Part 10

In his “Idylls of the King,” Tennyson has taken the stories as told by Malory, and has turned them into his own melodious verse; yet, while adhering to the substance of each tale, he has in minor matters taken such liberties as have been allowed to poets since the earliest times. Shakespeare, in his “Julius Cæsar,” makes a like use of Sir Thomas North’s translation of Plutarch; the speech of Mark Antony over the body of Cæsar, to cite the most striking instance among many, is almost a literal transcription of North’s version, but subjected to the laws of verse.

=Mortemar= (_Alberick of_), an exiled nobleman, _alias_ Theodorick, the hermit of Engaddi, the enthusiast.--Sir W. Scott, _The Talisman_ (time, Richard I.).

=Mor´timer= (_Mr._), executor of Lord Abberville, and uncle of Frances Tyrrell. “He sheathed a soft heart in a rough case.” Externally, Mr. Mortimer seemed unsympathetic, brusque and rugged; but in reality he was most benevolent, delicate and tender-hearted. “He did a thousand noble acts without the credit of a single one.” In fact, his tongue belied his heart, and his heart his tongue.--Cumberland, _The Fashionable Lover_ (1780).

_Mortimer_ (_Sir Edward_), a most benevolent man, oppressed with some secret sorrow. In fact, he knew himself to be a murderer. The case was this: Being in a county assembly, the uncle of Lady Helen insulted him, struck him down, and kicked him. Sir Edward rode home to send a challenge to the ruffian; but, meeting him on the road drunk, he murdered him, was tried for the crime, but was honorably acquitted. He wrote a statement of the case, and kept the papers connected with it in an iron chest. One day Wilford, his secretary, whose curiosity had been aroused, saw the chest unlocked, and was just about to take out the documents when Sir Edward entered, and threatened to shoot him; but he relented, made Wilford swear secrecy, and then told him the whole story. The young man, unable to live under the jealous eyes of Sir Edward, ran away; but Sir Edward dogged him, and at length arrested him on the charge of robbery. The charge broke down, Wilford was acquitted, Sir Edward confessed himself a murderer, and died.--G. Colman, _The Iron Chest_ (1796).

=Mortimer Lightwood=, solicitor employed in the “Harmon murder” case. He was the great friend of Eugene Wrayburn, barrister-at-law, and it was the ambition of his life to imitate the _nonchalance_ and other eccentricities of his friend. At one time he was a great admirer of Bella Wilfer. Mr. Veneering called him “one of his oldest friends;” but Mortimer was never in the merchant’s house but once in his life, and resolved never to enter it again.--C. Dickens, _Our Mutual Friend_ (1864).

=Morten= (_Sir_), a spectre who appears at King Olaf’s feast, in the guise of a one-eyed old man, and carouses with the guests until bed-time. When the morning breaks, he has departed, and no trace of him is to be found.

“King Olaf crossed himself and said-- ‘I know that Odin the Great is dead; Sure is the triumph of our Faith, This one-eyed stranger was his wraith.’ Dead rides Sir Morten of Fogelsang.”

H. W. Longfellow, _The Wraith of Odin_.

=Morton=, a retainer of the earl of Northumberland.--Shakespeare, 2 _Henry IV._ (1508).[TN-25]

_Morton_ (_Henry_), a leader in the covenanters’ army with Balfour. While abroad, he is Major-general Melville. Henry Morton marries Miss Edith Bellenden.

_Old Ralph Morton of Milnwood_, uncle of Henry Morton.

_Colonel Silas Morton of Milnwood_, father of Henry Morton.--Sir W. Scott, _Old Mortality_ (time, Charles II.).

_Morton_ (_The earl of_), in the service of Mary queen of Scots, and a member of the privy council of Scotland.--Sir W. Scott, _The Monastery_ and _The Abbot_ (time, Elizabeth).

_Morton_ (_The Rev. Mr._)[TN-26] the Presbyterian pastor of Cairnvreckan village.--Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time, George II.).

=Mortsheugh= (_Johnie_), the old sexton of Wolf’s Hope village.--Sir W. Scott, _The Bride of Lammermoor_ (time, William III.).

