in the Gospels' (ib. 1886); Davies, E. O., 'The Miracles of Jesus' (ib. 1913); Gordon, G. A., 'Religion and Miracle' (Boston 1910); Headlam, A. C., The Miracles of the New Testament' (ib. 1914); Illingworth, J. R., 'Divine Immanence' (ib. 1898); The Gospel Miracles' (ib. 1915); Figgis, J. N., The Gospel and Human Needs (New York 1910); Lecky, Rise of Rationalism' (London 1865); Lodge, Sir Oliver, Man and the Universe) (ib. 1908); McCosh, The Supernatural in Relation to the Natural' (ib. 1862); Mozley, J. B., 'Eight Lectures on Miracles' (ib. 1865); Newman, J. H., 'Two Essays on Miracles' (ib. 1873); Orchard, "The Attitude of Science Toward Miracles' (ib. 1910); Pfleiderer, 'Philosophy and Development of Religion' (ib. 1894); The Early Christian Conception of Christ' (ib. 1905); Saintyres, 'Le discernement du miracle' (Paris 1909); Trench, R. C., Notes on the Miracles of Our Lord' (London 1847); Wallace, A. R., 'Miracles and Modern Spiritualism' (ib. 1896); Wendland, Miracle and Christianity' (ib. 1911).

MIRAGE, mi-räzh', the name given to certain illusory appearances due to the bending of rays of light in the atmosphere. The earliest attempt to explain the mirage seems to be that of Monge, who accompanied Bonaparte's Egyptian expedition; he thus describes what was observed by the French soldiers: "The villages seen in the distance appeared to be built upon an island in the midst of a lake. As the observer approached them the boundary of the apparent water retreated, and on nearing the village it disappeared, to recommence for the next village"; he attributed the phenomenon to the hot sand of the desert keeping the lower layers of the atmosphere at a less density than the upper ones; the rays of light from the lower parts of the sky and objects in the distance arrive at the surface separating the less dense layer of air from those above, and are there subjected to total reflection; the eye sees the sky in the direction of the received rays, and this gives rise to the idea of a lake.

correct

It is often assumed that rays of light pass through the atmosphere in straight lines; this is approximately true for short distances, but astronomers and surveyors have to their observations for refraction. By the laws of optics it is easy to see why a ray passing obliquely through the atmosphere, when this is arranged in horizontal layers of equal density (those of greater density being lowest), should bend, and that a vertical ray should not bend; but optics does not tell us why a horizontal ray is much more refracted than an oblique one. The explanation (first given by Dr. James Thomson) is easy on the undulatory theory of light. The wave front of a horizontal ray of light is at right angles to the ray, and is a vertical plane; now light is less rapidly propagated in the lower layers of air, hence the lower part of the wave front is retarded, and when the light has proceeded some distance its wave front is no longer vertical, and the ray has bent downward (the ray is always supposed to be normal to the wave front). Thus, in the atmosphere in its normal state the path of a ray of light is always slightly concave downward. Professor Everett thus explains the appearance of "castles, obelisks and spires,"

cities with many buildings, forests of naked trees and great basaltic precipices sometimes assumed by irregularities in cakes and fields of ice. It sometimes happens that several inverted images of an object are seen in the same sky; these may be accounted for by assuming that there are several layers of air, in each of which there is a rapid variation (an increase upward) of the index of refraction. Mirages are not uncommon in California, Nevada and Alaska.

MIRAMICHI, mir"a-mi-she', Canada, a river of New Brunswick formed by the junction of the northwest and southwest Miramichi, about 35 miles above its mouth in Miramichi Bay on the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The northwest affluent rises in the highlands east of the Nepisiquit and is about 90 miles long, 16 miles of which are influenced by the tides. The southwest or main headstream flows from a lake near the Tobique, and fed by numerous rivulets draining a lake district becomes a considerable river 185 miles long to its confluence with the northwest branch. The Miramichi is navigable 40 miles from its mouth. Salmon, trout and other varieties of fish abound in the river and its tributaries.

