Young Lo. Steward, this is as plain as your old minikin breeches.-Beaum & Fletch. The Scornful Lady, Act i. sc. 1. MINIM. Fr. Minime; Lat. Minimum, - the least. The least part or portion; any very smal. thing.

Applied to that which was the shortest noe in ancient music, and which now is equal to two

crotchets.

Pardon thy shepherd mongst so many lays
As he hath sung of thee in all his dayes,

To make one minime of thy poore handmayd,
And underneath thy feete to place her prayse.
Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. iv. c. 10.

Not all

Minims of nature; some of serpent kinde
Wondrous in length and corpulence involv'd
Their snakie foulds, and added wings.

Milton. Paradise Lost, b. vii.
MINIMENT, i. e. Muniment, (qv.)
Upon a day, as she him sate beside,

By chance he certain miniments forth drew;
Which yet with him as relicks did abide,
Of all the bounty which Belphebe threw
On him.

MINISH, v.

MINISHING, n.
MINISHMENT.

}

Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. iv. c. 8.

Fr.Minuer; Lat. Minuere,to be, or cause to be less, (minus.) See To DIMINISH.

To lessen, to decrease, to weaken, to impair.

And the nombre of bricke which they were wont to make in tyme passed, laye vnto their charges also, and mynysshe nothynge therof.-Bible, 1551. Exodus, c. 5.

These thiges wer in dede not well done, but wer displeasaunt to God, & by him reputed as a minishment, & a withdrawing of the honor dewe to himself.

Sir T. More. Workes, p. 145.
The paw yett missed not his minisht might,
But hong still on the shield, as it at first was pight.
Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. i. c. 11.

And much matter there was in that proclamation, deuised to the slaunder of the lord chamberlaine, as that he was an euill counseller to the king's father, inticing him to many thinges highly redounding to the minishing of his honour.-Stow. Edw. V. an. 1476.

MINISTER, v.
MINISTER, R.

MINISTERY, or

MINISTRY.

MINISTERIAL.

MINISTERIALLY.

MINISTRACY.

MINISTRANT.

MINISTRATION.

MINISTRATORIOUSLY.

Dir'NISTRESS.

Fr. Ministrer; Lat. and It. Ministrare; Sp. Ministrar, to act as the less (minor) or inferior agent, in obedience or subservience to another. See ADMINISTER; and the quotation below from Hobbs.

To serve or subserve; to officiate, to contribute services or offices,

to supply, to dispense, to manage.

Thei ordeynd a couent, to ministre in that kirke.

R. Brunne, p. 80. Git thei said him tille, his ministres wasted the lond. Id. p. 312. For who is gretter: he that sittith at the mete or he that mynystrith? wher not he that sittith at the mete? and I am in the middel of you as he that mynystrith.

Wiclif. Luke, c. 22. For whether is greater, he that sytteth at mete: or he that serueth! Is it not he that sytteth at meat? And I amonge you, as he that mynistreth.-Bible, 1551. Ib.

The word minister, in the original Arakovos, signifieth one that voluntarily doth the business of another man; and differeth from a servant only in this, that servants are obliged by their condition to what is commanded them: whereas ministeri are obliged only by their undertaking, and bound therefore to no more than they have undertaken. Hobbs. Leviathan, pt. iii. c. 42.

But this is a sure rule, that if the enuy upon the minister
be great, when the cause of it in him is smal, or if the enuy
be generall in a manner, upon all the ministers of an estate;
then the enuy (though hidden) is truely upon the state
itselfe.-Bacon. Ess. Of Enuie.

Those churches that are zealous for souls must send into
their ministeries men so innocent, that evil persons may
have no excuse to be any longer vicious.
Bp. Taylor, vol. ii. Ser. 21.
Thou whose diviner soul hath caus'd thee now
To put thy hand unto the holy plow,
Making lay-scornings of the ministry,
Not an impediment, but victory;
What bring'st thou home with thee.

Donne. To Mr. Tilman, after he had taken Orders.
and ministers, to whom it belonged; for it was his part to
The fault ought to be laid on the remissness of the officers
direct and order well, but the part of others to perform the
ministerial offices.-Baker. Charles I. an. 1628.

1 can at will, doubt not, as soon as thou,
Command a table in this wilderness,
And call swift flights of angels ministrant
Array'd in glory on my cup to attend.

Milton. Paradise Regained, b. ii.
This Bisi at length was so visited with sicknesse that he
was not able to exercise the ministration.

Holinshed, vol. i. b. v. c. 34.
The Spring was in the prime; the neighbouring grove
Supply'd with birds, the choristers of love:
Music unbought, that minister'd delight
To morning walks, and lull'd his cares by night.
Dryden. Theodore & Honoria.

From the very beginning of the chapter we have Christ
consulting the propagation of the Gospel; and in order to it
(being the only way that he knew to affect it) sending forth
a ministery, and giving them a commission, together with
instructions for the execution.-South, vol. i. Ser. 3.

The Son submits to act ministerially, or in capacity of
Mediator.-Waterland.

Ten thousand thousand! bright ethereal powers,
Ministrant round, their radiant files unfold,
Arin'd in eternal adamant and gold.

Broome. Job, c. 38, 39.
Very solid and very brilliant talents distinguished the
ministerial benches.

Burke. Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs.
Beside the caliph, waits on either hand
A mighty peer, the noblest of the land;
This holds the seal, ministrant near the throne,
And bends his cares to civil rule alone.

Hoole. Jerusalem Delivered, b. xvii.
Thus was beauty sent from Heaven,
The lovely ministress of truth and good
In this dark world; for truth and good are one.

Akenside. Pleasures of Imagination, b. i.
MINNOW. The Fr. Menuise, Cotgrave says,
-is small fish of divers sorts; or the small fry of
fish cast into a pond, &c.

