(1388, 1413-1422).
⁂ Mon-mouth is the _mouth of the Monnow_.
_Monmouth_ (_The duke of_), commander-in-chief of the royal army.--Sir
W. Scott, _Old Mortality_ (time, Charles II.).
⁂ The duke of Monmouth was nicknamed “The Little Duke,” because he was
diminutive in size. Having no name of his own, he took that of his wife,
“Scott,” countess of Buccleuch. Pepys says: “It is reported that the
king will be tempted to set the crown on the Little Duke” (_Diary_,
seventeenth century).
=Mon´ema=, wife of Quia´ra, the only persons of the whole of the Guārani
race who escaped the small-pox plague which ravaged that part of
Paraguay. They left the fatal spot, and settled in the Modai woods. Here
they had one son, Yerūti, and one daughter, Mooma, but Quiāra was
killed by a jagŭar before the latter was born. Monĕma left the Mondai
woods, and went to live at St. Joăchin, in Paraguay, but soon died from
the effects of a house and city life.--Southey, _A Tale of Paraguay_
(1814).
Mononia, when nature embellished the tint
Of thy fields and thy mountains so fair,
Did she ever intend that a tyrant should print
The footstep of slavery there?
T. Moore, _Irish Melodies_, i. (“War Song,” 1814).
=Monsieur=, Philippe, Duc d’Orléans, brother of Louis XIV. (1674-1723).
⁂ Other gentlemen were Mons. A or Mons. B, but the regent was Mons.
without any adjunct.
Similarly, the daughter of the duc de Chartres (the regent’s grandson)
was Mademoiselle.
=Monsieur le Coadjuteur=, Paul de Gondi, afterwards Cardinal de Retz
(1614-1679).
=Monsieur le duc=, Louis Henri de Bourbon, eldest son of the prince de
Condé (1692-1740).
=Monsieur Thomas=, a drama by Beaumont and Fletcher (1619).
=Monsieur Tonson=, a farce by Moncrieff. Jack Ardourly fails in love with
Adolphine de Courcy in the street, and gets Tom King to assist in
ferreting her out. Tom King discovers that his sweeting lives in the
house of a French refugee, a barber, named Mons. Morbleu; but not
knowing the name of the young lady, he inquires for Mr. Thompson, hoping
to pick up information. Mons. Morbleu says no Mons. Tonson lives in the
house, but only Mde. Bellegarde and Mdlle. Adolphine de Courcy. The old
Frenchman is driven almost crazy by different persons inquiring for
Mons. Tonson; but ultimately Jack Ardourly marries Adolphine, whose
mother is Mrs. Thompson after all.
Taylor wrote a drama of the same title in 1767.
=Monster= (_The_), Renwick Williams, a wretch who used to prowl about
London by night, armed with a double-edged knife, with which he
mutilated women. He was condemned July 8, 1790.
=Mont Rognon= (_Baron of_), a giant of enormous strength and insatiable
appetite. He was bandy-legged, had an elastic stomach, and four rows of
teeth. He was a paladin of Charlemagne, and one of the four sent in
search of Croquemitaine and Fear Fortress.--_Croquemitaine._
=Mont St. Michel=, in Normandy. Here nine druidesses used to sell arrows
to sailors to charm away storms. The arrows had to be discharged by a
young man 25 years of age.
The Laplanders drove a profitable trade by selling winds to sailors.
Even so late as 1814, Bessie Millie, of Pomōna (Orkney Islands), helped
to eke out a livelihood by selling winds for sixpence.
Eric, king of Sweden, could make the winds blow from any quarter he
liked by a turn of his cap. Hence, he was nicknamed “Windy Cap.”
=Mont Trésor=, in France; so called by Gontran “the Good,” king of
Burgundy (sixteenth century). One day, weary with the chase, Gontran
laid himself down near a small river, and fell asleep. The squire who
watched his master, saw a little animal come from the king’s mouth, and
walk to the stream, over which the squire laid his sword, and the
animal running across, entered a hole in the mountain. When Gontran was
told of this incident, he said he had dreamt that he crossed a bridge of
steel, and, having entered a cave at the foot of a mountain, entered a
palace of gold. Gontran employed men to undermine the hill, and found
there vast treasures, which he employed in works of charity and
religion. In order to commemorate this event he called the hill Mont
Trésor.--Claud Paradin, _Symbola Heroica_.
⁂ This story has been ascribed to numerous persons.
=Mon´tague= (3 _syl._), head of a noble house in Verona, at feudal enmity
with the house of Capŭlet. Romeo belonged to the former, and Juliet to
the latter house.
_Lady Montague_, wife of Lord Montague, and mother of
Romeo.--Shakespeare, _Romeo and Juliet_ (1598).
=Montalban.=
_Don Kyrie Elyson de Montalban_, a hero of romance, in the _History of
Tirante the White_.
_Thomas de Montalban_, brother of Don Kyrie Elyson, in the same romance
of chivalry.
_Rinaldo de Montalban_, a hero of romance, in the _Mirror of
Knighthood_, from which work both Bojardo and Ariosto have largely
borrowed.
_Montalban_, now called Montauban (a contraction of _Mons Alba´nus_), in
France, in the department of Tarn-et-Garonne.
Jousted in Aspramont or Montalban.
Milton, _Paradise Lost_, i. 583 (1665).
_Montalban_ (_The Count_), in love with Volantê (3 _syl._), daughter of
Balthazar. In order to sound her, the count disguised himself as a
father confessor; but Volantê detected the trick instantly, and said to
him, “Come, come, count, pull off your lion’s hide, and confess yourself
an ass.” However, as Volantê really loved him, all came right at
last.--J. Tobin, _The Honeymoon_ (1804).
=Montanto= (_Signor_), a master of fence and a great braggart.--Ben
Jonson, _Every Man in His Humour_ (1598).
=Montargis= (_The Dog of_), named Dragon. It belonged to Captain Aubri de
Montdidier, and is especially noted for his fight with the Chevalier
Richard Macaire. The dog was called Montargis, because the encounter was
depicted over the chimney of the great hall in the castle of Montargis.
It was in the forest of Bondi, close by this castle, that Aubri was
assassinated.
=Monte Christo= (_Count_), convict who escapes from prison, and finds
immense treasure, with which he does incredible things.
Assuming the title of “count,” he adds the name of the island on which
his treasure is buried, and plays the grande seignior in society,
punishing his former persecutors and false friends, and rewarding his
old allies. Finally he is brought to confess that man cannot play
providence, and to recall the words “Vengeance is mine!”--Alexander
Dumas, _Count of Monte Christo_.
=Montenay= (_Sir Philip de_), an old English knight.--Sir W. Scott,
_Castle Dangerous_ (time, Henry I.).
=Montesi´nos=, a legendary hero, who received some affront at the French
court, and retired to La Mancha, in Spain. Here he lived in a cavern,
some sixty feet deep, called “The Cavern of Montesinos.” Don Quixote
descended part of the way down this cavern, and fell into a trance, in
which he saw Montesinos himself, Durandartê and Belerma under the spell
of Merlin, Dulcin´ea del Toboso enchanted into a country wench, and other
visions, which he more than half believed to be realities.--Cervantes,
_Don Quixote_, II. ii. 5, 6 (1615).
⁂ This Durandartê was the cousin of Montesinos, and Belerma the lady he
served for seven years. When he fell at Roncesvallês, he prayed his
cousin to carry his heart to Belerma.
=Montespan= (_The marquis de_), a conceited court fop, silly and
heartless. When Louis XIV. took Mde. de Montespan for his concubine, he
banished the marquis, saying:
Your strange and countless follies--
The scenes you make--your loud domestic broils--
Bring scandal on our court. Decorum needs
Your banishment.... Go!
And for your separate household, which entails
A double cost, our treasure shall accord you
A hundred thousand crowns.
Act iv. 1.
The foolish old marquis says, in his self-conceit:
A hundred thousand crowns for being civil
To one another! Well now, that’s a thing
That happens but to marquises. It shows
My value in the state. The king esteems
My comfort of such consequence to France,
He pays me down a hundred thousand crowns,
Rather than let my wife disturb my temper!
Act v. 2.
_Madame de Montespan_, wife of the marquis. She supplanted La Vallière
in the base love of Louis XIV. La Vallière loved the _man_, Montespan
the _king_. She had wit to warm but not to burn, energy which passed for
feeling, a head to check her heart, and not too much principle for a
French court. Mde. de Montespan was the _protégée_ of the Duke de
Lauzun, who used her as a stepping-stone to wealth; but when in favor,
she kicked down the ladder by which she had climbed to power. However,
Lauzun had his revenge; and when La Vallière took the veil, Mde. de
Montespan was banished from the court.--Lord E. L. B. Lytton, _The
Duchess de la Vallière_ (1836).
=Montfauçon= (_The Lady Calista of_), attendant of Queen Berengaria.--Sir.
W. Scott, _The Talisman_ (time, Richard I.).
=Mont-Fitchet= (_Sir Conrade_), a preceptor of the Knights Templar.--Sir
W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).
