MOKE HEKRY. 



MORE, SIR 



N 



M aba had been with deep impression of the truth* of 

 UM Chrwtian religion, tbe life which *h DOW lad began to appear to 

 her M soewtMng unlike that which befitted a cremture with tuch 

 glorious prospect* before it M thoM which Christianity opens to man. 

 |M Oarafma determined on forsukiug the drama aod retiring from 

 LooHon to dToto herself to a Ufa befitting better, ilic thought, 

 U>. child of Ood aod heir of immortality. ID tliu her transitive itate 

 tb produced bar 'Saerad Drama*,' a publication more favourably 

 i ecv*d perhaps thao bar former work*. By the year 1786, when she 

 wu foil forty yean of age, ahe had effected her plan for retiring into 

 UM count ry. She choM the part of the kingdom, Gloucestershire nod 

 Somersetshire, in which aha bad been beat known in her youth, and 

 there the reatof her long life waa paaaed in circurnetances made eaiy 

 by the profita of her various publication*, which were considerable, 

 and in the enjoyment of the pleaaurea which arise from literary exer- 

 tion, and from effort* to raise the condition, by means of education, of 

 the labouring population. 



We cannot undertake to enumerate all the publications of Mrs. 

 More, in this the larger of tie two portions into which her life may 

 be divided. But we ahall mention the chief of them. The work in 

 which the atrioua turn which her mind bad taken first manifested 

 itself was her 'Thoughts on the Manners of the Great,' 17*8, which 

 waa followed in 1 791 by hi r ' Estimate of the Keligion of the Fashion- 

 able World.' In 1 7 1>9 appeared bar ' Stricture* on the Modern System 

 of Female Education.' Mot long after the appearance of this work 

 tliere waa an intention, which 1'orteus, then bishop of London, is 

 auppoaed to have greatly promoted, of committing to her tbo educa- 

 tion of the Prince** Charlotte of Wales. This however was not 

 effected, but it led to the publication of her ' Hints towards forming 

 the Character of a young Priccess,' 1605. Then came what Las per- 

 haps been her most popular work, ' Calebs in Search of a Wife,' very 

 < tit. ruining aa a novel, and full of shrewd remarks on men and 

 mann<n,and in which we find fully displayed the kind of character 

 which, to the mind of Mr. More, it appeared desirable that our young 

 countrywomen should possess. In 1811 her ' Practical Piety' appeared ; 

 in 1M2 her ' Christian Morals ; ' in 1815 her ' Essay on the Character 

 and Writings of Saint Paul.' We ought not to omit that she was 

 the writer of one of the first of what were called the ' Cheap Kepo- 

 ritory ' tracts. She called it ' The Shepherd of Suli.-bury Plain.' 

 It may be regarded as, if not the best, one of the best of its class. 



Age bad now come upon her with some of ita infirmities. In 1828 

 she left 1'arleywood, the place in which ninny years Lad been spent, 

 and took up her abode at Clifton. Here she* continued till her death 

 on the 7th of September li?33,,ith very mauy to honour her and 

 many also to love her; who looked up to her as cue of the gr.at 

 reformers of the manners of English society, one who liad asserted 

 very successfully the right of Christianity, or, in other words, the 

 right of the Christian scriptures, to have a larger share than it had 

 been the wont to allow them, in forming the character and directing 

 thr course of bumsn beings while in this sUta of their probation. 

 The Memoirs and Correspondence of Mrs. Hannah More, by \Yilluui 

 Roberts,' wen published in 4 vols. Svo, in 1834. A collected edition 

 of her works has been published in 11 vols. Svo. 



MOKE, HENRY, waa born at Qrantliam, in Lincolnshire, in tho 

 year 1614. Ha was sent to Eton, and afterwards to Christ's College, 

 Cambridge, which he entered at tho age of seventeen. At college he 

 devoted himself with great zeal to the study of philosophy. He says 

 himself, "I immersed myself over head and ears in the study of 

 philuaophy, promising a most wonderful happiness to myself in it" 

 Jh.wU.lied with all other systems, he found rest for his mind only 

 whan he came to the writings of Plato ; whence, aa he tells us, he 

 learnt that something better and higher thuu the knowledge of human 

 things constitutes the supremo happiness of man, and that this is 

 attainable only through that purity of mind and divine illumination 

 which raise him to a union with UoJ. 



More took his degree of B.A. in 1635, snd of M.A. in 1639. He 

 |.ul h.t.ed in 1640 hi* 'Psvchozoia, or the First Part of the Song of 

 UM Soul, eonUininK a CtiriatUnc-Platonical Display of Life ' which 

 waa rrprintad in 1647, aod, together with >oma additional pieces, 

 published under the title of ' Philosophical Poems.' He bad been 

 elected in the miaotima a fellow of Cbrut's College, and he continued 

 to reside tberr, performing the duties of a private tutor. His next 

 published work was the Conjectura Cabaliatica,' written, it is said, 

 at tba request of Lady Couway, a Quaker lady, with whom he had 

 fomxd an intimate friendship, and who at her death left him a legacy 

 of 40M. Ha refund in 1664 UM office of the mastership of his college, 

 when his fri. nd Cud worth was consequently elected. He refuted also 

 many offers of church preferment, limiting bis desires to a life of quiet 

 at Cambridge, nd to the pursuit of philosophy. He was ono of the 

 first fellows of the Koyal Society. He died in 16s7, in the seventy- 

 third vi ar of his age. 



Mora's chief works, in addition to those which have been men- 

 tioned, are "The Mystery of Iniquity." A Key to the Revelation*,' 

 Enchiridion Kthicum,' ' Enchiridion MsUphysicum,' 'AnApolovy for 

 DsMHta*/ and ' The Immortality of the Soul.' 



