Chapter Morecraft to Morna of M by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Morgany, Glamorgan.

Not a brook of Morgany.

Drayton: Polyolbion, iv. (1612).

Morgause or Margawse, wife of king Lot. Their four sons were Gawain, Agravain, Gaheris, and Gareth (ch. 36); but Morgause had another son by prince Arthur, named Mordred. Her son Gaheris, having caught his mother in adultery with sir Lamorake, cut off her head.

King Lot had wedded king Arthur’s sister, but king Arthur had … by her Mordred, therefore king Lot held against king Arthur (ch. 35).—Sir T. Malory: History of Prince Arthur, i. 35, 36 (1470).

Morgiana, the female slave, first of Cassim, and then of Ali Baba, “crafty, cunning, and fruitful in inventions.” When the thief marked the door of her master’s house with white chalk in order to recognize it, Morgiana marked several other doors in the same manner; next day, she observed a red mark on the door, and made a similar one on others, as before. A few nights afterwards, a merchant with thirty-eight oil-jars begged a night’s lodging; and as Morgiana wanted oil for a lamp, she went to get some from one of the leather jars. “Is it time?” asked a voice. “Not yet,” replied Morgiana, and going to the others, she discovered that a man was concealed in thirty-seven of the jars. From the last jar she took oil, which she made boiling hot, and with it killed the thirty-seven thieves. When the captain discovered that all his men were dead, he decamped without a moment’s delay. Soon afterwards, he settled in the city as a merchant, and got invited by Ali Baba to supper, but refused to eat salt. This excited the suspicion of Morgiana, who detected in the pretended merchant the captain of the forty thieves. She danced awhile for his amusement, playfully sported with his dagger, and suddenly plunged it into his heart. When Ali Baba knew who it was that she had slain, he not only gave the damsel her liberty, but also married her to his own son.—Arabian Nights (“Ali Baba, or the Forty Thieves”).

“Morgiana,” said Ali Baba, “these two packets contain the body of your master [Cassim], and we must endeavour to bury him as if he died a natural death. Let me speak to your mistress.”—Ali Baba, or the Forty Thieves.

Morglay, the sword of sir Bevis of Hamptoun, i.e. Southampton, given to him by his wife Josian, daughter of the king of Armenia.—Drayton: Polyolbion, ii. (1612).

You talk of Morglay, Excalibur [Arthur’s sword], and Durindana [Orlando’s sword], or so. Tut! I lend no credit to that is fabled of ’em.—Ben Jonson: Every Man in His Humour, iii. 1 (1598).

Morgue la Faye, a fée who watched over the birth of Ogier the Dane, and, after he had finished his earthly career, restored him to perpetual youth, and took him to live with her in everlasting love in the isle and castle of Avalon.—Ogier le Danois (a romance).

Morice (Gil or Child), the natural son of lady Barnard, “brought forth in her father’s house wi’ mickle sin and shame.” One day Gil Morice sent Willie to the baron’s hall, with a request that lady Barnard would go at once to Greenwood to see the child. Lord Barnard, fancying the “child” to be some paramour, forbade his wife to leave the hall, and went himself to Greenwood, where he slew Gil Morice, and sent his head to lady Barnard. On his return, the lady told her lord he had slain her son, and added, “Wi’ that same spear, oh, pierce my heart, and put me out o’ pain!” But the baron repented of his hasty deed, and cried, “I’ll ay lament for Gil Morice, as gin he were mine ain.”—Percy: Reliques, etc. (last ballad of bk. i.).

(This tale suggested to Home the plot of his tragedy called Douglas, 1756.)

Morisco, a Moorish dance, a kind of hornpipe.