Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama Part 15

=Mi'lan= (_The duke of_), an Italian prince, an ally of the Lancastrians.--Sir W. Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).

=Milan Decree=, a decree of Napoleon Bonaparte, dated Milan, December 27, 1807, declaring "the whole British empire to be in a state of blockade, and prohibiting all countries from trading with Great Britain, or using any article made therein."

? As Britain was the best customer of the very nations forbidden to deal with her, this very absurd decree was a two-edged sword, cutting both ways.

=Mildred=, the bride, "fresh and fair as May," whom Philip, the pastor, installs as _Mistress of the Manse_, in Josiah Gilbert Holland's poem of that name (1874).

=Mildmay= (_Frank_), hero of sea-story bearing his name.--Frederick Marryatt.

=Mile'sian Fables= (_Milesiae Fabulae_), very wanton and ludicrous tales.

Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton (Lord Lytton) published six of the _Lost Tales of Miletus_ in rhymeless verse. He pretends he borrowed them from the scattered remnants preserved by Apollodo'rus and Conon, contained in the pages of Pausa'nias and Athenaeus, or dispersed throughout the Scholiasts. The Milesian tales were, for the most part, in prose; but Ovid tells us that Aristi'des rendered some of them into verse, and Sisenna into Latin.

Junxit Aristides Milesia carmina sec.u.m Pulsus Aristides nec tamen urba sua est.

The original tales by Antonius Diog'enes are described by Photius. It appears that they were great favorites with the luxurious Sybarites. A compilation was made by Aristides, by whom (according to Ovid) some were versified also. The Latin translation by Sisenna was made about the time of the civil wars of Ma'rius and Sylla. Parthen'ius Nice'nus, who taught Virgil Greek, borrowed thirty-six of the tales, which he dedicated to Cornelius Gallus, and ent.i.tled _Erotikon Pathematon_ ("love stories").

_Milesia Crimina_, amatory offences. Venus was worshipped at Miletus, and hence the loose amatory tales of Antonius Diogenes were ent.i.tled _Milesiae Fabulae_.

=Mile'sians=, the "ancient" Irish. The legend is that Ireland was once peopled by the Fir-bolg or Belgae from Britain, who were subdued by Milesians from Asia Minor, called the Gaels of Ireland.

=Miles= (_Throckmorton_), harum-scarum, brave, indiscreet, over-generous hero of Constance Cary Harrison's story, _Flower de Hundred_ (1890).

=Milford= (_Colonel_), a friend of Sir Geoffrey Peveril.--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

_Milford_ (_Jack_), a natural son of Widow Warren's late husband. He was the crony of Harry Dornton, with whom he ran "the road to ruin." Jack had a fortune left him, but he soon scattered it by his extravagant living, and was imprisoned for debt. Harry then promised to marry Widow Warren if she would advance him 6,000 to pay off his friend's debts with. When Harry's father heard of this bargain, he was so moved that he advanced the money himself; and Harry, being set free from his bargain, married the widow's daughter instead of the widow. Thus all were rescued from "the road to ruin."--Holcroft, _The Road to Ruin_ (1792).

=Milinowski=, a portly, imposing American widow, who, after twenty years spent under the marital rule of a Prussian army officer, "takes kindly to the prose of life." She is the exemplary and not unkindly chaperone of _Miss Caroline Lester_, heroine of Charlotte Dunning's book _Upon a Cast_ (1885).

=Milk-Pail= (_The_), which was to gain a fortune, (See PERRETTE.)

=Millamant=, the _pretendue_ of Edward Mirabell. She is a most brilliant girl, who says she "loves to give pain, because cruelty is a proof of power; and when one parts with one's cruelty, one parts with one's power." Millamant is far gone in poetry, and her heart is not in her own keeping. Sir Wilful Witwould makes love to her, but she detests "the superannuated lubber."--W. Congreve, _The Way of the World_ (1700).

=Miller= (_James_), the "tiger" of the Hon. Mr. Flammer. James was brought up in the stable, educated on the turf and _pave_, polished and completed in the fives-court. He was engaged to Mary Chintz, the maid of Miss Bloomfield.--C. Selby, _The Unfinished Gentleman_.

_Miller_, (_Joe_), James Ballantyne, author of _Old Joe Miller, by the Editor of New J. M._, three vols. (1801).

