M O R 
M O R 
fych as praflife mortification. Arbuthnot on Aliments.—Hu¬ 
miliation ; fubjeCHon of the paffions..—The mortification 
of our luffs has fomething in it that is troublefome, yet 
nothing that is unreafonable. Tillotfon. —You fee no real 
mortification, or felf-denial, no eminent charity, no pro¬ 
found humility, no heavenly affe&ion, no true contempt 
of the world, no Chriftian weaknefs, no fincere zeal, or 
eminent piety, in the common lives of Chriftians. Law .— 
Vexation ; trouble.—It is one of the vexatious mortifica¬ 
tions of a ftudious man, to have his thoughts difordered 
by a tedious vifit. L'EJlrange. 
MOR'TIFIEDNESS, J". Humiliation ; fubjeCHon of the 
paffions.—No way fuitable to that Chriftian fimplicity, 
mortifiednefs, modefty, and humility, which thofe times 
required. Bp. Taylor. 
MOR'TIFIER, /. One who mortifies his paffions. 
Sherwood. 
■ To MOR'TIFY, v. a. [mortifier, Fr.] To deftroy vital 
qualities;—If of the Item the froft mortify any part, cut it 
off. Evelyn. —To deftroy attive powers, or effential quali¬ 
ties.—He mortified pearls in vinegar, and drunk them up. 
Hahewill. —Oil of tartar per deliquium has a great faculty 
to find out and mortify acid fpirits. Boyle. —To fubdue 
inordinate paffions : 
The breath no fooner left his father’s body, 
But that his wildnefs, mortified in him, 
Seem’d to die too. Shakefpeare’s Hen. V. 
To macerate or harafs, in order to reduce the body to 
compliance with the mind.—We mortify ourfelves with 
fifh, and think we fare coarfely if we abftain from flefli. 
Brown's Vulgar Err ours. 
With faffing mortify'd, worn out with tears, 
And bent beneath the load of feventy years. Harte. 
To humble; to deprefs ; to vex.—How often is the ambi¬ 
tious man mortified with the very praifes he receives, if 
they do not rife fo high as he thinks they ought! Addijbn. 
Let my liver rather heat with wine, 
Than my heart cool with mortifying groans. Shaltefpeare. 
To MOR'TIFY, v. n. To.gangrene; to corrupt.—Try 
it with capon laid abroad, to lee whether it will mortify 
and become tender fooner ; or with dead flies with water 
caff upon them, to fee whether it will putrify. Bacon.— 
To be fubdued ; to die away.—To praCtife religious feve- 
rities.—This makes him careful of every temper of his 
heart, give alms to all that he hath, watch, and faff, and 
mortify, and live according to the ftricteft rules of tem¬ 
perance, meeknefs, and humanity. Law. 
MOR'TIMER (John Hamilton), was born at Eaft- 
Bourne in Suffex, and very early in life exhibited a de¬ 
cided tafte and talent for painting. He was therefore 
placed by his parents with Hudlon ; but did not ftay long 
with him, nor with Pine, to whom he afterwards went to 
acquire the rudiments of art. He felt that he had talents, 
and probably chofe to take his own courfe in the direc- 
' tion of them. He accordingly went to draw from the an¬ 
tique in the gallery which the duke of Richmond munifi¬ 
cently opened to artifts in Privy Gardens, and afterwards 
was admitted a member of the academy in St. Martin’s 
lane. By his ftudies in thefe fchools he acquired a confi- 
derable degree of knowledge of the human figure, but 
never enjoyed a feeling of the grand ftyle. 
Mortimer, endowed with the faculty of invention, did 
not allow it to lie unproductive in his mind, but compofed 
a great variety of defigns ; which unfortunately lie exe¬ 
cuted with too much facility, and was too eafily fatisfied 
with his labours, to carry them very far in the road to 
perfection. At the age of twenty-two he bore away the 
prize given by the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, 
&c. and gained great and merited applaufe for his per- 
fo .'nance, which confidering his youth,, was at that time 
an uncommon one. The lubjeCt was St. Paul preaching 
to the Britons, and it is now the altar-piece of the church 
at High-Wycombe. But liis favourite iubjeCts were of the 
Vol. XVI. No. 1091. 
