42 
M O R 
five years of age, he married his third wife, Mrs. Eliz. 
Pratt, a near relation of lady Saville. In 1751 Dr. Mor¬ 
ton was admitted a licentiate of the College of Phyficians. 
On the eftablifhment of the Briti'fh Mufeum, in 1756, he 
was appointed under-librarian of the manufcript and 
medal department; and, in 1776, he fucceeded Dr. Maty 
as principal librarian, which he enjoyed till his death. 
In 1760 he fucceeded Peter Duval as fecretary to the 
Royal Society, which fituation he refigned in 1774, when 
he was fucceeded by Dr. Horfley, afterwards bifhop of 
St. Afaph. In 1759 he publifhed an improved edition of 
Dr. Barnard’s engraved Table of Alphabets; and, in 177a, 
Whitlocke’s Journal of the Swedifh Embafiy in 1653, 1654. 
Dr. Morton was a man of a fweet and amiable difpoiition, 
of great uprightnefs and integrity, and much admired as 
a fcholar. He died at his apartments in the Britifh Mu¬ 
feum, in February 1799, being about eighty-three years 
of age. Phil. Tranf. abr. vol. x. 
MOR'TON, in geography. See Moreton, vol. xv. 
p. 3 oi. 
MOR'TON, a village in Dorferfhire, near the Frome, 
fouth-eaft of Puddleton, three miles north of Winfrith. 
The church was built in the year 1410; it is fmall, but 
neat. 
MOR'TON’s BA'Y, a bay on the weft coaft of the ifland 
of Nevis: two miles north of Charleftown. 
MOR'TON - ME'RIAL, a village in Wanvickfhire, 
north of Kineton, on the river Thelsford, that runs into 
the Avon; it is fo called, becaufe it is divided into two 
parts, the latter being a quarter of a mile from Morton, 
where the church ftands. 
MOR'TON-VAL'ENCE, a village in Gloucefterfhire, 
four miles from Painfwick, and fix from Gloucefter. Over 
the church-door is a reprefentation of St. Michael fighting 
with the dragon, very rudely carved in ftone. 
MOR'TORP, a town of Sweden, in the province of 
Smaland: ten miles weft-fouth-weft of Calmar. 
MORT'PAY, j. Dead pay; payment not made.—This 
parliament was merely a parliament of war, with fome 
ftatutes conducing thereunto ; as the fevere punifhing of 
mortpayes, and keeping back of foldiers’ wages. Bacon. 
MORTREE' (Grand), a town of France, in the de¬ 
partment of the Orne: feven miles fouth-louth-eaft of 
Argentan, and thirteen north of Alencon. 
MOR'TRELL, f. In old records, a mefs of bread and 
milk, fucli as was allowed to poor people in an hofpital. 
MOR'TRESS, j] [from murtier dej'ageffe, Fr. Skinner. 
A difh of meat of various kinds beaten together.—A 
mortrefs made with the brawn of capons, ftamped, drained, 
and mingled with a like quantity of almond-butter, is 
excellent to nourilh the weak. Bacon's Nat. Hi ft. 
MOR'TU I'SLAND, or St. Clara, an ifland in the 
Atlantic, near the coaft of Peru, about two miles in 
length, and about fifteen miles to the north-north-eaft of 
the river Tumbez. 
MOR'TUARY, J. [rnortuaire, Fr. mortuariuni, Lat.] A 
burial-place.—Look on thy full table as a mortuary of the 
difpeopled elements; where their {lain are huddled up. 
Whitlocke's Manners of the Eng. 1654.—A gift left by a 
man at his death to his parifti church, for the recompence 
of his perfonal tithes and offerings not duly paid in his 
life-time. Harris. —The fenfe of this word, as given by 
Johnfon from Harris, certainly does not quite agree with 
the following from Blackftone: but it may have both 
meanings.— Mortuaries are a kind of ecclefiaftical heriots, 
being a cuftomary gift claimed by and due to the minif- 
ter in very many parifhes on the death of his parifhioners. 
They feem to have been originally, like lay-heriots, only 
a voluntary bequeft to the church. Blackft. Comm. ii. 28.'—• 
Thus Harris feems to have given the original fenfe of the 
word, inftead of the modern. Mafim's Suppl. to JolinJ'on. 
A mortuary is not properly and originally due to an 
ecclefiaftical incumbent from any but thofe only of his 
own parifh, to whom he minifters fpiritual inftrubtion, 
and hath right to their tithes. But by cuftom in fome 
M O R 
places of this kingdom, they are paid to the parfons of 
other parifhes, as the corpie pafles through them. 
