Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama Part 28

=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, a.s.sumed 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.

Since which, all apes but half their ears have left, And of their tails are utterly bereft.

So Mother Hubberd her discourse did end.

Spenser, _Mother Hubberd's Tale_.

=Mother s.h.i.+pton=, 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 Glamorgans.h.i.+re.

? 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 Mere des Peuples_, daughter of Francois 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 woodp.e.c.k.e.r.--C. d.i.c.kens, _Martin Chuzzlewit_ (1844).

=Mouldy= (_Ralph_), "a good-limbed fellow, young, strong, and of good friends." Ralph was p.r.i.c.ked for a recruit in Sir John Falstaff's regiment. He promised Bardolph forty s.h.i.+llings "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 a.s.semblance 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 a.s.sembly. 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 Ha.s.san ben Sabbah el Homari. The sheik Al Jebal was so called. He was the prince of the a.s.sa.s.sins.

? In Rymer's _Fdera_ (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 s.h.i.+pwrecked, and each thought the other had perished; but they met together in the court of Granada, where Alphonso was taken captive under the a.s.sumed 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 lords.h.i.+p 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. c.u.mberland, _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. d.i.c.kens, _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._

Mowis, the bridegroom of snow, who won and wedded a maiden, But, when the morning came, arose and pa.s.sed from the wigwam, Fading and melting away, and dissolving into the suns.h.i.+ne, Till she beheld him no more, tho' she followed far into the forest.

Longfellow, _Evangeline_, ii. 4 (1849).

=Moxon= (_Mr._), clergyman at Agawam (Ma.s.s.). Sincere in his bigotry, pitiable in the superst.i.tion 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.

The Moor attends Mozaide, whose zealous care To Gama's eyes revealed each treacherous snare.

Camoens, _Lusiad_, ix. (1569).

=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.)