MIDDLETON, Henry, American patriot, son of Arthur Middleton, 1681-1737 (q.v.): b. South Carolina, 1717; d. Charleston, S. C., 13 June 1784. He was elected to the South Carolina House of Commons and in 1745-47 was its speaker. He was appointed commissioner of Indian affairs in 1755 and served as a member of the council in 1755-70. He was elected a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1774, serving as its president from October 1774 to May 1775. He was president of the Provincial Congress of South Carolina in 1775-76. He was re-elected to the Continental Congress in 1776, but owing to failing health was replaced by his son Arthur, 1742-87 (q.v.), who became a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was a man of great wealth and wide influence, and was an earnest worker for the independence of the colonies.

MIDDLETON, Henry, American politician and diplomat: b. Middleton Place, S. C., 1771; d. Charleston, S. C., 14 June 1846. He was elected to the State legislature in 1801, serving till 1810. He was soon recognized as a leader, and in 1810-12 was governor of the State. He supported the war policy in 1812, and in 1815 he was elected to Congress, where he served four years. In 1820 he was appointed Minister to Russia, in which capacity he negotiated a treaty regulating trade and fisheries in the Pacific (1824). He returned to the United States in 1830, and retired from public life.

MIDDLETON, Thomas, English dramatist: b. probably in London about 1570; d. Newington Butts, July 1627. Little is known of his life, but his writings testify to the excellence of his education before his entry at Gray's Inn in 1593 (or 1596). Several minor prose works preceded what seems to be his first play, 'Old Law,' written with Rowley in 1599. From that time on he wrote_constantly for the stage, now alone, now with Rowley, Massinger or Dekker. Among these works are several masques, of which the best and most dramatic is The World Lost at Tennis.' Middleton's 'Witch' is his best known work because of the claim often made since its publication in 1778, that it must have furnished hints for the song of the witches in Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'; but Middleton's verse, which is particularly reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet,' and his imitation of Shakespeare, as, for example, of 'Hamlet' and Tempest,' possibly of Pericles,' too, in 'The Mayor of Quinborough,' make such a view untenable. It is more likely that the songs were taken from Middleton's play and inserted into the acting edition of Macbeth.' The most successful play by Middleton was 'A Game of Chess,' which satirized the wooing of the Spanish Infanta and was stopped by Privy Council; it packed the playhouses because of its political and Protestant tone. Among his other plays are 'Michaelmas Term) (1607), a story of city intrigue; A Trick to Catch the Old One (1608), his best comedy of intrigue; "The Roaring Girl'; 'The Spanish Gipsy,' which, like the Mayor of Quinborough and 'A Mad World,' has the Hamlet-like trick of a play within a play; and Women Beware Women,' his best single play. As a rule Middleton is erratic and ill-sustained, and his characters low and coarse, but sometimes wonderfully analyzed. Consult the editions by Dyce

(1840) and Bullen (1886), and Swinburne's essay in the Nineteenth Century for January 1866. Middleton's best plays appear in a volume of the 'Mermaid Series' (1887).

MIDDLETON, Canada, a town of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, 102 miles northwest of Halifax, at the junction of the DominionAtlantic and the Canadian-Northern railroads. There are granite quarries in the neighborhood. Concrete products are manufactured. There are medicinal springs, and the vicinity has numerous orchards. Pop. 1,000.

MIDDLETON, England, market town, municipal borough, in Lancashire, six miles northeast of Manchester. Its industrial establishments include cotton and silk factories, dye and print works, ironworks, chemical works, etc., and coal is extensively mined in the vicinity. The church dates from the 12th to the 16th century; the grammar school was founded in 1572; there is a handsome town-hall and free libraries and reading-rooms, parks and a handsome market-place. Gas and electric lighting plants are municipally owned. Pɔp. 27,980.

