CHARACTER SKETCHES OF ROMANCE, FICTION, AND THE DRAMA. (continued 3)

Morecraft, at first a miser, but after losing most of his money he became a spendthrift.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Scornful Lady (1616).

^*_*^* “Luke,” in Massinger’s City Madam, is the exact opposite. He was at first a poor spendthrift, but coming into a fortune he turned miser.

Morell (Sir Charles), the pseudonym of the Rev. James Ridley, affixed to some of the early editions of The Tales of the Genii, from 1764.

More´love (Lord), in love with Lady Betty Modish, who torments him almost to madness by an assumed indifference, and rouses his jealousy by coquetting with Lord Foppington. By the advice of Sir Charles Easy, Lord Morelove pays the lady in her own coin, assumes an indifference to her, and flirts with Lady Grave´airs. This brings Lady Betty to her senses, and all ends happily.—Colley Cibber, The Careless Husband (1704).

Morë´no (Don Antonio), a gentleman of Barcelona, who entertained Don Quixote with mock-heroic hospitality.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, II. iv. 10 (1615).

Morfin (Mr.), a cheerful bachelor, in the office of Mr. Dombey, merchant. He calls himself “a creature of habit,” has a great respect for the head of the house, and befriends John Carker when he falls into disgrace by robbing his employer. Mr. Morfin is a musical amateur, and finds in his violoncello a solace for all cares and worries. He marries Harriet Carker, the sister of John and James.—C. Dickens, Dombey and Son (1846).

Morgan (le Fay), one of the sisters of King Arthur (pt. i. 18); the others were Margawse, Elain, and Anne (Bellicent was his half-sister). Morgan calls herself “queen of the land of Gore” (pt. i. 103). She was the wife of King Vrience (pt. i. 63), the mother of Sir Ew´ain (pt. i. 73), and lived in the castle of La Belle Regard (pt. ii. 122).

On one occasion, Morgan le Fay stole her brother’s sword, “Excalibur,” with its scabbard, and sent them to Sir Accolon, of Gaul, her paramour, that he might kill her brother Arthur in mortal combat. If this villany had succeeded, Morgan intended to murder her husband, marry Sir Accolon, and “devise to make him king of Britain;” but Sir Accolon, during the combat, dropped the sword, and Arthur, snatching it up, would have slain him had he not craved mercy and confessed the treasonable design (pt. i. 70). After this, Morgan stole the scabbard and threw it into the lake (pt. i. 73). Lastly, she tried to murder her brother by means of a poisoned robe; but Arthur told the messenger to try it on, that he might see it, and when he did so he dropped down dead, “being burnt to a coal” (pt. i. 75).—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur (1470).

W. Morris, in his Earthly Paradise (“August”), makes Morgan la Fée the bride of Ogier, the Dane, after his earthly career was ended.

Morgan, a feigned name adopted by Belarius, a banished lord.—Shakespeare, Cymbeline (1605).

Morgan, one of the soldiers of Prince Gwenwyn of Powys-land.—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).

Morgane (2 syl.), a fay, to whose charge Zephyr committed young Passelyon and his cousin, Bennucq. Passelyon fell in love with the fay’s daughter, and the adventures of these young lovers are related in the romance of Perceforest, iii.

Morgante (3 syl.), a ferocious giant, converted to Christianity by Orlando. After performing the most wonderful feats, he died at last from the bite of a crab.—Pulci, Morgante Maggiore (1488).

He [Don Quixote] spoke favorably of Morgante, who, though of gigantic race, was most gentle in his manners.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. i. 1 (1605).

Morgause or Margawse, wife of King Lot. Their four sons were Gaw´ain, Agravain, Ga´heris, and Gareth (ch. 36); but Morgause had another son by Prince Arthur, named Mordred. Her son Gaheris, having caught his mother in adultery with Sir Lamorake, cut off her head.

Morgia´na, the female slave, first of Cassim, and then of Ali Baba, “crafty, cunning, and fruitful in inventions.” When the thief marked the door of her master’s house with white chalk in order to recognize it, Morgiana marked several other doors in the same manner; next day she observed a red mark on the door, and made a similar one on others, as before. A few nights afterwards, a merchant with thirty-eight oil-jars begged a night’s lodging; and as Morgiana wanted oil for a lamp, she went to get some from one of the leather jars. “Is it time?” asked a voice. “Not yet,” replied Morgiana, and going to the others, she discovered that a man was concealed in thirty-seven of the jars. From the last jar she took oil, which she made boiling hot, and with it killed the thirty-seven thieves. When the captain discovered that all his men were dead, he decamped without a moment’s delay. Soon afterwards, he settled in the city as a merchant, and got invited by Ali Baba to supper, but refused to eat salt. This excited the suspicion of Morgiana, who detected in the pretended merchant the captain of the forty thieves. She danced awhile for his amusement, playfully sported with his dagger, and suddenly plunged it into his heart. When Ali Baba knew who it was that she had slain, he not only gave the damsel her liberty, but also married her to his own son.—Arabian Nights (“Ali Baba, or the Forty Thieves”).

