Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama Part 1

Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama.

by E. Cobham Brewer.

=Mark Tapley=, a serving companion of Martin Chuzzlewit, who goes out with him to Eden, in North America. Mark Tapley thinks there is no credit in being jolly in easy circ.u.mstances; but when in Eden he found every discomfort, lost all his money, was swindled by every one, and was almost killed by fevers, then indeed he felt it would be a real credit "to be jolly under the circ.u.mstances."--C. d.i.c.kens, _Martin Chuzzlewit_ (1843).

=Markham=, a gentleman in the train of the earl of Suss.e.x.--Sir W. Scott, _Kenilworth_ (time, Elizabeth).

_Markham_ (_Mrs._), pseudonym of Mrs. Elizabeth Perrose[TN-1] (born Elizabeth Cartwright), auth.o.r.ess of _History of England_, etc.

=Markleham= (_Mrs._), the mother of Annie. Devoted to pleasure, she always maintained that she indulged in it for "Annie's sake." Mrs. Markleham is generally referred to as "the old soldier."--C. d.i.c.kens, _David Copperfield_ (1849).

=Marksman=, one of Fortunio's seven attendants. He saw so clearly and to such a distance, that he generally bandaged his eyes in order to temper the great keenness of his sight.--Comtesse D'Aunoy, _Fairy Tales_ ("Fortunio," 1682).

=Marlborough= (_The duke of_), John Churchill. He was called by Marshal Turenne _Le Bel Anglais_ (1650-1722).

=Marlow= (_Sir Charles_), the kind-hearted old friend of Squire Hardcastle.

_Young Marlow_, son of Sir Charles. "Among women of reputation and virtue he is the modestest man alive; but his acquaintances give him a very different character among women of another stamp" (act i. 1).

Having mistaken Hardcastle's house for an inn, and Miss Hardcastle for the barmaid, he is quite at his ease, and makes love freely. When fairly caught, he discovers that the supposed "inn" is a private house, and the supposed barmaid is the squire's daughter; but the ice of his shyness being broken, he has no longer any difficulty in loving according to his station.--Goldsmith, _She Stoops to Conquer_ (1773).

When Goldsmith was between 16 and 17 he set out for Edgworthstown, and finding night coming on, asked a man which was the "best house" in the town--meaning the best inn. The man pointed to the house of Sir Ralph Fetherstone (or _Mr. Fetherstone_), and Oliver, entering the parlor, found the master of the mansion sitting at a good fire. Oliver told him he desired to pa.s.s the night there, and ordered him to bring in supper.

"Sir Ralph" knowing his customer, humored the joke, which Oliver did not discover till next day, when he called for his bill. (We are told in _Notes and Queries_ that Ralph Fetherstone was only _Mr._, but his grandson was _Sir Thomas_).

=Marmaduke Wharne.= Eccentric old Englishman long resident in America.

Benevolent and beneficent, but gruff in manner and speech.--A. D. T.

Whitney, _Leslie Goldthwaite's Summer_ (1866).

=Marmaduke= (_Sir_). A man who has lost all earth can give--wealth, love, fame and friends, but thus comforts himself:

"I account it worth All pangs of fair hopes crossed,-- All loves and honors lost,-- To gain the heavens, at cost Of losing earth."

Theodore Tilton, _Sir Marmaduke's Musings_ (1867).

=Marmion.= Lord Marmion was betrothed to Constance de Beverley, but he jilted her for Lady Clare, an heiress, who was in love with Ralph de Wilton. The Lady Clare rejected Lord Marmion's suit, and took refuge from him in the convent of St. Hilda, in Whitby. Constance took the veil in the convent of St. Cuthbert, in Holy Isle, but after a time left the convent clandestinely, was captured, taken back, and buried alive in the walls of a deep cell. In the mean time, Lord Marmion, being sent by Henry VIII. on an emba.s.sy to James IV. of Scotland, stopped at the hall of Sir Hugh de Heron, who sent a palmer as his guide. On his return, Lord Marmion commanded the abbess of St. Hilda to release the Lady Clare, and place her under the charge of her kinsman, Fitzclare of Tantallon Hall. Here she met the palmer, who was Ralph de Wilton, and as Lord Marmion was slain in the battle of Flodden Field, she was free to marry the man she loved.--Sir W. Scott, _Marmion_ (1808).

_Marmion_ (_Lord_), a descendant of Robert de Marmion, who obtained from William the Conqueror, the manor of Scrivelby, in Lincolnshire. This Robert de Marmion was the first royal champion of England, and the office remained in the family till the reign of Edward I., when in default of male issue it pa.s.sed to John Dymoke, son-in-law of Philip Marmion, in whose family it remains still.

=Marnally= (_Bernard_). Good-looking Irish tutor at "Happy-go-Lucky," a country house. He is accused of murdering the infant children of a young widow with whom he is in love, but is acquitted and goes back to Ireland. Some years later, he revisits America, meets his old love and marries her.--Miriam Coles Harris, _Happy-go-Lucky_ (1881).