MIDDLETOWN, mid'l-town, Conn., city, county-seat of Middlesex County, on the Connecticut River, and on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, about 18 miles south of Hartford. It is opposite Portland, where are valuable brownstone quarries. The places are connected by a long drawbridge. The city was founded in 1650 and the next year was incorporated as a town under the name of Mattabeseck. Two years later the name was changed to Middletown. It was granted a city charter in 1784. For a number of years there was considerable trade with the West Indies, and until 1886 Middletown was the port of entry. In that year the custom-house business was removed to Hartford. Middletown is in an agricultural region in which tobacco is one of the principal products. Abundant waterpower has aided in making the place a manufacturing city. The chief manufactures are pumps, bone goods, cotton webbing, hammocks, rubber goods, silks, toys, shoes, chemicals, harness trimmings, locks, marine hardware and silver-plated ware. The educational institutions are the public and parish schools, the Wesleyan University (q.v.), the Berkeley Divinity School (P. E.), opened in 1854, and the Russell Free Library. It is also the seat of the State Hospital for the Insane, and the State Industrial School for girls. The charter of 1882, under which the government is administered, provides for a mayor, who holds office two years, and a city council. The subordinate officials are chosen by the mayor and council. Pop. about 14,000. Consult Adams, 'Middletown Upper Houses) (New York 1908); Whittemore, History of Middlesex County, Conn. (New York 1884).

MIDDLETOWN, Del., town in Newcastle County, on the Appoquinomink River and on the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad, 24 miles south by west of Wilmington. It is in an agricultural region in which the chief productions are fruits. The principal manufactures are canned-fruits, wagons and agricultural implements. The waterworks and electric-power plants are municipally owned. Pop. about 1,500.

MIDDLETOWN, N. Y., city, in Orange County, on the New York, Ontario and Western, the New York, Susquehanna and Wilmington, and the Erie railroads, nearly midway between the Hudson and Delaware rivers, and about 66 miles northwest of the city of New York. Middletown was settled about the middle of the 18th century; its location on the Minisink road, the route to the "West," and half-way between the important rivers of this section, gave the place its name, and its early importance. At first it was included in the Walkill township. In 1848 it was incorporated as a village, and 27 June 1889 was chartered as a city. It is in a fertile agricultural region, and has a large trade in dairy products, livestock and garden produce. It has the New York, Ontario and Western Railroad shops and the chief manufactures are hats, shirts, saws, automobile tires, cut glass, printers' supplies, files, carpet-bags, leather, condensed milk, paper boxes and cigars. Some of the noted public institutions are the State Homœopathic Hospital for insane, the Federal building, churches, public schools (ward schools), one parish school, an excellent high school, Saint Joseph's Academy (R. C.), and the Thrall Public Library. There are two national and one savings bank and one trust company bank. The government is administered under a charter of 1902 which provides for a mayor, who holds office two years, and a common council of nine members, each one of whom holds office two years. The mayor appoints, subject to the approval of the council, the members of the board of health, and the council elects the engineer, city clerk and corporation counsel. Pop. (not including over 2,000 State Hospital inmates), about 16,000.

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio, city, Butler County, on the Miami River, and on the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton, the Cincinnati Northern and the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and Saint Louis railroads about 34 miles north of Cincinnati. It was settled about 1794. It is in an agricultural section, but is noted for its many paper mills and large steel plants.

MIDDLETOWN, Pa., borough, in Dauphin County, on the Susquehanna River, and on the Philadelphia and Reading and the Pennsylvania railroads, about 10 miles southeast of Harrisburg. It was founded in 1756, and in 1828 was incorporated. It is in a farming region, but it has considerable manufacturing interests. The principal manufactures are shoes, foundry products, stoves, furniture and cars. Stone quarries in the vicinity contribute to the industrial wealth of the borough. Its trade is in the manufactured articles, farm and dairy products. The borough owns and operates the electric-light plant. Pop. 5,374.

MIDEWIN, mē'dě-win, or MIDEWIWIN, mē'dě-we'win, or MIDE, me'dě, or MEDA SOCIETY, a secret religious organization of the Algonquian Indian tribe. Both men and women were admitted to it and women as well as men might hold office. A resemblance to the Masonic ritual in its progressive degrees has been remarked. Consult Hoffman, W. J., "The Midewiwin of the Ojibway in the Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology.'

