Part 7

=Mirza= (_The Vision of_). Mirza, being at Grand Cairo on the fifth day of the moon, which he always kept holy, ascended a high hill, and, falling into a trance, beheld a vision of human life. First he saw a prodigious tide of water rolling through a valley with a thick mist at each end--this was the river of time. Over the river was a bridge of a thousand arches, but only three score and ten were unbroken. By these, men were crossing, the arches representing the number of years the traveller lived before he tumbled into the river. Lastly, he saw the happy valley, but when he asked to see the secrets hidden under the dark clouds on the other side, the vision was ended, and he only beheld the valley of Bagdad, with its oxen, sheep, and camels grazing on its sides.--Addison, _Vision of Mirza_ (_Spectator_, 159).

=Misbegot= (_Malcolm_), natural son of Sybil Knockwinnock, and an ancestor of Sir Arthur Wardour.--Sir W. Scott, _The Antiquary_ (time, George III.).

=Miser= (_The_), a comedy by H. Fielding, a _réchauffé_ of Molière’s comedy _L’Avare_. Lovegold is “Harpagon,” Frederick is “Cléante,” Mariana is “Mariane,” and Ramilie is “La Fléche.” Lovegold, a man of 60, and his son Frederick, both wish to marry Mariana, and, in order to divert the old miser from his foolish passion, Mariana pretends to be most extravagant. She orders a necklace and ear-rings of the value of £3000, a petticoat and gown from a fabric which is £12 a yard, and besets the house with duns. Lovegold gives £2000 to break off the bargain, and Frederick becomes the bridegroom of Mariana.

=Misers.=--See _Dictionary of Phrase and Fable_.

=Misere´re= (_The_), sung on Good Fridays in Catholic churches, is the composition of Gregorio Allegri, who died in 1640.

=Mishe-Mok´wa=, the great bear slain by Mudjekeewis.--Longfellow, _Hiawatha_, ii. (1855).

=Mishe-Nah´ma=, the great sturgeon, “king of fishes,” subdued by Hiawatha. With this labor, the “great teacher” taught the Indians how to make oil for winter. When Hiawatha threw his line for the sturgeon, that king of fishes first persuaded a pike to swallow the bait and try to break the line, but Hiawatha threw it back into the water. Next, a sun-fish was persuaded to try the bait, with the same result. Then the sturgeon, in anger, swallowed Hiawatha and canoe also; but Hiawatha smote the heart of the sturgeon with his fist, and the king of fishes swam to the shore and died. Then the sea-gulls opened a rift in the dead body, out of which Hiawatha made his escape.

“I have slain the Mishê-Nahma, Slain the king of fishes” said he.

Longfellow, _Hiawatha_, vii. (1855).

=Misnar=, sultan of India, transformed by Ulin into a toad. “He[TN-14] was disenchanted by the dervise Shemshel´nar, the most “pious worshipper of Alla amongst all the sons of Asia.” By prudence and piety, Misnar and his vizier, Horam, destroyed all the enchanters who filled India with rebellion, and, having secured peace, married Hem´junah, daughter of Zebenezer, sultan of Cassimir, to whom he had been betrothed when he was known only as the prince of Georgia.--James Ridley, _Tales of the Genii_, vi., vii. (1751).

=Misog´onus=, by Thomas Rychardes, the third English comedy (1560). It is written in rhyming quatrains, and not in couplets like _Ralph Roister Doister_ and _Gammer Gurton’s Needle_.

=Miss in Her Teens=, a farce by David Garrick (1753). Miss Biddy Bellair is in love with Captain Loveit, who is known to her only by the name of Rhodophil; but she coquets with Captain Flash and Mr. Fribble, while her aunt wants her to marry an elderly man by the name of Stephen Loveit, whom she detests. When the Captain returns from the wars, she sets Captain Flash and Mr. Fribble together by the ears; and while they stand fronting each other, but afraid to fight, Captain Loveit enters, recognizes Flash as a deserter, takes away his sword, and dismisses Fribble as beneath contempt.

