_Mary Melrose_, Violet’s cousin, but without a penny. She marries Talbot Champneys; but his father, Sir Geoffrey, wanted him to marry Violet, the heiress.--H. J. Byron, _Our Boys_ (a comedy, 1875). =Melusi´na=, the most famous of the _fées_ of France. Having enclosed her father in a mountain for offending her mother, she was condemned to become a serpent every Saturday. When she married the count of Lusignan, she made her husband vow never to visit her on that day, but the jealousy of the count made him break his vow. Melusina was, in consequence, obliged to leave her mortal husband, and roam about the world as a ghost till the day of doom. Some say the count immured her in the dungeon wall of his castle.--_Jean d’Arras_ (fourteenth century). ⁂ The cry of despair given by the _fée_ when she discovered the indiscreet visit of her husband, is the origin of the phrase, _Un cri de Mélusine_ (“A shriek of despair”). =Melvil= (_Sir John_), a young baronet, engaged to be married to Miss Sterling, the elder daughter of a City merchant, who promises to settle on her £800,000. A little before the marriage, Sir John finds that he has no regard for Miss Sterling, but a great love for her younger sister, Fanny, to whom he makes a proposal of marriage. His proposal is rejected; and it is soon brought to light that Miss Fanny had been clandestinely married to Lovewell for four months.--Colman and Garrick, _The Clandestine Marriage_ (1766). =Melville= (_Major_), a magistrate at Cairnvreckan village.--Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time, George II.). _Melville_ (_Sir Robert_), one of the embassy from the privy council to Mary queen of Scots.--Sir W. Scott, _The Abbot_ (time, Elizabeth). _Melville_, the father of Constantia.--C. Macklin, _The Man of the World_ (1764). _Melville_ (_Julia_), a truly noble girl, in love with Faulkland, who is always jealous of her without a shadow of cause. She receives his innuendos without resentment, and treats him with sincerity and forbearance (see act i. 2).--Sheridan, _The Rivals_ (1775). =Melyhalt= (_The Lady_), a powerful subject of King Arthur, whose domains Sir Galiot invaded; notwithstanding which the lady chose Sir Galiot as her fancy knight and chevalier. =Memnon=, king of the Ethiopians. He went to the assistance of his uncle, Priam, and was slain by Achillês. His mother, Eos, inconsolable at his death, weeps for him every morning, and her tears constitute what we call dew. _Memnon_, the black statue of King Amen´ophis III., at Thebes, in Egypt, which, being struck with the rays of the morning sun, gives out musical sounds. Kircher says these sounds are due to a sort of clavecin or Æolian harp enclosed in the statue, the cords of which are acted upon by the warmth of the sun. Cambyses, resolved to learn the secret, cleft the statue from head to waist; but it continued to utter its morning melody notwithstanding.