=Montfort= (_De_), the hero and title of a tragedy, intended to depict the
passion of hate, by Joanna Baillie (1798). The object of De Montfort’s
hatred is Rezenvelt, and his passion drives him on to murder.
⁂ De Montfort was probably the suggestive inspiration of Byron’s
_Manfred_ (1817).
=Montgomery= (_Mr._), Lord Godolphin, lord high treasurer of England in
the reign of Queen Anne. The queen called herself “Mrs. Morley,” and
Sarah Jennings, duchess of Marlborough, was “Mrs. Freeman.”
=Monthermer= (_Guy_), a nobleman, and the pursuivant of King Henry
II.--Sir W. Scott, _The Betrothed_ (time, Henry II.).
=Montjoie=, chief herald of France.--Sir W. Scott, _Quentin Durward_
(time, Edward IV.).
=Montorio=, the hero of a novel, who persuaded his “brother’s sons” to
murder their father by working on their fears, and urging on them the
doctrine of fatalism. When the deed was committed, Montorio discovered
that the young murderers were not his nephews, but his own sons.--Rev.
C. R. Maturin, _Fatal Revenge_ (1807).
=Montreal d’Albano=, called “Fra Moriale,” knight of St. John of
Jerusalem, and captain of the Grand Company in the fourteenth century,
when sentenced to death by Rienzi, summoned his judge to follow him
within the month. Rienzi was killed by the fickle mob within the stated
period. (See SUMMONS TO DEATH.)
=Montreville= (_Mde. Adela_), or the Begum Mootee Mahul, called “the queen
of Sheba.”--Sir W. Scott, _The Surgeon’s Daughter_ (time, George II.).
=Montrose= (_The duke of_), commander-in-chief of the king’s army.--Sir W.
Scott, _Rob Roy_, xxxii. (time, George I.).
_Montrose_ (_The Marquis of_).--Sir W. Scott, _Woodstock_ (time,
Commonwealth).
_Montrose_ (_James Grahame, earl of_), the king’s lieutenant in
Scotland. He appears first disguised as Anderson, servant of the earl of
Menteith.--Sir W. Scott, _Legend of Montrose_ (time, Charles I.).
=Monuments= (_The_), Poor family in London.
_Father_, a convict who gets out of prison on a ticket-of-leave.
_Mother_, Hester, an honest washerwoman, afterwards in almshouse, and
blind.
_Claude._ Bright young fellow, educated by Lady Mildred Eldredge.
_Melenda_, a work-girl, fierce and virtuous, starving, yet independent.
_Joe_, plumber and house-decorator, typical British workman.
_Polly_, adopted by Lady Mildred, called “Violet,” and brought up with
her own daughter.
_Sam_, a red-hot socialist, ready with impracticable plans of leagues
and reformation.--Walter Besant, _Children of Gibeon_ (1890).
=Montserrat= (_Conrade, marquis of_), a crusader.--Sir W. Scott, _The
Talisman_ (time, Richard I.).
=Moody= (_John_), the guardian of Peggy Thrift, an heiress, whom he brings
up in the country, wholly without society. John Moody is morose,
suspicious, and unsocial. When 50 years of age, and Peggy 19, he wants
to marry her, but is out-witted by “the country girl,” who prefers
Belville, a young man of more suitable age.
_Alithea Moody_, sister of John. She jilts Sparkish, a conceited fop,
and marries Harcourt.--_The Country Girl_ (time, Garrick, altered from
Wycherly).
=Mooma=, youngest sister of Yerūti. Their father and mother were the only
persons of the whole Guarāni race who escaped a small-pox plague which
ravished that part of Paraguay. They left the fatal spot and lived in
the Mondai woods, where both their children were born. Before the birth
of Mooma, her father was eaten by a jagŭar, and the three survivors
lived in the woods alone. When grown to a youthful age, a Jesuit priest
persuaded them to come and live at St. Joăchin (3 _syl._); so they left
the wild woods for a city life. Here the mother soon flagged and died.
Mooma lost her spirits, was haunted with thick-coming fancies of good
and bad angels, and died. Yerūti begged to be baptized, received the
rite, cried, “Ye are come for me! I am ready;” and died also.--Southey,
_A Tale of Paraguay_ (1814).
_Moon_ (_Man in the_), said to be Cain, with a bundle of thorns.
Now doth Cain with fork of thorns confine
On either hemisphere, touching the wave
Beneath the towers of Seville. Yesternight
The moon was round.
Dantê, _Hell_, xx. (1300).
_Moon_ (_Minions of the_), thieves or highwaymen. (See MOON’S MEN.)
=Moon and Mahomet.= Mahomet made the moon perform seven circuits round
Caaba or the holy shrine of Mecca, then enter the right sleeve of his
mantle and go out at the left. At its exit, it split into two pieces,
which re-united in the centre of the firmament. This miracle was
performed for the conversion of Hahab, the Wise.
=Moon-Calf=, an inanimate, shapeless human mass, said by Pliny to be
engendered of woman only.--_Nat. Hist._, x. 64.
=Moon’s Men=, thieves or highwaymen, who ply their vocation by night.
The fortune of us that are but moon’s men doth ebb and flow like
the sea.--Shakespeare, 1 _Henry IV._ act i. sc. 2 (1597).
=Moonshine= (_Saunders_), a smuggler.--Sir W. Scott, _Bride of Lammermoor_
(time, William III.).
=Moore= (_Mr. John_), of the Pestle and Mortar, Abchurch Lane,
immortalized by his “worm-powder,” and called the “Worm Doctor.”
=Moors.= The Moors of Aragon are called Tangarins; those of Granāda are
Mudajares; and those of Fez are called Elches. They are the best
soldiers of the Spanish dominions. In the Middle Ages, all Mohammedans
were called _Moors_; and hence Camoens, in the _Lusiad_, viii., called
the Indians so.
=Mopes= (_Mr._), the hermit, who lived on Tom Tiddler’s Ground. He was
dirty, vain, and nasty, “like all hermits,” but had landed property, and
was said to be rich and learned. He dressed in a blanket and skewer,
and, by steeping himself in soot and grease, soon acquired immense fame.
Rumor said he murdered his beautiful young wife, and abandoned the
world. Be this as it may, he certainly lived a nasty life. Mr. Traveller
tried to bring him back into society, but a tinker said to him “Take my
word for it, when iron is thoroughly rotten, you can never botch it, do
what you may.”--C. Dickens, _A Christmas Number_ (1861).
=Mopsus=, a shepherd, who, with Menalcas, celebrates the funeral eulogy of
Daphnis.--Virgil, _Eclogue_, v.
=Mora=, the betrothed of Oscar, who mysteriously disappears on his bridal
eve, and is mourned for as dead. His younger brother, Allan, hoping to
secure the lands and fortune of Mora, proposes marriage, and is
accepted. At the wedding banquet, a stranger demands “a pledge to the
lost Oscar,” and all accept it except Allan, who is there and then
denounced as the murderer of his brother. Oscar then vanishes, and Allan
dies.--Byron, _Oscar of Alva_.
=Moradbak=, daughter of Fitead, a widower. Hudjadge, king of Persia, could
not sleep, and commanded Fitead, his porter and jailer, under pain of
death, to find some one to tell him tales. Fitead’s daughter, who was
only 11, undertook to amuse the king with tales, and was assisted in
private by the sage Abou´melek. After a perfect success, Hudjadge
married Moradbak, and at her recommendation, Aboumelek was appointed
overseer of the whole empire.--Comte de Caylus, _Oriental Tales_ (1743).
=Morakan´abad=, grand vizier of the Caliph Vathek.--Beckford, _Vathek_
(1784).
=Moral Philosophy= (_The Father of_), Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274).
=Moran, Son of Fithil=, one of the scouts in the army of Swaran, king of
Lochlin (_Denmark_).--Ossian, _Fingal_.
=Moran’s Collar=, a collar for magistrates, which had the supernatural
power of pressing the neck of the wearer if his judgments deviated from
strict justice, and even of causing strangulation if he persevered in
wrong doing. Moran, surnamed “the Just,” was the wise counsellor of
Feredach, an early king of Ireland.
=Morat=, in _Aurungzebe_, a drama by Dryden (1675).
Edward Kynaston [1619-1687] shone with uncommon lustre in “Morat”
and “Muley Moloch.” In both these parts he had a fierce, lion-like
majesty in his port and utterance, that gave the spectators a kind
of trembling admiration.--Colley Cibber.
=Morbleu!= This French oath is a corrupt contraction of Mau´graby; thus,
_maugre bleu_, _mau’bleu_. Maugraby was the great Arabian enchanter, and
the word means “barbarous,” hence a barbarous man or barbarian. The oath
is common in Provence, Languedoc, and Gascoigne. I have often heard it
used by the medical students at Paris.
Probably it is a punning corruption of _Mort de Dieu_.
=Mordaunt=, the secretary, at Aix, of Queen Margaret, the widow of Henry
VI. of England.--Sir W. Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).
=Mor´decai= (_Beau_), a rich Italian Jew, one of the suitors of Charlotte
Goodchild, but, supposing the report to be true that she has lost her
fortune, he calls off and retires.--C. Macklin, _Love à-la-Mode-_[TN-22]
(1759).