Morglay, the sword of Sir Bevis, of Hamptoun, i.e. Southampton, given to him by his wife, Josian, daughter of the king of Armenia.—Drayton, Polyolboin, ii. (1612).

You talk of Morglay, Excalibur [Arthur’s sword], and Durindana [Orlando’s sword], or so. Tut! I lend no credit to that is fabled of ’em.—Ben Jonson, Every Man in His Humor, iii. 1 (1598).

Morgue la Faye, a fée who watched over the birth of Ogier, the Dane, and after he had finished his earthly career, restored him to perpetual youth, and took him to live with her in everlasting love in the isle and castle of Av´alon.—Ogier, le Danois (a romance).

Mor´ice (Gil or Chĭld), the natural son of Lady Barnard, “brought forth in her father’s house wi’ mickle sin and shame.” One day, Gil Morice sent Willie to the baron’s hall, with a request that Lady Barnard would go at once to Greenwood to see the chĭld. Lord Barnard, fancying the “chĭld” to be some paramour, forbade his wife to leave the hall, and went himself to Greenwood, where he slew Gil Morice, and sent his head to Lady Barnard. On his return, the lady told her lord he had slain her son, and added, “Wi’ the same spear, oh, pierce my heart, and put me out o’ pain!” But the baron repented of his hasty deed, and cried, “I’ll lament for Gil Morice, as gin he were mine ain.”—Percy, Reliques, etc., III. i.

^*_*^* This tale suggested to Home the plot of his tragedy called Douglas.

Mor´land, in Lend Me Five Shillings, by J. M. Morton (1838).

Morland (Henry), “the heir-at-law” of Baron Duberly. It was generally supposed that he had perished at sea; but he was cast on Cape Breton, and afterwards returned to England, and married Caroline Dormer, an orphan.—G. Colman, The Heir-at-Law (1797).

Mr. Beverley behaved like a father to me [B. Webster], and engaged me as a walking gentleman for his London theatre, where I made my first appearance as “Henry Morland,” in The Heir-at-Law, which, to avoid legal proceedings, he called The Lord’s Warming-pan.—Peter Paterson.

Morley (Mrs.), the name under which Queen Anne corresponded with Mrs. Freeman (The Duchess of Marlborough).

Morna, daughter of Cormac, king of Ireland. She was in love with Câthba, youngest son of Torman. Duchômar, out of jealousy, slew his rival, and then asked Morna to be his bride. She replied, “Thou art dark to me, O, Duchômar, and cruel is thine arm to Morna.” She then begged him for his sword, and when “he gave it to her she thrust it into his heart.” Duchômar fell, and begged the maid to pull out the sword that he might die, but when she did so, he seized it from her and plunged it into her side. Whereupon Cuthullin said:

“Peace to the souls of the heroes! Their deeds were great in fight. Let them ride around me in clouds. Let them show their features in war. My soul shall then be firm in danger, mine arm like the thunder of heaven. But be thou on a moonbeam, O, Morna, near the window of my rest, when my thoughts are at peace, when the din of war is past.”—Ossian, Fingal, i.

Morna, wife of Compal, and mother of Fingal. Her father was Thaddu, and her brother Clessammor.—Ossian.

Mornay, the old seneschal, at Earl Herbert’s tower at Peronne.—Sir W. Scott, Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).

Morning Star of the Reformation, John Wycliffe (1324-1384).

Morocco or Maroccus, the performing horse, generally called “Bankes’s Horse.” Among other exploits, we are told that “it went up to the top of St. Paul’s.” Both horse and man were burnt alive at Rome, by order of the pope, as magicians.—Don Zara del Fogo, 114 (1660).

^*_*^* Among the entries at Stationers’ Hall is the following:—Nov. 14, 1595: A Ballad showing the Strange Qualities of a Young Nagg called Morocco.

In 1595 was published the pamphlet Maroccus Extaticus, or Bankes’s Horse in a Trance.

Morocco Men, agents of lottery assurances. In 1796, The great State lottery employed 7500 morocco men. Their business was to go from house to house among the customers of the assurances, or to attend in the back parlors of public-houses, where the customers came to meet them.

Morolt (Dennis), the old squire of Sir Raymond Berenger.—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).

Morose (2 syl.), a miserly old hunks, who hates to hear any voice but his own. His nephew, Sir Dauphine, wants to wring out of him a third of his property, and proceeds thus: He gets a lad to personate “a silent woman,” and the phenomenon so delights the old man, that he consents to a marriage. No sooner is the ceremony over, than the boy-wife assumes the character of a virago of loud and ceaseless tongue. Morose, driven half-mad, promises to give his nephew a third of his income if he will take this intolerable plague off his hands. The trick being revealed, Morose retires into private life, and leaves his nephew master of the situation.—Ben Jonson, The Silent Woman (1609).

(“Wasp” in Bartholomew Fair, “Corbaccio” in The Fox, and “Ananias” in The Alchemist.)

