549 MIN 
MINT'-MASTER, f. One who prefides in coinage.— 
That which is coined, as mint-majiers confefled, is allayed 
with about a twelfth part of copper. Boyle. —One who in¬ 
vents.—The great mmt-majiers of thefe terms, the ichool- 
men and metaphyficians, have wherewithal to content 
him. Locke. 
MIN'TAGE, f. That which is coined or ftamped: 
Its pleafing poifon 
The vifage quite transforms of him that drinks. 
And the inglorious li'kenefs of a beaft 
Fixes inftead, unmoulding reafon’s mintage 
Character’d in the face. Milton's Comas. 
The duty paid for coining. 
MIN'TER,/! A coiner.—Sterling ought to be of pure 
filver, called leaf-filver; the tiiinto'raull add other weight, 
if tlie filver be not pure. Camden. —An inventor.—They 
fay that Apollo, when he is an archer, is not prefident 
of the company. O generations of fictitious minters! who 
knows not that Apollo is a deity errant ? Guyton on D.Quix. 
MIN'TING, /. The aCl of coining. 
MIN'TON, an ifland in the Indian Sea, near the weft- 
ern coaft of the ifland of Sumatra, a little to the fouth of 
the line. Lon. 97.8. E. 
MINTUR'NiE, in ancient geography, a town of Italy, 
in Latium, upon the Appian way, near Formiai on the 
weft and Suefla Arunca on the eaft, fituated on the Liris, 
at fome diftance from its mouth. Livy fpeaks of it as a 
very ancient city. The Romans gained pofleffion of it by 
treafon, in the year of Rome 439, and planted a colony in 
it. But the event which rendered it particularly memo¬ 
rable, was the imprifonment of Marius in this town, and 
his efcape, in confequence of linking terror into the mind 
of the foldier who was lent to affaflinate him. 
MIN'TZBACH, a town of Auftria: eight miles weft 
of Grein. 
MINUAR'TIA, f. [fo called by Lcefiing, in comme¬ 
moration of a Spanifli botanift of the name of Minuart , 
an apothecary at Madrid, with whom Loefling was ac¬ 
quainted while in Spain, and from whom he received 
many botanical obfervations, as appears by various paf- 
fagesin his letters publifhed by Linnams.] In botany, a 
genus of the clafs triandria, order trigynia, natural order 
caryophyllei. Generic characters—Calyx : perianthium 
inferior, ereCt, long, compreffed, of five, awl-fhaped, rather 
fliff, permanent, leaves. Corolla: none; nectary com- 
poled of a few deprefled glands within the calyx. Sta¬ 
mina: filaments three, capillary, fhort, inferted into the 
receptacle ; antherse roundifh. Piftillum : germen fupe- 
rior, triangular; ftyles three, fliort, tliread-fliaped; ftigmas 
thickifh. Pericarpium : capfule oblong, triangular, a little 
fhorter than the calyx, of one cell and three valves. Seeds: 
not numerous, roundifh, compreffed. M. montana is faid 
occafionally to be found with traces of five minute petals, 
which are poffibly what Loefling defcribed as nectariferous 
glands.— Ejjential Char alter. Calyx of five leaves ; corolla 
none ; capfule with one cell and three valves; feeds few. 
1. Minuartia dichotoma, or forked minuartia: flowers 
cluftered, dichotomous. Thefe are all annual plants, na¬ 
tives of Spain. Leaves oppofite, cluftered; flowers in 
clufters, with five or three very fmall petals, like glands. 
The prelent is a rigid, hard, tough, little plant. Leaves 
briftle-fhaped ; flowers feflile in cymes, forming a fquare 
head, clofely dichotomous, commonly larger than the 
ftem ; feeds five to eight, roundilh, kidney-form; colour 
of the plant lomewhat dufky. 
2. Minuartia campeftris, or field-minuartia: flowers ter-, 
mihating, alternate, longer than the braCte. Native of 
the*lower hills. 
