[metapost] Problem with defaultscale

[John Kitzmiller]

>> Any help with why:
>>
>> label(btex \sffamily Hallo etex, origin);
>>
>> works when:
>>
>> label(btex \large Hallo etex, origin);
>>
>> does not?
>> (No file mpx314.aux.
>>  !Undefined control sequence.)
>
> Presumably because `\large' is undefined.  You can define it in a
> `verbatimtex ... etex' block.
>
> Laurence Finston
>

Thank you, Laurence.

Do you have time to provide a brief example? Or point me to where I might
find an example?

I am trying things like:

verbatimtex
%&latex
\def\large#1{\large{#1}}
\begin{document}
etex

with no positive result.

A further question is why \sffamily is defined and \large is not? They both
work in a latex file.

Thanks,

John