M O V 
it is taken off.—He carried his lances, which, though 
i'trong to give a lancely blow indeed, yet fo were they co¬ 
loured with hooks near the maurne, that they prettily re¬ 
presented (heep-hooks. Sidney. 
MOU'RNE, a river of Ireland, which rifes from a lake 
of the fame name, and runs into the Foyle, at Lifford. 
MOU'RNE, a barony of the county of Down, Ireland, 
which is almoft covered with a large mafs of very high 
mountains, generally called the Mourne Mountains, of 
which Sliebh-Donard is the chief. Thefe are primitive 
mountains, confifting chiefly of granite. The town of 
Newry is fltuated at the bafe of them. 
MO'URNER,/. One that mourns; one that grieves.— 
Indeed I am no mourner for that news. Shahefpeare. 
From noife and riot he devoutly kept, 
Sigh'd with the fick, and with the mourner wept. Harte. 
One who follows a funeral in black.—A woman that had 
two daughters buried one, and mourners were provided to 
attend the funeral. L'Eftrange. 
He lives to be chief mourner for his fon ; 
Before his face his wife and brother burn. Dryden. 
MO'URNER, adj. Ufed at funerals.— The mourner 
eugh, and builder oak were there. Dryden. 
MO'URNFUL, adj. Having the appearance of forrow. 
No funeral rites, nor man in mournful weeds, 
Nor mournful bell lha.ll ring her burial. Shahefpeare., 
The winds within the quivering branches play’d, 
And dancing trees a mournful mufic made. Dryden. 
Cauflng forrow: 
Upon his tomb 
Shall be engrav’d the fack of Orleans ; 
The treacherous manner of his mournful death. Shakefp. 
Sorrowful; feeling forrow: 
The mournful fair. 
Oft as the rolling years return. 
With fragrant wreaths and flowing hair. 
Shall vifit her diftinguifh’d urn. Prior. 
Betokening forrow; expreflive of grief.—No mournful 
bell fliall ring her burial. Shahefpeare. 
On your family’s old monument 
Hang mournful epitaphs. Shahefpeare. 
MO'URNFULLY, adv. Sorrowfully ; with forrow.— 
Beat the drum, that it fpeak mournfully. Shakefpeare. 
MO'URNFULNESS, f. Sorrow ; grief. Show of grief; 
appearance of forrow. 
MO'URNING, f. [Sax. mupnung.] Lamentation; 
forrow.—Wo is me, who will deliver me in thofe days ? 
the beginning of forrows and great mournings. 2 Efdr. xvi. 
18.—The drefs of forrow : 
They through the mafter-ftreet the corpfe convey'd, 
The houfes to their tops with black were fpread. 
And ev’n the pavements were with mourning hid. Dryden. 
The modes of mourning are various in various coun¬ 
tries ; as alfo 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 Caftile on the death of their princes: Herrera obferves, 
that the laft time it was ufed was in 1498, at the death of 
prince John. The Gentleman’s Magazine (April 1731) 
lays, “ Yellow fatin was the court-mourning in the days 
of Harry the 8th: fcarlet continued to be fo till within our 
remembrance.” For every colour, people pretend to have 
tjreir reafons : thus, white is fuppofed 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 oflife, as being the prR 
Vol. XVI. No. j 100. 
M O U 145' 
vatiori of light; blue expreffes the happinefs which it is 
hoped the deceafed does enjoy; and purple or violet, for¬ 
row on the one fide, and hope on the other, as being a 
mixture of black and blue. 
Mourning among the ancients, was expreffed various 
ways. 
Amongft the Jews, on the death of their relations or 
intimate friends, grief or mourning was flgnifiedby weep-- 
ing, tearing their clothes, fmiting their breads, or tearing 
them with their nails, pulling or cutting off their hair 
and beards, walkingfoftly , i. e. barefoot, lying upon the 
ground, faffing, or eating upon the ground. They kept 
themfelves dole fliut up in their houfes, covered their 
faces, and abftained from all work, even reading the 
law,_ and faying their ufual prayers. They neither 
dreffed themfelves, nor made their beds, nor fhaved 
themfelves, nor cut their nails, nor went into the bath, 
nor faluted any body : fo that fulkinefs feems to have 
been an indication of forrow; and dirtinefs, of diffrefs. 
The time of mourning among the Jews was generally 
feven days ; though this was lengthened or Shortened ac¬ 
cording to circumftances ; but thirty days were thought 
fufficient upon the feverelt occafions. The different pe¬ 
riods of the time of mourning required different degrees 
of grief, and different tokens of it. 
The Greeks, on the death of friends, fhowed their for¬ 
row by fecluding themfelves from all gaiety, entertain¬ 
ments, games, public folemnities, the enjoyment of wine, 
and the delights of mufic. They fat in gloomy and foli- 
tary places, ftripped themfelves of all external ornaments, 
put on a coarfe black fluff by way of mourning, tore their 
hair, fhaved their heads, rolled themfelves in the duff and 
mire, fprinkled allies on their heads, fmote their breafts 
with their palms, tore their faces, and frequently cried 
out w'ith a lamentable voice and drawling tone, reiterat¬ 
ing the interje&ion E, E, E ; hence funeral lamentations 
were called E^eyoi. If they appeared in public during the 
time of mourning, they had a veil thrown over their faces 
and heads. During the funeral proceflion, certain per- 
fons called marched before, and fang me¬ 
lancholy ftrains, thrice during the proceflion round the 
pile and round the grave. Flutes were alfo ufed to 
heighten the folemnity. 
The tokens of private grief among the Romans were 
nearly the fame as among the Greeks. Black or dark 
brown were the colours of the mourning habits worn by 
the men ; they were alfo common to the women. The 
mourning of the emperors at firft was black. In the time 
of Auguffus, the women wore white veils, and the reft of 
their drefs 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 longeft time of 
mourning was ten months : this was Numa’s eftablifh- 
ment, and took in his whole year. For a widow to marry 
during this time was infamous. Mourning was not tiled 
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 viftory, or other happy 
event, occafioned the Ihortening of the time of mourning; 
the birth of a child, or the attainment of any remarkably 
honour in the family, certain feafts in honour of the gods, 
or the confecration of a temple, had the lame eft’eft. After 
the battle of Cannse,the commonwealth decreed that mourn, 
ing Ihould not be worn for more than thirty days, that the 
lofs might be forgotten as loon as poflible. When public 
magiftrates died, or perfons of great note, alfo when any 
remarkable calamity happened, all public meetings were 
intermitted, the fchools of cxercile, baths, fliops, temples, 
and all places of concourfe, were Ihut up, and the whole 
city put on a face of forrow ; the fenators laid afide the 
laticlave, and the confuls fat in a lower feat than ordinary. 
This was the cuftom of Athens alfo, and was obferved 
P p upon 
