Part 11
=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.