MURRAY, JOHN, London publisher, a successful business man; was on intimate terms with the celebrated men, such as Byron and Scott, whose works he published (1778-1843).

MURRAY, LINDLEY, grammarian, born in Pennsylvania, of Quaker parents; having realised a competency in business came to England and settled near York, where he produced his “Grammar of the English Language” in 1795 (1745-1826).

MURRAY, WILLIAM, Scottish actor, lessee of Edinburgh theatre for 42 years; enjoyed the friendship of the Edinburgh literary celebrities of the time, and was an excellent actor, did Falstaff to perfection (1791-1852).

MURRAY RIVER, the chief river of Australia, 1120 m. long, rises at the foot of Mount Kosciusko, in New South Wales, flows NW. between New South Wales and Victoria; receives the Lachlan and Darling on the right, and entering South Australia turns southward and reaches the sea at Encounter Bay.

MUSAEUS, JOHN AUGUST, German author, born at Jena, famous as the author of German Volksmaerchen, three of which, “Dumb Love,” “Libussa,” and “Melechsala,” were translated in the volumes of “German Romance” by Thomas Carlyle; he parodied Richardson’s “Sir Charles Grandison” and satirised Lavater’s “Physiognomical Travels” (1735-1787).

MUSCAT (20), capital of Oman, in Eastern Arabia, on the Gulf of Oman; is an ill-built, unhealthy city, but does an important transit trade between Arabia, Persia, India, and East Africa; it was in Portuguese possession from 1508 to 1658, but has been independent since.

MUSES, THE, daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, presided over the liberal arts particularly, were nine in number, and dwelt along with Apollo near Parnassus, Pieria, and Helicon; Clio presided over history, Euterpe over music, Thalia over comedy, Melpomene over tragedy, Terpsichore over choral dance and song, Erato over erotic poetry and elegy, Polyhymnia over lyric poetry, Urania over astronomy, and Calliope over eloquence and epic poetry.

MUSPELHEIM.  See NIFLHEIM.

MUSSELBURGH (9), an old-fashioned Midlothian fishing town on the coast, 6 m.  E. of Edinburgh, with golf links, paper, nets, and tanning industries, and Loretto school.

MUSSET, ALFRED DE, the premier poet of modern French literature, born in Paris of good parentage; wayward and impulsive in youth, he would settle to no occupation, till his already awakened taste for poetry receiving a powerful stimulus through contact with Victor Hugo, led him to embrace the profession of letters; two volumes of poetry were published before he achieved, in 1833, his first signal success with the dramas “Andre del Sarto” and “Les Caprices de Marianne”; in the same year began his famous liaison with GEORGE SAND (q. v.), involving him in the ill-fated expedition to Venice, whence he returned in the spring of 1834 shattered in health and disillusioned; from one unhappy love intrigue he passed to another, seeking in vain a solace for