Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 38.djvu/429

More  by the Rev. E. Elys. Abridgments of and extracts from the works of More were numerous; and in 1708 a volume was published, especially for the use of 'all such Reverend clergymen as shall be fix'd in the places where charitable libraries are erected,' entitled 'The Theological Works of the most Pious and Learned Henry More.' The work is in English, but 'according to the author's Improvements in his Latin edition.'

More's biographer tells us that 'though he [More] had not wanted particular and extraordinary respects from many persons, yet the world in general had either been in part averse to his writings, or not known well what to make of some things in them;' and again:' 'Tis very certain that his writings are not generally (I will not say, read, but) so much as known; and many scholars themselves are in a great measure strangers to them' (, p. 72). On the other hand we are told that 'his writings were so much in vogue, that Mr. Chishull, an eminent bookseller, declared that for twenty years together, after the return of King Charles the Second, the '"Mystery of Godliness" and Dr. More's other Works ruled all the Booksellers in London' (Biog. Brit.); while the editor of the 1743 edition of the 'Divine Dialogues' asserts that 'his works continued in high reputation long after his decease.' The mere fact of the continued reproduction, in whole or in part, of More's works is a proof that they were not neglected; and, considering how utterly the refined, dreamy, and poetical spirit of More was out of sympathy with the practical and prosaic mind of the eighteenth century, it is wonderful that his fame should have been so great as it was during that period. John Wesley, for instance, a man of an entirely different type of mind, strongly recommended More's writings to his brother-clergy. William Law, though he called More 'a Babylonish philosopher,' and is particularly severe upon the 'Divine Dialogues,' was deeply impressed with the piety and general interest of his character; and the edition of 1708 was issued through the exertions, and partly at the expense, of a gentleman the description of whom points very distinctly to Dr. Bray, who, except in the matters of piety and goodness, seems to have had little in common with More. S. T. Coleridge, as might be expected, had a high opinion of More's theological writings, declaring that they 'contained more original, enlarged, and elevating views of the Christian dispensation than he had met with in any other single volume' (Lit. Revs.) Principal Tulloch, in his valuable sketch of the Cambridge Platonists, treats More as at once the most interesting and the most unreadable of the whole band.

[Henry More's Works, passim, especially the Praefatio Generalissima to his Opera Omnia, 1679; Ward's Life of Henry More; Tulloch's Rational Theology, ii. 303-409; and valuable private information, especially about the bibliography, from Rev. J. Ingle Dredge.]  MORE, JACOB (1740–1793), landscape-painter, known as 'More of Rome,' was born at Edinburgh in 1740. He received his artistic training at Runciman's School of Design, and in 1771 exhibited with the Incorporated Society of Artists a 'View of Corehouse Linn, on the River Clyde,' a 'View from Dunbar Castle,' and four other landscapes. In 1773 he went to Italy, and settled in Rome, where he gained a considerable reputation, and was employed by Prince Borghese in the decoration of his villa near the Porta Pinciana. From Rome he sent to the exhibition of the Society of Artists in 1775 a 'View of the Lake of Albano,' and three other Italian landscapes; and in 1777 a 'View of the Lake of Nemi.' In 1783 he first exhibited at the Royal Academy, sending a 'View of the Cascade at Terni' and a 'View of the Campagna from Tivoli.' In 1784 he sent 'The Great Eruption of Mount Vesuvius, in which the elder Pliny lost his life;' in 1785, and again in 1786, two landscapes; in 1788, 'The Deluge' and 'An Eruption of Mount Etna;' and in 1789, two landscapes. His style was founded chiefly on that of Claude, and his paintings are mentioned with praise in Goethe's 'Winkelmann und sein Jahrhundert,' 1805, but they are much overrated when placed in comparison with the works of that master. Some of his landscapes were engraved for him in Rome, and the plates were brought to London after his death, and sold with his remaining works by auction at Christie's in 1796. Examples of his work are in the Villa Borghese at Rome and in the Hope collection at Deepdene, Dorking. His portrait, painted by himself, is in the Uffizi Gallery at Florence. More died at Rome, of a bilious fever, shortly before November 1793. His property passed to a Mr. Moore of New Street, Covent Garden.

[ Gent. Mag. 1793, ii. 1055; Edwards's Anecdotes of Painters, 1808, p. 213; Nagler's Künstler-Lexikon, 1835-52, ix. 443; Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, ed. Graves and Armstrong, 1886-9, ii. 170; Catalogues of the Exhibitions of the Royal Incorporated Society of Artists, 1771-7; Royal Academy Exhibition Catalogues, 1783-9.] 