The minnow hath, when he is in perfect season-and not sick, which is only presently after spawning-a kind of dappled or waved colour, like to a panther, on his sides, inWalton. Angler, pt. i. c. 18.

And whanne he hadde closed the book he gaf agen to the clining to a greenish and sky-colour. mynystre, and sat.-Wiclif. Luke, c. 4.

And be closed the boke, and gaue it agayne to the minister, and sat doune-Bible, 1551. Ib.

For if the mynystracioun of dampnacioun was in glorie, mych more the mynysterie of rightwysnesse is plenteous in glorie.-Wiclif. 2 Cor. c. 3.

For if the ministring of condempnacioun be glorious; much more doeth ye ministracyö of rightwysnes exced in glory-Bible, 1551. Ib.

One alone is father of thinges: one alone ministreth all thinges.-Chaucer. Boecius, b. iii.

The destinee, ministre general
That executeth in the world over al
The purveíance, that God hath seen beforn.

Id. The Knightes Tale, v. 1664. Verely by this thing meaneth he none other, but the preaching of the very hole corps and body of the blessed fayth of Christ, & the ministring of the blessed sacramentes of our Sauyour Christ.—Sir T. More. Workes, p. 310.

VOL. IL

Before one salmon, you shall take a number of minnowes.
Beaum. & Fletch. The Two Noble Kinsmen, Act ii. sc. 1.

To snare the mole, or with ill-fashioned hook
To draw th' incautious minnow from the brook,
Are life s prime pleasures in his simple view.

MINOR, adj.
MINOR, n.
MI'NORATE, v.
MINORA'TION.
MINO'RITY.
MAJOR.

Cowper. Retirement.
Fr. Mineur; It. Minore, mi-
norare; Sp. Menor, menorar;
Lat. Minor, (from the Gr.
Mivvos, Att. pro μipos,) less.
For Minor, in Logick, see

Less; smaller, inferior; one less than-below-
who has not attained-a certain age.

To minorate,-Lat. of the Lower Ages, mino-
rare, to minish or diminish, to lessen,
MINISH.

1289

See

Tyndall would fayne wit in what figure it is made he shal find it in the first figure and the third mode, sauing that ye minor carrieth his proofe we him. Sir T. More. Workes, p. 504

But the first Act that passed in King Edward the Sixt, his tine, was an Act of repeale of that former Act, at which time neuerthelesse the King was minor. Bacon. Hen. VII. p. 145.

Which it [sense] doth not only by the advantageous assistance of a tube, but by less industrious experiments, showing in what degrees distance minorates the object. Glanvill. Vanity of Dogmatizing, c. 8

We now do hope the mercies of God will consider our de generate integrities unto some minoration of our offences. Brown. Vulgar Errours, b. i. c. 2.

The generation of bodies is not effected, as some conceive of souls, that is, by irradiation, or answerable unto the propagation of light, without its proper diminution; but therein ideally from every one: and the propagation of one, is in a a transmission is inade materially from some parts, and strict acception, some minoration of another. Id. Ib. b. iii. c. 9. There may, I confess, from this narrow time of gestation ensue a minority, or smallness in the exclusion.-Id. Ib. c. 6. When stag and raven, and the long-liv'd tree, Compar'd with man, dy'd in minority.

Donne. Anatomy of the World. First Anniversary. What mean all those hard restraints and shackles put upon us in our minority.-South, vol iv. Ser. 5.

In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority, whenever strong divisions prevail in that kind of polity, as they often must.-Burke. French Revolution.

MINOTAUR.

Fr. Minotaure; It. and Sp. Minotauro; Lat. Minotaurus, q.d. Minois taurus, the Bull of Minos.

And by his banner borne is his penor
Of gold ful riche, in which ther was ybete
The minotaure which that he slew in Crete.

Chaucer. The Knightes Tale, v. 981.

Here I. enclos'd from all the world asunder,
The minotaur of shame, kept for disgrace;
The monster of fortune, and the world's wonder,
Liv'd cloist'red in so desolate a case.

Daniel. The Complaint of Rosamond.

MINSTER, n. A. S. Mynster, mynstre; Fr.
Monsteir, from monasterium, a monastery, (qv.)

To riche dragones of golde he lette make anon,
And at the mynstre of Wynchestre he offerede that on.
R. Gloucester, p. 154.

The feste of gole to hold, with grete solempnite,
At Saynt Petir mynstere.
R. Brunne, p. 65.
There wer styll lytell fortresses kept in churches and
mynsters, the whiche dyde hurt in the countre, but they
had no great puyssaunce.
Berners. Froissart. Cronycle, vol, i. c. 339.

MINSTREL. Į Fr. Menestral, menestrier, MINSTRELSY. S menestrandier; Sp. Menestril, ministral; Low Lat. Menestrallus, ministrellus. The various ways in which this word was written have perplexed the etymology. It appears, however, to have been no more than a consequential usage of the Fr. Ministre; Lat. Ministri, (in the diminutive form of Menestral, ministrelli,) and applied to a class of persons, who were to administer their skill in poetry and music for the amusement of their patrons. They are in Low Lat. sometimes called plainly ministri; by Chaucer, in his Dream, ministers; and in the old paper roll printed by Leland, we find “ministers," who were appointed "to syng." See Du Cange, Gloss.

Menestral he was gode ynow, & harpare in eche poynte,
To Athelstan pauylon myd ys harpe he wende,
And so wel wythoute harpede, that me after hym sende,
R. Gloucester, p. 272.

