Character Sketches of Romance Volume Iii Part 21

Homer, _Odyssey_, x. (Cowper's trans.).

=Momus's Lattice.= Momus, son of Nox, blamed Vulcan, because, in making the human form, he had not placed a window in the breast for the discerning of secret thoughts.

Were Momus' lattice in our b.r.e.a.s.t.s, My soul might brook to open it more widely Than theirs [i. e. _the n.o.bles_].

Byron, _Werner_, iii., 1 (1822).

=Mon= or =Mona=, Anglesia, the residence of the Druids. Suetonius Paulinus, who had the command of Britain in the reign of Nero (from A.D.

59 to 62), attacked Mona, because it gave succor to the rebellious. The frantic inhabitants ran about with fire-brands, their long hair streaming to the wind, and the Druids invoked vengeance on the Roman army.--See Drayton, _Polyolbion_, viii. (1612).

=Mon'aco= (_The king of_), noted because whatever he did was never right in the opinion of his people, especially in that of Rabagas, the demagogue: If he went out, he was "given to pleasure;" if he stayed at home, he was "given to idleness;" if he declared war, he was "wasteful of the public money;" if he did not, he was "pusillanimous;" if he ate, he was "self-indulgent;" if he abstained, he was "priest-ridden."--M.

Sardou, _Rabagas_ (1872).

_Monaco._ _Proud as a Monegasque._ A French phrase. The tradition is that Charles Quint enn.o.bled every one of the inhabitants of Monaco.

=Monaldini= (_Signor_), rich, _bourgeois_ citizen of Rome, who purchases, fits up and lets to desirable tenants an old palace.--Mary Agnes Tincker, _Signor Monaldini's Niece_ (1879).

=Monarch of Mont Blanc=, Albert Smith; so-called, because for many years he amused a large London audience, night after night, by relating "his ascent of Mont Blanc" (1816-1860).

=Monarque= (_Le Grand_), Louis XIV., of France (1638, 1643-1715).

=Monastery= (_The_), a novel by Sir W. Scott (1820). _The Abbot_ appeared the same year. These two stories are tame and very defective in plot; but the character of Mary queen of Scots, in _The Abbot_, is a correct and beautiful historical portrait. The portrait of Queen Elizabeth is in _Kenilworth_.

=Moncada= (_Matthias de_), a merchant, stern and relentless. He arrests his daughter the day after her confinement of a natural son.

_Zilia de Moncada_, daughter of Matthias, and wife of General Witherington.--Sir W. Scott, _The Surgeon's Daughter_, (time, George II.).

=Monda'min=, maize or Indian corn (_mon-da-min_, "the Spirit's grain").

Sing the mysteries of mondamin, Sing the blessing of the corn-fields.

Longfellow, _Hiawatha_, xiii. (1855).

=Mone'ses= (3 _syl._), a Greek prince, betrothed to Arpasia, whom for the nonce he called his sister. Both were taken captive by Baj'azet. Bajazet fell in love with Arpasia, and gave Moneses a command in his army. When Tamerlane overthrew Bajazet, Moneses explained to the Tartar king how it was that he was found in arms against him, and said his best wish was to serve Tamerlane. Bajazet now hated the Greek, and, as Arpasia proved obdurate, thought to frighten her into compliance by having Moneses bow-strung in her presence; but the sight was so terrible that it killed her.--N. Rowe, _Tamerlane_ (1702).

=Money=, a drama by Lord E. L. B. Lytton (1840). Alfred Evelyn, a poor scholar, was secretary and factotum of Sir John Vesey, but received no wages. He loved Clara Douglas, a poor dependent of Lady Franklin; proposed to her, but was not accepted, "because both were too poor to keep house." A large fortune being left to the poor scholar, he proposed to Georgina, the daughter of Sir John Vesey; but Georgina loved Sir Frederick Blount, and married him. Evelyn, who loved Clara, pretended to have lost his fortune, and, being satisfied that she really loved him, proposed a second time, and was accepted.