_Mordecai._ Earnest young Jew, supporting himself by repairing watches,
jewelry, etc. He is devoted to his race, proud of his lineage, and
versed in all pertaining to Hebrew history. He dies of consumption.--George
Eliot, _Daniel Deronda_.
=Mordent=, father of Joanna, by a former wife. In order to marry Lady
Anne, he deserts Joanna and leaves her to be brought up by strangers.
Joanna is placed under Mrs. Enfield, a crimp, and Mordent consents to a
proposal of Lennox to run off with her. Mordent is a spirit embittered
with the world--a bad man, with a goading conscience. He sins and
suffers the anguish of remorse; does wrong, and blames Providence
because when he “sows the wind he reaps the whirlwind.”
_Lady Anne_, the wife of Mordent, daughter of the earl of Oldcrest,
sister of a viscount, niece of Lady Mary, and one of her uncles is a
bishop. She is wholly neglected by her husband, but, like Griselda
(_q.v._), bears it without complaint.--Holcroft, _The Deserted
Daughter_ (1784, altered into _The Steward_).
=Mordred= (_Sir_), son of Margawse (sister of King Arthur), and Arthur,
her brother, while she was the wife of Lot, king of Orkney (pt. i. 2,
35, 36). The sons of Lot himself and his wife were Gaw´ain, Agravain,
Ga´heris, and Gareth, all knights of the Round Table. Out of hatred to
Sir Launcelot, Mordred and Agravain accuse him to the king of too great
familiarity with Queen Guenever, and induce the king to spend a day in
hunting. During his absence, the queen sends for Sir Launcelot to her
private chamber, and Mordred and Agravain, with twelve other knights,
putting the worst construction on the interview, clamorously assail the
chamber, and call on Sir Launcelot to come out. This he does, and kills
Agravain with the twelve knights, but Mordred makes his escape and tells
the king, who orders the queen to be burnt alive. She is brought to the
stake, but is rescued by Sir Launcelot, who carries her off to Joyous
Guard, near Carlisle, which the king besieges. While lying before the
castle, King Arthur receives a bull from the pope, commanding him to
take back his queen. This he does, but as he refuses to be reconciled to
Sir Launcelot, the knight betakes himself to Benwick, in Brittany. The
king lays siege to Benwick, and during his absence leaves Mordred
regent. Mordred usurps the crown, and tries, but in vain, to induce the
queen to marry him. When the king hears thereof, he raises the siege of
Benwick, and returns to England. He defeats Mordred at Dover, and at
Barondown, but at Salisbury (_Camlan_) Mordred is slain fighting with
the king, and Arthur receives his death-wound. The queen then retires to
a convent at Almesbury, is visited by Sir Launcelot, declines to marry
him, and dies.--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_ iii. 143-174
(1470).
⁂ The wife of Lot is called “Anne” by Geoffrey, of Monmouth (_British
History_, viii. 20, 21); and “Bellicent” by Tennyson, in _Gareth and
Lynette_.
This tale is so very different from those of Geoffrey of Monmouth, and
Tennyson, that all three are given. (See MODRED.)
=Mor´dure= (2 _syl._), son of the emperor of Germany. He was guilty of
illicit love with the mother of Sir Bevis, of Southampton, who murdered
her husband and then married Sir Mordure. Sir Bevis, when a mere lad,
reproved his mother for the murder of his father, and she employed Saber
to kill him; but the murder was not committed, and young Bevis was
brought up as a shepherd. One day, entering the hall where Mordure sat
with his bride, Bevis struck at him with his axe. Mordure slipped aside,
and the chair was “split to shivers.” Bevis was then sold to an
Armenian, and was presented to the king, who knighted him and gave him
his daughter Josian in marriage.--M. Drayton, _Polyolbion_, ii. (1612).
_Mordure_ (2 _syl._), Arthur’s sword, made by Merlin. No enchantment had
power over it, no stone or steel was proof against it, and it would
neither break nor bend. (The word means “hard biter.”)--Spenser, _Faëry
Queen_, ii. 8 (1590).
=More= (_Margareta_), the heroine and feigned authoress of _Household of
Sir Thomas More_, by Miss Manning (1851).
=More of More Hall=, a legendary hero, who armed himself with armor full
of spikes, and, concealing himself in the cave where the dragon of
Wantley dwelt, slew the monster by kicking it in the mouth, where alone
it was mortal.
⁂ In the burlesque of H. Carey, entitled _The Dragon of Wantley_, the
hero is called “Moore of Moore Hall,” and he is made to be in love with
Gubbins’s daughter, Margery, of Roth’ram Green (1696-1743).
=Morecraft=, at first a miser, but after losing most of his money he
became a spendthrift.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Scornful Lady_
(1616).
⁂ “Luke,” in Massinger’s _City Madam_, is the exact opposite. He was at
first a poor spendthrift, but coming into a fortune he turned miser.
=Morell= (_Sir Charles_), the pseudonym of the Rev. James Ridley, affixed
to some of the early editions of _The Tales of the Genii_, from 1764.
=More´love= (_Lord_), in love with Lady Betty Modish, who torments him
almost to madness by an assumed indifference, and rouses his jealousy by
coquetting with Lord Foppington. By the advice of Sir Charles Easy, Lord
Morelove pays the lady in her own coin, assumes an indifference to her,
and flirts with Lady Grave´airs. This brings Lady Betty to her senses,
and all ends happily.--Colley Cibber, _The Careless Husband_ (1704).
=Morë´no= (_Don Antonio_), a gentleman of Barcelona, who entertained Don
Quixote with mock-heroic hospitality.--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, II. iv.
10 (1615).
=Morfin= (_Mr._), a cheerful bachelor, in the office of Mr. Dombey,
merchant. He calls himself “a creature of habit,” has a great respect
for the head of the house, and befriends John Carker when he falls into
disgrace by robbing his employer. Mr. Morfin is a musical amateur, and
finds in his violoncello a solace for all cares and worries. He marries
Harriet Carker, the sister of John and James.--C. Dickens, _Dombey and
Son_ (1846).
=Morgan= (_le Fay_), one of the sisters of King Arthur (pt. i. 18); the
others were Margawse, Elain, and Anne (Bellicent was his half-sister).
Morgan calls herself “queen of the land of Gore” (pt. i. 103). She was
the wife of King Vrience (pt. i. 63), the mother of Sir Ew´ain (pt. i.
73), and lived in the castle of La Belle Regard (pt. ii. 122).
On one occasion, Morgan le Fay stole her brother’s sword, “Excalibur,”
with its scabbard, and sent them to Sir Accolon, of Gaul, her paramour,
that he might kill her brother Arthur in mortal combat. If this villany
had succeeded, Morgan intended to murder her husband, marry Sir Accolon,
and “devise to make him king of Britain;” but Sir Accolon, during the
combat, dropped the sword, and Arthur, snatching it up, would have slain
him had he not craved mercy and confessed the treasonable design (pt. i.
70). After this, Morgan stole the scabbard and threw it into the lake
(pt. i. 73). Lastly, she tried to murder her brother by means of a
poisoned robe; but Arthur told the messenger to try it on, that he might
see it, and when he did so he dropped down dead, “being burnt to a coal”
(pt. i. 75).--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_ (1470).
W. Morris, in his _Earthly Paradise_ (“August”), makes Morgan la Fée the
bride of Ogier, the Dane, after his earthly career was ended.
_Morgan_, a feigned name adopted by Belarius, a banished
lord.--Shakespeare, _Cymbeline_ (1605).
_Morgan_, one of the soldiers of Prince Gwenwyn of Powys-land.--Sir W.
Scott, _The Betrothed_ (time, Henry II.).
=Morgane= (2 _syl._), a fay, to whose charge Zephyr committed young
Passelyon and his cousin, Bennucq. Passelyon fell in love with the fay’s
daughter, and the adventures of these young lovers are related in the
romance of _Perceforest_, iii.
=Morgante= (3 _syl._), a ferocious giant, converted to Christianity by
Orlando. After performing the most wonderful feats, he died at last from
the bite of a crab.--Pulci, _Morgante Maggiore_ (1488).
He [_Don Quixote_] spoke favorably of Morgante, who, though of
gigantic race, was most gentle in his manners.--Cervantes, _Don
Quixote_, I. i. 1 (1605).
=Morgause= or MARGAWSE, wife of King Lot. Their four sons were Gaw´ain,
Agravain, Ga´heris, and Gareth (ch. 36); but Morgause had another son by
Prince Arthur, named Mordred. Her son Gaheris, having caught his mother
in adultery with Sir Lamorake, cut off her head.