And somme murthes to make as mynstrals conneth.
Piers Plouhman, p. 3.
Thesus cam into the hous of the prince and saigh the
mynstrels and the puple makynge noyse.—Wiclif. Matt. c. 9
and the people ragynge.-Bible, 1551. Ib.
Jesus came into the reuelers house, and saw the minstrels

While that this king sit thus in his nobley,
Herking his ministralles hire thingis pley
Beforn him at his bord deliciously.

Chaucer. The Squieres Tale, v.18, 883.
8 B

The trompours with the loude minstralcie.

Id. The Knightes Tale, v. 2673.
For sorwe of which he brake his minstralcie,
Both harpe and lute, giterne, and sautrie.

Id. The Manciples Tale, v. 17,214.

Thus wil I bringe the melody of thy songes, and the voice of thy mynstrelsy to an ende, so that they shall no more be herde.-Bible, 1551. Ezechiel, c. 26.

Harke! how the minstrils gin to shrill aloud
Their merry musick that resounds from far,
The pipe, the tabor, and the trembling croud,
That well agree withouten breach or iar.

Spenser. Epithalamion.

Per. By Pan, and by the strife
He had with Phoebus for the mastery,
When golden Midas judg'd their minstrelcy,

1 will not.

Beaum. & Fletch. The Faithful Shepherdess, Act iv. sc. 1.

Mean time the minstrels play'd on either side,
Vain of their art, and for the mastery vy'd;
The sweet contention lasted for an hour,
And reach'd my secret arbour from the bower.

Dryden. The Flower and the Leaf.

The rolls of fame, I will not now explore;
Nor need I here describe, in learned lay,
How forth the minstrel far'd in days of yore,

Right glad of heart, though homely in array,
His waving locks and beard all hoary gray.

The day was long, the wind was cold,
The Minstrel was infirm and old,
His withered cheek and tresses gray
Seemed to have known a better day.

MINT. Gr. Μίνθη.

ΜΙΝ

Had all the money in King Charles II. and King James II.'s time been minted according to this new proposal, this rais'd money would have been gone as well as the other, and the remainder been no more, nor no less, than it is now. Though I doubt not but the mint would have coin'd as much of it as it has of our present mill'd money.

Locke. Of the Lowering of Interest.

The operations of the Mint were, upon this account, somewhat like the web of Penelope; the work that was done in the day was undone in the night.

MINUET.

Smith. Wealth of Nations, b. iv, c. 6.
A dance.

Fr. Menuet, (minute.)

The tender creature could not see his fate
With whom she'ad danced a minuet so late.

Stepney. On the University of Cambridge.
Now when the minuet, oft repeated o'er,
Like all terrestrial joys, can please no more,
And every nymph refusing to expand
Her charms, declines the circulating hand.

MINUTE, adj.
MINUTE, n.
MINUTE, v.
MINUTARY.
MINUTELY, adj.
MINUTELY, ad.
MINU TENESS.
MINUTIE.

Jenyngs. Dancing, c. 2.
Fr. Minute; It. and Sp.
Minuto; Lat. Minutus; past
part. of minuere, to lessen, or
make less, to minish or di-
mininish.

Mi-núte, adj.-little, small.
A minute, a small (sc.)
portion of time, as the sixtieth
And hence also the adjective

Whose corpuscles, by reason of their minuteness, swim easily for a while in the water.-Bogle. Works, vol. iii. p.104.

At the great day it will be enquired very minutely, not only what we did know, but also what we might have known had we so pleased; had we been in earnest and taken due pains.-Horne. Works, vol v. Disc. 11.

Vandyck had a peculiar genius for portraits; his draperies are finished with a minuteness of truth not to be demanded in historic compositions.

Walpole. Anecdotes of Painting, vol. ii. c. 3.

The particulars of his life [Inigo Jones] have been often written, and therefore I shall run them over very briefly, adding some less known minutia and some catalogue of his works.-Id. Ib.

Fr. Miracle; It. Miracolo; Sp. Milagro; Lat. Miraculum, from mirari, which Martinius derives from the Hebrew, and explains, intentè tueri; to gaze earnestly, (sc. with wonder or astonishment; as new, strange, incomprehensible.) (See MARVEL.) In our old writers, exhibitions or entertainments contrived to excite Piers Plouhman, p. 213. surprise, &c. were called miracles. In popular

Beattie. The Minstrel, b. i. part of an hour.
minute (Milton,)—
Being, happening, minutely, or every minute.
A short or concise memorandum er note.
An unredy reve thi residue shal spene.
Tha menye moththe was ynne in a mynte while.
For the lachesse

Scott. Lay of the Last Minstrel.

Fr. Mente; It. Minta; Lat. Mentha ;

Woo to you Scribis and Farisees ypocritis that tithen mynte, anete, and comyne.-Wiclif. Matthew, c. 23.

Wo be to you Scribes and Pharises ypocrites, whych tyth mynt, anyse, and commin.-Bible, 1551. Ib.

Tho went I forth on my right hond,
Downe by a litel path I fond

Of mintes full, and fennel greene.-Chaucer. R. of the R. As for mint, men use it at the same time, of a young plant, so soone as they see it spurt and come up: but if it have not sprung, yet they let not to plant the spurnes of the root, knotted into an head within the ground.

MINT, v.
MINT, n.
MINTAGE.

MI'NTER.

Holland. Plinie, b. xix. c. 8. A. S. Mynetian, cudere, to coin or mint money, (Somner.) Ger. The Muntz-en; Dut. Munt-en. meaning of the word is found in the A. S. Myneg-ian, (mun, ig, ian, see MEAN,) to mark; whence Tooke forms it; mineyed, minyed, min'd, mint. (See MONEY, MIND.) Mint, in A. S. Mynet, was applied to the coin marked or stamped; and upon this (mynet) the verb mynetian may have been formed. Mint, noun, is

The place where the marking or stamping is performed, where the coin is made: (met.) where any thing is coined, forged, or invented.

