Mumblecrust, Madge.—A character in Edall’s Ralph Roister Doister, whose name was subsequently employed in Dekker’s Satiro-Mastix, and the comedy of Patient Grissel. Madge is mentioned in the MS. comedy of Misogonus.
Münchausen (münch´hou-zen), The Baron.—A hero of most marvelous adventures, and the fictitious author of a book of travels filled with most extravagant tales. The name is said to refer to Hieronymus Karl Friedrich von Münchausen, a German officer in the Russian army, noted for his marvelous stories.
Mutual Friend, Our.—A novel by Charles Dickens. The “mutual friend” is Mr. Boffin, the golden dustman, who was the mutual friend of John Harmon and of Bella Wilfer. The tale is this: John Harmon was supposed to have been murdered by Julius Handford; but it was Ratford, who was murdered by Rogue Riderhood, and the mistake arose from a resemblance between the two persons. By his father’s will, John Harmon was to marry Bella Wilfer; but John Harmon knew not the person destined by his father for his wife, and made up his mind to dislike her. After his supposed murder, he assumed the name of John Rokesmith, and became the secretary of Mr. Boffin, “the golden dustman,” residuary legatee of old John Harmon, by which he became possessor of one hundred thousand dollars. Boffin knew Rokesmith, but concealed his knowledge for a time. At Boffin’s house John Harmon (as Rokesmith) met Bella Wilfer, and fell in love with her. Mr. Boffin, in order to test Bella’s love, pretended to be angry with Rokesmith for presuming to love Bella; and, as Bella married him, he cast them both off “for a time,” to live on John’s earnings. A babe was born, and then the husband took the young mother to a beautiful house, and told her he was John Harmon, that the house was their house, that he was the possessor of five hundred thousand dollars through the disinterested conduct of their “mutual friend,” Mr. Boffin, and the young couple live happily with Mr. and Mrs. Boffin, in wealth and luxury.
My Novel.—A work of fiction by Edward, Lord Lytton, published in 1853. It is described as the “great work which marks the culminating point in Lord Lytton’s genius, the work to which, with a rare estimate of his own powers, he has given the singularly appropriate title of My Novel.... If we except one or two melodramatic scenes, it is throughout an admirable work.... The plot is complex, but it is unfolded with marvelous directness and ingenuity, and, notwithstanding the digressions, the interest never for a moment flags.” Among the characters are Squire Hazeldean, Mr. Dale, Dick Avenel, Leonard Fairfield, and Harley L’Estrange.
N
Nathan the Wise [Nathan der Wise (nä´tän der vī´ze).]—A drama by G. E. Lessing, so called from the name of its principal character. Its tendency is toward religious tolerance, especially in the episode of the three rings, which was taken from Boccaccio. Nathan is a persecuted but noble Jew, an ideal character resembling Moses Mendelssohn.
Natty Bumppo.—Called “Leather-Stocking.” He appears in five of Cooper’s novels: (1) The Deerslayer; (2) The Pathfinder; (3) As “Hawk-eye” in The Last of the Mohicans; (4) “Natty Bumppo” in The Pioneers; and (5) as the “Trapper” in The Prairie, in which he dies.
Neæra (nē-ē´rä).—The name of a girl mentioned by the Latin poets Horace, Vergil, and Tibullus; sometimes also introduced into modern pastoral poetry as the name of a mistress or sweetheart.
Nepenthe.—A care-dispelling drug, which Polydamna, wife of Thonis, king of Egypt, gave to Helen. A drink containing this drug “changed grief to mirth, melancholy to joyfulness, and hatred to love.” The water of Ardenne had the opposite effects. Homer mentions this drug nepenthe in his Odyssey. It is also mentioned in Poe’s Raven.
New Atlantis, The.—An imaginary island in the middle of the Atlantic. Bacon, in his allegorical fiction, so called, supposes himself wrecked on this island, [807] where he finds an association for the cultivation of natural science and the promotion of arts. Called the “New” Atlantis to distinguish it from Plato’s Atlantis, an imaginary island of fabulous charms.