MIRAMON, Miguel, mē-gĕl′ mē-rä-mōn', Mexican soldier: b. City of Mexico, 29 Sept. 1832; d. Querétaro, 19 June 1867. He was educated in the military school of Chapultepec in 1846; was a volunteer in the war with the United States; became a colonel in the Mexican army; deserted with his regiment to take part in the revolt at Puebla in 1856; and for that was degraded when Puebla was taken by Comonfort. In October 1856 he headed another revolt at Puebla, in 1856-58 was conspicuous in the party of the reactionists and was chosen by the electoral junta to succeed Zuloaga as President 2 Jan. 1859 (entered office 2 February). He continued to take part in the "war of reform" in 1859-60, but was defeated at Calpulalpam, near Mexico, 22 Dec. 1860, by Ortega, and fled to the coast, sailed to Europe and probably was concerned in the plans of Napoleon III for an invasion of Mexico. Maximilian appointed him grand-marshal and Minister to Berlin. Later he was given a high command in the imperial army and conducted with Maximilian the defense of Querétaro. He was captured on the surrender of the city and shot with the emperor.

MIRANDA, mē-rän'dä, Francisco Antonio Gabriel, Venezuelan revolutionist: b. Caracas, 9 June 1756; d. Cadiz, Spain, 14 July 1816. In 1773-82 he was an officer in the Spanish army and then served with the French allies in the colonies in the Revolutionary War (1779, 1781). A general of division in the French republican army (1790-93), he was tried, but acquitted, on a charge of treachery at Neerwinden. He began a scheme for obtaining the independence of Spanish South America, founded the important society Gran Reunión Americana, which included many names later prominent in the South American revolution, and in 1806 made a futile attack on the Venezuelan coast. In 1810, on the breaking out of the revolution in Venezuela, he returned; in 1812 he was made President, but on 25 July capitulated to the royalists. He was sent to Spain and there remained a prisoner. Con

sult Biggs, "History of Don F. Miranda's Attempt to Effect a Revolution in South America (1809); Baralt, 'Historia de Venezuela' (1841); Robertson, Francisco de Miranda and the Revolutionizing of Spanish America' (Washington 1909).

MIRANDOLA, mē-rân'dō-lą, Italy, town in the province of Emiliana, 17 miles northeast of Modena. It was the home of the Pico family, who held the town from the 14th century to 1710, when Joseph I of Austria took possession. The Pico castle is now in ruins. The cathedral, dating from the end of the 16th century, has been restored. The Palazzo del Commune is a Gothic building of the 15th century. The church of Gesu is also interesting. The chief industries are silk, rice and cattle-raising. Pop., commune 16,740.

MIRBEAU, mē'bō, Octave Henri Marie, French novelist and playwright: b. Trevières (Calvados), 16 Feb. 1850. He was educated in a Jesuit school at Vannes, studied law in Paris and became dramatic critic on the Bonapartist paper, L'Ordre. For a time he was. sous-préfet and then préfet of Saint-Girons; but after 1877 he devoted himself to literature. His journalistic career was stormy and his attacks on established reputations involved him in several duels. He gradually developed extreme views. In 1890 he wrote for the Revolte and he was one of the first and most persistent defenders of Capt. Alfred Dreyfus. He was also one of the earliest supporters of the Impressionist painters. In 1887 he married the actress, Alice Regnault. Mirbeau first attracted attention as a fiction writer by his series of tales of the Norman peasantry, 'Lettres de ma chanmière (1886), although he had previously published a novel, Jean Marcellin' (1884). He then published 'Le Calvaire' (1887); L'Abbé Jules (1888); 'Sebastien Roch, a bitter picture of the Jesuit school in which he had passed his youth (1890); 'Le Jardin des supplices, a Chinese story (1899); 'Les Mémoires d'une femme de chambre' (1901); Les Vingt-et-un jours d'un neuraschénique (1902); and 'Dans l'antichambre> (1905). In 1897 Les mauvais bergers, a fiveact drama, was played at the Renaissance by Sarah Bernhardt; and he gained a great success with his next play, 'Les affaires sont les affaires (1903), represented in New York under the title Business is Business? (1905). Some of his short plays appear in his book, 'Farces et Moralités (1904). Le foyer' (1909) was suppressed by the censor. 'Dingo' was published in 1913.

