232 
M U R 
M U R 
angular, longer than the ftamens; ftigma flat-tifn, warty, 
angular. Pericarpium : berry rather pulpy, of one cell. 
Seed: folitary, large, obovate, furrowed on one fide.— 
JEJfential Character. Calyx five-cleft; corolla of five pe¬ 
tals, bell-fhaped; neftary furrounding the germen ; berry 
lingle-feeded. 
Murraya exotica, orafh-leaved murraya, a fingle fpecies. 
A native of the Eaft Indies ; and introduced at Kew in 
1771, where it flowers in Auguft and September. This 
is a flirub or fmall tree, about fix feet in height, whofe 
trunk is branched, and covered with a greyifh bark. 
Leaves alternately pinnate, compofed of three pairs of 
leaflets, with an odd one ; leaflets alternate, on fiiort ftalks, 
obovate, bluntilh, rigid, fmooth, refembling thofe of the 
common Buxus, whence its French appellation luis cle 
Chine. Flowers corymbofe, white, fomewhat like an 
orange-flower, but about half the fize ; their lcent is fitid 
to be fomewhat like that of jafmine, but by no means 
powerful. Berries globular, pointed, tubercled, red 5 
feed large, whitifh or pale ftraw-coloured. 
MUR'RAYSHIRE, Morayshire, or the County of 
Elgin, one of the northern counties of Scotland, bounded 
on the north by an arm of the fea, called the Frith of 
Murray, on the eaft by Bamfflhire, on the fouth by Aber- 
deenihire and Invernefsfliire and Nairnfliire; being thirty 
miles from eaft to weft, and nearly the fame from north 
to fouth. Its air is falutary, and the winter milder than 
any other part in the north of the kingdom. The fouth 
fide is mountainous, but abounds with pafture, as the 
low country does with corn. Here are feveral woods of 
firs and oaks. The foil is generally fruitful, and pro¬ 
duces the fruits ripe foon. Its principal rivers are the 
Spey, the Loflie, Nairn, and Findhorn; all of which pro¬ 
duce vaft quantities of falmon. I11 1811, the number of 
inhabitants was 28,108. The chief towns are Elgin and 
Forres. Murray, or Moray, formerly comprehended the 
{hires of Nairn, Moray Proper, or Elgin, and a great part 
of the fliire of BamfF. It was anciently counted the gra¬ 
nary of Scotland ; the old liiftorians are lavifli in their 
praifes in favour of its fertility and falubrity; and it 
ufed to be a common faying, that it enjoyed forty days 
more of fair weather than mod other parts of Scotland. 
Numerous interefting remains of antiquity are found 
in different parts of Morayfhire.—Elgin is diftinguifhed 
by the ruins of an ancient cathedral, originally built by 
bilhop Murray, whofe epifcopal feat was tranflated hither 
from Spynie in the year 1224. Having been burnt to 
the ground, however, in 1390, by Alexander Stewart of 
Badenoch, it was refounded by bilhop Barr. The re¬ 
mains of Plufcardine-abbey ftand on the north fide of the 
river Loflie, fix miles to the fouth-weft of Elgin. This 
monaftery w'as founded by king Alexander II. in the year 
1230, and dedicated to St. Andrew. The religious were 
monks of Valles Caulium, a reform of the Ciftertians fol¬ 
lowing the rule of St. Bennet, and w'ere brought hither by 
William Malvoifin bilhop of St. Andrews, from the dio- 
cefe of Langres, in France. From the appearance of the 
ruins, this inftitution appears to have been one of confi- 
derable extent and riches. On the fouth bank of loch 
Spynie are the ruins of the ancient palace of the bilhops 
of Moray, which is faid to have been one of the moft mag¬ 
nificent epifcopal feats in Scotland. LoChinbarb-caftle, 
in the parilh of Edinkillie, has evidently been a place of 
great ftrength. Catharine de Beaumont, widow of David 
de Mailings earl of Athol, was blockaded here during the 
captivity of king Dayid Bruce, by fir Andrew Moray the 
regent. Edward III. however, faved her from falling into 
bis hands, by compelling him to raife the fiege the year 
following, when he marched his army fo far north as I11- 
vernefs, with the view of enforcing the fubmiflion of the 
whole kingdom. The prgfent remains of this caftlc cover 
a fpace of ground not lels than one hundred yards fquare. 
