Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 3: A Revised American Edition of the Reader's HandbookBrewer, Ebenezer Cobham
General
Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 3: A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook
Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham
Allusions; Fiction -- Dictionaries; Literature -- Dictionaries
The chief mausoleums besides this are those of Augustus; Hadrian (now
called the castle of St. Angelo) at Rome; Henri II., erected by
Catherine de Medicis; St. Peter the martyr, in the church of St.
Eustatius, by G. Balduccio; that to the memory of Louis XVI.; and the
tomb of Napoleon in Les Invalides, Paris. The one erected by Queen
Victoria to Prince Albert may also be mentioned.
=Mauthe Dog=, a black spectre spaniel that haunted the guard-room of
Peeltown in the Isle of Man. One day a drunken trooper entered the
guard-room while the dog was there, but lost his speech, and died within
three days.--Sir W. Scott, _Lay of the Last Minstrel_, vi. 26 (1805).
=Mauxalin´da=, in love with Moore, of Moore Hall; but the valiant
combatant of the dragon deserts her for Margery, daughter of Gubbins, of
Roth’ram Green.--H. Carey, _Dragon of Wantley_ (1696-1743).
=Mavortian=, a soldier or son of Mavors (_Mars_).
Hew dreadfull Mavortian the poor price of a dinner.--Richard Brome,
_Plays_ (1653).
=Mawworm=, a vulgar copy of Dr. Cantwell “the hypocrite.” He is a most
gross abuser of his mother tongue, but believes he has a call to preach.
He tells old Lady Lambert that he has made several sermons already, but
“always does ’em extrumpery” because he could not write. He finds his
“religious vocation” more profitable than selling “grocery, tea, small
beer, charcoal, butter, brickdust, and other spices,” and so comes to
the conclusion that it “is sinful to keep shop.” He is a convert of Dr.
Cantwell, and believes in him to the last.
Do despise me; I’m the prouder for it. I like to be despised.--I.
Bickerstaff, _The Hypocrite_, ii. 1 (1768).
=Max=, a huntsman, and the best marksman in Germany. He was plighted to
Agatha, who was to be his wife, if he won the prize in the annual match.
Caspar induced Max to go to the wolf’s glen at midnight and obtain seven
charmed balls from Samiel, the Black Huntsman. On the day of contest,
while Max was shooting, he killed Caspar, who was concealed in a tree,
and the king in consequence abolished this annual _fête_.--Weber, _Der
Freischütz_ (an opera, 1822).
=Maxime= (2 _syl._), an officer of the Prefect Almachius. He was ordered
to put to death Valerian and Tibur´cê, because they refused to worship
the image of Jupiter; but he took pity on them, took them to his house,
became converted and was baptized. When Valerian and Tiburcê were
afterwards martyred, Maxime said he saw angels come and carry them to
heaven, whereupon Almachius caused him to be beaten with rods “til he
his lif gan lete.”--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ (“Second Nun’s Tale,”
1388).
⁂ This is based on the story of “Cecilia” in the _Legenda Aurea_; and
both are imitations of the story of Paul and the jailer of Philippi
(_Acts_ xvi. 19-34).
=Maximil´ian= (son of Frederick III.), the hero of the _Teuerdank_, the
_Orlando Furioso_ of the Germans, by Melchior Pfinzing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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