16 ' M O R 
Hofpital, founded by fir William Bertram in tlie reign of 
Henry I. and now converted into a famiiy-refidence called 
The Spital, the refidence of-Bullock, efq. 
Above three miles eaft of Morpeth, on the banks of the 
Wonfbeck, are fome remains of Bothal-caftle, built by fir 
Robert Bertram in the time of Edward III. According 
to a furvey of it, taken in 1576, the circumference of the 
walls was 490 feet. Thefe were flanked, on the north, 
by two polygonal towers fifty-three feet high, and on the 
fouth-weft angle by a fquare turret whofe height raea- 
fured fixty feet. In the church, which adjoins the cattle, 
may be feen a curious tomb of one of the barons and his 
lady. 'It is made of alabafter, and exhibits the recumbent 
figures of the deceafed, with a variety of emblematical 
figures and armorial devices. 
Four miles and a half fouth-eaft of Morpeth is Hart¬ 
ford, the feat of William Burdon, efq: author of Mate¬ 
rials for Thinking, &c. The houfe, a plain fubftantial 
building of yellow ftone, confifts of a centre and two 
wings ; -and was completed, in the year 1803, on the fcite 
of an old manfion. Near its principal front is the chan¬ 
nel of the river Blyth, which meanders through a roman¬ 
tic and piCturefque valley. The open country abounds 
with coal-pits, and the foil is moftly a ftrong clay. The 
general afpeft is dreary and unpleafant. 
To the north of Morpeth are feveral other feats and 
ruins not unworthy of notice.—Cockle-park tower, or 
Cockley-tower, is a curious remnant of antiquity, in the 
fafhion of the old border manfions.—Weddrington-caftie 
was formerly a mod diftinguiflied edifice, though the work 
of different ages ; but was pulled down about thirty years 
ago, with the exception of an oftangular embattled tower, 
to which a fquare modern building has been fince added.— 
Felton-hall, north-weft of Weddrington, is diftinguifhed 
as the place where the barons of Northumberland affem- 
bled in the reign of king John, and did honour to Alex¬ 
ander king of Scotland. A few miles down the river 
Coquet, on which this manfion ftands, is Guyzance, once 
remarkable for a nunnery built by Richard Tyfon ; and 
at Brinkburn was a priory founded by Roger Bertram, 
baron of Mitford, in the reign of Henry I. This build¬ 
ing ftands on the north brink of the river above-men¬ 
tioned, finely fheltered by lofty banks and hanging woods. 
The fhell of the church ftill remains entire. Its archi¬ 
tecture is in the plain pointed ftyle, but the north and 
fouth doors are charged with very rich Saxon ornaments. 
■—The fmall but pleajant river Cocket or Coquet, juft 
mentioned, abounds with trout and falmon, and empties 
itfelf into the fea oppofite to an ifland to which it gives 
name. This ifland abounds with lime-ftone, of which much 
lime is made. 
At Wingate, a village in the parifli of Longporfley, 
about eight miles north of Morpeth, was difcovered a 
few years ago, on the eftate of Waiter Trevelyan and 
Thomas Witham, efqrs. a mineral fpring, now called 
Wingate Spa; which has performed many cures in fcro- 
phulas, external inflammations, ftomach-complaints, fcur- 
vy, debility, haemorrhages, &c. From a chemical analyfis 
of this water, it is found to be the ftrongeft chalybeate 
fpring known in Europe, as an Englifh pint of it contains 
fix grains of iron, fourteen grains of alum, and nine of 
an ochre earth. At this fpa there is an elegant and com¬ 
modious bath, &c. Wilkes’s Britifh DireMory. Beauties of 
England and Wales. Pennant's Tour in Scotland. Oldfield's 
Heprefentative Hijl. 1816. 
MORPHFE'A,yi With phyficians, amorphew; akind 
of fcurf on the fkin. 
MORPHAS'MUS, f. [Greek.] Among the ancients, a 
kind of dance, in which, by a great many figures, they 
imitated the transformations of Proteus. 