MIRFIELD, England, town and district five miles northeast of Huddersfield, on the Calder, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It is one of the chief railway centres in the country and has manufactures of woolen and cotton goods, carpets and blankets. In the vicinity are coal mines. The church of Saint Mary's was completed in 1874 from designs of Sir Gilbert Scott. The tower of the ancient church remains. Pop. 11,702.

MIRIAM, the sister of Moses and the eldest of the family, is first mentioned as being stationed by her mother to watch her brother's cradle among the sedges on the river's brink. Later she procured her mother as nurse for

the child when found by the princess. After crossing the Red Sea she is mentioned as "Miriam the Prophetess," and she takes the lead with Aaron in the complaint against Moses for his marriage with a Cushite. For this action she was stricken with leprosy, but later the curse was removed and she died toward the close of the wandering in the desert. She was buried in Cadesh.

MIRKHOND, mēr'kônd, Haman Ed Din, Persian historian: b. 1433; d. 1498. He was the son of a pious and learned man of an old Bokhara Sayyid family, direct descendants of Mohammed. From an early age he devoted himself to Listory and literature; and in Herat, where he spent the greater part of his life, he gained the favor of a famous patron of letters named Mir Alishir. About 1474, in the quiet convent of Khilasiyah, which his patron had founded in Herat, he began his great work on universal history, the Rauzat-us-safa' (Garden of Purity), a collection of biographies of prophets, kings and caliphs from mythical times to 1523. Although written in a flowery and bombastic style and with no attempt at critical examination, the 'Rauzat' is ranked as one of the most remarkable of literary achievements. It is composed of seven large volumes and a geographical appendix. As the seventh volume contains accounts of events

after Mirkhond's death, it is supposed to be the work of his grandson, the historian Khwandamir (1475-1534), who probably finished the appendix. The entire Rauzat has been lithographed in folio (Bombay 1853 and Teheran 1852-56), and with Turkish translation (Constantinople 1842). The 'Rauzat has been translated by various hands: The Early Kings of Persia by D. Shea (London 1832); the Sassanids into French by S. de Sacy, 'L'histoire de la dynastie des Sassanides' (Paris 1793) and also by faubert (Paris 1843); Histoire des Samanides, by Defrémery (Paris 1845); 'Histoire des Sultans Ghurides,' by Defrémery (Paris 1844); Seljuks into German by Vullers (Giessen 1837); and the story of Mohammed by Rehatsek, into English (5 vols., London 1891-94), the latter was rendered from English into French by Lamairesse (Paris 1894). For the life of Mirkhond, consult De Sacy, Notice sur Mirkhond' in his 'Mémoires sur diverses antiquités de la Perse' (Paris 1793); Jourdain, "Notices et extraits' (Vol. IX, Paris 1812); and Elliot, 'History of India,' Vol. IV.

>

MIRROR, a smooth surface usually of glass, capable of regularly reflecting rays of light. A mirror may be (1) a polished surface of glass; (2) a surface of tin-foil on the further side of a sheet of glass (as in the common looking-glass); (3) the surface of a deposited film of silver or platinum on a polished glass surface, so that rays of light to and from the metallic reflecting surface do not pass through the glass; (4) a polished surface of silver, gold, platinum or speculum metal (a bronze composed of about 32 parts of copper to 15 of tin, small quantities of lead, antimony and arsenic being sometimes added).

