Margaret, only child and heiress of Sir Giles Overreach. Her father set his heart on her marrying Lord Lovel, for the summit of his ambition was to see her a peeress. But Margaret was modest, and could see no happiness in ill-assorted marriages; so she remained faithful to Tom Allworth, the man of her choice.—Massinger, A New Way to Pay Old Debts (1628).
Margaret, wife of Vandunke (2 syl.), the drunken burgomaster of Bruges.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Beggars’ Bush (1622).
Margaret (Ladye), “the flower of Teviot,” daughter of the Duchess Margaret and Lord Walter Scott, of Branksome Hall. The Ladye Margaret was beloved by Henry of Cranstown, whose family had a deadly feud with that of Scott. One day the elfin page of Lord Cranstown inveigled the heir of Branksome Hall (then a lad) into the woods, where the boy fell into the hands of the Southerners. The captors then marched with 3000 men against the castle of the widowed duchess, but being told by a spy that Douglass, with 10,000 men, was coming to the rescue, an arrangement was made to decide by single combat whether the boy should become King Edward’s page, or be delivered up into the hands of his mother. The English champion (Sir Richard Musgrave) fell by the hand of Sir William Deloraine, and the boy was delivered to his mother. It was then discovered that Sir William was in reality Lord Cranstown, who claimed and received the hand of the fair Margaret as his reward.—Sir W. Scott, Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805).
Margaret, the heroine of Goethe’s Faust. Faust first encounters her on her return from church, falls in love with her, and seduces her. Overcome with shame, she destroys the infant to which she gives birth, and is condemned to death. Faust attempts to save her, and, gaining admission to her cell, finds her huddled up on a bed of straw, singing, like Ophelia, wild snatches of ancient ballads, her reason faded, and her death at hand. Faust tries to persuade the mad girl to flee with him, but in vain. At last the day of execution arrives, and with it Mephistoph´elês, passionless and grim. Faust is hurried off, and Margaret is left to her fate. Margaret is often called by the pet diminutive “Gretchen,” and in the opera “Margheri´ta” (q.v.).—Goethe, Faust (1790).
Shakespeare has drawn no such portrait as that of Margaret[Margaret]; no such peculiar union of passion, simplicity, homeliness, and witchery. The poverty and inferior social position of Margaret are never lost sight of—she never becomes an abstraction. It is love alone which exalts her above her station.—Lewes.
Margaret Catchpole, a Suffolk celebrity, born at Nacton, in that county, in 1773; the title and heroine of a tale by the Rev. R. Cobbold. She falls in love with a smuggler named Will Laud, and in 1797, in order to reach him, steals a horse from Mr. J. Cobbold, brewer, of Ipswich, in whose service she had lived much respected. She dresses herself in the groom’s clothes, and makes her way to London, where she is detected while selling the horse, and is put in prison. She is sentenced to death at the Suffolk assizes—a sentence afterwards commuted to one of seven years’ transportation. Owing to a difficulty in sending prisoners to New South Wales, she is confined in Ipswich jail; but from here she makes her escape, joins Laud, who is shot in her defence. Margaret is recaptured, and again sentenced to death, which is for the second time commuted to transportation, this time for life, and she arrives[arrives] at Port Jackson in 1801. Here, by her good behavior, she obtains a free pardon, and ultimately marries a former lover named John Barry, who had emigrated and risen to a high position in the colony. She died, much respected, in the year 1841.
Margaret Debree. Young girl of noble and beautiful nature whose latent ambition is aroused by her marriage to the successful speculator, Rodney Henderson. She becomes a society leader and woman of fashion, and dies at the height of her popularity.—Charles Dudley Warner, A Little Journey in the World (1889).
Margaret Finch, queen of the gypsies. She was born at Sutton, in Kent (1631), and finally settled in Norway. From a constant habit of sitting on the ground, with her chin on her knees, she was unable to stand, and when dead was buried in a square box; 1740, aged 109 years.
Margaret. Bright-faced, sweet-hearted heroine of The Stillwater Tragedy, by T. B. Aldrich (1886).
Margaret Gibson, afterwards called Patten, a famous Scotch cook, who was employed in the palace of James I. She was born in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and died June 26, 1739, either 136 or 141 years of age.