M O U 
Kinder the article Foundery, vol. vii. p. k feq. we 
have given an account of the moulds employed by makers 
of ftatues, of bells, of cannon, and of printers’ types. 
But moulds are of very extenfive ufe, being found, of 
different forms, fizes, and denominations, among paper- 
makers, glafs-grinders, glaziers, plumbers, tallow-chand¬ 
lers, goldfmiths, goldbeaters, crucible-makers, firework- 
makers, bafket-makers, bullet-caftors, and even Ihip- 
builders, mafons, &c. &c. fo that their defcriptions mull 
naturally occur under various articles in this work. 
A fort of concave moulds made of clay, having within 
them the figures and infcriptions of ancient Roman coins, 
are found in many parts of England, and fuppofed to have 
been ufed. for the calling of money. Mr. Baker, having 
been favoured with a fight of fome of thefe moulds found 
in Shropfhire, bearing the fame types and infcriptions 
with fome of the Roman coins, gave an account of them 
to the Royal Society. They were found in digging of 
fand, at a place called Ryton in Shropfhire, about a mile 
from the great Watling-ftreet road. They are all of the 
fize of the Roman denarius, and of little more than the 
thicknefs of our halfpenny. They are made of a fmooth 
pot or brick clay, which feems to have been firfl well 
cleanfed from dirt and fand, and well beaten or kneaded, 
to render it fit for taking a fair impreffion. There were 
a great many of them found together, and they are not 
unfrequently found in Yorkfhire; but they do not feem 
to have been met with in any other kingdom, except that 
fome have been faid to be once found at Lyons. They 
have been fometimes found in great numbers joined 
together fide by fide, on one flat piece of clay, as if in¬ 
tended for the calling of a great number of coins at once ; 
and both thefe, and all the others that have been found, 
feem to have been of the emperor Severus. They are 
fometimes found impreffed on both fides, and fome have 
the head of Severus on the fide and fome well-known 
reverfe of his on the other. They feem plainly to have 
been intended for the coinage of money, though it is not 
eafy to fay in what manner they can have been employed 
for that purpofe, efpecialiy thofe which have impreflions 
on both fides, unlefs it may be fuppofed that they coined 
two pieces at the fame time by the help of three moulds, of 
which this was to be the middle one. If, by difpofing thefe 
into fome fort of iron frame or cafe, as our letter-founders 
do the brafs moulds for calling their types, the melted 
metal could be eafily poured into them, it would certainly 
be a very eafy method of coining, as fuch moulds require 
little time or expenfe to make, and therefore might be 
fupplied with new ones as often as they happen to break. 
Thefe moulds feem to have been burnt or baked fuffi- 
ciently to make them hard; but not fo as to render them 
porous like our bricks, whereby they would have loll their 
fmooth and even furface, which in thefe is plainly fo clofe, 
that whatever metal fliould be formed in them would have 
no appearance like the fand-holes by which counterfeit 
coins and metals are ufually detected. Phil. Tranf. vol. 
xliv. p. 557. anno 174.7. 
MO'ULD, f. Cali; form.—William earl of Pembroke 
was a man of another mould and making, being the moll 
univerlally beloved of any man of that age, and, having 
a great office, he made the court itfelf better elleemed, and 
more reverenced in the country. Clarendon. 
What creatures there inhabit, of what mould, 
Or fubltance, how endu’d, and what their power, 
And where their weaknefs. Milton. 
Hans Carvel, impotent and old. 
Married a lafs of London mould. Prior. 
The future or contexture of the fkull. Ainfworth. —It is 
ufed in a fenfe a little llrained by Shakefpeare : 
New honours come upon him, 
Like our ftrange garments, cleave not to their mould, 
But with the end of ufe. Macbeth. 
Vol. XVI. No. 1058. 
M O U 325 
A fpot: as, an iron -mordd; [from the Goth, malo, rult j 
Sax. mal, a fpot. More corre6ily, and anciently, mole.] 
