Part 8
First Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood Of human sacrifice, and parents’ tears, Though, for the noise of drums and timbrels loud, Their children’s cries unheard, that passed thro’ fire To his grim idol. Him the Ammonite Worshipped in Rabba.
Milton, _Paradise Lost_, i. 392, etc. (1665).
=Mo´ly= (Greek, _môlu_), mentioned in Homer’s _Odyssey_. An herb with a black root and white blossom, given by Hermês to Ulysses, to counteract the spells of Circê, (See HÆMONY.)
... that Mō´ly That Hermês once to wise Ulysses gave.
Milton, _Comus_ (1634).
The root was black, Milk-white the blossom; Môly is its name In heaven.
Homer, _Odyssey_, x. (Cowper’s trans.).
=Momus’s Lattice.= Momus, son of Nox, blamed Vulcan, because, in making the human form, he had not placed a window in the breast for the discerning of secret thoughts.
Were Momus’ lattice in our breasts, My soul might brook to open it more widely Than theirs [i. e. _the nobles_].
Byron, _Werner_, iii., 1 (1822).
=Mon= or =Mona=, Anglesia, the residence of the Druids. Suetonius Paulīnus, who had the command of Britain in the reign of Nero (from A.D. 59 to 62), attacked Mona, because it gave succor to the rebellious. The frantic inhabitants ran about with fire-brands, their long hair streaming to the wind, and the Druids invoked vengeance on the Roman army.--See Drayton, _Polyolbion_, viii. (1612).
=Mon´aco= (_The king of_), noted because whatever he did was never right in the opinion of his people, especially in that of Rabagas, the demagogue: If he went out, he was “given to pleasure;” if he stayed at home, he was “given to idleness;” if he declared war, he was “wasteful of the public money;” if he did not, he was “pusillanimous;” if he ate, he was “self-indulgent;” if he abstained, he was “priest-ridden.”--M. Sardou, _Rabagas_ (1872).
_Monaco._ _Proud as a Monegasque._ A French phrase. The tradition is that Charles Quint ennobled every one of the inhabitants of Monaco.
=Monaldini= (_Signor_), rich, _bourgeois_ citizen of Rome, who purchases, fits up and lets to desirable tenants an old palace.--Mary Agnes Tincker, _Signor Monaldini’s Niece_ (1879).
=Monarch of Mont Blanc=, Albert Smith; so-called, because for many years he amused a large London audience, night after night, by relating “his ascent of Mont Blanc” (1816-1860).
=Monarque= (_Le Grand_), Louis XIV., of France (1638, 1643-1715).
=Monastery= (_The_), a novel by Sir W. Scott (1820). _The Abbot_ appeared the same year. These two stories are tame and very defective in plot; but the character of Mary queen of Scots, in _The Abbot_, is a correct and beautiful historical portrait. The portrait of Queen Elizabeth is in _Kenilworth_.
=Monçada= (_Matthias de_), a merchant, stern and relentless. He arrests his daughter the day after her confinement of a natural son.
_Zilia de Monçada_, daughter of Matthias, and wife of General Witherington.--Sir W. Scott, _The Surgeon’s Daughter_, (time, George II.).
=Monda´min=, maize or Indian corn (_mon-da-min_, “the Spirit’s grain”).
Sing the mysteries of mondamin, Sing the blessing of the corn-fields.
Longfellow, _Hiawatha_, xiii. (1855).
=Mone´ses= (3 _syl._), a Greek prince, betrothed to Arpasia, whom for the nonce he called his sister. Both were taken captive by Baj´azet. Bajazet fell in love with Arpasia, and gave Monēsês a command in his army. When Tamerlane overthrew Bajazet, Monēsês explained to the Tartar king how it was that he was found in arms against him, and said his best wish was to serve Tamerlane. Bajazet now hated the Greek, and, as Arpasia proved obdurate, thought to frighten her into compliance by having Monēsês bow-strung in her presence; but the sight was so terrible that it killed her.--N. Rowe, _Tamerlane_ (1702).
