THE CABINET OF IRISH LITERATURE. PERIOD A.D. 1800-1860. THOMAS MOORE. BORN 1780-DIED 1852. continued to write verses for The Anthologia, and afterwards for other publications. His sister's music-teacher taught him to play on the pianoforte; he learned Italian from a priest, and picked up French from an emigrant acquaintance. In 1798, Moore narrowly escaped being involved with Emmet and others in a charge of sedition. He, without doubt, sympathized with their cause, and anonymously wrote two articles, one a poem and the other a fiery letter in favour of the movement, for The Press—a revolutionary paper started towards the end of 1797 by Arthur O'Connor, Robert Emmet, and other chiefs of the United Irish conspiracy. His mother coming to know of it bound him by a solemn promise never again to contribute to The Press, so that, afterwards, when he was hauled up and examined, he owed his escape from danger to his having given heed to her warning voice. [Thomas Moore was born in Dublin, in the | in the little drawing-room over the shop. He year 1780, of humble but respectable parents, both of whom were Roman Catholics. His father, John Moore, was a grocer and keeper of a small wine store in Aungier Street, where his dwelling-house was over the shop. The usual date assigned for Moore's birth is 1779; but, although the latter date appears upon his tombstone, the baptismal register, which has been published by Earl Russell, is still in existence, and proves that he was born in 1780. To his mother's judicious home-training Moore was indebted for his future success in society. He was sent to school at an early age; first to a Mr. Malone, who was seldom sober, and would often whip the boys all round for disturbing his slumbers; then to the grammar-school of Mr. Samuel White, eminent as an elocutionist, but more widely known as the teacher of Richard Brinsley Sheridan and Thomas Moore. In 1794, Moore entered Trinity College, Dublin, with a view to study for law. His career there was more than an ordinary success, although, hating Latin hexameters, he often substituted English for Latin verse when he conveniently could do so. From his childhood, he had exhibited a genius for lyric verse and music; and two of his productions, dropped into the letter box of a Dublin magazine called The Anthologia, appeared in its pages bearing the initials "T. M." when he was only fourteen years of age. He was fond of recitation, and Mr. White's favourite show-scholar. His home life was a very happy one under the fostering care of his parents; and after he entered college, pieces were got up and acted by himself, his sister, and several young friends VOL. III. His father, having saved a little money, now left the counter, became a barrack-master in the army, and resolved to send his son to London to prosecute his law studies. In the same year-1798—which saw so many of his companions exiled or dead, Thomas Moore graduated as B.A., and, bidding adieu to his native city, set out for London, where, early in 1799, he entered as a student at the Middle Temple. He had already translated the Odes of Anacreon, and shortly after settling in London he arranged for their publication in a quarto volume: Lord Moira, the Duke of Bedford, the Marquis of Lansdowne, and the Prince of Wales became subscribers for this 43 muda, saying that it is "the most pleasing and exact" he knows. However, the volume was very severely handled by Jeffrey in The Edinburgh Review, on the score of its occasional questionable morality; and Moore, irritated, foolishly sent him a challenge. The affair was stopped on the ground by the police, and the would-be combatants afterwards became fast friends. Byron's sarcastic allusion to the duel work. To Lord Moira he owed his introduc- | for the accuracy of Moore's description of Bertion to this select circle, and the Prince of Wales permitted the dedication of the Odes to himself. His brilliant conversational powers, with his poetical and musical gifts, rendered him everywhere a welcome guest, and he was now plunged headlong into the vortex of London fashionable society. In 1801 he published a volume of "Poems" under the name of "The Late Thomas Little, Esq." These were full of indecencies, of which, however, he was after-stung Moore, and he also received a challenge; wards so heartily ashamed that he altogether excluded many of them from the collected edition of his poems. but, fortunately, matters were adjusted by mutual friends without a hostile meeting. In 1807 he began to publish The Irish Melodies, which were not completed till 1834. He furnished words and adapted the airs, while Sir John A. Stevenson was to provide the accompaniments. In 1808 he published anonymously two poems, Intolerance, and Corruption; and, in 1809, The Sceptic, none of which, however, were very successful. "A Letter to the Roman Catholics of Dublin" appeared in 1810. On Lady-day, in March, 1811, he married Miss Bessie Dyke, a native of Kilkenny, a charming and amiable young actress of considerable ability. She was very domestic in her tastes, and possessed much energy of character, tact, and judgment; while her personal appearance was such as to draw from Rogers the appellation of "the Psyche." Lord John Russell tells us that, "from the year of his marriage to the year of his death, his excellent and beautiful wife received from him the homage of a lover." In the autumn of 1811, M.P., or the Blue Stocking, a comic opera, was produced on the stage. For a time after his marriage he had been residing chiefly with Lord Moira, but in 1812 he took a cottage at Kegworth, so as still to be near his friend's residence; but, on Lord Moira going to India, he shortly afterwards left it for Mayfield Cottage, near Ashbourne, in Derbyshire. In 1803 Lord Moira procured him an appointment in the Court of Bermuda as Registrar of the Admiralty. He sailed on the 25th of September in the Phaeton frigate from Spithead, landing at Norfolk, Virginia, whence, after a stay of about ten days, he proceeded in a sloop of war to Bermuda. It was the beginning of 1804 when Moore reached the "still-vexed Bermoothes," and, knowing that it was an uncongenial post, he