Myrra, an Ionian slave, and the beloved concubine of Sardanapa´lus, the Assyrian king. She roused him from his indolence to resist Arba´cês, the Mede, who aspired to his throne, and when she found his cause hopeless, induced him to mount a funeral pile, which she fired with her own hand, and then, springing into the flames, she perished with the tyrant.—Byron, Sardanapalus (1819).
Myrtle (Mrs. Lerviah), sentimental Christian, who finds Magdalens and poor, ill-clad, homeless girls “so depressing,” but begs Nixy Trent, the only one who ever entered her house, “to consider that there is hope for us all in the way of salvation which our Lord has marked out for sinners.” After which crumb of ghostly consolation she proceeds to turn Nixy out of the house.—Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Hedged In (1870).
Mysie, the female attendant of Lady Margaret Bellenden, of the Tower of Tillietudlem.—Sir W. Scott, Old Mortality (time, Charles II.).
Mysie, the old housekeeper at Wolf’s Crag Tower.—Sir W. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.).
Mysis, the scolding wife of Sile´no, and mother of Daph´nê and Nysa. It is to Mysis that Apollo sings that popular song, “Pray, Goody, please to moderate the rancour of your tongue” (act i. 3).—Kane O’Hara, Midas (1764).
Mysterious Husband (The), a tragedy by Cumberland (1783). Lord Davenant was a bigamist. His first wife was Marianne Dormer, whom he forsook in three months to marry Louisa Travers. Marianne, supposing her husband to be dead, married Lord Davenant’s son. Miss Dormer’s brother was the betrothed of the second Lady Davenant before her marriage with his lordship. She was told that he had proved faithless and had married another. The report of Lord Davenant’s death and the marriage of Captain Dormer were both false. When the villainy of Lord Davenant could be concealed no longer, he destroyed himself.
Nat, the fairy that addressed Orpheus, in the infernal regions, and offered him for food a roasted ant, a flea’s thigh, butterflies’ brains, some sucking mites, a rainbow tart etc., to be washed down with dew-drops and beer made from seven barleycorns—a very heady liquor.—King, Orpheus and Eurydice (1730-1805).
Nab-man (The), a sheriff’s officer.
Old Dornton has sent the nab-man after him at last.—Guy Mannering, ii. 3.
*** This is the dramatized version of Sir W. Scott’s novel, by Terry (1816).