Chapter Mariner's Compass to Markham of M by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Mariner's Compass to Markham

Mariner's Compass The fleur-de-lis which ornaments the northern radius of the mariner's compass was adopted out of compliment to Charles d'Anjou, whose device it was. He was the reigning king of Sicily when Flavio Gioja, the Neapolitan, made his improvements in this instrument.

Marino Faliero The forty-ninth doge or chief magistrate of the republic of Venice, elected 1354. A patrician named Michel Steno, having behaved indecently to some of the women assembled at the great civic banquet given by the doge, was kicked off the solajo by order of the Duke. In revenge he wrote upon the duke's chair a scurrilous libel against the dogaressa. The insult was referred to the Forty, and the council condemned the young patrician to a month's imprisonment. The doge, furious at this inadequate punishment, joined a conspiracy to overthrow the republic, under the hope and promise of being made a king. He was betrayed by Bertram, one of the conspirators, and was beheaded on the “Giant's Staircase,” the place where the doges were wont to take the oath of fidelity to the republic. (Byron: Marino Faliero.)

Mariotte's Law At a given temperature, the volume of a gas is inversely as the pressure. So called from Ed. Mariotte, a Frenchman, who died 1684.

Maritornes (Spanish, bad woman). A vulgar, ugly, stunted servant-wench, whom Don Quixote mistakes for a lord's daughter, and her “hair, rough as a horse's tail,” his diseased imagination fancies to be “silken threads of finest gold.” (Cervantes: Don Quixote.)

Marivaudage (4 syl.). An imitation of the style of Marivaux (1688-1763). He wrote several comedies and novels. “Il tombe souvent dans une métaphysique alambiquée [far-fetched, over-strained] pour laquelle on a créé le nom de marivaudage.”

“Ce qui constitue le marivaudage, c'est une recherche affectée dans le style, une grande substilité dans les sentiments, et. une grande complication d'intrigues.”- Bouillet: Dict. Universel, etc.

Marjoram As a pig loves marjoram. Not at all. Lucretius tells us (vi. 974), “Amaricinum fugitat sus, ” swine shun marjoram. The proverb is applied in somewhat this way: “How did you like so-and-so?” Ans.: “Well, as a pig loves marjoram.”

Mark
   God bless the mark! An ejaculation of contempt or scorn. (See Save The Mark.)

“To be ruled by my conscience, I should stay with the Jew my master, who, God bless the mark! is a kind of devil.”- Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice, ii. 2.

   To make one's mark. To distinguish oneself. He has written his name (or made his mark) on the page of history.
   Up to the mark. Generally used in the negative; as, “Not quite up to the mark,” not good enough, not up to the standard fixed by the Assay office for gold and silver articles; not quite well.

Mark (St.), in Christian art, is represented as being in the prime of life; sometimes habited as a bishop, and, as the historian of the resurrection, accompanied by a winged lion (q.v.). He holds in his right hand a pen, and in his left the Gospel. (See Luke .)

Mark (Sir). A mythical king of Cornwall, Sir Tristram's uncle. He lived at Tintagel Castle, and married Isolde the Fair, who was passionately enamoured of his nephew, Sir Tristram. The illicit loves of Isolde and Tristram were proverbial in the Middle Ages.

Mark Banco An hypothetical quantity of fine silver, employed as a money-valuer in the old Bank at Hamburg, and used by the Hanseatic League. Deposits in gold and silver coins were credited in Marco Banco, and all banking accounts were carried on in Marco Banco. The benefit was this: Marco Banco was invariable, but exchange varies every hour. The bank not only credited deposits by this unvarying standard, but paid withdrawals in the same way; so that it was a matter of no moment how exchange varied. I put £1,000 into the bank; the money is not entered to my credit as 1,000, but so much Marco Banco. The same process was adopted on withdrawals also.