MIDGARD, mid'gärd, in Scandinavian mythology, the dwelling-place of the human race, formed out of the eyebrows of Ymir, one of the first giants, and joined to Asgard, the abode of the gods, by the rainbow-bridge.

MIDGE. See BLACK-FLY; GNAT.

MIDHAT PASHA, mĭd'hät păsh'â, Turkish statesman: b. Constantinople, 1822; d. Arabia, May 1884. He entered the Turkish government service, was made pasha in 1860, was governor successively of Uskup, Bulgaria and Salonica, and distinguished himself by his wise administration. In 1873 he was for a short time grand-vizier. He aided in deposing the Sultans Abd-ul Aziz and Murad V in 1876, was grand-vizier under Abd-ul Hamid (Dec. 1876-Feb. 1877), and was then banished by the suspicious monarch. Later, however, he was governor of Smyrna, then of Syria. He was tried with other pashas for the murder of Abd-ul Aziz, was found guilty and was sentenced to death; but this sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He wrote 'La Turquie: Son Passé et son Avenir (1878).

MIDIANITES, mid'i-an-itz, an Arab tribe, descended, according to Scripture, from Midian, the son of Abraham by Keturah. They occupied most of the country between the Arabian Gulf and the Plains of Moab. The Midianites were very troublesome neighbors to the Israelites till Gideon's victory over them. Midian ceased to be Egyptian and became Turkish in 1887. Consult Midian Revisited' (1879).

MIDLAND, Mich., city, county-seat of Midland County, on the Chippewa and Tittabawassee rivers, and on the Michigan Central and the Pere Marquette railroads, 18 miles west of Bay City. Its principal manufactures are shingles, lumber, tubs, hoops, pails, chemicals, bromine and salt. It has a fine new Federal building, banks, grade and high schools. The city is governed by a mayor and city council. Pop. 4,500.

MID-LOTHIAN, or EDINBURGSHIRE. See EDINBURGHSHIRE.

MIDNAPUR, mid-na-poor', India, a town and administrative district of Bengal. The town is the capital of the district and is 68 miles by rail west of Calcutta. It is the centre of an important indigo and silk industry, and has manufactures of brass and copper goods. Pop. about 33,200. The district forms the southern part of the Bardwán division, bounded on the east by the river Hugli. It has an area of 5,186 square miles.

MIDNIGHT JUDGES, or APPOINTMENTS, a term applied to executive appointments or nominations made by President John Adams, the last night of his administration. Congress had passed a bill authorizing the appointment of 18 new United States judges, and Adams with the consent of the Senate appointed judges to fill these newly created vacancies. They were known as "Adams Midnight Judges." The new law was repealed early in Jefferson's term and the judges lost their offices.

MIDRASH (Hebrew, from darash, to make research), among the Jews, is the general name given to the exposition or exegesis of the

Scriptures. When such writings first arose is not known, but the most flourishing period of midrashic exegesis was from about 100 B.c. to 200 A.D. The term midrash expressed "any and every ancient exposition on the law, psalms and prophets, disquisitions that took the form of allegorical illustration, homiletics or practical commentary." Thus in its most general meaning it expressed the whole uncanonical Jewish literature, including the Talmud, down to the compilation of the book Jalkuth in the 13th century, since which time the term gradually ceased to be applied to rabbinical writings,

MIDRIFF (A.-S. mid, middle; hrif, abdomen), the diaphragm (q.v.).

MIDSHIPMAN, in the American and British navy, a young officer who has previously held the position of a naval cadet. The cadets require to be nominated before they can come forward for competition. After two years' training on board a training-ship, the cadet is expected to pass the examinations appointed. If he gain a first-class certificate he becomes a midshipman at once, otherwise he has to serve for 6 to 12 months at sea. A midshipman after four years and a half may become a sub-lieutenant; he then studies at the Naval College, is trained in gunnery and torpedo practice, takes a course in pilotage and then may become a lieutenant.

