into bags and are ready for circulation. In the United States there are mints at Philadelphia, New Orleans, San Francisco, Carson City and Denver, and several assay offices where the metals are prepared for coinage. The mints are under the direction of a branch of the treasury department, called the bureau of the mint. The earliest money coined in the United States was copper cents in 1795, at Philadelphia, where the first mint was established.
Min′to, Gilbert John, G.C.M.G., fourth earl of, governor-general of India since 1905 and previously known in the Canadian Dominion under his junior title of Viscount Melgund, was born in 1845. Early in his career he entered the Scots Guards, was attached to the Turkish army on the Danube in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877, served in Afghanistan in 1879, and two years later accompanied Sir Frederick Roberts to South Africa as military secretary. During 1883-6 he was military secretary to Lord Landsdowne, then governor-general of Canada, and chief of staff in a short campaign against the insurgent Riel in the northwestern territories of the Dominion. He succeeded to the earldom in 1891, and in 1898 was appointed governor-general of Canada.
Min′ute Men. This is a name which has been applied to the disaffected American colonists who, as the Revolutionary War approached, took a pledge to take up arms if given “a minute's notice” only. The Provincial Congress of Massachusetts in 1774 passed an act which provided for the enrolment of such minute men. For war purposes their readiness and promptness were of the greatest importance as a guarantee of the nucleus of an army, even from the outset of hostilities.
Mirabeau (mē̇′rȧ′bō″), Honoré Gabriel Riquette, Count de, a great French statesman, was born at Bignon in Provence, March 9, 1749. He was badly scarred by smallpox at three years of age, and had a twisted foot and an unusually ugly face. Yet his great ability and a personal power of fascination made him the idol of his companions. His father, a tyrant in his home, placed him in the army and twice secured his imprisonment. His life was wild, and at one time he was condemned to death for his flight with a married woman. While in prison he wrote his famous essay on State Prisons. After his release he succeeded in having the sentence against him repealed, and made himself famous by his eloquent appeal in his own behalf. He spent his next years in writing pamphlets and books, and while on a secret mission for his government to Berlin obtained the materials for his History of the Prussian Monarchy under Frederick the Great. His political life began with the stormy days preceding the Revolution; and in the national assembly, when the king commanded the deputies to separate, he made the memorable answer: “We shall yield to nothing but bayonets.” His dream was to place the king at the head of the Revolution and reform the government by a new constitution, guarded by a ministry, somewhat after the pattern of the English parliament. He tried to make terms with Lafayette and Necker, suggesting their names for the new ministry. He labored incessantly and with great power, but was opposed by the queen and mistrusted by the better classes in either party. “The sins of my youth,” he bitterly exclaimed, “are giving me their full punishment now.” In 1790 he was made president of the Jacobin Club and administrator of the Seine department, and later one of its eight directors. In January, 1791, he was made president of the national assembly. He opposed the law against emigration and the proposal that at the king's death a regent be elected by the French assembly. His health, ruined by his early excesses and his tremendous labors, was failing, and with prophetic foresight he said: “I carry with me the ruin of the monarchy.” He died at Paris in his 43rd year, April 2, 1791, and was buried in the Panthéon. “Do not rejoice over the death of Mirabeau,” said the king to his wife; “we have suffered a greater loss than you imagine.” His was the one influence that might still have saved the throne. See History of the French Revolution by Carlyle; by Michelet; and by Taine.
Mir′acle-Plays or Mys′teries were plays performed in the middle ages, the subjects of which were taken from the Bible or the lives of saints. Miracle-plays were founded on legends, and the mysteries on the history of the Bible, but the distinction was not carefully observed. The plays were at first performed in the churches by the clergy and their assistants, but afterward on stages erected in the streets, and at one time every important place had its band of players. The first known specimen of these plays dates back to the 4th century. In 1110, in Dunstable, England, was exhibited the play of St. Catherine, the earliest mentioned in England. They were used at first as means of religious instruction, but became gradually corrupted by jests and vulgarities. After the Reformation they slowly declined, though the first blow against them came from the Roman Catholic church on the ground of their irreverence. The only modern instance of these plays is the Passion Play, which is performed once in ten years at Oberammergau in Bavaria, as the townspeople pleaded successfully to be excepted from the general condemnation in 1779. (See Oberammergau.) See Miracle Plays by Hase and English Miracle Plays, Mysteries and Moralities, by Pollard.