=Morgia´na=, the female slave, first of Cassim, and then of Ali Baba,
“crafty, cunning, and fruitful in inventions.” When the thief marked the
door of her master’s house with white chalk in order to recognize it,
Morgiana marked several other doors in the same manner; next day she
observed a red mark on the door, and made a similar one on others, as
before. A few nights afterwards, a merchant with thirty-eight oil-jars
begged a night’s lodging; and as Morgiana wanted oil for a lamp, she
went to get some from one of the leather jars. “Is it time?” asked a
voice. “Not yet,” replied Morgiana, and going to the others, she
discovered that a man was concealed in thirty-seven of the jars. From
the last jar she took oil, which she made boiling hot, and with it
killed the thirty-seven thieves. When the captain discovered that all
his men were dead, he decamped without a moment’s delay. Soon
afterwards, he settled in the city as a merchant, and got invited by Ali
Baba to supper, but refused to eat salt. This excited the suspicion of
Morgiana, who detected in the pretended merchant the captain of the
forty thieves. She danced awhile for his amusement, playfully sported
with his dagger, and suddenly plunged it into his heart. When Ali Baba
knew who it was that she had slain, he not only gave the damsel her
liberty, but also married her to his own son.--_Arabian Nights_ (“Ali
Baba, or the Forty Thieves”).
=Morglay=, the sword of Sir Bevis, of Hamptoun, _i.e._ Southampton, given
to him by his wife, Josian, daughter of the king of Armenia.--Drayton,
_Polyolboin_,[TN-23] ii. (1612).
You talk of Morglay, Excalibur [_Arthur’s sword_], and Durindana
[_Orlando’s sword_], or so. Tut! I lend no credit to that is fabled
of ’em.--Ben Jonson, _Every Man in His Humor_, iii. 1 (1598).
=Morgue la Faye=, a _fée_ who watched over the birth of Ogier, the Dane,
and after he had finished his earthly career, restored him to perpetual
youth, and took him to live with her in everlasting love in the isle and
castle of Av´alon.--_Ogier, le Danois_ (a romance).
=Mor´ice= (_Gil_ or _Chĭld_), the natural son of Lady Barnard, “brought
forth in her father’s house wi’ mickle sin and shame.” One day, Gil
Morice sent Willie to the baron’s hall, with a request that Lady
Barnard would go at once to Greenwood to see the chĭld. Lord Barnard,
fancying the “chĭld” to be some paramour, forbade his wife to leave the
hall, and went himself to Greenwood, where he slew Gil Morice, and sent
his head to Lady Barnard. On his return, the lady told her lord he had
slain her son, and added, “Wi’ the same spear, oh, pierce my heart, and
put me out o’ pain!” But the baron repented of his hasty deed, and
cried, “I’ll lament for Gil Morice, as gin he were mine ain.”--Percy,
_Reliques, etc._, III. i.
⁂ This tale suggested to Home the plot of his tragedy called _Douglas_.
=Mor´land=, in _Lend Me Five Shillings_, by J. M. Morton (1838).
_Morland_ (_Henry_), “the heir-at-law” of Baron Duberly. It was
generally supposed that he had perished at sea; but he was cast on Cape
Breton, and afterwards returned to England, and married Caroline Dormer,
an orphan.--G. Colman, _The Heir-at-Law_ (1797).
Mr. Beverley behaved like a father to me [_B. Webster_], and
engaged me as a walking gentleman for his London theatre, where I
made my first appearance as “Henry Morland,” in _The Heir-at-Law_,
which, to avoid legal proceedings, he called _The Lord’s
Warming-pan_.--Peter Paterson.
=Morley= (_Mrs._), the name under which Queen Anne corresponded with Mrs.
Freeman (_The Duchess of Marlborough_).
=Morna=, daughter of Cormac, king of Ireland. She was in love with Câthba,
youngest son of Torman. Duchômar, out of jealousy, slew his rival, and
then asked Morna to be his bride. She replied, “Thou art dark to me, O,
Duchômar, and cruel is thine arm to Morna.” She then begged him for his
sword, and when “he gave it to her she thrust it into his heart.”
Duchômar fell, and begged the maid to pull out the sword that he might
die, but when she did so, he seized it from her and plunged it into her
side. Whereupon Cuthullin said:
“Peace to the souls of the heroes! Their deeds were great in fight.
Let them ride around me in clouds. Let them show their features in
war. My soul shall then be firm in danger, mine arm like the
thunder of heaven. But be thou on a moonbeam, O, Morna, near the
window of my rest, when my thoughts are at peace, when the din of
war is past.”--Ossian, _Fingal_, i.
_Morna_, wife of Compal, and mother of Fingal. Her father was Thaddu,
and her brother Clessammor.--Ossian.
=Mornay=, the old seneschal, at Earl Herbert’s tower at Peronne.--Sir W.
Scott, _Quentin Durward_ (time, Edward IV.).
=Morning Star of the Reformation=, John Wycliffe (1324-1384).
=Morocco= or MAROCCUS, the performing horse, generally called “Bankes’s
Horse.” Among other exploits, we are told that “it went up to the top of
St. Paul’s.” Both horse and man were burnt alive at Rome, by order of
the pope, as magicians.--Don Zara del Fogo, 114 (1660).
⁂ Among the entries at Stationers’ Hall is the following:--_Nov. 14,
1595: A Ballad showing the Strange Qualities of a Young Nagg called
Morocco._
In 1595 was published the pamphlet _Maroccus Extaticus_, or _Bankes’s
Horse in a Trance_.
=Morocco Men=, agents of lottery assurances. In 1796, The great State
lottery employed 7500 morocco men. Their business was to go from house
to house among the customers of the assurances, or to attend in the
back parlors of public-houses, where the customers came to meet them.
=Morolt= (_Dennis_), the old squire of Sir Raymond Berenger.--Sir W.
Scott, _The Betrothed_ (time, Henry II.).
=Morose= (2 _syl._), a miserly old hunks, who hates to hear any voice but
his own. His nephew, Sir Dauphine, wants to wring out of him a third of
his property, and proceeds thus: He gets a lad to personate “a silent
woman,” and the phenomenon so delights the old man, that he consents to
a marriage. No sooner is the ceremony over, than the boy-wife assumes
the character of a virago of loud and ceaseless tongue. Morose, driven
half-mad, promises to give his nephew a third of his income if he will
take this intolerable plague off his hands. The trick being revealed,
Morose retires into private life, and leaves his nephew master of the
situation.--Ben Jonson, _The Silent Woman_ (1609).
(“Wasp” in _Bartholomew Fair_, “Corbaccio” in _The Fox_, and “Ananias”
in _The Alchemist_.)
=Moroug=, the monkey mistaken for the devil. A woman of Cambalu died, and
Moroug, wishing to personate her, slipped into her bed, and dressed
himself in her night-clothes, while the body was carried to the
cemetery. When the funeral party returned, and began the usual
lamentations for the dead, pug stretched his night-capped head out of
the bed, and began moaning and grimacing most hideously. All the
mourners thought it was the devil, and scampered out as fast they could
run. The priests assembled, and resolved to exorcise Satan; but pug,
noting their terror, flew on the chief of the bonzes, and bit his nose
and ears most viciously. All the others fled in disorder; and when pug
had satisfied his humor, he escaped out of the window. After a while,
the bonzes returned, with a goodly company well armed, when the chief
bonze told them how he had fought with Satan, and prevailed against him.
So he was canonized, and made a saint in the calendar for ever.--T. S.
Gueulette, _Chinese Tales_ (“The Ape Moroug,” 1723).
=Morrel= or =Morell=, a goat-herd, who invites Thomalin, a shepherd, to
come to the higher grounds, and leave the low-lying lands. He tells
Thomalin that many hills have been canonized, as St. Michael’s Mount,
St. Bridget’s Bower in Kent, and so on; then there was Mount Sinah and
Mount Parnass, where the Muses dwelt. Thomalin replies, “The lowlands
are safer, and hills are not for shepherds.” He then illustrates his
remark by the tale of shepherd Algrind, who sat, like Morrel, on a hill,
when an eagle, taking his white head for a stone, let a shell-fish fall
on it, and cracked his skull.--Spenser, _Shepheardes Calendar_, vii.
[Æschylus was killed by a tortoise dropped on his head by an eagle].
(This is an allegory of the high and low church parties. Morel is an
anagram of Elmer or Aylmer, bishop of London, who “sat on a hill,” and
was the leader of the high-church party. Algrind is Grindal, archbishop
of Canterbury, head of the low-church party, who in 1578 was
sequestrated for writing a letter to the queen on the subject of
puritanism. Thomalin represents the puritans. This could not have been
written before 1578, unless the reference to Algrind was added in some
later edition).
=Morris=, a domestic of the earl of Derby.--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the
Peak_ (time, Charles II).
_Morris_ (_Mr._), the timid fellow-traveller of Frank Osbaldistone, who
carried the portmanteau. Osbaldistone says, concerning him, “Of all the
propensities which teach mankind to torment themselves, that of
causeless fear is the most irritating, busy, painful, pitiable.”--Sir W.
Scott, _Rob Roy_ (time, George I.).
_Morris_ (_Peter_), the pseudonym of John G. Lockhart, in _Peter’s
Letters to His Kinsfolk_ (1819).
_Morris_ (_Dinah_). Beautiful gospeller, who marries Adam Bede, after
the latter recovers from his infatuation for pretty _Hetty Sorrel_.
Hetty is seduced by the young squire, murders her baby, and is condemned
to die for the crime. Dinah visits the doomed girl in prison, wins her
to a confession and repentance, and accompanies her in the gallows-cart.
