Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama Part 29

Robyn stode in Bernysdale, And lened hym to a tree; And by hym stode Lytell Johan, A good yeman was he; And also dyde good Scathelock, And Much, the miller's sone.

Ritson, _Robin Hood Ballads_, i. 1 (1594).

_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 a.s.signation 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 a.s.sured 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 _Faery 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 Goncolo 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. Planche (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 Mishe-Mokwa.

Thus was slain the Mishe-Mokwa ...

"Honor be to Mudjekeewis!

Henceforth he shall be the west wind.

And hereafter, e'en for ever, Shall he hold supreme dominion, Over all the winds of heaven."

Longfellow, _Hiawatha_, ii. (1855).

=Mug= (_Matthew_), a caricature of the duke of Newcastle.--S. Foote, _The Mayor of Garratt_ (1763).

=Mugello=, the giant slain by Averardo de Medici, a commander under Charlemagne. This giant wielded a mace from which hung three b.a.l.l.s, which the Medici adopted as their device.

? They have been adopted by p.a.w.nbrokers 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 G.o.d of fire.

In Ausonian land Men called him Mulciber; and how he fell From heaven, they fabled, thrown by angry Jove Sheer o'er the crystal battlements; from morn To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve, A Summer's day; and with the setting sun Dropt from the Zenith like a falling star, On Lemnos, the aegean isle.

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, 739, etc. (1665).

=Muley Bugentuf=, king of Morocco, a blood-and-thunder hero. He is the chief character of a tragedy of the same name, by Thomas de la Fuenta.

In the first act, the king of Morocco, by way of recreation, shot a hundred Moorish slaves with arrows; in the second, he beheaded thirty Portuguese officers, prisoners of war; and in the third and last act, Muley, mad with his wives, set fire with his own hand to a detached palace, in which they were shut up, and reduced them all to ashes.... This conflagration, accompanied with a thousand shrieks, closed the piece in a very diverting manner.--Lesage, _Gil Blas_, ii. 9 (1715).

=Mull Sack.= John Cottington, in the time of the Commonwealth, was so called, from his favorite beverage. John Cottington emptied the pockets of Oliver Cromwell when lord protector; stripped Charles II. of 1500; and stole a watch and chain from Lady Fairfax.

? Mull sack is spiced sherry negus.

=Mulla's Bard=, Spenser, author of the _Faery Queen_. The Mulla, a tributary of the Blackwater, in Ireland, flowed close by the spot where the poet's house stood. He was born and died in London (1553-1599).

... it irks me while I write, As erst the bard of Mulla's silver stream, Oft as he told of deadly dolorous plight Sighed as he sung, and did in tears indite.