The use of a reflecting surface would become apparent to the first person who saw his own image reflected from water; and for primitive man the only mirrors were probably his

own reflection in the still water of ponds and lakes. The use of mirrors of brass by the Hebrews is mentioned in the Pentateuch; and bronze mirrors were used by the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. The use of silver in the manufacture of mirrors was taught by Praxiteles in the 4th century before Christ. Looking glasses were first made in Venice in A.D. 1300, and in 1673 were introduced into England. They were a great improvement on the more ancient speculum metal mirrors, whose reflecting surfaces were liable to oxidation from exposure to the air, but they have the disadvantage that there are two reflecting surfaces, one of glass, the other of metal. Polished metals reflect nearly all rays of light at all incidences; glass reflects very few rays at the normal incidence, but the amount of reflection becomes greater and greater as the incidence becomes more and more oblique. Mirrors are usually either "plane" or "spherical." Spherical mirrors are small portions of the surface of a sphere. In a spherical mirror, concave or convex, the line through the centre of the spherical surface of which the mirror is a part and the middle point of the mirror is called "the axis." From a concave mirror rays parallel to the axis converge after reflection to a point called the "principal focus," which is half-way between the centre of the sphere and the mirror. (See LIGHT). Rays from a luminous object outside the spherical centre of a concave mirror form a small, real, inverted image of the object between the centre and the principal focus; when the object is between the centre and the principal focus the image is beyond the centre, and is large, real and inverted.

Prior to 1835 mirrors were almost universally made by applying a coat of tin-foil amalgamated with mercury to the surface of plateglass. In 1835 Baron Liebig observed that on heating aldehyde with an ammoniacal solution of nitrate of silver in a glass vessel, a brilliant deposit of metallic silver was formed on the surface of the glass. To this observation the more recent process of silvering glass is really due. In 1849 Drayton made known a method in which he employed as a backing composition two ounces of nitrate of silver, one ounce of ammonia, three ounces of alcohol and three ounces of water. The defects of these two modern processes are that the deposit of silver on glass is not so adherent and unalterable under the influence of sunlight and sulphurous fumes as the old amalgam of tin and mercury; besides, the newer processes give the glass a slightly yellowish tinge. These disadvantages have been obviated by applying to the silver coating a weak solution of cyanide of mercury, which immediately forms a kind of amalgam and renders the deposit at once much whiter and more adherent. The silvering is protected from mechanical abrasion and the chemical action of gases and vapors by a coating of shellac or copal varnish, which when dry may receive a further covering of red-lead paint. A method of coating glass with platinum has been recently introduced. A solution of bichlo.. ride of platinum is spread over the surface of the glass with a fine brush, and the metal is precipitated with oil of lavender. As this summary process produces a somewhat gray lustre it is used only for cheap mirrors, the lids of ornamental boxes, toys and the like.

MIRROR CARP. See CARP.

MIRROR OF KNIGHTHOOD, The, Spanish romance of chivalry. It was one of the books in Don Quixote's library and of it the priest said to the barber: "In this same Mirror of Knighthood' we met with Rinaldo de Montalban and his companions, with the Twelve Peers of France and Turpin the historian. These gentlemen we will condemn only to perpetual exile, as they contain something of the famous Bojardo's invention, whence the Christian poet Ariosto borrowed the groundwork of his ingenious compositions; to whom I should pay little regard if he had not written in his own language (Italian)." The Mirror of Knighthood' is identified with the 'Cavallero del Febo (Knight of the Sun), a romance belonging to the Amadis de Gaul Cycle. It seems to have been the work of several hands and was unfinished. An English translation was printed in 1578.

MIRROR FOR MAGISTRATES, The. This once popular work, the first part of which was published in 1555, and the last in 1620, was the result of the labors of at least 16 persons, the youngest of whom was not born when the oldest died. It probably owed its inception to George Ferrers, master of the king's revels at the close of the reign of Henry VIII; and he associated with himself William Baldwin. Richard Niccols is responsible for the book in its final state; and in the interim, it was contributed to by Thomas Newton, John Higgins, Thomas Blennerhasset, Thomas Chaloner, Thomas Sackville (who wrote the poetical preface called the Induction and the life of Buckingham), Master Cavyll, Thomas Phaer, John Skelton, John Dolman, Francis Segar, Francis Wingley, Thomas Churchyard and Michael Drayton. It is a "true Chronicle Historie of the untimely falles of such unfortunate princes and men of note, as have happened since the first entrance of Brute into this Iland, until this our latter age." It was patterned after Lydgate's 'Fall of Princes, a version of Boccaccio's poems on the calamities of illustrious men, which had been very popular in England. The stories are told in rhyme, each author taking upon himself the character of the "miserable person" represented, and speaking in the first person. The first one told by Ferrers is that of Robert Tresilian, chief justice of England.

