;
She, when her turn was come her tale to tell,
Told of a strange adventure that betided
Betwixt a fox and ape by him misguided;
The which, for that my sense it greatly pleased ...
I'll write it as she the same did say.

Spenser.

=Mother Hubberd's Tale.= A fox and an ape determined to travel about the
world as _chevaliers de l'industrie_. First, Ape dressed as a
broken-down soldier, and Fox as his servant. A farmer agreed to take
them for his shepherds; but they devoured all his lambs and then
decamped. They next "went in for holy orders." Reynard contrived to get
a living given him, and appointed the ape as his clerk; but they soon
made the parish too hot to hold them, and again sheered off. They next
tried their fortune at court; the ape set himself up as a foreigner of
distinction with Fox for his groom. They played the part of rakes, but
being found to be desperate rogues, had to flee with all despatch, and
seek another field of action. As they journeyed on, they saw a lion
sleeping, and Master Fox persuaded his companion to steal the crown,
sceptre and royal robes. The ape, arrayed in these, assumed to be king,
and Fox was his prime minister; but so ill did they govern, that Jupiter
interfered, the lion was restored, and the ape was docked of his tail
and had his ears cropt.

Since which, all apes but half their ears have left,
And of their tails are utterly bereft.
So Mother Hubberd her discourse did end.

Spenser, _Mother Hubberd's Tale_.

=Mother Shipton=, T. Evan Preece, of South Wales, a prophetess, whose
predictions (generally in rhymes) were at one time in everybody's mouth
in South Wales, especially in Glamorganshire.

[Asterism] She predicted the death of Wolsey, Lord Percy, and others.
Her prophecies are still extant, and contain the announcement that "the
end of the world shall come in eighteen hundred and eighty-one."

=Mother of the People= (_The_), Marguerite of France, _La M[`e]re des
Peuples_, daughter of Fran[c,]ois I. (1523-1574).

=Mould= (_Mr._), undertaker. His face had a queer attempt at melancholy,
sadly at variance with a smirk of satisfaction which might be read
between the lines. Though his calling was not a lively one, it did not
depress his spirits, as in the bosom of his family he was the most
cheery of men, and to him the "tap, tap" of coffin-making was as sweet
and exhilarating as the tapping of a woodpecker.--C. Dickens, _Ma