Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life.—A novel, by George Eliot, published in 1872, and characterized by The Quarterly Review “as the most remarkable work of the ablest of living novelists, and, considered as a study of character, unique.” The heroine is Dorothea Brooke, first married to Mr. Casaubon, afterward to Will Ladislaw. Among the other characters are Mr. Lydgate, Rosamond Vincy, Mary Garth, and Mrs. Cadwallader.
Midlothian, or Mid-Lothian (mid-lō´THi-an), The Heart of.—A tale by Scott, of the Porteous riot, in which the incidents of Effie and Jeanie Deans are of absorbing interest. Effie was seduced by Geordie Robertson (alias George Staunton), while in the service of Mrs. Saddletree. She murdered her infant, and was condemned to death; but her half sister Jeanie went to London, pleaded her cause before the queen, and obtained her pardon. Jeanie, on her return to Scotland, married Reuben Butler; and Geordie Robertson (then Sir George Staunton) married Effie. Sir George being shot by a gypsy boy, Effie (i. e., Lady Staunton) retired to a convent on the continent.
Midsummer Night’s Dream.—A comedy by Shakespeare. The author says there was a law in Athens that if a daughter refused to marry the husband selected for her by her father, she might be put to death. Ægeus, an Athenian, promised to give his daughter Hermia in marriage to Demetrius; but, as the lady loved Lysander, she refused to marry the man selected by her father, and fled from Athens with her lover. Demetrius went in pursuit of her, followed by Helena, who doted on him. All four came to a forest, and fell asleep. In their dreams a vision of fairies passed before them, and, on awaking, Demetrius resolved to forego Hermia, who disliked him, and to take to wife Helena, who sincerely loved him. When Ægeus was informed thereof, he readily agreed to give his daughter to Lysander, and the force of the law was not called into action (1592).
Mildendo.—Gulliver’s Travels, Swift. The metropolis of Lilliput, the wall of which was two feet and a half in height, and at least eleven inches thick. The emperor’s palace, called Belfaborac, was in the center of the city.
Miles Standish (or, Courtship of Miles Standish).—A poem by H. W. Longfellow. From this poem the robust figures of the Puritan captain in his haps and mishaps, and of John Alden and Priscilla, are now part of our national treasures.
Miller, Daisy.—Title and heroine of a story by Henry James. An American girl traveling in Europe, where her innocence, ignorance, and disregard of European customs and standards of propriety put her in compromising situations, and frequently expose her conduct to misconstruction.
Mill on the Floss.—A novel by George Eliot, published in 1860. There is a simplicity about The Mill on the Floss which reminds us of the classic tragedy. The vast power of nature over the career and fate of a family is figured forth in the river, beside which the child Maggie played, filling her mother’s heart with gloomy and not unveracious presentiments, and down which she passed with Stephen in her hour of temptation, with Tom in her last moments; the whole strength of association and of the ties and instinct of blood breaking in at every critical point in the story, like the voice of a Greek chorus, full of traditionary warning and stern common sense, but speaking in the dialect of English rusticity, and by the mouths of Mr. Tulliver and his wife’s relations.
Minna von Barnhelm (min´ä fon bärn´helm).—A comedy by Lessing, published in 1767. It is the first German national drama which deals with contemporary events.
Minnehaha (min-e-hä´hä).—Hiawatha, Henry W. Longfellow. The daughter of the arrow maker of Dacotah, and wife of Hiawatha. She was called Minnehaha from the waterfall of that name.