They are at the scaffold when a reprieve arrives.--George Eliot, _Adam
Bede_.
=Morris-Dance=, a comic representation of every grade of society. The
characters were dressed partly in Spanish and partly in English costume.
Thus, the huge sleeves were Spanish, but the laced stomacher English.
Hobby-horse represented the king and all the knightly order; Maid
Marian, the queen; the friar, the clergy generally; the fool, the court
jester. The other characters represented a franklin or private
gentleman, a churl or farmer, and the lower grades were represented by a
clown. The Spanish costume is to show the origin of the dance.
A representation of a morris-dance may still be seen at Betley, in
Staffordshire, in a window placed in the house of George Tollet, Esq.,
in about 1620.
=Morrison= (_Hugh_), a Lowland drover, the friend of Robin Oig.--Sir W.
Scott, _The Two Drovers_ (time, George III.).
=Mortality= (_Old_), a religious itinerant who frequented country
churchyards and the graves of covenanters. He was first discovered in
the burial ground at Gandercleugh, clearing the moss from the gray[TN-24]
tombstones, renewing with his chisel the half-defaced inscriptions, and
repairing the decorations of the tombs.--Sir W. Scott, _Old Mortality_
(time, Charles II.).
⁂ “Old Mortality” is said to be meant for Robert Patterson.
=Morta´ra=, the boy who died from being covered all over with gold-leaf by
Leo XII., to adorn a pageant.
=Mortcloke= (_Mr._), the undertaker at the funeral of Mrs. Margaret
Bertram of Singleside.--Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George
II.).
=Morte d’Arthur=, a compilation of Arthurian tales, called on the
title-page _The History of Prince Arthur_, compiled from the French by
Sir Thomas Malory, and printed by William Caxton in 1470. It is divided
into three parts. The first part contains the birth of King Arthur, the
establishment of the Round Table, the romance of Balin and Balan, and
the beautiful allegory of Gareth and Linet´. The second part is mainly
the romance of Sir Tristram. The third part is the romance of Sir
Launcelot, the quest of the Holy Graal, and the death of Arthur,
Guenever, Tristram, Lamorake, and Launcelot.
⁂ The difference of style in the third part is very striking. The end
of ch. 44, pt. i., is manifestly the close of a romance. The separate
romances are not marked by any formal indication; but, in the modern
editions, the whole is divided into chapters, and these are provided
with brief abstracts of their contents.
This book was finished the ninth year of the reign of King Edward
IV. by Sir Thomas Malory, knight. Thus endeth this noble and joyous
book, entitled _La Morte d’Arthur_, notwithstanding it treateth of
the birth, life and acts of the said King Arthur, and of his noble
knights of the Round Table ... and the achieving of the Holy
Sancgreall, and in the end the dolorous death and departing out of
the world of them all.--Concluding paragraph.
_Morte d’Arthur_, by Tennyson. The poet follows closely the story of the
death of Arthur, as told by Malory. The king is borne off the field by
Sir Bedivere. Arthur orders the knight to throw his sword Excalibur into
the mere. Twice the knight disobeyed the command, intending to save the
sword; but the dying king detected the fraud, and insisted on being
obeyed. Sir Bedivere then cast the sword into the mere, and an arm,
clothed in white samite, caught it by the hilt, brandished it three
times, and drew it into the mere. Sir Bedivere then carried the dying
king to a barge, in which were three queens, who conveyed him to the
island-valley of Avil´ion, “where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow,
nor ever wind blows loudly.” Here was he taken to be healed of his
grievous wound; but whether he lived or died we are not told.
In his “Idylls of the King,” Tennyson has taken the stories as told by
Malory, and has turned them into his own melodious verse; yet, while
adhering to the substance of each tale, he has in minor matters taken
such liberties as have been allowed to poets since the earliest times.
Shakespeare, in his “Julius Cæsar,” makes a like use of Sir Thomas
North’s translation of Plutarch; the speech of Mark Antony over the body
of Cæsar, to cite the most striking instance among many, is almost a
literal transcription of North’s version, but subjected to the laws of
verse.
=Mortemar= (_Alberick of_), an exiled nobleman, _alias_ Theodorick, the
hermit of Engaddi, the enthusiast.--Sir W. Scott, _The Talisman_ (time,
Richard I.).
=Mor´timer= (_Mr._), executor of Lord Abberville, and uncle of Frances
Tyrrell. “He sheathed a soft heart in a rough case.” Externally, Mr.
Mortimer seemed unsympathetic, brusque and rugged; but in reality he was
most benevolent, delicate and tender-hearted. “He did a thousand noble
acts without the credit of a single one.” In fact, his tongue belied his
heart, and his heart his tongue.--Cumberland, _The Fashionable Lover_
(1780).
_Mortimer_ (_Sir Edward_), a most benevolent man, oppressed with some
secret sorrow. In fact, he knew himself to be a murderer. The case was
this: Being in a county assembly, the uncle of Lady Helen insulted him,
struck him down, and kicked him. Sir Edward rode home to send a
challenge to the ruffian; but, meeting him on the road drunk, he
murdered him, was tried for the crime, but was honorably acquitted. He
wrote a statement of the case, and kept the papers connected with it in
an iron chest. One day Wilford, his secretary, whose curiosity had been
aroused, saw the chest unlocked, and was just about to take out the
documents when Sir Edward entered, and threatened to shoot him; but he
relented, made Wilford swear secrecy, and then told him the whole story.
The young man, unable to live under the jealous eyes of Sir Edward, ran
away; but Sir Edward dogged him, and at length arrested him on the
charge of robbery. The charge broke down, Wilford was acquitted, Sir
Edward confessed himself a murderer, and died.--G. Colman, _The Iron
Chest_ (1796).
=Mortimer Lightwood=, solicitor employed in the “Harmon murder” case. He
was the great friend of Eugene Wrayburn, barrister-at-law, and it was
the ambition of his life to imitate the _nonchalance_ and other
eccentricities of his friend. At one time he was a great admirer of
Bella Wilfer. Mr. Veneering called him “one of his oldest friends;” but
Mortimer was never in the merchant’s house but once in his life, and
resolved never to enter it again.--C. Dickens, _Our Mutual Friend_
(1864).
=Morten= (_Sir_), a spectre who appears at King Olaf’s feast, in the guise
of a one-eyed old man, and carouses with the guests until bed-time. When
the morning breaks, he has departed, and no trace of him is to be found.
“King Olaf crossed himself and said--
‘I know that Odin the Great is dead;
Sure is the triumph of our Faith,
This one-eyed stranger was his wraith.’
Dead rides Sir Morten of Fogelsang.”
H. W. Longfellow, _The Wraith of Odin_.
=Morton=, a retainer of the earl of Northumberland.--Shakespeare, 2 _Henry
IV._ (1508).[TN-25]
_Morton_ (_Henry_), a leader in the covenanters’ army with Balfour.
While abroad, he is Major-general Melville. Henry Morton marries Miss
Edith Bellenden.
_Old Ralph Morton of Milnwood_, uncle of Henry Morton.
_Colonel Silas Morton of Milnwood_, father of Henry Morton.--Sir W.
Scott, _Old Mortality_ (time, Charles II.).
_Morton_ (_The earl of_), in the service of Mary queen of Scots, and a
member of the privy council of Scotland.--Sir W. Scott, _The Monastery_
and _The Abbot_ (time, Elizabeth).
_Morton_ (_The Rev. Mr._)[TN-26] the Presbyterian pastor of Cairnvreckan
village.--Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time, George II.).
=Mortsheugh= (_Johnie_), the old sexton of Wolf’s Hope village.--Sir W.
Scott, _The Bride of Lammermoor_ (time, William III.).
=Morvi´dus=, son of Danius by his concubine, Tangustĕla. In his reign,
there “came from the Irish coasts a most cruel monster, which devoured
the people continually, but as soon as Morvidus heard thereof, he
ventured to encounter it alone. When all his darts were spent, the
monster rushed upon him, and swallowed him up like a small
fish.”--Geoffrey of Monmouth, _British History_, iii. 15 (1142).
=Mosby=, an unmitigated villain. He seduced Alicia, the wife of Arden of
Feversham. Thrice he tried to murder Arden, but was baffled, and then
frightened Alicia into conniving at a most villainous scheme of murder.
Pretending friendship, Mosby hired two ruffians to murder Arden while he
was playing a game of draughts. The villains, who were concealed in an
adjacent room, were to rush on their victim when Mosby said, “Now I take
you.” The whole gang was apprehended and executed.--_Arden of Feversham_
(1592), altered by George Lillo (1739).
=Mosca=, the knavish confederate of Vol´pone (2 _syl._), the rich
Venetian “fox.”--Ben Jonson, _Volpone_ or _The Fox_ (1605).
If your mother, in hopes to ruin me, should consent to marry my
pretended uncle, he might, like “Mosca” in _The Fox_, stand upon
terms.--W. Congreve, _The Way of the World_, ii. 1. (1700).
=Mo´ses=, the Jew money-lender in Sheridan’s comedy, _The School for
Scandal_ (1777).
