Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama Part 19

=M'liss=, brave, arch, and loving girl of the Wild West; the heroine of one of Bret Harte's most popular sketches.

=M. M. Sketch= (_An_), a memorandum sketch.

=Mne'me= (2 _syl._), a well-spring of Bo'tia, which quickens the memory.

The other well-spring in the same vicinity, called _Le'the_, has the opposite effect, causing blank forgetfulness.--Pliny.

Dante calls this river Eu'noe. It had the power of calling to the memory all the good acts done, all the graces bestowed, all the mercies received, but no evil.--Dante, _Purgatory_, x.x.xiii. (1308).

=Mo'ath=, a well-to-do Bedouin, father of Onei'za (3 _syl._), the beloved of Thalaba. Oneiza, having married Thalaba, died on the bridal night, and Moath arrived just in time to witness the mad grief of his son-in-law.--Southey, _Thalaba, the Destroyer_, ii., viii. (1798).

=Mocca'sins=, an Indian buskin.

He laced his moccasins [_sic_] in act to go.

Campbell, _Gertrude of Wyoming_, i. 24 (1809).

=Mochingo=, an ignorant servant of the Princess Ero'ta.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Laws of Candy_ (1647).

=Mock Doctor= (_The_), a farce by H. Fielding (1733), epitomized from _Le Medecin Malgre Lui_, of Moliere (1666). Sir Jasper wants to make his daughter marry a Mr. Dapper; but she is in love with Leander and pretends to be dumb. Sir Jasper hears of a dumb doctor, and sends his two flunkies to fetch him. They ask one Dorcas to direct them to him, and she points them to her husband, Gregory, a f.a.ggot-maker; but tells them he is very eccentric, and must be well beaten, or he will deny being a physician. The f.a.ggot-maker is accordingly beaten into compliance, and taken to the patient. He soon learns the facts of the case, and employs Leander as apothecary. Leander makes the lady speak, and completes his cure with "pills matrimoniac." Sir Jasper takes the joke in good part, and becomes reconciled to the alliance.

=Mocking-Bird.= "During the s.p.a.ce of a minute, I have heard it imitate the woodlark, chaffinch, blackbird, thrush, and sparrow.... Their few natural notes resemble those of the nightingale, but their song is of greater compa.s.s and more varied."--Ashe, _Travels in America_, ii. 73.

=Moclas=, a famous Arabian robber, whose name is synonymous with "thief."

(See ALMANZOR, the caliph.)

=Mode= (_Sir William_), in Mrs. Centlivre's drama, _The Beaux' Duel_ (1703).

=Mode'love= (_Sir Philip_), one of the four guardians of Anne Lovely, the heiress. Sir Philip is an "old beau, that has May in his fancy and dress, but December in his face and his heels. He admires all new fas.h.i.+ons ... loves operas, b.a.l.l.s, and masquerades" (act i. 1). Colonel Freeman personates a French fop, and obtains his consent to marry his ward, the heiress.--Mrs. Centlivre, _A Bold Stroke for a Wife_ (1717).

=Modely=, a man of the world, gay, fas.h.i.+onable, and a libertine. He had scores of "lovers," but never loved till he saw the little rustic la.s.s named Aura Freehold, a farmer's daughter, to whom he proposed matrimony.--John Philip Kemble, _The Farm-house_.

=Modish= (_Lady Betty_), really in love with Lord Morelove, but treats him with a.s.sumed scorn or indifference, because her pride prefers "power to ease." Hence she coquets with Lord Foppington (a married man), to mortify Morelove and arouse his jealousy. By the advice of Sir Charles Easy, Lord Morelove pays her out in her own coin, by flirting with Lady Graveairs, and a.s.suming an air of indifference. Ultimately, Lady Betty is reduced to common sense, and gives her heart and hand to Lord Morelove.--Colley Cibber, _The Careless Husband_ (1704).

=Modo=, the fiend that urges to murder, and one of the five that possessed "poor Tom."--Shakespeare, _King Lear_, act iv. sc. 1 (1605).

