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Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. III is a reference work that gathers brief biographical and literary notes on a wide range of characters drawn from classic works of romance, fiction and drama. The opening pages present a mosaic of entries, each beginning with a quotation or a concise description, such as the corrupt soul of Fénelon’s Télémaque, the Aztec deity Mexitli leaping into life, or the satirical portrait of a half‑clever magistrate in Dickens’s David Copperfield. The entries move swiftly from mythic figures like Michael the archangel to obscure literary personages such as the butter‑selling Middlewick, offering the reader a compact, alphabetically arranged guide to the many names that populate the Western literary imagination.
The voice is scholarly yet conversational, reflecting the 19th‑century habit of compiling encyclopedic glossaries for the educated reader. Brewer’s style is dense with allusion, peppered with brief excerpts that illustrate each entry’s source, and the language retains the formal diction of Victorian reference books. Readers who enjoy literary history, enjoy spotting intertextual connections, or need a handy source for obscure character names will find this volume a rewarding companion for research or leisurely exploration.
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Already at [_his mother’s breast_] the blow was aimed, When forth Mexitli leapt, and in his hand The angry spear.
Southey, Madoc, ii. 21 (1805).
⁂ Of course, it will be remembered that Minerva, like Mexitli, was born full-grown and fully armed.
=Mezen´tius=, king of the Tyrrhenians, who put criminals to death by tying them face to face with dead bodies.--Virgil, Æneid, viii. 485.
=Mezzora´mia=, an earthly paradise in Africa, accessible by only one road. Gaudentio di Lucca discovered the road, and lived at Mezzoramia for twenty-five years.--Simon Berington, Gaudentio di Lucca.
=M. F. H.=, Master [_of the_] Fox-hounds.
=Micaw´ber= (Mr. Wilkins), a most unpractical, half-clever man, a great speechifier, letter writer, projector of bubble schemes, and, though confident of success, never succeeding. Having failed in everything in the old country, he migrated to Australia, and became a magistrate at Middlebay.--C. Dickens, David Copperfield (1849).
⁂ This truly amiable, erratic genius is a portrait of Dickens’s own father, “David Copperfield” being Dickens, and “Mrs. Nickleby” (one can hardly believe it) is said to be Dickens’s mother.
=Mi´chael= (2 syl.), the special protector and guardian of the Jews. This archangel is messenger of peace and plenty.--Sale’s Korân, ii. notes.
⁂ That Michael was really the protector and guardian angel of the Jews we know from Dan. x. 13, 21; xii. 1.
Milton makes Michael the leader of the heavenly host in the war in heaven. The word means “God’s power.” Gabriel was next in command to the archangel Michael.
⁂ Longfellow, in his Golden Legend, says that Michael is the presiding spirit of the planet Mercury, and brings to man the gift of prudence (“The Miracle-Play,” iii., 1851).
Michael, the “trencher favorite” of Arden of Feversham, in love with Maria, sister of Mosby. A weak man, who both loves and honors Arden, but is inveigled by Mosby to admit ruffians into Arden’s house to murder him.--Geo. Lillo, Arden of Feversham (1592).
=Michael, God of Wind= (St.). At the promontory of Malea is a chapel built to St. Michael, and the sailors say when the wind blows from that quarter it is occasioned by the violent motion of St. Michael’s wings. Whenever they sail by that promontory, they pray St. Michael to keep his wings still.
St. Michael’s Chair. It is said that any woman who has sat on Michael’s chair (on St. Michael’s Mount, in Cornwall), will rule her husband ever after.
=Michael Angelo of Battle-Scenes= (The), Michael Angelo Cerquozzi, of Rome (1600-1660).
=Michael Angelo of France= (The), Jean Cousin (1500-1590).
=Michael Angelo des Kermesses=, Peter van Laar, called Le Bamboche, born at Laaren (1613-1673).
Or Michel-Ange des Bamboches.
=Michael Angelo of Music= (The), Johann Christoph von Glück (1714-1787).
=Michael Angelo of Sculptors= (The), Pierre Puget (1623-1694).
