his prophecies are in the same
strain as those of Isaiah, and numerous are the coincidences traceable
between them; though a great sternness of temper and severity of tone
appears in his prophecies, a deep tenderness of heart from time to time
reveals itself, and a winning persuasiveness (chap. vi. 8); chap. vii.
8-20 has been quoted as one of the sweetest passages of prophetic
writing; his prophecies predict the destruction both of Samaria and
Jerusalem, the captivity and the return, with the re-establishment of the
theocracy, and the advent of the Messiah.

MICAWBER, a character in "David Copperfield," a schemer whose
schemes regularly came to grief, yet who always wakes up after his
depression, and hopes something will turn up to his advantage.

MICHAEL, an archangel, the leader of the heavenly host, at
never-ending war with the devil and his angels in their arrogance of
claim; is represented in art as clad in armour, with a sword in one hand
and a pair of scales in the other to weigh the souls of men at the
judgment. Festival, September 20.

MICHAEL, the name of a succession of eight emperors who, at
different periods, occupied the throne of the East from 811 to 1282, the
last being Michael VIII., the founder of the Palaeologic dynasty.

MICHAEL ANGELO BUONAROTTI, painter, sculptor, architect, and poet,
born at Caprese, in Tuscany, one of the greatest artists that ever lived;
studied art as apprentice for three years under Domenico Ghirlandajo, and
at seventeen his talents attracted the notice of Lorenzo de' Medici, who
received him into his palace at Florence, and employed as well as
encouraged him; on the death of his patron he left for Bologna, and
afterwards, in 1496, went to Rome, whither his renown as a sculptor had
gone before him, and there he executed his antiques "Bacchus" and
"Cupid," followed by his "Pieta," or Virgin weeping over the dead Christ;
from 1503 to 1513 he was engaged on the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel; in
1530 we find him at Florence dividing his time between work as an
engineer in the defence of the city and his art as a sculptor; three
years after this he was back in Rome, and by-and-by _busy painting_ his
great fresco in the Sistine Chapel, the "Last Judgment," which occupied
him eight years; in 1542 he was appointed architect of St. Peter's, and
he planned and built the dome; sculpture was his great forte, but his
genius was equal to any task imposed on him, and he has left