MIDSHIPMAN, a California coast-fish of the genus Porichthys. See CABEZON.

MIDSHIPMAN EASY, Mr., a nautical romance by Capt. Frederick Marryat, published in 1836. It narrates the adventures of a spoiled lad, the son of a so-called philosopher, who cruises about the world, falls in love, has misfortunes and at last good luck and a happy life. The incidents themselves are nothing, but the book is entertaining for its "character" talk, and because the author has the gift of spinning a yarn.

MIDSUMMER EVE. See JOHN'S, EVE

OF SAINT.

MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, A. First printed in 1600 and mentioned by Meres in 1598. A Midsummer Night's Dream' was probably written in 1594, or even earlier. It was doubtless written for some wedding festival as it has many of the characteristics of a masque. The incidents connected with Theseus and Hippolyta were taken from Plutarch's 'Life of Theseus' and perhaps Chaucer's 'Knights Tale,' while the fairy story which makes up such a large part of the play was Shakespeare's transformation of the somewhat crude elements of mediæval folklore. The first and last acts take place in Athens at the palace of Theseus, and the other three acts in the forest near Athens. Theseus and his queen fit into the story in so far as they celebrate their nuptials, and as they are interested in the love affairs of Demetrius and Helena, Lysander and Hermia; they are brought into the forest only by their love of the chase, which is realistically portrayed. The well-known words of Theseus upon "the lunatic, the lover and the poet, as of imagination all compact," are in striking contrast with the fantastic fairies that really dominate the play. Even further removed from fairy-land are the prosaic mechanics who represent, with all the

characteristics of low comedy, the story of Pyramus and Thésbe. By their rehearsal in the forest they are caught for a moment in the magic web of Oberon, Titania and Puck. Under the same influences fall the Athenian lovers, who after unfortunate experiences are brought to the happy conclusion of their dreams. The title of the play, as indeed the major part of the story and the background, suggest the tone, the atmosphere, of the play. It is the magical midsummer-night with the moon in the sky that forms the appropriate setting of the mystery, the fantasy, and the unreason of fairy-land. Oberon, Titania and Puck, along with the other incarnations of the beauty and magic of nature, have fixed in the popular imagination the principal elements of fairy-land. The fact that they were represented by boys on the Elizabethean stage gave to these creations the spirit of childhood that has been lost in the modern stage representation. No analysis can suggest the delicacy, or the beauty, or the charm of these airy nothings to which Shakespeare has given a local habitation and a name.

EDWIN MIMS.

MIDWAY ISLANDS, North Pacific Ocean, so named from being midway between Asia and America, are the northernmost islets of the Hawaiian group, extending about 1,800 miles north by west of Honolulu, The islands have come into prominence as the intermediate station of the American-Pacific cable to the Ladrone and Philippine islands via Honolulu. The group consists of a low coral atoll 18 miles in circumference, enclosing Sand Island, Eastern Island and two islets. Sand Island, the largest, is one and three-fourths miles long, three-fourths of a mile wide and has an average elevation of from 3 to 10 feet above sea-level, the highest point attaining 43 feet. Eastern Island is one and one-fourth miles long, one-half mile wide and from 6 to 12 feet high. Both islands are partly covered with coarse grass and bushes, the breeding ground of the tern or sea-swallow. Good water is obtained by sinking wells, while fish of many varieties, turtles, crabs and crawfish, etc., abound in the lagoon; sea-birds also are easily caught. The islands are inhabited only by the employees at the cable stations. 1887-89 a shipwrecked crew lived here for 14 months until rescued, losing, however, several of their number from scurvy. A short distance west of the islands a submarine mountain rises 2,200 feet from the ocean bed to within 82 fathoms of the surface, and between the islands and Guam is an abyss of over 4,900 fathoms, one of the deepest in the world.

From

MIDWIFE FROG. See OBSTETRICAL FROG.
MIDWIFERY. See OBSTETRICS.