=Moses’ Clothes.= The _Korân_ says: “God cleared Moses from the scandal
which was rumored against him” (ch. xxxiii.). The scandal was that his
body was not properly formed, and therefore he would never bathe in the
presence of others. One day, he went to bathe, and laid his clothes on a
stone, but the stone ran away with them into the camp. Moses went after
it as fast as he could run, but the Israelites saw his naked body, and
perceived the untruthfulness of the common scandal.--Sale, _Al Korân_,
xxxiii. notes.
=Moses’ Horns.= The Vulgate gives _quod cornuta esset facies sua_, for
what our version has translated “he wist not _that the skin of his face
shone_.” The Hebrew word used means both a “horn” and an “irradiation.”
Michael Angelo followed the Vulgate.
=Moses’ Rod.=
While Moses was living with Re’uël [_Jethro_], the Midianite, he
noticed a staff in the garden, and he took it to be his
walking-stick. This staff was Joseph’s, and Re’uel carried it away
when he fled from Egypt. This same staff Adam carried with him out
of Eden. Noah inherited it, and gave it to Shem. It passed into the
hands of Abraham, and Abraham left it to Isaac; and when Jacob fled
from his brother’s anger into Mesopotamia, he carried it in his
hand, and gave it at death to his son Joseph.--_The Talmud_, vi.
=Moses Slow of Speech.= The tradition is this: One day, Pharaoh was
carrying Moses in his arms, when the child plucked the royal beard so
roughly that the king, in a passion, ordered him to be put to death.
Queen Asia said to her husband, the child was only a babe, and was so
young he could not discern between a ruby and a live coal. Pharaoh put
it to the test, and the child clapped into his mouth the burning coal,
thinking it something good to eat. Pharaoh’s anger was appeased, but the
child burnt its tongue so severely that ever after it was “slow of
speech.”--Shalshel, _Hakkabala_, 11.
_Moses Slow of Speech._ The account given in the _Talmud_ is somewhat
different. It is therein stated that Pharaoh was sitting one day with
Moses on his lap, when the child took the crown from the king’s head and
placed it on his own. The “wise men” of Egypt persuaded Pharaoh that
this act was treasonable, and that the child should be put to death.
Jithro [_sic_] the priest of Midian, said it was the act of a child who
knew no better. “Let two plates,” said he, “be set before the child, one
containing gold and the other live coals, and you will presently see
that he will choose the coals in preference to the gold.” The advice of
Jithro being followed, the boy Moses snatched at the coals, and putting
one of them into his mouth, burnt his tongue so severely that ever after
he was “heavy of speech.”--_The Talmud_, vi.
=Moses Pennell.= Waif rescued from a wrecked vessel, and adopted by old
Captain Pennell and his wife. He is, in time, discovered to belong to a
noble Cuban family.--Harriet Beecher Stowe, _The Pearl of Orr’s
Island_.
=Most Christian King= (_Le Roy Tres-Christien_). The king of France is so
called by others, either with or without his proper name; but he never
styles himself so in any letter, grant, or rescript.
In St. Remigius or Remy’s Testament, King Clovis is called
_Christianissimus Ludovicus_.--Flodoard, _Historia Remensis_, i. 18
(A.D. 940).
=Motallab= (_Abd al_), one of the four husbands of Zesbet, the mother of
Mahomet. He was not to know her as a wife till he had seen Mahomet in
his pre-existing state. Mahomet appeared to him as an old man, and told
him he had chosen Zesbet, for her virtue and beauty, to be his
mother.--Comte de Caylus, _Oriental Tales_ (“History of Abd al
Motallab,” 1743).
=Mo´tar= (“_One doomed_ or _devoted to sacrifice_”). So Prince Assad was
called, when he fell into the hands of the old fire-worshipper, and was
destined by him to be sacrificed on the fiery mountain.--_Arabian
Nights_ (“Amgiad and Assad”).
=Moth=, page to Don Adriano de Arma´do, the fantastic Spaniard. He is
cunning and versatile, facetious and playful.--Shakespeare, _Love’s
Labor’s Lost_ (1594).
_Moth_, one of the fairies.--Shakespeare, _Midsummer Night’s Dream_
(1592).
=Moths and Candles.= The moths fell in love with the night-fly; and the
night-fly, to get rid of their importunity, maliciously bade them to go
and fetch fire for her adornment. The blind lovers flew to the first
flame to obtain the love-token, and few escaped injury or
death.--Kæmpfer, _Account of Japan_, vii. (1727).
=Mother Ann=, Ann Lee, the “spiritual mother” of the Shakers (1731-1784).
⁂ Mother Ann is regarded by the Shakers as the female form, and Jesus as
the male form, of the Messiah.
=Mother Bunch=, a celebrated ale-wife in Dekker’s _Satiromaster_ (1602).
⁂ In 1604 was published _Pasquil’s Jests, mixed with Mother Bunch’s
Merriments_. In 1760 was published, in two parts, _Mother Bunch’s Closet
Newly Broke Open, etc._, by a “Lover of Mirth and Hater of Treason.”
Mother Bunch’s _Fairy Tales_ are known in every nursery.
=Mother Carey’s Chickens.= The fish-fags of Paris in the first Great
Revolution were so called, because, like the “stormy petrel,” whenever
they appeared in force in the streets of Paris, they always foreboded a
tumult or political storm.
=Mother Carey’s Goose=, the great black petrel or gigantic fulmar of the
Pacific Ocean.
=Mother Douglas=, a noted crimp, who lived at the north-east corner of
Covent Garden. Her house was superbly furnished. She died 1761.
⁂ Foote introduces her in _The Minor_, as “Mrs. Cole” (1760); and
Hogarth in his picture called “The March to Finchley.”
=Mother Goose=, in French _Contes de Ma Mère l’Oye_, by Charles Perrault
(1697).
⁂ There are ten stories in this book, seven of which are from the
_Pentamerone_.
_Mother Goose_, according to a new exploded story, was a native of
Boston, and the author of the nursery rhymes that bear her name. She
used to sing her rhymes to her grandson, and Thomas Fleet, her
brother-in-law, published the first edition of these rhymes, entitled
_Songs for the Nursery_, or _Mother Goose’s Melodies_, in 1719.
⁂ Dibdin wrote a pantomime entitled _Mother Goose_.
=Mother Hubbard=, an old lady, whose whole time and attention were taken
up by her dog, who was most willful; but the dame never lost her temper,
or forgot her politeness. After running about all day to supply Master
Doggie,
The dame made a curtsey, the dog made a bow;
The dame said, “Your servant!” the dog said, “Bow, wow!”
_A Nursery Tale in Rhyme._
=Mother Hubberd=, the supposed narrator of a tale called _The Fox and the
Ape_, related to the poet Spenser to beguile the weary hours of
sickness. Several persons told him tales, but
Amongst the rest a good old woman was
Hight Mother Hubberd, who did far surpass
The rest in honest mirth that seemed her well;
She, when her turn was come her tale to tell,
Told of a strange adventure that betided
Betwixt a fox and ape by him misguided;
The which, for that my sense it greatly pleased ...
I’ll write it as she the same did say.
Spenser.
=Mother Hubberd’s Tale.= A fox and an ape determined to travel about the
world as _chevaliers de l’industrie_. First, Ape dressed as a
broken-down soldier, and Fox as his servant. A farmer agreed to take
them for his shepherds; but they devoured all his lambs and then
decamped. They next “went in for holy orders.” Reynard contrived to get
a living given him, and appointed the ape as his clerk; but they soon
made the parish too hot to hold them, and again sheered off. They next
tried their fortune at court; the ape set himself up as a foreigner of
distinction with Fox for his groom. They played the part of rakes, but
being found to be desperate rogues, had to flee with all despatch, and
seek another field of action. As they journeyed on, they saw a lion
sleeping, and Master Fox persuaded his companion to steal the crown,
sceptre and royal robes. The ape, arrayed in these, assumed to be king,
and Fox was his prime minister; but so ill did they govern, that Jupiter
interfered, the lion was restored, and the ape was docked of his tail
and had his ears cropt.
Since which, all apes but half their ears have left,
And of their tails are utterly bereft.
So Mother Hubberd her discourse did end.
Spenser, _Mother Hubberd’s Tale_.
=Mother Shipton=, T. Evan Preece, of South Wales, a prophetess, whose
predictions (generally in rhymes) were at one time in everybody’s mouth
in South Wales, especially in Glamorganshire.
⁂ She predicted the death of Wolsey, Lord Percy, and others. Her
prophecies are still extant, and contain the announcement that “the end
of the world shall come in eighteen hundred and eighty-one.”
=Mother of the People= (_The_), Marguerite of France, _La Mère des
Peuples_, daughter of François I. (1523-1574).
=Mould= (_Mr._), undertaker. His face had a queer attempt at melancholy,
sadly at variance with a smirk of satisfaction which might be read
between the lines. Though his calling was not a lively one, it did not
depress his spirits, as in the bosom of his family he was the most
cheery of men, and to him the “tap, tap” of coffin-making was as sweet
and exhilarating as the tapping of a woodpecker.--C. Dickens, _Martin
Chuzzlewit_ (1844).