=Morvi´dus=, son of Danius by his concubine, Tangustĕla. In his reign, there “came from the Irish coasts a most cruel monster, which devoured the people continually, but as soon as Morvidus heard thereof, he ventured to encounter it alone. When all his darts were spent, the monster rushed upon him, and swallowed him up like a small fish.”--Geoffrey of Monmouth, _British History_, iii. 15 (1142).

=Mosby=, an unmitigated villain. He seduced Alicia, the wife of Arden of Feversham. Thrice he tried to murder Arden, but was baffled, and then frightened Alicia into conniving at a most villainous scheme of murder. Pretending friendship, Mosby hired two ruffians to murder Arden while he was playing a game of draughts. The villains, who were concealed in an adjacent room, were to rush on their victim when Mosby said, “Now I take you.” The whole gang was apprehended and executed.--_Arden of Feversham_ (1592), altered by George Lillo (1739).

=Mosca=, the knavish confederate of Vol´pone (2 _syl._), the rich Venetian “fox.”--Ben Jonson, _Volpone_ or _The Fox_ (1605).

If your mother, in hopes to ruin me, should consent to marry my pretended uncle, he might, like “Mosca” in _The Fox_, stand upon terms.--W. Congreve, _The Way of the World_, ii. 1. (1700).

=Mo´ses=, the Jew money-lender in Sheridan’s comedy, _The School for Scandal_ (1777).

=Moses’ Clothes.= The _Korân_ says: “God cleared Moses from the scandal which was rumored against him” (ch. xxxiii.). The scandal was that his body was not properly formed, and therefore he would never bathe in the presence of others. One day, he went to bathe, and laid his clothes on a stone, but the stone ran away with them into the camp. Moses went after it as fast as he could run, but the Israelites saw his naked body, and perceived the untruthfulness of the common scandal.--Sale, _Al Korân_, xxxiii. notes.

=Moses’ Horns.= The Vulgate gives _quod cornuta esset facies sua_, for what our version has translated “he wist not _that the skin of his face shone_.” The Hebrew word used means both a “horn” and an “irradiation.” Michael Angelo followed the Vulgate.

=Moses’ Rod.=

While Moses was living with Re’uël [_Jethro_], the Midianite, he noticed a staff in the garden, and he took it to be his walking-stick. This staff was Joseph’s, and Re’uel carried it away when he fled from Egypt. This same staff Adam carried with him out of Eden. Noah inherited it, and gave it to Shem. It passed into the hands of Abraham, and Abraham left it to Isaac; and when Jacob fled from his brother’s anger into Mesopotamia, he carried it in his hand, and gave it at death to his son Joseph.--_The Talmud_, vi.

=Moses Slow of Speech.= The tradition is this: One day, Pharaoh was carrying Moses in his arms, when the child plucked the royal beard so roughly that the king, in a passion, ordered him to be put to death. Queen Asia said to her husband, the child was only a babe, and was so young he could not discern between a ruby and a live coal. Pharaoh put it to the test, and the child clapped into his mouth the burning coal, thinking it something good to eat. Pharaoh’s anger was appeased, but the child burnt its tongue so severely that ever after it was “slow of speech.”--Shalshel, _Hakkabala_, 11.

_Moses Slow of Speech._ The account given in the _Talmud_ is somewhat different. It is therein stated that Pharaoh was sitting one day with Moses on his lap, when the child took the crown from the king’s head and placed it on his own. The “wise men” of Egypt persuaded Pharaoh that this act was treasonable, and that the child should be put to death. Jithro [_sic_] the priest of Midian, said it was the act of a child who knew no better. “Let two plates,” said he, “be set before the child, one containing gold and the other live coals, and you will presently see that he will choose the coals in preference to the gold.” The advice of Jithro being followed, the boy Moses snatched at the coals, and putting one of them into his mouth, burnt his tongue so severely that ever after he was “heavy of speech.”--_The Talmud_, vi.