MIELATZ, Charles Frederick William, American etcher: b. Breddin, Germany, 24 May 1860. He came to the United States when a child and was educated in the schools of Chicago, studying drawing at the Chicago School of Design, and painting under F. Rondel, Sr. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Design and as instructor in etching there exerted a considerable influence over the younger artists of his time. He became widely known for his etchings, dry

points, aquatints and lithographs. He has executed a large number of views of New York as well as of rural, woodland and marine scenes. Among his works may be mentioned the etchings The Battery); Rainy Night, Madison Square'; 'Kingsbridge on the Harlem'; 'Arch of the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine'; 'Saint Paul's'; 'New York from the Harbor; Chelsea Docks'; 'The Naval Arch'; 'Poe's Cottage at Fordham'; 'Across the Fields, Narragansett'; 'A Glimpse of New Haven'; 'In the Gardens, Georgian Court, Lakewood'; 'Near the Golf Links, Lakewood'; the dry points, Falls of Pawtucket'; 'Fisherman's Luck'; 'A Mill at Block Island'; the aquatints, 'Foggy Day on Shore'; 'Winter Night; and the lithographs, 'Bowling Green'; 'Fifth Avenue.'

MIELZINER, mělʼzin-èr, Moses, Amercan rabbi and educator: b. Schubin, Germany, 12 Aug. 1828; d. Cincinnati, Ohio, 18 Feb. 1903. After studying at the University of Berlin he became rabbi of a congregation in Waren, Germany, and then head of a theological school in Copenhagen. In 1865 he was called to the rabbinate of a New York synagogue, which he held until 1873, when for six years he was principal of a private school besides co-operating in the Emanu El Preparatory School. In 1879 his real educational work was begun in the United States when he was appointed professor of the Talmud at the Hebrew College, which position he held until his death. teacher he was clear, exact and thorough. His published works include "The Jewish Law of Marriage and Divorce (1884); Selections from the Book of Psalms (1884); Slavery among the Ancient Hebrews) (1894); 'Introduction to the Talmud (1884 and 1903); 'Legal Maxims and Fundamental Laws of the Civil and Criminal Code of the Talmud' (1898); 'Rabbinical Law of Hereditary Success' (1900).

As

MIER, Mexico, commune in state of Tamaulipas, 95 miles northeast of Monterey, on the Rio Grande. Pop. 7,114.

MIERES, Spain, city in the province of Oviedo, 12 miles by rail southeast of Oviedo, on the river Caudal. It is situated in a mountainous region with heavy forests and fertile land. It has coal, iron, sulphur and cinnabar mines, and iron and chemical works. The town has also a trade in fruit, timber and livestock. Pop. 27,866.

MIERIS, mēʼris, Frans van (THE ELDER), Dutch painter: b. Leyden, 12 April 1635; d. there, 12 March 1681. He was originally a pupil of the glass painters A. Torenvliet and G. Dous, and eventually became so famous as a canvas artist that the Grand Duke of Tuscany and other noblemen ordered pictures from him; his work was remarkable both for refinement of handling and elegance of design. His portraits and genre pictures, in which both nobility and bourgeoise are represented, are not conspicuous for striking and original characterization. Only two or three figures appear in most of his genres, and his compositions of this kind are delicate and smooth to a degree that renders them almost inanimate. There are portraits of himself and his wife in the gallery of The Hague, and in the Pinakothek at

Munich, which latter collection is especially rich in examples of this master, among them An Oyster Breakfast'; 'Lady Playing a Lute'; "The Trumpeter'; 'The Sick Woman. Many of his pictures are to be met with in the galleries of Paris and Dresden such as 'The Artist'; A Lady Painting); 'Love's Message'; "The Music Lesson'; and in the Berlin Gallery is his 'Young Lady before a Looking-glass.'