Thy bell cote, Hankin, 
Hath many moles and fpottes. Piers Ploughman. 
To MO'ULD, v. n. [meluwen, Teut. to be worm-eaten, 
from meluwe, a little worm ; whence multen, rotten, putri- 
fied. But fee the dedudlion from the French mouiller, by 
Mr. Tooke; and it mull be obferved, our word was at firfl; 
written moule and mowle.] To contrafl concreted mat¬ 
ter; to gather mould; to rot; to breed worms; to pu¬ 
trefy.—Let us not moulen thus in idlenefs. Chaucer's Man 
of Lawes Prol. —For feare of worme-eatyng, mowlynge, or 
ftynking. Bale's A6ls of Eng. Vot. —When the holt re- 
ferved beginneth to mowl or putrifie, and ffiould ingen¬ 
der wormes, then an other fubllance fucceedeth it. Alp. 
Craumer's Anfw. to Bp. Gardiner. —Purenefs cannot moule, 
nor Iwetenefs cannot be four. Cranmer. —There be fome 
houfes wherein fvveet meats will relent, and baked meats 
will mould, more than in others. Bacon. 
In woods, in waves, in wars, flie wants to dwell. 
And will be found with peril and with pain; 
Ne can the man that moulds in idle cell 
Unto her happy manfion attain. Spenfer. 
To MO'ULD, v. a. To cover with mould; to corrupt by- 
mould.—Shall never cheft hymoulen it, ne mough after 
byte it. P. Ploughman. —The gylt of man with rull of 
fynne ymouled. Lydgate's Lyfe of our Lady. —Sour wyne, 
and mowled bread. Cranmer's Anfw. to Gardiner. —Very 
coarfe hoary moulded bread the foldiers thrull upon their 
fpears, railing againlt Ferdinand, who made no better 
provifion. Knolles's Hijl. of the Turks. 
To MO'ULD, v. a. [mouler, Fr.] To form; toffiape; 
to model.—By education we may mould the minds and 
manners of youth into what fliape we pleafe, and give 
them the impreflions of fucli habits as fliall ever afterwards 
remain. Atterbury. —Fabellus would never learn any mo¬ 
ral leffons till they were moulded into the form of fome 
fiflion or fable like thofe of JEfop. Watts. 
Here is the cap your worfliip did befpeak.— 
Why this was moulded 011 a poringer, 
A velvet diffi. Shakejpeare. 
To knead: as, to mould bread. Ainfworth. 
MO'ULDABLE, adj. That may be moulded.—The 
differences of figurable and not figurable, mouldable and 
not mouldable, are plebeian notions. Bacon's Nat. Hijl. 
MO'ULDER,/ He who moulds.—We are againft thofe 
unthinking, overbearing people, who, in thefe odd times, 
under that pretence, [freedom of thought,] fet up for re¬ 
formers, and new molders of the conftitution. Bp. Berke¬ 
ley's Difc. Addr. to Magijlrates. 
To MO'ULDER, v. n. To be turned to dull; to periffi 
in dull; to be diminiffied; to wear or wade away.—If he 
had fat Hill, the enemies’ army would have mouldered to 
nothing, and been expofed to any advantage he would 
take. Clarendon. —Finding his congregation moulder every 
Sunday, and hearing what was the occafion of it, he re- 
folved to give his parifii a little Latin in his turn. Addi- 
fon's Spectator. 
To them, by fmiling Jove ’twas given, 
Great William’s glories to recal, 
When llatues moulder, and when arches fall. Prior. 
To MO'ULDER, v, a. To turn to dull; to crumble.— 
The natural liillories of Switzerland talk of the fall of 
thofe rocks, when their foundations have been mouldered 
with age, or rent by an earthquake. Addifon on Italy. 
With nodding arches, broken temples, fpread. 
The very tombs now vaniffi’d like their dead; 
Some felt the filent llroke of mould'ring age. 
Some lioftile fury. Pope. 
K k MO'ULDINESS, 
