Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama | Page 7

Queen of Scots= was confined first at Carlisle; she was removed in 1568 to Bolton; in 1569 she was confined at Tutbury, Wingfield, Tutbury, Ashby-de-la-Zouche, and Coventry; in 1570 she was removed to Tutbury, Chatsworth, and Sheffield; in 1577 to Chatsworth; in 1578 to Sheffield; in 1584 to Wingfield; in 1585 to Tutbury, Chartley, Tixhall, and Chartley; in 1586 (September 25) to Fotheringay.
[Asterism] She is introduced by Sir W. Scott, in his novel entitled The Abbot.
Schiller has taken Mary Stuart for the subject of his best tragedy, and P. Lebrun brought out in France a French version thereof (1729-1807).
Mary queen of Scots. The most elegant and poetical compliment ever paid to woman was paid to Mary queen of Scots, by Shakespeare, in Midsummer Night's Dream. Remember, the mermaid is "Queen Mary;" the dolphin means the "dauphin of France," whom Mary married; the rude sea means the "Scotch rebels;" and the stars that shot from their spheres means "the princes who sprang from their allegiance to Queen Elizabeth."
Thou remember'st Since once I sat upon a promontory, And heard a mermaid, on a dolphin's back, Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath, That the rude sea grew civil at her song; And certain stars shot madly from their spheres, To hear the sea-maid's music.
Act ii. sc. 1 (1592).
These "stars" were the earl of Northumberland, the earl of Westmoreland, and the duke of Norfolk.
=Mary, the Maid of the Inn=, the delight and sunshine of the parish, about to be married to Richard, an idle, worthless fellow. One autumn night, two guests were drinking at the inn, and one remarked he should not much like to go to the abbey on such a night. "I'll wager that Mary will go," said the other, and the bet was accepted. Mary went, and, hearing footsteps, stepped into a place of concealment, when presently passed her two young men carrying a young woman they had just murdered. The hat of one blew off, and fell at Mary's feet. She picked it up, and flew to the inn, told her story, and then, producing the hat, found it was Richard's. Her senses gave way, and she became a confirmed maniac for life.--R. Southey, Mary, the Maid of the Inn (from Dr. Plot's History of Staffordshire, 1686).
=Mary Pyncheon.= (See PYNCHEON.)
=Mary Woodcock.= (See WOODCOCK.)
=Mar′zavan=, foster-brother of the Princess Badou′ra.--Arabian Nights ("Camaralzaman and Badoura").
=Masaniello=, a corruption of [Tom]maso Aniello, a Neapolitan fisherman, who headed an insurrection in 1647 against the duke of Arcos; and he resolved to kill the duke's son for having seduced Fenella, his sister, who was deaf and dumb. The insurrection succeeded, and Masaniello was elected by his rabble "chief magistrate of Portici;" but he became intoxicated with his greatness, so the mob shot him, and flung his dead body into a ditch. Next day, however, it was taken out and interred with much ceremony and pomp. When Fenella heard of her brother's death, she threw herself into the crater of Vesuvius.
[Asterism] Auber has an opera on the subject (1831), the libretto by Scribe. Caraffa had chosen the same subject for an opera previously.
=Mascarille= (3 syl.), the valet of La Grange. In order to reform two silly, romantic girls, La Grange and Du Croisy introduce to them their valets, as the "marquis of Mascarille" and the "viscount of Jodelet." The girls are taken with their "aristocratic visitors;" but when the game has gone far enough, the masters enter and unmask the trick. By this means the girls are taught a most useful lesson, and are saved from any serious ill consequences.--Molière, Les Précieuses Ridicules (1659).
[Asterism] Molière had already introduced the same name in two other of his comedies, L'Etourdi (1653) and Le Dépit Amoureux (1654).
=Masetto=, a rustic engaged to Zerl[=i]na; but Don Giovanni intervenes before the wedding, and deludes the foolish girl into believing that he means to make her a great lady and his wife.--Mozart, Don Giovanni (libretto by L. da Ponte, 1787).
=Mask′well=, the "double dealer." He pretends to love Lady Touchwood, but it is only to make her a tool for breaking the attachment between Mellefont (2 syl.) and Cynthia. Maskwell pretends friendship for Mellefont merely to throw dust in his eyes respecting his designs to carry off Cynthia, to whom Mellefont is betrothed. Cunning and hypocrisy are Maskwell's substitutes for wisdom and honesty.--W. Congreve, The Double Dealer (1700).
=Massasowat.= The account given by Edward Winslow of the illness of Massasowat--the friendly Indian chief whose alliance with the pilgrim father ceased only with his life--is a curious contribution to colonial literature. The remedies and diet used by Winslow are so extraordinary as to give unintentional point to his remark--"We, with admiration, blessed GOD for giving his blessing to such rare and ignorant means."--Edward Winslow, Good News from New England (1624).
=Mason= (William). The medallion to this poet in Westminster