Mar. 3. 1855.] 



IfOTES AND QUERIES. 



157 



LONDON. SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 1865. 

 AKTHUB MOORE AND THE MOORES. 



I regret that no one has yet answered satisfac- 

 torily the inquiries of C. (Vol. x., p. 102.), who 

 asks for information about Arthur Moore. The 

 substance of what has been communicated amounts 

 to little, and was already known. I have resolved, 

 therefore, to throw together such notes as I have 

 made from time to time on the subject of these 

 Moores; although unable at the moment to fol- 

 low out their suggestions, or seek farther for 

 information. If your correspondent be not con- 

 tent in such doubtful questions with " secondary 

 evidence," let me hope that he will produce 

 evidence more direct ; and if he cannot see by my 

 " torch," he may thereat light his own, and I hope 

 help us to see farther. 



Of the antecedents of Arthur Moore, I know 

 nothing ; but if we put faith in the assertions of 

 the adverse faction, he was of very humble origin : 

 an Irishman born at Monoghan, the son of " the 

 jailer," — " the first and last of his family that 

 ever was upon record : " born, says another, " at 

 the paternal seat of his family — the tap-house at 

 the prison-gate :" and, as a third tells us, brought 

 up " a groom." Such assertions are, of course, to 

 be read with suspicion ; and I observe that Arthur 

 was a common name in the Drogheda family ; and 

 the Irish Peerage (1768) mentions that Arthur 

 Moore, one of the sons of the first Viscount 

 Moore, settled at Dunnoghan (very likely Mo- 

 naghan), and that his posterity still remain there. 

 Perhaps we ought only to infer that Arthur 

 Moore was what in popular phrase is called " the 

 architect of his own fortune." I first meet with 

 him in 1702, when he was elected one of the 

 Managers of "The United Trade to the East 

 Indies." In 1705 he was one of the Controllers 

 of the Army Accounts : and under the Tory 

 government of Queen Anne still a prosperous 

 gentleman — one of the Commissioners of Trade, 

 a Director of the South Sea Company, and M.P. 

 for Great Grimsby. 



It is probable, I think, that Moore was one of 

 the Commissioners of the South Sea Company 

 nominated on its establishment. This conjecture 

 is strengthened by many cotemporary hints and 

 assertions : 



" Next open to all a subscription-book stood, 

 In wliich, if some fools would not enter, 

 These statesmen not only proposed what was good, 

 But they likewise compelVd them to venture. 

 La, la, &c. 



" And such fair accounts the subscribers will see, 

 That surely there can be no loosing ; 

 For Shepherd and Blunt the Directors shall be, 



With More of her M y'& choosing. 



La, la," &c. 



The Whigs were clamorous against the South 

 Sea Company, and they generally associated 

 Moore's name with it : 



" Now trading will flourish, and tradesmen grow rich. 

 For the South Sea will do it, depend on't ; 



Or else A r M is a son of a b , 



Who makes us believe there's no end on't." 



It was generally believed too, or asserted, that 

 Moore was in some way associated with Prior — 

 " Plenipo-Rummer," as he is called — in carrying 

 on the secret negotiations with France, which led 

 to the Peace ; that Moore suggested the As- 

 siento Contract : and in one of the angry attacks 

 on him he is called " Don Artureo, le Compte 

 de Tariffe, Marquis d'Assiento." In another of 

 the cotemporary ballads we read : 



" Great treaties, like ours, must infallibly bear. 

 Since the persons employed are so able ; 

 Though one was a drawer, and t'other, some swear. 

 Was the politic groom of a stable." 



Again : 



"... a box is just landed by which we may find, 

 Our work done in France and Peru is ; 

 And the long-wish'd-for peace already is sign'd 

 Betwixt Arthur More and King Lewis." 



The following will throw farther light on the 

 subject, or on the opinion of the Whigs : 



" The South Sea trade goes on a-pace, 



We shall now grow rich of a sudden, 

 Tho' its all for the knight of the spurious race, 



Whom the Tories swear's a good one : 

 They've money now at St. Germain's store, 



Which Prior convey'd from Dover ; 

 As sure as a gun, 

 They'll bring in the son, 



And baffle the House of Hanover. 

 Tory, Rory, Tories, Jacks, St. George is the hero you honour. 



" There's Arthur Moor the jailer's son, 



Who we know was whelp'd in a manger, 

 And from the North of Ireland came, 



To preserve our Church from danger : 

 In Monnachon's town he was born and bred, 



And hir'd the ship for Prior; 

 But Gregg still the Great, 

 Bamboozles the State, 



And Sophia is never the nigher. 

 Tory, Roiy," &c. 



Gregg was the clerk in Harley's oflSce who was 

 hanged for betraying official secrets to the enemy. 

 The Whigs affected to believe that he was the 

 mere tool of Harley, and no doubt " Gregg the 

 Great" of the ballad was meant for the minister. 

 Moore's association with Prior in the secret nego- 

 tiations is constantly referred to ; but the hiring 

 the ship was, I suspect, the extent to which he 

 was engaged : for Macky, who was at that time 

 agent for the packets at Dover, having received 

 notice from Calais that an English gentleman had 

 arrived there "direct from the Thames," had 

 taken " post immediately for Paris," and that the 

 boat " waited his return," suspected naturally that 

 some treasonable projects were on foot, gave im- 



