418 M U T 
To account for the rife of this punilhment, it his beeil 
conjeCtu red, that peine forte ct dure, “hard and violent 
punifliment,” was abbreviated and corrupted from prij’one 
forte et dure, “ clofe and llrait confinement;” or that 
prifone , the old French law-term, was at length corrupted 
into preffing; fo that a man, inftead of being “clofely 
imprifoned” till he died, was to be “ clofely prefled” 
between the bare ground and a large weight. At any 
rate, the uncertainty of the origin of this horrid punifli¬ 
ment, and the doubts that were conceived of its legality, 
and the repugnance of its theory (for it rarely was carried 
into practice) to the humanity of the laws of England, 
all concurred to require a legillative abolition of this 
procefs, and a reftitution of the ancient common law ; 
whereby the ftanding mute in felony, as well as in trea- 
fon and in trefpafs, amounted to a confelfion of the charge. 
It is therefore enaCted by flat. 12 Geo. III. c. 20, that 
every perfon who, being arraigned for felony or piracy, 
lhall ftand mute or not anfwer directly to the offence, 
ffiall be taken to be convicted of the fame ; and the fame 
judgment and execution (with all their confequences in 
every refpeCt) fliall be thereupon awarded, as if the per- 
ibn had been convicted by verdiCt or confeflion of the 
crime. Standing mute, therefore, at prefent, in all cafes, 
amounts to a conftruCtive confeflion. 
To advife a priloner to ftand mute, is a high mifprifion, 
a contempt of the king’s court, and punilhable by fine 
and imprifonment. Jacob's Law Di£l. 
MUTE , J One that has no power of fpeech.—He that 
never hears a word fpoken, no wonder if he remain fpeech- 
lefs; as one mull do, who from an infant fliould be bred 
up amongft mutes, and have no teaching. Holder.—Mutes 
and dwarfs make their fortune in the grand fignior’s 
feraglio. The mutes ferve as executioners to take offper- 
i’ons of the firft rank. Chambers. 
Your mute I’ll be; 
When my tongue blabs, then let mine eyes not fee. 
Shahefpeare. 
A letter which without a vowel can make no found.— 
Grammarians note the eafy pronunciation of a mute before 
a liquid, which doth not therefore necefl'arily make the 
preceding vowel long. Holder s Elem. of Speech. —The 
mutes in the Greek alphabet are nine; three of which, 
viz. 7 t, y, t, are termed tenues; three, ( 3 , y, o, termed media;; 
and three, <p, %, 0 , termed aj'piratm. The mutes of the 
I.atin alphabet are alfo nine, viz. B, C, D, G, I, K, P, Q, T. 
They are called mutes, becaufe a liquid cannot be founded 
in the fame l'yllable before them, as rpo; but a mute may 
be pronounced in the fame fyllable before a liquid, 
as pro. 
To MUTE, v.n. [ mutir, F.] To dung as birds.—Mine 
eyes being open, the fparrows muted warm dung into 
mine eyes. Tob. ii. 10. 
I could not fright the crows. 
Or the leaft bird from muting on my head. B. Jonfon. 
MUTE,y! The dung of birds; 
An ancient obelifk 
Was rais’d by him, found out by Fifk; 
On which was written, not in words. 
But hieroglyphick mute of birds. 
Many rare pithy faws ! Iludibras. 
MUTEFERRI'RA, J. A body of horfe kept up in 
Egypt, in the fervice of the grand fignior; thefe, with 
the chaoufes, were originally the guards of the fultans 
of Egypt. This is a body of the greatell; dignity, and is 
exprelled by the word, which fignifies “ a chofen people.” 
MUTELLI'NA,/ in botany. See Phellandrum. 
MUTELY, ado. Silently; not vocally: 
Driving dumb filence from the portal door. 
Where he had mutely fat two years before. Milton. 
MUTENESS, /. Silence; averfion to fpeak.—Who 
knows not that the baihful mutenefs of a virgin may oft- 
M U T 
times hide all the unlivelinefs, and natural floth, which 
is really unfit for converfation ? Milton. 
