Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/514

Rh 492 M I N M I R vated for its volatile oil. M. pratensis belongs to a group of mints which, unlike the foregoing, have the flowers arranged in axillary whorls and never in terminal spikes ; it otherwise bears some resemblance in foliage and habit to M. viridis. M. sativa, the Whorled Hairy Mint, grows by damp roadsides, and M. arvensis in cornfields ; they are distinguished from M. pratensis by their hairy stalked leaves, which in M. arvensis are all equally large, but in M. sativa are much smaller towards the apex of the stem. M. Pulegium, commonly known as Pennyroyal, more rarely as Flea-mint, has small oval obtuse leaves and flowers in axillary whorls, and is remarkable for its creeping habit and peculiar odour. It differs from all the mints above described in the throat of the calyx being closed with hairs. It is met with in damp places on grassy commons, and forms a well-known domestic remedy for female disorders. All the plants of the genus Mentha abound in a volatile oil, which is contained in small receptacles having the appearance of resinous dots in the leaves and stems. The odour of the oil is similar in several species, but is not dis tinctive, the same odour occurring in varieties of distinct species, while plants which cannot be distinguished by any botanical character possess the same odour. Thus the peppermint flavour is found in M. Piperita, in M. incana, and in Chinese and Japanese varieties of M. arvensis. Other forms of the last-named species growing in Ceylon and Java have the flavour of the common garden mint, M. viridis, and the same odour is found to a greater or less degree in M. sylvestris, M. rotundifolia, and M. canadensis. A bergamot scent is met with in a variety of M. aquatica and in forms of other species. Most of the mints may be found in blossom in August. The name mint is also applied to plants of other genera, Monarda punctata being called Horsemint, Pycnanthemum linifolium, Mountain Mint, and Nepeta Cataria, Catmint. MINTO, SIR GILBERT ELLIOT, FIRST EARL OF (1751- 1814), was descended from an old border family, the Elliots of Minto, and was born at Edinburgh, April 23, 1751. His father, Sir Gilbert Elliot, was a member of the administration of Pitt and Grenville, and is spoken of by Horace Walpole as &quot; one of the ablest men in the House of Commons.&quot; Young Elliot was educated by a private tutor, with whom at the age of twelve he went to Paris, where David Hume, who was then secretary of the embassy, undertook, from friendship to his father, the special charge of superintending his studies. After spending the winters of 1766 and 1767 at Edinburgh University, Elliot entered Oxford. On quitting the university he became a member of Lincoln s Inn, and was in 1774 called to the bar. He entered parliament in 1776, the year of his father s death. Although he gave a general support to Lord North s administration, he from the beginning occupied an inde pendent position, and in 1782 supported the address of the Commons against an offensive war with America. From this time he became a declared follower of Fox and Burke, with the latter of whom he gradually came to be on terms of great intimacy. He was created Baron Minto in 1797, and after filling several diplomatic posts with great success became in 1807 governor-general of India. The character and events of his rule in India are described in vol. xii. p. 805. He was created Earl of Minto and Viscount Melgund in 1813. He returned to England in 1814, and died on June 21st of that year. See Life and Letters of Sir Gilbert Elliot, first Earl of Minto, from 1751 to 1806, 1874 ; and Life and Letters, 1807-14, 1880. See also MIRABEAU. MINUCIUS FELIX, MARCUS, one of the earliest, if not the earliest, of the Latin apologists for Christianity. Of his personal history nothing is known, and even the date at which he wrote can be only approximately ascertained. Jerome (De Vir. III., 58) speaks of him as &quot;Romre insignis causidicus,&quot; but in this he is probably only improving on the expression of Lactantius (Inst. Div., v. 1) who speaks of him as &quot;non ignobilis inter causidicos loci.&quot; He is now exclusively known by his Octavius, a dialogue on Christianity between the pagan Csecilius Natalis 1 and the Christian Octavius Januarius, a provincial solicitor, the friend and fellow-student of the author. The scene is pleasantly and graphically laid on the beach at Ostia on a holiday afternoon, and the discussion is represented as arising out of the homage paid by Caecilius, in passing, to the image of Serapis. His arguments for paganism, which proceed partly upon agnostic grounds, partly upon the inexpediency of disturbing long-established religious beliefs, partly upon the known want of culture in Christians, the alleged indecency of their worship, and the inherent absurdity of their doctrines, are taken up seriatim by Octavius, with the result that the assailant is convinced, postponing, however, the discussion of some things neces sary for perfect instruction to a future occasion. The form of the dialogue, modelled on the De Fatura Deorum and De Divinatione of Cicero, shows much care and ability, and its style is on the whole both vigorous and elegant if at times not exempt from something of the affectations of the age. If the doctrines of the Divine unity, the resurrection, and future rewards and punishments be left out of account, the work has less the character of an exposition of Christianity than of a philosophical and ethical polemic against the absurdities of crass polytheism. Christology and the other metaphysics of distinctively Christian theology are entirely passed over, and the canonical Scriptures are not quoted, hardly even alluded to. The Octavius is admittedly earlier than Cyprian s De Idolorum Vanitate, which borrows from it ; how much earlier can be deter mined only by settling the relation in which it stands to Tertullian s Apologeticum. The argument for the priority of Minucius has been most exhaustively set forth by Ebert (&quot;Tertullians Verhiilt- niss zu Minucius Felix,&quot; in vol. v. of the philologico-historical series in Abhandl. d. Konig. Sachs. Gesellsch. dcr Wissenschaften, 1868), who has been followed by Teuffel (Rom. Lit., sec. 368), Keirr (Celsus Wahrcs Wort, 1873), Kuhn, and other scholars. The opposite view is ably maintained by Professor Salmon (&quot;Minucius Felix&quot; in Smith s Diet. Christ. Biogr., 18S2). The Octavius was first printed (Rome, 1543) as the eighth book of Arnobius Adv. Gcntes ; Balduinus (Heidelberg, 1560) first assigned it to its proper author. There have been numerous subsequent editions, the best being that of Halm in the Corp. Scriptar. Eccl. Lat. (Vienna, 1867). See Kuhn s monograph, Der Octavius des Minucius Felix (1882). MINUET (Fr. Menuet, from [pas] menus), a very grace ful kind of dance, consisting of a coupee, a high step, and a balance. Its invention is universally ascribed to the inhabitants of Poitou. The melody begins with the down beat, and contains three crotchets in a bar. The music is made up of two strains, which, from being repeated, are called reprises, each consisting of eight or more bars, but very rarely of an odd number. Walther speaks of a minuet in Lully s opera of Roland, each strain of which contains ten bars, the sectional number being five, a circumstance which renders it very difficult to be danced ; but Lully s system of phrasing was remarkably irregular. Modern instrumental composers have introduced into their sym phonies and quartetts, &c., minuets of rapid movement and fanciful character, followed by supplementary strains (called trios) in a different style. Some of these composi tions bear but very slight resemblance to the older forms ; and many of them begin with the third beat in the bar. The finest minuets we possess are those in Handel s Samson and Mozart s Don Giovanni. MIRABEAU, HOXORE GABRIEL RIQUETI, COMTE DE, (1749-1791), one of the greatest statesmen and orators 1 This name occurs in six inscriptions of the years 211-217 found at Constantine (Cirta), North Africa (C. I. L., vol. viii.).