Chapter Monmouth Caps to Montespan of M by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Montalban (The count), in love with Volantê daughter of Balthazar. In order to sound her, the count disguised himself as a father confessor; but Volantê detected the trick instantly, and said to him, “Come, come, count, pull off your lion’s hide, and confess yourself an ass.” However, as Volantê really loved him, all came right at last.—Tobin: The Honeymoon (1804).

Montanto (Signor), a master of fence and a great braggart.—Ben Jonson: Every Man in His Humour (1598).

Montargis (The Dog of), named Dragon. It belonged to captain Aubri de Montdidier, and is especially noted for his fight with the chevalier Richard Macaire. The dog was called Montargis, because the encounter was depicted over the chimney of the great hall in the castle of Montargis. It was in the forest of Bondi, close by this castle, where Aubri was assassinated.

(Guilbert de Pixerecourt dramatized this tale in his play called Le Chien de Montargis, 1814.)

Montenay (Sir Philip de), an old English knight.—Sir W. Scott: Castle Dangerous (time, Henry I.).

Montenegro. The natives say, “When God was distributing stones over the earth, the bag that held them burst over Montenegro,” which accounts for the stoniness of the land.

Montesinos, a legendary hero, who received some affront a t the French court, and retired to La Mancha, in Spain. Here he lived in a cavern, some sixty feet deep, called “The Cavern of Montesinos.” Don Quixote descended part of the way down this cavern, and fell into a trance, in which he saw Montesinos himself, Durandartê and Belerma under the spell of Merlin, Dulcinea del Toboso enchanted into a country wench, and other visions, which he more than half believed to be realities.—Cervantes: Don Quixote, II. ii. 5, 6 (1615).

This Durandartê was the cousin of Montesinos, and Belerma the lady he served for seven years. When he fell at Roncesvallês, he prayed his cousin to carry his heart to Belerma.

Montespan (The marquis de), a conceited court fop, silly and heartless. When Louis XIV. took Mme. de Montespan for his concubine, he banished the marquis, saying—

Your strange and countless follies—
The scenes you make—your loud domestic broils—
Bring scandal on our court. Decorum needs
Your banishment.… Go!

And for your separate household, which entails
A double cost, our treasure shall accord you
A hundred thousand crowns.
   —Act iv. I

The foolish old marquis says, in his self-conceit—

A hundred thousand crowns for being civil
To one another! Well now, that’s a thing
That happens but to marquises. It shows
My value in the state. The king esteems
My comfort of such consequence to France,
He pays me down a hundred thousand crowns,
Rather than let my wife disturb my temper!
   —Act v. z.

Madame de Montespan, wife of the marquis. She supplated La Vallière in the base love of Louis XIV. La Vallière loved the man, Montespan the king. She had wit to warm but not to burn, energy which passed for feeling, a head to check her heart, and not too much principle for a French court. Mme. de Montespan was the Protégée of the duke de Lauzun, who used her as a stepping-stone to wealth; but when in favour, she kicked down the ladder by which she had climbed to power. however, Lauzun had his revenge; and when La Vallière took the veil, Mme. de Montespan was banished from the court.—Lord Lytton: The Duchess de la Vallière (1836).