MIRROR OF PERFECTION, The, is a most intimate and exceedingly illuminating account of the son of Peter Bernardone, cloth merchant of Assisi. Christened John he was nicknamed by his father "Francisco" and is known to the world by no other name than that of Saint Francis of Assisi.

was

The volume, small enough to be attractivethere are only about 50,000 words to it written by Leo of Assisi who is often spoken of as the "beloved disciple" of Saint Francis. "Brother Leo, was not merely a fellow-townsman, 'companion,' disciple, and dear friend of Francis of Assisi. He was also his sicknurse, secretary and confessor during the last six years of his life. None knew Francis so intimately, or remembered him so well. None could be more scrupulously conscientious in recording what he believed to be the exact truth about the not yet canonized Saint." The character and fashion of the record tempts one

to speak of him as Saint Francis's Boswell. It is the "oldest life of the Beloved Francis," being "done," so a note at the end of the volume informs us, "in the most holy place of S. Mary of the Little Portion, and completed this fifth of the Ides of May in the year of Our Lord 1228. Saint Francis died 3 Oct. 1226.

The significance of the title is disclosed in these words of the author: "Here endeth the Mirror of Perfection of a brother Minor; to wit, of the Blessed Francis, wherein we may most sufficiently behold as in a glass the perfection of his calling and profession." Without a doubt a less scrupulous writer would have said also the perfection of the life of the Blessed Francis. He refrained from saying this most likely because he knew that Saint Francis would most flatly resent being spoken of as perfect.

The style in which the book is written is singularly in keeping with the spirit and character of the subject, and of the type of life he represented-simple, direct, homely, shorn of all scholarly vanities and conceits as the life of the subject was shorn of all wordly comforts. There is an indescribable charm and power of revelation to this narrative that is simple and homely even almost to the point of bluntness. Narrative is hardly the correct word. Perhaps it is better described as "a chaplet of immortelles set upon the head of the Saint on the morrow of his death to typify the crown of glory achieved by this beatified Spirit."

It is hardly a disinterested picture or biography. Some of it has been written with a distinct purpose, the intent being to show not merely what kind of a man Saint Francis was and the kind of life he lived but what principles and "Rules" he laid down as the foundation of the famous Order which takes its name from him, and it is plainly also the purpose to show what obedience to these principles is the true path of the perfect Christian. Sometimes Brother Leo becomes controversial, taking vigorous issue with those, and they were many, who "desired to ignore certain of the wishes and to modify certain of the injunctions of Francis in what they believed to be the interests of the Order." All this however does not lessen the value of the book as a carefully drawn and wholly reliable picture of the founder of the order of Franciscans. By his scheme of minutely, yet briefly, telling what Saint Francis did on those occasions when it seemed best that by example he should make clear to those concerned what doctrines he believed should govern their conduct, and of repeating what reply was made to those who came to Saint Francis seeking information or to question his ideals, the author gives the reader a very impressive picture of this noted religious character. With the devotion of one who is wholly of the same mind and spirit as the subject of his writing Brother Leo with painstaking accuracy repeats in "what wise the Blessed Francis declared the will and intention which he had from the beginning to the end as regards the observance of poverty" and of "maintaining poverty in books, and beds, buildings and appliances," and "how he did induce and teach his brethren to go forth for alms," thus disclosing what manner of man he was. He recounts instances showing with what unswerving zeal Saint Francis carried out to the

very limit of perfect example his ideals of absolute poverty in all things, of humility, charity, compassion and condescension. There may be much more to the life of the Blessed Francis than is here given, but the author has without doubt in these pages pictured Francis in the fashion in which he most desired to appear before his fellow-men. It is a book one must read if he would know the real Saint Francis and appreciate the ideas and ideals which moved him to fashion his life after the manner of the rules he made for the order that grew up about him.

