Part 29 (1/2)

Robyn stode in Bernysdale, And lened hym to a tree; And by hym stode Lytell Johan, A good yeman was he; And also dyde good Scathelock, And Much, the miller's sone.

Ritson, _Robin Hood Ballads_, i. 1 (1594).

_Much, the miller's son_, in the morris-dance. His feat was to bang, with an inflated bladder, the heads of gaping spectators. He represented the fool or jester.

=Much Ado about Nothing=, a comedy by Shakespeare (1600). Hero, the daughter of Leonato, is engaged to be married to Claudio of Aragon; but Don John, out of hatred to his brother, Leonato, determines to mar the happiness of the lovers. Accordingly, he bribes the waiting-maid of Hero to dress in her mistress's clothes, and to talk with his man by night from the chamber balcony. The villain tells Claudio that Hero has made an a.s.signation with him, and invites him to witness it. Claudio is fully persuaded that the woman he sees is Hero, and when next day she presents herself at the altar, he rejects her with scorn. The priest feels a.s.sured there is some mistake, so he takes Hero apart, and gives out that she is dead. Then Don John takes to flight, the waiting-woman confesses, Claudio repents, and, by way of amendment (as Hero is dead) promises to marry her cousin, but this cousin turns out to be Hero herself.

? A similar tale is told by Ariosto in his _Orlando Furioso_, v. (1516).

Another occurs in the _Faery Queen_, by Spenser, bk. ii. 4, 38, etc.

(1590).

George Turbervil's _Geneura_ (1576) is still more like Shakespeare's tale. Belleforest and Bandello have also similar tales (see _Hist._, xviii.).

=Mucklebacket= (_Saunders_), the old fisherman at Musselcrag.

_Old Elspeth Mucklebacket_, mother of Saunders, and formerly servant to Lady Glenallan.

_Maggie Mucklebacket_, wife of Saunders.

_Steenie Mucklebacket_, eldest son of Saunders. He is drowned.

_Little Jennie Mucklebacket_, Saunders's child.--Sir W. Scott, _The Antiquary_ (time, George III.).

=Mucklethrift= (_Bailie_), ironmonger and brazier of Kippletringan, in Scotland.--Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).

=Mucklewrath= (_Habukkuk_), a fanatic preacher.--Sir W. Scott, _Old Mortality_ (time, Charles II.).

_Mucklewrath_ (_John_), smith at Cairnvreckan village.

_Dame Mucklewrath_, wife of John. A terrible virago.--Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time, George II.).

=Muckworm= (_Sir Penurious_), the miserly old uncle and guardian of Arbella. He wants her to marry Squire Sapskull, a raw Yorks.h.i.+re tike; but she loves Gaylove, a young barrister, and, of course, Muckworm is outwitted.--Carey, _The Honest Yorks.h.i.+reman_ (1736).

=Mudarra=, son of Goncolo Bustos de Salas de Lara, who murdered his uncle Rodri'go, while hunting, to avenge the death of his seven half-brothers.

The tale is, that Rodrigo Velasquez invited his seven nephews to a feast, when a fray took place in which a Moor was slain; the aunt, who was a Moorish lady, demanded vengeance, whereupon the seven boys were allured into a ravine and cruelly murdered. Mudarra was the son of the same father as ”the seven sons of Lara,” but not of the same mother.--_Romance of the Eleventh Century._

=Muddle=, the carpenter under Captain Savage and Lieutenant O'Brien.--Captain Marryat, _Peter Simple_ (1833).

=Muddlewick= (_Triptolemus_), in _Charles XII._, an historical drama by J. R. Planche (1826).

=Mudjekee'wis=, the father of Hiawatha, and subsequently potentate of the winds. He gave all the winds but one to his children to rule; the one he reserved was the west wind, which he himself ruled over. The dominion of the winds was given to Mudjekeewis, because he slew the great bear called the Mishe-Mokwa.