a particular dress or habit worn to signify grief on some melancholy occasion, particularly the death of friends or of great public characters.

The modes of mourning are various in various countries; as also are the colours that obtain for that end. 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 obtained formerly in Castile on the death of their princes. Herrera observes, that the last time it was used was in 1498, at 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, that death is the end of human hopes, in regard that leaves when they fall, and flowers when they fade, become yellow; brown denotes the earth, whither the dead return; black, the privation of life, as being the privation of light: blue expresses the happiness which it is hoped the deceased does enjoy; and purple or violet, sorrow on the one side, and hope on the other, as being a mixture of black and blue.

among the ancients, was expressed various ways.

Amongst the Jews, on the death of their relations or intimate friends, grief or mourning was signified by weeping, tearing their clothes, smiting their breasts, or tearing them with their nails, pulling or cutting off their hair and beards, walking softly, i.e. barefoot, lying upon the ground, fasting, or eating upon the ground. They kept themselves close shut up in their houses, covered their faces, and abstained from all work, even reading the law, and saying their usual prayers. They neither dressed themselves, nor made their beds, nor shaved themselves, nor cut their nails, nor went into the bath, nor saluted any body: so that suchlike seems to have been an indication of sorrow; and dirtiness, of distress. The time of mourning among the Jews was generally seven days: though this was lengthened or shortened according to circumstances; but 30 days were thought sufficient upon the severest occasions. The different periods of the time of mourning required different degrees of grief, and different tokens of it.

The Greeks, on the death of friends, showed their sorrow by excluding themselves from all gaiety, entertainments, games, public solemnities, the enjoyment of wine, and the delights of music. They sat in gloomy and solitary places, stripped themselves of all external ornaments, put on a coarse black stuff by way of mourning; tore their hair, shaved their heads, rolled themselves in the dust and mire, sprinkled ashes on their heads, smote their breasts with their palms, tore their faces, and frequently cried out with a lamentable voice and dawling tone, reiterating the interjection εἰ, εἰ, εἰ; hence funeral lamentations were called Ἐλέος. If they appeared in public during the time of mourning, they had a veil thrown over their faces and heads. During the funeral procession, certain persons called ἐπιφορεῖς ἑρμῶν marched before, and sung melancholy strains called ἐπιφορεῖς ἑρμῶν, ἀνά and ἀνά. These vocal mourners sang thrice during the procession round the pile and round the grave. Flutes were also used to heighten the solemnity. At the funerals of soldiers, their fellow soldiers who attended, as a testimony of their affliction, held their shields, their spears, and the rest of their armour, inverted.

The tokens of private grief among the Romans were the same as those already observed as customary among the Greeks. Black or dark brown were the colours of the mourning habits worn by the men; they were also common to the women. The mourning of the emperors at first was black. In the time of Augustus, the women wore white veils, and the rest of their dress black. From the time of Domitian they wore nothing but white habits, without any ornaments of gold, jewels, or pearls. The men let their hair and beards grow, and wore no wreaths of flowers on their heads while the days of mourning continued. The longest time of mourning was ten months: this was Numa's establishment, and took in his whole year. For a widow to marry during this time was infamous. Mourning was not used for children who died under three years of age. From this age to ten they mourned as many months as the child was years old. A remarkable victory, or other happy event, occasioned the shortening of the time of mourning: The birth of a child, or the attainment of any remarkable honour in the family, certain feasts in honour of the gods, or the consecration of a temple, had the same effect. After the battle of Cannae, the commonwealth decreed that mourning should not be worn for more than 30 days, that the lois might be forgotten as soon as possible. When public magistrates died, or persons of great note, also when any remarkable calamity happened, all public meetings were interrupted, the schools of exercise, baths, shops, temples, and all places of concourse were shut up, and the whole city put on a face of sorrow; the senators laid aside the laelative, and the consuls sat in a lower seat than ordinary. This was the custom of Athens also, and was observed upon the death of Socrates not long after he had been sentenced to death by their judges.

Praeface, or mourning women, (by the Greeks called ἑρμῶν ἐπιφορεῖς), went about the streets; this was customary Mary among the Jews as well as the Greeks and Romans, (Jerem. ix. 17.)

**MOUSE.** See Mus, Mammalia Index.

**Mouse-Ear.** See Hieracium, Botany Index.

**Mouse-Tail.** See Myosurus, Mammalia Index.

**Dor-Mouse.** See Myoxus, Mammalia Index.

**Shrew-Mouse.** See Sorex,

**MOUSELLE,** the name of an East Indian tree, with white tubular flowers, which fall off every day in great plenty. They are of a sweet agreeable smell, and the Gentoos are very fond of wearing them, stringing and hanging them about their necks and arms. The fruit is a pale red cherry, of the shape and size of our white heart cherry, but the footstalk is not quite so long. This fruit has a stone in it, containing a bitter oily kernel. The Indians rub this oil any part stung by a scorpion or bitten by a centipede, which it soon cures. The crows are very fond of the fruit.

