She was broad-faced, flat-nosed, blind of one eye, and had a most delightful squint with the other; the peculiar gentility of her shape, however, compensated for every defect, she being about three feet in height, and remarkably hunchbacked.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. iii. 2 (1605).
Marius (Caïus), the Roman general, tribune of the people, B.C. 119; the rival of Sylla.
Antony Vincent Arnault wrote a tragedy in French entitled Marius à Minturnes (1791). Thomas Lodge, M.D., in 1594, wrote a drama called Wounds of Civil War, lively set forth in the True Tragedies of Marius and Sylla.
Mar´ivaux (Pierre de Chamblain de), a French writer of comedies and romances (1678-1763).
S. Richardson is called “The English Marivaux” (1689-1761).
Marjory of Douglas, daughter of Archibald, earl of Douglas, and duchess of Rothsay.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
Mark (Sir), king of Cornwall, who held his court at Tintag´il. He was a wily, treacherous coward, hated and despised by all true knights. One day, Sir Dinadan, in jest, told him that Sir Launcelot might be recognized by “his shield, which was silver with a black rim.” This was, in fact, the cognizance of Sir Mordred; but, to carry out the joke, Sir Mordred lent it to Dagonet, King Arthur’s fool. Then, mounting the jester on a large horse, and placing a huge spear in his hand, the knights sent him to offer battle to King Mark. When Dagonet beheld the coward king, he cried aloud, “Keep thee, sir knight, for I will slay thee!” King Mark, thinking it to be Sir Launcelot, spurred his horse to flight. The fool gave chase, rating King Mark “as a wood man [madman].” All the knights who beheld it roared at the jest, told King Arthur, and the forest rang with their laughter. The wife of King Mark was Isond (Ysolde) the Fair of Ireland, whose love for Sir Tristram was a public scandal.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, ii. 96, 97 (1470).
