550 
MIN 
She, when but yet a tender minx, began 
To hold the door, but now lets up for man. Drydcn. 
MI NX, f. in zoology, an animal in North America, 
very much refembling the otter. See Mustella minx. 
MI'NY, adj. [from mine.'] Subterraneous 5 below the 
furface: 
Bid Atlas, propping heaven, as poets feign. 
His fubterranean wonders fpread ! unveil 
The miny caverns, blazing on the day, 
Of AbylHnia’s cloud-compelling cliffs. Thomfon. 
MIN'YA, in ancient geography, a town of Greece, 
an Theluiy, called alfo Ahnonia .—A town of Afia, in 
Phrygia.-—A town of the illand of Amorgos, fituated in 
the moll weftern part of the illand. 
MIN'YAS, a king of Bceotia, fon of Neptune and Tri- 
•tegenia, the daughter of JEolus. Some make him the fon 
of Neptune and Caliirrhoe, or of Chryles, Neptune’s fon, 
and Chryfogenia, the daughter of Halmus. He married 
Clytodora, by whom he had Prelbon, Periclymenus, and 
•Eteoclymenus. He was father of Orchomenos, Diochi- 
-thondes, and Athamas, by a fecond marriage with Pha- 
nafora, the daughter of Paon. According to Plutarch 
and Ovid, he had three daughters, called Leuconoe, Al- 
cithoe, and Leucippe ; but Ovid calls’ the two fil'd Cly- 
inene and Iris. They derided the orgies of Bacchus, for 
which impiety the god infpired them with an unconquer¬ 
able defire of eating human flelh. They drew lots which 
of them fiiould give up her fon as food to the reft. The 
•lot fell upon Leucippe, and Hie gave up her Ion Hippafus, 
who was inftantly devoured by the three lifters. They 
were changed into bats. Ovid s Met. iv. 12. 
MIN'YCUS, a river of Tlieffaly, falling into the fea near 
Arene, called afterwards Orchomenos. Homer. Strabo. 
MINY'TUS, one of the Ions of Niobe. ■ 
MIO'GA, f. in botany. See Amomxjm mioga, vol. i. 
MJ'OKACK, a town of Sweden, in Weft Gothland : 
thirty-fix miles fouth-eaft of Gotheborg. 
Ml'OLANS, lately a town of France, in the department 
of Mont Blanc, at the conflux of the Arche and Here : ten 
miles eaft of Chambery. 
Ml'OLANS, a town and fortrefs of France, in the de¬ 
partment of the Lower Alps : nine miles weft of Barce- 
lonetta. 
MIOL'LTS, a village of Swifferland, in the canton of 
Glaris. The French were driven from this place in March 
1799 : three miles north of Glaris. 
MIOLLON', a fmall ifland on the weft fide of the Gulf 
of Bothnia. Lat. 63. 4.N. Ion. 18. 20. E. 
MIONIKIEL'LE, a town of Perfia, in the province of 
Mazanderan : forty-two miles fouth of Fehrabat. 
MIOSS', an extenfive lake of Norway, in the govern¬ 
ment of Aggerhuus, near fifty miles in length from north 
to fouth, from two to fixteen in breadth. It contains 
one ifland, eight miles in circumference : the fouthern 
extremity is thirty miles north-eaft of Chriftiana. 