=Moneytrap=, husband of Araminta, but with a _tendresse_ for Clarissa, the wife of his friend Gripe.--Sir John Vanbrugh, _The Confederacy_ (1695).

=Monflathers= (_Miss_), mistress of a boarding and day establishment, to whom Mrs. Jarley sent little Nell, to ask her to patronize the wax-work collection. Miss Monflathers received the child with frigid virtue, and said to her, "Don't you think you must be very wicked to be a wax-work child? Don't you know it is very naughty to be a wax child when you might have the proud consciousness of a.s.sisting, to the extent of your infant powers, the n.o.ble manufacturers of your country?" One of the teachers here chimed in with "How doth the little--;" but Miss Monflathers remarked, with an indignant frown, that "the little busy bee" applied only to genteel children, and the "works of labor and of skill" to painting and embroidery, not to vulgar children and wax-work shows."[TN-18]--Charles d.i.c.kens, _The Old Curiosity Shop_, x.x.xi. (1840).

=Monford=, the lover of Charlotte Whimsey. He plans various devices to hoodwink her old father, in order to elope with the daughter.--James Cobb, _The First Floor_ (1756-1818).

=Monime= (2 _syl._), in Racine's tragedy of _Mithridate_. This was one of Mdlle. Rachel's great characters, first preformed[TN-19] by her in 1838.

=Monim'ia=, "the orphan," sister of Chamont, and ward of Lord Acasto.

Monimia was in love with Acasto's son, Castalio, and privately married him. Polydore (the brother of Castalio) also loved her, but his love was dishonorable love. By treachery, Polydore obtained admission to Monimia's chamber, and pa.s.sed the bridal night with her, Monimia supposing him to be her husband; but when the next day she discovered the deceit, she poisoned herself; and Polydore, being apprised that Monimia was his brother's wife, provoked a quarrel with him, ran on his brother's sword, and died.--Otway, _The Orphan_ (1680).

More tears have been shed for the sorrows of "Belvidera" and "Monimia," than for those of "Juliet" and "Desdemona."--Sir W.

Scott, _The Drama_.

_Monimia_, in Smollett's novel of _Count Fathom_ (1754).

=Moniplies= (_Richie_), the honest, self-willed Scotch servant of Lord Nigel Olifaunt, of Glenverloch.--Sir W. Scott, _Fortunes of Nigel_ (time, James I.).

=Monk= (_General_), introduced by Sir Walter Scott in _Woodstock_ (time, Commonwealth.[TN-20]

_Monk_ (_The Bird Singing to a_). The monk is Felix, who listened to a bird for a hundred years, and thought the time only an hour.--Longfellow, _The Golden Legend_, ii. (1851).

_Monk_ (_The_), a novel, by Sir Matthew G. Lewis (1794).

=Monk Lewis.= Matthew Gregory Lewis; so called from his novel (1773-1818).

=Monk of Bury=, John Lydgate, poet, who wrote the _Siege of Troy_, the _Story of Thebes_, and the _Fall of Princes_ (1375-1460).

Nothynge I am experte in poetry, As the monke of Bury, floure of eloquence.

Stephen Hawes, _The Pa.s.se-Tyme[TN-21] of Plesure_ (1515).

=Monk of Westminister=, Richard, of Cirencester, the chronicler (fourteenth century).

This chronicle, _On the Ancient State of Britain_, was first brought to light in 1747, by Dr. Charles Julius Bertram, professor of English at Copenhagen; but the original being no better known than that of Thomas Rowley's poems, published by Chatterton, grave suspicions exist that Dr.

Bertram was himself the author of the chronicles.

=Monks= (_The Father of_), Ethelwold, of Winchester (*-984).

_Monks_, _alias_ Edward Leeford, a violent man, subject to fits. Edward Leeford, though half-brother to Oliver Twist, was in collusion with Bill Sykes, to ruin him. Failing in this, he retired to America, and died in jail.--C. d.i.c.kens, _Oliver Twist_ (1837).