Chapter Mezentius to Midden of M by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

acted as magistrates were also called angels. “There is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God.”

Michal in the satire of Absalom and Achitophel, by Dryden and Tate, is meant for Queen Catherine, wife of Charles II. As Charles II. is called David in the satire, and Michal was David's wife, the name is appropriate.

Michel or Cousin Michael. A German. Michel means a dolt; thus the French call a fool who allows himself to be taken in by thimble-rigs and card tricks mikel. In Old French the word mice occurs, meaning a fool. (See Michon.)

“L'Anglais aime à étre représenté comme un John Bull; pour mous. notre type est l'Allemand Michel, qui recoit une tape par derrière et qui demande encore; `Qu'y a-t-il pour votre service?' ”- Dr. Weber: De l'Allemagne, etc.

Miching Malicho Secret or underhand mischief; a veiled rebuke; a bad deed probed by disguised means. To mich or meech means to skulk or shrink from sight. Michers are poachers or secret pilferers. Malicho is a Spanish word meaning an “evil action;” as a personified name it means a malefactor. (Hamlet, iii. 2.)
   The “quarto” reads munching mallico; the “folio” has miching malicho. Qy. The Spanish mucho malhecho (much mischief)?

Michon according to Cotgrave, is a “block, dunce, dolt, jobbernol, dullard, loggerhead.” Probably michon, Mike (an ass), mikel, and cousin Michel, are all from the Italian miccio, an ass. (See Mike .)

Mickleton Jury (The). A corruption of mickle-tourn (magnus turnus). The jury of court leets. These leets were visited Easter and Michaelmas by the county sheriffs in their tourns.

Microcosm (Greek, little world.) So man is called by Paracelsus. The ancients considered the world as a living being; the sun and moon being its two eyes, the earth its body, the ether its intellect, and the sky its wings. When man was looked on as the world in miniature, it was thought that the movements of the world and of man corresponded, and if one could be ascertained, the other could be easily inferred; hence arose the system of astrology, which professed to interpret the events of a man's life by the corresponding movements, etc., of the stars. (See Diapason .)

Mid-Lent Sunday The fourth Sunday in Lent. It is called dominica refectionis (refection Sunday), because the first lesson is the banquet given by Joseph to his brethren, and the gospel of the day is the miraculous feeding of the five thousand. In England it used to be called Mothering Sunday, from the custom of visiting the mother or cathedral church on that day to make the Easter offering.

Midas Like Midas, all he touches turns to gold. Midas, King of Phrygia, requested of the gods that everything he touched might be turned to gold. His request was granted, but as his food became gold the moment he touched it, he prayed the gods to take their favour back. He was then ordered to bathe in the Pactolus, and the river ever after rolled over golden sands.

Midas-eared Without discrimination or judgment. Midas, King of Phrygia, was appointed to judge a musical contest between Apollo and Pan, and gave judgment in favour of the satyr; whereupon Apollo in contempt gave the king a pair of ass's ears. Midas hid them under his Phrygian cap; but his servant, who used to cut his hair, discovered them, and was so tickled at the “joke,” which he durst not mention, that he dug a hole in the earth, and relieved his mind by whispering in it “Midas has ass's ears.” Budaeus gives a different version. He says that Midas kept spies to tell him everything that transpired throughout his kingdom, and the proverb “that kings have long arms” was changed in his case to “Midas has long ears.” “Ex eo in proverbium venit, quod multos otacustas - i.e. auricularios habebat. ” (De Asse.) (See Pope: Prologues to Satires.)
    Domenichino (1581-1661) has a painting on the Judgment of Midas.
   Midas has ass's ears. An exact parallel of this tale is told of Portzmach, king of a part of Brittany. It is said Portzmach had all the barbers of his kingdom put to death, lest they should announce to the public that he had the ears of a horse. An intimate friend was found willing to shave him, after swearing profound secrecy; but not able to contain himself, he confined his secret to the sands of a river bank. The reeds of this river were used for pan-pipes and hautbois, which repeated the words “Portzmach- King Portzmach has horse's ears.”