Chapter IV: Front Matter (4)

=Mohun= (_Lord_), the person who joined Captain Hill in a dastardly attack on the actor, Mountford, on his way to Mrs. Bracegirdle’s house, in Howard Street. Captain Hill was jealous of Mountford, and induced Lord Mohun to join him in this “valiant exploit.” Mountford died next day, Captain Hill fled from the country, and Mohun was tried but acquitted.

The general features of this cowardly attack are very like that of the Count Koningsmark on Thomas Thynne of Lingleate Hill. Count Koningsmark was in love with Elizabeth Percy (widow of the earl of Ogle), who was contracted to Mr. Thynne; but before the wedding day arrived, the count, with some hired ruffians, assassinated his rival in his carriage as it was passing down Pall Mall.

⁂ Elizabeth Percy, within three months of the murder, married the duke of Somerset.

=Moidart= (_John of_), captain of the clan Ronald, and a chief in the army of Montrose.--Sir W. Scott, _Legend of Montrose_, (time, Charles I.).

=Moi´na= (2 _syl._), daughter of Reutha´mir, the principal man of Balclu´tha, a town on the Clyde, belonging to the Britons. Moina married Clessammor (the maternal uncle of Fingal), and died in childbirth of her son Carthon, during the absence of her husband.--Ossian, _Carthon_.

=Mokanna=, the name given to Hakem ben Haschem, from a silver gauze veil worn by him “to dim the lustre of his face,” or rather to hide its extreme ugliness. The history of this impostor is given by D’Herbelot, _Bibliothèque Orientale_ (1697).

⁂ Mokanna forms the first story of _Lalla Rookh_ (“The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan”), by Thomas Moore (1817).

=Mokattam= (_Mount_), near Cairo (Egypt), noted for the massacre of the Caliph Hakem B’amr-ellah, who was given out to be incarnate deity, and the last prophet who communicated between God and man (eleventh century). Here, also;[TN-16] fell in the same massacre his chief prophet, and many of his followers. In consequence of this persecution, Durzi, one of the “prophet’s” chief apostles, led the survivors into Syria, where they settled between the Libanus and Anti-Libanus, and took the name of Durzis, corrupted into Druses.

As the khalif vanished erst,
In what seemed death to uninstructed eyes,
On red Mokattam’s verge.

Robert Browning, _The Return of the Druses_, i.

=Molay= (_Jacques_), grand-master of the Knights Templar, as he was led to the stake, summoned the pope (Clement V.), within forty days, and the king (Philippe IV.), within forty weeks, to appear before the throne of God to answer for his death. They both died within the stated periods. (See SUMMONS TO DEATH.)

=Molière= (_The Italian_), Charlo Goldoni (1707-1793).

_Molière_ (_The Spanish_), Leandro Fernandez Moratin (1760-1828).

=Moll Cutpurse=, Mary Frith, who once attacked General Fairfax on Hounslow Heath.

=Moll Flanders=, a woman of great beauty, born in the Old Bailey. She was twelve years a courtezan, five years a wife, twelve years a thief, eight years a convict in Virginia; but ultimately grew rich, and died a penitent in the reign of Charles II.

⁂ Daniel Defoe wrote her life and adventures, which he called _The Fortunes of Moll Flanders_ (1722).

=Molly=, Jaggers’s housekeeper. A mysterious, scared-looking woman, with a deep scar across one of her wrists. Her antecedents were full of mystery, and Pip suspected her of being Estella’s mother.--C. Dickens, _Great Expectations_ (1860).

=Molly Maggs=, a pert young housemaid, in love with Robin. She hates Polyglot, the tutor of “Master Charles,” but is very fond of Charles. Molly tries to get “the tuterer Polypot” into a scrape, but finds, to her consternation, that Master Charles is in reality the party to be blamed.--J. Poole, _The Scapegoat_.

=Molly Maguires=, stout, active young men, dressed up in women’s clothes, with faces blackened, or otherwise disguised. This secret society was organized in 1843, to terrify the officials employed by Irish landlords to distrain for rent, either by grippers, (_bumbailiffs_), process-servers, keepers, or drivers (_persons who impound cattle till the rent is paid_.[TN-17]--W. S. Trench, _Realities of Irish Life_, 82.

=Molly Mog=, an innkeeper’s daughter at Oakingham, Berks. Molly Mog was the toast of all the gay sparks in the former half of the eighteenth century; but died a spinster at the age of 67 (1699-1766).

⁂ Gay has a ballad on this _Fair Maid of the Inn_. Mr. Standen, of Arborfield, the “enamoured swain,” died in 1730. Molly’s sister was quite as beautiful as “the fair maid” herself. A portrait of Gay still hangs in Oakingham Inn.

