841 



MORGAN, LADY. 



MORGHEN, RAPHAEL SANZIO. 



342 



appointed one of the Commissioners of Irish Fisheries, and his 

 Reports were remarkable for clearness and accuracy. ' The Book 

 without a Name,' 2 vols. 8vo, published in 1841, is a collection of essays 

 and sketches by himself and Lady Morgan, partly new, and partly 

 consisting of stray pieces which had appeared in different periodicals 

 daring the previous ten or fifteen years. He died August 2Sth, 1843. 

 He signed his name Sir T. Charles Morgan, and is generally known as 

 Sir Charles Morgan. 



MORGAN, LADY. Miss SIDNEY OWEJJSOX was born about 1786 

 in Dublin, where her father was a performer at the Theatre Royal, a 

 writer of songs, and a composer of music for them. She was the 

 eldest daughter, and the late Lady Clarke was her sister. She became 

 an authoress at a very early age, having published, it is stated, a 

 volume of poems at the age of fourteen. In 1804 she published her 

 first novel 'St. Clair, or The Heiress of Desmond,' 2 vols. 12mo, 

 London, and in 1805, 'The Novice of St. Dominick,' 4 vols. 12mo. 

 In 1805 she resided for a time in the western part of the province of 

 Connaught, and soon afterwards ma<1e a short tour in England, where, 

 as she state?, the terms of reproach in which her country was spoken 

 of induced her to give a sketch of the condition and manners of the 

 inhabitants of that part of Ireland where she had been residing. This 

 she thought it best to do in the form of a narrative, and the ' Wild 

 Irish Girl, a National Tale,' 3 vols. 12mo, 1806, was produced, which not 

 only obtained an extraordinary degree of popularity, but introduced 

 her to the society of persons of rank and fortune. She also published 

 a collection of Irish Melodies which she had obtained from the singing 

 of the natives of Connaught In 1S07 she published 'Patriotic 

 Sketches in Ireland,' 2 vol. 12mo, which was the result of another 

 visit to Connaught in 1806. The applause which she received seems 

 to have stimulated her to great activity of mind, for in 1807 she also 

 published ' The Lay of an IrMi Harp, or Metrical Fragments," 8vo, 

 and produced ' The First Attempt, or The Whim of a Moment,' a 

 comic opera, which was acted for the first time, March 4, 1807, at 

 the Theatre Royal, Dublin, and was very successful. She does not 

 seem to have made a second dramatic attempt, notwithstanding the 

 favourable reception of the first. In 1809 she published 'Woman, 

 or Ida of Athens,' a novel, 4 vols. 12mo, which was treated with 

 brief severity in the first volume of the 'Quarterly Review.' In 1811 

 appeared ' The Missionary, an Indian Tale,' 3 vols. 12mo. Sir T. 

 Charles Morgan, while on a visit to the Marquis of Abercorn at his 

 seat, I'aronV Court, in the county of Tyrone, formed an acquaintance 

 with Miss Owenson, and married her in 1812. In 1814 Lady Morgan 

 published 'O'Uonnel, a National Tal,' 3 vols. 12mo; and in 1816 

 'Florence M'Cnrthy, a National Talc,' 4 vols, 12mo. 



In 1816-17-18 Lady Morgan visited France, and resided in the 



capital, where she was on terms of intercourse with the beit society. 



