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MOORE, THOMAS (1779-1852)

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 811 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MOORE, See also:THOMAS (1779-1852) , Irish poet, was See also:born in See also:Dublin on the 28th of May 1779. His See also:father was See also:John Moore, a prosperous See also:grocer and See also:wine See also:merchant, and his See also:mother's See also:maiden name was Anastasia Codd. In 1793 Tom Moore's name first appeared in See also:print, as a contributor of some verses " To Zelia," to a Dublin periodical, the Anthologia Hibernica. In the same See also:year See also:Roman See also:Catholic students began to be admitted to Trinity See also:College, Dublin, and in 1794 Moore's name was entered on the books, curiously enough, as a See also:Protestant. At Trinity he made See also:friends with See also:Robert See also:Emmet, and was nearly dragged into the plots of the See also:United Irishmen. The events of 1798 and the See also:execution of Emmet in 1803 made a deep impression on him. The words of Emmet's address to his See also:judges, asking the charity of silence—" Let no See also:man write my See also:epitaph "—are enshrined by Moore in one of his lyrics, "Oh, breathe not his name!" (Irish Melodies, 18o8). The next See also:song in the same collection—" When he who adores thee "—also owes its See also:inspiration to Emmet's See also:fate, and the conscientious Orientalism of Lalla Rookh does not conceal the pre-occupation of the writer with the United Irishmen when he writes of " The See also:Fire Worshippers," and with Emmet and Sarah See also:Curran when he describes the loves of Hafed and Hinda, especially in the well-known song, " She is far from the See also:Land where her See also:young See also:Hero sleeps." In 1798 Moore graduated, and in the next year See also:left for See also:England to keep his terms at the See also:Middle See also:Temple. He rapidly became a social success in See also:London. See also:Joseph See also:Atkinson, secretary in See also:Ireland to the See also:ordnance See also:board, had been attracted to Moore in Dublin at first by his gifts as a See also:singer. He now gave him an introduction to See also:Francis Rawdon-See also:Hastings; 2nd See also:earl of Moira, who invited him to his See also:country seat at Donington See also:Park, See also:Leicestershire. Here Moore became a frequent See also:guest.

He had brought with him from Ireland a See also:

translation of the Odes of See also:Anacreon, and the See also:prince of See also:Wales consented to have the See also:volume dedicated to him. It was issued in 1800 with notes and a See also:list of distinguished subscribers. His social successes involved him in expenses far beyond his means. His publisher had advanced him See also:money, and he resolved to pay his See also:debt by the See also:anonymous publication of his juvenile poems, The Poetical See also:Works of the See also:Late Thomas Little, Esq. (18o1), a collection of love poems which Moore afterwards regretted. Through See also:Lord Moira's See also:influence he was, in 1803, appointed registrar of the See also:admiralty See also:prize-See also:court at Bermuda. He went there to take See also:possession of the See also:post, but soon tired of the monotonous See also:life, and in 1804, after appointing a See also:deputy, returned to England by way of the United States and See also:Canada. In 18o6 he published Epistles, Odes and other Poems, chiefly dealing with his impressions of travel. The volume contained the " See also:Canadian See also:Boat Song " (" Faintly as tolls the evening See also:chime "), and some love poems of the same See also:kind as those connected with the name of " Mr Little." See also:Jeffrey made an unjustifiable onslaught on this collection in the See also:Edinburgh See also:Review for See also:July 18o6. Moore was in his view " the most licentious of See also:modern versifiers, and the most poetical of those who, in our See also:time, have devoted their talents to the See also:propagation of immorality," and the See also:book was a " public See also:nuisance." Moore challenged Jeffrey, and a See also:duel was arranged at See also:Chalk See also:Farm. The See also:police interrupted the proceedings. Jeffrey's See also:pistol was found to be unloaded, and the ludicrous affair ended in a fast friendship between them.