.37 
grotefque or horrible kind ; incantations, monfters, or 
reprefentations of banditti and foldiers in violent aftions. 
The attempts at real charaCfer which he made (and of 
which he has left us etchings) from fome of Shakefpeare’s 
moft celebrated heroes, are weak and untrue; they leave 
us nothing to regret in his not having indulged himfelr 
in more of the like kind, except for the freedom with 
which they are executed. They were very highly ex¬ 
tolled in his time, but the improvement in art and tafte 
which the country has fincfe experienced has given us 
more accurate ideas of art, and more juft difcrimination 
between charaCfer and caricature. He fometimes was fti- 
mulated to paint portraits, but washy no means fuccefsrui. 
He had no eye to colour, and had too much vivacity of 
imagination, or rather perhaps too little fteadinefs of 
mind in the purfuit, to dwell fufficiently long on matter 
fo uninterefting as portraiture, when compared with the 
zeal and enthufiafm excited by hiftorical painting. He 
pollefled great perfonal activity, and v/as fond of athletic 
exercifes ; but unfortunately devoted too much time to 
habits of excefs in pleafurable indulgences, which brought, 
on premature decline and death in the 39th year of his 
age, in February 1779. 
The charaCfer which Mortimer left behind him (except¬ 
ing the weaknefs of allowing the heat of youthful paffions 
to overcome and miflead him for a time) was highly efti- 
mable. He was generous and friendly, lively, engaging, 
and intellectual. Having once become aware of the folly 
of vicious indulgence, he determined to adopt a more 
correCt courfe of life ; but unfortunately his good refolu- 
tions were excited too late, and the heavy hand of death 
fell on him before he or his friends were benefited by them, 
as far at leaft as relates to the art he profeffed. 
MORTIMER’S CROSS', a place of England, in the 
north-weft part of the county of Hereford, a little to the 
fouth-eaft of Ludlow. In the year 1461, the Lancaftrians, 
under theconduci of the earl of Pembroke, were defeated 
by the Yorkifts, under the duke of York, with the lofs 
of near 4000 men. See the article England, vol. vi. 
p. 617. 
MOR'TINSPERG, a town of Auftria: ten miles'fouth- 
fouth-weft of Zwetl. 
MOR'TISE, J'. [ mortaife, mortoife, Fr. from mordere, 
Lat. to bite.] A hole cut into wood, that another piece 
may be put into it, and form a joint.—Under one fkin 
are parts varioully mingled, fome with cavities, as mor- 
iejfes to receive, others with tenons to fit cavities. Ray. 
What ribs of oak, when mountains melt on them, 
Can hold the mortife. Shakifpcare’s Othello . 
To MOR'TISE, v. a. To cut with a mortife; to join 
with a mortife : 
’Tis a mafty wheel, 
To whofe huge fpoke ten thoufknd leffer things 
Are mortis'd and adjoin’d. Shaltefpeare's Hamlet. 
It feems in the following paffage improperly ufed.—The 
one half of the (hip being finiftied, and by help of a ferew 
launched into the water, the other half was joined by great 
brafs nails mortfed with lead. Arbuthnot on Coins. 
MOR'TLAKE, a village and parifli in the weftern di- 
vifion of the hundred of Brixton, in the county of Surrey, 
is fituated on the fouthern bank of the river Thames, at 
the diftance of feven miles fouth-weft from London. The 
manor here at the time of the conqueft, and from that pe¬ 
riod till the reign of Henry VIII. was the property of the 
archbilhop of Canterbury, who occafionally refided at the 
manor-houfe. Archbilhop Anlelm celebrated the feaft of 
Whitfuntide in that manlion in the year 1099 ; and arch- 
bilhops Peckham and Reynolds died there; the former 
A. D. 1293, and the latter in 1327. After the alienation 
of the manor by archbilhop Cranmer, the king gave it 
to his newiy-ereCIed dean and chapter of Woreefter; at 
which time the manor-houle was deftroyed, and the ma¬ 
norial refidence removed to Wimbledon. 
L 
This 