=Moses Pennell.= Waif rescued from a wrecked vessel, and adopted by old Captain Pennell and his wife. He is, in time, discovered to belong to a noble Cuban family.--Harriet Beecher Stowe, _The Pearl of Orr’s Island_.

=Most Christian King= (_Le Roy Tres-Christien_). The king of France is so called by others, either with or without his proper name; but he never styles himself so in any letter, grant, or rescript.

In St. Remigius or Remy’s Testament, King Clovis is called _Christianissimus Ludovicus_.--Flodoard, _Historia Remensis_, i. 18 (A.D. 940).

=Motallab= (_Abd al_), one of the four husbands of Zesbet, the mother of Mahomet. He was not to know her as a wife till he had seen Mahomet in his pre-existing state. Mahomet appeared to him as an old man, and told him he had chosen Zesbet, for her virtue and beauty, to be his mother.--Comte de Caylus, _Oriental Tales_ (“History of Abd al Motallab,” 1743).

=Mo´tar= (“_One doomed_ or _devoted to sacrifice_”). So Prince Assad was called, when he fell into the hands of the old fire-worshipper, and was destined by him to be sacrificed on the fiery mountain.--_Arabian Nights_ (“Amgiad and Assad”).

=Moth=, page to Don Adriano de Arma´do, the fantastic Spaniard. He is cunning and versatile, facetious and playful.--Shakespeare, _Love’s Labor’s Lost_ (1594).

_Moth_, one of the fairies.--Shakespeare, _Midsummer Night’s Dream_ (1592).

=Moths and Candles.= The moths fell in love with the night-fly; and the night-fly, to get rid of their importunity, maliciously bade them to go and fetch fire for her adornment. The blind lovers flew to the first flame to obtain the love-token, and few escaped injury or death.--Kæmpfer, _Account of Japan_, vii. (1727).

=Mother Ann=, Ann Lee, the “spiritual mother” of the Shakers (1731-1784).

⁂ Mother Ann is regarded by the Shakers as the female form, and Jesus as the male form, of the Messiah.

=Mother Bunch=, a celebrated ale-wife in Dekker’s _Satiromaster_ (1602).

⁂ In 1604 was published _Pasquil’s Jests, mixed with Mother Bunch’s Merriments_. In 1760 was published, in two parts, _Mother Bunch’s Closet Newly Broke Open, etc._, by a “Lover of Mirth and Hater of Treason.”

Mother Bunch’s _Fairy Tales_ are known in every nursery.

=Mother Carey’s Chickens.= The fish-fags of Paris in the first Great Revolution were so called, because, like the “stormy petrel,” whenever they appeared in force in the streets of Paris, they always foreboded a tumult or political storm.

=Mother Carey’s Goose=, the great black petrel or gigantic fulmar of the Pacific Ocean.

=Mother Douglas=, a noted crimp, who lived at the north-east corner of Covent Garden. Her house was superbly furnished. She died 1761.

⁂ Foote introduces her in _The Minor_, as “Mrs. Cole” (1760); and Hogarth in his picture called “The March to Finchley.”

=Mother Goose=, in French _Contes de Ma Mère l’Oye_, by Charles Perrault (1697).

⁂ There are ten stories in this book, seven of which are from the _Pentamerone_.

_Mother Goose_, according to a new exploded story, was a native of Boston, and the author of the nursery rhymes that bear her name. She used to sing her rhymes to her grandson, and Thomas Fleet, her brother-in-law, published the first edition of these rhymes, entitled _Songs for the Nursery_, or _Mother Goose’s Melodies_, in 1719.

⁂ Dibdin wrote a pantomime entitled _Mother Goose_.

=Mother Hubbard=, an old lady, whose whole time and attention were taken up by her dog, who was most willful; but the dame never lost her temper, or forgot her politeness. After running about all day to supply Master Doggie,

The dame made a curtsey, the dog made a bow; The dame said, “Your servant!” the dog said, “Bow, wow!”

