_Mirabel_ (_Old_). He adores his son, and wishes him to marry Oria´na. As the young man shilly-shallies, the father enters into several schemes to entrap him into a declaration of love; but all his schemes are abortive. _Young Mirabel_, the son, called “the inconstant.” A handsome, dashing young rake, who loves Oriana, but does not wish to marry. Whenever Oriana seems lost to him the ardor of his love revives; but immediately his path is made plain, he holds off. However, he ultimately marries her.--G. Farquhar, _The Inconstant_ (1702). =Mirabell= (_Edward_), in love with Millamant. He liked her, “with all her faults; nay, liked her for her faults, ... which were so natural that (in his opinion) they became her.”--W. Congreve, _The Way of the World_ (1700). Not all that Drury Lane affords Can paint the rakish “Charles” so well, Or give such life to “Mirabell” [_As Montague Talbot_, 1778-1831]. Crofton Croker. =Mirabella=, “a maiden fair, clad in mourning weeds, upon a mangy jade unmeetly set, with a lewd fool called Disdain” (canto 6). Timias and Serena, after quitting the hermit’s cell, meet her. Though so sorely clad and mounted, the maiden was “a lady of great dignity and honor, but scornful and proud.” Many a wretch did languish for her through a long life. Being summoned to Cupid’s judgment hall, the sentence passed on her was that she should “ride on a mangy jade, accompanied by a fool, till she had saved as many lovers as she had slain” (canto 7). Mirabella was also doomed to carry a leaky bottle, which she was to fill with tears, and a torn wallet, which she was to fill with repentance: but her tears and her repentance dropped out as fast as they were put in, and were trampled under foot by Scorn (canto 8).--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, vi. 6-8 (1596). ⁂ “Mirabella” is supposed to be meant for Rosalind, who jilted Spenser, and who is called by the poet “a widow’s daughter of the glen, and poor.” =Mir´amont=, brother of Justice Brisac, and uncle of the two brothers, Charles (the scholar) and Eustace (the courtier). Miramont is an ignorant, testy old man, but a great admirer of learning and scholars.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Elder Brother_ (1637). =Miran´da=, daughter of Prospero, the exiled duke of Milan, and niece of Antonio, the usurping duke. She is brought up on a desert island, with Ariel, the fairy spirit, and Cal´iban, the monster, as her only companions. Ferdinand, son of the king of Naples, being shipwrecked on the island, falls in love with her, and marries her.--Shakespeare, _The Tempest_ (1609). Identifying herself with the simple yet noble-minded Miranda in the isle of wonder and enchantment.--Sir W. Scott.