=Modred=, son of Lot, king of Norway, and Anne, own sister of King Arthur (pt. viii. 21; ix. 9). He is always called "the traitor." While King Arthur was absent, warring with the Romans, Modred was left regent, but usurped the crown, and married his aunt, the queen (pt. x. 13). When Arthur heard thereof, he returned, and attacked the usurper, who fled to Winchester (pt. xi. 1). The king followed him, and Modred drew up his army at Cambula, in Cornwall, where another battle was fought. In this engagement Modred was slain, and Arthur also received his death-wound (pt. xi. 2). The queen, called Guanhuma'ra (but better known as Guen'evere), retired to a convent in the City of Legions, and entered the order of Julius the Martyr (pt. xi. 1).--Geoffrey, _British History_ (1142).

? This is so very different from the accounts given in Arthurian romance of Mordred, that it is better to give the two names as if they were different individuals.

_Modred_ (_Sir_), nephew of King Arthur. He hated Sir Lancelot, and sowed discord among the knights of the Round Table. Tennyson says that Modred "tampered with the lords of the White Horse," the brood that Hengist left. Geoffrey of Monmouth says, he made a league with Cheldric, the Saxon leader in Germany, and promised to give him all that part of England which lies between the Humber and Scotland, together with all that Hengist and Horsa held in Kent, if he would aid him against King Arthur. Accordingly, Cheldric came over with 800 s.h.i.+ps, filled "with pagan soldiers" (_British History_, xi. 1).

When the king was in Brittany, whither he had gone to chastise Sir Lancelot for adultery with the queen, he left Sir Modred regent, and Sir Modred raised a revolt. The king returned, drew up his army against the traitor, and in this "great battle of the West" Modred was slain and Arthur received his death-wound.--Tennyson, _Idylls of the King_ ("Guinevere," 1858).

? This version is in accordance neither with Geoffrey of Monmouth (see previous art.), nor with Arthurian romance (see MORDRED), and is, therefore, given separately.

=Modu=, the prince of all devils that take possession of a human being.

_Mado_ was the chief devil that had possession of Sarah Williams; but ... Richard Mainy was molested by a still more considerable fiend called _Modu_, ... the prince of all other devils.--Harsnett; _Declaration of Popish Impostures_, 268.

=Modus=, cousin of Helen; a "musty library, who loved Greek and Latin;"

but cousin Helen loved the bookworm, and taught him how to love far better than Ovid could with his _Art of Love_. Having so good a teacher, Modus became an apt scholar, and eloped with Cousin Helen.--S. Knowles, _The Hunchback_ (1831).

=M'chus=, adultery personified; one of four sons of Caro (_fleshly l.u.s.t_). His brothers were p.o.r.nei'us (_fornication_), Acath'arus and Asel'ges (_lasciviousness_). In the battle of Mansoul, Mchus is slain by Agnei'a (_wifely chast.i.ty_), the spouse of Encra'tes (_temperance_) and sister of Parthen'ia (_maidenly chast.i.ty_). (Greek, _moichos_ "an adulterer.")--Phineas Fletcher, _The Purple Island_, xi. (1633).

=Mli'ades= (4 _syl._). Under this name William Drummond signalized Henry, prince of Wales, eldest son of James I., in the monody ent.i.tled _Tears on the Death of Mliades_. The word is an anagram of _Miles a Deo_. The prince, in his masquerades and martial sports, used to call himself "Mliades of the Isles."

Mliades, bright day-star of the West.

W. Drummond, _Tears on the Death of Mliades_ (1612).

The burden of the monody is:

Mliades sweet courtly nymphs deplore, From Thule to Hydaspes' pearly sh.o.r.e.

=Moffat= (_Mabel_), domestic of Edward Redgauntlet.--Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.).

=Mogg Megone.= Indian sachem who, at the behest of a white girl, kills her betrayer, and brings his scalp to her. In the storm of anguished remorse awakened by the sight of the b.l.o.o.d.y trophy, the woman murders Megone in his sleep, and is henceforth banned by the church, driven by conscience, a miserable wanderer upon the earth.--John Greenleaf Whittier, _Mogg Megone_.

=Moha'di= (_Mahommed_), the twelfth imaum, whom the Orientals believe is not dead, but is destined to return and combat Antichrist before the consummation of all things.

? Prince Arthur, Merlin, Charlemagne, Barbarossa, Dom Sebastian, Charles V., Elijah Mansur, Desmond of Kilmallock, etc., are traditionally not dead, but only sleeping till the fullness of time, when each will awake and effect most wondrous restorations.

=Mohair= (_The Men of_), the citizens of France.

The men of mohair, as the citizens were called.--_Asylum Christi_, viii.