=Marner= (_Silas_). Miser and misogynist in humble life, who finds a baby-girl in his cottage one night, and in bringing her up, learns to have patience with life and charity with his kind.--George Eliot, _Silas Marner_.

=Ma'ro=, Virgil, whose full name was Publius Virgilius Maro (B.C. 70-19).

Oh, were it mine with the sacred Maro's art To wake to sympathy the feeling heart, Like him the smooth and mournful verse to dress In all the pomp of exquisite distress ...

Then might I ...

Falconer, _The Shipwreck_, iii. 5 (1756).

=Mar'onites= (3 _syl._), a religious semi-Catholic sect of Syria, constantly at war with their near neighbors, the Druses, a semi-Mohammedan sect. Both are now tributaries of the sultan, but enjoy their own laws. The Maronites number about 400,000, and the Druses about half that number. The Maronites owe their name to J. Maron, their founder; the Druses to Durzi, who led them out of Egypt into Syria. The patriarch of the Maronites resides at Kan.o.bin; the hakem of the Druses at Deir-el-kamar. The Maronites, or "Catholics of Lebanon," differ from the Roman Catholics in several points, and have a pope or patriarch of their own. In 1860 the Druses made on them a horrible onslaught, which called forth the intervention of Europe.

=Marotte= (2 _syl._), a footman of Gorgibus; a plain bourgeois, who hates affectation. When the fine ladies of the house try to convert him into a fashionable flunky, and teach him a little grandiloquence, he bluntly tells them he does not understand Latin.

_Marotte._ Voila un laquais qui demande si vous etes au logis, et dit que son maitre, vous venir voir.

_Madelon._ Apprenez, sotte, a vous enoncer moins vulgaiment. Dites: Voila un necessaire que demande si vous etes en commodite d'etre visibles.

_Marotte._ Je n'entends point le Latin.--Moliere, _Les Precieuses Ridicules_, vii. (1659).

=Marphi'sa=, sister of Roge'ro, and a female knight of amazing prowess.

She was brought up by a magician, but being stolen at the age of seven, was sold to the king of Persia. When she was 18, her royal master a.s.sailed her honor; but she slew him, and usurped the crown. Marphisa went to Gaul to join the army of Agramant, but subsequently entered the camp of Charlemagne, and was baptized.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).

=Marphu'rius=, a doctor of the Pyrrhonian school. Sganarelle consults him about his marriage; but the philosopher replies, "Perhaps; it is possible; it may be so; everything is doubtful;" till at last Sganarelle beats him, and Marphurius says he shall bring an action against him for battery. "Perhaps," replies Sganarelle; "it is possible; it may be so,"

etc., using the very words of the philosopher (sc. ix.).--Moliere, _Le Mariage Force_ (1664).

=Marplot=, "the busy body." A blundering, good-natured, meddlesome young man, very inquisitive, too officious by half, and always bungling whatever he interferes in. Marplot is introduced by Mrs. Centlivre in two comedies, _The Busy Body_ and _Marplot in Lisbon_.

That unlucky dog Marplot ... is ever doing mischief, and yet (to give him his due) he never designs it. This is some blundering adventure, wherein he thought to show his friendship, as he calls it.--Mrs. Centlivre, _The Busy Body_, iii. 5 (1709).

? This was Henry Woodward's great part (1717-1777). His unappeasable curiosity, his slow comprehension, his annihilation under the sense of his dilemmas, were so diverting, that even Garrick confessed him the decided "Marplot" of the stage.--Boaden, _Life of Siddons_.

N. B.--William Cavendish, duke of Newcastle, brought out a free tranlation[TN-2] of Moliere's _L'Etourdi_, which he ent.i.tled _Marplot_.

=Marquis de Basqueville=, being one night at the opera, was told by a messenger that his mansion was on fire. "Eh bien," he said to the messenger, "adressez-vous a Mme. la marquise qui est en face dans cette loge; car c'est affaire de menage."--Chapus, _Dieppe et ses Environs_ (1853).

=Marrall= (_Jack_), a mean-spirited, revengeful time-server. He is the clerk and tool of Sir Giles Overreach. When Marrall thinks Wellborn penniless, he treats him like a dog; but as soon as he fancies he is about to marry the wealthy dowager, Lady Allworth, he is most servile, and offers to lend him money. Marrall now plays the traitor to his master, Sir Giles, and reveals to Wellborn the scurvy tricks by which he has been cheated of his estates. When, however, he asks Wellborn to take him into his service, Wellborn replies, "He who is false to one master will betray another;" and will have nothing to say to him.--Ma.s.singer, _A New Way to Pay Old Debts_ (1628).

=Married Men of Genius.= The number of men of genius unhappy in their wives is very large. The following are notorious examples:--Socrates and Xantippe; Saadi, the Persian poet; Dante and Gemma Donati; Milton, with Mary Powell; Marlborough and Sarah Jennings; Gustavus Adolphus and his flighty queen; Byron and Miss Milbanke; d.i.c.kens and Miss Hogarth; etc.

Every reader will be able to add to the list.