MORRIS MORTALITY. 



Olid successful pamphlet called Observations on the 

 American Revolution, which he published at the 

 beginning of 1779. We must refer to the journals 

 of congress for an account of his many and valuable 

 services, rendered in that body to the revolutionary 

 cause. In July, 1781, he accepted the post of assis- 

 tant superintendent of finance, as the colleague of 

 Robert Morris. He filled every office to which he 

 was called with characteristic zeal and ability. 

 After the war of the revolution, he embarked, with 

 Robert Morris, in mercantile enterprises. In 1785, 

 he published an Address to the Assembly of Penn- 

 sylvania on the Abolition of the Bank of North 

 America, in which he cogently argued against that 

 project. In December, 17S6, he purchased from his 

 brother the fine estate of Morrisania, and made it his 

 dwelling-place. Here he devoted himself to liberal 

 studies. In the following year, he served with dis- 

 tinction as a member of the convention for framing 

 the constitution of the United States. December 15, 

 1788, he sailed for France, where he was occupied 

 in selling lands and pursuing money speculations 

 until March, 1790, when he proceeded to London as 

 private agent of the American government with regard 

 to the conditions of the old treaty, and the inclina- 

 tion of the British cabinet to form a commercial treaty. 

 In November, 1790, he returned to Paris, having made 

 a tour in Germany. In the interval between this 

 period and the beginning of the year 1792, he passed 

 several times on public business between the British 

 and French capitals. February 6, 1792, he received 

 his appointment as minister plenipotentiary to France, 

 and was presented to the king, June 3. He held 

 this station with great eclat until October, 1794. 

 He witnessed the most interesting scenes of the 

 revolution in the capital, and maintained personal 

 intercourse with the conspicuous politicians of the 

 several parties. The abundant memorials which he 

 has left of his sojourn in France, and his travels on 

 the European continent, possess the highest interest 

 and much historical value. He made extensive 

 journeys after he ceased to be minister plenipoten- 

 tiary, of which he kept a full diary. In the autumn 

 of 1798, Mr Morris returned to the United States, 

 to engage in politics, with enhanced celebrity and a 

 large additional stock of political and literary know- 

 ledge. He was universally admitted to be one of the 

 most accomplished and prominent gentlemen of his 

 country. In 1800 he entered the senate of the United 

 States, where his eloquence and information made 

 him conspicuous. The two eulogies which he pro- 

 nounced one on general Washington, and the other 

 at the funeral of general Hamilton are specimens 

 of his rhetorical style. His delivery was excellent. 

 Mr Morris, at an early period, gave special and 

 sagacious attention to the project of that grand canal 

 by which the state of New York has been so much 

 honoured and benefited. In the summer of 1810, he 

 examined the canal route to lake Erie. The share 

 which he had in originating and promoting that 

 noble work, is stated in the regular history which 

 lias been published of its conception and progress. 

 In May, 1812, he pronounced a public and impressive 

 eulogium on the venerable George Clinton; in the same 

 year, an oration before the New York historical so- 

 ciety; in 1814, another on the restoration of the 

 Bourbons in France ; in 1816, a discourse before the 

 New York historical society. Mr Morris died at 

 Morrisania, November 5, 1816. He passed the 

 latter years of his life at Morrisania, exercising an 

 elegant and munificent hospitality, reviewing the 

 studies of his early days, and carrying on a very 

 interesting commerce of letters with statesmen and 

 literati in Europe and America. The activity of his 

 mind, the richness of his fancy, and the copiousness 



of his eloquent conversation, were the admiration of 

 all his acquaintance. A selection from his volumin- 

 ous and valuable papers, accompanied by a sketch of 

 his life, has been published by Mr Jared Sparks. 



MORRIS-DANCE (from Morisco, Moorish), sup- 

 posed to have been derived from the Moriscos in 

 Spain, was formerly danced at puppet-shows, May- 

 games, &c., in England. According to some 

 writers, it was introduced into England in the reign 

 of Edward III., when John of Gaunt returned from 

 Spain ; but it was more probably borrowed from 

 France or the Low countries. In the reigns of 

 Henry VII. and VIII., it was a principal feature in 

 the popular festivals. In the May-games of Robin 

 Hood, and the pageant of the Lord of Misrule, 

 morris-dancers formed an important part. The more 

 ancient May-game and morris consisted of the follow- 

 ing characters: Robin Hood, Little John, Friar Tuck, 

 Maid Marian, the queen or lady of the May, the fool, 

 the piper, and several dancers, variously habited. A 

 hobby-horse and a dragon were afterwards added. 

 In the reign of Henry VIII., the morris-dancers 

 were dressed in gilt leather and silver paper, and 

 sometimes in coats of white and spangled fustian. 

 Bells, to the number of thirty or forty, hung from 

 their garters, and purses were stuck in their girdles. 

 See Donee's Dissertation on the Ancient English 

 Morris-Dance, in vol. ii. of his Illustrations of Sliaks- 

 peare. 



MORSE. See Walrus. 



MORTALITY. The law of mortality is that 

 which determines the proportion of the number of 

 persons who die in any assigned period of life or 

 interval of age, out of a given number who enter 

 upon the same interval, and consequently the propor 

 tion of those who survive. Tables showing how 

 many out of a great number of children, as 10,000, or 

 100,000, born alive, die in each year of their age, 

 and consequently how many complete each year, and 

 exhibiting this law through the whole extent of life, 

 are called tables of mortality. The basis of such 

 calculations must be an accurate register of the num- 

 ber of births and deaths, and in the case of the latter, 

 at what ages, in a given district or extent of country. 

 In England, the bills of mortality, or abstracts from 

 parish registers, show the numbers who are born and 

 die in the different parishes ; and in other countries 

 similar mortuary registers are kept. The results 

 furnished by such tables are very various, and ot 

 great interest. If the registers are kept with suffi- 

 cient accuracy and minuteness, they would enable us 

 to determine the proportion of deaths, not only at 

 different ages, and in different regions, but at dif- 

 ferent seasons, in persons of different occupations and 

 habits, in towns, or the country, and would afford 

 valuable materials for the science of political econo- 

 my. Although much more attention lias been paid 

 to this subject in recent times, yet the observations 

 have not been so extensive nor so accurate as is 

 desirable. The first table of mortality was con- 

 structed by doctor Halley, from the mortuary regis- 

 ters of Breslau, for five years ending with 1691, and 

 was inserted in his paper on the subject in the 

 Philosophical Transactions for 1693, with many use- 

 ful observations on the purposes to which such tables 

 may be applied. In 1742, the celebrated work of 

 Sussmilch on this subject appeared under the title of 

 Diegottliche Ordnungin die f'eran derungen desmen- 

 tchlichen Geschlechts, &c. (2 vols.), of which a third 

 edition was published in 1775, with a supplementary 

 volume by Baumann. Since that period, many val- 

 uable works have been published on the subject, by 

 Deparcieux, Struyck, Birch, Muret, Messance, Price, 

 Krafft, Barton (American Phil. Soc., 1793), &c., and 

 registers have been kept more generally and with 



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