1).

=Meistersingers=, or minstrel tradesmen of Germany. An association of
master tradesmen to revive the national minstrelsy, which had fallen
into decay with the decline of the minnesingers, or love minstrels
(1350-1523). Their subjects were chiefly moral or religious, and
constructed according to rigid rules. The three chief were Hans
Rosenbl[:u]t (armorial painter, born 1450), Hans Folz (surgeon, born
1479), and Hans Sachs (cobbler, 1494-1574). The next best were Heinrich
von Mueglen, Konrad Harder, Master Altschwert, Master Barthel Regenbogen
(the blacksmith), Muscabl[:u]t (the tailor), and Hans Blotz (the
barber).

=Mej'noun and Lei'lah= (2 _syl._), a Persian love tale, the Romeo and
Juliet of Eastern romance. They are the most beautiful, chaste, and
impassionate of lovers; the models of what lovers would be if human
nature were perfect.

When he sang the loves of Megn[^o]un and Leileh ... tears insensibly
overflowed the cheeks of his auditors.--W. Beckford, _Vathek_
(1786).

=Mela Dryfoos.= Loud young lady of the gilded period, "physically too
amiable and too well corporeally ever to be quite cross," but selfish
and coarse and reposing confidently upon the importance given her by her
father's money.--W. D. Howells, _A Hazard of New Fortunes_ (1889).

=Melan'chates= (4 _syl._), the hound that killed Actaeon, and was changed
into a hart.

Melanchates, that hound
That plucked Actaeon to the grounde,
Gaue him his mortal wound, ...
Was chaung['e]d to a harte.

J. Skelton, _Philip Sparow_ (time, Henry VIII).

=Melantius=, a rough, honest soldier, who believes every one is true till
convicted of crime, and then is he a relentless punisher. Melantius and
Diph'ilus are brothers of Evadn[^e].--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Maid's
Tragedy_ (1610).

[Asterism] The master scene between Antony and Ventidius in Dryden's
_All for Love_ is copied from _The Maid's Tragedy_. "Ventidius" is in
the place of Melantius.

=Melchior=, one of the three kings of Cologne. He was the "Wise Man of the
East" who offered to the infant Jesus _gold_, the emblem of royalty. The
other two were Gaspar and Balthazar. Melchior means "king of light."

_Melchior_, a monk attending the black priest of St. Paul's.--Sir W.
Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).

_Melchior_ (_i.e. Melchior Pfinzing_), a German poet who wrote the
_Teuerdank_, an epic poem which has the kaiser Maximilian (