_A Nursery Tale in Rhyme._

=Mother Hubberd=, the supposed narrator of a tale called _The Fox and the Ape_, related to the poet Spenser to beguile the weary hours of sickness. Several persons told him tales, but

Amongst the rest a good old woman was Hight Mother Hubberd, who did far surpass The rest in honest mirth that seemed her well; She, when her turn was come her tale to tell, Told of a strange adventure that betided Betwixt a fox and ape by him misguided; The which, for that my sense it greatly pleased ... I’ll write it as she the same did say.

Spenser.

=Mother Hubberd’s Tale.= A fox and an ape determined to travel about the world as _chevaliers de l’industrie_. First, Ape dressed as a broken-down soldier, and Fox as his servant. A farmer agreed to take them for his shepherds; but they devoured all his lambs and then decamped. They next “went in for holy orders.” Reynard contrived to get a living given him, and appointed the ape as his clerk; but they soon made the parish too hot to hold them, and again sheered off. They next tried their fortune at court; the ape set himself up as a foreigner of distinction with Fox for his groom. They played the part of rakes, but being found to be desperate rogues, had to flee with all despatch, and seek another field of action. As they journeyed on, they saw a lion sleeping, and Master Fox persuaded his companion to steal the crown, sceptre and royal robes. The ape, arrayed in these, assumed to be king, and Fox was his prime minister; but so ill did they govern, that Jupiter interfered, the lion was restored, and the ape was docked of his tail and had his ears cropt.

Since which, all apes but half their ears have left, And of their tails are utterly bereft. So Mother Hubberd her discourse did end.

Spenser, _Mother Hubberd’s Tale_.

=Mother Shipton=, T. Evan Preece, of South Wales, a prophetess, whose predictions (generally in rhymes) were at one time in everybody’s mouth in South Wales, especially in Glamorganshire.

⁂ She predicted the death of Wolsey, Lord Percy, and others. Her prophecies are still extant, and contain the announcement that “the end of the world shall come in eighteen hundred and eighty-one.”

=Mother of the People= (_The_), Marguerite of France, _La Mère des Peuples_, daughter of François I. (1523-1574).

=Mould= (_Mr._), undertaker. His face had a queer attempt at melancholy, sadly at variance with a smirk of satisfaction which might be read between the lines. Though his calling was not a lively one, it did not depress his spirits, as in the bosom of his family he was the most cheery of men, and to him the “tap, tap” of coffin-making was as sweet and exhilarating as the tapping of a woodpecker.--C. Dickens, _Martin Chuzzlewit_ (1844).

=Mouldy= (_Ralph_), “a good-limbed fellow, young, strong, and of good friends.” Ralph was pricked for a recruit in Sir John Falstaff’s regiment. He promised Bardolph forty shillings “to stand his friend.” Sir John being told this, sent Mouldy home, and when Justice Shallow remonstrated, saying that Ralph “was the likeliest man of the lot,” Falstaff replied, “Will you tell me, Master Shallow, how to choose a man? Care I for the limb, the thews, the stature, bulk, and big assemblance of a man? Give me the spirit, Master Shallow.”--Shakespeare, 2 _Henry IV._ act iii. sc. 2 (1598).

=Moullahs=, Mohammedan lawyers, from which are selected the judges.

=Mountain= (_The_), a name given in the French revolution to a faction which sat on the benches most elevated in the Hall of Assembly. The Girondins sat in the centre or lowest part of the hall, and were nicknamed the “plain.” The “mountain” for a long time was the dominant part; it utterly overthrew the “plain” on August 31, 1793, but was in turn overthrown at the fall of Robespierre (9 Thermidor ii. or July 27, 1794).

_Mountain_ (_The Old Man of the_), the imaum Hassan ben Sabbah el Homari. The sheik Al Jebal was so called. He was the prince of the Assassins.

⁂ In Rymer’s _Fœdera_ (vol. i.), Dr. Clarke, the editor, has added two letters of this sheik; but the doctor must be responsible for their genuineness.

=Mountain Brutus= (_The_), William Tell (1282-1350).