=Money=, a drama by Lord E. L. B. Lytton (1840). Alfred Evelyn, a poor scholar, was secretary and factotum of Sir John Vesey, but received no wages. He loved Clara Douglas, a poor dependent of Lady Franklin; proposed to her, but was not accepted, “because both were too poor to keep house.” A large fortune being left to the poor scholar, he proposed to Georgina, the daughter of Sir John Vesey; but Georgina loved Sir Frederick Blount, and married him. Evelyn, who loved Clara, pretended to have lost his fortune, and, being satisfied that she really loved him, proposed a second time, and was accepted.
=Moneytrap=, husband of Araminta, but with a _tendresse_ for Clarissa, the wife of his friend Gripe.--Sir John Vanbrugh, _The Confederacy_ (1695).
=Monflathers= (_Miss_), mistress of a boarding and day establishment, to whom Mrs. Jarley sent little Nell, to ask her to patronize the wax-work collection. Miss Monflathers received the child with frigid virtue, and said to her, “Don’t you think you must be very wicked to be a wax-work child? Don’t you know it is very naughty to be a wax child when you might have the proud consciousness of assisting, to the extent of your infant powers, the noble manufacturers of your country?” One of the teachers here chimed in with “How doth the little--;” but Miss Monflathers remarked, with an indignant frown, that “the little busy bee” applied only to genteel children, and the “works of labor and of skill” to painting and embroidery, not to vulgar children and wax-work shows.”[TN-18]--Charles Dickens, _The Old Curiosity Shop_, xxxi. (1840).
=Monford=, the lover of Charlotte Whimsey. He plans various devices to hoodwink her old father, in order to elope with the daughter.--James Cobb, _The First Floor_ (1756-1818).
=Monime= (2 _syl._), in Racine’s tragedy of _Mithridate_. This was one of Mdlle. Rachel’s great characters, first preformed[TN-19] by her in 1838.
=Monim´ia=, “the orphan,” sister of Chamont, and ward of Lord Acasto. Monimia was in love with Acasto’s son, Castalio, and privately married him. Polydore (the brother of Castalio) also loved her, but his love was dishonorable love. By treachery, Polydore obtained admission to Monimia’s chamber, and passed the bridal night with her, Monimia supposing him to be her husband; but when the next day she discovered the deceit, she poisoned herself; and Polydore, being apprised that Monimia was his brother’s wife, provoked a quarrel with him, ran on his brother’s sword, and died.--Otway, _The Orphan_ (1680).
More tears have been shed for the sorrows of “Belvidēra” and “Monimia,” than for those of “Juliet” and “Desdemona.”--Sir W. Scott, _The Drama_.
_Monimia_, in Smollett’s novel of _Count Fathom_ (1754).
=Moniplies= (_Richie_), the honest, self-willed Scotch servant of Lord Nigel Olifaunt, of Glenverloch.--Sir W. Scott, _Fortunes of Nigel_ (time, James I.).
=Monk= (_General_), introduced by Sir Walter Scott in _Woodstock_ (time, Commonwealth.[TN-20]
_Monk_ (_The Bird Singing to a_). The monk is Felix, who listened to a bird for a hundred years, and thought the time only an hour.--Longfellow, _The Golden Legend_, ii. (1851).
_Monk_ (_The_), a novel, by Sir Matthew G. Lewis (1794).
=Monk Lewis.= Matthew Gregory Lewis; so called from his novel (1773-1818).
=Monk of Bury=, John Lydgate, poet, who wrote the _Siege of Troy_, the _Story of Thebes_, and the _Fall of Princes_ (1375-1460).
Nothynge I am experte in poetry, As the monke of Bury, floure of eloquence.
Stephen Hawes, _The Passe-Tyme[TN-21] of Plesure_ (1515).
=Monk of Westminister=, Richard, of Cirencester, the chronicler (fourteenth century).
This chronicle, _On the Ancient State of Britain_, was first brought to light in 1747, by Dr. Charles Julius Bertram, professor of English at Copenhagen; but the original being no better known than that of Thomas Rowley’s poems, published by Chatterton, grave suspicions exist that Dr. Bertram was himself the author of the chronicles.
=Monks= (_The Father of_), Ethelwold, of Winchester (*-984).
_Monks_, _alias_ Edward Leeford, a violent man, subject to fits. Edward Leeford, though half-brother to Oliver Twist, was in collusion with Bill Sykes, to ruin him. Failing in this, he retired to America, and died in jail.--C. Dickens, _Oliver Twist_ (1837).
