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
=Mock Doctor= (_The_), a farce by H. Fielding (1733), epitomized from _Le
Médecin Malgré Lui_, of Molière (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 faggot-maker; but tells
them he is very eccentric, and must be well beaten, or he will deny
being a physician. The faggot-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 space 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 compass 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
fashions ... loves operas, balls, 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, fashionable, and a libertine. He had
scores of “lovers,” but never loved till he saw the little rustic lass
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 assumed 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 assuming 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).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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