=Molly Wilder=, New England girl, who shelters and cares for a young French nobleman wrecked on the Cape Cod coast. A love affair and a clandestine marriage follow. The marriage is acknowledged when peace is established between the French and English.--Jane G. Austin, _A Nameless Nobleman_ (1881).

=Molmu´tius.= (See MULMUTIUS.)

=Moloch= (_ch = k_), the third in rank of the Satanic hierarchy, Satan being first, and Beëlzebub second. The word means “king.” The rabbins say the idol was of brass, with the head of a calf. Moloch was the god of the Am´monites (3 _syl._), and was worshipped in Rabba, their chief city.

First Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood
Of human sacrifice, and parents’ tears,
Though, for the noise of drums and timbrels loud,
Their children’s cries unheard, that passed thro’ fire
To his grim idol. Him the Ammonite
Worshipped in Rabba.

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, i. 392, etc. (1665).

=Mo´ly= (Greek, _môlu_), mentioned in Homer’s _Odyssey_. An herb with a black root and white blossom, given by Hermês to Ulysses, to counteract the spells of Circê, (See HÆMONY.)

... that Mō´ly
That Hermês once to wise Ulysses gave.

Milton, _Comus_ (1634).

The root was black,
Milk-white the blossom; Môly is its name
In heaven.

Homer, _Odyssey_, x. (Cowper’s trans.).

=Momus’s Lattice.= Momus, son of Nox, blamed Vulcan, because, in making the human form, he had not placed a window in the breast for the discerning of secret thoughts.

Were Momus’ lattice in our breasts,
My soul might brook to open it more widely
Than theirs [i. e. _the nobles_].

Byron, _Werner_, iii., 1 (1822).

=Mon= or =Mona=, Anglesia, the residence of the Druids. Suetonius Paulīnus, who had the command of Britain in the reign of Nero (from A.D. 59 to 62), attacked Mona, because it gave succor to the rebellious. The frantic inhabitants ran about with fire-brands, their long hair streaming to the wind, and the Druids invoked vengeance on the Roman army.--See Drayton, _Polyolbion_, viii. (1612).

=Mon´aco= (_The king of_), noted because whatever he did was never right in the opinion of his people, especially in that of Rabagas, the demagogue: If he went out, he was “given to pleasure;” if he stayed at home, he was “given to idleness;” if he declared war, he was “wasteful of the public money;” if he did not, he was “pusillanimous;” if he ate, he was “self-indulgent;” if he abstained, he was “priest-ridden.”--M. Sardou, _Rabagas_ (1872).

_Monaco._ _Proud as a Monegasque._ A French phrase. The tradition is that Charles Quint ennobled every one of the inhabitants of Monaco.

=Monaldini= (_Signor_), rich, _bourgeois_ citizen of Rome, who purchases, fits up and lets to desirable tenants an old palace.--Mary Agnes Tincker, _Signor Monaldini’s Niece_ (1879).

=Monarch of Mont Blanc=, Albert Smith; so-called, because for many years he amused a large London audience, night after night, by relating “his ascent of Mont Blanc” (1816-1860).

=Monarque= (_Le Grand_), Louis XIV., of France (1638, 1643-1715).

=Monastery= (_The_), a novel by Sir W. Scott (1820). _The Abbot_ appeared the same year. These two stories are tame and very defective in plot; but the character of Mary queen of Scots, in _The Abbot_, is a correct and beautiful historical portrait. The portrait of Queen Elizabeth is in _Kenilworth_.

=Monçada= (_Matthias de_), a merchant, stern and relentless. He arrests his daughter the day after her confinement of a natural son.

_Zilia de Monçada_, daughter of Matthias, and wife of General Witherington.--Sir W. Scott, _The Surgeon’s Daughter_, (time, George II.).

=Monda´min=, maize or Indian corn (_mon-da-min_, “the Spirit’s grain”).

Sing the mysteries of mondamin,
Sing the blessing of the corn-fields.

Longfellow, _Hiawatha_, xiii. (1855).

=Mone´ses= (3 _syl._), a Greek prince, betrothed to Arpasia, whom for the nonce he called his sister. Both were taken captive by Baj´azet. Bajazet fell in love with Arpasia, and gave Monēsês a command in his army. When Tamerlane overthrew Bajazet, Monēsês explained to the Tartar king how it was that he was found in arms against him, and said his best wish was to serve Tamerlane. Bajazet now hated the Greek, and, as Arpasia proved obdurate, thought to frighten her into compliance by having Monēsês bow-strung in her presence; but the sight was so terrible that it killed her.--N. Rowe, _Tamerlane_ (1702).

=Money=, a drama by Lord E. L. B. Lytton (1840). Alfred Evelyn, a poor scholar, was secretary and factotum of Sir John Vesey, but received no wages. He loved Clara Douglas, a poor dependent of Lady Franklin; proposed to her, but was not accepted, “because both were too poor to keep house.” A large fortune being left to the poor scholar, he proposed to Georgina, the daughter of Sir John Vesey; but Georgina loved Sir Frederick Blount, and married him. Evelyn, who loved Clara, pretended to have lost his fortune, and, being satisfied that she really loved him, proposed a second time, and was accepted.

