Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Moore, Edward (1712-1757)
MOORE, EDWARD (1712–1757), fabulist and dramatist, born at Abingdon, Berkshire, on 22 March 1711–12, was third son of Thomas Moore, M.A., dissenting minister, of Abingdon, by Mary, daughter of Thomas Alder of Drayton in the same county, and grandson of the Rev. John Moore, curate of Holnest, Dorset, one of 'the ejected.' Having lost his father when he was about ten years old, he was brought up by his uncle, John Moore, a schoolmaster at Bridgwater, Somerset. He also spent some time at a school in East Orchard, Dorset, and was then apprenticed to a linendraper in London, where (after some years spent in Ireland as a factor) he eventually set up in business on his own account, and, not succeeding, turned to literature as a last resource. His 'Fables for the Female Sex' (London, 1744, 8vo) have an excellent moral turn, but are somewhat deficient in the sprightliness which is especially demanded in that species of composition. The three last and best were contributed by Henry Brooke [cf. Brooke, Henry, 1703?–1783]. Brooke also wrote the prologue to Moore's first comedy, 'The Foundling,' produced at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, on 13 Feb. 1747-8, and damned with faint praise. At Drury Lane also on 2 Feb. 1751 was produced his second play, 'Gil Bias,' founded on the story of Aurora in Le Sage's romance, which, though ill received, was kept on the boards for nine nights. His domestic tragedy, 'The Gamester,' produced at the same theatre on 7 Feb. 1753, though it set tradition at nought by being written in prose, was on the whole a success. The prologue and some of the most admired passages, including the greater part of the scene between Lewson and Stukely in the fourth act, were written by Garrick, who played the principal part. The piece ran with applause for eleven nights, and has since kept the stage. Moore found patrons in George, first lord Lyttelton of Frankley [q. v.], and Henry Pelham [q. v.] His ingenious poem, 'The Trial of Selim the Persian,' published in 1748, is a covert panegyric upon the former. A fine ode on the death of the latter (1754), which in six weeks went through four editions, has been ascribed to Moore (cf. Brit. Mus. Cat.}, but was written by Garrick. Another ode, in praise of Pelham, which holds the place of honour in the collective edition of Moore's 'Poems, Fables, and Plays,' London, 1756, 4to, is in the same stanza, and probably by the same hand.
Through Lyttelton's influence Moore was appointed in 1753 editor of 'The World,' a weekly periodical started in that year, and devoted to satirising the vices and follies of fashionable society. With the exception of Moore, who under the nom de guerre of Adam FitzAdam wrote sixty-one out of 210 numbers, the contributors were men of fashion (they included Lords Lyttelton, Bath, and Chesterfield, Soame Jenyns, Horace Walpole, and Edward Lovibond [q. v.]), and Moore was permitted to take the entire profits of the venture. The circulation averaged from two thousand to three thousand copies. After a course of four years 'The World' was brought to a close with an announcement of the dangerous illness of the editor, and by a curious coincidence Moore, who was then in good health, barely survived the revision of the collective edition, dying at his house in South Lambeth on 1 March 1757. He died, as he had lived, in poverty, and was buried in the South Lambeth parish graveyard, near High Street, without even a stone to mark the spot. Moore married, on 10 Aug. 1749, Jenny, daughter of Hamilton, table-decker to the princesses, who survived him. By her he had an only son, Edward, who was educated and pensioned by Lord Chesterfield, entered the naval service, and died at sea in 1773.
Besides the collective edition of Moore's 'Poems, Fables, and Plays' mentioned above, a separate edition of his 'Dramatic Works' was published at London in 1788, 8vo, and the latter have since been reprinted from time to time in the principal collections of English dramatic literature. ‘The Foundling’ has been translated into French, and ‘The Gamester’ into French, German, and Dutch. The ‘Fables and Poems’ are included in the collections of English poetry edited by Anderson, 1793–1807; Park, 1808; Chalmers, 1810; and Davenport, 1822. Separate reprints of the ‘Fables’ appeared at London in 1768, 8vo; 1770, 12mo; 1771, 12mo; 1783, 8vo; 1786, 12mo; 1795, 24mo; 1799, 8vo; 1806, 12mo. A joint edition of ‘Fables by John Gay and Edward Moore’ appeared at Paris in 1802, 12mo. The ‘Fables’ have also been translated into German. ‘The World’ appeared in collective form at London in 1757, 2 vols. fol. and 6 vols. 12mo, and in 1761 4 vols. 8vo; reprinted in 1772, 8vo, 1793, 8vo, and in 1794, 24mo. It is also included in the series of ‘British Essayists’ edited by Ferguson and Chalmers in 1823, and by Robert Lynam [q. v.] in 1827. A portrait of Moore by T. Worlidge belongs to Dr. Edward Hamilton. It was engraved by Neagle, and prefixed to the 1788 edition of his ‘Dramatic Works.’
[Lives by Anderson and Chalmers; Calamy's Continuation, 1727, p. 412; Boswell's Johnson, ed. Birkbeck Hill, i. 202 n., 257, 269, iii. 424 n.; Notes and Queries, 1st ser. p. 428; Davies's Memoirs of David Garrick, i. 176; Fitzgerald's Life of Garrick, 1868; Murphy's Life of Garrick, 1801; Chesterfield's Letters, ed. Lord Mahon, v. 241; Phillimore's Life of George, Lord Lyttelton, i. 260, 326, 328; Genest's English Stage, iv. 237, 321, 359; Gent. Mag. 1748 pp. 114–15, 1749 p. 380, 1751 pp. 74–8, 1753 pp. 59–61; Scots Mag. 1757, p. 111; Horace Walpole's Letters, ed. Cunningham, i. p. lxvii; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. ii. 320, vi. 458, ix. 497; Coxe's Pelham, ii. 305; Bromley's Engraved Portraits, p. 292; Gifford's Baviad and Mæviad; Rose's Biog. Dict.; Baker's Biog. Dram.]