Chapter Mind your Own Business to Miramolin of M by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Mind your Own Business to Miramolin

Mind your Own Business “Seest thou a man diligent in his business, he shall stand before kings” (Prov. xxii. 29). “He who doeth his own business defileth not his fingers” (Fielding's Proverbs). Let every tub stand on its own bottom. Never meddle with what does not concern you.

“Bon homme, garde la vache. Chacun son métier, et les vaches son bien gardées. Chacun á ses affaires.”

“Qui fa le fatti suoi, non s'embratta le mani.”

“Tuâ quod nihil refert ne cures. Suum cura negotium. Tu ne quaesiveris extra.”- Horace.

Minden Boys The 20th Foot, so called from their noted bravery at Minden, in Prussia, August 1, 1759. Now called “The Lancashire Fusiliers.”

Minerva (in Greek, Athene). The most famous statue of this goddess was by Phidias, the Greek sculptor. It was wood encased with ivory; the drapery, however, was of solid gold. It represented the goddess standing, clothed with a tunic reaching to the ankles, a spear in her left hand, and an image of Victory (four cubits high = about six feet) in her right. She is girded with the aegis, has a helmet on her head, and her shield rests by her side on the ground. The entire height was nearly forty feet. This statue was anciently one of the “Seven Wonders of the World.” A superb statue of the goddess was found at Velletri, but whether this was the famous statue of Phidias is not known. It is preserved in the Imperial Museum.
   The exquisite antique statue of Minerva Medica is in the Vatican of Rome.

Minerva Invita Minerva, without sufficient ability; against the grain. Thus, Charles Kean acted comedy invita Minerva, his forte lying another way. Sir Philip Sidney attempted the Horatian metres in English verse invita Minerva.

Minerva Press (The). A printing establishment in Leadenhall Street, London, famous about a century ago for its trashy, ultra-sentimental novels. These novels were remarkable for their complicated plots, and especially for the labyrinths of difficulties into which the hero and heroine got involved before they could get married to each other.

Miniature (3 syl.). Paintings by the Miniatori, a set of monks noted for painting with minium or red-lead. The first miniatures were the initial letters of rubrics, and as the head of the Virgin or some other saint was usually introduced into these illuminated letters, the word came to express a small likeness. The best miniature-painters have been Holbein, Nicholas Hilliard, Isaac Oliver and his son Peter, Samuel Cooper and his brother Alexander, etc.

Minie Rifle (See Gun .)

Minims (Latin, Fratres Minimi, least of the brethren). A term of self-abasement assumed by an order of monks founded by St. Francis of Paula, in 1453. The order of St. Francis of Assisi had already engrossed the “humble” title of Fratres Minores (inferior brothers). The superior of the minims is called corrector.

Minister means an inferior person, in opposition to magister, a superior. One is connected with the Latin minus, and the other with magis. Our Lord says, “Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister,” where the antithesis is well preserved. The minister of a church is a man who serves the parish or congregation; and the minister of the Crown is the sovereign's servant.
   Minister. Florimond de Remond, speaking of Albert Babinot, one of the disciples of Calvin, says, “He was a student of the Institutes, read at the hall of the Equity school in Poitiers, and was called la Ministerie, ” Calvin, in allusion thereto, used to call him “Mr. Minister,” whence not only Babinot but all the other clergy of the Calvinistic church were called ministers.

Minna Troil Eldest daughter of Magnus Troil, the old Udaller of Zetland. Captain Clement Cleveland (Vaughan) the pirate loved her, and Minna reciprocated his affection, but Cleveland was killed by the Spaniards in an encounter on the Spanish main. (Sir Walter Scott: The Pirate.)