Minnesota, on both sides of the
Mississippi, the greatest centre of the wheat and flour trade in U.S.

MINNESINGERS (i. e. love-singers), a name given to the lyric poets
of Germany during the latter part of the 12th and the first half of the
13th centuries.

MINNESOTA (1,302), one of the United States of America; lies between
the Dakotas on the W. and Wisconsin on the E., Canada on the N., and Iowa
on the S., round the upper waters of the Mississippi, the St. Lawrence,
and the Red River of the North; the State is largely prairie, with
hundreds of lakes, the largest Red Lake, and is chiefly a wheat-producing
area; there are pine forests in the N., iron mines, slate and granite
quarries; the climate is dry, equable, and bracing; education is good;
the State university is at Minneapolis; the capital is ST. PAUL
(133), where the Mississippi is still navigable, a fine city, founded in
1840, the centre of the grocery and dry-goods trade; the largest city is
Minneapolis (203), which has great lumber and flour mills; Duluth (33)
has a magnificent harbour and good shipping trade.

MINORCA (34), the second of the Balearic Isles, hilly, with
stalactite caves and rocky coast; is less fertile than Majorca, from
which it is 25 m. distant NE.; it produces oil, wine, and fruits, and
makes boots and shoes, but under Spanish misrule is not prosperous; the
capital Mahon (17), in the SE., is strongly fortified, and has a good
harbour.

MINOS, an ancient king of Crete, celebrated for his administration
of justice; was fabled to have been appointed, along with AEacus and
Rhadamanthus, one of the judges of the dead on their descent into the
nether world.

MINOTAUR, in the Greek mythology a monster, half-man half-bull with
a bull's head, confined in the Labyrinth of Crete, fed by the annual
tribute of seven youths and seven maidens of Athenian birth, till he was
slain by Theseus with the help of ARIADNE (q. v.).

MINSTRELS, a body of men who during the Middle Ages wandered from
place to place, especially from court to court, singing their own
compositions to the harp for accompaniment.

MINTO, EARL OF, Governor-General of India; was bred to the bar,
served in Parliament and as ambassador, went out to India in 1806,
consolidated the British power, captured Java, and opened diplomatic
relations with powers around (17501814).

MIRABEAU, GABRIEL HONORE RIQUETTI, COMTE DE, son of the succeeding,
born at the mansion-house