The result of this residence was the publication of her work entitled 



France,' 4to, and 2 vols. 8vo, 1817-18, which is chiefly a description 



of Paris and of Parisian society, intermixed with sketches of the 



ictnery and inhabitants of the vicinity. From France Lady Morgan 



proceeded to Italy, through which she journeyed in 1819-20, and in 



1821 published her ' Italy,' 3 vols. crown 8vo. This work is properly 



a book of travels composed from her journals. Having crossed over 



Mount CenU she descended into Piedmont. After residing some time 



in Turin, the passes through Lombardy, describes Milan and other 



places, and then proceeds successively to Genoa, Piacenza, Parma, 



Modena, Bologna, Florence, Rome, Naples, and Venice. This work 



it mostly occupied with the manners and customs of the inhabitants, 



the decorations of the cathe Irals and churches, and the religious and 



other ceremonies and shows which she witnessed. ' The Life and 



Times of Salvador Rosa,' 2 vols., 8vo, a sort of biographical romance, 



or romantic biography, was published in 1823. Anew edition of 



it was published in 1855, as one of the volumes of a new edition 



of her works. In 1825 she published a work on the evils of 



' Absenteeism, ' to Ireland. ' The O'Briens and O'Flahertys,' 4 vols. 



p<vt 8vo, another picture of Irish manners, appeared in 1827. 



In 1829-30 she again resided in France, and produced 'France in 



1829-30,' 2 vols.. 8vo ; ' The Book of the Boudoir,' 2 vol., post 8vo ; 



and 'Dramatic Scenes from Real Life,' 2 vols., post 8vo. In 1833-34 



she visited Belgium, and produced the ' Princess, or the B<Sguine,' 



8 vols., post Svo, 1835. Her next work was 'Woman and her 



Master,' 2 vols., Svo, 1840, a disquisition, historical and philosophical, 



on the state of subjection and humiliation in which woman lias been 



l:eld by her Master from the earliest times to the pre?ent, commencing 



with Adam and Kve, and proceeding through the periods of the 



patriarch age of thn Hebrews, the Jewish kingdoms, the Greek and 



Roman republics, and the Roman Empire till its extinction. Lady 



Morgan in this work appears as the advocate of her sex, contending 



that woman throughout the whole of this long extent of time, though 



condemned to unmerited obscurity, ignorance, and passive obedience, 



his been the chief agent in promoting the moral improvement of man, 



of which fact she exhibits numerous example!. ' Woman and her 



Master,' 2 voK, crown Svo, 1 855, forms the second of the series of the 



new edition of Lady Morgan's ' Works.' The Book without a Name,' 



i noticed under MORGAN, 8m THOMAS CHARLES. In 1846 Lady 



Morgan republished ' The Wild Irish Girl,' in Colburn's ' Standard 



Novels,' with a preface, in which, alluding to certain reproaches of 



her being hcr.jelf ' an absentee,' she says that the only territorial 



possession she ever had in Ireland was a bed of mignonette in a 

 drawing-room balcony ; and that her removal was " at the desire of 

 one who had left his own great and happy country for the adoption 

 of hers, and for the sake of that cause to which for more than a 

 quarter of a century he devoted his time, his fortune, his talents, 

 and his prime of life. It was after the battle of Catholic Eman- 

 cipation had been fought and won, and the great league formed 

 for its consummation had been broken up and dispersed, that he 

 became desirous to return ' to die at home at last ' (alas) ; and 

 where ho placed his solitary survivor she hopes to pass the 

 scanty fragment of life still reserved to her, without reproach, 

 as without the consciousness of deserving it." Lady Morgan receives a 

 government pension of 3001. a-year, as a reward for her literary services. 

 One of her latest productions was a ' Letter to Cardinal Wiseman, in 

 answer to his Remarks on Lady Morgan's Statement regarding St. 

 Peter's Chair," Svo, 1851. In her work on 'Italy,' when describingthe 

 Festa di Cattedra, or Festival of the Chair, in St. Peter's Cathedral, 

 at Rome, she stated in a foot-note that the French, when they were 

 in possession of Italy, had taken the liberty of examining the so- 

 named chair of St. Peter, and had found on it an inscription in 

 Arabic characters, which with some difficulty they deciphered, and 

 ascertained to be the well-known confession of faith, "There is but ono 

 God, and Mahomet is his Prophet" They supposed that the chair 

 had been brought from the East iu the time of the Crusades, and 

 the meaning of the inscription being unknown, it had been placed 

 behind the high altar as the actual chair in which St. Peter was 

 accustomed to sit when instructing his converts. Lady Morgan in 

 this pamphlet states, with regard to the examination of the chair 

 and discovery of the inscription, that her informant was Baron 

 Denon, who told her that he and Champollion were present, aud 

 assisted in translating the inscription. 