MUTETGUNG', a river of New Jerfey, which runs 
into the Atlantic in lat. 39. 57. N. Ion. 74. 12. VV. 
MUTH'EL (Johann-Godfried), a German mufician 
fettled at Riga, who, though but little known in his 
own country, was a mufician of great abilities both as 
a compofer and performer. He was a difciple of Sebaftian 
Bach, and had refided fome time at Schwerin before he 
went to Riga. When a ftudent at Leipfic, he vanquiftied 
all the difficulties to be found in the leffons and organ- 
pieces of his mafter and of Handel; then he feems to 
have made Emanuel Bach his model of compolition. 
The firft of Muthel’s works that we can trace were 
Odes, printed at Hamburgh in 1759; the reft, which are 
all for the harpfichord, appeared in the following order; 
Three Sonatas and two Airs, with twelve Variations; 
Nuremberg, 1760. Two Concertos, printed by Hart- 
knock, Riga and Mittau, 1767. Duetto for two Clavi¬ 
chords, two Harpficords, or two Piano-fortes, printed by 
Hartknock, Riga, 1771. 
Though the ftyle of this compofer refembles that of 
Emanuel Bach more than any other, the paflages are en¬ 
tirely his own, and refieCt as much honour on his head 
as his hand. Indeed his productions abound with dif¬ 
ficulties, which to common hearers, as well as common 
players, mull, thirty years ago, have appeared too ftudied 
and elaborate ; for even his accompaniments are fo charged 
as to require performers for each inftrument of equal 
abilities to his own. 
We think Miithel much inferior to Emanuel Bach in 
grace ; but fuperior to him in the folo parts given to the 
harpfichord, in which there are many common and un¬ 
meaning divifions ; but in no one of Muthel’s folo parts 
in his concertos is there a fingle common or vulgar paflage 
to be found. He is, we believe, the firft who wrote ap- 
poggiaturas in large notes, the exaCt length they fliould 
be played. If not the firft who ufed the double dot 
in Germany, he was, at leaft, the fecond after Emanuel 
Bach. Dr. Burney ufed it in 1760 in a book of leflbns, 
before he had leen the productions of either. 
Muthel’s works are become very fcarce, and, ®n account 
of their difficulty, were never much known. The Duet 
is ftill a curious compolition, manifefting a powerful hand, 
great fertility of invention, and a talte and refinement 
unknown, at the time, to all Europe, except to the Bach 
fchool. Burney, vol. iii. 
MUTHILL, a town of Scotland, in the county of 
Perth, containing about 140 houles, and in the whole 
parifli 2880 fouls : two miles fouth of Crieff. 
MUTII'LABBEN, f. [from the Heb. fignifying to 
move the heart.] A kind of mufical inftrument. 
MUTIA'NO (Girolamo), a diltinguiffied painter, was 
born in 1528, of an ancient family, at Aquafredda in the 
territory of Brefcia. After acquiring the principles of 
painting under Romanino at Brefcia, he went to Venice 
and Rome, where he perfected himfelf by ltudying the 
works of the great mailers, and made himfelf known as an 
artift. He was employed by cardinal d’Efte in embellifn- 
ing his villas, and by pope Gregory XIII. in, works for 
St. Peter’s and the gallery of the Vatican. His manner 
of defign is grand ; his colouring good, both in frefco and. 
in oil; and his heads expreffive and graceful. Though a 
ftudent of the antique, he was alfo one of nature; and 
had a particular talent for landfcape, with which his pic¬ 
tures are often richly decorated. He touched his trees 
fomewhat in the Flemiffi ftyle with fine efteCl; and was 
particularly fond of introducing the chefnut, which he 
reckoned the moft piCturefque of trees in the difpolition 
of its branches. Mutiano married and fettled at Rome, 
where he acquired general elteem, and accumulated 
coniiderabie property. A part of this he employed in 
the eftablilhment of the Academy of Painting, named 
“ St. Luke’s,” which was founded by Gregory XIII. at 
his folicitation. He died in 1590, at the age of lixty-two. 
Tim 