=Mississippi Bubble=, the “South Sea scheme” of France, projected by John Law, a Scotchman. So called because the projector was to have the exclusive trade of Louisiana, on the banks of the Mississippi, on condition of his taking on himself the National Debt (incorporated 1717, failed 1720).

The debt was 208 millions sterling. Law made himself sole creditor of this debt, and was allowed to issue ten times the amount in paper money, and to open “the Royal Bank of France,” empowered to issue this paper currency. So long as a 20-franc note was worth 20 francs, the scheme was a prodigious success, but immediately the paper money was at a discount, a run on the bank set in, and the whole scheme burst.

=Miss Ludington.= A beautiful girl changed by illness into “a sad and faded woman.” She had a portrait painted from an ivory miniature of herself, taken before the change, and conceives the idea that _what she was once_ must still exist somewhere. The phantasy is played upon by impostors, who undertake to materialize the fancied creature and introduce her as the soul-sister of the credulous spinster. The instrument of the audacious fraud becomes conscience stricken and reveals it.--Edward Bellamy, _Miss Ludington’s Sister_ (1884).

=Mistletoe Bough= (_The_). The song so called is by Thomas Haynes Bayley, who died 1839. The tale is this: Lord Lovel married a young lady, a baron’s daughter, and on the wedding night the bride proposed that the guest should play “hide-and-seek.” The bride hid in an old oak chest, and the lid, falling down, shut her in, for it went with a spring-lock. Lord Lovel sought her that night and sought next day, and so on for a week, but nowhere could he find her. Some years later, the old chest was sold, and, on being opened, was found to contain the skeleton of the bride.

Rogers, in his _Italy_, gives the same story, and calls the lady “Ginevra” of Modĕna.

Collet, in his _Relics of Literature_, has a similar story.

Another is inserted in the _Causes Célèbres_.

Marwell Old Hall (near Winchester), once the residence of the Seymours, and afterwards of the Dacre family, has a similar tradition attached to it, and “the very chest is said to be now the property of the Rev. J. Haygarth, rector of Upham.”

Bramshall, Hampshire, has a similar tale and chest.

The great house at Malsanger, near Basingstoke, also in Hampshire, has a similar tradition connected with it.

=Mi´ta=, sister of Aude. She married Sir Miton de Rennes, and became the mother of Mitaine. (See next art.)--_Croquemitaine_, xv.

=Mitaine=, daughter of Mita and Miton, and godchild of Charlemagne. She went in search of Fear Fortress, and found that it existed only in the imagination, for as she boldly advanced towards it, the castle gradually faded into thin air. Charlemagne made Mitaine, for this achievement, Roland’s squire, and she fell with him in the memorable attack at Roncesvallês. (See previous art.)--_Croquemitaine_, iii.

=Mite= (_Sir Matthew_), a returned East Indian merchant, dissolute, dogmatical, ashamed of his former acquaintances, hating the aristocracy, yet longing to be acknowledged by them. He squanders his wealth on toadies, dresses his livery servants most gorgeously, and gives his chairmen the most costly exotics to wear in their coats. Sir Matthew is forever astonishing weak minds with his talk about rupees, lacs, jaghires, and so on.--S. Foote, _The Nabob_.

=Mithra= or =Mithras=, a supreme divinity of the ancient Persians, confounded by the Greeks and Romans with the _sun_. He is the personification of Ormuzd, representing fecundity and perpetual renovation. Mithra is represented as a young man with a Phrygian cap, a tunic, a mantle on his left shoulder, and plunging a sword into the neck of a bull. Scaliger says the word means “greatest” or “supreme.” Mithra is the middle of the triplasian deity: the Mediator, Eternal Intellect, and Architect of the world.

Her towers, where Mithra once had burned, To Moslem shrines--oh shame!--were turned; Where slaves, converted by the sword, Their mean apostate worship poured, And cursed the faith their sires adored.