=Moneytrap=, husband of Araminta, but with a _tendresse_ for Clarissa, the wife of his friend Gripe.--Sir John Vanbrugh, _The Confederacy_ (1695).

=Monflathers= (_Miss_), mistress of a boarding and day establishment, to whom Mrs. Jarley sent little Nell, to ask her to patronize the wax-work collection. Miss Monflathers received the child with frigid virtue, and said to her, “Don’t you think you must be very wicked to be a wax-work child? Don’t you know it is very naughty to be a wax child when you might have the proud consciousness of assisting, to the extent of your infant powers, the noble manufacturers of your country?” One of the teachers here chimed in with “How doth the little--;” but Miss Monflathers remarked, with an indignant frown, that “the little busy bee” applied only to genteel children, and the “works of labor and of skill” to painting and embroidery, not to vulgar children and wax-work shows.”[TN-18]--Charles Dickens, _The Old Curiosity Shop_, xxxi. (1840).

=Monford=, the lover of Charlotte Whimsey. He plans various devices to hoodwink her old father, in order to elope with the daughter.--James Cobb, _The First Floor_ (1756-1818).

=Monime= (2 _syl._), in Racine’s tragedy of _Mithridate_. This was one of Mdlle. Rachel’s great characters, first preformed[TN-19] by her in 1838.

=Monim´ia=, “the orphan,” sister of Chamont, and ward of Lord Acasto. Monimia was in love with Acasto’s son, Castalio, and privately married him. Polydore (the brother of Castalio) also loved her, but his love was dishonorable love. By treachery, Polydore obtained admission to Monimia’s chamber, and passed the bridal night with her, Monimia supposing him to be her husband; but when the next day she discovered the deceit, she poisoned herself; and Polydore, being apprised that Monimia was his brother’s wife, provoked a quarrel with him, ran on his brother’s sword, and died.--Otway, _The Orphan_ (1680).

More tears have been shed for the sorrows of “Belvidēra” and
“Monimia,” than for those of “Juliet” and “Desdemona.”--Sir W.
Scott, _The Drama_.

_Monimia_, in Smollett’s novel of _Count Fathom_ (1754).

=Moniplies= (_Richie_), the honest, self-willed Scotch servant of Lord Nigel Olifaunt, of Glenverloch.--Sir W. Scott, _Fortunes of Nigel_ (time, James I.).

=Monk= (_General_), introduced by Sir Walter Scott in _Woodstock_ (time, Commonwealth.[TN-20]

_Monk_ (_The Bird Singing to a_). The monk is Felix, who listened to a bird for a hundred years, and thought the time only an hour.--Longfellow, _The Golden Legend_, ii. (1851).

_Monk_ (_The_), a novel, by Sir Matthew G. Lewis (1794).

=Monk Lewis.= Matthew Gregory Lewis; so called from his novel (1773-1818).

=Monk of Bury=, John Lydgate, poet, who wrote the _Siege of Troy_, the _Story of Thebes_, and the _Fall of Princes_ (1375-1460).

Nothynge I am experte in poetry,
As the monke of Bury, floure of eloquence.

Stephen Hawes, _The Passe-Tyme[TN-21] of Plesure_ (1515).

=Monk of Westminister=, Richard, of Cirencester, the chronicler (fourteenth century).

This chronicle, _On the Ancient State of Britain_, was first brought to light in 1747, by Dr. Charles Julius Bertram, professor of English at Copenhagen; but the original being no better known than that of Thomas Rowley’s poems, published by Chatterton, grave suspicions exist that Dr. Bertram was himself the author of the chronicles.

=Monks= (_The Father of_), Ethelwold, of Winchester (*-984).

_Monks_, _alias_ Edward Leeford, a violent man, subject to fits. Edward Leeford, though half-brother to Oliver Twist, was in collusion with Bill Sykes, to ruin him. Failing in this, he retired to America, and died in jail.--C. Dickens, _Oliver Twist_ (1837).

=Monkbarns= (_Laird of_), Mr Jonathan Oldbuck, the antiquary.--Sir W. Scott, _The Antiquary_ (time, George III.).

=Mon´ker and Nakir= [_Na.keer´_], the two examiners of the dead, who put questions to departed spirits respecting their belief in God and Mahomet, and award their state in after-life according to their answers.--_Al Korân._

“Do you not see those spectres that are stirring the burning coals?
Are they Monker and Nakir come to throw us into them?”--W.
Beckford, _Vathek_ (1786).

=Monmouth=, the surname of Henry V. of England, who was born in that town (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).