Chapter V: Front Matter (5)

_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.

I. Bickerstaff, _The Padlock_ (1768).

=Münster= (_Baroness_). American woman married to a German prince, who wants to get rid of her. She comes to America with her brother to visit relatives, and is bored by everything, and forever threatening to write to the reigning prince to recall her to Germany.--Henry James, Jr., _The Europeans_ (1878).

=Murat= (_The Russian_), Michael Miloradowitch (1770-1820).

=Murdstone= (_Edward_), the second husband of Mrs. Copperfield. His character was “firmness,” that is, an unbending self-will, which rendered the young life of David intolerably wretched.

_Jane Murdstone_, sister of Edward, as hard and heartless as her brother. Jane Murdstone became the companion of Dora Spenlow, and told Mr. Spenlow of David’s love for Dora, hoping to annoy David. At the death of Mr. Spenlow, Jane returned to live with her brother.--Dickens, _David Copperfield_ (1849).

=Murray= or =Moray= (_The bonnie earl of_), James Stewart, the “Good Regent,” a natural son of James V. of Scotland, by Margaret, daughter of John, Lord Erskine. He joined the reform party in 1556, and went to France in 1561, to invite Mary queen of Scots to come and reside in her kingdom. He was an accomplice in the murder of Rizzio, and during the queen’s imprisonment was appointed regent. According to an ancient ballad, this bonny earl “was the queen’s love,” _i.e._ Queen Anne of Denmark, daughter of Frederick II., and wife of James I. of England. It is said that James, being jealous of the handsome earl, instigated the earl of Huntly to murder him (1531-1570).

Introduced by Sir W. Scott in _The Monastery_ and _The Abbot_ (time, Elizabeth).

_Murray_ (_John_), of Broughton, secretary to Charles Edward, the Young Pretender. He turned king’s evidence, and revealed to Government all the circumstances which gave rise to the rebellion, and the persons most active in its organization.

If crimes like these hereafter are forgiven,
Judas and Murray both may go to heaven.

_Jacobite Relics_, ii. 374.

=Musæus=, the poet (B.C. 1410), author of the elegant tale of _Leander and Hero_. Virgil places him in the Elysian fields attended by a vast multitude of ghosts, Musæus being taller by a head than any of them (_Æneid_, vi. 677).

Swarm ... as the infernal spirits
On sweet Musæus when he came to hell.

C. Marlowe, _Dr. Faustus_ (1590).

=Muscadins of Paris=, Paris exquisites, who aped the London cockneys in the first French Revolution. Their dress was top-boots with thick soles, knee-breeches, a dress-coat with long tails and high stiff collar, and a thick cudgel called a _constitution_. It was thought John Bull-like to assume a huskiness of voice, a discourtesy of manners, and a swaggering vulgarity of speech and behavior.

Cockneys of London! Muscadins of Paris!

Byron, _Don Juan_, viii. 124 (1824).

=Mus´carol=, king of flies, and father of Clarion, the most beautiful of the race.--Spenser, _Muiopotmos, or The Butterfly’s Fate_ (1590).

=Muse= (_The Tenth_), Marie Lejars de Gournay, a French writer (1566-1645).

Antoinette Deshoulieres; also called “The French Callĭŏpê.” Her best work is an allegory called _Les Moutons_ (1633-1694).

Mdlle. Scudéri was preposterously so called (1607-1701).

Also Delphine Gray, afterwards Mde. Emile de Girardin. Her _nom de plume_ was “viconte de Launay.” Béranger sang of “the beauty of her shoulders,” and Châteaubriand, of “the charms of her smile” (1804-1855).

=Muse-Mother=, Mnemos´ynê, goddess of memory, and mother of the Muses.

Memory,
That sweet Muse-mother.

E. B. Browning, _Prometheus Bound_ (1850).

=Muses= (_Symbols of the_).

CAL´LIOPE [_Kăl´.ly.ŏ.py_], the epic Muse: a tablet and stylus, sometimes a scroll.

CLIO, Muse of history: a scroll or open chest of books.

