Merry Monarch. A sobriquet of Charles II of England. Mestizos. In Spanish America persons of mixed European and Indian blood are so called. Métayage. A system of land tenure in France, prior to the Revolution, by which the tenant was supplied by the landlord with stock and farming implements, and the produce of the land, after payment of taxes, was divided equally between them. Farmers holding land on this tenure were called métayers. Methuen Treaty. A treaty between England and Portugal, signed in 1703, whereby the latter was induced to join the Grand Alliance. It contained only two clauses, one admitting English woollen goods into Portugal, the other providing that Portuguese wines imported into England should only pay one-third of the duty levied on French wines. This treaty was abrogated on the signing of a commercial treaty between England and France in 1786. Middle Kingdom. China is so called by the Chinese, who believe it to be the centre of the inhabited world. Mignon. A nickname of Henri III of France (1574-1589). Mikado. The name by which the hereditary sovereign of Japan was known to Europeans, in the early days of intercourse with that country. From the time of the Shôgun Iyeyasu, in the early part of the seventeenth century, the functions of the “Mikado” as a temporal ruler were usurped by the Shôguns, or Commanders-in-Chief, though he was always recognized as the _de jure_ head of the State. Since the revolution, however, he has resumed his rightful position as Emperor of Japan. The title is now in disuse, the Emperor being known as the Tenno. Milan Decree. A decree issued by Napoleon in 1807, as a reply to the Orders in Council, declaring that every vessel, of whatever nationality, sailing to or from a British port or colony, had forfeited her neutrality, and was a lawful prize. Mile Act. An Act of the Scottish Parliament, passed in 1662, forbidding any minister who had failed to comply with the provisions of the Episcopal Ordination Act to reside within five miles of a royal borough, or within twenty of his own parish. Military Septennate. A compromise, introduced by Bismarck in the Reichstag, between an annual vote for military purposes, and a vote for an indefinite period. It fixes the military establishment and the requisite supplies for a period of seven years. Millenary Petition. A petition presented to James I by certain Puritan clergymen of the Church of England, said to have numbered a thousand, asking to be relieved from the celebration of certain ceremonies to which they were conscientiously opposed. The petition was rejected. Million Act. An Act passed in 1692, authorising the raising of one million sterling by means of tontine annuities, in aid of the expenses of the French War. This is the first instance of the English Government raising money by means of annuities. Ministère de Trois Jours.