Character Sketches of Romance Volume Iii Part 10

=Melo= (_Juan de_), born at Castile in the fifteenth century. A dispute having arisen at Esalo'na upon the question whether Achilles or Hector were the braver warrior, the Marquis de Ville'na called out, "Let us see if the advocates of Achilles can fight as well as prate." At the word, there appeared in the a.s.sembly a gigantic fire-breathing monster, which repeated the same challenge. Every one shrank back except Juan de Melo, who drew his sword and placed himself before King Juan II. to protect him, "tide life, tide death." The king appointed him alcayde of Alcala la Real, in Grana'da, for his loyalty.--_Chronica de Don Alvaro de Luna._

=Melrose= (_Violet_), an heiress, who marries Charles Middlewick. This was against the consent of his father, because Violet had the bad taste to snub the retired tradesman, and considered vulgarity as the "unpardonable sin."

_Mary Melrose_, Violet's cousin, but without a penny. She marries Talbot Champneys; but his father, Sir Geoffrey, wanted him to marry Violet, the heiress.--H. J. Byron, _Our Boys_ (a comedy, 1875).

=Melusi'na=, the most famous of the _fees_ of France. Having enclosed her father in a mountain for offending her mother, she was condemned to become a serpent every Sat.u.r.day. When she married the count of Lusignan, she made her husband vow never to visit her on that day, but the jealousy of the count made him break his vow. Melusina was, in consequence, obliged to leave her mortal husband, and roam about the world as a ghost till the day of doom. Some say the count immured her in the dungeon wall of his castle.--_Jean d'Arras_ (fourteenth century).

? The cry of despair given by the _fee_ when she discovered the indiscreet visit of her husband, is the origin of the phrase, _Un cri de Melusine_ ("A shriek of despair").

=Melvil= (_Sir John_), a young baronet, engaged to be married to Miss Sterling, the elder daughter of a City merchant, who promises to settle on her 800,000. A little before the marriage, Sir John finds that he has no regard for Miss Sterling, but a great love for her younger sister, f.a.n.n.y, to whom he makes a proposal of marriage. His proposal is rejected; and it is soon brought to light that Miss f.a.n.n.y had been clandestinely married to Lovewell for four months.--Colman and Garrick, _The Clandestine Marriage_ (1766).

=Melville= (_Major_), a magistrate at Cairnvreckan village.--Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time, George II.).

_Melville_ (_Sir Robert_), one of the emba.s.sy from the privy council to Mary queen of Scots.--Sir W. Scott, _The Abbot_ (time, Elizabeth).

_Melville_, the father of Constantia.--C. Macklin, _The Man of the World_ (1764).

_Melville_ (_Julia_), a truly n.o.ble girl, in love with Faulkland, who is always jealous of her without a shadow of cause. She receives his innuendos without resentment, and treats him with sincerity and forbearance (see act i. 2).--Sheridan, _The Rivals_ (1775).

=Melyhalt= (_The Lady_), a powerful subject of King Arthur, whose domains Sir Galiot invaded; notwithstanding which the lady chose Sir Galiot as her fancy knight and chevalier.

=Memnon=, king of the Ethiopians. He went to the a.s.sistance of his uncle, Priam, and was slain by Achilles. His mother, Eos, inconsolable at his death, weeps for him every morning, and her tears const.i.tute what we call dew.

_Memnon_, the black statue of King Amen'ophis III., at Thebes, in Egypt, which, being struck with the rays of the morning sun, gives out musical sounds. Kircher says these sounds are due to a sort of clavecin or aeolian harp enclosed in the statue, the cords of which are acted upon by the warmth of the sun. Cambyses, resolved to learn the secret, cleft the statue from head to waist; but it continued to utter its morning melody notwithstanding.

_Memnon_, "the mad lover," general of As'torax, king of Paphos.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Mad Lover_ (1617).

_Memnon_, the t.i.tle of a novel by Voltaire, the object of which is to show the folly of aspiring to too much wisdom.

=Memnon's Sister.= He'mera, mentioned by Dictys Cretensis.

Black, but such as in esteem Prince Memnon's sister might beseem.

Milton, _Il Penseroso_ (1638).

=Memorable= (_The Ever-_), John Hales, of Eton (1584-1656).

=Memory.= The persons most noted for their memory are:

Magliabecchi, of Florence, called "The Universal Index and Living Cyclopaedia" (1633-1714).

P. J. Beronicius, the Greek and Latin improvisator, who knew by heart Horace, Virgil, Cicero, Juvenal, both the Plinys, Homer, and Aristophanes. He died at Middleburgh, in 1676.

