Chapter Matthew's Bible to Maxime of M by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Maugys, a giant who kept the bridge leading to a castle in which a lady was besieged. Sir Lybius, one of the knights of the Round Table, did battle with him, slew him, and liberated the lady.—Libeaux (a romance).

Maul, a giant who used to spoil young pilgrims with sophistry. He attacked Mr. Greatheart with a club; but Greatheart pierced him under the fifth rib, and then cut off his head.—Bunyan: Pilgrim’s Progress, ii. (1684).

Maul of Monks, Thomas Cromwell, visitor-general of English monasteries, which he summarily suppressed (1490–1540).

Maulstatute (Master), a magistrate.—Sir W. Scott: Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Maundrel, a wearisome gossip, a chattering woman.

“Haud your tongue, Maundrell,” cried the surgeon, throwing the cebweb on the floor and applying a dressing.—Saxon and Gael, iii. 81.

This word and the verb to maunder are said to be coined from the name Maundeville. Sir John Mandeville (q.v.) published a book of travels, full of idle tales and maundering gossip.

Mauprat (Adrien de), colonel and chevalier in the king’s army; “the wildest gallant and bravest knight of France.” He married Julie; but the king accused him of treason for so doing, and sent him to the Bastille. Being released by cardinal Richelieu, he was forgiven and made happy with the blessing of the king.—Lord Lytton: Richelieu (1839).

Maurice Beevor (Sir), a miser, and (failing the children of the countess) heir to the Arundel estates. The countess having two sons (Arthur and Percy), sir Maurice hired assassins to murder them; but his plots were frustrated, and the miser went to his grave “a sordid, spat-upon, revengeless, worthless, and rascally poor cousin.”—Lord Lytton: The Sea-Captain (1839).

Mauri-Gasima, an island near Formosa, said to have been sunk in the sea in consequence of the great crimes of its inhabitants.—Kæmpfer: Japan.

The cities of the plain, we are told in the Bible, were sunk under the waters of the Dead Sea for a similar reason.

Mause (Old), mother of Cuddie Headrigg, and a covenanter.—Sir W. Scott: Old Mortality (time, Charles II.).

Mausolus, king of Caria, to whom his wife Artemisia erected a sepulchre which was one of the “Seven Wonders of the World” (B.C. 353).

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 dog 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).

This is a curiosity of etymology, Mauthe is the Manx for “dog,” and doog for “back,” but the resemblance of doog and dog has misled many. Mauthe, Gaelic madadh, “a dog,” and doog, the Gaelic adjective dubh. (See Notes and Queries, February 15, 1896, p. 125, col. 2.)