And also they of the towne to haue a mynt to forge money, bothe whyte and blacke, of the same form and alay as is in Parys.-Berners. Froissart. Cronycle, vol. i. c. 304.

And so (vpon the matter) to set the mint on work, and to giue way to new coines of siluer, which should bee then minted.-Bacon. Hen. VII. p. 215.

When they do long

To strike out heroes from a mortal wombe,
And mint fair conquerours for the age to come.

Cartwright. To the Countess of Carlisle. Note that eleauen ounces two-pence ferling, ought to be of so pure siluer, as is called leafe siluer, and the minter must adde of other weight seventeen-pence halfpenny farthing, if the siluer be so pure.-Camden. Kemaines. Money, p. 204. Let me pour forth

My tears before thy face, whilst I stay here,
For thy face coins them, and thy stamp they bear;
And by this mintage they are something worth.
Donne. A Valediction of Weeping.
The next day he saw the Ordinance house, the Mint
houses, and at last the lions.-Stow. King James, an. 1603.

Let such, as are to informe counsels out of their professions (as lawyers, sea-men, mint-men, and the like,) be first heard before committees.-Bacon. Ess. Of Counsell.

Answ. Setting aside the odd coinage of your phrase, which no mint-master of language would allow for sterling. Milton. Animad. on the Remonstrants' Defence.

Of halfe a minute of an houre,
Fro first he began laboure,
He loste all that he had do.

But slumbring slepe is fled,

MIRA BILARY.

language,

Any thing astonishing, marvellous, wonderful, Gower. Con. A. b. iv. either natural or preternatural.

and Morpheus shewes his spite; That will not yeelde one minuts reast in all a winter's night.

Turbervile. To his Loue long absent, &c.

We have also glasses and means to see small and minute
bodies perfectly and distinctly; as the shapes and colours of
small flies and worms, grains, and flaws, in gemmes, which
cannot otherwise be seen.-Bacon. New Atlantis.

Or usher'd with a shower still,
When the gust hath blown his fill,
Ending on the rustling leaves,
With minute drops from off the eaves.

Millon. Il Penseroso.

In vain we prize that at so dear a rate,
Whose long'st assurance bears a minute's date.

Drayton. Duke of Suffolk to Q. Margaret.

And till then, there is a very fit place and season of the exercise of the other part of the passion here, that of indignation, the last minute of my last particular.

Hammond. Works, vol. iv. p. 580.

Surely the monks of Saint Alban's were concerned to be carefull how they spent their hours, seeing no convent in England had the like curiosity; this their clock gathering up the least crum of time, prseenting the minutary fractions thereof.-Fuller. Worthies. England. Barkshire.

It is an evidence of the great force that the gospel of Christ had then upon men's souls, melting them into that liberal effusion of all that they had, into an absolute contempt of all that is most doted on in the world, Kτnμаrα Kаι UжарFεis; possessions of all kinds, and by parting with all indefinitely, throwing themselves absolutely upon God's minutely providence for the sustaining of them.

Hammond. Works, vol. i. p. 472.

What is it but a continued perpetuated voice from heaven,
resounding for ever in our ears? as if it were minutely pro-
claimed in thunder from heaven, to give men no rest in
their sins, no quiet from Christ's importunity, till they
awake from the lethargick sleep, and arise from so dead, so
mortiferous a state, and permit him to give them life.
Id. Ib. p. 471.
Euph. O Alciphron! these minute philosophers (since
that is their true name) are a sort of pirates, who plunder
all that come in their way. I consider myself as a man left
stript and desolate on a bleak beach.

Berkley. The Minute Philosopher, Dial. 1.

I no sooner heard this critick talk of my works but I
minuted what he had said, and resolved to enlarge the plan
of my speculations.-Spectator.

With which, in often interrupted sleep,
Their frying blood compels to irrigate
Their dry-furr'd tongues, else minutely to death
Obnoxious, dismal death, th' effect of drought.
J. Philips. Cider, b. ii.

In theology,-to such acts as those of Christ in attestation of his mission; contrary to the ordinary course of nature.

For he herde of telle of miracles, that come
Thorow Christenemen al aboute, as wel as Rome.

R. Gloucester, p. 73.

And he shewith the firste myracle which God dide at the weddyngis.-Wiclif. Jon, Prol.

And whan that he this tale herde,
How wonderly this chaunce ferde
He thanked God of his myracle,
To whose might maie he none obsticle.

Gower, Con. A. b. ii.
Ime not their father, yet who this should bee
Doth myracle it selfe, lou'd before me.

Shakespeare. Cymbeline, Act iv. sc. 2.
A miracle, then, is the extraordinary effect of some un-
known power in nature, limited by divine ordination and
authority to its circumstances, for a suitable end.
Grew. Cosmo. Sacra, b. iv. e. 5. s. 13.

Again, there is nothing in the world, but what is indeed doubly miraculous, viz. in its own nature, and in the cast or project of its relation to the universe; neither of which can we ever search out into perfection.-Id. Ib. b. iv. c. 5. Hect. Not Neoptolymus so mirable.

Shakespeare. Troil. & Cress. Act iv. sc. 5. The use of this work, honoured with a precedent in Aristotle, is nothing less than to give contentment to the appetite of curious and vain will, as the manner of mirabilaries is to do.-Bacon. On Learning, b. ii.

