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

Marozia daughter of Theodora. The infamous offspring of an infamous mother, of the ninth century. Her intrigues have rendered her name proverbial. By one she became the mother of Pope John XI. (See Messalina .)

Marphisa (in Orlando Furioso). Sister of Rogero, and a female knight of amazing prowess. She was brought up by a magician, but, being stolen at the age of seven, was sold to the king of Persia. The king assailed her virtue when she was eighteen, but she slew him, and seized the crown. She came to Gaul to join the army of Agramant, but hearing that Agramant's father had murdered her mother Galacella, she entered the camp of Charlemagne, and was baptised.

Marplot A silly, cowardly, inquisitive Paul Pry, in The Busybody, by Mrs. Centlivre. H. Woodward's great part.

Marque (See Letters Of ...)

Marriage Knot (The). The bond of marriage effected by the legal marriage service. The Latin phrase is nodus Herculeus, and part of the marriage service was for the bridegroom to loosen (solvere) the bride's girdle, not to tie it. In the Hindu marriage ceremony the bridegroom hangs a ribbon on the bride's neck and ties it in a knot. Before the knot is tied the bride's father may refuse consent unless better terms are offered, but immediately the knot is tied the marriage is indissoluble. The Parsees bind the hands of the bridegroom with a sevenfold cord, seven being a sacred number. The ancient Carthaginians tied the thumbs of the betrothed with leather lace. See Nineteenth Century, Oct., 1893, p. 610. (A. Rogers.)

“Around her neck they leave
The marriage knot alone.”
Southey: Curse of Kehama.

“When first the marriage knot was tied
Between my wife and me,
Her age did mine as much exceed
As three-times-three does three;
But when ten years and half ten years
We man and wife had been.
Her age came then as near to mine
As eight is to sixteen.”
Ans.: 15 and 45 at marriage, 30 and 60 fifteen years afterwards.

    The practice of throwing rice is also Indian.

“Hamilcar desired to unite them immediately by an indissoluble betrothal. In Salambo's hands was a lance, which she offered to Narr Havas. Their thumbs were then tied together by a leather lace, and corn was thrown over their heads.”- Flaubert: Salambo, chap. xi.

Marriage Plates Sacred plates with a circular well in the centre to hold sweetmeats. They were painted for bridal festivities by Maestro Georgio, Orazio Fontane, and other artists of Urbino and Gubbio, Pesaro and Pavia, Castelli and Savona, Faenza and Ferrara, and all the other art towns of Italy. These plates were hung upon the walls, and looked on with superstitious awe as household gods. They were painted in polychrome, and the chief design was some scriptural subject, like Rebecca and Isaac.

Marriages Carrier's republican marriages. A device of wholesale slaughter, adopted by Carrier, proconsul of Nantes, in the first French Revolution. It consisted in tying men and women together by their hands and feet, and casting them into the Loire. (1794.)

Marriages Close times of marriages in the Catholic Church.
   (1) Ab Adventu usque ad Epiphaniam (from Advent to Epiphany).
   (2) A Septuagesima usque ad octavus Pasche inclusive (from Septuagesima to the octave Easter). (Ed. In the original edition, the word octavus had been translated to eighth).
   (3) A secunda feria in Rogationibus usque ad primam dominicam post Pentacosten (from the second feast in Rogation to the first Sunday after Pentecost exclusive).
   (Liber Sacerdotalis ... Secundum Ritum Sanctæ Romanæ et Apostolicæ Ecclesiæ; 1537.)

Marriages are Made in Heaven This does not mean that persons in heaven “marry and are given in marriage,” but that the partners joined in marriage on earth were foreordained to be so united. As the French proverb more definitely expresses the idea, “Les mariages se font au ciel et se consomment sur la terre. ” And again, “Les mariages sont écrits dans le ciel. ” E. Hall (1499-1547) says, “Consider the