Moroug, the monkey mistaken for the devil. A woman of Cambalu died, and Moroug, wishing to personate her, slipped into her bed, and dressed himself in her night-clothes, while the body was carried to the cemetery. When the funeral party returned, and began the usual lamentations for the dead, pug stretched his night-capped head out of the bed, and began moaning and grimacing most hideously. All the mourners thought it was the devil, and scampered out as fast they could run. The priests assembled, and resolved to exorcise Satan; but pug, noting their terror, flew on the chief of the bonzes, and bit his nose and ears most viciously. All the others fled in disorder; and when pug had satisfied his humor, he escaped out of the window. After a while, the bonzes returned, with a goodly company well armed, when the chief bonze told them how he had fought with Satan, and prevailed against him. So he was canonized, and made a saint in the calendar for ever.—T. S. Gueulette, Chinese Tales (“The Ape Moroug,” 1723).

Morrel or Morell, a goat-herd, who invites Thomalin, a shepherd, to come to the higher grounds, and leave the low-lying lands. He tells Thomalin that many hills have been canonized, as St. Michael’s Mount, St. Bridget’s Bower in Kent, and so on; then there was Mount Sinah and Mount Parnass, where the Muses dwelt. Thomalin replies, “The lowlands are safer, and hills are not for shepherds.” He then illustrates his remark by the tale of shepherd Algrind, who sat, like Morrel, on a hill, when an eagle, taking his white head for a stone, let a shell-fish fall on it, and cracked his skull.—Spenser, Shepheardes Calendar, vii.

[Æschylus was killed by a tortoise dropped on his head by an eagle].

(This is an allegory of the high and low church parties. Morel is an anagram of Elmer or Aylmer, bishop of London, who “sat on a hill,” and was the leader of the high-church party. Algrind is Grindal, archbishop of Canterbury, head of the low-church party, who in 1578 was sequestrated for writing a letter to the queen on the subject of puritanism. Thomalin represents the puritans. This could not have been written before 1578, unless the reference to Algrind was added in some later edition).

Morris, a domestic of the earl of Derby.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II).

Morris (Mr.), the timid fellow-traveller of Frank Osbaldistone, who carried the portmanteau. Osbaldistone says, concerning him, “Of all the propensities which teach mankind to torment themselves, that of causeless fear is the most irritating, busy, painful, pitiable.”—Sir W. Scott, Rob Roy (time, George I.).

Morris (Peter), the pseudonym of John G. Lockhart, in Peter’s Letters to His Kinsfolk (1819).

Morris (Dinah). Beautiful gospeller, who marries Adam Bede, after the latter recovers from his infatuation for pretty Hetty Sorrel. Hetty is seduced by the young squire, murders her baby, and is condemned to die for the crime. Dinah visits the doomed girl in prison, wins her to a confession and repentance, and accompanies her in the gallows-cart. They are at the scaffold when a reprieve arrives.—George Eliot, Adam Bede.

Morris-Dance, a comic representation of every grade of society. The characters were dressed partly in Spanish and partly in English costume. Thus, the huge sleeves were Spanish, but the laced stomacher English. Hobby-horse represented the king and all the knightly order; Maid Marian, the queen; the friar, the clergy generally; the fool, the court jester. The other characters represented a franklin or private gentleman, a churl or farmer, and the lower grades were represented by a clown. The Spanish costume is to show the origin of the dance.

A representation of a morris-dance may still be seen at Betley, in Staffordshire, in a window placed in the house of George Tollet, Esq., in about 1620.

Morrison (Hugh), a Lowland drover, the friend of Robin Oig.—Sir W. Scott, The Two Drovers (time, George III.).

Mortality (Old), a religious itinerant who frequented country churchyards and the graves of covenanters. He was first discovered in the burial ground at Gandercleugh, clearing the moss from the gray tombstones, renewing with his chisel the half-defaced inscriptions, and repairing the decorations of the tombs.—Sir W. Scott, Old Mortality (time, Charles II.).

^*_*^* “Old Mortality” is said to be meant for Robert Patterson.

Morta´ra, the boy who died from being covered all over with gold-leaf by Leo XII., to adorn a pageant.

Mortcloke (Mr.), the undertaker at the funeral of Mrs. Margaret Bertram of Singleside.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).

Morte d’Arthur, a compilation of Arthurian tales, called on the title-page The History of Prince Arthur, compiled from the French by Sir Thomas Malory, and printed by William Caxton in 1470. It is divided into three parts. The first part contains the birth of King Arthur, the establishment of the Round Table, the romance of Balin and Balan, and the beautiful allegory of Gareth and Linet´. The second part is mainly the romance of Sir Tristram. The third part is the romance of Sir Launcelot, the quest of the Holy Graal, and the death of Arthur, Guenever, Tristram, Lamorake, and Launcelot.