A miracle I take to be a sensible operation, which, being above the comprehension of the spectator, and in his opinion contrary to the established course of nature, is taken by men to be divine.-It (is) agreed that as a miracle must be that which surpasses the force of nature in the established, steady laws of causes and effects, nothing can be taken to be a miracie but what is judged to exceed those laws. Locke. A Discourse of Miracles. These miracle-mongers have alarm'd the world round about them to a discernment of their tricks. South, vol. iii. Ser. 11 He is miracle-proof, and beyond the reach of persuasion, and not like to be convinced till it is too late for him to be converted. Id. vol. ix. Ser. 8,

Galen doth affirm cupping-glasses to work as miraculousig as if their operation had depended on enchantment. Boyle. Works, vol. ii. p. 18..

Although some cheats have pretended to cure diseases miraculously, and some have even attempted to raise the dead, yet no impostor. I believe, has ever yet been so beld as to undertake to feed five thousand people at once with five loaves and two fishes, or walk upon the sea. Porteus, vol. ii. Lect. 1s

A bright, lucid substance, in which may be seen the reflected images of objects; a looking-glass; (met.)—that in which men may see their own reflected image; and, consequently, order and regulate their actions and behaviour; hence, the profitable and pertinent humiliation than yet you know, and reflected image;-example, pattern.

Vertue itself turnes vice being misapplied,
And vice sometime by action dignified.

Shakespeare. Romeo & Juliet, Act ii. sc. 3.

He brings me informations, pick'd out of broken words in men's common talk, which, with his malicious misapplication, he hopes will seem dangerous.

Beaum. & Fletch. The Woman Hater, Act i. sc. 3.
Thus kneaded up with milk, the new made man
His kingdom o'er his kindred world began:
Till knowledge misapply'd, misunderstood,
And pride of empire sour'd his balmy blood.

Dryden. The Hind and the Panther.

The meaning of which providence, should we misconstrue, we should frustrate our grand and last remedy, and perish, not for want, but for misapplication of the means of life. South, vol. xi. Ser. 3.

All deception is a missapplying of those signs, which by compact, or institution, were made the means of men's signifying, or conveying their thoughts.-Id. vol. i. Ser. 12.

MIS-APPREHEND, v. To apprehend, or MISAPPREHENSION. Sto take or seize, to take the meaning, to understand, to conceive, wrongly, erroneously; to mistake, to misunderstand, to misconceive.

When the conclusion is deduc'd from unerring dictates of our faculties, we say the inference is rational; but when from misapprehended or ill-compounded phantasms, we ascribe it to the imagination. Glanvill. Vanity of Dogmatizing, c. 11. And what we have to say under this head [the causes of our ignorance] will be comprehensive both of the causes of that, and (which are the effects thereof) of our misapprehensions and errours.-Id. Ib. c. 7.

Patient sinners may want peace through mistakes and misapprehensions of God; for when there is a deep sense of sin, it is no easy matter to keep up the sense of God's readiness to forgive.-Stillingfleet, vol. iii. Ser. 3.

But if the being liable to misapprehension and to misrepresentation be thought an objection to any doctrine, I know of no doctrine which is not liable to the same; or any which

And drawing nigh him, “Ah, misborn elfe,
In evill houre thy foes thee hither sent
Another's wrongs to wreak upon thy selfe."
Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. i. c. 6.
To become, or come to-
gether, or to convene
or concur,-wrongly, to

MIS-BECOME, v. MISBECOMINGLY. MISBECOMINGNESS. ill effect; to be unfit, propriate.

ge prelates soffren

That lewede men in mysbylyve, liven and deien.
Piers Ploukman, p. 6.

False reporte so loude range the bell,
That misbeleefe and false suspection

Haue trouth brought to his dampnacion.

Chaucer. The Complaint of the Black Knight.

indecent, unsuitable, inap-other heresies, as of misbeliefe towarde the holy sacrament It was wel proued that he was conuicte as well of dyuers

And as you are a king, speake in your state,
What I haue done, that misbecame my place,
My person, or my liege's soueraigntie.

Shakespeare. 2 Pt. Hen. IV. Act v. sc. 2.
Those darker humours that
Stick mishecomingly on others, on them
Live in fair dwelling.

Beaum. & Fletch. The Two Noble Kinsmen, Act i. sc. 2.
There cannot be any thing so disingenuous, so misbecoming
a gentleman, or any one who pretends to be a rational crea-
ture, as not to yield to plain reason, and the conviction of
clear arguments.-Locke. Of Education, s. 189.

Were it but one of these mere moral failings, whose un-
fitness or misbecomingness makes all the guilt, I should,
possibly, counsel you to wean yourself of it by degrees, whose
progress were scarce discernible before its end.
Boyle. Works, vol. vi. p. 24.
MIS-BEDE, v. To wrong by word or deed,
MISBO'DE.
says Skinner. A. S. Mis-
beodan; to bid, command, exert command or
authority over, wrongly or wrongfully.

Whan Lowys herd that sawe, that Roberd was so dede,
Ageyn right & lawe, tille Henry he misbede.
R. Brunne, p. 104.
He said bot tille a knyght, that Thomas him mishede.
Id. p. 131.

Or who hath you misboden or offended?
Do tell me if that it may be amended.

Chaucer. The Knightes Tale, v. 911.

MIS-BEFA'LL, v. i. e. to befall, or to fall,
happen, come to pass, wrongly, unfortunately.
For elles but a man do so,

Him maie full ofte misbefall.—Gower. Con A. b. i.
MIS-BEGE'T, v. i. e. to beget, get, to ac-
MISBEGOTTEN. Squire, to procure, to pro-
Mis-begotten, as mis-born, (qv.)
Laste yt geode out of kynde thorg child mysbigete.

has not, in fact, been loaded, at various times, with great duce, to generate, wrongly, unlawfully.

mistakes.-Paley, Ser. 23.

MIS-ARRANGEMENT, i. e. a wrong arrangement; a wrong position or disposition; a wrong order.

