60 



MOREAU. 



Arcadia, Napoli di Romania, Monembasia, Argo, 

 nnd Patras, are the principal. Among the ruins of 

 the ancient cities, those of Sparta, Mycen;, iind 

 Mantinea are the most interesting. The ancient 

 history of the peninsula is given in the article Pelo- 

 ponnesus ; the modern history, in the article Greece, 

 Revolution of. On the division of the Roman empire, 

 Greece formed a part of the Eastern empire, and llie 

 Morea was taken possession of by the Venetians, at. 

 the time of the decline of that empire. In the 

 middle of the fifteenth century, the Turks wrested 

 almost the whole of the peninsula from the Venetian 

 republic. Towards the end of the seventeenth cen- 

 tury, it was again recovered by Venice, and ceded 

 to it by the peace of Carlowitz, in 1699. It was 

 restored to Turkey in 1715. In 1770, Russia excited 

 an insurrection among the Moreots, which was sup- 

 pressed, and followed by the execution of a great 

 number of the insurgents. Besides the works refer- 

 red to, in the article on the revolution of Greece, 

 particularly Pouqueville's and Anderson's works, the 

 reader may consult Trent's Greece, in 1830, and 

 Leake's Travels in the Morea (3 vols., 8vo, 1830). 



MOREAU, JEAN MICHEL, the younger, born at 

 Paris, 1741, a scholar of Lelorrain, accompanied the 

 latter to St Petersburg, when he was chosen director 

 of the academy of arts in that city. Moreau went 

 with him as assistant, though he was then but seven- 

 teen. Two years after this, Lelorrain died, and 

 Moreau returned to Paris. Being entirely without 

 means, he abandoned painting, and, under Lebas, 

 devoted himself to the study of engraving; and, as 

 he drew with skill, he prepared the designs for his 

 plates himself. Moreau quickly established his fame. 

 He prepared engravings for the works of Homer, 

 Thucydides, Marcus Aurelius, Virgil, Juvenal, Ovid, 

 Corneille, Racine, Lafontaine, Regnard, Crebillon, 

 Rousseau, Montesquieu, Marmontel, Raynal, Mably, 

 Cresset, Barthelemy, Saint-Pierre, Voltaire, and Mo- 

 liere, to each of the two latter two different series of 

 engravings (making, together, more than 100 plates); 

 also sixty plates for Gessner'.s writings, eighty for the 

 New Testament, and 160 for the History of France. 

 The great variety of these subjects prove his exten- 

 sive information ; and Moreau might be considered 

 as a living encyclopaedia of arts. In 1 770, he was 

 commissioned to prepare all the drawings required 

 for the public festivities, and those of the court ; and 

 he commenced his duties with the sketches for the 

 celebration of the nuptials of the dauphin and the 

 other royal princes. In 1775, he published engrav- 

 ings, executed by himself, of his drawings for the 

 coronation of Louis XVI., and was made member of 

 the academy of painting, and draughtsman of the 

 royal cabinet. His aclivity is shown by the number 

 of his productions ; for, besides what he completed 

 as royal draughtsman, the number of drawings which 

 lie executed for engravings amounts to 2400. In 

 1784, he made a visit to Italy, which forms an epoch 

 in his opinions. and productions. All his works, 

 after that period, are freer and nobler. As late as 

 1810, lie enriched the exhibition of works of art with 

 two drawings, each of which contained more than 

 300 figures. His disinterestedness prevented him 

 from accumulating property. He died at Paris, 1814. 



MOREAU, JEAN VICTOR, one of the oldest and 

 most celebrated generals of the French republic, was 

 born at Morlaix, in Bretagne, in 1763. His father 

 destined him for the law ; but, led by his decided 

 predilection for the military profession, he fled from 

 his studies, and enlisted in a regiment, before he had 

 attained his eighteenth year. He was not, however, 

 suffered to indulge his ruling passion, but was obliged 

 to apply himself anew to the study of law at Rennes, 

 of which school he became provost. When the re- 



volution brcke out, he had acquired considerable 

 reputation ; nnd, in 1789, a general confederacy of 

 the Brelons being formed at Poictiers, he was chosen 

 its president, and also became commander of the first 

 battalion of volunteers, raised in the department of 

 Morbihan, at the head of which he joined the army 

 of the north. He subsequently favoured the party 

 of the Gironde, the fall ot which much affected him ; 

 and it was with great repugnance that he accepted 

 the constitution of 1793, when formally presented to 

 tiie army. In the mean time, he much distinguished 

 himself at the head of his battalion; and Pichegru, 

 under whom he served, did all he could to befriend 

 him. The same year, he was made general of bri- 

 gade, and, in 1794, general of division, and was in- 

 trusted with a separate force, to act in maritime 

 Flanders, where he took many towns. He also 

 had a share in the memorable winter campaign of 

 1794, in which he commanded the right wing of 

 Pichegrn's army. He was soon after named com- 

 mander-in-chief of the army of the Rhine, and 

 commenced that course of arduous operations which 

 terminated in the celebrated retreat, from the ex- 

 tremity of Germany to the French frontier, in the 

 face of a superior army, by which his skill as a 

 consummate tactician was so much exalted. Mean- 

 time, the republic was torn with intestine divisions, 

 and a conspiracy was entered into by Pichegru, 

 which it was the fortune of Moreau to discover, by 

 a correspondence which accidentally fell into his 

 possession. After struggling, for some time, with 

 his friendship for his old commander, he finally gave 

 up these documents to the directory ; but the evident 

 reluctance with which he took this step, excited sus- 

 picions at Paris, and, finding that he could sot ex- 

 plain himself satisfactorily, he begged leave to retire, 

 which was granted. His talents as a general again 

 brought him forward, and, in 1798, he was sei)L to 

 command the army of Italy, where, after some bril- 

 liant successes, he was obliged to give way to the 

 Russian force under Smvarrow, and he managed 

 another retreat with great skill. On quitting the 

 command in Italy for that on the Rhine, he visited 

 Paris, where he received some propositions to 

 strengthen the party of the declining directory, to 

 which he would not accede. On the return of Bona- 

 parte from Egypt, he at first cordially supported him; 

 but a coldness and jealousy ensued; notwithstanding 

 which the latter, as first consul, intrusted him with 

 the command of the armies of the Danube and the 

 Rhine. The passage of these rivers, with the battles 

 of Moskirch, Engen, Memmingen, Biberach, Hoch- 

 stadt, Nordlingen, and others, followed, ending with 

 the decisive victory of Hohenlinden, which induced 

 the Austrians to ask for peace. On his return to 

 Paris, he was received by the first consul with the 

 most nattering attention; and he soon after contracted 

 an alliance with a young lady of birth and fortune, 

 whose ambition, with that of her connexions, is sup- 

 posed to have fomented the discontent which soon 

 after induced him to retire to his estate at Groisbois. 

 He was finally accused of participation in the con- 

 spiracy of Pichegru and Georges, was brought to 

 trial, with fifty-four other persons, declared guilty 

 upon slight evidence, and sentenced to two years' 

 imprisonment, and to bear the expenses of the suit. 

 He was, however, allowed to travel, in lieu of im- 

 prisonment, and to seek an asylum in the United 

 States of America, on condition that he would not re- 

 turn to France without permission from the govern- 

 ment. He accordingly embarked at Cadiz, in 1805, 

 and safely reached America, where he bought a fine 

 estate, near Morrisville, on the Delaware. Here he 

 remained some years in peace, until, listening to the 

 invitation of the allies, and more especially of Russia, 



