Musical Small-Coal Man, Thos. Britton, who used to sell small coals and keep a musical club (1654-1714).
Musicians (Prince of), Giovanni Battista Pietro Aloisio da Palestri´na (1529-1594).
Musidora, the dame du cœur of Damon. Damon thought her coyness was scorn; but one day he caught her bathing, and his delicacy on the occasion so enchanted her that she at once accepted his proffered love.—Thomson, Seasons (“Summer,” 1727).
Musido´rus, a hero, whose exploits are told by Sir Philip Sidney, in his Arcadia (1581).
Musketeer, a soldier armed with a musket, but specially applied to a company of gentlemen who were a mounted guard in the service of the king of France from 1661.
They formed two companies, the grey and the black; so called from the color of their hair. Both were clad in scarlet, and hence their quarters were called the Maison rouge. In peace they followed the king in the chase, to protect him; in war they fought either on foot or horseback. They were suppressed in 1791; restored in 1814, but only for a few months; and after the restoration of Louis XVIII. we hear no more of them. Many Scotch gentlemen enrolled themselves among these dandy soldiers, who went to war with curled hair, white gloves, and perfumed like milliners.
*** A. Dumas has a novel called The Three Musketeers (1844), the first of a series; the second is Twenty Years Afterwards; and the third, Viconte de Bragelonne.
Muslin, the talkative, impertinent, intriguing suivante of Mrs. Lovemore. Mistress Muslin is sweet upon William, the footman, and loves cards.—A. Murphy, The Way to Keep Him (1760).
Mus´tafa, a poor tailor of China, father of Aladdin, killed by illness brought on by the idle vagabondism of his son.—Arabian Nights (“Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp”).
Mutton, a courtezan, sometimes called a “laced mutton.” “Mutton Lane,” in Clerkenwell, was so called because it was a suburra or quarter for harlots. The courtezan was called a “Mutton” even in the reign of Henry III., for Bracton speaks of them as oves.—De Legibus, etc., ii. (1569).