a very graceful kind of dance, consisting of a coupe, a high step, and a balance. It begins with a beat, and its motion is triple.

The invention of the minuet seems to be generally ascribed to the French, and particularly to the inhabitants of the province of Poitou. The word is said by Ménage and Furetière to be derived from the French menu or menus, small or little, and in strictness to signify a small space. The melody of this dance consists of two strains, which, from being repeated, are called reprises, each having eight or more bars, but never an odd number. The measure consists of three crotchets in a bar, and is thus marked $\frac{3}{4}$. Walther speaks of a minuet in Lully's opera of Roland, each strain of which contains ten bars, the sectional number being $5$; a circumstance which renders it very difficult to be danced. Modern instrumental composers have introduced into their symphonies and quartets, &c., minuets of a rapid movement and fanciful character, and which are followed by trios in a different style.

MIÖSEN, a lake of Norway, in the province of Christiania, and 36 miles N.E. of that town, has a length of 55 miles, and a breadth at the widest part of 12 miles. It is fed by the large river Lougen, which has a length of 130 miles, and falls into the lake at the village of Lillehammer. The surrounding scenery is very fine, the banks, which rise gradually from the surface of the water, being covered with forests and pastures. A steamer plies upon the lake; and a railway is projected from Christiania to its southern extremity. In 1755, at the time of the great earthquake at Lisbon, the waters of Lake Miösen were much agitated, rose suddenly to the height of 20 feet, and then as suddenly subsided.