Character Sketches of Romance Volume Iii Part 12

=Merle= (_Madame_), a plausible woman with an ambition to be thought the incarnation of propriety, who carries with her the knowledge that she is the mistress of a man who has a wife, and that Madame Merle's illegitimate daughter is brought up by the step-mother, who knows nothing of the shameful story.--Henry James, _The Portrait of a Lady_ (1881).

=Merlin= (_Ambrose_), prince of enchanters. His mother was Matilda, a nun, who was seduced by a "guileful sprite," or incubus, "half angel and half man, dwelling in mid-air betwixt the earth and moon." Some say his mother was the daughter of Pubidius, lord of Math-traval, in Wales; and others make her a princess, daughter of Demetius, king of Demet'ia.

Blaise baptized the infant, and thus rescued it from the powers of darkness.

Merlin died spell-bound, but the author and manner of his death are given differently by different authorities. Thus, in the _History of Prince Arthur_ (Sir T. Malory, 1470), we are told that the enchantress Nimue or Ninive inveigled the old man, and "covered him with a stone under a rock." In the _Morte d'Arthur_ it is said "he sleeps and sighs in an old tree, spell-bound by Vivien." Tennyson, in his _Idylls_ ("Vivien"), says that Vivien induced Merlin to take shelter from a storm in a hollow oak tree, and left him spell-bound. Others say he was spell-bound in a hawthorn bush, but this is evidently a blunder. (See MERLIN THE WILD.)

? Merlin made "the fountain of love," mentioned by Bojardo in _Orlando Innamorato_, l. 3.

Ariosto, in _Orlando Furioso_, says he made "one of the four fountains"

(ch. xxvi).

He also made the Round Table at Carduel for 150 knights, which came into the possession of King Arthur on his marriage with Queen Guinever; and brought from Ireland the stones of Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain.

Allusion is made to him in the _Faery Queen_; in Ellis's _Specimens of Early English Metrical Romances_; in Drayton's _Polyolbion_; in _Kenilworth_, by Sir W. Scott, etc. T. Heywood has attempted to show the fulfilment of Merlin's prophecies.

Of Merlin and his skill what region doth not hear?...

Who of a British nymph was gotten, whilst she played With a seducing sprite ...

But all Demetia thro' there was not found her peer.

Drayton, _Polyolbion_, v. (1612).

_Merlin_ (_The English_), W. Lilly, the astrologer, who a.s.sumed the _nom de plume_ of "Mer'linus Anglicus" (1602-1681).

=Merlin the Wild=, a native of Caledonia, who lived in the sixteenth century, about a century after the great Ambrose Merlin, the sorcerer.

Fordun, in his _Scotichronicon_, gives particulars about him. It was predicted that he would die by earth, wood, and water, which prediction was fulfilled thus: A mob of rustics hounded him, and he jumped from a rock into the Tweed, and was impaled on a stake fixed in the river bed.

His grave is still shown beneath an aged hawthorn bush at Drummelzier, a village on the Tweed.

=Merlin's Cave=, in Dynevor, near Carmarthen, noted for its ghastly noises of rattling iron chains, brazen caldrons, groans, strokes of hammers, and ringing of anvils. The cause is this: Merlin set his spirits to fabricate a brazen wall to encompa.s.s the city of Carmarthen, and as he had to call on the Lady of the Lake, bade them not to slacken their labor till he returned; but he never did return, for Vivien by craft got him under the enchanted stone, and kept him there. Tennyson says he was spell-bound by Vivien in a hollow oak tree, but the _History of Prince Arthur_ (Sir T. Malory) gives the other version.--Spenser, _Faery Queen_, iii. 3 (1590).

=Merop's Son=, a n.o.body, a _terrae filius_, who thinks himself somebody.

Thus Phaeton (Merop's son), forgetting that his mother was an earthborn woman, thought he could drive the horses of the sun, but not being able to guide them, nearly set the earth on fire. Many presume like him, and think themselves capable or worthy of great things, forgetting all the while that they are only "Merop's son."

Why, Phaeton (for thou art Merop's son), Wilt thou aspire to guide the heavenly car, And with thy daring folly burn the world?

Shakespeare, _Two Gentlemen of Verona_, act iii. sc. 1 (1594).

