Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama Part 24

=Moon-Calf=, an inanimate, shapeless human ma.s.s, 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 Granada 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. d.i.c.kens, _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 a.s.sisted 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).

=Moral Philosophy= (_The Father of_), Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274).

=Moran, Son of Fithil=, one of the scouts in the army of Swaran, king of Lochlin (_Denmark_).--Ossian, _Fingal_.

=Moran's Collar=, a collar for magistrates, which had the supernatural power of pressing the neck of the wearer if his judgments deviated from strict justice, and even of causing strangulation if he persevered in wrong doing. Moran, surnamed "the Just," was the wise counsellor of Feredach, an early king of Ireland.

=Morat=, in _Aurungzebe_, a drama by Dryden (1675).

Edward Kynaston [1619-1687] shone with uncommon l.u.s.tre in "Morat"

and "Muley Moloch." In both these parts he had a fierce, lion-like majesty in his port and utterance, that gave the spectators a kind of trembling admiration.--Colley Cibber.

=Morbleu!= This French oath is a corrupt contraction of Mau'graby; thus, _maugre bleu_, _mau'bleu_. Maugraby was the great Arabian enchanter, and the word means "barbarous," hence a barbarous man or barbarian. The oath is common in Provence, Languedoc, and Gascoigne. I have often heard it used by the medical students at Paris.

Probably it is a punning corruption of _Mort de Dieu_.

=Mordaunt=, the secretary, at Aix, of Queen Margaret, the widow of Henry VI. of England.--Sir W. Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).

=Mor'decai= (_Beau_), a rich Italian Jew, one of the suitors of Charlotte Goodchild, but, supposing the report to be true that she has lost her fortune, he calls off and retires.--C. Macklin, _Love a-la-Mode-_[TN-22]

(1759).

_Mordecai._ Earnest young Jew, supporting himself by repairing watches, jewelry, etc. He is devoted to his race, proud of his lineage, and versed in all pertaining to Hebrew history. He dies of consumption.--George Eliot, _Daniel Deronda_.

=Mordent=, father of Joanna, by a former wife. In order to marry Lady Anne, he deserts Joanna and leaves her to be brought up by strangers.

Joanna is placed under Mrs. Enfield, a crimp, and Mordent consents to a proposal of Lennox to run off with her. Mordent is a spirit embittered with the world--a bad man, with a goading conscience. He sins and suffers the anguish of remorse; does wrong, and blames Providence because when he "sows the wind he reaps the whirlwind."

_Lady Anne_, the wife of Mordent, daughter of the earl of Oldcrest, sister of a viscount, niece of Lady Mary, and one of her uncles is a bishop. She is wholly neglected by her husband, but, like Griselda (_q.v._), bears it without complaint.--Holcroft, _The Deserted Daughter_ (1784, altered into _The Steward_).

=Mordred= (_Sir_), son of Margawse (sister of King Arthur), and Arthur, her brother, while she was the wife of Lot, king of Orkney (pt. i. 2, 35, 36). The sons of Lot himself and his wife were Gaw'ain, Agravain, Ga'heris, and Gareth, all knights of the Round Table. Out of hatred to Sir Launcelot, Mordred and Agravain accuse him to the king of too great familiarity with Queen Guenever, and induce the king to spend a day in hunting. During his absence, the queen sends for Sir Launcelot to her private chamber, and Mordred and Agravain, with twelve other knights, putting the worst construction on the interview, clamorously a.s.sail the chamber, and call on Sir Launcelot to come out. This he does, and kills Agravain with the twelve knights, but Mordred makes his escape and tells the king, who orders the queen to be burnt alive. She is brought to the stake, but is rescued by Sir Launcelot, who carries her off to Joyous Guard, near Carlisle, which the king besieges. While lying before the castle, King Arthur receives a bull from the pope, commanding him to take back his queen. This he does, but as he refuses to be reconciled to Sir Launcelot, the knight betakes himself to Benwick, in Brittany. The king lays siege to Benwick, and during his absence leaves Mordred regent. Mordred usurps the crown, and tries, but in vain, to induce the queen to marry him. When the king hears thereof, he raises the siege of Benwick, and returns to England. He defeats Mordred at Dover, and at Barondown, but at Salisbury (_Camlan_) Mordred is slain fighting with the king, and Arthur receives his death-wound. The queen then retires to a convent at Almesbury, is visited by Sir Launcelot, declines to marry him, and dies.--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_ iii. 143-174 (1470).

? The wife of Lot is called "Anne" by Geoffrey, of Monmouth (_British History_, viii. 20, 21); and "Bellicent" by Tennyson, in _Gareth and Lynette_.

This tale is so very different from those of Geoffrey of Monmouth, and Tennyson, that all three are given. (See MODRED.)

=Mor'dure= (2 _syl._), son of the emperor of Germany. He was guilty of illicit love with the mother of Sir Bevis, of Southampton, who murdered her husband and then married Sir Mordure. Sir Bevis, when a mere lad, reproved his mother for the murder of his father, and she employed Saber to kill him; but the murder was not committed, and young Bevis was brought up as a shepherd. One day, entering the hall where Mordure sat with his bride, Bevis struck at him with his axe. Mordure slipped aside, and the chair was "split to shivers." Bevis was then sold to an Armenian, and was presented to the king, who knighted him and gave him his daughter Josian in marriage.--M. Drayton, _Polyolbion_, ii. (1612).

_Mordure_ (2 _syl._), Arthur's sword, made by Merlin. No enchantment had power over it, no stone or steel was proof against it, and it would neither break nor bend. (The word means "hard biter.")--Spenser, _Faery Queen_, ii. 8 (1590).

=More= (_Margareta_), the heroine and feigned auth.o.r.ess of _Household of Sir Thomas More_, by Miss Manning (1851).

=More of More Hall=, a legendary hero, who armed himself with armor full of spikes, and, concealing himself in the cave where the dragon of Wantley dwelt, slew the monster by kicking it in the mouth, where alone it was mortal.

? In the burlesque of H. Carey, ent.i.tled _The Dragon of Wantley_, the hero is called "Moore of Moore Hall," and he is made to be in love with Gubbins's daughter, Margery, of Roth'ram Green (1696-1743).

=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 Ma.s.singer'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 a.s.sumed 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, a.s.sumes 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).