Moore, _Lalla Rookh_ (“The Fire-Worshippers,” 1817).

=Mithridate= (3 _syl._), a medicinal confection, invented by Damoc´ratês, physician to Mithrida´tês, king of Pontus, and supposed to be an antidote to all poisons and contagion. It contained seventy-two ingredients. Any panacea is called a “mithridate.”

Their kinsman garlic bring, the poor man’s mithridate.

Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xx. (1622).

_Mithridate_ (3 _syl._), a tragedy by Racine, (1673). “Monime” (2 _syl._), in this drama, was one of Mdlle. Rachel’s great characters.

=Mithrida´tes= (4 _syl._), surnamed “the Great.” Being conquered by the Romans, he tried to poison himself, but poison had no effect on him, and he was slain by a Gaul. Mithridatês was active, intrepid, indefatigable, and fruitful in resources; but he had to oppose such generals as Sulla, Lucullus, and Pompey. His ferocity was unbounded, his perfidy was even grand.

⁂ Racine has written a French tragedy on the subject, called _Mithridate_ (1673); and N. Lee brought out his _Mithridatês_ in English about the same time.

=Mixit= (_Dr._), the apothecary at the Black Bear inn at Darlington.--Sir W. Scott, _Rob Roy_ (time, George I.).

=M’liss=, brave, arch, and loving girl of the Wild West; the heroine of one of Bret Harte’s most popular sketches.

=M. M. Sketch= (_An_), a memorandum sketch.

=Mne´me= (2 _syl._), a well-spring of Bœo´tia, which quickens the memory. The other well-spring in the same vicinity, called _Lê´thê_, has the opposite effect, causing blank forgetfulness.--Pliny.

Dantê calls this river Eu´noê. It had the power of calling to the memory all the good acts done, all the graces bestowed, all the mercies received, but no evil.--Dantê, _Purgatory_, xxxiii. (1308).

=Mo´ath=, a well-to-do Bedouin, father of Onei´za (3 _syl._), the beloved of Thalaba. Oneiza, having married Thalaba, died on the bridal night, and Moath arrived just in time to witness the mad grief of his son-in-law.--Southey, _Thalaba, the Destroyer_, ii., viii. (1798).

=Mocca´sins=, an Indian buskin.

He laced his moccasins [_sic_] in act to go.

Campbell, _Gertrude of Wyoming_, i. 24 (1809).

=Mochingo=, an ignorant servant of the Princess Ero´ta.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Laws of Candy_ (1647).

=Mock Doctor= (_The_), a farce by H. Fielding (1733), epitomized from _Le Médecin Malgré Lui_, of Molière (1666). Sir Jasper wants to make his daughter marry a Mr. Dapper; but she is in love with Leander and pretends to be dumb. Sir Jasper hears of a dumb doctor, and sends his two flunkies to fetch him. They ask one Dorcas to direct them to him, and she points them to her husband, Gregory, a faggot-maker; but tells them he is very eccentric, and must be well beaten, or he will deny being a physician. The faggot-maker is accordingly beaten into compliance, and taken to the patient. He soon learns the facts of the case, and employs Leander as apothecary. Leander makes the lady speak, and completes his cure with “pills matrimoniac.” Sir Jasper takes the joke in good part, and becomes reconciled to the alliance.

=Mocking-Bird.= “During the space of a minute, I have heard it imitate the woodlark, chaffinch, blackbird, thrush, and sparrow.... Their few natural notes resemble those of the nightingale, but their song is of greater compass and more varied.”--Ashe, _Travels in America_, ii. 73.

=Moclas=, a famous Arabian robber, whose name is synonymous with “thief.” (See ALMANZOR, the caliph.)

=Mode= (_Sir William_), in Mrs. Centlivre’s drama, _The Beaux’ Duel_ (1703).

