mifreporting upon the various comparisons of these. Locke. * To MISREPRESENT. v. a. [mis and reprefent. To reprefent not as it is; to falfify to difadvantage: mis often fignifies not only error, but malice or mischief.-Two qualities neceffary to a reader are common honefty and common fenfe; and no man could have mifrepresented that paragraph, unless he were utterly deftitute of one or both. Swift.-While it is fo difficult to learn the fprings of fome facts, and fo easy to forget the circumftances of others, it is no wonder they fhould be fo grofsly misreprefented to the public. Scvift. *MISREPRESENTATION. n. f. [from mifre prefent.] 1. The act of mifreprefenting.-They have prevailed by mifrepefentations, and other artifices. Swift. 1. Account maliciously false.—I have shown him his foul mistakes and injurious mifreprefentations. Atterbury. *MISRULE. n. f. [mis and rule.] Tumult; confufion; revel; unjust domination. In the portal plac'd, the heav'n-born maid, Enormous riot, and mifrule survey'd. Popea And through his airy hall the loud mifrule Of driving tempeft is for ever heard. Thomson. (1.) * MISS. n./. [contracted from mistress. Bailey.] 1. The term of honour to a young girl. Where there are little masters and misses in a house, they are great impediments to the diverfions of the fervants. Swift. 2. A ftrumpet; a concubine; a whore; a proftitute. Hudibras. Dryd. All women would be of one piece, The virtuous matron and the mifs. This gentle cock, for folace of his life, Six miles had befide his lawful wife. (2.) Miss. n. f. [from the verb.] 1. Lols; want. Oh, I should have a heavy mifs of thee, If I were much in love with vanity. Henry IV. -If thefe papers have that evidence in them, there will be no great mifs of those which are loft. Locke. 2. Miftake; error. He did without any great mifs in the hardest points of grammar. Af cham. 3. Hurt; harm. Obfolete.- Though one fall through heedless heafte, Yet is his miffe not mickle. Spenfer. (3.) Miss, in geography, a river of Germany, which runs into the Drave, 5 miles E. of Lavamund. When a man misses his great end, happiness, he will acknowledge he judged not right. Locke. 4. To difcover fomething to be unexpectedly wanting. Without him I found a weakness, and a mistrustfulness of myself, as one strayed from his beft ftrength, when at any time I missed him. Sidney. -Nothing was miffed. 1 Sam. xxv. 21. 5. To be without. We cannot mifs him; he does make our fire, Fetch in our wood. Shak. 6. To omit.-He that is so tender of himself, that he can never find in his heart fo much as to mis a meal. Duty of man. She would never is one day, A walk fo fine, a fight fo gay. 7. To perceive want of. mifs. Prior. What by me thou haft loft thou leaft fhall Milton. -He who has a firm, fincere friend, may want all the rest without missing them. South. (2.) To Miss. v. n. 1. To fly wide; not to hit. * -Thy fhepherds we hurt not, neither was there ought missing unto them. 1 Sam. xxv. 7.— For a time caught up to God, as once Mofes was in the mount, and missing long. Milt 5. To mifcarry; to fail, as by accident. Th' invention all admir'd and each, bow he To be th' inventor miss'd. Milton 6. To fail to obtain, learn or find: fometime with of before the object.-Grittus miffing o the Moldavian upon Maylat. Knolles.-The mo ral and relative perfections of the Deity are easy to be understood by us; upon the leaft reflection we cannot mifs of them. Atterbury. (1.) * MISSAL. n. f. [miffule, Lat. miffel, Fr. The mafs book.-By the rubrick of the misfal, i every folemn mafs, the priest is to go up to the middle of the altar. Stilling fleet. (2.) The MISSAL contains the feveral masses to be faid on particular days. It is derived from th Latin miffa, which, in the ancient Christian church fignified every part of divine service. *To MISSAY. v. n. [mis and say.] 1. To fpcal ill of; to cenfure, Obfolete. Their ill behaviour garres men missay, Both of their doctrine and their fay. 2. To fay wrong. Spenfer Spenfer Diggon Davie, I bid her good day, Or Diggon her is, or I missay. -We are not dwarfs, but of equal ftature, Vives miffay not. Hakesvill on Prov. *To MISSEEM. v. n. [mis and feem.] 1. T make falfe appearance. Foul Dueffa meet, Who, with her witchcraft and misseeming sweet Inyeigled her to follow. Fairy Queen 2. To mifbecome. Obfolete both. Never knight I saw in fuch misseeming plight. Fairy Queen. MISSEL. See TURDUS, N° 8. MISSELTOE. See MISTLETOE, and VISCUM. To MISSERVE. v. a. [mis and serve.] To ferve unfaithfully.