Critical and Historical Essays. Volume 1

Mississippi Scheme, a plan for reducing the French National Debt, similar in folly and in downfall to the South Sea Bubble.

Mite, Sir Matthew (see Foote’s comedy, The Nabob).

Montague, Charles, Earl of Halifax, Chancellor of the Exchequer 1694; First Lord of Treasury 1697; impeached by the Tories for peculation and acquitted; Prime Minister 1714; reformed the currency.

Montezuma and Guatemozin, two of the native rulers of Mexico prior to its conquest by Cortez in 1519.

Montezuma, Emperor of Mexico, seized by Cortez in 1519.

Moro, the, a strong fort at the entrance to the harbour of Havana, taken after a hard struggle by the English under Admiral Sir George Pocock and General the Earl of Albemarle in July 1762.

Moore, Dr., father of Sir John Moore, European traveller, and author of the novel Zeluco.

Moorish Envoy, Algerine in Humphrey Clinker.

Mountain of Light, the Koh-i-noor, which after many adventures is now one of the English crown jewels.

Mucius, a Roman, who, when condemned to the stake, thrust his right hand unflinchingly into a fire lit for a sacrifice. He was spared and given the name Scaevola, i. e. left-handed.

Murray, orator; afterwards Earl of Mansfield, and Lord Chief Justice (1705-93).

NAPIER, COLONEL, served under Sir John Moore. Like Southey he wrote a History of the Peninsular War.

Nimeguen, treaty of; by this it was agreed that France should restore all her Dutch conquests, but should keep the Spanish conquest of Franche-Comte, a clause which naturally incensed the Emperor and the King of Spain.

Nollekens, Joseph, the eminent English sculptor, and friend of George III. (1737-1823).

Nuzzurs, presents to persons in authority.

OATES, Bedloe, Dangerfield, in 1678 pretended to have discovered a “Popish Plot” which aimed at overthrowing the King and Protestantism.

Odoacer, a Hun, who became emperor in 476 and was assassinated by his colleague, Theodoric (ib.) the Ostrogoth in 493.

O’Meara, Barry Edward, Napoleon’s physician in St. Helena, and author of A Voice from St. Helena; or, Napoleon in Exile.

Onomasticon, a Greek dictionary of antiquities, in ten books, arranged according to subject-matter.

Onslow, Arthur, Speaker of the House of Commons from 1728 to 1761.

Oromasdes and Arimanes, Ormuzd and Ahriman, the embodiments of the principles of good and evil respectively, in the Zoroastrian religion.

Oxenstiern, Chancellor to Gustavus Adolphus and the director of the negotiations which led to the Peace of Westphalia and the close of the Thirty Years’ War.

PAGE, SIR FRANCIS, a judge whose “reputation for coarseness and brutality (e.g. Pope, Dunciad, iv. 2730) is hardly warranted by the few reported cases in which he took part.” (1661?-1741).

Palais Royal, in Paris, formerly very magnificent.

Pannonia, roughly equivalent to the modern Hungary.

Pasquin, Anthony, a fifteenth-century Italian tailor, noted for his caustic wit.

Pastor Fido, a pastoral play, composed in 1585 by Guarini on the model of Aminta.

Patna, massacre of.

Peacock Throne, a gilded and jewelled couch with a canopy, described by a French jeweller named Tavernier, who saw it in 1665, and possibly the present throne of the Shah of Persia.

Perceval, Spencer, supported the Tory party, and became its leader in 1809; assassinated in the Commons Lobby, 1812.

Perwannahs, magisterial documents containing instructions or orders.

Peters, Hugh, a famous Independent divine and chaplain to the Parliamentary forces, executed in 1660 for his alleged share in the death of Charles 1. He was an upright and genial man, but somewhat lacking in moderation and taste.

Petit Trianon, a chateau built for Madame du Barry by Louis XV, and afterwards the favourite resort of Marie Antoinette. In a subsequent edition Macaulay substituted Versailles.

Phalaris, a tyrant of Agrigentum in Sicily (sixth century).

Pigot, Governor of Madras when Clive was in Bengal, and also, as Lord Pigot, in the time of Warren Hastings.

Pinto, Fernandez Mendez, a Portuguese traveller (d. 1583), who visited the Far East and possibly landed in the Gulf of Pekin.

Politian, one of the early scholars of the Renaissance; patronized by Lorenzo de Medici (1454-94).

Pontiff, that inglorious, Peter Marone (Celestine V.), who was tricked into abdicating the papacy for Boniface VIII, and died in prison.

Porto Novo and Pollilore, where Coote defeated Hyder Ali in July and August 1781, and so finished a long campaign in the Carnatic.

Powis, Lord, Edward Clive, created Earl of Powis in 1804.

Powle, a leading Politician and lawyer in the events connected with the accession Of William III.

Prynne, William, a Puritan, who attacked the stage and the Queen’s virtue, and suffered by order of the Star Chamber. In late life he changed his opinions, was imprisoned by Cromwell, and favoured by Charles II.

Pyrenees, treaty of the, closed the war between France and Spain (1660), which had continued twelve years after the Peace of Westphalia was signed. For the other treaties mentioned here see the essay on “The War of the Spanish Succession,” in vol. ii.

RAPIN, a Huguenot who joined the army of William of Orange, and wrote a Histoire d’Angleterre which surpassed all its predecessors.

Ricimer, a fifth-century Swabian soldier who deposed the Emperor Avitus, and then set up and deposed Majorian, Libius Severus and Anthemius, and finally set up Olybrius.

Rix dollar, a Scandinavian coin worth between three and four shillings.

Roe, Sir Thomas, an English traveller who, in 1615, went on an embassy to Jehangir at Agra.

Rohilcund, north-west of Oude.

Rohillas, Mussulman mountaineers inhabiting Rohilcund (q.v.).

Russell, Lord William, the Hampden of the Restoration period. Fought hard for the exclusion of James II. from the crown; unjustly executed for alleged share in the “Rye House Plot” (1639-83). Algernon Sydney (1621-83) was a fellow-worker and sufferer.