Chapter Mirabilis Doctor to Mishe-Nahma of M by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Reynard’s Wonderful Mirror. This mirror existed only in the brain of Master Fox. He told the queen lion that whoever looked therein could see what was being done a mile off. The wood of the frame was part of the same block out of which Crampart’s magic horse was made.—Reynard the Fox, xii. (1498).

Venus’s Mirror, generally called “Venus’s looking-glass,” the same as Merlin’s magic mirror (q. v.).

Vulcan’s Mirror. Vulcan made a mirror which sho wed those who looked into it the past, present, and future. Sir John Davies says that Cupid handed this mirror to Antinous when he was in the court of Ulysses, and Antinous gave it to Penelopê, who beheld therein the court of queen Elizabeth and all its grandeur.

Vulcan, the king of fire, that mirror wrought…
As there did represent in lively show
Our glorious English court’s divine image
As it should be in this our golden age.
   —Sir John Davies: Orchestra (1615).

Mirror of Human Salvation (Speculum Humanœ Salvationis), a picture Bible, with the subjects of the pictures explained in rhymes.

Mirror of king Ryence, a mirror made by Merlin. It showed those who looked into it whatever they wished to see.—Spenser: Faërie Queene, iii. (1590).

Mirror of Knighthood, a romance of chivalry It was one of the books in don Quixote’s library, and the curé said to the barber—

“In this same Mirror of Knighthood we meet with Rinaldo de Montalban and his companions, with the twelve peers of France, and Turpin the historian. These gentlemen we will condemn only to perpetual exile, as they contain something of the famous Bojardo’s invention, whence the Christian poet Ariosto borrowed the groundwork of his ingenious compositions; to whom I should pay little regard if he had not written in his own language [Italian].”—Cervantes: Don Quixote, I. i. 6 (1605).

Mirror of all Martial Men, Thomas earl of Salisbury (died 1428).

Mirrour for Magistraytes, begun by Thomas Sackville, and intended to be a poetical biography of remarkable Englishmen. Sackville wrote the “Induction,” and furnished one of the sketches, that of Henry Stafford duke of Buckingham (the tool of Richard III.). Baldwynne, Ferrers, Churchyard, Phair, etc., added others. Subsequently, John Higgins, Richard Nichols, Thomas Blenerhasset, etc., supplied additional characters; but Sackville alone stands out pre-eminent in merit. In the “Induction,” Sackville tells us he was conducted by Sorrowe into the infernal regions. At the porch sat Remorse and Dread, and within the porch were Revenge, Miserie, Care, and Slepe. Passing on, he beheld Old Age, Maladie, Famine, and Warre. Sorrowe then took him to Achêron, and ordered Charon to ferry them across. They passed the threeheaded Cerbêrus and came to Pluto, where the poet saw several ghosts, the last of all being the duke of Buckingham, whose “complaynt” finishes the part written by Thomas Sackville (1557). (See Buckingham, p. 157.)

N.B.—Henry Stafford duke of Buckingham must not be mistaken for George Villiers duke of Buckingham 150 years later.

Mirza (The Vision of). Mirza, being at Grand Cairo on the fifth day of the moon, which he always kept holy, ascended a high hill, and, falling into a trance, beheld a vision of human life. First, he saw a prodigious tide of water rolling through a valley with a thick mist at each end—this was the river of time. Over the river were several bridges, some broken, and some containing three score and ten arches, over which men were passing. The arches represented the number of years the traveller lived before he tumbled into the river. Lastly, he saw the happy valley, but when he asked to see the secrets hidden under the dark clouds on the other side, the vision was ended, and he only beheld the valley of Bagdad, with its oxen, sheep, and camels grazing on its sides.—Steele: Vision of Mirza (Spectator, 159).