I think I have proved ...
The error of all those doctrines so vicious ...
That are making such terrible work in the Churches
By Michael the Stammerer.
Longfellow, The Golden Legend (1851).
Michal, in the satire of Absalom and Achitophel, by Dryden and Tate, is meant for Catharine, the wife of Charles II.—Pt. ii. (1682).
Michelot, an unprincipled, cowardly, greedy man, who tries to discover the secret of “the gold-mine.” Being procurator of the president of Lyons, his office was “to capture and arrest” those charged with civil or criminal offences.—E. Stirling, The Gold-Mine, or Miller of Grenoble (1854).
Micomico´na, the pretended queen of Micomicon. Don Quixote’s adventure to Micomiconnia came to nothing, for he was taken home in a cage, almost as soon as he was told of the wonderful enchantments.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. iv. 2 (1605.)
Mi´das (Justice), appointed to adjudge a musical contest between Pol and Pan. He decides in favor of Pan, whereupon Pol throws off his disguise, appears as the god Apollo, and, being indignant at the decision, gives Midas “the ears of an ass.”—Kane O’Hara, Midas (1764).
Edward Shuter (1728-1776) was pronounced by Garrick “the greatest comic actor;” and C. Dibdin says: “Nothing on earth could have been superior to his ‘Midas.’”
Midas’s Ears. The servant who used to cut the king’s hair, discovering the deformity, was afraid to whisper the secret to any one, but, being unable to contain himself, he dug a hole in the earth, and, putting his mouth into it, cried out, “King Midas has ass’s ears!” He then filled up the hole and felt relieved.
Tennyson makes the barber a woman:
No livelier than the dame
That whispered “Asses’ ears” among the sedge.
Tennyson, The Princess.
Middleburgh (Mr. James), an Edinburgh magistrate.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).