**MOUSUL,** or Mosul, a large city of Turkey in Asia, and capital of a beglerbegate, stands on the west bank of the Tigris, in the latitude, according to Mr Ives's observation, of 36° 30' north. It is surrounded with stone walls, but has many of its streets lying waste. Tavernier speaks of it as a ruined place, with only two blind markets and a sorry castle; yet, he says, that it is much frequented by merchants, and that its basha commands 3000 men. There is a bridge of boats over the Tigris; and the city is a thoroughfare from Persia to Syria, which makes it a place of trade, and which is more augmented by a constant traffic from this place to Bagdad. The country on this side the river is sandy and barren; but on the opposite side it is exceedingly fruitful, yielding good crops of corn and fruit in abundance. Mr Ives says it was the best built city he had seen in Turkey; but had nothing in it to attract the notice of an European. It was besieged for near six months by Nadir Shah without success. Breaches were frequently made in the walls, and assaults continued for three days successively; but the assailants were constantly repulsed, and the breaches made in the daytime repaired during the night. The besieged had unanimously resolved to die rather than to submit. The Turks declared, that should the place be forced to surrender, they were determined to put to death all their wives and daughters first, that they might not fall into the vile hands of the abhorred Persians. The place was therefore defended with uncommon bravery; even the women and children exerted themselves with the greatest alacrity. The Christians behaved in such a manner as to gain the esteem and admiration of the other inhabitants; and some of their churches being demolished, they were afterwards repaired at the expense of government.

In this city there are a great many mosques, the largest and most stately of which is ornamented on the top with green tiles. At the doors of these houses there are usually inscriptions in gilt letters, declaring the awfulness of the building, as being the house of God. One of them has a minaret which bends like those of Bagdad. Some of the most bigotted Turks say, that Mahomet saluted this minaret as he passed; on which it bent its head in reverence to the prophet, and ever after continued in that situation. The manufacture of this city is muslin (muslin), which is made very strong and pretty fine. In the year 1757 this city and the country adjacent were visited by a dreadful famine, owing to the preceding hard winter, and innumerable multitudes of locusts, by which the fruits of the earth were destroyed. When Mr Ives was there in 1758, the country was comparatively depopulated. Almost all the brute creation had been destroyed for the subsistence of man. During the famine, the people had eaten dogs, and every kind of animal which is held in abhorrence at any other time, not sparing even their own children; and the dead bodies lay in the streets for want of people to bury them. Their fruit trees were also destroyed by the frost; so that when our author was there scarcely any fruit could be had. The neighbouring mountains afford silver mines; and they would yield much quicksilver if the Turks had either the skill or inclination to work them to advantage. Lanza says, that some time ago an Englishman who travelled through this country got two or three bottles of it, which he presented to the basha as a specimen of what might be done in that way; but no farther attempt was made. Here also are some lead mines, which supply as much of that metal as furnishes them with bullets and some necessary utensils.

**MOUTAN,** or peony shrub of China: also called hoo-ouang, or "the king of flowers," and peleankin, "an hundred ounces of gold," in allusion to the excessive price given formerly by some of the virtuous for certain species of this plant. The moutan seems to claim pre-eminence, not only on account of the splendour and number of its flowers, and of the sweet odour which they diffuse around, but also on account of the multitude of leaves which compose them, and of the beautiful golden spots with which they are interlaced. This plant, which is of a thrifty nature, shoots forth a number of branches, which form a top almost as large as those of the finest orange trees.

**MOUTH,** in Anatomy, a part of the face, consisting of the lips, the gums, the insides of the cheeks, the palate, the salivary glands, the os hyoides, the uvula, and the tonsils; which see under the article ANATOMY.

Mr Derham observes, that the mouth in the several species of animals is nicely adapted to the uses of such a part, and well sized and shaped for the formation of speech, the gathering and receiving of food, the catching of prey, &c. In some creatures it is wide and large, in others little and narrow; in some it is formed with a deep incisure into the head, for the better catching and holding of prey, and more easy commination of hard, large, and troublesome food; and in others with a shorter incisure, for the gathering and holding of herbaceous food. In birds it is neatly shaped for piercing the air; hard and horny, to supply the want of teeth; hooked, in the rapacious kind, to catch and hold their prey; long and slender in those that have their food to grope for in moorish places; and broad and long in those that search for it in the mud. Nor is the mouth less remarkable in insects; in some it is forcipated, to catch, hold, and tear the prey; in others aculeated, to pierce and wound animals, and suck their blood; in others, strongly rigid, with jaws and teeth, to gnaw and scrape.