Part 320

C’est de la MOUTARDE après diner, Fr. This expression is in general use among the French, and signifies, that assistance, &c. is brought when there is no longer need of it. When commissaries, &c. make up a lame account for monies received, it is common to say. Et le reste en moutarde.

MOUTH. See Muzzle.

MOUTH of FIRE. The entrance into the garrison of Gibraltar by the grand battery and the old Mole, is so called by the Spaniards, on account of the formidable appearance of the ordnance from the lines.

MOUTONNIER, Fr. Sheep-like; gregarious.

MOUVEMENS de Tête, Fr. Motions of the head. For the English explanation of these motions, see eyes. The French express them in the following manner: Tête à droite, right dress.--Tête à gauche, left dress.--Fixe, front dress.

MOUVEMENS des troupes sous les armes, Fr. By these are understood the different changes of position, and the various facings which soldiers go through under arms.

MOUVEMENS de pied ferme, Fr. That exercise, consisting of the manual and facings, which a soldier performs, without quitting his original ground. The left foot on this occasion becomes a standing pivot.

MOUVEMENS ouverts, Fr. Movements, or evolutions, which are made at open order.

MOUVEMENS serrés, Fr. Movements, or evolutions, which are made at close order.

MOUVEMENS opposés, Fr. Opposite movements, or evolutions.

MOUVEMENT, Fr. See MOVEMENT.

MOUVEMENT, Fr. See MOTION for its general acceptation.

MOUVEMENS, Fr. Commotions, broils.

MOYENNE, Fr. A piece of ordnance formerly so called. See MINION.

MOYEN. The bastions which are constructed on the angles are called royal bastions. Some engineers have distinguished those bastions by the name of moyens royaux, or medium royals, whose flanks contain from ninety to one hundred toises.

MOYENNE Ville, Fr. A term given by the French to any town in which the garrison is equal to the third of the inhabitants, and which is not deemed sufficiently important to bear the expence of a citadel; more especially so, because it is not in the power of the inhabitants to form seditious meetings without the knowlege of the soldiers who are quartered on them.

MOYENS côtés, Fr. In fortification, are those sides which contain from eighty to one hundred and twenty toises in extent: these are always fortified with bastions on their angles. The moyens côtés, are generally found along the extent of irregular places; and each one of these is individually subdivided into small, mean, and great sides.

MUD-WALLS. The ancient fortifications consisted chiefly of mud or clay, thrown up in any convenient form for defence against sudden inroads.

MUET, Fr. See MUTE.

To MUFFLE. To wrap any thing up so as to deaden the sound, which might otherwise issue from the contact of two hard substances. When the French effected their passage over the march Albaredo, on their route to the plain of Marengo, they were so much exposed to the Austrians, that, in order to get their artillery and ammunition over, without being betrayed by the noise of the carriage wheels, and the clattering of the horses’ shoes, both were muffled with bands of hay and straw, and dung was spread over the ground. In this manner they crossed that stupendous rock. Thirty men were put to the drag ropes of each piece, and as many were employed to draw up the caissons.

MUFFLED. Drums are muffled at military funerals or burials, and at military executions, particularly when a soldier is shot for some capital crime.

MUGS. An Indian nation, living on the borders of Bengal and Arracan.

MUHLAGIS, Fr. Turkish cavalry which is mounted by expert horsemen, who generally attend the beglierbeys. They are not numerous.

MULATTOS, (Mulâtre, Fr.) In the Indies, denotes one begotten by a negro man on an Indian woman, or by an Indian man on a negro woman. Those begotten of a Spanish woman and Indian man are called metis, and those begotten of a savage by a metis, are called jambis. They also differ very much in color, and in their hair.

Generally speaking, especially in Europe, and in the West Indies, a Mulatto is one begotten by a white man on a negro woman, or by a negro man on a white woman. The word is Spanish, mulata, and formed of mula, a mule, being begotten as it were of two different species.

Mulattoes abound in the West Indies; so much so, that on the dangerous symptoms of insurrection, which appeared among the blacks after the success of Toussaint in St. Domingo, a proposal was made to the British government by a rich planter, to raise a mulatto corps, as an intermediate check upon the blacks. After six months suspence, the memorial was rejected by the war-minister.

MULCT. A soldier is said to be mulct of his pay when put under fine or stoppages for necessaries, or to make good some dilapidations committed by him on the property of the people or government.

MULTANGULAR, is said of a figure, or body which has many angles.