Chapter Marl to Marrow-bones of M by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Marl to Marrow-bones

Marl Latin, argill'; German, märgel; Spanish and Italian, marga; Armoric, marg; Irish, Marla; Welsh, marl.

Marlborough Statutes of Marlborough. Certain laws passed in the reign of Henry III., by a parliament held in Marlborough Castle. (See Malbrouk [Sen va-t'-en guerre].)

Marlborough Dog (See Blenheim Dog .)

Marlow Both Sir Charles Marlow and his son Young Marlow are characters in She Stoops to Conquer, by Goldsmith. Young Marlow is bashful before ladies, but easy enough before women of low degree.

Marmion Ralph de Wilton, being charged with treason, claimed to prove his innocence by the ordeal of battle, and, being overthrown by Lord Marmion, was supposed to be dead, but was picked up by a beadsman, who nursed him carefully; and, being restored to health, he went on a pilgrimage to foreign lands. Now, Lord Marmion was betrothed to Constance de Beverley; and De Wilton to Lady Clare, daughter of the Earl of Gloucester. When De Wilton was supposed to be dead, Lord Marmion proved faithless to Constance, and proposed to Clare, having an eye especially to her rich inheritance. Clare rejected his suit, and took refuge in the convent of St. Hilda, in Whitby; Constance, on the other hand, took the veil in the convent of St. Cuthbert, in Holy Isle. In time, Constance eloped from the convent, but, being overtaken, was buried alive in the walls of a deep cell. In the meantime Lord Marmion was sent by Henry VIII. with a message to James IV. of Scotland, and stopped at the hall of Hugh de Heron for a night. Sir Hugh, at his request, appointed him a guide to conduct him to the king, and the guide wore the dress of a palmer. On his return, Lord Marmion hears that Lady Clare is in Holy Isle, and commands the abbess of Hilda to release her, that she may be placed under the charge of her kinsman, Fitz Clare, of Tantallon Hall. Here she meets De Wilton, the palmer-guide of Lord Marmion. Lord Marmion being killed at the battle of Flodden Field, De Wilton married Lady Clare. (Sir Walter Scott.)
   Lord Marmion. The hero of Scott's poem so called is a purely fictitious character. There was, however, an historic family so called, descendants of Robert de Marmion, a follower of the Conqueror, who obtained the grant of Tamworth, and the manor of Scrivelby, in Lincolnshire. He was the first royal champion, and his male issue ceased with Philip Marmion in the reign of Edward I. Sir John Dymoke, who married Margery, daughter of Joan, the only surviving child of Philip, claimed the office and manor in the reign of Richard II.; they have remained in his male line ever since.

Marmo Lunense (See Luna .)

Maro Virgil, whose name was Publius Virgilius Maro, was born on the banks of the river Mincio, at the village of Andes, near Mantua. (B.C. 70-19.)

“Sweet Maro's muse, sunk in inglorious rest,
Had silent slept amid the Mincian reeds.”
Thomson: Castle of Indolence.

Maron or Marron (French). A catspaw (q.v.). “Se servir de la patte du chat pour tirer les marrons du feu;” in Italian, “Cavare i marroni dal fuoco colla zampa del gatto.”

“Cest ne se point commettre a faire de l'élat
Et tirer les marrons de la patte du chat.”
L'Etourdi, iii. 7.

Maronites (3 syl.). A Christian tribe of Syria in the eighth century; so called from the monastery of Maron, on the slopes of Lebanon, their chief seat; so called from John Maron, Patriarch of Antioch, in the sixth century.

Maroon A runaway slave sent to the Calabouco, or place where such slaves were punished, as the Maroons of Brazil. Those of Jamaica are the offspring of runaways from the old Jamaica plantations or from Cuba, to whom, in 1738, the British Government granted a tract of land, on which they built two towns. The word is from the verb “maroon,” to set a person on an inhospitable shore and leave him there (a practice common with pirates and buccaneers). The word is a corruption of Cimarron, a word applied by Spaniards to anything unruly, whether man or beast. (See Scott: Pirate, xxii.)

Maroon (To). To set a man on a desert island and abandon him there. This marooning was often practised by pirates and buccaneers. (See above.)