Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/822

804: MOORE MOORS mance had occurred to him several years pre- vious, and at the time of making the contract much of the preliminary reading and a portion of the poem were already completed. Two more years of labor produced his " Lalla Rookh," the most elaborate of his works (1817), a series of four eastern stories, connected by a thread of prose. This poem has passed through number- less editions, and has been translated into Per- sian. After its publication the poet accompanied Rogers to Paris, where he obtained the mate- rials for his "Fudge Family in Paris" (1818), which was succeeded in 1819 by "Tom Crib's Memorial to Congress." About this time, at the request of the marquis of Lansdowne, he took up his residence at Sloperton cottage, near Bowood, Wiltshire, the seat of that no- bleman. Having become involved, through his agent in Bermuda, in liabilities amounting to 6,000, in September, 1819, he went to Paris to avoid arrest, declining many offers of assistance. Soon after he accompanied Lord John Russell to Italy, and visited Byron at Venice. His impressions of travel were re- corded in his "Rhymes on the Road," pub- lished with the " Fables for the Holy Alliance " in 1823. Establishing himself in Paris in 1820, he sent for his family and resumed his literary pursuits. In 1822, after negotiation, the claim against him was reduced to 1,000 guineas, toward the discharge of which the uncle of his agent contributed 300, while the marquis of Lansdowne lent Moore the balance ; and he returned to Wiltshire. His " Loves of the Angels " appeared in 1823, the " Life of Sheridan" in 1825, and "The Epicurean," a prose fiction, in 1829. His most important prose work was his "Notices of the Life of Lord Byron " (2 vols. 4to, 1830), founded on the journals and memorandum books of the poet, and a mass of correspondence furnished by the publisher Murray and others. Ten years before Byron had intrusted to Moore an autobiography extending to 1820, to be pub- lishe'd after his death, which Moore in 1821 disposed of to Murray for 2,000. The sudden death of Byron in 1824 revealed the existence and projected publication of this manuscript, and Moore was persuaded into an arrangement by which it was repurchased from Murray and burned, on the ground that it contained dis- closures affecting the character of many per- sons, living and dead. The objectionable pas- sages, according to Lord John Russell, did not exceed three or four pages. With such mate- rials as were subsequently procured he com- piled a biography, for which he received from Murray 4,870. His remaining works com- prise "The Summer Fete" (1831), a poem; " Memoirs of Lord Edward Fitzgerald " (1831) ; " Travels of an Irish Gentleman in Search of a Religion" (1833); and the "History of Ire- land " (4 vols. 12mo, 1835), written for Lard- ner's " Cabinet Cyclopaedia." He wrote little else beyond an occasional trifle in verse for the periodicals, and the prefaces and a few addi- tions to a collected edition of his poetical works, published by the Longmans in 1840-'41, in 10 vols. His latter years were clouded by domestic grief, his children having all died be- fore him, and by mental imbecility caused by softening of the brain. In 1835 a literary pension of 300 was conferred upon him. His " Memoirs, Journal, and Correspondence " were sold for 3,000 to the Longmans, who published them in 8 vols. (1852-' 6), under the editorial supervision of Lord John Russell, in accordance with the testamentary desire of the poet. The journal embraces the period between 1818 and 1847. MOORE, Zephaniah Swift, an American clergy- man, born in Palmer, Mass., Nov. 20, 1770, died June 30, 1823. He graduated at Dart- mouth college in 1793, was principal of the Londonderry academy in !793-'4, entered the ministry, and preached at Leicester from 1798 to 1811, when he was appointed professor of languages in Dartmouth college. He was chosen president of Williams college in 1815, but failing to procure the removal of the in- stitution to the banks of the Connecticut, he resigned in 1821, and was chosen president of Amherst college. MOOR FOWL. See PTARMIGAN. MOORS (Lat. Mauri; Sp. Moros ; Dutch, Moors), the people of Mauritania or Morocco and adjoining parts. The Arabs who con- quered Mauritania in the 7th century con- verted to Mohammedanism the native popula- tion, who in Europe were still called Moors, though in their own language they called themselves Berbers, while by the Arabs they were termed Moghrebin, " men of the west." Arabic manners and customs, and in a corrupt form the Arabic language, soon prevailed in the country, the Arab conquerors freely amal- gamating with their converts, who far ex- ceeded them in numbers. In 711 an army drawn from this mixed population crossed the straits at Gibraltar, so named from their Arab leader, and began the conquest of the Spanish peninsula. The Spaniards and Portu- guese called these invaders Moors because they came from Mauritania, and the term Moors with them soon became synonymous with Mohammedans or Moslems, as the in- vaders designated themselves. The Spanish writers subsequently applied the term to all the Mohammedans of northern Africa ; and when, at the close of the 15th century, the Portuguese made their way around the cape of Good Hope and encountered the Arabs on the coasts of E. Africa and of S. Asia, they still called them Moors. Even the Turks, who in race, language, and everything but religion, were foreign and alien to both Moors and Arabs, were sometimes loosely spoken of as Moors by the Spanish historians. In 1246 Mohammed ibn Alahmar, king of Granada, became vassal of Ferdinand III. of Castile, and from this time the Moorish rule declined in Spain, until it received its death blow from