3. Minuartia montana, or mountain-minuartia: flowers 
lateral, alternate, fhorter than the brafte. Stems feveral, 
ditfufed, a finger’s length, fubpubefcent, and hoary. Lin¬ 
naeus doubts whether it ought not to be referred to the 
genus Alfine, and recommends a companion of it with 
Alfine mucronata in its native foil. The ltruClure of that 
M I N 
is fimilar to this; but it is loofe, very much branched and 
dift’ufed, whereas M. montana is contracted. 
MIN'UET, f. [ynehuet, Fr.] A ftately regular dance.—- 
John has affurance to fet up for a minuet- dancer. Spectator. 
The tender creature could not fee his fate, 
With whom the danc’d a minuet fo late. Stepney. 
The invention of the minuet feems generally to be 
afcribed to the French, and particularly to the inhabitants 
of the province of PoiCtou. The word is laid by Menage 
and Furetiere to be derived from the French menue, or 
menu , “ fmall or little;” and in ftriCtnefs fignifies a fmall 
pace. The melody of this dance conlifts of two ftrains, 
which, as being repeated, are called reprifes, each having 
eight or more bars, but never an odd number. The 
meafure is three crotchets in a bar, and is thus marked §'. 
Walther fpeaks of a minuet in Lully’s opera of Roland, 
each ftrain of which contains ten bars, the leftional num¬ 
ber being 5 ; which renders it very difficult to dance. 
It feems as if this dance, in fuch high favour and ufe 
during the laft century in all the courts of Europe, as 
well as that of France, whence it was adopted, was either 
unknown to Broflard, or its character muft have been very 
much changed fince his time. In his DiCl. de Mufique, 
he defines minuetto, or menuet, Danfefort gaye , “ a very 
lively dance.” But fo far from lively and gay was this, 
dance, that its charaCteriftics were grace and gravity. It 
has been even laid to be the only grave dance, fince the 
difufe of the louvre, fit for perlons of high rank and dig¬ 
nity to dance alone at courts or great balls. But, as the 
country-dance, at the latter end of the laft century, was 
fupplanted by the cotillon, the cotillon by the waltz, the 
inftrumental minuet by the jig, the dance itfelf of the 
flow minuet is wholly abolifhed. Yet there is fo much 
dignity and grace in this dance, that it is to be lamented 
it has ceafed to be a part of education, and to be difcon- 
tinued at private balls and affiemblies wdiere elegance and 
decorum ufed to be oblerved. In learning the fteps and 
figure of a minuet, other things neceffary in polifhed fo- 
ciety ufed to be taught; fuch as the bow, the curtley, the. 
entrance into a room and departure from it with eale and 
grace, the prefenting to or receiving from a fuperior; in¬ 
deed the whole carriage of the perfon ufed to be regulated 
in learning the minuet, in a manner not, as we can difco- 
ver, included in the Scotch ftep or Irifh lilt, the cotillon, 
or the waltz. Thofe who never had the courage or in¬ 
tention to exhibit their perfons in a ball-room, public or 
private, have been dilcovered to have learned to dance by 
ftanding ftill or walking in the ftreet, as a peafant difco- 
vers himfelf to have been drilled in the fame fituations. 
MINU'RI, a town of Naples, in Principato Citra: nine 
miles fouth-weft of Salerno. 
MINUS'CULZE, f. With printers, the fmall letters, as 
diftinguifhed from the capitals. 
MINU'TE, adj. [minutus, Lat.] Small ; little ; flender ; 
fmall in bulk; fmall in confequence.—Such an umyerfal 
fuperintendency has the eye and hand of Providence 
over all, even the moft minute and inconfiderable things, 
South's Sermons. 
Some minute philofophers pretend, 
That with our days our pains and pleafures end. Denham. 
MIN'UTE, J'. [minutum , Lat.] The fixtieth part of an. 
hour: 
This man fo complete, 
Who was enroll’d ’mongft wmnders, and when we, 
Almoft with liltening ravifh’d, could not find 
His hour of lpeech a minute. Shahejpeare's Hen. VIII. 
Any fmall fpace of time—Experience does every minute 
prove the fad truth of this affection. South. 
The fpeed of gods 
Time counts not, though with fwifteft minutes wing’d. 
Milton. 
Gods! that the w ; orld fhould turn 
On minutes and on moments. Denham's Sophy. 
Tell 