=Monkbarns= (_Laird of_), Mr Jonathan Oldbuck, the antiquary.--Sir W. Scott, _The Antiquary_ (time, George III.).
=Mon´ker and Nakir= [_Na.keer´_], the two examiners of the dead, who put questions to departed spirits respecting their belief in God and Mahomet, and award their state in after-life according to their answers.--_Al Korân._
“Do you not see those spectres that are stirring the burning coals? Are they Monker and Nakir come to throw us into them?”--W. Beckford, _Vathek_ (1786).
=Monmouth=, the surname of Henry V. of England, who was born in that town (1388, 1413-1422).
⁂ Mon-mouth is the _mouth of the Monnow_.
_Monmouth_ (_The duke of_), commander-in-chief of the royal army.--Sir W. Scott, _Old Mortality_ (time, Charles II.).
⁂ The duke of Monmouth was nicknamed “The Little Duke,” because he was diminutive in size. Having no name of his own, he took that of his wife, “Scott,” countess of Buccleuch. Pepys says: “It is reported that the king will be tempted to set the crown on the Little Duke” (_Diary_, seventeenth century).
=Mon´ema=, wife of Quia´ra, the only persons of the whole of the Guārani race who escaped the small-pox plague which ravaged that part of Paraguay. They left the fatal spot, and settled in the Modai woods. Here they had one son, Yerūti, and one daughter, Mooma, but Quiāra was killed by a jagŭar before the latter was born. Monĕma left the Mondai woods, and went to live at St. Joăchin, in Paraguay, but soon died from the effects of a house and city life.--Southey, _A Tale of Paraguay_ (1814).
Mononia, when nature embellished the tint Of thy fields and thy mountains so fair, Did she ever intend that a tyrant should print The footstep of slavery there?
T. Moore, _Irish Melodies_, i. (“War Song,” 1814).
=Monsieur=, Philippe, Duc d’Orléans, brother of Louis XIV. (1674-1723).
⁂ Other gentlemen were Mons. A or Mons. B, but the regent was Mons. without any adjunct.
Similarly, the daughter of the duc de Chartres (the regent’s grandson) was Mademoiselle.
=Monsieur le Coadjuteur=, Paul de Gondi, afterwards Cardinal de Retz (1614-1679).
=Monsieur le duc=, Louis Henri de Bourbon, eldest son of the prince de Condé (1692-1740).
=Monsieur Thomas=, a drama by Beaumont and Fletcher (1619).
=Monsieur Tonson=, a farce by Moncrieff. Jack Ardourly fails in love with Adolphine de Courcy in the street, and gets Tom King to assist in ferreting her out. Tom King discovers that his sweeting lives in the house of a French refugee, a barber, named Mons. Morbleu; but not knowing the name of the young lady, he inquires for Mr. Thompson, hoping to pick up information. Mons. Morbleu says no Mons. Tonson lives in the house, but only Mde. Bellegarde and Mdlle. Adolphine de Courcy. The old Frenchman is driven almost crazy by different persons inquiring for Mons. Tonson; but ultimately Jack Ardourly marries Adolphine, whose mother is Mrs. Thompson after all.
Taylor wrote a drama of the same title in 1767.
=Monster= (_The_), Renwick Williams, a wretch who used to prowl about London by night, armed with a double-edged knife, with which he mutilated women. He was condemned July 8, 1790.
=Mont Rognon= (_Baron of_), a giant of enormous strength and insatiable appetite. He was bandy-legged, had an elastic stomach, and four rows of teeth. He was a paladin of Charlemagne, and one of the four sent in search of Croquemitaine and Fear Fortress.--_Croquemitaine._
=Mont St. Michel=, in Normandy. Here nine druidesses used to sell arrows to sailors to charm away storms. The arrows had to be discharged by a young man 25 years of age.
The Laplanders drove a profitable trade by selling winds to sailors. Even so late as 1814, Bessie Millie, of Pomōna (Orkney Islands), helped to eke out a livelihood by selling winds for sixpence.
Eric, king of Sweden, could make the winds blow from any quarter he liked by a turn of his cap. Hence, he was nicknamed “Windy Cap.”