ER´ATO, Muse of love ditties: a lyre.

EUTER´PÊ, Muse of lyric poetry: a flute.

MELPOM´ENÊ, Muse of tragedy: a tragic mask, the club of Hercules, or a sword. She wears the cothurnus, and her head is wreathed with vine leaves.

POL´YHYM´NIA, Muse of sacred poetry: sits pensive, but has no attribute, because deity is not to be represented by any visible symbol.

TERPSIC´HORÊ [_Terp.sick´.o.ry_], Muse of choral song and dance: a lyre and the plectrum.

THALI´A, Muse of comedy and idyllic poetry: a comic mask, a shepherd’s staff, or a wreath of ivy.

URAN´IA, Muse of astronomy: carries a staff pointing to a globe.

=Museum= (_A Walking_), Longīnus, author of a work on _The Sublime_ (213-273).

=Musgrave= (_Sir Richard_), the English champion who fought with Sir William Deloraine, the Scotch champion, to decide by combat whether young Scott, the heir of Branksome Hall, should become the page of King Edward, or be delivered up to his mother. In the combat, Sir Richard was slain, and the boy was delivered over to his mother.--Sir W. Scott, _Lay of the Last Minstrel_ (1805).

_Musgrave_ (_Sir Miles_), an officer in the king’s service under the earl of Montrose.--Sir W. Scott, _Legend of Montrose_ (time, Charles I.).

=Music.= Amphion is said to have built the walls of Thebes by the music of his lyre. Ilium and the capital of Arthur’s kingdom were also built to divine music. The city of Jericho was destroyed by music (_Joshua_ vi. 20).

They were building still, seeing the city was built
To music.

Tennyson.

_Music and Men of Genius._ Hume, Dr. Johnson, Sir W. Scott, Robert Peel and Lord Byron had no ear for music, and neither vocal nor instrumental music gave them the slightest pleasure. To the poet Rogers it gave actual discomfort. Even the harmonious Pope preferred the harsh dissonance of a street organ to Handel’s oratorios.

_Music_ (_Father of_), Giovanni Battista Pietro Aloisio da Palestri´na (1529-1594).

_Music_ (_Father of Greek_), Terpander (fl. B.C. 676).

=Music’s First Martyr.= Menaphon says that when he was in Thessaly he saw a youth challenge the birds in music; and a nightingale took up the challenge. For a time the contest was uncertain; but then the youth, “in a rapture,” played so cunningly that the bird, despairing, “down dropped upon his lute, and brake her heart.”

⁂ This beautiful tale, by Strada (in Latin) has been translated in rhyme by R. Crashaw. Versions have been given by Ambrose Philips, and others; but none can compare with the exquisite relation of John Ford, in his drama entitled _The Lover’s Melancholy_ (1628).

=Musical Small-Coal Man=, Thos. Britton, who used to sell small coals and keep a musical club (1654-1714).

=Musicians= (_Prince of_), Giovanni Battista Pietro Aloisio da Palestri´na (1529-1594).

=Musidora=, the _dame du cœur_ of Damon. Damon thought her coyness was scorn; but one day he caught her bathing, and his delicacy on the occasion so enchanted her that she at once accepted his proffered love.--Thomson, _Seasons_ (“Summer,” 1727).

=Musido´rus=, a hero, whose exploits are told by Sir Philip Sidney, in his _Arcadia_ (1581).

=Musketeer=, a soldier armed with a musket, but specially applied to a company of gentlemen who were a mounted guard in the service of the king of France from 1661.

They formed two companies, the _grey_ and the _black_; so called from the color of their hair. Both were clad in scarlet, and hence their quarters were called the _Maison rouge_. In peace they followed the king in the chase, to protect him; in war they fought either on foot or horseback. They were suppressed in 1791; restored in 1814, but only for a few months; and after the restoration of Louis XVIII. we hear no more of them. Many Scotch gentlemen enrolled themselves among these dandy soldiers, who went to war with curled hair, white gloves, and perfumed like milliners.

