=Music’s First Martyr.= Menaphon says that when he was in Thessaly he saw a youth challenge the birds in music; and a nightingale took up the challenge. For a time the contest was uncertain; but then the youth, “in a rapture,” played so cunningly that the bird, despairing, “down dropped upon his lute, and brake her heart.” ⁂ This beautiful tale, by Strada (in Latin) has been translated in rhyme by R. Crashaw. Versions have been given by Ambrose Philips, and others; but none can compare with the exquisite relation of John Ford, in his drama entitled _The Lover’s Melancholy_ (1628). =Musical Small-Coal Man=, Thos. Britton, who used to sell small coals and keep a musical club (1654-1714). =Musicians= (_Prince of_), Giovanni Battista Pietro Aloisio da Palestri´na (1529-1594). =Musidora=, the _dame du cœur_ of Damon. Damon thought her coyness was scorn; but one day he caught her bathing, and his delicacy on the occasion so enchanted her that she at once accepted his proffered love.--Thomson, _Seasons_ (“Summer,” 1727). =Musido´rus=, a hero, whose exploits are told by Sir Philip Sidney, in his _Arcadia_ (1581). =Musketeer=, a soldier armed with a musket, but specially applied to a company of gentlemen who were a mounted guard in the service of the king of France from 1661. They formed two companies, the _grey_ and the _black_; so called from the color of their hair. Both were clad in scarlet, and hence their quarters were called the _Maison rouge_. In peace they followed the king in the chase, to protect him; in war they fought either on foot or horseback. They were suppressed in 1791; restored in 1814, but only for a few months; and after the restoration of Louis XVIII. we hear no more of them. Many Scotch gentlemen enrolled themselves among these dandy soldiers, who went to war with curled hair, white gloves, and perfumed like milliners. ⁂ A. Dumas has a novel called _The Three Musketeers_ (1844), the first of a series; the second is _Twenty Years Afterwards_; and the third, _Viconte de Bragelonne_. =Muslin=, the talkative, impertinent, intriguing _suivante_ of Mrs. Lovemore. Mistress Muslin is sweet upon William, the footman, and loves cards.--A. Murphy, _The Way to Keep Him_ (1760). =Mus´tafa=, a poor tailor of China, father of Aladdin, killed by illness brought on by the idle vagabondism of his son.--_Arabian Nights_ (“Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp”). =Mutton=, a courtezan, sometimes called a “laced mutton.” “Mutton Lane,” in Clerkenwell, was so called because it was a suburra or quarter for harlots. The courtezan was called a “Mutton” even in the reign of Henry III., for Bracton speaks of them as _oves_.--_De Legibus_, etc., ii. (1569). =Mutton-Eating King= (_The_), Charles II. of England (1630, 1659-1685). Here lies our mutton-eating king, Whose word no man relies on; He never _said_ a foolish thing, And never _did_ a wise on’. Earl of Rochester.