=Mont Trésor=, in France; so called by Gontran “the Good,” king of Burgundy (sixteenth century). One day, weary with the chase, Gontran laid himself down near a small river, and fell asleep. The squire who watched his master, saw a little animal come from the king’s mouth, and walk to the stream, over which the squire laid his sword, and the animal running across, entered a hole in the mountain. When Gontran was told of this incident, he said he had dreamt that he crossed a bridge of steel, and, having entered a cave at the foot of a mountain, entered a palace of gold. Gontran employed men to undermine the hill, and found there vast treasures, which he employed in works of charity and religion. In order to commemorate this event he called the hill Mont Trésor.--Claud Paradin, _Symbola Heroica_.
⁂ This story has been ascribed to numerous persons.
=Mon´tague= (3 _syl._), head of a noble house in Verona, at feudal enmity with the house of Capŭlet. Romeo belonged to the former, and Juliet to the latter house.
_Lady Montague_, wife of Lord Montague, and mother of Romeo.--Shakespeare, _Romeo and Juliet_ (1598).
=Montalban.=
_Don Kyrie Elyson de Montalban_, a hero of romance, in the _History of Tirante the White_.
_Thomas de Montalban_, brother of Don Kyrie Elyson, in the same romance of chivalry.
_Rinaldo de Montalban_, a hero of romance, in the _Mirror of Knighthood_, from which work both Bojardo and Ariosto have largely borrowed.
_Montalban_, now called Montauban (a contraction of _Mons Alba´nus_), in France, in the department of Tarn-et-Garonne.
Jousted in Aspramont or Montalban.
Milton, _Paradise Lost_, i. 583 (1665).
_Montalban_ (_The Count_), in love with Volantê (3 _syl._), daughter of Balthazar. In order to sound her, the count disguised himself as a father confessor; but Volantê detected the trick instantly, and said to him, “Come, come, count, pull off your lion’s hide, and confess yourself an ass.” However, as Volantê really loved him, all came right at last.--J. Tobin, _The Honeymoon_ (1804).
=Montanto= (_Signor_), a master of fence and a great braggart.--Ben Jonson, _Every Man in His Humour_ (1598).
=Montargis= (_The Dog of_), named Dragon. It belonged to Captain Aubri de Montdidier, and is especially noted for his fight with the Chevalier Richard Macaire. The dog was called Montargis, because the encounter was depicted over the chimney of the great hall in the castle of Montargis. It was in the forest of Bondi, close by this castle, that Aubri was assassinated.
=Monte Christo= (_Count_), convict who escapes from prison, and finds immense treasure, with which he does incredible things.
Assuming the title of “count,” he adds the name of the island on which his treasure is buried, and plays the grande seignior in society, punishing his former persecutors and false friends, and rewarding his old allies. Finally he is brought to confess that man cannot play providence, and to recall the words “Vengeance is mine!”--Alexander Dumas, _Count of Monte Christo_.
=Montenay= (_Sir Philip de_), an old English knight.--Sir W. Scott, _Castle Dangerous_ (time, Henry I.).
=Montesi´nos=, a legendary hero, who received some affront at the French court, and retired to La Mancha, in Spain. Here he lived in a cavern, some sixty feet deep, called “The Cavern of Montesinos.” Don Quixote descended part of the way down this cavern, and fell into a trance, in which he saw Montesinos himself, Durandartê and Belerma under the spell of Merlin, Dulcin´ea del Toboso enchanted into a country wench, and other visions, which he more than half believed to be realities.--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, II. ii. 5, 6 (1615).
⁂ This Durandartê was the cousin of Montesinos, and Belerma the lady he served for seven years. When he fell at Roncesvallês, he prayed his cousin to carry his heart to Belerma.
=Montespan= (_The marquis de_), a conceited court fop, silly and heartless. When Louis XIV. took Mde. de Montespan for his concubine, he banished the marquis, saying:
Your strange and countless follies-- The scenes you make--your loud domestic broils-- Bring scandal on our court. Decorum needs Your banishment.... Go! And for your separate household, which entails A double cost, our treasure shall accord you A hundred thousand crowns.
## Act iv. 1.
The foolish old marquis says, in his self-conceit:
A hundred thousand crowns for being civil To one another! Well now, that’s a thing That happens but to marquises. It shows My value in the state. The king esteems My comfort of such consequence to France, He pays me down a hundred thousand crowns, Rather than let my wife disturb my temper!
