_Morton_ (_The earl of_), in the service of Mary queen of Scots, and a member of the privy council of Scotland.--Sir W. Scott, _The Monastery_ and _The Abbot_ (time, Elizabeth). _Morton_ (_The Rev. Mr._)[TN-26] the Presbyterian pastor of Cairnvreckan village.--Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time, George II.). =Mortsheugh= (_Johnie_), the old sexton of Wolf’s Hope village.--Sir W. Scott, _The Bride of Lammermoor_ (time, William III.). =Morvi´dus=, son of Danius by his concubine, Tangustĕla. In his reign, there “came from the Irish coasts a most cruel monster, which devoured the people continually, but as soon as Morvidus heard thereof, he ventured to encounter it alone. When all his darts were spent, the monster rushed upon him, and swallowed him up like a small fish.”--Geoffrey of Monmouth, _British History_, iii. 15 (1142). =Mosby=, an unmitigated villain. He seduced Alicia, the wife of Arden of Feversham. Thrice he tried to murder Arden, but was baffled, and then frightened Alicia into conniving at a most villainous scheme of murder. Pretending friendship, Mosby hired two ruffians to murder Arden while he was playing a game of draughts. The villains, who were concealed in an adjacent room, were to rush on their victim when Mosby said, “Now I take you.” The whole gang was apprehended and executed.--_Arden of Feversham_ (1592), altered by George Lillo (1739). =Mosca=, the knavish confederate of Vol´pone (2 _syl._), the rich Venetian “fox.”--Ben Jonson, _Volpone_ or _The Fox_ (1605). If your mother, in hopes to ruin me, should consent to marry my pretended uncle, he might, like “Mosca” in _The Fox_, stand upon terms.--W. Congreve, _The Way of the World_, ii. 1. (1700). =Mo´ses=, the Jew money-lender in Sheridan’s comedy, _The School for Scandal_ (1777). =Moses’ Clothes.= The _Korân_ says: “God cleared Moses from the scandal which was rumored against him” (ch. xxxiii.). The scandal was that his body was not properly formed, and therefore he would never bathe in the presence of others. One day, he went to bathe, and laid his clothes on a stone, but the stone ran away with them into the camp. Moses went after it as fast as he could run, but the Israelites saw his naked body, and perceived the untruthfulness of the common scandal.--Sale, _Al Korân_, xxxiii. notes. =Moses’ Horns.= The Vulgate gives _quod cornuta esset facies sua_, for what our version has translated “he wist not _that the skin of his face shone_.” The Hebrew word used means both a “horn” and an “irradiation.” Michael Angelo followed the Vulgate. =Moses’ Rod.=