Mirth, the expression of joy, gayety, merriment, is thus distinguished from its synonym, cheerfulness: Mirth is considered as an act, vhttrfuhass a habit of the mind. Mirth is short and transient; chccr/'xlmss fixed and permanent. Those are often raised into the greatest transports of mirth who are subject to the greatest depressions of melancholy: on the contrary, cheerfulness, though it does not give such an exquisite gladness, prevents us from falling into any depths of sorrow. Mirth is like a flash of liglitning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment ; chcerl'idness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fdls it with a steady and perpetual serenity.
Mirtli is sinful, 1. When men rejoice in that which is evil. 2. When unreasonable. 3. When tending to com- mit sin. 4. When a hinderance to duty. 5. When it is blasphemous and profane. — Buck, Tkeol. Diet. s. v.
Mis'ael (Mtirat'iX), the Greek form (a, 1 Esdr. ix, 44 ; comp. Neh. viii, 4 ; /;, Song of the Three Child. 6(5 ; comp. Dan. i, G S(j.) of the Heb. name Mishakl (ij. v.).
Misanthropist (from the Greek niativ, to hate, and oj'^puTTor, mail), a hater of mankind ; one that aban- dons society from a principle of discontent. The con- sideration of the depravity of hmnau nature is certainly enough to raise emotions of sorrow in the breast of every man of the least sensibility; yet it is our duty to bear with the follies of mankind; to exercise a degree of candor consistent with truth ; to lessen, if possible, by our exertions, the sum of moral and natural evil; and by connecting ourselves with society, to add at least somelliing to the general interests of mankind. The misanthropist, therefore, is an ungenerous and dishoii- oralile character. Disgusted witli life, he seeks a re- treat from it; like a coward, he flees from the scene of action, wliile he increases his own misery by his natural discontent, and leaves others to do what they can for themselves.
The following is his character more at large: " He is a man," says Saurin {Sermons), " who avoids society only to free himself from the trouble of being useful to it. lie is a man who considers his neighbors only on the side of their defects, not knowing the art of combin- ing their virtues with their vices, and of rendering the imperfi'ctions of otlier peo])le tolerable l)v reflecting on his own. He is a man more employed in linding out and inflicting jjunishments on the guilty than in devis- ing means to reform them. He is a man who talks of nothing l)ut banisliing and executing, and wlio, because he tliiiiks liis talents are not suflicienlly valued and em- ployed l>y his fellow-citizens, or, rather, because they I know his foiljles, and do not choose to be subject to liis caprice, talks of (putting cities, towns, and societies, and of living in dens or deserts." — Ihick, Thiol. Did. s. v.
MisciroH, Toximaso, a jiainler of the Bolognese s.chool, was bom at Faenza in 1C3G. He gained consid-
erable reputation, and executed several works for the churches. His principal picture is the Martyrdom of St. Cecilia, an altar-piece in the church of St. Cecilia at Faenza, which is flnished with great care. Lanzi saya that in some of his works ^lisciroli eipials the best Vi- eimese painters, but accuses him of plagiarism in many instances, notal>ly in the picture above alluded to, in which he introduced an executioner stirring u\> the flames, a feature copied almost entirely from Lionollo's grand picture of the martyrdom of St. Domenico in the church of that name at Bologna. Misciroli died in 1C99. See Lanzi's J/ist. of Paintiiiy, transl. by Roscoe (Lond. 1847, 3 vols. 8vo), iii, 131 ; Spooner, Biog. Hist, of the Fine Arts (Phila. 1865, 2 vols. 8vo), ii, 569.
Miser (Lat. unhappy), a term formerly used in ref- . erence to a person in wretchedness or calamity; but it now denotes a parsimonious person, or rtne who is cov- etous to extremity; who denies himself even the com- forts of life to accumulate wealth. "'Avarice," says Saurin, " may be considered in two different points of light. It may be considered in those men, or rather those public bloodsuckers, or, as the officers of the Roman emperor Vespasian were called, those .<tponi/es of society, who, infatuated with this passion, seek after riches as the supreme good, determine to acipiire it by any meth- ods, and consider the Avays that lead to wealth, legal or illegal, as the only road for them to travel. Avarice, however, must be considered in a second point of light. It not only consists in committing bold crimes, but in entertaining mean ideas and practicing low methods, in- compatible with such magnanimity as our condition ought to inspire. It consists not only in omitting to serve God, but in trying to associate tiie service of (iod with that of mammon. How many forms doth avarice take to disguise itself from the man who is guilty of it, and who will be drenched in tiie guilt of it till the day he dies! Sometimes it h prudence, which requires hita to provide not only for his i)resent wants, but for such as he may have in future. Sometimes it is charity, which requires him not to give society examples of prodigality and parade. Sometimes it \fi jiarmtid lore, obliging liim to save something for his children. Sometimes it is rir- cumspection, which requires him not to supply people who make ill use of what they get. Sometimes it is necessity, which obliges him to repel artifice b}- artifice. Sometimes it is conscience, which convinces him, good man, that he hath already exceeded in compassion and alms-giving, and done too much. Sometimes it is equity, for justice requires that every one should enjoy the fruit of his own labors and those of his ancestors. Such, alas ! are the awful pretexts and subterfuges of the miser" {Sermons, vol. v, sen 12). — Buck, Theol. Diet. s. v. See