^*_*^* The difference of style in the third part is very striking. The end of ch. 44, pt. i., is manifestly the close of a romance. The separate romances are not marked by any formal indication; but, in the modern editions, the whole is divided into chapters, and these are provided with brief abstracts of their contents.

This book was finished the ninth year of the reign of King Edward IV. by Sir Thomas Malory, knight. Thus endeth this noble and joyous book, entitled La Morte d’Arthur, notwithstanding it treateth of the birth, life and acts of the said King Arthur, and of his noble knights of the Round Table ... and the achieving of the Holy Sancgreall, and in the end the dolorous death and departing out of the world of them all.—Concluding paragraph.

Morte d’Arthur, by Tennyson. The poet follows closely the story of the death of Arthur, as told by Malory. The king is borne off the field by Sir Bedivere. Arthur orders the knight to throw his sword Excalibur into the mere. Twice the knight disobeyed the command, intending to save the sword; but the dying king detected the fraud, and insisted on being obeyed. Sir Bedivere then cast the sword into the mere, and an arm, clothed in white samite, caught it by the hilt, brandished it three times, and drew it into the mere. Sir Bedivere then carried the dying king to a barge, in which were three queens, who conveyed him to the island-valley of Avil´ion, “where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow, nor ever wind blows loudly.” Here was he taken to be healed of his grievous wound; but whether he lived or died we are not told.

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).

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.) 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,

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

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.

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.

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.

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.)

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

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

^*_*^* A similar tale is told by Ariosto in his Orlando Furioso, v. (1516).

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

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

Mucklebacket (Saunders), the old fisherman at Musselcrag.

Old Elspeth Mucklebacket, mother of Saunders, and formerly servant to Lady Glenallan.

Maggie Mucklebacket, wife of Saunders.

Steenie Mucklebacket, eldest son of Saunders. He is drowned.

Little Jennie Mucklebacket, Saunders’s child.—Sir W. Scott, The Antiquary (time, George III.).

Mucklethrift (Bailie), ironmonger and brazier of Kippletringan, in Scotland.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).

Mucklewrath (Habukkuk), a fanatic preacher.—Sir W. Scott, Old Mortality (time, Charles II.).

Mucklewrath (John), smith at Cairnvreckan village.

Dame Mucklewrath, wife of John. A terrible virago.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).

Muckworm (Sir Penurious), the miserly old uncle and guardian of Arbella. He wants her to marry Squire Sapskull, a raw Yorkshire tike; but she loves Gaylove, a young barrister, and, of course, Muckworm is outwitted.—Carey, The Honest Yorkshireman (1736).

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

Muddle, the carpenter under Captain Savage and Lieutenant O’Brien.—Captain Marryat, Peter Simple (1833).

Muddlewick (Triptolemus), in Charles XII., an historical drama by J. R. Planché (1826).

Mudjekee´wis, the father of Hiawatha, and subsequently potentate of the winds. He gave all the winds but one to his children to rule; the one he reserved was the west wind, which he himself ruled over. The dominion of the winds was given to Mudjekeewis, because he slew the great bear called the Mishê-Mokwa.

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.

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).

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 (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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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).

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).

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.)

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.

Nakir´, Nekir, or Nakeer. (See Monker and Nakir.)

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

^*_*^* Dean Milman has translated into English the episode from the Mahâbhârata, and W. Yates has translated the Nalodaya of the great Sanskrit poem.

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

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

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

Attila was a bogie-name to the Romans.

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

^*_*^* Warton tells us that the Dutch scared their children with the name of Boh.

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

Corvi´nus (Mathias), the Hungarian, was a scare-name to the Turks.

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

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

Narses (2 syl.) was the name used by Assyrian mothers to scare their children with.

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

Rawhead and Bloody-bones were at one time bogie-names to children.

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

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

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

Sebastian (Don), a name of terror once used by the Moors.

Talbot (John), a name used in France in terrorem to unruly children.

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

Tamerlane, a name used by the Persians in terrorem.

Tarquin, a name of terror in Roman nurseries.

(See also Naked Bear.)

Namo, duke of Bavaria, and one of Charlemagne’s twelve paladins.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).

Namou´na, an enchantress. Though first of created beings, she is still as young and beautiful as ever.—Persian Mythology.

Namous, the envoy of Mahomet in paradise.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nancy of the Vale, a village maiden, who preferred Strephon to the gay lordlings who sought her hand in marriage.—Shenstone, A Ballad (1554).

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

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

Nannie (Little).

“This world, whose brightest day Seems to us so dreary, Nannie found all bright and gay, Love-alight and cheery, Stayed a little while to play And went home unweary.” Elizabeth Akers Allen, Poems (1866).

Nan´tolet, father of Rosalura and Lillia-Bianca.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Wild-Goose Chase (1652).

Napoleon I., called by the Germans “Kaiser Kläs” (q.v.).

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

The following is a curious play on the word Napoleon.

Napoleôn apoleôn poleôn oleôn leôn eôn ôn

Napoleon Apollyon cities destroying a lion going about } being.

That is:

Napoleon Apollyon is [being] a lion going about destroying cities.

