MORTUARY

In Law, a fee paid to the incumbent of a parish, by custom peculiar to some places, on the death of a parishioner. It appears to have been a very ancient usage to present the priest, on the solemnization of a funeral, with some personal chattel of the deceased, or a sum of money in lieu of it: under the various titles of pecunia sepulchral is, sedatium; in Saxon soWvsAo^, . It had become a legal custom as early as the reign of Henry III., when the reservation of a mortuary appears to have been e ential to the validity of a testament of chattels. The amount was fixed by 21 H. 8. c. 6. according to an ad valorem taxation of the goods of the deceased. Mortuaries (where due by custom) are recoverable in the ecclesiastical courts; and it should appear, since the statute, at common law; although such actions have not hitherto been brought. MORUS (Lat. the mulberry tree; Celtic mor, black), is a small genus of plants, containing some species valuable for their foliage, and others for their fruit. The latter is our mulberry tree, Morus ni^ra, whose well-known black juicy berries are a favourite autumn production; the former are M. alba, philip pens is, and others, which constitute the best of all food for silkworms. The latter are found occasionally in plantations; but they are too tender to bear our climate well, and cannot be usefully cultivated even in the midland country of England. MOSAIC, or MUSAIC. {Gr.fMviroiixov, polished,elegant; from imwo., as being7?we or ingeniotis?) In Painting, a species of representation of objects by means of very minute pieces of stones or pebbles of different colours, carefully Inlaid upon a ground generally of metal. In St. Peter's at Rome are to be seen some works of this sort on a magnificent scale. This art was practised at a very early period, and was reintroduced to Italy by the Byzantine Greeks. [s. 787]