Queen Mab, the Fairies’ Midwife, that is, the midwife of men’s dreams, employed by the fairies.
O, then I see Queen Mab hath been with you.
She is the fairies’ midwife—
Romeo and Juliet, act i. sc. 4.
Mabel Dunham. Modest, amiable, yet spirited girl, educated at the East, who goes to the shores of Lake Ontario to meet her father, a major in charge of an English garrison. The nickname of “Magnet,” given by her sailor uncle, aptly describes her influence upon her associates, especially Jasper Western and Pathfinder. She marries Western.—James Fenimore Cooper, The Pathfinder (183-).
Maca´ber (The Dance) or the “Dance of Death” (Arabic, makabir, “a church-yard”). The dance of death was a favorite subject in the Middle Ages for wall-paintings in cemeteries and churches, especially in Germany. Death is represented as presiding over a round of dancers, consisting of rich and poor, old and young, male and female. A work descriptive of this dance, originally in German, has been translated into most European languages, and the wood-cuts after Holbein’s designs, published at Lyons in 1553, have a worldwide reputation. Others are at Minden, Lucerne, Lubeck, Dresden, and the north side of old St. Paul’s.
Elsie. What are these paintings on the walls around us?
Prince. “The Dance of Macaber” ... “The Dance of Death.”
Longfellow, The Golden Legend (1851).
Macaire (Le Chevalier Richard), a French knight, who, aided by Lieutenant Landry, murdered Aubrey de Montdidier in the forest of Bondy, in 1371. Montdidier’s dog, named Dragon, showed such an aversion to Macaire, that suspicion was aroused, and the man and dog were pitted to single combat. The result was fatal to the man, who died confessing his guilt.