=Mountain of Flowers=, the site of the palace of Violenta, the mother fairy who brought up the young princess afterwards metamorphosed into “The White Cat.”--Comtesse D’Aunoy, _Fairy Tales_ (“The White Cat,” 1682).

=Mountain of Miseries.= Jupiter gave permission for all men to bring their grievances to a certain plain, and to exchange them with any others that had been cast off. Fancy helped them; but though the heap was so enormous, not one single _vice_ was to be found amongst the rubbish. Old women threw away their wrinkles, and young ones their mole-spots; some cast on the heap poverty; many their red noses and bad teeth; but no one his crimes. Now came the choice. A galley-slave picked up gout, poverty picked up sickness, care picked up pain, snub noses picked up long ones, and so on. Soon all were bewailing the change they had made; and Jupiter sent Patience to tell them they might, if they liked, resume their old grievances again. Every one gladly accepted the permission, and Patience helped them to take up their own bundle and bear it without murmuring.--Addison, _The Spectator_ (1711, 1712, 1714).

=Mourning.= In Colman’s _Heir-at-Law_ (1796), every character is in mourning: the Dowlases as relatives of the deceased Lord Duberly; Henry Morland as heir of Lord Duberly; Steadfast as the chief friend of the family; Dr. Pangloss as a clergyman; Caroline Dormer for her father recently buried; Zekiel and Cicely Homespun for the same reason; Kenrick for his deceased master.--James Smith, _Memoirs_ (1840).

=Mourning Bride= (_The_), a drama by W. Congreve (1697). “The mourning bride” is Alme´ria, daughter of Manuel, king of Grana´da, and her husband was Alphonso, prince of Valentia. On the day of their espousals they were shipwrecked, and each thought the other had perished; but they met together in the court of Granada, where Alphonso was taken captive under the assumed name of Osmyn. Osmyn, having effected his escape, marched to Granada, at the head of an army, found the king dead, and “the mourning bride” became his joyful wife.

=Mouse-Tower= (_The_), on the Rhine. It was here that Bishop Hatto was devoured by mice. (See HATTO.)

⁂ _Mauth_ is a toll or custom house, and the mauth or toll-house for collecting duty on corn being very unpopular, gave rise to the tradition.

=Moussa=, Moses.

=Mowbray= (_Mr. John_), lord of the manor of St. Ronan’s.

_Clara Mowbray_, sister of John Mowbray. She was betrothed to Frank Tyrrel, but married Valentine Bulmer.--Sir W. Scott, _St. Ronan’s Well_ (time, George III.).

_Mowbray_ (_Sir Miles_), a dogmatical, self-willed old man, who fancied he could read character, and had a natural instinct for doing the right thing; but he would have been much wiser if he had paid more heed to the proverb, “Mind your own business and not another’s.”

_Frederick Mowbray_, his eldest son, a young man of fine principle, and greatly liked. His “first love” was Clara Middleton, who, being poor, married the rich Lord Ruby. His lordship soon died, leaving all his substance to his widow, who bestowed it, with herself, on Frederick Mowbray, her first and only love.

_David Mowbray_, younger brother of Frederick. He was in the navy, and was a fine, open-hearted, frank and honest British tar.

_Lydia Mowbray_, sister of Frederick and David, and the wife of Mr. Wrangle.--R. Cumberland, _First Love_ (1796).

=Mow´cher= (_Miss_), a benevolent little dwarf, patronized by Steerforth. She is full of humor and comic vulgarity. Her chief occupation is that of hair-dressing.--C. Dickens, _David Copperfield_ (1849).

=Mowis=, the bridegroom of snow, who wooed and won a beautiful bride, but at dawn melted in the sun. The bride hunted for him night and day, but never saw him more.--_Indian Legend._

Mowis, the bridegroom of snow, who won and wedded a maiden, But, when the morning came, arose and passed from the wigwam, Fading and melting away, and dissolving into the sunshine, Till she beheld him no more, tho’ she followed far into the forest.

Longfellow, _Evangeline_, ii. 4 (1849).