The success of the satirical epistles in the 18o6 volume encouraged Moore to produce further See also:

work of a similar kind, Corruption and Intolerance, Two Poems (18o8), and The Sceptic: a Philosophical See also:Satire (1809), but the heroic See also:couplet and the manner of See also:Pope did not suit his talents. At the end of 18o6 he went to Dublin, and, with the exception of about six months in 1807 spent at Donington Park, the next three years were spent in Ireland. Here he met See also:Miss See also:Elizabeth Dyke, an actress, who became his wife in See also:March 1811. They lived at first in London, but soon removed into the country, to Kegworth, near Lord Moira's seat, and then to Mayfield Cottage, near See also:Ashbourne, See also:Derbyshire. Moore had to spend much of his time in London, for the popularity of his songs led to an agreement with his publisher to increase the success of these by singing them himself at See also:great houses. The inception of his Irish Melodies See also:dates from 1807, and many of the best were written during the three years of his Irish visit. He had already published See also:separate songs, some of them set to See also:music of his own, when See also:William See also:Power suggested to him in 1807 the task of fitting words to a See also:series of Irish airs supplied by See also:Sir John See also:Stevenson. He could not have found a task more exactly suited to his See also:powers, and for a See also:quarter of a See also:century he enjoyed a See also:regular income of £500 a year from Power for See also:writing words to music. The first number of the Irish Melodies appeared in 18o8, and contained some of his best and most popular work. The See also:rest appeared between 18o8 and 1834. In 1816 Stevenson and Moore published Sacred Songs, followed by a second number in 1824. In 1818 they began to adapt melodies from other nations.

The first number of See also:

National Airs appeared in 1818, and was followed by others in 1820, 1822, 1826, and 1827. After 1812 he See also:broke ground in a new See also:field—See also:political See also:squib-writing. His first See also:butt was the prince See also:regent, once his friend and See also:patron, whose foibles, fatness, love for cutlets and curacoa, for aged mistresses and See also:practical jokes, were ridiculed with the lightest of See also:clever hands. His earlier political poems appeared in the See also:Morning See also:Chronicle, but in 1813 he published a thin volume of Intercepted Letters: The Twopenny Post Bag. Other volumes of squibs, most of which passed through several See also:editions, followed: The See also:World at See also:Westminster (1816), The Fudge See also:Family in See also:Paris (1818), The See also:Journal of a Member of the Pococurante Society (182o), Fables for the See also:Holy See also:Alliance (1823), Odes on See also:Cash, See also:Corn, Catholics, and other Matters (1828), The Fudge Family in England (1835). The only failure among his satirical writings was Tom See also:Crib's Memorial to See also:Congress (1819) for which he had made an elaborate study of thieves' argot. In 1814 he contracted with the See also:firm of See also:Longmans to See also:supply a metrical See also:romance on an Eastern subject, which should contain at least as many lines as See also:Scott's Rokeby, the publishers binding themselves to pay 3000 guineas on delivery. Moore had begun Lalla Rookh two years before. He was a careful and laborious writer, and retired to a cottage in the neighbourhood of Donington Park, where with the help of Lord Moira's library he read himself slowly into familiarity with Eastern scenery and See also:manners. He was already far advanced in his work when See also:Byron in The See also:Giaour and again in The See also:Bride of See also:Abydos largely forestalled him. The depression following on the See also:peace of 1815 deferred the publication of Lalla Rookh until 1817. It was an immediate success.

The Eastern See also:

local colouring which dazzled Moore's contemporaries has, however, faded, and the See also:interest still existing in the poem is chiefly due to the under-current of Irish patriotism which he cleverly worked into it. Immediately after the completion of Lalla Rookh, Moore removed with his family to Sloperton Cottage, See also:Wiltshire, where he was See also:close to Bowood, Lord See also:Lansdowne's country seat. Moore's plans were interrupted by the See also:embezzlement of some £6000 by the deputy he had left in Bermuda, for whose See also:default he was fully liable. To avoid a debtors' See also:prison Moore retired to the See also:Continent. He visited Byron in See also:Italy, and in See also:October 1819 received from him the first See also:part of the See also:Memoirs. The continuation was sent to Moore in Paris the next year, with Byron's See also:suggestion that the reversion of the MS. should be sold. Moore did not remain See also:long in Italy, but made his See also:home in Paris, where he was joined by his wife and See also:children. He was not able to return to England until 1822, when the Bermuda affair was compromised by a See also:payment through Longmans of £r000. Moore had had many offers of help, but preferred to be indebted to his publishers only. During his See also:exile he had written another See also:Oriental poem, The Loves of the Angels (1822), which was hardly less popular than Lalla Rookh. He now became a contributor of satirical See also:verse to The Times, the connexion lasting until 1827. He now wrote his Memoirs of the Life of See also:Sheridan, first contemplated in 1814, which appeared, after some delay, in 1825.