Chauvinism, Napoleon idolatry. Chauvvin is a blind idolater of Napoleon I., in Scribe’s drama entitled Soldat Laboureur.

Napoleon III. His nicknames.

Arenenberg (Comte d’). So he called himself after his escape from the fortress of Ham.

Badinguet, the name of the man he shot in his Boulogne escapade.

Boustrapa, a compound of Bou[logne], Stra[sbourg] and Pa[ris], the places of his noted escapades.

Grosbec. So called from the rather unusual size of his nose.

Man of December. So called because December was his month of glory. Thus, he was elected president December 11, 1848; made his coup d’état December 2, 1851; and was created emperor December 2, 1852.

Man of Sedan. So called because at Sedan he surrendered his sword to the king of Prussia (September, 1870).

Ratipole, same as the west of England Rantipole, a harum-scarum, half idiot, half madcap.

The Little. Victor Hugo gave him this title; but the hatred of Hugo to Napoleon was monomania.

Verhuel, the name of his supposed father.

Number 2. The second of the month was Louis Napoleon’s day. It was also one of the days of his uncle, the other being the fifteenth.

The coup d’état was December 2; he was made emperor December 2, 1852; the Franco-Prussian war opened at Saarbrück, August 2, 1870; he surrendered his sword to William of Prussia, September 2, 1870.

Napoleon I. was crowned December 2, 1804; and the victory of Austerlitz was December 2, 1805.

Numerical Curiosities. 1. 1869, the last year of Napoleon’s glory; the next year was that of his downfall. As a matter of curiosity, it may be observed that if the day of his birth, or the day of the empress’s birth, or the date of the capitulation of Paris, be added to that of the coronation of Napoleon III., the result always points to 1869. Thus, he was crowned 1852; he was born 1808; the Empress Eugénie was born 1826: the capitulation of Paris was 1871. Whence:

1852 1852 1852 coronation

1 birth of Napoleon. 1 birth of Eugénie. 1 capitulation of Paris.

8 8 8

0 2 7

8 6 1

1869 1869 1869

2. 1870, the year of his downfall. By adding the numerical values of the birth date either of Napoleon or Eugénie to the date of the marriage, we get their fatal year of 1870. Thus, Napoleon was born 1808; Eugénie, 1826; married, 1853.

1853 1853 year of marriage.

1 birth of Napoleon. 1 birth of Eugénie.

8 8

0 2

8 6

1870 1870

2. Empereur. The votes for the president to be emperor were 7,119,791; those against him were 1,119,000. If now the numbers 711979r/ be written on a piece of paper, and held up to the light, the reverse side will show the word empereur. (The dash is the dividing mark, and forms the long stroke of the “p.”)

Napoleon and Talleyrand. Napoleon I. one day entered a roadside inn, and called for breakfast. There was nothing in the house but eggs and cider (which Napoleon detested). “What shall we do?” said the emperor to Talleyrand. In answer to this, the grand chambellan improvised the rhymes following:—

But he could get no further. Whereupon Napoleon himself instantly capped the line thus:

“Je boirai du cidre avec toi.” Chapus, Dieppe, etc. (1853).

Napoleon of the Drama. Alfred Bunn, lessee of Drury Lane Theatre (1819-1826) was so called; and so was Robert William Elliston, his predecessor (1774-1826, died 1831).

Napoleon of Mexico, the emperor Augusto Iturbidê (1784-1824).

Napoleon of Oratory, W. E. Gladstone (1809- ).

Napoleon of Peace, Louis Philippe of France (1773, reigned 1830-1848, died 1850).

Narcissa, meant for Elizabeth Lee, the step-daughter of Dr. Young. In Night ii. the poet says she was clandestinely buried at Montpelier, because she was a Protestant.—Dr. Young, Night Thoughts (1742-6).

Narcissa, Mrs. Oldfield, the actress, who insisted on being rouged and dressed in Brussels lace when she was “laid out.” (See Nancy.)

Narcisse, an airy young Creole. He has boundless faith in himself, and a Micawberish confidence in the future. He would like to be called “Papillon,” the butterfly; “’Cause thass my natu’e! I gatheth honey eve’y day fum eve’y opening floweh, as the bahd of Avon wemawked.”—George W. Cable, Dr. Sevier (1883).

Narcissus, a flower. According to Grecian fable, Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection in a fountain, and, having pined away because he could not kiss it, was changed into the flower which bears his name.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, iii. 346, etc.

Echo was in love with Narcissus, and died of grief because he would not return her love.

^*_*^* Glück, in 1779, produced an opera called Echo et Narcisse.

Narren-Schiff (“The ship of fools”), a satirical poem, in German, by Brandt (1491), lashing the follies and vices of the period. Brandt makes knowledge of one’s self the beginning of wisdom; maintains the equality of man; and speaks of life as a brief passage only. The book at one time enjoyed unbounded popularity.

Narses (2 syl.), a Roman general against the Goths; the terror of children.

