LITERATURE 



371 



Me reliant of Venice. Antonio, the merchant, in 

 Shakespere s play, signs a bond in order to borrow money 

 from Shylock, a Jew, for Bassino, the lover of Portia. 

 If the loan was repaid within three months, only the 

 principal would be required: if not, the Jew should be 

 at liberty to claim a pound of flesh from Antonio's body. 

 The ships of Antonio being delayed by contrary winds, 

 the merchant was unable to meet his bill, and the Jew 

 claimed the forfeiture. Portia, in the dress of a law 

 doctor, conducted- the defense, and saved Antonio by 

 reminding the Jew that a pound of flesh gave him no 

 drop of blood. 



Merlin. The name of an ancient Welsh prophet and 

 enchanter. He is often alluded to by the older poets, 

 especially Spenser, in his " FaSry Queen," and also figures 

 in Tennyson's "Idylls of the King." In the " i 

 of Prince Arthur" by Malory, Merlin is the prince of 

 enchanters and of a supernatural origin. He is said to 

 have built the Round Table and to have brought from 

 Ireland the stones of Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain. 



Merlin's ( a\e. In Dvnevor, near Carmarthen, 

 noted for its ghastly noises of rattling iron chains, groans, 

 and strokes of hammers. The cause is this: Merlin set 

 his spirits to fabricate a brazen wall to encompass the 

 city of Carmarthen, and, as he had to call on the Lady 

 of the Lake, bade them not slacken their labor till he 

 returned; but he never did return, for Vivian held him 

 prisoner by her wiles. 



M. Bslah, The. An epic poem in fifteen books, by 

 i - ' ;. Klopstock. The subject is the last days of Jesus, I 

 His crucifixion and resurrection. 



Miilummer Night's Dream. Egeus promised his 

 daughter, Hermia. to Demetrius. She loved Lysander 

 and fled from Athens with her lover. Demetrius went 

 in pursuit of her, followed by Helena, who doted on him. i 

 All four came to a forest and fell asleep. Oberon and 

 Tita'nia had quarreled, and Oberon, by way of punish- 

 ment, dropped on Titania's eyes during sleep some love- 

 juice, or " Love in Idleness, the effect of which is to 

 make the sleeper fall in love with the first thing seen 

 when waking. The first thing seen by Titania was Bot- 

 tom the weaver, wearing an ass's head. In the mean- 

 time King Oberon dispatched Puck to the lovers and i 

 with the juice Puck changed their vision and made all 

 content. It has been suggested that in this play Shakes- 

 pere may have; borrowed hints from Chaucer. " The 

 Tempest and Midsummer Night's Dream" are called 

 Shakespere's fairy plays. 



MiMen'do. Gulliver's Travels, Swift. The 

 metropolis of Lilliput, the wall of which was two feet 

 and a half in height, and at least eleven inches thick. 

 The emperor's palace, called Belfab'orac, was in the 

 center of the city. 



Miles Standfsh. In "Courtship of Miles Standish." 

 a poem by H. W. Longfellow. From this poem the ro- 

 bust figures of the Puritan captain, in his haps and mis- 

 haps, and of John Alden and Priscilla, are now part of 

 our national treasures. 



Miller, Daisy. Name of heroine and title of the 

 story by Henry James. An American girl traveling in 

 Europe, where her innocence, ignorance, and disregard 

 of European customs and standards of propriety, put 

 her in compromising situations and frequently expose 

 '>nduct to misconstruction. 



Mmneha'ha. Hiawatha, II. \V. Longfellow. 

 The daughter of the arrow-maker of Daco'tah, ami wife 

 of Hiawatha. She was called Minnehaha from the 

 waterfall of that name. 



Mi nne san*ers, or Minnesingers. A name given 

 to the German lyric poet* of the Middle Ages, on account 

 of love being the principal theme of their lays, the Ger- 

 man word rninne" being used to denote a pure and 

 faithful love. 



Mir.H I. Plays. See "Mysteries." 



Mii.imla. Tin- 'I - lakespere. The 



daughter of Prospero the exiled Duke of Milan, and 

 niece of Antonio, the usurping duke. She is brought 

 up on a desert island. witB Ariel, the fairy sp : 

 Cal'iban. the monster, as her only companion*. 



i -am. A beautiful and mysterious woman in 

 Hawthorne's romatu e ' I he Marble Faun." for love of 

 whom Donatello commits murder, thus becoming her 

 partner in crime. 



Miserere. A title given m the Roman Catholic 

 urst Psalm, usually called the " psalm 

 of mercy." 



Moralnv. i ii, . An old play in which the characters 

 were the Vices and Virtue*, with the n 

 wards of allegorical personages, such as Riches. Good 

 Deeds. Confession. Death, and any human condition or 

 quality needed for the play. These characters were 

 brought together is a rough story, at the end of \\hn-h 

 triumphed. 