-Great men, who miserved their country, were fined very highly. Arbuthnot. * To MISSHAPE. v. a. part. misshaped and misshapen. [mis and shape.] 1. To fhape ill; to deform. A rude misshapen, monftrous rabblement.. Fairy Queen. His monftrous fcalp down to his teeth it tore, And that misformed shape, misshaped more. Fairy Queen. Him then she does transform to monftruous hues, And horribly misshapes with ugly fights, Captiv'd eternally in iron mews. Fairy Queen. Let the mishaped trunk that bears this head Be round impaled with a glorious crown. Shak. -Only the misshapen and despicable dwarf is left ftanding. L'Estrange. Pluto hates his own misshapen race, Her fifter furies fly her hideous face. Dryden. -They make bold to destroy ill-formed and misShaped productions. Locke. The Alps broken into fo many steps and precipices, form one of the moft irregular, misshapen scenes in the world. Ad difon. We ought not to believe that the banks of the ocean are really deformed, because they have not the form of a regular bulwark; nor that the mountains are misshapen, because they are not exact pyramids or cones. Bentley. Some figures monftrous and mishap'd appear, Confider'd fingly, or beheld too near. Pope. 2. In Shakespeare, perhaps, it once fignifies ill directed: as, to fhape a course. Thy wit, that ornament to shape and love, Misshapen in the conduct of them both, Like powder in a skill-lefs foldier's flask, I fet on fire. Shak. Romeo and Juliet. * MISSILE. adj. [missilis, Lat.] Thrown by the hand; ftriking at a distance. We bend the bow, or wing the missile dart. Pope. MISSINABE, a lake of North America, in Ĉanada. Lon. 84° 2' 42" W. Lat. 48° 29′ 42′′ N. MISSIO, in Roman antiquity, was a full difcharge given to a foldier after 20 years fervice, and differed from the EXAUCTORATIO, which was a discharge from duty after 17 years fervice. Every foldier had a right to claim his miffio at the end of 20 years. (1.)* MISSION. n. f. [missio, Lat.] 1. Commiffion; the ftate of being fent by fupreme authority. How to begin, how to accomplish best, His end of being on earth, and mission high. Milt. -The divine authority of our miffion, and the powers vefted in us, are publicly disputed and denied. Atterbury. 2. Perfons fent on any account, ufually to propagate religion. In thefe fhips there should be a million of three of the brethren of Solomon's house, to give us knowledge of the sciences, manufactures, and inventions of all the world, and bring us books and patterns; VOL. XV. PART L and that the brethren should stay abroad till the new miffion. Bacon's New Atl. 3. Difmiffion; difcharge. Not in ufe.-In Cefar's army, fomewhat the foldier's would have had, yet only demanded a mission or discharge, though with no intention it fhould be granted, but thought to wrench him to their other defires; whereupon with one cry they afked miffion. Bacon's Apoph. 4. Faction; party. Not in ufe.→ Glorious deeds, in these fields of late, Made emulous missions 'mongst the gods them felves, And drove great Mars to faction. Shak. (2.) MISSION, in theology, denotes a commiffion to preach the gospel. Jefus Chrift gave his difciples their miffion in these words, Go and teach all nations, &c, The Roinanifts reproach the Proteftants, that their minifters have no miffion, as not being authorised in the exercise of their minif. try, either by an uninterrupted fucceffion from the apoftles, or by miracles, or by any extraordinary proof of a vocation. Many among us deny any other miffion neceffary for their ministry than the talents requifite to discharge it. (3.) MISSION ( 1. def. 2.) is also used for an eftablishment of people zealous for the glory of God and, the falvation of fouls; who go and preach the gofpel in remote countries and among infidels. There are miffions in the Eaft as well as in the Weft Indies. Among the Romanifts, the religious orders of St Dominic, St Francis, St Auguftine, &c. &c. have miffions in the Levant, America, &c. The Jefuits had likewise missions in China, and all other parts of the globe where they were able to penetrate. There have been alfo feveral Proteftant miffions for diffufing the