Chapter Mop to Mormon of M by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

hospitality.

Morestone Would you remove Morestone? (See Mortstone .)

Morgan le Fay (See below.) W. Morris, in his Earthly Paradise (August), makes Morgan the bride of Ogier the Dane, after his earthly career was ended.

Morgan le Fay, Morgaine la Fee or Morgana the Fairy. Daughter of Queen Igrayne, and half-sister of King Arthur, who revealed to him the intrigues of Sir Lancelot and Guinever.
   She gave him a cup containing a magic draught, and Arthur had no sooner drunk it than his eyes were opened to the perfidy of his wife and friend.

Morganatic Marriage (A). A marriage in which the wife does not take the husband's rank, because legally, or according to court bye-laws, the marriage is not recognised. This sort of marriage is effected when a man of high rank marries a woman of inferior position. The children in this case do not inherit the title or entails of the father. The word is based on the Gothic morgjan, “to curtail” or “limit;” and the marriage settlement was called morgengabe or morgengnade, whence the Low Latin matrimonium ad legem morganaticam, in which the dowry is to be considered all the portion the wife will receive, as the estates cannot pass to her or to her children.
   A morganatic marriage is called “left-handed,” because a man pledges his troth with his left hand instead of his right. The “hand-fasted” marriages of Scotland and Ireland were morganatic, and the “hand-fasted” bride could be put away for a fresh union.

Morgane (2 syl.). A fay to whose charge Zephyr committed young Passelyon and his cousin Bennucq. Passelyon fell in love with Morgane's daughter, and the adventures of these young lovers are related in the romance of Perceforest, vol. iii. (See Morgan .)

Morgans A Stock Exchange term, signifying the French 6 per cents., which were floated by the Morgans.

Morgante A ferocious giant, converted by Orlando to Christianity. After performing the most wonderful feats, he died at last from the bite of a crab. (See below.)

Morgante Maggiore A serio-comic romance in verse, by Pulci, of Florence (1494). He was the inventor of this species of poetry, called by the French bernesque, from Berni, who greatly excelled in it. Translated by Byron.

Morgiana The clever, faithful, female slave of Ali Baba, who pries into the forty jars, and discovers that every jar, but one, contains a man. She takes oil from the only one containing it, and, having made it boiling hot, pours enough into each jar to kill the thief concealed there. At last she kills the captain of the gang, and marries her master's son. (Arabian Nights: Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.)

Morglay A sword (glave de la mort, the sword of Sir Bevis of Southampton), a generic name for a sword. (See Sword .)

“Had I been accompanied with my Toledo or Morglay.”- Every Woman in her Humour

“Carrying their morglays in their hands.”- Beaumont and Fletcher: Honest Man.

Morgue, a dead-house, is generally associated with mors (death). but this is a blunder, as the word means visage, and was first applied to prison vestibules, where new criminals were placed to be scrutinised, that the prison officials might become familiar with their faces and general appearance.

“On me conduit donc an petit chastelet, où du guichet estant passé dans la morgue, un homme gros, court, et carrié, vint à moy.”- Assoucy: La Prison de M. Dassouch (1674), p. 35.

“Morgue. Endroit où l'on tient quelque temps ceux que l'on ecroue, afin que les guichetiers puissent les reconnaitre ensuit.”- Fleming and Tibbins, vol. ii. p. 688.

Morgue la Faye who watched over the birth