## Act v. 2.
_Madame de Montespan_, wife of the marquis. She supplanted La Vallière in the base love of Louis XIV. La Vallière loved the _man_, Montespan the _king_. She had wit to warm but not to burn, energy which passed for feeling, a head to check her heart, and not too much principle for a French court. Mde. de Montespan was the _protégée_ of the Duke de Lauzun, who used her as a stepping-stone to wealth; but when in favor, she kicked down the ladder by which she had climbed to power. However, Lauzun had his revenge; and when La Vallière took the veil, Mde. de Montespan was banished from the court.--Lord E. L. B. Lytton, _The Duchess de la Vallière_ (1836).
=Montfauçon= (_The Lady Calista of_), attendant of Queen Berengaria.--Sir. W. Scott, _The Talisman_ (time, Richard I.).
=Mont-Fitchet= (_Sir Conrade_), a preceptor of the Knights Templar.--Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).
=Montfort= (_De_), the hero and title of a tragedy, intended to depict the passion of hate, by Joanna Baillie (1798). The object of De Montfort’s hatred is Rezenvelt, and his passion drives him on to murder.
⁂ De Montfort was probably the suggestive inspiration of Byron’s _Manfred_ (1817).
=Montgomery= (_Mr._), Lord Godolphin, lord high treasurer of England in the reign of Queen Anne. The queen called herself “Mrs. Morley,” and Sarah Jennings, duchess of Marlborough, was “Mrs. Freeman.”
=Monthermer= (_Guy_), a nobleman, and the pursuivant of King Henry II.--Sir W. Scott, _The Betrothed_ (time, Henry II.).
=Montjoie=, chief herald of France.--Sir W. Scott, _Quentin Durward_ (time, Edward IV.).
=Montorio=, the hero of a novel, who persuaded his “brother’s sons” to murder their father by working on their fears, and urging on them the doctrine of fatalism. When the deed was committed, Montorio discovered that the young murderers were not his nephews, but his own sons.--Rev. C. R. Maturin, _Fatal Revenge_ (1807).
=Montreal d’Albano=, called “Fra Moriale,” knight of St. John of Jerusalem, and captain of the Grand Company in the fourteenth century, when sentenced to death by Rienzi, summoned his judge to follow him within the month. Rienzi was killed by the fickle mob within the stated period. (See SUMMONS TO DEATH.)
=Montreville= (_Mde. Adela_), or the Begum Mootee Mahul, called “the queen of Sheba.”--Sir W. Scott, _The Surgeon’s Daughter_ (time, George II.).
=Montrose= (_The duke of_), commander-in-chief of the king’s army.--Sir W. Scott, _Rob Roy_, xxxii. (time, George I.).
_Montrose_ (_The Marquis of_).--Sir W. Scott, _Woodstock_ (time, Commonwealth).
_Montrose_ (_James Grahame, earl of_), the king’s lieutenant in Scotland. He appears first disguised as Anderson, servant of the earl of Menteith.--Sir W. Scott, _Legend of Montrose_ (time, Charles I.).
=Monuments= (_The_), Poor family in London.
_Father_, a convict who gets out of prison on a ticket-of-leave.
_Mother_, Hester, an honest washerwoman, afterwards in almshouse, and blind.
_Claude._ Bright young fellow, educated by Lady Mildred Eldredge.
_Melenda_, a work-girl, fierce and virtuous, starving, yet independent.
_Joe_, plumber and house-decorator, typical British workman.
_Polly_, adopted by Lady Mildred, called “Violet,” and brought up with her own daughter.
_Sam_, a red-hot socialist, ready with impracticable plans of leagues and reformation.--Walter Besant, _Children of Gibeon_ (1890).
=Montserrat= (_Conrade, marquis of_), a crusader.--Sir W. Scott, _The Talisman_ (time, Richard I.).
=Moody= (_John_), the guardian of Peggy Thrift, an heiress, whom he brings up in the country, wholly without society. John Moody is morose, suspicious, and unsocial. When 50 years of age, and Peggy 19, he wants to marry her, but is out-witted by “the country girl,” who prefers Belville, a young man of more suitable age.