light of Chriftianity through the benighted regions of Afia and America. Of this kind has been the Danish miffion planned by Frederic IV. in 1706. The liberality of private benefactors in our own country has been alfo extended to the support of miffionaries among the Indians in America. See MISSIONARY, § 2. (1.) * MISSIONARY, MISSIONER. n. f. [misfonaire, Fr.] One fent to propagate religion.You mention the prefbyterian miffionary, who hath been perfecuted for his religion. Swift.Like mighty missioner you come, Ad partes infidelium. Dryden. (2.) MISSIONARY SOCIETIES. Under this ar ticle we cannot help taking notice of the zealous and laudable exertions of a numerous body of Chriftians, in Scotland and England, who, within these few years, have affociated under this title, for the purpose of propagating the gospel both at home and abroad, by fending out miffionary preachers. The moft aftonishing fuccefs, we are credibly informed, has of late attended their labours, not only in Britain but in France, Ireland, America, and even in the East Indies; where great numbers of the natives have lately thrown off the prejudices of their education, under the Mahometan and Gentoo fuperftitions, and have openly embraced and avowed their faith in the doctrines of Chriftianity. Confidering the deep-rooted prejudices of the Gentoos, in favour of one or other of these fyftems of fuperftition, eftablished Q MISSISSAQUE, a river of Canada, which runs into Lake Huron. Lon. 83. 40. W. Lat. 46. o. N. (1.) * MISSIVE. adj. [miffive, Fr.] 1. Such as is fent.-The king grants a licence under the great feal, called a congé d'elire, to elect the perfon be has nominated by his letters missive. Ayliffe's Par 2. Used at diftance. eftablished among them by the habits of many it has periodical inundations, by the melting of ages, the fuccefs of the miffionaries appears to be fnow in the north; fo that in May it overflows the little less than miraculous. Yet we are affured by country on each fide, from 60 to 90 miles, and the London Papers of the 30th and 31ft May, the inundation continues till near the end of July. 1803, it has been so great, that "no fewer than - In the lowest parts of the country there are mo65,000 perfons lately received the facrament in raffes, lakes, and canals, along the banks, which one fociety only." Among the other advantages are generally covered with trees, and in fome arifing from the exertions of thefe focieties, a tranf places the courfe of the river is confined between lation of the Bible into the Gentoo language has high precipices. Its inundations always leave a been commenced, and is now carrying on by per- great quantity of mud upon the land, and fomefons properly fkilled in the oriental languages. times carry down trees to the river's mouth, For farther particulars, we muft refer to the Mif where they form new islands, and render the enfionary Magazine, and similar publications by the trance difficult. Its mouths, which fall into the Societies. We cannot conclude this article, how-. Gulf of Florida, are fituated between Lon. 89° ever, without adding a short extract from a cir- and 90° W. and between Lat. 29° and 20 N. cular letter published by the Edinburgh Miffionary Society, dated 6th Dec. 1802, respecting the fuccefs of their miffion to the countries bordering on the Cafpian Sea.-" Almost all perfons, with whom they converfed, agreed in representing the difficulty and extreme danger of fixing their refidence in the S. parts of the Ruffian empire, and still more of attempting to convert the natives to the Proteftant faith, infomuch that they almost despaired of obtaining liberty to travel through the empire; yet, at length, their fears were difpelled, obstructions to their progress removed, and their way made profpercus. He, in whofe hand are the hearts of all men, raised up for them a friend in M. Novaflilzoff, a Ruffian nobleman, in the confidence of the emperor Alexander, and a lord of his bed-chamber. Through his means they obtained not only the permiffion but the approbation of the Ruffian government. Passports were granted them, with liberty to travel through the empire; poft horfes were ordered; letters of introduction given them; and an open letter was written by M. Novaffilzoff, recommending them to the protection of all civil and military