MOURNING, a particular dress or habit worn to signify grief upon some melancholy occasion, particularly the death of friends or of great public characters. The modes of mourning are various in different countries, as are also the colours used for that purpose. In Europe, the ordinary colour for mourning is black; in China, it is white; in Turkey, blue or violet; in Egypt, yellow; in Ethiopia, brown. White formerly obtained in Castile on the death of their princes; and Herrera observes, that the last time it was used was in 1498, on the death of Prince John. Each people pretend to have their reasons for the particular colour of their mourning; white is supposed to denote purity; yellow indicates that death is the end of human hopes, because leaves when they fall, and flowers when they fade, become yellow; brown denotes the earth, whither the dead return; black signifies the privation of life, as being the privation of light; blue expresses the happiness which it is hoped the deceased enjoys; and purple or violet betokens sorrow on the one side, and hope on the other, as being a mixture of black and blue.