Lady Morgan's early works (the works of an inexperienced girl), 

 romantic and rhapsodical as they are, afford proofs of that acuteness 

 of observation, sprightliness of remark, and freshness of feeling, 

 which distinguish her more matured productions. Her descriptions of 

 scenery, which are too often overcharged with poetical expressions, 

 are less pleasing than her exhibitions of character, manners, and 

 customs. In matters political and ecclesiastical, and others less 

 important, she is a decided liberal, sometimes indeed a radical, and 

 her thoughts and opinions are expressed with unrestrained freedom 

 and unflinching boldness. Her stylo of composition is elaborate aud 

 ornate, but never heavy or obscure, and is rarely without some- 

 thing of a musical flow. All her works, except perhaps two or three 

 of the earliest, had a very extensive circulation. 



MORGHEN, RAPHAEL SANZIO, Cavaliere, one of the most 

 celebrated engravers of recent times, was born at Florence, June 19, 

 1758. His father, Filippo Morghen, a native of Florence, was an 

 engraver, who had settled early in Naples, and married there the 

 daughter of Francesco Liani, court-painter to Charles III. By her ho 

 had several daughters and an only son, the subject of this notice. 

 Filippo must have made a visit with his wife to Florence some time 

 after his marriage, and before the birth of Raphael, as Florence was 

 his birthplace by his own account. _ 



Raphael Morghen was very early instructed by his father in the first 

 principles of his art, and he could engrave a tolerable plate as early as 

 his twelfth year. His first works were small landscapes and prints of 

 the neighbourhood of Naples, but his first engravings of consequenca 

 were seven plates from the masks of the carnival of 1778, the Pilgrim- 

 age of the Grand Signor to Mecca. This was a work of such extra- 

 ordinary merit for a youth of twenty, that his father deemed it right 

 that he should have the benefit of the best instruction that could be 

 procured, and sent him accordingly to the celebrated Volpato at 

 Rome, who gave him at first a print of E. Sadeler's, of Christ and 

 Mary Magdalen in the Garden, to copy. He engraved also about this 

 time Gavin Hamilton's allegoric figure of Painting, for the brothers 

 Hackert. In 1781 he engraved Raffaelle's allegoric figures of Poetry 

 and Theology, from the Vatican. In the same year he married Volpato's 

 only daughter Douienica; and assisted Volpato on his plate of the 

 Parnassus of Raffaelle, in the Stanze of the Vatican. In 1787 he 

 engraved the Aurora, painted in fresco by Guido for the garden-house 

 of the Palazzo Rospigliosi ; but this, though one of his principal works, 

 is not one of his best Though some of its parts are better, the Hours 

 around the chariot of the Sun are less graceful and less buoyant than 

 those in the print by Fry, executed long before it. The extremities, 

 especially the hands, are in both badly drawn, but those of Morghen's 

 print are inferior to Fry's, and the faces want regularity and beauty. 

 This plate however was retouched by the school of Volpato, and is 

 said to have been damaged. The impressions without the words ' In 

 Aedibus Rospiglioais,' and those taken before the retouch, are much 

 more valuable than any of those taken afterwards. In 1790 Morghen 

 visited Naples, and engraved a portrait of his father. The Neapolitan 

 court wished to persuade him to reside at Naples in 1792, and offered 

 the inducement of a salary of 600 ducats ; but Morghen accepted iu 

 preference an invitation from the Grand Duke of Tuscany to Florence, 

 and established himself there in 1793, with a salary of 400 scudi 

 and free apartments in the town, under the sole condition that he 

 should keep a public school ; with the privilege of engraving what he 

 might choose, and his prints remaining his own property. 