officers. Thus the difficulties have not only been removed, but a degree of public countenance given to the miffion, of which the moft fanguine never entertained a hope." In confequence hereof they travelled above 1400 miles by Moscow, Tambou, and Sarepta, to Aftrakhan, Georgia, Tefflis, Circaffia, Karafs, &c. and have every where met with fuccefs and kindness. MISSIQUASH, a river of N. America, which feparates the British provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, from its fource to its confluence with Beau Bafin, at the head of Chignecto Channel, and thence due E. to the bay of Verte, in the Straits of Northumberland. MISSISCOUI. See MICHISCOUI. MISSISIPPI, or the river of St Lewis, ariver of North America, one of the largest in the world. Its fources are unknown; having never been explored; but its length is reckoned upwards of 3000 miles. This noble river, with its eastern branches, waters five-8ths of the United States, and separates them from Louifiana and the Indian territories. The rivers and ftreams which fall into it from the W. and E. are very nu merous. The largest are, the MISSOURI from the W. and the ILLINOIS, OHIO, and TENNESSEE, from the E. It is navigable up to St Anthony's Falls, and a great way above them. Its banks abound with falt fprings. Like the Nile, In vain with darts a distant war they try, Short, and more fhort, the missive weapons fly. Dryden. (2.)* MISSIVE. n. f. [Fr.] 1. A letter fent: it is retained in Scotland in that sense.-Great aids came in to him; partly upon missives, and partly voluntary from many parts. Bacon's Henry VII.2. A meffenger. Both obfolete. Rioting in Alexandria, you Did pocket up my letters; and with taunts Did gibe my miffive out of audience. Sbak. -While wrapt in the wonder of it came miffives from the king, who all hail'd me thane of Cawder. Shak. Macbeth. MIS-SLIAB, or the MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON, two high mountains of Ireland; the one in Antrim Ulfter; the other in Kerry, Munftor, near Tralee Bay. MISSON, Francis Maximilian, an eminent French lawyer, who diftinguished himself by his pleadings before the parliament of Paris in favour of the reformers. He retired into England after the revocation of the edict of Nantz, and became a ftrenuous affertor of the Proteftant religion. In 1687 and 1688, he travelled to Italy as governor to an English nobleman; in confequence of which, he publifhed at the Hague "A new voyage to Italy," 3 vols. 12mo; which has been tranflated into English with many addi tions. He published alfo the" Sacred Theatre at Cevennes, or an account of Prophecies and Miraeles performed in that part of Languedoc," Lond. 1707. "Obfervations and Remarks of a Traveller," 12mo, Hague. He died at London in 1721. MISSOURI, a large river of North America, in Loufiana, which is navigable for at least 1300 miles up, but its length and fource are not known. It runs into the Miffifippi from the W. in Lat. 39° N. 18 miles below the mouth of the Illinois, 195 above that of the Ohio, and 1160 from the Balize, and Gulf of Mexico; but is larger and broader than the Miffifippi. The Britifh have flourishing fettlements on the N. and E. banks of this river, and the Spaniards on the S. and W. (if not ceded to France, or by France to the States), between 600 and 700 miles up." MISSOURIS, a nation of N American Indians, who inhabit the banks of the above river, and have about 1500 warriors. (1.) To MISSPEAK. v. a. [mis and speak.] To fpeak wrong.A mother delights to hear Her early child misspeak half utter'd words. Donne. (2.) * To MISSPEAK. v. n. To blunder in fpeaking. It is not fo; thou haft misspoke, misheard; Tell o'er thy tale again. Shak. King Lear. MISUS, in the Circenfian games, were the matches in horfe or chariot races. The usual number of miffus or matches in one day was 24; though Domitian prefented the people with 100. The laft match was generally made at the expense of the people, who made a collection for the purpose; hence it was called MISSUS ERARIUS, a fubfcription plate. (1.) * MIST. n. f. [mift, Saxon.] 