Chapter Marguerite Gautier to MARIANA of M by Brewer's Readers Handbook

become his wife. She made the promise, but was saved the misery of the marriage by the arrest of Norris for murder.—Knowles: The Daughter (1836).

Marian, or “A Young Maid’s Fortunes,” an excellent novel of Irish life by Mrs. S. C. Hall, published in 1840. Katey Macane, an Irish cook, adopts Marian a foundling, and watches over her with untiring affection.

MARIANA, a lovely and lovable lady, married to Angelo (deputy duke of Vienna) by civil contract, but not by religious rites. Her pleadings to the duke for Angelo are wholly unrivalled.—Shakespeare: Measure for Measure (1603).

Timid and shrinking before, she does not now wait to be encouraged in her suit. She is instant and importunate. She does not reason with the duke; she begs, she implores.—R. G. White.

N.B.—Mariana was Angelo’s wife by civil contract, but not by the “sacrament of marriage.” She was wed to him, but was not his wife, according to the rites of the Catholic Church.

(Mariana is a subordinate character in All’s Well that Ends Well. She is a neighbour and friend of the Old Widow of Florence.)