⁂ A. Dumas has a novel called _The Three Musketeers_ (1844), the first of a series; the second is _Twenty Years Afterwards_; and the third, _Viconte de Bragelonne_.

=Muslin=, the talkative, impertinent, intriguing _suivante_ of Mrs. Lovemore. Mistress Muslin is sweet upon William, the footman, and loves cards.--A. Murphy, _The Way to Keep Him_ (1760).

=Mus´tafa=, a poor tailor of China, father of Aladdin, killed by illness brought on by the idle vagabondism of his son.--_Arabian Nights_ (“Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp”).

=Mutton=, a courtezan, sometimes called a “laced mutton.” “Mutton Lane,” in Clerkenwell, was so called because it was a suburra or quarter for harlots. The courtezan was called a “Mutton” even in the reign of Henry III., for Bracton speaks of them as _oves_.--_De Legibus_, etc., ii. (1569).

=Mutton-Eating King= (_The_), Charles II. of England (1630, 1659-1685).

Here lies our mutton-eating king,
Whose word no man relies on;
He never _said_ a foolish thing,
And never _did_ a wise on’.

Earl of Rochester.

=Mutual Friend= (_Our_), a novel by Charles Dickens (1864). The “mutual friend” is Mr. Boffin, “the golden dustman,” who was the mutual friend of John Harmon and of Bella Wilfer. The tale is this: John Harmon was supposed to have been murdered by Julius Handford; but it was Ratford, who was murdered by Rogue Riderhood, and the mistake arose from a resemblance between the two persons. By his father’s will, John Harmon was to marry Bella Wilfer; but John Harmon knew not the person destined by his father for his wife, and made up his mind to dislike her. After his supposed murder, he assumed the name of John Rokesmith, and became the secretary of Mr. Boffin, “the golden dustman,” residuary legatee of old John Harmon, by which he became possessor of £100,000. Boffin knew Rokesmith, but concealed his knowledge for a time. At Boffin’s house, John Harmon (as Rokesmith) met Bella Wilfer, and fell in love with her. Mr. Boffin, in order to test Bella’s love, pretended to be angry with Rokesmith for presuming to love Bella; and, as Bella married him, he cast them both off “for a time,” to live on John’s earnings. A baby was born, and then the husband took the young mother to a beautiful house, and told her he was John Harmon, that the house was their house, that he was the possessor of £100,000 through the disinterested conduct of their “mutual friend,” Mr. Boffin; and the young couple lived happily with Mr. and Mrs. Boffin, in wealth and luxury.

=Mutusa-ili=, Babylonian sage and unsuspected Jew, high in repute for wisdom and prophetic powers.--Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and Herbert D. Ward, _The Master of the Magicians_ (1890).

=My Book= (_Dr._). Dr. John Aberne´thy (1765-1830) was so called because he used to say to his patients, “Read my book” (_On Surgical Observations_).

=My Little All.=

I was twice burnt out, and lost my little all both
times.--Sheridan, _The Critic_, i. 1 (1779).

=Myrebeau= (_Le sieure de_), one of the committee of the states of Burgundy.--Sir W. Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).

=Myro=, a statuary of Eleu´thĕræ, who carved a cow so true to nature that even bulls mistook it for a living animal. (See HORSE PAINTED.)

E’en Myro’s statues, which for art surpass
All others, once were but a shapeless mass.

Ovid, _Art of Love_, iii.

=Myrra=, an Ionian slave, and the beloved concubine of Sardanapa´lus, the Assyrian king. She roused him from his indolence to resist Arba´cês, the Mede, who aspired to his throne, and when she found his cause hopeless, induced him to mount a funeral pile, which she fired with her own hand, and then, springing into the flames, she perished with the tyrant.--Byron, _Sardanapalus_ (1819).

=Myrtle= (_Mrs. Lerviah_), sentimental Christian, who finds Magdalens and poor, ill-clad, homeless girls “so depressing,” but begs Nixy Trent, the only one who ever entered her house, “to consider that there is hope for us all in the way of salvation which our Lord has marked out for sinners.” After which crumb of ghostly consolation she proceeds to turn Nixy out of the house.--Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, _Hedged In_ (1870).

