MOONLIGHT SCHOOLS 



3942 



MOORS 



trailing herbs and shrubs. The moonflower is 

 known as a garden climber, being cultivated for 

 its beautiful white flowers, which are large and 

 sweet scented. These flowers open at night and 

 close in the morning. The vines may be 

 trained to grow to a height of about ten feet; 

 the broad, heart-shaped leaves afford protection 

 from the sun and make an excellent screen for 

 porches. See CONVOLVULUS. 



MOONLIGHT SCHOOLS. See SCHOOLS, sub- 

 title Special Schools. 



MOONSTONE, a whitish variety of feldspar 

 (which see). 



MOORE, moor, SIR JOHN (1761-1809), a Brit- 

 ish soldier whose heroic death will make him 

 long remembered. Born at Glasgow, Moore 

 entered the army as a lad of fifteen, serving 

 with marked distinction in campaigns in the 

 West Indies, Ireland, Holland and Egypt. In 

 1808, at the head of 10,000 men, he was sent to 

 reenforce the British command in the Spanish 

 Peninsula. His plan of campaign contemplated 

 a junction with the forces under General Ro- 

 mana, which was frustrated by the failure of 

 the Spanish commander to cooperate promptly. 

 At Salamanca word reached him that Madrid 

 had fallen and that Napoleon was marching 

 with a superior force to crush him. Forced to 

 retreat, he succeeded in reaching Coruna, after 

 a hurried march across desolate mountains in 

 the most inclement weather. Here, however, 

 Soult forced his exhausted command to give 

 battle. Moore was struck by a rifle ball, and 

 fell just as his troops were achieving victory. 

 The Reverend Charles Wolfe's poem on The 

 Burial of Sir John Moore, the opening lines of 

 which are here given, has helped to preserve 

 his memory: 



Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note, 

 As his corse to the rampart we hurried ; 



Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot 

 O'er the grave where our hero we buried. 



MOORE, THOMAS (1779-1852), an Irish poet 

 whose name is endeared to all people of his 

 own nationality by his Irish Melodies, which 

 stand as the best product of his genius as a 

 poet. He was born in Dublin, educated at 

 Trinity College, and in 1799 went to London to 

 study law, but soon showed his preference for 

 literature. In 1800 he published a translation 

 of Anacreon, the Prince of Wales accepting the 

 dedication of the poem. The Poetical Works 

 of the Late Thomas Little was his next ven- 

 ture, the name being suggested by his own 

 diminutive stature. He was appointed registrar 

 of the admiralty court in Bermuda in 1803, but 



tired of the monotonous life, and the next year, 

 after appointing a deputy, returned to Eng- 

 land by way of the United States and Canada. 



In 1807 he wrote the first of his Irish Melo- 

 dies, which appeal not only to the Irish nation 

 but to the whole Anglo-Saxon race. Lalla 

 Rookh, an Eastern romance in verse, was writ- 

 ten by the aid of books on Oriental themes". 

 It was published in 1817 and brought its author 

 $15,000, as well as the praise of the whole Eng- 

 lish-speaking world. In 1809 he went to Italy, 

 but returned to England in 1822 and spent his 

 last years in Wiltshire. His other works include 

 the Life of Sheridan, Life of Lord Byron, The 

 Epicurean, History of Ireland, and humorous 

 verses, The Fudge Family in Paris and Loves 

 of the Angels. His Song of the Canadian Boat- 

 men is a lyric that almost sings itself. 



MOORS, moorz, a name broadly applied to 

 all Mohammedans who speak Arabic and who 

 live in the Barbary states of North Africa. An 

 organized state e^cted in what is now Morocco 

 as early as 100 B. c. The Arabs overran this 

 country in the seventh and eighth centuries, 

 converting the inhabitants to the Moham- 

 medan religion by force of arms, after a long, 

 strenuous resistance. The Arabs crossed the 

 Mediterranean and passed through Spain into 

 France, where they were stopped at the Battle 

 of Tours in 732, by Charles Martel. They then 

 turned back into Spain, where, with thousands 

 of Moors who came later, they established a 

 powerful kingdom. During the time known as 

 the Dark Ages, while the rest of Europe seemed 

 buried in ignorance and warfare, the learning of 

 the past was preserved and science and art and 

 literature were developed by the Moors in Spain. 



Throughout all Europe during this time states 

 were beginning to form about powerful princes 

 who by military force could maintain advan- 

 tage. Such a prince was Ferdinand of Aragon 

 in Spain, who married the equally powerful Isa- 

 bella of Castile. Gradually the Moorish king- 

 dom had become limited to Granada, where the 

 Alhambra was their stronghold, and in 1492, 

 while Columbus was sailing westward towards 

 the New World, the armies of Ferdinand and 

 Isabella conquered Granada. Great numbers of 

 the Moors then returned to Northern Africa; 

 those who wished, however, could remain in 

 Spain by changing from the Mohammedan to. 

 the Christian religion. 



They were then called Moriscos by the Span- 

 iards, and any lapse to the old religion was pun- 

 ished with severity. The Inquisition was used 

 as a means of keeping the Moors true Roman 