The Memoirs of See also:

Captain See also:Rock (1824), in which he gives ahumorous but convincing See also:account of See also:English misgovernment in Ireland, was the result of a tour with Lord Lansdowne in western Ireland. His See also:prose See also:tale, The Epicurean, appeared in 1827, and the Legendary See also:Ballads in 1830. In 1831 he completed his Life and See also:Death of Lord See also:Edward See also:Fitzgerald, probably his best piece of prose work. The death of Byron in 1824 raised the question of the publication of his Memoirs. Moore had parted with them in 1821 to John See also:Murray for £2000. After they had come into Murray's possession, Moore began to have doubts about the propriety of See also:publishing them, and an arrangement was therefore made that the £2000 should be regarded as a See also:loan, to be repaid during Byron's lifetime, and that the MS. should be retained as a See also:security. When Byron died the Memoirs were still unredeemed, and the right of publication therefore rested with Murray. Moore now borrowed the money from Longmans and induced Murray to give up his claim. The money was paid, and, after a heated discussion with Byron's executors, the MS. was burnt. It was partly the pressure of the debt thus contracted, and partly the expressed wish of Byron, that induced Moore to undertake for Murray The Letters and See also:Journals of Lord Byron, with Notices of his Life (183o). The difficult task was executed with great skill and tact, and it remains, with all its defects and omissions, a valuable See also:record. Moore's countrymen desired him to accept a seat in See also:parliament for See also:Limerick.

The offer was accompanied by a See also:

scheme to See also:present Moore with an See also:estate in the See also:county See also:worth boo a year. It was made through the poet Gerald See also:Griffin, who has left on record an account of the interview. Moore declined the See also:honour. In 183o he allowed himself to be See also:drawn into a project for writing a See also:History of Ireland (4 vols., 1835, 1837, 1840 and 1846) for See also:Lardner's Cyclopaedia. He hoped that by writing the history of Ireland he might arouse in his own country-men an interest in their past, and open the eyes of Englishmen to the misgovernment of the country. He had neither the See also:historical training nor the despatch in writing which enabled Scott to scribble off the See also:companion volumes on See also:Scotland, and the history sat like a nightmare on him, and was left unfinished on the See also:melancholy collapse of his powers in 1845. He had, however, the See also:temper of the student, and was always a voracious reader. Moore's last years were harassed by pecuniary difficulties, and by the weakness and misconduct of his sons, the See also:elder of whom retired from the English See also:army to enter the See also:foreign See also:legion of See also:France. After the death of his last See also:child in 1845, Moore became a See also:total See also:wreck, but he lived until the 25th of See also:February 1852. He left sufficient See also:provision for his wife in the See also:Diary which he kept chiefly on her behalf. His other works are, A See also:Letter to the Roman Catholics of Dublin (181o); A Melologue upon National Music (181I); an operetta, M.P. or The See also:Blue See also:Stocking (181 i) ; A Set of Glees (1827) ; The Summer Fete (1831); Evenings in See also:Greece (1826-1832); Travels of an Irish See also:Gentleman in See also:Search of a See also:Religion; See also:Alciphron, a Poem (1839). See Memoirs, Journal and See also:Correspondence of Thomas Moore (8 vols., 1853-1856), ed. by Lord John See also:Russell, which contains an immense quantity of See also:biographical material; The Poetical Works of Thomas Moore, Collected by Himself (to vols., 1840—1842); also Notes from the Letters of Thomas Moore to his Music Publisher, See also:James Power (1854); and Prose and Verse, Humorous, Satirical and Sentimental, by Thomas Moore, with suppressed passages from the Memoirs of Lord Byron (1878), which includes Moore's contributions to the Edinburgh Review (1814-1834).

Among modern editions of Moore's Poetical Works may be mentioned that by See also:

Charles See also:Kent (the See also:Centenary ed., 1879), and that by W. M. See also:Rossetti (188o). Memoirs of Moore are prefixed to these editions. There are many contemporary references to him, especially in the journals and letters of Byron. There is an excellent life, by See also:Stephen Gwynn, ThomasMoore (1905), written for the " English Men of Letters Series." See also monographs on'Moore, by G. Vallat (1886 and 1895), an See also:essay on him as the poet " of Irish opposition and revolt " in Georg See also:Brandes, See also:Main Currents in Nineteenth Century Literature (vol. iv., 1875; Eng. trans., 1905).

End of Article: MOORE, THOMAS (1779-1852)

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