since.

MUSES, THE, daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, presided over the
liberal arts particularly, were nine in number, and dwelt along with
Apollo near Parnassus, Pieria, and Helicon; Clio presided over history,
Euterpe over music, Thalia over comedy, Melpomene over tragedy,
Terpsichore over choral dance and song, Erato over erotic poetry and
elegy, Polyhymnia over lyric poetry, Urania over astronomy, and Calliope
over eloquence and epic poetry.

MUSPELHEIM. See NIFLHEIM.

MUSSELBURGH (9), an old-fashioned Midlothian fishing town on the
coast, 6 m. E. of Edinburgh, with golf links, paper, nets, and tanning
industries, and Loretto school.

MUSSET, ALFRED DE, the premier poet of modern French literature,
born in Paris of good parentage; wayward and impulsive in youth, he would
settle to no occupation, till his already awakened taste for poetry
receiving a powerful stimulus through contact with Victor Hugo, led him
to embrace the profession of letters; two volumes of poetry were
published before he achieved, in 1833, his first signal success with the
dramas "Andre del Sarto" and "Les Caprices de Marianne"; in the same year
began his famous _liaison_ with GEORGE SAND (q. v.), involving
him in the ill-fated expedition to Venice, whence he returned in the
spring of 1834 shattered in health and disillusioned; from one unhappy
love intrigue he passed to another, seeking in vain a solace for his
restless spirit, but reaping an experience which enriched his writings;
"Confessions d'un Enfant du Siecle" appeared in 1836, and is a
significant confession of his life at this time; two years later he was
appointed librarian at the Home Office, and in 1847 his charming comedy,
"Un Caprice," was received with enthusiasm; in 1852 he was elected to the
Academy, but his work was done, and already an ill-controlled indulgence
in alcohol had fatally undermined his never robust strength; his
writings, besides possessing the charm of an exquisite style, heightened
by an undertone of true tenderness, are chiefly remarkable for the
intense sincerity of feeling, albeit of a limited range, which animates
them, and which finds its highest expression in his four great lyrical
pieces, "Les Nuits"; his fine instinct for dramatic situation and gift of
witty dialogue are manifest in the dramas already mentioned, as also in
many others; of his prose works, "Le Fils du Titien," "Mademoiselle Mimi
Pinson," and the "Confessions" are his best; h