674 



MORPETII-MORRISON. 



nation, and he was shortly afterwards elected 

 u Fellow. In 1783, he communicated n paper 

 on the Method of determining, from the REAL 

 Probabilities of Life, the Value of a Contingent 

 Reversion in which three Lives are involved in the 

 Survivorship. In 1791, another paper on the 

 same subject. In 1794, a further investigation of 

 the same. These papers comprised the solution 

 of seventeen different problems; and, in 1799, he 

 communicated the solution of seven more prob- 

 lems in which three lives are involved, in all of 

 which were also involved a contingency never 

 before accurately determined, namely, that of one 

 life failing after another in a given time. These 

 problems may be said to have exhausted the sub- 

 ject so far as it relates to contingencies on three 

 lives. The whole of these papers he afterwards 

 revised and repuhlished in the second edition of 

 his work on the Doctrine of Annuities, 1821. He 

 also communicated to the royal society a paper on 

 the Non-conducting power of a Vacuum. He 

 also published the following pamphlets: In 1792, 

 " A Review of Dr Price's Writings on the Sub- 

 jects of the Finances," &c. In 1796, "Facts ad- 

 dressed to the serious Attention of the People of 

 Creat Britain," followed by " Additional Facts." 

 In 1797, " An appeal to the People of Great Bri- 

 tain on the alarming State of the Public Finances." 

 In 1803, "A Comparative View of the Public 

 Finances from the beginning to the close of the 

 late Administration." In Rees's Cyclopaedia, he 

 wrote on Life Annuities, Chance, Funds, Interest. 



Mr Morgan's services, in connection with the 

 Equitable Society, were of great public importance 

 and utility. The Equitable Society was founded 

 in 1762, and although, in some respects, it pro- 

 ceeded on more scientific principles than any 

 society which had been previously established, 

 possessed but little claim to its title. Mr Morgan 

 was the first to give a perspicuous explanation of 

 the general principles of life assurance. By his 

 ability, integrity, and wisdom he guided this in- 

 stitution from one step of prosperity to another, 

 and raised it from comparative insignificance, con- 

 sisting, at the time of his appointment, in 1774, of 

 about 700 members, with a capital of only 

 33,800 stock in the three per cents., under re- 

 gulations which must ever have retained it in a 

 state of infancy and weakness, to its present mag- 

 nitude and importance, consisting of many thou 

 sand members, and possessed, in 1829, of a capital 

 exceeding .9,000,0(10, an income of nearly 

 800,000 per annum, and engaged in assurances 

 for the most part intended as a provision for the 

 surviving families of its members, to the amount 

 of upwards of 19,000,000. 



Mr Morgan's decease took place at Stamford 

 Hill, Middlesex, on the 4th of May, 1833, in the 

 eighty-third year of his age. He was a protestant 

 dissenter of the Unitarian school. 



MORPETH; a town of Northumberland, situ- 

 ated by the river Wansbeck on the line of the 

 great road from Edinburgh to London, about 

 fourteen miles north of Newcastle -upon-Tjne. 

 The town is of remote antiquity, and consists 

 principally of two streets, in the centre of which 

 is the market-place. The new county gaol, house 

 of correction, court-bon?e, &c., is a fine pile of 

 buildings, erected in IS'29, on the south side of 

 the river. The town-house was erected in 1714, 

 at the expense of the earl of Carlisle, in which the 

 manorial court is held, as well as the quarter ses- 



sions for the county ; it is built of hewn stone, 

 having u piazza ornamented with rustic work, and 

 the superstructure decorated with turrets. The 

 ruins of the ancient castle of Morpeth are situated 

 on an eminence, and consist only of some fragments 

 of the outer wall, and part of the gateway tower ; 

 at a short distance from this tower is a round 

 mound of earth, raised to a considerable height, 

 probably for the purpose of blockading the iort, 

 which appears to have been of great strength. 

 The largest cattle-market in the north of England 

 is held here weekly, and the whole of the counties 

 of Northumberland and Durham are supplied with 

 cattle from it. By far the larger portion of the 

 cattle sold here are brought from the southern 

 districts of Scotland. Hodgson, the historian of 

 Northumberland, says, " The privilege of holding 

 a weekly market here on Wednesday was first 

 granted to Roger de Merlay the second, by king 

 John, in 1199. The great cattle-market holden 

 here weekly on that day, probably grew, with the 

 trade on the Tyne and Wear, from very small 

 beginnings to its present consequence. Three 

 persons were fined at the Manor court, at Easter, 

 1656, for having sheep-pens considerably before 

 their doors." From the 13th of February, 1832 

 (when the new bridge built across the river Waris- 

 ber.k, at the southern approach to the town of 

 Morpeth, was opened,) to the 10th of February, 

 1833, the gross number which passed along the 

 bridge (at which a toll is taken) was 19,887 oxen, 

 and 189,091 sheep, &c. ; but although by far the 

 greatest number of the cattle sold here pass along 

 this bridge, this gives but an imperfect iti\ a of the 

 actual number sold, and does not include those 

 which go in other directions. The market is held 

 on Wednesday, and the number of persons in the 

 habit of attending it is very great, and composed 

 for the most part of butchers, farmers, cattle gra- 

 ziers, and jobbers, or cattle-dealers. Towards ten 

 o'clock, on the Tuesday evening, the preparations 

 for the ensuing day's market begin by persons set- 

 ting up the sheep-peris ; and at the earliest break 

 of the following day the market commences. The 

 scene of confusion which the town presents on the 

 mornings of Wednesday can scarcely be imagined. 

 The narrow street in which the market is princi- 

 pally held is lined on either side with sheep-pens ; 

 and the intermediate space is crowded with carts, 

 cattle, carriages, and all manner of persons. Mor- 

 peth formerly returned two members to parlia- 

 ment : by the reform bill, it returns only one. 

 Population in 1841 ; of the town, 3441; of the 

 parish, which includes seven other townships, 

 4237. 



MORRISON, ROBERT, D.D., F.R.S., M.R. A.S., 

 an eminent Chinese scholar and missionary, was 

 born at Morpeth, 5th Jan. 1782. His father, 

 a last and boot-tree maker, was a native of Perth- 

 shire, and he himself was brought up in the Pres- 

 byterian persuasion. In 1803, he was received as 

 a student or probationer into the dissenting 

 academy at Hoxton. There he continued till 

 May 28th, 1804, when he was accepted as a mis- 

 sionary, and was received under the patronage of 

 the London Missionary Society, who sent him to 

 their seminary at Gosport, to be educated for that 

 service, under the superintendence of the Rev. 

 David Bogue. He returned to London in the 

 summer of 1806; and, having chosen China as the 

 field of his missionary labours, he, the better to 

 qualify himself for them, obtained the assistance 