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

Narses, a domestic slave of Alexius Comnēnus, emperor of Greece.—Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).

Naso, Ovid, the Roman poet, whose full name was Publius Ovidius Naso. (Naso means “nose.”) Hence the pun of Holofernes:

And why Naso, but for smelling out the odoriferous flowers of fancy?—Shakespeare, Love’s Labor’s Lost, act iv. sc. 2 (1594).

Nathan the Wise, a prudent and wealthy old Jew who lives near Jerusalem in the time of Saladin. The play is a species of argument for religious toleration.—G. E. Lessing, Nathan der Weise (1778).

Nathaniel (Sir), the grotesque curate of Holofernês.—Shakespeare, Love’s Labor’s Lost (1594).

Nathos, one of the three sons of Usnoth, lord of Etha (in Argyllshire), made commander of the Irish army at the death of Cuthullin. For a time he propped up the fortune of the youthful Cormac, but the rebel Cairbar increased in strength and found means to murder the young king. The army under Nathos then deserted to the usurper, and Nathos, with his two brothers, was obliged to quit Ireland. Dar´-Thula, the daughter of Colla, went with them to avoid Cairbar, who persisted in offering her his love. The wind drove the vessel back to Ulster, where Cairbar lay encamped, and the three young men, being overpowered, were slain. As for Dar-Thula, she was pierced with an arrow, and died also.—Ossian, Dar-Thula.

Nation of Gentlemen. The Scotch were so called by George IV., when he visited Scotland in 1822.

Nation of Shopkeepers. The English were so called by Napoleon I.

National Assembly. (1) The French deputies which met in the year 1789. The states-general was convened, but the clergy and nobles refused to sit in the same chamber with the commons, so the commons or deputies of the tiers état withdrew, constituted themselves into a deliberative body, and assumed the name of the Assemblée Nationale. (2) The democratic French parliament of 1848, consisting of 900 members elected by manhood suffrage, was so called also.

National Convention, the French parliament of 1792. It consisted of 721 members, but was reduced, first to 500, then to 300. It succeeded the National Assembly.

Natty Bumpo, called “Leather-stocking.” He appears in five of F. Cooper’s novels: (1) The Deerslayer; (2) The Pathfinder; (3) “Hawkeye” in The Last of the Mohicans; (4) “Natty Bumpo,” in The Pioneer; and (5) “The Trapper,” in The Prairie, in which he dies.

Nausic´aa (4 syl.), daughter of Alcinous, king of the Phœa´cians, who conducted Ulysses to the court of her father when he was shipwrecked on the coast.

Navigation (The Father of), Don Henrique, duke of Viseo, the greatest man that Portugal has produced (1394-1460).

Navigation (The Father of British Inland), Francis Egerton, duke of Bridgewater (1736-1803).

Neæra, a name used by Horace, Virgil, Tibullus, and Milton as a synonym of sweetheart.

Neal´liny (4 syl.), a suttee, the young widow of Ar´valan, son of Keha´ma.—Southey, Curse of Kehama, i. 11 (1809).

Nebuchadnezzar [Ne-boch-ad-ne-Tzar], in Russian, means “there is no God but the Czar.”—M. D., Notes and Queries (21st July, 1877).

Neck. Calig´ula, the Roman emperor used to say, “Oh that the Roman people had but one neck, that I might cut it off at a blow!”

Neck or Nothing, a farce by Garrick (1766). Mr. Stockwell promises to give his daughter in marriage to the son of Sir Harry Harlowe, of Dorsetshire, with a dot of £10,000; but it so happens that the young man is privately married. The two servants of Mr. Belford and Sir Harry Harlowe try to get possession of the money, by passing off Martin (Belford’s servant) as Sir Harry’s son; but it so happens that Belford is in love with Miss Stockwell, and hearing of the plot through Jenny, the young lady’s-maid, arrests the two servants as vagabonds. Old Stockwell gladly consents to his marriage with Nancy, and thinks himself well out of the terrible scrape.

Nectaba´nus, the dwarf at the cell of the hermit of Engaddi. Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).

Nectar, the beverage of the gods. It was white as cream, for when Hebê spilt some of it, the white arch of heaven, called the Milky Way, was made. The food of the gods was ambrosia.

Ned (Lying), “the chimney-sweeper of Savoy,” that is, the duke of Savoy, who joined the allied army against France in the war of the Spanish Succession.—Dr. Arbuthnot, History of John Bull (1712).

Negro´ni, a princess, the friend of Lucrezia di Borgia. She invited the notables who had insulted the Borgia to a banquet, and killed them with poisoned wine.—Donizetti, Lucrezia di Borgia (an opera, 1834).

Ne´gus, sovereign of Abyssinia. Erco´co, or Erquico, on the Red Sea, marks the north-east boundary of this empire.

Nehemiah Holdenough, a Presbyterian preacher.—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, commonwealth).

Neilson (Mr. Christopher), a surgeon at Glasgow.—Sir W. Scott, Rob Roy (time, George I.).