MIERIS, Frans van (THE YOUNGER), grandson of the preceding, Dutch painter: b. Leyden, 24 Dec. 1689; d. there, 22 Oct. 1763. He painted genre and portraits after the manner of his father, who had produced a number of small club pictures, and of his grandfather. He did more service perhaps by his literary work than by his pictures, which have the ancestral fault of superficiality. He wrote 'Histoire der Nederlandsche Vorsten' (1732-35); 'Groot Charter-book der Graven van Holland, van Zeeland en Herren van Vriesland' (175356); and Handvesten der Stad Leyden' (1759).

was

MIFFLIN, Thomas, American soldier and politician: b. Philadelphia 1744; d. Lancaster, Pa., 20 Jan. 1800. He was by birth a Quaker; was graduated at Philadelphia College in 1760; entered public life in 1772 as a member of the Pennsylvania assembly; and in 1774 elected a delegate to the Continental Congress. In 1775 he entered the army with the rank of major, and as colonel and first aide-de-camp to Washington accompanied him to Cambridge. He subsequently held the appointment of adjutant-general, and in the spring of 1776 was commissioned as brigadier-general. He fought in the battle of Long Island, and by his energy succeeded in the latter part of 1776 in raising considerable reinforcements in Pennsylvania to recruit Washington's army. He was present at the battle of Trenton, and did good service in driving back the enemy's line of cantonments from the Delaware. In 1777 he was made a major-general, and in the same year became an active member of the faction organized for the purpose of placing Gates at the head of the Continental army, and known in history as the Conway Cabal (q.v.). The project failing, he resigned his commission, and in 1782 was elected to Congress, of which body he became president during the following year. In this capacity he received from Washington the resignation of his commission as commanderin-chief. In 1785 he became speaker of the Pennsylvania legislature, and in 1787 he was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. In October 1788, he succeeded Franklin as president of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, which position he filled for two years; and from 1790 to 1799 he was governor of the State. In 1794, while holding this office, he rendered important assistance to Washington in quelling the Whisky Insurrection (q.v.).

MIFFLIN, Warner, American reformer: b. Accomac County, Va., 21 Oct. 1745; d. near Camden, Del., 16 Oct. 1798. When a boy on his father's plantation he became convinced of the evil of slavery, and when he himself became a slave owner, he freed all his slaves and paid them for their past services. He was a Quaker, and traveled widely, preaching against slavery. It was largely through his efforts that the

Quakers came to oppose slavery, and many followed his example in freeing their slaves. On account of his religious principles he opposed the Revolutionary War, and at the time of the battle of Germantown interviewed both General Washington and General Howe to impress upon them the evils of the war. In 1782 he was instrumental in securing a law in Virginia which allowed for emancipation of slaves; in 1783 he presented a memorial to Congress in regard to slavery, and in 1791 another memorial on the same subject to the President and Congress, which was the cause of a sharp debate on the right of petition. Shortly afterward he published a series of essays defending his position in the matter.

MIFFLIN, Fort. See FORT Mifflin,

MIGDOL (Hebrew, a tower), Egypt, town mentioned in Jeremiah xliv, 1; xlvi, 14, as in lower Egypt; in Ezekiel xxix, 10; xxx, 6, as the northern limit of the country, opposite Syene; as a station on the route of the Israelites to the Red Sea in Exodus xiv, 2, and in Numbers xxxiii, 7. It is also probably the magdolum of the 'Antonine Itinerary,' situated 12 Roman miles from Pelusium.

MIGNARD, Pierre, French painter and engraver: b. Troyes, November 1612; d. Paris, 20 May 1695. He studied in Bourges under Jean Boucher and in Paris under Simon Vouet. In 1636 he went to Italy and spent most of his time in Rome, whence he was surnamed "The Roman" (Le Romain). He imitated Annibale Caracci, and among other portraits, including those of many Roman nobles, painted likenesses of Popes Urban VIII and Alexander VII. In 1654 he went to Venice where his success as a portrait painter continued. On being summoned to Paris by Louis XIV he painted portraits of the young king and of Mazarin and afterward was commissioned to decorate the cupola of the church of Val de Grace with over 200 figures of prophets, martyrs, etc. This work, the largest piece of fresco painting in France, soon lost the beauty of its coloring, owing to the painter's want of familiarity with the art of working on a wet plaster ground. He subsequently produced some paintings for the palace of Versailles, and was made director of the royal art collection and superintendent of the manufacture of the Gobelin tapestry. His pictures suffer from the faults of his day; they are stiff and conventional; but glow with the warm and harmonious coloring of the Venetian school. His portraits are the best of the early French school. A remarkable collection of his works is to be found in the Louvre, but the Berlin Museum possesses the finest of his portraits, that of Maria Mancini. Consult Lebrun Dalbaume, 'Etude sur Pierre Mignard' (1878).