=Mysie=, the female attendant of Lady Margaret Bellenden, of the Tower of Tillietudlem.--Sir W. Scott, _Old Mortality_ (time, Charles II.).

_Mysie_, the old housekeeper at Wolf’s Crag Tower.--Sir W. Scott, _Bride of Lammermoor_ (time, William III.).

=Mysis=, the scolding wife of Sile´no, and mother of Daph´nê and Nysa. It is to Mysis that Apollo sings that popular song, “Pray, Goody, please to moderate the rancour of your tongue” (act i. 3).--Kane O’Hara, _Midas_ (1764).

=Mysterious Husband= (_The_), a tragedy by Cumberland (1783). Lord Davenant was a bigamist. His first wife was Marianne Dormer, whom he forsook in three months to marry Louisa Travers. Marianne, supposing her husband to be dead, married Lord Davenant’s son. Miss Dormer’s brother was the betrothed of the second Lady Davenant before her marriage with his lordship. She was told that he had proved faithless and had married another. The report of Lord Davenant’s death and the marriage of Captain Dormer were both false. When the villainy of Lord Davenant could be concealed no longer, he destroyed himself.

=Nat=, the fairy that addressed Orpheus, in the infernal regions, and offered him for food a roasted ant, a flea’s thigh, butterflies’ brains, some sucking mites, a rainbow tart etc., to be washed down with dew-drops and beer made from seven barleycorns--a very heady liquor.--King, _Orpheus and Eurydice_ (1730-1805).

=Nab-man= (_The_), a sheriff’s officer.

Old Dornton has sent the nab-man after him at last.--_Guy
Mannering_, ii. 3.

⁂ This is the dramatized version of Sir W. Scott’s novel, by Terry (1816).

=Nacien=, the holy hermit who introduced Galahad to the “Siege Perilous,” the only vacant seat in the Round Table. This seat was reserved for the knight who was destined to achieve the quest of the Holy Graal. Nacien told the king and his knights that no one but a virgin knight could achieve that quest.--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, iii. (1470).

=Nadab=, in Dryden’s satire of _Absalom and Achitophel_, is meant for Lord Howard, a profligate, who laid claim to great piety. As Nadab offered incense with strange fire and was slain, so Lord Howard, it is said, mixed the consecrated wafer with some roast apples and sugar.--Pt. i. (1681).

=Nadgett=, a man employed by Montague Tigg (manager of the “Anglo-Bengalee Company”) to make private inquiries. He was a dried-up, shrivelled old man. Where he lived and how he lived, nobody knew; but he was always to be seen waiting for some one who never appeared; and he would glide along apparently taking no notice of any one.--C. Dickens, _Martin Chuzzlewit_ (1844).

=Nag’s Head Consecration=, a scandal perpetuated by Pennant, on the dogma of “apostolic succession.” The “high-church clergy” assert that the ceremony called holy orders has been transmitted without interruption from the apostles. Thus, the apostles laid hands on certain persons, who (say they) became ministers of the gospel; these persons “ordained” others in the same manner; and the succession has never been broken. Pennant says, at the Reformation the bishops came to a fix. There was only one bishop, viz., Anthony Kitchen, of Llandaff, and Bonner would not allow him to perform the ceremony. In this predicament, the fourteen candidates for episcopal ordination rummaged up Story, a deposed bishop, and got him to “lay hands” on Parker, as archbishop of Canterbury. As it would have been profanation for Story to do this in a cathedral or church, the ceremony was performed in a tavern called the Nag’s Head, corner of Friday Street, Cheapside. Strype refutes this scandalous tale in his _Life of Archbishop Parker_, and so does Dr. Hook; but it will never be stamped out.

=Naggleton= (_Mr._ and _Mrs._), types of a nagging husband and wife. They are for ever jangling at trifles and willful misunderstandings.--_Punch_ (1864-5).