=Merrilees= (_Meg_), a half-crazy woman, part sibyl and part gypsy. She is the ruler and terror of the gypsy race. Meg Merrilees was the nurse of Harry Bertram.--Sir W. Scott, _Gay Mannering_ (time, George II.).

In the dramatized version of Scott's novel, Miss Cushman [1845-9]

made "Meg Merrilees" her own. She showed therein indisputably the attributes of genius. Such was her power over the intention and feeling of the part, that the mere words were quite a secondary matter. It was the figure, the gait, the look, the gesture, the tone, by which she put beauty and pa.s.sion into language the most indifferent.--Henry Morley.

=Merry Andrew=, Andrew Borde, physician to Henry VIII. (1500-1549).

? Prior has a poem on _Merry Andrew_.

=Merry Monarch= (_The_), Charles II., of England (1630, 1660-1685).

=Merry Mount.= Name of the home of a certain Englishman, called in the chronicle "the pestilent Morton," who set up a May-pole in colonial Ma.s.sachusetts.

"That worthy gentleman, Mr. John Endicott, ... visiting those parts, caused that May-pole to be cut down, and rebuked them for their profaneness ... so they now (or others) changed the name of their place, 'Merry Mount,' again, and called it 'Mount Dagon.'"--William Bradford, _History of the Plymouth Plantation_ (1630-50).

=Mer'rylegs=, a highly trained, performing dog, belonging to Signor Jupe, clown in Sleary's circus. This dog leaves the circus when his master disappears, but several years afterwards finds its way back and dies.--C. d.i.c.kens, _Hard Times_ (1854).

=Merthyr Tydvil=, a corruption of _Martyr St. Tidfil_, a Welsh princess who suffered martyrdom.

=Merton= (_Tommy_), one of the chief characters in _Sanford and Merton_, a tale for boys, by Thomas Day (1783-9).

_Merton_ (_Tristram_). Thomas Babington Macaulay (Lord Macaulay), so signs the ballads and sketches which he inserted in _Knight's Quarterly Magazine_.

=Mertoun= (_Basil_), _alias_ VAUGHAN, formerly a pirate.

_Mordaunt Mertoun_, son of Basil Mertoun. He marries Brenda Troil.--Sir W. Scott, _The Pirate_ (time, William III.).

=Merveilleuse= [_Mair.vay.'uze_], the sword of Doolin of Mayence. It was so sharp that, if placed edge downwards on a block of wood, it would cut through it of itself.

=Mervett= (_Gustavus de_), in _Charles XII._, an historical drama by J. R.

Planche (1826).

=Mervyn= (_Mr. Arthur_), guardian of Julia Mannering.--Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).

=Messali'na=, wife of the Emperor Claudius of Rome. Her name is a by-word for incontinency (A.D. *-48).

_Messalina_ (_The Modern_), Catherine II. of Russia (1729-1796).

=Messalina of Germany=, Barbary of Cilley, second wife of Kaiser Sigismund of Germany (fifteenth century).

=Messala.= Haughty young Roman who feigns friends.h.i.+p for Ben-Hur, and betrays his confidence. In after years the scheme of revenge nursed by the ruined youth is fulfilled in the famous chariot-race.--Lew Wallace, _Ben Hur_, _A Tale of the Christ_ (1880).

=Messiah= (_The_), an epic poem in fifteen books, by F. G. Klopstock. The first three were published in 1748, and the last in 1773. The subject is the last days of Jesus, His crucifixion and resurrection. Bk. i. Jesus ascends the Mount of Olives, to spend the night in prayer. Bk. ii. John the Beloved, failing to exorcise a demoniac, Jesus goes to his a.s.sistance; and Satan, rebuked, returns to h.e.l.l, where he tells the fallen angels his version of the birth and ministry of Christ, whose death he resolves on. Bk. iii. Messiah sleeps for the last time on the Mount of Olives; the tutelar angels of the twelve apostles, and a description of the apostles are given. Satan gives Judas a dream, and then enters the heart of Caiaphas. Bk. iv. The council in the palace of Caiaphas decree that Jesus must die; Jesus sends Peter and John to prepare the Pa.s.sover, and eats His Last Supper with His apostles. Bk. v.