Thou remember’st Since once I sat upon a promontory, And heard a _mermaid_, on a _dolphin’s_ back, Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath, That the _rude sea_ grew civil at her song; And certain _stars shot madly from their spheres_, To hear the sea-maid’s music. Act ii. sc. 1 (1592). These “stars” were the earl of Northumberland, the earl of Westmoreland, and the duke of Norfolk. =Mary, the Maid of the Inn=, the delight and sunshine of the parish, about to be married to Richard, an idle, worthless fellow. One autumn night, two guests were drinking at the inn, and one remarked he should not much like to go to the abbey on such a night. “I’ll wager that Mary will go,” said the other, and the bet was accepted. Mary went, and, hearing footsteps, stepped into a place of concealment, when presently passed her two young men carrying a young woman they had just murdered. The hat of one blew off, and fell at Mary’s feet. She picked it up, and flew to the inn, told her story, and then, producing the hat, found it was Richard’s. Her senses gave way, and she became a confirmed maniac for life.--R. Southey, _Mary, the Maid of the Inn_ (from Dr. Plot’s _History of Staffordshire_, 1686). =Mary Pyncheon.= (See PYNCHEON.) =Mary Woodcock.= (See WOODCOCK.) =Mar´zavan=, foster-brother of the Princess Badou´ra.--_Arabian Nights_ (“Camaralzaman and Badoura”). =Masaniello=, a corruption of [Tom]maso Aniello, a Neapolitan fisherman, who headed an insurrection in 1647 against the duke of Arcos; and he resolved to kill the duke’s son for having seduced Fenella, his sister, who was deaf and dumb. The insurrection succeeded, and Masaniello was elected by his rabble “chief magistrate of Portici;” but he became intoxicated with his greatness, so the mob shot him, and flung his dead body into a ditch. Next day, however, it was taken out and interred with much ceremony and pomp. When Fenella heard of her brother’s death, she threw herself into the crater of Vesuvius. ⁂ Auber has an opera on the subject (1831), the libretto by Scribe. Caraffa had chosen the same subject for an opera previously. =Mascarille= (3 _syl._), the valet of La Grange. In order to reform two silly, romantic girls, La Grange and Du Croisy introduce to them their valets, as the “marquis of Mascarille” and the “viscount of Jodelet.” The girls are taken with their “aristocratic visitors;” but when the game has gone far enough, the masters enter and unmask the trick. By this means the girls are taught a most useful lesson, and are saved from any serious ill consequences.--Molière, _Les Précieuses Ridicules_ (1659). ⁂ Molière had already introduced the same name in two other of his comedies, _L’Etourdi_ (1653) and _Le Dépit Amoureux_ (1654).