=Mouldy= (_Ralph_), “a good-limbed fellow, young, strong, and of good
friends.” Ralph was pricked for a recruit in Sir John Falstaff’s
regiment. He promised Bardolph forty shillings “to stand his friend.”
Sir John being told this, sent Mouldy home, and when Justice Shallow
remonstrated, saying that Ralph “was the likeliest man of the lot,”
Falstaff replied, “Will you tell me, Master Shallow, how to choose a
man? Care I for the limb, the thews, the stature, bulk, and big
assemblance of a man? Give me the spirit, Master Shallow.”--Shakespeare,
2 _Henry IV._ act iii. sc. 2 (1598).
=Moullahs=, Mohammedan lawyers, from which are selected the judges.
=Mountain= (_The_), a name given in the French revolution to a faction
which sat on the benches most elevated in the Hall of Assembly. The
Girondins sat in the centre or lowest part of the hall, and were
nicknamed the “plain.” The “mountain” for a long time was the dominant
part; it utterly overthrew the “plain” on August 31, 1793, but was in
turn overthrown at the fall of Robespierre (9 Thermidor ii. or July 27,
1794).
_Mountain_ (_The Old Man of the_), the imaum Hassan ben Sabbah el
Homari. The sheik Al Jebal was so called. He was the prince of the
Assassins.
⁂ In Rymer’s _Fœdera_ (vol. i.), Dr. Clarke, the editor, has added two
letters of this sheik; but the doctor must be responsible for their
genuineness.
=Mountain Brutus= (_The_), William Tell (1282-1350).
=Mountain of Flowers=, the site of the palace of Violenta, the mother
fairy who brought up the young princess afterwards metamorphosed into
“The White Cat.”--Comtesse D’Aunoy, _Fairy Tales_ (“The White Cat,”
1682).
=Mountain of Miseries.= Jupiter gave permission for all men to bring their
grievances to a certain plain, and to exchange them with any others that
had been cast off. Fancy helped them; but though the heap was so
enormous, not one single _vice_ was to be found amongst the rubbish. Old
women threw away their wrinkles, and young ones their mole-spots; some
cast on the heap poverty; many their red noses and bad teeth; but no one
his crimes. Now came the choice. A galley-slave picked up gout, poverty
picked up sickness, care picked up pain, snub noses picked up long ones,
and so on. Soon all were bewailing the change they had made; and Jupiter
sent Patience to tell them they might, if they liked, resume their old
grievances again. Every one gladly accepted the permission, and Patience
helped them to take up their own bundle and bear it without
murmuring.--Addison, _The Spectator_ (1711, 1712, 1714).
=Mourning.= In Colman’s _Heir-at-Law_ (1796), every character is in
mourning: the Dowlases as relatives of the deceased Lord Duberly; Henry
Morland as heir of Lord Duberly; Steadfast as the chief friend of the
family; Dr. Pangloss as a clergyman; Caroline Dormer for her father
recently buried; Zekiel and Cicely Homespun for the same reason; Kenrick
for his deceased master.--James Smith, _Memoirs_ (1840).
=Mourning Bride= (_The_), a drama by W. Congreve (1697). “The mourning
bride” is Alme´ria, daughter of Manuel, king of Grana´da, and her
husband was Alphonso, prince of Valentia. On the day of their espousals
they were shipwrecked, and each thought the other had perished; but they
met together in the court of Granada, where Alphonso was taken captive
under the assumed name of Osmyn. Osmyn, having effected his escape,
marched to Granada, at the head of an army, found the king dead, and
“the mourning bride” became his joyful wife.
=Mouse-Tower= (_The_), on the Rhine. It was here that Bishop Hatto was
devoured by mice. (See HATTO.)
⁂ _Mauth_ is a toll or custom house, and the mauth or toll-house for
collecting duty on corn being very unpopular, gave rise to the
tradition.
=Moussa=, Moses.
=Mowbray= (_Mr. John_), lord of the manor of St. Ronan’s.
_Clara Mowbray_, sister of John Mowbray. She was betrothed to Frank
Tyrrel, but married Valentine Bulmer.--Sir W. Scott, _St. Ronan’s Well_
(time, George III.).
_Mowbray_ (_Sir Miles_), a dogmatical, self-willed old man, who fancied
he could read character, and had a natural instinct for doing the right
thing; but he would have been much wiser if he had paid more heed to the
proverb, “Mind your own business and not another’s.”
_Frederick Mowbray_, his eldest son, a young man of fine principle, and
greatly liked. His “first love” was Clara Middleton, who, being poor,
married the rich Lord Ruby. His lordship soon died, leaving all his
substance to his widow, who bestowed it, with herself, on Frederick
Mowbray, her first and only love.
_David Mowbray_, younger brother of Frederick. He was in the navy, and
was a fine, open-hearted, frank and honest British tar.
_Lydia Mowbray_, sister of Frederick and David, and the wife of Mr.
Wrangle.--R. Cumberland, _First Love_ (1796).
=Mow´cher= (_Miss_), a benevolent little dwarf, patronized by Steerforth.
She is full of humor and comic vulgarity. Her chief occupation is that
of hair-dressing.--C. Dickens, _David Copperfield_ (1849).
=Mowis=, the bridegroom of snow, who wooed and won a beautiful bride, but
at dawn melted in the sun. The bride hunted for him night and day, but
never saw him more.--_Indian Legend._
Mowis, the bridegroom of snow, who won and wedded a maiden,
But, when the morning came, arose and passed from the wigwam,
Fading and melting away, and dissolving into the sunshine,
Till she beheld him no more, tho’ she followed far into the forest.
Longfellow, _Evangeline_, ii. 4 (1849).
=Moxon= (_Mr._), clergyman at Agawam (Mass.). Sincere in his bigotry,
pitiable in the superstition that darkens his life, honestly persuaded
that he and his are the victims of witchcraft, and that duty forces him
to punish those who have afflicted the Lord’s saints.--Josiah Gilbert
Holland, _The Bay Path_ (1857).
=Mozaide= (2 _syl._), the Moor who befriended Vasco de Gama when he first
landed on the Indian continent.
The Moor attends Mozaide, whose zealous care
To Gama’s eyes revealed each treacherous snare.
Camoens, _Lusiad_, ix. (1569).
=Mozart= (_The English_), Sir Henry Bishop (1780-1855).
_Mozart_ (_The Italian_), Cherubini, of Florence (1760-1842).
=Much=, the miller’s son, the bailiff or “acater” of Robin Hood. (See
MIDGE.)
Robyn stode in Bernysdale,
And lened hym to a tree;
And by hym stode Lytell Johan,
A good yeman was he;
And also dyde good Scathelock,
And Much, the miller’s sone.
Ritson, _Robin Hood Ballads_, i. 1 (1594).
_Much, the miller’s son_, in the morris-dance. His feat was to bang,
with an inflated bladder, the heads of gaping spectators. He represented
the fool or jester.
=Much Ado about Nothing=, a comedy by Shakespeare (1600). Hero, the
daughter of Leonato, is engaged to be married to Claudio of Aragon; but
Don John, out of hatred to his brother, Leonato, determines to mar the
happiness of the lovers. Accordingly, he bribes the waiting-maid of Hero
to dress in her mistress’s clothes, and to talk with his man by night
from the chamber balcony. The villain tells Claudio that Hero has made
an assignation with him, and invites him to witness it. Claudio is fully
persuaded that the woman he sees is Hero, and when next day she presents
herself at the altar, he rejects her with scorn. The priest feels
assured there is some mistake, so he takes Hero apart, and gives out
that she is dead. Then Don John takes to flight, the waiting-woman
confesses, Claudio repents, and, by way of amendment (as Hero is dead)
promises to marry her cousin, but this cousin turns out to be Hero
herself.
⁂ A similar tale is told by Ariosto in his _Orlando Furioso_, v. (1516).
Another occurs in the _Faëry Queen_, by Spenser, bk. ii. 4, 38, etc.
(1590).
George Turbervil’s _Geneura_ (1576) is still more like Shakespeare’s
tale. Belleforest and Bandello have also similar tales (see _Hist._,
xviii.).
=Mucklebacket= (_Saunders_), the old fisherman at Musselcrag.
_Old Elspeth Mucklebacket_, mother of Saunders, and formerly servant to
Lady Glenallan.
_Maggie Mucklebacket_, wife of Saunders.
_Steenie Mucklebacket_, eldest son of Saunders. He is drowned.
_Little Jennie Mucklebacket_, Saunders’s child.--Sir W. Scott, _The
Antiquary_ (time, George III.).
=Mucklethrift= (_Bailie_), ironmonger and brazier of Kippletringan, in
Scotland.--Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).
=Mucklewrath= (_Habukkuk_), a fanatic preacher.--Sir W. Scott, _Old
Mortality_ (time, Charles II.).
_Mucklewrath_ (_John_), smith at Cairnvreckan village.
_Dame Mucklewrath_, wife of John. A terrible virago.--Sir W. Scott,
_Waverley_ (time, George II.).