1. A low thin cloud; a small thin rain not perceived in fingle drops. Old Chaucer, like the morning star, His light thofe mifts and clouds diffolv'd And clouds diffolv'd, the thirsty ground supply. Rofe. -As a mift is a multitude of small but folid globules, which therefore descend; so a vapour, and therefore a watery cloud, is nothing else but a congeries of very fmall and concave globules, which therefore afcend to that height, in which they are of equal weight with the air, where they remain fufpended, till by fome motion in the air, being broken, they descend in folid drops: either small, as in a mist, or bigger, when many of them run together, as in rain. Grew. Hov'ring mills around his brows are spread, Dryden. -A cloud is nothing but a mist flying high in the air, as a mift is nothing but a cloud here below. Locke. 2. Any thing that dims or darkens.-My peoples eyes once blinded with fuch mists of fufpicion, they are milled into the moft defperate actions. K. Charles. His paffion caft a mit before his fenfe, And either made or magnify'd th' offence. Dryd. (2.) MIST, or FOG. See Foc, and METEOROLOGY, Sec. VI and VIII. *To MIST. v. a. [from the noun.] To cloud; to cover with a vapour or fteam. Lend me a looking-glafs; If that her breath will mift or ftain the stone, Shak. * MISTA'EN. pret. and part. paff. of mistake For mistaken, and fo retained in Scotland. This dagger hath mista'en, for lo! the sheath Lies empty on the back of Montague, The point misheathed in my daughter's bofom. Shak. (1.) * MISTAKE. n. f. [from the verb.] conception; error. Mif He never fhall find out fit mate; but such As fome misfortune brings him, or mistake. Milt. Infallibility is an absolute security of the understanding from all poffibility of mistake in what it believes. Tillotson. Those terrors are not to be charged upon religion, which proceed either from the want of religion, or fuperftitious mistakes about it. Bentley. (2.) A MISTAKE is any wrong action committed, not through an evil defign, but through an error of judgment. (3.) MISTAKE, in Law. See IGNORANCE, § 4. (4.) MISTAKE BAY, a large Bay of N. America, on the W. fide of the entrance into Davis's Straits, and N. of Hudson's straits. (1.) To MISTAKE. v. a. [mis and take.] To conceive wrong; to take fomething for that which it is not.-Thefe did apprehend a great affinity between their invocation of faints and the heathen idolatry, or else there was no danger one should be mistaken for the other. Stilling fleet.-This will make the reader very much mistake, and mifunderftand his meaning. Locke.-Fancy paffes for knowledge, and what is prettily said is mistaken for folid. Locke. Fools into the notion fall, That vice or virtue there is none at all Afk your own heart, and nothing is so plain; 'Tis to mistake them cofts the time and pain. * Pope. (2.) To MISTAKE. v. n. To err; not to judge right.-Seeing God found folly in his angels; mens judgments, which inhabit these houfes of clay, cannot be without their mistakings. Raleigh. -Seldom any one mistakes in his names of fimple ideas, or applies the name red to the idea green. Locke.-Servants mistake, and sometimes occafion misunderstanding among friends. Savift. MISTAKEABLE. adv.[from mistake.] Liable to be conceived wrong. It is not ftrange to fee the difference of a third part in fo large an account, if we confider how differently they are fet forth in minor and lefs mistakeable numbers. Brown. *To be MISTAKEN. To err. [To mistake has a kind of reciprocal sense; I mistake, je me trompe. I am mistaken, means I misconceive, I am in an error; more frequently than I am ill underfood, but, my opinion is mistaken, means my opinion is not rightly understood.-The towns, neither of the one fide nor the other, willingly opening their gates to ftrangers, nor ftrangers willingly entering for fear of being mistaken. Sidney. England is fo idly king'd: -You are too much mistaken in this king: Sh. MISTAKEN POINT, a cape on the SE. corner of Newfoundland, 6 miles WNW. of Cape Race, for which it is often mistaken by feamen, whence the name. MISTAKINGLY. adv. [from miflaking.] Erroneoufly; falfely. The error is not in the eye, but in the estimative faculty, which mistakingly concludes that colour to belong to the wall, which does indeed belong to the object. Boyle. * To MISTATĒ. v. a. (mis and state.] To state wrong. They miftate the queftion, when they talk of preffing ceremonies. Bishop Sanderson. To MISTEACH. v. a. [mis and teach.] To teach wrong.-Such guides fhall be fet over the feveral congregations as will be fure to misleach them. Bishop Sanderfon.