=Moxon= (_Mr._), clergyman at Agawam (Mass.). Sincere in his bigotry, pitiable in the superstition that darkens his life, honestly persuaded that he and his are the victims of witchcraft, and that duty forces him to punish those who have afflicted the Lord’s saints.--Josiah Gilbert Holland, _The Bay Path_ (1857).

=Mozaide= (2 _syl._), the Moor who befriended Vasco de Gama when he first landed on the Indian continent.

The Moor attends Mozaide, whose zealous care To Gama’s eyes revealed each treacherous snare.

Camoens, _Lusiad_, ix. (1569).

=Mozart= (_The English_), Sir Henry Bishop (1780-1855).

_Mozart_ (_The Italian_), Cherubini, of Florence (1760-1842).

=Much=, the miller’s son, the bailiff or “acater” of Robin Hood. (See MIDGE.)

Robyn stode in Bernysdale, And lened hym to a tree; And by hym stode Lytell Johan, A good yeman was he; And also dyde good Scathelock, And Much, the miller’s sone.

Ritson, _Robin Hood Ballads_, i. 1 (1594).

_Much, the miller’s son_, in the morris-dance. His feat was to bang, with an inflated bladder, the heads of gaping spectators. He represented the fool or jester.

=Much Ado about Nothing=, a comedy by Shakespeare (1600). Hero, the daughter of Leonato, is engaged to be married to Claudio of Aragon; but Don John, out of hatred to his brother, Leonato, determines to mar the happiness of the lovers. Accordingly, he bribes the waiting-maid of Hero to dress in her mistress’s clothes, and to talk with his man by night from the chamber balcony. The villain tells Claudio that Hero has made an assignation with him, and invites him to witness it. Claudio is fully persuaded that the woman he sees is Hero, and when next day she presents herself at the altar, he rejects her with scorn. The priest feels assured there is some mistake, so he takes Hero apart, and gives out that she is dead. Then Don John takes to flight, the waiting-woman confesses, Claudio repents, and, by way of amendment (as Hero is dead) promises to marry her cousin, but this cousin turns out to be Hero herself.

⁂ A similar tale is told by Ariosto in his _Orlando Furioso_, v. (1516).

Another occurs in the _Faëry Queen_, by Spenser, bk. ii. 4, 38, etc. (1590).

George Turbervil’s _Geneura_ (1576) is still more like Shakespeare’s tale. Belleforest and Bandello have also similar tales (see _Hist._, xviii.).

=Mucklebacket= (_Saunders_), the old fisherman at Musselcrag.

_Old Elspeth Mucklebacket_, mother of Saunders, and formerly servant to Lady Glenallan.

_Maggie Mucklebacket_, wife of Saunders.

_Steenie Mucklebacket_, eldest son of Saunders. He is drowned.

_Little Jennie Mucklebacket_, Saunders’s child.--Sir W. Scott, _The Antiquary_ (time, George III.).

=Mucklethrift= (_Bailie_), ironmonger and brazier of Kippletringan, in Scotland.--Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).

=Mucklewrath= (_Habukkuk_), a fanatic preacher.--Sir W. Scott, _Old Mortality_ (time, Charles II.).

_Mucklewrath_ (_John_), smith at Cairnvreckan village.

_Dame Mucklewrath_, wife of John. A terrible virago.--Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time, George II.).

=Muckworm= (_Sir Penurious_), the miserly old uncle and guardian of Arbella. He wants her to marry Squire Sapskull, a raw Yorkshire tike; but she loves Gaylove, a young barrister, and, of course, Muckworm is outwitted.--Carey, _The Honest Yorkshireman_ (1736).

=Mudarra=, son of Gonçolo Bustos de Salas de Lara, who murdered his uncle Rodri´go, while hunting, to avenge the death of his seven half-brothers. The tale is, that Rodrigo Velasquez invited his seven nephews to a feast, when a fray took place in which a Moor was slain; the aunt, who was a Moorish lady, demanded vengeance, whereupon the seven boys were allured into a ravine and cruelly murdered. Mudarra was the son of the same father as “the seven sons of Lara,” but not of the same mother.--_Romance of the Eleventh Century._