Morris Dance. Or the Moorish dance, was intro- 

 duced into England in the reign of Edward III. It was 

 a prominent feature of the May Day and other outdoor 

 festivities. 



Moriturl Salutamis. A "hymn to age," written 

 by H. W. Longfellow, for the jubilee reunion of Bowdoin's 

 Class of 1825. It contains a number of classic allusions, 

 and an entire tale from the "Gesta Romanorum." 



Mortality, Old. Old Mortality. Scott. A religious 

 itinerant, who frequented country churchyards and the 

 graves of the covenanters. He was first discovered at 

 Gandercleugh, clearing the moss from the grey tomb- 

 stones, renewing with his chisel the half-defaced inscrip- 

 tions, and repairing the decorations of the tombs. 



MM ilox. The Fair God, Lew frYalUee. The 

 old paba or prophet who assured Nenetzin that she was 

 to be the future queen in her father's palace. 



Mmk'lebaoket. The Antiquary. Scott. Name of 

 a conspicuous family, consisting of Saunders Muckle- 

 backet. the old fisherman of Musselcrag; Old 1 

 mother of Saunders; Maggie, wife of Saunders; - 

 the eldest son, who was drowned; Little Jennie. Saun- 

 ders' child. 



Mum hau'sen. The Baron. A hero of most mar- 

 velous adventures, and the fictitious author of a book 

 of travels filled with most extravagant tales. The name 

 is said to refer to Hienmymus Karl Friedrich von Miin- 

 chausen. a German officer in the Russian Arm > 

 for his marvelous stories. 



Mussel Slough Atrair. Octopus. Norris. Ti.r 

 basis of plot for the novel and name given to an actual 

 piece of history almost unknown in the East when the 

 wheat-growers of the San Joaquin Valley came into 

 conflict with the railroad which they believed was try- 

 in <r to defraud them of their land. 



My'sterles and Miracle-plays. Were dramas 

 founded on the historical parts of the Old and New Testa- 

 ments, and the lives of the saints, performed during the 

 Middle Ages, first in churches, and afterwards in the 

 streets on fixed or movable stages. The mystery was 

 a representation of any portion of the New Testament 

 history concerned with a mysterious subject, such as the 

 Incarnation, the Atonement, or the Resurrection. Mira- 

 cles and mysteries were popular in France. Germany. 

 Spain, Italy, and England. The fathers of the Reforma- 

 tion showed no unfriendly feeling towards them. Luther 

 is reported to have said that they often did more good 

 and produced more impression than sermons. In the 

 alpine districts of Germany, miracle-plays were com- 

 posed and acted by the peasants. They at last began 

 to partake to a limited extent of the burlesque, which 

 had brought miracle-plays into disrepute elsewhere. 

 In England, the greatest check they received was from 

 the rise of the secular drama. The first miracle-plays 

 were an expedient employed by the clergy for giving 

 religious instruction to the people, and for extending 

 anoT strengthening the influence of the Church. The 

 earliest "Miracle on record is the "Play of Si. Cather- 

 ine." which was written about 1119, in French, and was 

 a rude picture of the miracles and martyrdom of that 

 saint. Some of the titles of these old plays are the 

 "Creation of the World." the "Fall of Man.* the story 

 of "Cain and Abel." the "Crucifixion of Our Lord, 

 the "Massacre of the Innocents." "The Play of the 

 Bleated Sacrament." the "Deluge." They were gen- 

 erally written m mixed prose and verse. It was necessary 

 to introduce some comic enlivcnment. and this was done 

 by representing the wicked personages of the drama as 

 placed in ludicrous situations. The devil generally 

 played the part of the clown or jester. 



Na'la. A legendary King of India, whose love for 

 Damayanti and subsequent misfortunes have supplied 

 subjects for numerous poems. 



Natty HlimpiMi. tailed - 1 .,. : ,iher-l,H kn = r- " He 



appears in live <>f Cooper's novels: (1) "The Deer- 

 slayer"; (2) "The Pathfinder"; (3) "The Hawkeye," 

 in f 'The Last of the Mohu-u.,*"; (4) " .Va- 

 in "The Pioneer-"; and (5) as "The Trapper," . 

 Prairie," in which he dies. 



Nesp'ra. The name of a girl mentioned by the Latin 

 poets. Horace, Virgil, and Tibullu*; sometimes also 

 introduced into modern pastoral poetry as the name of 



:i Illl-trr-- or sw,.,.t|,,-;,,t 



Nepen'th*. A care-dispelling drug, which Polydam- 



\ 

 drink rontmniiiK tin- <lrug "changed grief to mirth. 



mirth. 



melancholy to joyfulness, and hatred to lovr 

 water of Ardenne had the opposite effects. 

 mentions this drugnepenlh* in hi* "Odyssey 

 also mentioned in Pot's " Raven." 



t . n utory ><. 



I hi "Jeasatny Bride." and noted for 

 the sroiip ..f ifopl* toMtCttd. Hichard Brm.lcy Sheri- 



