Chapter Moccasins to Mohicans of M by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Moccasins to Mohicans

Moccasins, an Indian buskin.

He laced his mocasins [sic] in act to go.
   —Campbell: Gertrude of Wyoming, i. 24 (1809).

Mochingo, an ignorant servant of the princess Erota.—Fletcher: The Laws of Candy (1647).

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 morevaried.”—Ashe: Travels in America, ii. 73.

Moclas, a famous Arabian robber, whose name is synonymous with “thief.” (See Almanzor, the caliph, p. 29.)

Mode (Sir William), in Mrs. Centlivre’s drama. The Beau’s Duel (1703).

Modelove (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.—J. P. Kemble: The Farmhouse.

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.—Cibber: The Careless Husband (1704).

(Mrs. Oldfield excellently acted “lady Betty Modish” (says Walpole); and T. Davies says of Mrs. Pritchard (1711–1768), “She conceived accurately and acted pleasantly ‘lady Townly,’ ‘lady Betty Modish,’ and ‘Maria’ in The Nonjuror.” Mrs. Blofield is called “lady Betty Modish” in The Tatler, No. x.)

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 he 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 Guanhumara (but better known as Guenever), retired to a convent in the City of Legions, and entered the order of Julius the Martyr (pt. xi. 1).—Geoffrey: British History (1142).