=Naked Bear= (_The_). _Hush! the naked bear will hear you!_ a threat and reproof to unruly children in North America. The naked bear, says the legend, was larger and more ferocious than any of the species. It was quite naked, save and except one spot on its back, where was a tuft of white hair.--Heckewelder, _Transactions of the American Phil. Soc._, iv. 260.

Thus the wrinkled old Nokomis
Nursed the little Hiawatha,
Rocked him in his linden cradle,
Stilled his fretful wail by saying
“Hush! the naked bear will get thee!”

Longfellow, _Hiawatha_, iii. (1855).

=Nakir´=, =Nekir=, or =Nakeer=. (See MONKER AND NAKIR.)

=Nala=, a legendary king of India, noted for his love of Damayanti, and his subsequent misfortunes. This legendary king has been the subject of numerous poems.

⁂ Dean Milman has translated into English the episode from the _Mahâbhârata_, and W. Yates has translated the Nalodaya of the great Sanskrit poem.

=Nama=, a daughter of man, beloved by the angel Zaraph. Her wish was to love intensely and to love holily, but as she fixed her love on a seraph, and not on God, she was doomed to abide on earth, “unchanged in heart and frame,” so long as the earth endureth; but at the great consummation both Nama and her seraph will be received into those courts of love, where “love never dieth.”--Moore, _Loves of the Angels_, ii. (1822).

=Namby= (_Major_), a retired officer, living in the suburbs of London. He had been twice married; his first wife had four children, and his second wife three. Major Namby, though he lived in a row, always transacted his domestic affairs by bawling out his orders from the front garden, to the annoyance of his neighbors. He used to stalk half-way down the garden path, with his head high in the air, his chest stuck out, and flourishing his military cane. Suddenly he would stop, stamp with one foot, knock up the hinder brim of his hat, begin to scratch the nape of his neck, wait a moment, then wheel round, look at the first-floor window, and roar out, “Matilda!” (the name of his wife) “don’t do so-and-so;” or “Matilda! do so-and-so.” Then he would bellow to the servants to buy this, or not to let the children eat that, and so on.--Wilkie Collins, _Pray Employ Major Namby_ (a sketch).

=Names of Terror.= The following amongst others, have been employed as bogie-names to frighten children with:--

ATTILA was a bogie-name to the Romans.

BO or BOH, son of Odin, was a fierce Gothic captain. His name was used by his soldiers when they would fight or surprise the enemy.--Sir William Temple.

⁂ Warton tells us that the Dutch scared their children with the name of Boh.

BONAPARTE, at the close of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries, was a name of terror in Europe.

CORVI´NUS (_Mathias_), the Hungarian, was a scare-name to the Turks.

LILIS or LILITH was a bogie-name used by the ancient Jews to unruly children. The rabbinical writers tell us that Lilith was Adam’s wife before the creation of Eve. She refused to submit to him, and became a horrible night-spectre, especially hostile to young children.

LUNSFORD, a name employed to frighten children in England. Sir Thomas Lunsford, governor of the Tower, was a man of most vindictive temper, and the dread of everyone.

Made children with your tones to run for’t,
As bad as Bloody-bones or Lunsford.

S. Butler, _Hudibras_, iii. 2, line 1112, (1678).

NARSES (2 _syl._) was the name used by Assyrian mothers to scare their children with.

The name of Narses was the formidable sound with which the Assyrian
mothers were accustomed to terrify their infants.--Gibbon, _Decline
and Fall of the Roman Empire_, viii. 219 (1776-88).

RAWHEAD and BLOODY-BONES were at one time bogie-names to children.

Servants awe children and keep them in subjection by telling them
of Rawhead and Bloody-bones.--Locke.

RICHARD I., “Cœur de Lion.” This name, says Camden (_Remains_), was employed by the Saracens as a “name of dread and terror.”

His tremendous name was employed by the Syrian mothers to silence
their infants; and if a horse suddenly started from the way, his
rider was wont to exclaim, “Dost thou think King Richard is in the
bush?”--Gibbon, _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, xi. 146
(1776-88).

SEBASTIAN (_Don_), a name of terror once used by the Moors.

Nor shall Sebastian’s formidable name
Be longer used to still the crying babe.