=Mode´love= (_Sir Philip_), one of the four guardians of Anne Lovely, the heiress. Sir Philip is an “old beau, that has May in his fancy and dress, but December in his face and his heels. He admires all new fashions ... loves operas, balls, and masquerades” (act i. 1). Colonel Freeman personates a French fop, and obtains his consent to marry his ward, the heiress.--Mrs. Centlivre, _A Bold Stroke for a Wife_ (1717).

=Modely=, a man of the world, gay, fashionable, and a libertine. He had scores of “lovers,” but never loved till he saw the little rustic lass named Aura Freehold, a farmer’s daughter, to whom he proposed matrimony.--John Philip Kemble, _The Farm-house_.

=Modish= (_Lady Betty_), really in love with Lord Morelove, but treats him with assumed scorn or indifference, because her pride prefers “power to ease.” Hence she coquets with Lord Foppington (a married man), to mortify Morelove and arouse his jealousy. By the advice of Sir Charles Easy, Lord Morelove pays her out in her own coin, by flirting with Lady Graveairs, and assuming an air of indifference. Ultimately, Lady Betty is reduced to common sense, and gives her heart and hand to Lord Morelove.--Colley Cibber, _The Careless Husband_ (1704).

=Modo=, the fiend that urges to murder, and one of the five that possessed “poor Tom.”--Shakespeare, _King Lear_, act iv. sc. 1 (1605).

=Modred=, son of Lot, king of Norway, and Anne, own sister of King Arthur (pt. viii. 21; ix. 9). He is always called “the traitor.” While King Arthur was absent, warring with the Romans, Modred was left regent, but usurped the crown, and married his aunt, the queen (pt. x. 13). When Arthur heard thereof, he returned, and attacked the usurper, who fled to Winchester (pt. xi. 1). The king followed him, and Modred drew up his army at Cambula, in Cornwall, where another battle was fought. In this engagement Modred was slain, and Arthur also received his death-wound (pt. xi. 2). The queen, called Guanhuma´ra (but better known as Guen´evere), retired to a convent in the City of Legions, and entered the order of Julius the Martyr (pt. xi. 1).--Geoffrey, _British History_ (1142).

⁂ This is so very different from the accounts given in Arthurian romance of Mordred, that it is better to give the two names as if they were different individuals.

_Modred_ (_Sir_), nephew of King Arthur. He hated Sir Lancelot, and sowed discord among the knights of the Round Table. Tennyson says that Modred “tampered with the lords of the White Horse,” the brood that Hengist left. Geoffrey of Monmouth says, he made a league with Cheldric, the Saxon leader in Germany, and promised to give him all that part of England which lies between the Humber and Scotland, together with all that Hengist and Horsa held in Kent, if he would aid him against King Arthur. Accordingly, Cheldric came over with 800 ships, filled “with pagan soldiers” (_British History_, xi. 1).

When the king was in Brittany, whither he had gone to chastise Sir Lancelot for adultery with the queen, he left Sir Modred regent, and Sir Modred raised a revolt. The king returned, drew up his army against the traitor, and in this “great battle of the West” Modred was slain and Arthur received his death-wound.--Tennyson, _Idylls of the King_ (“Guinevere,” 1858).

⁂ This version is in accordance neither with Geoffrey of Monmouth (see previous art.), nor with Arthurian romance (see MORDRED), and is, therefore, given separately.

=Modu=, the prince of all devils that take possession of a human being.

_Mado_ was the chief devil that had possession of Sarah Williams; but ... Richard Mainy was molested by a still more considerable fiend called _Modu_, ... the prince of all other devils.--Harsnett; _Declaration of Popish Impostures_, 268.

=Modus=, cousin of Helen; a “musty library, who loved Greek and Latin;” but cousin Helen loved the bookworm, and taught him how to love far better than Ovid could with his _Art of Love_. Having so good a teacher, Modus became an apt scholar, and eloped with Cousin Helen.--S. Knowles, _The Hunchback_ (1831).

