Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama | Page 5

de Lascours, and sister of Diana de Lascours. When the crew of the Urania rebelled, Martha, with Ralph de Lascours (the captain), Louise de Lascours, and Barabas, were put adrift in a boat, and cast on an iceberg in "the Frozen Sea." The iceberg broke, Ralph and Louise were drowned, Barabas was picked up by a vessel, and Martha fell into the hands of an Indian tribe, who gave her the name of Orgari′ta ("withered corn"). She married Carlos, but as he married under a false name, the marriage was illegal, and when Carlos was given up to the hands of justice, Orgarita was placed under the charge of her grandmother, Mde. de Théringe, and [probably] espoused Horace de Brienne.--E. Stirling, The Orphan of the Frozen Sea (1856).
Martha, a friend of Margaret. She makes love to Mephistophelês, with great worldly shrewdness.--Goethe, Faust (1798).
Martha, alias ULRICA, mother of Bertha, who is betrothed to Hereward and marries him.--Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).
Martha (The Abbess), abbess of Elcho Nunnery. She is a kinswoman of the Glover family.--Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
Martha (Dame), housekeeper to major Bridgenorth.--Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
=Martha Hilton=, serving-maid in the household of the widowed Governor Wentworth, until, on his sixtieth birthday, he surprised the guests assembled to do him honor by wedding her in their sight.--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Lady Wentworth.
=Marthé=, a young orphan, in love with Frédéric Auvray, a young artist who loves her in return, but leaves her, goes to Rome, and falls in love with another lady, Elena, sister of the Duke Strozzi. Marthé leaves the Swiss pastor, who is her guardian, and travels in midwinter to Rome, dressed as a boy, and under the name of Piccolino. She tells her tale to Elena, who abandons the fickle, false one, and Frédéric forbids the Swiss wanderer ever again to approach him. Marthé, in despair, throws herself into the Tiber, but is rescued. Frédéric repents, is reconciled, and marries the forlorn maiden.--Mons. Guiraud, Piccolino (an opera, 1875).
=Marthon=, an old cook at Arnheim Castle.--Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).
Marthon, alias RIZPAH, a Bohemian woman, attendant on the Countess Hameline of Croye.--Sir W. Scott, Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).
=Martian Laws= (not Mercian as Wharton gives it in his Law Dictionary) are the laws collected by Martia, the wife of Guithelin, great grand-son of Mulmutius, who established in Britain the "Mulmutian Laws" (q.v.). Alfred translated both these codes into Saxon-English, and called the Martian code Pa Marchitle Lage. These laws have no connection with the kingdom of Mercia.--Geoffrey, British History, iii. 13 (1142).
Guynteline, ... whose queen, ... to show her upright mind, To wise Mulmutius' laws her Martian first did frame.
Drayton, Polyolbion, viii. (1612).
=Martigny= (Marie le comptesse de), wife of the earl of Etherington.--Sir W. Scott, St. Ronan's Well (time, George III.).
=Martin=, in Swift's Tale of the Tub, is Martin Luther; "John" is Calvin; and "Peter" the pope of Rome (1704).
In Dryden's Hind and Panther, "Martin" means the Lutheran party (1687).
Martin, the old verdurer near Sir Henry Lee's lodge.--Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, Commonwealth).
Martin, the old shepherd in the service of the lady of Avenel.--Sir W. Scott, The Monastery (time, Elizabeth).
Martin, the ape in the beast-epic of Reynard the Fox (1498).
Martin (Dame), partner of Darsie Latimer at the fishers' dance.--Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).
Martin (Sarah), the prison reformer of Great Yarmouth. This young woman, though but a poor dressmaker, conceived a device for the reformation of prisoners in her native town, and continued for twenty-four years her earnest and useful labor of love, acting as schoolmistress, chaplain and industrial superintendent. In 1835, Captain Williams, inspector of prisons, brought her plans before the Government, under the conviction that the nation at large might be benefitted by their practical good sense (1791-1843).
=Martin Weldeck=, the miner. His story is read by Lovel to a picnic party at St. Ruth's ruins.--Sir W. Scott, The Antiquary (time, George III.).
=Martine= (3 syl.), wife of Sganarelle. She has a furious quarrel with her husband, who beats her, and she screams. M. Robert, a neighbor, interferes, says to Sganarelle, "Quelle infamie! Peste soit le coquin, de battre ainsi sa femme." The woman snubs him for his impertinence, and says, "Je veux qu'il me battre, moi;" and Sganarelle beats him soundly for meddling with what does not concern him.--Molière, Le Médecin Malgré Lui (1666).
=Martival= (Stephen de), a steward of the field at the tournament.--Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
=Martivalle= (Martius Galeotti), astrologer to Louis XI. of France.--Sir W. Scott, Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).
=Martyr King= (The), Henry VI., buried at Windsor beside Edward IV.
Here o'er the Martyr King [Henry VI.] the marble weeps. And fast beside him once-feared Edward [IV.] sleeps; The grave unites where e'en the grave finds rest,