mn the United States of America. “= 497 
MANKIND. Mr. Kendall quotes the following expression of a Vermonter ; 
_ “if the government can put mankind in gaols,”” &c. and then makes this 
remark : “ It is to be observed that the word mankind, so ludicrous in its 
application here, is frequently used in New Zingland, as in this example, 
for men, in the indefinite sense.” Travels, vol. iii. p. 253. ‘This use of 
the word is not known in the towns on the sea-coast. 
MEMBER OF THE CHURCH. <« Returning to his house I missed a young 
man who had been with us; and on inquiring for him, was informed, that 
he had stayed behind, to receive the sacrament, with the addition that ¢ he 
was a member of the chureied, _ I was at length made to understand, that 
the church consists in a narrow circle within the circle of settled, qualified, 
and approved inhabitants, as that is within the circle of the society ; and 
that it is only to the church that the sacrament of the last supper is admin- 
istered.” Kend. Trav. vol.i. p. 115. Members of the church are fre- 
quently called, in New England, by way of eminence, professors of religion. 
To MILITATE. The preposition with is often used by American writers after 
this yerb ; the English say, to militate against. 
MISSION ; anembassy. This word, till lately, was. generally used to signify a 
religious embassy, as se Johnson pra it. It was first employed as 
a diplomatic term, I eli *» by Amer an » but is ni ett - the 
7 3 4 ee apie 
“same manner by the English, “ He ‘had neard it reported, rted, that the aS 
tleman who had been sent on a mission to America, ke,” 2 — in 
Parliament, Feb. 26, 1808.. “ The French mission was still suffered to 
remain at Stockholm.” £dind. Rev. No. XLI. p. 155. 
MOCCASON or MOGGASON. “A shoe of soft dether without a sole, orna- 
‘mented round the ankle.” Wedsz. An Indian name. 
MUSH. “Food of maize flour and water boiled. (Local.)’” Weést, The 
same thing which in the Vorthern States is called hasty-fpudding. 
MUSICAL. A friend informs me, that in some towns in the interior of New 
England, this word is used in the extraordinary sense of Aumorous, or 
sprightly. They would say of a man of humour, he is very musical. 
893 