-The extravagances of the lewdeft life are the more confummate diforders of a miftaught or neglected youth, L'Etrange. MISTEK, a town of Moravia, in Prerau. To MISTELL. v. a. [mis and tell.] To tell unfaithfully or inaccurately. MISTELPACH, a town of Auftria, 10 miles W. of Zifterftorf, and 18 N. of Vienna. * To MISTEMPER. v. a. [mis and temper.] To temper ill; to disorder. This inundation of mistemper'd humour Refts by you only to be qualified. Shakefp. *MISTER. adj. [from meftier, trade, Fr.] What mister, what kind of. Obfolete. The redcrofs knight toward him croffed faft, To weet what mifter wight was so dismay'd. Spenfer. To *To MISTERM. v. a. [mis and term. term erroneously. Hence banished, is banish'd from the world; And world exil'd is death. That banished Is death mifterm'd Shak. Adam, Mifthought of her to thee so dear! Milt MISTIC. See MYSTIC. * To MISTIME. v. a. [mis and time.] Not to time right; not to adapt properly with regard to time. MISTINESS. n. f. [from mifly.] Cloudinefs; ftate of being overcaft. - The speedy depredation of air upon watery moisture, and verfion of the fame into air, appeareth in the fudden vanishing of vapours from glafs, or the blade of a fword, fuch as doth not all detain or imbibe the moifture, for the misliness scattereth immediately. Bacon. MISTINSINS, a nation of N. American Indians, who inhabit the S. fide of a lake so named in Lower Canada. * MISTION. n. f. [from miftus, Lat.] The ftate of being mingled.-In animals many actions are mixt, and depend upon their living form, as well as that of miflion. Brown.-Both bodies do, by the new texture resulting from their miftion, produce colour. Boyle. MISTISSINNY, a large lake of Canada; extending from Lon. 73. 40. to 75. 15. W. and from Lat. 50, 18. to 51. o. N. (1.) MISTLETOE. n. f. [misteltan, Sax. miftel, Danish, birdlime, and tan, a tavig.] A plant.-The flower of the mistletoe confits of one leaf, which is fhaped like a bafon, divided into 4 parts, and befet with warts; the ovary which is produced in the female flowers, is placed in a remote part of the plant from the male flowers, and confilts of 4 fhorter leaves; this becomes a round berry full of a glutinous substance, inclosing a plain heart-shaped feed: this plant is always produced from feed, and is not to be cultivated in the earth, but will always grow upon trees; whence the ancients accounted it a fuper-plant, who thought it to be an excrefcence on the tree without feed. The manner of its propagation is as follows; the mistletoe thrush, which feeds upon the berries of this plant in winter when it is ripe, doth open the feed from tree to tree; for the viscous part of the berry, which immediately furrounds the feed, doth fometimes faften it to the outward part of the bird's beak, which, to get difengaged of, he ftrikes his beak at the branches of a neighbouring tree, and fo leaves the feed fticking by this viscous matter to the bark, which, if it lights upon a smooth part of the tree, will faften itfelf, and the following winter put out and grow: the trees which this plant doth moft readily take upon are the apple, the afh, and fome other smooth rind trees: whenever a branch of an oak tree hath any of these plants growing upon it, it is cut off, and preferved by the curious in their collection of natural curiofities. Miller. If fnowe do continue, sheepe hardly that fare Crave miftle and ivie for them for to mare. Tuler. The trees, though Summer, yet forlorn and lean, O'ercome with mofs, and baleful miffeltoe. Shak. -Miffeltoe groweth chiefly upon crab trees, apple trees, fometimes upon hazles, and rarely upon oaks: the miffeltoe whereof is counted very medicinal: it is ever green Winter and Summer, and beareth a white gliftering berry; and it is a plant utterly differing from the plant upon which it groweth. Bacon, All your temples ftrow With laurel green, and facred misletoe. (2.) MISTLETOE. See DRUIDS, CUM. Gay. II, and Vis * MISTLIKE, adj. [mift and like.] Refembling a mift. Good Romeo, hide thyself. * MISTOLD, particip. paff. of miftell. Sbak. Milton. Too divine to be miflook. *MISTRESS. n. f. [maistress, maîtreffe, French.] 1. A woman who governs: correlative to fubje& or to fervant. Here stood he in the dark, his fharp fword out, Mumbling of wicked charms, conj'ring the |