Were Momus’ lattice in our breasts,
My soul might brook to open it more widely
Than theirs [i. e. the nobles].
Byron, Werner, iii., 1 (1822).
Mon or Mona, Anglesia, the residence of the Druids. Suetonius Paulīnus, who had the command of Britain in the reign of Nero (from A.D. 59 to 62), attacked Mona, because it gave succor to the rebellious. The frantic inhabitants ran about with fire-brands, their long hair streaming to the wind, and the Druids invoked vengeance on the Roman army.—See Drayton, Polyolbion, viii. (1612).
Mon´aco (The king of), noted because whatever he did was never right in the opinion of his people, especially in that of Rabagas, the demagogue: If he went out, he was “given to pleasure;” if he stayed at home, he was “given to idleness;” if he declared war, he was “wasteful of the public money;” if he did not, he was “pusillanimous;” if he ate, he was “self-indulgent;” if he abstained, he was “priest-ridden.”—M. Sardou, Rabagas (1872).
Monaco. Proud as a Monegasque. A French phrase. The tradition is that Charles Quint ennobled every one of the inhabitants of Monaco.
Monaldini (Signor), rich, bourgeois citizen of Rome, who purchases, fits up and lets to desirable tenants an old palace.—Mary Agnes Tincker, Signor Monaldini’s Niece (1879).
Monarch of Mont Blanc, Albert Smith; so-called, because for many years he amused a large London audience, night after night, by relating “his ascent of Mont Blanc” (1816-1860).
Monarque (Le Grand), Louis XIV., of France (1638, 1643-1715).
Monastery (The), a novel by Sir W. Scott (1820). The Abbot appeared the same year. These two stories are tame and very defective in plot; but the character of Mary queen of Scots, in The Abbot, is a correct and beautiful historical portrait. The portrait of Queen Elizabeth is in Kenilworth.
Monçada (Matthias de), a merchant, stern and relentless. He arrests his daughter the day after her confinement of a natural son.
Zilia de Monçada, daughter of Matthias, and wife of General Witherington.—Sir W. Scott, The Surgeon’s Daughter, (time, George II.).