Here glitt'ring turrets rise, upbearing high
(Fantastic misarrangement !) on the roof
Large growth of what may seem the sparkling trees
And shrubs of fairy land.
Cowper. Task, b. v.

MIS-ASSAY, v. i. e. to assay, or to try, to attempt, wrongly, improperly.

Willie, why ligst thou (man) so wo-be gon?
What! been thy rather lamkins ill apaid?
Or hath some drerie chance thy pipe misdone?
Or hast thou any sheep-cure mis-assaied?

Browne. Willie & Old Wennock, Ecl.

MIS-ATTENDED, i. e. attended to, observed, or regarded, not properly, insufficiently.

They shall recover the misattended words of Christ to the sincerity of their true sense from manifold contradictions, and shall open them with the key of charity.

Millon. Doctrine of Divorce, b. ii. c. 22.

MIS-BEAR, v. A. S. Mis-bær-an, misbor-en;
MI'SBORN.
Dut. Mis-baren.
To bear, or to carry, to support, to conduct,
wrongly or wrongfully; to misconduct, to mis-

behave.

Misborn, (in Spenser,)—born or produced to ill; unluckily.

Bisshops, abbotes, and priours, thei had misborn tham hie.
R. Brunne, p. 333.
Dan Waryn he les tounes that he held,
With wrong he mad a res, [rise,] and misberyng of scheld.
Id. p. 336.

Al be it so, that of youre pride and highe presumption and folie, and of youre negligence and unconning, ye have misborn you, and trespased unto me.

Chaucer. The Tale of Melibeus.

of the aulter.-Sir T. More. Workes, p. 239.

The author proueth yt if the woorship of ymages wer
ydolatrie than ye churche beleuing it to be lawful and plea-
sant to God, were in a misbelieue & in a deadly error.
Id. Ib. p. 144.

Goe, goe into old Titus' sorrowful house,
And hither hale that misbelieving Moore.

Shakespeare. Titus Andronicus, Act v. sc. 3.

In the following ages of the Church men have been so curious to signifie misbelievers, that they have invented and observed some signs which indeed, in some cases, were true, real appendages of false believers.

Bp. Taylor, vol. ii. Ser. 22.
And, comming to her sonne, gan first to scold
And chyde at him that made her misbelieve.

Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. iv. c. 12
My servant follow'd fast, and through a chink
Perceiv'd the royal captives hand in hand;
And heard the hooded father mumbling charms,
That make those misbelievers man and wife.

Dryden. Don Sebastian, Act iii. sc. 1. MIS-BESE/EM, v. i. e. to beseem, to look, to appear, inapt, untit, unbecoming, inconvenient, unsuitable, improper.

Xenophon pourtraying [in Cyrus] an heroical prince, thought an intent so cruel fitter to be forgotten than rehearsed, as too much misheseeming a generous nature. Ralegh. History of the World, b. iii. c. 3. s. 4.

As for his [Perseus] honour in the cities of Greece, they not only continued falling into neglect, but were abrogated

by a decree of the Acheans, as too unmeasured, misbeseem

ing them to give, and affected by him beyond the proportion of his deservings.-Id. Ib. b. v. c. 6. s. 5.

Neither in discoursing thus do we lay any misbeseeming imputation upon God, the author of that religion; the making so imperfect a revelation no wise being disagreeable to his wisdom, his goodness, or his justice.

Barrow, vol. ii. Ser. 15. MIS-BESTOW, v. i. e. to be-stow, or to put, lay, or place, to give, to grant-wrongly, wrongR. Gloucester, p. 42. fully, improperly, uselessly.

Which [quarreling] indeede

Is valour mis-begot, and came into the world,
When sects and factions were newly borne.

Shakespeare. Timon of Athens, Act iii. sc. 5.
In the deuotion of a subject's loue
Tendring the precious safetie to my prince
And free from other misbegotten hate,
Come I appealant to this princely presence.

Id. Rich. II. Act i. sc. 1.

For ev'ry boy, with Prior, knows,
By accident she [Flattery] lost her clothes,
When Falsehood stole them to disguise
Her misbegotten brood of lies.

Lloyd. To David Garrick, Esq. (1760.)

MIS-BEHAVE, v. Į i. e. to behave, have, MISBEHAVIOUR. Shold, bear, conduct, or manage, wrongly, improperly, unbecomingly.

If anie one doo offend or misbehaue himselfe, he is to be
corrected and punished by the aduice and order of the
residue of the house.

Hooker. Supplie of the Irish Chronicles, an. 1568.
But like a misbehav'd and sullen wench,
Thou pout'st upon thy fortune and thy love.

Shakespeare. Romeo & Juliet, Act iii. sc. 3.
Lastly, the cause of this misbehaviour and unworthy de-
portment was their not understanding the designs of mercy
in Egypt.-South, vol. ix. Ser. 4.
in the several instances of it. They understood thy wonders

We should remember that those good things alone are to
be greatly prized, and deserve our sincerest affection which,
if we diligently seek, we shall certainly find, and which we
can never lose except by our perversness and misbehaviour.
Jortin, Dis. 4.
i.e. to beliere, to ac-
knowledge, allow, own,
follow, a wrong or erro-
neous, rule of life; or rule to guide the moral and
religious conduct in life.

MIS-BELIEVE, v.
MISBELIEVER.
MISBELIEF.

Thys thre byssopes bitueyne hem nom hem thus to rede,
That hii mygte in her owe lond holyor lif lede.
And wythout peryl sykerore, than to hylene there
Among mys bylyuede men.
R. Gloucester, p. 239.

I pray Godde hartely sende that younge man the grace to bestowe his witte and lerning, such as it is, about some better busines then Tindall misbestoweth it now.

Sir T. More. Workes, p. 355.

