MacStin´ger (Mrs.), a widow who kept lodgings at No. 9 Brig Place, on the brink of a canal near the India Docks. Captain Cuttle lodged there. Mrs. MacStinger was a termagant, and rendered the captain’s life miserable. He was afraid of her, and, although her lodger, was her slave. When her son, Alexander, was refractory, Mrs. MacStinger used to seat him on a cold paving-stone. She contrived to make Captain Bunsby her second husband.—C. Dickens, Dombey and Son (1846).
MacSyc´ophant (Sir Pertinax), the hotheaded, ambitious father of Charles Egerton. His love for Scotland is very great, and he is continually quarrelling with his family because they do not hold his country in sufficient reverence.
I raised it [my fortune] by booing ... I never could stand straight in the presence of a great man, but always booed, and booed, and booed, as it were by instinct.—Act. iii. 1.
Charles Egerton M’Sycophant, son of Sir Pertinax. Egerton was the mother’s name. Charles Egerton marries Constantia.—C. Macklin, The Man of the World (1764).
Mactab (The Hon. Miss Lucretia), sister of Lord Lofty, and sister-in-law of Lieutenant Worthington, “the poor gentleman.” Miss Lucretia was an old maid, “stiff as a ramrod.” Being very poor, she allowed the lieutenant “the honor of maintaining her,” for which “she handsomely gave him her countenance;” but when the lieutenant was obliged to discontinue his hospitality, she resolved to “countenance a tobacconist of Glasgow, who was her sixteenth cousin.”—G. Colman, The Poor Gentleman (1802).
MacTavish Mhor or Hamish M’Tavish, a Highland outlaw.
Elspat M’Tavish, or “The Woman of the Tree,” widow of M’Tavish Mhor; “the Highland widow.” She prevents her son from joining his regiment, in consequence of which he is shot as a deserter, and Elspat goes mad.
Hamish Beam M’Tavish, son of Elspat M’Tavish. He joins a Highland regiment, and goes to visit his mother, who gives him a sleeping draught to detain him. As he does not join his regiment in time, he is arrested for desertion, tried, and shot at Dunbarton Castle.—Sir W. Scott, Highland Widow (time, George II.).
MacTurk (Captain Mungo or Hector), “the man of peace,” in the managing committee of the Spa Hotel.—Sir W. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well (time, George III.).
MacVittie (Ephraim), a Glasgow merchant, one of Osbaldistone’s creditors.—Sir W. Scott, Rob Roy (time, George I.).