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MIDDLE AGES

1222

MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

Mid'dle Ages, also called medieval, are the period between ancient and modern times in history. They are generally thought to begin in 476 with the downfall of the western empire of Rome and to end with the Reformation in the first part of the 16th century, or a little earlier, in the latter part of the i5th century, when America was discovered, printing invented and the new impulse given to learning by Greek refugees from Constantinople. The term, Dark Ages, is used to cover part of the period, and indicates the time in history (about 500 to noo) when learning was at its lowest stage between the literature of Greece and Rome and the literatures of modern Europe.

Mid'dlebury, a town in Vermont, -33 miles southwest of Montpelier. The region is picturesque, with views of the Green Mountains and near-by Lake Dunmore, five miles long, nestled among the hills. A fine variety of marble is quarried here, and there are several manufacturing establishments. It is the site of Middlebury College, founded in 1800, and" having 23 professors and 364 students. Population 2,848.

Middlesbrough (mid'd'lz-b'ruh}, a manufacturing town of Yorkshire, England, near the mouth of the Tees. In 1829 there was only a single farmhouse, surrounded by marshes, on the site of the town. Its growth is due to the discovery of iron-ore in the Cleveland Hills near by. One third of the great iron production of the United Kingdom is from the Cleveland mines. The industries are iron and steel works, blastfurnaces, sawmills, shipbuilding, wire, nail and tube works and large salt and soda works. It has fine public buildings and large parks. In 1899 the total tonnage entered and cleared, excluding the merely coastwise tonnage, was next to that of Swansea, beii g 320,000 tons. Population 91,302.

Mid'dletown, Conn., city, county-seat of Middlesex County, about 18 miles south of Hartford, on Connecticut River. Opposite is Portland, where there are valuable brown-stone quarries,, and the two places are connected by a long drawbridge. Middletown is in an agricultural region where tobacco is the leading product, and good waterpower aids in making it a manufacturing city. The chief manufactures are pumps, bone-goods, rubber-goods, silks, harness-trimmings, locks, marine hardware and silver-plated ware. Its educational institutions are public and parochial schools, Wesleyan University, Berkeley Divinity School and Russel Free Library. Here also are the state's Insane Hospital and its Industrial School for Girls. The settlement was founded in 1650, and incorporated as a town the next year under the name of Mattabeseck, which was changed to Middle-*«c->rn two years later. It has the service

of the N. Y., N. H. and H. Railroad. Population 11,851.

Middletown, N. Y., a town in Orange County, southeastern New York, 24 miles west of Newburg and 65 northwest of New York City. It is in an agricultural and pastoral region, and is served by the Erie; New York, Ontario and Western; and New York, Susquehanna and Western railroads. Here is New York Homeopathic Hospital for the Insane. It is well-supplied with schools, churches, libraries and banks, and its industries embrace woolen-hat factories, silk and handkerchief mills and saw and file works. Population 15,313.

Middletown, Ohio, city, Butler County, on Miami River, about 34 miles north of Cincinnati It is in an agricultural region, and besides is a manufacturing city, for its waterpower aids in that direction. It manufactures agricultural implements, paper, flour and dairy and tobacco products. It has good public and parochial schools and several fine churches. It has the service of three railroads and of the Miami and Erie Canal. Population 13,152.

Mid'ianites, an Arab race, inhabiting the country between the Red Sea and the plains of Moab near the Dead Sea. Their caravans traveled from Egypt to Syria, carrying gold and incense to Palestine. Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, either was a priest or a chief of the Midianites. They were troublesome neighbors to the Israelites until conquered by Gideon. They worshiped Baal-Peor. In the times of the Romans there were valuable mines in Midian, and petroleum is found there. The country became a Turkish possession in 1887.

Mid'rib (in plants). In case there is one central main rib in a leaf, this is spoken of as the midrib. It is found in leaves of the pinnate type of venation. See LEAF.

Mid'summer Night's Dream, A, written about 1595 by Shakespeare, is a favorite comedy to this day for the romantic and fanciful atmosphere in which it is cast and for the great humor of the minor plot, which deals with the production ot a play written to please Duke Theseus on his marriage. The ranting of Bottom the weaver is a take-off upon the turgidity of contemporary tragedians, perhaps especially on that of Marlowe, the greatest of them. The festivities in connection with the marriage of Theseus, the legendary king and hero of Athens, to the Amazon Queen Hippolyta, furnish the framework for a fantastic love-story. l^n this story the charms administered by Puck at the order of Oberon, king of the fairies, woefully confuse the four lovers who wander in the wood; but mistakes are set right, and all is at length happily concluded. Bottom and his artisan friends give their play in unintentionally farcical manner before th^