Remember (dear) how loath and slow

I was to cast a look or smile,
Or one love-line to mis-bestow,

Till thou hadst chang'd both face and stile.

Carew. To the Jealous Mistress There cannot be a better way than to take the mishestowed wealth which they were cheated of from these our prelates. Milton. Animad. upon the Remonstrants' Defence. MIS-CAL, v. i. e. to call, to name, to denominate, wrongly; to denote by a wrong name.

Whom she with leasings lewdly did miscall
And wickedly backbite: her name men Sclaunder call.
Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. iv. c. 8.

A fourth abused name or word, by which the faction is every day practising upon the church, and the government of it is, their misscalling the execution of the laws made in behalf of the church, persecution.-South, vol. vi. Ser. 1.

MIS-CALCULATE, v. i. e. to calculate, (calculi, small stones used in computing) to count, compute, or reckon, wrongly.

After all the care I have taken, there may be, in such a multitude of passages, several misquoted, misinterpreted, and miscalculated.-Arbuthnot. On Coins.

But he excused himself, laying a great part of the miscarriage on the stubbornness of the Earl of Essex. Baker. Charles I. an. 1625.

If the tempter miscarries in this his highest, his sharpest, and most violent attack, at that particular hour, or season, in which the temptation is come to an head, it is natural to conceive that he must surcease the conflict, draw off, and give it over, for that time at least.-South, vol. vi. Ser. 7.

If he does not quit himself like a man, and make good his station against this principal assault of his spiritual adversary, a failure or miscarriage then will prove like an oversight in the day of battle, hardly to be recovered by any after-reparation -Id. Ib.

Without thus reflecting on our past miscarriages, and inquiring into their causes, we must for ever fall into the same mistakes, be deceived by the same appearances, surprised by the same artifices, and lose the only consolation (poor as it is) which our past follies and transgressions can afford us, experience.-Porteus, vol. ii. Ser. 4.

MIS-CAST, v. i.e. to cast, to throw, wrongly, improperly; consequentially, to calculate erroneously.

It so befelle,

That I at thilke tyme sie

On me, that she miscaste hir eie.-Gower. Con. A. b. iii.
The number is somewhat miscast by Polybius.

Ralegh. History of the World, b. v. c. 2. s. 8. MIS-CA'SUALTY, i.e. casualty, accident, or incident, any thing happening or befalling, wrongly, unfortunately.

Anguish of soul, troubles of mind, distempers of body, losses of estate, blemishes of reputation, miscarriages of children, miscasualties, unquietnesse, pains, griefs, fears, take up our hearts, and forbid us to enjoy, not happinesse, but our very selves -Bp. Hall. The Character of Man.

MIS-CATHOLICK, i. e. erroneous, blundering mass-priest.

Judge then, reader. whether the catholike bishope that wrote this, or the misentholike masse-priest that reproves it, be more worthy of Bedleem.

Bp. Hall. The Honour of the Maried Clergie, b. iii. s. 3.

MISCELLANY, adj.
MISCELLANY, N.
MISCELLANEOUS.

mingle.

Lat. Miscellaneus ;

- miscellus, miscus, from
miscere, to mix or

Pertaining, belonging, or relating to a mixture or diversity of things; mixed, mingled. A miscellany,

A mixture, a medley, of things of various kinds or sorts.

As a miscellany, madame, I would invent new tyres, and goe visite courtiers.-B. Jonson. Cynthia's Revels, Act iv. sc. 1.

Claudius Elianus flourished in the reign of Trajan, unto whom he dedicated his Tacticks; an elegant and miscellaneons author.-Brown. Vulgar Errours, b. i. c. 8.

But being miscellaneous in many things, he is to be received with suspicion.-Id. Ib.

Sprat, Carew, Sedley, and a hundred more, (Like twinkling stars the miscellanies o'er.)

Pope. Imitation of Horace to Augustus.

The miscellaneous matter I propose to give in these sheets naturally coincides with the method I have taken of disposing them into distinct papers.-Observer, No. 1.

MIS-CENTRE, v. i.e. to centre or concentrate, to point, wrongly; to direct to or fix on, a wrong point or object.

They were confounded, because they hoped, says thy servant Job; because they had misplaced, miscentred their hopes.-Donne. Devotion, p. 134.

MIS-CHALLENGE, v. i. e. to challenge, de

mand, summon, (to fight or encounter,) wrongly, wrongfully.

mes

Lo! faitour, there thy meede unto thee take,
The meede of thy mischalenge and abet.
Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. iv. c. 3.
MIS-CHANCE, v. Fr. Mescheans,
MISCHANCE, N. chance; i. e. to chance, to
fall, to happen wrongly, unfortunately; to befall
unhappily or disastrously.

Ouer Homber he fley a non, to wyte him from mischance.
R. Gloucester, p. 137.
Pees, with mischance and with misaventure,
Our hoste said, and let him tell his tale.

Chaucer. The Freres Tale, v. 6916.
But yet, I say, ariseth, let us daunce,
And cast your widdow's habit to mischaunce.
Id. Troil & Cres. b. i.

As mischiefe and misauenture.-Chaucer. Rom. of the R.
The great mischiefes hem assaileth.-Id. Ib.

Thus bryngeth he many a mischiefe in
Unaware, till that he be mescheued,
And maie not then be releued.

Gower. Con. A. b. iv.

Althogh in deede out of every flower the industrious bee
maie gather honie, yet by proofe the spider thereout suckes
nischeeuous poison.-Gascoigne. To the Reuerende Deuines.
Phy, agony of age,

Phy, ouerthrowe of youth,
Phy, mirrour of mischeuousnesse,

Phy, tipe of al vntruth.-Id. Complaynt of Phylomene.
He that kills may be killed, and he that does injury may
be mischiered; he that invades another man's right must
venture the loss of his own; and when I put my brother to
his defence, he may chance drive the evil so far from him-
self, that it may reach me.-Bp. Taylor, vol. ii. Ser. 26.