_Alithea Moody_, sister of John. She jilts Sparkish, a conceited fop, and marries Harcourt.--_The Country Girl_ (time, Garrick, altered from Wycherly).
=Mooma=, youngest sister of Yerūti. Their father and mother were the only persons of the whole Guarāni race who escaped a small-pox plague which ravished that part of Paraguay. They left the fatal spot and lived in the Mondai woods, where both their children were born. Before the birth of Mooma, her father was eaten by a jagŭar, and the three survivors lived in the woods alone. When grown to a youthful age, a Jesuit priest persuaded them to come and live at St. Joăchin (3 _syl._); so they left the wild woods for a city life. Here the mother soon flagged and died. Mooma lost her spirits, was haunted with thick-coming fancies of good and bad angels, and died. Yerūti begged to be baptized, received the rite, cried, “Ye are come for me! I am ready;” and died also.--Southey, _A Tale of Paraguay_ (1814).
_Moon_ (_Man in the_), said to be Cain, with a bundle of thorns.
Now doth Cain with fork of thorns confine On either hemisphere, touching the wave Beneath the towers of Seville. Yesternight The moon was round.
Dantê, _Hell_, xx. (1300).
_Moon_ (_Minions of the_), thieves or highwaymen. (See MOON’S MEN.)
=Moon and Mahomet.= Mahomet made the moon perform seven circuits round Caaba or the holy shrine of Mecca, then enter the right sleeve of his mantle and go out at the left. At its exit, it split into two pieces, which re-united in the centre of the firmament. This miracle was performed for the conversion of Hahab, the Wise.
=Moon-Calf=, an inanimate, shapeless human mass, said by Pliny to be engendered of woman only.--_Nat. Hist._, x. 64.
=Moon’s Men=, thieves or highwaymen, who ply their vocation by night.
The fortune of us that are but moon’s men doth ebb and flow like the sea.--Shakespeare, 1 _Henry IV._ act i. sc. 2 (1597).
=Moonshine= (_Saunders_), a smuggler.--Sir W. Scott, _Bride of Lammermoor_ (time, William III.).
=Moore= (_Mr. John_), of the Pestle and Mortar, Abchurch Lane, immortalized by his “worm-powder,” and called the “Worm Doctor.”
=Moors.= The Moors of Aragon are called Tangarins; those of Granāda are Mudajares; and those of Fez are called Elches. They are the best soldiers of the Spanish dominions. In the Middle Ages, all Mohammedans were called _Moors_; and hence Camoens, in the _Lusiad_, viii., called the Indians so.
=Mopes= (_Mr._), the hermit, who lived on Tom Tiddler’s Ground. He was dirty, vain, and nasty, “like all hermits,” but had landed property, and was said to be rich and learned. He dressed in a blanket and skewer, and, by steeping himself in soot and grease, soon acquired immense fame. Rumor said he murdered his beautiful young wife, and abandoned the world. Be this as it may, he certainly lived a nasty life. Mr. Traveller tried to bring him back into society, but a tinker said to him “Take my word for it, when iron is thoroughly rotten, you can never botch it, do what you may.”--C. Dickens, _A Christmas Number_ (1861).
=Mopsus=, a shepherd, who, with Menalcas, celebrates the funeral eulogy of Daphnis.--Virgil, _Eclogue_, v.
=Mora=, the betrothed of Oscar, who mysteriously disappears on his bridal eve, and is mourned for as dead. His younger brother, Allan, hoping to secure the lands and fortune of Mora, proposes marriage, and is accepted. At the wedding banquet, a stranger demands “a pledge to the lost Oscar,” and all accept it except Allan, who is there and then denounced as the murderer of his brother. Oscar then vanishes, and Allan dies.--Byron, _Oscar of Alva_.
=Moradbak=, daughter of Fitead, a widower. Hudjadge, king of Persia, could not sleep, and commanded Fitead, his porter and jailer, under pain of death, to find some one to tell him tales. Fitead’s daughter, who was only 11, undertook to amuse the king with tales, and was assisted in private by the sage Abou´melek. After a perfect success, Hudjadge married Moradbak, and at her recommendation, Aboumelek was appointed overseer of the whole empire.--Comte de Caylus, _Oriental Tales_ (1743).
=Morakan´abad=, grand vizier of the Caliph Vathek.--Beckford, _Vathek_ (1784).