Mortuaries are, in faff, a fort of ecclefiaftical heriots: 
being a cuftomary gift claimed by, and due to, the mi- 
nifter in very many parifhes oti the death of his pariflrion- 
ers. 2 Comm. c. 28. p. 425. They feem originally to have 
been like lay-heriots, only a voluntary bequeft to the 
church ; being intended as a kind of expiation and amends 
to the clergy, for the perfonal tithes and other ecclefiafti¬ 
cal duties, which the laity in their life-time might have 
neglebted or forgotten to pay. For this purpole, after 
the lord’s heriot or bell good was taken out, the fecend- 
belt chattel was referved to the church as a mortuary. 
(Co. Litt. 185.) And therefore, in the laws of king Ca¬ 
nute, this mortuary is called Joul-Jcot. And, in purfu- 
ance of the fame principle, by the laws of Venice, where 
no perfonal tithes have been paid during the life of the 
party, they are paid at his death out of his merchandife, 
jewels, and other moveables. So alfo, by a fimilar policy 
in France, every man that died without bequeathing a 
part of his eftate to the church, which was called dying 
without confeffion, was formerly deprived of Chriftian bu¬ 
rial ; or, if he died inteftate, the relations of the deceafed, 
jointly with the bifhop, named proper arbitrators to de¬ 
termine what he ought to have given to the church, in 
cafe he had made a will. But the parliament, in 1409, 
redrefled this grievance. 
It was anciently ufual in England to bring the mortu¬ 
ary to church along with the corpfe when it came to be 
buried; and thence it is fometimes called a corpje-prejent: 
a term which bel’peaks it to have been once a volun¬ 
tary donation. However, in Brabton’s time, lo early as 
Henry III. we find it rivetted into an eftablifhed cuf¬ 
tom; infomuch, that the bequefts of heriots and mor¬ 
tuaries were held to be neceflary ingredients in every 
teftament of chattels. Imprimis autem debet quilibet, qui 
tejlamentum fecerit, dominum fuum de meliori re quam ha- 
buerit recognofeere ; et pnftea ecclefiam de alia meliore: “ The 
lord muft have the belt good left him as a heriot; and the 
church the fecond beft as a mortuary.” But yet this 
cuftom was different in different places: In quibujdam lo~ 
cis habet ecclefia melius animal de coifuetudine; in quibuf- 
dam Jecundam vel tertium melius; et in quibujdam nihil: 
et ideo covjideranda efi conjuetudo loci. This cuftom ftill 
varies in different places, not only as to the mortuary 
to be paid, but the perfon to whom it is payable. In 
Wales a mortuary or corfe-prefent was due upon the 
death of every clergyman to the bifhop of the diocefe; 
till abolifhed, upon a recompenfe given to the bifhop, 
by the flat. 12 Ann. ft. 2. c. 6. And in the archdeaconry 
of Chefter a cuftom alfo prevailed, that the bifhop, who 
is alfo archdeacon, fhould have, at the death of every 
clergyman dying therein, his beft horfe or mare, bridle, 
faddle, and fpurs; his beft gown or cloak, hat, upper 
garment under his gown, and tippet, and alfo his beft 
fignet or ring: but by flat. 28 Geo. II. c. 6. this mor¬ 
tuary is direbted to ceafe, and the abl has fettled upon 
the bifhop an equivalent in its room. The king’s claim 
to many goods, on the death of all prelates in England, 
feems to be of the fame nature ; though fir Edward Coke 
apprehends, that this is a duty upon death, and not a 
mortuary: a diftinbtion which feems to be without a dif¬ 
ference. For not only the king’s ecclefiaftical charabter, 
as fupreme ordinary, but alfo the fpecies of the good 
claimed, which bear lb near a refemblance to thofe in the 
archdeaconry of Chefter, which was an acknowledged 
mortuary, puts the matter out of difpute. The king, 
according to the record vouched by fir Edward Coke, is 
entitled to fix things : the bifhop’s beft horfe or palfrey, 
with his furniture; his cloak or gown, and tippet; his 
cup and cover; his bafon and ewer; his gold ring; and 
laftly, his muta canum, his mew or kennel of hounds. 
This variety of cuftoms with regard to mortuaries giv¬ 
ing frequently a handle to exabtions on the one fide, and 
frauds or expenfive litigations on the other, it was thought 
proper 