Dryden, _Don Sebastian_ (1690).

TALBOT (_John_), a name used in France _in terrorem_ to unruly children.

They in France to feare their young children crye, “The Talbot
commeth!”--Hall, _Chronicles_ (1545).

Here (said they) is the terror of the French,
The scarecrow that affrights our children so.

Shakespeare, 1 _Henry VI._ act.[TN-27] i. sc. 4 (1589).

Is this the Talbot so much feared abroad,
That with his name the mothers still their babes?

Shakespeare, 1 _Henry VI._ act iv. sc. 5 (1589).

TAMERLANE, a name used by the Persians _in terrorem_.

TARQUIN, a name of terror in Roman nurseries.

The nurse to still her child, will tell my story,
And fright her crying babe with Tarquin’s name.

Shakespeare, _Rape of Lucrece_ (1594).

(See also NAKED BEAR.)

=Namo=, duke of Bavaria, and one of Charlemagne’s twelve paladins.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).

=Namou´na=, an enchantress. Though first of created beings, she is still as young and beautiful as ever.--_Persian Mythology._

=Namous=, the envoy of Mahomet in paradise.

=Nancy=, eldest daughter of an English country family, in straitened circumstances. Nancy is a romp and untamed, but sound-hearted, and loves her brothers and sister tenderly. To advance their interests she marries Sir Roger Tempest, who is much her senior. In time, and after many misunderstandings, she learns to love him, and “they live happily together ever after.”--Rhoda Broughton, _Nancy_.

_Nancy_, servant to Mrs. Pattypan. A pretty little flirt, who coquets with Tim Tartlet and young Whimsey, and helps Charlotte Whimsey in her “love affairs.”--James Cobb, _The First Floor_ (1756-1818).

_Nancy_, a poor misguided girl, who really loves the villain Bill Sykes (1 _syl._). In spite of her surroundings, she has still some good feelings, and tries to prevent a burglary planned by Fagin and his associates. Bill Sykes, in a fit of passion, strikes her twice upon the face with the butt-end of a pistol, and she falls dead at his feet.--C. Dickens, _Oliver Twist_ (1837).

_Nancy_, the sailor’s fancy. At half-past four he parted from her; at eight next morn he bade her adieu. Next day a storm arose, and when it lulled the enemy appeared; but when the fight was hottest, the jolly tar “put up a prayer for Nancy.” Dibdin, _Sea Songs_ (“’Twas post meridian half-past four,” 1790).

_Nancy_ (_Miss_), Mrs. Anna Oldfield, a celebrated actress, buried in Westminster Abbey. She died in 1730, and lay in state, attended by two noblemen. Mrs. Oldfield was buried in a “very fine Brussels lace head-dress, a new pair of kid gloves, and a robe with lace ruffles and a lace collar.” (See NARCISSA.)

=Nancy Dawson=, a famous actress, who took London by storm. Her father was a poster in Clare Market (1728-1767).

Her easy mien, her shape so neat,
She foots, she trips, she looks so sweet;
I die for Nancy Dawson.

=Nancy of the Vale=, a village maiden, who preferred Strephon to the gay lordlings who sought her hand in marriage.--Shenstone, _A Ballad_ (1554).

=Nannic=, deformed brother of Guenn, and her darling. He is versed in all manner of auguries and much feared and consulted by the peasants on this account.--Blanche Willis Howard, _Guenn_.

=Nannie=, Miss Fleming, daughter of a farmer in the parish of Tarbolton, in Ayrshire. Immortalized by R. Burns.

_Nannie (Little)._

“This world, whose brightest day
Seems to us so dreary,
Nannie found all bright and gay,
Love-alight and cheery,
Stayed a little while to play
And went home unweary.”

Elizabeth Akers Allen, _Poems_ (1866).

=Nan´tolet=, father of Rosalura and Lillia-Bianca.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Wild-Goose Chase_ (1652).

=Napoleon I.=, called by the Germans “Kaiser Kläs” (_q.v._).

“M” is curiously coupled with the history of Napoleon I. and III. (See M.)