M U T 
417 
MUT-KA'MAR, a town of Egypt, on the Gaft branch 
of the Nile: twenty-three miles north of Cairo, and 
twenty-fix fouth of Manfora. 
MUT-el-KO'LI, a town of Egypt: twelve miles fouth 
of Damietta. 
MU'TA, in mythology, the goddefs of liberty. AJh. 
MUTABE'A, orMouTABEA,/ in botany. SeeCRYP- 
TOSTOMUM. 
MUTABIL'ITY, f. [ mutabilite , Fr. mutabilis, Lat.] 
Cha-ngeablenels; not continuance in the fame ftate.— 
The mutability of that end, for which they are made, 
maketh them alfo changeable. Hooker. —Plato confefles 
that the heavens 'and the frame of the world are cor¬ 
poreal, and therefore fubjeCt to mutability. Stillingfleet. 
My fancy was the air, molt free, 
And full of mutability. Suckling. 
Inconftancy; change of mind : 
Ambitions, coverings, change of prides, difdain, 
Nice longings, danders, mutability. Shakcfpeare's Cymb. 
MU'TABLE, adj. SubjeCt to change; alterable.-—Of 
things of the molt accidental and mutable nature, acci¬ 
dental in their production, and mutable, in their continu¬ 
ance, yet God’s prefcience is as certain in him as the 
memory is or can be in us. South. —Inconftant; unfettled. 
—I faw thee mutable of fancy. Milton. 
Lor the mutable rank-fcented many, 
Bet them regard me as I do not flatter, Shakcfpcare. 
MU'TABLENESS, f. Changeablenefs ; uncertainty; 
inftability, 
MU'TABLY, adv. Changeably; inconftantly. 
MUTA'TION, f. [Fr. from mutatio, Lat.] Change; 
alteration.—To make plants grow out of the fun or open 
air is a great mutation in nature, and may induce a change 
in the feed. Bacon. 
His honour 
Was nothing but mutation; ay, and that 
From one bad thing to worfe. Shakefpeare's Cymbeline. 
MUTATIO'NES, f. Among the Romans, poft-ftages, 
or places where the public couriers were fupplied with 
frefh horfes.—The mutationes were wholly defigned for 
the ufe of thefe couriers, or meflengers of ftate ; in which 
refpeft they differ from manfiones. Chambers. 
MUTBUN'NY, a town of Hindooftan, in Bahar: twenty- 
three miles fouth-fouth-eaft of Bettiah. Lat. a6. a8. N. 
Ion. 85. 2. E.—Another town of Hindooftan, in Bahar: 
fifteen miles north-eaft of Durbungah. Lat. 26. 20. N. 
Ion. 86. 16. E. 
MUTCHANG', a town of Meckley : 104 miles fouth- 
fouth-eaft of Munnypour. 
MUTCH'KXN, f. A liquid meafure ufed in Scotland ; 
it contains four gills, and is the fourth part of a Scotch 
pint. Ency. Brit. 
MUTE, adj. [ muet , Fr. mutus, Lat. pvh;, Gr. Chaucer 
writes muet.'] Silent 5 not vocal; not having the ufe of 
voice: 
Mute folemn forrow, free from female noife. 
Such as the majefty of grief deftroys. Dry den. 
Having nothing to fay.—The heav’nly choir ftood mute. 
Milton. 
Say fhe be mute , and will not fpeak a word ; 
Then I’ll commend her volubility. Shakcfpcare. 
In mineralogy, metals which do not ring when ftruck 
with other hard fubftances. 
Mute, or funding mute , in law, is when aperfon, being 
arraigned, either cannot fpeak or refufes to anlwer or 
plead. A priioner may ftand mute two ways. 1. When 
lie fpeaks not at all: in which cafe it is inquired, whether 
he ftand mute of malice, or by the aft of God; if by the 
latter, then the judge, ex officio, ought to inquire whether 
Vol. XVI, No. 1123. 