Mr. Lamotte has given a pleafing defcription of the 
fcenery about this lake. “ It would be difficult (fays he) 
to pourtray with fidelity the lingular and fublime pro- 
fpefls which prefented themfekv.es to our view, along the 
upper bank of the lake Miofs; and the farther we ad¬ 
vanced, the grander the objects leemed to become, and 
the more they harmonized with each other. The moun¬ 
tains were more lofty and rugged, the trees more ftately, 
and the waters of the river Lough more rapid. The fur¬ 
rounding forefts, apparently ag ancient as the ground on 
which they Hand, had the effeft of infpiring a certain re¬ 
ligious awe, fufpended as we were between earth and Iky, 
on a ridge of rock feveral hundred feet perpendicular, 
with a road of only ten or twelve feet in width. The firft 
part of the lake is perhaps more ftriking than the reft ; 
the river I.ough, fuelled by the melting know, precipitat¬ 
ing itfelf like a torrentinto the balms beneath, in the midft 
of rocks and cataracts. On the right and left, the traveller 
i'cholds maifes of green mountains crowned with forefts, 
M I Q 
and riling higher and higher in picturefque forms, until 
they mount beyond the reach of human fight. In front, 
is a deep and narrow valley, refembling an immenfe ra¬ 
vine ; while at different lpots'we perceive formidable open¬ 
ings, proofs of the concuffions of former ages. Amid 
thefe wild and delolate fcenes, with what joy does the eye 
fix itfelf on traces of cultivation ! Such relief happily is 
not wanting, the induftry of the agriculturift having 
exerted itfelf wherever the foil appeared to promife fuc- 
cefs to his labours. At the top of an abrupt ridge, we be¬ 
hold a crop of barley almoft ripe ; while in the hollows 
below, women and children are feen making their fcanty 
portions of hay. On the flat fpots befide the lake and 
rivers, are fome good fields of rye, oats, and occafionally 
of wheat. A folitary farm-houfe, with its red roof, is per¬ 
ceived lometimes half a mile up a mountain ; while, far¬ 
ther down, we have the cheerful profpedt of the hamlet 
and parifh-church. On the low ground, and in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of the water, an humble cottage, covered with 
turf or the bark of trees, is now and then difcerned : this 
is the dwelling of a fiftierman. The traft of land which 
excited thefe obfervations is the entrance to the famous 
valley of Guldbrandal; a diftrift remarkable, even in this 
primitive country, for the manners of its inhabitants, and 
the Angularity of the appearances of nature. 
“ The inhabitants are extremely plain in their apparel ; 
a cap of red wool, and a coat, or rat.her cloak, of white 
cloth, forming their conftant drefs. The latter reaches 
down to the heels ; and a red or green v.aiftcoat is worn 
under it, with breeches of black leather, and ftcckings and 
mittens of woollen manufacture. Such .has been for ages 
the humble drefs of thefe children of nature. They ap¬ 
pear to have fomething of the fame predilection for a mix, 
•ture of colour in their drefs, which' the Scotch Highlanders 
have for tartan. In perfonal ftature and ftrength, they 
are inferior to the inhabitants of more level countries; 
their beards and eye-brows are red ; their complexion is 
pale, and their lips are often thick! The women have 
delicate features, and are pale without being white ; but 
they are frequently freckled and fun-burnt. Both flexes 
have, however, a great portion of gaiety, being inquifitive, 
familiar, arid talkative. As to perfonal fafety, no country 
can lurpafs this, fince the inhabitants have no wilh to be 
greater or richer than their forefathers. The prevailing 
vice is the habit of intoxication; which is fometimes car¬ 
ried to fuch excefs, that the men render themfelves unfit 
for labour at an early hour of the day. Theirhabits, how¬ 
ever, are ftriCtly.religious ; and it is edifying to fee the 
punctuality with which both fexes repair to church on 
Sunday from a great diftance. The pallor, as he is called, 
being neceffarily educated at Copenhagen, is a man of 
fome information, and of very conliderable confequence 
among his humble hearers. The traveller who is fond of 
delicate provifion, whether bread, beer, or butcher’s meat, 
will find in this region very little to pleafe his appetite.; 
but eggs are good and plentiful, and river-fifh is iikewife 
at command : milk is excellent; but the poultry are fmall 
in fize and deficient in •quantity. The beds are bad, and 
as full of bugs as thofe of Paris : no blankets are ufed in 
this country, the body being covered at night with lack¬ 
ing fluffed with feathers.” Voyage dans k Nord <le l'Europe, 
X%OJ. 
MIOUTOLON', a fmall ifland in the Indian Sea, near 
-the coaft of Africa. Lat. 7. 35. E. 
mi Parity, adj. in heraldry, parted per pale half-way- 
down, and there croffed by fome other mode of partition. 
MIPH'KAD, [Hebrew.] The uame of one of the gates 
of Jerufalem. 
■MIPROVAT'Z, a town of Bulgaria; the fee of a Greek 
archbifhop : fifty-two miles north-weft of Sophia. 
MIQ'iJELETS, /! [French.] Banditti that infeft the 
Pyrenean mountains, and are extremely obnoxious to 
travellers. They are armed with piftols in their waift- 
belts, an arquebufe, and a dagger at their fide. Thefe men 
are frequently employed by the Spaniards in time of war; 
-2 - hut 
