When Goldsmith was between 16 and 17 he set out for Edgworthstown, and finding night coming on, asked a man which was the “best house” in the town—meaning the best inn. The man pointed to the house of Sir Ralph Fetherstone (or Mr. Fetherstone), and Oliver, entering the parlor, found the master of the mansion sitting at a good fire. Oliver told him he desired to pass the night there, and ordered him to bring in supper. “Sir Ralph” knowing his customer, humored the joke, which Oliver did not discover till next day, when he called for his bill. (We are told in Notes and Queries that Ralph Fetherstone was only Mr., but his grandson was Sir Thomas).
Marmaduke Wharne. Eccentric old Englishman long resident in America. Benevolent and beneficent, but gruff in manner and speech.—A. D. T. Whitney, Leslie Goldthwaite’s Summer (1866).
Marmaduke (Sir). A man who has lost all earth can give—wealth, love, fame and friends, but thus comforts himself:
“I account it worth
All pangs of fair hopes crossed,—
All loves and honors lost,—
To gain the heavens, at cost
Of losing earth.”
Theodore Tilton, Sir Marmaduke’s Musings (1867).
Marmion. Lord Marmion was betrothed to Constance de Beverley, but he jilted her for Lady Clare, an heiress, who was in love with Ralph de Wilton. The Lady Clare rejected Lord Marmion’s suit, and took refuge from him in the convent of St. Hilda, in Whitby. Constance took the veil in the convent of St. Cuthbert, in Holy Isle, but after a time left the convent clandestinely, was captured, taken back, and buried alive in the walls of a deep cell. In the mean time, Lord Marmion, being sent by Henry VIII. on an embassy to James IV. of Scotland, stopped at the hall of Sir Hugh de Heron, who sent a palmer as his guide. On his return, Lord Marmion commanded the abbess of St. Hilda to release the Lady Clare, and place her under the charge of her kinsman, Fitzclare of Tantallon Hall. Here she met the palmer, who was Ralph de Wilton, and as Lord Marmion was slain in the battle of Flodden Field, she was free to marry the man she loved.—Sir W. Scott, Marmion (1808).
Marmion (Lord), a descendant of Robert de Marmion, who obtained from William the Conqueror, the manor of Scrivelby, in Lincolnshire. This Robert de Marmion was the first royal champion of England, and the office remained in the family till the reign of Edward I., when in default of male issue it passed to John Dymoke, son-in-law of Philip Marmion, in whose family it remains still.
Marnally (Bernard). Good-looking Irish tutor at “Happy-go-Lucky,” a country house. He is accused of murdering the infant children of a young widow with whom he is in love, but is acquitted and goes back to Ireland. Some years later, he revisits America, meets his old love and marries her.—Miriam Coles Harris, Happy-go-Lucky (1881).
Marner (Silas). Miser and misogynist in humble life, who finds a baby-girl in his cottage one night, and in bringing her up, learns to have patience with life and charity with his kind.—George Eliot, Silas Marner.
Ma´ro, Virgil, whose full name was Publius Virgilius Maro (B.C. 70-19).
Oh, were it mine with the sacred Maro’s art
To wake to sympathy the feeling heart,
Like him the smooth and mournful verse to dress
In all the pomp of exquisite distress ...
Then might I ...
Falconer, The Shipwreck, iii. 5 (1756).