Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama | Page 8

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 Abbey
was by Bacon.
Mason (Lady). She forges a will purporting to be by her husband,
securing his estate to herself and her son. Nobody suspects the fraud for
years. When inquiry arises, Lady Mason is engaged to a gallant old
baronet who will not credit her guilt until, conscience-smitten, she
throws herself at his feet and acknowledges all.
Lucius Mason. The priggish, good-looking youth for whom Lady

Mason risks so much. When he learns the truth he is stern in his
judgment of the unhappy woman.--Anthony Trollope, Orley Farm.
=Master= (The). Goethe is called Der Meister (1749-1832).
I beseech you, Mr. Tickler, not to be so sarcastic on "The
Master."--Noctes Ambrosiana.
Master (The Old). Mythical personage, whose breakfast-table
monologues are among the most charming that enliven the pages of
Oliver Wendell Holmes's Poet at the Breakfast Table. "I think he
suspects himself of a three-story intellect, and I don't feel sure that he
isn't right."
=Master Adam=, Adam Billaut, the French poet (1602-1662).
=Master Humphrey=, the narrator of the story called "The Old
Curiosity Shop."--C. Dickens, Master Humphrey's Clock (1840).
=Master Leonard=, grand-master of the nocturnal orgies of the demons.
He presided at these meetings in the form of a three-horned goat with a
black human face.--Middle Age Demonology.
=Master, like Man= (Like).
Such mistress, such Nan; Such master, such man.
Tusser, xxxviii. 22.
Again:
Such master, such man; and such mistress, such maid; Such husband
and huswife; such houses arraid.
T. Tusser, Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, xxxix. 22 (1557).
=Master Matthew=, a town gull.--Ben Jonson, Every Man in His
Humor (1598).

=Master Stephen=, a country gull of melancholy humor. (See
MASTER MATTHEW).--Ben Jonson, Every Man in His Humor
(1598).
=Master of Sentences=, Pierre Lombard, author of a book called
Sentences (1100-1164).
=Masters= (Doctor), physician to Queen Elizabeth.--Sir W. Scott,
Kenilworth (time, Elizabeth).
Masters (The Four): (1) Michael O'Clerighe (or Clery), who died 1643;
(2) Cucoirighe O'Clerighe; (3) Maurice Conry; (4) Fearfeafa Conry;
authors of Annals of Donegal.
=Mat Mizen=, mate of H.M. ship Tiger. The type of a daring, reckless,
dare-devil English sailor. His adventures with Harry Clifton, in Delhi,
form the main incidents of Barrymore's melodrama, El Hyder, Chief of
the Ghaut Mountains.
=Mat-o'-the Mint=, a highwayman in Captain Macheath's gang.
Peachum says, "He is a promising, sturdy fellow, and diligent in his
way. Somewhat too bold and hasty; one that may raise good
contributions on the public if he does not cut himself short by
murder."--Gay, The Beggar's Opera, i. (1727).
=Matabrune= (3 syl.), wife of King Pierron of the Strong Island, and
mother of Prince Oriant, one of the ancestors of Godfrey of
Bouillon.--Mediæval Romance of Chivalry.
=Mathematical Calculators.=
George Parkes Bidder, president of the Institution of Civil Engineers
(1800- ).
Jedediah Buxton, of Elmeton, in Derbyshire. He would tell how many
letters were in any one of his father's sermons, after hearing it from the
pulpit. He went to hear Garrick, in Richard III., and told how many
words each actor uttered (1705-1775).

Zerah Colburn, of Vermont, U. S., came to London in 1812, when he
was eight years old. The duke of Gloucester set him to multiply five
figures by three, and he gave the answer instantly. He would extract the
cube root of nine figures in a few seconds (1804- ).
Vito Mangiamele, son of a Sicilian shepherd. In 1839 MM. Arago,
Lacroix, Libri, and Sturm examined the boy, then 11 years old, and in
half a minute he told them the cube root of seven figures, and in three
seconds of nine figures (1818- ).
Alfragan, the Arabian astronomer (died 820).
=Mathilde= (2 syl.), heroine of a tale so called by Sophie Ristaud,
Dame Cottin (1773-1807).
Mathilde (3 syl.),