Rev. CHARLES GRAVES.

MIRYACHIT, mer-yä'chit, a peculiar nervous disease prevalent in Siberia and some other countries, the chief characteristic of which is mimicry by the patient of everything said or done by another person.

MIRZA, mėrʻzą, Persian title, equivalent to "Prince.»

MIRZA, Husain Ali Nuri, Persian religious reformer: b. Mazadran, Persia, 12 Nov. 1817; d. Akka, 28 May 1892. He was of noble family, joined the Bahai movement in 1850 and was imprisoned during the fierce political and religious persecutions which the sect suffered shortly after the death of Mirza Ali Mohammed. (See BAHAISM). His prope. y was confiscated and he himself, with his family, was banished from Persia to Bagdad (Turkey) in 1852. Many Bahais followed him, most of them fleeing from the fierce persecution at home. Mirza Ali organized these into a compact, well-governed and self-sustaining community which soon became wonderfully prosperous, growing steadily in wealth and numbers. He was early looked upon as the great leader foretold by the founder of the faith; and new adherents came from all over Asia to study under him or to join the colony in Bagdad. This prosperity of the colony and the popularity of Mirza Ali, the "Bab" (gate or door), excited the jealousy of the Persian government and church, and the prophet and the whole colony were extradited and brought back to Constantinople. During the exodus, Mirza Ali proclaimed himself the expected prophet and took the name of "Baha'o'llah" (the Glory of God), by which designation he has ever since been known among his followers (1864). As the Bahai movement continued to grow with great rapidity in Constantinople, Mirza Ali was banished to Adrianople. Thousands of the faithful followed him there and he was removed to Akka (Palestine), a Turkish penal settlement, with 70 of his most active disciples (1868). They were all subject to the most rigorous imprisonment and treated with great harshness for seven years. At the expiration of this time the Bahais were allowed to form settlements in the town of Akka. To these settlements came people of all sects and creeds, and the penal colony became the centre of an intense religious movement which proI claimed the brotherhood of man, the unity of the race and the identity of all true spiritual aims and thought. There Mirza Ali remained from 1868 to 1892, writing his doctrinal books, working out plans for the government of the society and studying moral, social, political and economical questions and applying the lessons thus learned to the illustration of the gospel of

the unity of mankind, of religion, of society and of government. He boldly attacked the problems of the day and attempted to solve them through the application of his own religious views. Among the works of Mirza Ali are The Hidden Words'; 'The Most Holy Book'; 'The Book of Certainty) and The Seven Valleys. See BAHAISM; ABdul Baha.

MIRZAPUR, mēr-zä-poor', India, a city and district of the Benares division of the United Provinces. Mirzapur, signifying the Prince's Town, the capital of the district, is on the right bank of the Ganges, 56 miles by rail southeast of Allahabad and 509 from Calcutta. It presents an imposing appearance from the river, with fine ghats leading down to it, and numerous mosques, temples and handsome European houses occupying some of the most conspicuous sites, but the interior is disappointing. It has the largest mart in Upper India for grain, cotton and other raw produce, but with the railway era and the rise of Cawnpore to commercial importance, much of its trade has migrated elsewhere. Shellac, brassware and carpets are manufactured. There are imports of grain, sugar, cloth, metals, fruit, spices, tobacco, lac, salt and cotton; and exports of the same articles with manufactured lac-dye, shellac and ghee butter. Pop. 32,232. The district has an area of 5,238 square miles, and a population of about 1,100,000, chiefly Hindus. The chief products are wheat, barley, cotton, oil-seeds and fruits.

