Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/625

 MORERI

567

MORGAGNI

Mexico d travis de los sighs. III (Barcelona) ; AlamXn, Historia dc Mexico, I, II, III, IV (Mexico, 18S1); Zamacois, Historia de Mexico, VIII, IX (Mexico, 1879); Vebdia, Compendia de la His- toria de Mexico (Mexico, 1906) ; Le6n, Compendia de la Historia de Mexico (Mexico, 1902).

Camillus Crivelli.

Moreri, Louis, encyclopsedist, b. at Bargemont, in the Diocese of Fr^jus, France, 25 March, 1643; d. at Paris, 10 July, 1680. His grandfather, Joseph Chatranet, a native of Dijon, had settled in Provence under Charles IX and taken the name of the village of Moreri, the seigniory of which he had acquired through marriage. Young Moreri studied humani- ties at Draguignan, rhetoric at the Jesuit College of Aix and theology at Lyons. During his stay in this city, he published several works, among them "Pra- tique de la perfection chr^tienne et religieuse " (1667), a translation from the Spanish of Alphonso Rodriguez's work. After his ordination, he preached in Lyons for five years with great success. It was about that time that he formed the design of publishing a dictionary that would contain all the interesting data of history and mythology. In 1673 he was appointed chaplain to Gaiflard de Longjunieau, Bishop of Apt, to whom he dedicated the first edition of his encyclopedia. In 1675 he accompanied that prelate to Paris where he became acquainted with de Pomponne, who gave him employment in his offices, .\fter the downfall of that minister in 1678, he returned to his studies, but over- work had undermined his constitution and he died of consumption in 1680.

Moreri was a man of great erudition but lacked taste and judgment. His name is connected with a work that can hardly be considered as his own after all the changes which it has undergone. Bayle, who in- tended to make up the deficiencies of Moreri's diction- ary, said of it : "I share the opinion of Horace on those who lead the way. The first compilers of diction- aries made many errors; but they deserve a glory of which their successors ought never to deprive them. Moreri has given himself a great deal of trouble, has been useful to everybody, and has given sufficient information to many." Moreri's encyclopaedia ap- peared for the first time in Lyons in 1674, under the title: "Le grand Dictionnaire historique, ou melange curieux de I'histoire sacr^e et profane." It was de- fective in many respects and was greatly improved in later editions which appeared in Paris or Amsterdam. The best edition is the twentieth and last, published at Paris, in 1759.

P. J. Marique.

Moreto y Oabana, AuGUSxtN, Spanish drama- tist; b. at Madrid, 9 April, 1618; d. at Toledo, 28 October, 1669. He received what little academic training he had at the University of .41calii de Henares and graduated Licentiate in Arts in 1639. From a very early age he began to write for the stage, and it is known that from 1640, probably through his friend- ship with Calder6n, his plays began to be produced. The Spanish drama had reached the height of its success during Moreto's boyhood, and a gradual de- cline had set in. The clergy began to preach against plays as they were then given, and in 1644 the Royal Council instituted radical reforms by reducing the number of dramatic companies, modifying stage costumes, and establishing a strict censorship. It was furthermore ordered that thenceforth no come- dies were to be played but those of an historical nature, or those dealing with the lives of the saints. This accounts for the fact that, for a time, Moreto devoted himself to this kind of drama. Like many famous writers of his time, Moreto received Holy orders toward the end of his life, though it is not known exactly when he did so. He entered the household of the Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo, Don Baltasar de Moscoso, and in 1659 joined the Brotherhood of St. Peter.

In 1654 twelve of his plays were published in one volume under the title of " First Part of the Comedies of Moreto". Among them may be mentioned "El Undo Don Diego", "Los jueces de Castilla" dealing with the life of Peter the Cruel, "San Franco de Sena", and "Trampa Adelante".

As a writer, Moreto lacked the creative genius of some of his contemporaries, but he excelled them all in knowledge of stagecraft, in the power of coming quickly to the point in evolving his plots. He also ex- celled in the variety of his characters and in depicting human passions, while at character drawing he was a master surpassed by none. He handles a humorous situation with great delicacy of touch, and is at his best in comedies of the lighter and gayer sort. His best play "El de.sden con el desd(5n" (Disdain met with Disdain), published at Valencia in 1676, is bor- rowed from Lapo de Vega's " Milagros del desprecio" (Scorn works Wonders), and is generally conceded to be better than the original. Moliere, in his " Princesse d'Elide", tried to repeat Moreto's success, but fell far short of his model. The "Biblioteca de Autores Espanoles", XXXIX (Madrid, 1856), contains a collection of Moreto's plays with a biography of the author by Luis Ferndndez Guerra.

Consult, besides the above-mentioned life by Goerra, Tick- NOR, History of Spanish Lit. (Boston. 1S6G); Fitz.maurice-Kellt, History of Spanish Lit. (New York, 1906).

Ventur.*. Fuentes. Moretto da Brescia, II. See Bonvicino, Ales-

SANDRO.

Morgagni, Giovanni Battista, called by Vir- chow, the "Father of Modern Pathology", a distin- guished Italian physician and investigator in medi- cine; b. at Forli, 25 February, 1682; d. at Bologna, 6 December, 1771. His father died when Morgagni was very young, but his mother, a woman of uncom- mon good sense and understand- ing, devoted her life to the educa- tion of her gifted son. At sixteen he went to the University of Bo- lognaforhishigher studies, where be- fore his gradua- tion he attracted attention by his powers of obser- vation. His two great teachers, Albertini and Val- salva, became deeply interested in him, and Val- salva picked him out as his special assistant in an- atomy. In the year following his graduation as Doctor of Medicine and Philosophy; though not yet twenty-two, he was .sometimes allowed to take Valsalva's classes during his master's absence. He became a leader in thought among the young men and founded a society called the " Academia In- quietorum " (the Academy of the Restless), a title in- dicating that the members were not satisfied with previous knowledge but wanted to get at science for themselves by direct observation and experiment. After several years of graduate work at Bologna, Morgagni spent a year in special medical investiga- tions at the Universities of Pisa and Padua. His in- cessant work impaired his sight and he returned to his native town to recuperate. At the age of 24 he