Neim´heid (2 syl.) employed four architects to build him a palace in Ireland; and, that they might not build another like it or superior to it for some other monarch, had them all secretly murdered.—O’Halloran, History of Ireland.

^*_*^* A similar story is told of Nômanal-Aôuar, king of Hirah, who employed Senna´mar to build him a palace. When finished, he cast the architect headlong from the highest tower, to prevent his building another to rival it.—D’Herbelot, Bibliothèque Oriental (1697).

Nekayah, sister of Rasselas, prince of Abyssinia. She escapes with her brother from the “happy valley,” and wanders about with him to find what condition or rank of life is the most happy. After roaming for a time, and finding no condition of life free from its drawbacks, the brother and sister resolved to return to the “happy valley.”—Dr. Johnson, Rasselas (1759).

Nell, the meek and obedient wife of Jobson; taught by the strap to know who was lord and master. Lady Loverule was the imperious, headstrong bride of Sir John Loverule. The two women by a magical hocus-pocus, were changed for a time, without any of the four knowing it. Lady Loverule was placed with Jobson, who soon brought down her turbulent temper with the strap, and when she was reduced to submission, the two women were restored again to their respective husbands.—C. Coffey, The Devil to Pay (1731).

Nell (Little), or Nelly Trent, a sweet, innocent, loving child of 14 summers, brought up by her old miserly grandfather, who gambled away all his money. Her days were monotonous and without youthful companionship, her evenings gloomy and solitary; there were no child-sympathies in her dreary home, but dejection, despondence akin to madness, watchfulness, suspicion, and imbecility. The grandfather being wholly ruined by gaming, the two went forth as beggars, and ultimately settled down in a cottage adjoining a country churchyard. Here Nell died, and the old grandfather soon afterwards was found dead upon her grave.—C. Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop (1840).

Nelly, the servant-girl of Mrs. Dinmont.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).

Nelson’s Ship, the Victory.

Nem´ean Lion, a lion of Argŏlis, slain by Herculês.

In this word Shakespeare has preserved the correct accent: “As hardy as the Nem´ean lion’s nerve” (Hamlet, act i. sc. 5); but Spenser incorrectly throws the accent on the second syllable, which is e short: “Into the great Neme´an’s lion’s grove” (Faëry Queen, v. 1).

Nem´esis, the Greek personification of retribution, or that punishment for sin which sooner or later overtakes the offender.

Ne´mo, the name by which Captain Hawdon was known at Krook’s. He had once won the love of the future Lady Dedlock, by whom he had a child called Esther Summerson; but he was compelled to copy law-writings for daily bread, and died a miserable death from an overdose of opium.—C. Dickens, Bleak House (1852).

Nepen´the (3 syl.) or Nepenthes, a care-dispelling drug, which Polydamna, wife of Tho´nis, king of Egypt, gave to Helen (daughter of Jove and Leda). A drink containing this drug “changed grief to mirth, melancholy to joyfulness, and hatred to love.” The water of Ardenne had the opposite effects. Homer mentions the drug nepenthê in his Odyssey, iv. 228.

Nep´omuk or Nep´omuck (St. John), canon of Prague. He was thrown from a bridge in 1381, and drowned by order of King Wenceslaus, because he refused to betray the secrets confided to him by the queen in the holy rite of confession. The spot whence he was cast into the Moldau is still marked by a cross with five stars on the parapet, indicative of the miraculous flames seen flickering over the dead body for three days. Nepomuk was canonized in 1729, and became the patron saint of bridges. His statue in stone usually occupies such a position on bridges as it does in Prague.

Like St. John Nep´omuck in stone, Looking down into the stream. Longfellow, The Golden Legend (1851).

^*_*^* The word is often accented on the second syllable.

Neptune (Old Father), the ocean or sea-god.

Nerestan, son of Gui Lusignan D’Outremer, king of Jerusalem, and brother of Zara. Nerestan was sent on his parole to France, to obtain ransom for certain Christians, who had fallen into the hands of the Saracens. When Osman, the sultan, was informed of his relationship to Zara, he ordered all Christian captives to be at once liberated “without money and without price.”—A. Hill, Zara (adapted from Voltaire’s tragedy).

Nereus (2 syl.), father of the water-nymphs. A very old prophetic god of great kindliness. The scalp, chin and breast of Nereus were covered with seaweed instead of hair.

Neri´nê, Doto, and Nysê, the three nereids who guarded the fleet of Vasco da Gama. When the treacherous pilot had run Vasco’s ship upon a sunken rock, these three sea-nymphs lifted up the prow and turned it round.

Nerissa, the clever confidential waiting-woman of Portia, the Venetian heiress. Nerissa is the counterfeit of her mistress, with a fair share of the lady’s elegance and wit. She marries Gratiano, a friend of the merchant Antonio.—Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice (1698).

Nero of the North, Christian II. of Denmark (1480, reigned 1534-1558, died 1559).

Nesle (Blondel de), the favorite minstrel of Richard Cœur de Lion [Nesle = Neel].—Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).