MISAMIS, mē-sä'mis, Philippines, a province of the island of Mindanao, situated on the north central coast, bounded on the east by Surigao; area, 3,406 square miles, with dependent islands, 3,521 square miles. The province is crossed by two mountain ranges, one on the east side with three summits of over 5,000 feet elevation, and the other on the west side with a peak that rises 8,560 feet. It has a number of rivers, and is crossed by the Grande de Mindanao, or Pulangui, which rises in the northeast; Lake Lano also extends over the southern boundary within its limits. The staple agricultural products are hemp, chocolate, coffee, cotton, sugar, rice, tobacco, corn and sweet potatoes; the forests contain woods valuable for building as well as resinous trees. chief industry is the manufacture of fabrics used for dress for home consumption and sacks for packing purposes. There are no good roads of any importance; the inland towns and villages are reached by river or trail, and the trade between coast towns is by native craft. The population is mostly Visayan, with some Moros in the western part. Pop. 175,683.

The

MISANTHROPE, Le, le me'zän'trōp', a comedy of Molière in five acts in verse, presented for the first time in the Theatre of the Palais-Royal, 4 June 1666, when the author was 44 years old. Molière played the title-rôle and his wife the part of Célimène. This play, which is Molière's nearest approach to tragedy, concerns one Alceste, who rails at the insincerity of mankind and yet is in love with a coquette, Célimène-a stroke which art is incapable of without genius. Alceste excites at once our admiration, pity and laughter. An upright and sincere man even to an unreasonable degree, he is made miserable by a letter of Célimène which seems to justify his rightcous indignation. Notwithstanding that these

fears seem to be well founded, Alceste remains in love with Célimène, but wishes her to withdraw with him from human society-which she of course refuses to do. The splendid emptiness of the life in a Parisian salon of the 17th century is placed vividly before us. There is no place for a natural and honest character in such society. Everything is artificial, deceptive and shallow. Molière's own experience had been so painful that the accent of truth pervades his treatment of the character which so nearly resembled his own. His life, saddened by hostile criticism, ill-health and an unhappy marriage, had become embittered, and some have attempted to prove therefrom that Molière himself is the real Alceste. It is true that he revealed more of his real self in this play than in any of his other plays, but he was too much of an artist to depict merely his own character. His unhappy domestic life probably did influence him to some extent, but the germ of the play is to be found in his earlier but unsuccessful play, 'Dom Garcie de Navarre' (4 Feb. 1661), from which he borrowed freely both scenes and verses The Duke de Montausier, the character of Mégabate in Mlle. de Scudéri's 'Le Grand Cyrus' and Boileau may also have been, as has been claimed, in Molière's mind in his delineation of Alceste. As a foil for the rigorous Alceste, the author presents us with the indulgent Philinte, who bears with men's faults from the necessity of living among them. So likewise with the coquette is contrasted the virtuous Eliante. The prude Arsinoë, and the marquis, typical of the large class of nobility whom Molière suspected of using their influence at court against him, constitute the other principal characters. Sheridan has imitated a scene of 'Le Misanthrope' in his 'School for Scandal' and Wycherly has imitated the entire play in his 'Plain Dealer,' but in a comparison between the imitation and the original the difference is seen between genius and brutality. The idea behind 'Le Misanthrope) may perhaps be best rendered in the words of Philinte: "All these human defects give us opportunity in life of exercising our philosophy. "Tis the most amiable employment virtue finds; and if every place were full of honesty and all hearts were frank, just and docile, the greatest part of our virtues would be useless to us, since the use of them is placed in this, in the power of bearing the injustice of another in respect to our property, without being ruffled." From this it is evident that Molière in his characterization does not discredit virtue, as such critics as Rousseau and Fénelon claimed, but merely the austerity of virtue not tolerant enough of human weakness. The public of the time was not prepared for such a fine distinction and did not appreciate the humor which reigns throughout. Consequently, in spite of its purity and elegance of style, the play was coldly received. It is said that at the first presentation, after the reading of Oronte's sonnet, the pit applauded, but Alceste afterward in the same scene contended that the sonnet was mere trash, whereupon the audience, through embarrassment at having ap proved it, became prejudiced against the entire play. Subsequently, it has become to be almost universally acknowledged as the most perfect piece of French comedy and the masterpiece of