They have an agreeable 

 odour, and have been celebrated, from remote anti- 

 quity, both in mythology and from their useful 

 qualities. They partake, in the highest degree, of 

 the tonic and stimulating properties which are found 

 in all labiate plants. To the taste they are bitter, 

 aromatic, and pungent. The M. piperita, or pepper- 

 mint, is the most powerful, and, on this account, is 

 most generally employed in medicine. The M. viridis, 

 or spearmint, is milder, more agreeable, and is very 

 commonly employed for culinary purposes. 



MINT ; a place where money is coined by public 

 authority. In Great Britain there was formerly a 

 mint, in almost every county ; but the privilege of 

 coining is now a royal prerogative here, and the 

 only mint now in Great Britain is in the Tower of 

 London. Coining, among the ancients, and, indeed, 

 among the moderns till within the last 280 years, 

 appears to have been very rudely and imperfectly 

 performed, by placing the blank piece of money 

 between two dies, or steel punches, containing the 

 design of the coin, and striking upon the upper one 

 with a hammer. This hammer-money is always 

 imperfect, from the uncertainty of placing the two 

 dies exactly over each other, and also from the 



improbability of a man being able to strike a blow 

 with such force as to make all parts of the impression 

 equally perfect. The coining-press, or mill, is of 

 French origin, and is generally said to have been first 

 tried in the palace of Henry II. of France, in 1550 

 or 1553. It continued in use till 1583, when Henry 

 III. re-established the hammer-coinage, on account 

 of its superior cheapness. The mill, or press, was 

 introduced from France into England in 1562, in the 

 reign of Elizabeth ; but, after about ten years, it was 

 given up for the same reason as in France. In 

 France, it was re-established completely in 1645, by 

 Louis XIV. In 1623, it was established anew in 

 England, by Briot, a French artist. It was used 

 there, alternately with the hammer, for forty years. 

 Under Charles II., in 1662, it obtained the complete 

 ascendency, and has remained in use ever since. For 

 an account of the method of coining, see the article 

 Coinage. 



MINTAREES,orMINETARRES (called also, the 

 Big-Bellies) ; a tribe of Indians, in the northern part 

 of the Missouri Territory. See Indians, American. 



MINUCIUS FELIX, MARCUS ; a native of Africa, 

 who, about the close of the second and the com- 

 mencement of the third centuries of the Christian 

 era, attained to a considerable degree of reputation 

 at Rome as a rhetorician. He was a Christian, and 

 wrote a dialogue in defence of his religion, entitled 

 Octavius, of which Jerome and Lactantius speak 

 highly. This work, however, was long considered 

 to be the composition of Arnobius, till in 1560, Bau- 

 douin restored it to its real author. Another treatise, 

 De Fato, has also been ascribed to him ; but from the 

 difference of style which it exhibits, when compared 

 with the other work, some doubts are entertained as 

 to its authenticity. There are two English translations 

 of the Octavius. 



MINUET (French, menuet) ; a French dance, in 

 slow time, which requires great grace and dignity of 

 carriage. It was, therefore, considered as the touch- 

 stone of an elegant dancer, and is admirably adapted 

 to cultivate ease and grace of motion. It was the 

 favourite dance in the time of Louis XIV., but has 

 since been supplanted by contre-dances, quadrilles, 

 &c. According to Brossard, the minuet was origi- 

 nally from Poitou, and is said to have had, at first, a 

 quicker motion. According to Schubart, Lully (1603 

 to 1687) was the inventor of the minuet, and Louis 

 XIV. is said to have danced the first in 1660, at 

 Versailles. The name is derived from menu (little), 

 on account of its short measured steps. 



MINUTE ; a division of time, and of angular 

 measure. The degree is divided into sixty minutes. 

 The divisions of degrees are fractions, whose denomi- 

 nators increase in a sexagesimal ratio ; that is, a 

 minute is = ,', or second = 3t ' aa , &c. of a degree. 

 Minutes are expressed by acute accents thus'; the 

 seconds by two"; the thirds by three"'. In the 

 computation of time, a minute is the sixtieth part of 

 an hour. 



MINY^E: 



1. The Argonauts were so called, either because 

 the bravest of their number were descended from 

 Minyas, or because they were natives of the land of 

 the Minyae, who had occupied the country from 

 lolchos to Orchomenus. 



, 2. A people of Boeotia, near Orchomenus. Their 

 state was, at an early period, powerful, and was 

 founded by a Pelasgic tribe. They derive their 

 name from Minyas, one of their kings, whose 

 father, Orchomenus, built the city of that name. 

 See Miiller's Orchomenos und die Minyer (Gottingen, 

 1820). 



MIQUELETS; the inhabitants of the Southern 

 Pyrenees, in Catalonia, and in the French depart- 