MOR'PHEUS, a minifter of the god Somnus, who na¬ 
turally imitated the grimaces, geftures, words, and man¬ 
ners, of mankind. He is fometimes called the god of 
Beep. He is generally reprefented as a fleeping child of 
M O R 
a great corpulence, and with wings. He holds a vafe in 
one hand, and in the other are fome poppies. Ovid. Met. x v 
MOR'PHEW, f. [morphcea, low' Lat. morfea, Ital.] A 
fcurf on the face.—We fhall then fee the fhameful wrinkles 
and foul morphews of our foul. Bp. Hall. 
To MOR'PHEW, v.a. To cover with fcurf.—And ful- 
len rags bewray his morphew'd Ikin. Bp. Hall. 
MOR'PHO, a town of the ifland of Cyprus; the refi¬ 
dence of an aga and a cadi: thirty-three miles weft of 
Nicofia. 
MOR'RA, a town of Naples, in Abruzzo Ultra: thir¬ 
ty-two miles north-eaft of Aquila. 
MOR'RA, a town of Hindooftan, in Bahar: eight miles 
north of Arrah. 
MOR'RA, a town of France, in the department of the 
Tanaro : three miles eaft of Cherafco. 
MOR'RHA. See Myrrha. 
MOR'RICE, or Morrice-Dan'ce,/ A dance in which 
bells are gingled, or ftaves or fwords clalhed.— I took 
delight in pieces that Ihewed a country village, morrice - 
dancing, and peasants together by the ears. Peacham. 
The founds and feas, with all their finny drove. 
Now to the moon in wavering morrice move. Milton. 
Mr. Strutt is of opinion that the Spanifli morefque-dance 
is quite different from our Englifti morrice, or morris , 
dance; which laft he derives from th e fool's dance, of which 
he gives the following account. “ The fool’s dance, or 
a dance performed by perfons equipped in the drefles ap¬ 
propriated to the fools, is very ancient, and originally, I 
apprehend, formed a part of the pageant belonging to the 
feftival of fools; (fee vol. xiii. p. 664.) This feftival was 
a religious mummery, ufually held at Chriftmas-time; and 
confifted of various ceremonial mockeries, not only ex¬ 
ceedingly ridiculous, but fhameful and impious. A vef- 
tige of the fool’s dance is preferved in a manufcript written 
and illuminated in the reign of king Edward III. 1344. 
and is copied upon the middle of Strutt’s fixteenth plate. 
In this reprefentation of the dance, it feems conduced 
with fome degree of regularity; and is affifted by the 
mufic of the regals and the bagpipes; the drefs of the 
muficians refembles that of the dancers, and correfponds 
exaftly -with the habit of the court-fool at that period. 
I make no doubt the morris-dance, which afterwards be¬ 
came exceedingly popular in this country, originated 
from the fool’s dance ; and thence we trace the bells 
which characterifed the morris-dancers. 
“ The word morris applied to the dance is ufually de¬ 
rived from Morifoo, which in the Spanifli language figni- 
fies a Moor, as if the dance had been taken from the 
Moors; but I cannot help confidering this as a miftake, 
for it appears to me that the Morijco or Moor dance is 
exceedingly different from the morris-dance formerly 
praftifed in this country; it being performed with the 
caftanets, or rattles, at the end of the fingers, and not 
with bells attached to various parts of the drefs. See 
Moresque-Dance, vol.xv. p. 801. 
“ The morris-dance was fometimes performed by itfelf, 
but was much more frequently joined to proceflions and 
pageants, and efpecially to thofe appropriated for the 
celebration of the May-games. On thefe occafions, the 
hobby-hdrfe, or a dragon, with Robin Hood, the maid 
Marian, and other characters, fuppofed to have been the 
companions of that famous outlaw, made a part of the 
dance. In latter times, the morris was frequently intro¬ 
duced upon the ftage. The garments of the morris-dan¬ 
cers, as obferved before, were adorned with bells, (not 
with caftanets like the Spanifli dance;) and thefe were 
not placed there merely for the fake of ornament, but 
were to be founded as they danced. The bells were of 
unequal lizes, and differently denominated; as the fore 
bell, the fecond bell, the treble, the tenor or great bell; 
and mention is alfo made of double bells. The principal 
dancer in the morris was more fuperbly habited than his 
companions^ 