=Mœ´chus=, adultery personified; one of four sons of Caro (_fleshly lust_). His brothers were Pornei´us (_fornication_), Acath´arus and Asel´gês (_lasciviousness_). In the battle of Mansoul, Mœchus is slain by Agnei´a (_wifely chastity_), the spouse of Encra´tês (_temperance_) and sister of Parthen´ia (_maidenly chastity_). (Greek, _moichos_ “an adulterer.”)--Phineas Fletcher, _The Purple Island_, xi. (1633).

=Mœli´ades= (4 _syl._). Under this name William Drummond signalized Henry, prince of Wales, eldest son of James I., in the monody entitled _Tears on the Death of Mœliadës_. The word is an anagram of _Milês a Deo_. The prince, in his masquerades and martial sports, used to call himself “Mœliadês of the Isles.”

Mœliadês, bright day-star of the West.

W. Drummond, _Tears on the Death of Mœliades_ (1612).

The burden of the monody is:

Mœliadês sweet courtly nymphs deplore, From Thulê to Hydaspês’ pearly shore.

=Moffat= (_Mabel_), domestic of Edward Redgauntlet.--Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.).

=Mogg Megone.= Indian sachem who, at the behest of a white girl, kills her betrayer, and brings his scalp to her. In the storm of anguished remorse awakened by the sight of the bloody trophy, the woman murders Megone in his sleep, and is henceforth banned by the church, driven by conscience, a miserable wanderer upon the earth.--John Greenleaf Whittier, _Mogg Megone_.

=Moha´di= (_Mahommed_), the twelfth imaum, whom the Orientals believe is not dead, but is destined to return and combat Antichrist before the consummation of all things.

⁂ Prince Arthur, Merlin, Charlemagne, Barbarossa, Dom Sebastian, Charles V., Elijah Mansur, Desmond of Kilmallock, etc., are traditionally not dead, but only sleeping till the fullness of time, when each will awake and effect most wondrous restorations.

=Mohair= (_The Men of_), the citizens of France.

The men of mohair, as the citizens were called.--_Asylum Christi_, viii.

=Moha´reb=, one of the evil spirits of Dom-Daniel, a cave “under the roots of the ocean.” It was given out that these spirits would be extirpated by one of the family of Hodei´rah (3 _syl._), so they leagued against the whole race. First, Okba was sent against the obnoxious race, and succeeeded[TN-15] in killing eight of them, Thalaba alone having escaped alive. Next, Abaldar was sent against Thalaba, but was killed by a simoom. Then Loba´ba was sent to cut him off, but perished in a whirlwind. Lastly, Mohareb undertook to destroy him. He assumed the guise of a warrior, and succeeded in alluring the youth to the very “mouth of hell;” but Thalaba, being alive to the deceit, flung Mohareb into the abyss.--Southey, _Thalaba, the Destroyer_, v. (1797).

=Mohicans= (_Last of the_), Uncas, the Indian chief, son of Chingachook, and called “Deerfoot.”--J. F. Cooper, _The Last of the Mohicans_ (a novel, 1826).

The word ought to be pronounced _Mo.hek´.kanz_, but is usually called _Mo.hĕ.kanz_.

=Mohocks=, a class of ruffians who at one time infested the streets of London. So called from the Indian Mohocks. At the Restoration, the street bullies were called Muns and Tityre Tus; they were next called Hectors and Scourers; later still, Nickers and Hawcabites; and lastly, Mohocks.

Now is the time that rakes their revels keep, Kindlers of riot, enemies of sleep; His scattered pence the flying Nicker flings, And with the copper shower the casement rings; Who has not heard the Scowerer’s midnight fame? Who has not trembled at the Mohock’s name?

Gay, _Trivia_, iii. 321, etc. (1712).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Robert Browning, _The Return of the Druses_, i.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

=Molmu´tius.= (See MULMUTIUS.)

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