=Muckworm= (_Sir Penurious_), the miserly old uncle and guardian of
Arbella. He wants her to marry Squire Sapskull, a raw Yorkshire tike;
but she loves Gaylove, a young barrister, and, of course, Muckworm is
outwitted.--Carey, _The Honest Yorkshireman_ (1736).
=Mudarra=, son of Gonçolo Bustos de Salas de Lara, who murdered his uncle
Rodri´go, while hunting, to avenge the death of his seven half-brothers.
The tale is, that Rodrigo Velasquez invited his seven nephews to a
feast, when a fray took place in which a Moor was slain; the aunt, who
was a Moorish lady, demanded vengeance, whereupon the seven boys were
allured into a ravine and cruelly murdered. Mudarra was the son of the
same father as “the seven sons of Lara,” but not of the same
mother.--_Romance of the Eleventh Century._
=Muddle=, the carpenter under Captain Savage and Lieutenant
O’Brien.--Captain Marryat, _Peter Simple_ (1833).
=Muddlewick= (_Triptolemus_), in _Charles XII._, an historical drama by
J. R. Planché (1826).
=Mudjekee´wis=, the father of Hiawatha, and subsequently potentate of the
winds. He gave all the winds but one to his children to rule; the one he
reserved was the west wind, which he himself ruled over. The dominion of
the winds was given to Mudjekeewis, because he slew the great bear
called the Mishê-Mokwa.
Thus was slain the Mishê-Mokwa ...
“Honor be to Mudjekeewis!
Henceforth he shall be the west wind.
And hereafter, e’en for ever,
Shall he hold supreme dominion,
Over all the winds of heaven.”
Longfellow, _Hiawatha_, ii. (1855).
=Mug= (_Matthew_), a caricature of the duke of Newcastle.--S. Foote, _The
Mayor of Garratt_ (1763).
=Mugello=, the giant slain by Averardo de Medici, a commander under
Charlemagne. This giant wielded a mace from which hung three balls,
which the Medici adopted as their device.
⁂ They have been adopted by pawnbrokers as a symbol of their trade.
=Muggins= (_Dr._), a sapient physician, who had the art “to suit his
physic to his patients’ taste;” so when King Artaxaminous felt a little
seedy after a night’s debauch, the doctor prescribed to his majesty “to
take a morning whet.”--W. B. Rhodes, _Bombastes Furioso_ (1790).
=Muhldenau=, the minister of Mariendorpt, and father of Meeta and Adolpha.
When Adolpha was an infant, she was lost in the siege of Magdeburg; and
Muhldenau, having reason to suppose that the child was not killed went
to Prague in search of her. Here Muhldenau was seized as a spy, and
condemned to death. Meeta, hearing of his capture, walked to Prague to
beg him off, and was introduced to the governor’s supposed daughter,
who, in reality, was Meeta’s sister, Adolpha. Rupert Roselheim, who was
betrothed to Meeta, stormed the prison and released Muhldenau.--S.
Knowles, _The Maid of Mariendorpt_ (1838).
=Mulatto=, a half-caste. Strictly speaking, _Zambo_ is the issue of an
Indian and a Negress; _Mulatto_, of a White man and a Negress;
_Terzeron_, of a White man and a Mulatto woman; _Quadroon_, of a
Terzeron and a White.
=Mul´ciber=, Vulcan, who was blacksmith, architect, and god of fire.
In Ausonian land
Men called him Mulciber; and how he fell
From heaven, they fabled, thrown by angry Jove
Sheer o’er the crystal battlements; from morn
To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,
A Summer’s day; and with the setting sun
Dropt from the Zenith like a falling star,
On Lemnos, the Ægean isle.
Milton, _Paradise Lost_, 739, etc. (1665).
=Muley Bugentuf=, king of Morocco, a blood-and-thunder hero. He is the
chief character of a tragedy of the same name, by Thomas de la Fuenta.
In the first act, the king of Morocco, by way of recreation, shot a
hundred Moorish slaves with arrows; in the second, he beheaded
thirty Portuguese officers, prisoners of war; and in the third and
last act, Muley, mad with his wives, set fire with his own hand to
a detached palace, in which they were shut up, and reduced them all
to ashes.... This conflagration, accompanied with a thousand
shrieks, closed the piece in a very diverting manner.--Lesage, _Gil
Blas_, ii. 9 (1715).
=Mull Sack.= John Cottington, in the time of the Commonwealth, was so
called, from his favorite beverage. John Cottington emptied the pockets
of Oliver Cromwell when lord protector; stripped Charles II. of £1500;
and stole a watch and chain from Lady Fairfax.
⁂ Mull sack is spiced sherry negus.
=Mulla’s Bard=, Spenser, author of the _Faëry Queen_. The Mulla, a
tributary of the Blackwater, in Ireland, flowed close by the spot where
the poet’s house stood. He was born and died in London (1553-1599).
... it irks me while I write,
As erst the bard of Mulla’s silver stream,
Oft as he told of deadly dolorous plight
Sighed as he sung, and did in tears indite.
Shenstone, _The Schoolmistress_ (1758).
_Mulla._ Thomas Campbell, in his poem on the _Spanish Parrot_, calls the
island of Mull, “Mulla’s Shore.”
=Mullet= (_Professor_), the “most remarkable man” of North America. He
denounced his own father for voting on the wrong side at an election for
president, and wrote thunderbolts in the form of pamphlets, under the
signature of “Suturb” or Brutus reversed.--C. Dickens, _Martin
Chuzzlewit_ (1844).
=Mullins= (_Rev. Peter_). A minister of the gospel, who holds so hard to
the belief that the laborer is worthy of his hire, that he can see
nothing but the hire.
“How am I to know whether my services are acceptable unless every
year there is some voluntary testimonial concerning them? It seems
to me that I must have such a testimonial. I find myself looking
forward to it.”--Josiah Gilbert Holland, _Arthur Bonnicastle_
(1873).
=Mul´mutine Laws=, the code of Dunvallo Mulmutius, sixteenth king of the
Britons (about B.C. 400). This code was translated by Gildas from
British into Latin, and by Alfred into English. The Mulmutine laws
obtained in this country till the Conquest.--Holinshed, _History of
England, etc._, iii. 1 (1577).
Mulmutius made our laws,
Who was the first of Britain which did put
His brows within a golden crown, and call’d
Himself a king.
Shakespeare, _Cymbeline_, act iii. sc. 1 (1605).
=Mulmutius= (_Dunwallo_), son of Cloten, king of Cornwall. “He excelled
all the kings of Britain in valor and gracefulness of person.” In a
battle fought against the allied Welsh and Scotch armies, Mulmutius
tried the very scheme which Virgil (_Æneid_, ii.) says was attempted by
Æneas and his companions--that is, they dressed in the clothes and bore
the arms of the enemy slain, and thus disguised, committed very great
slaughter. Mulmutius, in his disguise, killed both the Cambrian and
Albanian kings, and put the allied army to thorough rout.--Geoffrey,
_British History_, ii. 17.
Mulmutius this land in such estate maintained
As his great Belsire Brute.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, viii. (1612).
=Mulvaney= (_Terence_). Rollicking, epigrammatic, harum-scarum Irish
trooper, in the Indian service, whose adventures and sayings are
narrated in _Soldiers Three_, _The Courting of Dinah Shadd_, _etc._, by
Rudyard Kipling.
=Multon= (_Sir Thomas de_), of Gilsland. He is Lord de Vaux, a crusader,
and master of the horse to King Richard I.--Sir. W. Scott, _The
Talisman_ (time, Richard I.).
=Mumblazen= (_Master Michael_), the old herald, a dependant of Sir Hugh
Robsart.--Sir W. Scott, _Kenilworth_ (time, Elizabeth).
=Mumbo Jumbo=, an African bogie, hideous and malignant, the terror of
women and children.
=Mumps= (_Tib_), keeper of the “Mumps’ Ha’ ale-hous’,” on the road to
Charlie’s Hope farm.--Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).
=Munchau´sen= (_The Baron_), a hero of most marvellous adventures.--Rudolf
Erich Raspe (a German, but storekeeper of the Dolcoath mines, in
Cornwall, 1792).
⁂ The name is said to refer to Hieronymus Karl Friedrich von Münchhausen,
a German officer in the Russian army, noted for his marvellous stories
(1720-1797). It is also supposed to be an implied satire on the
traveller’s tales of Baron de Tott, in his _Mémoires sur les Turcs et
Tartares_ (1784), and those of James Bruce, “The African Traveller,” in
his _Travels to Discover the Sources of the Nile_ (1790).
_Munchausen_ (_The Baron_). The French Baron Munchausen is represented
by M. de Crac, the hero of a French operetta.
=Mu´nera=, daughter of Pollentê, the Saracen, to whom he gave all the
spoils he could lay his hands on. Munera was beautiful and rich
exceedingly; but Talus, having chopped off her golden hands and silver
feet, tossed her into the moat.--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, v. 2 (1596).
=Mungo=, a black slave of Don Diego.
Dear heart, what a terrible life am I led!
A dog has a better dat’s sheltered and fed ...
Mungo here, Mungo dere,
Mungo everywhere ...
Me wish to the Lord me was dead.