Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama Part 23

=Montesi'nos=, a legendary hero, who received some affront at the French court, and retired to La Mancha, in Spain. Here he lived in a cavern, some sixty feet deep, called "The Cavern of Montesinos." Don Quixote descended part of the way down this cavern, and fell into a trance, in which he saw Montesinos himself, Durandarte and Belerma under the spell of Merlin, Dulcin'ea del Toboso enchanted into a country wench, and other visions, which he more than half believed to be realities.--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, II. ii. 5, 6 (1615).

? This Durandarte was the cousin of Montesinos, and Belerma the lady he served for seven years. When he fell at Roncesvalles, he prayed his cousin to carry his heart to Belerma.

=Montespan= (_The marquis de_), a conceited court fop, silly and heartless. When Louis XIV. took Mde. de Montespan for his concubine, he banished the marquis, saying:

Your strange and countless follies-- The scenes you make--your loud domestic broils-- Bring scandal on our court. Decorum needs Your banishment.... Go!

And for your separate household, which entails A double cost, our treasure shall accord you A hundred thousand crowns.

Act iv. 1.

The foolish old marquis says, in his self-conceit:

A hundred thousand crowns for being civil To one another! Well now, that's a thing That happens but to marquises. It shows My value in the state. The king esteems My comfort of such consequence to France, He pays me down a hundred thousand crowns, Rather than let my wife disturb my temper!

Act v. 2.

_Madame de Montespan_, wife of the marquis. She supplanted La Valliere in the base love of Louis XIV. La Valliere loved the _man_, Montespan the _king_. She had wit to warm but not to burn, energy which pa.s.sed for feeling, a head to check her heart, and not too much principle for a French court. Mde. de Montespan was the _protegee_ of the Duke de Lauzun, who used her as a stepping-stone to wealth; but when in favor, she kicked down the ladder by which she had climbed to power. However, Lauzun had his revenge; and when La Valliere took the veil, Mde. de Montespan was banished from the court.--Lord E. L. B. Lytton, _The d.u.c.h.ess de la Valliere_ (1836).

=Montfaucon= (_The Lady Calista of_), attendant of Queen Berengaria.--Sir.

W. Scott, _The Talisman_ (time, Richard I.).

=Mont-Fitchet= (_Sir Conrade_), a preceptor of the Knights Templar.--Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).

=Montfort= (_De_), the hero and t.i.tle of a tragedy, intended to depict the pa.s.sion of hate, by Joanna Baillie (1798). The object of De Montfort's hatred is Rezenvelt, and his pa.s.sion drives him on to murder.

? De Montfort was probably the suggestive inspiration of Byron's _Manfred_ (1817).

=Montgomery= (_Mr._), Lord G.o.dolphin, lord high treasurer of England in the reign of Queen Anne. The queen called herself "Mrs. Morley," and Sarah Jennings, d.u.c.h.ess of Marlborough, was "Mrs. Freeman."

=Monthermer= (_Guy_), a n.o.bleman, and the pursuivant of King Henry II.--Sir W. Scott, _The Betrothed_ (time, Henry II.).

=Montjoie=, chief herald of France.--Sir W. Scott, _Quentin Durward_ (time, Edward IV.).

=Montorio=, the hero of a novel, who persuaded his "brother's sons" to murder their father by working on their fears, and urging on them the doctrine of fatalism. When the deed was committed, Montorio discovered that the young murderers were not his nephews, but his own sons.--Rev.

C. R. Maturin, _Fatal Revenge_ (1807).

=Montreal d'Albano=, called "Fra Moriale," knight of St. John of Jerusalem, and captain of the Grand Company in the fourteenth century, when sentenced to death by Rienzi, summoned his judge to follow him within the month. Rienzi was killed by the fickle mob within the stated period. (See SUMMONS TO DEATH.)

=Montreville= (_Mde. Adela_), or the Begum Mootee Mahul, called "the queen of Sheba."--Sir W. Scott, _The Surgeon's Daughter_ (time, George II.).

=Montrose= (_The duke of_), commander-in-chief of the king's army.--Sir W.

Scott, _Rob Roy_, x.x.xii. (time, George I.).

_Montrose_ (_The Marquis of_).--Sir W. Scott, _Woodstock_ (time, Commonwealth).

_Montrose_ (_James Grahame, earl of_), the king's lieutenant in Scotland. He appears first disguised as Anderson, servant of the earl of Menteith.--Sir W. Scott, _Legend of Montrose_ (time, Charles I.).

=Monuments= (_The_), Poor family in London.

_Father_, a convict who gets out of prison on a ticket-of-leave.

_Mother_, Hester, an honest washerwoman, afterwards in almshouse, and blind.

_Claude._ Bright young fellow, educated by Lady Mildred Eldredge.

_Melenda_, a work-girl, fierce and virtuous, starving, yet independent.

_Joe_, plumber and house-decorator, typical British workman.

_Polly_, adopted by Lady Mildred, called "Violet," and brought up with her own daughter.

_Sam_, a red-hot socialist, ready with impracticable plans of leagues and reformation.--Walter Besant, _Children of Gibeon_ (1890).

=Montserrat= (_Conrade, marquis of_), a crusader.--Sir W. Scott, _The Talisman_ (time, Richard I.).

=Moody= (_John_), the guardian of Peggy Thrift, an heiress, whom he brings up in the country, wholly without society. John Moody is morose, suspicious, and unsocial. When 50 years of age, and Peggy 19, he wants to marry her, but is out-witted by "the country girl," who prefers Belville, a young man of more suitable age.

_Alithea Moody_, sister of John. She jilts Sparkish, a conceited fop, and marries Harcourt.--_The Country Girl_ (time, Garrick, altered from Wycherly).

=Mooma=, youngest sister of Yeruti. Their father and mother were the only persons of the whole Guarani race who escaped a small-pox plague which ravished that part of Paraguay. They left the fatal spot and lived in the Mondai woods, where both their children were born. Before the birth of Mooma, her father was eaten by a jaguar, and the three survivors lived in the woods alone. When grown to a youthful age, a Jesuit priest persuaded them to come and live at St. Joachin (3 _syl._); so they left the wild woods for a city life. Here the mother soon flagged and died.

Mooma lost her spirits, was haunted with thick-coming fancies of good and bad angels, and died. Yeruti begged to be baptized, received the rite, cried, "Ye are come for me! I am ready;" and died also.--Southey, _A Tale of Paraguay_ (1814).

_Moon_ (_Man in the_), said to be Cain, with a bundle of thorns.

Now doth Cain with fork of thorns confine On either hemisphere, touching the wave Beneath the towers of Seville. Yesternight The moon was round.

Dante, _h.e.l.l_, xx. (1300).

_Moon_ (_Minions of the_), thieves or highwaymen. (See MOON'S MEN.)

=Moon and Mahomet.= Mahomet made the moon perform seven circuits round Caaba or the holy shrine of Mecca, then enter the right sleeve of his mantle and go out at the left. At its exit, it split into two pieces, which re-united in the centre of the firmament. This miracle was performed for the conversion of Hahab, the Wise.