MIGNE, Jacques Paul, French priest and editor: b. Saint-Flour, Cantal, 25 Oct. 1800; d. Paris, 25 Oct. 1875. He was educated at Orleans, was ordained a priest in 1824 and had charge of the parish of Puiseaux in the diocese of Orleans until 1833 when he went to Paris and founded L'Univers religieux, which afterward became L'Univers under the direction of Veuillot. In 1836 he disposed of his interest in that publication and established a publishing house for the production of religious books in inexpensive editions. While his work as a pub

lisher was of vast scope much of it was superficial and prepared at too high a rate of speed to be accurate. An exception is the 'Patrology) which was under the direction of the scholar Benedictine J. B. Pitra, and which covers many works not included in other collections nor produced in special editions. It was published as 'Patrologiæ cursus completus (Latin series, 221 vols., 1844-55; Greek series, in Latin, 85 vols., 1856-61; Greek series, with Greek text and Latin trans., 165 vols. 1857-66). Among other publications are Scripturæ sacræ cursus completus) (28 vols., 1840-45); 'Collection des auteurs sacrés' (100 vols., 1846-48); Encyclopédie théologique) (171 vols., 1844-66), etc. The Migne publishing plant was a total loss by fire in 1868, but it was rebuilt, and in 1876 it was sold to Garnier Frères, who also purchased Migne's copyrights.

MIGNET, François Auguste Marie, fränswä ō-güst mä-rē mēn-yā, French historian: b. Aix, Provence, 8 May 1796; d. Paris, 24 March 1884. He was educated at Avignon; studied law in Aix; went to Paris in 1822 after winning a prize from the Academy of Inscriptions by his essay on French institutions, government and legislation in the time of Saint Louis; joined the staff of the Courrier Français; lectured on modern history at the Athenée; was elected to the Academy in 1836; and after the Revolution of 1848 lost the place he had held for 18 years as archivist of the Foreign Office. His most important work was a History of the French Revolution) (1824). Besides this he wrote biographies of Franklin (1848), of Mary Stuart (1851), and of Charles V (1854). Consult Trefort, Mignet und seine Werke (1885).

MIGNON, French term of endearment (darling, favorite, pet), sometimes used as a given name. 1. A mysterious Italian girl, the daughter of an aged harpist, who dies in despair through unrequited love in Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's Lehjahre. 2. Opera by Ambroise Thomas, founded on Wilhelm Meister,' with words by Carré and Barbier, produced in Paris in 1866, in London in 1870 and in New York in 1871. 3. A term of opprobrium applied to certain favorites of Henry III, of France, youths of frivolous habits and effeminately fashionable dress, popularly credited with dissolute morals and generally hated because of the king's lavish generosity to them. Among them were Quélus, Saint-Mégrin, Maugiron, Epernon and Joyeuse.

MIGNONETTE, min-yō-nět', a genus (Reseda) of annual and perennial herbs of the family Resedacea. The species, of which there are about 50, are natives of western Asia and the Mediterranean region. They have simple or compound leaves, and terminal spikes of small, pale, usually greenish flowers. Less than half a dozen species are cultivated, the most important being the common mignonette (R. odorata), a universal favorite both in gardens and in greenhouses because of its fragrant flowers. It is a branching annual herb of decumbent habit when in its prime, and will thrive in any cool, moist, fairly rich soil, when partly shaded from the noon-day sun. For outdoor blooming the seeds are sown successionally from early spring to midsummer, and for winter blossoming from that time forward at intervals of three or four weeks.