Andrew Fuller, after hearing 500 lines twice, could repeat them without a mistake. He could also repeat verbatim a sermon or speech; could tell either backwards or forwards every shop sign from the Temple to the extreme end of Cheapside, and the articles displayed in each of the shops.

"Memory" Woodfall could carry in his head a debate, and repeat it a fortnight afterwards.

"Memory" Thompson could repeat the names, trades, and particulars of every shop from Ludgate Hill to Piccadilly.

William Ratcliff, the husband of the novelist, could repeat a debate the next morning.

_Memory_ (_The Bard of_), Samuel Rogers, author of the _Pleasures of Memory_ (1762-1855).

=Men of Prester John's Country.= Prester John, in his letter to Manuel Comnenus, says his land is the home of men with horns; of one-eyed men (the eye being in some cases before the head, and in some cases behind it); of giants, forty ells in height (_i.e._ 120 feet); of the phnix, etc.; and of ghouls who feed on premature children. He gives the names of fifteen different tributary states, amongst which are those of Gog and Magog (now shut in behind lofty mountains); but at the end of the world these fifteen states will overrun the whole earth.

=Menalcas=, any shepherd or rustic. The name occurs in the _Idylls_ of Theoc'ritos, the _Eclogues_ of Virgil, and the _Shepheardes Calendar_ of Spenser.

=Men'cia of Mosquera= (_Donna_) married Don Alvaro de Mello. A few days after the marriage, Alvaro happened to quarrel with Don An'drea de Baesa and kill him. He was obliged to flee from Spain, leaving his bride behind, and his property was confiscated. For seven years she received no intelligence of his whereabouts (for he was a slave most of the time), but when seven years had elapsed the report of his death in Fez reached her. The young widow now married the marquis of Guardia, who lived in a grand castle near Burgos, but walking in the grounds one morning she was struck with the earnestness with which one of the under-gardeners looked at her. This man proved to be her first husband, Don Alvaro, with whom she now fled from the castle; but on the road a gang of robbers fell upon them. Alvaro was killed, and the lady taken to the robbers' cave, where Gil Blas saw her and heard her sad tale. The lady was soon released, and sent to the castle of the marquis of Guardia. She found the marquis dying from grief, and indeed he died the day following, and Mencia retired to a convent.--Lesage, _Gil Blas_, i.

11-14 (1715).

=Mendo'za=, a Jew prize-fighter, who held the belt at the close of the last century, and in 1791 opened the Lyceum in the Strand, to teach "the n.o.ble art of self-defence."

I would have dealt the fellow that abused you such a recompense in the fifth b.u.t.ton, that my friend Mendoza could not have placed it better.--R. c.u.mberland, _Shiva, the Jew_, iv. 2 (1776).

There is a print often seen in old picture shops, of Humphreys and Mendoza sparring, and a queer angular exhibition it is. What that is to the modern art of boxing, Quick's style of acting was to Dowton's.--_Records of a Stage Veteran._

_Mendoza_ (_Isaac_), a rich Jew, who thinks himself monstrously wise, but is duped by every one. (See under ISAAC.)--Sheridan, _The Duenna_ (1775).

=Menech'mians=, persons exactly like each other, as the brothers Dromio.

So called from the Mencchmi of Plautus.

=Menec'rates= (4 _syl._), a physician of Syracuse, of unbounded vanity and arrogance. He a.s.sumed to himself the t.i.tle of Jupiter, and in a letter to Philip, king of Macedon, began thus: "Menecrates Jupiter to King Philip, greeting." Being asked by Philip to a banquet, the physician was served only with frankincense, like the G.o.ds; but Menecrates was greatly offended, and hurried home.

=Mengs= (_John_), the surly innkeeper at Kirchhoff village.--Sir W. Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).

=Menippee= (_Satyre_), a famous political satire, written during the time of what is called in French History the Holy League, the objects of which were to exterminate the Huguenots, to confine the king (Henri III.) in a monastery, and to crown the duc de Guise. The satire is partly in verse, and partly in prose, and its object is to expose the perfidious intentions of Philip of Spain and the culpable ambition of the Guises.

It is divided into two parts, the first of which is ent.i.tled _Catholicon d'Espagne_, by Pierre Leroy (1593), exposing those who had been corrupted by the gold of Spain; the second part is ent.i.tled _Abrege des Etats de la Ligue_, by Gillot, Pithou, Rapin and Pa.s.serat, published 1594.

? Menippus was a cynic philosopher and poet of Gadara, in Phnicia, who wrote twelve books of satires in prose and verse.