M U T 
lie be the fame perfon, and of all other pleas which he 
might have pleaded if he had not ftood mute. 2. When 
he pleads not direCtly, or will not put himfelf upon the 
inqueft to be tried. If he be found to be obftinately 
mute, then, if it be 011 an indiftment of high treafon, it 
is clearly fettled that Handing mute is equivalent to a 
conviction, and he ftiall receive the fame judgment and 
execution. So likewife, in petty larceny, and in all mif- 
demeanors, Handing mute is equivalent to conviction. 
But in appeals or indictments for other felonies, or petit 
treafon, it was the cuftom till of late not to conlider him 
convi&ed, fo as to pais judgment for the felony; but for 
bis obftinacy be was to receive the terrible fentence of 
penance, or peine forte et dure. Before this was pro¬ 
nounced, the prifoner was allowed not only trinci admo~ 
nitio, but alfo a convenient refpite for a few hours, 
and the fentence was diftimtly read to him, that he 
might know his danger; and, after all, if he continued 
obttinate, and his offence was clergyable, lie was allowed 
the benefit of his clergy, even though he was too ftub'born 
to pray it. 
The judgment of penance for ftanding mute was as 
follows: That the prifoner be remanded to the prifon. 
from whence he came; and put into a low dark chamber, 
and there be laid on his back, on the bare floor, naked, 
unlefs where decency forbids; that there be placed upon 
his body as great a weight of iron as he could bear, and 
more; that he have no fuftenance, fave only on the fir ft 
day three morfels of the worft bread ; and on the iecond 
day three draughts of ftanding water, that“fhould be 
neareft to the prifon-door; and in this fituation this 
ihould be alternately his daily diet, till he died, or (as an¬ 
ciently the judgment ran) till he anfwered. Brit. iv. 22. 
Flat. i. 34. § 33. 
It has been doubted whether this punifhment fub- 
fifted at the common law, or was introduced in con- 
fequence of flat. Weft. 1. 3 Ed. I. c. 12. which latter 
feems to be the better opinion. For not a word of it is 
mentioned in Glanvil or BraCton, or in any ancient 
author, cafe, or record, (that hath yet been produced,) 
previous to the reign of Edward I. but there are iri- 
ftances on record in the reign of Henry III. where per¬ 
fon s accufed of felony, and ftanding mute, were tried in 
a particular manner, by two fucceifive juries, and con¬ 
victed ; and it is affected by the judges in 8 Hen. IV. 
that by the common law, before the ftatute, ftanding 
mute on an appeal amounted to a conviction of the felony.- 
This ftatute of Edward I. direCts luch perions “as will 
not put themfelves upon inquefts of felonies, before the 
judges at the fuit of the king, to be put into (or rather 
fhall be fent back to) hard and ftrong prifon (J'oient mys , 
the beft copies read remys) en la prifone fort et dure, as 
thofe which refufe to be at the common law of the land.’* 
And immediately after this ftatute, the fc-nn of the 
judgment appears in Fleta and Britton to have been only 
a very ftrait confinement in prifon, with hardly any degree 
of fuftenance; but no weight is directed to be laid upon 
the hody, fo as to haften the death of the fuiferer: and 
indeed any furcharge of punifhment on perions adjudged 
to penance, fo as to fhorten their lives, is reckoned by 
Horne, in the Mirror, as a fpecies of criminal homicide. 
Min\ 9. It alfo clearly appears, by a record of 31 Ed. III. 
that the prifoner might then poftibly fubfift for forty 
days Under this lingering punifhment. It feems, there¬ 
fore, that the practice of loading him with weights, or 
as it was ufually called, preflbig him to death, was gra¬ 
dually introduced between 31 Ed. HI. and 8 Hen. IV. 
at which iaft period it firft appears upon our books; 
being intended as a fpecies of mercyjo the delinquent, 
by delivering him the fooner from his torment; and 
hence it feems alfo that the duration of the penance was 
then firft altered; and ihftead of continuingT^/ he an¬ 
fwered, it was directed to continue till he died, which mull 
very foon happen under an enormous prelfurc. 
5 O To, 