"Mora waa strongly under the bias of the opinion so common 

 among his contemporaries, that tbo wisdom of the Hebrews bad been 

 truunitted to Pjthsg. ras, aod from Liu to Plato; and consequently 



that the true principle* of divine philosophy were to be found in the 

 writings of the Platonist*. At the same time he wns |ntundnd that 

 tho ancient Cabalistic philosophy sprung from the same fountain, and 

 therefore endeavoured to lay open the mystery of this philosophy by 

 showing iu agreement with the doctrines of Pythagoras and Plato, 

 and pointing out tb corruptions which bad been introduced by the 

 modern CabalisU. The Cartesian system, which sprung up at this 

 time, was embraced by More, as on the whole oonsonaut to his ideas 

 of nature ; and he took much pains to prove that it was not incon- 

 sistent with the Cabalistic doctrine. His penetrating understanding 

 however discovered defects iu this new system, which he endeavoured 

 to supply. In short the u filings of this great man, though not without 

 a deep tincture of mysticism, ore eminently distinguished by profound 

 erudition, an inventive gtnius, and a liberal spirit." (Enfield'a ' Hist, 

 of Philosophy,' b. viiL, c. 8, s. 3.) 



MURE, SIR ANTONY. [Mono, ANTOSL] 



MORE, SIR THOMAS, born in Milk-street, London, iu 1480, wa 

 the son of Sir John More, one of tbe justices of the Court of Kinir's 

 1 tench. He was educated at St. Anthony's School in Thread i. 

 street, under Nicholas Hart, a person of some celebrity in his day ; 

 and about his fifteenth year was placed, according to the custom of 

 the times, in the house of Cardinal Motion, archbishop of Canterbury, 

 where be became known to Colet, dean of St. Paul'*, who used 

 "there was but one wit iu England, and that was young Thomas 

 More." In 14 97 More went to Oxford. He had rooms in St. Mary' 

 but carried on his studies at Canterbury College (afterwards Christ- 

 church). Here under Qrocyn he studied Greek, which WHS tli<u 

 publicly taught in the university, though not without great opposition. 

 During his residence at Oxford he first became acquainted with 

 Erasmus, who resided there during the greater part of 14i>" and 1498, 

 and formed an intimate friendship with More, which continued during 

 the whole of Ins life. It was also at Oxford that tbe greater number 

 of his English poems were composed, which, though deficient in 

 harmony and ease of versification, are spoken of by Ben Jonson as 

 some of the beat in the English language. 



After More left Oxford be prosecuted the study of the law, first at 

 New Inn, and afterwards at Lincoln's Inn, and soon acquired preat 

 celebrity for his leya! knowledge. He was appointed reader at 

 Furnivul's Inn, where he delivered lectures on tho law for three years; 

 and about the same time he also delivered lectures at St. Lawrence's 

 church in the Old Jewry, ou the work of St. Augustine, *I)e Civitate 

 Dei.' More was always fond of theology, and for some time thought 

 of taking orders ; but be finally relinquished this intention, and was 

 called to the bar, though at what time it uuc. rtnia. More appears 

 to hare soon acquired on extensive practice. He was appointed ono 

 of the under-sheriffs of London, which at that time was an office of 

 considerable importance, since tbe under-sheriff was judge of the 

 sheriff's court, which then possessed far greater jurisdiction than it 

 does at present. More was considered one of tho most eloquent 

 speakers of his day ; and his reputation became so great towards the 

 latter part of the reign of Henry VII., that it is said that there waa 

 no case of consequence before any court of law in which he was not 

 engaged as counsel. About the same time he was elected one of the 

 burgesses of parliament, in which he opposed a subsidy which had 

 been demanded by Henry VII. for the marriage of his eldest daughter. 

 In consequence of this opposition More incurred the displeasure of 

 Henry VII., a prince who never forgave an injury ; and hud not the 

 king died Boon afterwards, More had determined to leave the country. 



After the accession of Henry VIII., More was called upon to take a 

 still more active part in public affairs. In 1.M4 and 1515 he was sent, 

 iu conjunction with Tunstall, master of the rolls, and afterwards 

 bishop of Durham, to Bruges, on business of considerable import nice. 

 In 1610 be was made a privy-councillor, and received from Henry 

 marks of the greatest favour. So great a favourite had he become, 

 that the king used frequently to come to his bouse unexpectedly, and 

 spend the day with him. 



About this time More composed his ' History of Richard tho Third,' 

 and liis ' Utopia,' the work by which he is most known to modern 

 readers. The ' Utopia ' is written in very good Latin, and was pub- 

 lished first at Louvain in 1516, and afterwards at Basel iu 1518. The 

 object of thin work waa to delineate More's ideas of a perfect common- 

 wealth, which is placed in the imaginary island of Utopia. The society 

 which is supposed to exUt iu thin island is constructed ou the principle 

 that no one in the state shall have a right to separate property, nince 

 separate property in said to involve the unequal distribution of pro- 

 perty, and thus occasions great suffering to those who are obliged to 

 labour, and mental depravation to those who live on the labours of 

 other*. It is difficult to determine whether the opinions expressed in 

 the ' Utopia ' are to be considered as More's real sentiment*. 



In 1519 Mora resigned his ollicu of under sheriff, and in 1521 ha 

 was knighted, and made treasurer of the Exchequer. He was fre- 

 quently employed by Henry in various public missions to France and 

 the Netherlands; and he bitterly complains to Erasmus, in many of 

 bis letters, of being obliged to leave his friends and bis books to 

 discharge what were to him the moat disagreeable commissions. l>i 

 the parliament which met in 1523 More was cbo.tcn speaker, and in 

 the discharge of his dutiea he offended Wolsey, who endeavoured to 

 injure him in the king's opinion. Henry however btill continued 



