Lost,” was composed rapidly, dictated to his daughters, and completed in 1663, but not published till 1667; 1671 saw “Paradise Regained” and “Samson Agonistes”; he had been blind since 1652; he married Elizabeth Minshull in 1663, who comforted him in his closing years; a man of fervent, impulsive temperament, and a lover of music, he was sincere in controversy, magnanimous in character, and of deep religious faith; the richness, melody, and simplicity of his poetry, the sublimity of his great theme, and the adequacy of its treatment, place him among the greatest poets of the world; in later years he leaned to Arianism, and broke away from the restraints of outward religious practice; his last prose work, a Latin treatise on “Christian Doctrines,” was lost at the time of his death, and only recovered 150 years later (1608-1674).

MILWAUeKEE (285), chief city of Wisconsin, U.S., on W. shore of Lake Michigan, 80 miles N. by W. of Chicago.  Exports grain, iron ore, &c.; manufactures flour, machinery, and pig-iron.

MIMES, dramatic performances among the Greeks and Romans, in comic representation of scenes in ordinary life, often in extempore dialogue.

MIMIR, in the Norse mythology the god of wisdom, guardian of the sacred well which nourished the roots of the TREE IGGDRASIL (q. v.), and a draught of whose waters imparted divine wisdom.

MINARETS, a salient feature of Mohammedan architecture, are tall slim towers, in several storeys with balconies, from which the muezzin calls the people to prayer, and terminated by a spire or finial.

MINERVA, the Roman virgin goddess of wisdom and the arts, identified with the GREEK ATHENA (q. v.); born full-armed from the brain of Jupiter, and representing his thinking, calculating, inventive power, and third in rank to him.

MINERVA PRESS, a printing establishment in Leadenhall Street, London, which about a century ago issued a set of trashy, extremely sentimental novels with complicated plots, in which hero and heroine were involved before they could get married.

MINGHETTI, MARCO, Italian patriot and statesman, born at Bologna; a man of liberal views; a friend and associate of Cavour; held office under him as Minister of the Interior in 1862; was ambassador to the Court of St. James’s in 1868, and Prime Minister at Rome from 1873 to 1876 (1818-1886)

MINIMS, an order of monks founded by St. Francis of Paula in 1453, a name which signifies “the least” to express super-humility.

MINNEAPOLIS (203), city of U.S., Minnesota, on both sides of the Mississippi, the greatest centre of the wheat and flour trade in U.S.

MINNESINGERS (i. e. love-singers), a name given to the lyric poets of Germany during the latter part of the 12th and the first half of the 13th centuries.