? Mottley compiled a jest-book in the reign of James II., ent.i.tled _Joe Miller's Jests_. The phrase, "That's a Joe Miller," means "that's a jest from Mottley's book."

_Miller_ (_Maximilian Christopher_), the Saxon giant; height eight feet.

His hand measured a foot; his second finger was nine inches long; his head unusually large. He wore a rich Hungarian jacket and a huge plumed cap. This giant was exhibited in London in the year 1733. He died aged 60; was born at Leipsic (1674-1734).

=Miller= (_Draxy_), bonny daughter of a thriftless, honest man, whose energy in the effort to recover some hundreds of acres of woodland deeded to her in jest, and supposed to be unprofitable, leads to comfort for her father, and a happy marriage for herself.--_Saxe Holm Stories_ (1886).

=Miller of Mansfield= (_The_), John c.o.c.kle, a miller and keeper of Sherwood Forest. Hearing the report of a gun, John c.o.c.kle went into the forest at night to find poachers, and came upon the king (Henry VIII.), who had been hunting, and had got separated from his courtiers. The miller collared him; but, being told he was a wayfarer, who had lost himself in the forest, he took him home with him for the night. Next day, the courtiers were brought to the same house, having been seized as poachers by the under-keepers. It was then discovered that the miller's guest was the king, who knighted the miller, and settled on him 1000 marks a year.--R. Dodsley, _The King and the Miller of Mansfield_ (1737).

=Miller of Trompington= (_The_), Simon Simkin, an arrant thief. Two scholars undertook to see that a sack of corn was ground for "Solar Hill College," without being tampered with; so one stood at the hopper, and the other at the trough below. In the mean time, Simon Simkin let loose the scholars' horse; and while they went to catch it, he purloined half a bushel of the flour, which was made into cakes, and subst.i.tuted meal in its stead. But the young men had their revenge; they not only made off with the flour, meal, and cakes without payment, but left the miller well trounced also.--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ ("The Reeve's Tale,"

1388).

A trick something like that played off on the Miller of Trompington.--_Review of Kirkton_, xix. 253.

=Miller on the Dee.= "There was a Jolly Miller once lived on the River Dee," is a song by Isaac Bickerstaff, introduced in _Love in a Village_, i. 1 (1763).

=Mills= (_Miss_), the bosom friend of Dora. Supposed to have been blighted in early life in some love affair, and hence she looks on the happiness of others with a calm, supercilious benignity, and talks of herself as being "in the desert of Sahara."--C. d.i.c.kens, _David Copperfield_ (1849).

=Millwood= (_Sarah_), the courtezan who enticed George Barnwell to rob his master and murder his uncle. Sarah Millwood spent all the money that George Barnwell obtained by these crimes, then turned him out of doors, and informed against him. Both were hanged.--George Lillo, _George Barnwell_ (1732).

=Milly=, the wife of William Swidger. She is the good angel of the tale.--C. d.i.c.kens, _The Haunted Man_ (1848).

=Milo=, an athlete of Croto'na, noted for his amazing strength. He could carry on his shoulders a four-year-old heifer. When old, Milo attempted to tear in twain an oak tree, but the parts, closing on his hands, held him fast, till he was devoured by wolves.

_Milo_ (_The English_), Thomas Topham, of London (1710-1752).

=Milton=, introduced by Sir Walter Scott in _Woodstock_ (time, Commonwealth).

=Milton of Germany=, Frederick Gottlieb Klopstock, author of _The Messiah_, an epic poem (1724-1803).

A very German Milton indeed.

Coleridge.

=Milton's Monument=, in Westminster Abbey, was by Rysbrack.

=Milvey= (_The Rev. Frank_), a "young man expensively educated and wretchedly paid, with quite a young wife and half a dozen young children. He was under the necessity of teaching ... to eke out his scanty means, yet was generally expected to have more time to spare than the idlest person in the parish, and more money than the richest."

_Mrs. Milvey_ (_Margaretta_), a pretty, bright little woman, emphatic and impulsive, but "something worn by anxiety. She had repressed many pretty tastes and bright fancies, and subst.i.tuted instead schools, soup, flannel, coals, and all the week-day cares and Sunday coughs of a large population, young and old."--C. d.i.c.kens, _Our Mutual Friend_ (1864).