Réné Michael Slodtz is also called the same (1705-1764).
=Michael Angelo Titmarsh=, one of the pseudonyms under which Thackeray contributed to Frazer’s Magazine (1811-1863).
=Michael Armstrong=, “the factory boy.” The hero and title of a novel by Mrs. Trollope (1839). The object of this novel is to expose what the authoress considered to be the evils of the factory system.
=Michael Perez=, the copper captain. (See PEREZ.)
=Michael, the Stammerer=, born at Armorium, in Phrygia, mounted the throne as emperor of Greece in A.D. 820. He used all his efforts to introduce the Jewish Sabbath and sacrifice.
I think I have proved ... The error of all those doctrines so vicious ... That are making such terrible work in the Churches By Michael the Stammerer.
Longfellow, The Golden Legend (1851).
=Michal=, in the satire of Absalom and Achitophel, by Dryden and Tate, is meant for Catharine, the wife of Charles II.--Pt. ii. (1682).
=Michelot=, an unprincipled, cowardly, greedy man, who tries to discover the secret of “the gold-mine.” Being procurator of the president of Lyons, his office was “to capture and arrest” those charged with civil or criminal offences.--E. Stirling, The Gold-Mine, or Miller of Grenoble (1854).
=Micomico´na=, the pretended queen of Micomicon. Don Quixote’s adventure to Micomiconnia came to nothing, for he was taken home in a cage, almost as soon as he was told of the wonderful enchantments.--Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. iv. 2 (1605.)
=Mi´das= (Justice), appointed to adjudge a musical contest between Pol and Pan. He decides in favor of Pan, whereupon Pol throws off his disguise, appears as the god Apollo, and, being indignant at the decision, gives Midas “the ears of an ass.”--Kane O’Hara, Midas (1764).
Edward Shuter (1728-1776) was pronounced by Garrick “the greatest comic actor;” and C. Dibdin says: “Nothing on earth could have been superior to his ‘Midas.’”
Midas’s Ears. The servant who used to cut the king’s hair, discovering the deformity, was afraid to whisper the secret to any one, but, being unable to contain himself, he dug a hole in the earth, and, putting his mouth into it, cried out, “King Midas has ass’s ears!” He then filled up the hole and felt relieved.
Richard Middlemas, alias Richard Tresham, a foundling, apprenticed to Dr Gray. He discovers that he is the son of General Witherington, and goes to India, where he assumes the character of Sadoc, a black slave in the service of Mde. Montreville. He delivers Menie Gray by treachery to Tippoo Saib, and Hyder Ali gives him up to be crushed to death by an elephant.--Sir W. Scott, The Surgeon’s Daughter (time, George II.).
=Middlewick= (Mr. Perkyn), a retired butterman, the neighbor of Sir Geoffrey Champneys, and the father of Charles. The butterman is innately vulgar, drops his h’s and inserts them out of place, makes the greatest geographical and historical blunders, has a tyrannical temper, but a tender heart. He turns his son adrift for marrying Violet Melrose, an heiress, who snubbed the plebeian father. When reduced to great distress, the old butterman goes to his son’s squalid lodgings and relents. So all ends happily.
Charles Middlewick, son of the retired butterman, well educated, and a gentleman. His father wanted him to marry Mary Melrose, a girl without a penny, but he preferred Violet, an heiress.--H. J. Byron, Our Boys (1875).
=Midge=, the miller’s son, one of the companions of Robin Hood. (See MUCH.)
Midge (The), a well-born but friendless waif, thrown at the age of thirteen upon the charity of Dr. Peters, an eccentric bachelor. She cares for his house and for him in quaint, womanly fashion, very bewitching, until she is grown. The suit of another and a younger man, makes the doctor know, to his cost, how well he loves her. He holds his peace, and marries Midge to her lover.
“Then he went into the big pantry. In the corner on the shelf, still lay the crock in which the Midge had hidden her head, heavy with childish grief, years before. The old stool stood before it. He sat down on it and rested his hot forehead on the cool rim of the jar.
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