of Bignon; was a man of massive intellect and
strong physical frame, who came to the front in the French Revolution;
being expelled from his order by the noblesse of Provence, he ingratiated
himself with the Third Estate, and was elected commons-deputy of Aix to
the States-General in 1789, where he became, as the incarnation of the
whole movement, the ruling spirit of the hour, and gave proof, if he had
lived, of being able to change the whole course of the Revolution, for he
was already in communication with the court and in hopes of gaining it
over to accept the inevitable, when he sickened and died, to the
consternation of the entire people, whose affection and confidence he had
won (1749-1791). See CARLYLE'S "FRENCH REVOLUTION" and his Essay
in his "MISCELLANIES."

MIRABEAU, VICTOR RIQUETTI, MARQUIS DE, "crabbed old friend of men,"
born at Pertuis, in Provence, claimed to be of Florentine descent; "could
never make the world go to his mind," and set about reforming it by
coercing a family as self-willed as himself, to the driving of his
celebrated son to desperate courses and reckless excesses; advocated the
doctrines of the French economists in a series of writings instinct with
a certain theoretical philanthropy (1716-1783).

MIRACLE PLAYS were strictly speaking dramas founded on legends of
the saints, as distinct from mysteries founded on scriptural subjects,
but the name came to cover all those religious representations for the
instruction of the people fostered by the Church of the Middle Ages,
performed first in churches, afterwards in public places; they were
common in England from the 12th century, but latterly became corrupt
through the introduction of grotesque indecorous comicalities; the rise
of the drama led to their abandonment; on the Continent ecclesiastical
action was taken against them, not by the Reformers, but by the Church
itself in the 18th century, and everywhere they have all but disappeared;
the Passion Play acted every 10 years at Oberammergau, Bavaria, is the
only important survival.

MIRANDA, the beautiful daughter of the magician Prospero in
Shakespeare's "Tempest."

MIRANDA, FRANCESCO DE, a Portuguese poet; wrote sonnets and epistles
in verse; was predecessor of Camoens (1495-1558).

MISERERE, a carved bracket on the under side of the stall seats in
mediaeval churches, which, when the seat was turned up during the standing
portion of the service, afforded support to the o