Well (quoth he) [Cleomenes] it is in you to miscall me
and raile upon me as you do in word; but it is in me to
plague and mis-chief you indeed.-Holland. Plut. p. 379.
And every one threw forth reproches rife

Of his mischievous deedes, and sayd that hee
Was the disturber of all civill life,
The enemy of peace, and authour of all strife.
Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. iii. c. 6.
Tisaphernes circumventing the chief commanders by fine
slights, did mischievously entrap them, to the extreme dan-
ger of the army.-Ralegh. Hist. of the World, b. iii. c. 10. s.6.

Generally, in Scripture, it [temptation] denotes not only
a bare tryal, but such an one as is attended with a design to
hurt or mischieve the people so tryed.-South, vol. vi. Ser. 4.
But singularity is not sincerity, though too often and mis
chievously mistaken for it.-Id. vol. iii. Ser. 4.

Enough for that, if rugged in its course,
The verse but rolls with vehemence and force;
Or nicely pointed in the Horatian way,
Wounds keen, like Sirens mischevously gay.
Hart. Essay on Satire, (1730.)
MIS-CHOOSE, v. i. e. to choose, to take, to
select, wrongly, erroneously.

displeased with our enterprise, (as the sequal shewed.) but

This mischance did not happen as any token that God was that we mischose the daie, attempting so great a worke vpon his date of rest.—Slow. Elizabeth, an. 1596.

What a miscitation is this? "Moses commanded." Tho law was God's, not Moses's.-Bp.Hall. Contemplations, b.iv.

MIS-COGNIZE, v. Fr. Mescognoistre, to misunderstand. Sce COGNITION.

The good never intervert, nor miscognize the favour and benefit which they have received. Holland. Plutarch, p. 893.

MIS-COLLECTION, i. e, a wrong, faulty, deficient collection or gathering.

In his words and yours, I find both a miscollection, and a wrong charge.-Bp.Hall. An Apology against the Brownists. MIS-COMFORT, i. e. the weakening, lessening, disheartening-of my cheer.

Than thought me, that loue gan a litel to heauy for myscomforte of my chere.-Chaucer. Testament of Loue, b. i.

MIS-COMPUTE, n. i. e. the wrong comMISCOMPUTATION. pute; the wrong, erroneous reckoning or calculation.

Budeus de Asse correcting the mis-compute of Valla.
Brown. Vulgar Errours, b. vii. c. 18.

It was a general misfortune and miscomputation of that time that the party had so good an opinion of their own reputation and interest.-Clarendon.

to think-wrongly, erroneously, falsely; to mistake.

He which that misconceiveth oft misdemeth.

Chaucer. The Marchantes Tale, v. 10,284.

That through the helpe of his faire hornes on hight,
And misty dampe of misconceyving night,
And eke through likenesse of his goatish beard,
He did the better counterfeite aright.

Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. iii. c. 10.

No, misconceyued, Jone of Arce hath beene
A virgin from her tender infancie.

Shakespeare. 1 Pt Hen. VI. Act v. sc. 4.
Why I come now to put him in possession
Of his fair fortunes; what a misconceiver 'tis !
Beaum. & Fletch. The Passionate Madman, Act ii. sc. 1.
The next day, as he on his way did ride,
Full of melancholie and sad misfare
Through misconceipt.-Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. iv. c. 6.

It cannot be, that our knowledge should be other than an
heap of misconception and error, and conceits as impertinent
as the toys we delight in.
Glanvill. Vanity of Dogmatizing, c. 8.

The apostles beating upon that general misconceit of the Jews, about the kingdom of the Messiah, in the preceding chap. v. 6. asked Christ, whether he would at that time restore the kingdom to Israel.-South, vol. vii. Ser. 2.

MIS-CONCLUSION, i. e. wrong, erroneous conclusion, determination, decision.

Away, then, with all the false-positions and misconclusions, all the fantasticall, or wicked thoughts of the world. Bp. Hall. The Fashions of the World. MIS-CONFIDENT, i. e. having or placing confidence, faith, or trust, wrongly, erroneously. Brethren, your not omniscient eyes shall see that my eyes are so lyncean, as to see you proudly misconfident.

Bp. Hall. Answer to the Vindication of Smectymnuus. MIS-CONJECTURE, v. i. e. to conjecture, to guess, to divine, to imagine, wrongly, erroneously. I find it to be ordinary, that many pressing and fawning persons do misconjecture of the humours of men in autho

MISCIBLE, i. e. that may or can be mixed; rity.-Bacon. On Church Controversies. from Lat. Miscere, to mix.

These had kept the landed and monied interests more separated in France, less miscible, and the owners of the two distant species of property not so well disposed to each other as they are in this country.-Burke. French Revolution.

MIS-CITE, v. Į i. e. to cite, to bring forward MISCITA'TION. or produce, to quote, wrongly, erroneously.

If Satan have miscited the Psalme (hee shall give his angels charge over thee) for temptation, may not we make use of it for the comfort of protection?

Bp. Hall. The Honour of the Maried Clergie, b. i. s. 1.

I hope they will plausibly receive our attempts or candidly correct our misconjectures.-Brown. Vulgar Errours.

MIS- CONSECRATED, i. e. consecrated, hallowed, dedicated, devoted, to a wrong, to an evil, purpose.

Our prayers were the gale, yea the gust, that tore these misconsecrated flags and sayles; and scattered and drencht those presumptuous piles.-Bp. Hall. Defeat of Crueltie.

MIS-CONSEQUENCE.

neous consequence.

A wrong, an erro