mselves capable or worthy of great things, forgetting all the
while that they are only "Merop's son."

Why, Pha[:e]ton (for thou art Merop's son),
Wilt thou aspire to guide the heavenly car,
And with thy daring folly burn the world?

Shakespeare, _Two Gentlemen of Verona_, act iii. sc. 1 (1594).

=Merrilees= (_Meg_), a half-crazy woman, part sibyl and part gypsy. She is
the ruler and terror of the gypsy race. Meg Merrilees was the nurse of
Harry Bertram.--Sir W. Scott, _Gay Mannering_ (time, George II.).

In the dramatized version of Scott's novel, Miss Cushman [1845-9]
made "Meg Merrilees" her own. She showed therein indisputably the
attributes of genius. Such was her power over the intention and
feeling of the part, that the mere words were quite a secondary
matter. It was the figure, the gait, the look, the gesture, the
tone, by which she put beauty and passion into language the most
indifferent.--Henry Morley.

=Merry Andrew=, Andrew Borde, physician to Henry VIII. (1500-1549).

[Asterism] Prior has a poem on _Merry Andrew_.

=Merry Monarch= (_The_), Charles II., of England (1630, 1660-1685).

=Merry Mount.= Name of the home of a certain Englishman, called in the
chronicle "the pestilent Morton," who set up a May-pole in colonial
Massachusetts.

"That worthy gentleman, Mr. John Endicott, ... visiting those
parts, caused that May-pole to be cut down, and rebuked them for
their profaneness ... so they now (or others) changed the name of
their place, 'Merry Mount,' again, and called it 'Mount
Dagon.'"--William Bradford, _History of the Plymouth Plantation_
(1630-50).

=Mer'rylegs=, a highly trained, performing dog, belonging to Signor Jupe,
clown in Sleary's circus. This dog leaves the circus when his master
disappears, but several years afterwards finds its way back and
dies.--C. Dickens, _Hard Times_ (1854).

=Merthyr Tydvil=, a corruption of _Martyr St. Tidfil_, a Welsh princess
who suffered martyrdom.

=Merton= (_Tommy_), one of the chief characters in _Sanford and Merton_, a
tale for boys, by Thomas Day (1783-9).

_Merton_ (_Tristram_). Thomas Babington Macaulay (Lord Macaulay), so
signs the ballads and sketches which he inserted in _Knight's Quarterly
Magazine_.

=Mertoun= (_Basil_), _alias_ VAUGHAN, formerly a pirate.

_Mordaunt Mertoun_, son of Basil Mertoun. He marries Brenda Troil.--Sir
W. Scott