Near this fcrtrels are the veftiges of another, called Doune- 
Iiill, which appears to be of more ancient date than the 
former ; and was probably one of the ftrong holds to which 
the inhabitants retired with their cattle upon the iuvafions 
of the Danes, Norwegians, or Illanders. It is fituated on 
a conical mount, defended 011 the one fide by the deep 
rocky channel of the rapid river of Dwie, and on the 
others by an immenfe fofi'e or ditch, with a ftrong ram¬ 
part on the outiide, moftly eompofed of ftones, fome of 
which are apparently vitrified. About,a mile higher up 
the river Hands the caftle of Dumphail, long the property 
of the family of Dunbar; and in the parilh of Dyke is that 
of Darnaway, the venerable manfion of the earls of Moray, 
of the Randolphs, the Dunbars, the Douglafes, and the 
Stuarts, all names of much note in the page of hiftory. 
The grand hall in this caftle, built by Thomas Randolph, 
regent of Scotland during the minority of king David 
Bruce, is by much the oldeft and moft remarkable part of 
the buildings ; and meafures eighty-nine feet in length by 
thirty-five in breadth.—In the parilh of DufFus may be 
difeovered traces of l'ome ancient military works, which 
are attributed to the Danes. The fpot on which they are 
fituated is called the Burgh; and is fuppofed to be the 
real feite of the fortrefs mentioned by Buchanan, as hav¬ 
ing been furrendered to the Danes upon the defeat of 
Malcolm II. At the weftern extremity of the parilh is an 
obelilk or Hone crol's, conjectured to be the lame which 
w'as erected to commemorate the rout and difperfion of 
the forces of Camus by the fame monarch in the purfnit 
of the Danes, after the vidlory of Panbride, in Angus. 
The village of DufFus is further remarkable for a fquare, 
in the centre of which Hands the church, furrounded by 
four ftreets regularly paved, the workmanlhip of Oliver 
Cromwell’s foldiers. Swino’s Hone, or pillar, on the road 
from Nairn to Forres, is a curiofity that particularly de¬ 
mands attention. This ftone is u»iverfally allowed to ex¬ 
ceed in ornamental w’orkmanfliip all the other obelilks in 
Scotland; and is even generally fuppofed to be the fineft 
monument of the kind now exiftingin Europe. Its height 
above ground is not lefs than twenty-three feet, and it is 
faid to fink twelve beneath it. Its breadth is about four 
leet. The portion above the furface of the ground 
is vifibly divided, on the eaft fide, into fieven compart¬ 
ments, containing a variety of baflo-relievos, reprefent- 
ing military figures. On the other fide is difplayed a 
fumptuous crol's, and under it appear two perfonages in 
the attitudes of reconciliation. It is remarkable that no 
diftinbt tradition concerning this obelilk has reached the 
prel'ent period ; hence its origin and intention are doubt¬ 
ful, but it is uiually fuppofed to have been erebled in me¬ 
mory of the peace concluded between Malcolm and Ca¬ 
nute, upon the final retreat of the Danes from Scotland. 
MUR'RE, f. A kind of bird; the razor-bill, Alca 
torda.—Among the firft fort we reckon coots, meawes, 
rnurres, creyfers, and curlews. Carew. 
MURREEO'W, a town of Hindooftan, in Benares : 
fourteen miles fouth of Jionpour. 
MUR'REY, adj. [moree, Fr. morello, Ital. from mero, 
a moor.] Darkly red.—Painted glafs of a fanguine red, 
will not afeend in powder above a murrey. Brown's Vulg. 
Errors. 
MUR'REY, f. A dark brown. Phillips. 
MUR'REY-COLOURED, adj. Darkly red.—Cornelius 
jumps out, a ftocking upon his head, and a waiftcoat of 
murrey-coloured fattin upon his body. 4 rbuthnot. 
MUR'RHINE, or Murrhi'nus, f. [yoppuos, Gr.] In 
antiquity, an appellation given to a delicate fort of ware 
brought from the eaft, whereof cups and vales were made; 
which added not a little to the fplendour of the Roman 
banquets. 
Critics are divided concerning the matter of the pocula 
or vafa murrkhta , murrina , or murrea. Some will have 
them to have been the fame with our porcelain, or china- 
ware. The generality held them to have been made of 
fome precious kind of ftone, which was found chiefly, as 
Pliny tells us, in Parthia, but more elpecially in Carma- 
nia. Arrian tells us, that there was a great quantity of 
them made at Diofpolis in Egypt. This he calls another 
fort of murrhina-work; and it is evident, from all ac¬ 
counts, that themurrhina of Diofpolis was a fort of glafs- 
1 ware,. 