Nessus’s Shirt. Nessos (in Latin Nessus), the centaur, carried the wife of Herculês over a river, and, attempting to run away with her, was shot by Herculês. As the centaur was dying, he told Deïani´ra (5 syl.), that if she steeped in his blood her husband’s shirt, she would secure his love forever. This she did, but when Herculês put the shirt on, his body suffered such agony, that he rushed to Mount Œta, collected together a pile of wood, set it on fire, and rushing into the midst of the flames, was burnt to death.

When Creūsa (3 syl.), the daughter of King Creon, was about to be married to Jason, Medēa sent her a splendid wedding robe; but when Creusa put it on, she was burnt to death by it in excruciating pain.

Morgan le Fay, hoping to kill King Arthur, sent him a superb royal robe. Arthur told the messenger to try it on, that he might see its effect; but no sooner had the messenger done so, than he dropped down dead, “burnt to mere coal.”—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 75 (1470).

Nestor (A), a wise old man. Nestor of Pylos, was the oldest and most experienced of all the Greek chieftains who went to the siege of Troy.—Homer, Iliad.

Nestor of the Chemical Revolution. Dr. Black is so called by Lavoisier (1728-1799).

Nestor of Europe, Leopold, king of Belgium (1790, 1831-1865).

Neu´ha, a native of Toobouai, one of the Society Islands. It was at Toobouai that the mutineers of the Bounty landed, and Torquil married Neuha. When a vessel was sent to capture the mutineers, Neuha conducted Torquil to a secret cave, where they lay perdu till all danger was over, when they returned to their island home.—Byron, The Island. (The character of Neuha is given in canto ii. 7.)

Nevers (Comte de), to whom Valenti´na (daughter of the governor of the Louvre) was affianced, and whom she married in a fit of jealousy. The count having been shot in the Bartholomew slaughter, Valentina married Raoul [Rawl] her first love, but both were killed by a party of musketeers commanded by the governor of the Louvre.—Meyerbeer, Les Huguenots (opera, 1836).

^*_*^* The duke [not count] de Nevers, being asked by the governor of the Louvre to join in the Bartholomew Massacre, replied that his family contained a long list of warriors, but not one assassin.

Neville (Major), an assumed name of Lord Geraldin, son of the earl of Geraldin. He first appears as Mr. William Lovell.

Mr. Geraldin Neville, uncle to Lord Geraldin.—Sir W. Scott, The Antiquary (time, George III.).

Neville (Miss), the friend and confidante of Miss Hardcastle. A handsome, coquettish girl, destined by Mrs. Hardcastle for her son Tony Lumpkin, but Tony did not care for her, and she dearly loved Mr. Hastings; so Hastings and Tony plotted together to outwit madam, and of course won the day.—O. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer (1773).

Neville (Sir Henry), chamberlain of Richard Cœur de Lion.—Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).

New Atlantis (The), an imaginary island in the middle of the Atlantic. Bacon in his allegorical fiction so called, supposes himself wrecked on this island, where he finds an association for the cultivation of natural science, and the promotion of arts.—Lord Bacon, The New Atlantis (1626).

^*_*^* Called the New Atlantis to distinguish it from Plato’s Atlantis, an imaginary island of fabulous charms.

New Inn (The), or The Light Heart, a comedy by Ben Jonson (1628).

New Way to Pay Old Debts, a drama by Philip Massinger (1625). Wellborn, the nephew of Sir Giles Overreach, having run through his fortune and got into debt, induces Lady Allworth, out of respect and gratitude to his father, to give him countenance. This induces Sir Giles to suppose that his nephew is about to marry the wealthy dowager. Feeling convinced that he will then be able to swindle him out of all the dowager’s property, as he had ousted him out of his paternal estates, Sir Giles pays his nephew’s debts, and supplies him liberally with ready money, to bring about the marriage as soon as possible. Having paid Wellborn’s debts, the overreaching old man is compelled, through the treachery of his clerk, to restore the estates also, for the deeds of conveyance are found to be only blank sheets of parchment, the writing having been erased by some chemical acids.

New Zealander, It was Macaulay who said the time might come when some “New Zealand artist shall, in the midst of a vast solitude, take his stand on a broken arch of London bridge to sketch the ruins of St. Paul’s.”

^*_*^* Shelley was before Macaulay in the same conceit.—See Dedication of Peter Bell the Third.

Newcastle (The duchess of), in the court of Charles II.).—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Newcastle (The marquis of), a royalist in the service of Charles I.—Sir W. Scott, Legend of Montrose (time, Charles I.).

Newcastle Apothecary (The), Mr. Bolus, of Newcastle, used to write his prescriptions in rhyme. A bottle bearing the couplet, “When taken to be well shaken,” was sent to a patient, and when Bolus called next day to inquire about its effect, John told the apothecary his master was dead. The fact is, John had shaken the sick man instead of the bottle, and had shaken the life out of him.—G. Colman, Jr.