only remained there for a few months while arranging to have his duties performed by deputy. In his letters he described the scenery as beautiful, but his occupation, in examining witnesses in regard to captured vessels, &c., as not very poetical. He left Bermuda in April, resolved to see something of America before his return to England, and sailed to New York; from whence, after a short stay, he revisited Norfolk in Virginia, where Mr. Merry, the English minister, introduced him to President Jefferson-the man who drew up the Declaration of American Independence. From Norfolk he proceeded on a pleasure tour through the States; and, in his Odes and Epistles subsequently published, we have a series of poetical notes of his progress from place to place. At Philadelphia he formed some agreeable friendships. Visiting Canada, he saw Niagara Falls. Crossing the "fresh-water ocean" of Ontario, he sailed down the St. Lawrence to Montreal and Quebec, staying for a short time at each of these places. Of all his poetical records of this tour, none are so exquisitely lovely as the "Canadian Boat-song." His whole absence from England was only a period of fourteen months, and from what he saw, or rather from what he could not find there, of refinement in social life and the aroma of society, his pre-mined not to disappoint the trust placed in conceived ideas of republican government were considerably modified. In 1812 appeared The Intercepted Letters, or the Twopenny Post Bag, by Thomas Brown, the Younger. The wit, pungency, and playfulness of these satires, aimed at the Prince Regent and his ministers, made them immensely popular, and fourteen editions were called for in the course of one year. At this time, the Messrs. Longman arranged to give him three thousand guineas for a poetical work of which they had not seen a single line. Moore deter him, and, in his cottage in Derbyshire, studied oriental literature summer and winter; and, Odes and Epistles, to which we have alluded, in four years after his arrangement with the appeared in 1806. Capt. Basil Hall vouches | firm, Lalla Rookh was completed. National Airs, a volume of poems containing "Flow on, "I'm told, dear Moore, your lays are sung, In holiday mood, Moore, leaving his wife at Hornsey, accepted from Rogers the offer of a seat in his carriage, and set out, in 1817, for a visit to Paris. The Bourbon dynasty had just been restored; society was in a chaotic state, and Paris swarmed with English, whose ridiculous cockneyism and nonsense furnished him with materials for the letters entitled The Fudge Family in Paris, published in 1818, and consisting of a happy blending of the political squib and the social burlesque. This was succeeded, in 1819, by the publication of Tom Crib's Memorial to Congress. On his return he was urged by the Marquis of Lansdowne, his ever-constant friend, to come and live near him; and he, accordingly, took Sloperton Cottage, near Devizes and contiguous to his friend's beautiful demesne of Bowood, in Wiltshire. He had not been long settled in it, however, when intelligence reached him that the deputy whom he had appointed at Bermuda had absconded, and, by embezzlement, involved him in a debt of £6000 for which he was responsible. Friends at once offered pecuniary aid; but Moore resolved to help himself by his pen. To avoid arrest he was advised to visit the Continent till matters were arranged; so, in September, 1819, he set out with Lord John Russell to visit Switzerland and Italy. At Milan they met Lord Kinnaird, thence Lord John went to Genoa, and Moore proceeded to Venice to meet Lord Byron. At Rome, the two poets explored the works of ancient and modern art, under the personal guidance of men such as Canova, Chantrey, Turner, Lawrence, Jackson, and Eastlake. On returning from Rome to Paris, in January, 1820, he was there joined by his family, and settled down to literary work. During the nearly three years he lived in Paris, his life was precisely the same as when in England, one continual round of visiting amongst the English aristocracy and travellers who came there. At the same time he was busy on The Life of Sheridan, The Epicurean, Rhymes on the Road, The Loves of the Angels, &c., which were published at a later period. Moore was in seven different lodgings in, or near, Paris; but the dwelling which he liked best was a cottage belonging to their friends the Villamils, at La Butte Coaslin, near Sevres, which they occupied for some time. It reminded him of Sloperton, and he happily defined it by a quotation from Pope "A little cot with trees a row, And, like its master, very low." Here he used to wander in the park of St. Cloud, writing verses, planning chapters of The Epicurean, and closing the evening by practising duets with the lady of his Spanish friend, or listening to her guitar. Kenney, the dramatic writer, lived near them, and Washington Irving visited him there. At length, in 1822, he received a letter from Longmans informing him that the Bermuda defalcation had been arranged, and that he might now safely return to England. In the end of November, 1822, he returned to Sloperton Cottage; and, in 1823, published Rhymes for the Road, with Fables for the Holy Alliance, and Loves of the Angels, which he had written when in exile. In June of this year, his publishers placed £1000 to his credit from the sale of the last-named work, and £500 from the Fables for the Holy Alliance. At this time, too, he made a favourable arrangement regarding the copyright of The Irish Melodies. As early as 1797 Moore's attention had been called to Bunting's collection of Irish Melodies; and, at intervals, he had written words for some of them which he was accustomed to sing with great effect. In 1807, as we have stated, he began to publish these, receiving from Mr. Power £50 each, for the first two numbers. The songs were immensely and deservedly popular, and now, in 1823, Mr. Power agreed to pay Moore £500 a year, for a series of years, that he might have the exclusive right of publishing The Irish Melodies, the whole ten numbers of which were not completed till 1834, and are likely to prove the most lasting of all his works. |