Each would be rather a poor actress here
Than to be made a Mamamouchi there.
Dryden.
Mambrino’s Helmet, a helmet of pure gold, which rendered the wearer invisible. It was taken possession of by Rinaldo, and stolen by Scaripantê.
Cervantes tells us of a barber who was caught in a shower of rain, and who, to protect his hat, clapped his brazen basin on his head. Don Quixote insisted that this basin was the helmet of the Moorish king; and, taking possession of it, wore it as such.
⁂ When the knight set the galley-slaves free, the rascals “snatched the basin from his head, and broke it to pieces” (pt. I. iii. 8); but we find it sound and complete in the next book (ch. 15), when the gentlemen at the inn sit in judgment on it, to decide whether it is really a “helmet or a basin.” The judges, of course, humor the don, and declare the basin to be an undoubted helmet.—Cervantes, Don Quixote (1605).
“I will lead the life I have mentioned, till, by the force and terror of my arm, I take a helmet from the head of some other knight.” ... The same thing happened about Mambrino’s helmet, which cost Scaripante so dear.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. ii. 2 (1605).
Mamillius, a young prince of Sicilia.—Shakespeare, Winter’s Tale (1604).
Mammon, the personification of earthly ambition, be it wealth, honors, sensuality, or what not. “Ye cannot serve God and Mammon” (Matt. vi. 24). Milton makes Mammon one of the rebellious angels:
Mammon, the least-erected spirit that fell