Mason, William, friend and biographer of Gray; wrote Caractacus and some odes (1725-97).

Mathias, a noted Anabaptist who, with John of Leyden, committed great excesses in the endeavour to set up a Kingdom of Mount Zion in Munster, Westphalia (1535).

Maurice, Elector of Saxony (1521-23) and leader of the Protestants of Germany against the Emperor Charles V.

Mayor of the Palace, the chief minister of the Kings of France between 638 and 742.

Mayor of the Palace, the name given to the comptroller of the household of the Frankish kings.  By successive encroachments these officials became at length more powerful than the monarchs, whom they finally ousted.

Mazarin(e) Cardinal, chief minister of France during the first eighteen years of Louis XIV.’s reign,

Memmius, Roman Governor of Bithynia, distinguished for his rhetorical and literary gifts, 270

Merovingian line, a dynasty of Frankish kings in the sixth and seventh centuries A.D.  They were gradually superseded in power by their “Mayors of the Palace,” and were succeeded by the Carolingians.

Middleton, Conyers, a Cambridge theologian who had some controversy with Bentley; distinguished for his “absolutely plain style” of writing (1683-50).

Miguel, Don, King of Portugal, whose usurpation of the throne, refusal to marry Maria, daughter of Don Pedro of Brazil, and general conduct of affairs, led to a civil war, as a result of which he had to withdraw to Italy (1802-66).

Mississippi Scheme, a plan for reducing the French National Debt, similar in folly and in downfall to the South Sea Bubble.

Mite, Sir Matthew (see Foote’s comedy, The Nabob).

Montague, Charles, Earl of Halifax, Chancellor of the Exchequer 1694; First Lord of Treasury 1697; impeached by the Tories for peculation and acquitted; Prime Minister 1714; reformed the currency.

Montezuma and Guatemozin, two of the native rulers of Mexico prior to its conquest by Cortez in 1519.

Montezuma, Emperor of Mexico, seized by Cortez in 1519.

Moro, the, a strong fort at the entrance to the harbour of Havana, taken after a hard struggle by the English under Admiral Sir George Pocock and General the Earl of Albemarle in July 1762.

Moore, Dr., father of Sir John Moore, European traveller, and author of the novel Zeluco.

Moorish Envoy, Algerine in Humphrey Clinker.

Mountain of Light, the Koh-i-noor, which after many adventures is now one of the English crown jewels.

Mucius, a Roman, who, when condemned to the stake, thrust his right hand unflinchingly into a fire lit for a sacrifice.  He was spared and given the name Scaevola, i. e. left-handed.

Murray, orator; afterwards Earl of Mansfield, and Lord Chief Justice (1705-93).

Napier, colonel, served under Sir John Moore.  Like Southey he wrote a History of the Peninsular War.